RIP MIKE NICHOLS - ON HIS BEST FILM CARNAL KNOWLEDGE

My favorite film of the recently deceased Mike Nichols is CARNAL KNOWLEDGE.

It cuts to the heart of a standard males of a certain generation felt they needed to live up to and how the sexual revolution shook that up (in a bad way)....Jack Nicholson, Ann Margaret, and Rita Moreno - all great performances.  Candace Bergen and Art Garfunkel – less so but they are adequate for their roles.

I saw it less about men’s confusion and anger towards women more as a contrast between Jonathan (Nicholson) and Sandy (Garfunkel)....Jonathan's anger is at women but also at changing sexual mores that he doesn't get at all which leads to sexist bitterness....The end scene with Moreno is amazing, a great finisher.

Nichols primary strength as a director, one that was clearly honed by his time in theatre and on Broadway, was how he framed scenes as standalone episodes rather than lengthy shots that bled into each other.  CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, through each scene of interactions between the characters, establishes each scene of being of great importance to the development of the plot and the audience’s understanding of the characters.  They are like a series of corresponding photographs being looked at in order.

RIP Mike Nichols

FIVE FILMS - KILLER LEGENDS, ST. VINCENT, STARRY EYES, HONEYMOON, ANIMAL

KILLER LEGENDS

Starting right where the director’s last documentary CROPSY ended, LEGENDS is about tracking down the truth about several urban legends (The Hookman, poisoned Halloween candy, the “When A Stranger Calls” killer and baby sitter inside the house house, evil clowns).  This is a really entertaining film that moves quickly through all types of historical horrors, conspiracy theories, and even side issues like racism in the South and dating and pre-marital sex in the 1950’s.  I would love to see a sequel to this film.

ST. VINCENT

It certainly seems like Bill Murray is angling for an Oscar with this performance as he really pulls out all the stops.  I expected him to affect a foreign accent by the end of it.  Murray is a very good actor beyond just comedy and it is nice to see him extending the full length of his acting ability (even if it often seems like he’s trying too hard).  The key to a film like this is sentiment.  I am not a sentimental person but this film very carefully treads the line between too much crying and just enough.  It’s certainly enjoyable even if the end is the usual predictable saccharine happiness.  In supporting roles, Melissa McCarthy is extremely annoying as usual and Naomi Watts does one of the worst Russian accents I’ve ever heard.   

STARRY EYES

The modern day “slow burn” horror when it works as in the case of THE INNKEEPERS not only has a big pay off in the form of a satisfactorily gruesome ending but also keeps the narrative flowing with interesting characters and dialogue and plenty of foreshadowing.  STARRY EYES does all of that even if some of the visuals are from your typical devil worship film – At times I felt like this was ROSEMARY’S BABY but without the baby. What I did like about this film – well thought out relationships between the characters, not too much mystery revealed.  What I didn’t like – A flat ending that has no punch.

HONEYMOON

What I wrote about STARRY EYES in terms of strengths but even more so in terms of weaknesses.  A methodical well-handled build-up unfortunately fizzles out at the end.  It’s creepy and presents the mystery as a series of puzzle pieces to be put together by the viewer but the ending is uninspired and lacks focus.  Extraterrestrial components of the plot in the end seem silly.

ANIMAL

Some decent actions scenes can’t redeem this completely unoriginal monster story.  It quickly devolves into people in an enclosed space who don’t like or trust each other against an outside threat.  The monsters themselves look like a mish mash of every other horror movie creature of the last 30 or 40 years.  Total snoozeville.  

THE GUEST

The premise of a family grieving over the loss of a son in combat, dealing with their own dysfunctions, who are visited by man who states that he served with their son and was his friend,  is a terrific premise for any kind of film but especially a horror film.  The stranger who knows you and your family, who seemingly helps you but is hiding something dark practically writes itself.

THE GUEST uses this as the take-off point but has a colossal shift in mood and tone in the last 40 minutes.  Without giving too much away, it really creates a terrific debate on whether the anti-hero is evil or just a victim himself.

