Bobby's Hollywood daydreams

 HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE (1987)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Racism and stereotypical roles given to all minorities, including blacks and Latinos has been a staple of Hollywood for far too long. During the 1980's, there might have been exceptions like Morgan Freeman's stunning, blistering pimp in "Street Smart" but they are few and far in between. Robert Townsend's writing and directing debut "Hollywood Shuffle" hits at many targets yet not hard enough, at least not to me. Townshend's approach is softer, more genteel when he needed a shot of raw nerve from the school of Spike Lee to really provide some biting commentary. 

Townsend is an out-of-work actor, Bobby, who is hoping to get the role of a pimp named Jimmy, courtesy of Tinseltown Pictures. He practices his lines in the voice of a whiny stereotype, something his grandmother (Helen Martin) is well aware has nothing to do with reality and is a step down from say the likes of Sidney Poitier. She just wants him to work at the post office but Bobby has his dreams of making it in Hollywood - daydreaming where he is an actor who wins 5 Academy Awards! He doesn't want to be stuck at the Winky Dinky Dog restaurant. 

Bobby's other daydreams includes potshots at film noir detective movies, Rambo, actors pretending to be Eddie Murphy (hilarious, especially when they imitate Eddie's trademark laugh), a Black Acting School where blacks are schooled in jive talk, even Siskel and Ebert. Some of these skits are funnier than most, though the Black Acting School is a tad repetitive (I would have stuck with the clip about slaves running to the North and exposing some of those one-dimensional stereotypes). Some other bits run a little too long such as when the NAACP President (played by none other than Paul Mooney) finds that Bobby's superstar status is in trouble with the negative roles he's been playing. 

"Hollywood Shuffle" is at its best when dealing with Bobby and his little brother Stevie (Craigus R. Johnson) who reveres his older brother, and the grandmother's disdain at the Hollywood roles being offered to black people. Some of the Winky Dinky Dog restaurant bits just don't work and I barely smiled at them, despite the presence of John Witherspoon and Keenan Ivory Wayans. Still the movie works more often than not and one of the last scenes, where Bobby plays that awful pimp while his brother and grandmother look on, strikes a chord of real truth that gets to you. That is the heart and soul of "Hollywood Shuffle."  

Graveyard pranks

 ONE DARK NIGHT (1981)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"One Dark Night" is juvenile horror with scant scares, an incoherent storyline and not much narrative thrust. Well, there's the thrust of the movie's climax inside a mausoleum although "Phantasm" beat that to the punch with more vivid thrills two years earlier. Still, for such a silly horror picture, I was rather taken by it.

A bizarre set of murders have taken place inside an apartment where an old Russian occultist, with telekinesis powers, is found dead along with a few dead young women in a closet. In what looks like an infinite number of ambulances rolling in to recover the bodies, one paramedic is struck by how objects are protruding through the walls. Some older man wearing sunglasses observes this chaos. Then he reappears at that dead Russian man's daughter's house, telling her that her father had special powers. Naturally such powers extend beyond the grave and the mausoleum where he is confined. And wouldn't you know that some high-school girls who have a clique called "Sisters" are prepared to give one tempted girl (Meg Tilly) an indoctrination to their group if she stays overnight at the mausoleum! All she has to do is sleep there overnight. Two of the three "Sisters" group decide to scare her at the mausoleum with a Halloween mask! Oh, my, all this to be a member of such a small group.

"One Dark Night" is too damn silly to take as a serious or even as a goofy horror picture - it is probably on the level of a young adult horror story that might have been featured in the 80's collection book of "Scary Stories." Nothing makes a lick of sense, nor does this putrid dead man whose coffin breaks through the walls of the mausoleum and electrical charges emit from his dead eyes. This somehow reanimates all the corpses in the mausoleum with coffins bursting ad infinitum. The girls see the horrors and scream, and run from one end of this locked edifice to the other. You know what you are getting when you watch it, minus any blood or gore, but the movie is far more absorbing with Melissa Newman as the daughter of this Russian yet every time she appears (along with Adam West as her husband), the narrative is threatened by these stupid prankish girls and Meg Tilly's boyfriend who is looking for her in his motorcycle! Trim such mischief and mischievous "Sisters" characters, beef up Meg Tilly's part beyond her being scared silly and give Melissa Newman more screen time and you might have had a true sleeper. It is sort of creepily entertaining at times with truly creepy atmosphere inside that mausoleum yet "One Dark Night" would have benefitted from a clearer focus. 

Buck stands out from the pack

 THE CALL OF THE WILD (2020)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

It is hard to fathom a bad cinematic version of Jack London's 1903 novel, "The Call of the Wild," and this new 2020 version is not bad at all. In fact, there are many stunning sequences of the Yukon Territory by way of California and CGI-filled soundstages but this film version just as often feels hampered by Buck, the dog who is a complete CGI creation. If you are going to use CGI animation for dogs, you better animate everything else. It gives new definition to the phrase "standing out from the pack."

