8 Million Ways to Die: Hal Ashby

Wait, wait, wait...this movie has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes? That doesn't make any sense. Hal Ashby's 8 Million Ways to Die isn't just a good crime thriller, it's a smart one. More and more I've begun to believe that the American crime films of the 1980s emulated the crass materialism of the decade as a means of cultural exorcism. And much like Scarface (1983), 8 Million Ways to Die is a film obsessed with appearances and extreme displays of conspicuous consumption. This hardly comes as a surprise considering that both films were written by Oliver Stone. But whereas Brian De Palma and Al Pacino swung for the fences with over-the-top violence and performances in Scarface, Ashby's film is more constrained and interested in the psychology of its main character, alcoholic ex-Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy Matt Scudder. There are still a number of intense action scenes, including an excellent yet brief car chase where Scudder drives a car with busted tires. But the best scene is a tense stand-off near the end of the film where Scudder starts to destroy a stockpile of drugs he stole from a drug dealer when said drug dealer refuses to cooperate while exchanging them for a hooker he has hostage. A gunfight ensues, but it is overshadowed by the chorus of screaming, hollering, and threatening that proceeds it as Scudder almost nonchalantly starts to burn the packages of cocaine while one of the drug dealer's thugs (who has his hand duct-taped to a shotgun duct-taped to the hooker's neck) struggles to decide what to do. Andy Garcia is absolutely mesmerizing as the drug dealer Angel Moldonado. We get the sense that he may never have been as wealthy as Scarface, but he would have had the good sense (i.e. sanity) to survive longer than he did...if he had been smart enough not to kill one of his subordinates right in front of Scudder.

8/10

Kiki’s Delivery Service: Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service is a film that I earnestly wish every little girl could see. Here is a film about growing up and the need that every young woman feels to get out on her own, start her own life, and carve out a place for herself in the world. It alternatively funny and tragic, exciting and paced. It grapples with such devastating problems as depression, the inevitable loss that everyone feels when they finally start to grow up and have to say goodbye to the world (and friends) of their childhood, and personal independence. There are times when Kiki is lost and doesn't know what to do, occasionally spurning the attentions of genuinely well-intentioned peers for seemingly arbitrary reasons. But therein lies the beauty and truth of Kiki's Delivery Service: growing up doesn't make much sense in the first place. My only problem with the film is that the ending sequence with Kiki saving her friend from falling from the blimp seemed like a cheap cop-out ending intended to solve all of her complex problems in one fell swoop (pun maybe intended). Little girls won't be given a similar magical opportunity to hand-wave all of their emotional problem away. So why should Kiki? And yes, I know...I know...the ending is symbolic and argues that love and the friendship of others is the key to finding one's way in life. But did we really need a gigantic action scene to drive that point home? Oh well...at the very least it didn't hurt the film.

8/10

Porco Rosso: Hayao Miyazaki

I have never felt that any of Hayao Miyazaki's films were bad, but Porco Rosso may be his only film that underwhelmed me. Miyazaki's themes and imagery surrounding flight and the futility of armed struggle are on full display. But not much of the film felt like a Miyazaki movie. There are three exceptions. The first is an early scene where the eponymous bounty hunter rescues a class of schoolgirls from a group of sky pirates. The juxtaposition of the dangerous action, the schoolgirls' gleeful refusal to take their kidnapping seriously, and the seemingly unspoken shared knowledge between the schoolgirls, the pirates, and Porco Rosso that no matter what happens the children will not be harmed was something that could have only come from Miyazaki's mind. The second exception was a sequence where a group of women of all ages come together to build an airplane in the absence of their male family members. It's charming, but it would ultimately be out-done by a similar scene involving the denizens of Irontown in Princess Mononoke (1997). Finally, a scene where Porco Rosso witnesses his slain pilot friends from World War One ascend into the sky to join an endless contrail of dead planes was one of the most fantastic pieces of visual imagery that Miyazaki has ever committed to celluloid. Howard Hawks once said, "A good movie is three good scenes and no bad scenes." And Porco Rosso is just that: a good movie. But it isn't a great one. It lacks a certain je ne sais quoi that keeps it from reaching the same heights as Miyazaki's other films. I hope one day I can figure out what it is.

7/10

Ceddo: Ousmane Sembène

Ousmane Sembène's Ceddo is a film of rhetoric and debate, of decorum and pageantry. The film is about the religious struggles that take place when an African king orders the persecution of the pagan "ceddo," or "common people," after converting to Islam. The ceddo abduct the king's daughter in protest, sparking a conflict that will leave many dead and wipe away an entire culture. The bulk of the movie is comprised of lengthy debates where representatives of the king, the local Muslim imam, and the ceddo argue either for their freedom or for their supremacy. There isn't anything inherently cinematic about prolonged conversations, but the viewer must keep in mind that this is an African film by an African filmmaker utilizing African sensibilities. If Western audiences can patiently sit through all 7+ hours of Béla Tarr's Sátántangó (1994), then they can engage Ceddo on its own terms despite the inevitable fatigue most viewers will feel watching it. The film is also a curious examination of the impact of the Western world in African society. Two of the most memorable characters are a white Christian missionary who dreams of filling his empty pews with converts and a slave trader who happily trades guns and ammunition to whoever brings him fresh slaves. One of the most striking elements of the film is the use of modern African-American spirituals during scenes where new slaves are bound and branded, seemingly predicting the future of the African diaspora.

