Quarantine Film Diary: Until the End of the World (1991)

Wim Wenders’ 5-hour-long, “ultimate road trip” film, Until the End of the World is something of a semi-dated curiosity. It portrays a rather startling prevision (from 1991) of what the future (in the film, 1999) would be like, with our omnipresent, audiovisual connection to the rest of the world via technology, and it also contains a kind of bleeding-heart romanticism for the power of dreams and the human subconscious that seems totally out of place in our Tik-Tok culture, nowadays.

The film takes its sweet time in getting to the point. It was shot on 4 continents and in numerous countries. The story doesn’t really coalesce until hour 3 or so. The rest of everything up to that point has been a roundabout traipsing through Earth and humanity, as though the world were a backdrop. Solveig Dommartin and William Hurt and Sam Neill and many more capable actors decamp from city to city, from country to country. Early on, I gave up on the idea that the film was a metaphor and just began to take it on its own terms.

What may have passed as a treacly, humanistic meditation, in 1991, on the frailty of mankind and the seductive power of dreams, has now, unfortunately, transmuted into an eerily-prescient commentary on our current, 2020, COVID-19 pandemic society. Cut off from our fellow man, how can we be reasonably certain that we know the world won’t just spiral into chaos? Can humanity be trusted? Could it be possible to simply accept our circumstances, here and now, and make the best of things with one another, striving for peace? Or will the destructive desire for us to retreat into our introverted, inner worlds destroy what last hope we have of collaborating on a society and a reality worth living in? I may never watch this film again, but I am not sorry that I did, if only just once.

P.S. the soundtrack is awesome.

Fast Film Analysis: Targets (1968)

Targets 1

Targets (1968)

Written & Directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Starring Boris Karloff, Tim O’Kelly, Peter Bogdanovich, and Nancy Hsueh. And a bonus star, if you can spot him: Jack Nicholson, appearing in the film-within-the-film The Terror (1963), directed by Roger Corman and also starring Boris Karloff.

Targets is the confident and bold directorial debut of cinematic wunderkind Peter Bogdanovich. Frank Marshall cameos in the picture, as well as assuming second unit directorial duties. Francis Ford Coppola shot scenes for The Terror, featured extensively in this picture. The aforementioned Jack Nicholson appears on a drive-in cinema screen. All of this is incidental data.

What makes Targets so unforgettable, is its sense of inexorable conflict. There is a slow, placid, laconic pacing to the film that belies its central conceit: that film(s) can evoke real emotions in us mortals. The legends on screen may be untouchable, larger-than-life, and capable of making us forget the reality of our shared existence, and yet they’re played by human beings. Those human beings are frail, they age, they fade into obscurity, and they die. But the power of performance, as immortalized on film, is capable of transcending the grave.

All of this is to say, I’ve barely described the film. If you value the power of art and take special joy in the craft of filmmaking, then you should definitely see this. If not, you should still see it, because legends are made when fact meets fiction.

Year in Review 2019 – Top Films & TV

2019 saw the launch of The Criterion Channel and Disney+, a watershed moment for the availability of streaming content. While Disney clamps down and restricts, Criterion is out here making sure the masses have unfettered access to their fill of sacrilegious art-house cinema. Thanks in no small part to the no-holds-barred approach of Criterion, I present my favorite films (and TV) of 2019.

First up, TV:

12. The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, a film by Ken Burns

Originally released in 2009, ten years ago, The National Parks is a love letter to one of America’s most enduring legacies. The stories of how close we’ve come, over the decades, to irrevocably losing places such as Yosemite Valley, The Grand Canyon, and the Grand Tetons, are quite simply astounding. This documentary miniseries is a testament to the value of Democratic principles in the face of human avarice. We must steward and preserve the Earth for future generations, and pass onto them the desire to continue to uphold such stewardship.

11. True Detective: Season 3

Each season of True Detective has been a distinct, standalone story. Season 3 opted to create some more buzz and expectation by teasing and then overlapping with Season 1, in a way that I found both surprising and gratifying. This season told a much more intensely personal story, spanning multiple decades in the lives of its two leads, played by Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff. At its core, the show is about what the pursuit of justice looks like in the face of systemic opposition to the truth. How does one remain committed to truth and justice when pressure is applied from all sides to divert from and dilute objective reality? Part of the truth and reality that each one of us lives is rooted in our shared experiences and fellowship, though. For a pair of detectives, that fellowship can sometimes become subordinated to a system that is impersonal and disinterested in truth. True Detective could be seen as a series of guideposts out of the gloom of ignorance and despair. No deed done in the dark will not eventually be exposed by the light. But to be the one who shines a light in all of the inky darkness… that can be a daunting responsibility.

10. Tigtone: Season 1

What if you joined a D&D campaign run entirely by unscrupulous improv comedians and musicians from metal bands? Well, then you might come up with something like Tigtone. The product of an innovative animation technique which renders facial expressions through a kind of motion capture software and transposes it onto the character models, the show feels at once both bespoke and banal. An entertaining diversion with loads of creative talent behind it.

9. Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus

Invader Zim left the airwaves in 2004, and fifteen years later, returned with much fanfare to Netflix in the guise of a TV movie, Enter the Florpus. Comprised of an animated adaptation of a portion of the comic continuation of the series, which began in 2015 and continues to this day (and it’s HILARIOUS omg), Florpus easily re-enters the suburban malaise and drab, processed food dystopia of Zim. Not a whole lot has changed in the intervening years. Zim’s misguided lust for domination remains undiminished, as does Dib’s myopic obsession with the paranormal. What ensues is a classic battle replete with social commentary and slapstick hijinks that made me ROFL.

8. Silicon Valley: Season 6

The final season of one of the best comedies ever compiled. Without saying too much, I did feel that the poetic nature to the denouement of Pied Piper’s saga was pitch-perfect. The comedy equivalent of Chernobyl.

7. Good Omens

Based upon Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s much-beloved novel, originally published in 1990, Good Omens has languished in one form or another of development hell (heheh) for many years. At one point, Terry Gilliam was even attached to a film adaptation! In 2019, at long last, the novel was brought to life as an Amazon Original series. Christian Theology classes could and should be taught using it as a reference. I also did read the book this year, prior to viewing the miniseries, and found the adaptation to be very faithful to its source material.

6. The Venture Bros.: Seasons 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7

A show that owes a debt of exactly 2¢ to Johnny Quest and the bulk of the Hanna-Barbera canon of properties, The Venture Bros. is one of the best comedy series ever written, in my opinion. Years often go by between seasons, and so it was a pleasure to be able to binge it on Hulu. An erudite and also gut-bustingly juvenile show.

5. Chernobyl

“What is the cost of lies?” muses Jared Harris’ character Valery Legasov in his audio-cassette memoirs, which he is in the process of recording as this series opens. “Where once I feared the cost of truth, now I only ask: what is the cost of lies?” is the text of the entire quote. A series that dramatizes a catastrophe of nearly unimaginable proportions, and one which occurred within my own lifetime, albeit on the other side of the world, Chernobyl is a cautionary tale about the dangers of waging a systemic war on expertise. The Soviet Union was a Communist bureaucracy in which only the most prejudicial and partisan actors routinely advanced. Actual experts, and those members of the population who were intelligent, thoughtful and benevolent, seldom rose to prominence within such a system. Eventually, the hubris and malpractice of the unqualified bad actors who were routinely promoted and elevated to “leadership” roles wound up producing a calamity on a scale the world had never seen, neither before nor since. I fear that the same effect can be measured in America in 2019. Just look at the turnover in the current Administration and at the exodus of career civil servants from Federal institutions. If we don’t reverse course, we run the same risk, or worse.