Buck is a big husky dog, a mix of Saint Bernard and Scotch Shepherd, who also creates havoc with his current owners when he devours an entire six-course meal! The otherwise friendly dog is punished by staying outdoors during a cold, rainy night and is eventually kidnapped and abused with a club (readers of the book, beware because there is much of that in the beginning - book is tougher on Buck). He is shipped by freighter from California to Alaska where he is to be among a sled of dogs delivering mail. Buck is uncertain at first, then eventually he finds his footing as he runs along with the other dogs through miles and miles of treacherous ice and snow. The jaunty Perrault (Omar Sy) and his largely reserved partner Francoise (Cara Gee) are the mail runners and every sequence of the dog sledding, as it dissolves from night to day, is flawlessly done. Yet oddly there is not much urgency, especially when Francoise almost drowns in ice water with Buck rescuing her (he rescues dogs and people in danger and can kill easily, all mentioned in the book). The lack of urgency and panic is due to the animated Buck and I largely felt unconvinced that this was a real dog. As I mentioned earlier, if the whole film had been animated, it could have worked but combining the live action elements deters our emotional attachment no matter how well animated the dog is. The other sled dogs are also animated yet they seem more convincing, maybe because they are not replete with facial expressions every few seconds. 

A long white-bearded Harrison Ford as Thornton truly makes for a compelling frontiersman and he has an uncanny ability in making us believe all this is happening. Still, when you consider that past filmed versions of Jack London's novel have used real dogs, it makes me wonder why they couldn't do the same here. Save for some amazing scenery (though I wished they actually shot in the Yukon) and the magnetic Ford, I was too underwhelmed by this movie. It is adequate entertainment but the CGI Buck just didn't help to suspend my disbelief. 

No easy answers in Uruguay

 STATE OF SIEGE (1972)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I was a mere adolescent in my native Uruguay during the 1970's so a political assassination was hardly on my news radar. Nevertheless, the chaos of a country in slow financial ruin in 1972 was the catalyst for guerrilla fighters trying to overthrow their government in the fact-based, marvelous thriller by Costa-Gavras called "State of Siege."

Yves Montand is convincing as an A.I.D. (Agency for International Development) American official who has just landed in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay. He is Philip Santore, actually based on Daniel A. Mitrone, an actual official who had been murdered by the Tupamaros. In actuality, Santore was serving more as an American police advisor for Uruguay since he had performed similar duties in other Latin American countries. Uruguay had been beset by the Tupamaros, urban guerrilla fighters who rob banks, casinos, and perform a whole lot of kidnapping of major government officials and citizens. Unfortunately, they sometimes kill which makes them less popular in the eyes of the country. The citizens are used to their operation as their cars are often obtained more than the people, but the officials never quite believe that the Tupamaros have the effrontery to kidnap them. Political prisoners are being held in Uruguay and the guerrillas want them released or else they will kill their latest kidnapped official, Santore. 

The bulk of "State of Siege" features Santore as he is interviewed and questioned by a masked Tupamaro and we learn that Santore has endorsed torture techniques used by the CIA - some of these include electric shocks delivered to all parts of the body. Through the Santore recorded interrogation, we learn that Santore is a guinea pig for the government, he's only following orders like he did in Chile and elsewhere. Montand crucially shows the humanity of an official who might be powerless just like the Tupamaros are in truly implementing change. No change can be expected when a democracy is expected to flourish and yet the definitions of democracy change from official to official - it is implied that they barely care about a democracy and more about maintaining wealth and prestige, at least among themselves. The sharp-witted journalist, Carlos Ducas (O.E. Hasse), can see through all the bureaucratic nonsense and he is just as present in the film's narrative as Santore is - whether or not he is on the side of the officials or the Tupamaros is never addressed. 

"State of Siege" is a sharply conceived, concisely contained thriller that starts with the murder of Santore and is carried along by flashbacks. It is a beautifully constructed narrative and there are moments that make you take pause, one in shock and horror followed by a deeper understanding of the country coming apart at the seams (there are also some humorous bits about the kidnapped officials). There are no easy answers and director Gavras has no solutions, nor does he take sides. Unlike what George Stevens, Jr. once said about withdrawing the film from being shown at the AFI, the movie never rationalizes the murder of an American official. "State of Siege" does try to interpret how fascism and the rise of violence are not answers.  

Intimacy where it has not gone before

 STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK (1984)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The summer of 1984 had some blockbusters that went beyond the call of entertainment duty such as "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "Gremlins" yet "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" chose to underplay, to let us breathe and take in character details and exposition. It is just as good as "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and it is a fitting, infrequently somber yet excellent conclusion to part II's open-endedness with regards to Spock's death.

The Enterprise crew is all back, and they are all shaken up by Spock's sacrificial death. The distraught Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) wants to head back to Genesis, a planet terraformed in the previous installment that happens to house Spock's coffin. Top Federation officials say returning to Genesis would be hazardous, politically of course, and declare that the Enterprise is not to exit the Spacedock. Naturally this is not to be as the determined Kirk; Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) who harbors Spock's spirit transferred by Spock; Scottie (James Doohan) who factors engineering problems by a factor of four; Sulu, the lieutenant commander, who doesn't like being called Tiny; Walter Koenig's Chekov who navigates the Enterprise and, of course, Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura, chief communications officer (instrumental in beaming up the crew to the Enterprise), are intent on getting to Genesis in warp speed time.

