If there are any trends to follow at Cap'n Howdy's Blogorium, the most apparent to readers is my interest in waiting to review films until after they reach DVD or Blu Ray. Ironically, I almost never discuss the chief component of why I tend to wait: the supplemental features. The Blogorium is - not atypically - slanted towards reviewing the films in question, rather than the "special features," but I'll level with you and admit that the Cap'n spends almost as much time researching the facets going into making the finished product.
Its primary purpose is to provide readers with as much contextual information as possible: no work of art - the term being used in its broadest definition - exists in a vacuum, and I find the most erroneous reviews share one thing in common: the blogger / critic / historian failed to factor or properly recognize one or two very important pieces of information*. It is my abiding creed to "always do the homework" before presenting something to an audience. If I can't, I try to acquaint readers with the fact that there are mitigating factors.
For example, watch any of the extras on I'm Still Here and the conceit of the film is immediately apparent. Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck make no attempt to disguise I'm Still Here as "reality," and Affleck's commentary track is a step by step illumination of how they created a faux-verisimilitude using clever editing tricks, ADR, and capitalizing on the expectation of audiences that the presented film as a genuine "document" of Phoenix's downfall. One might assume that this would diminish I'm Still Here, but I found myself admiring their versatility in using what we assume to be true in the narrative's favor**. Similarly, the expansive background material covering Scott Pilgrim vs. the World's creation only increased my admiration of Edgar Wright's abilities.
Alas, I can't merely hang my hat on the "know your subject / impart to your audience" excuse; in the last two days, I spent the bulk of my time watching "making of" documentaries: The Social Network's "How Did They Ever Make a Movie of Facebook?", Piranha's "Don't Scream, Just Swim," and An American Werewolf in London's "Beware the Moon." For inquisitive readers, that amounts to 318 minutes worth of "supplement." (The Piranha "making of" documentary is actually forty minutes longer than the film).
Rather than short EPK featurettes, I prefer lengthier documentaries with some meat on their bones, ones willing to go beyond "it was great to work with blah blah blah" designed to sell a film you already own. Increasingly, filmmakers are pushing to include comprehensive "behind-the-scenes" pieces on the discs themselves, and often they hold up with separately released films like Hearts of Darkness or Burden of Dreams. I'm also not opposed to longer interviews, roundtables, or critical assessments - all central to films in the Criterion collection, a company I am unabashedly a follower of.
The problem for you, the reader, is that the time I spend putting together background information on films often inhibits my "reviewing" time. I am reticent to review supplements or Blu Rays, largely because there are many fine DVD review sites that already do that. I sincerely doubt audiences that frequent the Blogorium care about the Cap'n consistently reporting on "image quality" of Blu Rays, and I'm not targeting this blog at consumers, so I would feel like the Cap'n is trying to sell a product rather than direct you towards a movie. But I do soak up supplements. Regularly. So if I'm a little slow to get a new piece out, don't think it's because I don't want to, but because I'm (at times) focused on catching up or learning something I didn't know about films previously covered.
* For example, lauding a film because your favorite writers were credited for a draft of the film that in no way represents what you saw, as was the case with an overly effusive Jonah Hex review I read last year.
** I also realized there's an invisible - but evident when pointed out - camera trick in Phoenix's opening monologue that masks two separate takes.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Blogorium Review: Cronos
When I reviewed Let the Right One In in 2009, I brought up four really great vampire movies (of which Let the Right One In would be a fifth): Martin, Near Dark, Nosferatu, and Shadow of the Vampire. It's time to add another film to that list; Guillermo del Toro's directorial debut, Cronos. Like the other films listed, Cronos is a non-traditional vampire tale, a story centered around immortality with a price, one that touches briefly on addiction and centers - as many of del Toro's finest films do - around a child.
The girl in question, Aurora Gris (Tamara Shanath), lives with her grandparents: Grandmother Mercedes (Margarita Isabel) and Grandfather Jesus (Federico Luppi). Jesus Gris owns an antiques shop, and he brings his inquisitive granddaughter along while the store is open. One day, he discovers a small, scarab-like mechanical device inside of a statue of an angel. The following day, Angel de la Guardia (Ron Perlman) arrives to buy the statue for his uncle (Claudio Brook). The device, it seems, was created by an alchemist (Mario Iván Martínez) in 1535, and was lost after his death in a bank collapse - in 1937.
Jesus is surprised that the device attaches itself to his skin, drawing blood, and immediately removes the Cronos device - until he notices that its brief contact to his skin removed years of aging from his life. He begins, to the chagrin of Aurora, to continue using the device, developing a taste for blood - needed to power the device - and becoming addicted to the inevitable transformation the scarab brings him. Unfortunately, De la Guardia is perfectly aware that the device should have been in the statue, knows what the Cronos device can do, and sends Angel to find Jesus at any cost.
At the risk of spoiling anything else, I'm going to stop there; viewers watching Cronos benefit best from the least amount of spoilers possible. Guillermo del Toro makes the best of his low budget and tells an intimate, disturbing fairy tale about losing a member of one's family without necessarily losing them (again, I'm trying to avoid spoilers) while making the best of his bilingual cast (Perlman speaks almost entirely in English, save for a few intentionally bad lines in Spanish). The effects are particularly impressive: del Toro gives us glimpses inside of the Cronos device, hinting at an insect-like creature that lives inside and perhaps(?) facilitates Jesus' transformation.
The film is going to appeal to Guillermo del Toro fans who gravitate towards The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth, rather than the grand scale Blade II or Hellboy films. This is not to say both won't find something to enjoy in his first film; traces of del Toro's later films exist throughout Cronos, both thematically and in imagery he's drawn towards. It stands proudly alongside his later work, but also fits in nicely with the atypical vampire films listed in the first paragraph. It also shares a connective tissue with another film, one released a decade before, by an equally well regarded "cult" director.
(Semi-spoilers ahead) Criterion released Cronos on the same day they issued a Blu-Ray upgrade for Videodrome, and its hardly a coincidence: late in Cronos, there's a moment that mirrors Cronenberg's 1983 film where the protagonist reaches into his stomach, feeling past his old skin and discovering his "new flesh." The parallels, even though they may end differently (Cronos opts for closing imagery similar to Nosferatu's and one that would be used later in Shadow of the Vampire), almost certainly left an impression on the Criterion team, and their simultaneous release allows audiences to discover intertextuality where they would not think to look otherwise.
The girl in question, Aurora Gris (Tamara Shanath), lives with her grandparents: Grandmother Mercedes (Margarita Isabel) and Grandfather Jesus (Federico Luppi). Jesus Gris owns an antiques shop, and he brings his inquisitive granddaughter along while the store is open. One day, he discovers a small, scarab-like mechanical device inside of a statue of an angel. The following day, Angel de la Guardia (Ron Perlman) arrives to buy the statue for his uncle (Claudio Brook). The device, it seems, was created by an alchemist (Mario Iván Martínez) in 1535, and was lost after his death in a bank collapse - in 1937.Jesus is surprised that the device attaches itself to his skin, drawing blood, and immediately removes the Cronos device - until he notices that its brief contact to his skin removed years of aging from his life. He begins, to the chagrin of Aurora, to continue using the device, developing a taste for blood - needed to power the device - and becoming addicted to the inevitable transformation the scarab brings him. Unfortunately, De la Guardia is perfectly aware that the device should have been in the statue, knows what the Cronos device can do, and sends Angel to find Jesus at any cost.
At the risk of spoiling anything else, I'm going to stop there; viewers watching Cronos benefit best from the least amount of spoilers possible. Guillermo del Toro makes the best of his low budget and tells an intimate, disturbing fairy tale about losing a member of one's family without necessarily losing them (again, I'm trying to avoid spoilers) while making the best of his bilingual cast (Perlman speaks almost entirely in English, save for a few intentionally bad lines in Spanish). The effects are particularly impressive: del Toro gives us glimpses inside of the Cronos device, hinting at an insect-like creature that lives inside and perhaps(?) facilitates Jesus' transformation.
The film is going to appeal to Guillermo del Toro fans who gravitate towards The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth, rather than the grand scale Blade II or Hellboy films. This is not to say both won't find something to enjoy in his first film; traces of del Toro's later films exist throughout Cronos, both thematically and in imagery he's drawn towards. It stands proudly alongside his later work, but also fits in nicely with the atypical vampire films listed in the first paragraph. It also shares a connective tissue with another film, one released a decade before, by an equally well regarded "cult" director.
(Semi-spoilers ahead) Criterion released Cronos on the same day they issued a Blu-Ray upgrade for Videodrome, and its hardly a coincidence: late in Cronos, there's a moment that mirrors Cronenberg's 1983 film where the protagonist reaches into his stomach, feeling past his old skin and discovering his "new flesh." The parallels, even though they may end differently (Cronos opts for closing imagery similar to Nosferatu's and one that would be used later in Shadow of the Vampire), almost certainly left an impression on the Criterion team, and their simultaneous release allows audiences to discover intertextuality where they would not think to look otherwise.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Retro Reviews: Fantasia 2000
Welcome to Retro Reviews, a new column designed to replace From the Vaults. These reviews will deal with films that the Cap'n saw years ago, has seen with some regularity, or simply wanted to review outside of the "current" film scene. Depending on the film, I may attempt reviewing these "older" cinematic offerings by replicating my initial experience, but more than often, I will simply try to review the films as though the Cap'n of today traveled back in time and saw them fresh.
There's no way to speak about Fantasia 2000 delicately: regardless of its role as a labor of love by Roy E. Disney, the 60 years in the making sequel to Fantasia has no reason for being. It is, at best, an inconsequential entry into the Disney oeuvre, a collection of well made, but ultimately underwhelming mash-ups of classical music and contemporary animation and cgi. Despite individual elements which are, at times, amusing, and one knock out piece to close the film out, comparing Fantasia 2000 to its cinematic antecedent is like comparing A Goofy Movie to Lady and the Tramp.
In essence, Fantasia 2000 follows the structure of Fantasia: animators choose well known classical pieces and create a self-contained short film based on some level of inspiration: we have Beethoven's Fifth Symphony hosting an abstract contrast of light and darkness, digital whales swimming amongst the clouds set to Resphighi's "Pines of Rome," the Al Hirschfeld inspired 1930s New York alongside Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 providing the backdrop for an adaptation of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," Camille Saint-Saëns "Carnival of the Animals" hosts a yo-yo flinging Flamingo, the return of Sukas' "The Sorcerers Apprentice," Donald and Daisy Duck presenting Noah's ark to Elgar's first four "Pomp and Circumstance" marches, and close out with Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite" (1919 Version) as the spirit of Earth experiences the destructive nature of a volcano.
Where to begin? Perhaps the superfluous, unnecessary "celebrity" introductions that seem to miss the point of Fantasia's interstitial segments: in Fantasia, the in-between moments feature an orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski, primarily in silhouette, with an appearance by Mickey Mouse. In Fantasia 2000, this concept is adapted to over lit, awkwardly staged "bits" featuring Steve Martin, Angela Lansbury, Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, and Penn and Teller, doing a variation of their "magic is fake" routine later popularized in a broader form in Bullshit. That they dispel all forms of magic, save for Mickey Mouse as a way to introduce "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," the only holdover from Fantasia, is a curious beat in the film.
Incidentally, the argument for including "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" goes back to Walt Disney's conception of Fantasia as an ongoing project: the film would be re-released every few years, with new pieces included, older ones removed and re-instated over time. However, only including "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" raises two key problems with Fantasia 2000: the strong similarities between segments in 2000 and the original and its almost pitifully short running time of 74 minutes.
Looking at the "new" pieces in Fantasia 2000, one cannot help but notice a trend of artistic repetition: "Carnival of the Animals" is a Flamingo-centric redo of "Dance of the Hours," "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" cannot help but face comparisons to "The Nutcracker Suite," if only because of the connotations of one's music to the other's story. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony plays host to an animated piece very similar to the Toccata in Fugue that opened Fantasia, and the "Pomp and Circumstance" segment with Donald aboard Noah's ark is even presented as a companion piece to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Even the film's arguably most creative piece, the striking "Firebird Suite" borrows imagery directly from "A Night on Bald Mountain" when representing the volcano.
