Flipside Movie Emporium

[the night watchman]

Robots (Chris Wedge, 2005) - Much more entertaining than I would have assumed. I especially like the retro-, sometimes Picasso-esque style of some the robots. The cityscapes are amazing. Still, I couldn?t see it as much more than a diversion, and after it was over I felt I could have spent the time doing something more productive.



Doom (Andrzej Bartkowiak, 2005) - I had no illusions that Doom would be any good, but as a former Doom junky I at least expected to enjoy seeing aspects of the game translated onto the screen. Alas, Doom is less an adaptation of the game than a pretty by-the-book Sci-Fi Channel Original Aliens / The Thing Rip-Off, with a budget big enough to afford decent special effects. We get genetic mutants instead of demons (and only two varieties of ?em instead of the dozen or so beasties that populate the game), and a dreary, underlit, unchanging research facility instead of the surreal blazing landscape of Hell. The Rock continues to reveal himself as a perfectly enjoyable action star, and even dares to do something different with this role, even if it's all for naught. Doom isn't worse than this year?s The Fog or The Amityville Horror, but it is about as useless as either one.

Madman (Joe Giannone, 1982) - One howler of a slasher flick, that boasts not one but two theme songs for the killer, hammy actors (including Gaylen Ross, who clearly hadn?t had an acting lesson since Dawn of the Dead), and one of the dumbest killers in slasher history. He?s sort of a monstery version of Uncle Jesse who rawrs to himself while stalking victims. Only die-hard horror fans and 80s slasher completists need apply.

The Skull (Freddie Francis, 1965) - A ponderous and nonsensical little piece, but why do have such affection for it? Well, Peter Cushing makes most anything go down smooth, for starters. I suppose there are very few actors besides him who would give 100% to a scene that requires being menaced by a floating skull. Also, there?s a weird little bit in the middle in which Cushing is apparently arrested and taken to a room where a judge forces him to play Russian roulette. What does this have to do with the Marquee de Sade (the former owner of the titular skull) and devil worship (the reason for the skull?s continued sentience)? Haven?t the foggiest. But I like it. And I like that it?s in this movie. Maybe I just have a thing for non sequiturs.

The Fly (David Cronenberg, 1986) - After a depressing slue of disappointments, I decided to cheer myself up with a horror standard. The Fly holds up superbly, and next to The Dead Zone is probably Cronenberg?s most easily emotionally accessible movie, even in spite of the fact that (or maybe because) the hero turns into ravenous insect. Goldblum is really wonderful as the afflicted scientist, but I think I realized only for the first time what a novel addition to the formula John Getz?s character Stathis Borans is. Normally in a tale like this you have the hero/monster and the companion/witness. If there?s another character, it?s usually a villain who is eager to either destroy or exploit the monster. Though Stathis is an unapologetic prick, his feelings for Veronica are deep and genuine (if occasionally obsessive), and when the chips are down he -- to mix metaphors -- he rises heroically to the challenge. His addition to the storyline seems to flesh out the humanity of the tale.

[Jim Harper]

21/10/05 - 29/10/05

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (dir. Grant Harvey, 2004)

Jean de Florette (dir. Claude Berri, 1986)*

Vampire Circus (dir. Robert Young, 1972)

The Ghoul (dir. Freddie Francis, 1974)

Downfall (dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2004)*

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (dir. Terence Fisher, 1969)

Lost Souls (dir. Janusz Kaminski, 2000)

Candyman (dir. Bernard Rose, 1992)

Memories of Murder (dir. Boon Jong-ho, 2003)

The Warriors (dir. Walter Hill, 1979)

Logan?s Run (dir. Michael Anderson, 1976)

Just a slew of old favourites and it-was-on-TV stuff. Only two new ones, Jean De Florette and Downfall, both of which were excellent.

[beltmann]

[Jim Harper]

[mfritschel]

Finally, after a fun move and trying to develop a southern drawl I have had some time to watch a few movies. Here they are in preferential order.

In the Mood for Love (Kar Wai, 2001) - Excellent movie, like watching visual poetry.

A History of Violence (Cronenberg, 2005)

Land of the Dead (Romero, 2005)

Look at Me (Jaoui, 2005)

Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (Schrader, 2005) - It is better than the version that was released in theatres with Harlim as the director, but not significantly.

