Film Discussion Club encourages you come out to the Cyber Café to share your opinions on what makes a movie a “classic” on Thursday night. Yes, There Will Be Blood will be playing at the SLC that night, but there’s always Friday and Saturday. :P
To get my toes wet in the topic now, I’ll confess my desire to go back in time and watch La haine for the first time. I re-watched it in my French class last week, but the occasion didn’t compare to the cinematic wallop it felt like when I experienced it last summer after prioritizing it on my Netflix queue once Criterion released it on DVD. How a movie endures repeat viewings is a popular barometer for measuring how “classic” or “great” one is, but is there any merit in those unforgettable first acquaintances? In his introduction to his “Great Movies” column, Roger Ebert says he “envies the experience” awaiting people when they mention they’re seeing a particular movie he loves for the first time. I feel the same way about my own batch of “great” movies.
Anyway, try to come out on Thursday night at 7 to share your thoughts.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
My Perception of Persepolis
Black and white animation...in a world of Ratatouille's and Shrek's, it's a daunting task to hold one's own in an industry where innovation in animation bears more influence than the storylines themselves. Granted, Ratatouille delivers both visually and as a narrative, but with a budget of $150,000,000 and the power of Pixar, I'd hope so. (Shrek the Third, on the other hand, is open to interpretation.) But as I watched Pixar's newest installment win an he Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film, for which it deserved, I took notice of its runner-up, Persepolis.
With a budget of just over $7 million, Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi collaborate to create Persepolis, a film adaption of Satrapi's earlier autobiographical graphic novels of the same name. Their combined artistry (Paronnaud previously worked with comics) serves to illustrate a complex story of a young girl living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. A rebellious and curious youth with an interest in everything from ABBA to Iron Maiden, Marjane comes to terms with her Iranian past, her future in France, and the family that supported her along the way. The choice of black and white brilliantly turns the viewer's attention away from any show of spectacle and toward the simplistic, straightforwardness of Marjane's story, not unlike her inspiring graphic novels.
With a budget of just over $7 million, Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi collaborate to create Persepolis, a film adaption of Satrapi's earlier autobiographical graphic novels of the same name. Their combined artistry (Paronnaud previously worked with comics) serves to illustrate a complex story of a young girl living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. A rebellious and curious youth with an interest in everything from ABBA to Iron Maiden, Marjane comes to terms with her Iranian past, her future in France, and the family that supported her along the way. The choice of black and white brilliantly turns the viewer's attention away from any show of spectacle and toward the simplistic, straightforwardness of Marjane's story, not unlike her inspiring graphic novels.
Why call it Persepolis? According to its official website, it refers to a 6th century BC Persian capital, later destroyed by Alexander the Great. It is meant to represent a complex Iranian culture lying hidden beneath the modern-day simplistic view of fundamentalism and fanaticism. And maybe that's why the use of black and white works so well. It's a simple medium employed to combat a simplistic interpretation of Iranian society. Ratatouille? No, but added depth should count for something.
http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/persepolis/
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
SXSW
Guh, guh, guh. I've been avoiding doing SXSW review posts not because it wasn't a freaking blast but because I'm freaking lazy. In the next few posts from me you can expect reviews on:
21
Mister Lonely
Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
Some Assembly Required
Run Fat Boy Run
Dance of the Dead
Older Than America
New Orleans Mon Amour
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Southern Gothic
Frontrunners
Yeast
Humboldt County
If there are any that you'd like to see a review on before the others, leave a comment to let me know.
Oh yeah, and I recently saw Funny Games -- a movie I had previously said I would never see -- so I may do a review on that as well.
Peace!
-Bonster
p.s. I'm really stoked about the posts on here lately and I'd like to share it with the inter-world. I'm going to link this blog to my Technorati Profile and maybe we'll start seeing other folks popping up around here too!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Modern Midnight Movies: Doomsday
If there's any genre I prefer, for no particular reason, it's sci-fi/horror. This goes all the way back to Event Horizon, which I saw 5 times in the theater, tying with my best friend. I know about two-thirds of them are crap anyway, and I really wasn't expecting much from Doomsday, but alas I was compelled as usual.
It started off with a lot of narration and visuals to help explain everything, which was helpful. These two things go away after 15 minutes and I can only wonder if the budget was short. Anyway, the narrator starts off by explaining that this movie is like all the other movies you've seen already: a virus breaks out yadda yadda... survivors... you get the point. The difference is that there aren't a bunch of dead, half dead, or angry people running around mindlessly killing people. This movie only deals with the living. Hence after cordoning off half of the UK, leaving a wall separating the infected from the non-infected, life returns to normal. You know, unemployment, riots, etc. Well, naturally the virus springs up again. Luckily, satellite photographs show survivors on the other side of the wall, meaning perhaps there is a cure.
