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Eyes of Laura Mars

Eyes of Laura Mars

List Price: $9.95
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Slick '70's Shocker Still Thrills
Review: I was a bit surprised to read such good reviews of what is at best an enjoyable, albeit nonsensical thriller. Faye Dunaway overacts shamelessly in the title role, giving more than a hint of the crazed performance she would deliver only two years later in Mommie Dearest: She's all top-volume ululations and pop-eyed grimaces (decibel levels become unbearable when she runs through the streets screaming "Donald! Donald!" late in the film). Tommy Lee Jones is hulking and bearish as the cop who falls in love with Laura, and Rene Auberjonois is especially chic as Laura's best friend (brutally dispatched in one of the pic's most gratuitous sequences). The entire plot basically makes no sense at all (who knows why she sees the murders or how the killer gets into her mind, and why doesn't she warn the future victims?), and the film's alleged critique of "S&M Chic" is pop-psychology laughable. However, the movie as a whole is great if you want a little late 1970's nostalgia - the sleek, glitzy, Studio 54-milieu of New York's fashionistas is beautifully depicted without even a hint of irony: Dunaway and Auberjonois' clothes are stunning (not every article of 70's clothing was all polyester!) and the bizarre Streisand-disco sountrack is deliciousy sleazy. All-in-all, this film is an enjoyable, if trashy, glitterfest for those who wish they could have lived the high life of the 1970's. Enjoy this as a time capsule and forget about the plot!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Surprisingly Good Supernatural Thriller
Review: I was surprised at how good this film was and how creepy it was in parts. Faye Dunaway gives a fairly polished performance as the renowned but fragile photographer Laura Mars who has the uncanny ability to recreate (using live models) violent crime scenes that have taken already place. This ability does not escape the attention of a local police officer, John Neville played by Tommy Lee Jones in an early acting role. The relationship between John and Laura is both tender and brittle. Both are damaged people with secrets to hide and both fear exposure of the truth behind Laura's gift of second-sight. There is a good cast, such as Rene Auberjonois and Brad Dourif but they have minor roles, these were days before Deep Space Nine and Star Trek - Voyager. A spooky, thoughtful little movie with good camera work, vivid splashes of color and a funky 1970s sound track to accompany it. There's also a neat twist at the end of the film that took me by surprise but I won't spoil it for everyone by revealing it in this review!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fabulous movie for Dunaway Fans
Review: If you are a fan of Faye Dunaway, this movie is absolutely fabulous. She looks great, the story is great, and it's got a amazing soundtrack. I just love her to death. If you're not a Faye Dunaway fan, you'll probably find it a little boring and slow, however.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Eyes Have it!
Review: Okay, you want a cheesed out supernatural thriller? This is it! And amazingly enough, it gets royal treatment on DVD without any of the VHS edits, a very clear picture, director's commentary, and even a commentary over the photo gallery that is just as informative. The movie itself is a great social commentary on New York and advertising in the late 70s. It's a little predictable, but completely entertaining.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I SEE YOU
Review: Only in the seventies could a glossy, overblown film like this be so good. And it is..in spite of its excesses. Faye Dunaway, fresh from her Oscar turn in NETWORK, plays Laura Mars, a fashion photographer specializing in grotesque murder images. She also can "see" the murderer of several of her models while he or she is committing the foul deeds. Conveniently, the script doesn't address just how Laura got this "psychic ability." But it doesn't matter as it makes a compelling device when she joins the murderer via satellite. Rene Auberjenois chews up the scenery as her manager/agent, whose foppishness and over the top emoting are delightful to watch. Tommy Lee Jones, in one of his first big-screen features, plays the dashing detective John Neville, who falls in love with Dunaway and tries to believe her psychic witnessing. Director Irving Kershner keeps the glamour and glitz going with some deft mood swings. He gets good performances from his whole cast, although at times Faye seems to be auditioning for her later role in "Mommie Dearest," but she pulls back enough to keep her performance interesting. Jones is smooth, although his youth hinders some major transformations in the film. And definitely the costume designer had her work cut out for her with all of the fashions Dunaway wears. But it's the glitzy seventies and the mystery holds your attention, so that Laura Mars emerges as a gripping and entertaining whodunit. Also, it has the stunning "Prisoner" sung by producer Jon Peters' main squeeze then, Barbra Streisand.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I SEE YOU
Review: Only in the seventies could a glossy, overblown film like this be so good. And it is..in spite of its excesses. Faye Dunaway, fresh from her Oscar turn in NETWORK, plays Laura Mars, a fashion photographer specializing in grotesque murder images. She also can "see" the murderer of several of her models while he or she is committing the foul deeds. Conveniently, the script doesn't address just how Laura got this "psychic ability." But it doesn't matter as it makes a compelling device when she joins the murderer via satellite. Rene Auberjenois chews up the scenery as her manager/agent, whose foppishness and over the top emoting are delightful to watch. Tommy Lee Jones, in one of his first big-screen features, plays the dashing detective John Neville, who falls in love with Dunaway and tries to believe her psychic witnessing. Director Irving Kershner keeps the glamour and glitz going with some deft mood swings. He gets good performances from his whole cast, although at times Faye seems to be auditioning for her later role in "Mommie Dearest," but she pulls back enough to keep her performance interesting. Jones is smooth, although his youth hinders some major transformations in the film. And definitely the costume designer had her work cut out for her with all of the fashions Dunaway wears. But it's the glitzy seventies and the mystery holds your attention, so that Laura Mars emerges as a gripping and entertaining whodunit. Also, it has the stunning "Prisoner" sung by producer Jon Peters' main squeeze then, Barbra Streisand.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sit back and enjoy ...
Review: Take a trip into the mid-70's decadent lifestyle of high fashion, clubs, and hedonism.