4. The Vietnam War, a film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick

A haunting and damning and utterly exhaustive documentary presentation of the most ill-advised military conflict the United States has ever been involved in (so far, at least). The “Sunk Cost Fallacy” writ large and spanning decades. Over 16 hours in length, and originally released in 2017. The Vietnam War is both epic in scope and intimate in its humanity, and it is also illuminating as it pertains to the disillusionment we now face over the concept of “American Exceptionalism.”

3. What We Do in the Shadows: Season 1

Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement mined a well-trodden concept for comedy gold with What We Do in the Shadows, a 2014 feature-film expansion of their short film from 2005. With plenty of mileage to be had from this material – basically a mockumentary about a group of vampires hiding in plain sight in the modern world, the new TV series of the same name delivers so, so much more.

2. The Good Place: Season 4

The best show on primetime television. The Good Place is a moral philosophy class taught by comedians, gallivanting around a Hollywood backlot to illustrate their lessons with levity and witty repartee. The final season will conclude in January 2020.

1. Watchmen: Season 1

I must admit, I had middling expectations for Watchmen. I knew, of course, that Damon Lindelof of Lost, The Leftovers, and Prometheus repute was running the show. And I knew it was going to be on HBO, which usually bodes well for artistic freedom in storytelling. I did not expect to be so captivated by the series. Clocking in at only 9 episodes, “Season 1” (I have no idea whether there is any plan to produce subsequent seasons or what they would entail) is all at once a meticulously crafted homage to the original comic, and something altogether new. In addition, it writes the backstory for one of the only characters from the original comic whose fate remained unexplained. The religious iconography and imagery at play in the show, the juxtapositions of the pride and vanity of mankind with the seeming aloofness of any “higher power” and the bold exploration of deep racial animus, based in no small part upon real historical events, certainly gave me a lot to consider. I expect this show to age well.

0. The Expanse: Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4

But wait! There’s one more show I have to crow about. I had long been meaning to check out The Expanse, and so, late last year, when I noticed that the first two seasons were available on Amazon Prime, I put it on. Needless to say, I haven’t before been so immediately hooked on a show quite as passionately as I have with this one. I actually re-watched the first two seasons with my wife, because I wanted to see what she thought of it. Then, Amazon not only announced that they had picked up the show after SyFy’s cancellation, but that they were producing the 4th season and the 3rd would soon be streaming. At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, I went to an Expanse panel brimming with Screaming Firehawks and featuring appearances of most all of the main cast, all of whom were gracious and shared the fans’ enthusiasm for the show. The Expanse is based upon a series of Science Fiction books by pseudonymous author James S.A. Corey, actually a collaboration between two authors: Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. In 2020, I hope to dive into the book series and get a ahead of the show, in order to slake my lust for more.

And now, for the Films:

Every one of these films were first seen by myself in the year 2019. Many of them were released years ago. Several are 50 years old. Without further ado:

15. Mother! (2017)

Darren Aronofksy’s films have always been fascinating to me, and I’ve seen them all. He has the tendency to get very, very metaphysical with his subject matter. Mother! might be the epitome of this trait. I knew nothing going into the film, other than having an expectation that it would be suitably intense and disturbing. I was not wrong. At the end, though, I found myself deeply appreciative of his filmmaking prowess in attempting to tell a story that, let’s face it, would be extremely difficult to deliver in a straightforward manner to a wide audience. In this film, he wants to create a specific impression that we could chat about philosophically for weeks, but in a way that grips the audience and manages to shift their perspective. I’ll happily re-watch it with anyone.

14. Midnight Cowboy (1969)

A classic, now, 50 years on, with both of its leads still alive and kicking. There is some kind of perverse poetry in knowing that Dustin Hoffman is now a 2 time Academy Award winner and revered thespian who has worked nonstop all these decades, and Jon Voight is a full-blown, Kool-Aid-quaffing 45 (“3”) acolyte. Guess which one was awarded the National Medal of Arts by an impeached U.S. President? John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy, an adaptation of a 1965 novel of the same name, by James Leo Herlihy, is a near-perfect slice-of-life of what America, and specifically New York City, was like in 1969. Taking place primarily in The Big Apple, the film plays like a collage of travel diary photos, despite telling a profoundly depressing story about two lonely drifters.

13. Paint Your Wagon (1969)

Hands-down one of the weirdest films I have ever seen in my entire life. Great music, a powerhouse cast, including Clint Eastwood in his one and only role in a musical, Paint Your Wagon has its sometimes scattershot storytelling elevated multiple echelons solely by Paddy Chayefsky’s fantastic dialogue writing and Lee Marvin’s inimitable prospector character, Ben Rumson. A story of the ugliness of manifest destiny glossed over as the dogged pursuit of the dream of human happiness. A film I found perplexing and double-take inducing, and yet, by the end, it had won my heart.

12. Hereditary (2018)

A cinematic master-class in psychological horror and clever storytelling, Hereditary also benefits from a singularly committed performance by one of its key leads, Toni Colette. Borrowing extensively from a pantheon of horror and suspense classics, this film unfolds with meticulous patience and is an exceedingly effective exercise in creeping dread. I watched it twice.

11. Deadpool 2 (2018) / Once Upon a Deadpool (2018)

I’ll be honest, I *really* did not expect to like Deadpool 2. I am pretty much 98.7% burnt-out on ALL superhero films at this point, and after watching the original film in all of its filthy glory, I figured the sequel would most likely be a parade of gross-out one-upmanship. Instead, the merc with a mouth, as played by Ryan Reynolds, gets a bona-fide sequel that surpasses its predecessor in every department. It’s funnier, it’s more savage with its comic tropes, it’s also more reverent with its comic tropes, it has really, really smart writing, Ryan Reynolds, etc. I watched it… four… times (if you count twice viewing the PG-13 version with Fred Savage, Once Upon a Deadpool)

10. The Stepfather (1987)

Terry O’Quinn features in a performance that will turn your blood to ice water in this mid-80s suspense thriller that I had never heard of before. Well worth seeking out.

9. Oliver Twist (1948)

David Lean’s immaculately-composed adaptation of the classic Dickens story. Featuring an incredible cast, majestic lighting, and a timeless tale of rags to riches. How can you go wrong with Alec Guinness, appearing resplendently squalid in his potentially antisemitic makeup, as the conniving old fence, Fagin? One of many collaborations between Lean and Guinness. Last year, I viewed Lawrence of Arabia for the very first time, and in which Sir Alec plays… an arab, of course.

8. Gosford Park (2001)

Robert Altman’s take on the quintessential country manor murder mystery. A powerhouse cast all around. Eat your heart out, Downton Abbey.

7. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)

Fittingly released at the end of the 80s, a decade marked by selfishness, greed and excess, Weekend at Bernie’s has aged really well, in my opinion. The film is a black comedy that aptly skewers various myths about wealth and success, and remains a cult classic.

6. Goodfellas (1990)

Scorcese’s 29-year-old understudy to his sweeping mob epic, The Irishman. Telling another “based on true events” story about a man who commits numerous criminal acts under the mafia guises of “family” and “loyalty” before ultimately being forced to a reckoning. Featuring truly terrifying performances from Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro.

