'IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE'......AND ABDUCTED OUR HEARTS AND MINDS FOREVER.......

 It Came From Outer Space (1953)    I wouldn't even try to calculate the effect this movie had on audiences of young baby boomers........since it inspired an entire generation of filmmakers and sci-fi fans....

            Steven Spielberg even admitted to the film's legendary author Ray Bradbury that he borrowed its unique concept for "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind".....the idea that alien visitors arrived here on Earth out of sheer curiosity, and not to conquer us. 

           While another screenwriter got his name listed on the credits, anyone who's ever read a Ray Bradbury novel or story can tell immediately who wrote this.....much of dialogue is pure Bradbury-ian.

           And all of the film's startling visuals and plot turns served practically as a carved-in-stone manual for dozens of sci-fi/alien visitation movies that followed in its wake. 

          The crashing spaceship.....the humans replicated as zombie-like alien imitations......the repulsive (to our eyes) alien creatures......the dauntless scientist (and equally plucky gal pal) trying to comprehend and survive the extraordinary events befalling them.......and the ever present unearthly electronic wailing of the Theramin, an instrument that sounded as if specifically designed to accompany other-worldly occurrences - ghosts, aliens and other assorted monsters.

            All of the above tropes  were perfectly woven together by director Jack Arnold. His prolific, tireless work in directing films and TV included functioning as the master of Universal Studios most memorable, honored sci-fi classics...."The Incredible Shrinking Man", "The Creature From The Black Lagoon", "Tarantula", "Monster On The Campus", "Space Children"....

             Filmed in 3-D, the movie makes the usual, expected periodic lunges from the camera into our laps.......such as the flaming alien ship crashing in the Arizona desert.  But Arnold and Bradbury maintain such an atmosphere of dread and suspense throughout that they render the cornball, in-your-face gimmicks as merely superfluous. 

             And I don't want to end this post without taking time to salute the cast......Richard Carlson as the worried anxious scientist (a role he'd play again in a few other sci-fi-ers) Barbara Rush as the gal pal and staying serenely beautiful even when frightened into screaming at a Joshua Tree and a kid in a space helmet......and sturdy long time journeyman Charles Drake, who gets to deliver Ray Bradbury's vivid little rant about 92 degrees being the perfect temperature to drive people nuts.

              A special salute to the makeup and prop department for their absolutely bonkers, one-eyed alien, who doubtless lived on in kids nightmares for years to come.

              Perfect for the start of Halloween season and a film no sci-fi movie buff should ever think of missing. 5 stars (*****), a BQ Find Of Finds.

'DEAD OF NIGHT'....KICKING OFF HALLOWEEN WITH TEACUP HORROR.....

 Dead Of Night (1945)   Since we're only 2 days away from October, might as well rev up the blu-ray player for a month of almost non-stop horror......

             Before I plunge into grungier, gorier contemporary horror, let's kick off the season of scares by going classy.......

            And what better way to go classy than with this one, still fondly remembered and celebrated as Britain's first high profile, multi-story horror movie......(or what least what passes for horror in 1940's England....)

            Although, with the exception of a few brief moments in its 1 hour and 45 minute running time, "Dead Of Night" is better described as a literate, mildly gothic effort rather than hardcore horror.

           You can appreciate the skill, the craft and the fine performances that went into it, but really, in no way, shape or form will this film scare you......or even give you the willies.

          The framework starts with a confused, perplexed architect (Mervyn Johns) arriving at a countryside mansion already filled with other guests.  He's badly afflicted with deja vu and he's certain something terrible will befall him if he hangs around with those other folks too long...

           And wouldn't you know it, speaking of unsettled feelings.......every one of the guests has his or her own strange, creepy little story to tell......(think of it as a very, very British 'Twilight Zone' in a teacup)

          The tales, each unfolding in flashback recollections, range from brief anecdotal skits to overlong, rather laborious exercises, usually ending in a "gotcha" twist.

          One fellow dreams of an ominous hearse coachman (Miles Malleson) yelling "room for one more", inviting him to hop in the casket and die......which of course you know will somehow replicate itself in real life.

