The Banal, the Blah, the Banausic:
Clash (2009) Dir. Le Thanh Son - Vietnam
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) Dir. Robert Fuest - US/UK
The Nines (2007) Dir. John August - US
Essential Cinema:
The Face of Another (1966) Dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara - Japan
Theatrical Screenings:
The Devil's Double (2011) Dir. Lee Tamahori - Belgium 9/10
The Future (2011) Dir. Miranda July - US 8/10
The Debt (2010) Dir. John Madden - US 7/10
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972): Well, this follow-up to an already outre campy first film, The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) sees the return of Vincent Price and director Robert Fuest. If you see the first flick, you'll notice that Dr. Phibes embalms himself at the end of the film....but since, err, the first one made some money, an aligning of the planets lights the top of the secret lair to Phibes' tomb, and, ummm, as planned, his blood uncoagulates and seeps back into him. Yes, it seems that an omniscient narrator has to tell us this....and then as soon as Price wakes up he tells us this, and then we discover that he built a secret palace in Egypt where some special door leads to a river of everlasting life and Phibes just happens to have these sacred scrolls that lead him there. During his death sleep, a voracious scholar (Robert Quarry) by the name of Darrus Biederbeck, gets his hands on the scrolls and is off to Egypt himself. Price, campier than ever, is entertaining to watch---but the films screeches along on exhaust fumes to a warbly conclusion---but we do get to hear Price sing "Over the Rainbow" as he rows off down the river.
The Nines (2007): I believe this film is somewhat well regarded to some critics, but, well, it annoyed me more than anything. Ryan Reynolds stars as three very different characters in three different sets of realities that are all mysteriously interwoven. Hope Davis and Melissa McCarthy all appear in each reality as well. In truth, I don't even want to explain any more, but perhaps it's the religious undertones bolstering what eventually is going on that annoyed me. The rather intricate set-up is intriguing, and it's a good idea---but the ending that tries to tie the strings together had no impact.
The Face of Another (1966): I loved Hiroshi Teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes (1964) a very strange, bizarre, and kind of funny dark flick---I've been meaning to revisit his other acclaimed titles for some time. The Face of Another tells the tale of a businessman scarred by a laboratory fire. His psychiatrist decides to embark on an experiment by making his patient a lifelike mask he may wear for twelve hours at a time. Meanwhile, another horribly scarred young girl in the same city experiences a different kind of existence, scorned by all. It is this subplot of the young girl that feels pointless and goes no where, but for an allegory on identity (which does get a little excessive) and as a treatise on plastic surgery, this film is pretty damn good. The visuals are outright stunning, and the end sequence looks amazing and is creepy as hell. If you liked Eyes Without a Face (1957), definitely check this out.
The Devil's Double (2011): Okay, so this isn't the best film ever made, but I liked it quite a bit. Dominic Cooper is excellent in dual roles as the Insane in the Hussein, Uday and his fiday, Latif. Since this is based on the life story of the fiday, Latif, he is portrayed as somewhat of a saint like person (not hard in comparison) I kept wondering how much was left out or emebellished. However, Cooper's performance as the insane Uday is excellent and extremely watchable. Strangely, Saddam comes off as a figure of calm sanity in comparison. While I love Ludivine Sagnier, I couldn't help but be distracted be her here. She's supposed to be Lebanese (they're lighter skinned) but she still seemed, you know, French. While it's a testament to the quality of the actors that I was able to get into the story despite them speaking in English, I do have problems with a film that portrays everyone speaking English in Baghdad. All in all, an interesting flick from Lee Tamahori (who last ventured out for that crap Nicolas Cage flick, Next, 2007).
The Future (2011): I did quite enjoy Miranda July's first flick, Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), and her sophomore feature is also pretty good---but damn, it's depressing. I did find her characterizations of a couple that's been together for four years overly quirky, which was grating, at times. Deciding to adopt a cat that has renal failure, the couple has 30 days before they have to pick up the cat at the hospital. Realizing this is the last amount of time they will have without responsibility (the cat will need round the clock care) they quite their jobs and decide to meaningful things while they have the chance. July's character flounders and ends up sleeping with a sleazy man, mostly because she can't find meaning in doing a different dance for youtube consumption every day for the next month. Mostly I was annoyed that July and her boyfriend (Hamish Linklater) acted almost like high-functioning autistic adults, based on the choices they make. And most intriguingly, a portion of the film is narrarated by the sickly cat (named Paw Paw), waiting in rapturous excitement to come home with July and her boyfriend---and the cat just sounds so cute and sad---and July and her boyfriend are also, well, kind of sad. But as an intelligent look at relationships and finding meaning in what we do, it's pretty good.
The Debt (2010): For my review of The Debt please check back when it will be posted on ioncinema.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment