Bloody Desert Massacres

 THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977) and

 THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II (1985)

Two horror films that couldn't be further apart by Jerry Saravia

There is a fundamental rawness and ferocity to Wes Craven's "The Hills Have Eyes" that few other 1970's grungy, 16mm horror flicks don't quite match (the exception being "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"). It is in-your-face and not much fun, but it is not supposed to be a joyful romp through the desert area where weapons testing occurs. Follow the road directions and don't go astray. Boy, nobody ever listens to the gas station attendant. 

"The Hills Have Eyes" has a tight-knit family stranded in the middle of the desert with a broken-down station wagon and a camper. The patriarch of this family is retired policeman, Bob Carter (Russ Grieve), his dutiful wife (Virginia Vincent), and their daughters, one a little wild (Susan Lanier) and the other somewhat quiet (Dee Wallace), with their corresponding husbands. There also two endlessly barking German Shepherds, one named appropriately Beast and the other is named Beauty. The slim plot has Bob wanting to visit a silver mine he inherited but why it is so close to a government-sanctioned site with flyover Air Force jets, I can't say. Before you know it, the hills have a disgusting cannibal family who soon begin to prey on and attack the family. 

"The Hills Have Eyes" is unnerving throughout with the unsuspecting family members getting picked off, one by one. The assault in the camper approaches the brutality of Wes Craven's earlier "Last House on the Left" and you just can't wait for these demonic savages to get their just deserts (one of them includes the iconic Michael Berryman with a face and brow sure to produce chills on any viewer). Beast becomes something of a heroic dog and the ending with its crimson-colored freeze frame suggests that sometimes the evil is inside all of us when it comes to savage violence.

The 1985 sequel is unintentionally funny and rather toned-down from the viciousness of the original. It opens with a title crawl that reminds one of "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and uses flashbacks of the original film through the eyes of Bobby Carter (one of the surviving members of the original film and played again by Robert Houston). Another flashback is, are you ready, shown from the point-of-view of the dog Beast! Now Bobby had apparently married the helpful, frightened feral girl of the cannibal family, Ruby (Janus Blythe), from the original film and here was the opportunity to have her deal with her family from the hills. The problem is that Michael Berryman returns as her knife-wielding brother, Pluto (whom I thought was dead in the original), and there is a gargantuan-sized new member known as the Reaper, and that's all folks. All families eventually break apart I guess and Ruby never gets even with either cannibal. The victims are some racing drivers and their girlfriends in a red bus, this time, and they stop but the bus never actually breaks down! So everyone decides they need gas and stupidly investigate a compound of ramshackle homes with a mine shaft and a refrigerator that looks like the gateway to Hell.

The original film is often unyieldingly sickening yet it pulsates with raw power. Craven's needless and purposeless sequel should be long forgotten. I sense that even Beast will not have a flashback to this forgettable mess.

Horror on the margins of a religious community

 DEADLY BLESSING (1981)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Wes Craven's "Deadly Blessing" appears to be about a religious community in rural Pennsylvania who have strict rules, namely they do not consort or conversate with non-religious members. In this world, the group are the Hittites who, in one hilarious dialogue bit, "make the Amish look like swingers."  The Hittites refer to women outside their group as the incubus. Ouch. Might have been better off calling this devout religious group the Hutterites who, unlike the Hittites, actually live in some U.S. states but I digress.

I had a jolly good time at first seeing Michael Berryman ("The Hills Have Eyes") appear as some man-child of the Hittites who is something of a pervert, looking into a woman's bedroom window and watching her disrobe. In fact, I wondered if this movie would become a psychological portrait of how religion bleeds in a community where some members become curious of those who do not follow any sect - people living by their rules and moral code. I digress again because, before you figure out how to pronounce Hittite, there is a murder by a John Deere tractor! The male character killed is Jim (Douglas Barr), an ex-Hittite, living with his wife Martha, in a house with an outside sign that reads "Our Blessing." When Martha finds her husband dead, she is the sole person to attend the funeral with the Hittites observing on a farm hill. Ernest Borgnine plays the patriarch and sermonizer of the Hittites who hates and demonizes anyone who leaves the group and consorts with non-members. That still leaves Berryman as the man-child who is killed not even halfway through the film, though he's not denounced but there is the matter of his missing shoe. We are saddled with Maren Jensen (in her last film role) as Martha who doesn't seem to grieve much - she invites her old pals for a week to her home. One of them is Sharon Stone, in her stunningly sultry debut, who has a sleepy gaze throughout that is rather enthralling to me because it is, well, Sharon Stone. Jeff East is also on hand as a blonde Hittite who starts to cast doubts about religion infecting his life and his potential new bride and seeking, you know, intimate relations.  

"Deadly Blessing" has a good story that is lost in translation. The film is far too inert and even in scare sequences where there is a hooded killer in a barn or elsewhere, it falls short of thrills or anything menacing. That is surprising coming from horror director Wes Craven who can rattle the nerves at his best and make you quake your boots. "Deadly Blessing's" horror is muted at best making one wish Craven made an entirely different, more dramatic movie. The religious fervor of the Hittites is personal for Craven but even the staging of said sermons and Borgnine's imposing presence are flat and insipid. The movie was shot in relatively one month and there is a studio-imposed supernatural finish that is plain dumb and counterproductive to what we have seen. It will be one more blessing in my moviegoing experiences if I never have to sit through this movie again.  

Blah, blah and blah

 DIGGER (2026)

Endured by Jerry Saravia

The first major trailer for "Digger" was exciting and brash - a neo-political comedy on the order of Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove." It appeared as if it had its satirical claws sharpened for the politics of the Trump era, a finite, blackly comical treatise of the current maddening zeitgeist. We still need a movie like that now, something to cause the earth to tip on its axis and wake us up. Alas, "Digger" is not that movie. Without revealing much here that may dampen one's feelings of what this movie could have been, "Digger" is an incessant bore of a movie, a slow walk to nothingness. It has a remarkable ending but the rest of the movie has crumbles of a broken narrative. 

I will give props to Tom Cruise, an actor who has appeared in a diverse set of films until he decided to return to "Mission: Impossible" and "Top Gun" franchises. Nothing wrong with that but Cruise always seemed to contain an edgy veneer that went beyond good looks and natural charisma - he was always the poster boy for sincerity. Other than his best performance in "Born on the Fourth of July," he has played up insincerity and plumbed deep into those waters with "Magnolia" and "Eyes Wide Shut" (and let's not forget his hilarious turn in "Tropic Thunder.") In "Digger," he's a billionaire oil tycoon who cares more about his dying cat than the catastrophic drilling for oil in Greenland and Alaska with the approval and help of sickly, cancer-ridden President Compson (an emaciated John Goodman who is possibly the best thing about this movie). Apparently, due to methane warnings about drilling that this mega billionaire could barely give a lick about, an explosion in the icy terrain of Greenland has caused an ice shelf the size of Maryland to break away and result in major flooding in Europe. Later on, another floating ice shelf the size of Boston is ready to strike Alaska! What can be done about this flooding? Sadly not much except that Digger's own Dr. Nirav Ganesh (Riz Ahmed, a balanced comical performance), an environmental safety chief, is on hand to speak to Parliament about the nitty-gritty truth of this disaster. Then Digger does his bit to speak to them about the real real truth - everyone wants oil and they want him to drill. Um, sure, that is a point to be made but not a very salient one.

