Monday, August 30, 2010

Review: Going the Distance

Going the Distance
Dir. Nanette Burstein
Year: 2010
Running Time: 102mins
Aus Rating: MA15+

Being a fan of romantic comedies can be difficult in these modern times. It has been a long time between drinks and great rom-coms are hard to come by. While Going the Distance isn’t going to rewrite the history books of the genre, it does prove to be a snappy and entertaining entry that should hit all the right bases for a date night trip to the cinema. Owing an obvious debt to the films of Judd Apatow, this film from documentary filmmaker Nanette Burstein is filled with crassness and curse words to appear edgy, but what allows it to succeed is the charm of stars Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, its bright and appealing visuals and its refreshing take on the romantic meanderings of thirty-somethings.

Read the rest at Trespass Magazine

One issue I don't raise in the review is Drew Barrymore's continuing obsession with making movies with her boyfriend of the day. She has made films with Tom Green, Jimmy Fallon and now two with Justin Long (after He's Just Not That Into You last year). I'm not sure why she does it, can anyone answer? Anyway, B

Friday, August 27, 2010

Black & White Friday: Gypsy 83


Perhaps a strange film to use for this series, but I'll explain way. Todd Stephen's 2001 film is an absolute stunner due to the power of its cast and the vision that is presented on screen. It's hardly the most radical of films and follows a very routine small-town-freaks-head-to-the-big-city-and-meet-crazy-characters-along-the-way plot (it's a sub-genre, okay!), but there's something so touching about the leads Sara Rue and Kett Turton together and the way the film feels truly independent and like it's set out to be its own magical beast. It never wants to settle for being the same old, despite it's familiar material. I appreciate that above mere ho-hum dialogue.


I decided to use it for the series, however, because spread through the movie are these black and white intervals filmed on an old handheld camera owned by the character of "Clive". It was this shot above that really made me wonder what the entire film might have looked like if filmed this way like an ultra-cheap underground movie made in the late '70s/early '80s in New York City by artists who live in apartments with no running water and who work in dead-end jobs Monday to Friday just to finance their art projects.


This seems like something underground filmmakers would do - set social "freaks" and "perverts" loose in a cemetery. Don't you think?


This looks more like a shot from a Divinyls video from 1990.


One thing that intrigued me about this movie what what year it was set. I know it was set in 2001 (the year it was released), but there are many moments like this that made me think it was set in the 1990s (this set looks just like a Curve video or somethin') and the 1980s (since the two lead characters look like they never left). But going with our theme of underground cinema, this does sorta look like the sorta "it's-a-set-but-not-a-set" those filmmakers may have come up with.


Karen Black terrifies me. Not just in this movie, but in general.



We all know the sort of underground indie films of the period were not shy about sex, particularly that that was deemed immoral or lewd, so I think some gay sex is more than expected. Of course, in Gypsy 83 the gay seduction is played so fantasy-like that it's one of the few moments that actually feels false, but it's still played so genuinely that I couldn't help but grin.


This was perhaps my favourite scene of the movie, as Clive puts on a show to The Cure's ace "Doing the Unstuck". The black and white feels quite appropriate.


I feel like this shot almost looks like a John Waters movie. No, Sara Rue doesn't look like Divine, but he is obviously drawn to less traditional images of beauty, isn't he? And the horrified expressions on their face just top that off.


This is a wonderful shot as they pass through the tunnel from New Jersey into Manhattan. The roughness of the photography and the high contrast of the whites and blacks do evoke those films from the underground movement that were shot on the fly and did whatever they needed to get a shot even if it wasn't perfect. It's a shot that feels so authentic.


Fittingly, I am finishing on a shot of New York City, this film's spiritual home. This whole idea of underground NYC cinema has been taken from the little of it that I gleaned from Celine Danhier's documentary Black City. Films that used New York in its most street-level natural form. I wish director Todd Stephens had spent a little less time on the road and little more time in New York City since I can only imagine what sort of images, dripping with nostalgia, he could have put up. Budgetary constraints, I imagine, stopped that from happening, but it's still nice to imagine.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Review: Piranha 3D

Piranha 3D
Dir. Alexandre Aja
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: MA15+
Running Time: 88mins

Sometimes a title can tell you everything you need to know. Such is the case with Piranha 3D, a film in which prehistoric piranhas fly out of the screen at your face. If that sounds like a good time at the movies then run to the cinema immediately. Filled with recognisable faces, packed with excessive blood and gore and jokes as corny as they are hilarious, Piranha 3D is, if nothing else, the most honest and unpretentious piece of filmmaking of 2010.

