DVD Review – We Are Movie Geeks

Watch Bonus Clips From Roland Emmerich MOONFALL – Available Now On 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray And DVD

No one does end of the world like filmmaker Roland Emmerich. The director returns with his latest film, MOONFALL. The film arrived on Digital April 1 and on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray and Digital), Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD and Digital), DVD, and On Demand April 26 from Lionsgate.

One not to be missed in theaters for it scope, dazzling visual effects and fascinating sci-fi story, Lionsgate has released a new retro-trailer plus new bonus clips. Check them out below.

From director Roland Emmerich (Midway, Independence Day franchise) and writers Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser & Spenser Cohen, the film stars Academy Award® winner Halle Berry (Monsters Ball, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum) , Patrick Wilson (Midway, The Conjuring franchise) , John Bradley (TV’s “Game of Thrones,” “Marry Me”), Michael Peña (TV’s “Narcos,” Fantasy Island), Charlie Plummer (Lean on Pete, Spontaneous), Kelly Yu (TV’s “Lost Promise”), Eme Ikwuakor (TV’s “On My Block,” “Inhumans”), Carolina Bartczak (TV’s upcoming “Painkiller”), and Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games franchise, TV’s “The Undoing”).

In Moonfall, a mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler (Academy Award® winner Halle Berry) is convinced she has the key to saving us all – but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson, “Midway”) and a conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (John Bradley, “Game of Thrones”) believes her. These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love, only to find out that our Moon is not what we think it is.

Moonfall 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $42.99, $39.99, and $29.96, respectively.

The extras on the Blu-ray/DVD are amazing, especially watching it with the audio commentary from writer/producer/director Roland Emmerich and writer/producer/composer Harald Kloser. If you are a fan of 2012, INDEPENDENCE DAY and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, MOONFALL is one to add to your collection. The film plays extremely well at home and these extras on how the film was made are must-sees for fans of the genre.

4K ULTRA HD / BLU-RAY / DVD / DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE:

Against Impossible Odds: Making Moonfall Filmmakers and actors offer an insider’s view of the genesis of the film, a look at the epic action scenes, and a deep dive into the most groundbreaking moments of the film.
Exploring the Moon: Past, Present, and Future What have we learned about the Moon through the ages and where is human exploration of our nearest celestial neighbor going next? Scientists, historians and astronauts reveal all!
KC Houseman Speaks the Truth! Unearth recent viral videos from Megastructurist KC Houseman.
Sounds of the Moon Discover how the filmmakers utilized a palette of unique sound effects to bring the world inside of the Moon to life.

POWER OF GRAYSKULL: THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – Review

Review by Mark Longden

If you’re a generation X kid (mid 30s to late 40s?) you will have encountered He-Man at some point. Whether it was the ubiquitous TV show or the even more ubiquitous figures, he was everywhere in the 80s. I loved the TV show, but was never a big toy guy, so it’s been interesting in recent years to listen to friends of mine who became collectors, talking about the various directions of the toys and TV shows over the years.

That’s why I was really pleased to discover the existence of this documentary, made by Randall Lobb and Robert McCallum, who’ve also made a bunch of other nerdy documentaries (about Nintendo games, and computer game box art, and, er, the Lingerie Football League). Can it keep the interest of an at-best distant fan such as I?

Before I start: if I suddenly sound a lot smarter, that’ll be thanks to the input of my friend Alex, a lifelong fan of He-Man, a former moderator on the he-man.org boards and a very nice chap. He’s already seen the movie and helped me out a few times.

The 6 Million Dollar Man was something of a watershed in the toy industry, according to the Mattel executives and designers that were interviewed for this excellent documentary. This showed that a modern TV show could have a decent toy line attached to it, with quality figures and plenty of accessories. But I’d suggest the biggest thing (which the documentary also mentioned) was the removal of a law by President Reagan, which used to prevent toy companies from producing shows to advertise to children. The market, rather than Government, should decide what children watch – my opinion on which shall be left for if you’re next to me in a bar one evening. We’re talking He-Man!

Did you know that Mattel toys passed on Star Wars? They didn’t have the time to produce a line before Christmas and thought it would be a disaster, so off it went to another company (spoiler: it wasn’t a disaster).

Mattel decided they wanted a toy line which could appeal mostly to boys, a mixture of an ass-kicker and Sir Galahad. And here’s where things, naturally, get interesting. They interview a number of current and former Mattel executives and designers, who all give their take on the invention of the character – three of the most prominent are Mark Taylor, Mark Ellis and Paul Cleveland. One name who isn’t mentioned is Roger Sweet, who refused to take part unless he was given what he feels to be his just due as the creator of He-Man – he came up with the name, apparently, and made the pitch to Mattel’s top brass.

What it does, implicitly at first and then explicitly by the end, is show how some corporate creations can’t really be called the product of one person, but are the result of dozens of different creative decisions. I’m sure Roger Sweet had a hand in the creation of the character, but He-Man started as a vague rip-off of Conan, inspired by some doodles a Mattel designer was making. Battlecat (He-Man’s trusted steed) was invented because they’d run out of money for modelling so just borrowed a tiger from a different set, painted it green and put a saddle on it. The people who wrote the TV show came up with other ideas which are now part of the “canon”. And so on, and so on. A thousand hands have been on this, and it made a really entertaining whole.

The movie is roughly in three parts. First up is the origin, rise and fall of He-Man, from sketches and ideas to global phenomenon and back to nothing. Last up is the wilderness years, as they try new ideas, new designs and partner with indie toy companies to varying degrees of success (sadly, this documentary was made before the new “She-Ra” show, which is a big hit and would have made a nice capper to this long strange trip). When they talk about the original She-Ra, they’re also very honest about how it was almost impossible to make thanks to the misogyny of everyone at both the toy company and the TV studio.

The middle part, my favourite, discusses the TV show and especially the movie, and they succeeded and failed. Several famous sci-fi authors like Barbara Hambly and J. Michael Stracyzinski wrote for the show, and their tales are fascinating. But the movie gets interviews with Dolph Lundgren (He-Man), Frank Langella (Skeletor) and Anthony DeLonghis (Blade, plus, he was the swordfighting expert on set). Langella’s remarkably interesting, being honest about the diminishing scale of the production as budgetary problems happened, and also being generous about it, saying how much he wished it could have been better and how hard he tried to make his performance as good as possible. Really interesting stuff. A lot of both TV and movie were hampered in their storytelling by Mattel’s insistence on their being no deaths, so all Skeletor’s soldiers are robots, for example.

I think you’ll need at least a passing interest in He-Man to get something out of this, but if you do, you’ll have a great time with it. It’s lovingly made, different sides of every “debate” are aired, lots of fascinating information given, and lots of people interviewed with a fun story to tell. Absolutely worth paying a few $$$ for on the streaming service of your choice, or buying on DVD.

THE ORCHARD END MURDER (1981) – The DVD Review

Review by Roger Carpenter

So here is a rather unique little film. Put together as a short second feature for the monstrous 1981 hit Dead and Buried, The Orchard End Murder runs right at 50 minutes and, while greatly fictionalized, was based on an actual murder.

The story centers on a young woman, Pauline Cox (Tracy Hyde), who wanders off from her boyfriend’s cricket match to explore an apple orchard. She makes her way through the orchard into the yard of the railway gatekeeper who invites her in for tea. As she is enjoying the break from the heat, a huge mountain of a man—who happens to have a mind as small as his muscles are large—walks in. He works in the orchard and does odd jobs for the gatekeeper, himself a bit of a pariah because of his hunched back. As the tea break becomes more and more uncomfortable and Pauline grows more and more anxious, she takes leave from the gatekeeper’s house to make her way through the orchard and back to her boyfriend. However, she never makes it. Her boyfriend searches for her and eventually a manhunt is organized. No one seems to know who the murderer may be. Could it be the strange little hunchbacked gatekeeper who so desperately wanted Pauline to stay for tea? Or what about the dense giant of a man who actually kills a rabbit during afternoon tea? Could it be the boyfriend? After all, it’s a first date and Pauline has exhibited disinterest in him by wandering off during his cricket match. However, Pauline’s corpse is eventually discovered and the obsessive murderer exposes himself by his actions upon seeing the body of the woman in a shallow grave.

Writer/director Christian Marnham was relatively new to film, having only directed three documentary shorts before embarking upon The Orchard End Murder. However, he had many years’ experience in filming commercials and was very successful in that endeavor, working with numerous name filmmakers during his commercial days. So, though The Orchard End Murder represented a slight change of pace for him, his technical expertise allowed for him to be successful.

The Orchard End Murder is a very entertaining little film. Though I have been careful not to give away the murderer, viewers will know who did it shortly after the film begins, as Marnham isn’t as concerned with keeping the killer’s identity a mystery as he is depicting the aftermath of the murder, the search for the missing girl, and the capture of the killer. In a way, it is more police procedural than “whodunit.” But it also contains a bit of humor as well while also managing to stir up a bit of sympathy for the killer.

Overall, The Orchard End Murder is an entertaining film with not just an interesting plot but also an interesting story about how the short feature came to be. Kino Lorber has again teamed up with Britain’s Redemption video label to release this unique short feature. The Blu-Ray comes with three lovely interviews with director Marnham, actress Tracy Hyde, and actor David Wilkinson. They all have very interesting stories to tell about their careers and of The Orchard End Murder in particular. Also included is Marnham’s documentary short (25 mins.) called The Showman, about Wally Shufflebottom, an old-school carny who even as late as the 1970’s was working at a local carnival using a knife-throwing routine with the help of fully nude models. It’s a quirky and entertaining short that sheds light on a dying breed of showman as well as on a form of entertainment that has, unfortunately, gone the way of drive-in movie theaters. Lastly, there is a short commentary by Marnham about filming The Showman.

Though the main feature is short, the interviews and additional documentary more than make up for this. The entire package is an entertaining curiosity from yesteryear guaranteed to keep your attention, and well worth a look. The film can be purchased directly through Kino Lorber at kinolorber.com or through Amazon.

