I’ve fallen behind on scribbling thoughts, so my apologies for this unwieldy lumping of three disparate films into a catch-all “worth seeing.” But they do share a central focus on character development and outstanding acting, and they all fall a few points shy of being outstanding–‘though still definitely worth your time. (Two of them are on dvd, and didn’t play far/wide in theaters; one of those didn’t, as best I can tell, play anywhere in the states.)
Month: October 2010
Machete
I considered just posting a quickie in the Expendables thread, since this movie is in a similar vein, but really, Machete deserves better than that. I didn’t see the Expendables – I had less than zero interest in it – but I’m sure I would have hated it. I’ve never really liked any movie those overpaid jocko-homo jerkwads made in the 80s (maybe a Bruce Willis flick here or there), and the addition of the always-annoying Jet Li and some former pro wrestlers didn’t make it any more appealing. Now if they had cast Rowdy Roddy Piper in it, and brought in John Carpenter to direct, we’d be talking.
And that’s the big difference. John Carpenter, bless his soul. Like him, Robert Rodriguez writes em, as well as directs em, and why pay someone else to do the music for your own movies when you can just knock it out yourself with your band on a weekend? Continue reading Machete
brideshead revisited, an education, and lorna’s silence
sadly, i haven’t read the evelyn waugh novel, but i gathered from the reviews of the eponymous 2008 movie that the gay theme is vastly heightened with respect to the novel, where it is only hinted at. yet, it is easily the most engaging aspect of the film, thanks to ben whishaw’s great performance. emma thompson is not to scoff at, either. i wish i could say that brideshead, or castle howard, is the true protagonist of this film (it is after all meant to be), but i’m afraid i have to give that prize to the film’s terrible representation of catholicism as stunting and stultifying and deadly. catholicism tends to get a bad rap in films (it is not popular to be catholic these days), but this is the film that has made me most successfully angry at my religion by far. anyway, i recommend it, in spite of the fact that matthew goode is fairly annoying in his blandness (you have a constant sense that he — his character i mean — should be up to something, but no, he isn’t, he is up to nothing at all) and that venice is shot in the entirely wrong light.
i didn’t enjoy, instead, an education, which seemed to me to amount to nothing. what the heck is this film about? loss of innocence? give me a break. i agree with the oscar nomination for the preternaturally talented carrey mulligan, but the other two? i don’t get it.
i saw lorna’s silence some time ago, but it’s a heck of a good movie. the dardennes can do no wrong in my book, and their sparsity of gestures, the poignancy of the brief, often tense exchanges, and the time they spend just following the characters around while they negotiate their impossibly difficult lives are positively sensual to me. still, this may be the most didactic of their films, and the end is remarkably bizarre.
now tell me what you think of these three movies. don’t be shy.
Halloween: From Beyond (1986)
I’m tired of your arty Norwegian vampire kiddies and your CGI-Guillermo del Toro bullshit. Gimme some oozing latex, an unrecognizable namecheck of HP Lovecraft, and a gratuitous sex scene. That’s right, give me a Stuart Gordon 80s movie!
Well, I’ve seen Re-Animator enough times, though many of those times I was 17 and stoned, but I feel I’ve seen it enough. So I took up Netflix’s offer to watch From Beyond, Re-Animator’s follow-up with much of the same cast and crew.
A mad scientist invents a machine that opens a doorway to another dimension, letting those creatures (mostly eels and jellyfish) interact with our own realm. And by interact, I mean bite the head of said scientist. Continue reading Halloween: From Beyond (1986)
The Social Network
Hype be damned, this is about as great an American mainstream movie that I can remember seeing for a few years. That it chronicles a guy and his creation which is so pervasive that it would have been on the cover of every third magazine without the movie is that much more impressive. It could so easily have become a relic, b/c when we all do jump ship from Facebook, there’d still be this entertaining movie. It could have come out when we’re on the next thing. It wouldn’t matter how good a movie about Napster is, if it was released in 2010. Or even in 2003. Fossil. Instead, we have a movie set in 2003 that might feels like it’s set right this very second.
I’m failing to come up with proper analogies. All the President’s Men perhaps? That was a four year gap between events and the movie. Social Network has a longer gap between the depicted events and today than President’s Men, but the important difference is this time the movie is out, and Nixon is still in the White House. Continue reading The Social Network
Let Me In
Sometimes I despair of my work habits. I woke up yesterday with no teaching responsibilities, planning to write a chunk of a conference paper that is due soon. I got to my office at 7.30am and promptly re-watched Let the Right One In, streamed instantly on Netflix, and then went out to the movieplex to watch the remake, Let Me In. Watching the Swedish original and the American remake back-to-back was a mistake. Firstly because the original is just a much better film. And secondly because the remake is so faithful to the original — the same scenes, the same images (the same playground equipment, the same dripping pipe), the same shot composition, the same dialogue — that it is all but impossible to evaluate it on its own terms. That is a pity because Let Me In more clearly situates itself within the horror genre and so it necessarily jars when compared to the ethereal beauty and simple tenderness of the original. Continue reading Let Me In