Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) Review

Part of Merry Christmas and Happy Tarantino Month!

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen
Genre: Action, Martial Arts, Drama

The second half of Quentin Tarantino's revenge epic, Kill Bill.

Killing the first two on her list, The Bride continues her quest for revenge in this film and hunts down the last three...including Bill himself.

Now whereas I mentioned in my review of Kill Bill Vol. 1 that it was essentially a pure Action film with little else, Vol. 2 is a bit different. Don't kid yourself, Vol. 2 is still very much an Action film, it just adds some more Drama and is much slower paced. But this is a good thing. It allows for more character development and great dialogue.

In Kill Bill Vol. 2 we not only get to know The Bride better, but we get to better understand her relationship with Bill and what led up to the wedding massacre. We see the backstories of numerous characters and how they all feel towards each other. Whereas Vol. 1 had almost no character development at all, Vol. 2 actually has superb character development. It also allows the viewer to sympathize better with The Bride's revenge while at the same time understand why Bill did what he did.

Bill really is quite a complex and well-written character, and I plan to someday do an in-depth analysis of Kill Bill, in which I will talk more about the finer details.

Tarantino has always been known for his great dialogue, but in Vol. 1 it was so fast paced that there was hardly any dialogue at all. Vol. 2's slower pace allows us to see some great Tarantino writing in action. While I wouldn't put Vol. 2's dialogue in the same league as Pulp Fiction's, it's still pretty great.

That's not to say the film doesn't have some really great action. It does. The fight between The Bride and Elle Driver is insanely awesome, and even the (minor spoiler:) brief fight with Bill.

One of my favorite parts is the Pai Mei story. I've always like Pai Mei as a character and he's taken straight out of classic kung fu films like Executioners from Shaolin and Clan of the White Lotus, both of which Gordon Liu (Pai Mei) acted in, though not as Pai Mei. Pai Mei is a fairly comedic character in here but it works well. He is portrayed not only as comedic, but also as skillful and strict.

The soundtrack here is, in my opinion, not quite as good as it was in Vol. 1. It's still very good, and all the songs and the original composition by RZA are excellent. There's a lot of Ennio Morricone stuff used in here. The song "About Her" by Malcolm McLaren fits perfectly. However, the stuff Robert Rodriquez was really up to standards. All in all though it's still a fantastic soundtrack and score. 

The cast is great as is their acting performances. Uma Thurman does a still awesome job. David Carradine as Bill does wonderful, so does Michael Madsen. Daryl Hannah is good, Gordon Liu is awesome. There's even a brief Samuel L Jackson cameo.

There's not much I can say about Vol. 2 that I haven't already said about Vol. 1. They're very different in tone from each other but they are perfect when watched together and indeed should be watched together as they compliment one another very well. Stay tuned for my in-depth analysis on the two films, which should be coming...eventually. Highly recommended. 

Purchase Kill Bill Vol. 2 on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD - Stream - Vol 1 & 2 Double Feature

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) Review

Part of Merry Christmas and Happy Tarantino Month!

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Sonny Chiba
Genre: Action, Martial Arts

Kill Bill is my favorite action film of all time. And that's what Kill Bill is: an action film; which some people seem to forget.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 is only the first half of the story. It was initially filmed as one film, but due to length issues (it would have ran nearly 4 hours together) it was split into two. Though I highly recommend to watch them one after another, as if it were one long viewing, it's really the best way to go. In this volume we learn the story of The Bride and how she and her husband's wedding had been interrupted by five gunmen, shooting her husband, her, and her unborn baby. But The Bride, unknown to the gunmen, survived the gunshot and was left in a coma for four years. Awoken from the coma by a blood-sucking mosquito, a dark twist on the Snow White tale, and then greeted by the bloody kiss of a man who had paid one of the nurses to have sex with her while comatose, The Bride is indeed angry, and she wants her revenge on those who crashed her wedding.

I mentioned that Kill Bill is an action film (the first volume especially), but that's not to say that all Martial Arts films are Action films. No, Kill Bill just happens to be both.

The film has a lazy, unoriginal plot. It's like every revenge story told before it. After all, there's only a handful of action films that have plots as good as other genres. Kill Bill can be summed up by its name: it's about a guy named Bill, who someone wants to kill. If you're looking for a great plot or original story, don't watch Kill Bill. 

