Author: Mat Brewster

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Now Watching: Blacula (1972)

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Blacula (1972)
Directed by: William Crain
Starring: William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, Denise Nicholas and Gordon Pinsent

Synopsis: An 18th-century African prince is turned into a vampire while visiting Transylvania. Two centuries later, he rises from his coffin, attacking various residents of Los Angeles and meeting Tina, a woman whom he believes is the reincarnation of his deceased wife.

Rating: 7/10

I tend to do my movie watching over the weekend. The rest of the week tends to be dedicated to television series. Which means if I keep this up, you’re gonna get a lot of Now Watchings on Saturday and Sunday and basically none through the rest of the week. For now, I like doing these as it lets me give some basic thoughts on a film without having to put all the time and energy into a full review. I’ll still do full reviews, I’ve got a couple of war movies to talk about soon, but I like supplementing them with these snippets.

I can still remember browsing the aisles of my local video store (Mega Movies, the biggest and best rental place in town – it used to be a Burger King and they had a lot of floor space) and always smiling when I came across Blacula. I was aware of the existence of Blaxploitation films at this point, but had not seen any of them. But the idea of a black-centered Dracula movie was awesome to my young eyes.

I never did rent it, though. I couldn’t tell you why. But it always stayed in my mind, it remained on my list. Thirty years later, and I’m just now actually sitting down with it.

It is probably a better film than I imagined it to be, though not nearly as much fun. I hear the sequel leans into its inherent silliness.

The plot is pretty basic; it is pretty much explained in that synopsis. Mamuwalde (William Marshall) visits Dracula in 1790. In this film, Dracula is an old racist and states that he thinks the slave trade is good, actually. Mamuwade yells at him, and Dracula sucks his blood, sticks him in a coffin and our hero doesn’t wake up until 1972 when some gay interior decorators buy the coffin, ship it to Los Angeles and awaken our newly christened Blacula.

Mamuwalde/Blacula doesn’t even blink looking at how things have changed while he’s been away, gets him self spiffed up and hits the town. He sucks a little blood, learn to dance, and meets Tina (Vonetta McGee) who looks exactly like his wife from olden times. He becomes obsessed with wooing her.

Meanwhile, Dr. Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala) begins to suspect a vampire may be the cause of the recent uptick in murders, and the chase is on.

I’m by no means an expert on Blaxploitation films, but the ones I’ve seen have a lot more style and are a lot more fun than this one. Blacula isn’t dull by any means, but it leans more into the drama/horror aspects than the exploitation ones. It takes a few digs at social commentary, and William Marshall looks terrific as a vampire with some major sideburns.

Worth watching if you are into this sort of thing, but I can’t say I’ll revisit it anytime soon. But I definitely want to watch the sequel.

Now Watching: No Way Out (1987)

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No Way Out (1987)
Directed by: Roger Donaldson
Starring: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, Will Patton

Synopsis: Navy Lt. Tom Farrell meets a young woman, Susan Atwell, and they share a passionate fling. Farrell then finds out that his superior, Defense Secretary David Brice, is also romantically involved with Atwell. When the young woman turns up dead, Farrell is put in charge of the murder investigation. He begins to uncover shocking clues about the case, but when details of his encounter with Susan surface, he becomes a suspect as well.

Rating: 8/10

My little experiment to get more readers was a total bust. Turns out I’m terrible at posting regularly. I just don’t have it in me to be that guy, and the little extra I did post saw no improvement in my numbers.

Maybe they would if I pushed a little harder and did it for a little longer. I don’t know. I don’t really care. I’ll spend some more time thinking about what comes next. It seems logical to do more reviewing on Letterboxed or writing for Cinema Sentries, as that would definitely get me more eyeballs. But I love this little site, and it is hard to let that go. So, I’m gonna write when I want to write, post when I want to post. If people read it, great, and if not, well, that’s their loss.

