2001: a Space Odyssey: staying on-message...

SO, today in Dublin watched once again that phantasmagorical epic 2001: a Space Odyssey, in – Lo! - its original 70mm (so, genuine widescreen). Made in 1968 and directed by the reclusive but iconic Stanley Kubrick, the film has all the hallmarks of a ’60s project – Hardy Amies fashion, idealism, psychedelia etc. – but (as always with intelligent science fiction) foreshadows many things to come, including a not so distant relative of the iPad. On its release 2001 attracted mixed reviews, partly due to an opaque plot, but also its Great Length (even the trimmed version is 141 minutes; the original weighed in at a restroom-beckoning 160). Now, 2001 is widely acknowledged as one of the best 100 films ever made.

And no wonder; WHAT a film! Divided into three parts, 2001 traces the development of humankind, from our earliest ape-like ancestors 4 million years ago, through our first attempts at space exploration, and finally our (well, the protagonist’s anyway) transformation into a gigantic Star Child, hovering between our Earth and the moon, and ready to shepherd our species into an uncertain future. Overseeing all of this are some nameless aliens, represented by a mysterious monolith (looking strangely like the UN building in New York – well, this is the ’60s).

The plot? Well, first the monolith rescues the apes from near-extinction, ‘training’ them to use bones as clubs so turning them from herbivores into hunter-gatherers, and paving the way for evolution to produce homo-sapiens. Then, in the 20thC, we find another monolith on the moon, which subsequently signals Alien HQ on Jupiter that “the humans are here and they’re not grunting anymore”.

Finally, a monolith the size of Venus takes the hero David Bowman from his spaceship (called ‘Discovery’, and sent to see where the signal actually went), through a star-gate to metamorphose into humanity’s next stage of development – Super Being. The star of the show is HAL, the spaceship’s mixed up super-computer, who gradually descends to a level of existential angst making Hamlet look, well, cheerful. HAL, sadly, believes the mission is under threat because Bowman and his colleague start to doubt his abilities. So, he enters cyber-psychosis, and kills all the crew except Bowman (including three in suspended animation). Bowman is forced to pull HAL’s plug.

When I first saw the film in 1971, it terrified and awed me. Its a startlingly original project, released at a time when most other films were bonnet dramas, war films, really silly Hammer Horrors, or risqué comedies like Carry on up the Khyber (though that was a fun film). The visual effects in 2001 – such as Bowman being taken through the star-gate – won Kubrick an Oscar, but it was Bowman’s sheer loneliness, being 100 million miles from earth orbiting Jupiter, isolated in the deafening silence of space, that got to me as a teen-ager.

That and the eerie music. Much of the soundtrack is from the music of Hungarian György Ligeti, a fiercely contemporary composer (he died only in 2006). Through an extensive use of microtones (those spaces between the notes on a piano), Ligeti creates a musical landscape that really does seem ‘not of this world’ – the effect Kubrick of course wanted (check out Lux Aeterna when you have time; and keep the light on).

I came out of the theatre today stunned (and looking for a restroom). As an adult, I couldn’t help seeing the film in a different light to my first viewing (good grief) 39 years ago. Its message is as strong as 40 years ago…but what do I think now in 2010? Well, first, 2001’s technological prescience. Credit cards to make phone/video calls! Space travel to the moon! A space station orbiting the Earth! Digital newspapers! Personal screens for in-flight entertainment! Computers that talk! Flat screen monitors! (yes, they were unknown in 1968).

Second, the film also reminded me that now, at the beginning of the third millennium, our arrogance as a species knows no bounds – see the mess we’re making of our planet – so superior beings may be just the thing to bring us into line (!). Its also a shame that when the apes learn to use clubs for killing animals for food, their NEXT target is the other ape-tribe down the valley. Whilst I have no truck with Golden-Ageists (see a previous post), it did remind me of human development’s Janus-face.

