"Exterminate all rational thought. That is the conclusion I have come to." - Peter Weller
On the first viewing, I watched it all the way through, and for the first time ever I determined that this must be the weirdest film ever made. That sentiment has now been completely supplanted by my exploration of David Lynch films, with Eraserhead and Inland Empire topping my list of weirdest movies ever seen. Much like a Lynch film, however, Naked Lunch eschews the notion of developing a plot and focuses more on crafting a strange, surreal, nightmarish experience. In this film, you can expect to dive into a world of walking talking bugs, mutating typewriters, and shady characters who are never what they seem. There are a few shocking instances of strange imagery with strong sexual subtexts, and scenes of cold, wicked, disturbing murder.
Based partly on William S. Burroughs’s novel Naked Lunch and partly off of the author’s biography, the Naked Lunch film succeeds at taking an “unfilmable” subject and bringing it to the big screen. It does so by establishing a solid baseline narrative, with the actual writing of the titular book as the main drive of the story. As such, the film tacks on elements of the original book around that structure, and touches upon some stark themes regarding substance abuse and the breakdown of reality. It’s pretty odd to slap together giant bugs and drugs with the writing process, but in its own twisted way the film makes perfect sense: it’s basically the story of a writer (possibly William Burroughs himself) who abuses drugs to escape grief, but finds the purest escapism in his writing and winds up regressing further and further away from reality.
The film is competently-made, with quality photography and editing. Acting can be rather dry, but Peter Weller is impeccable as the protagonist. Judy Davis, Ian Holm, and Roy Sheider add some quality talent to mix. Writing is pretty decent, especially in the way it builds the story from the given elements without using too much exposition, forcing the audience to interpret things for themselves. This production has some wickedly awesome make-up effects; most other sets, props, and costumes are decent. The music score is comprised of some really cool jazz.
David Cronenberg’s film is remarkable in many respects, especially in the way it takes a piece of literature without tangible form and shapes it into a something cinematically presentable. However, it still stands as one of the most bizarre films I have seen, and chances are that you’d have to be a connoisseur of such cinema to truly enjoy this type of insanity (and you may need a strong stomach for certain scenes). I’d say that if you enjoyed films like Eraserhead or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, then you may enjoy Naked Lunch as well. For casual audiences, I can only recommend a rental, if at all interested.
4/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Uhhhh… | Film: Good)
Recommendation: Probably for fans of weird cinema, fans of David Cronenberg or William S. Burroughs, and anybody else with an open mind. Most folks should probably rent it and see for themselves, if they can handle it.
Saw some of the extras on this Criterion Collection DVD; the hour-long documentary is pretty insightful. The disc also has a small wealth of recordings, featuring William Burroughs reading excerpts from the Naked Lunch novel (it really is some weird nasty stuff ). Most of everything else are just stills galleries and trailers.
Extras: 3.5/5
I'd still be pleased if they put this to Blu-Ray. It would find itself right at home next to Videodrome.
I ended up liking it. It'll likely never be one of my all-time favorites like it is for a decent amount of people, but it's a keeper. My score will likely go up after another viewing.
It's nuts what they had to go through to get the movie filmed. I watched the old two-hour Making of Jaws. I'll watch the "new" one next time.
The Good:Love the set designs, specifically the cemetery, the experiment scene, and the miniature golf course. Solid camera work.
The Bad:Sure, there are some nice touches here and there, but it doesn't really add that much of a twist to the classic tale to keep it from being utterly predictable.
The Bottom Line:Frankenweenie is a simple little tale that has potential (story-wise) and shows potential (early Tim Burton). And while it doesn't exactly translate that well as a live-action film, it certainly could benefit from being remade into an animated one.
Finally got around to seeing a film I knew I would enjoy, but for some reason never watched.
After 10 minutes, and after it was done, and during the entire run time, I could immediately see why people love the film and why people would also loathe the film.
The film, from start to (almost) finish is covered, baked, sprinkled, dunked and smothered in indie folklore and teeth rotting witty, snappy dialogue, which of course many will say is par for the course of any Michael Cera film.