A GIRL – The DVD Review

Review by Roger Carpenter

Nigel Wingrove, founder of Salvation Films and the UK Redemption Video label, was the first person to give serious video releases of films by oft-banned Euro-horror filmmakers such as Jess Franco and Jean Rollin. He also produced some magnificently blasphemous nunsploitation. He is still the only filmmaker to have a film banned in Britain purely on the grounds of blasphemy. Always one to stretch the boundaries of filmmaking as well as good taste, Wingrove then founded The Satanic Sluts, a cadre of goth chicks who were photographed, filmed, and did live performance art that was so atrocious they were banned from many British clubs. The whole thing blew up when Russell Brand, who was having a fling with one of the Sluts, found out she was the granddaughter of Andrew Sachs, a very famous and beloved British character actor. Brand made a prank phone call to Sachs for his radio show and exposed his granddaughter as one of the Satanic Sluts in a public humiliation scandal the likes of which have not been seen in America.

Well, the Satanic Sluts Version 2.0 is back, but this time Wingrove has shifted to production duties while Simon Black has moved to the directing chair. This new batch of Sluts features a pretty, diminutive, raven-haired and body-pierced Hannah Short. While I never saw any of the original set of films, my understanding is they were simply a collection of glossy striptease, gyrations, and softcore sex aimed at a youthful audience who enjoyed alternative women. But this second edition of Satanic Sluts ups the ante. A Girl, as the summary on the DVD case states, features Short in “a number of disturbing and erotically charged scenes…to challenge and arouse the viewer in equal measure.”

Short stars—and, aside from a brief scene with a neighbor, is the only person in the film—as Pearl, a recluse who leads an outwardly normal life (though no one would think she is normal wearing the outfits she wears throughout the film) but struggles with depression, loneliness, her own sexuality, and especially a voice on the radio who she thinks is Jesus. The film runs as a series of surreal and oft-times incoherent vignettes as radio Jesus tussles with Pearl’s mind, sometimes when she is awake and sometimes in her dreams. Pearl’s reaction to these religious ramblings is pretty strong and features very graphic nudity as well as the use of a raw chicken in what would certainly fall into the “disturbing” category rather than the “erotically-charged” category—or, at least I hope so….

At 75 minutes, the film feels longer. Many scenes are interminable, including the opening scene as Pearl sits in a chair and watches her laundry spin in the dryer. Another long scene is one in which Pearl’s neighbor comes by for a chat and the two sit facing each other and have what I found to be a meaningless conversation. It doesn’t help that the (minimal) dialogue is difficult to hear and there are no subtitle offerings, so I’m sure I missed some of the message that could have helped me derive some additional meaning from the film. It’s important to note other critics on the web have praised the film for these same scenes. And, of course, everyone has different tastes, but I found very little of Short’s nude antics erotically charged. Disturbing, yes. Boring, unfortunately, yes.

Ultimately, the verdict may still be out on this latest Satanic Slut offering. I wasn’t terribly impressed, though others have been, by the film. But if you enjoy surreal films and are open-minded enough to want to try an alternative to the latest Hollywood drivel and don’t mind a few truly disturbing images, I would encourage you to try A Girl.

Kino Lorber has just released the film on DVD. It can be purchased directly through Kino Lorber at kinolorber.com or through Amazon.

FROM CALIGARI TO HITLER: GERMAN CINEMA IN THE AGE OF THE MASSES (2014) – The DVD Review

Review by Roger Carpenter

Germany’s Weimar Republic era roughly coincided with America’s Roaring Twenties period. Beginning shortly after the end of WWI, spanning the decade of the 1920’s, and extending into the early 1930’s Germany’s Weimar era was one of prosperity, decadence, and escapism. And just as American’s prosperous, libidinous decade would end in tragedy with Black Friday’s stock market crash and the beginning of The Great Depression, the Germans would see a tragedy of even more monumental proportions with the rise of Hitler and Nazism which would bring a screeching halt to the Weimar ideology.

The development of early German cinema corresponded with the Weimar era. With the return from the war of men who would pioneer German cinema, the decade is perhaps arguably the most creative and innovative in the history of world cinema. 1920’s German films are essentially synonymous with expressionism and the series of darkly horrific films made by some of the greatest directors associated with early cinema. Outside of Germany, however, most people are unfamiliar with the hodgepodge of film genres developed and popularized during this time, with expressionism representing only a minor role in German cinema of the time. There were the so-called “asphalt” films which addressed contemporary problems post-war German society was dealing with such as inflation and the deterioration of the middle class as exemplified by the films of director G.W. Pabst; highly patriotic films about Prussian history which idolized leaders such as Frederick the Great; kammerspiel, or “chamber dramas,” which focused on middle- and lower-class people embroiled in melodramas; and bergfilm, or nature films, which tended to focus on the “man vs. nature” theme and included several very popular mountain films that dramatized mountain climbers tackling difficult peaks. There were even a series of films—part of the “asphalt” group—which tackled subjects that heretofore had remained taboo: Diary of a Lost Girl, about a young woman who gives birth out of wedlock and is forced into prostitution to save her family; Ritual Murder, which addresses anti-Semitism and forbidden love between a Jewish girl and a young Russian man, and Different from the Others, a film about homosexuality—the first German film to directly address the subject head-on and possibly the first film in history to address the subject. But of all these extremely popular genres none was perhaps as affecting as the expressionist movement. Beginning with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in 1920 and spanning some of the greatest fantasy films of all time, with titles such as The Golem, Nosferatu, Faust, Metropolis, and M, a good many of these films portrayed a fiendish, yet charismatic, villainous anti-hero as the main protagonist. In 1947, Siegfried Kracauer, in his book entitled From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film, proposed some polarizing ideas regarding these early films. The study is considered a groundbreaking treatise on German film and one of the most important books on the subject.

