True Romance (with additional drug references)

After David Lynch's Wild at Heart, this film probably had the most influence over me as a viewer and a future film writer. I had seen plenty of edge-y films by the time this rolled around thanks to both of my parents being Stephen King fans and my dad really digging Clint Eastwood. Of course I'd seen love stories like The Princess Bride, The Bodyguard, and Pretty Woman. But seeing a film like this (and Wild at Heart), an edge-y, violent love story was an entirely new experience and one that showed me that films weren't always just entertainment, they could be so much more. I watched True Romance, probably cried, and then decided these were the kinds of films I wanted to see, forever. Little did I know how much influence the writer of this film would eventually have on me, years later! 

True Romance, 1993 d. Tony Scott 

You're so cool!

Written by: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Michael Rapaport, Dennis Hopper, James Gandolfini, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, Bronson Pinchot, Gary Oldman, Christopher Penn, Tom Sizemore, Saul Rubinek, Val Kilmer

Summary: "In Detroit, a lonely pop culture geek marries a call girl, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood. Meanwhile, the owners of the cocaine, the Mob, track them down in an attempt to reclaim it," (IMDB). 

What's better than a good drug deal story? Drugs always add such an exciting, naughty element. Is someone addicted (Less Than Zero)? Are they concealing the drugs inside other objects like coffee grounds (Beverly Hills Cop) or toy statues (Traffic) or hiding them in a baby's diaper (Three Men and a Baby)? In the 3D Friday the Thirteenth sequel (part three), they actually ate the drugs to get rid of the evidence. Yes I realize these examples are cheesy and there are many better ones, but  whatever, DRUGS! Here Clarence (Slater) obtains a suitcase of drugs while tendering his new wife Alabama's (Arquette) resignation from the world of prostitution and whoops, turns out the mafia wants that suitcase back. 

Clarence has an actor friend out in LA, Dick Ritchie (Rapaport) who thinks he might be able to sell the drugs, but whoops, the director he has in mind has an assistant who just got busted for possession himself and is eventually roped into wearing a wire in order to expose the drug deal. Things get . . . violent. Turns out no one has my sense of humor when it comes to drugs.

In terms of technique, think of the two most dissimilar places in America (such as Detroit, Michigan and Hollywood, California) and you'll have the basics of the contrasts at play in this film. And yes, these two locations are used as the settings for the story, so it's like, literal. The gray and gritty influences are Drexl (Oldman), Vincenzo (Walken) and his mafia henchmen which include a young Tony Soprano himself, James Gandolfini, and Clifford Worley, Clarence's father (Hopper) as well as the vehicles, run down apartments, and unpleasant weather. This Detroit and most who inhabit it are not living lives of optimism. 

In Hollywood, the mood, the colors, and the characters all shift radically: we get palm trees, neons, and big personalities all bathed in the California sunshine. The spaces are interesting---fancy hotels, old school drive-thu restaurants, and an amusement park. Even Dick Ritchie's apartment, made more appealing by the illustrious stoner, Floyd (Pitt), is exciting because of its location presumably among other would-be actors' pads and for the action it sees during the film. Also because drugs.

Transcending the lights and darks and haves/have-nots of the mise en scene, the pop music chosen shows Clarence's link to coolness (as Alabama will later write on her little napkin while Clarence "does business") and arguable mental instability in the secret Elvis communication that happens at crucial decision-making moments. The steel-drum/synthesizer light-hearted motif that comes and goes throughout the film seems to be pure Alabama, her optimism, her acceptance, and her childlike nature, assuring us that no matter how difficult things get it will all turn out fine in the end. In this way, Clarence and Alabama, through their personalities and their naivety, are the wild cards --contained by neither gritty Detroit nor sunny Los Angeles-- who are allowed to travel between places and ultimately outsmart the agents of both. 

The racial insults in Clifford's story to the Sicilians are difficult and upsetting to hear. There's more difficulty near the end when the two cops make rape jokes to Eliot (Pinchot) and added racial epitaphs during the fated hotel meeting with Donowitz (Rubinek). Tarantino writes about unsavory characters, after all, but these moments are still disturbing. Would that these criminals were not so problematic. And obviously it goes without saying that this film is not going to appeal to everyone for these and other reasons, but I still think it has a lot of heart under all its offensive moments. That said if this one gets under your skin, you definitely don't want to go any further in Tarantino's body of work. If you ask me, this story (Alabama in particular) is nothing more than what his answer would be if someone back in the early 90s asked him to describe his ideal date, and I get it. I like most of all this, too, I just don't want to actually GO there. 