          A bubbly teen girl (Sally Ann Howe, whom I only remember as Truly Scrumptious in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang") recalls a poignant encounter with a child ghost during a Christmas party. (And this little gem remains one of my own favorites in the film, for both its brevity and plummy atmosphere...)

         Then a haunted mirror story comes next, which features a few unnerving moments, but drags on and on.....

         The worst of the episodes is an endless, unfunny comedic shaggy dog story with the beloved film comedy due of Basil Radford and Naughton Wayne. They play two rival golfers who fall for the same girl and take their obsessive competitive streaks to ridiculous,absurd heights. Silly and boring overall, which accounts for the sequence being entirely cut out of the American release of the film. 

        At last we come the penultimate sequence and maybe the the only one even casual casual classic  movie buffs still remember......with Michael Redgrave as a tormented ventriloquist driven mad (and to attempted murder) by his evil dummy.  Here's where you can begin at the starting point for all the evil dummy/satanic doll/killer puppet movies that followed as the decades marched on.......(think of it as the Dawn Of Chucky or the ancestor of Annabelle.....)   Not bad at all and the final shot, while inevitable, can still raise at least one or two goosebumps. 

           For all of us dedicated Anglophiles, "Dead Of Night" still remains a 3 star (***) treat to watch from time to time......but if you're craving jump scares, flowing blood, and other assorted perversity, this terror-in-a-teacup brand of Masterpiece Theatre malevolence is not your cup of tea. 

'STANDING UP FOR SUNNY'.....DISABLED AND DAMAGED, AN ODD COUPLE FINDS LOVE AND JOKES.

 Standing Up For Sunny (2019)    Now here's a pleasant surprise for a change.......stumbling upon a  monumentally unknown movie by sheer accident of chance.......and hugging the hell out of it. 

             Yes, as corny, formulaic and obvious as it is, I liked it. Or as Sally Field would say, I really, really liked it. 

              Leave it to Australian filmmakers put to put an extra quirky spin on what's basically a traditional rom-com. 

              Our boy-girl combo destined for love are two very damaged souls.....Travis (R.J.Mitte), a pissed off college campus janitor with cerebral palsy and a major anger management problem.......and Sunny (Philippa Northeast), a struggling waitress and emotionally wounded survivor of childhood sexual abuse. 

              Travis has been warned by the college dean (the always familiar and welcome Radha Mitchell) to clean up his act. And his low boil temper isn't helped by the arrival of his new unwanted roommate Gordo (Italia Hunt), a blind, overly cheerful, streetcorner musician. 

             Then Travis stops in the bar where Sunny both waitresses and attempts stand-up comedy, with the help of her douchebag boyfriend Mike, a popular morning radio DJ.  Deploying his corrosive wit, Travis verbally out duels one of Sunny's hecklers, which prompts Mike to suggest he help mentor Sunny to sharpen her stage skills. 

             I'm well aware that anyone with even a passing familiarity with romcoms can easily chart the rest of this movie......Travis and Jenny sharing their painful burdens as they warm up to each other, Gordo wisecracking his way into your heart, that expected awful misunderstanding that splits our already vulnerable lovers apart.....and of course the machinations of the arrogant ass Mike. 

             But I couldn't help enjoying the way this cast throw themselves into their roles, as if they're making the world first romantic dramedy, instead of the zillionth.  They make it all fresh and fun and you can't help rooting for them to deliver a happy, smile-inducing ending. 

             Not Quite Spoiler Alert:.....not to worry. They do.

             If you're secretly a sucker for a movie like this.....(and BQ visitors know I've admitted to exactly that on many occasions), there's good news and better news if you'd like to watch it.....

             The good news - you can view it with no cost on IMDB's streaming platform, Freevee, whose name is self-explanatory.  The better news, if you hold a library card and your library's hooked up with Hoopla Digital, you can watch it free and minus Freevee's many ad interruptions. 

             Either way, "Standing Up For Sunny" should do the job of making your day a little sunnier. 

              3 & 1/2 stars (***1/2)

'HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN'......'PAPA' DON'T PREACH......(AND HAPPY 60TH)

 Hemingway's Adventures Of A Young Man (1962) At long last.  I've calculated 60 years to finally catch up with this movie.......since I first heard about it when a mere lad in junior high school.....

