In high school my brother and I were known as the guys who watched strange movies. That was never entirely fair because most of the movies we watched were pretty mainstream. But if you wanted something odd, were the guys to go to. Dead Alive was one of the great gems we found long before it hit the mainstream following PJ’s success as director of Lord of the Rings. Famously, Dead Alive is the movie Eli Roth claimed actually had enough blood for him.
Something people should know: Peter Jackson is a sicko. This might come as a news flash to some, because he is, possibly, the greatest director of the past two decades, contributing the best trilogy of films ever made. However, his two films Dead Alive and Bad Taste contain some of the weirdest gore scenes ever put in a film.
What it is about:
Dead Alive is a weird take on the zombie film. I think what happened is Walsh and Jackson saw the typical zombie movie as “keep zombies out” type deal. They wanted to approach the film as “keep zombies in”.
The film follows Lionel, whose mother is overbearing on him and when she becomes a zombie Lionel goes through great lengths to hide this from the rest of the world.
Why? I don’t know. The zombie numbers continue to grow and Lionel attempts to hide their existence in their house.
Why it is a great film:
Where to start? It contains some of the better set pieces ever made. Naming just a few would be an insult to the others, but the lawn mower scene remains the goriest scene ever produced. Also amazing, when a zombie baby flies out of a window and hits a dude in the balls. A zombie priest fingers another zombie under a dining room table…the list could go on.
The level of gore might be too much for some, but it is slapstick and never meant to be taken seriously unlike Inside or other great horror films. Trust me, you’ll never be scared during Dead Alive. Peter Jackson state, correctly I might add, that violence is often about context and that a slap in the face can sometimes be more shocking than a decapitation. Take Closer for example, when Jude Law’s character hits Portman in the face, it is much more shocking than when the lawn mower rips down zombies…in my opinion. It is all about the context.Find this movie. Other than maybe Richy-Oh, it remains the goriest film ever made.
-Collin
By Collin, on February 16th, 2011
The Greatest Films #4: Once
Spoiler Alert: Don’t read the last section if you haven’t seen the end of Once.
I’ve decided to start putting together a list of the greatest movies that everyone should see. I love doing top ten lists and everything, but I really would love to discuss classics for a few paragraphs. Also, I hate it when articles get long winded so I’ve adopted a 3 paragraph system that will make the articles super easy and fun to read.
Background:
I was high as a kite when I first saw Once and it really fucked with my first impression of the movie. (I was on tons of painkillers for some surgery or something)
Moreover, my brother insisted I watch it because he knows I’m a psycho fan of musicals. As I’ve seen the movie more and more, it becomes obvious that it is probably the best musical ever made. Furthermore, yes, Once is a fucking musical. The entire story, themes, and narrative flow from the music.
The movie was made for under two hundred grand and it kind of shows. The movie’s style and production values will alienate many individuals not willing to sit through a film clearly shot on a video camera that doesn’t emulate the look of film very well.
I ran around begging musical lovers to check this movie out. If you like musicals you’d have to like it…right? Well, generally no. Most people like the Chicago-type of set pieces. Most Once-lovers are people who love indie movies and kinda’ like musicals.
What it is about:
Once is one of those movies that is hard to get people excited about. I always say, “You should check this movie out, it is about like two people who meet and place music…and then like…don’t get together…”
The movie is just kind of an experience. It never feels like a contrived music video, but never feels partitioned from the music. This is where, perhaps, the low-budget production values came into play. The cheap look might have pulled stylistic elements away from a music video. The film just kind of follows an unnamed struggling musician in Dublin as he deals with an ugly breakup. He meets a young Czech immigrant. They kinda’ flirt and play music for a little while.
Its sounds so simple, but that is probably why is works.
Why it is a great film:
The ending of Once is so fucking good. Few love stories even come close. The relationship that has been blossoming throughout the film abruptly changes course and the audience is forced to reinterpret what friendship, relationships, partnerships, and love, really are. I say this all the time, so people will proably think I’m a dickhead, but Once is almost existential.
It isn’t like other films where the lovers don’t end up together and it is tragic, but in a crazy way, we understand why they don’t. Life sometimes just doesn’t make sense with a certain person. Most people reading this have some person they had a strong connection with but things just didn’t make sense together, so they went their seperate ways.
The music works, most of all, because of Glen Hansard and Market Irglova, Irglova only being 19 when receiving the Oscar for best song. I’ve heard that watching them perform in person is almost religious because of their love of music. Never, not once, do they seem to be acting like they love music. You can tell it means a lot to them.
And thank god they never have sex. I’m no prude, but once sex come into the equation, everything changes. These two people from Dublin fall for each other over something more than their genitals. What a novel idea.
The final shot of the film is one of my favorite of that decade. The director, John Carney, likely went to great lengths to get a camera up that high on an expensive piece of equipment only for one single shot. But it is a shot that highlights, to me, what the film is about.
Genius.
