Saw Jackass: Number Two. I was not amused. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it. I was worried, going in, that the film would be very cruel to innocent people, but most of the violence is meted out to the Jackassians and their parents (who, let's face it, are at least partly to blame.) There's only one scene, where they almost provoke some random guy into a fistfight. That scene I actually thought was the most transgressive and challenging. It makes me wonder what difficult material could have been, if only Harmony Korine (who is involved in this film) could have finished Fight Harm.
Anyway, most of the skits in the film are more shenanigans than pranks. At one point they just skateboard straight into a piece of plexiglass, later they put a fart-helmet on some dude and pretend to fart into it, prompting the guy to fake-vomit. They are funny in a sort of awful teenage way. I didn't like however that about 50% of the film is just people introducing themselves or laughing like idiots. Maybe all of the best stuff was in the first film? I really liked the big-finish ending however.
People have written about the homoeroticism of Jackass and oh lordy that ending. That there is some well-researched faggotry. A show-stopping musical number in the vein of Busby Berkeley, all singing a song from the musical La Cage Aux Foles (remade in the US as The Birdcage. Une comedie tres gay indeed) as the castmembers cycle through the costumes of construction-crew men, firemen, and cowboys (only a few costume changes away from The Village People!) One guy strips to reveal a patriotic thong and bowtie. And then there's Rip Taylor, putting the ribbon on top of this cake of camp at the very end.
Apart from the ending however, it was all in all a regrettable experience. It had some interesting moments, but felt a lot like hanging out with a bunch of teenage boys. It's all laughing at their own jokes and gross-out humor which is, okay, gross but not all that bad. There are a few moments when it transcends itself and becomes this more awesome and intersting and almost sinister thing but not often. I didn't hate it as much I thought I would, and I guess that's an endorsement coming from me.
Jul 6, 2016
Jul 5, 2016
Valhalla Rising
Saw Valhalla Rising (Thanks, Sneakers!) It was a slow and morbid film set in pre-medieval Britain (I think.) The protagonist is a silent, one-eyed man kept captive and forced to fight to the death in some kind of Viking prize fighting thing. Though silent, he's clearly sullenly plotting for escape. Also there's talk of the white men with crosses who are destroying the land.
The film is slow the way Terrence Malick or Tarkovsky films are, brooding and hypnotic. There's about a page of dialogue in the entire film and there's plenty of slow pans across gloriously rugged landscapes. The protagonist also has visions of the future, shot in a red filter. Also very red is all of the blood in the film. It practically glows.
I don't want to give away too much of the film, but religion becomes a more important part of the film after the Christians show up. They themselves seem to be in it more for the money than for any spiritual reason, but the metaphysics is dealt with in the film via symbolism and allusion. Consider, for example, that the protagonist only has one eye, much like Odin, the Norse god. Also like Odin, he can see bits and pieces of the future. However, he also sacrifices himself in the end of the film so that others may live. Remind you of any other gods?
The film is slow and mesmerizing. It reminds me very much of the style of Tarkovsky in that not much is explained and things are left evocative, allowing for you to provide your own explanation. This may be frustrating for some viewers, but if you can stand living with ambiguity, check it out. A bit morbid, but very interesting.
The film is slow the way Terrence Malick or Tarkovsky films are, brooding and hypnotic. There's about a page of dialogue in the entire film and there's plenty of slow pans across gloriously rugged landscapes. The protagonist also has visions of the future, shot in a red filter. Also very red is all of the blood in the film. It practically glows.
I don't want to give away too much of the film, but religion becomes a more important part of the film after the Christians show up. They themselves seem to be in it more for the money than for any spiritual reason, but the metaphysics is dealt with in the film via symbolism and allusion. Consider, for example, that the protagonist only has one eye, much like Odin, the Norse god. Also like Odin, he can see bits and pieces of the future. However, he also sacrifices himself in the end of the film so that others may live. Remind you of any other gods?
The film is slow and mesmerizing. It reminds me very much of the style of Tarkovsky in that not much is explained and things are left evocative, allowing for you to provide your own explanation. This may be frustrating for some viewers, but if you can stand living with ambiguity, check it out. A bit morbid, but very interesting.