           I blame the junior high library of all things......no great shakes as a library but that damn place turned me into even a more of a burgeoning movie buff than I was already becoming......

           In the farthest dusty corner of this library were stacks and stacks of a monthly pamphlet called "The Green Sheet", which featured a complete list of 1 to 2 paragraph reviews of all the month's new feature film releases. These reviews all appeared as mostly non judgmental and informative, like a casual shopping guide.

           (Years later, I found out the pamphlet was put out primarily for educators, community leaders and other authorities by the mighty MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America)  The idea was to use the publication as a way to stave off every little town in the USA from starting its own film censorship board.....an issue later solved by the creation of the rating system)

            So the good ole "Green Sheet" was where I first heard about "Hemingway's Adventures Of A Young Man", but by the time I came upon that particular issue, the film's theatrical run was over and done with........(and remember, we're talking about the Jurassic era before DVDs, Blu-Rays, Cable and Streaming......)

            I know what you're asking. Was it worth the wait?

            Uh.......Nah. Not really.

           And that's a damn shame, since this film was presented as a powerhouse dramatic epic, with well known actors, a high literary pedigree and weighing in at almost 2 and a half hours.

           Taken from Ernest Hemingway's collection of 'Nick Adams' stories, the film is exactly that......a rambling collection of short stories about the travels of a callow, naive young man who goes in search of life's experiences. 

              And of course, ends up forever changed for it. 

             Richard Beymer, fresh of his success as the leading doomed heartthrob of "West Side Story" is young Nick, hungry to leave his little lakeside Michigan town, see the big wide world and write about it......much to the disapproval of his weakling father (Arthur Kennedy) and his domineering mother (Jessica Tandy).

             And off he goes to ride the rails to New York City, until a brakeman sends him flying off the train with a sucker punch. From there he encounters a sad, pathetic wandering duo....The Battler, a brain-damaged prize fighter played by an almost unrecognizable Paul Newman and the battler's kindly black caretaker manager (Juano Hernandez).

            Next up comes what I guess constitutes the film's one attempt at comic relief, a slapstick-y meeting with a drunken vaudevillian (Dan Dailey and his long suffering partner (Fred Clark). From these guys, he scores passage to NYC, where newspapers have no use for an inexperienced kid with dreams of becoming a journalist. 

           Then the film finally arrives at its primary sequence......where Nick, aching for the kind of experience a newspaper editor told him he'd need as a writer, volunteers as an ambulance driver for the Italian army......right in the midst of the world's first global war.  (Yes indeed, we're off to "A Farewell To Arms" territory.....)

             Thrust into the thick of World War I combat, a grievously wounded Nick comes under the care of a sweet, gentle Italian nurse (Susan Strasberg).......and finally gains the defining life events he so long sought out......physical pain, overwhelming true love and crushing tragedy.

            I wish I could report that this entire lengthy, rambling collection of stories gets put across with immediate dramatic force. 

            They don't. The pace is deadening and the scenes never pick up any dramatic energy whatsoever. The actors do their best, but every separate episode slowly rolls across the screen like a stately pageant. 

            The only creative participant in the film who shows any enthusiasm is composer Franz Waxman, who tries to compliment the film with a rich, fully engaged symphonic score. But Waxman's music is rationed out in small doses.........and the film's stuffed with boring, dead-on-arrival staging that cried out for musical accompaniment. Getting none, the scenes drop dead in front of you. 

             I honestly don't remember what "The Green Sheet" review thought of the film. For me, sadly, a weary disappointment. Mostly for Hemingway completists and any fans of the actors involved. 

            2 stars (**)

WEEKEND MADNESS WRAP-UP.....(THIS POST PUBLISHED SIMPLY BY THINKING ABOUT IT....)

 Trump claims he can declassify documents simply by thinking about it......at some point in the interview with Sean Hannity, Trump casually waved his hand and murmured,"".....these aren't the droids you're looking for.....move along"....to which Hannity replied, "these aren't the droits we're looking for.....move along...."

Trump staggers Hannity by telling him the FBI was looking for Hilary's e-mails during the Mar-A-Lago raid.....and also claimed agents discovered but hid away Barak Obama's original African birth certificate issued at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro....

