Brad's Week in Dork! (11/17/13-11/23/13)

This was simply one of the best weeks I've experienced this year.  Matt & I spent a good chunk of it staring up at The Big Screen, and I would rather be nowhere else than in a darkened theater.   Sure, we missed a good bit of the Fantastic Fest Tour last week, but Matt & I managed to spend an entire day with The Alamo Drafthouse on Sunday.  I am happy to report that two of the films we watched there will land on my Top 10 List by year's end - Journey to the West & Why Don't You Play In Hell? are a couple of mindbendingly entertaining films from the East.  Hopefully the Fest will return next year, and I'll make damn sure to get the whole weekend off.  Midweek we took a peak at Matthew McConaughey's Oscar grabber Dallas Buyers Club, and we finished it all off with an AFI Silver screening of Kiss Me Deadly.  Ralph Meeker...monster...just an unbelievably good movie.

I spent the rest of the week diving into Noirvember.  A bit of too little, too late.  Next year I'll try to knock one out a day cuz it's a blast witnessing dumb dudes fall for diabolical dames.  I saw The Prowler for the first time on Sunday morning.  It's a demented little flick (see below).  And Netflix currently has Raw Deal streaming - I'll join novelist Eddie Muller in calling it one of the genre's best.  Matt's been raving about Gene Tierney's Leave Her To Heaven horror show, and I gotta heap on more praise.  Just a damn fine bit of melodrama.  Plus, Jean Rollin, Black Power, Robert Ryan, Charles Bronson, and Charlie Chaplin filled in the gaps.  A ton of fun.

The Prowler:  "You're a real cop now, aren't you?  You want everything free."  During the special features, author James Ellroy nails it on the head when he labels this whackjob flick as a "Perv Noir."  Van Heflyn's beat cop responds to Evelyn Keyes' distress call, and immediately slithers his way into her life.  This woman just can't say no; ten minutes inside her home, Heflyn's smoking the husband's cigarettes, drinking his booze, and plotting his murder.  Keyes is nearly unbearable in her ignorance, but Van Heflyn's badged monster owns this unlawful entry.  When you compare the bulging glares of his sleazoid cop with the dopey sadsack hero of 3:10 To Yuma, you'll finish the credits a Van Heflyn fan for life.  The Prowler's third act goes off the rails a bit with a ghost town pregnancy, but the surreal law & order showdown certainly delivers on the weirdo vibe.  It's certainly a must for fans of the genre.

Confession of Murder:  Unlike Van Heflyn's deputized pervert, Jae-yeong Jeong's Detective Choi is the type of badass Dirty Harry you love to root for as he bashes, gouges, and spits against the absolute worst of humanity.  Unfortunately, Confession of Murder's structure wanders on too long as it manufactures its inevitable twists.  There are certainly moments in this movie that I enjoyed.  When fists or bullets start to fly, I really appreciated the sloppiness of the action.  Whatever happens to be lying around the set is tossed into the violence; no bucket or frozen fish is safe.  Again, Jae-yeong Jeong is great.  He simmers rage and hate, but the film never really delivers on those emotions, opting for obvious narrative trickery instead.  May I recommend I Saw The Devil, if you are looking for some real-deal Korean serial killer cinema to fuel your nightmares.

Journey to the West - Conquering the Demons: This one surprised me.  I don't know why since I'm a tremendous fan of Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle, and I should frickin' know better, but the early trailers for this yet-another-adaptation of the classic Chinese fable never captured my interest.  Dumb ass.  Journey to the West is the best fantasy adventure of 2013 - F YOU UPCOMING HOBBIT!  The story of a young demon hunter struggling to obtain enlightenment as he struggles equally to sack catfish and pig monsters.  And if fumbling about with cg folklore wasn't tough enough, the fool is constantly being shown up by Shu Qi's warrior princess.  The film is incredibly silly and weird, but as one demon hunter fends off the affections of another, and the epic quest marches towards the mischievous Monkey King, I found myself being incredibly moved by the climactic spiritual awakening.  As he had already proven with Shaolin Soccer & Kung Fu Hustle, Stephen Chow drags genuine warmth out of cartoon hijinks.  Journey to the West does all the cliche things you want from the movies - you'll laugh, you'll cry, etc.  High praise.

Why Don't You Play In Hell?:  "It's bullshit, but it's holy."  For me, nearly the second they were uttered, those five unimpressive words struck like a hammer.  Which is impressive considering how distracted I was with splatstick laughter at the time.  A group of teenagers, unable to shake their child-born attraction to the movies, are dragged into a gang war when Boss attempts to satisfy his imprisoned wife by transforming their daughter into a full-fledged starlet.  What does an obsession with Bruce Lee have to offer real life let alone a Yakuza crusade?  Movies are my own great Holy Bullshit, and filmmaker Sion Sono certainly understands this fictional infection.  Why Don't You Play In Hell? builds slowly as it connects film nerds to mob killers, but by the time Samurai Boss Shinichi Tsutsumi cracks his Carey Grant smile and ascends to Mifune Godhood, I was painfully smitten.  I loved Journey to the West, but Why Don't You Play In Hell? feels like an instant personal classic.  Will it speak to everybody?  Absolutely not.  But if you spend as much time as I do fretting over the merits of Crank 2 - High Voltage or the under appreciated kick-assery of Domino Harvey then boy, do I have the movie for you!

