The Return of Frank James: Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang's The Return of Frank James reminds me of his earlier film Fury (1936): a person cheated of justice takes it into his own hands with little but his anger fueling him. But Lang also adopts the stereotypes and tropes of the Western with gleeful aplomb: the glorification of ignoring the law when it stands in the way of Justice with a capital "J"; the villainization of railway agents; a liberal "re-adjustment" of history for the sake of drama; and tense, climactic shoot-outs. Lang seems interested in the idea of the Old West as a factory of myth--best demonstrated in two scenes where Frank James (Henry Fonda) and his son pretend to be townsfolk and loudly spread the news of Frank's "death" to throw authorities off their trail and a sequence where Frank visits a stage production where the Ford Brothers "re-enact" their murder of Jesse James for a ravenous crowd. But somehow the film just doesn't come together in the end. Despite of all the Lang-ian touches, The Return of Frank James feels like watered down Henry King.

6/10

Western Union: Fritz Lang

Western Union is a serviceable Western in all aspects: a standard plot about the expansion of civilization Westward, this time via the installation of telegraph wires; cringe-worthy depictions of Native Americans as either drunks or easily fooled children; decent horseback riding action; and a Civil War subplot about Confederate guerrillas. Here's the thing, though, it doesn't really feel like a Fritz Lang movie. It feels like a generic, albeit well-made, studio Western. There really isn't much to recommend here for people wishing to explore Lang as an auteur. Side note: this film has another subplot about a cook who is basically shanghaied into a wagon train. His feeble attempts to escape are clearly intended as comic relief. One scene near the end where, after finally coming to terms with his new lot in life, he trips and face-plants into his supper seems unnecessarily cruel. It made me feel like a bully. What the hell?

7/10

Flashdance: Adrian Lyne

When I first heard that the major problem critics had with Adrian Lyne's Flashdance was that it was essentially a string of music videos, I couldn't help but feel a bit...confused. After all, couldn't you basically summarize classic Hollywood studio musicals that way? But then I watched the film and I understood: it's not that it's a bunch of music videos per say, but that it's a bunch of music videos in a movie that is convinced that it's a sober drama. Classic Hollywood studio musicals existed in their own bizarre universe where people could (and would) burst out into song and dance to express their emotions. But Flashdance positions its phantasmagorical dance numbers in a gritty universe of blue collar desperation, strip clubs, drug abuse, and death. These dance numbers are outstanding in their choreography, music, and cinematography. But they don't mix with the rest of the film. It doesn't help that a good chunk of the second act is surrendered to an insufferable romantic subplot. Maybe it would have worked better if the two leads had better chemistry.

5/10

WarGames: John Badham

I don’t know if I could imagine what 1980s audiences felt when they first watched John Badham‘s WarGames (1983). In a time when the Cold War was still hot and Mutually Assured Destruction was more than just a name for a deathcore metal band, the infamous conclusion that Nuclear War was a “strange game” where “the only winning move is not to play” must have been both shocking and cathartic. But thirty-two years later, I feel like I have the needed historical distance to examine the film as a piece of filmmaking and not just as a manifestation of the American zeitgeist. And I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed by the film’s incongruous tone. Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy feel ripped right out of a John Hughes teen comedy. Their solution to everything from fixing their bad school grades to escaping one of the most heavily guarded military installations on earth? Shenanigans. WarGames boasts stunning cinematography (especially in the last ten minutes of technological hysteria) and one of the most provocative and fascinating concepts in popular 1980s American cinema. But I wish it had been more Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) and less Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986).

7/10

Rancho Notorious: Fritz Lang

To read this review, go to: http://www.theblackmaria.org/2015/07/28/b-roll-fritz-langs-rancho-notorious-1952/.

7/10

The Big Heat: Fritz Lang

[Revisit Review]

The first time I saw Fritz Lang's The Big Heat, I was relatively unimpressed. It seemed rather dull and blasé. Roger Ebert's claim that beneath its (relatively) pleasant exterior lurked one of the most sinister, sobering examinations of evil in American cinema seemed unmerited. But it's been a few years now and I have to say that maybe Ebert was on to something. If anything, I found Glenn Ford's portrayal of an oblivious walking force of utter destruction fascinating.

