Overshadowed by Pink Flamingos but the vision was fully formed by this one - John Waters freaky friends causing chaos, lots of bitchy lines and insane encounters, melodrama with a twist. Goes too long - really this should be a tight 30 minutes. But it's fun to hang out with Waters and his mates - Mink Stole, Divine, David L, Cookie, Edie. You feel like you're over at their house as they play dress ups.
The Great Unmade Robert Aldrich Romantic Comedy
Various rantings on movies, books about movies, and other things to do with movies
Friday, August 14, 2026
Movie review - "Bruiser" (2001) ***
Thoughtful. Interesting. Jason Flemyng maybe too handsome in the lead - could have used a real whimp. Attractive women - Romero liked a bit of toplessness. Peter Stomare hams it up. The mask is wonderfully effective. The big flaw- lacks a central love story. Phantom of the Opera had that. A person for us to identify with who's not a killer. Like Martin we spend a lot of time identifying with a killer
Confidently directed.
Thursday, August 13, 2026
Script review - "Female Trouble/Desperate Living" by John Waters
Getting through these audio readings by Waters of his scripts. Both are crime-ish melodramas - like most of these early Waters films he takes a series of wacky characters and haves some way-out exchanges. For me Desperate Living worked better - the insults felt funnier, an "innocent" in a trash town, though Female Trouble is fun too
Movie review - "Survival of the Dead" (2009) **
George Romero's last feature. It looks ugly, shot in bland digital, the acting isn't much, the encounters tiresome. It's about some National Guardsman who stumble on a feud. Lots of Irish accents and people being shot in the head. There's a decent amount of action and no character I cared about or found interesting.
Movie review - "The Dark Half" (1992) **1/2
Solid. Steven King wrote an interesting book based on his own work as Richard Bachman, and the voices in his head. Tim Hutton isn't convicing as a writer. A really great star would've made this sing. Amy Madigan must be so sick of playing wives. Michael Rooker solid as a cop.
Not sure they got the POV of this right. Maybe better via Rooker? Or be upfront about Hutton?
Good story though.
Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Movie review - "Day of the Dead" (1985) ****
Tight. Music propels it. Well acted. Tries to be different. They're studying zombies, in a bunker. Builds logically. Enjoyable crazies. I liked it. Solid gore. Love that it's on film.
Script review - "Pink Flamingo" / "Forever Flamingo" by John Waters
I listened to Waters do an audio version of these. They have similar structure. I enjoyed the first more than the movie - Waters is so fun doing the voices. The second was fine, just repetitious. The cast would've made it work.