Well Played, Poster: (500) Days of Summer

It's nice to finally see a poster actually play around with a concept, ya know? It seems so rare these days. Plus, I love that this not only works as a poster, but also as a merchandising idea. Lovely.


You know what else I like about this movie's marketing? It actually comes off as a legitimately charming and happy one. The trailer was clearly positioning it as a feel good romantic comedy and they've achieved that target again in the key art designs. They're bright and colourful and make me smile. There's something keenly original about them, you know? They don't use the usual conventions of romcom movie posters (although I am bracing for a dire panel poster showing Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel looking lovingly at each with their names flipped around the wrong way above their heads) and they help them stand out. This poster in particularly is wonderfully done.

Review: Coco avant Chanel

Coco avant Chanel
Dir. Anne Fontaine
Year: 2009
Aus Rating: PG
Running Time: 105mins

A lot of the time a biopic is a biopic is a biopic. By mere virtue of existing, one must assume that they know where it is going. They don't make movies about famous people whose lives were not interesting, and in the world of filmmakers, "interesting" usually equals things such as "lived in poverty", "addicted to [insert substance of choice]" and "fights through adversity and tragedy." Anne Fontaine's splendidly made Coco avant Chanel (quite simply meaning "Coco before Chanel") follows the blueprint to a tee, and proves to be the root of the film's problems.

Stop if you've heard this one before; A young girl is made an orphan in the French countryside and goes to live with nuns. She grows up and begins to sing in sleazy bars for money before deciding to shack up with a wealthy count who she feels keeps her trapped like a cage, not letting her creativity spread. She falls in love with another man, a love that is destined to end in tragedy before Coco rises from the ashes from her pain and conquers the world. Yes, it sounds an awful lot like La Vie en Rose, the biopic of Edith Piaf from two years back. Coco avant Chanel is better than that one, that's for sure.


The newer film, however, suffers from similar problems - thankfully hacked up editing is not one of them - including an ungrateful lead character who comes off as incredibly unappealing and one that left me asking why all these men found her so gosh darn irresistible. If somebody would like to explain this to me then I'll listen. The film's formulaic plot developments prove disappointing to. There is nothing in Coco that you cannot telegraph from the opening scenes in the orphanage. And that's even without knowing anything about Chanel other than that she designed clothes.

It is, however, the clothes that set this movie apart. Not just the gorgeous duds that all the characters get to parade around in from start to finish - Catherine Leterrier sure did have her work cut out for her and she succeeds with flying colours - but also the scenes involving Coco designing and creating these beautiful garments. I suspected there was much more passion behind these scenes than there were behind others. The way the camera lingers over Coco's hand and she traces patterns and tears away at fabrics and runs her fingers across expensive lace. It is a shame that there was not more of it. The final scene, a fashion show down a mirrored staircase, is divine and it would have been a more interesting spot to pick up the story of her life at.


As Coco Chanel Audrey Tautou gives a performance that is neither good nor bad, just merely adequate, although she impresses towards film's end when she is actually called upon to show some emotions in her face. There are worse things that spending 100 or so minutes looking at Alessandro Nivola, but here he doesn't register. Best in film honours go to Emmanuelle Devos as an actress and Benoît Poelvoorde as Coco's wealthy count. Both should have been given more. All the technicals are ace, too. From Leterrier's aforementioned costumes, Christophe Beaucarne's gorgeous cinematography and Alexandre Desplat's original music score.

Unfortunately Fontaine has not done enough with Coco's story to make it worth telling on anything more than a visual level. And even then, little is put in to explore the artistic process that goes into it all. The movie has horses and castles and pretty clothes and it's very easy on the eye and I was surprised when the film ended because it certainly didn't feel like it had been over 100 minutes long - a problem many films have is being too long and the audience knowing it - but there's little here that will come to define Coco Chanel to viewers. C+

Movies in Movies: The Great Train Robbery in Friday the 13th: Part III

I'm not imagining this, right? There actually is a poster for silent film classic The Great Train Robbery in the third enstallment of the Friday the 13th franchise. The one that's in 3D. Yeah? WOW!

My MIFF Itinerary (Part I)

The Melbourne International Film Festival released it's much anticipated program today (online version here) and there are some great titles on offer this year. As I perused the guide and took note of interesting sounding films I placed a mark next to them. Turns out I marked 44 titles. Of course, I won't be able to see 43 titles (for many reasons - it's physically impossible for one without some sort of Prisoner of Azkaban-like time travel device). I have listed them below and if any of you guys have seen any of the more obscure titles and would like to warn me about them (or endorse them, obviously) then feel free.

I think I've got a good mix in here. I've been going to the festival for three years now and I have picked up on keywords in film bios that make my ears prick up and my brain scream "AVOID!" I know some people like to see depressing dramas from Turkey and the Middle East for two and a half weeks, but that's not my style so the titles I have chosen are a mix of comedies and drama, horror and musicals, documentaries and classics.

Of course I have to whittle this down to a much more manageable number of films, but that involves the long arduous task of slotting movies into any free time (after work, weekends, etc) I have whilst making sure I get no titles overlapping. Some titles that I desperately want to see will probably prove to be impossible to see, unfortunately, but such is the nature of the film festival beast.

The 43 titles are:

Antichrist (Denmark)
I'm wondering what to do with Lars Von Trier's latest. It has an Australian distributor (I read it on Twitter, but can't remember who exactly), but as far as I am aware there isn't a release date. There's also no guarantee that somebody won't take a pair of scissors to it upon theatrical release, which perhaps gives me reason enough to see it here at MIFF. Hmmm. Click here for more on Antichrist

Blank City (USA)
Takes a look at the underground film culture in New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Sounds like a can't miss for me who loves this sort of stuff and it features talking heads like John Waters so you know it's quality.

Bran Nue Dae (Australia)
Indigenous musical from director Rachel Perkins (Radiance, One Night the Moon) starring the likes of Jessica Mauboy, Geoffrey Rush, Ernie Dingo and Missy Higgins. Definitely my most anticipated Aussie film at the moment. It's the closing night film at the fest, but has an extra screening the night before. Since it (most likely) won't be released theatrical until 2010 I'd really like to check it out at MIFF.


Che Part I [The Argentine] (USA/Spain/France)
Che Part II [Guerrilla] (USA/Spain/France)
Steven Soderbergh's two Che Guavara movies are playing. Unfortunately they have been split up, although on 1 August they are playing back to back. It is, however, the only such occurance as the individual films play on the fourth and fifth respectively for their second festival screenings.

