The Bye Bye Man

Review by Bob Ignizio

A trio of college students move into a creepy old house together. Shortly after taking up residence, they find themselves terrorized by a paranormal force that causes hallucinations and, eventually, leads to violence.

Elliot (Douglas Smith) and Sasha (Cressida Bonas) are an item. John (Lucien Laviscount) is Elliot's best friend, and possibly carries a torch for Sasha, as well. After settling in to their rented digs, they discover a nightstand that has strange writing inside its drawer – "Don't think it, don't say it" is scrawled over and over again. Beneath the contact paper with this cryptic writing, which Elliot of course peels off, the drawer reads "The Bye Bye Man".

Network (through April 7 at the Nightlight in Akron)

Sidney Lumet's scathing multiple Oscar nominee NETWORK is the movie that predicted the advent of `trash TV.' This being the 1970s, pre-AIRPLANE!, its satire is not a bellylaugh parody but rather a stern, grownup Swiftian broadside, shock-and-awe dialogue still capable of making the pulse quicken, even if some of the details are hardly farfetched anymore, in the 21st-century tubescape of voyeuristic `reality shows,' sleazycore gossip channels, news sensationalism and circus-freak daytime talk. Kids who come home from school to Jerry Springer might wonder a little bit what the fuss is all about. 

But NETWORK bristles with righteous anger, featuring especially caustic dialogue by magisterial writer Paddy Chayefsky, who was one of the great script authors of early television drama. By the mid-1970s he didn't like what he was seeing, and the narrative takes place in a post-Watergate atmosphere of darkest cynicism, homegrown terrorism, Third-World atrocities, oil shortages, inflation, recession, amorality and all-around bad news. Just about every character, even minor ones, gets to do angry oratory that could blister wallpaper. 

The network of the title here is a mythical, low-rated, fourth TV channel called Fox...no, just kidding, it's UBS, operated by a giant company called CCA. The order comes to lay off the aging UBS nightly-news anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch), newly widowed (sounds like it wasn't a happy marriage anyway; none of them here are). Beale reacts by announcing live on the air that he'll shoot himself on his farewell broadcast.

Bonnie and Clyde (August 3rd at the Palace Theatre)

[BONNIE AND CLYDE screens Saturday August 3rd at 8:00 pm at the Palace Theatre in Playhouse Square.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

When BONNIE AND CLYDE first premiered, a number of critics condemned it as vile, gory and positively toxic. One reviewer wrote a scathing negative review - then reconsidered, then ran another review retracting his original opinion and giving the movie a big thumbs-up. Clearly this was a film like NATURAL BORN KILLERS (which I frankly hated, myself) that divided opinion leaders in its era, but it wound up being a hit with audiences and film historians. It might have horrified folks in 1967 that BONNIE AND CLYDE is now enshrined as one of the greats, and in revival at the tony Playhouse Square series Cinema on the Square. Which is more than I can say (yet) about NATURAL BORN KILLERS.

Some of filmmaker Arthur Penn’s violence is still shocking (especially the gruesome ending), but much bloodier movies have come out of Hollywood since. 

Network (November 19th at the CWRU Film Society, Strosacker Auditorium)

[NETWORK screens Saturday November 19th at 7 pm and 9:30 pm at the CWRU Film Society, Strosacker Auditorium.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

Sidney Lumet's scathing multiple Oscar nominee NETWORK is the movie that predicted the advent of `trash TV.' This being the 1970s, pre-AIRPLANE!, its satire is not a bellylaugh parody but rather a stern, grownup Swiftian broadside. Its shock-and-awe dialogue is still capable of making the pulse quicken, even if some of the details are hardly farfetched anymore in the climate of the 21st-century's voyeuristic "reality" shows, sleazycore gossip channels, news sensationalism and circus-freak daytime talk.