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July 23, 2024

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Paramount Summer Classic Film Series Double Feature-Orson Wells

Another double feature at the Paramount Theater on a Saturday afternoon. Two films featuring Orson Wells, one of them was also directed by him. Both films have classical elements to them which might put them on anybody’s Best Lists.

The Third Man

Carol Reed directs a post war thriller created by Graham Greene specifically for film. This was a David Selznick Production so everything was first class but it is certainly an unusual setting for a Selznick film. The actual producer was Alex Korda so it is more accurately a British Film and it thoroughly feels like that. The film is considered a noir, although some traditional elements of a noir seem to be minor. The thing that most justifies that classification is the style in which the film is shot.

The use of black and white is highly expressionistic and the shadows, silhouettes and sudden reveal of Orson Wells character are famous for the atmosphere they create. One characteristic that does not feel noir like at all is the soundtrack, infused with zither instrumentation, it is terrific for the film but rarely ominous or sinister. Still, a non-traditional noir is still a noir when it features a mysterious murder, duplicitous characters, unfaithful women, and a villain who is charming, even if he has no scruples.  

Joseph Cotten  is Holly Martins, a writer of pulp westerns, who has travel to Vienna to join his friend Harry Lime, only to discover that Lime is dead, and Vienna has no use for him. There are a number of bumbling American tropes thrown in to make him feel even more out of place, but his loyalty to his friend may be the one that is most subtle and important. It takes a lot for Holly to recognize that his friend would not be recognizable to him, if Holly knew his real business. The famous shot of Harry Lime being revealed is the start of Holly’s doubts. Before he could dismiss evidence and opinion, but his own eyes tell him that Harry can’t be trusted. 

In addition to the mystery, and ultimately a chase through the sewers of Vienna, there is an unrequited love story. Anna Schmidt loves Harry, Holly falls in love with Anna, Harry never really loved Anna, and apparently loved Holly’s friendship under false pretenses. It is all very complex, and it gets more so as Harry’s confederates murder witnesses and even help frame Holly for the crimes. The British, who were fooled at first but Lime’s deception, don’t fall for any of the subsequent traps, so Holly is never really at risk, but it does make for an interesting twist two thirds of the way into the film.

Two quick James Bond connections; future Bond director  John Glen was working in the editing department at Shepperton Studios when the film started production. He had a similar build to Joseph Cotten and was enlisted to supply the sound of his footsteps in post-production sound dubbing. Bernard Lee, who plays the sympathetic British Sargent and fan of Western Novels, would go on to play “M”, 007s boss in eleven Bond films.

I don’t think anyone left after the first feature, it looked like the house stayed the same size for the second film.

Touch of Evil

I  have seen this film several times, but I have to admit, they have all been after it was restored in 1998. The stories of how the film was butchered after it was delivered by Welles seem to echo the experience he had with “The Magnificent Ambersons”. Still the film had a solid reputation even before the repairs were made to it in 98. I should probably admit to an affinity for the movie because it also came out in the year of my birth, so whenever one of those calendar references comes up, it is sitting right there.

The drug gangs of today are certainly more brutal than the mob that is in this film. Here the criminals seek to tarnish the legacy of their main adversary through a complicated plot. Today’s cartels would simply torture him, cut off his head and display the body in public to discourage follow up. I don’t think we are getting more civilized as we move forward. I suppose it is justifiable to say that in modern times, Charlton Heston would never be cast to play a Mexican using brown face make up, but that social constraint is mild compared to the truth of border town life these days.  

The movie opens with the famous continuous tracking shot, culminating in an explosion. Director Orson Wells is showing off here, but it seems that the studio largely left him alone while the film was being made, so he had a lot more fun playing around with these moments then he’d had on other studio films. Wells was a husky but handsome figure in “The Third Man”, but ten years later in this film, he is clearly overweight and looks unhealthy. Much of that was the make-up and prosthetics but not all of it, and it shows at times. 

