With any luck, this will be back to weekly installments that I might actually be able to write well.
164. Rio Bravo (1959) - June 18th
Classics that I don't end up completely loving are always an interesting challenge for me, both to consider and to write about. Rio Bravo is hardly the first classic that didn't resonate with me, so it's no surprise at this point, and it's a good reminder of the subjective nature of film as an art or even entertainment form and why in the case of classic films it's important to consider how and why a film was popular or acclaimed in its day as much as whether or not and how that influences your perspective, as well as how the difference in era can change how you see it. Rio Bravo was only moderately received upon release, mostly dubbed a good time waster for its exorbitant running time and slow pacing, but over time it created a cultural through-line, first with a series of sequels, then as the inspiration for Assault on Precinct 13, which itself was the inspiration for multiple re-makes and re-imaginings. Because of this, I have an immutable appreciation for the film, even if I didn't attach myself to it. It's also necessary to note how opinion of the film grew over time, something that's usually a factor with classics as they get canonised for being culturally influential, important of relevant. Rio Bravo can now be seen as a part of the bodies of work for both John Wayne and Howard Hawks, and as such its microcosmic part in the elevation of both of these filmmakers in turn elevates the general opinion of the film, as it does for all of their work. It also gets remembered as part of the progression of the Western genre, factors such as its slow burn that once had audiences divided on its entertainment value now seen as a staple for the type of story the film wanted to tell and the type of story itself perfectly suited to its genre. While in a cynical moment I might feel the need to snipe about how Dean Martin's singing moment in the film was probably contractually obliged, the way a film like this is revered is a sobering reminder to look for the feeling of the scene, and quashing shallow and negative thoughts allows the emotional intention to impact me (obvious as it might be I still saw it as obligation first and foremost rather than something that, even though the scene was probably obligated, it doesn't diminish the value the scene actually has in the story). This sort of stuff is what ultimately changes my perspective on such types of films; if they're a classic, there's often a reason for it, and while my own personal experience with the film is an important part of me discussing it, it's also not the be all, end all for any film, especially a classic. - 8.5/10
165. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) - June 20th
Speaking from personal experience, a T. rex is more than enough to protect a child from monsters; if Heather had just gotten it for Dylan, this whole movie would've ended with a lot fewer deaths.
This is probably the best result that could have been wrung from Freddy's long-beaten corpse; as much as reviving him for one more round is inherently a cash grab, I was pleasantly surprised by how good this was, turning even the degrading quality of the series in to a narrative tool and using its meta nature and focus upon Heather's relationship with her son to create something considerably more "real" than its predecessors. It's still campy at times, and when the overall quality of a movie gets better that sort of schlock becomes a lot less interesting, but the choice to present things this way initially seems clearly intentional, slowly separating New Nightmare from its predecessors to show that, with a little design update and a change of scenery, Freddy could still be genuinely scary at times, if only at times. The movie is smart enough not to rely on Freddy's core scare-factor for its horror, thankfully, building a simple but functional relationship between Heather and Dylan that drives a lot of the emotion of the story; it's not particularly profound, but it's really effective as a linchpin in the film's juxtaposition of the "movie" and the "real". Stuff like Heather's actions and mental state being treated as it would realistically by the doctors caring for Dylan being seen as irrational only if you've seen what the audience has seen is a nice touch, especially before it all unravels. Heather is behaving as one would in a Nightmare movie, and when all she's been having is nightmares it's hard to tell what's real and what isn't, a for a scarce few moments the way the film frames it makes her seem as insane as she is rational, the reality and the movie converging. This is a really good way to close out the series, a prototype for Craven's later work with the Scream series that I think works just as well here. - 6.5/10
166. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) - June 20th
I wish this was better written, because its direction is good enough that this could have been a really good movie. It's still a crowd-pleasing thrill ride with some heart at the best of times, but its insistence on following up the asinine super weapon story shows a certain goal, intentional or not, of turning the Jurassic franchise in to less of a blockbuster franchise and more of a B-movie franchise, which dilutes attempts to take the material with a sense of weight. My full review can be found here. - 6/10
167. Modern Times (1936) - June 21st
When I watched my first Charlie Chaplin movie, The Kid, as good as I found it I couldn't attach myself to it personally. Something similar could be said for how I found City Lights, but even the coldest heart could be melted by that finale. When it came to Modern Times, I had a mind meld with it. It's the sort of movie where it took me all of five minutes to see the design of the thing and be blown away by what I saw. This is silent comedy at its finest, something that manages to convey both its humour and its slant without uttering a word while also showcasing how magnificent the effort must have been to construct it, and thanks to the era from which I write this all wonderful influences this had upon comedy in such a small space. The film is elegantly simple, just as his others were, but here it's something that finally clicked for me as I saw not just the film for what it was but also what it meant to comedy in film for the last eighty years. The factory sequence alone is everything needed to make this a literal classic, but it carries so much heart as it uses its ludicrous set ups to make for meaningful, human moments (again, this all true for Chaplin's general style, but finally seeing the visual reference of the first factory gag made me realise just how much this all means and gave me what felt like the appropriate joyous response). It's truly masterful work, and one that gets to the very essence of comedy. - 10/10
