Off Script: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Film: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Format: DVD from personal collection on laptop.

Once I heard that Leonard Nimoy died yesterday, I pretty much knew that I’d be watching the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I’m a big evangelist for the original version from the 1950s, but I have avoided this first remake for one main reason. I’d heard that it was good from a lot of people but I was worried that it wouldn’t compare with the first version. I hoped it would, but there was a part of me that very much feared being disappointed. This was especially true because the 1993 version (Body Snatchers) and the 2007 version (The Invasion) were not widely regarded as being worth watching.

My fears were unfounded. This is a very good movie, and a very good version of the basic story. This is also one of those rare instances where I have read the source material. I find it very interesting that in both the original film and in this first remake, the filmmakers have opted for a much more downbeat ending than the book on which the story is based. There are a number of differences here from the original story and original screen version, but this is smart enough to hit the same emotional beats and the same plot points and important moments.

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actor 1989

The Contenders:

Tom Cruise: Born on the Fourth of July
Robin Williams: Dead Poets Society
Morgan Freeman: Driving Miss Daisy
Kenneth Branagh: Henry V
Daniel Day-Lewis: My Left Foot (winner)

Darkness Promised, not Delivered

Film: The Dark Angel
Format: DVD from NetFlix on laptop.

This quest to watch all of the Oscar nominated films in the categories I’m looking at takes me to some odd places now and then. It’s led me to a number of movies I’d never have seen and am happy to have watched, but it also leads me to many films where I find the nomination and even the film completely ridiculous. Such is the case with The Dark Angel. This is a film that makes me question pretty much everyone involved with it. Couldn’t they tell this was syrupy garbage? Was there so little self-awareness that the plot headed directly into the silliest of melodramas?

We start with our three principle characters as children. Kitty Vane (Cora Sue Collins), while about six, has already decided that she will marry one of the two boys who live next door. True to Hollywood standards, the boys who live next door are not Kitty’s age but are closer to 12. They are Gerald Shannon (Jimmy Butler) and Alan Trent (James C. Baxter). Kitty is already leaning toward Alan being her eventual husband. We get a little bit of hijinks with the kids and then we flash forward to the film’s present when marriage between Kitty (now played by Merle Oberon) and one of the two boys is much more reasonable.

We Need More Karloff

Film: The Criminal Code
Format: Internet video on laptop.

A film like The Criminal Code is evidence that the American movie-going public has been fascinated with crime films pretty much since there have been films, or at least talkies. As it happens, The Criminal Code is a decent example of a prison film, albeit one filled with what would become every prison movie stereotype in existence. The power of this film is dimmed significantly by the fact that it was released around the same general time as Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, both of which are superior in all ways. Still, for what it is, there’s some fun to be had here.

We start with Robert Graham (Phillips Holmes), a young man who has just turned 20 and has also gotten himself into a lot of trouble. Another man paws Graham’s date in a speakeasy, so Graham retaliates with a bottle upside the guy’s head. Unfortunately for Graham, this kills his victim, and even with a plea bargain down to manslaughter, Graham is sent up for ten long years in prison.

Fly Me to the Moon

Film: Kaguyahime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya)
Format: DVD from NetFlix on laptop.

I can’t say that I was terribly excited about watching Kaguyahime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya). There’s a part of me that is still upset about The LEGO Movie being passed over for an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature this year. It seems like there’s always a foreign animated film or two that gets a nomination. It feels sometimes like it’s a sop to the idea that foreign animation exists. In truth, I have generally liked these non-American animated films across the board, so my initial trepidation here isn’t really that explainable.

But it was real. It took me several days to even think about putting this in the drive and watching it, and even then, I didn’t get past the first menu for another 24 hours. I’m reminded at times like this that I should probably trust more. The entire reason for this blog was to open me up to new cinematic experiences, so it’s not really in keeping with this blog’s raison d’etre to back off from something when the opportunity presents itself.

Not a Single Luxury

Film: Cast Away
Format: Streaming video from NetFlix on The Nook.

By 2000, everyone knew that Tom Hanks could be the leading man in a film. He’d done enough of them by that point, had won two consecutive acting Oscars, and had been the name above the title with enough critically acclaimed and box office-successful films that his star power was well known. The question Cast Away asks is whether or not Tom Hanks can be the sole focus of a film for a large part of its running time. Cast Away runs about 2 hours and 25 minutes, and the middle 75 are just Hanks either talking to himself or to a volleyball.

For what it’s worth, Cast Away is also a long advertisement for Federal Express, particularly the first 20 minutes or so. Chuck Noland (Hanks) works for FedEx resolving timing problems and finding more efficient ways to handle packages and systems. To do so, he travels around the world being all punctual and berating various levels of FedEx employees for being slow or not caring enough about time. Se see this initially in a visit he pays to Moscow, complaining that it took more than 80 hours for the package he sent from Memphis to reach him near Red Square. I’m immediately struck by the fact that it seems that a great deal of the time issue here didn’t specifically happen because of the Russian employees.

What's It All About?

Film: Alfie
Format: Streaming video from Hoopla Digital on The Nook.

Michael Caine makes some bad choices with the movies he picks. How else do you explain his missing picking up his first Oscar because he was on the set of Jaws: The Revenge? It seems like there’s never been a script that Caine has turned down. Fortunately for his career and for those of us who watch films, Caine also makes a lot of really good choices. Alfie is one of his really good choices.

Alfie has a plot, but it is more a character study than anything else. Our time is spent with the eponymous Alfie Elkins (Caine), who is such a ladies man that James Bond takes lessons from him. As the film starts, Alfie has just finished having sex with a married woman in his car. He confides to the audience that he’s going to stop seeing this particular woman because she’s getting too dependent on him, predicting (rightly) that she’ll want him to meet her husband next. We’re then given a quick tour of all of Alfie’s current partners—neither the film nor Alfie himself would dare call them love interests.