Alien Vs Predator impressed me. I expected something way more militaristic, rightwing, white sausage fest, but actually got a thoughtful, shadowy, ambitious and well-integrated adaptation of a classic cross-franchise comic book. It also succeeds as semi-sequels to both of the franchises' films which is transcendent. Seriously, the entire film is luxuriously paced, intricately lit and directed with some real modesty and sweetness. So much of this is the perfect casting of Sanaa Lathan who while representing a new kind of racial representation in not just this genre but ALL GENRES, she fits the type expertly. She merges the dainty heroine presence of the 1950s actresses with a broader command of herself. The film has a few unintentional laughs (and many intentional ones) and I thought it was perhaps too much fluffy spectacle and not enough character, but this didn't receive the major push and care that Prometheus or even Alien Resurrection did. Yet... I think AVP is better than both of those sequels and I'm sure it trumps the new Predator movies.
The actual message of the film is hazy and so my opinion on it is still out. The film's mythology casts the warring alien races as related to South American & African tribal cultures. In ass backwards fashion, AVP tries to sell some kind of apology or meditation on the savagery of slavery and the monstrosity of the slavemasters... by letting the slavemasters win and driving home the perceived beast nature of the "lower" alien race. Its offensive to me as a black person, as an animal lover and as a universal consciousness. The film is written by the director Paul W.S. Anderson who brings his usual Gothic visual panache & by the original Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon (an early collaborator with Carpenter and directed Return of the Living Dead). This lends the film a detailed sci-fi logic and all of the popcorn cues desired and it is progressive and enlightened in many ways, but it is also a bit meat-headed, warped and a tad trashy. Sanaa Lathan is the best part and gets decent support and I will definitely watch this again, but its not a great movie. But still important to analyze and refer to.
Liebestraum came out in 1991 - the height of David Lynch mania - and you can tell. Its made in the mode of Twin Peaks meets 1989's Sex Lies and Videotape. Its a jazz meets industrial erotic thriller in a film noir vein (or "vain").
I found the film to be quite a relaxing and pleasant experience. Its engaging intellectually as a demonstration of Freudian constructs of sex, neurosis & dreams, totally in keeping with Lynch and Hitchcock. Director Mike Figgis even casts Kim Novak as the archetypal mother. The acting is measured and textured, the naturalistic lighting is fresh and the subtexts are emotional and important enough. Except for a few brief glimpses, the film doesn't bowl you over. I mean once the mystery is unraveled, will you rewatch it for the aesthetics and will the themes ring louder? Doubtful.
The film practices the Early Remodernism I think Amos Poe originally intended. Its beholden to pre-postmodernism, the art and social ideals of pre-WW2 western thought. Its embracing enough of black music and highly critical of capitalism, yet still annoyingly, dogmatically conservative and its "retro" is an overwhelmingly artificial stylistic choice that undercuts the drama, not building it. Modern American cinema is steeped in this kind of indie filmmaking - sexually frustrated, European cinema-mimicking, nostalgic infantilized ego trips. Hitchcock, De Palma and David Lynch have sort of mastered this ethos and deconstructed it, so the remaining films in this genre are really just boring and predictable now, but Liebestraum does deserve a concentrated watch for unconscious reasons.
Why you should really watch the film is the curious amount of ideas borrowed by Lynch in subsequent films. The look, the sound design, the cast, even direct story arcs are taken. Lynch has used Alicia Witt, would cast Pamela Gidley in FWWM and Bill Pullman in the almost-remake Lost Highway. It demystifies and lowers Lynch in my eyes as he goes out of his way to rarely reveal influences and I didn't know he was copying contemporaries. Lost Highway is Lynchian and a more powerful experience, but essentially its the same script and production design as Liebestraum. Noticeably its the most hip and unusual style Lynch has attempted and you have to now give that credit to Liebestraum.
Besides that historical revelation, it is a competent low budget art film for its time and it holds up extremely well to today's predictable and even more gratuitously derivative crime/pulp/thriller/mysteries on TV and in theaters. Again, its a little too impersonal, leisurely and basic (which Lost Highway improves on), but maybe more authentic because of these limitations. Its not regressive but definitely old fashioned.
Its been over-exaggerated by a tiny minority of film fans, but The World's Greatest Sinner is a unique and bold touchstone in the history of early American indie filmmaking. It was directed, produced and written by the eternally struggling brute-characterized actor Timothy Carey as a kind of angry, perverted, manic, egotistical study of itself.
