Skeleton Cruise

M e L a N c H o L i A

2012-01-28T14:19:00.001-08:00

Best film of 2o11.

P S Y C H O

2012-01-10T11:46:00.000-08:00

Coming Soon ...the 60th post and the jewel of 1960, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.

Who do you root for when you watch Psycho?

Marion?

Norman?

Arbogast?

I had occasion to watch this on mute in a noisy bar, on a busy night..

My coworker, Ashley and myself happened to glance up at the same time Norman is standing by the lake, and turns to camera - Absolutely Chilling - no joke - goosebumps, and both of us felt it.

Supports the thought Alfred Hitchcock put forth that a good film can be watched silently, and understood clearly.

PROMETHEUS or ..The Return of RIDLEY SCOTT

2011-12-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

While Batman fights the Avengers for most anticipated film of 2012, I'm counting the days 'til PROMETHEUS.

#1 on this kid's personal "film wishlist" was Ridley's return to Sci-Fi. I don't think any single Director has had more intelligent influence in the genre.
Only Stanley Kubrick's 2001 could challenge the claim, but that's for someone else to try.

Regardless, he's back, and man am I happy about it.

A MIND-BLOWING Trailer, and a clearly ultra-invigorated Scott has got ALIEN fans drooling for next summer. It looks mysterious and frightening, highlighted by brilliant sound design, and one talented cast.
I'll be talking about this one a lot.

Wanna get PSYCHED-UP?
Watch this one first...

...then this one..

I do believe Ridley Scott is one of the few actual geniuses working in film, and lucky for us - he seems to love this playground. So stoked.

A.

American Horror Story

2011-12-10T11:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's not perfect..
..but man, I'm enjoying AHS.

Liked the premise right off, but it took a few episodes for this "haunted-house" show to truly find it's legs ..but it found 'em. Some good acting and a couple surprises here and there are making this a pretty reliable watch.

Wouldn't have guessed that so much sex would work but it does ...and pretty well actually.
Most recent episode with Violet's realization = Fantastic.

I'll be back here real soon..
I'm back.. and wow, is everyone dead on AHS? What a crazy show! ...groovy, bring on the wacky..

Jan4/12
Wow, I can't believe I didn't see where this was all going for the season..
Very cool.

And Jessica Lange - Fantastic.
Gotta say - I'm genuinely intrigued by where this next season's going to go..

Alright - just watched it again, and I loved that last episode but yeah, where the fuck are they going with it?
Season Two:
"Happy Holiday-Loving Ghost Family Fight Anti-Christ!!"

Must confess to being somewhat apprehensive, but I'll be watching - that's for sure.

A.

Of Unknown Origin

2011-11-12T08:18:00.000-08:00

I like horror movies.
I like simple straightforward narratives a lot.
..and I like Peter Weller.

Of Unknown Origin is a little old thriller from 1983. I'd seen that claw-raked-photo-painting-cover for years and just last night succumbed to my fascination.
Glad I did - it's wayyy different than I'd expected ...that being a AIP type of film ...bit loosey goosey and very dated. What I got was a small tight little story with a wicked performance at it's heart.

I love this era of horror ...when Dead Zone was shot in Canada ...when Changeling was shot in Canada..

Not Sold?
Well, the movie also boasts the debut of Shannon Tweed, and if you watch it for her nude scene you're done in five minutes ...easy peasy..
Then there's Louis Del Grande leading the Canadian charge comprised of Jennifer Dale, Maury Chaykin, and Kenneth Welsh ...go Canucks!

Peter Weller toasting to Canadians..

I'd always thought it was a supernatural story ...nope, far from it..
...so simple it's charming as hell.

AC

Larry Hama ...and my 80's.

2011-10-12T03:56:00.000-07:00

Up ...wayyyy up, in the pop stratosphere of my goofy existence...
Wayyy back, in the early 1980's, and even up above George Lucas and Steven Spielberg is Larry Hama.

Is that Chris Farley as BAZOOKA???

"Who's he?" you ask..

Larry Hama wrote Marvel Comic's G.I.Joe from it's little old #1 issue right thru to the end, and a fair number of my childhood experiences in the process.
I picked up #2 at the United Cigar Store in the Spryfield Mall- gooood issue, well-drawn and wellll-written. Hooked. Instantly.
Then there's the Sierra Gordo stuff ...God, I love those issues..
& SILENT INTERLUDE ...'nuff said.
..but I digress..

Turns out LH was responsible for the "file cards" too, and this was a unique situation for us kids at the time: A monthly comic book to guide our hands - the best 33/4 figures ever built, and a smart, cool writer at the helm who, more than anything, knew how to have fun with the whole thing. Not only was he a clever storyteller, he was teaching us too - I learned a lot, reading a comic book about military behavior, vehicles, and teamwork. I apply a fair bit of it to life now.
AWESOME.
I don't have memories that are better than those days ...just equal at best. Seriously, we were just plain happy ...kids all over North America were building bases, roads, stockades...
We were fighting Cobra ...all of us together ...innocent days(okay, some brushfires...)
that ended in our Moms calling us to dinner as dusk claimed our summers.
Beautiful memories they are.

G.I.Joe made us wanna be outside, play with others(well), and read ...not too bad for a "funny-book" eh?
We wrote our own side-stories ...made up histories ...all out of LH's world he was creating for us.

I remember calling my mother at work and asking if she'd pick up the new issue on the way home..
Mom'd had a bad day but agreed to pick it up for me/us(my bro too) anyway.
When it finally landed in my eager little mitts a few hours later I grinned and hugged her ...gave her a big "thanks". It was the issue from the month previous and I had it already, but it felt like a smile Larry Hama and I got to give to a pretty cool lady who always put her kids first. Always.
It felt like Larry Hama put us kids first too.

Now, one of the things we hoped(if we did think of such things) was that our heroes were actually cool. This didn't seem like a huge request - after all, we look up to people - they have to be cool, right?
I had occasion to interact just briefly with Mr. Hama recently, and not only did he take time for it, but ...well, he's exactly as cool as I'd hoped - he's a nice guy.
Moments like that can make your day ..or link it to the 500 other sepia-toned days of an amazing youth...

Thanks to Mr. Larry Hama ...for the NOW and the THEN..
Thanks for "making" a lot of my days, man.

A.

Apes Will Rise!!!

2011-08-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Loved it.
This summer, movies rock!!

That's actually something cool about franchises -it took 43 years to get another GREAT Planet of the Apes movie, but we got one.
Worth the wait.
What an incredibly entertaining film, and a great addition to the canon. Sooo impressed... I was laughing out loud at the ingenuity of this team - lot of smart decisions in there.

The Uncanny Valley: It'll be WETA who crosses it before Cameron - that's fer sure.
Feels weird and amazing that I liked a purely CG character a helluva lot more than Green Lantern this year, but it wasn't the effects at the core...
WRITING!!!! ...it's still kind of important, dummies...
..and this Apes movie is well fucking written.

That I loved the character of Caesar still has me reeling - I hope I can write a fictional character so well someday. Hats off to Andy Serkis for topping Gollum - there's a lot to the physical presence of these sci-fi creations, and he's in control, boy ...how the hell does an ape have better body language than most of the "superheroes" in their own films?
He looks dramatic, and pensive ...real.

TBC

Captain America: The First Avenger

2011-07-25T03:56:00.000-07:00

Holy fuck, I loved this movie...
...and despite it's title, it doesn't feel like an ad for another one. I like that.


Loved Little Steve Rogers...

Captain America is a very long standing Marvel comic book character, and though he's been on the screen before, it was never done like this.
This is the story of a 90 lb weakling who wants to make a difference - a man who was born a hero.
The first third... "Steve becomes a soldier" is perfect.
This is the key to good entertainment, kids - make me care before you bring out the special effects...
And they are special - really nice looking film.

Chris Evans' "young Steve Rogers" is a great performance. I suspect he had to limit his movement for the digital effects - he seemed controlled but so earnest ...wow, I didn't appreciate how rich these characters could be in full flesh and blood. I would have watched a whole movie about that little weakling - why? ..because he's a fuckin' great character.

In fact, the GRENADE is one of the best "character" moments I've ever seen in any movie. LOVE IT.

Joe Johnston is really good at that nice soft vision of the past - his WW2 is like Band of Brothers for kids. But the most noticeable element of this whole project is how much love went into it, for lack of a better word. These guys love this character as much as I do - as much as millions of kids for years and years have - it really shows.
Tommy Lee Jones is great - most I've enjoyed him in a long time. He seemed like he was having fun.
Hayley Atwell is lovely and reminds me of another Hayley I know...
Couple o' tear-jerkin' scenes, boy.
His line after the big event, so to speak - I don't care if you like superheroes or not - it's just great writing, and kudos to the writers they're borrowing from. Years of Cap stories inform this screenplay, with a lot of the Ultimates mixed in ...impressive synthesis storytelling.

Bucky's a surprise. I love the character but it's tough to pull off a kid beside a Super-Soldier. Fantastic interpretation of the "sidekick" role - more like two soldiers at war - just excellent. There's a brilliant montage towards the end - where everyone shines, and the inspiration of this hero is obvious.
Dum-Dum Duggan is great, and I suspect Neal McDonough is in there as the original Cap consideration.

Dominic Cooper's Howard Stark was another pleasant surprise, and what an impressive world the Marvel filmmakers have brought together. The idea of Tony's Dad way back might've sounded hokey but it's so charming. They're creating Marvel history up on the big screen. Out of a wonderfully comic-heavy childhood, this is stuff I'm really happy to see - invested storytelling.
Kinda sad to me that of the four "superhero flics" this summer, three were Marvel, and the other one - well, I wanted to like Green Lantern. He's a great character.

Then there's The RED SKULL.
He's Cap's Joker, and such a fun cat - I mean, Nazis are the perfect villain bar none, but a skull-headed one - c'mon? He's awesome - just look at any Cap comics - the Red Skull is always up to something fucked-up.
Hugo Weaving plays him as a genius weirdo - and on that note, the Werner Herzog accent is a blast - subtle and hilarious.
...and though I'm not so much a fan of the rubber face, it was handled really well - that slipping eye...
But his design - Brilliant - absolutely nailed it.
Took about 30 years to see Cap and his nemesis duke it out properly on the big screen for this kid.
Worth the wait this was..

...and dead?
Ahhhh, ha ha ha ha haaaa....
The Red Skull never dies - he's the toughest bad guy in either of the big stables...

Captain America: The First Avenger is tight entertaining movie. The overall design is charming but totally epic - comic-booky, but cutting edge storytelling.
It has twice the heart of most of these "superhero" flics, amidst a perfectly paced World War II actioner - I'll watch it plenty, I suspect.
I went to see it again this afternoon.

It's too bad the GLUT of superhero flics seems to have killed this one.
It's really really good.

Well, turns out CAP made a fair bit - good, I'd love to see a part 2..
A.

Carl Kolchak ...Johnny Depp?

2011-07-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

Well, that might just work.
Kolchak is up there with Swamp Thing for this cat/dork...

I fucking love Carl Kolchak ..just do.
I could question why, but I already know. It's Darren McGavin - he's got the tone of the character built in to his own - he's stubborn, smart, and undoubtedly aggravating. I bet he could drive people nuts - a well trained actor, who knew what he wanted to do, but often foiled by dummies...
...and a Kolchak show could have been sooo good.
Don't get me wrong - I love the TV show, but not because it's brilliant - it boasts a few really cool episodes, but it's difficulties on the studio side led to too many compromises, and just one short season.
No, it was the original film - a TV movie called The Night Stalker(1972) that hooked both the studio(which got huge ratings and they ordered another one immediately) and myself. Now, granted I saw it in rerun, but it was such a weird experience that I told friends about it for years.
It was another late friday with Dad, and I joined the movie a few minutes in. It looked cool - that old seventies mystery look, and the lead was ...odd, I guess is the best way to put it - I remember it struck me how bumbly he was - but I was engaged by him ...by his investigation - who was this "Kolchak", and what kind of killer was he chasing?
I was pretty freaked-out when it turned out to be a vampire - in modern day!! What was going on? What a cool story...
This was my one time experience with Kolchak but thanks to The X-Files(creators love of it) I'd find it all eventually.

What an intro.
Check out the music/tone change...

The 1st movie is great - 2nd is almost as good, and the series, though formulaic, has a few really good episodes - a couple are screenplay material fer sure...
It all looks great, and he's just so much fun.

Sooo, could someone be the new Kolchak? Guess that depends...
I didn't think anyone could be the "New Captain Kirk" but it worked(ST'09).
Really well, in fact - been a long time since I was stoked for the next Star Trek flic, but JJ Abrams - he just "gets" it...
Smart guy, and young Chris Pine ...again - he "got" it. Don't play William Shatner - play a young Captain Kirk.
...such a frickin' good movie.

Women love Johnny Depp - good-looking, funny, charming - superstar actor/zillionaire...
But everyone knows it's the quirky that makes him JD...
...and it's quirky that made Carl Kolchak.
CK is a smart character but goofy for sure and Darren McGavin wasn't afraid to be goofy - the idea is to do it well - really really well, and who does anyone think of first for well-executed weirdos?
The one thing I'd bet on is that JD loves the character if he does it, and that's what these "re-imaginings" need most - genuine love for the original material.

The film is only in the development part so who knows what'll happen but if Jack Sparrow does play Carl Kolchak - cool - bring it on.
Only One Question Remains:
Who will play Tony Vincenzo?

A.

The Night Gallery

2011-06-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

I'd heard about it for years..
Rod Serling's The Night Gallery...

Picked up Season 2 the other day and dove right in. Wow, what a cool show...

It opens with the ever charming and somewhat creepy, Mr. Serling inviting us into the Night Gallery - a museum of pictures ...pictures that tell 1000 stories. Love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9pToHSFdwk

I Love UNIVERSAL, and professionally - if I ever do make real films in the real world, I've got to work for Universal.
I suppose I'll always be obsessed with this period - My first ten years on earth are the seventies, and peripherally I was soaking up a fair bit. I only had one Kolchak night but it stayed with me 'til I found it all again recently.

Carl Kolchak is up there with Swamp Thing for this kid, but that's for another post, and God love Universal for all of the horror under their umbrella...

But back to the NG..
It's the format that gets me - it's loose ..it feels organic - that freedom that only occurred in the late '60's/early '70's - The freedom of a visionary, and of experimentation...
This is what the 1970's is for me.

Then there's the quality of it - great actors on good sets - not the same cheapy feel of so many anthology shows...

It's the work of an Auteur ...and that, again is what the 70's is all about.

Going to watch plenty then return...
...and chat details. Go watch The Night Gallery - Trust me.

The T E R M I N A T O R

2011-06-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

It's Father's Day today, and more than any other film, this is the one that makes me think of my Dad.

Why, Arthur(as if anyone cares)?

Because I watched it with him first. Simple.
Had never seen it before and do believe Dad suggested it when it debuted on TV late one friday night. We'd often end up quietly "watching"* a movie together in those days ...pre-girlfriends and booze, but post-toys(mostly).

*Watching - I don't think my Father knew how The Terminator, First Blood, or Jaws actually end..
I was his second favorite movie-watching-companion - the first being a good nap.

The Film:
Terminator is up on Artie's ol' shortlist of SUPER*WATCHED*FILMS.
And having mulled on why I like this specific movie so much, I've come to an interesting point with it.

