FRIGHTFEST 2011

Starting within the next few days here at the 1001 Movies I (Apparently) Must See Before I Die blog, I'll be taking a look at five horror movies from the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, in preparation for Halloween. Those of you who have been with me for a while probably remember my salute to scary movies last year (although it wasn't called "FrightFest") and I thought it would be fun to do it again. This year we up the ante on the fear factor, as we take a look at these five horror films, including "The Exorcist", which is usually noted as being the scariest horror flick of them all! Stay tuned in the coming weeks, as I'll be reviewing these sporadically and mixing them in with some other "treats" for you, my loyal followers.

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925. Festen/The Celebration (1998)

Running Time: 105 minutes
Directed By: Thomas Vinterberg
Written By: Thomas Vinterberg, Mogens Rukov
Main Cast: Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen, Trine Dyrholm

THE FIRST DOGME FILM

Well for the third consecutive viewing, I've relied on my DVD shelf to keep the blog steaming ahead and this time I opted for a foreign title in "Festen". It is a film that I had only seen once, prior to tonight's viewing, but one that upon my initial and only viewing, deemed it a must own and eventually purchased it. My decision to buy it was the correct decision!

The film was the first created under the Dogme rules, which were drawn up by Thomas Vinterberg (the director of this feature) and Lars von Trier. There are ten rules in the Dogme code, the most notable being that a film must be shot with a handheld camera and that the sound in the film must never be produced apart from the images and vice versa. This particular story focuses in on a wealthy family and we join them on the day of the patriarch's sixtieth birthday. A big party is being thrown for the father of the family, Helge (Moritzen), where many guests will come from all over to pay tribute to the man. The notable guests include Helge's three living children; Christian (Thomsen), Helene (Steen) and Michael (Bo Larsen). The fourth child, Linda, has recently committed suicide. The children and all of the other guests converge on Helge's mansion, taking residence for the day and night and suiting up for a big birthday celebration, which includes a big, extravagant dinner. Maids, servants, cooks and errand boys are in full force. When the time comes to sit down for dinner, Christian clangs his glass with his butter knife and begins to make a speech in honor of his father. In the midst of his speech and without changing his demeanor, Christian accuses his father of viciously raping and molesting him and his twin sister, Linda, when they were children. The commences from there...

SPOILER ALERT!

Wow, so many things to say about this one and I can feel a long review coming on, so buckle up. The first thing that I want to address is the mixture of emotions that this film FORCED ME to feel. For those of you who've seen it and have decided to join me past the "spoiler alert", allow me to refresh your memory. As the film goes on, Christian continues to make his way back to the dinner table and does so on two more occasions. The second time he returns, he blames his father for the death of his twin sister and flat out calls him a "murderer". The third time he returns to the table, he has handed a note to his sister Helene and requests that she read it aloud. It's a suicide note from Linda, and confirms all of Christian's accusations. Helge, after hearing the letter, comes clean and admits to the unforgivable acts, storming out of the room. So, at this point, it has become very evident that we're dealing with a monster here, in Helge. I mean, you have this man, who for years sexually abused his own, small children and when he storms off from the dinner table, he leaves us with the despicable line of "that's all you (children) were good for". Ouch! I mean, clearly we're not dealing with a very moral or good human being.

SO..........

Why did I feel sorry for him in the end? I mean, before I start to sort out my emotions, let me just give an imaginary round of applause to Thomas Vinterberg for twisting up my emotions like that. It takes a true genius of a man to make you feel one way and then make you feel bad for making you feel that way. When this film concluded, I just could NOT help but feel sorry for Helge, almost to the point of tears. But then I felt guilty, almost to the point, that I wasn't even going to admit here that I did feel sorry for the character. It took a visit to IMDB and a few users who confirmed that I wasn't alone in feeling this way, for me to be comfortable with even admitting to it. I have no idea why I felt sympathy for Helge, but I did and it was truly heartbreaking when his son, Michael, asks him to leave the table so that the others can enjoy their breakfast. I think, though, that this wasn't a completely inconceivable feeling, that I had. If you notice, Christian looks on at his father, as if he too feels sorry for the old man. I think I may be reading WAY too much into the picture when I say that we're dealing with a man who has clearly realized that he's made a mistake. You've got this old man, who knows he's driven all of his children away and now they're back, it's his sixtieth birthday and he wants to make things right again. However, with the severity of the atrocities that he's committed, there's no way he's going to be able to atone. You just get that vibe, or at least that's the vibe that I'm interpreting.