The Cove (USA)
I've heard good things about this eco documentary. Has an Aussie distributor so it should be getting a theatrical release, although documentaries are notoriously fickle with that sort of thing. Even DVD releases can be hard to come by.

Dogs in Space (Australia)
Aussie rock film from 1986 has been digitally remastered and is a special presentation at the festival. Stars Michael Hutchence. I have never seen it (has it been released on DVD?), but could be interesting to see on the big screen.

Dogtooth (Greece)
Sounds like an all-in-the-family version of Funny Games from what I have read (father keeps family indefinitely imprisoned in their house completely oblivious to the outside world). Quite naturally, not everything works out as planned for the dad. Thankfully is only 94 minutes long, which is refreshing I gotta say!

Double Take (Belgium)
I can't quite get my head around what this film is about from reading the guide's bio, but it's some sort of collage about Hitchcock and the invention of television? I don't really know - I will research further - but it's about Alfred Hitchcock so it naturally piqued my interest.

The Draughtman's Contract (UK)
Peter Greenaway's weird classic from 1982 on the big screen.

Eden Lake (UK)
British horror flick that sounds a lot like an American direct-to-DVD title called Timber Falls from last year. Apparently this one though is excellent and intense and horrifying. Could make an interesting late night choice.

An Education (UK/USA)
Incredibly buzzy title that came out of the Sundance festival, stars Carey Mulligan (she's gonna explode onto "the scene", obviously), Alfred Molina and Peter Sarsgaard, from a screenplay by Nick Hornby. Sure to be big on the awards circuit later in the year. I would really like to catch this title at MIFF, but it's theatrical release is in October so I might skip it for something about Chinese trade agreements (/joke).

The Exploding Girl (USA)
As if that title wasn't enough to get me interested, the plot of this New York-set film would have done it. Twentysomethings in NYC. "Disaffected youth" etc. Lead actress. All things that will get me to take notice and I'm definitely going to try and sneak it into my schedule. Won best actress at Tribecca for Zoe Kazan.

Fish Tank (UK)
From the director of the fantastic Red Road, Oscar-winner Andrea Arnold, comes this movie that some people are labelling a "coming-of-age" tale. As horrifying as that prospect sounds, I would much rather watch one of them from Andrea Arnold that yet another from within the Australian film industry.

The Girlfriend Experience (USA)
Steven Soderbergh's third film at the fest is this lo-fi digital indie flick. I really liked the similarly-made Bubble, but I'm not too taken by this one from what I have seen. Stunning poster excepted.

Going Down (Australia)
An old Aussie indie flick (it's from 1982) that's getting a screening alongside the aforementioned Dogs in Space and We're Livin' On Dog Food. Sounds great and it was apparently quite radical at the time. I wonder if a DVD release is imminent? Does anybody have any info on that?

Hansel and Gretel (South Korea)
Korean horror flick that actually sounds quite promising. Doesn't come with a prestige director attached so a regular cinema release may be hard to come by for this re-imagining of the famous tale.

Humpday (USA)
I think there is a perfectly good reason as to why this "mumblecore" movement has so far yet to yeild any movies that actually got cinematic releases here, but this latest title in the canon looks much more entertaining. Should get a regular release here at some stage.

The Hurt Locker (USA)
As far as I can tell this movie doesn't have an Australian release date set (or even a distributor), so this could be one of the big American titles to catch at the festival instead of waiting around. Katheryn Bigelow is a great director and she's been getting big write-ups for this film, which is already getting Oscar buzz. Could Bigelow become only the fourth woman in history to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar? Couldn't happen to a more deserving person though, I must say.

I Need That Record!
The "Backbeats" section of MIFF always has a few goodies and this is looking like one of the finer additions. A documentary about the death of record stores. I love record stores and I miss them so I why not? Well, it appears it went direct-to-DVD in America, which is at least cause for pausing and thinking twice.

Inglourious Basterds (USA)
Quentin Tarantino's WWII fantasy has a theatrical release of a mere two weeks after the conclusion of MIFF so I will not be paying $55 to see it here as part of their "Gala" screenings. QT will be at the festival to introduce it, so that's very excellent and amazing, but... no. I'd rather just may $10 to see it when it's out normally. Read some more about the movie by clicking here.

Kisses (Ireland)
Sounds kind of like Once (boy and a girl in Ireland), but without the twee and without the ever-growing desire to punch the actors in the face and without that fucking vacuum cleaner. My god, THAT BLOODY VACUUM CLEANER!!! Actually sounds very interesting and I hope to be able to see it.

A Lake (France)
Apparently quite visually astounding. Other than that I'm blank. Visually astounding is good by me though.

Little Joe (USA)
Documentary about Joe Dallasandro, muse to Andy Warhol and underground sex symbol. I wonder if he still has that annoying ponytail?

Louise-Michel (France)
I heard some very polar opinions of this French revenge farce from the Sydney Film Festival. Some thought it brilliant, others awful. There were walk-outs. I'm generally quite game for movies like this and I'm not sure if a theatrical release is on the cards for something that is apparently so harsh (and probably not in the "artistic" that allows some movies to get away with it and be hailed as "visionary" - you know the ones I'm talking about).

The Maid (Chile)
Now this one is a film that sprung out from the pages of the program even though I knew nothing about it. Follows a maid who may be borderline psychotic. Lovely.

Moon (UK)
The son of Davie Bowie directs this one-man show sci-fi flick. The "one man" is Sam Rockwell (Kevin Spacey's voice is also hanging around) and the movie looks fascinating. IMDb claims it will be released on 3 September, which is surprising.

Morphia (Russia)
As drug addict movies go this one actually sounds good and, dare I say it, original. Drug movies being labeled original in this day and age is a very rare thing, indeed. Morphia is about a doctor in a small Russian town in the time after the revolution. Apparently it "(f)eatures one of the best endings of the Festival!" <-interesting! Not sure why the poster (click it to see it bigger) looks animated though.

Mother (South Korea)
The director of The Host (sooo overrated) directs this deranged take on film-noir. I actually like the look of this one and it was released in cinemas in Sydney this week with other states to surely follow so if I don't get to see it I won't be too fussed.

Outrage (USA)
Documentary that has rustled quite a few feathers in the USA. Directed by Kirby Dick - whose This Film is Not Yet Rated never got a release of any kind, as far as I'm aware, after appearing at MIFF a few years ago - it seeks to out politicians who deliberately vote against pro-gay rights bills in Washington DC in order to keep their sexuality under wraps.

