- This is what my 2011 holiday season looked like, how about you?
- Nightmare On Elm Street, A (1984)
- Footnotes on Film - Labyrinth (1986)
- Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)
- Seventh Seal, The (1957)
- Hecklefest Four-Word Film Reviews! Dec '11 - Week 1
- Donnie Darko (2001)
- Bigamist, The (1953)
- Hecklefest Four-Word Film Reviews! Nov '11 - Week 4
- Godfather, The (1972)
- Hecklefest Four-Word Film Reviews! Nov '11 - Week 3
- Unknown, The (1927) * Weird & Wacky *
- Wages Of Fear, The (1953)
- Hecklefest Four-Word Film Reviews! Nov '11 - Week 2
- Hecklefest Four-Word Film Reviews! Nov '11 - Week 1
- Satyricon (1969)
- On The New List
- French Connection, The (1971)
- Paranormal Activity (2007)
- Volver (2006)
- Blow-Up (1966)
- Moulin Rouge! (2001)
- Hecklefest Four-Word Film Reviews! July '11 - Week 2
- Hecklefest Four-Word Film Reviews! July '11 - Week 4
- But I Knew That! Or Brazenly Rocking the Suspension Bridge of Disbelief
- Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
- Fantasia (1940)
- Lion King, The (1994)
- All About Eve (1950)
- Hecklefest Four-Word Film Reviews! July '11 - Week 3
From Art-House Obscurity To Grindhouse Schlock - With A Special Focus On '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die'
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
Aw.
Home of the 
Happy last year on Earth as we know it!
As for that aforementioned club, the web-page address is super simple:
Visit. Read. Join. Post.
All are welcome.
Most Recent Reviews and Commentary:
This is what my 2011 holiday season looked like, how about you?
Nightmare On Elm Street, A (1984)
They don't make poster art like they used to.
Genre: Horror
Starring: Robert Englund (Galaxy of Terror • Zombie Strippers!), Heather Langenkamp (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors • Shocker)
Directed By: Wes Craven (The Hills Have Eyes • Scream)
Overview: The children of Elm Street are plagued by nightmares in which they are pursued by a burnt man with a razored glove. Nancy Thompson must sleep to fight for her life against Freddy Krueger, a ghost with the power to kill his victims in their dreams.
A Nightmare On Elm Street is a yardstick horror film, a part of Americana that could arguably help define its culture, as well known as Frankenstein, Psycho and The Exorcist. To be honest, it’s probably better known than these last three by those of our generation, if I may presume my audience. Freddy Krueger has the same level of fame as Friday the 13th’s Jason Vorhees, so much so that they were pitted against one another in 2003. All that to say that our good old full-O’-puns and downright lewd Freddy Krueger is one character that needs no introduction and the one that most exemplifies Robert Englund’s career. This second or third time around, now seen through the eyes of a critical film fan, I was astounded at how well A Nightmare On Elm Street held up as being original, beautiful and downright frightening.
Briefly, because you know this already, even if you haven’t seen it: kids are dying in their sleep, and not in one of those peaceful apnea ways. The teenagers native to Elm street are being stalked in their dreams by a malignant burn victim with a razored glove. He gores teens to death in their minds, while in reality their guts are being splashed all over the bedroom. Nancy Thompson is one such girl who believes the outrageous possibility that this is really happening, and chugs no-doze while trying to piece together the puzzle of why, how to protect her friends and herself, and how to defeat Freddy Krueger, the man she dreams is trying to kill her every night.
People walking around in body bags, man! It's effin terrifying!