I loved it from the get-go. Hilarious, touching, amazing music and amazing atmosphere of a small town with quirky families. nothing that hasn't been done before of course, but in Juno it's done really, really well.
very impressive
but i could see how some could say the film tries to hard (and ironically enough a lot of 1 and 2 star reviews on amazon contain the phrase, "trying too hard" in review titles) and i can see why many would be turned off by Juno herself with how she is written ("spoiled", "punk" and "selfish" are also mentioned in many reviews regarding her characters behavior and actions).
i think i will enjoy it more next time now that i know how it ends because for some reason the writer / director paint the adoptive family in a weird light and have weird dialogue and facial expressions for them. i honestly thought for a bit that a)
[Show spoiler]they didn't live in that house
, b)
[Show spoiler]they were people who kidnapped babies!
, and c)
[Show spoiler]Jason Bateman's character was a weird child sex offender or something, and if it was portrayed by anyone but Jason Bateman i would have continued to think that until the movie ended
which kind of made me uneasy and felt unnecessary for the film as it cast a weird black cloud over the seriousness and humor of the film.
in the end it was sweet, touching, hilarious and incredible, and a film i very much enjoyed
[Show spoiler]Finally got around to seeing a film I knew I would enjoy, but for some reason never watched.
After 10 minutes, and after it was done, and during the entire run time, I could immediately see why people love the film and why people would also loathe the film.
The film, from start to (almost) finish is covered, baked, sprinkled, dunked and smothered in indie folklore and teeth rotting witty, snappy dialogue, which of course many will say is par for the course of any Michael Cera film.
I loved it from the get-go. Hilarious, touching, amazing music and amazing atmosphere of a small town with quirky families. nothing that hasn't been done before of course, but in Juno it's done really, really well.
very impressive
but i could see how some could say the film tries to hard (and ironically enough a lot of 1 and 2 star reviews on amazon contain the phrase, "trying too hard" in review titles) and i can see why many would be turned off by Juno herself with how she is written ("spoiled", "punk" and "selfish" are also mentioned in many reviews regarding her characters behavior and actions).
i think i will enjoy it more next time now that i know how it ends because for some reason the writer / director paint the adoptive family in a weird light and have weird dialogue and facial expressions for them. i honestly thought for a bit that a)
[Show spoiler]they didn't live in that house
, b)
[Show spoiler]they were people who kidnapped babies!
, and c)
[Show spoiler]Jason Bateman's character was a weird child sex offender or something, and if it was portrayed by anyone but Jason Bateman i would have continued to think that until the movie ended
which kind of made me uneasy and felt unnecessary for the film as it cast a weird black cloud over the seriousness and humor of the film.
in the end it was sweet, touching, hilarious and incredible, and a film i very much enjoyed
It's about damn time.... I mean
I can't say enough good about the movie, which is ironic since this is the end of my post.
tried to watch three horror films tonight. apparently i also picked three of the worst films to try and watch and only was able to finish one, which may have been the worst, because of how terrifically terrible it became...
[Show spoiler]
first up..!
Teeth - N/A - didn't finish. watch 60 minutes which was 60 minutes too much
a girl who has a vagina with teeth.
sounded like it could have been a hilariously dark comedy / horror along the lines of a "Slither" type of film.
but it certain wasn't
absolutely dreadful. this was in theaters too! and had the feel of a direct to video feel. the main female was atrocious as the "promise ring virgin" who fears her own vagina as she realizes it has teeth and chomps off fingers and wieners in violently blood fashion.
i was expecting dumb but entertaining, Teeth was definitely dumb but certainly not entertaining
---
next up...
The School in the Woods - N/A - watched 25 minutes and called it quits.
hmm... maybe like "The Cabin in the Woods"?
absolutely not
i'm a big fan of "documentary" films, but when the film starts with pictures of the cast saying "so and so playing Alex" and then says, "written and directed by someone you have never heard of and never will" it kind of takes the spookiness away. of course when you have horrible dialogue such as, "when you disrespect my friends you're also disrespecting me!" i suddenly feel like i'm on the sight of a g*ddamn Dr. Phil episode
decided not to waste my time.
---
so then i decided to waste my time on...
