reviewId int64 363k 588k | userId int64 33.9k 15.9M | itemId int64 1 1.42M | rating float64 1 10 | title stringlengths 1 10.9k ⌀ | content stringlengths 81 11.6k ⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
510,555 | 453,068 | 347,618 | 9 | a fairly short feature-length film , but within its parameters perfectly wonderful and adorable | I wouldn't be sure that The Cat Returns would have an appeal to audiences as wide as Miyazaki's directed films would , since as a family film it is mostly amusing or curious for adults ( with the good laugh or two at the American voice work if one is inclined to listen to the new English dub ) . But for children it's just about one of the best in the anime field , a work that provides that great dose of fantasy and enjoyment while sticking to those tried and true themes with kids movies that only work so often ( such as here ) . While " believe in yourself " is in fact such a cliché that it may eventually turn back around and become an original notion at some point in movies , in the Cat Returns it has that fresh perspective of a little girl , a genuinely caring and generous soul who's doesn't have many friends , who contemplates from time to time becoming a cat . In the Cat Returns , where young Haru saves a kitty from certain death while crossing a street and in the process is picked to become the wife to the Prince of the Cat Kingdom somewhere far , far away , there's even a slight Fantasy Island ala Pinocchio aspect to the piece ( which goes without saying the obvious comparison with becoming a cat by thinking or acting like one ) . It's all in good fun , but would one really want to be in a kingdom of cats presided by a Cat King who loafs about in total splendor ? Well , maybe , which is part of the conflict . But for kids this is just a core for the rest of the joy to spring out of . After the whole individuality-good aspect is covered , the rest of the picture has to entertain , and this is where Studio Ghibli works their usual best again . It's a gorgeously animated film , directed by Hiroyuki Morita from a somewhat original concept , delivering a wide variety of cats - small , cute , tall , proper , fat , fuzzy , shrill , sweet - and a great design of the Cat Kingdom itself with that shifty maze and giant towers . Morita almost disappoints with the running length : at 75 minutes , a few of those for credits , the Cat Returns could actually benefit from having more detail and bits of comedy and excitement . But it's then a backhanded compliment at the same time ; one has many memorable characters to pick from , like the big sidekick / bodyguard Muta , the King himself , Natoru the lackey for the king , and the Baron who is about as formal as a royal British officer . For children most of all it's the kind of treat they'll want to revisit many times , and a good point as well is the new English dub . It wouldn't be bad if the Japanese cut got some attention , which is the original and fine enough , but the voice-work from Anne Hathaway , Peter Boyle , Cary Elwes , Tim Curry , Eliot Gould , and Andy Richter is fantastic for sometimes so small or repetitive a performance ( as Hathaway points on the DVD , lots of screaming , varieties of yelling and yelps for Boyle ) that it's never less than delightful . The little kid in me , as well as cat lover , was very pleased . The only minor drawback is that some adults may feel a little left out of the simplicity of the piece on the whole as it isn't as all inclusive a masterpiece like Totoro . |
508,005 | 453,068 | 404,757 | 9 | If you're an Allman Brothers fan and you can find this , its worth the buy . . . | . . . However , there is only one minor complaint in watching a band as fantastic at what they do years and years down the line like the Allman Brothers Band on a concert DVD such as this - if you see them for real live , it's a far more rewarding and impressionable experience . To see these musicians , all extremely talented and skilled at improvisation and soulfulness , in the flesh , is a true treat for a rock and roll & blues fan . That experience is only slightly lost when watching a concert form of that on video ( this also goes with bands like the Who and Judas Priest ) . That being said , if you can find this video / DVD wherever they're sold , it's a worthwhile purchase , as the band goes through some of their classics like " Ain't Wastin ' Time No More " , " Come & Go Blues " , " Dreams " , and the best , " Whipping Post " , along with a few songs from their most recent album Hittin ' the Note , and of course their trademark , mind-blower jams . Some may be wary to check out this concert , especially if you're a ' die-hard ' , as Dickie Bettes of course is not in the band in this concert . In a way it's not too sad of a loss ; his songs of Brothers and Sisters were timeless , but over-played , and some new blood working with Greg Allman was just what the band needed . The fact also stands that Warren Haynes is one of the top five hard-rock / blues guitarists working today , as he alternates between this , the new ' Dead ' , and Gov't Mule , and the solos he takes are some of the most phenomenal ones in the past few years . His singing , also is a fine substitute for Bettes . Then there is also the dark horse winner in the new formation of the band , Derek Trucks , who also has his own nifty group on the side . His solos are just as impressive , and that he is so young ( he joined the group when he was in his teens I believe ) is an added incentive to check out his skills . It also makes for some fascinating alternating between the two , as Allman himself balances it out with his own usual skills . Aspects like the two drummers , both very good at what they do , and the ' trippy ' visual effects in the background behind them , are a little much at times , but don't detract from the great stuff in the show . And a venue like the Beacon , which for the Allman's is practically the equivalent of what CBGB's were to the Ramones , is like a second home for them , a good venue with a not exceedingly high crowd ( or maybe I'm wrong , I can't remember much of the audience at the show I was at , ho-ho ) . I can't compare it to any of the other concert DVD's out there from them , but on its own standing it shows the band in sturdy shape , with enough energy to blast off many of the current rock groups off the stage . |
508,423 | 453,068 | 497,137 | 9 | flawed in some small ways , but overall a crazily sincere masterpiece | There are ways to do romantic comedies , just as their are ways of doing sincere dark comedies set in mental hospitals , and Chan-Wook Park goes to fantastic and unexpected lengths of subverting expectations with truly nutty - and this may be the nuttiest movie to come out of Korea this , uh , month - ideas and visuals being explored , while never skimping on making these people to care about . And yes , the " cyborg " Cha Young-Goon ( Su-Jeung Lim ) , at first seems like a typical nut , or what one might stereotype as . Indeed , as I thought more about it , what Park goes for is almost experimental ; what would it be like to have as the pivotal character of a movie the person in the loony bin who is near unresponsive to other people and who won't eat any food ? At first we're plunged into her mind-set : she's a cyborg , after all , and she marks up her energy levels by her toes lighting up , and takes in such energy by licking batteries as opposed to regular consumption . But she also has a troubled past , though more-so in the memories of her grandmother , whom she was closest with , and who we see in flashbacks was tossed away into a sanitarium , as Young-Goon was eventually , instead of actually dealing with them as real fellow family members . It's hard not to get caught up further into her much more real plight when shock treatment comes around , and that the feeding tubes just won't do any good . From the sound of this it sounds like a really tragic story , and in a way it is . But on the other hand , it absolutely isn't all the same . It's Park's funniest film , loaded with his bravura sense of style that is brutally self-conscious with the camera ( lots of wonderful usages of color from greens to reds to whites and blues and so on , 360 ' pans , high-flying shots , a great split-screen involving two characters in two separate solitary rooms connected by two cups and a string ) as well as with very assured direction . To see someone make films like ' Cyborg ' or Oldboy is to see someone who doesn't mind obviously flashy moments , because there are just as many moments that are more intimate in connection between the characters . But as I said , it's a very funny movie , with the various character in the mental hospital veritable caricatures : there's one guy who got tossed in by apologizing to everyone involved in an accident he wasn't involved in , and one fat woman who when not stealing Young-Goon's food is trying to get static electricity going from rubbing her feet , and random characters doing wacky things in the halls behind main characters talking . There's a big belly laugh at the ' picture book ' of the Cyborg's , where it lists the seven deadly sins , inexplicably linked to the torture and murder of cats in the classic storybook pictures . There's even an actor who comes closest to looking like the Korean Bruce Campbell ! And the scenes with Young-Goon going into super-violent mode as the cyborg and shooting everything in sight ranks right up with the corridor fight sequence in Oldboy as Park at his most staggering in choreographing mayhem . But then there's Rain's character Park Il-sun , who is the counterpoint for Young-Goon , as he's just a crazy thief in on his fifth voluntary commitment . He'll be hopping around one moment , or imagining himself going very tiny so as to not be noticed . But what the two of them share , no matter what , is vulnerability , which soon they see in each other ( or at least Il-Sun sees in Young-Goon ) , with scenes showing either one crying their eyes out actually being earned . It's as much of a credit to the actors as it is to Park that none of this is false sentimentality , and out of the wild comedy there is subtext always present , of the director meeting the willing audience member halfway - it is a mental hospital , and no matter how crazy it can be they aren't tapped out of life completely . This makes up the emotional tie between the two main characters , and the struggle to compromise a mental state that can't be fixed and a more pragmatic goal - eating food - leads to a real emotional highlight . Only the denouement , or what could be considered that perhaps , as there's a nuke / bomb element thrown in with outdoor rain scenes that feel real unnecessary ( albeit there's a tremendous final shot for the film ) , and little bits involving the supporting characters that could be left out ( what's with the guy that won't stop yelling ? ) . Otherwise , this is still prime work going on , daring even , as far as blending together some real surrealistic tendencies with the kind of spirit that went into One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . It takes guts to put the personal with the wacky , but somehow I'm a Cyborg , But That's OK pulls it off better than any other film I can't think of in recent memory . |
510,216 | 453,068 | 117,561 | 9 | an extremely personal , maddeningly absurd excursion into the loony side of Soderbergh ; one of the definitions of ' acquired taste ' | From the prologue I instantly thought I understood the tone that Steven Soderbergh - writer , director , cinematographer , possible pornographer , and double-actor on Schizopolis - was going for : pure absurdism , not just with how the prologue is worded ( as the most important film experience of all time , the " full completed version " ) , but how he goes between all the different lenses like a young film student checking out the gears on a Bolex . But it's always a tricky thing going into a Soderbergh " experiment " , and that it could be a mish-mash like Full Frontal ( I've yet to see Bubble ) . And , in all truth , it is a mish-mash . It tells a coherent story only in that there's maybe two ( or three ) stories that seem to make any sense , but is scattered around scenes and freewheeling camera moves and editing tricks and music that come closest to that oft-mentioned critic term " off-beat " . And a lot of the time it seems to be so personal to Soderbergh ( real life ex-wife playing ex-wife , plus what may be his real kid playing Brantley's daughter ) , and so unconscionably irreverent , that it dares to run off the tracks any minute . But it's this fully realized move to just be silly and strange , to make just random moments of wild satire ( Rhode Island sold as a shopping mall , " Well , at least we didn't sell it to the fing Japanese " , and a man randomly getting caught up in a straight jacket by fellows from a mental hospital ) , more well-rounded jabs at the drudgery and pointless meandering of everyday white-collar work life ( is there a spy , or a mole , who cares if there's masturbation ? ) , and statements just abstracted as if done sort of by a spontaneous idea in the editing room ( title cards quoting a page in the script ? ) , that makes it such a daring work of ludicrous intentions . This isn't a filmmaker trying to make an innovative and possibly important film like Traffic , or even a fun mainstream romp like Ocean's Eleven . In fact , it's seeing the opening prologue , and seeing how the style takes off right away ( the title for the film on the shirt of a naked guy running away ! ) it sets off wonderful irony at every turn . Not that Soderbergh isn't being self-indulgent . In fact , I'm sure that's why there's something of an honesty to his going head-long into his own personal crises of dealing with a relationship or marriage , and throwing caution to the wind by making the emotional problems actually quite real while obfuscating them with some truly goofy vignettes . It's almost like directorial therapy : let the actors improvise , let it all be loose , and even have a truly warped storyline involving an exterminator , really an actor looking for motivation and a written scene ( ha ) , yet having in many instances moments of confession . Even if one might not know some of the circumstances surrounding Soderbergh's first marriage ( it's detailed in the book Rebels on the Backlot ) , it feels like it's coming from the heart a good lot of the time , which uplifts the comedy . A running gag late in the film , as certain scenes from earlier with the perfectly dead-pan Soderbergh and Brantley are repeated , has Soderbergh being dubbed over in Japanese , French , and Italian , though in scenes that involve break-ups , awkward sexual tension , and a reconciliation . This is not to say that Soderbergh isn't also more devilish than he's ever since been with his innuendo - make that outright hilariously immature sexual comedy - and it's amazing to see Soderbergh read a ' love letter ' he's written to his " Attractive Woman # 2 " , describing his profession of emotions in very graphic ways . And if Soderbergh does some strange things to surprise as the only time he's starred , let alone acted , in one of his films ( the scene where he's in the bathroom making faces at the mirror is one of those pure moments in absurd cinema that speaks to the success of paying homage to Richard Lester movies ) , his going for broke stylistically pays off too . Or doesn't , depending on how one can take the mix and match of film stocks used from grainy 16mm to the usual 35mm , jagged hand-held racing after the exterminator man beating up on a man and woman , extreme fast-motion film-speed , perfectly composed images like a boy in right field missing a baseball , and even documentary style in the scenes with T . Azimuth Schwitters . On top of the dialog being continuously crazy and self-conscious ( what's that film crew following along ? ) , it's possibly the best , or at least most fun , that Soderbergh has to offer as an independent filmmaker . So see it at your own risk , definitely check out the trailer beforehand to get an idea of what's at hand ( if the poster wasn't sign enough what a tailspin one can expect to get into ) , and if one is already a fan , if only in the guilty pleasure sort of way as I know I am , do check out the Criteron DVD for Soderbergh " interviewing " Soderbergh commentary , including the story how the deal for David Lean to direct two years after his death fell through ( damn Showtime channel ) ! |
510,517 | 453,068 | 90,329 | 9 | elegiac , romantic crime-thriller about a detective in Amish country | The Amish are ' simple folk ' , as they say , with a moral conscience that is nearly impeccable . While they are super religious ( notice that they will never eat without first praying ) , their work ethic is next to extraordinary and they've fashioned their lives around a lack of technology , a distance from the rest of the modern world . Peter Weir's film Witness does what should be expected in a genre piece using this subject matter : place a regular guy ( Harrison Ford ) in the midst of this Amish world as a culture clash occurs . It sort of does , but what's trickier , and what Weir and Ford pull off , is to make it personal , of the disconnect between men and women and temptations . It's an R-rated movie , but not at all for sex , but at the same time there's a super hot scene where Ford dances with Kelly McGillis's Rachel in a barn to an old 60s tune . The tension is perfect . But the genre ? Yes , it's the sort that we've probably seen in other films , with a corrupt cop story pitted into a unique location . The difference is that Weir wants to put a more visual take on things , to not force the conventions down the audience's throat while also making things enjoyable . The scoop : a young Amish boy ( Lukas Haas ) is with him mother on their way to Baltimore to visit family , and he is in the bathroom of the train station . He witnesses behind a closed door a murder take place between cops . He narrowly escapes , and is the only witness to the crime . He spots the man , and it becomes clear that the case is a lot dirtier than Ford's John Book would've imagined . With this premise , and that Book is shot and must stay put in Amish country for a bit , Weir explores the nature of the characters in this situation as opposed to the by-the-numbers plotting of the story , which are ( thankfully ) darker than one might usually expect . And a good deal of Witness's success is Ford in the role . He strips himself of most of his devices as a usual star ( i . e . from the sarcastic tone of Han Solo or swagger of Indiana Jones ) , but still has a great ' star ' presence ; the producer initially cast him as he reminded him of Gary Cooper . He's charming and suave , but usually understated and strong in the performance , finding the right notes with McGillis for a romantic drama of this sort . It's worth checking out Witness for certain if you're a fan , or if you're interested in seeing this strange but sort of beautiful other world . Oddly enough , the musical score sounds a lot at times like that of Blade Runner ( the Vangelis-type synthesizer ) , and it threw me off for a moment hearing those tones put to the film's picaresque scenes . And yet there's something to be said about this kind of being like something from another world , or at least another time . Witness is thrilling stuff for the mainstream crowds , and at the same time Weir's direction is something not to miss , where he provides ample control for the story , but gives it certain twists and with a loom that tells of something more purely cinematic than a standard cineplex offering . |
508,097 | 453,068 | 71,502 | 9 | it shouldn't work , but it does - a series of stories of the bizarre and romantic ( or erotic , take your pick ) | Whether or not you like some ( or just respond positively to some ) of Pier Paolo Pasolini's work , or you don't , will depend on how much one can take of provocative subject matter put forward in an upfront manner . For me , he's a director that can go both ways , be it completely muddled and pretentious ( Teorema ) or almost boring in its S & M tactics of twisted satire ( Salo ) , or actually dramatically engaging ( Mamma Roma ) , and he's never someone who takes the easy road . Arabian Nights is another one , as part of a ' trilogy ' of films adapted from famous , erotically-laced works of stories that have scandalized for centuries ( the others the Decameron and Canterbury Nights ) . Once again , Pasolini has a lot of people in his film that aren't actors , or even real extras - sometimes some people will just pop out , or a bunch of kids will run around , and they're plucked right from the scenery . If authentic , film fans , is what you want , Pasonili gives it , in all of the style of a guy out to shoot a documentary on the people in these settings and gets ( pleasantly ) sidetracked by a bunch of crazy-tragic stories of love and lust in the desert . As if done in a pre-Pulp Fiction attempt at non-linear storytelling , we get the tale of Zumurrud ( Ines Pellegini ) and Nur ed din ( Franco Merli ) , one a slave who is bought by the most innocent looking kid in the bunch of bidders . They fall in love , the wise young girl and naive grunt , but they get separated after she gets sold to another man . She escapes , but becomes the unwitting king after she is mistaken for a man . Meanwhile , her young little man is calling after her / him , and getting into his own trouble . Through this framework , we get other stories told of love lost and scrambled ; a sad and silly story of a man who's engaged to his cousin , and is thwarted by a mysterious woman who gets his attention , which leads him down a path of semantics ( yes , semantics , poetry-style ) and sex , leaving his much caring cousin behind . Then there's the man who woos a woman who is under the ownership of a demon , and once their affair is discovered some unexpected things happen via the Demon ( Franco Citti , maybe the most bad-ass character in the film despite the surreal-aspect of the showdown ) . And then one more story , which , hmm . . . . I could go on making descriptions , but then this wouldn't be much of a review of praise of the picture . Suffice to say it's one of Pasolini's strongest directed efforts , where he's surefire in his consistent usage of the hand-held lens , getting his actors to look sincere through dialog that is half ripped-from-the-pages and half with the sensibility of Pasolini as a poet ( yes , I went there in the whole ' he's a poet ' thing , but he is in a rough-edged and melodramatic timing and flow ) . He's also going for an interesting combo ; neo-realist settings for a good chunk of the picture , set in and around real locations in areas that don't need much production design , and an epic sweep that includes many extras , some special effects at times ( and how about that lion ! ) , and extravagant costumes . I also liked - if not loved - how Pasonili dealt with sex and more-so the human body itself . It would probably rightfully get an NC-17 if released today in America , and got an X when released in 1980 . The dreaded ' thing ' of a man is revealed about as often as a cut-away to a master shot of a building . Everything , in fact , is filmed frankly , without the style that tip-toes around the starkness of two people embraced and naked . But it's also not pornographic either ; if anything Pasolini perhaps doesn't direct far enough with the sex , as one body just lays still on top of another . There's a specific intent to dealing with sexuality in this world that respects lust and desire from the original text without making it blatant - only in one big instance , involving the fate of the man from the cousin story ( the one with Aziz I think ) revels in the horror of sex that was delved tenfold in Salo . Add to this the exquisite score from Ennio Morricone , who enriches any scene his score pops up , as a mandolin strings away and the strings rise with just a hint of the sentimental . Without Morricone , in fact , it might not be as emotional a film , when need be . And lest not forget Arabian Nights can be strangely comical , where Pasolini throws it back at the audience that he knows he's going ( rightfully ) into the surreal . Like with the story of the Demon and the fate of a man transformed as a chimpanzee , or the vision with the lion , or even the dialog in the pool with the three girls and the man , which is humorous while keeping a tongue-in-cheek . And there's even some good jokes to come out of the obvious step of having Zummurrud as the ' King ' when it's clear as day from the Italian dubbing that he's the ' she ' , so to speak , as it stretches out into a final scene where lovers are united and things are as they should be , however much the director is thumbing his nose at power and sex and the dealings of the heart with organs . Arabian Nights probably couldn't be made today , but could anyone else but Pasolini make it anyway ? There's daring in this film , and through the exotic exteriors and sets we see a filmmaker working along like there's nothing else to stop him , for better or worse . This time for the better . |
510,854 | 453,068 | 82,622 | 9 | one of Romero's most ambitious films is a grand entertainment | Knightriders does more than prove that George A . Romero , most known for his Living-Dead pictures , is really overall a great storyteller and developer of characters and , above all craftsman . But it also shows how a filmmaker can subvert a genre that is really hard to define ( is there such a genre as medieval racing , as it doesn't really fit into the typical ' biker movie ' mold either ) , while sticking to an ideal that is more old fashioned . Romero has an ensemble put together than could almost remind one of an Altman film , as if this was his Nashville . Yet in spirit I'm more reminded of a Howard Hawks film - a director who was an influence on Romero - in having a group of characters fitting an amusing , rousing adventure story where the old director's credo still stands - there's not much drama without action . What's even more surprising , or really what might come as more surprising to those who just stick to the Romero zombie movies if they happen to come across this , is the attention to characters , mood , and above all superlative craftsmanship . Ed Harris plays a King-like role that , much as in a Hawks film , could have been played by John Wayne . Like a Wayne character Harris is set in a very specific mind frame ( to the point , of course , of being stubborn and head-strong ) that can hardly be changed , even if he is a nice guy once in a while through his tougher moments . And , indeed , sometimes his delusions of grandeur have to face up to reality past the fantasy . But unlike Wayne , Harris has a constant , unwavering appeal as an actor , who is constantly watchable even in a role that doesn't give him as much to do as in some of his more memorable parts . He's surrounded by actors who have made up many of Romero's other films - Tom Savini ( who is quite good as an actor here , usually known for his great make-up ) , Ken Foree , Scott Reiniger , Christine Forrest , John Amplas , and Anthony Dileo Jr - and help back up his traveling troupe of medieval-times type of motorcycle riders , all who provide more or less very human characterizations . The story basically focuses on these guys and how the times seem to be catching up with them - and tempting some - away from the lower-end type spectacles for the locals . But , in the end , things get patched up and a ' for-themselves ' tournament is launched to determine the new ' King ' . The film is not impervious to criticism . It's a little overlong ( perhaps one too many a coda at the end , even as Billy's payback to the Deputy is one of the highlights of the film ) , and the usual social commentary that Romero strikes his hottest at is really , aside from the small bits of reality checks for the troupe , break down to the media being shallow and self-destructive by luring away Savini and some of the others . Such parts kind of seem weaker , and even for this kind of old-fashioned adventure / action story too conventional . Nevertheless there is so much in the film that is richly entertaining and interesting , with many little moments being some of the funniest in any Romero film ( including some high flying bits , and a hysterical cameo from Stephen King ) , and touching ones to boot in the climax . On top of Knightriders being an excellent showcase for what a director like Romero can be capable of with different material that covers dramatic ground , is his technical prowess . Coming off of another ambitious picture , Dawn of the Dead , his editing chops are still tight as can be , and seeing the riding sequences is downright exhilarating . Romero's eye and timing with the storytelling in action - and knowing how to keep things breathtaking ( as with Dawn ) without becoming too chaotic - is really un-canny and one of the most underrated aspects of his whole career , of which this would be his last credited as . Also accompanying the film is a sweet , pitch-perfect score by Donald A . Rubinstein ( not credited the site ) to the proceedings , and what pops out in the end of this epic tale of reality facing un-reality and the kinds of people to different degrees who stake their lives to such a cause and living . It's a near-masterpiece that is a nifty find if you come across it in your video store . |
508,953 | 453,068 | 51,472 | 9 | delightful in its frank and playful attitude to " Him " vs / with " Her " | Jean-Luc Godard must have known he would come back to Charlotte and Her Jules very soon after making it , since he recreated in Breathless , made at or around the same time as this last short he made before going head-on into features , a nearly 20 minute version of this scene only with a little more of an equal playing field . Meaning in this case it's all about the man , or rather " her " man , and in a small-term experimental sense it's quite successful . It's basically just a monologue Jean Paul Belmondo delivers to his girl following her return from being with " another " man , who apparently is waiting in his car on the street below . The monologue is so ranty Charlotte ( who as a clever and sneaky and telling trick by Godard gets top billing ) only gets in two lines , one of them her exit , " I just came for my toothbrush " , with all smiles going on , trying on a hat , occasionally whistling , while her man goes on and on . It was one of Godard's so often quoted idioms that it became cliché and then went back around to original and then in a circle forever and ever that " the history of cinema is men photographing women . " It is in this case that Godard practices this full-tilt ; while Belmondo ( with Godard dubbing ) gets all of the audio time , pontificating , complaining , praising , sarcastically reminiscing about the good times and bad times and harping both poetic and the self-conscious about himself and her , the camera is almost always on the pretty Anne Collette . Godard would return to usually keeping his camera on his " lady " be she Anna Karina , Bridgit Bardot or Anne Wiezemsky , but for right now it's perhaps best to consider this a practice run . Thankfully it's an extremely entertaining and curiously rigorous practice run , showcasing the attention to the opposite sexes plus flexing such muscles as breezy and quick cuts and the freedom and rough edges of a hand-held black and white camera . Ah , those were the days , before say the 1980s and 1990s came around . |
508,882 | 453,068 | 412,703 | 9 | if only I could somehow bring Henri Langlois back from the dead . . . | . . . Because , as this documentary makes quite clear , Langlois was one of the greatest film geeks that ever lived , and it would be heaven-sent ( if there is a heaven ) to have him back at the Cinematheque again . And I say the word ' geek ' with the utmost enthusiasm and admiration and respect et all . Langlois was not just a film buff's film buff ( no New-Wave without him , hence probably most of today's cinema ) , but also open to anyone who might be interested in checking out his museum of cinematic wonders , where he collected objects and put them in the spaces and hallways with brilliant ease . He was probably the greatest programmer of any privately functioning theater ever . After amassing 50 , 000 + film prints over a span of a couple of decades , the Cinematheque in Paris became THE place where fans of film ( and auteurs to be exact ) could come and see entire careers of a director , or , more importantly , even bring their own film or a ' heisted ' print to be included in the archives . It was no surprise then when an incredible uprising occurred over Langois being ousted in 1968 , and when finally re-instated things could never totally be the same again . Rarely have I seen someone documented who in a way is as important to the history of film as any other important filmmaker from any part of the country . As Jean-Luc Godard says at the start of the film , " Langlois was like a film producer who produced a way of seeing films . " He was in large part preservationist who held onto original negatives ( sometimes in nitrate form ) and re-cut the films when only scraps and fragments remained of masterpieces , leading to people being able to see many films that would otherwise be lost . He was also in large part as enthusiastic as a little kid with a new toy when it came to finding an old silent film from Murnau or Eisenstein or something from Jean Vigo and sharing his love with other people who would either go on to be filmmakers themselves ( the ' New-Wave ' , to be sure , but also film historians ) , or the casual amirer of films . And another part was the museum he had built up like any other art museum , with the finest pieces of wares and artifacts ( i . e . the original ' mother ' head from Psycho ) , to invite film fans and even casual viewers to gorge on more than just memorabilia . It then becomes bittersweet - at first sweet - to see his story unfold via many interviews with associates , friends , filmmakers ( Chabrol , Roche , etc ) , and historians who knew how Langlois started small with passionate screenings in the 30s , then into a sort of resistance fighter for his films from the Nazis in the early 40s , and then finally expanding in the late 40s into the 50s to become the premier place for films that , unlike any other archive , were all inclusive for the audience . So , in a sense , we learn he was a filmmaker , but really as one who could make the films important and vital and presentable . He wasn't alone , as we learn throughout this entertaining look at his ups and downs of his career - we also see a bit into his personal life with his most close associate and love Mary , who was like a mother with tough love attached at times . Then , eventually , we see how he also had enemies , maybe as many as he had friends and followers , and somehow ( he wasn't " executive " material of course , and because he was private and with next to no funding from the French government , near dirt-poor while scrapping everything for his non-profit organization ) he got fired . It's amazing - on top of the previous footage of various film clips from the films he showed & / or directors inspired ( Vigo , Godard , Meilies , Von Strernberg , Murnau , etc ) - to see the revolution-style protests of his being fired by film directors and fans . It's actually , in all manner of speaking , inspiring . But then the bitter part comes in seeing what Langlois was reduced to after being reinstated - taking professor jobs on cinema across America and Canada and France - just to get a little more money for the fledgling Cinematheque . All of this ends up being told through Langlois and the other interviews as something that is saddening , but there's still always hope and more films to be shown all the while . While towards the end director Jacques Richard has the film lagging in the section about Langlois and his work on the museum , overall he really delves deep into this wonderful man's life , and provides a great way in documentary form to introduce future film-buffs into what it means to really put yourself completely on the line for film . On top of this , what it means to be independent of the system and get your stuff shown through someone who wont brush someone off with a desire to display their art ( the film the Dreamers put a good memory on the Cinematheque right at the start , though only briefly ) . Someone like Langlois , who was scruffy and boisterous and extremely intelligent and acute on anything film and preservation-related , also was great in how he wanted to look to the future just as much as looking to the past . Like any other print at the Cinematheque , this documentary deserves to be preserved too . |
