pylgrym Reviews

Unknown Island (1948)

John and Carole and Ted and Allos-aurus

[8/10 · 8 December 2009]

(Get it? Adult noir on a Kiddie Saturday afternoon)... Some of the lines from this true classic (a product of its time and place)bear repeating for any who question whether or not they should watch it with a young boy: "Men have been killed before in 'the interest of science'." ' "Cordite Shells..." ' "Grenades? We could use field artillery and still not be sure..." ' "I think I'll go for a little walk..." - "I don't think that's such a good idea..." ' And finally a line from captain Tarnowski - the great supporting heavy, Barton McLaine: "After all, there's some MEN going along..." ' "I want to hear you when you start screaming!" ' The FX Technician, Ellis Burman, fathered TWO namesakes who are both fine achievers in their own right. See their profiles and involvements here at IMDb. The grenades in this movie are launched by the M-1 Garand grenade launching attachment and are novel to watch. There is at least one very good crane tracking shot on a dinosaur track. ' And finally, see the film for the fine work of the Howard A. Anderson Co. - process shot-masters extra-ordinaire! They also did "Target: Earth!" which, as we learn from another fine poster here, also stars Denning and Grey! YAY! I plan to watch them as a double feature with my 6 and 7-year old grandsons, as soon as they attain those ages . . . .

The Beautiful Country (2004)

How I Won My War

[10/10 · 6 November 2007]

It was my privilege to see this movie at the Plaza Theater in Atlanta on a Saturday afternoon with about 150 Vietnamese: grandparents, parents, and kids obviously "made in the U.S.A." . . it was even a greater privilege to be allowed to sit next to a typical third grader who's command of English is far better than his understanding of the parlance of the Old Country. His folks and grandparents, uncles, etc. were all around us, but allowed the lad to ask me questions during the movie while giving his family leisure to thoroughly enjoy it. I whispered my replies as plainly as I could, given the situation, and as we walked out of the show he wished me well and genuinely thanked me (with a little familial prodding).... My situation is that I am a Vietnam veteran whose reckless, existential behavior in 1971 may well have resulted in a son or daughter, as another reviewer, ''huckfinn'', above.... Amazingly, the LORD saw fit in His grace and mercy to save me in 1973, and off and on I cast about for a way to make peace with that part of my sordid past.... well, after I had been married for almost four years, Dung Tanh Phu came into my life, a blessing from World Vision. "Young", as we called him, born just after I left The Nam, had had no little difficulty arriving to America as one of the Boat people. His aunt, Mui and he were the only ones of his family to escape in 1979. So traumatized was Young that he was a problem child in his first, foster home. When we received him (in the name of Christ), he was tubercular. The wife put him on macrobiotics for six months and amazed the folks at the St. Louis County Health Department. We kept him for three formative years and turned him back over to his aunt in somewhat less than delightful circumstances, but that's a longer story.... I won my war by having such wonderful opportunities given to me for ministry to the wonderful Vietnamese and may yet win another of my wars - if God wills - but three's a story yet to be written... suffice it to say that I dearly loved my experience of this film, and hope to share it with my grown children someday. Blessings!

Across the Universe (2007)

Say, were YOU There?

[8/10 · 28 October 2007]

Say, were you there? were you born in the fifties? did you go to Vietnam, see Yellow Submarine on the Big Screen? Do you remember your first hit of acid/ your first maryjane rush to the tunes on Revolver or even performing with your theater cast party the entire SGT Peppers album? Why even try to comment on something you know nothing about? Did you listen to the White Album in the fall of 1968 on a dorm turntable set to 'endless replay'? memorize the Lyrics to "Glass Onion"? well, I suppose everyone is entitled to an opinion. i was afraid to see this with anyone else, for fear my reactions would embarrass them.. yes, i was in NYC in the summer of 1970, still mourning the breakup, visiting a friend and fellow fan who would be dead of AIDS less than 20 years later; too, I was in Boulder, CO that fateful summer, and Berkely, CA - saying goodbye and farewell as I prepared my heart for the united States Army. See, we all went to "Let It be" and we all went out on the barricades on campus and we mourned the deaths at Kent and Jackson State, as we had the deaths of MLK and RFK the year we graduated... It is so easy for me to fall into this movie. I had never seen ms Wood in a film, and she so reminds me of old girlfriends! I dropped out of college, wasted an academic, Big ten scholarship and in an existential rage went to Vietnam as an infantryman. Good dope and live ammo. 1971 was a nightmare. I survived horrors beyond imagining only by the grace of god Almighty - whom i could have cared less about in 1968..... so see this as homage, as eulogy, as tribute to an era long gone and blessedly dead, but bear with us dinosaurs and sixties survivors who need the catharsis still, the weeping that endures for a couple of harmless hours... could I take my wife, kids, grandkids to see this? the movie PLATOON? not either of them - not hardly. but for those of you born after 1958, my heart's desire is that you honor the memories of your older siblings, parents, relatives and friends, and cut us the slack we so dearly need.

