Paul's Deadly Science Project could win first prize

 THE MANHATTAN PROJECT (1986)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When high-school teenager Paul, a science buff, builds an atomic bomb, he doesn't have the help of an entire community like Oppenheimer did. Paul relies on just a few pals, his girlfriend, an Army soldier with some C4, and off he goes in a garage building a nuclear device. It also helps to acquire plutonium from an alleged medical facility. "The Manhattan Project" is not kiddie fare though, this is a serious, scary thriller with some needlepoint comical bits thrown in for good measure. 

Paul (Christopher Collet) is a brainiac who also indulges in high school practical jokes that are a little, shall we say, explosive. When Paul's mother meets a physicist, Dr. Mathewson (John Lithgow), who has security clearance at a new atomic facility (Medatomics, disguised as a medical facility), the kid finds out the truth about this lab where four-leaved clovers grow in exponential numbers. He tells his aspiring journalism girlfriend Jenny (Cynthia Nixon) about this place and, during an electrical storm, they break in and he steals a canister of plutonium! This is not to power a time-travelling Delorean, oh no sir, this is to build an atomic device that could blow up more than just a single city. Paul builds the device, slowly but surely, using C4, salad bowls as reflectors and a simple car key for igniting the firing circuits. "It's very pretty," says Dr. Mathewson. "Now let's dismantle it." Ah, not so fast.

Understanding the motives behind Paul's decision to create a weapon of this magnitude is tricky. Paul insists to Jenny that it will help reveal what this lab in the middle of the woodsiest sections of Ithaca, New York is really up to. All she has to do is write an article and take pictures. Of course, this could end up being dangerous for them, the community, if not the world (Dr. Mathewson warns Paul that he could start a war). If Paul really just wanted to reveal the truth of this lab, why not just show the plutonium to the local authorities? Was it necessary to build a bomb with plutonium that could do far worse damage than Hiroshima? I don't think Paul ever intends to blow anyone up whereas some critics, Leonard Maltin for one, thought that we were meant to be rooting for him! Not to blow up the world I'd think because Collet shows the naivete of this otherwise intelligent kid who can't outsmart every adult. 

Regardless of motivations, "The Manhattan Project" is energetically directed by Marshall Brickman and crisply written by Brickman and Thomas Baum. The acting is top notch in all departments, including the small yet pivotal role of Paul's worrying mother, Elizabeth (Jill Eikenberry). The suspense at the climax will be enough to make you sweat more than profusely - you'll be drowning in it. "Manhattan Project" may keep you up at night. It did for me back in the 80's.  

REM sleep study induces anxiety

DREAMSCAPE (1984)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Some movies rush by on mere adrenaline, cramming in as much as they can to sustain interest. "Dreamscape" is an unusual thrill ride in that it wants to throw everything at us...including the kitchen sink. It is sort of fun and sort of works on the level of an original sci-fi adventure and a slight love story thrown in to boot but, by the end, the overall effect of the plot is a tad underwhelming.

Psychics with the ability to enter other people's dreams is a surefire concept and it has the perfect actor to make us think he can do it, Dennis Quaid. Quaid is Alex Gardner, a gifted young man who uses his psychic abilities at the racetrack and, unsurprisingly, always picks the winner. He also charms the ladies though I imagine his elvish grin and ingratiating charm would work without his otherworldly talents, but what do I know. While he's dealing with anxious bookies aware of his top-notch ability to pick the winning horse, Alex escapes and winds up being escorted by two men to an academic facility. Alex reunites with Dr. Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow), who has been researching dreams where someone can psychically enter another person's dreams - both participants have to be sleeping and linked by computer and lots of wires. Alex ran away from the institution when he was 19 yet the doctor insists that the willful Alex work with him in this "government-funded" project. 

Other than the dreams and nightmares themselves (some are more vivid and frightening than others; the sex dream where one impotent participant sees his wife in relations with his brother is not even good for a laugh), the main plot deals with the President of the U.S. (Eddie Albert) who has nightmares about a nuclear holocaust and wants to get rid of nukes in some sort of treaty with the Soviet Union. Enter Christopher Plummer as some mysterious, powerful government agent who has taken over this dream project for clearly evil purposes. If someone can enter another person's dream, maybe they can kill that person...for real! I guess scientific research always becomes part of a dastardly government plan, especially when the President has no interest in war.