Paper Soldier (Russia)
Apparently quite visually dazzling and it won Best Director and Best Cinematography prizes at Venice last year. Venice are a great festival so I'm inclined to listen to them.

Prime Mover (Australia)
David Ceaser is not my favourite Aussie director, but this one sounds quite different (there's magic and fantasy!) Plus it stars Emily Barclay and we just don't see her enough on the screen after giving two of the best performances of the decade in Suburban Mayhem and In My Father's Den. True fact.

Prodigal Sons (USA)
Definitely in the top three of movies I want to see the most at MIFF. Nathaniel thought it was fantastic. It is a documentary about a high school quarterback who returns to his hometown... as a woman. Sounds like a comedy that could star Jensen Ackles (random name drop) but it appears to be so much more.

Red Riding (1974)
Red Riding (1980)
Red Riding (1983)
I don't know much about this trilogy other than what Guy at In Contention has written. It was apparently a TV event, but international audiences have been getting them on the big screen. I'm not sure if I want to spend three movie slots with the same series, but there are some interesting directors involved (Julian Jarrold, James Marsh and Anand Tucker).

The September Issue (USA)
Documentary that follows the production of the famous September issue of Vogue magazine, featuring Anna Wintour. I originally wrote that "if Valentino: The Last Emperor also screened then fashionistas would definitely be in for a treat!" Voila, a few places down is Valentino: The Last Emperor! Will be receiving a theatrical release on 20 August.

A Town Called Panic (France)
French animation title that sounds like a bit of fun.

Treeless Mountain (USA/South Korea)
I can't remember where I heard about this, but whoever it was who saw it RAVED about it and it certainly sounds good enough to warrant a screening.

Valentino: The Last Emperor
Documentary that follows the end of Valentino's illustrious career before he retires. Paired with The September Issue would make a fun day at the cinema (both screen on 1 August albeit at different cinemas). Gets a cinema release in early September.

Van Diemen's Land (Australia)
Yet another telling of the Alexander Pearce tale (cannibal in colonial Tasmania). The trailer officially freaked me out and most reports out of festivals have been encouraging (although a good friend of mine was particularly unimpressed and surprised at the positive reaction to the film). Will be getting a release in late September.

The White Ribbon (Austria/Germany/France/Italy)
Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or-winning black and white film about the mysterious and suspicious deaths of people in a school in Germany before the outbreak of WWI. I've only liked one of Haneke's movies - that would be Hidden - but this one looks particularly good and I'm willing to give it a chance. Even if it does turn out to be another Funny Games or, heaven forbid, another Time of the Wolf then at least I'll have something to spit vitriol at and what is a film festival without that?

Yuri's Day (Russi/Germany)
I had never heard of this film before, but the bio in the program sounded really intriguing and you can't have a true festival experience without seeking out movies like this.

{fin}
Well that's my list at the current moment in time. I'll update you when I choose by final set of viewing treasures (and I'll probably end up seeing some stuff that isn't on here due to scheduling difficulties). Any Melburnians out there see anything they like? More MIFF pieces coming over the next month, too. You international peeps will just have to grin and bare it.

Tickets went on sale at 11AM today, so you can snap 'em up now if you want. I managed to get tickets to everything I wanted last year and I didn't get tickets until a later date so I hope I don't miss out on anything this year either. This takes time, folks! I'm disappointed that some titles that showed at Perth's Revelations Festival didn't make their way to Melbourne. I'm still waiting for Tarsem's The Fall to appear ANYWHERE here, and the small clips of We Are Wizards (doco about Harry Potter fan-bands) and Sita Sings the Blues looked very good. Oh well. Hopefully eventually.

I Have One Word For You:

Hello!

Radio

Just a heads up to y'all that I will actually be on the radio tomorrow! John Richards, from over at the wonderful (if only sporadically updated Outland Institute), is hosting and I'll be coming in each week to have a chat about film for roughly 12 minutes or so. The first episode airs tomorrow between 12pm and 2pm. I'm... not actually sure when I am going to be on, but I will be at some point. We shall be discussing MIFF. It will be "live", even though I actually recorded it the other week. Good thing too since, at least in the first episode, I felt a bit awkward with quite a few "so... yeah..."s and such. Hopefully John edited those bits out?

Nevertheless, on the radio I shall be (there are several other guests too, in case you were wondering) and you can listen to it in three possible ways (ooh, delicious). You can actually turn your radio on if you happen to live in or around Melbourne and tune into JOY 94.9. You can live-stream it through the JOY 94.9 website or, at some point after going to air, download the podcast (perhaps from this page?)

Anyway, that's all. Feel free to keep frollicking about as you were.

This Week on Australian Screens

Cinema Releases for the Week 09/07/09
Brüno - You know this movie by now. I think all the naked bull costumes and disco tanks made sure of that.

The Burning Season - I saw an edited version of this on television last year, but it's getting and update and a cinema release now. Narrated by Hugh Jackman, the documentary follows three different paths relating to global warming. It's better than An Inconvenient Truth, that's for sure (not that being better than An Inconvenient Truth is terribly hard.)

The Fox and the Child - A new docu-drama from the director of March of the Penguins about a young ranga kid and her affection for a fox. Make of that what you will, but I had the chance to see it for free and I passed.

Mother - Following on from last week's release of Thirst, Sydney's Chinatown district has been getting some some great titles lately! Both played at Cannes, but Mother - from the director of the wildly over-rated The Host - looks better than Chan-Wook Park's vampire tale.

Winged Creatures - Getting a theatrical release here in Australia on the back of director Rowan Woods' reputation. He directed The Boys (fantastic) and Little Fish (good, but not exceptional) and this is his first American film. I only just discovered, when getting an IMDb link for this entry, that the film has gone direct-to-DVD in America under the title of Fragments - an obviously cliched new title since the movie revolves around different people all affected by one tragedy. Stars Guy Pearce, Kate Beckinsale, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson, Dakota Fanning, Embeth Davidz, Jeanne Tripplehorne, Josh Hutcherson and Jackie Earle Haley.


"Like Crash but better."
DVD Releases for the Week 09/07/09
Charlie Bartlett - I don't know what this movie is.

Lakeview Terrace - The premise of this movie is fascinating, but apparently the movie itself is quite bad. Oh well.

Legally Blonde 3 - Changed from the US title of Legally Blondes. I imagine it's so people know instantly to just keep walking past it at the video store.

Rachel Getting Married - I've been wanting to rewatch this Oscar-nominated movie.

