FILM FRENZY

Jorma Tommila in Sisu (Photo: Lionsgate)

By Matt Brunson

(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, 4K and DVD. Ratings are on a four-star scale.)

ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET. (2023). Writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig, whose 2016 gem The Edge of Seventeen landed on my 10 Best list that year, scores again with this excellent adaptation of Judy Blume’s landmark novel. Abby Ryder Fortson (little Cassie Lang in the first two Ant-Man films) plays the central character of Margaret Simon, an 11-year-old girl who’s unhappy with the decision of her mom Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and dad Herb (Benny Safdie) to relocate from NYC to a New Jersey suburb. For one thing, it will mean less time spent with her paternal grandmother Sylvia (Kathy Bates), whom she adores. Margaret quickly makes friends with the confident Nancy (Elle Graham) and excels in school, but an onset of puberty blues means she also spends much time worrying about bras and wondering when she will get her first period. With a Jewish father and a mother who was raised Christian, she also reflects on religious matters, speaking to God on a regular basis. With the full backing of Blume (who serves as a producer, along with The Mary Tyler Moore Show creator James L. Brooks), Fremon Craig has fashioned a splendid coming-of-age film that’s both sensitive and perceptive — it steers clear of condescension, mean-spiritedness, and glib humor in order to truly understand the tribulations of not just Margaret but also her friends and family. The performances are exceptional across the board, with McAdams excelling as the loving mother. This unfortunately proved to be a box office underachiever — perhaps they should have renamed it Are You There Mario? It’s Me, Luigi.

Blu-ray extras include a making-of featurette; an interview with Blume; and deleted scenes.

Movie: ★★★½

CREEPSHOW (1982). A certain measure of generosity and goodwill is necessary to fully enjoy this endeavor from director George Romero and scripter Stephen King. An affectionate tribute to those vintage EC horror comics overseen by William Gaines in the 1950s, Creepshow looks terrific (even more so in this excellent new 4K edition), as Romero manages to mimic the style and color schemes of an actual comic book. This visual approach, coupled with the efforts of a game cast, is what sells the picture, since most of the stories by King aren’t anything special — in fact, two of the five tales sport the same structure (someone who’s been murdered returns from the grave seeking revenge), hinting at a degree of laziness on the part of the bestselling author. A cake, a crate, and cockroaches are some of the ingredients on display, and the cast is varied enough to include old pros like Hal Holbrook and Leslie Nielsen as well as up-and-comers like Ted Danson and Ed Harris (who had starred in Romero’s Knightriders the year before). And King himself appears in one episode, as a pop-eyed rube who discovers a meteor on his property.

The 4K + Blu-ray edition from Shout! Factory is packed with extras (all ported over from earlier Blu-ray editions). These include audio commentary by Romero and makeup effects creator Tom Savini; audio commentary by director of photography Michael Gornick; deleted scenes; a roundtable discussion of the film with various cast and crew members; Savini’s behind-the-scenes footage; a look at original props and collectibles from the film; a peek at various poster designs; and photo galleries.

Movie: ★★★

GLORIA (1980). Gloria has often been described as John Cassavetes’ most mainstream movie, but as anyone familiar with the writer-director’s oeuvre can attest, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. Cassavetes was always at his best when he was making raw and uncompromising indies that, against all odds, found favor in many circles (e.g. Faces, Shadows), and he was invariably always less interesting when he tried to guess what general audiences wanted to see (e.g. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and this one). Indeed, it’s no surprise that he hadn’t planned on directing Gloria — he wrote it simply to sell the screenplay to Columbia in exchange for some dough — but once the studio opted to cast his wife Gena Rowlands in the title role, he reluctantly agreed to oversee it himself. Rowlands’ Gloria Swenson is the film’s best ingredient, a gangster’s moll patterned after those seen in countless ‘40s flicks. Gloria ends up protecting a little boy (John Adames) after his family is wiped out by mobsters, but the movie turns repetitive in its beats and the boy himself isn’t very interesting. Rowlands earned a Best Actress Academy Award nomination, and it’s easy to see why — she’s alternately tough and tender, and always terrific., Adames earned a Worst Supporting Actor Razzie Award (tying with Laurence Olivier for The Jazz Singer), and it’s not as easy to see why — he’s not especially good, but he’s no worse than many other child actors in similar roles. Gloria was remade in 1999, with Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men) at the helm and Sharon Stone in the title role; it proved to be both a critical and commercial disaster.

Blu-ray extras consist of theatrical trailers.

