Eraserhead

Eraserhead (1977)

Runtime: 89 minutes 

Directed by: David Lynch

Starring: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates, Judith Roberts

From: AFI

Wow, what a movie this is. I try to describe this unique journey below: 

I am a little under the weather and have been for the past few days. I am currently taking basic medication to try and fix that; I am already feeling better. But I thought it'd be amusing to see something weird while in this condition and well, this film was on TCM late last night... I'll just say I am glad I was not feeling depressed while watching this because WOW is this ever bleak and dark... literally and figuratively.

I usually don't watch movies this abstract and surreal and yet I tried to rate this the best that I could. I was glad that while it was conceptual, it was not plotless nor was it too difficult to piece together the basic thought that Lynch wanted to present: if you search online you'll see that some incidents happened before which made him fearful of fatherhood. The real surreal moments, that's up to interpretation.

The movie is most successful at frightening the hell out of me, and I'll boldly make such a proclamation. Between the stark black and white photography (resulting in the film usually being dominated by a black nothingness on the screen), the great sound design (the wind, the sound of the radiator, etc.) and what is shown, it is like the product of my nightmares. That does not even take into account the mutant infant... talk about something that will haunt my dreams for eternity. Its cries...

But in short, it definitely is a movie better seen than described. I understand how it wouldn't work for everyone, and also how many give it the highest possible rating. I may be like the latter one day if and when I see this again... yet due to how evocative and chilling the movie was, I personally will wait a long while before seeing it again to avoid the possibility of this actually giving me nightmares and ruining my psyche for a lengthy period of time.

Gun Crazy

Gun Crazy (1950)

Runtime: 87 minutes

Directed by: Joseph H. Lewis

Starring: John Dall, Peggy Cummins, Berry Kroeger, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young

From: United Artists

Thankfully I picked something worthwhile to see last night, although it was due to unfortunate circumstances. See why below:

It was not the plan before last night to see this film on the 2nd of January... but I heard from someone I know-who is a huge fan of the film-that the lead girl (Peggy Cummins) recently passed away. He's championed the movie for years so I do feel a little guilty it took one of the leads dying for me to finally... pull the trigger and watch what proved to be a great noir.

The opening scene shows our lead Barton Tare as a 14 year old (he was played by “Rusty” Tamblyn in that opening segment) who does not want to ever kill someone with a gun yet is still obsessed with them to the point that he'd break a storefront window to steal one. He is sent to reform school then the Army. Yep, even back then some Americans were obsessed with guns, but that's a huge topic for another time. The rest of the film he is played by John Dall, who would be best known as one of the two killers in Rope. He sees trickshot artist Annie Laurie Starr (Cummins) perform in a traveling carnival and well, I'll just say him seeing an attractive woman be as good with a pistol as he was... a gun went off in his pants! They briefly work for the carnival worker but he's an A-hole so they both leave and as it's a noir, of course Starr is poor Tare's downfall, in a big way. I'll just say I've heard this compared to Bonnie & Clyde and various films in the French New Wave.

The movie is always compelling, it's shot pretty well throughout (sometimes tremendously so) and the two leads are great. There are some noteworthy moments, such as the haunting ending and a shot in one take sequence that lasts a few minutes, takes place in the confines of an automobile and the dialogue is probably ad-libbed. Oh, and the story was written by a blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. There are many worthwhile film noirs out there and this is certainly one of them; what a dynamic, magnetic performance from Cummins; I wish she would have done more films. At least there is this classic for people to watch.

Charade

Charade (1963)

Runtime: 113 minutes

Directed by: Stanley Donen

Starring: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy

From: Universal

I am under the weather so that is why I did not post this yesterday. I will have another review up tonight. This film is worth seeing, as I explain below: 

Monday the first of January (2018) Turner Classic Movies had an evening/late night devoted to “Stylish Capers” and as that sounds appealing to me, I hope to see at least one more of those via TCM's on-demand service on their website. I went with this as it was one of those highly-rated films I hadn't seen before. I can't be embarrassed as we all have those movies we should have watched sooner, no matter what age we are or how prolific we are at watching them.

The plot: Audrey Hepburn is in the French Alps with a pal when she meets up with Cary Grant and as it's Cary Grant, of course she is charmed by him. She has a husband but they don't even really know each other. Hubby dies, she discovers he had a large sum of cash that goes missing, and a trio of bad guys that hubby knew from the past wish to acquire the cash and don't believe she don't know where it is. Grant shows up again and there are plenty of twists & turns I dare not spoil. I'll just say the title of the film (and book it was based on) is quite apt.

A film starring Grant & Hepburn and the main co-stars being James Coburn, Walter Matthau and George Kennedy was appealing to me, and I was correct as I enjoyed all of their performances. The lady that Hepburn played was kind of cold but that was how the character was written. The rapid-fire banter between her and Grant was a treat; it was straight out of a screwball comedy of yore. Between the plot, the exotic French locations (mostly in Paris) and the darkly humorous moments-such as one at a funeral-the oft-repeated mantra of this being Hitchcockian was accurate. Those that love Hitch, this film is right up your alley and definitely needs to be seen.

I Bid Adieu To 2017

Last night I rewatched the giallo/poliziotteschi What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, which I saw and reviewed before... that can be read here. I don't know if I'll watch anything tonight but for sure I will tomorrow night so I'll be back either Monday or Tuesday night. I can't believe 2017 is over already either.

Fantasia

Fantasia (1940)

Runtime: 124 minutes

Directed by: A bunch of Disney animators

Starring: The only people you see are members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, composer Leopoldo Stokowski, and host Deems Taylor

From: Disney

It was about time I rewatched this as an adult as I now fully appreciate this is a great movie, a unique experience that everyone should view at least once. See me sing its praises below: 

As happens occasionally, what I watch for a review depends on what is about to leave a streaming service. On the 5th of January (2018) this will be gone from Netflix Instant so it was the time to watch something I hadn't seen in many years.

