Christmas, a time of magic and wonder for little Christian children, is just another day to hustle for rent money and rampage around Vegas for others. Go, directed by Doug Liman, traces three intersecting stories of a chaotic Christmas Eve and day. The tales do not lead to holiday redemption but to the realization that the festivities are simply a backdrop and nothing more. The stale cinematic ideal of Christmas miracles is amusingly dashed by this film of desperate situations and unforeseen calamities. The three chapters of the film follow Ronna (Sarah Polley), Sonny (Desmond Askew) and Zack and Adam (Jay Mohr and Scott Wolf) through events in which their best laid plans go completely awry.
Go was released in 1999, the turn of the 21st century, and has aged fairly well. Due to our accelerated culture, aspects of the film are dated or may seem confusing to a younger viewer, such as the reliance on beepers and pay phones, people reading and critiquing the comics page of the newspaper and calling ecstasy by it's original street name, not molly, as people seem compelled to call MDMA now. The casting of this film adds a dash of nostalgia as well. Katie Holmes and Scott Wolf were actors from popular TV dramas at the time and were cast against type. For those who watched Dawson's Creek or Party of Five, seeing these actors given a role not expected of them was cheeky fun. Other actors appear who would come to prominence later; Timothy Olyphant, Taye Diggs, Jane Krankowski and Melissa McCarthy give performances large and small which are memorable and show how bright their futures would become. The soundtrack is also very '90's, including tracks from No Doubt, Fatboy Slim, Air and everyone's favorite tune, The Macarena, dance craze of the decade.
The three stories start in a dingy LA supermarket in which Ronna, Claire (Katie Holmes), Simon, and Mannie (Nathan Bexton) work. Ronna has worked a 14 hour shift as a cashier dealing with bossy, rude customers and just wants to go home. Her home is not going to be around much longer, due to her owing back rent and facing eviction on Christmas day. Simon, her gregarious, obnoxious English co-worker offers her his shift, in order for him to take a road trip to Las Vegas with his buddies. She accepts his shift, in her desperation for money, and here is where the three stories lift off. The first chapter is titled 'Ronna' and follows her travails obtaining rent money, the second chapter is titled 'Simon' and details the lunacy of having an out-of-control Vegas night and the third chapter is titled 'Adam & Zack' delving into the consequences of the duo's lies.
Ronna's chapter presents the story of a poor young woman, using only her cunning to get by. To gain the extra rent money, Ronna decides to pull a one-off drug deal which will ensure her financial security. After much negotiation with a paranoid drug dealer Todd (Timothy Olyphant) for 20 hits of ecstasy, she tries to sell with no success. She is wary of the prospective buyers, flushes the pills and narrowly escapes being arrested in a drug deal staged by the police. Ronna is now doubly screwed, as she has no drug-deal money and also no pills; how to pay back surly Todd? The pharmacy aisle is her answer; substitute antihistamines for the lost pills, pass them off as authentic to Todd and then sell the remainder at a rave to naive attendants. Ronna is crafty; she convinces many at the rave to buy her 'ecstasy', smoke a lot of pot with the fakes to enhance their qualities and the buyers actually believe they are rolling. Ronna then feels financially secure enough to join the rave and steps in to dance the night away. Her relief is short-lived as Todd has figured out her ruse, finds her at the rave and tries to gun her down. As he gets ready to shoot, Ronna is hit buy a car in the parking lot and is propelled into a ditch. Ronna's chapter has ended, bloodied and injured at the bottom of ditch; a terrible ending to a night spent avoiding close calls.
Simon's chapter is that of a young fool who stumbles through the pleasurable absurdities of Las Vegas nightlife. Simon keeps company with Tiny (Breckin Meyer), Singh (James Duval) and Marcus (Taye Diggs who is 800 IQ points smarter than his companions; a peculiar choice of friends for sure) and they descend on a copious casino buffet to begin their wild weekend. With little surprise, Tiny and Singh are sequestered to their hotel room after indulging in too much buffet seafood and Simon and Marcus leave them to explore the city. Simon is quickly bored with gambling, crashes a Jewish wedding, picks up two bridesmaids and is invited to their hotel room for a joint and some hot sex. So hot in fact that the room is engulfed in flames(lesson: smoke pot responsibly) and Simon makes a harried escape. Simon and Marcus then travel to a strip club, via a righteously stolen* sports car, in which Simon causes easily-avoidable trouble. Simon is a walking Id, so of course he can't keep his hands off of the strippers and ultimately shoots one of the bouncers at the club. He and his buddies then make a hasty exit out of Vegas, with the injured bouncer and his boss following behind. Simon, ever the brainiac, was using Todd the surly drug dealer's credit card at the strip club, which helped the employees track him down. As Simon's chapter ends, the aggrieved men from the strip club follow him back to LA to exact revenge.
