Christopher Lloyd – People Talking

Classic Movie Review – ‘The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension’ – …There You Are

Directed by W.D. Richter
Written by Earl Mac Rauch
Cast: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, Lewis Smith, Rosalind Cash, Robert Ito, Pepe Serna, Ronald Lacey, Matt Clark, Clancy Brown, William Traylor, Carl Lumbly, Vincent Schiavelli, Dan Hedaya, Mariclare Costello, Bill Henderson, Damon Hines, Billy Vera, Laura Harrington, Jonathan Banks, John Ashton, Yakov Smirnoff
Soundtrack: Michael Boddicker

Speaking of not getting things, I’m not convinced there’s anyone, alive or dead, including its creators, who truly “gets” Buckaroo Banzai.

Does it matter? Hardly. I love it all the same.

Now, I have to be careful here, because this is one of those cult classics, meaning there’s been a small but loyal fanbase for a long time, and I have to admit that I’m not one of them. No, I came to this movie the way I’m sure many have in recent years: the fact that it was Spine #1 for Shout Factory’s “Shout Select” line (which also includes Shakedown and Trespass, by the way).

What can I say? They sold me on it, and I bought it (it also doesn’t hurt that it’s largely “set” in New Jersey).

But, yeah, this movie’s wild, and it throws a lot at you (I might give it a higher rating if it wasn’t so much), but thankfully it has a great ensemble cast to pull it off. This is is one of those films that if it was made a year later, there’s no way you’re getting the same caliber of cast together (e.g. Under Siege). And the quality is not just in the major players like Peter Weller and John Lithgow (though they are great in this movie), but all the way down the line to people you may not know at all, like Lewis Smith as Perfect Tommy, and people you might know now, like Jonathan Banks as the Hospital Guard.

And thanks to the cast selling the often insane-sounding dialogue, Buckaroo Banzai is the second-most quotable movie of 1984. I mean, I’m very tempted to just start quoting lines right here, right now, but I’ll refrain; just take my word for it.

Really though, what makes Buckaroo Banzai so special is that it feels so wholly original. It has its influences, to be sure, but I personally have a hard time making straight line connections where I can say, “This thing comes from that thing.” The sad part is that there was some really petty interference from the executive producer that ended up holding the movie back just enough, perhaps none greater than firing the original cinematographer, Jordan Cronenweth (he shot a little movie you may have heard of called BLADE RUNNER).

Still, for me, Buckaroo Banzai is one of those movies that’s a great litmus test for people. As I said, nobody “gets” it, but if somebody else really likes it, there’s a pretty good chance we’re going to get along. It’s fun, it’s bonkers, it’s just a touch romantic, there’s some really unique sci-fi elements, and it’s only 103 minutes.

What a shame it never got a sequel.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Movie Review – ‘Going In Style’ – Robbing Your Money

Directed by Zach Braff
Written by Theodore Melfi, based on the 1979 story by Edward Cannon
Cast: Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin, Ann-Margret, Christopher Lloyd, Joey King, Peter Serafinowicz, John Ortiz, Matt Dillon, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Maria Dizzia, Josh Pais
Soundtrack: Rob Simonsen

Let’s keep this simple.

If you’re reading this, it means you know how to to read. If you know how to read, it means you can read the cast list for this movie. If you read the cast list for this movie, you might infer, reasonably, that this movie would be very good, if not fantastic.

Unfortunately, your inference would be incorrect.

If there’s one thing that hurts me most when it comes to Hollywood films, it’s wasted potential, but, unfortunately, throwing a bunch of top talent together doesn’t always work out like you hope (as we well know). In this case, it’s not just the actors, but screenwriter Theodore Melfi, who not only recently wrote and directed a Best Picture nominee, but also helmed the surprisingly heartwarming and delightful St. Vincent.

More pointedly though, as a wise man once said, “A bad comedy isn’t just bad, a bad comedy is miserable.” Going In Style only clocks in around ninety minutes (as most comedy films should), but it felt much longer, so it’s hard to determine exactly how long I felt angry, but I’m going to guess I spent roughly the first half-hour to forty-five minutes absolutely seething at what I was watching.

The biggest and most glaring problem is that you have a gaggle of amazing actors who you can obviously trust to play the comedy in a subtle and dry manner, but for some reason everything is played up as broadly as possible (including the music; ugh). Sure, comedy is subjective and my opinion is just one opinion, but, much like my experience with Sausage Party, I was in a packed theater with a willing audience, and there was not a whole lot of laughter going on, and if there was, it was in small pockets; nothing audience-wide.

Frankly though, these are just the high-level failures. I could nit-pick this movie to death if I really wanted to, but it’s not worth the effort. In fairness, I’ll say the third act, which involves the actual heist, is somewhat redeemable, but on the whole I can’t recommend Going In Style.