Wells did have control over the story, since he is the one who switched the nationalities of the two leads and made Charlton Heston a Mexican. Much of the film is shot at night so we get many sequences that make the film feel noirish. Wells seems to have wanted to confound the audience with the plot, and used characters in several over the top moments (notably Dennis Weaver) to distract the audience from paying too close attention to what was going on. The score is jazz infused and dark, which fits the mood of the picture well. It is no surprise that the Mexican Government was not keen on letting the film be shot in the planned Tijuana, this is not exactly a tourism ad. Venice California substitutes for TJ, and my understanding is that this is an even more accurate switch today, because of thew homeless problem. 

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July 23, 2024

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Videodrome (1983) Paramount Classic Summer Film Series

David Cronenberg films are an acquired taste. They often have a cult status to them that may be off putting to those who are not familiar with his aesthetic. So it makes perfect sense that the presentation of this film as part of the Paramount Summer Classic film Series, is presented by the Hyperreal Film Club. Their film choices are often off center or feature some esoteric element that makes the movie distinctive. This seems like a perfect match for them. The guest host from the club spent a good deal of time, warning the audience about some of the extreme elements of the picture. They also suggested a number of themes that you could look for in the story to help make it a more insightful experience. There was a little drift in the intro when the film’s star came in for a bit of criticism that was not based on the movie and made some presuppositions that were never justified, but that is a minor point.

“Videodrome” takes place in a different cultural time and the technology will seem quaint to an audience forty years from it’s origins, but the themes are still relevant, and if we adapt our assumptions from television to the internet, they actually seem more vibrant than ever. At the center of the story is a conspiracy to modify the view of the world for those who consume this product. The hypnotic effects results in fantasy sequences of body horror and violence, or are they fantasies? Cronenberg seems to be having it both ways, the images we are seeing are real and they are imagined. This is also a theme of the film, what is reality? 

Debbie Harry is listed as one of the stars, and she is featured, but her role is definitely a supporting character. After the first act, she is seen only in brief hallucinogenic moments by the protagonist played by James Woods. Max Ren, is a cable TV producer, who has a knack for finding disturbing material that his customers can’t take their eyes off of. He is a sleazy character who is primarily motivated by money, but although he does not appear to have a clear ethos, there are lines that he begins to see should not be crossed. Woods appropriately plays him as both hero and victim because that is what Max is. He is heroically, but futilely resisting the Videodrome technology, while at the same time succumbing to the seduction. In what amounts to the first virtual character in a film, Professor Brian O’Blivion , turns out to be the real hero of the film story, although be is never seen except on TV. 

This is one of those mind f*** movies that puts the audience in the position of trying to figure out what is really going on and whether or not they are a part of it. One of the things that makes it disgustingly compelling, is the terrific special effects make-up created by the great Rick Baker. Baker is one of my unsung movie heroes although unsung is hardly the truth, he does have seven Academy Awards to his name. It’s just that make-up is often overlooked in the success of a film, but in this case it is essential. Max has physical changes that are revolting to think about, but fascinating to watch on the screen. I do like the trivia that the video tapes used in the film are BetaMax tapes, because VHS was too large for the effect that they created. I think it is also appropriate that they are “Beta” MAX, given out central character. 

The Hyperreal Film Club also presents a short film from one of their members as part of this series. It will supposedly be available later this year on-line. I was quite entertained by “We Joined a Cult”, and when it is available, you will get four minutes of gruesome laughs yourself. 

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July 19, 2024

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Parmount Summer Classic Film Series-Lady Sings the Blues

So it has only taken me fifty-two years to catch up with this movie, a film that was very popular in it’s release during my favorite decade of movies. So why have I missed it for so long? I can’t exactly say, although I suspect I was hesitant because of the downbeat drug elements in the story. Billie Holiday died decades before Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, but she died from the same disease, out of control drug use. As I was watching the film, I saw that the producers did their best to create an upbeat ending with a redemptive arc, that was not really the way the story ends. In a way, that should have made it more appealing to me as a film, because it focuses on entertaining us, but I still think it is a bit of a cheat.