The film where Johnny Depp got his start in cinema, and I’m guessing the film that was Wes Craven’s most successful until Scream in 1996, is actually quite beautiful to look at. Dare I even go as far as to say that it contains much in the way of avant-garde cinematography? Because of the frequent dream sequences, Wes had the opportunity to create fantastical scenes of horror rooted in primordial fear. I tip my beat up fedora to Craven and his crew for running with the potential he had and making it terrifying. The film is filled with memorable, suspenseful and terrifying scenes. These including Nancy Thompson, suddenly covered in mud-slick snakes; another has her asleep in class, tensely wandering through the strange school halls of her nightmares following a blood trail, heading down to the boiler room; another features Freddy’s clawed hand emerging from the bathtub foam, between Nancy’s vulnerable legs. My two personal favourite scenes are two of the most impressive kills I’ve ever seen, and I warn that these border on spoiler status, but I shan’t divulge the pour suffering souls: the first, an extended scene where a gored, blood-drenched victim is dragged up the wall and across the ceiling, shrieking as they die, and dumped unceremoniously back onto the bed in a heap as someone cowers in the corner of the room, helpless to watch the paranormal event. Next and perhaps even more impressive is a death where the victim is absorbed into their bed, only to have copious gouts of their blood erupt up into the ceiling, drenching the room completely like a tidal wave.
Yes, Wes, you’ve made something truly impressive. As I watched, I remembered how original a creature like Freddy was. A psychopathic monster able to stalk and kill people in their dreams is pretty frightening and not only because it’s a thing almost impossible to beat. Chilling. Naturally the franchise ruined the effect by taking it to ridiculous jump-the-shark extremes like a death involving a pizza covered in the meatball faces of victims only to be eaten on the ends of those razor sharp hand blades, but this first in the series is golden, and certainly worthy of recommendation.
Spewing gore - honestly, how could you sleep after that!?
Performance: 7 Cinematography: 9 Script: 7 Plot: 9 Mood: 9
Overall Rating: 82% (Don't Shut Your Eyes)
Aftertaste:
A Nightmare On Elm Street is one of the films I’m surprised is not in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. Those who haven’t seen it are most likely actively avoiding it. If you’ve seen it a couple decades ago and remember having fond memories, a re-viewing of A Nightmare On Elm Street will certainly not disappoint.
Footnotes on Film - Labyrinth (1986)
Just a little footnote about the movie I watched last night, starring a young Jennifer Connelly and a glam-haired David Bowie:
I (first and) last saw Labyrinth when I was 13. As I watched this time around 20 years later, I noticed how pointless it had become. It follows a theme very similar to Alice in Wonderland but where Alice experiences a metaphor for something deeper, a life lesson understood better as its reader/viewer grows into adulthood, Labyrinth is merely had a series of obstacles our heroine, Sarah, had to overcome. None are more poignant than the next, with only a junk-laden hag delivering a 2-line message of anti-consumerism, and a sneaky dwarf learns about how wrong it is to betray. When given the opportunity to show something with a deeper meaning, the production team went instead with awkward close-ups of Bowie's junk in tights, another Henson creation, or a cinematographic camera trick tipping its hat to M.C. Escher. Visually, the best scenes only lasted one or two minutes because they tried to cram in as many different scenes as they could like some manic fever dream. Nothing more than eye candy, Labyrinth would serve better as a 101-minute babysitter than as genuine entertainment, and a film I'm not surprised didn't make the final cut for 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.
Performance: 7 Cinematography: 9 Script: 6 Plot: 6 Mood: 7
Overall Rating: 70% (A Labyrinithine Mess)
Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)
Talk about a memorable title
Genre: Drama Crime Film Noir
Starring: James Cagney (The Public Enemy • Yankee Doodle Dandy), Pat O'Brien (Some Like It Hot • Ragtime)
Directed By: Michael Curtiz (Captain Blood • Casablanca)
Overview: Rocky and Jerry are best friends. Rocky grows up to be a criminal, Jerry as a priest. Now that Rocky’s out of the bighouse, he’s back in his old neighborhood to make friends and settle some old business, as well as to reacquaint himself with his best friend, whose personal mission is to help the local wayward boys.
