From Me: The Mission Statement

I was having a conversation today with a friend about a project that we are pondering doing together. I asked the question that I always ask as a future tripper, "Why are we doing this?" I decided to write down why I'm doing this blog in case anyone who stumbles upon it wants to know. I'll also have if for myself since I tend to forget.

I'm doing this to improve my writing, find a style, find my eye. I'd like to try and improve my analytical skills as well as learning how to structure a decent review. There hasn't much improvement, but it is early still. I'm not looking to become any kind of professional critic, but it will improve how I form an argument ad that is something that is important to me.

So every so often I think I'll post a look back at a few of the pieces I've done and give them a close look. Just glancing back I can see I focus more on the acting and directing more than anything else.  Those are the things that stick out the most to me, but I shouldn't keep it the focus of the reviews as I seem to be doing now.

I'd like to work on building my reviews out so they seem more complete. I'm trying to get DVD choices down to tight two or three paragraphs that can summarize and point out its importance without getting wordy. It's like doing different core exercises on a weekly basis. Get all of it into shape. 

I think I'll start writing pieces on reviews I like. Maybe look at how the critic presents it and break down what works for me and what doesn't. Not a bad idea. We'll give one of those a shot and see how it goes.

So onward and upward. Lets see over the next several months how this progresses.

On The Boulevard: Lon Chaney

There always seems to be a bit of confusion about Lon Chaney. This is because there were two of them, a senior and a junior. Lon Chaney Jr.'s real name was Creighton, but took his father's name in order to carry on the legacy of a man who was taken from us at an early age.

Lon Chaney Sr. was a master of disguise and is still considered one of the greatest character actors of all time. Chaney was a master at humanizing characters that were physically and therefore emotionally deformed. I don't think anyone today could match Chaney for the sole reason that no one today would make most of the movies that Chaney was in.

He had the popular ones which carry over to today like Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), Oliver Twist (1922), as well as cult classics like The Unholy Three (silent 1925/sound 1930), West of Zanzibar (1928) and the famous lost film London After Midnight (1927).

In each of these as most of his films Chaney created makeup that created monstrous results and would then find the humanity within the character that allowed the audience to sympathize. He would also use contortion to create physical deformities like his character of The Frog in The Miracle Man (1919) or a body rigging that restricted his movements and help establish Quasimodo's uneven walk.

Chaney would create some of his most interesting characters with the help of filmmaker Tod Browning. Films like The Blackbird (1926), The Road to Mandalay (1926) as well as the before mentioned London After Midnight and West of Zanzibar. Browning is most famous for two films that don't star Chaney though. Dracula (1931) made a star of Bela Lugosi and Browning a director with power and Freaks (1932), which would rip that power away and basically destroy his career.

A film I'd like to point out is The Unknown (1927), that paired Chaney and Browning and is one of the more bizarre love stories in the Chaney cannon. In it Chaney plays Alonzo the Armless, a carnival knife thrower who just happens to be, wait for it...armless. Actually, he's not. He's pretending to be armless to hide from the police since he's a killer. Alonzo falls in love with a hotter than hot Joan Crawford who plays a carnival girl. The circus strongman is also in love with her, but she has a phobia about being touched. This is good news for a guy who has no arms. But, since he does have arms, he has them surgically removed. While he's away recuperating, Crawford overcomes her fears of being touched and falls in love with the strongman. Now Alonzo has no girl and no arms... That's gotta suck. All sorts of drama takes place and Alonzo learns to sacrifice himself for love and redemption. It's a great film with an amazing performance by Chaney and a plot line that is beyond original and could never be done today.

Chaney died at the age of 47 from lung cancer.

The Eclectic Choice: Dark Forces (Harlequin)

Dark Forces (aka Harlequin) (1980) dir. Simon Wincer


As part of my exploration of the Australian New Wave, this film was added to my queue and I was excited because it has an actor in it that I've always enjoyed, David Hemmings. Now Hemmings is quite good, but the real star of the show is Robert Powell in the lead role of Wolf. Powell is given a character that allows for mystery and humor as well as getting to dress like General Zod for some strange reason.

Much like another recent Eclectic Choice, Simon King Of The Witches, Dark Forces centers around a magician who enters into society and whose powers are questioned. It made me wonder why this same idea keeps popping up every so often. Then listening to the commentary track I found out why. Dark Forces is intended as a modern day retelling of Rasputin, that fun loving magical monk who moved through the Russian power elite before being poisoned, shot, strangled, drowned and cast into legend. It's a good story and when set amongst modern day politics it becomes a fascinating curio. Not quite a horror film, not quite a political thriller, not quite a love story, but a mish-mash that makes the film worthy of cult status.

