FILM FRENZY

Project Hail Mary (Photo: Alliance & MGM)

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.)

(For a review of the new 4K UHD edition of A Bay of Blood, go here.)

COUP DE TORCHON (1981). The opening and closing scenes of this scorcher from French writer-director Bertrand Tavernier are nearly identical except in one key regard: the mindset of the man at the center. How this individual changes over the course of time — a relatively brief time — is what charges this sterling adaptation of Jim Thompson’s 1964 novel Pop. 1280. Switching Thompson’s setting of the American South to French West Africa in 1938, the film follows Lucien Cordier (Philippe Noiret), the police chief and only lawman in a small town where practically every white person harasses and humiliates him. Only his married lover (Isabelle Huppert) and a newly arrived schoolteacher (Irène Skobline) show him any respect. Otherwise, his wife (Stéphane Audran) and her lover (Eddy Mitchell) openly flaunt their relationship in front of him, a local businessman (Michel Beaune) verbally mocks him, and even the local pimps (Jean-Pierre Marielle and Danie Langlet) find him a pushover (literally, in one scene). But when Lucien finally decides he has had enough abuse heaped on him, he murders some of his tormentors and implicates others in his crimes. Laced with generous dollops of dark humor, Coup de Torchon (tagged Clean Slate for U.S. audiences) is a chilling study of curdled human nature, and perpetually hovering around the edges is the subject of colonialism, emphasized by the horrible manner in which the white intruders treat the black locals (ironically, Lucien is the least racist of all the Caucasians). Noiret, best known to American audiences as the lovable projectionist in the Oscar-winning Cinema Paradiso, is magnificent in a multifaceted role.

Blu-ray extras include an archival making-of featurette; a 2001 interview with Tavernier; a discussion of Thompson by author Robert Polito (Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson); and an alternate ending.

Movie: ★★★½

HOWARD HUGHES IN HOLLYWOOD VOL. 1 (1927-1928). Among his many, many, many accomplishments, Howard Hughes spent over two decades enjoying success as a movie producer and, on two occasions, film director. Hughes’ output included box office hits, Oscar winners, and, perhaps most notably, a handful of motion pictures that courted controversy and became causes célèbres. The Flicker Alley label has decided to give the eccentric billionaire his due with a new line of Blu-ray releases — it kicks off with his first two pictures in Hollywood (or, more accurately, his first two that aren’t lost films), both silent features.

Two Arabian Knights (1927) has the distinction of winning the first — and only — Oscar for Best Director of a Comedy. It did so at the inaugural Academy Awards ceremony, with Lewis Milestone taking the honor. (If you’re wondering why Charlie Chaplin didn’t snag the award for The Circus, all nominations for that picture were withdrawn, as the Academy board decided to honor him instead with a special Oscar “for acting, writing, directing, and producing The Circus.”) After this first go-around, the Academy decided to combine Best Director of a Drama and Best Director of a Comedy into the single Best Director prize they still offer to this day. Even with Chaplin out of the way, there’s no shame in the selection of Milestone, who maintains a suitably brisk pace for this romp in which American soldiers Phelps (William Boyd) and O’Gaffney (Louis Wolheim) find themselves in Arabia, where they must fight for their lives while Phelps woos the emir’s daughter (Mary Astor). The high-spirited hijinks never slow down, and O’Gaffney’s expression when he learns the definition of “eunuch” is a keeper. Look for Boris Karloff in a tiny part as the ship’s purser. As for Milestone, he would nab a proper Best Director Oscar just two years later for helming the stunning Best Picture winner All Quiet on the Western Front.

Hughes and Milestone switched gears for The Racket (1928), a cops ‘n’ crooks yarn as serious as Two Arabian Knights was humorous. Two Arabian Knights co-star Louis Wolheim is in this one as well — he’s Nick Scarsi, a Chicago gangster who’s responsible for the rampant corruption crippling city hall. Thomas Meighan plays James McQuigg, the honest cop determined to bring down Scarsi. Based on a 1927 play that starred Edward G. Robinson, The Racket takes some interesting detours in its story — certainly, it’s more accomplished and thus preferable to the 1951 remake starring Robert Mitchum as McQuigg and Robert Ryan as Scarsi (now Scanlon). Like Two Arabian Knights, The Racket also made its mark at the first Academy Awards ceremony, landing a nomination for Best Picture (for the record, its fellow nominees were 7th Heaven, starring Best Actress recipient Janet Gaynor, and the eventual winner, the WWI drama Wings).

