Change Your Image
mandy-23
Reviews
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Not Good
The Grinch was boring and although they labored over the set, the outcome was unoriginal and unSeusslike. The thing about Seuss books is that visually, although they are colorful, they are fairly minimal and surreal. The Grinch's set was so baroque and obvious. Likewise with the language. Seuss's language is filled with bizarre ambiguities; this movie just pounded its flimsy anti-consumerism platitude into the ground. The empty spaces and the made-up words in the books make it literature. The movie just squeezed all of that out. And the Grinch love interest aspect of it was beyond tired.
Bulworth (1998)
great idea, mediocre result
I would agree with a lot of people who said that this movie revealed a lot of the corruption of the power elite in the government. However, it wasn't articulate enough to make its points hardhitting. My favorite part is close to the beginning, right when Bulworth decides to be honest and tell the people at the black church the REAL reasons why they were being screwed over. I think the message here, which regards insurance companies donating tons of money to campaigns and keeping politicians from enacting progressive health care, is clear because he's still talking the way he normally talks--like a middle-aged, upper middle class white man. But when he decides to push the "honesty" further and start rapping, it's really distracting, because it's totally unnatural--makes everything in the movie rather farcical. I'll ruin the surprise: Warren Beatty can't rap. Similarly unnatural is the part where Halle Berry says to Bulworth, "You know you're my nigger." That was totally uncalled for. What kind of midlife crisis spawned that?
The Cable Guy (1996)
wonderful allegory of television culture
I saw Chip Douglas as not so much a realistically troubled person but a science fictiony character in his being a human whose psychology is created entirely by television. He conveys deep sentiments in talk show quotes, he performs daredevil stunts that are only cool when viewed on TV. And EVERYONE instantly trusts him and lets him into their homes because they general have such faith in and dependence upon TV. This is hilariously illustrated in the scene where the Broderick character is in jail (due to Chip) and it's revealed that even the guard is one of Chip's preferred customers. And the way the family and g/f took Chip's side when the Broderick character was trying to get rid of him made a really interesting point about how people will believe television over real life (especially since Chip was feeding the family all of the talk show cliches as explanations of his friend's troubled state). Television-dependence and the ensuing banality was depicted hilariously in the television segments that involved the twin murder trial ("I think it was an Asian gang or something, they looked Asian and they were speaking another language, I think it was Asian!"). And I love the scenes leading up to the Cable Guy's plunge into the satellite where he's desperately sputtering out lines that reveal the worst that pop TV culture has to offer ("Dry land is not a myth, I've seen it!... Waterworld"... "I am the bastard step child of Clare Huxtable!"... "I learned the facts of life from watching The Facts of Life!") I liked how they showed a guy picking up a book and reading after the Cable Guy fell on the satellite but I wish they had done more with that type of happy ending.
The Doom Generation (1995)
brilliant postmodern film
Araki has Gen X irony/detachment down to a T. His characters are so apathetic that they say, "whatev", instead of "whatever." That one bit of dialogue alone I believe makes him a genius. I can't claim to understand the whole movie in a unified sense--it's as jarring, overwhelming, prolific, fast-paced, and difficult to digest as pop culture. But particular scenes seem very deliberate and well-crafted. For instance, the three main characters go through a drive-through, which resembles a nuclear power plant, terribly unnatural. One of the characters orders "deep-fried cheese chunks... and an evian." The utter absurdity of the evian is simply delicious in this scene. Consumer culture is hypocritical, foolish, and deluded. Araki's films say, we've created such irreversible urban decay that we've reached the existential state in which nothing we do could make it worse and so let's embrace pointless violence. 10/10
Return to Oz (1985)
dark and morbid movie
Twisted, surreal children's stories are always the most frightening things to witness (e.g. Where the Wild Things Are, Silverstein books, etc.)
This movie seems chaotic and absurd but has a very definite social agenda. While watching the movie, keep an eye open for certain conflicts, such as rural vs. urban, old vs. new, spirituality/faith vs. science and the theme that capitalism and technology begin acquring minds of their own rather than serving the people. Dorothy, right at the turn of the century, goes from her impoverished farm to the big city to get her Oz fantasies eradicated by a demonically smiling lobotimizing machine. When she escapes and ends up in Oz (where CHICKENS are forbidden), the milk maids, scare crows, etc. are replaced by "wheelers," essentially half human, half car. The wheelers chastise her for picking a lunch box from a tree (obvious slam against capitalism--"there is no free lunch") Despite the fact that the film initially seems to be telling us to reject technology, science, etc. completely, the presence of Tic Toc complicates this hypothesis. When Dorothy comes upon this inactive machine which bears a physical resemblance to the lobotimizing machine at the mental hospital, SHE has the agency to make it function. Once she does this, it very clearly states that it is NOT alive and will act only as her "faithful servant."
