Reviews by The Mighty Celestial

I was a big fan of the TV series, & often watched it in syndication during my tweener years, when my tastes in entertainment were just beginning to experience their own particular brand of puberty. I had heard that there was a movie from which this series was based off of, but never watched it until just a few years ago. After getting so used to the TV version, it took me a bit before I started becoming comfortable with the feel of the movie, which is more raw, not as tightly focused on "preaching" the anti-war message as it's small screen counterpart. However, once I began adjusting my viewing senses to more readily absorb the movie's integrity, it's brlliance of creativity, "war-time operating-room realism" & humor, all became more apparent. It's ability to interweave these aspects with such a spontanetic balance was not only a reminder of a director's (Robert Altman) prime, but also, why this movie is considered such a classic of the genre, particularly in the realm of it's genre of dark comedy & satire.

For me, this movie exemplifies everything that I like about all things Kubrick. IMO, he tends to make movies that are an inch away from being abstract beyond understanding, but yet keeps the flow of the film reeled in just enough to make it seem like it makes sense on some kind of creative level. And while I don't mind discussing what the underlying meaning(s) of ACO might be, I find that too much discussion on it tends to get in the way of the enjoyment that I get from noticing things like how colorfully crafted the art-direction is for a movie that doesn't bat a single lashed eye towards subjects like ultra-violence & the old in-&-out.
Visually, a beautifully crafted film with such a bite in it's theme that it acts as a well-balanced counterweight against the brightly set designs. Seldom do we see the contrast of light & darkness stitched on film in a manner that is instinctual, crazy & perfect all at the same time.

This film is an excellent example of what can happen when all of the effort of special effects is replaced with maximum effort into the script.
Definitely a thinking man's science fiction film whose intellect sacrifice none of the science nor none of the fiction.
The plot utilizes the fantasy element of the genre to delve intricately into themes of the pysche such as regret, love, pity, self-inflection & even the most monumental of these concepts, the justification of life and death. It does so with enough room to allow the viewer with no other answer other than the store of reflection which he or she carries into film, before & after.
Despite an incrimately moving pace that many of today movie-watchers may at first be uncomfortable with, once you settle into it's richly layered rythym, Solaris is a great film whose provocation of thought is as richly satisfying as is the grandest world-demolishing visuals of any other more explosive sci-fi films.

I always felt that scripting a movie that focuses on a successful elaborate con-job really requires an exercizing of creativity from the writer. Bringing in all the elements of the characters & acts to pull off a scheme that is both credible in it's enactment & at the same time fascinating in it's grand unfolding is a balancing act on a extremely narrow margin.
This was one of the 1st. ones I watched as a kid. The chemistry between Newman & Robert Redford was evident even to me, as young as I was. They acted cool, they looked cool & particpated in a scheme that, in my young mind, was dang cool. This was the movie that began my affection for quality heist/confidence movies.

First of all, movies don't scare me all that easily. A few did when I was a kid, but not anymore now as an adult. Therefore I rarely watch "scary" movies with the idea that I'm going to get frightened in any way. These days, I just judge 'em based more on the quality of entertainment that I get from the story, art direction, acting, blah blah blah....
That said,
boy, when I think of the time that this movie was first released & watching it as a kid, I know now why there hasn't been a movie since that has been able to scare me. This one got it all out of my system all in one shot (my mentality is probably still scarred from this flick in a manner that I, even as an adult, have yet to realize). From here on end, all other horror flix are just a step down for my traumatized pimp-ass.
Even before I saw the movie, I remember catching a preview of this on T.V., as it depicted the scene of when the girl was on the bed, cryin for help as it shook on it's "own" volition. That night, I was scared as hell to go upstairs to my f#ckin' bedroom.
That f#ckin' movie.......

I love LOVE this movie. The tension & diasterous desperation of Dog Day begins & ends with Al's depiction of John Wojtowicz. Watching him trying to salvage the failed robbery attempt, you can just feel the downhill fatal end result oozing out of Pacino's character before it ever occurs. For me, this is the real start of Al's explosive charisma that's he's become famous for, but before it evolved into the caricature of himself that it is now.

Typical Dirty Harry fare, but now with a female partner.
However, despite being forced to side up with a Women's Lib quota filler,
Clint Eastwood still manages to carry a 70's machismo chip on his shoulder, talk thru incessantly gritted teeth, piss off his superiors & weld big handguns like they were just a natural extension of what makes Harry so dirty to begin with.

This movie continues the great tradition begun with Rosemary's Baby, & the masterfully followed up with The Exorcist as the Devil himself is seriously depicted, though never shown, in a manner that is genuinely intended to keep even the most heartily-minded awake at night.
As in those earlier works, in The Omen, Satan is the unseen antagonist who uses a human in the form of a child to dote out his diabolical deeds of death, despair & destruction.
Y'know, for me, there's something about the 70's era that seems to really lend itself to the atmosphere of hellish dread that are these types of films. Maybe it's because since this was the decade in which "movie realism" had finally come to touch the ground (evidenced thru the films of actors like Dustin Hoffman & Al Pacino), the monster genre had really started to become a caricature of itself, many times to the point of being cartoonishliy silly. Therefore, one of the few avenues of true horror left was to those that focused the evil that resulted from the more sins of man, which of course can be personified best by he who most represents it, ol' Lucifer hisself.
Or maybe it's just because such evil could only come from the decade that was also responsible for polyster suits, platform shoes & dancing Travolta movies.
Whatever the reason,
The Omen carries with it a new-found injection of horror that rattled our nerves more on a biblical sense of hopelessness than thru the fear of a Hollywood-spawned rubber-suited creature of which many movie-veiwers had becomed largely desensitized to at this point.

In my opinion, this was the first film to establish Robert Deniro's persona-stereotyped method of acting that he's known for even up until to this day.
And that's probably more because the film's director, Martin Scorcese really seemed to allow Deniro's mannerisms to freight this portrayal of a cab diver whose loniless in the vast sea of grime that was '70's era New York City to consume him to the point of razor-edged madness.
It was an acting freedom that Scorces used to maximum effect also allowed also with the suporting characters, including Jodie Foster, Cybil Sheperd, Harvey Keitel, Albert Brooks & Danny Boyle.
While Martin Scorcese is more famous for his mafia-themed films, I feel that his talent for depicting the grit of the streets, particularly of the time-period cannot be understated & is what really carries the feel & weight of this film.
A true staple in the decade of 70's films, that I just enjoy watching over & over again.

And yeah.....
I'm talking to you.

While I tend to agree with the general consensus that this movie shouldn't have beat out other films like All The President's Men or Taxi Driver for the Best Picture Oscar, I still consider it my favorite of the this particular year.
One of the reasons is just the nostalgic connection I have to this film. I remember watching this first installment of the Italian Stallion series as a child, & even at an age when I believed that the female sex to be rife with cooties, just adoring the love story between two "loser" types of Adrian & the original Rock. And this was probably the first movie I ever watched that literally hand me jumping up & down at the end.
Rocky's plot just seemed to be able to pull all the right heart-strings for me, that even to this day I still feel a slight jitter in my chest whenever I watch this flick.
Either that, or maybe I've developed a life-long heart murmur.