I shudder a little at the thought of seeing James Cagney on film. There’s a part of me that just knows he’s going to be in something awful. I’ve seen him in The Public Enemy, a rather dramatic and expository condemnation of 30s organized crime. I’ve seen him in Footlight Parade, a Busby Berkeley epic-choreography musical production. He’s been in tons more, but I just can’t bring myself to see them in a hurry. That’s because whenever I see James Cagney on screen, he has such a colossal presence and incredible skill that I fear the next movie I see him in will kick the impression I have of him right out from under me. Without mincing words, I’ve not seen another actor exude anywhere near the majestic aura that James Cagney does. With bated breath I watched Angels with Dirty Faces, number 115 on the 1001 list and number 3 for myself. Cagney, a man who starred in a song and dance musical that impressed me to no end, here playing a low-down dirty mug of a Noir gangster... why I had any fears whatsoever is beyond me. Cagney’s a powerhouse that more people need to discover.
Angels With Dirty Faces opens with a couple of friends in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, poking fun at the pigtailed girls down on the street below them. These poor kids, Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connolly, act out in various ways, including petty theft. One day Rocky and Jerry are stealing pens from a traincar and get chased by the cops. Jerry gets away while Rocky takes it like a man. A quick montage later and we see that Rocky’s youth has turned into a criminal adulthood, one that has earned him some fame in the newspapers. When Rocky gets out of jail this time around, his plan is to go back to his neighborhood and earn some dough, most notably from racketeering and the $100,000 that Rocky’s old partner and lawyer friend is holding for him when he gets out. When Rocky reunites with Jerry, he’s impressed to find his old best friend is now a priest, and one whose mission it is to help the neighborhood’s wayward boys stay on the straight and narrow. Rocky also takes a shine to the kids, impressing them with his slick gangster style, quickly becoming an idol of theirs. The kids themselves are pulled in both directions: the easy money that comes from Rocky’s life, or the righteous one offered by being good.
Though the story’s main plot is obviously a straight-forward morality play showing the children both sides of society - the noble versus the infamous - we have in Angels with Dirty Faces something really original. First of all is the absolutely glorious performance of James Cagney as fearless, suave, well-dressed Rocky. The gorgeous Ann Sheridan plays the girl-now-grown-up exceptionally. Then there’s a young Humphrey Bogart still early in his career. Here he plays Rocky’s lawyer, James Frazier, in a rare role as out-of-his-league-chump. It’s an interesting role for someone who went on to make so much slick Sam Spade Noir. Story wise, the subplot where Rocky tries to get back into ‘the life’ that was promised him is immersive. His character shines as he faces connivers and double-dealers on their turf. As favourite moments go, I found what I expected to be a short basketball game turned out to be a genuinely entertaining extended scene where we watch the kids play dirty on the court and see how alternating refs Jerry and Rocky deal with the kids.
From beginning to end, Angels With Dirty Faces - a terrific title, might I add - is entertaining, fun and full of larger-than-life characters that jump out of the screen to deliver a classic Noir in the infancy of its genre.
Bogey and Cagney in the same shot. It's like two earthquakes colliding, like seriously.
Performance: 9 Cinematography: 8 Script: 8 Plot: 8 Mood: 9
Overall Rating: 84% (Glorious Grime)
Aftertaste:
I had the pleasure of experiencing this one with a daring friend. Much to my surprise, when offered a large choice of films both classic and contemporary, he replied "I want out of the usual comfort zone of MTV-style editing and modern special FX. I want a movie from the 30s. Help me pick something." Lucky thing Angels With Dirty Faces was the film we selected, since it was a wonderful gem and one I can safely recommend to anyone, whether familiar or not to movies of the Golden Age of cinema.
Seventh Seal, The (1957)
Genre: Fantasy Period Drama (Sweden)
Starring: Max von Sydow (Strange Brew • The Exorcist), Bengt Ekerot (The Magician)
Directed By: Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries • Fanny and Alexander)
Overview: When Death comes for a crusader during the time of the Black Death, the knight requests a few days reprieve in exchange for a game of chess. Death gladly accepts. While they play, the knight, Antonius Block, meditates on God, Life, Death, And Faith.
