Monday, January 31, 2011

Review: Smash His Camera

Smash His Camera
Dir. Leon Gast
Year: 2010
Rating: PG
Running Time: 87mins

Ron Galella made a name for himself by taking photographs of celebrities when they didn’t want them to be taken. He is a paparazzo and, like the literal Italian translation for the word, he buzzes around his subjects like a mosquito. Leon Gast’s (When We Were Kings) documentary Smash His Camera charts the 80-year-old’s career, which has seen him taken to court by Jackie Onassis in 1972, get punched in the face by Marlon Brando in 1973 and exhibited in the New York City’s prestigious Museum of Modern Art in 2007. He’s a man that looks incredibly feeble, but once on a footpath with a celebrity he’s quick as a whip. His storage room is filled with boxes and boxes of photographs of every celebrity imaginable; there’s an entire box dedicated to photos of “Jackie Onassis with windswept hair”.

Read the rest at Trespass


Smash His Camera has a very limited season at Melbourne's ACMI theatre, in Federation Square. They've been on a role lately with exclusive titles like this, White Material (season ending tomorrow) and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (which begins its season in a couple of weeks), yet again confirming that they are one of Melbourne's true treasures. But you knew that already, didn't you?

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 7 of Scream 2 (0:25:59-0:27:59)

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



SCENE 7 of Scream 2
Length: 2mins
Primary Characters: Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers
Pop Culture References:
  • Barnie Fife (Gale referenced him and Dewey in her book)


A nice little scene we have here that is used as the bridge to get Gale and Dewey - ahem, Dwight - back together again. I like the makers new that audiences still wanted the adult relationships just as much as the teenage ones.


I tend to skip this scene when I watch Scream 2, although watching it just now reminds me that there's some fun stuff going on. I like the way Marco Beltrami's music is almost reminiscent of a western, and how these two clearly have a lot of chemistry.


Either Gale is checking out Dewey's acquired limp or she's checking out his arse. Although, I notice she does an upwards scan so maybe she's doing both.


"'Deputy Dewey filled the room with his Barnie Fife-ish presence.'"
"You read my book."
"Yes, I do read, Ms Weathers."
"Oh Dewey, don't take it so seriously."

I personally love that Gale has already reverted back to calling him "Dewey" after he was explicit reference to the fact that his name is not Dewey, but Dwight. She used "Dwight" once in a sentence and already gave up. That's our Gale!


"How do you know my dimwitted inexperience isn't merely a subtle form of manipulation used to lower people's expectations, thereby enhancing my ability to effectively manoeuvre within any given situation."

Good point, although I think he demonstrates multiple times throughout the trilogy that he is indeed quite dimwitted from time to time, no?


"One more thing... nice streaks!"

Scream:
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, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, Scene 31 Scene 32, Scene 33, End Credits

Scream 2
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 6 of Scream 2 (0:22:14-0:25:58)

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



SCENE 6 of Scream 2
Length: 3mins 36secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Dewey nee Deputy Dewey (David Arquette), Randy Meeks, Derek, Mickey, Hallie, Gale Weathers, Joel the Cameraman & Cotton Weary (Liev Shreiber)
Pop Culture References:
  • None


I think this scene we're about to look at is a perfect one in showing off the differences between the first and second film. I wrote in an earlier scene that Scream 2 (and, for that matter, Scream 3, but less successfully) is a much bigger enterprise than the first. The original is more intimiate, whereas the sequel is like the filmmaking team finally got enough money to amp everything up a few notches.

Take, for instance, this scene - and the one just before it, but I had too much other stuff to discuss there - where Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven somehow manage to juggle all these characters, all of whom get "a moment", and yet the movie doesn't feel crammed or fussy at all. Gene Siskel praised Scream 2 over Scream for this very reason. In many ways it's a more impressive directorial job by Craven since there's so much more going on. In this scene alone we have the introduction of old characters as well as new characters all interacting with one another, referencing the earlier film and, while they're at it, furthering the plot in multiple ways that doesn't feel clunky. It's a shame the video of their review has been taken down, I would have loved to included for you guys.


