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Blue Valentine (2010)
Heartaches a-plenty
I probably haven't watched as many, or as varied films as you would expect for someone who says they are a film lover, but I was never about quantity, instead for me it was always about quality.
Its also about the lasting impression a film makes on me, whether by completely blowing my mind, by using certain motifs like music, and scenery, or by making me feel something on a deep emotional level. Today Blue Valentine really hit me in the feels, and not the good kind either.
This film's tagline is 'A love story', and I feel this could not be further from the truth.
This film is so anti-romantic, that the most romantic moment in this film was when a decision about an impromptu hotel stay was being discussed, and hastily planned. The spontaneity by the frustrated male protagonist in a desperate attempt to rekindle a small spark that started the relationship.
Blue Valentine is told in two cross-cut linear story lines, and stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as middle-class married couple Dean and Cindy Pereira who are hopelessly trying to make a happy home for their adorable little daughter Frankie.
The story lines tell the evolution of their relationship from an awkward first meeting, and fateful chance second encounter, through to a courtship of bad decisions, and a marriage of convenience mostly to fit in with conventionality, then living in rural Pennsylvania.
While not much is known about Dean, other than he is from Florida and new to NYC, and an affable yet somewhat unfocused kind of gent. We do get a fair bit of insight in to Cindy's home life in the boroughs of New York, and the ineffectual role models for parents who share a fairly loveless existence.
I said this film is anti-romantic, and is so evident throughout the film. The sex scenes are devoid of emotion or intimacy, and is purely based on the physical needs of those involved, and the only love shown to anyone, is to their daughter who seems to be the only happy individual in this film of emotional bleakness.
Its been about 8 hours since I watched this film, and I still feel sad about it. I have put much effort into watching indie, or non-major studio films, and for the most part, while having sad, and emotional parts to them, they are often quite uplifting, and leave you with modicum of hope. Blue Valentine does neither, but this does not mean to say that it is a bad film. Quite the opposite, it is a very good film, with excellent performances, expert direction, and writing that achieves exactly what its meant to.
Do not go in to this expecting the Notebook, or I dunno, Love Actually. Expect more (500) Days of Summer without the lovelorn male protagonist, or hopeful ending.
What Happened to Monday (2017)
Another in the pantheon of great dystopian films.
If you were to go through my movie collection, you would find an eclectic mix of films. One of the most prevalent in the mix of genres & sub-genres, I have many that are post apocalyptic/futuristic dystopian world films. Its the kind of film I love exploring, as its a look at not only our possible future, but a look at ourselves now, and where we are heading should we continue down certain paths.
In the tradition of some of the great films like the classics Blade Runner, and Total Recall, to more modern tales like Equilibrium, and Children of Men comes What Happened to Monday.
Set in a future where food resources are drastically low due to overpopulation, a sinister organization responsible for implementing a one-child policy by taking all subsequent sibling to be cryogenically frozen until such a time when resources are enough to cover everyone.
Terrence Settman (Dafoe) finds himself in a rather precarious position with the birth of setuplets, granddaughters, whose mother dies during labour. Naming them after each day of the week, he makes the dangerous decision of taking them all in to his care, raising them in secret, and taking all necessary precautions to ensure that they live in secret.
When the girls have grown to an age where he feels comfortable, and confident that they are aware of the dangers of the outside world, and the consequences of anything that could mean the secret being uncovered, he allows each girl to go out on the day after which they were named, ie; Monday on Monday, Tuesday on Tuesday, and so on, and so forth. The girls each live their day outside as one Karen Settman.
As is the case with any group of children, the girls exhibit an array of personality traits from shy and demure to outgoing and rebellious, with the rebel of the seven causing a uncomfortable, and lasting, consequence for the other six siblings when she goes out on a day that she was not designated to do so, and suffers a painful injury.