And the death of HAL still feels odd. ‘He’ was a machine of course, just programmed to be a ‘person’, but ‘killing’ HAL did seem uncomfortably close to ending the life of a living being that didn’t want to die. HAL was just a little mixed up, and his deteriorating mental health was (as revealed later) a by-product of internal conflict. HAL knew something Bowman didn’t – that the true reason for the mission was to find the aliens. HAL killing the crew was just cyber-teleology (the end – a successful mission – justifies the means – killing the crew). During the scene where Bowman slowly removes HAL’s processors to stop him doing more damage, the computer’s regression to ‘childhood’ then silicon death still feels genuinely unsettling. What defines a person? Is HAL different to a human? Why?

Kubrick kept the dialogue in 2001 intentionally sparse or bland (much to the chagrin of writer Arthur C Clarke, on whose short story The Sentinel the film is based), so as to give the audience free reign to construct their own interpretations of what is going on. So, go see the film next time it shows (the DVD doesn’t really do the cinematography any justice).

What do YOU think it all means?

[Via http://ianhodgson.wordpress.com]

The 10 movies you shouldn't watch from 2009

We live in a world of entertainment and, in my opinion, it is more then normal that, thanks to the advanced tecniques, 3D graphics and WHAT THEY CHARGE US to see, rent or buy a film, that the movies industry should give us some real good stuff to entertain our free time! I know I have high expectations and maybe too high standards but sometimes I really find myself in my video store, after i’ve whatched all the good ones, to get DVDs that I don’t know and I haven’t read about online.. Well, most of the time, after I spent those 90 minutes in front of the TV with my wife, we ask oursevels: WHY HAVEN’T WE DONE SOMETHING BETTER???.. So, before I start planning for a better hobby, maybe like playing Monopoly or Scrabble against our PCs, once the “good movies are out”, please allow me to give you this piece of advice… DON’T WASTE YOU TIME WATCHING…:

Entertainment rate Movie My Review My Wife comments - 20

The Final Destination

I was quite a fan of the first 3 movies and actually this wasn’t that bad.. but once it ended I felt sorry for the time I wasted watching this. I agree - 250

This Is It

I refused to watch this but I really think that is too cheap to speculate on Jacko… let’s remember him for the good he has done.. Thriller! I agree -500

Dragonball: Evolution

All I have to say about this is.. WHY? ok with the effect and the karate… but.. Ok Anna, give me the remote, better Myth busters! I erased this completely from my memory! - 1000

Angels & Demons

NO NO NO!!! I almost liked the Da vinci Code… but this??? a pure waste of my time! Is it so easy to pick on the Vatican… Better download some more episodes of Family guy from Rapid share! Watched it all… got bored! - 1500

The Pink Panther 2

I am a huge fan of the first original Pink Panther series, the one with Peter Sellers. WHY DO WE HAVE TO SUFFER LIKE THIS!!! Why don’t we tell Steve Martin that he ain’ t funny at ALL! I refused to watch it - 3000

Alien Trespass

I watched it all.. one late night when I had nothing better to do.. I could have come up with something better! I refused to watch it - 7259

Year One

I am a big Jack Black fan… what has he done here? WHY THIS MOVIE? If he was in the need of money I could have pay a couple of Big Mac for him. Jack.. please let’s go back to the school of Rock!! I last 3 minutes.. then I went to sleep - 10000

Brüno

I saw it was lame from the trailers but there was nothing better to rent that day… didn’t finish it, not funny, what else can I say? I refused to watch it - 11250

Super Capers

Couldn’t finish it.. too lame. I wonder who paid to see this “thing” at the theater.. actually who paid to make this???? after 35 seconds I refused to watch it - 125000

2012: Supernova

An incredibly lame Z movie.. one hour and some of pure boredom. If your friends invite you to see this movie surely he/she is upset with you or is a nut case! I spent most of the time in the kitchen

[Via http://lordivanet.wordpress.com]

Grindhouse Classics : "The Black Connection"

"The Black Connection" Movie Poster

Grimy.

If I had to sum up the 1974 Harry Novak-produced blaxploitation crime thriller “The Black Connection” in one word, that would be it. This movie is just plain grimy.

But there’s more to it than that, of course. From start to finish, this flick exudes an oppressive air of impending doom even at its most lighthearted (relatively speaking) moments. It’s beyond redemption from the get-go, and it’s taking you down with it.

