Sunday, February 25, 2018
Fahrenheit 451 reviewed and decoded in under 4 minutes!
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1966 film by Director Francois Truffaut about a future in which owning a book is a crime and firemen are paid to start fires! This British film is based on Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel of the same name. Julie Christie, Oscar Werner, and Cyril Cusack round out the all-British cast.
The film's central character is Guy Montag (Oscar Werner) who works at Engine House 451 and performs his duties under the watchful eye of his Fire Captain (Cyril Cusack) who demands conformity and commitment from each and every fireman. Montag loves burning books and the smell of kerosene. That is, until the firemen discover a library in the home of an old woman. They burn each and every last book but 1, David Copperfield, and upon reading it, Montag realizes that it is not books that they are burning; it's people!
Although lacking today's special effects, this film does a fantastic job in conveying the main point in Bradbury's book: the idea of conformity and the death of the individual. Fahrenheit 451 describes a future in which a totalitarian government controls men and women by turning them into robots. Books in this film are treated like anti-government rebels converting people by giving them the power to think and feel. Conformity, individualism, censorship, ignorance, and propaganda are themes throughout this film. When Clarisse (Julie Christie) asks Montag if he read any of the books he’s burned he says no and tells her that he burns them because he was told they are bad. The 1998 film The Matrix is very similar to this film if you think of both films as metaphors with Neo as Montag, Mr. Smith as the fire captain, Clarisse as Trinity, the firemen as Mr. Smith, and the books as Morpheus.
Anyway, this is a great film by Truffaut, his first color film and his 1st and only non-French film. The film's excellent camera work was done by Nicolas Roeg who directed The Man Who Fell To Earth, Bad Timing, and did cinematography on Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago. This film is more relevant now than ever. I have it on DVD and it looks excellent. You should see this film if you haven't already.
Reservoir Dogs reviewed and decoded in under 6 minutes!
Reservoir Dogs is a 1992 heist action thriller directed by then newcomer Quentin Tarantino who also wrote the script. The film stars Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Quentin Tarantino, Steve Buscemi, Randy Brooks, Chris Penn and Lawrence Tierney.
A diamond heist goes horribly wrong. One of the robbers, Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), lies bleeding to death on the floor in an abandoned warehouse; a robber named Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) kidnaps a cop; another robber named Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) is compassionate; a robber named Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) doesn't tip but someone in their crew did and also snitched! If you are too close to a liar you won’t see him. The trick is keeping your distance and your heart out of it!
This neo noir thriller was a game-changer. Tarantino didn't invent non-linear storytelling or snappy dialogue but no director before or since has ever used both of these conventions in ways that are as entertaining as what actually happens in the film. Among Reservoir Dog’s themes is sex. The film also uses archetypes to describe the robber’s personalities and the manner in which they interact with each other.
There are no women in this film but there is a masculine/feminine dynamic between Mr. White and Mr. Orange. Mr. White plays the feminine role in their relationship, alternating between being a nurturing mother and a deceived woman in denial. When Mr. Orange is bleeding to death on the warehouse floor notice how Mr. White comforts and cradles him as though he is a child. Also notice the submissive tone of Mr. Orange’s voice in the scene. Also notice the hostility Mr. White directs at Mr. Pink who believes that Mr. Orange could possibly be a snitch?
What I like about Tarantino’s dialogue is how it provides insights on the plot and characters. At the beginning of this film, the robbers are in a diner having a debate about Madonna’s song ‘Like a Virgin.’ Mr. Brown believes that the song is about a promiscuous woman making love with a stud so big that he makes her feel pain as though she’s a virgin. Mr. Brown’s interpretation of the song describes the relationship that develops between Mr. White and Mr. Orange after Mr. Orange is shot in the diamond heist. The virgin in Mr. Brown’s metaphor is actually Mr. White, with white being symbolically associated with virginity. Remember, Mr. White never got caught--or “screwed”--by an undercover cop. Mr. Orange, in Madonna’s song, is the stud--or undercover cop--who fucks Mr. White and makes him feel pain like a virgin. After Mr. Orange gets shot in the belly, Mr. White’s feminine instincts kick in and he loses his ability to see Mr. Orange objectively. The conflict between Mr. Pink and Mr. White is also foreshadowed in the diner scene by Mr. Orange and Mr. White sitting next to each other and Mr. Pink sitting further away indicating that he has a better perspective to see Mr. Orange objectively. Also, in keeping with the feminine metaphors in the film, Mr. Pink’s suspicions of Mr. Orange make sense when you consider that the color pink is associated with femininity of which intuition is attributed to.
