Reviews

Pierre Vallieres was a spokesman for the Quebec separatist movement who advocated armed struggle. He terrified the rest of Canada by promising revolution and blood in the streets. So since he trafficked in words, all we see is his mouth in this brief interview. A mouth (with a beard & smoking, naturally) spewing Marxism, muttering about oppression & promising violence. A perfect period time capsule.

That's about the high point of this Canadian govt. sponsored (surprise!) film short. Tony and Equity nominated actress Louise Pitre stars as a stripper who's losing her job because she's not a sleazy as Megan Follows, ( Yep, Anne of Green Gables herself in leather with a whip). Script co-written by award-winning playwright Carol Bolt. Really, with all this talent, couldn't they have made a better movie? (Oh, and Ms. Pitre's breasts are on display for maybe one frame as well. Thank you Ma'am).. One of a series of films sponsored by govt. grants and business tax breaks that never appear to get shown to the general public who pays for them.

Terrific little documentary from political activist Frank Diamand. In 1988, the people of Chile voted in a referendum whether they wanted dictator Augustus Pinochet to step down. Everyone voted yes - but would the man who said "Not a leaf moves in Chile if I don't know about it" actually do it? Just a series of little vignettes as ordinary people wait to see if they made history or face possible death. Where else are you gonna see hundreds of people are singing "No-no-no" to the Blue Danube Waltz? Or Bianca Jagger working for the UN? And the last shot of a young boy facing his future while waving a flag takes the film from a simple documentary to a glimpse of the world changing forever. Good luck finding this movie, but highly recommended

OK, it's got crude lighting, repellent characters, so-so acting... but it's real. It deals with real issues that real people face & you can relate to. A pleasant surprise. It's just too bad we never got to see what Ms. Jacobson could have done had she lived. Stick with this one & prepare to feel... I dunno... Elevated? Good? Human?

They had a lot of creepy episodes on this show, but this took the biscuit for me. A ordinary mild mannered fellow (Tim-Brooke-Taylor from The Goodies) arrives home from a foreign vacation with a very special gift for his mum in, yes, his overnight bag. Giving anything else away would spoil it. Lets just say it's a horror story dressed up as a comedy because no-body seems upset...

Hilarious propaganda short defending America's right to defend the rest of the western hemisphere from everyone else. (OK, the right to stop other nations "interfering" in them, with their dastardly foreign "despotism". Glad to see how democratic & liberty-loving the South Americans, especially, became). Sorry, but I'm Canadian. and it's difficult to watch a movie about this without making with the wisecracks. Henry Clay, a slave owner, is is shown eloquently defending democratic rights. Teddy Roosevelt emotes rather violently (the poor actor looks like he's about to pop his clogs) over America's peaceful intentions - and of course, not over his 3 different plans to invade Canada. One of these involved Britain's dispute about Venezuela - but it's interesting how she's never named (just called "a foreign power").

In fact the most interesting aspect of this movie is they way it attacks all European countries EXCEPT Britain. No mention of 1812 or the other disagreements in our history Why? Because it's 1939 folks & the British are now America's most valued allies. In fact they will have to be the ones stopping foreign despotism for nearly 2 years before America got involved. Anyway, the film itself is fast and fun to watch - for different reasons, depending where you come from. And Nanette Fabray & George Reeves make a wonderfully appealing couple whose love transcends national boundaries. Watch it and debate the ideas inside.

Cartoonist Carl Giles drew a picture in the early 80's. A Britsh my-lordy, complete with pith helmet, is reading the paper, as is his long-haired hippie nephew. Both papers read AFGHANISTAN. The nephew says "so - those treacherous tribal riff-raff are now our noble and loyal allies, eh, uncle?" And Uncle is reaching over to strangle him...

Welcome to the days of "freedom fighters" who would be Taliban, evil Russians who are now our uneasy allies, and many more dead people than the script planned when they made this classic time-capsule documentary. Martyn Burke, the extremely talented Canadian filmmaker who gave us everything from "Pirates of Silicon Valley" to the last remake of "Animal Farm"(!), set out to show the good guys & bad guys of 1988. And he succeeded all too well. I wonder how this would play out now to a post 9/11 audience? History or propaganda?

(Or, like in the movie "Charlie Grant's War", you pretend everything after didn't happen?)

Mongolia is in a gold rush...but none of its going to the Mongols. Foreign companies have carved up the territory, and the only way the locals can get it is by sneaking in and making wildcat mines. Which is where our story starts. This mind-boggling film shows a bunch of good ol' boys spending a year digging a hole in the ground with a beat-up winch, second hand drills - and mostly, their bare hands. It's a dirty, dangerous, and completely illegal job (the cameraman had to be lowered into the mineshaft upside down, it's that narrow. Meanwhile, they're using dynamite with old fuses & prayer). But as you get to know them, you get to love them. From the big boss (his boast is "I will show my belly in Germany") to the lone woman who has to cook & wash for all of them & put up with their dirty jokes, this is an astonishing portrayal of bottom feeder free enterprise. And remember - none of them are getting paid. They're all banking on finding something (literally) at the end.

