#101 and time for a break

I haven't felt that motivated in writing this lately, so I'll close up shop, at least for my summer holiday. Maybe I'll pick this up later, maybe I won't. I'll likely continue on GetGlue or a similar service, where someone will actually see what happens. :)

Yesterday I watched the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which I had not seen previously (only the Abel Ferrara version) and which I quite liked. There were hardly any special effects at all, something that easily dates a sci-fi film, and the basic concept is as chilling as ever.

Nicolas Cage doing what he does best

That being a very bad lieutenant indeed in The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans. Cage was in splendid psycho mode and was able to rein it in, too, when the role required it. The rest of the cast (including Eva Mendes, Brad Dourif and Xzibit) was fine, the music was cool, the ending a little unexpected... all in all, I enjoyed the film. Extra points for singing iguanas!

I haven't seen the original Bad Lieutenant, but I understand they have little in common besides the basic idea.

Another fine 1959 western

They Came to Cordura isn't quite Rio Bravo, but a very good western in its own right and a rather more subdued one. It isn't that well known, despite the casting of Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth and Van Heflin. Robert Rossen (The Hustler) proves he can direct a cavalry action sequence, but most of the film is about slow-burning conflicts and relationships between the seven main characters.

I was a little surprised how hard-edged it was. Heflin was a great bully, a big chance from his heroic western roles in Shane and 3:10 to Yuma. Cooper was a very flawed hero trying to live with his past cowardice. Hayworth's role was not just about looking sexy (which she of course did effortlessly, at 40 years) Everyone looks tired and dirty most of the time - perhaps this is one reason why the film is not better known. Another might be that it's set during the Pancho Villa Expedition of 1916, which was a military failure for the USA.

This seems to be post #99. I wonder what should be the hundredth...

Harder to kill

Die Hard gave us an action hero who can be hurt, who has doubts, and who would be happy to let the authorities handle it if they weren't so incompetent. John McTiernan had already proved with Predator that he could handle the 80s-style muscular action men (and introduce some twists to the formula), and with this movie he introduced a new subgenre of Western action: "Die Hard on a plane/train/ship/etc." Sadly none of the imitators would be as good.

Pretty much a perfect storm of an action movie.

Hard to kill

The titular Malone of Give 'em Hell, Malone is kind of a low-level superhero: he himself comments early on that he's hard to kill. He doesn't lie: Malone is shot a few times, stabbed, and beat upon the head with a baseball bat. He bleeds but does not die, and goes to his mother's retirement home so that she can patch him up.

The film has plenty of casual cruelty and needless violence. But somehow I liked it better than, say, Sin City. The latter felt very pretentious and hollow. Malone felt like an honest B-movie with no delusions of grandeur. I'm not sure I liked it as such, but it was all right.

Thrice punished

Poor old Frank Castle. His adventures on film have all been pretty bad. I had never seen the first one as a teen (probably the only time it could be somewhat enjoyable) and satisfied my curiosity when it was on TV. The Punisher reminded me that Dolph Lundgren belongs in the Christopher Lambert school of truly wooden acting, Louis Gossett Jr. can exhibit some charisma even in a dreadful film, and Nancy Everhard whom I remember from somewhere (maybe the series Reasonable Doubts?) is a nice-looking lady.

Pigeons from hell

No, not the short story, but Hitchcock's The Birds. It feels a little silly these days, but there are some effective moments of suspense when the birds are not attacking. When the main characters board up the house, wait, and try to find news on the radio, it reminded me of zombie films. Maybe Romero was slightly influenced by this?

Another thing I really like is that no explanation is given. Still, overall this is only an average film.

Vastly improved

Fast Five is a real shot in the arm for the franchise and the best entry since the original. The concept of bringing a big team together works and Justin Lin has evolved as a director. The action is still more outrageous and removed from the laws of our physical reality, but I don't say this to criticize. It is a dumb movie but gloriously so.

I can rebuild her. I have the obsession...

I had seen Vertigo once previously. Another viewing probably helped me to appreciate it as one of Hitchcock's best and most disturbing films. James Stewart continues to tear down his All-American nice guy image after doing it in Anthony Mann's westerns. It seems he is the one possessed, not Kim Novak. Bernard Herrmann's score is one of his best and Robert Burks provides great cinematography. The story feels murkier than in any previous Hitchcock and the ending doesn't offer any relief.

Very good, then, but not my favorite Hitch.

Hoverboards

They were pretty much the only thing I remembered from Back to the Future Part II. It was darker than my memories and better too, although not quite as good as the first. The Blu-ray transfer looks amazing.