-Collin
By Collin, on February 5th, 2011
The Greatest Films #3:Y tu mamá también
I’ve decided to start putting together a list of the greatest movies that everyone should see. I love doing top ten lists and everything, but I really would love to discuss classics for a few paragraphs. Also, I hate it when articles get long winded so I’ve adopted a 3 paragraph system that will make the articles super easy and fun to read.
Background:
Alfonso Cuaron made a name for himself in the general populace as the director of the third Harry Potter film, as well as directing the great film Children of Men. His legacy as one of the pillars of the Mexican New Wave might be what makes him endure most, however, his film Y Tu Mama Tambien is the film I go back to time and time again as my favorite of all time.
I’ve tired of discussing why I shouldn’t like it because of the kiss at the end, but have, instead, become reserved to the fact that American machismo is something I cannot combat. I’ve also tired of discussing my obsession with it and often cite the fact that Gene Siskel saw Saturday Night Fever over a dozen times and even bought Travolta’s suit at substational cost. Some films just come along at the utmost perfect time and effect people deeply with no reasonable explanation of why.
My brother’s film is Natural Born Killers, where the reasons might be more obvious. However, I think as he’s grown older those reasons have changed. As I always say: “Movies don’t change, we do.”
What it is about:
The film’s simple story should not be mistaken for shallowness. In fact, it is most certainly the opposite. If America has anything cinematically our own, it is the road trip genre. However, taken in the context of a Mexican film we’re allowed a look at a spin on the genre. The film follows Tenoch and Julio as they travel to a beach with a women they met at party. Inside this simplistic plot lies numerous levels of thematic elements.
Why it is a great film:
This movie contains some of my cinematographic ever captured. However, I’ll just highlight thematic story lines that make this a great movie. First, people always mention the sex, but let us side-step that for moment. What concerns me more are the following things:
1. Cuaron’s explicit view of the separation of classes and wealth in Mexico.
2. Cuaron’s whimsical voice-over narration, which discusses elments of the story that only the audience can know.
3. Luisa having cancer, therefore, changing the entire dynamic of why she went on the trip and where she expected to go.
4. Lastly, the relationship between Tenoch and Julio and how it reflects the teenage, and unfortunately the adult, male sexual
machismo. The unfortunate result is so many men will neglect their own macho attitude toward sex because they can write it off as two gay dudes, therefore, have nothing to do with themselves. How unfortunate. I see so much of myself in the two. The jealousy over their girlfriends. The bragging of sexual encounters despite their mediocrity. The quiet repugnance towards each other’s economic class. The indifference toward social justice around them. Their predatory view of women. Most of all, the anger over being cheated on, but indifference toward their own cheating. The effectiveness of this film might be that they come from such a different world, however, have similar attitudes as I did at that age.
I could go on, but you get the point. This movie is fantastic and contains one of the most realistic, most effective performances between two actors I’ve ever seen. This scene may be my favorite of all time:
The sex in the film is, famously, explicit. But, sex is rarely about love and most often about physical desire. Tambien attempts to strip the act of its cinematic nonsense and view it as most people have it: focused, quiet, emotionless, and clumsy.
Because this movie is “in foreign” you’ll to find a store that carries it, buy it online, or grab it not Netflix.
-Collin
By Collin, on January 28th, 2011
The Greatest Films #2: Battle Royale
I’ve decided to start putting together a list of the greatest movies that everyone should see. I love doing top ten lists and everything, but I really would love to discuss classics for a few paragraphs. Also, I hate it when articles get long winded so I’ve adopted a 3 paragraph system that will make the articles super easy and fun to read.
Background:
If you haven’t seen this movie go watch it right now. Breeze through this article and find this movie…I literally have no idea where, but find it; try your best. I came across this movie randomly when a friend from college sent me a boot-legged copy. I popped it into my computer and have never seen anything like it since. Famously, or maybe not, a year after I saw it Q. Tarantino came to the movie’s rescue and listed it as the best movie made since 1993 (when he started making movies).
I honestly think it deserves this accolade. It might not be the best movie in a traditional sense, but when I sat down as a kid and really started thinking about movies I’d wanna’ make, this is the type a movie that popped into my head. It falls between a dream and a reality, where a fantastic premise is executed dead serious.
What it is about:
The movie takes place in Japan where a school of students are kidnapped and forced into a fight to the death on an island. On arrival each student is given a weapon to fight with, supplies, and has a necklace put on them which will explode if they try to escape or are in the wrong sector at a certain time.
What a brilliant premise. A lot of people look at me weird when I talk about my love of anime, Japense culture, and manga, especially considering I don’t look the part at all. But I really believe that this arena of culture is the only place such a premise could be explored seriously. Battle Royale started as a fairly popular manga, as did Old Boy, the other film I’ve written about in my Great Films section.
Manga/Graphic Novels give writers a medium where they can explore complicated themes and stories visually, but without the burden of filmmaking’s budgetary constraints. They don’t have to worry about pleasing millions of people. They want to, but don’t have to financially.
