His Girl Friday:
I've wanted to see this Howard Hawks screwball comedy for quite sometime. Indeed I'm surprised it wasn't shown during my film course (although we did watch another screwball comedy - Bringing Up Baby), and I'm pleased to report that the dialogue was as machine-gun-fast and whip-smart as I'd hoped. It's a marvel unto itself, the dialogue and the delivery. Cary Grant's newspaper editor is still fascinated by his now ex-wife Rosalind Russell (who's about to head off and marry another man and leave her sharp journalistic wits behind), and over the course of the film he pulls out every dirty trick he can to keep her in town and lure her back into her passion for the newspaper game. A mighty fine example of the screwball comedy.
99 Women:
Prior to this point, I believe the only Jess Franco movie I'd ever seen was Oasis of the Zombies (a movie so bad it's kind of good) ... although I have also seen the superior Zombie Lake (which Franco co-wrote). This is an earlier example of the 'Women In Prison' genre, and it boasts an aggressively lurid synopsis that has you believe it's a grot-filled sleaze epic ... when in fact it's anything but. Positively tame for the most part, the back-of-a-fag-packet plot consists of 99 women stuck in an island jail run by a sadistic Warden. Not an awful lot happens, there's an escape, then everything goes back to normal. Best reserved for die-hard Franco-fans.
The Card Player:
After the rather disappointing The Stendhal Syndrome, and the solid Sleepless, I was quite pleased to find that this Argento giallo flick from 2004 was pretty decent. A maniac is on the loose, challenging the police to win at games of poker to save the lives of his potential victims. While the climax is curiously void of tension (it's a touch wacky, to boot), and the plotting is typically light when it comes to characterisation and motivation, it moves along at a decent pace and manages to involve you for the most part. Naturally its far from Argento's heyday, and while Sleepless was better, it's not an atrocity by any means.
A Town Called Panic:
Fellow Brits might be familiar with those Cravendale milk adverts featuring a jumble of plastic toy figures (all stop motion animation) ranting at the top of their lungs about how mad-for-milk they are. Well this is that - but an entire feature film (in French), featuring Horse, Cowboy, and Indian. It's gleefully childish (in the best possible way) in its almost bedtime story-like narrative - Cowboy and Indian seek to build Horse a BBQ for his birthday, requiring 50 bricks, but they accidentally order millions of them, which leads onto a bizarre journey (which at one point involves a giant snowball-flinging Mech-like metal penguin piloted by scientists). Beautifully shot, the animation is simple - but joyously so - indeed it reminds you very much of your own playtime when you were a child (minus the barmy French characters shouting feverishly). It's a film for all the family and it's highly recommended you check it out.
A Nightmare On Elm Street 2010:
Wes Craven's franchise-starting 1984 original had an inventive idea driving the properly crafted narrative, and it introduced us to a pitch-perfect new face of terror (well, until he turned into a cartoon character marketted - bizarrely, even perversely - to children as a cuddly rogue at the height of his popularity). Samual Beyer directs his film debut like a music video (he's best known for the video to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Green Day's "American Idiot" videos). Like a music video it's impatient to get going (the movie begins at minute zero with us already in a nightmare), and due to the rush you care little (if at all) for the protagonists.
On the one hand it wants to rip-off the famous moments from Craven's decidedly far superior original, and on the other it wants to branch out ... but whenever it does, it hints at an idea that could have (in the hands of a talented screenwriter who cared about motivation, characterisation, tension building, and pacing) created a really interesting new take on a well-worn genre legend. Then it goes and blows it, time and again, and just cobbles together a bunch of vaguely connected dream sequences (none of which are scary, let alone chilling, nor mildly cool). Half of the cast feel totally disconnected (more like celebrity wannabes, than anyone interested in acting), and the other half that have any talent are totally wasted (I'll be interested to see Roony Mara take on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo under the superior direction of David Fincher, and Kyle Gallner in Kevin Smith's much-talked-about chiller Red State).