I think it's an expanded CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER...
James Cameron's interpretation of Harlan Ellison's work, or rather the heart of it.
"You're crazy" I can hear my half dozen followers saying...

Hear me out: Are they both not stories of people from different time periods falling in love, not being able to be together, and doing the "right" thing in a somewhat sad nihilistic ending?
No coincidence that Ellison is mentioned in the Terminator credits - But it's not so much the mechanized antagonists Cameron borrowed, as the tone ...I truly believe the place both stories came from is one in the same.
Ellison claims his story "Soldier" was the inspiration, but that concept seems more to have informed T2. Some claim "Demon with a Glass Hand" but I suspect it's City on the Edge of Forever that was actually Cameron's biggest influence, along with a perhaps subconscious desire to tell an Ellison-esque tale. Who could blame him? Ellison is apparently an asshole, but a brilliant one, with an extraordinary grasp of truly human storytelling. Undeniable.

"That's a good question, Mr.Spock - how much Ellison is in The Terminator?"

They say a film is only as good as it's villain - well, this one is named for the bad guy, and quite the bad guy he is. Schwarzenegger's weird intensity and extremely limited dialogue make every second of screentime count - he's fantastic, and it'll always be my favorite Arnie role. He has a physical impatience built into the efficiency of the character that seems to disappear in the sequels. It's his coolest performance - he "feels" unstoppable ..inhuman ...frightening, and that cyborg chase scene - I was mad at my father for falling asleep before that sequence - I was 14 ..maybe 15, and it scared me shitless.

And then there's that "classic" phrase... you know the one.
Who hasn't said those three words? Only Mr. Burns' "Exxxxcellent" might be better known in pop-language, but who can really say?

...and what a way to get that audience association - This robot is has been built by someone specifically to kill you, and you are noone special..
..Or are you? Maybe your the future president, or maybe his mother - endless possibilities, and very clever storytelling, especially in the paradoxical "Father" equation of the film. Is fatherhood and it's importance not a central theme here? Is Skynet not the child of a "father-based society" having outgrown it's own father? ...not unlike Roy Batty in Blade Runner.

Opening this apocalyptic tale far in the future, then telling it one single night in our time - ONE NIGHT - that's the whole film.. Brilliant.

The Terminator is one of the purest narratives I've ever seen. From first frame to last, it never stops moving - I love that.
Shot in 1984, I'm still hard pressed to find films now that move the camera nearly as much. I don't think Spielberg used a dolly once in Indy 4. Facts being facts, James Cameron was a genius at this point, and only Aliens could challenge Terminator for the best thing he's ever done ...and being a sequel I guess it really can't. Ha haa..

For what it is, it's perfect.
Rare thing...

...I'll be back.

the summer of SUPER 8...

2011-06-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

I thought I was going to see a Steven Spielberg film by J.J. Abrams.
Nope.

It is a movie for us(my generation) ..and about us.
Set in the summer of 1979, Super 8 offers a sci-fi mystery, with a heartfelt human story, as it follows a group of teenagers who set out to make a super 8 horror film in their Ohio steel-mill town.

More than a sense of wonderment in the viewer is the sense of it in the film - letting us watch us is essentially what I got out of Super 8. It just took a bit to figure it out..
It really is "wonderment" up on that screen, and the true love for Steven Spielberg's early work - that "feeling" that was pervasive through his films and so many he produced. Fact is, there's far more respect for SS's early career than in than in his own recent Indy 4. It's a love affair with small people sharing big adventures whilst surrounded by dubious adults.
Watching these kids, it's hard not to feel young again.

It's not perfect. I think I was hoping for a more intriguing story, and at moments it feels like E.T. mashed in with The Thing ...but boy, if your going to slam a couple films together to make a 70's/80's homage ...why not go with the best eh?

Super 8 is a very personal film for something so pedigreed, if you will.
Sooo I'm going to go AGAIN today ...and let it sink in a little more.

I think I kinda liked it actually...

X-MEN - First Class

2011-06-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

"First Class" is right...
This is a great film, and a perfect start to the whole X-men experience, if you're not already a fan.

After being floored by Kick-Ass, I was soo glad to hear Mathew Vaughn was on the next X-opus ...very well directed. I love it when you can feel the reverence a director has for the material - why do a film if you don't?

...and it features the BEST CAMEO EVER!!! I won't ruin it, but trust me ...this one moment is a fanboy dream, and a great laugh. Brilliant scene.

*January Jones is almost hot enough to excuse her lack of talent, but not quite..

Loved Xavier, Magneto, and Shaw equally but the friendship between Charles and Erik is the lynchpin and perfectly done. The ending is sad, hopeful then awesome. Some beautiful design too - just a blast to look at. I'm a sucker for that period ...it's Kennedy ...it's the 60's...

X-Men: First Class works as a fun period piece, a really good comic book movie, and a dramatic story ...I really do hope this becomes the next X-trilogy.
Upon my 2nd viewing, I liked Michael Fassbinder even more..
MAGNETO is brilliant.

Very Cool flic.
..and I'm First in line for whatever Mathew Vaughn does.

Franchise: FAIL !!!

2011-06-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

Alright, I finally watched Beneath the Planet of the Apes last night...
..and for the moment I have a new "least favorite sequel of all time".

WOW, I hated this movie sooo much...
It has prompted a little dash o' writing on franchise failures:

1) Beneath the Planet of the Apes - Absolute 100% shit. Atrocious. It is literally the antithesis of the first film. Hopeless - mean - confusing. Sparking only 100 ridiculous questions: Why the rubber masks ...where did they get them? etc etc.....and is this the single most nihilistic sci-fi ending of all time? It makes an Alien ending look like The Princess Bride...
It's true - the whole film is BENEATH The Planet of the Apes.

2) T4 or Terminator Salvation - Holeee smokes, I hated this one more than any other sequel ever, and I'm sure it'll reclaim top spot after my super-contempt for Beneath cools down.
Why was MEGATRON in this film? Why would SKYNET have 6 foot doorways ...or even fucking doors at all? I wanted a monster computer and I got Helena Bonham Carter looking as confused as I was.
Ooooh, I fucking hate T4... Fact is, the Terminator franchise is one of my personal favorites and McG's utter destruction of that storyline actually offended me. Only one other theatre experience was as rage-inducing...

3) ...and that was A Nightmare on Elm Street(2010). I honestly don't think Samuel Bayer should work in the Film Industry. He's both talentless and stupid ...ugh, that reboot/remake pissed me off. Just junk from beginning to end ...lousy scares ...lousy super-forgettable Nancy ...lousy digital look, and the twist ...man, something about monkeys and typewriters...
And don't even get me started on what they did to Freddy. Ugh.
A pathetic attempt at a horror film. Embarrassing.

4) Highlander II: The Quickening - The original TERRIBLE sequel. This movie is a lot like Planet of the Apes II(Beneath) in that the filmmakers not only seem as though they aren't fans of the original so much as contemptuous of it.
Roger Ebert: ..gave the film a score of 0.5 star (out of four), saying: "Highlander II: The Quickening is the most hilariously incomprehensible movie I've seen in many a long day—a movie almost awesome in its badness. Wherever science fiction fans gather, in decades and generations to come, this film will be remembered in hushed tones as one of the immortal low points of the genre."
Ha ha haa ...it's sooo true.
My nerd buddies and I deconstructed H2 for years ...The PLANET ZEIST?!?! - What the fuck is anyone in this film even talking about? Super-garbage.

Oh, Ironside ...what are you up to?

5) Batman & Robin - For money, expectation, talent-involved, and strength of the franchise itself ...this may technically be the WORST FILM EVER MADE.
Two hours and five minutes without a worthwhile shot, scene or line of dialogue. This is the epitome of "High End Crap" ...just a completely hollow experience.

In an interview with Barbara Walters, Clooney claims he played Batman gay ...not that there's anything wrong with that...

Eight years before we'd see another Batman movie.

6) Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 - wow.
I remain convinced that noone involved with this "film" saw The Blair Witch Project.

7) Matrix Reloaded - I took this quote from EW: "Revolution is actually worse. But the second Matrix feels more egregious because of the sheer nosedive from the original. Sci-fi droolers had four whole years of pent-up expectations and time wasted dissecting the first chapter's metaphysical riddles. And after all that waiting, what did they get? A laughable techno rave in Zion with a lot of slo-mo sweat and revelers in hemp clothing. It's like a Lenny Kravitz video directed by Bob Guccione."
Yup, hated this while watching, and that's rare. Shite.

8) Ghostbusters II - GB2 is the most "sequelly" feeling movie I've ever seen, and one of the good reasons people don't like sequels very much. It sucks. It has that tired end-of-the-80's vibe ...like an over processed song ...it just tastes bland. I really dislike GB2.
Every moment seems "written" and forced. NO good dialogue ...just efficient and expository, and even the cast feels tired.
And like Die Hard 3 I can't stand it when the romance of the first film is undermined for drama in a lesser film. Why don't Dana and Venkman have a baby? Lame lame lame movie.

9) Spider-Man 3 - Holy Moley, this movie sucks balls.
One bad decision after another ...and only a hair's breath from being as bad as Schumacher's hundred and twenty million dollar homosexual love letter to 60's Batman.
The two originless villains look cool once in a while, which technically makes it better than Batman 4, but it's a terrible film and again ...really "sequelly" feel to it.
SHITTY.

"WTF??" pretty much sums up Spidey 3...

TBC

Supernatural - 21st Century Hardy Boys

2011-05-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

First show I watched as a boy was ...The Hardy Boys.
Goofy, pretty light interpretation of the novels but fun ...good spirited spooky stories.
But, like Scooby-Doo, there was no actual supernatural stuff ...just bad guys pretending...
..and it left me wondering how would Frank and Joe deal with a ghost? A REAL ghost..

That's exactly what Supernatural is ...Hardy Boys meets Lovecraft...

I'm the older of two brothers, and if we could fight spirits, meet girls, fight occasionally...
Actually, that is how it is.
My bro is also the younger, taller, and more boyish - me, I'm the fuckin' jerk.

It's just a great continuity..
Good spirited spooky tales.
They've taken a fun-as-hell concrete approach to the Heaven and Hell we grew up with, and it works. An earth where "we" are kept safe from the forces above, below, and secretly here.
No, it isn't THE WIRE but nothing is...
..I just happen to like TV/Film when it feels like everyone is having as much fun as I am.

..and like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural is an evolving story ...like long TV movies.
Love 'em. Thanks to HBO for that concept, though..

SUPERNATURAL is a blast.

A.

ps: photoshop is fun - check out the difference in image...

The Walking Dead

2011-05-17T04:25:00.000-07:00

Best series on TV right now.

AMC's Walking Dead is the horror series Zombie fans have been waiting for ...but didn't know it. Frank Darabont is already one of my favorite filmmakers and you can feel not only his guiding hand but a real love for the material. Brilliant series, filled with suspense and smart writing.

Brings me to an irrelevant but interesting point nonetheless - I think the nerds of the world would save us from Zombies ...if anyone would it's them/us...
Most people would go into "full shutdown" if the dead did rise ...crazy stuff, but I'm betting the Zombie lovers'd take 10 seconds to assess and then "fight" - I think us nerds are actually just waiting patiently...

I love this middle ground where shows like Californication, Weeds, Six-Feet-Under ...Walking Dead are free to act like movies - well produced, well written and tight - great TV.

I can't wait for season 2...
...and now after talking to Josh ..the comic book too...

Go get Season One.

The FIGHTER

2011-05-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

This is one of the best films I've ever seen.
Ever.

14 things I liked about T H O R

2011-05-11T04:48:00.000-07:00

1) There's a film in the theatre right now based on the Marvel comic book character I grew up on, Thor - this in itself is awesome.

2) The Destroyer is in it, and looking like a Kirby drawing ... fantastic. One of the best shots in it was Jane over a defeated Thor, with the Destroyer slowly marching away ...very cool.

3) Chris Hemsworth as THOR. Perfect ...funny, strong, and looking as though he just stepped out of Walt Simonson's sketch pad.

4) Anthony Hopkins clearly likes the character of Odin, and Branaugh's direction... he's a lot of fun in this one.

5) LOKI - Tom Hiddleston gives us a damn cool "God of Mischief" ...well written and well acted. More excited for his presence in AVENGERS now.

6) Death - The fact that his Dad decided he had to die, or be willing to, really did raise the stakes. I think that's a pretty good way to prove oneself.

7) The VFX - From practical suits to mind-blowing CG it just looked fantastic - the Rainbow Bridge sounds a lot less lamer once you've seen it. Thor's Asgard was as engaging as it's "reality" - did not expect that..

8) Colm Feore - He raises everything he's in, though I am sad he's not Canadian.

9) Idris Elba - Lots of racist debate over changing the skin color of this character. Well, since he looked cool, acted well, and brought the charismatic presence he always brings I guess I'd have to side with the filmmakers on this one. PERFECT HEIMDALL.

10) Unlike Iron Man 2, Thor did NOT feel like an extended ad for another movie.

11) DESIGN - From the costume choices to the towers of Asgard, the whole movie is filled with absolute artistry ...and CG that genuinely supports the story.

12) The Ultimates: "God, I hope you're not crazy.."
I'm sure there were plenty of conversations on which direction to take this character - a "God" in the modern age - what to do? what to do?
The synthesis of "Classic Thor" with his modern "Ultimates" counterpart is perfect. Just enough of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's Thor in there with the best of Walt Simonson's run - Great work.
Thor in regular clothes in the rain, powerless and fighting to remove Mjolnir - cool as hell.

13) FUN - Remember when comic books were fun? Characters laughed occasionally...
I'm not a fan of the 90's superhero mentality ...grouchy, psycho, self-important antiheroes, mostly written badly I found. This film is born out of enjoyment, like the first Superman in '78...
...and man, that's a welcome experience.

14) The "Easter Egg" - First one with a villain, and that mirror shot is a cheap theatre trick ...that I like a lot. Felt like 70's filmmaking for a minute there. Wasn't too excited about Loki as a baddie in Avengers buuuut that last scene ...cool, bring it on.

Thanks to Mr.Branaugh for loving Thor like a kid with a comic book...
...and thanks to MARVEL STUDIOS for treating the medium, the fans, and the characters with some good ol' fashioned respect. It's paying off for everyone involved.

A.

FRIGHT NIGHT (1985)

2011-04-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

Love it.
One of my favorite '80's movies...
Gotta go find it and watch tonight...

Going to watch it tomorrow night with my buddy, Dave Page ...then WE are going to write a crazy post ...tune in tomorrow, kiddies(who am I kidding - noone reads this)...

TONIGHT!! A Conversation with Dave Page on Fright Night... and burgers.

..wow, good burgers..

OUR REVIEW:
Dave: "Man, I like that movie"
Arthur: "Me too.."

the end

Source Code - Go see it!

2011-04-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

Then we can chat about it - why you loved/liked/mah or hated it...

I myself, enjoyed it a lot...
..and here are ten reasons why:

1 - The direction - it felt seasoned and solid(guess it's time to watch Moon). Creative, energized control - I'll be first in line for Duncan Jones' next film.

2 - Gyllenhaal and Monaghan - greeeaat chemistry.

3 - The "look" - some specifically simple style choices give it a timeless quality ...seamless cg(perfect).

4 - Vera Farmiga's eyes - wow.

5 - The "roll scene" - Jake jumps off the train - motion of rolling constant with train = cool as hell.

