Golden Globe picks

This week rather than discussing a film, I'll be releasing my predictions for the Golden Globe winners

Best Original song- "Cinema Italiano" -Nine

Best Original Score- Karen O and Carter Burwell- Where the Wild Things Are

Best Screenplay- Quentin Tarantino- Inglourious Basterds

Best Director- Jason Reitman -Up in the Air

Best Foreign Language Film- The White Ribbon -Germany

Best Animated Film -Up

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role- Christoph Waltz -Inglourious Basterds

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role- Mo'Nique -Precious

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy)- Marion Cotillard- Nine

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy)- Daniel Day Lewis -Nine

Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy)- Nine

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama)- Emily Blunt- The Young Victoria

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama)- Jeff Bridges -Crazy Heart

Best Motion Picture (Drama) -Up in the Air

Well those are my predictions, we'll see how it comes out at the golden globe awards

A note on societal censorship

In the first amendment to the Constitution, our forefathers ensured that the government would not censor books or movies. This doesn't mean that you can walk into an store and find some movies though. What occurs is a phenomena I like to call societal censorship. This means that while it is legal to watch a movie, people generally don't, not because it isn't good but because it has lurid subject matter considered indecent or low class. While these movies may be indecent, they aren't always, sometimes they just deal with a subject that people would rather not discuss. Major stores, and especially chains may not carry a movie because it is too controversial. This further isolates the movie from our thoughts, and it becomes lost. One such film was White Dog. Directed by Sam Fuller, the film examines socially indoctrinated racism through a fierce metaphor. The film was dubbed to be "trash" and shut out of the public eye quickly when it arose questions over an issue that people would rather leave untouched. It has only recently been revived, and its questions re-opened. It is important that we accept all works, even if their views contrast our own, because we must not close up our own world.

Film of the Week: Straw Dogs 1971

Sam Peckinpah recieved the nickname "Bloody Sam" for his gratuitous violence in the late sixties, at a time when violence in the movies was a more volatile issue than it is today. All the controversy drawn by his masterpiece The Wild Bunch, doesn't begin to match the controversy stirred up by his 1971 film Straw Dogs. The film is a story of an american scholar, played by Dustin Hoffman, who moves to England with his wife. The trouble begins when a few local thugs begin to harass Hoffman, and even rape his wife. When Hoffman shelters a murderer from them, the thugs become more violent forcing Hoffman to defend his home using somewhat ethically questionable methods. The film is often unavailable even today from major stores who want to avoid the controversy that the film stirred up.

Film of the Week: Manhattan (1979)

Perhaps Woody Allen's greatest work, Manhattan could well be considered less a film, and more a celebration of the oddities and the beauty that make New York what it is. The film centers around a 42 year old man who dates a 17 year old girl after his lesbian ex wife decides to write a tell all account of their marriage. The man begins to fall in love with his friend's mistress, played wonderfully by Diane Keaton, and their romance only confuses our protagonist further. The film develops a wonderful love story as it examines life in the center of civilization. This film is a fantastic choice for anyone who loves New York and the energy that those who love New York thrive on.

Vietnam in film

While in should be noted that Rolling Thunder is more of a vengeance film, it does deal with Vietnam. The Vietnam War has always been a controversial subject in America, and that is often, though not always, reflected in films about the war. Following the war, John Wayne released such movies as The Green Berets about Vietnam, however, these films were childish and did not offer an accurate depiction of what Vietnam was like. This prompted a new wave of films about Vietnam, dedicated to unflinching realism. Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket is applauded often as being the most realistic. Following it was Oliver Stone's Platoon, which even won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1986. Hamburger Hill is another film in the more realistic movement. Perhaps the most applauded film about Vietnam is Apocalypse Now. Based on the book Heart of Darkness, this film, although less realistic, captures what the director Francis Ford Coppola believed to be the heart and soul of Vietnam. As Coppola said, "It's not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam." Some movies such as Rolling Thunder, First Blood, and Born on the Fourth of July, dealt with the difficulties facing soldiers as they returned home. Vietnam may be a less popular subject for films than WWII, but it is still important to watch these movies, and understand this war.