Adam and Zack's chapter finds them in need of a lot of ecstasy, yet not for a party. The closeted couple(actors on a popular TV crime drama) have struck a deal with law enforcement to wear a wire in order to assist in a drug sting. The officer in charge of the sting operation is Burke (William Fichtner), a man who is itching to bust any big drug deal and who is very off-putting in his familiarity with Adam and Zack. The drug deal to be busted, turns into a bust, as Zack warns Ronna, who is providing the ecstasy to “Go!” and extract herself from the setup. After the failed drug sting, Adam and Zack are cajoled into having Christmas Eve dinner with Burke and his wife. The reason for the overly-friendly and inappropriate manner of the hosts is slowly revealed to the couple; they have been invited to hear a pitch about Confederated Products an Amway-type pyramid scheme! After being subjected to the indignity of a multi-level marketing proposal, Adam and Zack head to the rave and the evening devolves more. Cash-strapped Ronna is in the parking lot pleading with Todd and then, slam, she is hit by Adam and Zack's car. The couple predictably freak out, retrieve Ronna's bloody body and place her on top of a car for others to find her and call an ambulance. They did the “right thing”, as in, they made sure Ronna didn't die, but they aren't going to the cops again. No one needs to be subjected to a pyramid-scheme pitch twice.
The film ends on Christmas morning, with revenge enacted and stock taken of the previous evening. So this is Christmas, working the holiday shift at a crap supermarket. No miracles occurred, only tight escapes and the smallest amount of luck surfaced. The nuanced and humorous performances of the ensemble bring depth to a story that has no rosy Christmas message. In that way Go is a very honest and funny picture of what the rest of us do during the over-hyped holiday. Though there could be one little lesson: don't ever take two hits of ecstasy, you might end up doing the Macarena in the produce section...
*Marcus steals the sports car as a matter of principle. Due to him being a black man who decided to wear a mustard-yellow blazer, he is mistaken as a casino employee by racist casino patrons. As Marcus and Simon exit the casino, a man throws Marcus his keys, assuming he is a valet attendant. That is the last straw for Marcus; he tells Simon, “Get in the car” and they ride off. Racist idiots deserve that sort of comeuppance; it's satisfying.
Although this years' holiday movie has nothing to do with Christmas, the title makes it eligible in my book. While I put the final touches on my end of the year review, I reached out to Leanne (again) to take care of this years' "Christmas" movie.
Enjoy...
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) directed by Nagisa Oshima is a unique WWII film which focuses on a Japanese internment camp on Java in 1942 and the volatile cultural clashes which ensued there. WWII films tend to focus on valor and strength, while this film explores how intercultural communication is amplified and skewed by catastrophic events. An entrancing score written by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also plays the troubled Capt. Yonoi, combined with a top-notch cast including David Bowie, Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano and the scene-stealing Tom Conti, provide a window into two cultures bound by the monstrous actions which accompany the hell of war.
The intercultural misunderstandings experienced by the Japanese soldiers and their Allied captives are multilevel within the internment camp which they occupy. Not only is there a conflict between East and West but also within these groups. Capt. Yonoi is of the samurai class and his ideas on honor vary from those of his counterpart, Sgt. Hara(Takeshi). Sgt. Hara absolutely adheres to the traditional Japanese ideals of honor, yet is not of the high class of the samurai and hence more casual. Sgt. Hara metes out his share of torture and discipline, yet his power derives from the military as opposed to an ancient order. The decisions which the two commanders make in relation to the POWs illustrate how cultural norms are morphed by certain time periods and extreme social circumstances. Yonoi and Hara would have unlikely ever interacted in regular life; the War thrust them together to fumble through their own understanding of their position in society and then applying that to a foreign culture which they can barely fathom.
The Allied POWs include those of all classes, with the culture of the military and fear of death bonding them. Col. Lawrence(Tom Conti) is the everyman, acting as the ambassador to the POW's Japanese captors. Mr. Lawrence, as Sgt. Hara dubs him, tries valiantly to cause as little harm to his men as possible while still trying to seem deferential to the Japanese. His aim is to keep his head down, keep his men's dwindling morale stable, and survive until the War ends. Ultimately the capture and addition of Major Celliers(David Bowie) to the camp throws a wrench in Lawrence's efforts. Celliers is a man of honor whose Western individualism serves to rile both his imprisoners and Lawrence alike. Celliers believes that standing strong against injustice will serve his compatriots well, yet does not factor that his boldness will translate to flippant disrespect.
The power of intrigue and curiosity serve to inform the relationships and ultimate fates of the men of the camp. The tones of unrequited love color the relationship between Yonoi and Celliers. The opening actions of the film which involve an ad hoc trial of two POWs, Korean and Allied, who are discovered having sex and are to be punished, set the tone for Yonoi's and Celliers' interactions. Yonoi's overzealous interest in Celliers' well-being and thoughts, lead one to believe he is interested in the Major for more than the military information he can deliver. Similarly, Celliers seems to toy with Yonoi's emotions, confusing him with his acts of disregard for authority, like defiantly stealing food and absurdly eating flowers to rile the camp guards. Celliers takes near glee in his acts of sacrifice, not feeling ashamed of his imprisonment, very unlike the ideas of honor his captor holds. The sight of an honorable yet insubordinate man of regard, from a culture made enemy through war, rattles Yonoi to the extent that he must finally quash that which threatens to implode his entire worldview.
