Hood ornament that flies

 THE ROCKETEER (1991)

Reassessed by Jerry Saravia

Pulp adventure tales used to be a dime a dozen in book format, comics and movie serials. Some even had a sci-fi edge to them. "The Rocketeer" is based on the late Dave Stevens' 1982 comic-book series of the same name and, like the feature film, it is a deliberate throwback to a 1930's-1940's sensibility with chivalrous heroes like The Shadow and, perhaps, the Phantom. The difference may be that the Rocketeer is a reluctant hero and he is not interested in wearing tights. His look is more of an Art Deco pilot wearing a "hood ornament" for a mask. "The Rocketeer" is tons of escapist fun though the hero is not as charismatic as I might have hoped.

Bill Campbell is the unlucky pilot, Cliff Secord, who finds himself in trouble with the FBI and the mob, both searching for a top-secret rocket backpack designed by Howard Hughes! It is left in Cliff's biplane and, suddenly, his eyes glow at the possibilities of such a super duper find. Peevy (Alan Arkin), Cliff's mechanic, is also startled by this invention and so they test it on a statue with mixed results. At an air show where he tries to rescue an older former pilot, Cliff swooshes in and out of the clouds and the countryside of orange groves where he keeps trying to get used to the rocket pack (his lack of smooth flying feels credible for a first-timer). This gets the attention of the FBI (one of the agents is played by Ed Lauter), gangsters including their mob boss, the "100% American" Billy Valentine (Paul Sorvino), and naturally fictional Hollywood actor Neville Sinclair (a boisterous turn by Timothy Dalton) who is a secret Nazi. 

"The Rocketeer" packs in a lot of heat for a fun, joyous serial-based fantasy with a few cliffhangers. There is plenty of aerial action with that rocket pack and several planes, a flaming zeppelin, a couple of fistfights with a Rondo Hatton henchman type, Nazis aching to return to the Fatherland, a Hollywood celebrity club where we hear renditions of "Begin the Beguine" by the lovely presence of Melora Hardin and where W.C. Fields and Clark Gable attend, a Bulldog cafe (there was an actual one in L.A.), a creepy Nazi cartoon, and even a lively turn by Terry O'Quinn as a mustachioed Howard Hughes who is trying to develop the Spruce Goose! 

As for Bill Campbell, he looks the part of a 1938 pilot but he is unpersuasive as a hero - just some twentysomething kid who at least knows how to kiss Jennifer Connelly. Connelly gives one of her loveliest performances ever as a Bettie Page-type who is not quite your usual damsel in distress (though she needs rescuing, she also fights back against Neville and some Nazi agents). Despite Campbell's role (he does give it an ounce of humor and determination), "The Rocketeer" is sheer entertainment with thrilling moments that are quite breathless to witness. You'll be cheering by the end. 

Wry comedy of manners

 THE INVITE (2026)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

An argumentative married couple have their loud neighbors over for appetizers and wine. Problems and tension are fueled almost immediately when there is no wine (well, there is the couple's anniversary wine stored away) and one of the neighbors is either allergic or just simply doesn't like cheese, crackers or prosciutto. What might have been a poor man's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" or a cuter version of "Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice" develops into a wry comedy of manners with some of the biggest laughs I've had in recent memory. 

Olivia Wilde is Angela, a worrywart who buys rugs and lamps from flea markets with the need to impress. Angela is married to Joe (Seth Rogen), a former musician for a band that never went anywhere. He teaches music at a small conservatory that he doesn't seem suited for. Joe is miserable, has not had sex with Angela in a year yet they stay together for the one young daughter they have (whom we never see). When Joe arrives one night from work, Angela reminds him they have guests that evening- they are their upstairs neighbors who have loud sex romps every night. Joe is flummoxed by this, unprepared for this couple and is ready to rant on them being noisy to the extreme. The neighbors arrive and they include rug enthusiast and widower Hawk (Edward Norton), a former firefighter (not fireman), and his Spanish girlfriend, Pina (Penelope Cruz). What develops during the course of this evening is surprising with Joe relating his honesty about this couple to their face and with Angela doing her best to deflect her husband from making everything less than merry. The irony is that happy-go-lucky, charming Hawk (his chosen nickname) and flirty Pina appreciate them for their honesty. After Angela does a mini-tour of their San Francisco apartment with Hawk and Pina smokes pot with Joe in his office, there is much talk about sex and orgies and Angela walking naked in the apartment. This intentional display of baring it all was seen by Hawk in his apartment! And there is a tremendously funny scene where Joe has to admit that he knocked on their apartment door during all that noise - ring camera footage proves it all!

