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Reviews
King Kong (2005)
There's nothing to see here, folks, move along
OK, of the three major versions, this one is just OK, but far, far too long. Like the 3D craze today, the campy 70s version could have only been worse had it been shown in Sensurround.
There is too much back-story, characters who lead nowhere and nearly as many gratuitous dinosaur action as Jurassic Park.
An hour into the film and they hadn't left NY.
Two hours into the film and they hadn't returned.
By the end I wanted to yell out "just put him on the 3rd Avenue El and send him to the Bronx Zoo!"
My six-year old son said "they should have left him on the island." I couldn't agree more.
Back to the Future (1985)
Fun...and prescient
Back to the Future and its two following parts take the time travel genre from HG Wells social criticism to social satire and beyond. While chock-full of '80s cues (the dress, designer labels/celebrities and Pepsi Free-remember that?), the film still manages to be eerily prescient. In 2015 you may buy a "Mr. Fusion" portable reactor that produces at least 1.2 gigawatts, but your flying car still runs on gas pumped at the Texaco station. What does that say about EV cars in the next few years? OK, there are no hover boards...but flat-panel TVs have all but erased tubes from memory, there's Major League baseball in Miami (or will be shortly) and the social decline of "traditional" white, middle-class suburbia is already widespread. And unlike those "other" depictions of the '50s, it wasn't all bobby-socks and sax; there was sex (and rape) too. The third episode is pure fun-the railroad sequence borrowing heavily from the Marx Bros-and I still get a hoot from the "beard band" playing Doubleback on the fiddle. A great romp through time.
Secretariat (2010)
OK, but to be nit-picky
Obligatory review: Rich white woman wins super horse in a coin toss and becomes even richer.
Now, the nit-picky part:
They did not film at Belmont.
What was with the minstrel horse-washing scene?
I remember that race and the announcer could not have known exactly how many lengths Big Red was ahead.
This being a Disney film, they don't show Big Red's suffering and final put-down.
And tell me when Miss Ham was in the stable and the horses whinnied, you didn't want desperately to yell out "BLUCHER!"
I think I'll go watch "National Velvet" now.
Children of the Corn (1984)
Poor, like too many King adaptations
Like too many King adaptations, Children of the Corn leaves too many questions unanswered and features gratuitous blood and violence as a poor substitute for real terror. I couldn't help but think of the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" where 6-year-old Billy Mumy kept an entire town of adults terrorized with his supernatural powers. Now there was real shock and suspense. In "Corn" the kids were just murderous zombies led by one whose only material power was an unusual ability to throw knives. Their powers were shown to be impotent against a physically-fit adult male, with only the unseen "He who walks..." for their back-up plan. With no outside contact for three years, who was keeping these kids fed? Besides, since their succession plan calls for a "Logan's Run" style of population (and mind) control, more of these kids had better started "getting busy" at an early age. I have no interest whatsoever in watching any of the aforementioned sequels.
Schoolhouse Rock! (1973)
Timeless and still informative!
Even though much of this series dates back to the Nixon-Ford era(!), the tunes are still fresh and the content is still relevant even if the garish Peter Max-ish backgrounds seem a bit much.
For example, "Energy Blues" still rings true today even though it was inspired by a political event.
Yes, I watched these when they first aired and I memorized the (slightly truncated) Preamble and more. Later, the set was restored and reissued on DVD just in time for my son to enjoy. Quite frankly, when it came time to help with science homework, I popped in the previously "banned(*)" Weather Show and in 3 minutes the "highs" and "lows" were as clear as a sunny day! I ripped the audio tracks and play them in the car...electricity, E-LEC-TRICITY! Watch the newest short too...considered "fair and square" my Aunt's fanny! ;) (*) This short was never aired because it contained the words "Greatest Show on Earth," trademark of that famous circus; the reissue cuts those works from the opening and replaces them at the end with circus music. They should have used the music for the opening also.
What's Opera, Doc? (1957)
This way to Valhalla!
So I was one of those weird kids that liked classical music, hence this short is the one I would mention first and foremost.
Magic helmet, indeed! For those that are all worked up about the cross-dressing thing, it's neither the first nor the last time for Bugs *OR* Elmer (Corny Concerto, Seville).
I mean, how many times did Bugs plant one on the lips of another male character? None of that bothered me as a kid, nor does it now for my own to enjoy. Did I get all the references then? Of course not! Not in this or most of the other shorts. Kids get the slapstick and the pratfalls; if there weren't more, we wouldn't be debating this well past a half-century later.
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936)
My favorite of the "specials"
As others have written, the restored episode is a beauty to behold, with complete titles and fabulous Technicolor! With the classic voices of Jack Mercer, Mae Questel and Gus Wickie, Popeye takes a suspenseful journey to a lost island with the usual cast of suspects.
With the restored footage clearly visible, Popeye's comments in the cave make much more sense. The sound is still a bit muddy in places, making Boola's (or is it Boolas' ?) dialog hard to follow.
Wimpy wanders through the scenes oblivious to the goings on, while Sindbad menaces Olive Oyl in quite a bit more sinister a manner than Bluto in other shorts.
My favorite gag, "...with gravy!"
Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (1937)
My second favorite of the "specials"
As others have written, the restored episode is a beauty to behold, with complete titles and fabulous Technicolor!
With the classic voices of Jack Mercer, Mae Questel and Gus Wickie, Popeye takes an action-packed and chatty romp through the desert with the usual cast of suspects.
My favorite gags are the thieves' chants during the raid, the horses' answer in the chorus and of course Popeye's reply to Abu Hassan: "Ahh, nature beat me to it!" I'm still waiting to use that last one in conversation ;)
By now you must have guessed my favorite episode is "Sindbad." But that's for another comment.
Nix on Hypnotricks (1941)
If I were Jack Mercer, I'd get slapped a lot!
I had always remembered one of my favorite Jack Mercer quips, directed at Olive Oyl of course, but I couldn't find the short where it appeared. It didn't help that I remembered the quote as being closer to it's Shakespearian phrasing.
Finally I found it here in Volume 3 of the classic set: "That which we call a flower, by any other moniker would smell just as much."
The quality of this restoration is very good, as they are in most of the sets.
As to the plot line and execution of "Hypnotricks," you could pretty much figure out the ending, even if you hadn't seen it a million times before ;)
Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ (1925)
About that naval battle scene --
Many locals were hired for the naval battle scene and were simply given costumes and swords and told to go fight. When fire broke out on the ship, they were really jumping overboard for their lives, and some may have drowned.
I was luck enough to see the restored print in the 80's on a big screen with a live pipe organ accompianist. Yes, the old-school silent acting looks exaggerated with the big eyes and all, but they had to indicate emotion and intensity somehow without sound.
How would actors like Clint Eastwood or Harrison Ford look without dialogue?