Written on the Wind

Written on the Wind is typical Douglas Sirk melodrama, but this one may be the most over the top of them all. Alcoholism, impotence, homosexuality, Lauren Bacall playing a good girl (!), nymphomania, suicide, incest, wife beating, and more blackmail and backstabbing than all of Dallas (* may not actually be true *), it's one of the best examples of how to make trash occasionally interesting on its face. It's not as good as Imitation of Life or Magnificent Obsession or All That Heaven Allows. It's still, however, vastly more interesting than a lot of other Hollywood crap, because it's so over the top, and this one is so obviously about Robert Stack being gay, that is has interest. Sirk was always pretty good about getting to the slightly more interesting parts of the inner corruption of the 1950s than most other directors. It's really just a shame that he chose to waste his talents on gussying up crap. But then again, that is the point of his movies: he's subverting the idealized version of the 50s by using obvious soundstages, bright colors, ridiculous score, wind blowing leaves in the house, and rear-projection to continually force the audience to remember that they're watching a movie. That he ruined the melodrama by going so far over the top that no one could out do it in all seriousness is probably the greatest tribute to his enduring legacy on film. But really, the enduring legacy of this film is Dorothy Malone winning an Oscar for masturbating an oil derrick model.

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution & Little Otik

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution was an interesting movie, wherein Sherlock Holmes goes to Sigmund Freud to cure his cocaine addiction. Plus, it explains the history of why Moriarty is so hated by Holmes. It's got a great cast, with Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Arkin, Nicol Williamson, Robert Duvall, Laurence Olivier, and Joel Gray all being very good in their roles. I can't imagine a film like it nowadays, it's just so strange. Freud playing court tennis against an anti-Semitic Austrian count? Yeah, just one of the things in it. A Steven Sondheim song? Yep.

Little Otik is bizarre. Absolutely bizarre. I'm not sure there's a better way to describe it rather than just a bizarre Pinocchio story with a homicidal Pinocchio. Anyway, this one ends up being more a condemnation of consumerism and middle class values rather than a call to tell the truth. That it ends up being a fairy tale makes it more interesting, but I think it's clearly too long of a film, since everyone who has read it knows how it will end. Just could have been cut down a little, because it just kept going. I've been interested in seeing the work of Jan Svankmajer since I first saw his name in the list of old movies shown at Duke, and this is the first one I've seen. The animation was pretty good, but I vastly preferred the hand-drawn animation during the fairy tale to the stop-motion animation.

Sunrise, Ivanhoe, & Twin Warriors

Sunrise is F.W. Murnau's excellent part of the stereotypically evil dark haired ladies attempting to destroy the blond virginal women who have the love of the men genre of movies. Too bad about that, although it really was a little early for it to be so horribly cliched. That aspect of the movie is unfortunate, since the technical aspect of it is so outstanding, especially the camera movement and the superimpositions. This is the reason why silent films are still worth watching, because they so frequently are the reason for the camera tricks we take for granted today.

Ivanhoe is fun, but not history at all. It's also strange to see George Sanders as the evil knight, since I normally think of him as the talker who helps the hero save the day. I probably would have enjoyed it more with him as the hero, but eh, stupid Hollywood usually doesn't know what to do with most actors. I guess I should have been rooting for Joan Fontaine to get Ivanhoe, but, as a Jew, I was rooting for Elizabeth Taylor. And I would have rooted harder if it wasn't for the fact that, as a Jew, she was doomed to have an unhappy ending. Beh.

Twin Warriors was very enjoyable, once you got past the fact that the version I saw was dubbed. Beh. Why couldn't it have been subtitled? The dubbers were horrendous. The fight choreography was outstanding, mainly due to Yuen Woo-ping, and as good as Jet Li was, Michelle Yeoh was outstanding. She was, in my opinion, the reason to see the film. Yeah, Li's fights were good, especially the scene in the monastery, but that fight devolved into slapstick too much. Yeoh's fights were much better. I just wish that the movie was not dubbed. So terrible. And I would have preferred the original title of Tai-Chi Master. Makes more sense than Twin Warriors, unless you can't tell the difference between Jet Li and Siu-hou Chin.

