Bernie

What happens when someone so caring, considerate and beloved by his community, who has helped so many people through rough periods in their lives, gets together with the least liked and hated person in the community? A shocking tragic comedy that leaves a community divided in more ways than one.

I had a great time watching this movie, which is probably one of the most unusual films I’ve seen. You think you’re watching a romantic comedy until you realize what you’ve actually been watching is …well, let’s just say, far more interesting.

A kindhearted stranger arrives in a small Texas town to work at the local funeral home and quickly ingratiates himself among its citizens, especially the widows of the town, with his unabashed positive and compassionate attitude. Bernie tries to be all things to all people and genuinely loves helping folks and makes no judgments even when confronted with the most cantankerous and reviled citizen of the town of Carthage.

This has got to be one of the most outrageous films I’ve ever seen. This movie is part documentary and part drama but you don’t realize that until the credits role. The less you know about this film the better you will enjoy it. So stop reading now if you don’t want to spoil the surprise. I knew this was based on a true story going into it, but it still amazed me to see that the actual people from the town had been such a big part of the film. 

Done partly in a reality show style, the town’s people tell us everything we know about the likeable Bernie Tiede, played by Jack Black, through interview footage, and in-between their commentary we watch as the drama unfolds.  It all seems a little too rosy and something in the back of your mind is telling you that Bernie is a little too generous for his own good.

Things slowly become more sinister and the story gets stranger as it goes along, until you just can’t stop laughing at the absurdity of it. And then when you think you’ve just seen a wonderful tragic comedy with one of the best performances by Jack Black, it’s revealed that we’ve been watching the real citizens of the town as they recount their own experiences. At that point the audience is just in shock and amazement and realize that the adage ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ was never more apt than in this hilarious film.

Texas born, Independent filmmaker Richard Linklater, who is known for his innovative techniques and pushing the boundaries of film by mixing genres as in Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006) and Fast Food Nation (2006), does a magnificent job of seamlessly integrating interview footage with dramatized footage, making the movie seem just like a comedy about typical gossiping small town characters, while revealing the darker side of human nature. 

It all pays off in the end with a surprisingly unusual twist and some poignant revelations about the American justice system and the darker nature of a quiet and friendly community.  

JP

Fish Tank

Fish Tank (2009) is not an easy film to watch but it’s very truthfully told and it will be difficult to find another film as mesmerizing and powerful as this one. 

This is a heart-wrenchingly honest portrayal of life in a low income housing estate in Essex, England, where a young single mother lives in a small apartment with her two children. While dating young men for sex and food, she neglects her two daughters who end up angry, resentful and mostly fend for themselves. 

This grim coming-of-age story is told from the point of view of the older troubled daughter Mia, played by Katie Jarvis, who is fifteen and loves dancing to hip hop music. When her mother’s new boyfriend, played by Michael Fassbender, who was recently seen in Inglourious Basterds (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011) and Prometheus (2012), shows up to stay with them, he has a stabilizing effect on this cruel all female family who are constantly bickering with each other.

Filmed documentary style, Fish Tank is a brutally heartbreaking depiction of the bitter reality in a dysfunctional family incapable of showing each other any love or compassion. It will leave you shaking your head in horror at the loss of innocence at such a tender age.

The mother, played by Kierston Wareing, seems to resent having to raise these kids by herself and, unable to cope with the responsibility, she takes out her frustrations on them. Drunk and partying most of the time, her only concern is for satisfying her own needs. There are no tender moments between the girls in this family but when a charming young adult male shows up, the girls are on their best behavior.  He seems to have a calming effect on the family and treats them each with respect and understanding, something that the daughters are not familiar with but they enjoy his company if only for the fact that their mother seems more civil when he’s around.

Award winning UK writer and director Andrea Arnold, using her own experiences, knows this harsh world inside out and grew up under similar circumstances shown in the film, with a single mother raising four children by herself in a housing block. She is passionate and non-judgmental while telling powerful stories of hardship that she has experienced first-hand. 

All the performances are absolutely believable and you may feel uncomfortable as you are getting a look into a very private world of abuse and neglect where one wishes one could intervene but are helpless as the characters careen toward self-destruction. There is a somewhat hopeful note at the end but it comes with an emotionally devastating sadness. It took me a while to recover from this film but it will stay with me for a long time to come.

Andrea Arnold is a promising new talented director to watch out for. She has already won an Academy award for her third short film called Wasp (2005), which is also about a single mother raising four children while desperately trying to date men and survive on almost nothing, as well as two Jury prizes at the Cannes film festival for her first two feature films Red Road (2006) and Fish Tank. 

All her short films are included on the new Criterion Blu-ray edition of the film and are all worth seeing and just as strong and well performed as the feature. Don’t miss this amazing experience.

JP

The Darjeeling Limited

Family dysfunction and disconnection after the passing of a parent is at the forefront of this whimsical comedy about three brothers, played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman, who have recently lost their father and are brought together to bond while going on a spiritual journey via a train trip through India. 