508,995 | 453,068 | 358,678 | 9 | a sweet slice of latter-day Stones , apart of a 4-disc set | As a Rolling Stones fan , I'm obliged to try and report on how the Stones sound and perform on stage on their 40-year anniversary tour , to point out the good along with the bad , as they are in their sixties , and surely a band that has outlasted them all has lost its edge . I'm glad to report that they haven't , however I don't have much of a reference point to compare ; the only real footage I've seen of them perform in their prime 60's / 70's glory was in the documentary Gimme Shelter ( which isn't the best comparison to give , as half of their performances in the film were from the doomed Altamont concert ) . I suppose compared to the ' old ' days as it were , they don't have that sort of fresh look to them , of just coming out into the rock and roll landscape ready to take prisoners as the anti-Beatles . And yet , along with seeing this concert on television , I also was blessed with seeing them live on their tour in 2002 , and that like this special doesn't disappoint . Sure Mick Jagger is not quite the singer he once was , but he puts himself into his performance and presence on stage with a lot more energy than in the performances I've seen from the ' old ' days ( in fact sometimes he is very funny , maybe unintentionally ) . Keith is Keith as always , giving the audience two great renditions of " Thru and Thru " and " Happy " . Charlie Watts is also , like Jagger , unintentionally funny , as he his job has the least and most amount of energy required in the performance ( as Jack Nicholson once said , that right foot of his made them a lot of money ) . So basically what you'd expect from the hardest working rock and roll band around is what you get , and you get many solid , awesome ' best-of ' songs , many my favorites ( " Monkey Man " , " Midnight Rambler " , " Can't You Hear me Knocking " , " Jumping Jack Flash " ) . In fact , over the course of two hours , there is barely a song that they don't play that you haven't heard , and it has a very good variety . And in case the special doesn't have what you were looking for , it is included ( last time I checked ) as part of a 4-disc DVD set of concerts , one of the Garden show , one of a stadium show in Britain , and a provocative , mind-blowing theater show in Paris with many rarities ( a documentary disc is also included ) . This , overall , is the best of the three ; Sheryl Crow makes a wonderful guest appearance on one of the songs . |
508,267 | 453,068 | 48,820 | 9 | a film more for its great color photography than anything else | I remember seeing this film more than two years ago , and while the entire story is not very memorable ( I could probably not tell everything that happens in it now , which is perhaps more my fault than the filmmaker ) , I have a fond memory of seeing it in visual terms . Kenji Mizogichi , a filmmaker I'm only off-handedly familiar with , has here a very lushly made film , with perfectly constructed sets that spark a tinge of both fable and centuries-gone reality , and costumes that compliment the color photography . And that part , of capturing the images , is maybe the best thing that can be recommendable about the film . For a film about a Princess who was once lower on the ranks in the Emperor's home and becomes the Emperor's love interest , it provides such opportunities for a real vision to set in to guide it all . Mizoguchi provides it with his cinematographer Kôhei Sugiyama in order sometimes for the film to be told almost all on visual terms ( the filmmaker was most prolific in the silent-film era ) . So in the end , even as the story becomes a little cluttered with some scenes , it's never too complex due to the basics that the filmmaker is going for - and probably why it was picked up by Buena Vista distribution in the 1950s - a beautiful scope of Japan's regal side mixed with some of the lower classes . It's like a Shakespearean tale if it was superimposed into Japan and given a touch of that lost-era of color photography that was only matched by Powell / Pressburger's films . |
508,821 | 453,068 | 362,270 | 9 | Wes Anderson's latest trip of a comedy | Life Aquatic ranks up in the top five of the most original films of the year . It's a comedy , but when you laugh it might be at something you'd laugh at , or maybe not ( some of the reactions and timing is so subtle , and the actors pull it off , to add humor ) , and it's also a drama that takes itself just serious enough to work well as entertainment . Although for one there may be flaws - not all the jokes or humor works very well on first viewing ( although it could be on multiple viewings ) , and it's almost too much to take in all at once - there are also many pluses . For one thing writers Noah Bambauch and Wes Anderson ( himself director ) get out a story that is at the core fun to get into , even as it is with Anderson's trademark quirkiness with the characters . And , of course , there is a lead performance by Bill Murray that could rank with his best or worst depending on how you take his performance . Like with Lost in Translation , one could say that Murray is the key to the film's success - he's funny when he can , but he also is playing his Steve Zissou as a dramatic character as well . There's always that interesting line Anderson draws with his characters , and Murray proves that he's the kind of pulling off ironic , reactionary humor . And at the same time he's also dead-pan in his delivery - very few can pull off the ' mid-life crisis male ' in a film like he can . That Anderson casts the film with a brilliant kind of notice for the right talent and for the unusual - Willem Dafoe as Zissou's right-hand man , Angelica Huston as Steve's ex-wife , Owen Wilson ( who may be better than I thought , but I wasn't sure it was one of his very best ) as a hit-or-miss possible for Steve's son he's never met , Jeff Goldblum as the competition , and Cate Blanchett , providing enough along with her turn in the Aviator as one of the prime female acting talents in Hollywood . Filling out the story , which I would not want to spoil aside from what was in the one-line summary , are elements that Anderson has yet to really touch upon . While there was some violence in his debut Bottle Rocket , here he takes it another step where there are a couple of enthralling action sequences ( one of which incorporating The Stooges ' Search and Destroy ) , where it's filmed is intriguing as well , how it's paced . Not to mention French acoustical covers of David Bowie , and wonderful Animation set pieces by Henry ( Nightmare Before Christmas ) Sellick . . . it's very good , if not great , film-making overall , and if you cant catch it in the theater , it's of good worth to watch with friends on DVD . |
507,863 | 453,068 | 94,625 | 9 | As inspired and bizarre an anime sci-fi film you're likely to see , not perfect , but still a post-apocalyptic wonder | Science fiction films , even when they might be a incoherent in spots ( and maybe the story and action in Akira is not completely incoherent but as an American some of the Japanese styling is , well , fed up ) , are supposed to raise questions about human behavior and thought , and be intelligent enough to let the audience try to fill in the blanks instead of force-feeding the answers . The film Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo ( from the comic by him ) does just that , and at the same time is a visual extravaganza . It has been quite a number of months , truth be told , since I've seen the film , but many of the images , particularly the more grotesque ones but also the " simpler " ones , have stuck with me for so long . It's a post-apocalyptic take on manipulation of a person to serve what could be considered the " greater good " , but in the end , what does it feed but more destruction ? That there are some interesting action and character elements in the story helps , and after an explanation of what happened to the natural world ( by way of a large , atomic-like explosion ) , we're introduced to a group of bikers . One of them is Kaneda and the other is Tetsuo . Tetsuo , while on the run from some other bikers , gets caught up in a Government program that is all too elusive for his own good . After some crazy scenes involving his body changing around , it's clear that things have gone awry , on both his end and the government's . So it's up to Kaneda , with a little help from some friends to stop the forces that be from causing destruction . It is through the various confrontations that happen with Kaneda and the ' powers that be ' , and Tetsuo's reactions , that make up Otomo's outrageous , seemingly unlimited visual prowess . Aside from a climax that might feel a little ' long ' , however hypnotic , and how gruesome some of those transformations and the violence can get , it actually isn't necessarily as disturbing an animated film like the masterpiece Fist of the North Star or Ninja Scroll . It could even serve , as strange and ' heavy ' the film gets , as a good starting point for those interested in watching anime and have never been much exposed before . Some sequences , to be sure , are not for the squeamish . But there is also a certain innocence that goes along with the story as well , with the theme of experimentation on small children . When coming from a Manga comic book , it's also fascinating to see how the film also works as a kind of transition into what anime would completely blossom into in the 1990's ( for better or worse ) . And that the plot , once understood up to a point , is ' gotten ' it becomes very worthwhile , because it deals with questions that are always abound in science-fiction stories , and told with an energy not captured in American films . |
508,503 | 453,068 | 82,671 | 9 | wonderful and mostly heartbreaking melodrama from Fassbinder | Lola is a singer , and a sometimes-prostitute , in the whorehouse run by Schukert , a big vulgarian who also happens to have a land deal coming up and has such a reputation that he won't be hassled by a cop when at a checkpoint . A new building commissioner is in town , Von Bohm , and he's a very pure soul , non-corruptible , sensible , a ' moralist ' if ever there was one . But he's soon entranced by a ' chance ' meeting with Lola ( who is , actually , put on the spot to charm the straight-arrow Von Bohm ) , and soon he becomes enraptured with her , to his possible demise . If this premise is pretty much similar to the Blue Angel , it's intentional so much so that I would consider this a full-blown remake - Blue Angel set this time in post WW2 Germany instead of pre-War , and with some extra doses of socio-political context thrown in ( and , of course for Fassbinder , some added sensuality that works magnificently as classy-raunch , if that makes sense ) . Fassbinder's film Lola , one of his last and the 2nd part of a BDR trilogy he made , is sumptuous melodrama , filmed with such a vibrant and eclectic and varied sense of color with the lighting and sets and costumes - on the faces and bodies and sets - that one can just look at any scene in this and find something fantastically stylized about it . It should be a real horror-show fable , but Fassbinder is something much of a realistic-romantic , if that also makes any sense , in that he thrusts naturalistic actors alongside a few ' personalities ' ( one of them a great actor playing Schukert , Mario Adolf ) , among such vibrant sets like the inside of the nightclub and amid the turmoil of the post-war German setting where the economy is finally back in boom ( if not for everyone ) . Occasionally some of the musical choices - or just the abundance of them in nearly every scene - is a bit much , and I was thrown off by what seemed like maybe too much of a happy ending considering everything tragic that has preceded it ( Fassbinder doesn't let his characters completely off the hook , but it feels too clean-cut as well ) . However Fassbinder is also working on some prime material with a real eye for the harrowing scope of a tragic romance and the means of ' fitting-in ' to a urban landscape where , according to Lola , Von Brum doesn't really fit in . It's also got Barbara Sukowa as the title character , obviously in a career-high-point , and Armin Mueller-Stahl in another of a long series of really interesting roles where he can show emotions but very wisely and carefully and appears to be reserved - sometimes deceptively reserved like in Eastern Promises - and for Von Brum it's one of his best . Anyone who loves a juicy drama of romance and building-capitalist intrigue would do well to watch this . I'm sure it'll be one of Fassbinder's best . |
508,797 | 453,068 | 148,668 | 9 | maybe the quintessential Hicks special , albeit hard to find complete | Apparently the DVD version of Bill Hicks's comedy special Relentless - filmed from the Montreal comedy special where he finally broke out as a stand-up star - is not quite complete . It runs an hour , and is missing some footage . Luckily , there's enough that remains , and in mostly good enough condition , to suffice calling it an exceptional effort . With maybe one or two little moments where he lags , this is some of Hicks ' most flawless work , as usual ranging from cigarette / non-cigarette fatalities , supporting the war but not the troops , playing music backwards ( " You're Satan ! " ) , BJ's , and of course drugs . Every bit is stinging with some kind of savagery , witty and with the right targets but never too mean ( well , unless you're New Kids on the Block ) , and even giving a jab at Canadians as it is , of course , Montreal . But the delivery , too , comes sometimes out of left field , a little calm and subtle but with a kind of right sucker-punch that manages to really work the crowd well ; just wait till he gets to the stuff about Alabama and you'll start rolling on the floor . It's brilliant stuff . |
508,785 | 453,068 | 40,064 | 9 | much better than it really should be : it's Ford's 3 Men & a Baby , with a little Jesus thrown in | 3 Godfathers is beautifully directed , as are most of John Ford's pictures , but I wonder how much the story benefits from having all of the Jesus / Christmas / 3-Wise-Men allegory attached to it . What makes it work isn't so much the religious connotations , which if anything are actually depicted by Ford as hallucinations and mirage-like visions ( the bit where Duke comes across the mule at the end of the cavern is one such moment ) , but in how the supposed ' bad-guys ' are humanized through their arduous trek through the desert and lack of water and through the simple act of taking care of a newborn . While one might feel the shiver of a contemporary ' comedy ' like 3 Men & a Baby as Robert , William and Pedro take care of . . . Robert William Pedro Hightower ( because , you see , the mother named the baby after the three men around her as she faded from life ) , it surprises how touching some of this really comes off , and how the usual ' bad guys will have to get justice ' is kind of turned on its head in the face of innocence . Wayne , Harry Carey Jr . and Pedro Armendariz are bank robbers who unintentionally blow their cover to a friendly Marshall , and are tailed by them more or less as they run out of town into the desert . Following a long sequence that seems like it probably served as inspiration for a similar sequence in the Good the Bad and the Ugly , Wayne and his two guys go through the desert - young guy Carey with a bullet wound - and lacking water and / or proper water tower . Then they come across a derailed wagon , a woman about to give birth , and are saddled with her baby . This could be handled really contrived by any other director , but John Ford takes his time with the direction , drawing out shots of the long walking stretches and tired but determined faces of Duke and Carey and Armendariz , and the sparse setting they're in , and it's sometimes really breathtaking film-making . The only problem then , from my perspective , is the occasional spouts of sentiment , sometimes verging into flat-out sentimentality , peppered by the obvious religious allusions . This works up to a point , actually , when regarding Carey Jr's character who has a lot of attachment to the good-book and quotes from that as much as the baby-instruction book . But only when it gets in the way of the story , and starts to turn it into an unintentional allegory and near Christmas movie , does it get a little silly . And yet I can't disregard how well crafted 3 Godfathers is , how ( dare I say it ) John Wayne fills in this role better than usual , if about as good as he could get with ' Pappy ' Ford at the helm , and some really juicy , memorable cinematic moments in the Western genre . In fact , it's such a well-told story I am almost willing to forgive the film for any of its faults - almost . It's actually kind of , well , sweet , which is rare for a fugitive bank-robber flick which wallows in the horror of nature that is the desert which , in a sense , automatically puts into proper perspective the scope of the Marshall vs . the 3 criminals . |
509,402 | 453,068 | 40,068 | 9 | a whole lot of classic horror ( and mostly classic comedy ) fun | Abbott and Costello make for one of those quintessential comedy duos , simply put . It's hard to mistake a more definitive ( and probably , for some , the greatest ) example of the two sides - straight guy and full-comic guy - in the skinny realist Abbott and the chubby , warmhearted but easily frightened Costello . It's clear that the latter is always much funnier than the former , but combined they're the kind of duo that will always garner a chuckle , if not outright belly laughs at every other moment ( just the repeated use of " CHICK ! " is a riot ) . This time the two get into a plot involving the Wolfman ( Lon Cheney ) , Dracula ( Bela Lugosi ) and the Frankenstein Monster ( albeit there is no Frankenstein in the flesh so the title is a slight lie ) , and how Dracula wants to get Costello's brain and move it on over to the Monster . There's other things that happen along the way , like Costello suddenly becoming a ladies man ( and why not after all ? ) , and a costume party that brings about a hilarious gag involving a guy in a knight costume not seeing a repeat punch-out . But mostly it's a wonderful showcase for Costello's excellent double ( sometimes triple ) takes , and his spot-on timing between his partner and his horror-movie counterparts ( watch out for Lugosi's eyes , they'll suck you in ! ) It ultimately doesn't lead to much that's deep , which is just the way it should be . If it's not a huge laugh every minute it's no biggie ; the ones that stick make up for really BIG gags , sometimes as simple as a look or glance or as complex as a chase through the jungle or the old " hidden-wall " trick in Dracula's chamber . It's a lot of fun , and should be considered a must-see for old-school comedy fans . |
510,541 | 453,068 | 79,271 | 9 | The Searchers redux - now with more Calvinism and porn ! | Paul Schrader has admitted on more than one occasion that John Ford's the Searchers had a profound impact on him as a filmmaker and screenwriter ( inklings of it can be seen in Taxi Driver ) , and his second feature , Hardcore , has the theme of obsessive search for someone who may not even want to be found in full late 70s style and substance . Schrader has also made a very personal film , if one knows of his history : he grew up a strict Calvinist ( no movies until he was 17 , trembling just going into a movie theater ) , and then went out to Hollywood and went into the excesses ( drugs , women , movie-making ) . Hardcore is something of his own therapy , in a sense , as he comes to grips with growing up in a confining , ultra-religious Grand Rapids small town , and taking a character - George C . Scott's father figure - into a Dante-esquire journey into L . A . hell , as his daughter goes missing after leaving for a Calvinist retreat out west . On top of the homage for Ford's film , and with Scott in Wayne's role as a would-be hero that's far more complex , Hardcore is also like a mystery ' noir ' , where Jake VanDorn is in the seediest sections of L . A . trying to find any sign of recognition from people for his daughter . It would be one thing if Schrader made just a straight drama , with the opening scenes as the comfortable side that soon leads into the terrifying core of a whole industry based around sex and exploitation ( or just plain fun depending on the person ) . But there's also a heap of cynical humor , an edge that one saw spring up here and there in Taxi Driver . We see a porno producer shooting his first movie , which is amusing . We see Jake VanDorn go in disguise ( bad disguise , wig and moustache ) as a director auditioning for male actors , and at one point meets Big Dick Black , who is every 70s porno actor cliché in the book . And when Season Hubley's Niki comes to the scene , there are some moments that become more down-to-earth than one might expect from the conventional trajectory of the plot . Personally , I think the ending needed a little more clarity , or if it was the " happy ending " ( in quotes since it wouldn't really be one ) ala the Searchers , or maybe even a whole other route . What if VanDorn found her and didn't go home with her ? And what if there wasn't a huge climax of violence and bloodshed and breaking through walls in S & M apartments ? There's so much that feels really honest in the material , however strange or dark the material goes into , that one wonders if the ending makes total sense from what has followed leading up to it , which includes a daughter character we only know about as a " pure soul " . It goes without saying that Scott is terrific in the part , and he does a lot with the character even as we have to take him as he is with only bits of back-story ( i . e . divorced wife ) dripping in as the film goes along . He makes him believable even when he's a total , unwavering man-on-a-mission , and adds just that edge of complexity that's required with Schrader's text . Other players like Peter Boyle , Hubley , and Dick Sargent also provide some good supporting work . Bottom line , it's Searchers redux - not a masterpiece like the former , sure , but it's worth your while , and has an energy to it past its dated line of good old 70s porno backdrop . |
509,354 | 453,068 | 82,474 | 9 | A really good , fun movie | For kids , this film is like a kind of methadone for the heroin that is known as Pokemon ( in other words , watch the muppets to get off of Pokemon even though there is no comparison to the muppets ) . For some of us adults who grew up with the muppets , and this movie in particular , it's a kind of small-scale piece of homage heaven . This is a fun movie , plain and simple , which parents won't find too bad either . Story takes the trio ( Kermit , Fozzie and the Great Gonzo ) to London as journalists who have to investigate dastardly jewelry robberies . There's plenty of great gags , horribly awesome puns , the cool flavor of the ' Jewel of the North Atlantic ' , and a few cameos ( John Cleese and Peter Ustinov notably ) surrounded by the nut-house that is the muppet world make this a near must see . The musical numbers , by the way , are close to perfect . Jim Henson's first feature length film as director is close to being his best , though not quite . |
510,535 | 453,068 | 905,979 | 9 | BLEEP THE PIGS ! one of the most unconventional docs in years | Brett Morgan's Chicago 10 might not deliver any groundbreaking revelations about one of the most notorious of protests-gone-bad sagas in American history , where after four days and nights ( mostly ) non-violent protesters and loaded-for-bear police clashed horrifically on the streets of Chicago and then the masterminds in the ' Yippies ' ( i . e . Abbie Hoffman , Jerry Rubin ) were put on a trial where all were sent to some jail time . It's not about revelations , per-say , though one might say that the story itself - encompassing 1968's volcanic political and societal tumult - could be a revelation for some younger audience members numbed out by cable news and desensitization . What it's about is presentation , of taking apart agitprop of the period , assembling it together with rotoscoping of the Chicago 7 trial , music from the likes of Rage Against the Machine , Eminem and the Beastie Boys , and loads of raw footage documenting much of the actual on-the-street and behind-closed-doors action in Chicago . It's probably the most striking sort one's seen since The Filth and the Fury , however in a context of instead 70s punk rock 1968's culmination of anti-war demonstration . It's an ugly , breathtaking and ( unlikely ) savagely funny movie , where older viewers can experience their memories of a time and place in a sometimes bizarre and sometimes sobering context ( of hindsight being ' 20-20 ' ) and younger viewers ( i . e . guys and gals in their 20s and 30s ) get a peek at an era that seems all the more ballsy in the perspective of America's involvement in Iraq . Morgan also does something a little dangerous , but successful , in portraying the " heroes " for all they were in this time and place : stalwart idealists in the guise of immature not-totally American insurgents whose ' spiritual experimenter ' was oft-meditating poet-dude Allen Ginsberg . What to think of these men like Abbie Hoffmann and the leader of the Black Panthers ? A little biased ? Perhaps - but in light of how the trial went down , why carp ? It's editing is fast-paced , but not too much so , and its technique of animation is multi-faceted . On top of the rotoscoping ( some of the best in recent memory along with A Scanner Darkly ) , there's a night-time demonstration done in 2-D , like something out of a nightmare with its somewhat primitive movement , and then the figures of the Chicago 7 appearing before crowds ( usually with great voice-work from Hank Azaria , Dylan Baker and Mark Ruffalo , plus a great career finale from Roy Scheider as the cantankerous judge in the trial ) . It's the kind of visual assault that for the prepared is like a bit of ironic bliss . If you've seen the trailer , or know a bit about the trial , or about Chicago in 68 ( which Hunter S . Thompson , looking back in just 1972 , said brought him to tears ) , or just about the friction between anti and the establishment , you'll know if this is for you . It certainly is like nothing else you'll see this year as a piece of sublime , subversive history . |
511,010 | 453,068 | 694,432 | 9 | like finding an odd , surreal relic that still retains lots of its original awesomeness | Saturday Night Live first aired as , simply , " Saturday Night " , with its cast ( including quintessential members Dan Aykroyd , John Belushi , Gilda Radner , Lorraine Newman and Chevy Chase ) called the " Not Yet Ready for Prime-Time Players . It was a rough and sometimes crude and disorganized skit show , and it hasn't aired much over the years save for the obscure VHS title and if and when ever on repeat screenings on NBC ( that and the newly released first season DVD ) . With the untimely passing of George Carlin - now among a number of others , Jim Henson , Belushi , Andy Kaufman , Gilda Radner , Billy Preston , who have died - Lorne Michaels made the wise choice to replay the first episode in its unedited glory . It's not a perfect program by any stretch , but its messiness is half the fun . One might like one skit over the other , or prefer one musical guest to the other ( frankly , I prefer the funky beats of Preston over the melancholy Janis Ian tunes ) , or wonder what is up with these strange looking Muppets from Henson , or how outrageous Albert Brooks could get for better or worse ( there's both great Jewish jokes and crazy pedophile jokes in one-minute of time ) . But one thing that it can't be called is ingenuous . This is the real-deal in sketch comedy , and the writing is irreverence squared . Adding on to tis is the wonderful , classic presence of Carlin ( who originally would've been in skits had it not been for his cocaine habit at the time ) , who goes through Baseball and Football and his first thoughts on God to the New York audience . Even in this coked-up state he's on fire , in a laid-back sort of way . Featuring the first Weekend Update segment ( Hirohito Watch ! ) , skits ranging from Bee Hospital to a cheerful gun expo , and Kaufman's masterwork of awkwardness in " singing " Mighty Mouse , it's the seed of something rather special in television , and it's very enjoyable in its imperfection ( and , for some , a sweet nostalgia trip ) . |
510,814 | 453,068 | 79,261 | 9 | in-your-face theatrics of the period - and of the split between rigid organization and rebellion - and a wondrously filmed musical | Hair , at its best , has the same directorial energy that made Milos Forman's previous work , One Flew Over the Cuckcoo's Nest , and like that film it reflects quite well the tensions of a period . This time with more at stake with sex , race , war , the bourgeois , drugs , and all done to some of the most popping pop songs one could ever hear on a musical stage . In the translation from stage to screen Forman transforms the story of Bukowski from out in Oklahoma coming to New York City for two days before heading out to the army on draft into something that is too joyous to be full on farce or parody , yet with some of the stinging satire underneath like in much of his best work . It's a vibrant and alive work , even in the songs that , personally , didn't quite make it as far as being very memorable , and it's not too hard to see why it's admired a lot by musical fans today . The songs veer between real hair-raising ( some pun intended ) and heart-rending , cheerfully outrageous and almost in the fold of classic 50s musicals . I liked the little wink and nod during certain songs ( the names spouted during Sodomy and Colored Spade ) , the vocal force in Easy to be Hard , Old Fashioned Melody , and the bravado in I Got a Life , the title song , Going Down and the opening and closing numbers . Forman also has the good sense to not populate his film with many real stars - more so they're up and comers , people one might see soon get some fame ( Beverly D'Angelo and Treat Williams ) , particularly in having the quiet , reserved , and soon " freed " Bukowski with John Savage , who has a true fresh off-the-bus quality for the part . The spirits are high for a lot of it , with an interesting contrast formed from time to time about the opposing stubbornness on both sides ( the little arguments that Berger has with authority figures ) , that leads to the more ' heavy ' topics raised throughout . Some are , naturally , banged over the head - and I mean that almost as something of a compliment in this context - in class breaks and bonds and free love , et all . It's not exactly subversive as it could be , but then again Forman's ambitions aren't to make a totally definitive statement on the period , per-say , as there is a lot of the little drama and characters as in any musical-tragic / comedy , but at the same time there is a course taken to prevent any sappy nostalgia . It's as good as a Hair musical-movie can be ( with a PG rating anyway , though for its period it got away with more than it would today with the rating ) , which means that it's very good , near great in-fact ( some scenes are actually very great , or just in a weird level where you can't quite believe you're seeing , then accept it a few seconds later , and laugh ) . |
510,985 | 453,068 | 86,856 | 9 | a " cult " film that knows nearly no boundaries of creativity with its zany appeal | The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai is a movie I dearly wish I could have seen on the big screen back in the 80s ( if I had been old enough for it at the least ) . It's so , well " 80's " but it isn't completely trapped in it . What it's about is . . . damn , should I even try ? Actually , it does have a cohesive narrative , and more surprising because in the first few minutes , even with opening crawl , one is a little lost in exactly what's going on except a ) Buckaroo Banzai had an American mother and Japanese father ( and is played by Peter Weller who doesn't look like the latter much at all ) , and b ) he goes through dimensions or something looking for martial arts moves . We soon find out he has mastered driving a car through mountains - since , you know , they are loaded with empty spaces and the particles are just so tiny to bother with - and has discovered an alien being , all of this in New Jersey . WHICH , you may recall , was the place where Orson Welles's rendition of War of the Worlds was placed in in the small town of Grover's Mill . . . turns out it wasn't a hoax and aliens had actually taken over Welles's mind and made him put on the broadcast . And , indeed , aliens have come to earth and may incinerate it and / or have the Russians involved somehow if Buckaroo and his men of scientists - cum - rock - and - rollers don't fight back against the maniacal Dr . Lizardo ( John Lithgow playing some kind of , um , Italian baddie zapped with Alien prowess ) . Can he do it in time or will the president have to resort to war ? Can he save his damsel-in-distress in the form of suicidal-turned-doctor Penny Priddy ( Ellen Barkin ) ? Why is Jeff Goldblum dressed up as a cowboy for the bulk of the movie AND from Fort Lee , NJ ( a town , incidentally , not very far from my own home ) ? All these questions and more are . . . answered I suppose during The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai . This is like someone digested a whole truckload of pulp / sci-fi / whatever comic books and adventure serials - think Howard the Duck if it was intentionally awesome - and wrote a screenplay . Where else will we get Peter Weller , cinema's RoboCop AND star of Naked Lunch , playing a sort of super-hero who rocks out amazingly , invents things , propels through time and space , and can kill easily and swiftly while fighting for the woman on his arm ? And where else will we see John Lithgow snarl and bug-eye Italian ( ? ) and do all odds and ends of WOW things that mark this as a major career achievement ? Here is where , and it's a lot of fun to see every cheesy line spoke ( " Damn John Whorfin and the horse he rode in on " or " BigbooTAY ! " or even " If you fail , we will be forced to help you destroy yourselves ! " ) with the kind of delivery that just goes to show how much a would-be Buckaroo Banzai ala Southland Tales fails so much by comparison . It's a wonder to behold , with every crazy synthesizer beat , with every other new turn of a wacky performance , and of course that final end credits sequence that will be etched in my mind forever as something really great to keep me in my seat before turning off the TV . This is how a ' cult ' film should operate : don't try and please everyone , just do what you set out to do , however tenacious and maniacal and manic it may be with however many willing and able character actors and / or occasional stars , and you'll please immensely those who look for this kind of stuff . Like me . |
510,639 | 453,068 | 192,470 | 9 | gives you as clear an idea of Lynch as artist , craftsman , and all American quagmire as you're likely to see | Toby Keeler , with his unlimited access to David Lynch - behind the scenes during his films , with friends and family and collaborators , and in his painting process - has a documentary that's essential to get at least a glimpse into a man and his work like this . Lynch's films are abstractions , nightmarish landscapes and what is just around the corner in the seemingly brightest sides of small-town American life , and his art is a reflection not just of his own interpretations of people and places that are usually conventional , but that this interpretation springs out so many ideas that would not be there otherwise without the specific framework he's chosen . One of the most fascinating examples of this method of Lynch's in being a true master of mood is with Eraserhead ; he worked five years on the film , and Keeler shows us Lynch and old friends walking around where the original sets were , and with this revealing how after two years of painstakingly filming a movie ( a shot a night , nevermind a scene , depending on the lighting ) , a rhythm developed that was unmistakable . If one of the primary goals of an artist is to transport people to another place that is unconventional , but still grounded in recognizable emotional connections , Lynch is such an artist , as revealed here fully . Of course , as collaborator Barry Gifford explains at one point , Lynch is very complex . On the outside he's an " all-American " type of guy , affable , well-mannered , coffee drinking and cigarette smoking , into building lots of things aside from his methods of making painting ( what could be considered two sides to a coin of enjoying making ' things ' , we see Lynch using bugs to actually assist in making a painting , and Lynch himself creating many of the furniture pieces used in Lost Highway ) . But beneath this exterior image is someone who is so in touch with the dark side of human nature that it almost has to come out in the way it does in his films . From looking at clips shown in Pretty as a Picture , be they clips from his early short films like the Grandmother or the Alphabet , or even just little scenes from Lost Highway , one might think that Lynch is loony as a tune ( that's how I thought of him early on , just on perceptions from Eraserhead and Blue Velvet ) . It's something of an assuring , if a little over-stated in adulation , to hear that he's consummate as an artist and professional director , with the one surprisingly the most saying this is the producer of Lost Highway . For fans , to be sure , there's lots to soak in here , like seeing the little details in the process of scoring the film with Badalamenti ( each note carefully considered ) , or in hearing the Frank DaSilva story regarding his appearance in the Twin Peaks pilot ( or , speaking of TP , the soap in the coffee filter story ) . Seeing him in action filming is fascinating in that , in a way , there's nothing much out of the ordinary how he works , and if anything he almost seems passive , however always in control of every detail ( i . e . the death-row set ) . But Keeler also is wise to make this documentary appealing to people who aren't very aware of Lynch's paintings and the process with them . It might be easy , as spotting someone into surrealism like Lynch , to peg him as such simply for the obsession with the bugs . Yet there's more than just that aspect for Lynch , as there's a sense captured about Lynch of taking everything seriously - especially mistakes - for what it can be worth emotionally not just with the end product but in putting all of it together . And , in a way , looking at a Lynch painting or photo ( which one person describes as Lynch trying to get a painting to " move " as it were ) , one gets a sense of how an artist in general tries to achieve something of merit , if only on a personal level that might not even reach most people . Pretty as a Picture is at least worthwhile for anyone who's ever been all too long in the world of Lynch - the X family's house , the black lodge , Winkies , the apartment in Blue Velvet - but it's also made to be appealing ( as far as Keeler can make it , as he isn't usually a documentary filmmaker ) for non-fans as well , to get both a general and a specific sense of what the man can do with the materials he wants to work with . Quite frankly , if he wanted to film a fax machine I'd want to watch it ; it's probably not without reason he would film it too , depending on the idea of the moment . |
509,955 | 453,068 | 346,800 | 9 | a film loaded with libido and hyper-consciousness , a hallucination of abortions , murder and hockey | It's not in Guy Maddin to make what Hollywood people would call a " normal " movie . Armed with 8mm cameras , loads of lights , sound effects ( if not actual sound equipment ) , and a mind like a steel Dziga-Vertov trap marinated in Winnipeg and sex and murder , he makes movies the way he damn well pleases to do them , which usually are done like super-kinetic , libido-charged fever dreams that come to represent a kind of consciousness that could be misconstrued as a music video if not for the fact that it's a 1920's silent film about revenge-plotting women and blue hands ala Evil Dead that kill innocent victims while hockey is always a major subject ( and , sometimes , with players in full wax museum mold ) . It might not always make sense - and by this I mean relatively to some of Maddin's best and strangest like Brand Upon the Brain ! and The Saddestmusic in the World - but it's never less than boring and always more than enough for the open-minded . And by this I mean open-minded enough to find oneself in the horror-movie world of a hockey player named Guy Maddin ( yeah , not the first time and wont be the last the director has a character named by himself ) , who goes through a psycho-sexual-homicidal journey through a pair of blue hands which belong to a devious girl's father . They aren't actually his hands put on his , however , they're just painted blue . But there's an effect that comes with this : the hands kill ala Evil Dead without Maddin really wanting to . So come a series of events involving wax-painted hockey players who can come to life , an abortionist that works out of a beauty parlor , another woman who cant stand how Maddin waxes her legs , and , yes , plenty of frenetic Canadian Hockey . That's what it's aboot , so to speak , but there's more , much more , particularly in Maddin's 10-chapter set-up , and featuring Beethoven's 7th among other classical selections ( frankly I enjoyed the 7th in Saddest Music more , but this is even crazier , which helps ) . Everything moves at such a pace and clip you wont know what stops and goes . But Maddin's mind works wonders as a master of his craft and at relaying his own personality and life experiences in the framework of what is essentially a really demented B-movie . It's like with Jodorowsky : he makes movies with his you-know-what as opposed to his head . I wouldn't want it any other way . |
508,397 | 453,068 | 48,750 | 9 | just about the drollest , and sometimes just quietly crazy , black comedy about murder ever | A serene , Technicolor-awe-inspiring backdrop of autumn in New England , reminiscent of the ' cheery ' Americana of Shadow of a Doubt . There's also a cast of characters who are more wrapped up in their basic romantic entanglements than in he body of Harry , who should be the focal point of the story . Matter of fact , one of the greatest delights of The Trouble with Harry is that the so-called MacGuffin this time is the dead body , and not some random object . Harry could just as well be anything , but the only thing that is of concern is , of course , that he's dead . What I loved seeing , as almost Hitchcock being a surrealist ( he was a big fan of Bunuel after all ) as much as being a director of dark / light comedy , was the non-chalance treated with the body from those around it throughout . The opening scenes had me floored , grinning cheek to cheek and sometimes just chuckling or laughing hysterically , at some line or moment in behavior from Edmund Gwynn and Mildred Natwicks ' reactions ( or lack thereof ) to the dearly departed Harry on the ground . They go on and on talking about meeting later in the day , almost flirting by Gwynn's advances , and there's a DEAD BODY ON THE GROUND ! On top of this there's the reactions from a little kid who loves playing with a dead rabbit , Shirley MacClaine as his mother and ex-lover of Harry , and the artist Marlowe played by John Forsythe , who seems to take a detached position almost in spite of making a detailed sketch of the dead Harry's face . So all of this , done in a manner that should suggest reality but doesn't in the slightest , builds up to something that is like the other side of the morbid coin that one saw in Strangers on a Train . Murder is treated a few Hitchcock works almost philosophically , but with with an air of ' oh , it's just a little death , no harm really ' , and in the Trouble with Harry it's done to the max . A good portion of the movie has nothing to do with Harry , even if he's on the characters ' minds ; a lot of courtship goes on between the elder Capt . Wiles and Miss Ivy Gravely and ( very rushed , which is the point ) between Marlowe and Jennifer Rogers . Forsythe might not be the best cast in the part , but everyone else is , and they all bring something to putting whatever potential is in the script to the fullest . Sometimes it doesn't look like it should be funny , but then something else comes along - another strange line of dialog , another aside about Harry's body being moved here or there - that turns things on its head . It's basically Hitchcock having fun with something that , for him , is probably more lighthearted then it might be for most . It's not a totally pitch black comedy , but then again Hithcock is deceptive , devilishly so , in in making things as simple as they seem . As with Bunuel everything seems like it should be straightforward , which adds to the absurdity , until one realizes that it means to be absurd like some yarn that you hear from a fellow you don't totally trust but listen intently anyway . It's not quite one of Hitchcock's masterpieces , but it surely is one of the best among those " experiments " that the director made from time to time , testing himself and the audience and putting energies into something that could turn his reputation on a turn . |
509,500 | 453,068 | 280,898 | 9 | for the quality of the music , a full for spectacle and PZAZ ! | Iron Maiden have a true sense of how to really put on a SHOW ( in caps ) , with their trademark metal brand going out to audience's the world over with the impact of a harrowing horror movie and the gusto of superb theater ( perhaps there's a reason why the lead young girl in Persepolis , in Iran of all places , loved Maiden enough to get it off the black market ) . I was there for their 2003 tour , and comparatively , even at a much smaller venue to see them at , their appearance in Rio in 2000 is no more or less spectacular . They deliver hard-driving heavy metal tunes , some faster than others , with the energetic , awesome Bruce Dickinson belting out the tunes ( pretty much , with some minor exceptions in belting out some complicated lyrics ) with the same power and vocal range that he had on the original recordings . Now , the music here and there , while usually spot on , does depend on its being effective if you really like their 2000 album , Brave New World . In truth , I didn't think it was quite a Number of the Beast or Seventh Son of a Seventh Son ; sometimes even repetitive and loaded with more thought to the words than the music , it's not one of their best , and those songs make up a good bunch that are on this tour . This being said , however ( and what a however ) , when Maiden is dynamite , they are fing dynamite squared . They deliver some of their most acclaimed and loved 80s period Dickonson songs for screaming Brazilians all rocking their heads off in the stadium , and the buzz makes up for any of the faults in the actual performance . And , of course , what would a Maiden show be without Eddie ! It's a damn hell of a good show , in more ways than one , and it should only be a disappointment to the most purist of Maiden fans ( i . e . can only appreciate the 80s stuff ) . |
510,349 | 453,068 | 78,908 | 9 | another of Cronenberg's true psycho-shock vehicles , and one of the most depressing horror films ever made | The Brood juxtaposes divorce , anxiety with parent-child relationships , with a story that is basically crazy vengeance that turns to ugly territory sooner than later . Like Scanners , it's only gruesome in short spurts ( some pun intended ) , and while it's noticeable Cronenberg doesn't have too much of a budget to work with , he pushes the seamless , straightforward style to a high pitch ; you know something bad will happen just as long as it has something to do with little Cindy ( Candice Carveth ) . The body and spirit and duality , per usual for Cronenberg , figure in , yet there's something that makes the Brood much more affecting as soon as it ends : we're dealing with the deconstruction of family ( one also could see this in more sexually frustrated and emotionally demented context in Dead Ringers ) , and as it turns out by the end things won't ever really be " happy " despite things being all wrapped up in a grisly and bloody manner . Cronenberg may had been going through some of his own personal demons during this period ( i . e . divorcing his wife ) , and this could be almost like it's own ' brood ' , a shot of cinematic horror right from the subconscious in the guise of a conscious look at how probing the mind can only work so much , and that certain problems can never be solved . Basics first : Oliver Reed plays a psychiatrist who is more like a hypnotist , as he performs an unusual procedure in a trance state with his patients to rid them of their past trauma with family members or other by getting it to break out in rashes or hives or even ( if it's malicious enough as with one man ) cancer . With Nola ( Samantha Eggar , definitely in the highlight of her career ) , she breaks out much differently , and with full knowledge of what she can do from Raglan . Little creepy children in parkas who lack navels start killing off members of those Nola was close to , including her parents , a woman her ex-husband Frank ( Art Hindle ) is interested in . Frank is at a loss what to do , but he does know her daughter is in grave danger even before this happens , as she has scratches and bruises on her back . How can the murder spree cease ? At first one might wonder if this also has to do with the little girl's detached performance , with moments of despair wrapped in a corner . This is actually more of a concrete vision of what the divorce had done , even though it looks even creepier and more disturbing that it can't be explained why she doesn't cry or freak out when she finds her grandmother beaten by hammers . There's a disconnect that Cronenberg seems to be exploring , and even when there seems to be a flimsy way of showing what the hell it is that Ragel really does , or how he hasn't been kicked out of business yet , his scenes are perfectly ambiguous : we can't totally be sure how he does it , but he does it , and it's almost his own worst creation with the case of Nola . But what's scarier , far more scarier than any typical serial killer or masked being or un-dead , is that there can never really be change to Nola , to the monster that she carries out of her womb ( one of Cronenberg's most notorious images ) , and it's a frightening implication on how uncompromising love and hate go together . If the lingering sensation that this might be far too much of a psycho-analysis type of horror movie , don't fret ; the little mutant kids or whomever are some of the most terrifying beings you'll ever see . Ever . They make Chuckie look like a Cabbage Patch doll , with their make-up distorted and gray , their expressions always that of something mechanical , and in a presence that calls to mind what they might have tried to do in cheap 50s sci-fi movies , only here done more expertly in not showing much at first , and then showing just enough to get the idea later on . It adds a whole savage element to the picture , where it wouldn't be if it was other beings like adults that were manifested ( probably even just as unsettling as the ending is with the scene where they kill Frank's would-be girlfriend at her job , which is teaching kindergarten ) . Overall the film isn't quite as structured or paced from the start like one of Cronenberg's best ( it's not until the first big killing scene , and then Nola's father's drunkenness , that the film really kicks into second gear ) , but there's enough to qualify it as a must-see from a director who challenges himself just as much as the genre , that there can be some exploration of the soul and the actual sickness of the mind behind the usual bloody slayings and conventional characters that populate these movies . Think of it as Jung at the drive-in . |
509,238 | 453,068 | 261,392 | 9 | The whole world is against them . But they still are awesome . | Kevin Smith has done something not too many filmmakers are able to accomplish . He has directed 5 films in a row , that have been in my mind all funny , often though provoking and just really good movies . This is the fifth movie , the last of his New Jersey series with his always present Jay and Silent Bob , is not the best of his series but it is still possibly the funniest film I have seen this summer . A consistently silly yet laugh out loud fest of jokes and usual one liners from Smith that scores well , even if it doesn't score as well as Dogma or Clerks . Here , the dynamic stoner duo find out through a weird new invention known as the internet ( a place to bitch about movies and swap pornography ) that a movie is being made about them , er , they're comic book alter egos from Chasing Amy known as Bluntman and Chronic . They get so steamed they head for Miramax studios in Hollywood to stop the movie . This starts the odyssey that brings up cameos including George Carlin ( sick , but still funny ) , Carrie Fisher , Mark Hammil , and basically most of the stars from the past Smith movies . This film is like a big inside joke , and if you get it , you'll like it more than others I guess . But it is still funny for anyone who wants a good laugh and is tired of some of the really lame comedies of late . It's a nice , if sometimes a little obscene ( not in a bad way ) , gem . One more note , not only does the movie bring mack many of the past stars of the view askew movies , but it also answers a question : what happened to Jay and Silent Bob after the end of Mallrats . Kudos to Smith and the whole cast . |
508,478 | 453,068 | 75,029 | 9 | One of the better Eastwood westerns I've seen , aside from the other ones | I haven't seen that many Clint Eastwood westerns ( outside of the Leone films , Unforgiven , Two Mules for Sister Sara , and High Plains Drifter ) , but I remember this one from about a month and a half ago , and like Eastwood's best , I got drawn into the story , and into the sympathies of the lead character , which I felt was the strong-point under the actor / director's control : a farmer , who's moved on from his old days , is living in the woods with his family . When a group of bandits come and burn down his house and kill his family , he gets devastated . Devastated enough , that is , to join up with a group of soldiers , left off from the confederacy , who are still after the union even though the war's over . Soon Josey Wales becomes an Outlaw , and is still on the track to seek vengeance on those who destroyed his life , but he can try to get back on track somehow . I wouldn't say this is a masterpiece of a Western - a couple of minutes I was hoping the film would get along to what I was hoping would happen next . However , I was more often than not pleased greatly by the skill and grace Eastwood had with telling his story , and indeed in this film the viewer gets a chance to see Eastwood in a slightly different performance than in his past films ( for one thing he does go through an emotional shake-em-up before the opening credits ) . And there are some good , nearly breath-taking gun fights to go along with it . |
510,346 | 453,068 | 67,411 | 9 | enough irony , de-glamorization , and brooding sensibility for two " anti " western westerns ; nearly as good as the hype | McCabe & Mrs . Miller is probably the film , if not as much than Nashville more than the Player , that critics praise to the heavens when it comes to Robert Altman . And why not ? Made right at the nexus of his cult status as a maverick , coming off of winning the golden palm for MASH , he had Warren Beatty and Julie Christie making a " western " where they all spat on the shoes of Wayne and Cooper and all the old fogies of movie westerns to put something uglier , cruder , and more honest in the sense of the spirit of the really gloomy towns of the North-West areas of the US . It's also got some of the most significant work from Altman as a real film ' stylist ' ( in quasi-quotes for a reason ) , as many times when watching an Altman film it looks like it's almost substance over style , as if one isn't aware what the camera or the edits are doing through the improvised feel and the emphasis on behavior and idiosyncrasies of the actors . This is an exception ; here he and Vilmos Zsigmond make just the look of the picture ironic to the context of the subject matter : it's a bright filter for most scenes , accentuating all of the browns and grays and dark areas of the outside mud and the inside whorehouse and saloon , and the red lights of the hallways . From a cinematographer's standpoint ( and even Kubrick attested to it in not knowing how Altman shot a particular outdoor scene ) , it is a masterpiece . It took a little while , however , for me to warm up to the movie at first . The first time I started watching it I turned it off after the first fifteen minutes : despite having some interest in the uniquely off-beat performance from Warren Beatty as the drunken , grumbling gunslinger-turned-businessman John McCabe , I couldn't stand the Leonard Cohen songs . Not that Cohen doesn't have some good songs that he's done here and there ( the best were used in another 1971 film , Fata Morgana by Herzog ) , but it's almost kind of dull hearing the opening intro Stranger Song . I gave the film another chance , and somehow I didn't mind the songs after a while - not because they got better on a repeat listen , but for how Altman also worked them into a bizarre form of irony , and not simply for a comedic gesture , perhaps . There's the scene , for example , where the prostitute goes ballistic and stabs the man outside , McCabe tries to intervene to stop her as the man flops around bleeding everywhere , and a Cohen song plays ( I forget which ) that sounds like it should be used to get a litte child to sleep . Altman uses the Cohen songs much like an old professional would use a western song for emphasis , but for different effect , and it starts to work but better . But back to the film itself : despite a first half hour that takes a little getting adjusted to - the pace of it and texture of the dialog , which despite being quintessential Altman is almost too much ( and , as many have pointed out aside from the die-hard fans , the sound mix is ghastly and not in a good way ) - this is a truly fascinating picture , a tale of ambition obfuscated by escapism into the self , either by prostitutes or booze or opium , and how the moral codes of the old west are nowhere to be found , aside from the greedy business-owners who want to buy out the stubborn mule that is ol ' McCabe . Beatty plays him totally unsympathetically , which turns it into a riveting turn : he's a real jackass most times , repeating his ' frog had wings ' joke despite it never making sense , and too thick-headed , in one of the only Western clichés used , to know a good deal when he sees one . Julie Christie , as the more head-strong but still corruptible and estranged madam of the whorehouse , is also perfect for the role , a part that demands some strength and intelligence , but at the same time needs some weird kind of vulnerability when she goes down her dark path late in the film . This doesn't mean that Altman is totally allergic to all things that come with the traditional western , but as the climactic shoot-out comes along it's less exciting in the traditional sense ( and Altman's form of subversion is a far cry from someone like Leone ) because of what's now become of the main character . We see the same depth of existential gone-to-hell thinking that goes in the best of westerns , but Altman doesn't allow ever an easy answer or a kind character out of left field . And this approach is almost to the point of stifling : it leans so much into criticizing the genre in its own storytelling that it threatens to become self-conscious . Yet on its own McCabe & Mrs Miller ends up as a testament to the genre while something of a reprieve ; we'll never quite see one as grungy , with the actors looking as though it were neo-realist in comparison to a John Ford picture , and with a wicked " frontier wit " again , but then who would want to try something like this again - unless it's The Proposition ? |
510,785 | 453,068 | 1,028,528 | 9 | extended and uncut : a near perfect B-movie made into just an very good one | Like Apocalypse Now Redux - with the exception being that it's in this case the Weinsteins and not the director himself , despite Tarantino saying that he prefers this new cut - the re-cut of Death Proof has been puffed up with extra scenes meant to fill up gaps and give fans some scenes that have been talked about but never seen . But also like Apocalypse Now ( and this goes without saying that AP is the greater movie ) , they're ultimately unnecessary , and despite the scintillating bits and the odd moments of humor and intriguing moments of dialog , it doesn't fare well to what was already spot-on on arrival in US theaters . It's a slight tragedy that the original 90-something minute cut won't be available to most countries , nevermind the US , for quite a while . Tarantino and editor Sally Menke have expanded certain moments ( a little extra bit of dialog outside of the bar , and Stuntman Mike putting in eye-drops ) , and inserted in much longer ones , like the draggy scene outside the convenience store where we see an unsubtle touch of QT's foot obsession . It's not that even these moments are unwatchable , or even poorly written or acted , and on its own the actual lap-dance as finally revealed is entertaining ( in and of itself anyway ) . But QT and Menke also throw off the pacing of the film that was already " too-talky " by some critics accounts , at least in comparison to it's brother Grindhouse flick Planet Terror , and the only people who might not notice that it's off will be those who never saw the original cut of the film , in all it's sleazy glory . It almost defeats the whole purpose of Grindhouse making a little 90 minute serial-killer-with-a-car flick into a two-hour movie . Now , these criticisms said , Death Proof is still THE Death Proof most of the time , which is one of the best B-movie endeavors in recent memory . No matter what's been added , even the fat to chew can't be enough to ignore the fact that it's one of Tarantino's most audacious efforts in a career with them going back to back . It's got those wonderful actresses ( Zoe Bell , Rosario Dawson , Vanessa Ferlito , Jordan Ladd ) , the as-a-given cool dialog and script turns from Tarantino , and probably one of the best movie soundtracks of the decade . And the car chases are still intact without much change , and they're as exciting as they can be - relative to how they were on the big screen of course - with the heart-stopping beats like Rose McGowan's scene in the car ( " In order to get the benefit , honey . . . " ) and the long chase through the backwoods of Tennessee . And , through thick and thin of the longer cut , we still have Kurt Russell in one of his most memorable turns . Stuntman Mike is a quintessentially Tarantinian creation ( to make alliterations ) , self-aware in the writing of the character as he's an ex-stunt man who worked on shows most girls in a bar would never know , and who has a dark side that comes out in the strangest moments . He's also slick as hell , recites a line of classic poetry better than anyone , and is totally hilarious after getting shot . Now to make a cheesy critic sentence : maybe the 114-minute cut isn't Death Proof , but Kurt Russell is ( till , you know , his actual death ) ! |
510,652 | 453,068 | 55,571 | 9 | one of those finite definitions of a gritty B-noir , done just right | Writer / director Samuel Fuller is not personally attached to the material he presents in Underworld USA in the sense of it being autobiographical . But it is pretty likely , from listening to interviews with him and just from seeing his other work in the noir-esquire realm of motion pictures , that he knew at least the world these characters are in . Or at least he knows what kinds of emotions and what lies underneath certain aspects of lesser pulp fiction - and has a kind of journalistic sensibility that is all his own , telling it like it is from the mean streets of who-knows . It's got an assured eye working the gears , and it by-passes some usual clichés to get at some more interesting bits within some of the conventions . This is in the bones just a tale of revenge , but Fuller wants the little things and moments that make up such a tale , and how the characters can be more realized than might usually be . I liked , for example , early on when Tolly Devlin is 14 and makes a comment to his mother about something in the middle of their conversation - the mother doesn't say anything , but there's a quick , tight close-up of her face to catch the moment . It actually stuck with me longer than I expected , even as the main parts of the scene went along . Another part that really , really impressed me was when Devlin ( Cliff Robertson , not bad at all in a part that gets to stretch his skills somewhat ) , nearing the end of his prison term , and finally finds one of the men who beat his father to death when he saw when he was 14 . The scene is very tense , but somehow very human too , as Tolly has to contend with a dying man that he has to kill with his own hands . Soon , Fuller gets the gears of the story going further , as he vows revenge against the others who committed the crime , making him pull an undercover act to infiltrate the mob to get close to them , particularly Earl Conners ( Rober Emhardt , a plum role for him considering all of his TV parts ) . But he also falls for a woman , Cuddles , played by Dolores Day , and like Fuller's Crimson Kimono , the weight of the main thrust of what Tolly needs is balanced against what he could also have with his possible romantic interest , caught up in the emotional bog he's in . I liked a lot how Robertson tapped well enough into the character to make him plausible , even sympathetic . He understands what Fuller is going for , a slightly more realistic - or more powerful kind of representation in the midst of the hard-boiled dialog and more complicated scenes - as he's playing a character who actually has a past , a childhood shown as shattered and made as the complete context that he has to contend with as an adult , despite women around him telling him otherwise . I still remember plenty of shots in the film too ( not the gun-shots , the camera-work I mean ) , and this is after having seen the film months ago , and the driving musical score from Harry Sukman ( a solid Fuller collaborator ) . That Fuller extracts a good deal of compelling entertainment out of a premise that seems pretty standard and even slight is remarkable , and ranks among the other fine superlative B-movies he was doing at the time . |
508,037 | 453,068 | 71,269 | 9 | Altman in his 1970s prime ; a gambler-movie classic | California Split provides a couple of stellar performances through Robert Altman's direction . George Segal , who is an actor I'm not too familiar with ( I never watched the TV show ' Just Shoot Me ' or his other 70s movies ) , but here is very believable as the down-on-his-luck Bill Denny , a sometimes magazine writer who can be spotted at the track or in a poker room more often than in his office . He's befriended by Charlie Waters ( Elliot Gould ) , a character who is at first seemingly just that , a real ' character ' kind of guy . Gould is terrific at playing Charlie as a fast-talking ' , smooth-dealing kind of clever player , who sometimes makes bets as arbitrary as the names of the seven dwarfs . He , like Bill , makes bets and usually wins , but then still tries to talk down how much the mugger who robs him in the parking lot should take . He and Bill sort of go aimlessly around through most of the first half of the film , with the only sort of conflict coming up - as opposed to a driving force in the plot - being that Bill owes a lot of money to his bookie , which he has to earn up in Reno . By the end , however , there's something about the gambler's life that is left on a bittersweet note . The two lead males are contrasted against actresses Ann Prentiss and Gwen Welles , who are not really elaborated on much as characters aside from being possible hustlers or prostitutes of some sort . There's even a touching , ironic scene where Welles tries to seduce Segal , but to no avail on either side . Even in the quiet scenes with the main characters , Altman and writer Walsh are adept to make these characters seem always believable , even in their seedy , desperate mannerisms and leaps of thought . They know they mindset and lifestyle of the gambler ( both , according to the press notes , were affluent with not only card games but the nature of the gambling man and how he goes about his business ) . Sometimes the aimless quality about the first half is very funny , Gould's performance especially as the opposite of Segal's straight-laced and high-strung character . Other times there's a scene or two that seem unneeded or a little oddly put in , like an inexplicable scene where a transvestite comes to call at Charlie's place to proposition the ladies , I think , only to get swindled again by the Charlie and Bill . Such scenes though are meant for simple character lift , albeit not totally satisfying when compared to other scenes . But to see an Altman film , any Altman film , is to see a piece of what Altman at the 2006 Oscars called " one very long body of work . " In viewing California Split , I'm reminded as well of how substance , in a matter of speaking , trumps style . It's not that Altman doesn't have some kind of distinct visual style , in general I mean ( it becomes , truth be told , more distinct in Nashville and 3 Women ) . But in several during his career like MASH or Prairie Home Companion , his style doesn't go for being anything more than that of a straightforward , practically objective storyteller , getting the multi-character scenes and layered spots of dialog and conversation without getting in the way . It's almost ironic for the sake of what's going on ; his style evokes Howard Hawks's knack of storytelling in the visual sense , of being the unobtrusive sort . But it's in the substance that's different , because Altman isn't really interested in the conventions of stories . He's after character , mood , the little moments in the midst of conversations . He's a great director of actors and of setting , if nothing else . For the most part , California Split is splendid at telling more about the nature of the mind-set , of the attitude and near existentialism of gambling than any specific story ; there aren't any real contrivances holding these characters to the necessities of the script . And the ending gives a few really good questions to ponder : what does winning really mean after going through so much as a loser ? Is there a catharsis , or one worthwhile ? Altman handles this mood and these characters like a pro , with the end result being one of the most fascinating , unconventional and entertaining films made about the small , maligned world of gamblers . |
508,058 | 453,068 | 64,285 | 9 | Truffaut asks the question through a dramatic narrative - can humanity be brought out through science ? | The Wild Child could be the kind of movie that doesn't work . In a way it's hard to find what the dramatic conflict of the film would be if not for the push & pull struggle between the scientists and his ' test ' subject of sorts , Victor , the wild child of the title . But somehow it does - Truffaut laces the film with a kind of undertone of logic for the audience ( how can a boy for most of his life be out in the wild and become suddenly domesticated ) , while making a sort of nature versus society statement . The film also has the director's trademark lightness , which helps to not make the film's subject matter too bleak or disparaging . For it could be - Truffaut actually gives a kind of suspense to the narrative at times , that just when you think Victor is on his way to success , he stumbles and starts to act out on the floor or escape into the wild for a breather . It's a very curious film , not just because Truffaut ( in one of his few times ) gives himself the starring role , but also that the child - like Makim Munzak in Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala - had his only significant role ever in the film . And it's quite the seemingly impulsive , and always alive , performance that filmmaker's rarely get out of children . Victor is named this only halfway through the film , and it starts off with him being chased by a small mob and their dogs through the woods . It's maybe the most exciting part of the film , but then this segways into the early stages of the boy's troubles . He's placed in a deaf and dumb school , beat up by the other kids , and still with the passions and intelligence that the woods have given him . It becomes a fascination in the story of what the limits , if any , are for him to learn everything real boys do . Once he's put into Dr . Itard's ( Truffaut ) care , then the film sets off onto a very direct path - how will he learn , will he , and how long will it it take ? As with his other films , the literary aspect kicks in as the scientist takes repeated notes on the boy , using a kind of pre-Darwinian way of scientific methods . But it's within the little moments in the film , like when Victor is out on his walks , or makes his little successes , where Truffaut as a filmmaker picks up the best parts of the film . This could be a very routine picture , and for some it may actually be a little dull and disheartening . Will the boy ever learn ? The film actually does raise questions within its format , as it is based on a true case ( from taking science classes I know there are also others of this kind as well ) . It brings to mind about what is pure and delicate about the ways of an animal and what separates them and humans . Each little test becomes dramatic conflict in the structure Truffaut puts forth , and in a way it's rather experimental . And it even becomes delightful in certain scenes , like when he first learns how to ask for milk , and then this expands . This , along with a sweet Vivaldi score in the background , and interesting visuals ( love the iris usage ) , makes it a worthwhile entry in Truffaut's oeuvre . Not one of his absolute best , but up there . |
509,295 | 453,068 | 40,369 | 9 | near perfect Cavalry Western with Ford splendidly cast against type | In Fort Apache Henry Fonda , often the kindest but strongest of the kind figures in the movies , plays the General Custer-esquire Colonel Thursday , and John Wayne , often the one in the movies who will shoot Indians first and maybe ( if he feels like it ) ask questions later , plays the more level-headed / friend-of-Apache-Cochese Captain York . In any other Western the roles would be reversed , but John Ford trusted his stars as actors to not be type-casted , and particularly with Fonda he strikes some really rich ground . Part of that is in his direction ( maybe some of Ford's stern and sometimes bull-headed self could identify somewhere in Thursday ) , but it's also Fonda being able to find certain beats or pauses or inflections that add dimension to what is a mostly stiff and unmovable Cavalry Colonel who is a gentlemen second and a military man first . Wayne is also very good here , as he often was for Ford more than any other director save for maybe Hawks , as he's more-so apart of the ensemble as opposed to a full-blown star , and there's even some subtlety where it's usually not seen by him . The story itself is also ripe for Ford's wonderful blend of all-American warmth and critical-while-embracing of American West themes , and there's a lot of extra entertainment with the supporting cast ( mostly a who's who of genial drunks and weathered first-timers and ex-Civil War soldiers ) . And with one exception - a poetically ironic but unnecessary scene with Mrs . Thursday getting the telegram of his transfer right before the climactic battle - there's barely a scene that doesn't register as something worthwhile for the story , or for some interesting characterization , or even something in as simple as a dance between Thursday and O'Rourke that reveals how good Fonda could be at staying in character while in a formal bit like that . We're also given the proverbial ' good ' young-actor performances from John Agar as the West Point graduate young O'Rourke who's after Shirley Temple's daughter of Col . Thursday . Fort Apache allows for all of the thrills and curiosities of watching an ' old-fashioned ' Western , but there's more than meets the eye for Ford . It's all so deceptively simple ; it's not quite as masterful as the Searchers , but it's very close , at deconstructing the myths of strong American men going to kill Indians and win the day inn honor to reveal the savagery underneath where logic is thrust aside . But at the same time , Ford still celebrates the valor in men in the old west , and there's something of a forerunner to the message of Man Who Shot Liberty Valance : when legend becomes fact , print ( or film ) the legend - albeit with some truth sprinkled here and there . Surely one of the better Ford and Wayne Westerns , and one another in the equally ( or even more-so ) rewarding collaboration with Fonda , here revealing a whole other side than a Lincoln or Tom Joad . |
