Movies »Breakdown

directed by Jonathan Mostow (1997)

Breakdown is one of those Sunday afternoon TV movies, that catches its audiences between far too many car and prescription drug commercials. It deserves a second look as a bit more than that – not much more mind you, this is pure B-movie fun that feeds of urbane fears of the rural, but there’s so few movies that fit the bill like this, that it’s great in it’s simple effectiveness.

How often do you just want a tense, enjoyable thriller, that isn’t dumb, but doesn’t require too much thinking either? And how often can you find such a movie? (I’ve found, not often enough – and sadly, never again from director Mostow who helmed the forgettable Terminator 3 and Surrogates). Well as we suffer through this intense summer weather, now is a perfect time to tune into this fast paced Kurt Russell flick on instant netflix along with some AC.

Not only is the dimpled handsome in to his usual solid leading man mode but you’ll find great character actors including M.C. Gainey (you may recognize him as Tom in Lost) looking every bit Lemmy as a threatening redneck and the far more quietly menacing truck driver, JT Walsh, who passed away from a heart attack after the movie was shot.

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Posted on July 11, 2010

Movies »The Swimmer

directed by Frank Perry (1968)

The Swimmer was filmed in 1966 and released two years later. In between then, The Graduate with its young, new, daring take on similar subject matter and inventive film techniques, made an indelible mark American film making.

Meanwhile this Burt Lancaster vehicle fell into, well, if not oblivion exactly, certainly near to that. Compared to where movie making was headed, The Swimmer, based on a short story by John Cheever (he of the big red book of short stories, which is first on my list to start reading on vacation) is a tad dated and seems, from it’s reviews of the time, to have already felt off kilter (in both a good and bad way) when it was released.

The acting can range from balls out fist shaking to unnatural, stilted theater like script reading. A melodramatic, score that underlines every emotional cue adds to the artificial feeling. Added in are some unusual editing gorgeous lens flare and arty film techniques, including double exposures –  but somehow the collected oddities work in harmony in the film’s favor. A very dark, hallucinatory, and paranoid piece of work emerges from the flaws.

This is a surreal and haunting movie and, for all its artifice and ham-handedness, there’s strong stuff here that sticks with you; I first saw the movie years ago and have never really forgotten it and I welcomed a chance to revisit it when it became available on Netflix on demand (one of life’s great pleasures).

Lancaster struts around as a suburban peacock who decides to swim home via neighborhood pools. Along the way we encounter the hung over, the angry, the bitchy, and the eccentric members of his community as well as witness some nudists, a fight over a hot dog cart, and a cameo by Joan Rivers.

It’s a fun movie to discover if you’ve not seen it, maybe especially for it’s lost gem quality and of course, the sixties suburban pool side styles of the time that will satiate any Mad Men fan.

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Posted on June 27, 2010

Movies »Teen Witch

Directed by Dorian Walker (1989)

The wikipedia entry for Teen Witch reveals the shocking truth that the teenager musical was a box office bomb grossing less than $4000 in its opening weekend with a budget of two and a half million! Of course, with repeated airings on cable and midnight shows (at one of which friend John got to actually dance with Robin Lively!) it’s become the cult classic that we know and love.

I recently revisited the innocuous favorite which is more than perfect for Sunday afternoon viewing and found it just as silly, strange, and dumbly enjoyable as I remembered.

From the opening shots of Louise Miller gyrating to Taylor Dane style pop with the local hottie, Brad to the final scenes of Louise Miller gyrating to Taylor Dane style pop with the local hottie, Brad, the movie is an 80’s Disney Channel esque delight. Not surprisingly, Disney actress Ashley Tisdale is in talks to star in a remake.

Of course, I’d be shocked if they kept the hilarious musical numbers as is (including  “I Like Boys” and the often referenced – recently in 30 Rock – “Top That Rap“) and while Teen Witch is definitely not racy stuff, that beginning gyrating scene does feature star Robin Lively looking like a prostitute in red lace and what would be more shocking these days, she totally gives it up in an abandoned house to Brad without scruples.

Trust me, after just having watched Starstruck (yes, this is the kind of guilty pleasure viewing I do when no one is looking) where the two young actors barely even kiss, implied going all the way will never make it in the remake.

But I digress on the supposed remake and there’s so much to say about the original. Many things can be said in the stills below/after the jump but worth noting is the bizarre brother creature, Richie, played by the same intriguing young strange actor you may recognize from the very un-Teen Witch movie River’s Edge, the wonderful Zelda Rubenstein as a fellow witch, the surprisingly so-uncool-they’re-cool again fashions, and of course those cringe inducing, but oh so awesome musical numbers.

