THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (2014)

FILMS FROM THE 21st CENTURY

(Post 2 of 50)

Some quick takes on the most relatively recent listings from the
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list

My perception of Steven Hawking as the celebrity/genius astrophysicist whose body has been crippled my MLS is so strong that I had to do a double take when I saw there was going to be a movie about Stephen that seemed more of A Beautiful Mind type romance than an episode of Cosmos. But we really do learn more about what Hawking's early life than many of us knew before. Eddie Redmayne's depiction of Hawking first as the young budding genius and then as the older famous man ravaged by physical deterioration was truly Oscar worthy.

BIRDMAN (2014)

FILMS FROM THE 21st CENTURY

(Post 1 of 50)

Some quick takes on the most relatively recent listings from the
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list

Birdman is the story of an actor who made a name for himself playing a superhero, but has long wanted to shed that image and take on more serious acting roles. Or work he perceives as serious, like directing and starring in a Raymond Carver play. I found the whole thing fascinating and well done, but it's uncommericial nature made it a surprise best picture winner to me.

And it made me want to pick up some Raymond Carver.

THE OMEN (1976), VIDEODROME (1983)

The Omen

A Couple of Horror movies I just never got around to seeing before...

I heard a lot about The Omen when it came out in 1976. I even got the book (a novelization technically). The book had pictures of the highlights of the movie, like the nanny hanging herself or the priest getting speared or the young devil child Damien looking menacingly into the camera. I also saw clips of most of these scenes on television. But I never got around to seeing the actual movie! I even saw the sequel Damien: Omen II! So The Omen is one of those movies I feel like I've seen even though I've never seen it.

So it was an interesting experience finally watching it, because of my perceived familiarity with it.

 The plot: A well-to-do couple (An ambassador and his wife) lose a baby. The father replaces the baby with an adopted baby without the mother knowing. The problem is is that the replacement child turns out to be the devil incarnate! (What parent hasn't called their unruly child Damien at some point since this movie came out?). It is interesting that the movie is set exclusively in Europe with an American couple...Anyway, weird things start happening. Damien's nanny hangs herself. Damien gets a new nanny who turns out to be in league with Damien. (Doesn't anyone check references anymore?)

Damien does all sorts of satanic things like making mommy fall off a balcony. She survives for the time being only to fall to her death out of the window of her hospital room later. The photographer played by David Warner who supplies exposition and helps dad Gregory Peck discover the truth about Damien is one plot point I didn't know about. The photographer meets with a graphic death (If Damien had the power to kill the photographer when he wasn't even in the same country, why didn't Damien just kill dad to get him out of the way and be done with the whole deal?). But dad does come back and takes Damien to sacrifice him in the local church. The police arrive and kill dad to prevent him from killing Damien. The funeral arrives for mom and dad and Damien stares blankly into the camera.

The Omen is worth seeing for horror fans. I'm not sure it would quite make my 1001 movie book, but if I was listing 100 horror movies you must see before you die, The Omen would be in there somewhere.

Videodrome

I heard about this weird movie called Videodrome when it came out in 1983 and went out with the intention of seeing it. It was playing at Phiipps Plaza in Atlanta, I believe. But I had trouble finding a parking space! So I ended up getting there late and decided not to go see it. Thirty years later I still hadn't seen it...until now.

It's the story of Max (James Woods), who runs a UHF station that shows a lot of strange shit on his channel. He gets hold of a weird pirated program called Videodrome that he plans to show on his channel. He gets involved with a psychiatrist/talk show host played by Debbie Harry that likes sex and likes to play it rough! It turns out Videodrome (the show), is even weirder than Max first thought. It is apparently shot out of Pittsburgh! And is part of a political  movement!

The movie keeps getting weirder and weirder. All that view Videodrome (the show) begin to have strange hallucinations, especially Max whose stomach turns into a VCR presumably to watch more episodes of Videodrome! The movie goes on from there to uncover a big conspiracy that finds that Videodrome is trying to ruthlessly control the hearts and minds of the viewing public...which doesn't sound so sinister when you phrase it that way.

Videodrome (the movie) is something to see if you're looking for something off the beaten path. The real star of Videodrome, (still the movie) has to be Rick Baker, whose pre-CGI special effects are scary, gross, creative and effective. Obviously, the 1001 editors thought so since it is in the 1001 book...

Like The Omen, Videodrome took me awhile to get to, but there you have it, but I don't think it's gotten any easier to find a parking space at Phipps Plaza.

ONIBABA (1964, JAPAN), HOUSE (1977, JAPAN)

Onibaba

One of the reasons I started this blog is because I saw so many videos on our library shelf that were critically acclaimed movies put out by the Criterion Collection, and I wanted a systematic way to watch them and decided to go through the 1001 list. (Didn't realize it would take me years to do it, but that's another story)

First up is the story of Onibaba (The Demon), which is set in the back county of war torn 14th century Japan. A woman and her daughter-in-law are forced through necessity of killing soldiers and selling their body plates or anything else of value on them for scrap. When a local war veteran returns and has eyes for the young woman a conflict arises between the women. 

I tried to recount the plot above of Onibaba and no description feels quite right. It is an odd film, but a beautiful one at the same time. It is also an ugly film when it shows the brutal side of human nature. The plot point with the mask is based on old Buddhist legends and gives the film a slight supernatural twist on top of everything else.

The extras: The most worthwhile extra on the Criterion Disc is the interview with Director Kaneto Shindo who (at age 91) details the use of sex in his film, setting, music, fable, war and black and white photography. It is about 20 minutes and brings a great deal to understanding what he was trying to say with this film. It's also heartening how much he appreciates the DVD medium and bringing his film to a new audience.

When I saw the the new releases for the Criterion Collection one month and a strange Japanese movie titled House was on the list, I decided to order it for the library. That was a couple of years ago and I just now got around to watching it.

It is the story of a group of teenage girls named Gorgeous, Melody, Prof, Sweet, Kung Fu and Mac. (I think I got the names right.) Gorgeous's father is remarrying which has her upset. Then all the girls go on a retreat to a house that they soon discover is haunted. It's told in a very nontraditional manner. Some of the early scenes have elements of wackiness that made me wonder if this was a slapstick comedy or not. The music was interesting, but at times seemed remarkably upbeat for something that was supposed to be creating a scary mood. Once we get to the house, we do find a creepy old lady and her cat and all sorts of weird things start happening accompanied by some (intentionally) cheesy special effects. 

In some ways it's a traditional haunted house story, but in many ways it isn't. I'm not sure who the target audience for this was!

House

The extras:  Forty-five minute interview with director Nobuhiko Obayashi answers a lot of questions I had about the movie and I found it as interesting as the movie itself. Obaysahi talks about his apprenticeship in commercials, difficulty in getting the movie made despite a go-ahead from the studio, his appreciation and rejection of Japanese cinema, who the movie appeals too (Answer: pre-teens), and the how the studio actually being disappointed that the movie was a hit! Best of all is the story of a crew member that searched all day for a screw that was part of the set that the director was looking for. The reason the crew member worked so hard to find that screw, was because Obayashi was the first director ever to call him by his name despite being in the business for many years.

I've called on the Criterion Collection often during my journey through these films, and I by necessity will need to return.