05.30.07
Posted in Film analysis at 3:32 pm by Administrator
I’m two days behind but I had to play catch up so I can recommend another one of my top ten favorites of 2006. Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto is what real film making is all about. It’s a visceral experience that evokes every inch of human emotion. It also serves as a criticism on the destructive tendency of industrialized societies versus the peaceful way of life of those who live a little closer to nature.
Gibson’s eye is set not on making a boring historical piece, instead he thrusts you into an action film hidden beneath the deceptive subtitles and a dead language. The film introduces you to Jaguar Paw and his clan, together they live peacefully in their village. One day they are attacked and most of them are slaughtered and the survivors are taken away to become sacrifices but Jaguar Paw’s wife remains alive with his son and their unborn child. The second half of the film has him racing home while trying to escape his enemies.
Passion of the Christ was a masterpiece and nobody could ever tell me different. Gibson grabs you with his visuals and tells his stories in the most unconventional manner. Proving yet again that he is one of our most risk-taking film makers working outside the hollywood system. He makes the kind of movie no studio would touch with a ten foot pole. Yet hidden within all of the violence are some very powerful human elements; love, fear, and the will to survive.
Apocalypto – 5/5
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Posted in Film News at 3:32 pm by Administrator
There it is folks, The Joker, as imagined by Christopher Nolan in the next chapter of his Batman saga, The Dark Knight. My initial reaction is that this is one wonderfully twisted Joker. Something tells me he isn’t going to be making jokes or squirting flowers. Sounds great to me.
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Posted in Film analysis at 3:31 pm by Administrator
I am at last ready to conclude my psychedelic trilogy of abstract recommendations. I admit I didn’t even scratch the surface when it comes to the weirdest and most fucked up movies out there. Their are films even I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole (Cannibal Holocaust) and their are some that I admit I just haven’t seen yet (Audition). You must forgive that I simply have not the time to give these kinds of films the true attention they deserve. So with that said here is my final recommendation and its a whopper. David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch based on the book by William S. Burroughs.
Allow me to give you some background on Mr. Burroughs. He was a huge drug addict and if you’ve ready any of his books this is pretty easy to figure out. Most of his books start out fairly coherent and quickly spiral into a blur of unrelated subplots, blatant homoeroticism, and an orgy of violence. I’ve read two of his books and this is writing at its most abstract you either have to love the words on the page for what they are or you will surely lose interest and put the book aside never to be finished. This makes David Cronenberg the perfect director for a work such as Naked Lunch. His works include Videodrome, A History of Violence, and Existenz just to name a few. I have not read the novel myself but it was loosely put together by various writings they found scattered around Burroughs office.
The film centers on a character much like Burroughs himself, who is addicted to drugs and accidentally kills his wife. (William actually did kill his wife accidentally in real life and it haunted him for the rest of his life.) Cronenberg is known for his grotesque imaginings and his fetish for human flesh and its relation to technology so you can be sure all this is in full effect in this film. Peter Weller is Bill Lee an exterminator who often gets high on his own supply of bug killing chemicals. After accidentally killing his wife with a shot to the head during a game of William Tell he runs away and finds himself taking the role of a spy who must infiltrate various social circles. His orders are given to him by his typewriter who springs to life as a large insect creature. Needless to say that’s where the film makes the most sense and from there it’s a delirious and satisfying journey into madness. The highlight of the film being a sex scene where Lee’s typewriter starts to grow a phallic and transforms into an alien creature that takes part in a three-way between him and his lady friend.
Naked Lunch stands as one of my all time favorites. It defies explanation and may just get you interested in checking out some of Burroughs works even if just out of morbid curiosity alone. Cronenberg uses every scene to masterfully affect the viewer and doesn’t shy away from Burroughs original horrific visions. A film that is guaranteed to just leave you stunned in your seat watching the end credits. I recommend not watching this one before you go to bed; the resulting dreams could be fatal. Naked Lunch: 5/5
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Posted in DVD Tuesday at 3:30 pm by Administrator
Two of my favorite films of 2006 are released on the same day. As the great Stimpy would have said, OH JOY! I have been meaning to do a DVD recommendation section, as seems to be the trend these days, but their hasn’t been anything really worth mentioning for quite some time. At last month or two drought of quality titles comes to screeching halt with two films that are already preordained classics. Two hands-down masterpieces that will stand the test of time and have already culminated a cult following that will only grow substantially over time.