Extras consist of film historian audio commentary on Two Arabian Knights; film critic audio commentary on The Racket; a pair of new featurettes, Howard Hughes in Hollywood and Howard Hughes and the First Academy Awards; 44 minutes of outtakes from The Racket; a piece on the preservation of Hughes’ Hollywood output; and image galleries. A booklet is also included.

Two Arabian Knights: ★★★

The Racket: ★★★

THE LAST SHOWGIRL (2024). Best known for her starring role on TV’s Baywatch and her sex tape with former husband Tommy Lee, Pamela Anderson finds herself blessed with a career-enhancing role in The Last Showgirl, directed by yet another Coppola, Gia (Francis’ granddaughter and Sofia’s niece), and written by Kate Gersten (adapting her own play Body of Work). Anderson is excellent as Shelly Gardner, a showgirl who has spent the last 30 years working at Le Razzle Dazzle on the Las Vegas Strip. When Eddie (Dave Bautista), the manager of the joint, informs the dancers that the show will soon be closing and will be replaced with a revue that’s more hip and more risqué, Shelly is devastated. In her mid-50s, she knows it will be almost impossible to land a job as a showgirl at another venue — her best friend Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis) consoles her even as her own daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd), angry that her mom chose her career over her own child, continues to keep her at a cool distance. Anderson’s performance is what gives this film life, effectively capturing the fears and frustrations of a woman who’s getting older and, in the eyes of society, less attractive. Other components aren’t as well developed, including the idea of Shelly being a den mother to a couple of younger dancers (Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song) and the relationship between Shelly and Hannah, which pales next to the daddy-daughter estrangement in the thematically similar drama The Wrestler. There’s enough meaty material here that a longer running time would have been beneficial in fleshing everything out (this clocks in at 89 minutes); still, Shelly’s plight earns audience sympathy, and Bautista is effective as the concerned but fumbling Eddie.

Blu-ray extras consist of a making-of featurette and a conversation with Anderson and Curtis.

Movie: ★★½

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1935). As an aspiring actor since an early age and a theater major for the first half of my college stint (until I decided I would earn a few more pennies as a struggling writer than as a struggling thespian and switched majors), I appeared in several plays penned by that Bard of the boards, William Shakespeare. Of the characters I portrayed, my favorite was the title tyrant in Richard III, but the one that was the most sheer fun to play was the spirited actor Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Knowing that one of my all-time faves, James Cagney, also played the part only added to my merriment. The back story on this film version is a rich one, too lengthy to recount in this space. Chiefly, it involves the exploits of theatrical titan Max Reinhardt and his eventual odyssey to L.A., whereupon he created a revered stage production of Dream that eventually was turned into this opulent (if occasionally schizophrenic) screen version. Shakespeare’s romp involving young lovers and forest fairies finds an appropriate outlet in a filmic take that employs classical music, elaborate ballets, and a cast mixing classically trained performers with Hollywood hambones. Best of all is Cagney, who’s wonderful as Bottom; others filling out the large cast include 19-year-old Olivia de Havilland (in her film debut) as Hermia and 15-year-old Mickey Rooney as an annoying Puck. An Oscar nominee for Best Picture and Best Assistant Director (a long forgotten category), this won for Best Film Editing and Best Cinematography, the latter marking the only time in Academy history that a write-in (cameraman Hal Mohr), a practice allowed for only two years, took home a statue.

Blu-ray extras include a 1935 promotional short about the film; de Havilland’s screen test for Danton, Reinhardt’s planned (but never made) follow-up to Dream; the 1936 musical short Shake, Mr. Shakespeare; and six teaser trailers for Dream.