Film of the Week: Rolling Thunder (1977)

Rolling Thunder is a low budget film about a Vietnam veteran who returns home. Upon his return he is robbed, and his wife is kidnapped. The veteran responds to this with a long bloody vengeance which plays out through the rest of the film. Rolling Thunder is one of the best examples of the underground vengeance cinema which grew to popularity in the 70s. Now these films didn't grow to popularity with mainstream audiences, mind you, but they thrived in the cheap movie theaters of the bad neighborhoods in big cities. These vengeance films were excessively violent, and usually had plots concerned with vengeance after the rape or murder of a close family member or friend. Rolling Thunder, though violent, is an entertaining film that lacks the "politically correct" atmosphere of most films today. For anyone who isn't too squeamish, and wants a great action film, I recommend Rolling Thunder.

The Best in Martial Arts Films

While there are many mediocre, and even terrible martial arts films, there are a few that are quite good. If you want to watch come, these would be my recommendations:

1. Enter the Dragon

2. Five Deadly Venoms

3. Ashes of Time

4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

5. Fist of Fury AKA The Big Boss

6. Return of the Dragon

7. Police Story

8. House of Flying Daggers

9. Shaolin Vs Wu Tang

10.Blood of the Dragon

Film of the Week: Enter the Dragon (1973)

It is a great pleasure for me to discuss this film, as it is one of my favorites. Enter the Dragon was the fourth film of Bruce Lee's, and the final film he completed. He worked on his next film, Game of Death, but it was not completed before his untimely death on July 20, 1973. Enter the Dragon is considered by the majority of martial arts film lovers to be the greatest martial arts film of all time. Despite this, some members of the mainstream film community have openly stated their contempt for the film, some condemning it as a low rate James Bond film. Despite their criticisms, many still feel as though Enter the Dragon is a great film, and it is worth a look for anyone looking for an exciting film full of action.

The Roots of Modern Thrillers

When one looks at modern thriller movies, especially those dealing with an insane antagonist, they all flow from the format originally conceived in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). The trademark of a crazy villain, usually wielding a knife, or a similar weapon was all started with Psycho. These films tended to operate on a semi-horror level, with brief action scenes, usually at the end, in which the psychotic killer is defeated. Play Misty for Me was among the first films to operate using this format, however it was followed by such films as Halloween, Death Proof, and The Silence of the Lambs. In these films, the psychotic villain always uses a knife, or an axe, or some other unconventional weapon. This displays a lack of rational thinking, for a gun is clearly a better weapon, and tells us that the villain enjoys his or her killings. Many thrillers and horror films continue to use these same techniques, even today.

Recommended Viewing

If you enjoyed Play Misty for Me you might also like:

Dirty Harry (1971)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Psycho (1960)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Film of the Week: Play Misty for Me (1971)

Most people have seen Clint Eastwood's 1971 thriller Dirty Harry, but few have seen his other film of the same year, Play Misty for Me. The story concerns a radio host who is stalked by a crazy woman. This film helped create the format for modern thrillers, with scenes of terror and action. It was also Eastwood's first time as a director.

A Note on Spaghetti Westerns

In the mid sixties, it became popular to shoot westerns in Italy. Filming was much cheaper, and the deserts of Spain resembled the American Southwest. Being shot by Italians, these films were called spaghetti westerns. Spaghetti westerns have some characteristics that are often emulated even outside of their genre. Most spaghetti westerns have a quiet anti-hero, one who is quick on the draw, and a little bit rugged. They typically lack a well done dialogue, opting for silence from the characters to be filled with what is usually a provacative score, exemplified best by the music of Ennio Morricone. There are usually sun drenched shots and gritty characters. Most spaghetti westerns end in a Mexican standoff, a situation in which three characters simultaneously draw guns on each other, note ending standoff in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. With a lot of action, and paper thin plots, these films became popular as grindhouse films. Quentin Tarantino's most recent film, Inglourious Basterds, was shot to be a spaghetti western set in World War Two. Other directors such as Robert Rodriguez, and Takashi Miike have also been influenced by spaghetti westerns. The wonderful cinematography, and famous standoffs are enough to make anyone a fan of these fantastic films.

