POV: Expectations

So I'm seeing The Wrestler today and I'm pretty damned excited. I am a big fan of Darren Aronofsky and I was a big fan of Mickey Rourke when I was younger. Angel Heart (1987) still kicks ass. After all of the positive press and talk of the Rourke comeback, I'm worried that the film will let me down. This made me think of the all powerful expectation game.

What can a person do to curb expectations and go into a film with nothing but a clean slate so a film can be viewed with perfect objectivity? Well in my case, not a damn thing. Since I am so obsessed with learning about upcoming films, I find it impossible not to read articles or watch trailers. All of this information makes it impossible not to have a certain opinion before the lights go down and the flicker starts up.

There have been a few times where I get the benefit of going in blind. Amores Perros (2000) opened at a theater near me and I new nothing about it at the time. This was before all the hype and my area just happened to be one of the limited runs for Academy consideration. It was a revelation, I couldn't stop talking about it for weeks. But this is a rareity. Most of the time I know who's in it, who's directing it, or what it's about. Then, like anybody, I have a preconceived notion of what to expect and it can cloud my enjoyment.

So what can a person do? Just try to remain open to what is about to unfold on the screen. That there is someone who is telling a story and an audience just need to pay attention. It's not about being told a story that we want, but what they want to say. Then judge it by how successfully they told it. It's not much to ask, but a lot harder to do then we may think.

So tomorrow I'm just going to try and stay clam and open minded. Maybe it'll be more than I expect, maybe less, but it'll still be a thrill to see the latest Aronofsky film and see if Rourke is in the preformance of his career.

The Eclectic Choice: His Kind Of Woman

His Kind Of Woman (1951)

dir. John Farrow

Robert Mitchum plays down on his luck gambler Dan Milner who is recruited by the mob to go to resort in Mexico an await orders. While there he runs across a bevy of odd characters who may or may not be his contact as well as fall in love with sex pot Jane Russell. Milner isn't sure who he can trust or what the hell is going on until it's too late.

Populated with a bevy of actors like Jim Backus, Charles McGraw, Tim Holt, Raymond Burr and a first rate performance by Vincent Price, this film toes the line between a darker than dark noir and slapstick comedy. The comedy comes from Price's portrayal of Mark Cardigan, a pretentious ham-fisted actor who attacks even the most serious situations with over dramatic zeal. When Mitchum is being held captive aboard a yacht and being brutally tortured, Price gathers a rescue party and recites Shakespeare when the rescue boat starts to sink. It is an odd mix, but well balanced by director John Farrow who also gave us other great noir like The Big Clock (1948) and Night Has A Thousand Eyes (1948).

For some great Mitchum-Russell chemistry, Vincent Price in high camp mode and a bevy of character actors in top form give this one a shot. It's not the best example of Film Noir, but it is one of the funniest.

Review: Gran Torino

Gran Torino (2008)

starring: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Brian Haley, John Carroll Lynch

dir. Clint Eastwood

I'm pretty mixed about this movie. I was wanting it to be great. It has moments of greatness, and I would say it is up there as far as Eastwood movies go, but there were several moments that just didn't work for me.

Technically it's very solid. Eastwood is an excellent craftsman and tells his stories with an economy that creates an atmosphere without relying on a heavy style or cutting factor. As a matter of fact his simplicity is so good an insert shot can get in the way. One moment in particular has Eastwood's Walt Kowalski catching his granddaughter in the garage smoking. The insert shot shows his foot crushing the cigarette, but it's the two shot of them that counts and feels interrupted by the insert. Yes, a minor quibble, but it distracted me and that was the biggest flaw at times, the small distractions.

One of the more irritating of these small distractions was Eastwood's continual growl of disapproval. The man has done some amazing physical work here and when it's ended with a growl that reminded me of Marge Simpson's disapproval, I kind off felt cheated. It feels disingenuous, like he was afraid the emotion wouldn't come across through his eyes. There are times he uses it to great effect, but it's over overplayed and I actually started worrying if he was going to growl in scenes. The second and bigger distraction was Father Janovich played by Christopher Carley. Now I don't know if Carley was the wrong choice, or the character was poorly written, but I just didn't get where he was coming from in a very important scene. He confronts Kowalski and I'm not sure what he was trying to say. You'll know the scene when it happens. It was confusing and could have easily used a rewrite or an actor with more experience to really find a direction and go with it.

There are also some minor plot devices that made me feel a little perturbed. I'd call them quick and easy cheats so certain characters and the audience are left off the hook for certain actions, but discussing them here would spoil a, for the most part, emotionally satisfying ending.

In his defense,Eastwood made this film quickly. In his dropping of the ball, Eastwood made this film quickly. With a little more time and fine tuning, all of these minor quibbles could have been worked out.

On the good side though you have, Bee Vang and Ahney Her as the teenage Lor siblings who are outstanding in first time performances. Ahney Her is especially good as Sue, the Hmong neighbor who decides to accept Walt for who he is as bring him into her family. There is a level of honesty and tenderness that forms between them that is genuinely touching and provides a great sense of humor throughout the first two-thirds of the film. Bee Vang is good as well. He slips at times, but he is also given a character that has to live from the inside and Vang pulls it off with solid success.

Eastwood gives a very strong performance, minus extraneous growling. I don't know if it equals the power of his confessional scene in Million Dollar Baby, but it is very good. There was that internet babble of "This is for Dirty Harry what Unforgiven was for The Man With No Name" stuff, but I didn't feel that. Other actors could have played the role, it would have been different and maybe not as deep because of the Eastwood mythology. It's Eastwood's understanding of his myth that helps flesh out the character and he uses it with great success.

My personal favorite is John Carroll Lynch as the barber Martin. Lynch is an incredible character actor who we've seen in Zodiac, Fargo and Beautiful Girls. He's a real talent and is awesome playing off of Eastwood. The banter and jibes sail between these two actors and you wish there was more with them. It's these scenes that establish that language is extremely versatile. What could be construed as racism by one person may be a form of bonding between others. It's not the words, but the intent that create hate in this world.

The film isn't really about any one of these people, rather it is about America as a whole. Who we were, who we are and where we are going is the real theme here. We are a country of many generations and many cultures that change so quickly in attitude, it can cause emotional whiplash. All it takes is a willingness to understand and the time to learn from each other. The 1972 Gran Torino that the film is named after isn't just a car, or a plot point, it's a very simple metaphor for a state of being.

8.2 out of 10

R.I.P. Bettie Page

Betty Page (1923-2008)


Now it is true that Ms. Page was not technically considered a movie star, but she is a celebrity of mythic proportions. She is the flip side to Marilyn Monroe. Where Monroe was sexuality that was bridled and allowed to bubble up but never over, Page was right out front with it. She helped bring bondage chic into the mainstream and has influenced fashion, pop art, tattoos and the look of countess women. It's tough to walk down a street in Los Angeles on a Saturday night and see at least one woman who has that "Bettie Page" look. Even if they don't know the origins of the look.

She was open and fun and outspoken and brought strength to female sexuality while still being able to hold onto the male fantasy angle. It's a turn on to a guy like me, so I think she's one amazing woman.

I've never seen the biopic The Notorious Bettie Page (2005), only because I'm not a big Gretchen Mol fan. But now might be worth taking some time to check it out give a toast to one of histories most famous pinups.

Bettie may be gone, but her pictures will be around for a very long time to come.

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.