tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21984003352744289692024-02-19T07:45:45.513-05:00cinema. television. obsessions.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.comBlogger111125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-40219529323569543522012-01-10T12:35:00.000-05:002012-01-10T12:35:42.625-05:00Year-End LeftoversIt's that time of year again. I've been blogging with fairly decent regularity over at <a href="http://thesplitscreen.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">TheSplitScreen</a>, and next week my "Best Of" list for 2011 will be making an appearance. I have agreed to narrow it down to a strict ten picks, though it's pretty difficult. I liked a lot this year that I think deserves to be seen. As a teaser, I thought I'd share a few of the trimmings from the list. Some of these may have made the list at any given moment, but at the time I finalized my selections, they just didn't make the cut. Think of this as a supplement to my year-end list, an addendum.<br />
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I would also like to note that<b> Cave of Forgotten Dreams</b> and <b>13 Assassins</b>, though I love these films immensely, have not been included in either of my lists because I saw them both well over a year ago at this point, and it's hard enough to narrow it down as it is. Consider them as in the official Top Ten, but off to the side, looking on as everyone else gets a turn on the merry-go-round.<br />
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</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUbFJNl6kXVf5Flc7V24Nczqfj_pnV_7NzUhS5HqCGyeENxdCh0nPoIh84JJtn6G1bALZicv15Lsplewc32NefsR92XYvnXFgigmFRD3KRsDzrfy1vKcLDMEKv4Ctev8Q1ADyqVr7UcU8/s1600/CedarRapids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUbFJNl6kXVf5Flc7V24Nczqfj_pnV_7NzUhS5HqCGyeENxdCh0nPoIh84JJtn6G1bALZicv15Lsplewc32NefsR92XYvnXFgigmFRD3KRsDzrfy1vKcLDMEKv4Ctev8Q1ADyqVr7UcU8/s320/CedarRapids.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b>Cedar Rapids</b></div><div>An amazing comedy that is just enough smart and just enough raunch. Ed Helms gets a chance to take a turn as leading man, and he pulls it off with plenty of help from my perennial favorite John C. Reilly (who was in another terrific film this year, Terri). Helms plays Tim Lippe, who is sent to represent his small-town insurance company at a big industry convention in Cedar Rapids. Having never really left his small town, the world of Cedar Rapids is opened up to him with wide-eyed wonder, and he soon finds himself taken under the wings of three veteran conventioneers. This wonderfully kooky movie really shines in its supporting performances, with Reilly fleshing out a character who could become one-note very quickly, and Anne Heche appearing in a significant small role (funny, sweet, sexy, loopy) as Joan Ostowski-Fox, a mom who is tied to her boring life in much the same way as Lippe and everyone else who uses the convention as an annual oasis of drinking, fornicating and other shenanigans they could never pull off at home.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv29nxXAM0ElkkqvQNfMVIXRG9-ZjujhcwprGABnYnocWcyjlSsiD-0ursr5hxZzaCw6-TbMq29TEbwNyo4RUBC3LH7nDFJzWmp593ZtsBP4232vawx4UYVfMaQQ_kjc3JLzA8sqZO7Yw/s1600/CaptainAmerica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv29nxXAM0ElkkqvQNfMVIXRG9-ZjujhcwprGABnYnocWcyjlSsiD-0ursr5hxZzaCw6-TbMq29TEbwNyo4RUBC3LH7nDFJzWmp593ZtsBP4232vawx4UYVfMaQQ_kjc3JLzA8sqZO7Yw/s320/CaptainAmerica.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b>Captain America: The First Avenger</b><br />
Director Joe Johnston takes us retro with this thoroughly entertaining superhero origin story. There's great action, the film's design is terrific, and there's a big ole' musical propaganda centerpiece that stole my heart while I wasn't looking. One of the things I absolutely fell in love with regarding that musical number/USO show montage was that it is a rare instance of how a superhero's story can be successfully condensed into a few minutes, and still leave so much untold that will be hinted at, only to be discovered much later. The other thing I like about this film is that it's the culmination of Marvel's long-in-production franchise building process leading up to next summer's superteam film <b>The Avengers</b>, and as such, there are some well placed references to the earlier films in the series,<b> Iron Man</b>, <b>The Incredible Hulk</b>, and <b>Thor</b>. This is not to say that the film is stuffed to overfill with constant in-jokes and references like some unholy marriage of unabashed spoof "comedies" and self-serious action spectacles that ended up acting like comedies anyway. Instead, what we have is a light-weight, very fun flick that operates with the best of them. There's a lot crammed into this Captain America movie, and all of it, by my estimation at least, works to its advantage.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGkxHi1NBZRoDxMLNITOA48dzaBI7vmQzWiaQpiotxoextl3Aq0szQKd3tEWtMpwydIyyZHGtx674akVy-FKeqFXqcAGtz5wwHAFZ5yJQinL9hTCGzA1slcLSbXlxu96fWfHVt_q0Cdiw/s1600/LoveCrime.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGkxHi1NBZRoDxMLNITOA48dzaBI7vmQzWiaQpiotxoextl3Aq0szQKd3tEWtMpwydIyyZHGtx674akVy-FKeqFXqcAGtz5wwHAFZ5yJQinL9hTCGzA1slcLSbXlxu96fWfHVt_q0Cdiw/s320/LoveCrime.png" width="320" /></a></div><b>Love Crime</b><br />
Alain Corneu's final film is an airy, delicate examination of love and betrayal, high stakes office politics, and cunning deception. What it lacks in plot (it's wafer-thin at best), it more than makes up for in its performances and great cinematography, both of which serve to highlight the intricacies of the central relationships of the film. Kristen Scott Thomas is always terrific and this is no exception, but I really loved Ludivine Sagnier's performance as Isabelle, who is the central character. Sagnier's such a great actress that she sneaks up on me constantly, just as she did<b> Swimming Pool</b> and both <b>Mesrine</b> films, and in spite of my personal feelings toward murder and murderers, I just kept rooting for her to pull her scheme off. While we plainly see that she was, in fact, guilty, Corneau masterfully sets up the methods Isabelle will use to evade the cops and exact total revenge on her conniving boss and the corporate office power structure. I think this movie was fairly well received by critics, but a lot of the commentary seems to express problems with the plot or lack thereof. I think that's actually one of the film's strengths, giving us more time to absorb the characters and become familiar with its world. Honestly, that's something more films could use.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdydn3K14nWfPvNL5Hdiy6zYPSctGdkPm1rfz2sxDDbtrVuxXp_WW0rjEzRzuMTOvFbcxCnEdrgs1LwDOryyCzcNsKYcg5vyLTw5jxOEyTMSQ1Mo_p9606j24Pu6din-BlFzSUqXlcaTo/s1600/TheGuard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdydn3K14nWfPvNL5Hdiy6zYPSctGdkPm1rfz2sxDDbtrVuxXp_WW0rjEzRzuMTOvFbcxCnEdrgs1LwDOryyCzcNsKYcg5vyLTw5jxOEyTMSQ1Mo_p9606j24Pu6din-BlFzSUqXlcaTo/s320/TheGuard.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b>The Guard</b><br />
Brendan Gleeson is so good in this movie that I had a review typed up and ready to go all about his face until I decided it was just a bad piece of writing and I never wanted it to see the light of day. But I'll give you a taste anyway: "He has a big ole' round moon of a face is possibly the most likable movie star currently working, which no doubt helps him land roles for characters we would otherwise find it difficult to understand the motivations of or sympathize with." I know, and it only got worse from there. But the truth is that Gleeson is a fascinating performer, able to give an audience one piece of information only to betray our thoughts about it seconds later, and a lot of it has to do with his physical presence. In <b>The Guard</b> he is Sgt. Gerry Boyle, who ultimately teaches us that appearances and first impressions are not always correct. When Don Cheadle's FBI Agent Everett comes to Boyle's sleepy Irish town on the tail of some drug smugglers, he is confronted with Boyle's overtly racist remarks and seemingly dimwitted rube of a police officer. Truth is, he's actually smart, and likes to play toward others' perceptions of him. Despite his outward demeanor (and his very real insistence on taking vacation days) he knows police work, and knows exactly what is going on at all times, mostly because everyone thinks he will be easily overpowered. The film is a very funny comedy, pitch-black at times, and confronts us with an ending that is confounding, inconclusive, touching, and inevitable.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOaX0NX7Z-xmkJJCrlaSKH-hz_nBfwyptX2Y7pkt-P-Ro2mwpfttL-3ENt3hZlg3_X5PLJivryeFzMjetTJf4huI7xglDNl4wBEb0QqnFU8EpZbyC13Z7Qu4zTl5YRoCXq4ul3MqxJTcE/s1600/MelancholiaYE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOaX0NX7Z-xmkJJCrlaSKH-hz_nBfwyptX2Y7pkt-P-Ro2mwpfttL-3ENt3hZlg3_X5PLJivryeFzMjetTJf4huI7xglDNl4wBEb0QqnFU8EpZbyC13Z7Qu4zTl5YRoCXq4ul3MqxJTcE/s320/MelancholiaYE.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b>Melancholia</b><br />
A film that looks to the cosmos not as a creative entity but as the manifestation of the natural destructive impulse, Lars von Trier's <b>Melancholia</b> is the treatise on humanity and life on Earth that Terence Malick's <b>Tree of Life</b> so desperately wanted to be. Told in two halves, each examining one of two sisters with a seriously strained relationship more closely than the other, the film is an emotionally draining experience. Kirsten Dunst's Justine is a pitch-perfect portrayal of clinical depression, and Charlotte Gainsbourg (given a break from the tortures she endured for the director in <b>Antichrist</b>) keeps things from pitching over into total lunacy until the final sequence of the film with her denial of the world-ending event that everyone knows is coming. Told in grandiose images and stark melodrama, Trier's film is shocking in its revelations, and by allowing us to wholly identify with the depression of Justine–and the depressing denial of Claire–it jolts us to discover that we, too, could be comfortable with the end of the whole maddening show of this world. The existence of life beyond corporeal bodies and human thought is just as unfathomable as in Malick's film, but is not made into some hopeful message about our existence at this moment. Death of all life is inevitable and the only sure thing in the entire universe. And yet somehow I found myself feeling better about life in general after this latest von Trier depress-fest. I actually believe thematically this is a work that is much closer to the heart of <b>2001</b>'s mystifying look toward infinity and our own understanding of ourselves and our lives than that other movie which is constantly compared to it, even though there is no "beyond the infinite" possible here, and none is even posited. <b>Melancholia</b> is a film in which we learn that we only have this one life on Earth, and not for long (to misappropriate the tag line of the movie). There's something to be said for that message.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmGQ4KjI0_NswfyVuIsqXw9fG6MvSs1Ub5qtJRi3sT2Viz0rd3mvs4-kznVUx10BN6s_G9sItKemGvF1WQzbsP28abH4Cs-pbTzhpiqROHAW2_zJVUEr-0CPagpzAb-4LSnCpzZgOFKwA/s1600/SourceCodeYE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmGQ4KjI0_NswfyVuIsqXw9fG6MvSs1Ub5qtJRi3sT2Viz0rd3mvs4-kznVUx10BN6s_G9sItKemGvF1WQzbsP28abH4Cs-pbTzhpiqROHAW2_zJVUEr-0CPagpzAb-4LSnCpzZgOFKwA/s320/SourceCodeYE.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQOWilWNKWEssPxtrsm-0GCnRF9n9OkOmfeZ2hJKgTBxXJGLdp6e3H9-b9t-FNQWIt5xJ2PXTD8vM8qY2I5-QOWEw4bLNBssgYxLBlguwCvnaS6_EISpzKeQlbBFBGMA8vX0NiFHnGqWs/s1600/AdjustmentBureauYE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQOWilWNKWEssPxtrsm-0GCnRF9n9OkOmfeZ2hJKgTBxXJGLdp6e3H9-b9t-FNQWIt5xJ2PXTD8vM8qY2I5-QOWEw4bLNBssgYxLBlguwCvnaS6_EISpzKeQlbBFBGMA8vX0NiFHnGqWs/s320/AdjustmentBureauYE.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b>Source Code</b> / <b>The Adjustment Bureau</b><br />
I'm pairing these films up because I think they're just some terrific examples of science fiction that isn't all about monsters blowin' shit up. Speculative Sci-Fi damn near doesn't exist anymore on American screens, and these films, though they fall a bit short of true greatness, at least gave me something to chew on and think about. <b>Source Code</b>, Duncan Jones' second feature after a terrific masterpiece of a debut, <b>Moon</b>, confronts some of the same issues at the heart of his first film, namely the question of what constitutes life and death? Jake Gyllenhaal plays a soldier who was killed in action but whose body was saved enough so that his mind could still function, permanently plugged into a virtual reality system that can play back the final minutes of someone's memories, allowing him to investigate a crime and discover the person behind it. <b>The Adjustment Bureau</b> operates in a similar vein, adapted from a Phillip K. Dick story, and typical of that author's work, is concerned with questions of fate, human relationships, and digital manipulation of the physical world. I like the relationship between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt as they attempt to overcome the machinations of the bureau, an entity (thankfully never fully explained) that oversees all things on Earth according to a "plan" and must maintain balance and order. Thematically these films are almost too similar, but such is the world of adult science fiction. My colleague Eric Plaag wasn't too big on either film, but I thought they were both really solid and thoroughly enjoyable flicks. </div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-64191915204711099352011-09-22T15:08:00.004-04:002011-09-22T15:12:40.679-04:00Critical Breakdown: Film Grammar, Jim Emerson, and Joseph Kahn<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho2PQ2H7gxdGdA4YW_2nBIblB9QsMS8SsxUn313oqYiUP-y2Momb5XDVX5mZuDk2qc953jKb_XQ0Cg3IlFBEWOircDAaio8nyFTElC0wd1gBXqfBMQT88tdz2IPpwQ2goXW3m-8veOKW4/s1600/Salt-on-truck-running-back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho2PQ2H7gxdGdA4YW_2nBIblB9QsMS8SsxUn313oqYiUP-y2Momb5XDVX5mZuDk2qc953jKb_XQ0Cg3IlFBEWOircDAaio8nyFTElC0wd1gBXqfBMQT88tdz2IPpwQ2goXW3m-8veOKW4/s320/Salt-on-truck-running-back.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Philip Noyce does indeed outdirect Nolan with <i>Salt</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>There's a bit of a back-and-forth going on these days between music video director Joseph Kahn and film critic Jim Emerson. Before diving into the fray, I offer some context of what exactly is going on.<br />
When <i>The Dark Knight</i> was released in 2008, Jim Emerson was one of the more vocal critics of the film, drawing largely on his assertions that Nolan and his cinematographer and editor (Wally Pfister and Lee Smith, respectively) don't seem to know how to piece together a coherent action sequence. While this may or may not be true, it's a subjective opinion, and one that Emerson has backed-up. Repeatedly. For the record, I think some of his assertions about Nolan's capabilities, and certainly those of Pfister, ring a bit false, but that doesn't stop the fact that I agree that Nolan's films are all about exposition and actually show very little in the way of action, and that little bit is by and large not particularly interesting or dynamic visually, nor coherent upon second look.<br />
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In any case, here are some links to some of the things Emerson wrote about <i>TDK</i> then (use as you wish to fill in any gaps):<br />
<a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2008/08/under_cover_of_the_dark_knight.html">Under Cover of The Dark Knight</a><br />
<a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2008/08/stories_without_endings.html">Stories Without Endings</a><br />
<a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2008/08/the_shorter_the_longer.html">The shorter, the Longer</a><br />
<a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2008/08/batman_vs_the_zeitgeist.html">Batman vs. the Zeitgeist</a><br />
<a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2008/12/critics_better_love_the_dark_k.html">Critics Better Love The Dark Knight</a><br />
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Each of the above pieces map out an in-depth critical response to a film that, compared to other films from the same year, was probably underserving of such lengthy consideration. But the sheer amount that Emerson wrote about why he didn't like certain things Nolan had done was not enough, and he was criticized constantly as simply being anti-Nolan, anti-TDK and anti-fun, despite the fact that he never says any of these things. In fact, the most telling example that the opposite is in fact true is right in the opening of his first piece on the film, after he discusses his initial reaction:<br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">By the end I'd had a good time, and I already know I'd like to see it again. Maybe, I've been thinking, it's kind of like a good album that's been haphazardly sequenced, with a few lackluster (or even bad) songs and occasionally dumb lyrics, muddled arrangements, or klutzy production choices. But, you know, after a while you're willing to overlook the parts that don't work in order to enjoy the parts that do. At first exposure, those rough spots stick out and even hurt. Later on, you just accept them, get used to them, or even choose to ignore them.</span></blockquote>This willingness to work with a text like <i>The Dark Knight</i> is the bread and butter of true film criticism, and is self-evident in its goal, which is to better understand the film as a work of art, as a piece of entertainment, and as an historical and sociological object. The purpose of film criticism should always be to enlighten and provide some perspective on a film. As I said when I commented on Jim Emerson's follow-up to this whole kerfuffle, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I wish more people understood that film criticism can (and often is for genuine critics and should be) much more than just saying whether or not you liked something and whether it's worth $10.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Thanks for hanging with me, but I think the above is somewhat essential information for understanding why I find this situation between Emerson and Kahn to be so maddening, interesting, crucial to critical discourse. Now, to the task at hand: what IS all the fuss about?</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWn2Gd9E7-8Xq3VCRMLHvAo2cAhvrXwVlRZSAww99owL8sWE1kan23e9Linll5bfiy9HaFTxyzkMcj-zlFAUpscKj3x69p57GCBjArrmCz_LmglhAD4EUwXQgLeRyBLC_whJcKm4pGReY/s1600/tdkcrash-thumb-510x231-39644.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWn2Gd9E7-8Xq3VCRMLHvAo2cAhvrXwVlRZSAww99owL8sWE1kan23e9Linll5bfiy9HaFTxyzkMcj-zlFAUpscKj3x69p57GCBjArrmCz_LmglhAD4EUwXQgLeRyBLC_whJcKm4pGReY/s320/tdkcrash-thumb-510x231-39644.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Over the course of the past two weeks, Jim Emerson has posted a series of video essays about film editing and action sequences, picking apart what he thinks does and doesn't work shot by shot. The first essay, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/pressplay/archives/IN_THE_CUT_The_Dark_Knight_by_Christopher_Nolan/">"In The Cut: The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan"</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">, no surprise, details exactly what he found problematic with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i>The Dark Knight</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"> and why. Whether or not these things also bothered other people is inconsequential as to the project undertaken by Emerson as a purely subjective opinion on various things that stood out to him as he watched the film, and this sequence in particular. It is worth noting that nowhere in the piece does Emerson ever say that he thinks the movie is bad, but that this is a poorly directed, shot and edited portion of it, and then he backs up what he thinks about it with things the filmmakers (editor Lee Smith is actually brought up directly at the beginning of the essay) actually said about the direction, shot composition and editing. I'll let you form your own opinions on it, but I think the piece stands in conjunction with his follow-ups on </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/pressplay/archives/IN_THE_CUT_Salt_by_Phillip_Noyce_/">Salt </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/pressplay/archives/in_the_cut_the_lineup_directed_by_don_siegel/">Don Siegel</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"> action pieces as one of the best criticism anywhere in recent memory.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Enter into this Joseph Kahn, w<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ho makes an almost incomprehensible mistake right off the bat in his rebuttal to Emerson's critique: "</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I simply want to address points he explains as 'rules' – which are not. Basically, anything he states as a 'viola<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">tion' is what I’m after here." His basic assumption in tearing Emerson apart is that he literally believes that rules don't actually matter for a basic understanding of film action. Take this quote: "</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Any analysis that views film from only from the prism of composition and editing, and excludes sound, has made a completely arbitrary line in the sand that does not reflect that actual totality of what you actually saw."</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">Kahn is making a valid argument before this about the expansion of technology and a further development of film theory based on that, including thoughts about experimental film and digital frontiers, but he seems to be negating a couple of basic facts. First, Christopher Nolan is not engaged in a non-classical project. He is totally disinterested in experimentation, and he is certainly no Stan Brakhage. Second, composition and editing still contain the most basic fundamentals of film grammar, no matter what the aim, and given how well much of <i>The Dark Knight</i> isn't nearly as problematic as this single sequence, it seems that Nolan, Pfister and Smith know what they're doing and how they're going about it. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYFl6RXGlwjf2ahIir-Q6ZvSlR4SNgIFYg6vpYN1_X7no7ghA91l3zfxYtwMNveHjmbXsyrZ9ddU0bh3GASHK_kwM9yh5CQ1NsfQvmqbPWmw5cbIhAeeYVOSUtNyHn6_GZ0SeXWDsanVo/s1600/tdk180-thumb-510x227-39641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYFl6RXGlwjf2ahIir-Q6ZvSlR4SNgIFYg6vpYN1_X7no7ghA91l3zfxYtwMNveHjmbXsyrZ9ddU0bh3GASHK_kwM9yh5CQ1NsfQvmqbPWmw5cbIhAeeYVOSUtNyHn6_GZ0SeXWDsanVo/s320/tdk180-thumb-510x227-39641.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">Despite Kahn's correct assertion that these basic rules are not always what you need to focus on when engaging a film as text, the fact remains that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i>TDK</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"> is a film that adheres in every regard to classical style and narrative logic. He brings up the straw man argument of David Lynch somewhere in this rant about the "arbitrary" nature of Emerson's assumptions that a film should follow these well-established rules of film grammar only to forget that Nolan isn't even trying to do what David Lynch does.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">Apparently Kahn is of the school of filmmakers (and they are out there - I dealt with them in my undergraduate days as well as now) who think that what they are doing is in no way tied to the basics of filmmaking as understood by hundreds of theorists throughout the world, and who get really upset at the notion that someone would try to read their film as something other than what they envision it to be. The problem with that thought process is that the reason these rules developed is as much physiological as it is technical. The human brain logically connects ideas and visual information in specific ways that helped the development of film grammar along its way, not the other way around. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">We are biologically predisposed to making certain assumptions and processing information in a certain way when watching a film, or looking at a painting, or any other work of art. The fact that art exists that challenges those assumptions is irrelevant, because as pre-eminent classical grammar formalist David Bordwell has consistently pointed out: the exception to the rule proves that the rule does in fact exist. Otherwise, why would anyone even try to say that what Nolan and his production team are attempting has nothing to do with what the critic is talking about? The logical breakdown in the thought process here is staggering.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">Kahn also makes a valiant attempt to correct Emerson as to his thoughts on what is going on in the sequence, but the further discussion of the SWAT van/semi-truck incident just serves to open up even more questions of spatial relationships. Where is the truck that hits the van coming from, for instance, if the other side of the "bridge", as Kahn calls it at one point in his comments, has water on the other side. And if it's not a bridge, but in fact is meant to convey a lake-side underground roadway (as it really exists in Chicago) then how does his reading/rebuttal of Jim's criticism of the shot make any sense whatsoever? Even the counterpoint to Emerson serves to further distinguish how confusing the shot choices, composition and editing are in these scenes.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">All in all, the rest of Kahn's arguments are wrong because his essential argument is that rules don't matter. They do, and there are reasons. I haven't delved into all of them here, but I would encourage anyone interested in them to do a little bit of reading on the subject from time to time. This goes especially for Kahn, who doesn't seem to recognize film grammar even in the projects he shoots himself.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">*</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">You can read Kahn's remarks <a href="http://josephkahn.blogspot.com/2011/09/analyzing-action.html">here</a>.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">Also, please check out Jim Emerson's follow-up with annotations on his text <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2011/09/annotated_transcript_in_the_cu.html#more">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>*As must certainly be the case given that he doesn't even believe they exist or should be followed or indeed ever are by anyone because of a practical reason other than adhering to some ancient assumptions about what they should be doing.</i></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Note: Above photos are taken from Emerson's posts. I just really like Salt, so that's why it's relevant. Noyce DOES outdirect Nolan, even if I don't think Salt is an equal affair to TDK overall.</i></span></span>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-72552141512037704502011-06-12T18:45:00.001-04:002011-06-12T18:46:21.548-04:00Marketing THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Remake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAw8qbMkkHwnj8_DPTrMIQ1hfjPOWEBnDd9YaX9Z-Ac7TtklcEJAENcfFskkMLYUrQC9XS-XJBgWQrwUqIFuFE_N9BlNYs4yfAzxnuBzGeO7WpbuOeQqCmdYKCFDa54RbxpOXLPzVflxA/s1600/Girl-with-the-Dragon-Tattoo-2011-Movie-Posters-2-600x902.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAw8qbMkkHwnj8_DPTrMIQ1hfjPOWEBnDd9YaX9Z-Ac7TtklcEJAENcfFskkMLYUrQC9XS-XJBgWQrwUqIFuFE_N9BlNYs4yfAzxnuBzGeO7WpbuOeQqCmdYKCFDa54RbxpOXLPzVflxA/s320/Girl-with-the-Dragon-Tattoo-2011-Movie-Posters-2-600x902.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
