Winter Wrap-up Part Two

Yet again here are three very different movies that I all saw months ago. My classes end in a few weeks so I hope on getting caught up soon.

King Kong (1933)
I watched King Kong for the first time on March 2nd, the 79th anniversary of this film's release!
For an almost 80 year old movie I was impressed by the great special effects. I didn't know they had anything close to animatronics back then!
King Kong is a precursor to modern adventure movies. While the film starts out a bit slow it turns into non-stop action once we get to Skull Island. This is another aspect of the King Kong that was ahead of its time.
Movie director Carl Denham (played by Robert Armstrong) is forced by the studio to include a love interest in his films. Denham ends up casting Ann Darrow (played by Fay Wray) as the iconic beautiful blonde. However I found it was interesting how King Kong is about making movies in this respect.
King Kong is sort of a cross between The Lost World and The Phantom of the Opera. The Lost World similarities are that dinosaurs still survive in a forgotten land as well as King Kong being unleashed on the modern world in a battle of man vs. nature. Kong is sort of the like the phantom as we have a beauty and the beast relationship between Ann Darrow and Kong. Kong seems to truly care for Ann despite causing destruction and mayhem. Kong as a tragic anti-hero and it is easy to root for the "monster" in this movie.
Kong is one of the earliest non-human film characters that audiences actually cared about. Unlike Rin Tin Tin, the famous canine actor of the 1920s, Kong is not even alive! While models, animatronics, and CGI of the last 50 years have now achieved this, King Kong was head of the curve here as we don't even have a person in a suit. Sure Kong isn't the first non-human movie monster, but he's probably the first we truly sympathize with.
I haven't seen the 2005 Peter Jackson version of King Kong but will probably watch it someday.
9/10

The Secret of My Succe$s (1987)
There are some actors I like so much that I will seek out their movies only because they are in them. Michael J. Fox is one of those actors. The basic plot of the movie is that a young man who lives with his family on a farm in the mid-west (played by Michael J. Fox) moves by himself to New York City in order to make it in the real world of business.
Fox was great in this role and the movie would not have been as entertaining without him. The Secret of My Succe$s was made after the original Back to the Future movie but before the sequels and while Fox's TV show Family Ties was airing.
Michael J. Fox is pretty short but usually this is hidden by having his romantic interest be his height or shorter. However, in this movie his love interest (played by Helen Slater) is taller than him and there is no attempt made to hide it.
The "music conductor" scene is absolutely hilarious and a good example of a really funny scene in an otherwise pretty average comedy. The character Vera Prescott (played by Margaret Whitton, probably best known as the owner of the Cleveland Indians in Major League) who is the cheating wife of Fox's boss/distant relative was also funny and led to some amusing moments. Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster of The Munsters), Richard Jordan, and John Pankow also have supporting roles.
Although The Secret of My Succe$s is not that well known today, it was quite popular in its time. It was the 7th top grossing movie in the U.S. in 1987, ahead of movies such as Lethal Weapon, Predator, Robocop, Full Metal Jacket, and The Princess Bride. 
Night Ranger performed the title theme, one of their last hits before they faded out in the late 80s. The song "Oh Yeah" by Yello is also in the movie which was kinda distracting since I, and most people for that matter, will always associate it with Ferris Bueller's Day Off which came out a year earlier.
6/10

True Lies (1994)
True Lies is first of so far only two non-science fiction movies directed by James Cameron. The other is of course Titanic which is probably the reason this movie gets lost in the shuffle of his catalog.
While watching this movie I felt like it was James Cameron meets Alfred Hitchcock. We have the classic Cameron touches but with the paranoia and suspense of a Hitchcock film. Even the basic plot is essentially an inverse of North by Northwest as instead of a ordinary guy being confused for a spy we have a spy trying to hide as a normal family man.
There are some great action sequences such as Arnold Schwarzenegger riding a horse through a building (and even taking it on an elevator!) and the final scenes with helicopters and airplanes.
With a 141 minute running time I felt that True Lies bit too long. While I did enjoy the sub-plot in which a used car salesman (played by Bill Pullman) pretends to be a spy to try to sleep with Schwarzenegger's wife (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) it did drag down the film's pace.
The terrorist angle was interesting and a bit ahead of its time though I doubt it would've been handled that way in a post 9-11 movie.
Tom Arnold, Tia Carrere, and Charlton Heston (who basically plays Nick Fury!) are all a lot of fun in supporting roles. True Lies also features Eliza Dushku (as the daughter of Schwarzenegger and Curtis' characters) early in her career.
I later found out that True Lies is actually an American remake of the 1991 French film La Totale! but I couldn't find much information about that original movie. I was surprised to find out this was a remake so I'd like to the original someday as I'm curious as to how similar or different they are.
The only James Cameron movie I have left to see now is The Abyss. Unless you count Piranha Part II: The Spawning of course... but if you go by movies he has writing credit but did not direct I also have yet to see Rambo II and Strange Days.
8/10

Three Great Movies

All three of these films are on Roger Ebert's list of Great Movies.

