Fritz Lang's "M" (1931)

First of all, let me get this out of the way: Peter Lorre, my oh my what big eyes you have! To better find poor little kids and lure them into your big candy-filled trap perhaps! 

Directed by:  Fritz Lang
Written by:  Fritz Lang & his wife Thea von Harbou
Based on:  a newspaper article by Egon Jacobson
Starring:  Peter Lorre
Music by:  Edvard Grieg
Cinematography by:  Fritz Arno Wagner
Editing by:  Paul Faulkenberg
Running time:  109 mins
*subtitled*

Big, frog-like eyes accentuating that baby face with an unassuming facade - that's what makes Hans Beckert, played by "the male Bette Davis" Peter Lorre, one of the most unforgettable villains in any film I've seen. With a touch of innocence and malice, Lorre handles this character so well that even I was confused when it's time to "judge" him. Not too confused though that I forget the unspeakable horror this guy has brought upon this town. This is what makes him more scary. Sure, Leatherface might make you crap your pants when you find yourself face to face with him wielding a chainsaw in some woods, but men like Norman Bates or Hannibal Lecter makes your skin crawl with dread knowing that their kind is freely roaming our streets, all charming and innocent-looking, while in their minds their all thinking of ways on how to skin us alive. That's the horror that we face everyday. That's Beckert - the wolf under the sheep's clothing. The devil hiding under the mask of an angel. 

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Considered one of the greatest films ever made in the silent era, and cited as having introduced the "twist ending" in cinema, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (which also has a 100% critics rating in Rotten Tomatoes) surely is a must-see for cinephiles & horror film lovers.

Directed by:  Robert Wiene
Written by:  Hans Janowitz, Carl Mayer
Music by:  Guiseppe Becce
Cinematography by:  Willy Hameister
Running Time:  71 mins
Country:  German

I started to watch this film without any idea what it's about. I didn't even know it was a silent movie. All I know is that it's a classic and is considered one of the best films ever. And man, it didn't disappoint! 

The first scene, I was a bit hesitant whether or not I was in the mood for that kind of film - but I did notice the unique quality of its cinematography. But the moment the little town was introduced, my attention was caught 100%. Tim Burton "feels". I love it!

the village of Holstenwall

The rare times that I watch a silent film, it's either I'm enchanted with the music, or the acting, or the story. This time, it's the visuals first and foremost that got me curious. Every single scene was like looking at an artwork in a museum. The distorted little houses or architecture makes you feel like you're staring at paintings of Salvador Dali or even Picasso, and the wonderful play of shadow and light (and the color, at times) sometimes reminds me of my favorite Caravaggio. Seriously, it's amazing. But after the feast I got from the artsy background/set & the wonderful colors or cinematography, the characters intrigued me. I rarely get creeped out just by looking at actors with over the top make up, but TCoDC obviously is the king of all creepy characters. The close-up shots, the play on shadows, the make-up which makes The Rocky Horror Picture Show seem tame,  and the jerky dance-like movements of the actors, really unsettles you and creeps you out. In short, everything about this movie has enraptured me!

(Back 2 Back) OLDBOY: Park Chan-wook VS. Spike Lee

Back 2 Back is my comparison review of an original film and its remake/s. 

In this post, I will be reviewing Park Chan-wook's Oldboy (2003), and Spike Lee's 2013 version.

 Loosely based on the Japanese manga, Old Boy, written by Nobuaki Minegishi & Garon Tsuchiya

      (2003) Directed by:  Park Chan-wook                                     (2013)  Directed by:  Spike Lee
       Starring: Choi Min-Sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung                         Starring: Josh Brolin, Sharlto Copley, Elizabeth Olsen
       Running Time:  120 mins                                                           Running Time:  104 mins                                                                      Budget:  $3 million                                                                      Budget:  $30 million
       Box Office:  almost $15 million                                                Box Office:  almost $5 million

Let me just say this first: NO I don't care that a remake of Oldboy has been done. I have stopped hating on remakes for awhile now. To those who keep on saying that it's a disgrace to the original blah blah (and I'm speaking generally here), that the original should never ever ever have been re-made etc. etc., all I can say is this: remakes, however unnecessary, are inevitable & to be expected. There will always be other attempts to re-create or surpass what we deem as an already great work of art. Why? Because humans are perfectionists.. or we just love to rip off stuff (and by we, I mean Hollywood). And while the remakes are usually sub-par & disappointing, to me, that's part of the fun. It only makes the original shine brighter, and those who haven't even heard of it in the first place might be curious enough to want to watch it - and isn't that a good thing? Lastly, a bad remake would never be a disgrace to the original because they are two separate films, made by different directors, with different casts - the only one disgraced or put in a bad light is the one who made the remake. So guys, chill!

Now let's talk about the movies.

I'll go straight to the point. There's no contest here, the 2003 version is a masterpiece, and obviously the superior film between the two. I'm pretty sure anyone who have seen both movies will agree and won't need any convincing. 

But just humor me, here are the reasons why the South Korean film is great, while the Hollywood remake is just average at best.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

A three-hour long spectacle of gratuitous debauchery, of people & their unrestrained pursuit to satisfy their id, of characters long blinded by greed that they forgot how to be real human beings, and of shallow characterizations & plot - or the lack of it.

This could have given you a sour taste in your mouth & a giant hangover if it wasn't for Scorsese's unrestrained playfulness & DiCaprio's psychotic charm.

Directed by:  Martin Scorsese (The Aviator, Raging Bull)
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie
Screenplay by:  Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire)
Based on Jordan Belfort's The Wolf of Wall Street
Cinematography by:  Rodrigo Prieto (8 Mile, Brokeback Mountain)
Editing by: Thelma Schoonmaker (worked with Scorcese for over 40 years)
Running Time:  179 mins
Budget:  $100 million
Box Office: over $222 million

It's funny how you read on movie boards that The Wolf of Wall Street is one of the funniest comedies/best movies/"insert your own hyperbole" of 2013, and see on the next page that it's so goddamn awful that people have walked out of the theaters. And the same people insisting how juvenile or stupid others are for liking this movie. I say, to each his own - but let me share my thoughts regarding some of the reasons people didn't like this film.

All About Eve (1950)

A self-important critic, an aging star, a cuththroat newbie, a writer & his wife, a ditzy starlet - a perfect recipe for trouble in the world of entertainment. 

 All About Eve is basically a peep in the world of theater (or Hollywood for that matter) with all its stereotypical characters and all the maneuvering they do just to stay where they are or get ahead in the business - it's a mean, mean world.

Written & Directed by:  Joseph L. Mankiewicz (A Letter To Three Wives)
Starring:  Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm
Music by:  Alfred Newman (The Best of Everything)
Cinematography by:  Milton R. Krasner (Three Coins in the Fountain)
Editing by:  Barbara McLean (Wilson)
Running Time:  138 mins
Budget:  $1.4 million
Box Office: $8.4 million

"Margo is a great star, a true star. She never was or will be anything less or anything else." Such words can be said to Bette Davis as well. I have loved her in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (click link for my review) and as I slowly discover her films, it becomes apparent to me that she is one of the greatest actresses ever. I love her. It's funny because I have only seen three movies of her and yet my idolatry is already worthy of another tablet-throwing Moses-tantrum. Thank god Claudette Colbert had to withdraw from the project, as much as I respect her, I don't think she would have done what Davis did to this role.

What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)

A truly intense sibling-rivalry thriller that's made more interesting because of the real-life rivalry between Davis & Crawford.

"I didn't bring your breakfast, because you didn't eat your din-din!"  No actress has ever gotten me to hate a character so much and pity her at the same time. No one but Bette Davis. I mean my god that woman is a fascinating actress! To switch from spiteful madness to regression in a blink of an eye - a hateful countenance to child-like mischievousness flowing smoothly like a river of emotions in her grotesque face - is nothing short of brilliant. At some point she made me wish I could go inside the screen just so I can push her down the stairs, and yet in another scene, she had me bawling like a milk-deprived baby, just wanting to hug and comfort poor Baby Jane. She should have won the Oscars for Best Actress that year. Dammit, she should have!

This scene! ugh -_-

Here's a short info about the movie. :)

"A former child star torments her crippled sister in a decaying Hollywood mansion."