When I was 18, I started really exploring film, and one of the first few ‘Cinema’ pieces I saw - and I mean ‘Cinema’ in that ‘hoity, obnoxious, skinny French moustache, beret and baguette’ capital ‘C’ way – was Bergman’s Hour of The Wolf. It made no sense and frankly, it made me a little angry. I was still fresh to the scene, and something that fantastically metaphorical just didn’t reach me the way it would today. My next Bergman was Fanny And Alexander, an epically long film that I immediately fell in love with. It’s been a couple of years since that time and yes, when looking at a list of his complete oeuvre, I can certainly call myself a Bergman neonate. With the help of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book and the 10 Bergman selections within its pages, however, I shall certainly come to know my brilliant filmmaking Swede, which I will gladly call him should his films continue to inspire in the way Fanny And Alexander and The Seventh Seal has.
“I met Death today. We are playing chess.”
Fist bumps for my buddy Reappie Gee!
Those of you who know anything about this film know its premise: when Death comes hauntingly into crusader knight Antonius Block’s life to take it away, Block replies with an offer of a game of chess, the deal being that Death spare him until the game is done, and, if Antonius should win, he shall be spared of Death’s cold grip. I will wholeheartedly agree with the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book in its declaration that the game of chess between our erstwhile crusader, Antonius Block, and the Grim Reaper “has come to represent the whole of the film in popular imagination.” Though The Seventh Seal’s primary focus is that chess game, it takes place over days, and Antonius explores, even celebrates life during this time that he spends staring into the void. Over the course of his game, he meets a family of traveling players, a squire and villages of folk, as well as a band of penitents who travel from town to town, chilling peasants to the bone with their terrifying promises of imminent Black Death. All the while, Antonius Block discourses with Death and others on life's biggest and most elusive questions, even attempting to glean something from a witch about to be burned at the stake.
Antonius Block: Have you met the devil? I want to meet him too.
Witch: Why do you want to do that?
Antonius Block: I want to ask him about God. He must know. He, if anyone.
Rather than being an unbroken morbid adventure, Bergman's script is often joyous. Traveling players put on shows, get into fights over cheating wives, and have drunken misunderstandings. Of course there are also scenes that are quite dark and truly gripping. My personal favourite is the scene where a parade of plague penitents interrupt a happy play, marching into town bearing enormous crosses and whipping one another bemoaning their fate. Accompanied with ever-exquisite chiaroscuro cinematography, this scene is, in itself, a reason to see The Seventh Seal.
"Faith is a torment. It is like loving someone who is out there in the darkness but never appears, no matter how loudly you call."
The film's talent is incredible, particularly Max Von Sydow who plays his role exceptionally. Visually stunning, and with one of the best and most profound scripts I've ever heard, The Seventh Seal is an amazing introduction to Bergman's works, easily understood while still having elements of magical fantasy, and an obvious choice for the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book.
Performance: 9 Cinematography: 9 Script: 10 Plot: 8 Mood: 8
Overall Rating: 88% (... And Approved)
Aftertaste:
Hour of the Wolf is one of the 10 Bergman films that have made it to the pages of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book. I’m looking forward to revisiting it. I expect I'll genuinely enjoy it this time around.
Hecklefest Four-Word Film Reviews! Dec '11 - Week 1
Four-Word Film Reviews for the So-Bad-They're-Good films we watched this weekend!
You're more than welcome to participate (or hover over the pics)! If you've seen the films in these pages, add your 4-word review in the comments.