Like a dream vacation, this movie is fun, relaxing and caters to your every need. One of the many pleasures of this film is the non-verbal expressions and body language used to communicate volumes between the characters. Much of what the characters feel is not expressed in words, and this film takes full advantage of the cast’s abilities of physical expression and deadpan humor.

The journey of self-discovery; people who travel to far away destinations to find new truths about themselves, is a powerful theme in many of our most memorable films, beginning with non-other than The Wizard of Oz (1939), and include such favorites as The Razor’s Edge (1984), Pleasantville (1998), Enlightenment Guaranteed (1999), Lost in Translation (2003), and the Wes Anderson film The Darjeeling Limited (2007), who also directed Fantastic Mr.Fox (2009) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012).

These soul searching films often take place in exotic other worldly locations like Japan, India or alternate reality worlds as in The Wizard of Oz and Pleasantville. Many people seeking spiritual enlightenment often end up in Japan or India as in The Razor’s Edge, Enlightenment Guaranteed, Lost in Translation and The Darjeeling Limited. But wherever the location, whether physical or psychological, the story follows a similar pattern; a crisis in one’s routine life leads to questioning of one’s existence and the hero leaves the familiar path, traveling into the unknown to seek out the truth. After many trials confronting inner demons, their understanding of the world and themselves is changed and expanded, resulting in a new beginning.

Soon after settling into their cabins on The Darjeeling Limited the animosity between the brothers quickly becomes apparent, manifesting itself as the selfish brothers, who are carrying a lot of emotional baggage, suffer from typical western vices like emotional immaturity, addiction to pharmaceutical drugs, materialism while fighting over their dead father’s belongings and mistrust of each other as they secretly plan to abandon the journey in case the situation becomes unbearable.

Visually, we get to see some beautiful Indian scenery along the rail tracks as the train slowly ambles onward past remote farming villages, representing the journey of life we must all travel. The interior of the train itself is spectacularly decorated to evoke a long lost era of colonial India. Not only being one of the most visually pleasing films to watch, it’s also a treat for the ears as we get to hear a surreal mix of traditional Indian music from the Merchant Ivory and Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s films with 60s pop songs by the British rock band The Kinks thrown in. 

As the family conflicts erupt between the brothers, they are thrown off the train and thus symbolically leave the path to start the journey toward enlightenment. While abandoned in the desert, a situation eventually presents itself during which the brothers come together to engage in their first unselfish act to save the lives of three village children, which allows them to finally connect with each other and let go of their past emotional baggage. Their itinerary abandoned, and emotional scars revealed, they finally learn to trust and respect each other as they grow into mature unselfish adults and the family unity is restored. 

I highly recommend you watch the director approved special edition Criterion version of this film on Blu-ray, as it contains a truly amazing and incredible behind-the-scenes documentary by Barry Braverman. This visually striking documentary about the making of the film is definitely worth seeing and should not be missed. I also recommend the motion picture soundtrack to this film, which contains some excellent music.

JP

Moonrise Kingdom

Clearly our childhood experiences and sexual awakening are being mined by many filmmakers for its rich potential for humor and depth of emotions when innocence is lost as we fumble toward adulthood. These stories also expose the disillusionment with the unfair world of adults that children look up to and depended on for security and safety. 

The growing number of nostalgic coming-of-age and idealistic young love comedies like Submarine (2011) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012) released recently, all feature adolescent teens that are labeled as difficult or outcasts while dealing with puberty. These wonderful films, when done right, are able to deal with this delicate subject realistically with sensitivity and humor. 

These types of films became popular in European cinema back in the late 60s and early 70s with such classics as Maurice Pialat’s Naked Childhood (1968) Louise Malle’s Murmur of the Heart (1971), and Waris Hussein's Melody (1971) but one of the earliest films that I remember seeing in this more recent trend goes as far back as 1996 with an independent gem called Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996) and continued with such heartfelt, feel good films as Malèna (2000), Raising Victor Vargas (2002), The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006), Son of Rambow (2007), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Terri (2010) and Super 8 (2011). All these films are about awkward teens or pre-teens who are struggling with their first encounters with love and sex while dealing with peers and adults.

Wes Anderson, who has made a career out of odd overachieving characters with such films as Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Darjeeling Limited (2007) and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), has finally brought his unique sensibility and cinematic style to this much loved genre. His new film, Moonrise Kingdom, very successfully evokes the best qualities of the coming-of-age/young romance film while adding his own unique voice and style. 

In the movie, a nerdy bright young orphan boy scout, who could be a precursor to Max Fischer in Rushmore, makes elaborate arrangements to run away with a local girl during a boy scout summer camp on the remote island of New Penzance off the coast of New England in 1965. Having previously met at a church function, the two romantic loners decide to secretly rendezvous and live in the wilderness, which leads to a hilarious manhunt by the local police, the entire scout camp troupe and the local residents.

This movie is really about our first awkward steps toward adulthood and how as children we role-play the relationships we see in the adult world. The love that the two young rebels feel for each other is so obsessive that they seem more mature than their age would suggest. Much like the Welsh movie Submarine, the two lovers briefly escape the controlled world of adults to freely engage in spontaneous and uninhibited courtship. But the complicated inept and precarious world of adults constantly threatens to destroy our heroes’ idealistic carefree sanctuary.

