PINNLAND EMPIRE: Martin Scorsese

Showing posts with label Martin Scorsese. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

MAGAZINE DREAMS

It should come as no surprise that Magazine Dreams is being compared to Taxi Driver. Both films are about lonely obsessive unstable men that are prone to violent outbursts. At this point, what movie about lonely men isn’t inspired by Taxi Driver in some way? It’s almost lazy to make that comparison in 2025 but there are so many similar beats, moments, and shots between both films that it has to be mentioned.

Taxi Driver / Magazine Dreams

These are just the visual similarities. Both Travis Bickle and Jonathan Majors’ Killian Maddux have an unhealthy desensitized obsession with pornography (Travis frequents porn theaters and Killian casually watches online porn at home). A major difference between Magazine Dreams and Taxi Driver is the presence of the internet. Killian Maddux spends a good amount of time on online forums which is the film’s attempt at touching on incel culture and it’s negative effect on young men (casting real life bodybuilder Mike O’Hearn was a nice touch considering he’s such a meme-fied figure in online incel/sigma culture). It’s almost like Magazine Dreams is yet another movie showing you what Travis Bickle would be doing with his spare time if he existed in the age of the internet (Manodrome, The Beast, Fight Club, Paul Dano’s Riddler in The Batman, Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, etc etc). The difference between Magazine Dreams and most of the aforementioned movies is that Killian Maddux is a bit more rooted in reality compared to The Riddler or The Joker. I say Magazine Dreams is a bit more rooted in reality and not completely rooted because at a certain point it starts to feel like a 2 hour snuff film. The basic story follows a mentally unstable young man obsessed with being a champion body builder. Being a young man comes with challenges. Being a young Black man comes with a few more potential challenges. Life throws you curveballs even when you coast through it on default mode. But as the movies goes on you start to ask yourself; “what else could possibly go wrong with this young man’s life” …and then it gets worse. I don’t want to spoil anything but if you list everything that happens to Killian in the movie, you sort of say to yourself; “Jesus christ. Is this guy gonna catch a break?” At a certain point it stops feeling like a movie and more like Black male struggle/torture porn. I’m starting to understand why the director of the Iron Claw chose to exclude Chris Von Erich from the tragic Von Erich story. Would anyone, especially non-wrestling fans, want to sit through a movie where five brothers all die in a short span of time? It really happened but it just seems so unbelievable that it could be seen as distracting. Killian Maddux is the insect slowly having his limbs torn apart or burned under a magnifying glass by a sadistic little kid. To be clear - that’s not necessarily a negative criticism. Perhaps that was the director’s goal. This isn’t the type of movie you watch to “enjoy” and not everything needs to be easily digested.

The Substance /
Love Lies Bleeding /
Magazine Dreams

This would pair well Love Lies Bleeding, The Substance, and other recent films that show the dark side of obsession. Love Lies Bleeding and Magazine are first cousins in that both movies use bodybuilding and steroids as a backdrop. But like I said before – Magazine Dreams is rooted in reality whereas the other films straddle the line between reality and total fantasy.

Love Lies Bleeding / Magazine Dreams

Love Lies Bleeding / Magazine Dreams

It also makes sense that Nightcrawler director Dan Gilroy produced this. At times, Magazine Dreams feels like Nightcrawler if Lou didn’t win in the end.

I feel obligated to share my thoughts on Magazine Dreams. I have an immense sense of hometown pride and the director is from my hometown (read my thoughts on Annie Baker’s Janet Planet while you’re here). I love seeing anyone from Amherst, Massachusetts doing great things. Due to Jonathan Major’s legal issues this movie almost got shelved which would have been unfortunate for all the other people involved in the making of it (they didn’t do anything wrong, so why should their work have to be “cancelled”?)

I don’t mind folks using this movie as a jump-off to talk about the Venn Diagram between mental health, gender and race as long as folks are aware this story is not in any way a representation of the average Black male experience. If anything, one could draw a parallel between the events in the movie and the issues surrounding Jonathan Majors' real life.

