My ass is a banjo

JUST CAUSE (1995)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The critics excoriated this legal thriller with "Silence of the Lambs" pretensions but I happen to consider it what it is: a fire and brimstone Southern Gothic nightmare of a movie. It has its share of flaws but the first 3/4 of it are fantastic.

Sean Connery is a Harvard law professor, Paul Armstrong, who is against the death penalty. He is a former lawyer but no longer practices. He is married to a woman who was young enough to be Indiana Jones' flame, the spunky Kate Capshaw - Laurie, who once practiced law. Armstrong is recruited by a kind old woman (Ruby Dee) to help reopen the case against her grandson Bobby Earl Ferguson (Blair Underwood), who is allegedly innocent of severely stabbing and killing a young girl. Bobby is on Death Row in Florida and claims he was beaten severely to give his coerced confession. Armstrong has a suave, allegedly trigger-happy cop (Laurence Fishburne) and his partner to deal with, both of whom beat the confession out of Bobby. There is also the hellbent, Bible-spouting serial killer Sullivan (a manic Ed Harris in the Hannibal Lecter part in a less nuanced role) whom Bobby claims is the real killer.

You can't beat the film's location - sunny Florida Everglades with its crickets, alligators, swamps and beautiful rivers. The movie has enough atmosphere for ten thrillers, and those prison cells look creepier than most prisons you see nowadays. In addition, these sights help develop the tension and also help in leaving your logic at the door with its red herrings. A terrifying car ride with Connery and Ferguson in establishing evidence of Bobby's guilt will give you a jolt. Connery's discovery of a supposedly unoccupied house will give one the jitters. His conversations with Sullivan are stultifying and put in there for the Lecter crowd.

When the movie past the hour mark reverses its initial determination of someone's true character, I was reminded of 1991's "Mortal Thoughts" by director Alan Rudolph, which also did a 180 and tended to negate most of its first 3/4 of film time. "Mortal Thoughts" is less nuanced as a thriller if only because its interrogation scenes between Demi Moore and Harvey Keitel were endless and boring. "Just Cause" is fitfully entertaining but it loses steam at around the point that you might think, hey the movie is over.

Sean Connery as always is a titanic actor of great strength and his extreme close-ups (which are more powerful in a movie theater) are as selective and as well placed as his similar close-ups in "The Hunt for Red October." The character is thin but Connery makes the best of it and gives this potboiler class and a touch of dignity. Same with Laurence Fishburne as the vicious cop, Tanny Brown, who hates Bobby and has suspicions about everyone, including Armstrong. Both actors have their moments of over-the-top theatrics and both also show sensitivity and presence to match.

Ed Harris is simply an animal on screen, a wild animal given to hollering like a cartoonish madman. Ruby Dee, Chris Sarandon, Kevin McCarthy and Hope Lange are merely set decoration. The great Southerner himself, Ned Beatty (actually more upper South, Kentucky), gives his role every ounce of legitimacy as Bobby's one-time defense lawyer. And let us not forget a very young Scarlett Johannson as Armstrong's daughter.

Director Arne Glimcher (who made the wonderful "Mambo Kings") gives his film polish and parades the screen with an outstanding cast. The screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Peter Stone is a hot mess, but its touch of amped-up melodramatic spinning of Southern Gothic noir staples is still fast-moving and pulpy enough to warrant a viewing. Hard to say if the movie is pro-death penalty or against it, or if it even matters. When the alligators start chomping away, you might think you are in a different movie than the one that began with a college debate with George Plimpton.

A Christmas Story 2! Yawn.

WHO ASKED FOR THIS?

By Jerry Saravia

Allegedly based on Jean Shepherd's fanciful childhood tales, "A Christmas Story 2" heads direct-to-DVD on October 30th, 2012. That is right, a sequel to the perennial favorite that plays on a 24 hour loop on TBS every Christmas with the kid who might shoot his eye out is coming packaged and ready for delivery. Obviously I have not seen this sequel but it strikes me as missing a crucial ingredient from the original film - the plight of adolescence and the yearning for the toy you must have. Daniel Stern plays the Old Man (so vividly played by the late Darren McGavin in the 1983 original) and a young fresh actor named Braeden Lemasters plays the teenage Ralphie (replacing Peter Billingsley and Kieran Culkin from "It Runs in the Family") who yearns for a 1938 Hupmobile Skyline Convertible. Stacey Travis takes over as the mother, an actress who seems like a far cry from Melinda Dillon in the original and Mary Steenburgen from the forgotten "It Runs in the Family" (and I do mean the 1994 film sequel, also known as "My Summer Story," not the 2003 Michael Douglas picture). David W. Thompson and David Buehrle play Flick and Schwartz. The director is Brian Levant, the same one who helmed the unfunny "Jingle All the Way," a disastrous Schwarzenegger kiddie flick.