Gotta love that wisdom ala Vivianne in Pretty Woman "she rescues him right back," ending, right? Wins like this for women weren't too common, even in the 90s. What a gal. Look for her reference in Reservoir Dogs soon after this film (Hell of a woman, good little thief!).

Cinema in Quarantine: Strange Bedfellows

Last week I watched a few different films, did some cleaning and baking, and deactivated my Facebook account because a break was needed (STAY HOME/WEAR A MASK). The funny thing about these three films is that they relate really well to the stack of books I'm reading right now, hope to have those finished next week sometime.

The 39 Steps, d. Alfred Hitchcock, 1935

A man in England gets drawn into some espionage stuff; danger unfolds.

This was probably one of my least-remembered Hitchcock films; I read the book some years ago and didn't remember much from that, either. Now that I'm a more mature person with fewer interruptions, I thought I'd give it all another go as this was the first selection on Netflix's Criterion Collection (disk). It took two separate viewings for me to really get into it, but was worth it in the end because I really appreciated the second. I got to enjoy the little moments that felt very Hitchcock: slow, moving camera to show suspense through varying POVs, the strength of the musical numbers (orchestral, whistling, wavering between the jaunty situations and announcing peril), and sly, witty banters between the principal characters, Hannay (Robert Donat) and Pamela (Madeleine Carroll).

There's a neat little moment that fans of the Chicago St. Patrick's Day parade scene from The Fugitive will recognize about midway through, and the ending, though subtle, is one of my favorite wrap-ups of a mystery story, ever. It's a smart and fun, but have some caffeine and keep the subtitles on. If you don't keep on top of what's being said, you're apt to tune out.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, d. Guy Ritchie, 2017

The son of a murdered king draws a magical sword out of stone; danger unfolds.

This has got to be one of the most underrated films of the last decade. The only complaint I have about it is that I wish it was either longer or done as a trilogy or series. So much happens that's amazing and impressive but is presented as exposition or an afterthought that really leaves one wanting more (Uther Pendragon and Merlin, to name a couple), and the end scene especially hints at more shenanigans in the future, but whatever. As an action film with supernatural elements, it still gets everything right. The banter and nicknames are great (use subtitles), the fight choreography is amazing, and the music on this one (composer Daniel Pemberton) is absolutely among the best in soundtrack history.

I know people will come after me about Hunnam, but I'm sorry, I love the guy. He does in this what he mostly always does--looks amazing and does great physical acting while his supporting cast does most of the emotional heavy lifting. The accent in this is decidedly better than the Jax Teller we all came to love (and cringe at), and no weird swaggering around, so bonus. I'll also say that it was this film that took him up a level as an actor, and that he's only gotten better in everything he's done, since, so I think del Toro and Ritchie have both brought about positive effects in CH. Take a look:



Django Unchained, d. Quentin Tarantino, 2012

A former slave joins forces with a German bounty hunter in effort to locate his wife; danger, disgusting racism, and extreme violence unfold.

I saw this in the theater when it came out and had a hard time with it. It was put together well, amazing aesthetic, performances, and music as all of Tarantino's films, it's just . . . difficult to watch and difficult to talk about, too. I hated DiCaprio as Calvin Candie the first time around, this time I wasn't bothered by his performance as much, I just was uncomfortable with pretty much everything going on, as was meant to be the point, clearly. No matter how idiotic the Klansmen plantation owners are shown to be (which is very), we're still watching idiotic Klansmen and plantation owners commit violent, dehumanizing acts, and it's troubling enough to be sickening. I guess what I'm trying to say is, as competent a film as it is (these types of things indeed happened, and as Rod Serling once said, we shouldn't look away), I couldn't be entertained by it, even as a sort of get-what-you-deserve fantasy tale like Kill Bill or Inglourious Basterds. There's just too little distance between how racism was portrayed or acted upon from this film compared to the enslavement that this film is about; the fact that the same words are still being uttered by racists and many of the same violent actions are still happening today in 2020 is ridiculous and horrifying. I agree that we shouldn't look away, I just don't know how a conversation about this film should go, considering.

