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"Shaft in Africa", from
Tuna
Tuna's thoughts:
"Shaft in Africa" produced some great
images. It was released today, and has the only
exposure ever of Neda Americ -- gorgeous, and 66
credits at IMDB. Also, native women with bouncing
boobs, good nudity of Zenebach Tadesse (only
credit, but probably has been in more). Also, a
nice butt shot of Vonetta McGee, also her only
known exposure. There is also a major flub I
captured. Roundtree is stick-fighting. Starts off
nude, then suddenly has blue pants on, then a
probable jock. In the following scene, he is nude
again.
A much better movie than
Shaft in Finland, in which he had a hard time
doing any undercover work.
thumbnails Zenebach Tadesse (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
Vonetta McGee (1,
2,
3,
4)
Neda Americ (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) Natives (1,
2,
3,
4)
The Blooper (1)
"Risky
Business", from Tuna
I think you all know the
movie, and we've talked about it on various
occasions, so here's Tuna's comprehensive
version.
thumbnails Rebecca DeMornay (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10, 11) Francine Locke (1,
2,
3)
"Girl,
Interrupted", from Johnny Web
Formula to make a movie:
take an existing classic and change things a
little bit to try to hide it. OK, let's take
"One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" and
re-write it so that it is told from Brad Dourif's
perspective instead of Jack Nicholson's. Then
let's change the characters to women. BINGO!
"Girl, Interrupted"
We see Winona Ryder
committed to a mental institution, apparently for
a severe case of attention deficit disorder. No,
she doesn't have it, she causes it in others. She
is so completely trite that everyone she knows
suffers from a wandering mind when trying to talk
to her. Her parents, her boyfriend, even her
shrink - all find her too boring to talk to. She
must have some real problems, but who the hell
cares? Apparently, acute ennui was considered a
mental condition in the 60's. George Sanders
actually died from it. He literally bored himself
to death. Why, "back in them days",
talking to Hugh Downs was considered a major
health risk. Al Gore can only thank God he didn't
live then, or he'd have been in electro-shock
treatments.
Unfortunately, this
isn't all that good a premise for socko
entertainment. Hey, let's make a movie about
somebody really boring. Let's do a biography of
the guy who played Higgins on Magnum, P.I. Well,
actually, that would probably be more interesting
than this character. They remade Cuckoo's Nest,
only this time it's about friggin' Billy.
And that's pretty much
the problem with this handsome, flawlessly-acted
movie. It's a solid effort, and it has scene
after scene of earnest and sincere attempts to
portray accurately the author's autobiographical
two year diary of her stay in a private
psychiatric clinic. There are even some good
moments that will hold your attention. But only
briefly. And then your attention will wander
again. And when it is over, you will find
yourself wondering why they thought they should
put so much talent behind making this humdrum
movie in the first place. That is, if you can
remember that you just watched it. Because, after
all, a serious movie still needs either an
interesting lead character or dramatic tension or
both, McMurphy is still a helluva lot more
interesting than Billy, and this lead character's
struggle is almost entirely internal, and
therefore not easy for us to become involved
with.
The charismatic
performance of the movie is Jolie as
female-McMurphy, all feline sociopath looking for
a way to be herself, or briefly for a better
self. In the history of the cinema, very few
actors have had "it" - that magic
charisma that stops the movie, makes you divert
all attention from anything else that's going on,
and focus only on what they are doing. Nicholson
has it. James Cagney had it. Groucho had it.
Jolie seems to have it, too. I guess you never
know when it will appear. Perhaps her father is a
better actor, but he did not have IT. With Jolie,
every facial expression, every reaction is an act
of creatvity. I sit there and marvel at how she
thought of those reactions - what made her turn
her head or lift her eyebrow that way. I wonder
what thoughts cause her to find those flashes in
her eyes. She apparently does it all on instinct,
not on training, and every gesture she makes,
every tilt of her head and stolen glance is laden
with extra layers added to her character. It's
amazing what she can do when given the right
role, because on the surface she doesn't appear
to be a serious enough craftsman to be a great
actor. But either she is, or she is so
charismatic that she doesn't need to be. She won
the Oscar, the Golden Globe, The Blockbuster
Award, the Broadcast Film Critics Award, and the
SAG award. The only major award that eluded her
was the New York Film critics award (That went to
Catherine Keener, "Being John
Malkovich")
Winona also does a
reliable job as female-Billy, playing her usual
role of someone lost forever in excessively
sensitive and posturing female adolescence. Of
course, she's like 73 years old now, and she's
playing an 18 year old, but to her great credit
she does pull it off convincingly, and even the
intense close-ups don't really betray her.
Despite the rumors,
there is no nudity in the deleted scenes. And
thank god these scenes were deleted. There's a
traffic jam and some other moments of equally
high drama. They are, unbelievably enough,
actually duller than the scenes that stayed in.
Winona did show more than expected in the regular
scenes, when she was in the tub in her hospital
gown. Winona was obviously topless in the sex
scene as well, but she rose from the bed with her
back to the camera. some woman running naked around
outside the hospital Winona Winona Winona
"Fight
Club", from Johnny Web
I can't talk all that
much about Fight Club, because the premise
involves keeping secrets from you, and the movie
isn't anywhere near as cool without the
secret(s). I will say a few things about this
imaginative black comedy: It has some strange
changes in tone. The first act is pure social
satire, about the meaninglessness and ennui of
the lives of generation X. The second act is a
portrait of madness. The finale is dark, dark
humor, and reminds me a lot of the end of Dr
Strangelove. Normally this kind of tone shift can
be disorienting, but I think it will become clear
to you why it happens when you know the
secret(s). Tuna and I give it two thumbs WAY up.
We both loved it, although I think we both
expected to hate it when we popped it in, because
neither one of us is into high testosterone
flicks, and that's what we were expecting. It is
some of that, but much more as well. We were both
kept guessing long enough to really get our
curiosity going. The DVD package is the best
design ever. Way cool artwork and presentation.
The DVD itself is TWO disks - one entire disk
just for extras. Good total package. The
director's commentary explains that this is not
Helena Bonham Carter. It is a combination of pure
animation, body doubles, Pitt and Carter. (And
the director is very clear on this point,
including the use of body doubles) How much of it
is Helena? Hard to say, but very little. Those
are not even her breasts, according to reports.
(Although the illusion is good, the size is
right, and it looks like it really could be she.)
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