Studying the poster carefully tells me that the filmmakers are riding high on some of the specific gags of the original film that have become as common to our popular culture as apple pie. Will the Old Man still be salivating over that dreaded leg lamp? Will Ralphie be forced to wear a teddy bear costume as opposed to a bunny costume? Will Flick and Schwartz play sword fighting with two candy canes? I think a more appropriate question for a coming-of-age story would be: will the teenage Ralphie be having sex and who is that girl sitting next to him? Oh, no, some of you might say. This is a Christmas tale and teens didn't have sex in the 40's. Hogwash.  

Warner Bros. is actually shutting down its direct-to-DVD slate division, Warner Premiere, and their reason is: "a decline in direct-to-video-film market." Sounds more like a decline in quality - let us not forget that maybe they could have churned out more original films than sequels to "The Lost Boys." There has been a prejudice to direct-to-DVD or direct-to-video films for several decades now, but occasionally there is a diamond in the rough. I am talking about "Slumdog Millionaire," a film that was going straight to DVD thanks to Warner Bros. (ouch!) and was rescued from oblivion and ushered into theaters instead thanks to distributor Fox Searchlight Pictures, and it went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Danny Boyle is a talented director whereas Brian Levant, not so much. Warner Premiere had nothing to do with "Slumdog Millionaire" either. Since their inception in 2006, they established a formula of making sequels to movies or as they put it, and I quote, "follow-ups to films that had done well at the box office theatrically, but wouldn't be expected to do well if a sequel were to be made."

Without Jean Shepherd's reliable narration that anchored "A Christmas Story" and "It Runs in the Family" (Shepherd passed away in 1999), I am sensing this is a movie that I have one too many reservations about. I may eventually see it on cable out of curiosity but, for the time being, I will check out "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Part 2." Or just watch the original "A Christmas Story."

The Club of Forgotten Dreams

XANADU (1980)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Xanadu" is a flashy, absolutely fun, completely nonsensical yet alarmingly watchable musical. I first saw it in the early 1980's and had forgotten it. Seeing it again now in 2012, it is pure kitsch but also spirited kitsch.

Michael Beck (fresh, at that time, from his sublime work in "The Warriors") is Sonny Malone, a painter who had to abandon his own personal work to do "someone else's work." He paints larger versions of record album covers in a makeshift work environment with three other painters. One day, he runs into Olivia Newton-John who rollers skates up to him and kisses him. Then Sonny discovers that the album cover he is recreating features Olivia herself, who basically came out of thin air. That is because the dazzling blonde beauty is a muse who calls herself Kira! The building in the background of the album cover is an abandoned art-deco auditorium. The grand tap-dancing legend Gene Kelly shows up as a former big band leader, Danny McGuire, who longs to live the good old days of 1945 and, well you guessed it, it is high time to put on a show at the defunct auditorium.

It doesn't take much to figure out how these elements fuse together. What is fascinating is how Sonny and Danny dream up their idea of a nightclub that has elements of 1940's big-band music and 1980's rock (which includes the Electric Light Orchestra). The last few scenes of "Xanadu" handles these musical numbers fairly well, though I could have lived without these dancers riding on roller skates (the film was originally a roller boogie disco picture, and thank God that idea was scrapped). I don't get how this muse, who brings inspiration and initially inspired Danny forty years earlier, doesn't inspire Sonny to paint what he loves as opposed to commercial art. How does Sonny's aspirations have anything to do with converting an auditorium into a ritzy nightclub?

My other problem is Michael Beck - he is no romantic leading man. He has too much edge and a certain killer instinct in those penetrating eyes that makes it hard to fathom any chemistry with Olivia. Olivia mostly dances and smiles as brightly as any toothpaste commercial. Gene Kelly has such a fantastic role as a somewhat dashing old legend who can still tap dance like no one's business that it night have been a more heartfelt, genuine film had he fallen for Olivia, rekindling his 1940's glory years.

"Xanadu" is technically a mess but it also has a certain gracefulness to it. The dancing has flair and it pops, especially Gene Kelly's duet with Olivia. I just wish they got rid of those damn roller skates. 

Bustin' Vice Cops

BUSTING (1974)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Amazing is the key word when you ruminate on how many terrific cop films appeared in the 1970's. Consider highly gritty fare like "The French Connection," "Serpico," "The Laughing Policemen," "Dirty Harry" and many more. "Busting" is slower, more methodical than most and not always a total success - its rhythms are too jagged - but it does have a realistic sense of time and place and shows the fatigue of being a cop.

