120. Jailhouse Rock (1957) - April 30th
Elvis' voice is mana from heaven. It's a shame his character is such a prick.
This is a strange movie. On the one hand, the set-up seems like it's going for something much more uplifting, but the film constantly shuts that idea down by reminding the audience of Everett's characterisation; just as soon as his honeyed tones have charmed the audience, he's smashing a guitar or forcing himself on a woman. It's this combination of the sullen anti-hero and the snarky, charismatic type, only mixing slightly less well than oil and water. As a performer Presley feels like a proto-Schwarzenegger, or more recently Gal Gadot, the type of actor that oozes charisma so consistently that their actual acting ability is both indiscernible and of little consequence in the face of their sheer screen presence. However, the character of Vince Everett is closer to the sort you see Clint Eastwood playing as a grouchy octogenarian with values that are backwards even for the time they're used in. yet with the impetuousness of youth piled on top. He's so petty and vicious, it's truly bizarre how the film tries to position him as the hero, or even the anti-hero, when the film simply doesn't afford his attempts at redemption nearly the amount of time they do the acts of destruction. He's just a incessantly sour guy who takes advantage of people caught up in his ego.
That said, the film wraps itself up in its music, and as long as you can concentrate on that, you have yourself a good, and sometimes great movie. The titular piece is of particular merit, with some absolutely fantastic musical work and choreography from Presley, the original music video portrayed right here and now with one of the more important rock songs of all time. If it weren't for the tonally inconsistent human drama in between, this would be something special. - 7/10
121. Paddington 2 (2017) - May 1st
This is the cutest movie, and even better than the first. Incidentally, that makes two movies in two days that I've heard the 'captive audience' joke in reference to prisoners. I don't have too much to say about this one, it's just a fantastically made family film about what we do for the family we love, chosen or born, and it improves upon everything that was good about the first while also avoiding going overboard as often as the first did when it comes to the slapstick. The movie is as warm, fuzzy and cuddly as the teddy bear star. - 9/10
122. Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) - May 2nd
They finally did it. After several villains based on or similar to Godzilla, from 'Godzilla but fish', 'Godzilla but plant', and multiple iterations of 'Godzilla but robot' we finally have 'Godzilla but space'. It's not even a creature with a unique design or distinctive style, it's just Godzilla with a couple tusks, a horn, and two giant crystals on his shoulders. It's honestly pretty boring, like someone overdid Godzilla's original design.
This is really the closest I've seen the Heisei series get to a misstep. The concept is fine, but says very little, and is essentially a continuation of ideas from all the previous Godzilla movies in the Heisei era, drawing its plot details from Biollante and Mothra and its stylistic choices from King Ghidorah and MechaGodzilla II. It's kind of the goals of the Heisei series up to this point all drawn to a head, at once trying to reflect culture as these kaiju movie always have and bring all of the series' meta commentary about the impact of Godzilla upon Japanese culture, all the while flailing with a plot filled with more hackneyed fantasy aspects of the Showa series that feel a little campy here.
There are standout moments though. Godzilla struggling to re-unite with his son amid attacks from SpaceGodzilla is considerably effective both times it happens, a simple father-son bond that surprisingly well conveyed beneath the rubber suits, and the fight itself is actually very good. However, the Heisei series has explicitly been more science fiction than fantasy, doing away with most mystical aspects underplayed for the sake of not getting too weird within its own context, and I think it fails here with the human story; psychic/telekinetic girl who talks to fairies that gets kidnapped by the Yakuza is a bit much here, and feels tacked on for how little it has to do with the first half of the movie and how sudden it all is. - 5/10
123. Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013) - May 3rd
This was a hilariously bad movie, a poorly made horror in every sense of the word, even by the low standards I've come to expect from sequels and remakes of horror classics. There's barely the slightest theme and no trace of commentary, despite the obvious homage the movie hoped to pay to the original, and the plot is devoid of all but a few traces of character and structure. Our lead, played with a consistently bored face by Alexandra Daddario, has no real sense of humanity, so everything that she does and everything that happens to her is painfully blatant and artificial in its construction. This is worse for every other character, who don't even have the decency to be bland cardboard cutouts, but instead for some reason are all given abhorrent and disgusting trace, seemingly as some misguided attempt to have us sympathise with a psychotic cannibal that wears people's faces, and take joy in his massacres; people are just almost exclusively terrible in this film, for no apparent reason, thematically or otherwise. It's all so poorly done and with nothing to attach us to any single character, and none of it works. Again, why does the film want us to sympathise with a man who eats people and wears their faces? I understand that Leatherface is quite literally a product of his upbringing, that's been inferred since the first film, but that doesn't mean we're suddenly ok with him continuing to do what he does. The movie also completely goes against this idea of evil as a learned trait by making the lead so inert as a character that she sides with Leatherface, suggesting that neither of them can help it and that people are simple terrible all-round, with no recourse for improvement. Beyond that, the gore is nothing special, with its poor effects and 3D gimmick being no better here than it was in Friday the 13th Part 3D - the only memorable kill is the one against the town mayor, and even that gets offset by poor blood effects. It's all too fake, and fails to evoke the original's visceral reaction because of it - 2.5/10
