An American Werewolf in London, Me and My Dick, The Outlaw Josey Wales

Long-named things only today. Enjoy!

#1 - AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON

Stars - David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne

Director - John Landis

Memorable Quote - 'Queen Elizabeth is a man! Prince Charles is a faggot! Winston Churchill was full of shit! Shakespeare's French!'

Review - This is quite a puzzling one for me. In theory, it's a good idea - a young American man goes travelling in England with a friend, only to be attacked on a moor by a werewolf. An entire pub full of people who are going to spend the rest of their lives starring in British TV and films fail to warn them, and afterwards deny the whole incident. Boy wakes up in hospital, realises he's accidentally a werewolf, but it's too late because he's already fallen in love with a nurse. Great so far! But, this is when things take a wrong turn. Why does he move in with someone he has only just met, particularly when he has been in a fever for a large part of that time, and believes himself to be losing his mind? The special effects as he turns into a werewolf are honestly not as bad as I expected them to be - not quite as bad as 'The Company of Wolves', for example - but they certainly haven't aged well. The chaotic scene in which he turns into a werewolf whilst talking to dead people in a porn cinema gets even more far fetched as it goes on, if you can credit that - goodness knows I barely can, and I've just seen it. Finally, it comes to an end at what feels like far too soon for the plot - as if the director suddenly realised that they were approaching the length they had aimed for and cut short all further scenes. Kind of depressing for it to end that way, as well. Still, despite all its silly little eighties flaws, it's alright, I suppose. The transformation scene was unrelentingly creepy, and the idea of having the friend stick around and decompose was pretty neat. 3/5

#2 - ME AND MY DICK

Stars - Joey Richter, Joe Walker, Jaime Lynn Beatty, Devin Lytle, Brian Holden, Corey Dorris

Director - Matt Lang

Memorable Quote - 'We don't go to school for class. We go to school for ASS.'

Review - My, my! This is certainly not something you can watch at work or with those of a young age. The title is not a wisecrack or a pun, it is literally a musical about a young man (Joey Richter) and his Dick (Joe Walker), and how the two are inseperable - or are they? Generally rolling through the hormonal and sexual tortures of high school, it then takes a dive into the surreal as various sexual organs manage to detach themselves from their owners to go off to different worlds and hold councils. Joey and Joe are, as always, charming and funny, while Beatty and Lytle hold their own as the opposing couple. Holden is arguably the most hilarious performance as Flopsy, while Corey Dorris and Arielle Goldman take over the darker side of the story in their alternate dimension underworld. Altogether, something for older Starkid fans to enjoy, particularly if you enjoy toilet humour or are unfased by the adult content. The costumes, also, are genius. 3.5/5

#3 - THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES

Stars - Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke

Director - Clint Eastwood

Memorable Quote - ' Now get back in line before I kick you so hard you'll be wearin' your ass for a hat.'

Review - I don't think I even need to say that I enjoyed this - if you've read this blog before you'll know how much a fan I am of a) Westerns and b) Clint Eastwood. They could show the same movie with different character names twenty times and I'd probably like all of them (Hell, that's pretty much what they did a lot of the time). This, though, is something a cut above the crowd. I wouldn't say it's the best Western I've ever seen, but it is certainly a highlight of the genre. It starts with the touching arc of the young boy Wales tries to save, only to realise that he has been mortally wounded; Wales himself already having lost his wife and son to war. What follows is a tale of vengeance and second chances, as Wales both takes out his enemies and makes new friends, in unexpected places. Eastwood as always is compelling, playing his Byronic, stoic character with talent and grit. More than a Western, this is a film about war and the negative effects that inevitably come with it, along with the hope of redemption from a ruined life. 4.5/5

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