Nevertheless, “Lady Sings the Blues” is an entertaining biopic that tries to capture the talent of it’s subject, while also describing the hard luck existence that describes her life. The biggest plusses the film has going for it are the musical sequences and the star turns by the two leads. I am not an aficionado of Billie Holiday, and I have seen in some places that Diana Ross’s interpretations of her songbook are not as impressive, but on their own, they are very effective and I think anyone listening would enjoy her song stylings. Diana Ross also has great star quality, which I don’t think was captured in any other screen performance. Of course she only made three films, and was woefully miscast in “The Wiz”. She was a better fit for the fashion show that masqueraded as a movie “Mahogany”, although that film is not good at all (See my comment on 1000 Nights at the Movies with Dee).

Her acting in this film is stellar, and she maneuvered through a range of ages convincingly, as well as showing us the dark side of addiction. The scene in the bathroom where she threatens Billy Dee Williams with a razor over her drug kit is chilling and sad. The motionless lump that she becomes in the aftermath may seem like an easy shot, but there is physicality to it that requires the actor to commit and boy did she. Her cluelessly high performance while Richard Pryor is being beaten is another spot where her acting talent gets a moment to shine.  Billy Dee Williams as her co-star husband gets credit for spilling his charisma all over the screen. His part is underwritten and I know it is a compendium of characters that his role encompasses, but the script gives him little to do and it is in fact antithetical at the climax of the film. Still, it doesn’t matter much when that face appears on the screen and the smile crosses it. That will fill in for a lot of unexplained back story.

There are of course historical markers in the film that are important, but they really come across as cliched, although I think that in 1972, they would have played more dramatically. The incident that provokes the song “Strange Fruit”, in particular, feels like it is dramatically staged rather than a natural incident. The screenwriters and director Sidney Furie, try to make it work for the movie, but it feels so staged that it undercuts the moment.   Holliday’s defiance of a Klan March while she is on the bus with the band is a good moment for Ross to show off in, but another moment that feels dramatically staged. 

Overall, I quite liked the film and I was impressed with Miss Ross as an actress. She certainly deserved the accolades that she received for that performance. I am not sure, but the soundtrack album may be in my collection in the garage. If it is, it was something that my wife brought to the marriage, because I know i did not buy the record. When I look, if it’s not there, I will correct that because the music in the film worked for the movie. This was the third musical in a row that we saw at the Paramount. July is heavy with their theme of “Pop (corn) Idols”. They are not all musicals, but I’m happy these were.  

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July 16, 2024

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Paramount Classic Film Series-Robert Rodriguez Presents Terminator 2

We are more than halfway through the Summer Classic Film Series at the Paramount Theater, and I have fallen behind in my posts on the films that I have seen there. Saturday last, I went to the screening of Terminator 2 presented by Robert Rodriguez. The local film maker and Austin hero, has picked several films for the Summer Series and is introducing them himself. He tries to choose films that he can give some personal insight to, often through his connection to the film makers that he has worked with or connected to. These week we got some James Cameron stories. 

I loved the story he told about meeting James Cameron. Back in 1994, he ran into his close friend film maker Guillermo del Toro, at the Virgin Megastore in Hollywood. Del Toro was meeting his own friend at the location and asker Robert if he would like to meet his buddy James. Of course, and when they were talking, Rodriguez mentioned that he was working with a new Steadicam and Cameron said he had one of those, but he wasn’t using it to make a film, he was taking it apart to re-engineer and improve it. He told a similar story about visiting Cameron at his home and finding an Avid editing complex, not just one device, set up in a giant screening room. I like thew fact that all three directors met at the Virgin Mega Store in Hollywood. It had the best Laserdisc Sales set up of any retailer and I visited there often. 

