From One Second to the Next

Herzog made a strange little documentary about the dangers of texting while driving. It’s available here:

http://www.wernerherzog.com/index.php?id=128

Flickan som Lekte med Elden (The Girl Who Played with Fire)

Lisbeth is….a very private person.

I don’t like this as much as the first film, but it’s still pretty good.

Gut reaction: 3/5

One film I liked more: Män som Hatar Kvinnor

One film I liked less: Double Jeopardy

Including Samuel

I showed this film to my students in a class on disability and education. It’s good for provoking discussion. That’s why I use it. It’s not an incredible documentary but it’s an important issue and deserves attention. I’ve seen it five times now.

It can be streamed here: http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/8924/Including-Samuel

Mark of the Vampire (1935)

The dust lies thick and undisturbed. That’s what makes it so difficult to find the vampire’s hiding place.

Tod Browning made a silent film called London After Midnight in 1927. The only known print of the film was lost in a fire at an MGM film vault in 1967. Long before the original was lost, Browning remade the film as a “talkie” and titled it Mark of the Vampire.

Bela Lugosi plays Count Mora. He previously played the eponymous lead in Browning’s 1931 Dracula.

Lionel Barrymore plays Professor Zelen. He is Drew Barrymore’s great uncle.

The flying bats look really cheesy. Other than that, this film holds up.

This film makes a turn in the last twenty minutes that really surprised me. I don’t know that it completely works, but it was interesting. I could see someone remaking this film now.

Gut reaction: 3/5

One film I liked more: Shadow of the Vampire

One film I liked less: Dracula 2000

Detour (1945)

You’re no gentleman, see?

This is a film that I’ve heard a lot of people discuss over the years. Errol Morris put it in his top five films alongside Psycho and Sullivan’s Travels. It’s available for free online. Plus, it’s only 67 minutes long so film lovers have no excuse to skip it.

Edgar G. Ulmer is the director. He has directed a lot of films. Four of them (including Detour) received 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s not an insignificant feat. I’m going to try to catch up with his other well regarded films in the coming months.

Gut reaction: 4.5/5

One film I liked more: The Thin Blue Line

One film I liked less: U Turn

Freaks (1932)

 

To me, you’re a man, but to her you are only something to laugh at.

This film was made in 1932. It’s about circus performers that take revenge on a trapeze artist that abuses them. It’s a pretty amazing film. I teach a course on disability and education. Each semester we watch a film together that relates to disability in some way. I would love it if my students would select this film, but they usually pick something that is fairly easy to digest.

This film was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1994.

Gut reaction: 4/5

It’s a Disaster

It’s your gig, bro.

This is a movie about dirty bombs going off while a group of friends and acquaintances are having a couples brunch together. In the aftermath of the bombs, they are trapped in the house.

I like the idea of this movie, but I don’t like the execution. A few of the characters were written in really silly ways. If those characters were removed, I think the script could have been salvaged and maybe we would have a good film.

The ending is kinda good though…

Gut reaction: 2/5

One film I liked more: Melancholia

One film I liked less: Armageddon

Genesis II

The experiment should have gone perfectly. 

In 1973, Gene Roddenberry created a television film pilot that was designed to launch a new television series much like Star Trek: The Original Series. While it aired on CBS as a television movie, it was never picked up and made into an ongoing show. That’s a damn shame in my opinion because the film sets up some great infrastructure that could have supported all sorts of interesting scenarios. The Wikipedia file on the film lists six episode concepts that were going to be used if the pilot was picked up.

Genesis II is the story of Dylan Hunt, a man who survives for 150 years in suspended animation while the Earth undergoes a tremendous transformation as the result of nuclear war. He awakes to a world split into two warring factions. On one side is the totalitarian mutants of Tyrania. The other side is a hyper-pacifist society called PAX. In standard fish-out-of-water fashion, Hunt is left to fumble around this world until he figures out who is who. He’s a sexist cowboy with a great mustache.

There is a great scene towards the end of the film that involves Hunt pretending an old radio from the twentieth century is actually a lie detecting machine that makes different sounds depending on the veracity of the statements being made. He uses it to trick a mutant into revealing that she is in love with him. It’s cinematic gold.

Despite the cheap-looking sets and the goofy costumes, this film feels very modern. It has the kind of set-up that would allow for a show that unfolds over several seasons. It requires commitment to follow stories that are decompressed and roll out over the course of years instead of the simple five act television format. Perhaps that was too demanding for audiences in the 1970s.

Here is a clip of the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blBzEc5cu4E

Roddenberry made two other similar film pilots in this same era (Planet Earth and Strange New World). They were not picked up either.

For people interested in seeing this film (as well as Roddenberry’s Planet Earth), you should check out the streaming service offered by Warner Bros. It’s called Warner Archive Instant. It has a lot of otherwise unavailable film and television. It’s ten dollars a month, but you can get a two week trial for free. Looking through their catalog, I can easily find dozens of films that interest me. In particular, I want to check out some of the pre-code films they have.

Gut reaction: 3.5/5

One film I liked more: Idiocracy

One film I liked less: Demolition Man

Hot Coffee

This is a documentary about so-called tort reform. It uses the famous spilled coffee lawsuit to talk about the politically motivated reforms to the civil court system. It makes a confusing and misunderstood issue accessible.

If you want to be pissed off beyond belief, you should watch this documentary.

I’m excited to see more work from director Susan Saladoff.

Gut reaction: 4/5

One film I liked more: The Thin Blue Line

One film I liked less: Capitalism: A Love Story

The Conversation

I always think, he was once someone’s baby boy.

This is the film that Coppola made between the first two Godfather films. After working with Cazale as Fredo, he created a role for him in this film. As I mentioned in my review of I Knew It Was You, this was the remaining film of his that I hadn’t seen. As is to be expected, his performance is great.

The static distortion on the wire taps sounds weird. It makes the film seem dated. Setting that small detail aside, I think the themes related to surveillance hold up.

The opening/title credits camera work is really cool. I like the slow draw into Hackman and the mime. It’s a nice set up considering how much time is ultimately spent in that location. I like films that continually return to a specific location.

Harry Caul (Hackman) is a intriguing character. His disinterest in the content of his recordings and his concern about his own privacy are nice little insights into his character. Coppola and Hackman show these character traits with just a few simple lines of dialogue and a subtle performance. Developing characters like this can be clunky, but I think it really works here.  I love Gene Hackman. I need to catch up with more of his work, particularly from this period.  I haven’t seen The French Connection. It looks like he has retired. His last acting credit was Welcome to Mooseport (2004) with Ray Romano. Bummer.

A young Harrison Ford plays opposite Hackman. He looks kinda weird. I need to see some of his earlier work as well.  For instance, I haven’t seen American Graffiti or Blade Runner. This post is full of cinematic confessions.

The music in this film is perfect.

The ending is awesome.

This title is available on Netflix streaming currently.

Gut reaction: 4/5

One film I liked more: Dog Day Afternoon

One film I liked less:  Sneakers

Bonus John Cazale still because he is a boss: