The Comic Critic Reviews "The Man Who Fell to Earth"

I saw The Man Who Fell to Earth in the theater when it came out in 1976. Who wouldn’t want to see David Bowie in a movie? This would be his first time starring in a motion picture. I was a little disappointed that none of his music was used, but aside from that, the movie met all of my expectations: it had David Bowie, it was a science-fiction fantasy, there was beautiful imagery, and I anticipated being confused. I was fourteen—almost everything confused me. A lot of things still confuse me. But The Man Who Fell to Earth doesn’t confuse me nearly as much now as it did then. The film is all about confusion, confusion of identity, of purpose, of morals. It can be seen as an allegorical story where youthful ideology is bludgeoned by cruelty of greed, corruption, vice, and loss. David Bowie had just left his gender-bending, glam-rock persona of Ziggy Stardust and was in his Thin White Duke era. For a confused adolescent such as myself, to see someone unabashedly being anything he felt like being, to express himself as wildly or sedately as he saw fit, and all the while being suavely cool, David Bowie was quite the inspiration. I walked into The Man Who Fell to Earth hoping for a guided tour of trippiness from Bowie—and he delivered.

The Comic Critic reviews Bugsy Malone

Bugsy Malone is a charming movie that thoroughly entertains. While not huge at the box office, it has legs. Bugsy Malone continues to pop up in various movie lists from the Top 100 Musicals to the Top 100 Mobster movies. The music, one of the movie’s strengths, is also one of its greatest weaknesses. They should have let the kids do the singing rather than dubbing in adult singers. In a gorgeously unique period film that’s cast with only children, pedal cars, and a huge amount of custard, its adult dubbing felt odd. The music itself is very strong, being covered over the years by great performers and continues to pop up in odd places—like the game Grand Theft Auto. This isn’t too surprising. Bugsy Malone was nominated for a few Oscars and the one it walked away with was for Best Original Score. Various movies and television shows have paid homage to Bugsy Malone through references to scenes and characters. It’s an endearing film that captures a cult audience every generation.