AWN Blogs

This fairly non-partisan documentary about an evangelical church in Texas putting on its controversial haunted house displays the best and worst of the more fundamental Christian movement in America.

For 10 years, Trinity Church has been putting on Hell House, where different mini-plays display real world violence from a fundamental Christian perspective. The people who put on the performance really are dedicated to the cause of bringing the message of Jesus to non-believers. The film does a wonderful job of just watching the process of the Hell House being constructed from auditions, to practice, to script writing to performance.

To say that some of the people involved are extreme would be stating things too lightly. Some members of the church speak in tongues, which is a belief that a strange seemingly unintelligible language comes from ones heart and talks untainted to God. The phenomenon of tongues is definitely interpreted differently in other more mainstream Christian churches than the literal depiction in the film.

When Danny DeVito steps behind the camera, we usually get a dark comedy. The 1980s THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN and THE WAR OF THE ROSES are shining examples of his work. His recent DEATH TO SMOOCHY and DUPLEX make us wonder what the heck is going on. DUPLEX is crude, shallow and its worst sin is that it’s quite unfunny.

Alex Rose (Ben Stiller, REALITY BITES) and Nancy Kendricks (Drew Barrymore, CHARLIE’S ANGELS) have bought a duplex in Manhattan. However, due to rent control, they cannot kick out the elderly Mrs. Connelly (Eileen Essel, FINDING NEVERLAND) from the upstairs apartment. The old woman quickly becomes a nuisance to the yuppie couple and inadvertently leads to all sort of misery for them. This leads Alex and Nancy to want to murder Mrs. Connelly.

This is one of the stranger film noirs you may ever see. Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews, THE LOVED ONE) is assigned to the murder case of beautiful Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney, NIGHT AND THE CITY). McPherson first interviews the gossip writer Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb, 1950’s CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN), who then accompanies him to interview socialite Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF) and Laura’s boy-toy fiancée Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price, THE FLY).

What’s fascinating about the film is the implausibility of the actions of many of the characters, but the film’s lack of caring. Would an investigator really take a murder suspect along for the ride to interview other suspects? When McPherson interviews Lydecker, the writer is in the bathtub, eventually getting out and asking McPherson for his robe. How many murder suspects appear fully nude (even if its off camera) to the detective?

Based on a true story, director Steven Schachter (THE WOOL CAP) and star William H. Macy (THE COOLER) have crafted this heart-warming TV biopic that chronicles the story of Bill Porter (Macy), a man with cerebral palsy who through patience and perseverance became a top door-to-door salesman for the Watkins company.

Porter’s mother (Helen Mirren, CALENDAR GIRLS) drives her son to succeed. Porter’s dedication to the products he sold and determination made him a born salesman. The film paints Porter as an inspirational figure in the mode of movie-of-the-week fashion. Where this film stands above the typical movie-of-the-week is through Macy’s wonderful performance and the relationships the film develops with the women in Porter’s life.

Before moving on to direct films like GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS, OUR TOWN, KINGS ROW and THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, Sam Wood helmed two of the Marx. Bros.’ most famous films. OPERA came first followed by A DAY AT THE RACES two years later. As you can see from my star rating and review of RACES, I don’t think that the Marx Bros. films are classics.

They’re funny, but too chaotic at times. It’s the zaniness that some people like but it doesn’t work as a film. Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho Marx) is a shady business manager who is trying to help the rich Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont, HORSE FEATHERS) get into high society by donating money to the opera. Meanwhile, Driftwood’s friends Fiorello (Chico Marx) and Tomasso (Harpo Marx) are trying to help their singer friend Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones, A DAY AT THE RACES) get a lead part in the opera company’s performance in New York City. However, the company star Rodolfo Lassparri (Walter Woolf King, GO WEST) has different ideas, especially when it comes to Ricardo’s girlfriend and female singing star Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle, RADIO DAYS).

Based on Ursula K. Le Guin’s book, this Sci Fi Channel miniseries tells the tale of Ged (Shawn Ashmore, X2: X-MEN UNITED), a young man who dreams of becoming a wizard. Ged displays great gifts of wizardry, which attracts the attention of wizard Ogion (Danny Glover, LETHAL WEAPON), who has little patience for the young wanna-be wizard. So Ged heads off to a wizard school where he meets his good friend Vetch (Chris Gauthier, FREDDY VS. JASON) and causes himself a lot of trouble.

In the meantime, Ged dreams of a beautiful priestess named Tenar (Kristin Kreuk, TV’s SMALLVILLE), who trains under the tutelage of High Priestess Thar (Isabella Rossellini, BLUE VELVET). What the priestesses don’t know is that one of their own – Kossil (Jennifer Calvert, THE WAITING ROOM) – has teamed up with the warring King Tygath (Sebastian Roche, 15 MINUTES), who wants to unleash the power of the Nameless Ones to make himself immortal.

Christopher Guest (THE PRINCESS BRIDE) has made a career out on doing mockumentaries. His most recent is probably his most subtle, which makes for bigger laughs when it succeeds. I’ve read a few comments about the film being dull. I think those are the viewers that are not getting the joke. This one is plays it very close to the bone.