In it, Kracauer proposes that The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is an allegory for the Weimar era with Caligari himself being a political tyrant and the end result inevitably being a world of chaos as represented by the highly expressionist sets for the film. Kracauer goes on to connect the dots with many of the greatest villains of early German cinema—the Golem, Nosferatu, Faust, Frederson and Moloch, Beckert, and Mabuse—and to propose a connection between these films and the rise of Nazism. These theories remain highly controversial even today, with various writers disparaging Kracauer for making conclusions either with incomplete evidence or making conclusions without doing proper research (though his early career was as a film critic he had not seen many of the films in question for a number of decades).

And herein lies one of the problems with this documentary feature: this reviewer had to do extra research to find out about these controversies—indeed, even discovering there was controversy at all. Director Rudiger Suchsland presents the material in such a way to impress upon the viewer the finality of the idea without addressing any alternatives. While a good documentary aims to educate as well as to entertain, I would argue a good documentary provides a balanced commentary. It was only my curiosity which allowed me to unearth opposing viewpoints, some of which are rather obvious. For instance, it is well-known and on record that Caligari writers Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer wrote their story in an effort to come to terms with their negative feelings upon returning from WWI. One can interpret the twisted sets of Caligari as the pain these men felt as pacifists forced into the brutality of war with Caligari being the militaristic government. Of course, there are other interpretations and criticisms as well. And while I do not dismiss Kracauer’s own interpretation—in fact, I find it very credible with the hindsight of 70 years of historical interpretations at my disposal—I wish the film might have addressed some alternatives to Kracauer’s vision. Instead, Kracauer is placed upon a pedestal of reverence, his ideas presented as the only interpretation. Not the only plausible interpretation; the only interpretation.

I think of myself as a cinephile. I am well-read on film theory, having devoured many textbooks on the subject. I enjoy audio commentaries—even the ones which are overly academic and are read by film historians from prepared notes. I’m not saying I know everything about film. I’m simply saying that I love film, even from an academic standpoint. That said, even I found the film to be overly dry and academic.

To be sure, there are strong points as well. Suchsland uses clips from many classic silent german films—and a few early talkies as well—to illustrate his points, along with interviews with filmmakers the likes of Fritz Lang. And Kracauer’s original thesis is fascinating by itself. In the end, one’s interest in film history and theory will help to inform the viewer whether to give this disc a try. It’s worth viewing if one is patient and understands only a single viewpoint is being presented.

The DVD has just been released by Kino Lorber and can be purchased directly through Kino-Lorber at kinolorber.com or through Amazon.

WILD ZERO (1999) – The DVD Review

What’s your favorite Japanese punk rock, alien invasion, zombie apocalypse, transgender romance, biker, musical comedy movie?

I know, that’s a hell of a mash up right? There is such a movie, it’s called WILD ZERO and it is terrific. If you think you’ve seen everything you’ve got to take a look at this insane movie.

WILD ZERO (1999) was put together as a vehicle for Guitar Wolf a Japanese Punk Rock heavy metal trio that has been playing and recording for years. They are a sort of ramped-up Japanese version of the Ramones, who play even faster and louder than that legendary band, if you can believe it. Like the Ramones they all dress alike; black leather pants, boots and jackets. Supposedly they don’t take illegal drugs but they do drink, a lot, and they sweat, profusely, on stage and off.

According to the special features on this dvd Guitar Wolf is not that popular in Japan, their fan base is mostly in Australia which makes perfect sense If ever there was a band that gave a good excuse to get drunk and start a fight, this is it.

The story? Guitar Wolf has a serious fan, calls himself Ace, (Masashi Endo) dresses and combs his hair like an American rockabilly star, rides a motorcycle (so do the members of Guitar Wolf), is youthful innocence personified and has a crush on a young girl named Tobio (Kwancharu Shitichai, who turns out not be a girl) Because he sticks up for Tobio to a scum bag Rock music promoter (is there any other kind) Guitar Wolf gives Ace a special whistle, to use anytime he needs help and the band members will come running.

Turns out he needs help right away. Alien flying saucers are swarming all around our planet you see. And the dead are coming out of their graves and attacking and eating the living. And there is a crew of career criminals, including a kick ass woman shooter who will take crap from no body, who are wreaking havoc all over the Japanese back roads.

Why are the dead coming back to start a zombie apocalypse? Who knows, it is never explained if the aliens are making it happen (ala Plan Nine From Outer space, “ah yes, the resurrection of the dead”) or if the alien invasion is a separate incident and the dead came to this decision on their own. No matter, all manner of mayhem and carnage erupt and Ace, Tobio, Guitar Wolf and the law breaking crew take care of business.

This is the kind of movie that could only be made in Japan. They obviously did not have much of a budget, the flying saucers are very simple CGI effects. The zombie makeup is (mostly) green skin cream and latex scars, the kind you can get in any Halloween store.