Moreover, Batte Royale‘s story gained momentum as a Manga and was able to be produced into somewhat of a masterpiece.
The film, to me, starts and ends with the great Takeshi Kitano. A name many of you probably don’t know. A name I didn’t learn until I stumbled across this movie and eventually discovered he’s one of the most celebrated talents in Japanese history. Watch the movie and you’ll probably realize why I find that odd. Kitano plays Kitano (ha) who tortures, mocks, and is an all around really huge asshole to the students throughout the film. For more fun dig up a copy of Kitano’s film (director/actor/kinda’ writer) Violent Cop
This might be the best scene ever in a film:
While watching this movie you’ll also probably recognize Chiaki Kuriyama from Kill Bill. (I’m sure this is where QT first head of her.) This is the scene that probably won him over when considering who to cast for that part.
Why it is a great film:
There is nothing like a good dick stabbing… But seriously, I could go on forever about great scenes in this movie, why it deserves to be seen, blah-blah; but I’m not interested in that. What I want to get across is why these types of movies are important and why only the Japanese can get away with it. I’ve never been able to convince any of my friends to see this movie based solely on the fact it is in Japenese and looks kinda’ of weird.
These are not good reasons not to see a movie. Manga, anime, and other very Japanesey things are to be cherished. Very few other countries would produce a film so extreme and violent. There is something about Ichi the Killer or Audition that captures my imagination. Yes, we have the French Extremity and to some extent the Saw films, Eli Roth, and even Rob Zombie; but it is not the same.
There is something so bizarre, so fun, and so moving about Battle Royale that you can’t get anywhere else in movies. Violence, comedy, extremism, surrealism, and drama, all packed into one movie.
Genius.
-Collin
By Collin, on November 16th, 2010
The Greatest Films #1:Old Boy
I’ve decided to start putting together a list of the greatest movies that everyone should see. I love doing top ten lists and everything, but I really would love to discuss classics for a few paragraphs. Also, I hate it when articles get long winded so I’ve adopted a 3 paragraph system that will make the articles super easy and fun to read.
Background:
Old Boy is one of the best Asian films ever made. The fact I left it out of my list of best films of the decade was a huge blunder, but what are you going to do? During the 2000s two countries dominated world cinema in terms of creativity and quality: Mexico and South Korea. The two countries were having filmmaking renaissances similar to France in the 60s, U.S. in the 70s, and Hong Kong in the 80s.
Fueled by fantastic filmmaking grants and tax incentives, as well as an audience more interested in in local films, the film industry in South Korea began to thrive. It is safe to say many of the films from South Korea will be, if nothing else, the most unique you’re likely to ever see. Old Boy is no exception.
What it is about:
Directed by master Park Chan-wook Old Boy opens with one of those great premises that you wish you thought of first. Adapted from a famous manga (graphic novel), Old Boy opens with a man Oh Dae-Su being arrested for public drunkenness. After he is released from the cops he is mysteriously kidnapped and locked in a hotel room for fifteen years.
Given only fried dumplings for food and only a TV for entertainment. He fills his days training for the moment he is released when he will get sweet revenge on his captors.
He is released and immediately falls for a local Sushi chef, Mi-do, who helps him on his quest for vengeance. A man, Woo-jin, reveals himself as Oh’s capture and says if he does not find the reasoning behind his imprisonment in five days, Woo will kill Mi-do. This is when the movie truly becomes great.
Why it is a great film:
Violence is plentiful in this movie. I wouldn’t be surprised if most people called it an exploitation film. It features teeth being ripped out, tongues being cut off, suicides, murders, drawn-out fight scenes, and much more. But violence has never been so important. It is used to make Oh Dae-Su’s vengeance more visceral, not to just exploit.
Oldboy also contains one of the great fight scenes of the past ten years. American filmmakers are known to cut fifteen times in one punch. Paul Greengrass could cut fifteen times in one sneeze. (I guess he’s from the UK, but you get the point) Park ambitiously films a fight scene with no cuts for almost four minutes. Why are the no edits important? Well, first because it is “cool”. Second because it is important for characterization. We need to see the extent of Oh’s exhaustion when fighting wave after wave of goons. Every time a cut happens it is like the bell ringing in a boxing match. Using few or no cuts shows the relentlessness of Oh’s rage.
Viewers will be shocked to the extent that the director uses sex and violence as a story-telling devices, but it is most certainly necessary. The places the film goes are soul-shattering and will likely leave you rocked to the core. The end unravels like a nightmare and it is fair to say you should go into this movie knowing as little as possible about the second half.
Word was that Speilberg had his fingers all over a remake with Will Smith starring. Thank god that never happened.
In high school my brother and I were known as the guys who watched strange movies. That was never entirely fair because most of the movies we watched were pretty mainstream. But if you wanted something odd, were the guys to go to. Dead Alive was one of the great gems we found long before it hit the mainstream following PJ’s success as director of Lord of the Rings. Famously, Dead Alive is the movie Eli Roth claimed actually had enough blood for him.
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