Inzaghi, Simone Movie Reviews

The person who wrote the summary on the back of this DVD is obviously not familiar with any of Brian Froud's work, which is too bad because Froud is interviewed in the film! A fairy is not just a little person with wings and magical powers. That's only the conventional English description of a fairy. This movie has a lot of interesting interviews with locals in Scotland and Ireland but I wish it went deeper than just fairy mythology and folklore. It's not something I'd show to anyone who challenges your belief in fairies, since it's really only a series of interviews with locals, many of whom seem to be a bit daft. Still, I enjoyed it and if you're a fairy fanatic it would be a nice thing to have.

As far as I know, this is the only documentary film to examine the belief in faeries. It deserves credit on this basis alone, especially for those of us who have a fascination with this subject. Filmmaker John Walker interviews people throughout the British Isles and Cape Breton who share their beliefs, stories and experiences with these otherworldly creatures. The film is nicely photographed; along with scenes of faery mounds and mystical landscapes there are paintings by faery artist Brian Froud (who is also interviewed) along with Victorian paintings. One of the things that becomes evident is that, for believers, the world of faery is not something to be trifled with. There are several accounts of people who paid dearly for violating the privacy of these beings. Walker also follows the case of a folklorist's ultimately successful attempt to save a tree that is allegedly sacred to faeries. It was going to be cut down to make way for a road. It was ominously predicted that many accidents were sure to occur on this site. The Fairy Faith is unlikely to convince skeptics that faeries are real. At worst, this film is a fascinating study in a folklore that goes back many centuries. At best, it's a doorway into an intriguing world that co-exists with our own.

I believe that every faery lover should own this film!!
I run a large faery believers club at my domain at faery-magic.com and encourage members to see this film, in fact, I believe in this movie so much, I have copies that members can borrow just to watch it!
It is the most beautiful and extensive film on faery folklore in existence. It is not a story or a fairytale, it is a series of interviews with faery believers around the world, including Brian Froud. There is also a running narrative of faery history and folklore by the film maker.
The history and stories of sightings will have you believing, wanting to believe or at the very least this film will make you think twice!
The whole idea of this film and how it is made is captivating. The scenes of Ireland and Scotland will leave you breathless and aching to visit. The Fairy Fortress will astound you, the fairy harpist will mesmerise you, the fairy flag will amaze you and there is so much more I cannot even mention it all. Fairy music has long been a great love of mine and I hung on every word the musicians told and every note they played.
I agree that this is the definitive film on faery folklore to be made to date. Own it, you will love it!

~Faery Babe~ The Faery Believers Club 2003

Perhaps I am spoiled because I saw a world class performance of this opera in the Teatro Colón. This performance however doesn't come close.

While it is professional, it is not world class. The recording mix is poor, and it wouldn't surprise me if it weren't mixed at all. The result is that the symphony often drowns out the vocalists. The camera work is poor too, but overall it is just a poor production.

As to the technical aspects, the format cuts out the right and left sides so as to fit on a tv screen. I was also extremely disappointed that though the opera is sung in Italian, there are no Italian subtitles.

The fact that it was filmed in Lyon and not somewhere like Milan should say it all. You go to Lyon for a gourmet meal - not for the opera.

I am 12 years old and a big opera fan. I absolutly love this preformance. The camera angles are great, there are some funny parts, the preformers are great singers and actors, and Roberto Alanga is so cute. I don't see how anybody can't love it.

Wonderful singing and acting. There's real chemistry between the two leads--helped, I am sure by the fact that they are married. To my tastes, the audio and video are just fine. This opera is pitched at just the right level to deliver the most at its comic moments.

If this is the first drive-in disc from Elite that you've ever seen, you'll probably get a lot of enjoyment from it.

Unfortunately for me, I had already purchased and watched the first one in the series ("The Giant Leeches" and "The Screaming Skull"). It was fun, but the problem is that virtually all of the extra drive-in stuff was *exactly* the same on the second disc as it was on the first disc! The "Pic" mosquito coils, "Let's All Go to the Lobby" (not really a drive-in short anyway), Chilly Dilly pickles...the list goes on. For the price of these discs (they're up in Criterion territory, pricewise), I expected to at least get all-new material.