6 - Russel Peters - Strong Canadian content.

7 - This poster ...excellent. In fact I must state again that any poster can be cool as long as it's not two photoshopped heads. Feels a little Saul Bass-ish ..very cool.
Even the mainstream posters were creative on this one.

8 - The plot - The "mcguffin" is based in ambiguous science but we learn with him - I like that ...good mysterious unraveling - it doesn't surprise me to learn that Mr.Jones borrowed from Hitch's Strangers on a Train ...it shows.

9 - The smile scene - you'll know what I mean and you'll love it like I did or hate it like some of the folks who saw it that first night too did - there's personal philosophy in it and I'm a fan of that touch by any smart director.

10 - It's a smart sci-fi thrill ride directed by David Bowie's son and it feels a bit like Hitchcock - how fucking cool is that??

I saw it with my friend Martin who is smart and open-minded - take someone like that, or you'll regret it.

Great movie ...and damn, if it doesn't feel like summer's a startin'...

BATTLE:LA ...Today!!!

2011-03-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

Planning to see Battle:LA today...
Trailer was fantastic, and the definite reason for my interest in the film so we will see...
I like Aaron Eckhart and I looooves Michelle Rodriguez I does..

But so far the reviews are terrible, and it's March release date might mean a lack of faith behind the studio scenes, but I gotta decide this one for myself...

...5 hours later:

Well well well...
That was a pleasant surprise - better part of halfway through I lean over to Josh and say the same thing I said halfway through The Watchmen - "I'm liking this..." to which he responds "I know ..me too." ..and it hadn't changed by the end.
I enjoyed Battle:LA quite a bit actually.

Why?
No obvious CG - I just can't stand it - lazy filmmakers replacing reality with pixels - "We'll just CG it out later." I hate you. You imbeciles are ruining movies. I will make a feature film with no fucking CG...
Anyway, the film plays fast and busy, and if that's not your cup of tea - don't go. If you like a war drama with a few solid characters and a forward driven script with no pretension you may enjoy Battle:LA as much as I did. Black-Hawk Down with aliens - yup, that works for me.

No superheroics - Another juvenile trapping of modern action films is the "superheroic human" - annoyingly lame. As soon as someone jumps four stories and hangs onto a moving vehicle with one hand while shooting, I'm kinda gone from it - people die in this one, and die logically.

The Aliens - great design ...weird and new...
There's an excellent scene with our resolute soldiers attempting to "kill" one of the creatures - we get human desperation and real special effects ...allllriiight, this is science fiction adventure at it's best, and I am a real sci-fi fan.

The scene with the kid - you'll know what I mean when I say it goes from predictable to touching in two seconds - it's just a good scene.

The Ending - Excellent for a few reasons - I believe it's the human element that makes good sci-fi - and it's abundant here in an intense, smart finale that borrows from stuff I love while showing me something fresh & new.
Amazing FX.

Michelle Rodriguez - 'nuff said.

Thanks to Aaron Eckhart(are his characters always impatient?) and his faith in Jonathan Liebesman's vision. It was a good one.

The Adjustment Bureau

2011-03-07T10:42:00.001-08:00

Okay, Inception ...now I know why I didn't like you very much.

Right out of the gate, the energy of AB is just better ...faster, cooler..
Smart music choices, here and at the end of the film, bookend it nicely, as the tale of David Norris quickly becomes interesting enough for a film of it's own. It establishes it's own identity in it's first couple scenes, and though we all know PKD is a genius, it's obvious the Screenwriter/Director had to write some pretty damn good stuff to set this story in 2011 - impressive synthesis, and dedicated filmmaking.

Matt Damon turns in a really good performance boasting subtleties I've never seen him display - best role since Bourne 2...
..annnnd...
Emily Blunt is sooo well cast here. Obviously not the traditional beauty, she catches you off guard with her presence, skill and style ...perfect balance to Damon's charisma and character. I didn't "want" her so much as I wanted them to be together ...very cool.
John Slattery does his weirdest version of that character he often plays - "Official doing something official" and I liked him in this more than ever before. Anthony Mackie's Harry is great, as is Michael Kelly - really solid performances that just elevate the whole thing.
As for Terrence Stamp - he's Terrence Stamp - of course he's awesome.

The whole shebang looks really good and a couple unique NY location shots make his political campaign feel very real - like places we just wouldn't be if this weren't true ... good direction - why have I never heard of George Nolfi? ..well, turns out he wrote Bourne 3 ...and this is his first directing gig. Fuck, dude - not bad.

It made me feel good. It often is that simple for this guy.
Inception didn't.
It felt like "elevated pretension" in retrospect, having just enjoyed this film five times more. If anything it's the humour that separates it - AB is funny and charming in the moments Inception was informative and sterile.

By the end, I felt a fair bit like David Norris - that forces for years had been conspiring to thwart me, and that only my ultimate perseverance would get me to where I want to truly be.

But that's the point isn't it - association - make us see ourselves - give us strength we believe we have. Raise us up.

Damn good movie - can't wait to watch it again.

Superior Sequels: Do they exist?

2011-03-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

I think they do...
..but not in the fashion put to me by friends and film aficionados over the years.

"Empire's wayyyy better than Star Wars.."
"Spider-Man is twice as good as part one..."
"Superman's boring ...I like #2 more.."
etc. etc...

I don't think a film that relies on the existence of another is superior. If Spidey 2 introduced the character we'd have been disappointed ...no Uncle Ben ...no origin...
Technical, I know, but these aren't better - might be a more enjoyable adventure - maybe better written, maybe even a better film, which is the case with Star Wars for sure... buuuuut, if you have to have seen the previous story, it's like saying you prefer the second floor of a cool building - sure, but that first floor matters a bit more.

The Exceptions or what I consider to be the only 2 "superior" sequels ever made:

#1 is Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan ...better look, script, better film, annnnd, had this been the intro to the film incarnations of Kirk and Spock, it would still be better, and perhaps moreso as a film sequel to the TV series. We all love Khan.
In fact, Star Trek as a franchise may have two "superior sequels". The new film, with only one cast member of the original characters, may work just as well as STII in that it's a sequel to the TV series. I'm willing to bet you could jump from the 60's show to J.J.Abrams Trek #11 and see it as "better". The film is genius, and one of the best of the past decade. Not bad for a franchise that lived in the shadow of Star Wars for far too long.

#2 is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ...as a prequel, I think this'd be a perfect intro to Indy, especially with his "fortune and glory" stuff that obviously belongs to a younger version of the character. Watch Doom then Raiders and tell me it doesn't feel like Indy is about five years older in Raiders. I happen to like Temple more(just a personal thing, but I have great reasons) and anyone who does can easily see it as "better" than it's Oscar-nominated predecessor. I truly believe Spielberg's disdain for Temple affected it's place in pop-culture. I just don't see Nazi's as "lighter" than grinning maniacal over-the-top cult leaders. The whole film is too light to see as "too dark" ...the script is funny, an action movie's timing, and the 'hero's journey" is clearest and coolest in this one of all four.

If anyone ever reads this and disagrees, please comment - I love this stuff.
A.

Groundhog Day

2011-02-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

Going to watch Bill Murray's Groundhog Day today ...yet again.

Not an odd thing for this kid ...I watch movies over and over all the time. But what about a super-repetitive movie ...one that re-references itself over and over?? Why would anyone want to watch something like that more than once? Because it's good. Really good. Smart and philosophical and uplifting. This is another choice that shows us Bill Murray is a thinking person ...gotta be real smart to be real funny.

The film is quick and clever - very entertaining & a joy no matter what you take from it, but what a comment it makes...
VALUE THE VALUABLE.

I get up and live a similar morning every day too, but this movie always makes me re-examine how I live ...where I place my priorities...
The film seems small but it's all about the big picture.

I love the script, the direction, the acting, the timing, the humour...
I love Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell together - the whole arc of their romance could be a film itself outside this one. Fantastic ending ...BM's delivery - the resignation in the voice and body language ...the realization of true love for this woman ...love it. He's brilliant in the film but the emotional plateau in that ending. Amazing stuff, and a teaming of Ramis and Murray that's every bit as relevant as their "big one".

I wonder if you know this, dear reader... the film takes place over TEN YEARS, and there are 34 "Groundhog Day"s in it ...now that is wild.
How many life lessons could you learn in a rerun decade?

I learn more every time I watch it.
It always makes me want to fall in love, and punch an insurance salesman.

Twin Peaks ...wow

2011-01-22T16:19:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was David Lynch's birthday.
I had the absolute pleasure of watching the pilot for Twin Peaks on a big screen. Very very cool.
That single episode of TV is extraordinary. Maybe the most impressive pilot ever.

I checked it out back in '90 and it didn't grab me ..or rather I didn't let it. I knew who David Lynch was and had heard the show was really interesting but...
..beer ...girls..
Anyway, some years later I met a cool cat named Tom Naugler. Can't remember the exact genesis of events but we ended up watching the whole series in his basement, two episodes at a time, whilst sipping rum and cokes. Great times. Great show.
The whole period sticks with me now as it's the last "social" thing I did regularly before my mother's death in '97. For that and the just plain fun of it - heading up from Mom's place, walk through the park - have a look out at the arm - think about Twin Peaks ..walk home, buzzed, thinkin' about girls and Twin Peaks. Say "goodnight" to Mom. Have really weird dreams.
Again, fantastic days.
I figured the times had enriched my memory of the show.
Buuuut..
it's far better than even I remembered ...the catch being that I'd secretly decided to never watch it again ..keep the memory pristine ...naive thinking, I know but cut me some slack - I had a cool mom and it was a tricky time.
Well Mom, I gotta watch the whole series again...
I'll think of you and Tom and of being young, and I'll smile at amazing days...

God, I love that intro.

As I re-devour one of the most artistic works I've ever seen/heard.
What a pilot episode...
It takes maybe 60 seconds to get "hooked" so to speak. Watching it now I would attribute a big part of the show's affect to the soundtrack. An incredible thread of what became the 3 classic Twin Peaks "pieces" of music layer the show so well - so many things coming together in such a rich experience - the visuals with that score ...amazing synthesis. My favorite blend of imagery and song ever in a show - I can't think of anything that compares.

tbc ..I must think..

Super Soundtracks

2011-01-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

The Soundtrack - boyoboy, how many movies have been saved by super duper music? Jaws, Star Wars, and Raiders would be verrry different without John Williams. Imagine Halloween with a different score...
I dare say Verna Fields and John Williams are the other two equal thirds of Jaws.

My
Top
14
goes
a little
like this:
..in no order..

The Straight Story - Angelo Badalamenti - So much emotion locked into this music - from one of the most beautiful films ever made.
Tron Legacy - Daft Punk - Film good. Soundtrack brilliant.
Superman - John Williams
Zodiac - Various/David Shire - As if Rod Stewart's "(I know)I'm losing you" in that trailer isn't enough, the whole soundtrack rocks but Donovan's "Hurdy gurdy, hurdy gurdy, hurdy gurdy, gurdy he sang. Here comes the roly poly man and he's singing songs of love.." - I have the chills...
9 ½ Weeks - Various - It still works, and you know what I mean...
Brimstone and Treacle - The Police/Various - it's excellent - Listen to the whole thing...
& "I Burn for You" rocks!! ...kinda sexy creepy - Very cool song.
The Terminator - Brad Fiedel - That main theme is perfect.
Batman - Danny Elfman - "Memories, from the corner of my mind..."
Austin Powers - Various - Fun.
Psycho - Bernard Hermann
The Crow - Various
Pulp Fiction - Various ...I know it got played too much...
Highlander - Queen
...and at #14 is my favorite 80's theme... "Blade Runner Blues" from THE #1 ...Blade Runner by Vangelis

A soundtrack is a powerful thing ...it can "raise up" or "truly undermine" a film...
On True Romance and To Live and Die in LA...
If Tarantino did the soundtrack for TR it'd be a bigger cult film - fact. Okay, "You're So Cool" is an incredibly nice little piece of music, and the signature tune of the movie for me, but the fact that "Take me to the Other Side" by Aerosmith isn't on it means the album has one only one really good track. Not enough.
If To Live and Die in LA didn't have a painfully lame score it'd be far better remembered. The film itself is fantastic, and the title track is the best song Wang Chung ever did ...but again, this is not a particularly high bar. To quote another LA-featured film "In this town I'm the leper with the most fingers."
One hit soundtracks are often the ones we remember.

...and Tubular Bells still scares me...

Then there's the X-Files first movie soundtrack - none of the tunes are in the film. Strange.
I don't really like soundtracks "inspired by"... Gimme a break.

But # 1 was Star Wars way way back ...I called my friend, Jim and played the whole album. It remains my longest telephone call ever.
Okay, longest call with a guy friend..

Music puts you in the moment again like a smell in the fall - it's magic.

"It's a Kind of Magic" anyway...
..ha haa..

A.

SWAMP THING

2011-01-02T05:13:00.000-08:00

Of every character and every story I've ever read I have good confidence that Swamp Thing will remain #1 forever.

I picked up Saga of the Swamp Thing #1 at my "Lawtons" drugstore in the Spryfield Mall back in good ol' 1982(oh, I love you). It was a number one ...had to check it out. Hooked.
I loved the character instantly. I was eleven years old and a superhero/monster made of plants really appealed to me ...no idea why I loved this character so much but I did ..I did. By the time issue #2 came out I'd discovered Swamp Thing's 1970's roots ...the genius of Berni Wrightson and Len Wein. The artwork matched the moody macabre writing ...just fantastic, as was meeting Len Wein in New York in 2008 ...to chat Swamp Thing with his creator - I was eleven again, and sooo happy ..in fact, that three days in NY was heavenly...and damn if Len Wein isn't as nice as Swamp Thing is awesome.

Some pop-culture properties grow up with you and when they do they're like an old friend who's been around so long you almost forget you were young together too. Alec Holland is one of those ..an old friend.
He's also an old friend of the Swamp Thing himself or rather this idea was the radical concept introduced by UK genius Alan Moore when he took over writing duties for Swampy on #20 - an issue that remains a specific dark memory for me. I waited eagerly for this new writer everyone seemed excited about(at least the few adult nerds I talked to at Wilkies were..) and what did this "much-vaunted" Alan Moore do? Killed my favorite character. I can still hear the music to Vectrex's "Minestorm" playing in my head when I think of that day ...a hail of bullets ripping my character apart ..who did this guy think he was? ...what the hell kind of good story was going to come out of this mess?
Wow.
Alan Moore changed my childhood, but I'll return to him...

