Posts
This year's Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow, has made several other films full of machismo and violence besides the gritty Best Picture winner Hurt Locker. Along with 1991's popular action /heist film Point Break, her diesel tinged Western film about Vampires, Near Dark, is possibly her dirtiest, toughest road-hardened effort.
Set in the sun-parched, hardly night-friendly dust bowl of Oklahoma, Near Dark is the story of farm boy Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar, best known as Heroes' Nathan Petrelli) who meets a girl, Mae (Jenny Wright) who happens to be a Vampire. After turning him, Mae takes responsibility for Caleb amongst her Vampire friends. Mae and her 'clan' (including the ever-present Bill Paxton as the menacing Severen) wander the highways like a gang of bored, nihilistic youths - much like a post-punk Mad Max. When Caleb finds himself among them, distrusted by all but Mae, he makes a desperate attempt to stay alive and become part of the clan.
Filling every frame with grimey mise en scene, Bigelow has opted for a claustrophobic feel despite the vast expanse of the Mid-West setting. The closed in shots give the viewer the sense of how trapped Caleb feels, which couples nicely with his reluctance to feed. In opposition to Caleb's reluctance, the clan are not the civilised Vampires to which cinema is recently accustomed, looking only to feed, they revel in their bloodlust - in particular during a scene in a bar they call 'shit-kicker heaven'.
While the dialogue, costume, neon and a lot of the synthesiser-based music is so thick with the 1980s as to date the film terribly, Near Dark is a refreshing kind of Vampire film. Besides having no mention of Vampires throughout, there is barely even the sight of fangs. These are violent, bored and anarchic immortals who've grown weary and distant from any sense of their long lost humanity. This culminates in their refusal to show any special consideration for Caleb's innocent family.
Mixing and matching classic genre elements from Westerns, Road Movies, Supernatural Thriller and even a little Noir (with all the neon harkening a little to the Cohen brothers' desert thriller Blood Simple), Bigelow has made an interesting Vampire film that is quite apart from most others. More well known and released the same year, teen favourite The Lost Boys has none of Near Dark's gritty ambience or rough and tumble adrenalin. This is a film soiled with diesel and dust and blood-stained, sweaty, unclean machismo - no room for sparkles at all.
Perhaps in acknowledgment of how romanticised and callow Vampires have become, the film is being remade and scheduled for release in 2012.
Set in the sun-parched, hardly night-friendly dust bowl of Oklahoma, Near Dark is the story of farm boy Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar, best known as Heroes' Nathan Petrelli) who meets a girl, Mae (Jenny Wright) who happens to be a Vampire. After turning him, Mae takes responsibility for Caleb amongst her Vampire friends. Mae and her 'clan' (including the ever-present Bill Paxton as the menacing Severen) wander the highways like a gang of bored, nihilistic youths - much like a post-punk Mad Max. When Caleb finds himself among them, distrusted by all but Mae, he makes a desperate attempt to stay alive and become part of the clan.
Filling every frame with grimey mise en scene, Bigelow has opted for a claustrophobic feel despite the vast expanse of the Mid-West setting. The closed in shots give the viewer the sense of how trapped Caleb feels, which couples nicely with his reluctance to feed. In opposition to Caleb's reluctance, the clan are not the civilised Vampires to which cinema is recently accustomed, looking only to feed, they revel in their bloodlust - in particular during a scene in a bar they call 'shit-kicker heaven'.
While the dialogue, costume, neon and a lot of the synthesiser-based music is so thick with the 1980s as to date the film terribly, Near Dark is a refreshing kind of Vampire film. Besides having no mention of Vampires throughout, there is barely even the sight of fangs. These are violent, bored and anarchic immortals who've grown weary and distant from any sense of their long lost humanity. This culminates in their refusal to show any special consideration for Caleb's innocent family.