Wes Anderson’s unique child’s-eye-view style of storytelling is well suited to this type of story which feels more like an amateur stage play. In the style of a children’s play, there is a narrator that talks to the audience and explains the background history of the events we are about to see. The characters talk to each other in a stiff expressionless monotone while standing face to face, with the camera squarely placed where the audience would be. This all gives the impression of watching self-conscious amateur actors performing in a summerstock theatre play. 

The music also fits in with this amateur play theme and the big action set pieces are implied, in other words, they happen off camera and we only see the aftermath, which can be quite funny since we can only imagine what must have happened, but despite this, the movie builds to a surprisingly satisfying climax.

JP

Aardman! Band of Misfits

Aardman is the only major animation studio still creating feature animation with traditional hand crafted techniques using clay (Claymation), and what has kept them being successful in the hugely competitive world of feature animated films dominated by computer graphics, is their unique looking visual style and the memorable characters with their very English sense of humor.

In the same way that Japan’s Studio Ghibli has carved out a niche for itself with their traditional but highly detailed and realistic 2D animation, Aardman has brought Claymation to a whole new level. The tactile look of the hand molded clay characters is so detailed and pleasing to the eye, that it gives you the feeling you’re watching three dimensional sculpted artwork that many talented artists have put their love and passion into. Their body of work consists of such renowned classics as the Wallace & Gromit shorts, Creature Comforts TV series (1989 – 2003), Chicken Run (2000), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Flushed Away (2006), Arthur Christmas (2011) and Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012).

Aardman’s success in the field of Plasticine Claymation and storytelling has led to them being courted by the big Hollywood Studios. The lure of a partnership with the Hollywood big wigs however has been a double edged sword for the smaller independent artisans at Aardman, and the offer of bigger budgets and a wider audience has come at the price of less artistic freedom, which led to the compromising of its unique way of working. These were sacrifices that Aardman was not comfortable with and has led to some soul searching. But the lessons learned have cleverly been incorporated into the subtext of their subsequent films.

Take for example Aardman’s latest and most elaborate feature to date; The Pirates! Band of Misfits, also known as The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, in which the main plot of pirates competing for a ‘Pirate of the Year’ award clearly demonstrates how people’s ambition to win accolades or wealth leads them to compromise their humanity, the very essence of what made them unique in the first place.

Aardman has firsthand knowledge of this struggle when they partnered with DreamWorks. But after the computer generated film Flushed Away did away with the handcrafted look that Aardman is known for, they could no longer continue to work under the conditions and methods imposed by DreamWorks and have since opted to terminate that relationship citing creative differences. They currently have a new partnership with Sony pictures, who are known for producing such animated favorites as Monster House (2006), Open Season (2006), Surf’s Up (2007), and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009).

For The Pirates! Band of Misfits Aardman has returned to form with their stop-motion handmade clay modeling and increased the scale of their puppets to allow for even more detail to be shown instead of the shiny computer generated look that other studios seems to favor. The results, I must say, are quite breathtaking.

The story has a very British flavor with voices by such English favorites as Hugh Grant from Bridget Jones Diaries (2001) and About a Boy (2002), Martin Freeman from TV's The Office (2001 - 2003) and will be seen later this year playing Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit (2012) and Imelda Staunton from Vera Drake (2004) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), and follows the adventures of a band of motley Pirates who are all quite happy under the benevolent rule of their fun loving captain until he selfishly decides that winning the Pirate of the Year award is more important than the happiness of his crew. 

There’s enough eye candy in this fun, light hearted film to make it worth the multiple viewings it will take in order to catch all the visual gags, and the kids will love it too. Get ready to give your video player a workout when it’s released on Blu-ray & DVD.

JP

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

‘Everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, it’s not yet the end.’ This is the recurring mantra of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and I can now finally say, after seeing it, that this wonderfully heartfelt, life affirming film lives up to its optimistic view. I’m probably biased because I’m fascinated by films that have anything to do with India. I was already sold on this film when I first saw the trailer and have been eagerly anticipating its release. 

This film, like India itself, has a way of seducing you into loving it. The mostly older crowd that I saw it with laughed throughout and even clapped at the end, which rarely happens in a cinema, and it’s already a huge hit in the UK among greying audiences.

A group of disparate English retirees, due to varying circumstances, are lured into traveling to India by an enchanting vision of a luxury Jaipur retirement hotel as seen on the internet. When they arrive they find it’s not quite what they expected, to say the least, as the hotel has yet to be renovated. While overcoming major culture shock, some manage to cope better than others with their unusually dire surroundings. 

Directed by the acclaimed British filmmaker John Madden, who is behind such films as Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001), the first rate cast is played by some of British cinemas most renowned and acclaimed thespians including Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, and Bill Nighy. It’s the fabulous performances by these wonderful actors, including Dev Patel who was recently seen in Slumdog Millionaire (2008) that makes this film really stand out. 