The Secret of Bees - I watched this on an airplane and despite finding the dialogue a tad hard to understand at times, it made for passable viewing experience. Stars Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys.

W. - Josh Brolin stars as George W Bush. Didn't see it at the cinemas (not many in Australia did) and don't particularly care to do so now that it's on DVD. Oh well.

Nothing Gay Here

Oh sure, the yellow is a bit fruity, but other than that you'd be forgiven for thinking I Love You Phillip Morris is a wildly wacky and quirky indie comedy about an accountant who is too kind to everybody he meets even though his boss treats him like dirt and his wife cheats on him and thinks he's a pushover. He's never heard the phrase "I love you" uttered to him by anyone. Aw sadface. Eventually he becomes the accountant to a couple who recently won a big court case against a pharmaceuticals company that caused their daughter to develop cancer, but they'd rather use the winnings on a golfing holiday. He meets the poor unfortunate cancer-stricken girl (played by Abigail Breslin?) with whom he develops a strong bond before he donates his bone marrow, saving her life. She then says "I love you Phillip Morris" and he adopts and he goes to court to adopt her. Nothing gay about it at all. In fact, it's quite heartwarming.

I'm not sure what Ewan McGregor has in the story. Maybe he's the doctor?


Meanwhile, HELLO Photoshop on Jim Carrey's face!

JUST SHUT UP AND WATCH ME WALK!

Far be it from me to say Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" is one of the worst songs ever recorded - I've loved my fair share of shit music in my time - but it really is. Truly a deplorable novelty effort. Alas, it has finally proven to be beneficial to mankind since without it the new Sugababes single, "Get Sexy", would only be "Really bloody amazing" as opposed to the "OMG REALLY SO BLOODY AMAZING!" that it actually is. Yes, the song takes a large chunk out of "I'm Too Sexy", and yet it actually works. And not in a "oh, that's amusing" kind of way, no it works in an actual "it makes the song work" kind of way.

Er, are you following me?

Sorry, but whenever I hear a track that blows my mind like this one has I tend to get a bit unintelligible.

"Get Sexy" is indeed the new Sugababes track and it's a big ball-busting electro-thrash-pop-acid clusterfuck of a song. It's clinically deranged and should probably be institutionalised with Nurse Ratched. It's a product of their recent sojourn to the United States, which saw them sign to Jay Z's record label and while I can definitely hear the American "urban" influence, they thankfully haven't turned out a boring crunk number, but instead it's a very European, very big and very amazing track. There's even a THX intro! Can't wait for the album. Apparently fan reaction is 50/50 love/hate, but you can obviously tell what side I fall on.

Lastly, it includes what will surely be my favourite lyric of 2009 - "Just shut up and watch me walk!" Love it. LOVE IT! Ammelle will throw a chair into your face and steal your bag she's just that cool.

Movies in Movies: Paranoia (+ Various Others) in Death Proof

I thought I'd keep up the trend this week of discussing Death Proof. Why not?


Also: I can't make out the first three, the three on the right side of centre are El arquero de Sherwood, Tarzan's Greatest Adventure and La liga de las muchashas.

I Screencapped the Closing Credits of Death Proof So You Don't Have To

I know I have gone on and on about my affection for Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof over the last year and a half (or so) since I saw it (as a stand alone, not as part of Grindhouse - we weren't so lucky down here). Having recently just rewatched it I still have it pumping through my veins.

One of the many many things I love about the movie are the credit sequences. The opening is great with it's "Coming Attractions" and the mixed up title card and so forth, but I'm wondering if many people have taken a look at the end credits. Set to the rollicking tune of "Chick Habit" by April March, interspersed throughout the more traditional end credits are images of, what I assume are, b roll footage of b movie actresses as well as an assortment of other cinematic thingamajigs and even a couple of Death Proof bloopers (or sorts). There are 44 in total and you can click on 'em to enlarge. They're fascinating in a strange hypnotic sort of way.

Yes, I am clinically insane (especially when it comes to Tarantino).














































{fin}

If I Had a Super Power

If I had to choose any super power to have I would definitely choose to be Jamie Bell. No, not in that weird stalkerish Being John Malkovich way that you're thinking. No, I mean I'd choose to be like his character in Jumper. Except without the inner torment and the loneliness and the... eh, whatever else that dodgy movie was "about". Teleportation has always been my favourite super power. Sure, being invisible would be cool, but what could you really do with it?

Of course, I'd do a bit more with it than just saving myself the arduous task of walking to the fridge like Hayden Christensen's character does. I started feeling nostalgic for my three-month-old holiday to New York City today for reasons I'm not entirely sure of. I just wished I was there. That'd be pretty awesome, I think.


I'd also just have to hope that I don't have a white-haired Samuel L Jackson on the hunt for me. That'd put a bit of a damper on things, no? Especially since it would be like being followed by a bad performance and nobody wants that.

The Best Basterd Yet

I am keenly awaiting Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. I am worried, as I always am with QT's films, that it will just completely derail. WWII doesn't exactly sound like the sort of thing that would spike vintage Tarantino, but we shall see. It still remains one of my most anticipated titles of the year. Alas, I have not mentioned the marketing campaign, mostly for one good reason: It hasn't been very good.

Far be it from me to rag on the distributor (that would be The Weinstein Co if I'm not mistaken) for thinking people are going to want to see a movie with this smug basterd on the poster, but... really, why would anybody want to see a movie with this smug basterd on the poster?


I am quite positive that Harvey Weinstein is just indulging QT by throwing his good buddy Eli bloody Roth on a poster all by himself, but as a series of character posters go the bunch for Inglourious Basterds has been a bit dull. No offence to them, but Roth, Christoph Walz and Diane Kruger are not stars and when given boring, ugly-looking posters like the ones they got (filled with bland grays and messy patterns) then they don't work.

However, I like the latest versions much more. They're bolder and more attention-grabbing with their big splashes of red and some actual visual flair. My favourite is this one of Kruger is definitely my favourite.


Now THIS looks like a movie, not just a bunch of mates playing dress-ups for Tarantino in Europe. It looks glamourous and exciting - loving that pose, you'd be mistaken for thinking Kruger was a MOVIE STAR! - and makes me positively salivate at the thought of this movie.

Yippee ki yay, etc

As someone who loves watching films - and I know many of you readers out there do too, obviously - I sometimes have no defense for having not watched certain titles. Such is the case with John McTiernan's 1988 action classic Die Hard. I honestly can't fathom why I had never seen it. What's even stranger though is that I have seen all three of its sequels and it had been sitting amongst my family's DVD collection for as long as I can remember. Some things just... slip by?