Swamp Thing the Movie:
Fun. Best word for it, and amazingly the first Wes Craven film in my writing here. I love A Nightmare on Elm Street - love it - favorite single series starting slasher film, but his Swamp Thing is a funny little movie ...most of the comic book beats are here and the fact that it was shot in Louisiana helps plenty but many decisions are in the cheesy b-movie style. The suit took a lot of flak but I like the design and rubber suits are more charming than pixels no matter how many zippers you see. As a boy it was a blast to have human characters like "Ferret" and "Bruno" from Len Wein's original bouncing around - causing trouble for Swampy but even at eleven I wondered "Why not make 'em cooler ...more gothic like the original?" ..but hey - I was young. I think we watched it for my friend Bill's birthday ...perfect for a couple super-nerds, and then the re-discovery of the film as an adult. There are two versions. One has a topless Adrienne Barbeau and the other is ...well, useless.
Adrienne Barbeau - Holy moley ...what a woman. The Fog - Escape from New York - Maude ...I've had a ginormous crush on her since birth essentially.
Then comes 1989's The Return of Swamp Thing ...yowsa, I heard/read the idea that this movie was inspired by Alan Moore's run on the book - that's like saying acid wash jeans were inspired by tuxedos..
I have to watch it again but I'd guess it's release was only motivated by Tim Burton's Batman fever and the fact that the comic book had become extremely popular. No one who made this film ever read Alan Moore's work on Swamp Thing - perhaps I should say they didn't grasp it if they did peruse. When I do view it again I'm sure I'll find a few good moments but I don't remember too many ...Gothic tragic hero = comedy with Heather Locklear = bad math. Buuut the suit in this one is a pretty wild improvement and if anything came from the 80's run it was Swampy's new look ...not too shabbadoo. Rest of it ...well, you decide. It's fun, but a far younger fun than the first film.
Next came Swamp Thing the Series...
I have to get this again - it's cheap and cheesy 90's but more of a Littlest Hobo/story of the week vibe than either film.
Weird part is that the show lasted 72 episodes...

Wein/Wrightson - Wow, this is the original Swamp Thing team and incidentally two of the most talented cats ever to grace the industry. Fall of '82 I started picking up the original series - a new and wonderful obsession. Fell into this gothic macabre world these two men created way back in the early 70's ..and I've been there since. I adore Wrightson's art ...and I still prefer him to even Frazetta who may be the pinnacle of his realm. His anatomy is so dramatic yet simple ...beautiful lines that evoke emotions..

Great story..

Wrightson owns the macabre.
If I could go back in time and watch Berni Wrightson draw those pages ...I'd never come back - I'd just go get him coffee. But I guess I'd have to bring one for Len Wein too...
Bloody Writers!! As a young boy, I was naive enough to believe the artwork to be more important than story - 'til Swamp Thing that is. This is the team that made me aware of teams ..that two or more people could do their best and come up with something ...amazing together ...greater than the sum of it's parts.
"..muck-encrusted mockery of a man..." It doesn't get any better than that.

Yikes, this is a really long one. In favor of not losing my few readers halfway through I may just have to do a second Swampy post ...or even a third.
I Love SWAMP THING.

A.

Making Movies

2010-12-29T12:19:00.000-08:00

I am a filmmaker.
I'm also a weirdo. I love love love good film. My friends find it strange that I watch The Thing or Citizen Kane ad infinitum ...but it is different than that ...each viewing is a new lesson.
I'm learning.
Not a lot under my belt yet but it's going to be a brilliant year,
with our adaptation of Stephen King's short story "Mrs.Todd's Shortcut" then ...who can really say? I want to make a full form horror film next. That's my burning desire ...we'll see.
We have features and series ready to go ...smart concepts ...good dialogue..
If you'd like to read our script or involve yourself in the process
please comment below ...we're an organic company with good
leadership on a bullet train into the future( ..dragging the 70's
and 80's with us) and a bright one it is. Oh yeah.
If you love movies and you'd like to make them, then the question is..."Why not?"

cheers, A.

Painted Posters

2010-12-28T08:46:00.001-08:00

More than just about anything film-related I miss the painted poster.

This(above) is one of my favorites ...it leaves you with questions ...with mystery ...and it's a helluva lot nicer to look at than a couple o' photoshopped heads.

I think they(posters) created a window, if you will, between the moviegoer and the film itself where only seeing the film could unlock the visual questions put forth - now you see a photo of the actor in the film and a trailer that tells you 90% of the story - no wonder people download movies - we're killing the magic ...or rather the artistry-free number-crunching jerk-offs are.

Thank the stars for Drew Struzan and a few smart cats out there over the age of 20 who think paintings might be nicer than shitty photographs. Anybody with half-decent computer skills could do 90% of the posters out there these days. Laaaaame.

All day I've been trying to figure out what it is specifically...
GOT IT! A film is a singular vision! ...obviously takes many people to make one, but it is a single work of art interpreting the printed word visually. A painted poster is a small-scale version of the same process - one single artistic representation of many ideas coming together. Photoshop? ..really?!?
The artist asks "How can I paint the details/story/imagery for others ...so they can feel what I feel ...so that they can want more?" It's supposed to be artwork not packaging.

I just went and had a look for an artist I've been curious about for a while.
WHO painted the "Nightmare on Elm Street" posters? Turns out his name is Mathew Joseph Peak, and I found a great piece of writing on this unsung hero of horror film history. I love those paintings but, having quickly discovered that this author had summed up my thoughts on the matter better than I could, I decided to contact him/her - see if I might point people over to it, only to discover it's written by a friend of mine, here in Halifax. Funny world this internet..
Check out Dave's love of the painted poster:

http://houseofhaunts.blogspot.com/2011/08/nightmare-on-elm-street-artwork-of.html

Film is about artistry.
Mine'll be painted.

Thank-you to all you unknown cats out there who've painted posters I've loved...

Trading Places

2010-12-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

I love John Landis' Trading Places. Makes a good #3 on the Christmas list...
..and the 2nd Landis film to be discussed here in 'ol bloggy...

So many things make this movie funny, charming and re-watchable. Aykroyd and Murphy are great together and at their respective "bests" ...48 Hours ..Ghostbusters... effortless comedic chemistry. Denholm Elliot is in more of my favorite films than I would've guessed but Don Ameche and Frank Bellamy steal the elderly show ...so evil...
"I think your brother's having a heart attack.."
"Fuck him."
ha ha haaaaa....

Best sequence - Winthorpe's descent into Hell is comedy gold ...the fish ...the gun ...so so funny.

And then there's Jamie Lee Curtis ...my oh my...
The Scream Queen - what hasn't been said about Jamie Lee ...manoman ...The Fog ...Halloween ...Terror Train ...take your pick, but in Trading Places she goes topless - this seemed cool last night when I watched it again but years back a teenage version of myself thanked God specifically for creating Jamie Lee Curtis - my favorite female moviestar.
Probably shouldn't admit this but I broke the vhs version over the "climb in bed" scene...

Trading Places feels like a modern & funny Grimm fairy tale - the classical music opening - the rich New York of the holidays - a few creative choices make the movie feel a bit bigger ...more expensive perhaps, creating an immensely re-watchable story. I like film New York in the 70's/80's ...super cool - so much style.

This film has accompanied some of my best Christmas's ...including this one.
I bet you a dollar you'll love it again too...

TRON Legacy ...the debate begins.

2010-12-17T18:37:00.000-08:00

I really liked it. I'm going to sit on it for a day or so ...maybe see it again, then I'll defend my position...
It is a strange film. Just weird enough to be interesting ...for me at least...

The Daft Punk score is a big element ..."out of time" is the phrase I'd use ...it feels alternately 70's/80's sound then very 2010... bit of Blade Runner in there too... very impressive. Cool to see the band in the movie - fitting, and a nice compliment to Michael Sheen's Ziggy Stardust-esque character.

Fact is - I can't wait to watch it again...

March 14/11
"FLYNN LIVES" - Go watch it!! - it boasts the return of a Tron character you love - great addition to Tron Legacy, which I'm stoked to see in Blu-ray on a nice TV...
And the trailer for Tron Uprising - just as cool - nice to hear that voice again...

To be continued...

Gremlins

2010-12-17T08:41:00.000-08:00

#2 on the new "Christmas list" is Joe Dante's Gremlins.

Attended a new rep-cinema(Carbon Arc) last night and got to see Gremlins for the first time ever. Yeah, that's right ...wasn't super-interested when it came out maybe 'cause it seemed drawing younger people than myself, or perhaps chasing girls was more important ...anyway, I finally sat down and payed attention - good movie.
There was a certain ...I dunno ...feeling/vibe to a few of those 80's flics Spielberg was attached to and this plops right down in the middle of 'em. Turns out it's was shot on the same street sets as the Back to the Future films - but more than that ..it "feels" like the same universe ...one where Goonies, Innerspace and ET seamlessly fit. Even Poltergeist feels like a more adult tale that's set in the same neighborhood fer sure... Awesome.

I love a movie that bookends itself. The opening with Hoyt Axton's inventor father aquiring Gizmo ...charming and visually rich intro ...nice. The film is filled with character actors the likes of Dick Miller and Polly Holliday(FLO!!!) and a young Corey Feldman is pretty damn good gotta say. Frances Lee McCain rocks as Billy's mom - dispatching gremlins like Sigourney Weaver or something ...cool writing. Zach Galligan is perfect as that naive teen with a heart of gold and if you grew up in my era you looooove Pheobe Cates - Judge Reinholt spoke for us all in Fast Times at Ridgemont High - yowsa. The prolific Keye Luke returns in the end to wrap up the story in a classic fashion not unlike Spielberg's Amazing Stories TV show(and watch for the movie marquee that has two of Spielberg's biggie's original titles - just a nice touch).

Gizmo is cute. This fact, along with the Ewoks, allowed my nerd brain to shy away from a lot of the genre fare of the 80's but watching it now I smile - it's a really good puppet and again - really fun writing. I love the design of the whole thing ...the 80's greens & reds ...the Alien-esque pods ...the gremlins themselves ...and no CG - just talented people working hard to tell a story well. Great soundtrack too...
The movie is obviously escapist but it's more like a little fantasy Dante and Spielberg are tucking you in with on Christmas eve...

Tonight I see TRON Legacy ...ahhh, the 80's. Take yer shots but what a fun decade. What a fun movie. Ho ho ho...

Miracle on 3rd or 4th street... "FAITH, FRAUD, and MINIMUM WAGE"

2010-12-15T07:24:00.000-08:00

This goes to the top of my new Christmas list as it did what a really good Christmas present is supposed to do - pleasantly surprise.
Canadian film is really good for that. I despise the somewhat tragic Canadian Film Industry's built-in limitations but occasionally(and more often than you'd guess) a movie comes along with my absolute favourite film element - investment. We've all seen those films where the cast and crew seem to be enjoying themselves more than we are - I'd use Iron Man 2 and The Big Bounce as good examples, but before that line is crossed - that's the realm I like ...where I feel real investment ...and that's what's up on the screen with Faith, Fraud, and Minimum Wage - a whole bunch of faith...
I had a great discussion with my ol' buddy, Clyffy some years back on the fact that a good movie is ...well, a miracle - I honestly believe it is.
How do a bunch of ego's and ideas and hard work come together to make something meaningful and memorable? Tax credits...rewrites...politics...financial woes ...the weather ...nothing short of a miracle I'd say. That's a beauty of film that really only those who make it understand ...extraordinarily difficult road ...extraordinary destination.
Okay - the performances... Callum Keith Rennie is one of the actors to watch these days - he's just plain great. I loved hating him in Battlestar(a series I don't love hating) but Californication ...whew, didn't think Duchovny could be eclipsed on his own show...
and he's really good here(Rennie) as a dad who reminds me of a few painfully real souls I've know. I like his sensitive smashed-up father a lot ...very good in those moments when emotions can switch up fast ...and obsessing over the dead to the living - I've seen my share ...catharsis on the screen for this kid.
Martha MacIsaac is the film, and if she weren't fantastic it just wouldn't work - but she is. Andy Bush is great, as is Don Allison in the role of "Nately's" villainous Stephen King-esque "Uncle Bob" ...who I hated instantly. Brian Heighton's cameo is a highlight and everything Matt Amyotte says is funny ...you should actually listen to Dave Marsh's songs ...funny funny. In fact, the film boasts a really impressive soundtrack ...well-tailored and catchy as hell.
Buuut Ricky Mabe kinda stole the show for me. He's excellent in the sensitive-jock role and two of my best moments are his uttering of her whole name - old romantic trick but I like it, and the kiss - one of the best screen kisses I've seen in years. Cool cool cool.

**Spoilers ahead...sort of..
The ending/resolution is one o' those make-or-break moments and I held my breath it wouldn't all get tidy and sweet. The miracle is that it doesn't ...instead, it gives a great Christmas gift ...the unexpected. The film works the same as it's lead character - small, feisty, & affecting.

I waited 19 years for Indiana Jones to get back up on the big screen - within five minutes I cared more about the people in this low-budget Canadian film, not because it was written by my friend, Josh - but because it was written well.

A good Christmas movie reminds us what this is all about...
and makes us smile in the process.

Thanks, man

Superman too...

2010-12-08T07:36:00.000-08:00

Rumours all the time about "Big Blue"...
..what-to-do what-to-do?

Zack Snyder's got him now so we will soon see..
Now I will say that Watchmen was a wonderful surprise - but a finite interpretation of a finite work - gonna be a lot of voices on this one... Just please cast an unknown - everyone else looks like an actor "trying" to be Supes. And here's a crazy idea - lose Luthor. Every interpretation of the character inevitably includes Luthor - I love the character but people want to see Superman BEAT SOMEONE UP!
He's Superman ...not a cop.
I'm crossing my fingers and enjoying Smallville 'til then...which incidentally is an excellent show this year ..an' gotta say - this would work as a Justice League show - why on earth is CW considering a Raven series? I'm a big fan of the Titans characters and that is one lame idea.
Why not do a JLA show with Raven on it?

For the film, I understand and agree with a 100% reboot of the Superman property - we are in a very different world - a world where it's hard to get people to care about anything let alone a character who reminds them of their humanity. But I think it's the humanity of Supes that can make for the great writing the character absolutely needs. If he isn't well written there is simply no point.
And speaking of humanity, it's weird that the "Superman curse" seems real ...Brandon Routh should be thankful he won't be remembered as Supes - he gets to live.
Watched Hollywoodland the other night ...good film. Sad. I can't imagine the weird pain of the kids who loved him ...that was rough to watch.

I love the one-page comic book interpretation of 1978's Superman above...

What a movie. I hope Christopher Reeve's kids know what he gave to the whole world.
We do.

Five? Years? The DEAD ZONE

2010-12-07T06:47:00.000-08:00

I really like The Dead Zone - it's one of my favorite Stephen King adaptations and one of my favorite Canadian films. I know - I know - it's American but it was shot in Canada by a Canadian director - just enough to stake my claim and enjoy some o' that good ol' down home pride. We have less great films than the good ol' US of A and I like it when US/Can bone and make a baby like The X-Files ...or The Dead Zone.
Cool opening titles and a sad fitting score suggest that some talented people are invested in this movie - good. I was young when I saw Dead Zone for the first time but I knew David Cronenberg from Videodrome so I expected something weird. What I got was a chilly tale of a man who went into a coma and came out with amazing abilities - I think I wanted those abilities ...It's a different story watching it as an adult ...classic and tragic, anchored by great character performances, and a stylishly subdued Cronenberg.
It's fun to watch a young Christopher Walken reference Poe then Ichobod Crane and The Headless Horseman ...He'd have played a memorable Ichobod Crane back then - bit of a shame about The Headless Horseman(Sleepy Hollow) but I digress. He plays a cool John Smith - Walken works for the character - for Johnny Smith's experience, and Brooke Adams provides perfect balance. I had a big crush on her going in(Invasion of the Body Snatchers - my favorite version)...but she looks fantastic, and the cut to her crying shot after the "spilled milk" - awesome.