But WILD ZERO has so much energy, good will and imagination it is irresistible. All the motorcycles and cars belch flames from their exhaust pipes. All the actors are obviously having fun and the best part, the band kicks ass. Any band with lyrics like “I was born at Haneda Airport with a jet engine for an ass, all my life has been Go! Go! Go!, Jet Generation!! “ And “Blood, blood, blood! Blood and alcohol burning up my brain!” Repeat these phrases for 5 minutes, with your guitar amp set at 11 and you have a Guitar Wolf song.

For Halloween you can’t do much better than WILD ZERO. And remember, “Rock and Roll has no boundaries! “

BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE (1952) – DVD Review

Another summer movie season and another Pirates of the Caribbean movie. What? You didn’t know there was yet another in the franchise that wore out its welcome a long time ago? Yes, Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales came and went awfully fast this summer, never a good sign. It played in St. Petersburg for about a week and then vanished. Did anybody see it? I didn’t and I’ve seen a lot of movies this summer. In a summer of Wonder Woman and Dunkirk, as well as Baby Driver, Logan Lucky and Detroit it would be very easy for another Pirates of the Caribbean movie to get lost in the shuffle.

So let’s talk about a real pirate movie, from 1952 Blackbeard the Pirate, directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Robert Newton, Linda Darnell, William Bendix, and Keith Andes. Newton is to pirate movies what Bela Lugosi was to vampires, and Count Dracula in particular. As many have observed if anyone plays Count Dracula they cannot work their way around Lugosi. The actor either follows Bela’s lead or they work against him, you can’t ignore who was there first, the same with Boris Karloff and the Frankenstein Monster. So it goes with Robert Newton and pirate captains, especially Long John Silver as played by him in Disney’s version of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and a made in Australia sequel, the Return of Long John silver and a syndicated tv show.

Here in Blackbeard the Pirate we get Newton’s Pirate Captain full strength, walking on both legs and bizarre mannerisms at full throttle. There is a phrase used to describe over the top acting “chewing the scenery.” Newton not only chewed up the scenery he digested it and excreted it. Any scenes in Blackbeard falter and die if he is not on screen.

In one great scene Blackbeard willingly lets one of his own crew be shot in order to cause Maynard to fire his one round in a flintlock pistol.

The plot? Some nonsense about Morgan the Pirate (Torin Thatcher of 7th voyage of Sinbad) being reformed and yet another pirate, Maynard (Keith Andes of nothing in particular) going under cover to prove Morgan is not reformed. And of course Maynard gets mixed up with Blackbeard and Edwina Mansfield (Linda Darnell of A Letter to three Wives) who turns out to be Morgan’s daughter.

Quite frankly the double crosses and back stabbings come so thick and fast Blackbeard can be very confusing. No matter, with Newton in charge Blackbeard is a lot of fun. Especially so with the number of great character actors on board. William Bendix, Hollywood’s all purpose ethnic working guy, plays the dumbest pirate ever captured on film. Skelton Knaggs, Hollywood’s all purpose creep, plays one of Blackbeard’s crew who is on Maynard‘s side, determined to see Blackbeard put to rest.

Irene Ryan (Granny Clampett of The Beverly Hillbillies) plays Linda Darnell’s lady in waiting and has a great scene with Blackbeard. In discussing Lady Edwina’s hygiene Blackbeard exclaims “You mean she gets wet all over? On purpose?” Blackbeard, of course never having seen a bar of soap in his life.

Alan Mowbray, Richard Egan and Dick Wessell are also on board making for one crowded pirate vessel. I wouldn’t be giving too much away to say things don’t end well for Blackbeard and this movie must have been seen by George Romero. Blackbeard’s end is identical to one of the stories in Creepshow.

Almost all of the ship’s are miniatures and there is not much action, even though the great Raoul Walsh directed. Blackbeard is more concerned with intrigue than sword fights.

Blackbeard appears to be in public domain. Westgate’s dvd looks as if it were transferred direct from a vhs tape with drop outs, wrinkles and other visible signs of wear. Still watchable and with the only extra a “photo gallery” made up of screen captures.

GOODBYE CHARLIE – 1964 DVD Review and Tribute to Debbie Reynolds

It was a serious sucker punch to all film fans when we lost Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds within a day of each other. There have been many tributes to Carrie Fisher and rightfully so. I have not seen that many for Debbie Reynolds so I would like to pay her tribute by reviewing one of her lost gems of a movie, GOODBYE CHARLIE from 1964, based on a play by George Axelrod and directed by Vincent Minnelli.

I can recall seeing this on a network movie night in the late 60s or early 70s, I remember liking it but seeing it again after this many years I was astonished at how funny it really is, and how touching.

The setup is simple, Charlie Sorrell is a writer, sometime screen writer and notorious womanizer. At a Hollywood party on a yacht he is shot by a jealous husband (Walter Matthau in an early role and in rare form indeed!) Charlie, by whatever means, immediately comes back as a beautiful young woman, Debbie Reynolds. This causes all sorts of consternation for Charlie’s best friend, George Tracy (Tony Curtis) who has come back to California from his home in Paris to deliver Charlie’s eulogy at his sparsely attended wake. George is also a writer and the story makes it plain these two have done a lot of carousing around and womanizing, together and on their own.

