Return of the Living SB Movie Experiment: Pontypool

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Looking forward to hearing about "Brazil". I picked up the Criterion Blu-ray and haven't had the time to commit to watching it yet.

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Brazil

Suggested by bob loves the Hurt Syndicate


This is one of those legendary cult films that keep being mentioned, tons is said about them, yet very few people have ever seen. Being a Terry Gilliam film, you can expect it to be weird (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is probably his most down-to-Earth work) and knowing how much trouble he had to go through in order to get the film released, let alone as he meant it to be, having to basically employ the media equivalent of guerilla warfare to fight Universal's attempts to prevent its release (quite ironic considering the film's themes), you can tell he was especially passionate about this one.

So what is it? Well, it's a crazy deconstruction of both crime thrillers and satire (that's right a deconstruction of satire), set in a dystopian retro-futuristic world that wouldn't look out of place in a Fallout game and has gone obsessed with bureaucracy. The government is said to never make mistakes until one day, well, it does and an innocent man ends up arrested and killed. Sam Lowry, our hero, wants to repair this injustice but ends up becoming hunted by the government and having to side with the alleged terrorist Harry Tuttle.

It actually sounds pretty simple and well, to be honest, for as weird as the film looks, the story isn't overly complicated, which is something I really like about this film. Despite a large amount of symbolism and satire, it doesn't over-encumber itself with unnecessary complications, which makes it a lot more accessible than one might think when looking at specific scenes or from the film's reputation (although admittedly it does take a while to become clear what exactly is going on and how this world works). I feared it would be very obtuse and would require tons of interpretation to make any kind of sense but in reality, it's surprisingly straightforward, but it does give room for a lot of interpretation as a bonus, which I feel is the best way to make this kind of films.

The satire, unsurprisingly for a Terry Gilliam film, is of course one of the film's most interesting aspects, with the bureaucracy gone completely mad to the point that trying to fix air conditioning without the proper forms is criminal, showing a completely self-absorbed form of government completely unaware of realities, but also with the terrorist scare, which feels especially relevant these days with the tyrannical but inefficient government getting people to trust them blindly and give up personal freedoms because after all, if we don't do exactly as bureaucracy says, terrorists win. It's difficult not to see parallels to today's society despite the film having been made about 30 years ago. On top of that, the humour works very well (from a Monty Python member? NNNNAAAAAAAWWWW?!!), especially during the more cynical moments, to the point that it sometimes almost feels like it was written by The Joker as it makes you laugh, but then makes you feel terrible once you realize what it made you laugh at.

If I had to give the film one negative, it's that the romance between Lowry and Jill feels rather sudden and forced. Yes, we know, Lowry is in love with her right from the start but the moment when the feeling gets reciprocated comes out of nowhere and doesn't follow anything that happened up to that point. If it's going to be there (which it didn't need to as I actually found the dynamic between the two more interesting when they were merely allies) I wish it had been foreshadowed more, as in at all. With that said though, it remains an excellent film that really sucks you in with gorgeous visuals underlining the story and of course I think we can all appreciate the mockery of an overly bureaucratic government interested more in gazing at its own navel than actually doing anything constructive.


Next time we will stick with cult classics and people trying to right the wrongs of society in their own ways, it's Hobo With a Shotgun.

[nickcave]

Christmas On Mars

[J is Justice]

American History X.

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

May 7, 2014 6:59:36 GMT -5 J is Justice said:

American History X.

Already seen it so here goes:


American History X

Suggested by J is Justice


One of my favourite films. Not in the top 10, but close. The story is that of a former neo-Nazi who returns to his family after spending 3 years in prison for the murder of two Black thugs. While he has learned from his mistakes and changed his ways while in prison, he realizes his young brother is following the same path as him and wants to stop him from ruining his own life with hatred.

I really like the film for its brutal honesty. It is very gritty and somewhat realistic, although interestingly enough it is still fairly optimistic. Really it shows that more violence isn't the answer to violence. An eye for an eye and we all end up blind, as they say.