8/10

The Wind Rises: Hayao Miyazaki

Perhaps the story of Jiro Horikoshi and his creation of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter can never be divorced from the controversy surrounding its use during World War Two and the use of slave labor to produce them. But I believe that Hayao Miyazaki was fully aware of this when he made The Wind Rises, a stirring, melancholy film that is easily the great master's best film since Spirited Away (2001). The central theme, if one can be picked out, would be the need of the individual to follow their bliss despite the world around them. Whether or not the historical Horikoshi really only wanted to create "beautiful airplanes" is irrelevant. Miyazaki's Horikoshi was a dreamer who lived to see his creation be turned into an instrument of warfare and destruction like Alfred Nobel and Mikhail Kalashnikov. Thinking back on this film, I realize that perhaps it may have been just as much about Miyazaki as it was Horikoshi. Considering how flight plays such a central role in Miyazaki's films and how uneasy his fame as one of the world's greatest animators makes him, it isn't difficult to equate the airplane industry with the animation industry.

9/10

Loulou: Maurice Pialat

I'm not entirely sure what I think about Maurice Pialat's Loulou. On the one hand, the central performances courtesy of Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu are excellent and the two share a remarkable on-screen chemistry. But the characters are one-dimensional and flat. I also didn't feel that Pialat effectively addressed his central story element: a bourgeois woman who abandons her marriage and prosperity for an intensely sexual relationship with an unemployed slacker. If Pialat was trying to make a statement about sexual need, then he shouldn’t have used strawman characters like the woman’s husband who was obsessive and abusive. That gives her a REASON to cheat. A more proper statement against the bourgeoisie would be if he was the PERFECT husband. Any woman, regardless of class, would try to escape an abusive spouse. So his indictment of the upper-class lifestyle falls flat. Still, for what it's worth, the acting was great.

6/10

The Puppetmaster: Hou Hsiao-Hsien

Unlike his earlier film A City of Sadness (1989) which I felt diluted its message concerning the White Terror through its oblique narrative methods, Hou Hsiao-Hsien's The Puppetmaster successfully examines the trials and tribulations of the Taiwanese people in the early 20th century by primarily focusing on a linear biographical narrative. The eponymous puppetmaster on whom the film is based, Li Tian-lu, even makes occasional documentary appearances to recount experiences in his life. As hypnotic and beautiful as Hsien's cinematography and mise-en-scène are, they can be challenging to watch for extended periods of time. So these touches of documentary filmmaking help keep The Puppetmaster fresh and engaging during its 2 1/2 hour run-time. But truthfully, I can't see myself running to revisit this film any time soon in the future. It is a wonderful work of art and I am genuinely glad to have watched it. But I found its slow pacing exhausting both physically and mentally.

9/10

Four Weddings and a Funeral: Mike Newell

[Revisit Review]

My favorite part of Mike Newell's Four Weddings and a Funeral was the eponymous funeral. Sounds strange, doesn't it? The film is a brilliant comedy that helped launch Hugh Grant's career.  It is jam packed with brilliant situational gags and sharp dialogue. But the funeral is still my favorite scene. See, I've always believed in something called "dramatic relief," the opposite of "comedic relief" where serious dramas are occasionally interrupted by comedy to help lighten the mood. I find that comedies that successfully utilize dramatic relief take on a more bittersweet tone that makes the laughter more joyful and the overall experience more memorable. And the aforementioned funeral is one of the single greatest pieces of dramatic relief that I have ever encountered.

8/10

Princess Mononoke: Hayao Miyazaki

[Revisit Review]

To read this review, go to:

http://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/the-film-canon-princess-mononoke-1997/39879.

10/10

Open Your Eyes: Alejandro Amenábar

[Spoilers Ahead]

One of the fastest ways for a movie to win me over is to surprise me. One of the fastest ways for a movie to lose me is to focus on an unlikeable protagonist. And Alejandro Amenábar's Open Your Eyes centers on a spoiled, self-centered playboy that women inexplicably fall in love with. But, thankfully, Open Your Eyes is ceaselessly surprising. Here's the moment when I knew that I loved it: when the protagonist discovers that everything is going right in his life because he is living in an artificially-induced dream that fulfills his wildest fantasies. But, in a twist that would make Philip K. Dick jealous, the dream becomes a nightmare. That is a diabolically ingenious set-up for a movie. And Open Your Eyes doesn't disappoint.

9/10

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster: Jun Fukuda

[Revisit Review]

Jun Fukuda's Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster was so forgettable that I didn't realize that I had already seen the film twice before until I checked my official movie records. Godzilla is in full theme park mascot mode in this film, giving coy finger gestures to human bystanders and taunting his giant lobster adversary with one of his claws after ripping it off. This isn't a film about kaiju, if that makes any sense. It's about the boring humans who get a worm's-eye view of the mayhem. That's par for the course in kaiju films, but you could have practically removed all of the kaiju from this film and still have had a coherent plot. Well...maybe not during the last 20-30 minutes. But during the first hour or so, the kaiju are rolled out as giant pieces of scenery who practically do nothing to advance the plot. This is a film about bumbling criminals who just so happen to come across Godzilla. And, quite frankly, neither the characters nor their motivations are interesting enough to make me care about them...or the film.