I can't reveal too much about "Digger" and some of its surprises except that they do not add up to much. Its plot developments that enter the meta phase deter from the overall impact that I think director Alejandro Iñárritu was aiming for. The movie could have gone for broke and truly nailed the very zeitgeist we are in, to make the audience angry with serious commentary embellished by black humor. What we get is a sick cat, a one-note and wearying performance by Tom Cruise, and monotonous shaping of scenes that reiterate the same token phrases and ideas. As I mentioned before, "Digger" has a great ending but it belongs to a different, braver and more articulate movie.        

Retiring 007

 NO TIME TO DIE (2021)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The Daniel Craig James Bond-era was rougher and tougher than earlier Bonds with a very high body count. This particular era of 007 also had connecting storylines and recurring characters in more ways than one than the previous entries. Sure, we had Bond grieving for his slain wife in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" to the point that Moore's Bond visits her grave in "For Your Eyes Only." The seemingly unkillable Blofeld always showed up in key moments in different sequels since he was always so damn nefarious. In "No Time to Die," it is not just Blofeld returning but also a deepening storyline with the fabulous Léa Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, his love interest who could change our favorite superspy's future forever (For those who are unaware, at the end of "SPECTRE," Bond almost kills Blofeld point blank and chooses not to while Madeleine is waiting on a London bridge). 

As in previous Bond films, there is always the electrifying teaser of an opening. Here, it begins ominously with some armed menacing figure in the snow approaching a house with a drunk mother and her child listening to music - it has the look and feel of some horror film. Then it segues to a somewhat mild encounter with Bond on holiday with Madeleine in an Italian hotel. Bond is about to visit the grave of Vesper Lynd (from "Casino Royale") when an explosion occurs that practically knocks Bond out. A chase ensues with various minions shooting at him on a connecting bridge and he's able to jump off with some thankfully sustaining cables. It is thoroughly intense and leads to Bond thinking that Madeleine betrayed him and we get a cold finish where he tells her they will never see each other again. Never say Never as five years pass and SPECTRE has infiltrated an MI6 lab where a pathogen has been developed that can track targets by their DNA - all of this under the supervision of M (Ralph Fiennes). Explosions galore as Project Heracles has been breached at the lab headquarters. Meanwhile, Bond is living off the grid in Jamaica and gets a visit from returnee Jeffrey Wright as reliable Felix Leiter, requiring his services for her Majesty's Secret Service. Bond can't use his 007 number since it had been retired and it is now belonging to Nomi (Lashana Lynch) who can drive fast cars, fast planes and shoot with dead accuracy. In other words, why do we need Bond? And when lovely, exquisite and sexy Ana de Armas shows up in an explosive cameo as a nervous CIA agent who does her share of firing on all cylinders, you think for a moment that James Bond's character might be on the outs. 

"No Time to Die" has a new villain with facial scarring issues named Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek, playing the role with an icy stare) who wants to kill Blofeld (once again, played in a quickie cameo by Christoph Waltz) - Safin's desire, like all Bond megalomaniacs, is to infect the world with this pathogen and kill everyone. And then what? But there I go again, questioning the logic of the illogical villains and their deathly wish to neutralize all. 

"No Time to Die" has killer car chases through vast fields of forests and countrysides, not to mention the aforementioned Italy opening which had me on the edge of my seat. My one complaint is that Bond kills so many faceless minions that you lose count, especially in the island fortress towards the end (this reminded me of the Chris Walken psycho villain Zorin from "A View to a Kill" where he gets a machine gun and kills all his workers. This is perhaps not what the new Bond filmmakers intended but it occurred to me). I also love how Safin sees that Bond is a killer and questions why Madeleine want to be with such a man, an assassin. These are questions not normally probed in a James Bond movie. That, and James's passionate love for Madeleine and her...oh, you have to see it to believe it. This movie gives Bond a bit more soul and heart than usual, though it all started with his care for Vesper in "Casino Royale." It all comes to a hellish end but, boy, what a ride. No question in my mind that Daniel Craig is the second best Bond since Sean Connery. 

I am Alive

 JACOB'S LADDER (1990)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The first time I watched "Jacob's Ladder," I almost sensed that everything the nervous, twitching, emotionally drained Jacob Singer was enduring was real and present. You want to believe that he did not die from his wounds in Vietnam and led a life as a post office worker in New York City and lived in a dingy apartment with his girlfriend. You want to believe all that. After seeing it again recently in quite some time, I knew what to expect and yet I didn't. I still wanted to believe Jacob had a somewhat normal life despite seeing fleshy tails in homeless people in the subway or demons looking and staring at him from behind subway doors or in hallways or at parties. That is what makes "Jacob's Ladder" worth revisiting often because you still hold hope for Jacob and that he recovers from his trauma and his fear of being dead and that he is, as he says to some doctors, alive. 

Tim Robbins is essentially the perfect actor to play a tormented, sweet, caring man who was once married, possibly returned from Vietnam though not unscathed from injuries and is possibly living with the equally caring Jezebel (Elizabeth Peña), his girlfriend he presumably knows from work. But there is something unsettling happening to Jacob. He has unrelenting visions of demons with heads that shake violently. Sometimes Jacob needs an adjustment from his saintly chiropractor (Danny Aiello) whom he refers to as an "overgrown cherub." Sometimes it is spurts of uncommon joy from listening to teenage girls in the street corner singing "Mr. Postman" or dancing briefly with Jezebel at a party. Jacob, though, has recurring nightmares and sometimes we are not sure if he is remembering his wife or if he's still with Jezebel or still in Vietnam being rescued by helicopter. Is he truly dead and if he just sees the demons as angels, can he proceed to Heaven with some inner peace? Will he get past the accidental death of one of his sons (Macaulay Culkin)?

"Jacob's Ladder" is a frightening, captivating journey of a man's probable descent into madness or a death-like paralysis before he climbs up to the heavens. Aiello is the saintly Louis who cares so much about Jacob that he cannot bear to see him in the hospital after Jacob hurt his back. Peña is the no-nonsense girlfriend who cannot bear to see Jacob cry and wants to nurture him back to health. Patricia Kalember as Sarah, the wife that Jaccob presumably divorced, shows such a gentle, understanding woman that she may as well have a halo. We also get fleeting glimpses of Jacob's Army pals (Ving Rhames, Eriq La Salle, Pruitt Taylor Vince) who also see some of these demonic visions - they want to sue the Army for possible drug experimentation while in Vietnam. Stylishly directed by Adrian Lyne, "Jacob's Ladder" is heavy-going yet it is often stirring, haunting, poetic (16mm footage is used in flashbacks; the billowing smoke from the New York streets; the dingy apartment that still looks inviting; Macaulay Culkin's cherubic face and smile especially at the end; the blood-stained hallways of an underground hospital) and has truly eerie close-ups of Robbins in various states of distress especially when he's endlessly strapped to beds. It is a New York City fervent nightmare of a movie but there are rich rewards for those who stick with it till the end. 

