Movies

Trog (1970) Joan Crawford's last film - a nonsensical missing link tale. What really impressed me was how clear it was that she was the best actor in the film. She handed a wind-up doll to a guy in a gorilla mask with the same sincerity that she would have put into Lady Macbeth washing the blood off her hands. I was also delighted with how bizarre the story got - after showing the zillion-year-old troglodyte a slide show of dinosaur bones he goes into a great stop-motion dinosaur flashback which somehow gives him the ability to squeak out a few vague words. Michael Gough really gnaws the hell out of the scenery as the Reactionary Opponent of science and reason. 8/10 for Crawford - a pro to the end, 3/10 for the rest of it.

Graffiti Bridge (1990) Prince's sequel to Purple Rain, written by Prince, directed by Prince, starring Prince, music by Prince. It's a Prince movie. Kind of idiotic to the point of near-greatness. So pompous and inane it's almost pretty cool. I always liked Morris Day and The Time better than Prince, and they nearly penetrate my hard outer shell of a thousand generations of White Man to find the tiny flake of Funk hidden deep within. Lots of bright colors and drifting smoke, filmed mostly on a big street corner soundstage set that looks like a trenchcoat cyborg is just about to start shooting it up with his big metal arm-gun, striking sparks off every whirling ventilation fan in sight. Not as lame as Under the Cherry Moon, but then what is? Prince proves that it takes a real man to look totally gay. Really makes me want to see Good Times, the Sonny and Cher movie, again. 6/10