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Note: The Sienna Miller sex scenes from Factory Girl, which
you have been reading about in the past three days ("Are They Real?"),
can be found in the January 14th edition of the Fun House. Some people have
suggested that Darth Vader's willy is on view in the scene, but if it is, I
missed it. It's not possible to determine whether the scene is real or
simulated.
Personally, I think the rumors were spread by Darth himself
to propagate a heterosexual image for himself. (Many people have suggested
that he plays for the other team.)
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* Yellow asterisk: funny (maybe).
* White asterisk: expanded format.
* Blue asterisk: not mine.
No asterisk: it probably sucks.
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OTHER CRAP:
Catch the deluxe version of Other Crap in real time, with all the bells and whistles,
here.
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Home Before Midnight
Two young women, Alison Elliott and Debbie Linden, are hitching, and picked
up by a lorry driver. They stop for coffee, and the driver, who fancies
Linden, tries to set Elliott up with his mate. She is having none of it, and
leaves. Another bloke in the restaurant, James Aubrey, also leaves, and picks
her up on the road. They get on well, and make a date for later that evening.
Meanwhile, Linden and the lorry driver pull into the wood and have it off.
The date goes well, starting with dinner and wine, moving to a nightclub,
and ending up in his bed. It is the best sex he has every had. We learn that
he is a successful musician and composer. The two become an item, and everyone
is happy about it until he discovers that she is only 14. It is inevitable
that they are caught. Parents and police make it a federal case.
This 1979 film was based on a real story, and the facts of the case are
enough to make you think long and hard.
1) The girl looked 20.
2) She drank publicly with him, again indicating she was of age.
3) She was very sexually experienced before she met the guy.
4) The police and her parents invented a rape charge when they found out.
5) He genuinely cared for her.
6) When he discovered her age, he knew he should break it off, but
didn't.
All of that certainly excuses some of what happened, but her actions after
daddy caught her indicate that she was in fact not mature enough for the
relationship, and she moved on to another guy her age too quickly and easily,
again showing she was not ready for an adult relationship.
This film is writer/director Peter Walker's one and only attempt at
socially relevant drama. Walker is otherwise known for exploitation movies,
mostly drive-in horror films. He would never write another film after this
one, although he would direct one more, The House of Long Shadows, a high camp
horror film with Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, John Carradine and Christopher
Lee.
I found Home Before Midnight very well done. The film didn't give easy
answers, but fairly presented all sides. It's Pete Walker's career
achievement, and is still as relevant today as when it was made -- perhaps
more so.
It is a solid C, worth the time and effort, and is finally being released
on DVD next week.
There are no reviews, and IMDb has too few votes for a statistically
meaningful score.
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The 2007 Goya Awards
Part 2: Salvador
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Español
A principios de los años setenta, el Movimiento Ibérico de Liberación
(MIL), un grupo izquierdista formado por un puñado de militantes españoles
y franceses muy jóvenes, pone en jaque a la policía al cometer varios
atracos en Cataluña con el objetivo de conseguir dinero para apoyar a los
sectores más combativos del movimiento obrero. En un primer momento, el
éxito de sus acciones espectaculares, provocadoras e irreverentes
proporciona a los jóvenes del MIL una sensación de invulnerabilidad que
termina bruscamente en septiembre de 1973, cuando efectivos de la Brigada
Político Social tienden una trampa a dos de sus militantes.
En el transcurso de su detención se produce un confuso tiroteo en el que muere
un joven inspector de policía. Salvador Puig Antich (Daniel Brühl) resulta
gravemente herido y, tras pasar por el hospital, ingresa en la cárcel
Modelo de Barcelona a la espera de un consejo de guerra. A partir de ese
momento, tanto sus hermanas como sus abogados inician, ante la
indiferencia general, una carrera contrarreloj para salvar la vida del
joven activista. Pero el 20 de diciembre de 1973 se produce el atentado de
ETA (un grupo terrorista español) contra el presidente del Gobierno
Franquista, el almirante Carrero Blanco, y Salvador Puig Antich se
convertirá en el chivo expiatorio que un sector del Régimen Franquista
reclama. El Consejo de Guerra contra Puig Antich es una farsa y el joven
Salvador es condenado a muerte. Todos los intentos por salvarlo, incluso
una improbable y rocambolesca fuga, resultarán inútiles y el 2 de marzo de
1974 Puig Antich es ejecutado mediante el "garrote vil". Su muerte trágica
y cruel deja una gran huella, durante años, a toda una generación que aún
se pregunta si pudo hacer algo más para evitar una ejecución tan terrible
como inútil.