“Terminator 2” was the biggest movie of it’s year and the most expensive movie ever made up to that point. I have always preferred the original film over the sequel, not for any defect in “Judgement Day”, but because the tools used in making the first film are just more meaningful to me. The stop motion animation, the puppetry are all so cool. Terminator 2 ups the ante on effects, and although it uses some of the first really dynamic digital effects, there are still a plethora of  practical effects and make up in the film.

The brilliant twist was to turn the original model of a Terminator into an ally rather than just the antagonist. Kyle Reese still kicks ass but having your own terminator as a protector is just awesome and Cameron, Schwarzenegger and Edward Furlong have a great time playing with that concept in the movie. I mentioned practical effects a minute ago, maybe the greatest of these was the way co-star Linda Hamilton sculpted her body to become the bad ass no nonsense momma bear in the film. Also, when you see the doubles in the film, Hamilton at the end and the security guard at the mental hospital, Cameron used a really old school tool, twin siblings. 

I did not have my shirts in time for the screening, they arrived  Monday, so let’s just pretend I was at the club when a gunfight broke out and I was lucky to get out of TechNoir and make it over to the theater to see the movie. 

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July 6, 2024

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Paramount Summer Classic Film Series Double Feature

We had a Double Feature at the Paramount Theater last night. Two 1980s era musicals about dancing. Not to put too fine a point on it, the line for the ladies room was extremely long, for the gentlemen, not so much.

Dirty Dancing

I saw this film when it originally came out in 1987 and I remember enjoying it but not particularly embracing it. I think I have seen it once since then, but more that twenty years ago, again, with some appreciation but not necessarily enthusiasm. After last night’s screening however, I think I can say I am a fan. Maybe it was the passage of time, the fact that I was seeing it with my daughter, or simply the audience enthusiasm that became contagious that converted me. This is a very well made movie. It may be a little hokey, but all of that hoke works the way it is supposed to. 

Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey are terrific in the movie. He is a dynamic dancer with looks that can make a female audience member swoon, and she is fresh and authentic and has the dramatic chops for the part that she is playing. So what that the story is the well worn plot path of two people from different worlds falling in love. They get to do so against a great soundtrack, with a nostalgia painted background and dance while it happens. 

Jerry Orbach as Baby’s (Grey) Father, manages to create the kind of father figure who remains sympathetic in spite of his opposition to the pairing. His interjection into the story because of a medical emergency seems right, after all he is a doctor, and the confusion about what is happening was understandable. The third person perspective the audience has allows us to identify with all the characters, and also applaud when the indifferent villain of the piece gets his comeuppance, both at the hands of Johnny (Swayze) and Baby’s Dad. 

The audience last night filled the Paramount with cheers, catcalls and swoon filled ahhhs, as Baby and Johnny come together. The humorous courtship through a crash course in mambo dance training was just the ticket for the blossoming romance. Little expressions on the faces of the two lovers, or a gesture from one to another, elicited a tickled response from the audience. I had not remembered how long the dance sequence in the employees quarters was near the start of the story, but it was worth it.   

In spite of a serious abortion subplot, most people will remember this as a light romance with charismatic actors who had great on screen chemistry. I have read that Swayze and Grey had some personal clashes but managed to successfully work together in making the movie. From watching them in the film, it is hard to believe they frequently did not get along. Choose the fantasy. 

The second film had lost nearly a third of the audience but none of the enthusiasm.

Footloose

Although not as well constructed as “Dirty Dancing”, “Footloose” manages to be just as entertaining, with it’s own sense of purpose as well. No doubt there are repressive communities like the one imagined here, but the stereotypes are a little more jarring in comparison to the first movie. This was a star making turn for Kevin Bacon, who is still in demand as an actor, forty years later (He appears in “Maxxxine” which I will be seeing later today).

The dance sequences in “Dirty Dancing” grow out of the story setting, with dancers at a Catskills resort. Here, there have to be invented moments which will allow for some of the dance moves to be demonstrated. The audience approved of the moves in Bacon’s warehouse solo dance scene, although those approving cheers were frequently preceded by laughter at the set up. Regardless, I think I will have to agree with Peter Quill:

Peter Quill:  on my planet, we have a legend about people like you. It’s called Footloose. And in it, a great hero, named Kevin Bacon, teaches an entire city full of people with sticks up their butts that, dancing, well, is the greatest thing there is.

As much as the dancing is about Kevin Bacon, most of the drama is about Lori Singer. I wasn’t convinced by her relationship with Bacon’s Ren, but she does hit the mark with her contentious but still loving relationship with her father played by John Lithgow. Reverend Moore is trying to protect his whole congregation, in an attempt to compensate for the loss of his son, and the pain he feels is balanced by his sincerity. When he snaps and slaps his daughter Ariel, it is a shocking moment that brings uncomfortable realism to an otherwise light weight fantasy film.

The “Footloose” soundtrack is filled with original compositions that were co-written by the screenwriter, Dean Pitchford. He has eight credited songs in the film, songs that he worked on with the likes of Kenny Loggins, Jim Steinman, Sammy Hagar, and Eric Carmen. It has a very different feel than the 60s needle drops of the other film on this double bill. The scene where Ren plays “chicken” on a tractor, gets the over the top Steinman treatment and it is a perfect fit of grandly over the top song with ridiculous scenario. “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” is a comic gem in the spot that it is used. Overall, the audience was thrilled. 

I’m inclined to accept this summary.

Peter Quill: The Avengers?

Thor: The Earth’s mightiest heroes.

Mantis: Like Kevin Bacon?

Thor: He may be on the team. I don’t know, I haven’t been there in a while.

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July 5, 2024

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Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Chinatown

As I am putting this post together I just read that screenwriter Robert Towne passed away Monday night at the age of 89. “Chinatown” is his masterpiece, and it certainly seems fitting that we were seeing it on the big screen at the time he was moving on to his final resting place. This is the second time we’ve seen the film on the big screen this year, having enjoyed it at the TCM Film Festival back in April. This year is the 50th anniversary of Chinatown, and celebrating it with multiple screenings, as well as spending time with the book “The Big Goodbye” which is primarily about the making of the movie, all seems fitting.

The screenplay of course is one of those that manages to get everything pitch perfect. We know from the background on the film that it took long battles and big arguments between screenwriter Robert Towne and director Roman Polanski, to get to the finished product. Ultimately, Towne was unhappy with the ending of the movie, which of course features tragedy rather than redemption for the heroine. I think we’re lucky that Polanski won, because the final line of the movie, which everyone knows, is the perfect coda for what we have seen in the previous 2 hours.

Again we need to credit the great Jerry Goldsmith for coming in at the last minute and replacing the score with a jazz infused time period appropriate combination of horns and piano. The film just wouldn’t work without that set of themes or nerve racking minor key piano notes. It’s also easy to give huge kudos to the production design, which manages to make Los Angeles of the 1970s look like Los Angeles of the 1930s. I imagine that there was some graffiti removed around the Los Angeles River, certainly some traffic controlled on Alameda, and the flood control channels look a heck of a lot more pristine than they probably do today. Let me also say that every piece of clothing worn by either Faye Dunaway or Jack Nicholson, should be available for us to purchase today. I know I could rock that jacket that he’s wearing in the last part of the film. 

We were encouraged by the Paramount to dress up for the occasion, and although I didn’t have an appropriately colored fedora, I did have a black one that worked pretty well. The tie I picked out belong to my uncle Howard, who was actually my father’s uncle, and I have no doubt that he bought it sometime in the 1930s, the style is just too precious. I added some suspenders but most importantly I added a bandage to my nose to complete the picture. I got several compliments from people walking out of the theater, who appreciated a little bit of extra effort. I know I had fun and I know I love this movie.

