THREE FILMS - THE HUMAN RACE, OPEN GRAVE, ANCHORMAN II

THE HUMAN RACE

Sort of a combination of Stephen King’s THE LONG WALK and an episode of Outer Limits with some elements of SAW.  Good characters and is suspenseful but a small budget hinders the effect of the narrative.  A bigger budget would have helped.

OPEN GRAVE

A strong opening and an intelligent handling of the momentum horror/mystery unfortunately gives way to zombie movie clichés.  Well made but it gets trapped in genre.  I did like the ending.

ANCHORMAN II

Laughed hard at the first film which is chock full of wild hilarity but this is pretty awful.  The rule of thumb here seems to be if it was funny in the first film, do it again ad nauseum x100.  By the end, I just wanted it to finish- it feels very long.  Repeating a joke doesn’t make it funnier (unless you’re Rodney Dangerfield).

      

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

Lesbianism is hardly controversial these days and this overlong and melodramatic film pads the time between its raunchy and explicit sex scenes with lengthy periods of conversation which are meant to show through discussions of interests how its characters tick.

Adele Exarchopoulos who plays the feminine, sexually confused Adele is truly a beautiful young woman.  Lea Seydoux plays the older, more confident Emma who is comfortable with her lesbianism.

Re: Adele’s sexual confusion – One thing I did like about this movie is that it shows that sexuality is fluid, subject to change in some people (something I do believe).

Not a great film but okay, in the end more of a kitchen sink soap opera than a tale of sexual discovery.

PETER O'TOOLE RIP

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA is my second favourite film of all time (next to TAXI DRIVER).  It is perhaps the best made movie I have ever seen.  At its center, in order to deliver its epic story of colonial betrayal and universal loyalty, is the acting of Peter O’Toole.  He creates an icon, becomes an icon, and has the acting chops, the spoken gravitas, to back it up.

O’Toole was the greatest actor never to win an Oscar.  His eight losses are a record.  This was more bad luck than anything else.  In particular what made O’ Toole great was his pronunciation, his diction, his enunciation.  He had one of the greatest speaking voices of any actor.

He was also a larger than life character  The blurring of the actor with his real life, the role and the man, was a key component of his embrace by pop culture and he told a great drinking story http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-editors/peter-o-toole-80-best-drinking-stories-132719697.html

And aside from LAWRENCE another great O’Toole performance is, his sixth best actor nomination, is THE STUNT MAN....Demonic, mysterious, he keeps the audience guessing, in the palm of his hand. 

       

BREATHLESS (DDONGPARI)

The 2009 Korean film BREATHLESS is dizzying, overwhelming, fantastic film making.  It’s a powerful tale of the cycle of violence that never lets up.

The two leads are superb.  Their chemistry is perfect, it feels very real, and the decision for them not to have a sexual relationship (she is a school girl, he is a man in his late 20’s) was an excellent one by the filmmaker.

While one may be inclined to say that this film overstates its point, it never feels over the top despite the constant violence which until the end is never really gory.  The violence here is stomach churning and unpleasant no more so than the scene where the anti-hero lashes out at total strangers after an issue involving his father.

How violence works its way down to the next generation is really the point here.

FOUR FILMS, - BLACKFISH, NOTHING CAN HURT ME, DARK TOUCH, PRINCE AVALANCHE

BLACKFISH

Powerful, tough documentary that explores every angle of Seaworld’s keeping killer whales in captivity and the bigger question of killer whale captivity in general.  The focus of the investigation here (but not near the only thing discussed) is a captive whale that has killed three people over the last couple of decades (two trainers and a guy who snuck into Seaworld afterhours)  Makes me want to go protest Seaworld right now!  A hell of an investigative documentary.

NOTHING CAN HURT ME

Since it dealt with music and a larger discussion of Big Star was in order, I’ve written about this quite good documentary on my other blog http://www.rgdinmalaysia.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-few-thoughts-on-big-star-documentary.html

DARK TOUCH

Unsettling is the world to use to describe this psychic abused child revenge horror film.  The young lead actress is really good and the whole film gave me the creeps.  The doll party scene – wow!  It is hurt though by a confusing ending that wasn’t on the same level of the rest of the film and seemed anti-climatic.

