Monster Movie Survey
A rundown of monster movie history by some milestones as a sortable table. Click the heading above.
The Nature of the Beast (1995)
A straight-to-video release with both Eric Roberts and Lance Henriksen at that point in their career paths doesn't bode well, unless perhaps fun bad, but you might find yourself wrapped up in it when you notice you haven't taken too many swipes after a while. Neither kickboxing nor horror bargain bin, it's a surprisingly decent thriller written and directed by Victor Salva. It spins its wheels in a lot of places -- you'll probably get tired of Roberts saying "Jack" -- but has a nice involvement of the two characters even if you see some of it coming.
A straight-to-video release with both Eric Roberts and Lance Henriksen at that point in their career paths doesn't bode well, unless perhaps fun bad, but you might find yourself wrapped up in it when you notice you haven't taken too many swipes after a while. Neither kickboxing nor horror bargain bin, it's a surprisingly decent thriller written and directed by Victor Salva. It spins its wheels in a lot of places -- you'll probably get tired of Roberts saying "Jack" -- but has a nice involvement of the two characters even if you see some of it coming.
Alfie (1966)
Though not novel in movies (Tom Jones had made quite a splash with it as part of a bag of tricks just a couple of years earlier), breaking the fourth wall was distinctively bound up with the characterization of Alfie, and worked even better for film than for theater (the movie is based on Bill Naughton's play). The turning out, the whole aside device of the central character speaking to the audience works in a Brechtian way to break up the immersion illusion, but also even the kind of angry young man and kitchen sink formality that had set in by then. It made it much more offhand, thus creating better counterpoint and irony, and served in another way, to make the audience the presumptive male recipients, Alfie's counterparts, a whole other signaling of the male gaze, and ears. Even for men there is the problem of that conspiratorial presumption, a man approaching you assuming you want to hear, let alone share whatever crass reduction, of women or whatever. Michael Caine gave the lines, clever already, relish, a sort of finery and gentility that pinched at both ends. He showed the dash of his own Cockney, and as this more refined rogue, revealed the bluntness that could be delivered even in a gentler way. Some of Alfie's precepts are close to Epicurus or Buddhism, but are used solipsistically. Of course the grasp on everything Alfie thinks he has, what he's feeding us, is being shown up, but the movie counters the astuteness of the characterization of him by leaning more heavily on the comeuppance, making some pretty hammy symbols (stray dog), and of course giving him a real heart all along. But perhaps the worst cheat of its tactic is the way it drops back into regular narrative at these hitting-home moments. The score by Sonny Rollins and the closing credits, well ahead of Marvel's hooks and froufrous, are great (in the latter case also set up by a reflexive joke at the beginning).
Though not novel in movies (Tom Jones had made quite a splash with it as part of a bag of tricks just a couple of years earlier), breaking the fourth wall was distinctively bound up with the characterization of Alfie, and worked even better for film than for theater (the movie is based on Bill Naughton's play). The turning out, the whole aside device of the central character speaking to the audience works in a Brechtian way to break up the immersion illusion, but also even the kind of angry young man and kitchen sink formality that had set in by then. It made it much more offhand, thus creating better counterpoint and irony, and served in another way, to make the audience the presumptive male recipients, Alfie's counterparts, a whole other signaling of the male gaze, and ears. Even for men there is the problem of that conspiratorial presumption, a man approaching you assuming you want to hear, let alone share whatever crass reduction, of women or whatever. Michael Caine gave the lines, clever already, relish, a sort of finery and gentility that pinched at both ends. He showed the dash of his own Cockney, and as this more refined rogue, revealed the bluntness that could be delivered even in a gentler way. Some of Alfie's precepts are close to Epicurus or Buddhism, but are used solipsistically. Of course the grasp on everything Alfie thinks he has, what he's feeding us, is being shown up, but the movie counters the astuteness of the characterization of him by leaning more heavily on the comeuppance, making some pretty hammy symbols (stray dog), and of course giving him a real heart all along. But perhaps the worst cheat of its tactic is the way it drops back into regular narrative at these hitting-home moments. The score by Sonny Rollins and the closing credits, well ahead of Marvel's hooks and froufrous, are great (in the latter case also set up by a reflexive joke at the beginning).
White Riot (2019)
As pertinent and honorable as the subject matter is -- reminding us that the fight against fascism didn't stop with World War II -- and as nimble as this is with the compilation of material, the overall plan isn't as tight with the talking parts telling the story. It gets a bit drifty at times, and almost at odds with itself, as if the film itself were distracted by all the great illustrative material and not paying as much attention to the speakers. This is about Rock Against Racism, formed in the U.K. in 1976 as a response to Eric Clapton's racist remarks and the rise of the National Front and anti-immigration animus.
As pertinent and honorable as the subject matter is -- reminding us that the fight against fascism didn't stop with World War II -- and as nimble as this is with the compilation of material, the overall plan isn't as tight with the talking parts telling the story. It gets a bit drifty at times, and almost at odds with itself, as if the film itself were distracted by all the great illustrative material and not paying as much attention to the speakers. This is about Rock Against Racism, formed in the U.K. in 1976 as a response to Eric Clapton's racist remarks and the rise of the National Front and anti-immigration animus.
Knox Goes Away (2023)
Michael Keaton's second turn at director shows the poise of the kind of material that's used him well as an actor, like Spotlight and the series Dopesick. He goes with the grain of this story to build it patiently so that the thriller comes out of the drama of the characters, not bang and bustle. There's a really good idea here for thriller or mystery or even a Columbo episode, a twist on the frameup, and the other thread about dementia serves this as plotting as well as any other dramatic or figurative effect. But, despite how it provides for a lot of interesting cast, including Joanna Kulig who's less known to American audiences than Al Pacino, James Marsden or Marcia Gay Harden, the script gets too many lines going when the one for the good idea lacks development. It literally appears at the door.
Michael Keaton's second turn at director shows the poise of the kind of material that's used him well as an actor, like Spotlight and the series Dopesick. He goes with the grain of this story to build it patiently so that the thriller comes out of the drama of the characters, not bang and bustle. There's a really good idea here for thriller or mystery or even a Columbo episode, a twist on the frameup, and the other thread about dementia serves this as plotting as well as any other dramatic or figurative effect. But, despite how it provides for a lot of interesting cast, including Joanna Kulig who's less known to American audiences than Al Pacino, James Marsden or Marcia Gay Harden, the script gets too many lines going when the one for the good idea lacks development. It literally appears at the door.
Order of Death [aka Copkiller (L'assassino dei poliziotti); aka Corrupt] (1983)
In John Lydon's first and only real feature movie role, he's Harvey Keitel's whipping boy. The movie is based on the novel The Order of Death by Hugh Fleetwood (script by him and director Roberto Faenza and Ennio de Concini), and the Public Image Ltd song is a reference to this, along with the line and album title, "This is what you want, this is what you get," which is also in the book. It's an Italian production, though in English and shot partly in New York City, with a score by Ennio Morricone. Of greater movie interest is how this prefigures Bad Lieutenant. Scattered and sketchy, there's enough lingering for some interesting mood, that mainly through the acting of Keitel, and to get across an idea that could've been better than scraps. Johnny can pull off expression and reaction, but doesn't keep presence so well in the still moments, the paradox of those who have it in real life but aren't used to acting.
4/18/24
In John Lydon's first and only real feature movie role, he's Harvey Keitel's whipping boy. The movie is based on the novel The Order of Death by Hugh Fleetwood (script by him and director Roberto Faenza and Ennio de Concini), and the Public Image Ltd song is a reference to this, along with the line and album title, "This is what you want, this is what you get," which is also in the book. It's an Italian production, though in English and shot partly in New York City, with a score by Ennio Morricone. Of greater movie interest is how this prefigures Bad Lieutenant. Scattered and sketchy, there's enough lingering for some interesting mood, that mainly through the acting of Keitel, and to get across an idea that could've been better than scraps. Johnny can pull off expression and reaction, but doesn't keep presence so well in the still moments, the paradox of those who have it in real life but aren't used to acting.
Pacifiction (2022)
Here's how to do banality of evil. A seedy backroom business version of Apocalypse Now by Albert Serra, the director of The Death of Louis XIV, adds further twists to the drama of discovery. The real hook when this fly-on-the-wall ambiguity plays so well is the way it pulls us into the scheming, how we are reading and projecting, and the great stroke here, as the title suggests, is that we don't know how much of the underlying plot, the nefarious implied background they're all trying to get hold of, is conspiracy theory or pipe dream, bullshit. Even trying to figure out how much of this is improvised, or set up with non-actors, whether the hidden camera is mockup (Serra is as good as or better than the Safdies and Nathan Fielder with this, because he extends the principle more generally, at least compared to The Curse, doesn't use it as just a means or one device) only adds to the ambiguity and fascination, and the susceptibility, being drawn into the plot on whichever level. Part of this is the eye and touch for all the material, including the actors. Lead Benoit Magimel is perfect in this role as the central proxy of all the machinations. A cross of Sean Penn and Oskar Werner, he gives the guise and tone of that kind of perpetual operator, a playboy slightly gone to seed, slipping into the role of government functionary, an uneasy apparatchik whose coarser tactics are being dignified at the same time they're making him more of a mark. A scene or two pushes this a bit, but it's certainly apt that this sort of person would also. He hops about from host and tour guide to acting as director of some sort of ambiguously perverse and ridiculous stage show to go-between of opposing political sides, just as we see all the tawdry leisure as the front of the intrigue. When the dubious admiral leads his marines on the dance floor, it's just as lurid and cheesy as his speech to them on the boat. Serra probably spends too much time, all the long shots, and lingering shots -- it could get across the same idea edited down -- but it serves rhetorically, too, the sense of the dragging hours of this banality. We're still not spending all two hours in a night club, or four, or a whole night.
Here's how to do banality of evil. A seedy backroom business version of Apocalypse Now by Albert Serra, the director of The Death of Louis XIV, adds further twists to the drama of discovery. The real hook when this fly-on-the-wall ambiguity plays so well is the way it pulls us into the scheming, how we are reading and projecting, and the great stroke here, as the title suggests, is that we don't know how much of the underlying plot, the nefarious implied background they're all trying to get hold of, is conspiracy theory or pipe dream, bullshit. Even trying to figure out how much of this is improvised, or set up with non-actors, whether the hidden camera is mockup (Serra is as good as or better than the Safdies and Nathan Fielder with this, because he extends the principle more generally, at least compared to The Curse, doesn't use it as just a means or one device) only adds to the ambiguity and fascination, and the susceptibility, being drawn into the plot on whichever level. Part of this is the eye and touch for all the material, including the actors. Lead Benoit Magimel is perfect in this role as the central proxy of all the machinations. A cross of Sean Penn and Oskar Werner, he gives the guise and tone of that kind of perpetual operator, a playboy slightly gone to seed, slipping into the role of government functionary, an uneasy apparatchik whose coarser tactics are being dignified at the same time they're making him more of a mark. A scene or two pushes this a bit, but it's certainly apt that this sort of person would also. He hops about from host and tour guide to acting as director of some sort of ambiguously perverse and ridiculous stage show to go-between of opposing political sides, just as we see all the tawdry leisure as the front of the intrigue. When the dubious admiral leads his marines on the dance floor, it's just as lurid and cheesy as his speech to them on the boat. Serra probably spends too much time, all the long shots, and lingering shots -- it could get across the same idea edited down -- but it serves rhetorically, too, the sense of the dragging hours of this banality. We're still not spending all two hours in a night club, or four, or a whole night.
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
This is not so much an oddity for what it is as who it's by: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. Without much fanfare as either a Wilder or Sherlock Holmes movie, it's a sneaky comedy of manners posing as a tattler. The first act, with the Russian ballet, Holmes sought as a stud, and the trick he pulls on Watson with the suggestion of their private life indeed, creates the best intrigue against the grain of Arthur Conan Doyle's detective, certainly the more timid, boy's life adventure style of the movie versions. The following acts don't quite live up to that, but are still fun and interesting with Christopher Lee as Sherlock's more well-connected brother, and the Loch Ness monster. While it follows the form of a Holmes story, it will be disappointing for expectation of the usual deductive brilliance, but it's really all about suggestions for Sherlock's character, even him being wrong. The clunkiest part is what's supposed to be the crux: the woman, played by Genevieve Page. She's played so melodramatically, without any of the intrigue that might've made her even more ambiguously curious or interesting, it makes Holmes seem to have a blind spot incongruous with the setup. "You see, Mr. Holmes, my French accent is supposed to be German, not Belgian!" Miklós Rózsa's music surprisingly gives the best tone to it all. He was known for some bombastic spectacle scores, and there's some bluster here, but even that is more airy, and the key motif is light and mournful at once.
This is not so much an oddity for what it is as who it's by: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. Without much fanfare as either a Wilder or Sherlock Holmes movie, it's a sneaky comedy of manners posing as a tattler. The first act, with the Russian ballet, Holmes sought as a stud, and the trick he pulls on Watson with the suggestion of their private life indeed, creates the best intrigue against the grain of Arthur Conan Doyle's detective, certainly the more timid, boy's life adventure style of the movie versions. The following acts don't quite live up to that, but are still fun and interesting with Christopher Lee as Sherlock's more well-connected brother, and the Loch Ness monster. While it follows the form of a Holmes story, it will be disappointing for expectation of the usual deductive brilliance, but it's really all about suggestions for Sherlock's character, even him being wrong. The clunkiest part is what's supposed to be the crux: the woman, played by Genevieve Page. She's played so melodramatically, without any of the intrigue that might've made her even more ambiguously curious or interesting, it makes Holmes seem to have a blind spot incongruous with the setup. "You see, Mr. Holmes, my French accent is supposed to be German, not Belgian!" Miklós Rózsa's music surprisingly gives the best tone to it all. He was known for some bombastic spectacle scores, and there's some bluster here, but even that is more airy, and the key motif is light and mournful at once.
The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971)
Even more ridiculous 70s style sensationalism than I thought with the actor narrator, Lawrence Pressman, passed off as a scientist (such a clever disguise with his name), his ridiculously smug, coy, massaged delivery. But this won an Oscar for documentary! I guess the crowning achievement of all those Sun International types, predecessors to the infomercial age, factitiousness and photography couched in tall-tale, campfire spook 'em terms with travelogue, corporate training film narration. The insect photography itself is great, and similar to a fictitious movie of the era, Phase IV, which didn't have to come off so overwrought by pretending to be real.
Even more ridiculous 70s style sensationalism than I thought with the actor narrator, Lawrence Pressman, passed off as a scientist (such a clever disguise with his name), his ridiculously smug, coy, massaged delivery. But this won an Oscar for documentary! I guess the crowning achievement of all those Sun International types, predecessors to the infomercial age, factitiousness and photography couched in tall-tale, campfire spook 'em terms with travelogue, corporate training film narration. The insect photography itself is great, and similar to a fictitious movie of the era, Phase IV, which didn't have to come off so overwrought by pretending to be real.
