McBain (1991) — A Short Synopsis

Thanks to Rifftrax, I have now seen McBain (1991). Most of the time, I don’t really discuss plot details in my reviews. But this is not a conventional review, and since I don’t think it has really been spelled out before, I wanted to make sure people really knew what they were getting with McBain. For this entry, all I’d like to do is write a synopsis of the film’s plot. Although the movie is only about 95 minutes long, this is seriously the shortest I could make this thing. Really. I haven’t proofread any of this, by the way. And no, I’m not kidding about any of the stuff below. All of this actually…

Samsara (2011)

  Samsara (2011), much like Baraka (1992) and other films of this kind – I’ll call it the “natural montage” genre – comprises shots of phenomena and minutia from around the world, juxtaposed in such a way as to compose a larger message. I was introduced to this type of film years ago, when I purchased Koyaanisqatsi (1982) when I was 15. I wasn’t exactly the target audience for a film like that, and I hated it at the time. But since purchasing Baraka on Blu-ray – perhaps one of the finest releases so far in that format – I’ve looked forward to another release along these lines. It takes years to plan, film, and edit a production like this,…

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (1970)

Reminder: Movie of the Moment (MotM) covers movies that are not necessarily the best or the worst, just those that interest me at a particular time. This is a special Christmas edition. Once, in middle school, we were about to experiment with marshmallows in a vacuüm. One of the students said that he had never tasted one before. We asked why, and he told us that he once asked his parents how food companies made them. They told him the sugary treats came from the leftovers from the floor of the grocery store at night. The story always got me thinking: some parents just make stuff up. As you know, I don’t normally discuss plot details in my MotM reviews,…

Badlands (1973)

As a reminder, Movie of the Moment is a film review that doesn’t necessarily cover the best movie or the worst, but one that I find interesting at the time. I rarely discuss plot in my reviews. I’ve never been a fan of westerns. I could never get into the “frontier myth”. It’s tough when you’re from Texas. Yeah, I came from the suburbs, but I’ve been all over this state and I know what it feels like in most places. If you’ve ever seen The Searchers (1957) you know how absurd this can be, when the opening title says “Texas 1868″ and we reveal… Monument Valley, New Mexico. To us, it’s like saying “Prague 1945″…

Darkman (1990)

There are a few directors that every aspiring filmmaker looks up to, regardless of whether he or she enjoys their movies. These are the folks who “made” it by starting in their back yards with an 8mm camera and a couple of tricks, worked their way up the ladder by making the best with what they had, and ended up on top. Peter Jackson is one of them. Jackson started by making films with his friends on the weekends with practically no budget and the result was Bad Taste (1987). Skip forward to The Frighteners (1996) and check out Roger Ebert’s prescient review: But all of that incredible effort has resulted in a film that looks more like a demo reel…

Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997)

This is not a nostalgic look back at one of my favorite movies as a kid. I didn’t participate in too many fads growing up. I didn’t understand Tamagatchi. I skipped over Beanie Babies. I was a fan of the original two Pokémon games, but once I saw the show I tuned out. I did get sucked into Power Rangers, though. Cool teens, fighting, cooler teens, bigger fighting, I dug it. My favorite Ranger was Zack, the… uh, Ranger who wore the black costume… and happened to be African-American. Oh, when we were innocent and didn’t pick up on this stuff… I digress. It was always awful, but we didn’t know any better. I enjoyed Mighty Morphin…

The Ten Commandments (1956)

On Tuesday, Paramount released a new restoration of the epic The Ten Commandments (1956) on DVD and Blu-ray. I don’t normally make day one purchases, but I wanted to revisit this film. I picked up the two-disc edition of the Blu-ray instead of the megasuperdeluxe edition containing the original 1923 DeMille version. I highly recommend picking up either edition. I hadn’t seen TTC in many years and wondered if it would live up to my high expectations. Most of my memories were vague, just snippets from the annual ABC showing around Easter time or the old VHS copy from the local library. Viewing it now, it’s easy to see how there’s something here for everyone. There’s melodrama, action, morality,…

Solaris (1972)

This week, Criterion announced its upcoming May releases, including films from directors like Bergman (Smiles of a Summer Night [1955]) and Henri-Georges Clouzot (Les Diaboliques [1954]). Most interesting to me, though, was the announcement of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972). Tarkovsky fits the mold of the “pretentious director” stereotype, at least on the surface, so not everyone loves his work. Those who do enjoy his limited oeuvre (myself included) stand by his films and defend them vociferously. The purpose of this article is not to review Solaris per se, but rather to prime a viewer for his or her first Tarkovsky experience so that they can enjoy it as much as possible. If you’re completely unwilling to accept that a director not loved by the…

Predator 2 (1990)

There’s something brilliant about the first Predator (1987), but enough has been said about that film. What about the never-mentioned sequel, Predator 2 (1990)? Ask anyone who has seen it and odds are they might remember Gary Busey doing whatever it is he does or that it’s set in Los Angeles. That’s about it. It’s not a forgettable movie, though. Predator 2 has traits that we toss aside that could be examined more closely. This film is dark. It is so ridiculously dark that even when it’s light, it’s dark. Gone is the fun tone of the first film, replaced by the unending horror of the city. If the Predator doesn’t kill you, the Jamaicans or the Colombians will. Gone are…

Fellini Satyricon (1970)

Note: The correct name of the film is Fellini Satyricon, not Satyricon. The Polish poster for the film is grotesque, but it captures the essence of Fellini Satyricon (1970). In his later years, Fellini made a few movies that alienated many of his fans, especially on the intellectual left. Generally speaking, there are two types of Fellini fans, though we all enjoy both periods to some extent: those who prefer his older pieces, such as La Strada (1954), La Dolce Vita (1960), and Nights of Cabiria (1957), and on the other end of the spectrum, divided by 8 1/2 (1963), are fans of his later works (myself included) which include this film, Fellini’s Roma (1972), and others. The two groups are not mutually exclusive, and everyone agrees on some level that 8 1/2 is…