Upon arrival we see the sheer panic of people coming from a quiet orderly English life style thrown into the chaos of India’s crowded, and completely unregulated free-for-all streets. Some have come for love, some for sex, and others just can’t wait to leave. Through the excellent cast we get a conservative look at India as they deal with some controversial issues. There is lots of humor throughout with regards to the problems of old age but the personal stories are quite poignant and the genuine performances give an emotional impact that makes the movie very relatable regardless of age.

Based on the novel These Foolish Things (2004) by Deborah Moggach, Marigold Hotel is beautifully filmed by Ben Davis, who was the cinematographer on such recent films as Kick-Ass (2010) and Wrath of the Titans (2012). Visually we get to see plenty of Jaipur India’s bustling street life, which reminded me of other films worth seeing if you’re drawn to the visceral milieu of India’s cities like The Pool (2007) in Goa, Amal in New Delhi (2008), and Slumdog Millionaire in Mumbai (2008). 

People in their twilight years are frequently undervalued by our society and this film deals with this issue head on. Some of these seniors have been marginalized, or pushed aside by an indifferent society that values youth over experience and loyalty, but as this movie shows, seniors, more than anyone, want to be useful and feel that they are valued for their experience and years of contribution. When an institution they have loyally served for most of their lives discards them, they feel lost and betrayed.  In many eastern countries, however, seniors are revered and looked up to by society as teachers and valuable contributors to the well-being of society, passing on traditional knowledge to the next generation, something that we have lost here in the west. 

Our intrepid seniors gradually adjust and discover a whole new and rewarding way of life in India while learning that they still have much to offer to the very appreciative local citizens as their romantic vision of India wins out in the end. 

JP

Men in Black 3

If you’ve never seen any of the Men in Black films, this third one may actually be the best one to start with. There is a time travel element in this movie that reveals an important back story about our main characters, Will Smith as Agent J and Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K, which makes it more emotionally satisfying than the previous films; Men in Black (1997) and Men in Black II (2002). 

Where the first two movies were more interested in revealing the insignificant existence of our world in the vast universe, this movie focuses more on the relationship between the main characters and how they came to be the people we know and love today. 

Before the Coen brothers began their famous partnership with cinematographer Roger Deakins, they started out with Barry Sonnenfeld as DP on their earliest films; Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987) and Miller’s Crossing (1990). Barry was also the cinematographer on such memorable films as Big (1988), When Harry Met Sally… (1989) and Misery (1990), before he began his career as a director. Being a photographer by nature his films are visually inventive and playful, poking fun at macabre and western genre films such as The Addams Family (1991), Addams Family Values (1993) and Wild Wild West (1999). So he was a natural choice to direct the Men in Black movies, which are sci-fi comedies that make fun of alien invasion films. 

The first Men in Black film had a great concept because it dealt with big ideas using lots of humor. It played with well-known conspiracy theories as if they were all true and a secret government organization called MIB that protected people from discovering those truths while propagating other urban myths. 

In the MIB world, aliens have always lived among us as refugees from distant planets, disguised in human bodies. But there are rules that the aliens must abide by while living on Earth and the MIB enforces those rules. Naturally there are occasional mishaps when aliens misbehave or run loose and try to take over the world. That’s when the MIB step in and take out their big guns, which come in all shapes and sizes. Having access to advanced alien technology, they are able to keep aliens in check and humans in the dark about the aliens living on Earth. The Neuralizer, for example, comes in handy when you want to help humans forget about that nasty two-headed super model with tentacles coming out of her fingertips that just destroyed your apartment building.

It’s all outrageous good fun and done with loads of visual flare.  There are plenty of hilarious and wonderful B movie aliens created by the multiple award-winning make-up effects artist Rick Baker, who has won 7 Oscars including one for Men in Black. His legendary work can be seen in films such as Star Wars (1977), American Werewolf in London (1981), Planet of the Apes (2001), and The Wolfman (2010) to name just a few.

I saw MIB 3 in 3D and there were some visually spectacular sequences that looked great in 3D, including the time jump sequence where Agent J jumps off the Empire State building to travel back in time. He must gain a certain amount of speed for the time jump to work and the camera follows our hero rushing past the windows of the building as he plummets into the past.

It took ten years but this movie was worth the wait, bringing the trilogy to a satisfying conclusion and the story full circle. You can enjoy this film even if you haven’t seen the previous ones because it reveals an emotional connection between our heroes, allowing us to go back and see the previous films in a whole new context, which is exactly what a good sequel should do.

JP

Prometheus

Ridley Scott's triumphant return to the Sci-fi genre that he helped redefine is probably one of the most anticipated films since The Phantom Menace (1999), and similarly the first film in a prequel/sidequel trilogy that will reboot a classic and much loved franchise from the 1970s and 80s. But thankfully Prometheus is not the disappointment that The Phantom Menace was and promises to reveal some fascinating answers to the mysterious origin of the alien creature, which is a far more complex back story than anyone ever imagined. It also reveals the answers to the mystery of the Space Jockey and the purpose of the derelict space ship we saw in the first Alien film. 