Red 2:  I dug the first flick.  I kinda hated this one.  John Malkovich & Helen Mirren are fun enough, but Bruce Willis is painfully checked out from this old foggie spy adventure.  I've seen Moonrise Kingdom.  I've seen Looper.  I know the guy can still deliver a solid performance when he bothers to give a damn.  But if he keeps cranking out the Red 2s, the Good Day To Die Hards, and the GI Joe Retaliations then I am going to leave him smirking across an empty theater.  Of course, I could just be bitter that Red 2 left Karl Urban standing at the alter.  If he had been there instead of Byung-hun Lee, then maybe I could have focused on the shockingly entertaining character work being done by Anthony Hopkins, and not the slackjawed yawn belching from its lead performer.

Dallas Buyers Club:  I am so glad that the rest of the world has finally caught up to my Matthew McConaughey love...or has the Surfer, Dude simply given up the aspirations of Tom Cruisehood and plunged into the splendid world of character actor?  Dallas Buyers Club is just what you think it is, a message movie circling themes of intolerance on both the personal and societal level (resulting in countless unnecessary deaths) and an opportunity for its star to horrifyingly transform himself.  The cynical might dismiss it as Oscar bait, but I appreciated the narrow focus of the Buyers Club money grab.  This is not just the story of a man inflicted with HIV only to magically discover that Life Is Beautiful.  Sure, he gets there.  But McConaughey's sex fiend dope head recognizes an opportunity to make a buck, and through his own greed witnesses the even more catastrophic avarice of Big Pharma.  If you really want to get your dander up then I recommend How To Survive A Plague for further viewing.

The Set-Up:  "Everybody makes book on something."  Here it is.  The granddaddy of all boxing stories.  Pulp Fiction, Snake Eyes, Raging Bull - they all wanna piece of The Set-Up.  Robert Ryan is Stoker, a mid 30s wannabe champion without a chance in hell of scoring the belt.  When his manager & coach make arrangements with his opponent they forget to tell Stoker to throw in the towel.  They've seriously under estimated the dying dog's determination.  The Set-Up is one of the most painful of noirs thanks to the impenetrable cloud of doom circling the hero. Ryan is the very definition of "poor bastard," from nearly the first frame you know he's screwed.    

The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman:  Who doesn't want to see Mads Mikkelsen and Til Schweiger beat the stuffing out of Shia Labeouf?  That's what I call a good time out at the movies.  And the kid really does get the snot kicked out of him, but these poundings stem from a series of predictable setups.  Labeouf travels to Romania after his mother's ghost instructs him to strike out on an adventure, a man dies next to him on the plane, and he feels it necessary to deliver a spectral message to his daughter.  It's all very cute.  It's Eastern Europe so of course there are strippers and the mobsters.  Meh.  Not the worst thing I've seen this year, but I certainly won't remember a thing about it come Top Ten time.

The Black Power Mixtape:  From 1967 to 1975, a Swedish television crew shot hours upon hours of footage surrounding the Black Power movement in the United States.   Decades later it's assembled by director Goran Olsson into this masterful documentary.  The film touches upon the battling philosophies of Martin Luthor King, Stokely Carmichael, Malcom X, and Louis Farrakhan.  You've probably encountered much of this content in the past, but the Swedish perspective offers a fascinating angle that's not as condemning of us dumb Americans as you might think...although, it's appropriately harsh on the assholes of history.

Raw Deal:  "What do I care if you're dead?"  Edmund O'Keefe escapes from prison and plunges himself and two love struck dames into a vengeance quest against gangster Raymond Burr.  Like the best noirs, Raw Deal concerns itself with white hot hate, and revels in the resulting emotional torture.  I love how helpless O'Keefe is under the affections of both Claire Trevor & Marsha Hunt.  He just wants his dough, but these girls keep getting in the way!  Raymond Burr also gets an exceptional moment to showcase his villainy as he dumps scalding hot flambe upon a hapless dancing couple.  I can see where Lee Marvin gets his temper from in The Big Heat.

Leave Her To Heaven:  "Sometimes the truth is wicked."  Cornel Wilde stumbles into a diabolical Elektra complex when he locks eyes with Gene Tierney's gorgeous socialite.  The film chronicles a deeply disturbing love affair in which Wilde appears helpless against Tierney's fatherly obsession.  Once again...dames.  No one is safe from Tierney's perverted lust.  Not Wilde, his crippled kid brother, the family ranch hand, or any beast that dare grow in her belly can escape this monster.  Is Leave Her To Heaven the first color Film Noir as some have claimed?  Not sure that such a thing exists, but you can't doubt Gene Tierney's talent as a Femme Fatale.  She's stunningly gorgeous and filled with hate; to look upon her is to look upon the medusa.  Yer done son.

Fascination:  If you've been reading Matt's Week In Dorks then you've seen him slip into Jean Rollin madness.  He's been pestering me to jump on board this train for some time, and I finally broke down with this whackjob flick.  What's it all about?  I really don't know.  Some thief flees into a castle where two mysterious women keep dropping their clothes and ravaging his body.  Lots & lots of surreal imagery - a bloody butcher barn exchange opens the film, and it only gets more nonsensical from there.  Of course I enjoyed it.  Am I ready to go all in like Matt?  Hmmmmm...not yet.  I'll give another Rollin flick a try, but apparently, I need more in my films than dreamscape boobs.

