Barbarella

Rating:
Summary: Midnight heroine
Review: Jane Fonda, dressed in unique fashion by Paco Rabanne, is the perfect choice for Barbarella, a 41st-century heroine in a psychedelic, sexually charged galaxy. Fonda is sexiest as ever, directed by the poignantly hot-minded Roger Vadim. The movie is not more (and not less) than a camp classic and the ideal film for all those who enjoy midnight movie sessions. The dialogue is often so nonsensical that results more hilarious than much comedies. The movie is not exactly good in terms of artistic quality, but it's a must-see. The pulpy characters and the colorful, poppy production design are absolutely unforgettable. Don't miss blind angel Pygar (hunky blonde John Philip Law)'s recurrent quote, when Anita Pallenberg disturbs him: "An angel doesn't make love; an angel is love". A treat.

Rating:
Summary: Austin Powers please go home.
Review: Queen of cheese, fantastically beautiful and inviting, Jane Fonda keeps this camp classic at the top. Rocky, as in Horror Picture Show, even with its trendy, then and now?, bi-sexual, gender ambivilant, homosexual theme eventually becomes flaccid. Jane's sexuality holds, she's the girl males fantasized about when she made the movie, and barbarella still stirs the imagination.

First pubic hair display by a leading actress, at least a leading box office actress.

The movie is so utterly cheesey that it nicely puts Austin Powers in the boring and rather stupid than camp or cheesey category. My 21 year old son made that comment.

It's a lot of fun, so if you like cheese, a beautiful scantily clad woman, and an absurd story line, this one is definitely worth a look.

Rating:
Summary: An All Time Favorite For Camp Lovers- And Hanoi Jane Haters
Review: Do you hate Jan Fonda for what she did in vietnam? Then this is her ONE film you'd actually love to watch. Her character is consistently forced to submit to kiny tortures; flesh eating robot dolls rip her skimpy outfit to pieces while she is tied up; she is locked in a bird cage while a horde of angry birds deprives he of her next slinky oufit. Then there is the grandaddy of them all; the excessive machine.

Thiking ahead a little, Barbarella takes off her clothes before this torture commences. The machine whips he up into a sexual frenzy that is supposed to kill her, but her stamina proves a bit too much. Wow. All of this, combined with the famous space-suit stripper scene, makes for a delightful guy movie that's hard to beat.

Rating:
Summary: Campy sci-fi classic but a goodie
Review: If you want to see an intellectual sci-fi film, this is NOT it! Jane Fonda stars as the queen of the galaxy, Barbarella and its just a fun, campy film in outer space with bizarre flesh eating dolls, an orgasm-maker machine, and a bunch of horny people. The images in the film are cool to watch and I think its enjoyable for those that enjoy campy movies like "Flash Gordon" or the 70s Wonder Woman series. I'm not sure why the DVD has an "R" rating because the VHS I have is a PG. I think it fits more with a PG-13 because of the sex stuff that kids probably wouldn't understand (orgasm machine, etc...) but definitely NOT "r" rated. You'll be disappointed if you're looking for "R" rated material.

Rating:
Summary: Funny, Intentionally-Horrid Camp / Cult Sci-Fi Flick
Review: Jane Fonda may regret opting Barbarella as one of her earlier films, but fans of bad camp and cult sci-fi are happy to see the actress in this horridly funny sixties film.

Fonda plays the title role of a spaice vixen / astronaut in the exceptionally distant yet sixties-fied future. When genius but mad scientist Dr. Duran Duran (presumably from whom the band took their name) disappears, Barbarella is sent to track him down and given weapons she has no clue how to use (war has been outlawed for ages) and little warning of the planet she'll be landing on.

Pursued by evil children with cannibalistic dolls and rescued by a tough man in furs, Barbarella finds out about real sex (thankfully not pictured) when she offers to use a mood-linking pill, the 41st century method of copulation. From there she's off to a city of evil, avarice, and sin, to be caught by the demented Dr. Duran and put through such tortures as a cage of pecking budgies to the doctor's notorious and sensual machine for execution by sheer pleasure to a lake of liquid evil whose effects look to have been done by lava lamp. Along the way she meets various helpers (most of whom she ends up sleeping with), including a blind angel named Pygar.