510,522 | 453,068 | 109,781 | 9 | the nightmare and ecstasy of selling your soul to you-know-who | Jan Svankmajer probably has visions and dreams that few of us would want to have , but luckily for us he's so creative and talented and all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips with a mound of clay and ( in this case ) marionettes that he can put them all on display on film . His version of Faust is sometimes confusing , bewildering , and , as I gathered from not reading the original play or ( sadly ) not yet seeing the Murnau silent feature , not altogether makes a lot of sense . This isn't to say the central premise is lost on me , which is of a man who conjures up the force that is Mephistopheles and sells his soul . This is of course shown at one pivotal moment in the film , but if you think you know what to expect from this outcome or how it's presented you might have to rethink things . If you've seen Svankmajer's other films , however , like Alice , then some of his approach shouldn't seem too far out . . . Actually , it is always very far out , but in an approachable manner , told often in a classical style of cinema that relies often on the unspoken . In this case it's not as non-dialog laden as Alice , as there are often scenes with the marionettes going on and on with their dialogs , and then with the man and the Satan figure him / itself ( whether it's a man or an ' it ' I can't say for sure , as Svankmajer makes it a being who materializes first as some skull , then into a near reflection of the man himself as some crazy theologian ) . What draws one in is the lack of abandon for narrative , and the chances he takes in making it self-conscious . It would be one thing to present the puppets themselves , but the editing is feverish ; cuts go between the puppets , their movements , and then those of the puppeteer's hands . We never see their faces , but we always know someone is pulling the strings . This is key . But beyond simply that , it's just a pure pleasure to take in how the filmmaker mixes the elements , tricks it up on the audience ( i . e . after the marionettes inside for so long , they bust out into the streets without puppeteer's hands ) , and with the stop motion , and the moments of Bunuelian surrealism with the man going between puppet form and reality , and then out in the middle of some field . I can hardly explain more , and it would be better , after all , if he was allowed to introduce himself . Staggering , near masterpiece work . |
508,903 | 453,068 | 377,515 | 9 | make sure to get the DVD ! | Released a mere couple months after President Bush declared that " major combat operations in Iraq have ended " , Bill Maher brought his trademark ( and well-placed ) cynicism and poignancy to the stage . It was also intriguing in the presentation , aside from the stand-up material itself ; at the time Maher had a book out with parodies of 40's and 50's public service posters warning people . These come up several times behind Maher , and they aren't distracting , they help to add to the points in his act . He talks about the War , Bush , sexuality , and what went down with the 2000 election - " I ( bleep ) my wife " was one of the more memorable bits . I don't remember the special as freshly as I do of Maher's recent I'm Swiss comedy special , but I do remember having as many laughs as with the latest one , maybe more so due to it not being as familiar ( Maher had either just started or was going to start his ' Real Time ' show , and most of the points made here are new for the time ) . But as an added bonus if you can get the film on DVD is extra footage of an off-beat , hilarious Q & A with Maher and the audience . Some of it really catches him off guard , which is ironic as he seems to always be on his feet with his attack on stage and on his shows . |
508,993 | 453,068 | 274,309 | 9 | how did I miss seeing this movie till now ? | 24 Hour Party People is just one of those movies that has that click with the subject matter . The actual style of the film corresponds with the music , the irreverence , and the energy of it all . But there's more than just the unconventionality of the script and direction ; the film has that sort of stream-of-thought , wry , distinct British humor to it , and a sincerity beneath the absurdist parts . It follows its main character down the line , in a surreal way like a documentary , if that makes sense - we move between Tony Wilson addressing the audience ( played by Steve Coogan , who is so on target with the honesty of the portrayal you can't picture anyone else in the role ) , an almost behind-the-scenes filming of it ( I think ) , and a dramatization shot on pure digital , independent vibes . Wilson , who sees the Sex Pistols play in Manchester ( his hometown , and the main base and heart in the location of this film ) , is also a journalist on television . He gets so enamored with what he sees as an extremely important part of history ( the viewer will get a good idea of this ) , he gets involved with the bands , the locals , and goes from just bands , to maintaining the Hacienda , a club . Some parts of the film one might expect , if considering it includes the rise and fall of fame ( or rather , in this film , a lot of times in the mind ) , and the drug scene coinciding with the music . One knows that Tony Wilson is the main character , the protagonist , basically in every scene , but somehow he does not become the only important part of the film's success . The music too is a huge factor , and the speed it sets for a movie like this . As much biography as musical , 24 Hour Party People brings to light the scene of Manchester as a history lesson , but an entertaining one to boot . Bands like New Order ( the form after Joy Division split ) will be known to most who follow music , but unless if you're not really steeped in the new-wave / dance scene of the 80's and 90's , some of the bands may sound totally unfamiliar . Still , this is not an automatic deterrent - the music is what it is , and most who will want to see the film will know what they're getting ( in truth , the ratio of British punk and new-wave vs . electronica is fairly balanced ) . But even when some of the music doesn't stand the test of time , it serves the story all the same ( some of the more interesting and darkly funny scenes are when no one comes to the club the sort of ' mix-way ' between the two musical eras ) . And all through this , Coogan plays it like a pro . The Coogan Wilson , of course , is far from the real Tony Wilson ( one of the DVD interviews says he's a ' Jerry Springer'-looking type ) , so it becomes more of being a character in this whole environment that springs up around and by him . In a way he's kind of like a British Andy Warhol with the idealistic , serious journalist instead of the painter / filmmaker . There's a sort of checked insanity that underlays some of his performance , and yet for most of the time , like a lot of the better British actors , he doesn't play it more for laughs than he needs , and when serious drama / tragedy comes up it's still kept to this reality . So , along with him , and the music , and the strange form of putting together a dramatized , documentary / musical / black comedy by director Michael Winterbottom and writer Frank Cottrell Boyce , it all gels . This is one of the finest sleepers I've seen in a while . |
510,273 | 453,068 | 296,042 | 9 | for some seeing this , it makes Kill Bill seem light-weight ; definitely not for the squeamish | I really , really didn't know what to make of Ichi the Killer the first time I saw it , however late it was at night on cable ( i . e . very after hours , almost up till dawn ) , and after seeing it a second time I'm still not sure . If it isn't one of the more overwhelmingly violent films ever made , it's at least that from Japan , where there's a whole film movement devoted to these ultra-violent ( likely deliberately so based on the subject matter ) tales of the dark side , like if David Lynch watched a boat-load of anime and was told to do a feature . In fact , this is what the very prolific filmmaker Takashi Miike has done here , and it took me a little while to figure that out . Obviously , through the use of different kinds of medium with the camera - there's never one set style , a lot of hand-held camera movements , digital , shaky , with editing going at a whiplash style or in longer takes - this is perhaps the point . Maybe what threw me heavily off-guard was that the film was based on an Magma anime-style comic book , which is possibly where the scenes and shots of extreme stylized over-the-top and often shocking violent acts had its footing in ( which is kind of redundant to say as there isn't one non-shocking scene here ) . But that being said , it's more what is being dealt with in the story and specifically with the characters that had a friend I was watching with say at least a few times " this is a ed up film man , damn " , and he wasn't without footing . We have here masochism deluxe in torture , sex , self-mutilation , etc , sex , rape , bizarre mind-control , and often done to a confusing pitch for those not ready for characters that sometimes seem to pop in and out or new ones out of nowhere ( Japanese audiences wont be thrown off possibly , but others may be wary of this ) . The premise has Kakihara ( Nadanobu Asano , with two faces as an actor that work perfectly ) , one of the more ruthless gangsters ever put to film , out for vengeance after a boss is killed . The one who's doing this and other killings is Ichi ( Nao Omori ) , who has a traumatic memory of being helpless during a teenage rape that messes him to the point of doing these acts against his better judgment . Mind-control , of course , is at work here , leading the gangster and the screwed-up innocent ( who happens to feel sexual masochism as Kakihara does in his own way ) to a shattering , ambiguous climax . A holier-than-thou moralist might look at this film - if one could stand through the whole thing without either being utterly sickened or just getting perplexed at the un-conventional story - and wonder how this can even exist . One might even look at how morbid the underbelly culture of Japanese entertainment might be for this . Obviously it is a morbid , surreal , and for a cult-audience picture ; this could never attract the masses who saw the Kill Bill films ( then again , just the opening title wouldn't get past the censors ! ) , and then again perhaps it shouldn't . In ways that really only became a little clearer on a second viewing , Miike is dealing with such depraved , unsympathetic characters ( even Ichi , who despite being an innocent in a way by route of his ' master ' , is like the anti-hero of Oldboy ) to not only push the boundaries of what he can do as a filmmaker with the mis en scene and music , but our own as well . And one should ask , would this film , with its rooms coated with blood and guts and moments of people getting split in half and , be as disturbing if it was just an anime adaptation of the comic book ? By doing it in this over-the top way , I actually found myself laughing at times ( perhaps inappropriately , who knows ) when these scenes were shown on screen . There almost had to be this very , very dark comic tone to some of the scenes in the film , otherwise it would just be too much to take . Sometimes the gravity does outweigh the laughable moments , and this need in Miike to push the boundaries does become much even for me , who was prepared for anything after hearing the hype ( not just too much in the content but in the style , perhaps making the surrealism of the environment into it not being interesting ) . But somehow Ichi the Killer is a film that works for its crowd and doesn't stop : depraved characters , crime without pity , and enough blood to make Tarantino's toes curl . |
509,469 | 453,068 | 78,935 | 9 | Good times , Cannibal Salad | Cannibal Holocaust was not something I exactly wanted to see , and I didn't rush out out to buy it the day Grindhouse releasing put out the uncut version on DVD . But I kept hearing that it was a movie that , if someone very interested in films - or just in the most shocking in the realm of cult and exploitation - this was something to see at least once . It's called the most notorious of its kind , and after watching it tonight I can report that it's not far from the truth . It is shocking , and horrifying , and makes you feel about the human race that everything at base level is so barbaric that it might not be worth a damn . But what could be just another schlock-fest from a director who just wants to chuck crap up on the screen in the form of bad acting and blood and poor craftsmanship actually isn't what's served up . On this level , it way exceeded any expectations I had , and is in fact one of the more satisfying exploitation pictures of the period . This is mostly due in part to the dedication on part of Ruggero Deodato to actually tell a story reasonably well , and to even throw in some biting ( however shallow ) commentary on the state of sensationalism on the news and how colonialism seems to repeat itself when the opportunity knocks with the wrong bunch of Westerners . The first half of the movie is told in a straightforward style , shot without any amateurish meddling however in low-budget form , as a professor at NYU goes on a search with a couple of guides to locate a documentary film crew that went missing in the South American jungles . From the outset , we're led to believe the worst has occurred , that the film crew got slaughtered and eaten by a tribe of cannibal natives . Some pieces end up standing out as shocking already , like a moment where we see how a man " deals " with an unfaithful woman , but for the most part it's relatively with only bits of action and terror . The second half , however , is when things get ugly as the professor , back in New York , looks over the footage shot on 16mm by the crew and sees how things really went down . Is it perhaps a little much on the part of Deodato to show how cruel and vicious and to a point fake the documentary filmmakers are in treating their subjects ? Yes and no ; yes because of course it is exploiting the expectations of the audience , and making it easy for us to not feel any sympathy for when the bloody , " realistic " climax rolls around , but not so much because he and his cast do it so convincingly . This is unlike the more recent Cloverfield where we're made to feel sympathy for the characters but are not given much of a reason to do so on the outset of this ' docu-real ' scenario . And there's also a stark message underlying this which is cyclical in nature , and without stating the very obvious last line that the professor makes at the end of the picture it is , in fact , a question of barbarism . I should point out that even when Cannibal Holocaust is at its most effective it's not any kind of ' great ' movie . It left me shaken and stirred and a little repulsed , sometimes a lot ( the turtle scene somehow really got to me more than anything , if only for the time and detail spent in wallowing in it , which was the correct decision based on the atmosphere ) , but it is only as good ( or bad depending on view ) as it can be based on the action and low-budget direction and make-up effects . Sometimes it is somewhat shoddy in production value , or in talent . But most of its flaws are supplemented by Deodatto's rigorous attempt at for one never making it boring , which is crucial for an exploitation picture in retrospect , and for also keeping the story focused and the continuing situation tense and bleak amid the shock value . There's some things committed here that I dare not reveal , but only so you can experience them yourself in all their faux-realism that , at the end of it all , has a slight , nasty satirical kick . There's guts here , no pun intended , and it's everything you've heard and then some - oddly enough , also a well-directed picture , despite the director's own ashamed ( though understandable ) feelings about the making of it today . Don't watch this alone ! |
510,912 | 453,068 | 67,328 | 9 | a film that plays even better long after it's been seen , for its unforgettable characters and classic mode of subversion | Peter Bogdanovich obviously loves the old Hollywood films , Hawks , Ford , Sturges , Hitchcock to a degree , but has also claimed that " there's Renoir , and there's everybody else . " This can be seen , in a sense , in how he treats the material of Larry McMurtry's source . The Last Picture Show deals frankly with sexuality , but more impressively , and with more of a lasting impact , on how not being able to deal with emotions leads to a kind of nakedness and vulnerability that is shielded away , particularly in a small Texas town such as Anarene . Not much goes on - sometimes the only thing to do is to split town and see if it'll be possible to take an aimless trip to Mexico in the middle of the night - though that is just on the surface of a tiny town such as this . There's a sense of sexual paranoia , of loneliness , that gets tapped into very well by Bogdanovich on his two main plot-lines : one involving teens ( i . e . Cybil Shepherd as Jacey , Jeff Bridges as Duane Jackson , the Bottoms brothers ) , and their escapism into movies , sports , and sex , and a middle-aged woman ( Cloris Leachman ) and her lack of companionship , mirrored in her sort of loneliness by the barren side to the town itself , as people move out in droves . From the opening shot - one of the best of any film of the 70s - to the final scene with the screening of Red River , this is a near classic of the period , where there was an overlap between the past films with more of an emphasis on the proud and beautiful side of Americana , and the not exactly darker side but the one people usually wouldn't put on film . It's sometimes very funny ( how could finally ' making it ' with Jacey go wrong ? ) , and a little surprising in how it gets explicit ( pool scene is actually very steamy for a black and white movie ) , but there's an undercurrent that Bogdanovich doesn't play up too much into the last act , which has been building steadily through the film . Featuring other good supporting work from Burstyn and Ben Johnson , alongside the outstanding Leachman and promising Bridges ( Shepherd works best in the role when she has to quietly subvert , as Bogdanovich does more often , with the material ) , and a true sense for period as well as reality , the Last Picture Show has been fresh in my mind for years now , and I look forward to seeing it again like few other American films of 1971 . |
510,468 | 453,068 | 109,579 | 9 | a probing mind-game played out on shattering tones , with more than a touch Polanski | Roman Polanski was the correct person to direct this film , based on ( and looking very much like it was ) a three-character play set in a confined house , because he understands how to make his mark with notice but care with the camera , and for skill at holding firm on the guessing games without interference . He has here a strong script already , but little touches seem to still be his handiwork all the same ; the opening itself leaves a lot of room for interpretation as to what this film will be as it's just classical musicians playing Schubert . Then little movements of the camera , the glances and timing , it's all appearing as if it's Polanski updated for the 90s with a slightly wound edge of political subversion on the edges . But , again , it's more for his style and choice of actors that makes this such a qualified success as such a " talky " psychological thriller . Talky , by the way , as just a euphemism for it being very complex in what has to be monologues , grandstanding , over-long deception , the moments of someone trying to weasel out or get out of something that needs to be shown in this case . It's clever work of dramatic maneuvering of siding on one or the other on not just a moral issue , but on the very idea of it being extremely , crushingly human . As said , the actors are a huge factor to Death and the Maiden working as well as it does with characters that teeter on madness , truth , and the power of revenge . All actors are in top form , really , as Weaver has that ultra very tough self that one's seen in many action / science fiction movies , and at the same time taps into sadness , irony , and cold moments of anger that goes past the usual model in a contemporary play . She's out for vengeance against a man she finds is somehow connected to her lawyer husband , that she was raped by this man while trapped and tortured for days randomly . Kingsley plays the accused , who spends a lot of the movie tied to a chair pleading with innocence in an everyman quality that is ultimately a deception unto itself ; he's so proficient at playing good people that it's usually hard to see him as more crooked underneath than he is , and the little moments , however slight , that give him away . Stuart Wilson also has his sparks of interest as the doubting and most reason-minded of the three , and keeps it bound to being so logical that he keeps balance but is also a possible tipping scale , a feat that Wilson rises up to as also a sympathetic actor . Occasionally the script gets weighed with tiny fragments that aren't totally necessary ( the revelation of Gerardo's infidelity at a point in the story that already has enough emotional baggage riding on should have been tossed aside by the usually economically minded storyteller Polanski ) . But they're not many , and overall the sensibility in Death and the Maiden is a combination of actor ferocity and a wise use of events and attitude leaning towards multiple levels of interpretation , with slices of Polanski's sick sense of humor thrown in ( eg the sudden burst of heavy metal music as the electricity comes back on and the ' kidnapee ' tries to escape ) . The end itself is entirely plausible simply because of Kingsley being so easy ( however not easy outside of the surface appearance ) in playing the reversal , and the final decision that brings rhyme to reason . It is , in essence , appropriate . |
510,604 | 453,068 | 94,332 | 9 | The songs Witchy Woman ( women ) meets Sympathy for the Devil , combined for a comic fantasy | George Miller ( Mad Max ) creatively sets the stage for a story of three witches and one Lucifer , who are in regular human form , in a small , uptight New England town . Of course , for a tale like this one can try to suspend disbelief , and it has to be when dealing with the supernatural . Thankfully , Miller has great casting tastes - Cher , Sarandon , and Pfieffer are wonderful in their roles , each with an acute , potent sexuality that was at their peaks in the late 80's . And then there's Mr shark grin himself , Jack Nicholson , who gives another superb layer to the performance of the dark prince . There are other actors who have portrayed the man downstairs - Al Pacino in Devil's Advocate was the devil as lawyer , Billy Crystal was himself in the Woody / Dante sequence in Deconstructing Harry , even Elizabeth Hurley in Bedazzled . But rarely have they had this much outright fun and charm with the role , enough to almost make me , a man in his 20s , charmed too . Maybe it's the eyebrows . Nicholson gives one of his best over-the-top performances as the " horny-little devil " Darryl , who comes into town during a storm and cooks up more than that for his avid female guests . Of course , he doesn't have control for long , when the girls find they have powers of their own . When the movie gets overly fantastic ( which is a number of times ) it gets a little hard to take , yet the acting is above par , and the special effects are a delight . |
510,851 | 453,068 | 60,138 | 9 | beautiful in its lyricism , Bresson's Au hasard Balthazar is original and poignant | Maybe I'm not as completely overwhelmed with the work of the immensely revered director Robert Bresson as others are , and I almost wish I was more so . I do know from the other films I have seen of his - Pickpocket and A Man Escaped - that he is one of the superior craftsmen of his time in France , a veritable storyteller with a very precise , original craftsmanship and way about telling his stories that shows compromise is nowhere in sight . However I don't think , try as I might ( and I do love other films that do evoke religious connotations and metaphors like with Dreyer and Rossellini's films , which perhaps aren't as heavy-handed ) , to soak into all of the allegory of it all . When it comes down to it , Au hasard Balthazar is a kind of fable , and it is successful even as some of the Christian connections are lost on me . It is strongest at being a dramatic look at two lives where drama doesn't need to be put to highest heights or given a shot of adrenaline . There's almost something very worn down about the characters - as well as the donkey Balthazar - that is the best part of what Bresson does try to draw parallels to . His direction might be un-easy to get along with , but it is rewarding in a cathartic way too . Much has been written about Balthazar being a kind of saintly figure , or Jesus , who suffers all of his life and then at the end dies a sorrowful death for , perhaps , everyone else's sins . But if that side of reading into it isn't really suiting , and you're looking for just a really well-told story ( which is really all a fable can do ) , the donkey's - and Marie's ( Anne Wiazemesky ) story does take on a neo-realist side to it too . It's the everyday things that count in this world , and act as burdens that don't give people the kind of life and enjoyment they could have . While Bresson maybe doesn't have his great strengths in much of the dialog , his direction of the actors , which involved multiple takes to the point of ( as with the donkey ) beating the life out of it , is quite unique . Like with Pickpocket , you can tell something is so suppressed with them , even with the careless young man who Marie falls in love with - and later leaves - and the unfortunate drunk who ' takes care of Balthazar for a while , that it's no wonder nothing happy ever really comes to any of them . Also , the body language is so distinct and powerful that it really makes the uncomplicated nature of the photography and editing work that much more so . Turn the sound off and it might not even make a difference ( what with lack of music ) Two of my favorite scenes might likely be two of the best scenes I've ever seen from the few Bresson films I've seen . One is when Balthazar has a brief stint in a circus , and it's interesting to see how the simplistic nature of the story reaches , for once , an almost ironically amusing point in this scene . For a moment you're pulled into that illusion of a Disney movie - where an animal is meant to be more like us , but then once reality comes back in it wipes that all away . The other scene is during a dance in a bar , where everyone's bopping away to a jazz song , and the young man mentioned before , throws bottles and causes a ruckus , but no one seems to stop dancing at all . Are they too , who should be having a good time , that numbed by their lives to not be shook up by the disturbances around them ? It is a film that really does get you thinking once it ends , about how small-town society treats things in very set ways that make some like Marie want to just get out . There's an undercurrent in the story of money being an integral - and hurtful - part of the world , where pride and suffering gets mixed up in it too . But most striking when watching the film are the scenes with the donkey , who punctuates the un-wavering methods of those around him ( who very rarely are actually kind and happy around him , aside from the kids early on ) . These scenes display Bresson utilizing his storytelling and skills with poignancy that , if you can identify with the innocent ( s ) of the story , is kind of mind-blowing . Even if the film is possibly imperfect , it nevertheless left me feeling I had seen something special . Few filmmakers can get away today with putting together a tragic story and pulling parallels between a worker animal and a misguided young woman and how others out there try to live every day . It's a brave movie more often than not that might hit ( and has hit ) other viewers both young and old alike . |
509,758 | 453,068 | 35,966 | 9 | Fritz Lang and Bertolt Brecht's resistance juggernaut from WW2 Czechsovakia | Under the name ' Bert ' , Brecht teamed up with director Fritz Lang to craft this cunning and ultimately suspenseful tale that borders more than consciously on propaganda , but for all the right reasons considering the period . It wasn't a period piece but something urgent of the time and place - not to mention a stark battle cry from Lang , who fled Germany in 1934 following a calling from Goebbels to become the propaganda filmmaker of the 30s - and it stands still as one of those under-seen pieces where loyalties and betrayals and double-crosses and vendettas are all abound , and the truth is something tricky and twisty on either side . The main plot concerns the dramatized story of Reinhard Heydrich , the " hangman " , who is then put on by the Nazis as a figure of the past to haunt the Czech people : the assassin MUST be found . The assassin is Dr . Franticek Svoboda , aka Karel Vanek , who may also have another alias , and is well played by Donelvy , who hides with a Czech professor ( Brennan ) via a chance meeting weeks before with Nasha ( Anna ) . Once he escapes following a curfew that night , many people are rounded up - hundreds - to be executed by the Nazis if the assassin isn't taken in . Anna's family is questioned , her father on the list of those to soon be killed , but what of Svoboda ( and the resistance , or the cruel Nazis at the gestapo for that matter ) ? It's a typical Langian procedural in the very tense and exacting sense , and it's a lot of tense fun and there's always a sense of danger with how the characters cross one another in one scene to the next ( I loved when Vanek comes back to Anna after the first night , she's mad at him , but this is right after she's been questioned by cruel Gruber , performed by Granach as half caricature and half power-hungry monster , and there is a wire to her apartment , only to have him feed her lines through index cards ) . It's just as intense as a more modern espionage thriller , only Lang has the upper-hand at crafting it with an equal hand of social indictment ( like M or Fury , the people in the Czech city have a role to play in what happens , and there's great scenes of small mobs going crazy like in the movie theater ) and of a more general grilling of the sadistic Nazis . There's not much room to make them very three-dimensional , however Hangmen Also Die ! features the Nazis performed not in very simplistic ways . Maybe my favorite is the traitor - a Nazi collaborator played by the large Gene Lockhart who can go from being happy-go-lucky to frantic and pushy on a dime , and is the total puppet of the sneaky inspector Gruber , who is funniest when trying to get back to sleep following a night of frivolity with some girls . The storyline isn't completely free of a few heavy lines of dialog , and the whole sub-plot involving the ' is she seeing someone else ' thinking for Jan Horak ( O'Keefe , best at looking stone-faced in semi-shock ) who is the fiancé of Nasha is the least effective of the lot . But what is here is a striking example of balancing real thrills ( it's hard not to be on the edge of your seat in the last fifteen to twenty minutes , mostly as characters talk if not in tense cat-and-mouse theatrics ) and a great message at hand . Lang makes this a story meant to pull people into action - the film ends with " NOT " and then super-imposed " THE END " - and like with M , there's many a moment when the common-folk , like a maid or a taxi driver or butler , become the real heroes in saying who was where or what one did at a given time . And of course Lang is also totally on top of his game at crafting this with many images of sadistic shadows ( watch as Nasha is prisoner and a guard comes into a second shot in silhouette ) and enclosing angles . |
510,227 | 453,068 | 106,364 | 9 | like a brilliant four-part episode from the series ; lots of personal wounds revealed , and the Joker to boot ! | Batman : Mask of the Phantasm stands on its own feet extremely well , when at least compared to some of the lessor Batman animated movies ( Batman vs Dracula anyone ? ) , and packs a good punch for fans so many years later . The original series was in its own other region - taking what more stories from the comics ( if not overall style and atmosphere like Burton or Nolan ) - and was able to cover some fine ground with our troubled hero the Dark Knight . This story tells of a character , not ever quite named but called here as ' Phantasm ' , who is killing off some of the high-rolling gangsters in town . Meanwhile , Bruce Wayne meets an old love of his , Andrea , and old wounds are opened over a brief and untimely ended engagement . And then there's also Andrea's father , who . . . OK , not much to try and spoil here , lets just say at some point the Joker gets involved , and everything jets into a ' laughing matter ' . Even as it was meant originally for TV , the directors Radomski and Timm , through their writer collaborators , have applied a drawing style that is distinctive amongst other cartoons of its ilk from the period : very direct lines and sharp , jagged edges , lots of smoke at ( specific ) times , the right blend of noir when it comes to revealing the caped crusader when he enters a room in the dead of night . In a sense they're stylists as are the ( good ) directors of the franchise live-action films . Only here there's a catch : the running time is short ( originally the filmmakers thought it would be meant for TV before WB changed their minds ) , so there's only so much time to dig into the dilemma Wayne is caught in in the movie , where his identity is being cross-checked all over as the killer of the gangsters , and then the personal connection with Andrea and her father . Its some fairly significant probing into the character , if not the deepest there's ever been . But also , aside from the slightly darker impulses , Mask of the Phantasm is a lot of fun , even up to a point if you didn't watch the series much . Just seeing Hammil ham it up as the Joker is a blast , even though he doesn't appear ( almost , one might think , as a lark ) until halfway through the movie ! But he ( via the filmmakers trying their best to give fans the best of the animated basics ) supplies a hugely entertaining climax , one which involves a big fight among an immense diorama of Gotham City , rigged with explosives ! |