I very much enjoyed Django (Jamie Foxx), I loved his lines, his attitude toward the racists, the bounty hunter outfit and hat, and his tear-assing around bareback on the horse after the exchange with the Australians. More than anything else, I loved his words to his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) when the two finally reunite:

Thoughts on violence and empathy in Marvel's The Punisher

I initially set out just to review a television series; what ended up happening was a lot broader than I could have imagined. I still don't have any firm answers, but much of what facilitated my curiosity in how the violence was used in this show stemmed at least in part from how I have reacted positively to what I considered to be personally relevant (fictional) violence in the past--the primal rage that guided the actions of Kill Bill's Beatrix Kiddo. When each of my children was born, I felt such a fierce, protective love for them that I completely understood the idea that a mother could react with violence at someone's harming her kids; even though I don't think I would be able to hurt someone who hurt my child, I think it would occur to me to do so and thus I found Tarantino's acknowledgement of it validating. Over the top and again, acknowledged through fiction, but validating. I don't know if this series can achieve the same kind of validation for those who may find it personally relevant, and I don't think I could, in good faith, ask someone who might find it personally relevant to watch it. 

In any case, I suppose if Ebert can review The Human Centipede, I can review this.


The Punisher (2017)
starring: Jon Bernthal, Amber Rose Revah, 
Ben Barnes
creator: Steve Lightfoot

"After the murder of his family, Marine veteran Frank Castle became a vigilante known as "The Punisher" with only one goal in mind, to avenge them." (summary by IMDB).

Shane Walsh: The Good Bad Guy

I came to this series the way I've come to a lot of recent ones, through Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Twitter recommendations. I haven't read many graphic series, but the one I have experience with (Kirkman's TWD) put me in a good position to at least approach this show with curiosity. Fans of the television series already know Jon Bernthal as the ill-fated Shane Walsh from The Walking Dead, and if you were left wanting more from him, this show delivers it and then some. 

This is not to say that this is a program for everyone, even fans of the Marvel Universe, it's really not. It's very explicit. No superpowers, no magic stones, and no real optimism to speak of, it's a mostly plausible tale of government corruption and military trauma and is presented in a raw, unapologetic way. To be completely honest, this show might be the most violent thing I've ever seen on television to date in the form(s) of gun violence, hand-to-hand fighting, stabbings, torture, military combat, assassination, vehicular assault, and terrorist-motivated explosions. 

The story takes you through a combat veteran's active duty experiences, the murder of his wife and children, the continuing corruption of the government agencies that sanctioned these events, and the difficulty many other veterans have in reconciling their past military actions with their current civilian lives.

Can a show with all this still be a worthwhile experience? It really depends. My initial responses were either a firm "no" or a somewhat wavering "maybe." If you enjoy Marvel comics but can't handle extreme violence, then no. Definitely not. If you've experienced any of the previously described violent acts firsthand, then also no. If you're able to stomach it and to put the violence in its context, then maybe. There are a few supporting plot lines that do a little in providing slightly positive challenges for the narrative such as a member-organized support group for veterans, another insider-ally who has faked his own death to protect his family, and an Iranian-American Homeland Security officer who takes on her own department and several others in order to uncover the corruption and abuse that Frank is avenging. It's hard to know how much is too much with a topic like this given the fact that our troops' time in Afghanistan hasn't really ended yet; presenting a fictional situation in the middle of a very real, ongoing conflict comes off as crossing a lot of lines, no matter how comic-book loyal or over the top they tried to keep it, however, it does accomplish a level of empathy for our servicemen and women and builds awareness that more is needed in order to support them throughout their service. 

Also: BEN BARNES. 

Speaking to the technique of the series of course seems a little dismissive after working out all of my complicated feelings about the fact that this even exists as a work of art, but I think still think it matters. Overall I found the experience of this show to be a combination of something like the procedural feel of Kathryn Bigelow (such as in The Hurt Locker or Zero Dark Thirty) meeting the more reality-based aesthetics and violence of Quentin Tarantino (such as Inglourious Basterds or The Hateful Eight). 

Bernthal's portrayal of the character was very much downplayed; he seemed quiet and sullen for his deliveries suggesting a cold, controlled, beaten-down kind of soldier, which he absolutely was. It almost felt like he put a lot of TWD's Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) into his lines, doing them as straightly as an Englishman portraying a Southern boy would do. 

The music was extremely well-matched to the dark content of the narrative and many times included driving percussion and sweeping chord progressions to set the tone for danger as well as jarring, electric guitar chords to herald Frank's entrance into situations and to present him as a threat, a badass, and ultimately the victor in every situaton. The opening credits introduction (shown below) is really quite good but don't be fooled by the folksy guitar--things are bad and get much, much worse. It's hard to know what else to say. I can't really recommend it, but should you take it on, just tread lightly and look into the pillow once you hear the metal guitar or the skull shirt comes onto the scene.