I've also added the Consensus Section, where our little gang decides if the film we watched was:
Cream Of The Crap
Regular Everyday Good Time or
Just Bloody Awful
Terry: Very Good Doggy - a measly worm
Add 3 Parts Lactation - Squish
Obedient Canine Fakes Fight - Perfect Tommy
Clay Men Are 'Hung' - ACJ
Add 3 Parts Lactation - Squish
Obedient Canine Fakes Fight - Perfect Tommy
Clay Men Are 'Hung' - ACJ
Consensus: Cream Of The Crap
Full Kung-Fu Loaf Needed - ACJ
OOoo, Owwwwchhh, *Crunch* *Bonk* - Squish
Consensus: Just Bloody Awful
Donnie Darko (2001)
Darko and Brilliant
Genre: Drama Mystery Sci-Fi
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain • Zodiac), Jena Malone (Life as a House • Into the Wild)
Directed By: Richard Kelly (Southland Tales • The Box)
Overview: A troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after narrowly escaping a bizarre accident. -IMDb
I'm going to commend my source for the Overview above, since IMDb was so perfectly able to put into one sentence every important plot aspect of Donnie Darko, and a perfectly wonderful and succinctly spoiler-free teaser it is. Of course, as all great films, it's also completely inaccurate, with so many lines to read between that all the things described above are, of course, the least important events of the phenomenal film that is Donnie Darko.
As the tagline (Dark. Darker. Darko.) suggests, Donnie is a troubled teen, and not in that middle-class-ennui-at-not-having-the-latest-iPhone way. Donnie is less Emo and more Medicated-Schizophrenic-Sleepwalking-Hallucination troubled. He sees a psychiatrist, he fights with his siblings, and one night while out sleepwalking, a jet engine crashes into his bedroom. From that point things start getting a little weird. Donnie makes a new imaginary friend named Frank. Frank is a pretty scary bunny the size of a man that speaks to Donnie and guides him in vandalism and other crimes, crimes that cause a ruckus in the school faculty, but also have ironically poetic/poetically ironic consequences. We follow the story of a twisted boy as he tries to get through October, including sharing moments with a new girlfriend, the aforementioned evil bunny, sharing rows and insight with his teachers, and a strange old lady who lives down the street nicknamed Grandma Death who, in a weird roundabout way, turns him onto learning more about time travel, of all things.
She's crazy. Crazy like a TIME TRAVELLER!
Dr. Lilian Thurman: Do you feel alone right now?
Donnie: Oh, I dunno. I mean I'd like to believe I'm not but I just... I've just never seen any proof so I... I just don't debate it anymore, you know? It's like I could spend my whole life debating it over and over again, weighing the pros and cons and in the end I still wouldn't have any proof so I just... I just don't debate it anymore. It's absurd.
Dr. Lilian Thurman: The search for God is absurd?
Donnie: It is if everyone dies alone.
Now, rather than being a haunting thriller about a teen's angst-riddled descent into/ascent from madness, an interesting enough plot already, Donnie Darko is a film far more profound and with many great twists. Discussions on Death and God add an element of the existential, a depth that was unnecessarily wonderful. Most notable, however, is the exploration of the theme of mental health, the best storyline Donnie Darko has to offer. Going deeper than stability and instability, perversion and purity, Godlessness and zeal, Donnie Darko explores characters that are juxtaposed between philosopher kings and emotional retards, as illustrated by the cheesy, vacuous self-help video-swill the faculty teaches their suburban children.
Donnie: [shouts] First of all, Papa Smurf didn't create Smurfette. Gargamel did. She was sent in as Gargamel's evil spy with the intention of destroying the Smurf village. But the overwhelming goodness of the Smurf way of life transformed her. And as for the whole gang-bang scenario, it just couldn't happen. Smurfs are asexual. They don't even have... reproductive organs under those little, white pants. It's just so illogical, you know, about being a Smurf. You know, what's the point of living... if you don't have a dick?
Ronald Fisher: [pause] Dammit, Donnie. Why you gotta get all smart on us?
Of course it’s not all deep. Most of the script is delivered in such a hilarious fashion that I’m surprised that Donnie Darko isn’t also billed partly as a Comedy. The soundtrack is memorable, each song chosen with meticulous care. Beautifully shot with a Hell of a brilliant ending, Donnie Darko lives in the best of both cinematic worlds - incredibly successful at the box office and still a cult classic, and not surprisingly sitting at #146 on IMDb’s top 250. Proven fun and straight-forward enough to appeal to the masses while still having enough cinephile-savvy moments of genuine genius in the writing, cinematography, fantasy and in loveable and despicable characters, Donnie Darko is a nearly perfect film, and certainly one I regretted not revisiting sooner.