Three Amigos (1986)
On the cusp of sleepy and lifeless, this comedic version of The Magnificent Seven was an interesting team-up not only on screen, Steve Martin with Chevy Chase and Martin Short (in his movie debut), but off: Martin with Lorne Michaels and Randy Newman on the script. Newman has some interesting songs in the movie, though Elmer Bernstein is also credited for music, but the soft-shoe kind of silly, welcome in some ways, doesn't make for the kind of pure romp and spectacle that director John Landis was better at (see The Blues Brothers).
On the cusp of sleepy and lifeless, this comedic version of The Magnificent Seven was an interesting team-up not only on screen, Steve Martin with Chevy Chase and Martin Short (in his movie debut), but off: Martin with Lorne Michaels and Randy Newman on the script. Newman has some interesting songs in the movie, though Elmer Bernstein is also credited for music, but the soft-shoe kind of silly, welcome in some ways, doesn't make for the kind of pure romp and spectacle that director John Landis was better at (see The Blues Brothers).
Dune: Part 2 (2024)
Like it's prior installment, this is swarthier and moodier than David Lynch's version, but like Lynch, director Denis Villeneuve has a graphic style that seems in spite of or besides other elements or the story. It's different than Lynch's, but it's also a kind of montage lushness. There's a more sophisticated bearing to it than a lot of the sci-fi and fantasy series, for example Foundation, but it's mostly in that visual sense. The dialogue, some of the more overblown music, and even a lot of the acting can't avoid the melodramatic gravitas that comes from the source, but even Villeneuve in this installment kicks into album rock music video mode with the black and white badass segment, and again with the climactic encounters.
4/12/24
Like it's prior installment, this is swarthier and moodier than David Lynch's version, but like Lynch, director Denis Villeneuve has a graphic style that seems in spite of or besides other elements or the story. It's different than Lynch's, but it's also a kind of montage lushness. There's a more sophisticated bearing to it than a lot of the sci-fi and fantasy series, for example Foundation, but it's mostly in that visual sense. The dialogue, some of the more overblown music, and even a lot of the acting can't avoid the melodramatic gravitas that comes from the source, but even Villeneuve in this installment kicks into album rock music video mode with the black and white badass segment, and again with the climactic encounters.
Drive-Away Dolls (2024)
A lesbian romp a la The Big Lebowski escapes some commonplaces but the cartoonish satirical delivery reduces Geraldine Viswanathan to bewildered looks and Margaret Qualley to the same twang cadence and makes this Ethan Coen venture without his brother, but with wife Tricia Cooke as co-writer, more like attempts of others to recreate Coen brothers, and in one case a trio of shady proxies is very like something in the Fargo series.
A lesbian romp a la The Big Lebowski escapes some commonplaces but the cartoonish satirical delivery reduces Geraldine Viswanathan to bewildered looks and Margaret Qualley to the same twang cadence and makes this Ethan Coen venture without his brother, but with wife Tricia Cooke as co-writer, more like attempts of others to recreate Coen brothers, and in one case a trio of shady proxies is very like something in the Fargo series.
Moon (2009)
The allegorical play can stand out more on first viewing because you don't know what's going on, but the composition in the edited form (I don't know how much the script was changed) rather rushes things into plot -- and the last audio over is a whole other flight of plot, another turn or suggestion away from the other signification. This is more apparent on a repeat viewing, but that also can give an uncanny parallel to what's going on in the movie, which also plays out as different times of the self encountering each other. As with Bataille's suggestion of the split cell for a figure of identity, if past me and future me meet, which is now, what does that do to now? It's not the fanciest production for evocation, but it may be that the paucity is more in this composition, the direction if this cut weren't forced on the director.
The allegorical play can stand out more on first viewing because you don't know what's going on, but the composition in the edited form (I don't know how much the script was changed) rather rushes things into plot -- and the last audio over is a whole other flight of plot, another turn or suggestion away from the other signification. This is more apparent on a repeat viewing, but that also can give an uncanny parallel to what's going on in the movie, which also plays out as different times of the self encountering each other. As with Bataille's suggestion of the split cell for a figure of identity, if past me and future me meet, which is now, what does that do to now? It's not the fanciest production for evocation, but it may be that the paucity is more in this composition, the direction if this cut weren't forced on the director.
Seven Psychopaths (2012)
The quirky caper and fishbowl of bettas idea got trendy in the 90s and is still being dragged on, so it's hard not to seem derivative with all that's been done. Writer and director Martin McDonagh refined his act with Banshees of Inisherin, but he'd also already been more refined with In Bruges. The cast keeps this interesting, but the turns it takes don't hold up the idea. Even the reflexive stuff that gives it twist and an out as bad movie camp aren't filled out.
The quirky caper and fishbowl of bettas idea got trendy in the 90s and is still being dragged on, so it's hard not to seem derivative with all that's been done. Writer and director Martin McDonagh refined his act with Banshees of Inisherin, but he'd also already been more refined with In Bruges. The cast keeps this interesting, but the turns it takes don't hold up the idea. Even the reflexive stuff that gives it twist and an out as bad movie camp aren't filled out.
The Big Short (2015)
Vice (2018)
A satirical approach helps the drama. It's the solemnity of the pretending that makes reproduction of actual events message movie melodrama, so the comic didactic asides cut through that. But they're also shrill in their own right, a bit stiff, not the most supple, thus adding some dramatic excess of their own. Didactic is the key there. With Vice Adam McKay actually got better at it, blending the registers, so that it flows better, doesn't seem so patently episodic or to have such throat-clearing intervals. On the other hand, curiously, though somewhat because of that, some of the frame breaking stuff seems much more awkward, even misguided. It's less like form-breaking and irreverence structurally than larkish impertinence. The Big Short ties even its cutaways back into the satiric points: we don't pay attention, so that's why we got fleeced. Vice is better made, in many ways, The Big Short better used.
Vice (2018)
A satirical approach helps the drama. It's the solemnity of the pretending that makes reproduction of actual events message movie melodrama, so the comic didactic asides cut through that. But they're also shrill in their own right, a bit stiff, not the most supple, thus adding some dramatic excess of their own. Didactic is the key there. With Vice Adam McKay actually got better at it, blending the registers, so that it flows better, doesn't seem so patently episodic or to have such throat-clearing intervals. On the other hand, curiously, though somewhat because of that, some of the frame breaking stuff seems much more awkward, even misguided. It's less like form-breaking and irreverence structurally than larkish impertinence. The Big Short ties even its cutaways back into the satiric points: we don't pay attention, so that's why we got fleeced. Vice is better made, in many ways, The Big Short better used.
The Draughtsman's Contract (1982)
Murder mystery, drafting templates and schedules, musical grounds and those of a manor house, sex and extortion. With a painter's background, Peter Greenaway recomposes the movie plot as visual grid or harmonic pattern, or an elaborate game from the 17th century, perhaps cards or an epistolary novel. All of it an interesting perversion as if unearthed, learned anew from a bygone era, or a modern one forged on that. Of all Greenaway's movies, this comes the closest to keeping the formality of a story or narrative, and giving his assemblage that sort of impetus.
3/15/24
Murder mystery, drafting templates and schedules, musical grounds and those of a manor house, sex and extortion. With a painter's background, Peter Greenaway recomposes the movie plot as visual grid or harmonic pattern, or an elaborate game from the 17th century, perhaps cards or an epistolary novel. All of it an interesting perversion as if unearthed, learned anew from a bygone era, or a modern one forged on that. Of all Greenaway's movies, this comes the closest to keeping the formality of a story or narrative, and giving his assemblage that sort of impetus.
Meet the Applegates (1990)
More like a TV pilot, with obvious similarities to The Coneheads (though it preceded that movie), the best part of its premise is the paths of human degradation compared to insects. The decent cast is strapped with programmatic delivery of humor, ecological messages and frolicky music.
More like a TV pilot, with obvious similarities to The Coneheads (though it preceded that movie), the best part of its premise is the paths of human degradation compared to insects. The decent cast is strapped with programmatic delivery of humor, ecological messages and frolicky music.
Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
Desperately Seeking Susan crossed with Edward Scissorhands. Surprising cleverness, with wry dark humor makes this seem more than high school stuff, but then it's also high school stuff. I'm not sure whether a great imitation of an 80s teen sex comedy is a great thing. Just try out which inflection you think this has: "Wow, this really looks like an 80s teen sex comedy."
Desperately Seeking Susan crossed with Edward Scissorhands. Surprising cleverness, with wry dark humor makes this seem more than high school stuff, but then it's also high school stuff. I'm not sure whether a great imitation of an 80s teen sex comedy is a great thing. Just try out which inflection you think this has: "Wow, this really looks like an 80s teen sex comedy."
No Way Up (2024)
There's just not enough to it to play it so seriously. Should have gone Snakes on a Plane with the sharks.
There's just not enough to it to play it so seriously. Should have gone Snakes on a Plane with the sharks.
The Zone of Interest (2023)
It's the right idea, it's executed well, but it's a position piece, an exercise. After about 30 minutes, particularly the scene where they discuss the plan for the crematorium in the drawing room, camp commandant Höss in his socks, it devolves to the same problems it's trying to avoid. So much restraint of style to avoid the excesses of drama becomes a style itself, and we fall into the story of this commandant and his family, including tense marital discussions over moving. Jonathan Glazer is a whole different level of consideration and ability than, for example, Oppenheimer, as this movie is about history, but as I said about Under the Skin, this can be another kind of problem, so much better at what he's doing, but still to what use, to what end. The banality of evil is a worthy point, a realization that bears making perpetually, but unfortunately it has rather the opposite problem now than the backlash to Hannah Arendt's famous moment of making it. It's commonplace, but worse, it's had no effect, as we watch demagoguery, of which fascism is just the 20th century's major variety, and when not blatant fascism itself, walk back into the light of public discourse, as Theodor Adorno assessed in The Authoritarian Personality (co-written with Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson, and Nevitt Sanford). Adorno also expressed the conundrum this way: "To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric." Art, too, will reflect the double imperative of don't remember (memorialize in such a way as to extend the disaster), don't forget.
It's the right idea, it's executed well, but it's a position piece, an exercise. After about 30 minutes, particularly the scene where they discuss the plan for the crematorium in the drawing room, camp commandant Höss in his socks, it devolves to the same problems it's trying to avoid. So much restraint of style to avoid the excesses of drama becomes a style itself, and we fall into the story of this commandant and his family, including tense marital discussions over moving. Jonathan Glazer is a whole different level of consideration and ability than, for example, Oppenheimer, as this movie is about history, but as I said about Under the Skin, this can be another kind of problem, so much better at what he's doing, but still to what use, to what end. The banality of evil is a worthy point, a realization that bears making perpetually, but unfortunately it has rather the opposite problem now than the backlash to Hannah Arendt's famous moment of making it. It's commonplace, but worse, it's had no effect, as we watch demagoguery, of which fascism is just the 20th century's major variety, and when not blatant fascism itself, walk back into the light of public discourse, as Theodor Adorno assessed in The Authoritarian Personality (co-written with Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson, and Nevitt Sanford). Adorno also expressed the conundrum this way: "To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric." Art, too, will reflect the double imperative of don't remember (memorialize in such a way as to extend the disaster), don't forget.
The War of the Worlds (1953)
After the Orson Welles 1938 radio adaptation of H.G. Wells's novel, this was the first movie version (there were several attempts before that didn't make it). The Martian war machines, with their manta ray-like bodies and cobra-like extensions, and their sleek emerald and fiery orange lights (they'd make great lamps) and their sound effects were the stars of the show and influential (the sounds were used in many other shows, including Star Trek). Though it may not seem so now, this was a big production of its day, especially for sci-fi, and its rich Technicolor photography and special effects (which won an Oscar) actually degraded in transfers to cheaper color processes, so that if you're seeing the movie on a Criterion Collection disk with 4K restoration, you're seeing it more like its original release than those of us who grew up seeing it on broadcast TV or even at revivals. In the post-war and Cold War climate, this was the all-out invasion, reset from Wells's Victorian era to the modern U.S. And as was codified for so many sci-fi movies by early ones like this and The Thing from Another World, both of which have among other actors famous voice Paul Frees (see The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, et al.) who here does the main voiceover, narration was used with a general presentation frame to give it that science air. Movie Brains bonus: Gene Barry's character name is Dr. Clayton Forrester, which may be more familiar to you as the name of the mad scientist character of Mystery Science Theater 3000 played by Trace Beaulieu.
After the Orson Welles 1938 radio adaptation of H.G. Wells's novel, this was the first movie version (there were several attempts before that didn't make it). The Martian war machines, with their manta ray-like bodies and cobra-like extensions, and their sleek emerald and fiery orange lights (they'd make great lamps) and their sound effects were the stars of the show and influential (the sounds were used in many other shows, including Star Trek). Though it may not seem so now, this was a big production of its day, especially for sci-fi, and its rich Technicolor photography and special effects (which won an Oscar) actually degraded in transfers to cheaper color processes, so that if you're seeing the movie on a Criterion Collection disk with 4K restoration, you're seeing it more like its original release than those of us who grew up seeing it on broadcast TV or even at revivals. In the post-war and Cold War climate, this was the all-out invasion, reset from Wells's Victorian era to the modern U.S. And as was codified for so many sci-fi movies by early ones like this and The Thing from Another World, both of which have among other actors famous voice Paul Frees (see The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, et al.) who here does the main voiceover, narration was used with a general presentation frame to give it that science air. Movie Brains bonus: Gene Barry's character name is Dr. Clayton Forrester, which may be more familiar to you as the name of the mad scientist character of Mystery Science Theater 3000 played by Trace Beaulieu.
All of Us Strangers (2023)
Creeps into a more interesting situation -- letting us discover is more dramatic than spelling everything out -- a great idea that even plays on the age of actors relative to their roles, but then loses the fizz, rather by trying to shake it up. There's always the gamble of playing anything too literal or too symbolic, allegorical or imaginary, a cost one way or the other, so that's an even more difficult line to walk with something more expressly surreal. The business of handling this more literally inside and outside its frame can make it ordinary rather than extra, and, what may seem contradictory, diminish the real effect of the imaginary or symbolic.
Creeps into a more interesting situation -- letting us discover is more dramatic than spelling everything out -- a great idea that even plays on the age of actors relative to their roles, but then loses the fizz, rather by trying to shake it up. There's always the gamble of playing anything too literal or too symbolic, allegorical or imaginary, a cost one way or the other, so that's an even more difficult line to walk with something more expressly surreal. The business of handling this more literally inside and outside its frame can make it ordinary rather than extra, and, what may seem contradictory, diminish the real effect of the imaginary or symbolic.
Crooked Hearts (1991)
The ensemble performance of a very good cast, an interesting selection -- Vincent D'Onofrio, Juliette Lewis, Peter Coyote, Jennifer Jason Leigh for starters -- carries the somewhat different angle of this family. They seem sturdy and interesting enough, without being the blazoned wholesome or quirky of so many movie families, and they keep talking about how fucked up they are. They even make comments like "this family's a drug," which is a good point for movies about families, too. There's also the salient point of a father and son tethered to each other by resentment. But the arrangement of material, the compression, the segment of time covered, are much like a stage play, though still sorted through different scenes like a movie montage. It's as if a climactic confrontation were cut into pieces and scattered. They seem to be telling us more than showing and they seem to be nicer than they're telling us they are, except for one dramatic turn that thus seems a big jump.
