Movie Review: The Funhouse (1981)

Genre: Horror  

Director: Tobe Hooper  

Starring: Elizabeth Berridge, Cooper Huckabee, Kevin Conway  

Running Time: 96 minutes  

Synopsis: In small town Iowa, four teenage friends visit the traveling carnival: Amy (Elizabeth Berridge) is with her new boyfriend Buzz (Cooper Huckabee), while her friend Liz (Largo Woodruff) is with boyfriend Richie (Miles Chapin). Amy's younger brother Joey also sneaks into the carnival. The four teens decide to have an adventurous night and sleep inside the funhouse, a maze-like attraction filled with scares. When the teens witness a murder, the fun quickly turns into a violent nightmare. 

What Works Well: Director Tobe Hooper patiently introduces the carnival context, allowing the teenagers plenty of roaming-around time to encounter people and places that will become relevant. The horror takes off in the second half, and the freak-show trappings are effectively deployed to elevate the suspense and jump-shocks. Elizabeth Berridge, despite plenty of screaming, is a likeable main protagonist, but the most effective character is the smoothly insidious carnival barker Conrad (Kevin Conway). The special make-up effects by Rick Barker are superbly icky.

What Does Not Work As Well: Most of the acting is barely above amateur levels, and of course the teenagers have to embrace imbecility to fully sink into trouble. The mostly flat characters defang the slasher elements, while the sub-plot involving young Joey never rises above a combination of clutter and filler.

Key Quote:

Liz: I hate people who preach. Especially in bathrooms.

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Movie Review: When A Stranger Calls (1979)

Genre: Suspense Horror  

Director: Fred Walton  

Starring: Carol Kane, Charles Durning, Colleen Dewhurst  

Running Time: 97 minutes  

Synopsis: While babysitting for the Mandrakis family, teenager Jill (Carol Kane) receives a series of menacing phone calls from a mysterious man asking her if she has "checked the children". The evening ends badly, but Jill survives. Seven years later the assailant Curt Duncan (Tony Beckley) escapes an asylum and proceeds to stalk the lonely Tracy (Colleen Dewhurst), pursued by retired detective John Clifford (Charles Durning). 

What Works Well: The opening 20 minutes feature a simple but effective premise: incessant phone calls with one question terrorizing a babysitter in a large and mostly dark house. Carol Kane capably carries this unsettling sequence, interacting with nothing but the phone as she gradually comes to terms with the danger closing in. Director Fred Walton's smooth camera work and interesting perspectives heighten the suspense.

What Does Not Work As Well: Unfortunately, the rest of the movie falls well short. Kane drops out of the middle 50 minutes, as the focus shifts to Curt Duncan (fatefully almost sympathetic) antagonizing Tracy (a context-free woman-in-danger), with private investigator Clifford puffing behind, exerting plenty of effort with little to show for it. The climax abruptly shifts gears with another clunk as Kane reappears to almost save the day, but the damage caused by the choppy structure and large plot gaps is non-recoverable.

Key Quote:

Curt Duncan: Have you checked the children?

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Movie Review: The Guest (2014)

Genre: Mystery Thriller  

Director: Adam Wingard  

Starring: Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe  

Running Time: 100 minutes  

Synopsis: Recently released from service, army veteran David Collins (Dan Stevens) arrives at the home of Laura Peterson, claiming to have been an army buddy of Laura's son Caleb, who died on active duty. Laura welcomes David and he soon meets her husband Leonard and their teenaged children Anna (Maika Monroe) and Luke. The seemingly affable David involves himself in the family's affairs: Leonard is promoted, Luke's bullies from school are taught a lesson, and David makes a good impression on Anna's friends. But he also carries a violent streak, and when Anna delves into his background, bad things starts to happen.

What Works Well: Director Adam Wingard creates an entertaining vibe combining stranger unease with character manipulation and sudden bursts of violence. Dan Stevens charismatically embodies the vague spaces between good and evil, unsettling an entire family with supportive deeds compromised by questionable methods. Maika Monroe as the scrappy Anna emerges as a capable adversary, parlaying suspicions into facts to counter David's subterfuge.