When I heard David Fincher was going to be making an American version of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, I didn't know what to think. Here is a well respected and critically acclaimed director known for a wide range of work, and he is looking to return to the doom and gloom of his directorial heyday. Fair enough. The novels certainly fit into his element, which has always lain somewhere between grunge and gloss. But why a remake/reimagining/whatever you want to call it? I'm still not 100% sure as to why this is happening exactly, other than the assumed (and sadly verifiable) "fact" that American audiences will not watch a movie with subtitles.<br />
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In any case, it's here, and it's time to come to terms with it. Before I go on, please watch the trailer before I go on and on and on about it:<br />
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The most striking thing, right off the bat, is the use of Led Zepplin's "Immigrant Song", performed by Trent Reznor and Karen O, and the fact that the trailer is cut to the beat in short, quick cuts. The heavy industrial beat hammer the images into our eyes, conducive as it is to pairings with chilly shots of wintry Sweden, and the visual refrain of a POV shot driving toward the massive Vanger estate. The music also serves to introduce the hard-edged character Lisbeth Salander, who as imagined by David Fincher and star Rooney Mara is a force to be reckoned with, and who appears to have lost all veneer of assumed retardation that Noomi Rapace locked into the character in Niels Arden Oplev's original film, and which helped to cement her star power and successfully conveyed some very powerful private information that Lisbeth hides from those whom she does not trust, namely that she's very capable of handling herself.<br />
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That aside, it looks to be that Fincher has returned to the source material very capably, and is certainly more intent on invoking the novel's original Swedish title, Men Who Hate Women. The novel itself is a nasty little thing that seems to have a distinctly cynical and cold-hearted worldview, no matter the "happy ending" that sees Lisbeth and Mikael Blomquist (who is really the main character) succeed in exposing corruption, perversion and misogyny.<br />
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One only need look at the poster for the film to see that the focus on the darker and more hard-hitting elements here is definitely going to be key to winning legions of fans over to the idea of a remake, and so far, for me, it's working. (Look up the racier and totally NSFW international poster for the film as more evidence of how hard Sony is going to marketing this movie properly for once.) As much a fan I am of Oplev's film, the second and third meander a bit and lose steam toward the end, losing focus on the passionate hatred that Larsson had for the corrupt structures humans use to prop up evil and make it acceptable on some level.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-71207471828980295562011-06-08T11:08:00.000-04:002011-06-08T11:08:22.678-04:00Banning the Human Centipede<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnL8RQtgyqBIOf-eH6CW19CcDkCVzpGl4FizwJpjAxP6sOH5_55mZcZSg9O1E45FDCtqjA0WCWvcOd2HGdLyf9zar-C6a9bPt3oUr9_xJAZcinq44bZoBH3rYr-w0POUVuo61oU2lqeWU/s1600/human-centipede-still.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnL8RQtgyqBIOf-eH6CW19CcDkCVzpGl4FizwJpjAxP6sOH5_55mZcZSg9O1E45FDCtqjA0WCWvcOd2HGdLyf9zar-C6a9bPt3oUr9_xJAZcinq44bZoBH3rYr-w0POUVuo61oU2lqeWU/s320/human-centipede-still.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
In a decision that is truly mind blowing in this day and age, Tom Six's sequel to HUMAN CENTIPEDE: FIRST SEQUENCE (Subtitled FULL SEQUENCE) has been banned by the BBFC, Britain's film censor board. As reported in various sources, though I first read about it in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/jun/07/human-centipede-sequel-ban-sexual-sadism">The Guardian</a>, the reasoning behind the decision is based entirely on the certification that the film breaches the BBFC's Classification Guidelines, and p<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">oses "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">a real, as opposed to a fanciful, risk that harm is likely to be caused to potential viewers."</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">For those of you who have not yet been scarred by what in the film poses such a risk to viewers of the movie, a little taste of the plot: A man becomes increasingly obsessed with the first film and starts to act out sexual perversions and recreate the centipede by abducting and surgically altering captors of his own. Two scenes in particular, involving masturbation with sandpaper while watching the film and a rape scene involving barbed wire and the girl bringing up the rear of the man's creation, are singled out by the board in its justification for the classification, which makes any activity having to do with the film (including possession, distribution, and viewing - much like drugs) illegal.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But as pointed out by a favorite film blog of mine based in Britain, <a href="http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/blog/censoring-the-centipede-15308">Little White Lies</a>, this essentially tells us nothing about what these fears may be. Clearly the fears of the board are realized within the film itself, but what of the real world prospects of copy cat amateur surgeons? The first film has been out for nearly two years and I've yet to read a single report of anyone moved to such lengths by a perverse little diversion. It also bears to recognize, as again pointed out by LWL, that the board has banned films for similar reasons before, including THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, which created an absurd situation that saw one of the defining horror movies of all time, as well as one of the less sanguinary of the last thirty years by comparison, banned in the UK until 1999.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">That ban did nothing to stop people from seeing the movie, though, and this one will likely do nothing to stop THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE: FULL SEQUENCE either. In an era when anything and everything can simply be downloaded via torrent or sold internationally, there's no stopping someone from seeing something if they want to. It's just absurd to do it with something as fluid and accessible as cinema, no matter how lacking in artistic merit it may be. And if we start banning things based on that criteria, I say we start with movies starring Rob Schneider.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And then there's the situation brought on by the announcement of the ban itself. As evidenced by the growing interest in A SEBIAN FILM, a nasty little number from last year's festival circuit which still fails to have U.S. distribution, all the attention about how horrific and immoral it is has only given it free publicity and increased the likelihood that more people will actually see the movie at this point. Not to mention the fact that adults are allowed to make decisions about what they would like to watch or read because they are adults, hence the very need for a classification system at all. Tell us what's in the movie, and then let us watch it if we want to. I know I, for one, can't wait to decide whether or not to watch Tom Six's follow-up to THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE. That's because I'm an adult, and not a child to be coddled and told what is appropriate. All that aside, though, there's more seriously fucked up material written in literature these days anyway, but I guess that's okay because the luddites out there who want us to be on the lookout for perversion don't read anything anyway.</span></span>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-85171740441420539952011-05-24T13:05:00.001-04:002011-05-27T11:10:08.706-04:004 Performances - Johnny DeppThis weekend we wered treated to the fourth film in the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchise, ON STRANGER TIDES. In honor of that film's release (which could honestly have one of these columns written about any number of actors in it), and its star attraction Johnny Depp, I want to discuss four of my favorite performances from the prolific, idiosyncratic and extremely talented actor. I'm also going to forego discussing his terrific (and career changing) turn in Jim Jarmusch's minimalist masterpiece, DEAD MAN because I want to write about that a bit in-depth in the near future.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ6bNH5g6s0XR5p1i2zqSudV-EOmiuXKbcGUZPAJ9DTCWRYCt52OuwPmkeb7C1i-SSAqQfthvQLOJRlGwCPMazu2L0-X6DqMeUH2r9tLtXYh8_-DfgPc69hWwCvzV8u_mpwSRWi86kljk/s1600/scared.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ6bNH5g6s0XR5p1i2zqSudV-EOmiuXKbcGUZPAJ9DTCWRYCt52OuwPmkeb7C1i-SSAqQfthvQLOJRlGwCPMazu2L0-X6DqMeUH2r9tLtXYh8_-DfgPc69hWwCvzV8u_mpwSRWi86kljk/s320/scared.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>1) Sam, BENNY AND JOON (Jeremiah S. Chechick, 1993)<br />
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One of Depp's earliest attention-grabbing performances was as Sam, an eccentric man who has apparently modeled himself off Buster Keaton, opposite a terrific Mary Stuart Masterson as Joon, an emotionally distant woman who opens up to be herself in the presence of Sam. Funny, sweet and just enough oddball to herald the career to come, BENNY AND JOON is remarkable character work by a burgeoning star.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCThDvNNHH7VSU_nyyIQOtbIjvVijAtNi_L9_0zP-kBX1-S-j_ACEBPE7ci4F3n-zU9YNzR1ltUElvsrJ22R1li2jo8YRcEeyXFkTMw8RmhoE3CH0YmIJTETbnUnWxBdJ8HHg1pdDebrI/s1600/penelope123345--500x380.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCThDvNNHH7VSU_nyyIQOtbIjvVijAtNi_L9_0zP-kBX1-S-j_ACEBPE7ci4F3n-zU9YNzR1ltUElvsrJ22R1li2jo8YRcEeyXFkTMw8RmhoE3CH0YmIJTETbnUnWxBdJ8HHg1pdDebrI/s320/penelope123345--500x380.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>2) George Jung, BLOW (Ted Demme, 2001)<br />
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BLOW is one of only two pictures that have ever made me cry in the theater (I don't mind telling you the other is Tim Burton's BIG FISH). A wholly engaging crime drama as well as character study, BLOW follows George Jung, a big time cocaine dealer who, at one time, was responsible for roughly 70% of the imported coke in the U.S. Tracking his rise and fall, the film utilizes the considerable acting chops of Depp and Ray Liotta, who plays his father, who gets all the best lines. Directed by the late Ted Demme (nephew of Jonathan), BLOW is electrifying in its use of rock music, the production design and gorgeous, coked-out set pieces that rival the best of De Palma and Scorsese for 70s/80s period gangster drama.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKpdLILT1jYlES2ubvBf-PFtzeKxaZVT1MEYNBqXZ1WGjcORSE8jomdUK-7q80V9MvrWeB57OOLZmKMPUfxbM-lOG5x1Zb8gQ4A6uCDHemBN0VBK5PS68rRrPdD5yx_1TQ_SYb8TaUcc/s1600/tumblr_ks1tqh0vqL1qzued7o1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKpdLILT1jYlES2ubvBf-PFtzeKxaZVT1MEYNBqXZ1WGjcORSE8jomdUK-7q80V9MvrWeB57OOLZmKMPUfxbM-lOG5x1Zb8gQ4A6uCDHemBN0VBK5PS68rRrPdD5yx_1TQ_SYb8TaUcc/s320/tumblr_ks1tqh0vqL1qzued7o1_500.jpg" width="320" /></a>3) Ichabod Crane, SLEEPY HOLLOW (Tim Burton, 1999) / Inspector Frederick Abberline, FROM HELL (The Hughes Brothers, 2001)<br />
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I often conflate these two characters, though I don't rightly know why. Perhaps its because Depp plays the same character very similarly, though adding or subtracting a bit of aloofness from his performances (respectively). His Ichabod Crane is a man of science on the hunt for the Headless Horseman, and who is nearly driven mad by the ordeal. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl0zg7hJqC2dXqd-7aQB30rRLQliEm0aTmaxCpm_i40BdFsgj5kw6SPa602L53KTD86aJwXsd6LaIX-uyOV88i3VcE2pqmQH-rhYf3frNtnxTeH5kVQQHk8qJYtflrrMVccw5RR5S-k_U/s1600/fromhelldepp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl0zg7hJqC2dXqd-7aQB30rRLQliEm0aTmaxCpm_i40BdFsgj5kw6SPa602L53KTD86aJwXsd6LaIX-uyOV88i3VcE2pqmQH-rhYf3frNtnxTeH5kVQQHk8qJYtflrrMVccw5RR5S-k_U/s320/fromhelldepp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Ditto Inspector Abberline, who is searching for a similar boogeyman in the shadows of London with Jack the Ripper on the prowl and the city gripped with fear. While neither role is a huge departure from Depp's usual repertoire of weirdos and malcontents, it's refreshing to see him take on characters that are at least grounded in the real world, and who partake in normal movie star activities like solving murders and being hunted by ghouls in the night.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbaxFJOjJjHnZzzkAZw3YJkOOj7zzKynFvDf2TI0QPMsinB-4PXnqk4_xwkQZds7LMIBPm2zW7cxseGe2MxyYDIJWrmHxDjaW2Fyl-T5sokepan5_KVlbqAISAgVimZsidN1WSUyFn_g4/s1600/1180872_height370_width560.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbaxFJOjJjHnZzzkAZw3YJkOOj7zzKynFvDf2TI0QPMsinB-4PXnqk4_xwkQZds7LMIBPm2zW7cxseGe2MxyYDIJWrmHxDjaW2Fyl-T5sokepan5_KVlbqAISAgVimZsidN1WSUyFn_g4/s320/1180872_height370_width560.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>4) John Dillinger, PUBLIC ENEMIES (Michael Mann, 2009)<br />
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While the film itself has some problems - chiefly its on-again off-again commitment to a watchable image during its action sequences - Depp's portrayal of John Dillinger, America's favorite antihero, is spot-on perfection. Dapper, clean and charming, Depp here proves that he can really be an everyman, just as long as that everyman has charisma and is terribly handsome. In this regard it's a better role for him than other forays into similar territory, like 2004's SECRET WINDOW or last year's THE TOURIST, which gets my vote for best film everyone hated for no good reason in 2010. It also doesn't hurt that he plays against type by being the flat-out bad guy, and that he gets to go head-to-head with fellow pop-thesp Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, the Federal agent given the assignment of taking Dillinger down.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-82638834222670597962011-05-19T21:32:00.002-04:002011-05-22T10:31:32.887-04:00Lars Von Trier, the Cannes Controversy and Talking to Adults.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RWFYcEtcew4" width="640"></iframe></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I usually don't write about super current issues in the filmmaking world, but I'm really interested in the current debacle happening in France. For the past couple of days, the cinema world has been in an uproar over some comments made by controversial filmmaker Lars Von Trier during a press conference for his new film, MELANCHOLIA. Apparently, the film was a serious contender for the Palme d'Or until the incident, and remains in competition, even as the festival itself has banned the director from attending any of it, including the awards ceremony on Sunday.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His banning has been greeted with praise from The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendents, who condemned his comments as "repulsive" and went so far as the call his comments an "exploitation of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">victims' suffering for self-serving promotion and publicity." (Source: </span><a href="http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/05/19/melancholia-director-lars-von-trier-banned-from-cannes-film-fe/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moviefone Blog</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The comments were also taken wildly out of context, as discussed in depth by both </span><a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2011/05/what_lars_von_trier_really_sai.html#more"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jim Emerson</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><a href="http://leapfrog.timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/film/14770791/cannes-film-festival-2011-lars-von-trier-responds-to-being-banned-by-the-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ben Kenigsberg at TimeOut Chicago</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, not reflecting the situation as it happened at all.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what did really happen? Von Trier, who has quite the reputation for being a provocateur as much as for his divisive films, and who has a well-documented history of deep depression, seems to be getting at the ways in which he understands hopelessness, discussing Hitler in his bunker, making plans even as Berlin is falling around him. He also seems to be discussing his relationship with fellow Danish filmmaker Susanne Biehr (who recently won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for IN A BETTER WORLD, who is also Jewish), as well as the conflicting sense of identity within himself after he spent much of his life believing that his Jewish step-father was his biological father, and his recent discovery that he is, in fact, of German descent. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's a whole lot of context. Certainly his apology gets at the heart of all of that seeming to be the case - something was blown way out of proportion, and Von Trier couldn't help his own dark impulses to not keep his mouth shut. (For a really in-depth experience of the play-by-play, you can </span><a href="http://www.deadline.com/2011/05/cannes-von-trier-goes-for-shock-value-says-he-sympathizes-with-hitler-a-little-bit/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">check out the coverage on Deadline</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which has given much more context to the types of questions he was being asked as well as the general mood of the conference and some of his previous acts as European filmmaking's </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">enfant terrible</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">).</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In any case, what I find most astonishing is that the entire context of the comments was missed so completely by the press, as well as the parties who would wish him harm or are glad that he is banned from the festival. Even the </span><a href="http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/readArticlePressRelease/58605.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">official press release</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> from Cannes is laughable, and in the space of one paragraph makes a case for its showcasing of talent without boundaries while condemning one of the world's most prominent directors for conducting himself in the manner they say the festival operates in the spirit of two sentences earlier. Ridiculous. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are we really not allowed to be adults anymore? Are we not allowed to grapple with difficult subjects and think about what is being said and why before we jump on the bandwagon of calling someone an anti-Semite and smearing his reputation? Apparently not. There are already comparisons of Von Trier to Roman Polanski, which is laughable, not because Polanski's past isn't problematic or worthy of some derision, but because Von Trier did not commit the same level of offense, no matter what you may think of him. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Von Trier was obviously working toward some sort of overarching metaphor about himself in relation to his films and fellow filmmakers, maybe even seriously discussing ethnic background at some level, but he even says in his statements that he doesn't condone what the Nazis did. But that doesn't matter, because Von Trier had already forgotten that there is no such thing as adult human beings capable of processing reality. At least, there aren't any out there according to how everyone has reacted to this situation.</span></span></span>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-3893861138140747832011-05-19T20:20:00.001-04:002011-05-19T20:20:40.200-04:00Antici---pation!So Summer is now in full swing, with the tent pole releases of THOR and BRIDESMAIDS heralding in the official launch of the blockbuster season. In honor of this, I give you a new entry in my once-frequent series in which I discuss several of my most highly anticipated flicks and their trailers.<br />
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1) MELANCHOLIA<br />
Lars Von Trier is probably the one filmmaker furthest from my mind when I think of Summer movies, but the timing of the release of his latest depress-fest is oddly appropriate. Described as "a beautiful movie about the end of the world," the film takes place as a planet threatens to crash into Earth, which is certainly the plot of many a summer blockbuster even if Von Trier's film is guaranteed to be totally unlike anything we could ever hope for from a Roland Emmerich or Michael Bay. I was really affected by his previous effort, ANTICHRIST, a rumination on man's relationship with nature, historical and supernatural malevolence, and the many ways we can destroy ourselves, so I'm looking forward to MELANCHOLIA, which looks to share a lot of the same thematics. A director unafraid of controversy or audience disgust, there is always one guarantee when encountering a new work by Lars Von Trier: there will definitely be something to talk about, one way or the other.<br />
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2) CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER<br />
Focusing on the superstar of the Marvel Universe, this is the last production before next year's superhero megafilm THE AVENGERS. Directed by Joe Johnston, who has already made a pretty great alternate-history superhero movie with 1991's THE ROCKETEER, and knows how to craft a rousing adventure film out of period drama (for proof see HIDALGO and his work on the television series THE INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES). Following the hero, Captain America, from his birth in the super soldier program during World War II, we are guaranteed many a showdown between Cap and his arch nemesis, The Red Skull. Yes, it's yet another superhero film, but this one is going to be a bit different, and hopefully up to the task of introducing us to a character as important as Captain America is to the Marvel cinematic project of replicating their comic book mythologies.<br />
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3) THE FUTURE<br />