Sunday, June 1, 2025

THE FOUL KING

Now that the Venn Diagram crossover between professional wrestling and cinema has reached an all-time high, perhaps it’s the perfect time for a re-evaluation of Kim Jee-Woon’s Foul King. It’s completely understandable that this movie isn’t as well known as something like The Wrestler or The Iron Claw. Generally speaking, foreign films still have an unfair stigma attached to them when it comes to English speaking audiences. There’s a good amount of mainstream English speaking audiences that consider anything with subtitles to be “slow” or “artsy”. We see it every day on social media - An actor or filmmaker are asked to name their favorite movies during a press tour and when they list something that isn’t Star Wars or Pulp Fiction they’re called pretentious simply because they like movies where people have accents or something. Not every movie with subtitles is slow or hard to follow. And not every English-speaking film is easy to digest. The Foul King is silly, goofy, sometimes explosively violent and full of heart. Another reason this movie is so niche is because it references non-American wrestling. There is one quick moment that shows a match between Steve Austin and The Undertaker, but for the most part this movie focuses on Japanese wrestling. At the time this movie was made, we were in the throws of the Monday night wars between the two biggest wrestling companies at the time (WWE & WCW). It wasn’t easy to keep up with foreign wrestling in 1999/2000 so it’s understandable that casual wrestling fans would have no idea who’s being referenced outside of crossover stars like Jushin Thunder Liger or The Great Muta. Even the most hardcore wrestling fans couldn't keep up with watching foreign wrestling on a consistent basis outside of reading newsletters & dirt sheets. Instead of Hulk Hogan, Sting and The Rock, The Foul King references wrestlers like El Hijo Del Santo, Tiger Mask and Vader (Vader certainly had a solid career on U.S. soil but he was a mega star in Japan).

Vader's entrance / The Foul King

Tiger Mask's backstage entrance / The Foul King

Masked wrestling plays a huge part in Foul King. The importance and lore behind the masked wrestler, made popular by Rey Mysterio, didn’t really reach American audiences until way later. Prior to that it was more of a novelty compared to wrestling in Japan and Mexico. There’s a scene towards the end of Foul King where our protagonist is partially unmasked in the ring which causes the audience to gasp similar to the classic Rey Mysterio/Eddie Guerrro Halloween Havoc match (it should be noted that while Foul King certainly gets in to the predetermined/"worked" aspects of Pro-wrestling, all of the in-ring scenes are made to feel real).

Halloween Havoc '97 / The Foul King

It isn't identical, but the mask worn by our protagonist in Foul King is similar to the Great Zebra's mask...

The Great Zebra / The Foul King

The film even opens with archived footage of what appears to be a New Japan or All Japan wrestling match.

Wrestling aside – Foul King pulls from the likes of The Coen Brothers and Shinya Tsukamoto. It would actually make for a great double feature with Tsukamoto’s Tokyo Fist. Both movies have incredibly similar plots: an unmotivated office worker finds his calling inside of a ring. The only difference is Tokyo Fist is boxing and Foul King is wrestling. As silly as wrestling can sometimes be, it can be a motivation for some. Teachers incorporate it in their lesson plans for elementary school kids. The physical element behind it, when done right, can improve your health. It also just provides an escape.

As far as filmmakers that I respect and like - Martin Scorsese, the Coen brothers - Kim Jee Woon, Indiewire.com

Raging Bull /
The Foul King

Barton Fink /
The Foul King

There are lots of little coincidental shots throughout Foul King that are reminiscent of Scorsese. The basic premise kind of owes a little to After Hours. Imagine if instead of going out for a night in the city, Griffin Dunne's "Paul" joins a wrestling school to cure his lack of motivation in life...

After Hours / The Foul King

Taxi Driver / The Foul King

And if you have the stamina, the ultimate triple feature would Foul King, Tokyo Fist and Raging Bull…

Raging Bull /
The Foul King

I have seen almost all Scorsese's films and I continue to be amazed. I'm astonished by his capacity to produce great films. He pushes forward the boundaries and potential of cinema - Shinya Tsukamoto, Variety

Raging Bull / Tokyo Fist

Now that both international films and international wrestling is way more accessible, Foul King could be a double gateway to new alternative lanes of cinema and professional wrestling.

Friday, September 1, 2023

VISUAL REFERENCES & HOMAGES IN JUICE - PART ONE UPDATED

Chinatown /
Juice

I got a little carried away and put together over 40 (possible) visual references for the movie Juice (there are a handful more that didn't make the initial cut which we'll look at in part two).

There’s nothing left to say about Juice from an storyline standpoint. It’s been dissected up & down in every way possible for the last 30+ years.

Now…what often goes overlooked in these reviews are all the visual influences & cinematic homages. Just because something isn't Pulp Fiction, Ghost Dog, Drive or Baby Driver doesn't mean the movie isn't filled with references.