(Spoiler alert) When a pair of archeologists deciphers a message found in ancient cave paintings from what looks to be alien Gods who visited Earth far in the past, they follow the message to a planet where it is believed to have originated, hoping to find answers to our origins. They do indeed find what they are looking for but it seems that our makers, whose DNA we share, have been planning to destroy their creations using a biological weapon of mass destruction that will be deployed on every planet where our species was planted, Earth included. The reason for this has not yet been revealed but this will presumably be the subject of the next two sequels to come. 

Visually, Prometheus definitely shares its DNA with the first Alien (1979), adding some elements of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and a splash of Blade Runner (1982) thrown in. Story wise it follows the same structure as Alien; a group of space engineers come out of hibernation when they arrive at a mysterious planet. As the mission is revealed to the crew, it meets with the same indifference and disbelief as it did on board the Nostromo and soon people are freaking out when evidence of an alien is found and brought in for examination, unleashing a hostile contagion.  As in Alien, there is a synthetic person who acts on orders from an unseen corporation to bring back a living sample at the expense of the crew and the few surviving crew members, realizing the potential dangers to Earth, take matters into their own hands, stopping at nothing to eliminate the threat.

H.R. Giger’s iconic design work has been employed once again giving the film its familiar dark cavernous serpent like look. Alien fans will not be disappointed as there is enough creepy squirm-inducing sequences equivalent to the chest bursting scene in the first film to satisfy them. Traces of the original music also seep in, to create a link to the classic film that started it all. It’s a great mix of high tech, high concept science fiction with primordial horror that will make us look at the original films in a whole new context. 

Ridley Scott, who directed the original Alien movie, has assembled another first rate cast of up and coming actors who have already made a name for themselves in high profile, high quality projects starting with the incredible Noomi Rapace as the sole surviving equivalent of the Ripley character, Elizabeth Shaw. She was recently seen in the original Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), where she played a tough but sexy gypsy fortune teller. Joining Noomi is Michael Fassbender as the robot David, who recently made his mark in such films as Fish Tank (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011) and Shame (2011). Charlize Theron who became famous for her roles in The Cider House Rules (1999), Monster (2003) and was recently seen in Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), also shows up as a corporate boss.

Ridley Scott has referred to the “completely underrated film Quest for Fire” (1982) as inspiration for Prometheus and there are some interesting similarities. As humans go out into an unknown universe, we discover many hostile beings that want to enslave or destroy us but ultimately through our curiosity and supreme will to survive, we find the answers that will ensure our survival and the power to create the tools we need to become the dominant force in the universe.

JP

Alien anthology

The Alien anthology consists of four Sci-fi suspense thrillers made over the course of almost twenty years and directed by four of the most visionary and visually influential film makers working today; 

Ridley Scott - Alien (1979), James Cameron - Aliens (1986), David Fincher - Alien 3 (1992) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet - Alien: Resurrection (1997).

The first Alien film, and still considered the best, was directed by Ridley Scott early in his career and set the bar extremely high for later sequels to follow. It’s a movie you can’t take your eyes off for several reasons. The visually striking set design and grimy dark lived-in environments are so realistic that you're pulled into its claustrophobic world of futuristic high-tech industrial machinery, which has become a hallmark of the series.

The suspenseful storyline of a group of interstellar miners traveling back to earth from a work assignment on a massive space vessel carrying crude oil, are awoken from their hyper-sleep prematurely to investigate an alien distress signal coming from a nearby uninhabited moon. Contractually obligated to investigate, they do a quick search of the area where the signal originated only to find a lifeless alien ship abandoned in a hostile environment. Finding what seems to be a primordial life form, a curious member of the scouting party unknowingly becomes the host for an alien species with some very unique and hostile qualities.

Essentially, Alien is a Sci-fi/horror thriller, the first of its kind. Ridley Scott was very much influenced by the success and unique used retro look of Star Wars (1977), which was released three years prior and openly admits to wanting to go in a similar direction with his next film. But where Star Wars was a mix of fairy tale and Science Fiction, Alien was a much darker and grimmer tale in a more realistic Sci-fi setting. It was the Edgar Allen Poe of Science Fiction. 

The theme that runs through all the Alien films is that all is not what it appears from the outside. The alien at first appears to be very small and vulnerable but we soon discover that the alien is not what it seems at all and quickly metamorphosis into a frightening indestructible and cunning monster. The unsuspecting crew is also not what they appear to be. The seemingly strongest and smartest members of the mining party quickly fall victim to the alien and the weakest or unlikeliest ones become the most resilient, surviving under the most difficult of circumstances. To add even further suspense and confusion, one of the crew members who appear to be human is not human at all and may actually be aiding the alien due to the sinister motives of an unseen corporation.

Enhancing the mystery even further by tying it into the visuals is the alien’s ability to blend in with its surroundings and camouflage itself, making it more difficult to detect. As the crew is hunting the alien, they quickly become the hunted and it becomes unnervingly suspenseful as we cannot distinguish between parts of the interior of the ship and the alien. The surrealist Swiss artist H.R. Giger was brought in to design the eerie and otherworldly look of the alien creature and was consulted on all the sequels.

The subsequent sequels are all variations on these themes. The first and second are considered the best in the series but all four movies are unique films in their own right with their own visual style and they all add something new to this popular franchise.

