Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 11 of Scream (0:37:24-0:38:19)

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

SCENE 11
Length: 1min 26secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Tatum Riley, Deputy Dewey, Mrs Riley, Cotton Weary (Liev Shreiber)
Pop Culture References:

• None
  

Oh look, an American flag! Worth mentioning is that this scene brings us to the Scream franchise's theme song of sorts in Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand" having appeared in all three films of the trilogy. Will it be in Scream 4?


This shot reminds me of why I kinda became obsessed with the USA in the first place. My first real memory of truly wondering "what is this country and why is my country so different?" came through music videos like those for - and I'm not joking - Wilson Phillips' "Hold On" and Julian Lennon's "Saltwater" (ignore the music during the latter since YouTube rules the song and the video can't go together for some reason, blerg). I used to love reading atlases and books about geography and as I read more about America - most of my favourite musicians being from there and all, I was a music fiend before a cinema fiend - I fell in love. Something about how their nature looked so much different to our nature. As I started to watch movies and seeing things like skyscrapers, which living in a town like Geelong I had never seen before, and wondering why Australia was so different.

I've been to America twice now and am planning a third visit (which won't eventuate for a good 2 years or so) and it is this third visit where I intend to finally see some of this part of America. The stuff I was originally so hooked on. I'm sure it can't possibly live up to the nostalgic memories I hold, but I'm willing to take the risk.

So, yes, this shot reminded me of all that. Vividly. Australian towns just don't look like that when I was growing up. Well, not Victorian ones, anyway. Don't get me wrong, growing up here had its own beauty, but much like FBI Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks and his obsessed with Douglas Furs I guess I'm in love with this sort of imagery that Australia just doesn't have. Scream was filmed in Santa Rosa, California, so maybe I should mark that down as somewhere I need to visit. Experience it for myself and soak it all in. It is fascinating that I can drum up so much from one simple shot, to think that as a kid I used to wish I could live in one of these sort of American towns with the two story house (always with the two story houses, you Americans!) and parks that look like Yosemite. I'm sure if I saw these places in person they'd look much the same to what we have here, but I guess old memories die hard and it's why I will always have that yearning for this kind of stuff.


Firstly, I love that Dewey still lives at home. Secondly, don't "Corn Chex" sound like a disgusting cereal? Thirdly, this is Tatum's third hairstyle of the movie. First she had her normal hair with nothing done to it, then she had a ponytail and now plaits. Adorable.


One night as I was watching the Golden Globe Awards with my mother and brother I said I was cheering for Liev Shreiber to win the award for his performance as Orson Welles in RKO 281. My brother shot me down saying I only wanted him to win because "he was in Scream" and my brother was right. That's the hold that his trilogy had on me for a good long while. I do like seeing Shreiber these days having so much success knowing that the first two Scream movies were pivotal moments in his early career.


"We're checking every cellular accounts in the county. Any calls made to you or Casey Becker are being cross-referenced. It's gonna take some time but we'll find him."
The telephone lingo in Scream is often hilarious. So dated!!


A light, consoling punch by my gal Tatum! I want a light, consoling punch from Tatum. ME!

Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 10 of Scream (0:35:56-0:37:23)

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

SCENE 10
Length: 1min 27secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Tatum Riley, Deputy Dewey, Mrs Riley (Frances Lee McCain)
Pop Culture References:

• MacGyver (Poster on wall)
  

The 100th screencap of this series belongs to Tatum and Sit sitting in Tatum's room being fawned over by MacGyver! Not exactly "apt", but charming, definitely. Meanwhile, I don't believe Tatum Riley would ever have bed linens that look like that? It's hard to imagine she and Stu making out on one of those beds, can you? Although she does wear baby blue pyjamas with clouds on them, so...


"God, I loved it! 'I'll send you a copy' - BAM, bitch went down. 'I'll send you a copy' - BAM! Sid! Super-bitch! You were so cool."
Seriously, how great is Tatum? She and her white fluffy teddybear. Definitely one of my favourite lines from the entire trilogy. If there was one character I could change the fate of it is Tatum. She is so entertaining. But, alas, the big-breasted girl had to die, those are the rules.


This entire scene is just to show much I would want Tatum as a friend, isn't it? Damn them!


By now the film has all but chosen to make any use of the telephone be preceded by an ominous menacing shot of the telephone. Like in the time-honoured tradition of horror movies turning previously innocuous objects, creatures and locations and twisting them into evil forces of... evil. This shot perfectly encapsulates that. By now audiences should be screaming "DON'T PICK UP THE PHONE!"