508,991 | 453,068 | 71,402 | 9 | perhaps the ' proverbial good vigilante drama ' of its time | Before I saw Death Wish , I knew there was more than just the context of it being a starring vehicle for one of the major bad-asses of the action picture , Charles Bronson ( who's best role is still the one with the least words , Once Upon a Time in the West ) , and that it contains the elements that would spark an entire sub-genre ( for better or worse ) . I knew that there was also a kind of historical context for the times , of how it was in New York City as well as in others during the 70's ( though especially in the 70's ) - I remembered my mother telling me about how the atmosphere of ' Death Wish ' with its thieves and rapists and abusers was for real , that they were around every corner , and that crime was indeed at an all-time high then . So watching the film with this in mind , it brings a little extra drama to the story of Paul Kersey ( Bronson ) . There is the style , and underlying humor , that appeals for the genre fans ( and there is a minor bit of exploitation in making Kersey a ' bleeding heart liberal ' with skill behind a gun ) . But there is also a sense of overall tragedy to it all . The tragedy comes out of a truly disturbing scene - Kersey's wife and daughter go home from the market , unaware that a trio of hoodlums ( one of them a fresh-faced Jeff Goldblum no less ) follow them , bust in , and beat and rape them . This is indeed so terrifying and real it tops a scene like the one in Clockwork Orange with the assault on the writer ; it's somehow even more shocking when its in an apartment in the now , with hoodlums as random and sadistic as the ones here . Kersey mourns the loss of his wife and daughter ( the latter to dementia ) briefly , but it sticks with him through the whole film , in one way or another . The first signs of him knowing what's around him on the streets at night ( and one of the funnier bits of the film's bleakness ) is when he takes a sock full of quarters to use on the hoodlums . This is short-lived after a visit to the south-west , where he gets slipped a gun in his suitcase . The rest of the film unfolds as it would , at least under the circumstances of the genre . Yet within the grip of Death Wish being a genre picture ( and this is something that the sequels and other lessor B films have forgotten ) is that there has to be a sense of reality , and real dangers , to the film , not to mention the sort of evolution of Kersey into how he becomes - a killer , a vigilante of the scum who try to rob and threaten to kill . Although the police procedural that parallels his story isn't as strong as his , it works fine within the scope of the story that has to turn out in a certain way . But there are other factors to go with it besides a strong story ( based on an even stronger book Brian Garfield ) . Bronson is , indeed , great at being , well , Bronson . If the violence in the film doesn't pull any punches for its time period , Bronson doesn't skip being good at showing Kersey's inner strength of defense as well as his weaker side . It's not a very complex performance aside from the conflicts midway through the film with Kersey , but it's in a way truer than the film could deserve . Michael Winner , the director , is also an asset with this , in giving to the film its gritty tone . And , as an added bonus , there's the sweet musical score from Herbie Hancock . Death Wish is a film of its time , but one that still has significance , and entertainment value for today . People my age ( i . e . college kids ) will be attracted to it for its ' retro ' style , and , as it is in the vein of a film like Taxi Driver ( though less visceral ) , as a stylistic action film . And for the older folks , the drama of the film , and the solid storytelling , will keep it interesting . In short , it's the proverbial good vigilante film of its time , giving Bronson one of his most memorable turns . |
509,956 | 453,068 | 465,500 | 9 | a story of the Blues - what they are , how to play them and with a minimum of musician-life drama | Howlin ' Wolf , aka Chester Burnett , came out of the deep south , out of the fields of Mississippi , out of a super-religious mother who stuck so firmly to her guns that Blues was " the devil's music " that she never spoke to her son for decades , out of racism and hardship , and made his own original , vibrant kind of music . He wasn't alone , as others like Muddy Waters came into prominence ( and , according to a special feature on the DVD that should have been included with the rest of the doc , had a rivalry for some time ) , and shook up popular music first for black audiences and then slowly but firmly whites . It's a remarkable journey , told with not a whole lot of style as a kind of direct-to-video approach , with a plethora of good facts and some humbling opinions ( one of Wolf's closest musician friends and band-mates , Hubert Sumlin , provides the most entertaining anecdotes as a die-hard blues-man through and through ) . Plus , of course , the music , with some rare performances and even some home movies shot at Chicago clubs , of the Wolf's presence and magnetism coming out in strong forcefulness as he does crazy things on stage like lick his guitar and crawl on all fours . Whatever you want to say about his music it's inarguable that he doesn't get your attention , if only through that distinctive voice that's a sounds like it's been run-over and resurrected as an all-powerful bad-ass . Thankfully , too , in such a short running time , there's a limit of how much drama there usually is in a musician-bio pic . Then again , Howlin ' Wolf wasn't as naughty as other musicians : he didn't sleep around as a ladies's man ( at least , from the doc's perspective , as much as say Muddy Waters ) , was a devoted husband and father , stayed away from drugs and most drink ( he was so against it he openly criticized Son House during a performance ) , and only had his one real stinging problem being a lack of communication with his mother . While one wishes the movie was longer - more detailed , more infused with that pure air of rhythm and blues - what's here is enough to whet the appetite . At the least you'll want to put on some Wolf on the stereo right away or rush out to find some kind of record . He wasn't maybe the # 1 best blues-man in America , but he certainly left his mark like only few others did . This doc is a good tribute to the Wolf's spirit . |
508,272 | 453,068 | 60,107 | 9 | excellent film-making with instances of some of the purest Russian cinema | It's such a bold stroke of cinematic prowess to make a film like Andrei Rublev , let alone at the age of 32 , 33 that Andrei Tarkovsky was . This is a film that , while ( from my perspective ) imperfect , breathes with the freedom and abandon of a cinematic artist paying tribute to art itself . In this case , Andrei Rublev was a real icon painter from 15th century Russia , who witnessed many a strange , amazing scene in his time , and all of which helped make him a better , more confident artist attached to his faith . I saw mostly the end section of the film a year ago , the part titled ' The Bell ' , as well as the end sequence in color , and was really drawn into the story of a young man obsessed with building an object that might help him in some way , but in the end reveals something rather astonishing . The end sequence itself , too , I might mark as one of the most beautiful , deliberate , and successfully astute scenes of capturing art ever put to film . It's all images of the real iconic paintings , all still around after centuries , put to music that adds such a religious height that even for a non-believer such as myself it was quite moving . This being said , as a non-believer , here and there in part 1 of Andrei Rublev , aka the Passion According to Andrei , a little much religious talk ensues and almost threatens to dull some of the effect of the film . Not without interest , of course , but scenes where characters or Rublev himself start reciting passages from the bible ( with one insert even of a simulated quasi-Crucifixion ) drag the film's pacing a little bit , which is important in its three hour + running time . Simply put , it's really , really worth a viewing of the film if you're at all interested in the " art films " of the European 1960s , as it represents a filmmaker's freedom in expressing the subject matter , while still having a deep personal connection with the material . And amid a scene or two that doesn't quite work , there are at least three or four that do fantastically . The sequences of the tragic-comic Jester , the bizarre ' witchcraft ' portion with the pagans ( quite amazing considering the time it was filmed , very entertaining ) , the violent , engagingly horrific raid , and the other sequences mentioned earlier , all make up the best scenes in the film . Amid the artistic dilemma that poses for Rublev , he is surrounded by the will , the damnation , the violence , the strength , the equal measures of ignorance and intelligence , and cinematically it all does come together quite well . With cinematography that's top notch ( with OK editing ) , a good , if very large , cast , and a real vision put to the test , this is a thoughtful , faithful kind of epic that is rather daunting to finally see in one sitting . But it goes without saying that there are scenes which could possibly stand alongside those of Eisenstein as the most powerful , emotional , and challenging - to - conventions - of - cinema type moments from Russia , or even Europe for that matter . |
509,057 | 453,068 | 114,038 | 9 | the simplicity of its message comes through powerfully through the use of Miyazaki / Ghiblis ' imaginations | It must have been a small but extreme labor of love to make On Your Mark , a short film directed by the great Hayao Miyazaki with his Studio Ghibli crew working at full throttle . It gets right to the heart of the idea in seven minutes through an immediate array of strange but deliriously exciting images , and its story gains momentum by the end . The end , also , is one of the happiest I've seen in Miyazaki's work ( if a little fuzzy with an angel flying high into the sky ) . On Your Mark tells of such a winged being who becomes prey to the horrors of civilization , plague , technology , when she only got there through a tremendous blunder . But when two men finally decide they've seen enough , they go through the security , through the swarms of bio-chemical suited soldiers , and through a desperate escape they make it through the explosions and action . All through this Miyzaki and his team create small wonders frame by frame , with small details like falling rocks just as fascinating as the large-scale amazements like the ' city ' at night in neon , or the shots of the getaway vehicle running along the highway , with the helicopters chasing afterwords . How or why this has happened to the angel is never made clear , but in such an amount of time Miyazaki can only show so much . What comes through best , in the end , is the immense talents of his team , his collaborators who transform such a near fairy tale into a one-of-a-kind show . The music , too , is a curious addition , as I don't think I would've cared for it much taken apart from the animation . With it , the song works on a romantically charged , epic scale ( if it were in English , I might've mistaken it for an 80s power ballad ) . It won't remain as a true landmark achievement for Miyazaki like Princess Mononoke , but if you're already a fan of his & / or Studio Ghibli's works and you can find it ( online is the best bet ) , it's more than worth it , it's a must-see . |
510,708 | 453,068 | 362,225 | 9 | a pretzel factory of a thriller ; convoluted but compulsively watchable | It's easy to see how it can be done , but only so often do we get some good ' knock-offs ' of Hitchcock films . Sometimes we get outright homages like with Brian De Palma , or we get cheap rip-offs that some of us never see unless digging deep into the thriller bin at Blockbuster . Luckily , the French seem to have it licked , and in this case director Guillaume Canet takes Harlan Coben's pot-boiler and makes it into riveting if not quite linear film-making . You have to stay with the picture as it goes along - at times you may get so confused you'll want to give up - but if you can give yourself just a bit to the twists and paranoia , it's very rewarding . It's in very simple terms about Alex ( Dustin Hoffman look-alike François Cluzet ) and his wife Margot ( stunning-looking Marie-Josee Croze ) , who one night go skinny dipping and . . . no , not one of ' those ' movies ( slasher ) . But murder is involved , and we're made to believe Margot was killed and Alex was knocked unconscious that night . Then the story jumps ahead eight years later , when Dr . Alex Beck is now living alone and still sort of mourning his wife as the anniversary of her death comes around . And yet , even as the case seemed to be closed , the police still have suspicions about Alex since he doesn't remember how he got out of the water onto the dock before being knocked out . Another two bodies are found buried near the original murder site , and the case is reopened , with Alex now once again a suspect . Then something else happens . . . I don't want to mention much else , for fear of spoiling the daylights ( or just boring the hell out of you with exposition ) , but suffice to say it becomes a mix of elements from the likes of Fugitive , Vertigo ( yes , Vertigo , at least one element anyway ) , and several of Hitchcock's " wrong man on the run " movies . There are things that the director does to keep things moving and fast-paced for fans of real hardcore thrillers ( a chase midway through the film might just top Fugitive for sheer audacious move on the part of the hero ) , but he also makes the audience pay attention very closely to details . Just a subtle close-up of a computer screen with a ' new email ' , or a moment with Alex's dog , or even a U2 song . And it's crucial to keep up with small scenes that shouldn't seem like they mean much ; the director understands all of the components of a warped mystery where characters and motives and even simple twists in a single bound are not what they seem . Luckily , there is time in the last section of the story where a certain character ( I won't say who but it's an older one ) who can expound on the exposition that thankfully puts most of the pieces of the story into place . But then even after things are explained , it gets one talking about what's just happened , if everything made sense , and not in that " damn that was no good , too confusing " way . It doesn't underestimate the audience's intelligence or manner to keep up with a story that involves murder , love , lust , cover-ups , power-plays , old rich French guys , and and even a sliver of social commentary at one point . And the cast is uniformly terrific ; saying that Clement is like Dustin Hoffman isn't just as comparison in looks , as he's really got the stuff to lead this film as someone you want to stick with 100 % ( if not the Cary Grant type , then certainly Jimmy Stewart ) ; Cruze , for her moments on screen , is gorgeous and sad and happy and all those things that make up a mysterious character ; Kristen Scott Thomas - yes , Kristin Scott Thomas speaks French - is amazing for her time as a supporting character . And don't get me started on the guy who played Margot's father . It's a work of minor brilliance that , unfortunately , loses its footing in the last couple of minutes with a sentimental coda . For the most part , Tell No One is what we want to see often in American movies , but usually people aren't strong enough to just put it out there without mucking up the style . Canet is a strong director , great with a lost-in-a-pretzel-factory story , and it takes its place alongside the likes of With a Friend Like Harry , Red Lights and The Beat That My Heart Skipped as one of the superlative neo-noirs of 21st century French cinema . Sleeper-tastic ! |
510,769 | 453,068 | 121,802 | 9 | ingenious little short , like a newspaper comic strip with sharp wit | Thank You Mask Man is featured as a bonus on the DVD of the Lenny Bruce performance film , and I was very glad I watched it . It reminded me of what I saw once in a Carlin special from the 80s where he put in little animated bits that all visualized his bits . That this comes more than a few years before that is impressive , but more so that it actually works to fit the riff-style comedy that Bruce excelled at . This is basically drawn like , well , basics - the comic-strip characters could've been taken out of any newspaper or other , and it's all crude to the point of not having to focus as much on it . Perhaps most of the strengths , aside from the curious , off-kilter nature of the drawings , do spring out of the material , as a story of a bunch of people having to deal with a ' masked man ' on a horse . It happens to be a good Bruce bit on its own , but then the curious thing does happen that towards the end of the film - when the townspeople then all taunt Masked Man to be gay - the comedy and the look of the film do totally gel somehow . That Bruce is also behind a good part of the style of the picture himself probably explains how some of the same inspired dementia in this story in particular ( one with an absurdity to it but also some truth sprinkled around ) merges with simplistically weird animation . It's probably not one of my favorites ever , to be sure , but I had a lot of fun watching it , as a crazy little anecdote given life and still kicking more than forty years later . |
510,645 | 453,068 | 482,571 | 9 | a basic tale of one-up-manship , but done in a great fashion of professional storytelling and acting | The Prestige is like a machine of tricks and wonders , and it ends up pulling off a lot more than it might have not been able to chew . Co-writer / director Christopher Nolan is very much in his territory here with this picture , and the sort of jigsaw-figure-out effect he had on his breakthrough Memento is redeployed here in a style that is never too deterring . He focuses so well on the two main characters , and the people focused around them , that there's no need to really feel as if one is being pulled away from the real emotional drive of each character . It's basically one big game that becomes something very dangerous once obsession becomes part of it ( as Michael Caine's character notes is what children do ) . But all the while I went along totally well with what the story went through , in all its twists and pulling seemingly simple little turns out of a hat , because Nolan made the storytelling seamless and has actors that are utterly dependable and pitch-perfect in their roles . Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play the magicians , who start out as partners under the tutelage of Michael Caine's Cutter , who perform acts of not-totally-simple ' magic ' , which follow three main principles which are listed by Cutter at the start and end of the picture . After a tragedy that befalls their assistant ( Piper Perablo ) , the rivalry and , more crucially , the aims and wills of each side is put into play . On one side is Bale's Borden , who is , according to Jackman's Angier , living his entire life as a trick , which may not be far from the truth ( hope that doesn't spoil things ) . On the other is Angier , who becomes involved with the burgeoning technology of Nikola Tesla ( David Bowie , who is one of the lesser factors of actors in the film ) , who may be able to figure out how to make something truly unbelievable . Their fates become entangled in each side's pursuit to out-do the other in the public eye , with Cutter and the change-around mistress ( Scarlet Johanssen , in a spiffy English accent that works ) , on the sidelines . What makes a lot of this more compelling that it almost has a right to be is how much we're steeped into the mind-sets of these characters , who they get fractured by their own separate ambitions amid their skills . One is a better magician , while the other is a better showman , and each can't stand the other's talents in the midst of being somewhat intrigued and drawn to a kind of madness . And yet at the same time the personal also finds its way into the trickery of the film , and actually grounds things - seemingly of course - particularly with Borden's wife ( Rebecca Hall , one of the best in the film acting-wise ) who feels betrayed by the pack of lies and secrecy . The fates then of both characters becomes that of dealing with mortality , and how one can cheat death or not , or again , and again . Towards the end it does teeter much on becoming one extra ending that might not be needed , or a couple of minutes that feel packed in too tight . But all the while Jackman and Bale are constantly compelling , with little things they have in their characters that make them very much real for us , and then makes the final twist not too unworthy of what led up to it . It's like a twist mountain , or rather , a prestige . It might not be the best kind of ' prestige ' I've seen , yet I still highly recommend it as a cool treat of splendid storytelling in a story that teeters on leaving the audience with too much of a gasp in the extraordinary , and has just enough to pull back and have a few good surprises . It's one of the best productions to come out this season . |
510,989 | 453,068 | 55,852 | 9 | not really perfect , but then life ain't either | Cleo from 5 to 7 ( actually it's 5 to 6 : 30 but how it is sounds better ) is the feminine point of view of Paris , of a discombobulated woman on the edge of a potentially tragic discovery ( whether she might die of cancer ) , and it works because Agnes Varda is in love with the cinema and in love with Paris and in love with her character and star . The passion carries over what little flaws there are - I personally couldn't really stand the actor playing the soldier , though maybe it was some of the writing that came off poorly or self-consciously - and it works as modern film art for what it accomplishes which is one of those rare pure movies for women that doesn't reek of sentimentality or kitsch . It's got some hard issues to face , but it's done in a beautiful style with the camera - itself , as some have noted its own character - and modernity in its thoughts and dialogs . The star , Connie Marchand , aside from being an unusually beautiful blonde ( I almost thought at one point Varda couldn't get Deneauve and settled on a very respectable 2nd choice ) conveys that sense of being young and pretty and possibly talented but also unhappy and disillusioned by what might happen not just with her potential illness but herself in general . There's one short scene I really loved where she's just walking down the street and the point of view goes back and forth , jarringly , between herself and those men ( and men ) of all ages taking a glance or look at her . Is it because she's a semi-famous singer or because she just happens to be a pretty blonde walking down the street ? A similar scene occurs when she goes to a café and puts on one of her songs on the jukebox and everyone goes about their business . Varda , at the least , gets us as much as she can inside her head-space , be it in small scenes like that or something truly grandiose like when she sings the sad song written by Michael Legrand and as it continues and rises it culminates into something too emotional for her to sustain . She tries to explain it as well , which makes it worse . It also helps in Cleo from 5 to 7 that the structure is broken up as it is in the chapters ; another French New-Wave film from 1962 , Vivre sa Vie , may have featured a better structural grasp on the chapter break-up , but here Varda seems to suggest that it's based upon both the limitation that time presents for someone like Cleo and for a post-modern break from traditional narrative . Why be told simply " this is the end of a scene , this is the beginning , this is the middle ? " With Varda , as with others from that age group in France making movies at the time , there were no firm rules except to be true to the artistic self , and as the camera and editing take on lives of their own and the star becomes something more as the film progresses , it to becomes a strong piece of art . Some it dated ? Maybe , it's France over 45 years ago . But its impact remains due to its dedication to its character , to women living lives uncertain and odd , and to Paris . |
509,537 | 453,068 | 82,085 | 9 | One of De Palma's most entertaining works : | Blow Out runs with an idea and makes it work . Brian De Palma uses the idea from Blowup ( obsession over one real-time element involving murder ) , and transfuses it into his usual , dependable form of the suspense picture . He finds the right cast to take it through as well . This script could be taken in the wrong hands and made into lessor material , perhaps . But often it's not even the script that is as grabbing ( though it does , being De Palma in his prime , have its share of wit and sweetly honest moments ) as is the direction . This is a filmmaker very much in trusting with a specific storytelling style that suits the nature of the subject matter . You've got a protagonist thrust into a deceptive , shadowy kind of element , and because its a star in that role propelling it - alongside some ' choice ' villains , it's never too unbelievable in its own sort of world . John Travolta ( in a role displaying a little more of his range than usual ) is a sound recorder for low-budget horror movies , and going over a particular crash into a river one night by a curious couple of subjects , the audio drives him into an obsession . But the story doesn't dwell fervently into it like Blowup did ( then again only Antonioni , or maybe Coppola with his The Coversation , could make it that deep into it ) , and in a way it doesn't need to . With Nancy Allen , a cute , talented actress , there's the other part of the story to drive it forth , as she plays the passenger in the car who may or may not know more than she'll tell , even to her rescuer Travolta . Then along the way we meet some shady people including Dennis Franz and John Lithgow's characters ( the latter especially , in a role un-like him but made all the more compelling for it ) . It leads to a climax that is one of De Palma's best as well . Blow Out doesn't kid its main audience , and thats where it finds its strengths . It's in a realm of the psychological , but it doesn't steep itself too much to become more of an experimental film like De Palma's earlier films . It also lacks some of the weaker qualities that have come in some of his later films ( i . e . a good deal of plausibility or lack of caring about the characters ) . It at times shows its gritty side ( i . e . Franz's scenes ) , and it also includes some great scenes between Travolta and Allen . Simply put , it's a well-done movie . |
508,592 | 453,068 | 478,311 | 9 | a guide to having a baby , with stoners , and E ! news | My first reaction at the end of the film was probably too simplistic a comparison : Harold and Kumar meets Nine Months ( yes , the Hugh Grant / Julianne Moore pregnancy comedy from 95 ) . But the film actually carries off how so few romantic comedies know how - to actually give us a man and a woman to actually give a damn about . More than that , Apatow has matched extraordinarily well the shlubby but funny and down-to-earth skills of Seth Rogan with the vibrant , uncertain but ultimately believably conflicted personality in Katherine Heigl . It's a tough sell with it's premise , to be sure , that a very attractive E ! news reporter like Allison ( Heigl ) and a total stoner almost-bum like Ben ( Rogan ) could hook up over less than 12 hours and suddenly procreate , but there you have it . It's a premise that actually had me avoiding the film , even with the immense hype from critics as well as friends and family , because the footage shown in the trailer didn't seem to be that much to write home about . The actual finished product , however , is certainly the funniest American movie out so far in 2007 , pointed at the age variant of around 18 to , um , 37 maybe , with all of the supporting characters , as well as Rogan and co-star Paul Rudd as Heigel's brother-in-law via sister played by Leslie Mann , very sharp with levels of sarcastic wit and pop-culture references . At the same time Apatow gets some really amazing one-liners regarding Ben's friends joking on each other ( the bearded guy provides the most fodder , but the general attitude is ' hey , f it , lets get stoned " ) , but doesn't lose track of what he's trying to do , successfully . He's out to criticize as well as embrace a culture where responsibility for one's self has to do with how the other in the relationship is comfortable or dissatisfied with the other . And Apatow makes the Rudd / Mann relationship a kind of bittersweet ( much more bitter really ) counterpoint to the rocky start to Ben and Allison's ' shot-gun ' romance . There's silly one liners ( " I live in your phone ! " ) , goofy caricatures ( the gynecologists ) , smart aleck kids who know a lot of " bad " words that provides for some wicked laughs , and the usual mayhem in the delivery room an actual winner in terms of making it partly true and partly farce ( albeit Judd doesn't seem to understand , despite having three kids , what a woman is like throughout the labor process , as reconciliations don't usually happen aside from script contrivances ) . Yet all the while , it's a sincere film , with the relationships shown not as cardboard cut-outs but where the people actually have to deal , if eventually , with the lots in life they've got themselves into . What is it to balance love and commitment , Apatow is asking . There's even one shot that provides a note of discomfort with the characters of Ben and Allison as they have a bad argument in the car , the view being outside of the car in traffic , a distance kept because , and it's a credit to Apatow as a storyteller , we do care about what will happen in this situation . In fact , that's probably one of the best things to say about Knocked Up . Too often in movies , especially of the cineplex fare , the situation is more-so told than an actual story . This is one of those rare cases where the situation , a tricky one to surpass as it's been done ( the ' situation ' of pregnancy , not so much the one-nite-stand part ) , unfolds more as a story , and by the time the ' happy ' ending comes , it's not a cop-out or cheat . And this goes without saying that the actors , as well as the filmmaker , are totally assured with their comic skills , be they subtle ( the dazed look of the bearded " Martin Scorsese on cocaine " friend , even Rudd to a degree can be staggeringly subtle ) , or big ( the " second " sex scene between the main couple ) . Quite simply , it's THE rom-com sleeper of the past few years . |
509,551 | 453,068 | 460,989 | 9 | a compelling tale of the dangers of imperial dominance , how it spreads , and how political turns personal | The Wind That Shakes the Barley , the Palm D'Or winner , gets most compelling because of the ties that form between the political and the personal , between what is loyalty to one's country versus one's own blood and how the latter becomes almost irrelevant and taken for granted in the midst of the bickering of specifics . For a while , Ken Loach's film is suspenseful enough as a story of Irishmen rebelling against their dastardly British occupiers in militia-style tactics , practically guerrilla tactics actually , and there's not much sentimentality going on . But then when the Irish get a small sliver of independence , albeit still in servitude to the British empire , it sets off a chain reaction of infighting , of there being adequate freedom and not enough freedom , and two brothers - Damian and Teddy - get caught right in the works of it all , tragically so . Loach doesn't let either side off in this , and it adds to the complexities of the last third of the picture . Damian goes full circle as one who starts off not wanting to join the IRA , even after the death of a friend , but soon becomes more than he thought - a killer , of British as well as Irish ( a troubling , tense scene where he has to take out a boyhood friend over treason ) - and now sees that it's his duty to go for more than his brother settles for . But Teddy is not put as a simple figure of a submissive Irishman completely , and the emotion that suddenly starts to boil over in his contention and eventual head-to-head with Damian helps to not make it too shallow or underdeveloped . Some critics have called Teddy unsympathetic , but it's not that easy an assertion : circumstance in the face of something that has never been attained before might seem worth it on one side , even if on the other it seems maddening . Beneath this , however all the clearer in the scenes with the British officers early in the film as a horrible brutes who will torture and kill to get control and dominance over the Irish , is Loach commenting on the dangers of imperialism , of how it becomes if not contagious then almost something that becomes accepted if seen as something that has to be taken for a little extra freedom . In the process , one can see parallels to current events , more or less , and that it's filmed in a very immediate , staggering fashion where melodrama is stripped away . It would be one thing if Loach was making a simple message picture , and yet when it is loaded with ' message ' like when the Irish argue over ratifying the treaty it's still very engrossing , but Loach is interested too in the impact on close-knit relationships : the connection with Damian and his love , who he has to watch in pain from hiding as British officers torture her and burn most of her home down ; the lack in faith in institutions like the Church , connected to those in power ; and finally Damian and Teddy , two sides of very courageous , yet proud figures . It would be wrong to consider that Damian and Teddy are direct representations of the two sides of the Irish struggle , those that oppose and those that support the treaty with the British , wherein the Northern part of Ireland was still indebted to England . There's more depth than that - neither of the brother's deep down really wants this , Teddy more than Damian as the film progresses despite his political convictions , as Damian , played in a very strong turn by Cillian Murphey , trained to be a doctor , not in any military or political faculty . One can't say for sure how much of The Wind That Shakes the Barley speaks to the people of Ireland of today , so many decades after North and South and the IRA have gone head-to-head , but it contains the spirit that thrives in the better war films of recent years where thought is taken as precedence over action ( not that Loach is a bad action director ) , and the end result brings little happiness anywhere . |
509,028 | 453,068 | 1,134,837 | 9 | as a documentary it's decent ; as a companion piece to No Direction Home it's fantastic material | For any Bob Dylan fan this is a must . One gets to see his progression from the new darling of the folk scene ( elevated to the point of ultimate pretension by the line " He has his finger on the pulse of a generation " ) to breaking out the electric guitar for Maggie's Farm in 1965 . It definitely helps to know what the circumstances were with Dylan's presence at the Newport Folk Festival over those three years when watching the film ; if you go into it expecting the director Murray Lerner to spoon-feed multitudes of facts then you're bound to be let down . Only Joan Baez has a scene with some comments on Bob Dylan at the festival - the rest is just concert footage , with some sporadic bits for the announcer and shots and sounds of the audience or Dylan in a car surrounded by fans . As for the songs themselves , they are what they are : it's Dylan in both his prime as a strong storyteller and folk singer and as a burgeoning rock star that got a lot of " pure " fans very angry . The argument can be made both ways with 1965 : taken out of context the performance of Maggie's Farm is one of the most highly charged live rock songs ever recorded , taken in context it wasn't exactly the right time with such a picky crowd . It took guts on Dylan's end though , which is something that does come through consistently in the documentary . I mean this by what he sings about : his range is incredible when it comes to writing lyrics and relaying his stories and ideas , from Medgar Evers to his World War 3 Dream to Blowin ' in the Wind , and then on to something traditional but powerful like Chimes of Freedom . . . leading all the way up to what many consider his masterpiece , Like a Rolling Stone . If nothing else , the performances are essential , even if the film overall works better alongside Scorsese's No Direction Home , which is , of course , the definitive Dylan doc . |
510,409 | 453,068 | 120,907 | 9 | a trip into the reality of the virtual you might want to take , with Cronenberg as ' designer ' | I first saw David Cronenberg's eXistenZ when it first was released in theaters in 1999 , and as the first that I saw of his ( in a sense , I was probably like Ted in the sense of not yet having the ' portal ' to his catalog of work ) . It flew mostly over my head in what it was conveying thematically , though I still thought it was pretty cool - not enough to immediately re-watch , however , leaving it on my VHS shelf to dust . Cut to eight years later , and having seen most of the director's films it seemed appropriate to re-visit this little science fiction oddity , which did ( as many critics at the time noted ) get underrated thanks to the Matrix . While the Wachowski's made the better movie , it is of note though that Cronenberg probably carries just as much weight with psychology and philosophy in his worlds , if not more so the former for sure . Plus - as was an unintended bonus having waited this long to re-visit the film - getting into Philip K . Dick works didn't hurt either in appreciating the bizarre but palpable world Cronenberg's created here . It's not just the Three Stigmata book , but also A Maze of Death , that could be called into comparison . Cronenberg's characters are either wise to the fact that the world they inhabit , a kind of futuristic time where it seems more like an alternate reality of the present , or they're closed off from it . The basic gist of the plot reads like pure pulpy PKD : a video-game designer , the best in the world named Allegra ( Leigh ) is on the lam after nearly getting killed at the unveiling of her new system of the movie's title , and Ted ( Jude Law , at first annoyingly whiny , but it's something one gets used to as he is a good actor above all else ) , a PR man , follows along to do what he can . Problem is , he doesn't have a portal for the gaming system to go through , as it's all a bunch of intestinal-type tubes and plugs into the base of the spine . Soon they find safe haven to play the game , but are they really playing it ? Are they suddenly thrown back into reality at a moment's notice ? There is even a twist ending , and then a catch on that ending , that has that great sensation of being jolted back , as Dick could do , but in a more visceral manner as only Cronenberg can handle . eXistenZ is crafty as a thriller , and inventive with the special effects : it's not without some notice that because of the devices and means of teleportation that there's comparison to the Matrix . But there's also a tendency to overlook how stark Cronenberg is in dealing with the violence - where the Matrix is slick and full of technical innovations to match its alternate universe , eXistenZ is shot and cut in a style that isn't too different from other Cronenberg movies , and in and of itself is probably even more graphic than anything Hollywood could easily cook up . This goes without saying , of course , that either film could , and has been , easy fodder for a philosopher like Slavoj Zizek to deconstruct : what is it to suddenly replace what is programed with reality , with free-will , with energy from one's own body ( or , as he says , libido ) into a new construct ? And as Maze of Death also suggested , quite chillingly , how far is the capacity for murder and mayhem and destruction and betrayal when all bets are off ? There's a moment when Allegra keeps saying , chuckling about it as the ski-lodge burns down and there's a tense moment between her and Ted , that ' it's only a game . ' Is that all ? It deserves to make comparisons to these other works not simply to add some puffed-up weight to this review . Cronenberg's film , albeit a little flawed ( it's a little tough to get into the flow of the two leads , who don't seem to have chemistry at first , and only as the " game " goes on does it start to gel completely ) , has the questions to raise to make it as potent a work as anything Dick could come up with , or at least following along on the path previously treaded . And , on top of this , he makes it a fun and wicked ride , with a great couple of scenes for Willem Dafoe ( " is it in the script ? " ) , a fascinating amphibian mutant , and a guessing game that isn't cheaply manipulative . Taking another look at it all years later , in fact , it's probably one of the better films to come out in 1999 . |