This is where the movie veered slightly to show a bunny get blasted, which I couldn't help but break into laughter. Little did I know I'd be laughing myself to tears in another hour. For awhile I thought the film was going overboard as the survivors are all punks, complete with tattoos, body art, and baseball bats. The gimp seemed to be quite excessive, as well. Then at some point you just go with it.
Like most midnight movies, there is the debate about good and evil, yet this movie went a bit further. Sooner or later it becomes clear the good and evil don't matter, only existing matters, and the rights there of. Essentially what started off like any other sci-fi movie turned into a brawl with reckless abandon. I figure that the writer simply threw in any ideas he thought of and didn't stop to think about throwing any out. One thing is certain, I haven't laughed this much at the movies for quite some time. I give it 5 out of 5 stars, because as bad a sci-fi movie as it was, it didn't disappoint in terms of pure entertainment. If anyone else is going to see this, let me know, I'd love to see IT 5 times.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
German Expresionist Influences on Contemporary Cinema
German Expressionism, it's kind of a hard pill to swallow, much less define. Wikipedia has a good definition of it, but there's concerns as to it's accuracy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_expressionism). Artmovements.co.uk has an extremely vague definition but seems more accurate because it has better vocabulary (http://www.artmovements.co.uk/expressionism.htm). For the intent of this article, I will (without any qualification) define it as a movement in early German cinema spanning from about 1910-1930 wherein innovative set design and special effects were used, and often using sets or costumes that were works of art in their own right. This is the only thing I can say that includes all the films in this category that I've seen (Nosferatu, Metropolis, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). It's one
of those things you know when you see and can't explain well to others.
In any case, I'd like to go over a few movies that draw from these films. The First up is Alexander Proyas' Dark City. The film's Wiki page compares it to Metropolis with the sets and use of large clocks, but I personally think it has more to do with Nosferatu. I can't help but notice the uncanny resemblance between The Other's [aliens] costume design and that of the vampire's costume design in the 1929 silent film Nosferatu (see the image to the left, The Others are on the far left and Nosferatu on the right). I'd like to point out the pale bald heads, rounded shoulders accentuated by a long coat, and round bulging eyes.
Next up is basically everything Tim Burton has ever done, but for the sake of brevity we will look at Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Burton draws heavily from one expressionist film repeatedly, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It is a horror film from around 1919-1920. It's a bit lacking in the plot department, but it more than makes up for it with the visuals in my opinion. In Bob Howard's words (which I'm trying to recall from a meeting about a year ago when we voted in The Seventh Seal) "there's not a straight line in the whole picture." This is the most perfect description of the sets that I've heard. The sets play with geometric shapes, angles and diagonals (which are frequently used in art to create a tense or dramatic mood) to create unique , beautiful and atmospheric sets. Burton uses this method in The Nightmare before Christmas (as seen below, one of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari's sets is on the right). One should note the almost identical street lamps in both images provided.
The characters in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari all have white faces with dark circles painted under their eyes, creating an eerie effect. This is repeated in Edward Scissorhand's character design (as seen below, Cesar from The Cabinet on the left and Edward Scissorhands on the right), in addition to both characters being tall lanky men with unruly black hair in black bodysuits.
For additional info about Dark City, here it is on imdb:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118929/
and here's a youtube comparison of Dark City to The Matrix by a rather cranky spanish speaking person, which is cool because it shows the sets The Matrix reused:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NcBUelP1bI&feature=related
For additional information on Nosferatu, here's imdb's profile:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013442/
And here's the movie in it's entirety, because it's in the public domain, it's free and legal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEOsb6CRvNU
For more info on the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010323/
For good articles on The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Check out the following:
http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/classic-movies/55-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920-robert-wiene.php
http://www.filmmonthly.com/Silents/Articles/Caligari/Caligari.html
and to check out The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which is also in the public domain, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrNJBbXhvOs
by the way, I have a copy of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (much better quality than Youtube), Nightmare Before Christmas, and Dark City if anyone would like to borrow them.
of those things you know when you see and can't explain well to others.In any case, I'd like to go over a few movies that draw from these films. The First up is Alexander Proyas' Dark City. The film's Wiki page compares it to Metropolis with the sets and use of large clocks, but I personally think it has more to do with Nosferatu. I can't help but notice the uncanny resemblance between The Other's [aliens] costume design and that of the vampire's costume design in the 1929 silent film Nosferatu (see the image to the left, The Others are on the far left and Nosferatu on the right). I'd like to point out the pale bald heads, rounded shoulders accentuated by a long coat, and round bulging eyes.