5. The Irishman (2019)

I’m not sure I can say many more eloquent things about this film that Guillermo del Toro hasn’t already said in this epic Twitter thread. The gangster mythos transmuted into hollow, empty torment. The ultimate end that unchecked, virulent machismo leads to. Anna Paquin deserves an award for what she simply does with her eyes in this film, boring holes through Robert De Niro’s soul. Man as the ultimate corrupting influence over all that he touches.

4. The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)

Based on an award-winning short story by Stephen Vincent Benét, starring Walter Huston and directed by William Dieterle, The Devil and Daniel Webster was released in U.S. theaters, originally titled as All That Money Can Buy, a mere two months prior to the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor and America’s subsequent entry into WWII. The real-life Daniel Webster was a famous American statesman and orator who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in Congress and served as Secretary of State under 3 U.S. Presidents. The film’s theme revolves around patriotism in America, even while it simultaneously delivers a rather naked rebuke of some of the darker events of American history. Mr. Scratch’s (Huston) final scene in the film will chill your bones.

3. Toy Story 4 (2019)

I did not know it would be possible for a fourth Toy Story film to move me, 24 years after the first one arrived on the scene and ushered us all into the hellscape of soulless CGI kids movies we dwell in today. At Pixar, they have a saying, “Story is King.” This entry in the franchise manages to keep that adage front and center, telling a delightful tale that goes an inch wide and a mile deep.

2. The Devils (1971)

I have already written at length about this film. A novel adapted into a play adapted into a film, directed by the visionary Ken Russell, The Devils explores a simplistic religious premise staged within the Catholic tradition: devils exist in the world, they are bad, they cause evil and chaos, and therefore, we must drive them out. What the film does with this premise would have been fodder for G.K. Chesterton’s duo of ruminations, Heretics / Orthodoxy. However, as we might already glean from such works as The Crucible and The Mission, “the world is [not] thus… Thus, have we made the world.” Here is where The Devils paints a stark dichotomy between the fever dreams of spiritual possession and the incarnation of a truly Christian life, and the difference between outward piety and inward reverence. An opulent film with an intense subject matter.

1. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

Without a doubt the most emotionally charged film I watched this year. A balm for the soul. Fred Rogers truly left the world better for his being here. I look forward to seeing Tom Hanks wear the cardigan in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, which was released last month.

That does it for 2019!

Except… for… one… more… film:

0. Knives Out (2019)

Rian Johnson’s first outing post-Star Wars is a delightful whodunit, populated, as these affairs often are, with a powerhouse cast of Hollywood stars. The morning after his 85th birthday celebration, renowned murder mystery author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead, apparently by suicide from a self-inflicted knife wound. The rest of the movie unfolds from there. Wonderfully clever, populated with witty dialogue, and rife with intrigue and turmoil that feels as though it were ripped from your own contentious holiday family gatherings, Knives Out works superbly well both on the level of a classic Agatha Christie style mystery, and also as a kind of commentary on American culture in 2019. Bravo.

Honorable mention to: What We Left Behind, The Lobster, A Quiet Place, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Deliverance (1972), Brexit, The Addams Family, Cobra Verde (1987), Leaving Neverland, BlackKKlansmen, Night Moves (2013), The Perfection, The Killing Fields (1984), Isle of Dogs, Cape Fear, The Captain’s Paradise (1953), The Card (1952), The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Favourite, Blow Out (1981), Andre the Giant, Three Identical Strangers, and Active Measures.

Complete list of everything I was a couch potato for in 2019:

Regular = movie watched on a TV or other small screen device
BOLD = denotes theatrical viewing
Italic = denotes a “television series” or “mini series”
Underlined = denotes a short film (30 minutes or less)

11.22.63
1922
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Active Measures
The Addams Family
Addams Family Values
Andre the Giant
Annihilation
Ant Man and The Wasp
Aquaman
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Barry: Season 1
BeerFest
Better Call Saul: Seasons 1, 2, 3
Black Narcissus (1947)
BlackKKlansmen
Bless the Harts: Season 1
Blow Out (1981)
Bob’s Burgers: Seasons 5 and 6
Breaking Bad: Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
Brexit
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
Burn After Reading
Cape Fear
The Captain’s Paradise (1953)
The Card (1952)
Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (Castle in the Sky)
Chernobyl
Children of the Corn (1984)
Clue (1985)
Cobra Verde (1987)
Cooties
Crazy Rich Asians
The Crimes of Grindelwald
Deadpool 2 (x3)
Deliverance (1972)
The Devils (1971)
The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
Discovering the De Kooning
Disenchantment: Part 2
Dream Corp, LLC: Season 1
Dune (1984)
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
The Expanse: Seasons 1, 2, 3 and 4
Fargo
Farscape: Seasons 3 & 4
Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars
The Favourite
Frantic (1988)
Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened
Fyre Fraud
Game of Thrones: Seasons 5, 6, 7, and 8
Glass
Goodfellas (1990)
The Good Place: Seasons 3 and 4
Good Omens
Gosford Park
The Haunting of Hill House: Season 1
The Heart, She Holler: Season 1
Hell on Earth – The Desecration & Resurrection of “The Devils” (2004)
Hellboy (2019)
Hereditary (x2)
His Dark Materials: Season 1
Hot Streets: Season 1
Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Howl’s Moving Castle)
In the Tall Grass
Insidious: The Last Key
Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus
The Irishman
Isle of Dogs
John Carter of Mars
The Killing Fields (1984)
Knives Out
Leaving Neverland
The LEGO Movie: Part 2
The Letter (1940)
The Little Foxes (1941)
The Lobster
Kurenai no buta (Porco Rosso)
The Man in the White Suit (1951)
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (Fathom Events)
The Mandalorian: Season 1
Marathon Man (1976)
The Mask
Me, Myself and Irene
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke)
Mommy Dead & Dearest
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Mother!
Mortal Engines
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea
Kaze no tani no Naushika (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind)
Night Moves (2013)
Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Nun
Old Joy
Oliver Twist (1948)
One Punch Man: Season 2
Once Upon a Deadpool (x2)
The Orville: Season 1
Pacific Rim: Uprising
Paint Your Wagon (1969)
The Perfection
The Pineapple Express
The Predator (2018)
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
A Quiet Place
Rampart
Rick & Morty: Season 4
The Righteous Gemstones: Season 1
Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling
Saving Mr. Banks
A Series of Unfortunate Events: Season 3
A Serious Man
The Shivering Truth: Season 1
Silicon Valley: Season 6
The Simpsons: Seasons 30 & 31
Solo: A Star Wars Story
South Park: Season 23
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse
Spies Like Us
Spongebob Squarepants: Seasons 2, 3, 4 and 5
A Star is Born (2018)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Seasons 6 and 7
Star Trek: Insurrection
The Stepfather (1987)
Steve Jobs
Stranger Things: Season 3
Tag
There’s Something About Mary
Three Identical Strangers
Tigtone: Season 1
Toy Story 4
True Detective: Season 3
Tuca & Bertie: Season 1
Under the Silver Lake
The Venture Bros. : Seasons 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7
The Vietnam War
Watchmen: Season 1
Waking Ned Devine
Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)
What We Do in the Shadows: Season 1
What We Left Behind
Omoide no Mânî (When Marnie Was There)
Mimi wo sumaseba (Whisper of the Heart)
The Witcher: Season 1
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
The X-Files: Seasons 7, 8 and 9

“Wanderin’ Star” as performed by Lee Marvin in Paint Your Wagon

Without a doubt, Paint Your Wagon (1969) has got to be the most bizarre movie musical I have ever watched. Adapted for the big screen by Paddy Chayefsky from Alan Jay Lerner’s original 1951 stage production, the film stars Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood (his one and only appearance in a musical) and Jean Seberg. Although I have never seen a performance of the musical on stage, I read up on it after viewing the film. There are… rather quite a number of differences between the two.