Director Simon Wincer, who would later give us the non-porn version of Free Willy, keeps the story moving with some fun visual effects, fine acting by the leads and great gravel voiced gangstering by Broderick Crawford. There is a goofy photo montage about half way through (budgetary reasons), but it isn't too much of a distraction and even better if you hum the theme to The Rockford Files.

It's worth a look and personally I think it adds a little cult class to anyone's collection.

Review: Punisher: War Zone

Punisher: War Zone

starring: Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Julie Benz, Wayne Knight, Colin Salmon

dir. Lexi Alexander

I will say that the third attempt at a Punisher movie is the best, it isn't a good movie, but the best of the three.

Punisher: War Zone is derivative, poorly paced, poorly written and its worst offense is simply being blah. I know this isn't fair, not like I'd expect high art from a Punisher movie but I ask that they at least try. From a movie like this I wanted and expected one thing. Good kills! That sounds gross and like I have a sick mind (I do), but a movie like this, along the Rambo, AvP: Requiem, mold. The film is going to lack all creativity accept in the way it shows folks spending their last seconds on earth.

For the most part, it's disappointing. There are two very funny and gross kills and others that seem like goofy disgusting fun, but needed a few more frames to let it sink in. This is what the unrated DVD is for, but the rest of the movie is't worth my time to check it out again. See, I may be sick, but if you want to keep me comin' back, you get one shot.

Ray Stevenson is up to plate as Frank Castle this time. He's good and I think I give him extra points just because he was great in Rome. But there isn't a lot to the Punisher character in general, so he either pouts or looks angry. Dominic West plays Jigsaw the baddy. He has an over baked Brooklyn accent and he struts around checking his hair like a Saturday Night Fever reject. He's not much fun and lacks the energy and evil that would make a person cheer at his final, and strangely tame, demise. Julie Benz plays the upset widow who causes emotional turmoil for Castle. She is neither here nor there, but I mention her because she was in the other killfest at the beginning of the year Rambo. I think all that time on Dexter has gotten to her.

I'm actually so blah about it I can't even work up the energy to write much about it. The final word is if you want to see it, wait for the unrated DVD. Then it should have a bit more gore and you can sit around with friends, smoke a bowl and allow yourself to be punished in the privacy of your own home.

3.5 out of 10

Review: Milk

Milk (2008)
starring: Sean Penn, James Franco, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna
dir. Gus Van Sant


I have a few problems with this movie, but it still stands as one of my favorite of the year. It has energy and humor and a sense of the seventies that never feels false or cheesy. For that alone it deserves major kudos.

Sean Penn is great as Harvey Milk. I had worries after the seeing the trailer that it was going to be an over the top flamboyant performance that falls into caricature. It is anything but. Penn does show Milk's jois de vivre, but also captures his pathos and sincerity when dealing with his campaign or personal relationships. Personally I think it's his best performance since The Falcon and the Snowman, but I like name checking that film whenever I get the chance.

Josh Brolin is on a roll. His portrayal of Dan White shows a man who is out of step with the times. He is frustrated and angry and confused about who he is supposed to be. Is he a repressed homosexual as is suggested? He never gives any indication that he is or isn't. It's a balancing act that Brolin maneuvers brilliantly.

The other supporting actors are at the top of their game, with Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Diego Luna keeping Penn on his toes. Of these, Luna's character Jack fell a little flat for me. Since his relationship with Milk never really blossoms beyond emotional turmoil it feels incomplete. It's a minor quibble, but I did find myself detaching a bit every time Luna's character went into some jealous fit. Luna was great with what he was given, it was simply the character that's under written.

I'm a sucker for Gus Van Sant films and he does some amazing work here. Moving as far away from his minimalist films as you could imagine. There is an abundance of style and form that isn't flashy as much as it is fitting. One entire scene is shot reflected off of a whistle and drives home how defenseless the homosexual community was at that time. Van Sant is an incredibly confident filmmaker, moving between formats and shooting styles with ease. He never makes anything feel artificial and what could have been artifice comes off as authenticity.

Originally Van Sant wanted to shoot the entire movie in 16mm which would have made it feel like footage shot in the seventies. A great idea, but vetoed because the studio was unsure of the idea. A fair decision, but it would have been fascinating to see Van Sant's original vision.