Never mind that though, because I watched it over this past weekend. In fact, I had a bit of an action weekend in general (no, not in that way!) I also watched Paul Verhoeven's 1990 sci-fi action film Total Recall for the first time since I was young, as well as Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. I have Ozu's Tokyo Story sitting here from Quickflix, but I felt like something a bit more gung ho to tell you the truth.

Watching Die Hard is wonderful though, don't you think? Clearly better than any of the sequels (although Die Hard with a Vengeance holds a special place in my heard), it's like a masterclass. It takes watching a movie like this to see the major flaws in movies like Transformers, a title I am an admitted fan of. It has action scenes that are clear and memorable and crafts like editing and cinematography are top notch. The pacing is just wonderful; It was already 30 minutes into the movie by the time the action starts and it felt like 10. And despite being 130 minutes long, it sure doesn't feel like it, which is something a lot of directors have trouble replicating these days. Even great action movies like The Dark Knight have felt bloated and excessive and yet everything in Die Hard is just precision perfect.

Total Recall was another great movie. So inventive and bonkers, which is something I tend to respond to far more than others. Yes, a lot of the action is just people shooting and blood flying around like a fountain, but it's all so incredibly fun. The look of the film is quite astounding, really. That constant blood red sky and the fantastic retro art direction. It wasn't retro at the time, but now it makes me pine that sci-fi movies actually built sets instead of just typing some stuff into a computer and generating them. I'm looking at you Star Trek!

Death Proof? Well, what can I say? I just love that movie. The final 30 minutes are, quite seriously, some of the best 30 minutes of cinema of the decade. Pure adrenaline rush, but I get a kick out of the entire film. I am aware it is not everybody's cuppa, but I get such a kick out of the grainy footage, the excellent soundtrack, the impeccable car chases and the dialogue that it almost a parody of Tarantino's style ala Tarantino himself that it becomes meta. Wonderful.

I've included trailers for all three movies below as well as one for Speed. I know that last one seems strange to include since I haven't mentioned it in this entry, but if I had my DVD of the movie lying around I would have watched it too. It's directed by Jan de Bont who, coincidentally, was the director of photography on Die Hard. Nice. I also think it fits into that same cycle of action movies that came about in the late '80s and early '90s before the onset of the disaster flicks that littered the later years of the decade (Twister, Independence Day, Deep Impact, etc). It's a personal favourite, too.

Review: Lucky Country

Lucky Country
Dir. Kriv Stenders
Year: 2009
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 96mins

The western is a genre that I have been particularly neglectful of. I am wary of them for some reason. In my limited experience with the field there have been ones I have loved and some I have loathed, and my reluctance to the genre surprises me since I have a fondness for Americana that usually flows through them and I love a well-done gun fight. Kriv Stenders' (Boxing Day) new film, Lucky Country, is a local and more intimate version of the western, but I think it fits the bill.

It is 1902 and federation is still recent in the minds and Nat (Aden Young) is living on his bush property with children Sarah and Tom (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence and newcomer Toby Wallace respectively), their mother recently deceased and seemingly nothing to keep them going apart from a pathetic vegetable garden and a neighbour who sells rabbits, but who is leaving to try his luck in the goldfields. Unlike a lot of westerns Stenders doesn't spend long and labourious slabs of time focusing on mundane activities such as walking around the edge of the property or digging for potatoes. It moves relatively quickly - as quickly as a film of this kind can go, I imagine - and with an ever-growing sense of tension.


Rightly so since onto their property come three men; Henry (Pip Miller), Carver (Neil Pigot) and the young, but incredibly ill, Jimmy (Eamon Farren). In repayment for their hospitality and care the men help around the house. They build firewood storage, fix things and provide food. Once Jimmy gets well, however, things take a turn for the worst and from there? Well, I'll leave that to you to discover since one of the best things about Lucky Country was that I was not aware of where it was going and how it would get there. Oh sure, it's probably easy to predict where it will go in a vague sort of way, but there are surprises along the way and I particularly enjoyed the way Stenders got there. The final scenes are particularly surprising and feature a captivating cameo by Helmut Bakaitis (although, to be honest, that voice would probably be captivating anywhere).

I must include director of photography Jules O'Loughlin in this discussion since his work here is pivotal. The way scenes are routinely filmed through gaps in walls, through the roughage of trees and with a slow-burning intensity that really gives the mood of the film at a knifes edge at times. Compare it to the obviously pretty and deliberately showy, but completely void and empty work from Last Ride (click for my review) where the cinematography serves nothing than to actually be pretty. Here it has purpose and serves the film well.


Performances, unfortunately, are a mixed bag and are the major letdown. Aden Young, it must be said, is truly woeful here. Throughout the film I kept getting the idea that he was acting in a very Shakespearean manner. As if he was on stage and acting to the cheap seats. Take a look at Richard Pyros in last year's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark and you will see a similar performance, but one in a movie that called for it. Lucky Country is a quiet and solemn movie and an actor screaming and bellowing at the top of his lungs was not what was called for. The young actors fare better with Toby Wallace impressive, but the real highlight for this viewer was Hanna Mangan-Lawrence. She gives a wonderful performance as the teenager with a curiosity about life and sex, but who knows her place in the harsh bushland that surrounds her. Covered in understated costumes, she really stands out amongst the more seasons actors in the cast.

The western is a genre that, surprisingly, Australia hasn't entirely adopted. We have occasional stabs at the genre, usually with a unique parochial twist in titles like The Proposition, Mad Dog Morgan and, if you want to call them such, any version of the Ned Kelly story. Our landscape fits the mold perfectly and in Lucky Country it is utilised perfectly. While the film will certainly not be for anyone - it is a western of sorts and it doesn't revel in masculinity or violence - it is an impressive and impeccably well-done film, yet another in an increasingly strong one for Australian film. B+

Movies in Movies: Independence Day in Fight Club

Happy Independence Day for any Americans out there. Hopefully your day doesn't end up like this movie.

Scorsese's a Snob

As I was watching Video Hits this morning - yes, I've been having a very musically inclined morning - this video clip came on. I had no idea who it was apart from the name Snob Scrilla, which elicited a very "what the fuck is that?" reaction and that the song's name was "Heartbreak Scorsese". I figured it was going to be a lame American hip-hop "artist" who thinks he's being cool and hip by name-checking Martin Scorsese. Alas, I was completely and utterly WRONG!

