Movie Review: Tootsie (1982)

DIRECTOR: Sydney Pollack. CAST: Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Bill Murray, Sydney Pollack, George Gaynes, Geena Davis, Doris Belack, Ellen Foley, Ronald L. Schwary, Lynne Thigpen.
Tootsie might be the best gender comedy of all time; it is certainly one of the finest funny movies of its decade. Dustin Hoffman is Michael Dorsey, an unemployed actor with a difficult reputation around town. Desperate for work, Michael impersonates a woman to get a role on a popular daytime soap opera. His character is a hit, but it also takes a toll on his personal life as he falls for one of his female co-stars while also resisting the advances of her father and another male cast member. Tootsie keeps its humor intelligent without going the obvious homo/transphobic route like it probably would in someone else’s hands. Not one performance goes wasted here; everyone shines in what is a true gem of a movie. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore and they should. Watch Tootsie immediately; you will see why it was a huge box office draw in its day.

Movie Review: 1941 (1979)

DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg. CAST: Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Ned Beatty, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Christopher Lee, Tim Matheson, Toshiro Mifune, Warren Oates, Robert Stack, Treat Williams, Nancy Allen, Bobby DiCicco, Dianne Kay, Perry Lang, Slim Pickens, Wendie Jo Sperber, Eddie Deezen, Joe Flaherty, John Candy, Frank McRae, Susan Backlinie. 
1941 is a glorious disaster of a film; it is not a ‘good movie’ as much as it is an amazing spectacle. Personally, I cannot hate a movie simultaneously recognizing the diverse talents of Toshiro Mifune and Eddie Deezen. You certainly will not find such an ensemble cast anywhere else! 1941 is an attempt at a World War II-era comedy through the anarchic lens of Saturday Night Live or Animal House. American tension is high after the attack on Pearl Harbor just a couple days before. Wild rumors abound and everyone is on alert. Servicemen and zoot suiters are rioting in the streets and a lone Japanese submarine is lost in the Pacific Ocean while trying to find and attack Los Angeles. 1941 introduces several movies’ worth of characters and stories at once; so much is going on that most viewers would likely get lost in the chaos. Fans that can make sense of this mess will enjoy the 146-minute director’s cut that fleshes out some of the more principal characters. Although 1941 is not laugh-out-loud funny most of the time, it captures the period in which it takes place with good unpretentious fun.

Darkest Heavy: Remembering Z.O.E.

Osaka’s Z.O.E. boasted members of some of Japan’s best crustcore bands, but reveled in blatant unoriginality in mining the AMEBIX field for everything it could possibly be worth. They formed as a bedroom band by ex-GLOOM guitarist Taki in 1997, acquiring the drumming services of Takayama from FRAMTID four years later. Z.O.E. issued The Beginning as a CD-R demo in 2002, attracting attention from fans of Japan’s “crasher crust” scene for its painstaking attention to detail—these four songs sound dead on like AMEBIX outtakes if not for Taki’s howling vocals. “Be Celled & Be Chain of Master” steals the riff from “Drink & Be Merry” outright while the other songs are only somewhat less offensive in their thievery. Z.O.E. followed up with the instrumental “Spere Alive” on The Darkest 4, a compilation tape also featuring fellow Japanese crustys EFFIGY, ACROSTIX, and the amusingly named DISTURD.

Crust War originally intended to release 2003’s From Hell EP as a split with the like-

minded EFFIGY. Both bands even recorded title tracks for the concept, with Z.O.E. writing “From Hell (Ice Devil)” as a companion piece to EFFIGY’s “From Hell (Summer Devil).” Crust War simply released both as separate records instead. From Hell is the band’s best example of their “darkest heavy” sound; the long title track builds to a particularly nice crusty crescendo. “Destroyer” gets more to the point while “Spider” fades out after about a minute as something of a teaser track.

The Last Axe Beat re-records all four tracks from The Beginning and adds two new songs plus “Spider” in full. Z.O.E. relentlessly references AMEBIX and ZYGOTE throughout; it is almost more than one can handle by the album’s end.

Although the songs are appropriately loud and heavy, The Last Axe Beat misses the dynamics that Z.O.E.’s favorite band established with both their songwriting and presentation. Z.O.E. would then cover “The Power Remains” and “Winter” on MCR Company’s Amebix Japan: A Tribute to Amebix compilation (a dream come true, I’m sure) and also re-recorded “New World” and “Zygospore” for the Konton Damaging Ear Massacre compilation released by Crust War in 2005.

How did Z.O.E. manage to get away with such a flagrantly imitative approach? I do not know myself; I am still trying to figure it out over fifteen years later as I still enjoy these recordings on some level.

SEE ALSO: Defector, Ferocious X, Framtid, Gloom, War Cry.

Rick Rude

I vaguely remember this from the early ‘90s! Can you imagine getting a literal Rude Awakening from Ravishing Rick Rude? I think I might have enjoyed having him call my worst enemy or least favorite schoolteacher early in the morning to call them out for being fat, out of shape [insert city here] sweathogs! Actually, it might have been funny to just have Rude bellow “UPPER BODY BUSINESS!” into the phone repeatedly before hanging up!

Dynamite Kid

Dynamite Kid debuts on television taking on the veteran Alan Dennison for World of Sport in 1976! Nicknamed the Strongman, old school British wrestling fans seem to have fond memories of Dennison’s tag teams with Cyanide Sid Cooper and Ted “Hooker” Heath back in the 1960s and ‘70s. Dennison was once quoted as saying that the best way to keep young was to work with young people. This match certainly puts that theory to the test, as Dynamite Kid is only seventeen years old here! Dynamite keeps Dennison surprised by being able to maneuver out of holds and takedown attempts, flipping and landing on his feet to the delight of the crowd. Clearly impressed with the Kid’s superior athleticism, Dennison gets on the house mic after the match and puts him over big time. I wonder if anyone in the building that afternoon had any visions of the Dynamite Kid’s future as an innovator in Canada, Japan, and the United States.