When not directly borrowing from their cinematic ancestors - a potentially unavoidable position for animators to be in when asked to create a sequel to Fantasia - the segments tend to fall flat due to an over-reliance on cgi - at the time, a highly favored new "gimmick" animated features were struggling to integrate (Disney would later, for a time, abandon their traditional hand animated films to go a strictly digital route). The flying whales, while somewhat expressive, are overused by the end of "Pines of Rome," blurring together into a pack of semi-cell shaded blobs. "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" fares a little better, but it still feels a step behind Toy Story, a film five years its junior. Only "Rhapsody in Blue" truly fares well, in part because it loosely resembles Hirschfeld's caricatures and captures the spirit of Depression-era big cities.
Take away all of the "host segments," "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," and the opening and closing titles (all set against a green screen), and Fantasia 2000 would barely scrape an hour's length. Fantasia, by comparison, runs 125 minutes in its restored "road show" format, with minimal celebrity distractions. One could, if they so desired, combine the better musical segments of Fantasia 2000 into the original film and create a mega-Fantasia, one that combines the best of the original and the admirable attempts to replicate the experience of its sequel.
I do not blame Roy Disney or the animators for such a "lightweight" end result in Fantasia 2000: their goal was admirable, and they did the best they could in the midst of an increasingly corporate Disney structure, one that would make demands for special "guest hosts" to draw in audiences. Fantasia was, after all, a failure for Walt Disney in 1940, and in order to safeguard against similar box office collapse, the producers and executives made certain "audience friendly" choices, ones the ultimately undermine the Fantasia experience. Not only does Fantasia 2000 not feel like a genuine continuation of Walt's concept, but as its own film I must return to my first descriptor: inconsequential. Before the credits finish rolling, one tends to forget what one experienced, the sign of a film with little lasting impact.
There's no way to speak about Fantasia 2000 delicately: regardless of its role as a labor of love by Roy E. Disney, the 60 years in the making sequel to Fantasia has no reason for being. It is, at best, an inconsequential entry into the Disney oeuvre, a collection of well made, but ultimately underwhelming mash-ups of classical music and contemporary animation and cgi. Despite individual elements which are, at times, amusing, and one knock out piece to close the film out, comparing Fantasia 2000 to its cinematic antecedent is like comparing A Goofy Movie to Lady and the Tramp.
In essence, Fantasia 2000 follows the structure of Fantasia: animators choose well known classical pieces and create a self-contained short film based on some level of inspiration: we have Beethoven's Fifth Symphony hosting an abstract contrast of light and darkness, digital whales swimming amongst the clouds set to Resphighi's "Pines of Rome," the Al Hirschfeld inspired 1930s New York alongside Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 providing the backdrop for an adaptation of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," Camille Saint-Saëns "Carnival of the Animals" hosts a yo-yo flinging Flamingo, the return of Sukas' "The Sorcerers Apprentice," Donald and Daisy Duck presenting Noah's ark to Elgar's first four "Pomp and Circumstance" marches, and close out with Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite" (1919 Version) as the spirit of Earth experiences the destructive nature of a volcano.Where to begin? Perhaps the superfluous, unnecessary "celebrity" introductions that seem to miss the point of Fantasia's interstitial segments: in Fantasia, the in-between moments feature an orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski, primarily in silhouette, with an appearance by Mickey Mouse. In Fantasia 2000, this concept is adapted to over lit, awkwardly staged "bits" featuring Steve Martin, Angela Lansbury, Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, and Penn and Teller, doing a variation of their "magic is fake" routine later popularized in a broader form in Bullshit. That they dispel all forms of magic, save for Mickey Mouse as a way to introduce "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," the only holdover from Fantasia, is a curious beat in the film.
Incidentally, the argument for including "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" goes back to Walt Disney's conception of Fantasia as an ongoing project: the film would be re-released every few years, with new pieces included, older ones removed and re-instated over time. However, only including "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" raises two key problems with Fantasia 2000: the strong similarities between segments in 2000 and the original and its almost pitifully short running time of 74 minutes.
Looking at the "new" pieces in Fantasia 2000, one cannot help but notice a trend of artistic repetition: "Carnival of the Animals" is a Flamingo-centric redo of "Dance of the Hours," "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" cannot help but face comparisons to "The Nutcracker Suite," if only because of the connotations of one's music to the other's story. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony plays host to an animated piece very similar to the Toccata in Fugue that opened Fantasia, and the "Pomp and Circumstance" segment with Donald aboard Noah's ark is even presented as a companion piece to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Even the film's arguably most creative piece, the striking "Firebird Suite" borrows imagery directly from "A Night on Bald Mountain" when representing the volcano.
When not directly borrowing from their cinematic ancestors - a potentially unavoidable position for animators to be in when asked to create a sequel to Fantasia - the segments tend to fall flat due to an over-reliance on cgi - at the time, a highly favored new "gimmick" animated features were struggling to integrate (Disney would later, for a time, abandon their traditional hand animated films to go a strictly digital route). The flying whales, while somewhat expressive, are overused by the end of "Pines of Rome," blurring together into a pack of semi-cell shaded blobs. "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" fares a little better, but it still feels a step behind Toy Story, a film five years its junior. Only "Rhapsody in Blue" truly fares well, in part because it loosely resembles Hirschfeld's caricatures and captures the spirit of Depression-era big cities.
Take away all of the "host segments," "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," and the opening and closing titles (all set against a green screen), and Fantasia 2000 would barely scrape an hour's length. Fantasia, by comparison, runs 125 minutes in its restored "road show" format, with minimal celebrity distractions. One could, if they so desired, combine the better musical segments of Fantasia 2000 into the original film and create a mega-Fantasia, one that combines the best of the original and the admirable attempts to replicate the experience of its sequel.
I do not blame Roy Disney or the animators for such a "lightweight" end result in Fantasia 2000: their goal was admirable, and they did the best they could in the midst of an increasingly corporate Disney structure, one that would make demands for special "guest hosts" to draw in audiences. Fantasia was, after all, a failure for Walt Disney in 1940, and in order to safeguard against similar box office collapse, the producers and executives made certain "audience friendly" choices, ones the ultimately undermine the Fantasia experience. Not only does Fantasia 2000 not feel like a genuine continuation of Walt's concept, but as its own film I must return to my first descriptor: inconsequential. Before the credits finish rolling, one tends to forget what one experienced, the sign of a film with little lasting impact.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Five Movies: The Cap'n Presents His Favorite Pieces of 2010
Originally, I had planned to close out the year end recap on Saturday, but ended up bouncing around from town to town in order to take care of financial business. While I could *technically* "sneak" that piece in the weekend spot before yesterdays Roger Corman trailer Sunday, I think instead we'll treat it as a "day off" from the Blogorium. The Cap'n and the Cranpire did close out Saturday night by watching the Corman produced Forbidden World (also known as Mutant), hence the Trailer Sunday. We'll get to Forbidden World later this week...
Today, I'm going to provide links to my favorite articles / reviews / columns / posts of 2010. Technically it's not a "Five Movies" but all five deal specifically with film, and in many cases deal specifically one film or type of film.
1. Horror Fest: A People's History (Part One, Part Two) - I had possibly the most fun I've ever had compiling these stories and then editing them together into an overlapping oral history of Horror and Summer Fests. This version of Part Two finally fixes the glitch and allows readers to see Barrett's advice, correcting a text color issue I missed in the first go-round.
2. Re-Adapting and the Tainted Discourse of "Remakes" - a piece dealing with the curious case of True Grit, a film which appears to be a remake on the surface but is being classified otherwise, and the ramifications of shifting that argument.
3. Winnebago Man vs. Best Worst Movie - What appears, at first, to be a comparison piece of two films is also a study of the "YouTube" generation, "secondary fame" for films, and the way audiences relate to films in a post-MST3k world.
4. My "Mixed Tape" Manifesto - A (sort of) open letter to the creators of Greensboro's Mixed Tape Film Series, a sound concept which continually underwhelms me in its execution, but could easily be improved if the creative minds behind it would follow their own advice.
5. Coen Brothers Final Day One: Auteur Theory - This post is visited more than any other that doesn't have the words "Thankskilling" or "Leprechaun 3" in it, largely by students who are (hopefully) citing it for their papers. If you aren't, I will find out somehow - eventually your professors are going to check online, and I hope they find blog, where it came from. I appreciate all of the traffic, and I'm glad to know people find the research I did useful, but don't steal it. It's going to be painfully obvious when your teacher sees a quote from Harlan Ellison's Watching, a book they know you haven't read.
Bonus favorites:
Hamlet Week - Where I nearly drove myself crazy watching five major adaptations of Shakespeare's play and comparing and contrasting them with each other and the original text. Days One (Laurence Olivier), Two (Mel Gibson), Three (Kenneth Branagh), Four (Ethan Hawke), Five (David Tennant), and Six (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead).
The "Twitter" Experiment - and why you'll never see the Cap'n open a Twitter account.
Today, I'm going to provide links to my favorite articles / reviews / columns / posts of 2010. Technically it's not a "Five Movies" but all five deal specifically with film, and in many cases deal specifically one film or type of film.
1. Horror Fest: A People's History (Part One, Part Two) - I had possibly the most fun I've ever had compiling these stories and then editing them together into an overlapping oral history of Horror and Summer Fests. This version of Part Two finally fixes the glitch and allows readers to see Barrett's advice, correcting a text color issue I missed in the first go-round.2. Re-Adapting and the Tainted Discourse of "Remakes" - a piece dealing with the curious case of True Grit, a film which appears to be a remake on the surface but is being classified otherwise, and the ramifications of shifting that argument.
3. Winnebago Man vs. Best Worst Movie - What appears, at first, to be a comparison piece of two films is also a study of the "YouTube" generation, "secondary fame" for films, and the way audiences relate to films in a post-MST3k world.
4. My "Mixed Tape" Manifesto - A (sort of) open letter to the creators of Greensboro's Mixed Tape Film Series, a sound concept which continually underwhelms me in its execution, but could easily be improved if the creative minds behind it would follow their own advice.
5. Coen Brothers Final Day One: Auteur Theory - This post is visited more than any other that doesn't have the words "Thankskilling" or "Leprechaun 3" in it, largely by students who are (hopefully) citing it for their papers. If you aren't, I will find out somehow - eventually your professors are going to check online, and I hope they find blog, where it came from. I appreciate all of the traffic, and I'm glad to know people find the research I did useful, but don't steal it. It's going to be painfully obvious when your teacher sees a quote from Harlan Ellison's Watching, a book they know you haven't read.
Bonus favorites:
Hamlet Week - Where I nearly drove myself crazy watching five major adaptations of Shakespeare's play and comparing and contrasting them with each other and the original text. Days One (Laurence Olivier), Two (Mel Gibson), Three (Kenneth Branagh), Four (Ethan Hawke), Five (David Tennant), and Six (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead).The "Twitter" Experiment - and why you'll never see the Cap'n open a Twitter account.
Friday, January 7, 2011
2010 Recap: The Best DVD and Blu-Ray Releases
As we head towards the end of Cap'n Howdy's 2010 year-end recap, I thought I'd turn the focus away from films released in 2010 to shine a light on some of the fantastic DVD and Blu-Ray titles that made their way to stores (and, hopefully, your homes). Additionally, I'd like to point out a few films that the Cap'n discovered last year, generally tied to Horror and Summer Fests, that you ought to look into.
Blu-Ray:
Alien Anthology - I'm not even close to exploring every nook and cranny of the Blu-Ray equivalent to The Alien Quadrilogy. Not only is everything from that boxed set included, but 20th Century Fox completed the ADR on Alien 3's "workprint" version and included a Mu-Th-Ur mode that bridges all of the discs, allowing you to switch movies out without another round of FBI warnings, plus the streaming data remembers what you marks and directs you to extras on the fifth and sixth discs related to them. Additionally, the documentary on Alien 3 reinstated footage that deals with David Fincher's struggle to maintain his vision while studio executives and producers constantly intervened. Easily the best boxed set of 2010, and it's not even the only good one that came out this year.
The African Queen - It's hard to believe, but John Huston's The African Queen had never been released on DVD (or Blu-Ray) until 2010. It's nice to finally have the film in a very impressive audio and video presentation, and while the extras may be slim, the presence of the film itself was worth the wait.
Metropolis Restored - Kino Films released several quality releases in 2010 (including Sherlock Jr. / Three Ages, Steamboat Bill Jr., and The Black Pirate), but none may have been more anticipated than the almost complete Metropolis. After twenty five minutes of footage were discovered in Argentina and the film premiered in its restored version at the Berlin International Film Festival, cinephiles held their breath for the Blu-Ray release. The restored footage isn't in great shape, but I have to say that being able to see Metropolis as close to its original premiere as possible is worth the limitations of video quality.