"Star Trek III" is chock full of the usual Trek specifics, including the Klingons as villains. This time, it is the nasty Klingon named Kruge (Christopher Lloyd, who plays him to the hilt), who wants the Genesis device and is ruthless in killing his own species and a girlfriend of his! We also get the slow rebirth of Spock, played by a variety of actors at different ages, as the adjustment to the surroundings is monitored by another Vulcan, Office Saavik (Robin Curtis skillfully replacing Kirstie Alley), and the inventor of the Genesis device, Kirk's son Marcus (the late Merritt Butrick). It is typically a race against time since Genesis is a dying planet.

Last minute rescues, last minute beam-me-ups, a jubilant score by James Horner, astute direction by debuting director Leonard Nimoy, extraordinarily restrained performances, a completely convincing new ship called the Bird of Prey and there is even a fistfight on an imploding Genesis that is short and sweet. Most significantly, "Star Trek III" is that rare sequel that is even more intimate with its characters than ever before.  

Muck of the past

MASTER GARDENER (2022)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Paul Schrader is one of those writer-directors who is willing to go places few wish to pursue. There is always the well-traveled road choice and his latest film, "Master Gardener," explores mostly new territory and occasionally heads towards the familiar. Still, in a time where everything is rebooted and repurposed for 80's nostalgic revivals, I am okay with Schrader recycling a third of his past endeavors.

Joel Edgerton gives a hypnotic, persuasive performance as the titular character, an insular horticulturalist named Narvel who tends to the elegant, enormous gardens of a Miss Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver, who somehow brings up memories of Dickens' Miss Havisham). It is Haverhill's private estate and Narvel has a few employees who keep the flowers blooming over the crucial seasons. Of course, nothing is precisely what it seems. Narvel is having a relationship with Miss Haverhill, usually after an elegant dinner. It is also evident that Narvel is not just any gardener, he is a former white supremacist who has committed murder (the scene where he is barechested revealing all those Nazi tattoos is a moment to take your breath away). Narvel might have changed his ways but he's still got those tattoos and he's got that haircut known as an undercut, which has become stylish in the 21st century but his plain cut is far too evocative of something we'd like to forget. 

The slow chain of events in these gardens begins to intensify when a young woman named Maya (Quintessa Swindell) is employed under the tutelage of Narvel. Maya is Haverhill's niece and Haverhill has never been happy with Maya's mother, a drug addict who died from an overdose. Maya suffers beatings from her drug dealer of a boyfriend and Narvel takes it upon himself to help her (a lot of this will remind many of Schrader's "Taxi Driver" screenplay). Narvel's hidden past is creeping up on him and I will not reveal what other obstacles he has to face.

"Master Gardener" is deftly carried along by Joel Edgerton, a workmanlike Aussie actor who has a delicate presence of repressed emotions - the guy initially can't go along with sleeping with Maya (his suppressed hate is no longer the issue). I was quite surprised by the many developments with these characters who grow on you - just like the opening title credits featuring flowers, they all blossom. Sigourney Weaver has a tricky role of appearing like a matron of all yet she secretly may harbor hate towards anyone not white-skinned (the fact that she sleeps with Narvel is indication enough). Swindell's Maya also makes a huge impression and she walks the walk and talks the talk, a streetwise girl who needs Narvel in her life. Swindell is a real find and is easily one of the brightest spots of the movie.

My objection to "Master Gardener" is that I wish it did not feature a violent solution that felt like a pale echo of "Taxi Driver" and "Light Sleeper" only not as brutal - just a few punches and kicks and (*SPOILER*) no one dies. I wish Schrader went somewhere else with regards to Maya (one sequence has them driving presumably a long distance from their lost jobs when, in fact, they are not that far from Haverhill's gardens). They need each other and I wish the film spent more time on them and their developing relationship. Still, despite such faint recycling of past Schrader violent climactic conflicts, "Master Gardener" is efficient in prose and a tight narrative structure, sometimes quite poetic (we hear Narvel's thoughts as he writes in his diary, another Travis Bickle staple). The ending is a doozy. 

Hate the dial-up modem's white noise

 BLACKBERRY (2023)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Other than knowing it had something to do with the history of the forgotten phone called the Blackberry, I had no idea what I was walking in to when I watched "Blackberry." As a documentary subject, it might have been fascinating enough yet it is actually a docudrama. The biggest surprise is that I was elated once it was over and wished it kept going. A Canadian film production using some top-drawer talent we don't see enough of, "Blackberry" is so acidically funny, so absolutely in lockstep with the construction and imagination of a phone that changed our society, if ever so briefly until improvements were made, that you almost feel you are a fly in the wall. 