Fast forward some 30 years we find that the girls have grown to adulthood successfully in secret, and while inside they exhibit their own personalities, do their own thing, and keep their own interests, they work very well together maintaining the life of Karen Settman out in the world. This is largely down to nightly debriefings from the one who went out that day, so that the others are aware of their role to maintain their cover.
This all works perfectly until Monday doesn't come home from work, leaving her sisters extremely worried about what could have happened to her, and Tuesday going blind to what is waiting for her outside, with no knowledge of the previous days happenings. It is now up to Tuesday and her sisters to figure out what happened to Monday.
The thing I love most about this film is it's concept, its what I love about the genre in general, as a dystopian future story can lend itself to anything that can cause a dystopia to happen, over population causing implementation of restricted breeding, or emotions being banned so that people don't fight, and cause war.
I also love the performances of Noomi, and Clara in the two stages of the girls' lives, the seven nuanced personalities demanded such range from both to capture the essence of the seven sisters, but also the prime character of Karen.
What also impressed me about this film, is the way in which the seven different characters were juxtaposed in the scenes they were together in. In no way was this done cheaply, or nasty, and definitely did not come off cheesy.
Baby Driver (2017)
Oh Baby, what a movie.
Baby (Elgort) is a quiet, unassuming young man, who looks after his ailing foster parent, listens to music both out of his love for it, and a need to block out the tinnitus ringing in his ears that he was afflicted with due to a tragic accident that also took his parents. Baby also has a specific skill set, one that has him doing the bidding of a crime boss Doc (Spacey) to pay back a debt.
Baby's skill is driving, but not just any driving, the kind of skilled driving that gets Doc's crew of armed bandits away from the scene of bank hold-ups very fast, and then leads crews of police cars on a merry dance, and dodges every trick up their sleeves with a few of his own set to a killer music soundtrack from his iPod.
With light at the end of the tunnel, Baby has a chance encounter with cute diner waitress Debora (James), where the chemistry between the two is instant. He sees this as his road to freedom, and a bright new future. This new future is brought to rude halt by Doc who was not yet done with Baby.
This film is all about the music soundtrack, and what a soundtrack indeed. With songs like Nowhere to Run by Martha and the Vandellas, to the quintessential driving song Radar Love by Golden Earring, you'll be tapping your toes as well as being thrilled by the action, plus the classy, and slick driving by Baby.
The performances in this film are all stand out, relative new comers Elgort, James, and González do really well in their respective roles. The scene stealing performances by Spacey, Hamm, and Foxx are great in support to Elgort. While Spacey, as he generally does, plays cool, and mellow. Hamm, and Foxx do it with charm, and evil menace as Buddy, and Bats. Jon Bernthal's cameo as the suspicious, and hot-headed Griff was also a delight to watch.
Written, and directed by cult favourite Edgar Wright, this film has all the elements that make this a great addition to the tradition of other heist films like Drive, The Getaway, and Heat.
Baby Driver is probably the most fun I had at the cinemas this year along with Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man Homecoming.
Watchmen (2009)
An experience that I love going back to.
As humans, we are drawn to what inspires us, interests us, and tickles our fancy. Human opinion can be a fickle thing, especially when it comes to film, books, and music, due to this the message that is interwoven through these mediums are missed by all of us simply because we won't take the time to watch, read or listen to what is being said to us.
The message throughout Watchman and Tales of The Black Freighter in film and more importantly in graphic novel form is that we as humans try so hard to make the world a better place, but being pushed so far while trying to rid the world of evil we become the very thing we're fighting against, sometimes this a fact we do not see, or we do when it's too late. When Alan Moore wrote the story for the graphic novel, he did so at the height of this planet's greatest threat of nuclear annihilation; The Cold War, The U.S. and Russia at a stalemate over nuclear arms, and Russia's invasion of Afghanistan, had meant that at any moment millions of people on this planet could have met a brutal end.