The new slice of weirdness from Miranda July, the genius artist behind ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, seems to be told (at least partially) from the viewpoint of an adopted, sickly cat. Maybe. And it definitely details the lives of two thirty-somethings who haven't really got a handle on their lives just yet. July is an artist who I wholeheartedly respect, and this looks and feels a lot more like some of her book of short fiction more than her previous work as a filmmaker. This is a high profile art house release for the Summer season, and I'll be seeking it out as soon as I possibly can.<br />
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4) 30 MINUTES OR LESS<br />
I was a big fan of ZOMBIELAND a couple years back, and I'm looking forward to this film which rejoins Jesse Eisenberg with director Ruben Fleischer, and also brings Asiz Ansari into the fold for a movie about a pizza delivery driver who gets tangled up in a bank robbery scheme. The red band trailer in particular is very strong (and totally NSFW), and gives a good set of laughs to all the main characters, including Danny McBride and Nick Swardson as the two criminals who strap a bomb to Eisenberg's chest so he'll rob the bank for him.<br />
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5) TROLL HUNTER<br />
A found footage film about troll hunters in Norway? I'm there. No question. This movie is already available on demand, so I'll probably see it sooner rather than later, but I really think it was meant to see theatrically, which is why I'll be planning a trip to see it when it opens in either Asheville or Atlanta (if I've moved down there by then). In any case, the special effects and troll designs look amazing, and I'm all about supporting international and low budget genre cinema that seems to actually capture something magical and doesn't look and sound like utter crap.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tUyCaXXJMeE" width="480"></iframe>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-79960327806637473212011-04-13T23:53:00.005-04:002011-05-04T00:03:00.128-04:00ActionFest 2011If there's anyone out there who hasn't read any of it, my ActionFest coverage is being put up all over the place. Some reviews and thoughts will be here, and the interview with Bail Enforcers/WWE Superstar Trish Stratus will (hopefully) be the feature on the Shadows and Light Movie Podcast next week. Other stuff is on CA Literary Review. Still more will find its way to my new joint venture with my friend Eric Plaag, The Split Screen. What follows is a list of links that I will update as I have more and more come out for reading/listening.<br />
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CA Lit Review:<br />
<a href="http://calitreview.com/15336" target="new">ActionFest 2011 Wrap-up</a><br />
<a href="http://calitreview.com/15314" target="new">An Interview with Michael Jai White</a><br />
<a href="http://calitreview.com/15469">An Interview with Writer/Director Julian Gilbey</a><br />
<a href="http://calitreview.com/15649">Review: 13 Assassins</a><br />
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Matt Smith on Film:<br />
<a href="http://mattsmithonfilm.blogspot.com/2011/04/review-bail-enforcers.html" target="new">Review: Bail Enforcers</a><br />
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Shadows and Light Movie Podcast:<br />
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The Split Screen:<br />
<a href="http://thesplitscreen.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/bellflower-a-review/" target="new">Bellflower: A Review</a><br />
<a href="http://thesplitscreen.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/hobo-with-a-shotgun-a-review/">Hobo With A Shotgun: A Review</a>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-64496010811178938062011-04-13T10:29:00.002-04:002011-04-13T23:35:52.820-04:00Review: Bail Enforcers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoSOeOft6ji8bvJX9TqZxOI3mMhWsHBf7sh8PLw9bulrasW6bj9OgkSp6KPXN24AgqBtoJrlUsvUO_t8U5E3IaJ7afd5UGSbpnDfOuOtrdMiDseNDknrNBRB41zOj2stt1i34ekC0x4U/s1600/l_1596565_9df7deb8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoSOeOft6ji8bvJX9TqZxOI3mMhWsHBf7sh8PLw9bulrasW6bj9OgkSp6KPXN24AgqBtoJrlUsvUO_t8U5E3IaJ7afd5UGSbpnDfOuOtrdMiDseNDknrNBRB41zOj2stt1i34ekC0x4U/s320/l_1596565_9df7deb8.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><br />
This movie is just a lot of fun to watch. Featuring some fantastic little fight sequences and a charismatic set of leads, the film makes it easy to overlook some of its short-comings, which really aren't its fault at all, and are generally shared by most independent films, not just in the action genre. Seven-time WWE Women's champion Trish Stratus makes her film debut as Jules, a bounty hunter whose team gets drawn into making a deal with a gangster named Hal in order to make a bigger payday by turning over one of their bounties to him instead of taking him to the police. Along the way they have a run-in with a few goons who work for Hal and have to fight for their lives. It's not the most complex plot-line ever, but a ton of action films are held together on flimsier premises, and do far less with what they have.<br />
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</div><div>The film opens with a really well done fight between Jules and a weight lifter in a gym as she and her partner try to apprehend him and take him in. Not only does the fight serve to get the audience involved in the action right off the bat, but it also provides us with a glimpse at Jules' fighting style (sort of a wrestling-modified Krav Maga), which shows her as a no-nonsense go-getter; a woman of action. This is important because of the contrast it provides between her and her partners, Chase (Boomer Phillips) and Ridley (Frank J. Zupancic), who are much more suited to gun-oriented confrontation.<br />
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The group dynamics are typical, but pulled off well: Chase is the goofy one - Phillips has a background in comedy, Ridley is the square-jawed and level-headed leader, and Jules is the heavy-hitter, but also provides the group with a bit of sex appeal and helps to throw her opponents off because, hey, she's a woman! There's a charisma between the actors that is palpable on screen most of the time, and it makes some of the film's lesser moments (such as a regrettable and unimportant scene in which Ridley utters the words that he "loves" Jules, and an absolutely useless subplot and scene in which Jules works as a waitress at a strip club and must be picked up for a job - two of the few times genre cliches aren't quite so well averted or incorporated.) Which brings me to what I like most about the film: its ability to recognize its strengths and weaknesses as a B-movie (not a bad thing) and make the best of most of them.<br />
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Bail Enforcers has an honest sense of humor about itself that isn't so self-aware that it falls into unwatchable territory, and that's kind of refreshing. I'm pretty bored with "clever" post-modern parody of action films, and am glad to see there's still a small group of filmmakers eager to make what they have work to the best of their abilities and within a tight budget. There's not a weak spot considering all of this: the cinematography by Justin J. Dyck is solid, and the direction of Patrick McBrearty is more than capable.<br />
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And then there are the fights themselves. The choreography is quite well done, and the scene-stealer is Andrea James Lui, who plays Ruby, one of the heavies sent to kill the bounty hunters and take their bounty back to her mobster employer. She has two fights of note, one with Jules in close-quarters combat in the back of an ambulance, and a funny and character-building fight over a set of keys with chase. The former is thrilling, and the second is comic and endearing. These scenes are well-shot, too, with much of them being shot at a higher frame rate and then played around with in post. It's nice to see camerawork that is being done at least partially in-camera and not all on a computer.<br />
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Overall, Bail Enforcers is a solid view for a fan of the genre, a fan of Stratus' and anyone interested in supporting independent action movies. High cinema it's not, but not everything sets out to be. This is a knock-down fight flick about hard bodies and hard punches that plays like the films made in the heyday for this sort of film. Which is meant to say nothing bad about it at all.</div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-24292806993174172892011-03-18T22:09:00.001-04:002011-03-18T22:13:39.780-04:00The 15 Best Feature Films I Saw from 2010So, I know it is nearing the end of March, 2011, but I wanted to see as much as I possibly could before finalizing my list. In any case, narrowing it down as much as I did was already too difficult to go much further with it. Of course this means that many films I loved are missing from the list, notably TRUE GRIT, THE OTHER GUYS, LET ME IN, THE CRAZIES, and WINTER'S BONE. I also wanted to focus on my main interest, which is narrative feature films, and though I saw a good many documentary and experimental films in the past year, I just don't feel versed enough in those worlds to really rank and qualify them, especially among the features that share a special place in my heart. Anyway, these aren't really in any order, though BLACK SWAN most definitely was my favorite film of 2010.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhniujt2mKPVaLjIjXcWmXafBCP-nKlKODE8_0ITeQROVKRrdvbLEEuKuVux8inMzpaMUokg90VJjpgyQ5c7ZyG8uFOMk6bBSCF-ir7WTOTgBuMrzyNjmGaipSB7RU6K0MBO5Li2lvPtoc/s1600/npbs-thumb-510x340-28620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhniujt2mKPVaLjIjXcWmXafBCP-nKlKODE8_0ITeQROVKRrdvbLEEuKuVux8inMzpaMUokg90VJjpgyQ5c7ZyG8uFOMk6bBSCF-ir7WTOTgBuMrzyNjmGaipSB7RU6K0MBO5Li2lvPtoc/s320/npbs-thumb-510x340-28620.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>1. BLACK SWAN (dir. Darren Aronofsky)<br />
I'm not finished with this film, and it's definitely not finished with me. I haven't felt as strongly toward a film in years. Aronofsky's masterpiece, no matter your feelings toward it, has a way of getting into your brain and noodling around (or tunneling, if the metaphor is to lack subtlety in the same manner) for days and weeks afterward. I don't believe anyone who says they haven't thought about it since they saw it. Natalie Portman's performance as Nina, a ballet starlet striving for perfection, is admittedly one-note innocence, until the final forty minutes, when she really starts unraveling and there's enough sturm and drang and outward physical expression of her inner turmoil that even Fritz Lang would rise from the grave and take notice. Surrounded by a more-than-capable cast (a terrific Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder), Portman's interpretation is breathless, filled with the kind of bravura that most actors shy away from (though there are hints of Daniel Day-Lewis' comic-grotesque employed in THERE WILL BE BLOOD and GANGS OF NEW YORK to be found here and there). The Grand Guignol of the whole affair is something refreshing and exhilarating in the landscape of American cinema, not merely rehashing and blending older genres like many of our most capable filmmakers, but re-appropriating entire filmmaking styles to make something bold, fresh, daring and ultimately as divisive as BLACK SWAN turns out to be. By the time the final notes of SWAN LAKE play, and the screen turns into a bright, searing white, it never fails to send genuine shivers down my spine.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhocns3m_MyyZRrPjbVM06zzJK-Hh6sX7fZSqcgEQu5Lwce9PkzyCn7wxSE9DenOX9lUEFiRdycJ4-DusgbedEeMgaDZvh-MTP60vZCvkxjU4aEz8RQ0YV4IJ3JSpUsrLJUv-LKvMw6NBg/s1600/salt-movie-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhocns3m_MyyZRrPjbVM06zzJK-Hh6sX7fZSqcgEQu5Lwce9PkzyCn7wxSE9DenOX9lUEFiRdycJ4-DusgbedEeMgaDZvh-MTP60vZCvkxjU4aEz8RQ0YV4IJ3JSpUsrLJUv-LKvMw6NBg/s320/salt-movie-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>2. SALT (dir. Phillip Noyce)<br />
A master of the political thriller, having directed two Jack Ryan films with Harrison Ford and the subtler but no less break-neck THE QUIET AMERICAN, Phillip Noyce has returned with a more action-oriented take on the genre within which he seems most comfortable, and turns in the first Movie Star movie in quite some time. Angelina Jolie is in full-on movie star mode (helped along with the gorgeous cinematography of Robert Elswit) as Evelyn Salt, a U.S. CIA operative who may or may not be an insider for the defunct Soviet regime in Russia. The film is pretty breezy, and packs enough of a wallop that the Blu-Ray release features three different cuts of the movie, all overseen by Noyce, and all of which are worth a look. It's a shame this is an action film, though, since it automatically excludes it from any serious awards consideration. Except for from me, of course.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtqAtwGjcyYgnkIvsuwUK684ViryIZ2ChDW3KAbNzVxzhbBzhMjKV_2Jf5J1tutlnZSmuqqbW5_mBQdoYqC8Lu5Krnm0y8IFtSFVwZGZituJgNBz3b5jLrLFJc_TK6ia8recJCxx15Re4/s1600/6a00d83451b26169e20133ed51d48c970b-400wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtqAtwGjcyYgnkIvsuwUK684ViryIZ2ChDW3KAbNzVxzhbBzhMjKV_2Jf5J1tutlnZSmuqqbW5_mBQdoYqC8Lu5Krnm0y8IFtSFVwZGZituJgNBz3b5jLrLFJc_TK6ia8recJCxx15Re4/s320/6a00d83451b26169e20133ed51d48c970b-400wi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>3. THE KILLER INSIDE ME (dir. Michael Winterbottom)<br />
A literal and figurative sucker-punch, this bleak, utterly hopeless adaptation of Jim Thompson's rowdiest novel sticks very close to the first-person narrative of the novel, with closet psychopath/sheriff's deputy Lou Ford expounding his every horrible thought. Directed by the chameleon-like Michael Winterbottom, who shows a seemingly innate ability to work within any and every genre, THE KILLER INSIDE ME wears its nihilism on its sleeve, and features two of the most realistic, brutal and physically sickening murders many audiences have likely ever seen. What is so profound and disturbing about the film (and what makes it stick with me) is that Lou's descent into his suppressed dark side only comes about by what he sees is a necessity for his survival. Essentially, he's happy to murder people, in fact he seems to actually feel nothing about the act other than its status as an action that must be undertaken, but never once does he even care that his own fate may be sealed before he's even found out. Lou Ford is a monster, and THE KILLER INSIDE ME is a horror film that is more terrifying than any two or three genre films released in any given year.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcYYwEsiQaVM88c7JTL_bOB9-JONo10p25YBu6zuK1lT0JxWghRJTrOKzLatI0nv2dDYZQqJsCIZvsFIEWnKOdW_o9vAPZRAyzITcKhfD1o1vBikwiBpg8oALSrYvtIKC06Sq0Ja_NRhE/s1600/despicable_me_movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcYYwEsiQaVM88c7JTL_bOB9-JONo10p25YBu6zuK1lT0JxWghRJTrOKzLatI0nv2dDYZQqJsCIZvsFIEWnKOdW_o9vAPZRAyzITcKhfD1o1vBikwiBpg8oALSrYvtIKC06Sq0Ja_NRhE/s320/despicable_me_movie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>4. DESPICABLE ME (dir. Pierre Coffin, dir. Chris Renaud)<br />
A refreshing change of pace for an animated film glutted by pop-cultural references and the morass of an industry that views its child audience as mere money-generating morons. And while the last part of that statement may apply to parts of DESPICABLE ME (especially the marketing surrounding the Minion characters), the film itself is generally devoid of everything that makes one loathe the current climate of children's entertainment: it is a sweet, funny and poignant film that earns its laughs through situation, dialogue and universal truths rather than forced imitations of other, usually much better products. The plot, which concerns a super-villain named Gru, who seeks world domination (also the plot of MEGAMIND, another film of note this year, though lacking in some respects as regards the praise I have for DESPICABLE ME), is wrapped in the story of his changing focus when he takes in three young girls from an orphanage as pawns for one of his schemes. The animation is exaggerated and smooth, with a very welcome cartoonish slant, and it finally puts to rest the debate about whether or not Pixar holds a monopoly on the quality of mainstream animated features.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ4_f5of6mtn6F95eHGUwfQig5nCY27ZDAiP8b07sj198L4lEdpp7dEfVJmM4iau7tnXD7w2HyN-cvtOEIq3ndP2lhIPLzOcYEqf6rEqorYLytu6y71tHf5_RVmTYcZDOh6GQi4C9aZRk/s1600/splice4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ4_f5of6mtn6F95eHGUwfQig5nCY27ZDAiP8b07sj198L4lEdpp7dEfVJmM4iau7tnXD7w2HyN-cvtOEIq3ndP2lhIPLzOcYEqf6rEqorYLytu6y71tHf5_RVmTYcZDOh6GQi4C9aZRk/s320/splice4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>5. SPLICE (dir. Vincenzo Natali)<br />
An early surprise for 2010, the brilliant sci-fi freakout SPLICE was the perfect antidote to a slate of genre releases that featured heavy on the remakes (some of them being very good notwithstanding), and with diminishing returns in original content. A biomedical / body horror / ethics meditation worthy of the distinction of being Cronenbergian, Vincenzo Natali's little film about a superstar team of geneticists who design what they think could be the perfect creature is one of the more disturbing films to receive a major release. Seriously, the Adrien Brody / Sarah Polley / Dren triangle is beyond bizarre (and beyond intriguing material for a film), and I can't honestly say that I've experienced as big a sucker-punch to my mind since.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCzDyQsYw5d0uyD0oU7kJ3STueO7gD_an9qMz6IhoPVmqrbbqcZqVTo63c1wXRhBjVwcgVKuPebYbfSwHjtJVwujv7OkqvtfUAEmJ_ErMXH1YoECVY2k5ZVxWZsPsnVmHrfPemq3x_gNg/s1600/greek1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCzDyQsYw5d0uyD0oU7kJ3STueO7gD_an9qMz6IhoPVmqrbbqcZqVTo63c1wXRhBjVwcgVKuPebYbfSwHjtJVwujv7OkqvtfUAEmJ_ErMXH1YoECVY2k5ZVxWZsPsnVmHrfPemq3x_gNg/s320/greek1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>6. GET HIM TO THE GREEK (dir. Nicholas Stoller)<br />
This semi-sequal to FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL features Russel Brand's character Aldous Snow returning in his full rock-god glory, anchored by Jonah Hill's record company errand boy trying to get him to an anniversary show while avoiding all kinds of disturbances and distractions. The script is smart and funny and I kind of love the idea of serializing characters through multiple films and in different situations (something uber producer / director Judd Apatow is looking to do with his next movie). In addition, the soundtrack is absolutely hilarious, with spot-on pop and rock tracks by Aldous Snow's band Infant Sorrow as well as Rose Byrne's pop-star, Jackie Q. Seriously, "Ring Around the Rosie" was robbed of Best Original Song awards left and right.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9xEBaG6VqGMJU4ZaKohLSI9XumwFNfRSFuLXynbjVpC9Ww80yqQv-r0jOE4Mn8t_2x2FCl-4gJRvsckQp9t_qEj091AMgsCZJGAFlEUC8lwTlKtHo76H9QczKulvbDgdtBDKftJ5_HXM/s1600/movie-the_girl_with_the_dragon_tattoo-stills-95513451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9xEBaG6VqGMJU4ZaKohLSI9XumwFNfRSFuLXynbjVpC9Ww80yqQv-r0jOE4Mn8t_2x2FCl-4gJRvsckQp9t_qEj091AMgsCZJGAFlEUC8lwTlKtHo76H9QczKulvbDgdtBDKftJ5_HXM/s320/movie-the_girl_with_the_dragon_tattoo-stills-95513451.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>7. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (dir. Niels Arden Oplev)<br />
I don't think there's any doubt that 2010 was the year of Lisbeth Salander. There wasn't a single place you could turn where there wasn't a copy of one of the books or without talk of Noomi Rapace's absolutely bewitching (and star-making) turn in the film versions of the novels. Oplev's first film is still the strongest because the first book's story could be effectively trimmed down into a lean thriller without losing too much of the enchanting nature of all the side characters littered throughout the periphery of the story. Following an punk computer hacker with Asperger's, Lisbeth Salander, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is a dark and gritty Swedish thriller that unearths corruption on many levels both corporate and private in almost all of its characters. And though the film may focus more on journalist Mikael Blomquist, there is no forgetting Rapace's interpretation and dedication to the role that took the entire world by storm.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvuDlxkm1tt4nE47c6FBEtc7oPoCoBVTG32HHi0QVTpO_7hUxIckXjQ7cwd1_vkUSUzUP1xeSaZEEEdN2xxVpsDw2NJncTel6mnf5OJ8-tYRTLmFAbBkMqH09M_3d9cOtt730nQkZ-oa8/s1600/The-Town1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvuDlxkm1tt4nE47c6FBEtc7oPoCoBVTG32HHi0QVTpO_7hUxIckXjQ7cwd1_vkUSUzUP1xeSaZEEEdN2xxVpsDw2NJncTel6mnf5OJ8-tYRTLmFAbBkMqH09M_3d9cOtt730nQkZ-oa8/s320/The-Town1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>8. THE TOWN (dir. Ben Affleck)<br />
The second feature from Affleck may be 2010's overlooked gem, telling a complex story about the failings of human nature and the ineffable nature of our actions with the veneer of a crime drama and heist film. Affleck also stars in the film as Doug McCray, a professional thief who runs a crew in Charlestown, an area of Boston that, statistically speaking, has spawned the most armored car thieves in the U.S. After a bank robbery that gets a bit out of hand, and from which they abduct a hostage (a wonderful Rebecca Hall), the crew must protect themselves as an FBI team led by Jon Hamm (MAD MEN) starts looking into the members and putting the pressure on them as they cook up their next scheme. Of course, McCray takes to making sure the former hostage doesn't know who he is, and he ends up falling in love with her. This may seem very silly, but trust me it's not. Based on Chuck Hogan's supremely enthralling novel, the film flies by, even though it clocks in at over two hours. Trust me on this, THE TOWN is a must-see, slow burn crime film that is all about human interaction.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9L8axgnV4hxR6NsLglLkqytk_QIMShu2K3Ac4f4rv34ZBDoMVlyYztdgb9MJvPVDKT1r6dFgI4duMU04odTgCIt4er-FYQ_ATvIZHFEqe_s55bEKdKaI4Apl0gqUy243KnfmFMBnOOA/s1600/shutter2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9L8axgnV4hxR6NsLglLkqytk_QIMShu2K3Ac4f4rv34ZBDoMVlyYztdgb9MJvPVDKT1r6dFgI4duMU04odTgCIt4er-FYQ_ATvIZHFEqe_s55bEKdKaI4Apl0gqUy243KnfmFMBnOOA/s320/shutter2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>9. SHUTTER ISLAND (dir. Martin Scorsese)<br />
Yet another collaboration between the greatest living American director and his current muse Leonardo DiCaprio, SHUTTER ISLAND is a psychological thriller that is all about film aesthetics, film history and paying homage to the old Hollywood masters while providing an engaging old-school entertainment with shades of Hitchcock and Samuel Fuller. I remember sitting in the Denny's with my podcast co-hosts Woody and Pierce for over an hour afterward just picking apart the imagery and sound design, and it was one of the most thrilling academic exercises in aesthetics I was exposed to by a mainstream film all year.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit9WVZvCFpqxn8xmhyphenhyphenou6CgXRAwKRdz1Tg0aazDIkIfgHvpjakN8R1QDMV_SFP8raneqSkQtPo-3WNpFzGdxGTQjsf6Q3RpCLt-m4T8AF06bzI0u32jjllQr6ByhENCOVenV-pNFY8fd8/s1600/the_runaways_04-535x355.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit9WVZvCFpqxn8xmhyphenhyphenou6CgXRAwKRdz1Tg0aazDIkIfgHvpjakN8R1QDMV_SFP8raneqSkQtPo-3WNpFzGdxGTQjsf6Q3RpCLt-m4T8AF06bzI0u32jjllQr6ByhENCOVenV-pNFY8fd8/s320/the_runaways_04-535x355.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>10. THE RUNAWAYS (dir. Floria Sigismondi)<br />
I'm a big fan of Joan Jett, and when I heard a biopic was being developed for The Runaways, I was a bit apprehensive, but I have to say the end result completely knocked my socks off. The performances by Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning as Jett and Cherie Currie are electric, erotic and moving. And that's not even factoring in how brilliant Michael Shannon is as sonic mastermind and band manager Kim Fowley. Director Floria Sigismondi perfectly captures the youthful urgency of the music and the spirit of the band while also exploring the growing chasm between the hodgepodge group of musicians that form the band, particularly the desire and distrust surrounding Jett and Currie. I wrote at length about this film last year when I saw it, and have revisited it a few times since then, and each time I feel the same way. I don't really care how anyone else feels about it, THE RUNAWAYS is an amazing piece of filmmaking.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrU6wmElMM0Upo98gdXpxUEuguczMKSBr6KNmWsxyCpQptOiyHQXPn2v72nJ0NrRuQ3CIOlltfntujeE3U7gfOnKosjweXJo6IdpIau_eZMODpUQwULzn4hJPOAFOyRpej_a7jW2rqkCI/s1600/illusionist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrU6wmElMM0Upo98gdXpxUEuguczMKSBr6KNmWsxyCpQptOiyHQXPn2v72nJ0NrRuQ3CIOlltfntujeE3U7gfOnKosjweXJo6IdpIau_eZMODpUQwULzn4hJPOAFOyRpej_a7jW2rqkCI/s320/illusionist.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>11. THE ILLUSIONIST (dir. Sylvain Chomet)<br />