Raise the Red Lantern, Dark Habits, & Marat/Sade

Raise the Red Lantern was a terrible DVD. Subtitles were sometimes non-existent (what did the red characters separating parts say?) and sometimes completely wrong (savant rather than servant) and other times just very poor English. Plus, why is the video so bad? This is one of the most praised films of the 1990s, and they couldn't bother to fix the grain and add some contrast to the scenes? And, last, and certainly not least, the movie was 5 minutes short. Who the fuck do they think they are putting together that crappy of a DVD? Argh. Which is a shame, because through the bad quality of the DVD, you can see that the actual movie is very good, and that Gong Li is excellent. Damn shame about the DVD.

Dark Habits was a mess of a movie. Too bad, because Almodovar can normally put a bunch of craziness together to make a worthwhile movie. Probably would have been better had I not seen any of his later films, which all dealt with everything in this much better. Maybe it was bigger then to have lesbian and druggie nuns, but it's old hat for him now.

Marat/Sade is a grotesque. The songs were actually not that bad, and the writing was extremely strong. It's just not a film I can really recommend to anyone without the warning that it is full of very messed up things. It is set in an insane asylum, you know. It's a very difficult film. Mainly because Brook was bringing the difficultness of the play to the screen with the added advantage of using cinematic tricks to further confuse and mess with the audience. The whip-pans and strange camera angles occasionally draw you further into the play and make it clear that the viewer is definitely in the audience of a play. The actors don't play to the camera, either. Everything in it is to confront the audience. Given this, why is it so good? Because the actors, Patrick Magee, Glenda Jackson, Ian Richardson, and others, are able to do their job very well. Maybe I need to see the play performed normally, but maybe I can just accept that the movie conveys the play better than watching it ever could. And it's very unlikely anyone could be better than in this movie.

Cat Ballou, Modern Romance, & Kafka on the Shore

Cat Ballou is terrible. Nothing remotely worthwhile. Eesh. Well, occasionally Lee Marvin makes something somewhat funny about being a drunk, but he frequently goes too far. Anyway, a main problem with the movie is the overuse of "comedic" fast-speed. It isn't funny. Also, this movie apparently killed Nat King Cole.

Modern Romance probably would have been better without the smoove jazz of You Are So Beautiful to Me over the opening credits. That song sucks anyway, and that version was terrible. Well, every version sucks. I can't think of a version that doesn't suck. Once you ignore that song, though, it's hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. Maybe I shouldn't have found it as funny as I did. It's not like I don't have occasionally very damaged relationships. I do tend to avoid wandering around my apartment on 'ludes though. Maybe I should because it's very funny. I also need a bird. And some albums. I can do that with CDs though. It's also very nice to see Super Dave Osborne. Yeah, he's Albert Brooks's brother, but I like to see him act anyway. The fact that stalking is equated with the ultimate love is interesting. I tend to agree.

Kafka on the Shore was amazing. (Oh my god, he's actually talking about a book or music? What the hell is wrong?) Still not as good as Norwegian Wood, but I think it's probably Murakami's best weird story. I wasn't sure where it was going, but when it really started to race, it was so very very good. I probably need to reread some of his earlier works, but I have so many other books I need to read first. Yeah, this one was a little more obsessed with sex than the others, but then again, a main character is a 15 year old guy who keeps meeting women. Or maybe it's just that Murakami is getting older and thinking more about sex.

Warm Water under a Red Bridge, The Conformist, & Absence of Malice

Warm Water under a Red Bridge has all the story qualities and archetypes to be a part of modern mythology. Plus, it has a woman "vent"ing a lot. I'm not really sure what the water is supposed to be, but I'm also not entirely sure that it's supposed to matter. It's just one of those strange aspects that gods have in mythology, like Zeus's desire to turn into animals to have sex with women. The sort of hero's journey that Yosuke goes on, first searching for a treasure, then dealing with a goddess who may or may not be benign in intent, along with the fishing, echoes Greek myths like Circe and Medea. I know that there is probably some Japanese myth of a similar story, but I have little to no familiarity with Japanese myths.