Film of the Week: Django (1966)

Django is a cult film from 1966 that could be a textbook example of a good spaghetti western. It has all the characteristics that make a spaghetti western great, and Django has not gone unnoticed. Director Takashi Miike made a film entitled Sukiyaki Western Django, which brings an asian flair to the spaghetti western, and is supposed to be a prequel to Django. George Lucas also picked the name of the character Jango Fett in reference to Django.

A Note of Vampires in Film

The role of vampires in film has changed drastically over the years. In the early days of films like Dracula and Nosferatu, Vampires were creatures of terror, and their tales were tales of horror. Due to trends started primarily by Twilight and Underworld films, vampires are now used in either romance or gothic action flicks. The gel spiked hair of the vampires of Twilight seems far removed from the sinister smile of Bela Lugosi in Dracula. Perhaps it is not a bad thing that vampires, as great characters as they can make, are being utilized in other genres, but it is always nice to return the cobwebs and castles of a vampire's past.

The Best in Horror

These are in my opinion the top ten horror films:

1. The Shining

2. Dracula

3. The Silence of the Lambs

4. The Exorcist

5. Vampyr

6. Psycho

7. Nosferatu

8. Carrie

9. Evil Dead

10. Halloween

Film of the Week: Dracula (1931)

"Listen to them, children of the night. What music they make." Dracula is among the most famous characters of all time, brought to life in this story by the incomparable Bela Lugosi, an actor perhaps better suited for the role than any other who has played the famous vampire. Although there have been many films about Dracula, Bela Lugosi's stellar performance makes this film perhaps the best.

The Top Ten Greatest World War Two Films

Since we were on the topic of WWII films, I thought I'd list the ten that are, in my opinion, the best

1. Saving Private Ryan

2.Bridge on the River Kwai

3. Inglourious Basterds

4. Casablanca

5. Army of Shadows

6. Schindler's List

7. The Dirty Dozen

8. A Bridge Too Far

9. The Big Red One

10. The Longest Day

WWII in film

World War Two has long been a popular subject in film. Films ranging from drama to action, and even some comedies have been made about this war. Many dramas such as Schindler's List, and Life is Beautiful deal with the Holocaust, but some European dramas such as Salo deal with the cost of Nazism on a general population. While European films tend to grapple with the cost of Nazism, it is sad to say that many American films have become little more than patriotic shooting festivals. While some films, like Saving Private Ryan, provide a bold look at the horrors of combat, others like Back to Bataan or The Dirty Dozen, exploit the war to entertain. While these films are entertaining, they lack the ability to capture the essence of humankind at its worst. Dealing with Nazism is a difficult subject for a film to suceed at, and Army of Shadows passes with flying colors.

Film of the Week: Army of Shadows (1969)

Although this French film did not see release in the United States until 2006, it was released in France in 1969. This exquisitely artistic film is one of the best kept secrets of French cinema. Mafia movie director Jean Pierre Melvile set aside the mob to shoot this dark look at the French Resistance in World War Two. Melvile brings together a superb cast in one of the most poignant films about the Sceond World War.

Film of the Week: El Mariachi (1993)

A young 23 year old director named Robert Rodriguez shot this film, and its immediate success shot him into the league of great directors. Very few people enter the film industry as directors and make enough of a success on their first film to have a career in the industry, so any time a young man struts into the film business and becomes a director, it speaks quite well for his work. El Mariachi is an interesting idea for a film. The plot concerns a criminal seeking revenge, who carries a guitar case full of weapons, and a young mariachi looking for work who arrives in town the same day. Rodriguez takes the standard mistaken identity plot, usually used for comedy, and turns it into a high intensity action film, that ends tragically for everyone except the thrilled viewer.