Based on an un-produced screenplay by the French master Jaques Tati, THE ILLUSIONIST follows an aging magician who plays variety shows throughout the world, but is slowly being edged out by the mainstream entertainment of hot, new rock and roll acts. As with his previous film, THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, Chomet uses very little real dialogue to tell his story, focusing instead on his magical hand-drawn animation and the development of strong, sympathetic characters. The film's best moment also features a cameo from the deceased Tati, and it's quite brilliantly done, and not forced at all. THE ILLUSIONIST is a film that is heartfelt, beautiful and urgent. A masterpiece by one of the most intriguing animators in the world.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrM7-uzL5EpaNVkBfEb33UlTKvJSkTOHYPwuyZnCrpCyos21-llO7hXd03C8GtoONqdMu2dG1PJdq-kKjsQfrheZxoGYEQTk5yzqvQDuRNv1YLM0gOe9JcyZ7LIQg1b8iou97o5k7We6o/s1600/hors-la-loi-outside-the-law-movie-photos02-550x381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrM7-uzL5EpaNVkBfEb33UlTKvJSkTOHYPwuyZnCrpCyos21-llO7hXd03C8GtoONqdMu2dG1PJdq-kKjsQfrheZxoGYEQTk5yzqvQDuRNv1YLM0gOe9JcyZ7LIQg1b8iou97o5k7We6o/s320/hors-la-loi-outside-the-law-movie-photos02-550x381.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>12. OUTSIDE THE LAW (dir. Rachid Bouchareb)<br />
Telling the story of four brothers who dabble in organized crime in Algeria and France during the Algerian revolutionary period, Rachid Bouchareb's film allows a glimpse into an oft-neglected chapter of world history, and provides us with a classic gangster picture at the same time. Featuring the same cast of his previous, Academy award-winning film, DAYS OF GLORY, all playing characters who are unrelated but have the same first names as the characters they played in that film, Bouchareb weaves the stories of the brothers into the history of the Algerian resistance. I particularly appreciated Jamel Debbouze (AMELIE, ANGEL A) as Said, who is trying to distance himself from the political and criminal lives of his brothers and make it as a legitimate boxing promoter and trainer, but is seen as an outcast and traitor by his own family for respecting the French oppressors in any way.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ0M_3EfE37XhDyh_gOAlf_UKbAP6BF2kxYqN_WHT9-V-XiwOO4mhGHkhrSUH6nj6wYut5fJxW2i3iHplwhJ03XDiVSZ45X9OnOBB6OigB2FI-JYN3IS7UaCX2mpgmT-0W55D_E7bWS9Y/s1600/christian-bale-the-fighter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ0M_3EfE37XhDyh_gOAlf_UKbAP6BF2kxYqN_WHT9-V-XiwOO4mhGHkhrSUH6nj6wYut5fJxW2i3iHplwhJ03XDiVSZ45X9OnOBB6OigB2FI-JYN3IS7UaCX2mpgmT-0W55D_E7bWS9Y/s320/christian-bale-the-fighter.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>13. THE FIGHTER (dir. David O. Russell)<br />
The only real difference between any boxing film is the milieu within which it attempts to tell its story. With ROCKY it was an underdog picture, with RAGING BULL we had a tale of masculine self-destruction, and with MILLION DOLLAR BABY it was a message picture. THE FIGHTER takes place firmly within the family melodrama genre, following Micky Ward's rise from stepping stone to world champ, and also his brother Dicky Ecklund, a former contender whose one famous moment was knocking down Sugar Ray Leonard, as he overcomes a crippling addiction to crack. Directed by David O. Russell, THE FIGHTER is a film that is worth seeing just for the performances, with Oscar winner Melissa Leo as Micky and Dicky's overbearing witch of a mother tearing up every scene she's in, and a love interest played by Amy Adams that brings a bit of heart to a film that might otherwise be too depressing to seriously contemplate as reality.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8w4DfPvCm3cOggnTkflJke-jxriydqGKVq6ZkGJyQAvSxdLGB-1PY7-WlQIuFDc4bnnElTvXpeir1caslH2xhCbf2HW76Q_T6ErWR9S080cPVa85TjbjC5INY3lwwsagubC4CKiQrYx4/s1600/green-zone2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8w4DfPvCm3cOggnTkflJke-jxriydqGKVq6ZkGJyQAvSxdLGB-1PY7-WlQIuFDc4bnnElTvXpeir1caslH2xhCbf2HW76Q_T6ErWR9S080cPVa85TjbjC5INY3lwwsagubC4CKiQrYx4/s320/green-zone2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>14. GREEN ZONE (dir. Paul Greengrass)<br />
An action film that takes all the best parts of Greengrass's masterful work with his historical/political drama period pieces and the Bourne flicks, GREEN ZONE is the adrenaline rush the Iraq-war subgenre needed, and it delivers on all fronts. I personally think this is Greengrass's masterpiece as an action filmmaker. Matt Damon once again proves why he's one of the most interesting movie stars in ages and co-star Amy Ryan proves that she needs much more work than she has been getting.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD8WqGiuUh9Y_mZ4k_6yfHPj_TlGxxNzeqTJMsFuGvXn6e_7dpk7EbDUa4rY5whYKiR5vZN_nUFPvOhWQko7o-78XcCy1oMkZPI8bxxWKwuWxxL4HNHua7gqQC4MfIOyg3_-C3DQasi6Q/s1600/au-fond-des-bois-2010-20585-398936068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD8WqGiuUh9Y_mZ4k_6yfHPj_TlGxxNzeqTJMsFuGvXn6e_7dpk7EbDUa4rY5whYKiR5vZN_nUFPvOhWQko7o-78XcCy1oMkZPI8bxxWKwuWxxL4HNHua7gqQC4MfIOyg3_-C3DQasi6Q/s320/au-fond-des-bois-2010-20585-398936068.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>15. DEEP IN THE WOODS (dir. Benoit Jacquot)<br />
This film hasn't seen a release here in the U.S. yet, but when it finally does come out, I will see it again and again. Isild Le Besco pairs with Jacquot yet again for the story of a girl who follows a stranger wanderer into the countryside in 1865. Timothee, who may or may not have the gift of hypnotism and bewitchment, is smitten with Josephine, who is from a well-to-do family, and he wills her to go with him into the woods and live outside of civilization. The big question throughout the film, of course, is whether or not their relationship is consensual, or if she is in fact being raped and Timothee really does have these powers she claims he has. The characters in the film come to a conclusion, but director Benoit Jacquot allows the story to linger and settle with the audience. The film also has a brilliant score, with baroque chamber tendencies. Loved this.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-76952071987092270992011-03-18T20:02:00.000-04:002011-03-18T20:02:19.691-04:00"The Other's a Fish": THE LINCOLN LAWYER<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMr0Wet4Qk_sc8gnvsGWkf5fxbwt7RHKl3XnA3oMyVWRC9QCGCvd6-zagSMdEM-XAXpxdM2iGK1j5ZaAH_6YA1GzLYCRASGLyZR80Yk6Jp9VFXexx2uSKnA3IvGS4EKOBZeTW18faZZZs/s1600/The_Lincoln_Lawyer_movie_stills_15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMr0Wet4Qk_sc8gnvsGWkf5fxbwt7RHKl3XnA3oMyVWRC9QCGCvd6-zagSMdEM-XAXpxdM2iGK1j5ZaAH_6YA1GzLYCRASGLyZR80Yk6Jp9VFXexx2uSKnA3IvGS4EKOBZeTW18faZZZs/s320/The_Lincoln_Lawyer_movie_stills_15.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>This faithful adaptation of Michael Connelly's best-selling legal thriller, THE LINCOLN LAWYER, is a throwback to breezier, slightly funkier courtroom procedurals. A smart performance by Matthew McConaughey that imbues the character of Mickey Haller with a knowing swagger anchors this approach, and the film's loose sensibilities serve as a counterpoint to the efficient clockwork plot. The latter quality of the film may in fact be its lone weakness, as it has trimmed much of the juicy fat away from the story, leaving bits and pieces hanging here and there, and not quite giving us enough character information in a few instances. Still, THE LINCOLN LAWYER is a wonderful film that kept me enthralled even though I was familiar with the many twists and turns beforehand.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The film follows Mickey Haller, a criminal defense attorney who will defend anyone who can pay his price. As the film opens, he stalls a case from going to court because a client of his, a member of a bike gang, hasn't paid the bill to date. In the following scene we meet the rest of the bikers, who have brought payment to Haller, and are given a sense that he is a man unafraid to take risks, but who has an ethical code even though he's willing to take a razor to the prosecution and bleed even the most guilty clients' charges down to an empty shell. A bit later, when Haller meets with repeat-client Gloria, a hooker who he never charges for his services. The relationship is a bit murky in the film, but in the book, it's really a sweet motive on his part, because he sees the good in Gloria, and wants her to get straight and stay that way. In any case, it serves to show his golden ideals held deep within the hard exterior of a money-driven defense lawyer.</div><div><br />
</div><div>As mentioned earlier, McConaughey's turn as Haller is a major reason this film works as well as it does. Haller has just enough sleazy wit and smart-ass charm to keep the audience alert to the plot, but the trick of casting someone as instantly likable and recognizable as McConaughey also serves to make us root for him and know that, no matter what twists get thrown at him, Haller is a good guy who will do the right thing in the end. Haller doesn't care what others think of him, and when cops come at him with jabs about his job and his culpability in keeping scum on the streets (Bryan Cranston is fun in a bit part), he brings it right back to them, knocking on crooked cops and how easy it is to do his job when the D.A. and the police are so inept at prosecution. Haller is a fun character, one that is challenging and emotional and downright engaging. He's a real, honest human being, and for once he's on screen in front of us.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyaBGbOyuLFJThoeLu_OxQHPbsipmaCt8BoXA48DoWPud7b5D5PX8cCandODeSrRwZAyy0x6zmfHvyNIe02fuAcA3qt20VbtWwNdPDvybBTMEgtiO5CAnadMEaNoOtXPKqJ60JnHnzTY0/s1600/Lincoln-Lawyer5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyaBGbOyuLFJThoeLu_OxQHPbsipmaCt8BoXA48DoWPud7b5D5PX8cCandODeSrRwZAyy0x6zmfHvyNIe02fuAcA3qt20VbtWwNdPDvybBTMEgtiO5CAnadMEaNoOtXPKqJ60JnHnzTY0/s320/Lincoln-Lawyer5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>McConaughey isn't alone, though, and is supported by a strong supporting cast, including Marisa Tomei as his ex-wife and prosecutor Maggie, William H. Macy as his private investigator, and Ryan Phillipe as Louis Roulet, the client he's been hired to get off an attempted murder charge. Phillipe's character in particular is worthy of notice because of his many faces, all of which are played expertly. Phillipe isn't an actor we've seen much of lately, and that's a shame, because I've always enjoyed his work. I'm sure audiences will be intrigued to see him here first as the story's underdog, and then as its villain. Josh Lucas is also enjoyable as prosecutor Ted Minton, and the courtroom scenes hinge a lot on his reactions to Haller's defense tactics. It's a shame there's not more of the court proceedings in the film, though, because Minton has some fantastic scenes in the book that would have likely been explosive between the two actors on screen.</div><div><br />
</div><div>While defending Roulet, Haller stumbles upon information that leads him to believe Roulet is not only guilty of the crime he is now accused, but also of the murder of another woman that got pinned on a previous client of Haller's, and who pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. Of course, not giving too much away, the attorney-client privilege is given a lot of play in how everything turns out, and it's really quite intriguing and plausible. Let's just say there aren't any surprises, no matter how dark the film gets, as to how everything ends.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt7WH7eP5IuWGbTceEjn8p07hJSuhxciW6IScAb4bTlNHXnXt4EfZ0aT1hKuA3-SF__3rCYf22si0WBQtlJRMelRXP2kfkWF3YgdwiY7BoWAXRoc3O0etblZIZKVevFyRTtmPDQMlLPoE/s1600/The-Lincoln-Lawyer-photo-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt7WH7eP5IuWGbTceEjn8p07hJSuhxciW6IScAb4bTlNHXnXt4EfZ0aT1hKuA3-SF__3rCYf22si0WBQtlJRMelRXP2kfkWF3YgdwiY7BoWAXRoc3O0etblZIZKVevFyRTtmPDQMlLPoE/s320/The-Lincoln-Lawyer-photo-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Cinematographer Lukas Ettlin, who also provided us with the most memorable and pleasing part of recent plotless disaster BATTLE: LOS ANGELES, turns in some really fantastic late-Sixties exploitation style "slick" cinematography, balancing just enough edge and flatness that really feels like that period, but in a completely good way. There are plenty of gorgeous close-ups of the stars, as well as some stark, matter-of-fact exposures we're not used to seeing in a Hollywood film, including an emotional drink with Haller after a close friend's murder which really doesn't make McConaughey seem like the pretty boy we all think of when his name gets mentioned.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I think what will stick with me the most, though, is McConaughey. Finally the man has returned to actual acting. I'm content with him popping up in small but memorable roles while cashing major paychecks for rom-coms, but it's nice to see him headlining something that requires him to actually show up to work. Maybe we're entering a new period for him, one that will see him really come into his own. Or, maybe we'll just get hints of true brilliance here and there. Honestly, I get the feeling that, much like Mickey Haller, he doesn't care all that much come to think of it.</div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-42667558471306376812011-02-26T10:36:00.000-05:002011-02-26T10:36:00.717-05:00Girl Power: MADE IN DAGENHAM<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtP_zBTk-6odYTKZCllbO2242j24eqJDLXWdPQYzvhGX326RYcYVokaRNbP83hObpXQ2qAOU4l1ZWFILJGsPVQkGuLZlx-eFhb6CkEk6tAmSlS8B_eeIeXUi_BTOdmgFRK3_zPRdTjBwY/s1600/MadeInDagenham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtP_zBTk-6odYTKZCllbO2242j24eqJDLXWdPQYzvhGX326RYcYVokaRNbP83hObpXQ2qAOU4l1ZWFILJGsPVQkGuLZlx-eFhb6CkEk6tAmSlS8B_eeIeXUi_BTOdmgFRK3_zPRdTjBwY/s320/MadeInDagenham.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
A feel-good movie if there ever was one, Nigel Cole's MADE IN DAGENHAM tells the story of the 1968 strike by the women workers of Ford's plant in Dagenham that ultimately resulted in the passage of equal pay legislation in Britain. While it's a little too frothy, and the return to our current cultural climate outside the darkened theatre is something of a downer afterward, it's a solid film to spend a couple of hours with, and features the always fantastic Sally Hawkins as Rita O'Grady, a composite of several real-life women who lead the movement.<br />
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Like most films based on political movements/activists like this, there's a certain trajectory that's expected to play out on screen: person has injustice, person takes action against their adversary, person overcomes injustice. And to be sure, MADE IN DAGENHAM follows this precisely, never really wavering from its path, though it has some nice surprises here and there, mostly in the ways it deals with the interpersonal and familial relationships at stake. Rita and her husband Eddie have a pretty healthy relationship, and while there are trying moments that would likely hit any family going through an income crisis as they have (especially once the strike by the women causes a plant-wide shutdown), it really comes through that they love and care about one another, and there are plenty of apologies to go around.<br />
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</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq4jVLEgo9faZ9WShfmHIcJznb77N7jGDlrLHRlXCUMGsuDH_0DOdZhaa6nN3oPqggQQPYa4SeMXZLl4ZqiKmAcWmZnaoy1or4VmTHOYtiLbk5lYANhX8hlGsdsKGli7vR0iEdOYvHn6Y/s1600/march.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq4jVLEgo9faZ9WShfmHIcJznb77N7jGDlrLHRlXCUMGsuDH_0DOdZhaa6nN3oPqggQQPYa4SeMXZLl4ZqiKmAcWmZnaoy1or4VmTHOYtiLbk5lYANhX8hlGsdsKGli7vR0iEdOYvHn6Y/s320/march.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
As the film tracks the encounters with management and their spineless self-serving union leaders, and the disappointments experienced by the women at their hands, the film moves along at a fairly quick pace, finding its footing in the swift dialogue and the pleasure of watching such skilled actors at work. It doesn't really matter that the story itself is predictable - they'll never really make the kind of movie that ends with the decimation of unions' bargaining rights - because the film's charms are its quiet moments and often boisterous interactions. And the actors are more than capable of buoying a film like this.<br />
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Sally Hawkins, who I've already mentioned, and who most audiences may know from her lead role in Mike Leigh's HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, is once again a charming on-screen presence and proves that she really should be in many many more movies (a quick check of her IMDB tells me she'll be in at least two films in the coming year, which I'll happily check out just because.) She's helped along by some strong supporting work from the two prominent male cast members: Daniel Mays as her husband, and the incomparable Bob Hoskins as a low-level union rep that actually has the balls to get the job done as it needs to be, bypassing politics and getting right to the heart of the problem. But the film's biggest jaw-dropper is the sheer amount of female acting chops on display, with all of its major moments revolving around women and the stifling feelings they have when they are spoken down to and about by males running everything without ever being asked what they might actually feel best suits their interests.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTjEapO3b2Q4ktQFwPEMpTcnIMQxUr44vzR2jdELhwdXAYNPVYceQjR3PzEuYi6X934UXVnxdqw1mA2VNstw2pfYHfjK_K6uL9zQJ8trLTJWyZExiOyTd7sX_yhzDpu3IjMAzgrxmW_xs/s1600/made_dagenham_1115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTjEapO3b2Q4ktQFwPEMpTcnIMQxUr44vzR2jdELhwdXAYNPVYceQjR3PzEuYi6X934UXVnxdqw1mA2VNstw2pfYHfjK_K6uL9zQJ8trLTJWyZExiOyTd7sX_yhzDpu3IjMAzgrxmW_xs/s320/made_dagenham_1115.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Underneath its light surface is a darker commentary about the ways in which male-centric societal discriminations shade even our own thoughts about who is important and should be important in not just everyday interactions, but even in the simple act of watching a film - even one such as this that really puts the voices of women right out in front. Hoskins and Mays aside, the major characters that drive the film are all the friends of Rita who stand behind her and support her giving voice to their concerns <i>as</i> women. Miranda Richardson is a hoot as Barbara Castle, who is still the only woman ever to have held the office of First Secretary of State in Britain, and Rosamund Pike turns in a really tight performance as Lisa Hopkins, a highly educated woman kept underneath the power structure in both Britain and her own household by her husband, who is the labor relations director for the Ford company in the U.K.<br />
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The real heart and soul for, and the most conflict when sticking up for her sisters for Rita, comes from her best friend, Connie, played by the wonderful Geraldine James. Connie's husband, George, is a former soldier who is experiencing what we now know is PTSD, and some days are obviously better than others. Their relationship as husband and wife, which may be a shadow of its former self, is powered by pure love, and ultimately, George sees his wife as someone who deserves everything she has been fighting for. The denouement of this particular section is very sad and poignant, but it provides the story with just enough oomph and impetus to get over the hump of making sure Rita's friendships really do see her through to the end. Really, it's a touching moment when Connie, who was once the spokeswoman for the girls, and Rita both enter the labor union's conference together.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmMT6PY9w-cwdEB0uClIfs__PYI6yAq1mhqhCjDnPyxAvo3zDyDFJFjAsUpYTNmm4mcLYbV0miJf_chYnBbXoKDXbe6DTb0oEmZGKsb3XO3Kw3ewAxCj2uVz43Q7lVD3cEvW2Z8WpPpY/s1600/b94f5fc2-23bb-4443-9d56-63967abbcac6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmMT6PY9w-cwdEB0uClIfs__PYI6yAq1mhqhCjDnPyxAvo3zDyDFJFjAsUpYTNmm4mcLYbV0miJf_chYnBbXoKDXbe6DTb0oEmZGKsb3XO3Kw3ewAxCj2uVz43Q7lVD3cEvW2Z8WpPpY/s320/b94f5fc2-23bb-4443-9d56-63967abbcac6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
It's not really a surprise to see such good acting in a British film. Half of their acclaimed talent currently fills U.S. productions anyway. But it is a surprise to see a film that really attempts to get to the heart of its female characters, and provide a realistic view of their relationships with one another and their families, and with society-at-large. MADE IN DAGENHAM may be a rather light-hearted affair, but there's enough going on beneath the surface concerning sexism and its inherent role in every facet of Western culture that it really is worth a second look beyond the cursory first glance. Even if it is just for the sheer amount of wonderful performances, which given such great work in smaller roles by the likes of Andrea Riseborough and Jaime Winstone, et al, I really haven't even tipped the bucket on.</div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-53162950792977963062011-02-23T10:56:00.000-05:002011-02-23T10:56:16.223-05:00Blurbs: Special Edition 2I know, I know, where did I disappear to? I'm back, this time with a vengeance. I'm going to have some 2010 wrap-ups and polish off a few articles I didn't get around to posting. First up, a super-long edition of Blurbs (really long this time out). Without further ado:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_YQEL8DUOGxEbqSggEuxfu9pGVTnGECYGzwA9WosdpdOZYJTGKRONrpecYWBXU2wDfY5Xet0gcWFNMINaPL88DNLsNtoSes3KkSovwZ2e0v7bCKNTrPn2b2VqtTpz0-NsWOyhIbtJiU/s1600/the-kings-speech-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_YQEL8DUOGxEbqSggEuxfu9pGVTnGECYGzwA9WosdpdOZYJTGKRONrpecYWBXU2wDfY5Xet0gcWFNMINaPL88DNLsNtoSes3KkSovwZ2e0v7bCKNTrPn2b2VqtTpz0-NsWOyhIbtJiU/s320/the-kings-speech-6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>THE KING'S SPEECH (Tom Hooper, 2010)<br />
A movie that really hinges on the performances of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush and completely delivers on both counts. The story's plot is nothing spectacular: the King of England has a stammer and seeks speech therapy so he can lead the nation in proper royal capacity, but the screenplay has some of the best dialogue in recent memory (along with THE SOCIAL NETWORK it holds a place with me for making an uninteresting subject interesting just because of the ways in which people communicate and find importance in communication) and Tom Hooper's direction is refreshingly restrained and classical in style. I enjoyed the off-center shots of the two leads, and it's nice to see something that's not quite so flashy. Even the fog-shrouded exteriors seem subdued and refreshing in their simplicity. One of the smaller cinematic pleasures I had this year is watching the bickering back and forth between Rush and Firth, two fine actors in a fine film that may not be the best, but which is still deserving of one's time.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX4DXz6wOT0FidJrVTSeIoaVxqvPVphFxxkmvPgxNZb8LK-QqWoInWzPYi64PO3bEZid_4Y-6L6DM8B5fH6xsigiVkx05DKRejXYtOeAY5O0Yq14NlMnK_aro6sn9VprbPPRBc6If-PjA/s1600/badday7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX4DXz6wOT0FidJrVTSeIoaVxqvPVphFxxkmvPgxNZb8LK-QqWoInWzPYi64PO3bEZid_4Y-6L6DM8B5fH6xsigiVkx05DKRejXYtOeAY5O0Yq14NlMnK_aro6sn9VprbPPRBc6If-PjA/s320/badday7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (John Sturges, 1955)<br />
One of my favorite films of all time, I recently watched this after having not seen it in about six years and was re-enamored with it. Spencer Tracy's portrayal of hard-as-nails Macreedy, the one-armed veteran come to Black Rock with a mysterious purpose. Met with a town hiding a dark secret and the determination to do whatever to make sure it never comes to light, Macreedy faces this opposition head on. In an iconic performance, Tracy takes on the whole town, populated by a superb cast playing the townspeople: Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan and the inimitable Lee Marvin. A social tirade against racism and igorance, A BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK manages to hit all of its intended notes and rattle some nerves in a meager 81 minute run-time, which is more than most other films could ever dream of.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxIH9WWVzKVRJUB6fGC9y7PwmYfEbrr8lVcM9Nz7792xtiV6SJCEnjTTWAXdJ_nEOiGTQrHoGkjyFjwJK7K_vQX-UsloN3ggJBvJGFjBeCYtTHLkrlVwARb4Y5UEBPqyK6fECjH3qg6GU/s1600/still-seasonofthewitch1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxIH9WWVzKVRJUB6fGC9y7PwmYfEbrr8lVcM9Nz7792xtiV6SJCEnjTTWAXdJ_nEOiGTQrHoGkjyFjwJK7K_vQX-UsloN3ggJBvJGFjBeCYtTHLkrlVwARb4Y5UEBPqyK6fECjH3qg6GU/s320/still-seasonofthewitch1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>SEASON OF THE WITCH (Dominic Sena, 2011)<br />