Carey plays an insurance agent who drops out of society, forms an atheist rock band, renames himself "God", runs for office and then has a moral breakdown about his own Atheism and quest to free mankind from God. Its a blunter version of Kane's study of populists, fascists, egoists and Western society's tools to produce them. But this is a much more cartoon and ignorant version. It still holds up as a mirror to people like Donald Trump and Adolph Hitler, but this was designed to bash Jerry Lee Lewis and Hollywood hipsters and not reveal the artist's own apparent shortcomings.
Like Welles, Carey wanted to prove that he was more than the big dumb oafs he played. Now the film is not great technically or morally. Its flatly a conservative Christian "scare film" that is anti-black music, anti-communist, anti-atheist, anti-Satan and anti-JFK. Carey comes off like the 60s' Alex Jones: paranoid, ignorant, childish and really disturbed in his self-worship. So its poetic that that is what he's showcasing. In many ways you can compare it to the self-destructive ego on display in Citizen Kane, The Room or Dennis Hopper's films. These guys made personally revealing, audacious "art films" but ruined their careers in the process. Carey is on the bottom of the list but he's still an early example.
Ichi The Killer - The Animation Ep.0 was the best watch of the night. It breaks from the original film's medium, tone, structure and messages, yet it achieves the same effect by building subtext for the first story.
Now the original film is a darkly funny study of the psychotic, sadomasochistic relationship Japanese men have to white supremacy and thus to each other. This is the underlying point that is really only revealed in the climax and lightly woven between key instances of each scene of a massive, campy pulp plot. With that revelation already in the Japanese fans' minds, the anime focuses on a harder boiled story with an even more surrealistic "ordinary" reality within the original manga universe that inspired the films. And it can also shave off the ornament, the aesthetic and the censored.
This film is allowed to explore the more extreme and horrific suggestions made by the original Ichi.
And at the same time, because it is done in a vibrantly expressionistic "limited animation" style (almost the virtual experience of reading a manga), this film is allowed to work on a deeper dream level. Its so unreal that it can say scarier things about reality or "realism".
Overall, you will love this if you love the first Ichi film. Its a proper, respectful and separate part of the mythos that opens up the parameters of the original and cleverly opens up possibility of more parameters to seek and not just in cheap carbon copy sequels.
Showing posts with label 1991. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1991. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Nothing But Trouble 1991
In my review of Big Trouble In Little China, I talked about a connection to Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Here are two films from the dawn of the post-Spielberg/Lucas multiplex era of Hollywood, both made by 70s genre madmen and both made completely surreal by their sloppiness, bloated budgets and a zaniness that is perceived to be a post-Reagan cocaine mania. Let me complete the trilogy by adding Dan Aykroyd's 1991 horror-satire "Nothing But Trouble" to create a very bizarre marathon of films that closed the generational revolution in 1970s/1980s mainstream cinema.
Big Trouble and Chainsaw 2 have become loudly embraced online by cult film enthusiasts, but not so for Nothing But Trouble. Reasons being those previous films are closely associated 1980s adolescence, they both belong to very film nerd-friendly genres and were directed by very popular cult directors. We're still waiting for a re-appreciation of Bush Era cinema, mainstream comedy bombs by SNL alum and no one really examines Dan Aykroyd's one-off directing job because Aykroyd is mostly obscure to young people outside of Ghostbusters, Tommy Boy and maybe My Girl.
Which is a shame because Dan Aykroyd is the most enigmatic, cerebral and undervalued of the first generation of SNL stars. Frankly, he had the strongest career in the 1990s as Chevy Chase and Bill Murray's stars were fading fast. He branched out into broader roles in Driving Miss Daisy and carried a very ambitious film version of The Coneheads (what could be argued as the best SNL film adaptation against Wayne's World). But as Bill Murray reinvented himself in Wes Anderson movies and Chevy Chase gained a fratboy cult thanks to Fletch reruns, Aykroyd all but retired to focus on UFOS, vodka and Hard Rock Cafe. After Blues Brothers 2000, many comedy fans forgot how valuable Aykroyd was to his generation.
Nothing But Trouble is the best film evidence of Ayroyd's immense talent and uniqueness. It seems like a a last Fuck You from a maturing rebel who has one chance at sharing his vision. Dan Aykroyd had a good career in the 1980s, but never captured the fire, weight and popularity he had on SNL. Chase and Murray became cool anti-authoritarian clowns who carried blockbusters but Aykroyd was usually cast as the sidekick or straight man, typically to his SNL or Second City friends. And he was great at it. The Great Outdoors, Spies Like Us, Dragnet, Neighbors, Caddyshack 2. He was also the only star to write the scripts he performed (as he did on SNL). Maybe the nice guy who always finished last needed to rack up enough good merit and favors because Nothing But Trouble is a very surprising directorial debut in every conceivable way.