In Dreams

 MY TWENTIETH CENTURY (1989)

 An Appreciation by Jerry Saravia

The song I expected to hear in "My Twentieth Century" was Roy Orbison's melodious, ethereal pop song "In Dreams." It would have worked even more succinctly in this confection of turn-of-the-century images of a new era, new ideas, than in Lynch's "Blue Velvet." "My Twentieth Century" is a glorious, fantastical and supremely beautiful film of dreams told with such simplicity that it should be considered a fairly definitive evocation of the historical era it portrays with great love and attention. 

"My Twentieth Century" begins fleetingly with the invention of the light bulb by morose inventor Thomas Edison (Péter Andora), showcasing his revolutionary idea by having a tree lit with bulbs. A marching band carrying light bulbs on their hats celebrates the discovery. Afterwards, there is the simultaneous birth of twin Hungarian girls (Dorotha Segda plays the single mother and her daughters in their adult years) - the film already develops a comical side when the mother is unaware she has two baby girls crying in her bed. Getting back to Edison for a second - is he morose because such an invention doesn't compare to giving birth? Who can say though the stars in the night sky are wondering why he's sad as they call out to him (the talking stars are unmistakably a nod to "It's a Wonderful Life"). 

The twin girls, Dora and Lili, become orphans who sell matches on the snow-covered Budapest streets and are eventually separated by two strangers who steal their matches. As they enter adulthood, Dora becomes a grifter, stealing from the wealthy and living a life of luxury aboard trains, ships and expensive hotel rooms. Lili has become an anarchist, bombing buildings where the Minister of Interior frequents. The two never seem to meet again except in a funhouse of mirrors and even then, nothing is shared between them. The man they share, unbeknownst to them, is Z (Oleg Yankovsky), a mysterious figure of some intellectual heft, who lives in a small apartment and attends symposiums on transmitting electricity by human touch (a little Tesla twinkle there I gather).

Surreal, stirring debut films like "My Twentieth Century" are unusual and especially from a female director like Ildikó Enyedi. This is not a normal debut by any means - Hungarian filmmaker Enyedi (making her film during the era of Communist Hungary) shows she has a tremendous vision of a bygone era and it is illustrated by striking, densely layered imagery (a woman dances on stage with light bulbs attached to her) and subtle, expressive performances. There is a lot going on here with freely associative historical vignettes involving Pavlovian dogs, wealth inequality, the novel excitement of silent films, the treatment of women as objects despite their burgeoning presence where equal rights were in their infancy, Edison's other invention namely the telegraph, and a sense of being free with the promise of an exciting new era. Z may not know what is coming, and both Dora and Lili are just pawns in a time of self-expression. None of them comment on the new technology during the Second Industrial Revolution, the politics of the era (though Lili attends a lecture on women's rights) and barely any matters when it comes to the heart. Love itself for lustful Dora and the virginal Lili exists in a vacuum. They don't know what's coming ahead and that is the heartbreaking soul of "My Twentieth Century." They just know they are free.

007 bored me to tears

 THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974)

Endured by Jerry Saravia

Roger Moore's dapper James Bond is asked by his boss, M, about Scaramanga. Bond mentions that this assassin has a superfluous papilla - a third nipple. That is the most memorable moment of this joyless and tedious Bond effort (one I did not revisit much during the last 40 years) that feels like it has the thinnest story imaginable. 

Preceding this flick was "Live and Let Die" which was Roger Moore's dubious debut as Bond. That film had a little more story, a far more interesting Bond girl delivered by Jane Seymour as a talented tarot reader, a decent villain played by Yaphet Kotto, and they threw in some voodoo magic in the strange locales and surroundings of the Caribbean Islands. "Man With the Golden Gun" deals with an assassin who has a golden gun and gets paid a million dollars a hit - more than enough money to own a private island off the coast of southeastern China. He has some extraordinary solar beam that can presumably destroy anything. Bond must find Scaramanga and has assistance from Miss Goodnight (!) played by Britt Ekland. Throw in yet another boat chase (nowhere near as good as the one in "Live and Let Die"), a martial arts sequence, and a car chase with one unbelievably good stunt where it flips while crossing an unfinished bridge. Also thrown in is Bond's brief hanky panky with Ekland and Maud Adams. The car chase, by the way, brings the return of Clifton James as Sheriff Pepper from the last Bond outing - almost improbable he would run into Bond again. 

Christopher Lee is astonishingly good in an underwritten part - when he's on screen, the film comes alive. Moore hadn't grown in to the part of Bond yet and Ekland is a pure waste - a throwaway blonde Bond girl. "The Man With the Golden Gun" is the worst Moore Bond flick because it does something rather rare - it bored me to tears.  

Connery's return is top form Bond, uneven plot

 DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Diamonds are Forever" has oodles of great individual Bondian stunts and comical moments that we have come to expect, though the latter's humor is closer to Roger Moore's more flamboyant Bondian entries than Connery. Guy Hamilton is back as the ace director and things run smoothly if unevenly in "Diamonds are Forever" with an assured and perfectly stylish performance by Sean Connery as 007.

The plot deals with diamonds, of course, lunar modules, deadly laser beams from satellites and a ridiculous moon buggy. There is Charles Gray who has perfect pitch as Blofeld, the archvillain who can't seem to die no matter what James Bond does. These diamonds are priceless yet there are fakes as well. All this leads from London to Holland to finally the center location of most of the action, Las Vegas - one of the few times our superspy ended up in America. With Vegas as the setting, Jill St. John plays Tiffany, a diamond smuggler and Bond's latest love interest. In terms of women populating this world, there are too few. Tiffany is one, a throwaway female known as Plenty (Lana Wood) who is impressed by Bond's super abilities at the craps tables, and the brief introduction of the athletic bodyguards Bambi and Thumper. There is a mob element, an old stand-up comedian (Leonard Barr, an actual comedian), and a Howard Hughes-type known as Willard Whyte (Jimmy Dean) presumably living in a hotel. Gadgets are precious few though I did enjoy the voice synthesizer. Oh, did I forget to mention the nifty car chase with Bond driving a red Ford Mustang balanced on two wheels or the oil rig where Bond tries yet again to kill Blofeld? Or how about a waterbed filled with living fish in it? 

"Diamonds are Forever" is a bouncy, charming, purely escapist Bond flick but it is not quite at the level of Connery's earlier Bonds. Jill St. John is not quite right as a Bond girl, somehow too giddy and girlish for me to accept. The mid-section of the film slows down a bit during a funeral sequence though the pacing does pick up a bit. So, between the burning coffins and rats in a silo and the psychopathic hit men played rather atypically by Bruce Glover and Putter Smith, there is Connery who delivers a little more tongue-in-cheek attitude than you might expect. You haven't lived deep in 007 land until you have seen Connery pretending to embrace and kiss a woman on the streets. 

