Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)

Dir. Russ Meyer

A trio of hell-raising go-go dancers out for thrills in the California desert end up with dollar signs in their eyes and blood on their hands.

Russ Meyer was a filmmaker and photographer who loved his subject. A large portion of the scenes in which the hourglass-figured women appear is structured and framed to accentuate their feminine dominance; it has more low angle shots than a Japanese kaijū movie. Faster, Pussycat also benefits from having a ton of cheesy but extremely quotable lines of dialogue.

The acting isn't the kind that wins mainstream awards, but that's to be expected. Nevertheless, Tura Satana's performance as the leader of the fast-car loving threesome gives the film a vigour that many similar budgeted movies lack.

Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation (2009)

Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation (2009)

Author: Ray Bradbury | Illustrator: Tim Hamilton | Page Count: 149

"Books, so the damned snobbish critics said, were dishwater. No wonder books stopped selling. The public, knowing what it wanted, let the comic books survive."

A comic book adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic F451 story. I've reviewed the original novel already (see HERE), so I won't go over the plot again.

This particular transition from novel to comic is fully authorised by Bradbury, so you'd expect a faithful retelling. He didn't let just anyone have his works. (He once told his publisher to "go to hell" when they wanted to release F451 as an e-book. Sadly, he was forced to give in, once more proving that the book publishing world has caught up with the film world in not giving a damn about the author's intentions).

It uses Bradbury's dialogue but much of his descriptive language is lost, and it's that part of writing that he excels in, whereas his character dialogue can be simplistic and minimal.

Family (1994)

Family (1994)

Dir. Michael Winterbottom | 4 episodes, approx 45 minutes each.

A miniseries set in Dublin, Ireland, written by author Roddy Doyle and directed by filmmaker Michael Winterbottom. I've read a couple of Roddy's novels and watched the films based on The Barrytown Trilogy. I enjoyed them all.

None of the films were big budget ventures, so I had no reason to suspect that a TV production would be any less engaging or personal.

Sure enough, it wasn't, the working class Spencer family were just as well-written and presented as Roddy's movie characters have been. In fact, it was an exceptional TV drama, the like of which the '90s had too little of, although it seems like there was still a lot more than we have now.

Four of the six Spencers have an episode named after them, within which they're the main focus even though, with the exception of the two youngest, all members play an important role each time. Interestingly, in each case the music used fits the age group, helping characterisation. Episodes in the order presented:

The Sandman Presents: The Furies (2002)

The Furies (2002)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrator: John Bolton | Page Count: 96

"[T]he immortality resides in the role, not in the being that enacts it."

Events in The Furies take place a few years after the end of Neil Gaiman's lengthy Sandman saga (1989-96).

It continues the story of a secondary character named Lyta Hall, so if you've not read all 75 issues (collected as 10 volumes, previously reviewed on the blog), then you'll be missing a huge chunk of backstory. In truth, it would be best to not read The Furies if you lack that Sandman knowledge, because it's largely reliant on it.

Carey's words build an atmosphere that's thick and oppressive. Bolton's painted art complements it.

Bolton is a superb artist, so it's hard to say for sure, but there may be some actual photography blended into the backgrounds. Either way, it manages to be more emotionally affecting than the text; it almost feels as if the brush strokes have actual pain and a unique kind of anguish captured within them.

The Legend of Zelda Manga: Legendary Ed. Vol. 05 (2017)

Four Swords: Parts 1 and 2 (2004)

Author and Illustrator: Akira Himekawa | Page Count: 370

"There's a new Link in this chain!"

I've not played the Four Swords Adventures (2004) game because the stores near where I lived didn't stock it and I didn't have access to online retailers back then, but after reading the two-part adaptation, I'm wishing that I could play it right now!

After some brief but satisfying establishing of Link's uppity nature and his friendship with Princess Zelda, the Big Bad is unleashed and the adventure begins.

The environments will be familiar to anyone that's played any of the previous games (Town / Mountain / Ice / Desert regions, etc) but that familiarity didn't result in reader apathy because the situations that the Links find themselves in held my attention completely.

