THE DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN aka SNAPSHOT, aka ONE MORE MINUTE (Australia - 1979)
One of the more egregious examples of misleading advertising from the grindhouse glory days, THE DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN was the 1980 US retitling of the 1979 Australian import SNAPSHOT, complete with poster art that didn't make any overt claims, but arguably implied that it was somehow connected to John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN (1978). I'm sure audiences became openly hostile by the 20-minute mark, as it obviously has nothing whatsoever to do with HALLOWEEN or Halloween, but taken on its own terms (or, as SNAPSHOT, which is the actual title on both versions on Scorpion Releasing's new DVD--more on that in a bit), it's a compellingly odd character piece that's light on thrills and chills, but does a good job of establishing a palpable sense of unease throughout. It also has a believable performance by Sigrid Thornton (THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER) as young, naive hairdresser Angela. Stuck in a dead-end job with a domineering mother (Julia Blake), a bratty little sister (Jacqui Gordon), and ex-boyfriend Daryl (Vincent Gil) who follows her around in an ice cream truck, Angela is whisked away from her dreary life by bitch-on-wheels cover girl Madeline (Chantal Contouri), who gets her a modeling job. Now with money and independence, Angela is meeting all sorts of new people and finding her way through a new world. And that ice cream truck is still following her.
YouTube fan montage featuring the film's theme song "Angela," by Sherbet!
Co-written by Australia-based American expat Everett De Roche (LONG WEEKEND, PATRICK, ROAD GAMES) and directed by Simon Wincer (later to helm projects as varied as LONESOME DOVE, QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER, HARLEY DAVIDSON AND THE MARLBORO MAN, and FREE WILLY), SNAPSHOT is a strange little film that drops its heroine in an unrelentingly cruel world where she's used, abused, and manipulated by everyone (even her mother drops by her new place and steals some money out of her dresser drawer), and yet, she's curiously unfazed by a lot of it (she finds a pig's head in her bed at one point, and goes on about her day, assuming Daryl put it there). This film is often lumped in with the Ozploitation scene (primarily because of producer Antony I. Ginnane), but there's not much here in the way of exploitative elements. In fact, I'm not entirely sure what Wincer and the writers really wanted to accomplish here, but it's consistently engrossing and you're never quite certain where it's headed. Coupled with an ending that might leave more questions than answers, the only thing one can say with 100% certainty is that whatever title it's going by, it's not a slasher film. Scorpion's DVD is really a thing of beauty: the 2.35 anamorphic presentation of the 92-minute US cut is quite impressive and a major improvement on the blurry, washed-out print that aired on Turner Classic Movies a couple of years ago. I think that faded print is the transfer used for the second version on the DVD: the 101-minute Australian cut that's presented in a vastly inferior 1.78 anamorphic transfer, and most of the additional footage seems to consist of Angela having a much longer confrontation with her mother, a scene of her roommates watching the Ginnane-produced PATRICK on TV, Madeline and Angela walking in on a couple having sex, and more screen time for a shamelessly mugging nightclub performer who should've been cut altogether. It's this longer version that has a commentary track with Ginnane and Scorpion horror hostess Katarina Leigh Waters. Ginnane is personable enough, and covers most of the bases, but Waters really doesn't do a great job of keeping the discussion going (though to her credit, she is improving on her earlier commentary moderation efforts), usually chiming with an "Mmm hmm," to keep Ginnane talking, which I suppose is fine. It's not the best commentary you'll ever hear (and it takes a full hour for either of them to inevitably mention that Quentin Tarantino is a fan of the film), but Ozploitation devotees will find it interesting. The nine extra minutes are superfluous and the film not only looks better in its shorter version, but it's paced better as well. Also of note for trash fans: nearly every female cast member except for Controuri spent time on the Australian women-in-prison cult TV series PRISONER: CELL BLOCK H. (R, 92 mins/101 mins)
WAVES OF LUST (Italy - 1975)
Raro USA brings us the first official US home video release of this early erotic thriller from future CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST director Ruggero Deodato. Ostensibly inspired by Roman Polanski's 1962 breakthrough KNIFE IN THE WATER, WAVES OF LUST is one of Deodato's dullest films, and despite the director's claims that it's a thriller above all, there's not much in the way of suspense or drama. If you didn't think it was possible that constant sex and nudity could be boring as hell, then let WAVES OF LUST show you how it's done. Irem (Al Cliver) and Barbara (Silvio Dionisio, Deodato's wife at the time) meet George (John Steiner) and Silvia (Elizabeth Turner), and are invited for a cruise on George's yacht. They do this despite thinking George may have murdered a business associate with whom they'd earlier seen him arguing. Of course, it doesn't take long for George to reveal himself as a psychotic, controlling, alcoholic douchebag who routinely physically and psychologically abuses Silvia. This prompts her to seek sexual solace with both Irem and Barbara, while Barbara finds herself turned on by George, who does little aside from ruin everyone's vacation, smack Silvia around, and brag about how rich and powerful he is. Only in the last 15 minutes