General

Bubble Boy

A sheltered young man who lives in a protective bubble decides to stop the wedding of the girl he loves.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 5-AUG-2003
Media Type: DVD

Innocuous, innocent, and somewhat idiotic, Disney's bubbleheaded road-movie comedy plays as a farcical remake of the 1976 cult TV-movie melodrama The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Jake Gyllenhaal is the goodhearted innocent raised in a sort of human Habitrail of plastic rooms and rubber tunnels. To win back the girl of his dreams (Marley Shelton), he steps out of his indoor greenhouse and into a homemade Ziplock bubble suit. It's the usual story: naive innocent bounces down the highway like a beach ball with legs and wins over the wacky supporting cast of soft-hearted bikers, zombielike teenage cultists, and orphaned "freaks" through purity and pluck. The premise wears thin after a while, but Gyllenhaal keeps the film bounding along with goofy innocence and energetic eagerness. Swoosie Kurtz costars as his religious-zealot clinging mom. Watch for Fabio in an inspired cameo. --Sean Axmaker

The Angry Red Planet

Although widely admired among longtime science fiction fans, The Angry Red Planet is merely a substandard entry from the genre's 1950s heyday. With wooden performances, atrocious dialogue, and some monsters that would scare only very young kids, it's perfect fodder for a rainy- day marathon of cheesy movies, as long as you keep your expectations low. Following the standard plot of its day, the movie tells (in flashback) the story of four astronauts who land Rocket M-1 on Mars, only to find the "angry red planet" lives up to its nickname. The plants are carnivorous, there's a gigantic "bat-rat-spider-crab" that can snap humans in half with its pincers, and a slithering Jello-beast with a rotating eyeball that threatens to dissolve the rocket ship into a pile of digested goo.

Naturally, there's an onboard flirtation between shapely space-gal Nora Hayden and astro-hunk Gerald Mohr (who inexplicably spends the last half-hour with his hairy chest exposed), while Les Tremayne and Jack Kruschen play the stock characters (respectively) of elder scientist and blue-collar engineer--the latter toting an "ultrasonic freezer gun" that forces attacking monsters to chill out. If that's not enough to whet your schlock-movie appetite, the scenes on Mars were filmed in a gimmicky pink-hued process called "Cinemagic," which resembles a negative image covered in Pepto-Bismol. Is this any way to spend 83 precious minutes? Look at it this way: When an angry Martian warns humans to stay away ("you are technological adults, but spiritual and emotional infants"), you may be laughing enough to make it all worthwhile. --Jeff Shannon

X - The Man with the X-Ray Eyes

"Only the gods see everything," cautions one scientist as Dr. James Xavier (Ray Milland) experiments with a formula that will allow the human eye to see beyond the wavelength of visible light. "I am closing in on the gods," he responds with the hubris that is doomed to destroy his overreaching ambition. A mix of Greek tragedy and sci-fi potboiler, Roger Corman's X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (simply identified as X in the eerie, odd opening credits) is a familiar tale of a scientist who risks everything to explore the unknown and is finally driven mad by, literally, seeing too much. Peeping through the clothes of comely women is all good adolescent fun until the gift becomes a nightmare as his sight rages out of control. The possibilities suggested in the hints of addiction and inconsistent bouts of megalomania remain tantalizingly unexplored in the unfocused script, and Corman's cut-rate special effects are often more hokey than haunting (the "city dissolved in an acid of light" that Xavier poetically describes becomes fuzzy photography through a series of color filters). Don Rickles offers a venal turn as a scheming carnival barker turned blackmailing con man, and Diana Van der Vlis is understanding as a sympathetic scientist who tries to rescue Xavier from his spiral into tortured madness, but in the tradition of Greek tragedy, he is doomed to be destroyed by the very gifts he desires.

MGM's widescreen disc also features commentary by director-producer Corman. --Sean Axmaker

The Man From Planet X

Daring reporter John Lawrence (Robert Clarke) narrates this gripping tale of an alien's attempt to take over a tiny village in Scotland. As the story opens, Lawrence is visiting his old friend, Professor Elliot, who's made the startling discovery of a new planet that is approaching Earth at breakneck speed. Soon Elliot's lovely daughter, Enid, has spotted a mysterious craft in the middle of the moor. Lawrence and Elliot decide to investigate, inexplicably allowing the clearly evil Dr. Mears to assist. Lost the plot? Not to worry! The Man from Planet X cheerfully helps slower viewers by offering expository dialogue as frequently as humanly possible. "Look!" says Elliot, "It seems as if he's trying to turn that knob to the right, but doesn't have the strength or coordination," as the alien tries to turn the knob to the right, but doesn't have the strength or coordination. All seems lost as the alien begins using telepathy to control the local villagers. Luckily for the Earth, the alien's superior mind-control powers are not matched with superior common sense--he never bothers to give his slaves such crucial commands as "Don't tell the enemy my entire plan!" or "Let me know if any outsiders show up!" or "By the way, don't follow the commands of anybody but me!" A guaranteed hoot of an evening. --Ali Davis