The Conformist is a very good looking film. Everything about it is gorgeous. And it's probably the best Bertolucci film I've seen so far. I didn't realize it was told in non-chronological order for a little while in, and then it took me a little longer to figure out the plot. However, ignoring everything, Trintignant is so very good as the conformist that the fact that it was beautiful and a great plot doesn't entirely matter. Definitely a must see, but why the hell it isn't on DVD yet confuses me.

Absence of Malice is an interesting look at freedom of the press and journalistic ethics. Good central performances from Sally Field and Paul Newman, and supporting performances from Bob Balaban and Wilford Brimley. Nothing too great about it, nothing bad about it, just a solid little film.

The Devil's Rejects & Slings and Arrows

The Devil's Rejects was completely reprehensible. Only the gleefulness with which the movie embraces that makes it remotely worth watching. And only watch it if you want to see gratuitous nudity, blood, and gore. Apparently, Rob Zombie's first film was even worse than this. I guess it probably had no technical expertise. Eh.

Slings and Arrows is a pretty well-done Canadian show about a theater festival putting on Hamlet. And it has Rachel McAdams, who is actually pretty good. Not really that surprising considering how good she was in Mean Girls. It's enjoyable, occasionally very very funny, occasionally very sad, and it's nice to see a show that doesn't talk down to the audience. Lots and lots of Shakespearian references, nice touches, and really just excellent. Huzzah to Sundance for the first season marathon. Yay for them showing the second season with Macbeth. I'm also looking forward to the third season's King Lear.

High Sierra, Narc, & A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge

High Sierra would have been a solid little noir film with a strong performance from Bogart in the middle, except that it has Algernon. Who is one of the worst Hollywood stereotypes of a black man out there. Just so horribly racist that I couldn't get past him. Every single one of his scenes elicited a groan. I didn't even make it to his first words before I knew that he was going to be terrible. I just needed him to wake up with bug-eyes and I knew he'd be spouting off "boss"es and "massa"s before too long.

Narc has a good performance from Ray Liotta, but other than that, it's a pretty damn typical undercover cop story. I might have liked it a little more if I hadn't started to watch Friedkin's interview on the DVD. What a mistake. Wow, I want to compare this tiny little cop film with the French Connection. Because that is a great idea to compare them.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge is by far the worst Nightmare film. How can Kreuger function in reality? How can they completely ruin the Kreuger name with this? And it didn't even have any post modern aspects to make up for them like New Nightmare. I think it's interesting that Wes Craven had absolutely nothing to do with this movie. But that he was involved in 1 and 3, the two best in the series. He clearly has at least some talent. Unlike the people who were involved in this piece of shite. Oh, wait. This isn't terrible, it's just the best gay horror film ever. They just kept up with the naked Jesse shots, and him in his underwear, and what's with the gym teacher who's gay and into S&M? And why doesn't Jesse get with Lisa (who looks a hell of a lot like Meryl Streep)? My advice is to ignore that this one ever happened, and stick to the other ones. Unless you want to watch the gayest horror film ever! Note that this is all patently obvious without knowing about the gay text of the movie (I just knew it as the worst of the series), but knowing that makes it all the more obvious. Instead of Kreuger being all about taking revenge for being murdered by killing all the kids of the parents by attacking them through their dreams, in this one, he's a personification of gayness. I wonder how much of it was intentional. It's still a terrible movie, but you don't see too many gay horror movies. Even though TEH GAY is coming to get you! Or maybe just the completely unexplained dogs with human faces. Either way.

The Advocate & (Bloody) Brigadoon (!)

The Advocate is full of baudy ribald naughtiness. That much redundancy is completely necessary for all the sex and nudity in this movie. And it's cut down from an NC-17 version? I wish they'd release that version in the US. Colin Firth is in it, as is Ian Holm, and they give great performances that make the movie much more than an insane amount of nudity. To a certain extent I just couldn't get past all of it, but it was occasionally very very funny, and I like that the ass gets away with it.

