Movies

I again find myself spending time watching movies ... catching up on all those friends who chastise me for not having seen whatever movie we're talking about.

For example, the first three Terminator movies. I'm always fond of old style science fiction, so the first of these is quite cute. And then there's the liquid metal effect introduced in Judgment Day, which also is cool, and at the time certainly was at the bleeding edge of what was possible in CG. But by the third movie the concept itself is sure showing its age — although it's still well made action, I didn't enjoy it as much. Haven't got hold of the Salvation nor Bruno Mattai's unofficial Terminator 2.

Speaking about old fashioned Sci Fi: Blade Runner has a very nice retro look in the buildings and furnishings. And, although this is more because it also was made in the early 80s, very retro computer consoles :-) Fun to watch, but I'm not quite happy with how the plot turns out in the end. But then, it's a Hollywood production, so should I be surprised?

But there's not only Sci Fi ... The Shawshank Redemption is a gripping story about an innocent serving a 20 years sentence for murder. A banker entering the rough world of prison, bets are taken how long he'll last. But obviously it turns out that he's really quite tough ...

I'm getting good at this ... I thought “Jim Jarmusch” after about 20s of the opening credits of Down By Law. While it is (again) about innocent people in prison, the focus here is solely on the interaction of three people sharing a cell, excluding almost everything else. Done beautifully in black and white, and while it's not fast paced in any way, the plot has a steady flow to it.

For some reason, 60G of free space on my notebook suddenly turned into 60G of movies. Bownian motion, perhaps.

Unfortunately, in this particular case, I absolutely don't like to let a movie (or book, for that matter) unfinished, so I watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp; so far, so good) from start to finish. After the first half hour I started wondering if the plot is going to start. The reptile party in the hotel lobby was a short entertaining interlude, but to the end, no plot manifests. I'm left wondering what this was all about.

Quantum of Solace on the other hand is good entertainment. Probably not one of the best, but still worth watching if you like her majesty's secret agent.

Going back to movies I've seen before is something I like to do as well, so having another evening in company with the unforgettable Leon (the professional) was time well spent.

I didn't give up on Terry Gilliam yet and met The Fisher King. While the story is completely different, it does feel a bit similar to 12 Monkeys in terms of set design and atmosphere.

Speaking of Terry Gilliam: I'm curious how his current attempt at The Man Who Killed Don Quixote turns out; so far I've only seen him losing this movie in the documentary about the aborted last attempt: Lost in La Mancha.

On the funny side, Dogma and especially The Wedding Crashers were worth watching. If you have to pick one, it's the latter one. Dogma feels a bit forced in some places.

Returning back to the opening theme: seeing Inland Empire was another evening that left me confused. The main story is interesting enough, but I have to admit that I just couldn't follow where all the other sub plots tie in, or if they even are supposed to. And I'm not only talking about the rabbit family (those felt a bit like the Middle of the Film in The Meaning of Life and were quite in order.)

Watching the Star Wars Trilogies (both old and new) has finally closed one of the major (in at least some of my collegues' view) holes in my cinematographic education. (I've seen some of the new trilogy when it came out, but not all.) Oh well ... while it's quite enjoyable to watch, it's probably at least as important to have seen them just to spot the references all over the place.

Repo Man was where I found myself — literally — laughing out loudly all by myself. And not only because of the vintage special effects (1984).

The Straight Story (Lynch) is just beautiful. Alvin Straight is your proverbial old uncle who may be a bit funny in the head but you just have to like him...

If you like mind control stories, The Manchurian Candidate is for you. Now that would be a way for Debian to achieve world domination. Worth thinking about?

Speaking of american politics, this reminds me of All the President's Men, which I've seen (and liked) a long time ago. I don't know enough about history to tell how close it is to reality, but it's at least a well made political thriller. Based On A True Story is the term usually used, isn't it?

A somewhat naïve young man, a kidnapping, a policeman's daughter, a night club singer, said policeman's partner being involved, a love triangle, a pervert and (probably because it's Lynch) a cut off ear. What more do you need ... ? Or, in other words, I absolutely regret not having seen Blue Velvet before.