does Deodato decide to make this a "thriller," and it's as unsatisfying as the plentiful but profoundly unerotic sex scenes, the nadir of which has Cliver doing a head stand (a recurring motif that, like the rest of the film, goes nowhere) while the almost constantly nude Turner stands and passionately kisses his ankle and calf, as Deodato provides us with some gratuitous Al Cliver back acne. Joe D'Amato probably could've done wonders with this, but Deodato's made much better films, starting with his next, 1976's awesome LIVE LIKE A COP, DIE LIKE A MAN. Written by Gianlorenzo Battaglia and Lamberto Bava. Deodato, Bava, and Cliver appear in a 17-minute documentary on the DVD, and there's also some deleted scenes that show some additional shots in a few of the sex scenes. Raro's DVD offers both Italian-language and English-dubbed audio, and is 1.85 anamorphic and looks generally acceptable. WAVES OF LUST is worth a watch for Deodato fans and Italian exploitation obsessives, but even they won't get much out of this catatonic, sleep-inducing softcore porn travelogue. (Unrated, 88 mins)
There's a number of scenes that are almost too painful to watch in this harrowing documentary about Bobby Liebling, frontman for the Washington, DC cult doom metal band Pentagram. Liebling has been an underground metal legend for 40 years, yet when filmmakers Don Argott and Demian Fenton (ROCK SCHOOL, THE ART OF THE STEAL) find him in 2007, he's 53, addicted to heroin and crack, and living in the basement of his elderly parents' Germantown, MD home (his father worked for the Defense Dept). Liebling spends his days wallowing in drug abuse, his gauze-covered arms riddled with track marks and open sores, and he's convinced parasites are burrowing under his skin. He has a patient ally in friend, manager, and Pentagram superfan Sean "Pellet" Pelletier, a former Relapse Records staffer who seems to be devoting his life to the resurrection of Bobby Liebling, who's tried to keep Pentagram going through the years with a constantly rotating backing band, as all the past members get fed up and quit. The original lineup of the band was brought to NYC in 1975 to record a demo with Blue Oyster Cult producer Murray Krugman, an early supporter of Pentagram who dubbed them "a street Black Sabbath," but a stubborn Liebling clashed with Krugman in the studio and the deal never happened. Former guitarist Victor Griffin wonders why people even bothered buying advance tickets for Pentagram shows, as there was a 50/50 chance Liebling would be unable to perform or not even show up. Footage of a disastrous 2001 gig shows then-guitarist Joe Hasselvander letting the audience take turns at the mic when Liebling is a no-show, then when Liebling finally appears onstage during the last minute of the last song, they almost come to blows. At a 2005 show, a catatonic Liebling has to be carried on stage and propped in front of the mic like a sick WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S homage, then he collapses into the drum set. In short, the man is a wreck and looks to be at death's door. That comprises most of LAST DAYS HERE until Liebling finally decides to get his shit together.
Argott and Fenton could've easily turned this into a rubbernecking freakshow, but they don't. While not shying away from the brutal, and frequently disgusting, state of Liebling's life, they still regard him with respect and dignity. They took breaks in filming at various points, and we catch up with Liebling some months later, and we never know if he'll be better or worse. When he finally gets better, you'll almost feel as overcome with emotion as Pelletier does. The filmmakers do somewhat assume the audience is at least a little familiar with the metal scene, so it may take neophytes a bit longer to get acclimated with the film and who some of the peripheral figures are, but the redemptive story of Liebling is riveting regardless of your musical tastes. I wish the filmmakers didn't let Liebling's parents disappear from the film. One of the best moments is a brief aside of his mother chuckling as she says "He always tells me he'll be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year or next," and we next see Liebling frantically searching for a crack rock that fell between the couch cushions. (Unrated, 92 mins)
HIT SO HARD (US - 2012)
An occasionally interesting but unfocused and often rambling look at former Hole drummer Patty Schemel, HIT SO HARD uses a lot of camcorder footage shot by Schemel herself while touring with Hole in the '90s. Schemel, a recovering addict clean for six years at the time this was made, comes across as very natural, honest, and down to earth, but director P. David Ebersole can't really decide what he wants with HIT SO HARD. For a documentary ostensibly about Patty Schemel, there's going to be a lot of Hole, and that's vital to her story, but Ebersole seems to get sidetracked with Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain, who appear quite frequently in some of Schemel's camcorder footage. He could've told Schemel's story without once again telling Cobain's, but he probably needed an excuse to use all of the exclusive footage that Schemel had, including a lot of Cobain with daughter Frances, and while it's very moving to see him as a loving, doting father goofing off with his daughter and difficult to fathom that he'd kill himself just a few months later, it doesn't really belong here. Schemel talks of her struggles with drugs and the music business from her perspective as a female drummer and an out lesbian, and there's a very emotional segment where her mother recounts 17-year-old Patty inadvertantly coming out to her friends after an awkward pass made at one of them, but there's not enough of stuff like that. Even the film's trailer can't stay focused on what it's supposed to be about.