"I'm seeing someone. Nice guy, pre-med, no apparent psychotic tendencies."

Oh Sidney, isn't that what you thought about Billy Loomis, too!


"I just worry. Look, Sid, if there is some freaked out psycho trying to follow in Billy Loomis's footsteps you probably already know him. Or her. Or them."

I love this line. Or, more specifically, I love this line as spoken by Dewey. I like that he gets "him", "her" and "them" all correct!


Uh-oh!



One thing I'd never noticed before is the look on Mickey's face when Cotton Weary appears out from behind Gale and Joel. I think at this stage of filming Craven and Williamson were still very much on the Hallie/Derek/Debbie trio so I'm probably giving this moment too much worth than it warrants, but I love Mickey's smile. It's like he always can't contain himself knowing that, with the new murders as Cotton is in town, so much focus will be on him.


"You bitch!"


Ooh, bitch *nearly* went down.


"Oh Sidney, won't you share with us, please!"








"I'll share with you!"


"Did you get that on film?"


"Yes I got that on film."

Bitch went down!

Look, there's no skirting around the issue here... Hallie's "Did you get that on film?" is just not as amazing as Tatum's "BAM, bitch went down. BAM! Sid! Super-bitch!" I like that they continue that structural link to the original, although you can already sense it starting to deviate.

TATUM 4EVA!


"Hey, you need to check your conscience at the door, Sweetie. We're not here to be loved."

I hate this line of dialogue?! I hate it. I hate it so much I want to forget it exists and just end this scene right now, which is what I will do. Because it's over. No, really, that's it. See you next time!

Scream:
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, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, Scene 31 Scene 32, Scene 33, End Credits

Scream 2
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5

Monday, January 24, 2011

Review: Another Year & Catfish

Another Year
Dir. Mike Leigh
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 130mins

Catfish
Dir. Ariel Schulman & Henry Joost
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: PG
Running Time: 87mins


**WARNING: This joint review of Another Year and Catfish contains MAJOR spoilers for the latter, so unless you've seen it maybe you should wait. You've had fair warning, yeah?**

Both Another Year and Catfish start in wildly different places and yet, through a series of both surprising and meandering ways end up in much the same place. Mike Leigh’s year-in the-life film may appear to be a portrait of a lovable, if excessively “British!”, Londoner couple, and Catfish may appear (appear being a very appropriate word for this quote unquote documentary) to be about a burgeoning online romance, yet by films’ end they prove to be painful and sad examinations of the lives of two desperately lonely women, both of which probably have some deep-seeded emotional illness that they decide to thrust upon the lives of others with no consideration of the immense destructive power that they wield on those around them.

Both films start at a place of happiness, betraying the emotionally frayed road bumps to follow. As Tom and Gerri in Another Year, Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen seem like a typical elderly couple, living out the last few years before retirement begins and the kettle goes into maximum overdrive. They occasionally indulge Gerri’s friend Mary (a bravura performance by Leigh regular Lesley Manville) who visits their humble home every so often, humourously drinks them under the table and crashes upstairs before clamouring out of bed the next morning to face a new day. Similarly in Catfish, Schulman and Joost’s camera follows Nev Schulman, a photographer with a nice life in New York City who begins a pen-pal relationship with a wildly talented, if slightly precocious-sounding, eight year old named Abby. He’s flattered she enjoys recreating his photos with paint and he soon forms a bond with Abby’s mother, Angela, and especially her older sister, Megan.


Both take an almost puzzle like mosaic approach to their respective material with pieces slotting in to place. Leigh and his editor Jon Gregory have used the time-honoured seasonal structure to their story. Beginning in spring and progressing through summer, autumn and finally winter, they ask the audience to fill in a lot of the in between – if you think there even is a lot to fill in, which I’d argue there probably isn’t judging from the 2 hours of their lives we get to witness other than more cups of tea that you can shake a stick at – as we remain with these character for only the briefest of moments to watch an important gathering. Whether that be a dinner at home, a backyard barbecue, a meet-the-parents get together or a funeral, these few events roll ever so delicately towards the breakdown of Mary, an individual so on the edge that she’s barely hanging on by a thread. It’s all very point a to point b stuff, but a less disciplined director would have felt the need to throw kooky narrative hooks and annoying non-linear structure into the mix. It’s refreshing that Another Year is so simple.

