This is one of the greatest films to bring to "bad movie night." Unlike many bad films, it does not suffer from poor production values. It was directed by Tobe Hooper, with special effects by John Dykstra and a score by Henry Mancini. That makes it easy on the eyes and ears. It also has the screwiest plot you'd ever want to see, over-the-top acting, and 19-year-old Mathilda May stark naked for about 15 minutes. That's about all the entertainment you and your wasted buddies will ever need.

You can do even better than showing it to a room full of drunks. Try stoners. This is arguably the single best movie in history to watch stoned, maybe even better than 2001, because the latter is so-so serious, and this one allows for the giggles. (Movie House review)

Here (zipped .avi) is the magnificent Ms May in high definition (a third-party video). This is an incredible improvement over the DVD. The DVD is in  2.35:1 aspect ratio, and it is not anamorphically enhanced. If you do all the math, you'll find that it means there are only about 306 lines of meaningful vertical info on the DVD, with black bars occupying the rest of the 480 lines of DVD output. This HD film clip has 720 lines of vertical info, making it about two and a half times as sharp as the DVD. That is greater than the normal difference between DVD and VHS! In other words, you want to see this. It is by far the best-ever version of one of the best nude scenes in history.

Here are some samples. The first one is a definite keeper.

OTHER CRAP:

Movie Reviews:

Yellow asterisk: funny (maybe). White asterisk: expanded format. Blue asterisk: not mine. No asterisk: it probably sucks.

Body Heat (1981)

This deluxe edition marks the 25th anniversary of one of the few perfect films. I fully admit that I am incapable of objectivity on this film. The first time I watched it, it hooked me in the first few minutes, and  it just gets better each time I see it. '

First-time director Lawrence Kasdan didn't copy 40s film noir, he reinvented it in color. He began by writing a superlative screen play, something that he had already been known for. This time, however, it was for his own direction, which give him an extra incentive. He felt that it could well be his only chance to direct, especially if he didn't do well, so he was determined to get as much fun out of the project as possible. 

He was intent on hiring the perfect leads, but from relatively unknown performers. That way the audience would have no baggage from other roles to lay on the characters. William Hurt and Kathleen Turner were both trained and experienced stage actors, but were not cinema names.  When they tested together, Kasdan knew he had his leads. Turner had the perfect voice for the character, and was not at all hard to look at. She effortlessly made Mattie scorchingly sexy. Turner says the nudity and sex scenes were very difficult for her emotionally. After she heard "cut," she would hide in her dressing room shaking, trying to recover, although you would never guess that from her performance. Both Hurt and Turner loved the four weeks of rehearsal. It felt very comfortable to performers that were stage-trained.

Filming started with a serious problem. The script was set in New Jersey, and a SAG strike prevented start of filming until the weather in New Jersey was too cold for the story. They settled on Florida as a replacement, but it was the coldest winter Florida had seen to date, which makes their achievement of creating a heat wave you can feel as you watch it even more amazing.

Another of Kasdan's goals was to build complete characters in the supporting roles, and he managed brilliant choices for each of them as well, including Mickey Rourke and Ted Danson in their youthful days. I said in the beginning that this is a perfect film. I say that because I can't think of a single thing I would change about it, right down to the ending, where Mattie shows some regret. According to Hurt, Kasdan earned his chops as a director during the first scene they shot. The musical score was simply perfect in establishing the mood, the cinematography was amazing, and even the editing was done by someone who clearly shared Kasdan's vision.

If you also love this film, you will want this edition. It includes five deleted scenes, fully color graded, that add up to plot twists that were removed. While there is nothing wrong with the scenes, the decision to cut was a good one, as they would have delayed rather than advanced the story. While there is nothing new about the transfer, the special features are both interesting and informative, and it is a perfect excuse to watch this film yet again.

The last time I wrote about this film, I gave it a B. I see no reason to change my vote.

IMDb readers say 7.2. (Which seems a tad low to both of us.)

 

Kathleen Turner

Tiki (2006)

Joelene Smith shows breasts in the green-room when the professor rushes in without knocking.

Ashley Williamson-Payne shows breasts in a lesbo three-way before getting tiki'ed.

Trivia: why do they call it the "green-room"? (Written correctly with a hyphen, as per OED.) Nobody knows, although the term seems to have originated in the late 1600s.

Overview.

OED thinks it may be because of the original color of the room somewhere in some theater. That's logical enough, but the proof, if it exists, has been lost to history. The OED entry: "A room in a theatre provided for the accommodation of actors and actresses when not required on the stage, probably so called because it was originally painted green. To talk green-room: to talk theatrical gossip."

 

Notes and collages

Ullie Birve in "Epsilon"   - Apparently this film was also released under the title of "Alien Visitor," perhaps to bring in an audience with an eighth grade reading level (which is a fairly normal event in U.S. culture now that we have banned DODGEBALL and LAWN DARTS and made the purchase of MODEL GLUE a behind-the-counter experience.) - Aside from the above rant, this is a very pretty lady; my desert camping experiences never had visitors like this... - If you have seen this film then you know that I did an aesthetic cheat with the imagery: I flopped the pics from left-facing to right-facing so that it "flowed" better as a collage. - doh!