Someone Behind The Door:  Two weeks ago I had never heard of this film, but then I encountered a random Best Of List online (which I currently can't track down) that put Someone Behind The Door at the very top of Charles Bronson's canon.  Better than Death Wish?  Mr. Majestyk?  Once Upon A Time In The West? Certainly not better than Death Wish 3!?!?!?!?  This random troll thought so, and I had to find out.  Well, I wouldn't rank it at the top of my list, but Someone Behind The Door is pretty damn good.  Bronson plays a drifter who stumbles into Anthony Perkins's hospital with some scratches on his arm and absolutely no recollection of who he is.  Amnesia...yeah, it's one of those.  Bronson is solid as this broken man hunting for identity, but it's really Anthony Perkins's show.  The kindly doctor is not so kind; he uses Bronson's blank slate as a means of punishing his adulterous wife, but how far will this revenge go - murder?  The man is Psycho after all.  Someone Behind The Door is certainly worth a look, and you might as well snag the DVD for a couple bucks online.

Just Like Being There:  A simple talking heads documentary detailing the resurgence of illustration in regards to concert and movie posters.  The stuff of internet dreams & nightmares.  I was definitely bit by the Mondo bug a few years back, and I had a streak there in which I desperately haunted ebay and other back channels for the must-have screenprints (Tyler Stout's Wrath of Khan & Assault on Precinct 13 being my favorite gets).  Now it's nearly impossible to score a Mondo on the release date, and I've lost the thrill of the hunt.  Of course, there are other companies out there doing work of equal value, even if it doesn't make Entertainment Weekly's radar.  Anyway, there isn't much to this doc.  It's cool to get some interviews from folks like Daniel Danger, Justin Ishmael, and Drew Struzan, but there is nothing new to be gained here unless you have only the slimmest of surface knowledge.

Kiss Me Deadly:  "You don't taste like anyone I know."  I've seen this flick a half dozen times now (twice this year now), and it has quickly risen to the top of my all time favorites.  Ralph Meeker's private dick picks up a crazy dame on the side of the road, and his life is propelled down a Kafkan spiral to Armageddon.  Full on Film Noir Horror, and Meeker is the blunt instrument of our ultimate doom.  Men don't get much tougher or downright stupid evil than Meeker's Mike Hammer.  Not sure if this is what Mickey Spillane had in mind, but it's the final statement on a genre of deadly stubborn, thick-headed misogynists.  And it's totally badass.  I have no idea why every random lady falls into Meeker's arms, or why he can't seem to give a damn about them in his quest for the Great Whatsit, but it is painfully funny to watch him bounce off these ladies until that final Fatale strikes.  What's in the box?  Something much worse than Gwyneth Paltrow's pretty little head.  Kiss Me Deadly is the strangest chunk of noir, and it climaxes in what is probably cinema's greatest grim climax.

Detour:  "For that kind of dough, I'd cut my leg off."  Film Noir is a genre of sadsacks, but the saddest sack of all is Tom Neal's lovelorn hitch-hiker.  While on the road to reclaim his starstruck lover, Neal thumbs his way into the wrong car.  As they often do, a corpse materializes.  Neal thinks the easiest option is to snatch it's identity and glide into the Golden State.  Naturally a woman appears to ruin his life.  Claudia Drake might not be the finest of actresses, but she nails the shrill vocal venom and that accompanying hateful stare.  Two pieces of scum made for each other, and the entertainment is watching them bring about their own ruin.  Not my favorite Noir, but whenever someone mentions the genre Detour is the first film that pops into mind.

City Lights:  The Wife & I watched this Saturday afternoon, and we had a blast laughing at The Tramp's romantic plight.  Chaplin falls hard for a blind flower girl, and when he becomes chummy with a drunk millionaire, he finds the monetary means to win her heart.  Unfortunately, the millionaire has no recollection of our man when he's sober.  Miscommunication and slapstick hijinks ensue.  As usual, Criterion does a bang-up job with this Chaplin release, and City Lights stands out even amongst other silent classics like Modern Times & The Gold Rush.  Those thinking that the silent era is best left to the historians are missing out on some serious comic gold.  I'd pit Chaplin against any number of generic Vince Vaughn duds.  Do yourself a favor and give The Tramp a try.

--Brad

Matt’s Week in Dork! (11/17/13-11/23/13)

    I’ve continued to enjoy the heck out of my Criterion viewing, getting in another 5 this week (though Kiss Me Deadly is available from Criterion, I saw it on the big screen, not on disk).  It’s been interesting seeing a bunch of various classic and art films, stuff I’ve heard of but never seen.  And I think I can say that I’ve become something of an Ingmar Bergman fan.  I’m surprised at how grounded and relatable most of his movies are.  When people mentioned his name, I imagined movies like The Magician, which were surreal, vague, and obtuse.  But the movies I’ve seen have been quite earthy, even if the framing and staging has been artificial.  And this week took Brad, Ben, and I out to the AFI Silver for a screening of one of my favorite movies, so that was nice.  But the week started with the awesome Fantastic Fest tour at the Alamo Drafthouse.  Sadly, because of scheduling, neither Brad nor I were able to see any of the earlier screenings, but Sunday we got to see three movies back to back.

Confession of Murder:  Oh, Korean film industry.  You sure put out a lot of vaguely interesting, but ultimately boring films.  I love the cast, and I think they do a great job.  The plot twists aren’t especially interesting, however, or particularly ‘twisty.’  And the pacing is brutally, grindingly slow.  I was shocked to find out it was under two hours, as the last third of the movie seemed to drag and drag and drag.  And there were several places where not only could the movie have ended, but the movie absolutely should have ended (that POV flashback would have been the perfect fade to credits for a very emotionally devastating ending…but it kept going…).  The subplot about the victim’s family trying to do a kidnapping caper bloats the film, adding virtually nothing to the overall piece except excruciating runtime.  The movie would have been stronger (not to mention mercifully shorter) without any of that.  And the CGI action bits looked like crap.  There.  I said it.  The action looked like crap.  And this is an action movie.  So that’s not good.  Overall, it was OK.  But it wasn’t especially good.  And it continues an almost unbroken stream of disappointments from Korea, for this film viewer.  I think The Good, The Bad, The Weird remains the only Korean film I really like (OK, and maybe The Warrior’s Way).

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons:  This martial arts fantasy film is fitfully funny, wildly zany, and surprisingly good.  I’m generally not a fan of comedy films from China, but Stephen Chow does a pretty good job with humor that crosses cultural boundaries.  I wasn’t a huge fan of Shaolin Soccer, but it was solid, and Kung Fu Hustle is fantastic.  This movie takes on the Journey to the West’s early stages in a way I’ve never seen done before (granted, I’ve only seen maybe 5 or 6 variations on the classic tale, and I know there are many more).  I enjoyed the story, the cast of characters, and the very bent sense of humor.  It’s nasty, weird, funny, and freaky.  It’s also got a very fun performance from one of my favorites, Shu Qi.  This may be the most cracked and over the top she’s ever been, and it was great.

Why Don’t You Play in Hell?:  OK, look.  I’m not much of a Japanese film fan.  Certainly not when it comes to the last 30 years or so.  It’s a lot of things, from the pacing, to the repetitiveness, to the frequently squandered intriguing ideas.  And ‘gonzo’ Japanese films hold very little interest.  So, take that in to account when I say, “holy f’in nuts, this movie is one of the craziest, most insanely fun things I’ve seen.”  It’s almost impossible to explain what the movie is like.  You’ve just got to see it.  I’ve watched a trailer that shows some scenes, but it’s not even the tip of the iceberg of how batshit the film actually is.  And the cast takes each bit of madness and runs with it.  They sell it.  The mob bosses?  Awesome.  The filmmakers?  Awesome.  The poor schlub?  Awesome.  It’s hallucinatory.  It’s repulsive.  It’s profane.  And it had me in stitches throughout.  I don’t know what I’m going to call it, but I feel like this and movies like Crank and Crank 2 need to have their own subgenre.  If I could put in writing, Henry Silva’s pre-murder scream from Sharky’s Machine; that’s what I’d call it.

Dallas Buyers Club:  A depressing, but also somewhat uplifting film about a hard partying hick who gets the AIDS and learns some valuable lessons.  It’s well acted, well shot, and doesn’t feel overlong.  It also doesn’t feel the need to go into too much detail, or obsess over the unimportant elements, as many ‘true story’ films do.  It’s probably one of the better films of 2013, though I can’t claim it as one of my favorites.  While a fine film, I don't see myself ever watching it again.

Through a Glass Darkly:  A family getaway brings out some old wounds, as four damaged people come together and try to deal with their various issues.  A writer who has ignored his family, an emotionally immature young man, a woman descending into madness, and her put-upon husband.  Each has secrets and desires to get out, each must face personal demons.  Bergman puts family drama against the stark beauty of a vacation spot, and shoots it all in stark black & white.

Au Hasard Balthazar:  Not at all the movie I was expecting.  Not even the kind of movie I was expecting.  The only thing that could make this more stereotypically French would be for it to smell like piss and constantly insult you.  The characters all suck, everyone’s a scumbag, and there’s a donkey.  A slow girl is the object of lust.  Pointlessly rebellious young people act like turds.  It’s unpleasant, and ultimately detached.  Blah.

Winter Light:  Holy flippin’ crap, this is a danged dark film.  A pastor who has lost his way struggles with his lack of faith, while destroying the lives of those around him.  He’s such a humorless and monstrous human being that it’s hard to sympathize with him at all.  You end up feeling a lot more for the folks around him, who try so hard to reach him.

Kiss Me Deadly:  Thanks to the AFI Silver, I got to see this new favorite on the big screen.  When I first saw this film in 2012, it was a bolt from heaven.  Mike Hammer is a monster.  A dirty, violent, brutal monster.  His vacant grin while he crushes a man’s fingers; his slapping of a fragile old man; whatever he did to Sugar Smallhouse that made Charlie Max loose his nerve.  And yeah, Hammer is the ‘hero.’  He just can’t stop pulling at the threads that will bring about a revelation and an apocalyptic ending.  It’s hard to explain the movie.  You’ve just got to see it.  And when it goes where it goes, get ready to have to pick your jaw up off the floor.

Ministry of Fear:  A man leaves an institution after many years, only to immediately get wrapped up in a strange conspiracy of Nazis and cake.  Or is he mad?  A twisting, turning story of paranoia and ever threatening danger.  Those danged Nazis might be anywhere.  The movie is beautifully shot, stylish in that Lang way, and convoluted and weird.  The rooftop shootout is wild, and the ending is nuts.

Dragonwyck:  “Every now and then, you say ‘golly.’”  A pretty young woman goes to live in a colossal mansion as a sort of governess.  But all is not as it seems, and the house is hardly a home.  Gene Tierney is the plucky woman.  Vincent Price is the rather dastardly, snooty master of the house.  Conflict between classes, between the moneyed families and the salt of the Earth farm folk are just the tip of the Gothic iceberg.  It’s sort of a higher budget precursor to Price’s later work in Poe adaptations for Roger Corman.

Murder, My Sweet:  “It ain’t personal.  We don’t like you.  But it ain’t personal.”  I like the script, but Dick Powell, while likable, doesn’t feel right as a hardboiled detective.  It’s a solid noir, but not an amazing one.  It’s worth checking out, and has some of those great little Noir quips.  But Powell is a bit goofy.

Pandora’s Box:  Everyone wants a bit of Louise Brooks, and generally, she’s willing to share.  And that’s where the problems begin.  Everyone seems to love her, but she just wants to have fun.  This leads to wild parties, marriage, murder, messing about, and all the things a woman gets up to when she’s not barefoot and making babies.  Louise Brooks plays a flapper-monster, but somehow remains charming.  She’s not the kind of aggravating Betty Boop of Clara Bow.  She seems like she’s got more going on behind her eyes, and that she may just be the evil the courts think she is.

    That’s about it this week.  But hey, Fantastic Fest at the Alamo and a trip the AFI mean this was a good week for this Dork.

-Matt

Matt’s Weeks in Dork! (7/1/12-7/7/12) & (7/8/12-7/14/12)

(7/1-7/7)

    As the region recovered from the apocalyptic storm, I sat down to a bunch of comics and a bunch of movies.  So, I guess, same as always.

Point Blank:  Lee Marvin plays Walker (Parker from the Richard Stark novels) in this brutal tale of betrayal, revenge, and exactly what’s owed.  Stylized direction from mad genius John Boorman, a crackerjack script with lots of colorful characters make for entertaining, if sometimes uncomfortable viewing.  Walker isn’t a man.  He’s a force of nature.  You get out of his way if you don’t want him to walk over or through you.  The nightclub fistfight is one of cinema’s best.  Saturated with 40s pulp menace and 60s jet-set cool it’s a must see, frequently forgotten classic.

Repo Men:  Dystopian science fiction with a very 80s cyberpunk vibe, this flick features some nasty violence and some Cronenberg-type body horror.  If you can’t handle really nasty surgical type business, move along.  A solid cast and a really, really awesome soundtrack (not to mention a subtle but solid score), go a long way.  I’m not in love with the ending, but I really dig this film, none the less.

Navajo Joe:  The usual Spaghetti Western elements.  Spanish countryside and Italian actors subbing for the American “Wild” West.  But this one does feature young Burt Reynolds as the title characters.  The half Native chick he semi-hooks up with is flippin’ gorgeous (and Italian).  It’s a lot of typical bits tossed into a pot and cooked for an hour and a half.  For the most part, it comes out good.

Three The Hard Way:  Jim Brown, Jim Kelly, and Fred Williamson come together to fight the forces of evil in this crazy Blaxploitation entry.  Topless S&M allies help root out the truth of a conspiracy of white supremacists.  There are lots of exploding cars, some cool location shooting in several major cities, and lots of awkward Jim Kelly fighting (and noises).  Not the best of the subgenre, but very watchable.

Black Dynamite:  At once a parody and homage, this flick is so much fun.  Michael Jai White channels Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, and Jim Kelly into one powerhouse performance.  Jokes both subtle and blatant are fast and furious.  And the whole thing looks like it might have been filmed in 1975.  Great music, great performances, and great fun.  If you enjoy Blaxploitation at all, you need to see this.

Bad Ass:  Bus fight!!!  If you like to see bearded Danny Trejo revel in being a kindly old man, who just happens to beat up a bunch of punk asses, this is the movie for you.  Trejo is oddly adorable and the rest of the cast backs him up well.  It’s not an amazing movie, or ground breaking, or even especially good.  But it’s very watchable and for a pretty violent film, it’s strangely light hearted.

The Howl:  I don’t get it.  I guess this is some surrealist mumbo-jumbo, but it just seems like a feverish dream capturing all the usual sexual anxiety of Italian (and French) film.  Sex and death.  Bodily functions.  Confusion.  Emotional dissonance.  Reactions that don’t make a lot of sense.  Characters that with no discernable personalities.  Maybe you have to be European?  I think it’s supposed to be funny.  But it’s not.  I also think they were trying to make ART, and as pretty much always happens in such circumstances, they make pretentious crap.

Key Largo:  I think I was 10 years old when I watched Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and Key Largo for the first time.  That’s when I realized Humphrey Bogart is one of the coolest dudes ever.  In the decades since, Casablanca has been an enduring favorite (it’s now my go-to ‘favorite film’), The Maltese Falcon an occasional enjoyable watch, and Key Largo…well, for some reason I just never really watched it again.  Revisiting it now after so many years, I’m struck by so many things.  Edward G. Robinson’s old-time gangster, his seedy henchmen, the hurricane, the stand-up (if he could) hotel owner, and Lauren Bacall.  Oh, man.  Lauren Bacall.  She’s got this animal hunger in her eyes in this movie that…well, let’s just say, I like it.  Robinson’s total freak-out is awesome to watch.  He’s great at playing someone who knows he’s in over his head, but can’t let himself really believe it.

The Public Enemy:  “Remember this boys.  You gotta have friends.”  Tough guy director William Wellman helped create the archetypal gangster, here played by James Cagney.  Between Cagney and Edward G. Robinson, you pretty much find the road map for mobsters than I think are still with us.  I still don’t think much of Jean Harlow.  She kind of reminds me of Mae West, who I think was largely popular based on the “implied” premise that she actually enjoyed sex.  This tale of a hoodlum’s rise to power is filled with great bit players, dirty turns, dastardly violence, and some cold cynicism.  Great finale.

Cindy and Donna:  “Hey bogart, give me the joint.”  Four minutes in and I was convinced I’d accidentally popped in a porno.  The dialog, the acting, two totally out of nowhere panty shots, and the crappiest music this side of a public domain library (in just four minutes!).  But no, it’s just low budget, low talent, low down 70s T&A.  Holy nuts, the drunken mother is bloody awful (Is she from New York?  England?  What the crap is that accent?  It’s shrill, that’s for sure.).  The movie feels a bit like we’re watching the director’s attempt to explore his fetishes, and it’s awkward.  The sex scenes in this film go on for uncomfortably long periods of time, and in the weirdest and generally unsexy of ways.  Seriously, by the end of this movie, you’d swear it was a porn flick where someone decided at the last minute to make it R rated instead.  What Donna won’t do for weed.  Man.  And seriously, what the is up with the ending?

Malibu High:  An ugly, stupid girl is unhappy her jerk boyfriend has taken up with a less ugly, stupid girl.  So, it’s time for smoking lots of pot, drinking lots of booze, and maybe thinking about being a prostitute.  When she goes to class dressed sexy…(?) she starts causing trouble.  Now that she’s sexy, what with dressing like a mom out for a shopping trip at the local Wal-Mart, all the guys want a taste of her…uh…sexy…(?) pie.  This kind of felt like watching Fatal Attraction, where Glenn Close was supposed to be sexy enough to lure Michael Douglass away from Anne Archer, but the whole time I kept thinking “it’s a MAN, baby!”  Tony the squinty, drug dealing pimp in the ripped up tank-top, is by far the least unappealing person in the movie.  Of course, one thing leads to another and CONTRACT KILLING!!!  This movie is crazy.  Not good.  Not good at all.  But crazy.

The River:  Network TV strikes again.  A potentially cool idea can never quite rise above sanitized mire of episodic TV.  It never pushes far enough.  Never goes deep enough.  Takes too long to get places.  Wraps up plots too quickly.  If it were on HBO or even AMC, it could probably could have been really good.  Instead, it’s OK, but frustrating.  Plus, the fact that it was canceled without having anything like a resolution doesn’t help.  Part of me wants to imagine it takes place in the same universe as Lord of Illusions.  But it’s not nearly as good.

Brave:  I guess it says something about the quality of Pixar’s previous films that Brave left me a bit disappointed.  It’s a really good movie, funny when it needs to be, exciting, gorgeously crafted and with some good characters.  I like the story and I like that the main character drives the story and is not driven by it.  It’s very nice to see a female character who does not spend all her time reacting.  If I had a daughter, this is the kind of thing I’d want her to watch.  That aside, the film didn’t wow me.  It’s good.  It’s a solid film.  But I guess I’ve grown used to Pixar wowing me, and this one didn’t.

    I’m starting to gear up for the next graphic novel group meeting with another pile of single issues.  I figure I’ll read through a bunch, then put together some more goodie bags for the attendees.  Hopefully folks will read them and maybe see something they like; maybe take up a series or two.

    First up was the second issue of Aquaman.  I hear good things, and so far, it’s not bad.  Geoff Johns certainly seems to be one to revitalize a comic line.  He did great stuff with making Green Lantern interesting and relevant again.  And Aquaman seems like it could be a cool line.  He’s facing off against …humanoids from the deep in this issue, so that’s cool.

    Up next was All Star Western’s second issue.  The continuing Jonah Hex story could be interesting, seeing the rise of Gotham’s criminal empire.  But I’m really curious about the El Diablo story that started in the second half.  It feels like a more traditional Western comic and I like the retro art style.  Neither story really wows me, but both are perfectly enjoyable.  I hope there’s a good reason for having Hex in Gotham, like that this story is connected to what’s going on in the modern era Batman comics, like the Court of Owls business.  Time will tell.

