Track the Films You Watch (2008) - Page 7

Re: Track the Films You Watch (2008)

10 TO MIDNIGHT has always been a 4-star entertainment. It certainly does border on the teen slasher genre and I think it works best because of the real killer. I thought the film also has some great suspense and especially the end where the killer breaks into the room with all the girls. Bronson is more than just Bronson here as you said. I'd really love to see the Siskel and Ebert show where they reviewed this because Siskel called it one of the years best while Ebert gave it a BOMB rating and really, really hated it due to the violence against women. I'd love to see them go at it over this one (and Siskel usually hated these films as well).

Re: Track the Films You Watch (2008)

Me too. At the time both men were killing these types of films but Siskel gave it 3 1/2 and called it one of the years best.

I also find it strange that director J. Lee Thompson would throw so much "slasher" stuff into the film when two years earlier he really screwed up a real slasher in HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME. It seems like the violence and gore in 10 TO MIDNIGHT should have been used in HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

I was going to watch all five DEATH WISH films this weekend but got caught up in some Griffith stuff. I seem to be close with your ratings, although I think the 3rd and 5th films are three star movies. DW3 wasn't originally a DEATH WISH film so that explains the wacky nature at the end but I love it. DW4 is the weakest to me yet I think it has the best and most possible story. The film just comes off very tired, slow and boring. We've debated DW2 countless times but I prefer the R-rated cut even though I've seen both many times.

Do you plan on renting DEATH SENTENCE? It's from the novel, which was the original sequel to DEATH WISH. I watched it over the weekend and enjoyed it but I'll post my full review later. Bacon certainly goes all Bronson with the gore from the SAW films, which isn't shocking since it's from the director of SAW. We also have THE BRAVE ONE with Jodie Foster coming to DVD in a few weeks.

Re: Track the Films You Watch (2008)

SPOILERS FOR DEATH SENTENCE

Dave, are you outside of the U.S.? Some of the comments you wrote for your review seemed like you weren't familiar with laws and how things work in America. I believe you had a problem with the way the killer is about to get off with only a couple years in jail. This happens all the time and it was a solid point in the screenplay because later the D.A. also mentioned that the killer will claim to have found God and will be back out on the streets. This type of stuff happens all the time here. A killer will serve a couple years when he should have been sent away for life and then he gets out and kills someone else. I really don't think the film was making this up.

Another issue you seemed to have is at the end when one of the killers turn to Bacon and says "you're one of us now". It was done badly in the film but it was something that was playing out long before this little sit down and talk scene. Even the Detective, Bacon's family and everyone else was against him doing what he did because it wasn't going to solve anything and it didn't. He lost a son and then lost everything else. He might have got his revenge but it cost him his wife, his second son and his life. This type of truths aren't in the DW sequels because they are dumb exploitation flicks. Trying to compare this to one of them is wrong in my opinion because both are going for something different, even though I admit this film goes ape shit in the final act.

END OF SPOILERS

There's some people who watch something like SAW and they cheer for the killer because these people believe that if you do drugs, have sex or abuse your body then you deserve to die. DS asks the question of who gets to make these rules and play a moral God? Did Jigsaw have the right to play God and kill someone who he felt wasn't up to his moral standards? Does you and I have the right to kill Lindsay Lohan because we don't like the way she uses drugs? Who gives you, Jigsaw, the Bacon character or myself the right to make these decisions? I think that was the bottom line point in the ending to DEATH SENTENCE. You said it was politically correct but I don't see that as the case. If you were to put yourself into a DEATH WISH film and go on a killing spree, it's not going to end like one of the DW films. It's more than likely going to end like it did in DEATH SENTENCE.

Re: Track the Films You Watch (2008)

01/17/08

Picking Peaches (1924) Erle C. Kenton

Harry Langdon's film debut has him playing a shoe clerk who sneaks out with another woman, which doesn't sit well with his wife when she finds out. There's really not too much humor here, although the film does try to get laughs. The best sequence is when Langdon falls out the window on a ladder but the rest of the humor fails. For some reason the screenwriters thought that having women slap Langdon would fill all the laughs.