The relationship between Hara and Lawrence is an odd blend of genuine friendship and brutality. If not for the War, one could imagine them meeting on a vacation someday and becoming fast friends. The sadness of their relationship is that they had to meet in a temporary time of horror, which will allow them no such happy accord. The conversations between Hara and Lawrence lean toward the darkly humorous. Hara frankly states, with a jolly smile on his face, that Lawrence should commit suicide, as that is honorable, while being a POW is the utmost humiliation. Lawrence counters that in his culture being a POW is an accepted variable of war and thus not a humiliation. Their debate on this serious subject is more of a witty banter than an order from Hara. Hara never hands Lawrence a knife, he more bemusedly presses on with his total confusion of why one wouldn't kill themself, never fully grasping that there could be alternate action. The final meeting between Hara and Lawrence is bittersweet, affirming the notion that war deforms love and leaves only regret.
The dismal tropical camp setting filled with wretched prisoners barely clinging to life and hope lays bare the terrible tortures which occurred in the Pacific during WWII. The POWs are starved, made to line up in formation in oppressive weather and even forced to commit seppuku. The horrifying slash of a knife into the abdomen of a prisoner confined to take his own life is a symbol the mutilation of a nation's soul. The Japanese were merciless and cruel with their prisoners, committing numerous foul injustices. This film reminds us that any culture can become grotesque in the face of absolute power.
I've been so busy trying to finish this end of the year movie wrap-up (which should be ready some time next week) that I didn't give myself enough time to do a Christmas movie entry. Luckily my good friend Doug Frye (one of the few people I know that truly understands this terrible masterpiece of a film) was available to write about the movie I had in mind - Silent Night, Deadly Night: Part 2.
If you haven't read his piece on The Punisher that was part of our Expendables Special back in august or tuned in to his Schlock Treatment Podcast at some point, you're doing yourself a disservice.
Enjoy...
Smash.
-The Incredible Hulk
Punish.
-Billy Caldwell
Naughty!
-Ricky Caldwell
Some monsters come alive with a single word, as if by magic. When not magical creatures, they must be surely gamma-irradiated—I assume this to be the case with Billy and Ricky, the Hulk-strong brothers starring in, respectively, Silent Night, Deadly Night and its sequel. In deference to whomever Mr. Pinn has tapped to review the original, I’ll stick to writing about Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 as best I can, though somewhere between forty-five and sixty percent of the sequel consists of scenes from the original film presented as flashbacks. In fact, nearly all of the film’s action takes place in flashback, as Ricky relates his story (and his older brother, Billy’s) to his court appointed psychologist. Ricky has apparently been placed in the most minimum-security facility they could find, without a single guard present. I think SN,DN2 might be a revolutionary film, in that only the black guy setting up the recording equipment for Ricky’s session survived the film, a feat he accomplishes this by not trusting the murderer not to murder him. He’s the closest thing resembling security, and he’s a tech. This becomes even more ridiculous as Ricky’s story unfolds. He relates his earliest experience, a carjacker in a Santa suit killing his parents while he was just a baby. These are actually his brother’s earliest memories, but it’s cheaper for the producers to just recycle these. Long flashback short, Billy endures a brutal upbringing by nuns that combines with his childhood trauma, resulting in him killing a lot of people and leaving a murderous legacy to Ricky.
A couple, the Rosenbergs (perfect because they’ll “have nothing to do with Christmas”), adopts young Ricky, though even after having never been informed of the multiple traumas that Ricky has lived through, they still can’t seem to handle him, like when the mother shushes him as he trembles at the presence of a murder of nuns (a pack of nuns is called a murder). I thought at the scene where the parents went to the nice Sister Mary, they might be giving him back to the orphanage, just to rub some salt in his wounded psyche, but no, they keep him until their deaths, in about ten years. So, to recap the events: no one has made the slightest attempt to help this kid process his trauma—the closest thing he’s had to therapy are regular sister-issued beatings and being called “naughty.” The latter plays a big part in his development.
Ricky’s big break as a murderer comes in a deserted field, where he happens upon a picnicking couple for some reason. There’s no explanation for why he’s walking out there so far from anything. Anything, that is, save the film’s third attempted rape scene in only forty-five minutes (two of which came from the original film, in case you needed its actual legacy). Only Ms. 45 can compete with that kind of efficiency. This provides Ricky the opportunity at a sympathetic killing, driving over a redneck would-be-rapist with his own red jeep. While I found this detail unimportant, Ricky’s therapist felt the need to write down and highlight RED CAR in his notes. Ricky follows this up with a second killing—a mob enforcer collecting a gambling debt in the alley behind Ricky’s workplace. This is truly Ricky’s finest example of his handiwork, as well as the place where his gamma-irradiated genes come alive. Though the goon outsizes him significantly, Ricky is able to lift him off his feet singlehandedly, freeing his other hand to fish an umbrella from the garbage, spear the guy through his belly, and still have the dexterity to open the now blood soaked umbrella. It puts the much more popular “Garbage Day!” to shame. It won’t be Ricky’s last feat of superhuman strength, but it remains his most impressive.