HIT SO HARD finally finds some momentum once Schemel leaves Hole after being replaced in the studio by session drummer Deen Castronovo during the recording of 1998's Celebrity Skin, and goes on to become a homeless crack addict, but most of it is just the usual stories of drugs, the record biz, the rigors of touring, etc. Featuring Love (who, of course, takes the opportunity to once again trash-talk Cobain's Nirvana bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, because that has a lot to do with the Patty Schemel story), Hole bandmates Eric Erlandson and Melissa Auf der Maur (who replaced late bassist Kristen Pfaff and seems to have been Schemel's closest ally in the band), Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum, plus notable female drummers Debbi Peterson (The Bangles), Gina Schock (The Go-Gos), Nina Gordon (Veruca Salt), and Kate Schellenbach (Luscious Jackson), and, for some reason, NPR "social observer" Sarah Vowell, HIT SO HARD is probably worth seeing for any fan of the '90s alt rock explosion, but Ebersole just never really brings it all together and there's a frustrating lack of direction to the whole project. As cool as she comes across and with nothing but respect for her kicking drugs and getting her life together, is Schemel's story really worthy of a 103-minute film? With the way Ebersole pads the running time with concert footage and Sarah Vowell getting choked up about Kurt Cobain's death, I'd say probably not. At least with LAST DAYS HERE, covered above, there was a dramatic element to the Bobby Liebling story as the filmmakers followed him as the story unfolded. Feeling like an overlong DVD extra, HIT SO HARD would've made a great hour-long VH-1 BEHIND THE MUSIC episode, but a feature film? (Unrated, 103 mins)
THINGS ARE TOUGH ALL OVER was the fourth Cheech & Chong film since 1978's UP IN SMOKE (following 1980's CHEECH & CHONG'S NEXT MOVIE and 1981's CHEECH & CHONG'S NICE DREAMS). UP IN SMOKE is easily the duo's best film, but after THINGS ARE TOUGH ALL OVER, the formula got pretty stale. The next May, they starred in STILL SMOKIN', a haphazardly-constructed travelogue/concert film, and a month after that, appeared in the Monty Python offshoot YELLOWBEARD. After 1984's THE CORSICAN BROTHERS, the pair went their separate ways. In THINGS ARE TOUGH ALL OVER, the expected stoner jokes abound as the hapless pair are car wash employees hired by two Arab criminals (also played by Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong) to transport a car full of laundered money cross country.
THE PIRATE MOVIE was a musical/comedy very loosely based on The Pirates of Penzance, which itself was given an official movie adaptation a year later. Directed by veteran journeyman Ken Annakin (THE LONGEST DAY, BATTLE OF THE BULGE, THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES), THE PIRATE MOVIE was universally panned and bombed at the box office. It did little to further the big screen careers of its stars: the popular Kristy McNichol (TV's FAMILY, LITTLE DARLINGS) would star in a few more films and was dogged for years by rumors of drug abuse and unreliability. McNichol spent a few seasons as Richard Mulligan's daughter on NBC's EMPTY NEST, and left the series when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1992. She did a few voice acting gigs for animated TV shows, but retired from acting altogether in 1998. Christopher Atkins was hot off of 1980's THE BLUE LAGOON and on his way to the male stripper favorite A NIGHT IN HEAVEN and a one-season run on DALLAS, but by 1987, he would be headlining the D-grade Mexican nature-gone-amok horror film BEAKS: THE MOVIE. Atkins has worked steadily to this day in low-budget DTV fare (PROJECT SHADOWCHASER III) and occasional TV guest spots, but is still recognized primarily for THE BLUE LAGOON, most recently appearing in a cameo in the Lifetime movie BLUE LAGOON: THE AWAKENING.