For a Tarantino film the writing is pretty mediocre. Tarantino, a writer known for his great dialogue, really didn't write any good dialogue for this first volume of Kill Bill. In fact, the film is so fast paced that it's rare that characters even have the chance to have a conversation. Compared to Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs or even Jackie Brown, Kill Bill's dialogue is a joke. Don't get me wrong though, there's some really awesome lines in here, like when Hattori Hanzo gives The Bride her sword and says "I can tell you with no ego, this is my finest sword. If on your journey, you should encounter God, God will be cut." That's an awesome line, and Kill Bill has plenty of those, but it lacks in good dialogue. It's something that has plagued many Action films since the '80s, they have no shortage of cool one-liners, but they can never find the time for genuinely good writing. 

The characters are definitely interesting, though they're highly undeveloped and unrelatable. The film hardly even gives you time to sympathize with The Bride's revenge. 

The Action in Kill Bill though is excellent. It's fast, it's gory, it's violent, it's over the top, it's thrilling. The fight choreographer was none other than Yuen Woo-Ping. Woo-Ping has been working in kung fu films since the late sixties and he even directed the Jackie Chan classic Drunken Master, but his most notable work is his fight choreography on more recent films like The Matrix or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Kung Fu Hustle or Jet Li's Fearless. It's undeniable that Yuen Woo-Ping is a master of his craft and he does as good a job as ever with his work on Kill Bill. 

The fighting is fast and just very insanely cool. Many of the kills just leave me impressed and with a smile on my face. It's all exaggerated violence and there's constantly blood spurting everywhere. The kill count nears the triple digits, and the House of Blue Leaves scene is just incredibly enjoyable to watch. There's not really much unarmed combat in here, as you'd expect in many of the Shaw Brothers kung fu films which Kill Bill was inspired by. It's mostly sword fighting, but there's some other interesting weapons thrown in, like flails. 

One thing I'm sick of hearing from film critics about movies in general is when they say that a film has style over substance. Since when was style a bad thing? Kill Bill is a beautifully shot film with gorgeous sets and landscapes and every aspect of it is highly stylized. Substance, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is a fundamental or characteristic part or quality. Kill Bill's style is it's substance. 

Kill Bill, and in fact all Tarantino films, are often criticized for their "borrowing" from other films. Indeed their is a fine line between homage, imitation, and theft, but if anyone knows how to maneuver between those lines it's Tarantino. I'll be honest, there's not much originality in Kill Bill. Even many of its lines are taken straight out of other films. Any moviegoer can easily notice dozens and dozens of references, ripped shots, stolen lines, character's inspirations, etc. 

From the Shaw Brothers intro Tarantino makes it clear that Kill Bill has obvious influences and inspirations. Its concept is essentially taken from The Bride Wore Black, it's story (and other things) is nearly exactly the same as Lady Snowblood, it gets its characters from both those two films and other films like Thriller: A Cruel Picture (of which it also shares a similar plot) or from Executioners from Shaolin. The outfit that The Bride wears is straight out of Bruce Lee's unfinished Game of Death, the masks that the Crazy 88s wear are exactly the same as the one worn by Bruce Lee as Kato on The Green Hornet (which paints an odd picture of Bruce Lee killing 88 other Bruce Lees). Kill Bill was obviously influenced by genres like kung fu, spaghetti westerns, blaxploitation, Japanese yakuza films, Chinese wuxia films, Chambara films, exploitation, Rape and Revenge, etc.

Many shots and camera movements are taken from other films, though, to his credit, Tarantino does show us some cool original shots, particularly the overhead ones. But, all in all, Kill Bill is not an original film. It kind of just throws all the cool things Tarantino has watched together. Which begs the question: is that really so bad? Well, normally I'd say yes, that is bad and terribly uncreative. But the way I see it, as someone who has watched a great percentage of the Shaw Brothers catalog and has watched many of the same films Tarantino has which he borrowed from, Kill Bill really does feel more like an homage than it does a theft. Stanley Kubrick once said that he often wondered what it would be like to shoot a pornographic film with a very large budget and a professional crew and respected director, but all the meanwhile keeping the things that are key in porn, i.e., weak plots, etc. Kill Bill is kind of like that. It's a B-Movie with a large budget, high production, and a talented director.

John Powers in LA Weekly called Kill Bill "a grindhouse Ulysses". Jim Smith called it a Noah's Ark of pop culture cliches. It is rare to see James Joyce's Ulysses criticized for being a modern retelling of Homer's Odyssey, with many similar events and characters. Joyce took something that was already great (Odyssey) and made it his own. Tarantino took a genre that was never looked upon very fondly by the mainstream audiences, a genre that lacked the recognition it deserved, and he not only brought the genre to the mainstream but he also made it his own....though perhaps not enough so. If anything could benefit Kill Bill, I will be the first to admit, it would be some extra creativity. But I doubt anyone could have translated exploitation and kung fu films from the '70s as well as Tarantino. 