Throw in a nifty (but odd) disco soundtrack, Barbra Stresand singing a rock theme song, Faye Dunaway looking gorgeous and being dramatic, silly, overblown dialogue... and a mystery slasher.

For it's genre and the the people in it ... it is high art camp horror fun.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: 70s Deluxe
Review: THE EYES OF LAURA MARS D: Irvin Kershner (1978) Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Dourif, Raul Julia, Rene Auberjonois, and assorted disco-era models and fashionistas

Jon Peters' first production as he transformed himself (with girlfriend Barbra Streisand's help) from hairdresser to movie producer, the movie is a gem of Seventies style at it's finest. The clothes, the hair, makeup, music, attitude, interiors and locations ride the crest of the high-style wave that flooded the world through the Eighties. Combining the improbable worlds of violence and fashion, with a story that centers on a famous photographer (Dunaway) and her ability to *see* her friends and colleagues being stalked and murdered, *Eyes* has moments of serious suspense, but that's hardly the reason to see this movie. Utilizing the actual photography of fashion god Helmut Newton, the film maker has exquisitely captured the 1978 New York fashion and disco scene in a way that none of the recent looks at the Seventies has been able to, but then, again, this movie was *made* in 1978, not 20 years later. The scenes of photo shoots are particularly fun to watch, with one scene portraying a burning car crash in Columbus Circle in which the models, clad in garter belts and fur coats get in a cat fight before the camera. The ingenuous use of *real* models add the precise amount of vacuity necessary to make the surreal shot work. Another photo shoot involves a model dead from a gunshot to his heart lying in a pool surrounded by exotically dressed disco-dancing models and a throbbing disco beat. The plot is secondary to style in this movie, and style is the only reason this movie should be remembered. Favorite moment: Darlanne Fluegel as the model Lulu haplessly trying to explain to the press *why* violence is important in fashion photos.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ultimate 70's Decadence
Review: The incomparable Faye Dunaway at her most gorgeously feline in this feast of camp 70's New York sleaze. Plot and visuals strongly reminiscent of Dario Argento. Also featuring Tommy Lee Jones, Rene Auberjunois, script work by John Carpenter, Helmut Newton imagery, a fabulously overwrought theme song . . what more could you possibly want?

An all time favorite.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fabulous movie, but why the edits for VHS?
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite movies, featuring Tommy Lee Jones (one of the sexiest men of all time). And, he had long hair! A very compelling love scene with Faye Dunaway, but if you look closely, you can see her trying not to laugh.

The strangest thing about this video, however, is that all references to Rene's character Donald being gay have been edited out. What in the world for?

This movie is gripping and visually beautiful. It's a little bizarre, but then I wish more movies were. An enjoyable look at the 70's, especially for those of us who miss them. I will be re-buying this movie when it comes out on DVD, and hope they did a better job of editing, and that the georgeous colors are better. The VHS is a little washed out.


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