I think the first ever image I saw of Scream - above a review in, oh I dunno, WHO Magazine? - was of this moment. Isn't that nice?


I love this shot for some reason. Maybe I have an affection for big closeups? Or maybe it's just Neve Campbell's flaring nostrils? I'll never know...

That line "you'll find out soon enough, I promise" is so good. Chilling.


"Hello?"
Oh Deputy Dewey. You're precious.

Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 9 of Scream (0:31:49-0:35:55)

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

SCENE 9
Length: 4mins 6secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Billy Loomis, Deputy Dewey, Sheriff Burke, Tatum Riley, Gale Weathers, Kenny the Cameraman and Hank Loomis (CW Morgan)
Pop Culture References:

• None

Gah! It's been nearly a week since the last entry, which is exactly why this project is going to take so long. And I can't guarantee an abundance of entries over the next couple of weeks, what with MIFF and everything that festival entails taking up so much time, but I will try.

But back to business, let's look at Dewey's desk, shall we?

• Red trucker's hat
• Red novelty handcuffs
  
• Dunkin' Donuts bag
• "Comic Cops" signs
• Picture frame

I've been praising the production design so far, but that's some fun set decoration going on right there. I bet he has some floppy discs under those papers, too!


"Let me ask you this; what are you doing with a cellular telephone, son?"
Firstly, HYSTERICAL! A question like this with lingo such as "cellular telephone" is as dated as The Net. However, I must point out completely insensitive this scene plays out by having Sidney and her presumed attacker separated by nothing more than some flimsy venetian blinds. Especially when it allows him to look at her... LIKE THIS!



Although that is some good framing there.


Billy's dad has always felt like a bit of a creep to me. No wonder Mrs Loomis (*where have we heard of her before?*) left him. He's a skeeze. I also like that he seems more concerned about "You went out last night?" as opposed to the HIS SON BEING ARRESTED FOR MURDER, but what would I know?


Do you think Skeet Ulrich was cast based purely on his similarity to Johnny Depp, star of Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street? This entire scene is framed around Ulrich's hair and how it dangles delicately across his sensitive manboy face.


"They're not letting anybody in."
"I'm not just anybody."
Damn straight you're not, Gale!


If there were a Gale Weathers appreciation society, I think I would join. Love this woman! Especially for moments like this: "Hey, watch the hand! Don't you know who you're dealing with here?" Amazing. I like to imagine she and Kenny the Cameraman were filming a live cross to Woodsboro and that all of this stuff went to air.


One of the things I am enjoying about sharing all of this with you dear readers is pointing out tiny little moments that would otherwise go unnoticed. Such a moment is now, as Sidney sits having just had Billy walk past screaming out at her. In comes Tatum who proceeds to walk over to comfort her. Tatum's walk is what amuses me. Everytime I see it I think of the Seinfeld episode "The Summer of George" in which Molly Shannon plays a woman who must go into physical rehabilitation in order to swing her arms when she walks. It makes me chuckle.


Do you have any idea how long it took me to figure out what a "five and dime" was. A LONG TIME!


"What did Mom tell ya? When I wear this badge you treat me like a man of the law."


"I'm sorry Deputy Dewey Boy, but we're ready to go!"


Poor Deputy Dewey Dwight Riley!


"He's my superior!"
"The janitor is your superior."


Which is scarier? Ghostface lunging at you with a knife or a bitchy tabloid news reporter wearing a lime green ensemble bounding towards you with an overweight cameraman? Hmmm. A question for the ages.


I see what Marilyn Manson saw in Rose McGowan now. She certainly isn't tanned! I do love this last bit of the scene out the back of the Police station between Gale, Tatum and Sidney. The bitchery is off the chart.


"No, Tatum, it's okay, she's just doing her job."


"Yes, that's right."


"So, how's the book?"


"Well, it'll be out later this year."


"Oh? I'll look for it."


"I'll send you a copy!"






"Bitch!"
Yes. Bitch, indeed.

Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8

Review: Greenberg

Greenberg
Dir. Noah Baumbach
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 107mins

Writer and director Noah Baumbach has become more and more esoteric with each passing film. Where his Oscar-nominated breakthrough with The Squid and the Whale was an accessible take on Woody Allen, Margot at the Wedding proved to be a bitter pill for many to swallow with its focus on Nicole Kidman’s sarcastic sister routine. With Greenberg, Baumbach turns to Ben Stiller’s Roger Greenberg, a selfish, privileged and aimless soul whose only purpose in life is to take anti-depression medications and make everyone around him feel worthless. Fresh out of the hospital, Roger housesits for his brother and must navigate the world he hasn’t experienced in a long time.