Clearly a tip of the hat to Harvey, a film where the imaginary bunny is ... nice.
Performance: 8 Cinematography: 9 Script: 10 Plot: 9 Mood: 9
Overall Rating: 90% (Darko Shines Bright)
Aftertaste:
There's movies that you watch that make you remember why you toil. Donnie Darko is one such film. I also found Patrick Swayze’s role to be one of the best I’ve seen in his career.
Yes, that includes Road House.
Wait. wait. Whoa, whoa. Just a Goddamn minute. How is Donnie Darko not on the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List? I have, in the past, refrained from calling out a book for not having a film within it that I personally enjoyed. I know it's an impossible choice, perhaps even a 'Sophie's Choice'. But, if I could actually get a hold of Mr. Stephen Jay Sneider - editor of the 1001 magical tome that is my cinematic guide - if there was one film I could say, "no seriously, add this, and kick something else out," it would be, without contest, Donnie Darko. In fact I was so certain that it was on the list that I wrote a review and prepped myself for being one step closer to reaching my goal of reviewing every film in the 1001 tome. This is Bullshit. Moulin Rouge? Monsoon Wedding? No Man's Land? All films easily trumped by Kelly's 2001 gut-puncher. I dare say even: WTF.
No, really - talk about dropping the ball.
Bigamist, The (1953)
And such a small man in comparison...
Genre: Drama
Starring: Edmond O'Brien (The Wild Bunch • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), Joan Fontaine (Rebecca • Letter from an Unknown Woman), Ida Lupino (High Sierra • On Dangerous Ground)
Directed By: Ida Lupino ("Have Gun - Will Travel" • "Gilligan's Island")
Overview: When a bigamist is uncovered by a private investigator, he attempts to explain his reasons for this double life.
Years ago, I found The Bigamist in a bargain bin, as a double feature which included The Man With The Golden Arm, starring Frank Sinatra. Today, I need to confess something. I watched The Man With The Golden Arm first, but I wasn't cheating on it, in fact I was married to it before I ever met The Bigamist, but I swear I love them both! Who am I kidding? Given the choice, I'd have dropped Ida Lupino's boring melodrama the moment she started asking me to 'be more sensitive to her needs'.
Quickly, The Bigamist is the story of simply that. After a man and his wife fill out the necessary paperwork to adopt a child, the private investigator whose job it is to do a quick background check discovers that hopeful father Harry Graham is also Harrison Graham, and that he's married too. When the investigator confronts him, Harry sits him down and explains all the reasons for this gross fumbled misunderstanding that is a double life. Rather than go into the details of the what and why, let me just say that the reasons do not endear Harry one bit.
On the plus side, The Bigamist does a great job of making the two women involved completely pathetic, in a way that makes you care, not in a way that has the audience asking 'why are you such a pathetic loser?'. Aside from that, The Bigamist doesn't have much to offer besides tempting you to two-time it with some better movie. Of the 80 minute total runtime, a good 15 minutes is spent by the private investigator doing his background check. What possibly could be the terrible secret held by the suspicious Harry Graham? I sat there wondering why they weren't getting on with it. We knew exactly what the P.I. would find, it's the damned TITLE OF THE FILM. What could have been an interesting mini-mystery introduction was spoiled before I opened the DVD case.
The Bigamist is basically a Christian morality play distilled into film. Remember those cheap 'girl succumbs to drugs and sex' movies from the 50s? There you go, only with a bigger budget, yet without any improvement in dialogue. My favourite line, spoken in a hoity cadence by the private investigator after Harry's apologetic tale, "I must say that was both a gallant and a foolish scheme." I rolled my eyes and wrote it down to share this camel-back breaking straw of dialogue with you. To top is off is brutally poor sound work which includes moments without any ambient sound whatsoever that cause you to wonder what's wrong with your surround sound system. Wonderful.