And speaking of being comfortable, that is one feeling that this film just doesn't allow. The whole thing for me was very uncomfortable and I credit that to the style in which it was filmed. The handheld camera made it feel as if we were peeking in on this family, but when the shit starts to hit the fan, it becomes a peeping tom experience that makes us want to let the curtain fall back down and close our eyes. It feels as if this is something that we just shouldn't be seeing and I think that the inclusion of Helene's American boyfriend kind of helped to ease that tension for me, as a viewer, because here you had someone just like us - an outsider, invited to this party to have a bite to eat and a good time and he walks smack dab into the middle of this family's shit storm. "Festen" is really a film that just requires you to watch and whatever emotions come to you, then that's it. In my opinion, there are no intended emotions. When the Vinterberg made this film, I highly doubt that he intended us to feel one way or another. I think, however, he did know that we would FEEL and that the feelings were going to be profound.

RATING: 9/10 Was that even a review? Or was it me just rambling, ranting and interpreting. Oh well, it's a fantastic movie and one that I'd recommend only to serious movie goers.

MOVIES WATCHED: 331
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 670

October 13, 2011 1:14am

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470. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Running Time: 112 minutes
Directed By: Arthur Penn
Written By: David Newman, Robert Benton
Main Cast: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, Michael J. Pollard, Estelle Parsons

LOOKOUT FOR THE BARROW GANG!

For those of you with a sturdy memory, you'll remember that prior to my hiatus I made the announcement that this set of 100 films would be thick with movies from the decade of the 60s. Well we're sticking to those guidelines and "Bonnie and Clyde" fits right in. Since my Netflix will be on hold until tomorrow, I was once again forced into the waiting arms of my DVD shelf and it's worth noting that this film was not brought into the DVD collection by me, but rather my wife. Let's see what I think of her purchase.

The plot is basically a biography of the escapades of Bonnie Parker (Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Beatty). The film starts out by showing us the humdrum life of Ms. Parker as she prepares for another day as a waitress at a local truck stop. On her way to work she notices a man trying to break into her mother's car and calls him on it. It's, of course, Clyde and the two strike up a conversation. Bonnie is more excited by the fact that Clyde was about to commit grand theft auto and becomes even more excited when she learns that Clyde has just been paroled from prison and is a known thief. Although at first she doesn't believe Clyde, he promptly proves his thievery skills by holding up a grocery store. Later, Clyde convinces Bonnie to come on the road with him, where they'll be bandits, eluding the law, robbing banks and living high on the hog, because after all, in Clyde's eyes Bonnie deserves the best. Eventually they add to their gang of two, by recruiting service station attendant C.W. Moss (Pollard), Clyde's brother Buck (Hackman) and his wife Blanche (Parsons). The quintet make national headlines and are hunted by every sheriff and policeman within a reasonable radius.

SPOILER ALERT!

This was a film that I really had mixed feelings about, so lets take a look at the good, before we focus in on the bad. For starters, I would say that all of the actors involved did a good job, with Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons getting my personal nod of approval for best performances of the entire film. Estelle Parsons was just so damn annoying and batty that you couldn't help but get a little kick out of her and Gene Hackman is someone that I've always been a fan of and this film was a fine example of his greatness. Beatty and Dunaway did fine too, with Dunaway actually being quite terrific and perfect for the role of Bonnie. She looked stunning as she paraded around in her signature cloth hat, with bright red lipstick and 60s style regalia. The other really memorable and pretty much perfect thing about this film is the end, when Bonnie and Clyde are ultimately hunted down and murdered and the scene is exquisite, using quick cuts to different angles to build the tension and make it clear to us, the audience, that something is about to go down. When the bullets finally start flying, it's as if death staged a brutal ballet and it was gruesome and gorgeous, all at the same time.