124. The Lady Eve (1941) - May 4th
A particular classic that feels wasted on me. Not the first, but one of the few greats in film that had little personal resonance with me. I still recognise what other, better critics have found in it, but for some reason I can't attach myself to any of it. The brilliantly told tale as old as cynicism, purity, and old Hollywood, the unique complementary use of slapstick and irony that makes palpable use of pathos and bathos, the excellent performances, the clear influences on comedy filmmaking in the years that followed, the whole thing is expertly done, and yet none of it was for me. This is always a strange moment for me, when I can't love a film whose quality is essentially rote. I've learned not to let it trip me up for too long, as even the best critics held or hold personal attitudes that don't reflect the general critical thinking toward a film; this varies even when it comes to classics, so it's hardly new nor significant. That said, I don't think I should dismiss it wholesale; while I usually prefer to explore and re-affirm my thoughts towards films that I love, it's important as well to consider just what it is that doesn't work for me. Perhaps it's as simple as not being in the right head space for type of movie that The Lady Eve is, or that I held mistaken expectations about the film. As it is, this is the sort of thing that I can't solve immediately after viewing, and is instead something that I will likely consider every now and then moving forward, maybe re-watching the film in a different time and place to really engage with the film from an alternative direction, perspective, or critical lens. If my personal attitude changes, so be it, but if not then I'll be a hundred films on from here, my thoughts occupied with something else.
Still, this film does a lot of great work, its mixture of sappy, slappy and satire is near-perfect, with great interplay, duality and miscommunication between its two leads that makes for so much irony it could leave a more enthusiastic viewer squirming in their seat. The clever role reversal and commentary is also notable for being consistent without being overdone, with the emotional actions of the characters fueling every twist and turn just as well. It's really excellent filmmaking, just not something that I personally fell in love with. - 8.5/10
125. Alligator (1980) - May 5th
This is somewhere between mediocre low budget filmmaking, effective satire, and weird allegorical storytelling. The film's premise is based on the old myth about flushing your pet alligator down the toilet, and it does a considerable amount to make that work for the sake of schlock, but the film also segues in to territory unrelated to the main plot. This might have been for the sake of the film's overall satirical goals, but it's strange just how much the film deviates to do so, such as an entire scene about a crazy guy trying to blow up a police station with a radio because of what he saw on television. I get the joke, but that scene is just smack dab in the middle of the first act. Still, I have to give credit to the film for finding a few laughs and even the occasional good scare despite the film's limitations. The diamond in the rough for this film is the last scene of the first act, where Officer Madison and Officer Kelly enter the sewers after we already know they contain the giant alligator. With a combined use of humorous fake outs and appropriate silence, momentary horrific irony and a fair amount of schlocky 80s music, the scene feels like early Raimi; silly, but apparent enough in its intention to not take away from the genuinely well constructed horror. The film never gets as good as this scene again, but it still follows through in its horror goals without losing them in the schlock and satire, and while it never quite perfectly comes together it's overall much more decent than I expected it to be. - 5.5/10
126. Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018) - May 6th
Batman vs. Jack the Ripper in an alternative Victorian era Gotham city. It's an idea rich with potential, which the film doesn't always succeed in capitalising on. The most important strength is the fact that this different take doesn't have to adhere to the rules of any established timeline, and can tell the story it wants to tell without being limited to particular interpretations of characters. Some touches are nice for setting the stage, characterising Poison Ivy as a throwaway whore victim for Jack, Selina Kyle set up as actress/performer to establish her acrobatic skill, Bruce and Selina both owing their upbringing to a Catholic orphanage, it's all deviation from the original idea that fits with the world the story is told within and works towards its themes. As a standalone story, it's quite good, not quite Holmes-esque, but giving 'the world's greatest detective' some actual detective work to do, and the limitations of technology means the film can't always default to action, although the film does include slightly preposterous ways around that when it can. Unfortunately, the film loses a bit of steam in its finale; as the villain continues to talk, he only gets nuttier, as his puritanical creed becomes more and more nonsensical without any real rhyme or reason. It's still a decent movie overall, quick and easy and a bit clever with its references as misdirections and so forth, it just rushes its ending. - 6.5/10
Re-watches
23. I Saw the Devil (2010) - April 30th
It's hard to have more thoughts about a movie like this when I'm still considering the thoughts I first had about it only a week ago, so nothing new to report here, it's just a movie a friend insisted on watching after I told her about it. - 7/10
24. Dr. Strange (2016) - May 4th
