82 Déjà vu?

Is it too soon to declare 2012 heir apparent to the legendary summer of 1982? Before you answer, remember that in addition to the trailers below, we're also getting new movies from all three of these guys. Oh and don't forget all these artsy-fartsy films debuting at Cannes. It's almost enough to make you forgive the existence of Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked...almost.

A Spartacus Soiree

I don't recall if we've mentioned it before, but we've been having monthly viewing parties of the films of Stanley Kubrick in chronological order. April's film was Spartacus (1960), so we had friends together, donned our "Spartacus" name tags, and giggled at all the innuendo. This film is quite long, and the acting is QUITE dramatic (in the most hilarious way possible), so it was nice to have a fun group to help us get through it!

Double-Bill: Vanishing Innocence

Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Virgin Suicides

Death Proof (2007)

A madman (Kurt Russell) with a killer car, stalks a gang of young women around Austin Texas.

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Famously, Quentin Tarantino has vowed to stop making films in his late fifties or early sixties so as to avoid making, "old man movies". Currently Quentin is forty-nine and with an average of three years elapsing between films, the end is pretty fucking nigh. In an effort to tackle as many genres as possible before retirement, every Tarantino film consists of at least two genres. Never was this more apparent than in Death Proof which is literally a collision (pun intended) of the slasher genre and the car-chase film. That's right, Quentin made a double-feature as his contribution to a double-feature. Clever girl!

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

On Valentine’s Day, 1900, a group of women and teachers from Appleyard College take an afternoon trip to Hanging Rock, where three students and a teacher will mysteriously disappear without a trace. Their disappearance has unforeseen consequences on the lives of those left behind.

OK confession time: I only recently saw this film for the first time. I had been on my to-see list for a long time after seeing it repeatedly get mentioned for its dreamlike aesthetic in various fashion and film blogs. And I’m so glad I finally watched it; it’s right up my alley. It’s eerie and mysterious, and is one of those special films that is left open for debate and speculation.

I spent a good amount of time after watching the film looking up various “explanations” and reading message boards of other viewers’ experiences (several people vividly remembering a scene that others say never existed, for example), secret endings, strange interpretations, etc. I love a film that encourages discussion! It makes the whole viewing experience so much richer.

I highly recommend this one, give it a go!

The Tingler (1959)

A scientist (Vincent Price) attempts to capture a creature that lives inside all of us. It is deadly and only appears when we are afraid. The only way to stop it is to scream.

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On our honeymoon, 'Becca'lise and I had the distinct pleasure of seeing this film at the Cinémathèque Française on a double-bill with The House On Haunted Hill as part of a tribute to director William Castle. In keeping with Castle tradition, all attendees had to sign a faux life insurance policy in case we "died of fright". The fine folks of the Cinémathèque also did their best to recreate some of the in-theater gimmicks like Emergo, the skeleton that appears at a climactic moment in The House On Haunted Hill. And though it was far too expensive to rig the seats with buzzers for the climax of The Tingler, they found ways to make it fun too. Why don't more theaters do this shit? Screw 3D, I'd take Emergo over the Na'vi any day of the week! Also - how has this film has not been remade yet? This is body-horror a full two decades before David Cronenberg!

"Ladies and gentlemen, please do not panic. But scream! Scream for your lives! The Tingler is loose in this blog!"

The Best Hilariously Inappropriate Disney Songs

Another Disney post! Hurrah! I love me some Disney. And I love Disney songs that are filled with implied violence, don't you?

Alice in Wonderland - “The Walrus and the Carpenter”

Favorite lyric: "'Little Oysters? Little Oysters?'

But answer, there came none

And this was scarcely odd because

They'd been eaten

Every one!"

Oyster murder! Seeing all of their empty shells was so upsetting to me as a child! But yeah, they went there. They made adorable little baby oysters, and then killed them off. Oh dear.

The Lion King - “Be Prepared”

Favorite lyric: “Yes, our teeth and ambitions are bared...

Be prepared!”

This one isn’t inappropriate so much as it’s disturbing with all the Nazi-esque imagery. Chilling and effective, but hey, isn't this a children's movie? This isn't a complaint, I totally love The Lion King.