Sure it's a self indulgent film, and it's pretty much just Tarantino showing us how much of a film buff he is...but it's fucking awesome nonetheless. 

The cast in Kill Bill is great. Uma Thurman, who Tarantino had a "major artistic love affair" with, does a wonderful job. Lucy Liu plays the role that she always seems so perfect to play (no that's not stereotyping, she really does do fabulous work in any samurai role she touches) and she's an incredible charm to watch. Gordon Liu (who any kung fu fan is familiar with) has a great small role as a member of the Crazy 88s (he also has another, different role in Volume 2). 

The soundtrack here is stellar. RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan composed all the original score, and I'd name Kill Bill along with Afro Samurai as some of his best work to date. There's a great variety of music in the film: rockabilly, hip-hop, surf rock, pop, enka. The soundtrack has some really awesome tracks. Nancy Sinatra's cover of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" has always been one of my favorite songs and it fits the film so well. "Flower of Carnage" which was originally in Lady Snowblood is in here and is actually sung by the actress who played Lady Snowblood, Meiko Kaji. The awesome Japanese rock band The 5.6.7.8's also have a cool cameo in here. 

I can easily understand why someone can dislike Kill Bill. It makes perfect sense to me. It's not very original being the main complaint along with its seeming dismissal of plot or character development. But Kill Bill is one of my favorite Action films, and I never really expect plot or character development from the Action genre. And the films that Kill Bill borrows from or steals from or imitates or pays homage to or whatever you want to call it, are all films that I really love. I love Shaw Brothers kung fu films and Bruce Lee movies and spaghetti westerns, and Kill Bill kind of feels like an evolution of all that. And at the very least, even if I were to hate Kill Bill (which I don't) I doubt I'd ever find it unenjoyable. And I can understand how fans of films which Kill Bill borrows from may not like it because they look at it as theft or they rather just watch the original stuff...I can understand that. But what I can't understand is people who are fans of the films in which Kill Bill borrows from that can't enjoy Kill Bill. If you enjoy what Kill Bill is based off of, you will enjoy Kill Bill. 

Purchase Kill Bill Vol. 1 on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD - Stream - Vol. 1 & 2 Double Feature

From Morn to Midnight (1920) Review

Director: Karlheinz Martin
Stars: Ernst Deutsch, Erna Morena, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
Genre: German Expressionism, Experimental, Crime
Also known as: Von morgens bis Mitternacht, From Morning to Midnight

Wow. Well, this certainly is a rare little gem. One of the strangest films I've ever watched.

From Morn to Midnight has a strange history behind it. The film was completed in 1920 but it couldn't be shown in Germany and the only place it ended up getting a release was in Japan. Shortly after its Japanese release the film was believed to be lost, until, in the 1960's, a blurry, damaged copy was found. Blurry and damaged it remained for decades, until recently when it underwent a restoration. 

Adapted from a play by Georg Kaiser, the story is set up like a station drama (modeled after the religious Stations of the Cross, and every Christian knows how that ends). 

It's about a bank cashier who suddenly realizes the mundanity of his life. In a moment of passion he decides to steal the money from the bank and just like that he becomes a 'cashier on the run.' With his new found riches he seeks the passion that he desires in his life. He tries his luck at politics, sports, women, gambling, but all to no avail. Throughout the film the cashier's death is constantly foreshadowed by the eerie face of death. He sees death in the face of a beggar that he chose to ignore, death in the face of the daughter he abandons, death in the faces of the women he mistreats. He cannot escape it. Then he realizes "All the money in the world cannot buy anything of value," as he meets his demise. 

The film really feels like an adventure. Each scene is unique and a new experience. By the time the film ends you feel like you've really traveled to all these bizarre places.

The sets here are dazzling. The most expressionistic I've ever seen. I assume you are all familiar with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and its surreal sets, yes? Well, From Morn to Midnight has even wilder sets. Yes, it is true. It's a very theatrical film and feels a lot like watching a play. At times it even felt like I was watching a parody or satire of German Expressionism.