Deadgirl - 1/5
two friends drink beers in a gigantic abandoned insane asylum and find a "dead" girl tied up in a basement sewer tunnel.
so like all logical 17 year olds, one decides to make her his sex slave and rape her repeatedly for days on end.
oh, and she can be killed and comes back to life, so there's that. she's a zombie of sorts.
just the kind of thing you wanna put your wiener into right!?!?!
but you don't get sick or anything, only if she bites you. makes sense...
and then there is a crazy Resident Evil style dog for no reason.
and some crazy tough meth head who two guys try to kidnap at a gas station that apparently has no one working, yet somehow you go inside and pay for gas.
and then more people catch wind of the "dead" girl and also rape her.
1 star because the guy who played JT had some solid acting moments in all his psychotic, zombie-banging free time.
all in all, one of the dumbest films i have ever painfully sat through, although Teeth would also be on this list if i would have finished it.
oh and the ending is horrid. the main character is the only one with a conscience and the ending essentially says, "nope. he's just as perverted as everyone else in this film". nice touch!
Hilarious post! I give your Deadgirl review a 5/5.
'Looper' Review - What Would You Do To Change Your Future?
Quote:
Many have been eagerly anticipating Rian Johnson's followup to 2008's 'The Brothers Bloom' for quite some time now. It feels like it's been at least two years since word first broke of this film entering development, with many hints, set pictures, and interviews trying to get the fans excited for his newest film. Expectations have been high, and thankfully, the film delivers on its promise. Johnson has crafted a gripping, powerful, and dark time traveling sci-fi tale that shows just how far a man will go to save his future. But what if there are two of that man, and they both want very different futures? That is the question that 'Looper' asks, while delving into the deepest and darkest side of human emotion, while winding through violence, mystery, and ultimately, greed.
In the near future, time travel hasn't been invented yet, but in thirty years time, it will have been. It's used as a black market tool for criminal organizations when they want to make people disappear. They send the criminals back in time, where a group known as Loopers, kill the criminals and then discard of the body, making the person disappear forever. Eventually though, the Loopers time must come to an end, and their future selves are sent back in time, being killed by their past selves, ending the loop. But when Joe (Gordon-Levitt) lets his future self (Willis) escape, he must hunt his future self to end the loop. But letting him go has put Joe on his boss, Abe's (Daniels), radar, and now everyone is out to get both versions of himself. But future Joe is on a mission to fix his future, and he won't let anyone, not even his past self, stand in his way.
Johnson has really created something special here. His future doesn't look like the ones we normally see, full of neon lights, flying cars, and cities that reach incredibly sky high, or even down deep into the ground. This future is actually very much like our present, but much more dank and dark. At least in the city that we spend much of our time. It's a seedy, dark, and quite frankly awful looking place, where many of the lowest of the low live, where if you cross the wrong person you'll get shot. This future is all a character of its own in the story, one that really moves and breathes, creating something truly terrifying and beautiful at the same time. In a world like this, violence is one that reigns, and Johnson does an excellent job with that. He's crafted some truly great, and small, bursts of action throughout the film that really play like the 80's action movies that Hollywood has seemingly left behind, but is trying to return to. It's the intense, brutal, but not grotesque violence that you can't help but love, and Johnson absolutely nails it. He has an excellent eye for action, and it would be great to see just how well he could pull of a full fledged action film if given the budget. One scene in particular, featuring Future Joe where he takes on an army of Abe's man is a truly excellent crafted sequence that really shows just what Joe is capable of if he's pushed to his limits, and Johnson doesn't hold back. That alone really makes the sequence fun, and strangely beautiful.