Grindhouse - Speaking of movies that debuted in their original form this year, 2007's Grindhouse finally saw a Blu-Ray release of the film as shown in theatres (with awkward splices, commercials, ratings, and fake trailers intact) plus a second disc of extras (old and new). It's worth the price of admission just for Don't, Thanksgiving, and Werewolf Women of the S.S., but being able to show Grindhouse the way I saw it the first time is an even the Cap'n is looking forward to in 2011.
The Bridge on the River Kwai - I'm an unabashed fan of David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai, and while I parted with my DVD copy with hesitation, the upgrade was absolutely worth it. Like The African Queen, the new extras aren't much to speak of, but all of the old features are intact and considering that you can get The Bridge on the River Kwai for $20 or less, it's a no-brainer for classic film fans.
Back to the Future Trilogy - Other than the fact that the discs are almost impossible to remove the first time you open the set, I heartily recommend the Back to the Future series on Blu-Ray. The "set ups and payoffs" extra runs through all three films, and there are a gaggle of in-jokes that I never caught before. The set is also worth checking out for what will likely be the only footage of Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly we'll ever see.
Apocalypse Now - This "Full Disclosure" edition improves on the "Complete Dossier" DVD version by putting ALL of Apocalypse Now and Coppola's Redux on one disc (the DVD version split half of each version over two discs), restores the film to its proper widescreen format (2.35:1 rather than 2.00:1) and includes another disc of extras from previous versions. Oh, and Hearts of Darkness, the documentary about making Apocalypse Now that's as riveting as the film itself, in high def on disc three.
Psycho - The film is great. The disc looks great. I don't know that I need to sell you on Psycho any further.
Fantasia / Fantasia 2000 - We'll get to a review of Fantasia 2000 in the next week or two, but having what is arguably my favorite Disney film on Blu Ray is worth having its sequel on board. The extras from the Fantasia Legacy are included, but as an online "Virtual Vault" set. Disney doesn't slouch with their high definition classics, and Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 are no exception.
Delicatessen - Jean-Pierre Jeneut's debut film is the first Studio Canal Collection disc that I really went gaga over. Sure, Contempt looked good and The Ladykillers had a greater clarity, but Delicatessen is a knock out on Blu-Ray. I certainly hope that The City of Lost Children follows, and that if Studio Canal insists on pulling Criterion licenses (this is not one of them, but bear with me), that they'll give future releases the treatment Delicatessen got.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (Blu-Ray) and Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (DVD) - Although I may have a soft spot for Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger has always been my favorite boogeyman in the "slasher" era. While it would be nice to see the entire Nightmare on Elm Street series in high def (even Freddy's Revenge), I can't complain about New Line's release of the first film on Blu-Ray. The only down side may be that the terrible looking "stretched arms" scene is even cheesier in 1080p, but beggars can't be choosers, right? As I mentioned in my favorite films, Never Sleep Again is THE horror documentary to beat, period. I would happily watch it again.
Class of Nuke 'em High - You never thought this would be on Blu-Ray, did you? Here's a shocker: it's the best looking Troma movie I've ever seen, on DVD or otherwise. Admittedly, that's like saying "well, he's the handsomest caveman," but even with that caveat, you'll be surprised how nice such a cheap exploitation movie looks.
DVDs:
Death Bed: The Bed that Eats - There's no explaining the story of Death Bed in a way that makes sense. There's no adequate way of describing how the death bed eats people, because you really need to see it to believe it. For a film that had never seen release until the 21st century, 1977's bizarre Death Bed: The Bed that Eats must be seen, yet cannot be un-seen.
Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell - In the age of trailer compilations (42nd Street Forever, All Monsters Attack, Shock Festival, Trailers from Hell), it might be hard to argue the value of a VHS cheapie ported directly to DVD and released without any effort to hide that fact, let alone one with a terrible "corpse" ventriloquist and plodding zombie gags. However, Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell manages to be entertainingly sleazy and has a "let's put on a show" vibe that excuses much of the cheapness to the affair. There are better ways to watch exploitation trailers, to be sure, but Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell is a throwback to the golden age of VHS, and as a result manages to eek out a win.
Kingdom of the Spiders - Admittedly, I'd only ever seen Kingdom of the Spiders on TV, and not even in a complete form (mostly just random scenes). Aside from a zonked out Japanese film to be mentioned shortly, this was probably the best received film from Horror Fest V. It's incessant sleaziness, mean-spirited tone, and quasi-apocalyptic ending, along with the Shatner factor, made Kingdom of the Spiders the re-issue of 2010 (close runners up: The House on Sorority Row and The Slumber Party Massacre Collection).
Now we'll move on to a few companies that consistently hit it out of the park on high definition this year:
Shout! Factory - Specifically their MST3k and Roger Corman Cult Classics collections, which continue to be great stuff. Shout! took over for Rhino in releasing Mystery Science Theater 3000, and in addition to providing some truly excellent retrospective pieces on the films, the series, and the people behind both, volume XIX completed the "bot" triumvirate by including a Gypsy figurine to the existing Servo (volume XVI) and Crow (volume XIII / 20th Anniversary), leaving only Cambot or the Satellite of Love for future releases. The Roger Corman Cult Classics collection runs across DVD and Blu-Ray and has included remastered versions of Death Race 2000, Piranha, The Slumber Party Massacre collection, Humanoids from the Deep, Not of This Earth, Starcrash, Galaxy of Terror, Rock 'N Roll High School, Forbidden World, and double feature discs with the likes of Death Sport, Battle Truck, Up from the Depths, Big Bad Mama (1&2), Lady in Red, The Warrior and the Princess, Crazy Mama, Barbarian Queen, The Evil, Twice Dead, The Terror Within, Dead Space and Demon of Paradise. And there are more to come in 2011!
Blue Underground - William Lustig's spin-off of Anchor Bay has continued to reissue their titles on Blu-Ray, often with surprisingly great looking discs. In 2010, they released George Romero's The Crazies, Fulci's City of the Living Dead, plus Vampyres, Django, Machine Gun McCain, Maniac, The Prowler, Vigilante, Uncle Sam, and The Toolbox Murders.
Warner Brothers - who pushed harder than just about any other studio to put their back catalog on Blu-Ray, including The Maltese Falcon, Forbidden Planet, King Kong, The Exorcist, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and more recent Cap'n favorites The Goonies and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet.
Criterion - I don't even know where to start with Criterion's 2010 release slate. If we focus strictly on the NEW Blu-Rays (and not re-issues of Spine Numbers in high definition), we're still talking about Paths of Glory, Modern Times, Cronos, Che, Stagecoach, Paris, Texas, Vivre sa vie, Mystery Train, Red Desert, By Brakhage volume two, Crumb, The Magician, The Thin Red Line, The Night of the Hunter, The Darjeeling Limited, Antichrist, Lola Montes, Bigger Than Life, and Nobuhiko Obayashi's acid-trip ghost story House. Or we could look at the motherload boxed set, America Lost and Found: the BBS Story, which features Head, Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Drive, He Said, A Safe Place, The Last Picture Show, and The King of Marvin Gardens. That's not including DVD releases of Terry Zwigoff's Louie Bluie, Make Way for Tomorrow, The Fugitive Kind, 3 Classics by Josef von Sternberg, Roberto Rosselini's War Trilogy, and Eclipse sets for Chantal Akerman, George Bernard Shaw on Film, early Kurosawa, Nagisa Oshima, Sacha Guitry, and Allan King.
Blu-Ray:
Alien Anthology - I'm not even close to exploring every nook and cranny of the Blu-Ray equivalent to The Alien Quadrilogy. Not only is everything from that boxed set included, but 20th Century Fox completed the ADR on Alien 3's "workprint" version and included a Mu-Th-Ur mode that bridges all of the discs, allowing you to switch movies out without another round of FBI warnings, plus the streaming data remembers what you marks and directs you to extras on the fifth and sixth discs related to them. Additionally, the documentary on Alien 3 reinstated footage that deals with David Fincher's struggle to maintain his vision while studio executives and producers constantly intervened. Easily the best boxed set of 2010, and it's not even the only good one that came out this year.
The African Queen - It's hard to believe, but John Huston's The African Queen had never been released on DVD (or Blu-Ray) until 2010. It's nice to finally have the film in a very impressive audio and video presentation, and while the extras may be slim, the presence of the film itself was worth the wait.
Metropolis Restored - Kino Films released several quality releases in 2010 (including Sherlock Jr. / Three Ages, Steamboat Bill Jr., and The Black Pirate), but none may have been more anticipated than the almost complete Metropolis. After twenty five minutes of footage were discovered in Argentina and the film premiered in its restored version at the Berlin International Film Festival, cinephiles held their breath for the Blu-Ray release. The restored footage isn't in great shape, but I have to say that being able to see Metropolis as close to its original premiere as possible is worth the limitations of video quality.
Grindhouse - Speaking of movies that debuted in their original form this year, 2007's Grindhouse finally saw a Blu-Ray release of the film as shown in theatres (with awkward splices, commercials, ratings, and fake trailers intact) plus a second disc of extras (old and new). It's worth the price of admission just for Don't, Thanksgiving, and Werewolf Women of the S.S., but being able to show Grindhouse the way I saw it the first time is an even the Cap'n is looking forward to in 2011.
The Bridge on the River Kwai - I'm an unabashed fan of David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai, and while I parted with my DVD copy with hesitation, the upgrade was absolutely worth it. Like The African Queen, the new extras aren't much to speak of, but all of the old features are intact and considering that you can get The Bridge on the River Kwai for $20 or less, it's a no-brainer for classic film fans.
Back to the Future Trilogy - Other than the fact that the discs are almost impossible to remove the first time you open the set, I heartily recommend the Back to the Future series on Blu-Ray. The "set ups and payoffs" extra runs through all three films, and there are a gaggle of in-jokes that I never caught before. The set is also worth checking out for what will likely be the only footage of Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly we'll ever see.
Apocalypse Now - This "Full Disclosure" edition improves on the "Complete Dossier" DVD version by putting ALL of Apocalypse Now and Coppola's Redux on one disc (the DVD version split half of each version over two discs), restores the film to its proper widescreen format (2.35:1 rather than 2.00:1) and includes another disc of extras from previous versions. Oh, and Hearts of Darkness, the documentary about making Apocalypse Now that's as riveting as the film itself, in high def on disc three.
Psycho - The film is great. The disc looks great. I don't know that I need to sell you on Psycho any further.
Fantasia / Fantasia 2000 - We'll get to a review of Fantasia 2000 in the next week or two, but having what is arguably my favorite Disney film on Blu Ray is worth having its sequel on board. The extras from the Fantasia Legacy are included, but as an online "Virtual Vault" set. Disney doesn't slouch with their high definition classics, and Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 are no exception.
Delicatessen - Jean-Pierre Jeneut's debut film is the first Studio Canal Collection disc that I really went gaga over. Sure, Contempt looked good and The Ladykillers had a greater clarity, but Delicatessen is a knock out on Blu-Ray. I certainly hope that The City of Lost Children follows, and that if Studio Canal insists on pulling Criterion licenses (this is not one of them, but bear with me), that they'll give future releases the treatment Delicatessen got.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (Blu-Ray) and Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (DVD) - Although I may have a soft spot for Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger has always been my favorite boogeyman in the "slasher" era. While it would be nice to see the entire Nightmare on Elm Street series in high def (even Freddy's Revenge), I can't complain about New Line's release of the first film on Blu-Ray. The only down side may be that the terrible looking "stretched arms" scene is even cheesier in 1080p, but beggars can't be choosers, right? As I mentioned in my favorite films, Never Sleep Again is THE horror documentary to beat, period. I would happily watch it again.
Class of Nuke 'em High - You never thought this would be on Blu-Ray, did you? Here's a shocker: it's the best looking Troma movie I've ever seen, on DVD or otherwise. Admittedly, that's like saying "well, he's the handsomest caveman," but even with that caveat, you'll be surprised how nice such a cheap exploitation movie looks.
DVDs:
Death Bed: The Bed that Eats - There's no explaining the story of Death Bed in a way that makes sense. There's no adequate way of describing how the death bed eats people, because you really need to see it to believe it. For a film that had never seen release until the 21st century, 1977's bizarre Death Bed: The Bed that Eats must be seen, yet cannot be un-seen.
Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell - In the age of trailer compilations (42nd Street Forever, All Monsters Attack, Shock Festival, Trailers from Hell), it might be hard to argue the value of a VHS cheapie ported directly to DVD and released without any effort to hide that fact, let alone one with a terrible "corpse" ventriloquist and plodding zombie gags. However, Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell manages to be entertainingly sleazy and has a "let's put on a show" vibe that excuses much of the cheapness to the affair. There are better ways to watch exploitation trailers, to be sure, but Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell is a throwback to the golden age of VHS, and as a result manages to eek out a win.
Kingdom of the Spiders - Admittedly, I'd only ever seen Kingdom of the Spiders on TV, and not even in a complete form (mostly just random scenes). Aside from a zonked out Japanese film to be mentioned shortly, this was probably the best received film from Horror Fest V. It's incessant sleaziness, mean-spirited tone, and quasi-apocalyptic ending, along with the Shatner factor, made Kingdom of the Spiders the re-issue of 2010 (close runners up: The House on Sorority Row and The Slumber Party Massacre Collection).
Now we'll move on to a few companies that consistently hit it out of the park on high definition this year:
Shout! Factory - Specifically their MST3k and Roger Corman Cult Classics collections, which continue to be great stuff. Shout! took over for Rhino in releasing Mystery Science Theater 3000, and in addition to providing some truly excellent retrospective pieces on the films, the series, and the people behind both, volume XIX completed the "bot" triumvirate by including a Gypsy figurine to the existing Servo (volume XVI) and Crow (volume XIII / 20th Anniversary), leaving only Cambot or the Satellite of Love for future releases. The Roger Corman Cult Classics collection runs across DVD and Blu-Ray and has included remastered versions of Death Race 2000, Piranha, The Slumber Party Massacre collection, Humanoids from the Deep, Not of This Earth, Starcrash, Galaxy of Terror, Rock 'N Roll High School, Forbidden World, and double feature discs with the likes of Death Sport, Battle Truck, Up from the Depths, Big Bad Mama (1&2), Lady in Red, The Warrior and the Princess, Crazy Mama, Barbarian Queen, The Evil, Twice Dead, The Terror Within, Dead Space and Demon of Paradise. And there are more to come in 2011!
Blue Underground - William Lustig's spin-off of Anchor Bay has continued to reissue their titles on Blu-Ray, often with surprisingly great looking discs. In 2010, they released George Romero's The Crazies, Fulci's City of the Living Dead, plus Vampyres, Django, Machine Gun McCain, Maniac, The Prowler, Vigilante, Uncle Sam, and The Toolbox Murders.
Warner Brothers - who pushed harder than just about any other studio to put their back catalog on Blu-Ray, including The Maltese Falcon, Forbidden Planet, King Kong, The Exorcist, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and more recent Cap'n favorites The Goonies and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet.
Criterion - I don't even know where to start with Criterion's 2010 release slate. If we focus strictly on the NEW Blu-Rays (and not re-issues of Spine Numbers in high definition), we're still talking about Paths of Glory, Modern Times, Cronos, Che, Stagecoach, Paris, Texas, Vivre sa vie, Mystery Train, Red Desert, By Brakhage volume two, Crumb, The Magician, The Thin Red Line, The Night of the Hunter, The Darjeeling Limited, Antichrist, Lola Montes, Bigger Than Life, and Nobuhiko Obayashi's acid-trip ghost story House. Or we could look at the motherload boxed set, America Lost and Found: the BBS Story, which features Head, Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Drive, He Said, A Safe Place, The Last Picture Show, and The King of Marvin Gardens. That's not including DVD releases of Terry Zwigoff's Louie Bluie, Make Way for Tomorrow, The Fugitive Kind, 3 Classics by Josef von Sternberg, Roberto Rosselini's War Trilogy, and Eclipse sets for Chantal Akerman, George Bernard Shaw on Film, early Kurosawa, Nagisa Oshima, Sacha Guitry, and Allan King.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
2010 Year End Recap, Part Three
An important note from the Cap'n: While every review available is included as a link, the placement of the film on these "year end" lists may not appear to reflect the review. As time passes, I have the opportunity to reconsider films, revisit initial reactions, and every now and then, change the way I feel about movies.
Finally, we come to day three, my favorite films of 2010. This comes with the caveat that I have not yet seen Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, a film that seems evenly split between ridiculously enthusiastic reactions and equally dismissive pans. Does that mean I should put the list on hold for Black Swan? Well, no, and here's why: I have a list of movies - a fine list, might I add - of films released in 2009 that I didn't see until 2010. They always, without fail, end up in what I call the "Lost in the Shuffle" list*. They have individual reviews, but I do not revise year end recaps to insert them into the conversation. With one exception, this list is comprised of films I saw in 2010 and reflects the year 2010.
These are, for me, the best films I saw in 2010. That may not make them the "best films" of the year, and I can assure you many of them won't be mentioned come "Awards Season," but they entertained, challenged, and confounded me long after the first viewing. As usual, links to the reviews will be provided, along with an asterisk (*) for films that had festival showings prior to 2010 but were not widely available until last year.
I hesitated putting these in an "order," but what the hell. You should see all of them, but since there are fifteen films, I'll put them from "favorite" to "very favorite" just to spark discussion. From the best to the best of the best:
15. Double Take* - The more I think about Double Take, the more I'm willing to overlook the artificiality of Grimonprez's "recreation" of the Hitchcock double meeting, not only because he announces the artifice by introducing the audience to the physical and vocal "doubles" early in the film, but because it's beside the point. This film, experimental in its storytelling, its premise, and its juxtaposition, does stick with viewers after the initial confusion wears off. A film that can do that belongs with the best of the year.
14. I’m Still Here - A film that would be higher on the list, were it not for an even more ballsy attempt at blending reality and fiction that doesn't show its hand. All the same, whether you view Joaquin Phoenix's downfall into misery and drug addiction as a "document" of true events or a film that rides the fine line between real and fantasy, it succeeds in making viewers uncomfortable, yet unable to turn away.
13. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus* - We may never be able to see what Terry Gilliam originally planned for audiences in 2009, but the end result - finished after the death of Heath Ledger - is nevertheless a valiant and visually fertile attempt to pick up the pieces and tell the same story. There's so much to recommend in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - the battle of wits between Christopher Plummer and Tom Waits, the execution of the inside of the Imaginarium, the ability of Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell to stand in as Tony - that I'm willing to overlook the scattershot manner the film tells its story. Gilliam, even when compromised, is always worth a look, and this is a step above The Brothers Grimm and Tideland by a long shot.
12. Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy - This documentary sets the bar for covering a series of films, and I sincerely doubt anyone will ever top it. As somebody who watched His Name was Jason, Halloween: 25 Years of Terror, and any other so-called "comprehensive" doc covering horror films, Never Sleep Again blew me away. At four hours, anything you could possibly want to know about the Nightmare on Elm Street series is covered, and that's not including the extra disc of content that covers EVEN MORE stories never before told. Even without Johnny Depp, Patricia Arquette, and Frank Darabont, Never Sleep Again is so comprehensive, so addictive, and so frank about the making of this series that even casual Freddy fans will be able to keep it on for the duration. I guarantee this is the one film on this list least seen, and with as many horror addicts as there are that visit the Blogorium, I want to change that.
11. Piranha 3-D - A shameless explosion of gore, gratudity, mayhem, and B-movie acting, from the director of High Tension and The Hills Have Eyes. You won't come out of this film feeling smarter, or even with a greater critical acumen, but as 3-D exploitation goes, you're going to have to search long and hard to to better than Piranha 3-D.
10. Get Him to the Greek - In almost every way superior to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, of which this film is a spin-off. Get Him to the Greek never forgets that it has to be a rock and roll comedy, and as the wild rocker lifestyle of Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) spins out of control, so too does the film... but never to the point that it loses its heart, the bewildered but surprisingly balanced Aaron Green (Jonah Hill). More to the point, writer / director Nicholas Stoller never forgets that a comedy is supposed to be funny, and Get Him to the Greek is in abundance.
9. Shutter Island - The hate for Shutter Island astounds me, but it's there. People bag on Scorsese for making The Departed, and now are deriding his decision to embrace a technicolor laden exercise in pulp film-making. The twist is apparently the final straw, but I'm going to be honest with you: despite having guessed the twist before watching the movie, I was nevertheless riveted as the story unfolded. I don't understand why people hate the film, either as an exercise in homage or as a spiritual sequel to Cape Fear that nobody knew they needed. Give it a shot - either it will work for you or it won't.
8. The American - Since my initial review, I've seen a series of write-ups that insist Anton Corbijn is commenting on American foreign policy with this film. You could make the argument that yes, the concept of "I make the weapons but I don't use them and I get very defensive when you use them on me" is a direct criticism of the United States military complex. Fair enough, I suppose. Either way, The American can be appreciated as a excellently told story with fine performances, or as a critique masked as cinema.
7. Waking Sleeping Beauty - I don't really want to add too much more to the review. Waking Sleeping Beauty is exactly the documentary the Walt Disney company needed right no; its honesty is refreshing, its story is too amazing to be real, and its execution is refreshing in a world of "talking head" true stories.
6. MacGruber - I haven't laughed at a film this hard all year. Period. If you're still avoiding the MacGruber because it "looks stupid," or because somebody told you it probably sucked, rent it and find out for yourself. Then, after you buy it, show it to everybody you know that didn't see it.
5. Inception - I'm terrified to watch Inception again. So much of the film relies on allowing Inception to unfold in front of you, knowing nothing of what's to come, that any familiarity with the twists and turns could tumble the whole house of cards. That said, Christopher Nolan made a wildly ambitious film with ideas that stick around after the film is over, not to mention some set-pieces I've never seen before. It's technically impressive, well-acted, with an understandable "heist" narrative that kept audiences from feeling lost, but never holds your hand after setting up the rules. I'm not going to pretend its wholly original - nor will I play into the many "Inception stole from" arguments - and I really hope that this film is more The Prestige than Memento, where multiple viewings hold up.
4. Exit Through the Gift Shop - Did Banksy create Thierry Guetta? Does Mr. Brainwash really exist? How much of Exit Through the Gift Shop is designed and how much is document? I have no idea, and I don't care. The discussions that this film generates will be fascinating once more of you see it, but regardless of that, it doesn't matter unless Exit Through the Gift Shop can't hold up on its own, and it does.
3. True Grit - There have been reasoned, well argued points about my reaction to the potential racism in True Grit in the comments of my review, but I'm still not convinced that the individual instances don't point to a larger comment. That being said, I'm not saying Joel and Ethan Coen are engaging in racism so much as their ironic detachment in comedy is raising a point about systemic racism (at least in post-Civil War Arkansas). What I can't deny is that True Grit is an extremely well made film, a very entertaining movie that pushes violence beyond the PG-13 rating, and a film that, despite its history as a novel and very well known prior adaptation, manages to stand on its own in the Coen brothers body of work.
2. Best Worst Movie* - Best Worst Movie has been traveling from festival to festival since 2009, but had I seen it then, it would have been on my top films of 2009 list. As it was, I caught a screening of Best Worst Movie in New Mexico shortly before its DVD debut (the way almost everyone else saw the film) in 2010, so here it is. It's not necessary to have seen Troll 2 before you watch Best Worst Movie; if you see it on its own, chances are you'll seek out Troll 2 afterward. This is a fantastic "personal essay" film (my working moniker for documentaries where the filmmaker is central to the narrative) covers the cultural phenomenon of the "best worst movie" through the eyes of Troll 2's cast, crew, and fans, but particularly dentist George Hardy, who was in the film and moved on with life. Hilarious, disturbing, touching, and embarrassing, Best Worst Movie is easily my favorite documentary in a year of excellent non-fiction films.
1. The Social Network - Broadly speaking, the only thing I fear about seeing The Social Network again is a faint concern that Aaron Sorkin's dialogue might be "too" perfect: the scathing comebacks, the one-liners, the returning phrases throughout the film - I fear an off-chance it feels too clever for its own good. But even so, I can't wait to pick up The Social Network next week. I have no misgivings in recommending this film to anyone, and especially to people who think it's just "the Facebook movie." Trust me, it's not. The Social Network wasn't a movie made because it was temporally appropriate; it's a fully realized character study that covers events we lived through and weren't necessarily paying attention to. David Fincher's assured hand as a director marries with Sorkin's dialogue, and the cast - from Jesse Eisenberg to Andrew Garfield to Armie Hammer to Rooney Mara to Justin Timberlake - are pitch perfect. Does it have small faults? Yes, it does. Do they keep me from considering The Social Network from being my favorite film of 2010? Not even a little.
