Sunday, September 20, 2009

THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (1964)

Teenager Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve) is in love with a local boy, Guy, who works at a mechanic's shop. Neither have any money, but they are madly in love and want to get married. Genevieve's mom understands how hot Genevieve is and won't let her meal ticket hook up with just any ol' guy.  He's got to be rich! I think you can see where this is going.

The story isn't that original, but what's remarkable about this film is the music.  Every single word is sang.  The music is very energetic and jazzy.  The colours explode off the screen and Catherine Deneuve is absolutely radiant.  Maybe the prettiest she's ever been...and that's saying something!

Incredible cinematography, bright colors everywhere, sad but realistic views on relationships, great songs and Catherine Deneuve looking so young and pure...hard to believe she was stabbing people just a year later in REPULSIONHighly recommended. One of my favorite musical of all time.  My only complaint is I wish the final moments of the last scene were spoken. Highly recommended.

Monday, September 14, 2009

TURBULENCE 3: HEAVY METAL (2001)

[Update 12/27/2020: Going to watch this entire series and then fix this review.]
 
A 12th-rate Marilyn Manson impersonator is going to perform his unique brand of shit rock on a airplane for some of his ugliest fans and also live on the internet. After the first few (horrible) songs the lead singer dude goes to the restroom (possibly to take a giant dump) and is knocked out and replaced by a Satanist that is hellbent on taking over the plane and wrecking it into a small church in Kansas because he believes that that will bring on the Antichrist.

Back on earth, an FBI agent just happens to arrest a hacker at the exact moment he gains access to the rock guy's website video feed, so together, they figure out that the plane is under terrorist control and then they contact (via more hacking) the real rock star and talk him into being Harrison Ford from AIR FORCE ONE.  Here's a classic line from the movie: "Let me get this straight, Kate: you want the hacker you went to arrest to virtually guide the rock star through the plane so that he can overpower the armed, Satanic hijackers?" Honestly, I need to quit my job and start writing movie scripts. Cuz there's no way, no way that I would write anything worst than that!

The whole thing is just so ridiculous and full of holes that you can't help but just laugh your ass off. I watched this with some friends and we laughed and giggled like fucking idiots. But I can only image that watching it alone would be torture. 
 
Part 1 - Turbulence (1997) 
Part 2 - Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying (1999)
 
What a hacker might look like.

What a rock concert might look like.

What a dork might look like.

What a...what the fuck is that?!!

Friday, September 11, 2009

ANATOMY (2000)

"It's kind of fun to sit around and talk about dick sizes in public."
 
A young woman (Franka Potente of RUN LOLA RUN fame) is smart enough to get accepted into one of the most prestigious medical schools in Germany, but not smart enough to recognize there's a murderous (not so) secret society, the Anti-Hippocratic Society (A.A.A.), going around killing people.  And not just some random students on the other side of the school, but people in her main Anatomy class and even her roommate!
 
I enjoyed the basic story idea of ANATOMY, but the entire film is just so light-hearted and downright silly that there is absolutely no way a hardened horror fan could ever take this film seriously.  It's better just to sit back then admire and giggle at how dumb everything is.  I mean there's a Fatboy Slim "Praise You" montage scene for fuck's sake!
 
Okay pace, absolutely ridiculous story, very little blood, the biggest door opening that I've ever seen on a public bus, nobody sexy at all to look at, hilariously bad dialogue, a Final Girl who puts herself into danger multiple times, boring killers, disappointing ending.  Not a bad film, but in no way can it be looked at as a serious horror film.  Watch it for a laugh. 

Part 2 - Anatomy 2 (2003)