Movie: ★★★

PROJECT HAIL MARY (2026). The “boy and his dog” plotline has been reconfigured as a “man and his alien” storyline in this crowd-pleaser suitable for almost the entire family (all but the wee ones). The conflict controlling the tale is certainly grim: An initially unknown phenomenon is affecting the Sun in a negative way, meaning that Earth will be completely crippled in 30 years. Eva Stratt (Anatomy of a Fall Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller), the head of a mission dubbed Project Hail Mary, taps high school science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) to help decipher what’s going on — this ultimately leads to Grace being sent to another system on what amounts to a suicide mission, tasked with sending back the elements required to save Earth. But Grace isn’t alone in space, as he meets an alien being similarly trying to save its planet. Calling this e.t. Rocky because of its craggy features, Grace is able to set up a method by which the two can communicate. Thus, Project Hail Mary transforms into a “buddy flick,” as the pair joke, share, and bicker like a far-flung Oscar Madison and Felix Unger. The effects are staggering to behold, but the most impressive visual is Rocky himself. Created through a mix of digital animation and old-school puppetry (the latter courtesy of puppet designer James Ortiz, who also provided the voice), Rocky represents an amazing achievement, and he feels as real as the flesh-and-blood actor opposite him. Scripter Drew Goddard, who also penned the box office smash The Martian (like Project Hail Mary, based on a book by Andy Weir), develops their relationship carefully, although several scenes between the pair feel redundant and/or sentimental in a pandering manner and should have been excised to make this 156-minute feature even tighter.

Extras in the 4K Ultra HD edition consist of audio commentary by directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller; deleted scenes; and a look at the character of Rocky.

Movie: ★★★

THE WORLDS OF LUCILE HADŽIHALILOVIĆ (2004-2025). Those seeking something far off the beaten path might be interested in this box set featuring four works from the French writer-director. Innocence (2004) shares several elements with Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, from its setting (an all-girls school) to its moody ambience to its refusal to parcel out simple explanations. Marion Cotillard plays one of the teachers, but the focus is squarely on the students confronted by unusual circumstances, and water eventually plays the same mysterious role as the craggy structure in the Weir flick. Evolution (2015) is an unsettling tale about a young boy who discovers that the women taking care of him and other young lads in a seaside village aren’t quite what they seem. The cinematography by Manuel Dacosse is absolutely stunning. Earwig (2021) is perhaps abstract to a fault, concerning itself with a man (Paul Hilton) who takes care of a toothless girl (Romane Hemelaers) by endlessly freezing her saliva and then using it to give her frozen teeth. The Ice Tower (2025) is the best movie in the collection, a haunting drama in which the story of the film and the story of the film-within-the-film unite and uncouple in intriguing ways. Marion Cotillard is in this one as well — she’s Cristina, a temperamental actress who’s starring in a film version of the classic fairy tale The Snow Queen. Into her orbit arrives Jeanne (Clara Pacini), a teenage runaway who develops a unique bond with the leading lady. This is smoothly paced and beautifully shot, with Hadžihalilović’s longtime partner, filmmaker Gaspar Noé, cast in a supporting role as the movie’s director.

Blu-ray extras include an introduction to each film by Hadžihalilović; two shorts by the filmmaker, 2014’s Nectar and 2018’s De Natura; interviews with Hadžihalilović; and visual essays. A 60-page book accompanies the films.

Collection: ★★★

FROM SCREEN TO STREAM

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012). Five college kids head to a cabin in the middle of nowhere, hoping for some r&r. Instead, something evil starts picking them off one by one… Unless you’ve spent your own existence in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, there’s no way not to be knowledgeable of this setup, which has powered many a horror flick for a half-century and counting. But it’s almost certain that you haven’t seen anything quite like this one. In short, this effort from writer-director Drew Goddard (the Project Hail Mary writer) and co-scripter Joss Whedon is no cut-rate slasher flick like Friday the 13th or Cabin Fever. It’s a particularly difficult film to cover since the less one knows, the better, so let’s just establish what we can ascertain from the movie’s opening act. Five students — the sweet Dana (Kristen Connolly), the vivacious Jules (Anna Hutchison), the hunky Curt (Chris Hemsworth), the quiet Holden (Jesse Williams), and the perpetually stoned Marty (Fran Kranz) — leave the city and head toward a remote cottage. Meanwhile, two men (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) who work in what appears to be a science facility prattle on about the accident of 1998 and take sizable bets from co-workers. These two plot strands eventually find each other, and when they do, the film falls into what I initially believed to be an unfortunate reversal of fortune, settling into standard fare with the cynicism elevated to an uncomfortable degree. Silly, shortsighted me. The Cabin in the Woods soon bursts loose from this holding pattern, growing ever more outrageous and entertaining as it barrels toward its take-no-prisoners climax and conclusion. To reveal anything more about this film would be criminal. But did I mention that the happy frog made me laugh out loud?