The only problem I have with it is its ending. I understand that it is meant to show that violence creates more violence but I feel the execution was poorly handled and undermines the film's point.

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

Pulp Fiction

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Hobo With a Shotgun

Suggested by Glitch


Well, you can add one more title to the "pleasant surprises" list. This is one of those films that, when people hear the title or see the poster, makes them go "HA! That looks dumb as Hell, let's go watch it, it'll be good for a laugh" and once they leave the theatre, they go "wow, that was way better than it has any business being".

This movie, alongside Machete, started as a fake trailer in Grindhouse. However, while Machete became a huge success, Hobo With a Shotgun remains fairly obscure. And it's a damn shame.

The story is that of a Hobo, of course, who lives in the city of Hope Town, overrun by crime and corruption and controlled by The Drake, a cruel mob boss who tortures, kills and chews scenery. The Hobo witnesses horrible crimes on a daily basis; he eventually has enough and, in a shocking twist that nobody could have predicted, acquires a shotgun. He starts cleaning the streets with the blood of criminals and soon ends up leading a one-man-war against The Drake.

So from that premise, the link to Grindhouse and the fact that it's freaking called Hobo With a Shotgun, you can probably guess that it isn't for the faint of heart and holy shit is it not. There's violence all over the place to the point that there were a few moments when I went "is... is that right?". And I actually think this reaction is intentional because, oddly enough, for what is ostensibly a revenge fantasy, I felt the more the film progressed, the less the Hobo was being glorified (well, by the movie at least as he is glorified in-universe) and he ends up being depicted as just another symptom of the city's corruption. Even the Hobo himself seems to realize it in a genuinely moving scene in which he hopes the children born today will become better persons than he is.

Now, in many other movies, this kind of stuff would come off as a cheap and hypocritical attempt to make a shitty exploitation film sound deep and pretend that there's a profound meaning behind the mindless slaughter (Cannibal Holocaust, A Serbian Film, Funny Games, etc...) but here it actually works because it feels very... honest. It also helps that this theme is present through the entire film and isn't just a throwaway line slapped on at the end or an excuse made-up by the director behind the scenes and while the media do praise the Hobo in-universe, we actually aren't shown any evidence that he's making things better (if anything it only seems to get worse as The Drake and his sons lose any shred of mercy they might have had at some point).

I also think it wouldn't have worked nearly as well if it weren't for Rutger Hauer's performance as the Hobo, who plays it entirely straight. Now you migh think that playing a role like that seriously in such an over-the-top film would be weird and out of place, but it actually works, it helps humanize the character and when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that in a society gone mad, only the people ostracized from it remain sane.

Just so we're clear, it's definitely campy, it's definitely a power/revenge fantasy, it's definitely silly (better not to ask how the Hobo never runs out of ammo without ever reloading or even acquiring shells at any point or how an anchorman keeps his job after publicly praising vigilante justice) but it's also surprisingly deep at times and I have an immense respect for film-makers who manage to combine cathartic action where absurdly evil people get their comeuppance and actually profound themes without making either of those feel tacked on. I really hope this film ends up being seen by more people, it should be as popular as the likes of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Sure it's not as hilarious or constantly funny (and it does take a little while to get going as it isn't until the 15 minutes mark that we are shown the Hobo even considering standing up to crime), but it's just as quotable and satisfying.


Next, we will completely change subject with a silent comedy starring Buster Keaton on a boat, The General.

[The Spelunker!]

The Raid: Redemption

[Ringmaster]

Heartbeeps, It's not all that bad nor all that good.

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

Modern Times (1936)

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

The General

Suggested by bob loves the Hurt Syndicate


My first silent film review! Yay! This one is based on actual events. Set during the civil war, a train engineer named Johnnie tries to enlist to impress his girlfriend Annabelle, but is refused because the recruiters believe he'll be more useful to the war effort as an engineer. Unfortunately they don't bother telling him that and so his family and friends believe he chickened out. So he remains an engineer through the war as Annabelle refuses to talk to him, but one day, Union soldiers steal the train as the occupants were out for lunch... except for Annabelle who had re-embarked. And so the entire film is Johnnie to try to get both Annabelle and his train back and then warn the Confederacy of the Union's plans.