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Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

It’s always a joy seeing animation on the big screen but when it’s combined with live action as effectively as is done in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, it’s an even greater pleasure. This was a groundbreaking film from director Robert Zemeckis who must have twisted some arms, kissed some butt, and prayed to the movie gods to be able to have access to all of the classic cartoon characters that appear at some point or other in the film. It seems almost impossible to believe that Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny would share a scene together. But they do and it’s hysterical.

The story builds on a well-known fantasy that there was a deliberate effort by car companies and the oil industry to get rid of the public transportation in Los Angeles. The rate at which the city was growing and the space that it was taking up was never going to be accommodated by the old red line, but the world is full of conspiracy theorists, and this plot takes its cue from that Old Chestnut. The most fantastic conceit in the film is that the characters are film stars who are animated and live in the real world. That means that humans and hippopotamuses are going to bump into one another. It means that that old joke where Bugs Bunny paints a line on the road to move the pursuers into crashing into a wall, can actually happen. And in this film it does.

Bob Hoskins needs more credit for the work that he did in this film. As the human private detective Eddie Valiant, Hoskins has to be handcuffed to animated Rodger Rabbit, have his hair stroked by an animated Jessica Rabbit, shake hands with a variety of cartoon characters that we will recognize from our childhood, and be the butt of some of the gags that we all knew from Saturday morning. He’s terrific in this movie. So many people deserve credit for making the film work but let’s not forget to mention animation director Richard Williams who managed to get animated critters to interact with human beings in a believable way.

There’s so many things to admire about the movie, but I want to start with the opening cartoon which is done in a text Avery Style with characters that feel familiar but are completely original. Baby Herman and Rodger Rabbit dashing through the kitchen avoiding tragedy with every movement, and the toon ending up being targeted by just about every item in the kitchen drawers is just funny. When it breaks at the end because Roger can’t come up with stars to show his concussion, rather than tweeting birds, it’s a Hollywood Insider’s dream.

Everyone should remember that Christopher Lloyd is not just a character actor but was an important star in the 1980s. Of course “Back to the Future”, but also “Star Trek 3″,” The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th Dimension”, and this film, where he plays Judge Doom, a cartoon masquerading as a human. His maniacal eyes, somber expression, and creepy voice almost give him away. And when the secret is out, believe me text Avery is applauding somewhere.

The film was playing at the State Theater next door to the Paramount because there was a concert being set up at the bigger venue. We had arranged to meet a couple of friends of ours from the neighborhood in front of the theater, but they were running a little late from some appointments they had on Sunday morning. Ultimately they got into their seats about 20 seconds before the film rolled. It was nice to get a chance to do something with people that we know from the neighborhood. We had a nice lunch afterwards, and Sunday afternoon is a great time for a cartoon and something to fill your belly.

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July 2, 2024

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Horizon An American Saga Chapter 1 (2024)

I’m a fan of westerns, a genre that doesn’t get much love these days. It’s rare when a Western shows up in a theater, although there seem to be a plethora of them on streaming services. Actor/director Kevin Costner seems to be a fan of westerns also, he made two terrific westerns in the past, one of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. I have yet to catch up with the various seasons of Yellowstone, and having seen only the first three episodes of the first season I’m not sure how closely it hones to traditional westerns, but from what I saw it sure felt like a contemporary version of some of those old style films.

“Horizon” attempts to do something that is very ambitious, tell a story about the settling of the West, through multiple characters in simultaneous time settings. It also attempts to do this by making the characters complete and the stories unique. As a result of this attention to detail, there is a vast amount of information and story play out. This means that even a 3-hour movie will be insufficient to provide the canvas that screen writer Kevin Costner and his co-authors have come up with. Thus, this movie is only Chapter one. Chapter 2 is complete and will be coming in August, and Chapter 3 is being filled now. It doesn’t look like the films will be making back the money that was invested in them, so I have some doubt about whether the fourth film in in The Saga will be completed. That is neither here nor there though, today we are talking about the first film.