Now, Ricky has developed a taste for blood, but presumably also for defending the weak from their tormentors. The film should have stuck to this logic, developing Ricky as a kind of pre-Dexter antihero. Instead, he’s all over the place, killing indiscriminately, and his “Naughty” catchphrase loses any meaning by the time he reaches the shooting sequence that’s the reason you’ve heard of this movie. At the end of this rampage, he’s just blindly shooting anyone who crosses his path. There is no punishment being delivered, just a massacre being enacted without any sense of Ricky’s busted moral compass guiding him. It’s unintentionally hilarious, but also drags the movie down in its abandonment of Ricky’s logic. Oh, and Ricky finishes his therapy session by making good on the veiled threats against his counselor, something he should have taken more seriously than the paintjob on cars his patient confiscated, leading to said patient escaping to the sounds of “Oh God, he’s loose!” into the completely unguarded facility holding this dangerous, super-powered psychopath.
From here, the movie gets confusing, devolving into a standard “slasher-stalks-heroine” act, except that the heroine is an aged, burn-scarred Mother Superior, the same nun who tormented young Billy so much that he went insane. The scene goes through all the classic beats, except I don’t want this evil woman to survive—I’m rooting much more for the demented result of her child-rearing approach. The whole scene ends up about as you would expect, with cops gunning down the now Santa-suited Ricky and him proving to be still alive for the promise of a sequel.
Had star Eric Freeman been available and interested, I’d have been game for a sequel, too. His weird energy and mugging in lieu of offering true menace carried the film to the cult status that it currently enjoys (according to the producers in a DVD commentary track, Freeman has vanished without a trace). While I won’t pretend that this is good, intended to be, or stood a chance to be on its meager roots, Sn,Dn2 is far more entertaining than it has any right to be. Could “Garbage Day!” have been a written line, or is Freeman an ad-libbing genius? I’ll probably never know, but he made this film. Even better, I’d love a Punisher-style part three featuring the return of both Ricky and Billy as twin murderous Santas, exacting punishment on all the naughty people at Christmastime, like two parents fighting over Cabbage Patch Dolls and Ticklish Elmos. Had they actually embraced the camp factor and dumped the slasher tropes, the Caldwell clan’s adventures could have continued for as long as Freddy Krueger managed to churn out sequels.
Well, they could have reached at least Leprechaunesque heights. Silent Night, Deadly Night in the Hood, anyone?
SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 2 Just like Troll 2, this is another cult movie where most people don't seem to care about the first part (i wouldn't even be surprised if anyone hasn't actually seen Silent Night Deadly Night 1). This movie also shares another similarity with Troll 2 in that its another awful/awesome movie that's been re-discovered thanks to sites like; Youtube, Collegehumor and other viral sites. Because of the famous "Garbage Day" clip, Silent Night Deadly Night 2 has become one of the new cult movies of the 21st century. I was gonna put this on one of my "Movies for Halloween" lists, but it made more sense for this to be with the christmas movies (i mean, these silent night deadly night movies are essentially about a psycho running around in a santa klaus outfit hacking people up with an axe). In Silent Night Deadly Night 2 we follow Ricky, Billy's little brother from part 1. In the film, we see Ricky follow down the same evil path as his brother and watch as he slowly turns in to a serial killer seeking revenge on the sadistic nun from the first film who made life for him and his brother a living hell. If you've actually seen this entire movie, you know that there's a whole lot more to this besides the Garbage Day scene. There's the scene where Ricky kills the guy in the movie theater. The part where Ricky shoves an umbrella through a guys torso. And lets not forget the overall performance given by the commanding lead actor Eric Freeman, who almost never seems to blink (or show much emotion at all) through out the entire film.
BAD SANTA Its kinda funny that Terry Zwigoff directed this movie strictly for the paycheck, and it ended up being even better than the disappointing; 'Art School Confidential' (the movie Zwigoff made thanks to the money he got from 'Bad Santa'). While 'Ghost World' highlighted Zwigoff's talent for awkwardly dark humor, Bad Santa was his first foray into raunchy and somewhat obscene humor. The dark humor in Bad Santa isn't as 'intelligent' as Ghost World, but it still works. Before this films release, the trailer didn't make this movie out to be that appealing. But slowly through word of mouth, this movie started to gain a reputation for its unexpected humor, and is slowly becoming a new-age cult movie (midnight screenings of Bad Santa have slowly started to pop up in movie theaters through out the U.S.). Zwigoff's obvious Todd Solondz-influenced film making (as seen in 'Crumb' and 'Ghost World') is nowhere to be found in Bad Santa. R.I.P. John Ritter and Bernie Mac.