It's not very often one comes across somebody we've never heard of before and get truly surprised. It seems every artist I listen to has had buzz for at least some amount of time online.

Turns out this Snob Scrilla man is an Australia artist (albeit born in America) whose music has nods to hip-hop, pop, electronic and even a bit of moody piano work thrown in for good measure. Turns out his debut album, Day One out in April, is very excellent. Filled with voluminous synths (just listen to "Heartbreak Scorsese" below for proof) and some wonderful lyrics. I gotta say "Hardest Times" is an absolute stunner. And one of the few times that guest female vocals on a track's chorus immensely improves upon a song's worth. Excellent stuff.

Whatta Song

Random throwback to 1994 here, folks. How amazing was "Whatta Man" by Salt n Pepa feat. En Vogue? Answer: VERY Amazing. I woke up with in in my head and then when I listened to it I realise it really is still a stunning song and better than most things on the chart. I miss this era of r&b.

Salt N Pepa feat En Vogue - Whatta Man (Uncensored Version)
Uploaded by judas94. - See the latest featured music videos.

Black + White Friday: Pulp Fiction (Part II)

Continued from the last edition of Black + White Friday. Sorry I couldn't do this last week, but I got swine flu (naturally).


I really could work this for any Quentin Tarantino movie. He clearly uses classic cinemas (not necessarily "classic" as in "good", mind you) to influence his own work so you could black and white any of his movies and it'd be an interesting experiment. I am particularly interested in trying it with Death Proof. Hello future!


I won't include the grislier image of Vincent Vega's bloody bathroom death, but I like this shot because it looks like the way an old code Hollywood film would show a death, rather than the hot a mere few seconds later.


I think this sort of thing was more pre-code Hollywood, don't you think? :P


Probably my favourite part in all of Pulp Fiction is this scene where the weedy Jerry Seinfeld lookalike runs in, shoots at Jackson and Travolta, misses entirely and then... well, this. Brilliant moment. These two actually do sort of look like hitmen from an old movie. Or, maybe a movie from the '70s since Travolta has the long hair and Jackson has the afro.


Samuel L Jackson does more acting in this one screen shot alone that he's done in the last few years. It also reminds me of the scene in Jackie Brown where, for a minute or so, Jackson's character simply sits there are thinks. How rare is that?


You know before when I said before about that scene being my favourite in the movie? Running a very close second is Travolta's line reading of "Oh man, I shot Marvin in the face."


OH SWEET JESUS! I just happened to pause the player on this moment and what a moment. As if you needed any further proof that Amanda Plummer is freakin' INSANE in this movie look no further than this cap. I also love that it looks exactly like something out [rec] or The Blair Witch Project.


Hmm, I really like this shot for some reason. It feels quite "pulpy" and noir-y and the way it is framed is gorgeous.


I'm sorry that Samuel L Jackson seems to have hijacked this piece, but seeing him in this movie is just so surprising. I seriously forget how good he can be until I rewatch something like Pulp Fiction or Jackie Brown. It's amazing, really.

Lastly, I just wanted to throw in this clip I found on YouTube of Quentin Tarantino accepting the Palme d'Or! I'm not the biggest fan of Clint Eastwood, but knowing he was the president of the jury that awarded the prize does make me like him more. Also: Kathleen Turner! And, yes, Bruce Willis (as seen in the clip) is still sporting that disgusting bald head/facial hair combo (awful goatie) to this very day.

Well Played, Poster: Precious

Yet another stunning design from the Precious camp. First saw this at InContention although everywhere is citing HitFix for the exclusive so I probably should too. It's a great piece of art, I reckon.


I'm so surprised the studio has gone with this though, don't you agree? It looks more like a Criterion DVD cover than a poster, but posters could learn to be more like them if you ask me. I love it when posters are actually pieces of art. Not just "it's a work of art!" but it actually is a work of art. If this were hung in a gallery minus all the cast credits and such then people would be staring at it for hours. You hear the phrase "faceless black woman" so many times in stories and articles about race issues, and this interprets it for art's sake. Brilliant.

RIP "Mrs Slocomb" (and her Pussy)

Awww, Mollie Sudgen just became the latest in a long line of entertainers to have passed away in the last week. Sudgen played "Mrs Slocomb" on Are You Being Served?, that wildly hilarious British sitcom set in a department store. Slocomb's life, apparently, revolved around her adventurous pussy and she never failed to have a delightful joke about it. And if ever we needed an excuse to post a YouTube video of one-liners about pussies, this is it!


"I've got to get home. If my pussy's isn't attended to by 8 o'clock I will be stroking it for the rest of the evening."

"My pussy's like an alarm clock."

"Oh look, it's a diamante collar for my pussy."

"[She] could see the state I was in, so she went straight up the Sergeant at the front desk and she said 'Have any of your constables reporting having seeing this lady's pussy?'"
"Well had they?"
"Nooo. But he took me name and found out where I lived and they all promised to keep an eye out."

"If there are any leftovers my pussy gobbles them up in a snap!"

"I wonder, um, would you do me a favour? Would you go to my front door, bend down and look through the letter box. And if you can see my pussy would you drop a sardine on the mat."

"Well, I inadvertently dropped some on my pussy and there were tomcats rubbing themselves against my cat flap all night long."

This Week on Australian Screens

Cinema Releases for the Week 02/07/09
Every Little Step - Musical documentary following the casting of a recent Broadway revival of one of the most famous musicals - A Chorus Line. I really want to see this (but there are quite a few movies out now that I wanna see. Aagh, so little time, so little money). I really like the poster, by the way (to your right). Not sure why, exactly.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - Look, I know this is a kids movie first and foremost, but does that excuse bad history. Are they saying that there were actually two major ice ages? Because didn't the first film feature the onset of the ice age? And now there's dinosaurs roaming again, which naturally makes one assume that another ice age is on the way since - hello - the dinosaurs are no longer around. Aagh!

Last Ride - Aussie film from Cannes-winning director Glendyn Ivin. I wrote in my review "(a)nother example of wallowing in lower class miserabilism without the tact, beauty and poignancy of this years Samson and Delilah or the horror and ferocity of Rowan Woods' The Boys", and I stand by that. I honestly don't know who is going to want to pay good money to see this, but stranger things have happened.

DVD Releases for the Week 02/07/09
Battle in Seattle - I remember hearing about this title years ago and it's only now getting a direct-to-DVD release. Awww?

Bolt - Mildly passable animated fare. Yet another anti-feline one though and that got tired about decades ago.