8/10

6 Ways to Die: Nadeem Soumah

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-6-ways-to-die/60490.

7/10

Le Grand Amour: Pierre Étaix

I've heard people describe Pierre Étaix's Le Grand Amour as Buñuelian. But while it may indulge in some bizarre, surrealistic imagery—my favorite sequence involves the protagonist having a dream where his bed becomes a car, drives into the countryside, and encounters multiple other car-beds being driven by people in their pajamas—Le Grand Amour simply isn't mean-spirited enough to be properly Buñuelian. While Étaix was more than capable of feeling cynical and perhaps even pessimistic (see his 1971 documentary Land of Milk and Honey), he was never cruel or mean-spirited. And, in my opinion, that was what made his work stand apart from his contemporaries.

7/10

Margin for Error: Otto Preminger

To read this review, go to: http://www.theblackmaria.org/2015/07/21/b-roll-otto-premingers-margin-error-1943/.

5/10

Big Significant Things: Bryan Reisberg

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-big-significant-things/60173.

6/10

Ant-Man: Peyton Reed

It's actually quite easy to tell where Edgar Wright's vision for Ant-Man began and ended vis-à-vis editorial mandate. At its core, it's a heist film. In the execution of said heists we see the same genius narrative complexity and irreverent, tongue-in-cheek sense of fun that animated films like Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). Much like how those films weren't just spoofs of their respective genres but solid entries in them in their own rights, Ant-Man is one of the best heist films I've seen in years. It rides a fine balance between being a superhero film featuring heists and a heist film featuring superheroes. Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, the titular Ant-Man, does a solid job as the typical Wrightian hero who unexpectedly gets in way over his head in circumstances beyond his wildest dreams. However, the film is significantly deadened by studio interference. You can practically see the invisible hand of Kevin Feige reach down and cram in things to make it more "audience friendly" and "more suitable for the Marvel brand": the villain is just another jealous white male scientist-cum-industrialist with an attitude problem (because we didn't get enough of those in THREE Iron Man films); a spunky supporting female character with juuuuust enough screen-time to make an impression as a cool, kick-ass hero but not enough for her to actually contribute significantly to the overall plot—or to actually get her in a damned costume for once; ubiquitous cameos to remind the audience that, yes, this does take place in the same universe as the Avengers; and a smattering of truly unfortunate CGI and laughable motion physics (a PS1 could have produced more realistic physics than one scene where a tank bursts through the wall of a building). If anything, Ant-Man gives me hope that unconventional approaches to the superhero genre can be successful. But it also discourages me with the realization that major production studios would rather implode than let idiosyncratic directors truly experiment with their precious cash cows.

7/10

Man's Castle: Frank Borzage

Frank Borzage's Man's Castle has gained a quiet notoriety for being a Depression-era drama largely ignored by generations of film critics, directors, and audiences due in no small part to its unusually gritty and occasionally mean-spirited depiction of the era's poor. Not that the film itself is mean-spirited, the poor themselves are shown to be mean-spirited. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Spencer Tracy's irascible con-artist-cum-drifter named Bill. But the (admittedly charming) savageries of Spency Tracy’s uncouth survivalism can’t fully distract me from the fact that the film largely revolves around him domesticating a poor woman played by Loretta Young into a wife-pet. The gritty realism also doesn't gel with Young's melodramatic histrionics. I get that this was supposed to be a romance and I suppose Tracy redeems himself (more or less) by the end, but overall the film feels misdirected and miscalculated.

