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.