71 FRAGMENTS... After you finish watching 'Bad Santa', why not depress the shit outta yourself and watch the third installment of Michael Hanake's "Glaciation trilogy" (a trilogy based on actual events that have taken place in Austria over the years). This movie, which is loosely based on the true story of an austrian college student who cracked up, shot up a bank full of people then killed himself a few minutes later, is one of the few multi-storyline/multi-character films from the mid-90's that had absolutely NOTHING to do with Pulp Fiction (for that fact a lone, this movie deserves an applause). In the film, Haneke interweaves the lives of random austrian residents (a couple that has just adopted a daughter, a middle-aged couple that's recently lost their child, a lonely old man, a college student on the brink of a nervous breakdown, a romanian immigrant, etc) during the christmas season. Michael Haneke sure does make his country seem like a pretty grim place. This movie isn't as depressing as his first film; The 7th Continent, but it comes pretty close, with an ending just as powerful.
ROCKY 4 The Rocky saga shouldve ended with this one if you ask me. Outside of the final street fight at the end of Rocky 5, both; 5 & 6 are horrible, especially when compared to this one. We've all seen Rocky 4 by now (and if you haven't, what the fuck have you been doing with your life?), so we all know the story. Ivan Drago, the new lethal kid on the boxing circuit kills Apollo Creed in a boxing match, and Rocky seeks revenge. This movie was made during the height of the "evil russians" plot craze, that many american action movies played into with movies like; 'Red Dawn', 'Ruskies', 'Rambo 2', and many more. This movie has so many memorable scenes (especially the final training montage) and quotes. This is a must see for everyone.
RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE I just saw this over the weekend at IFC, and along with 'Kickass', this is my favorite guilty pleasure movie of 2010. Its funny, because in a strange way, this horror/action/comedy reminded me of that parody action santa klaus movie from 'Scrooged' (the Bill Murray 'Scrooged'). I must emphasize that in order to enjoy this, it cannot be taken seriously. In Rare Exports, director; Jalmari Helander puts a disturbing twist on the age-old fairy tale of Santa Klaus. The film follows main character; Pietari, a young finnish boy who lives with his struggling single father, who notices certain things that others in his village don't see. Due to all the disturbing fairy tales he always reads, he's convinced that Santa Klaus isn't the jolly old man that everyone makes him out to be and he's lurking around the village waiting to kidnap all the children on christmas eve. Anyone who's a fan of Jav Svankmajer (a director famous for making movies based on twisted fairy tales) is sure to enjoy this movie.
BUGSY I'm partially putting this movie on my list as reminder to myself to re-watch it, because its been a while. I'm aware the entire film (a biography about gangster/entrepreneur Bugsy Seigel) doesn't take place during christmas, but a critical segment of the film (Bugsy's casino owning days in Las Vegas), does. This movie is also a big part of Harvey Keitel's comeback that took place during the early 1990's. In a few short years ('92-'94), Keitel re-emerged to the A-list status that he once had with; Bugsy, Bad Lieutenant, Reservoir Dogs, The Piano and Pulp Fiction. Much like how Dennis Hopper was nominated for an academy award for Hoosiers, when he really should have been nominated that year for Blue Velvet, Keitel ended up getting nominated (his one and only nomination) for his performance in Bugsy, when most people felt it should have been for Bad Lieutenant.
THE HEBREW HAMMER Wow, Christmas time must suck for american kids in the public school system who celebrate Hanukka (or even Kwanzaa for that matter). Sure schools, try to acknowledge other holidays, but no matter what, Christmas is always #1. I think part of Hebrew Hammer's motivation as a film was to appeal to all the non-christian kids who had Christmas shoved in their faces for so many years. In 'The Hebrew Hammer', Adam Goldberg plays; Mordecai Carver, aka "The Hebrew Hammer". He's pretty much a jewish shaft/local hero among the jewish community. After santa is killed by his evil son (played by Andy Dick) with plans to do away with all holidays except Christmas, the Hebrew Hammer is given his toughest mission yet from the Jewish Justice League (the company he works for): save hanukka. To do this, he joins forces with fellow JJL agent; "Ester Bloombergensteinenthal" and head of the Kwanzaa liberation front; "Muhammad Ali Paula Abdul", played by Mario Van Peeples (a nice homage to Melvin Van Peeples, who pretty much single handedly started the 'Blaxploitation' genre, which 'The Hebrew Hammer' pays homage to).
AMERICAN PSYCHO This movie will always be a nice comment on yuppies and the 80's in general. Thank god we have the 'american psycho' we know today, and not what almost became the cocaine induced Oliver Stone adaptation that was supposed to star Leonardo Dicaprio. In the film, Christian Bale plays a young successful wall street stock broker by day and a serial killer by night (...or is it all in his head). By now, I'm sure most of you reading this know that my mancrush on christian bale started after his amazing temper tantrum on the set of the last terminator movie (which bumped mike tyson's homophobic/homoerotic rant at the tyson/lewis press conference down to 2nd place). Other than 'the fighter', which has everyone talking about bale, 'American Pyscho' is Christian Bale's best performance. I mean when you think about it, the batman movies are obviously not about his acting, 'public enemies' focused on Johnny Depp more than him, and with the machinist, people seemed to be more hung up on his weight loss ability and less on his acting. Bale does an amazing job as a psychopath, and i cant help but think that director; Marry Harron drew some inspiration from Mike Leigh's character 'Jeremy G Smart' from his film 'Naked'. Oh and in case you guys didn't realize, this movie takes place during christmas so it counts
for those of you not familiar with the movie 'naked', here's the character i was talking about, that I'm sure was used in some way to shape the patrick bateman character.