As far as the story goes, this is a concept that has been warped, and manipulated into a alternate universe where in 1985 Richard Nixon has changed the constitution of the USA and made it allowable for him to serve more than 2 terms of Presidency, it's also a universe where in the times after WWII ordinary citizens decided that crime and corruption throughout America, and especially New York had gotten to levels beyond the control of authorities that they would suit up as masked vigilantes, and fight crime head on. By 1985 masked heroes are outlawed, and former "heroes" were forced to reveal themselves, or stay hidden, but give up their lifestyle.
The story of the most part is told through the eyes of one character Rorschach (Haley) as he investigates the murder of a fellow vigilante, The Comedian (Morgan). Rorschach is the only vigilante who has not given up the lifestyle, and is wanted by the F.B.I. Rorschach tries to re-engage the remaining "heroes" to help him find the murderer, and get to the heart of why he was murdered. The other "heroes" are Night Owl II (Wilson); an aging recluse who inherited a fortune from his father and used it to engage in vigilante activities, Silk Spectre II (Ackerman); daughter of an original Minutewoman (Cugino), Ozymandias (Goode), a self made millionaire who has modeled himself and his life on Alexander the Great, and Dr. Manhattan (Crudup), the only real superhero due an accident in a atomic chamber in a lab when he was a physicist.
The film follows pretty closely the themes and tone of the book, much more than any comic related movie before it, thanks mostly to the dedication of director Zack Snyder. The look and feel of the film to date it in 1985 was very well handled, and can certainly be called a period piece due to the level of exact detail through-out. Performances are in general pretty well done, and reflect the emotions of the characters in the book, as this is the Ultimate Cut, the extended scenes, plus the interwoven story of the comic book within a comic book; "Tales of The Black Freighter" make for a film that is worthy of its 215 minute length. Having said that they leave well and truly enough of the story in the theatrical cut where the message still shines through.
The credits for this film are the best I have ever seen, using the Bob Dylan song "The Times They Are A-Changing", and features snapshots of the highs and lows of the Minutemen and Watchmen from the 1940's through to the 1980's against the backdrop of important cultural and political icons and events.
This movie is easily one of my favourites of the modern age of film, because of the well delivered message, and the uncompromised approach to bring the graphic novel to life.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
What if you could time travel, would you?
If you were transported in back in time to where the most significant moments of your life happened, and they lead to life not working out so well, would you take the opportunity to change things?
This is the conundrum most time travel themed films pose, but never with a deliberate outcome like Hot Tub Time Machine.
After nearly committing suicide in his garage Lou (Corddry) is taken back to the place of where some of the wildest moments took place in his youth, Kodiak Valley Ski resort by his former best friends Nick (Robinson); a dog groomer whose wife cheated on him, and Adam (Cusack); whose ex-girlfriend has made his life hell.
Disappointed that the resort is not the same wild party place they knew from the 80's, they decide that a night spent drinking in the hot tub is their best option, somehow they are transported back to 1986 and must relive a fateful night, plus also make sure Adam's nephew Jacob (Duke), who has tagged along for the trip, is born. What follows are a series of events that lead to a showdown with a resort cop with delusions of grandeur and a climax that comes somewhat expected, but also left me a little surprised when I first saw it, it's also the source of a bit of a paradox for mine.
Time travel movies for me present questions about actions and consequences, and also looking at the road taken in the film for the story, but also other roads that could have been taken, and the results it may have made. I also often think about traveling back in time, and seeing the younger selves of my parents, and seeing first hand the events in their lives that have lead to the reasons for how they deal with things in the present.
Paradoxes in the story left me with some questions, but they don't really need exploring because of the hilarious nature of the film. I also don't think this film was meant to pose any deep and meaningfuls, but it could make you think about what some of the consequences of time travel may lead to, good or bad.
The Warriors (1979)
Warriors....come out to play-ay
The one thing I love about building up my film knowledge is discovering little gems. The Warriors is a great example. A simple story, well acted, and ultimately very well told, The Warriors is everything a good cult flick should be.
