Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Our Movie Art Collection

If there's one thing I love almost as much as movies, it's decorating my home with things I love. Since cinema is so important to us, we've always had movie art in our home, whether it be movie posters or original art. I though I'd give you a peek at some of our favorite pieces!


"Portrait of an Iron Giant as a Young Vin Diesel" by Mike Mitchell, purchased at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles

Monday, August 19, 2013

Double-Bill: Can I Be Franco With You?

The Spirit Of The Beehive and Cria Cuervos

Bullhead (2011)


Over at IMDB the film's plot is described thusly:

A young cattle farmer is approached by a veterinarian to make a deal with a notorious beef trader.

Going off of that description I have zero interest in this film. It sounds like I'm in store for the millionth incarnation of a mob story. Sure there's the slight variation in that it's set in Belgium and involves injecting cows with steroids and hormones, but you know in advance that family and friendship will play a huge roll and that there will be murder and there will be betrayal. At this point in cinema history it's practically a paint by numbers situation. But what saves this film is the character of Jacky. This wounded animal of a man portrayed by Matthias Schoenaerts is a beautifully amazing spanner in the works of what would have otherwise been standard genre fare. It's almost akin to taking an actual bull and making him the star of The Yards. It turns the film into something completely new and your heart truly bleeds for this guy. Bravo!

Friday, August 16, 2013

Friday Quote: Another Earth


"Within our lifetimes, we've marveled as biologists have managed to look at ever smaller and smaller things. And astronomers have looked further and further into the dark night sky, back in time and out in space. But maybe the most mysterious of all is neither the small nor the large: it's us, up close. Could we even recognize ourselves, and if we did, would we know ourselves? What would we say to ourselves? What would we learn from ourselves? What would we really like to see if we could stand outside ourselves and look at us?"

Another Earth (2011)

Film Fans Unite!

Take a quick glance at the comment section on any film site and you will plainly see that film lovers cannot agree on anything. Even some of the most unimpeachable classics have their detractors, just as many of the worst films have their champions. Everyone has their own subjective likes and dislikes which inform the opinions they make on everything. Film is no exception. I often get the feeling that the only thing movie lovers can agree on is that they love movies. It is with that fact firmly in mind that I make this appeal to you.
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Late on the evening of August 5th, Twitch Film announced that it had come to their attention that Weistein Company Chief, Harvey Weinstein was seeking to cut 20 minutes from South Korean filmmaker Joon-Ho Bong's English language debut Snowpiercer. Though the story made the blog-rounds over the next couple of days, important sites and periodicals like Daily Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood Daily and Hollywood Elsewhere have stood virtually mute on the topic. How is this not bigger news?

It's not like we're talking about some epically-long, artsy/experimental, foreign language film. Snowpiercer is about as commercial as it can get. It's sci-fi, in English, based on a comic book, starring Chris "Captain America" Evans. The film has already smashed box office records in South Korea with a director's cut that runs a mere 126 minutes. That's right, this film is 40 minutes shorter than last summer's comic book blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises.

Back in 1985, when Universal wanted to hack off the end of  Brazil, director Terry Gilliam and executive Sid Sheinberg were able to do battle in Jack Mathews' Film Clips column for the Los Angeles Times. Search all you want through a current edition of that same paper, and you will find not a single mention as to what is going on with The Weinstein Company and Snowpiercer. A current Variety piece makes reference to "numerous unconfirmed reports" about the cuts, but why aren't they pressing for confirmation?



Thanks to Twitter and other social media, film critics, film fans and filmmakers are closer than ever, yet where is the collective outrage? On Rotten Tomatoes, Bong's previous five films have an average "fresh rating" of 88.5%. On Metacritic his average is 82% positive. In a medium as divisive as film, those are some pretty solid numbers. People like this guy's work and judging by the reaction in South Korea, this film is not an exception to the rule.

Now I'm not saying that we have to do anything as brash as when the Los Angeles Film Critics Association forced Universal's hand by voting Gilliam's cut of Brazil as the Best Picture of 1985, but can't we as a film loving community at least do something? Can't we hound larger media outlets to give this story some coverage? Can't we get #HarveyScissorhands trending on twitter? Can't we let Bong know that we are in his corner and that we desire to see his vision on screen as he intended it? Chris Evans has to be diplomatic in the way he talks about this issue, we do not. Let's take what little power we have and do some good with it!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

The Ice Storm (1997)


A lot happens on Thanksgiving weekend in New Canaan Connecticut 1973.