The other thing with both of the drive-in discs is that the film transfers are not so hot. That's all I'll say; if you want details about grain, scratches, splices, etc., look up more detailed reviews on, say, Google, and you'll get the scoop. The bottom line is that the source material and transfers are pretty cruddy. Again, if Elite wants to put a price tag on their DVDs that is approximately the same as many Criterion DVDs, they need to pony up with quality and all-new material. I'm going to proceed very carefully before I even consider purchasing a third drive-in disc, as I felt a bit rooked this time around.

I have both discs in this series and they are quite enjoyable.

The Wasp Woman benefits from a strong lead performance by Susan Cabot and The Giant Gila Monsterf benefits from... being unintentionally hilarious.

It's great to see the selection of Drive in clips for advertising and intermision and they are very well transferred (even better than the films).

The "distorto" sound is cute.

Here's where this series needs to improve:

More new (old) drive in clips, some are recycled from the previosu release.

Better transfers of the features. Although "Wasp Woman" shows a nice improvement over the other transfers of "Gila Monster", "Giant Leeches" and "Screaming Skull"

Encode it so it's all one program. When you select The "Night At The Drive In" all the segments are on "seperate tracks". In other words, when one segment ends, the player has to search out the next segment (causing a pause in sound, most noticible when you have the distorto sound on).

Encode it so the DVD player can show the time. At present, there is no time code and that bugs me.

Keep the content same era oriented. In this case, the movies are from 1960, the cartoons seem to be from the 30's or early 40's. Most of the ads seems to be late 50's, early 60's and the intermission film has to be early 70's (it shows pictures of the moon landing, which took place in 69). Make volumes that have 50's films and exclusivly 50's clips, then others that have 60's and 70's films and clips. establish a verisimilitude that will help you believe you are time tripping to a drive in at the time period of the movie.

That also goes for the "distorto sound". Sometimes we hear comments from people inside the "virtual car" we are in. The comments seem too ironic and modern in tone. They don't talk like people from the era the movies are in. It's fun in an MST3K sort of way though.

This is a good series that has the potential to be something great. A really special way to see these B movie charms.

While they are thinking of "concept discs" over at Elite. They might also consider making a TV chiller theater style series. With vintage hosts and ads. This is the way I discovered many of these films in the 70's and it would be cool if someday a DVD presentation could reflect that.

This great release from Elite's Drive-In Discs range couples two of my all-time favorite B-movies together in one irresistable package!

THE WASP WOMAN tells the story of ageing cosmetics empire magnate Janice Starling (Susan Cabot) and her desire to hold onto her fading looks. Enter a kooky scientist who has developed a youth serum from the queen wasps, and who has the power to drag her - and the company - back into youthful vitality. Neeedless to say, poor Janice gets hooked on the stuff and turns into a wasp creature that must kill. Also featuring Barboura Morris and Fred Eisley.

THE GIANT GILA MONSTER is a campy little gem starring teen singing sensation Don Sullivan. When a giant lizard begins wreaking terror over the town's teens (who mainly sit around in hotrods making out), the monster finds a great way to appease its burgeoning appetite. Featuring Lisa Simone as Sullivan's just plain-annoying French girlfriend, the movie is a laughable horror flick with a most irritating song ("Laugh Children Laugh") that was actually penned by Sullivan!

Of course, the highlight is the "Drive-In" feature which couples the two films together along with "Betty Boop" and "Popeye" cartoons as well as concesssion stand ads, trailers and intermission announcements. Featuring Elite's famous DISTORTO sound system!

Fantastic and well worth a look.

This film has been billed as a "touching", "family" film. I beg to differ. I bought the film mainly because it has a couple of my favorite performers: Patrick Swayze and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. They both did a fine job in this film, but it just wasn't enough. What I failed to notice when I bought this movie was the HBO logo on the back of the box. When I popped the DVD into my player and the HBO logo came up on the screen I knew I was sunk. I have never yet seen an HBO film that I thought was worth watching. This was no exception. In my humble opinion HBO should have never gotten into the movie business.

Twenty minutes into the film I was asking myself: "Does this movie have a point?". Thirty minutes, same question. An hour later, same question. FINALLY, at the end of the movie, the point of the film comes out and by that time I'm just glad it's over. To those who say this is a family film for kids, I would dearly love to do the following science experiment: get a diverse cross section of a hundred kids and put 'em in a room and start up this film. By the end of the film measure how many are still in the room (and awake). Anybody want to place some bets?

