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davemth
Reviews
The Green Girl (2014)
Excellent Doc on little known actress
The one thing I ask from a good documentary is that it tells me something I don't already know about its subject. "The Green Girl" exceeds that in spades. It's a very well produced documentary on Susan Oliver, a staple of TV shows from the 60s who was an independent woman in every sense of the word. Her post-Hollywood career is full of amazing facts and deserves a movie all on its own. Filmmaker George Pappy does a great job in assembling Susan Oliver's life through the numerous film clips (which for a TV nostalgia nut is a can't miss opportunity all to itself) and interviews with the various actors and crew members she worked with over the years. I won't spoil anything but can only say that for baby boomers and even younger, if you're a Star Trek fan or just a fan of Hollywood in the 60's this film is well worth getting.
The Invisible (2007)
The Worst Film of the Year
This god awful disaster sat around for months...don't know if anyone remembers the original trailer or the original artwork, but the tag line said "How do you solve a murder if you're the victim"? Well, that's NOT what this film is, it's not a murder mystery so there's nothing to really "solve". However, the original trailer had a scene in it where the main character runs into another ghost who tells him he has a limited amount of time to solve his own murder and find out what happened to him, otherwise he's toast. That may have made a better movie but oh my god....was this thing ever awful. It's a perfect movie for MSTK3 if that were still around. It's laughably bad. For starters how does a midget girl throw around guys much bigger than her...and she has a handy gang at her disposal...what is she, the teen-aged Ma Barker? And the lead guy...jeez, could he whine more? This movie followed every cliché and on top of it all it had a lousy soundtrack full of mopey depressing songs. Hopefully The Invisible will live up or down to its namesake and disappear forever.
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Great Black Comedy
This movie is more of a black comedy than a horror film though it does have its standard "horror" elements.
I had the privilege of meeting Dan O'Bannon years ago; he was a bit of a gruff but lovable type, and he was very proud of ROTLD.
On another note, I worked with James Karen on a short film a few years after the film came out and he, too, was fond of the film. The scenes between him, Clu Gulager and Thom Matthews are really sharp and funny.
This movie was years ahead of its time in the way it played with and defied its own genre rules. It was much funnier than any of the Scream movies, and scarier, too.
The only other film that ranks with this film is Re-Animator.