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What I love about The Ice Storm is how it never seems to judge its characters. Though highly stylized and filled with visual metaphors, it’s narratively akin to reportage. Even with the subjective narration, you get the privilege of seeing everyone at both their best and their worst. The characters are just being themselves and the camera is simply observing, no editorializing. People do and say horrible things just as easily as they can do or say wonderfully compassionate things. No heavy-handed, “Look Closer” tagline on the poster necessary either. Might make an interesting double-bill with Little Children.

This movie also gets major bonus points for not overstaying its welcome. It does not linger one frame longer than it needs to. It makes its point and gets the heck out of there. Cut to black. If only contemporary blockbusters would take a cue from this film.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Contact (1997)


I've been on a major sci-fi movie kick this month, plus I recently started watching Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" on Netflix (a little late to the party, eh?) so it was no wonder that I'd revisit the film based on Sagan's book, Contact. I first saw this film as a young teen and it has become a favorite that I've rewatched many times since then.

Contact is the story of Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), a scientist and astronomer constantly on the search for evidence of life "out there." When she picks up a signal from space that proves it was sent by intelligent beings, the whole world becomes obsessed with extra-terrestrial life. Ellie is faced with defending her findings, her convictions, and her jealousy at others taking credit.

This is an excellent example of a science fiction film without tons of action, explosions, etc. This one is especially interesting to me because it explores science versus religion. For Dr. Arroway, science IS her religion. She is a scientist and an atheist and, despite having life-changing experiences, she still holds firm to who she is and what she knows to be true. I love that. I also love the realistic depiction of how people would react to such a discovery: you'd have politicians trying to make it a political issue and control everything, and you'd have the wackos being pretty damn crazy. But that's what this world is, isn't it? Takes all kinds. Let's hope we're not alone out here.




Monday, August 12, 2013

Brokeback Mountain (2005)


After a summer working together on the titular mountain, two cowboys (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) fall in love but society and personal issues keep them apart.

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Though I admired and enjoyed this film when it was first released, a question kept gnawing at my brain: Why this one? What made this film so much more special than all the other queer films that had come before? Was it even really a queer film? Straight stars, straight writers, straight director, gay story. I felt like I was missing something. I kept looking for subtext in every nook and cranny, but to no avail.

With nearly a decade elapsed since its initial release I decided it was time to give Brokeback Mountain another look. Perhaps this time I would find what I'd been looking for all those years ago.

What I found was a film of starling beauty. Every shot makes your heart ache. The direction is so delicate. One false step and many of the lines, hairstyles and costumes in this film could have lead to chuckles. Yet somehow Ang Lee and company were able to dance that tightrope as though it were a ballroom floor. And let us not forget that Heath Ledger's Ennis is nothing short of a living, breathing, human being. In short, I was finally able to appreciate this film for what it is: a remarkably heartbreaking and passionate piece of filmmaking.

Why is Brokeback Mountain "the one"? Because it is.

Double-Bill: Brainwash

The Manchurian Candidate and The Parallax View

Friday, August 9, 2013

Friday Quote: Temple Grandin



"...They'll be very calm. Nature is cruel but we don't have to be; we owe them some respect. I touched the first cow that was being stunned. In a few seconds it was going to be just another piece of beef, but in that moment it was still an individual. It was calm... and then it was gone. I became aware of how precious life was. I thought about death and I felt close to God. I don't want my thoughts to die with me. I want to have done something."

Temple Grandin (2010)

Thursday, August 8, 2013

The Aviator (2004)


A bio-pic portraying the early years of filmmaker and pilot Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) who made the most expensive movies and flew the fastest planes.

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Aside from his attempt at a musical with New York, New York, all of Martin Scorsese’s films prior to 2002 had all been decidedly small and low-fi. Even his “Biblical Epic” The Last Temptation Of Christ was rendered intimate and small. No elaborate sets or sweeping crane shots here folks. And he made Gangs Of New York. Shot on the Fellini stages at Cinecittà, no expense was spared. Finally Scorsese was able to live out his dream of being a classical Hollywood director like the ones he grew up admiring.