Next up is basically everything Tim Burton has ever done, but for the sake of brevity we will look at Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Burton draws heavily from one expressionist film repeatedly, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It is a horror film from around 1919-1920. It's a bit lacking in the plot department, but it more than makes up for it with the visuals in my opinion. In Bob Howard's words (which I'm trying to recall from a meeting about a year ago when we voted in The Seventh Seal) "there's not a straight line in the whole picture." This is the most perfect description of the sets that I've heard. The sets play with geometric shapes, angles and diagonals (which are frequently used in art to create a tense or dramatic mood) to create unique , beautiful and atmospheric sets. Burton uses this method in The Nightmare before Christmas (as seen below, one of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari's sets is on the right). One should note the almost identical street lamps in both images provided.
The characters in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari all have white faces with dark circles painted under their eyes, creating an eerie effect. This is repeated in Edward Scissorhand's character design (as seen below, Cesar from The Cabinet on the left and Edward Scissorhands on the right), in addition to both characters being tall lanky men with unruly black hair in black bodysuits.
For additional info about Dark City, here it is on imdb:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118929/
and here's a youtube comparison of Dark City to The Matrix by a rather cranky spanish speaking person, which is cool because it shows the sets The Matrix reused:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NcBUelP1bI&feature=related
For additional information on Nosferatu, here's imdb's profile:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013442/
And here's the movie in it's entirety, because it's in the public domain, it's free and legal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEOsb6CRvNU
For more info on the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010323/
For good articles on The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Check out the following:
http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/classic-movies/55-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920-robert-wiene.php
http://www.filmmonthly.com/Silents/Articles/Caligari/Caligari.html
and to check out The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which is also in the public domain, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrNJBbXhvOs
by the way, I have a copy of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (much better quality than Youtube), Nightmare Before Christmas, and Dark City if anyone would like to borrow them.
Monday, March 3, 2008
"If I'd grown up on a farm and was retarded, Bruges might impress me, but I didn't, so it doesn't." Ray's crass and otherwise politically incorrect commentary carries the audience through Martin McDonagh's dark comedy In Bruges (2008). The city itself, with its preserved medieval architecture and "fairy-tale" atmosphere (as Ralph Fiennes' Harry would put it), serves as more than just a setting for the two hiding hit men. Forced to spend their days seeing the sights and sounds of Bruges, McDonagh subtly works the concept of tourism into the narrative as more than just a shameless plug to an otherwise unknown city.*
He comments on America's current popularity (or general lack thereof) in Europe through Ray's off-hand remarks toward many of the visiting Americans (and one unfortunate Canadian, as you'll see) while still holding true to the main narrative structure of the film itself. Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes offer compelling performances as does Clemence Poesy, although I found it particularly distracting to see 'Mad-Eye' Moody, Voldemort and Fleur Delacour in Bruges and not in Hogwarts. If that distracts you during your viewing of the film, I apologize. But hey, it bothered me, too. Otherwise, McDonagh's feature-length directorial debut is worth a look, if only to see a smart (albeit far from perfect) script convey both humanizing remorse and unforgiving humor as two Irish hit men hide away in this quiet Belgian city. In Bruges.
*not to say Bruges doesn't have its fans, or to say that its inhabitants are any less for living there.
He comments on America's current popularity (or general lack thereof) in Europe through Ray's off-hand remarks toward many of the visiting Americans (and one unfortunate Canadian, as you'll see) while still holding true to the main narrative structure of the film itself. Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes offer compelling performances as does Clemence Poesy, although I found it particularly distracting to see 'Mad-Eye' Moody, Voldemort and Fleur Delacour in Bruges and not in Hogwarts. If that distracts you during your viewing of the film, I apologize. But hey, it bothered me, too. Otherwise, McDonagh's feature-length directorial debut is worth a look, if only to see a smart (albeit far from perfect) script convey both humanizing remorse and unforgiving humor as two Irish hit men hide away in this quiet Belgian city. In Bruges.
*not to say Bruges doesn't have its fans, or to say that its inhabitants are any less for living there.
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