Directed by:  Robert Aldrich (Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte)
Screenplay by:  Lukas Heller
Cinematography by:  Ernest Haller (Rebel Without A Cause)
Editing by:  Michael Luciano
Music by:  Frank De Vol (Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte)
Starring:  Bette Davis, Joan Crawford
Running Time:  133 mins
Budget: a little over a million dollars
Box Office:  $9 million

Why THE SADIST is the best torture you can experience

Don't mind the fact that this is a low-budget film made in 1963. Or that Arch Hall Jr. has a cheesy filmography to boast (or not) about. The Sadist is one of those B-movies that stands the test of time and deserves every bit of recognition it could get. The only thing that's dated in this film, aside from the clothes, is the Coca-Cola bottle. 

It's seriously one of the most tension-filled movie I've seen from start to finish - especially that climax! Modern film makers could learn a thing or two from this little black & white exploitation movie that's unfortunately, undeservingly buried in obscurity - unbeknownst to most people. I haven't even heard about this film before. Thank god for Timeless Classic Movies in Youtube!

So what makes this under-appreciated gem a timeless classic? Before I start my nonsense, here's a short info about the movie.

The Sadist is loosely based from the murder spree of serial killer, Charles Starkweather, and his 14-year old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, which other movies such as Badlands (1973), Kalifornia (1993), Natural Born Killers (1994), and Starkweather (2004) were also based from.

"Three people driving into Los Angeles for a Dodgers game have car trouble and pull off into an old wrecking yard where they are held at bay by a bloodthirsty psycho and his crazy girlfriend."

Also known as Profile of Terror, and Sweet Baby Charlie
Written & Directed by:  James Landis
Cinematography by: William Zsigmond
Starring:  Arch Hall Jr., Richard Alden,
Marilyn Manning, Don Russell, Helen Hovey
Running Time:  95 mins.
Watch it on YT here

Eraserhead (1977)

ERASERHEAD (1977)

Go HERE to watch the full movie.

Written, Produced, & Directed by DAVID LYNCH

Taglines:

"Be warned. The nightmare has not gone away..."

"In Heaven Everything Is Fine."

"A dream of dark and troubling things"

- - - - - - - - - - -


As the taglines imply, this movie will keep you floating in a weird & troubling dream-like state of mind. It's dark - technically and thematically speaking. It requires an open mind, a desire to watch something new or challenging, and rapt attention for the viewer to fully appreciate it. Eraserhead is the kind of film where you can analyze it for years and still you wouldn't be 100% sure. Watch it with ten of your friends and you'll get different opinions and interpetations. 

WHAT I WAS FEELING WHILE WATCHING:

First few minutes, I was reminded of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. The long, lingering shots. The seemingly random images or sequence. The unsettling sound. It takes you out of your movietime comfort zone. And I liked it. So I continued watching. 

The first scene, I have to admit, I didn't get. I had to rewind it to somehow make sense of it. Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) appears to be dazed, seeing that weird brown thing in space or wherever. And then there's a shot of a weird man who I first thought to be sitting in a toilet, covered in poop. And there's this giant sperm-like, snake-like thing coming out of Henry's mouth. I was watching it with a friend, and we had different opinions of what it was. I said it looks like sperm, she said it looks like a fetus. Then we both replied at the same time, (me) "Well, that's a loooong fetus don't you think?" & (she) "That's a giant sperm hahaha!" 

The Housemaid (1960)

Original Title: Hanyo

Director & Writer: Kim Ki-young

Starring: Lee Eun-shim, Ju Jeung-nyeo, Kim Jin Kyu

Plot: "The film is a domestic horror thriller telling of a family's destruction by the introduction of a sexually predatory femme fatale into the household. A piano composer has just moved into a two-story house with his wife and two children. When his pregnant wife becomes exhausted from working at a sewing machine to support the family, the composer hires a housemaid to help with the work around the house." - Wikipedia

Click here for the full movie: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5acgtKKMpS8

WHAT I WAS EXPECTING:  

I really don't have much experiences with regards to Korean cinema, let alone a 1960 black and white film, so I didn't know what to expect. I saw HORROR, DRAMA, FEMME FATALE, THRILLER - so I just assumed it's a scorned mistress who dies then comes back as an angry ghost haunting and scaring the living daylights out of the household members. LOL me and my cliches.

