The Title Doesn't Do the Film Justice

A Boy and His Dog (1975)
Director- L.Q. Jones
Starring- Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Tim McIntire

Vic (Johnson) and his dog Blood (voiced by McIntire) roam the postapocalyptic countryside on the lookout for food. Vic somehow has the power to communicate with Blood via telepathy, and any novelty he may have felt in the beginning has appeared to have worn off, as the two constantly bicker during their journey. Despite the gnawing hunger, as well as Vic's "man needs", the pair stick together through good and bad.

Along the way, they rescue a girl who had been kidnapped and intended to use as a sex slave. Finding himself in love, Vic follows her deep into the earth, where an underground community dwells in perfect old-fashioned civility. Vic is recruited to help repopulate, but is disappointed to find out it's not nearly as fun as it originally sounded.

"What the fuck?!" ran through my head throughout this whole movie, but I have to admit, I loved it! There was very little attempt to explain why Vic had the telepathic power to hear Blood's thoughts, which is fine because it's annoying when movies try to conveniently explain every little aspect of a character that isn't immediately understood. I also loved Vic's far-from-gentlemanly attitude toward women--even the protagonist can be starved for sex, apparently.
What really brings the strange element home for this movie is the ending, which I won't give away, except to say I was very amused by the little turn of events.

Rating: 4/5 Bonedaddies.

Oddly Not So Boring For the Thin Plot

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Director- Monty Hellman
Starring- James Taylor, Warren Oates, Dennis Wilson

A couple drifting gearheads driving a '55 Chevy get themselves into a cross-country race with "pink slips" on the line against a GTO driver (Oates) who likes fibbing about his life to hitchhikers he picks up along the way. Speaking of hitchhikers, the duo find themselves with a female stowaway/possible love interest who looks like a minor.

The film does little to explain itself; rather than give the two gearheads names, they are simply listed as Driver (Taylor) and Mechanic (Wilson). The plot is as mentioned above, but the whole "pink slip" thing is kind of forgotten early on, and we're made to feel more like we're watching a simple anti-climactic road trip--especially when we see it all peter out at the end.

Ironically, that's what makes this movie good. There aren't a bunch of short attention-span cutaways and action shots, and at times it feels like we're sitting in the car along with the characters. The acting is a teeny bit flat, but again, given the fairly unexciting nature of the race, that style seems to fit right into it.

Rating: 3.5/5 Bonedaddies.

Not So Fabulous Lifestyles...

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Fabulous Stains (1981)
Director- Lou Adler
Starring- Diane Lane, Ray Winstone, Laura Dern

Corinne Burns (Lane), an orphaned, angst-ridden teen living in a washed-up town forms a band with two of her cousins and strikes a chord with other disillusioned youth. Soon the band finds themselves headlining with the Looters, and Burns sees all the good and bad sides to touring.
Her fans imitate her, seeing in her that part of them that wanted to scream out all their lives and thinking themselves unique, when the Looters' frontman Billy (Winstone) gives them--and Corinne--a rude awakening.

It was cool to see some vastly different personalities in these bands. Billy and Corinne are both brooding and insecure, trying to give the audiences something different while keeping their integrity somewhat intact. Corinne's cousins act and feel as if they're simply along for the ride--which they are. They can barely play any instruments, have little money, and soon miss their home lives as the road becomes longer.

There are also some interesting personalities in the Metal Corpses, essentially a has-been band trying to keep itself alive with a strange frontman who managed to so far stave off STD's and a drugged addled guitarist who probably never knew where he was.

All roles were played very well, very convincingly. The advice from the "has-beens" goes unheeded, and ironically makes sense. It's a good depiction of band relations/tensions, broken families, and also kids coming to the realization that for all the bad in their lives, they are in fact still kids.

Rating: 4/5 Bonedaddies.

Nachooooooo!

Nacho Libre (2006)
Director- Jared Hess
Starring- Jack Black, Ana de la Reguera, Hector Jimenez

Brother Ignacio (Black), an orphan-turned-monastery cook has big dreams of becoming a luchador. Unfortunately, the order considers it sinful, so Ignacio hides his identity and becomes Nacho. He and his partner, Esquelito (Jimenez) jump into the Mexican wrestling world, trying to win money to improve the food at the monastery, as well as the respect of the orphans living there and the love of Sister Encarnacion (Reguera).

For the most part, this isn't a bad movie. It has a lot of great elements to it--the most obvious being that it's about lucha libre! It also has good supporting cast. Reguera is subdued, but never overdramatizes the piety of her character. Jimenez is a personal favorite. His sidekick performance is so dedicated it reminds me of the caddy from Happy Gilmore, or Cornfed from Duckman.