Smile, Please (1924) Roy Del Ruth

Harry Langdon is the sheriff and photographer of his small town and must try and battle an arsonist as well as try and take a picture of his new wife's family. This short starts off rather slow but picks up towards the end when a bratty kid enters the picture. There's several gags involving a skunk, which are pretty funny as is a scene where bees get into the pants of Langdon. There's also some rather obvious sexual humor including one scene where a lightbulb is thrown in the lap of the father where the end is sticking out like a you know what.

His New Mamma (1924) Roy Del Ruth

A farmboy (Harry Langdon) doesn't like that his father (Andy Clyde) is about to marry a younger woman and it turns out she's only doing so for his money. The first half of the film deals with Langdon and Clyde having to share the same bed, which leads to some good laughs since the old man has a long beard, which keeps getting in Langdon's way. The second half of the film turns a bit sour but at least we have the Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties to look at. Clyde certainly steals the film as the father but this is the best that I've seen Langdon in these early shorts.

First 100 Years, The (1924) Harry Sweet

Harry Langdon and his new wife are shocked when their new cook arrives and she's a large, cigar smoking woman who is also quite ugly. This arrangement doesn't work out so they hire another cook but this one here is beautiful. The first half of the film dealing with the ugly cook contains some pretty good laughs including a great sequence where she scares Harry's bulldog who takes off running down the street dragging Harry with him. After this the film slows down without many laughs.

Death Sentence (2007) James Wan

Typical revenge film has Kevin Bacon seeking vengeance on the man who murdered his son but after killing him the dad finds the rest of the gang coming after him. This is based on the book, which was the original sequel to Death Wish. Apparently Brian Garfield wasnt happy with the film's sequels so he wrote the novel for which this film is taken from. As far as the film goes, it's pretty typical of the genre as we get our hero and a bunch of assholes who we're happy to see him knock off. This genre is one of my favorites but I really don't think you can screw up this type of film. You make the bad guys some of the biggest scum bags ever and then just sit back and watch them get brutally murdered. This film is far from flawless and it's all over the place but it still remains solid entertainment and suits the genre just fine. I'm not sure how much has been changed from the book but the first 90-minutes are pretty straight forward and look at the revenge story in a serious manor. This is where the film works best and it manages to be pretty good drama but then the film goes totally overboard in the final act as we get the onslaught of violence, gore and gun battles. Director Wan is best known for Saw and he brings that films graphic violence to this one so gore hounds will certainly be happy with that. I personally thought Bacon gave a terrific performance and his character certainly goes through a lot of changes throughout the film. I thought Bacon nailed each one of them and I found his emotional scenes to be quite touching and heartfelt. When he finally shaves his head and goes out for revenge I could buy him as this sort of guy. The bad guys are all stereotypes and the supporting players really don't add too much. Both Kelly Preston and John Goodman are fairly weak but they do add some slight entertainment value. Aisha Tyler is pretty bland as the Detective in charge of the case. I think the film would have worked better had it decided if it wanted to be a serious drama or a cheap exploitation flick but it does work on both levels so if you're a fan of Death Wish then you should eat this up.

01/19/08

Sally of the Sawdust (1925) D.W. Griffith

Judge Foster (Erville Alderson) throws his daughter out when he learns that she has married a circus man. The mother, before dying, leaves the kid with Professor McGargle (W.C. Fields) who raises her as his own. Years later the girl (Carol Dempster), now an adult, goes with McGargle back to her hometown where he wants to tell her the truth but they end up in the Judge's court where perhaps the truth might come out. This is really just a so-so film for the most part. It never gets bad but at the same time it never really reaches a good level either. As with many of Griffith's later pictures, this one suffers from its technical style as the movie looks like it was made in 1915. Griffith never advanced with the times and that's one of the problems here. Another problem is that it runs a tad bit too long especially when the ending is pretty predictable. Fields offers up a good performance but just don't expect to see him as most think of him. We really don't see too many characteristics of his later style, although there's a couple nice circus scenes, which will remind fans of later work. The most controversial stuff from Griffith's later period is his constant use of Dempster in these big roles. From what I've seen, she can come off very badly or very well. She's somewhat mixed here as she's a tad bit too wild with facial gestures during quieter scenes but during the final courtroom battle she comes off extremely well and her performance then is quite touching. As far as the direction goes, Griffith really doesn't come to life until the end when Dempster is in court fighting to stay out of jail and Fields is racing to get there so he can tell the truth about her. There are several long chase sequences and some nice humor. The overall speed of the film picks up here as well and these are the moments that Griffith handles the best. Fields later remade this as Poppy. Griffith and Fields would go onto do another film the same year, That Royale Girl, which based on original reviews was suppose to be a lot better but sadly that film is lost.