Very interesting movie. Much better than The Wizard.. despite any Populist interpretations.
Ta'm e guilass (1997)
depressingly bad
This movie was minimal in just about everything--characterization, scenery, excitement, depth, meaning. I could see the ending coming from the moment the protagonist voiced his desire for someone to kill him. Like someone already said, we never figure out why he wants to die. He drives through the suburbs in an SUV, being creepy and annoying in the most mundane way possible. Why do we care? I cared more about the poor people who would not kill him despite the promised reward than this bland character. Of course, these people were only featured for a few minutes each. Also, are we supposed to view the idea that life is valuable for the little things like the "taste of cherry" as unique and thought-provoking?
Total Recall (1990)
People's comments here annoy me...
Yeah, it was hokey, so what? You don't rent a Shwarzenegger film for poignant realism. That should be understood. What I love about this movie is its simple class consciousness (Kwato raising the price of air) juxtaposed with a very sophisticated and frightening critique of consumer culture. The movie is socially aware on two levels so that it may be a meaningful experience for all watchers. The more difficult message of the movie reflects itself in the fact that Quaid actually had a lobotomy at Recall during his adventures on Mars. The movie tells us that we live in a virtual society where our enjoyment is really a delusional escapism that masks a generally lobotimized state (e.g. SUV drivers imagining themselves as rugged and actualized as those on the commercials). It was brilliant how the ending is ostensibly happy (Mars is saved and Quaid kisses the girl) but actually tragic. The fake glory points to our society's state of blissful ignorance in its false conscious consumer frenzy. Beats the heck out of Matrix, that's for sure.
Buffalo '66 (1998)
wonderful movie
I didn't expect much from this movie and was pleasantly surprised.
One of the best things about it is the desolate resonance of the cold, obscure industrial city of Buffalo, NY, a bleak place with a good football team, where the meaning in people lives comes in the form of the depressing/mundane; sports, strip clubs, bowling. Layla the unpredictable tap dancer, therefore, sticks out in a beautiful way; her manner and actions seem so fantastic, magical, that she could be simply a mirage in the life of the pathetic loser, Billy Brown. I really like the fact that you know virtually nothing about Layla. That throughout the whole sequence, there is no realism with her. You think, "Ok, MAYBE she'd really fall for the guy, stranger things have happened," but then you become very stumped by her lack of practical, everyday concerns. For example, you'd think that maybe she had to work the next day or something and she'd mutter a bit about that but almost from the very moment that Billy violently seizes her, the only thing she really cares about is him. Her lack of explicit characterization creates this enigma that makes the tone very ambiguous. Maybe she is a perfectly healthy person who is able to see the beauty of this wretched man. Or maybe she is also wretched and falls in love in a fickle way but will love someone else the next day. Have the characters found happiness that will truly transcend their bleak surroundings or simply a momentary light in a dark tunnel? This movie's way of making you guess about a character's history reminded me a bit of Mamet plays. Also, in my opinion, Vincent Gallo's movie is far better than any by Jim Jarmusch, who employs a similar sort of minimalism with his characters. The only real flaw I could see with Buffalo 66 is that we learn too much about BILLY. Some history is fine but I didn't want to see him as a child in flashbacks. I wanted him to have some of the same mystery as Layla. It's the mystery I feel when walking lonely through a dirty, soulless city, expecting to encounter only tedium and more loneliness, but hoping to run into a serious, beautiful tapdancer who will love me instantly for no good reason.