510,641 | 453,068 | 413,300 | 9 | nearly the best , or at least most overall satisfying , of the franchise ; has terrific ( and gleefully corny ) humor , big action , and superb characterizations | Sam Raimi knows what he's doing with the Spider-Man franchise . Some will come away from this third installment and disagree , that he's put out an over-long , angry / sad / delirious blockbuster that doesn't reach into the same levels that the first two films did . For me , if anything , Raimi has gone further in the best possible ways : he's made the kind of grand entertainment that he's been working for since the last two films . One thing to remember , of course , is that the Spider-Man movies are each rides unto themselves , with lots of emotional twists meant to get the audience sucked in by its complex human characters and the wild new villains . But this time there's a darker element to it - something that could be comparable to the Star Wars movies - where the old key Spider-Man concept ( power = responsibility ) is really put to the test . It comes in the form of a black gooey parasite-whatever that comes out of the remains of a small comet that's hit Earth . How it got there or why it does what it does isn't so much the issue as what it does to that which it connects to : it brings out what's easier to have as a person , vengeance , lust , greed , and above all a lack of conscience . It's an agent of cinematic contrivance , to be sure , but it's a crucial one for the series as Peter Parker has to come to terms with this other choice - and he's not the only one . There is a good deal going on in Spider-Man 3 , no argument about that . There's three foes of Peter / Spider-Man : Harry ( James Franco ) has gone fully into being a chip off the old block by taking on his late father's technical gear to get his own vengeance ; Flint Marko ( Thomas Hayden Church ) , escapee from prison , who is really the one responsible for Peter's Uncle's death , and succumbs to a particle-changing mechanism and becomes a Sandman ; Eddie Brock ( a surprise , Topher Grace ) , who's not so much a foe as a kind of cocky annoyance to Peter , and who doesn't really become much of a threat until the third act when aforementioned back gooey stuff comes into the picture . And there's some added girl drama with Gwen Stacy ( Howard ) , who comes in as an unintentional block in the way of Peter and Mary Jane's total happiness , albeit as not the main block . There's layers this time to the Parker / Spider-Man saga in that this is the first time we see Spider-Man as the hero of the city , or cheered on as such , and so this time Peter / Spider-Man is in the power position , which then goes on to affect his relationship with MJ . Then there's another line with Harry , who gets short-term memory loss after a fight , and what this brings out between the three of them ( Peter and MJ that is ) . Add on to this the black suit , and its own immense connotation . This is where Raimi has some of his most devilish fun as a filmmaker in years , but at the same time gets out of it on the whole some of those especially poignant and morally questioning points out of comic-books that many take for granted . Of course , it's hard not to laugh as we see the ' bad-boy ' Peter , with his hair ala Flock of Seagulls and attitude to spare . Yet it brings to question what Peter , not just Spider-Man , needs to be for those closest to him as much as with those in the city . And even more than the second film , Raimi and his cast get to some fascinating dimensions with the villains . These aren't just simple mutants or miscreants ; they've got incredible , massively damaging powers , to one degree or another ( Sandman can destroy the most and make the biggest impression , but Venom is the black suit personified as a real monster , and Harry has got only one real nemesis ) , and deep down are damaged themselves with how they've dealt with the real world and personal trauma . Even when Spider-Man 3 edges onto its most cliché and corny material ( including one shot with Spider-Man behind an American flag in his flight ) , it's a sort of earned corniness because it doesn't fail to be amusing , if only in recognizable ways ( recognizable in that we're all used to and respond emotionally to the characters ) , and leads up to somewhere satisfying on a mass-appeal scale . And one more note should be made to the visual effects , which are par for the course spectacular ( what else will one do with millions and millions and millions of dollars ? ) and expansive for the villains - the incredible detail with Sandman - as well as in general what isn't noticed during the fight and action scenes . But to me it's all the more impressive that Raimi and company uses all of these tools to his advantage by not letting them overpower the story at hand . Even during its moments of pure pop-opera and put-on magisterial effect , there's substance that's rewarding and a lot deeper that many in the audience might take for granted . By the end , nevertheless , it's a Raimi picture through and through , loaded with tongue-in-cheek bits and action-packed , high-flying theatrics , and ending on a note that makes the series feel all the more complete . . . . . |
509,706 | 453,068 | 465,316 | 9 | Challenge me when you are ready to duel a god . | Afro Samurai will stay in my collection as a pure guilty pleasure , a black samurai saga that has more than a touch of being made just right for die-hard fans of blood-drenched anime ( or , for that matter , members of the Wu-Tang Clan , for which RZA did the music , and is an asset via groovy beats and is an occasional deterrent with rap going on during a big battle ) . At the same time it's also got a little tongue pressed into cheek , as the usual clichés in a revenge saga get just the right touches of harsh comedy ( the side character Samuel L . Jackson mostly voices , Ninja Ninja as the fool of the series , gives some of it , and some of it just comes through the wild ways that the other samurais send out their forms of slaughter to Afro ) and rapid stylization , with not just one specific style , though it is mostly indebted to recent ultra-violent anime . Through first-time director Kizaki and the writers who are also working mostly as their first efforts , experiment with its " ghetto " influence with it looking as much like an exploitation flick from the 70s as much as a sword-revenge story ( many of those out for Afro's head could be compared to those out for Grier or Williamson's heads in the classic films ) . But it's also science fiction to a degree , or at least futuristic in scope , mixing feudal Japan with crafty cyborgs and robots and other technology thrown in ( including a robot clone of Afro who mimics his moves but not his subconscious ) . It's not anything exactly masterpiece-like , and after a few episodes it does come close to being a little tiresome in seeing Afro , who has little-to-no personality and just a straightforward bad motherfer attitude , on his quest to achieve something higher than his simple 2-level . But it's downright exhilarating , as far as today's anime can get , in seeing the extremely bloody swordplay and other violent bits that come quick but with a lasting after effect , and in seeing how the conventions inherent in the supporting characters , be they in flashbacks to Afro's training or in the present as the ones out for Afro's head on a stick . It might actually be too based on the action for some , and it is a little light on story as it goes along past the flashback episode . Yet with people like Jackson and Perlman as the voices behind the figures , and in such a distinctive blend of the usual and unusual in the genre , it's worth a look for fans , and maybe even as a curiosity to those who dug Chapter 3 in Kill Bill 1 . |
508,737 | 453,068 | 95,159 | 9 | the funniest work of Kline's career ; a big bang of ultra hilarity and over-the-top jokes of visual and wit variety | A Fish Called Wanda comes from director Charles Crichton , though much of what makes the film a success is that he just doesn't get in the way of what these actors can do and , more importantly , the material . It's John Cleese as writer and him and Michael Palin as co-stars , so immediately ( and especially for me as I saw it as part of a retrospective involving the group ) Monty Python comes to mind . It is and it isn't like Python , as this time it does tell really a full-on story without it being too sketchy - ' too ' being a loose word here , most particular exceptions being Palin's scenes after the old lady - and it's all really about the wacky surprises and behavior of these characters . It's also the Oscar winning performance of Kevin Kline's career , and possibly still one of the very best that he's ever pulled off . It's shameless at being stupid , which his Otto as a running gag replies " don't call me stupid " , and also at trying to seem intelligent in his dastardly gangster ways , while supplanting himself with Nietzsche and jealousy around his tease / seeming-to-others sibling Wanda played by Jamie Lee Curtis . It's fearless comedy at it's best , and it's quite possible out of all the good things going for A Fish Called Wanda he's overall the funniest , almost without trying ( just seeing his face as he pops up during the rendezvous Curtis and Cleese have is worth the price to check it out ) . But aside from him the picture works as being a rip-roaring comedy , so to speak , as the comedy ranges from more exaggerated forms of comedy around for ages ( i . e . there's someone in the house that shouldn't be , hides , wackiness ) , to being more explicit ( Cleese's Arch strips down for his beau , only to have the people who once had real estate dealings with him see him right then and there ) , to being almost sadistic ( dead dogs the biggest ) . But there's also room for stuttering , here in the form of Palin's Ken , who is 2nd only to Kline in the big laughs department , as he ultimately ends up missing the dogs he wipes out more than the old lady does herself . His may be a kind of running gag that could wear out its welcome , and in maybe one or two scenes the laughs aren't totally mined , but he also provides some of the funniest scenes , like with Kline , I may have ever seen , like when Arch comes in to ask Ken where the jewels are , and the stutter goes on and on and on ( or , for that matter , when he gets ' cured ' ) . It also helps that Curtis and Cleese's characters , while often seeming like the ' straight ' characters in the film , are also extremely gifted at doing their forms of comedy , and Cleese ends up pulling some unexpected comedic bits the likes of which match up to those of his Python days . His character at first seems fairly bland , an attorney defending a jewel thief ( I forget the actor's name ) , who gets taken in romantically by a ' law student ' , Wanda , whom he doesn't want to get involved with as she is , of course , a witness for the defense in the case . But in the midst of playing him up to get info , it becomes for both actors something to keep up with Kline's own comedy stylings , his facial expressions and manner of speaking ( not just the Italian , of course a highlight ) . He puts up a well-measured performance alongside all the others , and altogether the main four actors pull off something of an amazing feat ; it has the pure irreverence of Python , the go-for-broke silliness done with a slightly more dirty and almost obscene beat , while even having a conventional side to it too with the heist plot . And it makes for a great time if you happen to get to see it in a packed audience . |
510,787 | 453,068 | 708,463 | 9 | it's cheesy , yes , but a lot of fun as the whole Jungian thing pans out | Let it be known - The Enemy Within is not great art . But it does come close to being a great Star Trek episode . Mostly because , in a way , splits down the path of William Shatner as an actor , or how much of an actor he can ever be . After a faulty teleportation back up to ship , ol Kirk is now two , with a doppelganger that beats people to a pulp and makes crude sexual advances to a worker on the ship ( probably one of the first instances of attempted rape shown on prime-time TV at the time ) , while the other ' real ' Kirk has lost his will to lead - he's unable to make decisions because his ' evil ' side is really the one that takes charge to lead . But what to do as Soolu is stuck on an icy planet ? This is all the stuff of pot-boilers , where you keep watching just to see what will make the Kirk's tick - or not - next . It's utterly classic comedy ( maybe unintentionally so , maybe meaning to be ) as ' evil ' Kirk tries to take over the ship incognito , but gets caught when he tries to get the ship away from Soolu and the others ! But then there's the existential crisis of ' good ' Kirk , as he doesn't have any real resolve as a leader , except in regards to putting himself , literally it seems , back together . In a way it's kind of trashy , and I could see why one or two Trekkies might find it sub-par . But it does give Shatner lots of freedom as an actor , unlike most of the time where he inspires the best in imitators , and I liked the dichotomy of the psychology present , even as dated as it is . How does one balance the good with the bad ? Control , it seems , at least is you're James Tiberius Kirk - which includes libido . |
508,001 | 453,068 | 244,296 | 9 | maybe not the greatest spectacle , but it brings on some true star power | The Wall is , indeed , one of the most awe-inspiring feats from the 70's rock scene . It may not be Pink Floyd's best work , but on the form of ambition it could rightly rank with ( or some would argue above ) Dark Side of the Moon . It's engaging ( if a little obvious ) with its messages on education , sex , the drainage of rock and roll , psychology , and the breakdown of society through fascism . It's more of a sensory experience than something traditional , like with the Who's rock operas . So here , shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall , Roger Waters brought forth a worldwide broadcast of the wall , complete with a spectacle for millions to experience , and of course not alone . Here he is joined by such musicians as Bryan Adams , The Band ( of Last Waltz ' Band ' I mean ) , Cyndi Lauper , Joni Mitchell , Van Morrison , and the Scorpions among others . On top of this is the complete stage-show of the Wall that made waves when first done in 1980 . It's the kind of live concert one wishes was experiences in person as opposed to on the screen ; like with the live show in other venues with the complete Pink Floyd , something is lost when experienced at home ( the film is another matter , which is for my money one of the top 5 " expensive student films " ever made ) . On top of this there is also the factor of the special guests , and even the whole spectacle itself , getting in the way of what Waters does best . In fact , while he is usually singing the songs ( there's a great bit when he's in part of the Wall right before , or after , the hotel-room smashing ) , the other acts sometimes steal the show , for better or worse . Mitchell is good , the Band does a terrific job , and the Scorpions are hit or miss depending on how much of a fan you are . But that this is such an ambitious show , with such a huge , overpowering audience , is enough to suffice . The Gerald Scarfe production design / animations are a wonder to behold for the fans , and there are a few other surprises as well . There is also an interesting , if not perfect , rendition of ' the Trial sequence ' featuring a funny , scathing Tim Curry and judge played by Albert Finney . So , like other Pink Floyd or Waters endeavors , it's stretching the boundaries of what can be done , and more often than not it succeeded , in the wake of a triumphant fall of the real wall in Berlin . |
508,057 | 453,068 | 377,192 | 9 | it becomes addictive | I Love the 70s , which has in the years following its first on-air release , spawned off I Love the 80s , 90's , and their decade's sequels , is a show that is not immediately accessible , or at least wasn't for me . But the more I watched it the more I got into it . Especially because , well , I do love the 70's , however in the sense of the films , ( some of the ) music , the pop-culture stuff at times . It takes a little getting used to , perhaps , because the commentators on the shows can be a little much at times , or maybe just not too funny . But there are just some comedians or lesser-than-A-celebrities that need some time to grow on a viewer . A prime example of this is Michael Ian Black , who started out with the crew from the funny show the State , and also did Wet Hot American Summer . Here is is without a doubt the most deadpan sarcastic of the commentators , and at first it's sort of not funny . Then the more times I've watched him since , on this and the spin-offs , he's become pretty amusing . The same goes for a lot of the others on the show , which include dozens of celebrities from the period to comment on the shows , the music , the fashion , the toys , movies , and news stories that changed the decade from Vietnam to Watergate to disco and Jimmy Carter and onward . It's not Ken Burns type documentary stuff , it's just goofy entertainment that becomes good , watchable junk food TV . But that being said , it's probably one of my favorite kinds of junk-food TV on now , and is certainly one of the only things worth checking out ( at least once ) on the VH1 station . |
510,181 | 453,068 | 71,115 | 9 | Scorsese evolves into a " Hollywood " director ; Burstyn is fantastic | Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore at times might not look it to those who don't check ( or care to check ) the director credit , but Martin Scorsese - in the interim between Mean Streets and Taxi Driver - took on a film where he could prove to his detractors wrong . Indeed , Scorsese can direct anyone well , man , woman , child ( just look at Kundun if you don't believe his knack for directing non-professional along with pros , besides the point ) . In this story , Ellen Burstyn plays the title character , left abandoned with her son after her husband dies . She has to make ends meet as a waitress in Phoenix in order to make her dream for her and her son come true - getting to Monterey . Enter in that cool presence that is Kris Kristofferson , and the film goes into not-so-conventional territory ( some would argue up till the end ) . For acting students , this is one of those kinds of films one has to check out - Burstyn , in her Oscar winning role , plays between kind , angry , frightened , scared , and strong in her role , trying to break past other female types that had been around in films at the time . There is also ample room for a small role for Harvey Keitel , as a smooth talker with a bad temper . Scenes between the two of them are like method acting staples of 70's movie-making ( not to downplay Kristofferson or Diane Ladd's performances either ) . And then there's Scorsese , injecting his style sometimes without much of a trace , and sometimes so forcefully that one who knows his work well can sit up and take notice . The improvisation he lets the actors have in scenes is so delicate and precise that it adds to the reality - or the illusions - of most scenes . There is also a very funny ( in a weird way ) beginning to the film as a parody of farm-girl good times goes on . A recommended treat - those who are die-hards for the Scorsese crime films may be perplexed , but for the Lifetime TV crowd who usually wouldn't go near a Scorsese film at the video store will likely be more pleased than I was ( or maybe not - this film has as much detractors as defenders for its feminist themes ) . |
510,396 | 453,068 | 330,829 | 9 | better than I expected , and re-watchable | In watching Robin Williams's comedy specials from the 80's , I was struck by how much I didn't actually laugh . Considering it was his prime , a lot of the time I didn't quite ' get ' or really just take in most of the jokes he was doing , as a lot of them had him going out into the audience and just ragging on random people's items . Ironically enough he shines in this special , taking on so many topics it would make your head spin for me to list them all . But he's constantly moving here , like in his 80's specials , while still giving the audience some room to breathe here and there , without pounding over the head . He goes after plastic surgery , South American Soccer , the French , ( a bit before it started churning up ) the US and the Middle East / Iraq , and very memorably a tale of Jesus and his forgotten brother , Jerry . Even when one isn't laughing , it's still putting-a-grin kind of material he's working with . In the year last when he was really on fire ( he at least had one good film among three , Death to Smoochy , Insomnia , and One Hour Photo , the latter two in my top 10 of 2002 ) , for me he delivered his best in quite a long time , a wonderful comeback with enough sarcasm , energy , and curses to float a sinking boat . |
507,836 | 453,068 | 82,010 | 9 | both entertaining as a technical marvel , as comedy , and even as horror | John Landis has one of his most memorable films , as it challenges him as a director of comedy and horror , and he's rarely done better in the latter . While many of his best films are among the comedies that he directed for SNL alumni Belushi and Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy , An American Werewolf in London stands apart from those by casting David Naughton , Jenny Aguter , and Griffin Dunne in the parts - all practically unknowns then - and giving them some of the best kinds of genre roles imaginable . The two friends played by Naughton and Dunne are out on vacation , sort of , and they stumble upon a town loaded with superstition about wolves and other things . When Dunne gets killed and something , uh , peculiar happens to Naughton , it changes both of them - principally because Naughton keeps seeing Dunne , deteriorating throughout the rest of the film , even as he both turns into the werewolf ( " Beware the moon , David , beware the moon " ) and falls for a kind nurse played by Aguter . All three roles are realized well , though it might be prudent to put a lot of good will on the male leads , as they both go under Rick Baker's still show-stopping make-up jobs . This is the kind of production that could go in a few different directions , and for someone like Landis's skills it could've gone in those directions , either one , considering his background . It could have been a send-up much like his Kentucky Fried Movie . It could have been just dumb , pure camp like one of his lesser comedies of the 90s . But here he's really sticking to his guns to make it really believably scary , but also with a sly , coarse , and crude sense of humor about it . It's almost in tune to what would come a few years later with Ghostbusters , only without the mega-wit and overall mainstream appeal . It's a cult item that probably isn't seen by many as Landis's other films , yet I still remember things very well from the film years later , indelible things like the use of songs ( obvious , sure , by ' moon ' being all over the place , but everything from Van Morrison to CCR to the main Blue Moon theme used during the crossover are really dead-perfect for what's needed ) . Aside from the obvious make-up scenes , I remember being both freaked and delighted by the undead exchanges with David , especially when it finally reaches its purest absurdity in the movie theater scene . And even the ending , unlike other Landis films , is with a tinge of tragedy and sadness . This is not the ending a typical comedy director would bring , as by now we've really gotten on the side of David , the scorned protagonist turned bloody villain by way of a curse . Some of the scenes that end up cutting back to the old rural village , as I also remember it , were not my favorite scenes as they brought more of the superstitious stuff that is not necessarily needed . It's the bits with Naughton , with Dunne , and even with the lady of the film that make it worthwhile . It's fun but not too goofy or bad B-movie-like , and it's scary without being cheap . It's basically the finest synthesis yet from the filmmaker to combine his gory theatrics with his firm , cool sense of humor . It's also one of my favorite films of 1981 . |
509,172 | 453,068 | 90,685 | 9 | A great comedy | Rodney Dangerfield makes a great comic effort here as Thornton Melon , a clothing tycoon who sees that his son is hating college , so to help him out ( morale wise to the least ) he decides to become a student , with hilarious result . Formulaic in the wrong hands , but in the hands of the Rodfather , we see some great no respect comedy take place with his charm and personality ( now that's what I call marine biology ) . But the ultimate highlight is the scene with comedian / screamer Sam Kinison who brings one of the greatest scenes in comedy film history as Professor Turgeson ( of contemporary American history ) . |
511,057 | 453,068 | 407,888 | 9 | Invaluable to the Bergman buff , recommendable to one who isn't | There is a bias in my adoration of this documentary , Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie ( a companion piece to the recently released DVD box set of Bergman's " Silence of God " trilogy , featuring Through a Glass Darkly , Winter Light , and The Silence ) , in that Bergman is one my personal favorite directors from Europe . Each one of his films , even the lesser ones I've seen , are loaded with a passion for the material , for the actors , for the pure theatricality of the drama ( or , every now and then , comedy ) being presented . It takes a little while to warm up to some of his more psychologically and emotionally heavy works , like Through a Glass Darkly , Cries and Whispers , and The Passion of Anna , but after viewing at least , if not more than , a dozen of his films , the serious film lover can obtain as pure and rewarding a catharsis as from the greatest works of all time . And , like the most mature of all filmmakers , he never panders to a film-goer's level of intelligence - what you see is what you got - and either you'll like his films for their level of intense human connectedness or distance and themes , or be put off by the lack of " mainstream " movie values . This documentary , however , should be , if not as special to Bergman fans as to one who might have seen one or two of his films or none at all , a fitting volume of what it's like to make a film . From the very finish of the writing stage until its premiere , Vilgot Sjoman interviews and interjects his questions and his camera at Bergman and the production of Winter Light . Aside from learning Bergman's influences and thoughts on the story and characters ( aside from his personal connection - his father was a Lutheran priest - to the religious nature of the picture ) , the viewer sees the costume testing , the location scouting , the actual shooting process involved in one small scene , looking back once the film's shot , the editing process , and personal reflections on the directorial process . There is even the critics ' responses , which is perhaps the one downside to seeing the documentary before seeing the film it's about - you may be intrigued by the details , but you don't want to get spoiled with information . One of the great strengths of the series of interviews is that Sjoman's questions are direct , concise , and bring out details from Bergman that would be harder for other journalists to conjure up . There is so much information extracted as to what it's like to make a film , to work with the actors , to get the little things right as much as the character's emotions , when and why to cut in editing , the rhythm of a film . For a film-viewer not familiar with Bergman the doc might even turn them on to him simply by his methods and philosophies . And for the fan , such as myself , there is a lot of insight that would be missing from certain books , such as the humor that goes on between him and his actors in-between takes . It's a finite , unique time capsule of cinema , even if you don't think Winter Light is all that great . |
509,087 | 453,068 | 218,388 | 9 | a funny and inspired pilot that's later been surpassed by its endlessly creative series | The original pilot of Curb Your Enthusiasm , which I've seen a few times ( sometimes truly forgetting that it's the pilot at all , as its stylistically 75 % of the time identical to the show ) , has its share of laughs . But it is , in its own right , a slightly different animal , so to speak , when compared to its 5-season-and-running TV HBO series . It's meant as a hybrid of what David was tinkering as the main premise of what his show would be about - mainly him getting into awkward bits of circumstance and everyday things with people ( mainly with some embarrassing or just strange results ) - and his stand-up routines countered with real remarks from Seinfeld and others . Despite what it might seem as too much going on in a one hour show , he makes it work well . The improvisational style later nailed to a T in the seasons to come is a little more primitive here , but Cheryl Hinds and Jeff Garlin are pros at what they do here . There's also a plot line involving David setting up a special on HBO ( hence the stand-up ) , and then at the last moment stopping to due his " dead " step-father . Like all pilots , its got its imperfections , but its perks outweigh the valleys none-the-less . Surprising still at least in having not seen or heard a shred of David's stand-up material before is how it's actually funnier than expected . It almost makes one wonder why there isn't the occasional drop of the real stand-up stuff in the series ( but then again , the very Larry David-esquire curve balls on the show are the bits of stand-up theatrical ) . It's worth it to check out if you're a fan and pass it by one night if by chance on one of the HBO's or on DVD ; it might be funnier as well if you know some of the other little back-story bits from the show ( i . e . HBO ) . A minor display of brilliance . |
508,296 | 453,068 | 40,506 | 9 | the kind of " old-school " thriller that could thrill today's moviegoers just as much as back then | With an all-star cast from the period - Bogie , Bacall , EG Robinson , Lionel Barrymore - and one of the most successful studio auteur's ever , John Huston , it's not too much to wonder that there is a bit of a high expectation before watching a film like Key Largo . I watched it very late one night , and did not feel tired for a moment . This is the kind of thriller that takes its time in the storytelling with enough attitude and specific scenes with pathos that add to its appeal . Bogie's character comes down to Florida to see an old friend , an old man in Lionel Barrymore . It's at a hotel that also features Barrymore's daughter , played by Bacall , and Claire Trevor as well . But then gangsters , led by Rocco ( Rosbinson ) , break in holding everyone hostage , even as a hurricane rages on outside . I would be inclined to note , as some other reviewers have , that the tendency for Robinson & / or Bogart to go with scenery chewing is almost a given of the dish that's served . But for fans of the two iconic masculine Hollywood figures , Key Largo is an essential viewing . Robinson especially has one of his very best turns as Rocco , a gangster without much remorse or sympathy , though some of his weaker side starts to show as the hurricane outside impedes further on their plans . A lot of the film , in actuality , is talk , and the film was even once a play . What Huston as a director is able to get right are the subtleties of certain scenes ( even Bogart's presence as a star is subdued at times with its supporting players , especially Barrymore ) . One that stands out for me is when Robisnon forces Trevor to sing , which she does with more emotion and fear than talent . I also loved the way the people outside of the hotel were left to fend against the storm and Rocco's insistence to keep them out - rather tragic in the midst of the rest of the story , really . But , when the film does pick up the pace with the action or thrills , the audience is not left unsatisfied after many scenes of back and forth dialog that rings as very ' movie-like ' ( " You don't like it , do you Rocco , the storm ? Show it your gun , why don't you ? If it doesn't stop , shoot it . ) The scenes towards the end on the boat are some of the better scenes Huston's done with the tension and excitement that he can stir up in his thrillers . Key Largo in the end turns up to be one of those full-on classics of the Hollywood Golden age that may not be seen as much as some of the other Bogart films or even his work with Bacall ( I would bet more have seen The Big Sleep than Key Largo ) . But I would definitely say for future filmmakers who want to get into the action genre or the blockbuster to take a look at this picture , that starts off with solid characterization - that we truly care about the good guys and despise the bad guys - and concludes with a good bang . And some hefty atmosphere on part of the hurricane doesn't hurt either . |
509,836 | 453,068 | 1,084,950 | 9 | Demme back in fine form and Hathaway with her first really fantastic performance | This pitch-black-comedy-cum-drama , Rachel Getting Married , bucks two kinds of marriage movies that are fairly common in the two sides of release : one is the schmaltzy , dumb mainstream rom-com like Maid of Honor or The Wedding Planner where A-List actors go in the motions of a batch of conventions-by-checklist , and the other is a glum , mean indie picture like Margot at the Wedding ( can't think of others right now like it's ilk , wouldn't want to ) . What helps it make it not just watchable , or appealing , but a very good movie , is the fact that the screenplay - by Sidney's daughter Jenny Lumet ( as every critic has noted ) - is very true to the tragic dimensions amid such a hectic weekend at a Connecticut , upper-middle class house where a wedding will take place with some bad memories and skeletons opened in the process . In fact , for all of Jonathan Demme's efforts to give it a raw and spontaneous energy - he's said it's akin to Altman but I sensed more-so Cassavetes - his approach works best , even at a rough-edged masterful level , when characters are talking / arguing / yelling in a room . Lumet's story involves the title character ( Rosemarie DeWitt ) in a weekend where there's much happiness for her and her to-be-spouse , and a good lot of tension because of her sister , Kym ( Hathaway ) , getting out of rehab for the weekend to come to the occasion . To say she's the black sheep is somewhat sugar-coating it , and nearly every moment Hathaway is on camera ( or , somewhat in the Altman mode , Demme manages to catch her off-guard in a moment or with a look ) is electrifying , by far her best performance if only because she finally has a character to really dig her ' acting ' heels into . It could be very easy , too easy , to make it a walking / bitching cliché , but Hathaway finds those moments , especially off of DeWitt or in one important scene with Debra Winger as her absentee mother , to make it as honest as possible . Although she is just one part of the component of the ensemble - what Demme focuses as an ensemble - it makes the film all the more remarkable than without her playing this troubled young woman with a past that puts a dark cloud over everyone around her . And around this theme of too much or ill-placed love in a family that should be nothing but happiness , Demme makes it both warm and sad in equal measure . Maybe I'm more of a sucker for harrowing familial scenes or a solid hand-held argument ala Husbands and Wives , but those come off a bit better than the bigger scenes of fun and excitement and enjoyment in the actual wedding proceedings . But just a bit - Demme's approach comes somewhere in the range of a home movie and , once or twice , reality TV , and it's a quality that , when not overboard , is really refreshing and inviting . Demme is fascinated by this multi-cultural group , with its eclectic music and irreproachable camaraderie , and he asks us to be fascinated and enjoy it with the characters . This is the only tricky part of the picture , but one I wasn't daunted by ; there's a real " indie-movie " spark here that's indescribable . At the end of it all , I'll remember Rachel Getting Married more as an exceptional experiment than a truly great film , but anyone completely sick of seeing ads for sappy marriage comedies or films that treat the families or people gearing up for a wedding like paper figures would do themselves a favor seeking it out . It is , in a square enough word , lively . |