While not a total waste of time, the film's improbable (and horribly computer-generated) final twenty minutes almost dismantle the enjoyment I had of watching a mostly-reliable B genre picture starring Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman as two Knights on the lam escorting a witch to her trial at an abbey several days away. Honestly, I think this film falls apart based on the direction alone, making choice after choice, from the overall tone, which waffles between camp and seriousness, to the aforementioned CGI-laden debacle of the finale. Dominic Sena has made exactly one film worth a real look (KALIFORNIA) and as bad as I wanted it to, SEASON OF THE WITCH does nothing to further a sub-genre of horror/fantasy I feel is due for a comeback. I guess TRUE BLOOD's upcoming witch-filled storyline will have to keep my hopes up for the time being.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguGC1-uQw626jzTLiX3LqiWicjZNHorTDWx0ykvK_v86jf6kgNEIH2on2IONHxEX4w1GLSydlvgUuugru6iBCETyodiHL_2x_RyHPwNXVxBX5z9D_5L1ScrWRuaWNVXvUSAJumgD5q4rc/s1600/6a00d8341c630a53ef013488aa9761970c-500wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguGC1-uQw626jzTLiX3LqiWicjZNHorTDWx0ykvK_v86jf6kgNEIH2on2IONHxEX4w1GLSydlvgUuugru6iBCETyodiHL_2x_RyHPwNXVxBX5z9D_5L1ScrWRuaWNVXvUSAJumgD5q4rc/s320/6a00d8341c630a53ef013488aa9761970c-500wi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>THE CHICAGO CODE (2011)<br />
Producer/Creator/Writer Shawn Ryan has already seen one of his best creations cancelled by FX (the best show of last Fall, TERRIERS), but he's giving it another go with the so-far-so-good cop show THE CHICAGO CODE. Following a group of officers and detectives banding together to take down a corrupt politician, there are shades of THE WIRE at play, though things are starting to widen a bit, growing to show a more subjective view of various characters through voice-over narration and small throwaway moments that might be trimmed from a show not on a network production scale (though this season will feature only 14, there are normally 22 episodes a season as opposed to half that number). Aside from surface level comparisons, though, the feel of the show is much more in tune with Ryan's work on TERRIERS and THE SHIELD, albeit a little less gritty and featuring a police department actually fighting for justice, which is a welcome change to the current television procedural climate. Fantastic performances from Jennifer Beals as the department's superintendent and Jason Clarke as a detective determined to make the case buoy the show and really propel it into the must-watch realm few shows reach for me.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoud9hTv0X2QgODzsLuoXEO-qq5CHxnLM4-KpcNSVL_c2a4mWbPSP_kmjor19Synse5vofUFVesF_5Bv3uW0ccO7NXZpV8xRTtFrdI-TkxqPOoZn6WETUUz6f28jSVQA-b8WjziKtuR-s/s1600/opener_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoud9hTv0X2QgODzsLuoXEO-qq5CHxnLM4-KpcNSVL_c2a4mWbPSP_kmjor19Synse5vofUFVesF_5Bv3uW0ccO7NXZpV8xRTtFrdI-TkxqPOoZn6WETUUz6f28jSVQA-b8WjziKtuR-s/s320/opener_l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>THE GOLDEN COMPASS (Chris Weitz, 2007)<br />
I didn't mind this film, though I could tell as someone who hasn't read any of Philip Pullman's trilogy that it glosses over a WHOLE lot of stuff. But, I think as a non-fan audience member it worked for what it was: an epic start to a trilogy that there's no way to condense into a single set of three films in the first place. That, in a nutshell, is the problem of adaptation in general for the fantasy genre. The very nature of the beast requires a fair amount of condensing from an often bloated, world-creating novel that spares not a single chance to describe small and seemingly inconsequential scenes in oft-excruciating detail. Fans of the books do hate this movie, and probably with justified reasoning. But, it is what it is, and if you want to see how bad film adaptations of really good and highly revered works of children's lit can turn out, you might want to try THE SEEKER: THE DARK IS RISING from the same year. Yeesh.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5U9jI8Ud5_TVxV3nFiCym3cASAEqM4gw5EDMddn0nFJiQcaL3yf6s-PGJVZ_c_KcrFT4va4-kkYk1a-oCHHlai1Da8rsuYElNs0vmwqh2FQwyqnoHEIkfRp1Vs-bXHlUGVb9_C1Kb3Y/s1600/Doghouse04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5U9jI8Ud5_TVxV3nFiCym3cASAEqM4gw5EDMddn0nFJiQcaL3yf6s-PGJVZ_c_KcrFT4va4-kkYk1a-oCHHlai1Da8rsuYElNs0vmwqh2FQwyqnoHEIkfRp1Vs-bXHlUGVb9_C1Kb3Y/s320/Doghouse04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>DOGHOUSE (Jake West, 2009)<br />
I have a soft spot for any sort of British horror-comedy. This offering, following a group of men who attempt to cheer up their friend following a devastating break-up with his girlfriend by taking a holiday to a small town that boasts a ton of single women per capita, is a lighter affair that features some imaginative takes on zombification and some fun kills. The should-be-more-popular fan favorite Danny Dyer and Stephen Graham headline as two of the guys up against a town in which all of the women have become the subjects of a secret military experiment that makes them aggressively pursue and kill all men in the area. This one's fun for fans, and may even win a few converts. Worth checking out.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFGoqgNhhJ1SHhFuoSqXS0iQZQKybwnpm4gx-5ACuo-CtuHKMh1aLa4O-DDFup0InyKKIUgxOl4yrDGIV_ytfQ1u74p1nWBSN5E2ZeMh2o2qNPYpa7rjyhvXyxwQCWh2gbFy9bxAONIs/s1600/an-idiot-abroad-mexico.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFGoqgNhhJ1SHhFuoSqXS0iQZQKybwnpm4gx-5ACuo-CtuHKMh1aLa4O-DDFup0InyKKIUgxOl4yrDGIV_ytfQ1u74p1nWBSN5E2ZeMh2o2qNPYpa7rjyhvXyxwQCWh2gbFy9bxAONIs/s320/an-idiot-abroad-mexico.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>AN IDIOT ABROAD (2010)<br />
Oh my word, this is brilliant television. I've loved listening to Karl Pilkington on the Ricky Gervais Show podcast for the past few years, but I never imagined something like this would ever happen. For those of you not familiar with him, his friend Ricky Gervais describes Karl as a "round-headed, ape-like moron," and while that may seem mean-spirited, it's not completely wrong as a description of the television personality we're given. He's actually just an average man, uncomfortable around anything he's never been exposed to or has no previous notion of, and this leads to absolutely hilarious observations, non-sequitirs, odd-ball analogies and brilliant unscripted physical comedy. This may be the best thing I've seen on TV since November, and it's definitely the best reality-based show to come along in a long, long time.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIPaZhT0yxI5ALT7Y8txS0smT1lEWvmeYiY-P9hsZljxQLHJEZxstDiuW5lvbIMJLx7uezd3T6BgIlTqNIEfeoUN83q9v6KKv0rwTmwriYD9X4Ql16j35XgcWnncYFBY5oenfVrzhV1zo/s1600/true-grit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIPaZhT0yxI5ALT7Y8txS0smT1lEWvmeYiY-P9hsZljxQLHJEZxstDiuW5lvbIMJLx7uezd3T6BgIlTqNIEfeoUN83q9v6KKv0rwTmwriYD9X4Ql16j35XgcWnncYFBY5oenfVrzhV1zo/s320/true-grit.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>TRUE GRIT (The Coen Bros., 2010)<br />
There's a lot to admire in this re-adaptation of Charles Portis' classic Western, but far and away the best aspect is the discovery of Hailee Steinfeld, the fifteen year-old actress who more than holds her own with some of the best actors ever to appear on celluloid. As Mattie Ross, the plucky and determined daughter out to track down her father's murderer, Tom Chaney, she displays the same wisdom of an older soul her character has as well, and she really is amazingly talented. And while it doesn't pack the same punch as their recent few films for me, this is another home run for the Coens, and again marks their place as one of the best filmmaking duos working today.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMR5T4wMj5NiPYEX8gJzAzc7oYGr2y2U7WXqfSUf3eXSsIYJvwdU6uId3FrO6YjuaD6tq5OUX5ltSoHww8qW_fSKnd5O7IIcitVqz24WPwBLrA5zdHumYbKnWYLCfLKNRv-CrdNryg1qs/s1600/blue-velvet-custom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMR5T4wMj5NiPYEX8gJzAzc7oYGr2y2U7WXqfSUf3eXSsIYJvwdU6uId3FrO6YjuaD6tq5OUX5ltSoHww8qW_fSKnd5O7IIcitVqz24WPwBLrA5zdHumYbKnWYLCfLKNRv-CrdNryg1qs/s320/blue-velvet-custom.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>BLUE VELVET (David Lynch, 1986)<br />
Upon multiple viewings, BLUE VELVET only becomes increasingly more disturbing and creepy. Eventually I stopped paying attention to the thin plotting (and the intricate workings of the dream-like logic employed in the film) and began focusing on the nightmarish nature of every single thing in this film, from opening credits to the very end. Seriously, even Laura Dern's character gives me the willies. Another recent discovery: Dean Stockwell as Ben is an even more disturbing person than Frank Booth. In just that one scene in which he lip-synchs Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" he walks away with the movie, and the whole vibe of the apartment, the retro-decor and fashions, the casual nature of the abusive relationships...it's almost too much to take. I watched this a couple of times around my obsession with Aronofsky's BLACK SWAN and it was an illuminating experience for me. The nature of dreams, nightmares, and mental breakdown swirling around us at all times, and the simple act of watching a movie in effect being similar - well, let's say I may still be a little too close to it all. In any case, this is Lynch's masterpiece, and deserves to be thought about constantly by anyone who can stand to.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuGq5HB1Aqeyd0Df4uvP4JS_BLE2AvDwGNVShVAliHgBxq4-myzFBVjcM2ACqC2TgQrnjOmSgf50eeGhI_LZ5IhmkrAfR3M3SwUN6AyPYqMqcYRuXU0gSy4cPwjZD50SbF_20xZ1NzkgU/s1600/episodes_101_06_11_10_0176.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuGq5HB1Aqeyd0Df4uvP4JS_BLE2AvDwGNVShVAliHgBxq4-myzFBVjcM2ACqC2TgQrnjOmSgf50eeGhI_LZ5IhmkrAfR3M3SwUN6AyPYqMqcYRuXU0gSy4cPwjZD50SbF_20xZ1NzkgU/s320/episodes_101_06_11_10_0176.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>EPISODES (2011)<br />
An amazing show about the problems facing adaptations of award-winning British comedies for American audiences. Featuring a really hilarious Matt LeBlanc, and some razor-sharp writing, the story of Sean and Beverly, the creators of BAFTA-winning show "Lyman's Boys" watch in horror as their show is picked up for a pilot by network executive Merc and becomes the opposite of what made their show a critical favorite overseas. After replacing the show's star with Matt LeBlanc, the show's entire story changes, becoming a sitcom about a hockey coach and being retitled "Pucks!" It may hit a little too close to home for those of us who have seen this exact thing happen in reality, but it's still a fantastic show that pays off by building upon its previously introduced jokes and satisfying us with an appropriately awkward and bittersweet finale.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-87030354529417244652010-12-10T23:20:00.001-05:002010-12-11T00:56:10.536-05:00Review: BLACK SWAN<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitT-xCego4v8BNHtNHajPSnaglje5ExJqBKYPlBvYLci1piaYkmq0GzHh0c-Rf5lBpg8Ckoi-s3PsPSQIwltg2TvhdunD5AZG6aTuxRiaq6oWKI0NmHUp4o0m8XwfgFaThAJzxGOCgn5Q/s1600/black-swan-movie-review.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitT-xCego4v8BNHtNHajPSnaglje5ExJqBKYPlBvYLci1piaYkmq0GzHh0c-Rf5lBpg8Ckoi-s3PsPSQIwltg2TvhdunD5AZG6aTuxRiaq6oWKI0NmHUp4o0m8XwfgFaThAJzxGOCgn5Q/s320/black-swan-movie-review.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Director Darren Aronofsky (REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, THE WRESTLER) is not a subtle filmmaker. His films often feel like they're pounding, pounding, pounding their audience into submission, with deliciously all-too-human horror that confronts the viewer in such a way that forces them to either love the film or hate it. There's really no in-between for an Aronofsky film. His body of work could probably best be described as typically divisive. His latest effort, the psychodrama BLACK SWAN, is no different. The thriller, starring Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers, a ballerina up for the role of the Swan Queen in SWAN LAKE, a production under the control of hard-line artistic director Thomas (a brilliant Vincent Cassel), starts by recalling countless earlier ballet-centric films, notably THE RED SHOES - a film which can't help but be invoked by the mere mention of a powerful ballet director and a struggling dancer - and ends with notes of body horror, psychological melt-down and the destructive impulse that drives its obsessed central character toward perfection and destruction. <br />
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Nina strives for perfection as a dancer, and is selected for the role because the White Swan should be a technically perfected part, but Thomas still has his doubts about her turn as the Black Swan, who he envisions as a bit more loose and wild than Nina ever allows herself to be. Enter the rivalry of another dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis), much more sensual than Nina's perfected technique would ever allow. Nina may lose her part, Lily and Thomas may be conspiring against her, and she may or may not be transforming, quite literally, into some horrific <i>thing</i>. Aronofsky has utilized the thematics of the ballet SWAN LAKE to create a real-world mirroring of its central conceit: two sides of the same coin, dooming one another, and only because they are one and the same, and it works perfectly as a horror film.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSx6MDAVpEDyYg7ko2aC1Y_XCxUVpNn63zCe1pByhWaKJgEcsYl9vuNf5EAO09vjKVnl6aUkfGYuY1yhIp0zQCHU4F_zgm_F5Oknvo0z4diiUUbdNaJfbcxokEoiK1HV3IpDmJRiZdajE/s1600/npbs-thumb-510x340-28620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSx6MDAVpEDyYg7ko2aC1Y_XCxUVpNn63zCe1pByhWaKJgEcsYl9vuNf5EAO09vjKVnl6aUkfGYuY1yhIp0zQCHU4F_zgm_F5Oknvo0z4diiUUbdNaJfbcxokEoiK1HV3IpDmJRiZdajE/s320/npbs-thumb-510x340-28620.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Something tells me, though, that this may end up becoming a major issue, as horror can most certainly be used as a derogatory term when it comes to the world of ballet. It's a largely insular culture, with its aficionados holding strong aesthetic opinions of good and bad that comes with the territory (all artistic and critical communities are the same in this regard), and I don't think they'll be too pleased with the actual presentation of ballet in the film (indeed, James Wolcott's <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/features/2011/01/wolcott-201101">review</a> makes this point for me). It's a backdrop, and not the show, and even Natalie Portman's year of training for the role doesn't really make much sense considering Aronofsky's film (and the horror/thriller genre in general) is more concerned with intimacy and brooding intensity - a point the film's many close-ups of Portman's gaunt face and leaner, more bruised and calloused frame hammers home more efficiently than any medium shot of the dancing going on around them ever could. In reality, the close-ups of her body never had to be the real Portman, but, just as it did with Mickey Rourke's scarred torso in THE WRESTLER, the fact that it is only serves to add to the visceral impact the shots have in conveying the physical impracticalities of such a demanding lifestyle on a biological level, let alone the strain it can have on the psyche.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPrWe-8xaoJXBuEqymwSYv1y-BpVdQbAjt5SZDvNNdMxCN8rM5cMRN-DKKraP3hRfj5zBSHgXHirrKL7-dyINg-ufbAQlG1QP1wzxEHk8fjyLnxQKMGy68XGFKBBR5fB3Z6UMEu-MryhE/s1600/images-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPrWe-8xaoJXBuEqymwSYv1y-BpVdQbAjt5SZDvNNdMxCN8rM5cMRN-DKKraP3hRfj5zBSHgXHirrKL7-dyINg-ufbAQlG1QP1wzxEHk8fjyLnxQKMGy68XGFKBBR5fB3Z6UMEu-MryhE/s320/images-1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Given the obsession the film has with Nina's strictly-governed and routine-driven existence becoming unraveled by her awakening to her own desires and her growing sensual self-awareness, there is naturally a strong sexual element to the relationships Nina forms with both Thomas and Lily, with each offering some new and thrilling experience that could end up dooming her chances at being a successful dancer. This sexual awakening is accompanied with both horror and pitch black comedy. Thomas, perhaps unprofessionally, but with a point nonetheless, in an attempt to drive the point home to Nina, who just can't stop being perfect, asks a male dancer point-blank, "would you fuck this girl?" In another scene Nina wakes up and starts to masturbate, and just as she reaches arousal, with her back arched and her stomach down, she looks over and sees her mother sleeping in a chair next to her bed. These scenes serve to shock us and make us laugh uncomfortably. They are uncomfortable scenes in a film filled with discomforting thoughts and uncomfortable relationships that shed light on the whole absurdity of the assumptions various characters make about one another, specifically concerning sexual desires and inclinations. Even the assumptions made about Lily are horrifying to hear coming out of Nina's mouth - especially when we find out the truth behind the night in question. They may as well all be losing their minds.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNnaqYc9BSUGmxuhJxZtQnUh9MeGfHGIbzQBLJilf6cewGRtMofpVMQl-yJrSwh1fob0NKLI_bIhrmCCxAcm8KpVxKFgOGVkZudlhJrI7xA2Fkq1fvEsxpRrol9n7fCwh9gXhwqHqsaE/s1600/Black-Swan-movie-clip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNnaqYc9BSUGmxuhJxZtQnUh9MeGfHGIbzQBLJilf6cewGRtMofpVMQl-yJrSwh1fob0NKLI_bIhrmCCxAcm8KpVxKFgOGVkZudlhJrI7xA2Fkq1fvEsxpRrol9n7fCwh9gXhwqHqsaE/s320/Black-Swan-movie-clip.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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In many ways, BLACK SWAN is a culmination of Aronofsky's body of work to date, one in which his primary concerns of psychological and physical trauma are perfectly married into a perfect vehicle. THE WRESTLER with more darkness, or REQUIEM FOR A DREAM with more sympathetic identification. And, like his much-criticized but underrated work THE FOUNTAIN, he is again here obsessed with doubles, and features many a fantastic shot by frequent collaborator Matthew Libatique that features multiple mirror images of Nina. The motif is blunt, much like the parallels between the story of the ballet SWAN LAKE and the film, but it hits and it sticks, and it has stayed with me since I first saw the credits roll all the way back in September. This is Aronofsky's masterpiece.<br />
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I feel like I haven't successfully conveyed anything about the supporting actors or their roles, but I also don't feel that it's necessarily important that I do. As fantastic as Barbara Hershey is as the domineering ex-ballerina mother (an important stock character in ballet films), or as much fun as Winona Ryder is as the aging ex-lead ballerina whom Nina is replacing, the film is really only concerned with Nina. Even Lily and Thomas are extensions of the almost entirely subjective view we are provided by Aronofsky as a window into this story. We feel for Nina because she is a classical tragic figure, marching toward an end as inevitable as any the rest of us can expect, albeit one with a much better soundtrack.</div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-44703061055475454762010-12-07T14:55:00.000-05:002010-12-07T14:55:35.351-05:00Blurbs: Special EditionI've been gone a long time, I know. But here I am, and I'm back. Sorry for the all-too-long hiatus. In any case, I figured I'd start back with something light, quick, and hopefully interesting, a new entry in my "Blurbs" series, where I give brief thoughts, reviews, etc, on a lot of things I've seen recently, but don't have time to devote to full-lenght pieces (though I may come back to some of them in the future). Without further ado, here's a new, extra-long installment of Blurbs:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtHxOJm4woD58Cd1av1mFwIo1AONinJZCW9CxqhJH3498u6rVQkUyKgTt0F1IyfFkUHooX3BpBq_ifZ_8LIj-J57day5M4v3_aPkCywVLL1-BP50QJu8zsJk9PYkZ6YRld_AV1NMpg67Q/s1600/13-Assassins-movie-stills_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtHxOJm4woD58Cd1av1mFwIo1AONinJZCW9CxqhJH3498u6rVQkUyKgTt0F1IyfFkUHooX3BpBq_ifZ_8LIj-J57day5M4v3_aPkCywVLL1-BP50QJu8zsJk9PYkZ6YRld_AV1NMpg67Q/s320/13-Assassins-movie-stills_5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>13 ASSASSINS (Takashi Miike, 2010)<br />
I caught this one in Toronto, and I've been thinking a lot about it since then. It's definitely as bombastic and over-the-top as any other Miike film, but in a more traditional mode of filmmaking. Stylistically, it plays exactly like a classic samurai picture, mirroring in many aspects the films SEVEN SAMURAI and SANJURO, as well as any other post-60s film that features an individual or group of samurai nobly defending peasants against the evil advances of a violent and immoral enemy. Still, there are touches of trademark Miike the provocateur in the film, including a sequence which sees the samurai defending the town by having a herd of bulls charge at the invaders with dynamite strapped on their backs. And, yes, he still finds some way to include a naked torso-woman in the proceedings. Things aren't nearly as strange as all that, though, and Miike has made what is probably his most mature film to date, a real, first-rate classic that finally marks his arrival above the cult following he has held for the past decade. 13 ASSASSINS is memorable, fun, thrilling and inspiring filmmaking of the very first order.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5c-OHLMRQa3SspPz_4spQ_Ps3_j9rburunc51Xyq8Y7oXf3j89_FCs19u10tBeVaPWkLMga_5Krk4lRcHsHp93p6uJOwH6EtlfTW7JEjDjIpJsusuhazGT-6dwDFNHPO_R6SpLxEzMA/s1600/illusionist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5c-OHLMRQa3SspPz_4spQ_Ps3_j9rburunc51Xyq8Y7oXf3j89_FCs19u10tBeVaPWkLMga_5Krk4lRcHsHp93p6uJOwH6EtlfTW7JEjDjIpJsusuhazGT-6dwDFNHPO_R6SpLxEzMA/s320/illusionist.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>THE ILLUSIONIST (Sylvain Chomet, 2010)<br />
Another Toronto selection, this is the follow-up to Chomet's feature debut THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE. Based on an unproduced script by legendary filmmaker Jaques Tati, THE ILLUSIONIST follows a magician growing slowly irrelevant by a world less-inclined to believe in magic, and becoming more and more enamored with rock-n-roll, which slowly takes over as the main draw to many of the venues he has been playing for years. Like TRIPLETS, THE ILLUSIONIST is a film of quiet charms, with minimal dialogue (and much of that is muffled and incomprehensible) that focuses all of its attention on the visual imagery and the dazzling art of the film. There's a moment near the end of the film when the protagonist stumbles into a dark movie theater while chasing his clothing on a runaway rack, and for a brief moment, he shares the screen with Tati's projected image within the theater (a real film clip, not animated). This single sublime demonstrates what is really the most important thing about Chomet's film: it's ability to touch its audience is admirable in an age when most directors, animators included, would rather shock thrill or titillate. Truly this is one-of-a-kind filmmaking.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggdJo3gA-39377gv8ekFjZO8LXrWHXfZKqbBmLnoyAwavE6iYeRNCpS8sCQo-XV7R_kpAu4gPZ-6ktSrOLYAkRA0xHsMqBdbJ5NO8mBrifyThMfJYq8SL3hH1yEgKgUIjzUQ7qwxGny9A/s1600/0ef68536-4969-4ad6-95dd-dd4015943c45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggdJo3gA-39377gv8ekFjZO8LXrWHXfZKqbBmLnoyAwavE6iYeRNCpS8sCQo-XV7R_kpAu4gPZ-6ktSrOLYAkRA0xHsMqBdbJ5NO8mBrifyThMfJYq8SL3hH1yEgKgUIjzUQ7qwxGny9A/s320/0ef68536-4969-4ad6-95dd-dd4015943c45.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>DUE DATE (Todd Phillips, 2010)<br />
This film had a huge build-up because of Phillips' previous success with THE HANGOVER (which, at the time of my writing this, is the most-viewed on-demand movie ever). Audiences were particularly excited in seeing that film's break-out star, Zack Galifianakis re-team with the director, though it seems the film they got wasn't as amazing as they were hoping (see also: reactions to Judd Apatow's FUNNY PEOPLE). So goes the saying about expectations, etc., etc. I, on the other hand, was pleasantly surprised that Phillips had made a different type of road movie from THE HANGOVER, particularly since he was already lining up to shoot a sequel to that one anyway. Robert Downey, Jr., plays the straight-man to Galifianakis' annoying idiot. Neither character is particularly likable, though when pressed I'd have to say Galifianakis gets my vote for the one I'd be more likely to kill myself. In what is essentially a remake of John Hughes' PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, we watch as the ever-bitter Downey begins to take a liking to the schlub who keeps getting him in these awful situations to begin with, and it does feature some winning performances. Downey is incredibly mean-spirited here, much more so than Steve Martin's character in PLANES, and that's saying a lot. If there's one thing that keeps this film from being completely successful, it's that the character dynamics are so in-tune with previous ideas of how these personalities should clash (thanks to other, better films), that we just can't identify with either character, let alone both.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrv0BSVTF_yEcvLfIZqmAs0nsGPRdv0aoxvG8MCv6CQBTBiLdsZGn1qC0BLWc62CBiAxIWLyjQXUatBBHVLY3cc42YIP4NWWtI6wJ_urB29qf39qwCm8oZJZ6ay70oPEKOL5ylOVTci0/s1600/400px-GMen_3a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrv0BSVTF_yEcvLfIZqmAs0nsGPRdv0aoxvG8MCv6CQBTBiLdsZGn1qC0BLWc62CBiAxIWLyjQXUatBBHVLY3cc42YIP4NWWtI6wJ_urB29qf39qwCm8oZJZ6ay70oPEKOL5ylOVTci0/s320/400px-GMen_3a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>"G" MEN (William Keighley, 1935)<br />