GOODBYE CHARLIE shows its origin as a stage play through most of its running time, a lot of the movie takes place on one set, Charlie’s beach house high above the ocean.

I had not seen Goodbye Charlie in many years and was astonished at how funny it really is. I laughed out loud for most of its running time. It is a great showcase for the versatile talents of Debbie Reynolds, she is hysterical and totally believable as a man stuck in a woman’s body. Her male mannerisms are spot on. We never, ever lose track of the concept that all her dialog is being spoken by a man and Charlie’s learning how to be, and enjoying becoming a woman is precious. She is more than matched by Tony Curtis, who knew a bit about gender bending himself having just been in Billy Wilder’s landmark transvestite comedy Some Like It Hot. His reactions, especially when he is finally convinced that the beautiful young woman who ended up at Charlie Sorrell’s house, is in fact Charlie him/her self is priceless.

Priceless too is the moment when Charlie asks George to “come here and look at this!” and (off camera, in the bathroom) shows George some of her/his “female attributes.” The fact that this is DEBBIE REYNOLDS, second only to Doris Day in being a wholesome, girl next door kind of actress, inviting Tony Curtis to “come here and look at these!” Wonderful! Charlie comes out of the bathroom, buttoning up “her” blouse, takes a long look at herself in the mirror and states “now I don’t have to go to see Bridget Bardot movies anymore, I can just draw the blinds and take a look in the mirror!”

And it gets funnier from there, Charlie comes to actually enjoy being a woman but finds out very quickly the kind of bullshit women have to put up with. I would say GOODBYE CHARLIE was ahead of the curve on being a feminist movie but Charlie herself has a lot of misogynist comments to make before it’s all over.

You expect good work from both Debbie Reynolds and Tony Curtis but Pat Boone, (of all people!) is also hysterical. He steals every scene he’s in as a rich, spoiled Mama’s boy who immediately has a crush on Charlie. And the movie does more than hint that his character is probably gay, that he is responding more to the man inside Charlie than the woman outside.

We all start out female, in the womb every fetus starts as female and in the third trimester the change will occur that creates a male. Sometimes that process is not finished and thus many people are transgendered. So inside every man, no matter how manly or macho, is a girl trying to get out. Seriously, I’m man enough to admit to my inner girl, her name is Melissa, she likes to jump rope, have tea with her dollies and brush the cat and dog. But if you cross her she’ll burn down your house, more than a bit of Rhoda Penmark (The Bad Seed) in there too! So there are many men who feel their woman trapped inside. Rarely do women feel they have a man trapped inside. And that is the beauty and humor of GOODBYE CHARLIE .

It is a hoot to see Charlie, (again this is Debbie Reynolds!) going to a spa to have her hair and nails done and eyeballing every woman in the place. Pat Boone offers to marry Charlie and presents her with a ring with a diamond the size of the Waldorf. Her reaction is hysterical, touching and sad all at once.

And the ending comes perilously close to very bad taste. The jealous husband (Walter Matthau) who shot Charlie in the first place now has his own crush on Charlie, gets her alone and forces his intentions on her in what can only be described as date rape. Charlie even screams, “This can’t be happening to ME!”

The movie then boxes itself into a corner, but finds a way to bring back both Charlie and Debbie Reynolds, just not in the same body. As a tribute to Debbie Reynolds, and a memorial, you can’t get much better than Goodbye Charlie.

The dvd is a burn on demand dvd-r so there are no extra features, the movie is not even letterboxed but pan and scanned. It is still worth seeing. And this was a rare case of a remake being as good, maybe better, than the original. Blake Edwards Switch from 1991 with Ellen Barkin pushes the envelope much further than Goodbye Charlie ever could. Ellen Barkin (as Roger Ebert pointed out in his review) has always had a mannish look and is one hell of a strong actress. Her man trapped in a woman’s body is even more believable and gets to do things Debbie Reynolds probably wouldn’t dream of. But that is another story.

Debbie Reynolds was a class act. In a career spanning interview she gave to Scarlet Street magazine a few years ago she bore no ill will towards a Hollywood film business that kicked her to the curb when she passed a certain age. She simply reinvented herself as a Las Vegas entertainer and never had a bad word to say about anybody. She was rightfully proud of her entire resume, still astonished that she was picked to star with Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor in the landmark musical Singing In The Rain. She was proud of her work in What’s The Matter With Helen a movie some actors would dismiss as a cheap horror movie. And she spent a lot of her own money and time buying props and costumes from Hollywood movies that would have otherwise ended up in the trash. She had a collection of mainstream movie memorabilia to equal the fantasy collections of Bob Burns or Forrest Ackerman. She was a class act, she and her daughter Carrie Fisher will be missed, any of her movies are worth watching, but GOODBYE CHARLIE is something special.

JACK THE BEAR – The DVD Review

As part of my post duty orders here at We Are Movie Geeks it is my privilege to shine a light on movies that never quite found an audience, that may have slipped through the cracks. Movies that got very little or n o theatrical release, not much publicity or went straight to video (very common these days.) Such a movie is JACK THE BEAR . I can recall being vaguely aware of the movie when it was released in 1993, it did play in theaters but I don’t recall much advertising devoted to it. In that time frame I either was too busy or too broke to take in a movie, usually both.