Based on the story of a battalion of 10,000 Spartan mercenaries who join a Persian emperor for war in Asia Minor, The Warriors tells the tale of nine gang members of The Warriors from Coney Island who reluctantly go all the way to the Bronx to join a meeting of all the NYC gangs. When things go awry due to the shooting of the gang leader of the powerful Riffs who was professing the need to join forces and rule the city, the out numbered Warriors make haste to get back on the subway and back to home turf.
Along the way they encounter a myriad of hurdles in their quest for home, including the NYPD, rival gangs who blame The Warriors for the shooting, and also being separated from each other after their various escapes.
The soul of this film lies in character Swan (Beck) who has the task of regrouping his fellow gang members after the abrupt end of the meeting, and loosing their leader Cleon in the ensuing confusion due to the shooting. Beck's performance as Swan is a study in control and keeping one's cool in the face of a crisis so far from home.
The use of transitions between scenes and character arcs is beautifully done in a comic book style, this was added in post when the movie was given a Ultimate Director's Cut when released to blu- ray in 2007. The HD transfer has been beautifully executed, and many scenes that aren't even a comic book transition have the look of an establishing frame in one.
30 Days of Night (2007)
The most visceral vampire movie I ever saw.
Barrow, Alaska. The most northern town in America, where for 30 days every year it is has no sunlight.
This is the perfect opportunity for a gang of merciless, & blood- thirsty vampires to feed on the remaining inhabitants of this small town, after most leave for the month of darkness.
As people are leaving, and others are making preparations for their time of hibernation, mysterious occurrences are uncovered; mobile phones stolen, and destroyed, an entire team of sled dogs butchered. The ground work for the impending doom of a malevolent force.
Once the killings and feedings begin there is no let up. I have watched my share of vampire films, and frankly this is definitely one of the best made, its stripped back, bare, and unromanticized. This group of vampires, led by the visceral Marlow (Houston) take no pity on the town of Barrow as they tear it apart looking for their prey, and using people as bait to lure hiding survivors out into the cold and snowed out streets of the isolated mining town.
The second half of the film becomes a tale of survival, as town Sheriff Eben Olemun (Hartnett) and his soon to be ex-wife Stella (George), lead a group of survivors who manage to hide themselves away by staying in an attic, scared and cold they realize that it is only a matter of time before they are discovered and killed.
Even though this is a film that does involve a fair amount of blood and gore, the film's real heart lies in the way it scares you with what it doesn't show in the lead up to the early killings, this for me is true horror, show me next to nothing, and build the most amount of tension, then deliver the shock, and you'll have me pissing my pants every time. There is also a fair amount of brutality shown, not only in how the vampires kill their prey, but also how they are dispensed by Eben and the others.
On an interesting note, this is a film based on a graphic novel written by Steve Niles, who co-wrote the screenplay to the film. Niles had actually pitched the original idea as a film some years before, but reworked it to graphic novel after being knocked back by several producers, it was then picked up afterwards by one of those producers to make this film we have now.
127 Hours (2010)
Getting outside the comfort zone
It's important for us as humans to step outside our comfort zone. Do something we wouldn't normally do, if we don't, we're only living life half way.
I'm the first to admit that I do not practice this as often as I should, it's lead to being slightly overweight, heavily opinionated, and some may tell you, it's the reason I'm still single. Unfortunately stepping outside my comfort zone is not limited to my life, it's also in my movie watching habits.
The movie I am reviewing and the review itself is outside the norm completely. Number one; I do not generally watch films like 127 Hours. Forgive me, but biopics generally do not interest me, not sure why, but I do prefer watching the fanciful, and the stuff you don't see ever in the real world. Number two; I do not own this film, the opportunity to watch the film came up due to being broadcast on satellite television, and I thought, "Well why the hell not?" So this review is outside the norm as it were.