The first few minutes left me unsure of what I was in store for. The heightened music score by Devonté Hynes amps up the bickering and arguing between Joe and Angela. Once the movie settles in with the couples meeting each other, "The Invite" is a roller-coaster of laughs, wickedly funny character insights and an unexpected explosion of truth towards the end that I found quite moving. Still, this is not a raw examination of couples in the 2020's by way of Virginia Woolf nor does it open up beyond marital fidelity like "Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice" (the best married couple syndrome comedy-drama I've ever seen) but its heart is closer to Woody Allen's own romantic comedies (there's a dedication to Diane Keaton in the end credits). Olivia Wilde scores another direct hit for having helmed this one behind the camera ("Booksmart" is my favorite film by her) and does an expert job of handling all the nuances and the interior shots so that not one shot of this apartment is ever repeated. She also knows how to handle herself and her disbelieving looks at Joe are priceless. Seth Rogen gives the best performance of his life, sharing his own self-deprecating ways better than anyone else could have. Kudos to Edward Norton playing one of the softer, gentler characters of his career and he's a good match for Penelope Cruz who is always exciting to watch. A movie for couple to treasure. 

Two men bicker, fight and get drunk

 THE LIGHTHOUSE (2019)
Endured by Jerry Saravia

A state of isolation for four weeks inside a lighthouse while a brewing storm takes place inside a steep rock island is ripe for cinematic treatment. Director Robert Eggers has liberally borrowed from Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe and so, in some idiosyncratic fashion, he has made a manly horror film. This is about two wickies (lighthouse keepers) who do not get along leading to a strenuous relationship fraught with ugliness and despair. I tend to like films that push the edge of paranoia on an island populated only by two people and some seagulls (think "Swept Away," the Wertmuller version), but this "Lighthouse" is monotonous and out of focus with its ideas.

The thunderous music by Mark Korven is about as loud as the water splashing on the rocks. The two wickies, Winslow (Robert Pattinson) and Wade (Willem Dafoe), are to take charge of the lighthouse. They sleep in the same quarters. Thomas does the heavy lifting of dragging barrels of oil and physical labor tasks of carrying heavy kerosene tanks to top of the lighthouse, cleaning pots, etc. I began to wonder what Wade does - I assume masturbating to the white light of the lantern. Masturbation comes up frequently, so to speak, as Wade and Winslow masturbate though not to each other (what else are you going to do on your off time on a rock island?) Winslow uses a ceramic mermaid figurine to feed his fantasies and Wade, well, something slithering inside the top of that lighthouse. 

Slowly, madness settles in Winslow though we figure Wade is already an old, superstitious kook with a pipe and a lust for alcohol. Winslow is supposed to head back, somewhere, and be picked up on that island but no one ever comes and no food rations are delivered. Winslow gets irate with Wade, can't stand his poetic musings or the nightly toasts. It is only natural that Winslow envisions mermaids he's having sex with and finding severed heads and dead seagulls. Since this is Winslow's point-of-view, we assume he is just seeing disturbing visions.  

