Dick Tracy (1990)
Following the massive success of Batman in 1989, film studios were quick to jump on the comic book movie band wagon, but most studio bosses back then had no idea what the kids today read so okayed movies based on what they read as kids, which is how we ended up with The Shadow, The Phantom, and Dick Tracy. Basically a vehicle for director/star Warren Beatty, this is a film that revels in its own artificiality, benefiting immensely from the Oscar winning makeup and production design, Milena Canonero's colourful costumes, Vittorio Storaro's cinematography, Stephen Sondheim's songs, and a supporting cast who all understand what kind of movie they're in and overact accordingly, or extremely in Al Pacino's case. At the same time, it suffers from a plodding plot, a unimaginative Danny Elfman score, and Beatty giving a classic "I'm a movie star, I don't really need to actually act" performance. Oh, and Madonna is... there.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) runs a fishing boat on the French colony of Martinique. After a client is killed before he can settle his bill, Harry is forced to take on a dangerous job for the French Resistance. Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway in the very loosest sense, stripping away all of the social commentary so all that's left is a film that could best be described as “We have Casablanca at home”. Once again Bogart plays an America expat living in a French colonial colony during the Vichy era who aids in transporting a married couple to safety, all the while having romantic tension with the wife. But that part never really gets off the ground because the filmmakers and Bogart (understandably) became so enamoured with Lauren Becall that all the focus shifted to her character.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
One of the most underrated films of the last two decades, Peter Weir's adaptation of Patrick O'Brian's popular novels paints a vivid and detailed picture about what life was really like on an early 19th century man-of-war. The film pulls plot elements from various O'Brian books, but the focus remains the enduring, chalk and cheese friendship between Russell Crowe's Captain Jack Aubrey and Paul Bettany's Stephen Maturin.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
John Huston adapts Herman Melville's famous novel. Young Ishmael signs on to serve on the whaling ship Pequod, commanded by the tyrannical Captain Ahab (Gregory Peck), who is obsessed with hunting down and killing the white whale that crippled him. Less than two hours long, but it feels like three times that. By his own admission, Peck was miscast (he was actually younger than the guy playing Ishmael) and, along with the rest of the cast, really struggles with every bit of Melville's prose that the script (co-written by Ray Bradbury) throws at him.
Rating: ⭐⭐
Adapted from the novel by Jack Finney about a small-town doctor in California who discovers that everyone in town is slowly being being replaced by emotionless pod people from outer space. Although regarded as an iconic piece of 1950s sci-fi, there are a few reasons why it didn't entirely click with me, despite the typically strong direction of Don Siegel. Some of the reveal scenes lack impact, and the reaction of the characters is very dated (men are collected and rational, women are emotional and screamy). The mechanics of how the pods work is also vague and inconsistent; at first it seems like the originals are being replaced, but later it sounds more like possession, and one character even gets replaced without being anywhere near a pod. And then there's the framing device, added by the studio to give the film a more triumphant end for humanity while dulling the impact of Siegel's original intended ending.
Rating:⭐⭐⭐
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, youngest brother of King Edward IV, plots and murders his way to the crown of England. One of the things I loved about the 90s was that studios were a lot more willing back then to front the cash for lavish, all-star productions of Shakespeare plays. Richard Loncraine and Ian McKellen's script shifts events to an alternative 1930s England that falls into fascism as Richard rises in power. They understand perfectly that the original text was never high drama, but a bloodthirsty pantomime made to flatter the Tudors and McKellen relishes every last second as the hammy OTT villain that is the original Tricky Dicky. The film's biggest weaknesses are Loncraine's workmanlike direction and the big name American stars, Annette Bening and Robert Downey Jr, who never sound entirely comfortable with the Bard's words.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Four young Hobbits are forced to leave their home and embark on a dangerous quest to help destroy the One Ring before it can be reclaimed by the Dark Lord Sauron. Ralph Bakshi's incomplete adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic is a decidedly odd concoction. It was made using a mixture of rotoscoping (wherein scenes are first shot in live-action then traced onto animation) and traditional cel animation with very mixed results, sometimes stunning, other times cringy. Many of the design choices are either bizarre or downright hilarious (what the hell is going on with Legolas' face?) while most of the character and place names are pronounced all wrong (Saruman becomes Arrowman). The script by Chris Conkling and Peter S. Beagle (The Last Unicorn) wisely doesn't try to do the whole story in one go, but still struggles to fit almost all of The Fellowship of the Ring and half of The Two Towers into one film, which leaves very little room for character.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011 More Mark Greig
I've caught some of these.
ReplyDeleteDick Tracy was widely panned, and I remember it being ok and using a very interesting and odd style to make it feel 'comic booky'. It was a fun, if not great watch.
I've seen this version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the 1978 version. I like both, but you are 100% on about the reactions of the men and women to the situation. I love the classic horror/sci fi movies, but this is a thing that plagues most of them. Still a solid film though.
I recall watching the animated version of the Hobbit on TV back in the 70s/early 80s and the Last Unicorn that you mention, but never caught the animated Lord of the Rings for some reason. I enjoyed that version of the Hobbit, as I read the book easily 30 times as a kid, but I haven't seen it in so long that it may be bad and I just can't recall! I don't remember much about the Last Unicorn at all, may have to track it down.
Master and Commander is so amazingly awesome as to defy description. It is in my top 10 films of all time as an absolutely brilliant — and brilliantly acted — sea adventure. Ye gods, what a great film, and such a shame that there will never be a sequel.
ReplyDeleteThe original Invasion of the Body Snatchers was intended as a Red Scare allegory, perhaps not surprising given it's directed by Don Siegel, who later gave us Dirty Harry, in which fascism is a good thing, actually (still a great film, though). I prefer the '70s remake and its bone-chilling ending.
I remember watching Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings on TV many, many years ago, and thinking that it was all right, but that the animation was nowhere near as good as Disney's. I did like the Nazguls, though.
I've yet to see any of the others. I've been meaning to watch Dick Tracy for years, but never seem to get around to it. Maybe this year.