The story follows a tribute concert put on after the death of famed folk promoter Irving Steinbloom. His son Jonathan (Bob Balaban, GOSFORD PARK) tries to arrange for three of his father’s favorite groups to perform – The Folksmen, The Main Street Singers and Mitch & Mickey. The Folksmen are comprised of bass player Mark Shubb (Harry Shearer, HISTORY OF WHITE PEOPLE IN AMERICA), lead singer/guitar player Jerry Palter (Michael McKean, THIS IS SPINAL TAP) and banjo player Alan Barrows (Guest). The humor of their segments comes from their recollections of their heyday and their thoughts on being retro.

This film may be the inspiration of every Lifetime “dying woman” chick flick ever made. That doesn’t make this film bad though. You can’t slight something good for the bad things it spawns.

Judith Traherne (Bette Davis, NOW, VOYAGER) is a young socialite, who lives a carefree lifestyle of wealth and privilege. She fills her days with her friends Ann King (Geraldine Fitzgerald, WUTHERING HEIGHTS) and Alec Hamm (Ronald Reagan, KINGS ROW) partying and arguing with her horse trainer Michael O’Leary (Humphrey Bogart, TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE). She a good-hearted person and brings cheer to any room she enters. But she starts having headaches and vision problems, which led to a riding accident. The handsome Dr. Frederick Steele (George Brent, JEZEBEL) operates on her, but learns that he has only alleviated her symptoms, but can do nothing about saving her life. Complicating matters, Judy falls in love with her doctor.

This film sort of defines the image of 1950s B-sci fi/horror flicks. Two teens in love – Steve Andrews (Steve McQueen, BULLITT) and Jane Martin (Aneta Corsaut, TV’s THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW) – find themselves tormented by a killing machine from space.

In a sense, the filmmakers didn’t take the film all that seriously with the opening title song being a chipper, do-wop song about the Blob. That’s the other thing that drains the film of any real scares – the Blob. It’s a red goo that slowly creeps toward its victims. Surprisingly, the 1988 remake made the red goo seem scary… at least a little bit.

At first, Steve and Jane tell their tale of the Blob to the police who don’t believe them. This doesn’t stop the Blob from consuming very animal in its path. So Steve and Jane round up the teens in town to warn everyone.

After only watching 10 minutes of this film, I knew why this film gets a mention in a Quentin Tarantino film. THE GUNS OF NAVARONE creates its characters in iconic fashion and puts them in interesting moral dilemmas. It captures the camaraderie of war as well as its brutality and pointlessness. There's great action, but the clash of the characters' personalities is what creates the thrills.

Commodore Jensen (James Robertson Justice, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG) brings together a force of top soldiers to go on a suicide mission to sneak onto the island of Navarone and destroy the two giant guns there that have prevented the Ally warships from rescuing a squad of soldiers stranded on a nearby island. Time is of the essence because the Germans want to draw Turkey into the war and plan to murder the soldiers.

Forget about DRESSED TO KILL or BODY DOUBLE, SISTERS is Brian DePalma’s masterpiece. It’s more horror than thriller. The film starts with aspiring model Danielle Breton (Margot Kidder, SUPERMAN) and newspaperman Phillip Woode (Lisle Wilson, TV’s THAT’S MY MOMMA) meeting as contestants on a CANDID CAMERA-type game show. Danielle wins a steak knives set and Woode wins dinner for two at an African theme restaurant. They decide to go to dinner together. At dinner, Danielle’s ex-husband Emil Breton (William Finley, THE FUNHOUSE) shows up. He’s super creepy and starts the strange tone that is veiled over the rest of the film.

The film is filled with a lot of twists and turns throughout. I don’t want to reveal any of the film’s secrets, but I can say there is a vicious murder. Danielle is one of a famous Siamese twin pair with her sister Dominique, who isn’t very nice. Wrapped up in the crime are upcoming, women’s lib reporter Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt, TV’s SOAP), who witnesses the murder, and veteran private detective Joseph Larch (Charles Durning, TOOTSIE).

Woody Allen makes two kinds of films – relationship comedies and screwball spoofs. I’m a fan of the relationship comedies more than the screwball stuff. Don’t get me wrong I love EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX (BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK) and ZELIG, but I tend to remember ANNIE HALL, MANHATTAN and CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS more when I think of Allen’s best work.

This film is a spoof of period pieces like BARRY LYNDON, Ingmar Bergman and Sergei Eisenstein. Allen plays Boris Grushenko, an introspective Russian man, who wants nothing to do with the war against Napoleon. It’s the typical Allen character transported back a few centuries. He’s in love with Sonja (Diane Keaton, SOMETHING GOTTA GIVE), but she doesn’t notice him at all. The film chronicles Boris’ life in the military, his affairs with Countess Alexandrovna (Olga Georges-Picot, GOOD-BYE, EMMANUELLE), his duel with the Countess’ lover Anton Inbedkov (Harold Gould, THE STING), his quick marriage and his involvement in a plot to assassinate Napoleon (James Tolkan, BACK TO THE FUTURE).