Movie: ★★★½

KATE & LEOPOLD (2001). We’re all familiar with Bonnie and Clyde and Thelma & Louise, but as far as screen match-ups go, Kate & Leopold ended up having a shelf life more comparable to those of O.C. & Stiggs and Homer and Eddie. Meg Ryan plays Kate, an ambitious sales executive whose career strength, according to her unctuous boss (Bradley Whitford), is that she knows what women want but thinks like a man while preparing successful ad campaigns. Naturally, it’s going to take one special individual to thaw her out, and that would be Leopold (Hugh Jackman), a 19th century Duke who, via a scientific experiment conducted by Kate’s ex-boyfriend (Liev Schreiber), ends up being transported to present-day New York. Bland romantic comedies are a dime a dozen, but it’s rare to come across a time travel tale as listless as this one. After an insufferable first half in which we watch Leopold predictably become perplexed by modern-day gadgets like toasters and telephones, the second half marginally picks up; still, this is awfully anemic material. Interesting trivia note: In my initial 2001 review of the film, I wrote, “Incidentally, do the filmmakers not realize that a climactic plot twist means two of the characters earlier committed incest, or do they just not care?” I dropped that line before the next edition of the newspaper for one reason: That flaw is no longer in the movie. Apparently, right before opening but right after national critics’ screenings, Miramax executives finally bothered to read the film’s script and realized the error of their ways, forcing them to get hold of all existing prints and reloop the dialogue in order to alter the characters’ relationship and void the taboo coupling. In the end, though, it was merely an awful lot of trouble for a movie that was still lousy.

Movie: ★½

LANCELOT LINK: SECRET CHIMP (1970). Ah, those wild and wacky children’s shows that dotted the Saturday morning schedule from the early to mid-1970s. Patently bizarre (audiences now assume the filmmakers were all doing drugs while filming) and produced on the cheap, these shows may have had brief runs (unless one counts the endless reruns) but many have gained cult followings, particularly among the nostalgists. Many have heard of H.R Pufnstuf, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and even The Bugaloos, but who remembers The Lost Saucer, with a post-Gomer Pyle Jim Nabors as an alien named Fum? Or Far Out Space Nuts, with a post-Gilligan’s Island Bob Denver as a goober who winds up in space? Or Lidsville, about a boy who’s magically transported to a land populated by living, talking hats? All of these shows were created by the singularly unique duo of Marty and Sid Kroft — not so Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp, which hailed from the minds of Allan Sandler, Stan Burns, and Mike Marmer. As Get Smart was winding down its five-year run in prime time, this kiddie fare sought to carry forth the torch in spoofing popular spy fare like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the James Bond outings; it lasted a mere 17 episodes. With a cast comprised entirely of monkeys (yes, monkeys), this finds Lancelot Link and Mata Hairi, the best secret agents working for APE (Agency to Prevent Evil), repeatedly thwarting the nefarious plans of Baron Von Butcher and the other evildoers at CHUMP (Criminal Headquarters for the Underworld Master Plan). The show is amusing when taken in small doses, but the musical interludes featuring the psychedelic band Evolution Revolution have to be witnessed at least once in a person’s lifetime.