Guerrmo Del Toro is from the Peter Jackson School of filmmaking. He is one of those rare talents who can elevate a Hollywood blockbuster from your typical action drivel to a film you don’t have to be ashamed to enjoy. He can easily direct Blade II or Hellboy and give you the most exhilarating action but at the same time he mixes it with reverence for the material and characters that are three dimensional and richly layered. He has also done some smaller films that prove he can tackle those just as brilliantly as the bigger films.
“Pan’s Labyrinth” is the story of a young girl who travels with her pregnant mother to live with her mother’s new husband in a rural area up North in Spain, 1944, after Franco’s victory. The girl lives in an imaginary world of her own creation and faces the real world with much chagrin. Fascist repression during the first years of Franco’s dictatorship is at its height in rural Spain and the girl must come to terms with that through a fable of her own. Written by Ben McIntosh
Pans Labyrinth comes from this other half of his brain and serves as a great double feature with his previous film The Devil’s Backbone. Both films share the same time period and themes and where they differ from his better-known efforts. Hellboy and Blade II are films that are heavy on the fantasy but his smaller ones are actually far more heavy on the human drama and very light on the fantasy aspects. That is where Pans Labyrinth succeeds and becomes far more than just another re-telling of Alice in Wonderland or the Wizard of Oz. The only flaw is that you may want a little more of the fantasy world then Guerrmo gives you but that should be considered a testament to how well he sprinkles the film with those elements without saturating the film with it.
Next up is Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain; the long awaited follow up to his eerily brilliant sophomore release Requiem for a Dream. The Fountain is a film that shoots for the stars, literally. Aronofsky so early in his directing career wants to hit the height of films such as 2001 A Space Odyssey or Solaris (1972). The film is an existential meditation on death and the possibility of eternal life. This film is smart, perhaps too smart since it was mostly ignored when released in theaters last year.
The fountain tells the story of a doctor who is trying to find a cure to save his dying wife. His struggle of dealing with her death will serve as a parallel to the films other two universes. One has our hero trekking through space, traveling on a rock with the tree of life, seeking out a dying star. The other takes place in the past as a conquistador seeks out the tree of life for his Queen. These three stories converge into a meditation on all of life’s greatest questions. Aronofsky sheds all of his previous techniques and tells this story from a fresh new perspective. Gone are the rhythmic editing jumps from Requiem and instead he paces himself giving way to subtlety and allowing the beauty of the film to lay before you giving you time to think. This film is not for those with short attention spans and it’s certainly not for anyone who is easily confused by abstract images.
The Fountain: 5/5
Pans Labyrinth: 4/5
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Posted in Social commentary at 3:29 pm by Administrator
The following motion picture is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for brutal violence, sexuality, nudity, and the smoking of tobacco products. Yes that’s right folks the MPAA has reached a new low when deciding whether or not a film is suitable for us simple folks. You see we perceive teenagers as being these sponges that soak up all of the things around them. They have no ability to think for themselves instead they see something and they do it. This is the dangerous kind of thinking that you may recall when shows like Beavis and Butthead went under fire for encouraging kids to drop bowling balls off roofs.
Will this really decrease smoking amongst teenagers? Here’s a clue, they are going to still smoke and movies have nothing to do with it. I’ve seen people smoking in films all the time and not once did I ever think to myself “oh gee I should take that up it looks so damn cool.” Will a film be rated R simply because the people in it are smoking? Would lighting up a cigar be the same as dropping a couple of F-bombs? Will our society ever just realize that people make their own choices and that films, music, and television are not to blame for all of our problems? Of course we won’t because we are a scapegoat society and we always will be.
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Posted in Writers Corner at 3:28 pm by Administrator
So here’s the latest update on my journey to finishing my second manuscript. I am on page 126 and I officially hate my writing, this story, and myself. That tends to happen from time to time. How does one deal with this feeling? This is definitely a fork in the road and as a writer you can either a) give up the manuscript and try knitting sweaters for a living or b) take a breather, read it over, find your bearings and get back to it.
