Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)

'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' is the feature film adaptation of the same named 2005 Jonathan Safran Foer novel about a (presumably autistic though the word is never used in the movie) boy dealing with the death of his father in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I could never fully warm to Thomas Horn's performance as the lead, or its somewhat cutsey premises merging with the 9/11 tragedy, I had a similar problem with the film version of Foer's first novel 'Everything is Illuminated' which is about quirky things that happen to a character on his way to visit the site of a massacre of Jews in Poland (I have read neither book, perhaps these things work better on the page). 

Our lead characters name is Oskar and he is surrounded by Academy Awards winners and nominees, Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock are his parents, and he befriends Viola Davis as well as Max von Sydow whose wordless performance is the films highlight. A year after his father's death Oskar finds among his dad's things a key in an envelope with the name 'Black' written on it, he takes it upon himself to track down and visit every person with the last name of Black living in the five boroughs, which makes for a colorful assortment of characters, who work to varying degrees. There are a handful of really well done scenes in this but too much of it didn't taste right, schlocky, manipulative, or just a little off. There is a late in the movie narrative twist that was a little much for me.

A mixed bag this movie holds the distinction of being the best picture Oscar nominee with the lowest Rotten Tomato Score, 46% now though I think its was 52% when it got the nod. This movie did remind me that I hope Jeffrey Wright gets an Oscar nod himself at some point, his is perhaps the subtlest performance in an at times overwrought picture. Wright and von Sydow get this film an extra half star. **1/2

Clue (1985)

'Clue' is an ensemble mystery comedy written and directed by Johnathan Lynn ('Yes Minister', 'My Cousin Vinny') and based on the classic Parker Brothers board game of the same name. This film version is set in New England in the mid 1950's and is a screwball comedy with satirically McCarthyite overtones. While it takes a little while to get going it builds to a manic energy, which is fun. The film is anchored by Tim Curry's wonderfully committed performance as the butler, while the supporting cast is filled with mid-level names (Michael McKean, Leslie Ann Warren) playing the board games character (Colonel Mustered, Ms. Scarlet ect) trapped together in a creepy old mansion with at least one murder. A box office failure upon initial release this amusing film has since gained a cult following. The conventions of the board game are exploited, at times perhaps a little too much, but I did enjoy the multiple endings (my favorite being the first one). This movie really likes its cleavage shots. ***

Breaking Away (1979)

I was at a wedding reception this past summer and had a conversation with the grooms brother-in-law in which we swapped favorite movies. Mine the 1956 George Steven's helmed family epic 'Giant', his the 1979 coming of age story 'Breaking Away'. I was only tangentially aware of 'Breaking Away', but on Youtube came across the 1979 best of the year episode of 'At The Movies' and found it among the favorites of  both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Written by Serbian-American Steve Tesich and directed by Peter Yates (principally an action director, 'Bullitt', 'The Friends of Eddy Coyle', 'Mother, Jugs & Speed'), 'Breaking Away' centers around four friends, poor kids, finding their way post high school in Bloomington, Indiana. Bloomington is a college town, home of the University of Indiana, and these four can't afford and/or are not academically inclined enough to attend, so instead they exist in a mostly lethargic extension of the summer after senior year, their inability to progress in life contrasted with the energy of the college kids around them.

The partial exception to this is our lead character Dave Stohler, played by Dennis Christopher, the only one of the four I didn't immediately recognize, the others being played by Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, and Jackie Earle Haley. Dave has become obsessed, consumed with a passion for Italian competitive bicycling and indeed for all things Italian. He speeds around town on his bike shouting Italian greetings, crosses himself despite being protestant and gets on his fathers nerves with his Italian food, and music and calling him "papa". He's aimless but happy, and then he meets and falls for a pretty college girl (Robyn Douglass) who mistakes him for an Italian exchange student, so he decides he must keep up the ruse. He also learns that an Italian competitive cycling team is coming to town and prepares to compete against them. There are also various subplots concerning Dave's friends and his parents, who are good people but just befuddled by their son.