WHAT THE MOVIE REALLY IS:

Black and white. Generic plot - a family's normal life disrupted by women obsessed with a married man. Just plain drama, minus the horror ghost story (thank god! I can only watch filipino/american horror movies - bec asian horror is just truly superior & 100% creepy and I can't handle it.). In other words, it's your typical run-of-the-mill drama movie. Nothing more to expect, right?

Well what I didn't expect was that this seemingly average film with all it's simple elements or limitations has managed to turn it into something complex and with thrilling unpredictability. I was shocked - to actually see this masterpiece hiding in obscurity, and enjoy it immensely. 

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Director: Stanley Kubrick

TAGLINES:  "Let the Awe and Mystery of a Journey Unlike Any Other Begin"

"The Ultimate Trip."

* * * *

Yes indeed. It’s the ultimate trip alright.

Just watched 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time, and when it ended I was like —- wow. O_O…… yes with big blank round eyes staring at the screen.. not moving….. Everything was weird, beautiful, detached to reality and yet it felt at that moment THE reality. The seemingly random images or scenes, the dragging minute after minute visual treat of space and minimal dialogue partnered with classical music or in other case just a continous buzz of muffled screaming or whatever it is, or heavy mechanical breathing.

And yet nothing was random to it. EVERYTHING FITS. EVERYTHING WORKS.  It’s like being in space. I was not on earth. I felt high. 

it was a visceral cinematic total mindfuck experience. That’s the best way i could describe it.

WHAT I WAS EXPECTING:

A sophisticated version of Star Wars without Yoda and light sabers. (thank god it’s not!) 

WHAT I FELT WHILE WATCHING:

The first 3 minutes I was like WTF is this?? Is my file not fully downloaded? I thought something was wrong with my screen and speakers. 2 minutes and 30 seconds, still that black screen and weird buzzing sound… so I fast forward it. A sigh of relief. Movie’s working. Rewind. Smile. I sat back and relaxed. :)

And relax, I did.

I felt intrigued, hypnotized, enraptured, puzzled, confused…. I felt like I was floating in nothingness…. I felt it's too slow,  but then, like a roller coaster it plummets down and superspeeds forward, up, and down again and gives me this thrill that all I could do is let my mind go blank and just enjoy the feeling my other senses tells me to feel.

While this film had the potential to be a great bore, at some point I was asking myself “omg. Should I be bored now or give this film a few more minutes?”…. But even before I manage to actually be bored, Kubrick pulls me right back in. There’s just something about this movie that’s surreal. It has a distinct flavor that keeps your eyes glued and your mind focused. The set, the visual effects, the musical score (which in its own weird way fits perfectly with the movie), HAL, the space suits which I think are super cool!  Everything. It reels you in. Makes you think. And when it’s in those slow scenes where you see nothing but space or colors or whatever — it puts you in a state of trance. So yeah, i forgot to be bored. I was hypnotized. Even the Intermission part  I was like O_O (Still in a trance)…. This movie is imaginative and creative than most modern movies I’ve seen. It’s ahead of its time — hell, I think it’s even ahead of THIS time. It’s so big that your mind is blown and you fail to readily grasp the whole idea of the film. And that’s a rare quality in movies. To give you that feeling that you have just experienced something unforgettable and would continue to think about it even after the credits has rolled.

WHAT I FELT AFTER THE MOVIE:

I wouldn’t even comment much about the storyline. Everyone can have their own interpretation.

But long story short, for me, it’s about the exploration of Darwinian theory of evolution, and the belief that human evolution and intelligence was made possible by superior life forms/alien intelligence (monolith/apes. the use of weaponry 4 million years ago, and still the use of weapons as the driving force of human civilization in the future. The end was a bit confusing to me — where is that room? where did the astronaut end up? in jupiter? But anyway, my interpretation on that scene is the end of one civilization, and the rebirth of a new one. Intelligence (whether it’s artificial or alien) goes on… human civilization dies and vanish, and comes up again, intelligence remains.

In the end I was satisfied. It was a cerebral experience more than anything. It was indeed a space odyssey. A journey.. not that zing zing of light sabers or alien dominating the earth crap — those are fun, yes, but this movie is a rare gem, and well worth watching no matter what era we are in now.

MY RATINGS: 4.5/5  - not for everybody. Either you're in the mood to appreciate this film, or you aren't. Either you will love it or totally piss on it.

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