The ensemble performance of a very good cast, an interesting selection -- Vincent D'Onofrio, Juliette Lewis, Peter Coyote, Jennifer Jason Leigh for starters -- carries the somewhat different angle of this family. They seem sturdy and interesting enough, without being the blazoned wholesome or quirky of so many movie families, and they keep talking about how fucked up they are. They even make comments like "this family's a drug," which is a good point for movies about families, too. There's also the salient point of a father and son tethered to each other by resentment. But the arrangement of material, the compression, the segment of time covered, are much like a stage play, though still sorted through different scenes like a movie montage. It's as if a climactic confrontation were cut into pieces and scattered. They seem to be telling us more than showing and they seem to be nicer than they're telling us they are, except for one dramatic turn that thus seems a big jump.
Uncut Gems (2019)
Fraught and zoney, a workday scramble, but with that midtown Manhattan accent, it's about street hustlers, but the ones who have stalls or cubbyhole shops buried away in nondescript office buildings, merchandise movers and the low end of mobs or enforcers, still compromised by social niceties and even family entanglements. A Passover scene casually reveals the latter, mixed in with the mistresses and night clubs, basketball and betting and get-rich schemes. Co-writers and directors Benny and Josh Safdie have created a tense drama with a satirist's nose for realism, a bit like the Coen brothers, but with a jazzy pitch all their own, like hyped up Altman. The score by Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never, in a way similar to Micah Levi and Colin Stetson, weaves incongruous tones for displaced and renewed effect, here the twinkly, detached counterpoint of the anxiety and menace, like a Sanrio store in a traffic jam. In the same way, having Adam Sandler as this central character makes it like a whole other level of a Sandler movie or one of his characters, but it's better than any of those because of how much more it does and sharply observes, and thus his best role and performance.
Fraught and zoney, a workday scramble, but with that midtown Manhattan accent, it's about street hustlers, but the ones who have stalls or cubbyhole shops buried away in nondescript office buildings, merchandise movers and the low end of mobs or enforcers, still compromised by social niceties and even family entanglements. A Passover scene casually reveals the latter, mixed in with the mistresses and night clubs, basketball and betting and get-rich schemes. Co-writers and directors Benny and Josh Safdie have created a tense drama with a satirist's nose for realism, a bit like the Coen brothers, but with a jazzy pitch all their own, like hyped up Altman. The score by Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never, in a way similar to Micah Levi and Colin Stetson, weaves incongruous tones for displaced and renewed effect, here the twinkly, detached counterpoint of the anxiety and menace, like a Sanrio store in a traffic jam. In the same way, having Adam Sandler as this central character makes it like a whole other level of a Sandler movie or one of his characters, but it's better than any of those because of how much more it does and sharply observes, and thus his best role and performance.
The Muse (1999)
The explanation for the muse seems more hasty and contrived than what was going on already, and without that, the loopiness of it seemed as likely as lots of other stuff in Hollywood -- gurus and life coaches and psychic therapists -- if not just a parody of any of it. It's as if Albert Brooks thought he had to go somewhere with the idea or land it somehow. Brooks always keeps the feet planted in the house slippers of banality, so there was no danger of being too grand without dirty feet.
3/7/24
The explanation for the muse seems more hasty and contrived than what was going on already, and without that, the loopiness of it seemed as likely as lots of other stuff in Hollywood -- gurus and life coaches and psychic therapists -- if not just a parody of any of it. It's as if Albert Brooks thought he had to go somewhere with the idea or land it somehow. Brooks always keeps the feet planted in the house slippers of banality, so there was no danger of being too grand without dirty feet.
Experiment in Terror (1962)
To see noir and San Francisco in 60s terms makes it interesting enough, but this thriller directed by Blake Edwards talks well enough not to be too frivolous, but has some stretches and strains to spice it up. It starts with a nighttime shot of the Golden Gate bridge and the SF skyline, has lots of shadows of blinds across background walls or faces, and a climax at the new Candlestick Park with a real Giants and Dodgers game. What Ross Martin in granny getup loses in plausibility (this isn't quite the evil genius who can toy with entire law enforcement agencies, but something along the way), it makes up for with effect (especially the glasses). And Edwards almost makes up for Breakfast at Tiffany's, at least counters that, with his Asian American characters here, who are real involved people, not outrageous caricatures. The cast is great, Lee Remick, Glen Ford, Martin, Stephanie Powers, Anita Loo (and check out Clifton James well before his 70s stereotype) and carry this in large part. Bonus note for OKC folks: Henry Mancini's great main theme was used in part for Oklahoma City's Mystery Theater back in the 70s or so (one of my monster movie regulars as a kid). In the movie, when Glen Ford as the FBI agent tells someone that the perp has already committed a murder, he says the previous victim was a bank teller in Oklahoma City.
To see noir and San Francisco in 60s terms makes it interesting enough, but this thriller directed by Blake Edwards talks well enough not to be too frivolous, but has some stretches and strains to spice it up. It starts with a nighttime shot of the Golden Gate bridge and the SF skyline, has lots of shadows of blinds across background walls or faces, and a climax at the new Candlestick Park with a real Giants and Dodgers game. What Ross Martin in granny getup loses in plausibility (this isn't quite the evil genius who can toy with entire law enforcement agencies, but something along the way), it makes up for with effect (especially the glasses). And Edwards almost makes up for Breakfast at Tiffany's, at least counters that, with his Asian American characters here, who are real involved people, not outrageous caricatures. The cast is great, Lee Remick, Glen Ford, Martin, Stephanie Powers, Anita Loo (and check out Clifton James well before his 70s stereotype) and carry this in large part. Bonus note for OKC folks: Henry Mancini's great main theme was used in part for Oklahoma City's Mystery Theater back in the 70s or so (one of my monster movie regulars as a kid). In the movie, when Glen Ford as the FBI agent tells someone that the perp has already committed a murder, he says the previous victim was a bank teller in Oklahoma City.
Goal! The Dream Begins (2005)
Goal II: Living the Dream (2007)
Goal! III (2009)
Made with the cooperation of FIFA and a large budget contribution by Adidas, this promotional inspirational features actual soccer (football to the rest of the world) stars and clubs, with actors playing fictitious characters, including the main one, a Mexican illegal immigrant to Los Angeles who gets spotted by a former scout and given a dream tryout with Newcastle United. It was conceived as a trilogy, but the films get noticeably cheaper in production and expedient in presentation as they go. The first one is slick, hyped up, with saturated emotions and Oasis songs, and such high-wrung sports movie moments they're laughable even if not strictly cliche. Lead Kuno Becker does admirably and draws empathy (Diego Luna was originally slated for the role, with Michael Winterbottom to direct), and Alessandro Nivola makes for a good bad boy with a heart of gold. That latter is the way all these movies have their cake and eat it too, that sort of TV series sensationalism on a bigger budget, and in the second movie, the two buddies are lured away from Newcastle to the New York Yankees of world football, Real Madrid, and the clubbing sensationalism becomes even more the reflexive press coverage and paparazzi, and has appearances by Los Blancos of the day, which was a world all-star team: Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Ronaldo (the Brazilian one before Cristiano), Raul, Roberto Carlos, Iker Casillas. But the third movie, which steps to the level of international play, veers to two other characters and benches Becker and his. It would be inexplicable but for the steep turn downward also in quality, even the graphics for pasting actors into football match recordings, many actors from the previous gone and so apparently their stories with them.
Goal II: Living the Dream (2007)
Goal! III (2009)
Made with the cooperation of FIFA and a large budget contribution by Adidas, this promotional inspirational features actual soccer (football to the rest of the world) stars and clubs, with actors playing fictitious characters, including the main one, a Mexican illegal immigrant to Los Angeles who gets spotted by a former scout and given a dream tryout with Newcastle United. It was conceived as a trilogy, but the films get noticeably cheaper in production and expedient in presentation as they go. The first one is slick, hyped up, with saturated emotions and Oasis songs, and such high-wrung sports movie moments they're laughable even if not strictly cliche. Lead Kuno Becker does admirably and draws empathy (Diego Luna was originally slated for the role, with Michael Winterbottom to direct), and Alessandro Nivola makes for a good bad boy with a heart of gold. That latter is the way all these movies have their cake and eat it too, that sort of TV series sensationalism on a bigger budget, and in the second movie, the two buddies are lured away from Newcastle to the New York Yankees of world football, Real Madrid, and the clubbing sensationalism becomes even more the reflexive press coverage and paparazzi, and has appearances by Los Blancos of the day, which was a world all-star team: Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Ronaldo (the Brazilian one before Cristiano), Raul, Roberto Carlos, Iker Casillas. But the third movie, which steps to the level of international play, veers to two other characters and benches Becker and his. It would be inexplicable but for the steep turn downward also in quality, even the graphics for pasting actors into football match recordings, many actors from the previous gone and so apparently their stories with them.
Minecraft: The Story of Mojang (2012)
A look at the Swedish creators as well as the video sandbox phenomenon is welcome, and this also covers some interesting extensions of the project, but the tone and repetition of the movie, the music and even clips from the game, have a such cotton-candy quality, it gave me that sickly virtual reality feeling more than the game itself does.
A look at the Swedish creators as well as the video sandbox phenomenon is welcome, and this also covers some interesting extensions of the project, but the tone and repetition of the movie, the music and even clips from the game, have a such cotton-candy quality, it gave me that sickly virtual reality feeling more than the game itself does.
Lynch (2007)
As interesting as David Lynch is, any kind of record of him will have good material. And this was compiled while he was working on Inland Empire, so there's that interest. But the contrived quirky angle -- and literally angle in a couple of cases, a camera hidden or just dropped in a corner looking up at Lynch from the side and behind a desk -- of the project, a mix of rough, incidental video with the sort of brandishing that comes off as manicured found object, rather shines a light on the candle of the subject. Lynch may have been involved with the approach -- the filmmaker is listed in the credits as "blackANDwhite" -- and there are sequences where Lynch plays for and with the camera, but, as even with the editing and composition, you don't convey Lynch's effortless skew with effort to repeat it.
As interesting as David Lynch is, any kind of record of him will have good material. And this was compiled while he was working on Inland Empire, so there's that interest. But the contrived quirky angle -- and literally angle in a couple of cases, a camera hidden or just dropped in a corner looking up at Lynch from the side and behind a desk -- of the project, a mix of rough, incidental video with the sort of brandishing that comes off as manicured found object, rather shines a light on the candle of the subject. Lynch may have been involved with the approach -- the filmmaker is listed in the credits as "blackANDwhite" -- and there are sequences where Lynch plays for and with the camera, but, as even with the editing and composition, you don't convey Lynch's effortless skew with effort to repeat it.
Mother (1996)
The point bears making because it's so overlooked, not least for seeming obvious: you have to learn to relate to your family as other people, too. They're not just your mom, son, daughter, sister, relative, but they have other lives, and you have to learn how to relate to them as people and friends, actually build relationships and not just expect or demand them. The movie makes this point as a comedy, with the revelatory moment a fairly straightforward statement, but even that with a comic spin that makes it all the more poignant. It's not the conspicuously wrapped and ceremonious statement of message movies, but true to Albert Brooks form to make it so offhand.
3/1/24
The point bears making because it's so overlooked, not least for seeming obvious: you have to learn to relate to your family as other people, too. They're not just your mom, son, daughter, sister, relative, but they have other lives, and you have to learn how to relate to them as people and friends, actually build relationships and not just expect or demand them. The movie makes this point as a comedy, with the revelatory moment a fairly straightforward statement, but even that with a comic spin that makes it all the more poignant. It's not the conspicuously wrapped and ceremonious statement of message movies, but true to Albert Brooks form to make it so offhand.
Year of the Wolf
In 1981, there were three fairly big production releases with a werewolf theme. If it wasn't for the 40th anniversary of The Wolf Man with Lon Chaney Jr., why did the subject suddenly become a trend that year? The significance of the year may really be when they began, and how long it took them to land, as this article, Hollywood’s Werewolf Year (Saturday Evening Post, 4/12/21), explains. There was even a fourth, Full Moon High, which was more truly a werewolf movie than Wolfen, but explicitly a comedy. While An American Werewolf in London had some humor, it was more macabre in the overall more serious tone.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
The entry from Universal, home of 1941's The Wolf Man (this film produced by PolyGram Pictures, Lycanthrope Films Ltd). John Landis wrote and directed this updating as two American students hiking in England. The setup sequence on the moors and in the pub of intimidating locals is great, the right mix of humor and apprehension, working both ways. But the plot movement and the scenes themselves lose that verve, save for the moments with Griffin Dunne's wandering dead character. Perhaps the biggest reason for these movies coming out when they did (as the article above suggests) was the developments in makeup and special effects, particularly by Rick Baker, who actually left the project of The Howling to do this instead. (See Octaman, for Baker's debut.) The desire to have an in-camera transformation scene led to the mechanical effects developed for this and The Howling that would become a major trend of the 80s. The showcase scene here, with David Naughton in the apartment living room, goes on so long it's outside any cadence of the movie, and for me, the makeup of Dunne's first posthumous appearance, the fresh kill look with the ripped throat, is actually the best in the movie.
The Howling (1981)
Embassy Pictures' entry (International Film Investors, Wescom Productions). Somewhat more ambitious, this has the interesting idea of a California therapy colony actually being a den, and the cast is full of interesting choices old and new at the time: Patrick Macnee, Kevin McCarthy, Slim Pickens, John Carradine, Kenneth Tobey; and check out Robert Picardo as the big dog. John Sayles wrote the script with Terence Winkless, and Joe Dante directed. But even more than An American Werewolf, it's that sort of flat, brash spectacle, where every scene or even shot might be doing some business, but there's no unifying tone or mortar for the composition. The werewolves are impressive, a change from the furry-faced man tradition, but mechanical as they are, it's in a puppet way, and not quite to the full effect of the story. Special effects creator Rob Bottin, who took over on this when Rick Baker left for American Werewolf, would go on to do The Thing, which may be the height of the mechanical effects gore of the 80s.
Wolfen (1981)
Warner Bros.' entry (Orion Pictures). This is the most interesting of the three in many ways, and certainly the best directed, by Michael Wadleigh. Technically it's not a werewolf story, more like wolf spirits, and the use of wolves rather than make-up or special effects has its advantages as effect. There's also an interesting point-of-view effect, and if you doubt Predator was influenced by if not lifted this, check that whipcrack sound effect the first time it's used here. The police procedural approach makes it more involved than typical horror, and it's coming from the 70s vein of that, a bit like French Connection with a supernatural turn (and more anchored in the plain gritty detail than William Friedkin's other movie, The Exorcist). There's a good cast to bring that off too, starting at the top with Albert Finney, but also Diane Venora, Edward James Olmos, Gregory Hines and Tom Noonan. Flightiness and contradiction crash through at the end like the wolves through penthouse windows.