Chris Fujiwara, the critic who wrote the review of The Bigamist for the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, stated that "the orchestration of [looks shared or half-avoided] achieves a combination of ambiguity and intensity that recalls both Carl Dreyer and Nicholas Ray." Clearly that 1001 critic was quite moved by the sheer drama and acting of The Bigamist's players, but for me those other directors' names used as banners on high to express the genius of this film merely served as two more cartridges of ammunition for my own review. When reminded of those directors' worst works, personal favourite reviews I loved ranting vitriol about, Ray's Johnny Guitar, full of ridiculous posturing and Dreyer's Gertrud, copiously overfilled with awkward 'ambiguous half-avoided looks', the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book merely helped explain why I disliked The Bigamist so much.
He's all torn up about having double the pleasure?! Oh wait... double the Hell.
Performance: 5 Cinematography: 6 Script: 4 Plot: 6 Mood: 6
Overall Rating: 54% (The Trouble with Married)
Aftertaste:
I've also discovered that I'm not a fan of Joan Fontaine. Beautiful and talented as she is, how she ends up playing some of the most boring garrulous characters in film I'll never know. The Bigamist only brought back bad memories of Letter from an Unknown Woman.
If nothing else, the best thing to come of The Bigamist was discovering a film I'd never heard of and probably would not have otherwise stumbled upon, the excellent, gripping The Man With The Golden Arm. Talk about 'the other woman'. I recommended that instead of watching The Bigamist, you should just go to bed with that one twice.
Hecklefest Four-Word Film Reviews! Nov '11 - Week 4
Four-Word Film Reviews for the So-Bad-They're-Good films we watched this weekend!
You're more than welcome to participate (or hover over the pics)! If you've seen the films in these pages, add your 4-word review in the comments.
I've also added the Consensus Section, where our little gang decides if the film we watched was:
Cream Of The Crap
Regular Everyday Good Time or
Just Bloody Awful
Animal Kingdom Slaver Succeeds - Squish
Branded Baby Makes Good - Perfect Tommy
Less Hawk, More Boobies - Thehappycyclops
Doggie Dolly Drags Dude - Squish
Branded Baby Makes Good - Perfect Tommy
Less Hawk, More Boobies - Thehappycyclops
Doggie Dolly Drags Dude - Squish
Consensus: Regular Everyday Good Time
Broken Bell Blindfold Blunder - Squish
Disney Does It Again. - Thehappycyclops
Consensus: Regular Everyday Good Time
Godfather, The (1972)
Oh Godfather, It's been too long.
Genre: Gangster Crime Drama
Starring: Marlon Brando (Apocalypse Now • A Streetcar Named Desire), Al Pacino (Serpico • Scarface)
Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola (The Conversation • Bram Stoker's Dracula)
Overview: During the 40s, Mob Godfather Don Vito Corleone protects and fights for the future of his crime family.
It's been a good decade since I've seen The Godfather and long before the days of 'Squish the Serious Silver Screen Studier'. Films like this, like Citizen Kane, Apocalypse Now and Star Wars, films this epic, intimidate me a little as a critic. That's because everyone's seen them, meaning that people probably aren't stumbling across the blogosphere to Filmsquish to learn more about it in hopes that it may influence their decision on whether on not to see one of the world's best known films. Also, everything's probably already been said on the topic by more learn'd folk than I. That means that you, dear reader, are here to judge. It's fine. I do the same. You shan't hear me rant at how boring, long or outmoded this film is, certainly not. Luckily I love The Godfather like you do, oranges, Appolonia, Sonny at the causeway and all.
Let me be a good little critic first and tell you what you already know. It's the 40s and Don Vito Corleone, patriarch of a mob family, is the type of boss who does favours for people in his community. The world isn't perfect. The Corleone family has its share of trials and tribulations, including other crime boss families, the changing tides of the Mafia lifestyle and the question of drug-dealing as a mob enterprise. Vito's youngest and most promising son Michael is not interested in the life that is offered to him and wants something different for his future. The Godfather is the story of Vito Corleone and his family as they face the life they've chosen.