6/10

Footloose: Herbert Ross

Despite its flaws, I actually really liked Herbert Ross' Footloose. It unsuccessfully tries to mix a coming-of-age story with a light-hearted teen musical, but I feel like its heart was in the right place. The dancing scenes are mesmeric in complexity and energy. But in my opinion John Lithgow steals the show as Reverend Shaw Moore. He's one of the most sympathetic antagonists that I've ever encountered, a fact made even more shocking when you consider that the film came out in the 80s, a decade never really known for pushing moral ambiguity in its mass entertainment. I went into Footloose expecting a lot of 80s cheese. And to be fair, that's exactly what I got. But I also got a surprisingly introspective film about faith, trusting your children, and the responsibility people have towards their larger communities.

6/10

The Glory Guys: Arnold Laven

Here's what you need to know about Arnold Laven's The Glory Guys: it is a dreadfully mediocre movie with jaw-dropping widescreen cinematography courtesy of the great James Wong Howe. Despite all of this film's flaws, I would still recommend watching it for the cinematography. Howe perfectly captures the awe-inspiring sense of scale of the American West and the battles between the US Cavalry and Native Americans. More than once he echoes one of the greatest shots of Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible Part One (1944) where a figure in closeup frames an endless snaking trail of soldiers stretching in a long line from the foreground to the background. But as for the film itself? It feels like counterfeit Sam Peckinpah--mostly because Peckinpah actually WROTE the film. There's a scene where two suitors for the same lady engage in a fist-fight where they trade good-natured insults that feels like it was stolen directly from one of his earlier Westerns. But the film's story is woefully mishandled. The first half seems to predict the training sequences from Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987) while the second half becomes a standard military-adventure film. You can't venerate the military in a film when you've spent about half the run-time exposing it as a dehumanizing institution operated by a number of sociopathic officers ready and willing to sacrifice countless troops for the sake of their own glory.

5/10

Catch Me Daddy: Daniel Wolfe

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-catch-me-daddy/59738.

6/10

The Red Badge of Courage: John Huston

To read this review, go to: http://www.theblackmaria.org/2015/07/14/b-roll-john-hustons-the-red-badge-of-courage-1951/.

6/10

Bonnie and Clyde: Arthur Penn

[Revisit Review]

The first time I watched Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde, I wasn't ready for it. Titillated by promises of its notoriety as a stepping-stone in cinematic violence, I expected an action film. But now, several years later, I can appreciate the film for the masterpiece that it is: stylistically daring; stunningly acted; fascinated with the battle between fact, legend, and myth in American popular culture. It is, quite simply, damn near perfect.

10/10

Land of Milk and Honey: Pierre Étaix

I don't know if Pierre Étaix could have effectively ended his cinematic career with an odder movie than Land of Milk and Honey. Turning his camera on French vacationers, Étaix created a film that was part documentary, part comedy, part assault on post-May 1968 French culture. Shot without a script and largely formed in the editing room, Étaix utilizes montage editing to achieve a bold brand of humor that I can't remember ever having encountered before. He'll juxtapose images with narration to create situational or dramatic irony. My favorite example: splicing together a clip of an amateur athlete climbing up a greased pole with a shot of a giant sculpture of Jesus hanging on the cross. I really don't know how else to describe Land of Milk and Honey. Structurally avant-garde and politically ruthless, it isn't so much a film as a form of cinematic suicide. But with it, he did manage to piss off viewers and critics on both sides of the political spectrum. So that means that at the very least he did something right.

7/10

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: John Huston

[Revisit Review]

If I remember correctly, John Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was one of the first classic Hollywood films that I watched when I first seriously started to explore the universe of cinema. And my reaction was...largely indifferent. The film just didn't grab me. But now, years and years and years later, I find myself entranced by this mesmeric tale of greed and fate. I do agree with Roger Ebert that the ending was a bit too cheerful and the fates of the surviving prospectors just a bit too happy. In my opinion, the film probably should have ended with the bandits smashing Bogart's bags of gold dust. But everything else about the film stands up proudly alongside the very best of the classic Hollywood studio system.

