Month: September 2021

After watching The Fabulous Baron Munchausen, I was eagerly looking forward to this film though I didn’t think anything could top the creativity seen there. I was wrong. While they both utilize a mix of live action and animation styles to create a fantasy world, here it is used to create the illusion of a world that is a moving, breathing line engraving. Every single part of the visuals are committed to this vision. The costumes are bold in contrasting patterns of dark and light. Even the water and sky have line etched overlays to fit right into the setting. The story brings forth a world where technology is rapidly growing, with fanciful steam machines of all types being shown, and the greatest weapon ever invented is on the horizon. A super villain is willing to do whatever it takes to get his hands on it the moment the weapon is realized. While set in the Victorian age, it is a particularly poignant reflection in the post atomic bomb age.  

A young girl who spends her afternoons boxing with her brother decides she’d rather devote her energies to the dance team that practices in the same facility. Soon after her joining, girls in the troupe start experiencing seizures. These fits parallel the experiences of puberty itself. The older girls are the ones first inflicted. Each girls’ experience is different with some gleefully awaiting for their turn while others more reticent. Aside from these attacks, there is a deeper exploration of the changes that the main character experiences, expertly played by Royalty Hightower. She craves the female camaraderie, the control of her body, the group identity, and femininity. As she grows more comfortable in her new role, her confidence grows as does her smile.

It’s unfortunate that the racist overtones of Peter Sellers’s brown-faced Indian character overwhelms this movie. It’s otherwise a delightful fish-out-of-water romp about a bumbling actor who is accidentally invited to an elite Hollywood party. There are plenty of crazy crowd scenes reminiscent of the best films of Jacques Tati. The colorful, swinging 60s pad provides ample settings for the madcap antics, particularly with the pool/fountain running throughout the living space. Oddly this is my second Gavin MacLeod film in as many days. It’s just really unfortunate about that racial caricature.

Four crooks are trying to acquire uranium-rich land in Kenya. They’ve coerced Humphrey Bogart to join them in their plans, unfortunately they are waylaid by unreliable transport from Italy and a suspicious British couple waiting for passage on the same ship. This could be a serious heist film, but instead it’s a parody of the same. Jennifer Jones is the female half of the British couple and her primary personality feature is telling stories of pure fantasy. It’s a silly farce that doesn’t overstay its welcome thanks to a fairly short runtime.

This is the wild story of how the three widows of Frankie Lymon, famed singer of the titular song, battled for the claim of his royalties. Told through courtroom scenes and flashbacks detailing each of Frankie’s relationships, the film is buoyed by over the top performances by the three women (and some unfortunate aging makeup), played by Vivica A. Fox, Halle Berry, and Lela Rochon. It ends up being a fun biopic that belies the tragedy of Frankie Lymon’s life, dead of a heroin overdose at the age of 25.