In 1981, there were three fairly big production releases with a werewolf theme. If it wasn't for the 40th anniversary of The Wolf Man with Lon Chaney Jr., why did the subject suddenly become a trend that year? The significance of the year may really be when they began, and how long it took them to land, as this article, Hollywood’s Werewolf Year (Saturday Evening Post, 4/12/21), explains. There was even a fourth, Full Moon High, which was more truly a werewolf movie than Wolfen, but explicitly a comedy. While An American Werewolf in London had some humor, it was more macabre in the overall more serious tone.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
The entry from Universal, home of 1941's The Wolf Man (this film produced by PolyGram Pictures, Lycanthrope Films Ltd). John Landis wrote and directed this updating as two American students hiking in England. The setup sequence on the moors and in the pub of intimidating locals is great, the right mix of humor and apprehension, working both ways. But the plot movement and the scenes themselves lose that verve, save for the moments with Griffin Dunne's wandering dead character. Perhaps the biggest reason for these movies coming out when they did (as the article above suggests) was the developments in makeup and special effects, particularly by Rick Baker, who actually left the project of The Howling to do this instead. (See Octaman, for Baker's debut.) The desire to have an in-camera transformation scene led to the mechanical effects developed for this and The Howling that would become a major trend of the 80s. The showcase scene here, with David Naughton in the apartment living room, goes on so long it's outside any cadence of the movie, and for me, the makeup of Dunne's first posthumous appearance, the fresh kill look with the ripped throat, is actually the best in the movie.
The Howling (1981)
Embassy Pictures' entry (International Film Investors, Wescom Productions). Somewhat more ambitious, this has the interesting idea of a California therapy colony actually being a den, and the cast is full of interesting choices old and new at the time: Patrick Macnee, Kevin McCarthy, Slim Pickens, John Carradine, Kenneth Tobey; and check out Robert Picardo as the big dog. John Sayles wrote the script with Terence Winkless, and Joe Dante directed. But even more than An American Werewolf, it's that sort of flat, brash spectacle, where every scene or even shot might be doing some business, but there's no unifying tone or mortar for the composition. The werewolves are impressive, a change from the furry-faced man tradition, but mechanical as they are, it's in a puppet way, and not quite to the full effect of the story. Special effects creator Rob Bottin, who took over on this when Rick Baker left for American Werewolf, would go on to do The Thing, which may be the height of the mechanical effects gore of the 80s.
Wolfen (1981)
Warner Bros.' entry (Orion Pictures). This is the most interesting of the three in many ways, and certainly the best directed, by Michael Wadleigh. Technically it's not a werewolf story, more like wolf spirits, and the use of wolves rather than make-up or special effects has its advantages as effect. There's also an interesting point-of-view effect, and if you doubt Predator was influenced by if not lifted this, check that whipcrack sound effect the first time it's used here. The police procedural approach makes it more involved than typical horror, and it's coming from the 70s vein of that, a bit like French Connection with a supernatural turn (and more anchored in the plain gritty detail than William Friedkin's other movie, The Exorcist). There's a good cast to bring that off too, starting at the top with Albert Finney, but also Diane Venora, Edward James Olmos, Gregory Hines and Tom Noonan. Flightiness and contradiction crash through at the end like the wolves through penthouse windows.
The Thing from Another World (1951)
This is a precursor to Alien in the way that other kinds of production expertise were used to create effect, notably the ensemble performance and the sense of confined space in the set. Without bigger special effects or even before the full creature suit, a more sophisticated approach in those other areas -- lots of sci-fi movies were low budget and didn't have the greatest writing, acting or directing -- made this the movie version of a campfire story. It's really a thriller, a good scary movie, even more than a monster one. The blistering pace, the overlapping dialogue -- a particular sophistication of this over lots of movies, not just monster or sci-fi -- the wisecracking down-to-earth types, rugged men and women, all characteristics of Howard Hawks who oversaw even the direction by Christian Nyby, created the environment for evocation and contrast, used as much for the eerie effects, like the men standing in a circle on the ice for the unseen spaceship, the severed hand rapping knuckles on the table, or the breathing plant bulbs. There is one smashing direct action scene for its day, one of the first full-body fire stunts in the movies. "An intellectual carrot -- the mind boggles!"
This is a precursor to Alien in the way that other kinds of production expertise were used to create effect, notably the ensemble performance and the sense of confined space in the set. Without bigger special effects or even before the full creature suit, a more sophisticated approach in those other areas -- lots of sci-fi movies were low budget and didn't have the greatest writing, acting or directing -- made this the movie version of a campfire story. It's really a thriller, a good scary movie, even more than a monster one. The blistering pace, the overlapping dialogue -- a particular sophistication of this over lots of movies, not just monster or sci-fi -- the wisecracking down-to-earth types, rugged men and women, all characteristics of Howard Hawks who oversaw even the direction by Christian Nyby, created the environment for evocation and contrast, used as much for the eerie effects, like the men standing in a circle on the ice for the unseen spaceship, the severed hand rapping knuckles on the table, or the breathing plant bulbs. There is one smashing direct action scene for its day, one of the first full-body fire stunts in the movies. "An intellectual carrot -- the mind boggles!"
The Fly (1986)
The creeping terror: the body. David Cronenberg's updating of the 50s movie is sort of natural, but salient. It's not forcing the structure of the story so much as changing the setting, but in so doing we get the contrast of not only fashion but mores: nuclear family home to unmarried singles and warehouse studios. The important thread taken from the original, or the story that was based on, is the love relationship, and thus the sympathetic angle, the suffering with the man becoming monster, but the transformation is changed so it's not just a swap of parts, but a melding of organisms. In the 50s terms of the original, there's the sense of the animal breaking through the human repression, while here there is also the sense of liberation with that, played with at first. In the relationship with the body, there are periods of feeling right with it, or in control, even getting into changes like losing or gaining weight, or the other things that can be done with the body, but then there are the times when the body can seem in conflict or even foreign. There is addiction, where even the will takes over along with the body as against the ego, and then there is injury, disease and decrepitude. With all the cellular stuff, here, cancer is not far off. The body is really also the self, the division with the self, whether mind vs. body, body vs. body, mind vs. mind, etc. As with Jekyll and Hyde, or the Wolf Man, this is the transformation of self and the monster within. Cronenberg and his co-writers also make a virtue of small proportion, like a shorty story, and this is streamlined, a straight progression. Jeff Goldblum's manner, the sort of overacting that people do in real life, a way of enunciating and with gestures, makes him the interesting eccentric here, a softer, more appealing version of the mad scientist, and then he carries the role with the great swings of mood, enthusiasm, anger, spite, but then various kinds of self-irony, less and more pathetic. There are some cheap flourishes, more of the kind in other Cronenberg movies that tend to be schlocky (this and Naked Lunch are his two best movies), such as the birth scene especially in the line of all the Alien pregnancy copycats.
The creeping terror: the body. David Cronenberg's updating of the 50s movie is sort of natural, but salient. It's not forcing the structure of the story so much as changing the setting, but in so doing we get the contrast of not only fashion but mores: nuclear family home to unmarried singles and warehouse studios. The important thread taken from the original, or the story that was based on, is the love relationship, and thus the sympathetic angle, the suffering with the man becoming monster, but the transformation is changed so it's not just a swap of parts, but a melding of organisms. In the 50s terms of the original, there's the sense of the animal breaking through the human repression, while here there is also the sense of liberation with that, played with at first. In the relationship with the body, there are periods of feeling right with it, or in control, even getting into changes like losing or gaining weight, or the other things that can be done with the body, but then there are the times when the body can seem in conflict or even foreign. There is addiction, where even the will takes over along with the body as against the ego, and then there is injury, disease and decrepitude. With all the cellular stuff, here, cancer is not far off. The body is really also the self, the division with the self, whether mind vs. body, body vs. body, mind vs. mind, etc. As with Jekyll and Hyde, or the Wolf Man, this is the transformation of self and the monster within. Cronenberg and his co-writers also make a virtue of small proportion, like a shorty story, and this is streamlined, a straight progression. Jeff Goldblum's manner, the sort of overacting that people do in real life, a way of enunciating and with gestures, makes him the interesting eccentric here, a softer, more appealing version of the mad scientist, and then he carries the role with the great swings of mood, enthusiasm, anger, spite, but then various kinds of self-irony, less and more pathetic. There are some cheap flourishes, more of the kind in other Cronenberg movies that tend to be schlocky (this and Naked Lunch are his two best movies), such as the birth scene especially in the line of all the Alien pregnancy copycats.
Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster (1964)
After the introduction of Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra, and following on the success of King Kong vs. Godzilla, Toho Co., Ltd, produced this first all-in wrestling monster match. It was the introduction of the title monster, but has those three other Toho headliners, and is thus also another entry in the Godzilla franchise. The wackiest of the human plots from the whole series would be hard to decide, but this certainly makes its contribution, with Akiko Wakabayashi (again) as a princess who is snatched from an exploding plane and returned to Earth in designer hobo protestor attire as a possessed prophet ("I come from Jupiter"). The three-headed dragon (based on Yamata no Orochi of Japanese mythology) from space becomes the new avatar of destruction and turns Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra into heroes.
After the introduction of Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra, and following on the success of King Kong vs. Godzilla, Toho Co., Ltd, produced this first all-in wrestling monster match. It was the introduction of the title monster, but has those three other Toho headliners, and is thus also another entry in the Godzilla franchise. The wackiest of the human plots from the whole series would be hard to decide, but this certainly makes its contribution, with Akiko Wakabayashi (again) as a princess who is snatched from an exploding plane and returned to Earth in designer hobo protestor attire as a possessed prophet ("I come from Jupiter"). The three-headed dragon (based on Yamata no Orochi of Japanese mythology) from space becomes the new avatar of destruction and turns Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra into heroes.
Defending Your Life (1991)
Steadfastly low-key, Albert Brooks makes the afterlife another strolling joke of the unspectacular. It's purgatory as a processing center, a combination of a business convention, amusement park hotel block, and a senior citizen facility. The highlight is the food, like a constant buffet, as much because you won't gain weight, but also that Brooks twinkle of banality. There's still the difference of quality or class, some hotels swankier than others, and thus also envy and resentment. The judgment process, uncomfortably similar to corporate self-evaluation, is more like a divorce proceeding with yourself, alone before the judge, prosecutor and defense and the evidence of your life played back as movie clips. The movie tacks towards this as an interesting revelation, that it's really the way he comes to see himself that's what matters, but the Brooks spin is that even in the afterlife he's still too worried about how he comes off to others. Great turns from Meryl Streep, Rip Torn and Lee Grant in the Brooks vein.
2/23/24
Steadfastly low-key, Albert Brooks makes the afterlife another strolling joke of the unspectacular. It's purgatory as a processing center, a combination of a business convention, amusement park hotel block, and a senior citizen facility. The highlight is the food, like a constant buffet, as much because you won't gain weight, but also that Brooks twinkle of banality. There's still the difference of quality or class, some hotels swankier than others, and thus also envy and resentment. The judgment process, uncomfortably similar to corporate self-evaluation, is more like a divorce proceeding with yourself, alone before the judge, prosecutor and defense and the evidence of your life played back as movie clips. The movie tacks towards this as an interesting revelation, that it's really the way he comes to see himself that's what matters, but the Brooks spin is that even in the afterlife he's still too worried about how he comes off to others. Great turns from Meryl Streep, Rip Torn and Lee Grant in the Brooks vein.
Dogora (1964)
Before recent tentacle aliens, e.g. Arrival, and before the sky dweller of Nope, there was this interesting tokusatsu entry, directed by Ishiro Honda and with many Godzilla regulars in the cast, including Akiko Wakabayashi and token American Robert Dunham. The various effects used for the giant space squid-like creature or force are interesting for the day, but there's the unfortunately too typical tendency of the human business, i.e. subplots, to crowd the story. Here it's the confusing criss-crossing of diamond heist groups and investigators, whose special interest happens to be the target of the alien's colossal appetite for carbon, which might eventually include all living matter on Earth.
Before recent tentacle aliens, e.g. Arrival, and before the sky dweller of Nope, there was this interesting tokusatsu entry, directed by Ishiro Honda and with many Godzilla regulars in the cast, including Akiko Wakabayashi and token American Robert Dunham. The various effects used for the giant space squid-like creature or force are interesting for the day, but there's the unfortunately too typical tendency of the human business, i.e. subplots, to crowd the story. Here it's the confusing criss-crossing of diamond heist groups and investigators, whose special interest happens to be the target of the alien's colossal appetite for carbon, which might eventually include all living matter on Earth.
The Relic (1997)
By the time we get to this level of trying to make a monster movie a higher toned thriller, there's so much stuff being mashed up you scarcely get the cheapest boo. Like the monster, here, that's supposed to combine so many different types of DNA, as well as myth and superstition, there's too much background and combination of elements, mostly derivative (Alien of course the driver of the derivation, what was subtext and follow-on discussion for that now has to be piled into the script), and not really an ambiance. Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore got their turn at lead roles, which was interesting, particularly in the latter's case, but it's too bad the material was such a one-two punch of cutesy character and urgent exposition.
By the time we get to this level of trying to make a monster movie a higher toned thriller, there's so much stuff being mashed up you scarcely get the cheapest boo. Like the monster, here, that's supposed to combine so many different types of DNA, as well as myth and superstition, there's too much background and combination of elements, mostly derivative (Alien of course the driver of the derivation, what was subtext and follow-on discussion for that now has to be piled into the script), and not really an ambiance. Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore got their turn at lead roles, which was interesting, particularly in the latter's case, but it's too bad the material was such a one-two punch of cutesy character and urgent exposition.
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963)
It's a circus. The next Godzilla movie took longer to cook up, but it set off the longest-running movie franchise and definitely set the tone for things to come. Willis O'Brien, stop motion animator of King Kong, the one that started it all, came up with the idea to have Kong fight a giant Frankenstein monster. That was sold off behind his back to Toho Co., owner of Godzilla. Ishiro Honda was brought back to direct and wanted to satirize television, publicity stunts and spectacle, even wrestling. Despite that, he didn't want the tone of the monsters themselves to be comical. The movie jumps around, in the early part adding a different subplot almost every scene, and it's like a long fight card with a Vegas show around it. There's a pharmaceutical company, an American nuclear submarine, the Kong island natives, a giant octopus, the long plots dealing with Kong and Godzilla separately before they meet and then again for round two, Mia Hama and Akiko Wakabayashi who were cast in You Only Live Twice a few years later. Plans to use stop motion were once again scrapped due to budget, but what was used for Kong was a far cry from a good monkey suit, let alone creature suit or stop motion. When we finally get to the main event, it's unabashedly like professional wrestling, setting up what the Godzilla movies would be for the next couple of decades. The height of the goofiness is when Kong and Godzilla deflect a rock back and forth at each other, would-be massive boulder like kiddie ball volleys, well beyond getting it's supposed to be funny or is funny. So many of the people involved in making the movie grew up with and were inspired by King Kong and even they were confounded by the tone and what was passed for Kong. In the story, Kong appears to be the winner and survivor, but clearly it was Godzilla who prevailed with the new form of monster kitsch.