Far and away my favorite performance in the film is Marvin’s wordly, gristly Forty-Niner character, name of Ben Rumson. He also performs my favorite musical number, Wanderin’ Star. Marvin famously insisted on performing all of the singing parts himself, even though he had no real training as a vocalist. His rendition of this song actually became a chart-topping hit in the UK, beating out The Beatles’ Let it Be.

My second favorite musical performance in the film has got to be Harve Presnell’s rendition of, They Call the Wind Mariah. Fun fact, Harve Presnell also famously played the part of Wade Gustafson, father of Jean Lundegaard, in the Coen Brothers’ inimitable classic Fargo.

Anyhow, if you have 3 hours to kill, and you like show tunes about mining for gold, and if you’re any kind of Paddy Chayefsky fan, Paint Your Wagon is well worth watching.

Addendum: Hell on Earth

the-devils-american-poster-1

After viewing The Devils (1971) the other day, I searched and found Mark Kermode’s 2004 documentary about the film, containing some of the storied “deleted” scenes that were removed by British censors, including the scene dubbed, “the rape of Christ.”

Hell on Earth is a production of BBC Four and contains a healthy amount of graphic imagery. Definitely NSFW but also essential if you, like me, are a fan of Ken Russell’s film.

the-devils-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000

pt 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JRa-G…

pt 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcjZJz…

pt 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yzMaB…

pt 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3X7Am…

pt 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG7uJr…

pt 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSf430…

2018 – The Year in Review – Film & Television

[This was an unpublished draft I’m dusting off… and almost in time for the compilation of my 2019 Year in Review 🤦🏽‍♂️]

Increasingly, the lines between entertainment mediums are being blurred and new forms are emerging. From the entire-season-all-at-one-time binge-fests facilitated by the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, to the evolution of the “mini-series” or “limited” series on HBO, FX and Showtime, etc. The ubiquitous nature of visual entertainment these days means a glut of content, comprised of new material jostling for eyeballs amidst a pantheon of classics.

2018 found me visiting a number of classics for the very first time in my life, while also trying to keep up with the water cooler conversations about whichever comic book character had a CGI monster battle last week.

They have a saying at Pixar, “Story Is King.” Which means, in essence, that it’s far more important for an audience member to walk away from a film feeling something rather than to simply show a barrage of eye-popping visuals or reveal some kind of logic-bending twist surprise at the end. If the effect is powerful enough it is even possible for a good story to completely alter an audience member’s worldview.

Every film on this list told a story with characters that made me feel something real.

So, without further ado, here are Joel’s Best Films viewed (for the first time) in 2018:

10 Key Largo

10. Key Largo (1948)

Owing largely to my subscription to FilmStuck (R.I.P.), I was able to watch a whole slew of classic Hollywood films this year. Dominating my watchlist in 2018 were the films of John Huston and Humphrey Bogart, 3 of which are on this list. First up is the Noir Thriller Key Largo, a taut, gripping screen adaption of the stage play by the same name originally written in blank verse by Maxwell Anderson. Bogart gives an understated performance as a WWII veteran who is undergoing a personal crisis of confidence. Supporting him in the cast are Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall (Bogart’s real-life wife), and Lionel Barrymore, et al. The heart of the story revolves around concepts of heroism and machismo, the nature of valor and honor and what real courage looks like. When tested, what man can truly claim to have given his all?

09 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

9. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Huston and Bogart teamed up again in 1948 to make The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, adapted from the novel of the same name, written by B. Traven, an author whose true identity remains unknown to this very day. This time around, Bogart shares the screen with the director’s real-life father, Walter Huston, who steals every scene in his role as Howard, the grizzled, old prospector who is hired by Bogart’s character, Dobbs, and his partner, Curtain, played by Tim Holt. The film is a masterful case study in avarice, greed, and the soul-corrupting effects of selfish ambition.

08 The Maltese Falcon

8. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

A re-adaptation of an already-well-known story, The Maltese Falcon was also a collaboration between Humphrey Bogart and John Huston. Once again, the big themes are avarice and deceit. I definitely was on a noir kick in 2018.

07 Lawrence of Arabia

7. Lawrence of Arabia

An epic oft-cited as the greatest film of all time, Lawrence of Arabia exists on a plane of filmmaking all its own. There are no matte shots. No glass plates. Every performance is a revelation. Even though it can be a bit weird to see Anthony Quinn and Alec Guinness pretending to be Arabs. Peter O’Toole puts out a match. An inimitable film.

06 Thor Ragnarok

6. Thor: Ragnarok

I watched this movie FOUR TIMES. Not much else to say about it except that Taika Waititi is a joyously-talented film maker who manages to execute at a very high level in his craft while maintaining a wry sense of self-deprecating humor. A perfect director to rehabilitate the foundering Thor franchise.

05 The Trip to Spain

5. The Trip to Spain

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon returned in the latest installment in, “the only movie franchise that matters” back in 2017. The ending took me off guard. They could keep making these films forever, and I’ll show up for each and every one.

04 Loving

4. Loving

Based upon the true-life story of Richard and Mildred Loving, the couple whose arrest for interracial marriage, then illegal in the state of Virginia, led to a legal battle that culminated in the Supreme Court’s historic 1967 decision. A powerful and effective portrayal by Jeff Nichols and his excellent cast.

03 A Ghost Story

3. A Ghost Story

A metaphysical journey into the big questions of life, death and the hereafter from the same guy who directed the live-action remake of Pete’s Dragon? OK. David Lowery’s film is mostly dialogue-free, and exists in a realm of pure cinema. Featuring my second-favorite Bonnie “Prince” Billy acting performance (after Old Joy).

02 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

2. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

The Coen Bros., like many modern, “auteurs” have a distinct palette with which they weave the tapestries of their art form. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, in many ways, is a kind of buffet line of their favorite tropes, archetypes, musical stylings and the ever-ready ensemble of talent they’ve accrued in their peerless careers. Each vignette in this anthology-as-film has a distinct story to tell, and most of them are tragic.

01 The Best Years of Our Lives

1. The Best Years of our Lives (1946)

William Wyler returned from service in WWII to make the best film of his entire career: A weaving together of the stories of three war veterans returning home after the conclusion of the war to find that they no longer understand and fit in with the society they fought to preserve and protect.

I am not a veteran, and thus lack the basic concepts of what the experience of serving in the United States Armed Forces is like, much less what the psychological, physical and spiritual toll of going to war feels like. However, after I finished The Best Years of our Lives, I felt I had come as close as possible to having the ability to fully empathize with those who’ve served, and to begin to have an inkling of the sacrifices they are asked to make for their fellow countrymen.

The Best Years of our Lives is a supremely humbling film. It features incredible performances from each of its leads, two of whom were real-life veterans. Frederic March served in WWI. Harold Russell served in WWII. The kind of film I will never forget. Steven Spielberg has said that he makes a point of watching it at least once a year.

And that’s my list! From 2018…

Honorable mentions: Dunkirk, The Cincinnati Kid (1965), The Endless, Incredibles 2, Look Back in Anger (1959), War for the Planet of the Apes, The Post, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, The Florida Project, Six Shooter, Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Kimi no na wa. (Your Name.), Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Whiskey Galore! (1949), Room, Revolutionary Road, Stay Hungry (1976), The Ladykillers (1955), Planet of the Apes (1968), and First Reformed. Someday I’ll write more about First Reformed.

