Thanks to the best channel in the world (Turner Classic Movies) I was recently able to watch Charlie Chaplin's second to last movie, A King in New York. Made in 1957, five years after he was refused re-entry to the United States, Chaplin launched an attack at American culture. My guess is that most Americans in 1957 wouldn't be very interested in his observations, but they didn't have a chance to find out. Due to its controversial material, A King in New York wasn't released in the United States until 1973.
The film is split into two parts: the first satirizes American commercialism (obviously just as relevant now as ever), and the second attacks McCarthyism (also pretty relevant now, though in a different form). Charlie Chaplin's movies began to take on more social commentary as his career progressed, and they lost a lot of the pure anarchic humor of his earlier work. Of course, some of the changes in style came from his need to adapt to the invention of sound, where viewers rely more on jokes than sight gags. His movies always had feeling (watch the end of City Lights, and see if there is a dry eye in the house), but his later films put more emphasis on the meaning of the story (his pre-American involvement take on Hitler in The Great Dictator and his beautifully melancholy metaphor for his own career, Limelight).
So you may be saying to yourself, "I've never seen a Chaplin picture. Should I start with this random King in New York movie I read about in a blog?" The answer is no. Start with Modern Times (my favorite) or The Gold Rush. You'll see a lot of bits that were ripped off by Warner Brothers' cartoons. Looking back, Modern Times was a way for Chaplin to test the water of social commentary, and he pulls it off well. The funniest Chaplin movies star his Little Tramp character, with his iconic bowler hat, oversized shoes, cane, and mustache.
I guess I should include a brief synopsis of A King in New York. A deposed king from Europe takes up residence in the Ritz. He has good intentions, but no money. American advertisers take advantage of him as he tries to cobble together enough money for his atomic energy plan. Next he gets mixed up with a communist orphan. The House Un-American Activities Committee assumes he must also be a communist, and hilarity ensues.
Chaplin was once the most famous person in the world. It's unfortunate how many people today have never seen a single one of his films.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Dominion vs. Exorcist: The Beginning
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist vs. Exorcist: The Beginning
This is the only example I can think of where two people have been able to make their own versions of the same basic idea. Paul Schrader (who earned my admiration for writing Scorsese's Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) decided to take the Exorcist in a serious direction. His version focuses on the a younger version of Max von Sydow's priest from the original Exorcist. Father Merrin has lost his faith after facing the evil of Nazis in WW2, but he is forced to recover it when confronted with the pure evil of the demon. One of the most effective scenes is a re-inaction of a traumatizing event from the war orchestrated by the demon to torment Father Merrin. Building on this one memory, Schrader brings back some of the ideas he explored in his screenplay of The Last Temptation of Christ as the demon tests Merrin's resolve.
Unfortunately, Schrader's vision didn't have enough pea soup spewing and crucifix humping for the studio. They gave Schrader the axe and hired the hack Renny Harlin. You may know Renny as the genius behind Die Hard 2: Die Harder, which up until last summer was the only misstep in the Die Hard series. Renny uses some of Schrader's footage, but does a Dawn of the Dead remakification of the original story. (A DotD remakification is where all serious subtext or meaning is removed and replaced by mindless action...and/or fast moving zombies.)
Harlin's version does have more guts and gore, but not enough to compete with torture porn like Saw and Hostel. When it came out at theaters, blood fans weren't interested in the soft core stuff, and fans of the original Exorcist's deeper, heavier feel knew better having read about all the hiring/firing chaos. So when Exorcist: the Beginning bombed, the studio decided to let Schrader finish editing his film and release it on DVD. Schrader may have had a really good horror movie if he had had the funding for a few re-shoots and some proper post-production work. The low budget really shows with the weak special effects.
Maybe there is a curse on movies related to the Exorcist. The previous two sequels starred high caliber actors like Richard Burton, James Earl Jones, and George C. Scott, and neither of them came close to the original. But they're fun if you want some jumbled up background story to the original, and the Exorcist 2 has some pretty cool visuals.
Verdict: Check out Dominion if you're a big fan of the original. If a friend tries to make you watch Exorcist: The Beginning, you will know for a fact that they are actually out to get you. Burn the disc and watch your back around that "friend."