Mixing and matching classic genre elements from Westerns, Road Movies, Supernatural Thriller and even a little Noir (with all the neon harkening a little to the Cohen brothers' desert thriller Blood Simple), Bigelow has made an interesting Vampire film that is quite apart from most others. More well known and released the same year, teen favourite The Lost Boys has none of Near Dark's gritty ambience or rough and tumble adrenalin. This is a film soiled with diesel and dust and blood-stained, sweaty, unclean machismo - no room for sparkles at all.
Perhaps in acknowledgment of how romanticised and callow Vampires have become, the film is being remade and scheduled for release in 2012.
A worthy if dated example of low budget grit - 3.5 Stars
Labels: Kathryn Bigelow, Near Dark, Review, Vampires
In The Hurt Locker, the first female to win a Best Director Oscar, Kathryn Bigelow, has made a taut thriller and dramatic war film with more machismo than an action blockbuster.
The 2010 Best Picture winner is the study of a bomb disposal unit in the always potentially booby-trapped wastelands of Iraq; and of what happens when one of them is replaced with a reckless adrenalin junky on an apparent death wish.
SSG William James (Jeremy Renner) brings an unnecessary extra dose of danger to every insane situation in which the crew find themselves. He is quick to tackle the deadliest jobs and walk right into the 'hurt locker' - a term that means the place of ultimate pain. Along the way he befriends a young Iraqi boy (Christopher Sayegh) who plays soccer, calls himself Beckham and sells pirated DVDs.
Essentially a series of set pieces in the sands of Iraq, Bigelow's film lays bare the always terrifying days of the units tour of duty and the different personalities of its men. The film was also acknowledged for Best Film Editing and its conservative cut count helps add to the realism - it doesn't jump from frame to frame like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie.
Renner and fellow actors Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty handle their roles as members of the war weary unit well; even when the scene turns decidedly homerotic during a drunken, semi-clothed wrestle in the barracks.
For all the realism that glares from its sandblasted frames,(THL was shot on location in Kuwait and Jordan) The Hurt Locker has been savaged by many who know best for its unrealistic depiction of the conflict in Iraq. Taking the most criticism from returned soldiers seems to be the fact that a unit of just 3 men are patrolling deadly side streets looking for insurgents.
But perhaps what is most unrealistic about The Hurt Locker is the lack of any depth or even basic humanity given to the people on the other side of the US - Iraq equation. Even the one character towards whom SSG James shows real affection, Beckham, is undermined by the appearance of another child kicking a soccer ball and selling DVDs - as if he was merely a 'strategy' used by insurgents to infiltrate US troops.
There are critics and viewers alike who have referred to the film as apolitical, but it appears at the very least to be nihilistic in its intention - as if nobody can be trusted, least of all anyone from Iraq. If The Hurt Locker has a message of any kind beyond 'Never trust an arab', its that the war mentality is just that, a mentality, and its self-replicating and feeds on the madness of itself.
Despite its moral ineptitude, The Hurt Locker (purely as cinematic effort) is an intense and impressive film. While perhaps not a worthy Best Picture recipient given the brilliant Inglourious Basterds and A Serious Man were also in competition, it is the best Iraq War film since 2007s criminally underrated Redacted.
The 2010 Best Picture winner is the study of a bomb disposal unit in the always potentially booby-trapped wastelands of Iraq; and of what happens when one of them is replaced with a reckless adrenalin junky on an apparent death wish.
SSG William James (Jeremy Renner) brings an unnecessary extra dose of danger to every insane situation in which the crew find themselves. He is quick to tackle the deadliest jobs and walk right into the 'hurt locker' - a term that means the place of ultimate pain. Along the way he befriends a young Iraqi boy (Christopher Sayegh) who plays soccer, calls himself Beckham and sells pirated DVDs.
Essentially a series of set pieces in the sands of Iraq, Bigelow's film lays bare the always terrifying days of the units tour of duty and the different personalities of its men. The film was also acknowledged for Best Film Editing and its conservative cut count helps add to the realism - it doesn't jump from frame to frame like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie.
Renner and fellow actors Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty handle their roles as members of the war weary unit well; even when the scene turns decidedly homerotic during a drunken, semi-clothed wrestle in the barracks.
