The Friday Matinee v1.4

Greetings,

The High-Commander of Cinema wishes to send his regrets to all faithful cadets out there that The Friday Matinee has failed to occur this week.

The fact of the matter was that there just didn't seem to be anything worth seeing.

Sure, we could have seen Knock Off, the new Van Damme film costaring Rob Schneider. This film actually had potential based on initial reviews which hyped the location (filmed in and around Hong Kong). However, it just seemed like so much filler between the end of summer and the beginning of the holiday seasons. The studio has squirreled it away safely from Leathal Weapon 4 and all the meteor movies. This week the movie industry seems to be just passing time.

We did watch a couple of videos this weekend though, and may catch some second-run movies later this week to make up for the time Christine (The Uberfrau of Cinema) and I missed together this week.

I would encourage anyone who is looking for a movie to rent to check out An American Werewolf In London. I just saw it for the first time (uninterupted and uncensored). It's a werewolf movie (duh) that was pretty fresh for its time. It predates The Howling series, Silver Bullet, and a slew of others. AAWIL also had groundbreaking special effects and makeup. Check it out if you're in the mood for a tongue-in-cheek horror film that helped to revitalize the genre in the late seventies.

I would be interested to know if anyone has seen anything worth watching on video or in the theatre lately. Some films that may be worth watching may not have gotten to Tucson yet and it would be good to keep an eye out for them. We've been waiting for Cousin Bette, a Jane Austinish comedy about a spinster who devoted her life to making her family credible and finally takes her revenge when she gets fed up with their poor treatment of her.

Hopefully next week will end this dry spell in potentially good cinema. Untill then, look both ways before crossing the street and never, ever, waste your money on a film with "fun for the whole family" printed on the box/marquee.

High-Commander of Cinama

The Friday Matinee