In contrast, Pink Flamingos takes its fight over the title of the “filthiest woman alive” (which sets the whole plot in motion) a bit too literal for my taste. I like movies that leave more things up to the imagination of the spectator. Or perhaps it's just that my sense of aesthetics doesn't agree with John Water's.

(And to the person who knew nothing bettter to say than “You idiot” to my negative critique about Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds: I don't delete comments on my blog that don't agree with me. But I do not tolerate personal attacks. Post it to your own blog. You're as entitled to your opinion as I am.)

I guess having only the Japanese version of Tetsuo and not understanding anything might not have helped, but on the other hand there isn't all that much dialogue. Tetsuo is one of those movies I find difficult to judge; while it has some great moments, I also found it to be a bit long in some parts. Very good sound track, though. YMMV, I guess.

If you like the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett, you may want to have a peak at Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic, which I found quite well made (... and where I once again found that I don't have a good memory for faces, although in the end I remembered where I saw Twoflower's face just before reading the name in the closing credits ...) A bit disappointing, in contrast, was Terry Pratchett's Hogfather: to me, it proves that a movie should have some distance to the book, since what works when written down doesn't necessarily work on the screen. I quite liked Michelle Dockery as Susan, though.

Whew. Thank God I did download that one and not spend money on it. If you're trying to poke fun (or be satirical) at the Nazis, do it like Chaplin, or do it like Monty Python. Inglourious Basterds is just not funny and hasn't got enough substance to be satire. It's just fooling around by people with too big an ego and too much money. I'm extremely disappointed with Tarantino here; I liked his other movies and had expected quite a bit more here. I'm not surprised to see Brad Pitt in such a movie (he's not a bad actor, but I've always had the impression that he's not picky about the roles he's playing), and Uma Thurman gets bonus points for not appearing :-)

It just occurs to me that as well as completely missing the mark with the plot here, Tarantino also utterly fails at assembling a gripping soundtrack. Coincidence? If we ignore all this, the film is at least well made, and most of the actors show a good performance (I particularly “like” Christoph Waltz being the complete asshole.)

(On second thought: now, he didn't miss the mark with the plot, but with the way he's been filming it. Use the same plot but do it as a slapstick comedy, I think it could have been really funny. Use the same basic plot but take it seriously, it might have been a real thrilling war movie. Etc. So the plot is not to blame.)

The friend who lent me his “Kottan ermittelt” DVDs gave me the 1981 movie (cinema, not TV) Den Tüchtigen gehört die Welt. I guess a warning is in order: if you liked the TV series, it's possible that you'll share my disappointment with this film. There are reports of a new movie to be made this year, and I also haven't seen the first 9 episodes of the TV series yet, so I'll probably report on Kottan again some time in the future.

I was surprised but liked the film: There's a coherent plot and even a happy end. And it's till a film by David Lynch: Wild at Heart. Also by Lynch: the very early Eraserhead. Now this is Lynch (at least for me, since I started with “Lost Highway” and “Mulholland Drive”), and I really like the hairstyle of Henry Spencer.

Something completely different: Harold and Maude, or what happens when a bored high society youth falls in love with an 80 years old eccentric who shares his hobby of going to funerals of some random people.

Another attempt to shorten my list of movies where not having seen them makes me an absolute philistine, according to various friends: Papillon, with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffmann. Ignoring the tragic history behind it (the French penal system in French Guiana during the colonial era — I didn't know about this from school), it's great entertainment. There is a kind of happy end, but nowhere close to what Hollywood does to its stories these days...

A long time on the “to watch” list: The Fifth Element by Luc Besson. I don't know why but I had always been sceptical if I'd enjoy this one, but my feeling was completely wrong. Real fun.

While I think the basic idea of superheroes getting older and having a midlife crisis, or a daughter, (and of course during the film, getting back into action) could make a wonderful film, the ending of Watchmen left me with a bad feeling about the whole film. But then I never read or watched superhero cartoons anyway, so maybe it's just that I'm not the intended audience for this one.

Finally, V for Vendetta is another interpretation of the 1984 theme (actually, it's the interpretation of a graphic novel, but I've not read that), with a very well chosen John Hurt as “Big Brother” (or, I should say, High Chancellor Adam Sutler.) With quite a few slapstick moments, this isn't really as dark as the theme might suggest.