Set during 1996, we meet a crew of tech nerds inside a ramshackle of an office space - everything looks messy and disorganized. A toilet plunger sits on a desktop computer (remember those? That is what I still use to type reviews on, um, the desktop computer of course) and all of these young nerds play video games, clogging the one phone line with an Internet signal (Internet Explorer, or is it Netscape?), and they always have movie night. The movie in question is everyone's favorite - a VHS tape of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) is the CEO of RIM (Research in Motion) and he has developed a brand of smartphones that includes both the Internet and email capabilities with a built-in keyboard (he deplores white noise from dial-up modems). His partner in crime is a red-bandana-wearing Douglas Fregin (winningly played by the film's director Matt Johnson) who is stoked by the invention yet wants to speak for Mike - he looks like one of Kevin Smith's slackers only he is an actual bundle of energy. Their first meeting with Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton), a hot-tempered bolt of lightning who seems to have emerged from Wall Street, doesn't go well but Jim does see potential with having a "computer in your phone." Jim eventually is allowed to oversee and promote what was initially called the "Pocket Link" and just as soon as there is a meteoric rise in success and sales (President Obama initially boasted about the Blackberry), there is also a precipitous fall. The now commonplace iPhone starts to emerge as a phone that is far more utilitarian, including having a touch screen keyboard rather than actual keys! It is the death knell for Blackberry and I seem to remember this sharp decline rather well. 

"Blackberry" is hysterical from the start as it shows these young men who are creative and imaginative yet can't hold a business meeting. Douglas is up front and often too bewildered, opting to run the company smoothly rather than aggressively (he wants to be co-CEO). Mike Lazaridis is his equal in that department, yet there is a stunning development during the course of their creation where he becomes all about business - Mike completely forgoes movie night for his crew of engineers! Jim is the man of the hour, able to talk good business sense and cut through all the red tape to get results. With this invention soaring, he becomes greedy, practically avoids his co-CEO responsibilities and thinks he can buy a couple of sports teams. When the SEC starts calling, Jim ignores them thinking that money talks no matter what - little does he know. 

"Blackberry" has a modest budget and looks like it was shot with S-VHS cameras or hi-8 camcorders but that doesn't detract from the film's relentless pacing and the anxiety from its characters. Jim is pure hyperbole, an action figure come to life with fumes coming from his ears who sees no limits. Mike has anxiety written all over his face, never finding common ground with anyone except for himself. He is not on an ego trip but the movie suggests he could become like Jim. Finally, Matt Johnson is the soul of the movie, a guy who likes to have fun and sees it all seeping from the company's original model. His final moment with Mike when he is let go is one of heartbreak. To add a touch of extra mileage, a supporting cast that includes Michael Ironside and Saul Rubinek sizzles the proceedings. "Blackberry" is acidic in temperament and, by the end, has heartbreak written all over it and plenty of laughs too. It is akin to "Wolf of Wall Street" as an out-of-control toybox with all its real-world business lessons. At the end of the day, Mike's sole concern is the white noise emanating from the new line of blackberrys. This is the one mainstream product line of recent times where progress was not its middle name.  

Fly Me to Neverland

 PETER PAN AND WENDY (2023)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The most magical "Peter Pan" movie I've ever seen is the 1924 silent film version that starred Betty Bronson as the Boy who Never Grew Up. 1953's Disney animated version comes close. I never found Steven Spielberg's live action "Hook" to be enthralling - noisy, yes, but not the least bit magical. Though I have not been privy to the last couple of 21st century "Peter Pan" versions, Disney's newest "Peter Pan and Wendy" is often delightful fun, though never raucous, and has the right spirit and tone. This not exactly a compelling movie at all; just good solid adventure that will keep kids invested and entertained, even adults like myself .

I think everyone knows the iconic J.M. Barrie story quite well so keep in mind, with certain key differences, this is the exact same movie as the 1953 classic animated film. Of course, Peter Pan is back and played by British actor Alexander Molony, though he is not as rousing a Pan as I would've liked but he does have a kindred spirit with the previous boys in green tights (and don't message me with "well, the role was played by girls, too." I am well aware of that). There is a winsome quality to Ever Gabo Anderson as Wendy, the girl who doesn't want to grow up though she knows her days of playacting tales of Peter Pan with her younger siblings is coming to a close. Yara Shahidi is an exceptional Tinkerbell and she is ebullient in her physical acting since Wendy can't always understand what the fairy is saying. Kudos must also go to Jude Law as the aggressive Captain Hook who wants to kill Peter Pan - it turns out there is a backstory involving Hook as the former boy James who was abandoned by Peter. A momentous scene that I found moving is when Pan apologizes to Hook - a rarity in Pan lore.

"Peter Pan and Wendy" is fitting, colorful entertainment and legions ahead of Spielberg's dismal "Hook." Disney has been accused by a precious few naysayers of woke-isms which, by the way, there are precious few. Yes, there are some Lost Girls in the Lost Boys group (another key difference) and a lot more diversity than norm for this tale - that in and of itself is hardly something to deplore. Wendy also turns out to be proficient with a sword though it is nothing like what we saw Alice capable of in Tim Burton's caffeinated "Alice in Wonderland" remake. These are not flaws, just woke-isms which is a phrase I do find deplorable. For good old-fashioned entertainment with some jaw-dropping scenery making Neverland a place I would love to visit, "Peter Pan and Wendy" has a sense of periodic fun and magic to it. Sometimes, that is enough.

The Colonel Needs a War

 THE GREAT SANTINI (1979)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Recalling my first viewing of "The Great Santini" with great fondness back in 1979, I couldn't forget Robert Duvall's sense of authority, directness and full control as Col. Bull Meechum. Duvall is one of the national treasures of American cinema since his startling, powerful Arthur "Boo" Radley in "To Kill a Mockingbird" to his amoral network boss Frank Hackett in "Network" and everything else in between and beyond. Watching "The Great Santini" again, Duvall is clearly tailor-made for his role as Meechum though there is a subplot that threatens the narrative and feels tacked-on for reasons never made clear. Despite that, Robert Duvall rules in a role few could tackle so honestly.

It is the pre-Cuban Missile Crisis era of 1962 and Lt. Col. Bull Meechum is a troublemaker in the Marine Corps, playing all sorts of pranks and tomfoolery on recruits and generals. One such incident involves a vomiting act at a restaurant where the Colonel substitutes Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup (it took me years to be convinced to eat that type of soup again since it made me sick thinking of this scene). Another involves literally dragging a recruit from a bathroom stall and reminding him of how many were attacked while taking a crap during Pearl Harbor and that wiping yourself after a dump requires more than two...well you get the idea.

Col. Meechum moves his family to South Carolina to a spacious house in a military base town. His close-knit family includes his pliant wife (Blythe Danner) and their four kids. One of them, Ben who is the oldest (an exceedingly good Oscar-nominated Michael O'Keefe), is consistently harassed and bullied by his father. This notably happens when they play one-on-one basketball and the Colonel is losing to his son - the Colonel cannot accept defeat during a time when there is no war. A war is what this man needs to feel justified in his military career so he goes to war with mostly his son (one unforgivable scene, after cheating on the game, has the Colonel bouncing the basketball off of his son's head). When the Colonel drinks heavily, he fights with his wife (he also has a habit of waking up the household at 4 am and gathers them together as if we was rallying the troops). He needs a war and he will not find it in this small town. This is especially true when he almost wrecks his Ben's basketball game at school - a scene that made me cringe at the truthfulness of it since Ben decides to nearly the break the arm of another player just to irritate his father.

The scenes of hostility with Bull's treatment of his son and his family hits close to home, all based on Pat Conroy's autobiographical novel. Yet when we get to a character known as Red Pettus (David Keith), an absolute racist who bullies and threatens the stuttering Toomer Smalls (Stan Shaw, who also played a stutterer in "Harlem Nights"), I felt as if this inclusion to the narrative hindered everything else that I love about "The Great Santini." The characters of Toomer and Red also appear in the novel and there is a similar tragedy but I felt as I walked into some other movie (Toomer and Ben become friends and there is a mutual trust). Just because it is set in the South though doesn't entail such a troubling subplot with Red - it almost feels as if it came out of left field. Perhaps it is to indicate the differences between father and son in a moment of crisis (Bull wished his son listened to his direct orders rather than coming to Toomer's aid) but I felt the differences were more properly aligned with Ben and his father's personal relationship than with Ben and Toomer. 

I still have great admiration for "The Great Santini" and for Robert Duvall's astonishingly realistic performance. Blythe Danner also offers ample humanity as the wife who is frequently apologetic for her wild husband's digressions - you know she could never leave him but she will not stand for incessant bullying. Michael O'Keefe hits all the right notes as the son who could love and hate his father equally - the scene where he brings his drunk father home is one for the ages. Also must mention the acerbic Lisa Jane Persky as one of Bull's two daughters who tries her father's patience. Duvall stands tall in this movie and it is one of his greatest roles ever. The Great Duvall, indeed. 

White Sands: My Brief Time as an Extra

 WHITE SANDS (1992)

Remembering my time as an extra 

by Jerry Saravia

The shooting dates for the occasionally tantalizing Roger Donaldson thriller, "White Sands," were August 13th, 1991 to October 31st, 1991. I lived in New Mexico at the time and we got word they were looking for extras at a rodeo located somewhere in Santa Fe (not sure where exactly, it has been a while). It was a cold, bitter night and the scene being shot involved Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's character, Lane, riding a horse while crowds were cheering. Willem Dafoe and Mickey Rourke were in attendance since their scene was shot a few times that night as they sat on the bleachers. The scene was shot and then the 1st AD reminded the crowd to be quiet and mimic shouting and hollering while they recorded ambient sound, I imagine. Naturally, the crowd forgot to mimic and yelled. "CUT," said the 1st AD. This was going for three hours already and then myself, my mom and my brother decided it was time to leave. It was too damn cold and New Mexico nights can be cold, you know, higher elevations. 

My younger brother ran into Mickey Rourke at the bathroom and they shook hands (presumably after they were done with their business). Mickey told my brother that he was glad he came out. That's pretty cool. I did see Samuel L. Jackson lurking about as he passed our seats but nobody knew who the hell he was. I did, after seeing "Jungle Fever" especially, but he was not a big movie star yet. Mastrantonio was not present that evening as her riding scenes were performed by a stunt rider. So it goes. 

My final thoughts on being an extra (and mind you, I don't think our scenes made the final cut) was the exactness of Willem Dafoe's entrance to the bleachers as he sat down next to Mickey Rourke after several takes. It was amazing to behold. The movie itself is hardly fantastic though definitely watchable. That night though was quite memorable.  

111 million wasted pints of blood

 TERRIFIER 2 (2022)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I said that the original sadistic freak show called "Terrifier" was the equivalent of 11 million pints of blood splattered across the screen. "Terrifier 2" is no different other than maybe it is more like 111 million pints this time around - call the Red Cross and donate all that blood. Just don't call Art the Clown.