The movie proceeds along quite enjoyably but about 2/3rds through something happens that causes it to shift gears from good to great. Not to give too much away but it earns an ending that would be schlock in lesser hands, and it deepens relationships that at first get mostly surface treatment. There are loads of little moment that I could rave about but the movie should be experienced first. Both feel good and intelligent, a difficult combination to get right, 'Breaking Away' is an understated little movie that time forgot, but that should be remembered. ****

Robin Hood (2010)

Director Ridley Scott's 2010 version of 'Robin Hood' is an attempt to give the classic character a gritty origin story, even though he and "maid" Marian are now middle aged (Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett respectively). It is also a story of family sanctioned identity theft. The interminable first hour is a plodding mess, our Robin doesn't even make it to Nottingham until around the movies 2/5ths mark. The film has a strong cast including Danny Huston, William Hurt and Max von Sydow, as well as pre-stars Oscar Isaac and Léa Seydoux. There is something to be said for the appeal of a revisionist take on the legend, but this version drains much of the fun from the characters in the same way that the bleached cinematography drains much of the color from the film itself. There are some points of merit, like Robin's stirring Braveheart-esque speech, or his blind father, but there is also weirdness like the lost boys of the forest, a new chief villain Francophile villian, and the ridicules end fight/ character reunion at the reverse D-Day invasion. Then at the end our leads go off into the woods to live as communists and a sequel is batted that never comes. This simply did not work for me. *1/2

MusicalSplaining

The Chosen (1982)

Back in the mission field there was this one "eternal investigator" we used to visit who really wanted to show us the movie "The Chosen".  Now "eternal investigator" was a term we'd use to describe a person who wasn't a realistic baptismal prospect but liked visiting with the missionaries. This gentleman, whose name I've forgotten, wasn't in the best of health and didn't have a great memory so he would keep asking us if we wanted to watch this movie with him. It was against mission policy to do so so we had to keep declining, though it became something of a running joke between my companion and I, "The Chosen"?, hey isn't that about Hasidic Jews? Anyway 19 years later I finally got around to, and I think I see why he so wanted to show it to us, its about a friendship that bridges a religious divide (even though both central characters are Jewish).

Set in and around New York City in the mid 1940's "The Chosen" is an adaptation of the best selling 1967 novel of the same name by Jeremy Kagan. It is the story of Reuven Malter (Barry Miller) and Danny Saunders (Robby Benson, later the voice of 'The Beast' in "Beauty and the Beast"). Danny is a Hasidic Jew and Reuven a more assimilated one, they become friends after Danny lands Reuven in the hospital after hitting him in the eye with a baseball during an urban Jewish baseball league game in 1944. The two young people start out at odds but later become close friends despite their differences, and Danny's Rabbi father's opposition to the work of Reuven's father, an academic who later becomes a crusading Zionist.

One thing this movie put in focus that I was aware of, but didn't fully understand, was the fierce  opposition of some Hasidic Jews to the establishment of the state of Israel. This school of thought was rooted in the belief that it was the coming Messiah who would bring the Jews back to Palestine and reestablish their nationhood, any attempt at doing so without the Messiah being a sort of blasphemy. This movie has a wonderful story about  friendship and a growing understanding of differences in both good and bad times. The two leads are very good, but it's the performances of the fathers that truly impress.  Rod Stieger plays the Rabbi Saunders, he just great, arguably my favorite actor, but it was so good to see Maximiliam Schell again, he's not as prolific as Stieger but I've never seen him repeat a performance, he is kind of like Phillip Seymour Hoffman that way. Anyway I'd readily recommend "The Chosen". ***1/2

Superdad (1973)

'Superdad' is known in my families lore as the movie that my father took my mother to on their first date, so I'd long been curious about it. However before the age of streaming this movie was hard to come by, a box office disappointment it achieved VHS and Betamax releases in the 1980's and then nothing until 2008, when a DVD was made available exclusively to member of something called "The Disney Movie Club".