* For the 2009-10 list, that would include The Road, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Big Fan, A Serious Man, Black Dynamite, The House of the Devil, The Informant!, and the unfortunate An Education and I Sell the Dead.
Finally, we come to day three, my favorite films of 2010. This comes with the caveat that I have not yet seen Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, a film that seems evenly split between ridiculously enthusiastic reactions and equally dismissive pans. Does that mean I should put the list on hold for Black Swan? Well, no, and here's why: I have a list of movies - a fine list, might I add - of films released in 2009 that I didn't see until 2010. They always, without fail, end up in what I call the "Lost in the Shuffle" list*. They have individual reviews, but I do not revise year end recaps to insert them into the conversation. With one exception, this list is comprised of films I saw in 2010 and reflects the year 2010.
These are, for me, the best films I saw in 2010. That may not make them the "best films" of the year, and I can assure you many of them won't be mentioned come "Awards Season," but they entertained, challenged, and confounded me long after the first viewing. As usual, links to the reviews will be provided, along with an asterisk (*) for films that had festival showings prior to 2010 but were not widely available until last year.
I hesitated putting these in an "order," but what the hell. You should see all of them, but since there are fifteen films, I'll put them from "favorite" to "very favorite" just to spark discussion. From the best to the best of the best:
15. Double Take* - The more I think about Double Take, the more I'm willing to overlook the artificiality of Grimonprez's "recreation" of the Hitchcock double meeting, not only because he announces the artifice by introducing the audience to the physical and vocal "doubles" early in the film, but because it's beside the point. This film, experimental in its storytelling, its premise, and its juxtaposition, does stick with viewers after the initial confusion wears off. A film that can do that belongs with the best of the year.14. I’m Still Here - A film that would be higher on the list, were it not for an even more ballsy attempt at blending reality and fiction that doesn't show its hand. All the same, whether you view Joaquin Phoenix's downfall into misery and drug addiction as a "document" of true events or a film that rides the fine line between real and fantasy, it succeeds in making viewers uncomfortable, yet unable to turn away.
13. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus* - We may never be able to see what Terry Gilliam originally planned for audiences in 2009, but the end result - finished after the death of Heath Ledger - is nevertheless a valiant and visually fertile attempt to pick up the pieces and tell the same story. There's so much to recommend in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - the battle of wits between Christopher Plummer and Tom Waits, the execution of the inside of the Imaginarium, the ability of Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell to stand in as Tony - that I'm willing to overlook the scattershot manner the film tells its story. Gilliam, even when compromised, is always worth a look, and this is a step above The Brothers Grimm and Tideland by a long shot.
12. Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy - This documentary sets the bar for covering a series of films, and I sincerely doubt anyone will ever top it. As somebody who watched His Name was Jason, Halloween: 25 Years of Terror, and any other so-called "comprehensive" doc covering horror films, Never Sleep Again blew me away. At four hours, anything you could possibly want to know about the Nightmare on Elm Street series is covered, and that's not including the extra disc of content that covers EVEN MORE stories never before told. Even without Johnny Depp, Patricia Arquette, and Frank Darabont, Never Sleep Again is so comprehensive, so addictive, and so frank about the making of this series that even casual Freddy fans will be able to keep it on for the duration. I guarantee this is the one film on this list least seen, and with as many horror addicts as there are that visit the Blogorium, I want to change that.11. Piranha 3-D - A shameless explosion of gore, gratudity, mayhem, and B-movie acting, from the director of High Tension and The Hills Have Eyes. You won't come out of this film feeling smarter, or even with a greater critical acumen, but as 3-D exploitation goes, you're going to have to search long and hard to to better than Piranha 3-D.
10. Get Him to the Greek - In almost every way superior to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, of which this film is a spin-off. Get Him to the Greek never forgets that it has to be a rock and roll comedy, and as the wild rocker lifestyle of Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) spins out of control, so too does the film... but never to the point that it loses its heart, the bewildered but surprisingly balanced Aaron Green (Jonah Hill). More to the point, writer / director Nicholas Stoller never forgets that a comedy is supposed to be funny, and Get Him to the Greek is in abundance.9. Shutter Island - The hate for Shutter Island astounds me, but it's there. People bag on Scorsese for making The Departed, and now are deriding his decision to embrace a technicolor laden exercise in pulp film-making. The twist is apparently the final straw, but I'm going to be honest with you: despite having guessed the twist before watching the movie, I was nevertheless riveted as the story unfolded. I don't understand why people hate the film, either as an exercise in homage or as a spiritual sequel to Cape Fear that nobody knew they needed. Give it a shot - either it will work for you or it won't.
8. The American - Since my initial review, I've seen a series of write-ups that insist Anton Corbijn is commenting on American foreign policy with this film. You could make the argument that yes, the concept of "I make the weapons but I don't use them and I get very defensive when you use them on me" is a direct criticism of the United States military complex. Fair enough, I suppose. Either way, The American can be appreciated as a excellently told story with fine performances, or as a critique masked as cinema.
7. Waking Sleeping Beauty - I don't really want to add too much more to the review. Waking Sleeping Beauty is exactly the documentary the Walt Disney company needed right no; its honesty is refreshing, its story is too amazing to be real, and its execution is refreshing in a world of "talking head" true stories.
6. MacGruber - I haven't laughed at a film this hard all year. Period. If you're still avoiding the MacGruber because it "looks stupid," or because somebody told you it probably sucked, rent it and find out for yourself. Then, after you buy it, show it to everybody you know that didn't see it.
5. Inception - I'm terrified to watch Inception again. So much of the film relies on allowing Inception to unfold in front of you, knowing nothing of what's to come, that any familiarity with the twists and turns could tumble the whole house of cards. That said, Christopher Nolan made a wildly ambitious film with ideas that stick around after the film is over, not to mention some set-pieces I've never seen before. It's technically impressive, well-acted, with an understandable "heist" narrative that kept audiences from feeling lost, but never holds your hand after setting up the rules. I'm not going to pretend its wholly original - nor will I play into the many "Inception stole from" arguments - and I really hope that this film is more The Prestige than Memento, where multiple viewings hold up.
4. Exit Through the Gift Shop - Did Banksy create Thierry Guetta? Does Mr. Brainwash really exist? How much of Exit Through the Gift Shop is designed and how much is document? I have no idea, and I don't care. The discussions that this film generates will be fascinating once more of you see it, but regardless of that, it doesn't matter unless Exit Through the Gift Shop can't hold up on its own, and it does.3. True Grit - There have been reasoned, well argued points about my reaction to the potential racism in True Grit in the comments of my review, but I'm still not convinced that the individual instances don't point to a larger comment. That being said, I'm not saying Joel and Ethan Coen are engaging in racism so much as their ironic detachment in comedy is raising a point about systemic racism (at least in post-Civil War Arkansas). What I can't deny is that True Grit is an extremely well made film, a very entertaining movie that pushes violence beyond the PG-13 rating, and a film that, despite its history as a novel and very well known prior adaptation, manages to stand on its own in the Coen brothers body of work.
2. Best Worst Movie* - Best Worst Movie has been traveling from festival to festival since 2009, but had I seen it then, it would have been on my top films of 2009 list. As it was, I caught a screening of Best Worst Movie in New Mexico shortly before its DVD debut (the way almost everyone else saw the film) in 2010, so here it is. It's not necessary to have seen Troll 2 before you watch Best Worst Movie; if you see it on its own, chances are you'll seek out Troll 2 afterward. This is a fantastic "personal essay" film (my working moniker for documentaries where the filmmaker is central to the narrative) covers the cultural phenomenon of the "best worst movie" through the eyes of Troll 2's cast, crew, and fans, but particularly dentist George Hardy, who was in the film and moved on with life. Hilarious, disturbing, touching, and embarrassing, Best Worst Movie is easily my favorite documentary in a year of excellent non-fiction films.
1. The Social Network - Broadly speaking, the only thing I fear about seeing The Social Network again is a faint concern that Aaron Sorkin's dialogue might be "too" perfect: the scathing comebacks, the one-liners, the returning phrases throughout the film - I fear an off-chance it feels too clever for its own good. But even so, I can't wait to pick up The Social Network next week. I have no misgivings in recommending this film to anyone, and especially to people who think it's just "the Facebook movie." Trust me, it's not. The Social Network wasn't a movie made because it was temporally appropriate; it's a fully realized character study that covers events we lived through and weren't necessarily paying attention to. David Fincher's assured hand as a director marries with Sorkin's dialogue, and the cast - from Jesse Eisenberg to Andrew Garfield to Armie Hammer to Rooney Mara to Justin Timberlake - are pitch perfect. Does it have small faults? Yes, it does. Do they keep me from considering The Social Network from being my favorite film of 2010? Not even a little.* For the 2009-10 list, that would include The Road, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Big Fan, A Serious Man, Black Dynamite, The House of the Devil, The Informant!, and the unfortunate An Education and I Sell the Dead.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
2010 Year End Recap, Part Two
An important note from the Cap'n: While every review available is included as a link, the placement of the film on these "year end" lists may not appear to reflect the review. As time passes, I have the opportunity to reconsider films, revisit initial reactions, and every now and then, change the way I feel about movies.
Let's continue not with the top, but the bottom. Originally, I thought there would only be one or two truly awful films I saw in 2010, but revisiting this year's reviews, that was not to be the case. If Tron Legacy was the last movie I could (weakly) say I didn't hate, then just imagine how bad the following ten films are. When the Cap'n says "NEVER AGAIN," I hope you grasp the magnitude of the cinematic dreck that follows.
Whenever possible, I have included links to the original reviews, indicated with an asterisk (*) films that technically had screenings in 2009, and expanded on why I will do my best never to watch these films again.
Alice in Wonderland - Tron Legacy barely got a pass for its visual palette, but the Tim Burton Players Present Alice's Adventures in Narnia doesn't. Not only is this not reminiscent of Lewis Carroll's Alice novels, but the sense of whimsy one might hope from Tim Burton is replaced with a dour, joyless adventure story about slaying the drag- er, Jabberwocky. The dirty trick I played with this review in April is better than anything you'll find in this inexplicably popular film.
The Wolfman - That's right: I say in the review "neither loves nor hates," but I'm also never going to watch the movie again.
The Descent Part 2 - What a difference watching this movie with a like-minded audience can make. When I first watched The Descent Part 2 - a wholly unnecessary sequel - the fact that it was marginally coherent and pretty gory was enough for the Cap'n. The second time (at Summer Fest III) we slogged through the bad writing, awful lighting, rotten acting was only partially redeemed by the gore. And the gore is pretty good; The Descent Part 2 was not, and twice is enough.
Faster - Again, it has a "So You Won't Have To" tag on it. Faster billed itself as a stripped-down revenge film, then delivered anything but.
From here on out, things get rather vitriolic.
Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film* - This was a late addition to the list, which is why there's no review. Also, the documentary doesn't deserve one: Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue is a freshman level analysis of horror films through a sociological lens, often coming to erroneous (or ridiculous) assertions about changes in the genre over the 20th century. My personal favorite? How about comparing Leatherface in the Texas Chain Saw Massacre remake to Osama Bin Laden, based on the specious logic that he can "disappear and reappear on a whim, keeping us in a constant state of terror," which describes almost every horror boogeyman, including all of the ones that existed before Osama Bin Laden declared war on America. The grossest offense this documentary makes is to copy the structure of David Skal's The Monster Show, which does a much better job laying out the case that horror films reflect social movements.
Survival of the Dead* - I should have learned my lesson with the terrible Diary of the Dead, but curiosity (and positive reviews) got the better of me, and I went back to the George well. Not the George Lucas well, which gets the lion's share of complaints, but George A. Romero hasn't made a film that's remotely watchable for the last five years, and he's been working exclusively in his beloved "living dead" territory. If Diary's insulting, obvious narration wasn't bad enough, Survival's wafer thin characters and idiotic "Irish Cowboy" feud plot bored me to no end. For people who complain about Land of the Dead, I can't imagine how you found this drivel watchable.