For all the realism that glares from its sandblasted frames,(THL was shot on location in Kuwait and Jordan) The Hurt Locker has been savaged by many who know best for its unrealistic depiction of the conflict in Iraq. Taking the most criticism from returned soldiers seems to be the fact that a unit of just 3 men are patrolling deadly side streets looking for insurgents.
But perhaps what is most unrealistic about The Hurt Locker is the lack of any depth or even basic humanity given to the people on the other side of the US - Iraq equation. Even the one character towards whom SSG James shows real affection, Beckham, is undermined by the appearance of another child kicking a soccer ball and selling DVDs - as if he was merely a 'strategy' used by insurgents to infiltrate US troops.
There are critics and viewers alike who have referred to the film as apolitical, but it appears at the very least to be nihilistic in its intention - as if nobody can be trusted, least of all anyone from Iraq. If The Hurt Locker has a message of any kind beyond 'Never trust an arab', its that the war mentality is just that, a mentality, and its self-replicating and feeds on the madness of itself.
Despite its moral ineptitude, The Hurt Locker (purely as cinematic effort) is an intense and impressive film. While perhaps not a worthy Best Picture recipient given the brilliant Inglourious Basterds and A Serious Man were also in competition, it is the best Iraq War film since 2007s criminally underrated Redacted.
An impressive piece of film-making with no heart - 4 Stars
With the recent release of Shutter Island, Martin Scorsese once again brings a tale to the screen. There was a time in the maverick director's career that he didn't use Leonardo DiCaprio - The King of Comedy is one such time.
A naive loser Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro), who happens to be a hopeful comedian, manages to catch the ear of his comedic idol Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis as a rather candid and short-tempered version of himself) and invite himself for an audition. When Langford's office is dismissive of Pupkin, he grows increasingly disturbed until, goaded on by fellow Langford fan, Masha (Sandra Bernhard), he crashes his hero's home and takes him hostage.
Scorsese takes a film about comedians, co-starring a comedy legend in Lewis and works it into a menacing heist film not any less tense than his earlier work Taxi Driver (1976). Seemingly never far from lashing out violently during the hostage situation, De Niro's Pupkin has gone from a pathetic and celebrity obsessed loner who lives and has a fake TV studio in his Mother's basement to Travis Bickle without the mohawk. It is the slow burning tension that leads the viewer towards what seems like inevitable violence.
Jerry Lewis' BAFTA nominated performance as Langford underpins Scorsese's comment on celebrity and our dangerous obsession with it. The obvious differences in Langford's professional and private personas show that Pupkin and Masha are not even stalking the real deal.
Made in 1983 but feeling like a late 70s feature thanks to the drab colours and Pupkin's ridiculously dated dress sense, The King of Comedy is among Scorsese's best work and probably his strongest at that point until Goodfellas (1990).
Not easy to find, but a must see - 5 Stars
Labels: Cinema, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, The King of Comedy
Known to a generation of film fans for his wired portrayal of Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs (and to another generation entirely as the voice of Randall Boggs in Monsters Inc.) actor Steve Buscemi's feature directorial debut is a raw and unflattering look at the life of dedicated alcoholics.
Trees Lounge is the story of Tommy Basilio, an out of work mechanic with an alcohol problem whose wife has left him for his one time best friend and boss (Anthony LaPaglia). Besides trying to get his boss to hire him again, Tommy spends his days at Connie's bar (a world-weary Carol Kane) amongst the barflies and the down-trodden. His luck turns when he inherits an Ice Cream truck business and returns to work, but it quickly degenerates as he strikes up a worrying friendship with his ex-Wife's seventeen year old niece (a very young Chloe Sevigny).
Filled with mise en scene as grimy as Connie's dark den, along with an impressive number of outstanding performances, Trees Lounge seems to be about the curious need of all people to search for something else. A motif runs throughout the film of elusive wishes - from Tommy's search for the love of his ex-Wife to some poor kid who just wants an ice cream cone and can never seem to win.