Enough about me, and onto the film.
127 Hours tells the true story of one Aron Ralston (Franco). Adventurer, rock-climber, and canyoner, Aron is someone who definitely does not live in any comfort zone. Unfortunately one such adventure trip through Utah's Blue John canyon, Aron falls and becomes trapped with a boulder pinning his arm to the canyon wall.
Despite desperate attempts at the start to free himself, Aron is most literally caught between a rock and a hard place, the term that is used for the title of Aron's book, upon which this film is based. Aron uses his guile, and survival techniques to stay alive and figure out a way to free himself.
Between making video logs to his parents, winning minor victories in his attempts at freeing himself, and using Bear Grylls type methods to keep himself warm. Aron ponders his life, and the people he holds dear. This is the heart of the film, as we all have or will face moments where we have to pause, and really take the time to appreciate the life we are given, and the people who fill it. They say don't sweat the small stuff, but this film also shows that in desperate and difficult times we think about the small moments in our life.
Danny Boyle is no doubt a clever film maker. In another film maker's hands this film may not have been quite as good, and probably a by the numbers kind of film. I believe Boyle is another one of those who like to live life outside his comfort level, which brings a realness to this film. Life like moments that left me thinking about how I probably would have done similar things to what Aron did.
James Franco as Aron delivers a personal, internal, and remarkable performance.
I am glad to say now that I have seen 127 Hours, I probably won't get outside my zone anymore than I did before, but when I do, I'll think about Aron Ralston, what he had to endure in the five days he was trapped, what he had to do to get out alive, and also not let the loss of his arm prevent him from still getting out there and living a full life.
Taxi Driver (1976)
My very favourite
Taxi Driver has had many things said about it, and I don't wish to add to all that but it is the yardstick I measure all other films by, it is by far my favourite of all the films I have ever watched.
It's brutal honesty and use of themes such as paranoia, mental health issues, and society degradation make it a film that has been imitated, and referenced since its opening in cinemas back in 1976.
Robert De Niro puts in a tour-de-force performance as Travis Bickle, a Vietnam War veteran with symptoms of PTSD and paranoia, who becomes a New York City taxi driver because of his inability to sleep. Travis is one who is at odds with society, fed up with pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, and all the other scum of the earth, he slowly works himself in his sleep deprived and drugged state to become a one man army ready to kill anyone he believes to be part of the problem.
His interactions with other cabbies, Betsy (Shepherd) a Presidential Candidate campaign worker, Iris a teenage prostitute (Foster), and her Pimp "Sport" (Keitel) fuels his destructive mission to rid New York City of its problems. His attempt at normalcy with Betsy, by taking her on date to a movie that disagrees with her sensibilities ends in disaster, mostly due to Travis' supposed naivety about what is considered appropriate and tasteful entertainment.
While plying his nightly trade as a NYC cabbie, he has some unusual encounters, including a fare from a fairly psychotically jealous man showing Travis the place where the man's wife is cheating on him, and then a short encounter with Iris who gets in his cab, and then forced out by Sport, who throws Travis a dirty crumpled up twenty dollar note for the trouble, Travis then makes it his mission to rescue Iris from her situation while also making a menace of himself to the visiting Presidential candidate.
This film is still relevant in these times, as social media, and other such technological & society advancements have brought about a new degradation of values, with many wanting their fifteen minutes of fame by any means necessary, which now brings with it many who sell their souls to attain notoriety.
I love De Niro's performance as Travis, its one that has many facets to it, in it is a man who is angry, naive, sleep deprived, lonely, a sociopath, and a killer.
A scene in the Presidential campaign office where he is rebuffed by Betsy due to the terrible date experience, and ushered, and menaced by the opportunistic & snotty campaign co-worker Tom (Brooks), shows the range of De Niro's performance as he goes from apologetic, and sheepish to angry, and ready to fight. De Niro was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this role.