Julio Cesar Movies
- 1995
This Portuguese language comedy is about a very contemporary love triangle. Caterina (Maria de Medeiros) is a beautiful, opportunistic and charming woman, a TV journalist. She pretends to be smitten by a handsome political do-gooder in order to gain an exclusive interview with him. She also uses him to father her baby. However, she is definitely not in love with him. Her true love is her lesbian girlfriend Te (Ana Bustorff). Caterina's pregnancy makes Te feel extremely insecure about their relationship. Caterina has been forced to co-host a program with career rival Francisco (Joaquim de Almeida), which neither she nor Francisco wanted. As their rivalry develops into friendship, Francisco begins to try to woo Caterina and he is not summarily rebuffed by her. This friendship only adds to Te's concerns as the movie goes on to its humorous (but very contemporary) happy ending. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1983
In a unique approach to what amounts to four pseudo-morality plays, director Monique Rutler has a street entertainer with hand puppets summarize the characters and idea of each story, and then the vignette unfolds for the next 25 minutes or so. The first sketch is about a young man who shines shoes for a living, and tries to keep up a relationship with two women while convincing each she is his only true love. The next story is about a man who beats up his wife when he is drunk, and sells furs for a living. One day, as she is riding in the back of his truck with the furs, he hits a bad patch and she and some furs fall out. The question is, will the woman be enterprising and leave the jerk - or not? The third tale concerns a woman looking into how much control a prostitute has over her clients, and to really find out, she becomes a prostitute herself for awhile - leading to some quite unexpected situations. The last segment handles the uglier side of the life styles of the rich and famous. Although the four vignettes are well-presented, some viewers may disagree with the premise of a few of the stories. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joao Lagarto, Julio Cesar, (more)
- 1978
This hilariously awful killer-bee epic from director Alfredo Zacharias features surprisingly good special effects and horrible acting. Cult favorites John Saxon and Angel Tompkins star as scientists trying to deal with a U.S. invasion by trillions of sentient bees. The bees want humans to stop polluting the environment and they enlist Saxon to deliver their ultimatum to the United Nations. As Uncle Ziggy, John Carradine, before being shot by hitmen, delivers his dialogue as if speaking through dry heaves in a bad German accent. There are some exciting scenes of mass destruction as swarms of bees attack large crowds (including the Rose Bowl Parade, where President Ford is seen briefly) and then Saxon comes up with a plan. His proposal suggests the use of a chemical which turns the bees homosexual ("That reminds me of a certain neighborhood I know in L.A.," says one delegate). Eventually, Saxon goes to the U.N. to deliver the bees' message, only to meet with scorn. Naturally, billions of bees then burst into the room to plead their case. There are some well-done plane crashes, the bee scenes are realistic and incredibly numerous (a scene where they carpet Saxon's bedroom is astounding), and the storming of the U.N. is a classic. But all of this is compromised by annoying geometric wipes between scenes and some of the worst writing and acting to ever survive the cutting-room floor. Oddly enough, the same year's big-budget The Swarm would not improve on any of these areas, and is not as funny as this film either. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Saxon, Angel Tompkins, (more)