Brigadoon has some of the worst Scottish accents I've heard in a film. What was the point of making Cyd Charisse a Scottish lady? They couldn't find one single person who can sing and dance and can do a passable Scottish brogue? Oh, wait, she was dubbed. It's not like Brigadoon hadn't been done on stage before. Stupid Hollywood. Plus, I hate that some of the lyrics were too risque for the movies then. I need me some double entendres and obvious sex infused lyrics. Damnit. With all of that, it's still a visually impressive film, because of Minelli's directing, Gene Kelly's dancing, and a lot of very long shots of dancing and singing. Plus, whenever I watch a musical I've never seen before, there's always that moment when I realize that some song I'm pretty familiar with is from it. In this case, of course, it's "Almost like Being in Love". I really didn't know it was from Brigadoon.

Papillon, Interview with the Assassin, & Japanese Story

Papillon is a little overlong, but watching Steve McQueen makes it pretty worthwhile. That it was basically the A Million Little Pieces of its day doesn't hurt the movie really, but maybe it might have had I thought it was real in the first place. By the way, Bruce Willis is a dick for sticking up for Frey. There is no reason to equate publishing a false memoir with Bill Clinton lying. So can we impeach Frey for being a lying ass? Oh, wait, Oprah already did that. I didn't realize that the guy who directed Patton directed this. I never really knew who directed Patton, but I always assumed it was someone at least a little famous. Don't need much more than George C. Scott. Like you don't need much more than Steve McQueen. Although you also get Dustin Hoffman here, so that isn't too bad.

Interview with the Assassin is a can't-miss premise and a good movie for all but the last 15 minutes or so, when it goes to crap. And by crap, I mean crap. That ending was horrendously bad. I thought it was good until they started messing with the entire reason for the movie. Eh.

Japanese Story is a pretty damn good movie. And I completely didn't see that "twist" coming, and that ending was pretty damn good. Toni Collette makes everything better. I definitely recommend this movie to everyone. Some of the Australian accents were a little tough and Hiromitsu's English was a little halting, but a lot of it doesn't matter at all, because of the facial expressions. And that theme was about the perfect song for the movie.

I Married a Witch & Why We Fight

I Married a Witch is notable for having Veronica Lake. And really that's about all you need to know. It's not that funny (although there were some very funny lines), the special effects aren't that special, and parts of it grated on my nerves. Or should that be grated my nerves? Either way, Veronica Lake is very attractive and funny, and it's a damn shame more of her stuff isn't available on DVD. I guess Rene Clair's reputation was built on his other films, as this only had bits and pieces go above and beyond the genre. But it has Robert Benchley in it, which is always a treat.

Why We Fight is the movie that Michael Moore wishes he made. No crazy conspiracy theories, no unconnected dots. Just 100 minutes of very structured and effective discussion of why we're both in Iraq and why Eisenhower was a great prescient president. Really, that speech was outstanding, and it's pretty damn clear that the best way to avoid going into unnecessary wars is to see the utter destruction that war can achieve. About my only problem with the movie was Gore Vidal saying that the Japanese were trying to surrender the entire summer before we dropped the bombs on them. I don't remember that from my history, but it could be right. However, Vidal isn't entirely the most trustworthy source on things. I would have preferred someone else supporting that claim. Richard Perle, on the other hand, provided almost all the humor in the film, as he disingenuously argued for his side, when there was no support for it. I'm not sure whether it was Jarecki's intent to film Perle in such a way as to make his eyes look very sunken or if it was the makeup or if it was just that he hadn't gotten much sleep, but he was pretty darn evil looking throughout the film. I did enjoy the use of Not Dark Yet and I Fought in a War, so Jarecki clearly knows music or someone else does. I Fought in a War was just a perfect ending song. Kudos!

Buffalo Soldiers, On Golden Pond, The Cooler, & Stevie

Buffalo Soldiers had a non-annoying performance from Joaquin Phoenix. I didn't think those existed. A little too eh of a movie, and I can see why it was held off on being released for a while. Of course, that was because it was "too anti-American" rather than just being not particularly good. Not terrible, not great, just mediocre.