508,182 | 453,068 | 48,198 | 9 | what is an existential threat in a post-nuclear age ? Kurosawa asks this in near-excellent film | In any other hands the weight of the subject matter of I Live in Fear ( or Record of a Living Being , which may or may not be the more accurate title ) would be handled with the ham-fisted pounding-over-the-head drive of a Paul Haggis . Under Akira Kurosawa's direction , however , there's somehow subtlety , or at least ambiguity , in how the characters are depicted in the scope of the message . It might have even seemed a little more dated - total blind fear and paranoia about the possibility of the bomb falling down and wiping out civilization - if not for the current state of affairs , in some parts of the world , regarding terrorism . What is it to be loaded up , whether it's from seeing it first hand ( which isn't to downplay the tragedy of that experience ) or being affected by media hype or propaganda , and made to believe that getting murdered in such a way to consider it an existential threat ? How does one contemplate something , like nuclear threats or terrorism ? Mifune's character , in a sense , might not be totally wrong . It's nothing to be ashamed of to take precautions to protect your family ( in ten years Kiichi Nakajima has had the H-Bomb threat on his mind ) . It's the extreme nature that throws his big family for a loop - taking everyone off to Brazil ( you know , like the song , as well as South America ) - to avoid the nuclear fallout from the presumed bomb drop . This includes a bitter family battle over his right to do this , or to sell the factory he owns and his family and others work at , and just how much to take him seriously . What ends up happening in Kurosawa's treatment of Nakajima isn't hitting you over the head with its message , be it that there is a big danger of the bomb or that you need to take care of the mentally ill no matter if they're right or wrong . It's about Nakajima in the scope of his family . The H-bomb fear is real for him , but it's seen by the family in a split vision - some will go wherever he wants to , and some want him committed and look to pilfer his will - that brings the drama . In fact , as one of Kurosawa's lessor seen works ( i . e . not as well-known as his classics from the 50s Seven Samurai , Ikiru ) , it's one of his most compelling . And Kurosawa has two gambles that he takes with the film , the kind that if they go wrong will affect the film in a negative way . The first is Mifune's performance . At first one might think he's playing it without much dimension , but there's something about his physical transformation that makes it a unique performance - almost an embodiment , to say it pretentious-like - one that makes Nakajima a purely neurotic character , with his big round glasses , buzz-cut hair , and grizzled , old look . We've never seen Mifune like this , and he adds great little note to a career that seems to be filled with mostly BIG performances ( i . e . Throne of Blood ) or star vehicles . There's that extra bit of effort , as Kurosawa does in the writing and spare direction , to add some humanity to a part that should be cut and dry . Anyone who wants to see Mifune the ' actor ' , should check out this or Samurai Rebellion for sure , as opposed to the ' bad-ass ' of Yojimbo . The second thing is the music , or what appears to be a lack thereof . The original composer apparently died midway through and was replaced , but it's ironic since I don't notice much of a music score at all during the film . There's the opening theme , which is quite extraordinary , but a lot of times we're just left in these awkward , tense dramatic scenes ( like the Office , only not funny ) . Unlike other Kurosawa small-scale dramas where the music is piled on a bit ( Scandal comes to mind ) , this is just very bare-bones in relation to the material . It's a little startling after a while , but it works . |
510,357 | 453,068 | 1,322,287 | 9 | Peace On Earth - Colbert style | Stephen Colbert's Christmas Special - The Greatest Gift of All ! ( soon to be out on DVD , naturally ) - sticks to two things at once : the tenets of the Colbert Report's rigorous and silly-cum-satirical bits on the religious right and Conservatives an other little tidbits that people who watch the Colbert Report know ( like , for example , Stephen's problem with " BEARS ! " ) , and to mocking the traditions of shoddy and schmaltzy Christmas and holiday specials . In a sense this is the opposite of the Star Wars Holiday Special , though not off at all on the laugh-count , in that the Star Wars fiasco was unintentionally hilarious while , of course , Colbert hits it on the mark again and again . His attitude here is one of running gags ( " Misteltoe ! " ) , over-zealous Christmas and nativity worship ( Toby Keith doing an actually funny song on Christmas-time pride and Willie Nelson as the 4th wise man crooning on about smoking pot for the Lord ) , and some gentle prodding at the " other " big holiday of the season ( no , not " America's Christmas : 4th of July " , Hannukah , featuring Jon Stewart's words of wisdom ) . Granted , it helps if one watches the Colbert Report a lot and is a fan , but a good deal of those who tune into Comedy Central likely are and will find it as entertaining as it means to be , even when an occasional song falls flat like the last number ( yes , the piano duet with Stephen and Elvis is clever in lyrics but just not funny ) or when one could actually pass for a Christmas song like John Legend's Nutmeg ( after all , there is Lil ' John , so enough said there ) . But it's little moments and giant / exaggerated facial expressions from Colbert that steal the show among the many cheerfully obvious bits of dialog , such as the reaction to the bear or the crazily inspired feat of George Wendt's appearance . So , load up on eggnog , turn on Comedy Central ( or pop in the DVD if it comes to it ) and croon along and stomp your feet to an awesome holiday treat . |
509,454 | 453,068 | 83,702 | 10 | a hybrid documentary of an incredible , relentlessly reckless story of film-making , and of a little anthropology too | Werner Herzog , the filmmaker behind Fitzcarraldo that the director Les Blank is documenting ( in part ) with his Burden of Dreams , says that he has no interest in making a documentary about the Natives that are all around throughout the filming , who are apart of the cast as extras and also do labor . I wonder if Blank had intended to make his documentary with them as well , but here we have Burden of Dreams going between states of mind , of one mind-set being one of the most troubled and ambitious auteur projects of the past half century in film , and another mind-set being the people . In a sense , that line Dr . Lecter quotes from Marcus Aurelius in Silence of the Lambs comes to mind - what is it's nature ? In this case , the ' nature ' is of not just one specific thing but a few : what is the nature of the jungle ( or rather the nature of nature ) , the nature of a tribe of people who could see this film crew and this director with his insatiable visions as something quite alien , and vice-versa at times , and the nature of film-making in general , particularly a film that by the dictations of the script and the wills of its director demand to go for the impossible . It's almost no wonder at one point that Herzog says , " I shouldn't make films anymore , I should be in a lunatic asylum . " While not everything that could go wrong on a film goes wrong on Fitzcarraldo - the making of it I mean , not the film , of which I've yet to actually see myself - but it comes close . Along with Hearts of Darkness and Lost in La Mancha , Blank's film ranks as a contender for showing the most chaotic film production imaginable , but perhaps outdoes the others with Blank's purer skills as a documentarian . One might almost hope at times that Blank might editorialize , but there's none of that here . The narration as well just gives the facts as if reading out of a film magazine . And what's extraordinary though is that you don't need to see Fitzcarraldo to understand what the film's about through this one . The story is , as Herzog describes , about opera in the jungle , and how an obsessed opera fan ( played by Klaus Kinski ) decides to lug his ship over a mountain so he can build an opera in the jungle . Soon , however , Blank shows that this very act becomes an even more daunting task / metaphor than Herzog might have intended , but never do we see him decide to just give up . " I live my life or I end my life with this picture , " Herzog says . It would be one thing if Blank just looked at the film-making process from start to finish with Fitzcarraldo , and I imagine Blank probably had enough footage to make for an even longer film just covering the odds & ends of filming . But we as the viewer soon come to realize that to make Fitzcarraldo requires an understanding of the people behind it , not just the main man behind it , but of the tribe . It's interesting to note that the natives Herzog uses the first time around show one side of the ' nature ' of what comes in filming in foreign territory : they attack the film crew , forcing Herzog to find a new location . This first major set-back is only covered briefly early on in the film , but it fascinated me how Herzog still remained undeterred , even though it ended up taking him another year to settle on the final locations . Then Blank turns his camera on the natives lending their support ( for more money than they usually get with the usual labor they work for ) , and it's done sometimes with the same care of getting great glimpses of the culture , of what habits and customs are with them ( like the alcohol / fruit that's a given for them ) , and how the tensions start to rise as the film backs up . Blank's camera is terrifically poised in these moments , and he ends up also getting a fine comparison between the film crew itself . Only Kinski , who I would think would be the only person more of interest , is usually left out , which is disappointing . But the real excitement is seeing the daily struggles of filming , and how the boat-over-the-mountain metaphor becomes apart of this struggle , be it something small like getting a rubber-skewer right ( which is very funny ) , or in getting that toughest of shots at the " magic hour " of the dusk . And the problems keep mounting , until what we see is a filmmaker almost too reckless for his own good , yet perhaps for his own sanity as well . I can't imagine what might have happened to Werner Herzog had he not taken that final shot , or if he had , like Coppola to an extent with Apocalypse Now , sort of succumbed to the jungle's dangers like a Conrad character . What we end up seeing of Herzog is perhaps a man under the duress and total stress of film-making - or total control , who can say - but even when he's at his bleakest statements , it's never boring or pretentious to hear what Herzog has to say about the jungle or the people or to see how he directs . And around Herzog , and that giant boat , and the natives and the jungle , Blank creates the kind of behind-the-scenes documentary unique , where psychology and anthropology get brilliant put into the context of ' filming dreams ' , as it were . |
510,656 | 453,068 | 427,312 | 10 | a kind of master's class in a schizo documentary - sometimes quite amusing and entertaining , other times very somber and depressing | This documentary , written , directed , and narrated by German madman maestro Werner Herzog , has very little in it that isn't worth seeing , and at its best brings some of the most captivating , candid , and entertaining documentary footage of the year . The subject matter is an environmentalist / bear nut named Timothy Treadwell , a nobody who became a kind of weird celebrity for living each summer on an Alaskan wildlife preservation with Grizzly bears . He also documented a lot of his time on the island , which Herzog chooses wisely for his film on him . Treadwell may or may not have totally believed a fate like death among his co-habitants would come ( there is one scene where he says he'd die for them , another when he says he's safe ) . But his fate did come , along with his girlfriends , rather grisly as we hear from the details ( which , wisely , we never see ) . One is tempted to comment on Treadwell , as he is ( much as with Herzog's protagonists in his fiction films ) possessive , ambitious , naive , dazed , emotional , but somehow in tune with his own sense of nature and the ways of the world . Herzog himself comments a good deal on Treadwell , when he agrees with him , when he doesn't ( Herzog , as Roger Ebert pointed out , does have a bleak world-view as opposed to Treadwell's overly optimistic one ) . What one can comment on is the execution of the material . We get interviews with Treadwell's close friends ( one platonic , one not ) , the people who found his and his girlfriend's bodies in the forest , and a couple of nearby experts ( one Native American comments on how Treadwell did what they had never done in 7 , 000 years , to cross a boundary that was respected ) . Herzog also gives us majestic , spacious images of Alaskan wilderness , and gives some ample time for footage of the bears and foxes . If not for Treadwell's rather high & low nature ( as a friend comments ) , this might be a very standard documentary on a bear expert . But because of the documentary - or near television hosting footage ( I sometimes felt like I was seeing a nicer , if stranger version , of the Croc Hunter ) - of Treadwell on camera by himself , the film gets another dimension . It's also a help that in combating the grim reality of what became of him ( Herzog's narration is this rather sad , if praising side ) , it's rather funny to see Treadwell in his behavior on screen . In some subtle ways he's in a more ' normal ' state of mind than the rest of us - he loves his bears ( whom , by the way , he gave names to ; he stands his ground against the occasional poachers ) ; he has that mix of sentimentality and rawness that is needed to live for so long in the wilderness . The absurdity of it usually brings the laughs , but even behind them there is always a constant curiosity about him . We learn that he wanted to be an actor , which lead to a bad , near fatal spell before his ' bear ' retreat , acting as more of a spiritual catalyst more than anything else . Even if some of this footage is a little zany , over-the-top , or may go far on his name , it is honest to a kind of schizo degree . We almost wouldn't want Treadwell to be normal , and go figure - Herzog would have no interest in him . In the end , despite Herzog's comments ( which aren't the best parts of the film to me ) , his film tries not to pass judgment on Treadwell , letting his actions and other testimonies speak for themselves . And , if nothing else , it's compulsively ( for a certain movie-viewer ) watchable . |
509,834 | 453,068 | 372,784 | 10 | a spectacular re-invention of the series , 2nd ( or perhaps as good as ) Burton's 89 vision | It's always a challenge to take material from the comic to the screen , and to make it powerful enough , and entertaining enough , without getting overly preachy with the material , getting hyper kinetic with the action , or worst of all losing your audience . The last Batman film , Batman & Robin , committed the later crime , and put a stigma on the franchise for several years . But now there is Christopher Nolan , talented director behind the cult favorite Memento , and the under-rated Insomnia remake of 2002 , who has taken the origins of the Dark Knight into a different direction , or at least to a better one . His film , Batman Begins , has the power , has the entertainment , and it doesn't cheat its target audience ( the die-hard Batman fans ) or the general public . There isn't as much humor as the first film ( this film's only tiny liability ) , but there is that genuine dark sensibility that can take in kids as well as adults . That the story and characters are as important as the action sequences and fights is another bonus . The cast Nolan has put together is no less better than expected . Christian Bale is , arguably , a more compelling Bruce Wayne / Batman than Michael Keaton , or at the least he tries to put some feeling into his performance in ways that either Keaton didn't do or just in a different way . Since Nolan has license to reinvent the series , he changes around certain elements with Batman's origin ( that I will not reveal here ) , and it brings about some changes in the line-up . Michael Caine is a good butler Alfred ; Morgan Freeman is dependable as always as Batman's supplier ; Gary Oldman this time is Gordon ; and Nolan is also wise in not only Bruce's quasi-love interest ( played by Katie Holmes , not too bad ) , but also in character actors like Tom Wilkinson and Cillian Murphy as Dr . Crane . And there's also Liam Neeson , in an unlikely ( though maybe familiar - Star Wars / Kingdom of Heaven ? ) mentor for Wayne to form his alter-ego . Simply this - Batman Begins works because as a summer popcorn action blockbuster , it's definitely not too dumb or tire-bound in clichés ( not that there aren't a few , which is a given ) , and it keeps enough adrenaline and surprises with the action / set pieces . The classic , Gothic look of Burton's films is gone for the most part , but what's replaced by Nolan is often creepy and urban ( if at least a consistent color of browns ) , which gives Gotham a cool edge ; sometimes I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't . And I liked how Nolan did certain things with the structure of the story early on - which is his specialty as a true-blue professional - in a kind of non-linear way , keeping the audience off balance but not too much to know where things were headed . Basically , if you've been waiting over ten years for a Batman movie that works , this is it . |
509,499 | 453,068 | 52,561 | 10 | one fine courtroom drama : epic , cool , extremely well-plotted and acted | Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder features a cast of some big stars ( Jimmy Stewart , George C . Scott ) , and some notable character players ( Ben Gazarra , Lee Remick , the underrated Murray Hamilton and Orson Bean ) , but the real big attraction for audience's is its 100 % absorbing story and whole lot of characters ( and , sometimes , those aforementioned actors playing them ) . It might remind some younger viewers of Law & Order , with it bearing a resemblance to Dick Wolf's show that is beat for beat as its sole fixation on the Facts In The Case . But unlike L & O , where any characterization is pretty much one-dimensional , Anatomy of a Murder is chock-full of development on the personalities , even for characters that appear on the witness stand for no more than five minutes . Preminger also has the daring to add some touches of comedy , or at least some ( for the time ) risqué humor and language that rises it not simply above other more standard pictures , but into a realm of truth that reflects what it's like to be in a court-room for a case such as this ( i . e . when the judge addresses the courtroom about the use of the word " panties " , he's also addressing the audience - don't giggle , it's a serious word . . . even if you might giggle for it being almost self-conscious ) . The premise itself , ' the core ' of it for lack of a better term as from what Stewart's lawyer uses at one point , is something out of vintage L & O : an ex army lieutenant ( Gazarra ) with a possible penchant for tempers and jealousy , kills a man who raped his wife one night driving her home from a bar . Guilty of the murder ? Not quite , says Stewart's defense attorney and jazzman Biegler , who goes for the temporary insanity defense . But past this premise , Preminger crafts a fascinating study of how character reflects everything during a trial , including ( maybe even especially ) that of the attorneys in question , who start to " provide the wisecracks " as the Judge says in deadpan . At first the case looks open and shut , but there's a lot more to it than meets the eye , and not just in the traditional form of a courtroom drama where there's a last-minute twist and some surprises in store for the jury and other attendees in the courtroom . And , sure , there is the former of those , but everything builds up not based solely on the facts , but on what is revealed , the underlying tension and anxiety for all parties involved . Stewart , of course , is up to task in one of his quintessential performances . But least not forget Gazarra in a role that should've nabbed him an Oscar , and for Remick who's Laura is both sultry and vulnerable . And who can't love seeing Hamilton ( the mayor from Jaws ) on the stand , or George C . Scott give a somewhat subdued portrayal that provides one of the slickest , most cunning prosecution parts in movies . He literally oozes his character's big-city gumption . Chock-full of snappy dialog that doesn't feel like it's been written for the usual MOVIE crowds ( i . e . it is still a movie , but there's a lot that doesn't feel forced or contrived ) , and scenes that deliver on shifting tones between comedy and melodrama on a dime , Anatomy of a Murder is a near masterpiece . It even goes so far as to appear to have a happy ending , and then give just the hint of ambiguity , or inasmuch that we as the audience , unlike the jury , can't be totally sure what the outcome really is . It has its cake and eats it too , all to one of the great jazz scores in cinema by Mr . Ellington . |
510,537 | 453,068 | 316,599 | 10 | a gripping , relentlessly bleak tale of Yakuza self-destruction | Takashi Miike has a knack at Yakuza thrillers . Some might not be very good , some might be some odd sorts of deranged masterpieces . But with Graveyard of Honor , I can only imagine how fantastic the original Kinji Fukasaku film from the 70s was if this might possibly be Miike's best " serious " Yakuza movie . This is to say that Miike turns down a somewhat typical level of madcap gore and humor for an approach that is kind of staggering , as though Cassavetes had some input on the screenplay ( or Abel Ferrara ala Bad Lieutenant for that matter ) . It's a solid piece of drama of a man , Rikuo Ishimatsu ( in a performance that , within the range , is one of a lifetime from Gorô Kishitani ala young Mifune ) , who unwittingly becomes apart of a crime family after saving its boss while working as a dishwasher . He serves some time for attempting to kill another gangster , he gets out , the years pass and he gets bitter , and in a fit of panic he bites the hand that feeds him - he shoots his own boss . From here on it's a path right to hell that Ishimatsu takes . Already one has seen him as a character with some demons he has trouble quelling . He's tough , maybe too tough , and doesn't have much of a sense of humor ( which includes around his woman , a timid creature who soon gets into the dank mess that Ishimatsu puts himself into ) . He also turns into a full-fledged junkie , and burns more bridges than one could ever fathom . What Miike crafts here is something that might not be his most inventive work , but it displays him as someone who has the range to plunge into real bloodshed and tragedy . It's almost the reversal of the cartoonish mayhem of Ichi the Killer - where that you almost were given permission to chuckle at the carnage and excess of violence , in Graveyard of Honor it's grim , ugly , the blood flowing hard and with bodies writhing in total agony . It's a rare instance for the director to present things about as realistic as he'll get , in edgy hand-held and compositions . But there is some style that Miike puts , appropriately and with an creative sensibility , on the material . The music crooning on and off is like that of New York jazz from the late 50s and early 60s , and I'm almost reminded of some lucid nightmare of a beatnik on junk ala William S . Burroughs and pulp fiction . As the downward spiral continues for this character , even if it starts to seem unlikely that it would go this far ( the escape from prison alone , intense for the self-inflicted horror done to himself , is just enough to swallow ) , we go right down with this character in his oblivion . It's hard to turn away , and there are moments that are gruesome not so much for what's shown , which can be a lot , but the emotional impact . Not to sound pretentious , but I'm almost reminded of some damned Shakespearan king or something , only here it's a sensibility of total unadulterated nihilism that propels Ishimatsu to his horror of an end . On the surface , it doesn't feel a whole lot different from other Miike Yakuza fare . Yet it's a little maturer , a little more tightly crafted and developed with the characters , and it has the mood of a filmmaker working outside of his reputation as a showman or provocateur . It's a real movie , one of the best in the Yakuza realm . |
508,391 | 453,068 | 61,184 | 10 | probably one of the best arguments for why AA should exist ; volatile , overwrought drama at its richest | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf leaves no scabs or stones unturned with the characters . George and Martha are a couple who have a marriage that is truly love-hate . They can never be called too unemotional , though to say whether or not they're being truthful at all in the ' games ' they play with married Nick and Honey is a little trickier . Martha invited them - at her father's insistence ( he IS the chairman of the university George and Nick are professors ) - at two in the morning for a quick drink . Or rather , make that many drinks , like chain drinking , if one could call it that , where George and Martha prove themselves as pros in that area , with a bitter slang or enraged bout of bile at one or the other . This goes on the rest of the night , also leading to a roadhouse on the way to drive a flustered Nick and hammered Honey home , and then it starts all over again , with Nick and Honey picking up the tortured and , as well , fractured personalities of this middle-aged couple . Bitter , enraptured , hateful , and , in a way , also sort of filling a void , George and Martha become two of the most powerful characters in modern drama . Edward Albee's play is full of the kind of stinging dialog that made it controversial in the 1960s , and today it still retains its potential for hitting its characters on to the audience in a shockingly overwrought and , in connection with this , very funny manner . How can one not cringe and give a laugh of relief / perplexity when George goes to get a shotgun after getting p-o'd by Martha and then opening it up to everyone's shock as . . . an umbrella ! There's a dementia to these characters , but it's one that makes for the kind of drama that is lacerating and , as off-putting as the guessing game that the son element becomes in the equation ( dead or not dead ? ) , it somehow works . This was before most dramas of today are made with that big colossal twist that suddenly jolts the characters into perspective . Here , it just makes them more human and fallible and deconstructed . As Mike Nichols directs it , he doesn't shy from getting personal with his angles , close and intrinsic as , in a weird way comparable with , Bergman's Persona , also released that year . What Nichols and Albee present for audiences is a logical next step following other plays from before them that broke ground from the likes of Miller , Beckett and , especially , Williams - it's more adult , or rather more for mature audiences ( the first quasi rated R movie ever released ) , and it hits to a cynical nerve that was further gestating by this time in America , that everything would not be alright in the American marriage , that something , as Martha says , will " SNAP ! " It should also be mentioned , acting here is classic , fearless . Burton and Taylor have rarely been as good as they are at digging so deep into these characters that , especially with Burton , we can't imagine these people being anyone else . It takes a little to get used to Segal and Sandy Dennis ( the latter because her character isn't quite as " deep " as the others ) , but then again their characters are the uncomfortable outsiders , " us " as one might say ( however , as the play peels the layers away from the characters they're all rotten and ultimately very vulnerable instead of just " normal " ) . It packs a punch , it jiggles its little glass full of bourbon or brandy or gin , and as a first feature from its director it could only get better from here . It's a dangerously fun , dangerously emotionally violent picture . Will look forward to seeing it next time it's on TV |
510,173 | 453,068 | 462,504 | 10 | one of Herzog's very best ; it's totally gripping storytelling , stellar performances , touches of great humor and true pathos | What a way to have a little counter-programming this July 4th ! In a time when the summer blockbuster means sequels and remakes galore delivering high powered special effects but not much human soul , we need a picture with Dieter Dengler as the ' hero ' of sorts . It's the closest Herzog has gotten to telling a story of the purest kind of survival , where it's not about a guy out to kill all the bad guys in sight ala Rambo , but in its harrowing way much more extraordinary . As played by Christian Bale , who goes once again to be totally gaunt , Dengler is a pilot who's been stripped of everything except for his will to live - which he has in spades , and is both very strong and vulnerable at the same time . Strong in the sense that he's capable of organizing an escape for himself and his fellow prisoners ( including an unforgettable Steve Zahn - yes , unforgettable , not the usual tenor for Zahn , and Jeremy Davies , looking very much like Charles Manson ) , vulnerable enough to get close to Zahn's Dwight , leading to very sad results . LIke any great POW movie , Herzog does give his film many moments that aren't totally tension filled or with exposition relating to escape : there's humor , like with a prison guard who's a midget named Jumbo , or a dog with a few hind-leg walking skills , or the one prisoner who doesn't say a word but conveys " yes " without even nodding . He even has the wisdom to put the same educational short from Little Dieter Needs to Fly , for soldiers explaining what to do in case put behind enemy lines , only this time with the soldiers giving their own raucous commentary on the ship . And in what could be considered " conventional " in the sense that it's not totally abstract like Fata Morgana or wildly bleak like Aguirre , his style a lot of the time is that of a skilled professional as opposed to the great experimenter he can be . The documentary approach is still there , to be sure , but what's most fascinating considering the studio backing and slew of producers is that it never feels false as a Herzog film , that it still has the technique and approach to telling an epic story that his 8-man crewed films did . There were also many shots that I had rolling in my head long after the film ended . Featuring appropriately an emotional musical score , exceptional performances , and that good old jungle that's served as one of Herzog's love / hate facets of his career , Rescue Dawn is accessible entertainment that is also profound as a tale loaded with the kinds of ugly details ( though not too graphic in PG-13 form ) that wouldn't ever get by in the usual sentimental Hollywood malarkey . A must-see . |
509,031 | 453,068 | 1,334,272 | 10 | Just as amazing as part 1 | Basically , if you saw and loved the first Robot Chicken : Star Wars special ( or , for that matter , if you saw it and hated it ) , you'll know what you're in for with this second part . It just continues on with more parodies of more things that will be known to casual fans and the die-hards . Sometimes , in fact , I can't seem to remember what some segments are from what special , since if you watch the two 30-minute episodes back to back it makes it feel complete . Then again , there are a few truly memorable things about this one ( I believe this one had Lando Calrissian's very badly times joke : " Who has two thumbs and betrayed his friends ? This guy ! Oh . . . too soon . " ) , or the whole bit involving that black-ball probe droid or whatever it's called . But the best thing of all is a running " plot " with the bounty hunters ad Boba Fett , leading up to a hilarious display of masculine pathetic prowess as Fett tries to show off to another guy trapped with him in the Sarlac pit . If for nothing else , for anyone on a level of Star Wars fandom , the opening with the Ewoks is worth your time scanning around on Cartoon Network ( or , for that matter , if and when they release Episode 2 on DVD ) . It's silly , stupid , sophomoric , and clever as all hell - like the show itself , if you're in the right mood and frame of mind for the sense of parody , it's bliss . |
508,355 | 453,068 | 105,151 | 10 | the reality of the making of the un-reality of Hollywood | Once The Player's end credits rolled , I was shaken , but in the kind of way that you are when you hear a really sly , long joke by someone who knows what they're telling is not hysterical but still has a wicked knack that will stay with you or gnaw at your side . Robert Altman's the Player , one of his very best films ( maybe his best ) made since the 1970's , is as much about the detached , perfunctory nature of these characters as it is a story of a murdering writing executive . It's not a satire in the sense of Dr . Strangelove ; there's nothing that's over the top for the audience . But it does get in some notes , practically without any pretense of going about it otherwise , about the sterility of modern Hollywood . As a film buff , while watching this movie I'm not even bowled over by the numerous cameo appearances by Hollywood's main stars and wonderful character actors . That's because Altman , while being un-obtrusive of what the actors are doing on screen , has his focus set very carefully , and it's in this precise kind of mode that it works best . It's not to say Altman's style doesn't have its own voice , and some of the shots in the film - self conscious no doubt - bring out the anti-Hollywood while Hollywood ideas . And working in the framework , not the dependence , of the story lets some interesting things of reality go on . When you see this 8-minute long take at the start of the film , it's getting the music of the film going right away , of the ' money-talks , BS-continues ' attitude of a Hollywood studio , not just of the main character Griffin Mill ( Tim Robbins ) . It may be ' just a movie ' , but it's also one with this constant feel of life going on , as Altman , through Tokin's screenplay , is a fly on the wall as it were . We see Mill , a writing executive , go through a rough patch with a certain writer ( Vincent D'Onofrio ) who hasn't heard back from him in a while . When a harsh accident occurs , Mill has to keep moving , not just with his job or his details of the night the two had , but with the writer's girlfriend ( Greta Scacchi ) who start an affair . Altman once said , quite famously , once casting is complete 80 % of his work is done . The Player is one of those major examples in Altman's career , and despite the fact that most , if not all , of the supporting actors ( who may or may not also be in their cameo roles ) are sublime in their roles ( Goldberg , Scacchi , Lyle Lovett , and especially Cynthia Stevnenson ) , it's a key Robbins turn . His career has often had roles where he can lay in a naturalness that other actors might not have gone for . He also fits the role of Griffin Mill much as he did for Andy Dufresne and Dave in Mystic River . Here he has a perfect quality in this character to , as Ebert pointed out , not be un-likable even as he is not a good person . I loved the little facial gestures , the seemingly controlled stares , and the small moments where his upper class facade starts to wear down beneath the bloodless business of making movie deals . His could be for some the only reason to see the film , and rightfully so , as I really don't think Altman would've been able to pull it off with another . It does almost add to what could be frustration for some by the end of the film to see what happens to him , but it actually is after thinking about it more even more satisfying an ending . A question the film ponders for this character is - if he can survive the reality when all he wants is a happy ending in the stories he hears ? And through this simplicity some compositions and scenes are quite remarkable ; that one single shot of a certain close-up of a sex scene not only plays brilliantly off of a script description earlier , but is one of the best scene-shots I've seen in recent movies . Very well done , if not for everyone . |
