Archive for category Film
A Journey Into Obscurity – Documentary Edition
Posted by Garrett Brown in Film, Uncategorized on September 16, 2009
Rollin', rollin', rollin' down the river.
[Welcome readers! A friend of mine, Mr. Brown, has provided an good article on the art of the documentary and recommends four of his favorites. Check it out, and let me and him know what you think. And get yo’ learn on and take a gander at these and any other docs you can get your hands on. I recommend an excellent one, The Thin Blue Line, by Errol Morris.]
When you hear the word “movie”, what do you think of? I’m betting most people begin to conjure up images of large Hollywood sets, sound stages, A-List actors and actresses, and all the trappings that accompany large scale, big budget films. While these films have a definite and undeniable place in today’s mainstream media, there is another type of film that goes largely unnoticed and unwatched. I speak of course of the documentary. The origin of the doc coincides with the origin of film itself. It is an integral and absolutely fascinating area of narrative cinema that is far too often overlooked for one reason or another. Admittedly, some docs do harbour some serious bias (*cough* Michael Moore), but they also offer us a venue to examine the world in which we live, other people and cultures, and even ourselves. What style of filmmaking could combine the long held human tradition of narrative storytelling, with real life situations and people more effectively and elegantly than the documentary? So, let’s put down our copies of Transformers or Spiderman 3 – at least for the time being – and instead submit ourselves to some obscurity.
Here are four documentaries, ones that represent a wide variety stories and people, that I urge each of you reading this blog to watch…
1. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
Director: Kurt Kuenne
Writer: Kurt Kuenne
In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she’s pregnant, one of Andrew’s many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film as a gift to the child. Friends, relatives, and colleagues say warm and loving things about Andrew; home movies confirm his exuberance. Andrew’s parents, Kathleen and David, move to Labrador where the ex-girlfriend has gone. They await an arrest and trial of the murderer. They negotiate with the ex-girlfriend to visit their grandchild, Zachary, and they seek custody. Is there any justice; is Zachery a sweet and innocent consolation for the loss of their son?
PERSONAL THOUGHTS: This film is one of the most heart wrenching, and infuriating stories I have ever came across in my life. Had this been a Hollywood flick it still would have been jarring, but the fact that it’s real will make you want to pound your fists and tear out you hair by the end of it. And without giving too much away, it slams you with one of the most shocking twists I’ve ever seen in a film, doc or otherwise.
Trailer
2. Baraka (1992)
Director: Ron Fricke
Writers: Constantine Nicholas, Genevieve Nicholas
Without words, cameras show us the world, with an emphasis not on “where,” but on “what’s there.” This documentary begins with shots of the morning, the natural landscapes and the people at prayer: volcanoes, water falls, velds, and forests; several hundred monks perform a monkey chant. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film then moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. Ancient ruins come into view, and then a sacred river where pilgrims bathe and funeral pyres burn. Prayer and nature return. A monk rings a huge bell; stars wheel across the sky.
PERSONAL THOUGHTS: Simply put, this film is beautiful. It is known as a “pure cinema” film: while having no conventional plot and no script, and using only photography, it manages to tell a story using real people and locations. Baraka will undoubtedly make you see the world in a new, reverent light. It needs no words nor fancy tricks to enrich its presence. The juxtaposing imagery of traditional tribes and cultures with that of the industrialized, fast paced modern world is nothing short of extraordinary. If one could qualify something as being “spiritual”, whatever that may mean, then this film has it in spades. Watch it and it will stick with you long after.
Trailer
3. The Fog of War (2003)
Director: Errol Morris
Robert S. McNamara discusses his experiences and lessons learned during his tenure as Secretary of Defense under John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. He talks about his work as a bombing statistician during World War II, his brief tenure as president of Ford Motor Company, his 13 years at the World Bank and the Kennedy administration’s triumph during the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, the film focuses primarily on his failures in Vietnam. The theme of the film are his “eleven lessons” learned during this time. Some of these include improving military efficiency, understanding your enemy, and the frustrations of trying to deal with (and unsuccessfully trying to change) human nature.