NY Attorney General sues Trump and his family for perpetual business fraud, wildly overinflating the value of their properties, including Trump's apartment in Trump Tower.......the AG first suspected fraud when Trump claimed to have a retractable ceiling dome so helicopters could the landing pad in his office......

Vladimir Putin threatens the world with nuclear war as his military mobilization call-up sends Russians fleeing the country......and also immediately asks  the oligarchs to kick in 10 trillion rubles to help him pay for a new wall surrounding the entirety of Russia....."you know....sort of like my great friend Trump's wall, " he explains, "only it'll work in reverse....to keep people in...just like in Berlin..."

'FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE'.....SQUEEZING THE I.P. FOR EVERY LAST BUCK.....

 Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dunbledore (2022)    Curious, isn't it.......Warner Brothers couldn't wait to flush the "Batgirl" movie down the toilet, never to see the light of day.....

            And yet they proudly paraded this piece of bloated crap  in multiplexes everywhere. 

            Welcome to the blighted world of current big studios, where it's all about the I.P., the Intellectual Property. Franchise fodder.....Tentpole world builders that can be forever milked like a cash cow that spits out box-office bucks.......and more sequels.

            Here we have the third entry in J.K. Rowling Harry Potter-Verse......you can think of them as the creative equivalent of George Lucas's terrible 'Star Wars prequels......or the Peter Jackson "Hobbit" trilogy.......

             To put it bluntly, unnecessary, unwanted movies with convoluted plots and a cast of characters nobody's particularly interested in.

              For reasons known only to J.K. Rowling, she thought  we'd all salivate with anticipation at the idea of following a political campaign amidst the world of magical folk .  (Much like George Lucas  thought we'd find the subject of intergalactic trade agreements in "Phantom Menace" as endlessly fascinating. 

            Among the three candidates in the race is evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald, played in the previous film by Johnny Depp. 

            Depp found himself kicked out of this one due to the commencement of his long toxic legal battle with his ex-wife. And so producers, in a lazy, unimaginative casting choice, replaced him with filmdom's latest all-purpose creepizoid, Mads Mikkelsen.....(the same kind of worn out, tired choice of picking Christophe Waltz to play Blofeld in the last two Bond films. )

           My eyes would roll too far upwards in my head trying to describe the plot of this nightmare in any detail. Grindelwald and Dumbledore (Jude Law) once enjoyed a passionate fling together as young men but now find themselves, in middle age, as mortal enemies.   Hence an interminable journey to a big showdown to thwart Grindy's ascendance to Prime Minister of AbraCadabra (or whatever the high office they're all lusting for is called....)..As it drags on and on, 30,000 CGI animators concoct magic wand smackdowns that resemble Marvel movie hand-me-downs, and the usual array of mythical creatures, both insufferably cute and creepy......pardon me while I yawn.

           At I've pointed out many times when dealing with strictly cash-grab sequels, trying to review a movie like this on its artistic merits is oxymoronic........this film really doesn't spring from people listed as writers and directors.....it's a creature hatched directly from the Warner Brothers accounting department. 

          For the most hardcore Harry Potter-ites, I guess it's required viewing. For the rest of us, a Zero Star (0) waste of time.  Time to make it disappear from memory.......Ah....that feels better already.....

'ELVIS'.....THE GOOD, THE BAZ, AND THE UGLY......

 Elvis (2022)......reminded me of when I took in a multiplex viewing of  Baz Luhrmann's 2001 musical extravaganza "Moulin Rouge"......

           The first 15 minutes of  the film, where Baz-mania ran rampant until settling down to a low roar, sent dozens of people walking out of the theater. Obviously, they feared the entire film was going to stay at the same frenzied pitch......

            'Elvis' makes good on that dreaded idea that sent them fleeing. Not only does it maintain a furiously paced riot of visual and sound imagery, it keeps it up for 160 minutes.

            The overall effect? Like watching a 2 hour and 40 minute montage sequence......a hyper ADD afflicted trailer for an even longer Elvis movie that's coming soon.......

             Truly an exhausting experience to get through and condensing the life of Elvis Presley into a cartoonish,, feverish Baz-O-Rama spectacle won't sit well with anyone used to traditional filmed biographies.......it's a saga of both performer and his American lifetime presented as if it's a "Viva Las Vegas" musical number...... an endless variety show can could only climax with the death of its star.