'Superdad' stars Bob Crane, trying unsuccessfully to re-launch his career after the cancelation of 'Hogan's Heroes'. Disney, especially then, tended to cast the same actors over and over, but they declined to have Crane back presumably both do to the finical failure of the film, and his extremely shady personal life (google if you dare). The juvenile leads are Kathleen Cody as Crane's daughter, (Cody had been a star on the gothic soap opera 'Dark Shadows', 'Superdad' was the 3rd in a three picture deal with Disney, the best remembered of which is probably 'The Snowball Express') and Kurt Russell as her sweetheart (Russell of course was a perennial Disney regular).

Also in the cast are Barbara Rush as Cranes more down to Earth wife, Dick Van Patten as his law partner, and octogenarian Judith Lowry as Mother Barlow, a comic relief character of the 'isn't it funny that this old lady beats on horses and rides a motorcycle' school. The film also has nine friends and a Saint Bernard (named Rolly Polly) who the kids hang out with, including Bruno Kirby (City Slickers) in his film debut and Ed Beagly Jr., who has maybe one line. The film is directed by Vincent McEveety, a Disney journeyman who directed a couple of 'Herbie' films among others.

While 'Superdad' was a safe bet for my dad on the Mormon dating scene of the early 70's, and is charmingly a Disney movie of its period, the film is rather mediocre, it feels kind of lazily assembled with no strong foundation or gimmick to hold it together. Starting the summer after his daughters senior year the film is principally about Crane's efforts to connect to his daughter and break up her relationship with Russell, who he feels is beneath her. He invites himself to hang out with them at the beach, and interferes with a birthday party, physically hurting himself in both efforts. He feels he might finally be making progress when through his law partner Crane arranges a fake scholarship (which he has to pay fore) to fictitious Hunting College 400 miles north near San Francisco. He hopes this will cause her to fall in with a nice law student as a romantic interest, instead she gets engaged to a hippy trippy artist who is the best thing in the movie, he is played by Joby Baker another Disney regular. So now dad's got to break those two up and get her back with Kurt, the film ends in a wedding.

'Superdad' is deservedly not a Disney classic, there is a good reason you probably have near heard of it, it's undercooked. However it's occasionally amusing though most of the laughs are near the end, and to me its interesting as an artifact. I rented it and watched it twice as I'll probably never see it again, though I actually enjoyed it more on the second viewing having a greater sense of what it was, or was trying to be. Bob Crane is an awful fake screamer. **

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The Drowning Pool (1975)

'The Drowning Pool' is the belated sequel to the 1966 Paul Newman hit 'Harper'. Like the first film this is also based on a Ross MacDonald novel, contains a large cast of characters and plenty of witty 'Harperisms'. Harper travels from LA to Louisiana to assist an old flame (Newman's real life wife Joanne Woodward) to deal with a blackmail plot against her. Said plot turns out to be part of a larger scheme that involves a disgruntled ex chauffer, her mother in law, the local police, a crazy oil millionaire and perhaps her own daughter ( a young Melanie Griffith).

I want to take a moment though to talk about the crazy oil millionaire, who really turns out to be actually kind of crazy, he is played by Murray Hamilton, today best known as the mayor in 'Jaws' which came out the same year as this movie. They are such different parts but if anything 'The Drowning Pool' is the film for which he should be best remembered, he really chews those scenes and his mixture of projected pleasantness and the unhinged is just great.

This movie was not the hit 'Harper' was, it failed at the box office and though not as good as the original film, it's pretty good in its own right. I wish this had been a success so we could have had more of these, it's a perfect role for Newman. The chief set piece at the end, the titular "drowning pool" is pretty great. ***

A Short Film About Killing (1988)

'A Short Film About Killing' is a subtle, unlikely masterpiece. Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski's movie started off as an episode of 'Dekalog' an ambitious communist era television series that sounds like something out of the streaming age, 10 one hour films each of which is a morality tale inspired by one of the ten commandments and set in and around a large public housing complex. Two of these episode were designed to be expanded into theatrical films, 'A Short Film About Killing' would win both the Jury and Critics prize at the 1988 Cannes Film festival. It is the story of a 19 year old man who brutally murders a cab drive and his earnest young lawyers efforts to fight for him. Though the cab driver Jacek kills was not a pleasant man, his reasons for doing so were ultimately very stupid and naïve, and the roughly seven minute murder sequence can be hard to watch. You think you know this young man, but you don't fully.