Based on the novel The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing (which was also the basis of a pretty terrific little film noir of the same name made in 1948), No Way Out turns it into a political thriller with some neo-noir/erotic thriller tendencies.

Kevin Costner and Sean Young’s scenes together are steamy and playful, and you think the film is going to go one way, and then it goes another. Once she is out of the picture, it turns from its noir background to more of a straightforward thriller. There are a surprising number of scenes of just Costner walking angrily about the Pentagon, trying to keep everyone from knowing that the man they are looking for is actually him. And it totally works.

Hackman’s character has a lot more nuance than these things usually allow, making Will Patton’s lackey to Hackman’s Secretary of Defense character the true villain.

There are a couple of good chase scenes, and a lot of ridiculous techno nonsense (a large part of the plot revolves around them taking a nearly destroyed Polaroid photo negative and using computers to slowly render it into a readable image). The actors are all good, and I found it quite thrilling.


The Friday Night Horror Movie: Dracula (1979)

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Though I’ve seen probably a dozen Dracula movies, I’ve never actually read the book by Bram Stoker. Everything I know about the story, the characters, and the most famous vampire of all comes from the movies. I have no idea how accurate any of them are. They all change the narrative to suit their cinematic needs. But I figure between them all, I’ve probably gotten all of the details in there somewhere.

This version of the story was based on a stage play (the same one the Bela Lugosi film was based on). It doesn’t do anything particularly new with the story, though it does lean more into the seductive side of Dracula than the violent, destructive side. But it is a very good adaptation, if not exactly a necessary one.

It skips the beginning of the story with solicitor Jonathan Harker (Trevor Eve) visiting Count Dracula (Frank Langella) at his home. Instead, it begins with the arrival of Dracula on the Demeter. The ship crashes near the home of Dr. Jack Seward (Donald Pleasence), and Dracula is rescued by his daughter, Lucy Seward (Kate Nelligan).

At first, Dracula is friendly with everybody and dines that evening with the Seward’s and their friend Minda Van Helsing (Jan Francis). But that evening he’s sucking Minda’s blood and seducing Lucy.

Minda’s death brings Professor Van Helsing (Laurence Olivier) back from his journeys and…well, if you’ve seen other adaptations of the story, you more or less know what comes next.

Like I said, it doesn’t do anything particularly new with the story, but I quite liked it anyway. The sets look amazing, and cinematographer Gilbert Taylor, along with director John Badham, create some stunning imagery.

Olivier is great as Van Helsing, and Pleasence is enjoyable as Dr. Seward, whose home also happens to be situated on the grounds of an insane asylum, providing the film with some of its most memorable set pieces. Tony Haygarth gives a fine, if all too brief, performance as the deranged Renfield.

The entire cast is quite good, save for Frank Langella as Dracula. His performance lacks the menace or sensuality the role requires. He plays it like he’s an old gentleman, beset by loneliness who periodically has to suck people blood to survive. There are flashes of something special hidden in there, but mostly I found it a very odd performance.

But overall this is a very good version of the old story.

What Is It Good For? War Movies in June

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This will be the first time I’ve done a monthly theme in June. I’m not exactly sure why that is, except that I’ve often done several themes in the first half of the year (Foreign Film February, Westerns in March, Awesome ’80s in January, etc.) and so when June rules around I’m guessing I’ve been a little burned out and wanted to have a month where I could watch whatever I wanted to.

Apparently, I feel rested this year, or maybe I just don’t want to watch anything…Anyway, this month’s theme is war movies.

I’m a peacenik. I abhor violence in every form. In real life, anyway. On the screen, I love me some violence. And what is more violent than war?

I never joined the military. I have pretty complicated feelings towards the military as an organization, but I have the utmost respect for those who choose to serve, especially those who put their lives on the line in war.

I don’t really care to get political in this intro. I imagine plenty of the films I’ll watch will be very political, so I’ll let them do the talking. Great war movies put you in the muck, allow you to experience the chaos, the heroism, and the horror of being there. Nothing can really replicate that experience, but a great movie probably gets you as close as you can without actually being at war. They are as close to it as I ever want to be anyway.

