Desert Island Films: Alien Invasion Films

 

 

The alien invasion film appeared in the United States in the early 1950s, coinciding with the Soviet Union’s shift from a wartime ally of America to a nuclear-armed international rival. In “The Horror Film: An Introduction,” Rick Worland estimates that the alien invasion film as began. Whatever the precise moment to inspire this sub-genre was, it clearly coincided with the rising fears of a nuclear war and a technologically superior enemy.

 

Alien invasion arrived on American movie screens in 1951 with two films that explored the possibilities of the unknown; in one they would arrive in peace, while the other with only destructive motives. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) presented a superior intelligence, though they arrive with a positive message for humanity to learn from. In the other alien invasion film of 1951, “Dracula became a blood-sucking vegetable from outer space in The Thing from Another World (1951)” (Maddrey 31).

 

Throwback Thursday Review: According to Greta

 

Actors: Hilary Duff, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Murphy, Evan Ross

Director: Nancy Bardawil

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay

DVD Release Date: January 19, 2010

Run Time: 92 minutes

 

        Teen melodrama at its worst is rampant in According to Greta, a film which seems intent on making Hilary Duff out to be some kind of admirable rebel. Music video director Nancy Bardawil frames her protagonist as if she were the star of just that. Music videos are about making the key figures look good rather than real, and that is exactly what Bardawil does with this predictable teen drama. What is most interesting to me is the fact that Bardawil’s name is completely missing from the DVD, which instead focuses on the cast and Duff’s producer credit. There is no director as far as the DVD is concerned, and the movie has that same feeling. It feels more like a vanity project for Duff than a complete film.

 

        We’ve seen this story before with Lindsay Lohan and numerous other bratty teen stars. Greta (Duff) is a troubled seventeen-year-old with a quick wit and rude manner. In other words, Greta is trying as hard as she is to be a clone of Juno. She is sent to live with her grandparents (Michael Murphy and Ellen Burstyn) in New Jersey while her mother works on yet another failing marriage. Being the unwanted teenager is supposed to justify Greta’s reasons for deciding to commit suicide by the time she is 18, but mostly she just comes off as melodramatic and whiny.

 

The To Do List Blu-ray Review

Actors: Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons, Bill Hader, Scott Porter, Rachel Bilson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Andy Samberg, Donald Glover

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: November 19, 2013

Run Time: 104 minutes

 

       

        I almost liked the To Do List, despite having an aversion towards the monotonous comedic style (if you can call it that) of Aubrey Plaza (Funny People, “Parks and Recreation”). Though it seemed that the ending was heading towards the typical coming-of-age lessons that are synonymous with the sex comedy over the past three decades, I was mildly amused. Then the filmmaker threw a different message into the ending, leaving me with a disgusted feeling about everything I had watched. Without giving too much of the pointlessly degrading film away, it should be known that the message of the film is that all teenagers should understand that sex is just sex, which is not serious or complicated in the least. It is the feelings that are complicated, so just make sure to have sex without caring about the person and you will be great! If these statements anger you in the least, the flippancy of The To Do List will be unbearable to endure.

 

        The vulgarity of The To Do List may have been forgivable had the film accomplished its main goal, but I did not catch myself laughing once during this supposed comedy. My biggest issue with Plaza is her inability to hide her reactions underneath her performance. Whenever saying a line or doing something that is meant to deliver a laugh, Plaza has a noticeable smirk that always seems just below the surface as if anticipating the laughs that she will achieve. Those laughs never came. Fortunately, this is an ensemble cast, and there are many other actors to depend on for failed jokes.

 

Magic City: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Review

Actors: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Danny Huston, Olga Kurylenko, James Caan, Esai Morales

Format: Blu-ray, Box set, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 3

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

Release Date: November 5, 2013

Run Time: 411 minutes

 

 

        After the success of Mad Men, it was no surprise that suddenly there were a lot more period television series, such as the unsuccessful “Pan Am,” “Boardwalk Empire,” and now “Magic City.” This series takes place at the Miramar Playa Hotel in Miami Beach in 1959, making it feel like a cross between “Boardwalk Empire” and “Mad Men,” especially when criminal activity is what helps to keep the hotel alive during Castro’s occupation of Havana. Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is willing to do anything to keep his hotel safe from the hands of the Chicago mob.