The film is probably one of the best remembered works in the silent era and there's a god reason why, it IS very good and even today, it remains very funny. Buster Keaton is of course awesome in this, with his perpetually deadpan expression and behaviour accentuating the potency of the slapstick, and with his absurdly dangerous stunts that would make Jackie Chan go "dude, you crazy".

However, the film is also very well made. Considering how young film technology still was back then, it's no surprise that even the best silent films had some pretty obvious special effects, we look past it and it even sometimes gives these film as certain charm. However, in this, I don't remember anything especially jarring, which probably owes to Keaton's insanity and insistence on NOT using special effects (I'll remind you that this is the guy who had no problem having a two-tons façade drop on him for the sake of one joke that would have killed him had the strategically placed window been just slightly misaligned with him), which is probably why it contains the most expensive scene in silent film history, an impressive train crash which they did not using models but an actual locomotive crashing into an actual river, because Buster Keaton. The film looks great for that era, is what I'm trying to say.

And speaking of the visuals, I would like to point out the acting in this film. When people think about silent comedies, people immediately picture someone mugging and making extremely exaggerated faces (after all, it's silent, can't use the voices for emotions) but in this, the acting is actually very subtle. It wouldn't look out of place in a recent movie and again, Keaton's placid attitude makes a lot of the comedy. Definitely a recommendation when it comes to silent films.


Coming up next is another black & white film but in a completely different style, a film noir, The Killing.

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

May 9, 2014 21:02:29 GMT -5 Ringmaster said:

Heartbeeps, It's not all that bad nor all that good.

Already suggested, silly! In fact, I'm almost sure you were the one who did.

[Deleted]

Because you want to see it so damn much. The Sorcerers Apprentice

[Glitch]

May 8, 2014 5:47:21 GMT -5 SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman said:

Hobo With a Shotgun

Suggested by Glitch


Well, you can add one more title to the "pleasant surprises" list. This is one of those films that, when people hear the title or see the poster, makes them go "HA! That looks dumb as Hell, let's go watch it, it'll be good for a laugh" and once they leave the theatre, they go "wow, that was way better than it has any business being".

This movie, alongside Machete, started as a fake trailer in Grindhouse. However, while Machete became a huge success, Hobo With a Shotgun remains fairly obscure. And it's a damn shame.

The story is that of a Hobo, of course, who lives in the city of Hope Town, overrun by crime and corruption and controlled by The Drake, a cruel mob boss who tortures, kills and chews scenery. The Hobo witnesses horrible crimes on a daily basis; he eventually has enough and, in a shocking twist that nobody could have predicted, acquires a shotgun. He starts cleaning the streets with the blood of criminals and soon ends up leading a one-man-war against The Drake.

So from that premise, the link to Grindhouse and the fact that it's freaking called Hobo With a Shotgun, you can probably guess that it isn't for the faint of heart and holy shit is it not. There's violence all over the place to the point that there were a few moments when I went "is... is that right?". And I actually think this reaction is intentional because, oddly enough, for what is ostensibly a revenge fantasy, I felt the more the film progressed, the less the Hobo was being glorified (well, by the movie at least as he is glorified in-universe) and he ends up being depicted as just another symptom of the city's corruption. Even the Hobo himself seems to realize it in a genuinely moving scene in which he hopes the children born today will become better persons than he is.

Now, in many other movies, this kind of stuff would come off as a cheap and hypocritical attempt to make a shitty exploitation film sound deep and pretend that there's a profound meaning behind the mindless slaughter (Cannibal Holocaust, A Serbian Film, Funny Games, etc...) but here it actually works because it feels very... honest. It also helps that this theme is present through the entire film and isn't just a throwaway line slapped on at the end or an excuse made-up by the director behind the scenes and while the media do praise the Hobo in-universe, we actually aren't shown any evidence that he's making things better (if anything it only seems to get worse as The Drake and his sons lose any shred of mercy they might have had at some point).

