| a |
"Sleepy Hollow", from Tuna
Tuna's comments: Sleepy
Hollow (1999) won an Oscar for Art Direction-Set
Decoration. It is possibly the best decision the
Academy has ever made. More about the imagery
later. This film is loosely based on Washington
Irving's classic tale of the Headless Horseman,
but takes many liberties with the story. Johnny
Depp stars as Ichabod Crane, who is a New York
constable who has fallen out of favor with his
superiors for advocating scientific crime
investigation as opposed to simply throwing
accused people into a dungeon. He is sent to
remote Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of
murders -- mostly to get him out of their hair.
While the original script is mostly a horror
story, director Tim Burton has turned it into a
combination of a murder mystery and a love story,
with a little horror for good measure. Christina
Ricci plays Katrina Van Tassel, Depp's love
interest.
The plot has been
criticized as a little hard to follow, and I
agree. For the rest of the bad news, there is no
real exposure, although Ricci shows a little
cleavage. This film contains possibly the best
imagery I have yet seen. In addition to its
Oscar, it was nominated for Best Costume and Best
Cinemaphotography. The makeup and special effects
were also outstanding. After capping 56 images
with no nudity, I would normally curse three
times and put them in the recycle bin. In this
case, the images are so memorable that I had to
do something with them. I made ten composite
images with Ricci on the bottom, and my 10
favorite non-Ricci frames on the top, then
created 10 large thumbnail images showing all 56
frames. Perhaps I am less of a lecherous old man
than I thought, but I like this project a lot
despite the lack of nudity. The DVD (as you can
see from my images) is a very good transfer, and
the Special features are worth seeing.
Special thumbnails
described above:
thumbnails 1 thumbnails 2 thumbnails 3 thumbnails 4 thumbnails 5 thumbnails 6 thumbnails 7 thumbnails 8 thumbnails 9 thumbnails 10
Christina Ricci thumbnails
Ricci (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10)
"Don't
Torture a Duckling", from Tuna
Tuna's comments: Don't Torture a Duckling (Non
si sevizia un paperino) was made in 1972, and was
horror legend Lucio Fulci's second film. Once you
have seen it, you will understand why it was not
a boxoffice smash in a country as overwhelmingly
and devoutly Roman Catholic as Italy was in 1972.
It is actually a murder mystery. Someone is
murdering 12 year old boys. It is quite a
well-made film, with great photography and a
colorful setting. There is one very graphic scene
of a woman being beaten to death with chains, but
it is otherwise mostly gore free. It would be
hard to give more of the plot without writing a
spoiler, and that is a nasty thing to do with a
whodunnit. If you can live with poor English
dubbing, this one is worth renting.
I haven't ever seen
this, and I have a premonition that I may never
see it. Hell, Tuna may be the only guy who's ever
seen it. But any movie with a title like this and
flesh from Barbara Bouchet can't be all bad
thumbnails
Barbara Bouchet (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10
"Switchblade
Sisters", from Tuna
Tuna's comments: 1975 exploitation classic
Switchblade Sisters was originally released under
the title "The Jezebels." It did not do
well under that name, and was renamed Switchblade
Sisters. It was released on DVD today by Quintin
Tarantino, who teams with director Jack Hill to
produce a complete commentary track. Given
Tarantino's energy and enthusiasm, the commentary
is almost worth the price of the DVD alone. This
is exploitation giant Jack Hill's first film
after leaving Roger Corman. While with Corman, he
directed the classics Swinging Cheerleaders, Big
Bird Cage, Big Doll House and discovered Pam
Greer.
The film is about a group of female
gangbangers who are an adjunct to a male gang.
After a battle with a rival gang, the women
decide the men are not worth the effort, and
become autonomous. Those who are interested in
the exploitation films genre will want to own
this DVD, and watch Tarantino's Rolling Thunder
Productions for more releases..
thumbnails
Joanne Nail (1,
2)
Robin Lee (1,
2,
3)
Unknown (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7)
"Fires
Within", from GR
Same principle as that
Duckling movie. Haven't seen it, but given the
title, and some additional exposure of Greta
Scacchi for our collections, I think we haveta
give it some serious stars. I'll definitely get
my hands on this one when it hits DVD. Story
about a Cuban political prisoner (Jimmy Smits)
who makes it to Miami and an anguished reunion
with his family. Directed by the same woman who
did the Winona version of Little Women.
Scacchi
|
a |