The comedy is situational and more often than not caused by some kind of confrontation; it's rarely the goofy kind that I complained about in Oracle of Seasons (2001), so it's much more enjoyable.

Francis of Assisi (1961)

Francis of Assisi (1961)

Dir. Michael Curtiz

Francis Bernardone is remembered for a great many things by scholars and Christians, but to the average person he's known mostly as the religious figure who preached the gospel to birds, and persuaded a wolf to stop attacking people.

The film acknowledges his patronage of animals, but it's more concerned with his transformation from a privileged silk-merchant's son to a man penniless but infinitely rich in spiritual matters.

The journey from one state of being to the other is treated with respect, but the acting is so often devoid of any kind of passion that it can feel like watching a rehearsal, not an actual final take.

It proffers a romantic view of poverty, with the suggestion that it brings one closer to the godhead.

While outside of the movies poverty more often tends to lead to sickness and death, it's an inspiring notion, which may serve to remind those obsessed with material wealth that happiness need not be reliant on having a fat bank balance.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: Films (1984-2003)

01. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Dir. Wes Craven

Prior to re-watching the first of the Elm Street movies recently, it had been well over a decade — perhaps even closer to two — since I'd last seen it, but I remembered almost every scene as if it was yesterday. It's because I'd watched it many times on an ex-rental VHS as a teenager. In all honesty, and accounting for nostalgia, it holds up rather well.

If you're not familiar with the set-up, it's the story of a group of teenagers, all of whom reside on the titular Elm Street, whose dreams are haunted by a killer with blades on one gloved hand. The killer's reasons for doing what he does are part of the film's plot, so I won't delve any deeper than that.

One of the movie's strengths is its atmosphere, and by polluting the safety net of the unconscious, by turning a place of retreat into a realm of pure terror for the story's protagonists, it sticks in the mind.

Food, Inc. (2008)

Food, Inc. (2008)

Director: Robert Kenner

Most adults are aware that the burger they're holding, or the steak they're carving, was once part of a cow, likely mistreated before being violently killed. But the majority of consumers can put that out of mind as they bite down.

If the things that people do know don't bother them, then what about the things they don't know? Food, Inc exposes the ugly truths.

It's not a documentary about animal rights, it's about giant food corporations that no longer pay American farmers to simply 'raise' chickens for them. Instead, they pay businessmen to 'grow' chickens on factory farms, because fat birds = fat wallets. It's not just live animals; the story of corn and soy beans is just as terrifying.

The film's light on statistics, opting more for something akin to scare tactics, but the hidden camera footage speaks for itself without needing diagrams, if you've got the stomach for it.

Flight of the Navigator (1986)

Flight of the Navigator (1986)

Dir. Randal Kleiser

Second Sight Films' 2019 re-release of FotN offered the perfect opportunity for me to revisit the film yet again. Encoded from a new 4K scan, with a restoration supervised by its director Randal Kleiser, it's significantly better than their previous 2012 Blu-ray edition. The press release doesn't state if it's from the OCN or not, but judging by the astonishing level of detail in the picture, I'm guessing it is. There'll likely be a 4K edition at some point in the future, but until then the 2019 disc is, to my knowledge, the best that the film has looked on the home media format.

It holds a special place in my heart still, being only the second film that I ever saw at the cinema, as a child, and it likely contributed in no small part to the enduring love of science-fiction cinema that developed in me as I matured.

It's a family film about a twelve-year-old named David (Joey Cramer) who's forced to deal with a frightening and unexpected change in his life.

Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

Author: Ray Bradbury | Page Count: 227

"And when he died, I suddenly realised I wasn't crying for him at all, but for the things he did. I cried because he would never do them again..."

Ray Bradbury's masterpiece tells of an unspecified future time when the written word is considered anathema, books are burned for their heretic meanings and too much knowledge is strictly forbidden.

If one man is smarter than another, it makes the other man feel shame and inadequacy. The state doesn't want that. They want everyone to be happy, and to achieve that they must make everyone the same. They want no one to question the equilibrium or to protest against the unfairness of the world that they've help create.

Television is the dominant information medium, a permanent fixture in almost every home, delivering sound and fury but saying nothing and somehow meaning even less. Life for the populace slithers along under a coloured blanket; the colour is grey and occasionally the colour of flame, but only if you try to think for yourself, if you risk going against the established order.

Fist of Fury (1972)

Fist of Fury (1972)

Dir. Wei Lo

Unable to silence his feelings, and in direct opposition to the wishes of his recently dead shifu, martial arts student Chen Zhen seeks direct vengeance for the death of his teacher, bringing trouble to his own front door in the process, in a socially repressed Shanghai that's being overrun by Japanese officials.

When he's not kicking (or punching) seven shades of shit out of members of a rival martial arts school, for the majority of the film Chen exists in two basic emotional states: very pissed off, or on the verge of being very pissed off. That's okay because seeing Bruce in action is the reason most of us are watching in the first place.

I don't know how many people will have a deeper knowledge of the sociopolitical nature of the relationship between the Chinese and Japanese people in the era in which the film is set, but the distrust and enmity between the two sides is given a more literal plateau within the story itself, so it should be self-explanatory.

From Dusk Till Dawn: Film Trilogy (1996-99)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Dir. Robert Rodriguez

Two criminals on the run take a few hostages and head for Mexico. Seth Gecko (George Clooney) is smooth and calm under pressure. His brother Richie (Quentin Tarantino) is a trigger-happy prick who needs protecting from his own impulses.

It's a movie of two uneven halves. For a while it's an edgy crime flick with some Tarantino-penned dialogue. It doesn't go anywhere particularly interesting, but there's at least the feeling that it might.

The latter part of the film, however, has no such aspirations. Instead, it goes all out to please fans of a very different genre.

I'll say no more, to avoid further spoilers, but the direction it takes will either float your goat or it won't. My goat was thoroughly sunk, but credit to the creators for trying something so outrageously divergent.

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Dir. Fred M. Wilcox

If you've any interest in the history and/or evolution of science fiction on film, then Forbidden Planet is a must-see, considering how influential it was on the genre. It was a direct influence on Star Trek: TOS, so fans of Kirk and Co. should be making a beeline to the front of the queue if they haven't already.

Of course, not everyone likes it. Some folks balk at the old school FX and criticise the music. I'm not just referring to kids weaned on CGI. Adults that ought to know better, that ought to be able to place something in its time and judge it accordingly, are just as dismissive. I feel genuinely sorry for them; they're missing out on so much. The FX are amazing; the miniatures and matte paintings are a thing of real beauty, filmed and presented in stunning Eastman Colour.

Fellside (2016)

Fellside (2016)

Author: M.R. Carey  |  Page Count: 496

'He saw her life as a three-act tragedy with opiates in the role of major antagonist. And her face mesmerised him. It had something better than beauty or symmetry. It had transparency.'

Jess Moulson wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of who she is or how she got there. It's a clichéd, uninspired middle school plot device that I've encountered literally dozens of times before – I even used it myself when I was eleven! Things don't look good for Fellside, but sometimes the quality of the writing can make even that situation interesting again, right? Sadly, that's not the case herein.

A second device runs alongside the first, a situation in which Jess is characterised as much by the thoughts of the people that attend to her as by her own hazy recollections; in essence, we learn about the observer, the observed and the recollections of the latter at the same time as she does. It's all well and good in theory, but Jess is semi-conscious for a significant portion of the book's first quarter, which leads to a lot of similar observations time and again, very few of which are what I'd classify as enthralling.

F for Fake (1973)

F for Fake (1973)

Dir. Orson Welles / François Reichenbach, Oja Kodar, and Gary Graver (uncredited)

In Orson's own words, it's a "film about trickery," which is something that's explored in both the subject matter and through the medium via which it's presented.

Part documentary, part biopic, and part essay on the nature of what's real and what's fake, the film twists viewer perceptions while remaining wholly faithful to its own agenda, whatever that may be at any given time.

Its carefully constructed randomness is anything but. Hiding insight inside of hindsight, at times it's as frustrating as it is revealing, but about what exactly is something that's very much open to debate. Ultimately, it's a work made and narrated by Orson, but might be more about him than anyone else featured in it, real or constructed.