Annakin would only complete one more film--1988's THE NEW ADVENTURES OF PIPPI LONGSTOCKING--though he did co-direct (with Antonio Margheriti) the legendarily-troubled Italian production GENGHIS KHAN, which starred Richard Tyson, Charlton Heston, John Saxon, Rodney A. Grant, and Pat Morita. GENGHIS KHAN began shooting in the Soviet Union in 1991 but production was halted during the August Coup and never resumed. Enough was shot that Annakin made a few attempts to complete the film over the years--even after Margheriti's death in 2002--but was unsuccessful. Annakin died in 2009 at the age of 94, with his final film left incomplete. Once every few years, there's a blurb that GENGHIS KHAN is about to be released (most recently in 2010), usually by whatever new fly-by-night company that recently acquired it in a liquidation, but other than shoddy-looking bootlegs, it hasn't happened. It's one of those infamously lost train wrecks that can't possibly be as interesting as its backstory (especially with "Buddy Revell" from THREE O'CLOCK HIGH as the title character), but if nothing else, this trailer (from a planned 2006 release that never happened), while misspelling co-star Julia Nickson-Soul's name, at least verifies that GENGHIS KHAN indeed exists in some patched-together capacity
Directed by Len Wiseman. Written by Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback. Cast: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, Bill Nighy, Bokeem Woodbine, John Cho. (PG-13, 121 mins)
Is there really any need for a PG-13 remake of TOTAL RECALL? Len Wiseman's (UNDERWORLD) take on the Paul Verhoeven/Arnold Schwarzenegger action/sci-fi classic from 1990 is even less faithful to its source, Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," and ultimately won't supplant anyone's fond memories of the original, but for a good chunk of its duration, TOTAL RECALL 2012 is surprisingly good. The script by Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback completely jettisons the Mars element, and instead focuses on a post-chemical warfare 2084 Earth where the only inhabitable regions are (for some reason) "The United Federation of Britain," and Australia, now referred to as "The Colony." I wouldn't be surprised if Wimmer, a veteran journeyman screenwriter (STREET KINGS, LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, SALT) best known to genre fans for writing and directing the excellent 2002 sci-fi cult classic EQUILIBRIUM, had a hand in shaping, or at least influencing, the very effective dystopian look of the futuristic Colony, which resembles a sort-of high-tech, Shanghai shanty town that's one big Red Light District.
Colin Farrell as Quaid
Doug Quaid (Colin Farrell, in his second summer remake in a row after last year's dismal FRIGHT NIGHT redux) is a factory worker who commutes daily from The Colony to the UFB on "The Fall," a seven-minute ride through the center of the Earth. He assembles "Synthetics" (robotic police officers) for the UFB by day, and at night, is plagued by vague dreams where he's some kind of secret agent. Other than feeling like he's stuck in a dead-end job, Quaid is happy with Lori (Kate Beckinsale), his wife of seven years, and despite warnings from his friend and co-worker Harry (Bokeem Woodbine), he visits the memory-implant company Rekall, thinking the implantation of a spy-type adventure will lift his spirits. During the procedure, the Rekall staff realizes that Quaid already is a secret agent, though he has no memory of it.
Farrell and Kate Beckinsale: "Conseedah
dat a deevawrse!"
Anyone who's seen the Verhoeven film is obviously familiar with the story so far. In one respect, it's a detriment because those of us who have seen TOTAL RECALL 1990 many times know about the characters Quaid (and his other identity, Hauser), Lori, Harry, Melina (played here by Jessica Biel) and the villain Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), and that inevitably takes the element of surprise away from the plot twists (though the filmmakers do have some fun playing with the malfunctioning fat-lady disguise that Quaid used to sneak through Mars security in the 1990 film, and Farrell's Quaid is seen reading Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me at one point). TR 2012 keeps the characters familiar but changes their surrounding story significantly. Cohaagen is now the Chancellor of the UFB, intent on wiping out The Colony and "terrorist" Resistance leader Matthias (Bill Nighy) so as to eliminate the lower class--the factory workers, who he intends to replace with Synthetics--in order accommodate the burgeoning overpopulation issue in the upper-class UFB. The remake eliminates Cohaagen's right-hand man Richter (memorably played by Michael Ironside in the 1990 film) and instead combines that character with Lori, thereby allowing Beckinsale to do her action heroine routine. There's definitely the potential for seeing a political subtext here, but it's largely unexplored, instead focusing on action and some truly stunning visual effects. As familiar as the story may seem despite the many changes, TR 2012 really excels with some astonishing production design and CGI wizardry to create one of the most dazzling future dystopias that's been seen on the screen in quite some time. The budget for this was allegedly in the neighborhood of a ludicrous $200 million, but it shows (is it going to make that back? Probably globally). It's not just CGI greenscreen backgrounds. There's some innovative set design and some extremely well-choreographed action sequences throughout. Wiseman, directing his first film since the atrocious LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (2007), does a commendable job throughout, which I believe is the first time anyone has said such a thing about Len Wiseman.
Jessica Biel as "Meh-leeeee-naaaaah!"