Only one sequence - a flash back to how-and-why Freddy got fried - holds any intrigue (indeed, a talented screenwriter could have crafted a deeply dark origin story), but that doesn't save the movie from being a heartless, witless, and completely-and-utterly pale immitation of Craven's iconic original. Presentationally it feels like an imitation of the Friday 13th remake, which in-turn was an imitation of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, and The Amityville Horror remake (all produced by Platinum Dunes ... or 'The Remake Assembly Line' as it should be known). These Platinum Dunes movies have dropped in quality consistently with each new product that's foisted upon the horror community (notorious gluttons for punishment, whose curiosity inevitably kills the cat) from good-but-still-inferior-to-the-original, to downright woeful.
Jackie Earle Hayley is also wasted here - under a supposedly 'more realistic' (yet entirely unconvincing, nor frightening) mask - with a dud script and a director who blows his load almost immediately revealing too much of Freddy early on (several times). This could have been a golden opportunity to make a dark origin story that avoided the content of the original almost entirely, but instead this is just another cash-hungry, churned-out, load of old bullshit. Avoid it like the plague, and let's hope they don't make a sequel to it!
Salt:
Angelina Jolie, a CIA agent, discovers she is an undercover Russian sleeper agent and goes on the run in this far-fetched, but briskly entertaining actioner. It does a relatively decent job of keeping you guessing (enough at least) throughout most of the movie, the action is entertaining, and the punchy running time stops it from outstaying its welcome. It's no classic, but it's a fun way to spend 90 minutes.
Showing posts with label panic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label panic. Show all posts
Sunday, 26 June 2011
Friday, 28 January 2011
Double Bill Mini Musings: Eternal Panic of the Nasty Mind...
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:
I'm years late to the party on this one, sure, but I got there in the end and I really dug it. I wasn't much into the likes of Being John Malkovich (same writer - Charlie Kaufman), and I was half-annoyed-by-and-half-enjoyed Be Kind Rewind (same director - Michel Gondry), but Spotless Mind really drew me in. The central idea of wiping painful memories is consistently interesting and explored in such a way that you can follow it as well as explore it on your own, and it's not deliberately obtuse either, which is nice.
Most of impressive of all however was how they were able to represent memories on screen - how memories look, how they feel, how they leap from one-thing-to-another, and how they might look whilst they're being erased. I really enjoyed it and I found it to be really quite touching at the same time. A most rewarding watch.
Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape:
It's no surprise that Jake West produced this impressively realised doc on the 1980s moral panic that struck the UK - as you can see the influence of these grue-and-grot flicks (some genuinely impressive, others utterly rubbish) on his past works.
The 'grubby old videotape' aesthetic is a lovely bit of visual flair added to proceedings - and impressively realised in fact - it was most convincing, including at one point bring up that old familiar friend 'the tracking bar'. Filled with notable writers and academics, and even some filmmakers, with a passion for these so-called video nasties, it's a thoroughly informative piece and took me back to 1999 when the BBFC experienced a seismic shift in its attitude to these kinds of movies - at the time I was in my early-to-mid-teens, and this sudden onslaught of video nasties was a joy to behold for me. In a way I got to experience, at least partly, what the talking heads in this documentary got to experience back in the early 1980s.
It's shocking to believe the whole video nasty nonsense took hold, but on the other hand it's entirely believable. Anyone who dared to question the 'common thoughts of the established order' was chastised and berated, and even bullied ... something which we now have in relation to Climate Change, sourced from the apoplectic rage of those who fanatatically believe in one way and one way only, and anyone who dares question or seek alternate routes is a heathen. Such an extreme approach to anything - be it horror movies, or Climate Change, or whatever socio-political panic/concern/issue you fancy - is entirely inappropriate, downright frightening, and a case of taking two steps back with every step forward.
Furthermore it's incredible how the legislation came to be - through 'research' that was ineffective and ultimately stolen and warped by an apparent egomaniac, and through a process of de-contextualised 'montages of mayhem' splattered across the eyes of MPs who probably only knew of horror as that produced by Hammer in the 1950s through 70s, or even Universal in the 1930s ... what was even more incredibly, as discovered last year, was that the resultant Video Recordings Act was never actually a law. It wasn't enacted correctly - but now it has been.