In this case, the fatigue is in working for the vice squad. Two vice cops, Keneely and Farrel (Elliott Gould, Robert Blake), spend their days infiltrating porno shops, bathrooms, bars and other sordid locations where drug dealers and prostitutes can be found. The movie begins with the least likely location of prostitution: a dentist's office. The drugs take the duo to a homosexual bar (a controversial scene that raised the ire of homophobic groups). Sometimes there is a shootout at an outside supermarket - other times, Keneely and Farrel sit around impatiently waiting for the next bust. But then something arises that could change their careers. These common felons they are pursuing are in fact working for a mobster named Rizzo (Allen Garfield). Keneely and Farrel find a black book belonging to Rizzo that contains the names of numerous contacts, as well as people in the District Attorney's office and the police department (ah, the days when corruption seemed so shocking). The duo feel that bringing down Rizzo is all they need to elevate themselves. The best that can be said for them is they have the stamina that Serpico had.

"Busting" is unusual in its sense of pervading gloom. You get the sense that the ambitious Keneely and Farrel are unaware that capturing someone as seedy and powerful as Rizzo is a no-win situation - we know it, they don't. Though we are not afforded much of a look into their lives, we still sense the tiredness of their job - an interminable void of a job if there ever was one. This is where director Peter Hyams is at his best - capturing an atmosphere of emotional drainedness. It surrounds Keneely and Farrel who seem like good cops. But will anyone give them half of a chance to do real police work rather than pursue the so-called dregs of society? Isn't it time to quit when all you can do is wait for a pervert to show up at some unkempt bathroom?

Johnny Depp in uncharted waters

THE BRAVE

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Reposted review from January 17th, 2001

Johnny Depp's directorial debut hardly caused much of a rift when shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and briefly at a film festival in Taos, New Mexico. It was cooly received at best. Ostensibly a snuff melodrama, "The Brave" is far more than that, and this elegantly snail-paced drama may not win any new Depp fans but those that appreciate this kind of Jim Jarmusch-style (or Antonioni stylistics) may want to check it out.

Depp not only directs but also stars as Raphael, an American Indian living in a depressing, garbage dump area with his wife and two kids. He is an unemployed drunk, having missed out on most of his kids' childhood . Trying to set himself straight, he decides to work at a job that pays $50,000 plus a cash advance. The catch is he will be murdered for the money, though how is not exactly clear. For a snuff film production? We are never sure and the film never makes it clear (the word snuff is never actually uttered). And why would Raphael go through with such a plan to support his family? How brave a man is he really?

"The Brave" works on a more fundamental level - it makes us see how Raphael changes his disorderly ways with his family once he gets his advance. He buys a crudely arranged playground, a big-screen TV and new clothes for his kids and his wife, who are at first dismayed by his sudden wealth. We are not sure of Raphael's intentions - will he actually go through with this literally dead-end job? Will he consider the consequences? And what about his pseudo partner, a local thug (Luis Guzman, of all people) who wants to share in Raphael's wealth?

"The Brave" merely rests on Depp's shoulders and as fascinating and watchable an actor as he is, I felt the character was far too thinly drawn. What possessed Raphael to take such an opportunity? Depp never brings us any real insight or depth to the character - we just see that his mind is at work and we observe the changes he starts to make, but to what end? Did he ever consider that his life is worth more than 50 G's?

"The Brave" has some strange characters such as the father-son junkmen (Frederic Forrest, Max Perlich) who are trying to drill a hole through the ground to get oil; Clarence Williams III as the concerned priest; Marlon Brando in a short cameo as a wheelchaired boss who explains the meaning of death to Raphael, and a throwaway cameo by Iggy Pop who attends Raphael's big fiesta for the poverty-stricken community. Finally, there are scenes in a bar populated by geeks and freaks that seemed to have stepped off the set of Lynch's "Wild at Heart."

Beautifully photographed and generally decently acted, "The Brave" is nothing if not a fluffy time-waster. Its haunting ending, however, will leave you thinking for days as to the nature of Raphael's purpose in getting himself killed. Perhaps he is not as brave as he thought he was.

Joey Ramone slithers pizza into his mouth

ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL (1979)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Rock 'n' Roll High School" is pure rock and roll juvenilia, an upbeat, spirited musical comedy that ends with an explosive rock and roll ending. Though the ending might be scoffed at by some, the rest of the movie is more wholesome and kinder than you might think.

P.J. Soles ("Halloween") is cheerleader Riff Randell, the biggest fan of the Ramones, who has served detention more than any other high-schooler in history. All Riff wants to do is sing to the Ramones, play the music in her hand-held tape recorder, and dance like a maniac. All the high-schoolers at Vince Lombardi High are prone to rock and roll and not much else, thus causing the school to have the worst academic standing in California. Enter Miss Togar (Mary Woronov), the newly elected principal who wants to burn all rock and roll records, including albums by the Ramones, and wants to stimulate the kids to learn. Togar refers to the burning of LP's as her "Final Solution."