In JACK THE BEAR we have sort of a male version of Mermaids. An all male family with an eccentric Father John Leary (Danny DeVito ) who keeps moving his family around the country. John makes his living as an entertainer, usually a circus or birthday clown. He has found a niche, sort of, being a late night horror show host, in Oakland, California, in the early 1970s. John’s wife died in a car accident, for which he blames himself, and like a lot of dysfunctional parents in movies, drinks too much. His oldest boy Jack (Robert J Steinmiller Jr) has learned to do a lot of the parenting for his young brother Dylan (Miko Hughes) due to John’s being absent either due to work or drinking. In their new neighborhood is a handicapped man Norman Strick (Gary Sinise) who lives with his parents, whom nobody in the neighborhood ever sees. We expect Norman to be presented sympathetically due to the kids in the area being afraid of him.No, he turns out not only to be prejudiced, but a straight up Nazi. This leads to confrontations with John and his kidnapping of Dylan leading to the Leary family pretty much imploding. The whole Nazi thing doesn’t really work. Based on a novel by Dan McCall (which I have not read) it may have worked better on the page than on the screen. However, there is much to enjoy here. DeVito is excellent (I have never seen him do less) he is always sincere and believable as a single parent carrying a heavy load of guilt but still being a very fun loving, and loving, Father to his two boys. His character’s work as a horror show is also believable. But here is where the movie actually strains credibility. Very few horror show hosts ever made a living on just that particular gig. Most local tv horror show hosts, in the 1970s and now, had other sources of income. I have interviewed both Jack Murdock who hosted Zone 2 in the St. Louis, Missouri market, playing a host named Cronos and the legendary Dr. Paul Bearer (Dick Benedict) who hosted horror movies in the Tampa, Florida market for years. Both of them told me exactly the same thing. Making commercials and doing supermarket openings and hosting beauty pageants was what paid the bills.

But I digress…not only is DeVito very good, the two kids, in fact all the child actors are good. Steinmiller is excellent at portraying the frustrations of not only entering the teen age years but also carrying a heavy load trying to deal with a Father who isn’t always there for him. And Miko Hughes is also excellent, seeming more like a real little kid than a child actor. He steals every scene he’s in and is heartbreaking on his first day at a new school, wanting both his Father (laid out drunk) and his Mother (deceased) and having to make do with his big brother trying his best to take care of him. This is where Jack The Bear really hits the right mark. A family just struggling to stay together after the death of a parent, my friends, I have been there and done that, I know what that is like.JACK THE BEAR really should be beloved in the hearts of monster kids everywhere. In John’s hosting duties we see clips from Them, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and other films. And, unlike in, say a Joe Dante movie, they are not just there as reference points. This is part of John Leary’s job. And yet I have never seen Jack the Bear mentioned in Scary Monsters, Rue Morgue, Famous Monsters or any other magazine aimed at the monster kid crowd. As a member in good standing of that crowd I loved this movie. We see a good bit of the nuts and bolts of putting together a local, apparently live, television program in the early 1970s. And the period details are spot on. The cars, clothes, haircuts, the AM radios, black and white tvs, lp records and the players, are all accurate. Some of the cars are even banged up, rusted and burning oil. Much like a lot of cars did in the 1970s, including some of them I drove. In fact the movie and looks and feels like a 1970s movie, a neat trick if you can pull it off. There is even a young Reese Witherspoon, having just been in Man in the Moon, playing Jack Leary’s first crush at his new school. Their “date”, having dinner made by Jack’s Father is a wonderful sequence, showing us how DeVito’s John Leary really is a very good man, despite his faults. And we fully expect John to start a relationship with his assistant Patty (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and that doesn’t happen. It’s always nice to see Julia Louis-Dreyfus although the movie doesn’t give her much to do.

The dinner scene is wonderful but even better is a long sequence set on Halloween night. Accurately recreating a time when Halloween was still owned by kids Jack the Bear, by rights, should be a Halloween perennial, much like the different versions of A Christmas Carol and other movies celebrating Christmas.

As I said, to my knowledge this movie never seemed to find an audience. I am glad I finally got a chance to see it. Fox’s DVD is presented full frame which is fine. The only extras are three different versions of the theatrical trailer. I hope it brightens up your Halloween season. I give it three out of four stars

FED UP – The DVD Review

I have an eating disorder. I have fought for years to try and keep my weight down. I am one of those people who have gained and lost the same 50 to 75 pounds so many times it is now very difficult to lose the weight at all. Yet I am determined to get my weight down to a healthy level and keep it there. I always thought I was doing something wrong, well obviously I have been, but I have had no help from the food industry in these United States. Along with recent documentaries about the unhealthy food we have available in our grocery stores and restaurants such as Food Inc, Super Size Me and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead you can, and should, see Fed Up, an infuriating look at the processed foods we all have access to in our grocery stores.

Fed Up is definitely one sided, but for reasons that are obvious. Doctors, nutritionists, health care advocates and others are more than willing to talk about what’s wrong with the food industry. Those who produce the food? Not so much, very few are willing to talk on camera about what they do. In the end credits we see that Coke, Pepsi, Schwanns, McDonalds, and many other food producers refused to be interviewed on camera.