Once you are knee deep in your story objectivity is almost impossible. I really am dying to have a second pair of eyes look it over and tell me how it’s going so far. Can the reader relate to my characters? That’s probably my biggest question right now. I wish I could divulge more of my plot but it’s just not ready for mass consumption just yet.
Since we are on the subject of writing I was recently handed the greatest writing secret any writer could ever hope to be given. I shall pass it on to you dear reader so that you may also possess this little golden nugget of wisdom. Ready? The secret to great writing…is to write 5 pages a day, every day. That’s it. So simple and yet very difficult to put into practice. I’m lucky to get out 5 pages a week let alone a day. Does my blog count? I mean I only started this damn thing so my mind can leave my deranged stories every once in awhile and find some way to once again join the human race.
So how often do you write? Do you have any great secrets you wish to share?
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Posted in Film analysis at 3:27 pm by Administrator
BATTLE ROYALE
Next on the list is a film that has been banned in a few countries and as of right now has no official big studio release on DVD in America. Its a film that few people want to have anything to do with but if you have been into the underground Asian film scene then you may have come across this little picture starring Beat Takeshi simply entitled Battle Royale.
Before I throw the films crazy synopsis your way allow me to give you a little history as to why this film exists. The film is a response to the ever-growing trend of disrespectful and disobedient youth in Japan. In the film a class of school children are randomly kidnapped and taken to an island where they are forced to battle one another until only one student is left alive. Even the films tag line could send chills up your spine, “Could you kill your best friend?” I chose this film because its pretty much like nothing else you will ever see. It’s not hard to understand and does not have anyone doing drugs instead its social commentary at its best. It’s a violent movie and yes the many kinds of deaths are exploited for the viewers to either look away in disgust or grin in delight. Violence as entertainment is nothing new and recently the film Condemned tried to half hazardly deal with the issue in the only way American cinema can, with hypocrisy. Battle Royale is another kind of animal and it doesn’t seek to moralize or justify what is happening on screen. We are given a group of kids that we can sympathize with and can only hope they can find a way out of this crazy game before they all meet an untimely end. This film is not for everyone but if you are looking for something off the beaten path its an amazing and daring picture that is about more then just violence, its a look at how far a society would go to maintain order and force you to fall in line. Netflix does have this film listed for rental and the only other way to see it is to buy a bootleg off of ebay.
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Posted in Film analysis at 3:27 pm by Administrator
Treat yourself to a little mind fuck this week and I will help you with my three part series of recommendations. What is a mind fuck? Its when you watch a trippy, crazy, or totally fucked up movie and it leave s your brain splashed against your living room wall. If you are a true movie maniac such as myself then you probably have a Netflix account and if you don’t have one then go out and get one because renting from the store is for cavemen and one celled organisms.
A Scanner Darkly
This film made the # 2 spot in my top ten list of the best films of 2006. Richard Linklater, man of all genres, takes a break from a string of mainstream films to craft this wonderfully written pseudo science fiction tale of drug addicts and corporate paranoia. Keanu Reeves stars in another mind bending tale, which seem to be his preference since having finished the Matrix trilogy, where he plays a druggie who is hooked on the latest fix simply named Substance D the problem is that within his group of friends is an informant and the most troubling thing of all is that it could be him and he doesn’t even know it. The film uses a type of animation that takes a shot of real film and animators draw over the images for an effect that only adds to the plots already complicated elements.
Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson have just a little too much fun playing Keanu’s drug buddies who hang around and spend their days spouting pothead philosophy in Shakespearian style monologues. Winona Ryder stars as Keanu’s love interest but even she may not be all she seems. What truly gets me about this film is that it’s a science fiction movie that’s light on the science and heavy on the fiction. Phillip K. Dick wrote the original story the film is based on and he had such a talent for finding the most suitable metaphorical situations to match his views on the human race. Creating situations that put our way of life to the test.
Apparently this was also one of the few novels he wrote while not high on Amphetamines. I am not subscribed to the idea that one must be on drugs to write great works and I do not believe you have to be on drugs to watch these kinds of movies. Go in with an open mind and leave your preconceptions in the bathroom. The kinds of places you can go when you are presented with abstract images and ideas are limitless. Its a kind of food our brains rarely get and I imagine how starved they are for an intangible meal of real ideas. What makes us so fascinated with the junkie sub-culture? Why is it showered with this aura of intellectualism? In most films drug use is idealized and the rumor is that it springs you to a place of new ideas and places you’ll never go when sober. Yet A Scanner Darkly dares to show that drugs are perhaps not all that they seem. The films final shot is haunting and you may want to replay it a few times to get the scope of what exactly has just been reveled to you. A Scanner Darkly is not a film with a message its a film that goes one step further and gives us characters and situations we can meditate on without telling us what to think about any of them. Don’t give into the old excuse that a film is just trying to be weird or confusing for its own sake. Look past those tired criticisms and try to realize that you can say more with misdirection then you ever can by spoon-feeding the viewer.
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Posted in Film Review at 3:26 pm by Administrator
Spiderman 3 director Sam Raimi gets the priveledge that very few big budget film directors get in Hollywood, he gets to put his final stamp on his franchise as a bonifide trilogy. X-Men, Blade, Batman, and even Superman went through a huge shift in cast and crew when making their way to the third film in their respective franchises. The most obvious being an over all dip in quality and widespread dissapointment from even the most casual fan to the hardcore geeks. Spiderman 3 has the luxury of keeping intact the team that brought us the first two films that most of us keep close to our hearts as to how a comic book film can and should be done. The first and second film had Spiderman struggling with living a double life and longing for the love of his life, Mary Jane. So what happens when Peter Parker finally gets everything he thought he wanted? Well of course not everything goes as planned and Sam Raimi wouldn’t want it any other way.
Don’t be fooled by Spidey’s new outfit this film really isn’t any darker then the first two it has just as many laughs and light hearted moments to balance out alot of the dramatic monologues and buckets of tears every character eventually sheds before the two hour running time is over. Every character gets their moment to shine in probably what could be called the most complicated of the three movies. Without falling into what I like to call the “batman to-many villians” problem Spiderman 3 balances everyone with just enough screen time to justify their existence in the film. Sandman gets the villian with a heart of gold stamp that Doctor Octopus got to wear in the previous film. Harry Osbourne dons his version of the Goblin outfit for a very satisfactory conclusion to his story arc and despite Raimi’s supposed hatred for the character it seems the studio got him to include Venom. Every role is well acted with stand out performances by Thomas Hayden Church as Sandman and James Franco as Goblin, Raimi injects them with more then just the typical villinaous need for revenge. He makes sure that before they start putting the hurt on Spidey they have enough motivation behind their actions so that you have a real emotional investment into what is happening on screen.
I want to take a moment to talk about Venom since the studio wants to trick you into thinking that he’s in most of the film, he’s not. He’s only in the films final 20 minutes and everything about him feels rushed and uninspired. Raimi does not like Venom and it shows. His look feels dull lacking any sense of dynamic presence or miasma of evil. His story arc with Brock is done to minimal satisfaction but once he becomes Venom the movie gets put on auto pilot to get to the showdown the trailers have been promising you for weeks on end. Eddie Brock doesn’t get any of the three dimensionality that any of the previous villians had gotten. Even his conclusion is usurped by the far nobler Sandman. Its as if Raimi wants to prove to you how shallow and over rated. Venom really has become over the years.
Venom treatment aside, the film delivers on everything we’ve come to expect from a Spiderman film. The most dividing factor will certainly be when Peter Parker turns to the dark side and if you can’t laugh at him you may find yourself cringing in your seat when he dyes his hair black and parts his hair to hang just over his eyes. Luckily this moment is played for laughs as well so the film never takes itself too seriously. I left the theatre satisfide with how Raimi chose to end this web of tales that he’s been spinning for over six years now.
4/5
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Posted in Film News at 3:24 pm by Administrator
Here it is folks the first ever shot of Iron Man. The film is being directed by John Favreau starring Robert Downey Jr. I was never a fan of the comics but something about that suit always made me grin like an idiot. Nothing screams bad-ass like that costume and its good to see that the film makers have changed nothing when adapting the real man of steel for his first big screen appearance. We won’t get to see him in action until 2008 but I have a good feeling it will be worth the wait.
http://www.tvshark.com/read/?art=arc432
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