Last night, I was tired but not yet sleepy. I hate that in-between feeling and I knew if I went to bed, I'd lay there thinking about the fact that I wasn't sleeping. I began browsing Amazon prime when this blast from the past appeared-- Witness, the 1985 Harrison Ford crime thriller. I'd seen it before., in all its edited for tv glory. When I was a kid, I thought Harrison Ford was THE COOLEST EVER. He was Han Solo and Indiana Jones, need I say more? So I thought "here's a great choice. I've seen it before but don't remember all the details. If I fall asleep, no biggie because I've seen it."
I didn't fall asleep. First of all because, hot damn, Harrison Ford is sexy. Now that that's out of the way....
There's something about 80s crime movies as a genre. The good guys are not complex, and neither are the bad guys. It's the 80s equivalent of a John Wayne western. It's oddly satisfying.
When the movie opens on Pennsylvania fields of tall grass blowing in the wind, however, the 80s take center stage with the heavy synth music playing over the opening credits. I went back and forth over this music. It's the number one thing that dates this movie and it made me laugh in some inappropriate moments. Since the vast majority of the movie takes place in Amish country, if not for this music it could have been made in just about any decade. Anyway, it's the one thing I'd change if I could. (And maybe that super awkward kiss. Seriously. Who kisses like that?)
Also worthy of note. Viggo Mortenson. Yeah, Aragorn is in this movie. Who knew? He's just there, blonde, jovial and Amish at a barn raising. Imagine - Viggo as little more than an extra with one spoken line.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Song of the Sea
I recently came across this movie on Amazon Prime. (Thanks, Dad.) It's a 2014 animated film I had never heard of before, but the drawing style looked interesting and I saw Brendan Gleeson listed in the voice credits so I thought I'd give it a go.
The story opens on a young boy named Ben and his mother painting murals of Irish folklore on the walls of his room in the lighthouse where he lives with his father and pregnant mother. As they paint, she teaches him a Gaelic song. Her mother and father put him to bed, and she gives him a gift of a shell flute to hear the song of the sea. That night, his little sister is born and his mother presumably dies. When we next see him, he is older, drawing pictures of his mother's stories, annoyed with his little sister who has still not talked although it's her 6th birthday. It's obvious that he resents her and blames her for the loss of their mother.
This movie is absolutely beautiful. Upon doing some reading about the movie, I learned that this is hand-drawn animation. It would be something really special only for the look of the movie, but it delivers on much more than that.
I love how the Irish folklore is woven throughout the movie. I want to say more, but also don't because I just want you to go watch it if you haven't. :)
The story opens on a young boy named Ben and his mother painting murals of Irish folklore on the walls of his room in the lighthouse where he lives with his father and pregnant mother. As they paint, she teaches him a Gaelic song. Her mother and father put him to bed, and she gives him a gift of a shell flute to hear the song of the sea. That night, his little sister is born and his mother presumably dies. When we next see him, he is older, drawing pictures of his mother's stories, annoyed with his little sister who has still not talked although it's her 6th birthday. It's obvious that he resents her and blames her for the loss of their mother.
This movie is absolutely beautiful. Upon doing some reading about the movie, I learned that this is hand-drawn animation. It would be something really special only for the look of the movie, but it delivers on much more than that.
I love how the Irish folklore is woven throughout the movie. I want to say more, but also don't because I just want you to go watch it if you haven't. :)
Monday, February 6, 2017
CLOVERFIELD ... contains spoilers
I went to see Cloverfield, despite my initial skepticism. After seeing a preview, I was not sure I could make it through a feature-length film shot in this manner without coming away with little more than motion sickness. I also had a feeling that a movie that depended so heavily on the hype and mystery surrounding the plot was kind of a cop-out.
It wasn't the best movie ever, but there were some really interesting things going on. The effects were great, it was pretty terrifying, and the camera-wielding Hud was hysterical. I felt like the movie should have ended before it did though. It drew out just a little too long. And I know that a monster movie isn't ever supposed to be realistic, but there were a few escapes from death that were just too unrealistic even for this type of a movie... (e.g. Beth is still alive and able to run around without bleeding to death after having been impaled by a metal rod... or that the 3 remaining main characters survive a horrific helicopter crash only to be further terrorized by the monster.)
