Day: March 20, 2006

The Hire

This was a series of 8 short (7-10 minute) films by well-known directors, each hired by BMW to highlight new cars. I won’t make great claims for them, though if you like Clive Owen (who plays the hired driver in all 8 movies) and car chases, and you want to see directors forced to operate within the constraints of an extended commercial, they are worth seeing. The films by John Woo, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-Wai and Joe Carnahan are all good, while Guy Ritchie’s, featuring Madonna, is predictably horrible.

They can be downloaded in DVD quality at www.bmwfilms.com though it is a long download. I have an extra copy of the actual DVD if anyone wants it (region 1). If you do, let Reynolds know and he can send contact information.

The Call of Cthuhlu (2005)

It’s always been a difficult thing to try to film an H.P. Lovecraft story. Stuart Green’s two, three, FOUR films aside, as they’ve got nothing to do with the dreary, humorless spirit of Lovecraft. (Green’s films are in fact funny and bright – the two things they shouldn’t be. And while I enjoyed his first two Lovecraft films, they do little more than exploit the author’s name)

There’s The Dunwich Horror (1970) starring Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee, and Lcuio Fulci tried to do a zombie version of a story in 1980, but all of this is crap really; there’s a couple dozen awful things out there made after Re-Animator planted the idea in cheap filmmaker’s heads – they throw in the word Cthuhlu and stick poor Lovecraft’s name on the cover… At least when Roger Corman ran roughshod over Edgar Allen Poe he left a batch of great Peter Lorre and Vincent Price moments (at the very least) in his wake.

Well, I came across a beautifully designed DVD cover at Jerry’s in Los Feliz a few weeks ago for The Call of Cthulhu and grabbed it. Jerry’s I might add, just might be the best video store for Lovecraft related films – even if they are mostly rotten. Continue reading The Call of Cthuhlu (2005)