It's a circus. The next Godzilla movie took longer to cook up, but it set off the longest-running movie franchise and definitely set the tone for things to come. Willis O'Brien, stop motion animator of King Kong, the one that started it all, came up with the idea to have Kong fight a giant Frankenstein monster. That was sold off behind his back to Toho Co., owner of Godzilla. Ishiro Honda was brought back to direct and wanted to satirize television, publicity stunts and spectacle, even wrestling. Despite that, he didn't want the tone of the monsters themselves to be comical. The movie jumps around, in the early part adding a different subplot almost every scene, and it's like a long fight card with a Vegas show around it. There's a pharmaceutical company, an American nuclear submarine, the Kong island natives, a giant octopus, the long plots dealing with Kong and Godzilla separately before they meet and then again for round two, Mia Hama and Akiko Wakabayashi who were cast in You Only Live Twice a few years later. Plans to use stop motion were once again scrapped due to budget, but what was used for Kong was a far cry from a good monkey suit, let alone creature suit or stop motion. When we finally get to the main event, it's unabashedly like professional wrestling, setting up what the Godzilla movies would be for the next couple of decades. The height of the goofiness is when Kong and Godzilla deflect a rock back and forth at each other, would-be massive boulder like kiddie ball volleys, well beyond getting it's supposed to be funny or is funny. So many of the people involved in making the movie grew up with and were inspired by King Kong and even they were confounded by the tone and what was passed for Kong. In the story, Kong appears to be the winner and survivor, but clearly it was Godzilla who prevailed with the new form of monster kitsch.
Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
The first sequel was set off immediately on the success of the original Godzilla, but then there was a long spell before another was made to kick off what the franchise would become. The project was hastily prepared, with Motoyoshi Oda brought on to direct, as the original's director Ishiro Honda was working on another movie. It's become a more, if not the most obscure entry, in the shadow of the original and all the others to come, but the seeds were planted right away. Godzilla's first appearance -- and there's an explanation at the end of the first as well as here, if you know what sort of leap that makes -- is in combat with another monster, based on an ankylosaurus, straining dinosaur and physics logic for scale, but also creature suit mechanics since it's supposed to be a quadruped. And then the whole thing with subplots. In the original, when Godzilla is not on screen, the scenes create a context of the effect and a meditation on warfare and the push for ever more destructive power, such as nuclear weapons, with one subplot leading to a different way of handling the development of another such power. All that significance gets drained out for the kind of plot material that became typical of horror and monster but also many kinds of popular movies, filler that could be setup or teaser for the main attraction, but also bait and switch. Here it's the romantic business with the two pilots and a truckload of convicts. The final segment battle with Godzilla in the snowy mountains and the air force has a different look and feel than anything in the rubber suit era.
The first sequel was set off immediately on the success of the original Godzilla, but then there was a long spell before another was made to kick off what the franchise would become. The project was hastily prepared, with Motoyoshi Oda brought on to direct, as the original's director Ishiro Honda was working on another movie. It's become a more, if not the most obscure entry, in the shadow of the original and all the others to come, but the seeds were planted right away. Godzilla's first appearance -- and there's an explanation at the end of the first as well as here, if you know what sort of leap that makes -- is in combat with another monster, based on an ankylosaurus, straining dinosaur and physics logic for scale, but also creature suit mechanics since it's supposed to be a quadruped. And then the whole thing with subplots. In the original, when Godzilla is not on screen, the scenes create a context of the effect and a meditation on warfare and the push for ever more destructive power, such as nuclear weapons, with one subplot leading to a different way of handling the development of another such power. All that significance gets drained out for the kind of plot material that became typical of horror and monster but also many kinds of popular movies, filler that could be setup or teaser for the main attraction, but also bait and switch. Here it's the romantic business with the two pilots and a truckload of convicts. The final segment battle with Godzilla in the snowy mountains and the air force has a different look and feel than anything in the rubber suit era.
Godzilla (1954)
The movie was altered for American release in 1956, titled Godzilla, King of the Monsters, with more explicit political material removed and scenes added of Raymond Burr as a correspondent reporting the events. The original Japanese version was not seen until later at film festivals in the 1980s, and not as an official U.S. release until 2004. The comments for Godzilla, King of the Monsters here cover the original material as well as the additions, but the original, even in the modified form, is a very different creature from the sequels.
The movie was altered for American release in 1956, titled Godzilla, King of the Monsters, with more explicit political material removed and scenes added of Raymond Burr as a correspondent reporting the events. The original Japanese version was not seen until later at film festivals in the 1980s, and not as an official U.S. release until 2004. The comments for Godzilla, King of the Monsters here cover the original material as well as the additions, but the original, even in the modified form, is a very different creature from the sequels.
The Iron Claw (2023)
I don't know if writer and director Sean Durkin was trying to depict these athletes as not the sharpest personalities outside of the ring, but there's a dullness to this that's not the sharpness of the portrait.
I don't know if writer and director Sean Durkin was trying to depict these athletes as not the sharpest personalities outside of the ring, but there's a dullness to this that's not the sharpness of the portrait.
Miami Vice (2006)
The 80s series had stock TV hamminess, like the crocodile and comic relief characters and corny kidding around moments, despite being so sleek and hip for TV with its cars, designer clothes, art deco and contemporary music, and its French Connection hardnosed turns and blunt endings. In contrast, the movie update, which Michael Mann directed (he was an executive producer and had creative input, but didn't direct the series), pushes the edgy dramatic so much even some corniness would make it more quotidian, not to say realistic. In particular, Jamie Foxx is pushed to such intense concern it would seem to blow his cover, as in the opening scene in the dance club, where he's glaring like an eagle over the dance floor. There's none of the casual swagger of Philip Michael Thomas and Don Johnson. The digital photography is in that in-between state where it still has the glossy video look, and in between the good of Mann's previous movie Collateral, which was a pioneer of digital video with its use of incidental L.A. night light, and the bad of the one after this, Public Enemies. Here lots of dusky shots tone down the soap opera effect, but there are so many shots that look like amateur video or cell phones.
2/15/24
The 80s series had stock TV hamminess, like the crocodile and comic relief characters and corny kidding around moments, despite being so sleek and hip for TV with its cars, designer clothes, art deco and contemporary music, and its French Connection hardnosed turns and blunt endings. In contrast, the movie update, which Michael Mann directed (he was an executive producer and had creative input, but didn't direct the series), pushes the edgy dramatic so much even some corniness would make it more quotidian, not to say realistic. In particular, Jamie Foxx is pushed to such intense concern it would seem to blow his cover, as in the opening scene in the dance club, where he's glaring like an eagle over the dance floor. There's none of the casual swagger of Philip Michael Thomas and Don Johnson. The digital photography is in that in-between state where it still has the glossy video look, and in between the good of Mann's previous movie Collateral, which was a pioneer of digital video with its use of incidental L.A. night light, and the bad of the one after this, Public Enemies. Here lots of dusky shots tone down the soap opera effect, but there are so many shots that look like amateur video or cell phones.
Them! (1954)
Like The War of the Worlds or The Day the Earth Stood Still, this is one of the bigger movies of the era, a competent, crisp production. This had its benefits in the 50s, when horror and sci-fi were still largely relegated to B-movie track, and there were lots of very low-budget studio and independent productions. It followed The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms as atomic mutation and the ants were the first of the giant insect monsters. It ended up being shot in black and white due to problems with the color 3-D process originally planned, but a remnant of that can be seen on the title card, with the blazing red and blue title over the B&W. Besides James Whitmore and James Arness at the head of the cast (he was the monster in 1951's The Thing from Another World), watch for appearances by Leonard Nimoy, Fess Parker and Dub Taylor, among others.
Like The War of the Worlds or The Day the Earth Stood Still, this is one of the bigger movies of the era, a competent, crisp production. This had its benefits in the 50s, when horror and sci-fi were still largely relegated to B-movie track, and there were lots of very low-budget studio and independent productions. It followed The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms as atomic mutation and the ants were the first of the giant insect monsters. It ended up being shot in black and white due to problems with the color 3-D process originally planned, but a remnant of that can be seen on the title card, with the blazing red and blue title over the B&W. Besides James Whitmore and James Arness at the head of the cast (he was the monster in 1951's The Thing from Another World), watch for appearances by Leonard Nimoy, Fess Parker and Dub Taylor, among others.
Fargo (1996) ♠
The true story ruse is well out of the bag (the Fargo series made it the worst pretense by running the same disclaimer every episode), but it was the kind of structure that catalyzed Joel and Ethan Coen's moviemaking from their sensibility. With Barton Fink they used real-life material for a surreal cast. But just as with writing, where what you're trying to tell and the way you tell it can be at odds, if not an outright conflict between honoring the subject and phrasemaking, tacking it all down to the form of events, at least like anecdote if not from actual events, streamlined and refined the expression. The mix of tones or emotions are there in reality, don't have to be added (it's usually the type of recounting that tries to separate them). The tragic cast with a comic or at least satirical tempo gives a parable of observation about life in general, even if it's not a true story. As good as the Coen brothers were, this was great, and it was by a kind of minor key move, a gesture more sleek or supple than grand.
The true story ruse is well out of the bag (the Fargo series made it the worst pretense by running the same disclaimer every episode), but it was the kind of structure that catalyzed Joel and Ethan Coen's moviemaking from their sensibility. With Barton Fink they used real-life material for a surreal cast. But just as with writing, where what you're trying to tell and the way you tell it can be at odds, if not an outright conflict between honoring the subject and phrasemaking, tacking it all down to the form of events, at least like anecdote if not from actual events, streamlined and refined the expression. The mix of tones or emotions are there in reality, don't have to be added (it's usually the type of recounting that tries to separate them). The tragic cast with a comic or at least satirical tempo gives a parable of observation about life in general, even if it's not a true story. As good as the Coen brothers were, this was great, and it was by a kind of minor key move, a gesture more sleek or supple than grand.
House Shark (2017)
Goofus and goof-off attempt at spoofing bad shark movies, that are of course by this point all spoofing bad shark movies. Probably a lot more fun for the people who made it.
Goofus and goof-off attempt at spoofing bad shark movies, that are of course by this point all spoofing bad shark movies. Probably a lot more fun for the people who made it.
Miami Connection (1987)
Miami is a bit of a diversion because this is the Buckaroo Banzai of the University of Central Florida set. Apart from the vain stab at Miami Vice, Pat Benatar and John Oates, martial arts, and soulful sidebars of character background, it's really the UCF campus setting, and brandishing of it (e.g., a scene with everyone wearing different college logo shirts), that gives it that provincial aim for the stars. All certainly more deserving of RiffTrax live show honors.
Miami is a bit of a diversion because this is the Buckaroo Banzai of the University of Central Florida set. Apart from the vain stab at Miami Vice, Pat Benatar and John Oates, martial arts, and soulful sidebars of character background, it's really the UCF campus setting, and brandishing of it (e.g., a scene with everyone wearing different college logo shirts), that gives it that provincial aim for the stars. All certainly more deserving of RiffTrax live show honors.
Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014)
Tastefully untasteful? Get celebrities and the Today show to join in on the cult bad movie trend? Somehow I feel this just isn't doing justice to the Tommy Wiseaus and James Nguyens and Neil Breens of the world. RiffTrax used this for a live show.
Tastefully untasteful? Get celebrities and the Today show to join in on the cult bad movie trend? Somehow I feel this just isn't doing justice to the Tommy Wiseaus and James Nguyens and Neil Breens of the world. RiffTrax used this for a live show.
The Beekeeper (2024)
The interesting thing about this is how it gets ultimate badass mileage from the Jason Statham character by using other plot shifts for the suspense. Rather than the superman problem, stipulate how ultimate he is and then have to conjure up obstacles, this winds him up and lets him go. The progressive revelation model isn't new for Statham, and in fact Wrath of Man was a recent outing notable for that, but here as well as learning about Statham himself, there are progressive levels of the scheme to uncover, where the movie gets most of its cha-cha. It keeps moving enough to make up for the fact that a lot of the business is tepid, warmed over techbro and sleazy weasel stuff and even that gets repeated.
The interesting thing about this is how it gets ultimate badass mileage from the Jason Statham character by using other plot shifts for the suspense. Rather than the superman problem, stipulate how ultimate he is and then have to conjure up obstacles, this winds him up and lets him go. The progressive revelation model isn't new for Statham, and in fact Wrath of Man was a recent outing notable for that, but here as well as learning about Statham himself, there are progressive levels of the scheme to uncover, where the movie gets most of its cha-cha. It keeps moving enough to make up for the fact that a lot of the business is tepid, warmed over techbro and sleazy weasel stuff and even that gets repeated.
Lost in America (1985)
Of Albert Brooks's movies, this is the one that resembles a more typical American comedy, a "big" movie, in certain formal ways. There's a great performance by Julie Hagerty. Though not necessarily the stuff of only major releases, it was a bigger feature role for her than Airplane. But even that makes it a setup for the Brooks deflation. Though here there's pretty much a bubble bursting moment.
Of Albert Brooks's movies, this is the one that resembles a more typical American comedy, a "big" movie, in certain formal ways. There's a great performance by Julie Hagerty. Though not necessarily the stuff of only major releases, it was a bigger feature role for her than Airplane. But even that makes it a setup for the Brooks deflation. Though here there's pretty much a bubble bursting moment.
The Unknown Country (2022)
Directed by Morrisa Maltz and starring Lily Gladstone (see Killers of the Flower Moon), this was written by them and Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux. It's similar to Nomadland in the use of documentary or personal account approach and material, as well as the journey of the main character, but mixes that with a more detached reverie, suggesting Terence Malick at times. The floating is less concerted, and sometimes the use of different elements in the collage style seems detached in an impertinent way.
Directed by Morrisa Maltz and starring Lily Gladstone (see Killers of the Flower Moon), this was written by them and Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux. It's similar to Nomadland in the use of documentary or personal account approach and material, as well as the journey of the main character, but mixes that with a more detached reverie, suggesting Terence Malick at times. The floating is less concerted, and sometimes the use of different elements in the collage style seems detached in an impertinent way.
Uncle Vanya (1970)
This film version of Chekhov's play is notable as work of director Andrey Konchalovskiy (see Runaway Train) during the Soviet period, and the performance of Sergey Bondarchuk, another Soviet director famous for his version of War and Peace. It has the sort of summer house fuzziness of A Few Days from the Life of I.I. Oblomov, and a switch between color and a sepia monochrome similar to Stalker (Konchalovskiy worked with director Andrei Tarkovsky), but there's a bustle that's been added to it, a note of farce, and a strident montage of stills at the beginning, more in the mode of the time the movie was made, as a modern stamp on the source material, if not marking more of a difference with Chekhov or his time.
This film version of Chekhov's play is notable as work of director Andrey Konchalovskiy (see Runaway Train) during the Soviet period, and the performance of Sergey Bondarchuk, another Soviet director famous for his version of War and Peace. It has the sort of summer house fuzziness of A Few Days from the Life of I.I. Oblomov, and a switch between color and a sepia monochrome similar to Stalker (Konchalovskiy worked with director Andrei Tarkovsky), but there's a bustle that's been added to it, a note of farce, and a strident montage of stills at the beginning, more in the mode of the time the movie was made, as a modern stamp on the source material, if not marking more of a difference with Chekhov or his time.
Modern Romance (1981)
The straightest takedown of them all for Albert Brooks movies. It begins with an awkward breakup and only gets worse when they try to get back together. Before "cringe comedy" became buzzword, Brooks played in a plainer style -- not signaling comedy, not trying to be charming -- and showed us how grating it was to see our internal torment played out. Don't you see? I act like a stalker because I love you! James L. Brooks turns up in an interesting role here as the director of a bad sci-fi movie Brooks's character is editing.