Juice is synonymous with hip-hop culture and I think that's what causes some folks to miss all the cinematic references & homages outside of the culture.

Ernest Dickerson does borrow from two of the most famous hip-hop films in cinematic history…

Wild Style / Juice

Style Wars /
Juice

Ernest Dickerson is also one of the most important figures in modern Black cinema. Prior to his directorial debut he was Spike Lee’s cinematographer (he also shot Brother From Another Planet and Eddie Murphy Raw). The famous dolly shot that we all know from all of Lee’s films (that Dickerson helped to craft early on) can also be found in Juice:

Mo Better Blues /
Juice

But the cinematic references and visual homages don’t stop there...

Like a lot of filmmakers from Ernest Dickerson’s era, he was influenced by a lot of the classics which you can see throughout Juice.
It should also be noted that a friend of mine worked with Dickerson on a television show a few years ago and he said that all Dickerson did on his downtime was watch movies in his trailer. This makes a lot of sense when you scroll through this post...

Hitchcock was a master visual storyteller. He believed in something that he called 'pure cinema' where the dialogue is almost superfluous. And I do try to tell the story as visually as I possibly can - Ernest Dickerson, dailydead.com

Vertigo /
Juice

Dickerson returns to the Hitchcock suspense more than once in Juice...

Sabateur / Juice

One of the great movies of the 70's. One of the greatest movies ever - Chinatown - Ernest Dickerson, trailers from hell

Chinatown / Juice

It also can't be a coincidence that the final moments from Juice plays out like the final moments of Chinatown. Both films even end with the namedropping the title of the film...

Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown /
You got you the Juice now...

The filmmaker who stuck with me the most and really made me want to become a director was Stanley Kubrick - Ernest Dickerson, Complex

The Shining /
Juice

Full Metal Jacket /
Juice

I think the first film that really got me thinking about directing was Clockwork Orange - Ernest Dickerson, Monsters, Madness & Magic podcast

A Clockwork Orange /
Juice

A Clockwork Orange /
Juice

To be compared with Scorsese is an honor because he’s a hero of mine - Ernest Dickerson, Freshfiction.tv

The Great Train Robbery Juice

Taxi Driver /
Juice

Well, we were creating a thriller, so definitely movies like THE FRENCH CONNECTION were an influence - Ernest Dickerson, Flavorwire.com

The French Connection /
Juice

Dickerson even borrows from one of the most famous (and earliest) shots in cinema history…

The Great Train Robbery /
Juice

The biggest influence appears to be a smaller lesser known made-for-tv film from the 40’s about a group of troubled teens that get torn apart after they acquire a gun (sound familiar?)...

Another influence was an unknown film from back in the late 1940s called CITY ACROSS THE RIVER, which was an adaptation of a book called The Amboy Dukes - Ernest Dickerson, Flavor Wire

City Across The River /
Juice

City Across The River / Juice

Juice also pays homage a lot of smaller films in a kind “blink and you’ll miss it” sort of way…

One night we were watching OLIVER TWIST, the 1948 version directed by David Lean. My uncle said, ‘God, the photography is amazing.’ That's when it hit me. Movies are photographs - Ernest Dickerson, Ebony

Oliver Twist /Juice

KILLER OF SHEEP is an excellent film. Yeah, we knew of Charles Burnett's work - Ernest Dickerson, Shadow and Act

Killer Of Sheep / Juice

He [Melvin Van Peebles] was one of our heroes - Ernest Dickerson, Cineaste

Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song /
Juice

The most influence on me was the films of [Orson] Wells, especially THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS - Ernest Dickerson, Ebony

The Magnificent Ambersons / Juice

The Magnificent Amberson / Juice

Other unexpected sources of inspiration came from folks like Fritz Lang:

Movies like Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the look of Metropolis, had an effect on us - Ernest Dickerson, Flavorwire.com

Metropolis /
Juice

The German Expressionism seen in Metropolis also played a major part in the horror elements found in Juice. Outside of Dickerson’s legacy with Juice and his connection to Spike Lee - he’s also a staple in the modern horror genre. In addition to his films like Demon Knight & Bones, Dickerson even worked on Day Of The Dead with George Romero early on in his career.

we were looking at Expressionistic elements - elements from German Expressionist films - Ernest Dickerson, Flavorwire.com