"Dreamscape" is full-throttle fun but it does pack in too many characters and situations, leaving some moral questions about this research to the winds. If killing someone in a dream is morally wrong (especially if it results in actual death) then why does Alex decide it is okay to kill another person, regardless if they are evil? (Starlog magazine columnist/author David Gerrold, way back when, also asked this same question, and it definitely rings with discomfort when you think about it). 

Kate Capshaw is also in this film as a researcher who clearly falls for Alex though she resists at first - I would have liked more of a relationship shown between them. But then there is the inclusion of a Stephen King-type horror writer (George Wendt) who knows he's in over his head and is dispatched of rather quickly. There is also Alex's competition at the clinic, a clearly insane, Bruce-Lee loving psychic (David Patrick Kelly) who killed his own father - geez, why keep this guy at the clinic other than Plummer wanting to utilize his lust for murder. For a far too brief 95-minute run time, expansion on some of these characters and their motivations would've resulted in a more thoughtful film. 

"Dreamscape" will entertain no doubt with its fast pace and some pretty wild special effects. In addition, Quaid and Capshaw are a winsome pair, Max von Sydow provides warmth, David Patrick Kelly plays his most villainous role since "The Warriors," and Christopher Plummer is wickedly charming in his own way (He has a line where he says to Eddie Albert's President: "You can't touch me." I just wonder how powerful is this guy; Illuminati member?) The movie is still immoderately plotted and doesn't take any real breathers - "Dreamscape" has anxiety written all over it. The mantra seems to be, "Hey, get on with it," whereas I say, "Hey, slow down a little." 

Repetitive New York Story with a pinch of whimsy

 A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK (2019)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I don't know if 2019 high-school graduates have an avid interest in Cole Porter, Akira Kurosawa and are such indelible romantics. In the world of Woody Allen that has often been set in the iconic city of New York, this has been the case but not with such obvious romanticism from such a younger mindset. Woody Allen's "A Rainy Day in New York" is a romantic souffle with not enough ingredients to keep us happily giddy. It never feels authentic enough to the Woodster's own brand of neurosis or pseudo-intellectual conversations - the trick in the past was that such conversations on topics of existentialism and Marshall McLuhan ("Annie Hall" devotees out there?) sounded pseudo-intellectual or at least to another character. When these characters speak of rainy days in carriages and Cole Porter, it feels like carbon-copy Woody Allen.

That is not say that "A Rainy Day in New York" is a total washout - it is lively and whimsical enough to sustain one's interest. Right from the start, I was convinced I heard Woody Allen's voice narrating the film when in fact it is Timothée Chalamet as Gatsby (who names anyone Gatsby nowadays?), a college kid with a high IQ and the luck of the draw when gambling. He is eager to take his girlfriend, Ashleigh (Elle Fanning, playing one of the ditziest girls I've ever seen in a Woody Allen flick), an overzealous journalism major who is about to interview a major Hollywood director she loves; he makes movies with titles like "Winter Memories" and hates them when he first screens them (sound about right). The lovely couple travel to New York and encounter a few mishaps here and there. One involves Gatsby running into his ex-girlfriend's sister (Selena Gomez), who makes it clear that Gatsby used to be rated less than a 7 by his ex (some of that gets a little tired). Gatsby runs into all sorts of friends from his past though one in particular was hilarious, a deeply obnoxious pre-med student (Ben Warheit) who seems to hate everything and has no kind words about anyone as he laughs merrily (I know he's obnoxious but I would have loved to have seen more of him). When Gatsby runs into his parents (the authoritative Cherry Jones plays his mother) and there is some forced nonsense about an escort (an Allenism from the past), I was more lost in this New York than entranced.  