Alexander's nonexistent love for God grows like a newly planted tree

 THE SACRIFICE (1986)

Embraced by Jerry Saravia

Watching Andrei Tarkovsky films is like going through a time warp in an enclosed dreamlike space. His films are meditative trips where time is endless and space is being manipulated right before our eyes. That is the truest way I can view Tarkovsky's last film, "The Sacrifice," one of his heaviest films that is dedicated to his son. It doesn't start being so dark and difficult but, by the end, you might be gasping for air just like I did when I saw "Stalker." 

The film has an Ingmar Bergman quality during its opening long-take scene of a former older actor named Alexander (Erland Josephson, a Bergman regular) who has planted a tree with his mute son. His son (Tommy Kjellqvist), referred to as Little Man, recently had a throat operation and frequently mumbles. After talking to a mailman about existentialism in this seemingly isolated beach home area, Alexander sits by the remote woods waxing on about the state of mankind, how power corrupts all, how nature has been destroyed and sin has prevailed and, thus, the resulting emerging technology (these "words, words, words" are more prescient now than in 1986). His philosophies have emerged about life and death, though it is doubtful that it has any relation to him being a famous journalist who teaches aesthetics. It is this beach home in the middle of nowhere with a landscape more beautiful than beatific that has him cornered.  

It is Alexander's birthday and the bulk of the film takes place inside his beach home. His wife, Adelaide (Susan Fleetwood), arrives with Little Man's doctor, Victor (Sven Wollter), and they curiously look like a couple (Adelaide makes it clear that she married the wrong man). Also in attendance are Alexander's stepdaughter Marta, Otto the mailman (Allan Edwall, who had appeared in some Bergman films) and two maids, one who is referred to as a mysterious witch named Maria (Guðrún Gísladóttir). They all watch the news on TV about an impending World War III and this drives Adelaide to endlessly scream and well in tears (Victor comes to her aid). Alexander starts praying to God and the sound of thunder has given way to sounds of jets flying overhead. Existentialist thoughts about the world have now been submerged by spirituality. Alexander feels that if he gives up material possessions, like his beach house, that then maybe God will stop this nuclear war and its devastation. 

"The Sacrifice" is a deeply spiritual experience where one man desperately pleads with God, something Alexander probably never expected to do. He never expected to make love to the alleged witch, the one maid who saves him from potential suicide. After this one trek to her home, Alexander seems to wake up as if he had a bad dream. Nobody seems in fear anymore of war but Alexander has already changed. Tarkovsky occasionally places us in the calamitous effects of war, as in black-and-white images of people running in the city streets that resembles World War II footage of broken down cities. Sometimes, as in one very curious moment that is visually shown as colorless, Alexander is shown looking at a model of his beach house in the mud while the "witch" looks on - is it real or is Alexander thinking that his life is bereft of meaning including a material possession like a beach house? (The model was made by his son but, somehow, it is too perfect). Before the shattering sounds of jets are heard, we see a startling image of Maria walking on the grounds with a deep mist in the background.

"The Sacrifice" was Tarkovsky's last hurrah before he died of cancer. It is a surreal film that floats in and out of your consciousness and I do not think that most of it is meant to be taken literally. It is a final and emotionally grounded testament to a man who had profound thoughts on humanity and hoped spirituality would prevail. His view is that a man's family can and should feel at peace in a place that appears peaceful. If only.

Generic karate pic with generic Jeff

 THE PERFECT WEAPON (1991)

Endured by Jerry Saravia

You know something is rotten in Korea Town when a stellar actress like Mariska Hargitay (in her pre-"Law and Order" days to be fair) has no dialogue whatsoever yet showed presence, spunk and spoke dialogue in a "Freddy's Nightmares" TV episode three years earlier. That is what went through my mind while watching the completely indistinct "The Perfect Weapon" with the shallow model of a man with a touch of stubble, Jeff Speakman.

Another thought occurred to me - casting Mako and James Hong are good choices for any martial-arts film yet they are saddled with dialogue you have heard ten million times before. They could have cast anyone else to spout such unmemorable dialogue. The film starts off with a decent vibe showing Speakman's Kenpo style, karate that combines Chinese and Japanese traditions, but why do the editors have to cut from so many different angles when all he is doing is practicing in his living room? Why is Speakman, playing a character named Jeff, shown fighting his opponents with the same spinning back kick to someone's head repeated twice so that we get the point? He also has that Steven Seagal attitude where he tells three karate fighters in a gym, "I am going...to kick your ass." 

The fight scenes overall are well-choreographed but the writing is maybe 6th grade-level at best. There is also a...car chase! There is a nifty homage to Harold Sakata's Oddjob from "Goldfinger" when Toru Tanaka faces a similar death scene by way of an exploding gas tank rather than electrocution. Other than that, "The Perfect Weapon" is bargain basement karate nonsense at best where learning a little about Kenpo style karate would've been its most original element. You don't even learn half of it.  

I am still not entertained!

 GLADIATOR II (2024)
Endured by Jerry Saravia

Maybe gladiator flicks are just not my thing. Maybe I can't lean towards Roman Colosseum fights with other gladiators or ferocious animals. I did like "Spartacus" once upon a time though it is the only Kubrick film I have not seen more than once. Same with Ridley Scott's bloodily tedious, glum "Gladiator" from 2000 with Russell Crowe as Maximus, a gladiator with apparent dreams of a new Rome. I say apparent because I have forgotten most of the original film when I first saw it in 2000. A quarter-century later we get "Gladiator II" which reminds one (thanks to the first film's flashbacks) of this ideal Rome that Maximus envisioned, presumably a place where greed, villainy and gladiator fights do not take place. Unfortunately, this sequel is as tiresome and glum as the original with a presumed hero who doesn't have a tenth of Crowe's charisma.

The new Roman slave, Hanno (also known as Lucius), played by Paul Mescal, is forcefully taken from his home in Numidia. The Roman Army have invaded Numidia and Hanno's wife (Yuval Gonen), a hellacious archer, is killed. Rome is still as vibrantly violent as it once was with two young co-Emperors, a somewhat serious Emperor Geta (ably cast Joseph Quinn) and the overly giddy and insane brother, Emperor Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) who keeps a pet monkey - two dynamic opposite emperors that provide a bit of energy to the story. Denzel Washington is Macrinus, an ex-slave with aspirations to rule Rome though he sits in the sidelines mostly, glancing at everyone and everything and has a clearly murderous bent. Macrinus hopes to have Lucius kill Acacius (Pedro Pascal), a Roman general who is not interested in war or seeing men die. Acacius is married to Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, reprising her role as Lucius' mother) and they both wish to form an insurrection and topple the youngling emperors. Meanwhile Lucius fight gladiator battles against men riding black rhinos and, in one practically laughable sequence, a fight on ships in a flooded arena with CGI sharks!