Fixed Bayonets! (1951)

NEW for the DVD!!!

[9/10 · 7 May 2007]

Here is the OTHER of Sam Fuller's classic Korean War films - the other is "The Steel Helmet", arguably the better of the two - which now thanks to the miracle of DVD will get the wider audience, I pray, which it so richly deserves. The AMAZON site, of course, for this masterpiece has some nice comments, too, and you can get the DVD there at a good price. I recommend this one as the other one to veterans of combat infantry units, who aren't stuck in the "puppets and stew-meat" mentality of the puerile Steven Spielberg, who tries to blend "Combat!" TV episodes with Tom Savini makeup effects in "Saving PVT Ryan". RFuller's depth of characterization and his shades of meaning in his magnificent closeups are just a ten thousand yard stare better than 99% of the stuff that passes for 'war' movies. So, pretend you are a ten-year old boy, get Fuller's Korean War movies, and prepare to be shocked.

Apocalypto (2006)

Providence Rules!

[9/10 · 8 December 2006]

WOW. As a Bible-believing, born-again, fundamentalist, Vietnam and Desert Storm veteran who voted for John Kerry, I found this movie a royal freak-out! It's Mel's movie and he 'drama' well does what he pleases! I did not see "The Passion", as I am not of Mr. Gibson's persuasion that the person of God may be represented - but This....

Not coincidentally, but providentially (yes, I am a Calvinist too), I was studying the doctrine of Divine Providence during Thanksgiving week and it astounds me that Mr. Gibson has crafted a cinematic wonder right up there with Cornel Wilde's "The Naked Prey". Providence means that God not only made the world, but He controls every aspect of it - right down to the hairs on your head. God's attributes of holiness, wisdom and power are seen in His dealings with men and creatures. It is a great comfort to me to know that in every circumstance my Heavenly Father is working purposefully to accomplish His will. Throughout history (HIS story) it is clear that there is a tremendous plan at work. The screenplay of "Apocalypto"with it's attendant imagery justifies the Almighty. It drives right along with inexorable fury, fierceness, humor, horror, tenderness, disgust, and sheer wonder. I loved the ultimate irony of the ending; as we fast-forward to today, we see quite clearly that Mr. Gibson's religion has done next to nothing to advance the poor folks south of the Rio Grande. Why do they all want to come here? Providentially, it's a religious thing! Good thing that God controls even the most minute details of His creation. The pit by the village, for example, is a cistern. The weather has been dry in our story. The rains prayed against by the protagonist, Jaguar Paw, came anyway but saved his wife and children. That Mr. Gibson used his art and craft and some very talented people to bring his vision to life on the Big Screen in such minute, incredible detail is commendable. It is all part of the Divine Plan: a movie about the past for today with eternal consquences.

' I just thought of a story that has not yet been told on film - at least not fully treated with the care it deserves. Perhaps the subject matter again is too violent, too horrific, to un-PC to have been done before... Mr. Gibson, will you please consider doing your version of the Bible story of Elijah the prophet? This is not my idea; you are welcome to it!

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

"A Film for Two, Who Are Now of Film Age...."

