1990: The Popcorn Papers Mini-Film Reviews

FILM REVIEWS BY MIKE MARTINEZ
Published July 1, 1990

Backstory:  As a vehicle to please key advertisers and add “bonus” off-season revenues, our business office cobbled together random 12-page summer editions between 1988 and 1995. The core student editorial staff was home or on vacation, so enlisting and coordinating content was a real challenge. A few summer editions reprinted the best stories of the previous school year, and others featured special contributions from dedicated staffers willing to sacrifice summer vacation for the team.  This special summer movie recap was called “The Popcorn Papers” and featured reviews from illustrator/layout designer Mel Marcelo and myself.

THE ADVENTURES OF MILO and OTIS

How cute it is – Back To The Nature! The Japanese-made, previously released  film understandably keeps a low marketing profile in a Dick Tracy summer. In fact,  the only promotion I have seen for Milo and Otis is some 30-second commercial spots on “Popeye” and “Scooby Doo” (I was, er, sick in bed and couldn’t reach the remote.) Nonetheless, this film can hold its head high.

It does have an audience. Kids will love it. Some parents may also find themselves fighting a few “aw shucks” tears. And the kind of people who bask in the endearing reverie of every fur ball coughed up by little Pookums should rush to the theaters.

Talk about incredible journeys! Milo, the kitty, and Otis, the pooch, encounter a raging waterfall on their raft, memorable battles with other species, and the usual car chases and explosions. Only Dudley Moore’s cloying narration gums up the works.

Ol’Dud could sure use a hit, and Milo and Otis should be a boost to the career of its other stars. Otis has a cameo in the upcoming “Won Ton Ton II,” and Milo is looking at several scripts following an unfortunate stint in catnip rehab.

 

DICK TRACY

In the Count Basie orchestra, the horns soared.  The rhythm section swung hard. The backbone, however, was the subtle accents of the Count himself. He tossed understated, elegant piano fills in the right spots – not a second too late, not a second too long. His patented triplets were always the last word.

One should have the same appreciation of Warren Beatty’s efforts in Dick Tracy. Much has been written, and deservedly so, of the mind boggling makeup design. Equally quirky is the primary color cinematography, which gives some scenes a stylish backdrop feel, yet others a dark duotone pall. This is a world that exists only during your trip to the theater.

The performances are reminiscent of “Guys and Dolls,” with a theatrical sense of fun. Unlike his campy work in Scarface, Al Pacino’s zany hamming as Big Boy is intentional here. Dustin Hoffman turns Mumbles into Raymond Babbitt on ether. And gaze into Madonna’s eyes during one of her luxurious close ups. For the first time on the movie screen, the camera catches the intangible spark that makes others earthbound by comparison. Her self assurance makes some rather corny double entendres work.

Warren Beatty, though, is the soul of Dick Tracy. Like Basie, he’s the boss. Gangsters soar, and Madonna smolders, but the whole orbit flies off without his subtle center. His very one-dimensionality is a virtue here, for it has to balance the outrageous world that revolves around him. The low key performances of Glenne Headley as Tess, and Charlie Korsmo as The Kid, follow Warren’s beat. Above all, this surreal trip, and that includes the choice of actors, is largely the vision of one man.

If you can resist looking for subtext and motivation for about two hours, have a little pure movie fun.

ANOTHER 48 HOURS

Some eight years later, the buddy/enemy chemistry between smartass con Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy and no-nonsense cop Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) is still intact. And it still works. Director Walter Hill’s penchant for spectacular explosions and ballistic ballet shows him to be at the top of these particular powers.

Otherwise, Another 48 Hours suffers from common script maladies – whopping coincidences, plotholes, and unbelievable premises. These two psychopathic bikers, hired to kill Hammond, blow up everything in sight with orgasmic frenzy, yet keep Reggie alive in the last two reels so they can use him as a hostage. Cates has been after a major crime boss for seven years with no luck. Streetwise Reggie, of course, takes only 48 hours to piece it together.

Hill gives this one a few “Long Rider” touches such as low angle shots from boot level. In addition, he falls back on some of the same shtick that he used in the first go-around – the hostile saloon, a shootout in Chinatown, and a climactic confrontation between Cates and the villains, with Reggie as a hostage.

There is one other major difference from 1982 – billing. Now it stars Eddie Murphy, in association with Eddie Murphy Productions. Perhaps in deference to the star, Hill lets Eddie mug a few times too often, even after being shot. Still, if you suspend the notion that this is real life storytelling on any level, it’s fun to hang with Eddie and watch him play movie star. The world-weary, smoky-voiced Nolte is solid as ever.