The "awakening scene" is very impressive ...genuine suspense to get to that number, boy - "Five? Years?" ...well done. We have a slightly more serious Herbert Lom as JS's doctor and his interesting thread is just another that's changed for me since my younger self soaked it up. The "not talking to his Mom" - I get it now - like the film - sad and cool. Every subplot in the film ends the same way - Jeffrey Boam's strong & consistent screenplay at work throughout.
Tom Skerritt is always cool, and a young Nicholas Campbell plays a subtle and creepy Frank Dodd - I could have watched a whole film focus on that subplot. Dynamo Colleen Dewhurst rounds out a good US/Can actors circle with nary a lousy performance in the film.

After their afternoon together Sarah and Johnny are having dinner with his father - Johnny jokes about his day - very cool look from his pop says plenty, and Walken's response - perfecto. Just a great acting scene.

I'm a Cronenberg fan so I admire his restraint with The Dead Zone. Now take David Lynch who can be pretty wild ...but like Lynch with The Straight Story, Cronenberg focuses on character and atmosphere. These are the movies that remind me these guys are substance over style despite their abundance of the latter. It's a nice looking film that leaves you feeling a bit chilly ...like Johnny Smith's Castle Rock in winter.
I like the subplot with the boy quite a bit - in fact, this was a section that scared me as a kid. The ice and the thought of falling through = Scary. I'd learned to skate on a lake that made those big cracking sounds while everything else was winter silent - great days though. Watching the film now I think the subplots could've been woven a little better but hey, that's just me.

Having read the book I missed seeing Greg Stillson's rise to power, but Martin Sheen has the energy of the character for sure. Stephen King is just so good at giving us human villains where the truly horrific resides - in the evils all around us - in politics and religion - in dark human places.

I remember thinking "I could kill him and get away", but that aint the point is it?
It's interesting to learn that Mr.King created the story out of a "what-if?"...What if one of the crazy crackpots claiming to know the end of the world was right? What if a man had a good reason to sacrifice his life? Fantastic storytelling that entertains but begs moral questions - what would you do?

I think we all say we'd go back and kill Hitler, but would we give up our name?...our life for what's right?
I think I'll make my charitable contributions to the world under the name "Johnny Smith" from now on.

a n t i c h r i s t

2010-12-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

Without a doubt - the most disturbing/affecting horror film I've ever seen. Brilliant.

Like Heavenly Creatures, I don't imagine watching it again ...but that's because it was sooo good. Now any good horror fan knows there are levels to the horror itself ...the 80's slasher stuff is mostly on the same level - I think Hellraiser rises above to the next level, but most of it has the same tone. Henry is a few levels higher, and I'd put Antichrist up from there.

The film is artistic and beautiful, evoking thoughts of Dante and damnation while pulling you in and holding you coldly tight. The tension is palpable even in the story's softest moments and the two leads match the dark tone amazingly well.
Willem Dafoe is at his best. Charlotte Gainsbourg, who I've never seen before, is just as sharp. I can't imagine how difficult it was to make this movie. The belief that this is a real couple is what sells it for me. I believe in them from that extraordinary opening scene through the nightmare to that ending. That haunting ending.
Spooky horrible imagery - spooky horrific tale masterfully directed by Lars Von Trier, who may be weirdo ...but a talented one for sure. If I watched it again I'd watch for the misogyny he's accused of but if I felt any emotion from the Director I'd say it was terror. My thanks to "Theisbj" for his review on imdb where he articulated what feels like "evil" within the movie itself. It sounds corny but I watched it a year ago - it feels like last night.
Viewing it, I felt like I had access to something I didn't really want access to ...an awful world ...dark, ancient and very adult. It feels like a connection to something genuinely bad ...and only Willem Dafoe's presence reminds me this is a film. That and reminding myself of the fact more than once. I like him and I'm glad he was the lead but if he'd been unknown or it was the first time seeing Dafoe it would have been a bit scarier ...so my coward side was glad for it. Again, it only takes the opening scene to see them as new people - a real couple, and this is one dedicated team ...whew, frightening performances. Frightening film.

If you consider yourself to be a "horror film" fan, go get Antichrist and watch it alone in the dark.
I don't have the balls ...do you?

The City on the Edge of Forever

2010-11-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

There's good reason for the "legendary" status of this one too...

This is a pitch-perfect episode of Star Trek - the original series, and a great example of sci-fi storytelling at it's best ...of storytelling at it's best.

If you're one of the ten or so people who've never seen this episode - go rent it or buy it or download it ...then tell me it's not one of the most touching hours of TV you've ever seen. If you like to discount stories because Tom Cruise is in them or they have Star Trek attached then please stop reading ...you people who'd rather close doors are of no interest to me. "I don't watch so-and-so..." Fuck off.

*Wiki: "The City on the Edge of Forever" is the penultimate episode of the first season of the television series Star Trek. It is episode #28, production #28, first broadcast on April 6, 1967. It was repeated on August 31, 1967 and marked the last time that NBC telecast an episode of the series on Thursday nights. It was one of the most critically acclaimed episodes of the series and was awarded the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. The teleplay is credited to Harlan Ellison, but was also largely rewritten by several authors before filming. The filming was directed by Joseph Pevney. Joan Collins guest starred as Edith Keeler.

This episode involves the crew of the starship USS Enterprise discovering a portal through space and time, which leads to Dr. McCoy's accidentally altering history.*

The reason there's an enormous franchise called Star Trek is because of the original series. People's love for it(mine) comes out of the connection with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy ...and they do shine here. All three actors have the characters on a different level in this tale ...complex men playing complex men.

Joan Collin's Edith Keeler is one of the smartest characters ever written on the show. She's as bold and challenging as our intrepid explorers from the 23rd century without even a dash of misogyny present - this was 1966. Her assessment of Spock in relationship to Kirk "..at your side, as if he's always been there and always will.." is great writing as is her observation/feeling that the great Captain Kirk belongs somewhere else ...bigger ..grander - all delivered with those big beautiful Joan Collins eyes (..madly in love with her since way back). The screen chemistry between her and William Shatner is "big-screen" quality as is the sublety of his "Kirk" ...completely invested portrayal in this one. Again, all 3 actors are just a bit above the usual portrayals ...was it the script? ...the Director? ...or was it Joan Collins that "matured" the boys into their "A" game??

In the minutes between the Captain finding out Edith Keeler must die, his admission to his best friend that he's in love with her, her accident, then Spock's "He knows, Doctor ...he knows.." my palms get sweaty, just like watching it as a boy, but I know what's coming - another mark of great storytelling. Interstingly, the "emotionless" character provides just the right level for the whole scene to work perfectly. The look on Spock's face as she dies - then the acknowledgment ...wow, the mechanics of film at work here are as powerful as any of the great big-screen films that use the same tools. Perhaps even more so ...this screen is much more intimate when it's at it's rare finest.

The Shakespearean drama that unfolds is great entertainment, but like all really great stories - there's a lesson inside ...a hard adult's lesson. What a story - love - friendship - pain - and continuance. The tone of it ...the feeling as it wraps up ... like a cold night in the sixties, after 2 friends have had to bury another - it feels like the sadnesses of life that we'll all have to feel - the lonely pain of everyone.

William Shatner's expression, back on the planet, is pained and honest. I think his performance in this episode is as strong as the writing itself, which definitely borders on genius. Again, Star Trek at it's best, with the rest of the crew locked in the Terminator-esque "No future" storyline ...that parenthesizes the whole episode - smart.

I love that the crew has encountered one of the most impressive entities of science-fiction and the last line uttered ...perfectly and painfully is Captain Kirk's "Let's get the Hell out of here." I love love love his delivery on that line. I've had my own dark experiences that I didn't want to speak of (I think we all have)...that talking about wouldn't change. I feel that line.

Rumors abound regarding Harlan Ellison's legendarily big ego, but love him or hate him - he understands how hard it is to be a good man ...a good person in a hard world.

This is one of my all time favorite stories. It always will be.

JFK

2010-11-22T05:02:00.001-08:00

Today is the day ...47 years ago, that JFK was shot and killed.

More acurately - I think November 22, 1963 was the last day America could look itself in the eye.

There are some bridges that cannot be re-crossed.

JFK is one of the most "watchable" movies ever made. I would call it a modern masterpiece, with only Pulp Fiction topping it in the 90's.

No matter your opinion on Oliver Stone or the topic or period itself, the film is a character-driven juggernaut that pulls you in close and whispers in your ear 'til that very last frame. My friend Harris and I used to put on his laserdisc of JFK to any point ...and watch - could be the last scene or something in the middle but it didn't matter - the quality of entertainment here is extraordinary. The performances are absolutely solid and the energy level is undoubtedly that of Oliver Stone himself, who is a master storyteller when he can manage to get out of his own way.

I get a distinct impression from this eclectic group of actors that there is genuine belief under the surface - a belief that Stone's vision is not too far off center. Maybe they're just great actors - Joe Pesci - Donald Sutherland - Kevin Bacon - Jack Lemmon/Walter Mathau(best team ever!!) and Gary Oldman is Lee Harvey Oswald. But I gotta agree - Tommy Lee Jones Clay Shaw/Bertram is genius, and worthy of the Oscar he won.

Facts are facts and anyone who thinks it was one bullet and one guy can go watch Romper Room - but again, like Zodiac - what is the truth?
Who did this? How many men? Why? Who, if anyone, knows the whole truth?

Hmmm, I think this years Zodiac Fest - "Psycho Night in Canada" will evolve into a comment on the 60's itself as a decade. JFK first ...something in the middle ...what says mid-60's best?? ...then Zodiac to finish. That should shut those hippies up...

I went to see my all time favorite band, THE POLICE in Boston a couple years back. Great show - great day - close second on the trip was my visit to the JFK museum the next morning. For a couple hours I felt like I was in a different era ...one with Marilyn Monroe and dinner parties put on by Jackie O ...an era filled with hope. Watching those old newsreels with other sniffling tourists, I felt like America was still young ...nice feeling. I guess I could finally taste what was in the air then ...and had gone away on that november 22 forever.

I think I'll watch JFK tonight and continue this tomorrow.
It's been a while...

Forbidden Planet - legendary, for good reason

2010-11-22T01:32:00.000-08:00

What a fantastic film.
I'd heard and read about it for years, but I had no idea what to expect. Wow, how many of my favorite films' authors/directors/fx gurus sat and loved this movie? I can't even guess but I can say that I'd have loved this movie were I a 50's kid ...if even just for Anne Francis.
I have had such an instant crush on a moviestar since I was a boy ...but boyoboy, she is absolutely spectacular.
I like "smart" science-fiction. That, combined with "Robby-the Robot" kept me from watching FORBIDDEN PLANET all these years. I figured it'd be of the same calibre most of the 50's genre fare was ...fun and disposable, but the template alone has inspired half the science fiction since.
The obvious ones are ALIEN and STAR TREK ...I think Gene Roddenberry walked into Paramount and said "Let's do Forbidden Planet weekly" - that's basically what Star Trek is.
**Spoiler Alert**
That cerebral psychology ending - This is the other template used over and over since - "The Enemy Within" idea ...that our dark nature - ourselves, if you will, is every bit as dark as any other villain ...and we cannot hide from it ...cool, smart writing.

The sets are very impressive, as is the pacing and overall look. The first fully electronic film score, it's spooky and appropriate and probably inspired the awesome Doctor Who theme. I can't guess how many of my moviemaking heroes have filtered this film into their work ...plenty who don't do sci-fi, I'll bet. It has a great script and some very smart decisions up there on the screen with that beautiful face in the middle. The chemistry between her and Leslie Nielsen is worth watching the film for - fun, quick - entertaining.
I love Anne Francis ...those legs...

When was the last time you saw a stunning blonde in an intelligent science fiction film where the human ID was a red demon embodied by Disney animation?

Smart movie.

MRS.TODD'S SHORTCUT

2010-11-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

This is the short film I'm making - love your input - Love your help...
A.Canning

Me 'n' you, '82 ...

2010-11-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

My brother and I were on a road trip with our Mom that summer. I was eleven years old.. ..what I consider to be a boy's true "last age" ... and I was a very young, happy eleven.
We didn't have a lot of money growing up, but my mother still took us on a trip every year - some of the best memories of my life to be honest. She'd rented a cottage on the water, then took us to a little diner for a bite. It was rustic and cozy and I think it was getting dark when Mom picked up the paper to see if there were any good movies playing in Sydney. She asked me to check the listings and I suggested "The Best Little War House in Texas".
God love my Mom - she tried to hide her laughter ...I remember reading more titles ...probably Tron and The Thing in there...then noticing Mom's menu bouncing up and down as she tried to contain herself. I hadn't seen my mother laugh that hard in a long time, if ever. Her attempts at explaining "Whore" and "Whorehouse" became a highlight of the trip for two little goofballs, who would end up producing films together many years later.

The end of July would see the release of Night Shift ...my family's personal favorite from what I consider to be the single most important year for film releases ever. I love Night Shift - I think it is a perfect comedy ...but I won't argue that it's the best film of 1982. That's a tricky one, with no definite answer...
Blade Runner and The Thing were released on the same day - The Same Day!! That's wild for me especially ...as those two are my most watched films by far(Zodiac's different...) and I'll never have a favorite of them ...be like picking a favorite child. Now, I wouldn't actually see either film for years - the Cowie Hill days again, and then years more to truly appreciate the material. Not since 1939 when Gone With The Wind and The Wizard of Oz were released has there been a more relevant year in film. By June, Conan, The Road Warrior, and Das Boot had hit the cinemas locking it as a pretty good genre year but June/July ...these two months changed Sci-Fi forever...

If I could go back in time and see the summer films of '82 ...well, I'd start with Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan ...actually, bad example - I did see this one in the theatre and that was that - totally hooked. Same with ET ...it's just a part of our generation to love that little alien. Tron, Blade Runner and The Thing would take years to become favorites, but First Blood came along before them - I love love love First Blood and watch it every spring. I think this was the first film I felt that "link" ...that "I know this film is going to keep me company forever " feeling. Like The Terminator, it was a midnight watch, me curled up on the couch with my sleeping father across the room in his chair. Charming little Herring Cove memories of renting VCRs and begging to see Star Trek II and Night Shift again.
That September I started grade 7 with a legendarily scary new teacher named Minichiello, who's playing the lead in my Stephen King film this year - the one I'm producing with my brother. Anyway, I recall Brock Beazley asking me who my favorite actor was..."Clint Eastwood ...are you crazy? ...the monkey guy?". I took a lot of flack for that answer, but Mom loved him and if it wasn't Restricted we saw the new Clint Pic every time - Honkeytonk Man annnd Firefox at the Spryfield Cinemas that year. He's my adult hero now - for simpler reasons than I'd've ever guessed - basically a love of film and an extraordinary work ethic. One element I possess ...one I desire.

Q (or Quetzalcoatl - go rent this) and Deathtrap would both make good impressions in the years to come, as would Diner and Ghandi - so many good films but Walter Hill's 48 Hours is one of the few I saw soon after it's release and it still holds up as the best buddy-comedy of the 80's. How many boys were guiltily loving this with their Dad's?
On that note, my buddy Brock's dad took us to see The Toy the same December Mom and Barb Harrigan would take groups of us kids to see Tootsie and The Dark Crystal. Now obviously one o' those aint quite like the others(I'll never watch The Toy again ...last thing I want to do is discover it isn't so good...) but December '82 would also see The Verdict and Sophie's Choice ...quite a month. Quick aside ...Brock's folks dropped us off at the Hyland Theater one afternoon to go see Ghandi, and they wouldn't let us in - ratings stuff. We waited 3 hours in the sun that day ...which seemed appropriate years later when I finally did see the film.

