Superman III had some seriously big boots to fill. Superman: The Movie had a huge budget for its time (a cool $55 million), talented writers (including Mario Puzo) and a cast to die for (Marlon Brando, anyone?) An unknown actor, Christopher Reeve, was cast as the Man of Steel, which was a considerable risk. The …
Continue reading Computers, Comedy and Camp- Making the Case for Superman III (1983)
‘A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his armless mother - the leader of a strange religious cult - and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name as he becomes "her arms".’ Talk about generic plots! This is an Alejandro Jodorowsky film, you know, the man who made El …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 43- Santa Sangre (1989)
More double-crossing now, with twins being perfectly suited for this. This David Cronenberg movie stars Jeremy Irons as twin gynaecologists with one twin, the narcissistic Elliot, seducing and then discarding some of the women who come to their practice with his more submissive and introverted twin Beverly taking over from Elliot in the relationship but …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 42- Dead Ringers (1988)
Claude Lanzmann’s nine-and-a-half-hour documentary on the Holocaust. Survivors, perpetrators and bystanders talk. The sites are shown as they are now. There is no archive footage of the camps in operation. This is the other side of Night and Fog. Resnais used the images so the atrocity could never be downplayed. Lanzmann refuses them. He makes …
‘13-year-old Christiane Felscherinow resides in Berlin with her mother. She starts abusing dangerous substances after she falls in love with Detlev, which causes her to steal from her house, sell all of her assets, and descend to abysmal levels.’ This reminds me of the darkest after-school special you'll ever see, but set in Berlin rather …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 36- Christiane F (1981)
Feature-length Studio Ghibli animated film about two orphaned siblings who struggle to survive and stay together during the final months of the Pacific War. This is more animation that's strictly not for kids. In fact, just like The Plague Dogs, this is a harrowing, haunting watch. The innocence of the children in the face of …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 33- Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
A scientist invents a teleportation machine. It needs some tweaks before it’s ready (we saw what happened to a poor baboon earlier in the film) but when a second baboon isn’t turned into dog food, Brundle is convinced his device is ready. He decides to prove it the ultimate way- with himself. Unfortunately, a fly …
An 80’s pop group are going to make history by being the first Western ensemble to play in Communist China. Who would this group be? A critically respected group like The Smiths or The Cure who would surely take the opportunity to highlight the differences between the two worlds and use the expedition as fuel …
When an athlete (Allan) is hit by a truck and left a quadriplegic, a scientist friend recruits a monkey that has been trained to help assist disabled people to fully carry out their lives. Ella, the monkey, starts to bond well with Allan, but soon, this bond becomes a lot darker as he thinks that …
Continue reading George A Romero Reviewed- Day 11- Monkey Shines (1988)
Scientists and the military are trapped together in a missile silo whilst the dead continue to rise up and take over. Can they work together to save humanity or will they be at each others throats? Guess! I remember a few years ago expressing what I thought about this film and receiving a tsunami of …
Continue reading George A Romero Reviewed- Day 10- Day of the Dead (1985)