Read the rest at Trespass Mag
Writing this review just made me remember, most of all, how good Nicole Kidman is in Margot at the Wedding. For all of that film's faults, it was always fascinating to watch Nicole Kidman walk that delicate tightrope walk of a performance, which is something that Ben Stiller lacks here. He's always Ben Stiller Acting Depressed and never really much more. Greta Gerwig, however, continues the Noah Baumbach train of fantastic female actor performances in his films. Note, I have not seen Kicking and Screaming, but I should try and get to that at some point.

Review: The Waiting City

The Waiting City
Dir. Claire McCarthy
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 100mins

An affluent white couple arrives in slum-ridden India and within hours the airline has lost the wife’s luggage and the husband has gotten sick from drinking the water. These may be scenarios you would find in a light-hearted fish out of water comedy (it’s half the plot of Sex and the City 2, actually), but in this case they are the starting points to Claire McCarthy’s mature and poignant tale of lives affected by adoption in The Waiting City. McCarthy had previously worked as a volunteer in Calcutta and has used this life-changing experience as the basis for this her second feature film. Starring Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton, both of whom returned from successful American careers to make this small, some might say “intimate”, exploration of a failing relationship teetering on the brink of collapse.

Read the rest at Onya Magazine


The Waiting City is beautiful and poetic and I don't mind admitting a shed a couple of tears. However, on a far more crass note - has Joel Edgerton ever been more, ahem, doable? I think not. He just gets better with age, doesn't he? I'm so glad Americans, along with the rest of the world, will soon be getting a whole lot more of him from Animal Kingdom, The Thing remake and Warrior.

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 8 of Scream (0:29:50-0:31:48)

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

SCENE 8
Length: 1mins 58secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), Billy Loomis, Deputy Dewey, Sheriff Burke, Tatum Riley and Kenny the Cameraman (W Earl Brown)
Pop Culture References:

• None

Much like the water fountain scene I enjoy this one a lot because it is a convergence of so many characters (if only Randy was there!) and a couple of great comedy moments. What I don't get is why Billy tells the Sheriff to "call my father, he'll tell you (I didn't do it)" which is a very bizarre thing to say since the only reason anybody does think he did it is because he was at the scene of the crime as it happened and Billy nor his his father can disprove that!


Hah! Tatum shows up in her red beetle punch buggy car. I love it! Like I mentioned in the last scene about how I'm glad they had Sidney wearing the sort of clothes you would actually hang around your house wearing, I like that they gave a character like Tatum an el cheapo car. It's so annoying when characters in these sort of movies drive around in expensive BMWs or the like (hello recent A Nightmare on Elm Street remake!) Hell, Sidney doesn't even have a car from what I can tell. It just adds a bit of something extra to the proceedings. More relatability, less obviously YOU'RE WATCHING A MOVIE attitude.

But, then again, Tatum totally seems like the kinda girl who would drive around in a Volkswagen anyway, don't you think?


"Her dad's out of town all right? She's staying with us tonight."
"Does Mom know?"
"Yes doofus!"
Tatum and Dewey have such a funny relationship. It's yet another case of characters feel like true siblings and not just actors playing brother and sister. It's a strange comment to make - it's something I like to commend whenever I see it in a film - because there really are times when you watch actors act and there is just no chemistry at all.


About to emerge out of that news van is one of my all time favourite movie characters and she will say one of my all time favourite one-liners.

"Look Kenny..."

"...I know you're about fifty pounds overweight, but when I say 'hurry'..."

"...please interpret that as 'move your fat tub of lard ass, NOW!'"

Bless Gale Weathers. Bless her and her hilarious meteorologist's name.

Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7

Review: Knight & Day

Knight & Day
Dir. James Mangold
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 109mins

Knight and Day has been a troubled production from day one. Not only was it written and rewritten by an ever-growing parade of Hollywood writers from studio to studio, but also a series of directors and cast-members (Adam Sandler was once attached to star, as were Chris Tucker and Eva Mendes) were hired and dropped out before it was finally settled on Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. This period of development hell should be cause for alarm, but thankfully director James Mangold has somehow managed to salvage just enough to make Knight and Day an enjoyable, if convoluted, time at the cinema.

To read rest visit Trespass Mag

Isn't it strange how many of these movies have come about this year? Knight & Day, Killers (out in Australia soon), Date Night and The Bounty Hunter all within six months of each other. I was definitely surprised by this movie since the combination of Cruise and Diaz sounded like one of the most painful actor combos imaginable, but there are moments where they both just seem "on" and in tune. That bit where Diaz runs out on the count of three along with Cruise's reply makes me laugh every time I see the ad. Such is life.