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"Species II" from Tuna
Species II is panned by
everyone. Maltin awarded it a bomb, and everyone
complains about poor acting, a plot full of
holes, and cheesy special effects. I agree with
all of these points. It does have a good score,
some very nice photography and set design, and
the puppet work is not bad. All in all, as a
first run Sci Fi and as a sequel to the barely
adequate Species, it is a huge disappointment.
That being said, it has
lots of nudity and gore. If you add this up again
(nudity, gore, photography, score, bad acting,
bad plot and cheesy special effects), you have
just described a European B shock film. Looked at
in that light, it succeeds. Maybe the problem is
not with the film, but in people's expectations
of the film. Never once was I bored, there are
lots of lovely women and some of the photography
is beautiful. For those that like B movies, there
is no reason to avoid this one. The DVD transfer
is very nice and has a feature length directors
commentary. Not only that, they identify every
actress -- even the normally anonymous stripper. Thumbnails Thumbnails Sarah Wynter (1,
2,
3,
4)
Raquel Gardner (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7)
Natasha Henstridge (1,
2,
3,
4,
5)
Nancy LaScala (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10, 11, 12) Felecia Deel (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
"The
Last Temptation of Christ" from Tuna
Scoopy recently wrote
extensively about this Martin Scorsese film about
Christ's final temptation on the cross, where he
is tempted by a quiet life with Mary Magdaline.
The film is not attempting to make a bible
pageant, but rather deals with the struggle of
good vs. evil that is within each of us -- even
Christ. It takes some poetic license with events
in the 4 Gospels, but does an excellent job in my
opinion. The Christian Right was in a furor over
this film because they claimed it was
sacrilegious to depict Christ being tempted, and
because there was nudity. The temptations of
Christ in the desert, in the Garden of Gethsemini
and on the cross are found in the bible. It is
difficult for me to believe that a prostitute
like Mary Magdaline would not expose body parts.
In short, there is nothing any more sacrilegious
in this film than in the bible itself. As far as
their basic quarrel with nudity, let me quote
Woody Harrelson in The People vs Larry Flynt.
"If they have a problem with the female
body, let them complain to the
manufacturer." Thumbnails Barbara Hershey (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10) Unknown (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8)
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