I also think it wouldn't have worked nearly as well if it weren't for Rutger Hauer's performance as the Hobo, who plays it entirely straight. Now you migh think that playing a role like that seriously in such an over-the-top film would be weird and out of place, but it actually works, it helps humanize the character and when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that in a society gone mad, only the people ostracized from it remain sane.

Just so we're clear, it's definitely campy, it's definitely a power/revenge fantasy, it's definitely silly (better not to ask how the Hobo never runs out of ammo without ever reloading or even acquiring shells at any point or how an anchorman keeps his job after publicly praising vigilante justice) but it's also surprisingly deep at times and I have an immense respect for film-makers who manage to combine cathartic action where absurdly evil people get their comeuppance and actually profound themes without making either of those feel tacked on. I really hope this film ends up being seen by more people, it should be as popular as the likes of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Sure it's not as hilarious or constantly funny (and it does take a little while to get going as it isn't until the 15 minutes mark that we are shown the Hobo even considering standing up to crime), but it's just as quotable and satisfying.


Next, we will completely change subject with a silent comedy starring Buster Keaton on a boat, The General.

This movie pretty got everything right. The humor and fights tie together quite nicely. Out of the two, I feel like this movie succeeded where Machete failed(I was expecting the opposite actually).

[Deleted]

Tiptoes.

[Deleted]

May 10, 2014 15:07:52 GMT -5 Glitch said:

May 8, 2014 5:47:21 GMT -5 SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman said:

Hobo With a Shotgun

Suggested by Glitch


Well, you can add one more title to the "pleasant surprises" list. This is one of those films that, when people hear the title or see the poster, makes them go "HA! That looks dumb as Hell, let's go watch it, it'll be good for a laugh" and once they leave the theatre, they go "wow, that was way better than it has any business being".

This movie, alongside Machete, started as a fake trailer in Grindhouse. However, while Machete became a huge success, Hobo With a Shotgun remains fairly obscure. And it's a damn shame.

The story is that of a Hobo, of course, who lives in the city of Hope Town, overrun by crime and corruption and controlled by The Drake, a cruel mob boss who tortures, kills and chews scenery. The Hobo witnesses horrible crimes on a daily basis; he eventually has enough and, in a shocking twist that nobody could have predicted, acquires a shotgun. He starts cleaning the streets with the blood of criminals and soon ends up leading a one-man-war against The Drake.

So from that premise, the link to Grindhouse and the fact that it's freaking called Hobo With a Shotgun, you can probably guess that it isn't for the faint of heart and holy shit is it not. There's violence all over the place to the point that there were a few moments when I went "is... is that right?". And I actually think this reaction is intentional because, oddly enough, for what is ostensibly a revenge fantasy, I felt the more the film progressed, the less the Hobo was being glorified (well, by the movie at least as he is glorified in-universe) and he ends up being depicted as just another symptom of the city's corruption. Even the Hobo himself seems to realize it in a genuinely moving scene in which he hopes the children born today will become better persons than he is.

Now, in many other movies, this kind of stuff would come off as a cheap and hypocritical attempt to make a shitty exploitation film sound deep and pretend that there's a profound meaning behind the mindless slaughter (Cannibal Holocaust, A Serbian Film, Funny Games, etc...) but here it actually works because it feels very... honest. It also helps that this theme is present through the entire film and isn't just a throwaway line slapped on at the end or an excuse made-up by the director behind the scenes and while the media do praise the Hobo in-universe, we actually aren't shown any evidence that he's making things better (if anything it only seems to get worse as The Drake and his sons lose any shred of mercy they might have had at some point).

I also think it wouldn't have worked nearly as well if it weren't for Rutger Hauer's performance as the Hobo, who plays it entirely straight. Now you migh think that playing a role like that seriously in such an over-the-top film would be weird and out of place, but it actually works, it helps humanize the character and when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that in a society gone mad, only the people ostracized from it remain sane.

