Felix the Cat Woos Whoopee (1928/1929/1930)

FELIX THE CAT WOOS WHOOPEE  (1928/1929/1930)

    D: Otto Messmer                                                            ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

A collection of seven Felix the Cat cartoons from the late silent/early sound era, released as a bargain DVD in 2004. All of them take place in a black-and-white cartoon universe where every body part is detachable, any object can become something else without warning, and reality as a concept in theory or practice simply does not apply. You don't have to be a stoner or a four-year-old to appreciate Felix the Cat, but it probably wouldn't hurt. These things are strange.

The American (2010)

THE AMERICAN  (2010)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Anton Corbijn

    George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten,

    Paolo Bonacelli, Johan Leysen, Irina Björklund

In "The American", George Clooney plays a hit man named Jack. Or maybe it's Edward. Or Mr. Butterfly. In any case, he's come to this town in northern Italy to lie low for a while and wait for instructions from his minder in Rome. So he spends a lot of time in cafes, makes the acquaintance of the local priest, gets involved romantically with a local prostitute and helps a fellow assassin procure a weapon for a hit, while trying to avoid being bumped off himself. None of this is very plausible, but it plays out in a deliberate, tangential way that's much more in the style of a European movie than a Hollywood one. The casual approach to nudity and the existential conclusion are more European, too, and Clooney carries the movie-star load with a guarded, furtive look, his character's wary tension fitting him like a pair of well-worn shoes. You can tell it was made with a grownup audience in mind, and it might be the kind of thing that sneaks up on you, getting better with repeated viewings.

The Dawn Patrol (1938)

THE DAWN PATROL  (1938)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Edmund Goulding

    Errol Flynn, David Niven, Basil Rathbone,

    Donald Crisp, Barry Fitzgerald, Melville Cooper

Daredevil aviators take on the Germans in rickety biplanes and party like there's no tomorrow once they're back on the ground. Exciting World War One adventure with some pointed observations on the futility of war, remade from a 1930 version that starred Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Flynn and Niven were cutting a wide swath through Hollywood around the time they made this, and their hard-partying camaraderie may not be entirely an act.

SuicideGirls: The First Tour (2005)

SUICIDEGIRLS: THE FIRST TOUR  (2005)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Mike Marshall

On tour with a punk burlesque troupe. Tattoos and piercings. Thongs and electrical tape. Attitude and neon hair. It could be a little rougher around the edges, especially in the music video segments that showcase the individual dancers, but the eyeshow's not bad. Grrrrls just wanna strip and have fun.

Love Is a Dancer (1985)

LOVE IS A DANCER  (1985)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Alan Clapp

A striptease video in which 14 exotic dancers take turns taking it off on the stage of an empty nightclub. Nothing else happens, but if that's what you're in the mood for, it'll probably be enough. It's like "Orgy of the Dead", but without the graveyard, the ghouls and the fog machine to distract you from the exhibition. The g-strings come off in this one.

Behind the Burly Q (2010)

BEHIND THE BURLY Q  (2010)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Leslie Zemeckis

A valentine to the golden age of bump and grind, with vintage film clips and testimony from some long-retired headliners recalling the time they spent taking it off in the spotlight. The musicians and comics get some attention, too, but the focus is on the strippers, who talk with insight and humor about origins, ambitions, fears, rewards, long days, hard work, tired feet, wardrobe malfunctions and staying ahead of the law. (And nobody seems to have liked Gypsy Rose Lee.) It's a snapshot history of burlesque, but Zemeckis packs a lot of information into those briskly edited snapshots, and she got to some of her witnesses just in time. The end credits list those who cashed in their pasties and g-strings for good, before the finished movie could be released.

Mata Hari (1931)

MATA HARI  (1931)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: George Fitzmaurice

    Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro,

    Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone

Greta Garbo in one of her signature roles, as the notorious World War One spy, the woman no man could resist. Overwrought melodrama, but it's from MGM, so it looks real good. The real Mata Hari didn't look an awful lot like Garbo, but I guess that's what movies are for. Ramon Novarro plays Mata's chief love interest, a dashing Russian pilot with an accent by way of Guadalajara, not St. Petersburg.

Hell Ride (2008)

HELL RIDE  (2008)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Larry Bishop

    Larry Bishop, Michael Madsen, Eric Balfour,

    Dennis Hopper, Leonor Varela, Vinnie Jones,

    David Carradine, Julia Jones, Michael Beach

A neo-spaghetti biker movie in which rival gangs of outlaws trade pithy one-liners as they tear around the desert gunning each other down. Madsen's especially entertaining, playing a trigger-happy lowlife called "The Gent". Others motoring in and out of the dust include "Pistolero" (Larry Bishop), "Comanche" (Eric Balfour), "Eddie Zero" (Dennis Hopper), "Billy Wings" (Vinnie Jones) and "Deuce" (David Carradine). Throats are slit. Bodies are burned. Hopper gets an arrow in the back. Carradine loses his head. Most of the women are topless. Some viewers will find it reprehensible. Others will be amused. Either way, it's a picture with a fuck-you spirit all its own and plenty of cult potential, if a cult audience ever catches up with it.

Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968)

DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE  (1968)

    D: Freddie Francis                                                   ¢ ¢ 1/2

    Christopher Lee, Rupert Davies, Veronica Carlson,

    Barbara Ewing, Barry Andrews, Ewan Hooper

It's a plain, cold fact that no matter how many times you kill Count Dracula, he won't stay dead for long. Some melting ice, a trickle of blood, an incantation or two, and there he is in the next sequel, climbing out of his coffin and stealing through the night, looking for a neck to bite. True to the formula, this Dracula movie starts out with the count still dead from the last time, brings him back for a spell, and ends with him dead again, impaled on a large silver crucifix. If you think I've spoiled it for you, relax. We haven't seen the last of Count Dracula. We never do. We never will.

Wanted (2008)

WANTED  (2008)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Timur Bekmambetov

    Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman,

    Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann, Kristen Hager

Insane, hyperkinetic action thriller about a timid office drone who's recruited into a medieval cult of textile-weaving assassins. So reality's straight out the window, something that can't always be said for the trajectory of the bullets, but the movie does blast away, practically nonstop, for most of its 110 minutes. The highlight could be the train wreck over the yawning gorge, or the garbage truck full of exploding rats, or the two-second shot of Angelina Jolie naked. But, hey, why be picky? It's nice when you don't have to choose.

The Princess Bride (1987)

THE PRINCESS BRIDE  (1987)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Rob Reiner

    Robin Wright, Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin,

    Andre the Giant, Wallace Shawn, Chris Sarandon,

    Christopher Guest, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane,

    Peter Falk, Fred Savage, Peter Cook, Mel Smith

Princess Buttercup. The Dread Pirate Roberts. Vizzini, Inigo and Fezzik. Prince Humperdinck. The Cliffs of Insanity. Iocane powder. The Fire Swamp. The R.O.U.S.s. The Machine. Miracle Max. The six-fingered man. Four white horses. True love. Inconceivable. Anybody want a peanut? As you wish.

Peter Falk

(1927-2011)