On Golden Pond probably would have been better if I were older. Maybe. Or maybe if it hadn't had such a cliche version of teenhood. I liked Henry and Katharine, but that kid was terrible. I don't really see why it was so lauded when it was released. Well, I do, but that is only a result of Fonda and Hepburn.

The Cooler was good. Shawn Hatosy, however, was terrible. His "line readings" never really went anywhere but spitting. Everyone else was pretty good. Macy and Bello are very strong. And Baldwin is suitably menacing. Ron Livingston was suitably assholish. Basically, it was a fun movie about the ultimate redemption of love. And how being in love makes everything seem better and lucky.

Stevie is the extremely depressing story of the director of Hoop Dreams, Steve James, who was a Big Brother to a troubled kid, Stevie, and how he goes back ten years later to see how he's doing. Stevie is really really messed up. Just the idea that these people are a screwed up at all because their parents just didn't care. Or even worse, that they screwed up their kids on purpose. If only there could be a test for parentage... Otherwise, it's just a bunch of people who are messed up messing up more people. Unfortunately, Steve James isn't innocent of using Stevie for a subject, ignoring him when it wasn't entirely convenient. But I cannot condemn him, as the people in his life should have been there for him long before Steve James ignored him. The guys who wanted him to join the Aryan Brotherhood, one of whom wore a Les Mis shirt, were evil. So disappointing. After I figured out just how depressing the movie was going to be, I just sat there hoping against hope that it wouldn't end up with a complete downer of an ending. That it wouldn't end up with all the worst happening to everyone. The ending is so heartwrenching...

Batman Begins, Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, & The Brother from Another Planet

Batman Begins was a pretty good movie. Maybe even the best Batman film. A lot less scene-chewing than the first Batman. And by first Batman, I mean the Tim Burton one, not the Adam West one. That was entirely made of scene-chewing (BANFF!). The Tim Burton Batman only had Jack chewing scenes. The thing that made this one good was that Bale was a much stronger Batman than Keaton. I'm not sure what they're going to do with not having Kate Cruise in the next film, but I like the other places they took the story. Felt very real. Less comic-booky.

Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit was typically great Aardman animation. I loved the bunny-Wallace. Cheese! Very enjoyable all around. Gromit may be one of the best characters in animation of all time. It just made me happy. And that doesn't happen all that much for me while watching films.

The Brother from Another Planet was John Sayles on race. Watching the interview with him and Maggie Renzi on the disc was also interesting, as it pretty much just confirmed that it was an intentionally created film to discuss issues of race. Strathairn and Sayles as the white men in black were pretty disconcerting, and to know that a lot of scenes were done with very small and cheap effects. Nice job there Sayles. He's right that the little simple effects were much more effective than if there had been lots of stuff. They allowed for more focus on the story of how people approach race in the US. Yay for Sayles's liberal filmmaking.

Beatboxing & Incident at Blood Pass

And if you do a beat in 3/4 time, suddenly they become bicurious!

Incident at Blood Pass is the last Yojimbo film, although it's not a Kurosawa film. Mfume is still there, but he's clearly aging. Plus, the movie is a little confusing for a samurai film, with a lot of double-crossing. And I'm not entirely sure that it makes sense. I haven't seen any of the original Zatoichi films, so I figure I probably should, since the guy who plays Zatoichi in a lot (or all, I'm not entirely sure) of the series is pretty damn good in it. Basically, worth it if you love samurai films, but only if you can handle one without violence for a large part. Trying to put the plot together really needed that extra time. Otherwise I think I would have been completely confused rather than just somewhat confused.

Damage, Keep the River on Your Right, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, & Sometimes in April

Damage has a typical performance from Jeremy Irons as a really creepy older guy. Does he actually get any other roles? Every single one of his roles is the same. And he nails every one. Juliette Binoche was just ok, and Miranda Richardson has her one scene that netted her an Oscar nomination. I'm not talking about the topless scene. The movie was just ok, nothing that special.