"Terrifier 2" is more blood and gore and entrails served up to make the screen as reddishly violent as possible, so much so that it may as well have such scenes fade to red. Yes, that is how violent it is. The mutilations includes gouging and plucking eyes, removing beating hearts, stuffing mashed potatoes into blown-out-faces-with-a-shotgun, and relentless stabbings and disembowelments and decapitations and head-scalpings galore. One particularly vicious beating and stabbing lasts about 3 minutes and the poor mutilated girl is still not dead! Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) does the bloody deeds with a smile and a little of his "Oh, what did I just do?" demeanor makes it doubly disturbing...but never scary.

The story has Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) as a young woman who has panic attacks and vivid nightmares but tries to stay strong. She lives with her tough-as-nails mother (Sarah Voigt) and her younger brother, Jonathan (Elliott Fullam), who has a predilection for serial killers and for Art the Clown. The film is set during Halloween and the little guy wants to dress up as Art the Clown, much to the understandable disapproval of Mom. Meanwhile, Sienna is developing her Xena-like bronze-plated costume yet, one night, it goes up in flames due to lit candles. Sienna's mother is quite upset after putting out the fire and yells at Sienna, though she claims she never lit the candles. Jonathan finds a dead possum with a couple of schoolmates, then later finds the dead animal in the hallway as Art the Clown and a Little Pale Girl throw it at him! Guess what happens? Jonathan is accused of vandalism! The Little Pale Girl is sometimes present and sometimes not, and though we might think it is a spectral entity - it might not be.

"Terrifier 2" drags on for 2 hours and 18 minutes with a poorly developed family dynamic dependent on screaming matches than anything else. Two of Sienna's friends, both of whom are shallowly set up for slaughter, are killed so viciously that you wonder why Art the Clown does what he does. He's a supernatural monster dressed in a black-and-white clown outfit with a little black top hat strung around his head. This figure is frightening all by itself, including the Little Pale Girl with occasionally yellow piercing eyes and a terrifying smile. Copious amounts of blood, gore and severed body parts camouflage any real story or rooting interest in any character. The purpose of a movie like this is to allegedly thrill you and scare you but it only manages in becoming an endurance test. For the rest of you, it might be a bloody good time. Or you might want to donate blood to the Red Cross after seeing it. Either way, good luck.    

High Comically Frenzied Art

 THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(One of the best films of the 2010 era)

I have admired the idiosyncratic and preciously designed films of Wes Anderson but I wasn't quite anticipating this superb discovery of a 2014 film. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" seems to push the boundaries of Anderson's previous films, evoking more of a comic spirt and liveliness that doesn't seem to echo anything I've ever seen before. It is the first cartoonish comedy I've seen that actually looks animated - nothing in it looks or resembles anything that actually exists and that makes it doubly special.

The most liberally perfumed man in Europe is Monsieur Gustave H. (a brilliant tour de force role played by Ralph Fiennes), the Grand Budapest Hotel's exceptional and precise concierge (I am sure he is meant to encapsulate the perfectionism of the film's director). He is so precise that even as he tells the "LOBBY BOY" all the tasks he needs to perform in a desired time frame, he kind of stops himself - too much precision may be a bad thing. The film begins with an author of the book, aptly titled "The Grand Budapest Hotel," narrating until it switches to F. Murray Abraham as the elderly Zero (the lobby boy in the 1930's section played with perfect timing by Tony Revolori) in the 1960's telling his incredible, hypnotic adventures dealing with Monsieur Gustave H. The concierge bedded many wealthy, elderly dowagers and also has an inheritance that includes a sought-after painting called "The Boy with Apple" thanks to his latest relations with Madame D. (Tilda Swinton), the owner of the hotel who has passed on. Naturally, nobody from Madame D's family wants Gustave to acquire any of her money or acquisitions as mentioned in a will. 

Most of "The Grand Budapest Hotel" is an absurdist comedy of epic proportions, and no shot is ever wasted and no frame or composition seems to be simple. The film would probably require multiple viewings just to catch all the references and subtle clues. I've seen it twice before and I still am not sure I caught everything - the constant whip pans from one enormous space to another makes you quiver in your boots at the sheer magic of it all. The hotel is a grand design with so many windows, floors, and spacious hallways that you might think this hotel is the biggest of its kind in the world. Scenes of cable cars, prisons, interior train cars, wintry outdoor shots of skiers skiing much faster than humanly possible and so much more are intricately designed and shot - every interior is as ornate and as grandiloquent as any film I've seen since possibly anything directed by Visconti. Expansive on a level unseen before by Wes Anderson, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" is a true marvel to witness. 

The actors all perform up to the speed and clarity Anderson invests upon this world hinted as a specific time and place that no longer exists. Ralph Fiennes is a revelation, and so is the Tony Revolori as the lobby boy Zero - the scenes of him running around the hotel or on rooftops exude a breezy comic feel (I just laugh looking at him). There are also peak notes of hilarity from absurdist characters played by Jeff Goldblum as a moralistic lawyer; Harvey Keitel as a bald, tattooed prisoner; Saoirse Ronan as Zero's girlfriend with a major birthmark on the right side of her face; Willem Dafoe as some sort of cretinous hitman who throws cats out of windows, and Edward Norton as a sharp police detective. 

