arcanasphere

One movie was able to pass a simple test. Name a movie for us grown-ups which does not revolve around someone facing death or a moment of physical intimacy.

Xanadu.

Each of these "unallowed" topics were reduced to a single one-line quip and that was the end of it. As a former college student, I found myself disgruntled with centuries worth of stories which revolve around these basic plot hooks. Thus, one night, I posed the above challenge. This was the only movie to pass, and oddly enough had more uses of profanity than many movies which didn't even come close. It should be noted that you can count the number of foul words on one hand and half of the occurrences are muttered and almost unheard.

This movie is unashamed, good natured fun. From its homage to classic musicals to scenes of sheer camp the visuals defy status quo and common sense alike simply to be itself. Like it or not, the music is catchy. The story itself revolves around a forgotten dream of personal satisfaction and accomplishment, in a society where movies need one to save the world, stave off death, or get hitched. In comparison to other musicals, Xanadu has some of the most logical explanations for song and dance routines of any musical this guy has seen.

It has its problems too. Watch for the beginning of the movie when four pieces of airborne paper are replaced by nearly thirty pieces after a camera cut. The film also bounces through different moods and styles with little warning.

It is a unique film in many ways. Some of them good, some bad. Go in expecting a movie which defies all "common sense." Then, you can have fun laughing with it or at it. Either way, there is plenty to enjoy.

This movie was painful to watch, save for the fight scenes; at least there was little dialogue at those times. Christopher Lambert rotated schizophrenically between three different voices as Raiden, sometimes in mid-sentence. In fact, he nearly killed the movie with an acting style that fit his dialogue perfectly. For once, he was given a script that wasn't horrible - you'd think he would have taken better advantage of it.

The rest of the cast played their roles as well as would be expected for this kind of film, and in some cases even better. The special effects as well were wonderful, eventually stealing the show.

This film exists indefinitely as my favorite anime (japanamation, whatever) title. Yes, there are some steamy and explicit sex scenes and a strong tone of sexuality, yet that same content actually has an impact on the characters' lives. Every token of admiration, whether sincere or not, and of all shapes and sizes, have an effect on the plot beyond the gratuity found in most similar titles.

Characters develop, learning from their own actions and mistakes. Even the circumstances, which seem contrived and at times questionable, are situations that feasably can and do exist. I saw this film not as an exploitation of college-age sexuality, but an exploration of where the choices may take a person tempered with several very erotic and nearly gratuitous bedroom scenes. It just worked very well.

I couldn't get into this movie at all. How the character Ash was twisted from the caring and penitent, albbeit reluctant, hero from the first two movies to the egomaniacal waste of flesh in Army Darkness was never really explained. In all seriousness, his love for his girlfriend saved him from becoming a monster, yet somehow, less than a week later, he's having one night stands and acting smug while brushing off his lover?

The film suffers from several such continuity plot-holes which seem to have been torn into the script in order to accommodate one-liners and mindless slapstick. Slapstick in a horror film?

Where is the feel of impending evil from the first movie? Or the humorous subtleties interwoven into the second film? Gone, along with all hopes of the series being continued as the original script intended. One would assume that a horror movie's creators would be shamed to admit that George Romero's original "Night of the Living Dead," and in fact Jim Henson's "The Dark Crystal" are both more frightening and cereberal than their own poorly contrived attempt.