I started checking out of this film long before Winslow (revealing himself to be somebody else to Wade) slowly goes mad with an evil look in his eyes. I just found both characters unwatchable and unappealing which is a little amazing considering they are played by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. Dafoe commands the screen with those demonic, snarling eyes, large chin and large fisherman's beard - he plays Wade to the hilt. Pattinson has been showing his range ever since his "Twilight" days and never overacts - his last fifteen minutes on screen are a revelation. But "The Lighthouse" is simply overdone and overbaked in terms of atmosphere consisting of hard rain, copious fog and overcast skies. The film's tone is shrouded in darkness but it becomes overbearing and unthinkably boring with the same level of dread throughout. Dafoe and Pattinson never elicit enough humanity and so we watch two guys who fight, bicker and get drunk and, eventually, leads to an explosion of grisly violence. These two saps maybe needed a few more drinks and should've slept through it until somebody came along.  

Listen To What The Man Sings

 ROCKSHOW (1980)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

If you love Paul McCartney singing his heart away with the Wings band, you could do no worse than watch "Rockshow," an almost seamless compilation of live concert footage clips with over 30 songs from 1976 with McCartney and the band on tour tearing up the stage. It is hardly, in hindsight, one of the best filmed live concerts but it will suffice for McCartney/Wings/Beatles fans. 

Watching a rather cruddy DVD of this notable concert doesn't quite do it justice but it is still energizing and entertaining all the same (in 2013, a restored, longer print on Blu Ray became available but I haven't seen it). McCartney along with his Wings band members including Paul's wife, Linda doing vocals, keyboards, piano, percussion; the joyful Denny Laine doing vocals, guitars, bass, piano and harmonica; Joe English pounding away on drums; Jimmy McCulloch on guitar, vocals, and bass, as well as some distinctive horn players play with an electricity that one can only glean from having been at concerts. Crowd-pleasing songs are performed on stage from the Wings such as "Venus and Mars", "Jet," and two of my favorites, "Listen to What the Man Said" and "Band on the Run." There are some Beatles favorites including the tear-inducing "Yesterday" and "I've Just Seen a Face." The stage is practically on fire when we hear the rousing "Live and Let Die." McCartney is having the time of his life, bowing to the audience frequently and enthusiastically introducing the band members. He is having as much fun as the audience is. 

The concert footage is strong to a degree, though the players are often filmed from practically below the stage. Paul is given a rather odd side-angle view and the other players are sometimes obscured by darkness when the lights are not shining on them. Alas, we are never on the stage with them and the best rock concert films always gave us that impression. Also, there are insufficient crowd reactions and, as usual, it is not always clear which song the audience members are really reacting to since, again, this is a compilation of footage largely shot in Seattle and sections in L.A. as well.

"Rockshow" is often thrilling and, if you like these songs and are a rabid fan, you will sing along too. You'll be listening to what the man sings.     

Carl Sagan would be proud

CONTACT (1997)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Original review from 1997

What is this I hear about summer movies in general? They are all brainless and plotless? Excuse me, people, but don't forget that the smaller films are usually the smarter ones. It's true that Hollywood rarely delivers anything beyond the dumb and dumber set during the summer (or the year, for that

matter). The summer of 1997 had not been as horrendous as most, and one of the smartest and most thought-provoking films of that summer was "Contact."

Jodie Foster stars as Dr. Ellie Arroway, a serious-minded scientist who studies extraterrestrial life. She believes life exists in some distant galaxy, and studies chiefly with the world's largest radio telescope located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico hoping to establish some alien contact. When her research project

is terminated, she persuades the government to fund a project to investigate the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Ellie ends up in Socorro, New Mexico where they have a field of 27 huge disc-shaped radio telescopes where she might get some signal. And she does, and the whole world, including the government, the CIA, the FBI, and the National Security counsel, is eager to know what it

is about. At first, Ellie hears deep vibrating signals. Then she receives an alien signal in the form of the first televised image - Hitler's appearance at the 1936 Olympic Games. Then she gets another visual signal that may be instructions to build a ship.

"Contact" is based on the 1985 novel by the late Carl Sagan, and the film doesn't betray Sagan's beliefs or his ambiguity. There are no green-eyed Martians, no Men in Black with big guns, no laser shows, and no mother ships. "Contact" presents us with the possibility of intelligent life in other

galaxies or stars namely Vega - Ellie makes contact with the signals but not with the life forms (unless the ending of the movie suggests otherwise). When the ship is built, there's controversy as to who should be sent aboard - a believer in God, or a non-believer like Ellie? If the universe reveals God

doesn't exist, then where does civilization stand? If God does exist, should Ellie be the one to go for the 2001 ride through the cosmos?

"Contact" lumbers a bit with two needless subplots: the introduction of Matthew McConaughey as a religious scholar who has a brief affair with Ellie, and a bald Timothy Leary-like scientist (John Hurt) who has been supporting every move she makes. McConaughey appears and disappears too soon before he reappears in the last half of the film - his function is to let Ellie know that if she stands by her beliefs, she should not be travelling in space. However, I was struck by Ellie's decision in the first half not to speak to him after their affair - it seems McConaughey forgot they ever had one. The Hurt character also

has little function except to imply he may have created all the mumbo jumbo about alien ship designs to Ellie just to get the ship built. Hurt's performance is too over-the-top for this film and he seems to have drifted in from "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" minus the long fingernails.

Nevertheless, "Contact" works quite well for two reasons: Jodie Foster's strong, fully realized performance, and the credible, well-written script. Foster makes Ellie into an independent, vulnerable, tough-minded, no-nonsense heroine still harboring deep feelings for her father (David Morse) who passed away when she was young. Ellie's emotional clinging to her father is questioned by McConaughey at one point when she wants proof of God's existence:

McConaughey: 'Did you love your father?'

Ellie: 'Of course.'

McConaughey: 'Prove it.'

The screenplay by James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg huffs and puffs frequently, providing as much information as possible. It is quite ambitious covering Ellie's place as a scientist and as an atheist, and her relationship with her father; the government and the rest of the free world's involvement in

what may be a revolutionary moment in science or mere hocus pocus; the religious cults who try to take action against building an alien ship; and the final trip itself that may leave you thinking for days as to what is truth and where are the boundaries between time and space. The script is certainly well

devised and constructed but as aforementioned, there are too many subplots that distract from Ellie's ascension or descent as an important scientist. I could live without director Robert Zemeckis's "Gump"-ist attitudes by digitally showing Bill Clinton's opinion of this alien contact. There also too many

scenes of real-life CNN anchors commenting on the action - one or two would have been sufficient, but the whole staff? Ellie's hard-working staff is not given much screen time making it seem as if she's doing all the hard work alone.

"Contact" is clunky but it is still fine entertainment and briskly directed by Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump"). The opening sequence pulls back from earth through the galaxies, the stars and other planets hinting that something else might be out there while we hear various pop songs and then utter silence. It

is eye-opening and breathtaking, including the last twenty minutes where Ellie makes her rickety voyage into space in an alien pod that will take her to, presumably, the alien designers. The film benefits greatly from the astounding supporting cast including Tom Skerritt as David Drumlin, a scientist who wants to go in the pod mission; James Woods as an edgy (what else?) National Security Advisor; and Angela Bassett as a straight-arrow debate official. It is really Jodie Foster who makes the movie her own - ambitious, stubborn, scrupulous, skeptical. Carl Sagan would be proud.

Divide and Conquer

 SPLIT (2016)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I applaud M. Night Shyamalan for attempting a complex psychological thriller and I'd say that "Split" is among his better efforts. Despite my recommendation, the film is far too uneven and exploits schizophrenia and alternate personalities with a slightly ham-fisted approach. I do not expect a realistic film about alternates and dissociative identity disorder in an alleged horror film environment that incorporates shades of the slasher film variety. I do expect to witness these personalities and whatever traits they share individually but "Split" is meant to scare, to shock and to terrify only. It does succeed at all three.