What Does Not Work As Well: The backstory is an unfortunate empty shell of conspiratorial governmental incompetence, undermining attempts to create meaningful context. Once the violence escalates and the body count rises, the narrative zing dramatically declines.

Key Quote:

David: I'm a soldier, man. I like guns.

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Movie Review: China Sky (1945)

Genre: Romantic War Drama  

Director: Ray Enright  

Starring: Randolph Scott, Ruth Warrick, Ellen Drew, Anthony Quinn  
Running Time: 78 minutes  

Synopsis: In World War Two, American doctors Gray Thompson (Randolph Scott) and Sara Durand (Ruth Warrick) operate a hospital in a strategically important Chinese mountain village, assisted by the local Dr. Kim and nurse Siu-Mei. Thompson is oblivious to Sara's love, and returns from a trip with new wife Louise (Ellen Drew). The village is an important base for militia leader Chen-Ta (Anthony Quinn), and subject to daily Japanese bombings. Chen-Ta's wounded Japanese prisoner Colonel Yasuda looks to exploit Dr. Kim's fragile psychology and Louise's inflamed jealousy to gain a tactical battle advantage.

What Works Well: The adaptation of writer Pearl S. Buck's 1941 novel benefits from a war-torn, stoic-village-under-threat ambiance. The passionate love triangle maintains focus on characters, but the war remains close thanks to Colonel Yasuda's evil scheming, Chen-Ta's dashing horse-mounted courage, and the constant threat of Japanese air force bombing runs.

What Does Not Work As Well: The acting and directing are all about one-shot, read-the-lines expediency. Dr. Thompson is a special kind of naïve, first missing Sara's passion, then dropping new bride Louise into a war zone and abandoning her in a bomb shelter with strangers, and finally failing to notice the tension between the two women. Other than the swashbuckling Chen-Ta, the Chinese characters are presented as meekly subservient to the Americans. 

Key Quote:

Louise, taunting Sara about Thompson: You'd do anything to get him, you know you would...but yours is such an antiseptic charm.

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Movie Review: Luce (2019)

Genre: Drama  

Director: Julius Onah  

Starring: Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tim Roth  

Running Time: 109 minutes  

Synopsis: Black high school student Luce Edgar (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) was adopted as a child from war-torn Eritrea by his parents Amy and Peter (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth). He is now a model student, excelling in academics and athletics. Trouble starts brewing when his black teacher Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer) shares with Amy some concerns: Luce wrote an essay espousing violence, and Harriet found illegal fireworks in his locker. Amy and Peter disagree on how to confront Luce, who is also dealing with a buddy suspended from the track team and a girlfriend who may have been sexually assaulted.

What Works Well: The creeping all-is-not-well menace beneath an ideal middle class multi-racial suburban veneer energizes the adaptation of writer J.C. Lee's play. Four excellent performances feature actors exploring ambiguous realities, as Luce walks a fine line between perfect teenager and nefarious agenda, and teacher Harriet Wilson matches her student in navigating the grey zone between supporter, manipulator, and caregiver. Amy and Peter are parents caught in the middle, the sudden complexities in their adopted son's life exposing marriage fissures. Director Julius Onah succeeds in breaking out of any stage confines, while the sub-theme about the burden of striving for perfection within the black experience in America adds depth. 

What Does Not Work As Well: The plot tilts towards packing in too much drama and therefore trading in vagaries, leaving plenty of room for open-ended interpretations.

Key Quote:

Harriet: I can tell the difference between miscommunication and provocation.

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Movie Review: Ladyhawke (1985)

Genre: Fantasy Romantic Drama  

Director: Richard Donner  

Starring: Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Broderick, Leo McKern, John Wood, Alfred Molina  

Running Time: 121 minutes  

Synopsis: In a medieval setting, pickpocket Phillipe "The Mouse" Gaston (Matthew Broderick) escapes the dungeon of the evil Bishop of Aquila (John Wood). With guards in hot pursuit, Phillipe is saved by mysterious swordsman Etienne of Navarre (Rutger Hauer), who is often accompanied by a hawk. Phillipe learns that the Bishop's vindictive curse turns Etienne into a wolf from dusk to dawn, just as his lover Isabeau (Michelle Pfeiffer) turns from hawk to woman, so they can never meet. Phillipe and the old monk Imperious (Leo McKern) join forces to help the lovers break the curse.