Ghost Town - Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni in a movie straight outta the '80s (and, even though they're obviously not, doesn't that CAST just feel so... un-modern? I dunno. I'm not much of a Gervais fan, but Leoni and Kinnear especially just feel so... fourth tier. And I used to really like Leoni in her Naked Truth days. Oh The Naked Truth, how I loved thee. I found Leoni so interesting - everything from her hair to her voice - and now I tend to think she's shrill and angry whenever I see her on screen (albeit, that's only Spanglish and Jurassic Park 3 in the last few years).

JCVD - I have absolutely no connection to Jean-Claude Van Damme so I don't have any interest in seeing him send himself up or whatever he does in this movie.

A Song of Good - Uber-bleak-sounding movie about redemption ("Oh..." you say) from New Zealand.

Space Buddies - LOL! Can you believe there are nine (this is the eighth) titles in the Air Bud franchise. Truly.

The Tale of Despereaux - An animated movie about a mouse with big ears or some such. The animation style really (quite vehemently, actually) turned me off.

The Unborn - Seriously looks like one of the worst movies ever made. Truly.

Movies in Movies: Se7en in The Butterfly Effect

Ewan's Vogue

Review: Disgrace

Disgrace
Dir. Steve Jacobs
Year: 2009
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 121mins

Some movies have such interesting heritage. Disgrace is an Australian financed film, adapted from a book written by a South African, starring an American and a Frenchman while also written, directed and co-produced by a pair of Italian Australians. This mix of nationalities is a far cry from the previous film from husband and wife team director Steve Jacobs and writer Anna Maria Monticelli, La Spagnola. They have spent eight years since that more frothy title navigating the terrain of JM Coetzee's novel Disgrace, getting the rights and adapting it to the screen. On a strictly emotional and intellectual level, the film aims at a higher level, but it also reaches for loftier ground in a pure movie-making sense. It succeeds far more than it doesn't, and that is cause to be thankful.

Set in South Africa after the demise of Apartheid, Disgrace stars John Malkovich as Davie Lurie, a poetry professor at the university of Cape Town, a position he uses to his advantage to get one student, a fine Antoinette Engel, into his bed. His dismissal - and, yes, his disgrace - sends him to the fringes of society from there he decides to move in with his lesbian daughter Lucy, an exceptional Jessica Haines, who lives in the country with only her property's maintenance manager Petrus (Eriq Ebouaney) as company. The political, gender and sexual politics that are already rife due to Lurie's indiscretions are further.


The audience's sympathies, empathies and thoughts are constantly changing and that is one of the film's strongest assets. Just who, if anybody, is right? While it is understandable to take Lurie's position when it comes to the decisions his daughter is making in regards to dealing with the violence heaped upon her situation, one must also ask themselves if we should be trusting anything this man says or thinks, since he has no problem crossing ethical boundaries. And while we may sit confused at the daughter's decisions, at other times it feels as if she is the only sane one. And then there is the character of Petrus, who represents the black Africa that was thwarted for so many years under the rule of Apartheid. Just what is their place in this new South Africa where people's houses - whites and blacks alike - are lined with gates within gates and how one black man can turn on another for misdeeds when they, as a people, have been ostracised for so long.

This tricky web of lofty dramatics could very easily be a turn off, and it's easy to see how an audience member could find it hard to find interest in any of the characters in here. I can't say I liked any of them either, but I found their situations, their motivations and their actions fascinating. A late scene involving Lurie and a dog he has befriended at a kennel is of particular note and perhaps the most important in the whole film. Just what has he learned from the ordeal and are incidents like it just going to further tear apart at a nation already ripped apart by race.

I have not read the novel that Jacobs' film is based on, but I am lead to believe that it is an incredibly faithful work of adaptation. So while I can't come at it from the perspective of somebody who has the read the novel, to which is the littlest of scenes can mean a lot, I could tell where I felt the film had issues and that, perhaps, the elimination of some scenes and the lengthening of others may have been the way to go. By the final act of the film there are many scenes of no great length and of no apparent strong necessity yet they are there and they help to bring it down. Heavy symbolism takes took this viewer out of the film and I felt as if a large amount of the intensity that the film had in spades at the start disappears. Scenes feel almost abstract in their intention and are merely there to pad out the running time.


Performances are all exceptional with Malkovich proving that he actually is still capable of a good performance after being embarrassing on more than a few occasions recently (Colour Me Kubrick comes to mind). Newcomer Haines is quite a find and she presents her characters dueling emotions well. Another to astound is Fiona Press as a vet worker who uses Lurie for her own needs in a wonderful twist to their characters. Photography by Steve Arnold of the South African landscape is wonderful, but thankfully resists the obvious temptation to make it a series of postcards. Music by Antony Partos is effective, while the art direction has a wonderful authenticity about it. That flower garden has a gorgeous juxtaposed quality to it, don't you think?

Disgrace could be a hard slog to sit through for some, but if you are willing to invest your energy in this evocative story then you should be rewarded with a thought-provoking experience. While the final act doesn't meet the rest of the film's high standard, the last effects of the film as a whole are well worth the effort put into delving into it. B

Do You Like Scary Movies?

Since writing that very impromptu My Bloody Valentine 3D review I've been watching some mid-to-late '90s horror movie trailers. They bring back so many VHS memories. Getting one from Blockbuster and then discovering a whole new lot to get excited about. I remember going to three different stores just to rent a copy of Halloween H20. How crazy is that!.

There's that sort of omnipresent voice over by Don LaFontaine that suits them so perfectly. The constant cross-referencing - The Faculty trailer even includes scenes from Scream! - and the way they all seem to mention rules or have jokes about horror movies (Scream brought many things in vogue, didn't it?) So much fun to watch if, like me, these were the movies you actually grew up watching. Desperately begging a parental to take you and your mates (before shunning them to the back of the cinema, naturally) and thinking you were so cool for seeing an MA15+ rated film that features Tara Reid get butchered while in her underwear (clearly the latter aspect of that moment was a bit lost on me).






Speaking of The Faculty, I had forgotten what a great cast that movie had! Piper Laurie, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Patrick, Salma Hayek, Famke Janssen, Jon Stewart, Clea DuVall, Elijah Wood, Christopher McDonald and Josh Hartnett. Nowadays the biggest cast member would be someone from The Hills plus a bunch of too-pretty nobodies who nobody will ever see again. Seemingly gone are the days when someone like Anne Heche would show up in I Know What You Did Last Summer! :/

And now I have the overwhelming desire to watch them all.