I'm an unabashed fan of pretty much everything that James Cagney ever did. He's one of my favorite Classical Hollywood actors, and he's never as much fun as when he's playing a bad guy with a heart of gold. I'd never seen "G" MEN, Warner's post-Code gangster picture, though I'd been meaning to for years. Finally, I caught it on DVD about a month ago. It's really quite fantastic. In an effort to make a gangster picture, with one of their top stars, Warner Brothers decided they would cast Cagney in a trademark role, but with a twist so as to not upset the censors: Cagney would be a reformed gangster who helps bring down his former associates when he joins the newly-formed FBI. A lot of the Warner contract actors are here, including Robert Armstrong and Margaret Lindsay, who played tough-as-nails and strictly by-the book Jeff McCord and his sister Kay, respectively. Keighley's direction is superb (he also directed one of the best adaptations of Robin Hood with star Errol Flynn, and collaborated with Cagney again on the prison drama EACH DAWN I DIE), as is the crisp cinematography of the legendary Sol Polito (THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, 42ND STREET). I loved this one. Definitely check it out if you can.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbKxEgig7zW1A57d6636COMd_PTE8Oqd7CQCPKzcXaSfmbpys-ZSzdt4WDyi9iu7uP6PSmTazO5aMcziQVCiC65apKrr7OpeWVm7w8I4I7FoqjeYAdbR87MP2wtFCPPaui6xc0_fUDvQ/s1600/2971499541_4451b565f1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbKxEgig7zW1A57d6636COMd_PTE8Oqd7CQCPKzcXaSfmbpys-ZSzdt4WDyi9iu7uP6PSmTazO5aMcziQVCiC65apKrr7OpeWVm7w8I4I7FoqjeYAdbR87MP2wtFCPPaui6xc0_fUDvQ/s320/2971499541_4451b565f1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>THE WICKER MAN (Neil LaBute, 2006)<br />
I honestly think this is one of the most misunderstood films of the past ten years. While not terribly good, it's nowhere near awful, and is compelling not only for Nicolas Cage's leap off the deep end performance, but also because it's one of the weirdest films I've ever seen, from beginning to end. Loosely taking its cues from the original British film and the novel it was based on, LaBute crafts what is essentially a broad genre farce, though played completely straight. I think this is also the problem a lot of people ran into with LAKEVIEW TERRACE: we're not entirely sure what his game is. It's such a departure from traditional filmmaking in its tone and execution that it seems like he's often just fucking with us. Indeed, I think with THE WICKER MAN, he <i>was </i>just fucking with us. Cage plays a detective from California summoned to a tiny island off the coast of Washington to search for a missing little girl, and uncovers a lot of weirdness when confronted by the modern-day, femme-centric bee-farming pagans that leads to a lot of questions about LaBute's long-accused misogyny (though I think this is mostly him joking about his perceived disgust with females). In any case, by the end of the film, in which Cage dons a bear suit and goes around punching women in the face and kicking Leelee Sobieski into a wall, the only reading that makes sense any more is that this is a personal satire, as well as an affront to his critics. He finally gave us "the essential Neil LaBute anti-feminist screed", and we hung him out to dry for it. Kind of brilliant, actually, and it essentially freed him up to make whatever he wanted from there on out, even if the films weren't that great in the end.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSohkW5RNXFhBl7P-NZcP_Y-z04lAGG7EEO4VcD9WXw6JVU7Ty1TlKO5iTYL4JceVseH32HQXn5WWhAPcXSR5J0UM1JHrGCOlySizhyO7YP71ZCmzyVj84xyRy5RWO7qiEWLXsvA4f3g8/s1600/macgruber2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSohkW5RNXFhBl7P-NZcP_Y-z04lAGG7EEO4VcD9WXw6JVU7Ty1TlKO5iTYL4JceVseH32HQXn5WWhAPcXSR5J0UM1JHrGCOlySizhyO7YP71ZCmzyVj84xyRy5RWO7qiEWLXsvA4f3g8/s320/macgruber2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>MACGRUBER (Jorma Taccone, 2010)<br />
A pretty smooth film for such an absurdist and sporadic comedy. Based on the SNL sketch that mocks MACGUYVER about two decades too late, Will Forte leads the charge as the title character, a moronic special-forces type that is utterly clueless about his actual job, but nonetheless succeeds in the end. The jokes range from the inspired to the merely silly, but there is hardly a minute that passes that doesn't contain at least one gag that had me chuckling. It's odd that this one got such bad word of mouth (I know I didn't go see it theatrically because of it), because it's actually the funniest film SNL's been involved with since WAYNE'S WORLD 2 all the way back in 1992. Oh well, now I know, and I'm glad I've seen it. Immature, yes. Funny, also yes. Great cinematic art, well, no.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj29Ftjr-_aCt6S8HU3HiFiE1k9TaSZg6irBFZ6wZEXePVl9ZrutT3RgaSV4_EZx6j1EldalZBIpT6mmvOXGOf5_Yuamhjyjo7C_3loa1Ibxplclh4slcOVeiv1zZFBAh-rCz2PmWw_0o/s1600/babyface2-lrg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj29Ftjr-_aCt6S8HU3HiFiE1k9TaSZg6irBFZ6wZEXePVl9ZrutT3RgaSV4_EZx6j1EldalZBIpT6mmvOXGOf5_Yuamhjyjo7C_3loa1Ibxplclh4slcOVeiv1zZFBAh-rCz2PmWw_0o/s320/babyface2-lrg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>BABY FACE (Alfred E. Greene, 1933)<br />
The inimitable Barbara Stanwyck stars in this pre-Code picture about an attractive woman who uses her feminine wiles to work her way all the way to the top. After, quite literally, starting in the basement of a building as a bartender, she begins working at a bank, and goes floor-by-floor to the top, using her looks and sexuality all of the way, though she ultimately realizes this power and financial security will never bring her happiness. This portrait of unabashed willpower wrapped up in sex and evocation still holds on to its power today, mostly due to Stanwyck's powerful performance as a woman who gains everything only to realize she is still vulnerable. Thrilling, miraculous stuff.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-55972178554860699662010-10-07T10:27:00.000-04:002010-10-07T10:27:23.071-04:00Review: BURIED<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwVk1sY1gxuvl3GovNoq4fdiurpkTwpJAKeO7f_8sqMucLI_B9IuC1pusAvs-bhym2qJQawtMvTUztLgng7JpdUpMkSPXoH80ciTxfaqMQjZn9kVkO0dUY50loHGTs4XNhyphenhyphenjsKb-TTJc/s1600/195070,xcitefun-buried-stills-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwVk1sY1gxuvl3GovNoq4fdiurpkTwpJAKeO7f_8sqMucLI_B9IuC1pusAvs-bhym2qJQawtMvTUztLgng7JpdUpMkSPXoH80ciTxfaqMQjZn9kVkO0dUY50loHGTs4XNhyphenhyphenjsKb-TTJc/s320/195070,xcitefun-buried-stills-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Spending 90 minutes watching nothing but Ryan Reynolds alone onscreen may not sound like your idea of a good time, but let me assure you, his new film, BURIED, which I saw while in Toronto, is an excellent high-concept suspense film that will keep you on the edge of your seat for its entirety. Director Rodrigo Cortez has crafted a one-man show that is smart, inventive, visually stunning and which, given his very literal constraints, allows the main actor room to turn in an impressive and completely unexpected performance.<br />
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Reynolds plays Paul Conroy, a truck driving contractor in Iraq who wakes up in total darkness, buried alive, with no idea how he is supposed to get out. When he comes to, the film begins, and for the first few minutes, we are all alone in the dark with only heavy breathing and panic setting in. Then, there's the sound of a Zippo, and a flicker of light. Flashes of the coffin and the person in it slowly come into focus for us once the lighter remains lit for a longer stretch of time. There is nothing but Paul, the coffin, the lighter, and a cell phone he discovers laying next to his body.<br />
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From this predicament, Paul tries every conceivable trick: calling his employers, calling his wife, calling the FBI, and each time he is met with further frustration. And then people actually start answering their phones and they are even less help than no answer would have been. The film plays with these moments a lot, with the bureaucracy of the situation showing through in a lot of them. How does an HR office worker react to a call about someone who works for them buried in a coffin? How about the hostage "negotiator" who is barred from contacting or negotiating with the "terrorists" who have captured the victim? These questions are mired in layer after layer of sweat and dirt as Paul maneuvers through them all.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8gUqtDLXNUjcn-i37QPbKj1TDcvbVnRSZ_A93tZIlec02fS74L9AvQQ8N631YH3JYL8P-srvKJAHvOcxZLzrQQP_fFGKrhgeJn6HIJwciGqavVd8SGFzPjhRcX98ihfLg00FwtSQnhRY/s1600/20100917-BURIED-MOVIE-LIONSGATE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8gUqtDLXNUjcn-i37QPbKj1TDcvbVnRSZ_A93tZIlec02fS74L9AvQQ8N631YH3JYL8P-srvKJAHvOcxZLzrQQP_fFGKrhgeJn6HIJwciGqavVd8SGFzPjhRcX98ihfLg00FwtSQnhRY/s320/20100917-BURIED-MOVIE-LIONSGATE.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Rodrigo Cortez's direction (he was also editor) is superb. During the Q&A in Toronto, he revealed that they actually built seven coffins to shoot in and around so they could get all of the angles - not entirely unlike the boxing rings built by Scorsese for RAGING BULL in order to provide different psychological mindsets - and it works to great effect. There's a particularly memorable shot looking down on Paul as the camera just lifts up and up and up, with the sides of the coffin rising for what seems like forever, which puts us right in the moment of helplessness and hopelessness that he's feeling right at that second, buried god-knows-how-far beneath the earth on top of him.<br />
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One last thing I loved about the movie: the lighting was all natural. No lighting rigs were used to illuminate the scene, only a lighter, cell phone or whatever else was being used in the scene at the time (Cortez did note that, sometimes, when the lighter was off-screen, they had three of them lit so they could generate enough light to make the shot effective. Still, the flickering is real, the darkness is real, and Ryan Reynolds effectively keeps us in suspense for the full run-time of the movie. BURIED is a high-concept one-man show that is entertaining and worthwhile.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-17284195147475295232010-09-30T17:54:00.001-04:002010-10-02T13:22:36.784-04:00Review: LET ME IN<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI8T7RooipylEtjawF2v_8txChvhnpMVU2MEvNrU1ZpL5nc_nOvJOV5S9WDtW53GNT_YgmtmYbKtqYcOmToduxBG7iE59z9thxhUG3AOQzcKIFXM5spriNCznOa49vWsJiJOFkUmoedDM/s1600/6664_1087652942.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI8T7RooipylEtjawF2v_8txChvhnpMVU2MEvNrU1ZpL5nc_nOvJOV5S9WDtW53GNT_YgmtmYbKtqYcOmToduxBG7iE59z9thxhUG3AOQzcKIFXM5spriNCznOa49vWsJiJOFkUmoedDM/s1600/6664_1087652942.jpg" /></a></div><br />
It's always a shaky proposition remaking a film that was considered by many to be an instant classic upon its release, but that's exactly the task director Matt Reeves (CLOVERFIELD) decided to undertake with his latest film, LET ME IN, which isn't so much a remake of the Swedish film as a re-adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel (and his subsequent screenplay adaptation) LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. Reeves' new film stands wholly on its own, though as a consequence of its being adapted so closely from the same source material there are many similarities in dialogue, certain sequences, and even mood. This isn't to diminish the American film in any way in regard to the original, and I'm simply making mention of the inevitable comparisons many will make (over and over again) between the two films. I don't really think that's fair to Reeves, or to his actors, or to anyone involved in LET ME IN, which is on its own a superbly crafted film that, though it may tell a tale some may be familiar with, will nonetheless be many viewers' first exposure to all the film(s) and novel have to offer.<br />
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The film tells the story of Owen, a bullied kid who lives at home with his mother, who recently separated from his father. They live in an apartment complex in New Mexico, and he spends a lot of time on his own, either in his room, or on the playground in the courtyard, sitting in the snow imagining his revenge on his tormentor at school, who derisively calls him "little girl." He spies a girl moving into the complex one night from his window, and things move from there, with them gradually growing closer despite Abby's insistence that they "can't be friends." Owen undoubtedly finds Abby a bit odd - she smells funny, never wears any shoes, and solves his Rubick's Cube in a day - but he seems to be inexplicably drawn to her as well. Later in the film, we learn a lot more about Abby, and a little more about Owen as well, especially in his relationship to what Abby is and his need to be protected.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRcc_y9zSjMVtFz67c6i2WyIdPenhBUdzjleMrQm1tOjmcxtuoYYS_NViw5xEDOs1g5XCOaLS_HWEpyY6NeupObMswOTS-pG_mZhHpR72gdY0xJ_2FWGEzLUNvpQ5UFZXaLBcS7cdKv48/s1600/lminsq01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRcc_y9zSjMVtFz67c6i2WyIdPenhBUdzjleMrQm1tOjmcxtuoYYS_NViw5xEDOs1g5XCOaLS_HWEpyY6NeupObMswOTS-pG_mZhHpR72gdY0xJ_2FWGEzLUNvpQ5UFZXaLBcS7cdKv48/s320/lminsq01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
What struck me most as I watched the film almost three weeks ago in Toronto was the overall tonal shift Reeves made in transporting the film's setting from Sweden to New Mexico. The cinematography is certainly more stylized, with a much darker lighting set-up than I expected, and that leads to the film feeling much more sinister in its implications. Toward the end of the film, the relationship between Abby and Owen is much heavier than the one shared in the original by Oskar and Eli. This has to a lot to do with some added nastiness about the actual nature of killing people and drinking their blood than we've seen before. In a particularly memorable change in sequence, Abby's reveal to Owen features a full-on attack scene that poses questions about what exactly constitutes a monster, and the morals faced when you learn someone you are close with may be something entirely different than what you imagined.<br />
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But the surprises don't end with the simple additions of gorier scenes and different kills, although one such sequence does have a rather fantastic camera maneuver in it as we are stuck in a car that is crashing over a snow-filled bank off the road. The film also offers some fantastic performances by its young cast members, who are full-fledged actors, and not mere "child actors." Chloe Moretz once again proves she is every bit as amazing as she has been hyped to be, and Kodi Smit-McPhee is no slouch either. As Abby and Owen, they are every bit the onscreen pair as<b> </b>Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson were in Tomas Alfredson's film. There is certainly something sweet and endearing going on that is conveyed even through the very thick, sad atmosphere brought to the film by their adult counterparts. They are the perfect balance between knowing adulthood and ignorant youth, and perfectly show us a couple of children who are, literally and figuratively, old before their time. I haven't even gone into the performances by Richard Curtis and Elias Koteas at all, and they were fantastic as usual.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: nowrap;"></span><br />
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The film drew me in with its similarities and by the end it left me in the same sense of wonder and suspense I had when I finished LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, which I will make no secret of being my absolute favorite film of 2008. This is no small feat, and it's one that Matt Reeves pulls off by being unwaveringly faithful to the source material while still taking stylistic risks that American audiences may not necessarily be prepared for, and which serve to form additional layers of depth to a film many people already enjoyed in its first adaptation. Think of it like a companion piece about the same people and with the same themes and tones, but with slightly different viewpoints. It really is quite fun and interesting in its own right.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8mQiwhR03WkwGducyhiKyHco-rOCpwJT1qbfLPdAj6vfSMuNOTl67TmXu5JQZkqMkIFH3ACM05l35CrYD69L23wrBaAeyE6fHdNyTrLHFrYSvWFqqlHtdBqhl249tZrxGR0SQIHxznc/s1600/letme1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8mQiwhR03WkwGducyhiKyHco-rOCpwJT1qbfLPdAj6vfSMuNOTl67TmXu5JQZkqMkIFH3ACM05l35CrYD69L23wrBaAeyE6fHdNyTrLHFrYSvWFqqlHtdBqhl249tZrxGR0SQIHxznc/s320/letme1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I also want to single out the score by composer extraordinaire Michael Giacchino, that demonstrates a very nimble approach to scoring a film of this nature, which could come off as a very, very heavy-handed experience. Instead, he toys with creepy choirs while never going full-blown "HEY! THIS IS SCARY!!!" style, and he never rubs anything in for too long or keeps a theme going far past the time the music should have died down. Like his amazing overture at the end of CLOVERFIELD - notable because it was the only score in the film, over the end credits - he has given us a series of compositions that perfectly evoke mood and theme while never intruding upon the space the film needs to properly breathe.<br />
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Of course, I could go on and on about the many, many similarities between LET ME IN and its inspiration, but that's not what I want to do. You can surely find that out there on any number of straight-up review and fan sites, and most of them will probably tell you it's not as good as LET THE RIGHT ONE IN and not to bother. But I just can't do that. LET ME IN is its own thing, and it doesn't deserve to be diminished in a climate that produces untold hours of absolute dreck every single week. To say that something isn't as good as something that is near-perfect is to say absolutely nothing about it. But to perhaps show how it made me think and react, which I hope to have done here, is to encourage others to give it a chance. It may make a believer out of you that all remakes aren't necessarily bad. After all, there were how many versions of the Dracula story in the past century? And at least a dozen of them are more than worthwhile. Regardless of all that, LET ME IN remains the tender, horrific and very poignant vampire film that LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is, and that means that it's totally unlike any other film to come out of the current vampire craze.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-89458848811261167412010-09-13T18:34:00.002-04:002010-09-30T18:02:06.574-04:00TIFF 2010 - Midnight Madness, first three selections<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyXHmE2vbZqnqTatj367hSrLh1JNzsiAnu49KkKSeaaA_mklEH26Rab4yotQDzrDE8D4SO9Pvdk1LirruJnml10Tjziax6ZDVMBH3VCVqaOId82yfbG7KpDR37eOCky3KPhpGVg9B95Og/s1600/TIFF-Logo_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyXHmE2vbZqnqTatj367hSrLh1JNzsiAnu49KkKSeaaA_mklEH26Rab4yotQDzrDE8D4SO9Pvdk1LirruJnml10Tjziax6ZDVMBH3VCVqaOId82yfbG7KpDR37eOCky3KPhpGVg9B95Og/s320/TIFF-Logo_1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Toronto is a very user-friendly major city. The entertainment district encompasses a large section of downtown, but most everything is easily walkable. From the Southernmost point in which there are hotels in the area, the furthest theatre takes maybe 45 minutes by foot. It's really quite convenient for a film festival. There are tons of films playing - somewhere around 300 - and most look like they would be worth my time if I had it to spare. The most anticipated portion of the festival's programming before I got here - the always promising Midnight Madness selections at Ryerson Theatre - have held up to my expectations. Today is Monday, and I've only seen three, but they have so far been fantastic and completely unique in many ways in the world of genre filmmaking.<br />
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Friday night saw the world premiere of James Gunn's SUPER, an absurdist, ultraviolent, completely irresponsible real-world superhero film starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page. The film plays a lot with convention, including the responsibility a hero has to not kill the people he's constantly beating to a bloody pulp, but throws it out the window for sheer insanity. The third act's super dark tone doesn't quite work with the lighter absurdity that comes before it, but it does help the audience swallow all of the bludgeoning with a wrench that happens earlier in the film, as well as the uncomfortable eroticism of being, essentially, raped by Ellen Page, after one of the filthiest, dirtiest lines of dialogue I've ever heard in a film. Anyone who knows Gunn's work with Troma, or his previous film, SLITHER, has an inkling of what to expect, but this is one difficult flick to take stock of, even by his gratuitous standards.<br />
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Saturday night's BUNRAKU, by first time filmmaker Guy Moshe, is a completely unique, wholly original experience that I swear to you is completely unlike anything you've ever seen before. Imagine a pop-up book filtered through Hollywood noir and Hong Kong action filmmaking, and you have a bit of something to work with. SIN CITY through the eyes of Yuen Woo Ping, but with the cinematography of DICK TRACY. In a world where guns are outlawed, all disputes must be settled with fists, and there's lots of dispute settlin'. This will be an interesting film to follow through to a release, because it defies categorization. There are moments of such amazing choreography and stuntwork that it's mind-blowing, but then you remember that it's a highly stylized and streamlined narrative that features some really challenging moments of suspension of disbelief. Wonderful film.<br />
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The third night's selection saw Midnight Madness get creepy, with Brad Anderson's (THE MACHINIST, TRANSSIBERIAN) new film, VANISHING ON 7TH STREET. The premise is classic TWILIGHT ZONE set-up, with a darkness spreading and the majority of a city's citizens disappearing with only their clothing crumpled on the ground where they stood. Shadows play an integral role in the terror of the film, organic entities that are attempting to grab up the remaining living souls, who have all wound up together in a neighborhood bar being kept lit by a back-up generator. Hayden Christensen, who I've given plenty of crap for his acting on a lot of occasions, turns in a pretty strong performance, rediscovering the promising chops he showed back before he was cast as young Darth Vader. Thandie Newton's character is a bit one-note, and John Leguizamo's conspiracy-theorist movie theater projectionist is a standout, but he's given too small a role. Honestly, this is one creepy film that, much like Anderson's SESSION 9, utilizes its dark atmosphere to stunning effect. A possible sleeper if it's released wide in the U.S.<br />