5/10

A City of Sadness: Hou Hsiao-hsien

Hou Hsiao-hsien's A City of Sadness isn't really about a story or the characters that populate it. Instead, it's a film about a pervading atmosphere of gloom, doom, and the inescapability of fate. It was the first Taiwanese film to openly address the KMT White Terror of the late 1940s. Therein lies its greatest strength and greatest weakness. Because it was the first film of its kind, its place as a classic of world cinema was assured. And Hsiao-hsien's trademark pacing, elliptical editing, and tightly controlled, mostly static frame compositions gave it a Taiwanese identity all of its own. But I wonder if Hsiao-hsien's decision to deal with the White Terror obliquely via the story of a family far removed from the immediate violence was the best decision considering its subject matter. There are occasional smatterings of political talk, but for the most part the White Terror is some kind of distant cataclysm that mostly only indirectly effects the family. The White Terror was a brutal military crackdown where 10,000-30,000 civilians were massacred during an uprising known as the 228 Incident. It was a Crime Against Humanity, plain and simple. But A City of Sadness, for all of its beauty, for all of its stylistic inventiveness, makes it seem like it was only a minor incident that effected only a handful of people.

7/10

Keeper of Promises: Anselmo Duarte

Anselmo Duarte's Keeper of Promises is a film that could only have been birthed from the cultural and religious melting pot of Brazil, though its themes and ideas are universal: simple piety versus domineering dogma, faith versus doubt, and the nearly uncontrollable societal urge to bend individuals to the will of movements or organized groups. A simple landowner named Zé do Burro has promised to carry a cross from his home to the Saint Bárbara Church in Salvador, Bahia in return for the saint interceding and saving the life of his beloved donkey. But when he reaches the end of his long journey, the priest at the church rebukes and denies him because he technically made the vow to the Catholic saint to a Candomblé orisha. Dismissed as a follower of witchcraft, Zé tries to reconcile his promise to the saint with a church that considers him a heretic. He is quickly seized upon as a revolutionary leader by Marxists, a living saint by the peasants, and a hero by actual practitioners of Candomblé. But Zé wants none of it. He just wants to deliver his cross. Not only is Keeper of Promises a fascinating and thought-provoking drama, there is something inherently cinematic about the image of a lone man walking the streets of a modern city with a cross on his back. Quite simply, it is unforgettable.

10/10

Mother and Son: Aleksandr Sokurov

Aleksandr Sokurov's Mother and Son is a film of breathtaking, elegiac beauty. It occupies the same detached head-space inhabited by other such dream-like films as Marketa Lazarová (1967), The Mirror (1975), and Eraserhead (1977). To watch Mother and Son is to be lulled into a feverish stupor. The cinematography is deliriously gorgeous, using distorted lenses, mirrors, and sheets of glass to blur, distort, and contract the frame into harsh, one-dimensional images. The film follows the final quiet moments of an elderly mother's life as she is cared for by her son. One long stretch of the film is comprised of him carrying her in his arms to her eventual deathbed, stopping on the sides of various roads to reminisce. The distorted landscapes which comprise so much of the film highlight and identify the emotional states of the characters: shallow, empty, and barren in that particular way that only an autumn afternoon mere minutes before a thunderstorm can be. The last third of the film will be the most polarizing for viewers. Having left his mother for a "walk," the son stumbles through a large assortment of landscapes and lonely environs in near total silence. In the last few minutes he crawls next to his mother's corpse and weeps. Some will see this as one of the most perfect depictions of grief ever put on film. Others will see it as self-indulgent and pretentious. Truth be told, I can see a bit of sense in both arguments.

8/10

Blue Velvet: David Lynch

[Revisit Review]

To read this review, go to: http://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/the-film-canon-blue-velvet-1986/39460.

9/10

Thunderball: Terence Young

Let me make something clear: Terence Young's Thunderball doesn't really work. But I still admire it. The film doesn't work for a couple of reasons. First, it's too long. It was the first Bond movie to be over two hours in length. And, quite frankly, it doesn't have the steam to last its full run-time. The film's excitement is hobbled by a strange sense of tedium as they stretch the narrative out. Second, Connery's performance as Bond is...underwhelming. Truth be told, he seemed really tired. There were a few scenes where his charisma poked through, but overall he seemed weary and burnt out. But here's why I kind of liked Thunderball: any filmmaker that decides to set most of the major action scenes in their new movie underwater has balls of steel. Shooting this film must have been a nightmare. And, in my humble opinion, the underwater scenes were pretty damn good. I was shocked to find that most reviewers found them to be tedious and unintelligible. I couldn't disagree more. I thought that the scenes above the water were boring and repetitive.