Catfish on the other hand rapidly lays facts upon “facts”, asking the audience to assemble it alongside the bewildered Nev Schulman and his on-screen filmmaking team as it happens. If the reveal of the big secret held in the film’s grip isn’t quite the Crying Game sized wowser that the trailer had promised, it still has a power all of its own that should make more than a few audience members ask serious questions of themselves and those that they think they know.

The character of Mary in Another Year is prickly and dangerous to herself, but unfortunately Leigh seems to get more satisfaction out of watching the smug, ever-so-condescending Tom and Gerri have a laugh at her expense. Broadbent and Sheen are both good, but Broadbent’s Tom, especially, seems to all but lick his lips every time he gets to send a barbed sarcastic zinger in Mary’s direction. Why is this couple attracted to associating with losers like Mary of Ken (Peter Wight)? A regular person would have cut them off long ago, and yet – to take a line from The Supremes – they keep them hanging on. Is it because they get satisfaction out of knowing their lives are so much better than theirs friends’? What with their cute London home with greenhouse and beautiful garden, their veggie garden in a community allotment and their need to have nary a bad word to say about anyone.


Mary’s defining character traits are that she devours wine like it’s the elixir of life and that she is hopelessly single, attracted to the wrong men at the wrong time. Leigh, Tom and Gerri give Mary frequent mocking glances as she descends into her regular drunken stupor, all but deploring her life choices yet giving her a soapbox to yammer on about them. Watch as Mary deludes herself and stay for the eventual “I’m a drunken mess” comeuppance. Anybody in the audience who has been long-term single will relate to Mary on some level, and many will easily recognise the furrowed brow and the mocking tone in the voices of those in relationships. When their son, Oliver Maltman’s Joe, who Mary has an inappropriate crush on, begins a relationship with Katie – a Happy-go-Lucky-ish character played by Karina Fernandez – it’s as if Mary’s single state is made out to be even more pathetic.

It’s not hard then to figure out why she all but has a mental breakdown by film’s end. The final segment of Another Year is owned by Manville – and, to a lesser extent, Martin Savage in a brief role as Tom’s angry nephew – who can’t hide just how close she is to falling off the tightrope completely. She’s clearly unstable, relying on drink to get through the crushing depression that has set over the past year. Leigh shows no sign of wanting to help Mary, instead choosing to focus his camera on her – quite literally at film’s end, the camera lingers on her sad, miserable face in a compelling final note – and point out her misgivings.

In Catfish, however, the figure of Angela is even more disturbed. As she relies on fake and embellished personas to live a life she wished she had, she comes across as deeply wounded and in desperate need to emotional help. When Imelda Staunton is asked what she wants most in the world in Another Year’s haunting prologue she replies “a different life”. If Angela was asked the same question – and she all but is asked, just a little less directly by Nev – I can’t imagine she’d reply much more differently. She is quite open once the secrets of her deviousness are laid bare (although as the credits sequence tells us, not even her confessions are elaborate fibs).


Whether Catfish is real or not was, for me at least, a complete non-issue by the end since. From its relatively humble beginnings of filming a blossoming online friendship to its conclusion of a woman who needs professional help and guidance, it had morphed into something altogether beyond “omgwhat’sthesecret?!?!” shock tactics. Unlike, for instance, Casey Affleck’s I’m Still Here, which is rendered null and void by its farcical revelations, Catfish works either way. If real it’s a fascinating documentation of a woman that utilised modern technology as a means to feed her illness; if fake then it becomes a solidly acted, well-written documentation of a woman that utilised technology as a means to feed her illness. No matter the journey, the destination is very much a thought provoking and, ultimately, frightening one. Whether the film - especially the early parts - work, or feel organic enough to work I'm less certain on.

