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Sunset Blvd., a review by Antares

Sunset Blvd.





Year: 1950
Film Studio: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Drama
Length: 110 Min.

Director
Billy Wilder (1906)

Writing
Charles Brackett (1892)...Written By
Billy Wilder (1906)...Written By
D. M. Marshman Jr....Written By

Producer
Charles Brackett (1892)

Cinematographer
John F. Seitz (1892)

Music
Franz Waxman (1906)...Music Score

Stars
William Holden (1918) as Joseph C. 'Joe' Gillis
Gloria Swanson (1899) as Norma Desmond
Erich von Stroheim (1885) as Max Von Mayerling
Nancy Olson (1928) as Betty Schaefer
Fred Clark (1914) as Sheldrake
Lloyd Gough (1907) as Morino
Jack Webb (1920) as Artie Green
Franklyn Farnum (1878) as Undertaker - Chimp's Funeral

Review
       In 1950, two films would be released that painted a darker, more cynical picture of the entertainment industry, All about Eve and Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd.. The former would tell the tale of a ruthless and conniving actress who would stop at nothing to achieve the fame and star status that she had craved all her life. The latter would focus on the other end of the spectrum, a faded icon of the silent screen, discarded by Hollywood and forgotten by the viewing public. While All about Eve focuses primarily on one aspiring actresses' manipulative ascent to her desired throne, Sunset Blvd.Queen Kelly, was the flop that would begin Swanson's descent into obscurity and would be director Erich von Stroheim's personal Heavens Gate. He would run excessively over budget and would be eventually fired by the producer, who just happened to be Swanson. Years later he would take aim at the system that did not appreciate his artistic vision, and the result would be a quote that best describes this movie; "If you live in France and you have written one good book, or painted one good picture, or directed one outstanding film, fifty years ago, and nothing ever since, you are still recognized as an artist and honored accordingly. ... In Hollywood, you're as good as your last picture. If you didn't have one in production in the last three months you're forgotten, no matter what you have achieved ere this. It is that terrific, unfortunately necessary egotism in the makeup of the people who make the cinema; it is the continuous endeavor for recognition, that continuous struggle for survival and supremacy, among the newcomers, that relegates the old-timers to the ash-can." With the emergence of successful independent film companies creating artistic films that are competing financially and aesthetically against the big blockbuster projects in Hollywood today, had he been born 100 years later, I wonder how he would have fared?


Review Criterion
5 Stars - The pinnacle of film perfection and excellence.

(From Sunset Blvd. (1950) on May 15th, 2010)

The Beyond, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Beyond (...E tu vivrai nel terrore! L'aldilà)
Year of Release: 1981
Directed By: Lucio Fulci
Starring: Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, Cinzia Monreale
Genre: Horror

Overview:
Lucio Fulci's masterpiece of face-chewing spider action, milky-eyed psychics, face-melting embalming fluid and rotted flesh-crazed zombies returns in all its blood-splattered, surreal and grossly disturbing glory for a new generation of horror kids!

If your new business venture is sited on the cursed gateway to the hell dimension of The Beyond, then maybe it's time to move elsewhere but Liza (Catriona MacColl) is determined to make her New Orleans hotel work, until strange things start happening, people vanish and her waking thoughts are haunted by a ghostly blind woman who seems to hold the answers to the whole bizarre fever-dream. As reality breaks down and the plot explodes, Liza must journey far from everything she understands and descend in The Beyond...

The Beyond is Fulci's Zombie masterwork as he assaults his audience with shock after head-spinning shock, all the while leading up to one of horror cinemas most heart-stopping finales. The Beyond drives sane men mad and leads others to murder. Dare you step over to the other side?

My Thoughts:
This was a really bizarre movie.  The plot was super thin, and too much was never fully explained.  I can make some inferences, and that might be what Fulci was wanting the viewer to do, but I would have liked more meat in the story.  There was certainly time for it; the death scenes were drug out for the sake of the gore effects, especially the one where the spiders eat the guy's face.  I had read this film was gory, and that's definitely true.  I'm not necessarily against gore, but there was no need to linger on it the way this film does.  The characters also really annoyed me.  Eliza is another cowering, screaming, useless female character.  Then there's John, who is a doctor and therefore supposedly smart, yet can't seem to grasp that shooting the zombie in the head kills it and nothing else does. 

At the same time, there are some gorgeously artistic shots in the film, especially the ending sequence, that are almost worth sitting through this film again.  Almost. 

I suppose this isn't a film for me, and I doubt I'll watch any of Fulci's other films.  I don't mind surrealism, or a sparse plot, but I do mind when things are just dropped in and then never followed up on.  Especially when there was lots and lots of time for lingering over the blood, wounds, and eye-gouging.  I don't know who to recommend this to, but apparently it's considered a classic and lots of people do like it, so your millage might vary.

Bechdel Test: Pass

Overall: 2.5/5

2015 Horror Movie Count: 16

(From Horror/Halloween Marathon 2015 on November 2nd, 2015)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Eureka: Season One (2006/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Universal Pictures (Germany) Length: 533 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English, German

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Plot:
Eureka takes place in a high tech fictional community of the same name, located in the U.S. state of Oregon (Washington in the pilot) and inhabited entirely by brilliant scientists working on new scientific advances. The town is operated by a corporation called Global Dynamics (GD), that is overseen by the United States Department of Defense. The town's existence and location are closely guarded secrets.

U.S. Marshal Jack Carter stumbles upon Eureka while transporting a fugitive prisoner (his own rebellious teenage daughter Zoe) back to her mother's home in Los Angeles. When a faulty experiment cripples the sheriff of Eureka, Carter finds himself quickly chosen to fill the vacancy. Despite not being a genius like most members of the town, Jack Carter demonstrates a remarkable ability to connect to others, keen and practical insights, and a dedication to preserving the safety of Eureka.


Eureka
1.01 Pilot
Writer: Andrew Cosby (Writer), Jaime Paglia (Writer)
Director: Peter O'Fallon
Cast: Colin Ferguson (Jack Carter), Salli Richardson (Allison Blake), Greg Germann (Warren King), Jordan Hinson (Zoe Carter), Joe Morton (Henry Deacon), Erica Cerra (Jo Lupo), Neil Grayston (Douglas Fargo), Meshach Peters (Kevin Blake), Matt Frewer (Jim Taggart), Debrah Farentino (Beverly Barlowe), Maury Chaykin (Sheriff William Cobb), Rob LaBelle (Walter Perkins), Gary Chalk (Col. Briggs), Jennifer Clement (Susan Perkins), Shayn Solberg (Spencer Martin), Zak Ludwig (Brian Perkins), Chris Gauthier (Vincent), Benjamin Smith (Oppenheimer), Ian Carter (Chief Marshal), Kwesi Ameyaw (Special Agent Hicks), Chris Burns (Soldier), Tyler McClendon (Corporal), Norm Sherry), Kevin Murray (Charlie), Keith Wilson (Baker Twin), Bryan Wilson (Baker Twin)

I saw this cheap while online shopping and read up a little about it. Sounded like a series which could be fun.
I enjoyed the pilot episode. Especially the first half, when our main character first sets foot in the city. The second half lost a little for me. The problem and the solution they had to deal with seemed a little contrived with nonsense technobabble. I hope the rest of the series doesn't rely to much on such plot devices.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on May 10th, 2012)