Jul 4, 2016
Dead Snow
Saw Dead Snow, an action horror about a group of sexy Norwegian twenty-somethings who go on a skiing/camping/wilderness adventure of some kind. Anyway, there they are in the cabin in the woods and, yup you guessed it, zombies. Not just zombies, Nazi zombies. That by itself should pretty much tell you if this movie is for you or not. The film is clearly borrowing heavily from Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series (it even name-checks it fairly early on) so there's jump scares galore. Everything is an opportunity to make you jump, even just closing a door suddenly gets a soundtrack sting. It's ridiculous but this is everything-and-the-kitchen-sink style horror, so love it or leave it.
Once the protagonists accept that, yes, they are being attacked by zombies and start fighting back, we get some nicely kickass scenes. There's one moment when the heroes use a hammer and sickle to kill one of the Nazi zombies which I thought was one of those moments that's so sly and clever, I wish it had been in a better movie. There's also some scenes which grossed me out a bit. Without going into details, let's just say that all of the protagonists are pre-med and jury-rig some emergency medical procedures. Ick. Also there's one moment (pre-zombie attack) when one character just straight-up starts smothering his girlfriend with a pillow. It's supposed to be a slightly creepy scene, but only slightly. I guess attempted murder is kind of not-so-serious in Norway.
It should surprize no one that I didn't really dig this film. It was too goofy and silly for me. That mixed with jump-scares results in a perfect storm of disinterest from me. That said, if you're kind of a horror junkie, this certainly isn't a bad film. It's basically another Evil Dead film, but with more running around outdoors.
Once the protagonists accept that, yes, they are being attacked by zombies and start fighting back, we get some nicely kickass scenes. There's one moment when the heroes use a hammer and sickle to kill one of the Nazi zombies which I thought was one of those moments that's so sly and clever, I wish it had been in a better movie. There's also some scenes which grossed me out a bit. Without going into details, let's just say that all of the protagonists are pre-med and jury-rig some emergency medical procedures. Ick. Also there's one moment (pre-zombie attack) when one character just straight-up starts smothering his girlfriend with a pillow. It's supposed to be a slightly creepy scene, but only slightly. I guess attempted murder is kind of not-so-serious in Norway.
It should surprize no one that I didn't really dig this film. It was too goofy and silly for me. That mixed with jump-scares results in a perfect storm of disinterest from me. That said, if you're kind of a horror junkie, this certainly isn't a bad film. It's basically another Evil Dead film, but with more running around outdoors.
Muriel's Wedding
Saw Muriel's Wedding, a film that is essentially a romance. It stars Muriel, stout and dim-witted, eternally shouted at and called useless by her has-been, never-was politician father, barely tolerated by her attractive and contemptuous "friends" who clearly only ever hang out with her because she's a charity case, who snap at her to think of others for a change whenever Muriel needs the least bit of attention. Her siblings are similarly bovine, smilingly beating up on Muriel to save themselves from being the family loser.
This film reminded me of Welcome to the Dollhouse. It's got the same pitch-black satire feel. It's not misery porn, but some of the situations are fairly painful. Also this is a romance, so the way out of this hell is revealed. The definition of happiness and success in Muriel's mind is a giant, fancy, beautiful wedding which would prove to the world (and to Muriel herself) that she is worthy of love. Muriel is so obsessed with this idea that she sees love as a sort of proof of worth in the world. To her, to be loved is to succeed at life, but the love she seeks, we learn, should be coming primarily from within.
This is a lovely and uplifting film with some really bleak parts in it (Muriel's poor mother thinks very similarly to Muriel and suffers greatly as a result.) Also I found the over-the-top super-villainy of her "friends" too cruel to really enjoy. However there are truly satisfying scenes when Muriel is starting to break out of her shell and there's also lots of 90s-hot guys, which was nice.
This film reminded me of Welcome to the Dollhouse. It's got the same pitch-black satire feel. It's not misery porn, but some of the situations are fairly painful. Also this is a romance, so the way out of this hell is revealed. The definition of happiness and success in Muriel's mind is a giant, fancy, beautiful wedding which would prove to the world (and to Muriel herself) that she is worthy of love. Muriel is so obsessed with this idea that she sees love as a sort of proof of worth in the world. To her, to be loved is to succeed at life, but the love she seeks, we learn, should be coming primarily from within.