I was just swept away by "The Grand Budapest Hotel" more so than Anderson's other films. I never felt as if everything was too stagy or beyond comprehension (unlike say "The Darjeeling Limited"). An original work of high and comically frenzied art from a master director.  

Women are like salt. You can do without, but it's lousy.

 DO YOU REMEMBER DOLLY BELL? (1981)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I've always had a fondness for watching adolescents and their view of the world as they mature. "Do You Remember Dolly Bell?" is almost a Truffaut picture of adolescence, rough and raw and completely realistic. Only this directorial debut by Bosnian director Emir Kusturica is not quite "The 400 Blows" - it has its own microcosmic view of a world that seems in ruins and yet optimism flourishes through one kid.

Set in 1963 Sarajevo (pre-Civil War), the world is seen through the eyes of 16-year-old Dino (Slavo Stimac) whose daily mantra is "Every day in every way I'm getting better and better." He recites this with his friends especially while dunking his head in water and trying to shift his eyes several times. They are about to form a band and there is one single solitary song they are commissioned to sing - "24 mila baci" (about the only song that ever plays on the soundtrack). Slobodan Aligrudic is Otac, the drunk and sickly father with Communist leanings who regularly speaks of Marxism and controls their tiny apartment not as a tyrant, but a tough demanding father who knows what's happening in every corner. He believes in the ideals of Marx but his son is prone to hypnotism and auto-suggestion, thinking it works on everyone including prostitutes. Ah, he's just a kid, what does he know. The father, though, implicitly sees that Dino has an intelligence that goes beyond his other sons, one of whom dictates what his father says in a notebook. 

Dino has five brothers and they live with their parents in this small, cramped apartment with a bed facing their living room. Dino also has a fixation on a prostitute named Dolly Bell (Ljiljana Blagojevic), adopting the name of an actress, who is housed in Dino's attic. She is to be kept there until her oily pimp returns. Dino falls for Dolly yet something always threatens this sweet relationship (the pimp notwithstanding). Dino's world is coming apart as his dad is slowly dying. There is quite a moving scene where the whole family looks at the patriarch's X ray knowing the end is coming. Otac takes it in stride. And so does Dino.

"Do You Remember Dolly Bell?" is Kusturica's amazingly absorbing directorial debut and it curates Dino as this young novice who is smart and alert to his world, a Socialist world of diminishing impact. Roughly hewn as a semi-documentary, the lighting changes from a grainy, overcast unblinkingly raw look to a subtle use of shadows to rare bursts of color that goes beyond its documentary look (the color film of actress Dolly Bell, dressed in red, as seen by a young audience; Dino drenched from the rain as he listens to Dolly, the prostitute, having sex while a faint yellow lamp light or flashlight shines on him). Maybe this is all to illustrate that Dino feels this gray world might change but he knows it will be sometime before it happens, if at all. At least he finds solace in singing "24 mila baci." 

Repetitive Monsters on the Loose

 THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2011)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I firmly believe that "The Evil Dead" has been one of the most influential horror films of the last 40 years. Ash himself is an icon but it seems his character has been less influential. Case in point would be "The Cabin in the Woods" which has an intriguing premise and not one character that carries a smidgeon of Ash's personality. Not one, but the filmmakers sure try in replicating the horror with a tongue in cheek attitude.

Five friends take off on a road trip through the mountains to a fairly small log cabin. Okay, so it is the same size as the one from "Evil Dead" - in fact, it is a replica. Naturally not one of these younglings ever heard of "The Evil Dead" or else they would not have come to this remote area. The gas station owner is odd and sees young women, such as Jules (Anna Hutchison), as nothing but whores. Nice guy. He gives directions to this cabin, as they often do in these movies, yet I am shocked how the gas stations are always in decrepit condition and, in this particular case, he is not even selling gas! We still get the obligatory shot of the gas station owner looking rather ominously at the group as they take off in their RV. Gee, whatever could be wrong with that cabin.

A lot is wrong. There is a two-sided mirror through two adjoining rooms, though only one is see-through. Jules is dared during their Truth or Dare game to lick and kiss a wolf's head on the wall! Chris Hemsworth, by the way, plays her boyfriend though I'd feel uncomfortable with my girlfriend lustfully licking anything in front of other guys. One guy is a weed addict (Fran Kranz) and conspiracy theorist. Perfect because it turns out that their cabin is being surveilled by some underground lab that monitors their every move. Monsters and zombies start to emerge from the ground and attack and kill these kids, much to the delight of lab technicians and engineers, two of them memorably played by Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford. Apparently this vast network of a lab controls similar scenarios in other countries and if the victims win against their monstrous threat, the word FAIL appears in red letters on their innumerable monitors. Why this is encouraged when the participants are unaware they are being tested or how this is some sort of sick variation on "The Hunger Games" is beyond me.