Ridley Scott, the original director on the series, who would later be known for such iconic films as Blade Runner (1982), Legend (1985), Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and Robin Hood (2010), has now returned to the franchise he started and made a prequel called Prometheus (2012), which is the first in a new trilogy of films that will lead up to the Alien anthology. Watch for it coming to cinemas June 8, 2012.

JP

Lawrence of Arabia

To celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of David Lean’s legendary magnum-opus Lawrence of Arabia (1962), one of the all-time most sweeping historical epic adventures ever filmed, the Cannes film festival is screening a newly restored print of the film which includes an extra 21 minutes of footage that was added to the Director’s cut back in 1989. This spectacular film can only be fully appreciated on a large screen and is often exhibited in big theaters on special occasions.  

Lawrence of Arabia was the Avatar (2009) of the 1960s, so grand and exotic in its vision of a faraway tribal desert culture.  It follows the adventures of a young officer in the British army stationed in Cairo during the First World War, who becomes infatuated with the proud Bedouin tribes living a nomadic life in the Arabian Desert and helps unite them to fight against the Ottoman Turks while adopting their ways.

What makes this astonishingly beautiful film so unique is the breathtaking cinematic way in which it was filmed in vast shimmering desert landscapes of Jordan and Morocco, which gives it a grand epic quality unlike any other film I’ve seen. Much of the film takes place in the visual splendor of sand swept dunes with flowing robes fluttering in the harsh conditions of swirling desert sands. The only other thing I can compare the stunning cinematography to is some of the recent BBC Life and Planet Earth series. 

Based on the life of T.E. Lawrence, a real historical figure, Lawrence of Arabia is considered one of the most influential films in cinema, alongside such classics as Citizen Kane (1941), Casablanca (1942) and The Godfather (1972), inspiring many of today’s greatest filmmakers including Steven Spielberg. Winner of 7 Oscars, including best picture and cinematography, the movie opens, like other epic British productions such as The Man Who Would Be King (1975) and Gandhi (1982), with a scene that explains the legacy left behind by our hero and then goes back in time to where it all began.

Considered a bit of a strange chap with unusual skills, Lawrence is chosen to go on a mission that will take him across the scorching desert to meet with an Arab Sheik. His outspoken moral convictions, and knowledge of history mixed with his respect for the Bedouin people impresses the Arab Prince and he decides to let him carry out a bold daring military maneuver to attack a strategic Turkish outpost against the advice of his British commanders.

Not enough can be said of the incredibly heartfelt performance of a young Peter O’Toole as T. E. Lawrence in the leading role of a life time that made him an instant star at the age of thirty.  He has since appeared in such epic films as The Last Emperor (1987) and Troy (2004). 

Everything about this film exudes epic film-making at its finest by a director who was already revered for his unrivaled body of work which included such classics as Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and would go on to make more classics such as Doctor Zhivago (1965) and A Passage to India (1984).

This is an ideal film to watch on today’s large screen High Definition televisions to really appreciate its epic scale and I’m looking forward to its release on the Blu-ray format  November 13, 2012. 

JP

Crumb

Crumb (1995) is an unusually candid and intimate portrait of an underground adult comic book artist from the 60s, who loves to draw strong shapely women in perverse satirical situations. 

Robert Crumb is much less known than his popular surreal comic artwork and was reluctantly exposed as a major talent to mainstream audiences following the success of this now classic and shocking landmark documentary that goes deep into Crumb’s personal life and explores the dark psychological side of the creative process.

The experience of watching this playful but scathing documentary about the unhappy life of three traumatized siblings who develop their creative ability in order to deal with the dysfunctional relationship between them and their parents is both disturbing and heartbreaking. Many artists who struggled with abuse, pain or sadness, either in their childhoods or during adult life, manage to somehow deal with their misery and desires by channeling it through their creative impulse.

Not without darkly comic moments, this film is also very insightful as director Terry Zwigoff, also known for directing Ghost World (2001) and Bad Santa (2003), takes us into the sad private life of a deeply introverted, insecure and sensitive individual who may not have survived his childhood if not for his talent for drawing and bringing his demons out onto the page. This personal look into the life of a reclusive eccentric artist would never have been possible if not for the friendship that exits between director Terry Zwigoff and his subject.

What strikes you about Crumb is his frank honesty and loner detachment from people and society. Having been teased and tormented by his peers during childhood, he has withdrawn completely into an alternative world that he created and where he can be totally honest with himself and deal with his fears and fantasies. 

Women, the source of much of his anxiety, make up a huge part of his art and psychic make-up. It’s by far his favorite subject and the film focuses much of the time on his shapely female fetish. Throughout the film there are playful and uncomfortable interviews with the many women in his past and present life, both those that hate him and love him, including his present wife who is also an artist.

At the start of the film we find out who Crumb is and that he is fed up with corporate America and resigned to the fact that he must leave the country to live a more genuine life in the south of France, where artists are appreciated and treated with respect and people still value a simple life free of consumerism. Drawing much of his inspiration from Bluegrass music, which makes up much of the film’s soundtrack, he is often seen listening to his extensive collection of old vinyl records in a small corner of his house and lamenting the disappearance of a bygone era in American history. 