This is a lovely and uplifting film with some really bleak parts in it (Muriel's poor mother thinks very similarly to Muriel and suffers greatly as a result.) Also I found the over-the-top super-villainy of her "friends" too cruel to really enjoy. However there are truly satisfying scenes when Muriel is starting to break out of her shell and there's also lots of 90s-hot guys, which was nice.
Jul 2, 2016
Deliverance
Saw Deliverance, the man-rape survival film. The actual story is about four men who decide to ride a canoe down a river before it's flooded due to a hydro-electric dam that's being built downstream. For the first half, it's just a camping story, with the guys hanging out and drinking, telling jokes while one of them, their ringleader and most nature-man-minded, waxes philosophical about how modern civilization has cynically sold all of this wild beauty to make a few bucks. Yes, he says, in his gore-tex vest, holding his fiberglass recurve bow, we must return to nature.
There is the famous rape scene, parodied hundreds of times because it is rather shocking and because basically people can't believe men are capable of being penetrated, but the film is mostly about harrowing survival when everything goes wrong. They do difficult things and live through traumatic events, but the difficulty of living with what they've done is dwelt on far more than what they actually do. There's a recurrent image of the hand of a dead man, its relaxed fingers seeming to point accusingly at the viewer. This is a fresh and interesting angle. Usually in horror movies, the bad guy is killed and then that's it. We maybe see some cops and the surviving protagonists draped in blankets, but we don't deal with the PTSD. In this one, we do. Good.
Anyway, the film is shot in a messy, loose 70s sort of way, with a focus on naturalism. The use of deformity and physical ugliness to symbolize back-woods evil is kind of lazy and distasteful. Also, as a confirmed urbaite, I didn't really dig that one character's praise of nature, although I think the entire rest of the film is supposed to serve as counterpoint to this, revealing his idolization of the wilds to be a luxury of the affluent city-dweller. It's an interesting film, not nearly as horrifying as I'd been lead to believe, focusing less on survival than on having survived.
There is the famous rape scene, parodied hundreds of times because it is rather shocking and because basically people can't believe men are capable of being penetrated, but the film is mostly about harrowing survival when everything goes wrong. They do difficult things and live through traumatic events, but the difficulty of living with what they've done is dwelt on far more than what they actually do. There's a recurrent image of the hand of a dead man, its relaxed fingers seeming to point accusingly at the viewer. This is a fresh and interesting angle. Usually in horror movies, the bad guy is killed and then that's it. We maybe see some cops and the surviving protagonists draped in blankets, but we don't deal with the PTSD. In this one, we do. Good.
Anyway, the film is shot in a messy, loose 70s sort of way, with a focus on naturalism. The use of deformity and physical ugliness to symbolize back-woods evil is kind of lazy and distasteful. Also, as a confirmed urbaite, I didn't really dig that one character's praise of nature, although I think the entire rest of the film is supposed to serve as counterpoint to this, revealing his idolization of the wilds to be a luxury of the affluent city-dweller. It's an interesting film, not nearly as horrifying as I'd been lead to believe, focusing less on survival than on having survived.
Jun 30, 2016
Adventureland
Saw Adventureland, a teenage romance which is I guess also a coming of age film. It follows some dude from a rich family that has fallen into some nebulously defined hard times and who now must slum it at a local amusement park for cash. There he meets the requisite wacky oddballs who range from the annoying to the amusing. There's a Russian studies major who describes himself as a pragmatic atheist who is great.
The protagonist falls into cutesy love with the resident cool girl. She's capital-m Messed Up (but also from a rich family) and drinks, sleeps with older men, and is reeling from the recent death of her mother. The older man is clearly a sleazeball who has manipulated this girl into sleeping with him. I can't really remember if the girl and the protagonist are supposed to be post-high-school or post-college age. Everyone lives with their parents but then most of my post-college friends did as well. Everyone drinks and smokes a lot and they don't get in any trouble for it. Then again they act like teenagers often do in films, the way 20-somethings actually act in real life. I like to imagine they're 20-something because this hews closer to my life.