With beautiful set and costume design alone this film would be enjoyable. But wait, there's more! The film is a very experimental one, you have only to look at the bike race scene to realize that, I'd even go so far as to call it avant-garde. Incorporating a variety of cinematic techniques combined with what is essentially a moving painting makes for a very interesting, and wholly unique experience.

There's also some nudity in here, which was a rarity for its time. And at one point the cashier pours champagne on a drunk, passed out woman in bed. [sarcasm]Perhaps direct inspiration for the music videos of many modern day hip-hop artists?[/sarcasm]

I don't know if the version I watched contained the original composition or a new one but it was awesome. It had a very minimalistic, smooth jazz feel to it and complimented the film very well. It kind of felt like an episode of the Pink Panther cartoon. Even the sound effects that were added, e.g., drums for door knocks, shakers for laughs, were very well implemented.

The acting is awesome too. It's over-acted in the way you might expect from a silent film or a stage play, and at times looks a bit silly, but it has its own style to it. The acting feels like some kind of stylish demeanor from a foreign pseudo-reality. Ernst Deutsch, who was mostly know for stage acting in his time, does a great job as the star role. Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, who also performed in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, does an absolutely amazing job, delivering a memorable performance. Erna Morena and Roma Bahn are both very beautiful in here and do a great job as well.

As with most German Expressionist films there are a lot of Freudian themes present. Not only that, but From Morn to Midnight also largely incorporates the philosophies and themes of Nietzsche. This provides for a very intellectual experience and leaves the film open to analysis.

I've never seen a film like From Morn to Midnight. It is truly a wholly unique piece of work and the only one of its kind, which is why it's such a tough film to apply a rating to. I ended up watching the film twice in one day, and I think I'll have to give it the five star treatment. A truly under-appreciated film of the genre.

Purchase From Morn to Midnight on Amazon: DVD or here

Pulp Fiction (1994) Review

Part of Merry Christmas and Happy Tarantino Month!

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken
Genre: Crime, Black Comedy

There's not much I can say about Pulp Fiction that hasn't already been said, but that's not going to stop me from trying.

The story is told out of chronological sequence (similar to Tarantino's previous film, Reservoir Dogs) and is divided into intersecting segments. We see the stories of prizefighting boxers, mob bosses, mob boss' wife, gangsters, and a variety of other characters. It's a plot that is really about the journey rather than the destination. Being a homage to old pulp fiction magazines (among many other things) you can be sure to expect your fair share of violence and humor.

As with all Tarantino films many of its elements are "borrowed" from other films. There's plenty of things that comes straight out of Psycho or Deliverance or Zardoz; the briefcase is very reminiscent of the briefcase in Kiss Me Deadly or the car trunk in Repo Man. There's countless references and homage shots (or perhaps not so countless after all), and Tarantino, somehow, manages to bring it all together with his own style and make it seem original. And I guess it is original in its own way.

The cast here is great and all deliver wonderful performances, as you'd expect from a Tarantino picture. Most would list Samuel L. Jackson as Jules as the stand-out performance. John Travolta (whose career was revitalized by Pulp Fiction), Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, and really everyone in here do fantastic jobs as well. The Christopher Walken cameo is great too.

The dialogue and writing are awesome. The majority of lines spoken in Pulp Fiction are quotable as hell. It can be witty, epic, funny, referential, and so on and so forth. It's really the characters that bring the film to life and the writing really make the characters shine. My favorite segment is the Jules and Mia one.

The film has no original score, though the soundtrack is superb. With funky surf music, rock n roll, and even soul, every tune fits perfectly, compliments the film, and really pulls you in to the mood of the film. One of the greatest soundtracks ever. 

What's the point of Pulp Fiction? Well, I'd honestly say that Pulp Fiction only exists so that it can show us how clever it is. To show us how fashionable it is or how many movie references it can make. It's an arrogant and mostly unintelligent movie...but goddamn is it awesome. One of my all-time biggest guilty pleasures. You can't not enjoy yourself while watching this. A postmodernist masterpiece. But is it overrated? Oh, dear, yes it is; severely overrated. It's still great though and still gets an Amazingly Amazing rating from me. Am I just a huge sucker for Uma Thruman? Yeah, pretty much.

Purchase Pulp Fiction on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD - Stream - Tarantino Collection - VHS - Soundtrack

Nowhere (1997)

Director: Gregg Araki
Stars: James Duval, Kathleen Robertson, Christina Applegate, Heather Graham
Genre: Black Comedy, Surrealism, Drama, Satire

What in the world can I even say about this film? What in the world even is this film? I don't know. It's the third and final film in Araki's Teenage Apocalypse trilogy, the first two being Totally Fucked Up (1993) and The Doom Generation (1995). This one is definitely the craziest of the lot.