Although Tarantino’s 2nd film, Pulp Fiction, won more accolades and earned more at the box office, Reservoir Dogs was Tarantino’s birth-cry. How can a quirky/High School dropout/video store clerk who never ever set foot in any film school produce a film as raw, as intelligent, and as fully realized as Reservoir Dogs without the 2 or 3 warm up films that most great directors needed before their breakout film? On a documentary, he admits to not knowing film jargon at all and using scenes from his favorite films to set up camera shots. For years, I had this film on DVD and thought that the picture looked great and couldn’t get any better; I was wrong. If you’re thinking about upgrading to blu ray, you should. Great picture, cinematography, sound, music, and hard-boiled storytelling. Reservoir Dogs is still, in my opinion, Tarantino’s best film.
Mad Max Fury Road reviewed and decoded in under 5 minutes!
When I saw the Mad Max Fury Road trailer back in 2014 I thought “Well, here goes another dumb CGI movie.” I hadn't heard anything from Director George Miller since 1985s Thunderdome so I didn't know if he was even around anymore. But when I found out that not only was Miller still alive and kicking but that he directed Fury Road himself, I made it a point to see it and afterwards came out of the theater with no doubt as to what he'd been doing since 1985.
Mad Max Fury Road is the 4th installment of the post apocalyptic saga of Max Rockatansky, a former cop who wanders the scorched wasteland, a "burnt out shell of a man," after his wife and child are killed by a motorcycle gang. Max lives on the white lines of life and the road, scavenging guzzle-line from wrecked automobiles to feed his XB Falcon Coupe. After being captured by a cult, Max (Tom Hardy) becomes property of their leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) who enslaves women and uses them to breed warriors and produce milk to trade for fuel and bullets. Joe dispatches his top lieutenant and female warlord Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) in an armored tanker to trade "mother-milk" for gasoline but Furiosa takes a detour east with 5 of Joe's wives 1 of whom is pregnant with his child. Immortan sends his minions after her along with Max as a portable blood-bag donor.
This is an unbelievably fun movie. Fury Road is a self-contained universe full of inventions that never cease to amaze. The hot rods in the film look like feral armor plated sand mutants improvised from anything salvageable. There's Max's XB Falcon Coupe; there's Immortan Joe's powerful Gigahorse, a pair of stacked '59 Coupe DeVille's mounted on double rear wheels; then there's Furiosa's 2000 horsepower War Rig. Production designer Colin Gibson said he wanted the cars to reflect the characters' attempts to salvage the remains of civilization after the war. George Miller's description of the film's aesthetic is that he wanted it to look like a western on wheels. What also contributes to the movie's unique style is the editing by his wife Margaret Sixel who chopped the film into 2,700 pieces so that Miller could manipulate each frame, speeding some up and slowing others down as needed.
Feminism is the film's main message. Charlize Theron's Furiosa is the standard-bearer of girl-power with her bald head, war-paint, missing arm, and battle scars liberating women chained to home and men who have reduced them to breeders and milk producers. After a rocky start and through a series of violent high-speed battles with Immortan Joe and his minions, Max and Furiosa grow to respect each other as a sort of symbolic truce between men and women.
George Miller won the Academy Award for Best Director for this film which went on to win 6 Awards in technical categories. Mad Max Fury Road is also a stand-alone film so seeing the previous installments aren't necessary. Between Furiosa and Ripley (from 1985s Aliens) I can't decide who is badder. Fury Road was well worth the 20 year wait and I hope it's not another 20 years before Miller comes out with another one. There's also a black and white "chrome" version of this film.
Play Misty for Me reviewed in under 4 minutes!
Play Misty for Me is a 1971 film directed by Clint Eastwood, his 1st film as a director based on a story by Jo Helms who also wrote the script. The film stars Clint Eastwood, Donna Mills, Jessica Walter, Don Siegel, James McEachin, Irene Hervey, and John Larch.
A mysterious woman calls smooth-talking disc jockey Dave Carver (Clint Eastwood) regularly to request Misty. One day this caller, whose name is Evelyn (Jessica Walter) shows up at his favorite bar, one thing leads to another and they wind up making love at her place. He is upfront about his situation; there’s an old flame he’s trying to win back and he isn’t looking for a committed relationship. The following day, however, Evelyn shows up at his place unannounced. She shows up again and again and again disrupting Dave’s life, his job, and his chances at reuniting with Tobie (Donna Mills). Dave soon discovers that it’s easier to start a fire than it is to put it out!