First off its produced by Warner Bros with a titanic production, a totally un-commercial script and an HUGE star in Demi Moore. For the unitiated, this film contains: giant obese men in diapers, a carnival ride that removes flesh from living human beings, John Candy as a woman, a penis nose, a removed nose, bed pan humor and a lengthy rap performance featuring a teenage 2Pac. Even at its most grotesque or subversive, its all presented in a cartoon fashion. Its very similar to TCM2 in what it satirizes - conservative politics, yuppies, older men/younger women dynamics, dysfunctional families, rednecks, drug abuse, law enforcement, mental illness, greed and the American value system. I wouldn't be shocked if Dan was a big TCM2 fan or friend of Tobe Hooper. And the film is very reminiscent of Big Trouble in that its a schizophrenic mishmash of wildly different genres, this time being The Goonies, screwball Cary Grant comedies, John Waters shock comedies and rural horror movies like Spider Baby. Like TCM2 and BTILC, NBT doesn't really work. Its derivative, half-baked and poorly edited, but you can tell a lot of passion went into this and a lot of fun was had making this. The "What the fuck am I watching?" factor is high and the very game actors had to 2nd guess the material and then fully commit to the fun and weirdness and it pays off.
But Dan Aykroyd carries the entire film with his performance as the disgusting but charming antagonist. He's covered in prosthetics in TWO roles and its obvious he wanted to play every role in the film. The other characters are really after thoughts to tie scenes together and are actually underutilized. When it finally takes off, NBT is a string of Aykroyd skits that really echo his best SNL work, unlike everything else in his film career. This is the awkward, confrontational, bizarre, grotesque, outsider comedy that made him standout from the pack as the friendliest weirdo and a kind of comic chameleon. The movie is padded with very sophomoric, self-indulgent slapstick and Aykroyd's patented surreal lingustic showboating, but how its tied together in something resembling a meaningful whole is impressive. Its light, inoffensive and totally surprising cinema. Some may not get it or even like it, but who could hate it?
BTW Chevy Chase still had a big name and looks pretty fantastic here, so its a coup that he signed on but its no surprise. Chase seems to be Aykroyd's life partner even if Belushi was his one true love and Bill Murray his most successful romance. They worked together on Spies Like Us, Caddyshack 2 and Aykroyd was one of Chase's biggest supporters in the tumultuous first 5 years of SNL. NBT offers Chevy one if not his last leading man roles (as did John Carpenter's Memoirs of an Invisible Man - another Big Trouble connection). Wikipedia has this to say:
According to one biography, Chase "knew that the film was going to be the worst film he would ever make", but because of his friendship with Aykroyd, he accepted the role of Chris Thorne.[4] Reflecting on the film some years later, it was noted as an "unfortunate turning point" in Aykroyd's career that, as the director, writer and star, left "only (Aykroyd) to blame for the film's spectacular failure".[5]
Unfortunate that it probably ended their partnership and probably hurt their friendship. I would be very interested in seeing where Aykroyd's directing went next and I think its a gem in both of their careers. Nothing But Trouble probably ended both of their careers as Hollywood players, but it shows Chase wasn't always a selfish diva and that Aykroyd never lost his edge. I wonder if they realize this legendary bomb has become, at least in my family, a very beloved little film. I hope fan support grows for it and Aykroyd and Chase can make peace with it.
Big Trouble and Chainsaw 2 have become loudly embraced online by cult film enthusiasts, but not so for Nothing But Trouble. Reasons being those previous films are closely associated 1980s adolescence, they both belong to very film nerd-friendly genres and were directed by very popular cult directors. We're still waiting for a re-appreciation of Bush Era cinema, mainstream comedy bombs by SNL alum and no one really examines Dan Aykroyd's one-off directing job because Aykroyd is mostly obscure to young people outside of Ghostbusters, Tommy Boy and maybe My Girl.