Someone once said that there is no true anti-war movie because the very nature of cinema makes war seem exciting. That’s probably true, but a good war movie definitely makes me more of a peacenik than I am naturally.

But it is also true that great war movies make me long for meaning in my own life. Having life distilled down to survival, to fighting for something meaningful, really makes you wonder how you’d behave. Or at least I wonder how I’d behave put into a situation like that. Like the ones I’ll be watching this month, and writing about.

Now Watching: The Wild Geese (1978)

the wild geese

The Wild Geese (1978)
Directed by: Andrew V. McLaglen
Starring: Richard Burton, Roger Moore, and Richard Harris

Synopsis: A British multinational company seeks to overthrow a vicious dictator in central Africa. It hires a band of (largely aged) mercenaries in London and sends them in to save the virtuous but imprisoned opposition leader, who is also critically ill and due for execution. Just when the team has performed a perfect rescue, the multinational does a deal with the vicious dictator, leaving the mercenary band to escape under their own steam and exact revenge.

Rating: 1/10

Well, as yesterday goes to show, I’m really not cut out for this idea of posting several things per day. I just don’t have that much to say. Or maybe sometimes I’m just too tired. Or lazy. I’ll keep trying this week, but thus far, my numbers aren’t improving either. But I’m really not ready to give this site up, so I’m not sure what I’m going to do.

For now, I’m gonna keep writing when the spirit moves me.

I even forgot to mention that this month’s theme is War Movies in June.

The Wild Geese is a men assembled to do a mission movie in the vein of something like Where Eagles Dare or The Dirty Dozen. It has a great cast, but fails to be even a little bit interesting. It doesn’t help that the white mercenaries’ in Africa plot is steeped in colonialism and racism.

The film does acknowledge this somewhat with a brief scene in which the super-duper racist white guy has a five-minute chat with the sainted black politician (who is vaulted as this amazing human but is only given a handful of lines to speak) and changes his racist ways.

But honestly, you expect that sort of thing in this sort of film. What you don’t expect is action scenes that are poorly staged, poorly directed, and rather dull.

Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XIII Blu-ray Review

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I’ve talked about these film noir sets from Kino Lorber on multiple occasions. I’m always surprised they keep making them. I’m always surprised there are that many film noirs to release. But I love them just the same. I hope they keep making them forever.

This set includes a mostly great spy thriller, a surprisingly thoughtful thriller with a mentally ill killer, and a really rather good remake of a Hitchcock film.

You can read my full review here.

The Package (1989) Blu-ray Reivew

the package bluray

The Package was directed by Andrew Davis, who’d go on to direct one of my favorite films, The Fugitive, a few years later. It stars Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones, two of the best to ever do it. It should have been a great film. Instead, I found it rather disappointing. It isn’t so much a bad film as one that should have been better.

Oh well. You can read my full review over at Cinema Sentries.

Caliber 9 (1972) Blu-ray Review

caliber 9 bluray

I’ve got a terrible sinus headache, and I’m utterly exhausted from work, but I’m dedicated to fulfilling my goal this week of posting multiple things per day. Luckily, I still have a backlog of things I’ve reviewed for Cinema Sentries and not posted here.

And here we go.

Caliber 9 is a terrific Italian Poliziotteschi that blends plenty of action with a hard-hitting political message. It’s from director Fernando Di Leo and he never lets you down. It also has Barbara Bouchet and if you know her you know it is worth watching.

You can read my full review over at Cinema Sentries.

Five Cool Things and George Wendt

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George Wendt, the actor most known for portraying Norm on Cheers, passed away a couple of weeks ago. I absolutely loved that show and especially that character.

I paid tribute to him and wrote about three Raymond Chandler adaptations, a Thin Man sequel, and the opening credits to a fun new show in my latest Five Cool Things article.

You can read all about it over at Cinema Sentries.