2/9/24
The straightest takedown of them all for Albert Brooks movies. It begins with an awkward breakup and only gets worse when they try to get back together. Before "cringe comedy" became buzzword, Brooks played in a plainer style -- not signaling comedy, not trying to be charming -- and showed us how grating it was to see our internal torment played out. Don't you see? I act like a stalker because I love you! James L. Brooks turns up in an interesting role here as the director of a bad sci-fi movie Brooks's character is editing.
White Woman (1933)
Carole Lombard gets laced up in melodrama, having to play the lugubrious damsel in distress (compare to her in My Man Godfrey), while Charles Laughton and Charles Bickford get to have all the lascivious and lecherous fun.
Carole Lombard gets laced up in melodrama, having to play the lugubrious damsel in distress (compare to her in My Man Godfrey), while Charles Laughton and Charles Bickford get to have all the lascivious and lecherous fun.
The Man Who Sued God (2001)
Delivered at such a strangely rushed pitch it's curiously muffled. It's as if someone -- executives if not the director -- were afraid the point of the premise, about the "act of God" phrase used in insurance policies, would be boring, and jazzed it all up with romantic comedy bustle and music, and Bill Connolly and Judy Davis remonstrating so much it's like a parody of Oscar performance clips.
Delivered at such a strangely rushed pitch it's curiously muffled. It's as if someone -- executives if not the director -- were afraid the point of the premise, about the "act of God" phrase used in insurance policies, would be boring, and jazzed it all up with romantic comedy bustle and music, and Bill Connolly and Judy Davis remonstrating so much it's like a parody of Oscar performance clips.
Mixed Nuts (1994)
An attempt at an offbeat Christmas movie with a promising cast flutters around in broad caricature. The performances aren't bad, but it just doesn't come together. It's worth checking out for an interesting role for Liev Schreiber, if nothing else.
An attempt at an offbeat Christmas movie with a promising cast flutters around in broad caricature. The performances aren't bad, but it just doesn't come together. It's worth checking out for an interesting role for Liev Schreiber, if nothing else.
The Admirable Crichton [aka Paradise Lagoon] (1957)
Before Swept Away, there was this island experiment about the reversal of the social order once it's clear who has all the know-how for survival: the butler, played with both buttoned-up and unbuttoned charm by Kenneth More. It plays out Hegel's master-slave dialectic, whether unwittingly or not, where it's the slave who knows the master's house. Similar in manner to the Ealing social comedies, with The Ladykillers alum Cecil Parker, though based on J.M. Barrie's play of 1902, like the butler, its manner is a dip of the toe in the waters of social change, despite some frank discussion. The title was change for release in the U.S. because of a concern that people would think it was about a naval officer.
Before Swept Away, there was this island experiment about the reversal of the social order once it's clear who has all the know-how for survival: the butler, played with both buttoned-up and unbuttoned charm by Kenneth More. It plays out Hegel's master-slave dialectic, whether unwittingly or not, where it's the slave who knows the master's house. Similar in manner to the Ealing social comedies, with The Ladykillers alum Cecil Parker, though based on J.M. Barrie's play of 1902, like the butler, its manner is a dip of the toe in the waters of social change, despite some frank discussion. The title was change for release in the U.S. because of a concern that people would think it was about a naval officer.
The Last Detail (1973)
Jack Nicholson's manner makes everything have a flourish, even small expressions or just doing nothing, so he was a natural for movies, a way of mugging and hamming that's more offhand. Of course it got overworked later on. This movie, written by Robert Towne, the same writer-actor pair that would go on to do Chinatown, makes similar points as both Five Easy Pieces and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, but in a more subtle way, and with Nicholson's performance, too. The script, the film, as directed by Hal Ashby, and the performance are less declamatory, more showing than telling. Also for Towne compared to Chinatown, which is more intricate, well-made, this plays more loose and open, but is no less well observed. For a road or travel story, a rite of passage in more than one way, it nicely works other lines and arcs with the stops along the way so that it's not just those episodes, or episodic. Nicholson and Otis Young's characters are expressed as much by Randy Quaid's miserable greenhorn, their shit detail that, since they're in transit on trains and buses, has them out on the streets in the winter even when they're trying to have fun. The cold that's evident even for the actors makes for a frank depiction of travel similar to Irma Vep, the sort of things to endure besides travelogue highlights. The Movie Brains Research Team is also checking on this as one of the earliest uses of "motherfucker" in the movies. Chew on that, Samuel L. Jackson.
Jack Nicholson's manner makes everything have a flourish, even small expressions or just doing nothing, so he was a natural for movies, a way of mugging and hamming that's more offhand. Of course it got overworked later on. This movie, written by Robert Towne, the same writer-actor pair that would go on to do Chinatown, makes similar points as both Five Easy Pieces and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, but in a more subtle way, and with Nicholson's performance, too. The script, the film, as directed by Hal Ashby, and the performance are less declamatory, more showing than telling. Also for Towne compared to Chinatown, which is more intricate, well-made, this plays more loose and open, but is no less well observed. For a road or travel story, a rite of passage in more than one way, it nicely works other lines and arcs with the stops along the way so that it's not just those episodes, or episodic. Nicholson and Otis Young's characters are expressed as much by Randy Quaid's miserable greenhorn, their shit detail that, since they're in transit on trains and buses, has them out on the streets in the winter even when they're trying to have fun. The cold that's evident even for the actors makes for a frank depiction of travel similar to Irma Vep, the sort of things to endure besides travelogue highlights. The Movie Brains Research Team is also checking on this as one of the earliest uses of "motherfucker" in the movies. Chew on that, Samuel L. Jackson.
Escape from New York (1981)
Escape from L.A. (1996)
Escape from New York is almost all setup, and then denouement. It's like it's missing a middle. John Carpenter's idea is interesting, but it doesn't give us a great vision of this New York, even as an exaggeration of its reputation in those days, 70s and 80s, so much as a more elaborate studio version of apocalyptic B-movies. (It is one of the movies that features the World Trade Center.) The sequel 15 years later is really more of an update, using the same plan, and would be disappointing for that, if not for the considerable camping up, inadvertent or not. The ramping up of the premise, still almost entirely explication, nonetheless chilling now for its nightmare of a theocratic dictatorship of the U.S.; the right-wing wet dream of California separated by an earthquake that's been implemented for Los Angeles; plastic surgery as a cross between zombies, Frankenstein and The Twilight Zone; perhaps best/worst of all, one of the worst CG sequences ever anywhere, involving a submarine; even Kurt Russell's ensemble make this schlockier but more amusing than the original.
Escape from L.A. (1996)
Escape from New York is almost all setup, and then denouement. It's like it's missing a middle. John Carpenter's idea is interesting, but it doesn't give us a great vision of this New York, even as an exaggeration of its reputation in those days, 70s and 80s, so much as a more elaborate studio version of apocalyptic B-movies. (It is one of the movies that features the World Trade Center.) The sequel 15 years later is really more of an update, using the same plan, and would be disappointing for that, if not for the considerable camping up, inadvertent or not. The ramping up of the premise, still almost entirely explication, nonetheless chilling now for its nightmare of a theocratic dictatorship of the U.S.; the right-wing wet dream of California separated by an earthquake that's been implemented for Los Angeles; plastic surgery as a cross between zombies, Frankenstein and The Twilight Zone; perhaps best/worst of all, one of the worst CG sequences ever anywhere, involving a submarine; even Kurt Russell's ensemble make this schlockier but more amusing than the original.
Ferrari (2023)
The tie-in with Miami Vice is Michael Mann's obsession with Ferrari he had well before that, and he was trying to make this movie since at least the early 90s. At first this has the convenient plotting of not so much a biopic as just a TV series, schematic, with things setting up for and making points like mathematical formulas, or as if feelings expressed by numbers. But it settles down into more of Mann's strong point, which is tone or atmosphere, and there the story points help anchor that and make it more interesting. I'm not sure it's necessary to see an auto racing disaster in this kind of detail, but there is a sequence that's impressive at least technically for the way it brings that off. Adam Driver -- pun intended? -- is appealing because of the weight he can give any role, but he seems too broody and dour for the bulk of this, like he's in an Antonioni movie. Where's the showbiz bravado of Ferrari the promoter?
The tie-in with Miami Vice is Michael Mann's obsession with Ferrari he had well before that, and he was trying to make this movie since at least the early 90s. At first this has the convenient plotting of not so much a biopic as just a TV series, schematic, with things setting up for and making points like mathematical formulas, or as if feelings expressed by numbers. But it settles down into more of Mann's strong point, which is tone or atmosphere, and there the story points help anchor that and make it more interesting. I'm not sure it's necessary to see an auto racing disaster in this kind of detail, but there is a sequence that's impressive at least technically for the way it brings that off. Adam Driver -- pun intended? -- is appealing because of the weight he can give any role, but he seems too broody and dour for the bulk of this, like he's in an Antonioni movie. Where's the showbiz bravado of Ferrari the promoter?
My Generation (2017)
A rundown of swinging London of the 60s and several key cultural figures, host Michael Caine also being one of them. There's stuff to glean, but overall it's like a TV clip show on cocaine, with Caine's linking bits quite staged. At one point it presents a title graphic that seems to establish seven main subjects, but it jumps around so much it's hard to tell just what is a thread. There's audio of Caine speaking with several of these subjects, but this is not identified or situated, no date for it, and there's no accompanying images, so apparently archival.
A rundown of swinging London of the 60s and several key cultural figures, host Michael Caine also being one of them. There's stuff to glean, but overall it's like a TV clip show on cocaine, with Caine's linking bits quite staged. At one point it presents a title graphic that seems to establish seven main subjects, but it jumps around so much it's hard to tell just what is a thread. There's audio of Caine speaking with several of these subjects, but this is not identified or situated, no date for it, and there's no accompanying images, so apparently archival.
Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (2023)
Directed by Rob Reiner, Brooks's friend since high school, as a sit-down conversation between the two, this gives a good survey of his career beyond the movies he made, if you don't know of any of that. There's plenty of other material, but for the conversation there's nobody else in the restaurant, and it feels a bit scripted, if not disingenuous. But Brooks's directness, even about his own achievement, is the flip side to the subject of his movies, the excruciating observation of self-absorption that is not self-awareness, usually as the character he played. His real-life confidence underpins that insight, but even more the determination to bring it off the way he did.
1/25/24
Directed by Rob Reiner, Brooks's friend since high school, as a sit-down conversation between the two, this gives a good survey of his career beyond the movies he made, if you don't know of any of that. There's plenty of other material, but for the conversation there's nobody else in the restaurant, and it feels a bit scripted, if not disingenuous. But Brooks's directness, even about his own achievement, is the flip side to the subject of his movies, the excruciating observation of self-absorption that is not self-awareness, usually as the character he played. His real-life confidence underpins that insight, but even more the determination to bring it off the way he did.
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)
Among the offbeat movie history of Werner Herzog (see My Best Fiend, Burden of Dreams, etc.), including the way he mixed movies and real life, there's this little document. Herzog told Errol Morris that if he got Gates of Heaven made and released, he, Herzog, would eat his shoe. He held to his promise and another filmmaker Les Blank decided to film it. The title, though literal, is also in the style of Blank's portraits. It's not really the stunt, like the painstaking record of Herzog having to repeat Charlie Chaplin's gag without movie props. Herzog staged it at the U.C. Theater in Berkeley, California, cooked the shoes thoroughly, and is shown in brief shots nibbling on pieces. It's mostly an advertisement for Gates of Heaven, though in that way Herzog has of presenting if not promoting himself, his gracious, enthusiastic, apocalyptic and playful, but self-assertive statements of the movie's place, like his own in the struggle against our inadequate language and images. If you haven't gone back to check this, there's good material for your Herzog impersonation.
Among the offbeat movie history of Werner Herzog (see My Best Fiend, Burden of Dreams, etc.), including the way he mixed movies and real life, there's this little document. Herzog told Errol Morris that if he got Gates of Heaven made and released, he, Herzog, would eat his shoe. He held to his promise and another filmmaker Les Blank decided to film it. The title, though literal, is also in the style of Blank's portraits. It's not really the stunt, like the painstaking record of Herzog having to repeat Charlie Chaplin's gag without movie props. Herzog staged it at the U.C. Theater in Berkeley, California, cooked the shoes thoroughly, and is shown in brief shots nibbling on pieces. It's mostly an advertisement for Gates of Heaven, though in that way Herzog has of presenting if not promoting himself, his gracious, enthusiastic, apocalyptic and playful, but self-assertive statements of the movie's place, like his own in the struggle against our inadequate language and images. If you haven't gone back to check this, there's good material for your Herzog impersonation.
The Disappearance of Shere Hite (2023)
For those who never put a face to The Hite Report, this certainly provides lots of interesting information, but there is so much bad video of all the 80s TV talk show and news interview variety to remind me also why I didn't pay attention to it. And this documentary manages to state the case otherwise than with some outright statements to the effect that Shere Hite was way too concerned about her reception at that level, the sort of defiant and intransigent mainstream that took her work as a threat and the media that pandered to that.
For those who never put a face to The Hite Report, this certainly provides lots of interesting information, but there is so much bad video of all the 80s TV talk show and news interview variety to remind me also why I didn't pay attention to it. And this documentary manages to state the case otherwise than with some outright statements to the effect that Shere Hite was way too concerned about her reception at that level, the sort of defiant and intransigent mainstream that took her work as a threat and the media that pandered to that.
Six Ways to Sunday (1997)
So many 90s quirky indie movies had to be about capers or mobsters, crime in some way, what later became the stuff of series. Adam Bernstein would go on to direct so many of the latter: Breaking Bad, Fargo, Better Call Saul, among many others. As with so much of that, in this movie the parts don't always add up, but the execution is interesting and makes for some moments of dark comedy observation or scrapes against the grain, especially with the acting, and especially there with Norman Reedus, Debbie Harry and Peter Appel. Harry's performance is particularly a truffle to turn up. It's not just quirky chic, but has dramatic weight, seeing through to the point of the character which is more creepy and pathetic if mingled with some charm.
So many 90s quirky indie movies had to be about capers or mobsters, crime in some way, what later became the stuff of series. Adam Bernstein would go on to direct so many of the latter: Breaking Bad, Fargo, Better Call Saul, among many others. As with so much of that, in this movie the parts don't always add up, but the execution is interesting and makes for some moments of dark comedy observation or scrapes against the grain, especially with the acting, and especially there with Norman Reedus, Debbie Harry and Peter Appel. Harry's performance is particularly a truffle to turn up. It's not just quirky chic, but has dramatic weight, seeing through to the point of the character which is more creepy and pathetic if mingled with some charm.
The Marvels (2023)
Its poor box office performance was seen as the sign of the decline of the superhero trend, but it's also because this is just not as good in its own right. Everything that Marvel did well, this does not, and Brie Larson's performance is the microcosm of it. What was offhand and sharp is here cranked up cutesy.
Its poor box office performance was seen as the sign of the decline of the superhero trend, but it's also because this is just not as good in its own right. Everything that Marvel did well, this does not, and Brie Larson's performance is the microcosm of it. What was offhand and sharp is here cranked up cutesy.