Complete viewing list from 2018:

20th Century Women
Across the Pacific (1942)
The Adjustment Bureau
Adventure Time: Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10
Altered Carbon: Season 1
Alien
Alien³
Alien Versus Predator
Aliens
Alien: Covenant
Alien: Resurrection
An American Tail
The Animation Show of Shows
- Can You Do It by Quentin Baillieux
- Tiny Big by Lia Bertels
- Next Door by Pete Doctor
- The Alan Dimension by Jac Clinch
- Beautiful Like Elsewhere by Elise Simard
- Hangman by Paul Julian & Les Goldman
- The Battle of San Romano by Georges Schwizgebel
- Gokurosama by Aurore Gal, Clementine Frère, Yukiko Meignein, Anna Mertz, Robin Migliorelli, & Roman Salvini
- Dear Basketball by Glen Keane
- Island by Robert Löbel & Max Mörtl
- Unsatisfying by Parallel Studio
- The Burden by Niki Lindroth von Bahr
- Les Abeilles Domestiques by Alexanne Desrosiers
- Our Wonderful Nature – The Common Chameleon by Tomer Eshed
- Casino by Steven Wolosehn
- Everything by David O’Reilly
Asparagus (1979)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Seasons 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11
Avengers: Infinity War
The Aviator
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Best Years of our Lives (1946)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Big Sleep (1978)
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
Black Mirror: Seasons 1, 2, 3, & 4
- Season 1
  - The Entire History of You
- Season 2
  - Be Right Back
  - The Waldo Moment
  - White Bear
  - White Christmas
- Season 3
  - Hated in the Nation
- Season 4
  - Arkangel
  - Crocodile
  - Hang the DJ
  - USS Callister
Black Panther
The Burning Hell (1974)
Cars 3
Children of the Whales: Season 1
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
Coma (1978)
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4
Crazy Heart
Darkest Hour
Dave Chapelle: The Bird Revelation
Dave Chapelle: Equanimity
Dead Ringers (1988)
Dear Basketball
The Disaster Artist
Disenchantment: Season 1
Dude, Where’s My Car?
Dunkirk
Early Man
The Endless
Evan Almighty
Evil Genius
The Exorcist
The Expanse: Season 1
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Felix Comes Back (1922)
First Reformed
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
The Florida Project
Game of Thrones: Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
A Ghost Story (x2)
The Good Place: Seasons 1 and 2
The Greatest Showman
Grey Gardens (1976)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (x2)
Gulliver’s Travels (1996)
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Hobbit: Bilbo 3.1 Final Edit
The Hudsucker Proxy
I Am Not Your Negro
Incredibles 2
Incredibles 2
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Innerspace (1987)
It: Chapter One
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Key Largo (1948)
Majo no takkyûbin (Kiki’s Delivery Service)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
Knights of Sidonia: Season 2
Kong: Skull Island
Lady Bird
Ladyhawke (1985)
The Ladykillers (1955)
Lawrence of Arabia
Lightning Sketches (1907)
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
Little Dorrit (2008)
The Little Hours
Look Back in Anger (1959)
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
Funny or Die Presents: Lost Masterpieces of Pornography
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Edition)
Loving
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Man on the Moon
The Man Who Invented Christmas
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
Meari to majo no hana (Mary and the Witch’s Flower)
Meet the Happiest Guy in the World
The Mist
The Mirror Crack’d (1980)
Moon
Moonlight
MST3K: I Accuse My Parents
MST3K: Time Chasers
Murder Ahoy (1964)
Murder at the Gallop (1963)
Murder Most Foul (1964)
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Murder, She Said (1961)
My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes
Neko no ongaeshi (The Cat Returns)
Network (1976)
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman: Barack Obama
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman: George Clooney
The Ωmega Man (1971)
The Omen (1976)
One Punch Man: Wanpanman (One-Punch Man): Season 1
Oscar
Pacific Rim
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams: Season 1
- “Autofac” based on “Autofac”
- “The Commuter” based on “The Commuter”
- “Crazy Diamond” based on “Sales Pitch”
- “The Father Thing” based on “The Father Thing”
- “The Hood Maker” based on “The Hood Maker”
- “Human Is” based on “Human Is”
- “Impossible Planet” based on “The Impossible Planet”
- “KAO” based on “Hanging Stranger”
- “Real Life” based on “Exhibit Piece”
- “Safe and Sound” based on “Foster, You’re Dead”
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Planet of the Apes (1968)
The Post
Ready Player One
Ready Player One
ReBoot: Season 1
Regular Show: Seasons 3 and 4
Revolutionary Road
Requiem for a Dream
Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants
The Road to El Dorado
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Room
The Running Man
Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal) (1957)
The Shining (1980)
Shocker (1989)
Six Shooter
Sonic the Hedgehog: Season 1
Speed Racer
SpongeBob SquarePants: Seasons 1 and 2
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 7
Star Vs. the Forces of Evil: Seasons 1, 2 & 3
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Stay Hungry (1976)
Tales from the Script
Thor: Ragnarok (4 times, yes… FOUR TIMES)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Time of Day
Tom Jones
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The Trip to Spain
Trollhunters: Part 2
The Twilight Zone: Seasons 1, 2, 3 and 5
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
War for the Planet of the Apes
WarCraft
Watership Down (1978)
We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Story
Westworld: Season 2
What We Do in the Shadows (x2)
Whiskey Galore! (1949)
Wind in the Willows (1987) (x2)
Wonder Showzen: Season 2
Kimi no na wa. (Your Name.)

The Devils (1971)

the-devils-film-2

I just finished watching Ken Russel’s film The Devils (1971), currently streaming over at The Criterion Channel.

The film is itself an adaptation of a 1960 play of the same name by John Whiting, as well as the 1952 non-fictoin novel by Aldux Huxley, entitled, The Devils of Loudun.

Criterion is streaming the 108 minute cut of the film, which is not the uncut version.

The events depicted in the film are based on true events which occurred in Loudun, France in the year 1634. Interestingly enough, Cardinal Richelieu (of Three Musketeers infamy) figures in the story as a kind of distant antagonist.

Without giving too much away, the story centers on a French Catholic Priest, Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), and the Mother Superior of Loudun’s Ursuline convent, Sister Jeanne of the Angels (Vanessa Redgrave). The titular “Devils” go unnamed for most of the film, although an Exorcist eventually puts his finger on them. They are Lucifer, Beelzebub, Satan, Astaroth, Leviathan, and Elimi.

The document their pact is scrawled upon doesn’t make an appearance in the film. Indeed, the presense of a diabolical, supernatural force of evil is all but absent from the proceedings. At the end, the viewer is left to wonder just *who* the devils really are.

After viewing the film, I did some searching and came upon famed movie critic Roger Ebert’s review of an 111 minute U.S. theatrical cut he viewed in Chicago around the New Year in 1971. He seems to have been either offended or fatigued (or both) by the depiction of the events of the film and his entire review kind of just sounds as though he really hated even having to write about the film. Nevertheless, as with all of his writing, it stands apart.

Now truth, as I’ve explained before, is what’s real. If it isn’t real, it isn’t true, which is why a stone is better than a dream. If it isn’t reality, who needs it? Or could lay hands on it, anyway? And everything on the list above really happened, yes it did. All the events and persons depicted in The Devils are intended to be confused with actual events and persons. How do I know? Ken Russell tells me so.