[8/10 · 23 February 2006]

I paraphrase DIM the new policeman from the film Pauline Kael found >Cold and repellent<: >A CLOCKWORK ORANGE<.... her review is here....http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0051.html .... if you cut and paste or just Google it; but the best I have read deals with this Stanley's swan song-marvel in some detail, here:....http://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/revicontent_102.htm . . . (I just LOVE reviewer Tim Kreider's sad comic strip - thepaincomics dot com.) In light of the ironies subsequent to the film's release (Kubrick drops dead - foul play of business for the superrich as usual?) and the disintegration of "The Two" (My summary title), and Nicole's subsequent work for Pollack in "The Interpreter", I can't help imagining and dreaming that this is all the work after all of the Almighty God, maker of Heaven and Earth, and Himself the True Ultimate Ironist! Stanley Kubrick, no custodian of culture by any means, surely a clean-minded pornographer (Kael again), was an ironist; he now knows for sure and forever what the score is. I sure am glad he lived long enough to make EWS! Lord help us poor, servile clockwork folks keep our eyes open!

National Velvet (1960– )

Fine Family Fare

[9/10 · 19 February 2006]

Maybe we can find Lori Martin (see the "aunt" posts at her profile!)and petition her to do a set of DVDs (I added a FAQ) for this wonderful show. VERY fond memories of dragging the TV into the kitchen when Daddy would get home from work late so we all could watch together while eating our roast beef, mashed potatoes and string beans - or any permutation thereof. My little horse-crazy sister was forever wanting to watch - she was only two and three - and it fixed in her bosom a lifetime love of equestrian science. To this day she is a grooms-person and massage therapist with a business of her own.I would love to sit with my grandkids and watch it. Maybe Lori will do intros and study guides for improving family values? Lord knows we need you, now more than ever, ms Martin! please consider your calling and your fans. THANKS!

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Where Was George Pal When We Needed Him?

[5/10 · 2 February 2006]

Watch "Destination Moon", "When Worlds Collide", "War of the Worlds", "Conquest of Space", "The Time Machine" and you'll gain deep insight into the deranged genius of Stanley Kubrick. George Pal influenced "2001" in many, many ways. His space and disaster movies moved the Fifties like Stanley's moved the late Sixties. The dramatic paradigm and world-view shifts between the Pals and the Kubricks are a wonder to behold in hindsight....But I trow the PAL movies will be watched by more people for their deeper and more resonant, Christian themes long after the evolutionist, misanthropic, irony-drenched black comedies of Kubrick are shelved.... INCLUDING "2001" Yes, in light of the superior Pal space films, you may watch "2001" as a dark, ironic comedy, produced by a man so self-obsessed as to border on the megalomaniacal! Read the stories of folks who actually had to work with Stanley. Now compare the fan base of George Pal. Compare the outputs! Some of Stanley's movies are unwatchable today; the charming Puppetoons will never lose their luster.... but I digress. It will be enough just for you to watch "Conquest of Space" to see what I am talking about. Kubrick simply copied Pal with his own deviant, derivative drivel! He out-banals banal!

Conquest of Space (1955)

Kubrick's Model Movie - See Also Boyle's SUNSHINE

[2 February 2006]

Study this old seminal classic, the new Space Movie, "Sunshine" by Danny Boyle, Anderson's "Event Horizon" and "2001: A Space Odyssey" together and you'll see that George Pal was a Christian idealist, Anderson a Christian pessimist, and Boyle - a Christian optimist! Yes, old Stanley had a sardonic sense of humor. But Stanley was no Christian in any philosophical sense...Chech the similarities: "2001" owes much to "CoS"; If "CoS" had a meteor storm, "2001" had one lonely rock drifting by . . . if "CoS" had a funeral, "2001" had Frank Poole drifting away.... If "CoS" had banal and corny dialog, well... you get the idea. The themes and genre expectations of Space movies are needfully narrow; that's one reason we spacenuts love them so. ANY excuse to leave old Earth's atmosphere! Of course Stanley studied all the movies that had gone before and had the money to exercise his peculiar misanthropic oneupmanship on a grand scale. I wonder if Danny Boyle saw "CoS"? Think of the crazed father figure of CoS as the crazed HAL in '01'! or the crazed CPT of the Icarus or the Even...another thing is, in Cinemascope, "CoS" still looks as good and plays as well as Super Panavision 70's "2001"... both films will undoubtedly look dated, yes and and archaic in another 40 years, but who's to say which vision - Pal's or Kubrick's - will still be selling the most DVD 'tickets'? Something to take a deep breath, put on your space helmet and ponder - even unto the end of the world.... and the extinction of mankind...??!