Kick-Ass - Okay, so while I don't love Scott Pilgrim, I at least understand why people might. Fan favorite Kick-Ass fails to deliver on ANY level, from its "superheroes in real life" premise to its obnoxious protagonist or the totally pointless Hit Girl. Matthew Vaughn kills the only remotely interesting character, Nicolas Cage's Big Daddy, and ensured that not only would I ever watch his film again, but I'm definitely going to see Kick-Ass 2.
Cop Out - There are only three films I've never finished: Horror of the Blood Monsters, Neil LaBute's remake of The Wicker Man, and Cop Out. You can, therefore, only imagine how insufferable, unfunny, and ineptly constructed Cop Out must be that despite the presence of Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Sean William Scott, Jason Lee, Michelle Trachtenberg, Guillermo Diaz, and Kevin Pollak, I couldn't bear to sit through more than thirty minutes. The best I could muster for this skid mark on the underwear of Buddy Cop Comedies was a brief footnote at the end of The Other Guys.
A Nightmare on Elm Street - I shouldn't even have to tell you how much I hated this soulless, money-grubbing waste of ninety minutes. Every possible positive is squandered, including seemingly novel ideas like "micro naps" and the suggestion that Fred Krueger might be innocent, are squandered in order for cheap scares that aren't scary. That two of my favorite movies of 2010 feature the "stars" of this wretched film - Rooney Mara and Jackie Earle Haley - saddens me further. I always swear off of Platinum Dunes films, and I really should have learned my lesson after Shit Coffin, but if that title is appropriate for their Friday the 13th molestation, Shit Coffin 2 doesn't properly prepare audiences for what they do to Freddy Krueger.
And yet, A Nightmare on Elm Street is not the worst movie I saw in 2010. That honor goes to:
Resident Evil: Afterlife (in 3-D) - I'm not going to spit more bile at this worthless, lifeless, pointless sequel. Instead, I genuinely want for someone to explain to me how, in any way, the fourth Resident Evil film, the return of Paul "What Script?" Anderson to the director's chair, is good? Even the moderate pans of Resident Evil: Afterlife on Blu-Ray claim the film is still watchable. How? Even better, I'd like one of the vocal fans of this movie, the people who bragged its opening weekend silenced the "haterz," to walk me through how, in any way, this film doesn't fail at every single thing it tries, from the 3-D to the action to the impenetrable story. Make your case, please. People want to give this movie a pass, even when they hated it, and this movie does not deserve it. Never Again.
Tomorrow, we'll look on the bright side of life, and I'll discuss my favorite films of 2010. See you then.
Let's continue not with the top, but the bottom. Originally, I thought there would only be one or two truly awful films I saw in 2010, but revisiting this year's reviews, that was not to be the case. If Tron Legacy was the last movie I could (weakly) say I didn't hate, then just imagine how bad the following ten films are. When the Cap'n says "NEVER AGAIN," I hope you grasp the magnitude of the cinematic dreck that follows.
Whenever possible, I have included links to the original reviews, indicated with an asterisk (*) films that technically had screenings in 2009, and expanded on why I will do my best never to watch these films again.
Alice in Wonderland - Tron Legacy barely got a pass for its visual palette, but the Tim Burton Players Present Alice's Adventures in Narnia doesn't. Not only is this not reminiscent of Lewis Carroll's Alice novels, but the sense of whimsy one might hope from Tim Burton is replaced with a dour, joyless adventure story about slaying the drag- er, Jabberwocky. The dirty trick I played with this review in April is better than anything you'll find in this inexplicably popular film.
The Wolfman - That's right: I say in the review "neither loves nor hates," but I'm also never going to watch the movie again.The Descent Part 2 - What a difference watching this movie with a like-minded audience can make. When I first watched The Descent Part 2 - a wholly unnecessary sequel - the fact that it was marginally coherent and pretty gory was enough for the Cap'n. The second time (at Summer Fest III) we slogged through the bad writing, awful lighting, rotten acting was only partially redeemed by the gore. And the gore is pretty good; The Descent Part 2 was not, and twice is enough.
Faster - Again, it has a "So You Won't Have To" tag on it. Faster billed itself as a stripped-down revenge film, then delivered anything but.
From here on out, things get rather vitriolic.
Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film* - This was a late addition to the list, which is why there's no review. Also, the documentary doesn't deserve one: Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue is a freshman level analysis of horror films through a sociological lens, often coming to erroneous (or ridiculous) assertions about changes in the genre over the 20th century. My personal favorite? How about comparing Leatherface in the Texas Chain Saw Massacre remake to Osama Bin Laden, based on the specious logic that he can "disappear and reappear on a whim, keeping us in a constant state of terror," which describes almost every horror boogeyman, including all of the ones that existed before Osama Bin Laden declared war on America. The grossest offense this documentary makes is to copy the structure of David Skal's The Monster Show, which does a much better job laying out the case that horror films reflect social movements.Survival of the Dead* - I should have learned my lesson with the terrible Diary of the Dead, but curiosity (and positive reviews) got the better of me, and I went back to the George well. Not the George Lucas well, which gets the lion's share of complaints, but George A. Romero hasn't made a film that's remotely watchable for the last five years, and he's been working exclusively in his beloved "living dead" territory. If Diary's insulting, obvious narration wasn't bad enough, Survival's wafer thin characters and idiotic "Irish Cowboy" feud plot bored me to no end. For people who complain about Land of the Dead, I can't imagine how you found this drivel watchable.
Kick-Ass - Okay, so while I don't love Scott Pilgrim, I at least understand why people might. Fan favorite Kick-Ass fails to deliver on ANY level, from its "superheroes in real life" premise to its obnoxious protagonist or the totally pointless Hit Girl. Matthew Vaughn kills the only remotely interesting character, Nicolas Cage's Big Daddy, and ensured that not only would I ever watch his film again, but I'm definitely going to see Kick-Ass 2.
Cop Out - There are only three films I've never finished: Horror of the Blood Monsters, Neil LaBute's remake of The Wicker Man, and Cop Out. You can, therefore, only imagine how insufferable, unfunny, and ineptly constructed Cop Out must be that despite the presence of Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Sean William Scott, Jason Lee, Michelle Trachtenberg, Guillermo Diaz, and Kevin Pollak, I couldn't bear to sit through more than thirty minutes. The best I could muster for this skid mark on the underwear of Buddy Cop Comedies was a brief footnote at the end of The Other Guys.
A Nightmare on Elm Street - I shouldn't even have to tell you how much I hated this soulless, money-grubbing waste of ninety minutes. Every possible positive is squandered, including seemingly novel ideas like "micro naps" and the suggestion that Fred Krueger might be innocent, are squandered in order for cheap scares that aren't scary. That two of my favorite movies of 2010 feature the "stars" of this wretched film - Rooney Mara and Jackie Earle Haley - saddens me further. I always swear off of Platinum Dunes films, and I really should have learned my lesson after Shit Coffin, but if that title is appropriate for their Friday the 13th molestation, Shit Coffin 2 doesn't properly prepare audiences for what they do to Freddy Krueger.And yet, A Nightmare on Elm Street is not the worst movie I saw in 2010. That honor goes to:
Resident Evil: Afterlife (in 3-D) - I'm not going to spit more bile at this worthless, lifeless, pointless sequel. Instead, I genuinely want for someone to explain to me how, in any way, the fourth Resident Evil film, the return of Paul "What Script?" Anderson to the director's chair, is good? Even the moderate pans of Resident Evil: Afterlife on Blu-Ray claim the film is still watchable. How? Even better, I'd like one of the vocal fans of this movie, the people who bragged its opening weekend silenced the "haterz," to walk me through how, in any way, this film doesn't fail at every single thing it tries, from the 3-D to the action to the impenetrable story. Make your case, please. People want to give this movie a pass, even when they hated it, and this movie does not deserve it. Never Again.Tomorrow, we'll look on the bright side of life, and I'll discuss my favorite films of 2010. See you then.
Monday, January 3, 2011
2010 Year End Recap, Part One.
An important note from the Cap'n: While every review available is included as a link, the placement of the film on these "year end" lists may not appear to reflect the review. As time passes, I have the opportunity to reconsider films, revisit initial reactions, and every now and then, change the way I feel about movies.
Let's start with... The Middle (it's a very good place to start). What you'll find in this list are the films that were solid, entertaining, or did just enough to stay out of the "Favorites" or "Never Again"s. They are listed from "top" Middle to "bottom" Middle, with the films higher on the list being recommended and the lower ranked films coming with a warning. For me, all of the films on this list were worth checking out in one form or the other, so see if anything strikes your fancy.
When helpful, I am providing additional thoughts along with a link to the original review. Films marked with an asterisk (*) indicate a limited release prior to 2010, but in most cases were not given a wide release until last year.
The Town - Ben Affleck's sophomore directorial debut just missed the cut in my favorite films of 2010. If anything, I held back because the loose pacing serves the story well, but does, at times, make the film drag. The extended cut, which is still unseen, may sway things one way or the other, but for now this fine, if languid, heist thriller still comes highly recommended.
Micmacs - I still haven't watched Micmacs with subtitles, but Jeneut's follow up to A Very Long Engagement has a quirky, amusing tone that serves it well. It doesn't quite reach the heights of Amelie or The City of Lost Children, but when the bar is that high, you can't hold it against Micmacs for just being very good.
[REC] 2* - Did [REC] 2 ever come out in the U.S.? Other than absolutely needing to see the first film, this sequel ups the ante in nearly every way, even if it stumbles during a perspective-switching middle section.
Casino Jack and the United States of Money - I never got around to reviewing this on New Year's Eve, but the documentary about Jack Abramoff - not to be mistaken with Casino Jack, the quasi-biopic starring Kevin Spacey - from Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) is a fascinating portrait of the "villain" of Lobbyists. It certainly makes me want to watch Red Scorpion with Dolph Lundgren (a film Abramoff wrote and produced between his run as President of College Republicans and his Too Successful for Its Own Good Lobbyist stint). Aside from an ill-advised opening - which uses footage from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to make the "is it just Jack or is corruption systematic?" argument - the documentary is guaranteed to surprise you.
The Book of Eli - As you know, I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic cinema. The Book of Eli is a good-looking, well constructed take on the genre; its "twist" tends to turn people off, but while it won't change your life, it's a nice distraction.
I Love You, Phillip Morris
Harry Brown* - If not for that final character revelation, I'd put it higher.
Leaves of Grass
American Grindhouse - This documentary takes you on a whirlwind tour of exploitation films, and manages to cram a great deal of information into its 78 minutes. Focusing on one or two types of exploitation films, it manages to cover a lot of ground from "Facts of life"-sploitation, Blaxploitation, "Roughies," Nudies, Schlock, Drugsploitation, Women-in-Prison films, Nazisploitation, heading into the inevitable shift from exploitation films to porn in grindhouse theatres. Includes interviews with Herschell Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast), William Lustig (Maniac), Fred Williamson (Boss), Larry Cohen (Black Caesar), David Hess (The Last House on the Left), and John Landis (Schlock), who insists that The Passion of the Christ is closer to a "grindhouse" picture than Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse.
Speaking of which, the next films form their own trifecta of action exploitation:
Machete, The Expendables, and Predators - None of these movies are perfect, in and of themselves. Machete wanders too much from the main character (ala Once Upon a Time in Mexico), The Expendables is so "old school" action movie that most modern action fans don't know how to deal with it (which isn't a fault, per se, but it also totally fails to make any character remotely "expendable), and Predators needlessly grinds its momentum to a halt when Laurence Fishburne arrives onscreen. Still, there's something to like in all of them, and when there is, it's a lot to like.
Pontypool*
44 Inch Chest*
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - One thing I feel I need to clarify is that I didn't hate Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I admire the effort: after watching many of the extra features on the Blu-Ray, I actually respect what Edgar Wright accomplished in adapting Scott Pilgrim. My qualm with the film, the reason I can't side with its legion of fans (or fanatics) is that the film fundamentally didn't connect with me. Nothing about Scott Pilgrim or Ramona Flowers roused any emotional response from me (or, for that matter, any particular intellectual response), and as much as I may appreciate the effort, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World misses the mark where I needed it to hit most.
Tales from the Script*
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - Despite a fundamentally positive review, I can't help but dwell on the fact that Oliver Stone has a little too much sympathy for his characters - something that really kicked into high gear with World Trade Center - and as a result, Money Never Sleeps doesn't really have any bite to it in the end. On its own, that would be no big deal, but when dealing with the sequel to Wall Street, it's a serious hindrance. The use of obvious visual metaphors (the dominoes and bubbles) and too "on the nose" David Byrne and Brian Eno songs also keeps Money Never Sleeps from being higher on the list.