Read the rest at Trespass Mag

I doubt there is a movie released in 2010 that earns it's B more than Piranha 3D. It's a B movie through and through both in intent and execution.


And for what it's worth, the recent "Funny or Die" sketch that aimed to place this movie amongst the year's Oscar contenders is worthwhile for one category: Best Make-Up. It will never happen, but I am quite positive that the make-up work here will be far superior to any of the old age make-up or fat man make-up that the Oscar's branch will ultimately bestow a nomination upon. The bit where a girl's hair gets caught in a boat propellor that proceeds to then rip her entire face off is a better example of cinema make-up than The Wolfman, Alice in Wonderland or whatever other terrible movie will fill the space.

Also, this new "Funny or Die" video is hilarious! "Ving Rhames can send video through time", indeed.

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 19 of Scream (0:51:45-0:53:00)

In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!


SCENE 19
Length: 1min 15secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott and Tatum Riley
Pop Culture References:
  • Wes Craven and John Carpenter (Tatum references both)
  • Richard Gere (a joke at his expense)


I wish I had a two story house like this so I could place stereo speakers on the ceiling. Although, if that were me and it was 1996 like the film I would probably be blasting out Dance to the Max, Vol. 14, Luscious Jackson's Fever In Fever Out or Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins and not "School's Out" by Alice Cooper. Speaking of "School's Out", the Alice Cooper version is indeed very good, but I also like the version by The Last Hard Men that features on the Scream soundtrack (which I own, of course). I wonder what the story behind that was.


I want that front garden. Seriously.

Another swooping crane shot to begin a scene, but I like how when get to hear Sidney and Tatum talking we're literally entering half way through their conversation. It always annoys me when characters sit down to chat and, say, order food and yet their conversations lasts 30 seconds. This at least feels a bit more natural.


If Nathaniel R @ The Film Experience did a "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" entry about Scream I actually think this shot would be right up there amongst the top three contenders as my favourite shot from the entire film. I love the framing and the colour and the unsettling angle, but also this idea that Sidney is now constantly being stalked and hounded. And I don't just mean by the killer, but by everyone. She's being followed by the press, surrounded by security and hounded by her own feelings that the idea she had in her head - her mother was innocent - is crumbling. In a way, it's a metaphor for the jail she feels she is locked into.

See how far I can delve into the simplest of things?


"It goes further back, Sid. There's been talk of other men."
"And you believe it?"
"Well, I mean you can only hear that Richard Gere gerbil story so many times that you have to start believing it."

I'm sure that whatever search engines were popular back in 1996 - Yahoo? ASK JEEVES? - got a rush of inquiries of "richard gere gerbil" from cinemagoers. In 2010, however, in the day and age of The Human Centipede a famous Hollywood actor sending gerbils up his arse is almost quaint.




Okay, so this is the definition of reading too much into too little. It's quite literally a "blink and you'll miss it" moment and it was hard to capture, but if you watch carefully you'll see a gesture made by Rose McGowan. After she apologises to Sidney for, essentially, calling her mother a slut Sidney walks down the other end of the veranda and starts mulling over the possibility of having wrongfully helped convict Cotton Weary. Before Sidney starts talking, however, Rose/Tatum does a head turn away from her and does a little hand flail and shoulder shrug. I take this one of two ways, either it's Tatum showing that she, too, is fed up with everything being about Sidney and Sidney always moping about etc etc, or it's Rose having forgotten her line or something that they didn't pick up in the editing suite.

I DON'T KNOW!!


"Don't go there Sid, you're starting to sound like some Wes Carpenter flick or something."

I used to think this line was greatest thing ever. It's obviously not, but it's still cool in a lame kinda way. I'm trying to remember if they made "Wes Carpenter" the director of Stab (the movie-within-a-movie-based-on-the-events-in-this-movie featured in Scream 2), but I can't recall.


"Let's boogie!"

I love Tatum.


This is the second scene in a row that ends with a silly shot. This time it's silly because... well, it's just silly. Ghostface lurking in the bushes? Really? I think the shot I discussed earlier in this entry gave the same sense of unease with the audience, but did so without hitting them over the head with a "SIDNEY IS BEING STALKED, OMG" mallet.