The New World (2005)

"The Old Is Better..."

[10/10 · 21 January 2006]

"No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, the old is better..." (Luke 5:39) . . . I brought the perspective of a born-again, saved, washed-in-the-blood, King James Bible-toting calvinistic baptist Vietnam and Desert Storm vet who voted for Kerry to this film, and was just blown away. At heart I feel the film is evangelistic at its core; the subtext is the passing of the old world of pagan America and the coming of the Christian. The stark contrasts between the old and the new worlds of this movie made me so thankful to have been born in a Christian land! I was so filled with emotion when the little princess prayed, and felt great swellings of feeling when she met the King and Queen of England (must get the soundtrack!)....to top it off, the 'art' cinema here in Atlanta was playing "Naked in Ashes". So I ended up coming out of an old fashioned double feature quite literally weak in the knees. The demographics on the stage of history speak for themselves, but when put into artistic form as this, every thinking person must agree that, for all the problems in the world, and for all the problems inherent in human organizations such as "churchianity" - Christ is truly the answer.

Jurassic Park III (2001)

Spoiled ROTTEN!

[9/10 · 6 August 2005]

Just watched this movie again for the umpteenth time, as I get psyched up for Peter Jackson's "KING KONG" this December. In "JPIII" I get to pretend that I am like Ray Harryhausen at 13 in 1933, at Graumann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, mesmerized by Max Steiner, awed by O'Brien, delighted by Delgado - filled with that childhood-verging-on adolescent sense of wonder - like I don't want my childhood ever to end. In "JPII" I get to do that as often as I like. And I like. I like to pretend now and then, even at the tender age of 55. I pretending to be 13; I like watching grown men in rubber suits running around on a miniature jungle or city set pretending to be dinosaurs as much as I like the idea of grown men hiding behind the fake scenery, running a one thousand horsepower hydraulic Spinosaur. I like the idea of a lone effects genius spending half of his professional career moving a puppet or two painstakingly, thoughtfully, irrevocably - for one frame of film at a time in a small studio on a tabletop in front of a projection screen, so that millions of people can have their childhoods preserved.... Sure: any thirteen year old knows how it's done. Any thirteen year old in 2005 knows fantasy from reality, and most kids are creating their own stories in Playstation and XBox or on their own thousand-dollar personal computers every day. I've done it myself on a great interstellar planetoid called HALO. But how many of us can pretend? Pretend to have our youth back, even for 92 minutes? But that's the whole point. We are SPOILED ROTTEN! "JPIII" did ninth best in America in 2001 in domestic box office grosses. In the year of "Harry Potter", "The Fellowship of the Ring", "Shrek", "Monsters, Inc.", "Rush Hour 2", "The Mummy Returns", "Pearl Harbor" and "Ocean's 11", it's a wonder the third installment beat the Burton blockbuster remake of "Planet of the Apes"! There was so much up there on the screen that year that it was clearly a case of sensory overload and limited funds. In fifty years, the "JP" franchise will still be holding its own up there with the best of 'em; there will always be those like me willing to suspend our disbelief for a few precious moments and allow ourselves to be transported, spoiled rotten, into lost worlds.

Major Dundee (1965)

A Must-See on the Big Screen

[8/10 · 3 June 2005]

The extended version is playing in selected theaters around the country as I write this. See it if you can, along with Leone's extended "Good, Bad, Ugly".... It will rekindle fond memories of Big Screen westerns you saw as a kid. I well remember going at least twice to see this movie as an impressionable 15-year old - the first time with my western-fan-father. he really liked it but was a bit confused by the story, as was I . I remember him saying that he wished it were a half hour longer. The "Major Dundee March" song would often pop up in conversations down through the years. Wish the new version had it. I sang it all the way home from the theater last night!....I feel the new score is weak for the most part: nothing even close to "The Wild Bunch". The "twinkle" sound effect as mentioned in another review was rather obnoxious, tho'....Unlike Dad, I became a huge fan of "The Wild Bunch" an caught "Dundee" whenever I could on TV. Dad stayed with the less violent westerns in the John Wayne style he loved. I went to Vietnam and soured on violence for years. The topics and themes of this movie should make any thinking man consider the parallels to the leaders of today acting rashly towards terrorists. Rashness is justified.