There are plenty of excellent, "feel good" movies out there. This sadly is not one of them unless, perhaps, you are a junky of the genre. Best to rent before buying, or give a miss altogether.

well this movie starts out exellent and one can only wonder what would happened if it staid on this track because by the end of the first half hour it becomes boring and mindless. This was very unfortunate because it started out with some great ideas but very quickly lost its way. This was very frustrating because i saw its potential.

I have seen this movie two times and am purchasing it on DVD, because it deserves to be in my collection. This movie is awesome, if you have kids its a must see!

I read about alain delon, he said about himself, "a pretty boy with beautiful face". I was watching this movie and I have a 20/10 vision and I still couldn't figure out, why he said that, his little face with little piggy eyes. The only thing that is really going for him is his shoes. All his movies, how do I put it softly, [I do not like]. He don't even understand what he is doing in the movie as long as camera is rolling, again Alain Delon said that he feels miserable when camera stops rolling and director screams cut, I think he said that because he is afraid that one day director will say cut and you fired, get this untalanted [guy] out, I'll have a better luck doing serious movie with Robin Williams.

I'm no expert on film, much less French New Wave. I just like to explore a bit. So I picked this up because I heard it was considered to be influential, and because the idea of Richard Crenna being in something like this struck me as amusing. I liked the ocean/siren bit at the beginning quite a lot, but the ultra-slow pace lost me soon after that. It's also a bit difficult to watch the train/helicopter bit at the end with an unjaded eye. It just didn't captivate me.

the screen is blue, mood is blue, it rains a lot. why are there so very few movies as good?
cool blue!

This movie was proabably one of the worst films i've ever seen. To the person aka Mike Vegas, have you ever been on a trip to Italy? This movie was filmed entirely in California. WAKE UP!!!!
This movie ranks along side the classic Stallone flick......Rhinestone.

Rodney Dangerfield plays Lupo, the owner of the Serenade Cafe, a very successful Italian restaurant that features singing waiters. Rodney is in his eighties but still manages to fire off some great jokes. When a couple asks him how he keeps his weight down, he replies, "At my age, everything is down!" When he asks an overweight couple how they're enjoying their meal, they grunt their approval while they keep on eating. He warns them, "When you get to the white part, that's the plate!" Lupo hires a female opera singer to entertain the diners. When Gina sings, Lupo falls madly in love with her. Gina (Annabelle Gurwitch) tells him that she can only love a man who is a great opera singer. Since Lupo can't carry a tune, he flies to Italy to be trained as an opera singer by Vincenzo (Richard Libertini). No matter how bad he sings, Vincenzo keeps encouraging him to keep taking lessons so he can keep taking Lupo's money. Vincenzo persuades the local opera company to let Lupo sing. Lupo is so bad that the villagers chase him off the stage and down the streets. The scene of him being chased by villagers carrying torches is reminiscent of a similar scene from Frankenstein! Lupo finally reaches a dock, finds a rowboat and paddles his way to safety. The next morning, he washes ashore on a pond and is found by a young boy, who calls his mother. She is the beautiful Rosa (Anita De Simone) who takes pity on Lupo and takes him home. There we meet her Mamma (Elsa Raven) and Papa (Hamilton Camp) who also take a liking to Lupo. Lupo listens to the family singing as they work, and can't believe how great they all sing. Rosa lets him in on their family secret. The grapes they grow produces a magical wine, and anyone who drinks the wine becomes a great singer! Lupo returns to America and, with a constant supply of wine, becomes the opera singing sensation Lupo the Great! Unfortunately, Gina still wants no part of him. When Lupo discovers that Rosa is going through with an arranged marriage to Marcello (Vincent Schiavelli), a man she doesn't love, he flies back to Italy to stop the wedding. Lupo's attempts to get to the church on time, first on horseback and then with the help of the police, outdoes Dustin Hoffman's similar scene in The Graduate! Lupo arrives just in time to stop the wedding and profess his love for Rosa.