 

PRINCE AVALANCHE

Can’t decide if it wants to be a quirky indie pic or bromance frat pack film.  End result is inoffensive, tepid, dull.  Only worthwhile thing I can say about this film is it is the last appearance of dependable character actor Lance LeGault – he is the only good thing here.

   

Z AND STATE OF SEIGE BY COSTA GAVRAS AND THE ART OF MAKING A POLITICAL FILM

I don’t think I’ve seen a film with as many painful blows to the head as those given out in Costa Gavras’s  Z.  Gavras, aside from being one of the best political filmmakers of all time, also tells a great story.  You feel the intimidation applied to the opposition party as they attempt to bring in a speaker on nuclear disarmament only to be met with stonewalling in the form of potential venues canceling under government pressure and the creation of new laws hindering the right to assemble.

You share the sense of helplessness as the military government using secret societies, paramilitary groups bring big gangs of armed thugs to disrupt the talk and eventually kill the speaker by hitting him on the head.

You share the rage at the cover-up that follows – the intimidation of witnesses, the ridiculous story of their version of what happened.

You feel the sense of jubilation at the end when a dogged prosecutor finally runs down those who are guilty indicting the whole junta in the process.

Gavras is also not afraid of indicting America for its Cold War coddling of right-wing dictatorships.  Here the reference point is Gavras’s native Greece and the military dictatorship that ran at America’s behest under the fig leaf of fighting communists.

Gavras tells his story like a documentary filmmaker showing different versions of what happened during a particular event but also making it clear which one is the truth.

STATE OF SEIGE is even more direct in its tale, based on the true story of Dan Mitrione, of a CIA torture specialist in Uruguay (whose cover story is head of a US Aid organization)  kidnapped and interrogated by local guerillas.  The scenes of torture taught to Uruguay’s military dictatorship complete with scenes of electric shocks applied to people’s genitals are powerful because they are not presented dramatically but rather as if this was something real captured on film perhaps by hidden camera.       

SIEGE works because it shows us all the angles as the charming but evil CIA man (well played by Yves Montand who also plays the murdered political leader in Z) gradually breaks down under the probing of his questioner never actually completely confessing but finally stopping the denial of the horrible things he has done.

It is hard to make a good political film with preachiness and ideology getting in the way of a good story.  Gavras filters his narrative through a form of cinema verite that is very story based and very active.  The end result is two great passionate films that also serve to remind us of America’s negative anti- human rights policies during that time. 

FOUR FILMS - CHILLING VISIONS: FIVE SENSES OF FEAR, SEXYKILLER, HELLBENDERS, ALL HALLOW'S EVE

CHILLING VISIONS: FIVE SENSES OF FEAR

I like horror anthology films and this was not a bad one.  I especially like how the stories interconnected.  The best were the 2^nd story (absolutely ferocious) and the 5^th story (clever, imaginative horror).

 

SEXYKILLER

Spanish high energy future cult film combines MAN BITES DOG, zombie films, and everything but the kitchen sink.  Very fun and way out there but tiring – Constantly throwing stuff at you.

 

HELLBENDERS

Usually horror comedies suck. The comedy part here works well but the horror part would have been better with a bigger budget particularly the finale which felt like it should have been much bigger.  

ALL HALLOWS EVE

Tries very hard to be scary but muddled plot hurts.  Much that happens is not explained and ends up like a series of random disconnected images.  It does have a really disturbing evil clown – So there’s that at least.

FOUR FILMS - FOUND, MADE OF STONE, BIG ASS SPIDER, SOLO

FOUND

A quirky, deep, unpredictable, and in its own way quite stylish horror film.  Does a very good job of probing its plot from different angles (young boy finds out his older brother is a serial killer).  It’s never obvious but also never loses sight of the fact that it is a horror film and is quite shocking at times.  The horror film within a horror film section in particular is brilliantly executed.  An excellent film.