168. A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) - June 22nd
It's bizarre how inept this is. It's not like the Friday the 13th remake, where the source material was so terrible that it's essentially bad by design, or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, which while nowhere near as good as its original still had its own sense of style; this is a direct remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street that even uses explicit ideas for Freddy Krueger's character originally thought of by Wes Craven, and almost nothing about it is presented well. It's not just the story told, it's how it's told, and here we have a story that's already been told very effectively that even has a couple of really intriguing ideas that twist the impact of Freddy's origin, but the film never does anything to earn its horror moments. Despite the movie's intentions and an exceeding effort from Jackie Earle Haley, none of this movie is effectively scary and doesn't even amount to shocking at the best of times. Mara exerts a strong terrified performance, but none of the movie builds and very little of it really tries to jump, so her screams fall on uncaring ears. The only times the movie is mildly effective are whenever it actually slows down to be creepily horrifying instead of just shocking, and those moments are so few and far between that they have so little value; the match cuts don't help much either, no matter how clever the filmmakers thought they were. I'm not even entirely sure that this is better than Freddy's Dead, but I suppose this film's genre commitment and impressive effects are enough to elevate it above a horror movie that tried to turn Krueger in to a comedy cartoon character and still have him be scary. Still, this is considerably worse than its preceding series, without even the limits of era or budget to fall back on and justify its limitations. - 3.5/10
169. Macbeth (1948) - June 23rd
So Orson Welles made a Macbeth film. He did so on limited time and budget, and it shows. That said, given the source material and Welles' directorial talent, as well as the film's aforementioned constraints, this whole thing is actually pretty impressive. The performances are all very good and Welles uses a lot of clever lighting to give everything an appropriately eerie tone, and the way the camera shifts slowly over the course of the film to take Macbeth figuratively from a place of relative obscurity to one of power and back again fits solidly with the story; I especially find the ignominious way that they end Macbeth's life to be evocative, a decision that begs comparison to other interpretations of the work. The easiest comparison I can draw to is Kurzel's film version from 2015. One of the distinct differences between this version and Kurzel's is the oddly human way in which Kurzel has Macbeth self destruct, a factor that runs through the entire film, from the way we start with the grief that fuels the Macbeths' insanity to the moments leading up to Macbeth's death, which shows how haunted and complex the character can be. Welles has not nearly as much respect for the character, seemingly holding Macbeth in such contempt that he isn't even allowed a moment of understanding, defiant to the end and deserving of nothing but a quick end and a cheer for the same. This isn't a comment on which interpretation is better, just an example of how the exact same character can be interpreted in such disparate ways, something that shows how the story teller is just as important to the story's value as the story itself. - 7/10
170. The Crow: City of Angels (1996) - June 24th
A friend of mine has been daring me to check out the sequels to The Crow, one of my personal favourites, for some time now, and I finally decided to oblige him.
This is a hollow shell of its predecessor, an edgy take on something that was already teetering skillfully on the edge of too much, with a distinctly amateurish approach. It plays like a fan fiction film to the first, with a paper thin story that tries at every turn to just do what the first did again but further over the top this time. There's so little sense of the melancholy and humour that made the first one feel genuine despite its nature, and when it is employed it's done so poorly, most attempts at jokes or emotion coming across as forced or fake. It's like they tried to do everything the first film did, but instead of doing it better they assumed that just meant doing it edgier and with less feeling. Hardly the worst thing I've ever seen, but still terrible, and the fact that it seems to misunderstand the significance of why what it's emulating was well received makes it that much worse. - 3/10
Re-watches
41. Some Like it Hot (1959) - June 23rd
Yes, I'm watching this for the fourth time in under a year, this time showing it again to a group of friends. My opinion on the film hasn't changed, it's still the funniest movie I've ever seen for its incredible use of comedic irony and the like, and the 'Shell' joke is still the best singular joke ever, Jack Lemmon's performance is still one of the greats and I feel even more solid in how I've come around on Curtis and Monroe as well. If you haven't already seen this classic, do so, and if you don't find it funny, let me know and let me know why, I know comedy is subjective and I'm always curious to hear what makes people giggle. Just so that this entry isn't a total waste, the only two comedies that I'd call Some Like it Hot's competition are Dr. Strangelove and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the first of which is overall probably a better movie for its continued relevance and the second of which is one of the key comedies I loved growing up and is also a classic that only got better as I got older. If you asked me to rank these, I'd be hard pressed to do so, so I'll just say that they're all the best and call it a day. - 10/10, again and always
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