Iron Man 2 - Since May, I've been trying to figure out what I had to say about Iron Man 2. I saw it twice: once in the theatre and once... well, one other time. I have the Blu-Ray and watched part of the film a month ago. It's not that there's anything colossally good or bad about the film: I like that Tony Stark's real adversary in the film is himself, and that there's a level of moral ambiguity in the film so that there is no "bad guy." If you've only seen the advertising, it's wildly misleading: Mickey Rourke has a very good reason for hating Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson isn't a villain at all, and the barely featured Sam Rockwell is a jealous rival weapons manufacturer who really just wants Tony Stark to be his friend. Of course, it does give Iron Man 2 a serious case of "who cares?" No villains, not much in the way of stakes, and the increased presence of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to push ahead the impending Avengers film, in a subplot that could have existed organically in the film without the tie-in. In many ways, it's a better film than Iron Man, but the question is if the focus is less coherent, is the sequel ultimately better?
The Crazies - Apparently, I never reviewed Breck Eisner's remake of The Crazies, which is a reasonably effective "virus" film that expands George Romero's low-budget original and generates some genuine suspense. That said, I tried watching it again, and it doesn't hold up well. For first time viewers, I sense there will be some level of enjoyment, but don't buy it and expect to revisit with friends.
Wrong Side of Town - It's only in the middle because people who read my review need to know they're heading into a surprisingly entertaining BAD movie. I stand by the After Hours meets Commando description, with the caveat that this film is nowhere near as good as either film. Approach if you have a very generous ability to be entertained by low budget action films starring professional wrestlers.
The Other Guys - If the "Unrated" cut makes a difference, I might come back to this. As is, the film is amusing, random, but unspectacular.
Toy Story 3 - I think my review covers why this is where it is, unlike many critics' "Top" list.
The Lost Skeleton Returns Again
Dark and Stormy Night
Crazy Heart* - Trim out 30 minutes, and maybe this would be a better movie.
Dead Snow* - I get why people love it, but the references are so direct and so obvious that I can't share your unbridled enthusiasm. Still, it is periodically very funny.
Hot Tub Time Machine - After the initial shock laughter wears off, the film's flimsy premise shows through, doesn't rise above it's lack of creative mayhem, and totally fails the "second time" test at home.
Dinner for Schmucks - Thoroughly inconsequential. I can barely remember the film, and it's only been four months.
Daybreakers - While I appreciate setting up the premise and sticking with it in a non-ironic, non-jokey way, Daybreakers falls apart halfway through and isn't something I really plan to revisit.
Winnebago Man - What happens when a director isn't talented enough to course correct when his original documentary falls apart? Winnebago Man, an aimless film that some believe works because of the "train wreck" aspect. I respectfully disagree.
Tron Legacy - I can't recommend this poorly written, badly acted, sporadically awfully animated film. At the same time, I was never bored, and we didn't give Tron Legacy the usual MST3k treatment many of you assume we did. Three people went in together, three people agreed the movie was terrible, three people also agreed we had a good time. I can't explain it, try as I might.
Tomorrow I'll be back with "Never Again," the bottom of the barrel. Surprisingly, it's a shorter list than in years past; I only saw ten truly awful movies last year. That's the good news. The bad news is that they all should be "So You Won't Have To"'s, and for some reason not all of them are. Until then...
Let's start with... The Middle (it's a very good place to start). What you'll find in this list are the films that were solid, entertaining, or did just enough to stay out of the "Favorites" or "Never Again"s. They are listed from "top" Middle to "bottom" Middle, with the films higher on the list being recommended and the lower ranked films coming with a warning. For me, all of the films on this list were worth checking out in one form or the other, so see if anything strikes your fancy.
When helpful, I am providing additional thoughts along with a link to the original review. Films marked with an asterisk (*) indicate a limited release prior to 2010, but in most cases were not given a wide release until last year.
The Town - Ben Affleck's sophomore directorial debut just missed the cut in my favorite films of 2010. If anything, I held back because the loose pacing serves the story well, but does, at times, make the film drag. The extended cut, which is still unseen, may sway things one way or the other, but for now this fine, if languid, heist thriller still comes highly recommended.
Micmacs - I still haven't watched Micmacs with subtitles, but Jeneut's follow up to A Very Long Engagement has a quirky, amusing tone that serves it well. It doesn't quite reach the heights of Amelie or The City of Lost Children, but when the bar is that high, you can't hold it against Micmacs for just being very good.
[REC] 2* - Did [REC] 2 ever come out in the U.S.? Other than absolutely needing to see the first film, this sequel ups the ante in nearly every way, even if it stumbles during a perspective-switching middle section.
Casino Jack and the United States of Money - I never got around to reviewing this on New Year's Eve, but the documentary about Jack Abramoff - not to be mistaken with Casino Jack, the quasi-biopic starring Kevin Spacey - from Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) is a fascinating portrait of the "villain" of Lobbyists. It certainly makes me want to watch Red Scorpion with Dolph Lundgren (a film Abramoff wrote and produced between his run as President of College Republicans and his Too Successful for Its Own Good Lobbyist stint). Aside from an ill-advised opening - which uses footage from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to make the "is it just Jack or is corruption systematic?" argument - the documentary is guaranteed to surprise you.The Book of Eli - As you know, I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic cinema. The Book of Eli is a good-looking, well constructed take on the genre; its "twist" tends to turn people off, but while it won't change your life, it's a nice distraction.
I Love You, Phillip Morris
Harry Brown* - If not for that final character revelation, I'd put it higher.
Leaves of Grass
American Grindhouse - This documentary takes you on a whirlwind tour of exploitation films, and manages to cram a great deal of information into its 78 minutes. Focusing on one or two types of exploitation films, it manages to cover a lot of ground from "Facts of life"-sploitation, Blaxploitation, "Roughies," Nudies, Schlock, Drugsploitation, Women-in-Prison films, Nazisploitation, heading into the inevitable shift from exploitation films to porn in grindhouse theatres. Includes interviews with Herschell Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast), William Lustig (Maniac), Fred Williamson (Boss), Larry Cohen (Black Caesar), David Hess (The Last House on the Left), and John Landis (Schlock), who insists that The Passion of the Christ is closer to a "grindhouse" picture than Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse.Speaking of which, the next films form their own trifecta of action exploitation:
Machete, The Expendables, and Predators - None of these movies are perfect, in and of themselves. Machete wanders too much from the main character (ala Once Upon a Time in Mexico), The Expendables is so "old school" action movie that most modern action fans don't know how to deal with it (which isn't a fault, per se, but it also totally fails to make any character remotely "expendable), and Predators needlessly grinds its momentum to a halt when Laurence Fishburne arrives onscreen. Still, there's something to like in all of them, and when there is, it's a lot to like.Pontypool*
44 Inch Chest*
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - One thing I feel I need to clarify is that I didn't hate Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I admire the effort: after watching many of the extra features on the Blu-Ray, I actually respect what Edgar Wright accomplished in adapting Scott Pilgrim. My qualm with the film, the reason I can't side with its legion of fans (or fanatics) is that the film fundamentally didn't connect with me. Nothing about Scott Pilgrim or Ramona Flowers roused any emotional response from me (or, for that matter, any particular intellectual response), and as much as I may appreciate the effort, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World misses the mark where I needed it to hit most.
Tales from the Script*
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - Despite a fundamentally positive review, I can't help but dwell on the fact that Oliver Stone has a little too much sympathy for his characters - something that really kicked into high gear with World Trade Center - and as a result, Money Never Sleeps doesn't really have any bite to it in the end. On its own, that would be no big deal, but when dealing with the sequel to Wall Street, it's a serious hindrance. The use of obvious visual metaphors (the dominoes and bubbles) and too "on the nose" David Byrne and Brian Eno songs also keeps Money Never Sleeps from being higher on the list.Iron Man 2 - Since May, I've been trying to figure out what I had to say about Iron Man 2. I saw it twice: once in the theatre and once... well, one other time. I have the Blu-Ray and watched part of the film a month ago. It's not that there's anything colossally good or bad about the film: I like that Tony Stark's real adversary in the film is himself, and that there's a level of moral ambiguity in the film so that there is no "bad guy." If you've only seen the advertising, it's wildly misleading: Mickey Rourke has a very good reason for hating Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson isn't a villain at all, and the barely featured Sam Rockwell is a jealous rival weapons manufacturer who really just wants Tony Stark to be his friend. Of course, it does give Iron Man 2 a serious case of "who cares?" No villains, not much in the way of stakes, and the increased presence of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to push ahead the impending Avengers film, in a subplot that could have existed organically in the film without the tie-in. In many ways, it's a better film than Iron Man, but the question is if the focus is less coherent, is the sequel ultimately better?
The Crazies - Apparently, I never reviewed Breck Eisner's remake of The Crazies, which is a reasonably effective "virus" film that expands George Romero's low-budget original and generates some genuine suspense. That said, I tried watching it again, and it doesn't hold up well. For first time viewers, I sense there will be some level of enjoyment, but don't buy it and expect to revisit with friends.
Wrong Side of Town - It's only in the middle because people who read my review need to know they're heading into a surprisingly entertaining BAD movie. I stand by the After Hours meets Commando description, with the caveat that this film is nowhere near as good as either film. Approach if you have a very generous ability to be entertained by low budget action films starring professional wrestlers.The Other Guys - If the "Unrated" cut makes a difference, I might come back to this. As is, the film is amusing, random, but unspectacular.
Toy Story 3 - I think my review covers why this is where it is, unlike many critics' "Top" list.The Lost Skeleton Returns Again
Dark and Stormy Night
Crazy Heart* - Trim out 30 minutes, and maybe this would be a better movie.
Dead Snow* - I get why people love it, but the references are so direct and so obvious that I can't share your unbridled enthusiasm. Still, it is periodically very funny.
Hot Tub Time Machine - After the initial shock laughter wears off, the film's flimsy premise shows through, doesn't rise above it's lack of creative mayhem, and totally fails the "second time" test at home.
Dinner for Schmucks - Thoroughly inconsequential. I can barely remember the film, and it's only been four months.
Daybreakers - While I appreciate setting up the premise and sticking with it in a non-ironic, non-jokey way, Daybreakers falls apart halfway through and isn't something I really plan to revisit.
Winnebago Man - What happens when a director isn't talented enough to course correct when his original documentary falls apart? Winnebago Man, an aimless film that some believe works because of the "train wreck" aspect. I respectfully disagree.Tron Legacy - I can't recommend this poorly written, badly acted, sporadically awfully animated film. At the same time, I was never bored, and we didn't give Tron Legacy the usual MST3k treatment many of you assume we did. Three people went in together, three people agreed the movie was terrible, three people also agreed we had a good time. I can't explain it, try as I might.
Tomorrow I'll be back with "Never Again," the bottom of the barrel. Surprisingly, it's a shorter list than in years past; I only saw ten truly awful movies last year. That's the good news. The bad news is that they all should be "So You Won't Have To"'s, and for some reason not all of them are. Until then...
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Blogorium Review: True Grit
There are so many elements that come into play when considering Joel and Ethan Coen's True Grit, some of which I'm simply not certain how to address: the Cap'n has not, for instance, read Charles Portis' novel, on which the Coens claim they based their version exclusively. I have seen Henry Hathaway's 1969 adaptation of the same novel, which is the point of entry for most people who are familiar with the title and is the basis of comparison for most. It would be the basis of comparison on which I would draw, had I not written a piece about the debate surrounding "remake" and "re-adaptation" within the critical community.
As it is, I don't feel that it would be fair to simply explain the differences between Hathaway's version and the Coens' version without having the Portis novel as a point of reference in adapting. That being said, both cinematic versions of True Grit have so many overlapping similarities that I find it hard to mention parts of one without recalling its counterpart immediately. There are points of deviation, specifically dealing with the fates of certain characters, the end of the film, and most importantly, the tone, which I will address later in the review. What I can say is that I very much enjoyed 2010's True Grit, almost certainly more than 1969's. It's a very well made film, an entertaining story that mostly balances the humor with graphic violence and provides fine performances from Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, and (most importantly) Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross.