           I'm already feeling worn out writing about this movie, so let's just go right to quick impressions.

           Austin Butler (Elvis)   As fine a re-creation as you could imagine, but as the film grinds on, you come to realize he's only a supporting player in his own story......because the character that really fascinates Baz Luhrmann is.....

          Tom Hanks (Col. Tom Parker)  So over-the-top and physically grotesque, he looks like he wandered in from a "Batman" movie......For better or worse, Hanks seizes control of the film whenever he's on view (and he's on view through just about all of it), a mad mixture of Svengali, Rasputin and a leftover Bond villain. 

           The rest of the cast......a forgettable, inconsequential collection of actors made up to look like waxwork figures popping up through Presley's life. 

            Every so often, Luhrmann slows down the non-top music video hoo-hah to let the actors enjoy some actual dialogue scenes together.....a breathing spell for both them and us the audience.  And to its great credit, the film brutally dissects Parker as the ultimate carnival huckster who never saw Elvis as anything but a conduit to separate the rubes from their cash......leading to all the crappy quickie movies and the wounding roads not taken,,,,  (such as co-starring with Barbra Streisand in "A Star Is Born" )

           There's surely enough stuff on display here to make the film worth watching.......but know that it will test your tolerance and patience with Baz-mania to the very limits....2 & 1/2 stars (**1/2)

            

             

             

            

       

HOW MUCH WILL YOU WEEP THROUGH THE NEW NICHOLAS SPARKS NOVEL? ONLY THE SANDY QUILL CAN TELL YOU

          A new novel by bestselling, heart-tugging novelist Nicholas Sparks is always a publishing event.....

          So will  "Dreamland", his new one just published today, make you fall to the floor and sob your guts out?  Will you need multiple boxes of tissues to make your way through it?

           Go immediately to www.thesandyquill.blogspot.com to find out, because that's where you'll find a full in depth review of this hot new release right on its publication date. 

           And once you stop in, you'll want to check out The Sandy Quill's growing list of  every genre of book that's out there.......everything from pulse-quickening thrillers to terrifying horror tales to heart wrenching romances like.....well....'Dreamland"

           Worth a read or not?  The Sandy Quill's waiting to fill you in.

'JOHNNY COOL'....FAREWELL HENRY SILVA, WHO SLAYED 'EM IN THIS RARE STARRING ROLE......

 Johnny Cool (1963)    Rest in Piece to this wonderful character actor, who passed away about a week ago at age 95.....

             Mostly a supporting player, Silva possessed the darkly exotic features that snagged him roles of multiple ethnicities......Italians, Native Americans, Asians, Latinos and endless varieties of vaguely European characters...(much like the more major movie star Anthony Quinn.)

              And yes, we're well aware that in our new era of wokeness, no actor will ever again have a filmography like this.......not in the day and age when actors playing people of differing races would lead to howls of outrage and protest.

             Most film buffs know Silva from his many villains, most prominently the evil Korean houseboy of "The Manchurian Candidate", engaging in Hollywood's first all-out  kung fu battle with no less than Frank Sinatra.  Silva always seemed to maintain a charismatic, coiled stillness......which might erupt at any moment. 

             Twice in his long career, he attained a lead role, in 1965's "The Return Of Mr. Moto" and this very oddball 1963 gangster movie, stuffed with familiar faces, cameo roles and a "Godfather" body count. 

            "Johnny Cool" presents itself as a sort of unofficial Rat Pack movie that's only missing Frank Sinatra to make it an official entry in the Rat Pack canon.  Rat Packer Peter Lawford produced it, and along the way, fellow members Sammy David Jr. and Joey Bishop show up in small roles. The rest of cast is populated with many actors who were also Sinatra favorites.......including Silva himself. 

            The film, a swift, brutal hit-guy saga, follows the violent life of a Sicilian bandit Giordano (Silva) a popular Robin Hood type who's spirited away to Rome by Johnny Colini, a deported mafioso (veteran movie gangster Marc Lawurence). Colini anoints Giordano as the new young 'Johnny Cool' and tasks him with flying to the states and exacting lethal revenge on all of Colini's former cohorts who betrayed him. 