What I didn't care for about this film, was basically everything else. It's not really that I didn't like it, it's just that I didn't care for it one way or another. The whole film seemed to really give me that *meh* feeling and it's as if what I was watching wasn't really all that special at all. For a film about thieves and criminals and a gang of misfits on the run from the law, we really don't see THAT MUCH thieving or running. For the most part we just kind of hang out with the Barrow gang and observe them and at times it gets a little boring. Granted, we do see some chase scenes and a few heist scenes, but they never last long and it's no time before we're watching the gang interact some more, Bonnie screaming at Blanche or Buck and Clyde fooling around. The bottom line is that while there is nothing really BAD on display here, I'd say there's also nothing very stellar either (save for the ending and certain performances).

RATING: 6.5/10 Not good, not bad, but rather, lingering somewhere in that middle ground.

MOVIES WATCHED: 330
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 671

October 12, 2011 7:18pm

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721. The Breakfast Club (1985)

Running Time: 92 minutes
Directed By: John Hughes
Written By: John Hughes
Main Cast: Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy

ON MY JOURNEY I MET A PACK OF BRATS

Well I've returned to the blog, from yet another hiatus, but we won't dwell on that too much, but instead just jump right into the thick of things. It has become the standard for me to watch a familiar film when I return from hiatus, so I marched to my DVD shelf and plucked off "The Breakfast Club".

The plot is fairly simply, so it shouldn't take long to recount it here. Five teenagers are sentenced to spend a precious Saturday in detention. The "prisoners" are a wide range of personalities, including John Bender (Nelson) - the rebel, Claire (Ringwald) - the prom queen, Andrew Clark (Estevez) - the athlete, Brian Johnson (Hall) - the brain and Allison (Sheedy) - the basket case. They are presided over by teacher Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason), a hard-nosed man, very qualified to be the detention enforcer. At the beginning of the day they're given the assignment of writing a paper on "who they think they are", but it's pretty much blown off, as the five engage in various arguments and discussions about school life, home life and sex. As the film progresses, the group becomes closer, as they wage a war of words with one another and the reasons for their detention sentences become clear.

SPOILER ALERT!

I can still remember it like it was yesterday - my brother raving about this movie called "The Breakfast Club" and insisting that I see it. As I've mentioned in the past on this here blog, most of the movies that would go on to be my all-time favorites were initially shown to me by my big brother. This one is no exception and from the first time I saw it, I fell in love with it. Watching it for, what seems like the 100th time, again last night made me realize something very important about my own tastes in films and how they're changing big time as I become an adult. When I was younger, my favorite part of "The Breakfast Club" was always the first half. That's the more jovial half, the half that is packed with the most comedy and the half, that as a young person, you can have more fun with. When I was younger, I remember always dreading the second half, because while it was still good, it got more serious and was more dialogue driven and as a youngster, that wasn't my cup of tea. However, last night, when re-watching, I enjoyed the second half much more than the first half and that's the part that now really hammers this film home as a true classic. As John Bender, my favorite member of "the club", sits on the floor with his four cohorts and the five sound off, arguing and sympathizing with one another and realizing that they have much more in common than they initially thought.

Sure, if you want, you can nitpick the hell out of the movie. Personally I think it takes off way too fast. It seems like no more do the beginning credits end and we're right into the thick of things, focused in on the library, where we'll spend the next ninety minutes with this group. The ending also gets a little hokey and almost silly, as John & Claire and Andrew & Allison seemingly become a pair of couples and the groundwork for those relationships really isn't established at all. In fact, Bender and Claire are at each others throats BIG TIME at one point, delivering these lines...

John Bender: Don't you ever talk about my friends. You don't know any of my friends. You don't look at any of my friends. And you certainly wouldn't condescend to speak to any of my friends. So you just stick to the things you know: shopping, nail polish, your father's BMW, and your poor, rich drunk mother in the Caribbean.
Claire Standish: SHUT UP!
John Bender: And as far as being concerned about what's gonna happen when you and I walk down the hallways of school together, you can forget it cuz it's never gonna happen. Just bury your head in the sand and wait for your fuckin' prom.
Claire Standish: [Crying] I hate you!
John Bender: Yeah? Good!