The Steel Helmet (1951)

Classic That Works on Many Levels

[9/10 · 14 March 2005]

I too have fond memories of waiting for this movie to come BACK on TV so I could savor it again. It has lost none of the power and evokes many memories as i watch it with my kids and their friends now. A neighbor friend of my son's, whose parents strictly control the TV, has raved about this movie. Why" Because it speaks to children as well as to adults. I 'get' the Milspeak now, and enjoy the banter among the principals because I am a Vietnam and Desert Storm vet (Infantry and Artillery). I only answer the questions my boys have, tho'; I don't try to explain what they wish to keep to themselves, i.e. the Korean boy's scenes. As a kid I wondered what I would do if the Commies attacked my neighborhood, and often played 'guns' that way, against an imaginary enemy. My sons have seen Spielberg's "PVT Ryan", but Sam Fuller's movie is on top of the pile. Looking now for a copy of another one I haven't seen in forty years: Sam Fuller's "Fixed Bayonets". Any help?

The Outsider (1961)

Where IS This Classic? ON TCM THIS WEEK!!

[9/10 · 26 February 2005]

I would love to see it. Just returned from the Doss, Texas reenactment/commemoration of the Battlle of Iwo Jima and Ira Hayes' name figures prominently in it's lore and legend. Tony Curtis should get an Oscar for his lifetime of work in the entertainment industry. His contributions have been huge and by all accounts his portrayal of Hayes is remarkable in its own right. Why has this movie been slighted all these years? And why is this movie so hard to find? Couldn't be because the director has had some troubles; Delbert Mann is Ray Harryhausen and Ray Bradbury's age and was active in directing well into his seventies.... Heck, he directed "Marty" for TV and for the 1955 Academy Award-winning movie; so where is the recognition this film so obviously deserves?

The Ninth Configuration (1980)

Madness and Horror Redeemed

[9/10 · 31 January 2005]

This is, I believe, Blatty's cinematic Christian answer to Milius' Nietzschean despair of "Apocalypse Now". It addresses the fundamental, elementally gut-wrenching and mind/soul/spirit shattering question (which John and Francis avoid): "For whom would you die?..... and WHY?" It was nominated for 'best picture' and screenplay and supporting actor at the 1980 Golden Globes; "A N" got a 'best picture' and three other nods the year before. Blatty won. Milius wasn't even nominated. Too, W.P.B. wrote his book on which he based his screenplay - "Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane" - in 1967, while the war raged, and Coppola did "Finian's Rainbow". Prescience?

The picture was made in Hungary, near Budapest, with money invested by Pepsi, as I read in an interview with W.P.B. (You'll definitely want to Google this flick after you have seen it a few times and, as I have, given copies to friends after having experienced it with them.) Seems the money HAD to be spent in Hungary. Blatty was obviously on time and budget, if every bit as self-indulgent otherwise as Coppola.... and he made a better movie. Witness the DVD with the Mark Kermode's intro, W.P.B. commentary, deleted scenes and alternate ending! I first saw this movie on a lark with some dazed trainees at Artillery School, Ft. Sill, OK in 1992 and was fresh from Desert Storm when I did. I am also a Viet Nam vet, and was stone cold sober when I watched it - much to the chagrin of my younger friends (I may well have been the oldest SP4 on post that Winter!). I had dropped out of Northwestern U. the year after Stacy Keach's brother, Jim had graduated, after Kent State, and volunteered for the Draft. I was an avowed existentialist then. Through the years I have always been a Keach fan. Nothing prepared me for this film. I remember how Stacy's mesmerizing performance held me through the first, difficult viewing. But I had never seen or read Blatty. Having survived a tour of duty in the 504th MP's and the Americal and subsequently from hippiedom been converted to Christ (from 'mere churchianity') in 1973 - the year of "The Exorcist" - I wanted nothing to do then with 'organized religion', per se (too, it had scared the livid nightmares out of a co-worker!). But I digress. I wanted to see this movie, as I had only once seen "Apocalypse Now: the 'uncredited' theatrical reissue" in the late 80's. Too "T9thC" was made basically at the same time as "A N". Very few Viet Nam movies made so close to the war; fewer still made during the war. Horror and Madness lie at the heart of War's darkness. "The Ninth Configuration"'s visions express it beautifully....redemptively....