            And so off the re-named Johnny goes, very cool and suavely dedicated to bumping off a host of hoods, played by a wildly eclectic character actor roster - Jim Backus, John McGiver, political comedian Mort Sahl, Brad Dexter and Telly Savalas  (This turn of events doesn't sit well with a whole other gangland bunch played by even more familiar faces -Elisha Cook Jr. Robert Armstrong, and on crutches, not saying a word, John Dierkes.)

           Adding to the oddities was Peter Lawford's choice of director for all this nihilistic carnage.....William Asher, who went on to direct Beach Party movies and beloved sitcoms like "Bewitched". And speaking of 'Bewitched', Asher's wife, Elizabeth Montgomery contributes sturdy dramatic work as a wealthy divorcee who becomes Mr. Cool's gal pal and unwitting sidekick. 

          Asher, really nothing more than a mediocre journeyman of a director, keeps things moving along, but you can tell from the slack staging that he has no affinity for this kind of material......(one could only imagine what a director like Sam Fuller could  accomplish here....)

           Rat Pack fans shouldn't miss it, though.....if only to hear Sammy Davis Jr. warbling the ridiculous overheated title song......and it's always a pleasure to watch the unsung, underappreciated Henry Silva shine in a major role for a change. And what a colorful backup cast! 2 & 1/2 stars (**1/2)

           

            

WEEKEND MADNESS WRAP-UP.....SPECIAL "DON'T INDICT ME OR ELSE" EDITION......

 Baby Orange threatens "problems the likes of which we've never seen" if the DOJ indicts him......on the other hand, liquor stores across the country plan to heavily stock champagne if and when the indictments are handed down.......

Trumpanzee judge continues her eternal protection of Baby Orange, ruling to halt the DOJ's investigation of the stolen, classified documents found at Mar-A-Lago........Judge Aileen Cannon apologized for the delay in her ruling, due to her attendance at a Mar-A-Lago pool party...."You know how those things are....Lindsey Graham and I took to hoisting a few too many Mai Tais....."

News outlets devote countless hours to Queen Elizabeth's death, upcoming funeral, Charles crowned king, and the never ending soap opera divide between Princes William and Harry.....this constant barrage of coverage prompted Kim Kardashian, her entire family and members of the 'Real Housewives' reality shows to file suit against the royals..... the suit claims the British royal family has tarnished the Kardashian family and co-plaintiffs, daring to compete with their own reputations as the most useless, worthless, inconsequential and monumentally unimportant people on planet Earth. 

Lindsey Graham proposes national ban on abortion as women voters everywhere prepare to send the GOP a message......Graham also took great pride in a recent award presented to him by oncologists across the country....."for Senator Graham's great contribution to cancer awareness by portraying a colostomy bag stuck to Donald Trump's hip......"

'SWITCHING CHANNELS'.....'THE FRONT PAGE' IN THE SATELLITE AGE.....

Switching Channels (1988)    Call me an old softie, but I really grow nostalgic for these breezy 1980's romcoms that made strenuous efforts to replicate the rapid fire, screwball comedies that first flourished 1930's and early 1940's Hollywood. 

            As much as I still enjoy this one, I couldn't help wishing it had been a little less frantic and little more funnier in its execution. 

            And speaking of execution, it's the fourth film version of the Ben Hecht/Charles MacArthur comedy "The Front Page", about frenzied-for-a-scoop Chicago reporters who harbor an escaped death row inmate for their big story.

             Updated for the dawn of cable news, the movie sets a  furious pace for the three lead characters.....an always news hungry satellite news editor-in-chief (Burt Reynolds), his exhausted  ace reporter and ex-wife (Kathleen Turner) and her  wealthy, new, impossibly handsome  fiance (Christopher Reeve) who promises to whisk her away from the craziness of chasing breaking news.

             Sly dog Reynolds, desperately scheming to thwart Turner's engagement to the too perfectly dashing Reeve, tempts her back into the journalistic fray with a story she can't resist covering..... the upcoming capital punishment of a hapless shlub (Henry Gibson) for shooting a drug-dealing police officer who caused the death of the shlub's beloved younger brother. 