It’s a harsh criticism to dub a film an obvious studio cash-grab, and I genuinely don’t enjoy having to be negative, but, when you get the sense that you’re watching a product more so than any sort of artistic endeavor, there’s not much you can do.

I’m so sorry.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Quick Thoughts – Autumn Round-Up, Part 1

As usual, I’m horribly behind in my writing about what I’ve been seeing.

Let’s get right to it.

Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003)

I have a very special relationship with this movie.

When I was in high school, I went with a bunch of friends to see it, the only problem was that everybody was 17 except for my best friend and I who were still 16 (and the theater we went to was not one you could sneak into); so, we waited and waited until finally a nice South Asian couple came by and vouched for us so we could get in. It’s been more than 12 years and I’m still waiting to pay that favor forward, but kids today just don’t have the same taste.

Anyway, Kill Bill, like every Tarantino film, is a tribute to many movies of the past. This fact was a bit over my head as a 16-year-old, I have a bit more of an appreciation of it now, but that doesn’t really matter, because the movie is great on its own and still holds up today. The Monty Python-esque over-the-top violence, the witty dialogue, Sonny f’n Chiba, and the core story of a woman essentially back from the dead and out for revenge, it’s just cool. And, it’s got one of the best ending cliffhangers ever. What more can I say?

Rating: ★★★★½

Back to the Future Part II (1989)

For a very long time, I thought this was the best BTTF movie, probably because I was young and couldn’t yet fully appreciate the original (believe me, I learned to love it), plus, they actually go to the future!

Let’s get it straight right now. Back to the Future is one of the most perfect films ever made, and is the best of the trilogy. But, as sequels go, it’s hard to ask for more than what Part II gives us.

For one thing, it provided a comedic vision of the future date of October 21, 2015 (on which I got to see the movie theatrically, because awesome), which turned out to be somewhat prescient but mostly just hilarious. Secondly, there’s some serious movie magic involved with taking us back to certain events from the original while adding another layer on top of them. And, the movie isn’t afraid of some gravitas, as the alternate 1985 “Hell Valley” is stunningly bleak.

Add it all up, and you’ve got a tremendously fun and well-executed sequel (that still works just fine on its own).

Rating: ★★★★☆

Hot Fuzz (2007)

This is another movie I have a very special relationship with.

Back in the late Spring of 2007, my best good friend and I went to see Spider-Man 3 in IMAX on a Friday night. Needless to say, we hated it. In fact, had we not paid extra to see it on the giant screen, I think we’d have walked out. Come Saturday, we needed to cleanse our theatrical palate, and the perfect prescription was Hot Fuzz.

In addition to that fond memory, it was a part of my first ever experience at the Alamo Drafthouse [Yonkers], when I went to see the “Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy” on the premier night of The World’s End.

I love this movie so much that I made my own trailer for it (which I’d show you, but, copyright laws).

A lethally hilarious combination of buddy cop action, Agatha Christie mystery, and the English countryside, Hot Fuzz is the second feature from creative duo Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg (along with Nick Frost and a cast of British greats). Like Shaun of the Dead before it, Hot Fuzz is not a parody, but rather a comedic love letter, embracing all the tropes that come with the movies it pays tribute to, in turn become a great example of the genre itself (I put it next to Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour as the three seminal Buddy Cop movies of the past 30 years); not to mention that you can watch any Edgar Wright movie 20 times and still not pick up on all the on-screen gags.

It’s fun, it’s bloody, and it’s over-the-top in all the right ways. Check it out if you’ve not already done so.

Rating: ★★★★½

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

I’ve only very recently been getting familiar with the film catalogue of one Mr. Brian De Palma, but I’ve come to one conclusion, and that is he is drawn to stories that start out very much grounded in reality, but by the end have gone almost completely off the rails. Carrie, Scarface, and Mission: Impossible all follow this pattern, and you better believe Phantom of the Paradise, which he wrote himself, does as well (arguably to the largest degree).

A musical at its core (songs by Paul Williams), Phantom pays homage to many classic stories, including Phantom of the Opera (duh), Faust, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, while mixing in 70s glam rock aesthetics and plenty of music business satire (which is horrifyingly brilliant).

The result is something of a wild and beautiful mess, but it’s an enjoyable enough ride that I’d recommend it to a lot of people. If nothing else, the twists and turns will keep you engaged.

Rating: ★★★½

After the screening, there was a Q&A with Gerrit Graham (on the right), who played “Beef” in Phantom, hosted by Michael Gingold of Fangoria magazine (on the left):

Quick Thoughts – Summer Round-Up, Part 3

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: ★★★★☆