His lawyer Mr. Balicki is a good compassionate man, he does not sanction what Jacek did but believes no good will come from a further killing. The fact that Balicki really cares is what allows Jacek to open up to him and by the end, which is another long execution sequence, this one in prison the viewer is or at least should feel conflicted. The colors throughout the film are de-saturated, the pacing slow and deliberate, the performances restrained, the music sad and reflective, the combination extremely effective. The story jumps from the aftermath of the first murder to the aftermath of the trail, it doesn't fill in all the details, it wants to focus on the immediate lead ups, and aftermaths, and presentations of the two  killings. It want's to liken them to each other, each not straight foreword, each gray, but each awful. ****

Invaders from Mars (1953)

 'Invaders from Mars' was directed by William Cameron Menzies, the man for whom the term 'production designer' was coined, and as a result this is a very production designee movie. It's great to look at, the color pops, the visual composition is often stark, the overall effect a charmingly dated kind of weird. There is a strong children's fantasy element to this, though at the time of its release some thought it too intense for little kids. Young Jimmy Hunt doesn't have too hard a time convincing some adults in authority that his parents have been body snatched by aliens (a full three years before that movie even came out), which makes for a nice change from the 'children not being believed in time' trope one might typically associate with stories like these. This movie was later remade in 1986 with Karen Black and Laraine Newman, I remember seeing part of that as a kid and it weirded me out. Interestingly the later version is not available through Amazon. This version gets **1/2 chiefly for creativity and visuals, there is very little to the acting and characters.

C.H.U.D. (1984)

'C.H.U.D.' Cannibalistic, Humanoid, Underground Dweller. This 80's urban horror is not very good but notable for a fair number of pre-celebs who appear in bit parts, including John Goodman. This movie has a weird connection to the 'Home Alone' franchise as John Heard and Daniel Stern appear on screen together, while in the later film they do not. Also Christopher Curry, who would appear in the 3rd 'Home Alone', has his film debut playing a police Captain interestingly named Bosch. So is Michael Connelly a C.H.U.D. fan? Me not so much. **

Best of Enemies (2015)

'Best of Enemies' is a documentary on William F. Buckley Jr., Gore Vidal, and a series of televised debates they had as part ABC's coverage of the 1968 Republican and Democratic conventions. The debates were entertaining and at times explosive and shot ABC up from 3rd to 1st place in their convention coverage ratings. A not great side effect of all this is that it sort of set the template for the combative media environment we have today. There is a point in the 9th debate where Buckley crosses a line, and to his credit he knew when he crossed and it and it reportedly haunted him the rest of his life. While Gore Vidal is not someone I would want to be on the bad side of. There is something to be mourned though for a time when two such smart and urbane men could be such widely listened to public figures. ***1/2

The Prodigal Planet (1983)

'The Prodigal Planet', the last film made in the 'A Thief in the Night' series is probably the least interesting of the bunch. Now its more competently made then arguably all of the others, but as a result it loses some of their (probably unintentional) charm. This is also the longest movie in the series, at a trifle over 2 hours it is just too long, very padded. William Wellman is rescued from decapitation by a convenient nuclear explosion and a woman who claims to be a double agent, but is actually a triple agent. The plot line of the surviving female member of the previous movies love triangle is completely dropped, we never find out what happens to her (not that we necessarily care that much), and instead Wellman picks up a mother daughter pair while on the way to Oklahoma to meet up with the believers resistance and deliver to them a key computer component (unlike the first three Iowa based films this movie was largely shot in New Mexico).

The mother/daughter pair is conveniently not saved though opposed to the oppressive government  stuff going on, thus providing Wellman people to preach to (Russell Doughten does make a brief appearance as the reverend Turner, whose now living underground and eating rats). This movie is mostly a slow cross country chase of our leads by Thom Rachford and his men, Rachford is even given something of a chance to redeem himself, but ultimately he's still on the side of the devil, though had the planed 5th film been made who knows... though probably not, once you take the Mark you are for all intents and purposes irredeemable.

This movie spends a fair amount of time in an abandoned metropolitan area where the daughter from the mother daughter pair Jodi (played by Wellmen's own daughter Cathy) has one of those trite 'girls just want to shop even in the apocalypse' sequences. Connie Wright meanwhile evidences a taste for kitschy art. The group even befriends a mutant who dresses in monks robs like he's out of 'The Omega Man', but with much less of a makeup budget. Like the other films in this series it's kind of interesting as a curio, members of a specific sub culture at a specific time trying to satisfy the duel desires to proselyte and make movies, and I suppose technically succeeding, but how well is another matter. *1/2

Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937)

The investigation into the disappearance of a military proto-type that allows plans to be controlled remotely takes Charlie Chan from Pearl Harbor to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, where number one son Lee is conveniently competing in a swimming event. The movie takes advantage of the games setting to incorporate footage of Jesse Owens in competition, as well as place Chan on the Hindenburg as his cross Atlantic transportation. Interestingly though the film was released while the United States was at peace with Germany 20th Century Fox made the decision to smear out all the Swastika's.  The German police officer with whom Chan most interacts is portrayed as probably more competent then the American detectives he usually has dealings with. Cecil B. DeMille's daughter Katherine has a supporting role. **

Image of the Beast (1981)

'Image of the Beast' is the third movie in the  'A Thief In The Night' series of evangelical end times films. After a brief pre-rapture sequence we return to where we left off at the end of 'A Distant Thunder', Patty our lead in the first two films is quickly dispatched by guillotine, and we are introduced to our new leads who form a romantic triangle hinged on William Wellman Jr., an actual actor and the son of the Oscar winning director William Wellman.

This film has more movie traditional sequences of chase, intrigue and suspense, but pauses throughout for expositional biblical exegesis, with the Reverend Turner being brought back for that purpose, turns out that he is the through line for this franchise. Well actually not just Turner but also Thom Rachford as Jerry, who has to be given increasingly important positions in Satan's plan as an excuse to keep him in play, he's come a long way from the fire and rescue squad.

The seemingly quick passage of time within the story owing to years between films becomes increasingly visible in this movie, not only does Jerry's awesome 1970's muttonchops become an obvious prostatic for continuity purposes early in the film, but now its clearly the 80's even in the shoehorned in pre-rapture sequence at the beginning of the film. As a result this series is now very interested in computers. However despite everything that has happened we still have characters annoyingly dithering about weather to accept Christ or not, despite Biblical prophecy being very explicitly fulfilled all around them. Still there is a guilty pleasure element here at times, 'Image of the Best' has really become something different from the first two films, but it's kind of watchable. **

Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936)

'Charlie Chan at the Opera' is an apparently well thought of entry in the franchise but of the 4 I've seen its my least favorite. Publicity billed this as Charlie Chan vs. Boris Karloff, but there is very little interaction between the two here. Karloff is a long time amnesic opera star who regains his memory when he chances upon a newspaper photograph of an old associate, in fact his ex wife. He seeks here out, apparently for revenge, but there are other people with reasons to want her dead so when the investable happens Chan's got to sort it all out. This movie is set in San Francisco and one thing I rather enjoyed about it, and about this series as a whole, is it shows some interest in continuity. The reason Chan is in California at all is because of the events of the previous film 'Charlie Chan at the Races', which is directly referenced. My favorite gag in the film is that all the armor wearing extras at the opera are Chinese. William Demarest plays the local less talented police detective with whom Chan must work. The music for 'Carnival', the opera within the movie was written by Oscar Levant. Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone. I was more bored then I should have been. *1/2

Account Rendered (1957)

Produced as the second feature for a double bill 'Account Rendered' is notable for little beyond the presence of Honor Blackman and its remarkably short 59 minute run time. It feels like an episode of a period anthology drama, the story concerns murder, infidelity, bank fraud, and a police investigation to unravel the whole mess. Most of the characters are unpleasant and those who aren't are just forgettable, around a week out from seeing it I retain practically nothing. Competently enough made but that's all. *

Mabel, Mabel, Tiger Trainer (2018)

I have not seen the apparent show of the moment 'Tiger King' because I do not have Netflix, I do however have Amazon so I watched 'Mabel, Mabel, Tiger Trainer', a documentary directed by Leslie Zemeckis (wife of Robert) on the life of Mabel Stark (1889-1968) arguably the first woman big cat trainer and a forgotten celebrity of times gone by. Born in Kentucky the first of seven children Mabel Stark became a nurse in Louisville before running away to California with her first of five husbands, seeing her first tiger at a circus and immediately deciding the big cats would be her life's work. Inserting herself into the life of the man who would become a her second husband, a well regarded tiger trainer whose marriage she broke up, Mabel would spend the bulk of the rest of her life working with tigers. From 1911 until shortly before her death in 1968 Mabel's life would be devoted to tigers, with two expectations, a three year contract dispute with a circus, and four years on the assembly line during World War II. Mabel was mauled many times, and wasn't always the easiest person to work with, but she knew what she loved and gave her life to it. Unlike 'Tiger King' Mabel isn't associated with any murders, well except for.... that would be spoilers. So if you can't see 'Tiger King' or can't get enough of tigers, I would recommend 'Mabel, Mabel, Tiger Trainer'. ***

Exporting Raymond (2010)

'Exporting Raymond' is a documentary that follows 'Everybody Loves Raymond' creator and producer Philip Rosenthal around as he assists in the birthing of a Russian adaptation of the television series that made him a wealthy man. While Rosenthal was not an in front of the camera personality on the hit show that ran from 1996 to 2005, he fortunately is capable as one here, this movie would not have worked without that.  Low key and affable, but with a through line of the slightly vexed, Rosenthal presides over a comedy of bureaucracy and cross cultural frustration and misunderstanding. Though at times it feels as though the show might never get off the ground, eventually it proves a great success, and the two episodes of 'Everybody Loves Koysta' including as special features on the DVD are definitely worth seeing. I liked 'Everybody Loves Raymond' though was never a regular viewer, this movie helped me appreciate the show more and puts me in a more receptive mood to watch if I stumble upon it while flipping through the channels. Like the show that inspired it this movie is slightly quirky and certifiably pleasant. ***

Sitting Pretty (1948)

'Sitting Pretty' is a 1948 comedy staring Robert Young, Maureen O'Hara, and Clifton Webb that is based on the 1947 F. Hugh Herbert novel  Belvedere. That's right Belvedere as in 'Mr. Belvedere', the 1985 to 90 ABC TV series, this is source material for that. Now I never watched 'Mr. Belvedere' regularly, and I probably haven't seen an episode since some time in the 1990's, so I was a bit surprised how much I had forgotten or how little I knew about the Belvedere character. A self described genius he is a polymath who inserts himself into the life of a suburban couple as a live in boarder and part time nanny. It's a perfect part for Webb, an amusing small scale comedy which given its suburban setting and the presence of Robert Young immediately suggests potential sitcom property, at least in hindsight. A slightly wry, pleasant diversion, more smile then laugh inducing. It was a success and spawned two film sequels, which I would be interested to see eventually. ***

A Distant Thunder (1978)

Sequel to the 1973 rapture movie 'A Thief in the Night', 'A Distant Thunder' is the second in what would ultimately become a quadriology of evangelical end times films. The story picks up kind of wear the last film left off, only an odd decision is made to make all the post rapture stuff in the first film a prescient dream of the Patty character, who wakes up from it only to find that the rapture has now really happened. I suspect part of this was done to account for some of the younger actors in the film ageing 4 or 5 years between shoots, and also because the success of the first film made its makers more ambitious, desirous to play out their theological speculations more slowly.