I had a "Who is this for," and "Who shouldn't watch this" all written out and ready but I deleted it. Just proceed with caution and know your limits. 

Sorry I ain't been around . . .

I last posted here in February of 2013.

Kind of a lot has happened since then but I still dig on all this and as always, have things to say, so as the Black-Eyed Peas so eloquently put it, let's get it started. I'll try to be brief, poignant, and entertaining (and I'll be failing at 1 and 2).

HIT RESET.

1. HOMELAND (spoilers) 

I'm a huge fan of Homeland, have been since the beginning. I think we actually left Christmas of 2013 early in order to get home and finish the season we'd been binge watching that week, and with the exception of season 4, I've enjoyed each consecutive year's offering. And as a bloated, self-important, longtime fan, I'll even go on record and say I thought they did a great job this year.

From what Twitter has to say, people were really piss-and-vinegared about the finale--Quinn's er, resolution, as it were, and sure, it was unfortunate. You know what else is unfortunate? EVERYTHING ELSE ON THAT SHOW. Oh, you liked Brody? Yeah, things went poorly for him. You enjoyed Saul and Mira together? Yeah, no more of that. David Estes? Farrah? Dana Brody? Just kidding, everyone thought Dana Brody was an insufferable brat, but whatever. These were all interesting, well-written, well-developed characters and all of them had bad things happen to them because it's a show about THE CIA. No one gets a fun, happy life, least of all Carrie and least of all Quinn. If you wanted an ending where they frolicked off into the sunset I think you may have been watching the wrong show.

Quinn was a legit badass, one of my very favorite characters of all the shows I'm invested in. What made him so striking was that he was damaged and competent---the best at his job, but intelligent enough to know that the job he was so very good at was killing him, little by little. Many times the writing referenced Quinn's desire to leave intelligence, but someone or something always pulled him back in and because he was the best black ops agent Dar Adal had ever recruited, he got every shit job that came along because no one ever got 'er done like Quinn. (We don't ever want to know what happens on the wall, we just know that we want him on that wall, we need him on that wall.)

What happened to Quinn in Berlin was terrible, and what happened to him after was terrible. Yeah, he was in love with Carrie. Yes, it would have been nice if they got together and left the life to go raise Frannie and Hop on a beach somewhere, but it was never gonna happen. If Quinn didn't have a stroke, something else would have done it, because EVERYTHING ON THIS SHOW IS UNPLEASANT. Maybe I've spent too much time watching Kathryn Bigelow's films, but people who have difficult jobs often times don't get a lot of blissful moments. I think Quinn got that, and so did Carrie. He did a noble, selfless thing in the end, not just for Carrie but for the PEOTUS, as well. Too bad she turned out to be such a snake in the grass. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm very excited to see what they do with that dynamic next year---remember all those years with Evil President Charles Logan on 24? Everyone loved hating that guy.

Salutes to Rupert Friend for his amazing portrayal of Peter Quinn, here's one of my faves of his:



2. TWIN PEAKS 

This guy!

May 21 is the premiere date of the new Twin Peaks reboot, a two-hour long episode! I've started a re-watch and plan on dropping these creepy little reviews I did of the show the first time I watched all the episodes back in the 90s which referenced things like

Best Lynch Moment: Cooper meeting Audrey, "Do your palms ever itch?"
Best Line: "By God those things will be quiet now!" --Nadine
Coffee, Pie, or Doughnut Count: 9

I don't want to know anything beforehand, but Kyle MacLachlan has been extremely active on Twitter, answering questions live and liking/retweeting a ton, so that's been pretty rad. I think they're all as excited as we are! See you there? SEE YOU THERE.

3. I'm teaching a Tarantino film class for Minneapolis community ed this spring, which is pretty much the class I've been wanting to teach since I started doing film classes there in 2012. Wednesday nights, 7pm. Link below, if you're interested. Need to be at least 16, kids, and FYI, films will contain violence.

Film Appreciation: The Films of Quentin 
Tarantino

Hopefully I'll see you there, too!

Pulp Fiction

I was behind the rest of the world on this one; I didn't see it until I was a sophomore in college. Clearly I had been watching films for a great many years before this, but Pulp Fiction was the first film that made me stop and think, "Holy fucking shit," during the entire thing and for days afterwards. In a way, it was the catalyst that led to my quitting music and doing film instead. To say that I love it would be putting it mildly; if you know my kids' names, you know just how serious I am. More than soundtrack, cinematography, or dialogues, this film taught me one thing: sometimes there are things (films, sentences, people, actions, writers) that just come together and are almost undefinably awesome---I want this in my life in all ways possible.

