Your source for film reviews, news, new and popular cinema, classic films, art house films, silent films, film noir, action movies, obscure films, documentaries, horror films, cult films, anime and animated films, Criterion films--if it's a movie you'll find it all here. I made this blog for those who believe that film is a legitimate art form and seek others to share their passion for cinema with. I update this page daily with fresh film reviews and essays.
Combining sex and art: a review of Turkish Delight
Of all Director Paul Verhoeven's Dutch films before he came to America and made such classics as Robocop, Basic Instinct, and Total Recall, his 1973 film, Turkish Delight, is among my favorites along with Katie Tippel and The Fourth Man. Turkish Delight is an ambiguous title for this film since the film can be best described as the bittersweet dream of a rebelious sculptor's (Rutger Hauer) discovery of perfection in a young vivacious redhead (Monique van de ven) and inevitable discovery that not all things are what they seem to be on the surface. Remember this as you watch the initial montage of brutal crimes perpetrated by Eric upon Olga. Their stormy relationship begins after this in flashback, culminating in their split. But there's a lot in between that will help you to understand the context of these few details I've provided that you won't see the end coming when it does. This is a sweet entertaining film and an excellent primer for those unfamiliar with foreign films. Very very funny at times, though often raunchy, and, as common in Verhoeven's Dutch film offerings, there are no special efforts to cover up male and female private areas. When discussions come up about the greatest actors, Hauer's name should be among them.
Robbing a bank for a sex change: a review of Dog Day Afternoon
Dog Day afternoon is a 1975 American crime drama directed by Sydney Lumet and based on a Life magazine article by P.F. Kluge entitled The Boys in The Bank which is based on a similar bank robbery in 1972. Dog Day is one of those films that defines the 70's style of filmmaking that reflected the social changes of the times. The 70s was a great decade for Pacino with the Godfathers 1 and 2, this film, Serpico, And Justice For All among other films. And the 70s was a decade that he collaborated with directors on multiple films, Francis Ford Coppola with the Godfather films and Sydney Lumet on Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico. With the exception of my favorite actor Marlon Brando, I can't think of an actor putting together 4 great iconic films in a single decade as Pacino did in the 70s. Dog Day Afternoon follows the events of a bungled Brooklyn bank robbery in 1975 when a couple of unemployed losers become instant celebrities on live television. The film shows how easily one can go from being a schmuck to a god by pandering to the people's emotions. As Sonny, Pacino uses one word to go from being an armed criminal to a superstar: Attica, the 1971 prison riot that resulted in the deaths of 33 inmates. Pacino's performance is very tense in this film and his performance is not a glamorous one as the film grainy look and feel makes it seem less a film and more like it's taking place in real time. In this respect, the film's aesthetic calls to mind films like the French Connection and On The Waterfront. There are also a lot of close up shots of the actors' faces so there was nothing to hide the human performances of the actors from the viewers. You feel what these people feel in the context of the circumstances they find themselves thrust into. Charles Durning is excellent as the police lieutenant who negotiates with Pacino and his parter, Sal, played by the late great John Cazale who also co stars with Pacino as Fredo in the Godfather films. Other great performances in this film came from James Broderick as the FBI agent who negotiates with Sonny and also a very young Lance Henrickson who you'll remember plays the android Bishop in the 1st 2 Alien films. This film runs a little over 2 hours but there's so much going on that you'll hardly notice the time. A great example of 70's filmmaking and of what made Pacino the star he is today.
This is your brain on drugs!: A Scanner Darkly review
Richard Linklater's 2006 film A Scanner Darkly-- one of many many film adaptations of visionary Phillip K. Dick's many novels-- follows a drug agent named "Fred" whose brain is literally split, like Siamese twins, by a psychedelic drug known as Substance D (for Death). Through this disruption we see the symbiotic relationship between the cops and criminals as Fred, who's identity is obscured by a "scramble suit," does electronic surveillance on himself as a drug dealer named Bob Arctor. This is a very faithful adaptation to Dick's novel, one of the best I've read on drug abuse and without a doubt, the most creative on the subject. Like Waking Life, Linklater chose to animate this film in that floating style of his that is essentially rotoscoping or tracing over live action elements and combining them with composite imagery. The effect of this style decision pays off by augmenting the drug induced reality of the world in which this story takes place. An example of this is when an addict attempts to O.D. on psychedelics but instead winds up face to face with a weird-looking creature from another dimension. I believe that A Scanner Darkly snuck under the radar, mostly because of the fact that it is an animated film aimed at adults. The addition of Robert Downey Jr. as one of the paranoid addicts (Barris)who himself was a drug user was probably not a coincidence. Keanu Reeves is convincingly "dirty" and tacky-looking as drug dealer and user Bob Arctor. Woody Harrelson is also grimy as Luckman, Reeve's long-haired roommate in this film. This is definitely one of those "you'll either like it, or you won't" films. Not that it's all that hard or graphic, it's the way it's presented. I try to tell people I know about this movie and they really want to see it, then once they discover that it's animated, they're turned off like that. This is a shame because this film's up there with the best, including Trainspotting, Requiem for a Dream, The Lost Weekend, Man With the Golden Arm, etc, imo. If you like entertaining films that are also deep you should try this.