Crumb’s unique and provocative artwork can be very controversial and polarizing; both repulsive and attractive, people will either love him or hate him but this documentary treats him with respect and sympathy by including commentary by a variety of art critics, making it a must see for any artist or lover of comic book art.

JP

The Wonderful Weird Worlds of Tim Burton

Tim Burton is having another double feature year in 2012, like he did in 2005 when he released Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride in the same year. This year we will again see him release two new films with Dark Shadows opening this weekend and another animated Halloween themed film, Frankenweenie, being released in October.

Tim Burton’s body of work consists almost exclusively of darkly comic but sensitive children’s tales of eccentric awkward characters who discover an alternate world where everyone is weird; The Nightmare before Christmas (1993), Corpse Bride (2005), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Mars Attacks! (1996), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and Beetlejuice (1988). These whimsical tales explore and exploit our fears and prejudices with humor and playfulness but never lose their poignant significance. Even his more adult films cannot escape Burton’s sense of dark comedy and youthful exuberance; Ed Wood (1994), Planet of the Apes (2001), Big Fish (2003) and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007).

As fantastical and quirky as these visually striking films are, they also contain a melancholy that’s grounded in relevant human emotions. What makes a Tim Burton film so special is the familiar themes of a sensitive, withdrawn, misunderstood and teased loner, (usually played by Johnny Depp, Tim Burton’s alter ego), whose unusual appearance or ideas doesn’t quite fit in with those of mainstream society and must overcome his or her fears, doubts and bullies. The well-meaning, good-hearted outsider, through determination, conviction and a lot of humor, eventually gains self-confidence and the admiration of his or her peers while finding love. 

The surreal visual style and set design of his films are so outrageous and eye-popping that the audience feels completely immersed in a dream like world of childlike wonder. What’s so funny about all of Burton’s characters is how they all start out as being strangely out of place, completely at odds with their environment, and by winning the hearts of the locals with charm and vulnerability, they slowly manage to inspire acceptance and transform that environment into something new and wonderful.

The squeamish detective who must solve a murder mystery using unorthodox new techniques in the spooky town of Sleepy Hollow, a shy melancholic groom forced into an arranged marriage, finds himself trapped in the lively underworld of the dead and revives the lifeless world of the living by inviting ghostly guests to his wedding in Corpse Bride, and the Pumpkin King Jack Skellington accidentally finds himself in the snowy world of Christmas town and decides to bring a little of his Halloween town into the world of Santa Clause in The Nightmare before Christmas. These are just a few examples of the strange alternate worlds and displaced characters that transform their environments in Tim Burton’s films.

Dark Shadows is no exception, based on the 1960s TV soap opera of the same name, a wealthy 18^th century English immigrant in New England, America is cursed and buried alive only to be unearthed and woken 200 years later as a Vampire in the disco era of 1972.

You can currently see a Tim Burton art exhibition showcasing artwork, props, costumes and sculptures from many of his films in Paris, France from March 7th, 2012 until August 5th, 2012.

JP

The Avengers

Summer has officially started with this super cool, super fun, super-hero movie that brings together for the first time the heroes from several movie franchises including Thor (2011), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Captain America (2011), and Iron Man (2008, 2010), plus a couple of new characters. This one lives up to the hype and will satisfy comic book fans as well as fans of the movie adaptations and feels very much like the successful Iron Man movies.

The Avenger initiative is S.H.I.E.L.D.’s weapon against invasions from alien worlds. A collection of super humans with unique powers, but it only works if they work together as a team, and that is the big problem. Like any team of highly skilled and competitive individuals they all want the spot light for themselves. Similar to the World Cup soccer teams where some of the biggest egos in sports come together only once every four years and are asked to play alongside their lesser team mates, these over achieving egos with personal issues don’t play well with others.

Tony Stark is the George Lucas of the super-hero universe; he has all the coolest and most advanced gadgets. Even S.H.I.E.L.D.’s technology is not quite up to his standards and no one can agree on what course of action to take when the villain Loki from Thor shows up with a clever scheme to enslave mankind.

Iron Man and the Hulk are probably the coolest characters in the movie in my opinion, supplying much of the humor, and they have the best on-screen chemistry between them as they are both scientists, but all the characters get their equal share of fun moments in this film.

Our squabbling heroes easily fall prey to a surprise attack during their first trial working as a unit when Samuel Jackson’s character Nick Fury finally intervenes and appeals to their less selfish natures and they decide to put their differences aside to focus on fighting their common enemy. It’s a great set-up story that introduces us to a new franchise that has unlimited sequel and spin-off potential.

Make sure to stay until the end of the credits as there is a very funny scene after the credits finish.

It’s going to be a great year for super-hero movies with a new Batman movie and a new Spider-man film coming to cinemas in July. Also look for Battleship and Men in Black 3 coming this May.

JP

Comic-con: Episode IV - A Fan's Hope

This is an affectionate behind the scenes look at the dedicated and passionate super-fans who attend the annual celebration of everything pop-culture related (Comics, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Horror, Gaming, Anime, Masquerades and fan merchandise) at the San Diego Comic-con in California, which is so much more than a comic convention and one of the largest and most popular in the world.

