|
New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.
Reviews A-C Reviews D-F Reviews G-J Reviews K-M Reviews N-Q Reviews R-T Reviews U-Z The Animation Show 4 *** Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson ***1/2 Hancock **1/2 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl **1/2 Quid Pro Quo *** The Wackness **1/2 The Castro Theatre's 70mm Festival 2008 More Drillbit Taylor Identification of a Woman (Import) Shotgun Stories A Throw of Dice Vantage Point More Scarlett Johansson: Anywhere I Lay My Head [CD Review] Don Cheadle at CineVegas Abel Ferrara at CineVegas Tina Sinatra My Top 100 Films [Updated] My Top 60 Directors [Updated] Charlton Heston (1924-2008) Scott B. Smith Estelle Parsons Roger Donaldson Roy Scheider (1932-2008) Mike Binder James McAvoy Tony Gilroy David Cronenberg & Viggo Mortensen William Friedkin Peter Fonda & James Mangold Kasi Lemmons on Talk to Me Steve Buscemi on Interview Lynn Hershman-Leeson Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg & Nick Frost on Hot Fuzz Scott Frank, Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Matthew Goode The Top 50 Movies of the Past Ten Years (1997-2006) Bong Joon-ho, director of The Host Mark Polish, Michael Polish & Billy Bob Thornton My latest blog entries at cinematical.com The 'Mexican New Wave' Interview with Singaporian Filmmaker Djinn Joe Carnahan & Jeremy Piven Interview Terry Zwigoff on the new Bad Santa Director's Cut Alfonso Cuarón Interview Guillermo Del Toro Interview Chris Noonan Interview Robert Altman (1925-2006) Scarlett Johansson: A Study in Scarlett Christmas Movies Combustible Celluloid's Big Guide to Halloween & Horror Movies Joe Eszterhas Jet Li Zach Braff Kirby Dick James Ellroy Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Adrien Brody Steve Irwin (1962-2006) Elisha Cuthbert/Jamie Babbit Matt Dillon David R. Ellis Maria Bello Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson Mickey Spillane (1918-2006) Al Gore Cult Movies Actress Interview Gallery The Top 100 More Features and Interviews James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis Guide to Essential Movies, by Joe Leydon Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, by Robert S. Birchard Profoundly Disturbing, by Joe Bob Briggs A Third Face, by Samuel Fuller Dark Lover, by Emily Leider Agee on Film, by James Agee Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks Negative Space, by Manny Farber 5001 Nights at the Movies, by Pauline Kael More Books The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews! Sign up for my weekly newsletter! About Lists Gallery News Links E-mail me. |
The Fly (1986)Rating: 4 Stars (out of 4)Be Very AfraidBy Jeffrey M. Anderson
A scientist, Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum), with motion sickness tries to invent a teleportation pod. He nearly gets it right, but his dedication to all things scientific and his ignorance of human interaction become his undoing. His computer does not know what to do when a fly enters the pod along with poor Seth and so splices them together. At first Seth feels great, but slowly finds himself losing body parts as he mutates into a fly. Cronenberg one-ups the story by introducing Veronica (Geena Davis), a beautiful reporter who falls for Seth at precisely the wrong time. Charles Edward Pogue and Cronenberg's intelligent script and Goldblum's heartfelt performance make this outlandish story perfectly feasible. The original film had no such justifications. It simply shows a scientist trying out his new machine and coming out with the head and right arm of a fly. Cronenberg makes his movie more scientific and far more personal, showing Seth grappling head on humankind's biggest fear: the decay of the body. The Fly grows yet another layer when it's revealed that Cronenberg himself suffers from chronic motion sickness. Only a master filmmaker of the highest caliber could make a masterpiece from that. DVD Details: In 2005, Fox has released an extraordinary special 2-disc Special Edition that supplants their 2000 "double feature" edition (with The Fly II). It comes with a Cronenberg commentary track, several features, including an in-depth making-of documentary that's longer than the film, plus stills, trailers and deleted/extended scenes. The only drawback is that it contains several "printed" materials, such as the original short story, two versions of the script and magazine articles about the film, but they're only available to read on your TV screen. It would have been better to include these items in PDF format on the DVD-Rom. Additionally, Fox has released a similar two-disc set for The Fly II. There's not much reason to buy this film or even see it, but the disc comes with a pretty good hour-long documentary, narrated by Leonard Nimoy, about the entire Fly cycle. Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz |
| Home |
News |
Search Reviews |
Classic Movies |
DVDs |
Features |
Film Books |
Gallery |
Links |
About |
The Rating System |
Email Me |