Davy Boy-2

"The Keep" is Michael Mann's worst film. The first ten minutes may fool you into thinking it will be amazingly good. Then it descends into one of the worst attempts at horror/science fiction/whatever that the decade of the eighties produced. Not only does this film feature the worst performances of Gabriel Byrne's and Sir Ian Mckellen's careers, it also commits the sin of wasting one of the best performances ever given by Jurgen Prochnow in a sloppy, under-plotted, under-thought mess. This movie also features a rancid synthesizer score by Tangerine Dream and audio recording so bad that you can hear radio frequency interference in many of the scenes. Listen closely and you'll be able to hear the walkie-talkie conversations of the film crew as a barely-discernible background noise, audible just under the dialogue of the main performers. Thank God for "Miami Vice", because it allowed Michael Mann to redeem himself from this sin against cinema with "Manhunter" and to prove himself to be one of the best directors of the current American cinema with his other subsequent films. "The Keep" could have been a great combination of H.P. Lovecraft and Herzog's "Nosferatu" remake. Instead it plays like the weak half of one of the rare bad episodes of "Doctor Who" combined with Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein". That may make it sound interesting, but it isn't. If you love frustration or want to see just how bad a really good director can get, by all means watch this film. All others should stay away. Very far away.

"Pinocchio in Outer Space" may not be in the same "all time classic" league as the Disney "Pinocchio", but what it lacks in budget and grandeur it makes up for in imagination and well-crafted ambience. Rather than being a lame attempt to cash in on the audience's good memories of the Disney version, this film is actually an exercise in the classic science-fiction "what-if" scenario. And it works. It has some of the most evocative outer-space scenes ever animated, with some truly haunting extra-terrestrial landscapes and a host of alien monsters sure to thrill the still young-at-heart. It's not for everyone, but for those who can find themselves enthralled by its peculiar charms, this film is a gold mine of Sunday morning kraft dinner bliss.