This documentary is directed by Morgan Spurlock, from Super Size Me (2004) fame, who recently made the product placement documentary The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011), in which he went behind the scenes of the making of his own film that was totally funded by companies who paid him to have their products shown in the film. Unlike his previous documentaries however, he never appears in Comic-con, preferring to give the spotlight to the fans themselves.

Told mostly from the perspective of exuberant fans, it follows several individuals who see themselves as fighting the super hero battle of their lives in order to be noticed and validated at the convention. It’s a job fair for nerds. There is a young costume designer who is passionate about creating costumes of video game characters for a masquerade competition, two young comic artists who are trying to break into the extremely competitive comic book illustration business by showing their work to professionals, a toy collector who has dedicated a whole room in his home to toys, a comic store owner who is conflicted about selling his most treasured and rarest comics, and a young geek couple who met and fell in love at a previous comic con and how the love struck boyfriend attempts to arrange a surprise public marriage proposal during the convention.

It’s narrated throughout with hilarious commentary from celebrity geeks who regularly attend and have a great affection for the convention since their childhood; Kevin Smith, Harry Knowles, Eli Roth, Seth Rogan, Stan Lee, Seth Green and Steve Sansweet to name a few.

This doc is similar in depth and scoop to the Star Wars doc Star Warriors (2007), as we get to follow our nerd heroes on their journey from home to the convention floor and are privy to the anxieties, hopes and mishaps of enthusiastic fans as they each attempt to make their dreams come true in front of a crowd of like-minded peers.

For people who are familiar with the comic convention scene as I am, this documentary has some surprisingly heartfelt and touching scenes. For those who are not that familiar or have never attended a comic con it will be a very illuminating and humorous experience that may make you want to get in line for the next upcoming comic con in your area.

Toronto’s own annual Fan Expo, which will be held on August 23 – 26, 2012, will also feature celebrity guests Kevin Smith and Stan Lee, who appear in the Comic-con doc. Other featured celebrity guest at this year’s Fan Expo include Gillian Anderson (X-Files), Patrick Steward (Star Trek & X-Men), and legendary horror director John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, Escape from New York).

JP

Aguirre, The Wrath of God

Werner Herzog is fond of stories about obsessive characters and their struggles with the wonders and dangers of the natural world such as Grizzly Man (2005). It’s a familiar theme that also runs through many of his early films like Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) and Fitzcarraldo (1982). These would make wonderful Earth Day films where we are reminded not only of how we are wreaking havoc with the environment, but where nature actually fights back.

Made 40 years ago, Aguirre, Wrath of God is one of my all-time favorite films that made a deep impression on me when I first saw it in the early 1980s. This German movie was released in Germany at the very end of December of 1972 but did not arrive in the US until 1977, and I did not see it until much later at Toronto’s now defunct second run theatres around 1984. It is about an expedition of Spanish explorers striking out into unknown territory and discovering their limitations while dealing with their darker natures.

This unforgettable Heart of Darkness story was entirely filmed in the thick jungles of Peruvian rainforest and the Amazon River, and is considered a masterpiece that was ahead of its time in terms of its documentary style depiction and level of realism. The opening shots in the mist shrouded Andes Mountains are some of the most striking images ever filmed and it was all done with the cast and crew practically living in the same conditions depicted in the film. The jungle soon becomes an ominous presence, like a vengeful character waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Its images and music are so haunting and hypnotic that you absolutely believe you are witnessing one of the first Spanish expeditions into the new world. It’s a cinematic classic and one of Werner Herzog’s best films, which made his reputation around the world as an uncompromising director who will go to any length to make his films as authentic as possible. The music is so eerie that it immediately gives the sense of a fatalistic downward spiral into a whirlpool of fatigue, fear and paranoia from which there is no escape.

Based loosely on historical events, the expedition of Spanish conquistadors looking for the legendary city of El Dorado get so lost and demoralized in the jungles of Peru, that they eventually turn on each other, abandoning all civilized behavior and become insane as the jungle slowly closes in on them and Indian spears kill them off one by one.

The movie gives you an overwhelming feeling of isolation and people completely cut off from the civilized world. Similar in theme to Lord of the Flies (1963), we see how soldiers and disciplined men morally deteriorate in the absence of civilized society. Klaus Kinski is absolutely mesmerizing in the role of Lope de Aguirre, known in history as a mad man driven by greed for fame and gold. Like an addicted gambler, he takes control of the expedition and mutinies against the Spanish Monarch, stopping at nothing in his ruthless and blind pursuit of riches.

Having influenced filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola to make Apocalypse Now (1979), it’s a stunning cinematic nightmare and will leave you pondering with awe the discovery and exploration by Europeans of the new world.

Werner Herzog, the infamous German director of 62 films, and documentaries who became famous during the 1970s and 80s for his collaboration with the brilliant but unstable German actor Klaus Kinski, later made a documentary about his volatile relationship with Kinski after he died in 1991 called My Best Feind. 

JP