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The next few nights have some promising fare - John Carpenter's THE WARD and James Wan's INSIDIOUS bring the creepy some more before things get shaken up with RED NIGHTS and THE BUTCHER, THE CHEF, AND THE SWORDSMAN, which I will sadly miss. In any case, MM is really a highlight of the festival for genre fans, as well as anyone looking for something truly outside the box. I haven't written the last of my thoughts on these films here. Look for more in the future.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-55340480820413575442010-08-24T07:58:00.000-04:002010-08-24T07:58:57.405-04:00Essential Listening 02 - "Maybe I Know"<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">note: I originally wrote the following article for the website SceneSC.com for an (at the time) ongoing column in which I would discuss songs and artists I loved and spotlight the intermingling of music and imagery. The column never really came to fruition, so I'll be reproducing the unused articles here so they may see the light of day.</span></span></i></span></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ9AwbKHqaVExYTYaFI7ftv2JnBX65eV5_Eoc_gZq3ElzeSY23F6EMfSmULUhr6awdJh1M9v4YLjkir1LXY1L27Xx4Ak_-sbhOkYaMHbqa2jGUkkM8BJ8cZnhlLjgjeUNS4b39D32UyHE/s1600/goremaybe+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ9AwbKHqaVExYTYaFI7ftv2JnBX65eV5_Eoc_gZq3ElzeSY23F6EMfSmULUhr6awdJh1M9v4YLjkir1LXY1L27Xx4Ak_-sbhOkYaMHbqa2jGUkkM8BJ8cZnhlLjgjeUNS4b39D32UyHE/s320/goremaybe+(2).jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the greatest pop song ever recorded.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let that sink in a moment, because I’m dead serious. Greatest. Ever.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recorded by Lesley Gore in 1964, “Maybe I Know” isn’t her most well-known single (that would be “It’s My Party”) or her most haunting (the magnificent proto-fem statement of self-reliance “You Don’t Own Me”), but it is Gore at her absolute best; a distilled essence of innocence, maturity, love, forgiveness, pop-power and teenage wonder. Try to listen to this song and not feel something - it’s impossible!</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gore’s singles are interesting in that they form a sort of narrative, following Gore’s innocent teen protagonist from first broken heart to independent woman, all on vinyl, and all within two short years. “Maybe I Know” falls right in the middle of this story, an epic in which she’s stung by Johnny and Judy, steals her boy back, and eventually proclaims her identity outside of relationships. She’s the original riot grrrl.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The formation of her personal identity is forged in the first run of the chorus, right up front, in which she proclaims, “Maybe I know that he’s been a-cheatin’ / Maybe I know that he’s been untrue / But what can I do?” She’s still vulnerable, but learning. She’s trying to find the answer outside of the traditional pop-identities shared by women at the time: predominantly the feeling that they’d die without a man to make them whole. What crap.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1964, Gore performed for the T.A.M.I. SHOW, a concert film edited together from performances at two separate concert events, and her versions of “Maybe I Know” and “You Don’t Own Me” are particularly memorable. She exudes energy, smiling, swaying, and really belting out the songs. I’ve included the video below for you to check out. The T.A.M.I. SHOW film is one of the key documents of American pop music, and was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2006. For those interested in the full film, there are also performances by James Brown (one of the most remarkable I’ve ever seen), The Rolling Stones, Smokey Robinson and Chuck Barry, among others. It is available on DVD.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back to the song: make no mistake, this is all Gore’s track. Her performance is flawless, and the music is classic mid-60s girl-group pop. Gore’s voice is one of the most memorable in all of American popular music, distinct and mature, and completely unwavering. The song starts out all bouncy horns and soaring vocal, and over the course of 2:35 minutes, it trancends time and space, then brings us back to Earth again. The experience of listening to “Maybe I Know” is always magical, ethereal, and completely jaw-dropping - it is </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">never</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> any different - and it brings me to my knees every single time. “What can I do?,” indeed.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qpCNc3_zSyM?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qpCNc3_zSyM?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></span></span></div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-67862298942721313592010-08-22T18:35:00.009-04:002010-08-22T18:44:37.953-04:00Essential Listening 01 - "Where The Wild Roses Grow"<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">note: I originally wrote the following article for the website SceneSC.com for an (at the time) ongoing column in which I would discuss songs and artists I loved and spotlight the intermingling of music and imagery. The column never really came to fruition, so I'll be reproducing the unused articles here so they may see the light of day.</span></span></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0H1QX4KC_N077yM5wFrjOL3j6aFOppi6HYhbOUgdnDpOtNJknRm7vcWszrPzMBqLvmcwLtoRCj-vyvpEshrNVussms50fUY1PyRbNKw6JfyaahDXc9tiHMTHlXI8oMk0_GhzdYb8lR28/s1600/nick_cave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0H1QX4KC_N077yM5wFrjOL3j6aFOppi6HYhbOUgdnDpOtNJknRm7vcWszrPzMBqLvmcwLtoRCj-vyvpEshrNVussms50fUY1PyRbNKw6JfyaahDXc9tiHMTHlXI8oMk0_GhzdYb8lR28/s320/nick_cave.jpg" /></a></div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I think my Facebook friends are already tired of me going on and on (and on and on) about just how good this song and video are, and about the perfection of the duet by Cave and Minogue, from subject matter to its final execution, but dammit, I just can’t get enough. This song is something like a religious experience - best experienced by yourself and then shared with others continuously throughout the rest of your life.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the mid-90s, Cave came up with the idea of doing a full album of murder ballads, which had been a staple on every Bad Seeds album since </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">From Her To Eternity</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in 1983. Originally conceived as a joke - a sort of over-the-top “obvious” record, meant to be taken ironically - the resulting release is nonetheless a treasure trove of material. In addition to this haunting and oddly romantic song, there’s also the rambunctious barnburner “The Curse of Millhaven” and the devastating, violent and explicit reinterpretation of the essential murder ballad, “Stagger Lee”. But I digress.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“Where the Wild Roses Grow” is the song that makes the album, linking all of the songs together with Cave’s usual semi-crooner persona from this era in his career, the romantic who only sees heartbreak and loss around every corner. Telling the story of a courtship that ends with the man killing his beloved by the riverside after determining she was too beautiful to ever grow old (and also from the point of view of the confused spirit of the deceased, Elisa Day), the song treads some truly disturbing ground, mostly because it’s such a damned gorgeous composition.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As a fan of both Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue, the sheer logic of them recording together has never quite made sense (I could do a whole other bit on Kylie album “Fever”, but that’s another beast altogether). But apparently, they had a thing for one another. There’s a rather amazing little short edited together over on YouTube that tells the story of this pairing (</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFezNxypDK4"><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFezNxypDK4</span></span></a></span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">)</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and it’s fascinating just to hear the pair of them discuss the song and its legacy. I highly recommend it. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But back to the task at hand. Cave and Minogue’s vocal delivery, surely some of the most amazing to exist in all pop music, is perfection; lightning in a bottle. It’s awful and beautiful and romantic and ugly in only the way a Nick Cave song can be. That this album of songs about ugliness, greed, lust and, yes, murder is a prelude to the heartbreaking and tender follow-up </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Boatman’s Call</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is evident in this very song.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And then there’s the video, which is based on painter John Everett Millais’s “Ophelia”, depicting the scene in Hamlet when Ophelia drowns herself in a river. In the video, of course, Cave is constantly kneeling over his deceased love while she lay in the spot where the wild roses grow. Visually, it’s all soft-focus photography on the gorgeous Minogue, and harsh shadow for the murdering Cave. It sends shivers down my spine constantly.</span></span></div></span><br />
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<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dXQW7QcfnJ8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dXQW7QcfnJ8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-60035601897232974162010-08-01T17:19:00.002-04:002010-08-01T17:26:10.789-04:00Masculinity Under a Microscope - Writ Large, preliminary thoughts on VALHALLA RISING<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi10bztLxqLEdNfnf_Qj2CViWorz-LHTxupatwzaRwxx0wfIJbUHqbau29naaMJsdtZIyQWmkVJDwNpNYIHi7enKxcRNof7xvFjgOON8iWp3KtgjeHAifn_zbpUbUVUsnXFXrHH9xf2HYY/s1600/valhalla_rising_photo_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi10bztLxqLEdNfnf_Qj2CViWorz-LHTxupatwzaRwxx0wfIJbUHqbau29naaMJsdtZIyQWmkVJDwNpNYIHi7enKxcRNof7xvFjgOON8iWp3KtgjeHAifn_zbpUbUVUsnXFXrHH9xf2HYY/s320/valhalla_rising_photo_01.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I recently - and finally - caught Danish auteur Nicolas Winding Refn's breathtaking new film, VALHALLA RISING, via Video-on-Demand service. Following the pagan warrior One Eye as he accompanies a band of crusaders in their journey to the Holy Land, the film plays out like an odd mixture of brooding uber-masculine Viking epic, with the pacing of a Terrence Malick venture and a dash of 70s Herzog/Kinski madness. In scope, beauty, and pure brutality, I can't say I've ever seen anything truly like it. It's not any one thing, but a mixture of things, and a pure, unadulterated work of imagery and poetry. VALHALLA RISING is definitely not for everyone, but then again, few films are.<br />
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The film begins with a sequence depicting One Eye's enslavement to Scottish pagans and the constant hand-to-hand fights he competes in for their sporting pleasure. After being introduced briefly to this situation, and the leaders of the clans discussing the coming Christians marauding the land and massacring the pagan tribes if they don't convert, One Eye escapes in a bloody rage, murdering the party that is to transport him to his new owners and heading off on his own, with the young Are - who fed him in captivity - in tow. It's not long before they come upon the Christians, freshly off a massacre, and still sitting in the area where they killed another clan of heathens.<br />
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Instead of either side attacking the other, and thinking they could use a great warrior like One Eye on their side, the Christians invite One Eye to join them in the Crusades as they take back the Holy Land and fight for riches and the Lord. Soon they are journeying across the ocean, and it's at this point the film becomes an increasingly spartan filmmaking exercise; the dialogue all but ceases to exist for long stretches, and the imagery really takes over even more than it had already.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8TWsMDzo7RTsF1rNFJCE_6wzsShUAtb_XwzwAfJ9ZO0Qp0nD8klKbgmI5BUmRRMqQkRxaD4Pk5rXeqw4FyKmBwRMTDdbm43P3b4SVH0MD3YNY3woDiqNGgIVAsowK-BwFNzLTRvm8ws/s1600/Valhalla-Rising-English-Movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8TWsMDzo7RTsF1rNFJCE_6wzsShUAtb_XwzwAfJ9ZO0Qp0nD8klKbgmI5BUmRRMqQkRxaD4Pk5rXeqw4FyKmBwRMTDdbm43P3b4SVH0MD3YNY3woDiqNGgIVAsowK-BwFNzLTRvm8ws/s320/Valhalla-Rising-English-Movie.jpg" /></a></div><br />
One Eye also has some sort of ability to see events in his future, tinted a bright, bloody red, which makes you wonder if that's how he sees the world - through that blood-red hue. He also carries a bit of a mystical quality about him in that he seems to be able to speak through Are, who constantly answers questions asked of One Eye and makes remarks on behalf of him. This plays out to much stranger effect in the last half hour of the film, when the fates of the party and the events that lead to them play out.<br />
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The crew finds land after drifting for days in a fog that seems to have descended upon them for fateful purposes, but it's not Jerusalem, and is filled with lush greenery. Once their party is attacked, two things become apparant: they are in fact in the New World, and are under threat from "primitives" and their pagan companion has brought them to Hell for suffering and death. <br />
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The contrast between One Eye and the Christians' reactions to their ultimate location is interesting to consider: One Eye is a warrior, a non-convert, and for him, death can only lead to his place in Valhalla, and some sort of Hell isn't really an option as long as he fought the best he could and died while fighting. But the Christians think they've been corrupted by the pagan, this viking One Eye, and they blame their plight on him, descending into madness, sodomy, murder and, ultimately, their own deaths.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCmC0XtC1fEel1hwDqVyL12FpGstHyAy_-TbqVtl9QUCo90eKyZsJ9yjWJcWdnJ8eF53KKyys0xiO-KWdXC71wnZgc_LnKV_HDgEENQm5G0XZQWWzCtCA20F6ybW5fHaYwS5KjWPiRkvo/s1600/Valhalla-Rising-Photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCmC0XtC1fEel1hwDqVyL12FpGstHyAy_-TbqVtl9QUCo90eKyZsJ9yjWJcWdnJ8eF53KKyys0xiO-KWdXC71wnZgc_LnKV_HDgEENQm5G0XZQWWzCtCA20F6ybW5fHaYwS5KjWPiRkvo/s320/Valhalla-Rising-Photo.jpg" /></a></div><br />
VALHALLA RISING is enigmatic, ethereal and difficult - having seen it twice now I'm still processing most of my thoughts on it. It's completely unlike any other viking epic I've ever seen, and the cinematography is some of the most gorgeous I've ever encountered. During the film's final two acts, slow-motion photography is employed to an extreme, giving the impression of characters walking through sludge to get to their destination. The movements, the expressions on their faces - they're all highlighted in various forms of suffering, coping and acceptance. The essence of VALHALLA RISING is in these final scenes: masculinity, under a microscope, on a large scale. What it says to you - that's the interpretive part.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-86891049954074225892010-07-21T14:51:00.001-04:002010-07-21T14:56:25.235-04:00The Life Of The Mind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_T5IGaPJ6AyZzV4wEFzFmknCucC_8dDFKmxXfDBjjbYbJVxqEiFgWqBlIR8SVcuneSHFKRxWlD2zg-io9Vgw5G-qVz9xmQJPNOU6lBY77QUJwjDohxlvc5ej95UczVeMJUIJPAZkl9U/s1600/r.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_T5IGaPJ6AyZzV4wEFzFmknCucC_8dDFKmxXfDBjjbYbJVxqEiFgWqBlIR8SVcuneSHFKRxWlD2zg-io9Vgw5G-qVz9xmQJPNOU6lBY77QUJwjDohxlvc5ej95UczVeMJUIJPAZkl9U/s320/r.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
All of this INCEPTION talk has been enlightening and refreshing, and not just in a Facebook status update "that movie blew my mind" sort of way. I'm still a bit on the fence about it, personally, and though I do have some small problems with it, I tend to fall much more squarely on the side of having liked it. The story of a dream heist is too good for me to pass up, given my interests in crime dramas and my own concerns with the nature of memories and how they shape our lives and those of other people. Despite whether or not I like the film or not, the discussion surrounding it justifies its existence on some level, even if you, like many others, find talking about the movie more fun and enlightening than actually watching the film itself.<br />
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Of course, as a natural outgrowth of all of this, I've gone back again and again to thinking about dreams and reality and the nature of cinema altogether. As many blogger, commentators, and others have pointed out, a movie is not entirely unlike a dream, in that you enter a fantasy world, usually via a surrogate's experience, and exist within the imagination of the filmmaker for the time you're watching the movie. It's a point the Davids Lynch and Cronenberg have made over and over again in their films. Below is a brief discussion a few of my favorite films concerned with reality, dreams, perception and memory. (Oddly enough, BARTON FINK doesn't make it in here. I just liked using that reference as a title.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0u_AjnRQR00GpKG7aC0HEDEenMkjTZ3_DfaOd3yiqbB1nXSdq6pOf6pBuyYNq4KPDC_nE6YRmp9yVpNRLhkrFqMp30HFNxpXWidO4Dw_DpGrXAY2KYrbCfQkWKt9dtEZGV7MgbbpSkE/s1600/zz07ba3402.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0u_AjnRQR00GpKG7aC0HEDEenMkjTZ3_DfaOd3yiqbB1nXSdq6pOf6pBuyYNq4KPDC_nE6YRmp9yVpNRLhkrFqMp30HFNxpXWidO4Dw_DpGrXAY2KYrbCfQkWKt9dtEZGV7MgbbpSkE/s320/zz07ba3402.jpg" /></a></div><b>TOTAL RECALL</b> (Paul Verhoeven, 1990)<br />
Arnold Schwarzenneger plays Quaid, a regular guy who dreams of taking a trip to Mars - where he may or may not have been before. In order to get there, he opts for an implant in his brain that will give him the memories of his amazing, romantic, spy-themed vacation. During the course of the procedure, something goes wrong, and he awakens suddenly with very concrete memories of a huge conspiracy that has gone down, and has been covered up by having his brain wiped. All of the pieces begin to fall into place, and before long, we're transported to Mars for real (maybe), and Quaid begins to lay waste to his enemies as he unravels their dirty deeds one by one and helps the "mutants" of the colony reclaim their humanity and rights. Adapted fairly loosely from a Phillip K. Dick story, TOTAL RECALL has aged remarkably well, mostly thanks to pulp-auteur Paul Verhoeven, who infused the story with enough stunning visuals and ridiculous adventure (and that camp humor that anchors all of his films) to make the film stay fresh through repeat viewings. The movie is fairly non-commital as to which parts of it are fantasy and which are reality - the potential is there for several different interpretations - and that's one of its many charms. The dreams in TOTAL RECALL are also structured pretty literally, if they're dreams at all, and though they're fantastic images, there's nothing really hallucinatory about them as they're all based in some sort of physical reality that is easily interpreted as only being slightly outside the realm of possibility. In other words, the dreams are normal science-fiction worlds. Verhoeven is less interested in the perceptions of reality, though, than he is in examining the effects of memory on these perceptions (a common trait among all the best dream films.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsf-rWY5zfP-3JqredPYkA-CkKT8xak1E2l5ctMgoE6MXJ9LgLG9Ef-KW9-5ws2hm46a_sjys_-yP8zsPKl68JjwhLfu3VT89UD7HRVgFIiiuG9DWB37mLQW7ntfSOlrAKvI9coHcvkxc/s1600/betty+and+rita.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsf-rWY5zfP-3JqredPYkA-CkKT8xak1E2l5ctMgoE6MXJ9LgLG9Ef-KW9-5ws2hm46a_sjys_-yP8zsPKl68JjwhLfu3VT89UD7HRVgFIiiuG9DWB37mLQW7ntfSOlrAKvI9coHcvkxc/s320/betty+and+rita.jpg" /></a></div><b>MULHOLLAND DR.</b> (David Lynch, 2001)<br />
In one of the great fractured mind performances ever put on film, Naomi Watts plays Betty / Diane - a mash-up of two personalities, real and imagined - an aspiring actress freshly arrived to Hollywood to live out her dream of becoming a star. Lynch is not a director to shy away from surreal imagery and unexplainable and disturbing themes. His films are maybe best described as being the aesthetic kin to fever dreams, most definitely in the cases of ERASERHEAD and LOST HIGHWAY. To this day I am still freaked out by the oddly creepy homeless man behind the dumpster of Winkies, a typical diner, and the build-up that leads to his reveal. That sequence begins with a discussion of dreams, and a fear of a particular nightmare becoming reality, in which Dan (played by Patrick Fischler, who is well-known to television fans from his stints on LOST, MAD MEN and dozens of guest spots on other shows) finds a monster behind the dumpster that kills him. I won't give away what does happen, but there is indeed a monster to be found, and its relevance in the reality of Watts' character later in the film is as puzzling and mystical as it is profound and, in some ways, moving.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHjBGSYEGwKu4RMHsZEqPz_tFUwrkzwBZkPQmqqfxwnPxB2eYM3gsBwEmnfyhzMxiDCi6NCx6XpDbDP4UoGX129exDkXcgXahO3c2cnbm6YCnELugWUxmgTFYXxotEOheJTVAirB23T8/s1600/newnight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHjBGSYEGwKu4RMHsZEqPz_tFUwrkzwBZkPQmqqfxwnPxB2eYM3gsBwEmnfyhzMxiDCi6NCx6XpDbDP4UoGX129exDkXcgXahO3c2cnbm6YCnELugWUxmgTFYXxotEOheJTVAirB23T8/s320/newnight.jpg" /></a></div><b>WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE</b> (Wes Craven, 1994)<br />
The NIGHTMARE films have always had a firm grasp on the wild and weird world of dream and nightmare imagery, even as they had varying degrees of success at making those worlds interesting, fresh and scary for the intended audience. In NEW NIGHTMARE, original director and series creator Wes Craven returns for the first time in a decade to the characters and the world he forged in the seriously creepy and remarkably dark A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Heather Langenkamp returns as herself as Nancy in a story that sees the child-murderer and, at this point, demonic Freddy Krueger attempting to break through from the celluloid world of dreams into the real world by attacking his oldest nemesis Nancy, who is, of course, Heather. If all of this seems too convoluted to worry about, don't worry, it's not, though describing it to someone could induce headaches in all parties involved. This is one of the most fun meta-excursions into films about films about dreams and all that jazz. Robert Englund has some of his best lines as the character, and the 'reality'-based make-up for Krueger is truly frightening. I wish they had just followed this film up (with Craven behind the scenes) instead of rebooting it into a soul-less, humor-less excursion into boredom and wasting a solid performance by Jackie Earle Haley as the new face of the franchise.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwne7mFQeIpMdV8A04k4Azdht1oWprwlvhcXBak9BImA6jWTlFr7HWD17YLiW_tRr71y6rdjS0NIHGKWo1LySEF6gcbIg6bBYFjtrhUG855SUwpRKsb446TT6sS6nJKfOiUtgr92EsmmE/s1600/1927522842_4f5a15553a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwne7mFQeIpMdV8A04k4Azdht1oWprwlvhcXBak9BImA6jWTlFr7HWD17YLiW_tRr71y6rdjS0NIHGKWo1LySEF6gcbIg6bBYFjtrhUG855SUwpRKsb446TT6sS6nJKfOiUtgr92EsmmE/s320/1927522842_4f5a15553a.jpg" /></a></div><b>SHERLOCK JR.</b> (Buster Keaton, 1924)<br />
The portion of this film in which Keaton, playing a projectionist in a movie theater, falls asleep while showing a film and dream himself into the movies themselves is inarguably one of the most famous movie sequences ever, silent or sound era. Never lacking in imagination, Keaton's dream world flashes from the film he is screening to a crowded city street, to the mountain ranges of the West, and then to the African plains as he is surrounded by Lions. This may be one of the first such instances drawing the parallel between the nature of dreams and the nature of film itself, though it's certainly not the only silent-era film to do so. There are more amazing evocations of dreams in THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, NOSFERATU, and Carl Th. Dreyer's early sound film VAMPYR, which features proto-Lynchian imagery and disjointed editing techniques to specifically and subtly cause an uneasiness in the viewer.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-13954005336877070292010-07-19T17:23:00.000-04:002010-07-19T17:23:27.410-04:00THE KILLER INSIDE ME's Disquieting Charms<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT81heElGzxLO0RF3OK8Ic0XJsw93FrSfBRuCddqUYso_e6URps5bJcC4K44cExyIVesPbNUZL9d0Tj4WdaWBNVDGL5OPQRZrAhkgZcmLk1kvG4DLQuItlbCIxgUj1DsidK_VspNhqIZI/s1600/KillerInsideMePoster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT81heElGzxLO0RF3OK8Ic0XJsw93FrSfBRuCddqUYso_e6URps5bJcC4K44cExyIVesPbNUZL9d0Tj4WdaWBNVDGL5OPQRZrAhkgZcmLk1kvG4DLQuItlbCIxgUj1DsidK_VspNhqIZI/s320/KillerInsideMePoster.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Casey Affleck's portrayal of Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford in Michael Winterbottom's THE KILLER INSIDE ME is probably the single most amazing performance I've seen this year. It's a total embodiment of a horrible character that's as memorable, disturbing and thought-provoking as Daniel Day-Lewis was in THERE WILL BE BLOOD, but more subtle and unassuming. Lou Ford, much like Robert Ford, is the perfect role for the younger Affleck, and it continues a string of amazing performances in low-key, provocative dramas since his appearance in brother Ben's masterful GONE BABY GONE. His performance is the center of this film, with all of its menace and traditional noir overtones radiating outward from the essence of the unnameable evil that surely exists in Lou.<br />
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The film is without a doubt one of the creepiest and most disturbing movies to come out this year, which is surprising considering the unusually high number of creep-fests unleashed on audiences in the past few months (SPLICE, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE). But creepiness aside, I find myself constantly returning to it as a purely unforgettable viewing experience. I can't shake it - it's under my skin, and it's going to stay there. Everything about it is pitch-perfect.<br />
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Adapted from what is probably the rowdiest novel I've ever read (the passage where Lou describes beating his girlfriend's face as being like hitting a pumpkin is the most graphic thing I may read in my lifetime), Jim Thompson's blacker-than-black noir THE KILLER INSIDE ME, this is a film that, quite literally, pulls no punches on its audience. From the opening, which is full of gorgeous retro-styled freeze-frames and features the haunting use of Little Willie John's version of "Fever," it's obvious that Winterbottom has crafted an altogether different sort of film than what we're used to seeing for an American audience.<br />