Elle Fanning, an actress deserving a lot more than this cursory role, is adrift in this movie - she has innocence but it seems forced, and her Ashleigh is never more than just hastily defined as someone with no real fundamental thoughts of her own (her hiccups did induce a few laughs). Gatsby loves her, to be sure, but he dismisses her a little too prematurely just because she doesn't know the difference between a Cole Porter lyric and a Shakespeare quote. Again, is this how easily dismissive young people are nowadays? Bury that thought. 

"A Rainy Day in New York" is not as enlightening or as sweet-tempered as many of Woody Allen;'s earlier films on relationships - "Annie Hall" or anything he did with Diane Keaton or Mia Farrow need not be exclusively mentioned, it is hardly as rhapsodic as "Sweet and Lowdown." I guess I am just tired of an arrogant, aloof Woody Allen-type and I'd like the Woodster to branch out as he did with "Midnight in Paris" or the sublime "Blue Jasmine." Bring back some level of original eccentricity beyond faux N.Y.C neurosis.

Chicago Outfit were not Goodfellas

 BACK HOME YEARS AGO: 

THE REAL CASINO (2003)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Martin Scorsese's "Casino" has grown in stature since its middling 1995 theatrical release and has become something of a mob classic. Some feel it is on equal par with hsi other mob film, "GoodFellas" while others think it is not as great, etc. Director Joseph F. Alexandre shot this often absorbing documentary, "Back Home Years Ago: The Real Casino," and interviewed a few of the people who knew the real-life characters that "Casino" was based on. It is fascinating doco but somehow too short for its own good. 

"The Real Casino" has a split structure, one focusing on the Chicago natives who knew these mob guys (some of what they say is repetitive and cut-off abruptly before they start saying something of interest).  We do get what amounts to probably less than 2 minutes of Frank Buccieri whose own brother, Fiore, was partly the basis for Remo Gaggi, the mob boss in "Casino." Obviously there isn't much he wishes to say or disclose though I would've loved to learn more about him placing Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal ("Ace" Rothstein as played by Robert De Niro in "Casino") at the Stardust casino in Vegas. All these guys, the mob connections or friends of those in the know how, are shot in shadow to obviously hide their appearance. The second half is of Alexandre himself who knew some of these guys while working at a Chicago pizzeria. Then there is the documentary film crew who think this is all Hollywood gloss until they hear the witnesses actually speak and know this is the real deal. Joseph F. Alexandre is far animated than the crew, and when was the last time you heard about the crew discussing the documentary you are watching? Still, I would have liked less footage of the crew overall. 

Mike Guardino is one talking head I found mesmerizing if only because he is not abruptly cut off when he speaks. Mr. Guardino once owned a strip club, car dealership and other businesses and talks about Tony "The Ant" Spilotro (the mob muscle character, Nicky Santoro, as played by Joe Pesci) as a "bad man with no conscience." Guardino is the most fascinating presence in the film, if only because he seems natural and authentic in his speech and clarity (he makes it clear that these mob guys are nothing without their guns). I think a whole short film about him would've made for an exceptional documentary. His recollection of the mob and how they tried to infiltrate everyone's businesses, the "street tax" as it were, is a prime subject that needs more exposure. His observations of this underworld are memorable and chilling. Overall, if you are a fan of "Casino" or have an avid interest in the mob underworld, give "The Real Casino" a shot. 

The Least Dangerous Game

 THE CLEARING (2004)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Viewed on July 17th, 2004 

Anyone remember an old "Incredible Hulk" TV episode where David Banner wore bandages while trekking through the woods with his old nemesis, Mr. Jack McGee, a reporter who knew of the Hulk's existence? Well, what about "The Defiant Ones"? Or "The Most Dangerous Game"? I am a sucker for two footloose men on the run or in hiding in the woods - it always allows ample opportunity for a
psychological profile, especially if a good writer is on hand. The trouble with "The Clearing" is that barely much time is focused on the footloose men in the woods. Instead, we are treated to endless scenes that would be at home in your own home, inside your own television.

