@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society Club Notice - 07/28/89 -- Vol. 8, No. 4 MEETINGS UPCOMING: Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon. LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria. _D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C 08/09 LZ: THE PRINCESS BRIDE by William Goldman _D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C. 08/12 Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Jim Baen and Baen staff (phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday, picnic) 08/19 NJSFS New Jersey Science Fiction Society: Lunarians Picnic (phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday) HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 hocpa!jetzt LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzx!leeper HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3D-212 949-5866 homxb!tps LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-3346 lzfme!lfl MT Librarian: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted. 1. Boy, did we have a tough time figuring out what to show this time around. You have no idea how tough it is to be entertaining to people. To give you a better idea, on Thursday, August 3, at 7 PM, our next film festival will be: What? And Leave Show Business? DAY FOR NIGHT (1976) dir. by Francois Truffaut ALL THAT JAZZ (1979) dir. by Bob Fosse Francois Truffaut shows you how he makes a film. You see what the actors do, what the crew does, even how the stunts are done. And at the same time he tells a lightweight tale of the loves and egos of the actors and the behind-the-camera people who come together to make a film. Truffaut himself plays the director, Jacqueline Bisset plays the star, and a good cast of French actors fill the rest of the roles. _D_a_y _f_o_r _N_i_g_h_t won an Academy Award for Best THE MT VOID Page 2 Foreign Film. Maltin rates it 3-1/2; Scheuer gives it a full 4, his highest rating. This is really a film buff's film. And when Truffaut is done, Bob Fosse shows you what it is like to be a Broadway director in _A_l_l _T_h_a_t _J_a_z_z. Roy Scheider plays a very Fosse-esque director bent on destroying himself. Much more self- critical than Truffaut, Fosse tells about the selfish and self- indulgent lifestyle that led up to his open-heart surgery. He punctuates his story with surrealistic production number dreams. Ann reinking and Jessica Lange co-star. Maltin gives it 2-1/2, Scheuer 3-1/2. Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 ...mtgzx!leeper My idea of politics is an open conspiracy to hurry these tiresome, wasteful, evil things -- nationality and war -- out of existence; to end this empire and that empire, and set up one Empire of Man. -- H. G. Wells THE NAVIGATOR A film review by Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1989 Mark R. Leeper Capsule review: For the beauty of its photography and the originality of its concept this fantasy from Australia and New Zealand is the best that has been seen in America for several years. Yet it loses points because of a muddled narrative that leaves the viewer wondering what the story was really all about. Rating: +2. It is March 1348 in Cumbria. In a small mining village there is the certain knowledge that the Plague is coming. Connor has been gone from the village for three months, much longer than expected, just finding out what is happening in the world. Perhaps the Plague has claimed him. His young brother Griffin waits for his return. And Griffin suffers from enigmatic dreams, perhaps visions, of another world and a mission of faith, perhaps an act of faith so great that God will intercede and protect the village from the onslaught of the Plague. God wants the villagers to dig through the flat disk that is our world and come out on the other side, the Celestial City. There they are to forge a cross and place it on top of the mighty cathedral that commands the Celestial City. When Connor returns with news of just how close the Plague really is, the urgency of the mission becomes obvious. They dig through the disk and find the Celestial City, a city of great wonder, though to our eyes it is just your standard 1988 New Zealand city. Things we have come to live with are to the pilgrims' eyes great sights and great dangers. And so begins their adventure. Stylistically filmed in black and white and in color, _T_h_e _N_a_v_i_g_a_t_o_r beautifully re-creates the life in a 14th Century village and a comparable view of life in the 20th Century, though the color photography is much less interesting. It is a story told on many levels, not all of which are comprehensible. The style of story-telling is usually well told with the sort of duality of vision that _T_h_e _G_o_d_s _M_u_s_t _B_e _C_r_a_z_y has. We see the familiar, but we also see it through the eyes of a strange culture. Only at one point does this duality break down into slapstick worthy of a Terry Gilliam. _T_h_e _N_a_v_i_g_a_t_o_r is an odd and murky fantasy that seems to be pointing to some deeper meaning that is somewhere beyond view. As a fantasy it edges out even this year's _F_i_e_l_d _o_f _D_r_e_a_m_s for originality of idea. But in the final analysis the film narrative is muddled and the point of this exercise remains unclear. I give it a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale. Cable in August Film comment by Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1989 Mark R. Leeper _T_h_e _C_h_e_a_p _D_e_t_e_c_t_i_v_e (HBO) _L_a_d_y _i_n _W_h_i_t_e (HBO) July's cable had quite a few really good films that I could recommend, and I turned it into an article. I got a request to write such an article each month. Well, August will have a short list simply because there are just fewer films to recommend. two films I like are _T_h_e _C_h_e_a_p _D_e_t_e_c_t_i_v_e