6/10

The Spy Who Loved Me: Lewis Gilbert

Lewis Gilbert's The Spy Who Loved Me is at its best when it's at its silliest: a snow ski chase scene capped off with parachuting off the side of a mountain, a silent and unstoppable assassin with steel teeth, an underwater villain fortress complete with orange jump-suited minions, a car that can instantly transform into a workable submarine, and elaborate death traps involving a trick elevator and a very hungry shark. However, it is dragged down by the tepid love story between James Bond and Anya Amasova. That's not to say that she isn't a great character. In fact, I wish that Bond had had more Bond Girls that could so easily outfight, out-think, and out-maneuver him (not to mention that she helps foster a theme of international cooperation, one that is almost entirely absent from the espionage genre). But the first hour of the film dominated by their love story screeches the narrative to a sudden halt. Basically, The Spy Who Loved Me only truly comes alive whenever there is a large body of water involved. Oh, and the Atlantis and Liparus are easily two of the most creative, striking, and memorable set pieces in the history of the franchise. They alone make the film worth a watch.

7/10

Smokey and the Bandit: Hal Needham

Let me get a very minor but aggravating nitpick out of the way before I explain what I thought about Hal Needham's Smokey and the Bandit: the ADR work was absolutely ATROCIOUS. Alright, now that I have that out of my system...what did I think of the film? Well, I thought it was a lot of fun. I must admit that I was slightly underwhelmed by it, though. Knowing Needham's reputation as a director and stuntman, I expected Smokey and the Bandit to be a mile-a-minute chase movie crammed full of outrageous stunts. Well, the film certainly contains a lot of chases. And there is some great stunt-work. But the film is not afraid to slow things down (metaphorically, of course) and give its characters, Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in particular, room to breathe and develop. My favorite part of the movie was all of the random people who go out of their way to help the Bandit and thwart the police officers chasing them. It speaks to a delightful "brotherhood-of-the-road," a common consciousness that transcends class, race, and gender all in the pursuit of sticking it to the Man. Brings a tear to my eye, really.

7/10

Women in Love: Ken Russell

Bleagh. Bllearrruuughhh. I'm sorry, but Ken Russell's Women in Love was one of the toughest sits I've experienced in quite some time. Te film has all of the boring dreariness of Merchant Ivory with none of the coherency! There was hardly a moment of the film where I knew what was going on or why. Instead, the film seems a conglomeration of non sequiturs which may have made sense within the original D. H. Lawrence novel, but not here. Why was there a scene where one of the female protagonists played chicken with a herd of cows? What was the significance of the drowned couple? Where did the speech about the proper way to eat a fig come from? What was the point of the naked wrestling scene? Why the sudden interest in the German sculptor during the trip to the Alps? Things just sort of happen in Women in Love. There is practically no structure or cohesive story to speak of. And considering that the film's final scenes seem to imply that they are the denouement of some great emotional construction, this indicates shoddy craftsmanship and filmmaking.

3/10

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner: Tony Richardson

Tony Richardson's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a sad yet illuminating glimpse into the soul of a young man thrown to the wayside by British society. Brought up in desperate poverty and a broken home, Colin Smith lived as a petty criminal until he was arrested for breaking into a bakery and stealing their cashbox. Instead of prison, he is sent to Ruxton Towers, a reform school for juvenile offenders. There, he quickly catches the eye of "The Governor," the school's overseer, after he discovers that he is a skilled runner. Eager for Ruxton Towers to gain glory at an upcoming five-mile cross country race against a wealthy public school, The Governor gives Colin special privileges in exchange for promising to compete. But this isolates him from his peers. And those lonely training sessions by himself in the woods around the school keep bringing up memories of his old life and his old resentment towards authority...The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is well-shot and visually engaging despite its meager budget. As an entry of the British New Wave, it is essential. As a human drama, it is indispensable.

8/10

Way Out West: James W. Horne

The more and more of their films I watch, the more and more I become convinced that even Laurel and Hardy's "good" sound films weren't all that good. Of all of their feature-length sound films that I have seen, so far James W. Horne's Way Out West has been the best and funniest. But it still suffers from the problems that plague their other sound efforts: gags that go on for far too long in withering silence, an over-reliance on double-takes, and Laurel's piercing scream whenever threatened or attacked. But Way Out West does have its undeniable charms. The occasional flourishes of "white magic" are delightful: Laurel using his thumb as a lighter, Hardy's head becoming stretchable when trapped in a floor, and an old but effective gag where Laurel's singing voice changes pitch when bashed on the head. Also, the dance number where Laurel and Hardy swing and sway along with The Avalon Boys is one of my favorite moments of their entire careers.

6/10

High and Low: Akira Kurosawa

[Revisit Review]

To read this review, go to: http://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/the-film-canon-high-and-low-1963/38892.

10/10

The Ipcress File: Sidney J. Furie

Six years before Michael Caine would cement the legacy of "British Cool" in the classic crime movie Get Carter (1971), he appeared in a chilly, almost antiseptic spy thriller entitled The Ipcress File. The first in the Harry Palmer film franchise, Sidney J. Furie's The Ipcress File seems to emulate the austere cool of Jean-Pierre Melville's gangster films. The characters are all men and women of few words. Like the characters in Melville's films, they don't speak much because they don't have to; they are so experienced in their professions that they have settled into an almost unconscious routine where extraneous talk isn't just unnecessary, but counter-productive. But if Melville's gangsters exuded existential pathos and professionalism, Furie's almost silent actors are enigmas. Cinematographer Otto Heller manages to wash out most of the colors from London's streets and buildings. His use of odd framings and dutch angles manages to enhance the story without coming across as style for style's sake. Indeed, the film plays like the natural successor of the aggressive stylization of The Third Man (1949) instead of simply seeming like one of its many imitators.