Trippy visuals aside, I was mostly pretty tepid towards Dr. Strange the first time I watched it. It was all well made, but a lot of the beats felt like re-treads, so even as the Marvel Cinematic Universe opened itself up to the idea of a multiverse, I was only moderately entertained, but got more invested as Strange's character and powers both continued to grow. Because of this progression, film was elevated by its finale. In a year (or decade) dominated by blockbusters involving giant sky lasers and world-ending stakes, it was nice to see a film approach that idea with a bit more ingenuity, beating the inter-dimensional baddie with a clever bit of use of time magic that required Strange only annoy the guy out of existence. It's pretty hilarious, and it stands as a solid culmination of Strange's arc. Re-watching the film, I didn't get much new out of it, but it did show me that the ending still works very well, even as sky lasers slip from the collective consciousness about superhero movies. - 7/10
25. Predator (1987) - May 5th
This is easily one of my personal favourite films of all time, one that I've seen over a dozen times, and one that I never get tired of. Arnold at his peak, one-liners thrown in every direction possible, and one of the most unique and memorable monster designs in science fiction history. Predator is the best action movie of all time (or a four-way tie, my opinion on this reverberates almost equally between this, Die Hard, Aliens, and Terminator 2: Judgement Day). With the upcoming sequel, The Predator, I felt compelled to give the three Predator movies another run through (maybe the AvP movies too, regardless of how bad they are, I'm always happy to watch those monsters on screen). Here, I just wanted to expel some thoughts I have about the series that I've developed as I've come back to the film multiple times while still watching so many movies. - 8/10
It's fitting that the manliest action hero movie that ever manned also works as a deconstruction of action hero stereotypes (also doubles up with some light Vietnam War metaphor, but I don't know enough about it to really make something comprehensive out of it; just that it basically seems like the use of a jungle setting and a focus on stripping away good old American bravado and adapting to the enemy's techniques is suggestive of how the movie thinks the US should have approached that conflict). It's extremely tough to have it both ways in a movie (something deconstruction inherently has to do by its nature, especially if its goal in its deconstruction is reaffirmation, but that's a topic for another time), but Predator sticks the landing, first by appearing as an extreme glorification of the action genre, tainted only by the implication of coming horror, then dissecting the tropes of the genre by literally ripping its characters apart. I adore every moment of this movie, from the cheesy one-liners to the twisting and distortion of everything that makes 80s action great while being great 80s action, to the ridiculous dick-swinging, testosterone-fueled handshake; it's all so wonderfully over the top while maintaining an inversion of the genre in which it exists.
The initial deception of deconstruction acting as what it hopes to deconstruct is set fairly on within the text, with, despite the raging manliness of it all, feels a little off. Schwarzenegger's 'Dutch' Schaefer characterises his group of meatheads as 'a rescue team... not assassins', the trickery about the goal of their mission, and the irony of juxtaposing Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" against Ventura's Blaine deriding everyone else for not being manly enough; what we're looking at is not the same as what we're hearing, and the two things change sides of the discussion, with action hero muscles on full display while subtler words and glances seek to undermine their value, and actions or music undermining words when those words turn aggressive or intense, without being totally in conflict with one another. At the basic level it's just enough to throw you off only a little, leave you suspicious, so when the ugly reality of the monster's existence is finally hinted at it feels like a confirmation of those suspicions. From there, it's just malleable enough that you can make crackpot readings of the film (like I'm doing now).
Predator then seeks to establish what is sets out to destroy, something a little different from recent deconstructive filmmaking. Contemporary films seeking to critique through demythologisation and then reaffirmation have more commonly been made as part of a serial or genre narrative that feels no need to re-introduce its characters and themes, believing them to be prevalent enough in the cultural psyche that we already know what is being deconstructed and why, without the film having to tell us (Logan, The Last Jedi). Predator decides that it's better to be sure about what it's talking about, and makes one hell of an introduction, offering some of the biggest, toughest action an 80s movie ever has: the guns (handheld M134 Minigun is literally the biggest, loudest, least practical, and coolest gun), the one-liners (this whole movie can be summed up in the mantra "I ain't got time to bleed"), the explosions and the body count; Predator, for a few brief moments, has it all. It's everything we need for the rest of the film to work, at once pushing forward the narrative and the meta-narrative, establishing exactly how effective and badass these soldiers are (which in turn at the meta level tells people that these guys are proper 80s action heroes, assuming Arnie's presence alone wasn't enough), and resolving the initial plot with a revelation of deception and betrayal (that cynically reminds us of how much the higher ups will throw good people away if it means covering their asses, a fitting mesh of 70s skepticism and 80s swagger that feels like another Vietnam dig). It's all very big and loud, but, most importantly at this point, effective. We establish these guys as indestructible badasses, and are reminded that they are what 80s action heroes look and act like; these men are, despite some initial clever tactics, ultimately standing around, shooting from the hip, and avoiding almost every bullet with nothing but sheer presence of manliness. They aren't just the best, they're the best in the era of 80s action heroes.