Victor Victoria was one of my first adult style comedies, and I really liked it, but Bob Clark's Porky's holds that claim to fame for many. Many consider Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid to be Steve Martin's best - same for Richard Pryor's Live on the Sunset Strip, with Pink Floyd's The Wall marking the only time I found them interesting. Creepshow(where Stephen King turns in an incredibly funny performance) and A Stranger is Watching round out the horror/suspense nicely with Costa Gavras' Missing as #1 on my "must-see movie" list.

*addendum - Cheers, Remington Steele, and St.Elsewhere all debuted in 1982 ...need I say more?

The year itself, and all of it's spoils that would unfold in the years to come have profoundly influenced my life, and my desire to make movies. They were some of the best times and best people I'll ever know, accompanying some of the best work by filmmakers EVER - amazing days.

Thanks 1982 ...you're the best.

Skeleton Cruisin'

2010-11-13T19:49:00.000-08:00

I had the good fortune of another conversation with a wise friend I don't get to talk to often enough..."Everyone online's a film critic ...they've all got blogs tearing everything apart...". It kind of stuck with me - why am I doing this? Because I love movies. Love them. Lots of people do and I realize this makes me ununique to the extreme ...but my weird brain and my personal experiences do give me a voice I'd like to share with anyone who wants to listen.
This blog isn't about ripping movies apart, or telling everyone how I could do it better. No, it's mostly about how incredible a good movie really is - how so many people - so many decisions can come together in something extraordinary. They can give voice to our experiences and our deep inner thoughts. Though they're often about single characters on singular missions, we know we're sharing the experience with millions, maybe billions of people and it's obviously speaking to them too. They give strength to our roughest days when we can ask ourselves what a particularly memorable character might do. We watch our own stories unfold and they can be scary as hell ...then sometimes they're incredibly funny. I see my own time here as a bit of a black comedy ...and mostly fantastic.
I named it Skeleton Cruise because I was reading Stephen King's Skeleton Crew at the time and I'm in the process of making short film based on one of his stories. The theme itself was really about trimming the fat, so to speak. I wanted to look at those who used to be great and weren't anymore but it felt too negative. I mostly ignore the stuff I don't like. I don't really touch on Star Wars since the new ones came out ...what's the point? ..half the "Net" talks about the disappointing junk out there ..nah, I want to embrace things like Psycho 3 at the same time as genuinely appreciating the genius of Citizen Kane. I love Kane.

Skeleton Cruise is keeping it's title since 50% of my writing will be about Horror films as I want to make them. Good ones too. I'm also very thin, and skeletons last ...the skeletons of pop culture - the skeletons of relevance.
I like entertaining and I like being entertained. This is both for me, and if you do read any of my occasionally goofy but always passionate writing you might just watch one of these movies and see a little something new. I think comments are awesome and if you're going to leave a mean one - try to make it really funny.

Cheers, A.

The WORLD at WAR

2010-11-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Little left-field, this one. World at War is a BBC series from the 70's about World War II. Hosted by Sir Laurence Olivier, it's a dry, informative, and oddly compelling series with a nice dramatic score. It feels like sitting down with that one Professor who genuinely cared, and discovering he was actually in the war. I've ditched most of my "box sets" but something about this one ...maybe it's comfort food of a sort.
My generation grew up with grandparents who faught in 'The War" and all us boys theorized about what kind of soldiers we'd make. Until maybe 25 or 30 I still believed there was a chance I'd be "drafted" if another war began, and it was a scary but romantic thought. I suspect that the generation coming up behind us sees WWII as something Hollywood conjured up ...tricky to text from a trench.
Like everyone out there, I've faced some difficult days, but war...
I can't imagine.

I'll spend today's spare hours watching The World at War, reminding myself that men and women born a long time ago fought for the freedom I enjoy very much.

fullmOonfilms: An American Werewolf in London

2010-10-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

What is it about An American Werewolf in London?
I watched this several years ago in the "Cowie Hill" days - some great times when I was lucky enough to have a an awesome film fan buddy named Will( not really but he doesn't like Ern). He made latex masks and obsessed over movies I had no interest in. Or so I thought...
We watched An American Werewolf in London, and like a lot of later favorites, I was underwhelmed. I thought it was weird and the pacing wasn't quite my style so I dismissed it and moved on. I liked Wolf a lot, and even The Howling had seemed a bit more intriguing - more to it maybe, but the simplicity of AAWiL might be the actual answer. I eventually watched it again and still couldn't quite ...I dunno - love it. I saw more but still wasn't getting it. Some movies are strange like this - take Zoolander ..I hate it, but people tell me all the time how great it is. I don't want to like it - who cares? ..but there was something about AAWiL ..something I wanted to like. That was the difference.
I've watched it a lot of times now - especially the first half hour since that's usually how long it takes to fall asleep if I put it on late. I love it now ..I just can't help it. it's like a marriage where we fell for each other about ten years in ...strange but true.

Another beauty of a good movie, and of film in general, is that it acts as a Time Machine - visiting the time it was made, the time it was written, and perhaps another period detailed within the film itself - amazing. We're just watching stories that are two hours out of any given day, but the worth...the cultural sense that is carried within, as well as whatever personal history we attach, can end up being a weirdly valuable two hours. As we get older they contain our youth, where I'd probably end up arguing with myself over this one ...and a maybe few others. Perspective changes.
Okay - Blue Moon ..great opening and just one of the many telltale signs this might not have a happy ending. The song works like the a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence, a comma in the middle and a period right at the end ...very cool.
gain, one of the many things I didn't "get" before, much like the exit from a truck full of sheep and The Slaughtered Lamb Pub where the tale really begins. The bright coats are a nice touch, as is the fact that it's shot in the UK and it feels it. The two friends remind me of traveling Europe a few years back, and not really having a clue ...great adventure where we were definitely closer to trouble than we understood ...couple times fer sure.
Anyway, it doesn't take too long before we hear the howl of a wolf and I like that. A very effective setup that leaves you ready to follow these two anywhere ..my kind of storytelling - the Stephen King way of creating characters I actually care about. I note this for the fact that in so many of today's pretty-people horror films I can't wait to see them get fucked-up ...different approach, I guess. The goofball humour and the sense of "fun" disappear when the Werewolf is stalking them in the mist, and the attack itself still holds up - scary and fast. The men from the pub frame the end of the sequence like a shot of Tales from the Crypt cover art. Cool.
Upon David's awaking in the Hospital to find out his friend was dead I immediately assumed he'd come back as a Werewolf - the undead buddy with a conscience is another especially nice touch.* Some people's favorite aspect of this film are it's effects, and Griffin Dunne is great.
The Doctor treating our protagonist is excellent, as is Jenny Agutter in the role of the Werewolf's lovely nurse/love interest. Then come The Muppets - any Werewolf movie with an original Muppets sketch ...well, how can one resist? Then there's the crazy dreams - bizarre and awesome - all adding up to my best reason for liking this flic ...one Director's vision. John Landis wrote this little opus and fought for years to get it made. It feels like one guy's story ...it's simple and unique and a perfect example of what I'd like to do - write good stories and then bring 'em to life. The more mainstream a movie the more fingers, it feels, were in the pie - usually resulting in the Harrison Bergeron effect ...down low for the dummies. Ugh.
This is not to discount the amazing design work of Rick Baker but it was Landis' movie - unlike say, his buddy George who is mostly the sum of others parts. A good Director gets together with awesome people and sometimes they make something that has something ...the energy, maybe, of one person's drive.
*It took me a couple viewings to be able to watch the "chat with Jack" scenes ..harsh effects ..impressive.
The "boy meets girl" has just enough time to be interesting ...enough so to really not want the ending to go the way you can kind of feel coming. The decidedly different tone of the Doctor's visit to The Slaughtered Lamb is fun and feels like it could fit nicely into any Werewolf story ...new or old. Don't Go 'Round Tonight ...niiice.
And back to the effects - just when we want to see what the Doc is going to unfold we're back to David under the full moon, and one of the best man-to-werewolf transformations ever. Real effects done in daylight - now that's a mandate, and incidentally cool about The Ruins too. The Werewolf attack scenes in nighttime London are cool though I suspect only Landis would write a british couple as 'drunk and care-free". Once their romance resumes we know it's doomed, but we're in for the ride - maybe he can escape the curse with his new love...
Alas, Piccadilly Circus - juxtapose the guns and sirens against the moors and the pub ...throw in a lot of humour and you've got one rich little Horror film. In it's final moments our tragic romance gives us "the moment" of all love stories ...and then the curse is ended forever. Like Chinatown, American Werewolf gives us that creepy ol' thought ...some places you wander in ...you're not going to wander back out.

While I was trying to figure out why I liked this movie so much it became one of my favorites...
and then the perfect punctuation of a John Landis Horror Comedy ...the uptempo Blue Moon as a final "..told ya so..."
Fantastic.

Z O D I A C part two

2010-09-08T13:01:00.000-07:00

Zodiac is pretty pictures glued to a filing cabinet. I look at it and I question ...in fact, every time I watch it I get a few more pointers - arrows towards the truth. The opening scene alone does explain so so much(listen to the commentaries and you'll be more inclined to pay close attention to the opening scene), but leaves you with sooo many questions. Detail upon detail the average filmgoer doesn't see - doesn't need to see ..they don't matter to the narrative, and most would seem arbitrary anyway...
But they are not. To read Robert Graysmith's books and to explore the facts on your own - maybe crazy, but fun as hell. Each audio track features so many extra pieces along with the docs ...especially the interviews. It is absolutely compelling ...the serial killer known as "the Zodiac" was not a genius, and the men trying to catch him were not stupid ...so why don't we know who he is?

I very much like the fact that the screenwriters, the cast, the crew, David Fincher himself, all had theories on the "truth"...I've watched the film 4 times since, and I still don't know. I know what the film postulates ...it's 99% sure it's Arthur Leigh Allen, and I think it was too. Rather, I think it was two.
I believe he had help. Watching the interviews, one would might guess it was Don Cheney as well, but having read so much now, I think there might be someone out there who ...helped ...licked the stamps, two "MO"s at once. Cheney seems smart and creepy enough, but is it him? I love the fact, and thus my obsession, that comes from the ultimate question out of all of this - out of the possibility both Greysmith and Fincher acknowledge which is that may never know the absolute truth ...so the question as fact still remains ...Who was The Zodiac Killer?

Play Misty for Me

2010-09-01T06:45:00.000-07:00

I was a '70's kid, so I grew up on Clint Eastwood. My generation grew up on Clint Eastwood. I remember my mother taking us to see "Firefox" at our grubby, but most awesome, Spryfield Cinemas ...& despite Mom's obvious crush, Dad loved Clint too - back then every guy would've liked to be Clint for five minutes...

"A Sensitive Director" - apparently this is the most popular current thought on Mr.Eastwood ...awesome. That at 80, he is one of the most respected filmmakers in the world is well ...a proper thing. He's been doing it, and doing it well for almost 40 years. From MISTY thru 70's and 80's tough guys to Unforgiven - the end of his men without names, to the swan song for his violent characters provided in Gran Torino(I'm sad we won't see him act again, but not really - it was a perfect ending, and that song ...amazing - one classy exit). No other actor/director has achieved anything even close to this kind of career.

But, way way back ...Clint decided that "directing" a movie might be fun. He told his agent, and his agent told Warner Brothers - they said "Cool, sounds great, but we're not paying you." The rest is history.
The script for "Misty" by Jo Heims is fantastic - tight, and smart, and timely. Fatal Attraction borrows heavily, as do probably many I haven't seen. The story is of a Cali coast DJ who sleeps with one of his loyal listeners, beginning an odyssey of obsession and terror. We get to know Dave Garver and his world, as Evelyn Draper invades it. This nuanced descent into madness, by Jessica Walters, is brilliant, as is the pace and direction leading her there. She will always be my favorite version of "the stalker", but I looove JW(Arrested Development, c'mon..)and I could watch her do anything ...from the bushes, or across the street in a phonebooth...
Anyway, there are 3 excellent characters here - Dave, Evelyn, and a very young Donna Mills as Dave's on-again-off-again girlfriend. She turns in a performance every bit as subtle and honest as Jessica Walters is sexy and psycho. The love-scene is deftly handled - not the obvious work of a gun-toting tough guy. And then ther's that "wave scene" as the duo walk and talk:
"The success of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" essentially launched Flack's career as a popular singer, and the single became one of her signature songs. Flack's slower, more sensual version was used by Clint Eastwood in his 1971 directorial debut Play Misty for Me during a lovemaking scene. With the new exposure, Atlantic Records cut the song down to four minutes and released it to radio. It became an extremely successful single in the United States, hitting number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1972 and remaining there for six weeks; the song also spent six weeks at the top of Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks [2]." Wikipedia.
Exceptional Scene - To shoot them together, with that wall of water behind them, and that song - the enormity and power of nature used to illustrate "love" as just as powerful a force ...again, the instincts of a natural director. Amazing.

So many nice character touches in this story - from Don Siegel's presence as a bartender/advisor(little Director's help for Clint, too..) to John Larch's classic smart cop, and James McEachin's pot-smokin' DJ friend, it feels like a slice of life at the time, where any adventure Dave might've had would be watchable. Enter Jessica Walters - with as much screen charisma as Clint himself, and as I watch it again I realize my "crush" on JW now eclipses even Joan Allen and the legendary Helen Mirren. I am in love with Jessica Walters... & Arrested Development only cements it. She is awesome. From coy groupee to absolute psycho, and everything inbetween ...my only problem is that her character reminds me of more than one ex-girlfriend ...such is life.
A nice piece of the character day-to-day, and a nice slice of the era, is the montage shot at the Monterey Jazz Festival. It's long and freestyle, like the music - a very nice touch all around, and clearly a personal touch by Clint. He's indulged his jazz passion more and more over the years, and I can't help but think this inspired closing his last performance with a personal tune. Super cool.
TBC

The 10 o' '10

2010-07-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

The Ten so far...

I. Kane (1941) - Education / epic / character study - 100 books wouldn't cover it all. Can a movie destroy a life? ...yes, two, in fact.
II. Duel(1971) - 1st film / man(n) v man / nature / machine - Focus is what we have here.
III. Misty(1971) - 1st film / style / suspense / location - My single most inspirational film.
IV. Thing(1982) - Small / scary / tight / open - I love love love The Thing.
V. Buckaroo(1984) - Smart / fearless / committed - This film is absolutely unique - true to itself.
VI. Razor's Edge(1984) - Personal philosophy / experience - Life is beauty.
VII. Psycho 3(1986) - Sequel / dirty / curio strange - Mother talks on her own ...c'mon, how awesome is that?
VIII. Shawshank(1994) - Hope and despair / Stephen King - That a kind man possesses "one of the greatest imagination of our time" is extraordinary. I am a genuine fan of his work.
IX. Zodiac(2006) - Obsession / period piece / real history - What is the truth? ...and why do I need to know? Can obsession destroy a life? Oh, yeah..
X. A Team(2010) - Adaptation and expansion / reverence - If you're going to do something - do it right, but do NOT forget to have fun...even the bad guys.

Now that is one weird list ...but I do believe it is time to look more closely at why I want these 10 movies to influence my future filmmaking skills ...
Starting with the guy who, at 40 in '70, decided to direct his first feature...

