eXistenZ

Pulling from the probable, frightening future, and the less-probable, fantasized future (e.g. flying cars), David Cronenberg crafts in the punctiliously titled: eXistenZ, a great modern dreamscape, and a great science fiction film. The premise seems simple: a virtual reality gaming system exists in a future where biotechnology is king. At a focus group testing facility, the new game "eXistenZ" is being tried out. It has been developed by the greatest game designer in the world: Allegra Gellar (Jennifer Jason Leigh). An attempt on her life is made from a strange gun constructed from bones. Gellar picks up a friendly face as a bodyguard who turns out to be just an analyst named Ted (Jude Law). The duo traverse the futuristic world which is trashy and sordid, coming across game-obsessed roughs and questionable friends. Cronenberg's ideas here are strange and unconnected, but as in so many other manipulative films, these are intentional oddities. Cronenberg also allows for the obsession with the games to come out of eXistenZ. Roughs who are obsessed with the games, Ted and Allegra's sexual escapades consisting of vaginal-like "body-ports", and a brilliant ending accentuate the idea that the people in this future have an unhealthy obsession / fetish with video gaming.
eXistenZ: ★★★1/2

Inspector Bellamy

INSPECTOR BELLAMY is an odd little treasure. The last film of French New Wave director Claude Chabrol, the film considers a fat, likeable inspector on vacation named Paul Bellamy (Gerard Depardieu). On vacation, Paul doesn't really know what to do with himself. His worthless brother is coming into town, but to occupy his time, Paul meanders around investigating a case with a man who may or may not have killed someone, and may or may not be who he says he is. This plot is pretty fascinating. It's a labyrinth of information and oddity which seems to characteristic of thrillers, but here is played out as dryly as Paul's meandering investigation of the matter. It's almost as if there's a knowledge of the reality of the crime(s), as if there are greater truths outside of the fact that what happened in the case happened. It doesn't matter. What does matter is Paul's meandering, his obsession with his wife and their supposed happiness, and the uncomfortableness that Paul's brother brings to the situation. This could easily be called a slow film, but it is, in truth, an immersive one, a stylish one, a passionate one. There's real tension in Chabrol's filmmaking, and more importantly a dignity to each of his characters as if their screen time was essential. INSPECTOR BELLAMY is a very good film. It's greatness is never achieved perhaps in its conviction to confuse its audience with what is important, but perhaps that's the point that I didn't grasp (or at least, don't embrace).
Inspector Bellamy: ★★★1/2

Hobo with a Shotgun

Ranking High in "Most Disgusting Film Ever" List:

Who enters HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, and could be displeased by what the film delivers? When there's nothing disingenuous about a film that should be playing exclusively at midnight feature theaters, is entitled HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, and consists of 82 minutes of a hobo with a shotgun, what can one do but enjoy it? Rutger Hauer here plays the hobo; dreamt up from another one of those fake trailers that played between 2007's GRINDHOUSE segments. The hobo is at first a reluctant hero, but slowly watches pure evil muddle around him until he grits his teeth, squints his eyes, and blows people's heads off. He is aided by a hooker with a heart of gold. Quasi-nurturing each other, the pair wreak vigilante-like havoc upon the hellish town. What is perhaps so effective is HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, is how gleefully disgusting and vile it is. This is a film that holds no punches: queasy fare. Children are literally torched to death, heads are ripped off, hands are shredded, ice-skates eviscerate people. What else should one expect from this film? It is what it is, and it does what it does quite well. It's never really that repetitive, and Hauer carries the film very well. Another actor in his place could have made for a purely boring film, but Hauer's hobo is one that we (even vaguely) care for. The spontaneity to the violence here is also commendable, and as boneheaded summer entertainment, one could do a hell of a lot worse.
Hobo with a Shotgun: ★★1/2

Ed Wood

The Worst Filmmaker Ever

Most of Tim Burton's films are extremely uncontrolled. So much so, that the case could be made for Burton's passion overtaking his control in the same fashion of Edward W. Wood, Jr., the subject of this 1994 film. Ed Wood is known today as the worst filmmaker ever, but regarded in some circles affectionately. Burton's biopic of the 1950's director is within the realm of affectionate undertaking, possibly because Burton saw his own faulty briskness within the films of Ed Wood. Wood would occasionally take only a single take for a scene, would forget simple things like if the scene is set in day or night, and other such "minor details". Burton's film exhibits Wood as a likable weirdo. Obsessed with films, possessing a goofy smile and a tendency to try on women's clothes, Wood (played wonderfully by Burton's frequent collaborator Johnny Depp) thinks of himself as a sort of Orson Welles-esque filmmaker: working towards a vision because of his passion. Wood's obstacles are many. For one thing, he's a terrible filmmaker, so it's hard to be able to make film. Luckily, Wood discovers an aged, drug-addicted Bela Lugosi and is able to use the star power of his friend to coast through films. Wood often also casts sons of contributors to the film, and even gets a group baptism in able to fund another schlocky pic. Within ED WOOD, there's a control by Burton. The eccentricities are not so ridiculous as in his other films, and yet the affection towards other people / characters is present. The cinematography is a brilliant, nostalgic black and white, and Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi is frequently brilliant. Furthermore, Burton manages to create an affectionate biopic without ever falling into his usual pitfalls. Strangely though, Burton avoids these almost as if he's learning after Ed Wood himself...but then goes on to make, oh, WILLY WONKA.
Ed Wood: ★★★1/2

