Change Your Image
XjwalkX
Reviews
Rushmore (1998)
Best Movie Ever, Man
This is one of those movies that totally swept me away and left me feeling altered. Wes Anderson creates an emotional landscape populated by vivid, deep characters. The number of these who undergo significant changes in this film is remarkable, as is the number of stylistic flourishes that add to the unique world of Rushmore. To give two examples I would point out the little kid who manages to appear in countless scenes throughout the movie, most significantly in the final scene and in Bill Murray's glorious Graduate-esque dive into the pool. Also, did anybody else notice just how surreal the scene where Max pretends to get hit by a car is? If you think about it critically it could only be some strange fantasy (I mean, he climbs onto the roof...), but it works perfectly within the logic of the film. I don't feel the need to generalize much about this film, its merit should be obvious to those who have the special knowledge of one whose passions don't win her/him acceptance, comfort, or reward. These are just two of my favorite little things that make this film great.
SLC Punk! (1998)
Punks with perfect skin: the exploited culture of SLC Punk
I am a huge fan of punxploitation films, and usually I can get something out of them, even if they are basically bad movies. SLC Punk is one of the most unenjoyable films of ANY kind I have ever seen. It offends me as a punk, as a film lover, and as a human being for having wasted my time watching it. At many points just plain boring, SLC Punk is always irritating, and seems to be targeted to appeal to those with the pseudo-rebellious mentality of a spoiled 12 year old.
A more accurate title for this film would have been "slc Poser", since the real issue at the heart of it (and this isn't just my analysis- like everything about this movie it is explicit in the script) is that Matthew lillard's character Steve-O never really was a punk at heart, just a poser with more big words to sling in his vapid attempt at anti-authoritarian philosophy. In this sense, maybe this is a film about why punk rock fails for so many kids. If you're just a rich kid for whom "anarchy" is an excuse to act like a frat boy and "punk" only means dressing in certain clothes, it should be no surprise that these things are not permanent. This is obvious from the first frame of the film, though it seems to take Steve-O forever to figure it out. One the biggest problems with the movie is the MTV-style editing and ultra-slick production value, which are more suited to a "Hackers"-esque techopop movie than a film about punk, which even in its most superficial form is gritty and unrefined. There are so many jump cuts in this film that I started to wonder if the director was just too lazy to try and match-cut. Also, the ultra-saturated colors and herky-jerky pace give the whole thing the feel of a saturday morning cartoon show (though one to which "f-you" is the catch phrase of choice). This is only worsened by the weak, overly-expressive acting, with Lillard mugging it up and Heroin Bob's dull requiem of "dude"-isms. Even the soundtrack, which relies on classic tunes from various genres, feels tacked on and jumbled. Penelope Spheeris can make movies this glossy, but the reason kids love "Suburbia" (or even "Repo Man" or "Sid and Nancy") is because it made the punk aspects seem organic to the film, and maybe the were. Here there is no question that you are watching outright exploitation of punk rock in the name of a glossy Hollywood flick. The experience may have elements of truth to it, but the film's attitude is distanced - it's lost touch. This is the cinematic equivalent of your parents telling you you'll grow out of it. You know they didn't get it right when ever
Shane (1953)
Death of Gunslinger or Man-Boy Love?
I laughed so hard at the end of this movie that I almost want to say it was the funniest film I ever saw. Maybe you need to see it in a theater as I did, to get that communal realization going, but the homoerotic relationship between Shane and the little boy in this film is so over-the-top that it's both creepy and hilarious.
Although little Jimmy's performance is a big factor, it's really all the fault of the script, which emulates John Ford's great symbolic metaphors of great American Myth. The vulgarity of the symbolism comes off in a whole new context to the '90s viewer (I have to assume even the most subversive filmmakers, which these were not, wouldn't have consciously alluded to pedaphilia in 1953). But come on! I won't spoil all the great double-meanings for you here, but rest assured it isn't exactly hard to pick up on.
The metaphor the film was going for was all that tired manifest- destiny let's all start a nuclear family America's Dreaming fluff that they still cram into Social Studies books in our less enlightened public schools. Geez, the 'bad guy' free-range rancher has a valid point about his claim! But no, Shane and his friends have to come in and pave the way for factory farming and suburbia! First though, Shane has to take off so that little Jimmy won't be in love with him, er, the idea of him. Oh yeah, and mom wants him too!
All in all this is a pretty bad flick, with poor expressionist (read: melodramatic) acting and some really poor match-cutting in the night/day department. It is, however, one of the best unintentionally funny films about a little proto-arian boy who falls in love with a big cowboy who sits erect on his horse up until the end, when he must limply make his way into the annals of American history.
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
Why it's better than "Pretty in Pink"
Although it isn't on the level of John Hughes' Cinderella stories, this movie rocks because they didn't sell out the plot to test audiences. They changed the ending to "Pretty in Pink" so as not to imply rich kids and poor kids couldn't get along. Some Kind of Wonderful is a classic cheesy 80's movie that actually didn't sell out the ending.
The Prophecy II (1998)
danzig fans beware
OK so the first one was OK, this one went almost straight to video. I rented it because of one main factor - not walken, not jennifer "maniac" beals, but Glenn Danzig. I had heard in advance that the man was to make his acting debut in this flick. Unfortunately, despite a high billing, Danzig was virtually edited out of the film. I'm not saying Misfits/Samhain/Danzig fans shouldn't see it, just don't get your hopes up and make sure the remote is handy with the rewind and pause buttons functional. I don't think anyone will be writing songs about "The Prophesy II".
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
Knitting and knitting
On the foundation of De Sica's neo-realist classic "The Bicycle Thief", Tim Burton filters elements of various genres (classic cartoon colors, German expressionsist acting and sets, and Waters-worthy characters) through the cultural sieve that is Pee Wee. When I was a kid I loved it for the childlike other-world, now I appreciate the bizarre and often perverse subtleties (not a word you'd think of in relation to a Pee Wee movie). This movie is classic pop-culture trash, and maybe even art?
Suburbia (1983)
Punk Side Story
"Suburbia" is the definitive punxploitation film of the 80's, one of Hollywood's few explorations of that counter-culture. Director Spheeris, who also did "Dudes" and "Decline of Western Civilization" before going mainstream, knows enough to make a perfectly romantic (if not realistic) version of punks and skins living in the 80's: complete with shows (on a rickety sound stage, but there's a better circle pit than you're likely to find today), fights with rednecks, squatting, and dealing with a decade where every jock didn't have an eyebrow ring and green hair. You know what? Chickenbutt.
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920)
allegory on the cutting room floor
Caligari is perhaps the greatest of the German Expressionist films (though I'm partial to "Nosferatu" as well). One thing that is helpful in understanding the film is to know the background of the two writers, who were both veterans of the first World War looking to express their story through allegory. The surprise ending isn't the one originally scripted, and the writers were furious with it. I won't go into too much detail, since it's against the rules to spoil the ending, but I recommend fans of the film do a bit of research and decide for themselves what the ending change does to the film and its message.