The documentary sticks closely to the main period of contention - namely the early 1980s - but at one brief point there is mention of the utterly tragic and totally horrific murder of James Bulger in 1993, which again resulted in cries of "Ban These Sadist Videos" from reactionary tabloids. It's a shame they didn't explore this a little further, and it's incredible that the filmmakers didn't analyse the collapse of the video nasties era in 1999 when the BBFC experience a major shake-up, resulting in a torrent of previously banned and/or heavily cut horrors were unleashed upon the public (who were either excited genre fans (such as myself), or everyone else who wasn't particularly fussed). So it was quite disappointing that they didn't follow the story all the way through to the end.
Also, it was disappointing that they focused solely on Conservative MPs of the time - now, sure, the Conservatives were running the country at the time, but as pointed out briefly at around an hour into the film, the legislation received no opposition and went on the books with all-party support. What's more, it almost seems as if just the Daily Mail (and Mary Whitehouse) was banging on about these "video nasties", when surely there was a far wider discourse across tabloids of all political hues going on. So that was a bit annoying - the realisation that the proceedings leading up to the VRA seemingly received no opposition in Parliament - from any political party - was quite something, and it would have been nice if library material featuring MPs of different hues discussing the video nasties issue.
However, despite a couple of gripes, it's a great documentary (and an entertainingly stylish one at that) - a must-see for any horror genre and/or "video nasty" fan - and I highly recommend you check it out. It's still astonishing that the MP who was essentially the 'MP guide' for the anti-nasties movement once said that these movies would detrimentally affect dogs!
In addition to all this are trailers (with detailed introductions) for the various films which featured on the DPP's list of 72 titles (39 of which became "the final 39" for which those supplying them could face harsh fines or even jail). It's an impressive package all round, so if you're into your 'grue and grot' cinema then it's a definite must-buy.
I'm years late to the party on this one, sure, but I got there in the end and I really dug it. I wasn't much into the likes of Being John Malkovich (same writer - Charlie Kaufman), and I was half-annoyed-by-and-half-enjoyed Be Kind Rewind (same director - Michel Gondry), but Spotless Mind really drew me in. The central idea of wiping painful memories is consistently interesting and explored in such a way that you can follow it as well as explore it on your own, and it's not deliberately obtuse either, which is nice.
Most of impressive of all however was how they were able to represent memories on screen - how memories look, how they feel, how they leap from one-thing-to-another, and how they might look whilst they're being erased. I really enjoyed it and I found it to be really quite touching at the same time. A most rewarding watch.
Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape:
It's no surprise that Jake West produced this impressively realised doc on the 1980s moral panic that struck the UK - as you can see the influence of these grue-and-grot flicks (some genuinely impressive, others utterly rubbish) on his past works.
The 'grubby old videotape' aesthetic is a lovely bit of visual flair added to proceedings - and impressively realised in fact - it was most convincing, including at one point bring up that old familiar friend 'the tracking bar'. Filled with notable writers and academics, and even some filmmakers, with a passion for these so-called video nasties, it's a thoroughly informative piece and took me back to 1999 when the BBFC experienced a seismic shift in its attitude to these kinds of movies - at the time I was in my early-to-mid-teens, and this sudden onslaught of video nasties was a joy to behold for me. In a way I got to experience, at least partly, what the talking heads in this documentary got to experience back in the early 1980s.
It's shocking to believe the whole video nasty nonsense took hold, but on the other hand it's entirely believable. Anyone who dared to question the 'common thoughts of the established order' was chastised and berated, and even bullied ... something which we now have in relation to Climate Change, sourced from the apoplectic rage of those who fanatatically believe in one way and one way only, and anyone who dares question or seek alternate routes is a heathen. Such an extreme approach to anything - be it horror movies, or Climate Change, or whatever socio-political panic/concern/issue you fancy - is entirely inappropriate, downright frightening, and a case of taking two steps back with every step forward.
Furthermore it's incredible how the legislation came to be - through 'research' that was ineffective and ultimately stolen and warped by an apparent egomaniac, and through a process of de-contextualised 'montages of mayhem' splattered across the eyes of MPs who probably only knew of horror as that produced by Hammer in the 1950s through 70s, or even Universal in the 1930s ... what was even more incredibly, as discovered last year, was that the resultant Video Recordings Act was never actually a law. It wasn't enacted correctly - but now it has been.