I do, however, think that Wes Craven himself didn't like this shot because in the Stab opening scene from Scream 2 where lightning flashes outside the house of "Casey" (played by Heather Graham in Stab, you following me?) and the killer is revealed as hiding on her glass ceiling. I like to take that as a "this horror movie cliche of the killer randomly appearing in strange places is quite silly." Do you agree?

Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14, Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 18 of Scream (0:49:44-0:51:44)

In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!


SCENE 18
Length: 2mins
Primary Characters: Principal Himbry and Ghostface
Pop Culture References:
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street (the janitor, "Fred", wears Freddy Krueger's sweater)
  • Happy Days (Principal Himbry checks his hair just like The Fonz)


This is an interesting scene since it was actually never in Kevin Williamson's original screenplay, but the producers (that'd be the Weinstein brothers) thought - rightfully so - that the movie needed another murder before the big climax at Stu's house. The scene works in the way it eliminates a red herring, shows off the killers' new-found spontaneity (they had a very definite plan, but seem to divert from it - or Stu does) and desire to murder even those who have no connection to the central story, gives the superfluous characters a reason to leave towards the end of the movie and is a neat way keeping the rhythm going in these pre-finale scenes that could have become skippable in a "get us to the good stuff!" kind of way.


"Oh shit, they're gonna kill Fonzie?!?"

Yes. Yes they are!


This shot may not seem relevant, but it took my a lot of viewings to figure out what they did there.


This is a funny little moment in which Principal Himbry gets frightened by the sight of the Ghostface mask in his own hand. I like how he realises how silly he is, which ties into the idea of all these characters having watched horror movies before all this began. He knows he's just being paranoid. I like to imagine that the character knows that if this were all a movie then it would've been a fake scare and he's be embarrassed to have jumped at it.



I'm not sure if this moment was improvised or what, but it's amusing nonetheless. It really is like The Fonz ended up being the Principal at Californian high school!


He's getting his angry face on. I'm not quite sure how Billy/Stu (whichever one it is) managed to hide during this bit since he would have had to be wearing the chunky black boots and they'd make noise when having to run away fast, which is what he would've had to do since Himbry opens the door almost immediately. Bah! I think about this sorta stuff way too much.


That'd be Wes Craven as "Fred the Janitor" wearing the same costume as Freddy Krueger does in Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street. This was the first of three cameos that Craven had throughout the trilogy. The others we'll get to, but Fred will always be the best because it's just such a wonderful wink to audiences. Even if it wasn't Craven himself, it would still be fun seeing this old, wrinkly Freddy Krueger now being overtaken by the younger, hipper serial killers. Somebody should have told everyone involved with the terrible, terrible remake from earlier this year.


And now the blind is down.


It's Fonzie's jacket! Right there! To the left (to the left)! This is a scene that keeps on giving.


I couldn't capture it very well, but at this moment Himbry AGAIN frightens himself in the mirror. A nice little tension reliever before...









Oh dear.

As I was screencapping this moment I thought of the worst pun.

Are you ready?

"So this is what it sounds like, when The Fonz dies."

OH DEAR!!!

I'm not sure what Prince and the Revolution have to do with Scream, but whatevs.


The scene ends with this shot, which - I assume - is meant to be all "look at me!" but I find it kinda silly. I don't think it belongs in Scream and doesn't feel organic enough. In Scream 2 it would since that movie is far more polished, but here it comes off looking less like artistry and more like wank.

Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14, Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 17 of Scream (0:48:48-0:49:43)

In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!


SCENE 17
Length: 55secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Tatum Riley and Stu Macher
Pop Culture References:
  • None


We're currently not even half way through the movie yet and somehow we're already into the buildup for the big climax sequence at Stu Macher's house. That sounds crazy, but we do still have a bunch of stuff to get through first like The Fonz biting the dust, the Richard Gere gerbil story and quitting smoking (really).


True story, the very first time I ever watched Scream I figured out that Billy was the killer before the revelatation. It was just obvious (and you'll see why when we get to it). In retrospect it should've been Stu that became the obvious killer and it was due to this scene. He decides to hold an "impromptu party at my house to celebrate" after the attack on Sidney at school meant leaving school early. Then he just leaves Sidney and Tatum and one scene late somebody else dies. And then there's the fact that Stu is just generally quite insane.


Tatum should've known this was a terrible idea!

Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14, Scene 15, Scene 16