....and the next minute, she's sneaking into a broom closet, that Vernon locks Bender into and making a move on him. There's never any explanation as to why these two would want to even be around each other at the end of their detention day. I guess, if we stretch it, we can surmise that maybe the reason that they were at such odds, is because they had a little thing for one another, but that's probably reading far too into the whole thing. And really, these are just "nitpicky" things. The film is absolutely brilliant and if you haven't seen it, then you have a treat to look forward to someday. It's a film that I can't imagine anyone not liking, at least a little bit.

The personalities are ones that we all knew when each of us went to school. We all knew people who were represented by someone in this film - I know I did. So it's a film that is really easy to relate to, even if you don't necessarily fit into one of the five categories of teenager on display. It's also an extremely quotable film, with a truckload of memorable scenes and dialogue exchanges and as the cherry on top, it has a pretty kick ass 80s soundtrack.

RATING: 8.5/10 I may be undercutting this one, just a hair, but if I am I'll rectify it at the end of the month, during recap time. Sorry if the review was a little rusty, it's my first one in a couple of months. They'll get better.

MOVIES WATCHED: 329
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 672

October 10, 2011 6:39pm

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From the Inbox...

A real e-mail from an apparent fan.....

Hi Movieman,

I was reading your blog today and wonder if I could get your opinion on a diet/fitness app I am working on ?

For me, I think the main problem with being healthy is motivation. It's an abstract, overwhelming goal. I think the best way to counter this is to turn it into winnable games and small victories.

So… my app makes living healthy, and fitness into a RPG game, where users earn points, and "level up' as they accomplish their health goals. Everytime they add something healthy like veggies to their diet, they earn points. Everytime they complete a workout, they earn points. As they achieve more and more, they'll level up and unlock badges, and discounts/coupons to rewards like spas, health foods, etc.

There'll be challenges, which will get harder as people level up. And it'll follow a certain structure. First will come changing your environment such as getting rid of all junk food. Then, reducing stress, as stress leads to eating comfort food.
The whole point is to turn it into a game so people will rely less on willpower, and more on fun, achievement, and changing our environment.

What's your opinion on this idea? Would you want to know when I'm done with it? If this sounds too silly, or absurd, just ignore what I just said, hehe =)

Is this a rib? I mean, don't get me wrong, this is ACTUALLY not a half bad idea, but why e-mail the "movieman" on the subject of diet and exercise? Anyway, Christine, if you're out there and you really are reading, drop me a comment here and maybe give me a few more details on why you chose me to share your idea with...........AAAAAAAAAand..........

I'm actually using this e-mail as an excuse to let everyone know that TENTATIVE....I say....TENTATIVE plans call for me to be back on this blog in time for a 2nd Annual Halloween, Scary Movie-A-Thon. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for details as to which horror flicks will be featured, but also keep in mind that this is all TENTATIVE.

And another quick note - I've been tinkering with the idea of getting more in depth with my tags/labels. Maybe adding popular actors names, country of origin, my rating, year, etc. to the labels, for easier access and better navigation to my blog. Any feedback on this idea would be appreciated.

October 3, 2011 2:35am

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Two Years Later...

When considering my schedule for tomorrow (the actual two year anniversary of this blog) I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it on to write an anniversary post, which is what brings me in a day early. I'll keep it short and sweet and I really don't have anything special that I want to say.

The most important thing I want to say is "Thank You" - thank you to all of the forty-six followers who have been kind enough and apparently intrigued and interested enough to click the "Follow" button and take an interest in my ongoing journey through the pages of the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" 5th Edition book. Whether you agree or disagree with my taste in movies, it still means a lot to me that total strangers would take time out of their days and take a few minutes to peruse my posts. So thank you to all of you and a special thanks to those of you who make an extra effort to leave a comment or two - you know who you are.

I also want to thank Barron's Educational Series, yet again, for being generous enough to ship me out a review copy of their newest edition of the "1001" book. A special thanks to Eric, who upon reading my review of said book, complimented me on it.

Thank you to any and all fellow bloggers who have been generous enough to include me on their BlogRoll. I have returned the favor with the recent addition of a BlogRoll of my own. A very special thank you to Karen Burroughs Hannsberry, who was ready and set to collaborate on a special blog project with me. I also thank her for her understanding when I just needed a little break and hopefully when I'm up to it, we can bring that collaboration to you.