This movie has a more leisurely pace than Rodney's previous films, with less one-liners and more character development. The pastoral scenes in Italy are visually beautiful and give the movie a magical quality. On the other hand, the scenes of the restaurant and surrounding streets in New York City have the look of a soundstage in a movie studio. Considering the peak of the Three Tenors' popularity and Rodney Dangerfield's age, I'm sure this movie would have found a much bigger audience if it had been made several years ago.

Rodney travels to italy to learn how to sing. and meets a charming lady. I tell you, this movie is an adventure. and in this movie, not even the horses show Rodney any respect, like when he calls for the horse, and the horse run away.
and Rodney actally slaps Robert Davi around, can you imagen that? Rodney brawling like Bud Spencer in the kitchen, and to top that, Davi ends up getting suffocated between Annabella Gurwitch legs.
This movie will bring you more than a couple of laughs, its a charming and well done flick, with alote of well known faces, its just a real treat. with a little magic. it has all the ingredients for the perfect movie. it has comedy, romance, wine, women and song, a little action and actually some horror. (you who has seen the movie knows what i'm talking about)
Bravissimo!!

Although it is set in modern Paris, "The Game Is Over" is actually based on Emile Zola's novel "La Curee." This 1966 film was directed and produced by Roger Vadim for his wife, Jane Fonda. The film is the old story about a woman, Renee (Fonda), who marries an older man, Alexandre Sacaard (Michael Piccoli), but falls for his sexy young son Maxime (Peter McEnergy). By setting Zola's story in modern Paris, Vadim is obviously out to explore the morality of the rich in France. The film was a smash in Europe but a failure in the United States, although critics on both sides of the Atlantic tended to like it as an example of adult farce (although Judith Christ put it at the top of her list of "Perfectly Marvelous Awful Movies to Eat Chocolates and Play Russ Columbo Records By"). However, while this film certainly starts off as something of a farce, Vadim turns it into more of a gothic horror movie at the end. Any visions you have of Fonda swimming nude in a goldfish pond are going to be replaced by nightmares involving German police dogs. On balance, this might be the best of the Vadim-Fonda efforts...

I enjoyed this movie about Christine (Simone Griffeth) a bored but dutiful American Trophy wife to Clive Webber (Brian Marshall) , a ruthless businessman.

Clive is cold and distant in his relationship with Christine. When they have physical relations Clive treats Christine like a prostitute, making her feel dirty and used. In the morning before Clive leaves for the office, he reminds Christine how important that evening's dinner party is, and dosen't even kiss her goodbye, he just blows her a kiss.

The only joys in Christine's life are her daughter and her two dogs.

One day while walking her dogs in the park, Christine meets a mysterious and attractive American, Greg Sanford (Steve Marachuk). Christine and Greg develop a relationship. Her relationship with Greg is totally different than the one with her husband, Greg makes Christine feel attractive, desirable, and wanted, like a woman should feel!

If I told you more about the plot it would spoil the movie for you.

I highly recommend this movie. It was well acted, believable, and there seems to be real chemistry between Simone Griffeth and Steve Marachuk. I even found myself rooting for Christine and Greg to get together permanently. Buy this movie today and enjoy!

This is one of those films I would have loved to have seen on Mystery Science Theatre 3000, though it's a bit too harsh for TV, and every US copy I've ever seen is already cut to shreds.

Basically, an archeologist is poking around in a tomb and brings the dead back to life. A three couples, one a family with a mutant kid, just happen to be vacationing at a villa nearby and you can pretty much guess where it goes from there. The dialogue is horrible and therefore hilarious, the gore looks like something a jr highschooler might come up with in the kitchen, a completely annoying and electronic soundtrack, and of course the mandatory gratuitous sex you find in all Euro-horror flicks. Oh!, and did I mention the mutant kid? How about his ... mother and their incest? Don't worry Bark wasn't really a child, but I'm not for sure that it's any less disturbing.

I do wonder what the story would be like in Italian. In English it makes absolutely zero sense. I'd compare it to Manos: The Hands of Fate, as far as making no sense goes, except that Manos didn't have the gore to rely on. Plus it was actually done in English, so bad dubbing can't be blamed. Torgo was a better freak though, with his ackward theme music, but I digress.

Only watch this one if you love the zombie genre, or if you like to poke fun at b-movies. It's got plenty material for both types. If you are expecting a Night of Living Dead or even a Zombie, this ain't it. The aforementioned incest scene is somewhat of an answer to the infamous splinter-in-the-eye scene from Zombie though...I think.