Play Misty For Me has everything going for it. From the scenic landscapes of Monterey, California to Errol Garner's Misty and Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."
The scene that sums up the movie to me is an exchange between Dave and Evelyn in which she tells him that she loves him and he replies: "We don't even know each other!” In this exchange I saw a metaphor of our present society where real intimacy has been streamlined to impersonal sexual encounters.
Dave and Evelyn's relationship can also be interpreted as a metaphor of addiction. Like a smoker trying to wean himself off cigarettes, Dave tells Tobie that he is trying to cut back on the number of women he sees. Their relationship can also be interpreted as the dark nature in all of us. Remember that Tobie told Dave that she left him because she felt herself becoming the type of jealous female that she hated which happened to be Evelyn.
Regardless of how you look at it, Play Misty for Me is a great film that Director Adrian Lyne based his own 1987 psychological thriller Fatal Attraction on. Clint Eastwood is one of the few actors who turned out to be as good behind the camera as he was as an actor in front of it. Mel Gibson is another one. And Clint is still directing films at 87 years of age! The DVD comes with a documentary on the making of Play Misty with interviews by Clint and the actresses who still look great, especially Donna Mills.
American Giglolo reviewed in under 3 minutes!
American Gigolo is a 1980 thriller written and directed by Paul Schrader. This film is notable for establishing Richard Gere as one of Hollywood's leading men and it is also one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to have full-frontal male nudity. The film also stars Lauren Hutton, Hector Elizondo, and Bill Duke.
Julian Kaye (Richard Gere) is a Los Angeles escort who specializes in older women with deep pockets. To Julian, love-making is more than a job; it's an art! He is sexy, up on fashion, owns the latest hifi stereo equipment, lives in a fancy apartment, and is also fluent in many languages, especially the international language! He is in high-demand, but he has turned his back on those who helped him become what he is. He needs no one.
A jealous rival named Leon (Bill Duke) sets Julian up with a client and the woman winds up dead. Michelle (Lauren Hutton) can help him with an alibi but in exposing their affair she risks losing everything, including her marriage to a powerful senator.
American Gigolo is about love and sacrifice. This film was highly thought of by critic Roger Ebert and watching it bears witness to its influence on other films such as Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 crime thriller Drive starring Ryan Gosling. Richard Gere is perfectly cast as the narcissistic boy-toy and fall-guy. Lauren Hutton is also great as the desperate older woman trapped in a convenient marriage. And Bill Duke is also great as Gere's jealous rival named Leon.
This is a fantastic film from start to finish. I have it on DVD and it looks great and I highly recommend you get it, especially if you are a fan of 80s movies.
Close Encounters of the Third Time reviewed and decoded in 3 minutes!
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film by director Steven Spielberg about ordinary people who are drawn to a remote desert location to witness the landing of an extra-terrestrial mothership. Steven Spielberg also wrote the script for the film which stars Richard Dreyfus, Teri Garr, Francois Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, and Lance Henricksen.
On the outside, Close Encounters is a film about man coming in contact with Extra Terrestrials. But on a down-to-earth level, Close Encounters is about many things, one of which is how each 1 of us are important in the grand scheme. Take for instance, blue collar worker Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) who works as an electric line worker. Late one night, he experiences a life-changing event. Now, compare this to French scientist Claude Lacombe (Francois Truffaut) and other scientists in the film who get 2nd hand accounts of UFOs from ordinary people who get to see them 1st hand. And also, a small boy (Cary Guffey) not only sees the Aliens and learns their 5-note musical language, but he is also abducted by the Aliens.
Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children."
Another theme in this film is faith. Roy Neary sees a vision and becomes so obsessed with it that he literally drives his family away. Barry Guiler's mother Jillian (Melinda Dillon) has the identical vision. This shared vision brings them both together at the butte in northeastern Wyoming called Devil’s Tower. Even though Roy already had a family, he was really meant to be with Jillian who shares his vision.
Close Encounters is a great film that entertains on every level. Spielberg said that the song from Pinocchio "When you wish upon a Star" influenced his writing style on the script and watching this film you feel like you are actually reliving your childhood. The film's visual effects were done by Douglas Trumbull who also went on to do the special effects on the original Blade Runner film. Still, one of the most iconic scenes in all of film is the massive mother-ship descending on Devil's Tower, a scene that still gives me goosebumps every time I see it. As great as the film is on DVD, blu ray does it the justice that it rightfully deserves.