Beauty and the Beast - “The Mob Song”

Favorite lyric: “Hear him roar

See him foam

But we're not coming home

'Til he's dead

Good and dead

Kill the Beast!”

Ah, a mob singing about killing one of the main characters. “Massive paws, killer claws for the feast”?? Thanks for the mental picture of the Beast ripping apart and eating little children, Disney!

The Great Mouse Detective - “The World's Greatest Criminal Mind”

Favorite lyric: “Even meaner? You mean it?

Worse than the widows and orphans you drowned?”

Hahaha yes! I don’t actually remember that lyric from my childhood, but I had it on recently while I was cleaning and my ears picked right up on that line. Woah woah woah, rewind...really Disney? Ratigan drowned women and children? Love it.

The Little Mermaid - “Les Poissons”

Favorite lyric: “First I cut off their heads, then I pull out their bones....!”

HANDS DOWN my favorite insane Disney song. It’s basically a chef singing about how much he loves chopping up dead things. This song is full of gold: “With a cleaver I hack them in two

I pull out what's inside/And I serve it up fried...” “Then you slash off their skin, give their belly a slice...” How delightfully deranged! Hee hee hee haw haw haw!

Did I miss any good ones? What's your favorite?

Cecil B. Demented (2000)

A band of cinema terrorists kidnap a big-time Hollywood star (Melanie Griffith) and force her to be in their film at gunpoint.

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The films of John Waters have always been very educational. In a pre-internet world, his films and their commentary tracks were the only place one could go to learn about things like teabagging and shrimping. They're like a crash-course in perversion. But a doctorate in filth is not the only thing to be gleamed. For 18-year-old-about-to-enter-film-school Craig Duffy, Cecil B. Demented was invaluable. No first-year film program is going to teach you about alternative-auteurs like Passolini, Anger or Fassbinder. For this and so much more I will be forever indebted to Mr. John Samuel Waters Jr. Demented for life. Demented forever. Power to the people who punish bad Cinema!

Double-Bill: Reunion

Grosse Pointe Blank and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

All The Love You Cannes

Though Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master will be (predictably) absent, this years lineup for the Cannes Film Festival is enough to make any film fan drool:

Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson), Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg), Killing Them Softly (Andrew Dominik), Amour (Michael Haneke), Lawless (John Hillcoat), The Paperboy (Lee Daniels), Like Someone In Love (Abbas Kiarostami), The Angels' Share (Ken Loach), Vous N'avez Encore Rien Vu (Alain Resnais), On The Road (Walter Sallas), The Hunt (Thomas Vinterberg), Rust & Bone (Jacques Audiard), Me and You (Bernardo Bertolucci), Hemingway & Gellhorn (Philip Kaufman), Dracula (Dario Argento), The Legend of Love & Sincerity (Takashi Miike), Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir (Laurent Bouzereau)

And let's not forget the new 4+ hour cut of Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America!

So who wants to pay to send us to France so that we might better serve you all with first-hand coverage? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?

The Atomic Cafe (1982)

A collage of Cold War imagery that is simultaneously hilarious and chilling.

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Fear is the great motivator. It can make people do all sorts of crazy things. And from roughly 1945 through 1991, America was in a constant state of fear. The overwhelming fear of Communism compelled us as a Nation to do some really horrific things (The Black List) and it also made us do some really hilarious things (Duck & Cover Drills). It's comforting to think that this film is the past and we as a Nation have grown smarter, but then you take a look at post-911 America and realize nothing has changed. They say that, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Watch this movie and learn. WAKE UP PEOPLE!

Spice World (1997)

I am fully aware that this movie is basically garbage. Yes, it has a 2.9/10 rating on IMDB. Yes, it seems to be mostly aimed at Spice Girls superfans. But I LOVE IT.