Ha ganado:
- Mejor Guión Adaptado: Lluís Alcarazo
y nominada a:
- Mejor Director: Manuel Huerga
- Mejor Actor: Daniel Brühl
- Mejor Actor de Reparto: Leonardo Sbaraglia
- Mejor Música Original
- Mejor Fotografía
- Mejor Montaje
- Mejor Dirección de Producción
- Mejor Sonido
- Mejores Efectos Especiales
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English
At the beginning of the Seventies, the Iberian Liberation Movement, a leftist group formed by a handful of very young Spanish
and French militants, challenged the police by committing
several holdups in Catalonia, with the objective of giving the money to
support the most radical sectors of the labor movement. At the outset,
its spectacular successes and provocative irreverence made the young
revolutionaries feel invulnerable, a sensation which ended abruptly when
the national police trapped two of its militants.
In
the course of their apprehension, a confused shoot-out caused a young
police inspector to die. The anarchist named Salvador Puig Antich (Daniel Brühl)
was
seriously wounded and, after a stay in the hospital, he was incarcerated
in the Modelo de Barcelona Prison to await military justice. When his
sisters and lawyers initiated a race against the clock to save the life of
the young activist, the public was merely indifferent to his fate, but
at that time a Spanish terrorist group (ETA) mounted an attack against the Franco Government,
and the government made Salvador Puig Antich the public scapegoat
for the public's general anti-terrorist sentiment. The military
trial of Puig Antich was a farce and the
young Salvador was condemned to death. All the attempts to save him,
including a quixotic rescue attempt, were useless. On March 2, 1974 Puig Antich
was executed by garrote. His
tragic and cruel death left a terrible legacy to a
generation that is still asking if it could have done something to
prevent his horrifying and useless execution.
This won the Goya for:
It was also nominated for:
- Best film
- Best director
- Best leading actor
- Best supporting actor
- Best original music
- Best cinematography
- Best editing
- Best set design
- Best sound editing
- Best special effects
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The Haunting of Morella
Today we wrap up The Haunting of Morella with two B-movie babes
together: Maria Ford and the late
Lana Clarkson, both topless in these caps and
three
clips.
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The Hunger
episode: "The Other Woman"
Ignoring that his very jealous wife (Joanna Cassidy) makes it plain
what she will do if she catches him committing adultery, a fashion
designer (Nicholas Campbell) has an affair with his young protégé
(Lisa Bronwyn Moore).
It's a simple story that follows its premise without any surprises, but
is still a fun episode.
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Notes and collages
The Ladies of
Sci-fi/Fantasy
The Lawnmower Man
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---I like this story about a scientist who uses a simple-minded
landscaper as a lab rat for an experiment in the education of a mind. Being a
Stephen King tale, the story naturally twists into nightmare.
How would you treat other people if you were suddenly the most brilliant mind
on the planet? |
 
Jenny Wright |
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Looker
This Sci-Fi from 1981 is outstanding on several levels, not the least of which is it is loaded with beautiful women. Written and directed by Michael Crichton, many of the things he envisioned in 1981 are taken for granted in 2007.
He had a lot of good stuff in here; robotics, security access by coded plastic card, the overwhelming influence of TV, the ability of computers to dominate people's lives, and the obsession of Hollywood starlets and models with plastic surgery. He even had computers replacing real people with computer animation, something that's common today. The only thing he missed was the Internet.
A prominent plastic surgeon becomes alarmed when models he has operated on begin to die in strange ways. He decides to stay close to the forth of the group, to see if she is the next one marked for death. As he looks into the matter, he traces the deaths to a mysterious corporation that is
using computers to develop new technologies. He begins to believe they are
doing more than research.
Although it's slightly dated by 80's hairstyles and fashions, and the
DVD quality is not great due apparently to a master that's in pretty bad
shape, this is still a top-notch and well-done story which today is not
science fantasy, but mostly science fact. I loved it.
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Terri Welles |
Susan
Dey |
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