8/10

A Taste of Honey: Tony Richardson

Tony Richardson's A Taste of Honey is an achingly beautiful film about broken people trying to make sense of their broken lives. A classic of British kitchen sink realism, the film is more concerned with the failings, frustrations, and desperate hopes of its working class characters than with any sort of plot. Jo is a seventeen-year-old schoolgirl who gets knocked up by a black sailor who then abruptly exits the film. As an audience, we are accustomed to stories like these where the father comes back at the last minute. But instead Jo (and the audience) merely watches him sail away on the deck of a ship and that is that. Until then, the black sailor had been portrayed as somewhat of an important supporting character. His permanent departure seems odd within the framework of a normal narrative, but this isn't a normal narrative. Instead, it regards its characters as they reach out blindly seeking human companionship in the face of suffocating poverty and loneliness. Friends and lovers come and go as they will. So, too, do people in Jo's life. For a time she seems to find happiness sharing a flat with a friendless homosexual. But their little family is ruined when Jo's mother, an aging alcoholic, bursts into their lives after being ditched by her latest beau. And yet, the film doesn't villainize the mother. Not truly, anyway. If anything, it pities her. The film understands that Jo is essentially repeating all of her mother's mistakes, even getting pregnant by a one-time lover who left her. We get the sense that the film hopes that Jo might be able to make a better life for herself and her baby. But if there's a road to security and happiness, Jo will have to find it herself.

9/10

Tom Jones: Tony Richardson

I really feel like I should have liked Tony Richardson's Tom Jones more than I did. It's a rather free-spirited picaresque film about a bastard born into nobility who goes out into the world to seek his fortune. But...here's the thing...a good chunk of Tom Jones isn't actually about...Tom Jones. The eponymous rogue isn't even banished until the second half of the film. The first half follows his idyllic life as a noble. That's all well and good, but it shoves its titular character to the side in order to focus on the political machinations of his family members. By the time the film properly starts to be about Tom Jones, he is still almost a stranger to the audience. Tom Jones is a film at war with itself. It contains some brilliant sequences (the greatest among them a shockingly kinetic hunting scene in the first quarter of the film that brutally exposes the innate cruelties of the upper classes as they blithely trample and kill the livestock of innocent peasants), but the film never truly comes into its own as a narrative. Too unfocused to be a proper character study, too bland to be a proper comedy, the film collapses in on itself.

5/10

The King’s Speech: Tom Hooper

[Revisit Review]

One of the joys of watching great movies more than once is that it allows you to pay attention to its formal qualities more than its narrative. Tom Hooper's The King's Speech is an excellent film and a shockingly effective human drama. But this time around I was overcome by how beautiful the film is. It's rare to see a color film with such a subdued color palette that nonetheless doesn't seem washed out or dingy. Combined with cinematographer Danny Cohen's constant alternation between cramped and expansive shots, The King's Speech is one of the most visually evocative British films of the past few decades.

9/10

I'm All Right Jack: John Boulting

I'm naturally drawn to stories where good-natured idiots stumble into situations where they are trapped between two opposite and equally absurd sides. I'm reminded of Charlie Chaplin's great Modern Times (1936) where the Tramp repeatedly finds himself in the middle of a battle between organized labor and the police department. I wonder if John Boulting tried to emulate that film somewhat with I'm All Right Jack, a film where a hapless upper class university graduate gets a job as a factory worker only to accidentally start a massive series of strikes that sweep the countryside. One early sequence where the protagonist is given a tour through a sterile sweets factory seems directly inspired from Chaplin, particularly its conveyor belt gags. But the film fails to maintain that level of energy and inventiveness. Too much of the film's comedy comes from surprised guffawing courtesy of the representatives of labor and capitalism as they get drawn further and further into an economic nightmare. Peter Sellers received a BAFTA Best Actor Award for his performance as the factory's trades union shop steward. Now, Sellers was a magnificent actor and he deserved every single award imaginable for his rich and distinguished career. But, quite frankly, he is wasted in this film. Almost his entire performance is comprised of him alternating between two different facial expressions: pained consternation and self-righteous indignation.

6/10

A Man for All Seasons: Fred Zinnemann

To read this review, go to: theretroset.com/blu-ray-review-man-seasons/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=the_retro_set&utm_content=A%20MAN%20FOR%20(nearly)%20ALL%20SEASONS.

8/10

Genevieve: Henry Cornelius

There is the seed of a great comedy in Henry Cornelius' Genevieve. Unfortunately, it never takes root. The film is advertised as being about two teams who get into a vintage car race in England. However, the actual race doesn't start until the last thirty minutes of the film. The run-time before that is dedicated to more gradual comedy and gentle character development. That's all well and good. But I feel like it's false advertising. It also doesn't help that the actual race never builds up enough tension for any of the comedic payoffs to have any gravitas to them. A good racing film, like a good comedy, needs a sense of immediacy. And Genevieve is too laid back and leisurely for it to be effective as the former. As the latter? Certainly. It has that warm, dry, and delicate lilt that defines so many English comedies. But this should have been first and foremost a racing film.