and _L_a_d_y _i_n _W_h_i_t_e. Neil Simon wrote _T_h_e _C_h_e_a_p _D_e_t_e_c_t_i_v_e sort of in the same vein as his _M_u_r_d_e_r _b_y _D_e_a_t_h. For some reason, very little of _M_u_r_d_e_r _b_y _D_e_a_t_h struck me as being particularly funny. On the other hand, _T_h_e _C_h_e_a_p _D_e_t_e_c_t_i_v_e really did. This is a spoof of Humphrey Bogart films that simultaneously retells _C_a_s_a_b_l_a_n_c_a and _T_h_e _M_a_l_t_e_s_e _F_a_l_c_o_n in a single story. The fact the two stories do not fit together just becomes part of the fun. There are very funny sendups of Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet. Then there is the battle of the national anthems.... There are a lot of bits I am just remembering as I write this. The film loses steam in the last quarter, but until then enjoy the ride. Another film that is good most of the way through is _L_a_d_y _i_n _W_h_i_t_e, a very skillfully told ghost story/mystery. The ghost story is far better than the mystery, but this is a very well-crafted film. There is a lot of good texture telling the story of an Italian-American family somewhere in New England who get involved in a serial murder and ghosts. The last five minutes or so are a little overboard, but not enough to destroy the story. I would rank _L_a_d_y _i_n _W_h_i_t_e with classic ghost stories such as _T_h_e _U_n_i_n_v_i_t_e_d, though some of the style is closer to that of _S_o_m_e_t_h_i_n_g _W_i_c_k_e_d _T_h_i_s _W_a_y _C_o_m_e_s. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... A film review by Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1989 Mark R. Leeper Capsule review: Rob Reiner's winning streak of directing only very good films ends with a mediocre romantic comedy about two people who do not come off nearly as cute as the film called for them to be. There are some creative touches, but the main storyline is just okay. Rating: 0. Rob Reiner is one of the few current major directors that most Americans can recognize by sight. He has put on a little weight since his _A_l_l _i_n _t_h_e _F_a_m_i_l_y days, but he is still recognizable. But more than just having visual recognition, he is also recognized as being a major directing talent. After _T_h_i_s _I_s _S_p_i_n_a_l _T_a_p, _T_h_e _S_u_r_e _T_h_i_n_g, _S_t_a_n_d _b_y _M_e, and _T_h_e _P_r_i_n_c_e_s_s _B_r_i_d_e, one tends to expect a lot from him as a director. One looks forward to a Rob Reiner film. However, this one was really disappointed by _W_h_e_n _H_a_r_r_y _M_e_t _S_a_l_l_y..., a film that seems to assume it has a wonderful warm and winning story, but somehow just does not have a story to match its expectations. The story is punctuated by interview insets, much like Warren Beatty's _R_e_d_s, but here we have older couples who love each other and obviously have had successful marriages, reminiscing about how they first met. And as far as that goes the film is warm. These insets take up only about six or seven minutes od the film and unfortunately it is in these insets that we find most of the characters we end up liking. The main line of the story is about how Harry got coupled with Sally, but since these people are more superficially cute than lovable (and not always even cute), there is something really missing in the connections between the insets and the plot. Harry and Sally first meet after graduation when Harry was something of a male chauvinist and Sally was just a little cold. They fail to hit it off. Flash forward five years. Harry is now something of a male chauvinist and Sally is now a little cold. They run into each other in an airport and fail to hit it off. Flash forward another five years to 1987. Harry is now something of a male chauvinist with a better sense of humor, and Sally is now a little cold and has self-doubts. From there we follow the two trying to be platonic friends, wondering if they should have sex, discussing if sex partners are sincere, discussing Harry's promiscuity, ad nauseum. Do we care? Sure, there is some voyeuristic appeal to hearing people talk about their sex lives. Do we care any further about these people as people? I did not. I had the feeling that when these people walked off camera they winked out of existence. Harry is a political consultant. I'm not sure what a political consultant does, but Harry's friends don't seem to be political consultants, and Harry never so much as reads a newspaper. When Harry Met Sally... July 23, 1989 Page 2 This is not creating a character. Nora Ephron, the script writer, just filled in a blank labeled "Occupation"; she did not create a character. Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally are attractive, engaging people, and I was willing to find out about their characters' sex lives while they were going well. It did not make for great cinema, but it is watchable. When their relationship starts to sour, both characters are pretty tiresome. _W_h_e_n _H_a_r_r_y _M_e_t _S_a_l_l_y... is all right as a piece of entertainment for a little while, but it is by far reiner's worst film. I give it a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale. (One final note: Nora Ephron (a female) has a male character express the philosophy that a male cannot just be friends with an attractive woman without wanting sex with her. I can just hear a lot of women saying, "Ah-ha! I knew it all along!" In fact, the woman who lived next door to me in my first apartment said pretty much the same thing, eyeing me suspiciously. I will tell you what I should have told her. It is a paranoid myth and is false. You can go through life believing the worst of people and nobody will be able to prove you wrong. But for the record, women, it simply is not true of all men. If you use myth to rationalize negative behavior toward men, it is you who are in the wrong.)