The BFG (1989)

Animated adaptation of Rolad Dahl children's book about a big friendly giant. I had this book read to me in 3rd grade, and have found memories of it which this movie certainly stirred. I remember it as a talkie book though, which is a little awkward in the adaption, especially in the first half. The sequences with the Queen are interesting in part because they are really trying to do an animated Elizabeth II, it looks vaguely rotoscoped and slightly awkward. The film unfortunately does not leave much of an impression, its not bad, its just kind of there. My nephew really liked it though. **

Batman: Year One (2011)

I hadn't seen any of these comic book direct to DVD adaptations that have become so common over the last decade or so, I thought I'd give this one a try. Pretty straightforward really, a telling of Bruce Wayne's first year as Batman, based on the 1987 Frank Miller comic series (I like how this film seems to be set in the mid 1980's). Story told mostly from the point of view of a youngish Lt. Gordon, freshly transferred to Gotham, and quietly battling the city's corrupt police department. James Gordon can actually be a pretty interesting character when given the screen time, as proved by the recent Dark Knight Films. Story standard corruption/organized crime stuff, no super villain to speak of, save a nascent Catwoman, who is given her own, rather violent animated short as a special feature on the DVD. I'd be interested to see them continue this series with a Batman: Year Two ect. I doubt that happens though. **1/2

Strait-Jacket (1964)

Most William Castle movies have a gimmick, like the 'Fright Break' in Homicidal; Strait-Jacket on the other hand doesn't have a gimmick, it doesn't need one, it has Joan Crawford. Joan Crawford giving her all in this movie about a mother released from an asylum twenty years after murdering her husband and his girlfriend whom she had found together in her bed. The begining of the film with a "young" Joan Crawford is embarrassing because she was nearly sixty and playing maybe thirty. In fact Crawford is kind of awkward throughout, but she's suppose to be, she just got out of the asylum, and is she really cured? Anyway the twist in this is pretty good, I didn't see it coming, but it's still a silly one, but hey its William Castle. Notable for the presence of pre-star George Kennedy and Lee Majors. **1/2

Homicidal (1961)

William Castle's 1961 thriller owes a lot to Psycho, in fact it wouldn't have existed without it. The homages are everywhere, the lead actress (Joan Marshall, though billed as Jean Arless) looks like Janet Leigh, she checks into a hotel, uses the shower, and catches the eye of an employ there. There's also an isolated house, mommy issues, stabbings and one heck of a twist. In fact I can't say much about this movie because I don't want to spoil the twist, it really got me and I just did not see it coming, and I can't believe that I didn't see it coming now that I've seen it. Suffice it to say I had to watch the movie a second time just to experience it knowing, and see just how well it was constructed. A worth while experince, a surprisingly clever, sneaky movie. ***

The Island of Lost Souls (1932)

The first film adaptation of H. G. Wells novel The Island of Dr. Moreau. Our rather generic protagonist (Richard Arlen) is shipwrecked in the south sea's, he is rescued by a boat taking a shipment of exotic animals to the remote island laboratory of the mysterious Dr. Moreau, a disgraced scientist with exotic theories now in exile. Arlen makes an inadvertent enemy of the captain who thusly refuses to take him to Tahiti, or whatever island it was he was too meet his finance (Leila Hyams) on. Arlen is dropped off along Moreau's assistant (Arthur Hohl), the animals, and some vaguely deformed looking natives on the doctors island. There he finds more natives, all male and deformed except for the exotic Lota (played by Kathleen Burke, who was a Chicago dental assistant before winning a talent contest with Paramount).

In time Arlen learns the Lota and the rest of the natives are in fact heavily vivisected animals made into human form by the mad Dr. Moreau. Moreau has an interest in trying to mate Arlen to 'the Panther Women' but turns out that he's not into bestiality in any form, plus he's engaged. Eventually the fiance and a sympathetic captain come to the island to rescue Arlen, just in time for the natives to mount a rebellion against there cruel overlord, this is the movie where the phrase "the natives are restless tonight" actually comes from.