Duck Soup (1933)
Duck Soup is first Marx Brothers movie I have seen even though I was already familiar with Groucho Marx.
I was surprised to see that even though there is plenty of comedy, the movie doesn't have much of a plot. The brand of humor here was way ahead of its time and greatly influential to everything from Looney Tunes to Teller (of Penn & Teller who doesn't talk and acts like Harpo in some way) to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim shows which often make use of stock footage in a humorous context similar to what happens during the hilarious war scene.
Duck Soup features the well known mirror scene which has been parodied in everything from The Three Stooges to Bugs Bunny cartoons. Although the mirror scene had been done before in film, it is performed a bit differently here and in excellent fashion.
I didn't care as much for the scenes with Harpo bothering a lemonade seller. These scenes feel almost like something out of a silent film comedy. Of course that is not why I didn't like it, I just felt these parts didn't really fit in with the rest of the movie. Also I'm just a such a big fan of Groucho's word play as opposed to physical comedy that I wanted more scenes with him! Groucho as Rufus T. Firefly was simply amazing and its one of the greatest comedy roles ever, as well as one of the most memorable in all of cinema.
9/10

Double Indemnity (1944)
The director of Double Indemnity is Billy Wilder, who also directed one of my favorite movies, Sunset Blvd. I am familiar with Fred MacMurray from his Disney movies like The Absent-Minded Professor and The Shaggy Dog as well as his TV show My Three Sons. However, he usually played good/nice guys so it was interesting to see him in a different type of role earlier in his career. MacMurray plays Walter Neff, an insurance salesman. Neff visits the home of Phyllis Dietrichson (played by Barbara Stanwyck) who eventually convinces him to help kill her husband but make it look like an accident or should I say "accidentally on purpose". Since Neff is an expert at the insurance business, he knows all the tricks of the trade to get away with the deed while few will suspect him.
Stanwyck's wig is a little ridiculous and even though it was Wilder's idea, he didn't realize how bad it looked until it was too late to re-shoot the earlier scenes. Even though the bad wig wasn't really intentional, I actually think this fits with her character as it makes sense that Phyllis would wear a wig to hide something from her past.
There seems to be an implied sexual relationship between Neff and Phyllis. Although this ambiguity is because of the Hayes Code, it does makes sense within context of film as Neff is recording his story for Keyes and probably wouldn't go into detail about that aspect of his story.
Edward G. Robinson has a supporting role as Barton Keyes, Neff's boss at the insurance company. Although I already knew who Robinson was, this is actually the first movie I've seen with him. While Robinson doesn't have as much screen time as MacMurray or Stanwyck, I'm surprised he didn't get an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor as he stole every scene he was in.

Double Indemnity was groundbreaking at the time for two main reasons. First, it is a crime thriller that does not have a police officer or detective as the main character. Law enforcement play a very small role in the movie since our story is told through the eyes of those trying to commit and get away with a crime. Even though this had been done before, it would usually be in gangster movies where the police would still have a strong on-screen presence.
Second, we are told "whodunit" at the beginning of the movie by our main character. At the beginning of the film Neff is shown dictating and recording the story from his perspective to give to Keyes. Wilder's Sunset Blvd. would later use its main character as a narrator in a similar way.
Double Indemnity also features an early example of the film trope that a car won't start at a crucial moment which we still see in recent movies.
Double Indemnity was nominated for seven Oscars but unfortunately didn't win any. It's main competition was the musical Going My Way which won seven Oscars that year.
The "alternate" ending would have been unnecessary as what would have shown is implied in the end anyway so I'm glad they cut it. Double Indemnity is a master of subtext and suspense that I really enjoyed. It is only the second Billy Wilder film I have seen and I loved both so I'll have to make it a point to check out more of his work.
9/10

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The Bridge on the River Kwai is historical fiction that is based on the novel by Pierre Boulle (who also wrote the book for Planet of the Apes) which in turn is inspired by true events of the Burma Railway during World War II. The actual situation was a lot worse for British POWs and they did not collaborate with the Japanese in building the bridge. I am fine with a story taking liberties with true events (as long as it is clear it isn't a docudrama which is the case here) since it makes me want to go out and learn more about what actually happened.
The Bridge on the River Kwai was directed by David Lean and this is the first film I have seen from this talented director.
Probably the most memorable scene from the movie is when the POWs whistle the catchy Colonel Bogey March. I saw this movie over a month ago and its still stuck in my head!
William Holden plays Shears, the American POW. While Holden does a great job as usual, I found myself more interested in the building of the bridge than his story to go back and attempt to blow up the bridge. These scenes were well done, its just that I found the other story and characters were more compelling.
The Bridge on the River Kwai won seven Oscars, including a win for the fantastic cinematography by Jack Hildyard.
Alec Guiness won his only Oscar for this film and was fantastic as Lt. Colonel Nicholson, the leader of the British POWs. Sessue Hayakawa played Colonel Saito, and although this his is most well-known role for today's audiences, he was hugely popular in silent films and was the first Asian-American movie star. Although Hayakawa was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, I wish he had won for his great performance.
The ending is tense and a perfect conclusion to the film.
9/10

Weekly Wrap-Up (11/13)

Anybody who has read this blog can figure out that I have a pretty eclectic taste in movies. To be fair this is partially due to the fact that many I watch many popular movies I normally wouldn't seek out just to say that I've seen them and keep up with references to them. This week I watched five films and they are all pretty different so I'll just post my thoughts in the order I saw each movie!