Rotoscope drugs

First iPad-written entry, let's see how it goes...

A couple of friends came over and we watched A Scanner Darkly. Interesting animation style and properly bizarre plot. Quite a cast, too: Robert Downey Jr, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson... And a bunch of songs by Radiohead. I enjoyed it.

Apparently this iPad text entry thing doesn't play nicely with the blog formatting commands. Oh well.

Hitch + Hitch

The Project moves on - maybe we'll actually finish this year!

Tonight's double feature was Hitchcock's remake of his own The Man Who Knew Too Much and The Wrong Man.

The first was a solid effort but not exceptional. I wonder if the director himself thought it better than the 1934 film. The second was very interesting and not much like his other films. It's low-key and based on a true story. The photography is rather noirish: black & white, shadows & light. It lacks Hitchcock's familiar trickery. Henry Fonda is very good as the wrongfully accused man. The master's frequent collaborators Robert Burks and Bernard Herrmann worked on both films.

Next up, Vertigo, finally. It's been a long time since I last saw it.

Odinson

Thor himself (Chris Hemsworth) was the best part of the entertaining Thor. Natalie Portman was typically good with her small role and Tom Hiddleston pretty good as Loki. Most other Asgardians (and Earth people, for that matter) were kind of one-note characters. Thor's hammer-fu felt weighty and mighty enough for the most powerful warrior of a race once believed gods. The Destroyer looked like a proper Kirby creation. We also got a first look at Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, even though he remained uncredited.

Frost giants were disappointingly small, basically fulfilling the "faceless orc horde" role.

Good time was had by this comics fan.

Dark side ascendant

Not strictly film-related, but I guess I can stretch my own rules. And you can watch movies on it, so...

I, a notorious anti-fan of many things Apple, bought an iPad 2 this weekend. Can a hipster haircut be far behind?

It's five by five for Darren Aronofsky

I've seen Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, and The Wrestler, and found them all affecting films. Very different stories and settings, but one could argue that the story is not the point in his work, by which I mean a written version wouldn't feel so stirring. His use of visuals and sound (including faithful composer Clint Mansell) is essential to the whole. Sometimes what he shows is horrifying, sometimes mystifying, sometimes neither, but it always seems to touch a nerve in me.

I'm not saying all movies should be like this - one of my favorites, Howard Hawks, preferred a rather low-key approach and let the characters and dialog carry the story. Both ways, and others, are perfectly valid. But it's really refreshing to see an Aronofsky film every now and then.

This long-winded preamble was just to say that now I've finally seen Black Swan, too. As with The Fountain, it took some time before I was absorbed in the proceedings, possibly in part because I know nothing of ballet. But I don't have to comprehend the artistic side to see it's brutal, body-breaking work that's supposed to look easy, echoing The Wrestler. Things build and build and towards the last third I was completely riveted.

I wasn't as devastated as after watching Requiem (which I still haven't seen again), but most definitely affected. It's a great film about obsession and perfection, even though I don't plan repeating the experience soon.

Every last seat was sold and my neck will feel the suboptimal location tomorrow. Suffering for your art, indeed.

Heavy reading

TASCHEN's 100 All-Time Favorite Movies was so cheap I couldn't resist, even though Rio Bravo or North by Northwest are not included. But I guess I know them by now.

Dangerous

Ah, Hollywood. Only there can Jean Peters be the plainer-looking woman of the two female leads in Niagara. But the other one was Marilyn, and there is something about her in this film that immediately spells "dangerous". The Niagara Falls are dangerous, too, and the ending is signposted early on but this matters not a bit. A nice noirish thriller, all in all.

King Tiger vs. up-armored Balrog

It's got tanks. It's got a big monster. It's got Weta Workshop building all that and Gary Kurtz of Star Wars & The Empire Strikes Back fame producing. I think Panzer 88 is one film I definitely want to see. I hope it gets made.

Read a good article here.

Unlikely weekend combination

While visiting friends in the countryside we watched X-Men: The Last Stand for game background and Låt den rätte komma in because everyone wanted to see it.

X3 is pretty uneven, but stays just on this side of watchable. Still, it's hard not to wish that Bryan Singer had stayed on the project. Let the Right One In (its English title), on the other hand, was a real surprise and a real gem. A Swedish vampire movie about two 12-year-old kids sounds like it shouldn't work. Happily, I was proven wrong.

We win, Gracie!

If you're going to make a dumb movie, why not make it gloriously dumb? Armageddon is handicapped by a natural immaturity, and I forgive it. Harry Stamper is the man.