LEt sLeePing CorPses LiE: a zombie interlude

2010-07-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

Zombies scare me. Fact. I'm not sure why ...they always have. I think it's the inevitabilty ...their patience, if you will...
Night of the Living Dead scared me & it is the classic - no denying it - like The Thing, it's that ending that caps it perfectly, creating a "WTF?" instead of an "aahhh, everything's ok..."
From that I would've jumped all the way to 28 Days Later or Dawn of the Dead(06), but Jorge Grau's Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is my personal favorite in the genre. I watched it again last night(partially in response to my spiritual tirade earlier) back to back with Slither, which I'll yammer on about at a different point, but I've sampled a lot of Zombie movies, and I think this is the one that both borrows and inspires best.
For starters, Danny Boyle is clearly a fan of this movie - with the "rage" eyes and faster "dead", 28 Days Later is almost a remake...
A friend commented that the movie looks like an Agatha Christie movie ...'til the Zombies show up. It has a very British/70's storytelling element to it ...with just that dash of Italian darkness ...almost like a Stephen King story.
They do some different things here, with the homicidal babies, and the relentless hobo ...things that stay with you a little longer, and despite it's tone, we eventually see blood aplenty.
The acting is great, and the inspector(played by Arthur Kennedy) is a fantastic character, making the film feel more like a mystery featuring the undead, as opposed to a "horror" film. The score is excellent, the suspense genuine, and the outcome is unpredictable. This is an excellent movie by almost any standard, and as I write this I can't wait to show it to someone new...

My Ultimate Zombie Fest would read something like this:

Night of the Living Dead(1968) Let Sleeping Corpses Lie(1974) Dawn of the Dead(1978) 28 Days Later(2002) Dawn of the Dead(2004) Shaun of the Dead(2004) Zombieland(2009) Let Sleeping Corpses Lie(2012) - A remake and functioning sequel/follow-up to Shaun of the Dead(by the same team, of course).

If you look for it - it has about 30 titles ("The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue" /"Don't Open the Window"), so you can pick your favorite...

It's worth it ...watch it on a misty night ...trust me.

Bill Murray & THE RAZOR'S EDGE

2010-07-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

"America" - The last line of my favorite film.
Movies can inspire us ...affect us ...and sometimes they can answer questions we didn't know to ask...
This film, more than any other, sums up my truest philosophy on the human condition:

We all get what we truly want.

I was handed this new perspective at a time I was indulging something I thought I wanted, and it grabbed hold quickly. I was left with the question - what do I need(not want) and what does that need want? They are different. Our "learned personality" covets, and I believe this to be the downfall of North American culture.
I read a story by Kurt Vonnegut years ago called Harrison Bergeron ...about society bringing everyone down to the same level ...I think we do this to each other, but mostly to ourselves ...not so much misery loves company as impotence and fear adore company...
"Keeping up with the Jones'" has tragically created about a billion Harrison Bergerons ...only measuring ourselves against others - the "successful " ones, with no core sense of who or what we really are ...what we really need, to be the best possible version of this assemblage of gifts that any of us is.

Is life distracting us from obtaining our goals? ...or is distraction what we seek? Why does someone stay in an abusive relationship? ...what interior question is being addressed?
We measure ourselves against what we see to be success and decide it's too much ..too hard, and the fear is so warm ...

I believe we are searching, both consciously and un- , from the moment we wake til the moment we sleep, for what we truly desire in this world...
But what is it you seek ...what experience is guiding you? ..what pain or inspiration? ...what self-imposed limitation keeps that goal forever planted in the realm of the someday...?

"I didn't know I was lying, but I was." - I love that line.

Our protagonist, Larry Darrell is still a mystery to me ...but one I think of often. If honest answers are what we seek, how can life not be immeasurably rewarding?
What will make me happy? What will make this experience valuable while I'm in it? How do I affect others?
I honestly believe Bill Murray made Groundhog Day as a thematic sequel(or perhaps a philosophical follow-up) to Razor's Edge ...What is the value in anything ..anyone? How do I engage this experience unselfishly?
Beautiful.
But the lesson itself is not soft. What do you truly want? Honest answer...

At one point he visits an old friend who is not well ...listen to Larry's answer when his friend thanks him...

As for the film itself, John Byrum's direction is subtle and strong, allowing the film and the performances be patient when it's necesarry. Denholm Elliot could do no wrong in the 80's and the cinematography is gorgeous. My long-standing crush on Catherine Hicks remains undiminished ...Child's Play, Star Trek IV ...and she's great here(don't hate her)...as is Teresa Russell - lovely, vulnerable, sad.
And...
I love Bill Murray's performance as Larry Darrell, but I just love Bill Murray ...I think he knows who he is ...or at least, he's not afraid to look.
I could have discussed Ghostbusters - I think it's a perfect movie - Life Aquatic, Broken Flowers, etc...amazing, and I would give him the "best cameo of all time" award for Zombieland, but between the ultimate messages of Groundhog Day and Razor's Edge I think it's the personal philosophy of the actor that gets me most. GD feels more European in tone every time I see it ...and what a message - value what is valuable. That's it.
All the players in RE seek, and recieve ...but, like a great number of our lives I suspect, you have to look back at the question, and realize, that this and only this, provides the answer that is your day to day existence. What do I want?

Mr.Murray indulges both the exquisite beauty and the exquisite sadness that is life ...and honestly evokes that old idiom: If I didn't laugh I'd cry. I thank him and my friend Mike Goodfellow, who knew I should watch this movie...
It's like Jeopardy - sometimes the answer prompts the question itself.
I'm left with a question upon writing this. Do I want to be a filmmaker who measures himself against the works of others? No, I want to answer myself. The way the people on this list have, and then let the world form it's own questions to my answers.

There is a moment in The Razor's Edge when Larry is atop a mountain, burning his books to stay warm ...his last possessions. He is smiling - I envy that smile.

THE A TEAM ...yes, The A-Team

2010-06-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, now you think I'm crazy ...hear me out.
The 2010 update of the 80's TV show The A-Team could easily be viewed as just another of the infinite # of remakes and sequels that Hollywood continues to churn out ..except for a few valid points.
What is the truest purpose of re-doing something? I believe the answer is "to do it better".
Seems simple right? Wrong, as we all know ...
So here's the catch ...this movie is better than the show ever was. My friend Travelin' Dave summed it up perfectly in noting that GIJoe did not succeed in making us feel that rush that the show gave us as kids ...The A-Team did. But we're not kids anymore so how does it work?
Give us what we want as adult filmgoers:
From the adrenaline fueled opening culminating in Hannibal Smith's classic line to the very end of the film when we get the iconic "If you have a problem..." AWESOME. Joe Carnahan and his team have such a genuine and obvious love for the original concept that a pervasive sense of pleasure threads the whole movie. Even the bad guys shine with great performances, nuanced dialogue, and actors who seem to be having at least as much fun as we are.
Noteworthy here is that Smokin Aces by the same director distinctly felt as though it's makers enjoyed the process far more than we did.

The film is fun ..it's that simple. The plot is neither complex nor insulting, providing a non-stop ride and plenty of time for every actor here to playaround, and even evolve a little. Watching Liam Neeson do George Peppard's Hannibal Smith is almost as fun as Chris Pine's Captain Kirk - reverence and reinvention abound. Bradley Cooper is charming beyond, and Rampage Jackson pays absolute tribute to Mr.T's BA Baracus ...buuuut Murdock was my guy.
I was a teen when the show debuted so I found it a little young even then, but Dwight Shultz's Murdock was a guaranteed laugh. Sharlto Copley(of District 9) has so much fun with this role, I'd see it again for him ...he is just so funny. Our introduction to "Howlin' Mad"(*spoilers*) has him stitching a thunderbolt into BA's wound and lighting Face on fire ...I missed dialogue because I was laughing ...great, again - good reason to go back to the theatre. Only last years Star Trek impressed me this much(in the realm of the reboot) and though I believe that to be a superior film to The A-Team, it actually accomplishes slightly less: Star Trek was a fantastic show that needed some help in recapturing the magic again... The A-Team was never a fantastic show, but one that resided firmly within camp & nostalgia ...and how to make it work as a film ...easy, make it really entertaining - take everything we liked about the show and inject it with steroids ...perfecto. In other words, do exactly what every filmmaker should set out to do - entertain us.
I guess I'm one of the few guys around who loves sequels and remakes ...these are our stories ...our youth, retold and rebooted and repackaged ...and every once in a while you get to hear a story you know you've heard before, but the guy telling it is telling it even better.

...and another THING...

2010-05-22T05:28:00.000-07:00

I was right. I can watch it every day...then again - I am crazy, but it's just sooo good. The Thing is the type of film that I want to make. That's it...it's smart and consistent, with that flavor of character acting that I love - people that really feel like they're in those skins...Alien did it first, but this one is my favorite.
The whole film speaks in the voiced question of the original story...Who Goes There? ...at more than one turn we are left saying "Who was that? ..but who was that?" but like the book/screenplay of No Country for Old Men, The Thing is also remarkable for what isn't there: The men don't use words out of science fiction...they don't have the magic answer for us, so they feel real. Then there's the questions ..do they know if they've changed? Where is it from? The unanswered and unresolved compliment the story perfectly - no, they enhance it...I think this is what I despise most in a lot of the films of today...when they hand us not only ALL of the info we should have to discover ourselves, but usually even more than needed, making the experience not only stupid, but insulting...these "exposition scenes" I just can't stand...
Might be my favorite ending scene...no, Kane and Groundhog Day match it, but anyway, that ballsy ballsy ending is almost European in tone(and I still have no idea, much like Twelve Monkeys, what the truth is..) - I somehow doubt the upcoming remake will be so esoteric at it's edges...
Dean Cundey is a genius ...if genius means figuring out the absolute best look and feel to establish a tone for the story - it's pitch, if you will is perfect throughout, again more noticeable in films when it isn't. Though the story is messy the film is extraordinarily tidy - amazing.

So many cool posters for this film...

For three nights I've turned it on and turned away - used it as a radio show to go to sleep...awesome, with some freaky dreams to boot - I swear that score could hold up the whole film...simple, punchy, and creepy - there's a "dark inevitability" to it that unfailingly puts me in Antarctica, knowing I won't survive...or will I?
Had a discussion about "love" for film last night - love versus "like" or "really like" ...you film obsessos know what I mean...

I love The Thing, and like real love, it just keeps getting better.

SUPERMAN ..or December '78

2010-04-14T15:38:00.000-07:00

I don't know why but I feel compelled to write about the boy who went to see this film with his father on a chill night in the winter of 1978. I was a young eight, and there was still a gray area between reality and film. You can guess the impact of an expensive, expansive, well-done Superhero movie on a wide-eyed dreamer...and not just any hero...this was SUPERMAN up there flying around... this was modern myth made real.
My world became bigger that year. The United States had farms in the middle and cities on the edge. I learned that not everyone was as polite as I was used to(only Superman, it seemed)...but Metropolis(New York) now existed to me...busy, bustling, loud and dangerous...what a world.

As the little girl with the comic book begins ..the onscreen curtains open ...that drum roll...
I do believe it was my first erection...actually, I'm quite certain it was...nothing sexual about it...certainly didn't understand, but I do remember the overwhelming sense of seeing something grand ...grander than anything I'd ever seen...an energy and enormity of scope that pulled me in and simply never let go.
So much emotion locked up in this...it was the 70's and things were different...and I was eight. Dad was a tall archetype father to me then and about midway between Superman and normal human beings. I don't remember if Pad (my little bro) was with us or not...probably, but it quickly became so "mine" that the film would hold its place throughout various stages of my life...with that John Williams Score serving as a pick-me-up more times than I can possibly count, even after the death of my own father.

And from that amazing title sequence to Krypton to Smallville - to the big city and the modern threat of a Nuclear exchange - This is pitch-perfect action/drama with lots of laughs; something I'm certain all the "adults" in the audience were very pleased about. The tone and pacing are classic, and the movie is beautifully shot, with extraordinary effects work, despite the distinct lack of pixels or rubber suits.
The story by Mario Puzo is solid and the cast is a virtual who's who for the era: Margot Kidder's weirdly sexy Lois ...Glenn Ford's truly fatherly Pa Kent, and of course Gene Hackman's Luthor ...sooo much fun, but Hackman's my favorite actor of the 70's, hands down. And oh, yeah ..MARLON BRANDO plays his father ...the greatest American actor ever !!..Marlon Brando is Superman's Dad - perfecto. In fact, there are a number of "father" themes running thru thoughout ..I still remember how I felt when Pa Kent took his pulse, and looked, with one expression, as though the one thing he was feeling was "I won't see Clark grow up ...I can't help him anymore..." Amazing.
There is an earnestness about this movie, as though each and every one of the players actually loves the character and the film...it felt then as though everyone in the world loved Supermen as much as I did.

...and then there's Chris Reeve.

The man charged with making us "believe a man can fly" - truly did.
Christopher Reeve stepped out of our "collective mind's eye" vision of Superman, and then spoke. The face, the body language, the Clark Kent - you could screen-test every actor who ever lived and never cast the character better. He gives off a sense of undeniable power and confidence while humanizing not just an alien but a guy in tights. It works because he works. This, and the wisdom of Richard Donner, are not lost on what is now an adult perspective on a movie that was made for everyone, but by adults. I note this element only because even the best of the many "superhero" films made since, feel a bit juvenile...like these director's did let the run the show, or that's at least what they thought we wanted. Superman always feels like adult filmmakers with the reverence of children...an almost fatherly perspective on the character, and a cohesive sense of "what" Supes really stands for, as opposed to more modern or convenient interpretations. Only The Dark Knight captured the same adult tone but with far less genuine love for it's title character.

The First Great Comic Book Film portrays the origins of not only Superman but of the entire industry itself. It started with him ...then Batman ...then Spider-man(which is an anti-hero remake of this movie)...etc. ..and now, just like the comic book industry - there's a whole messy slew...but it all comes back to the big guy - Superman is to comic books what Citizen Kane is to film...everything comes after.
Sadly, his relevance has seemed to wane in these more "modern" times, but perhaps nineteen seventy eight was the last time our society could, or would, truly embrace this character. It seems that this 2010 internet culture is more about propagating the idea that we are all "special" ...and the big blue boyscout doesn't really fit into the "GenY" model...apathy doesn't need to be saved, I guess. The simple fact is that no one looks up in the sky anymore ...they're too busy texting.
Perhaps the secret is that perceived perfection actually makes us very insecure..
...but if you look again, you'll see that his trials are not unlike all of ours ...does he/she love me? ...how to balance who I want to be and who I have to be? ...where did I come from? ...and what do I do now?

I'm not thrilled that I'm getting older, who is? but...
This movie...this distillation of so many stories and ideas of goodness and heroism...of modern myth into an actual motion picture...an epic film...this is a reason to be glad you were born in the 70's. Up 'til some points like this one I couldn't necessarily grasp my father's work ethic, but watching this movie - I understood a sense of duty - a responsibility to what you are, once you know what that is. SUPERMAN made me believe I could fly ...that is, do just about anything...
& sometimes Dad did too.
It was a good night.