The Invisible Man (1933)
After watching The Mummy (1932) this summer I wanted to see more Universal horror movies and finally got around to seeing another. The Invisible Man features groundbreaking special effects that hold up shockingly well for a film that is almost 80 years old. Claude Rains plays Griffin, our invisible man. I was impressed with his performance since we get to know this character quite well even though we never really see him. I had seen Rains before in Casablanca as Captain Renault. Griffin's lover Flora is played by Gloria Stuart, who is best known to modern audiences as old Rose in Titanic (1997). Having already seen that movie it was quite fascinating to see her at such a young age! The Invisible Man was directed by James Whale who also directed Frankenstein (1931) and its sequel Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
While the film's pace is a bit slow by today's standards, there is still more going on than in The Mummy (the only other movie of its time and genre I have seen to compare it to). In 2008 The Invisible Man was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
8/10

Footloose (1984)
While I was expecting this movie to be cheesy fluff, the tone is actually quite serious. However, the plot of a new guy in town who doesn't fit in and then gets in trouble because of it is pretty derivative. The movie tries to put a new spin on things with the strict local regulations on music and dance but it doesn't really work and still feels like I have seen it a million times before. Footloose is competently made and John Lithgow puts in a solid performance as the town minister, but at the end of the day the movie isn't anything special.
I knew that Lithgow and Kevin Bacon were in this movie but I was surprised to see Chris Penn and Sarah Jessica Parker in early roles. Ariel, the love interest of Kevin Bacon's character, was played by Lori Singer who is also a dancer in real life. I enjoyed the 80s soundtrack but think that this movie could have been better if it was a straight up musical instead of just featuring several montage scenes. Maybe the remake which came out earlier this year went in that direction? I don't know and frankly have no desire to see it.
5/10

I Eat Your Skin aka Voodoo Blood Bath aka Zombies (1964)
Despite the outrageous title there is no actually flesh eating in this movie. What a rip-off! This movie did not get released until six years after it was produced and was re-titled so it could be shown as a double feature with the unrelated film I Drink Your Blood. I had extremely low expectations coming into this movie and was actually pleasantly surprised. Now don't get me wrong, this is certainly an awful film, but its watchable and entertaining enough for a shlocky low budget flick. While watching this with some friends I remarked that it feels like a movie the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 would have featured. It turns out that I was pretty close since MST3K did riff the movie The Horror of Party Beach which was also directed by Del Tenney! This movie would have made great material for Joel/Mike and the bots to make fun. However, even if the MST3K crew were aware of this movie I bet they passed on it due to the unfortunate stereotypical portrayal of the island natives. If you like bad, campy old movies check this one out. Just be aware that it is a product of its time and doesn't feature zombies chomping on people.
2/10

Black Dynamite (2009)
While there are some great spoof movies out there (any Mel Brooks movie, Airplane) recently most of them have been historically bad (Date Movie, Epic Movie). The trailer for Black Dynamite is hilarious so I had to give it a shot. I am proud to say that Black Dynamite is up there as one of the best spoof movies of all time! This film parodies 1970s Blaxploitation films, and does it so well that it is arguably still part of the genre. While I haven't seen many Blaxploitation movies, that is not a requirement as long as one has a general familiarity of the genre and low budget flicks. Many of the jokes are intentional goofs. Some of these are humorously obvious while others are subtle but just as funny. The film stars Michael Jai White as the title character and he was also one of the screenwriters. Clearly White and those involved with making this movie love Blaxploitation (and B-movies in general) as Black Dynamite is as much a spoof as it is a loving homage. Although this movie is a silly comedy, it was painstakingly made to look, feel, and sound like it came straight of the 1970s and would probably fool people not in on the joke. If you have a sense of humor please do yourself a favor and watch this movie now! There is an animated Black Dynamite TV series featuring most of the film's cast in the works set to air in the summer of 2012 on Adult Swim. DYNOMITE! DYNOMITE!
9/10

Police Academy (1984)
Comedy is the most subjective genre of any medium, and film is certainly not an exception. I found this movie to be quite funny and wonder if its reputation has been tarnished a bit by the fact that there are seven movies in the series, with most of them said to be terrible. The plot is a mix of Stripes and Revenge of the Nerds but the reason the movie works is because the characters are fun to watch and we want them to succeed. Police Academy was Steve Guttenberg's breakthrough role and while I haven't seen him in too many movies, its ashame his career took a nosedive in the 90s. Shia LaBeouf reminds me of Guttenberg, but he is far more annoying and much less likeable than the Gutt! Former NFL player (a lot of football players became actors in the 1970s and 80s for some reason) Bubba Smith shines as Moses Hightower, while veteran actor George Gaynes plays the Commandant. The talented Michael Winslow essentially plays himself since his character Larvelle Jones can use only his mouth to create amazing sound effects with hilarious results. As much as I liked this movie I think I'll pass on the sequels.
7/10