Robert Redford is Wayne Hayes, a millionaire and former CEO, now an executive, who lives in a nice home with his wife in Pittsburgh. The kids are grown-up and have their own lives. Helen Mirren is the dutiful wife, Eileen, who prepares for dinner parties and goes for a swim, even on overcast mornings. Wayne is so rich that he merely smirks when he sees a check for 42 million in his desk
drawer! Got to love him. One morning, he picks up his Wall Street Journal in his driveway before getting kidnapped by Arnold (Willem Dafoe), a complete stranger. Wayne is kept in Arnold's trunk until they arrive at their destination, the woods leading to some cabin where they will meet some group.
Arnold forces Wayne to wear sneakers, and they are off to see the group, the wonderfully mysterious group! Of course, Wayne has no idea what the heck is going on. Arnold remains elusive for details. We slowly discover that Arnold used to work for Wayne and was fired, as were many disgruntled employees (how timely).

Meanwhile, Eileen is deeply worried. She has her kids stay with her, as well a couple of FBI agents. We eventually discover that Wayne has been hiding one or two things in his life. I will not reveal what they are but ask yourself this question when the penultimate moment arrives, are the revelations so
surprising? All Eileen can do is sit around, stare out the window, and look consistently worried. This is such a thankless role for someone like the grand Helen Mirren.

The problem is there are too many scenes of Eileen, and not enough between Arnold and Wayne, which should be the crux of the film. We learn almost too much about Eileen and learn next to nil about Arnold and Wayne. Something is wrong here. Arnold comes across as a less-restrained kidnapper than norm (though my first impression was that he was a CIA agent) but his intentions, when discovered, hardly evoke the desperate man we first see. Is he upset at Wayne for making too much money or for having worked for a company that Wayne later owned? And Wayne is nothing more than the blandest, most boring CEO ever shown on film - no attempt is made to make this man remotely engaging. Same
with Arnold. We are just stuck for one hour and a half looking at anonymous ciphers, not human beings. Tough task considering they are played by Willem Dafoe and Robert Redford.

"The Clearing" is directed by producer Pieter Jan Brugge, and he does a competent enough job with individual moments. Some scenes truly sparkle, such as Eileen running around from one phone booth to the next while trying to make contact with the kidnapper. I also like the nicely understated breakfast scene with Mirren and Redford. And the wordless bridge and dark tunnel sequence towards the end is stunning. The charismatic Dafoe does wonders with his underwritten role, always suggesting more than the screenplay has to offer. And the golden boy Redford seems adrift through most of this movie. Perhaps that is the message but I'd rather get lost in the Yellow Brick Road.

Ethan Hunt vs. The Apostles

 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT (2018)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Just like "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" (still the best of the series by far), "Fallout" is an elongated, explosive chase picture designed to rattle your senses and bury your eyes with epic action of a magnitude that might never be improved. Hopefully you can keep all the multiple characters and situations straight as well. I haven't figured it all out but it was a pleasure trying to and, even after five movies, "Mission: Impossible" series continues to be top-notch entertainment. 

The unbreakable IMF agent Ethan Hunt is back (the sprightly Tom Cruise, of course) and he is hoping to be in possession of three stolen plutonium cores before they are used in three nuclear bombs! Of course such a terroristic plan can't be thwarted so easily as the extremist group, the Apostles, are ready to give up the cores for money until they decide during a shootout to steal back the cores. The Apostles had also taken hostage the IMF's most trusted hacker, Luther (Ving Rhames), until Ethan saves him which makes the cores easy pickings (this scene was far too unbelievable but, then again, so is the movie. Still, didn't Ethan think for a millisecond that the cores would be stolen?) I have made it a habit of not questioning logic in movies like this because, as long as I am entertained and involved, I don't care. 

Enter "Fallout's" few new characters that keeps the movie rising in its thrill meter and they include Henry Cavill as August Walker, a CIA assassin whom you just know will reveal a darker side, and Angela Bassett as a very forthright new CIA director keeping tabs on Ethan and August. You start to wonder if she trusts them or will she believe Walker's assertion that Ethan is far more dangerous than anyone dared think. Uh, oh, will Ethan be disavowed yet again? For tremendous sex appeal, we get Vanessa Kirby as White Widow, a curly blonde arms dealer who flirts with Ethan in one stunningly erotic moment. For sheer villainy, we get the cold, evil stares of Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the leader of the Apostles who has a complete indifference to humanity. Returnees include Alec Baldwin as Hunley the new IMF Secretary, formerly CIA Director and he has a few tricks up his sleeve; Michelle Monaghan as you know who, if you have seen previous "Mission: Impossible" movies; Rebecca Ferguson as the disavowed MI6 agent from the last sequel who is also a bit unbreakable and can't stop herself from following Ethan and, of course, for some comic relief is Simon Pegg as Benji, the IMF technical field agent who also has a couple tricks up his sleeve.