    I think I read Nightwing’s first issue back when this whole business started, and I don’t think I was too impressed.  Giving it a quick re-read, I see why (unless I didn’t read it…but I think I did).  Anyway, Nightwing is just one of those characters (like Green Arrow), I can’t imagine ever giving two shakes about.  I don’t even like Robin, and he has the decency to share the stage with Batman.  I really don’t care about an ex-Robin with a super 90s looking costume (seriously, he looks like Kyle Rayner, but in black).  Anyway, I won’t be reading on.

    The second issue of Justice League seems like more of the same DC stuff.  Flash and Green Lantern (Kyle Reyner, I think) are buddies.  Batman and Superman are at odds because of methods and essential world views.  Then lots of stuff blows up, tons of aliens attack, and there’s a brief preview of Wonder Woman’s arrival on the scene.  Meh.

    Issue 2 of X-O Manowar is interesting.  By the end of this issue, it feels like the introduction is over, and the story is ready to begin.  Cary Nord’s art looks great, and the writing isn’t bad.  I’m very curious to see where this series goes.  Never having read the original run, I have no idea what the deal with X-O is, but a Roman era barbarian soldier stuck inside a sacred alien tech-suit somewhere out in the larger universe has a lot of potential.

    Up next was the first in a five issue series, Six Guns.  I don’t know what connection to this has to the greater Marvel universe, though it does seem to have some.  It’s basically a pretty typical modern Western/biker gang story.  There’s some chick who I guess is some kind of superhero or something.  A Texas Ranger (oh, boy), and a biker gang leader (the cover implies one more, though they haven’t been introduced yet).  Not a lot happens in the first issue, and it’s hard to believe whatever story is being told can be wrapped up in only four more issues.  But I like the subgenre enough to be interested, I guess.

    Thanks to Brad, I got to read another SPX treat.  Several people had commented that The Gremlins Movie Incident by Cara Bean was one of their favorite comics from last year’s SPX, but I didn’t get a copy.  Now, I’ve read it, and it’s extremely cute.  There’s a high school news paper quality to the art that is quite charming, and the story is one I totally connect with.  Just a simple tale (a recollection, really) of going to see Gremlins as a child, and how flippin’ terrifying (but awesome) that movie was.  It seems like Gremlins did to this woman what Something Wicked This Way Comes did to me (read: haunted/scarred me for years).  Again, very cute.

    I know it’s receiving lots of negative press (didn’t see that coming), but I’ve been curious about this whole ‘Before Watchmen’ thing since I heard about it.  How are they going to make a go of doing a prequel series to one of the most beloved graphic novels, held in perhaps too high esteem, but a classic for certain?  Obviously, the people they want to read this are the very people who will never like it…even if they actually do like it.  So, I read the first issue of Minutemen, and you know what?  I enjoyed it.  I like Darwyn Cooke’s retro-style art and his writing is fine.  Nothing especially amazing, but perfectly fun to read.  I like the original Night Owl, and I’m curious what they’re planning to do with the original super team.  Was I blown away?  No.  Did it suck?  No.  Will Watchmen fans ever accept it?  No.  Will Watchmen fans secretly buy, read, and at least somewhat enjoy it?  Of course.

    All right, so I’m always a bit curious about cross-over stories, and alternate universe stories.  And I do love me some Star Trek.  So, IDW’s Star Trek crossing over with DC’s Legion of Superheroes?  Sure; why not?  Well, read it and you’ll have an answer.  I didn’t know anything about the Legion of Superheroes before I read this, and all I know now is that they’re lame.  There’s really not enough story to be even a bit intriguing.  The issue also has an 11 page preview of a comic called Memorial, which feels like an early 90s urban fantasy story.  Meh.

    I liked the movie Kick-Ass, but honestly, never felt the need to read the comic it was based on.  Nor its sequel…or anything.  But I was handed a copy of Hit-Girl Issue 1 and I gave it a go.  It’s OK.  The art is pretty good.  There’s a lot of swearing and some violence.  I guess it takes place pretty close on the heels of the first story (not sure when Kick-Ass 2 takes place).  There’s nothing wrong with it, I guess, but I don’t feel any need to read on.

    I finished listening to The Strain (read my review here).

    Anthologies have always fascinated me.  By their nature, they’re uneven and inconsistent, but you can usually find some gold.  Strange Adventures is an anthology comic from Vertigo that seems to focus on science fiction, including a preview story for Spaceman.  Post Modern Prometheus feels like something Bernie Wrightson might have done.  It’s sort of a cross between Heavy Metal and Eerie.  And while it’s not all good, overall, I enjoyed reading it.

(7/8-14)

    Not too much going on this week, though I did get some movie watching in near the end.


Prince of Persia:  I love the exotic and strange worlds conjured in the Arabian Nights as I do those of the Brothers Grimm, and I loved Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad films.  So, as a young man, I had fun playing the side-scrolling video game Prince of Persia that was inspired by them.  I never would have guessed then that a big budget special effects extravaganza would be made based on it.  For such, this is actually pretty good.  It’s fun, action packed, beautifully designed, and perfectly enjoyable.