This world is also inhabited by some very interesting, and deeply flawed, characters, who are brought to life by Johnson's excellent cast. The cast Johnson has gotten here is excellent, and they all get their moments to shine. Joseph Gordon Levitt is excellent as the younger, drug addicted Joe, who's life is completely flipped upside down when his future self arrives. I can't believe how well Levitt pulled off being a young Bruce Willis, from the way his voice influxes down to his mannerisms. It's really remarkable, and frankly, one of the best performances Levitt has given in his career. Johnson really knows how to bring the best out of him, and it's nice to see them working together again. Then there's Bruce Willis, who gives the best performance he has given in years as the older version of Joe. When we see his story, it's told in a very moving and beautiful montage with no dialogue, and Willis carries the whole thing on just expressions and movements, and it's incredible. This is all the promise that Willis showed when he first came on the scene, and while you can always count on Willis to be Willis, here he's being a completely different character. There's a moment in the film, where future Joe does something so morally twisted, it brings him down to his knees in the pain he's caused, and Willis absolutely owns that moment in a way I haven't seen him do in so long. It's heartbreaking, moving, and beautiful all at once, and shows just how incredible Willis can be when given the right direction and material. This is a career high for him, and it's nice to see that Willis has two of these this year now, with this and 'Moonrise Kingdom' under his belt. Hopefully this is a career turn for him, and we'll be able to get more movies like this, because this is when Willis truly shines. Then there is Emily Blunt, who plays a young, single mother, who has a farm that she runs on her own, while taking care of her young son Cid. Blunt is excellent in the role, but is sadly given the short end of the stick, because her character is more one of convenience than one who truly has an arc. But even so, she really does shine as the hurt and burned out Sara. You can't help but feel for her character, who has gone through so much, even if much of it was caused by herself, and you want to help her. She shares excellent chemistry with Levitt, and some of the best scenes are when they're together. The most impressive performance though comes from young Pierce Gagnon, who plays Sara's son Sid. His performance is pure magic, and terror, all in one. This kid just knows what to do, and how to do it, and his character is one of the most interesting to watch in the film. The quiet moments he shares with Levitt are incredible, but his extreme range as his anger builds in later scenes is truly shocking. He's so scary and deranged, it's very reminiscent of Harvey Stephens' role as Damien in the original version of 'The Omen'. Johnson couldn't have picked a better younger actor for the role, and it'll be truly something to watch young Mr. Gagnon to grow as an actor over the coming years.
The best thing about 'Looper' though, is the fact that while it's an action and mystery filled film, it's not one that makes those front and center. This is a real nice slow boil film, which really works in its advantage. Letting the movie really take its time to tell its story really make the twists and turns, and the eventual dark side the characters delve into, really matter, and you can't help but feel for them. The movie has a just about perfect pace, but many may find the scenes with Levitt on the farm with Sara and Cid to slow down the film's pace. It isn't anything too radical that makes the movie slow to a crawl, but it definitely does slow it down enough that some may get antsy to get back to Older Joe's side of the story, before it all comes to a head. This, for many, may be the film's biggest point, but it holds enough emotional punch and character moments that it works. So much of what is seen during those moments on the farm really make us care and really know these characters, so that when the final part of the act plays out, it really feels real, and everything plays out in an outstanding, and moving, manner that feels satisfying.
Rian Johnson's 'Looper' is something very special. While many sci-fi movies of this nature would put the action and mystery up front, Johnson wisely pushes those to the back burner, focusing on characters and story first. Held up by an excellent cast, many giving some of their best performances to date, really sets the movie apart from others, with Willis and Gagnon really coming out on top. Full of excellent action, enough twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat, and a truly thought provoking script that will leave many talking and thinking about the movie days later, 'Looper' stands above many of its sci-fi counterparts, leaving many in its dust. This is one that many will fall in love with, and it deserves all the love and admiration it can get.
The General (1926)
dir. Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton
The Good:Buster Keaton doing crazy stunts that no sane man would dare to attempt. Highlights are the one with Keaton throwing logs to clear the tracks while in front of a moving train, the cannon scene, and the train wreck scene. Excellent camera work.
The Bad:Again, like most of Keaton's films, it could have been shorter. It has some clever bits, but it's not a laugh-out-loud type of comedy.
The Bottom Line:Essentially a one-and-a-half hour chase scene, The General is a solid (though, at times, a tad tedious) effort.
Speaking of Criterions, I can't believe they're gonna release Badlands soon.
One of those really most wanted in the Criterion thread I just hope Criterion break down soon and grant me my wish of City Lights and Picnic At Hanging Rock
At first glance, this might look like a typical teen American movie. Fankly I was a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. Sure it's a sappy little romantic comedy with the usualy American style happy ending but still. The movie is fun and does what it does rather well. Of course don,t go into expecting ground breaking acting and story telling but if you just take it for what it is, it's not bad and kind of cute as well.
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
). Most of everything else are just stills galleries and trailers.
Really original... 
The new Triangle..... 
Hilarious post! I give your Deadgirl review a 5/5.
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