Continued from Part 2…
‘Over the Top’ (1987)
Schlock producer extraordinaire Menahem Golan didn’t direct too many movies in the Eighties, but he did direct this one, and it may be responsible for changing the structure of Hollywood, for better or worse. You see, Golan really, REALLY wanted Stallone for this, but Stallone wasn’t interested, so Golan just kept offering him more and more money until Stallone finally said yes. You can bet the eyes of many movie stars and agents went wide after that coup.
Anyway, what do we have here? Quite simply, it’s Sylvester Stallone having to arm wrestle his way to getting custody of his annoying son. Oh, and he’s a truck driver; and you’ll definitely want to go buy some Brut afterwards.
It’s not my favorite film of Sly’s by a long shot, but it’s entertaining enough to get your Stallone (or Kenny Loggins) fix, if that’s what you’re looking for.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ (1954)
I never expected my first thought after leaving the theater to be, “I can’t believe how smart that movie was.”
Yes, sure, the science probably doesn’t hold up well by 2015 standards, but I think they earnestly tried to be serious about it, which is the mark of good science fiction; and there’s some interesting subtext in the ideological conflict between two of the scientists (One of them’s like, “I just want to science,” and the the other one’s like, “We can science a whole lot more if we can get more money.”).
The creature still looks great, the underwater photography is still captivating, and the story is much more than dumb B-movie monster trash.
Perfectly entertaining Halloween fare.
Rating: ★★★★☆
‘Back to the Future’ (1985)
When I was a kid, I always thought I liked ‘Part II’ better, because of all the future stuff, but now that I’m older (and have seen it theatrically), I realize just how incredible this movie is.
Like so many ideas “The Two Bobs” (Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale) came up with, this is one that really should have never worked, or gotten off the ground in the first place.
Thank God they had an advocate in Steven Spielberg to help bring it to fruition, and the rest is history: two sequels and an untold amount of cultural influence (“You like ‘Huey Lewis and the News‘?).
Much like ‘Ghostbusters’ (another 5-star movie), ‘Back to the Future’ is a blend of two genres, in this case comedy and sci-fi, that works well in both areas. You could say it’s as if somebody wrote a really lighthearted and funny episode of “The Twilight Zone”. Also, like Ghostbusters, the casting is pitch perfect from top to bottom, and everybody gets a chance to put a stamp on their performance.
If you’ve somehow never seen it, get on that. October 21st is right around the corner…
Rating: ★★★★★
‘Mako: The Jaws of Death’ (1976)
Believe it or not, this is not a ‘Jaws’ ripoff.
Other than the presence of sharks, and the word ‘Jaws’ in the title, there’s pretty much nothing to link this film to Steven Spielberg’s epic.
‘Mako’, rather, is another one in the line of “Man with psychic connection to animals exacts revenge and/or murder on people” movies, that I guess started with ‘Willard’ (1971) and ended with ‘Willard’ (2003).
This is not what I’d call a legitimately good movie, but it at least manages to keep your interest for ninety minutes with some entertaining sequences (like Harold “Odd Job” Sakata getting towed into port by a runaway boat), and some general funny-bad moments; and, like ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ and ‘Thunderball’, the underwater shots still look great.
For a mid-70s Cannon release, this is perfectly acceptable.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
‘The Hustler’ (1961)
I went into this thinking it would just be a cool movie about a pool shark hustling people, but it turned out to be so much more than that. I realize how pretentious this will sound, but ‘The Hustler’ is among the most existential films I’ve ever seen. because while it is a story about “Fast Eddie” the pool hall hustler, it’s really about Eddie Felson learning to be truly human, experience love and loss and all that comes with it; and also there are amazing scenes of pool playing.
My main criticism is that it’s a bit long, and certain things are dragged out more than necessary, but it’s not enough to quench all of the great performances.
Paul Newman is as you’d expect, Piper Laurie is amazingly vulnerable, George C. Scott is deliciously nefarious, and Jackie Gleason is cooler than you could have ever imagined him to be (and, I believe, does all of his pool shots himself); and Murray Hamilton shows up to do Murray Hamilton things.
It’ll unfortunately probably bore much of today’s audience, but, for me, it’s easy to see why this one is considered such a classic.
Rating: ★★★★☆