This is the only example I can think of where two people have been able to make their own versions of the same basic idea. Paul Schrader (who earned my admiration for writing Scorsese's Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) decided to take the Exorcist in a serious direction. His version focuses on the a younger version of Max von Sydow's priest from the original Exorcist. Father Merrin has lost his faith after facing the evil of Nazis in WW2, but he is forced to recover it when confronted with the pure evil of the demon. One of the most effective scenes is a re-inaction of a traumatizing event from the war orchestrated by the demon to torment Father Merrin. Building on this one memory, Schrader brings back some of the ideas he explored in his screenplay of The Last Temptation of Christ as the demon tests Merrin's resolve.
Unfortunately, Schrader's vision didn't have enough pea soup spewing and crucifix humping for the studio. They gave Schrader the axe and hired the hack Renny Harlin. You may know Renny as the genius behind Die Hard 2: Die Harder, which up until last summer was the only misstep in the Die Hard series. Renny uses some of Schrader's footage, but does a Dawn of the Dead remakification of the original story. (A DotD remakification is where all serious subtext or meaning is removed and replaced by mindless action...and/or fast moving zombies.)
Harlin's version does have more guts and gore, but not enough to compete with torture porn like Saw and Hostel. When it came out at theaters, blood fans weren't interested in the soft core stuff, and fans of the original Exorcist's deeper, heavier feel knew better having read about all the hiring/firing chaos. So when Exorcist: the Beginning bombed, the studio decided to let Schrader finish editing his film and release it on DVD. Schrader may have had a really good horror movie if he had had the funding for a few re-shoots and some proper post-production work. The low budget really shows with the weak special effects.
Maybe there is a curse on movies related to the Exorcist. The previous two sequels starred high caliber actors like Richard Burton, James Earl Jones, and George C. Scott, and neither of them came close to the original. But they're fun if you want some jumbled up background story to the original, and the Exorcist 2 has some pretty cool visuals.
Verdict: Check out Dominion if you're a big fan of the original. If a friend tries to make you watch Exorcist: The Beginning, you will know for a fact that they are actually out to get you. Burn the disc and watch your back around that "friend."
Friday, April 18, 2008
In the Valley of Elah
So far, no films focusing on the war in Iraq have done well at the box office. In the Valley of Elah is no exception. Even with big stars like Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron, audiences stayed away. They missed out on a pretty good movie. Paul Haggis (writer/director of the hugely over-rated Oscar winning Crash) mixes murder mystery, police procedural, and anti-war polemic with mostly satisfactory results. The melting pot of ideas is also the film's weakness.
Obviously, the principal actors all put on great performances. Haggis is a capable director, and he is usually very good at stringing words together. The biggest problem with Elah is that it tries to apply the specific experiences and actions of one group of soldiers to the broader conflict in Iraq. What stands out are two scenes that bookend the main story, in which Tommy Lee Jones shows a school groundskeeper how to properly display the flag. There are a few other instances throughout the movie where it feels like Haggis pauses the DVD (or Blu-ray if you know what's good for you) and underlines his point. Oversimplifying and stereotyping soldiers also negatively impacted Rendition and Stop-Loss, which also deal with the war in Iraq.
Stop-Loss is the best of these three Iraq War films, mainly because of Kimberly Peirce's realistic style of writing and directing. Hopefully, she won't take another nine years to make her next movie.
If you are interested in another film about the war and soldiers, definitely check out Gunner Palace. It's a documentary from 2005 about the lives of American soldiers staying in one of Hussein's old bombed-out palaces. Luckily for Netflix subscribers, it is currently available through Instant Viewing.
Obviously, the principal actors all put on great performances. Haggis is a capable director, and he is usually very good at stringing words together. The biggest problem with Elah is that it tries to apply the specific experiences and actions of one group of soldiers to the broader conflict in Iraq. What stands out are two scenes that bookend the main story, in which Tommy Lee Jones shows a school groundskeeper how to properly display the flag. There are a few other instances throughout the movie where it feels like Haggis pauses the DVD (or Blu-ray if you know what's good for you) and underlines his point. Oversimplifying and stereotyping soldiers also negatively impacted Rendition and Stop-Loss, which also deal with the war in Iraq.