NOTE: depending where you look, or which edition you prefer to own, it's variously listed as having been released either in 1973, '74, or '75. The earliest screening date I can find is 1973 (San Sebastián Film Festival), so I went with that.

Farewell Summer (2006)

Farewell Summer (2006)
Author: Ray Bradbury  |  Page Count: 166

'Just then the great clock across town, an immense moon, a full moon of stunned sound and round illumination, cleared its ratchety throat and let free a midnight sound.'

Almost half a century after Dandelion Wine (1957) was published, Ray returned to his beloved creation to deliver the next phase of young Douglas Spaulding's story.

It's marketed as a sequel novel, but that wording gives a reader false expectations; it's much too short and light to hold the weight of such an honour. Personally, I choose to think of it more as a belated coda or companion piece.

It's a feeling supported by the fact that in his afterword Bradbury tells us that the "novel" is "actually an extension" of its predecessor, the original form having been held back from full publication because of his publisher insisting that the manuscript was too lengthy.

DUNE: TV Miniseries (2000)

Frank Herbert's Dune (2000)

Dir. John Harrison | Length: 3 episodes, approx 98 minutes each.

There is a substance, a spice, found in only one place in the known universe, on Dune, a desert planet also known as Arrakis. The spice is the most important substance known to man. It prolongs life and enables interstellar travel. Without it interplanetary trade would cease and great empires would fall. That makes people nervous and nervous people often do desperate things.

The Padishah Emperor controls Dune. He's more nervous than most. People he favours are permitted to mine the spice. People that oppose him are quickly silenced and left to die. There are a number of political houses that the Emperor can use to keep the spice flowing. Each house has its own agenda. Each house has its own problems. Each house hates the other.

There's a prophecy that tells of a time when a man will come. A saviour. That time is now.

Fragments of Horror (2015)

Fragments of Horror (2015)

Author and Illustrator: Junji Ito  |  Page Count: 224

"I'm looking for a special someone to dissect me!"

After an eight year absence from the horror manga genre that his name has become synonymous with, Japanese author and illustrator Junji Ito returned with a collection of eight short tales of bizarre terrors.

Ito notes in his afterword that the time spent away from writing horror may have resulted in his becoming a little rusty, and sure enough the first story he penned is a little weak, but there's enough of the creeping wiggins in some of the subsequent stories to keep fans of his warped worlds happy.

Themes he's explored before resurface, such as a typically safe environment becoming something menacing and the strain of personal relationships being a precursor to even greater terrors, but there's enough new stuff to balance it out.

HAMMER: Frankenstein Films (1957-74)

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Dir. Terence Fisher

TCoF was a trio of firsts for HAMMER Studios: their first horror in colour, their first Frankenstein film and the first of their productions to feature Christopher Lee.

The story is a confessional flashback, meaning the Baron's evolution from cultivating an infectious curiosity to succumbing to an isolating obsession is paced by his own telling, working inexorably toward the creature's reveal. Universal forbade the use of their existing iconic image, so HAMMER had to make their own more gruesome version, sans neck-bolts.

It's privilege that enables the Baron to carry out his work. Meddling in pure science at the level he does is the exclusive preserve of the rich. If he'd been impecunious the creature would probably never have been born.

ForeBears (2013)

ForeBears (2013)

Dir. Marie Cachet

A documentary by Marie Cachet and Varg Vikernes (aka 'Count Grishnackh' of Burzum) that chooses to observe its subject, as opposed to commenting on it in any direct, expository way. Structurally it brings three things together into one whole:

• Footage that closely resembles home movies (watch as the Count gets studious with a book before making himself a hot drink in his favourite cup. Oh, the excitement~);

• Excerpts from the Egyptian Book of the Dead;

• Burzum music as soundtrack, namely the Sôl austan, Mâni vestan (2013) album.

The juxtaposition of Varg's life with his wife Marie's is where the film finds something to say.

The freedom that mother and children enjoy is enviable. You may not sympathise with the Pagan belief system, but at least the kids are learning genuine skills, not being instructed in layered religious guilt and shame or how to do algebra.

It can be viewed FREE at Marie Cachet's YouTube channel: ForeBears (2013)