9/10

The Boxtrolls: Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi

[Spoilers Ahead]

Studio Laika films are at their best when they're at their darkest. Coraline (2009) involved a young girl being tortured and almost killed by other-dimensional monsters. The entire storyline of ParaNorman (2012) was set in motion by the lynching of a little girl. Now comes their third full-length feature: Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi's The Boxtrolls. On the one hand, the stop-motion animation has never been better. Each frame is filled with complex motion crammed into every layer—foreground, midground, background. There is a real emphasis on physical humor that does justice to the great silent comedians. And yet, The Boxtrolls isn't as mean as it could be. And ultimately I think it suffers for it. One of the major plot points involves the capture and apparent slaughter over a period of years of the eponymous Boxtrolls. Yet we eventually learn that they are all fine—in addition to the supposedly murdered father of the protagonist. This all feels like a cheap cop-out invented by writers who wrote themselves into a third-act corner. But on the other hand the film does involve a villain who, refreshingly, is willing and capable of straight-up murdering little children. And he does die by literally exploding. But, on a side note, can anybody explain to me why he was a drag singer? Was there a point to that subplot? Because if there was, I think I missed it...

7/10

Bombshell: Victor Fleming

Screwball comedies are all about reversals: of power, gender politics, etc, etc. And I have to give credit to Victor Fleming's Bombshell for introducing a kind of reversal that I have never encountered before within the genre: a fancy career woman, in this case a famous actress, tries to settle down and become more "traditional" while the men around her try to convince her to be more independent. The only problem is that the men are in it for entirely selfish reasons—the family wants her to stay an actress so the gravy train will continue and her agent is madly in love with her. Of course, this being the 1930s, the agent manifests his desires by emotionally manipulating and lying to her. Bombshell is repugnant to the point of being genuinely creepy. You could honestly re-edit it to make it a thriller about a psychotic publicity manager ruining the life of an actress because she is not interested in him. He hires actors to seduce her, emotionally torment her, and leave her so he can swoop in at the end and "rescue" her. What's worse, this is supposed to come off as charming. It's not. But Bombshell's worse sin? It's not very funny.

3/10

Sharknado: Thunder Levin

Here's the thing about stupid-on-purpose: it's meant to come off as silly, but it usually just comes off as stupid. And stupid isn't entertaining. But you know what stupid is? Tedious. Very, very tedious. That was one thing that I was not prepared for in Thunder Levin's Sharknado: the tedium. The only moments of truly enjoyable insanity—shooting falling sharks with a hand-pistol, splitting sharks in half with a chainsaw, diving into a shark while wielding a chainsaw—come at the very end. Everything else is bland and boring. You rarely get a good look at the terrible CGI sharks because the editing is so jumpy and clumsy. But then again, perhaps that's a good thing. I've seen PS1 video games with better graphics than the damn sharks in this movie.

3/10

The Clock: Vincente Minnelli, Fred Zinnemann

To read this review, go to: http://www.theblackmaria.org/2015/07/07/b-roll-vincente-minnellis-the-clock-1945/.

7/10

The Hunchback of Notre Dame: William Dieterle

It was inevitable that Victor Hugo's masterful novel "Notre-Dame de Paris" would be neutered by the time it reached Hollywood. With the Hays Code in full effect, the novel's bleak ending and bare-toothed assault on corruption within the Catholic Church could never have stood. But despite this, there are moments when William Dieterle's The Hunchback of Notre Dame manages to shed the trappings of Hollywood entertainment and attempts to reach the same poetic heights as Hugo's novel. Its odd preoccupation with the righteousness of free speech and the necessity of the free press may seem a curiously American touch, but it does right by the novel's original focus on the development of history as expressed through artistic, scientific, architectural, and sociological advancements. There are also several great scenes: the sprawling Feast of Fools sequence; Charles Laughton’s performance as Quasimodo—particularly while he is being publicly whipped; Quasimodo's defense of Notre-Dame against the invaders. But there isn't really any overarching, cohesive vision. So, for all its strengths, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is merely a good film that strings together individual moments of greatness instead of a great film overall.

7/10

Fat City: John Huston

To read this review, go to: http://www.theblackmaria.org/2015/07/01/b-roll-john-hustons-fat-city-1972/.

8/10