Fool's Views (11/1 – 11/30)

HOLY CRAP HE'S BACK!!!!!

Howdy folks!

Only watched 20 films during the entire month of November, 11 of which were consumed over the course of two separate days over at Kitley’s Krypt. First, there was the relatively impromptu Pete Walker film festival (due to Jon’s upcoming Evilspeak article), followed a mere six days later by the epic annual gobblerfest known as Turkey Day. Come to think of it, another four of the remaining nine movies were seen in a single day, having taken myself to the multiplex. Of the remaining five, two were classic Spielberg comfort food watched with the femalien and one was Another Robert Redford Movie, leaving only Monkey Shines (reviewed for Shout! Factory) and Now You See Me (watched while killing time during a platelet donation that preceded – and almost pre-empted – the Walker-thon). No, there’s no real method to the madness, but I do leave a pretty solid paper trail.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

MONKEY SHINES (1988) Blu-ray Review

Monkey Shines (1988) d. George A. Romero (USA)

Following the lackluster reception of 1985’s Day of the Dead, Romero had a difficult time getting his feet and his next project. He found both – or rather they found him – in the form of producer Charles Evans (older brother of Paramount honcho Robert Evans) earmarking him to script and helm the screen version of Michael Stewart’s novel about a paralyzed accident victim Allan (Jason Beghe). In a classic science-gone-awry scenario, the “Helping Hands” support group provides him with a full-time live-in assistant, a small capuchin monkey named Ella who just happens to be Allan’s scientist pal Geoffrey’s (John Pankow) pet project, if you’ll pardon the expression. See, Ella’s been injected with a serum derived from human brain tissue in order to make her brainier; before you can say “Monkey Say, Monkey Kill,” Ella starts inexplicably sharing Allan’s headspace and all who arouse her new boyfriend’s ire meet with untimely ends.

THE DEFINITIVE DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD (2012) movie review

On the audio commentary for this latest iteration of his groundbreaking behind-the-scenes Document of the Dead, filmmaker Roy Frumkes compares his film to Michael Apted’s Up series (7 Up, 14 Up, 21 Up, etc.) in that he feels that his life has somehow become intertwined with that of his doc’s subject, George A. Romero. While a pronounced exaggeration alongside with Apted’s landmark half-century-and-counting achievement, Frumkes’ point is that with each new version, he has to choose what archival footage to excise in order to make room for the new. Sadly, the truth is that this 2012 release (dubbed “The Definitive Document of the Dead”) shows only too clearly that – arguably like Romero’s work itself – the past is where the good stuff lies.

While teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1978, Frumkes was looking for a documentary subject and decided that, while there had been several behind-the-scenes films made for Hollywood studio efforts, there had not been many (if any) that covered the making-of an independent feature. Denied the ability to shoot in NY or California due to union rules, the instructor learned of Romero’s impending Dawn of the Dead shoot at the Monroeville Mall outside of Pittsburgh. Thanks to an already existing relationship with Dawn producer Richard Rubenstein, Frumkes was granted access to the set where he and a small crew (comprised mainly of SVA students) shot for several nights alongside Romero, Tom Savini, Ken Foree, et al., capturing delicious celluloid tidbits of a masterpiece in the making.