This insane little movie gives us a (fictional) look at the lives of the Spice Girls as they get ready for a big concert that’s going to be “broadcast live around the whole world.” We meet their manager who’s seems to be perpetually on the verge of having an aneurysm. Their superboss gives their manager cryptic messages over the phone while he strokes a variety of pets in his lap. They live in a crazy huge Union Jack covered bus, and their driver is Meat Loaf! It’s madness! They encounter aliens, they’re being stalked by a crazy paparazzo who climbs out of a toilet, they deliver a baby, they get all decked out in silver and pretend to be Spice Force Five! I imagine the set was a lot of fun!

This film is an ode to silliness and the 90s. This movie came out when I was 11, and I was its target audience, so of course it holds a special place in my heart. If you have a fun sense of humor and feel like having a good laugh, or at least want a “WTF am I seeing here” moment, or if you’re feeling nostalgic for the late 90s, give it a watch. And don’t forget to moonwalk the foxtrot and polka the salsa!

Shake it shake it shake it! Haka! Arribaaaa!

Children Of Men (2006)

After 20 years of infertility, a child is born. A lot of people want this baby and it is up to Theo (Clive Owens) to make sure that the child ends up in the right hands.

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An idealist who has seemingly given over to apathy, finds in himself the strength to, 'do the right thing' for the sake of 'good'. Sound familiar? We've seen this story before. What keeps it fresh is how it's used. In the early days of American involvement in World War II, Casablanca employed this premise as propaganda to compel an isolationist citizenry to, "fight the good fight". Though Children of Men was produced amidst TWO wars,  it had a slightly different purpose in mind. As you might be aware, life during war time can be discouraging. The bodies pile up on both sides and there appears to be no end in sight. You begin to lose hope. This movie was made for those hopeless people. No matter how bad things seem, never give up hope.

TCM Classic Film Festival 2012

I had an amazing weekend! Living in southern California definitely has its perks! No, I’m not talking about Coachella. I’m talking about the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood! I wasn’t a passholder (I’m a girl on a budget!) but I did manage to make it into three screenings.

Double-Bill: Post-Graduate

Kicking & Screaming and Tiny Furniture

Natural Born Killers (1994)

Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory Knox (Juliette Lewis) rampage across the country killing nearly everyone in their path. Like the title says, they're natural born killers.

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I saw this movie in the 6th grade, which according to the MPAA, means I was 4 years too young. The general consensus is that a movie like this is not good for impressionable minds. It might plant ideas! And boy did it ever! But not the ideas they were trying to protect me from. It didn't make me want to rape, torture or murder. It made me want to make movies. The film-stocks, the camera-angles, the music and the sound effects had me hooked from the very first scene. I finally understood what a director does. Later that year I wrote my first screenplay. I don't care how much Quentin Tarantino's original screenplay was altered. This here's the rattler that bit me. If they ever find an antidote, I don't want to hear about it.

Looper

Sorry McG, Rian Johnson is now officially the best filmmaker to come out of Orange County. I had an inkling that this was to be the case right after I saw his first film (the wonderful high school noir, Brick) but figured I'd hold off judgement just to make sure he wasn't a one-trick pony. Luckily for everyone his follow-up, the delightful heist flick The Brothers Bloom, was another winner. And now we have the trailer for Looper. Three films, each with a completely different genre, look and style of dialogue. Though we will have to wait until the official release on September 28th to make it official, I'm going to start prepping the coronation hall just in case. He did after-all direct one of the best episodes of Breaking Bad ever.

My Best Girl (1927)

Maggie Johnson (Mary Pickford) is a humble shop girl with a crazy family. Joe Merrill (Charles 'Buddy' Rogers), the rich son of the chain store owner, is posing as a regular stock room employee to prove that he can be successful without his father's influence. Being that Maggie is the sweetest girl EVER, they fall in love. The problem? He's supposed to be engaged to a high society girl that his wealthy family approves of. Will their families' and society's expectations tear these two apart?

This is one of my favorite silent movies. The story is simple, and the leads are perfect. You can really feel that they care for each other, and for good reason: though Pickford was married to Douglas Fairbanks at the time the film was made, she and Rogers later were married from 1937 until Pickford's death in 1979. Aww!  But oh! Mary Pickford! I adore her. Known as "The Girl With The Golden Curls" and "America's Sweetheart," she often found herself playing young girls. In this film, however (her last silent film), she gets to play someone her own age, and she is absolutely lovely in a romantic role. There's one scene in particular where they eat lunch together in a box in the stock room...it's so tender and she's so convincing as a woman who has just fallen in love. And Buddy Rogers is no slouch either. I just love the two of them together.

