Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with Norbizness

DVD Review Catch-up, Part One

Vengenace is mine, sayeth Min-Sik Choi!

Currently, my home computer sounds like a whirring jet engine. Something's definitely wrong with the fan motor or something, and if it can't be fixed by banging on the casing with a hammer, then I'm fresh out of ideas. Hopefully a new one will be arriving later this week, meaning that I'll be able to dick around and accomplish nothing at twice the speed. On to the reviews:

1. La Guerre est Finie (d. Alain Resnais, 1966) The director of the groundbreaking Hiroshima Mon Amour takes a very existential look at the world of revolutionary politics in this star vehicle for Yves Montand. In other words, it's all about planning and waiting, rather than action. Along the way, the aging Spanish Communist played by Montand runs across a variety of people while in Parisian exile. It's a very slow moving picture, punctuated by two very artfully filmed sexual encounters, one with a very young Genvieve Bujold, and one with recently deceased Swedish star Ingrid Thulin. This one may merit a second watching before I can get a grip on it, but a very interesting response by Resnais to the New Wave filmmakers like Godard and Truffaut. 7/10.

2. The Virgin Spring (Criterion #321, d. Ingmar Bergman, 1960): According to the commentary, the latest of Bergman's medeival dramas, based on some morbid, 13th century Swedish ballad. It also marks the first time he collaborated with legendary cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Bergman himself considered this a semi-corny film; too heavy with symbolism and over-acting to get the main theme (the flawed juxtaposition of dark paganism with pure Christianity) across. However, it's beautifully filmed, using tracking shots in a chilling rape-murder sequence similar to that used by Kurosawa a decade earlier in Rashomon. Good extras, including interviews with several surviving actors, a documentary, and an audio seminar conducted by Bergman at the American Film Institute in the late 70s. 6/10. Sorry to say I've made it only halfway through another dark picture of his, Hour of the Wolf, so nothing for now on that.

3. The Bad Sleep Well (Criterion #319, d. Akira Kurosawa, 1960): The last picture by Kurosawa on contemporary Japanese society, tackling the themes of vengeance and corruption, until his last several movies in the early 90s. The first 15 minutes, focusing on a wedding reception that's also an introduction to a corporate cartel, is brilliant. However, the movie loses a little bit of focus and becomes semi-contrived and over-long. Apparently, this was the product of a contorted writing process that saw five different authors' input (always a bad sign, even in today's cinema). What's interesting is to see the regular group of actors who were in his samurai pictures take on far less noble roles as corrupt Japanese officials. 6/10.

4. The Killer (d. John Woo, 1989): I feel a certain shame in not having seen the Hong Kong pictures that made Mr. Woo famous... before he devolved into rank American hackdom (motherfucking Paycheck, for God's sake). All of the elements are here: inventive gunplay, plot holes the size of dinosaurs, lots of birds flying around during key action scenes, and occasionally brilliant shots bookended by cheesy Miami Vice-like sequences. Although it aspires to emulate Melville's Le Samourai (at least that's what Woo says in the commentary), the movie falls significantly short and hasn't aged all that well. However, it's head and shoulders above the legion of PG-13 schlock-imitators it's spawned, in no small part due to the powerhouse presence of a young Chow Yun-Fat. 5.5/10, and expecting disagreement.

5. Oldboy (d. Chan-wook Park, 2004): The third Asian picture in a row dealing with the theme of vengeance; this Korean export is really inventive, brash, and filmed with bravado. At its best, it recalls the better portions of Tarantino and David Fincher's movies. In fact, it's about the most Fincher-like movie I've ever seen, combining elements of The Game and Seven. After a tantalizing set-up, the movie gradually winds down, and then proceeds to become undone by an asinine twist ending and resolution in the last fifteen minutes. 8/10 for the first 90 minutes, 3/10 for the last 15. I'll appreciate it a lot more once the shitty American remake (not joking) comes out.

6. The Devil's Backbone (d. Guillermo del Toro, 2001) The Mexican-born director of some above-average American pseudo-horror movies (Mimic, Hellboy) really delivers with this tale of an Spanish orphanage haunted by a boy's ghost in the war-torn 1930s. All of the performances, especially by the young cast, are uniformly excellent, and the story moves along at an interesting pace to reveal that it's not really about the non-malevolent ghost at all. Highly recommended, especially given the absolute dreck that passes for horror/suspense movies (I'm looking at you, Shyamalan!) these days. 8/10.

7. Spartacus (Criterion #105, d. Stanley Kubrick and Anthony Mann, 1961): The only movie on which Kubrick didn't have control, and it shows. To begin with, the first 30 minutes are directed by ANthony Mann. Secondly, Kirk Douglas was in full shitty-acting mode for pretty much the entire movie, and insisted on the final cut for many of the scenes he was in. It's the supporting performances from a trio of legendary English actors (Laughton, Olivier, Ustinov) that make any of the scenes worth watching; the battle scenes are competently done, and the romantic scenes between Douglas and a radiant Jean Simmons are Attack of the Clones-awful. What makes this DVD version worth renting is the delightful running commentary by Peter Ustinov, original novelist Howard Fast (who hated the movie), and famous visualist and credit-creator Saul Bass. 5/10 for the movie, 8/10 for the extras.

Part two and the introduction of the searchable DVD review database by tomorrow, if my computer doesn't start glowing radioactive and making its way to the center of the Earth. UPDATE: Top ten Repo Man quotes are in the extended entry...

10. Otto: What happened to your old lady?
Bud: My old lady? Oh, shit, I forgot all about her. Well, she'll take the bus. She's a rock.

9. Miner: You gonna give me my car, or do I gotta go to your house and shove your dog's head down the toilet?

8. Parnell: That's what happened to this friend of mine. So he had a lobotomy. Now he's well again.

7. Duke: You say our names, we're going to have to kill all these people, Archie.

6. Leila: Charming friends you've got there, Otto.
Otto: Thanks, I made 'em myself.

5. Miller: John Wayne was a fag.
All: The hell he was.
Miller: He was, too, you boys. I installed two-way mirrors in his pad in Brentwood, and he come to the door in a dress.

4. Kevin: "There's fuckin' room to move as a fry cook. I could be manager in two years! King. God."

3. Otto: I ain't no commie.
Bud: Well, you better not be. I don't want no commies in my car. No Christians either.

2. Debbi: Duke, let's go do some crimes.
Duke: Yeah. Let's go get sushi and not pay.

1. Bud: Goddamn-dipshit-Rodriguez-gypsy-dildo-punks! I'll get your ass!

Posted by Norbizness at February 13, 2006 12:46 AM