What Works Well: The unique vision of a doomed romance carries a serious but lively tone, and unfolds under brooding skies. Director Richard Donner and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro wrap an evil regime within beautiful countryside vistas and dominant citadels to create a grounded aesthetic pierced by rays of legend and magic. Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer are suitably morose, while the action scenes are rationally edited and arrive at regular intervals courtesy of the Bishop's dogged guards and mercenary pursuit agents. Alfred Molina makes an appearance as a weathered wolf hunter. 

What Does Not Work As Well: The inability of the romantic couple to interact as humans is a natural barrier to passion, leaving the less inspiring Matthew Broderick as the go-between. His conversations with God are fun and his strained relationship with the truth adds personality zing, but Phillipe Gaston is clearly a tertiary character thrust into a lead role. The synthesizer-dominated music soundtrack by Andrew Powell and Alan Parsons is an unfortunate anachronistic flop.

Key Quote:

Phillipe: Are you flesh, or are you spirit?

Isabeau: I am sorrow.

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Movie Review: Demolition Man (1993)

Genre: Science Fiction Action Comedy  

Director: Marco Brambilla  

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne, Bob Gunton  

Running Time: 115 minutes  

Synopsis: In a crime-infested Los Angeles of 1996, police officer John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) arrests deranged crime lord Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), but with high collateral damage. Both are sentenced to years of cryogenic freezing with subliminal rehabilitation. Phoenix awakens in 2032, where Dr. Raymond Cocteau (Nigel Hawthorne) lords over a docile and crime-free society but with all pleasures illegal. Phoenix immediately unleashes chaos, forcing the police chief (Bob Gunton) to unfreeze Spartan, who teams up with police officer Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock). Bewildered by new societal rules, Spartan revives brute force methods to track down his nemesis.

What Works Well: This eminently quotable genre-mashing adventure has just as much fun deriding a cancel-happy culture as it does poking fun at itself with sturdy comic underpinnings. A society where the police force no longer knows how to fight crime - because there is no crime to fight - sounds utopic until the blandness of defangment surfaces in everything from outlawed cursing to the forgotten pleasures of physical contact. Into this sterility trundle Stallone's Spartan and Snipes' Phoenix as two dinosaur macho men on either side of the law, and they both quickly recognize a paradise worth wrecking. Sandra Bullock adds a sparkle as the bright-eyed police officer weirdly obsessed with the good old days of carnage.

What Does Not Work As Well: The plight of the (literal) underground resistance is short-changed, while the fragments of an abandoned sub-plot related to Spartan's daughter cause confusion. Several scenes double down on over-the-top action, Stallone and Snipes unlikely survivors of repeated unconstrained firepower and explosions. 

Key Quote:
Spartan: I just do my job and things get...
Lenina: ...get demolished.

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Movie Review: Blue Hawaii (1961)

Genre: Musical Romantic Comedy  

Director: Norman Taurog  

Starring: Elvis Presley, Joan Blackman, Angela Lansbury  

Running Time: 102 minutes  

Synopsis: After two years in the army, Chad Gates (Elvis Presley) returns to Hawaii and reunites with his girlfriend Maile (Joan Blackman). He is intent on carving his own path in life and not following the wishes of his wealthy parents (Roland Winters and Angela Lansbury), who want him to join his father's pineapple business empire. Instead Chad accepts a job as a tour guide at the travel agency where Maile works. When attractive teacher Ms. Prentice (Nancy Walters) and four teenaged girls retain his tour guide services, romantic complications ensue.

What Works Well: The Hawaii locations look postcard gorgeous; Presley, Joan Blackman, Nancy Walters, and Jenny Maxwell (as a teenaged seductress) all glow in the sun; and Presley's rendition of Can't Help Falling In Love is a highlight. Director Norman Taurog keeps the mood light with a steady stream of humour.

