Notes
|
Contact junior by writing junior@scoopy.com. Contact Scoopy by writing unclescoopy@msn.com. Contact Tuna by writing tuna@scoopy.com Send submissions to scoopy@scoopy.net
|
|
Use this search device to seek additional information from amazon.com about any of the books or movies you read about here.
|
Tuna
|
"The First Turn-on"
The First Turn-on (1983) is a sex farce/tittie flick from Troma, based on the old summer camp cliche. Four of the campers and the nature counselor get trapped in a cave by a fart joke (one of them farts, which causes a cave-in), tell wild lies about their first sexual experience, then have an orgy. Meanwhile, there is a succession of evil camp owner, precocious camper, stupid parents vignettes. Most of the humor is of the bathroom variety. There are a lot of women who show their breasts:
- Georgia Harrell
- Heidi Miller
- Lara Gills
- Kristina Marie Wetzel
- Donna Winter
- Donna Barnes (also shows bush)
- Former Penthouse Pet, Sheila Kennedy
This marks the first performance from Vincent D'Onofrio, who went on in spite of this credit to a real career. Scoop commented a while back that he was through with Troma films, and I am beginning to feel the same way. Even restricting the genre to Troma sex farces from the 80's, this is a D- at best. IMDB rating is 4.3 of 10. The DVD claims to be a digitally remastered directors cut, but is only slightly better than VHS quality.
Thumbnails
Thumbnails
Donna Barnes
(1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
Donna Winter
Georgia Harrell
(1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
Heidi Miller
(1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
Kristina Marie Wetzel
(1,
2,
3,
4,
5)
Lara Grills
(1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
Sheila Kennedy
(1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
Unknown
"Echo Park" (1986)
People who did not have the fortune (some say good, some say bad) to have lived in LA county seem to have trouble with romantic comedies set there. The culture in LALA land is outside most people's experience. Perhaps this will help. When I was first married, we lived in an apartment in an older
neighborhood in Long Beach, comprised mostly of retired people (original owners of their houses) and students, most of whom attended nearby CSULB. The neighborhood was known as Redondo Heights. One woman in our complex was in her late 40s or early 50s, was a piano major at a local junior college, and looked different. I am not sure if it was her orange hair with green roots, or her habit of a morning jog wearing men's boxer shorts and a pajama top that caught our attention, but she was known to the rest of us as crazy Louise. The incident that stands out most in my mind is the day I saw her on her hands and knees crawling after a litter of kittens, saluting them, and calling them sir. Now here comes the important part -- she was within the boundaries of normal by LA standards.
People in much of the country define themselves in terms of their occupation (I am a third generation plumber), their marital status (I am a husband and father of three), or their hobbies (I am a serious bowler). People in LA define themselves in terms of their dreams. I want to be an actor; I write poetry, and hope to be published; I work as an extra, hoping I will be discovered; someday, I will own my own house. This is the case with the major characters in Echo Park. Susan Dey is a single mother who
works as a bartender, and wannabe actress. Her next door neighbor is an Austrian body sculptor and personal trainer who wants to be the next Arnold, and Tom Hulce is a pizza delivery boy who dreams of being a song writer. He moves in with Dey and her son Henry when Dey needs the extra cash. He is clearly smitten with Dey, but, as Dey assures her son who tells her not to do it with him, "Don't worry, he is not the type I sleep with ... he is nice." She sleeps with Michel Bowen, but only for the sex. Things
pick up a little when she gets her first show business break as a stripping telegram.
This is not really a film where much happens, but rather a low key character driven piece about these unlikely friends going about the daily business of surviving, and not giving up their dreams. While there are a few belly laughs, I spent most of the film just grinning broadly. Dey showed her breasts three times briefly, and walked around in underwear a lot. Hulce did a great job, as did John Paragon as the strippers promoter. Watch for Cheech Marin stepping out of his usual persona as the owner of a
health club, and Cassandra Peterson (better known as Elvira) as his receptionist. Echo Park is not for everyone, and is probably a C, but I enjoyed it very much. The DVD transfer is not bad at all.
Thumbnails
Thumbnails
Susan Dey
(1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17)
Cassandra Peterson
|
Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy)
|
Movie trailers and bootlegs Todd
Solondz' new movie "Storytelling" has Selma Blair nudity. Here's
the r-rated trailer. (QuickTime only) If you want to see why the trailer is
r-rated ...
Here's not just another bootleg from not another teen movie, or
something..
DVDs
They did a much better job on the DVD for Emmanuelle
2 than for the original. there are a couple scenes that were damaged (I
guess), and they had to substitute weaker footage, but in general, it's not a
bad transfer, and you can listen to it in French with subtitles instead of the
usual bimbonic dubbing.
More important, they really streamlined the formula in the
second film. There is no attempt at all to create a plot or characterization.
There's very little dialogue. Mostly, there are pretty pictures of Hong Kong and
Bali, and there are pretty softcore pictures of people engaged in sexual
activities. I don't suppose you watch these films for the acting or the mystery
or the deep characterizations, so it has what you're looking for.
Only one problem - it's the "edited" version. It is
rated NC-17, but several customers at Amazon complained that it had been trimmed
- so this is not the time to buy. Wait for one remastered from the negative. I,
for one, would love to see a completely remastered uncut original set of the
first two Emmanuelle films (with a choice of dubbing or subtitles, of course).
-
Sylvia Kristel
(1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13)
-
Catherine Rivet
(1,
2,
3)
-
Assorted
(1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8)
| |