Not even all film fans of today love this unique experiment, a strong marriage between famous classical music pieces of the Western world and beautiful animation. Only a few of the 8 segments had a story of any kind; the rest had random (but still interesting to me) things happening, and none of the segments had any characters that spoke, and only introductions from someone that everyone today will think is “a random old white dude” provide any kind of context. In other words, I understand those that feel this way. But I was fine with all that as I thought all the segments were captivating to watch. Even the introductions I was fine with, as Deems Taylor was a respected composer and music critic of the time and I had no problem with what he said matter of factly.

What I enjoyed the most is that there was a variety; the most famous bit was The Sorcerer's Apprentice-which definitely had a defined story-but there was also a segment where the changing of the seasons was shown, a mix of Greco and Roman mythologies, the first few billion years of Earth's history in what I presume is less pretentious than The Tree of Life and Voyage of Time, and a truly frightening final piece involving angels & demons, including a dude named Chernabog that I understand was in one of those Kingdom Hearts games. The music you'll likely recognize a lot of it even if you did not know it by name; to be frank, that's because it's been overused in media since I've been alive. A shame, as those tunes are great and the Philadelphia Orchestra was well conducted by Leopold Stokowski.

I say this should be seen by everyone at least once; even if you find it to be too dull or not engaging enough, at least how bold and ahead of the time the picture is should be respected. You may also think there are some absolutely stunning moments. A major entity attempting to make a work of art that the common person can appreciate... no surprise to me it's not for all tastes and it found the most acclaimed in the years after its initial release.

Taxi

Taxi (1998)

Runtime: 86 minutes

Directed by: Gerard Pires

Starring: Samy Naceri, Frederic Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard, Manuela Gouray, Emma Wiklund

From: Several French companies

As I made it home last night, I can say I enjoyed my trip but it is also nice to be back on familiar ground. Amazon continues to deliver with the sort of things that I'd want to see. This French film has fans all around the world. I don't love it yet I can't say it was bad either. I explain it below: 

As I sometimes have to do, I have to explain to a worldwide audience how something may be surprisingly not popular or not even known in the United States. While plenty around the world know the Taxi trilogy, they definitely were never theatrically released in America and even on disc they are hard to come by over here; thus, I had never seen any of them (the only film clip seen beforehand was the opening to the third one, as it was online at the time and I had to see Sly Stallone cameo in a wacky French action picture) and I only recently discovered the first in the quartet of films was on Amazon, available for rental.

One day I may see the sequels via less ethical means. And before anyone panics, I've never seen the 2004 Hollywood remake, which OF COURSE Hollywood screwed up. Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon going after Brazilian supermodel bank robbers is definitely wacky but I understand it's also pretty putrid.

I am sure by now many know how the plot revolves around a speed demon taxi cab driver having to escort a police officer/poor driver around as he tries to capture German bank robbers, so I won't spend much time recapping that. Even I knew the basic story beforehand, along with there being only one person in the cast I recognized. The movie, it's quite silly and also more than a little dopey. Yet I can say this was fine. The camera leers at both Marion Cotillard (who'd I like to “develop photos” with) and Emma Wiklund... this was not too unusual for genre movies of the time.

I've been told the action scenes were better in the sequels... what I saw here, there were still shootouts and car chases to marvel at. But comedy is the focus rather than the action or the police/detective work. Not a cinematic masterpiece or the best of its type... I am not that surprised this became so popular in France and a few other countries.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Runtime: 104 minutes

Directed by: Ron Howard

Starring: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin

From: Universal

At least I got to see something while on vacation. The details are below:

I am still on vacation in Kansas. My 5 year old twin nephews don't watch a lot of films and instead it's random shows for toddlers like Team Umizoomi, Max & Ruby, and Paw Patrol. However, the previous night's showing of the film on NBC was DVR'ed so it was watched earlier today. Of course the 60's cartoon was seen on CBS by me a few times as a kid but by the time this came out I was a young adult. Why check out something I thought looked garish? Having finally seen this... yes, the movie is pretty garish, not to mention filled with moments and lines I am not sure I wanted to have my nephews watch and hear.

I knew that of course there needed to be more material added to the Dr. Seuss story in order for this to be a feature film; the Grinch being the Grinch because he was bullied because he needed to shave his face as an 8 year old and it went awry so he had small pieces of shaving tape on his face and everyone laughed at him... I did not predict that beforehand. The rest of it is what you'd expect, although Cindy Lou Who had a more prominent role.

It is easy to see why many Grinch fans don't like this, as the tone is just creepy and to be frank, many of the characters look horrifying. The twins were fine with it but it was too Uncanny Valley for me how the Whovians looked. Plus, did there REALLY need to be a romantic subplot for the Grinch? Then there was how most of them acted like real A-holes and I did not find it too appealing. Jim Carrey... definitely a bravura performance from him but how the character was written and portrayed I say wasn't right for me.

While things appear to be oddly underlit-adding to the creepy tone-at least the sets were lavish and colorful; the production design wasn't one of this film's many problems. But the entire thing is full of goofy sentimentality and I am not sure why Ron Howard thought “children's film” meant “Dutch angles”. Sure, this did show the message of how Christmas shouldn't be so materialistic (which some have said is actually an anti-capitalistic screed which attack the members of the bourgeoisie) but the book and the 60's special narrated by Boris Karloff do that too and I say those should be read and watched before consuming this bizarre, gaudy piece of entertainment.