It's really just about some teenagers dealing with relationship/sexual/whatever problems, but all the meanwhile there are reptilians from outer space abducting people and tons of crazy stuff going on. The entire film is very surreal. 

As with the other films in the trilogy, there is an apocalyptic overture and it is constantly hinted that the world is about to end. Personally I love this atmosphere and it adds a real sense of dread and nothingness to the films. Nothing really makes sense in this film, it's as if the fabrics of reality are being torn, with weird camera angles and shots that constantly cut in and out. Tons of odd and surreal things happen, like aliens, or even just really odd behavior.

All the sets, or places where the scenes are shot, are very bizarre, even more so than in The Doom Generation. Walls are often covered in polka dots or writing or anything else you can imagine. It's a very stylish film actually, and even the costume design has a very twisted and odd fashion to it. It definitely helps set the weird factor of the film and makes it very visually pleasing in the process. 

It has a very '90s feel to it, but also manages to have a retro, futuristic and entirely unique presentation as well.

To me the film tries, and succeeds in, truly capturing the feeling of adolescence. Being a teenager is confusing, weird, depressing, and very often makes completely no sense and feels as if the world is ending. Gregg Araki captures those feeling and presents them on screen perfectly, perhaps in this film more than any of his others. He manages to makes the surreal dramatic and realistic. I think anybody who remembers growing up can relate to this film and admit that it captures the anxiety of being a kid. I have no problem calling this film genius. 

Also, this film, and I exaggerate only slightly, has the greatest ending in cinematic history. Ever of all time, ever. It's brilliant. [Spoiler:] Also, it tells us that no matter how good your life seems to be getting, and just when things appear normal, it really never stops being weird and confusing.

The soundtrack is awesome (of course it is, it's an Araki film). You have Sonic Youth, Nine Inch Nails, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Coil, Radiohead, The The, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Hole, Marilyn Manson, and more.

James Duval plays the lead role, returning from the past two films in the trilogy, and he does a great job as usual. Charm to watch.

There are a ton of cameos and early appearances in here, and you'll probably recognize a lot of faces. Traci Lords, Rose McGowan, Debi Mazar, Denise Richards, Shannen Doherty, Gibby Haynes, Charlotte Rae, Jordan Ladd, Jaason Simmons, Eve Plumb, Christopher Knight, John Ritter, and tons more. Yeah, there's a lot.

If you're not sure whether or not to watch this, know this: in this film, Nowhere, a man beats another man to death with a can of chicken noodle soup. Cinematic first, anyone? Also space aliens. And great cinematography and art direction. Do I really have to say anymore? 

Pros:

+Great atmosphere, set & costume design and imagery; visually pleasing and stylish

+Great cinematography

+Bizarre 

+Captures the confusion of adolescence

+Awesome ending

+Tons of great actors

Purchase Nowhere on Amazon: DVD - VHS

Stop Making Sense (1984) Review

Director: Johnathan Demme
Stars: Talking Heads
Genre: Concert, Music

A Talking Heads concert film.

The film begins with the opening credits, very reminiscent to the opening credits in Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. It is silent. We can hear the slight commotion and cheering of an audience in the background. The shadow of a guitar appears, as if in a German Expressionist film, the audience screams. We watch David Byrne's feet walk to the front of the stage. "Hi, I got a tape I want to play," he says. We see he is only armed with an acoustic guitar and a cassette player. He plays "Psycho Killer", just him, an acoustic, and a cassette player on a completely empty stage, ladders and miscellaneous stage equipment in the back can be seen. The song ends.


Tina Weymouth joins David Byrne on stage wielding her bass guitar. Together they play "Heaven". While the song is progressing we see men in the background dressed in all black wheeling a drum set onto the stage. The song ends.

Chris Frantz gets on the stage and takes his position at the drums. The stage is a canvas and it is being painted by the band members. Each song adds a new member, a new instrument. They play "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel". The band begins to feel more complete. The song ends.

Jerry Harrison and his guitar walk on stage. Three songs into the concert and we finally get to see the four members of the Talking Heads all on stage together. But their portrait is not complete. They play "Found a Job". While they are playing a keyboard is wheeled onto the stage. A set of hand drums are also added. The song ends.

Bernie Worrell enters the stages and takes his post at the keyboard; Steve Scales takes the hand drums; two back-up vocalists also join the stage, Ednah Holt and Lynn Mabry. A black curtain falls down behind the band blocking the ugliness of the stage equipment--their painting is nearly complete--and they begin to play "Slippery People". The concert feels much more alive. A set of percussion instruments are added to the stage. The song ends.

Alex Weir joins the rest on stage. From an empty, shanty stage we now have a complete, energetic, and lively stage. From one man and an acoustic guitar we now have a full band with drums, keyboard, vocalists, guitars, and percussion. They begin to play "Burning Down the House" when the lights shine as bright as they can and the once dim stage is now bright as ever. Their painting is complete. Everyone on stage is lively, dancing, smiling. The song ends.

No one else joins the stage for this last song. David Byrne puts down his guitar, his paintbrush is not needed now. They play "Life During Wartime". David Byrne has been on stage the longest and his face is completely drenched with sweat, but his vocals show no sign of slowing down. He jogs in place while singing--he is unstoppable. He lies down on the stage floor while he sings; is he tired? No. He gets up and runs laps around the stage--he is a god. "My chest is aching, and it burns like a furnace. The burning keeps me alive!" The song ends. Byrne takes the microphone and looks at the audience, "Thank you. Does anyone have any questions?" and then walks off stage. The concert ends.

And that was only the first concert. This film contains two more, and they're both as good, if not better, than the first one. David Byrne's energy and showmanship is present throughout, all accompanied by fantastic visuals. We also get to see David's 'big suit' in here, which is awesome. David Byrne, the hippest square the world has ever seen.

The first concert, as I described, has wonderful pacing and as each song gets more complex than the last one, more members are added to the stage. The second concert has big screens in the background that display different images; then at one point the only light on stage is coming from a small lamp in the middle, which the entire band huddles around while they play. The third concert makes great use of shadows and features the big suit. 

Any great band can get on stage and just stand there and play everyone's favorite songs. But it is the bands that go beyond that, adding visuals and personality to it, that are truly the masters. When cinema developed the technology to add sound to films, did filmmakers continue adding intertitles to display dialogue? No, they took advantage of the technology and added actual talking. So if visuals can benefit from sound then surely sound can benefit from visuals, as Talking Heads and countless other great bands have proved. Talking Heads perhaps proved better than anyone that watching them perform for an hour and a half could be even more entertaining than most movies are. 

Of course there had to be someone willing to film it all. And Johnathan Demme was that man, and he should be applauded for his excellent job directing. He could have easily pointed a camera at the stage and made money off it, but he went the extra mile and it payed off. The film has great cinematography and really puts you right there on the stage with the band. The film's stylishness is largely due to the Talking Heads' choreography and showmanship, but Johnathan Demme certainly did a great job capturing it all and translating it flawlessly to film. 

The film was shot over the course of three nights, three different concerts, at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood in 1983. The concerts were held to promote Talking Heads' new album, Speaking in Tongues.

I may be a little biased when it comes to this film. Talking Heads are one of my favorite bands ever and Speaking in Tongues just happens to be one of my favorite albums from them. So it was enjoyable simply for the music alone. But, the whole film is very well filmed and put together, and David Byrne is such a great performer that this would be a charm to watch even without the music. 

Anyone who enjoys music should watch this film. Anyone who likes Talking Heads should go watch this right now; seriously, what are you waiting for!? Anyone who dislikes Talking Heads should watch this and maybe your mind will be changed. I can't see how anyone could dislike Talking Heads after watching this. Some of the best music of all-time. 

Purchase Stop Making Sense on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD- VHS

Suspiria (1977) Review

Director: Dario Argento
Stars: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Joan Bennett
Genre: Horror

Suspiria very well may be the scariest film I've ever watched.

In fact, if I were to name the scariest films that come to my mind I'm sure a lot of them would be films directed by Dario Argento. He knows how to create a terrifying and dream-like atmosphere and he knows how to build amazing tension. Argento need not use jump scares to make you crap your pants.

Suspiria is the first part of Argento's Three Mothers Trilogy, the successors being Inferno (1980) and The Mother of Tears (2007).

In Suspiria an American girl flies to Germany to enroll in a dance academy. Right upon her arrival weird things start happening. At first she is not allowed into the academy and ends up having to spend the night somewhere else, then she notices a panicked girl running through the woods (who we later find out was murdered). When she finally is allowed into the dance academy, nothing seems quite right. Everything has a very suspicious, unnatural feel to it. But, all the weird things that happen can have a very logical explanation so you're never really sure who to watch out for. Some more creepy things happen and then witches.