Is TR 2012 as good as TR 1990? No. But for a good hour or more, it seems like it might be. Only in the home stretch, when it starts getting louder and sillier and more illogical (would an evil, megalomaniacal supervillain like Chancellor Cohaagen really suit up and take part in a raid on Matthias' stronghold in the inhabitable No Zone?), and more derivative (utilizing elements of BLADE RUNNER, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, and even STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES), does it stumble somewhat. There was really no reason for a TOTAL RECALL remake, and while it's not a complete success across the board, Wiseman, the screenwriters, and the production design and effects team really brought their A-game to it. Perhaps it's a depressing sign of the times to resort to applauding filmmakers for not phoning it in and instead actually investing themselves in a project, but for the most part, TOTAL RECALL 2012 surpasses admittedly diminished expectations and is much more enjoyable and entertaining than it has any reason to be.
Farrell drops into this outtake from THE FIFTH ELEMENT
Earlier this week, to coincide with the remake, Lionsgate released a new Blu-ray edition of the 1990 original. Their previous Blu-ray was a shoddy HD transfer, while the new "Mind-Bending Edition" was supervised and approved by director Paul Verhoeven. The Verhoeven/Schwarzenegger commentary and the rest of the extras are carried over from the prior edition, along with a new "Restoration Comparison" detailing the process of restoring and remastering the film and doing a side-by-side comparison of the old vs. new transfers. It's quite an upgrade.
DETENTION opened in limited release last spring to mostly negative but a few inexplicably positive reviews that occasionally used terms like "anarchic," "postmodern," and "deconstruction." Really? Because it's basically a '90s-fixated hipster version of a Friedberg/Seltzer spoof/reference movie. Just because the references are snarkier and dated doesn't give it any intellectual substance or value as some sort of "commentary." It's not enough for someone to say "You're as funny as Bronson Pinchot," but then a chyron has to pop up on the screen that reads "PERFECT STRANGERS (TV series) 1986-1993." What can you say about a film where the presence of Dane Cook is one of its more positive elements? Directed and co-written by music video vet Joseph Kahn (who mockingly references his own 2004 action flick TORQUE, in addition to a character saying slasher films are a way for music video directors to fund their coke habit), the exhausting, headache-inducing DETENTION wastes an appealing Shanley Caswell as cynical Grizzly Lake high school outcast Riley, who's at the center of students being gruesomely offed by horror franchise icon Cinderhella. Then the story goes off on a time travel tangent in the second half, with Riley and skateboarding cool kid Clapton (Josh Hutcherson of THE HUNGER GAMES) going back to 1992 to stop the school from being blown up by a bomb.
In lieu of a coherent story, DETENTION just tosses rapid fire, mostly 1990s (also some 1980s and 2000s) references with wild, random abandon, including but not limited to (in no particular order): ROAD HOUSE, Patrick Swayze, UNDER SIEGE, ON DEADLY GROUND, Steven Seagal, Sting's "Fields of Gold," C + C Music Factory, mullets, SCREAM, Neve Campbell, THE BREAKFAST CLUB, FREAKY FRIDAY, Hoobastank, VOLCANO, Michael Keaton, "Eat my shorts!," YU-GI-OH, C. Thomas Howell, Cronenberg's THE FLY, DONNIE DARKO, "Gotta fled," THE LAWNMOWER MAN, Frank Whaley, Christian Slater, TOTAL RECALL, Hanson's "Mmm Bop," FREEJACK on laserdisc, BEVERLY HILLS 90210, grunge, "As if!," 50 Cent, THE KARATE KID, Backstreet Boys, and, of course, a Ron Jeremy cameo. Fuck off. (R, 93 mins).
JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI (US - 2012)
Marvelous documentary focusing on 85-year-old Jiro Ono, master sushi chef and owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a legendary restaurant located under a Tokyo office building near a subway tunnel. The restaurant, rated a best-possible three stars by Michelin's Tokyo guide, seats ten people, and there's a one-month waiting list to get in. Jiro is meticulous to the point of obsession. He prepares each piece to make it better than the last, and has a crew of apprentices working under him, headed by his 50-year-old son Yoshikazu, who never thought he'd be an apprentice for so long but accepts that it's the eldest son's duty to succeed his father when he retires or "when the inevitable happens." Even a heart attack at 70 didn't stop Jiro from what seems to be his only passion. He's stoical and wise, and even Tokyo's leading food critic admits to being intimidated by his presence. We don't learn much about Jiro's leisure time, because there isn't any. He works from 5:00 am to 10:00 pm, seven days a week (he regards national holidays as "lost time") in pursuit of perfect sushi, and readily admits "I wasn't much of a father." He mentions his wife once, but we never see her or his home. His younger son Takashi runs a more laid-back, less-expensive version of Sukiyabashi Jiro in another area of Tokyo (depending on what's available and the quality of the fish, it's a minimum of 30,000 yen, or approximately $383 US, for a visit to Sukiyabashi Jiro), and seems to be happy to not have to deal with the pressure put on Yoshikazu, who has taken a more active role behind the scenes since Jiro's heart attack. Director David Gelb follows Yoshikazu as he visits Tokyo's fish vendors, procuring the finest live fish for preparation at the restaurant. Sushi lovers, who tend to be passionate about it, will find the preparation scenes fascinating. And there's an absolutely beautiful sequence where Jiro serves the food critic and his party in perfectly-choreographed fashion, almost like he's conducting a symphony. And it's appropriate--sushi is Jiro's passion, not just as a chef but as his form of artistic expression. Despite a seemingly limited appeal, JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI became a minor arthouse hit in theaters, and even if you aren't a sushi connoisseur (though it probably helps) or find Jiro a little too obsessed with his work, the film is a fascinating portrait of one of Japan's national treasures. (PG, 82 mins)
AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN was perhaps 1982's stealthiest blockbuster. It opened with little fanfare on July 30 and didn't have its biggest week until September. It remained in the top five until December, only taking the top spot twice, but it made just under $130 million to became the third highest-grossing film of the year. The film, directed by Taylor Hackford (THE IDOLMAKER) and written by Douglas Day Stewart (THE BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE, THE BLUE LAGOON), is predictable and manipulative (especially the storybook finale), but it's got some strong performances and for the most part, it's aged well. Aimless, troubled, and angry Zack Mayo (Richard Gere), still not over his mother's suicide when he was child, joins the Navy as a way out of his dead-end life with his drunk father (Robert Loggia), whose idea of bonding is getting a prostitute for the two of them to share. He befriends fellow recruits Sid Worley (David Keith) and Casey Seeger (Lisa Eilbacher), clashes with drill sergeant Foley (Louis Gossett, Jr), and falls in love with local factory worker Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger) who, along with her best friend Lynette (Lisa Blount) dream of finding a Navy man to whisk them away from their dead-end jobs so they can see the world. Gere is very good as the irresponsible Mayo (aka "Mayo-naise," aka "Mayo the Wop"), who finally learns how to be a man once he's away from his loser father (fourth-billed Loggia exits the film before the opening credits, and spends most of his screen time scratching his balls), and it's he and Winger's considerable onscreen chemistry that made this the massive hit that it became. That, and the hugely popular Joe Cocker/Jennifer Warnes theme song "Up Where We Belong."
The song got an Oscar, and the Best Supporting Actor Oscar went to Gossett, who's fine in the role, but there's really nothing exceptional in his performance (and the Oscar curse led him straight to 1983's ill-advised JAWS 3-D). Of course, this was before R. Lee Ermey rewrote the book on cinematic drill sergeants five years later in FULL METAL JACKET (some of Ermey's dialogue seems to have been taken from here, as Gossett mentions "steers & queers," and threatens to gouge out Sid's eyes and "skullfuck" him). Winger first gained notice in 1980's URBAN COWBOY and helped provide the voice of E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, and received the first of her three Oscar nominations here, and this film was big enough for her that it managed to get her top billing over established stars Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson in the next year's TERMS OF ENDEARMENT. Winger, who famously clashed with MacLaine and quickly earned a reputation for being "difficult," has never been as vulnerable and appealing as she is here. Gere, coming off of AMERICAN GIGOLO, has been in a lot of big movies but has never really gotten the respect he's deserved as an actor. Watching the film again after many years, I was surprised at how good Gere is in this--not just in his interaction with Winger, Keith, or Gossett (the boot camp scenes are beyond formulaic), but most impressively in the scene where Mayo sacrifices his chance at the obstacle course record to help Seeger over the wall. It's audience manipulation at its most blatant, but Gere and the charming Eilbacher (why was she never a bigger star?) sell the hell out of it. But was it necessary for Mayo and Foley to settle their differences with a martial-arts match-up?
Ron Howard previously directed and starred in 1977's GRAND THEFT AUTO for Roger Corman, but NIGHT SHIFT was his first theatrical feature as a director since leaving HAPPY DAYS to focus on a career behind the camera. Working from a script by regular collaborators Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel, Howard brought along his TV co-star Henry Winkler and created one of the most immensely likable comedies of the year. It would probably rank as a comedy classic if it didn't lose momentum in the last third and drag on a bit longer than necessary. Winkler stars as Chuck Lumley, a mild-mannered night shift attendant at the NYC morgue, but from the very moment he's introduced, the film belongs to a debuting Michael Keaton in a star-making performance as his new assistant, fast-talking "idea man" Bill "Billy Blaze" Blazejowski.
With the help of Chuck's prostitute neighbor Belinda (Shelley Long), Chuck and Bill begin running a profitable prostitution ring out of the morgue. Winkler and Keaton are a great team, and after several years of doing stand-up and assorted TV roles, Keaton immediately established himself as a major new comedic talent, and in the coming years, would prove to be just as adept in serious roles as well. Long was a few months away from starring in CHEERS, and the film also features appearances by Bobby DiCicco (who gets the immortal line "Oh, that Barney Rubble...what an actor!"), Richard Belzer, Joe Spinell, Nita Talbot, an ass-baring Michael Pataki, Vincent Schiavelli, Cassandra Gava (the witch in CONAN THE BARBARIAN), a young Shannen Doherty as a girl scout, and Kevin Costner as "Frat Guy #1" (he's at the party in the morgue, behind Keaton as he's balancing a beer bottle on his forehead), in addition to the inevitable Clint Howard.
The soundtrack features songs written by Carole Bayer Sager and Burt Bacharach, including the title track by Quarterflash (still riding high on "Harden My Heart"), Al Jarreau's "Girls Know How," and Rod Stewart's version of "That's What Friends Are For," which became a chart-topping charity single for Dionne Warwick and Friends (Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder) in 1985. Other songs on the soundtrack include Van Halen's cover of "You Really Got Me," Talk Talk's "Talk Talk," and two songs by Riggs, a band that Warner Bros. got on the HEAVY METAL soundtrack as well, and were thoroughly unsuccessful at convincing the world to give a shit.
Also in theaters this weekend was the Chuck Norris thriller FORCED VENGEANCE. Norris was slowly building a name for himself with drive-in hits like BREAKER! BREAKER! (1977), GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK (1978), A FORCE OF ONE (1979), and THE OCTAGON (1980). AN EYE FOR AN EYE (1981) moved him closer to mainstream action and SILENT RAGE (1982) mixed Norris action into a sci-fi/horror story. Four months after SILENT RAGE hit theaters, Norris was in theaters again with FORCED VENGEANCE, which finds him in more familiar surroundings as a casino security guard taking on the crime syndicate of Hong Kong. The relentlessly busy Norris next did LONE WOLF MCQUADE (1983) and then had his first bona fide box office smash with MISSING IN ACTION (1984). FORCED VENGEANCE was directed by Clint Eastwood protege James Fargo, who served as an assistant director on several Eastwood films throughout the '70s before the star let him direct THE ENFORCER (1976) and EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE (1978). Fargo left the Eastwood stock company in 1978, doing the box-office bombs CARAVANS (1978) and GAME FOR VULTURES (1979). FORCED VENGEANCE grossed $6.5 million and was the closest thing Fargo had to a hit without Eastwood, and by 1984, he was directing Pia Zadora in VOYAGE OF THE ROCK ALIENS before settling into a TV career (directing episodes of THE A-TEAM, SCARECROW AND MRS. KING, and HUNTER), with occasional B-movie assignments. After directing a low-budget 1998 kids movie called SECOND CHANCES, Fargo went MIA but finally emerged from obscurity after 13 years with BORN TO RIDE (2011), a straight-to-DVD SONS OF ANARCHY knockoff, with Casper van Dien and Patrick Muldoon reuniting from STARSHIP TROOPERS.
TEX was the first of a string of S.E. Hinton adaptations to hit screens from 1982 to 1985. Directed by Tim Hunter, who went on to make RIVER'S EDGE (1987), TEX stars Matt Dillon and Jim Metzler as two teenage brothers whose father (Bill McKinney) abandons them after their mother dies. It's a typical Hinton coming-of-age drama, with younger brother Tex (Dillon) forced to grow up fast and big brother Mason (Metzler) shouldering the responsibility of raising his little brother. The fine supporting cast includes the great Ben Johnson, Meg Tilly, and a young Emilio Estevez as a friend of Tex's. Dillon and Estevez would become almost the de facto faces of S.E. Hinton on the big screen, starring with an army of young, promising talent (Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, and others) in Francis Ford Coppola's THE OUTSIDERS (1983) and Dillon would also star in Coppola's second Hinton adaptation, RUMBLE FISH, later in 1983. Estevez wrote and starred in 1985's THAT WAS THEN...THIS IS NOW, leaving 1988's Taming the Star Runner the only one of Hinton's young-adult novels that hasn't been made into a film involving either Matt Dillon or Emilio Estevez.
1. E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
2. THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS
3. AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN
4. YOUNG DOCTORS IN LOVE
5. NIGHT SHIFT
6. ROCKY III
7. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP
8. SIX PACK
9. POLTERGEIST
10. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (re-release)
KLOWN aka KLOVN: THE MOVIE (Denmark - 2010; 2012 US release)
Directed by Mikkel Norgaard. Written by Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam. Cast: Frank Hvam, Casper Christensen, Marcuz Jess Petersen, Mia Lhyne, Iben Hjejle, Lars Hjortshoj. (R, 91 mins)
Produced by Lars von Trier's Zentropa Entertainment, KLOWN (released in its native Denmark in 2010 as KLOVN: THE MOVIE) is a feature-film spinoff of the hugely popular Danish TV comedy series KLOVN, which ran for six seasons from 2005 to 2009. Considered to be a sort-of Danish equivalent to CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, KLOWN certainly owes Larry David a huge debt in terms of its structure, its squirm and discomfort factor and its use of Danish celebrities popping up to offend, or be offended by, the well-meaning but socially hapless Frank (Frank Hvam), who gets himself into similar CURB-style situations, only with more raunch and body fluids. KLOWN is very often screamingly funny, provided you like the kind of humor that has something to offend everyone. Unlike CURB, a lot of the gags tend to lean toward the shocking and disgusting, but there's a wit, a sophistication, and a surprising heart to it that lifts it above the level of the usual American-made grossout comedies of several years ago.
Frank Hvam as Frank
Frank finds out his girlfriend Mia (Mia Lhyne) is pregnant. She expresses concern that Frank isn't ready for the responsibilities of fatherhood. To prove her wrong, Frank impulsively takes Mia's shy, awkward, 12-year-old nephew Bo (Marcuz Jess Petersen) on a canoeing trip with his horndog, overgrown-adolescent best buddy Casper (Casper Christensen). Casper isn't happy about Bo potentially interfering with his "Tour de Pussy," but it doesn't stop him from sleeping with every woman possible. Misunderstandings and bad decisions abound, but over the trip, both Frank and Casper bond with the boy and, in their own unique ways, grow up. Sort of.
Casper Christensen, Hvam, and Marcuz Jess Petersen in a KLOWN publicity shot
Sure, that sounds all warm and fuzzy, but KLOWN doesn't shy away from anything along the way. The script, by Christensen and Hvam, tries but doesn't quite achieve the intricate construction and multiple converging storylines that are Larry David's trademark, but the situations in which Frank frequently finds himself will delight any fan of David's style of humor. And for American audiences, the Danish celebrities who appear throughout will likely not register (I had to do some Wikipedia searches after watching). But whether Frank is getting kicked out of a book club meeting by Grammy-winning "Alley Cat" composer Bent Fabric, accidentally ejaculating into Mia's mother's face, being cajoled by Casper into an impromptu threesome, being denied entry into a posh brothel because he's "too ugly," or failing miserably in his attempts to replicate Casper's magnetic charm ("man-flirting"), the comedic elements still speak loud and clear.
I've never seen the TV series KLOVN, but online reviews from Danish fans seem to indicate that the film is a worthy big-screen follow-up. In addition to the Danish-centric elements, the writers and director Mikkel Norgaard dive into the film already expecting its Danish audience to be up to speed with the characters and their histories from the TV show's six-season run. That said, the film is still hysterically funny and while that background info would be nice, it's not completely necessary to have it in order to enjoy KLOWN. Von Trier fans will probably recognize THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS' Jorgan Leth in a brief bit as himself (dispensing terrible advice to Frank), and followers of Danish politics will spot former Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Petersen. Casper's wife is played by Iben Hjejle, best known to American audiences as John Cusack's girlfriend in HIGH FIDELITY (2000). But excepting any Americans who lived in Scandinavia over the last decade, the appearances of Fabric, Danish pop star Medina, TV host Mads Brugger, novelist Ib Michael, and former TV executive Mikael Bertelsen will likely be lost on all but the most devout American students of Danish pop culture. But even without the full effect of being able to put these cameos and other incidental elements into their proper cultural context, the language of comedy is universal, and the very R-rated KLOWN is one of the year's funniest films.
THE HANGOVER director Todd Phillips and EASTBOUND AND DOWN's Danny McBride are currently in the writing stages of a US remake of KLOWN. Don't do it. Just stop. Please.
One of the more egregious examples of misleading advertising from the grindhouse glory days, THE DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN was the 1980 US retitling of the 1979 Australian import SNAPSHOT, complete with poster art that didn't make any overt claims, but arguably implied that it was somehow connected to John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN (1978). I'm sure audiences became openly hostile by the 20-minute mark, as it obviously has nothing whatsoever to do with HALLOWEEN or Halloween, but taken on its own terms (or, as SNAPSHOT, which is the actual title on both versions on Scorpion Releasing's new DVD--more on that in a bit), it's a compellingly odd character piece that's light on thrills and chills, but does a good job of establishing a palpable sense of unease throughout. It also has a believable performance by Sigrid Thornton (THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER) as young, naive hairdresser Angela. Stuck in a dead-end job with a domineering mother (Julia Blake), a bratty little sister (Jacqui Gordon), and ex-boyfriend Daryl (Vincent Gil) who follows her around in an ice cream truck, Angela is whisked away from her dreary life by bitch-on-wheels cover girl Madeline (Chantal Contouri), who gets her a modeling job. Now with money and independence, Angela is meeting all sorts of new people and finding her way through a new world. And that ice cream truck is still following her. 
