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Liquid
Sky VHS
Liquid
Sky DVD
This 1983 science fiction oddity, set in the subterranean world of
heroin addicts, performance artists, and androgynous models in New York's
East Village, became a staple of the midnight movie circuit and college
campus film societies. A tiny UFO lands on the roof of a grungy penthouse
apartment... Amazon.com
Being
John Malkovich
VHS Tape from Umvd
starring John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener,
John Malkovich
directed by Spike Jonze
While too many movies suffer the fate of creative bankruptcy, Being
John Malkovich is a refreshing study in contrast, so bracingly original
that you'll want to send director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie
Kaufman a thank-you note for restoring your faith in the enchantment of
film. Even if it ultimately serves little purpose beyond the thrill of
comedic invention, this demented romance is gloriously entertaining, spilling
over with ideas that tickle the brain and even touch the heart. That's
to be expected in a movie that dares to ponder the existential dilemma
of a forlorn puppeteer (John Cusack) who discovers a metaphysical portal
into the brain of actor John Malkovich.
The puppeteer's working as a file clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor
of a Manhattan office building; this idea alone might serve as the comedic
basis for an entire film, but Jonze and Kaufman are just getting started.
Add a devious coworker (Catherine Keener), Cusack's dowdy wife (a barely
recognizable Cameron Diaz), and a business scheme to capitalize on the
thrill of being John Malkovich, and you've got a movie that just gets crazier
as it plays by its own outrageous rules. Malkovich himself is the film's
pièce de résistance, riffing on his own persona
with obvious delight and--when he enters his own brain via the portal--appearing
with multiple versions of himself in a tour-de-force use of digital trickery.
Does it add up to much? Not really. But for 112 liberating minutes, Being
John Malkovich is a wild place to visit. --Jeff Shannon - Amazon.com
Published: 05 November, 2002 |
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The
Rocky Horror Picture Show - The 25th Anniversary Edition (1975)
VHS
~ Tim Curry
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Cane
Toads - An Unnatural History (1987) DVD
Cane
Toads - An Unnatural History (1987) VHS
This odd documentary is for the audience that can't get enough of off-center,
real-life tales akin to those captured by Errol Morris (Gates of Heaven).
In the 1930s Australian sugar-cane farmers imported the bufo marinus, or
cane
toad, from Hawaii to destroy the crop-damaging greyback beetle. In
short, the descendents of the original 102 toads virtually took over half
a continent. We hear from all sides about the problem: the scientific studies
of their mating habits (bruising), defense systems (poison that can kill
a predator), and their eating habits (almost anything). Much of Mark Lewis's
short film sticks with the common folk and their polarized feelings about
the animal. Told with a great amount of wit, this 1987 documentary illustrates
that the strangest things on film are always true. --Doug Thomas - Amazon.com
I saw this at the Sydney Opera House when it was first released. People
were literally rolling in the aisles. Ed.
Delicatessen
from Paramount Studio
The title credit for Delicatessen reads "Presented by Terry Gilliam,"
and it's easy to understand why the director of Brazil was so supportive
of this outrageously black French comedy from 1991. Like Gilliam, French
codirectors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro have wildly inventive imaginations
that gravitate to the darker absurdities of human behavior, and their visual
extravagance is matched by impressive technical skill. Here, making their
feature debut, Jeunet and Caro present a postapocalyptic scenario set entirely
in a dank and gloomy building where the landlord operates a delicatessen
on the ground floor. But this is an altogether meatless world, so the butcher-landlord
keeps his customers happy by chopping unsuspecting victims into cutlets,
and he's sharpening his knife for a new tenant (French comic actor Dominque
Pinon) who's got the hots for the butcher's nearsighted daughter! Delicatessen
is a feast (if you will) of hilarious vignettes, slapstick gags, and sweetly
eccentric characters, including a man in a swampy room full of frogs, a
woman doggedly determined to commit suicide (she never gets its right),
and a pair of brothers who make toy sound boxes that "moo" like cows. It
doesn't amount to much as a story, but that hardly matters; this is the
kind of comedy that springs from a unique wellspring of imagination and
inspiration, and it's handled with such visual virtuosity that you can't
help but be mesmerized. There's some priceless comedy happening here, some
of which is so inventive that you may feel the urge to stand up and cheer.
--Jeff
Shannon - Amazon.com
starring Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac
directed by Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet |
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Eating Raoul (1982)
VHS ~ Paul Bartel
starring Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov
An extraordinarily funny movie - if you like dark humor. 5 Stars. Db.
Out of Print - Try Used
Movies
Holy
Smoke (2000) VHS
Harvey Keitel & Kate Winslow
Jane Campion Director
Bagdad
Cafe (1988) VHS
~ Marianne Sägebrecht
Repo Man
Listed under Science Fiction Movies
Romper Stomper
Listed under Russell Crowe Movies
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