America (1924) D.W. Griffith

This film is basically a remake of The Birth of a Nation but this time the story is set during the American Revolutionary War. We have George Washington (Arthur Dewey) trying to make our country free while Capt. Walter Butler (Lionel Barrymore) tries to get the Indians on his side to attack what one hopes to become the new America. In the mean time, two young lovers (Neil Hamilton, Carol Dempster) are split apart due to them fighting on opposite sides of the war. This film was a notorious flop when originally released and everything Griffith made after this was basically done so that he could clean up debts gathered by this film. Time has certainly been kinder to the film than movie crowds in 1924 because this is a pretty strong take on the war that features a nice story, great battle scenes and some fine performances. Barrymore steals the show with his crazed performance but he never goes over the top but even without words you can see the passion on his face as he fights for what he believes is right. Hamilton and Dempster are both fine in their roles, although I'm sure stronger actors would have been better. The majority of the film deals with the actual story of the war and not the battle scenes. Griffith handles all the quiet moments very well but there's no question that the battle scenes are where the energy is at. Hundreds of extras were used and again, like previous Griffith epics, the battle scenes look incredibly realistic as if Griffith were there filming while the real battles were taking place. The story of the families being split apart probably would have worked better had it not been so familiar as to the story in The Birth of a Nation but either way this was Griffith's last epic and while it's not the masterpiece of The Birth of a Nation or Intolerance, it's still impressive filmmaking.

Things We Can Do Without (1951) Dave O'Brien

Pete Smith short tells us what we use everyday yet might not really need. We get all sorts of slapstick comedy worked around an arm less chair, mechanical tables and various other items, which of course turn crazy and provide the laughs. There's some nice laughs here including a great sequence with a mirror.

Hollywood Hist-O-Rama: John Wayne (1962) Joseph R. Juliano

Five-minute documentary short tells the story of John Wayne using narration and stills. This is the second in the series that I've seen and it's pretty good as long as you don't mind a quick lesson and nothing too deep.

White Rose, The (1923) D.W. Griffith

Light melodrama about a preacher (Ivor Novello) who decides to "see the real world" before taking over his new church. While out he runs into a poor woman (Mae Marsh) and the two soon become lovers, which leaves her pregnant. After hearing she's pregnant, the preacher takes off and soon ends up with a rich girl (Carol Dempster) but fate might bring all three together. This is yet another moral tale from Griffith who wants again comes off very harsh on the rich while showing that the poor are the strong people of the world. I've seen over one hundred films from the director and it seems this is the type of film he always goes back to. The movie isn't too bad but it is rather bland in its execution, which means only Griffith die-hards should seek it out. Novello, who would go onto star in Hitchock's The Lodger, turns in a very good performance and his moral breakdown at the end is certainly the highlight of the film. Dempster is also fine in her role but I think this is one case where Griffith should have used her in the lead. Marsh, back with the director for the first time since Intolerance is decent in the later part of the film but suffers a little at the start due to what seems like a lack of direction. Towards the end of the film when the poor girl is kicked around by the rich, she takes shelter with the black folks who take her in as one of her own. This type of support for blacks was certainly rare in these days but that didn't stop them from having mostly whites play them (the preacher was played by a real black actor).