Recommended viewing for those who enjoyed Ran

If you liked Ran, then I also recommend:

Kagemusha (1980)

Seven Samurai (1954)

The Hidden Fortress (1958)

Samurai Fiction (2003)

A Note on Akira Kurosawa

To say that Kurosawa is among the greatest filmmakers to ever live is an understatement. He revitalized the Japanese film industry in the wake of World War Two. Many of America's top directors cite him as a source of inspiration including: Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now), Martin Scorsese (The Departed, Goodfellas), Steven Spielberg (Indiana Jones, Schindler's List), and even the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas. Lucas in fact based the story of Star Wars off of Kurosawa's film, The Hidden Fortress. Countless others have used Kurosawa's work. A Fistful of Dollars, the first movie in Clint Eastwood's The Man with No Name Trilogy, is based on Kurosawa's Yojimbo. The Magnificent Seven is based on one of Kurosawa's greatest works, Seven Samurai. The movie Vantage Point borrows its storytelling structure from Kurosawa's Rashomon. So as you can see, to say that Kurosawa is among the greatest filmmakers to ever live is an understatement.

Film of the Week: Ran (1985)

Ran was released in Japan in 1985. It was among the first color films of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Many critics praise Ran for the vibrancy of its colors. Ran is an adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear to medieval Japan. Adapting western stories to an eastern world is a trademark of Kurosawa's. He adapted Macbeth to feudal Japan in Throne of Blood, and adapted Hamlet to the corrupt postwar business world of Japan in The Bad Sleep Well. Kurosawa remains one of the most important filmmakers in the history of Japan, and the world.

A Note on Blaxploitation Films

You may have found yourself wondering what a "blaxploitation" film is. It began back in the 30's when movies like Refeer Madness and Sex Madness began a genre called "exploitation films". They grew to full height by the early 1970's. Exploitation films recieved their name because they were known to exploit lurid subject matter such as graphic drug use, sex, or violence. They were often played in a double feature in a sleazy theater called a Grindhouse. Subgenres formed within the exploitation genre. Cannibal films used graphic violence in cannibalism to attract viewers. Nazisploitation films focused on Nazis torturing prisoners. Slasher films entailed a psychotic killer hunting down victims and brutally killing them. Blaxploitation films were films put out by the African-American community, that were designed for urban African-American viewers. The films usually took place in an urban setting, with pimps and drug dealers as a staple. The films usually glorified all the African-American characters, and featured despicable white characters such as a corrupt or racist cop and foolish white mafia members. The 1971 film Shaft is among the most famous of these movies. The films died in popularity as African-Americans became more widely accepted into the main stream film community, through the works of actors like Sidney Poitier. These films remain an important look at the attitudes, challenges, and societies of African-Americans in the 1970's.

Film of the Week: Coffy (1973)

Coffy is one of the finest examples of a blaxploitation film. Pam Grier, the queen of this genre, stars as a young nurse turned vigilante bent on destroying the drug trade in the african-american community after her younger sister became an addict. This film was rare for the time in which it was made. It had become both normal and acceepted to glorify drug use in blaxploitation films, but Coffy took a rather unfashionable turn to carry a strong anti-drug message. Although this film is often overlooked by major critics, it is a major film from a lesser known, but still important, genre of American filmmaking.

Reccommended Viewing for those who enjoyed The Wild Bunch

If you liked The Wild Bunch I would also reccommend

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

Unforgiven (1992)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1963)

A Note on Anti-Westerns

The western genre has many sub-genres, with the most popular being the spaghetti western. One sub-genre is the anti-western. A good anti-western tends to challenge the traditional westerns of the 50s and earlier. Anti-westerns focus both on fact rather than legend and morality. The most widely acknowledged anti-western is Clint Eastwood's 1992 film, Unforgiven. Despite Unforgiven's impact on the genre, The Wild Bunch is worthy of perhaps even more recognition. The Wild Bunch brought up the realism which causes the moral questions over two decades before Unforgiven. The Wild Bunch forces the viewer to ask themselves whether killing is justified in the situation at hand, or even if it is ever justified. The debate on whether taking another human being's life is right may seem a very deep subject for a film, but Peckinpah takes it on fearlessly. Despite Peckinpah's attempt at a moral challenge, many of his contemporaries nicknamed him "Bloody Sam", and his violence remains a controversy among film critics to this day.