 

        When Ike becomes involved with Ben “The Butcher” Diamond (Danny Huston), he changes the direction of his business for both him and his sons. The changes are small at first, but soon they are tangled up with a man whose name is a direct result of his vicious nature. Matters are made even worse when one of Ike’s sons begins an affair with the young and beautiful wife of “The Butcher,” leaving us to imagine what would happen should he get caught. The entire first season built up the reputation of this villain, and season two shows with painstaking drudgery that he is much more bark than bite. Danny Huston is frightening in the role, but the series drags story elements out far past being interesting or compelling, and eventually it becomes clear that “The Butcher” does not live up to his reputation.

 

Ambushed Blu-ray Review

Actors: Daniel Bonjour, Gianni Capaldi, Dolph Lundgren, Vinnie Jones, Randy Couture

Directors: Giorgio Serafini

Format: Color, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay

Release Date: November 12, 2013

Run Time: 97 minutes

 

       

        My mind goes numb trying to think of an original way to criticize yet another terrible low budget action film with a supporting cast of unreliable aging action stars who repeatedly display their willingness to participate in the creation of just about any piece of garbage for a paycheck. I feel like I have reviewed this movie ten times this year already. However slight the variation in plot and cast, it always feels like the same torturous film to sit through and review. Dolph Lundgren has a Masters degree in chemical engineering and received a Fulbright Scholarship to MIT. He isn’t a stupid man, which leads me to believe money is the only reason he continues to make stupid movies.

 

        Despite the cover art, Lundgren is not the star of this film, nor is Vinnie Jones or Randy Couture. The story eventually involves them all, but the anti-hero protagonist and cheesy narrator is Frank (Daniel Bonjour), a rising drug dealer and club owner with his ruthless partner, Eddie (Gianni Capaldi). When they steal drugs from Vincent (Jones) it involves them in a more dangerous world, including a dirty cop named Reilly (Couture) and an FBI agent named Maxwell (Lundgren) on their tail. The story is over-complicated while including underwritten dialogue that sounds like something a seventeen-year-old might think up.

 

Ip Man: The Final Fight Blu-ray Review

Actors: Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Gillian Chung, Jordan Chan

Directors: Herman Yau

Format: Blu-ray, Dolby, NTSC, THX, Widescreen

Language: Cantonese

Subtitles: English, Mandarin Chinese

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: November 12, 2013

Run Time: 101 minutes

 

 

        My biggest mistake in watching Ip Man: The Final Fight was my confusion with which franchise this was the conclusion to. There have simply been too many attempts at a biographical film about the legendary grandmaster of Wing Chun in the past years. Edmond Wong made the high-octane biopics Ip Man (2008) and Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster (2010), with a third film looming as a possibility and Donnie Yen in the title role of the first two. Wong Kar Wai also just released his take on the life of the man who would eventually train Bruce Lee with The Grandmaster (2013). This film, however, is a follow-up to Herman Yau’s The Legend is Born: Ip Man (2010).

 

        Anthony Wong takes on the title role for the biopic about the later years in the martial arts grandmaster’s life in postwar Hong Kong. This film lacks a clear antagonist for much of the film, waiting until a final climax to show any true spectacle in the fight sequences. In short, there is far more biopic and far less action film in this film, and it is done in a worshipping manner that sees its protagonist as being without fault. This can be trying to sit through. It is easy to idealize an action hero, but somehow it comes off as a bit more false when they stop fighting.

 

Passion Blu-ray Review

Actors: Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace

Directors: Brian De Palma

Format: AC-3, Blu-ray, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English, German

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: Entertainment One

Release Date: November 5, 2013

Run Time: 101 minutes

 

 

 

        There may be some stylistic reminders that Passion is directed by Brian De Palma, but the faults riddled within this nonsensical film make that revelation more depressing than deserving of praise. In his earlier career De Palma was accused of constantly being an Alfred Hitchcock copycat, but this latest endeavor is too unfortunate to even be compared to De Palma’s earlier work, much less anything from the master of suspense. Passion is an unfortunate film on many levels. Despite the polished look of the movie and a solid cast, there is hardly a glimmer of originality in the story itself. Suspense leads to a series of sadly unimpressive twists and reveals, ultimately leaving the audience with nothing more than any hour-long murder mystery show could provide in half the time.

