FILMS IN REVIEW

Enable frames

FILMS IN REVIEW

By Greg Walton

Review Film Critic

CATHOUSE ROCK

3000 Miles to Graceland is a man's movie. If it were in magazine form it'd be kept behind the counter in a plain paper bag, so tempting is its pre-pubescent pre-occupation with explosions, bullet-holes, and thong underwear.

But even smut has a certain tasteless appeal, especially with two likable leads like Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner in full Elvis get-ups. Of course, every character in the film has the depth of Miss February's turn-on list, which makes Graceland purely an exercise in music video out-takes and action movie predictability.

After the initial casino robbery promised in the trailer - with Costner and

Co. posing as Elvis impersonators at the King's annual convention - the

film transforms into a road movie with Russell as the 'good' Elvis, and

Costner as a Terminator with sideburns fighting over the loot.  Costner

quite enjoys the opportunity to plug bystanders and fire off some

four-letter words, but it's Russell who carries the flag for whatever

dignity director Demian Lichtenstein has left after his

less-than-politically-correct debut.

Graceland does for the action movie what Motley Crue did for the music

video.  The casino shoot out swirls between Wild Bunch brutality and

Girls, Girls, Girls titillation, cutting quick flashes of showgirl skin

between the gunshots.  It might even be disturbing if it wasn't so

ridiculously excessive; like some surreal excerpt from the Tom Green show.

Lichtenstein will do anything, show anything, and sacrifice anyone to keep

his Firestone thin plot rolling down the road.

But that doesn't mean you have to chip in for gas.

Grade: C-

CAMPY, KOOKY, & CULT: On DVD

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

    	"Call me Snake," Kurt Russell whispers in the blatant Clint

Eastwood impression that finally bought his freedom from Disney flicks and

guest shots on Gilligan's Island.  As John Carpenter's stoic anti-hero, Snake Plissken,

Russell is sent into the Manhattan of the future - now a maximum-security

penitentiary - to rescue the President from a villainous gang of inmates

led by the Duke (Isaac Hayes, South Park's Chef).

Dark, brooding, and imaginative, Escape is damn fine filmmaking - full of

classic scenes (...the car chase over the land-mined GW bridge) and classic

quotes ("You're A-number one!") from start to finish.  The DVD is bare

bones other than the theatrical trailer, but you do get to see Adrienne

Barbeau in all her letterboxed glory.

Grade: A-

THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

   	 Part of MGM's midnite movie series, this Vincent Price classic and

its campier sequel (Dr. Phibes Rises Again) has a great deal of charm and

an unexpected amount of class.  As the horribly disfigured Dr. Phibes, an

organist/mad scientist/band-leader hell bent on vengeance for his wife's

death in surgery, Price takes great pleasure in offing the guilty surgeons

in sadistically creative ways.  Like some twisted game of mousetrap, you

almost want to stand up and applaud the elaborately planned schemes.

Funny, freaky, and just plain weird, you might be confused whether to laugh

at the film or with it.  Just go with the flow and enjoy Price pouring a

martini down the hole at the back of his neck.  The DVD releases don't

include much more than a trailer, but what more do you need?!

Grade: B+

Enable frames