Pulp Fiction, 1994. Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson

"The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption." (IMDB).

The items that struck me then are the same ones that strike me now. Mostly chronologically:

1. First scene with Pumpkin and Honey Bunny; freeze frame on the last second before the dialogue ends. Scorsese does it, which means a shit load of Frenchmen probably did it too, but damn, it looked *awesome.* Tim Roth's sort of animated, explanatory rant together with the strangely innocent yet impulsive Amanda Plummer. That gun he slams down on the table and the metallic sound it makes. "Garcon means boy."

What an opening.

2. Samuel Jackson as Jules Winnfield: deliveries and reactions. The explanation of Tony Rocky Horror's recent speech impediment and the implications of Vincent's date with Mia Wallace. The exchange over Big Kahuna Burgers and sprite followed by the "'What' ain't no country I ever heard of," bit. All lines spoken at Jimmy's house: "I'm a mushroom cloud-layin' mother fucker, Mother Fucker!" Can I say that he made the film? He did.

3. The soundtrack. Quentin Tarantino was born in 1963; I was born in 1976. He grew up listening to a vastly different collection of music than I did, but the selections chosen and their placements within the film completely blew me away, again and again. The surf music of The Tornadoes and The Lively Ones; Dick Dale's Miserlou. The Statler Brothers. Urge Overkill. Al Green. Kool and The Gang. And my personal favorite, Dusty Springfield, when Vincent meets Mia. I love this scene, a lot. He's stoned on Choko; she's doing lines. She watches him through a spy camera while he stares at a painted picture of her. Her lips, her voice, her feet.



4. The Overdose. Mostly I love this because of the car antics and all the cursing. Vincent's Malibu fishtailing around the corner. "Fuck you, Lance, ANSWER!" The way Lance (Eric Stoltz with Jesus hair/beard and robe) just paces around that cluttered up house and then finally goes to the front door, snaps up the window shade and sees that car fly across the lawn (at a diagonal angle to what is presumably the driveway) and then crash into something, maybe the chimney. Favorite. Scene. Ever. I don't think my dad ever saw this but as someone who laughed hard enough to cry at the motorcycle through the wall scene (plus Sammy Davis's reaction) in The Cannonball Run, I think he would have dug it. This is a minor part of the film, I realize, but seriously, I think about this whole scene being written ("Car flies up across lawn at angle and crashes into house. Vincent drags Mia from car, unphased,") or however it appeared in the screenplay, and I almost pee myself giggling.

What do they look like, Jimmy?

5. Overlapping and out of sequencing the storytelling. Everyone does this now, but Tarantino did it first. Trickery. I like it. Also, in the end, referring to Jules and Vincent as "dorks," when Jimmy (Tarantino) clearly is one himself.

Bonus for liking gourmet coffee.
What a film.

Inglourious Basterds, repost.

O Quentin, My Quentin: Inglourious Basterds, 2009, directed by Quentin Tarantino.


"In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis." (IMDB)

This is not Tarantino's finest film. Diane Kruger, blah, Eli Roth, NO (I actually wish he would have been a little calmer) and the scene in the basement pub was ages longer than it should have been, but other than that? Still very enjoyable. Brad Pitt is an excellent buffoon. I loved Melanie Laurent as Shosanna (in fact, would I be in the market for any more children down the road, which I'm not, the name would be Emmanuel (le) were it a boy or girl, after Shosanna's vengeful alter-ego). Music, killer, as always. Good use of the John Ford doorway at Lapadite's place ala John Wayne in The Searchers, ala David Carradine in Kill Bill, or any other outsider who is not *supposed* to come inside. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) however, does come inside.

Oui, Shosanna!

Was there ever anyone so slippery? Or cunning? Every scene he was in gave me goosebumps. It was hard to know how to feel about him, obviously he's evil, but he's brilliant and sneaky too. And as it turns out, not above getting caught in his own web of lies. First he loves his nickname, then he hates his nickname? "You don't know why you hate the rat, you just do," (vermin as some sort of obvious metaphor for the Jewish people, yet, this great Jew-hunter is unable to identify someone he shot at as she sits inches from him?) This fascination I had with him quickly turned to disgust once he started chawin' that damned Apfelstrudel; chewing noises are where I draw the line. Nonetheless, best supporting actor in 2009, I think it was right on the mark.