He gave the film zero stars. AKA, a thumbs down. If memory serves, Ebert was Catholic. That may have factored into his rating.

Speaking about the controversy over the film’s graphic depictions of, well, everything, Oliver Reed is reported to have quipped, “We never set out to make a pretty Christian film, Charlton Heston made enough of those… The film is about twisted people.”

vague-visages-of-love-and-other-demons-the-devils-one

Elsewhere, in an interview conducted last year for the now-defunct FilmStruck (which has been more or less reborn as The Criterion Channel), Kevin M. Flanagan discussed the film and remarked that some critics thought of Huxley’s novel as having been influenced by the HUAC hearings in the US at the time he was writing the book.

My own impression is that the film is an arresting visual achievement that manages to encapsulate the profound and boundless heights and depths to which human beings are capable of going in the name of religion. Some basic themes I found were individuality and freedom versus tyranny and collectivism, faith and conviction versus invective and hysteria, and purity versus impurity.

All graphic depictions and artistic liberties aside, against the backdrop of the French Renaissance and Richelieu’s systematic persecution of the Protestants, I found the story to be hopeful. That a man can choose to give himself over to various powers in recognition of their authority, or he may choose not to do so. Furthermore: that a man’s ability to recognize the primacy of an authority is directly informed by the nature of his relationship with it, and contingent upon his acknowledgement of its reality, or alternatively, his repudiation of its paucity and fraudulence.

Perhaps, though, it is easier to go around looking for devils behind every misfortune than it is to step into the potential of one’s own free will.

2017 – The Year in Review – Film & TV

In 2017, I watched something like 132 films, short films and television series and miniseries. Of those, only 9 were viewed in the theater. Movie-going, as a general recreational activity, seems to be waning in this age of all-streaming-everything-everywhere. Everyone wants to hook up a vacuum tube to the contents of your wallet with their own, proprietary streaming service. For my part, I subscribe to Netflix, HBONow, FilmStruck, Mubi, and Prime Video. Sheesh. Of those, FilmStruck has got to be my favorite, if only for its wide array of hard-to-find, classic art-house cinema. Oh, and they’ve got Criterion, so there’s that!

2017 was also the year in which I finally watched James Cameron’s box-office shattering epic Titanic for the very first time. I sat though it twice. Subsequently, I watched Roy Ward Baker’s A Night to Remember, but that’s going to be fodder for a different piece of writing another day…

Without further ado, here are 15 of the best films I viewed for the very first time in 2017:

15. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

When, in 1962, Stanley Kramer set out to shoot this insane, star-studded, comedy-chase-caper with nearly every famous comedian alive, few people would’ve predicted that he could pull it off. The original cut of the film clocked in at somewhere around 5 hours… I viewed the Criterion Collection edition which is only a paltry 197 minutes long. Shot all over the place in Southern California, the film contains a collection of comedy and action set pieces that I defy any modern film maker to replicate without leaning heavily on CGI.

Unwisely, the film was remade in 2001 by Jerry Zucker as Rat Race. While the original shines with the brilliance of a thousand dying suns… when pitted against Zucker’s re-imagining, the later film winks like the power light of a VCR in standby mode.

I hope they screen it again in 70mm someday. Jonathan Winters’ scene at the gas station is the stuff of legend.

14. The Trip

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon “play” themselves on a cross-country trip to the north of England to review a number of local, high-end restaurants. With the framing of a documentary / film essay, the talents of Mr. Coogan and Mr. Brydon are put on full display as they get on each others nerves, chat about poetry and the dramatic arts, and compare career moves. Ultimately, the film seems to be a meditation on the idealistic fantasy of a poet, or so-called “romantic” person leading a lifestyle unfettered by trivial concerns, giving way to the realization that relationships are more important than professional accomplishment.

There are two sequels to this film, The Trip to Italy and The Trip to Spain. I also watched the former during this year and very much look forward to viewing the latter as soon as I can.

13. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

The eighth entry in the ongoing commercial saga that is Star Wars is one of the best films in the entire franchise. Drawing obvious comparisons to The Empire Strikes Back, Rian Johnson’s singular foray into a galaxy far, far away as both writer and director is many things, but I fear the audience will likely be split on how “satisfying” the story is for all of the fans who imbue every corner of every frame with deep, speculative significance.

In many ways, the whole point of The Last Jedi seems to be to demystify The Force and wrest it from the grasp of the dualistic orders of the “Jedi” and the “Sith,” choosing to restore it to its original place: in the hands of everyone. Please note the broom. The Force isn’t some magical essence that you can ‘get’ or that some people are just ‘born with’ – The Force is a great equalizing force that anyone can wield, if they practice at it. Sure, there are wise old ‘masters’ with esoteric knowledge of the many powers granted by The Force, but that doesn’t mean they get to hold some kind of metaphysical monopoly over it. TLJ seems to be most concerned with removing all of the scaffolding supporting maniacal fanbase expectations so that the audience well and truly will have no idea what to expect next.

Perhaps people rely too much upon popular culture to give them an identity.

12. Phantom Thread [in 70mm]

In what is reported to be Daniel Day-Lewis’ final film, he reunited with writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson to tell the fictional tale of a renowned designer of ladies dresses in Postwar London.

Reynolds Woodcock is the character Day-Lewis brings to life, and he may perhaps bear a mysterious curse, a spiritual mark left on him by his late mother, for whom he designed a wedding gown. Also starring Lesley Manville and Vicky Krieps, this is a film of quiet power and a surprising quantity of amusing moments which never failed to elicit audible laughter from the audience I saw it (presented in 70mm) with in Los Angeles.

This may be Paul Thomas Anderson’s most straightforward narrative endeavor since Punch Drunk Love. There are many similarities between the two films, and cinematic homage is paid to Altman, Hitchcock and Kubrick.

11. La tortue rouge (The Red Turtle)

A remarkable animated film from the Dutch filmmaker Michael Dudok de Wit. Produced by Studio Ghibli in Japan, this fairy-tale unfolds with almost no dialogue of any kind. A hypnotic experience.

10. Stalker

A major restoration of this film was released by Criterion in 2017. Andrei Tarkovsky’s final Soviet film is a mesmerizing, deeply philosophical journey into the unknown… but perhaps not the unknowable. Stalker is a technically impressive feat, containing numerous inventive techniques. The film has been a major influence on cinema since its release.

The through-line of Stalker, we might surmise, is emblematic of a schism between East and West, yet at the heart, lies The Zone – a place of truth and revelation. Can anyone be willingly led to it? Or does the journey offer too many opportunities for self-aggrandization and despair?

This film is best watched alone. And uninterrupted. Cinema at its finest shows the audience themselves.

9. The Big Short

Films can bring to light issues in ways that newspaper articles, judicial inquiries, and Police investigations simply cannot. In the case of The Big Short, this amounts to encapsulating the nucleus of the recent financial crisis in the US and presenting it in a way that is all at once sardonic, hilarious, and sobering.

More than anything, though, this film underscores what happens when people PAY ATTENTION. There are constant happenings in day-to-day life which deserve our undivided attention, however, we allow ourselves to dismiss or ignore them and rationalize that no one person has the mental capacity to grasp every current event as it unfolds. The Big Short provides the welcome reminder that, for every 999,999 people going about their business in abject oblivion, there is 1 who has taken a moment to stop and PAY ATTENTION.