Katie Couric narrates and admits from the start that this documentary began as a short news item on NBC, but the more the journalists at the network dug into the story the more alarming it became. A featured player is First Lady Michelle Obama who caught a lot of flak for suggesting that children in school should have healthy food to eat. What are kids fed now in school? McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King and lots of Coke and Pepsi. Easy to see how chronic and epidemic morbid obesity is taking over the citizens of our country. Like I said I have my own weight problem, I finally got down to just below 300 pounds, trust me, I have lost weight recently, but I need to lose a lot more. As recommended in Fed Up and in a diet plan put together by Dr. Joel Fuhrman I avoid processed foods as much as possible. I gave up drinking soda years ago, soda is one of the worst drinks you can have, no nutritional value and lots and lots of sugar. Juice is just as bad, juicing takes out every bit of nutrients you need from fruit or vegetables. You are better off eating one orange than drinking 6 gallons of orange juice.

I read Dr Fuhrman’s excellent book Eat to Live a few years ago. He is not included in this documentary but many Doctors, nutritionists, journalists other people concerned with the obesity problem in this country agree with him. The food we eat, most of the food in our grocery stores, is killing us. Obese children used to be rare, not any more. Childhood diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and heart attacks used to be nonexistent. No longer. In Fed Up we meet several children with obesity problems, one of them actually contemplates gastric bypass surgery, something that used to be unheard of, now commonplace.

Yes I have a weight problem but I am doing everything I can to correct that, after seeing Fed Up I started reading the ingredients on any processed foods I look at in a grocery store. As pointed out in Fed Up almost all processed foods have added sugar, a lot of added sugar. Under the slightest bit of pressure from the government food companies started reducing the fat content of their products. And as we hear in Fed Up, you take the fat out and food doesn’t taste like much of anything, so they started adding sugar, a lot, an awfully lot of sugar. Seriously this documentary will make you nauseous. Sugar is addictive, sugar is as much a legal drug and as addictive as tobacco, caffeine or alcohol, and about as healthy. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good doughnut and a cup of coffee as much as anybody. But my breakfast now is several pieces of citrus fruit, oranges or grapefruit, a couple of apples and whatever else is in season. Georgia peaches are good right now. Sometimes oatmeal and not the instant kind. I take my lunch to work while my co workers almost always get take out. While they have pizza or fried chicken or Chinese takeout I have raw vegetables, broccoli, carrots, celery, lettuce, tomatoes, steamed potatoes and beans or hummus. Sounds great right? Trust me, I would love to eat fried chicken or pizza every day for lunch, but that’s how I got to be over 300 pounds to begin with.

Eating vegetables every day I feel a lot better and that much fiber fills me up. After work I have a protein smoothie with some fruit and non dairy milk. I work in a call center; have been in call center customer service for well over 15 years, so like a great many Americans I have a sedentary job that is also stressful. But in addition to trying to eat right I go to a gym, I try to go at least twice a week, and take a yoga class, I walk as much as I can. And it’s still hard to lose weight, but I consider myself lucky, I have worked with a great many people who are so obese they have trouble getting out of a chair. I have watched some co workers take as long as 10 minutes to get out of a chair to take a 15 minute break.

Florida has a lot of people who have become so obese they are now on disability and ride around in the little electric carts that have taken the place of wheel chairs. All of this and so much more is touched on in Fed Up. This is one documentary that is infuriating. Any time there is any talk in the Government about regulating the food industry, especially in terms of school lunches, the corporate flacks come out of the woodwork to whine and snivel about “the nanny state!” And oddly enough I somewhat agree, I don’t want the government telling me what to eat, but it would be nice if the food companies at least had to label their products with the percentage of sugar added. Seriously, they don’t have to put the sugar percentage on the ingredients. You’ll see how many grams of sugar a product has, not the percentage! As someone wiser than me once said “Dude, that’s messed up!” It would also be nice if the food companies did not target and market to kids that are still in school. Comparisons are made with the fight to get tobacco labeled as the killer substance that it is. Big tobacco insisted for decades that their product was actually healthy despite all evidence to the contrary. The same thing with the processed foods industry. And as Fed Up points out, the obesity epidemic bodes ill for our country. Health care costs are already extremely high, the obese among us will always have health problems that are hard and expensive to treat. And who will be our first responders? Who will staff the military, police, emergency services?

Not long ago I tried working for a funeral home, transporting the dead. I picked up several people from hospitals and medical examiners offices who weighed well over 300 pounds, not an easy task. My coworkers told me they had to pick up a person who weighed almost 500 pounds, from a mobile home. They had to have help from firefighters, ambulance personnel and police to get that person loaded.

Fed Up is one documentary that needs to be seen by every person in this country, especially if they have children. The point is made that we would be outraged if our kids had unsafe water to drink, or if the air was poisoned in schools. Why should we not be outraged that instead of school lunches that are real food prepared by professional food service workers (cue Adam Sandler’s Lunch Lady song from Saturday Night Live!) kids are served lunch by McDonalds and Pizza Hut? I give Fed Up five out of five stars. If you see any people who fit this profile at WalMart or McDonalds please don’t be quick to judge, with the food that’s available in our grocery stores this can happen to anybody! Now I’m going to have some celery and an apple, I am out of here!

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