The greater theme here, as always, is DON'T FUCK WITH ME. This is why I love, love, love Quentin Tarantino. I think he must dig his mother a lot, because he writes such amazing stories and illustrates such powerful scenes of women's struggles, while not taking anything away from the men. After all the talk recently about Dragon Tattoo, rapes, murders, sociopathy, and what not, I think it's reasonable to bring up the fact that yes, these characters are by all definitions violent, vengeful, and well, not right in the head. . . HOWEVER. These are films, stories, fiction. Does anyone really want to watch a film or read a book about someone that follows all the rules? If you try to see Tarantino's films as having any firm basis in reality, you're barking up the wrong tree (clearly this particular tree is one of my personal favorites). And without turning this into too much of a girls vs. boys bunch of blathering, who was it that got the job done in the end? Was it Hans Landa? No. Aldo Rain and the Basterds? In a small way, I suppose, but not really. It was SHOSHANNA, baby, with a bang. 

Tales From The Crypt, Season One: The Man Who Was Death

The Man Who Was Death.
Starring: Bill Sadler

"After the death penalty is abolished, an executioner continues his former job through freelancing..." (IMDB).

This is a perfect first episode; good music, clever script, nice little twist at the end, and an actor who can carry it pretty much all on his own. Bill Sadler (you'll probably remember him from Shawshank Redemption a few years after this) was perfect as execution specialist Niles Talbot. The script mentions Oklahoma as Talbot's home state, but whatever southern accent he was going with was *perfect* for this sort of narrative and kept the character from becoming too stoney and sociopathic---he's just a good old boy, after all, right? He drops the early syllables on a lot of his words and damn if it wasn't (almost) sexy? Behind becomes 'hind, between, 'tween, and so on. I almost think listening to this as a radio program would work just because of his voice! "Treat whores like queens and queens like whores and they're on their backs quicker than you can say 'Son of Sam.'" Words of wisdom, Niles, words of wisdom. I first saw this episode back in 89 when it first hit HBO; I have never forgotten that statement.

The music was perfect, too. Those eerie, circus-y themes going on during the walks (both first and last) to the electric chair were damned creepy, almost too happy and manic for what was happening on screen, but they worked. As the biker Jimmy Flood is riding up to the fence (which Niles has of course electrified) the instrumental is a good one, Link Wray's Rumble (which Tarantino used during the uncomfortable silence segment inside Jack Rabbit Slim's).

The twist at the end is predictable, but a good one---not unlike the sort of turning of tables that goes down in The Obsolete Man in The Twilight Zone's second season. And should we talk a little bit about the introduction, also? Opening theme by Danny Elfman, of course, (who else) and John Kassir does the voice of The Crypt Keeper. Excellent character, although this introduction had him a bit more reserved than later ones, hardly any cackling at all and mostly throaty giggles and a lot of hand-rubbing. I prefer my Crypt Keeper obnoxious with high-pitched womanly laughter, thank you; the self-electrocution was a nice touch, though, I'll keep that.

I love this show. Check out Niles's final project below (spoilers):

Some clips #KillBill

Happy Friday!

Inglourious Basterds and The Departed.

These are the sorts of things that made me quit being a music major halfway through the first quarter in my fourth year and decide to do film instead.

O Quentin, My Quentin: Inglourious Basterds, 2009, directed by Quentin Tarantino.


"In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis." (IMDB)

This is not Tarantino's finest film. Diane Kruger, blah, Eli Roth, NO (bears don't have loud outbursts, just let your bat do the talking) and the scene in the basement pub was ages longer than it should have been, but other than that? Still very enjoyable. Brad Pitt is an excellent buffoon. I loved Melanie Laurent as Shosanna (in fact, would I be in the market for any more children down the road, which I'm not, the name would be Emmanuel (le) were it a boy or girl, after Shosanna's vengeful alter-ego). Music, killer, as always. Good use of the John Ford doorway at Lapadite's place ala John Wayne in The Searchers, ala David Carradine in Kill Bill, or any other outsider who is not *supposed* to come inside. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) however, does come inside.

Oui, Shosanna!

Was there ever anyone so slippery? Or cunning? Every scene he was in gave me goosebumps. It was hard to know how to feel about him, obviously he's evil, but he's brilliant and sneaky too. And as it turns out, not above getting caught in his own web of lies. First he loves his nickname, then he hates his nickname? "You don't know why you hate the rat, you just do," (vermin as some sort of obvious metaphor for the Jewish people, yet, this great Jew-hunter is unable to identify someone he shot at as she sits inches from him?) This fascination I had with him quickly turned to disgust once he started chawing that damned Apfelstrudel; chewing noises are where I draw the line. Nonetheless, best supporting actor in 2009, I think it was right on the mark.