Very briefly, the film is about Mattie Ross (Steinfeld), the daughter of Frank Ross, who was murdered by Tom Chaney (Brolin) in a drunken fit of rage. When Chaney fled, Mattie traveled to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to seek justice for his murder. Instead, she finds indifference and hires U.S. Marshall Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn (Bridges) to track Chaney into Chocktaw territory. Accompanied by Texas Ranger LeBeouf (Damon), who is tracking Chaney in the hopes of claiming a reward for his capture, they set off to find Ned Pepper (Pepper) and his gang, where Tom is hiding out.
It seems that for every idiosyncratic film the Coen brothers make, they manage to tap into the cultural zeitgeist at least as often, typically without moving far from their own interests. Despite some critics suggestions otherwise - or their inability to remember - Raising Arizona, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, and No Country for Old Men all seeped into the "broader" audiences in varying degrees. True Grit certainly seems to be the next addition to the list, capturing the masses in a way that Burn After Reading or A Serious Man - as fascinating as both films are - did not in the mean time. I hesitate to attribute this to the presence of Steven Spielberg - whose "Executive Producer" credit caught me off-guard when it appeared at the end - because True Grit does not stray far from their fascination in playing around in someone else's genre. If No Country for Old Men is a neo-noir Western, then True Grit is their direct attempt at a Western, packed with their love of antiquated mores, attitudes, and ironic detachment.
That Joel and Ethan Coen side-step the "remake" question by claiming "re-adaptation" allows them to detach themselves further from direct comparisons. It's much easier to remake The Ladykillers - a film more people have heard of than seen - than to tread into the fandom of John Wayne, who remains a cultural icon for the generation most likely to recognize True Grit. That being said, either the Portis novel isn't terribly different from both adaptations, or Hathaway's True Grit casts such a long shadow that it's nearly impossible to see both without making mental comparisons.
The immediate change I noticed - and one of the only ones I want to mention - was that the goofy, slightly slapstick nature of the Hathaway version of True Grit is missing here. The jovial sense of camaraderie between Cogburn, LeBeouf, and Ross never develops in the Bridges / Damon / Steinfeld dynamic, partially because the precocious naivete of Mattie Ross is downplayed in favor of a determined young woman desperate to assert herself, one who refuses to admit she's in well over her head. It also helps that Steinfeld is actually 14 in True Grit, whereas Kim Darby was 22 when she played Mattie Ross, a tidbit that when coupled with her strange gender-neutral appearance kept Darby's Ross from connecting with audiences.
Jeff Bridges is less cartoonish as "Rooster" Cogburn, thanks to two major shifts: instead of being introduced bringing in prisoners as a heroic gesture (as Wayne is), Cogburn and Mattie's first conversation takes place while he's in the outhouse, in a demeaning position of strength. By never demonstrating it, Cogburn's prowess at catching criminals becomes another tall tale told by others, like the braggart LeBeouf's position on Texas Rangers. The drunken escapades of Cogburn, played for chuckles in Hathway's True Grit, are pathetic rather than clownish in the Coens' adaptation, generating uncomfortable laughter.
Speaking of uncomfortable laughter, it raises one of the serious points with which I struggle with Joel and Ethan Coen's True Grit: there are moments of what can only be described as flagrant racism that are designed and executed for laughs, and at least with the audience I saw True Grit with, they got them. (It's fair to point out that they audience was fairly diverse, a testament to the Coens' ability to draw people of every background into their films).
Both jokes that drew the biggest laughs involved Native Americans as the butt of the joke: during the "hanging" scene, two criminals finish their speeches about why they're being hung and whether they deserved it or not, but when the "Injun" begins to speak, they immediately place the bag over his head and hang drop the platform. Big laughs. Later, Cogburn and Ross ride up on a trading post where two Native American children are irritating a horse. Cogburn lets the horse got, then kicks the boy off of a high porch, then looks at the girl and kicks her off two. We cut to their faces, watching Mattie while Rooster is inside, and as he comes out, he kicks the boy off of the porch again. Huge laughs. You could argue that he's abusing them because of their abuse of the horse, but considering what Cogburn does to a horse later, and the fact that no white character is the subject of the same kind of casual cruelty, that there's a deliberate choice here.
I don't quite know what to make of it yet: is it simply the Coen brothers' ironic detachment commenting to the racist attitude of whites towards natives in the South? Does that extend to the way that the "Little Blackie" scene changes when instead of telling the horse dealer that's what Mattie is naming her pony, she instead tells a stable boy who "isn't allowed" to say her name because of the color of his skin? I'm genuinely uncertain of how audiences are meant to process these moments, but the general reaction in the theatre tonight was to laugh.
Laughter didn't necessarily continue into the film's periodically graphic violence, far beyond what I expected from a PG-13 rating. The scene in the Old Cabin alone would earn most movies an R - in the span of 45 seconds, a character's fingers are cut off, he's stabbed, and then the man who stabbed him is shot in the cheek, spraying blood against the wall and on Cogburn's face. While we don't see it, the description of what happens to LeBeouf's tongue after being dragged around by Pepper's gang is also pretty harsh, and that's not mentioning the deteriorated corpses that pop up sporadically during the film. Coupled with a less goofy tone, it's surprising that True Grit snuck away with a PG-13 - unless one considers that the Hathaway version originally had a "M" rating but is now considered a G film with little altered content.
I don't mean for the comedy and the rating to dissuade you from seeing True Grit: it's a fine film that is distinctly a Coen brothers production, from the casting of the smaller characters to Roger Deakins' fantastic cinematography to Carter Burwell's score (which, while repetitive, is reminiscent of Miller's Crossing). It may not (yet) demonstrate the same dense layering of themes as 2009's A Serious Man, but that by no means situates True Grit as a "lesser" or "watered down" Coen film, as some have suggested. It's different, hard to classify, and inextricably linked to a predecessor Joel and Ethan Coen desperately wish were not the case. Also, if you're deciding between the two Jeff Bridges films this holiday season - this is a no brainer: run, don't walk, to True Grit.
As it is, I don't feel that it would be fair to simply explain the differences between Hathaway's version and the Coens' version without having the Portis novel as a point of reference in adapting. That being said, both cinematic versions of True Grit have so many overlapping similarities that I find it hard to mention parts of one without recalling its counterpart immediately. There are points of deviation, specifically dealing with the fates of certain characters, the end of the film, and most importantly, the tone, which I will address later in the review. What I can say is that I very much enjoyed 2010's True Grit, almost certainly more than 1969's. It's a very well made film, an entertaining story that mostly balances the humor with graphic violence and provides fine performances from Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, and (most importantly) Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross.Very briefly, the film is about Mattie Ross (Steinfeld), the daughter of Frank Ross, who was murdered by Tom Chaney (Brolin) in a drunken fit of rage. When Chaney fled, Mattie traveled to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to seek justice for his murder. Instead, she finds indifference and hires U.S. Marshall Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn (Bridges) to track Chaney into Chocktaw territory. Accompanied by Texas Ranger LeBeouf (Damon), who is tracking Chaney in the hopes of claiming a reward for his capture, they set off to find Ned Pepper (Pepper) and his gang, where Tom is hiding out.
It seems that for every idiosyncratic film the Coen brothers make, they manage to tap into the cultural zeitgeist at least as often, typically without moving far from their own interests. Despite some critics suggestions otherwise - or their inability to remember - Raising Arizona, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, and No Country for Old Men all seeped into the "broader" audiences in varying degrees. True Grit certainly seems to be the next addition to the list, capturing the masses in a way that Burn After Reading or A Serious Man - as fascinating as both films are - did not in the mean time. I hesitate to attribute this to the presence of Steven Spielberg - whose "Executive Producer" credit caught me off-guard when it appeared at the end - because True Grit does not stray far from their fascination in playing around in someone else's genre. If No Country for Old Men is a neo-noir Western, then True Grit is their direct attempt at a Western, packed with their love of antiquated mores, attitudes, and ironic detachment.
That Joel and Ethan Coen side-step the "remake" question by claiming "re-adaptation" allows them to detach themselves further from direct comparisons. It's much easier to remake The Ladykillers - a film more people have heard of than seen - than to tread into the fandom of John Wayne, who remains a cultural icon for the generation most likely to recognize True Grit. That being said, either the Portis novel isn't terribly different from both adaptations, or Hathaway's True Grit casts such a long shadow that it's nearly impossible to see both without making mental comparisons.
The immediate change I noticed - and one of the only ones I want to mention - was that the goofy, slightly slapstick nature of the Hathaway version of True Grit is missing here. The jovial sense of camaraderie between Cogburn, LeBeouf, and Ross never develops in the Bridges / Damon / Steinfeld dynamic, partially because the precocious naivete of Mattie Ross is downplayed in favor of a determined young woman desperate to assert herself, one who refuses to admit she's in well over her head. It also helps that Steinfeld is actually 14 in True Grit, whereas Kim Darby was 22 when she played Mattie Ross, a tidbit that when coupled with her strange gender-neutral appearance kept Darby's Ross from connecting with audiences.
Jeff Bridges is less cartoonish as "Rooster" Cogburn, thanks to two major shifts: instead of being introduced bringing in prisoners as a heroic gesture (as Wayne is), Cogburn and Mattie's first conversation takes place while he's in the outhouse, in a demeaning position of strength. By never demonstrating it, Cogburn's prowess at catching criminals becomes another tall tale told by others, like the braggart LeBeouf's position on Texas Rangers. The drunken escapades of Cogburn, played for chuckles in Hathway's True Grit, are pathetic rather than clownish in the Coens' adaptation, generating uncomfortable laughter.
Speaking of uncomfortable laughter, it raises one of the serious points with which I struggle with Joel and Ethan Coen's True Grit: there are moments of what can only be described as flagrant racism that are designed and executed for laughs, and at least with the audience I saw True Grit with, they got them. (It's fair to point out that they audience was fairly diverse, a testament to the Coens' ability to draw people of every background into their films).
Both jokes that drew the biggest laughs involved Native Americans as the butt of the joke: during the "hanging" scene, two criminals finish their speeches about why they're being hung and whether they deserved it or not, but when the "Injun" begins to speak, they immediately place the bag over his head and hang drop the platform. Big laughs. Later, Cogburn and Ross ride up on a trading post where two Native American children are irritating a horse. Cogburn lets the horse got, then kicks the boy off of a high porch, then looks at the girl and kicks her off two. We cut to their faces, watching Mattie while Rooster is inside, and as he comes out, he kicks the boy off of the porch again. Huge laughs. You could argue that he's abusing them because of their abuse of the horse, but considering what Cogburn does to a horse later, and the fact that no white character is the subject of the same kind of casual cruelty, that there's a deliberate choice here.
I don't quite know what to make of it yet: is it simply the Coen brothers' ironic detachment commenting to the racist attitude of whites towards natives in the South? Does that extend to the way that the "Little Blackie" scene changes when instead of telling the horse dealer that's what Mattie is naming her pony, she instead tells a stable boy who "isn't allowed" to say her name because of the color of his skin? I'm genuinely uncertain of how audiences are meant to process these moments, but the general reaction in the theatre tonight was to laugh.
Laughter didn't necessarily continue into the film's periodically graphic violence, far beyond what I expected from a PG-13 rating. The scene in the Old Cabin alone would earn most movies an R - in the span of 45 seconds, a character's fingers are cut off, he's stabbed, and then the man who stabbed him is shot in the cheek, spraying blood against the wall and on Cogburn's face. While we don't see it, the description of what happens to LeBeouf's tongue after being dragged around by Pepper's gang is also pretty harsh, and that's not mentioning the deteriorated corpses that pop up sporadically during the film. Coupled with a less goofy tone, it's surprising that True Grit snuck away with a PG-13 - unless one considers that the Hathaway version originally had a "M" rating but is now considered a G film with little altered content.
I don't mean for the comedy and the rating to dissuade you from seeing True Grit: it's a fine film that is distinctly a Coen brothers production, from the casting of the smaller characters to Roger Deakins' fantastic cinematography to Carter Burwell's score (which, while repetitive, is reminiscent of Miller's Crossing). It may not (yet) demonstrate the same dense layering of themes as 2009's A Serious Man, but that by no means situates True Grit as a "lesser" or "watered down" Coen film, as some have suggested. It's different, hard to classify, and inextricably linked to a predecessor Joel and Ethan Coen desperately wish were not the case. Also, if you're deciding between the two Jeff Bridges films this holiday season - this is a no brainer: run, don't walk, to True Grit.
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