Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

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I never seen Beaches either, but it sounds like my kind of movie.

Both her and Dianne Wiest have a lot of scenes in Hanna and her Sisters, I think you'd like it... Have you seen many Woody Allen films that you've liked?



I've seen about 10, and that's about 10 more than I had seen about 2 years ago. My favorites are Love and Death, Annie Hall, and Manhattan. My least favorite is Bullets Over Broadway.



I really enjoy Repo Man and Quentin Tarantino, but I never really noticed the many similarities until you pointed them out.
They'd make a great double bill! Try watching Pulp Fiction first and then Repo Man.




The Invisible Boy (1957)

Director: Herman Hoffman
Cast: Richard Eyer, Philip Abbott, Diane Brewster,Robby the Robot
Genre: Sci Fi Adventure

Never take a 1950's sci fi movie poster at face value!...None of that stuff actually happened! Though it looks cool! The robot was the boys friend, well for the most part anyway...and there was no missiles or army attacks. But there's a lot of neat stuff happening in this obscure 50s sci fi film.




Timmie (Richard Eyer) a naughty boy genius, first assembles Robby the Robot which is left over from his scientist dad's project. Latter Timmie takes a formula that makes him invisible. That's the fun part of the film, but latter the film grows darker .

This is one weird film! First off MGM wanted to reuse Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet, so they came up with a kids story...only someone had a very weird sense of humor, because they made a rather dark movie out of the story. I'm sure it scared the heck out of the kids!

Foreshadowing both Colossus: The Forbin Project and Terminator, The Invisible Boy has an evil super computer that attains self awareness and uses it's console lights to hypnotize humans, then it implants micro chips into their brains and controls them. The super computer seeks to have itself launched into space where it can control the planet. Most disturbing is the super computers threat to torture and kill the boy unless it's plans for world conquest is meet by his frightened parents, who have to choose between enslaving the world to an artificial intelligence or letting their son die a grisly death.

Pretty serious stuff for kids and yet most of the film seems to have been made for a youth market.

I'm giving this
for strangeness.



Thanks Rules!
Regarding the poster - there is a similar scene where Robby is approaching the rocket and the army fires on him. They call out the heavy artillery when they realize he can't be stopped by handguns (of course Timmy is not in that scene as he is safe aboard the rocket). It turns into a bizarre scene with no given explanation as soldiers with flame throwers apparently destroy Robby, only to find he now appears behind their line at the base of the rocket. Only explanation I could figure was that he burrowed underground when he was blasted by flame (although no indication was given, nor was there ever any clue hinted at that Robby had the ability to burrow through yards of earth in seconds).

Glad you mentioned other movies - this one definitely foreshadowed some others. I caught the Terminator vibe right away with the computer and a verbal description of "skynet" (and some plot elements point to Terminator 2: a robot befriending & protecting a boy that, a one point, he was programmed to kill).

And it is strange that the movie starts out like a childhood fantasy aimed at kids, but turns into a much darker & more serious sci-fi story.

P.S. the voice of the young actor who played Timmy was so familiar, upon looking him up it was because he'd played the genie in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958).

Also - this is weird but TCM's description was WAY off again - they said the movie was about a boy who's robot is taken over by aliens. I kept waiting for aliens to be revealed!



Sorry for the late reply Captain, I often have to post and then leave for a while, but I'm back now
Regarding the poster - there is a similar scene where Robby is approaching the rocket and the army fires on him. They call out the heavy artillery when they realize he can't be stopped by handguns (of course Timmy is not in that scene as he is safe aboard the rocket). It turns into a bizarre scene with no given explanation as soldiers with flame throwers apparently destroy Robby, only to find he now appears behind their line at the base of the rocket. Only explanation I could figure was that he burrowed underground when he was blasted by flame (although no indication was given, nor was there ever any clue hinted at that Robby had the ability to burrow through yards of earth in seconds).
Wow, I have no memory of that. It's been a while since I seen it.

Glad you mentioned other movies - this one definitely foreshadowed some others. I caught the Terminator vibe right away with the computer and a verbal description of "skynet" (and some plot elements point to Terminator 2: a robot befriending & protecting a boy that, a one point, he was programmed to kill).
Wasn't it you who years ago told me about Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)? Seems like you told me about it, I have yet to see it, but it's on my watch list.

