Tampilkan postingan dengan label John Malkovich. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label John Malkovich. Tampilkan semua postingan

Burning Down The GRINDHOUSE




GRINDHOUSE (Dir. Robert Rodriquez/Quentin Tarantino 2007) 









2 movies in one - that is 2 full-length feature films by 2 notorious directors for the price of one. Sounds too good to be true? That’s because it’s fake – don't get me wrong it really is 2 complete movies but it’s a fake exploitation experience with fake trailers, bucket after bucket of fake blood splatters on everything, fake hair, fake dismembered human organs, fake projector noise, fake scratches on the film, fake missing reel announcements, fake fake fake.



The only thing that’s not fake is the fun – and there’s lots of it here. 



Both films take place in the modern day but as if the schlock methods of ‘70s era sleaze cinema never went away. In the minds of Tarantino and Rodriquez they never did. 





After a fake funny as Hell trailer for a Mexican vigilante flick called “Machete,” we are presented with Rodriquez’s eco-zombie action-horror spectacle entitled "Planet Terror". We’ve got Freddy Rodriquez (best known as Federico Diaz on Six Feet Under) as a cocky outlaw gunslinger who outfits his go-go dancer girlfriend Rose McGowan having lost a leg in the first wave of the attack (“a missing leg that’s now missing”) with a machine gun and they join forces with other non-contaminated humans against the hordes of slime covered with giant zit popping zombies. 



Along the way Bruce Willis and Tarantino himself put in cameos, Josh Brolin appears as a murderous doctor targeting his cheating lesbian wife Marley Shelton, and grisly yet sentimental BBQ chef Jeff Fahey protects an old secret family recipe right to the grave. The action and humor never lag and the breathlessly and purposely crude construction make this one of Rodriquez’s most enjoyable movies. 



Then come more fake trailers.

The trailers for "Werewolf Women of the SS" (made by Rob Zombie), “Don’t” (by SHAUN OF THE DEAD director Edgar Wright), and “Thanksgiving” (By director/actor
Eli Roth) are so authentic looking, so perfect in their exclamations of low-brow glee, and so funny that it occurs to me that maybe the whole movie should have been made of fake trailers. 



I guess that would have gotten tiresome after a bit. Speaking of tiresome Tarantino’s “Death Proof” has more of a polished sophistication than Rodriquez’s and unfortunately that means a drop-off in fun. Dominated by lengthy dialogue scenes that sound at times like Tarentino lecturing us on his sexual agenda, obscure pop-culture references, and hip-hopisms through the disguise of girl talk. This bit brings the whole GRINDHOUSE down but once it gets rolling it redeems itself roaringly.







As we wind through the non-stop chatting of 2 separate groups of women (including Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Vanessa Ferlito, Rosario Dawson, Zoe Bell, Tracie Thoms, and McGowan again this time as a non-ass kicking blond) we get a leisurely introduction to Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) who turns out to be a predatory psychopath – though one not without charms. The 3rd act is car -chase road-rage revenge city with Zoe Bell (Uma Thurman’s stunt double in the KILL BILL movies) spending a good deal of the action on the hood of a 1970 Dodge Charger hanging on for dear life by a belt latched to the door frame while Stuntman Mike's death proof muscle car rams and bams up repeatedely up against the side.

Bell, playing herself and amazingly doing all her own stunts with no CGI help, wants to take the
car out for a test drive because it’s the same model as the car in the 70’s cult classic VANISHING POINT - a movie that’s referenced to a number of times and that calls out the difference between Rodriquez and Tarantino; not one movie or song title obscure or otherwise is mentioned in “Planet Terror.” “Death Proof” features numerous pop-culture pontifications and it suffers for it. Tarantino appears to be in love with his own dialogue while I and the audience around me were getting antsy. Probably the most apt old-school Hollywood phrase would be “cut to the chase”. Once he does it’s a thrill ride and the audience woke up and even cheered at the end. Even as a low-concept double feature fake-out GRINDHOUSE is awfully awesome, blazingly badass, and most importantly hilarious.






THE HOST (Dir. Joon-ho Bong, 2006) The early reports that posited this Hong Kong monster movie as a mixture of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and JAWS weren't completely off the mark. Sure that kind of oft-repeated critical shorthand irks me but the clumsy neurotic antics of a family whose youngest is abducted by a bizzare beast - one that was created by discarded lab chemicals in the Han River by an American military officer mind you - does recall at times the best moments and heart of those accessible reference points. River-side snack shop slacker Song Kang-ho aided by his ornery father Byeon Heui-bong and sister Bae Du-na who has a handy flair for archery struggle to save Kanh-ho's school girl daughter Ko A-sun who spends most of the movie in a sewer with other captured Koreans. The Host which is so named because the tenacled CGI sea creature is the carrier of a deadly virus, drags quite a bit in it's second half and the action is too often restricted to the dank disgusting gutters or the sterile flourescent lit labs but there is an undeniable heartbeat here. With hope more quirky horror or creature feature genre exercises will follow suit. 




And once again by popular demand - some more new release DVD reviews: 










MARIE ANTONIETTE (Dir. Sofia Coppola, 2006) Sofia Coppola's 3rd movie as director reworks the same theme - a young woman coming of age in a unfamiliar almost alien world - this time around the legendary 18th century French queen of the title gets to do the fish out of water honors and to a hip contemporary soundtrack no less (New Order, Sioxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, etc). Kirsten Dunst is adequate (or as Lindsay Lohan would say "adequite") in the role - she wears the extravagant wardrobe well and has the appropriate glibness down but is more than a little out of her depth. Jason Swartzman as Louis XVI is also questionably cast - he's Coppola's cousin and that seems to be the sole reason he's here. Better with tone and prescence in supporting rolesare Rip Torn, Judy Davis, Steve Coogan, Molly Shannon and Marriane Faithful.