Stop-Loss is the best of these three Iraq War films, mainly because of Kimberly Peirce's realistic style of writing and directing. Hopefully, she won't take another nine years to make her next movie.
If you are interested in another film about the war and soldiers, definitely check out Gunner Palace. It's a documentary from 2005 about the lives of American soldiers staying in one of Hussein's old bombed-out palaces. Luckily for Netflix subscribers, it is currently available through Instant Viewing.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Welcome
So now I have a blog. Here is a brief history of my decision to start writing:
GrantUA05 (5:53:33 PM): i was thinking you should start keeping a movie blog
deadpanda1917 (5:53:45 PM): will you write it for me?
deadpanda1917 (5:53:49 PM): that sounds like a lot of work
GrantUA05 (5:53:56 PM): no, but ill read it
GrantUA05 (5:54:01 PM): and it will help me keep up with movies
GrantUA05 (5:54:03 PM): win win...win
deadpanda1917 (5:54:13 PM): hmm
deadpanda1917 (5:54:18 PM): just like moderating
GrantUA05 (5:54:19 PM): think it over..
GrantUA05 (5:54:20 PM): and then do it
It is now 6:14 PM. I guess the hard part is over now. To the masses still reading, you should know that this is in fact a movie blog. So without further ado....
Last night I finally watched Alfred Hitchcock's courtroom drama The Paradine Case. Gregory Peck is good as always, but most of this movie was pretty mediocre--especially for Hitchcock. The Mrs. Paradine role was perfect Greta Garbo. In fact, they must have had her in mind when they wrote the intentionally "mysterious" character. The Garbo impersonator doesn't quite pull it off; she just comes off as vaguely empty. She is on trial for the murder of her much older, super rich, blind husband. Gregory Peck is the lawyer who falls for her mysterious aura. What's odd is that Mrs. Paradine is so unlike Hitch's usual leading ladies, who are nearly always blond. In fact the one blond (Peck's long-suffering wife) becomes the center of most of the film's emotion, even though she has very little screen time. Overall, this is definitely lessor-Hitchcock, only worth checking out after the classics like Vertigo and Psycho. I get the feeling producer David O. Selznick probably had a hand in un-Hitchifying this movie.
GrantUA05 (5:53:33 PM): i was thinking you should start keeping a movie blog
deadpanda1917 (5:53:45 PM): will you write it for me?
deadpanda1917 (5:53:49 PM): that sounds like a lot of work
GrantUA05 (5:53:56 PM): no, but ill read it
GrantUA05 (5:54:01 PM): and it will help me keep up with movies
GrantUA05 (5:54:03 PM): win win...win
deadpanda1917 (5:54:13 PM): hmm
deadpanda1917 (5:54:18 PM): just like moderating
GrantUA05 (5:54:19 PM): think it over..
GrantUA05 (5:54:20 PM): and then do it
It is now 6:14 PM. I guess the hard part is over now. To the masses still reading, you should know that this is in fact a movie blog. So without further ado....
Last night I finally watched Alfred Hitchcock's courtroom drama The Paradine Case. Gregory Peck is good as always, but most of this movie was pretty mediocre--especially for Hitchcock. The Mrs. Paradine role was perfect Greta Garbo. In fact, they must have had her in mind when they wrote the intentionally "mysterious" character. The Garbo impersonator doesn't quite pull it off; she just comes off as vaguely empty. She is on trial for the murder of her much older, super rich, blind husband. Gregory Peck is the lawyer who falls for her mysterious aura. What's odd is that Mrs. Paradine is so unlike Hitch's usual leading ladies, who are nearly always blond. In fact the one blond (Peck's long-suffering wife) becomes the center of most of the film's emotion, even though she has very little screen time. Overall, this is definitely lessor-Hitchcock, only worth checking out after the classics like Vertigo and Psycho. I get the feeling producer David O. Selznick probably had a hand in un-Hitchifying this movie.
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