I guess we might as well deal with its notorious alternate title right off the mark : as you can plainly see from the poster shown above, this film was also marketed under the title “Run Nigger Run,” which is offensive, to be sure, but in its defense — flimsy as that defense may be — this wasn’t the only 1970s-era film marketed to a black audience with the unfortunate “N word” in its title. “Boss Nigger” and “The Legend of Nigger Charlie” spring immediately to mind. So while I’m certainly not in any way, shape, or form condoning the use of said racial slur, it was a product of its time, and the times weren’t pretty.

And with that out of the way, we may as well take a look at the story itself, which, to be perfectly honest, takes a hell of a long time to get going. The first quarter (at least) of the movie features a lot of stock mobster-type characters coming and going, only some of whom really have anything to do with the actual thrust of the narrative itself. If you’re looking for a good example of plot discipline, look elsewhere.

Once things do get going, however, the story is a rather involving little crime yarn. John Harrison, a.k.a. The Graveyard Tramp, has described it as being a fusion of “Across 110th Street” and (the original) “Get Carter,” and that’s essentially an accurate summation.

Las Vegas hood Miles Carter (the wooden and uncharismatic Bobby Stevens — but we won’t hold that against him, all the acting in this flick is atrocious) is in it deep with the Italian mob over a hefty amount of missing cocaine. Hes’ tried every legit angle to get the money they want before they whack him, but when even his bank manager turns him down for an extension on the loan he owes them, he knows he’s going to have to resort to — ummm — less conventional methods of settling his scores with both the mob and the bank.

Carter’s girlfriend, Magda (Martha Washington) isn’t too keen on whatever course of action her man is taking, the white junkie chick he keeps on the side is jonesing for a fix, and his aforementioned bank manager has hired a notorious hitman named “Fats” Miller to take Carter out over the not-so-small-matter of his debt. All in all, our guy Carter looks like he’s fucked, and Vegas is getting to be a pretty hot place for him.

Then a chance encounter with Juanita, the widow of a former rival known only as “The Cuban,” offers a timely possibility — she can help him get his hands on a large quantity of premium-grade heroin, all they need to do is get down to Albuquerque to secure the smack. Carter has bigger plans, though — plans that involve setting up one last big deal to unload the heroin and then get the hell down to Mexico with Magda, leaving both his bank and the Mafia holding the bag. All is he has to do is stay alive long enough to get the smack, get it sold, and get across the border. With “Fats” hot on his trail, though, that easier said than done —

There’s nothing flashy or stylish about “The Black Connection,” to say the least. It was shot on the ultra-cheap and looks it. What’s even more important, though, is that it feels as cheap as it looks. The opening credits are simple title cards. The music, by an outfit you’ve never heard of before or since called The Checkmates, Ltd. is groovy enough, but definitely sub-standard soul fare. Thje acting, as mentioned earlier, is almost disoncertingly bland and straightforward. The  Las Vegas and and New Mexico locations are cool (as one commenter on the IMDB remarked, one of the most fun things to do when watching this film is to play “name the imploded hotel” in the scenes shot along the Vegas strip), but shot with no pretense toward giving them anything like a panoramic or even involving presentation by director Michael J. Finn ( by the way, this remains, understandably, his only directing credit). To refer once again to The Graveyard Tramp’s review of the film (featured on the back of the case for the DVD-R release of this movie from Something Weird Video) : “the film looks and even feels like one of those ugly, dirty XXX featurettes from the early 1970s which, much like a car wreck, you can’t help but be fascinated by.” I can’t put it much better than that, so I won’t even try.

As I mentioned in the previous review for “Massacre Mafia Style,” this movie makes a great double-bill with that Duke Mitchell classic. They each present a different side to a 1970s blacks-vs.-Italians crime story, both are dirty-ass cheap, and each offers a unique atmosphere all its own, with “Massacre Mafia Style” centered around, and anchored by, Mitchell’s charismatically unhinged performance and the possibility of positively anarchic violence thretening to erupt at any moment, and “The Black Connection” positively reeking of  the kind of malevolent and oppressive sleaze that only the lowest of budgets can convey with any sense of autheticity. Watch them back to back and have yourself one heck of a fun night scraping the absolute bottom of the xploitation movie barrel.