"Gladiator II" has lots of gory violence involving impalements by arrows and swords and most of it is staged with the typical Ridley Scott stylings of true combat. Most of the film though is uninvolving and I had no rooting interest in anyone and that includes the protagonist. Paul Mescal just doesn't register for me, though he speaks with a Crowe-influence tongue. There is one character named Ravi (Alexander Karim), a former Indian gladiator who became a doctor to nurse the wounded blood-soaked fighters, whom I leaned towards. There is a spark there, some measure of a world described that might have been more interesting if he had been the lead. "Gladiator II" just feels like a wasted opportunity of a sequel, a movie heavy on long-form battle scenes with the barest of interest in the politics of the times or the people. I am still not entertained!  

Moore will survive

 G.I. JANE (1997)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Can a smart, determined woman make it as a NAVY SEAL? In 1997, this question seemed almost improbable. According to 2026 statistics, no women have made it as SEALS. Still, Demi Moore can rock it and survive the training program and go off and fight a war in Libya. The good news about "G.I. Jane" is that it is not nearly as insanely over-the-top as Moore's execrable 1996 film "The Juror." Good performances don't always make good movies but Moore is so damn good, so absolutely believable, that I bought her more than the actual movie around her.

A topographical analyst named Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore) is selected by an acid-tongued Texas Senator DeHaven (Anne Bancroft) to join the Navy Seals - the purpose is to establish that a woman can do the job and survive basic training (a tidbit here that some may find offensive in this day and age - the Senator is looking for feminine-looking women, not manly-looking ones). O'Neil accepts the job yet she may be unprepared for how grueling it is. The male SEALS are displeased with having to be "co-ed" and none will sit with her at the cafeteria. The training includes hauling rafts into the ocean, pushing fenders up and over beach dunes, survive waterboarding and get physically and violently punished by the Master Chief (Viggo Mortensen) during war interrogation drills. Only these drills seem to go beyond the expected where O'Neill is punched and kicked and thrown against wooden pillars by the Master Chief. You know the brutality is insane when one of the other NAVY leaders is telling the chief that he went too far. Did the Master Chief go too far because he's assaulting a woman or do all the male wannabe SEALS get the same violent treatment? Good question but the movie never probes that question because all is forgiven - just another day in basic training.

"G.I. Jane" is fluidly made by director Ridley Scott but it also has loud 1990's symphonic music laced with patriotic beats by Trevor Jones that undermine the first half of the film. The business with the Senator has nothing to do with diversity and/or gender-neutral implementation in the Navy - she has her own designs about women in combat that seem out-of-step with her initial feelings. A military clash with Libyans towards the end seems tacked-on. Despite its slight narrative inconsistencies and some generic, pumped up battle scenes which don't seem like Scott directed them, the heartbeat of "G.I. Jane" is Demi Moore with shorn hair and her positive attitude as a woman in a man's world - she wants to go all the way but the powers that be will not see it that way. Good message sort of clouded by superfluous Senators and jingoistic nonsense.   

Getty's icy frugality amid family chaos

 ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD (2017)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

It is difficult to fathom the emotional turmoil parents have to endure when their child is missing. In the case of "All the Money in the World," it is a 16-year-old kid who is kidnapped for a ransom demand. There are 8 million stories of kidnapped kids but this one is John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer), the grandson of the richest man alive at that time - the notoriously frugal billionaire John Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer). 

The 16 year-old kid is wandering the streets of Rome at 3 am, near the Piazza Farnese, and is kidnapped by some captors and thrown in a van. News reaches Paul's mother, Gail (Michelle Williams) who, of course, calls her father-in-law to help pay the $17 million ransom. Mr. Frugal Man decides it is a no-go, sensing this is a ploy by her grandson to get money and live off of it. The billionaire's own son (Andrew Buchan) became a helpless drug addict and no longer secured in an enviable position working for Getty Oil. Not that Mr. El Cheapo doesn't love his grandsons - he does - but not at the expense of employing financial arrangements. The masked captors are from Calabria and they are part of an Italian crime organization. After months of keeping Paul captive, the captors grow restless and it results in the chopping off of body parts and mailing them to newspapers. Since mo deals are made to deliver the ranson, adding more consternation to Paul's mother, other methods must be employed. Chace (Mark Wahlberg), a former secret agent who also works deals for Getty Oil, asks around through his past contacts to see who has Paul and where. 

"All the Money in the World" is all the more telling in that it is based on true events resulting in later tragic outcomes omitted from this film. Still, no matter how much truth there is here in the ransom details, it is Christopher Plummer's icy cold billionaire that really rattled my nerves. Here is a man of considerable wealth who can't spend any of it, only in investments and tax deductibles. The raw nerve of this man's frugality is in lowering the ransom to almost a sheer million bucks with certain provisions - the main one being that Gail's ex-husband gets custody of the kids and the ransom will be a tax deduction! This made me so angry that I wanted to strangle the grandfather - have you no humility, sir? Only Chace gets to confront the old man who is still devoted to his business transactions. The godawful sonovagun is a ruthless businessman, nothing more.

There is a consistent line of unbreakable tension in Ridley Scott's assured direction and Claire Simpson's crisp editing. There is gravity in a strange performance by Michelle Williams, who tries her best to maintain composure despite trying to cry and always looking away (not sure I've ever seen Williams look and feel so remotely and emotionally broken down before). Mark Wahlberg gives his agent character a familial ring of truth - a man more devoted to helping the family than helping his employer. Charlie Plummer (no relation to Christopher) plays the typical teenager who uses his smarts for his first escape - you feel for the kid who has no idea why these events took place though he had always joked about being kidnapped. And, finally, there is Christopher Plummer (replacing Kevin Spacey) as Getty - a tough man to like or care about yet the titanic actor knows how to make you feel contempt for him and still find him watchable. You feel the hatred for him and his greediness in your veins.       

Day-by-Day Mars Diary

 THE MARTIAN (2015)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Forget "Red Planet" and "Mission to Mars" and just simply pretend they do not exist for whatever few virtues they may possess as adventures on a planet not meant for human voyage. "The Martian" is propulsive filmmaking, taking us on a journey to the uninhabitable Red Planet with surprises galore, wit and gobs of humanity. It is the Mars movie we all deserve and much more. 

The astronaut crew of Ares III is examining and preserving soil samples on Mars. A dangerous dust storm is headed their way and they have to head back to their ship, the Hermes, by way of their MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle). The singular botanist, Mark Watney (Matt Damon), is impaled by a weather satellite and thought to be dead. The crew are quickly ready to take off for their long journey, though the Mission Commander (Jessica Chastain) is reluctant to leave Mark behind, dead or alive. Their mission is over and the Ares III heads back to Earth (approximately 241 days, though I must question why did the crew did not head back to their habitat station but whatever). It turns out that Mark is not dead as his injury was not fatal and he manages to get in the HAB (the aforementioned surface habitat) but food is scarce and communications with NASA (who report that Mark's dead) is nonexistent. Being a botanist proves fruitful for Mark as he finds a way to plant a potato garden in the HAB utilizing Martian soil (call me crazy but while watching, I thought that maybe Martian soil might be detrimental to one's health). Nevertheless, potatoes are successfully grown but an accident involving a blown-out airlock results in food shortage for Mark who might not survive more than a year. 