Knight and Day:  “Excellent driving.  Over a dead guy no less.”  A goofy, light hearted spy adventure that gives the two leads plenty of time to be silly but also to get into some over the top action sequences.  Look, you can’t enjoy yourself watching a movie like this if you’re going in with the wrong expectations.  This isn’t Citizen Kane.  This is the essence of popcorn entertainment.  But it’s well written enough to rise above garbage like the Transformers films.  It’s also nice to see an action movie where both actors are over 40 (Diez is over 40, right?…well, she’s not 20, anyway).

Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen:  I really like what little I’ve been able to see from Patrick Troughton’s tenure as the good Doctor.   But sadly, it’s spotty and disjointed thanks to so many stories being missing or incomplete.  I like his companions and many of his stories.  And his portrayal of the Doctor is certainly a lot more fun.  This one is pretty good, and there are plenty of twists and turns.

Sherlock Holmes: Darn it, but I like this movie.  It’s such a fun adaptation of the classic tales.  Much more lively and exciting than a lot of versions, which is, I think, more in keeping with the stories.  The relationship between Holmes and Watson is excellent.  Gone is the genius Holmes/buffoon Watson shtick of the Rathbone era, replaced with one of the best onscreen friendships I’ve ever seen.  A great score, fun style, a tight script.  Good stuff.  Maybe the so called purists should go back and read the stories again.

Beyond Tomorrow:  A documentary about The Tomorrow People, this isn’t especially interesting, though it’s kind of fun to see the actors as adults.  Fairly typical interviews.  Remnants of old friendships, rivalries, pleasantries, and regrets.  A few anecdotes and glimpses behind the scenes.

Punch:  A crazy girl with a weirdass relationship with her dad goes all kinds of spaz in this awkward, creepy danged movie.  This flick has the weirdest vibe.  Like it’s trying to be a touching Lifetime flick about a troubled family, but it’s also about topless boxing.  There are some oddly effective scenes.  Frankly, I don’t know what to think about this movie.  No shock it’s Canadian.

Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows:  The follow-up to the surprise hit, this film is just as much fun, moving the action to the Continent with explosive consequences.  The actors are all back, and the style remains.  I could come back for another one of these every couple of years for sure.  The intellectual fight scenes, the twisting chess game between super-geniuses, the fantastic friendship between Holmes and Watson, and one of the better wife characters to grace the screen in a while (she’s great in the first film, too).

Kiss Me Deadly:  I darned well love this slice of brutal 50s.  Horrible people get into some dangerous situations, and treat each other pretty poorly.  Right off the bat there’s a genuinely disturbing (though not graphic) murder, and things just keep getting tougher.  Great location shooting and fantastic stylized set work.  The actors are all top notch and the script is heartlessly intense.  This movie goes dark.  Then it goes frickin’ CRAZY.  The finale, man.  Wow.

Southland Tales:  It’s funny watching this right after Kiss Me Deadly.  I didn’t realize it had several references to that film.  More than most odd films, I have to say this one is really not for everyone.  A sprawling epic in surreal alternate reality, it takes several viewings to really start piecing it all together. There’s a massive cast of unreal characters played by against type actors.  Not a lot of explanation, so you’ve got to pay attention and use your noggin.

The Getaway:  I’ll say it again.  Forget Bullitt.  The Getaway is Steve McQueen’s badass movie to beat.  All kinds of brutal people come together in a bad situation that spirals out of control.  McQueen plays an oddly restrained thug.  The look of the movie is lush, the action occasional but intense, and the characters colorful.  Lots of great moments.

Stephen Fry- 50 Not Out:  Celebrating Fry’s 50th year, this roughly hour long special assembles an amazing group of celebrities of all types (even Prince Charles!?) to say lots of good things.  Getting behind the expected gladhanding, it’s an interesting look at a fascinating and fun Renaissance man.  An actor, comedian, writer, and public intellectual.  We need more people like him.

The Killing:  Crime doesn’t pay, man.  Stanley Kubrick’s violent odyssey of thievery and betrayal is tough as they come and shows early signs of the director panache.  The music is jarringly grandiose and the ‘You Are There!’ narration gives it an almost documentary feel.  But the lighting, nasty characters, and building tension are all soundly Noir.  And man, Kubrick sure loves his wild and weird endings.

Killer’s Kiss:  A hard luck boxer gets mixed up with a dame and things don’t go too well. Typical Noir stuff.  Story wise, there’s not too much going on here.  But the look and feel, and the amazing glimpse into New York City make it a heck of an entertaining watch.

    I started watching Outcasts, a UK science fiction series.  It’s well made.  Looks like they styled the production design after Battlestar Galactica.  In fact, it almost feels like that season where the crew is stuck on New Caprica.

    On Sunday, I finished reading Christopher Hitchens’ biography of Thomas Jefferson.  It took me a dog’s age to read it, but not because it wasn’t good.  I just kept getting distracted or grabbing graphic novels.  I’ve been bussing less, so reading less of the stuff I normally take with me on the bus (history books).  More graphic novels and comics these days.  Anyway, read my review of it here.

    While Brad and Lisa were out of town, I ended up staying several nights at their place, while my place swelters without AC (should be fixed in a couple days!).  Didn’t get too much reading done.

-Matt