Mimi-16 Reviews

Invaders from Mars (1953)

Strange. There seems to be 2 different edits of this film

[7/10 · 23 March 2011]

I just watched this on NetFlix. Their version is very-very murky to look at. But more importantly, this version mentions that the boy's parents are alive and well, and recuperating in hospital. At the end of the film, after the army has defeated the Martians, his two adult friends put him to bed and all is well.

In the version I've grown up seeing a dozen times or more, the army seems to be losing the battle as the boy is running and running, looking for an escape. We have learned that his parents are dead at this point. He wakes up in his bed, realizing it was just a nightmare, until an actual spaceship does indeed crash exactly as it happened in his sleep. Now knowing how to beat the Martians, the boy happily climbs out his window to go save the world from the invaders.

I Confess (1953)

An Amazing And Underrated Film

[10/10 · 4 December 2008]

Holy... ( pardon the accidental joke ) I just watched "I Confess" for the first time. I've seen almost all of Hitchcock's films, from the silent era onward, and somehow missed this one. It's a film movie-buffs never bring up when speaking of Hitchcock.

I can't believe this. I love his films, but few of his films truly speak from deep in the heart, beyond the terror factor. This one explores some very dark places, as most of his films do. But "I Confess" goes to places where most people's sense of "sacred" ( biblically or romantically ) are afraid to go or question.

Like "Notorious", this film questions the idea of faith, love, devotion, hope, redemption, and forgiveness, on so many MANY levels, from almost every single character in this masterpiece. My intellectual and emotional mind were pounding a mile a minute as this story unfolded.

The cinematography was...well, perfect. For the most part, it wasn't shot as a murder-mystery or terror-tale. Hitchcock, at least for me, had this filmed as a love story for most of its running length. Very sneaky. But the performances and editing were very much high intensity and believable. I thought, since Hitchcock ( wisely ) didn't want to have a priest playing "action-hero" in this story, directing and filming most of it that way, made total sense. This method under-scored the priest's dignity, the love between he and his former lover's character, and the love between he and his higher faith.

The Human Comedy (1943)

The milder flavor of propaganda of its time...

[3/10 · 7 April 2008]

Yeah... This one is most definitely Wonder Bread™ style of "we're number one, we're number one" USA flag-waving. Patriarchial "Morning in America" fluff .

This movie tries not to be mean and frightful during war-time. Unlike most of the WWII melodramas and action films that typically come from the west, it relies on the HallMark Greeting Card/Boys Life Magazine view of dark and light, and not The Shadow Knows pulp fear most of this era's wartime drama relies upon.

Too often, this film pulls what politicians through the ages (most embarrassingly right now ) in skirting issues with massaging its audience's ego to ensure no one questions any flaws in the image of any "greater good". A trick to get basically decent people to fall in step and accept or perform some horrible things all in the name of Homefront, Homeland, and the like.

I do understand when it was made and what was happening to the world. But I also understand these films were made in close partnership with our own propaganda offices in US Government. Even in a war that had to be fought in its time, this film's simplistic, condescending emotional symbolism, and manipulation, are exactly the smoke and mirrors that are used right now on this generation's "every person USA".

It tells it audience to be adults and stand up. But more often than not, it tells us (like ill- informed children) to lock in step. Not only in needed physical action to "fight the good fight", but also in our intellectual understanding of complex issues at home at around the world. Hmmm... Just like the current echo-machinery. Some things never change...in a country too enamored by celebrity, wealth, authority, and power... sigh.

And I agree with some about the plot. You know exactly what will happen to everyone in the very first 10 minutes of this film. You really do know everything that will happen.

Lastly, in it's well intentioned "understanding" of the Great Melting Pot, this film performs MAJOR racial/ethnic/sexual insults regularly. I thought I was going to puke during many scenes and lines that, however tamed down, were just quieter racial and sexual stereotyping, still echoing throughout America today, by either well meaning and mostly caucasian "moderate" liberals or conservatives.

Small Wonder (1985–1989)

This show was made by robots...

[11 May 2004]

When I first saw it airing (that debut afternoon in Chicago), I thought it was a gag. A parody of typical 1960s fantasy TV comedies. I didn't expect an entire "30" minutes of it.