As much as I enjoy aspects of that film, it doesn’t quite work for me as a whole. Anchored by strong performances (especially that of Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill The Butcher) it feels less like a film and more like an opportunity for Scorsese to show off how much research he had accumulated in the 25 years the film had been in development. Having all that research in the background of your story is fine, it helps to make things more real, but placing it before your narrative becomes tiresome. Though I was bummed about him losing the Best Director Oscar that year, I have to admit I was kind of OK with it.

When The Aviator was announced as his follow up film I was quietly dreading more of the same. Once again he would be working on an epic canvas with apparently unlimited resources. I was worried that Howard Hughes would become nothing more than a means by which to express all of the Hollywood history Marty had been voraciously consuming since childhood. I was prepared for another well-shot yet meticulous history lesson. Thank God I was wrong.

Now of course I’m not saying that this film is an intimate affair in any sense of the word (the sets are huge and the flying/crashing scenes are rivetingly intense) but foregrounding all of this spectacle is an extremely strong script by John Logan and most importantly a fascinating character, exquisitely portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio. More so than the parties and the planes and the women, this is a story about a man who despite all his wealth, power and cunning, could not escape his own mind. He can find ways to make it work for a time. He can even overcome the occasional breakdown. But in the end, the inevitable is always nipping at his heels and ready to overtake him. Ready to overtake him. Ready to overtake him. Ready to overtake him…

Monday, August 5, 2013

The Parallax View (1974)

Three years after the assassination of a popular Presidential Candidate, people who were there start dying under mysterious circumstances. Enter ambitious reporter Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) to figure out what's going on and how this might all connect to The Parallax Corporation.

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Like many film fanatics I'm prone to falling down rabbit holes. Sometimes it's a director, sometimes an actor, sometimes a genre. I have no control over it. I see a film or hear/read about something I want to know more about and then all of a sudden I am overtaken with the need to consume it whole. My latest obsession has been paranoid thrillers made between the late 60's and the early 80's.

By and large I find these films to be a pretty satisfying genre. Sure there's the occasional dalliance with by-the-numbers predictability and self-righteous earnestness (Three Days Of The Condor) but most are pleasurably taut exercises in cynicism and paranoia. The Parallax View is thankfully one of the latter.

At the start I was expecting something akin to my Condor experience only this time with Warren Beatty looking all rakish and socially minded. Fortunately this film was shot and directed by Gordon Willis and Alan J. Pakula. Their dark and distant aesthetic boarders on the experimental and virtually removes Beatty from the film all together while at the same time giving an eerie air to all of the proceedings. Who would have thought that long-shots of red, white and blue tables could illicit such chilling unease in an audience? Gordon and Alan did, and God bless them for it.

Bonus points for the presence of Thor in the brainwash montage!

Double-Bill: Cary Me Away

North By Northwest and Charade

Friday, August 2, 2013

Friday Quote: Foreign Correspondent


"You can do what you want with me. That's not important. But you'll never conquer them...little people everywhere who give crumbs to birds. Lie to them, drive them, whip them, force them into war. When the beasts like you will devour each other, then the world will belong to the little people."

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Miami Connection (1987)

Orlando (not Miami) is overrun with cocaine thanks to a heavy biker and ninja presence in the city. Fortunately the awesome rock band Dragon Sound is around to kick ass and put a stop to all this stupid cocaine and crime.

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I don't believe in "guilty pleasures". If you find joy in something, then there is merit in it. So what if that joy comes from a ludicrous plot, poorly acted? FACT: Synth-rockers battling it out with bikers and ninjas is funny. No explanation necessary! As fascinating as I find J. Hoberman's 1980 piece "Bad Movies", being told that the Surrealists were the first to cultivate an appreciation for bad movies does not increase or decrease my enjoyment of them one iota. I also don't care about bad movies being, "unintended documentaries" either. I simply want to watch Dragon Sound take on ninjas so that Jim can reunite with his dad! Is that so wrong? 

Bonus Thought:
If you disregard the script and acting, Miami Connection is not too far off from some of the more "legit" films of the 1980's. For my money, Y.K. Kim could have easily directed a Bloodsport or American Ninja film.