Unfortunately, it has Jack Black. This is not an attack on his acting--he is actually quite capable of pulling off convincing and funny roles. It's just that after 10 minutes of Jack doing his routine, I had enough. I might not be sick of it, except that he does it in every movie he's ever starred in--the wild gesticulating while singing, the mouthed solos, it just doesn't do much for me. It worked better in movies like High Fidelity, School of Rock, and Pick of Destiny. Again, the performance that really stood out as funny was that done by Jimenez.

Rating: 3.5/5 Bonedaddies.

A Campbell Masterpiece!

My Name Is Bruce (2007)

Director- Bruce Campbell

Starring- Bruce Campbell, Grace Thorson, Taylor Sharpe

Bruce Campbell stars as himself in what seems like a spoof of his own career. A Chinese demon is unleashed in Oregon, and an obsessive Bruce Campbell fan, Jeff (Sharpe), tracks and kidnaps the "down and out" actor to help destroy it. Campbell, thinking this is just a ruse put on by his snaky agent (Ted Raimi of all people), plays along. When he realizes it's very real, he bolts and runs back to his trailer.

Jeff contacts Campbell once more to inform him that he's taking on the demon himself, so Bruce finally jumps into action and helps put the demon away...for now.

This movie was funny on every level. There were tons of inside jokes, jokes even fans might not understand at first, various Campbell movies made fun of, one even completely made up! Bruce and Ted Raimi played off eachother perfectly--hell Bruce played off everyone perfectly! He even had actors from the Evil Dead movies come in for roles in this one.

The lines delivered were excellent, the acting was escellent, all in all this movie was a great idea brilliantly executed.

Rating: 5/5 Bonedaddies.

Witches & Ballet? Warning: A Couple Spoilers...

Suspiria (1977)
Director- Dario Argento
Starring- Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci


American ballet dancer Suzy Bannion (Harper) travels to Germany to attend a presitgious dance academy only to find mystery and danger surrounding the building. Murders continue to occur after her arrival, and Suzy, terrified, must find out what is behind it all. What she uncovers is a deep historical involvement between the academy and witchcraft, and she must figure out a way to destroy it before she becomes the next victim.


Like the description? It's slightly more interesting to read than to watch the movie itself. The pace of the movie tries to move along evenly, but too many scenes drag on endlessly before switching to an interesting part. The murder scenes were pretty interesting, and creatively done at times, like the barbwire room.


The ending played out okay, but the idea that the original witch was still alive but invisible (through a spell I think) was a bit too silly for me. And for some reason I expected a lesbian love scene, though there were no indicators. I know I have no right to be disappointed, but I do.


Rating: 3/5 Bonedaddies.

Can't Pull Your Eyes Away

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Director- John McNaughton
Starring- Michael Rooker, Tracy Arnold, Tom Towles

Ex-stripper Becky (Arnold) shacks up with her brother Otis (Towles) to escape a bad home situation and ends up meeting his roommate, Henry (Rooker). They hit it off, but there's tension with Otis in the home. Otis makes some innappropriate advances toward his own sister, and Henry is quick to defend her. In an effort to make up and blow off some steam, The two get a couple hookers. Otis witnesses Henry choke one of them to death, then break the other's neck, and is horrified.

As he learns more about Henry, however, Otis becomes curious himself about what it feels like and is recruited into serial killer training. They use their sadistic hobby to obtain some nicer things for themselves like a television and video camera. Unfortunately for Henry, tensions flare up again when Otis starts becoming sexually obsessed with his victims. Things come to a head as Henry catches Otis attempting to rape his own sister, and knows he must get her out of there, even if he still sees her as a potential victim.

This movie was incredible to watch, and VERY well-written. Henry doesn't give much of himself away through words, but shows a lot through actions and reactions. When the three are dancing around for their new video camera, Henry is instructed by Otis to watch Becky dance. This brings on some bad memories of his mother, and Henry quietly pleads for Otis to stop, and seems on the verge of tears. This particular scene is so out of regular character for Henry, which makes it all the more disturbing, since it lays bare one of the troubled corners of his mind.


It's interesting to note some sympathy with Henry throughout th movie, while at the same time, he is a sick serial killer. He becomes both the villian and the hero, and then the villian again, as the movie progresses. The ending is great. For such a simple ending, I didn't really see it coming. Who knew he'd "take one for the road"?

Rating: 5/5 Bonedaddies.