I was kind of skeptical of Burial Ground when I was researching at amazon.com. Then, I viewed the trailer and ordered it immediately. I watched it just recently and let me tell you, it does not dissapoint. The movie was effective from start to finish, not allowing any breaks between zombie attacks. But there are certain problems.

First off, when the menu pops up, you have to put the DVD player in widescreeen mode just to gain access to certain areas. This was probably done by mistake by the DVD company that revised the movie, but the problem is correctable.

Second, why in God's earth did the professor, who mistakenly released the zombies, cry "Stop! I'm your friend!" Come on. Anybody can see that zombies are hard-headed and don't listen. Unfortunately, the zombies don't care and kill him.

The third problem is the Dario Argento midget. Why would a zombie movie imply this punk? It's obvious that he has a strong love for his mother, too much that makes him horny and touching her. She pushes him away, making him run and scream "But mom, I'm your son." So it's okay for a son to commit incest to his mom sexually? Whoever put this is the plot is a moron. And also, whoever used his voice sucks. It makes him sound like a 30-year-old man using helium.

And fourth, what was up with the ending? The zombies are about to cut the man up with the saw, and the woman is about to be bitten by a horde of zombies. Then, all of a sudden, a quote appears on the screen freezing the action and the credits roll. Why put up a quote instead of showing more gore?

Other than the four problems, the movie is good. As stated before, there are no long breaks between zombie scenes. About every scene that is shown shows a zombie either looking drugged up or getting grub. It was effective and kept me at the edge of my seat. Also, the music was effective. It can become a little jazzy and does sound like it was stolen from another movie, but it does fit the tone of the movie. Don't hesitate to buy it. It is a good movie for any zombie fan. Also, check out other good Italian zombie flicks like The Beyond, Zombie, City of the Living Dead, and Let Sleeping Corpses Lie.

This film is always refreshing in this gore free times.Gore is plentiful,masks are right on their places with rotting skulls,and I like very much setting in the old castle.The camera is,for most time, very good and music ,for Italian horror film,too.
So,if you love Italian horror films,such directors as Fulci,Argento or Bava,amongs others,here is very good example from the golden times of our beloved horror genre.

An extremely gritty adaptation of one of Zola's most intense novels. The sequences down the Paris - Le Havre track are superbly evocative of the main characters' inability to escape their destiny. Character-wise, though, the film takes a while to get going, and the scene of Lantier's (Gabin's) first blackout and possession by "the beast within" is contrived, poorly acted and not at all convincing. Things improve, thankfully. Updating the plot to the 1930s doesn't quite work in the sense that the protagonists' difficult living conditions in the novel are an important cause of their actions. With one noteable exception, the score is 1930s over-intrusive. And why oh why did Renoir change Zola's ending, which is far more powerful than the film's ho-hum-is-it-over? final scene.

Although the identifying phrase "Film Noir" was yet to be used for another few decades, Jean Renoir's "La Bete Humaine" could arguably be considered one of the genre's blueprints. In fact, aside from the over-melodramatic music score, this naturalistic 1938 thriller looks and feels very contemporary. Jean Gabin is quite effective as the brooding train engineer plagued by "blackouts" in which he commits acts of uncontrollable violence, usually precipitated by moments of passion (Freudians will have a field day with all the point-of-view camerawork showing Gabin chugging his big, powerful locomotive through long dark tunnels). The beautiful Simone Simon sets the mold for all future Femme Fatales with an earthy, Sophia Loren-type sexuality not usually found in movies from the 1930's. In fact, it would be another 30 years or so before American crime films like "In Cold Blood" and "Bonnie And Clyde" would adapt a similar blend of adult language, sexuality and unflinching violence (in 1938, Hollywood was too busy pumping out Shirley Temple movies). Moody cinematography and a general existential malaise certainly doesn't make this a "feel good" popcorn movie, but fans of classic Noir will be fascinated. (Note: this film was remade in 1954 as "Human Desire").

No film is as perfect as this one. Especially the first fourty minutes. Renoir uses a minimum of words to set up passionate, deeply flawed characters against a noisy (and silent) locomotive atmosphere. A masterpiece.