Which is a shame because Dan Aykroyd is the most enigmatic, cerebral and undervalued of the first generation of SNL stars. Frankly, he had the strongest career in the 1990s as Chevy Chase and Bill Murray's stars were fading fast. He branched out into broader roles in Driving Miss Daisy and carried a very ambitious film version of The Coneheads (what could be argued as the best SNL film adaptation against Wayne's World). But as Bill Murray reinvented himself in Wes Anderson movies and Chevy Chase gained a fratboy cult thanks to Fletch reruns, Aykroyd all but retired to focus on UFOS, vodka and Hard Rock Cafe. After Blues Brothers 2000, many comedy fans forgot how valuable Aykroyd was to his generation.
Nothing But Trouble is the best film evidence of Ayroyd's immense talent and uniqueness. It seems like a a last Fuck You from a maturing rebel who has one chance at sharing his vision. Dan Aykroyd had a good career in the 1980s, but never captured the fire, weight and popularity he had on SNL. Chase and Murray became cool anti-authoritarian clowns who carried blockbusters but Aykroyd was usually cast as the sidekick or straight man, typically to his SNL or Second City friends. And he was great at it. The Great Outdoors, Spies Like Us, Dragnet, Neighbors, Caddyshack 2. He was also the only star to write the scripts he performed (as he did on SNL). Maybe the nice guy who always finished last needed to rack up enough good merit and favors because Nothing But Trouble is a very surprising directorial debut in every conceivable way.
First off its produced by Warner Bros with a titanic production, a totally un-commercial script and an HUGE star in Demi Moore. For the unitiated, this film contains: giant obese men in diapers, a carnival ride that removes flesh from living human beings, John Candy as a woman, a penis nose, a removed nose, bed pan humor and a lengthy rap performance featuring a teenage 2Pac. Even at its most grotesque or subversive, its all presented in a cartoon fashion. Its very similar to TCM2 in what it satirizes - conservative politics, yuppies, older men/younger women dynamics, dysfunctional families, rednecks, drug abuse, law enforcement, mental illness, greed and the American value system. I wouldn't be shocked if Dan was a big TCM2 fan or friend of Tobe Hooper. And the film is very reminiscent of Big Trouble in that its a schizophrenic mishmash of wildly different genres, this time being The Goonies, screwball Cary Grant comedies, John Waters shock comedies and rural horror movies like Spider Baby. Like TCM2 and BTILC, NBT doesn't really work. Its derivative, half-baked and poorly edited, but you can tell a lot of passion went into this and a lot of fun was had making this. The "What the fuck am I watching?" factor is high and the very game actors had to 2nd guess the material and then fully commit to the fun and weirdness and it pays off.
But Dan Aykroyd carries the entire film with his performance as the disgusting but charming antagonist. He's covered in prosthetics in TWO roles and its obvious he wanted to play every role in the film. The other characters are really after thoughts to tie scenes together and are actually underutilized. When it finally takes off, NBT is a string of Aykroyd skits that really echo his best SNL work, unlike everything else in his film career. This is the awkward, confrontational, bizarre, grotesque, outsider comedy that made him standout from the pack as the friendliest weirdo and a kind of comic chameleon. The movie is padded with very sophomoric, self-indulgent slapstick and Aykroyd's patented surreal lingustic showboating, but how its tied together in something resembling a meaningful whole is impressive. Its light, inoffensive and totally surprising cinema. Some may not get it or even like it, but who could hate it?
BTW Chevy Chase still had a big name and looks pretty fantastic here, so its a coup that he signed on but its no surprise. Chase seems to be Aykroyd's life partner even if Belushi was his one true love and Bill Murray his most successful romance. They worked together on Spies Like Us, Caddyshack 2 and Aykroyd was one of Chase's biggest supporters in the tumultuous first 5 years of SNL. NBT offers Chevy one if not his last leading man roles (as did John Carpenter's Memoirs of an Invisible Man - another Big Trouble connection). Wikipedia has this to say:
According to one biography, Chase "knew that the film was going to be the worst film he would ever make", but because of his friendship with Aykroyd, he accepted the role of Chris Thorne.[4] Reflecting on the film some years later, it was noted as an "unfortunate turning point" in Aykroyd's career that, as the director, writer and star, left "only (Aykroyd) to blame for the film's spectacular failure".[5]
Unfortunate that it probably ended their partnership and probably hurt their friendship. I would be very interested in seeing where Aykroyd's directing went next and I think its a gem in both of their careers. Nothing But Trouble probably ended both of their careers as Hollywood players, but it shows Chase wasn't always a selfish diva and that Aykroyd never lost his edge. I wonder if they realize this legendary bomb has become, at least in my family, a very beloved little film. I hope fan support grows for it and Aykroyd and Chase can make peace with it.
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