A big story device centers around Proposition 6. It proposed that you could lose your job if it was discovered you were a homosexual. This is Milk's big fight and coming on the heels of California's Proposition 8 in this years election, it was incredibly poignant and timely. It does make you stop and think about how much progress we've made, or not, with equal rights.

I'm giving this film a lot of praise and I think it's worth it. There are some problems. A visual montage of phone calls being made to, "Get the word out," feels more like a cell phone commercial than a part of the movie and there are scenes where it feels like moments of characterization are missing, but these are small things in a film that flows so well and makes you feel like you're witnessing a part of history.

9.5 out of 10

On The Boulevard: Signe Hasso

(An ongoing look at the stars on The Hollywood Walk Of Fame)

So who is Signe Hasso? A good question, because I had no idea. Sometimes walking down the street you see a name that strikes you and this is one of those names.

Signe is an actress who hails from Sweden. Born in 1910 she was one of the youngest students accepted to the Royal Dramatic Theater. That was in 1922, so I'm guessing there has been one or two younger since then. Maybe not.

She started making movies in Sweden in 1930 and was spotted by Hollywood where she moved to in 1940. RKO signed her and they tried to work the image promoting her as, "The Next Garbo!" Since most of us know Garbo's name and scratch our head at the name Signe Hasso, I'd say it didn't pay off.

But Ms. Hasso did have a decent little career. She starred opposite Spencer Tracy in The Seventh Cross (1944), George Raft in Johnny Angel (1945), as well as the Douglas Sirk film A Scandal In Paris (1946). For those who haven't seen Scandal, I'd highly recommend it. George Sanders plays a criminal who sees the light and becomes a cop... Or does he? It is one of Sirk's more underrated films and Hasso is quite luminous.

The other title I recognized was The House on 92nd St. (1945). This was another Henry Hathaway noir special. Shot mostly on the streets of New York it deals with the FBI taking down a nazi spy ring within the states. Hasso has an accent, so guess what she plays. The film is passable and entertaining. It even has J. Edgar Hoover introducing the film. He's not wearing a dress, so the film does lose a point for betraying reality.

Hasso's Career slowed down in the late fifties. Her husband passed away in 1955 and her son died in a car accident in 1957. That is just tragic. It looks like she gave up on Hollywood and went back to Sweden to make movies. She also spent some time on the New York stage according to Wikipedia, but I can't back that up. It also says she spent her later years as a poet and translated Swedish folk songs into english, which isn't something you hear about every day.

She passed away in 2002 at the age of 91. A good run you might say.

Though not a recognizable name, she earned her star, which means she has/had her followers. I'd also say that with A Scandal In Paris and House On 92nd Street, the following is well deserved.

24 Frames: Australian New Wave

The beauty of studying film is that there is always something new that came out of something old. The Australian New Wave is something that I recently discovered and I've actually unwittingly seen several movies from this movement. I even own some. Let's take a look t it, shall we?

Unlike the French New Wave which was spawned from a bunch of upstarts revolting against the film policy of the time, the folks down under just started making a group of movies that gained notoriety and popularity around the world. This popularity laster from around 1971 to approximately 1989 and included films that reached from the low to the high brow.

There are very few popular film movements that include a range of topics like The Year Of Living Dangerously, Breaker Morant, Razorback, The Road Warrior, My Brilliant Career and BMX Bandits. If that doesn't cover a rainbow of wackiness, I'm not sure what would.

The more pop culture loving entertainment crowd pleasers have recently been giving the label Ozploitation from a new documentary called Not Quite Hollywood. It takes a look at the low budget high octane exploitation movies of the era. These films include the Mad Max trilogy (as well as several other car movies), sexploitation, kung fu and lots of blood n' gore. Sound pretty terrific right?

Yes it is only putting a name to a period of time in a country's film industry, but it is exciting because it allows a framework of study. It's like offering a syllabus of movies to watch and try to understand the connection. I saw The Year Of Living Dangerously and Razorback as a kid, but I'd never consider that there was any sort of connection. Now I know there is. A period of time in a county's industry where business politics and ideas as well as audience understanding allowed both of these films to emerge from the same kettle.

Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, George Miller, Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford, Sam Neill, Judy Davis, Phillip Noyce and Bryan Brown all emerged during this period of time. That is an amazing list of talent that have also made some great films in the United States. WOuld they have become as well known without the popularity of that movement? Who knows.

But...

There is one down side and I don't believe that any other country can claim to have damaged movies as much as the Aussies have. It is during this era that they gave us Paul Hogan and Yahoo Serious.

We are still awaiting an apology.