Back home at the NASA control center, a satellite communications engineer (Mackenzie Davis) notices movement in Mars and once everyone is alerted that Mark is actually alive, plans are made to bring him home but how long would that take? And can they send him food with a resupply spacecraft assembled in record time? The cool detachment of Teddy (Jeff Daniels), the NASA administrator, doesn't allow for detailed information of Mark's progress or his willingness to spread the news that he is alive to the press (he initially refuses to inform the Hermes crew during their journey back to Earth). The other NASA members feel differently.     

The most compelling sections of "The Martian" involve Mark Watney's arduous day-by-day video cataloguing of his less-than-savory experiences on the planet. For almost a year, he can't even shower due to water loss and develops abrasions. Eating potatoes every day might make me sick personally but it starts to show when he grows a Robinson Crusoe-beard and looks malnourished. When the HAB has accidental breakage, duct tape is used (I wonder if duct tape sales rocketed back in 2015). The movie doesn't glorify his experiences and it makes them seem real and tough to withstand. When the film switches to the Earth footage of NASA and its bureaucrats making decisions on Mark's well-being and the media awareness, it proves to be less invigorating than the Mars footage.

The longing heartbeat of "The Martian" is Matt Damon's fluid, all-encompassing performance which says so much about Mark's isolation - Mark never lets being the sole Mars colonist/pirate get to him. He wants out of this arid, harsh planet yet he maintains his coolness and makes the most of his time and his survival. One of the more humanistic Ridley Scott films you will ever see.  

Odysseus Going Home is a Monumental Achievement

 THE ODYSSEY (2026)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The bearded, older Odysseus is stuck on an island with the nymph Calypso and has disappeared from his homeland for two decades. This great King of Ithaca has lost memory of his past due to consuming a copious amount of white lotus flowers. Is he forgotten after decades away from Ithaca? Will anyone find him? Will his son Telemachus find his father when he goes off on a secret journey unbeknownst to his mother? 

At the heart of Christopher Nolan's very exciting, tempestuously paced and grandly told epic is Odysseus struggling to come home to Ithaca and wondering whether he will be a historical footnote in the sacking of Troy or having punctured Cyclops' one eye - after all, he is at the far end of the world with this beautiful nymph and so does he need to come back? And who will tell his story? Homer, of course. In Ithaca, Odysseus' authoritative wife, Penelope (a majestic and nuanced Anne Hathaway), is eager for his return since the suitors wish to have her hand in marriage with access to the throne (the suitors do not believe Odysseus is coming back). Her ambitious son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), is destined for the throne yet Antinous (Robert Pattinson) is firm on doing anything he can to claim it - murder is on his mind. Watching Pattinson is a sneaky treat because you can almost smell the deviousness of his plans, including those of the suitors who think nothing of kicking Odysseus' pet dog. 

"The Odyssey" is not like the grand Greek myth films we have had in the past. With the exception of the giant Cyclops (Polyphemus, Poseidon's son), the gods are alluded to in this version - we never see the angry Poseidon or Zeus though their rage is felt during towering sea storms. The singing maidens, which requires Odysseus' crew to have wax in their ears, are seen from afar in misty rock formations. We do get to see the nasty witch Circe (Samantha Morton, in a sneakily scary performance) who turns men into pigs - the whole sequence itself is beyond bizarre as there are apparent wild animals on the island such as tigers and lions who were once human. Other than the gods, the scarred Helen of Troy (Lupita Nyong'o) and the goddess Athena (Zendaya) have glorified cameos and I wished to see more of them.

Sticking to Homer's own structure (translated from Greek in untold number of translations), it is partly Odysseus's story and partly Telemachus' own journey of learning about his father's journey and his battles. I felt more of a kinship with Matt Damon's Odysseus than I did with Tom Holland's Telemachus - Holland is the weakest of the actors on display here though he does give it 100 percent effort. Damon seems too modern at first to play such an iconic Greek hero but he goes the distance and manages to find his footing. Odysseus is shown as a man of complexity - a hero who knows he made mistakes and violated Zeus' law yet hopes that returning home to his beloved wife (as a beggar) will help cure and redeem everything. Killing the man-eating Polyphemus inside his cave was justified technically since Odysseus had to protect his own crew, a thought not likely shared by Poseidon. Same with hiding his soldiers inside the Trojan Horse - a sequence that is as magnificent to behold as you might imagine. The wooden Trojan Horse is protected by the incapable Sinon (Elliot Page) who is used as bait and is thus killed by the Trojans. During the volcanic Hades sequence, Sinon's "shade" (ghost) appears and shares his being betrayed, unaware of the soldiers inside the Trojan Horse and its ultimate purpose. And let's not forget Athena, who has the appearance of the slaughtered Trojan girl during the war and serves as a constant reminder to Odysseus. These are intimate moments where the hero has to grapple with some measure of guilt that gives "The Odyssey" a sizable thrust of humanity and despair.     

Serious-minded and coupled with the flair and scope of a classic cinematic epic, "The Odyssey" is often superlative, thunderously riveting and uniquely intimate. Though some of the fighting scenes could've been handled without the obligatory cliche of a hand-held camera, I was still awestruck by this film and never felt it was too long. Despite some minor faults in its opening scenes (I just had to get used to Damon who looks more modern than Hathaway), "The Odyssey" will stand tall with its own dark spin on the giant mythological large-scale epics of our past.

Sexual liberation in the Middle Ages

ANCHORESS (1993)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The Anchoress of Shere, like all anchoresses and anchorites, is already dead to the world. When the anchoress physically dies, her grave is in the walled-in enclosure of the church. There is no escape from it since it is a chosen, voluntary religious vocation. Watching Chris Newby's film, "Anchoress," is also a religious experience with thankful notes of humor. You need a little humor to get by the 14th century pastures of Surrey, England.

Christine Carpenter (a beatific Natalie Morse) is the anchoress. At first, she's drawn and fascinated by the Virgin Mary statue that is brought to the church. When she looks at the statue, it is so mesmerizing to her that she doesn't blink - almost as if she was lovestruck. Christine comes from a commoner family where the mother is tempermental with her and the sister. The Reeve (Gene Bervoets), a mayor of sorts in this village, has romantic inclinations towards the disinterested Christine, and then finally the other sister (Brenda Bertin) whom he gets to marry. The disapproving mother (Toyah Wilcox) is not happy, often spitting on her hand, urinating in front of the sole village priest (Christopher Eccleston), and in general expressing unhappiness about everything including her husband who will not please her sexually. She is not a religiously devout and her practices, including helping women with abortions, are deemed Satanic by the priest.

All this is too much of a distraction for Christine who makes a plea to the Bishop to become the Anchoress. This means a life inside this closed-off church chamber where she can have two windows - one is referred to as a "squint" where she can view the Virgin Mary statue at the altar, and the other is like a confessional to the outside world where villagers can come to her with their problems and beg for forgiveness. This is also where her mother and sister can bring her food and, though men can approach her, they cannot touch her (truthfully nobody can).

"Anchoress" is about Christine's religious devotion yet she always expresses an orgasmic pleasure with everything she sees or touches. She has one heart-stopping moment where she feels and penetrates the ground itself or holes in the wall - ecstasy has entered this girl's mind. Even her own mother gets to have a romp in the hay with a goat, spotted by her disbelieving husband (Pete Postlethwaite). Sex is on the minds of all of these peasant women yet Christine still holds true to her visions of the Virgin Mary. The priest wants those visions revealed to him yet he disagrees with her that the only Mother has red robes - according to his beliefs, they should be blue. And whatever Christine expresses that goes against the grain of the church dogma, the priest instantly blames her mother and not her. This leads to another heart-stopping and intensifying moment where the mother is chased by the villagers - Christine's mother is determined to be a witch.

There are rewards aplenty for the bewitching and sometimes darkly humorous "Anchoress." It is a striking, Bergmanesque religious tale that I am sure might have inspired later directors like Robert Eggers for its attention to period Gothic and/or Middle Ages details, specifically the look of the claustrophobic cell. Filmed in high-contrast black-and-white by director Chris Newby, "Anchoress" holds your attention and never lets loose its grasp on the audience. Natalie Morse's role here is definitive for an atypical Middle Ages tale - she may seek penance but she is deep down more liberated than most. 

Vangelis' score is legendary, this papier mache Colon is not

 1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE (1992)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus arrives in the New World (the island of Guanahani), there's a mist revealing the sought-after island. Columbus is on one of the three ships and he closes his eyes and opens them and revels in the discovery. Since Gerard Depardieu is playing the infamous/famous Columbus, you only get a whisper of satisfaction from him. He walks on the land by the shores, and falls on his knees with a dour expression. Compare that to Kevin Costner's sense of joy of returning to England in 1991's "Robin Hood," and you might wonder why Columbus is so restrained at this groundbreaking discovery. 

Scene after scene of "1492" indicates a beautifully mounted production that director Ridley Scott might have been born to direct. Every shot is really divine including the ships and their long masts at sea with a golden glow and amazing sunsets and sunrises (coupled with colorful flags). The jungles of this New World reveal something untouched by foreigners and the atmosphere practically drips off the screen. And every scene has Depardieu looking more and more like a sad sack of a man, not the ambitious navigator and explorer who dared to question the Catholic theologians and search for land in Asia. When he gets upset and tosses scrolls on the ground, Depardieu manages a little emotion. When he speaks to Queen Isabella (Sigourney Weaver), he's at a standstill and emotionally bereft (of course, maybe he is supposed to be since he's talking to the Queen). However, with regards to the singular emotion of anger, Columbus can spear the natives who attack him and his crew without question (this violent episode occurred when he returns to the Caribbean and finds his murdered crew members who stayed behind.) Anger is his singular emotion but his ambition, his craving for uncharted new lands and making new discoveries, is hampered by making the crew aboard the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria ships restless and almost provoking a mutiny. Yet again, Depardieu is unaffected, indifferent and you would think he would show some level of exhaustion being at sea for nine weeks, not to mention his arduous return journey. Compare this to the apocalyptic "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" where we witnessed a conqueror who is more mad than anyone, yet we also saw the passion and zeal at work. Columbus is depicted as someone who has been burning the midnight oil doing a social studies homework assignment. 

"1492" has beautiful locales and is quite the picturesque Illustrated Comics version of Columbus. I especially love the hoisting of the bell at the top of a tower, complemented by Vangelis's legendary musical score. As history, the film actually tries to show certain realities but hardly enough to merit a 2 1/2 hour running time. There are some revelations here about Columbus' wanting to convert Guanahani natives to Christianity, indicated by his voyage diary entries. This apathetic man is also depicted as noble and willing to help the indigenous people of this Caribbean island. Eventually, violence erupts during the the colonization and the film wants to put the blame on the murderous Adrián de Moxica (Michael Wincott, in a performance that mimics his Guy of Gisborne from 1991's "Robin Hood") who thinks nothing of chopping a native's hand off. Moxica feels the natives are stealing or hiding the gold and riches from the island (he is shown here to commit suicide than being hanged, when in fact he was hanged). Many historians believe Columbus to have committed genocide and lay the trappings of colonialism going forward, with some aid from his crews no doubt. No matter what one believes, this Columbus is just a papier mache version of the real thing.

Women's Lib structured as road movie

 THELMA AND LOUISE (1991)

An Appreciation and Reassessment by Jerry Saravia

What I love most about "Thelma and Louise" is that it is not simply a road movie (that most beloved genre), a feminist parable or, as critics exclaimed back then, "toxic feminism." The latter is a foolish assessment because these two energetic young women on the lam are not anymore toxic than if they were a pair of males on the run. The first two descriptions are most apt to describe "Thelma and Louise," a basic friendship movie in the guise of road movie cliches that are somehow less cliche-ridden based on its feminist context. It basically puts a whole new spin on the road movie as allegory and has more nuanced ideas about how women see themselves.

Thelma (Geena Davis) is the ditsy, innocent type who abides by her regional manager husband who sells carpets, Darryl (Christopher McDonald), yet she is desperate to step out and be somewhere else, at least for a weekend getaway. That chance arrives when her best friend, Louise (Susan Sarandon), a waitress, is ready to go on the road trip to go fishing! Once they stop at a Texas-like bar/restaurant along the way and Thelma has a good time dancing with a supposedly charming smooth talker, Harlan (Timothy Carhart), the situation escalates to sexual assault and Louise ends it killing the guy with a gun. Now, Thelma and Louise are on the loose though nobody initially suspects them of the crime. The rest of "Thelma and Louise" is the twosome on the road, evading police, massive trucks and leering truck drivers. When Louise gets some money from her boyfriend (the always terrific Michael Madsen), she is determined to go to Mexico knowing she's ultimately the one that pulled the trigger and will not give herself up at all to the authorities. Thelma is simply going along for it but her malleable nature erodes when she chooses to have sex with a polite drifter and ex-robber, J.D. (Brad Pitt, in a star-making performance). When J.D. steals Louise's money, Thelma gets an idea from J.D's confessions to rob a gas station and she does. There is not a care in the world for these women who choose to live freely and not be dependent on men to sustain themselves.

Louise is also going through changes. Many scenes show her looking at herself in bathroom mirrors or rearview mirrors, as if she is trying to shed the woman she was and become more independent in her nature and way of being. At one crucial point, she gives up her watch and rings to some old bystander - time and attachment to shiny accoutrements are no longer necessary. When she sees an older woman through a storefront window, Thelma decides to abandon lipstick and eyeshadow - perhaps maintain an earthy look. One amazingly potent scene shows Louise looking at the desert during sunset, knowing an eventual change is coming. 