High and Low reviewed and decoded in 3 minutes!
High and Low--which, literally translated in Japanese means 'Heaven and Hell’--is a 1963 crime drama based on Ed Bains' 1959 novel 'King's Ransom.' The film stars the great Toshiro Mifune in one of his few non-samurai roles with Director Akira Kurosawa. Mifune is a shoe company executive at odds with a group of fellow executives who believes that the company should increase its profits by making trendier shoes that can wear out faster. Gondo disagrees with this idea and wants the company to keep making the expensive well-made shoes it is known for. Subsequently, Gondo receives a phone call from someone claiming to have his son. Earlier, Gondo's son and the son of his chauffeur had on costumes playing cowboy and Indian. The kidnapper tells Gondo that he wants a large sum of money in exchange for his son but paying the ransom will wipe out the money Gondo needs to buy controlling interest in the shoe company. Gondo is about to give in to the ransom when his son, Jun, comes in from playing outdoors. Gondo now figures that the ransom demand is a prank until he finds out that the kidnapper has the wrong kid; it is, in fact, his chauffeur’s kid who has been kidnapped! The caller wants Gondo to pay the ransom anyway. Now, Gondo faces a dilemma--when he thought that the kidnapper had his own son, paying the ransom was a no brainer; now, the kidnapper wants him to pay the ransom for someone else’s son. If he does pay the ransom, he will lose the shoe company to his enemies.
High and Low is from the director of Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Rashomon, The Hidden Fortress, Ran, and many other films that Hollywood remade from The Magnificent Seven, Last Man Standing, A Fistful of Dollars, and Star Wars.
Once again, Toshiro Mifune demonstrates his versatility by playing a businessman forced to decide between principle and personal gain. Akira Kurosawa does a great job in getting us to empathize with Gondo and his decisions. High and Low is also a very detailed procedural on criminal investigation. The cinematography in the film by Asakazu Nakai and Takao Saito captures the essence of the film’s title perfectly. I have this on DVD, and Criterion did a great job restoring it. I highly recommend this film.
Dr. Strangelove reviewed and decoded in under 4 minutes
Dr. Strangelove reviewed and decoded in under 4 minutes
Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb is a 1964 black comedy directed by Stanley Kubrick who co-wrote the script with Terry Southern and Peter George based on George's 1958 book called Red Alert. The film stars James Earl Jones, Keenan Wynn, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, and a ubiquitous Peter Sellers playing 3 characters: Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley, and Dr.Strangelove.
A psychotic Army General named Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) believes that the Soviets are fluoridating America's water supplies to pollute the nation's 'bodily fluids.' To stop this, he sends the 3-digit 'go-code' to one of the many American bombers patrolling Russia's skies 24/7. But the Soviets have a secret weapon of their own that's triggered to blow up the entire world in case of a nuclear attack; this weapon is called the Doomsday device! The only thing that can stop the U.S. bomber from triggering the Doomsday device is the 3-digit recall code. But there's 1 problem: the bomber's communication system is damaged and unable to receive the code. Thus, the Doomsday machine is set and the world can only pray and cross its fingers that the plane runs out of fuel before reaching its target!
Dr. Strangelove is a satirical look at the Cold War and those who man the 'switches.' The stereotypes in this great film from Jack D. Ripper to Dr. Strangelove himself seem over-the-top until you realize that there were--and still remain-- individuals equally, if not more, loony in key posts in our government who have their finger on 'the button.' Truth is really stranger than fiction. Everybody who loves this film have their own interpretation of it (Spoiler alert!) but I believe that the film is a metaphorical description of sexual intercourse as there seems to be parallels to Jack D. Ripper's description of fluoridated water and the Doomsday Machine that--like male ejaculation--can't be shut off once triggered; plus, there's only 1 woman in the whole movie and remember, nothing in any Kubrick film is there by accident!
In any case, this is-- technically speaking-- Stanley Kubrick's 2nd war film the 1st one being his 1957 anti war film Paths Of Glory. Can't say enough about Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick's tightest film by far. Oh, and the acting, particularly Peter Sellers, is simply awesome. This guy probably could have played all the film’s characters. I have this on DVD and it is crystal clear and I see no need to upgrade for a few extra pixels.
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