The Wild Bunch and violence in cinema

The late 60s were a turning point for everything, especially movies. In early movies, violence had been shown, but not to an excessive or even realistic degree. In 1967, Bonnie and Clyde came out, giving movie goers the first realistically violent action-drama. As I said, violence had been somewhat taboo in all movies before this one, but no where was it more taboo than in westerns. John Wayne spent many a movie gunning down Indians without giving viewers a drop of blood. This all changed in The Wild Bunch. Peckinpah's controversial choice to include a splash of blood with each shot transformed the movie, and made it something that no one had ever seen before. The gunfights were now realistic, the blood gave each character a realism that was unseen in westerns. Each death became strikingly real, and rather that a triuph, death would now be viewed as a tragedy.

Film of the week 9/13-9/20: The Wild Bunch (1969)

Sam Peckinpah's 1969 classic The Wild Bunch is among the greatest westerns ever filmed. The film stars William Holden and Ernest Borgnine as leaders of a group of outlaws in the late 1910s. This film brings to mind a more recent film, The Wrestler. The premise of The Wrestler is to explore the hardships of an obsolete wrestling star from the 80s in today's world. The same idea plays into The Wild Bunch. A group of old outlaws from the days of bank robberies are forced to watch as their wild west rapidly becomes modern. As horses are replaced by cars, rumors float around about a flying machine up North. From this world, the last real group of desperadoes heads South, looking for one last adventure.

A note on the dialogue of Reservoir Dogs

Tarantino has gained much fame simply for his screwball dialogues. The conversations about Madonna and Tipping in the restaurant at the beginning of the film are prime examples of Tarantino's excellence in comedic, yet logical conversations. The conversations in Pulp Fiction are equally excellent I might add. Many rank Tarantino alone for this type of dialogue. While Tarantino may be the best, and is certainly an innovator of character conversations, there was another before him. One of Tarantino's major influences was from Monte Hellman. Monte Hellman used the odd conversations of his characters in the 1971 classic film, "Two Lane Blacktop" about two young men on a cross country driving trip. Tarantino's dialogue may be yet another way in which he pays homage to cinema's greats.

Recommended Viewing for those who enjoyed Reservoir Dogs

If you liked Reservoir Dogs, you may also enjoy:

Pulp Fiction (1992)

Goodfellas (1990)

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Dillinger (1945)

Jackie Brown (1997)

more on Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs was unique in its blend of chill music and smooth style with bloody shoot-outs and vicious torture. The infamous "ear" scene is perhaps one of cinema's most terrifying moments, while the discussion of Madonna is perhaps one of cinema's most hysterical. The juxtaposition of comedy and violence was quite original, but some of Tarantino's ideas were not. I view Tarantino as the Milton of our age. Just as Milton pulled out references from everywhere he could find in his tale, Paradise Lost, Tarantino pulls out references in Reservoir Dogs. The hacking off of the ear is actually a reference to the cult classic of 1966 Django, in which the villian's ear is cut off before he is killed. The use of colors as codenames (Ex: Mr. White, Mr. Pink, etc) comes from the classic film The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three. The film ends with three charcters point guns at each other in what is known as a "Mexican Standoff". These standoffs were a staple in the spaghetti westerns of grindhouse theaters, and Tarantino's infusion of the mexican standoff is yet another tribute to the great films of the past. The choice of Lawrence Tierney as Joe may have been another reference to the gangster films of the fourties. Although Tarantino is an American Original, he certainly knows how to pay homage to the greats.

Film of the week, 9/6-9/13: "Reservoir Dogs"

Reservoir Dogs was filmaker Quentin Tarantino's first film. It was released to the shocked audiences of 1992. Reservoir Dogs was like nothing that anyone had ever seen before. The violent ganster flick was filmed on a low budget of around 3 million dollars. The film starred Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, and Lawrence Tierney. Harvey Keitel was a well established mafia actor from such films as, "Mean Streets" and "Taxi Driver". Aside from him, there was another well established gangster movie star. Lawrence Tierney was the star of the 1945 classic, "Dillinger" as well as several other gangster films of the fourties. Tarantino appears to be giving a tip of the hat to the gangster films of the past as he redefines the genre forever.

Welcome

The basic format of this blog will be that I will give a reccommended film of the week. Throughout the week I will discuss the film and its impact, as well as other recommended films. Enjoy!