Great premise with no real logic but who cares. We came for the scares, the monsters and hopefully these kids have a personality. Only the weed kid really does, and he has one hell of a bong that comes equipped with a coffee mug. The monsters bored me - they were just stock monsters. The zombie was stock, the thrills are very few and I hardly cared. During the climax that involves several monsters, they are all CGI created and appear so fleetingly during the frantic cutting of one image to another that it all becomes a blur. There is a fantastic cameo at the end, and I did like the lab employees and their camaraderie and gallows humor. "The Cabin in the Woods" is just not much of a movie - it is an insipid test reel that never gets its motor running. Watch "The Evil Dead" again.

Boring stiffs

 CLASS (1983)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Class" starts off strong with a progressive comic spirit, so strongly that I figured this was going to be a modern day update of Mike Nichols' fabulous "The Graduate." It is imperative that I mention how I can start off by saying how a movie starts strongly (and this is commonplace in reviews) and how it flies off the rails so quickly. The issue here is complete abandonment of a terrific premise for an alleged college comedy.

Andrew McCarthy is the new student at a prestigious prep school (well, how many aren't prestigious?) He is Jonathan Ogner, and he's already made a boo-boo in terms of college etiquette - he has worn his uniform on the day he arrives on campus! I am not sure what the issue is exactly but I went with it. He meets his roommate, Squire Franklin Burroughs IV (Rob Lowe), an upbeat prep student also known as Skip with a knack for partying and fondling uptight women. Skip fools Jonathan into wearing women's underwear outside the school only to be mocked. Jonathan ups the ante and pretends to cry at the cafeteria and hangs himself! Of course it is all a prank and Skip got fooled into believing he committed suicide. So far, so good, so preppie. When Jonathan goes to a bar in Chicago to have a sexual experience, he fails and is consistently mocked until he meets Ellen (Jacqueline Bisset) and they have an affair. It gets steamier and steamier as they have sex in an elevator and in hotel rooms. Jonathan never tells her he is a preppie student, claiming instead to be a Ph.D student. Ellen is older and turns out to be Skip's mother! Whoops, Sexual Apocalypse!

Unfortunately, what starts out as a prankish, almost black-humored "Animal House" tale then develops a sweetness with the striking Bisset, and then becomes self-serious. We have a dinner party at Skip's house where Jonathan is invited and he and Ellen see each other - the affair gets placed in the backburner so as not to reveal to Skip who the mystery woman in Jonathan's life is. Then we are introduced to the patriarch (Cliff Robertson) who doesn't exude an ounce of humor or elegance - he is just a boring stiff. And Ellen starts drinking too much and becomes a neurotic stiff. Likewise Skip. A whole bunch of stiffs stuck in some movie that loses its identity. Then we get too much talk about the SAT's since Jonathan cheated on them and told Skip about it, not to mention an investigation on students' whose SAT's scores do not match their college grades. There is also a muddy fight on rolling muddy hills that goes on far too long. 

"Class" was seemingly designed to be a raunchy version of "The Graduate" and instead it becomes an unironic movie about nothing. Ellen is eventually placed in a mental institution and we get too much of Jonathan's guilt, and somehow whatever comic aspersions were cast erode quickly. Too serious for its own good.

Multiple Personality Disorder Horrors

 IDENTITY (2003)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

James Mangold's "Identity" had me fooled with its twisty twist. I suppose calling it that makes it less M. Night Shyamalan and more Mangoldian twist. I was fooled and despite a very rocky, incongruous beginning, I was eventually swept in by this movie even though I am not sure it is the horror version of "Sybil." "Sybil" was already horrific and based on a true story, and Brian De Palma's "Sisters" and various other multiple personality horror films might be superior yet "Identity" still holds some ground.

From the start, I was immediately put off by the mean-spirited characters and situations that are set-up and then rewound to show how they got there. Well, there isn't much, at first. Amanda Peet is a high-class Las Vegas call girl who wants to move to Florida and have her own orange grove. Her car almost get stuck in a current bad rainstorm. John Cusack is a former cop and now limo driver to a pompous actress (an unrecognizable Rebecca De Mornay). They are also in the midst of this rainstorm and stop at a motel, just like Peet's character, and he runs over a woman on the road! Then there is truly reliable Ray Liotta as a cop bringing in a prisoner (creepy-as-ever Jake Busey) - they also go to the motel because it is only the one available for miles. There is also a family with a young son whose mother is the one that gets runs over by Cusack! I shan't forget Clea DuVall and her new husband and they are as annoying as you can imagine, relegated to screaming matches! Meanwhile, one by one, people get killed at his motel. The motel owner (John Hawkes) is a dubious personality, to say the least. And there is much hate from him towards Peet due to her profession. I would not want to be anywhere near these people. 

"Identity" starts off with a mean streak as these characters are too selfish and do stupid things, like in any slasher flick. Run and scream in the rain, why don't yah? Still, the story picks up speed when we realize there is something ominous at this motel that has more up its sleeve than random killings. Don't quite cue "The Shining" yet because it all evolves with a double twist that knocked my socks off. It was the most surprising ending since maybe Shyamalan's "Unbreakable."

John Cusack always holds my interest and we are pulled along by this mystery just as he is, and it is a major plus to have the presence of Ray Liotta (though I did suspect he wasn't exactly who he said he was). Amanda Peet kind of grated my nerves and Clea DuVall was wasted - a real shame for an actress of such vitality. Overall, a decent effort by director Mangold to suggest a multiple personality disorder frame of mind within the confines of a horror slasher.