One Dress a Day Challenge

September: Bond Films

Never Say Never Again / Kim Basinger as Domino Vitali

I never would have thought there was a Bond movie with a video arcade in it, but here it is.

In the original Thunderball, Domino and Bond's dance was just a short social thing, but in this semi-remake, it's a whole number. The backless, sequinned dress is pretty classic right up to the shoulders, and then it suddenly goes whackadoodle with that asymmetrical collar and the candy-cane spiral of ribbon down her left arm. What bugs me is that the collar and sleeve elements are a pale cream color as opposed to the ivory of the rest of the dress. Makes me wonder if they were added later.

The more I study the costumes for this movie, the more I realize how quirky they are.

Jennifer Beals in flashdance (1983)

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Scarface - 1983 - Brian De Palma

The Dead Zone (1983)

You walk into The Dead Zone with certain assumptions based on the names on the poster. Though David Cronenberg has directed many different films in various genres, when you see his name next to Stephen King’s, you expect a lot of gross corpses and nightmare fuel. With Christopher Walken in the lead, you might think the film will be… a bit goofy? I mean let’s face it, he’s basically become a living meme at this point. That’s not what you’re getting. I’m not sure I’d even categorize The Dead Zone as a horror film; it’s a blend between several genres, a great Twilight Zone-type story with an excellent performance from its lead, strong emotions throughout and a great conclusion.

After a date with his girlfriend, Sarah (Brooke Adams), Johnny Smith (Walken) is injured in a car accident and left comatose. Waking up after five years, Johnny discovers he now has psychic abilities. By touching someone, he can learn about their future, past, or parts of their present even they may be unaware of.

In many stories, we’ve seen superheroes lament their extraordinary abilities - it’s never sat well with me. Rotten luck with the girl next door or not, everyone wants to be Spider-Man. In The Dead Zone, Johnny’s power feels like a curse. While he manages to save someone soon after waking up, news of this extraordinary skill quickly spreads and in no time, he’s being hounded by reporters who want to turn him into an exhibit and strangers who want his help for trivial matters like finding a lost dog. The man’s already having a difficult enough time accepting that he no longer has a job or a girlfriend, that he’s missed out on half a decade of living and now this? It’s no wonder he wants to return this gift.

What follows are a series of episodic “adventures” that always ultimately return to Johnny and his relationship with the rest of the world as seen by the way he interacts with children. When the film begins, he is a school teacher. When he wakes up from his coma, he has lost his job and learns that Sarah now has a husband and a young child of her own. She represents the life he missed because of his accident. Later, a 15-year-old girl is murdered by a serial killer and authorities briefly convince Johnny to return to the world from his self-imposed exile to help with the investigation. In another film, this hunt for a murderer with Sheriff George Bannerman (Tom Skerritt) would’ve been the whole movie. Here, it’s just a snippet of a bigger story as Johnny figures out how and when he wants to use his abilities. His desire to have a family, to keep children safe or to follow his calling as a teacher always bring him back to our world but his ability to see beyond pushes him away. Meanwhile, the mysteries to solve always remain secondary to the emotional journey. It’s a perfect marriage delicately balanced by director Cronenberg, who infuses so much humanity in this fantastic tale.

As Johnny, Christopher Walken delivers an excellent performance. You can feel the whirlwind of conflicting emotions within him. The heartbreak of losing his sweetheart, the daunting questions regarding his abilities, the frustration and isolation that come with his newfound fame. He’s aided by an excellent screenplay by Jeffrey Boam, who improves the novel by King by tying every episode together thematically and condensing the story into an efficient package.

The Dead Zone easily ranks among the best adaptations of Stephen King’s works. It’s so much more than its premise, which is saying something considering the potential of Johnny’s abilities. The characters are rich, the interactions are emotional and human. The conclusion is perfect. I’m not sure how it would play out a second time when you know the answers to each of the mysteries we encounter but I intend to find out. It’s a movie you’ll want to revisit. (August 20, 2021)

Another Decade Older - Christmas Movies

1983: A Christmas Story // Trading Places 1993: The Nightmare Before Christmas 2003: Bad Santa // Elf // Love Actually

'National Lampoon's Vacation' Movie and 4K Review

The following review was written by Ultimate Rabbit correspondent, Tony Farinella. When it comes to comedy in films, I’m well aware of the fact it is subjective.  In fact, film criticism as a whole is subjective, but I feel as though with comedy, it is especially subjective. What I find funny in film, you might find painfully stupid and vice versa. When it comes to the National Lampoon films…

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Debbie Harry in Videodrome (1983).

Debbie Harry in VIDEODROME

Videodrome by David Cronenberg.

Hercules (1983)

One Dress a Day Challenge

September: Bond Films

Never Say Never Again / Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush

I don't quite know what to make of this outfit, but it's certainly something! It's all over the place and also over the top, from the extravagant and shapeless fur to the black leather pants and jacket. The almost masculine tailored shirt with the choker around the collar is so 1980s.

But it is true that the whole thing is elevated by a suitable hat; she loses about ten style points in my eyes as soon as she takes the hat off.

Deleted sandstorm sequence from Return of the Jedi (1983)

Blue - Cold, Anxiety, Night

Scarface - 1983 - Brian De Palma

Dirty Harry 4: Sudden Impact (1983)

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to look up which Dirty Harry is which. None have been as spectacular as the first, but this fourth entry - Sudden Impact is quite strong. It's a vast improvement over The Enforcer thanks to a great villain and a different take on Detective Harry Callahan’s approach to police justice.

In San Francisco, artist Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke) murders one of the men who raped her and her sister years ago. Inspector ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood, who also directs) is investigating the crime. Considering his unorthodox approach to justice, will the officer and serial killer see eye-to-eye?

There’s a lot of good stuff here and the only thing that stops this sequel from being on the same level as the first is a few action movie moments. In Sudden Impact, when a bad guy gets it, they have to be annihilated in a spectacularly absurd fashion. These scenes stick out as overly movie-like compared to the rest of the film, which is largely grounded in reality. You wonder how Harry will handle Jennifer once he learns the truth. They have a lot in common and unlike the antagonists from Magnum Force, she isn’t taking things too far – if that is possible when we are talking about murder. As an audience member, you don’t know whom to cheer for. You can’t go around shooting people in the face, but if anyone’s got just cause, it’s her.

As Jennifer tracks down her targets one by one, we find that they're surprisingly well-defined. In most films, a rapist is just a rapist. If they have other personality traits, they might also love kicking puppies or be raging homophobes. Basically, they’re inhuman monsters who have managed to pass off as regular people. Here, it isn’t that simple – at least not in every case. Whether you like to think so or not, even criminals are human beings. Sudden Impact makes us consider the need for due process and trials. It makes you wonder what Callahan will do when he puts all the clues together.

Sudden Impact also brings to us one of the series’ most enduring and memorable catchphrases: “Go ahead, make my day”. There are plenty of good action scenes, bad people get their satisfying comeuppance and it features the second-best villain of the series (actually I should say “antagonist”, not “villain”). It’s a solid entry. (On DVD, February 24, 2018)