The greater theme here, as always, is DON'T FUCK WITH ME. This is why I love, love, love Quentin Tarantino. I think he must dig his mother a lot, because he writes such amazing stories and illustrates such powerful scenes of women's struggles, while not taking anything away from the men. This sort of thing Is. My. Bag, baby.

Irish Mean Streets: The Departed, 2006, directed by Martin Scorcese.


"Two men from opposite sides of the law are undercover within the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish mafia, but violence and bloodshed boil when discoveries are made, and the moles are dispatched to find out their enemy's identities." IMDB.

The Cranberry Juice Dispute.

I love this, too. Some of the scenes between Matt Damon and Vera Farmiga were a little uncomfortable and clunky, realistic, I guess, but just not great.  Everything else was right on. Music killer, as always. Were there any VO narratives on freeze frames? I can't remember. Oscar for Marty, best director of 2006 and God Dammit, it was about time. And although I really, really enjoyed this, something about those Italian thugs from Providence getting whacked just didn't sit right with me in this, ("let's not cry over some spilled Guineas,"); one of them had to be connected to Paulie, right? Boston ain't that far away from New York, right? Right?

Textbook verbiage on theme in a Martin Scorcese picture? "spiritually-charged moral conflict." (A Short History of the Movies by Mast and Kawin) I prefer the DeNiro variety; I think I'll put Casino on the books for December, yeah?

Girls, Girls, Girls.

All the best girls are in Tarantino and Rodriguez films.

In Planet Terror and Machete, they get to kick ass despite physical disabilities.

Rose McGowen has never looked hotter, nor has Freddie Rodriguez, actually. I loved them together in this-- best sex scene I've ever seen. I think it was the music. Or the editing; it added a lot.

Of course I loved the fat little foetus-baby in the carrier at the end (!) Like Machete, this film is my idea of perfection. The women were able and intelligent, and hello, SAYID! The whole hospital segment in the beginning was completely remeniscent of Halloween 3, Season of the Witch, right down to Josh Brolin (as Tom Atkins who played Dr. Dan Challis) and the Carpenter-esque music going on? Right on.

The little nods to Tarantino were cool. Not just having him cameo as the disgusting rapist, but Dakota's list on the tiny memo pad? (1. Get Tony's cereal. 2. Get crickets for Tony's pets. 3. KILL BILL.) You have to be a nerd and pause it to see the full list because it's only on for a second or two. And the close up on the needle as Dr. Bill attempts to plunge it into Dakota (Mia Wallace's OD). And Earl the Sheriff (from Kill Bill). Cool.

Cherry Darling was cool too, and not just a glory hole. Cool as in Beatrix Kiddo or Jackie Brown or Sartana Rivera. These are women who know things, women who do things. One of my professors had a problem with these portrayals, he thought they weren't real and could never be. That it was unfair for the directors to hold women up like this, on a pedestal.

Maybe. But what about THIS?

  

See, books are very important.

Even to (some) Nazis!

The Reader directed by Stephen Daldry. This director has done other films like The Hours and Billy Eliot. Film was originally a novel written by a German law professor, Bernhard Schlink. I would very much like to read it.

First off, don't be fooled by Ralphe Fienne's name in the credits, he has very little screen time. Secondly, there is something quite unsettling to me about this story, which was obviously the point, but it was just queasy and strange, watching this fifteen-year-old kid sticking it to Kate Winslet. The fact that the character, Hanna Schmitz, later joined the SS didn't really have much shock value for me (I had no idea what this was about, going in) since I was already a little suspicious of the character's moral fibers, if you get me. Oscar-worthy? I'll say it definitely sits better than Sandy Bullock, but I got the distinct feeling that her going without makeup for the role and flashing her goodies around had a good piece to do with it. She wasn't playing an ugly person, and other than all the buggering and Nazi business, she didn't seem all that horrible, really. I feel like those were the only two things we actually learned about her. But then, BOOKS!

She couldn't read!

I suppose if I dig deeper, I could deduce that the kid fell in love with her, completely, but never really knew that she was only using him, first for sex, and then for reading. And then he lived his entire life trying to wrap his head around it, together with the fact that she became a Nazi. That's pretty heavy. I was kind of on the fence about the film for the first half hour or so, but once the reading started, once it became about BOOKS, I put down my cross stitch and actually watched, which honestly doesn't happen very often. It wasn't happy, and it didn't give me a good feeling at all, but it was interesting. Like that film Closer (Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, and Jude Law); I didn't like anything that was happening in the film, but I couldn't really stop watching it, either. This film was like that, but with books.