8. Midnight Special

Jeff Nichols’ 4th directorial effort is a heart-pounding sci-fi road-trip epic that culminates in a thought-provoking way… perhaps an allusion to the eternal nature of the human soul which is encased in the mortal flesh of the human body.

Nichols’ prowess as a filmmaker and storyteller is on full tilt as the story unfolds. This is what Hollywood needs more of: skilled filmmakers who are deft with their thematic elements and don’t beat the audience over the head with sentimentality and preachy, dogmatic suppositions. If you have a sensitive spirit, this film will touch you. And you won’t need it to validate your opinions or core values.

7. Coco

Having explored the nooks and crannies of childhood nostalgia with the Toy Story series of films, and shown us the post-human landscape of Wall-E and delved into the nature of memory and human emotions with Inside Out, Pixar has turned its attention to a new, kid-friendly subject matter: death.

Yes, death, that cold eventuality that will come to claim us all, Ebenezer Scrooge-style. Except, with Coco, we have the colorful, cultural veneer of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) ~ a distinctly Mexican holiday that may even trace it’s origins all the way back to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl (say that five times fast) ~ to stave off the macabre nature of the subject matter.

No, really, Coco, isn’t about death, per se. It’s about memory and the power of familial bonds (or lack of familial bonds). This film is impossible to view without shedding real tears. If you find that you can watch it without crying, then I think you may need to go see a psychiatrist or something, because you’re goofed up if this doesn’t get your water works flowing.

6. The Fugitive

This is a list of films I’ve never seen before, jeez. Stop saying, “I can’t believe you’ve never seen it!” and go get a dribble cup.

Yes, up until Anno Domini 2017, I hadn’t ever seen The Fugitive. Blame my parents. They were super restrictive and judgmental about what I could or couldn’t see growing up. And then… blame me for not bothering to pop this one in the old trusty DVD player for a solid 10 years after moving out of the house. It has Harrison Ford in it, for crying out loud! How could it NOT be incredible!?

5. A Face in the Crowd

Elia Kazan’s film, based on the screenplay by Budd Schulberg, is a riveting tour de force. Andy Griffith, yes, Sheriff Andy of Mayberry, in his first film role, plays Larry ‘Lonesome’ Rhodes, an Arkansas drifter who is propelled to the heights of national fame. As his fame and power expand exponentially, Rhodes is gradually revealed to be a narcissistic megalomaniac, drunk off his own celebrity. Believing he can do or say no wrong, he ascends higher and higher.

This film has obvious and bone-chilling parallels to our present circumstances in America. Yet, I don’t think even Budd Schulberg could have predicted the measure of the ambivalence and self-assured ignorance of large segments of the American public. Lonesome Rhodes may be a despicable, selfish, evil human being… but who in the American public ever truly cared about moral character or personal integrity? Surely there are other criteria which matter more, when assessing the value of a public figure? He’s popular and speaks out on what people want to hear, right?

I think he’d be right at home, here today.

4. Time Piece (1965)

Jim Henson made a short film in 1965 and it was nominated for an Academy Award. I had never even heard of it, until this year.

Time Piece is a Kafka-esque short film about being trapped in the mundane prison of daily life. Told in a series of syncopated edits, set to the rhythm of a ticking clock and sometimes the beating of a human heart, this is one of the most highly-creative, unique and unsettling short films I have ever seen. Jim Henson has long been one of my childhood heroes, but here, 52 years later, he has shown me his ingenuity and bravery as an adult. Inspiring.

3. I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore

Elijah Wood & Melanie Lynskey reunited on-screen for the first time since Over the Garden Wall for Macon Blair’s directorial debut, a Netflix exclusive (yay, Netflix).

The premise is simple enough: a woman’s house is burglarized. The woman vows revenge upon the burglars. She enlists the help of her neighbor in finding and exacting justice upon them. Things don’t quite play out the way she has fantasized that they will, though.

With this film, Macon Blair has established himself as one of the filmmakers who may claim themselves to be heirs apparent to The Coen Brothers. Here, he tackles concepts of trespass, malcontent, violation and fear, all within a cinematic construct which is by turns humorous, quirky, melancholy and horrifying. Is this world merely a shadow realm through which we all must pass? Does anything we do here truly matter?

2. Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Taika Waititi’s third full-length feature, starring Sam Neill and Julian Dennison, is a charming, offbeat tale of two fugitives on the run from the short, stubby arm of kiwi law. This is the kind of picture that pushes every button in seemingly random fashion, until the entire elevator panel is lit up like a Christmas tree. The cumulative effect is a heartwarming story of love, sacrifice, and unassailable machismo. I haven’t seen Waititi’s 4th film, yet… a little indie feature called Thor: Ragnarok, but I’m keen to do so.

1. Twin Peaks: The Return

As the old adage goes, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” ~ often attributed to Edmund Burke, although it may be a paraphrase of various other famous persons from history…

Twin Peaks: The Return could be described with an inversion of that quote, something like this, “For evil to be defeated, all that is necessary is for good men to be unwavering in doing something about it.”

For anyone who was a fan of the 1990 television series that only ran for two seasons, spanning 30 episodes before it was canceled, the news that original series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost had been given a truckload of money by Showtime to bring the series back to life was a huge surprise. Expectations certainly ran high. Lynch took more than 4 years to write, cast, shoot and edit the “third season,” as it came to be known, of a show that originally began airing more than 25 years ago.

Finally, the release was set for 2017. Many of the show’s original cast returned to reprise their roles in the new season. As Laura Palmer told Agent Cooper in backwards-speak in the Red Room, “I’ll see you in 25 years.”

Not less than three cast members who appear in the third season died before the first episode aired, including:

Catherine E. Coulson (Margaret Lanterman, “The Log Lady”)
Miguel Ferrer (Agent Albert Rosenfield)
Warren Frost (Dr. Will Hayward)

Additionally, Harry Dean Stanton, who reprised his role as Carl Rodd, a character who appeared in the feature-film prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, died on September 15, 2017, less than two weeks after the last episode aired on September 3, 2017, at the age of 91.

The themes on parade over the 18 hour arc of Twin Peaks: The Return are varied and multi-faceted, and the show never loses its mystique or charm, nor its palpable sense of dread.

For me to describe anything in the show is really going to be a fool’s errand – you have to watch the original series, then watch Fire Walk with Me and The Missing Pieces (if you can), in order to be able to fully appreciate what Lynch has done with The Return.

Dozens of scenes occur over the course of the show which could be plucked out and showcased as vignettes or short films all their own. Mulholland Drive feels more like an extended side-story episode from Twin Peaks now, after seeing this.

…

Alright folks, those are my top 15 “films” of 2017. Here’s looking forward to unearthing more great gems from the past in 2018!

