Catching Up Pt 9
- The Nest (1988)
- This one is distasteful - tell me if you want to watch the following movie: evil mayor of New England island makes deal with scumbag corporation to do insane experiments on cockroaches, which then become large, hungry, and murderous as they kill humans and animals indiscriminately until a solution is found. This is a very very pale imitation of The Fly, in that humanoid/insectoid hybrids appear with maximum goop and gross makeup. I hate roaches, and yet nothing in this movie scared me. Impotent and incapable of generating fear - the kiss of death of any horror movie. Avoid.
- BMX Bandits (1983)
- Hidden gem, maybe even cult classic. Nicole Kidman's first movie! Two boys obsessed with BMX biking befriend a similarly obsessed girl (Kidman). They find some high tech walkie talkies that villains had been preparing for a bank robbery. Most of the movie is a race between villains who want the walkie talkies back, and our BMX trio, looking to escape. Fun, exciting, and the kids are surprisingly clever and humorous. Well written little film, I enjoyed it a lot. Kidman shows a lot of charisma at a very early age.
- City of the Living Dead (1980)
- Another Lucio Fulci movie, but this one was better than Aenigma. Clergyman commits suicide - the gates of Hell open. Our heroes race to close them. That's the basic plot, but - like all Italian horror - the incredibly gross, visceral special effects are the real star. Go into this one with a loose attitude toward plot.
- The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984)
- It's a bad sign when you see a movie and a month later you remember nothing about it. That's me and The Warrior and the Sorceress. I remember something about David Carradine trying to guard a well (I think?). This is highly generic sword-and-sandals light fantasy, of the kind that poor Carradine got trapped into often in the late '70s and early '80s. Lots of swords, lots of fake fighting, lots of bad speechifying. Avoid.
- Old Enough (1984)
- On the other hand, this movie left a VIVID impression on me. Young Lonnie forms a friendship with old girl Karen, even though Lonnie comes from a rich family and Karen from a poor Italian Catholic family. This disparity causes a lot of tension, but they get along well anyway. This movie is a coming of age story about Lonnie growing up in one summer, attracted to the scumbucket brother of Karen, repelled by the violent father (Danny Aiello!), unable to communicate with her own mother about the things she is seeing and feeling. It's all very effective. The movie really movies quickly, and even though the ending is predictable, it still has an impact. Worth seeing.
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