The student body is full of goofy students, some smarter than others. Eaglebauer (Clint Howard) is a relatively laid-back student who occupies an office in the boys' room (and has a secretary) and can get the students anything they want. Football player and ashamedly virginal Tom (Vincent Van Patten) wants to get laid as soon as possible, and is hoping for a date with Riff in a tricked-out van that could only belong to the 1970's period. Kate Rambeau (Dey Young) is a bright student (and also a virgin) who is hoping for a date with Tom. And we get two obedient monitors, Hansel and Gretel (Loren Lester and Daniel Davies), who are appointed by Miss Togar to spy on the classmates and make they sure are learning and not singing and dancing.

Most of "Rock 'n' Roll High School" is harmless fun and is roughly as innocent as "Grease." Gone is any of the bawdy, gross-out humor (by late 1970's standards, anyway) of "Animal House." In fact, these teenage kids have no ambitions or desires except to get laid and listen to the Ramones. They are not idealists - they just want to party. And the parents of these kids are unseen - the only adults seen are the teachers at Vince Lombardi High.

That is what makes the ending a bit vexing. Riff and her high-school peers rename the school "Rock 'n' Roll High" and get the Ramones to play, thus forcing the staff and faculty out and maintaining their independent spirit. So why blow up the school? Yep, it is a punk and rock and roll thing to do (and I can safely say that such a scene could not appear in 2012, especially post-Colombine, and without repercussions) but why does Miss Togar have to be committed to a mental institution?

As I said, "Rock 'n' Roll High School" has a jolly, festive frame of mind and has a few comedic bits that made me laugh. The Ramones give us full-frontal, locked and loaded punk music designed to shatter your eardrums (Riff gets her own composed song by them, hence the title of the film). P.J. Soles is a dynamo on screen, exuding the qualities of a lively girl who wants to have fun. Mary Woronov is a campy delight as Miss Togar, as is the late Paul Bartel ("Eating Raoul") who has a priceless scene as a seemingly strict, Beethoven-loving teacher who decides to attend a Ramones concert. But the blowing up the school bit seems to come out of nowhere. It is depicted as a shallow, meaningless act with no hint of real rebellion or aggression - the explosions occur on cue and the band keeps playing. It is saying, "Aw shucks, these silly kids today."

Comic Books are bad for yah

COMIC BOOK VILLAINS (2002)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

 

There is only one reason in the world to sit through the overcooked, overstuffed "Comic Book Villains" and that is Donal Logue. He is one of those unsung journeyman actors who pop up to give an otherwise mediocre film a lift. When he is the lead, as was the case with the cutesy yet diverting "The Tao of Steve," we fans, we precious few, are delighted that an actor like Donal Logue is allowed the chance to headline a major film.

"Comic Book Villains" has Logue as Raymond, a comic-book collector and store owner who is more knowledgeable about comic-book minutiae than anyone else. He learns from Conan (not O'Brien but Danny Masterson) that a certain Mr. Creeswell has passed on and left his precious comic-book collection to his mother. It is so precious that it includes early comics about the Human Torch, Captain America's first appearance, and a lot more . It is a virtual gold mine which would save Raymond's faltering comic-book store. Unfortunately, a rival money-hungry comic-book owner (Michael Rapaport) and his money-hungrier wife (Natasha Lyonne) are also interested in getting their hands on these comics, thanks to Conan who fesses up the information about Creeswell to them.

At first, "Comic Book Villains" is comical, pardon the pun, and light on its feet. It is fun seeing these characters trying their best to impress the unimpressed Ms. Creeswell (Eileen Brennan) in the hopes of persuading her to sell the comic-book collection. It is also fun listening to the comic-book enthusiasts discussing sex lives of various comic-book heroes. But then director James Dale Robinson changes the tone from comedy to black humor to nearly sadistic claptrap. We are entering Tarantino waters here, sort of, but all sense of fun is lost when Cary Elwes is introduced as this macho-istic, dangerous criminal-type who has a pole-dancing girlfriend (oh, and his name is J. Carter, no doubt a nod to you know what). Carter's purpose is to help Raymond rob the Creeswell residence. Oh, yeah, and Carter is also a home fixer-upper.

Donal Logue makes it worthwhile somewhat by giving us a Raymond who was bullied and wished he became interested in something other than comic-book trivia. Of course, he blames this on Carter. Cary Elwes is occasionally convincing but he seems to have drifted in from another movie. Michael Rapaport's finely-tuned comic delivery is lacking in a film with stilted dialogue. Lyonne's smile is memorable but she could have really given the film a shot of adrenaline if her role had been magnified.

The one film that successfully mined and mixed comedy with film noir was Jonathan Demme's "Something Wild," a tough, violent and also exceedingly sweet movie. "Comic Book Villains" has characters who are sweet-tempered and innocent until they suddenly become amoral sadists. We have two movies here, and they do not merge.