Sea of Love (1989) Harold Becker

My girlfriend was getting tired of me watching silent films all day so I decided to show this one to here, which she enjoyed, although not as much as me. I can't recall how many times I've watched this movie but it has to be more than twenty times yet it never gets boring, never loses its sexiness and I still find it intense even though I remember most of the dialogue in each scene. The more you watch a great film the more greatness you notice in it and that rang true again with this. What really caught me this time is how incredibly well written the love story between Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin is. My girlfriend even brought this up but at one point you forget you're watching a thriller because you get caught up in the love story between these two lost, broken and depressed people. The two actors are simply wonderful together and I also feel this is one of Pacino's greatest performances. It's hard to say what his greatest performance is since he's had so many but this here would certainly make my top three. John Goodman is also very good and brings some nice laughs.

01/20/08

I Know Who Killed Me (2007) Chris Sivertson

Lindsay Lohan in I Know Who Killed Me and no it wasn't the cocaine, the drunk driving or using the same toilet seat as Paris Hilton. Aubrey Fleming (Lohan) get kidnapped, tortured and mutilated before ending up in the hospital where she tells the FBI that she isn't Aubrey but instead Dakota Moss. The FBI and Aubrey's parents think that she's under some sort of shock but Dakota insists that Aubrey is still alive and being held captive by the serial killer. There's no question this is an extremely bad movie but at the same time this film gets my highest recommendation because you really have to see this film to believe anything about it. I'm sure that this thing is going to go down as a cult classic because the dumbness in this film can't be topped by any other film that I can think of. The plot is all over the place and there are countless questions the FBI could ask to solve the case but they never ask the questions. Why don't they? Because the film would be over. I won't give anything away but the plot twists in this film are so incredibly stupid that you have to wonder why no one objected before filming began. I'm not sure what they were expecting to pull off but they did succeed in creating one of the dumbest mysteries in the history of film and with that in mind the film works. If you really want to see something totally original due to its dumbness then this is the film for you. As for Lohan, this is the first film I've seen with her in it and I've heard from critics that the girl has talent. I should see more before commenting on that but her performance here ranges from very bad to fair depending on the scene. When she's playing the bad girl she comes off pretty fair but her good girl act at the start of the film is pretty poor as are some of the speeches she gives throughout the film. Lohan can also be happy that she's also in the worst sex scene I've ever witnessed in a movie. The scene has Dakota and the "other girl's" boyfriend doing it while her mother is downstairs listening. The way this thing is edited together just makes it downright stupid but to be far it's not as stupid as the mystery wrapped around it. Again, this is a very bad movie but the badness is so original that I can't help but recommend the movie.

Way Down East (1920) D.W. Griffith

Anna (Lillian Gish), a naive country girl travels to Boston to ask her rich relatives for some money but once there she meets a rich man (Lowell Sherman) who likes to play the ladies. Soon the rich man cons Anna into a fake marriage but when he learns that she's pregnant he informs her that the marriage is fake and he leaves her. After the baby dies, she's kicked out everywhere because people see her as an unwed mother. She lands a new job with a family but keeps her secret from everyone including a young man (Richard Barthelmess) who falls for her but soon gossip reaches the town and Anna's secret comes out.

Being a huge fan of the director I'm really not sure what took me so long in watching this film. I've read countless books on the director, silent era and Gish and everyone of them have mentioned the ending to this film, which has Anna stuck on a sheet of ice while is quickly goes down river and nearing a waterfall but more on this later. The story itself deals with hypocrites in religion and one of Griffith's favorite subjects of the rich taking advantage of the poor. The story itself really isn't all that original but there's certainly magic all over the film. Lillian Gish, the greatest of all silent female actresses, turns in another marvelous performance as the poor girl who doesn't know when her heart is being played with. There's a short but heartbreaking sequence where Anna is taking care of her dying child and the tenderness and heartache in the eyes of Gish says more than any words could. The power that this scene contains is just one reason why I think silent films are more powerful than sound ones. Richard Barthelmess is also terrific as the young man who sees Anna as a virgin wife and the changes his character goes through are perfectly captures by the actor. Lowell Sherman is also terrific in his role which has to be one of the greatest villains in film history. Griffith certainly builds up the hatred towards his character and it's quite powerful. The cinematography by G.W. Bitzer is among the best of his career.

