Don't lose your head watching this

WOLFEN (1981)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Blood-curling, animalistic, expressive music chords run throughout "Wolfen." There are very few moments where music is not in the picture as it brings a sense of foreboding in the South Bronx, a drug-ridden, collapsed area of New York. Never did I imagine that it would lead to a pack of superwolves protecting their habitat - I am guessing the music is meant to underscore that. 

Albert Finney is a retired NYC detective living in Staten Island, formerly Captain Dewey Wilson who is given an assignment. Apparently, a wealthy real-estate mogul, his wife who loves to snort cocaine (ah, the early 1980's) and a limo driver in Battery Park are savagely killed by something, perhaps animal. Nobody is too sure but their throats are ripped open so, yes, definitely canine, definitely wolf. A superwolf? A shape-shifting werewolf? Could it be Edward James Olmos as a Native American who works at the top of the George Washington Bridge - at night, he takes off his clothes and howls to the moon on the beach. Hmmm, could be the shape-shifting werewolf? 

Judging by the thermal, almost infrared look of the wolves' POV, I would say Olmos can't run and run up and down through broken-down, partially bombed-out edifices. Captain Wilson partners up with a criminal psychologist (Diane Venora) to  try to find the culprit responsible (it is not a terrorist group as the NYPD seems to think). The investigation, right down to details such as how a severed head can still talk after one minute despite lack of oxygen, is intriguing and keeps us guessing as to where this is headed. We get an explanation from Eddie and his Native American friends towards the end of the film that is somehow too late in the game. I would have liked that explanation a little sooner, and a little less of Venora wondering what is causing the noise outside her bedroom window when it turns out to be, wait for it, her orange cat.

"Wolfen" is a fascinating, often enjoyable mystery thriller with maybe one too many wolfen POV shots. I can see what director Michael Wadleigh ("Woodstock") was aiming for but some chase scenes and shootouts become repetitive and are not as well choreographed as I would have hoped. You won't lose your head over this movie but you may be gasping for oxygen. 

Can't twist my neck to believe this

 THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER (2023)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A new Exorcist movie comes equipped with problems from the start. For one, can any sequel ever come close to the original or even the underrated "Exorcist III"? Would the original film's late author William Peter Blatty have shrieked in disbelief over refrying the original and adding two possessed girls instead of one? Have we seen one possession too many? Yes, to all. 

There is a mildly promising start, and it is slightly overkill in execution. We are in Port-au-Prince, Haiti as a pregnant woman practically dies during a horrific earthquake. Her husband, Victor (Leslie Odom, Jr.), a photographer, has the unfortunate task at the hospital of choosing to either to save his wife or his unborn daughter. The daughter is chosen. Flash to a Georgia town thirteen years later and his surviving daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett, a striking presence), wants to stay over at her friend's house and study. Hmmm, maybe not since the two girls, the other being a religious Katherine (Olivia O'Neil), venture out into the woods and come back three days later with burns on their feet. They attempted a seance in the woods to channel Angela's mother so I guess the moral is, don't perform a seance in the woods or the Devil will come and get you!

Aside from an amazingly scary moment that had me jump out of my chair, nothing else in "The Exorcist: Believer" will get to you in any primal way. Girls possessed by demons, with Katherine channeling a Linda Blair-likeness with a cross cut into her forehead, is only chilling for about five seconds. They speak in Mercedes McCambridge's deep vocal bass but considering how many devil possession movies we have had (we recently had "The Pope's Exorcist" for one), it is more than a cliche at this point- it has simply become a bad vaudeville routine. Leslie Odom, Jr. would clearly like to be back in his "Hamilton" musical role because he is so stone-cold in expressing emotion that I thought he was becoming possessed. Katherine's parents are so anonymous in feeling and outrage over what's happened that you forget they are parents at all. Nothing in the movie registers with any singularly true or honest emotion - it is preconceived swill that is easy to digest and just as easy to forget. Repeating visual motifs from the original classic such as a close-up of the turning on of a lamp (you'll know it when you see it), dogs violently attacking each other or subliminal demon images do nothing in its favor.    

Ellen Burstyn shows up in a 10-minute cameo as a silver-haired Chris MacNeil that shows authority and steely determination, everything the rest of this snoozer lacks. Other than enduring a shockingly vile and violent act done to poor Chris MacNeil, nothing else in this overlong movie will keep you awake. The power of Christ will compel you to sleep through it.

God is in our hearts

 STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER (1989)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Anticlimax is one way to define the alleged climax of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier." A face-to-face encounter with God or some grand, titanic otherworldly presence should be glorious and spiritual and out-of-this-world. The Trek crew always travelled where no man has gone before but it seems rock pillars and some giant, flashy hologram is all we get. This would have been acceptable in the TV series but in a theatrical film, it should be an awesome sight to bewilder us.

