55 - The Heart Of Justice

Connection To THE RAVEN - The legendary Vincent Price

I had no idea that Vincent Price and Dennis Hopper had two credits appearing alongside each other, let alone both in the 1990's and this is the second I'm covering on here after the disappointment of Crossfire. This TV movie from 1992 besides the pair as a strong cast including Jennifer Connelly, William H. Macy, his future wife Felicity Huffman (I assume they was a couple at this point), Eric Stoltz and Dermot Mulroney among others.

Vincent Price (his final role) is having lunch with Dennis Hopper as he leaves the restaurant, he gets killed off before the opening titles, he's a famous writer who's clearly pissed somebody off, who turns the gun on themselves. This is an effective opening I just wish the rest of the movie was as good (though Connelly has a scene in her underwear and later strips, so no complaints there)

For me it was the sort of film that seems to spend 90 minutes getting to a place where you totally expected it very early one, while that's not always a bad thing, with this film you where just sort of waiting for it so I could get on with another film or the rest of my life.

It didn't help that a bland actor to me (Mulroney) and somebody playing a bland character (Stoltz) have most of the screen time especially when there was much more interesting characters and performers in this, Connelly though - as always - was good and the likes of Hopper (who does appear then just the first scene) and Price really do very little in the story in the long run.

Overall the film's plot in the end really did nothing for me, honestly Jennifer Connelly is the what that makes this film most awesome, you can probably internet any scene of her rather then watching the full thing though, so I'm going on the it's not bad in the end but no need to waste time on it.

54 - The Raven (1963)

Connection To GOD FORGIVES... I DON'T - both released by AIP (American International Pictures).

When Roger Corman passes away, which hopefully is still many years from now. Corman will leave such a legacy behind, giving opportunities to an incredible amount of people in front of and behind the camera - Ron Howard, Francis Ford Coppola, Joe Dante, Martin Scorsese and Peter Bogdanovich where just a few of the directors who he gave a chance to show there stuff and of course he was regularly getting Jack Nicholson (who appears here) cast before Hollywood saw the greatness.

I'd known and seen loads of the Corman stuff for years but it seems weird to me that it only feels the last few years that I began to appreciate Roger Corman - the director, I think it started when I watched The Intruder from 1962 and starring William Shatner, it was such a powerful film and I say this without hyperbole deserves to be remembered in the same breath as To Kill A Mockingbird... and then a day or two later I saw The Raven for the first time.

The thing was I'd seen Corman stuff but it was b-movie stuff, I'd enjoyed Bucket Of Blood a lot but how do I put it I kind of didn't think about the direction. One thing that surprised me about The Raven though was how playful it was.

I don't know what I expected - maybe I expected a completely serious attempt at horror, that would fail to me as a watcher after 50ish years, I mean after all it was on the back-end of the careers of Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre, who where less... let's say choosy about the projects they choose to be in at this point there career and with judging Corman was going through these Edgar Allan Poe adaptations so, so quickly - and maybe, just maybe I thought the full effort wouldn't be put in.

For a start it's just a hoot seeing Vincent Price, Karloff and Lorre share the screen. Lorre I've loved ever since since the old black and white movies from the 30s and 40s and Karloff he's was Frankenstein's Monster for fuck sake - the first two Frankenstein are timeless classics! - and Vincent Price, as time goes on I've become more and more of a fan (I think that all probably started with Theatre Of Blood)

I loved the ending magic-off (source-off - I don't know what to call it) just the way each bit of magic is done by Price and Karloff, I think it's Vincent Price's face throughout, there's just a touch of arrogance in there when he shows his stuff.

Overall a delightful horror-comedy, that really goes for a good time rather then the scares, it's simpl;y magic (man I feel like my puns are getting out of control) seeing acting legends on screen together.