Short and much more succinct, director Donlee Brussel’s “Cabbie” has really managed to change its overall tone, lending to its a bittersweet taste that I thought worked much better. “Cabbie” still has its flaws, but when it was done, the purpose of “Cabbie” seemed much more focused. “Cabbie” is centered on aspiring cabbie Marty, who is a combination of naive and quirky. He sees the more interesting purpose of cabbies as being a noble profession, and wants desperately to be the nomadic cab driver that travels the city looking for new people to take to their destination.
Tag Archives: C
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
This is what the “Star Wars” prequels should have been. An amazing young warrior torn by lust for power by an evil master, and honor and duty by a noble master, both of whom are fighting for the young soul’s innocence. If only, folks, if only. In the end though, Director Ang Lee’s masterpiece made me wish Director George Lucas would have just paid attention and taken some notes! That said, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is beautiful, it’s wonderfully acted, and yes, it’s a masterpiece. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is a beautifully layered and complex storyline with numerous sub-plots, all of which never go unresolved and under explored.
Captain America [Blu-ray] (1990)
“He may not be Superman, but he’ll be a living symbol of what this country stands for!”
One thing I found most inexplicable about Albert Pyun’s 1990 “Captain America” adaptation is the curious presence of the cast of “A Christmas Story.” Either, they were in town for a press junket, or Pyun just loves the movie, because they appear throughout the film. Melinda Dillon has a walk on role as Steve Rogers’ mom who gives him a memento to take to the war with him, while Darren McGavin has a supporting role as a corrupt politician working with the Red Skull. What, did Peter Billingsley opt out of playing Bucky? In either case, director Albert Pyun does the best he can with so little, and 1990’s “Captain America” is still a terrible comic book movie, in spite of the nostalgia value it holds. Only real collectors will want to pick up this latest Shout Factory release, as director Pyun really doesn’t know how to construct a great Captain America movie.
Cloud Atlas (2012) (Blu-ray/DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy Combo Pack)
Re-incarnation links us to one another, there is no free will, we’re bound to one another in an endless stream of dilemmas we’re fated to live out. We can change it if we so choose, but it is incredibly difficult to defy fate. It takes almost three hours to spell out those very messages to the audience, and what a three hours it is. “Cloud Atlas” has a lot of ambition, with a hefty helping of self-importance to add to its genres, but it does very little to convince us why we should care. About anything in this movie. There are multiple storylines, but I never found myself empathizing with anyone really.
Cujo (1983)
What I love about Lewis Teague’s “Cujo,” is that while it is a story about a rabid dog mercilessly ravaging a mother and son in their car, the movie seems to be more about karma gone awry. Dee Wallace as Donna Trenton is a woman who is devoted to her son, but is also very committed to the affairs she’s currently having on her husband. The first half of “Cujo” is spent on familial discord and how Donna’s misdeeds with a colleague seems to be rotting this unit from the inside out.
Conspiracy Cinema: Propaganda, Politics, and Paranoia [Paperback]
The reason why society hasn’t completely written off certain conspiracy theories is that decades after the introduction of certain theories, some of them have turned out to be true. Many people write off or dismiss conspiracies and the people that believe them, as quacks or nut jobs. Most times many people conclude that conspiracies and their believers are merely trying to find rationale in a senseless world, and feed off of their conclusions. But to them, someday they will be proven correct. It’s happened before with certain conspiracy theories once thought completely insane or moronic, and there is a fraction of society that are firm in their stance that we’ve yet to see the secrets unfold before our very eyes.
Author David Ray Carter doesn’t so much build a reference guide of movies that contain conspiracies, or movies about conspiracies, but offers up a very detailed guide of movies that are about some of the most unusual and popular conspiracies of all time. The author thankfully takes an objective tone for much of the book, allowing the reader to pretty much approach the material with an interest and an open mind. Much of this will be ridiculous upon first glance, and some of it may seem absolutely moronic, but the point of the book is to keep an open mind and consider that there are people that actually subscribe to these theories and will go to war for them. I can only imagine how mentally exhausted author David Ray Carter must have been combing through all of the titles for the book, but lo and behold, there are so many documentaries here for consumption that will appeal to the interested viewer.
Cemetery High (1989)
Basically, Gorman Bechard’s “Cemetery High” is a comedy spoof of every rape revenge movie you’ve ever seen. Except when it tries to be funny, it fails painfully. When it tries for exploitation revenge, it manages to be a pretty absurd and interesting bit of revenge horror. I wonder why someone thought mocking this material would make for an entertaining movie. Granted, the tale of women striking down rapists isn’t exactly a dramatic bit of cinematic fare, especially in the late eighties, but mocking the material so incessantly feels so shoe horned, the comedy is awkward rather than unfunny.