June 2009

June 2009

Ghosts of Mars (Carpenter, 2001)     5

Oh, this wasn't so bad. I thought the material ranged from not bad to fantastic: the characters, the screenplay, plot developments, dialogue, etc. I found it, actually, very dense and intelligent in its comic-book sociology. I was struck by how comprehensively Carpenter both adopted old Hollywood Western story elements with implicit deconstructivist commentary, but simultaneously never disfavors or pacifies the survivalist pragmatism of its cop/criminal characters, nor makes them any less than likable, as is the practice in the old-fashioned Hollywood action films of yore.

Carpenter takes this pragmatism and satisfactorily splays it, so as not to just be about "brave vs. cowardly" or "good vs. bad" as is conventional in the classical Western of pre-progressivist era. Now, Carpenter mixes in the push of societal shifts (the film takes place in a mankind under a new matriarchal order), modern urban upbringing, and the nitty-gritty of what gets a pure survivalist through the day (which includes here, most interestingly, the good and bad of recreational drug use). It was great seeing faces like Jason Statham and Clea Duvall playing characters not glamorized or de-glamorized, instead ones that would usually be played by anonymous background actors. I was really struck by the Ice Cube-Henstridge interplay, too.

But, despite that, in the end, this is definitely not an improvement on Assault on Precinct 13, which also offers an open look at criminality and which this film is practically a remake. Carpenter's directing has always been characterized by its flat beats and mechanical, no-less-than (or, arguably, more-than) efficient style, but before it was in service of really careful sequencing and often lovely mise en scene. Here, his cinematic vocabulary seems to have disappeared and he's speaking like a thorough layman. The film has its formal idiosyncrasy, though. The rhythm of the film and its use of dissolves is particularly effective. It's too bad Carpenter was content with the film's cheap-looking production design and villain costuming, which go a long way in sinking the film. I think the film is very competent. It's just Carpenter sets his visual standards so freaking low here for some reason.

Friday Night (Denis, 2002)     8
Martyrs (Laugier, 2008)     6
* Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick, 1987)     9
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (Mungiu, 2007)     7
* Prince of Darkness (Carpenter, 1987)     5.5
The Ruins (Smith, 2008)     5.5
Brief Crossing (Breillat, 2001)     7
The Game (Fincher, 1997)     6
Beau travail (Denis, 1999)     8
Claire Denis' technique isn't quite as polished as I like to see in my films - in fact, I'd call it almost sloppy at times - but deliberateness and authorial command definitely come through, with stunning elegance at numerous times, even if Denis' style of impromptu visualization leads to too many moments utilizing the grace of a slowly crawling camera to little effect. I wasn't with the film beat by beat - as a story told with explicit fragmentation and a willful avoidance of continuity and clarity, I can't help but feel we don't understand the two central characters as much as we should. But it's a preferred trade-in for what the film does so elliptically evoke concerning the legionnaire life, environment, and what it nurtures. This thoroughly expressionistic but finely detailed sketching of masculine regimentation is even more impressive and daring knowing a woman is behind the camera.

About the last scene, while it's certainly very affecting, I can't help but wish there was some context given to it, which might lend it a certified reality. I find I need to think of it as a moment that actually happens and not just as a fantasy scene if I want to appreciate it fully. As something that happened, it means he could dance. As a fantasy scene, it's inexplicable and just something Denis would throw in mid-filming when she found out her lead actor could dance.

UP (Docter, 2009)     7

Bram Stoker's Dracula (Coppola, 1992)     6

Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell would have been an achievement much in the same way Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula is, if Raimi had made Drag Me To Hell, you know, better. The two films even have similar slam-bang openings and shock, tactile title cards (which never fail).

As Raimi wishes to throwback to certain old-school schlock, Dracula also takes a classical-type story burdened with lots of codings and de-codes them using overt artificial style, Coppola throwbacking majorly to silent film aesthetic and storytelling beats.

Bram Stoker's Dracula is an uneven film that gets increasingly tiresome once Helsing and the men start actively seeking out Dracula, leading to a very weak climactic act, but there's too many great moments here to completely dismiss, especially in the first half of the film. The number of gleefully bizarre moments only Coppola's capable of is unbeatable, such as the extravagant visual feast that is Harker's first entrance into Dracula's castle and the shot of the spectacularly made-up Giant Bat form of Dracula moping out of sight when Mira catches him in the garden with Lucy, complete with a practically slapstick iris out. The characterization of the Lucy character takes on a particular poignance, her chipper and giving personality seemingly irrepressible even as all her vitality is slowly being sucked from her - perhaps Coppola's way to undermine our expectations that the vapid sex kitten is always easily susceptible to the draining of inner character, as the whole film serves to re-evaluate the Victorian era and its gentrified sexual mores, drained of the true, potent, and certainly blasphemous passion that Dracula embodies.

Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)     8
Se7en (Fincher, 1995)     5.5
* The Funhouse (Hooper, 1981)     7
Beyond Therapy (Altman, 1987)     7

Yeah, Altman lyricism is just too irresistible for me, even if the film makes very little in the way of concluding, transcendent statements and this film probably shows off the worst of Altman's tendency for puerile caricature. There's too much silliness here to make the film work dramatically, but if that final scene (starting with the hilarious "shoot em up") doesn't tie things up nicer than I'd expected. Glenda Jackson is fantastic and hilarious.