It's what makes what comes next all that more compelling.
Everything gets turned on its head from here. Bodies skinned, heads exploded, chests burst open, arms sliced off, spines ripped whole cloth from the body with the skull still attached; these soldiers, these badass 80s action heroes, are mercilessly ripped apart one by one. Their swagger is worthless against their new foe, one with superior tactics, tech, and terrain knowledge, who will not stop until every one of them is dead and hanging in its trophy cabinet. There is not a more perfect scene that exemplifies exactly how helpless these monsters of manhood are in the face of the Predator than in Blaine's death scene, where they unleash hundreds of rounds from every gun in their arsenal, and barely leave a scratch. It doesn't just show how powerful the Predator is even in comparison to these badasses, it shows that their mindless action hero antics are completely useless here; the Predator is the cold slap of the horror genre, now front and centre and twisting the oldest, hardest, rule of cool in action to show that it's all worthless. It's effective, to say the least, as it prompts the series of turning points necessary to defeat the Predator.
Dutch and his crew don't lie down and die; they adapt in their conviction, altering their strategy every time it fails. They learn to strip away all that defines them, and figure out what works. When action shenanigans fail, they fall back on more conventional military tactics. When that doesn't work, the 'boy scout' stuff starts; that almost works too, but faith is shaken, emotions boil, and characters need to complete their arcs, so the new tactic, a step in the right direction, is not enough, and we get to see more example of what the movie believes a real man ultimately isn't. Mac loses his head, so he loses his head; Dillon gets closer, behaving against his own self interest and trying to redeem his actions that got the group here in the first place, but he's still a soldier, not understanding his opponent and just trying to outgun it. Billy takes one step closer, losing everything about him that makes him a soldier and facing the monster as only a man, but he's still facing the creature on his terms and not meeting it with its own. Poncho is a senseless casualty; if his death has connotations that support the goal of deconstructing the 80s action hero, I haven't spotted it, but the idea of him being injured due to their own tactics and dying by pure bad luck is probably something that could fit in to a Vietnam reading of the movie. As it is, the final turning point is Dutch losing everything that he has that makes him a soldier and finally, if only by chance, learning to use the Predator's own tactics against it. It's fitting that the first time we see the Predator in its full form is at the very moment that it can't see Dutch. He finally understands what it means to win here, to become what has hunted to him, to apply the same subversive and tricky tactics that have been used against him, to exploit his enemy's expectations and never face it head on.
In the process, the Predator finally recognises Dutch as a worthy opponent, someone who has truly taken up the mantle of what the movie sees as real manhood, not some static thing that always must be, but something that adapts in order to stay at the top. It's in and of itself a good representation of the transformation Dutch has gone through over the course of the movie that also suggests of the iconic 80s action that hero that it must be changed in to something almost unrecognisable in order to maintain the value that it has. The fact that even as Dutch reaches the point of worthiness and is still beaten down, only to defeat the Predator with deceptive tactics once more, supports this idea. It's a thought at least, especially when you consider that it's coming off of several action hero hits for Schwarzenegger and comes right as the action genre is transformed by Die Hard, I think the film pulls it off with effective, if sometimes conflicting, results.
26. Predator 2 (1990) - May 6th
Closer to RoboCop than its predecessor in terms of satire, less focus in the point of its satire, a more heartfelt lead in Glover's Harrigan. This isn't as good or iconic a film, but it still carries itself with a sense of trashy B-movie bite.
Like a lot of the mediocre films I enjoy, it's the little things that make the difference. Bill Paxton's character alone elevates this film, a fast talker that's also a team player, with his own little arc (maybe more a straight line, but still) couched within the film's excessive attempts at painting a 'grimdark future for society'. The satire itself is actually fine, this idea of conflicts as literal heat, with the Predator as an avatar of violence inherent in this sort of system that the writers see as inevitable. It's blatant and a little fun for its trouble, and it comes with a slightly alternative take on the Predator itself, one that characterises it as more petulant than its predecessor, suggesting a younger, less mature soul behind this particular creature's eyes. - 6/10
Published May 7th, 2018
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