Series: ★ to ★★★★, depending on age, mood, and penchant for kitsch

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S SEX COMEDY (1982). This is where it began, the 13-film collaboration between Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, who stepped in when Allen’s preferred leading lady Diane Keaton had to step out due to other commitments. It couldn’t have been easy replacing the magnificent Keaton: Farrow reportedly wasn’t happy with her work on this picture, and Razzie voters, smelling blood in the water, absurdly nominated her for Worst Actress, the only time in history the outfit even looked in the direction of a Woody Allen picture (for the record, she was, uh, bested by Pia Zadora for Butterfly). Farrow’s just fine in this film, even if she’s overshadowed by her co-stars, all participating in a variation on Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 gem Smiles of a Summer Night. Allen and Mary Steenburgen play the unhappily married couple greeting visitors to their country home; José Ferrer plays the stuffy professor who arrives with his much younger fiancée (Farrow) in tow; and Allen regular Tony Roberts snags perhaps his largest role as a womanizing doctor who brings along his nurse (Airplane!‘s Julie Hagerty). Naturally, all three men are attracted to Farrow’s free spirit, although other couplings do ensue. It’s all very pleasant but also all very slight, with the humor and the romance both kept at too low a simmer. Allen’s employment of Mendelssohn on the soundtrack seems logical given the titular nod to the Shakespeare play and its 1935 screen version (reviewed above), and the great Gordon Willis, the legendary cinematographer behind The Godfather, The Parallax View, and other gritty classics, must have relished the rare opportunity to shoot in the great outdoors.

Movie: ★★½

THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS (1967). The smashing performances by Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif in 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia made both men overnight stars, so it was hopeful that a movie reuniting them would provide a similar electrical charge. Unfortunately, The Night of the Generals fails to elicit even one tiny spark between the gents, just one of the problems confronting this ambitious if errant undertaking. A murder-mystery set during World War II (and beyond), the film finds Sharif cast as Major Grau, a German military investigator attempting to ascertain who murdered a prostitute in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. There’s evidence that the brutal slaying was committed by a general, and only three in the city have no alibis: General Kahlenberge (Donald Pleasence, Blofeld in the James Bond flick You Only Live Twice), General von Seidlitz-Gabler (Charles Gray, Blofeld in the James Bond flick Diamonds Are Forever) and General Tanz (O’Toole, who of course never played Blofeld but, keeping the 007 connection alive, did appear in an uncredited cameo in the James Bond spoof Casino Royale). This lengthy picture also makes room for a pair of significant subplots — one centers on a romance between General von Seidlitz-Gabler’s headstrong daughter (Joanna Pettet) and a timid German soldier (Tom Courtenay), while the other involves a plot to kill Adolph Hitler. These various story strands clumsily come together toward the end, but the film interestingly continues past this point by focusing on a French inspector (Coup de Torchon’s Philippe Noiret) familiar with the case. The identity of the killer is fairly obvious from the get-go, and the picture is further weakened by an atypically subpar performance from O’Toole. Nevertheless, the plot mechanics remain engrossing (if rarely believable), and there are some fine turns in the supporting ranks.

Movie: ★★½

YELLOW SUBMARINE (1968). Like several other films from the late 1960s — Midnight Cowboy, The Graduate, etc. — The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine has long since transcended its dated elements on its way to becoming a timeless classic. An outrageously inventive piece of eye-popping pop, it still qualifies as one of the greatest animated movies ever made. The anything-goes storyline centers on the efforts of John, Paul, George, and Ringo (actually voiced by four other actors) to save the blissful Pepperland from the monstrous Blue Meanies. Director George Dunning and his team of animators and scripters never let us catch a breath, cramming the soundtrack with grade-A Beatles tunes (including “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “When I’m Sixty-Four,” and perhaps my favorite Fab Four song, “Eleanor Rigby”) and a nonstop succession of puns and wisecracks (“I warned you about eating on an empty stomach”). Parents who haven’t seen this since its original release (if ever) may not recall that the movie was G-rated — there’s no sex or drugs, just rock & roll. In other words, this makes a fine choice for family-night viewing, as kids are sure to enjoy the catchy tunes and glorious colors. (My oldest daughter first saw it at the age of 8, when it was released on DVD; her favorite character was the diminutive Jeremy, aka “Nowhere Man,” whom she kept referring to as “the little fellow.”) I was a kid myself when I first saw this; what’s unusual is that my first two viewings of it were on black-and-white TV sets, and the mind-blowing psychedelic splendor still managed to break through. And to this day, I’m still freaked out by Glove, that flying fashion accessory with a shit-eating grin and a demonic laugh that could curdle milk.

Movie: ★★★★