Next Goal Wins (2023)
Taika Waititi's fictional version of the story of the American Samoa soccer team -- there's a 2014 documentary about them with the same title -- who suffered the worst loss in international competition history, 31-0 to Australia, has all the right material for him and his approach. But it's also the material that seems to confine him, as it ends up in the sports inspirational form. There's something hasty about it too, almost sloppy, as if cuts were imposed on it. There are all sorts of points where I wanted the movie to slow down and take up something interesting it presented, just as when Michael Fassbender, as the Dutch-American coach, says, "Tell me more about this fa'afafine thing."
Taika Waititi's fictional version of the story of the American Samoa soccer team -- there's a 2014 documentary about them with the same title -- who suffered the worst loss in international competition history, 31-0 to Australia, has all the right material for him and his approach. But it's also the material that seems to confine him, as it ends up in the sports inspirational form. There's something hasty about it too, almost sloppy, as if cuts were imposed on it. There are all sorts of points where I wanted the movie to slow down and take up something interesting it presented, just as when Michael Fassbender, as the Dutch-American coach, says, "Tell me more about this fa'afafine thing."
Clash of the Titans (1981)
For Ray Harryhausen vehicles, this had a bigger budget and stars, a variation on the basic voyage formula, and did well at the box office. Riding the Star Wars wave helped somewhat, despite people thinking its special effects were already dated -- several reviewers expressed this opinion -- although those movies were still using optical effects and even stop motion in some cases. It would be Harryhausen's final movie, and it was clear that composite images for optical effects were much more sophisticated with The Empire Strikes Back, which involved new technology for the process, but it was also the frame of the rest of the movie that simply wasn't as well done. In some scenes every shot looks like it could be from a different movie, the lighting, tone, color quality, and the stop-motion isn't as well blended. The mechanical owl sounds so much like R2D2 that even Harryhausen's claim the character was conceived before Star Wars can't mitigate the derivative effect. But it's mostly the plot that bogs it down.
For Ray Harryhausen vehicles, this had a bigger budget and stars, a variation on the basic voyage formula, and did well at the box office. Riding the Star Wars wave helped somewhat, despite people thinking its special effects were already dated -- several reviewers expressed this opinion -- although those movies were still using optical effects and even stop motion in some cases. It would be Harryhausen's final movie, and it was clear that composite images for optical effects were much more sophisticated with The Empire Strikes Back, which involved new technology for the process, but it was also the frame of the rest of the movie that simply wasn't as well done. In some scenes every shot looks like it could be from a different movie, the lighting, tone, color quality, and the stop-motion isn't as well blended. The mechanical owl sounds so much like R2D2 that even Harryhausen's claim the character was conceived before Star Wars can't mitigate the derivative effect. But it's mostly the plot that bogs it down.
Paperback Hero (1999)
This starts out as grueling perky fluff and the whole thing seems awfully 80s. But the catch about romance writing within the story sets off some less obvious or contrived turns, and even through all the billboard Australiana, there's a sturdier good nature and air of the place.
This starts out as grueling perky fluff and the whole thing seems awfully 80s. But the catch about romance writing within the story sets off some less obvious or contrived turns, and even through all the billboard Australiana, there's a sturdier good nature and air of the place.
Dragged Across Concrete (2018)
S. Craig Zahler's still shots and low-gear approach are certainly an antidote to the blizzard style of so much contemporary stuff, especially action movies and thrillers. With Mel Gibson in this, it's even a nice counter to the manic Lethal Weapon of his earlier days. And Zahler uses this to set up the violent or ghastly, that comes along in this unassuming way, and isn't blared at you with flash and bang. Bone Tomahawk was the peak of the ghastly, but this has a scene that feels like he's rubbing our nose in guts. And that's the problem with drawing it out. While the plot mechanics make the action seem less gratuitous than Brawl in Cell Block 99, the looming also suggests dramatic weight or an uncanny take that doesn't pan out with anything else.
1/20/24
S. Craig Zahler's still shots and low-gear approach are certainly an antidote to the blizzard style of so much contemporary stuff, especially action movies and thrillers. With Mel Gibson in this, it's even a nice counter to the manic Lethal Weapon of his earlier days. And Zahler uses this to set up the violent or ghastly, that comes along in this unassuming way, and isn't blared at you with flash and bang. Bone Tomahawk was the peak of the ghastly, but this has a scene that feels like he's rubbing our nose in guts. And that's the problem with drawing it out. While the plot mechanics make the action seem less gratuitous than Brawl in Cell Block 99, the looming also suggests dramatic weight or an uncanny take that doesn't pan out with anything else.
Monster (2023)
Hirozaku Kore-eda's latest begins more like Shoplifters, flatter, scrappier, sometimes manic, but in the end is more like Nobody Knows, rolling and graceful even with the way it expands the perspective and undertones that are more difficult or darker, or uncovers the reactions and conflict. Kore-eda makes this a shifting perspective study, Rashomon-like, but the purpose, or at least effect of it, is to show how so many of the reactions are based on what is not known. This is similar to Abbas Kiarostami's movies about children not properly heeded by adults. The problem is that the first and second passes are much more compressed, jump more, and have other effects. One scene in particular, a meeting in a principle's office, seems like it could be from a paranoid or delusional point of view of one of the characters.
Hirozaku Kore-eda's latest begins more like Shoplifters, flatter, scrappier, sometimes manic, but in the end is more like Nobody Knows, rolling and graceful even with the way it expands the perspective and undertones that are more difficult or darker, or uncovers the reactions and conflict. Kore-eda makes this a shifting perspective study, Rashomon-like, but the purpose, or at least effect of it, is to show how so many of the reactions are based on what is not known. This is similar to Abbas Kiarostami's movies about children not properly heeded by adults. The problem is that the first and second passes are much more compressed, jump more, and have other effects. One scene in particular, a meeting in a principle's office, seems like it could be from a paranoid or delusional point of view of one of the characters.
Becoming Bond (2017)
If you think the story of the one-off James Bond, Australian George Lazenby of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, isn't very pertinent or significant, consider reversing that. It's precisely the fact that he walked away from it, turned down the offer -- Lazenby says it was actually labeled a "slave contract" -- that the story is special and significant. As with Barry Sanders walking away from his pro football career, there's a prejudicial defiance of this sort of major opt-out, that no matter what reason or perception it strains, begs the issue of whether "no" is considered in its own right, or our volition and decision in anything. Lazenby like Sanders often said, and did again here, that it's hard to explain or that he he's not sure why. But the case he presents even before he says this seems to make it very clear why "no" was compelling, if not more so. The documentary uses jocular recreations of Lazenby's life stories, the sort of grain of salt tone director Josh Greenbaum suggests when he asks Lazenby how much is true (and there are some surprising appearances in the dramatization: Jane Seymour, Jeff Garlin, Dana Carey), but also mixes in plenty of archival material. Lazenby is playfully frank, but in a plain way, not coy or blustery, about his shortcomings and his achievements, and at least in that demonstrates the indifference to sucking up he professes about the past events.
If you think the story of the one-off James Bond, Australian George Lazenby of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, isn't very pertinent or significant, consider reversing that. It's precisely the fact that he walked away from it, turned down the offer -- Lazenby says it was actually labeled a "slave contract" -- that the story is special and significant. As with Barry Sanders walking away from his pro football career, there's a prejudicial defiance of this sort of major opt-out, that no matter what reason or perception it strains, begs the issue of whether "no" is considered in its own right, or our volition and decision in anything. Lazenby like Sanders often said, and did again here, that it's hard to explain or that he he's not sure why. But the case he presents even before he says this seems to make it very clear why "no" was compelling, if not more so. The documentary uses jocular recreations of Lazenby's life stories, the sort of grain of salt tone director Josh Greenbaum suggests when he asks Lazenby how much is true (and there are some surprising appearances in the dramatization: Jane Seymour, Jeff Garlin, Dana Carey), but also mixes in plenty of archival material. Lazenby is playfully frank, but in a plain way, not coy or blustery, about his shortcomings and his achievements, and at least in that demonstrates the indifference to sucking up he professes about the past events.
Without a Trace (1983)
Producer Stanley R. Jaffe (Goodbye Columbus, The Bad News Bears, Kramer vs. Kramer, et al.) had this one directorial outing. The approach of the script and the pace and manner, and that of Kate Nelligan, give a different emphasis than procedurals or thrillers. At best this seems patient, observing less typical things in a less typical way. But it becomes more like a soap opera or TV inspirational movie. Based loosely on the case of Etan Patz, one of the first milk carton photo children, this has a very different outcome.
Producer Stanley R. Jaffe (Goodbye Columbus, The Bad News Bears, Kramer vs. Kramer, et al.) had this one directorial outing. The approach of the script and the pace and manner, and that of Kate Nelligan, give a different emphasis than procedurals or thrillers. At best this seems patient, observing less typical things in a less typical way. But it becomes more like a soap opera or TV inspirational movie. Based loosely on the case of Etan Patz, one of the first milk carton photo children, this has a very different outcome.
Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins (2019)
This does its subject justice with it's lively gait tracing out the moves and turns and stops that contributed to her insider's repertoire with an outsider's sensibility.
This does its subject justice with it's lively gait tracing out the moves and turns and stops that contributed to her insider's repertoire with an outsider's sensibility.
Training Day (2001)
It's hard to hold it against Denzel Washington that this is such a grandstand performance, mostly because he still does a great job. The script and the direction play it up, all the stuff packed into one day, it's tilted up towards thriller on the scale, and the climactic moment draws out too much for posey significant effect. Compared to thrillers, though, it comes off less sensational and more involved with the characters, and it has a good look with rich color, contrasting medium close-ups with the frequently moving background (lots of sequences in the car) for a vivid impression of Los Angeles.
1/12/24
It's hard to hold it against Denzel Washington that this is such a grandstand performance, mostly because he still does a great job. The script and the direction play it up, all the stuff packed into one day, it's tilted up towards thriller on the scale, and the climactic moment draws out too much for posey significant effect. Compared to thrillers, though, it comes off less sensational and more involved with the characters, and it has a good look with rich color, contrasting medium close-ups with the frequently moving background (lots of sequences in the car) for a vivid impression of Los Angeles.
Sometimes a Great Notion (1972)
Decent scrappy portrait especially with the performances of Henry Fonda, Paul Newman, Richard Jaeckel and Michael Sarrazin. Newman ended up directing the script by John Gay based on Ken Kesey's book, and whether inadvertently or not, kept a light hand, making a more laissez-aller approach with the logger family at the breakfast table and out on the job. This also worked to make for one of the most memorably gruesome scenes of its day, a matter-of-fact counter-effect. I saw the movie again after a long time and I had forgotten how long the scene is, how much it builds up. The best thing about the movie is the way it shows the funny line between community and antagonism, how the parties set against each other are also friends and neighbors as likely to help each other out as strike a blow.
Decent scrappy portrait especially with the performances of Henry Fonda, Paul Newman, Richard Jaeckel and Michael Sarrazin. Newman ended up directing the script by John Gay based on Ken Kesey's book, and whether inadvertently or not, kept a light hand, making a more laissez-aller approach with the logger family at the breakfast table and out on the job. This also worked to make for one of the most memorably gruesome scenes of its day, a matter-of-fact counter-effect. I saw the movie again after a long time and I had forgotten how long the scene is, how much it builds up. The best thing about the movie is the way it shows the funny line between community and antagonism, how the parties set against each other are also friends and neighbors as likely to help each other out as strike a blow.
Song to Song (2017)
Terrence Malick makes his own, distinct kind of movie, what could be called reverie itself, the movie version of it, and I like it and want him to make the movie he wants. But idiosyncrasy also means patterns, and his most recent run of movies has fallen into one that finally here just seems too precious. As parts of Tree of Life seemed like religious commercials, this seems like some family of man promotional. I'm not sure even in memory how many people are wandering around all the time, even in a room, doing stretchy poses, twirling their hair or butterflies, or wrestling. At one point, it struck me this was like the moping or reverie version of a first person shooter game. The fact it's also set at Austin music festivals and in lots of chic pads and hipster spots doesn't help the precious factor, even the schmoozing with musical personages like Patti Smith, Iggy Pop or John Lydon.
Terrence Malick makes his own, distinct kind of movie, what could be called reverie itself, the movie version of it, and I like it and want him to make the movie he wants. But idiosyncrasy also means patterns, and his most recent run of movies has fallen into one that finally here just seems too precious. As parts of Tree of Life seemed like religious commercials, this seems like some family of man promotional. I'm not sure even in memory how many people are wandering around all the time, even in a room, doing stretchy poses, twirling their hair or butterflies, or wrestling. At one point, it struck me this was like the moping or reverie version of a first person shooter game. The fact it's also set at Austin music festivals and in lots of chic pads and hipster spots doesn't help the precious factor, even the schmoozing with musical personages like Patti Smith, Iggy Pop or John Lydon.
The Impostors (1998)
You have to wade through pedestrian stuff, sort of like when improv isn't good or bad sketch comedy, to get a few good moments. It's a party movie, the kind where they were all just having fun doing it. Check out the cast. It's a nice idea, a kind of modern Laurel and Hardy, and the premise of two out-of-work actors who have a bigger idea of themselves, but really needed to be tightened up. There's good music, accordion swing.
You have to wade through pedestrian stuff, sort of like when improv isn't good or bad sketch comedy, to get a few good moments. It's a party movie, the kind where they were all just having fun doing it. Check out the cast. It's a nice idea, a kind of modern Laurel and Hardy, and the premise of two out-of-work actors who have a bigger idea of themselves, but really needed to be tightened up. There's good music, accordion swing.
The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956)
To appreciate what Ray Harryhausen achieved, check out what so many other attempts look like. This movie actually beat The Valley of Gwangi to the draw for cowboys and dinosaurs, but not coincidentally because it was based on the same idea by stop-motion pioneer Willis O'Brien, of King Kong fame, who was originally going to do the effects for this. Boy what a comedown. Despite some interesting photography otherwise in this American-Mexican co-production, when the T-Rex-oid beast finally does show up, it's like something a kindergartner made with Play-Doh. Even the composite shots look cheap, the Play-Doh in front of a screen with a live shot. This was featured as an episode of the new Mystery Science Theater 3000 originally in 2017 (episode 1.5).
To appreciate what Ray Harryhausen achieved, check out what so many other attempts look like. This movie actually beat The Valley of Gwangi to the draw for cowboys and dinosaurs, but not coincidentally because it was based on the same idea by stop-motion pioneer Willis O'Brien, of King Kong fame, who was originally going to do the effects for this. Boy what a comedown. Despite some interesting photography otherwise in this American-Mexican co-production, when the T-Rex-oid beast finally does show up, it's like something a kindergartner made with Play-Doh. Even the composite shots look cheap, the Play-Doh in front of a screen with a live shot. This was featured as an episode of the new Mystery Science Theater 3000 originally in 2017 (episode 1.5).