This is a great "starter" silent film for those who aren't used to them. It's simple, sweet, funny, and an overall enjoyable viewing experience. Give it a chance!

In Theaters December 25th

Casino (1995)

The unbelievable true story of how a professional gambler (Robert De Niro), his hooker wife (Sharon Stone) and a hot-headed gangster (Joe Pesci) inadvertently brought the mob's reign in Las Vegas to a screeching halt.

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I consider myself fortunate to have seen this film before I saw Goodfellas. I was allowed to view Casino without the baggage of, 'that other film' to which it is so often compared. In fact I got to watch this film in a complete vacuum, as this was my first Scorsese film ever. Everything I love about his work, I first discovered here. And oh what a way to discover! In order to match the glittery excess of his principal location, Marty deliberately chose to ratchet-up his already hyperbolic style. The camerawork, the music, the violence, even the voice-over is over the top.This is Scorsese cranked up to 11!  You don't even feel the 3-hour run-time. This movie beats you over the head and leaves you for dead. And just like the real Las Vegas, you find yourself crawling back for a second helping.

The Birdcage (1996)

When his son announces that he's getting married to a right-wing senator's daughter (Calista Flockhart), gay cabaret owner Armand (Robin Williams) must put on a facade of "straightness" to meet her parents...including figuring out what to do about Armand's flamboyant partner Albert (Nathan Lane).

This is one of those silly feel-good movies for me. Nathan Lane is hilarious, although he plays his more serious scenes very well too. Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest are great as Flockhart's conservative parents. But my FAVORITE giggle-worthy performance comes from Hank Azaria as Agador, their house boy/Albert's assistant/jack-of-all-trades (just don't ask him to cook!). He's totally hilarious.

There are a lot of memorable scenes, including Armand taking us through a history of dance ("Madonna! Madonna! Madonna!") and Albert trying to act "straight" (his attempt to walk like John Wayne is too funny). But as funny as this movie is, it's a feel-good movie that teaches us a real lesson. How different are we all, really? Can't we all just get along?

Pop the popcorn and give this one a watch. And remember: we are family!

Donnie Darko (2001)

A jet engine crashes into a suburban house and sets in motion a chain of events that might lead to the end of the world. Oh and there's also a giant freaky looking bunny too.

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Though we've been cinematically raised to see the term "director's cut" as synonymous with "better cut", this is not always the case. Sometimes a director can be oblivious as to why their film was beloved in the first place. 

Case In Point: The Director's Cut of Donnie Darko

The great thing about the theatrical release of Donnie Darko is that it gives the impression of a huge, intricately thought-out universe. The failure of the director's cut is that it tries to explain everything in that huge, intricately thought-out universe. This is absolutely unnecessary. So what if some viewers don't "get" or "pick up on" every little nuance that you put in there? Let the audience bring something to the film. Allow them to have their own interpretations of things. There's a reason Quentin Tarantino has always refused to answered the question of, "What's in the briefcase?" in Pulp Fiction. It's because when you allow the audience to come to their own conclusions about things, the film becomes theirs. Why would you want to take that away from them?

In Conclusion: PLEASE ONLY WATCH THE THEATRICAL CUT OF DONNIE DARKO!

Double-Bill: School's Out

American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused

How to be Tracy Turnblad

Ladies (and gents, hey, we're open-minded)! Looking for some cinematic inspiration to spruce things up? Look no further than Tracy Turnblad.

Tracy Turnblad of the movie(s) Hairspray (1988 and 2007) is one of my favorite movie characters. She's confident, she's spunky, and she's a lot of fun.

So, here we go!