510,661 | 453,068 | 436,078 | 10 | for a certain comedy fan , it's the funniest film of the year ; Lenny Bruce would be proud | I say that part about Lenny Bruce being proud of this movie for a few reasons , and one is the sheer freedom of saying anything , and using whatever can work and really going as far as possible to make the joke funny ( George Carlin has also said this , that context is crucial ) . Another reason would be that the film-making style , much as in the structure of the aristocrats joke , is very improvisational , like jazz , and keeps people in their toes if not bursting with laughter . And another reason , more important and maybe not obvious , is that the film as with the jokes / comics , won't appeal to everybody - it shouldn't . But the fact that there are these dozens of comedians ( hundreds off camera as well ) who are well versed in this joke and its reputation its garnered over the years in their ' circle ' is a testament to the power of humor . I love great stand up comics , and the more random the jokes become , the more twisted and surreal and absurd the details are , the funnier it is . The Aristocrats includes many scenes that literally had me rolling in my seats . Indeed , like listening to jazz , once the film is over you may not remember many of the specifics of the jokes , but you remember like with a Mel Brooks film , what were the best parts with the joke tellers . Some of the highlights for me were from Carlin , Kevin Pollack , Bob Saget ( yes , Bob Saget ) , a 1st rate mime , Andy Richter , Robin Williams , a South Park clip of Cartman , Otto & George ( George being a puppet ) , and Gilbert Gottfried among others . Each one brings their own form of uproarious gifts , and take this joke that's from the vaudeville days and keep it fresh and alive . As I said , this film isn't for everyone , which is probably why its not in a wide release or given a rating by the MPAA ( in a way it shouldn't either , it goes beyond rating ) , but unlike a film like the Passion of the Christ , which could easily offend from the violence , the Aristocrats has the power to offend , or not offend , just from words . They're only words , but the strength and rapid fire behind the words is what counts . As the comics and other go through the kind of history and specifics of telling the joke , it leads into telling it themselves , sometimes its a little weak , sometimes its golden . But its for a particular comic fan who'll love this movie , who'll go into it ready for anything , not afraid that they might walk out in the first ten minutes ( and there were a couple of people who did when I saw it ) . It might of been too long if it didn't keep its momentum going for its audience , yet it keeps it up through the end credits . Basically , this is the kind of film to see with your friends so that when its over you can walk out talking and laughing about the film , much as you would after walking out a good comedy club . It's dense , it's fast-paced , dry , disgusting , over-the-top , poignant , crude , and wild . So , it is the sort of dream of Lenny Bruce brought to the forefront on screen - comedy can be an art when free reign is given , and even as desensitizing may go further along through the next century , the power to shock ( or as Carlin says ' surprise ' ) never gets tired . |
509,969 | 453,068 | 83,658 | 10 | One of the best looking films of the 80's from Ridley Scott | One thing can't be denied about the sci-fi epic Blade Runner : it's look of the future , while possibly not totally original , is original in tone and has things to look for in nearly every scene . At it's worst , Scott's picture is eye-candy , but tasty bits of candy I add . Ford plays the title character here , as an ex blade runner who is recruited back to track down the androids who are becoming human . Then the plot unfolds with him changing , and things around him as well . The story and characters may not appeal to everyone ( it might grow on multiple viewings as it did for me ) , yet the action , intensity and feel with grab anybody interested in good moviemaking . Visual effects - Movie overall , |
509,757 | 453,068 | 462,538 | 10 | I'll teach you to laugh at something that's funny ! | There's been maybe too much hype about this movie , though at the same time it did affect me in the way it was intended for die-hard fans ( e . g . all the time this past week I kept thinking " ah , Simpsons movie " as I re-watched episodes from past seasons on DVD ) , and the anticipation almost became boring after so long a wait . The question then comes , was it worth it ? For all of the ultra ( and mostly kidding ) hype and ultra promotion and the almost decades-long wait for some people ? Absolutely . It delivers , at the least , a good time for those who may even just watch the show casually , and have even scoffed it off after years of shows that have spurned off from it like Family Guy . It's a reboot , if one can imagine , for those that think the show has gone too slack for the audience . But since it's an institution at this point , one of the longest running shows in the history of TV , what would one expect ? It also has what the fans want , even if it's in the smallest things like seeing Homer acting like the classic idiot that he is ( and with a pig no less , going from Spider-Pig to Harry Plopper . in a single bound ) or Bart acting like a proto Dennis the Menace skating through town without his clothes on ( d'oh , spoiler ) . But it's also - as more than a few fans and observers have said - like one long episode of the series . . . which can be said about most animated TV-show-to-movie transitions ( with the exception of South Park ) . Its plot is not too untypical for a Simpsons episode : Homer does something dumb , the town is in jeopardy , and only he and the rest of the family ( more or less ) can come to the rescue . It is a fairly simply plot , but then again , why carp ? If the writers tried to shoot for the moon with something too ambitious - or , actually , more-so than I actually expected - they could've fallen flat on their faces . It's this level of quasi-simplicity that allows them to go for jokes that might not get on regular TV ( this includes , to be sure , jabs at the ' crawl ' at the bottom of a TV screen , and the old " to be continued " gag ) . But this being said , as an extended episode , it's one of the best episodes ever made ! Praise enough ? What does a great episode have anyway ? What about a great movie ? There's a sincere attempt to just go for broke in terms of tackling all kinds of comedy : subtle and biting satire on current events ( environmental mishaps , governmental s-headedness and evil-doing , Tom Hanks ) , " scatalogical " humor , chiefly in the MacGuffin that triggers the rest of the plot ( that's a good pig ) ; total zaniness ( want to see Homer split into a dozen pieces as he has to come to an epiphany while stretched to Dali degrees ? ) ; and subtle-to-obvious jabs at religion , family , alcoholism , Green Day , and of course the Hollywood summer blockbuster itself . Where else will one see a bomb-detonator robot shooting itself in the head over the pressure ? The gags come at ten-to-twenty second clips much of the time , and it even has ( gasp ) some of the heartfelt moments from early on in the series , surrounded by jokes that still can hit best with a packed audience . It is , simply put , a true crowd-pleaser , one of the best in recent memory , and definitely aside from Grindhouse THE movie so far this year I will want to watch again and again . Woo-hoo ! |
508,177 | 453,068 | 893,382 | 10 | aka : ' Some Country for Old Men ' | Shine a Light displays , thrillingly and with the bombastic POP of a revisited ' happy place ' , why many love the Rolling Stones and many love the style of Martin Scorsese . It's mostly a concert movie shot over a period of two mights at the Beacon theater ( as if doing a workhorse revival of thirty years ago , while Scorsese was busy shooting New York , New York in 76 and doing the Last Waltz concurrently , this time he shot the concert while finishing up the Departed ) , with some choice documentary footage interspersed in between some songs . On both fronts , however minor the ( all archival ) interview footage is , it's a big success , visually and musically , as good old rock and roll performance art ( well , almost art , but I like it ) , and as visual virtuosity made incarnate . It might be easy to adulate the Stones , as well as Scorsese . They've been around for so long , doing what they do , with each side rumored here and there to quit doing what they do ( for the Stones it's every tour , much to their grinning bemusement , and for Scorsese it was a point in the 80s when he thought he'd have to leave Hollywood and make documentaries on saints ) . They're always acclaimed , usually big money-makers , and they've acquired a kind of nether-region between ' cult ' audience and full-blown mainstream mayhem . It's this that is , in a way , the subtext for Shine a Light . While Scorsese stays mostly behind the scenes , the Stones are up and front and in center of a marvelous performance , and showcasing the energy and level of pizazz that quiets the naysayers . They sold out , and it doesn't get to them a single bit . After some funny early footage of Scorsese ( shot usually in black and white DV by Albert Maysles , who also appears here and there ) getting into a minor tizzy about what the set-list is going to be , and getting some downtime with Bill Clinton , the show starts up like any good Stones show should - Jumpin ' Jack Flash . Then onward come some given numbers ( Shattered , Brown Sugar , Tumbling Dice ) , the masterpieces ( Sympathy for the Devil , Loving Cup , featuring an awesome Jack White , and Champagne and Reefer with an equally awesome Buddy Guy ) , and a lot of unexpected tracks too ( Live with Me with showy Aguilera , As Tears go By , some country song , and a kick-ass She Was Hot ) . For fans it's an amazing mix , and it allows for those who are just casual admirers to get their money's worth , primarily in IMAX . This is not just because of the quality of the music and the performances - which is , at its best , revelatory of what this band can do , at any age - but because of Scorsese's cameras , moving around in epic and roving fashion , edited with efficiency to not go all over the place or too slow , and , chiefly , to make it intimate like how many remember the Last Waltz to be ( lots of neatly defined close-ups , lingering on to capture these hardened rockers ) . And at the end , what is the point ? Is it just another blah-blah Stones concert movie ? Not necessarily . It doesn't have the heavy sociological context of Gimme Shelter , however it's not a little sloppy like Let's Spend the Night Together . Shine a Light celebrates its heroes , but it doesn't go completely overboard . Scorsese knows , as he did with Bob Dylan , not to get too cocky with these fogies . It's important to throw in those bits with the Stones getting interviewed , candid and without much overbearing ego present , and by the end you know there's still a place for them , firmly , in the public consciousness . They sold out in the most ironically good way in rock music history , with Scorsese now wonderfully in tow . |
508,139 | 453,068 | 43,953 | 10 | even more classic than the Abbot & Costello " Who's on First " bit , works for all ages | One of the creme de la creme of the Looney Tunes cartoons ( almost overplayed when I was a kid , though never under-valued by me ) , Rabbit Fire is the cartoon that puts a different kind of edge on the cartoon form - it's funny , but almost in a satirical way . This is the kind of stuff that almost shouldn't be funny for kids , but more for adults ; if not for the randomness of it all , the banter might go over their heads completely . Although I always thought of this episode as one unto itself and not part of a " trilogy " as I have read , this is definitely the most popular of the three , as I remember practically every line by memory . Elmer is having his Jonesin ' for ' Hunting Wabbits ' , and gets perpetually mixed up as Bugs and Daffy have a back and forth over ' Duck season . . . rabbit season ' . There's one scene involving cross-character dressing that is the key gag in the short , and it always keeps me cracking up . The last moment , in a way , is kind of deep . Who knows what season it is for hunting anyone , anyway ? It's a little classic in the world of hand-drawn insanity , and one of only several times Daffy Duck has worked perfectly in a three-piece grouping . |
509,440 | 453,068 | 108,937 | 10 | crazy , random , absurd , surreal , tangential , dumb . . . genius | I never watched Space Ghost when it used to air , probably because I literally didn't know what I was missing ( why I didn't watch it I can't remember , maybe it was on too late or it just seemed like the guests were sometimes unknowns to me , even as this wasn't the case at all ) . Now on DVD , I was curious to see it as part of other old shows from Cartoon Network . Seeing it now , it's . . . everything that's fun and smart in a really throwaway-joke kind of way in a cartoon when taking itself perfectly un-seriously . It's a spoof on old 60s cartoons , late night talk shows , hubris , rivalries , and many other things . Space Ghost and Zorak make for a great duo , with the other guy ( can't remember his name now , the masked ' director ' who sometimes sings if forced to in Zorak's absence ) a notable third wheel , even as they're often ready to rip at each other's throats . The comedy is brilliant without even really trying , though I'm sure the writers worked their heads off to get certain scenes down ( other times . . . you can tell they just chucked stuff at the wall , and I mean that as a compliment oddly enough ) . The writing basically makes up for the obvious goof-factor of the animation , which is repetitive and might just be ripped off of the 60s Space Ghost show ( where else will I hear a line like " You smell like a farm ! " ) , and it's probably one of the best ludicrous-type programs the Cartoon Network ever had . It's only my loss I didn't track down this crazy piece of work sooner , or watch it when it originally aired . |
510,646 | 453,068 | 290,329 | 10 | the most unsettling movie I've seen yet from Japan . . . until Miike's next ! | I felt a little uneasy here and there watching this flick , mostly due to the fact that I was watching it in a sort of ' viewing room ' on a campus , where a bunch of TV's are set-up and people can watch whatever they want with headphones for the volume . Luckily , no one else entered the room - if so , I would probably have been reported for watching pornography , or snuff-film work , or both . I'm almost surprised this even came in the mail via netflix ( though not that it didn't , apparently , get theatrical distribution here in the states ) . Of the only handful of Takashi Miike films I've seen , this does definitely take the cake . If it's maybe not his absolute best maybe it's part of the appeal ; Miike is experimenting with the viewer's expectations , even his fd up Japanese fan-type ones . It takes the idea of doing a tragic-comedy on a dysfunctional family and turns it on its head , and puts it across the line of what should usually be acceptable with absurdism , and either have the viewer be pleased ( in a manner of speaking ) or utterly disgusted , or both , that they went over the line . And what a family indeed . It starts off as being something , in its own way , almost quirky in the view of a family on the brink . There's infidelity at first - the father ( Kenichi Endo ) , unintentionally video-tapes himself having sex with a certain girl . This is quite the graphic , uncomfortable sex scene , albeit with the most ' sensitive ' parts being blurred , and this cuts right away to something completely different ( if the Monty Python sound rings from reading that , it's not without some coincidence throughout the picture ) , as the father gets hit on the head by some guy with a rock . This guy , knick-named Q ( Kazuchi Watanabe ) , comes to stay at the family's house , where the mother ( Shungiki Uchida ) gets whipped with a cane by her son , who on his way to and from school always without fail gets beaten and robbed by bullies . She's also into heroin , but then later when something happens particular-like with Q , another unnerving revelation is revealed , one without really any explanation for being there . But I realized after a while Miike set it up from the beginning with Q suddenly entering into this world , and somehow for no actual reason being accepted . In fact , if you're looking for reason , you might want to look elsewhere , seriously . It's a look at the disintegration of a family using a medium within its video-work ( I was reminded of Godard's equally un-settling work of original sexually depraved and uncouth family in Numeroux Deux ) , and if taken really as being a serious work you might have to turn it off after a while . This is not something that I could easily do , however , as I had to watch what would happen much like in something in a Lynch or Bunuel film . It's actually not without some merit to compare him with those other filmmakers , as his work pushes the absurdism / surrealism to the brink , where there's no choice left but to laugh at what's going on . Take when the father decides to suddenly jump into his ' reality-TV ' time by taping when the bullies shoot fireworks at their house . Or when things start getting particularly disturbing ( necrophilia , yeah ) and the juxtaposition of father to mother in these scenes is extraordinary in deranged comic timing . After it ended , with the final shot leaving a look on my face like a dog in front of a different piece of food in the bowl , I knew that Visitor Q is a work that goes beyond taking an ultra-serious look at the world of these psychotic criminals - or at the least social introverts and with sexual intentions that go over the edge - it worked a lot better than it might have at doing just a straightforward mockumentary of reality-TV . I'm not sure what the situation of the degrading medium is like in Japan , but by sticking to mocking this family and they're near-silent ' visitor ' , and putting it all through a blender of crimes and misdemeanors that would make some faint on the spot , Miike achieves his goals more or less , whatever they might be . It's got some scenes that don't work early on , or maybe its just so strange to really get into the mood of it at first . Once hooked in , I had as much fun , in the most perverse voyeuristic way , as I did with Ichi the Killer . It confronts the viewer , and should be deliciously shocking and unrepentantly hilarious for years to come . That it's not for everyone will be known right from the first scene . |
510,355 | 453,068 | 101,318 | 10 | wild , romantic , original , pretentious-in-a-good-way , and joyful film-making | There are moments and scenes in Lovers on the Bridge that waver between being straightforward in their realism and the given grittiness of living life on the streets homeless and of those sudden romantic bursts that are also a given if you're French and wanting to show how wonderful and horrible it can be in a strange situation . There are many I could point to , but there's also a suddenness to the work , moments that pop out and make the viewer put into perspective the tragic nature of this story and the characters . There's an unpredictability , but not without logic or something in line with life in this situation and place . One such moment that few reviewers may talk about involves the character of Hans and his death . Throughout the film he's been more than wary of the presence of half-blind Michelle ( Binoche ) who has also fallen in ( possible ) love with Alex ( Lavant ) the drunken / druggie fire-breather , and for a while we as the audience see him as a rather ugly being . But then he opens up to Michelle - how he came to be on this bridge without a job , or without his wife and the death of his child - and he offers her to take her to a museum , which he has a key for from his job as a guard , to see a painting as close to the surface as possible late at night . He's actually quite a touching character gradually , still grumpy and grisly but with a conscience and feeling for Michelle's plight . . . Then as he walks down a set of stairs and comes to the side of the riverbank he slips and falls and dies . In any other hands this could become high melodrama , a director pulling out all the stops to make this a really significant event for these character Michelle and Alex . But just as soon as he was there , he's gone , and I was overwhelmed for a moment by pure anguish at this man's demise . There's other moments like that as well in Carax's film , where he substitutes stark poetry - or something truly alive and fast and ebullient poetry with his camera and wonderful , expensive set ( some of the time ) - and balances so satisfyingly between the grime and clutter of this little enclave on the bridge and the torrid love between two people who are together for various reasons , some known well and some intimated by just the slightest moves ( or lack thereof ) . With some minor exceptions like the very end , which leads to some curious and surreal ambiguity , it's a sensational ride . We're taken along on the story of Alex , a fire-breather as his only trade and with hobbies of booze and drugs in order to sleep , and Michelle , a painter who has nowhere to go except to old lovers she'd rather not see , or can't see because of flailing eyesight ( or , if she does , bad things happen - or appear to happen , again the ambiguity ) . They become very close , maybe too close for the extremely lonely and possibly brain damaged Alex , and pull off a money making scheme , which ends with a moment of a selfish act , as well as have nights of debauchery and excitement . The most notable of the latter , probably of the best kinds of exuberant , crazy type scenes in any motion picture , is when Alex and Michelle , smashed to hell , run and jump and dance to a giant fireworks display , with Carax pumping up Iggy Pop and Blue Danube Waltz music , and finishing off with a water-skiing down the river . This is one of those sequences I probably will never forget , not just for the power of the film-making but for the feeling one has for the characters at that moment of time in the movie : sublime , momentary escapism . Things end up getting very dark for the characters , not least of which for Alex who goes on a rampage tearing down posters looking for Michelle for an eye-operation ( this is one of those scenes that goes between reality and fantasy that's jarring : it verges on pretension , but I actually didn't mind it for how wrapped up one becomes in the plight of Alex with " his " Michelle ) , and the ending finds the two years later , changed only on the surface . All the old wounds are there , and how they'll exactly end up is difficult to say . But what is clear for Carax , after going through a story that features real homeless people in shelters ( this footage shot like a documentary , plunging us so far into this world we forget most of the time the bridge is a set ) , of numerous fights and cries and hugs and laughs and fights between the two would-be / may-be lovebirds , that what would be cynical in any other hands is treated as bittersweet humanism . Carax cares for these characters deeply , even the troubled Alex , and it's important to understand that in their downfall . |
509,155 | 453,068 | 95,705 | 10 | The Zucker's best . Nielson's best as well | ZAZ's ( David Zucker , Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker ) The Naked Gun is one of the funniest ( if not funniest ) film ever with more parodies and gags than one could ever imagine . And the writing is if not good , great that never lets up ( even through the finale baseball game with Reggie Jackson ) . But what really gets this film up there is it's main characters . Leslie Nielson has never been better and probably won ; t ever be this good ever again . He brings an insane type of humor from a cop that hasn't been seen since Clouseau . The supporting characters are good also , including Priscilla Pressley , George Kennedy , Ricardo Montebaum , Nancy Marchand and ( odd to see him in a movie today ) OJ Simpson . There zany characters and added with a great script make this a treasure in cinema comedy . One of the best films of the 80's . |
509,400 | 453,068 | 118,540 | 10 | moving , informative , and two stories interwoven exceedingly well | Spike Lee's skills as a documentarian are astonishing considering his mixed efforts in dramatic features , which ranges from greatness to failures . With 4 Little Girls and especially When the Levees Broke , Lee takes focus of the subject matter , and expands upon the narrative to make the central story intertwined without losing anything close to worthwhile to know . It goes without saying it honors the memory of those four girls slain in the church in Birmingham , but it also honors the memory for the others who died and fought in the Civl Rights battle of the early 60s ( it was a battle by way of perpetration by the likes of " Bull " O'Connell , and the rabid racists like the only man who was convicted in the late 70s of the church bombing ) . Lee starts off profiling the girls and their childhoods , their parents and childhood friends recounting their innocence , their energy , being simply kids growing up happy but in the midst of racism all around them . From there Lee branches off - using the " white / colored " segregation of something as minor as a water fountain , to branch off to Birmingham itself , its history , being the focal-point of much of the strife for black people in the south , Dr . King's eventual and crucial involvement , and the white racists . It's staggering information one learns , even if one already thinks they know all there is to know about the civil rights struggle . Just the information on Governor George Wallace ( and , surprisingly , seeing Wallace interviewed with his near-gone voice and mind ) is enough to raise repeated eyebrows in astonishment . And then Lee brings it back to the girls again , and that fateful , cursed day that one family member said she saw in a nightmare the night before . The interviews are presented with unabashed compassion for the family members , but not with misplaced sentimentality . The case itself , and how it becomes one of the pivotal pieces that , tragedy besides , leads the civil rights movement even further , has so much power that it's impossible to dramatize it . Lee simply uses music , photographs , and the faces of those who knew these girls , as well as public figures ( i . e . Kronkite , Cosby , Jesse Jackson ) , to accentuate the material . It's skillful storytelling , and told with a story that needs to be told , and revealed to those who may forget the horrors of the American south merely forty-something years ago and more . Simply , one of the director's finest ' joints ' . |
510,585 | 453,068 | 493,459 | 10 | perhaps not the ' best ' , but surely my favorite documentary of the year thus far | Kirby Dick is a filmmaker I wasn't aware of before This Film is Noy Yet Rated , but now he is assuredly on my radar , if only for the determination in pulling off his main idea . Like Super Size Me , this documentary has a near-gimmick to it ; Dick hires a private investigator in order to track down the anonymous " parents " who decide why a movie will be rated R over PG-13 , and NC-17 instead of R . This even leads - more intriguingly - into the more deceptive group of appellant board members of the MPAA . So on the one hand the filmmaker has this extremely entertaining , guerrilla-style aspect to his film , with a hand-held camera in one moment in a fast-food place that draws attention to him , and detectives who will go to any length to get results . On the other hand he gets great interviews and clips and history about the film industry in the US and the near fascist style of the MPAA in relation to the several ( corporite ) studios . As a film buff this film already had my interest long before I saw it . For too long the topic of film ratings have both infuriated and fascinated me . Much of what ends up going on with filmmakers's battles with the MPAA to get their R ( and indeed the difference between millions of dollars in grosses ) instead of an NC-17 is staggering . That Kirby Dick get such insight out of the insiders ( two of which former MPAA people , and two who kept anonymous ) , filmmakers , business people , and other types within the industry , is a good help to add to the basic argument that there is some inherent problems with the current ratings system in the country . This is accentuated in comparisons between NC-17 and R rated sex scenes from other movies , and clips from films that received the NC-17 - or close to it - and the inanities and problems filmmakers have to get their whole vision against people who , of course , are not that creative . There are issues of gay sex in movies , how violence is vs . sex in allowance in ratings , and in the end how big business ( and religion ) are behind the scenes if not pulling strings then giving complete influence . All of this as a documentary ends up being pulled fantastically off , as it does at the core what a documentary mostly should - stir up conversation about the topic ( s ) , and at the same time still being entertained to an extent . And Kirby Dick even has a slight Michael Moore tinge to him as he goes full-on after his subjects ; one of which reminded me of Moore's own confrontation with Charleton Heston , as Dick puts himself in split screen with animated caricatures of his callers . But Dick also is smart enough to put such subject matter with good doses of humor . I loved the little animated explanation as to what each rating means ( including dead orphan and Almodovar jokes ) , and as he revealed with a near relish the full facts on every member ( most shockingly the appellate members ) . Even if you just have a casual interest in movies it should be worth your while , and especially if you're a parent - and try not to let the NC-17 rating deter you as it's in part just in spite of the mirror put up to the ratings board itself - it's especially prudent to see . It's got both tongue-in-cheek and dead-serious aspirations , and all the while making Jack Valenti look worse and worse . It's biased , to be sure , but for the right reasons . |
508,115 | 453,068 | 70,544 | 10 | one of the trippiest things you'll ever see , bar none , and it's extraordinary in its simplicity | Fantastic Planet has about a hundredth of the technical proficiency - or just money - that any given Pixar film might have in just its first couple of reels . But there's probably just as much invention and eye-popping mind-blowing madness , if not exponentially more-so , than any recent CGI film . It's , well , art . Yes , to throw a word as big and all-encompassing like that is tricky , Fantastic Planet qualifies as some kind of weird artistic feat of surrealism and pure science fiction . And by sci-fi I mean the cream of the crop in storytelling and ideas : it's about the impact of images in a strange land being somehow completely relatable , if only in social construct or satirical forms , as though we were witnessing Gullivers Travels mixed around with Dune and then filtered through some renegade animator that got through the gates at a studio and churned something out fast . It's like a strange revelation that won't leave your mind . And yes , leave no mistake , it also works very well as a " stoner movie " , one of those ridiculously warped visions that goes into the world of the imagination so heavily , with tangential moments in scenes ( the ' blending ' of the Draags in one scene , the constant flow of various monsters , the ' mating ' ritual , the de-Oming ) , with a soundtrack that's like a outstanding , unlikely collaboration between Isaac Hayes and Pink Floyd ( you don't know whether it'll split into Dark Side or Shaft ) . Premise is simple : a little oprhaned Om named Terr is taken in as a ' pet ' of Tiwa , and is half tortured half loved by her . But , as case happens , she outgrows him , and he runs away after being filled with knowledge by some machine . Then he gets sucked into the underground world of the Oms , where there's lots of mating and other activities , such as fights ( wacko scene with those teeth-filled monsters strapped on like Gonzo gladiators ) . But their civilization is in peril , and it's time to fight back ! Lots of classic myths pumped in , but at times you almost forget there's story , which might be half the point . The director Rene Laloux , along with collaborators like Roland Topor , creates a world unequivocally unto itself , where there are real strokes with pencils and colors and inks , where it seems very much like a collection of pictures from some obscure European fable book for kids , only loaded with some kind of life-force that moves like no other animated film ( maybe it's slightest , closest-distant relative is Yellow Submarine , which is still a stretch ) . Characters move in and out occasionally like a Terry Gilliam short - giant hand and other objects placed in almost jokingly , which makes it a lot of fun at times - and there's something eerie in Laloux's dedication to pushing the expectation-level , mainly because , as noted , we haven't seen this style before . It's a quiet form of sensationalism , where it sneaks up on the viewer , and then takes over a scene , growing little by little , like some weird plant . In short , he does his job as a genre director , probably on par with the great visionaries , while using some primitive methods of animation . But through imperfections there's more expressive tendencies , moments of chance and random visions like a monster springing organically about to eat another , or to go through bizarre mating rituals as Venus de Milo statues with blue heads . Or , in other words , as my long-winded adulation goes to say , a superb " stoner movie " . Not that being sober will make you absorbed any less ; it's a compliment , in a sense , that in its glory of its time it reaches a true cult impulse , where children can enjoy its wonderful glimpses of the " fantastic " , and adults can have another more mature , thought-provoking input in its implications on power and human nature . |
510,439 | 453,068 | 118,749 | 10 | Odd , Funny and Touching | Boogie Night's has to be one of the funniest and oddest films I have seen in a long time . It is a homage to the pornography culture and to adults who will never grow up in California . The film also has brilliant acting , writing and camera work and is P . T . Anderson's best work yet . Some of the great stuff in this film is the acting which is some of the best of the decade . Including Burt Reynolds as the director Jack Horner ( this is his best piece of acting since the 70's ) , Julianne Moore as the struggling mother Amber Waves to the young actors and in a very good performance , and Mark Wahlberg in his best performance yet as the kid Dirk Diggler with something extra ( 13 inches to be exact ) that will make him a star . Also , the supporting cast is top notch and provides a lot of unintentional and sick comedy . But the real good stuff comes from the director Anderson . He gives us a look into a subject no one else has seen before ( or has wanted to see ) . The writing is funny and touching and the length gives the film time to sprawl into the masterpiece that it is . One of the best of 1997 . |
511,037 | 453,068 | 95,497 | 10 | Good work by Scorsese , very very good , almost sobering to the senses | Martin Scorsese takes the lessons learned by the likes of Rossellini , Pasolini , and in-between regarding religious pictures and makes one that appropriately makes it right . This time around , you don't necessarily have to be completely into Jesus or a Christian to see the heart and intelligence put into the material . Paul Schrader's script distills what must have been a mammoth book of ideas and stories from Kazantzakis and what's provided is obviously controversial . But its message is not layered with anything to insult the viewer's intelligence . There's real food for thought here , even for those who don't believe in myself ( if anything , it shows Scorsese , in one of his five best films , showing the notion of making a difference in his other films sticks out great here ) . A little long , but never gets boring , and even features one of the all-time champion final shots in any film . And Willem Dafoe makes for a candidate for best Jesus in any film . One of the best films of 1988 . |
509,136 | 453,068 | 65,214 | 10 | A red-blooded western with enough cinematic fireballs for four more | Sam Peckinpah proves his worth as a great director from the second half of the 20th century with The Wild Bunch , a film that breathes life as one of the 60's best , a blockbuster caliber picture that gives its audience what it wants - a cast of famous old-timers and some newcomers as well ( lest not forget Ernest Borgnine ) set the stage for the tale of robbers and killers in 1913 who want a large final score after getting screwed over , even as bounty hunters follow ominously . Even the slower moments are elegantly staged ; there is always something to look for on the screen and Peckinpah brings the violence so thick that while it doesn't compare to today's big-budgeters , has all the reality in girth . The characters are generally well-rounded , the suspense fierce , and the violence is handled with the same kind of precision as the ones with just straight-on dialog . Masterfully directed and acted with the great flair of old-school character acting , The Wild Bunch is a brash , essential Western that's a worthy watch for the fans from when it was released and people from later generations as well . |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.