La Bohéme

A Boring Film with Good Music = A Boring Film

Werner Herzog's short film, LA BOHÉME is, even by a fan of the director's work, not much. The general idea of the film is to show shots of Ethiopian people against one of the more famous arias of the opera: La Bohéme. It is clear that Herzog's vision is to evoke an uncomfortable beauty. Especially for Americans, who thinks of beauty in the form of the people within an Ethiopian tribe? The problem with this statement, however, is that I did not find any beauty within the Ethiopian tribe. Neither, I believe does Herzog. Rather, I think the provocative statement is more attractive to him, and the reality that we find things that are beautiful within our own realm of preferences in truer.
La Bohéme: ★★

Predators

Aliens with Dreadlocks Fight Reject Action Stars

Nimrod Antal is a good action director. That is clear from the beginning of PREDATORS, a quasi-sequel to the original PREDATOR and a quasi-stand alone film in the so-callled mythology. Thrusting us into the story by literally dropping us into an alien planet, Antal uses a brilliantly languorous opening of half-discoveries, established badass-ness, and the signature predator death rattle to give a great mood to his film. Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, and Topher Grace lead the cast of deadly killers who are dropped into the planet. It is eventually established that they are being hunted by the alien predators, and that they will all be picked off one by one until they're all dead. Apart from that being a given, because this is a monster movie in the 21st century, the sort of dignified structure is an odd way to start PREDATORS. Brody establishes himself as the leader of the pack, and just like in all the other predator and alien films, a few tactics are tried that don't work and leave extra characters dead, and a few tactics work that leave survivors undermined by the fact that no one's ever better off at the end of a disease/monster b-movie that they were to begin with. What's specifically frustrating about PREDATORS brand of 'everyone's fucked anyway' is that the potential exhibited in the direction of Antal doesn't deserve such a shoddy script filled with idiotic, wooden speech, and a killer that is frankly stupid and under-thoughtout. A few scenes here and there remind of the great beginning, but when the killer predators are self-admittedly unstoppable behemoths, the fact that they are so unbeatable makes the fate of the characters so pre-determined that the only fun that can be had is in deciding who lives and who dies (in order too). Essentially: boring. And a little gross.
Predators: ★★

Dead Ringers

Gynecological Instruments Above

Should the creepiness of a film like DEAD RINGERS deter anyone from seeing it? Does the fact that it is applicable to a small percentage of us in story no meaningless than the very point it tries to make? Like all of David Cronenberg's films, DEAD RINGERS is surely not for the faint of heart or the timid in spirit, but for those who can sit through it, the intelligence within the artistic delivery is clear.
Jeremy Irons, in 1988 special effects photography, plays twin gynecologists Beverly and Elliot. Both men are successful, and both men are very close to one another. In fact, Elliot, the dominant twin, has for years allowed the weaker Beverly to fulfill his sexual / physical desires by doubling himself to unbeknownst women. Also, it seems, the twins split certain responsibilities and tasks by flip of a coin logic. In the same fashion, the men are accoladed by the medical society. This is a balance that works for the twins, and their matter-of-fact approach to it adds to the enigmatic allure.
However, the arrival of an actress named Claire (Genevieve Bujold) shakes things up. Claire, who sought out the twins for their medical expertise, turns out to have three separate cervixes: which prevents her from having children. She begins an affair with Beverly, but it turns out to have been Elliot, and then it turns out to be Beverly (or Elliot?). Claire is horrified at her discovery that the men double each other for sexual purposes, but quickly comes back to the real Beverly who seems to actually be pining for the actress. However, this is a secondary desire: one that exists underneath the realization of an independent Beverly who isn't in need of his twin. This independence shoots Beverly into a drug craze, and this likewise shoots the previously dominant Elliot into a similar madness.
What is to admire here besides sheer filmmaking is Cronenberg's vision of similar selves. Beverly and Elliot, the twins, could just as well have been one conflicted person (consider the decision to make them be played by a singular actor). Furthermore, it is the fact that the film is based on the lives of real twin gynecologists Stewart and Cyril Marcus that make the film more intriguing. Cronenberg is obsessed with a fractured self. Here, with DEAD RINGERS, he has created an oblique vision of this idea. Although I admired the film a great deal, I still see A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, EASTERN PROMISES, and CRASH as better films. Still great.
Dead Ringers: ★★★1/2

Superman

It's a plane! It's a bird! No! It's...

