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Reviews
The Sadist (1963)
Not Oscar-worthy by a long shot, but quite watchable, and even engrossing.
I approached "The Sadist" with a keen memory of the utterly unappealing Arch Hall, Jr., as the "hero" of "Eegah!" in mind -- yet within minutes was quite pleasantly surprised by the way the picture *worked*.
There is no question that Hall, as "Charlie Tibbs," is a low-budget Charlie Starkweather -- you can't miss that this is a thinly-veiled Starkweather "a clef" if you know the real Starkweather/Fugate story (or have seen the TV-movie "Starkweather," or even the loosely-inspired-by "Badlands").
I never thought I'd praise Arch Jr., but, frankly, his slack-jawed portrayal of the gun-wielding sociopath is the stuff your on-a-lonely-road nightmares are made of. Kudos too go to Marilyn Manning (teen queen "Roxy" of "Eegah!"), whose developmentally-disabled Judy here is, surprisingly, as good as that of any extra in "The Snake Pit." (I may be stretching it to say that she even reminds me a wee bit of Juliette Lewis in "Kalifornia" -- but watch and decide for yourself if I'm entirely off the hook on that notion.)
Yet the real props go to Helen Hovey, whose initially dumb-virgin "Doris" turns out (trust me: no spoilers here!) to be the most admirable of the bunch, in terms of sheer moral backbone. (To be honest, once her hair comes down, she metamorphoses into an entirely different creature, far more interesting than the seemingly-mindless "nun on the run" she appears to be when we first meet her.) To reveal more would be to reveal too much.
Suffice to say, "The Sadist" is much better than your average "Whaddya wanna watch on cable tonight, honey?" time-passer. Give it 15 minutes to get past the "Hey, dumbasses! Don't stop here!" introduction, and you'll be surprised by how much you'll start to identify with the protagonists.
And don't assume you know at the start who lives and who dies. Which in itself is the mark of a pretty fair movie.
The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
A "guy film" girls can really like
So, there's some crude humor -- in fact, a *lot* of crude, sophomoric, juvenile-boy-type humor. But, women, if you are expecting nothing but fart jokes, I assure you that you will be pleasantly surprised. It's actually a pretty gentle (and often insightful) take on male-friend interaction, but there's enough sophomoric, "P-word" joking around to keep your boyfriend/husband happy, yet enough genuinely touching moments to keep *you* happy.
It's a difficult movie to categorize -- part teen-style sex farce, and part true-romance, with enough laugh-out-loud, gut-busting moments for both male and female, straight and gay, hip and incurably-geek.
In short, it's the best date movie I've seen in many years -- and there's nothing so offensive that you couldn't watch it with your mom (that is, if your mom is capable of cracking up over condom jokes).
Big bonus for this viewer: MAD-TV's Mo Collins' brief but memorable cameo as as the "ex-lesbian", "Gina" (pronounced with a long "I").
Extra-extra bonus: The soundtrack. Among the standouts: The Joboxers' irresistible "Just Got Lucky"; the 1970s pop version of "Jesu Joy" (anyone else find this a welcome flashback via "Boogie Nights"?); and the main theme from "Hair".
Bottom line: Definitely watchable, rentable, and watchable-again. It's been a while since Hollywood has produced such an endearing sex farce.
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Great party flick!
Seriously now, does anyone really expect an early, low-budget Wes Craven vehicle for a cast of mostly-unknowns (half of them portraying wild desert cannibals) to be on par with Wuthering Heights? Hills is nothing more or less than good, fun, creepy, gross, junk-food cinema. Don't take it seriously -- just gather up your friends, pass out the popcorn, and have a good time!