What other friends that I went with hated the most about it, however, was what I liked: The fact that there isn't any resolution. The film doesn't even have opening credits, rather it opens with a screen with US Military codename "Cloverfield." It tells us that this is evidence discovered at a region formerly known as Central Park. This was an interesting way to begin and really supports the illusion of realism. Going into the home video feel from typical film credits would not have felt the same. I loved this choice. I thought it was brilliant.
The plot was less than stellar, but as I was watching, there was an interesting 9/11 subtext at the beginning. Off camera you can hear people saying "do you think it's another attack?" and when there is an explosion in the distance, you get more of the same sentiment. I thought this highlighted a vague fear in our country that has come about since 9/11. Also scenes in the street at times echoed some of the handcam footage that we saw on the news that day of clouds of dust and rubble rushing down between buildings as people were lost in the cloud. The idea of the first-hand account as it's happening via this video camera is reminiscent of this footage as well. As people fled Manhattan, they attempted to go across the Brooklyn Bridge. The movie showed this mass crossing the bridge, and I, once again, could not help but think of 9/11. Someone I know who worked at World Trade fled Manhattan by the same route that day. As the film continues, it becomes evident that there is an actual monster attacking the city. We never know where the monster came from and we never know an ending. We don't know if the monster died and the military eventually prevailed or if it and it's crazy little insect-like offspring are still ravaging the country. That very mystery also adds to the 9/11 subtext-- We do not know the outcomes, we do not know what happened to our enemy. I think this is what made this movie a success: the pervasive and elusive fear that we live with.
I only wish that someone had asked my opinion in the editing process! haha. There were just moments that became so thin, the movie would have been far better with their omission. For example, I feel that a much more effective ending would have been for the movie to have ended after the helicopter crash with the camera just directed at the ripped seat of the chopper. The idea of the 3 main characters making it out of the helicopter not only ALIVE but able to run from the monster is absolutely ridiculous. And then for the monster to somehow have "snuck up" on Hud.... yeah... the enormous monster surprises and kills Hud as he is picking up the camera. Wow. It could be just me, but I felt it should have ended at the crash. The final scene with Beth and Rob under the bridge was weird for me... But I understood why the filmmakers did it. Interspersed throughout the movie are moments of what Hud is filming over, Rob and Beth's romantic tryst that forms the whole basis for why he is so determined to go and find her. The last scene is the end of that tape when they are summing up their day together saying "Great day" and smiling into the camera. Ooh, feel the irony. It was effective. I just wish they had taken a slightly different path to get there.
The scariest moment: Malena. If you've seen it, I need say no more.
Having a pretty intense hatred for spiders, camel crickets, roaches, etc, the little (excuse me, enormous) insect-like things were TERRIFYING. I have not been able to walk down my hallway in the dark since seeing this movie. Too like a subway tunnel. haha. Malena is totally hardcore and beats the crap out of one of them, saving Hud. But in the madness, she is bitten. She begins to feel sick and gets really pale. When they come to a military medical station, she suddenly says "I don't feel good." and when Hud brings the camera onto her, she is bleeding from the nose and eye, a la ebola. A nurse screams "We've got a bite!" and they drag her off screaming into a quarantine, where we only see her silhouette through opaque plastic curtains. Then a splatter. Yuck.
It wasn't the best movie ever, but there were some really interesting things going on. The effects were great, it was pretty terrifying, and the camera-wielding Hud was hysterical. I felt like the movie should have ended before it did though. It drew out just a little too long. And I know that a monster movie isn't ever supposed to be realistic, but there were a few escapes from death that were just too unrealistic even for this type of a movie... (e.g. Beth is still alive and able to run around without bleeding to death after having been impaled by a metal rod... or that the 3 remaining main characters survive a horrific helicopter crash only to be further terrorized by the monster.)
What other friends that I went with hated the most about it, however, was what I liked: The fact that there isn't any resolution. The film doesn't even have opening credits, rather it opens with a screen with US Military codename "Cloverfield." It tells us that this is evidence discovered at a region formerly known as Central Park. This was an interesting way to begin and really supports the illusion of realism. Going into the home video feel from typical film credits would not have felt the same. I loved this choice. I thought it was brilliant.