MORVERN CALLAR Sorry, but i had to throw in one "art house" film on the list. On christmas day, Morvern Callar wakes up to see that her boyfriend has committed suicide. This doesn't really seem to bother her (or director Lynne Ramsay was exploring a new way to express shock). Also, before his suicide, her boyfriend leaves behind a manuscript that she passes off as her own, which turns out to be very good and she sells it for $100,000. This is an anti-chick flick. Or, depending on how you look at it, its a chick flick that men can also enjoy. And Boards of Canada's amazing music makes this movie even better. In fact, i consider this movie to be one of the best of the last decade, and Samantha Morton's performance is also one of the best of the decade.
EYES WIDE SHUT No matter how much i say this movie annoys me, i always end up watching it a couple of times a year. Maybe its time for me to just admit that i kinda like this movie. We all know the tale of stanley kubrick's last movie that left everyone scratching their heads (especially at that ending). When Dr. Harford (Tom Cruise) cant deal with the fact that his wife (Nicole Kidman) once considered cheating on him, he tries to get back at her by going to masked sex orgy, but ends up getting in way over his head and puts his and his family's life in danger. What annoys me the most about this movie is that if any other director shot a movie in london that was supposed to set in nyc, they would've gotten trashed, but because Kubrick did it, everyone (including Martin Scorsese) reached for the most bullshit excuses as to why Kubrick pulled off representing nyc with a green screen backdrop and scenic shots of the city (shot by someone else). Also, the scene where Nicole Kidman confesses her fantasy about cheating on her husband (a crucial part in the film) could have been executed so much better. I think of plenty of actresses who could have pulled off that scene much better. If anything, watch the movie because it was shot well (like any kubrick film), had a great soundtrack, and the sex orgy sequence was very good. But overall the acting was kinda flat.
THE PROPOSITION Just trying to throw in yet another non-traditional christmas movie (this story takes place during christmas). This is a great modern western that stands out above most because of its dark, moody, atmosphere (probably due to nick cave's influence). For years, there have been plenty of Australian films that many would consider a "western", but this may be the first (or at least most successful) crossover to incorporate Aborigines. In 'The Proposition', Guy Pierce is hired by Ray Winstone (in one of his best performances ever) to hunt down and kill a sadistic gang of outlaws under the command of Pierce's brother (played by Danny Huston). This movie is way more bloody and violent than your average cowboy movie. Fans of Deadwood or The Assassination of Jesse James should enjoy this movie.
RED SLEIGH DOWN I threw in a tv episode in one of my "movies for halloween" lists back in october, so why not do the same for christmas. In this episode of southpark, the 4 boy and Jesus have to save Santa Klaus from terrorists after they shoot his sleigh down because they have mistaken santa for a terrorists. This was during the period where was southpark was getting super preachy and a bit obnoxious at time, but this episode in particular wasn't that bad. The highlight of this episode for me was the random reference to david o russell's 'three kings' (the torture scene). I was never a fan of the southpark christmas episodes that feature mr hanky because, just like cartman, i cant stand that character. But I'll make an exception with this episode.
link to full episode:http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s06e17-red-sleigh-down
SCROOGED This one is a little obvious, but it never gets old. As far as I'm concerned, this is the best adaptation of a christmas carol yet. This is Bill Murray at his prime. And just like most of you, i am getting kinda sick of 'a christmas story'. For the last few years, Ive only watched it for a few scenes, but never all the way through. Luckily, just like TNT does with 'a christmas story', AMC will be showing 'Scrooged' for 24 hours starting on christmas eve. Bill Murray is obviously hilarious in this, but the supporting cast is also great. Aside from him, Carol Kane is probably my favorite character in the movie as the ghost of christmas present.
Just like Troll 2, this is another cult movie where most people don't seem to care about the first part (i wouldn't even be surprised if anyone hasn't actually seen Silent Night Deadly Night 1). This movie also shares another similarity with Troll 2 in that its another awful/awesome movie that's been re-discovered thanks to sites like; Youtube, Collegehumor and other viral sites. Because of the famous "Garbage Day" clip, Silent Night Deadly Night 2 has become one of the new cult movies of the 21st century. I was gonna put this on one of my "Movies for Halloween" lists, but it made more sense for this to be with the christmas movies (i mean, these silent night deadly night movies are essentially about a psycho running around in a santa klaus outfit hacking people up with an axe). In Silent Night Deadly Night 2 we follow Ricky, Billy's little brother from part 1. In the film, we see Ricky follow down the same evil path as his brother and watch as he slowly turns in to a serial killer seeking revenge on the sadistic nun from the first film who made life for him and his brother a living hell. If you've actually seen this entire movie, you know that there's a whole lot more to this besides the Garbage Day scene. There's the scene where Ricky kills the guy in the movie theater. The part where Ricky shoves an umbrella through a guys torso. And lets not forget the overall performance given by the commanding lead actor Eric Freeman, who almost never seems to blink (or show much emotion at all) through out the entire film.