What Does Not Work As Well: A total of 14 songs, most of them forgettable, are crammed into the running time, turning the production into glossy travelogue with a soundtrack rather than any attempt at a serious movie. At 35 years old and just 9 years older than Presley, Angela Lansbury is somehow cast as his mother, and delivers a full-on cartoonish portrayal of an overbearing parent. As the flimsy plot desperately searches for oxygen in the brief intervals before the next song (and there is always a next song), it stumbles onto the lowlight of Presley delivering a spanking to straighten out a woman's behaviour.

Key Quote:

Chad (to Maile): On you, wet is my favourite colour.

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Movie Review: Bat*21 (1988)

Genre: Vietnam War Drama  
Director: Peter Markle  
Starring: Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, Jerry Reed  

Running Time: 105 minutes  

Synopsis: During the Vietnam War, Lieutenant Colonel Iceal Hambleton (Gene Hackman) parachutes into enemy territory when his reconnaissance plane is shot down. Hambleton is a veteran intelligence officer, and the North Vietnamese prioritize his capture. He makes radio contact with forward air patrol Captain Bartholomew "Birddog" Clark (Danny Glover), flying a Cessna. Birddog becomes Hambleton's main contact with the outside world as he navigates in enemy territory over several days and the army struggles to mount a rescue mission. A looming massive American air strike in the area adds time pressure.

What Works Well: Based on actual events, the story of a war-time rescue under enemy fire enjoys themes of friendship, survival, and most effectively, the difference between the brutality of up-close combat and the comparatively serene world of an intelligence officer far from the front lines. Gene Hackman and Danny Glover establish a remote cockpit-to-ground rapport, and both actors convey the weight of their ordeal through lived-in performances. Director Peter Markle maintains control of the material with no superfluous scenes and a focus on capturing the rigours of a jungle warfare environment, and capably weaves in the improvised golf course code Hambleton used to communicate his arduous travel path.

What Does Not Work As Well: The enemy perspective is non-existent, and this is a men's-only world with no female roles. The climax goes over-the-top in layering on improbabilities, then keeps looking for more.

Key Quote:

Birddog (over the radio to Hambleton): Let's get the basic relationship down... I'm the lifeguard, you're the drowning man. If you relax, I can bring you to shore. If you fight me, then I'll have to slap you around.



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Movie Review: Night Shift (1982)

Genre: Comedy  

Director: Ron Howard  

Starring: Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, Shelley Long  

Running Time: 105 minutes  

Synopsis: In New York, Chuck Lumley (Henry Winkler) is the city morgue's night manager. A former stockbroker, Chuck is meek, soft-spoken, and avoids all conflicts. His quiet world is disrupted by new co-worker Bill "Blaze" Blazejowski (Michael Keaton), a self-declared "ideas man". Bill is upbeat, full of energy, and a non-stop talker. Chuck meets his next-door neighbour Belinda (Shelley Long), a prostitute whose pimp Franklin was recently killed. Bill naturally comes up with the idea that he and Chuck take on the role of "love brokers" for Belinda and all of Franklin's working girls.

What Works Well: The story of friendship built on dead-end jobs is crisply directed by Ron Howard, who keeps the laughs coming and almost succeeds in glossing over the glamorization of pimping. The buddy aspects buzz with conflict thanks to clever interplay between introvert Chuck and extrovert Bill. Henry Winkler excels as the extreme opposite of his Fonz television persona, and Michael Keaton finds his breakout role as an energy source with no off button. The mean big dog terrorizing Chuck in the hallways is hilarious.

What Does Not Work As Well: Belinda is confined to a blank vessel into which the "hooker with a heart of gold" cliche is poured, and Chuck falls quickly in love with her because she looks good in underwear while scrambling his morning eggs. Elsewhere, the demise of Franklin the pimp sub-plot is forgotten for a long stretch before returning for a most unconvincing all-guns-blazing climax.

Key Quotes:

Bill: What if you mix the mayonnaise in the can, WITH the tuna fish? Or... hold it! Chuck! I got it! Take LIVE tuna fish, and FEED'em mayonnaise!



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