Quote:
Adapted by Sluizer from a screenplay written by Jim Barton, the film offers up an offbeat twist on a well-tread story — something akin to Knife in the Water meets The Hills Have Eyes, with the latter’s flesh-eating mutants replaced by a mournful loner who’s part-Native American (the “dark blood” of the title) and altogether horny and weird.Read More »
Synopsis:
‘Public television’s “Mystery!” series has acquired a three-part romp through amorality that, right up to its overly pat ending, is bound to fascinate devoted viewers. “Praying Mantis,” which begins tonight at 9 on WNET/Channel 13, has been adapted quite skillfully by Philip Mackie from a novel by the French writer Hubert Monteilhet. So despite the preponderance of British accents, the flavor of the nasty machinations is strictly Gallic.Read More »
“A writer displays a troubling streak of opportunism in his personal and professional lives in this British drama. As the Falkland Islands war rages, journalist and aspiring historical writer James Penfield (Jonathan Pryce) is working on a book that will examine the 1965 Suez crisis in a manner compatible with the current political climate. James is also pursuing Susan Barrington (Charlie Dore), a documentary filmmaker whose mother Ann (Rosemary Harris) is a noted expert on the Suez crisis and an outspoken leftist. While James has assured his publisher that his book will take a conservative view, he tells Susan and Ann that he’s a socialist and that his book will reflect that position as he attempts to glean information from them.Read More »
SYNOPSIS
Brazil constitutes Terry Gilliam’s enormously ambitious follow-up to his 1981 Time Bandits. It also represents the second installment in a trilogy of Gilliam films on imagination versus reality, that began with Bandits and ended in 1989 with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. To create this wild, visually audacious satire, Gilliam combines dystopian elements from Orwell, Huxley and Kafka (plus a central character who mirrors Walter Mitty) with his own trademark, Monty Python-esque, jet black British humor and his gift for extraordinary visual invention. The results are thoroughly unprecedented in the cinema.Read More »
Anger rages in Philip as he awaits the publication of his second novel. He feels pushed out of his adopted home city by the constant crowds and noise, a deteriorating relationship with his photographer girlfriend Ashley, and his own indifference to promoting the novel. When Philip’s idol Ike Zimmerman offers his isolated summer home as a refuge, he finally gets the peace and quiet to focus on his favorite subject: himself. Read More »