Full List of Joel’s 2017 viewing:

7 Days in Hell
Adventure Time: Seasons 8 & 9
Affliction
Alexander the Grape (1965)
Anne with an E: Season 1
Archer: Seasons 6 & 7
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Seasons 1, 2, 3
Bernie
La belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast) (2014)
The Big Short
Black Mirror: Seasons 1, 3
Blade Runner: 2036 Nexus Dawn
Blade Runner: 2048 Nowhere to Run
Blade Runner 2049
Blade Runner: Blackout 2022
Blood Simple.
Carnal Knowledge
Cat and Mouse (1960)
Central Intelligence
Coco
Coda
Cube
The Dark Knight
David Lynch: The Art of Life
Death of a Salesman (1985)
Death Note (2017)
Denial
The Discovery
Doctor Strange
Documentary Now: Season 51 (Season 2)
Dog City (1989)
A Face in the Crowd
Fantastic Planet
Five Came Back
The Fugitive
The Gang’s All Here
Game of Thrones: Season 7
Genius
Get Out
Gravity Falls: Seasons 1 & 2
The Great Dictator
The Great Muppet Caper
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
Heaven’s Gate
Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Howl’s Moving Castle)
The Hudsucker Proxy
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Hymyilevä mies (The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki)
I Don’t Feel At Home in This World Anymore
I’m Not There
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton
The Keepers
The Kid Stays in the Picture
Kubo and the Two Strings
The Last Man on Earth: Season 1
The LEGO Batman Movie
The Leftovers: Seasons 1, 2, and 3
Lighthouse Island (1989)
Living with Dinosaurs (1989)
Logan
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Edition)
The Man in the High Castle: Season 2
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Masterminds
Midnight Special
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Moana
Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke)
Monster Maker (1989)
Mr. Pickles: Seasons 1 & 2
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Muppets from Space
The Nice Guys
A Night to Remember
No Country for Old Men
Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog [1956])
Pete’s Dragon (2016)
Phantom Thread [in 70mm]
Platoon
Porco Rosso
The Prestige
La tortue rouge (The Red Turtle)
Rick and Morty: Season 3
Ripples (1967)
A Room with a View
Run, Run (1965)
Sausage Party
The Secret of Kells
A Series of Unfortunate Events: Season 1
The Shape of Water
Sicario
Silicon Valley: Season 4
Something Wild
Song of the Sea
Speilberg
Spotlight
Stalker
Star Trek: Voyager: Seasons 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
The Station Agent
Superjail: Seasons 1 & 2
T-Men
Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (Castle in the Sky)
Time Bandits
Time Piece (1965)
Titanic (twice)
Tour de Pharmacy
The Trip
The Trip to Italy
Trollhunters: Season 1
Twin Peaks: Seasons 1 & 2
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Twin Peaks: The Return
U.S. Marshalls
The Visitor
Wedding Crashers
Welcome to Collinwood
Wheels That Go (1967)
The Wind in the Willows (1987)
Wonder Showzen: Season 1
Wreck It Ralph
Xavier: Renegade Angel: Seasons 1 & 2
The X-Files: Season 6
The Year Without Santa Claus
Zero no Tsukaima: Season 1
Zero no Tsukaima: Season 2
Zoolander 2

Richard Linklater on Baseball, College Life and His New Film

I was taking a theater class and writing plays. I just wanted reading time. I remember standing in the outfield thinking, “I want to read ‘The Brothers Karamazov.’

Via: The New York Times

2015 – The Year in Review – The Year in Film

2015 was a year of traveling everywhere and watching movies on a laptop or hotel TV, patched with an HDMI cable and bypassing the terrible in-room content delivery service. I did see a *few* films in theaters. But by and large I wound up viewing most entertainment on a small screen, crammed into a seat on an airplane, or late at night in a hotel bed.

First up, let’s talk about the movies I saw in theaters… which were pitifully few. I did see Star Wars twice, though! What a great film. But, ultimately, it fell second to Mad Max: Fury Road, the most incredible cinematic feat, in my humble opinion, in the past decade or so.

What Fury Road and Force Awakens share in spirit is a return to practical special effects. They look spectacular. So much is being done in-camera. With Fury Road, almost every single insane stunt is happening for real.

They also both share a keen awareness for how to use action set pieces to drive narrative storytelling. And Mad Max‘s story is quite possibly the simplest one imaginable: a sustained chase sequence. Characters must travel from A to B. Here’s how we unfold that story: characters run, they get chased. Lather, rinse, and continue for roughly 2 hours.

Behold, my epic list of the top 5 films I saw in an actual theater!

Favorite Theatrical Viewings

Mad Max: Fury Road
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Inside Out
Bridge of Spies
Inherent Vice

Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair in Marty — Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair in *Marty*

Next up: my favorite films seen for the first time in 2015.

I watched, in all, 102 films (although one qualifies as a miniseries) in 2015. Out of all of these, I have chosen 20 that I really, really liked. And at the top of that heap, is Marty.

Paddy Chayefsky’s excellent 1953 teleplay Marty, originally written for The Philco Goodyear Television Playhouse, and starring Rod Steiger in the titular role, was expanded into a feature length film in 1955. Ernest Borgnine played the lonely butcher with a heart of gold, Marty Pilletti. Burt Lancaster produced. Delbert Mann directed.

I’ve long known that Marty was a classic film, winner of 4 Oscars: Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture at the 1956 Academy Awards. But I never watched the film until 2015, 60 years after its original theatrical debut.

Marty is a love story with all of the classic tropes, and none of the lazy storytelling that plagues 99.9% of all similar films today. It’s the kind of film that will push every button you have, and leave you with a smile in the end. Nothing else I watched on the small screen last year punched more holes in my emotional defenses and left me more filled with joy.

Favorite Films Seen For the First Time in 2015

Marty
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
It’s Such a Beautiful Day
The French Connection
Whiplash
Panique au Village (A Town Called Panic)
The Guest
What We Do in the Shadows
Ex Machina
C’era una volta il West (Once Upon a Time in the West)
The Running Man
The Immigrant
Philomena
Ida
The Wolf of Wall Street
In Bruges
The World’s End
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
It Follows
V/H/S

Behold: every movie I watched in 2015… alphabetized… 102 in all.

A.I.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
The Avengers: Age of Ultron*
Barbarella
Behind the Candelabra
Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Blades of Glory
Blue Velvet
The Book of Life
Brave
Boogie Nights
Bridge of Spies*
Burke & Hare
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Cosmopolis
Crimson Peak*
The Devil’s Advocate
Dirty Pretty Things
The Double
Double Indemnity
The Empire Strikes Back
Encounters at the End of the World
Ex Machina
The Fifth Element
Fantasia 2000
Fletch
The French Connection
Gambit (2012)
Godzilla (2014)
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Grabbers
Gravity
The Guest
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Hitch
Home Alone
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Housebound
Howard the Duck
Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Howl’s Moving Castle)
Ida
Idiocracy
The Immigrant
In Bruges
Inherent Vice*
Inside Out*
Insidious: Chapter 3*
It Follows
It’s Such a Beautiful Day
Johnny Dangerously
The Last Unicorn
La Legge (The Law)
Lilo & Stitch
Listen Up Philip
Longford
Mad Max: Fury Road*
The Master
Marty
Men in Black
Mystery Men
Never Let Me Go
A Night in Casablanca
Night Train to Munich
Noah
Oleanna
Olive Kittredge**
C’era una volta il West (Once Upon a Time in the West)
Pacific Rim (x 3)
Philomena
Pitch Perfect
Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo)
Return of the Jedi
Revenge of the Pink Panther
The Ridiculous 6
Robin Hood
Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Room
The Running Man
Rush Hour
Scanners
Shallow Hal
Sleepless in Seattle
Star Wars
Star Wars: The Force Awakens* (x 2)
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Stonehearst Asylum
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Kaguyahime no Monogatari (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya)
Taxi Driver
The Terminator
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Panique au Village (A Town Called Panic)
Transformers: Age of Extinction
V/H/S
V/H/S 2
Watership Down
What We Do In The Shadows
Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger
Whiplash
The Wind Rises
The Wolf of Wall Street
The World’s End

* = denotes theatrical viewing
** = denotes a “mini series” or “television movie”