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The film has been attacked for its ultraviolent murders (see my previous write-up: "Strange Bedfellows"), which are brutally realistic, but they work to great, sickening effect, but which mostly feature the women Lou Ford ostensibly has feelings for on some level. Affleck brings a quite menace to these scenes, and his innocent, boyish features may contain the key behind some of the critiques lobbed at the film. After all, how can someone so nice, even as purposefully nice (and in some moments of pitch-black humor, extremely biting) as Lou is. In some ways, the "nice guy" persona is played off much like in the television show DEXTER, which also concerns a cold-blooded killer that is intent on keeping people off his tracks, but Lou isn't really likable, so this may not be an entirely apt analogy.<br />
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For me, the scene that most singularly makes the film is right as Lou delivers the final blow to Joyce Lakeland (Jessica Alba), a prostitute who is probably the only person Lou actually cares about in the film (though the killer inside him definitely does not). After punching her repeatedly in the face, at which point bone is visible through her gored and broken skin, he tells her not to worry, "it'll all be over soon," and then he delivers a few more crushing blows as she falls over onto the floor, being beaten to near-death before the arrival of Elmer Conway, his second (and main) target in the planned double-murder that sets the film in motion. Still, after having her skull pounded like so much flattened steak, it's the fact that, in both book and film, Joyce still has that compassionate, loving look in her eyes. Only moments beforehand she had been planning to run away with Lou after stealing a load of cash from Elmer's father, but even as her dream is slowly fading from her reality, along with her life, she just can't believe that Lou is doing this to her. It's an absolutely chilling point to make: no one believes Lou capable of such things, even those he is doing them to. <br />
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But back to Affleck, who really makes this scene tick. He's cold, calculating, and goes about the savage beating in a very methodical way. Lou's detached from what he's doing at this point, and it's only when he sees Joyce's eyes that he offers solace in the only form he can: assurance that he's going to end the pain soon. That brief exchange allows Lou to break through the killer, and I think it's probably the only time in the entire film (and the book) that he realizes that he actually does care about this woman on some level. And then he kills her. Brutal stuff. That, in essence, is THE KILLER INSIDE ME: Haunting, unflinching, and ultimately unforgettable.<br />
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It's difficult to say why this film got under my skin. Maybe it's my deep love for the Noir genre, and for Jim Thompson's creation. This is by far the best and truest adaptation of his work, even counting Stephen Frears' THE GRIFTERS. I can't stop thinking about Affleck. I can't stop thinking of his first, second and third murders (his gut-punch and head-kicking of his respectable girlfriend/fiancee Amy Stanton is just as brutal as that of Joyce). I can't stop thinking of how he seems just like a nice guy, but with a seriously dark urge that he is helpless against. I don't mean that the killer part of him is entirely separated from his conscious, just that it makes up the majority of a completely subdued personality that he doesn't let out in public. Logically, he knows he probably shouldn't kill people - after all, why would you cover it up or care about how you're perceived - but that doesn't stop his own logic that people have to die. "No one has it coming," he tells the teenage boy in his jail cell right before killing him, "That's why nobody can see it coming." In the case of Lou Ford, that is 100% correct.<br />
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<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Oq94Nbrupk8&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Oq94Nbrupk8&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-63516366878222008542010-07-18T14:09:00.001-04:002010-07-19T15:41:02.231-04:00Strange Bedfellows: A Double Feature of the Grotesque<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx8MnJX32x2hIYObNjAqlJedFIsHqpCJlReQybYY0SDgRDTV51rWhEXmA1SMp1ENNtbdRzsLbx7SzHehyphenhyphen6GdB5_0LFyQ8Tu5epQSUiZGLh5sWrgrD3Gn1LwJrGWiuplmDH_71TYLnFVYQ/s1600/The-Killer-Inside-Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx8MnJX32x2hIYObNjAqlJedFIsHqpCJlReQybYY0SDgRDTV51rWhEXmA1SMp1ENNtbdRzsLbx7SzHehyphenhyphen6GdB5_0LFyQ8Tu5epQSUiZGLh5sWrgrD3Gn1LwJrGWiuplmDH_71TYLnFVYQ/s320/The-Killer-Inside-Me.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I love when films come along that are deemed immoral or have claims made against them that they glamorize violence and really serve no purpose. This just reinforces the reasons for these films to exist: to push boundaries, make people uncomfortable with what they're seeing, and to provoke thoughts about what exactly are the roles that violence (in all its forms) play in our day to day lives. While this may be evident in the discourse a film like THE KILLER INSIDE ME is having with the moral assumptions within every day society, being set in reality, and completely subjective in its point-of-view of a seemingly normal man who does unspeakably horrible things, it is also useful to understand that violence and its role in society has long been the territory of the horror film, and that Tom Six's THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, for all its over-the-top shock value, is a perfect example of what power the visual realization of horrific circumstance on film can have on an audience, and how important it is that such images exist to provoke and disgust.<br />
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</div><div>THE KILLER INSIDE ME, director Michael Winterbottom's dark noir adaptation of the pitch-black novel by Jim Thompson is the stronger of the two films in question, but with the pedigree behind it, that's not terribly surprising. We're given small-town Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford (another absolutely spell-binding performance by Casey Affleck), who appears normal, and even knows and explains to the audience how he's appearing normal, to everyone around him, but who nonetheless has the impulses of a psychopath, and who isn't afraid to act on them when need be. As Lou descends into an ever-growing spiral of sexual assault and murder, mostly in order to preserve his innocent status, the film forces the audience to experience his acts in the most visceral manner: explicitly, visually, and unflinchingly.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Winterbottom has never been a director to shy away from utilizing the medium's advantage of being able to give physical life to something that otherwise could only be imagined. From the literal visions of Tony Wilson in 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, to the explicit sexual relationship catalogued in 9 SONGS, and the very visual representation of adapting an unadaptable work (more successful than even ADAPTATION) in TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY, he is consistently one of the most confrontational directors for an audience to enter into a discourse with, specifically designing his films to provoke and push the viewer into places they may not be comfortable in, but which nonetheless serve to make them think about what they're watching.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfBTBnnwoU1LcwMWegs497Eg-UBFg5Wk_TmH3gPrKdMGSGEXAsoNgxWyP_9md_tp0f7LXI7Umub_4fNbmfxhG0kcZ6EBGqw9EWtgRqsz-eW2f4WXGYEsThLe-r_y_v9qm1eNTfAEG9X0c/s1600/Killer+Inside+Me+Movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfBTBnnwoU1LcwMWegs497Eg-UBFg5Wk_TmH3gPrKdMGSGEXAsoNgxWyP_9md_tp0f7LXI7Umub_4fNbmfxhG0kcZ6EBGqw9EWtgRqsz-eW2f4WXGYEsThLe-r_y_v9qm1eNTfAEG9X0c/s320/Killer+Inside+Me+Movie.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The scenes in THE KILLER INSIDE ME that leave everyone so disgusted and puzzled as to just what the film is supposed to be telling us are the scenes in which Lou Cobb brutally murders his lovers, who he may or may not actually have any feelings for, but whom he nonetheless <i>must</i> kill in order to satisfy his need for personal survival. The first murder in particular, of the prostitute Joyce (Jessica Alba), who Lou seems to regret his actions toward the most after they are complete (though he analytically decides there was really no other option), is exceptionally disturbing. As part of a plot to get personal vengeance while also making a little money, he repeatedly beats Joyce in the face, her skin eventually giving way and exposing some of the bone underneath. While this is definitely brutal enough, what I think most people find most repulsive is the desire for Joyce to kiss her lover and attacker one final time, and the fact that he does it. The fact that all of this happens just after they've had sex so he could say goodbye to her only compounds this disgust.<br />
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But what does it all mean? I think that, aside from attempting to tell us about society at large, these scenes are meant to get us thinking about how we process violence on a personal level. What is more disturbing: to see this woman brutally murdered by the man she loves, and who apparently loves her on some level alien to those of us without a psychological disorder, and that she continues to love him despite his faults and the fact that she is very well on her way to death, or that we can watch countless action films where hundreds of people die and not feel anything at all about whatever brutal ways they meet their end? I think both are equally disturbing, and neither is more condemnable than the other. In fact, I think that both serve very visceral purposes for the viewer: thrills that are meant to provide some sort of release, whether it's one of disgust, or one of some sort of vindication. Maybe both at the same time, and in varying levels.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfgeAH9pU661mB6YNhMuIUkKiciAIGvkSuuGIBvUrd5ghad956IZ_ynP93bPXm1mniKxTkvdWJWVj0Zyq5oD_rh82yM-bKFY6NhQlbDJ4GoP4eCRVYggj8UXvf3xtpftYHft8v2kgFdvA/s1600/6a00d83451b26169e20133ed51d48c970b-400wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfgeAH9pU661mB6YNhMuIUkKiciAIGvkSuuGIBvUrd5ghad956IZ_ynP93bPXm1mniKxTkvdWJWVj0Zyq5oD_rh82yM-bKFY6NhQlbDJ4GoP4eCRVYggj8UXvf3xtpftYHft8v2kgFdvA/s320/6a00d83451b26169e20133ed51d48c970b-400wi.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Before getting into THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, I'd like to address something that has been said of both films: that they are in some way misogynistic fantasies. I don't know that this is necessarily an incorrect assessment of the films in some way, though I feel it oversimplifies and disregards a whole lot of other things the films are interested in or seek to provide some sort of insight into. To simply say that a film is demeaning to women completely disregards the fact that sometimes the demeaning portrayals of certain acts toward female characters may come with the intent (and I think very easily noticeable) to deliberately make the audience feel disgust at the ways in which these characters are treated. Why are women treated this way on film? What advantage would a filmmaker have to simply make a film that absolutely does not care in any way about its female characters? Is it the responsibility of the filmmaker to curb the possible or supposed interpretations of how "cool" some behavior may or may not be to the audience? To the latter, I think absolutely not. To the rest, I think these are things that must be considered at all times.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzrSMmtLXKuR8OiqJ6DWsjYIlQjcrpIXkgoJGWoEHftSiitIJ_toCQfPosUZKVSs-drOzMn9qkijhXiBpIurA7zGWEgAYk0M27UIs7R2kmjcuqiYDV3ddYTQ6qLy_cWZMeJ_QeuFP35S8/s1600/cent3b-550x309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzrSMmtLXKuR8OiqJ6DWsjYIlQjcrpIXkgoJGWoEHftSiitIJ_toCQfPosUZKVSs-drOzMn9qkijhXiBpIurA7zGWEgAYk0M27UIs7R2kmjcuqiYDV3ddYTQ6qLy_cWZMeJ_QeuFP35S8/s320/cent3b-550x309.jpg" /></a></div><br />
People lobbing accusations of completely pointless existence at THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE seem to be missing a bit of the point: the film is much more interesting if read as a companion piece to a film implicitly interested in showing violence to its audience like THE KILLER INSIDE ME (or HOSTEL, or A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, or anything else). Rather than dwelling on the fact that the victims are women, which is important, and which I want to discuss a bit more shortly, assume for a moment that you are shown the actual "violent" scenes of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE. Well, for one, they're completely antiseptic medical scenes, and in most cases you can find more graphic representations of surgical procedures on any number of television hospital dramas. Aside from a few incisions, the most violent scenes involve gunplay and a couple of instances of physical altercations during escape attempts. This is actually pretty standard fare for any number of films. Second, four of the six victims in the film are male: two abductees, same as the women, and two police officers in the climax. That the women get the worst treatment, in that they form the second and third portions of the centipede, is kind of a hollow argument, in that it's all pretty horrible, no matter where you are in the warped creation.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZXOjEGSbQtrdzcSZZxP3Qgjf322MD5uClO2NTt14yX8-aEnMKBdseMjcpeGFqAY47Tq9htby-DDVykp4hXNDDMX1_JefBE_iMYxsDBNTkO5qVgUtjajgnRHndd7NLtYPOAT3va3Lc6g/s1600/the-human-centipede-drheiter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZXOjEGSbQtrdzcSZZxP3Qgjf322MD5uClO2NTt14yX8-aEnMKBdseMjcpeGFqAY47Tq9htby-DDVykp4hXNDDMX1_JefBE_iMYxsDBNTkO5qVgUtjajgnRHndd7NLtYPOAT3va3Lc6g/s320/the-human-centipede-drheiter.jpg" /></a></div><br />
In any case, I think that the key to what THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE is about is in the pivotal performance of Dieter Laser as Dr. Heiter, a stock mad-scientist with a diseased mind character. Laser's interpretation is chilling, in that Heiter enjoys what he's doing more than anyone logically could, and is obsessed not with killing people, but in furthering the field of biomedical surgery. It's a concept that is interesting in its implications, given not only that Heiter is of course German (and the ties to actual biological questions infamous Nazi doctor Mengele posed and attempted to answer), but that we are, as a society, constantly attempting to find ways to prolong and save lives by forcing our bodies to accept foreign biological elements (i.e. - another person's body parts) into our own ailing frames. Arguably Tom Six's twisted little horror film is more interested in bio-ethics than in creating any sense of horror at all, though it definitely succeeds on that level as well.<br />
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The key to understanding these films (and any others like them), I feel, lay in attempting to understand ourselves within the context of what we're watching. And while you can certainly find them to be murky, problematic, or in some cases completely non-existent, it's at least a more worthwhile exercise to think about why we are shown what we are shown than to simply dismiss it as something that shouldn't be shown to begin with, for any reason whatsoever. There may very well be no moral compass at work within a film like THE KILLER INSIDE ME, and certainly there is less of one to be found in THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, but that doesn't discount what they may tell us about our own sense of morality, or the world we inhabit, and who we inhabit it with.</div>matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2198400335274428969.post-2228523267173930632010-07-18T12:28:00.001-04:002010-07-18T12:33:28.608-04:00In Dreams: Thoughts On and Discussions of INCEPTION<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8y6zhh2CIy6lkBdJaNHzgqXUMg3NwH821XUH3yoGxAI-GP6tR1R10OYoMpk2y2RGWuQJRy4JPcDCEom14AmwHOhaiNjMnyqQXUcJn9RYAqDz0JIe3QS8H-ijIvXMlvg3Au1-NhTq1WdU/s1600/inception09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8y6zhh2CIy6lkBdJaNHzgqXUMg3NwH821XUH3yoGxAI-GP6tR1R10OYoMpk2y2RGWuQJRy4JPcDCEom14AmwHOhaiNjMnyqQXUcJn9RYAqDz0JIe3QS8H-ijIvXMlvg3Au1-NhTq1WdU/s320/inception09.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I saw INCEPTION, Christopher Nolan's mostly brilliant new film, on opening night this past week, and was thoroughly entertained. I think he may be popular cinema's most consistently interesting auteur of what I like to call the "Thinking Man's Blockbuster." And while I may not be a fan of every single choice Nolan makes, I find all of them interesting, especially his missteps and what they may tell us about his films more than what actually works in them do, and the discussions they lead to in the online world. (Though you shouldn't really be surprised if you frequently read my blog, I feel it's actually necessary to point out that there are really big spoilers below, and on most of the links I'll provide, so if you have some fear of such things, please make note of this now).<br />
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For instance, there's some hullabaloo currently happening in the film blogging network that has sparked some serious and refreshing debate. The argument centers mainly on two things: first, that INCEPTION's "dreams" don't actually operate in the strange, illogical way that real dreams do, and second, that there's no emotional connection to any of the characters (or emotional logic to the supposed revelations they have) during the course of the "mechanical" plot (see Jim Emerson's <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2010/07/inception_has_christopher_nola.html">thought-provoking discussion</a> for an overview and to join the fray, especially comments by long-time contributors to the discussion Matt Zoller-Seitz and Christopher Long for the most interesting threads of debate).<br />
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What strikes me most about the discussion are the comparisons being lobbed about to other dream movies, amid the denial of total fans that the movie isn't "about" dreams at all. This is a point I agree with, and mostly feel that if anything, the entire movie and all of its mechanics are a McGuffin for working through Cobb's (Leonardo DiCaprio) hang-ups about his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard). Arguably, everything we see in the film is a construct of Cobb's imagination, a perpetual dream state that he either got lost in during his own experimenting, or by choice over the guilt of what he may or may not have done to his wife. The flip side is that there's actually a layer of reality in all of this, which I don't ascribe to, and which I'll get into in more detail later on. What is fascinating to me is that a lot of the criticisms of Nolan is that he is too literal in his dream-world. <br />
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As many have pointed out, the dreams within INCEPTION aren't really dreams at all, but literal constructs of an architect, who is out to deliberately fool the subject's subconscious into not realizing it's under attack and having a normal dream state. Well, given this, why would dreams appear to the audience of the film appear to be anything other than that? There's absolutely nothing in the film to suggest that the dreamer is privy at any time to the knowledge that they're dreaming, and who knows what his dreams are like while he's wandering around inside of them? Aside from the "Mr. Charles" episode, which actually does play out a bit like a surrealist dream state of lucid and conscious dreaming (I'm thinking of the sudden appearance of rain outside the hotel as water starts hitting the faces of the dreamers in the above level as the van is under attack), appropriating incidents from the previous reality into the current dream state. Think of this like every time you awake with a jolt from your leg falling off the couch, or have to go to the restroom after waking up from a dream in which you were about to, etc. I think this sort of interplay between "real" dreams and constructed dreams works fairly well within the rules set up by Cobb and Ariadne (Ellen Page) at the beginning of the film. Why some of these rules are disregarded by the end of the film is exactly why I think the entire film is a dream state of Cobb's making.<br />
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The biggest thing that stems from the ending and its implications: not only does the top continue spinning, but there's absolutely no reason it should fall. Upon going back over the film in my mind, I've discovered this really is the only outcome, and the biggest clue is the top, Mal's totem, itself. In an early scene, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is explaining the concept of a totem to Ariadne, and says that it should be a personal object that grounds its holder to reality, and which only the holder should know the specifics of, in order to avoid being unable to distinguish the dream from reality, and potentially becoming stranded in their subconscious. So where is Cobb's totem? We only ever see him with Mal's top, which at the point it becomes handled by him, has been compromised. This can only mean one thing, really: Cobb is trapped in a dream state just like he fears Mal was (and really, does this mean that maybe Mal actually left the dream world for real and the idea that spread in his mind was that dreaming was reality?) Or, was Mal even real at all? Is Cobb simply dreaming a better existence than what he may have had outside in "the real world"? I don't know that I can answer any of those questions, but they're certainly interesting things to ponder. <br />
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Going back to my original thoughts about the dream mechanics and how literal they are, the utter disregard shown by Cobb at all times for these rules, from constructing dreams of his wife from his memories to the risks he takes by delving into Limbo on, apparently, at least two levels in order to save Saito (Ken Watanabe), also shows that the film's reality is also a construction of Cobb's: if he's dreaming, then the rules can change from moment to moment whenever its necessary to progress the lie he's telling himself, no matter what the lie may or may not be or mean to him personally or the audience watching the movie. While this may be sloppy storytelling mechanics, I think it definitely makes a case for the dreamworlds within INCEPTION to be a bit more dream-like and transient than they may appear at first glance, even with the presence of an architect that builds them into labyrinthine constructs meant to trap the dreamer and keep them from discovering the truth that they are, in fact, dreaming.<br />
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I don't want to seem like I'm lavishing too much praise on the film, though. I do think that there are some extremely imaginative sequences, including all of the shifting- and zero-gravity stuff with Arthur toward the end of the films and the concept of actually creating stable dream states (which is what most of the critics seem to have problems with, acceptably so, I'll point out - not everyone has the same interests). But, as with all of Nolan's films (including both Bat-flicks, despite my assumed "fanboy" status), I have some problems of pacing and the existence of far too much exposition in dialogue form rather than simply utilizing film to do what it does best: show us what we need to know. I also think that its similar psychological territory to that certain earlier-this-very-year DiCaprio thriller, SHUTTER ISLAND, is too much to ignore. They would certainly make very interesting viewing partners, even if one were only interested in dissecting strengths and weaknesses between the two.<br />
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What all of this means to the current discourse, I can't say just yet. I know that I'm genuinely interested in the back-and-forth this particular film is providing for us all, and I'm looking forward to being able to discuss the similar (and dissimilar) parts of INCEPTION and any number of "dream"-related films that have already been brought up in context: TOTAL RECALL, eXistenZ and any number of Cronenberg films, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, etc, etc, etc. In parting, I'll leave you with this thought: is a film that sparks so much debate and academic/professional interest really that bad of a film to begin with?<br />
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*****<br />
For further discussion and context, check out my friend Julia Rhodes' very positive <a href="http://calitreview.com/10547">review</a> of the film over at California Literary Review, where she shares some similar but slightly different thoughts and responses to mine, as well as Jim Emerson's <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2010/07/notes_on_my_homework_assignmen.html">previous essay</a> on Nolan's film THE PRESTIGE, again on his ::scanners:: blog.matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269017909461737952noreply@blogger.com0