The jokes in this show were so illogical they achieved a kind of epic weirdness. There were the ongoing interviews with the beaver on the back of the Canadian nickel (played by a guy in a beaver suit), the Society for the Suppression of Vowels ("Mr. Thrxsct, good evening." "Xysrthck"). I was only 11 at the time, so maybe it seemed funnier than it was. But even the opening was ahead of it's time. The names were read in a sort of backwards/forwards order, then the announcer yelled "Terrific" - in a totally bored & sarcastic voice. Irony on screen, years before SNL! Does this gem of a show still exist somewhere for rediscovery?

A deeply subversive, yet utterly enjoyable (and kinda true)South Seas movie from the 50's. Burt Lancaster is a typical 19th century trader/pirate whose only ambition is to make money out of the "natives", and fast. He comes to a Pacific Island Utopia where no one has to work... because who needs money?...

Vastly underrrated, this film makes all kinds of points. The Natives (half of whom, admittedly,are white guys in blackface)are dangerous quasi-cannibals. But the white guys (including Burt!)are plain Euro- Trash. The head chief, and Burt's head wife (Joan Rice in a lovely performance - she takes the cliché of the innocent island girl and makes a performance out of it with her eyelashes) are the real heroes.

Did I mention the Chinese dentist who knows more about investments than Burt? Or the German philosophy student who can relate to the natives better than Europeans? Filmed on location in Fiji with a cast that seem to be having the time of their lives, HIS MAJESTY O'KEEFE is a very simple, yet completely fun relic of the non-PC days. (P.S. Check out the other scripts by Borden Chase. Some good ones there...)

I have just finished watching the first episode of the new TV Series on Maureen Jennings "Murdoch Mysteries". I had trouble with the episode for several reasons. In December there were a series of TV Movies starring Peter Outerbridge as Detective William Murdoch that appeared (at least to me) far superior that what I saw on the TV series. Because of the Outerbridge version of the movie I saw, it made me want to investigate further. I looked up Maureen Jennings website and got the names of the books that the movies are based on. I have now read the first book in the series and thoroughly enjoyed it! I am looking forward to reading the other books. Ms. Jennings makes a comment in her website that Peter Outerbridge is the perfect actor to portray Detective Murdoch (and she ought to know). After reading the first book, I tend to agree that Mr. Outerbridge's performance was spot on! There are several things I find not right with the series (which in itself is OK and I would probably have liked if I hadn't seen the other versions and/or read the book).

1. First of all they have Detective Murdoch too well dressed! In the book he is a struggling detective and lives in two rooms in a boarding house so he obviously doesn't have a lot of money to be spending on clothes etc.

2. The inside of the police station is much too posh! In the books they describe the police station as very old and the detectives only have a very small room where they conduct their business. Also, they have to use the same tea leaves over and over again during the day because there isn't a lot of money for luxuries.

3. Next is the portrayal of the character. The books definitely show him as an intelligent person but there is a vulnerability to him as well. I won't give anything away, but he has sadness in his life that he is trying to overcome and this comes across very much in the way he deals with people and in coping with his inner demons. I felt that Peter Outerbridge really did this well! He always questions people with the utmost decorum and often shows kindness and really tries to understand the people he is questioning. The actor in the TV series is definitely to cocky and over confident and abrupt in his dealings with suspects and the people he works with.

The last thing I will say is that in the books that although Murdoch is definitely intelligent and intuitive, he knows that he has bosses to answer to and constables under him that he needs to guide and nurture. Therefore he is neither top man or low man he is somewhere in the middle and he knows his place quite well.

Well, I have droned on enough, but I would urge people to definitely see the Peter Outerbridge versions and see how you like his portrayal of Murdoch or better yet read the books! I don't think you will be disappointed!

This is one of the most lyrical, simple and sweet westerns ever made - and NOBODY (except Leonard Maltin, who gave it 3 1/2 stars) appears to have seen it!

The premise is simple. Three young ladies ( one with the very Victorian name of Charity) meet and bond as they head west for marriages with men they haven't met. One jokes that perhaps they'll meet some western "rogues". Well, they get a lot more than that. From struggling with abuse and death, to learning to love someone even in the face of indifference, to a genuine western gunfight, this movie is really about how people deal with Life.

The director, Ed Stabile, is a film editor. One surprising thing about this film is it's "non"-editing. Stabile locks the camera down for certain key scenes and just lets it run. In one unforgettable shot, the ladies meet - and just cry. And cry. And cry... and get over it. In another, someone has to arrange a funeral. We follow them into the local cabinet maker(he does coffins on the side), and watch them haggle over the price. He at least has the good taste to apologize for it being so steep.

All in all, a wonderful film (and not as heavy as this review sounds). If you can find it anywhere, watch it. And don't forget - the Nebraska locations were shot in New Jersey!