Keep the River on Your Right was interesting, but ultimately too little depth. It does have a hell of a lot more nudity than I was expecting. And Schneebaum was only interesting because of what he had done, because as a central character he had no charisma at all. With all that, it is a shame that civilization has basically ruined their culture and is giving them all the sickness and repression that Europeans gave to every area they found. Dude, we suck as a civilization.

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang was just bleh. Yay for it saving Warner Brothers studio, but beh for it being a typical early sound film with way too much overacting. I guess that Paul Muni was good, but his style of acting was alternately annoying or over the top. Too much of that was just the way that movies were made back then, and it's way too Hollywood in making every character (except that one convict) either good or evil. No real middle ground there. Damn shame, because otherwise it's a good story, based on a true story, that is a condemnation of the southern chain gang system, something which was horrible. I can appreciate the historical importance of the movie while still having a problem with it as a movie.

Sometimes in April starts with a fascinating opening crawl, just pointing out how terrible colonialism is. Seriously, colonialism and imperialism just screw up everything. Idris Elba (the supremely awesome Stringer Bell) is a very strong presence in the middle of this film. Debra Winger, as the white conscience of the movie, is very good as well, but the best thing was just seeing her in a movie again. (As an aside, she was having sex with Bob Kerrey? Weird...) Unfortunately, it will be compared to Hotel Rwanda, while both are telling a similar story, the different approach makes for a very different movie. This one is actually telling more about the massacres, rather than just the brave story of saving lots of people. The use of the hotel from the other movie doesn't help the comparisons either, but by moving outside the hotel to tell about others gives the story more historical heft. Using the story of two brothers split apart by the genocide makes it clearer to Americans how much of a civil war this was. It's just like all those stories about brothers fighting against brothers in the Civil War. Now, if only there was a bit of genocide in the Civil War... One last comment: I am not entirely sure where that scene on the Metro was shot, but it could have been Dupont Circle. District represent!

Bound, The Big Sleep, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, & The Silence

Bound is pretty much only notable for Gina Gershon. Who, with this movie, is probably the most attractive big screen lesbian of all time. Yeah, just wow. If only Jennifer Tilly's voice wasn't quite so annoying, I would have little to complain about in the movie. Just that there's nothing too great about it, just sort of a somewhat interesting movie, with some nice visual tricks.

The Big Sleep was pretty bad. I probably wouldn't hate it nearly as much had the 46 version not been made, or if Sarah Miles didn't look ugly as hell in it. Really, she can't compare at all to Bacall. And Mitchum isn't nearly as good as Bogart. Moving it to England made no sense, and the flashbacks just got distracting. The book doesn't make any sense in the first place, why try to solve that? It may follow the novel better than the earlier version, but who cares? That the Maltese Falcon followed the book so closely (with clear exceptions for things that would have broken the production code, like some of the gay text and subtext, plus the nudity and drugs), doesn't make the movie better, the directing, writing, and acting makes it a great movie. The same can be said for this movie. Very little comes remotely close to being good in it. I can't understand the entire reason for it being made.

Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and the Silence make up Ingmar Bergman's trilogy of Faith. I can sort of see why it's called that, although I'm not entirely sure about The Silence fitting in with the concept of faith from the other two movies. As far as the movies go, I thought that Winter Light was the weakest of the three, but it clearly fit the concept of faith the best. Through a Glass Darkly was the best movie, but all of them were full of good acting, and beautiful cinematography. And no one does mentally unstable women better than Bergman.

Control Room, That Uncertain Feeling, & Carlito's Way

Control Room is somewhat interesting look at Al-Jazeera, but I just thought it was a little superficial. Just didn't think it added up to nearly as much as its ambitions.

That Uncertain Feeling was typically hilarious Ernst Lubitsch, with one of the funniest opening gags I've seen in a long time. I have a strong desire to start keeking people as well. Except that I know I'd be attacked.

Carlito's Way was crap. De Palma is so freakin' bad. I cannot imagine a movie more crap than this. Even with Viggo and Guzman, the movie is worthless. Ugh. Why? Why do I keep watching his movies? Why?