I saw these two films on the same day and was quite surprised at how much they had in common. Of course, if Another Year gives you the sudden urge to get yourself out of the single rut that you’re in because, clearly, everyone is laughing at you, then Catfish will surely make you second guess any decision to use online dating a means of finding a partner. I can only imagine what it must be like to follow these two films with Blue Valentine, which puts a fluffy bow on the trilogy of relationship woes. Let’s call it the “Life Sucks and Then You Die” trilogy because clearly being single sucks, dating sucks and if you’re married it either sucks or you have to surround yourself with miserable sods to make yourself forget how much being married sucks.
Another Year, B-
Catfish, B

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 5 of Scream 2 (0:17:16-0:22:13)

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



SCENE 5 of Scream 2
Length: 4mins 57secs
Primary Characters: Gale Weathers, Joel the Cameraman (Duane Martin), Debbie Salt (Laurie Metcalf), Chief Hartley (Lewis Arquette), Sidney Prescott, Randy Meeks, Derek, Mickey, Hallie, Sorority Sister Lois (Rebecca Gayheart), Sorority Sister Murphy (Portia de Rossi), Portia de Rossi's Eyebrows (Themselves)
Pop Culture References:
  • Kevin Bacon ("Six degrees of Kevin Bacon" is mentioned)


Wow! Awesome crane shot! Wow! So cinematic!

Okay, seriously, let's get to that recently released Canadian trailer for Scream 4 before we get carried away with this scene. I haven't blogged about it yet because a) I've had minimal time and b) it keeps getting taken down, but "Steve" left a link in the comments of an entry so now we have one! yeehaw!


We won't talk about it too much, but needless to say I am excited. Reveals more of the characters (both in terms of number and in terms of their actual character traits and so forth) than the last teaser, which I like. My favourite bit is the "do you like scary movies?" gag that Emma Roberts and Hayden Panattiere share in the bedroom. It reminds me of this bit between Sidney and Randy where it really felt like they were a group of friends who had existed before scene 1.

Some of the scares look very good, such as the Adam Brody one at the end and Sidney's rooftop chase looks intriguing. Could she be getting chased by two Ghostface-clad killers at the same time? It's certainly something the franchise has never done before. Or, not done obviously so with two physical Ghostface beings in the same shot. Should be interesting to see. I like that they include a replication of a shot from the opening scene of Scream 2 and, hello, Kirby's (Panattiere) reciting of remakes of "groundbreaking" horror movies. Well, apart from the use of the word "groundbreaking", which just sounds silly. Nevertheless, we'll go with it, okay?

So, in the end, I like the trailer and it just made me even more excited. A new HD version has been released to the Apple website and it's the US version. There are a couple of shots that are different, but other than that it's all the same. Less than four months to go, you guys! Can we wait? No we can't, but we'll have to. Back to "Scream to Scream", okay?


Oh hai Gale! So glad to have you back and looking as bitchy as ever. She looks so feline-like; can you imagine 1997 era Courteney Cox as Catwoman? Now that would be a re-interpretation that I'd be on board for (ahem Mr Nolan!) Of the three hairstyles Gale had throughout the trilogy, this one is by far the best. As Dewey would say, "nice streaks!"


Love the look on Gale's face when her new cameraman, Joel, tells her he "almost won an award" for shooting the local bingo championships. The character of Derek is an interesting one though since he's the only black character in the entire trilogy who does not die (albeit, from a very small number of black characters - what's that about? A point so chin-stroke worthy that they put Deon Richmond on the poster for Scream 3 despite being in all of 3 minutes of the film!) We'll discuss this more later on.


Look at "Debbie Salt" hanging around there in the background. Whosoever idea it was (that'd be Lisa Beach) to cast Laurie freakin' Metcalf in a slasher horror movie deserves a medal. Yet again, one of this series' biggest assets is its ability to cast actors that we all know in unexpected parts. Not just mere cameos, but actual parts. I mean, Roseanne's sister Jackie as the killer in Scream 2 just sounds ridiculous and yet utterly amazing.