Smarter then most of the horror films of the era this movie does succeed at conveying and uneasy aura, and Charles Laughton's Dr. Moreau is wonderfully creepy without being all that over the top. Dracula himself, Bela Lugosi, has a small part as a dog faced 'native' known as the "Sayer Of The Law", chief expositor of the moral code Moreau has given his creations to live by. Only an hour and a half long the movie is carried by the moode it evokes and by Laughton's performance, and is far superior to the 1996 remake. ***

Cimarron (1960)

Re-make of the 1931 Oscar best picture winner of the same title, I think this movie was probably made chiefly as a delayed reaction to the tremendous success of another Ferber novel based film, Giant. Here we have the opportunity for wide screen color, it would have been neat to have this actually filmed in Oklahoma, but much of the movie is obviously a set. The story follows the basic contours of the original film but there are significant enough differences in that it makes me curious how the original novel read. I however will not be reading the original novel because I still find the story to be boring, just as I did with the original film. There is not enough energy in this film, Glenn Ford, as was the case with Four Horseman of the Apocalypse two years later is too old for his part, and Maria Schell is just not capable of the holding the thing together. The movie touches upon some of the Faber social consciousness aspects that are done so well in Giant, and the basic story structure is sound enough, but it just doesn't succeed in making things interesting. Also what's up with Arthur O'Connell's arc, it looked like they were going to turn Tom Wyatt into something of a bad guy towards the end of the film, and then chickened out. The whole movie feels diluted like a watered down cola, very below director Anthony Mann's usual standards. Tepid. **

Dark Shadows (2012)

Tim Burton, a very hit or miss director, I believe I've mentioned this. Previous Burton adaptations of existing properties like the Planet of the Apes or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, well, they failed, so my expectations for Dark Shadows where modest ones. I'm pleased to say that Dark Shadows was a success, one of Burton's hits, but I think it benefited a lot from being less ambitious then the other adaptive efforts I mentioned earlier. First off Dark Shadows, a campy, cult-classic soap opera that aired on American television from 1966-1971, is a lesser known property to begin with. Secondly, it just naturally suits Burton's sensibility, creepy old mansion, eccentric relatives, vampires. Or rather one vampire, Johnny Depp as Baranbas Collins, the glue that holds the film together, a great deadpan preformance. Depp is perfect as an 18th Century aristocrat who has been turned into a vampire and held captive in a chained casket for 196 years. Freed from his prison by construction workers building a McDonald's in 1972, Barnabas, a family oriented man, immediately sets out in search of living kin. He finds them, a total of 4, residing in the family's decaying Maine estate, he also finds that the romantically obsessive witch (Eva Green) whom he'd spurned, and who turned him into a vampire two centuries ago, is alive and well and running the Collins families chief rival in the fishing industry.

Baranbas seeks to turn his families fortunes around, he manages to convince family matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) of his true identity, and she passes him off as visiting distant relative from England, one with a skin condition. Barnabas is friendly with the rest of the family, and falls in love with their new nanny (Bella Heathcote) who looks just like the women that Baranbas loved in the past. The witch Angelique Bouchard finds that she has missed Baranbas and offers to resend the curse that has now plagued his family for generations, if he will consent to be her lover, but Barnabas refuses, hence much of the story.

I always enjoy seeing the 1970's portrayed in film, in fact I thinks it probably my favorite decade to look at, and its displayed here in all its gaudy glory and without feeling too overdone. I suspect Burton really enjoyed lacing the soundtrack with early 70's tunes, I loved the use of Karen Carpenter, I tolerated the use of  Alice Cooper. The cast is good and diverse, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Chloe Grace Mortez, and of course Helena Bonham Carter. The film plays lose and feels free, there are a surprising number of odd plot threads introduced late in the movie, but it works because Dark Shadows was a soap opera, the fact that much of it is never satisfactorily explained or resolved seems appropriate. A fun, low impact film, that satisfies, even if it doesn't have many memorable moments. ***