House of Wax (Serra, 2005)

[matt header]

In no particular order:

Rome Open City (Rosselini, 1945) A

Wheel of Time (Herzog, 2005) A

After the Day Before (Attila, 2005) A-

The Weeping Meadow (Angelopoulos, 2005) B+

A World Without Thieves (Feng, 2005) B

Darwin's Nightmare (Sauper, 2005) B

The Overture (Ittisoontorn, 2005) C-

Alexandra's Project (de Heer, 2005) C

The Last Horror Movie (Richards, 2005) C-

Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English (Carvajal, 2005) C+

Cronicas (Cordero, 2005) B

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (Greenwald, 2004) C-

Uncovered: The War On Iraq (Greenwald, 2003) D-

Almost all of these were at the 3rd Annual Milwaukee International Film Festival. Herzog's Wheel of Time is the best thing I saw there, and one of the greatest movies of the last five years. Many of his films are about the attempt to understand life through art--Timothy Treadwell's self-filmed exile in Alaska in Grizzly Man, the obsessed opera lover's quest into the Amazon in Fitzcarraldo, his Klaus Kinski documentary My Best Fiend--so a topic as spiritual as religion unsurprisingly suits him well. His camera is observant and patient; he rarely narrates and hardly ever supplies an editorial comment, making this an overwhelmingly visual meditation on, of course, meditation. It's one of the most calming movies I've ever seen, and in its refusal to explicate everything at length it subtly uncovers unspoken emotion, desires, and states of mind. The year's best film so far.

The worst film at the festival was The Overture. A Thai biography of a legendary ranad ek player, the film's musical set pieces can be invigorating but they're also obnoxiously filmed, with a restlessly stylized swooping camera and incoherent cutting. (The montages in this would give Eisenstein a headache.) It's not too much of an exaggeration to say it often reminded me of a more traditional You Got Served.

Jean-Luc Godard once said "all roads in cinema lead to Rome Open City. There's yet another thing I disagree with him on, but it is certainly a masterpiece.
_________________
"I don't like talking to people I know, but strangers I have no problem with." -- Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

[beltmann]

[matt header]

I tried to enjoy The Overture as a conventional but breezy and clear fable, but I think it's too lurching and poorly paced to enjoy it for any simple charm. While I appreciated its celebration of the arts, that celebration also proves to emphasize how very un-artistic this movie is. (Also, I only saw eight or nine movies during the festival, and all of the others ranged from interesting to outstanding; "worst" of the festival isn't too strong of an insult.)

Grizzly Man and Wheel of Time represent some of the finest filmmaking in the past several years. I prefer the latter, but it only "wins" by a nose.
_________________
"I don't like talking to people I know, but strangers I have no problem with." -- Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

[beltmann]

I'd argue that The Overture's simplistic iconography and familiar conventions perfectly match its main argument, which is that art matters is because it sustains traditions and is rooted in familiar cultural conventions. Still, I agree that it relies exclusively on the basest of narrative traditions, and feels like it was edited with a battle-axe.

Besides Filmic Achievement, my least favorite picture of the festival was Days of Santiago, which rips off Taxi Driver with even less subtlety and nuance than The Overture brought to its story.

Eric
_________________
"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment

[matt header]

I think we generally agree on The Overture, but there's a difference between artistic traditions and witless cliche.
_________________
"I don't like talking to people I know, but strangers I have no problem with." -- Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

[beltmann]

[Michael Scrutchin]

Oct. 25 to Oct. 31, 2005.

House of Wax (Collet-Serra, 2005) B-

More reminiscent of 1979's ?ber-creepy Tourist Trap than the 1953 Vincent Price chiller of which it's supposedly a remake, House of Wax is a slick, fun, and surprisingly grisly slasher film. Sure, the screenplay is predictable and stupid, having characters do incredibly dumb things simply because it's time for another kill, but director Jaume Collet-Serra is a fairly skillful craftsman, generating tension and suspense from the most clich?d horror-movie situations. And, yes, the gory violence is pretty brutal. A nasty head-bashing near the end even brought to mind a similar scene in Gaspar No?'s Irreversible -- OK, maybe not that brutal, but still. The production design is impressive, especially in the strangely beautiful climactic spectacle of the House of Wax (like, literally) melting to the ground as our heroes engage in a final life-or-death struggle with the bad guys inside. Not bad for a soulless product of the Hollywood Remake Machine.

Melinda and Melinda (Allen, 2005) C+

Entertaining, sure, but this is Woody on autopilot. I still have high hopes for Match Point.

Batman Begins (Nolan, 2005) A-

Demons (L. Bava, 1985) B-

I kept waiting for the first demon-chick to say, "I'm Rick James, bitch!"
_________________
Michael Scrutchin
Flipside Movie Emporium
www.flipsidearchive.com

[matt header]

[Jim Harper]

[the night watchman]