I don't know if I ever dropped a comment on this "show" before. But the acting was bad. The scripts were 2nd rate, the direction was 3rd rate, and the over-used canned laugh-track was 4h rate.

Anyone having any bit of fond nostalgia for this show was either a small child at the time or a happy victim of the Dumbing Down of America and Acceptance of Diminished Expectations.

Ironically, the character with the most natural emotions on the show was the android Vicki. And she had to be colder than a brand new toaster.

Animal Crackers (1930)

Trivia for the dark room scene.

[21 December 2002]

In the darkened room theft scene, pay close attention to Captain Spaulding. That ISN'T Groucho. It looks like Zeppo playing Groucho. I've noticed it since I was a kid, but have never read any mention of this in reviews of the film.

Small Wonder (1985–1989)

A HORRIBLE throw-back to the worst 1960s US TV-formulas

[25 October 2002]

My wife and I were joking about this bad show last night and how American pop culture has so diminished the expectations of it's audience, some of the worst ideas are praised, simply because some greedy (and barely creative) decision-maker had the audacity to air such rubbish in the first place.

I decided to look it up here, this morning.

When I first saw this excuse for a regular series, I had just tuned in on the opening pilot and credits, and presumed it was a send-up of any 50s or 60s sitcom, contained within some new comedy or variety show. With its terrible acting, annoying characters, sloppy writing, inept direction, annoying theme-song, annoying incidental music, and unnaturally timed canned laugh-track. This show was one of those serious sci-fi depictions of bad entertainment in the "future". Occasionally, over several seasons, in sick perversion, I watched a few more, to see if it would get any better. It got worse and even more predictable than the pilot I stumbled upon.

It just had to be a cosmic-joke, right? It was, wasn't it????

I was incredibly shocked that this garbage-dump made it to TV. But even at the time, I realized FOX was still looking for an identity for itself. Too bad they tried to find one in this show. Because none of these supposedly human characters had barely more personality than the android Vicki. They only thing any of them had up on the android's personality deficiencies, they were all snide, conniving, shallow and manipulative.

All of the actors had that annoying 30-second appeal people have in television commercials. No surprise, since I remember all of these "actors" from previous annoying and intelligence-mocking TV ads.

Anyone that liked this show was definitely a casualty of American media manipulation, dumbing down of their expectations and fooling themselves. If anyone can say, deep down, honestly, this was good, they needed to get out more in the 1980s.

Or at least turn off the TV for a few weeks.

Red Dwarf (1988– )

If only US TV Sci-fi could be like this again...

[23 August 2002]

Not going to say much. I first discovered this show in 1991. Via some bootleg videos a friend of mine (at the time) had borrowed from a Chicago science-fiction convention he helped organize. The Red Dwarf cast was attending it, and he partied with them. I'm sure they "lent" him the converted tapes.

My wife and I were instantly hooked. We both saw the extreme level of care, intelligence, humour and sci-fi sophistication in the show.

The show has changed and evolved over its long life. We kept an open mind. Especially since one of its plot tools was the sci-fi use of alternate time and space realities.

We love all the versions of the BBC series and can't wait for the Red Dwarf movie to be released in the US.

An Awfully Big Adventure (1995)

The Show Must Go On

[31 July 2002]

I've been curious about this movie for a long time. I finally saw it on IFC.

It was great! In this age of VERY expensive, predictable, committee-approved "art", I was relieved to watch this story unfold. Although I suspected early on about the relationship between Cates and Rickman's characters, it's execution was much better than the usual pap that pretends to be a surprise or twist.

Or even interesting.

The real twists in this story, was its own mirror of the real human forces and decisions that keep some of the sweetest, and unfortunately, worst stories going on. The twists were the tiny reasons why such things, sometimes painful and abhorrent to our collective cultural sense of what's right and decent in a society, to continue within it.

The hypocrisy of denying that these dark parts of ourselves exist often cause them to continue. Often times, the self-appointed moral-police of our culture make this inevitable in their pursuit of human frailty, the aftermath of its hunt, and the white-washing of the events (and non-events) they discovered.

