Films I have seen recently:
Late 2010-2011 is actually shaping up to be a really promising year for genre films, and the upcoming Green Lantern movie doesn't look too shabby either, hell, I'm even excited for Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch! So far I've seen...
Black Swan:
I was a bit apprehensive about this after being thoroughly unimpressed with Aronofsky's previous work and Natalie Portman's dreary performances in the Star Wars prequels and the botched adaption of V for Vendetta, but something about the combination of ballet and horror really caught my attention(Suspiria flashbacks, I reckon), and whaddya know, this is easily one of the best films of the post 2000-era.
Think of it as a Robert Bloch novel adapted to screen by William Castle(with the dialogue written with Joan Crawford in mind), directed by Ken Russell and crossed with a sleazy tabloid/Showgirls sensibility. It's basically about a ballerina who may or may not be going insane, but the treatment is so fantastically bizzare it elevates itself beyond the usual "Main character is losing it" films.
Featuring some of the most blatantly over-the-top symbolism since Tommy, and several scenes used to build tension that are hilarious one minute and truly terrifying the next, as well as a genuinely daring lesbian sequence, Black Swan isn't the type of film you'd expect to garner the praise of the mainstream as well as the arthouse, but it has, garnering more award nominations than any film in history!!! The thing people seem to miss about it though, is that it's essentially a satire. I toss that word around a lot, but that seems to really be the case here. Aronofsky is making a statement about how "high" forms of art such as ballet etc are just as trashy, corruptive, morally bankrupt and dehumanizing as "low" art forms like movies and porn. I for one, couldn't agree more with that message, and we all know how fucked up I am. Like I said, it's not the kind of message I'd have expected so many people to take to(even without fully comprehending it), but they have. Maybe this world is becoming more in line with my sensibilities.
Anyway, it's hard to hate a movie that has an old man jacking off on the subway who looks like the dancing guy in those commercials for Six Flags.
Season of the Witch:
Man, what did poor Nic Cage do to get such a rabid base of haters? Sure The Wicker Man remake blew ass, but I've rarely seen him be in anything that wasn't watchable. Anyway, I was really anxious to see this film after it got pushed back so much, the fact that it has Christopher Lee in it and is one of the few period era horror films to be released in modern times also got me hyped.
And you know what? It delivers! It's basically a cross between The Seventh Seal(as far as it involves disillusioned ex-crusaders in a plague-infested europe who encounter the supernatural) with Fritz Leiber's old Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser stories, with a dash of Hammer horror thrown in. No masterpiece, but the type of film I live for. Oh yeah, it also has some of the most awesome looking demons ever filmed. The beautiful cinematography and gorgeous european settings don't hurt this film either. It's not any more scary than things like the Harry Potter movies, but it doesn't really try to be.
I also can't help but Love with a capital L the irony about the hate the film is recieving because of the title. Trolls all over the internet are up in arms and crying for the director's blood for "copying" the title of the third Halloween movie with the usual "Rape my childhood", "How dare they desecrate a classic!" and "Worst crime since the Holocaust" comments.
Thing is, just about everyone despised Halloween 3: Season of the Witch for not involving Michael Myers and regularly put it on "Worst films of all time" lists. Now it's being called a classic that everyone loves and has always loved. First The Good Son, now Halloween 3. What's next? Rover Dangerfield? Gigli? Maybe *shudder* Jonah Hex? H3 always had a small cult following, and I myself love it and was part of that small cult following, but how come when I and my buddies used to defend the film we got either flat out ignored or relentlessly mocked? Where were these rabid H3 fans the past twenty fucking years when I and about thirteen other guys were the only fans?
Clearly, the apex of artistry.
Now H3 is everyone's darling and I'm having to point out it's flaws. What a crazy world this really is.
Oh, and the biggest irony? H3 wasn't even the first film to use that title. DoHoHoHo.
The Green Hornet:
For a Seth Rogen spoof/tribute to an almost forgotten radio/pulp hero, this was pretty damn good. I'm not one of those assholes who complains about darkness in superhero-related media, but I kinda like how the success of 2010's Kick Ass is inspiring people to have more fun with the genre. Green Hornet manages to combine the laughs with some tolerably deep human drama and character development, as well as some suprisingly brutal but casually handled slaughter from both the heroes and villains that felt more akin to The Spider than Green Hornet.
Oh, and you have to love a film where the most exciting and intense fight is between the hero and his ostensible sidekick rather than the showdown with the baddies. Iron Man 2 went that direction but, well, watching that movie didn't turn out too well for me as I covered in a past post. Christoph Waltz also shines as the villain. That man just keeps knockin' em out of the park. My only beef against the movie? It's not really worth seeing in 3D except for the credit sequences(though I still enjoyed those more than Avatar).
Overall, not a bad start for the year.