PERSONAL THOUGHTS: An extremely dense yet infinitely thought provoking film. Through the weaving, thoughtful, and deeply insightful narration by Mr. McNamara, one can truly see how complex and overwhelming of a machine war is. The eleven lessons contained in the film are at once sharp as they are philosophical. Make no mistake, this is not a film for political science enthusiasts only. It makes some interesting and bold statements about war and the very nature of humanity. Also, the score by Philip Glass is pretty stellar.
Trailer
4. Up the Yangtze (2007)
Director: Yung Chang
Writer: Yung Chang
A luxury cruise boat motors up the Yangtze – navigating the mythic waterway known in China simply as “The River.” The Yangtze is about to be transformed by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history. At the river’s edge, a young woman says goodbye to her family as the floodwaters rise towards their small homestead. The Three Gorges Dam – contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle – provides the epic backdrop for Up the Yangtze, a dramatic feature documentary on life inside modern China.
PERSONAL THOUGHTS: I had originally heard about this film during a documentary class at film school in Vancouver, but I had wrongly neglected to watch it until recently. I suspected a kind of “by the numbers” look at the modern day economic giant that is China. Instead I was treated to an extremely intimate and rare glimpse into a culture caught in a monumental struggle of tradition versus progress. Despite it being completely non fictional, there are several individuals that emerge out of this film as true characters, the likes of which great modern screenwriters may have crafted. While the film doesn’t go into any great detail about the Three Gorges Dam project –the effects on the ecosystem, the costs, etc.– it succeeds greatly in showing the personal stories and sacrifices Chinese families and individuals have to make in order to fuel their nations enormous leap to the forefront of the 21st century. This film is a testament to what you can do with a camera, a small budget, and the people willing to share their stories.
Trailer
Well there you have it. Four fantastic films, all of which I hope spark your interest. The documentary genre is an amazing, fascinating, and underrated genre; one that should be approached with curiosity and an open mind. There’s always a true, incredible story waiting to be told.
Happy viewing!
CHILDHOOD REVISITED – SUPER MARIO BROS.
Posted by kjohnson1585 in Childhood Revisited, Film, Uncategorized, Video Games on September 13, 2009
You know a movie sucks when they didn't even bother to edit out any WTC scenes.
Super Mario Bros. – (1993)
Director: Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton [Roland Joffe and Dean Semier, uncredited]
Starring: Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Samantha Mathis
Screenplay by: Parker Bennett, Terry Runte, Ed Solomon
So, if you look over there in my list of links, you may notice that there’s a little fan project I’m working on. Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog. Together. Think this and this, but what people would actually like to see.
Of course, then, I have a lot to say about this so-called film. The stories that emerge from the making of this film are staggering. Hoskins and Leguizamo were drunk for most of the film. The directors and studios clashed over whether to make it more “adult” or keep it a children’s film, ultimately making a hodgepodge of a mess. Working with the directors was apparently excruciating, with random re-writes of the script every day; there were so many that the actors ended up ignoring them. So, it’s easy to see how horribly it did at the box office; fans hated it, regular audience members hated it, and Nintendo vowed never to enter the movie business ever again. (Oddly enough, Miyamoto claimed to have enjoyed it.)
Since I’ve been doing a ton of research on Super Mario for that project, I have a small jump on how and why the writers did what they did; the movie itself, I can’t excuse. I can say right now that it doesn’t hold up. The question is, how bad?
NOSTALGIC LENS: I know that as much as this hates on the film, it’s not that bad. But it’s pretty close. I know that I convinced myself that the movie was good – I remember distinctly dancing to the theme music as it plays during the intro – but it took some seven-to-ten years to finally acknowledge that, no, I did not like this movie at all. With no distinct visual reference to the game, how could I? At least the title designed in chrome lettering was cool.
DOES IT HOLD UP: You know what? If you were to remove every single thing that’s supposed to be Super Mario Brothers related and replace it with original characters/concepts, you’d have a cheesy, ridiculous, so-bad-it’s-awesome sci-fi flick that resembles The Fifth Element or Event Horizon.
