T-bird-7 Reviews

Phantasm (1979)

30 years later and still rockin'

[7/10 · 6 January 2009]

OK, I saw this movie in 1979. I was 13 at the time, just like Mike in the movie. Well, I liked it a lot. I found it superb, flawless, scary, and I could go on and on. But I was 13 years old.

I never saw "Phantasm" again, not even a segment on TV, never. Today, 30 years later, I watched it again with my wife. Scared? Sure I was scared. Scared to discover that the perfect movie that I still remembered from my skate and moped days was - in reality - a very mediocre film, with low budget, bad acting and embarrassing special effects.

I was wrong. Definitely wrong. I liked it again, and this time I appreciated things that I couldn't notice when I first saw it, like the ingenious use of light, cut scenes and flashbacks (or forward?). The acting is not superb, but it doesn't matter. Effects are a little too-low budget, but again it doesn't matter. What's really important is the atmosphere that Coscarelli creates, full of dark forebodings yet very normal. Fantastic. It was a pleasure to hear the first notes of its "Carpenterish" score, and to see the Tall Man again. As the movie went on, I remembered every scene, it was just like tasting a cake little by little.

They don't make movies like this anymore. My advice? Highly recommendable!!!

Mother of Tears (2007)

Please retire...

[2/10 · 16 November 2007]

I must admit I quit watching Argento's movies after Phenomena ('84). At that point, his style was no more very appealing, but I've always considered him a great director anyway, basing my judgement on his '70s movies, in particular Profondo Rosso ('75), Suspiria ('77) and the slightly weaker (but still powerful) Inferno ('80).

When I heard this movie was soon to be released, I was excited at what it could be, after 30 years. Also I heard him talking about this movie, saying that it was his original plan to film all three chapters of the story about the three mothers from the book "Suspiria de Profundis" (1845), but that he got somewhat taken away by other projects. He also said that he never abandoned the idea, thinking about it in the last 30 -or at least 27- years. Well, this is the end result?

I'll never say "save your money", because I think everyone has the right to judge by her or himself, but I bet you'll regret spending your hard earned cash on this movie, I did for sure. What an inconsistent parade of "said,seen&done" stuff. If the idea at the base of the story was nothing new but intriguing anyway, the filming is, in a word, bad. Very, very bad.

Is Argento a soft-core director, a B,C,D...Z movie director or simply a guy who can't do his work in a decent way anymore? Where are all those touches that really were scaring? - and I'm not talking about gore here, but those disturbing traces that you didn't notice at first but somewhat got creeping their way into your head while you watched. Even the gore scenes were conventional. Some naked girls, bad acting, a pretentious plot and already-seen-before everything else. You got this movie.

Unbelievable. ...And if I only remember when, in the summer of 2005, I met Argento in person for Profondo Rosso's 30th birthday. He looked (and IS) so competent and imaginative. But, don't ask me why, all this doesn't show in this movie. After the first five or ten minutes, you start looking at your watch, wondering if the next scene will be more disappointing than the one you just survived. Even the characters are so conventional that only a child can find them interesting. Only Asia Argento proves, after all, to be a capable performer and her appearance is the only reason I haven't rated this movie at the minimum. Please, Dario, stop making this kind of trash, you'll pollute all of your great past works in this way, just like those once famous rock&roll bands that don't understand when it's time to disband. Or, go on and switch to soft porn, there is still some market for in on cable TV...

Sorry to sound so harsh, I liked this director's style so much. It simply isn't there anymore. I wish I hadn't seen this one.

Death Proof (2007)

Tarantino on a smaller scale

[6/10 · 7 June 2007]

Not a bad movie, but nothing special as well. I don't know much about the original project, but this section was really not very inspiring. Sure, the car chase was great and the girls' killing sequence was impressing - but the rest of the movie goes on and on with endless dialogue that looks and sounds like a pale copy of what QT made in the past. Here we don't have the spirited and out-of-contest talk of Pulp Fiction or even Reservoir Dogs - just very boring and inconsistent dialogue between characters that fail to grab attention or sympathy (at least mine). Kurt Russel is, of course, on a different level but again it's too little, in a film dominated by sassy dialogue of no interest. If it was a whole 45 minutes shorter, it could have been a little gem, even though the female characters were so and so. But for its real length, it's more of a wasted opportunity. Even the cuts/grainy film/under-overexposure/sound mistakes/B&W are nothing new. It's all said and done, and better saved for video clips or commercials. Nice, but nothing more...

...and there's a goof: A Challenger has frame-less door windows!