"Star Trek V" is still somewhat fun for the first hour or so. The camaraderie between Captain Kirk, Dr. Bones and Spock alone should've merited something far more of a kick-in-the-pants cosmic adventure. The sheer dynamic charisma of these three actors is a joy to witness - there is also a ring of welcome to see the usual gang aboard the Enterprise. No less interesting and dynamic is the presence of  Laurence Luckinbill as the renegade Sybok, the half-human and half-Vulcan who is wishing to cross the Great Barrier where no starship dared to go and meet God. Sybok may sound insane but Spock seems to recognize him, a plot point I will leave for you to discover. This Sybok, who has his emotions and a contagious laugh, can also channel a person's deepest recesses of painful memories and either erase them or make them feel better about themselves - I was a little lost in understanding his supernatural abilities. It does leave for one of the film's finest scenes where Sybok attempts to channel Bones, Spock and the reluctant Kirk. 

Despite a rather tepid introduction of three different potential characters such as Caithlin Dar from the Romulan Empire (Cynthia Gouw), a wasted David Warner as St. John Talbot, a Federation official, and a burping Klingon, the movie never quite takes off the ground until we get to the actual mission to reach the Great Barrier and a desert planet. We have two desert planets in the movie, two Tattoines (sorry, had to say it), and that includes the opening section with Nimbus III where Sybok has taken the Federation officer, a Romulan, and a drunk Klingon hostage. Apparently, this is a trick to lure the Enterprise. None of this should have made it to the script level at all. Skip all that, start with our Enterprise crew and maybe Sybok could take command of the Klingon ship, the Bird of Prey with a cloaking device seen in the last two sequels. Just a thought.

Thanks to William Shatner's decent directing debut in the Trek universe,"Star Trek V" has some vivid scenes that recall the philosophical angle of "Star Trek III" and some pretty good comical action scenes (Kirk, at first, stays on the planet to try to fight God?) I love Scotty's complaints about the ship's malfunctions  ("I know this ship like the back of my hand") and it is great, albeit short-lived, fun to see Sulu and Chekov again not to mention Lt. Uhura performing a backlit dance that is at odds with the Trek universe. There is also a fascinating glimpse into Spock and Sybok's previous encounters. But the movie has a couple of missed opportunities with the God-like (?) apparition or something, and it just felt underwhelming. I really wanted the crew to go where no man has gone before. At times, it felt like we had already been there. 

Highway to Hell

 MAD MAX (1979)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The world of 1979's huge international box-office hit, "Mad Max," is not the same world inhabited by Max or anyone else in the sequels. It is desolate to be sure but there are a trifle few businesses running (eateries, gas stations) and it is seemingly somewhere in the middle of the Australian Outback. No nuclear war has occurred (not until "Beyond Thunderdome") but there are criminal elements ruling the road, namely biker gangs with names like Toecutter and Night Rider. The leather-suited cops (Main Force Patrol) are doing their part to protect the roads from these nutty biker gang members - they get their jollies from driving enormously fast speeds on the road trying to outrun the police. That is until they clash with Max (Mel Gibson), a highway cop who is as nutty as they are when it comes to fierce, unrelenting speeds. 

Gibson's Max in this film is a fairly restrained piece of acting, nowhere near the madman we see in later entries. To be fair, I don't think Max adopted a "I am mad as hell and can't take it anymore" attitude in the sequels, more so in the "Lethal Weapon" movies. Max is depicted here as a family man with a wife and a child, living near a sandy beach (the other cops don't seem to have any family). He has a different attitude on the highways to seemingly nowhere, ready to take on anyone that causes havoc. At home, it is sweet and cuddly with his very tender-hearted wife (Joanne Samuel, playing the most pleasant person in the entire movie) who can't always tolerate Max putting his life on the line.  

Ultimately, "Mad Max" becomes a solid revenge movie with the most thrilling chase scenes ever seen until "The Road Warrior." The cars and motorcycles barrel into any and anything in the distant road in scenes that look like they were filmed at an actual demolition derby. Max suffers some wounds, like a gunshot to his knee, and is ready to kill all these marauding bikers without a hint of remorse (Toecutter's demise happens when he collides with a semi-trailer truck - lesson is keep your eyes on the road). "Mad Max" is memorably sloppy and grungy in the best sense of the word (independent films always have a little less finesse), and never has a dull moment. I would dub it as one of the best exploitation movies ever made with vehicle stunts that will make your eyes pop out like Toecutter's. 