Anyway, this is a very cuddly film. There's light humor throughout to keep things fun. Unfortunately a great deal comes from the protagonist's heinous, nut-punching friend Frigo, but the ringleaders of the amusement park are SNL vets and are great fun to watch. The film is set in the 80s and is just soaked in glorious early 80s nostalgia. The romantic scenes between the idiot protagonist and the cool girl are adorable and sweet, well observed and acted. There's a fair bit of gross gender politics involved with the girl and the protagonist, but nothing worse than the usual romantic comedy and to its credit, the film does call out the even-worse gender bullshit of the other characters. The film is sweet and nerdy, bitter but romantic. I feel like in ten year's time, the world may have caught up with the main characters, wrecking their childhoods and turning them scarred and bitter adults, but for now they are unformed, and young, and full of promise. A cute little film.
The protagonist falls into cutesy love with the resident cool girl. She's capital-m Messed Up (but also from a rich family) and drinks, sleeps with older men, and is reeling from the recent death of her mother. The older man is clearly a sleazeball who has manipulated this girl into sleeping with him. I can't really remember if the girl and the protagonist are supposed to be post-high-school or post-college age. Everyone lives with their parents but then most of my post-college friends did as well. Everyone drinks and smokes a lot and they don't get in any trouble for it. Then again they act like teenagers often do in films, the way 20-somethings actually act in real life. I like to imagine they're 20-something because this hews closer to my life.
Anyway, this is a very cuddly film. There's light humor throughout to keep things fun. Unfortunately a great deal comes from the protagonist's heinous, nut-punching friend Frigo, but the ringleaders of the amusement park are SNL vets and are great fun to watch. The film is set in the 80s and is just soaked in glorious early 80s nostalgia. The romantic scenes between the idiot protagonist and the cool girl are adorable and sweet, well observed and acted. There's a fair bit of gross gender politics involved with the girl and the protagonist, but nothing worse than the usual romantic comedy and to its credit, the film does call out the even-worse gender bullshit of the other characters. The film is sweet and nerdy, bitter but romantic. I feel like in ten year's time, the world may have caught up with the main characters, wrecking their childhoods and turning them scarred and bitter adults, but for now they are unformed, and young, and full of promise. A cute little film.
Jun 29, 2016
The Imposter
Saw The Imposter (thanks, Kelly!) It was a documentary about a Texan family with a missing son and the French 23-year-old man who pretended to be their long-lost child. This isn't giving away the big twist by the way, the fact that the French guy is not actually their child is revealed almost immediately. The mystery of the film is how did this happen, and how was the family fooled?
The film is shot with dramatic reenactments staring, as far as I can tell, the actual french guy himself. I think this displays a shocking lack of introspection. I mean, this is a tremendously cruel thing he's doing to a family, but he's gleefully smiling and mouthing along his own narrated dialogue as though this were all just make-believe. The French guy himself is I think the most interesting, simply because he's completely unknowable. Even after he's caught (which of course he must be. we are watching this documentary after all,) he still remains slippery and changeable.
The family seem like friendly people, even though they do all talk in creaky robot-voices. Teh film explores a bit their motivations for believing this obvious impostor (he spoke with an accent, eye and hair color didn't match, was visibly older) but I think the obvious answer is that self-deception is a powerful thing. There's some further digging spurred by a wiley private investigator and by the impostor into the family's background, but it comes up empty, dramatically symbolized by a giant hole in a back yard that the camera crane-shots away from. An interesting film about a very unusual story.
The film is shot with dramatic reenactments staring, as far as I can tell, the actual french guy himself. I think this displays a shocking lack of introspection. I mean, this is a tremendously cruel thing he's doing to a family, but he's gleefully smiling and mouthing along his own narrated dialogue as though this were all just make-believe. The French guy himself is I think the most interesting, simply because he's completely unknowable. Even after he's caught (which of course he must be. we are watching this documentary after all,) he still remains slippery and changeable.
The family seem like friendly people, even though they do all talk in creaky robot-voices. Teh film explores a bit their motivations for believing this obvious impostor (he spoke with an accent, eye and hair color didn't match, was visibly older) but I think the obvious answer is that self-deception is a powerful thing. There's some further digging spurred by a wiley private investigator and by the impostor into the family's background, but it comes up empty, dramatically symbolized by a giant hole in a back yard that the camera crane-shots away from. An interesting film about a very unusual story.
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