The documentary sticks closely to the main period of contention - namely the early 1980s - but at one brief point there is mention of the utterly tragic and totally horrific murder of James Bulger in 1993, which again resulted in cries of "Ban These Sadist Videos" from reactionary tabloids. It's a shame they didn't explore this a little further, and it's incredible that the filmmakers didn't analyse the collapse of the video nasties era in 1999 when the BBFC experience a major shake-up, resulting in a torrent of previously banned and/or heavily cut horrors were unleashed upon the public (who were either excited genre fans (such as myself), or everyone else who wasn't particularly fussed). So it was quite disappointing that they didn't follow the story all the way through to the end.
Also, it was disappointing that they focused solely on Conservative MPs of the time - now, sure, the Conservatives were running the country at the time, but as pointed out briefly at around an hour into the film, the legislation received no opposition and went on the books with all-party support. What's more, it almost seems as if just the Daily Mail (and Mary Whitehouse) was banging on about these "video nasties", when surely there was a far wider discourse across tabloids of all political hues going on. So that was a bit annoying - the realisation that the proceedings leading up to the VRA seemingly received no opposition in Parliament - from any political party - was quite something, and it would have been nice if library material featuring MPs of different hues discussing the video nasties issue.
However, despite a couple of gripes, it's a great documentary (and an entertainingly stylish one at that) - a must-see for any horror genre and/or "video nasty" fan - and I highly recommend you check it out. It's still astonishing that the MP who was essentially the 'MP guide' for the anti-nasties movement once said that these movies would detrimentally affect dogs!
In addition to all this are trailers (with detailed introductions) for the various films which featured on the DPP's list of 72 titles (39 of which became "the final 39" for which those supplying them could face harsh fines or even jail). It's an impressive package all round, so if you're into your 'grue and grot' cinema then it's a definite must-buy.
Friday, 17 April 2009
The Game...
It's a rare thing to be able to watch a movie without knowing practically anything about it - but The Game is pretty much one of those movies for me - and for some reason, until just recently, it was the only David Fincher film I'd not seen ... ... well, out of those available on DVD anyway (providing I can find a good price for the special edition R1 release, I'll be hopping on the Benjamin Button wagon sometime soon - if only this useless gubment would hurry up and increase the import limit, because quite frankly, 18 quid - including shipping cost - is fucking stingy).
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes - I'd not seen it for some reason, and had been able to avoid any spoilers (and considering the plot, it's a film that could be easily ruined by spoilers), and knew barely anything about it.
I knew it was David Fincher's work (reason enough alone to see it), I knew it had Michael Douglas in the lead, and I knew it was about his rich guy protagonist getting involved in some kind of "game" that went tits up ... it's about the least you can know about a film before seeing it in this day-and-age really isn't it?
What did I make of it? Fucking great is what it is, a superb thriller with a spiffy final act full of twists, turns and everything inbetween. It's also interesting to see as it really does feel like "the film between Se7en and Fight Club" (the two 'if you liked' titles on the cover in fact). It's yet another film that marks out Fincher as an ex-music-video-director who really is of vast merit.
Alien3 isn't as bad as you remember it, although as a sequel to Aliens, it sucks - but Fincher's original vision, which is mostly provided on the double disc DVD's "assembly cut" is far superior in all respects to the theatrical version (well, it's not as polished of course, but other than that - simply better).
Se7en is an astonishingly good thriller - heck, it's practically a horror movie - intense visual style, a horrifying and gripping story, two enthralling lead performances, and a film which STILL freaks me out to this day ... and it's just so unrelentingly DARK - brilliant.
The Game - now that I've finally seen it, I can definitely say it rocks. I've not been this gripped by a movie in a long while alright ... in fact, one of the more recent times being gripped to such a degree by a film was with Fincher's Zodiac ... a fantastic slice of thriller action.
Fight Club - one of my absolute all-time favourites, and a film (and book ... and author) which has had a deep impact with me (and indeed many males in the 16-35 bracket). Again, the visuals are astonishing, the black so deep and harsh, the adapatation masterful, the pacing spot-on, the performances gripping ... etc etc etc. Much love indeed.
