Change Your Image
BR796164
Reviews
A Boy and His Dog (1975)
Humor after the Apocalypse
Meet Vic, a standard product of 2024 post-nuclear American wasteland. No basic education, no advanced sense ethics and morality, opportunist approach to survival and satisfaction of his biologic desires. Meet his partner, a dog called Blood - a hyper intelligent canine with telepathic ability to communicate with humans of his own choice. Probably the smartest thing you can find in this God forsaken desert. An uneven pair and their raw survivalist adventure for food cans and rare human females. The film has deserved some critics for being misogynistic, but it's actually a very realistic image of how a morally decaying post-apocalyptic remnants of the mankind may function. The message is clear : the harsh reality of survivalist life is so bleak, that you have to adopt sarcastic attitude, to avoid madness and depression in this world. One of the best post-apo movies ever made, even though it's (carefully weighted) cynical humor may not be suitable for the politically correct among us. Based on Harlan Ellison's story, the film became almost forgotten in the shadow of later success of similarly themed Mad Max series.
Pros : believable hard edge atmosphere with modest resources, dry humorous outlook, dog perspective camera, "Tiger's" dog performance of Blood
Cons : the psychology of some characters could have been deeper, too bizarre description of the underground society, quite politically incorrect from feminist point of view
Dünyayi Kurtaran Adam (1982)
The work of a mad genius.
Oh dear, I haven't laughed over a parody like this in a long time. This is how you do it : First, have a ban of Star Wars in early 1980s Turkey. So you decide to make your own version. With some difficulties, obtain copies of Star Wars E4 and 5 from the black market (on a worn out videotape) and cut out all cool space fight scenes from the films. Steal no, BORROW "The Raiders March" from Raiders of the Lost Ark (on a worn out audiotape) and few other musical pieces from classic heroic films. Get two dudes well above their prime for the roles of the saviors of the universe. Hire a curious mute blonde with blue eyes, too big nose and a boy for the role of a curious mute blonde with blue eyes, too big nose and a boy. Make MANY cheap costumes (including a tin variation on Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet) and a fire-resistant wooden super sword. Take all the cast and crew to the desert for a week-or-so long shooting. Combine the footage from the desert with the Star Wars space scenes. Voila - Turkish Star Wars! Wait... it WASN'T a parody??? So bad it's brilliant.
Pros : quite a sophisticated plot for such cheap crap, stupid costumes, curious mute blonde with blue eyes and too big nose (and a boy, if you like...), everything else
Cons : very low budget, too long to be less funny in the second half, everything else
The Thing from Another World (1951)
So much verbal SCI it's boring
Verdict : The original adaptation of J.W.Campbell's story "Who Goes There?." Much more scientifically sophisticated than Carpenter's horror-oriented remake from 30 years later. Unfortunately, rich dialogues create a rather downbeat atmosphere, which soon turns to boredom. The shock scenes are few and far between and before you know it, it's all over. It is difficult to avoid comparison with Carpenter's film, since it became much more culturally significant sf/horror classic.
Pros : higher scientific sophistication, surprising "first encounter scenes" (if not too many), appropriate SFX (for the era)
Cons : too many characters in the script with shallow personalities, too much unnecessary dialogue, illogical actions of the characters in danger
American Beauty (1999)
Life or another?
This movie really makes you look at the world from different angle - that we shouldn't be so shallow and dissembling. That we should enjoy each minute of our life. That we can have opinions different from the convenient ones which the society offers us. That we should be able to liberate ourselves from our paranoid lifestyle and try to find beauty even in the most simple things.