Just so we're clear, it's definitely campy, it's definitely a power/revenge fantasy, it's definitely silly (better not to ask how the Hobo never runs out of ammo without ever reloading or even acquiring shells at any point or how an anchorman keeps his job after publicly praising vigilante justice) but it's also surprisingly deep at times and I have an immense respect for film-makers who manage to combine cathartic action where absurdly evil people get their comeuppance and actually profound themes without making either of those feel tacked on. I really hope this film ends up being seen by more people, it should be as popular as the likes of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Sure it's not as hilarious or constantly funny (and it does take a little while to get going as it isn't until the 15 minutes mark that we are shown the Hobo even considering standing up to crime), but it's just as quotable and satisfying.


Next, we will completely change subject with a silent comedy starring Buster Keaton on a boat, The General.

This movie pretty got everything right. The humor and fights tie together quite nicely. Out of the two, I feel like this movie succeeded where Machete failed(I was expecting the opposite actually).

I think it's a case of RR coasting of his reputation and an excellent casting while you had another film director who is very hungry and knew he had an amazing opportunity when he entered the grindhouse trailer contest and won.

[Ringmaster]

May 10, 2014 3:18:58 GMT -5 SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman said:

May 9, 2014 21:02:29 GMT -5 Ringmaster said:

Heartbeeps, It's not all that bad nor all that good.

Already suggested, silly! In fact, I'm almost sure you were the one who did.

I know, Didn't know if you saw it.

[Ringmaster]

Dark City(98)

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

May 10, 2014 20:25:59 GMT -5 Ringmaster said:

May 10, 2014 3:18:58 GMT -5 SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman said:

Already suggested, silly! In fact, I'm almost sure you were the one who did.

I know, Didn't know if you saw it.

Not yet. I watch them in the order they are suggested (there's a list in the original post if you want to have an idea of how long it's going to take). I feel it would beat the purpose of this thread and be unfair to people who sent suggestions early if I just picked the order.

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

The Killing

Suggested by bob loves the Hurt Syndicate


My second Kubrick film of the thread and the second to star Sterling Hayden in a major role. This is a bit of a film noir but where most would follow the story of a detective or a cop trying to stop a gang, this own actually follows the gang as they setup a plan to rob a race-track. Unfortunately, one of them tries to impress his wife by telling her about the heist and it turns out she has more ambition than he does.

Now, while this is a Kubrick film, unfortunately it doesn't show many of the director's famous traits and it is a fairly standard crime film. A well made one, mind you, but still fairly standard. I think what makes it so is that it's a very wordy film for something made by Kubrick. Don't get me wrong, his films have always had great dialogue but when I think Kubrick, I mostly think about visuals and atmospheres and while this film does look very good, it doesn't have that touch that make Kubrick films special.

I did like the fact that we spend some time with the characters outside of the heist and its preparation. It shows a more human side for some of them and gives them various motivations which kind of makes you see them in a new light. Some of them are just plain crooks, some of them genuinely need the money and you can forgive their desperation, others are somewhere in between. I also liked the non-linear structure; I'm not even sure why, but I do enjoy being able to see this story from the point of view of different characters.

However, it still felt that the events of this film just kind of happened. I don't know if it's because Kubrick was still young (keep in mind this was only his third non-documentary work) but I feel the actions are, for the most part, not given the gravitas that Kubrick usually does. The members of the heist are hired without problem, it goes mostly according to plan, characters dies when it's convenient and the film ends rather abruptly. Add to this the fact that the film uses some tropes that were common for that genre and that time but unnecessary for that film such as a narration that does really add anything and you end up with a pleasant but ultimately rather generic gangster flick. I don't know, I did enjoy it but I guess because it's Kubrick I was expecting more than just a good movie.


Coming up next is a film I know little about other than it is also a crime film, but much more recent. Oh and it does seem to be enjoying a reputation as being rather... tough. It's Bad Lieutenant.