"Excuse me, Ms Weathers, could I have a minute? Just one second. I know you must get this all the time, but I just wanna say I am such a big fan of your work. I just finished your book, I couldn't put it down. Insightful, probing, I just really, really loved your book."


"Thank you, thanks."


"Sure. I'm a writer myself, I just write for the local paper. I'm Debbie Salt. I took your seminar in Chicago last year, I was the one in the front row asking all the questions."


"Right, I thought you looked familiar."


"Aw, thank you. Can't wait to see the movie! You know, you must be getting a lot of flak on that, right? What with all the violence in cinema issues. What is your position going to be?"
"No comment."



"Mr Weathers, it would be such an honour for me if I could just get a quote from you for my story."


"Okay. Begin quote."
"Great!"
"Your flattering remarks are both obvious and desperate. End quote."



(from the background) "Ouch!"

This entire bit is gold, from Gale's so-couldn't-care-less almost monotone replies of "thank you" and "Right, I thought you looked familiar", but my favourite bit is the "ouch!" from the press gallery after Gale's big line at the end. It's so sassy talk show host, I love it! Plus, knowing in retrospect that "Debbie Salt" (aka Mrs Loomis, Billy's mother) is the mastermind behind the killings makes you realise how much she must be full of rage at this moment and plotting her revenge.


That would be David Arquette's father - and Courteney Cox's future father-in-law - Lewis Arquette. It really was a family affair on set!


You remember how I said Scream 2 followed a very set structure, almost identical to the original, for the first half an hour or so? Well I guess this is Scream 2's version of the fountain scene where we get to see all of Sidney's crew in one place and suss out the likely suspects. No jokes about gutting, livers in mailboxes and Sharon Stone, unfortunately.


"Sidney, look, it's Gale Weathers. Star of the Gale Weathers press conference, based on the book by Gale Weathers, soon to be a major motion picture starring... Gale Weathers."
"Be kind, she saved our lives."


I like that Randy makes a joke about Gale having calf implants. Who has calf implants? Gale Weathers, that's who!


We already discussed the history of Sarah Michelle Gellar's Cici character and how she was originally meant to be in this scene with Rebecca Gayheart, Portia de Rossi and Portia de Rossi's eyebrows. Every time I remember this scene I remember it with Gellar purely of the image found on this page since it was, for some reason, widely used and circulated. It always confuses me because Cici is "Omega Beta Zeta" in her death scene and Gayheart/de Rossi/de Rossi's Eyebrows are not OBZ. Thinking its all one giant plot hole I then remember all the kerfuffle about her character reshuffle and then I go calm again. Although, if you look carefully in the background you can see Cici standing there in her purple top and blonde hair right where she would be saying "Starfuckers" per the original script.


But, really folks, are you read for the big entrance of Portia de Rossi's eyebrows??


"This must be flat out hell for you?!"

Amazing!


"It's really weird, isn't it? To think this fuss is all because of you! I mean, not directly, but in some 'six degrees of Kevin Bacon' way!"

EVEN MORE AMAZING OMG!!!!


Hah. That look of a stunned mullet on the faces of Derek and Mickey always continues my chuckle from Portia de Rossi's supreme comedic prowess.


*explodes*
I'm sorry, I have to give myself a minute to pull myself up off the floor from the pits of laughter that Portia de Rossi's cocked eyebrow sends me into. I fuckin' love it!

Of course, how can I get that snobby-looking uptight sorority girl to the right of frame. She's not credited so I don't know who the actress is, but my god would you look at her face. You just know she grew up to be Julie Cooper-Nichol.


"Who's that?" Derek asks... why it's Dewey, of course! Yay! We all love Deputy Dewey, don't we? DON'T WE?

Cut to a new scene and serious time. Ooh...

Scream:
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, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, Scene 31 Scene 32, Scene 33, End Credits

Scream 2
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4