Suspiria's plot is solid enough. It's nothing complex or highly original, but it suffices. It can also be a bit silly or illogical at times, but I'll get to that next. Argento films aren't about the plot anyway.

The film's atmosphere is perhaps its strongest element. From the stormy night in the beginning onward, every moment has a wonderful sense of atmosphere.

The set design is amazing. Every scene looks either surreal, macabre, expressionistic, bizarre, beautiful. Words cannot do the sets justice; just look at a few stills or a trailer and you will see what I mean. There's also an excellent use of lighting. There's a frequent use of a red glow that really gives the film its own look.

The cinematography is, as with most Argento films, amazing. Some really unique camera angles are present.

All this helps form the film's dream-like atmosphere. And that's what this film feels like: a dream. Or, more accurately, a nightmare. Nothing ever feels normal in Suspiria and you never know what will happen. After only a few minutes into the film you'll find yourself thinking certain things are completely normal but then realize that they're quite the opposite. Suspiria is the closest a film has ever come to resembling a nightmare. 

Suspiria was inspired by a 19th century literary work by Thomas De Quincey, titled Suspiria de Profundis. Quincey was a very surreal writer and most of his writing dealt with his experience with opium and, I would imagine, some of his writings were done under the influence of said drug. This makes sense as Suspiria's influence, being that the film feels a bit like a drug-induced vision.

The film's soundtrack (which I'm actually listening to as I write this) was composed by the Italian band, Goblin, who also composed Argento's previous film, Deep Red, and many of his subsequent films after. The soundtrack is full of incoherent murmurs and whispers with sharp bells and chimes and an excellent progressive rock sound. It's one of my favorite film scores of all time and it does the film wonders. The film would be spectacular without a great soundtrack but this really pushes it above and beyond makes the film all the more thrilling. It's intense music, man. Suspiria theme song by Goblin.

I've heard complaints about Suspiria's acting, or its dialogue, its bad dubbing, and of course its plot. None of these things bother me. All these things actually add to the film's dream-like nature; think of how Twin Peaks was similar in this way. Film is an art form. Realism is not the only form of art. There is expressionism, surrealism, impressionism, abstract, art nouveau, and countless others. The idea that a film must be realistic or even have any basis in reality is ridiculous and insulting to art. If a work of art can be based in reality than one can also be based in a dream. And Suspiria certainly does feel like a beautiful, nightmarish fairy-tale.

I actually find Suspiria to be genuinely scary and terrifying. The film really sucks you in and messes with your head. You never know just quite what to think or what to trust. It's not the jump scares that creep me out, it's the unpredictability, atmosphere, and tension that scare the hell out of me. And that's what horror, to me, should be. It's one of the scariest films I've ever watched and it never fails to get my heart racing or make my mind feel as if I were slowly losing my sanity. Only two things have made me feel the sense of madness so well: Suspiria and H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.

Suspiria scares not with a scream or a bang or a shock, but rather with a whisper, a distant noise, and great tension. (Suspiria in Latin literally translates to "sighs")

With great use of colors, lighting, sound, imagery, and really just great everything, Suspiria makes for a highly enjoyable, highly atmospheric, and very creepy horror film unlike any other. 

I've watched Suspiria numerous times and it gets better every time.

If you're up for a slightly long yet highly interesting read, check out this article which explains why Suspiria is "Disney's hidden reverse." A very interesting analysis.

Purchase Suspiria on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD - Soundtrack

Nosferatu (1922) Review

Director: F.W. Murnau
Stars: Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim
Genre: Horror, German Expressionism

I'm posting this review on Bram Stoker's 165th birthday, which is today, the day of this post, November 8th. Without his novel, Dracula, the world would be without many great films, including this one, Nosferatu. I believe I speak for all horror fans when I say, thank you Mr. Stoker.

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. One of the most well-known early horror films and a big name in the genre of German Expressionism.

I often remind myself to be thankful that films like Nosferatu, or The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari are available to watch. So many of these great films in early cinema could have easily been lost, and many have been. Just looking at Wikipedia's list of lost films makes me want to cry. Who knows how many of those films would have been considered masterpieces if they still survived. Surely some of them must have been amazing films, and had they survived could have even changed the way we look at film today. It's similar to the Library of Alexandria; out of all those hundreds of thousands of books that were lost in the fire, just imagine all the great ones, just imagine what literature would be like if that library had never burned down.