I had a treat while watching this on Friday—my nieces watched it along with me! They, being owners of Wii’s and DS’s, proceeded to ask me a ton of questions about the Super Mario fandom, and, as a nerd, I proceeded to answer them. I told them the story of the Great Princess Toadstool/Daisy/Peach confusion of the mid-90s, the Toad/Yoshi debacle, the King Koopa/Bowser debates… and they surprisingly ate it up.
Yes, I have a lot of knowledge of the Super Mario canon. So, in the 90s, with a lack of special effects, at the very least I’ll commend the writers for trying their damnest to keep at least some the SMB world in tact (they even seemed to crib a teeny bit of information from the short-lived Valiant comic run, I believe). But of course, I won’t excuse the pathetic final product, the blame of which mainly fall on the directors. Here, it seems the studio meddling actually tried a good thing.
Mario and Luigi are our plumber heroes screwed out of work by their corporate, mob-tied rival, the Scapelli Company. However, Luigi meets Daisy, an archeologist digging for fossils, which lightens the mood. After dinner, they, like all couples do after dinner, explore the skanky cave at the fossil site, where a lot of stuff happens that’s irrelevant. But Daisy is kidnapped and the Mario Bros. chase her into the “alternate dimension” where evolved dinosaurs rule, all under the despot King Koopa.
The movie’s main problem? Over-exposition. It’s terrible. It’s probably the worse exposition I’ve ever seen on celluloid. Check out this scene where King Koopa explains the entire plot in one go, starting at 3:58:
What in god’s name did King Koopa put his hands in? McDonald’s French Fries grease?
SMB fans understandably hated it, which were mostly kids. Look at any Super Mario video game, and then look at this movie. The instant hate is palpable. What about everyone else (the parents), though? Well, with the goofy animated intro, the moronic Koopa cousins Spike and Iggy, and asinine set design (which, by the way, looks like a cross between rejected Blade Runner sets and the crappy locations out of The Wiz), I suspect they just rolled their eyes and hoped at the very least their children were liking it; however, they WERE NOT.
And yet…
With fifteen years of general recovery behind me, I’ll have to admit that I kind of dug this movie, sans my fanboyism. As much as Hoskins and Leguizamo hated their position, I have to admit they still tried their best, with Bob nailing a slightly grizzled yet knowledgeable plumber, and John, although goofy and annoying, still managing to not want me to kill myself. Samantha Mathais, however, is still the worthless blank slate she’s always been (I cannot believe that she was popular at some point). But Dennis Hopper is surprisingly gold. Given that his dialogue is generally shit, he delivers it as best he can, with his most primal lines being anything about killing people. Because, hell, the real Bowser would have no qualms about killing people, so, neither does Hopper.
(I should also note that the models of the various creatures are pretty nice. The Goombas aren’t excellent, although they move well, but Yoshi is particularly well done, animated with a nice, seamless blend of animatronic and CGI. Thank you, Jurassic Park; it seems we nowadays have forgotten what you taught us.)
But imagine my surprise when I found myself really enjoying the final conflict between King Koopa and Mario at the end.
There’s no reason for Mario to go up against Bowser after he knocks the jewel out his mouth. But he does. Why? Because he’s MARIO.
I joke, but in an odd way, it’s telling that, even in the midst of an obvious disaster waiting to happen, that at the very least the writers and the actors (minus Mathais) were still trying at some level to present something watchable. So seeing King Koopa and Mario duke it out (sort of) draws a decent level of something that kind of, in part, resembles a facsimile of an iota of an idea that you may or may not see in the video game.
IN A NUTSHELL: Don’t get me wrong, now. It’s still a crappy movie, but at the same time, there’s a lot here that can be enjoyed, I suppose. If you were to tell me you hated it, I’d completely understand. But if you’re the kind of person that enjoys the sleezy action from sci-fi, B-movies, then simply replace the names Mario, Luigi, Koopa, Toad, and Daisy with Paul, John, Ringo, George, and Yoko. Hell, they already introduced a number of random characters like Daniella, Lena, and Scapelli. (Couldn’t one of them at least be named Pauline?)