SUPERMAN is the most boring character of all the superhero's. He is simply perfect, but that creates his allure: he is what we aspire to be. In 1978's SUPERMAN, the filmmakers understand this truth, and go with it. Beginning slowly with the origin of the caped crusader, Marlon Brando plays Jor-El, who predicts the destruction of planet Krypton, and sends his son via crystal flying saucer to Earth. The boy is discovered by Kansas farmers, and raised nicely by loving parents. He grows up to become Clark Kent, a mild-mannered, annoyingly ordinary newspaperman with no convictions. The joke, however, is that this is Superman. An hour in, Clark Kent sheds his foolish glasses and working clothes to transform into Superman (not even requiring a mask, because nobody in their right mind would think of Clark Kent and Superman in the same breath). Superman goes about saving lives and performing corny tricks, but the evil Lex Luthor plans beneath the city, discovering the crusader's weakness: kryptonite, while also concocting a ridiculous, but evil plan. Superman flies to the rescue, and some of his rescues are quite impressive despite extremely dated special effects of Superman flying. The film itself is a better pop culture landmark than entertaining film, but it has an undeniable charm about it that makes most of its corniness passable within the context of a winking Christopher Reeve behind the cape.
Superman: ★★★

Belle de Jour

Sex in Cinema

As much as sex in films has blossomed the last twenty years or so into a ubiquitous necessity, few films are as erotic or knowing as BELLE DE JOUR, a pleasantly perceptive film by the surrealist Luis Buñuel in 1967. Despite the film being devoid of explicit sex, there's a more meaningful unpleasantness about watching certain intimacies in the film.
Séverine (Catherine Deneuve) is a housewife to a wealthy young surgeon. She is a virgin, and even though she's been married to the surgeon for a year, she hasn't had sex with him. She seems timid, but she is truly just unsatisfied with her marriage. She fantasizes at the beginning of the film of being strewn from a carriage ride with her husband and whipped. Later, she fantasizes at the prompting of a cat's meow, or of the sounds of clip-clops. Séverine is not a timid woman, but one who requires this sort of danger, or odd eroticism to get off. She decides at the musing of a friend to become a prostitute by day. Her husband knows nothing of it, but Séverine willingly becomes Belle de Jour. She is unwieldy at first in her position, but quickly finds it a necessity. One day when a couple of gangsters come in, Séverine is especially taken by a steel mouthed, ugly Marcel who she refuses to even charge. She uses him for sexual pleasure, for the idea that she is in some duress in the same way that she is prompted to think about being whipped by her husband. There is the constant danger, as well, that her husband will discover her. But she continues her work because it's a part of her sexual necessity.
With no explicitness, the film is truly affecting because it knows that people have erotic desires / thoughts. The fact that these are strange here (ahem, cat's meow anyone?) is only to underline the fact that other people's fetishes are quite possibly stranger, but nevertheless, a necessity.
Here is a rigorously controlled film that focuses upon rigorously affecting necessities that result in messiness. A delight.
Belle de Jour: ★★★ 1/2

Christine

[Note: August brought with it more work and trenchant obsession, apologies...]

High School

In the opening scenes of John Carpenter's CHRISTINE, which is easily described as a movie about a killer car, I was deeply affected by Carpenter's affections within the film. Surprisingly, the sympathetic hero at the film's opening is Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon). He wears glasses, and seems to be an obvious mild-mannered nerd. He has a protector though, a large football player by the name of Dennis (John Stockwell). The chemistry Carpenter creates between Arnie and Dennis is impeccable. Not only is the relationship believable, but there isn't any pity in either friend, but respect. Arnie is consistently tormented by a crude trio of toughs who pull knifes and play dirty, but Dennis sticks up for him just as consistently. One day coming home from school however, Arnie stops Dennis mid-road to check out an old clunker sitting in a backyard. It's a '58 Plymouth named Christine, and Arnie becomes obsessed with it: buying it for more than its worth, and spending all of his days fixing the car up to be a perfect beauty. He becomes so entrenched in his work, that he even forgets about dear-friend Dennis, and this causes a strange allegiance change mid-film as it becomes clear that Arnie is descending into madness. Christine is pure evil. It is a force that pulls Arnie in and refuses to release him, melding its own crookedness with his vulnerability, running enemies down, and expressed as otherworldly through lens flares and perfectly used special effects. Carpenter's direction here is the best of his career. Dennis and Arnie are great film characters, and their surrounding environment thought up by Carpenter is cruel and reflective of the evils of Christine. This is a great American film showcasing the best of horror and the best of the high-school setting.

Christine: ★★★★