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
Similar to Stage Door, and lots of other showgirl or actress melodramas of the era like the Gold Digger movies, this is even more conventional than Christopher Strong, which Dorothy Arzner also directed. Through even the obvious contrast of innocent Maureen O'Hara and jaded Lucille Ball there are touches that defy expectations of behavior of or consequences for the women, but even the notable speech by O'Hara to the audience at the dancehall, that has become significant through reassessment in feminist film criticism as calling out the male gaze, is also in the style of the era for climactic, earnest speechifying, e.g. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Similar to Stage Door, and lots of other showgirl or actress melodramas of the era like the Gold Digger movies, this is even more conventional than Christopher Strong, which Dorothy Arzner also directed. Through even the obvious contrast of innocent Maureen O'Hara and jaded Lucille Ball there are touches that defy expectations of behavior of or consequences for the women, but even the notable speech by O'Hara to the audience at the dancehall, that has become significant through reassessment in feminist film criticism as calling out the male gaze, is also in the style of the era for climactic, earnest speechifying, e.g. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
American Buffalo (1996)
Film version of one of David Mamet's most renowned plays that thankfully doesn't try to open up too much in that movie adaptation way. It expands on the little world of the junk shop with just its little corner and a view of the diner across the street that figures in the story through reference. This keeps the world small enough as a stage would, and director Michael Corrente has the virtue of keeping it modest as a movie for more of what the stage would emphasize, which is the acting. Dennis Franz stands up well to Dustin Hoffman, a nice cross with their characters, since his Don doesn't stand up too well to Hoffman's relentless weaselly Teach. This sort of slice of life makes expressive what might not come across as appealing or even interesting if you had to encounter it, but Mamet has his own version of well-made, the structured theatrical turns and revelations that depart from the banality otherwise depicted with the language.
Film version of one of David Mamet's most renowned plays that thankfully doesn't try to open up too much in that movie adaptation way. It expands on the little world of the junk shop with just its little corner and a view of the diner across the street that figures in the story through reference. This keeps the world small enough as a stage would, and director Michael Corrente has the virtue of keeping it modest as a movie for more of what the stage would emphasize, which is the acting. Dennis Franz stands up well to Dustin Hoffman, a nice cross with their characters, since his Don doesn't stand up too well to Hoffman's relentless weaselly Teach. This sort of slice of life makes expressive what might not come across as appealing or even interesting if you had to encounter it, but Mamet has his own version of well-made, the structured theatrical turns and revelations that depart from the banality otherwise depicted with the language.
The Farthest (2017)
This Irish production is an anecdotal account of the Voyager missions, the two unmanned spacecraft launched in the 70s, one of which has now left our solar system as the most distant representative of life on Earth. It covers the famous golden record (Steve Martin's joke on Saturday Night Live about the message from aliens: "Send more Chuck Berry"), how the Voyagers opened up the new era of probe exploration, with the first nearby views of the outer planets, and how the knowledge of our Solar System has increased since more than all the time before. With moments like Carl Sagan's "blue dot," Voyager turning back to take a picture of the solar system beyond Neptune, the contrast of the ephemeral life of these scientists and engineers in their modest, ordinary reminiscence with the enormity of space and time gives a different poignant perspective to documentary interviews.
This Irish production is an anecdotal account of the Voyager missions, the two unmanned spacecraft launched in the 70s, one of which has now left our solar system as the most distant representative of life on Earth. It covers the famous golden record (Steve Martin's joke on Saturday Night Live about the message from aliens: "Send more Chuck Berry"), how the Voyagers opened up the new era of probe exploration, with the first nearby views of the outer planets, and how the knowledge of our Solar System has increased since more than all the time before. With moments like Carl Sagan's "blue dot," Voyager turning back to take a picture of the solar system beyond Neptune, the contrast of the ephemeral life of these scientists and engineers in their modest, ordinary reminiscence with the enormity of space and time gives a different poignant perspective to documentary interviews.
Christopher Strong (1933)
Notable work of director Dorothy Arzner for the presentation of Katherine Hepburn as modern woman, and boy how in garb. The source novel was altered -- a woman race driver becomes an aviatrix -- as the emphasis shifted to the woman character. Even the title of the movie becomes an ironic comment of this, as the male character (played by Colin Clive of Frankenstein fame: "It's alive!") gets upstaged in the story and by Hepburn as main attraction, top billing and those outfits in every scene, including her flying clothes (later used on a Led Zeppelin poster) and the literally outstanding moth dress. Outrageous, like something from a sci-fi movie, it stands out from everything. It's supposed to be a ball gown but there's never even a scene at the ball. Arzner, as a woman and lesbian, may have been more open about her own life among the Hollywood crowd of the day, but in the public-facing movie it's about an extra-marital affair and woman's independence in that relationship, which makes this more interesting than the typical Hollywood melodrama even in this movie, as well as others, including others of Arzner.
Notable work of director Dorothy Arzner for the presentation of Katherine Hepburn as modern woman, and boy how in garb. The source novel was altered -- a woman race driver becomes an aviatrix -- as the emphasis shifted to the woman character. Even the title of the movie becomes an ironic comment of this, as the male character (played by Colin Clive of Frankenstein fame: "It's alive!") gets upstaged in the story and by Hepburn as main attraction, top billing and those outfits in every scene, including her flying clothes (later used on a Led Zeppelin poster) and the literally outstanding moth dress. Outrageous, like something from a sci-fi movie, it stands out from everything. It's supposed to be a ball gown but there's never even a scene at the ball. Arzner, as a woman and lesbian, may have been more open about her own life among the Hollywood crowd of the day, but in the public-facing movie it's about an extra-marital affair and woman's independence in that relationship, which makes this more interesting than the typical Hollywood melodrama even in this movie, as well as others, including others of Arzner.
Maestro (2023)
The photography and make-up effects are impressive. Some of the scenes look remarkably like old interview footage, with the color and tone, of skin, too, and the seamlessness of the make-up. But like that technical prowess and Bradley Cooper's performance, the whole thing demonstrates the limit of a clever imitation. It's a good accent. Cooper does lots of interesting and artful stuff with his direction -- more impressive than the showy scenes like the dance numbers and conducting is the attention to dialogue, the way characters talk over each other and show the psychological difficulty behind even well-composed statements -- but it's sketchy, a pastiche. This might've made for a good comment itself, how impossible life is to really compose like art, or even something close to a Godard collage method, but it feels like the forest is lost in the trees.
1/5/24
The photography and make-up effects are impressive. Some of the scenes look remarkably like old interview footage, with the color and tone, of skin, too, and the seamlessness of the make-up. But like that technical prowess and Bradley Cooper's performance, the whole thing demonstrates the limit of a clever imitation. It's a good accent. Cooper does lots of interesting and artful stuff with his direction -- more impressive than the showy scenes like the dance numbers and conducting is the attention to dialogue, the way characters talk over each other and show the psychological difficulty behind even well-composed statements -- but it's sketchy, a pastiche. This might've made for a good comment itself, how impossible life is to really compose like art, or even something close to a Godard collage method, but it feels like the forest is lost in the trees.
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
The overall tone or form is a bit too perky, not quite the darkest undertone even for flip in the noir style, but this has some of those great effects of the era giving a cinematic equivalent of descriptive or poetic or subjective writing passages. Early on there's a city montage with camerawork that pulses and bobs with a jazzy feel, and then there are marvelous scenes of subjective experience, such as "a gray web woven by a thousand spiders" and an inky black cloud kind of iris that closes the image, when Marlowe, in his first movie incarnation, succumbs to some enhanced experience. That's inspired by Raymond Chandler's prose, but John Paxton's script has plenty of dialogue and narration straight from the source or doing it justice.
The overall tone or form is a bit too perky, not quite the darkest undertone even for flip in the noir style, but this has some of those great effects of the era giving a cinematic equivalent of descriptive or poetic or subjective writing passages. Early on there's a city montage with camerawork that pulses and bobs with a jazzy feel, and then there are marvelous scenes of subjective experience, such as "a gray web woven by a thousand spiders" and an inky black cloud kind of iris that closes the image, when Marlowe, in his first movie incarnation, succumbs to some enhanced experience. That's inspired by Raymond Chandler's prose, but John Paxton's script has plenty of dialogue and narration straight from the source or doing it justice.
Fantastic Four (2015)
Another reboot attempt that, even if its contributions lived up to the somewhat more interesting prospect of director Josh Trank of Chronicle or the cast, would still have to overcome the saturation of superheros just as the biggest wave was coming. This plays as an even meeker TV series right when the Marvel mainline reached peak form.
Another reboot attempt that, even if its contributions lived up to the somewhat more interesting prospect of director Josh Trank of Chronicle or the cast, would still have to overcome the saturation of superheros just as the biggest wave was coming. This plays as an even meeker TV series right when the Marvel mainline reached peak form.
First Blood (1982)
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
Rambo III (1988)
The real showdown, here, in the first movie, is between Brian Dennehy and Richard Crenna: duel of the lizard head actors. If you thought Dennehy had bobblehead swagger, just wait for Crenna. All three movies have a bit of the old drive-in B movie bait and switch, where there's lots more dialogue and setup than main attraction, but instead of monsters they're chintzing on special forces badass ass-kicking. Sylvester Stallone does a lot of droopy dog face brooding and, in the first movie, apart from one mountain man booby trap sequence, crawling through mine shafts. The second installment tries to be the most frenetic and especially with editing is the most clumsy. The big movie production, the photography in the first, the Afghan camp, actors and military equipment in the third, are built around an adolescent pouty act. It's flimsy at the center. The reverent and noble tone of the third, convenient when the Soviets were in Afghanistan, dresses up the action and revenge draw. The closing credit songs of all of them bring out the macho maudlin quality, as if a model for the lowest sort of patriotic pablum since (see, e.g., Last Ounce of Courage). Final score: Rocky 5, Rambo 3.
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
Rambo III (1988)
The real showdown, here, in the first movie, is between Brian Dennehy and Richard Crenna: duel of the lizard head actors. If you thought Dennehy had bobblehead swagger, just wait for Crenna. All three movies have a bit of the old drive-in B movie bait and switch, where there's lots more dialogue and setup than main attraction, but instead of monsters they're chintzing on special forces badass ass-kicking. Sylvester Stallone does a lot of droopy dog face brooding and, in the first movie, apart from one mountain man booby trap sequence, crawling through mine shafts. The second installment tries to be the most frenetic and especially with editing is the most clumsy. The big movie production, the photography in the first, the Afghan camp, actors and military equipment in the third, are built around an adolescent pouty act. It's flimsy at the center. The reverent and noble tone of the third, convenient when the Soviets were in Afghanistan, dresses up the action and revenge draw. The closing credit songs of all of them bring out the macho maudlin quality, as if a model for the lowest sort of patriotic pablum since (see, e.g., Last Ounce of Courage). Final score: Rocky 5, Rambo 3.
The Silent Partner (1978)
Sneaking into a thriller as much as through a Christmas setting -- a mall Santa suit also serves as bank robber's cover, well before Bad Santa -- this sly, droll little Canadian product also features an interesting combo for its cast, Elliot Gould and Susannah York joining Canadians Christopher Plummer and Celine Lomez. You can also catch John Candy in an early film role and a rare film score by Oscar Peterson.
Sneaking into a thriller as much as through a Christmas setting -- a mall Santa suit also serves as bank robber's cover, well before Bad Santa -- this sly, droll little Canadian product also features an interesting combo for its cast, Elliot Gould and Susannah York joining Canadians Christopher Plummer and Celine Lomez. You can also catch John Candy in an early film role and a rare film score by Oscar Peterson.
Alive (1993)
It's matter of fact in a snappy way, and that avoids lots of disaster and horror movie bluster, so that, for example, the initial event actually has more effect. It's not primed, but is the abrupt change to the order. This may have been intended to keep things from getting too gruesome. But it then has another effect of making things seem too detached, if not impertinent.
It's matter of fact in a snappy way, and that avoids lots of disaster and horror movie bluster, so that, for example, the initial event actually has more effect. It's not primed, but is the abrupt change to the order. This may have been intended to keep things from getting too gruesome. But it then has another effect of making things seem too detached, if not impertinent.
Dream Scenario (2023)
You don't have to go to Nicolas Cage's more personal experience to get the allegorical upshot of this. The fact he's in so many movies already makes him like the character here, a man who starts showing up in everyone's dreams. It's also easy to see how this is a parable about social media and the increased effects or consequences of public opinion. As in Adaptation, Cage shows his range with the flip side of his action movie characters, more low-key and vulnerable even in his eccentricities. What's best about this is the way director Kristoffer Borgli folds everything into the general montage so that skipping and skimming from dreams begins bleeds to the waking life scenes.
You don't have to go to Nicolas Cage's more personal experience to get the allegorical upshot of this. The fact he's in so many movies already makes him like the character here, a man who starts showing up in everyone's dreams. It's also easy to see how this is a parable about social media and the increased effects or consequences of public opinion. As in Adaptation, Cage shows his range with the flip side of his action movie characters, more low-key and vulnerable even in his eccentricities. What's best about this is the way director Kristoffer Borgli folds everything into the general montage so that skipping and skimming from dreams begins bleeds to the waking life scenes.
Krampus (2015)
Krampus was already a nice folkloric twist on Christmas, sort of bringing a Halloween streak into the winter holidays. This attempt at a modern rendition has a good cast, but it's not content with just the Krampus idea and splatters all over the place. It's like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation meets Gremlins via Nightmare on Elm Street, but not making an interesting mix.
Krampus was already a nice folkloric twist on Christmas, sort of bringing a Halloween streak into the winter holidays. This attempt at a modern rendition has a good cast, but it's not content with just the Krampus idea and splatters all over the place. It's like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation meets Gremlins via Nightmare on Elm Street, but not making an interesting mix.
Saltburn (2023)
Teorema crossed with Brideshead Revisited, but as a fancy idea, effects cobbled together with other provocations. From writer, director Emerald Fennell who also did Promising Young Woman.
Teorema crossed with Brideshead Revisited, but as a fancy idea, effects cobbled together with other provocations. From writer, director Emerald Fennell who also did Promising Young Woman.
Bad Santa (2003)
Primed to counter just about every sentiment for Christmas, this works because the characters are interesting cutouts of real-life behavior or eccentricities, something you'd expect from director Terry Zwigoff, even though it was written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa from an idea by Ethan and Joel Coen.
Primed to counter just about every sentiment for Christmas, this works because the characters are interesting cutouts of real-life behavior or eccentricities, something you'd expect from director Terry Zwigoff, even though it was written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa from an idea by Ethan and Joel Coen.
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Entries by Greg Macon for the Facebook group Movie Brains, related to film comments on this website, Fixion. Text for movie comments this page © 2024 Greg Macon. Banner image and quote from Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.
Contact: mail@fixionsytes.net
Because you're fucking spooky, dude.
-- Christopher Walken to Eric Roberts (according to the latter), "How Eric Roberts Went Big, Crashed Hard, and Became the Hardest-Working Man in Hollywood," by Sam Kashner, in Vanity Fair, 1/31/2018
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/01/eric-roberts-the-hardest-working-man-in-hollywood
The Godfather is the godfather of films you watch over and over and over. I'd have to give that the trophy of the rewatch.
-- Albert Brooks, "Albert Brooks Everlasting," by Adrienne La France, in The Atlantic, 11/11/2023
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2023/11/albert-brooks-defending-my-life-interview/675976/