Take a hit of this and Enter The Void: a review of Gaspar Noe's film
Irreversible Director Gaspar Noe's 2009 film Enter The Void is an acid trip set in Tokyo about a drug dealer named Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) whose immortal soul reviews all of his decisions prior to being set up by his best friend and killed by the cops in a drug sting. This is one of those movies you have to see twice-- once to let it dazzle you, and a second time to think about it. The plot is somewhat based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead which the main character references in the film. This film assaults you from the ferociously colorful title sequence and all throughout. This is the ugliest, most depressing, saddest, and yet the most beautiful film I've seen. Paz de la Huerta as Oscar's little sister Linda gives a skin-peeling performance as a stripper who's manipulated for sex by an emotionally detached pimp. This is a love or hate film but Noe really outdid himself. This film will be talked about for years to come and I rank it up there, visually, with Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not for the squeamish, though.
"Soylent Green is people!!!" a review of Soylent Green
The 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green takes place in a bleak future where man's abuse of the planet has reached critical mass. Greenhouse emissions have turned the atmosphere into a swamp; 50 million people carpet the streets and sidewalks of New York. Against this backdrop, a New York detective named Frank Thorn (Charlton Heston) investigates the murder of a public official that leads him to a processing plant that makes a food product called Soylent Green. Soylent Green is 1 of those films that has aged well thanks to the masterful direction of Richard Fleischer and its 2 stars, Charlton Heston and the great Edward G. Robinson in his final role as Thorn's wistful roommate Sol Roth who can remember the good ol' days when you could buy real meat, real fruits and vegetables, and real butter. Mr. Robinson plays 2nd to Heston in this film, but his performance is the lightning rod through which I could identify with the story emotionally. Definitely, his best performance. As for Charlton, his penchant for playing the reluctant champion of the people continues in this film. Politics aside, there's no denying the fact that Heston had the 'it' factor that put him in the elite class of Hollywood actors. In his role as detective Frank Thorn, you get an everyman skimming where he can here and there who, despite his flaws, is mixed up in a mystery where he ends up defending the people. Sounds a lot like Moses in The Ten Commandments or Ben Hur, right? Except that there's no happy ending in this film. Because of the commentary it makes on urban overcrowding, Soylent Green is in my top 5 of the greatest science fiction films ever, right up there with the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner. The film won the Nebula Award for Best Drama and The Saturn Award for best science fiction film. The stirring opening montage showing America evolving from its pastoral and dignified beginnings to today's urban, overcrowded, poisoned industrial dystopia is up there with the The Road Warrior opening. Terrific film and a revelation for those who've yet to discover it. This should definitely be in the Criterion collection.
No sports figure was as polarizing as Muhammad Ali in the sixties. So it's ironic that one who was so demonized on his religious beliefs and his position on the Vietnam War, which was at that time politically incorrect, should wind up being the most beloved national sports figure ever. No professional athlete at the height of his career has ever sacrificed as much as Ali, let alone any entertainer period, especially when he also happened to be Black. Ali was a champion not only in the boxing ring, but also a champion who set an example for those who believed in something greater than himself, namely the human race, and he did it in a time when the risk for doing so was not just losing his livelihood, but also his life. When We Were Kings is Mr. Leon Gast's 1996 Academy Award winning documentary of the hype and preparations leading up to one of the greatest upsets in sports history, 1974's Rumble in the Jungle boxing contest between Ali and George Foreman, who, at that time was perceived by the pundits as virtually indestructible. In this doc we get to see Ali out of his boxing element as he was then: cocky, defiant, funny, as good as a promoter as he was a fighter. We get to hear, in his own words, why he is the greatest, that his fight against Foreman is only a microcosm of the struggles of his people in America and Africa against injustice. We get to see him courting the sentiment of the Congo people by characterizing Foreman as a pawn of the White establishment. We also get to see a very young Don King with his black hair (now white) shooting up, building up the hype, bringing in America's hottest Black musicians and entertainers like James Brown,B.B. King, The Spinners (my all-time favorite group), Bill Withers, Big Black,etc. We get to hear the music, which serves as the soundtrack to the fighter's public training camps. We get various perspectives from the most influential writers of that time like George Plimpton and Norman Mailer (and also Mr. Spike Lee), who were both also ringside and provide lots of anecdotes, often very funny, of a lot of behind the scenes stuff, including ringside blow-by-blow descriptions of the fight itself. This film is very entertaining and a great artifact for young people who have heard of but have no idea who Ali was, what makes him the great icon that he is, and why he is considered the greatest in and out of the Boxing ring. I can't say enough about this documentary. I've seen it maybe 3 times in the past month. It's that good. Back then, there was a lot of swagger and that's what this film is essentially about. When men, like Ali, were regarded as Kings, as larger than life, who walked among us like giants. Took me a long time to see this film and it was well worth the wait. Think I'll see it again in a couple of weeks.