Panic Room - plot wise, it's probably Fincher's weakest film in his catalogue - but as far as home invasion/heist thrillers go - it's expertly and efficiently handled, but it's the technical aspects that (for me at least) really steal the show. The exhaustive 3-disc special edition DVD in itself is a masterwork of information - the technical wizardry involved in the making of the film is amazing, put simply.
Zodiac - back on top form - Fincher's intense attention to detail is abundantly clear throughout, the performances are awe-inspiring, the look and feel is stunning ... basically, it's another one of my top fifty of all time.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - the only Fincher film I've NOT seen ... ... YET ... it's not the sort of film I'd generally go to see in the cinema, as it's not exactly "lads night out" material, but it's a definite DVD purchase without a doubt. As soon as I heard about the plot, I was intrigued - and the more I heard about it, the more intrigued I got, and I certainly look forward to the DVD release (Se7en, Fight Club, Panic Room and Zodiac have all boasted fantastic DVD packages).
Anyway - The Game - thoroughly great. I can't surmise it any better, so why ramble any further - it's testament to the fact that David Fincher is a consistently superb filmmaker.
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes - I'd not seen it for some reason, and had been able to avoid any spoilers (and considering the plot, it's a film that could be easily ruined by spoilers), and knew barely anything about it.
I knew it was David Fincher's work (reason enough alone to see it), I knew it had Michael Douglas in the lead, and I knew it was about his rich guy protagonist getting involved in some kind of "game" that went tits up ... it's about the least you can know about a film before seeing it in this day-and-age really isn't it?
What did I make of it? Fucking great is what it is, a superb thriller with a spiffy final act full of twists, turns and everything inbetween. It's also interesting to see as it really does feel like "the film between Se7en and Fight Club" (the two 'if you liked' titles on the cover in fact). It's yet another film that marks out Fincher as an ex-music-video-director who really is of vast merit.
Alien3 isn't as bad as you remember it, although as a sequel to Aliens, it sucks - but Fincher's original vision, which is mostly provided on the double disc DVD's "assembly cut" is far superior in all respects to the theatrical version (well, it's not as polished of course, but other than that - simply better).
Se7en is an astonishingly good thriller - heck, it's practically a horror movie - intense visual style, a horrifying and gripping story, two enthralling lead performances, and a film which STILL freaks me out to this day ... and it's just so unrelentingly DARK - brilliant.
The Game - now that I've finally seen it, I can definitely say it rocks. I've not been this gripped by a movie in a long while alright ... in fact, one of the more recent times being gripped to such a degree by a film was with Fincher's Zodiac ... a fantastic slice of thriller action.
Fight Club - one of my absolute all-time favourites, and a film (and book ... and author) which has had a deep impact with me (and indeed many males in the 16-35 bracket). Again, the visuals are astonishing, the black so deep and harsh, the adapatation masterful, the pacing spot-on, the performances gripping ... etc etc etc. Much love indeed.
Panic Room - plot wise, it's probably Fincher's weakest film in his catalogue - but as far as home invasion/heist thrillers go - it's expertly and efficiently handled, but it's the technical aspects that (for me at least) really steal the show. The exhaustive 3-disc special edition DVD in itself is a masterwork of information - the technical wizardry involved in the making of the film is amazing, put simply.
Zodiac - back on top form - Fincher's intense attention to detail is abundantly clear throughout, the performances are awe-inspiring, the look and feel is stunning ... basically, it's another one of my top fifty of all time.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - the only Fincher film I've NOT seen ... ... YET ... it's not the sort of film I'd generally go to see in the cinema, as it's not exactly "lads night out" material, but it's a definite DVD purchase without a doubt. As soon as I heard about the plot, I was intrigued - and the more I heard about it, the more intrigued I got, and I certainly look forward to the DVD release (Se7en, Fight Club, Panic Room and Zodiac have all boasted fantastic DVD packages).
Anyway - The Game - thoroughly great. I can't surmise it any better, so why ramble any further - it's testament to the fact that David Fincher is a consistently superb filmmaker.
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