             Gibson's due for a sit-down in the electric chair after a railroaded conviction orchestrated by a corrupt state Attorney General (Ned Beatty). And Beatty's pinned his phony law 'n order candidacy for Governor on frying Gibson prior to the election. 

             Following the trajectory of all other "Front Page" movies, Gibson somehow manages a daring escape (in this version, in the midst of his live, televised execution). And then Turner And Reynolds somehow manage to hide the physically slight fugitive in the smallest space imaginable (in this version, instead of a rolltop desk, he's inside Xerox machine.)

            The cast here is certainly game and more than up for all the hyper running around, but the script mostly lacks the genuine verbal snap required to match their exertions.  But a few moments do shine, such as Reynolds sending out one of his underlings to kick a massive satellite dish that's causing a fuzzy picture. 

           And let's hear it for the late great Reeve, stuck in cinema's most thankless role - the destined-to-be-rejected third wheel in a romantic triangle. He has some fearless good sport fun spoofing his "Superman" persona when his supremely self-assured character suffers an acrophobic panic attack inside a high rise atrium glass elevator. Yes, it's Superman, prone on the floor, screaming for his mommy.

            Overall, a mildly 3 star (***) fun watch, especially if you're fans of any of the three leads... but take note, movie purists - .for the very best movie version of "Front Page",  don't miss also checking out Howard Hawks' 1940 "His Girl Friday" with Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy in the Reynolds, Turner and Reeve roles.

              

              

           

'BEST SELLERS'....AN INDIE FILM ROAD TRIP THAT'S ONE FOR THE BOOKS....

 Best Sellers (2021)   There's no plot more cherished, beloved and pounded into the ground by indie filmmakers than the life changing road trip. 

               Especially a road trip that involves a crabby, feisty senior with one foot in the grave paired up with a perpetually exasperated, eye-rolling millennial 

                Exasperated and eye-rolling is usually my standard response to the idea of watching yet another one of these tiresome Sundance wanna-be's........

                But I couldn't stay away from this one for three reasons.

                1.  Michael Caine, the international icon and treasure whom I'd watch in anything.

                2. Aubrey Plaza, the unpredictable, live wire actress whom I'd also watch in anything.....and like Michael Caine, she's apt to turn up in just about anything at all, from major studio films to the most obscure indies imaginable. 

                3.   Books! It's all about writers, books, the lifelong labor pains of an author's creative struggles and how books become enhancing, defining experiences in readers' lives....for better or worse.  To put it simply, they had me at books.......

                Hence this review.

                Plaza plays Lucy Stanbridge, who's taken over her father's now floundering publishing company,  It's a publishing house that built its reputation and fortune on the groundbreaking best selling novel of Harris Shaw (Caine) who hasn't offered up another book for decades. 

                Discovering Shaw's contract requires a second book from him, Lucy seeks out the reclusive, misanthropic and constantly drunk Shaw to demand he fulfill his legal obligation. Shaw, irascible and consumed with self loathing, has in fact completed a new novel. He grudgingly agrees to its publication and a promotional tour, but only if it's printed untouched and unedited by Lucy.

                Lucy agrees, desperate to keep her company afloat and off they go, this mismatched duo, on a chaotic series of bookstore appearances.......where Shaw's public reading performances consist of nothing but him repeating his favorite word on an endless loop....'bullshite'. 

                Given our current society, the worse Shaw behaves, the more the public laps it up......book sales soar and Shaw's outrageous incidents turn him into a social media sensation. 

                 Having seen dozens of similarly structured indie road trips, I could safely predict all the expected, heartbreaking revelations and epiphanies that occur between Lucy and Shaw before the film's bittersweet climax.  And I'm not sure I'd bother with the film if it had starred two lesser actors.

               It's Caine and Plaza who make "Best Sellers" worthwhile.   Sir Michael inhabits the role like he waited all his life to play it and Plaza, never a shrinking violet of an actress, matches him scene for scene. 

                As worn out as this storyline is, the powerhouse collaboration of these two unique talents turns the film into a highly watchable 3 & 1/2 star (***1/2) treat. More than worth checking out. 

                

                 

SPIES VS. NAZIS! A THRILLER YOU CAN'T MISS AND THE SANDY QUILL BLOG JUST REVIEWED IT!