 

        Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace are two executives working at the German division of a successful advertising agency, backstabbing each other as they scramble to the top of the food chain. Christine Stanford (McAdams) runs the agency, though she is eager enough to receive a promotion to the head office in New York that she is willing to steal credit for the work done by her protégé, Isabelle James (Rapace). Isabelle also has a protégé, named Dani (Karoline Herfurth), and it would appear that the female debauchery in the workplace is passed on from one female co-worker to the next.

 

The Beauty of the Devil Blu-ray Review

Actors: Michel Simon, Gerard Philipe

Directors: Rene Clair

Format: Blu-ray, Black & White, NTSC, Subtitled

Language: French

Subtitles: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Cohen Media Group

Release Date: October 29, 2013

Run Time: 97 minutes

 

 

        The Beauty of the Devil is a serio-comic approach to the classic German fable of “Faust,” utilizing French filmmaker René Clair’s tendency to make films with socio/political satirical humor at the expense of upper class mores. Focusing on the humor rather than the tragedy, The Beauty of the Devil allows for a lighter approach to the tale while still remaining true to it. The performances take front seat in importance over any type of stylistic approach to the fantasy elements of a deal with the devil.

 

        When a well-respected professor of alchemy finds himself nearing the end of life without accomplishing the task he has been working on for much of his life, the temptation for a chance at youth is too great for Professor Faust (Michel Simon) to resist. The devil (Gérard Philipe) appears with a deal to give the professor everything he has wanted, including youth and the chance to finish his goal of creating gold, with his soul demanded in exchange. Faust is given a young new body, while the devil takes his own, leading to a series of tricks and manipulations.

 

Desert Island Films: Creature Features

 

        With the invention of cinema, there were two notable pioneering filmmakers who experimented in remarkably different ways with the medium. The Lumière brothers began making some of the first films by simply setting up the camera in various settings, the very first being footage of employees leaving a factory. They were also the filmmakers who shot the film of the train arriving at the station, which frightened audiences as was shown in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo. Even as they went on to make films of staged actions, the Lumière brothers stayed grounded in realism, while George Méliès can be said to have shaped the future of cinema upon its initial experimentation by taking a particular interest in the fantasy elements. While the Luis Lumière and his brother pioneered the technical aspects of cinema, it was Méliès who would show what the medium was truly capable of with A Trip to the Moon (1902) and countless others. Among them was the first monster movie ever made.

 

In 1907 Méliès created a parodied version of Jules Verne novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” in a short film, thus creating the first creature feature. It was later adapted into a feature film in 1916, featuring the first underwater photography. Even more significant was the giant octopus which is essential to the film. There is nothing monstrous about the octopus in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, except for the size of the beast, presumably due to the extreme depths of the ocean the submarine has submerged.

 

Desert Island Films: Vampire Horror

 

 

        The success of the vampire as portrayed in popular literature and film throughout history has often been contingent upon his ability to remain in the shadows, feeding discreetly in order to remain undiscovered. The most powerful of supernatural abilities the vampire has as weapons is the ability of seduction, causing humans to give their lives willingly. Sexuality has been linked with vampires from their original conception of the vampire’s mythology, and this did not change when the bloodsucker was adapted to celluloid. The story which first ushered the vampire onto film was "Dracula," the 1897 novel written by Irish author, Bram Stoker; first with the unauthorized silent German adaptation, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), and then with the Universal classic, Dracula (1931).

 

Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula was a monster equipped with a powerful ability to seduce, and though this sexuality was toned down in the production of the original film, Francis Ford Coppola was more explicit in exposing the monster’s utilization of sex in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). Other vampire films followed in this tradition,[1] and the blood-sucking monster was often associated with seduction and sexuality.[2] In Once Bitten (1985) the vampire must feed from the blood of a virgin, combining the narrative with the teenage male anxiety of remaining the last to lose his virginity.[3] Even when the antagonist only believes he is a vampire, as is the case in George A. Romero’s Martin (1977), sexuality is still retained in the narrative as he often rapes his victims before drinking their blood. Sex is also used to lure victims in many vampire tales, including the topless bar which doubles as a lucrative vampire lair in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) or the whore house which is occupied by vampire prostitutes in Bordello of Blood (1996).[4]