Cinemascape

Once again for any Sydneysiders out there I'll be on Eastside 89.7 FM's Cinemascape show at 17:30 on Thursday April 20th. This time around I'll be reviewing The World's Fastest Indian starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and written and directed by Roger Donaldson.

Supervixens DVD review

Russ Meyer had his fingers burnt with the major studios. The success of Vixen had led to a fractious relationship with Twentieth Century Fox, which produced Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and the little seen The Seven Minutes. Both films had been financial failures and drove Meyer back into independent filmmaking with Supervixens.

Supervixens plays like a Russ Meyer best of. All of his quirks are visible on screen; nazi’s, square jawed heroes, rapid fire editing, ribald dialogue, sex in the desert and girls with unfeasibly large breasts. The film is full of familiar faces for Meyer afficiandos; Haji from Good Morning and Goodbye!, John Lazarr from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Stuart Lancaster from Faster Pussycat Kill Kill! and the legendary Uschi Digard from Cherry, Harry and Raquel.

The film received a lot of criticism for its violence. The scene where Harry Sledge murders Super Angel in the bathtub is very graphic and jars with the rest of the film. Saying that, Charles Napier is fantastic as Sledge, an impotent cop seething with macho rage. The women, all of whom have Super in their name, are all extraordinary and Shari Eubank excels in her dual role of Super Angel and Supervixen. Her venomous dialogue is spat out with searing rage as she taunts Sledges advances. The film comes alive when the duo is on screen; their verbal sparring is a high point that the film never quite matches. The film does meander along at times and some segments could have been easily excised, Ramsey’s desert go-carting escapade for example. Supervixens is Meyer’s road movie and Road Runner cartoon rolled into one; even down to the “Meep Meep” sound effects. It’s a bit too episodic in its storytelling and outstays it welcome but when it works it shows the director at the height of his powers.

Since he passed away Meyer’s films have, at last, been given the special edition treatment on DVD they deserve, its great to see Madman have included Meyer in their Director’s Suite series.

Check out www.cinephilia.net.au for full review

Latest News

As the release date of Superman Returns draws ever closer Starburst has begun to publish reports from my visit to the set last year. Starburst Special #74 features a set report and Starburst #336 will feature my interview with Kevin Spacey who plays Lex Luther. The more I hear about the film the better it sounds, can't wait until June 29th. Starburst will feature much more from my set visit in future issues so keep your eyes on the shelves over the next few of months.

The first issue of Smoke and Mirrors has hit the shelves and looks great. The issue features my Rogue set report and a profile of UK company Framestore CFC.

Issue 5 of Cinema Retro is due out soon and will include my look at the exhibition Stanley Kubrick: Into the Mind of a Visionary Filmmaker including excerpts of my interview with Malcom McDowell and Christianne Kubrick.

Cinemascape - Eastside 89.7FM

This Thursday marks my first day as part of the Eastside 89.7FM Cinemascape team. Each week we will review three new release movies and this week I'll be looking at the film version of Alan Moore's graphic novel V For Vendetta starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving. The show goes out every Thursday between 5:30 and 6:00pm.