Flying well under the radar and not seeing much in the way of commercial success, Trees Lounge is an underrated film with a strong home video following. Watch it with a bottle of something cheeky and a wry smile.
Trees Lounge is the story of Tommy Basilio, an out of work mechanic with an alcohol problem whose wife has left him for his one time best friend and boss (Anthony LaPaglia). Besides trying to get his boss to hire him again, Tommy spends his days at Connie's bar (a world-weary Carol Kane) amongst the barflies and the down-trodden. His luck turns when he inherits an Ice Cream truck business and returns to work, but it quickly degenerates as he strikes up a worrying friendship with his ex-Wife's seventeen year old niece (a very young Chloe Sevigny).
Filled with mise en scene as grimy as Connie's dark den, along with an impressive number of outstanding performances, Trees Lounge seems to be about the curious need of all people to search for something else. A motif runs throughout the film of elusive wishes - from Tommy's search for the love of his ex-Wife to some poor kid who just wants an ice cream cone and can never seem to win.
Flying well under the radar and not seeing much in the way of commercial success, Trees Lounge is an underrated film with a strong home video following. Watch it with a bottle of something cheeky and a wry smile.
Cult Favourite - 4 Stars
First released on the festival circuit in 2007, Director Oren Peli's Paranormal Activity was bought by Paramount and subsequently released with an alternate ending suggested by Steven Speilberg. This review is for the original 2007 version of the film.
The film's simple conceit involves a young couple who experience unexplained phenomenon in their house at night, mostly while they sleep. Setting up video surveilance, they begin to capture these peculiar goings-on which quickly escalate into terrifying paranormal events.
By necessity, much of the camera work is bland and unsettling but not always in the right kind of way. The use of minimalistic sound was a good choice and the droning noise that often preceeds an event has the ability to scare by itself towards the end. There are a lot of long takes in the editing of the film, obviously to mimic raw amateur footage, that really only made the cut feel lacklustre and unplanned. Performances by Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat are somewhat overstated, though Featherston is occassionally convincing when scared witless.
Comparisons to The Blair Witch Project are inevitable and, I believe, relevant. The groundbreaking 1999 film employed the 'guerilla' style of film-making superbly - going so far as to set up bogus websites, create a long and detailed mythscape around its characters and to actually scare the film's actors while stuck in the woods at night on shoot. In comparison, everything The Blair Witch Project got right, Paranormal Activity got wrong.
While the home handycam style of the film makes for a more visceral projection than TBWP's mostly 16mm student film look, the dialogue is overly scripted, unconvincingly acted (for the most part at least) and you can't help the feeling you're watching someone's home made take of a borrowed idea. While initial screenings of TBWP were viewed by people who didn't know what they were watching wasn't real, I am sure there will be no such viewers for it's 'homage'.
However, as disappointing as I found Paranormal Activity, it was rather creepy in many parts and so in essence served its purpose. I also realise there are many potential viewers too young to have seen TBWP - and their enjoyment will probably not be marred by expectation.
Well worth a viewing at any rate, Paranormal Activity is a great achievement for first time director and one time video game programmer Peli, whose next outing is Area 51
Worth a Look - 3 Stars
Labels: Cinema, Horror, Paranormal Activity, Review
Thank you for finding this brand new blog, and welcome. While searching for templates, we came across this one and were inspired to use it to create Make Films Not Movies.
Make Films Not Movies hopes to be a look at films, both past and present, movies, upcoming releases and industry news with a smattering of celebrity history and gossip.
What's the difference between a Film and a Movie? Put in it's simplest terms, a film is a work of art while a movie is a piece of entertainment (or at least tries to be). Films aren't always entertaining. Movies are never art.
We will be adding a viewing list to MFNM very soon, as well as reviewing one film and one movie to get the ball rolling. If you have any news on upcoming films, premieres or newly financed projects; or if you just want to let us know you're reading, send an email to: coreyj72@gmail.com
Lights Up. Curtain Closed.
Lights Up. Curtain Closed.
Bye!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)