From my point of view “Horizon” is managing to do something that is terrific, giving us an engaging story with a multiplicity of plot lines that all managed to engage us but in completely different ways. Some of the stories involve a mystery, that will certainly be explained as we go along. Some of the stories are a bit of a quest, mostly with characters seeking vengeance, or defying the inevitable wave of immigrants seeking a home in the West. It also looks like we are going to get some love stories, a little bit of political intrigue, and definitely more gunfights.

This first chapter opens quietly with a few souls trying to survey property that they hope to turn into a homestead. Then later, as a larger group has assembled in this particular spot, there is a massive Indian raid and and dozens of homesteaders are killed, and the animosity between the Apache’s and the new immigrants is set up. Sienna Miller plays a woman whose family is decimated in the attack, and with her preteen daughter, she seeks security and safety with a troop of Calvary men not too far from where the massacre took place. Sam Worthington is the lieutenant who back ends into managing the aftermath of the Indian Massacre, he also looks to be a potential romantic partner for the newly widowed Miller.

It takes more than an hour before Kevin Costner’s character appears on screen, but the roots of the conflict that he’s going to become involved in were set up early in that first hour with the character played by Jenna Malone. It actually becomes quite complicated, because it is uncertain what Malone’s character has done, and why. Let’s just say that a toddler, a lady of the evening, and a saddle tramp are about to be connected in a very unusual way. Meanwhile we are also introduced to a wagon train filled with immigrants headed toward Horizon, which is the name of the future town that they hope to establish. They will be facing cultural disputes, personal antagonisms, along with water shortages and hostile indigenous people.

We are not seeing this story merely from the perspective of the new immigrants however. The Native Americans are having their point of view illustrated on screen as well. There is no unanimity among the natives as to how the indigenous peoples want to confront the newcomers. The oldest chief, seems ready to cave to the inevitable tide of white men coming into his territory. Two of his sons and the band of followers however have a vastly different approach to the influx of a new population.

The film looks spectacular, it was shot in Utah which has some of the most beautiful landscapes in the West. Director Costner is taking full advantage of the diversity of physical settings that are available in these locations. His character Hayes Ellison, is traveling through these vistas, accompanied by a temporary family, and pursued by another family who are out for vengeance. You can see the tension building in all of the stories, but you will not find a complete plot in this movie. It literally is a single chapter in a much larger tome.

It looks like the general critical word on this movie has been negative, but that’s the polar opposite of my view. This is going to be one of the finest films of the year, and it has more ambition, interest, and compelling characters than any of the other films that I’ve been seeing this year. Although the movie is 3 hours long, it flies by because some of the action scenes are so compelling that you don’t realize how much time has gone by. We never stay too long with one story, before another story starts playing out its events, and then we’re on to the next story before you know it. As we come back to each set of characters we have an expectation that something new is going to take place, and it is usually enough to keep us wanting more.

Admittedly director Costner has cribbed substantially from The Works of John Ford, but if you’re going to steal from someone it makes sense to steal from the best. Long live the Western, I can’t wait for chapter 2 in August.

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June 27, 2024

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Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Evil Dead II

The Evil Dead series has fascinated me since I first discovered it in the early 1990s. I was aware of the films for a number of years but never bothered to investigate them, because I didn’t know anybody else who had seen them. That changed one night on a Halloween when I was at a friend’s party and we watched “Evil Dead 2” after the kids had gone to sleep. I laughed and screamed at the ridiculous amounts of blood, body parts, and Three Stooges jokes that were being thrown at me. These were my people.

I’ve seen the Evil Dead, and Army of Darkness, on the big screen multiple times. This may have only been the second or third time I have seen “Evil Dead 2” in a theater. But as with most theatrical experiences, the presence of an audience as well as the big screen, and the requirement that you stay engaged, makes the experience something that is far superior to home viewing.