"Get busy living, or get busy dying" ...The SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

2010-02-26T07:44:00.000-08:00

Hope. This word brings me back to my original inspiration for writing about film...Stephen King. A film is only as good as it's villain...and in this extraordinary film we have the most insidious bad-guy ever on the screen...DESPAIR. This is the greatest strength of Mr. King(in my humble opinion)...to find the hope in the horror...to create situations where the human response can only be tragic or terrified...and yet...

I had the rare privilege of a triple feature in october of '94...Quiz Show(good movie)...Ed Wood(great movie)...then Shawshank...
My friends went to see The Specialist as a fourth feature...I went to a local pub and talked about the three films I just enjoyed, and made people promise to see Shawshank(I'm pretty sure we came up with a shooter called "the hardest screw" but the details are hazy)...then met said friends who immediately declared me "smarter" than them...I just couldn't taint that experience...

And it still stands...It's a cool october day every time I watch it...and I'm alone with my own spirit.

The Shawshank Redemption is perfect. This is the best teaming of Director/Writer in the canon of SK films, and though The Green Mile and The Mist are fantastic(as are Misery and Stand by Me), Shawshank is simply in a different category. Frank Darabont seems to pull a Mike Nichols in that his director's presence feels invisible...feels more like a prism focusing the story and performances. He seems to have no need to stamp this film, like say Kubrick who destroyed The Shining then rebuilt his version...but rather subtly guiding something that has a life of it's own. Now, I'm sure Shawshank is Frank Darabont's vision but it almost feels like both he and SK were in the higher service of hope itself...that this tenet is the drive of every moment here. I love the expression on Andy's face when he answers, as though any other thought is foolish...

That there are things in this world
not carved out of gray stone. That
there's a small place inside of us
they can never lock away.. that they can never get at ..hope.

.. I do have to note Darabont's slow push here...in on Andy as he reveals what he really is...and though Red is offended by his belief(their one and only clash) he knows that Andy is daring to look at something bigger than them all...and that dangerous pain that the knowledge of something better can carry...extraordinary. We feel Andy's leadership here and I do hope we've all had the experience of watching someone and not understanding their strength. I've had this experience...offended people who thought I should be sadder when my life was difficult... fuck-you.

This story isn't just a favorite film...it's my philosophy...that there is something inside that cannot be taken by anyone or anything. And that true hardship...true despair...leads to the truth - to what is really important. In this, I think The Mist functions as a thematic sequel to Shawshank with the truest horror coming out of the result of true despair...the final lack of hope.
Shawshank also sums up my philosophy on suicide...this and Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes "..that's the funny thing about life, it's never so bad it can't get worse..." ..or better. I've never understood that belief that this moment is worth dying for...to truly believe it'll never be good again...nuts to that.

Twenty people could have twenty reasons for loving this movie...
There's Tim Robbins' beautifully understated Andy Dufresne, the exceptional supporting cast, the claustrophobic stone walls of a real prison, the timeless feel, the menace of exceptional human villains(and ask yourself this..do I take more pleasure from watching evil gets it's come-upance? ..or from watching each supporting character evolve in Andy's light)...and then there's Morgan Freeman:
We all love Morgan Freeman...he's like that uncle who always had time for you but didn't put up with yer shit...his voice has intelligence and sadness in it...and hope. This is the story that made every filmmaker on earth want a Morgan Freeman VO...

Every time I watch this I'm saddened by Brooks' death...I hope that Red will get to the rock...and I cry when he does. I used to want to watch the next 2 hours of Red and Andy's story, but in this, too, is a lesson...
As we get older there is an immeasurable value to shared experience, especially shared pain. That beautiful end shot from high up...I wanted to see them up close...smile, hug...whatever, but it took a couple more viewings to realize we don't deserve to be there on that beach with them ...they earned it. If those of us watching want a moment so profound...we gotta go make 'em...we have to get busy living...

"Bring me the knife, Norman...bring it to me.."

2010-02-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

PSYCHO III, yes, Three.

WHY do I love this movie? Well, there are a couple o' reasons.
1. It's insane.
2. It's funny
3. I think Alfred Hitchcock would like this film.

But most of all - it's when Mother moves and speaks independently of Norman...awesome. I so hated this when I saw it years ago..."Hitch'd roll over in his grave, etc." ..
...but I was wrong...way wrong - there had to be some pretty interesting conversations during the genesis of this story..."Are we really making Mother talk independently of Norman...what the hell are we saying here?"
I love the Mother character in this movie. This time she is far more menacing than before - finally giving us the sense that Norman truly doesn't have the strength to resist his own mind. Inevitability. This isn't simply a controlling matriarch personality but an actual monster. And that voice... malevolent and creepy...

The movie is so strange and ...I dunno - "dirty 80's", that it has an odd charm...as though Norman Bates had directed it...and not Anthony Perkins. Psycho 3's underpinnings are as much the schlock inspired by Psycho as the original film, itself...more, in fact.
But...Norman's not a bad director, as it tuns out...the film has some really good shots...and about half of it is tongue firmly in cheek. Great.
Mind you, heavy-handed metaphors abound(with a Vertigo inspired opening) ..and I can't help but guess that Perkin's hidden life might also be playing into his themes and imagery. He plays a kooky paranoid with a secret very, very well...

Like Spielberg's shark(the non-functioning Bruce that necessitated his film be suspense over action), I do believe that the imposed limitations on Hitchcock's violence lent him more class than he'd have preferred having ...again, I think he'd smile at Psycho 3. It's violence feels different than the previous two films...like it's taking a self-aware pleasure...again, like Norman is directing a film about "Mother".
Psycho 3 also boasts one very strange bit in which we finally get to see Norman speaking as Mother...oddly edited, it ends up a spooky scene with a subtle tone of the supernatural...the place I'm surprised they didn't go with a fourth film.

...And there are those two good reasons the sequels to these films are not as easily dismissed as some other follow-ups of this calibre or better...the set and the star. The sequels all use the Universal set and the original Norman...lending a 30 year history to the whole thing - to the buildings themselves and as a cinephile watching CG replace "matter", this matters to me.
And that last shot is the antithesis of Psycho's sterile, "innocent" Mother/Norman - with a clearly mad Norman cradling the mummified hand of his dead mother - that fade on that face...good, cheesy fun.

And we all know that everybody loves at least one lousy film...this is mine.

I too, am a Buckaroo...

2010-02-09T05:27:00.000-08:00

...or a Blue Blaze Irregular...
On The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th Dimension:

I've had the closing music from this film running through my head for 26 years...no joke. Finally sat down with a friend to watch it last night, and I can honestly say neither of us expected too much.
Wow, I haven't been "instantly in-love" with a movie in a long time. The Straight Story, maybe...only a few ever worked like this. I can't stop smiling but I have no idea even how to discuss this film...it is just so unique. Had a sense, going in, that I wouldn't "get" it at all, having not seen it younger and in that 80's mindset, but that's the thing about a clever movie - it doesn't matter at all when a clever movie was made - just that you found it. Casablanca was a great reminder of this.
No wonder Buckaroo's had a following since it's release in 1984 - I think you'd see more films like this...if they didn't cost money. It seems to be a direct relationship between the watering down process and the budget for most films being made these days, Avatar being a great example; the 2 billion dollar movie whose "originality" could fit into any 2 minutes of Buckaroo Banzai, which ironically made about 2 cents.
And originality is the name of the game here.

As I try to figure out why I liked this so much I realize I don't want to...not completely. It really seems the only way to enjoy this as much as we do, was to make it...cool. The whole thing has such an honest energy, as though the world already loved this guy - this adventure, and the actors knew it(believed it). It's too bad this movie is smarter than most of the people who watch movies...so were The Thing and Blade Runner, etc...unfortunate, but at least films like Bubba Ho-tep can bridge the gap while were waiting for rare moments of genius.

It had to be Buckaroo's crazy script that got that amazing group of actors so enthusiastic, and maybe a director who knew how good it was. Buuuut, unlike say Zodiac, which really seems to be a singular director's vision, this seems to be a confluence of elements creating something far better than the sum of it's parts. There's a density to this film I didn't expect either, as though the continuing saga was guaranteed, and you just needed to hop on for this adventure and subsequent films would fill in the blanks...it has an absolute confidence in itself without being pretentious or self-aware...I wish I could know more people like this film.

The scene at the end with an alien Christopher Lloyd furiously correcting the pronunciation of his name...extraordinary. This now ranks among my absolute favorite film scenes ever, standing in such company as Holy Grail and even, dare-I-say-it .. Apocalypse Now or The Godfather...because it really comes down to two great actors making a good script into a brilliant scene. Does it work?..does it entertain??

My thanks to all the boys and girls who made Buckaroo happen...
I honestly can't remember the last time I enjoyed any 2 hours this much.

This...is the ZODIAC speaking...

2010-02-05T12:07:00.001-08:00

Where to begin. Watched it once - good film - enjoyed it...but, like Chinatown and French Connection, it had an insidious effect...just a gentle hankering to watch it again...
..and by viewing 22 I realized I might have an obsession developing...it is a compelling story and a very true story...and I wanted to know more. No, I had to know more.
Read Robert Graysmith's book then his other book then every piece of material I could find...but it all comes back to David Fincher's Zodiac...what I consider to be one of the best American films ever made.

Jake Gyllenhall and Mark Ruffalo are great and great together.. as are the wide and varied supporting cast(led by Robert Downey jr.)... character acting that evokes thoughts of films like All the President's Men or Glengarry Glen Ross - intense and committed. Everyone looks and feels "period".
Now thanks to some of the more famous lazy directors, CG and greenscreens have become embarrassingly overused, but it's the invisible stuff I love...watch the extras to learn that 1/2 the film is trickery...brilliant - If I can't tell there's CG - it's good GC...and they do manage to stylishly re-create old San Francisco like we're dreaming about it.
The film is as much about the nature of obsession as it is about the killer...perhaps moreso. It is a drama, a thriller and a period piece that will leave you with questions despite it's "answers" and the 2 audio tracks are as good as the movie...so much information on the case and so much on making the film...
Visually, this'd be a good watch on mute - it is gorgeous...but I do believe that only a nostalgic love can generate such a singular, consistent vision of the landscape one grew up in - and that makes this a love letter to a different time - Fincher's love letter to bygone California...and, though elements of this story are icy cold, you can feel the warmth of a boy's memories throughout.
The soundtrack is perfection in its balance between the creepy and the oddly personal...and does become haunting...as haunting as the interviews with the real players from the period(double disc extras) who, again, answer some questions..but inspire even more. There may be a killer interviewed on this disc.

This, along with Seven, could be the alpha and omega of modern serial killer films from the action of one versus the effect of another...with only Silence of the Lambs as a potential challenger. If I had to guess, I'd say Hitchcock would've been interested in any of these 3 scripts.

And then there's that oh-so-smart tagline:
"There's more than one way a serial killer can take your life..." ..he's claimed plenty of mine, as has David Fincher, but I'm not complaining.

THE THING is

2010-02-02T05:41:00.000-08:00

Most of all...
my favorite "And then there were none" story.
I don't think I've watched any movie more times ...perhaps Blade Runner.
John Carpenter's The Thing is exceptional on so many levels; isolation story - monster movie - character study...and like Witness as 3 films in one. The Thing succeeds as everything it wants to be. There isn't a second in this story that breaks character or reality...and that is impressive in any film, let alone one about an alien monster from space.
What makes this the best of the many movies that investigate small isolated groups disappearing one by one is the ambiguous ending...genius. No sequel...no happy resolution...and so completely satisfying where every other story like this one provides a concrete answer. It leaves one asking "..would I even know if I turned into something awful?..would you?"

Almost as much fun as the film is the audio track with JC and Kurt Russell, but I'm a sucker for these two together and Carpenter's early body of work is my most loved group of films next to Hitchcock's. The commentaries that blend experience with real filmmaking education are the best, and this is theirs. Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, and Escape from NY are simply works of art buuuut...like Blade Runner or Star Wars I do believe that the Morricone(like Jaws, simple, scary, awesome) score, the Albert Whitlock artwork, the visual palette, and the all practical all amazing effects work bring so many accomplished artistic minds together that you have, not a singular vision but a film that has literally the best talent across the board. Throw together a dozen great character actors and I think I could watch The Thing every day.

A Duel with Clint Eastwood

2010-01-29T09:06:00.000-08:00

..or Hitchcock films by other people. Steven Spielberg's "Duel" is brilliant. Simple. Perfect...and so charmingly Hitchcockian that had he been on set with Spielberg I don't think the film would be very different...perhaps a young Hitch anyway.
Then there's Clint Eastwood's "Play Misty for Me" as his Hitchcock and I'd be hard pressed to say who's first film is better or more like the master. Both Directors moved on to tell their own tales in their own ways but to swap directors on these...again, might not change 'em much. Both are relentless pursuit tales...both end with the antagonist taking a plunge...and both came out in '71(in fact, they were released two days apart)...and who'd be the top two names now?
If you watch them back to back I suggest "Duel" first, only for the fact that it takes place by day...then "Misty" ...to make the shadows scary...and for the fact that I do consider "Misty" marginally better...more repeat viewings...more to soak up...and as fun as it is to watch Dennis Weaver go crazy...Jessica Walter is absolutely sublime. Clint also has some real fun with the score...very artistic touches and the little 70's details are worth paying attention to...the touches of 2 future masters...but I am a sucker for 1st films, pilot episodes, first seasons...the raw over the refined. This is not to say these films are anything but perfect...but both storytellers moved into more complex realms film by film. These are two of my absolute favorites ...two amazingly forward driven narratives...time-travelling to a coastline of 1971...and getting to learn from two of the best...
...and what is #4 in the ten of 2010 ?.?..

The Ten of Twenty Ten

2010-01-04T02:21:00.000-08:00

OK...so that list is just too short...and a tad depressing.
A more fun approach might be the(my) most study-able ten flicks...The 10 of 2010...that can function as how-to templates for a quirky director-to be such as myself. These aren't the "best" or my absolute favorites...more a grouping of skillsets and personal experiences that made these just a bit more worthy than the rest. Worst case - I end up knowing far too much about a handful of geniuses and write a book someday...best case...this cat becomes a respected filmmaker...
In no order...Citizen Kane - This (like Casablanca)is worthy of it's stature. You want to understand film language...watch Kane...read something about it...then watch it again. I feel like I'm in a film course that Orson Welles is teaching...forever. To open a film with the death of the protagonist and an outline of the plot might seem ..well - crazy ..but each time, I am more intrigued by Kane...Why? Is it the writing? Is it the technical mastery? Does Tarantino's assembly of Pulp Fiction differ much from this? Brilliant. Next...Steven Spielberg's "Duel"...

Stephen King

2009-12-22T06:12:00.000-08:00

Like Clint Eastwood, Stephen King seems to be getting cooler with age. How rare is this? So many of my favorite filmmakers, authors and pop-culture superheroes have lost what made them unique - maybe they just used it all up - Frank Miller, obviously George Lucas...
I'd like to get down to the skeletons of things - why do I love them
?I suppose my thoughts will be more geared towards film than writing, but Stephen King has created so many of the stories I've loved on the screen, and he's getting better at what he does. This is close to one of my central philosophies - "nobody's perfect, but we can all get better". I so enjoyed/devoured "Under the Dome" (I do hope this gets a great director)that it inspired a search through all those genre elements that've contributed to my own experience ... a search to determine who is still young in mind and driven by a creative FORCE and not just an echo of the past - Those icons who evolve like Johnny Carson or David Bowie did ...
Short but awesome list coming together...