You can't say Griffith today without getting into a bullshit debate about race but this is a damn shame because there's no doubt in my mind that he had the greatest mind in the history of cinema. We could talk about the battle scenes in The Birth of a Nation or we can talk about nearly any scene in Intolerance but there's no question that Griffith knew how to create suspense and really push a scene for everything it's worth. The famous scene here is the climax where Anna is stuck on the ice and it's just downright remarkable at what they were able to pull off. Various people nearly died in Griffith's 1915 and 1916 epics and that holds true here where both Gish and Barthelmess nearly died pulling off this scene. I've read countless books that talked about how this stuff was filmed but it still seems impossible that they were able to pull this off. The epic scenery and the way it's shot shows that there isn't any trickery going on, which is just downright remarkable. It really blows my mind at how Griffith could pull all of this stuff off and watching it on screen is just something truly remarkable. Apparently Gish suffered permanent injuries to her hand while filming in the cold water, which is just another reason why silent stars were so remarkable since they had to do their own stunts and without the benefit of CGI. Considering that the term "special effects" weren't into play when this was filmed, it's really breathtaking to see something like this take place. It's amazing but 88-years later I can't think of a scene that matches this.

Re: Track the Films You Watch (2008)

SPOILERS FOR DEATH SENTENCE

Dave, we're just not going to see eye to eye on the film. The punishment is the whole drama of the film. The DW sequels didn't have any of this because Bronson's "loved ones" were killed in the opening minutes and then he went out killing. I'm not sure about you but I never felt bad in parts 3-5 when his loved ones were killed/injured because we never got to know them. They were kinda like teens in a slasher flick meaning that they were just there to be killed off. We're not suppose to cry when Jason or Freddy kill one of the victims because they're just there to die. To me, this was true in the DW sequels but DEATH SENTENCE tried to make you care. If someone decided to do a DW style killing then they aren't going to walk away at the end. Even if the police let them go that doesn't mean the rest of the gang is going to let him walk away. Would gang members just stand around and let someone pick them off one by one? Of course not. Once the war got started, as mentioned in the film, it wouldn't end until both sides were dead.

Even I said the ending turns into an exploitation flick but I don't see how anyone could say the film wasn't 100% serious for the first 90-minutes.

You asked who wants to deal with real life in a vigilante film. Well, I do. I certainly don't want to see the same thing over and over so I'm thankful that the writer at least tried to do something different. I'm going to guess that THE BRAVE ONE has more in common with DS and not DEATH WISH 5. Neither of us have mentioned the first DEATH WISH but it's certainly a serious movie unlike its sequels. There were moral lessons scattered all through that film.

Re: Track the Films You Watch (2008)

If it makes you feel any better it's only 144-minutes. As you can tell, I watched four Griffith films and left this one for last due to the running time, although AMERICA ran just four minutes shorter. Griffith's birthday is Tuesday so I figured I'd watch some of the film I had sitting around. I was suppose to go down and help at his "birthday party" again last Friday but I was busy at work so I had to miss it.

I'm going to have to watch WAY DOWN EAST again for a couple reasons. It was around a 3-star movie to me but I bumped it up half a star after the ending. I might enjoy the film more the second time because I was really wanting to get to the ending to see this famous scene for myself after having read about it for ages.

I've now seen 110 Griffith films and the "rich are evil, poor are strong" attitude is usually the thing that comes out of most of them. I've got two more unseen Griffith's sitting here and then after that I'm going to have to search pretty hard to get my hands on them. Apparently THE WHITE ROSE was the hardest to find but I got it pretty easily. The rest that aren't lost are in collector's hands and Paramount's vaults but I'm going to try and find them.

But I stand by my comments. I've watched a lot of films in my 27 years but my mind has never been blown like certain scenes in INTOLERANCE and the ending to WAY DOWN EAST. My girlfriend refuses to watch silent films with me but I did force her to watch the ending of WDE and she loved it. She then started asking a lot of questions about silent movies so perhaps I'll try to get her to watch one. I'm not sure which I should try but I'm thinking either CITY LIGHTS or MODERN TIMES.



The Canadian DVD is better (and cheap). It's still open matte though.

Re: Track the Films You Watch (2008)

I think he was just fighting for people who couldn't fight. I didn't care for the film either but it was a nice change of pace for Bronson.