Review: My Blood Valentine 3D

My Bloody Valentine 3D
Dir. Patrick Lussier
Year: 2009
Aus Rating: R18+
Running Time: 101mins

Sometimes when one is sick, one just wants to sit down and watch some silly bimbos and idiotic jocks get murdered in increasingly "suspense-filled" ways. So it was with that idea in mind that I sat down to watch My Bloody Valentine last night. I attempted to watch it in 3D with a flimsy pair of painful glasses that came with my copy of Friday the 13th Part III - my Valentine DVD did not come properly equipped with glasses of its own - but they didn't work so I promptly flipped the disc over and watch it in standard 2D. I can't say the 3D would have given the film much hope of being any better than it was, and watching 3D movies in 2D always holds some amusement to me. The sight of people waving things around in front of themselves for no reason elicits chuckles from me.

The movie, let's face it, isn't the rocket science equivalent of a horror movie, but it held some interest with me. I was glad to finally watch a horror movie from recent times that could be described as "slasher". In my formative movie-watching years the big horror hits were titles like Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Faculty, Halloween H20 and Urban Legend. At the same time I was discovering older titles like Friday the 13th and Halloween and so it grew that these were my favourite kind of scary movie. All on VHS too! They were rarely genuinely great movies (sometimes they very much were), but they provided a few scares and a whole lotta fun. Perhaps there's just something about a person in a mask with a sharp weapon that is much more enjoyable than Japanese twin sisters or sadistic mind games. You can't say many (if any at all) of the horror movies released in the last few years could be described as "fun". So, yes, it was nice to see a horror title try and be fun again. Not every time I sit down to watch a fright flick do I want to feel like slashing my wrists from the miserable hopelessness of it all (as much as I can actually like those sort of scary movies).


Starting ten years ago we get the deaths of a good 30 or so characters in about fifteen minutes. There are explosions, pick-axe murders and open-heart guttings. Charming. However, the highlight of this opening passage is seeing the likes of Jensen Ackles (29 years old), Jaime King (30 years old) and Kerr Smith (37 years old!) portray teenagers. The film promptly jumps forward ten years, which makes the actors look far less ridiculous, although the image of Smith wearing a backwards baseball cap and pretending to act like he's still on Dawson's Creek would have made the whole affair, perhaps, even more fun. It also reminded me of the days when these movies were filled with casts made up of the entirety of WB's teen program lineups as opposed to nameless nobodies whose entire career will be heretofore made up of direct-to-DVD Saw sequels.

The film follows the expected pattern. Various characters start getting murdered by a man in a gas mask wielding a pick-axe, but this time in 3D! Eyes pop out at the screen, gun barrels are aimed directly at the audience's face, blood splatters in various directions like you're in the front row of a play that requires you to bring your own coat. There's even 3D breasts, which is perhaps the film's most bizarrely hilarious moment. Betsy Rue (what a name!) gets to strut around completely starkers before running away - still completely starkers - from the murderous villain. It'd be offensive if it wasn't so stupidly whack.


(black bars added by me - this blog has some decency ya know!)
Of course, once the final act rolls around and it brings out more and more of the old slasher chestnuts it starts to derail. The red herrings aren't well-played and the big reveal somehow succeeds in being more disappointingly handled than realising it was actually Rebecca Gayheart's giant hair under that woolly parker the entire time! It's around this time that the movie's overriding sense of fun dissipates and ends up as a more cynically motivated piece of trickery. Still, director (and co-editor) Patrick Lussier keeps the film moving at a quick pace - working on Wes Craven's Scream films clearly helped - and visually the techs are well done, even if the 3D effects appear to be entirely superfluous. I know I'd rather spend time with this splatter town than I would the mean-spirited and nasty ones of recent times. C+

Movies in Movies: House of Wax in "Thriller"

Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is more of a movie than a lot of the ones I see, so I felt no qualms about including it in here.

Update:

Still sick. Still don't have much desire to do anything at all except watch DVD repeats of Golden Girls and The Closer. Maybe something tomorrow.

Further Proof that Richard Wilkins is a Knob

Courtesy of Crikey. Also, this is very funny.

RIP Michael Jackson

I heard word about the death of Michael Jackson only an hour into my working day at around 8am. They were rumours at that stage and I dismissed them as a hoax, especially considering the number of times it's been said he was on his death bed. Alas, no, it was real and for the rest of the day I have had his music circulating through my head. Yes, he was... troubled (to say the least), but I'm choosing to focus on his music if you don't mind.

That he was an icon, a superstar and an altogether master of music is undeniable. Much like Madonna or The Beatles, almost any pop artist around today owes him something; some debt for his creativity and desire to stretch pop music beyond what anybody thought possible. I remember my first experience of Michael Jackson was whilst watching Video Hits and seeing him dancing around those dark and blue-tinged streets in "The Way You Make Me Feel" in 1989 as he tries to seduce the woman. It was only years later that I even realised the West Side Story choreography had been placed in there! I think I ended up seeing that video over 200 times and it never got tired.

After that I saw each of his new videos as they came around like "Black or White", "Scream" (I still remember the stories about it being the most expensive video of all time and by that stage I was a Janet fiend) and "Earth Song" being particularly memorable. "Do You Remember" became another video that I was increasingly obsessed with. That Egyptian dancing blew my mind and I seemed to be in love with all the clothes, too! I slowly investigated his old work through VHS. "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" with its primitive, and yet still quite fantastic, visual effects and one sleeve arm roll. The classic "Thriller" and the bikie fad of "Bad" (Bad is actually my favourite Jackson album), the glowing concrete of "Billie Jean".

"Smooth Criminal" would end up not only my favourite video, but also my favourite Jackson son period. Everything about it is so perfect. Songs like "Human Nature", "Dirty Diana", "Man in the Mirror", "Off the Wall", "Beat It", "Burn This Disco Out" and so many more would all became instant favourites the moment I heard them. I would even go so far as to say that five second synth moment between 0:37 and 0:42 are the greatest five seconds of music ever. Anybody who doesn't get a jolt that those five seconds should just never listen to music ever again. Off the Wall is like the perfect disco album, too.

It is impossible to ignore all the ugly details that consumed his life in his later years, but the music... my god, THE MUSIC! I'll be listening to it on repeat for quite a while. I won't stop 'til i get enough. I know in this day and age it's easy for any one artist to have a hit album and all of a sudden they're the biggest star in the world, but you don't get to be "King of Pop" for nothin'.