What I Watched in February, Part 2

When something as visually impressive as this movie doesn't make much of an impression, I guess we're finally living in the world where the technical accomplishments of modern digital animation are taken for granted. I remember a few decades ago when the now-fairly-crude-looking backgrounds of "Toy Story" looked amazingly lifelike to my mid 1990s eyes, but now the genuinely breathtaking backgrounds of "Moana" are just, well, backgrounds. It's a fine film, hitting all the mandatory notes of believing in yourself and not judging a book by it's cover, but I have to admit, I can't remember much of it a few weeks later. (Whether my 50-year-old brain or the current animation glut is to blame, I can't say.) Still, it'll pass a few hours, kids will like it, and you get to hear The Rock attempt to sing (and it's honestly pretty endearing). Nice design on the villain, too.


Continuing the semi-official 1970s disaster movie marathon that also included "The Towering Inferno" and "The Poseidon Adventure" (which I just realized I completely forgot to write about -- quick review, it's possibly the least fun of the three while also being the best actual movie), I slogged through this 1974 blockbuster that, believe it or not, was NOT produced by Irwin Allen. It uses the same formula as "Inferno" -- take a star-studded cast, spend a looooong time introducing them, then wreak havoc upon their location, in this case, downtown Los Angeles. The cast is admittedly mind-boggling in a distinctly 1970s way, with Charlton Heston leading the way, followed by Lorne Greene, Ava Gardner (as Greene's daughter!), George Kennedy, John Randolph, Genevieve Bujold, Richard Roundtree (as an Evel Knievel type daredevil), Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Victoria Principal (in a crazy afro wig), Walter Matthau (in an uncredited cameo wearing a wild pimp outfit) and, sealing the deal, '70s mainstay Marjoe Gortner playing a maniacal grocery clerk/National Guard soldier. The effects aren't convincing, but they're BIG, and the whole thing was originally presented in Sensurround, meaning the theater shook during the quake scenes. It's not good, not by a long shot, but it's as concise a picture of pre-"Jaws" big-budget filmmaking as you're going to find. The strangest thing about it? The whole colossal mess was directly by Mark Robson, who edited Val Lewton's "Cat People" and directed Lewton's "The Seventh Victim," arguably two of the smallest (but best) movies Hollywood ever released.


You know, Sylvester Stallone used to be in some pretty interesting movies. Take this 1981 police thriller where he and Billy Dee Williams are cops on the trail of an international terrorist played by none other than Rutger Hauer. It's before movies like "Rambo, First Blood: Part II" and "Cobra" took over Stallone's persona, so he gets to play an actual character here, and though he shouts his way through too many scenes, he still manages to make "Deke DaSilva" (that name!) semi-interesting. Hauer steals the show, of course, in his American film debut, and the intriguing cast also includes Lindsay "Bionic Woman" Wagner, Persis "bald woman in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" Khambatta and, in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it cameo, adult film star (and decent actor) Jamie Gillis. The whole film has a nice New-York-at-its-worst-vibe, and there's a great little twist ending I won't spoil here.

Up next: The end of the February recap, including a "National Lampoon" biopic and not one but two theatrical releases.