Movie: ★★½

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS (1955). Film critic Andrew Sarris famously stated that Howard Hawks, one of the greatest of all directors, “stamped his distinctively gritty view of life on adventure, gangster and private-eye melodramas; Westerns; musicals; and screwball comedies — the kind of thing Americans do best and appreciate least.” Yet the man who needed merely one lifetime to make His Girl Friday, Sergeant York, The Big Sleep, and Rio Bravo (to name but four of his many classics) clearly had trouble with the genre of “historical epic,” making Land of the Pharaohs the least likely of all the pictures to grace his filmography. The movie was the rare big-budget period epic from the ‘50s that flopped, and it’s developed a reputation in many circles as a camp outing. I disagree: Its dialogue is no more stilted than that found in, say, The Ten Commandments, it sports that proverbial cast of thousands (close to 10,000) to lend it majesty and authenticity, and its sets are simply breathtaking. That’s not to say the movie is a roaring success. The story (with William Faulkner as one of its architects!) drags in spots, and the cast is forgettable — used to working with the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, and Cary Grant, Hawks here downsizes to Jack Hawkins (as the Pharaoh who orders the building of the Great Pyramid), Joan Collins (as his devious second wife), and Dewey Martin (as the requisite hunk and as immobile as the pyramid stones). That ending, though? Fabulous.

Blu-ray extras consist of audio commentary by filmmaker and film historian Peter Bogdanovich, with interview excerpts of Hawks; the 1955 Bugs Bunny cartoon Sahara Hare; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★½

THE RANOWN WESTERNS (1957-1960). During the 1950s, Westerns were more popular than ever, filling movie screens and television screens alike. Once the breeding ground for simplistic tales of good and evil, the genre began evolving throughout the 1940s with films focusing as much on character conflict and messy morality as on shootouts and cavalry rescues. This subgenre, branded the “psychological Western,” exploded in the ‘50s, resulting in gems like The Searchers (John Ford/John Wayne), The Gunfighter (Henry King/Gregory Peck), and Winchester ’73 (Anthony Mann/James Stewart). These were all A-list productions, but the B movie crashed the party thanks to the seven Westerns made by director Budd Boetticher and actor Randolph Scott. All seven are widely known as the Ranown Westerns (Ranown being the production company formed by Randolph Scott and producer Harry Joe Brown), although 1956’s Seven Men from Now and 1959’s Westbound were for Warner Bros. rather than Columbia and thus aren’t technically part of the cycle. Therefore, this handsome box set from Criterion corrals the five true Ranown Westerns, offering viewers the opportunity to binge these lean, mean oaters.

The Tall T (1957), written by Burt Kennedy (adapting the Elmore Leonard story “The Captives”), stars Scott as Pat Brennan, who’s captured by three outlaws (Richard Boone, Henry Silva, Skip Homeier) along with a wealthy woman (Maureen O’Hara) and her cowardly husband (Arthur Hunnicutt). Brutal and uncompromising, this hands Scott one of his best roles and finds a pair of memorably nasty villains in Boone and Silva.

Decision at Sundown (1957), written by Charles Lang (based on Vernon Fluharty’s novel), finds Scott’s Bart Allison riding into town with the intention of killing the man (John Carroll) he believes caused his wife to commit suicide. This was easily Boetticher’s least favorite of this quintet — it’s definitely the weakest, although it still has several virtues, including a good role for Noah Beery Jr. as Bart’s sidekick and a satisfying and unexpected denouement.

Buchanan Rides Alone (1958), written by Lang and an uncredited Kennedy (from Jonas Ward’s novel The Name’s Buchanan), casts Scott as Tom Buchanan, who runs afoul of a town’s most powerful clan when he comes to the aid of a young Mexican (Manuel Rojas). This one’s a lot of fun, as characters are strategically moved around like chess pieces and the family members are frequently pitted against one another.

Ride Lonesome (1959), written by Kennedy, centers on the efforts of bounty hunter Ben Brigade (Scott) to use his capture of an outlaw (James Best) to lure his true target: the outlaw’s murderous brother (Lee Van Cleef). Brigade’s traveling companions are the wife (Karen Steele) of a slain station master as well as two cowboys (Bonanza’s Pernell Roberts and James Coburn in his film debut) with murky motives. It’s the interaction between the various characters that keeps this one humming.

Comanche Station (1960), written by Kennedy, has Scott’s Jefferson Cody rescuing a woman (Nancy Gates) who had been kidnapped by Comanches; since there’s a reward for bringing her back to her husband, outlaw Ben Lane (Claude Akins) decides to kill Cody and claim the loot for himself. The story’s not the strongest, but there are interesting shadings to Scott’s character, and Gates delivers a fine performance.

Extras in the 4K UHD + Blu-ray set include film historian audio commentary on The Tall T and Ride Lonesome and audio commentary by director Taylor Hackford (Ray, The Devil’s Advocate) on Comanche Station; introductions to the films by Hackford and Martin Scorsese; a piece on Scott; archival interviews with Boetticher; and the Super 8 home-movie version of Comanche Station.

The Tall T: ★★★½

Decision at Sundown: ★★½

Buchanan Rides Alone: ★★★½

Ride Lonesome: ★★★

Comanche Station: ★★★

SCREAM VI (2023). Just as 1996’s Scream was surpassed in quality by 1997’s Scream 2, so too is 2022’s Scream (actually Scream V) leapt over by this latest entry in the always-say-die slasher series. Courteney Cox is now the only holdover from all the previous flicks, returning as tireless reporter Gale Weathers. The new kids on the chopping block who were introduced in the last film again command center stage, with sisters Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega) and their friends, twin siblings Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding), having moved away from Woodsboro to attend college in New York City. But the latest incarnation of Ghostface has apparently followed them to the Big Apple, as the masked killer starts offing their friends and acquaintances. Enter Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere), the sole survivor of 2011’s Scream 4 and now an FBI agent eager to take down this new Ghostface. The film is a bit more mean-spirited than necessary — a sympathetic character has been stabbed and falls to her death from a high window; do we really also need to see her face smash against a dumpster on the way down? — but credit its makers for adding enough twists to the stale meta template to keep matters interesting. While Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan was the worst film in that entire series, this trip to NYC is decidedly more worthwhile.

Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and scripters James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick,; a making-of piece; and a breakdown of the subway sequence.

Movie: ★★½

SISU (2023). There’s a popular meme making the rounds that reads, “In All Of History, It’s Never The Good Guys Banning Books.” It’s an important message to remember as politicians in places like Florida and Texas (the two states with the greatest number of banned books) attempt to make a sharp right turn into Berlin circa 1942. And it’s those folks who recoil at the mere thought of zealots banning (and, of course, burning) books en masse who should get a cathartic charge out of Sisu, a rousing action yarn in which scores of petty fascists get taken down a peg or 10. As it’s explained at the start of the film, “sisu” is a Finnish word for which there is no direct English translation, although it vaguely means courage and determination. And “sisu” is exemplified by Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila), a Finnish prospector staying far away from the 1944 Lapland War between his countrymen and the German invaders. But as he heads home following a successful gold strike, he runs into several Nazis who decide to steal his find and execute him on the spot. Instead, this former commando slaughters them all and thus finds himself being pursued by their equally ruthless comrades. The rest of the movie can be described in 10 syllables or less: “Old man kills every Nazi in sight.” Saving Private Ryan it ain’t, but despite its increasing absurdity (Korpi gets into situations that would give Indiana Jones — or even Superman — pause), this gory film succeeds through the crisp and innovative shooting style of writer-director Jalmari Helander (2010’s delightfully deranged Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale).

Blu-ray extras consist of a making-of featurette and a piece on the film’s visual effects.

Movie: ★★★

TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985). Looking like a Michael Mann production but bearing the name of William Friedkin as director, this stylish drama casts William Petersen (Mann’s Manhunter, TV’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) as Richard Chance, a no-nonsense federal agent hell-bent on taking down Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe in full hissable mode), the counterfeiter who killed his partner (Michael Greene). There’s not really much substance here, but the film looks fantastic, offers a startling plot development toward the end, and showcases a grabber of a car chase that compares favorably with the classic one from Friedkin’s The French Connection. John Pankow is fine as a Secret Service agent who becomes Chance’s new partner, and look for John Turturro in one of his earliest roles, playing Masters’ associate Carl Cody. As the cherry on top, the movie features an excellent soundtrack by Wang Chung, including the title track and “Wait.” (On a side note, I’m always amused when I see someone still calling them one-hit wonders, even though they had two songs make the Billboard Top 10 and a total of eight in the Hot 100.)

Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by Friedkin; a making-of featurette; separate interviews with Petersen, co-stars Debra Feuer and Dwier Brown, stunt coordinator Buddy Joe Hooker, and Wang Chung (Jack Hues and Nick Feldman); a deleted scene; and an alternate ending that was filmed (and immediately discarded by Friedkin) after the studio balked at the gutsy original ending. Sadly, the release does not include the music video for Wang Chung’s title tune.

Movie: ★★★

FROM SCREEN TO STREAM

FANTASTIC VOYAGE (1966). With such titles as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes, the 1960s proved to be a particularly rich decade for science fiction cinema, and Fantastic Voyage stands as one of the period’s most imaginative efforts. An Eastern Bloc scientist who’s critically shot as he defects to the West now lies in a coma, unable to pass along his vast knowledge to his U.S. handlers. The only way to revive him is by removing a blood clot in his brain, one that cannot be accessed by normal surgery. Luckily for those involved, a way has been discovered to shrink people and objects down to microscopic size, meaning that a submarine carrying five passengers — three scientists (Raquel Welch, Donald Pleasence, Arthur Kennedy), the sub captain (William Redfield), and a CIA agent (Stephen Boyd) — is injected into the scientist’s blood stream, with the crew tasked to destroy the blood clot. Even within the boundaries of the story, the science is dubious (to put it mildly), but most viewers will be having too much fun to give it much thought. Watching the crew contend with making its way through various parts of the body — it gets pretty windy in the lungs, and stay clear of the heart! — is exciting enough, but those aboard also have to deal with a traitor in their midst. Nominated for five Academy Awards (all in technical categories), this won two: Best Visual Effects and Best Color Art Direction-Set Decoration.

Movie: ★★★½

========================================

Review links for movies referenced in this column (all links open in new window):
Ant-Man and the Wasp
The Big Sleep
The Devil’s Advocate
The Edge of Seventeen
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
The Gunfighter
His Girl Friday
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Knightriders
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Scream (1996)
Scream (2022)
Scream 2 (1997)
Sergeant York
Superman
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
The Ten Commandments
12 Angry Men