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
very eery sentimental movie
The mood of this movie is really disturbing. It's wholesome in the most macabre way. It's similar to precious moments dolls; they are supposed to be cute and holy but they're downright frightening. Examples of this lie in little Pearl's naive child lines that somehow came off sounding demonic (and her facial expressions!) Also, the manner in which Lillian Gish (the good religious person) says "little children endure and abide" toward the end--you expect her to say, "But not for long..." and then take out a gun and kill them. This movie made me giggle a lot. The dialogue is very corny and the symbolism is the most overt I've ever seen. But these components are coupled with a very expressive spookiness that makes the movie quite hypnotic and unforgettable. (One of my favorite parts is when old Mrs. Spoon talks about how women don't care about sex: "I've been married for 40 years and all that long, I just lie there and think about my canning.") I love the part where Robert Mitchum (the evil preacher) and Lilian Gish (the righteous woman) sing a hymn together while he's outside stalking the household and she's in a rocking chair armed with a rifle; love and hate at odds but still part of the same divine plan. 9/10
American Buffalo (1996)
incredible movie
There's so much in this incredibly fast-paced movie that I have not yet grasped and in order to do so will have to see 50 more times. But one thing I do get out of it is the idea of working class wanna-be thugs creating a destructive mass delusion in order to make meaning of their lives. When the movie starts out, the characters talk about gambling and other low-life activities in such a way that you'd think they're exciting mobsters but really, they're a couple of losers who are stuck with humdrum lives amidst a bleak anonymous city-scape. One thing that's very captivating is the fact that there are only three characters despite the fact that they allude to different people who are continually influencing them in one way or another. This underscores the crippledness amidst the plight of the three characters; makes them seem all the more determined and hopeless. It's a shame that so many action-movie fans are utterly incapable of appreciating the subtleties of the amazingly forceful, desolate, power-hungry, contradicting dialogue in this movie.
Touch of Evil (1958)
wonderfully hypnotic movie
I love this movie. It's so bizarre and captivating. I don't care much about the opening sequence but I really love other surreal scenes like: when Heston is using the phone in a blind woman's shop and there's a sign that says, "If you're mean enough to rob from the blind, help yourself" while this unexplained grotesque woman with one eye opened unnaturally wide looms larger in the shot than Heston. Or the part where Leigh has her ear to the wall and someone in a ridiculous Mexican accent is talking about marijuana making you feel good. Leigh's character is amazing. She's naive but admirably unafraid. I love the part where she delivers an unflinching line of wonderful insults towards Grandi. She's definitely one of the most interesting female characters in film for the time period. Also, I find the scenes with Dietrich and Welles oddly arousing in their subtle nostalgic sexuality/gloom, where he says he wishes he were getting fat off her chilli instead of candy bars and she says the chilli is too hot for him. Also, the Mexican/American tension is incredibly compelling, like in the scene where Quinlan is interrogating the guy, planning to frame him, and brutalizing him for speaking Spanish, while Vargas tries to be fair and speaks Spanish to him, sort of helplessly. But then toward the end, Vargas has figured Quinlan out and when Quinlan tries to strut his authority, he says, "You're in MY country now." God, I love this movie. The last line, by Dietrich, about Welles, is brilliant: "He was some kind of man. What does it matter what you say about people?" Welles has this way about making the most simple lines and words (re: "rosebud") resound in the most hypnotic fashion.
Safe (1995)
brilliant depiction of suburbia and the new age movement
This is my very favorite movie, one of the scariest I've ever seen. The alienation and isolation of the suburbs come across beautifully in this film. Car culture and sprawl definitely contribute to the empty feeling one receives from following this story of a rich suburban housewife's allergic reaction to her vapid life. The mood and statement of the film are epitomized by the scene in which Carol is driving alone on the freeway, going into convulsions from "the fumes", all while the scratchy radio produces mundane religious babble. Ironically, she pulls off the road and is "saved" by the confines of a parking garage. How appropriate based upon the pigheaded tendency for urban planners to say, "Boy, this traffic is horrible, what do we do about it? I know! We'll build more parking garages!" The scratchy babble of religious radio in the scene indicates the hypocritical irrelevance of spirituality when it exists as part of a alienated consumer-driven, environmentally-destructive society. Religion, particularly the new-age movement seems to parallel the suburbs in its pretty blandness and emergence as a way for capitalists to try to redeem their souls/family life after destroying society (eg the inner city). New age and suburbia combine when Carol goes to Wrenwood (a place even more sterile and removed from reality than Carol's suburb), a healing retreat for people with environmental illness. Despite a lot of fluffy, positive talk on behalf of an AIDS victim guru, Carol's physical and spiritual condition only decline at Wrenwood--she becomes more and more like Lester, the faceless guy in the white suit (the perfect new age suburbanite) who is afraid of everything and is expected to die based on that fear.