It has not been available on DVD always, but can be rented at Netflix though sometimes with a long wait, so people are still flocking to this cheesy nostalgia piece. If you never knew the glories of it growing up, don’t expect a traditionally “good” movie, with suspense or drama, just go with flow and you’ll find there’s very little in the pre-teen comedy genre that tops it.

Oh, and if you too want to be a Teen Witch, it’s now possible with this nifty kit.

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Posted on June 20, 2010

Movies »Videodrome

directed by David Cronenberg (1983)

Videodrome is a singularly bizarre film about mess media, body mutation, hallucination, and sadomasochism. Surely not a treat for every movie goer but one of my all time favorites – which is why I was surprised to find I had not recommended it (well, at least not in the pages of Brix Picks) before.

An appropriately sleazy James Woods and a stunning brunette Debbie Harry star in Cronenberg’s finest hour. The movies jumps head first into it’s down the rabbit hole story and rapidly becomes stranger with each scene.

Woods is a programmer for a television channel that focuses on violent and explicit programming and willfully falls into a world of either highly bizarre mind control conspiracy or utter life crippling hallucination after viewing a snuff like pirated program called Videodrome. Along the way he makes out with a television set, buries a gun into his own chest, and meets a cult like leader named Brian Oblivion who only appears on TV on TV.

It’s beyond surreal but grounded in such an imperfect, realistic world of trash strewn hotel rooms, peeling basement studios, and crappy soft core porn, that the fantasy is accepted and it’s ok that the movie tells it’s wild story with a straight face.

If the stills below/after the jump and my highest recommendation don’t peak your interest this appropriately stylish but way off kilter trailer just might.

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Posted on June 13, 2010

Movies »Splice

directed by Vincenzo Natali (2010)

Not to diminish the role of director Vincenzo Natali (though “presenter” Guillermo Del Toro has already done so by prominently splashing his name all over the posters), but the surprise sci fi critical darling Splice is classic Cronenberg through and through (just to clarify: anything pre eXistenZ qualifies as classic) – and it’s not just the very Canadianness of it all (Sarah Polley, possibly the most Canadian actress of all time, stars), nor is it just the crazy-gross flesh-slugs and scalpel surgeries that remind me of the prime of the horror giant (whose films include The Brood, Rabid, and the truly incredible and mind bending Videodrome).

There’s a certain dignity to the movie making that is woefully absent in most like minded thrillers of late that do little more than make you squirm through some gross-out stuff. Unlike such movies that parade half naked actors and actresses who are barely fit for terrible CW teen dramas, everyone here does phenomenally with some pretty tough material.

And while I’m still not completely sure how I feel about Splice, it certainly requires a bit of thought and evokes some very, very disturbing ideas not only about scientific morality, but really creepy concepts of parenthood and human desires and motivations. For the record, it’s super creepy to watch while pregnant.

It’s in theaters now and definitely a more interesting way to spend a couple hours out of the heat than in front of Shrek Forever After, Killers (shockingly not based on the Hemingway short story), or Marmaduke.

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Posted on June 6, 2010

Movies »The Red Shoes

directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (1948)

The Red Shoes is a considered a classic for its beauty; not only in themes: the sacrifices one must make for both romantic love and love and passion about ones craft. It’s also gorgeous to look at. Technicolor has rarely been used to such dreamlike and stunning effect. The costumes, the choreography, Moira Shearer‘s red hair, a lovely score.. it’s little wonder that The Red Shoes inspired so many of it’s viewers to become dancers, designers (I distinctly see some Rodarte in her dirtied white gown), musicians, and film makers.

The centerpiece of the film is a surreal visual delight ballet, but the film, due to its cast, is more than its magnificent imagery. Shearer is incredible as the prima ballerina torn between the love of a composer and becoming the world’s greatest dancer. As it is a fairy tale the characters have no need to be realistic or complex, yet she and her puppet like impresario played by Anton Walkbrook are lively and fascinating.

Criterion Collection has recently restored the film and its available to watch with netflix instant.

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Posted on May 31, 2010

Movies »The Hurt Locker

directed by Kathryn Bigelow (2008)

There’s not too much I can add to the dialogue about Kathryn Bigelow‘s little movie that could, The Hurt Locker. It’s won almost every critical award, including the Oscar for best picture and when I say it’s suspenseful, spare, intriguing, action packed, and phenomenal, I am sure a thousand other people have said it before me. Of course, the hype doesn’t make any of the praise any less true. It’s a great movie worthy of it’s reputation.

The only thing I can possibly disagree with is the surprise. Jim and I have always known that Bigelow knows how to direct action!! – her Point Break foot chase is one of the best chases put to screen. I was surprised however by the cast of cameos in the film who alongside the less recognizable actors fleshed out realistic human beings without the “character establishing” tropes of most Hollywood movies in place.