"Fallout" is densely layered with a lot of characters and motives and I couldn't quite keep track of all them - I also wondered why the Apostles, formerly the Syndicate, want to blow up so many countries. Still, for hair-raising spectacular action including an endless motorcycle chase in Paris and two helicopters racing through the Himalayas that had me almost ready to break off the armrests of my chair - they delivered a major sonic boom to this critic - "Fallout" is as spectacular on every level as you can imagine. Tom Cruise is a reliable action star and plays this role to the hilt, whether he is running, jumping or receiving a kiss from the White Widow. The man is a relentless action toy, always on the run and never stops moving. "Fallout" certifies Tom Cruise as one of the greatest action stars of the 21st century.   

Not going anywhere, do you mind if I come along?

 AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)

An Appreciation By Jerry Saravia

George Lucas's "American Graffiti" is an explosion of good-natured nostalgia with a killer soundtrack of rock and roll songs that have, since 1973, been utilized in films so often that they have become cliches. So have coming-of-age films being swathed in nostalgia, whether it is a film set in 1962 or the 1950's - for the baby boomers, they were the last truly innocent decades (though history shows they were anything but). The movie is a rollicking good time, a reflection of an era when no high school graduate had any idea what the future held. They knew their present and that is all they had to go on. Watching the film you get the impression that these Modesto, California teens wouldn't mind staying in town forever listening to Wolfman Jack, cruising in their cars, and making out.

In a sense, that is the film's charm because would anyone really want to become an adult? No, no teenager wants to grow up yet they know they eventually have to. Richard Dreyfuss's Curt is the one who is ambivalent - can he go to college out-of-state and become a great writer or is he premature in assuming a future that might lead to something else? No one else really struggles with that notion, outside of his best friend Steve (Ron Howard). Curt also has a night where he sees a mysterious blonde woman (Suzanne Somers) driving by in a white Thunderbird, cruising as everyone else does, who says something to him but Curt can't make out what she says. He spends the rest of the film looking for this blonde and feels, for the first time, that his life has purpose. It is a singular mission to find this elusive beauty, but who is she and what did she say to him? 

"American Graffiti" takes place during one long night where cruising teenagers drink and make out and it is largely episodic as we float in from one group to another. Charles Martin Smith is the nerdy Terry who gets mixed up with another blonde girl (Candy Clark) and pretends the car he is borrowing is his, yet he has trouble getting liquor with no ID (how he finally gets some Old Harper's produces one of the biggest belly laughs in the entire film). Meanwhile, there's the aforementioned Steve and his long-term girlfriend, Laurie (Cindy Williams), and Steve has no ambivalence about going to college and suggests that he and Laurie see other people. Naturally this causes some tension despite them dancing and pretending to have a good time while The Platters' "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" is played by a cover band at one of those sock hops. Then there's the cool John Milner (Paul Le Mat), a drag-racer who is challenged by fearless Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford) to a drag race. While John tries to avoid Bob, he reluctantly gives a ride to a precocious 12-year-old girl (Mackenzie Phillips) and their brief moments together suggests a softer side to John who acts like her big brother, a protector of sorts. 

"American Graffiti" ends with title cards indicating certain characters' fates but it is not needed. The film exists as a moment in time before the Cuban Missile Crisis and JFK's assassination - a vastly entertaining mood piece of nostalgic reminders of great cars, great music and a white 56' T-Bird with an enigmatic blonde. Curt sees her car as he's flying to college and smiles - a momentary pause where such a great night ends and evaporates though it is retained as a memory. One of the saddest and yet most exhilarating endings of all time. I only wish Lucas made more films like this.