Having stupidly, and very painfully, ruptured a ligament in my foot (while getting off a bus. Not drunk, no sports whatsoever.) I was less mobile than I wished to be and could finally make some time to watch Nikita by Luc Besson (I've not seen much he was involved in; Léon was one of the exceptions which I like very much. I've got the DVD of The Fifth Element right here, so no need to chastise me that I haven't seen that one yet.)

But back to Nikita: you may know that I like strange movies for some values of strange. Nikita obediently starts off in a very dark mood. And then suddenly turns into quite a “normal” secret service thriller with a romance element. I liked both parts of the movie very much, but it took me a bit by surprise at first.

I also like fun stuff, and so I've watched my first three episodes (9 to 11) of Kottan ermittelt, wonderfully silly Austrian whodunnits from the late 70s/early 80s. If you don't speak german (and understand it well, even I have difficulties understanding some of the Viennese dialect), you just don't know what you're missing. Or if it is translated (don't know): probably like watching Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis in German. Which I did, because my french is not that good, but I'll have to watch it again en français, just to get the Authentic Expierence™ of this wonderful movie.

Update: Speaking of a foot, and of movies: I don't think I've mentioned My Left Foot on my blog so far. The biography of Christy Brown, a cripple who grows up in a poor Irish working class family to finally become a famous artist. I found it just a bit corny (hmm. Not sure if that's the right word here, shows up for kitsch in any case), but still very impressive.

Obediently following Xan and Simon's recommendation, I finally got around to watch La cité des enfants perdus (Caro/Jeunet.) Hmm. I liked Delicatessen better. OTOH my wife, who usually leaves me to watch those strange / dark movies alone, watched it with me and enjoed it more than she did some of the other strange movies I could convince her to watch with me in the past. I find this strange; it's certainly not that the movie is not strange enough...

A small curiosity is that a friend gave me 37°2 le matin (Betty Blue) only a few days before it was screened on the French/Germen culture channel arte. Apparently higher powers decided that One Should Watch This Film. Which I enjoyed from beginning to end. (Why do I include the arte Logo here? Because they deserve all the publicity they can get. It's about the only TV channel I can watch without getting annoyed at the content. They actually think about what they send, and also often get the watchers thinking. I watched the movie from DVD, though, because I don't own a TV receiver.)

Long time since my last movies posting ...

Just discovered the U.S. TV series Supernatural, in an episode showing the two heroes being introduced for the first time to the writer of the book series “Supernatural”, which contains the life of the two heroes. (Strangely, it showed up when I searched for Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs on a torrent search engine.) I'm not quite sure what to think about the series, judging from that episode. I read a lot of fantasy and I like the real-world / fantasy world crossover every now and then, but Supernatural is quite cheaply made. Watching this one episode was fun, but I have no idea if I would actually watch it regularly. (I find, generally, that fantasy is difficult in movies. Lord of the Rings is very well executed and mostly presents the world as “just a normal world”, and I'm forever thankful to Jackson that he shares my opinion — I think he says as much in the bonus materials on one of the DVDs — that magic with smoke and flashes mostly ends up in major silliness. I have neither read nor watched anything of the Harry Potter epic, so I can't comment on that.)

While I can't comment on Reservoir Dogs yet, I finally got around to watch From Dusk Till Dawn by director Robert Rodriguez, and with Tarantino (also co-writer of the movide, and if you watch the making of, co-director even if it's not in the titles) and Clooney as two of the main characters, together with a wonderful Juliette Lewis. That's certainly one of the movies I'll watch again, several times. Great soundtrack, too.

Yesterday, I was a bit disappointed after I watched Time Bandits; Gilliam's later films got much better.

It takes something to make a stop motion movie in today's time of cheap and easy computer animation ... so I really liked Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, if not for the rather straightforward story, but for the look and the atmosphere. The movie is also more a musical than a film, which I like very much as well.

Last weekend I found yet another movie that satisfied my apparent need for the strange and bizarre: Delicatessen by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

(You can find older movie-related posts on my old blog.)