Fast and Furious

 FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA (2024)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Mad Max: Fury Road" is one of the greatest and most imaginative post-apocalyptic action films of all time. Its kinetic, towering action scenes and the exemplary use of Charlize Theron as Furiosa, the one-armed road warrior who is as skilled a driver as Mad Max, added to the immense power of it all. "Furiosa" is not quite on that same grungy, dusty and mechanical level but it will do as a fast-and-furious prequel that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. You may have to occasionally duck.

Imperator Furiosa has a hell of a backstory to tell, and it isn't all sunshine and roses. Furiosa (played by Alyla Browne as a tyke) yields from the Green Place of Many Mothers as a prepubescent girl who is kidnapped by mutant-like bikers led by Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth, truly phenomenal) of the Biker Horde.  Furiosa's mother, a warrior in her own right (who isn't in this nihilistic Mad Max world), tries to save her and she's crucified as a result. The young Furiosa finds her path through the years as she's adopted by the pale and fearsome Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), much to the chagrin of Dementus, and placed with Joe's many white-dressed breeder wives. Before long, one of Joe's musclebound sons tries to have his way with Furiosa and she escapes. Well, she's not found since she pretends to be a War Boy. Considering how tight security is in this fortress, I don't know how she managed to evade capture.   

"Furiosa" sends us on a desert wasteland that looks more desolate in its saturated color grading than ever before, sharing its audacious visuals of copious sandy dunes, endless roads and blue-hued nighttime scenes with "Fury Road." Quite striking are the scenes inside the Green Place of Many Mothers, a sort of idyllic community of green grass, peach trees and agriculture. This serene place is desired by Dementus, Immortan Joe and many who perhaps want to rekindle the past prior to the nuclear apocalypse. Mostly we get visits to Bullet Farm, and the vast cavernous look of the Citadel with its share of more pale-faced fighters known as the War Boys who will die on command. This world is nasty, violence-prone and everyone gets their adrenaline rush from riding various vehicles and trucks that look ready to split apart before their wheels even touch the ground. Indianapolis 500 on overdrive. Gas is a commodity they can't do without yet vehicle parts are available everywhere.

As with any Mad Max film, there is plenty of visual and aural stimulation that will rock your seat back and forth and maybe burn your eyes off. I was never less than in awe at what director George Miller has crafted here and with previous Mad Max films - he takes you on a journey that is immersive and larger-than-life with unbelievable stunts that seem to cross a level never seen before. "Furiosa" is an elongated chase picture as well as a nifty character progress of what made Furiosa who she was, and Anya Taylor-Joy extraordinarily captures her presence as an emotionally wounded fighter who chooses action over words. Her big eyes strike a chord and say it all and she is a fitting precursor to Charlize Theron's adult Furiosa.

If "Furiosa" falters at all, it is that somehow it's too short for its own good which is surprising since it is 2 hours and 28 minutes long. Also, the movie is not quite as vividly intense in its high-octane action as "Fury Road" or "The Road Warrior" - Miller dials it back a bit which may benefit those who found "Fury Road" overloaded. A side character with Max's lone wolf reticence, Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), is not given enough screen time. These are minor quibbles and we get ample amount of Furiosa shooting bullets and firing arrows with the marksmanship of an Annie Oakley (hey, what if she got to play Annie in a big-screen treatment?), not to mention the humorous asides from Hemsworth's Dementus. His final scene with Furiosa is as memorably confrontational in its acidly-written dialogue exchange as the Joker and Batman's confrontation in "The Dark Knight." This "Furiosa" roars with excitement that only George Miller can deliver. 

Birth of Damien is 2 hours too long

THE FIRST OMEN (2024)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When I first heard of the title of this new take on a 50-year-old horror franchise, I thought, well, we already had our first Omen and that was in 1976. Did the filmmakers have amnesia between the 1976 shocker and its needless 2006 remake? Well, duh, because this is the prequel to the events of the 1976 film, not a sequel. There you go. Today, we have sequels with the same titles as the originals, sans Roman Numerals so you'll forgive me if the word "First" threw me off. "The First Omen" is not a disaster and there are inklings here of something more than the standard fire and brimstone Hades tales of many sequels and rip-offs since the original "Omen." Still, I was largely underwhelmed when it was over.

A Massachusetts-born woman, Margaret (Neil Tiger Free), is a novitiate who has just been employed at an Italian orphanage working with the nuns and young girls. Her knowledge of Italian is spotty at best as she is made fun of by the girls yet she gravitates towards one very sullen girl, Carlita (Nicole Sorace), who scribbles on the wooden floors of her room and, when summoned due to bad behavior, is placed in the "Bad Room." Margaret lives in an apartment with a roommate who takes her clubbing. Once there, she meets Paolo and it doesn't take long before he's out of the picture mid-way through this overlong movie.