September 21th: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
September 28th: Robin Hood
CHILDHOOD REVISITED – THE GOONIES
Posted by kjohnson1585 in Childhood Revisited, Film, Uncategorized on September 6, 2009
Chunk and Data announce that, yes, the Cubans have indeed acquired missiles.
The Goonies – (1985)
Director: Richard Donner
Starring: Sean Austin, Josh Brolin, Corey Feldmen, Jeff Cohen, Jonathan Ke Quan
Screenplay by: Steven Spielberg, Chris Columbus
The 80s and 90s approach to family entertainment geared mostly towards kids differ vastly. The 80s, with its not-so-subtle Cold War approach, utilized a 1950s convention of the heroes beating and overcoming an “Other” (Nazis, Russians, etc.) under the spirit of American-esque togetherness. The 90s, however, mainly tried to push kids to being heard and noticed; children escaping the complex scenario of awkward, screwed up childhoods to have a voice and be recognized as part of society, instead of being “seen and not heard”. Nickelodeon’s “Kids Pick the President” and “Kids Choice Awards” are two examples; Animorphs and the Goosebumps series are two more.
So, as a child of the 90s, I fully grasp that 90s mentality over the 80s one, which, I’ll admit to you now, makes me biased in that regard. Still, there’s the mere sake of making a good movie overall, regardless of time period, context, and social upbringing. So, while a part of me will automatically discredit this movie for its 8os-ness, I will force myself through it and give a real assessment as non-partially as I can.
NOSTALGIC LENS: I remember my father trying to get me to like it. That’s not necessarily true; he was trying to get me to understand it. He joked that the producers were hoping that Chunk become the next “it” kid, and while the movie did well, Jeff Cohen didn’t exactly become the next Macaulay Culkin. Needless to say, I didn’t like it too much; I never really had a desire to find treasure, and I never dug the bumbling badguys either; there’s stupid, and then there’s down right retarded. The only redeeming factor was when a friend got me watching the audio commentary; watching Donner try to expel some sort of idea of the craft while the cast for the most part acts retarded is pure gold. (Seriously, I haven’t seen that great of a “I don’t want to be here” face since Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own.)
DOES IT HOLD UP: Heh. Heh heh heh.
Doing this feature has been rather eye-opening, in that my evocative, rose-tinted glasses are now officially destroyed. As you’ve noticed in my last posts, I haven’t truly glorified any of my past favorite movies in any beyond-nostalgic way (save for The Great Mouse Detective), and I have called out all those movies flaws when I saw them. I’m not going to make an exception for this one. So if you can’t make an argument other than “But I loved this movie as child!” or “But you had to understand it was the 80s!” then I would only suggest to seriously re-watch a bunch of your own, personal childhood movies and honestly assess whether they hold up.
With that being said… this movie isn’t too bad.
I’m not going to harp on the bad continuity or plot flaws, which, clearly, a movie like this didn’t particularly pay much attention to. It’s about kids going on an adventure, and gosh-darnit, that’s all that matters! Still, I will point out my four main issues with this film: 1) bad editing, 2) bad sound design, 3) it’s overall boring, and 4) ANDY.
The first two points are pretty much evident in the infamous “Truffle Shuffle” scene:
Of the Truffle Shuffle itself, we only see Chunk do two-and-a-half seconds of it. Is there more to this? Sure seems like it, considering Chunk is making a shit-ton of noise with it as well, but his voice seems to be coming from somewhere else, regardless whether the camera focuses on Chunk or Mouth or Mikey. Editing and sound actually get more and more worse as the movie progresses, which may sound like nit-picking, but it’s really more distracting than you may think.
The Goonies, a bunch of kids from the “Goon Docks” (I don’t know what this even means) are faced with the very real threat of being forced to move as some rich developers take control of the town of Astoria. In an odd set of circumstances, the kids stumble on a treasure map, and with their last adventure staring them in the face, they decide to just go for it. Which where my third points come in; I never felt the Goonies were in any real danger, even when faced with the Fratelli Family or stuck in the booby-trapped cave. It all seemed like a make-believe story made real, as if the Goonies themselves were imagining all this in their backyard. (To be fair, it does get a little more interesting when the bullet – yes, singular – fly and when they almost fall into a dark blue void while playing an organ made of bones).
And Andy. Andy, Andy, Andy. This abomination of the silver screen reeked so terribly that her mere presence sunk the already-established mediocrity to a depth so low that I wanted to cry. Never have I felt the urge to murder a human being as much as her. To use the internet parlance, seeing her was an instantaneous “WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN” moment. Even at the cusp of death and destruction, she complete whores herself out to kiss Brent, kisses Mikey by accident, and confusedly asks her (I’m going to go ahead and say) lesbian friend Stef whether Brent had braces or not. Is this for real? This is bad, even for 80s standards. I had to physically get up out my seat after that.
But even with all those flaws, and believe me, they are very big flaws, the movie does breathe a little life into itself with a few key moments, specifically with Mikey and the cinematography. Mikey (a young Sean Austin who wowed me in Lord of the Rings) brings a lot of depth to a role with enough cheese and 80s-ness to fill a Duran Duran album. He seems the most upset with the move, and his plucky energy combined with his asthmatic struggles creates enough plausibility to believe that, yes, these kids are desperate enough to risk their lives to save their town and everything they hold dear. He delivers his speeches with heart and manages to make a surprisingly poignant speech sequence about the moment being their last, only time.
I wish I could have heard what Richard Donner had to say about that craft, because some of the individual shots are quite lovely, even when inside the caves and generic homes. Part of what makes it all works, though, is the kids seem very comfortable with the space around them. They’re loud, obnoxious, random, and talkative, just like a group of close friends would be. While the cuts and edits are for the most part atrocious, when the camera lingers on the Goonies while they screw around, act silly, solve puzzles, or overall panic, it’s actually interesting to see them in action. It’s like a youthful, bare-bones technological version of the rich, deep focus scenes of Welles’ Citizen Kane or Renoir’s The Rules of the Game. This waterfall scene is a pretty good example.
Of course, in the last thirty minutes, everything wraps up WAY too nicely per the 80s parlance when the Goonies stop the Fratellis (who are so moronic that it’s not even fun in a cheesy way), save Sloth, and free One-Eye Willy’s ship, and still manages to steal enough jewels to save the rec center—er, their town from the rich developers. Hugs and kisses all around, the kids learn a lesson, etc. Like the ship at the end of the movie, I kind of coasted my way through it all.
IN A NUTSHELL: It’s not as terrible as I remember it, but it’s still pretty bad. It’s not even “cute,” and outside of a nostalgic viewpoint or a ironic one, I can’t really see someone genuinely saying this is a good movie, or an enjoyable one. Still, I did at the very least like some parts, and from a visual aspect, it looks quite lovely. But poor editing and sound, and a shitty, shitty turn by Andy definitely make this a movie I can be without.
So in summary: Jumanji kids exist in a world where they are no different than the people around them—all expendable, all equal—yet all capable of doing great things when working together. The Goonies kids are up against the world and non-believes, rejects who seem invincible when they bond together, able to stand up against anything thrown their way. Both can be cheesy, both can be rich; I wonder if one’s temporal context determines which movie people prefer. (Oh– serious question: Are the Goonies even rejects? That confused me; they ALL had both their parents at then end of the movie, so it’s hard to see any sense of neglect or isolation. Mickey seems to try and embody this the most, but there’s really nothing of substance there, plot-wise. Being forced to move incites feelings of depression and sorrow– not neglect and rejection.)
[Oh, my favorite Chunk moment:
“Soda pop! Oh boy, am I thirsty!”
Checks inside of soda pop dispenser and sees it was empty.
“… dammit!”
Closes top.]
September 14th: Super Mario Bros. The Movie
September 21th: Who Framed Roger Rabbit (YES.)