In other news, I've unfortunately had to discard two more from the September book stack. That makes us 0 for 3, thus far. What Will Be, the technology book? Was written in 1997. What a boner-kill. The Shack is out the door, too. The writing just really started to piss me off, mostly the dialogue, which I will also call a boner-kill. The thing that bothers me in much of the shitty literature I read is bad dialogue, which slays me; do the authors themselves speak this way? Because if they do, they must not talk very much, people would laugh them right off the curb. I get people who don't talk, not everyone is annoying like I am, but BLOODY HELL, MAN, you at least gotta listen!

During the extra footage in The Shining, Jack Nicholson gives a little interview to Kubrick's wife about how he approached the character of Jack Torrance. He said that at first, he wanted to do it as real as he possibly could, he wanted to act legitimately crazy, crazy the way he thought a crazy person would be. Then Kubrick apparently sat him down and told him that while he respected what Jack was doing, sometimes real isn't very interesting. A lot of Quentin Tarantino's dialogues are spectacular, I think, because he gets this. The banter and style in a Tarantino scene seem to be real, but much of what's actually being said is sometimes unreal, ("I used the same soap you did and when I finished the towel didn't look like no Goddamned maxi-pad!") but it's always very interesting.

There is a very fine line between real (believable) and interesting, and I think it's never more obvious when someone gets it wrong than in fiction. It's like you can tell when writers love words, or love what they're writing, because it comes across, clearly. I don't think the writer of The Shack loved or even liked words very much. (Pity).

In the meantime, I have been carrying on with a Joyce Carol Oates anthology of American short stories that I gave to my mother and then stole back from her house. Thank God I did; it has been like literary Vampire Blood.

all things that are good

O Brother Where Art Thou?
Planet Terror
Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott)
A Good Man is Hard to Find (Flannery O'connor)



George Clooney is fricking hilarious as an idiot. I hope he does many more pictures with the Coens. The thing I loved most about O Brother was the music, or just generally watching George Clooney be an idiot. He does a great idiot as Miles Massey in Intolerable Cruelty too. The best scene for me was in Woolworth's was when he leaned in close to Holly Hunter saying, "I have travelled many a weary mile to be with my wife and my six girls. . . " and she gives him a look like she might rip his clothes off and make out with him but really she's super pissed at him and keeps telling the daughters how he was hit by a train. If I was Holly Hunter I probably would have wanted about 45909 takes of that scene. The Coens have a great way of seeing the ridiculous humor in life, even if it's a dark humor. Things still pretty much end okay in their films.

Robert Rodriguez really knows how to make a film. Planet Terror for me was like Halloween 3, Season of the Witch but done well and with zombies instead of robots. I have to protest a little with the kid shooting his head off in the car, just because it's really disturbing and I don't know necessary (better than being ripped apart by zombies?). Or is he putting the blame on the mother for leaving him in that car, alone with a loaded gun? Maybe old man Brolin got him, who knows. Even though I know that Rodriguez has 4 boys and that he'll know things and make decisions (re: kids in film) in a different way than the childless Tarantino, it seems to me Tarantino and Uma Thurman had more rapport going when it came to being parentally sensitive. I don't think any **actual** mother would have left her child alone in the car where zombies might get him, especially with a loaded gun. (Blind Mary INgalls leaving the baby in the burning school while she helps OTHER KIDS? No.) Hit the road and don't look back, DAKOTA. See? Beatrix Kiddo would never have done that.



A Good Man is Hard to Find: Very, very disheartening. Who shoots babies? Is the theme of this story that these kids were brats, the parents didn't teach them to be better, more respectful, so they had it coming? Very disturbing. I thought of how stories like these are realistic, in the run of things, since the world is so full of disturbing events, normally. To deny this is to deny reality. I just don't know if I like read about it or watch it, this disturbing reality. I sometimes prefer my rose-colored false reality where everything is all right, people are basically good at heart, and love is enough.

Which brings me to Anne Lamott. I loved her book, Bird by Bird, but I got the distinct feeling that she has led a very jaded, manic life. Does everything have to be so damned dismal? She's very clever and a great teacher of the craft of writing, but sometimes I had to wonder if someone with a more optimistic approach could have written the same thing with a more uplifting, positive feel to it. You can tell right away if someone is pissed at the world. . . I think she might be.