Comments for Movie Education http://www.whokilledthebear.com Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:50:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Educational Archives: Social Engineering 101 by Anonymous http://www.whokilledthebear.com/educational-archives-social-engineering-101.html#comment-13 Anonymous Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:50:53 +0000 http://www.whokilledthebear.com/educational-archives-social-engineering-101.html#comment-13 It totally rules!! "Why Vandalism?" is particularly amazing. "Shy Guy" is good because it has a very young Dick York. Actually, I recognized a few of these from Nick at Nite about 10 years ago...they used to show "The Patty Duke Show" and "Dobie Gillis" and all that, and in between they'd show snippets of old classroom films!!! Man, those were the days. The kid in "Soapy The Germ Fighter" kind of looks like a dirty, young male adolescent Bjork ..."Why Doesn't Cathy Eat Breakfast?" is WAY too short. I'd pay [price] for 2 hours of just her in her gloriously funky room. When I finally got 'round to the final film, "The Outsider", I got all giddy; after all, the last filmstrip in "Vol I: Sex & Drugs" was the brilliant "The ABC's of Sex Ed For Trainables." . Once again, Skip does not disappoint! This film is the most brilliantly melodramatic portrayal of basic young girl blues I have ever seen. Thank goodness Susan Jane's mother intervenes, before she has a total mental breakdown! I can't wait until I get "On The Job"!!!!!!!!! Rating: 5 / 5 It totally rules!! “Why Vandalism?” is particularly amazing. “Shy Guy” is good because it has a very young Dick York. Actually, I recognized a few of these from Nick at Nite about 10 years ago…they used to show “The Patty Duke Show” and “Dobie Gillis” and all that, and in between they’d show snippets of old classroom films!!! Man, those were the days. The kid in “Soapy The Germ Fighter” kind of looks like a dirty, young male adolescent Bjork …”Why Doesn’t Cathy Eat Breakfast?” is WAY too short. I’d pay [price] for 2 hours of just her in her gloriously funky room. When I finally got ’round to the final film, “The Outsider”, I got all giddy; after all, the last filmstrip in “Vol I: Sex & Drugs” was the brilliant “The ABC’s of Sex Ed For Trainables.” . Once again, Skip does not disappoint! This film is the most brilliantly melodramatic portrayal of basic young girl blues I have ever seen. Thank goodness Susan Jane’s mother intervenes, before she has a total mental breakdown! I can’t wait until I get “On The Job”!!!!!!!!!
Rating: 5 / 5

]]> Comment on Rio Escondido by Curtis Allan http://www.whokilledthebear.com/rio-escondido.html#comment-8 Curtis Allan Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:57:10 +0000 http://www.whokilledthebear.com/rio-escondido.html#comment-8 The opening and closing scenes of this film must have seemed hopelessly sentimental, even in 1948. I could barely keep watching thru the first 20 minutes. If you can get past that, however, there is much to admire here. Gabriel Figueroa's noirish camerawork is truly haunting; images will stay with you long after the film is over. Outside the film's opening and closing scenes, the story avoids an excessively conventional narrative style, moving very slowly and calmly to a gentle climax. The insights into pueblo life may seem exaggerated (like the shooting of a boy for taking a pot of water), but I would bet many of those events derive from real life memories from Fernandez's childhood. There are still a few areas in Mexico to this day where life approaches that level of desperation; to say nothing of the state of affairs in the 1940s. Finally, Maria Felix gives a wonderful performance in the lead. In fact, all of the roles are performed at a level that was high by any standard of the day. In sum, this is a truly great Mexican film from its greatest ever filmmaker. <br /> <br />Regarding the DVD, the image quality is not exceptional but certainly never impairs a proper enjoyment of the film. There are no subtitles (neither English nor Spanish) and no extras worthy of note. Hurray that this has been released, especially at such a steal of a price! <br /> Rating: 5 / 5 The opening and closing scenes of this film must have seemed hopelessly sentimental, even in 1948. I could barely keep watching thru the first 20 minutes. If you can get past that, however, there is much to admire here. Gabriel Figueroa’s noirish camerawork is truly haunting; images will stay with you long after the film is over. Outside the film’s opening and closing scenes, the story avoids an excessively conventional narrative style, moving very slowly and calmly to a gentle climax. The insights into pueblo life may seem exaggerated (like the shooting of a boy for taking a pot of water), but I would bet many of those events derive from real life memories from Fernandez’s childhood. There are still a few areas in Mexico to this day where life approaches that level of desperation; to say nothing of the state of affairs in the 1940s. Finally, Maria Felix gives a wonderful performance in the lead. In fact, all of the roles are performed at a level that was high by any standard of the day. In sum, this is a truly great Mexican film from its greatest ever filmmaker.

Regarding the DVD, the image quality is not exceptional but certainly never impairs a proper enjoyment of the film. There are no subtitles (neither English nor Spanish) and no extras worthy of note. Hurray that this has been released, especially at such a steal of a price!

Rating: 5 / 5

]]> Comment on Tiki by The Tao of Netflix http://www.whokilledthebear.com/tiki.html#comment-15 The Tao of Netflix Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:42:25 +0000 http://www.whokilledthebear.com/tiki.html#comment-15 I so desperately wanted this to be a great movie. I have a tremendous appreciation for what are otherwise considered guilty pleasure horror flicks, i.e,. those that are considered absurd by mainstream, but which I otherwise hesitate to admit my appreciation. Case in point - Killer Pad, Tequila Body Shots, Hallow's End, etc. <br /> <br />In this case, polynesia may be the only thing that approaches my passion for horror flicks. Hawaii is by far my absolute favorite place, and so wish the polynesian supper clubs (esp. Kahiki) are as popular now as they were in the 50s. So with this predisposition, I approached this movie not expecting much but really hoping it would have something redeeming. Nope. The absurd plot does not save the c**p production quality, terrible acting, blah blah blah. Avoid, sadly. Rating: 1 / 5 I so desperately wanted this to be a great movie. I have a tremendous appreciation for what are otherwise considered guilty pleasure horror flicks, i.e,. those that are considered absurd by mainstream, but which I otherwise hesitate to admit my appreciation. Case in point – Killer Pad, Tequila Body Shots, Hallow’s End, etc.

In this case, polynesia may be the only thing that approaches my passion for horror flicks. Hawaii is by far my absolute favorite place, and so wish the polynesian supper clubs (esp. Kahiki) are as popular now as they were in the 50s. So with this predisposition, I approached this movie not expecting much but really hoping it would have something redeeming. Nope. The absurd plot does not save the c**p production quality, terrible acting, blah blah blah. Avoid, sadly.
Rating: 1 / 5

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