He has a real knack for survival

 OCTOPUSSY (1983)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Back in 1983, I was so excited to see a new James Bond adventure at the theater down the street from where I lived that I ran and climbed a fence facing a gas station. I climbed it thinking I was James Bond and got a small cut from the spikes at the top of the fence. I still have a small scar below my chest to remind me of the excitement of a 12-year-old seeing "Octopussy." After all these years, "Octopussy" is technically one of the oddest of the Bond films because of its far more exotic locales, action scenes that seem that carry a slight Indiana Jones vibe, an island full of gorgeous women dressed in red jumpsuits, and near-parodic moments that will tickle your funny bone. The plot isn't complicated though I am not sure how much sense it makes. 

Roger Moore still returns as the dapper James Bond, 007 with a license to kill and a license to charm your socks off. Opening pre-title sequence is almost as good as any Moore Bond film, in fact probably just as exciting as the goofy "Moonraker," with Bond in disguise as a Latin American general whose mission is to blow up a military base. The minijet that Bond escapes in while being chased by a tracking missile is truly exciting enough to make you grab the arms of your seat. Following that dazzling opener, we get an agent 009 dressed as a clown who is killed by twin assassins who can throw a knife like nobody's business. Apparently 009 was clutching a fake Faberge egg and Bond attends an auction where the same Faberge egg is to be sold. Needless to say, after some swapping of eggs, the mission is to find out why an Afghan prince named Kamal Khan (Louis Jordan, as suave as Moore) bid and won the egg and what all this has to do with a mad Soviet general (Steven Berkoff) and the aforementioned island of women (and crocodiles) where a jewel smuggling operation exists - essentially, priceless jewels in exchange for fake ones. There is also a nuclear bomb threat where a probable scenario of the Soviet Union arming itself while the U.S. is blamed for the bomb and NATO removes nuclear weapons from Europe, and blah and blah and blah. Truth be told, the hotbed of political strife is a bit tough to digest so let's say, it is one country being scapegoated over an international incident. 

I don't necessarily watch James Bond movies for political intrigue in as much as spirited, inspired action, a few gadgets from our lovable Q, and a hero we can root for. Roger Moore fits the bill with wit and poise - he's not my favorite Bond yet he was always an inspired choice. Bond ultimately has to disarm a bomb and only has minutes to do it in. That makes more sense than the mad general thinking he might be seen as hero for the Soviet Union. In terms of action scenes, they are extraordinary and virtually implausible. Whether it is Bond fighting villains on board a fast train, hiding inside a gorilla costume to evade an enemy, dressed as a clown at a circus, hanging on for dear life at high elevations on a small Cesna-like plane, beating Kamal Khan at backgammon (okay, that is probable), or being driven inside a three-wheeled "company car" in New Delhi while being chased by the bad guys where a camel almost does a double take, or the yo-yo saw that could slice our Bond into four different Bonds and so on. You know what to expect and the movie delivers expertly on all sorts of thrills, chills and spills. The humor quotient is higher than usual too including having Vijay (played by real-life tennis player Vijay Amritraj), an MI6 ally, play the 007 theme with a flute! Say what? Or Bond telling a ferocious tiger to "Sittttt!" Or Q being kissed by those voluptuous women!

The villains are engaging though not as dangerous as in previous Bond films (or for that matter, Klaus Maria Brandeur who appeared in that same 1983 summer's other Bond film, "Never Say Never Again"). I should not exclude mentioning Maud Adams as Octopussy, the wealthy jewel smuggler on that island of women, who definitely holds our attention - she's good company with Roger Moore. Jordan is the very essence of a dry martini - he can be stirred but not shaken. Kudos to Walter Gotell as KGB General Anatol Gogol, a familiar presence since he played this same character in a few of Moore's Bond pictures. And I do like the fierce, haunting eyes of Kabir Bedi as Gobinda, Khan's bodyguard who can crush dice into fine powder. Not enough to crush Bond's face because Bond survives with almost no scratches through one cliffhanging episode after another. He survives virtually unscathed (except for a broken arm and leg which miraculously does not stop him from making love to Octopussy). This is not a serious James Bond movie but it is definitely delicious buckets of fun. 

Eye Sore in the face of Katrina

 CLOSED FOR STORM (2020)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Having seen many of director Jake Williams' "Abandoned" short subject films on Youtube, I had a pretty good sense of what to expect from his feature-length documentary "Closed for Storm." It is a fascinating subject - an abandoned Six Flags amusement park that was almost swept away by Hurricane Katrina - and what makes it potent and illuminating is how the park was a metaphor for the destruction of most of New Orleans. Like most of the city, the park was left it in the dark except for the French Quarter with no interest in rebuilding for posterity. 

The amusement park is the Jazzland/Six Flags park on the east side of New Orleans, the first of its kind in the city's history. The park was originally known only as Jazzland when it opened in 2000, looking much more like a historical park celebrating the city's heritage. Bankruptcy had threatened the park since it did not turn a profit and so in 2003, Six Flags invested $20 million to make modifications and added some new rides. Unfortunately before anything like a much desired water park could be built, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the entire region. The park was built on a concrete deck of more than 4 feet, important fact to know since it was quite stable and never cracked during the Katrina Storm. The damage was due to the adjacent Lake Pontchartrain which flooded all the drainage pipes. Sure, we all know the French Quarter was practically rebuilt yet most housing outside the city's limits were left to deteriorate. That included the Six Flags park and nobody did anything to repair the damage in 15 years.

Director Jake Williams deftly handles various interviews from former employees (one who wanted to work at the park forever) who never imagined the park would close, though we get the impression most felt the park would never reopen after Katrina. Ryan Bordenave, the parks' advertising manager, and Troy Henry, the developer who twice ran for Mayor and lost, outline the history of this park and the politics that later governed its current state. The park was so massive that it was nothing but an eye sore and we get a good sense of the financial strain it caused, including statements from residents that lived near it. The politicians indicated that the park was due for demolition but it never happened, knowing trespassers would scour the area. 

"Closed for Storm" also shows us the damage of the park, including the ruined and visibly damaged offices and the calendars with the date frozen in August of 2005. Most of the aerial footage by way of drones is terrific and visually the park looks like the land that time forgot. The musical score penetrates without ever overstating its importance. "Closed for Storm" is a riveting chapter of New Orleans post-Katrina history that should not be missed, and it succeeds as a tone poem where most of the city was left to rot. 

'I am in it for the money'

 GROSS ANATOMY (1989)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Gross Anatomy" is formulaic to a tee and nothing in it is anything less than foreseeable. That is one of its weaknesses and one of its strengths is it that it has sincere performances and a snappy enough pace to maintain interest.

Aspiring to attend medical school, Joe Slovak (Matthew Modine) is the rebellious, jocose student type - he wants to be in medical school to make money yet he's mostly an average college student. Joe plays basketball in his spare time and studies in unorthodox ways such as memorizing boldface type in the textbooks (huh?) This is supposed to account for his retention and he finally succeeds at admittance to a medical school. One of his classes involves studying gross anatomy, you know studying real corpses and the superior vena cava and all that. This is where he meets Laurie (Daphne Zuniga), who is far more serious about med school than Joe seemingly is. The study group he joins also includes a pregnant student; a goal-incentivized student with a flattop haircut, and Joe's own schedule-specific roommate (Todd Field) who ingests speed to keep up. 

"Gross Anatomy" would be disposable if it weren't for the charming, sincere performances especially Matthew Modine who ignites the screen, when he is allowed to ("Full Metal Jacket" and "Short Cuts" are among his finer efforts). What especially makes this movie rise above the generic is the depiction of the work ethic involved in studying 3500 pages of medical textbooks a week! The fact that Joe merely glides by without much effort isn't always believable but we do root for him to succeed, in addition to the rest of the study group. Christine Lahti also brightens the proceedings as the anatomy teacher, Dr. Woodruff, who sees potential in Joe. She also has a secret that is absolutely predictable due to an earlier development involving Joe's studies of a medical patient, none of which will be revealed here. Nevertheless Lahti makes the revelation of this secret so emotional without sentiment that it feels real as opposed to forced.

The director here is Thom Eberhardt and he does a competent job though his gift is his handling of actors - he loves them and we see the humanity in each one of them. Todd Field is especially good at showing how an overworked student loses control of his mental faculties. Added to that is the believable chemistry between the compulsively watchable Modine and the dubious Zuniga - she is as good here as she was in "The Sure Thing." "Gross Anatomy" is an example of taking cliches from a formulaic concept and making them seem fresh and almost new all over again.

Walk Like a Man

 HEART AND SOULS (1993)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I initially saw "Heart and Souls" back in 1993 and thought very little of it. It felt slight and completely forced though I never thought it was charmless. 28 years later, it is still somewhat slight, a little forced, definitely not charmless yet it does have soul and heart to it. It is a completely disarming comedic effort.

The movie packs in a few characters from the start though it doesn't quite take flight. Set in 1959, Alfre Woodard (one of our most unsung actresses) is the single mother who loves her child and her cats. Tom Sizemore is some sort of clumsy thief who has stolen a precious stamp collection. Charles Grodin is a singer who can't bring himself to sing at rehearsals. Kyra Sedgwick is a cocktail waitress at the Purple Onion club who can't commit to a relationship. These characters end up in a bus crash that kills everyone on board, narrowly missing a collision with a car carrying a pregnant mother who gives birth at the exact moment of the crash. The spirits of the bus passengers spend most of their time with Thomas (Eric Lloyd), the baby from that car, singing Four Seasons tunes (specifically, "Walk like a Man"). Eventually our spectral visitors realize they have to let Thomas go or he might end up in an institution because, you know, Thomas talks to them and can see them but nobody else can.

"Heart and Souls" then shifts to thirty years later with a distant yuppie-fied Thomas (Robert Downey, Jr.) who clings to his cell phone more than to his less-than-patient girlfriend (a wasted Elisabeth Shue). At the half-hour mark, the film finally picks up steam. When the bus driver of that accident (David Paymer) comes to collect the souls en route to Heaven, the ghosts realize they have to settle their unresolved problems on Earth and use Thomas as their vessel (they were supposed to do this thirty years earlier). We get a few scenes of Downey, Jr. being inhabited by these spirits and much of it is very funny, especially Sizemore inhabiting Thomas with a carnivorous sexual energy. The Woodard and Sedgwick imitations are less flattering though Downey gives it 110 percent effort. Most moving is Grodin inhabiting Downey for his chance to sing the Star Spangled Banner! 

Somehow the movie feels overstuffed and overly sentimental - perhaps fewer spirits trying to reconnect and reconcile with their past might have worked best. Just Sizemore and Grodin following Downey around might have been funnier and more soulful. Still, I was sort of sold by the movie - it is too busy to be a complete success unlike Downey's other ghost tale "Chances Are" - and it has ample charm and wears its heart on its sleeve. I have to admit, the ending moved me with the message that love is the answer to everything; only you just have to work at it.