           

              If you're on the hunt for a hot-off-the-presses thriller to keep you up all night, head right over to the BQ's brother blog, The Sandy Quill.....click on www.thesandyquill.blogspot.com. You'll discover some terrific breaking news on a stunning new read.

              "An Affair Of Spies", Ronald H. Balson's breathless World War 2 espionage suspense published today, 9/13/22 and The Sandy Quill stayed up all night with it.   SQ was riveted by its story of two undercover U.S. agents who penetrate Nazi Germany to learn how far along they are in the race to develop the first Atomic Bomb. 

                For all the inside details (but NO spoilers), check out Sandy Quill's in-depth review and scoop up some vital intel on one of the most entertaining reads you'll come across this year. 

                And while you're visiting, stay to enjoy SQ's reviews on a whole lot of other books you might have missed......see you there!

'PINOCCHIO'.....DISNEY VOMITS UP ANOTHER D.O.A. LIVE ACTION REMAKE

 Pinocchio (2022)     It's a forgone conclusion that whenever the Disney Greed Machine cranks out another unwanted, unnecessary, uncalled for live action version of one of the studio's beloved animated classics, a trainwreck will result.

             The only point of discussion here becomes.......how big a trainwreck will it be?

             Well......think of the circus trainwreck for Cecil B. DeMille's "The Greatest Show On Earth" for a comparable comparison......(you can watch the clip on YouTube).

             This one lowers the bar even further for these accursed remakes, if that's possible......even that atrocity 'Cruella' comes off a little better than this one. 

              Visually bizarre, wrongheaded in just about every creative decision, and achingly dull, which makes it all the more grotesque.......'Pinocchio' exists only to warm the hearts of the Disney accounting department. 

               And the perpetrator of this landfill is the usual suspect for such special effects eyesores. Robert Zemeckis, still an near terminal sufferer of his Opiod-like addiction to the 'Uncanny Valley' movies that feature creepy, unsettling, CGI renditions of flesh-and-blood humans.  ("The Polar Express", "Beowulf", "A Christmas Carol", etc, etc)

               Tom Hanks, underneath 50 pounds of make-up, functions as one of the few humans on display as the lonely toymaker Geppetto, along with Cynthia Erivo as the Blue Fairy.  Everyone else appears to be digitized and motion-captured versions of characters from the original 1940 film. 

                I could spend another 20 paragraphs attempting to describe the near perfect storm of awfulness on display......but why bother? 

               This isn't a movie.....it's a Disney business deal, pretending to be one.......so mechanical and unfeeling in its conception that it can't even bother to include to story's ending, the point of the tale to begin with. 

               Nothing left to say, except giving this film a richly deserved, well-earned AFH rating.....a first class ABOMINATION FROM HELL. Avoid at all costs. 

WEEKEND MADNESS WRAP-UP......SPECIAL 'SPECIAL MASTER' EDITION......

 Trump returns to claiming the FBI planted the evidence they found in the Mar-A-Lago raid......Trump also suggested the top secret documents were left lying around by Mar-A-Lago's Puerto Rican  parking lot valets and pool boys.  "They've had it in for me ever since I told 'em to shut up and stop whining about me throwing paper towels at them. Screw 'em if they can't take a joke."

Trump skipped traditional White House portrait unveiling ceremony.......the DOJ and state investigators in Georgia and New York State offered to donate their special portraits of Trump.....after moving the concentric circles and bullseye on each one....

DOJ politely warns Trumpanzee Judge Aileen Cannon that her "protect Trump at all costs because he's very special" ruling won't hold legal water on appeal....... the judge was heard screaming through her chambers, "You cannot  touch him! You dare not!  Only God and I can decide his fate!"

Steve Bannon newly charged by New York State  with defrauding donors with a "Build The Wall" scam after being pardoned of Federal charges by Trump......while prosecutors know for certain that Bannon used donor money for his own personal profit, they admitted they could find no evidence that he ever purchased soap, shampoo, deodorant, combs or razorblades........at Mar-A-Lago, Donald Trump tried using the Harry Potter declassifying magic wand to pardon Bannon, , even though he's no longer President......("Sorry, Steve......I gave it my best shot, but it just doesn't work anymore"....to which Bannon replied, "You fat bastard, isn't that what you told Stormy Daniels?"_