Director Adam Wingard uses standard film conventions and bends them even further than his last film YOU’RE NEXT.  In particular, the scenes of violence which often come faster than expected and occur without any tension building set-up leaving you knocked out.  The film also meshes together in seamless fashion many different genres from action (the shoot-out with the military police scenes) to slasher films (the finale at the high school Halloween dance and the 80’s type synth music soundtrack).  There’s also quite a lot of black humor.

I would have to say with apologies to any films mentioned earlier in 2014 that this likely the best film I’ve seen this year with a month and a half to go.  Exciting, dark, unpredictable, thoroughly entertaining with a great performance by Dan Stevens as the lead.

   

INTERSTELLAR, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, AND THE USE OF THE METAPHYSICAL IN SCIENCE FICTION FILMS (DON'T DO IT)

I did not like INTERSTELLAR at all.  I am a sci fi purist I guess and I hate it when films combine that with metaphysics and new age nonsense. I don't even like 2001 for that reason and this is far worse. Also it's dreadfully long, very dull, and full of uninteresting characters.  It wouldn't have hurt to have Anne Hathaway eaten by some kind of alien lifeform.  Only good thing I can say is it's always nice to see Michael Caine in anything.

Getting back to the introduction of metaphysics into sci-fi, it’s quite a tricky thing to pull off.  Generally, to work it has to be grounded in the world of the real, of science.  SOLARIS (the original) and BLADE RUNNER are two examples where the notion of something more than the immediate story works but what is there, a self-aware planet and self-aware robots, is explainable by the film’s take on science.

I have never cared for 2001 despite its overwhelming visuals, sound, narrative switches.  The whole thing at the end with Keir Dullea becoming an old man is just ridiculous to me. It’s pointless inscrutability ruins even the good parts like HAL’s breakdown. In the end, it’s just another black monolith of meaninglessness for the monkeys to throw their poop at.  

THE CHASE AND THE PHYSICALITY OF MARLON BRANDO

THE CHASE is one of the few Marlon Brando films I'd not seen before.   It's big and messy, half-seedy potboiler, half grand statement on civil rights and the evils of the South (but poor whites taking the place of black people). Good performances - Janice Rule (an underrated actress) Robert Duvall, Richard Bradford, James Fox (playing an American) . Jane Fonda, Angie Dickinson, EG Marshall are just okay and the only bad part is Robert Redford who is really miscast as a rough guy, escaped prisoner. He looks like he just stepped off a catwalk not a chain gang.

Getting back to Brando.   One of the (many) great things about Brando's acting is the physicality of it. He has some of the best fight scenes in his film resume of any actor and his sense of inhabiting space within a scene is intuitive. One of the most unpleasant things I've ever seen in a movie is the scene here when Brando receives a slow, sadistic beating from a mob of bullies yet you can't take your eyes off Brando, how he reacts to this. The greatest actor of all time? I think so.

THREE FILMS - SOUL BOYS OF THE WESTERN WORLD, THE BABADOOK, THE HOUSE AT THE END OF TIME

SOUL BOYS OF THE WESTERN WORLD

Very nice documentary about the band Spandau Ballet.  I’m a Spandau fan so I’m prejudiced but viewing this film objectively it is a very good documentary because it places the band’s story in the context of the times giving a through presentation of influences and events in Britain and what they meant to people’s lives..   The band members seemed a bit reticent to say anything bad about one another because they have reunited but problems are addressed – warts and all but not overly emotional.  Overall, this is good fun and of course the music is fantastic!   

THE BABADOOK

However you view this film as supernatural horror or as metaphor for dealing with grief or something else, the first hour or so is superb but when we start seeing a physical visualization of what might be occurring, the film descends into predictable territory.  On the plus side, It’s genuinely scary in a few places and has an excellent performance by Essie Davis.

THE HOUSE AT THE END OF TIME

South American horror film that is sort of a cross between TIMECRIMES and OCULUS but with less of an edge and a happier ending.  Needed more action to boost the events.  Perhaps a little more gore or sex.  I did like the explanation of what’s happening and I give it points for a creepy atmosphere and methodical set-up scenes for what happens later but I also felt it was holding back (and not in a good gothic horror way).