Barbarella's costumes vary with each scene, all skin-tight and definitely satirizing the garb of women of golden-age science fiction. On the whole, the movie pokes fun at the field of early science fiction rather well with a heaping helping of sixties hippie culture thrown in for good measure. The DVD doesn't include any exceptional special features.

Barbarella is by no means a good movie, but it is excellent fare for fans of campy sci-fi that would be right at home on MST:3K and quite humorous when taken with a grain of salt.

Rating:
Summary: Ban Jane Fonda
Review: Read up about her role in the Vietnam War before giving her your patronage.

Rating:
Summary: An ANGEL is LOVE!
Review: You want classic Sci Fi with visionary special effects and mind-bending themes? Check out STAR WARS or 2001! You want a zero gravity striptease, costumes that fall off at a moment's notice, and a space craft with wall to wall shag carpeting traveling through a lava lamp? BARBARELLA fits the bill! This is the widescreen DVD version with no edits. Although I have heard rumors of a more racy cut somewhere out there, this is not the PG rerelease from the 70s. See the movie Jane Fonda wants you to forget! Too bad because she's sexy, funny, and beautiful here. Groove to the soundtrack of Phil Spector rip-offs, watch in awe as she seduces ... well... everyone in the film (incuding a female tyrant with a horn!). But still, it's pretty tame and innocent fun. I watch this when I want to be in a good mood. It's silly, fluffy fun! A pink bunny if you will.

Rating:
Summary: If you like Batman the Movie you'll love this.
Review: Batmania swept America and Hollywood stars like Shelly Winters and Tallulah Bankhead were crawling all over each other to be part of the craze.Dino De Laurentiis and/or Roger Vadim picked up the rights to the French Comic book Barbarella for Vadim's wife, Jane Fonda and rode the wave.It worked "Henry's Little Girl Jane" as Life Magazine put it, made the cover as Barbarella.Unlike Batman , Barbarella wasn't marketed to kids.It's as much French Farce as it is a Camp Classic.Unlike Flesh Gordon it had no intentions of crossing the line to become a "porno" film with FX.All the "bad" stuff that makes it good, mentioned in other reviews, was intentional. The audience is let in on the joke from the start. The opening lyric of the title song refers to an American Comic Book heroine "You're a wonder Wonder Woman" and then proceeds to rhyme Barbarella with Psychedela in the chorus.Jane's performance clearly shows she's in on the joke.The death traps are very "Batman".Sure it's heavily influenced by the Sixties Pop Culture but, it in turn influenced American Pop Culture for years. The character Vampirella, and the band Duran Duran didn't come by those names by coincidence.It's certainly more fondly remembered and in demand than Vadim/Fonda's "The Game Is Over".Check out how many people even bothered to review that one.This one merits repeat viewings because it's fun.

Rating:
Summary: Redefining camp for the 41st century
Review: Barbarella is a bad film on so many levels that I cannot even begin to pick it apart. But in an age when the recent Charlie's Angels movies are considered "empowering" for women and video game heroines offer more than any human vixen can, Barbarella looks almost classy. It is a movie that makes no apologies; everything is gratuitious and no one tries to justify its atrocities of political incorrectness. To those who were not around when it was originally released (myself being 16 years too late), picture an Austin Powers movie but replace Mike Myers with--all right, Jane Fonda has no modern equivalent--but it's the same kind of camp without the irony. I wish movies like this could be made today without the pretense of insisting that scantily clad heroines are "positive female role models." It's so sleazy and witty at the same time. It's truly awful and yet that's what makes it endearing.

Rating:
Summary: Ted Turner - 30 Years = 1 Lucky Bastige
Review: Yes, camp and lots of eye candy, if you're into ultrasexy young nymphettes floating around in cush love-den space pads. The opening credits set the tone and are rightly memorable, but for me the zenith of the film is right after Fonda has broken the Orgasmatron and she just sizzles in ecstasy. Whoa. Makes me wish I were around when this movie came out... oh, and that I had the necessary fame and fortune to date this chick. Oh well, her loss, poor thing.