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western #23, 'high noon.' [another day, another movie.]

By • On • In Uncategorized • 1 min read

This one is considered an uberclassic. A huge deal. In my experience, it was hit or miss.

First off, the huge miss… the entire film includes a terrible, overly literal theme song that basic just tells you the plot of the film. Horrible!

Other than that, the film is good through almost the entire thing. I enjoyed Gary Cooper as the lead, Grace Kelly played the hottest Quaker in history, and throughout the film the story built really great tension, both between the characters, and in general as things looked more and more hopeless for our poor lawman.

Yet, all that tension leads to a pretty lackluster finale. It was the western equivalent of the woman who waits until marriage for sex, only to have her husband fire his pistol early on their wedding night. I was left with a, “THAT is what we have been waiting for?” feeling.

I used to give old movies the benefit of the doubt, assuming that over the generations since their release, something got lost in translation. However, Kurosawa changed that. Not only was he making movies around the same time as this one, he was also making them in Japan, so there was far more translating to do, and his films were brilliant just the same.

High Noon is good, don’t get me wrong, but in my experience it pales in comparison to a bunch of these other films I’ve been watching.

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western #22, 'once upon a time in the west.' [another day, another movie.]

By • On • In another day. another movie., scott • 1 min read

It is debated by many whether this or The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly should be considered Leone’s masterpiece. That all comes down to preference, because they are both masterpieces.

The opening scene is long, and brilliant, but after that there’s some time where it’s too slow and even a bit melodramatic. Fortunately, once it gets going, it’s pretty fantastic. More of the typical Leone artistry.

It’s long and epic, with multiple stories which interweave nicely. Yet, the visuals and score are where it’s really at. With so many absolutely stunning shots, and Morricone up to his old tricks, I could probably watch the movie without the dialogue track and be just fine (also, Claudia Cardinale doesn’t hurt in that regard).

Just Kurosawa and Leone are more than enough reason to be glad I did this!

Here is six minutes from the opening sequence.

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western #21, 'the outrage.' [another day, another movie.]

By • On • In another day. another movie., scott • 1 min read

Another punch for punch American adaptation of a Kurosawa movie. It takes the subtle musings about truth in Rashomon and instead works the word ‘truth’ into as many lines as possible to jam the concept down our throat. Most of the writing is pretty weak. Although, Shatner’s last line is pretty great. (That’s right, William Shatner is in this movie!)

The majority of the great moments lost their effect on me because they were just lifted directly out of Rashomon.

So far, Leone is the only guy who could adapt Kurosawa in a way that felt like art in its own right, as opposed to art translated to the big, dumb masses. Adaptation can still be a wonderful artistic medium, even Kurosawa was adapting novels much of the time. The problem is when all you are doing is refilming each scene in a different language with different actors, stealing shots and themes, while never offering anything new, offering nothing of yourself. That is what most filmmakers seemed to be doing when they adapted Kurosawa for America.

Also, Paul Newman was the worst Mexican ever. I love the man, but he should have never, ever played a Mexican. Plus, the decision to make the bandit a Mexican really can’t be seen as anything but racist. If people suspected an innocent man as guilty because he was Mexican, then you would have something, but simply making the infamous, treacherous bandit Mexican is lazy and racist.

Oh yeah, one more thing, that poster at the top of the post, with the line ‘was it an act of violence or an act of love?’… yeah, that wasn’t even kind of  a question asked in the movie. Throughout the course of Hollywood history, I often wonder if those who create ads for films have ever seen the film in question.

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western #20, 'rashomon.' [another day, another movie.]

By • On • In another day. another movie., scott • 1 min read

Rashomon was a story of an apparent murder and rape, told after the trial in which four people tell four different versions of what happened, and who each person blames for the murder isn’t who you’d expect.

It was more proof that Kurosawa was amazing. I could say the same things about this movie that I said about the others.

After the 30 days of 30 Westerns is over it won’t be long before I’ve watched all the Kurosawa I can get my hands on.

He was making movies in the 50’s, for mainstream Japanese cinema, filled with beauty, wisdom, and ambiguity; movies that challenged the assumptions and ignorance of his time, his movies even questioned themselves.

He also worked a lot with the same cast members, which is fun both because you get to see characters take on such different roles, and it also feels like seeing old friends again.

Rashomon made fun of sexism, but in a way that for most of the movie it just made you wonder if he was being sexist. And, in a brilliant “fight” scene Kurosawa also made fun of men pretending they are far tougher and stronger than they are.

The movie was subtle and perfect.

Americans, get over your aversion to subtitles and watch some damned Kurosawa!!

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western #19, 'the proposition.' [another day, another movie.]

By • On • In another day. another movie., scott • 1 min read

It’s probably getting tiring, me writing about how amazing so many of these movies are, but this was another example of amazing filmmaking.

Written by Nick Cave (yes, THE Nick Cave) and Directed by John Hillcoat, it moves the Western to Australia, which is about as apples to apples as a comparison can be.

The film is dark, brooding, violent and disturbing, it is also beautifully shot and stunningly acted. If Oscars were based purely on merit, and everyone had a fair shot, there were at least four performances, plus direction, cinematography, and perhaps screenplay, that would have at least gotten nominations.

Stunning, deeply affecting storytelling, I have a feeling I’ll be carrying this one around for a while. It wrestled with morality in a way that was relentless in taking the ordinariness of human depravity seriously.

There is a scene in the final minutes of the film, where the combination of wonderful direction and amazing acting by Emily Watson create a moment as arresting as any I’ve seen. The full reality of the moment is so palpable, you could choke on the horror and tension of it. I’ve never wanted to reach through a screen and intervene more in my life.

Utterly brilliant filmmaking.

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western #17, 'dead man.' [another day, another movie.]

By • On • In Uncategorized • 1 min read

This 1995 film by Jim Jarmusch was yet another movie that blew me away. Like any Jim Jarmusch film, it was full of overt metaphor, absurdity, and off-kilter performances. I loved it!

It’s amazing the way Jarmusch, as well as the entire cast, were able to use absurdity to tell a story that also felt so down to earth and real. The storytelling is so careful and intentional, and Jarmusch is a master at creating moments where the hilarious is always touched by the tragic, and the tragic by the hilarious. My experience of it was at once darkly humorous and heartbreaking.

It was by far the least conventional of the Westerns, but it included most of the themes and clichés nonetheless, albeit turning most of them on their heads and critiquing them.

I said it once, and I’ll say it again, I loved this movie!

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believe the hype.

By • On • In scott • 1 min read

Folks, Toy Story 3 is legit. I guess we should expect nothing less from Pixar, but damn, where do these folks come from?

I was a little worried, a three film run is usually too much to ask when it wasn’t originally conceived as a trilogy or serial, but this is the best of the three. It was a fitting and emotional way to end the story they began 15 years ago. (Although, it isn’t quite the end.)

It really was amazing. A near perfect movie.

Also, be warned, as my friend Josué pointed out, 3D glasses don’t work as well through tears.

Go see it!!

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i am love. [trailer park.]

By • On • In trailer park • 1 min read

Embedding is disabled, so just click the video below twice to watch it at YouTube. It’s in the 80% range of Rotten Tomatoes, but many critics are going apeshit for this movie.

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