No character represented total evil, good, decadence or purity, including Stella. She had as much (subtle) emotional weaponry with her, as she had emotional scars.

Many Americans don't like, or have been trained (over time) to not have patience for such imperfect main-characters in fiction anymore. The one-dimensional, mass-marketed character, is the norm here now.

That's sad. Because of that, this movie (and others like it) didn't do very well here.

Having this story take place within the entertainment industry is an excellent way of displaying so much of the world's human tragedy AND stupidity being covered up by some people's treachery, some people's nobility, or a combination of both.

And even at the end of this tale, all of the stage crew, like life itself, executed their own particular versions of the adage, "The show must go on."

No perfect hollywood story here, with it's base and stupid doling out of come-uppance of everyone's flaws...or Evil.

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

A pretty good remake of a Classic

[28 January 2002]

I don't have much to say, I'm sorry. But I did see this version of "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" when it was originally released. And just watched it again on AMC. I was entertained.

But it cannot touch the original. Maybe it's just because the story's original telling so matched what was in the public consciousness of the 1930's and 1940's.

It was a good retelling. But perhaps it needed to be updated further in certain aspects of it's psychology?

Anyway, I hope, if anyone plans yet another version, they mend this little complaint of mine.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

A Wonderful Modern Fable about Racism, Love and Change

[31 May 2000]

In 1967, I was 4 years old. And a child of mixed "ethnicity", from both sides of my family. I first saw this movie in 1971. At that age, I understood it's message, it's metaphors and subtle (and obvious) symbolisms. From my young mind, it felt dated even then. Some of the comments posted fail to realize that any piece of art that tackles the topical, instantly dates itself. The "bigger" the topic, the faster the art will date itself.

Spike Lee's attempt at such subject matter has also dated itself (and in the guise of telling the truth) allowed him to express the same prejudices (and his own disdain for his father's later marriage to a Jewish woman) that "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?"'s warned about. And I believe most of his films will ultimately be forgotten as grand-standing rants against what (good and bad) he and our generation (like the mindless dancers in the film) take for granted in 21st century America.

The movie is a modern Fable. A morality play. And should be viewed as such. Not a historical document. Then it's importance, beauty and charm will be appreciated.

There was no attempt at telling the story accurately from "the trenches" of the civil-rights movements. It was about two "ideal" representative families of middle-class America facing their "politically correct" philosophies, when "forced to" by their children. The parents (and the maid) ideologically represented the generation that lived through (and helped cause by action or inaction) such changes in America. The young people ideologically represented the youth that was beginning to take such painfully fought for "changes" for granted. There were many little metaphors about change and progress throughout this film, that had, on the surface, nothing to do with "race", but everything to do with people's love and hate of any kind of change.

Any middle-aged or older person has had to deal with their personal computer oriented "youngsters" to understand what else this film was about.

All of the main and directly supporting cast members gave fine performances from a very thoughtful and understanding script. Another thing to remember before criticizing the script itself, is that most American movies are scripted by white, middle class writers, aiming to have their product or art, reach the widest audience possible. And considering the turmoil of 1966-67 American race-relations, and quite possiblly the creators did not come from "mixed ethnicity", ALL involved, did an excellent job. Because so much of it's message is now taken for granted (proven by the overwhelmingly negative swipes by a few of the comments), the movie's initial importance is still here.

Braindead (1992)

A great and inspired gore-fest comedy!

[15 December 1999]

What can I say? This movie takes just about every little sick thought you might imagine concerning the human-body and zombies and goes with it. Everytime you feel the director/writers have taken one step too far, they take 5 steps more. GREAT humour, tight acting and characterizations!

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

A very engrossing film.

[29 September 1999]

This movie (although terribly dated), is a movie I believe everyone should see. The plot wasn't new when this movie (and the book it was based on) was produced. But it's a sober reminder in how we become too dependent on technology and our own arrogance in creating it. Not necessarily artificial-intelligence, but all that we invent to make things easier for us and how we so easily become dependent on it.

Solid performances throughout. A little clinical in execution though. I don't know if that's what the director intended or not. Filled with many now recognizable screen talents.