“The Black Connection” is available from several online DVD-R dealers, but your host recommends the previously-mentioned Something Weird release. It’s a direct-from- VHS transfer struck from a ratherage-worn (but perfectly watchable) 35mm print, but seeing this thing remastered with a crisper, clearer picture would seriously defeat the whole purpose. In addition, the SWV release also includes the original theatrical trailer at the end, and given that they’re the licensed purveyors of the entire Harry Novak back catalogue, that makes this as close to an “official” DVD release as this movie is ever going to get — or, for that matter, should get. And that’s the beauty of it.

[Via http://trashfilmguru.wordpress.com]

Nuit Blanche

Nuit Blanche explores a fleeting moment between two strangers, revealing their brief connection in a hyper real fantasy.

Directed by: Arev Manoukian

The making of the award winning “Nuit Blanche”

Directed by: Arev Manoukian Produced by: Stephanie Swedlove & Arev Manoukian VFX by: Marc-Andre Gray Music by: Samuel Bisson Starring: Michael Coughlan & Megan Lindley Cinematographer: Arev ManoukianCasting: Jeff Marshall Assistant Director: Andrew Cividino Production Designer: Arev Manoukian & Marc-Andre Gray Art Director / Costumes – Dan Levy Camera Operator: Jay Pavao Camera Assistant: Max Armstrong Gaffer: Alan Poon Editor: Arev Manoukian Compositor / Animator: Marc-Andre Gray Effects Supervisors: Marc-Andre Gray & Arev Manoukian Additional Compositing: Arev Manoukian Matte Painter: Pat Lau Colourist: Andre Chlebak

http://www.spyfilms.com

[Via http://peaceinvisible.com]

Grindhouse Classics : "Massacre Mafia Style" (a.k.a. "The Executioner")

"The Executioner" Movie Poster

Wow. That’s the first word that comes to mind when discussing quasi-legendary nightclub singer/comedian/all-around entertainer Duke Mitchell’s 1978 no-budget “Godfather” rip-off, “Massacre Mafia Style,” also released both theatrically and on VHS under the alternate titles “The Executioner” and “Like Father, Like Son.” And while it’s tempting to just leave the review at that and let you discover the perverse mayhem of this nearly-forgotten Z-grade masterpiece on your own, I’ve truthfully never been that good at shutting up, so at least a few words are in order—

Mitchell, who also wrote, directed, and produced this 79-minute homage to pure cinematic chaos on a frayed-shoestring budget, strars as Mimi (more often pronounced as M’mi, rather than Me-Me, but it depends on who’s doing the talking), the son of a highly-regarded mafia figure who left America for Sicily at the age of 16 when his father was deported.

Now (whenever that “now” may be) a widower  (he lost his Sicilian wife to incurable cancer) with a 6-year-old son, Mimi asks and receives his elderly dad’s permission to return, alone, to the US in order to take over the LA-area prostitution and numbers-running operations and earn a better future for his son.

A basic enough premise, to be sure, but once Mimi hooks up with childhood friend Jolly (Vic Caeasr) in order to help him with his conquest of the underworld, it’s sheer, frenetic, balls-to-the-walls anarcy from start to finish. Even the slow, “talky” scenes take on an aura of unpredictable WTF-ness thanks to Mitchell’s frenetic, amazingly singular perfomance. He’s capable of anything at any time, and the viewer quite literally doesn’t know what the hell could happen from one second to the next, as director Mitchell bobs and weaves between straight-forward conventionality and completely-out-of-the-blue experimentalism (the scene where a black pimp is crucified has to be seen to be believed), and actor Mitchell goes from mild-mannered soliloqy-deliverer to insane mafia hitman without a conscience at less than the drop of a hat. You’ve never seen a performance like Mitchell delivers here, and his manic instability and complete incongruousness from one moment to the next is the glue that holds the film together even though, by all respects, he’s quite literally tearing things apart. I can’t explain it, the guy is just a force of (warped, admittedly) nature.

Mimi’s hardscrabble climb to the top is a long, slow slog in terms of time elapsed in the script, but it’s covered at a breakneck pace. Over a decade goes by in Mimi’s life, but as mentioned earlier, the total running time of the film is 79 minutes. In other words, things don’t let up much.

Stills of Mimi (Duke Mitchell) in action from "Massacre Mafia Style"

Like most grindhouse fans, my only exposure to “Massacre Mafia Style” came from the trailer included on most Grindhouse Releasing discs from the late 90s onward. Come to find out, in the best low-budget fashion, the trailer is essentially nothing more the film’s opening scene, cut off at a brilliantly tense point — Mimi and Jolly wipe out what appears to be more or less everyone in an entire office building in brutal fashion, and on their way out, a young boy gets into the elevator and we see Mimi patting his head. The entire scene has no dialogue and is overlaid with a faux-”authentic” Dean Martin-style Itlian musical number. Now knowing what’s being said, we’re left to wonder — does Mimi kill the kid in order to ensure that there are no living witnesses who might finger he and his partner for the crime?

I won’t give it away, but suffice to say, “Massacre Mafia Style” is a movie that certainly FEELS, from the outset,  like the kid could be shot, regardless of whether or not Mimi actually DOES it.

Now, though, I can proudly say I’ve seen the whole thing, and a whole lot more. That’s because Mitchel’’s son, Jeffrey, has released a seriously limited edition (as in 500 copies) three-disc “Family Edition” of his old man’s masterpiece. I don’t know if Grinhouse Releasing will ever get around to putting outtheir own version (along with Mitchell;s other film they apparently have some sort of claim on, the truly bizarre looking “Gone With The Pope”), but at this point I have to say I don’t really care, because this package gives you so much more than you could ever ask for.

"Massacre Mafia Style" DVD

Disc One contains the feature film itself, and while the transfer is quite obviously direct-from-VHS (and presented in mono),  it still looks and sounds decent enough. Added to that, though, we get no less than three feature-length commentary tracks from Jeffrey Mitchell and family friends Frankie Ray (frequent writing collaborator with Duke and, believe it or not, Lenny Bruce) and George Jacobs (long-time personal assistant to and valet for Frank Sinatra). While actual discussion of the film itself on these tracks is a bit spotty, they spin one entertaining yarn after another about the elder Mitchell’s life and career, and obviously know more than just a bit about the intersected worlds of Hollywood and the mob that the story takes its inspiration from.

Rounding out the disc, we have the aforementioned theatrical trailer, some rare radio spots narrated by Duke, and a preview for another upcoming Jeffrey Mitchell private-issue DVD releasse of his father’s nightclubact titled “An Impressionistic Tribute To Jimmy Durante.”

And folks, that’s just the first disc.

On Disc Two, we get a brand new documentary feature on the lives and careers of both Mitchells entitled “Like Father, Like Son,” extended interviews with both Frankie Ray and George Jacobs, audio recordings of one of Duke Mitchell’s final live performances,  a seriously extensive gallery of still covering not only “Massacre Mafia Style,” but Duke’s entire life and career, and various stages of the film’s script — early treatments, a rough draft, and the final shooting script — available in PDF format.

Finally, a third “bonus disc” is being offered to online customers right now that features 30 more minutes of archival footage, interview outtakes with (Jeffrey) Mitchell,  Ray and Jacobs, and additional commentary from all three.

So — yeah. This is one comprehensive package, to say the least, and a true labor of love, all packaged together with a nice inlay card that features “The Executioner” poster from the top of this review on front with a copy of Duke’s scrawled “Italian cheat sheet” on the back. And while it’s not my style to pimp this openly for a product, the only way you’re going to see this thing, unless you’re a friend who wants to come over to my place to watch it, is to order it directly from http://www. massacremafiastyle.com. Like I mentioned earlier, only 500 copies were made, so if you want it, get it while you can.

I’m not really sure what other movie I can compare this to. In a way, it reminds me of a mirror image of  “The Black Connection” (which wouldn’t be a bad choice for my next review, actually) given that they’re both ultra-low-budget late-70s gangster flicks that depict  an underworld war between Italians and African-Americans (albeit from opposite sides), and they’re both equally discombobulated, but “Massacre Mafa Style” is a whole lot bloodier, nastier, funnier (yes, you read that right), and has a LOT more music (again, yes, you read that right).  And there has NEVER been a performance like the one Duke Mitchell delivers in this film, before or since.

I’d give it my highest possible recommendation, but even that seems praise to faint. In short, get off your ass and see it now.

[Via http://trashfilmguru.wordpress.com]

Kramer vs Kramer

“Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy. When he has learned to adjust his life to these new responsibilities, Joanna resurfaces and wants Billy back. Ted however refuses to give him up, so they go to court to fight for the custody of their son”         idbm

A drama of a man and his child been suddenly left by their “wife\mom”, turns out to be a really sweet and brilliant comedy. This is a story of a man who never gives up, afterall, even if he would expected to find a job in 24hr. A son who come through the abandoning, helping and supporting the father in their new life, with an incredible consciousness. And a desperate unhappy mother who has been living his marriage under the shadow of the husband; she decides to leave the family as the only way to find herself again. But she can’t live without her son so long….

This film is absolutely…..

…..Terrific!

[Via http://yandx.wordpress.com]

Edge Of Seats For Edge Of Darkness

Welcome back Mr Gibson, and what a great come back it is. His first major acting performance since 2002, Gibson plays Detective Thomas Craven a veteran Boston homicide cop, who is also a single Father to 24 year old Daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic), his only child. Emma returns home for an apparent vacation from her job, where she soon develops odd symptoms of vomiting blood, before totally freaking out and screaming at her Dad to take her to a Doctor, and also declaring that ‘There’s something I should have told you!‘. The ungrateful cow then gets blown away in a drive by shooting on her Father’s doorstep without even telling him what it was he needed to be told (evidently the plot would have ended here but it would have been nice!) Initially the shooting was thought to have been intended for Detective Thomas Craven himself, but as he drops into detective mode he starts to uncover Emma’s secret life as an activist and begins his decent into a deep dark cavern of a government conspiracy!

Cue the help of a man working for the government, solely for the purpose of covering things up so this conspiracy doesn’t rear it’s seedy little head. This man is called Jedburgh, and he’s played by returning cockney hard-man Ray Winstone! But I’m afraid that from his first appearance in the film I couldn’t help but see him in the Bet365 adverts and was half expecting him to go into his spiel: “Bet365.com is all about the inplay, it’s all about The Next Person Killed, The Number Of Suspects, The Time It Takes You To Solve The Mystery, The Number Of Bullets Fired, The Final Prediction Of The Plot-line!” It was however quite nice to see him back on the big screen doing things other than his sell out adverts, and his character was everything you would expect. Just Ray, in his black suit/white shirt combo, being really cockney! But being serious for just a moment, Winstone gives a pretty good performance, once you see past the adverts, and by the end of the movie you’ll find yourself really warming to the character.

Mel Gibson plays the part of Thomas Craven absolutely superb, showing that he hasn’t just rehashed previous characters from past movies and has infact proven why he is still considered as a talented actor. Thomas Craven as a character is one that I really took a shine to, and I would even say that he’s been my favourite character in a movie for quite some time. It was a shame that he would only be making one outing in ‘Edge Of Darkness‘ (Warner Brother’s, is it too much to ask for you to do a couple of prequels, so we, or at least I can see Thomas Cravens back story? Please!) It would also seem that Thomas Craven has done for Ginger Ale what James Bond did for Martini, asking for one whenever the opportunity presented itself. The only downside to Mel Gibson’s performance is that his Boston accent sometimes slipped into Family Guy’s Peter Griffin, but it did present opportunity for another Family Guy feature length movie spoof so I’ll let it slip!

Little do people know is that the movie is actually a remake of a television series of the same name from the 80’s, made here in old Blighty for the BBC (God Save The Queen!) It’s a series that I haven’t actually seen yet, however the roller coaster ride of a storyline in the film, and a mild love affair with the character of Thomas Craven has driven me to purchase the original series, and that’s something I don’t do very often!

Overall, although I know we’re hardly into it, Edge Of Darkness has put itself firmly in my best films of 2010 list and I would recommend you all to get your asses to the cinema to see it, if not for the excuse to watch a decent thriller at least to see what you think of Mel Gibson’s superb Peter Griffin impression! So stick it to the jews and get yourself to the nearest cinema to watch Gibson in action… Go now, what you waiting for!

Mojo

(As usual, here’s the trailer!)

[Via http://mojocapers.wordpress.com]