"Thelma and Louise" was accused of being a misandrist film where all men are chauvinistic pigs and the women are simply objects of ridicule that need to know their place and fulfill men's needs - at least, according to the male characters in this film. That is not entirely the case with all the men here, especially Louise's boyfriend who does erupt in violence for a brief moment before apologizing. There's Harvey Keitel as the good, sweet-natured cop who wants to bring them in but knows, deep down that even if their predicament is their fault, he knows it is far more complicated than that. The rest of the men are powerless against Thelma and Louise and that includes the unredeeming Harlan - I will not say he deserved his fate but he should've known he had it coming. Darryl is something of an egghead who realizes he has no control over Thelma at all. There's also a highway cop who, for whatever reason I cannot fathom, asks Thelma to sit in the front seat of his car and asks her to remove her eyewear (my parents had thought he said underwear when they first saw the film) - this results in him being forced into a trunk which leads to a Rastafarian biker scene that has to be seen to be believed. The foolhardy J.D. uses his charms and almost gets away with it, never assuming that Thelma would hold up any store - he can, it turns out, one-up the women. 

Ultimately, "Thelma and Louise" is a female empowerment statement that can still carry a dangerous charge 35 years later (Men clearly are more threatened by this film than women). It is not a female empowerment fantasy but rather about women seeking their own place in a male-dominated world without their help. The final emotional powerhouse of a sequence can quicken the pulses of most men and women but it can also demonstrate that Thelma and Louise's choices over their fate are their own. Most liberating.   

Dishonorable cop in gloomy Japan thriller

 BLACK RAIN (1989)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Black Rain" is not quite a full-fledged movie - it is an assemblage of plot points and cliches that don't amount to much. It is ostensibly a cop thriller but its suspense is drowned by its heavy synthesizer soundtrack and some gory moments. There is some level of excitement in certain spots but an unspectacularly faint echo of a performance by Michael Douglas brings the movie down to the gutter. 

A violent criminal, Koji Sato (Matsuda Sugai), is a yakuza seeking a counterfeit money plate. He kills some Japanese businessman right out in the open in a New York restaurant, no less witnessed by cops including the uptight Nick (Michael Douglas) and his happy-as-a-clam partner, Charlie (Andy Garcia). The yakuza is chased by the cops, captured and extradited to Osaka, Japan. Of course, you can anticipate every scene including Nick punching Sato in the face on the plane, and police inspectors ready to pick up Sato when they turn out to be yakuza members (and then the real police show up). Now Nick and Charlie are to be only observers to the Osaka police trying to capture Sato. Naturally, these American cops know nothing about honor and are wanting Sato and to bring him to America. 

"Black Rain" has its purest and most instinctual performance by the straight-as-an-arrow, by-the-book  Ken Takakura as Assistant Inspector Masahiro "Mas" Matsumoto. Through the slightest shadings imaginable, we can see Takakura's obedience and honor to the law yet also showing his slightly changing attitude to Charlie's ability to party with girls at a club and by Nick's rebellious stance to go on instinct rather than follow procedures. I also give a shout out to Kate Capshaw's sexy and alluring American from Chicago who is some sort of hostess/bartender and has intimate knowledge of gang warfare.

Scene after scene though, "Black Rain" is hindered by Michael Douglas' virtually difficult, displeasing cop who has an Internal Affairs investigation back home dealing with his taking money from drug dealers. There is a semblance here of something deeper when Nick has alimony payments, kids, an apartment and a house - not enough income from a NYPD cop who loves motorcycle racing on weekends. Ridley Scott certainly knows how to make all this come alive but it is an undernourished screenplay with zero sympathy towards the guy we are supposed to root for. The late Matsuda Sugai plays his Sato as a one-dimensional psychopath who thinks nothing of chopping off his own finger, you know, for being dishonorable. It is a fair to average movie but I expect much more than that from Ridley Scott.

Call it a light cavalry skirmish

 THE DUELLISTS (1977)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Imagine holding a grudge towards someone, a friend, ally or enemy (god forbid, a family member), for decades. In these modern times, we would stay far away from them and hope there is no chance of running into them. In Ridley Scott's fabulous directorial debut, "The Duellists," two comparatively different men fight several duels over the course of nearly two decades without any real victory other than nursing deep wounds. It is somewhat fated that they keep running into each other every few years and the chance for bloodletting is renewed.

Starting in the 1800's during the Napoleonic Wars, we are introduced to the fierce French Lt. Feraud (Harvey Keitel), a man with a violent temperament who engages in sword duels to the death and is loyal to Napoleon Bonaparte. The reasons for his incessant dueling are not divulged other than having a violent temperament. Lt. Armand d'Hubert (Keith Carradine) is a dedicated French soldier who is under orders to place Feraud on house arrest for almost killing a mayor's nephew in a duel. Naturally, Feraud is not just any French soldier who can be reasoned with - his rage is unfathomable as he is prepared to duel d'Hubert who is just following orders. It turns into an embarrassment as the two have a swordfight which leads to d'Hubert getting a severe though not fatal wound, and some deep scratches on his face by Feraud's mistress (Gay Hamilton, who also appeared in "Barry Lyndon"). D'Hubert is looked upon unfavorably by his Brigadier-General Treillard (Robert Stephens) who sees d'Hubert as weak and incapable, demoting him to the barracks with the regiment. 

"The Duellists" carries on with this "light cavalry skirmish" for so long that you wonder why death hasn't approached either one of them. D'Hubert is unequivocally loyal to his rank and standing (he assumes Colonel and General positions), and duels are forbidden (or at least, frowned upon) when the duellists are of different ranks especially in a time of endless war. Feraud cannot let go of these bloody duels, the last of which (prior to using guns) results in Feraud obtaining a head injury. From Augsburg to Lubeck to a haunting passage of frozen Napoleonic soldiers on the Russian front (defeated by "General Winter") where Feraud and D'Hubert shoot at Cossacks - the one chance encounter where a duel doesn't emerge - to d'Hubert's home where they engage in a pistol duel near some castle ruins. 

"The Duellists" doesn't initiate any persuasiveness when it comes to its two strangely cast leads who are anything but French in appearance, Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine. Yet even if both Keitel and Carradine seem too modern, it doesn't matter because they acquit themselves with their depiction of their characters' own tribulations, passions and dedications to the war effort. Feraud may have mistresses throughout his life but d'Hubert is the one who settles down, gets married and joins the Louis XVIII army. These two powerhouse talents give us enough shades to trample any lack of casting credibility. 

"The Duellists" is breathtaking, forceful cinema by a director whose tantalizing vision (based on Joseph Conrad's short story) consumes us from first frame to last. Howard Blake's memorably moody music score elevates everything we see and every image here is as potent as "Barry Lyndon" of which this pays direct homage to. Never have deathly grudges been so picturesque.