You’ve probably already seen it, but if not, it’s well worth your time.

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Posted on May 23, 2010

Movies »Beetlejuice

directed by Tim Burton (1988)

I have seen the Tim Burton comedy Beetlejuice so very many times as a kid that I was a little reluctant to re-watch it at Jim’s request, but the surreal, lighthearted darkness was exactly what I didn’t even know I was in the mood for. Among many achievements, including memorable and clever makeup, effects, costumes (love Lydia’s black head wear and the glove headband) and set design, this boasts a great cast including Noni’s best role yet as a goth teen. Jefferey Jone and Catharine O’Hara, who are really always excellent don’t break the streak here and Geena Davis is likable and goofy while Alec Baldwin is almost unrecognizably earnest and fresh faced as a loving couple that finds themselves recently deceased (and remind me of soon to be married friends Luke and Ashleigh). Michael Keaton, in an unexpected role, is the gross out Beetlejuice, who so easily could have become an unbearable character and yet is a classic. It’s a strange feat, but not quite as strange as the animated series that spun off in 89 that was an inexplicable hit.

It’s one of Burton’s very best (behind only Peewee’s Big Adventure and Ed Wood in my assessment) and it makes me wonder, after painfully sitting through the wildly disappointing Alice in Wonderland (or as another disappointed friend eloquently called it Alice in Buttholeland), what exactly happened to him? Is it the large budgets getting in the way? An ego from a lifetime of success and fame? Is the problem that he isn’t writing his own material? Does Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter have some malicious power over his skills? I wish someone could get to the bottom of it, because I’d love to see him making a movie that brings together his unique vision, an endearing plot and just plain likability together as successfully as Beetlejuice again.

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Posted on May 16, 2010

Movies »The Fugitive Kind

directed by Sidney Lumet (1959)

You know, melodrama just doesn’t work today the way it used to. With Tennessee Williams at the writing helm, adapting his own Orpheus Descending along with screenwriter Meade Roberts, The Fugitive Kind is certainly an old school southern Gothic melodrama with drunks, mad angry women, silk slips, money left on mattresses, desperate love affairs, and a town full of violent dirty secrets. Naturalistic it’s not, but entertaining it is.

Marlon Brando is deliberate and handsome as Snakeskin, a drifter musician and possible former hustler who is both slow and unwittingly skilled at manipulation. His nickname comes from his iconic jacket, which inspired a similar stylistic iconic choice in Wild at Heart.

The women surrounding him are played by Maureen Stapleton, who is heartbreaking as a gentle, naive artist surrounded by ugliness, Joanne Woodward as an almost animal like untamed drunken crazy socialite, and Ann Magnani who commands the screen as Lady “a real live one” with restrain that’s ready to boil over. She’s both a powerful diva and beaten down. She’s musky, dark and needful but softened by  glimmer of hope that burns in her despite a life and face cracked with loss, horror and age.

Misfits and fugitive kinds, they are all the romanticized fringe, who are the only ones in an ugly world who dare to try to bring beauty to it – whether with a song, a confectionery or a painting.

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Posted on May 9, 2010

Movies »The Eyes of Laura Mars

Directed by Irvin Kershner (1978)

While I didn’t notice the first time I saw Eyes of Laura Mars years ago, but it’s an American version of a Giallo if there ever was one. And as such it’s got the genre’s shining points and flaws: technicolor red blood, dramatic music cues, silly plot twists that end in a preposterous conclusion, a high body count, and style, style, style! There’s plenty to recommend this 70’s hit despite moments of mediocrity (like a terrible Babs song).

First, the cast. Faye Dunaway is in her prime of easy glamorous wide eyed star power, Tommy Lee Jones brooding is more charming than usual, in an all too brief appearance Raul Julia is the ultimate deadbeat gold digging ex, supermodel Lisa Taylor plays herself, and perhaps most importantly the film opened by eyes to the awesomeness of perhaps my favorite actor, Brad Dourif, who is here the foxiest creep ever put to film. Bomber jacket, jeans, flannel and a chauffeurs hat have never come together so perfectly.

That brings us to the second point: every scene has something fantastic to look at. The styling had me asking myself minutely “hmm, do I need a _____ (hat, blouse, skirt, hairdo, apartment, etc) like that in my life?” The answer was invariably “yes”.

Third, the centerpiece of the movie visually is the provocative work of photographer Helmut Newton. One of my favorite artists who sets the aesthetic tone.

You can watch it now with Netflix on demand.

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Posted on May 2, 2010