P.S. the voice of the young actor who played Timmy was so familiar, upon looking him up it was because he'd played the genie in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958).
Ahh, I did not know that...that's another great fantasy film.

Also - this is weird but TCM's description was WAY off again - they said the movie was about a boy who's robot is taken over by aliens. I kept waiting for aliens to be revealed!
Ha! Damn that TCM



Hey Rules, I don't think it was me that recommended Colossus: The Forbin Project as I don't think I've ever seen it!

Also, I got the strange impression from the beginning of The Invisible Boy (and from the very last scene) that maybe this was a pitch for a TV sit-com - it had a kind of Leave It To Beaver or Dennis the Menace feel to it, but with a Robot friend added!



Actually, now that I think of it, my favorite is Interiors. That's more like a Bergman film than a typical Allen film.
Interiors was brilliant...not an easy watch, but brilliant.



I never seen Beaches either, but it sounds like my kind of movie.

Both her and Dianne Wiest have a lot of scenes in Hanna and her Sisters, I think you'd like it... Have you seen many Woody Allen films that you've liked?
Citizen, I think you would really like Beaches.




Hannah and Her Sisters(Woody Allen, 1986)
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Cast: Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Michael Caine, Barbara Hershey, Carrie Fisher, Maureen O'Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Max von Sydow, Julie Kavner, Woody Allen
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Loved your review of my favorite Woody Allen movie, Citizen...agree with just about everything you've said and I loved that quote from Farrow...never read that before...very interesting, thanks for sharing that.



Hey Rules, I don't think it was me that recommended Colossus: The Forbin Project as I don't think I've ever seen it!
, Ahck! My poor memory! I know someone told me about Colossus: The Forbin Project, it might have been a kid in high school. I just remember that who ever seen it, really, really liked it. I've never seen it myself so don't know how cool it is...or isn't.

Also, I got the strange impression from the beginning of The Invisible Boy (and from the very last scene) that maybe this was a pitch for a TV sit-com - it had a kind of Leave It To Beaver or Dennis the Menace feel to it, but with a Robot friend added!
I could see that, it was different than any other sci if movie I've seen.

Also, just found this...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050546/board/nest/78812849

If true it could change everything we think about reality... or movies... or just sci-fi movies.
Wow! Thanks for posting that, I guess someone wanted to pay homage to Forbidden Planet.



Loved your review of my favorite Woody Allen movie, Citizen...agree with just about everything you've said and I loved that quote from Farrow...never read that before...very interesting, thanks for sharing that.
Thanks Gideon Believe it or not I had never seen Hannah and Her Sisters until the other night. There will be more Woody Allen movie reviews coming, just as soon as I can find the time to watch them.




The Burbs (1989)

Director: Joe Dante
Writer: Dana Olsen
Cast: Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher
Genre: Comedy, Mystery, Thriller

I had never seen this one before, even though it's well known. It sort of reminded me of the 1981 movie Neighbors with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. The Burbs stars another comedy legend, Tom Hanks. These days we think of Tom Hanks as playing serious roles in pretentious movies, but here he's young, he's stressed out and married to Carrie Fisher. Hanks is real good at the straight laced, over worked, married man living in the suburbs, or the 'burbs as I like to call them. Hanks was a hot commodity in the late 80s, by the time he made this movie he had a number of successful comedies under his belt including Big (1988) and Splash (1984). Hanks is in top form here and the supporting cast and the crazy 80s antics really suit him.




I watched this for Carrie Fisher. She doesn't have a big role and is Tom's sensible wife. She was really good in that role too and it was nice to see her.

The other stand out in the cast is Bruce Dern, who knew he could do comedy so well! He plays this whacked out para-military guy who believes there's conspiracies everywhere. I could have done without Corey Feldman. He was OK in small does, even funny. I don't know why they gave him so much air time as clearly the other actors was where the movie was at.
The weirdest thing was the crazy neighbor played by Rick Ducommun. He was funny but I kept thinking his lines sounded like they were written for John Candy. Now if Candy had been in this film, it would be golden! Still I liked it, it's fun! it's wacky! it's funny! What more could you want?




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