Hello! Savant's new reviews today are
Well, we're halfway through July and not much more is on Savant's mind but the heat. My go-to-work car is forty years old and never had any air conditioning; I drive to the San Fernando Valley to edit so twice last week I found myself wearing driving gloves just to be able to hold the part-metal steering wheel and gearshift lever. It reminds me of when my kids were small and I practically roasted one by putting them thoughtlessly into a too-hot car seat: The crimes of parenting that come back to haunt you at 4 a.m. ...
I'd complain more but I know a lot of readers live in much less pleasant locales -- back east is just as hot and drenchingly muggy to boot. I've never experienced that personally. I do know what it's like in the low Arizona desert, where some of my family live ... in most years they routinely put up with several weeks of 115-125 degree heat. I've only been there a couple of times when it's that hot, and I tell you that one's eyes dry out and you get light-headed just trying to walk to your car. And the Arizonans dote on black asphalt as much as anywhere. I was once told over the phone that the official temperature was 129 Fahrenheit, and shot back that one End-of-the-World movie's idea of a horrible, intolerable temp was 135 degrees (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea). I understand it actually gets that hot in the Sahara and Saudi Arabia. We're told in pictures like The Day the Earth Caught Fire that human life just can't be sustained higher than 145, unless we all find a way to move into caves.
With those words of infinite wisdom (?) Savant points your attention to today's reviews. A Canterbury Tale is a personal favorite, one of those unusual movies one can read all about and still not have a clue as to what to expect. It's not for all tastes, but those who go for it, really fall hard. The War Game & Culloden I feel strongly for as well, mainly because I identify with brave filmmakers like Peter Watkins who put their politics on the line every time the go to bat, and in his case, persevere for 40 years against an indifferent entertainment industry.
I received a couple of polite but combative letters about my enthusiasm for Masters of Horror: Homecoming and realize just how difficult it must be to do any show with a real opinion about the real world: I was taken to task for applying my (quote) amateur political ideas (unquote) when my 'job' was to be a movie reviewer and stay clear of such issues. I eventually decided to take the letter as a compliment: Heck, the writer's presumption is that I am a qualified movie reviewer, something that I don't think is necessarily a settled fact! Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson
Posted by DVD Savant at July 17, 2006 06:28 PM