Its kinda funny that Terry Zwigoff directed this movie strictly for the paycheck, and it ended up being even better than the disappointing; 'Art School Confidential' (the movie Zwigoff made thanks to the money he got from 'Bad Santa'). While 'Ghost World' highlighted Zwigoff's talent for awkwardly dark humor, Bad Santa was his first foray into raunchy and somewhat obscene humor. The dark humor in Bad Santa isn't as 'intelligent' as Ghost World, but it still works. Before this films release, the trailer didn't make this movie out to be that appealing. But slowly through word of mouth, this movie started to gain a reputation for its unexpected humor, and is slowly becoming a new-age cult movie (midnight screenings of Bad Santa have slowly started to pop up in movie theaters through out the U.S.). Zwigoff's obvious Todd Solondz-influenced film making (as seen in 'Crumb' and 'Ghost World') is nowhere to be found in Bad Santa. R.I.P. John Ritter and Bernie Mac.
After you finish watching 'Bad Santa', why not depress the shit outta yourself and watch the third installment of Michael Hanake's "Glaciation trilogy" (a trilogy based on actual events that have taken place in Austria over the years). This movie, which is loosely based on the true story of an austrian college student who cracked up, shot up a bank full of people then killed himself a few minutes later, is one of the few multi-storyline/multi-character films from the mid-90's that had absolutely NOTHING to do with Pulp Fiction (for that fact a lone, this movie deserves an applause). In the film, Haneke interweaves the lives of random austrian residents (a couple that has just adopted a daughter, a middle-aged couple that's recently lost their child, a lonely old man, a college student on the brink of a nervous breakdown, a romanian immigrant, etc) during the christmas season. Michael Haneke sure does make his country seem like a pretty grim place. This movie isn't as depressing as his first film; The 7th Continent, but it comes pretty close, with an ending just as powerful.
The Rocky saga shouldve ended with this one if you ask me. Outside of the final street fight at the end of Rocky 5, both; 5 & 6 are horrible, especially when compared to this one. We've all seen Rocky 4 by now (and if you haven't, what the fuck have you been doing with your life?), so we all know the story. Ivan Drago, the new lethal kid on the boxing circuit kills Apollo Creed in a boxing match, and Rocky seeks revenge. This movie was made during the height of the "evil russians" plot craze, that many american action movies played into with movies like; 'Red Dawn', 'Ruskies', 'Rambo 2', and many more. This movie has so many memorable scenes (especially the final training montage) and quotes. This is a must see for everyone.
I just saw this over the weekend at IFC, and along with 'Kickass', this is my favorite guilty pleasure movie of 2010. Its funny, because in a strange way, this horror/action/comedy reminded me of that parody action santa klaus movie from 'Scrooged' (the Bill Murray 'Scrooged'). I must emphasize that in order to enjoy this, it cannot be taken seriously. In Rare Exports, director; Jalmari Helander puts a disturbing twist on the age-old fairy tale of Santa Klaus. The film follows main character; Pietari, a young finnish boy who lives with his struggling single father, who notices certain things that others in his village don't see. Due to all the disturbing fairy tales he always reads, he's convinced that Santa Klaus isn't the jolly old man that everyone makes him out to be and he's lurking around the village waiting to kidnap all the children on christmas eve. Anyone who's a fan of Jav Svankmajer (a director famous for making movies based on twisted fairy tales) is sure to enjoy this movie.
I'm partially putting this movie on my list as reminder to myself to re-watch it, because its been a while. I'm aware the entire film (a biography about gangster/entrepreneur Bugsy Seigel) doesn't take place during christmas, but a critical segment of the film (Bugsy's casino owning days in Las Vegas), does. This movie is also a big part of Harvey Keitel's comeback that took place during the early 1990's. In a few short years ('92-'94), Keitel re-emerged to the A-list status that he once had with; Bugsy, Bad Lieutenant, Reservoir Dogs, The Piano and Pulp Fiction. Much like how Dennis Hopper was nominated for an academy award for Hoosiers, when he really should have been nominated that year for Blue Velvet, Keitel ended up getting nominated (his one and only nomination) for his performance in Bugsy, when most people felt it should have been for Bad Lieutenant.
Wow, Christmas time must suck for american kids in the public school system who celebrate Hanukka (or even Kwanzaa for that matter). Sure schools, try to acknowledge other holidays, but no matter what, Christmas is always #1. I think part of Hebrew Hammer's motivation as a film was to appeal to all the non-christian kids who had Christmas shoved in their faces for so many years. In 'The Hebrew Hammer', Adam Goldberg plays; Mordecai Carver, aka "The Hebrew Hammer". He's pretty much a jewish shaft/local hero among the jewish community. After santa is killed by his evil son (played by Andy Dick) with plans to do away with all holidays except Christmas, the Hebrew Hammer is given his toughest mission yet from the Jewish Justice League (the company he works for): save hanukka. To do this, he joins forces with fellow JJL agent; "Ester Bloombergensteinenthal" and head of the Kwanzaa liberation front; "Muhammad Ali Paula Abdul", played by Mario Van Peeples (a nice homage to Melvin Van Peeples, who pretty much single handedly started the 'Blaxploitation' genre, which 'The Hebrew Hammer' pays homage to).