Three young women are kidnapped in Philadelphia by a meek-looking man with 23 personalities! He keeps the women locked up in a sealed room in an underground tunnel where escape is futile. The crazy lunatic (okay, he's crazy though that is not a medical term) is either named Barry, Dennis or Patricia! One is a studious looking intellectual type, the other is an 8-year-old child and, of course, one is a woman. The alters appear on different days and confront the terrified girls with either calmness, rage or simply wanting to hang out and listen to Kanye West on his stereo! The young women include the introverted Anya Taylor Joy as Casey who tries to reason with this probable serial killer, and we also got Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula though they are not given much to do other than embrace each other, prepare for the worst by trying to break free and run down endless underground tunnels. Casey is the one with potent flashbacks to her less-than-savory uncle which begs the questions - why not just have Casey as the girl protagonist against this DID man whose 24th personality is something less than human and is about to pounce at any moment? This might have made room for introspection and more insights into how his mind works and into Casey's own difficult traumatic background. It is hinted that the man with 24 faces might have had trauma as well. 

James McAvoy is a threatening presence with his eyes evoking malice even when he or she is calm. It is a transformative, perplexing and downright creepy performance that should have warranted an Oscar nomination. Not even Ed Norton from "Primal Fear" could convey such lucidity and sense of impending dread as McAvoy does here. He's the main reason to see "Split" and gives the film immense power. Anya Taylor-Joy is an electrifying presence and her last few scenes showcase her own internal wounds. I shan't omit Betty Buckley as the therapist, Dr. Fletcher, who sees something unique and disturbing about her multiple personality patient.  

"Split" is not perfectly realized when it comes to McAvoy's alters nor is it an unnerving display of directorial magic from Shyamalan. Having said that, the Nightman has created a strong, almost unforgettable entry in his rather uneven filmmaking oeuvre. The psychology might be muted and a tad exploitative, but the thrills and suspense are not.  

Reality comes crashing down on your memories

 TOTAL RECALL (1990)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Total Recall" has some nifty special-effects and Arnold Schwarzenegger delivering comical punchlines and kicking ass, and naturally shooting a few people along the way. This is an adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novelette that may bring up ideas of identity and alternate reality but all of that vanishes with its elongated chase story of a would-be secret agent. Or is he?

Arnie is Douglas Quaid, a construction worker in the year 2084 who is married to Lori (Sharon Stone), "the girl of his dreams," who wishes Doug would dream of anything except Mars. Doug is obsessed and keeps watching the news about Mars involving a freedom brigade, mining operations and alien artifacts. Despite his obsession and being told by a co-worker that the fantasy travel agency where you can virtually pretend to go to Mars left someone lobotomized, well, you can't keep a man like Arnie from being less than curious. It is more than a virtual experience - they implant false memories in your brain. Something about this seems less than a fleeting fantasy where, for an extra charge, you can pretend to be a secret agent and save Mars and its people. 

There is much here that could be mined for a psychological exploration of one's psyche, identity and the implications of false memories but "Total Recall" is not that kind of movie. It is a concrete, muscular action movie with Arnie being chased by villains led by the one and only Richter (Michael Ironside) - his arched eyebrows alone could do all the killing. Also oozing some malevolence is Ronny Cox as Cohaagen, the Martian governor who could care less about the population especially when they need air to survive (Cohaagen is so evil that he knocks over a fish aquarium killing its fish). Richter is so evil that he can kill a rat impulsively. Schwarzenegger manages a couple of goofy one-liners like "You're screwed!" or "Consider that a divorce!" Some portions of the film can verge on misogyny and almost all the women, except for Stone's duplicitous Lori, are depicted as prostitutes. Nevertheless, "Total Recall" has the right atmosphere (so to speak) for the depiction of Mars plus the immense production design surrounding the vast underground spaces near an alien reactor. Of course, Schwarzenegger is a rousing action hero and, though he may not show much nuance as Quaid, he gets the job done. Nasty fun but expect only a trickling of Philip K. Dick's ideas here.