6/10

El Topo: Alejandro Jodorowsky

[Revisit Review]

To read this review, go to: http://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/the-film-canon-el-topo-1970/38595.

9/10

Il Sorpasso: Dino Risi

One of the most difficult things a storyteller, let alone a filmmaker, can do is balance the tragic and comic within a single narrative. It requires a mastery of tone, pacing, and an innate common sense concerning what is socially inappropriate. There's a reason why Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful (1997) was hailed as a masterpiece while Jerry Lewis' The Day the Clown Cried (1972) has yet to see the light of day. Dino Risi's Il Sorpasso, one of the great triumphs of the Commedia all'italiana film genre, manages to find the right balance...at least until the last twenty or so minutes when the film becomes outright maudlin. But the film's structure as a road movie featuring two friends seeking respite from life in the Italian countryside forgives and outright validates this evolution of tone. For the road movie is one of the single most allegorical and symbolic of film genres. The road represents life, the passengers the Everyman (or Everywoman), the pit-stops and road-side distractions the different phases of an average person's life, and their eventual arrival at their destination death. Is it any wonder why so many road movies end with the sudden deaths of their protagonists? The tone of Il Sorpasso wavers between the light and comic and the dark and tragic seemingly at the flip of a coin. But that's just the way it should have been.

7/10

Alfred Hitchcock: The Birds

[Revisit Review]

You know, for a "masterpiece," Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds has some atrocious pacing and absurdly clunky scenes of exposition. It's a good thing that I adore static shot reverse shot dialogue scenes that last upwards of 5 minutes or else I would think that the film was visually bankrupt whenever special effects aren't involved! Listen, Howard Hawks once said that the definition of a good movie is three good scenes and no bad ones. THE BIRDS definitely has three good scenes. It might even have more. But the film fails as a whole. I can't forgive the film for the fact that the majority of its run-time is consumed with static, visually uninteresting, uninspired dialogue and bizarre characters who look and behave like plastic dolls instead of human beings.

5/10

Local Hero: Bill Forsyth

I suspect that many people these days don't have the attention span or patience for Bill Forsyth's Local Hero. And what a shame that is. It is a simple film about a simple community full of simple people. It is a comedy, but the laughs come gradually and organically and are rarely shoved to the forefront in the same manner as most comedies. If I have made Local Hero out to seem prosaic or tedious, then allow me to set the record straight: it is a wonderful film brimming with warmth and humanity. Even the ostensible "villain," an American oil magnate who sends the protagonist to the sleepy Scottish village of Ferness isn't demonized or ostracized. Instead, he ends the film having essentially been accepted into the arms of the community he wanted to destroy to make way for an oil refinery. Local Hero is a charming film and a true delight.

7/10

Closely Watched Trains: Jiří Menzel

[Revisit Review]

After all of these years, I'm still not sure what the appeal of Jiří Menzel's Closely Watched Trains is. It's a fragmentary film full of scenes so short they don't even pass for vignettes about the colorful people who live and work at the train station where the story takes place (my favorite being the Nazi collaborator who steadfastly insists that the Nazi's constant retreats are part of a grand scheme to conquer Europe). Here is a film with practically no overt agenda either political (although there are many who argue otherwise) or social. It's about a young man seeking to lose his virginity as the Second World War explodes around him. But perhaps that's where the film finds its charm: its obsession with the average details of everyday life in the face of extraordinary circumstances.

9/10

Tartuffe: F. W. Murnau

The most entertaining part of F. W. Murnau's Tartuffe is Emil Jannings' face as the eponymous hypocrite-slash-con-man Tartüff. The film is a fine adaptation of Molière's classic play, but the nature of the story prevents Murnau, one of early cinema's supreme visual stylists, from giving the film the same visual panache found in his best works. That's not to say that the film is inadequately framed or shot. But for a director so well-versed in German Expressionism and the stylistic gymnastics of The Last Laugh (1924), his work in Tartuffe feels underwhelming. But, as I said, Jannings' face is a constant source of delight. Perpetually pulled back in a half-sneer, half-grimace, Jannings somehow manages to portray a wide range of emotions while barely moving his face. Rarely have I seen a face that seemed so desperately in need of punching.

7/10

Santa Sangre: Alejandro Jodorowsky

[Revisit Review]

I protest the idea that Alejandro Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre is a horror film. It can be horrifying, but it's much more than that. It isn't just a parade of grotesqueries. There are real emotions at play here. When the clowns take part in the elephant’s funeral procession and spray tears out of their eyes, it’s tragic. Even the scene where Orgo gives Fenix his tattoo is emotionally meaningful. For a brief moment, we see the father express love for his son; a twisted, destructive love, but perhaps the only kind of love he could ever express. Jodorowsky's films all demonstrate a love of images and symbols, but it's his love of characters that surprised me the most in this film.