This movie will always be a nice comment on yuppies and the 80's in general. Thank god we have the 'american psycho' we know today, and not what almost became the cocaine induced Oliver Stone adaptation that was supposed to star Leonardo Dicaprio. In the film, Christian Bale plays a young successful wall street stock broker by day and a serial killer by night (...or is it all in his head). By now, I'm sure most of you reading this know that my mancrush on christian bale started after his amazing temper tantrum on the set of the last terminator movie (which bumped mike tyson's homophobic/homoerotic rant at the tyson/lewis press conference down to 2nd place). Other than 'the fighter', which has everyone talking about bale, 'American Pyscho' is Christian Bale's best performance. I mean when you think about it, the batman movies are obviously not about his acting, 'public enemies' focused on Johnny Depp more than him, and with the machinist, people seemed to be more hung up on his weight loss ability and less on his acting. Bale does an amazing job as a psychopath, and i cant help but think that director; Marry Harron drew some inspiration from Mike Leigh's character 'Jeremy G Smart' from his film 'Naked'. Oh and in case you guys didn't realize, this movie takes place during christmas so it counts
Sorry, but i had to throw in one "art house" film on the list. On christmas day, Morvern Callar wakes up to see that her boyfriend has committed suicide. This doesn't really seem to bother her (or director Lynne Ramsay was exploring a new way to express shock). Also, before his suicide, her boyfriend leaves behind a manuscript that she passes off as her own, which turns out to be very good and she sells it for $100,000. This is an anti-chick flick. Or, depending on how you look at it, its a chick flick that men can also enjoy. And Boards of Canada's amazing music makes this movie even better. In fact, i consider this movie to be one of the best of the last decade, and Samantha Morton's performance is also one of the best of the decade.
No matter how much i say this movie annoys me, i always end up watching it a couple of times a year. Maybe its time for me to just admit that i kinda like this movie. We all know the tale of stanley kubrick's last movie that left everyone scratching their heads (especially at that ending). When Dr. Harford (Tom Cruise) cant deal with the fact that his wife (Nicole Kidman) once considered cheating on him, he tries to get back at her by going to masked sex orgy, but ends up getting in way over his head and puts his and his family's life in danger. What annoys me the most about this movie is that if any other director shot a movie in london that was supposed to set in nyc, they would've gotten trashed, but because Kubrick did it, everyone (including Martin Scorsese) reached for the most bullshit excuses as to why Kubrick pulled off representing nyc with a green screen backdrop and scenic shots of the city (shot by someone else). Also, the scene where Nicole Kidman confesses her fantasy about cheating on her husband (a crucial part in the film) could have been executed so much better. I think of plenty of actresses who could have pulled off that scene much better. If anything, watch the movie because it was shot well (like any kubrick film), had a great soundtrack, and the sex orgy sequence was very good. But overall the acting was kinda flat.
Just trying to throw in yet another non-traditional christmas movie (this story takes place during christmas). This is a great modern western that stands out above most because of its dark, moody, atmosphere (probably due to nick cave's influence). For years, there have been plenty of Australian films that many would consider a "western", but this may be the first (or at least most successful) crossover to incorporate Aborigines. In 'The Proposition', Guy Pierce is hired by Ray Winstone (in one of his best performances ever) to hunt down and kill a sadistic gang of outlaws under the command of Pierce's brother (played by Danny Huston). This movie is way more bloody and violent than your average cowboy movie. Fans of Deadwood or The Assassination of Jesse James should enjoy this movie.
I threw in a tv episode in one of my "movies for halloween" lists back in october, so why not do the same for christmas. In this episode of southpark, the 4 boy and Jesus have to save Santa Klaus from terrorists after they shoot his sleigh down because they have mistaken santa for a terrorists. This was during the period where was southpark was getting super preachy and a bit obnoxious at time, but this episode in particular wasn't that bad. The highlight of this episode for me was the random reference to david o russell's 'three kings' (the torture scene). I was never a fan of the southpark christmas episodes that feature mr hanky because, just like cartman, i cant stand that character. But I'll make an exception with this episode.
This one is a little obvious, but it never gets old. As far as I'm concerned, this is the best adaptation of a christmas carol yet. This is Bill Murray at his prime. And just like most of you, i am getting kinda sick of 'a christmas story'. For the last few years, Ive only watched it for a few scenes, but never all the way through. Luckily, just like TNT does with 'a christmas story', AMC will be showing 'Scrooged' for 24 hours starting on christmas eve. Bill Murray is obviously hilarious in this, but the supporting cast is also great. Aside from him, Carol Kane is probably my favorite character in the movie as the ghost of christmas present.