The plot was less than stellar, but as I was watching, there was an interesting 9/11 subtext at the beginning. Off camera you can hear people saying "do you think it's another attack?" and when there is an explosion in the distance, you get more of the same sentiment. I thought this highlighted a vague fear in our country that has come about since 9/11. Also scenes in the street at times echoed some of the handcam footage that we saw on the news that day of clouds of dust and rubble rushing down between buildings as people were lost in the cloud. The idea of the first-hand account as it's happening via this video camera is reminiscent of this footage as well. As people fled Manhattan, they attempted to go across the Brooklyn Bridge. The movie showed this mass crossing the bridge, and I, once again, could not help but think of 9/11. Someone I know who worked at World Trade fled Manhattan by the same route that day. As the film continues, it becomes evident that there is an actual monster attacking the city. We never know where the monster came from and we never know an ending. We don't know if the monster died and the military eventually prevailed or if it and it's crazy little insect-like offspring are still ravaging the country. That very mystery also adds to the 9/11 subtext-- We do not know the outcomes, we do not know what happened to our enemy. I think this is what made this movie a success: the pervasive and elusive fear that we live with.
I only wish that someone had asked my opinion in the editing process! haha. There were just moments that became so thin, the movie would have been far better with their omission. For example, I feel that a much more effective ending would have been for the movie to have ended after the helicopter crash with the camera just directed at the ripped seat of the chopper. The idea of the 3 main characters making it out of the helicopter not only ALIVE but able to run from the monster is absolutely ridiculous. And then for the monster to somehow have "snuck up" on Hud.... yeah... the enormous monster surprises and kills Hud as he is picking up the camera. Wow. It could be just me, but I felt it should have ended at the crash. The final scene with Beth and Rob under the bridge was weird for me... But I understood why the filmmakers did it. Interspersed throughout the movie are moments of what Hud is filming over, Rob and Beth's romantic tryst that forms the whole basis for why he is so determined to go and find her. The last scene is the end of that tape when they are summing up their day together saying "Great day" and smiling into the camera. Ooh, feel the irony. It was effective. I just wish they had taken a slightly different path to get there.
The scariest moment: Malena. If you've seen it, I need say no more.
Having a pretty intense hatred for spiders, camel crickets, roaches, etc, the little (excuse me, enormous) insect-like things were TERRIFYING. I have not been able to walk down my hallway in the dark since seeing this movie. Too like a subway tunnel. haha. Malena is totally hardcore and beats the crap out of one of them, saving Hud. But in the madness, she is bitten. She begins to feel sick and gets really pale. When they come to a military medical station, she suddenly says "I don't feel good." and when Hud brings the camera onto her, she is bleeding from the nose and eye, a la ebola. A nurse screams "We've got a bite!" and they drag her off screaming into a quarantine, where we only see her silhouette through opaque plastic curtains. Then a splatter. Yuck.
Let's try this again....
Today I went to see the documentary film I Am Not Your Negro, based on the writing of James Baldwin. I am not ready to write about it yet, as I feel it is going to require repeat viewings to fully absorb. After the movie ended, my friend and I sat a while unable to speak. When we were able to shake off the heaviness that had settled over us as we watched, we headed around the corner for coffees and to debrief what we had just seen.
In the course of this conversation, I mentioned how I used to have this silly little blog that I'd started in college after having the opportunity to write about film for a class. I thought maybe I should pull it back up again. I opened the page, and here I am. One posting partially completed, cut off mid-sentence. I wonder where I was going with it. Another unfinished one for Cloverfield that I may as will click the "publish" button on and will do after I finish this. I know nobody ever really read this but Marian. We'll see. Maybe I won't ever write up I Am Not Your Negro, but I hope that I will. It's an important film that has made a deep impact on me.
Others I'd like to review : Sweet Bean and Mister Holmes both come to mind... Maybe I'll tackle one this week.
In the course of this conversation, I mentioned how I used to have this silly little blog that I'd started in college after having the opportunity to write about film for a class. I thought maybe I should pull it back up again. I opened the page, and here I am. One posting partially completed, cut off mid-sentence. I wonder where I was going with it. Another unfinished one for Cloverfield that I may as will click the "publish" button on and will do after I finish this. I know nobody ever really read this but Marian. We'll see. Maybe I won't ever write up I Am Not Your Negro, but I hope that I will. It's an important film that has made a deep impact on me.
Others I'd like to review : Sweet Bean and Mister Holmes both come to mind... Maybe I'll tackle one this week.
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