  

MADE OF STONE

The live scenes of the reunited Stone Roses in concert are so terrific (Yes I’m a fan) that one can ignore the rest of this documentary which feels sanitized and safe.  Discussions of the Roses past without any mention of Brown vs Squires feud and drug abuse?  Forget it….The lengthy version of Fool’s Gold at the end is amazing.      

BIG ASS SPIDER

Better than what monster films the SyFy channel usually offers due to the sense of humor it has about itself, fast paced story, and the presence of the always reliable Ray Wise.  Nothing more than good fun and that’s okay.

SOLO

The twist revealed too quickly slightly takes the wind out of this move’s sails.  Otherwise, it builds the tension well with plenty of scary scenes in the woods and a plucky heroine.  I respect a film that can keep the audience biting their nails without much gore (which this film does).

A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CAREER OF BURT LANCASTER

Saw BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ the other day.  Far from being the usual by the numbers biographical picture, it’s a quirky narrative with the messy feel of real life.  The key is Burt Lancaster an actor who made an astonishingly good number of films.

                                                 

I say “astonishingly” because when I’m making a list of my favorite actors, Lancaster doesn’t automatically pop up in my mind.  He has a lot of passion but there is a coldness and a glibness that can be off putting.  He isn’t an actor I would normally rush to see a film based on his appearance in it. 

But at a certain point in his career, Lancaster switched from the studio system to independently made productions often produced or co-produced by himself.  After that he made one great movie after another rivaling any other great actor for a hot streak.   

ELMER GANTRY, THE SWIMMER, THE LEOPARD, and his best film THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS among many others show expert film selection by Lancaster.  What these classic, great films have in common is the main character is dead center.  His reaction to his environment, how he changes or doesn’t change is the primary focus despite all the other aspects of the movie – great writing, great cinematography, other excellent actors in roles.  His later films TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEAMING, GO TELL THE SPARTANS, and ATLANTIC CITY continued this.  Often the characters are very gray - fully fleshed out not uniformly good (or bad either) but containing combinations of the traits we find negative when in too much of abundance in humans - Selfishness for example being a big one    

A good actor once he gets control of his career and establishes himself as an audience draw needs to pick the right projects to keep his career alive.  Some pick the same formula which might account for good box office but nothing that is artistic and challenging.  Others like Lancaster pick challenging roles in well written films or even better producing them, shepherding them from beginning to end.

In conclusion, THE SWIMMER is a film I’d like to highly recommend.  Based on John Cheever’s short story, the saga of a once successful adman swimming across his neighbors’ pools as the dark truth comes out is just a brilliant film. Very powerful with Lancaster at his best especially at the end.  

FOUR FILMS - ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW, ZERO CHARISMA, EVIDENCE, THE DIRTIES

ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW

Gleefully insane, darkly funny, David Lynch in Disneyland, completely over the top but it fits the story and never gets lost in its own wacky world.  Some of the visuals here are so striking as to make a permanent impression.  I hate Dinseyland so this makes the story even sweeter for me.

ZERO CHARISMA

Uncomfortable to watch at times (the trailer is marketing this as a comedy. There are funny moments here but more squirmingly awkward ones especially in the second half) but that’s okay because this an intuitive, brilliantly written character study.  A great film both for the characters and Sam Eidison’s performance in the lead role.  The gamers I’ve encountered in my earlier life were much like the characters here.

EVIDENCE

Found footage murder mystery.  The murder mystery part (including the twist ending) was good like a CSI episode but the found footage part just gave me a headache and was hard to watch.  In general I find found footage films difficult due to an inner ear imbalance.  Too much of the camera moving around can trigger dizzy spells.

THE DIRTIES

Currently generating a lot of buzz at film festivals but I don’t get it.  The well shot bullying scenes are intense and painful to watch.  The rest feels half-finished and the end is anti-climatic.  By the end, I’d lost all interest anyway and was sort of rooting for the bullies.  Poorly made film – a waste and who was the cameraman filming all this?  Many theories on that but the filmmaker didn’t do a good enough job explaining this.