Step One: The movie is called Hairspray for a reason. So backcomb that hair! The higher the hair, the closer to God. Tracy got in trouble in class for having hair too high, and that's not a bad reason to get sent to detention! Here is a great tutorial on how to properly backcomb without ripping all your hair out! Also, never say never to wigs. ;)

Step Two:  Tracy is a forward thinking girl. In modern translations, fashion-wise, this means being unafraid to try new looks regardless of what's in. Since everything old is new again, we have a lot of modern versions of 1960s dresses to choose from! Yay! My favorites are here, here, and here. For a true vintage look, there's always Etsy!

Step Three: Dance dance dance! Tracy loves to shake her stuff! The 2007 Hairspray DVD includes two dance tutorials (couldn't find them on YouTube, boo!) However, I did find this gem (HAHA!) and I had to share it.

Step Four: Throw away your scale. If Tracy can love and appreciate her "pleasantly plump" body like she's a swimsuit model, you too can love yourself at any size.

Step Five: Stand up to bullies! Tracy stood up to bullies of every kind, marched in protest marches and even got arrested in her fight for racial integration! So be a hero and stand up for yourself and your fellow man! And woman. You don't HAVE to get yourself arrested if you don't want to. *wink*

Go! Feel inspired!

Soundtracks Of My Life: Magnolia

I'm aware that the idea of using a single artist for a film's soundtrack was nothing new in 1999 (Harold and Maude, One From The Heart, Good Will Hunting and numerous others had all come before) but to me this pairing goes much deeper than any of the others. Before a single line of script was written, Magnolia and the music of Aimee Mann were one and the same. The entire screenplay was written to her songs. Lyrics like "Now that I've met you/Would you object to/Never seeing each other again," found their way into the dialogue and other scenes were filmed to musical playback creating a seamless union of music and image. This film should have been nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay rather than Best Original, because this is a faithful adaptation of the highest order.

Key Tracks: One, Momentum, Save Me, Wise Up

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

This film was suggested by my little sister (Hi Dri!), and despite the fact that I already wrote about a Moses movie recently, I thought I’d give this one a write-up too!

The plot is your standard Moses story: Hebrew baby sent adrift in a basket is discovered by Egyptian queen, and is raised believing he is an Egyptian prince. Eventually he learns his true heritage, leaves home to start a new life, receives a message from the God of his people to return to Egypt to free the slaves. You know the rest.

The thing that really makes this movie for me is the relationship between Moses (Val Kilmer) and Rameses (Ralph Fiennes). In The Ten Commandments (1956), for example, they HATE each other from the start. It’s enjoyable to watch in it’s own right (for campy reasons, mostly), but it doesn’t really makes Moses’s return to free the slaves seem like a dilemma for him in any way. In The Prince of Egypt, they were raised as brothers and genuinely love each other. The relationship makes it much harder for Moses to go against his brother by following through on his mission. When Rameses turns on Moses, we can see how hurt they both are. It’s really well done.

With an all-star voice cast (Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Patrick Stewart, Steve Martin and Martin Short, among others), gorgeous animation and great songs, this film is not to be dismissed as just a “children’s movie." Give it a chance!

To Rome With Love

Another year, another Woody Allen film. Just like clockwork. After the phenomenal success of Midnight In Paris, this one should have no trouble finding an audience. Well-liked actors, in a beautiful European setting, photographed by Darius Khondji is a recipe for success if I ever saw one. Throw in the fact that it has Woody acting for the first time since 2006 and you have yourself a hit! Mark your calendars for June 22nd!

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Michael Corleone's (Al Pacino) ruthless solidification of power is paralleled with the story of how his father (Robert De Niro) immigrated to this country and rose to prominence in the world of organized crime.

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Francis Ford Coppola fought to call this film The Godfather Part II. Up to that point in film history, sequels always had titles meant to indicate a re-hash of the first film (Another Thin Man, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, etc.) but Francis had no interesting in repeating himself. He wanted to make clear that this was the continuation of a narrative begun in the first film. An HBO series before there was an HBO. In fact, had they been around at the time, we might well have called this "The Godfather: Season 2". The season where the stakes were raised, the season where a beloved character was killed, the season of betrayal, where a good series became a great one. The failure of "season" 3 was inevitable. There's no way anyone could outdo this one, even Coppola himself.