It's hard to believe that it's been two years since I wrote my initial post for this blog. 400 posts later and here I am, talking about my two year anniversary and proud of the fact that I've watched and written reviews for 328 of the 1001 films. Prior to this blog, I was always the guy who would get a brilliant idea, go at it full speed and then quit before it was finished. I always considered myself someone who never saw projects through to the end. I am very proud of this blog and also proud of the fact that I KNOW for a fact that someday this project will be finished. I know for a fact that I would never give up after coming this far and am excited to someday soon jump back in, head first, into the pages of the "1001" book and get crackin' once again.

I really don't know what else to write, so I guess we'll wrap it up on that note. Thanks again to everyone who has given me motivation, shown an interest and taken a minute or two out to read something that I've written. A thousand "thank you's" would never be enough to stress my appreciation. I'll be back soon and to the new followers of this blog, I hope you can find some interesting things to read, to hold you over until my eventual return. As always, keep commenting, as I check the blog on a daily basis and read all comments.

By the way, you can still catch me on a few of the social media outlets. Here's my info.

Twitter: @adduvall84
Check me out and add me as a friend on FaceBook, by clicking here, where I always post my most recent blog post and a few other thoughts about film and television, from time to time.

September 10, 2011 7:42pm

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August 2011 Recap

I suppose you savages still want an August Recap, even though I'm on a break? Well...I guess. Before I begin, let me say that I'm kind of digging the new Blogger interface. I know it looks no different to you, but it does to me when I'm doing blog maintenance and new posts and such. Also, this is my 400th post!! I had kind of hoped that my 400th post would be my anniversary post in a couple weeks, but it turns out I forgot about the Recap until just a few minutes ago, so this is now my 400th post. YAY!!! It's RECAP time...



1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die - As seen in August 2011

1) Schindler's List (1993 - Steven Spielberg) 9/10 - Still not getting that "full monty", '10/10' vibe from this one, but do we really have to quibble over numbers...It's a good movie, end of story.

2) The Servant (1963 - Joseph Losey) 6.5/10

3) Jurassic Park (1993 - Steven Spielberg) 6/10

4) Saving Private Ryan (1998 - Steven Spielberg) 10/10

5) Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960 - Karel Reisz) 5/10

6) The Snake Pit (1948 - Anatole Litvak) 6/10 - I went overboard on some of my ratings last month, it would seem. This was good, but that's it - good. Certainly not '7/10', which I originally rated it.

7) Gertrud (1964 - Carl Theodor Dreyer) 4/10

8) The Producers (1968 - Mel Brooks) 5.5/10 - WOW! Did somebody slip me some firewater? '7.5/10'??? For this? Nah' In retrospect it was a '5.5/10' at best. My trusty commenter Ray had a great point too about throwing in the dumb, blonde with big breasts. You should really read his comments for additional insights into the films I'm watching. He's a clever cat when it comes to cinema.

9) Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961 - Blake Edwards) 8.5/10

10) Bob le Flambeur (1955 - Jean-Pierre Melville) 7.5/10

11) The Color of Pomegranates (1969 - Sergei Parajanov) 1/10 - Just didn't get it, in the slightest. It wasn't artistic or brilliant or any of the colorful words that many have used to describe it. It was simply garbage, if you ask me. But, you know what they say - one man's trash, is another man's treasure.

12) Le Samourai (1967 - Jean-Pierre Melville) 10/10

13) Roman Holiday (1953 - William Wyler) 6/10

14) Mondo cane (1962 - Gualtiero Jacopetti) 4/10

15) Le Boucher (1969 - Claude Chabrol) 7.5/10 - Still not entirely sure if I full understood what was trying to be said with this film. However, it has stuck with me all month long and I've thought about it frequently and as I always say - that's never a bad thing.

16) The Hustler (1961 - Robert Rossen) 6/10 - Still really surprised at how much this one disappointed me. My hopes for it, were so high.

17) Hud (1963 - Martin Ritt) 6/10

18) Hombre (1967 - Martin Ritt) 7.5/10 - Great western. One of many that I hope to find while taking this journey.

19) Cool Hand Luke (1967 - Stuart Rosenberg) 8.5/10



...and I watched no other films this month kiddies. So I'll catch you back here in 30 to discuss the films I watch in September, unless of course, I don't watch any. Take care!



September 1, 2011 11:08pm

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