I’ve been to two or three presentations where the “Man God” Bruce Campbell, has appeared in person to talk about the films we are watching. 3 years ago in this same theater we came for a screening of the original “Evil Dead”, and Bruce was there. We had sprung for an extra couple of bucks in order to get a picture opportunity, but it was Covid and the pictures required social distancing, which makes it look a little bit like it’s photoshopped. I don’t care, we were in the presence of greatness. The talent of Bruce Campbell is especially on display in “Evil Dead 2”. His performance involves a physicality that most actors in an action film would have a hard time achieving. In addition he has to convey some of those emotions that are going on in the character while under a layer of makeup and appliances that would make most of us cringe to think of having on our bodies. He is really quite effective and there are so many close-ups on his face that require him to communicate those emotions in a humorous way but in a way that is also quite immediate. He Nails it.

Some of the storytelling and much of the acting is deliberately ham-fisted in order to gain as much humorous power as possible. The audience last night laughed uproariously at each situation that required Ash to come up with another solution that was ridiculously violent. Most of those moments occur after he has decapitated his girlfriend with a shovel. I understand that budget limitations produced some of the slightly clunky stop motion effects in the film. I have always been a fan of stop motion special effects, I’m not sure that Ray Harryhausen would approve of the way the technique is used in the first part of the film. It’s definitely brilliant, even if it isn’t as polished as a Harryhausen film would be.

Even the cheesiest jokes work well in this film, because director Sam Rami, knows what he’s going after. The goal is to shock and entertain the audience with the most audacious visualized or violence, and the silliest hero’s journey you can imagine. There’s just one word for the whole thing… groovy!

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June 26, 2024

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Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Star Tek II: The Wrath of Khan

Once again we are back at the Paramount for another Summer Classic film. This time it was the first film of this season in the “Robert Rodriguez Presents Series”, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”. Local hero Director Robert Rodriguez chooses films that he was inspired by or has some connection to and then introduces them with behind the scenes stories and tidbits about the actors. The villain in this film was played by Ricardo Montalban, who made a couple of the “Spy Kids” movies with Rodriguez. The director noted how the question always comes up about Ricardo’s physique and whether he wore a prosthetic chest piece. That is in fact Montalban’s own chest, and the costume designer was so impressed with his appearance, they created costumes that accentuated his look.

Director Rodriguez also recounted the sad history of Montalban’s back injury and the surgery years later that confined him to a wheelchair. Of course movie magic allowed the actor to run in one of the “Spy Kids” films and that was a nice moment that he shared with us. The director has a long list of notes in a notebook that he refers to as he prowls the stage like a tiger, not from anxiety but rather enthusiasm. He surveyed the audience and found one person who saw Star Trek II when it opened, at the same theater he had done so back in San Antonio in 1982. That audience member was presented with a nice picture book about the making of the movie. I suspect it was also autographed by our host.

“The Wrath of Khan” was a follow up to “Star Trek the Motion Picture”, which was financially profitable but at a huge cost. The sequel was done with a miniscule budget in comparison, and the production was taken over by the TV unit of Paramount to hold down costs. Still, there are several great production moments in the movie, including the battles between the two starships and the Genesis Project video. There are several spots where shots are cribbed from the first movie but it is not egregious. The fact that “Khan” was a continuation of an original series episode was discussed and Rodriguez had edited together a ten minute version of the episode for us to watch before the movie.

You can read my thoughts on the movie here, and  here, and here. This is a movie that I adore and every chance to see it on the big screen should be jumped at. There are two things I would like to add about the screening. Robert Rodriguez explained that another way to save costs was by skipping the more expensive Jerry Goldsmith as the film composer and hiring James Horner. The future Academy Award winning composer was the go to Roger Corman and Star Trek II was his big break. Ironically, Director Nicolas Myer said he was hired because they could not afford Goldsmith, but when Meyer returned to the series for Star Trek VI, they could no longer afford Horner.

The other thing I wanted to mention was the beautiful artwork done by Bob Peak. The prolific film poster illustrator did images for all of the original cast movies, but his work on Trek II was superb. So good in fact, that I draped myself in it for the Sunday night show.