9/10

A Matter of Life and Death: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

[Revisit Review]

Powell & Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death is one of the best films ever made about America. So perhaps it's appropriate that it's actually a British film. In a way, it is a British response to the famous American short story "The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Steven Vincent Benét. This time a British protagonist is on trial for appealing to extend his life after a snafu in heaven let him live long enough beyond his designated time of death to fall in love with an American woman. I have to admit that I was annoyed by how the legal argument surrounding the protagonist's case essentially came down to "love conquers all" unlike the original short story which had a much more clever ending (or, at least the 1941 William Dieterle film adaptation did). And I think that the sequences involving Doctor Reeves trying to determine a medical explanation for the protagonist's visions went on a bit too long. But other than that A Matter of Life and Death is a brilliant and poignant piece of filmmaking.

9/10

Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer: Thorold Dickinson

Thorold Dickinson's Hill 24 Doesn't Answer is a propaganda film about four doomed soldiers who give their lives in defensive of the eponymous hill so that it can be claimed as part of Israel following the Israeli-Arab war. I call it a propaganda film because it features two very important attributes that sets it apart from simple patriotism-themed films. First, the Arabs are portrayed either as faceless killers, uncouth brutes, or unsympathetic jerks. Dehumanizing the opposition is a crucial element of propaganda. Second, it features a bevy of characters from all different walks of life who rally together around a single cause: in this case the defense of Israel. The film's narrative preaches a message of self-sacrifice in the name of the Israeli nation. That would be all fine and good if it wasn't for the fact that some of the characters have back-stories that are so absurd that they can only exist within the world of propaganda. There's an Irish officer who joins the fight because he falls in love with a Jewish woman. Fair enough, but it doesn't explain his new-found, fanatical Zionism. An Israelite recounts how he met an ex-Nazi while on the battlefield, but the details of the story and the Nazi himself are so over-the-top that they seem more at home in a war bonds promotion circa World War Two than a serious war film. The only character narrative that really works is an American Jew who undergoes a crisis of faith after being wounded in a skirmish. His scenes, particularly those with a sympathetic rabbi who helps him rediscover his childhood faith, are the highlight of the film.

6/10

Permanent Midnight: David Veloz

There are many films about drugs and addiction. But the ones worth watching are just as interested in their characters before and/or after their struggle as they are while in the throes of their torment. David Veloz's Permanent Midnight is one such film. Told in flashback, the film approaches its story with a strange detachment that really only becomes truly effective in the last act where Ben Stiller's character, writer-turned-junkie-turned-writer Jerry Stahl, goes hunting for a fix while "watching" over his infant daughter. I nearly gagged during a scene where he injects a shot of heroin into his neck in the front seat of his car while the baby wriggles in the passenger seat. The rest of the film is competent enough for its subject matter. It doesn't have the same illuminating insight into the life of addicts that superior drug films like Drugstore Cowboy (1989) and Trainspotting (1996) have. But the story beats are familiar and well executed. Plus, it's always nice to see Stiller in a dramatic role that gives him a chance to truly demonstrate his talents as an actor.

7/10

The Ascent: Larisa Shepitko

To read this review, go to: http://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/the-film-canon-the-ascent-1977/38179.

10/10

Beverly Hills Cop: Martin Brest

[Revisit Review]

Having seen Martin Brest's Beverly Hills Cop on the big screen thanks to a theatrical re-release, I find myself more in awe of the screenplay than by Eddie Murphy this time around. That's no slight against Murphy, of course. Axel Foley is one of his most memorable and timeless characters for good reason. But having removed myself from Murphy's mystique, I was able to appreciate Daniel Petrie, Jr.'s screenplay for what it was: damn near perfect. For example, there was no need to humanize the cops that served as Judge Reinhold and John Ashton's replacements after they were taken off the Foley case. But lo and behold, they were. Even the Detroit police chief had a spark of simple humanity to him. Such richly drawn three-dimensional characters are a rarity in comedies, and even more exotic in the action-comedy sub-genre.

7/10

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Ben Stiller

I've heard Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty described as being a feature-length "Just Do It" ad by Nike. And in a sense, they're not wrong. But they're also not totally right. True, the film is, at its center, about a middle-aged man who sets out to find some kind of meaning in his life by traveling the world. But there is a frank earnestness, a simple sincerity behind Stiller's direction and performance that makes the film truly special. I found myself marveling at a number of tiny details in the film: how the incredible fantasies decrease in number and scope as his life becomes richer, the placing of LIFE magazine's motto in various bits of background when Stiller first leaves the States, and how Stiller restrains himself from (deservedly) humiliating Adam Scott at the end of the film. Stiller's directorial efforts have varied widely in terms of quality and style. But The Secret Life of Walter Mitty seems to be the first step in the development of a genuine directorial style that neither apes from Gen X filmmakers or MTV-style excess. I'm eager to see where Stiller goes next.