So, when I watch great early films such as Nosferatu, I can't help but say to myself "We're so lucky that this film survived." Nosferatu actually came very close to being forever lost. Florence Stoker, wife of Bram Stoker (author of Dracula), actually sued the production company behind Nosferatu and won. The court had ordered to have all copies of the film burned; luckily there was one copy already in circulation around the world.

If you can think about the millions of lost books, the hundreds if not thousands of lost films, and all the other works of art lost in time, without shuttering, then you have no soul.

Moving on to the actually review, do I really have to summarize the plot? Everyone knows the Dracula story in some form or another. This film was an unofficial adaptation of Stoker's Dracula, hence the many name changes of characters; Count Dracula became Count Orlok, Renfield became Knock, etc., even the word Vampire was changed to Nosferatu.

I thought the pacing to be really good in here, especially the build-up to seeing Count Orlok. Before arriving at the castle Thomas Hutter stops at an inn, and when he mentions that he is going to Orlok's castle they all gasp and shriek. Then, even the coach that he was traveling in refuses to take him directly to the castle and instead drops him off down the road. Even just the sight of the castle itself is great. All this build towards a great introduction to the character of Count Orlok.

And what a character he is! Orlok's design is as amazing as it is terrifying. Count Orlok, to me, is still one of the most horrifying looking horror characters till this day. I mean, just look at him, he looks like a fucking vampire! With his long fingers and pointed ears. The make-up and appearance is great and Max Schreck does a fabulous job playing the creeping vampire.

Along with a scary character, Nosferatu also has a very scary atmosphere. Mix Expressionism with Gothicism and you get a truly great atmosphere. The Gothic castle, the Expressionistic use of shadows and light, the poetic writing; it all comes together wonderfully. This film still manages to scare me today. 

As I've already hinted at, the sets are great. Nosferatu is based a bit more in reality than other films of the genre, e.g., The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and it opts for a Gothic look rather than a surreal one. Which is good. The castle's interiors are great, the castle's exterior is pretty good too, and everything just looks really good. Even the scene on the ship has a kind of murky terror look and feel.

Henrik Galeen (The Golem, Waxworks) did a wonderful job adapting the novel into a screenplay, and a very detailed screenplay at that. The director, F.W. Murnau, followed Galeen's instructions very closely on camera positioning, lighting, etc. So Henrik Galeen played a much larger role in the making of Nosferatu than his credit may suggest.

Two legendary cinematographers did the camera work, Fritz Arno Wagner and Gunther Krampf. Names that have lent their talents to other great film such as Destiny, M, Warning Shadows, and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse for Wagner, and The Hands of Orlac and Pandora's Box for Krampf. These two cinematographer's talents shine in Nosferatu, with wonderful cinematography across the board.

You may notice some actors from other German Expressionist films, and save for Schreck's masterful performance as Count Orlock and Alexander Granach's mad performance of Knock, the rest of the acting is only decent. I wouldn't call it bad by any means, but it's nothing extraordinary.  Maybe the other actors only seem dull because of Schreck's greatness. It's the type of over-acting you'd expect from most silent films, but if you don't mind the over-acting then it shouldn't be a problem. 

The score, originally composed by Hans Erdmann, however most reissues use slightly modified scores, is fantastic. I loved the haunting use of drums in the version I've watched.

There are tons of memorable scenes in here and some truly unique moments. The film also has a sort of grainy, newsreel look to it that makes it extra creepy since it makes it feel realistic...in a very fantastical way. Very similar to the appearance of Night of the Living Dead. Especially that shot towards the end when Orlok is hunched over the girl on the bed and he kind of looks directly at the camera; it looks like something you'd find on some cryptozoology website. Chilling. 

The film also makes good use of color tints. They help to differentiate between day and night (a feat that can be challenging in black and white films) and they also help set particular moods.

There's really not much bad to be said about Nosferatu. I have my nit-picks but nothing really dire. Like that werewolf dog that everyone was so terrified of, that was pretty silly. But there are very few flaws in this film and it really does hold up even now. 

Nosferatu is a true classic. The film that set the mold and the standard for all vampire movies that followed. Recommended for anyone and everyone. Make sure you get a good version with a good soundtrack and as clear a quality as possible and preferably one with color tinting present, and you'll have yourself a hell of a good time. Stay tuned for more vampire film review in the coming days.

Purchase Nosferatu on Amazon: DVD - Two Disc DVD - Stream - German Horror Classics Collection