Turning the oft told historical tale into one big glossy rock video is not a deplorable idea - it actually works at times like when a costume banquet-ball is shot like a decadent all night rave - but a sense of narrative drive is severely lacking. Coppola's technical skill is impressive with a definitive visual flair and confident color scheme - it's just not as interesting as I'm sure future projects of hers will be.




COLOR ME KUBRICK (Dir. Brian W. Cook, 2006)






Alan Conway (aptly named) was an odd British man who for a period in the early 90's impersonated legendary film director Stanley Kubrick (2001,DR. STRANGELOVE, THE SHINING, and so on). The fact is that he did it for such piddily low degree theviery reasons and was rarely able to get more than the money to but a few drinks is the crux of this particular cinematic biscuit.



Portrayed flamboyantly by John Malkovich in COLOUR ME KUBRICK which has the tagline of "A TRUE...ISH STORY" Conway is finally gets his coveted spot-light but one that never shows a good side of him. Every time we start to feel for the increasingly irritating imposter he does or acts in an even worse unforgivable and/or embarrassing manner that swindles our sympathy immediately from us. It's especially sad when he hoodwinks comedian/singer Lee Pratt (Jim Davidson - who was actually conned by the real Conway as the accompanying making of featurette tells us).




A few Kubrickian touches are thrown in by director Brian W. Cook (who was Kubrick's assistant director on 3 movies) - an opening scene involving punks coming close to roughing up an elderly high class couple while hunting down Conway for an unpaid bar tab recalls A CLORKWORK ORANGE and Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (better known as "2001 theme") amusingly accompanies Conway as he carries a garbage bag filled with his dirty clothes to a local dive laundromat. 





Malkovich is for the most part hilarious as the vodka-swilling tackily dressed shyster who uses a different contrived accent for each of his victums. COLOUR ME KUBRICK is by no means a great must-see film but a good one. Well maybe good...ish.



More later...

Babbling 'Bout Some Recent Release DVDs




“Take myself, subtract movies, and the result is zero” - Akira Kurosawa





A few reviews of recent release DVDs:







RIPLEY'S GAME (Dir. Liliana Cavana, 2002) 

Decent sturdy thriller but it could use a little more wit. Many lines are basic and stiff. Which is a surprise considering these are based on Patricia Highsmith's wickedly witty Tom Ripley novels. John Malkovich plays the same character that Matt Damon did in THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999) but as somebody on the message board on IMDB stresses this is not a sequel. Dennis Hopper also tackled the character in Wim Wender's THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1977). A dry dull game Ripley plays this time around.






OSAMA (Dir. Siddiq Barmak, 2003)



Beautiful, but disturbing as Hell. The basic line that this is the first movie made in Afganistan since Taliban fell is news enough but to experience this movie is to witness as harrowing a depiction of oppression and indignity that's ever graced the silver screen. Marina Golbahari plays the title character, a 12 year old girl forced to pose as a boy in order to support her hungry mother and grandmother. The ruse doesn't last long and she is exiled to a worse fate. Watch at your own peril.






MONSTER (Dir. Patty Jenkins, 2003)





Charlize Theron won an Oscar for her portrayal of Aileen Carol Wuornos, a Floridian serial killing prostitute who had been executed in 2002. Argubly, she deserved to win because as Roger Ebert and many other critics gushed she completely inhabits the role and it's fascinating to watch. Unfortunately the movie that houses Wournos' story is uneven and routinely presented.






There are many effective moments like when teen lesbian Christina Ricci and Theron go roller skating and fall in love with each other to the tune of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" (yep, they're just that kind of '80s white trash) so ultimately I recommend it. For footage of the real Wuornos check out Nick Broomfield's (yes, the twit who made the silly docs BIGGIE AND TUPAC and KURT AND COURTNEY) AILEEN : LIFE AND DEATH OF A SERIAL KILLER. Watching that or MONSTER will make you want to take a shower after. 







ELEPHANT (Dir. Gus Vant Sant, 2003) 



A meditation on a Columbine style high school shooting that left me short. The look and feel is convincing, but ultimately this is a afterthought project with a muddled sense of purpose. Nice acting though from a cast of unknowns, Alex Frost and John Robinson particularly.







21 GRAMS (Dir. Alexandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2003)





From the same team responsible for 2000's AMORES PERROS (2000). For a movie that got a few Oscar nominations, and a round of good critical notices this flick seems to have been thrown onto DVD with the same loving care as GIGLI - that is, with no Special Features to speak of. 





Not even a trailer except for other films (I hate that). The story here is 3 characters whose destinies of course intertwine and unsurprisingly is told out of sequence. How indie! You have to pay close attention to absorb the subtle details so that may lose a bunch of viewers right off. If that doesn't, the grainy washed out film stock might.

So anyway, this goes back and forth in time the narrative surrounding an automobile accident killing a man and his 2 daughters and the aftermath his widow (Naomi Watts) faces as a haggard pale professor (Sean Penn) is in need of a heart transplant.





Benecio Del Toro plays an ex-convict who's to blame for the accident. Any more I would tell you would give away this film's secrets. Basically this is Penn, Del Toro and Watts embroiled together in a tale of intrigue and blood! Almost poetic. But, as Christopher Guest said in A MIGHTY WIND, "Almost."

More later...

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