The Godfather is a rich tapestry of the dark forces and machinations of a prominent Mafia family in the 40s. The long, first chapter introduction is, in my humble opinion, one of the best introductions to a cast of characters as ever I've seen in film history to date. In Vito's first monologue he says to a man who has asked for the greatest of favours:
Corleone: We've known each other many years, but this is the first time you came to me for counsel, for help. I can't remember the last time that you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee, even though my wife is godmother to your only child. But let's be frank here: you never wanted my friendship. And you were afraid to be in my debt. You found paradise in America, had a good trade, made a good living. The police protected you; and there were courts of law. And you didn't need a friend of me. But now you come to me and you say -- "Don Corleone give me justice." - But you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Godfather. Instead, you come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married, and you ask me to do murder, for money.
Said so simply, the subtext of everything Vito Corleone represents comes alive in this short monologue: intention, expectation, the power that he wields. Coppola's script of Mario Puzo's novel is full of these moments. The film's strength is the conniving interplay that Vito and his family engages in, ever full of dramatic suspense. Vito's haunting words, "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse", is one unforgettable repeated line in The Godfather that glues us to the screen until whatever convincing plan he's devised comes to fruition. Add to the brilliantly written script the beautiful simplicity of the brown palate in the visual style of the cinematography, consistently full of deep cherry offices and pitch black overcoats. Director of Photography Gordon Willis' career includes all three films of The Godfather trilogy as well as Annie Hall and All the President's Men. I was quite pleased to see that though the sequel takes place decades later, the colour palate remained the same in The Godfather II as well.
The hot temper of middle son Sonny and sister Connie, the cool reluctance of Michael, the calculating silent eyes of Vito, the intimidating glare of Luca Brasi, played by Lenny Montana, and an exceptional cameo in the small role of Capt. McCluskey played by Noir tour-de-force Sterling Hayden all come together to bring this tale alive. Brilliantly acted, beautifully shot and perfectly written, it's no doubt this film is one of world's most famous, and a film that skyrocketted Al Pacino's career into superstardom.
Performance: 9 Cinematography: 9 Script: 10 Plot: 8 Mood: 9
Overall Rating: 90% (Give it The Respect it Deserves)
Aftertaste:
I remember the early days of IMDb when The Top 250's number 1 rated best film was The Godfather. I recall the day when I saw The Shawshank Redemption replace it at the top of that list. I had a feeling that it would be bumped back down eventually by diehard Godfather fans and I stand ever still corrected. Still, #2 really isn't anything to scoff at, especially since its sequel is right behind it.
On The New List
It's basically my reason for living
Well kiddies, it's a glorious day at Filmsquish.com because the latest edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die has landed on my doorstep.
This edition's recent additions are:
Love In The Double Digits
Say what you will about their merit, they are there. Before having been officially added to the 1001 Bible, there was no doubt in my mind that Black Swan, The Social Network, Inception and The King's Speech would be present in this 2011 edition. Four Lions is a nice surprise, and I see no films that caused me to raise a doubtful eyebrow. A good year of assignments for this critic. This latest edition makes me more excited about next year's publication of the 1001 tome than I ever was about the Oscars. I suspect I will begin predictive 1001 reviews for this coming year's new films, hopefully beginning with Lars Von Trier's Melancholia.
An interesting surprise with the following titles, films that were once in the 1001 Must See Movies List, then ousted and now re-invited to the fold:
City of God (2002)
Talk to Her (2002)
The Passion Of The Christ (2004)
The Lives of Others (2006)
Apocalypto (2006)
Talk to Her (2002)
The Passion Of The Christ (2004)
The Lives of Others (2006)
Apocalypto (2006)
And finally, here are the films that stepped aside to make room for the new ones:
Happy Together (1997) • Princess Mononoke (1997) • The Butcher Boy (1997) • Boogie Nights (1997) • There's Something About Mary (1998) • Traffic (2000) • Moulin Rouge! (2001) • Irreversible (2002) • Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) • The Wrestler (2008) • An Education (2009) • Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (2009)
Here's to celebrating the new, longer list with all editions' 1089 titles!
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