7/10

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Norman Z. McLeod

If somebody walked in on the last act of Norman Z. McLeod's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, they could be forgiven for mistaking the film as a rip-off of the first twenty or so minutes of Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959): a wrong man falsely accused of a crime, said man being drugged via alcohol in an opulent mansion by villains who pretend to be someone else when authorities arrive, and even a strained attitude towards mothers. Of course, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty came out twelve years before North by Northwest. And it is most certainly not a thriller. It is an aggravating comedy about the eponymous pulp magazine editor who loses himself in vivid daydreams and accidentally gets sucked into a real-life web of espionage intrigue surrounding a little black book that contains the locations of the hidden Dutch crown jewels. The film's problems can be summarized in two words: Danny Kaye. When properly restrained, Kaye can be a comedic gold mine. Go watch Henry Koster's The Inspector General (1949) if you don't believe me. But here Kaye is just too much. He's too bumbling and accident-prone. Several times I wanted to scream at him to get on with it after mercilessly long sequences where he fumbles his way through furniture, crowded rooms, and hapless bystanders. The great silent comedians were just as accident-prone, but their indiscretions were rarely lingered on. They would cause their social faux pas and move on within seconds. But McLeod has to hang on every single one of Kaye's clumsy antics until we feel all sympathy for his character drain away. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is frustrating, annoying, and not funny enough to sustain its absurd run-time for a 1940s Hollywood comedy.

4/10

Guardians of the Galaxy: James Gunn

[Spoilers Ahead]

James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy is saved from a mediocre script and uninspired villains by its gleeful sense of irrelevance. Ronan feels too much like a watered down Darth Vader, Zoe Saldana and Karen Gillan spend the entire film competing to see who can give the more wooden performance, and the use of CGI is overbearing. And yet, the film is infectiously entertaining. Chris Pratt is perfect as Starlord, Bradley Cooper is a revelation as Rocket Raccoon, and Vin Diesel stole the show as Groot. The film is wickedly endearing and funny. I don't know if there was a dry eye in the theater when Groot said, "We are Groot." I do wish that they had kept Groot dead at the end. A more clever director would have saved Groot's resurrection for the third act of the sequel. But I digress. Guardians of the Galaxy is a bona fide crowd-pleaser. I just hope that the team will develop its own identity in time for the sequel and not just continue their watered-down Star Wars/Firefly shtick.

7/10

Frenzy: Alfred Hitchcock

[Revisit Review]

I don't have much to say about Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy that hasn't already been said a dozen times by more prominent and intelligent scholars and critics. But I do have one observation: this film represents one of the only times that I have ever seen a serious thriller incorporate blatant comedic relief without either ruining the tension or derailing the narrative. The reason is that the comedic relief centers around food: squishy food, slimy food, food that bursts when squeezed and crunches when touched. This adds a layer of nauseous repulsion to the proceedings that enhances the fear and disgust felt by the audience towards the horrific crimes being committed onscreen.

9/10

The Hundred-Foot Journey: Lasse Hallström

To read this review, go to: http://www.theyoungfolks.com/film/the-hundred-foot-journey-review/37852.

6/10

Persona: Ingmar Bergman

[Revisit Review]

Ingmar Bergman's Persona is one of the cinema's greatest enigmas. Countless critics and intellectuals have pondered over its meanings and possible interpretations. But what strikes me the most about the film is Bergman's use of visual language. One of the most understandable criticisms of Bergman's work is that it wasn't very "cinematic," instead seeming more like filmed theater. But in Persona Bergman invents and utilizes a stark, overbearing, and mesmerizing visual method that was not just unparalleled within the confines of his career, but within avant-garde cinema itself. At the time of my writing this, I have seen 29 of Bergman's films. And to my knowledge, none of them are as visually arresting as this nearly impenetrable riddle of a movie.

9/10

Zoolander: Ben Stiller

[Revisit Review]

Ben Stiller's Zoolander is stupid as hell, but I still love it both in spite of and because of itself. Here is a film that embraces its absurd concept and characters so enthusiastically that it is almost impossible not to fall under its spell. At its worst, Zoolander is well-intentioned but misguided. At its best, it is a fiendishly clever comedy with some genuinely spectacular moments. If I had to pick one, I would probably go with Zoolander's wide-eyed delivery of the line: "You can read minds?!"

6/10

Godzilla: Ishirō Honda

[Revisit Review]

To read this review, go to: http://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/the-film-canon-godzilla-1954/37535

10/10

The Cable Guy: Ben Stiller

I dread movies like Ben Stiller's The Cable Guy. It isn't just bad, it's unpleasant. The entire film is a gauntlet of discomfort. There have been other movies which have elicited similar responses from me that I enjoyed and even loved. But The Cable Guy operates under the false assumption that it's a dark comedy when there isn't anything funny about it at all. The jokes come off as unnecessarily cruel and the slapstick is too over-the-top (at least considering the rest of the film's tone). But the film's biggest miscalculation was Jim Carrey's performance as the eponymous Cable Guy. Carrey is simply too obnoxious to be likable or to seem sympathetic when we learn about his troubled childhood. If his performance had been more low-key, it would have been a lot better. You know who would have been perfect for this role? A younger Robert De Niro. In fact...I think he already did this film with Martin Scorsese. It was entitled The King of Comedy (1982). Think about it. Listen, I can appreciate what Stiller was trying to do with this film. He wanted to comment on modern American society by portraying a character who was almost literally raised by television. Carrey's character was the old stereotype of children whose brains had been rotted by television taken to its natural extreme. But, again, a quieter and more controlled performance might have saved this film.

1/10