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine

The Wild Angels

Embittered by his experience working with 20th Century Fox on The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967), and weary of the Poe films for American International Pictures, Roger Corman was in dire need of inspiration for his next production. He found it in Life magazine, which featured a photo of the funeral of Mother Miles, head of the Sacramento, California, Hell's Angels. From this picture came both The Wild Angels and the biker-movie genre itself. Peter Fonda, who replaced George Chakiris, stars as brooding Angels chieftain Heavenly Blues. When his pal Loser (Bruce Dern) is shot by police, Blues attempts to bury him in a small town, but the locals resist, and a brawl ensues. Audiences and critics were alternately appalled and thrilled by the extensive drug use and violence, but beneath Angels' leathery hide beats the heart of a Western, especially in its ruminations on personal freedom. Charles Griffith's script (cowritten by Peter Bogdanovich, who also cameos in the film) helped make Angels the sole U.S. entry for the 1966 Venice Film Festival, which irked the State Department enough to try and revoke the honor. Corman's direction, freed from AIP's period pieces, is lean and exuberantly active, aided by Monte Hellman's editing. The film helped give Fonda the counterculture clout to later make Easy Rider, and boosted the careers of Dern and then-wife Diane Ladd; Nancy Sinatra, however, renounced the picture, fearful of its effect on her image. Mike Curb's score features Davie Allan and the Arrows' fuzz-tone-soaked hit "Blues' Theme." --Paul Gaita

Frogs

Millionaire Jason Crockett (Ray Milland. No, really. Ray Milland) hates frogs. Naturally, he lives on an island estate in the middle of a big Southern swamp. His family also hates frogs, so much so that they clap their hands over their ears and scream about the horrible, horrible noise. Everybody joins in spraying toxic chemicals around, little realizing that these frogs are not just moist, they're mad. Hopping mad. The family gathers for Grandpa's annual birthday celebration, unaware that doom is hopping toward them on wet, flapping feet. The point is driven home with shot after shot of the frogs hopping... hopping... hopping... and occasionally being tossed by a helpful stagehand. Actually, the whole swamp is mad--snakes, snapping turtles, and even crocodiles- -which is really for the best because the only thing the frogs seem to have in the way of menace is that hopping thing. One by one, family members go flailing into the swamp, never to return, while those still in the house watch death hop closer. Frogs is almost as remarkable for the sartorial issues it brings up as the environmental ones. Why is everyone wearing sweaters with blazers in Florida in July? How did Joan Van Ark manage to find an outfit that combines the practicality of hot pants with the beauty of a terrycloth jumper? Will Ray Milland ever be able to get the slime off that bright white suit? And still, the frogs hop closer... --Ali Davis

"A shocker reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds" (Variety), this amphibious horror flick is teeming with thousands of nasty-tempered creatures that are hopping madand murderous. Jumping with action, suspense, revenge and Southern Gothic charm, Frogs' stars Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark and Ray Milland are constantly a lily pad away from croaking! Jason Crockett (Milland) is an aging, physically disabled millionaire who invites his family to his island estate for hisbirthday party. The old man is more than crotchety he's crazy! Hating nature, Crockett poisons anything that crawls on his property. But on the night of his shindig, it's nature's payback time, as thousands of frogs whip up every bug and slimy thing into a toxic frenzy until the entire environment goes environ-mental.

The Dunwich Horror

At the Earth's Core

High adventure and hooty special effects make At the Earth's Core a colorful camp treat. Doug McClure plays David Innes, the brawn to Dr. Abner Perry's brains. The two have developed the Iron Mole, a vehicle that bores through solid rock. A test run goes too well and before you know it they're neck-deep in scantily clad cave women and telepathic lizard-birds. Peter Cushing has a good time playing against his usual type as the absentminded Professor Perry, while McClure sticks to cigar-chomping macho swagger. Older kids will enjoy the colorful sets and fire-breathing animals, while adults will get a kick out of the hilariously outdated gender politics. At the Earth's Core is well worth turning off your brain and taking a look. DVD version includes the original trailer and French and Spanish subtitles. --Ali Davis

Beach Blanket Bingo