"The First Omen" has some startling, wild images including when Margaret wakes up in bed with strands of her long hair forming what looks like a giant spider (see the picture above). A Caesarean is performed in one scene that is enough to make strong stomachs ache (it almost garnered an NC-17 rating). There is also a vision of a demonic nun that may remind you of "The Nun," of course. Most of the movie has flashes reminiscent of "Rosemary's Baby" than "The Omen" or its various inferior sequels. In fact, except for one timidly gory death at the beginning and an immolation harkening back to a suicide by hanging in the original, this "First Omen" doesn't have much of the flavor or Gothic look of the original films. What might have worked as the story of a woman's need to become a nun, facing obstacles like sex and dancing at clubs in addition to facing unimaginable horrors, becomes a late-night horror film that resembles early 90's made-for-VHS/DVD horror. I don't know if that was the intended aesthetic but it did not leave me nostalgic for that type of low-rent, smoky, sepia-toned horror fare. 

Neil Tiger Free easily gives the film some of its soul and she is the best thing in it (aside from an unrecognizable and chilling Sonia Braga as the abbess of the orphanage). Most of the movie though is easy to anticipate including those very cliched false alarm scares minus (thankfully) the shrieking alarm sounds, and the big secret that you can pretty much guess from the beginning. As a demonic horror movie, it does a serviceable if unwanted job of leading up to the opening scenes of the first "Omen." Give the real First Omen another look.

All you need is ganas

 STAND AND DELIVER (1988)

A LOOK BACK by Jerry Saravia

Ganas, that is all some East L.A. Latino high-schoolers need to take and pass the dreaded A.P. Calculus exam - a surefire way to get college credit. Math teacher Jamie Escalante (Edward James Olmos, a deserved Oscar-nominated role) begins teaching at the James A. Garfield High School with the hopes of turning things around at this school. Not much hope exists amongst the faculty, the teachers, not even the students yet Escalante knows these kids are smart and it is not just about them applying themselves to the challenge - it is about proving everyone wrong about these Latinos from the barrio whose job prospects and future endeavors seem extremely limiting.

I saw "Stand and Deliver" at the Douglaston, Queens movie theater a year before graduating from high school and loved the film then. Today, it is still a pleasurable, realistic look at the difficulties of teachers' jobs in educating kids and the tremendous struggle for these high-schoolers to do such challenging math work when just getting a passing grade in algebra is hard enough. The faculty has no faith but Escalante does - teach them with humorous asides and make it a party. After a while, the students start clapping their hands and their desks in unison, and we know that Escalante has gotten to them - he makes education fun. I had the impression then, and now, that I could take that difficult exam too if I had the right enthusiastic teacher. Of course, math never was my strong suit but if I was a student in his class, he wouldn't tolerate a mediocre response without persuading me. 

"Stand and Deliver" is based on a true story and it is about as gritty as one can get with this material, diligently and humanistically delivered by director Ramon Menendez. Naturally, some of the nuances are not all there with regards to relationships and the difficult learning process of studying one of the toughest mathematics courses ever. Escalante suffers a near-fatal heart attack (although in reality, there was an issue with his gall bladder) yet continues teaching as if he just ate some bad food. His devoted yet firm wife, Fabiola (Rosana De Soto), doesn't want her husband teaching extracurricular classes such as ESL for free, not to mention helping their youngest son with math homework. It is no wonder that Escalante is under extreme stress, making sure his barrio students pass this exam but at what cost? The movie skims past this with too much ease. I wanted to see more class sessions, especially the clarification of one particular math problem that everyone gets wrong and yet Escalante never tells them the right answer (is this so that all the students on the A.P. exam can get the same answer right/wrong despite not telling them one way or the other?) I wanted more scenes of familial struggles with these students who have to take classes through Christmas! We get an inkling of that with Angel (Lou Diamond Phillips) who is member of a gang that doesn't exactly believe in hitting the books - you know, got to preserve the tough guy image. He has a sick mother and there is a hint that he seems reluctant to be a gang member. There's also the late Vanessa Rosalia Marquez as Ana, a gifted student who almost makes the unfortunate choice of leaving school to work full-time in her father's restaurant. This student and Angel are given more emphasis in their endeavors than any of the others.

"Stand and Deliver" is an effective entertainment with a joyous ending that feels somewhat earned but we know it had to be even tougher. If only the director Menendez took more time to focus on Escalante, his family, and the students' lives so that we could see that progress played out. We get an inkling but there is not enough, oh, I don't know, ganas.