The film making and the acting quality has improved over the interim, not overwhelmingly so but noticeable. This movie is freed some from the heavier amount of exposition the original movie required, and there is also more of a budget so as a result there is more action and movement and it plays more like a conventional movie then its predecessor. It is still of course here primarily for the purpose of scaring you saved, Patty even delivers a line where she flat out says she'd rather have been scared into salvation then have to live through the tribulation horrors. Intriguingly earnest, I think I'm committed now, I'm going to complete this series, and award this edition in it **.   

Friday Foster (1975)

Blaxploation film adapted from the syndicated comic strip of the same name that ran form 1970-1974, 'Friday Foster' stars Pam Grier as the titular magazine photographer, who stumbles upon a plot to murder the worlds wealthiest black man (Thalmus Rasulala). Impressive cast includes Carl Weathers, Eartha Kitt, Godfrey Cambridge, Scatman Crothers, Jim Backus, Yaphet Kotto, and a mustacheless pre-'Love Boat' Ted Lange. Most of the movie is actually pretty interesting, lots of action, a good assortment of characters, I was legitimately curious as to what the evil scheme was, but when we find out its kind of pointless and simplistically motivated, which is goanna cost it half a star. So **1/2.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Remake of the classic 1956 film of the same title 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' takes the basic premise of the original but updates it and plays with the details. Like the source film it is better then I thought it would be, though it takes more time to get going and is 35 minutes longer, it only feels slightly padded. The leads are Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams, the later a largely forgotten leading lady, though interestingly married to Tony Shalhoub. Victoria Cartwright, a young Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy amusingly playing a self help type psychologist are among the main cast. Kevin McCarthy and Don Segal, star and director of the original film have cameos. Unlike the 56' version this movie explains what happens to the old bodies, though not in much detail till near the very end. This film also boasts some rather impressive special effects for the period, ones which we would now think of as of the John Carpenter school. Not quite as good as the original, but a mostly effective 70's variant. ***

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

I expected this legendry 50's science fiction movie, often taken as a metaphor for communist subversion of American life, to be kind of corny and dated. What I found was a  film with surprising tension and unexpected intelligence, and while of it's time it is also subversive in sprit and as a result has aged very well. The two leads Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter are competent actors, they play respectively a recently divorced doctor and his childhood sweetheart, also recently divorced, who reunite just as increasing numbers in their mid-sized California town start acting strangely. It is alien life of course, born in pods, while you sleep they suck out your memories and personality from your brain and imbed it into an emotionless clone that they control (what happens to the original bodies is never directly dealt with).

There is the requite plot set up, which might strike some as kind of slow but I didn't think was bad and was certainly necessary, but when things click into high gear it maintains the tension admirably. It's an existentially scary concept and I thought some its scarier scenes were its quietest, it also doesn't wrap things up too nicely and there is some sequel bate at the end, which remarkably was never exploited. It is all refreshingly ambitious and ambiguous for what on the surface appears to be drive-in fodder. Admirably directed by Don Siegel, who would go on to direct a number of Clint Eastwood movies among other things, the film is a very watchable 80 minutes which live up to the hype. ***1/2

Cobra Verde (1987)

Director Werner Herzog's 5th and final teaming with actor Klaus Kinski, 'Cobra Verde' is based on English writer Bruce Chatwin's 1980 novel 'The Viceroy of Ouidah' about a fictional 19th century slave trader. Filmed in both South America and Africa the then 60 year old Kinski is far to old for the part of a debauched Brazilin rancher sent to Africa to reopen the slave trade after impregnating his employers three daughters. His bosses never really thought that Francisco Manoel da Silva aka Cobra Verde would succeeded, but he does, in part by helping the natives over throw a mad king. Francisco, looked down on all his life by his supposed superiors has a sense of empathy and respect for the native Africans, though he is far from above sending them off to be slaves, something he acknowledges late in the film is indeed a crime. Their are parts of the film, especially early on, that really seem to be setting this story up as a redemption arc, but it's never really that, it's much more complicated and less clean cut. You can respect Cobra Verde if not particularly like him, which makes the character appropriate for Kinski in all but age. A mixed bag but a generally compelling narrative and some neat visiuals, which is really what you want from Herzog. ***