The Filmcake

May 3rd – May 9th

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) — Two ditsy American girls on their way to a club in a foreign country get a flat tire on their rental car. It begins to rain. They stumble towards the nearest house to make a phone call. A deranged German scientist answers the door. Things will not turn out okay.

That’s the beginning of a standard horror/slasher plot. When things start getting surgical–when Dr. Heiter creates his monster–is where the movie veers off into new territory. Given the subject matter, the movie is surprisingly restrained and nice to look at.

The film is certainly better than I had expected. It was more than just a shocking, gross-out cinematic challenge. But what it was exactly, I still don’t know. After seeing it, I can totally see where Ebert was coming from when he said in his review:

I am required to award stars to movies I review. This time, I refuse to do it. The star rating system is unsuited to this film. Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don’t shine.

The Room — Another go at this one. This time for something much lighter than the previous film. While this still continues to be hilariously bad and eminently quotable, I must admit that I’m getting a little sick of it. It’s about time for another movie to make me laugh.

January 25th – January 31st

I Spit On Your Grave, Peeping Tom – A couple of films I sought out after reading Carol Clover’s Men, Women & Chainsaws book. The first is a rape-revenge movie from 1978 that Roger Ebert described as a “vile bag of garbage.” In his 1980 review, he also described it as “so sick, reprehensible and contemptible” that he couldn’t believe respectable theatres were even screening it. He also equates the rapes in the film with the revenge that is taken. That was thirty years ago and there is no indication that he has had the inclination to revisit the movie. While I wouldn’t call this movie feministic, it’s also not as vile as Ebert (of 1980, at least) would have you believe. Identification of the audience with the rapists and the revenge-taker are more complicated. At any rate, Camille Keaton’s Jennifer is certainly an antecedent for Tarantino’s women of late–the girls of Death Proof, Kill Bill’s Beatrix Kiddo, and even Shosanna in Inglourious Basterds.

Peeping Tom was another film rich in controversial history. After its release, the movie was panned so harshly that it essentially destroyed director Michael Powell’s career as a director in the UK. Thankfully, Martin Scorsese championed both the director and the film to give them both a second chance. Watching it now, the movie seems so obviously “important.” It says so much about voyeurism, scoptophilia (“the morbid urge to gaze”) and the cinematic gaze. This is what viewing (and making) movies is all about.

Gomorrah – A mafia movie that quotes Scarface but doesn’t bother to be just another rip-off of The Godfather and Goodfellas. It is a slice of the horror that The Comorra has wrought. But ultimately it is a critique of capitalism and of Western notions of power (and more tangentially of the American wars in the Middle East). Success (or wealth) isn’t a matter of intelligence, or of good conquering evil. It is a matter of who has the more powerful gun. And all of us who participate, who share in its riches, are complicit. There is no escape.

Fight Club – There’s a lot that could be said about this movie. I find it kind of maddening myself. It’s about one thing. And then it’s about another entirely different thing. While it says something, I’m not sure thatsomething is consistent. Or maybe that inconsistency is what the movie is trying to convey–our identification and authenticity are as confused and fragmented as The Narrator’s (Edward Norton) mind.

Objectified, Scenes From a Parish - A couple from PBS’s Independent Lens. I was a little disappointed with Objectified, Gary Hustwit’s follow-up to his excellent Helvetica doc. This one wasn’t nearly as enlightening or entertaining as that one. Scenes From a Parish was a bit of a surprise. It was roughly about a priest’s attempt to bridge the gap between two different groups of parishioners whilst trying to get a soup kitchen built. If it weren’t for the religion and parishioners, maybe church wouldn’t be so bad…

The Room - Ahhh, it never gets old. I just hope I manage to attend a midnight screening of it at some point. In the meantime, kindly put your comments in your pocket.

Blindness - Eck. This seemed like a movie that was trying way too hard to convey a message. But what that message was is unclear. It just seemed like the work of a naive, untalented hack with a dangerous streak of earnestness. As soon as the surgical scissors were introduced I wanted nothing more than to stab out my own eyes. I’m guessing it was trying to say something about humanity (or government) or something. But since the messages it was sending out were conflicting and confused, it didn’t actually end up saying much of anything.

A Boy and His Dog – Now this was a genuine surprise…and almost made up for the awfulness that was Blindness. Up until a couple weeks ago, I hadn’t really been aware of this movie. Manohla Dargis’s made reference to it in her review of The Book of Eli, calling it another “post-apocalyptic fairy tale.” Give me a dog and a post-apocalypse and I’m SO there. I immediately added it to my queue. And, then last week I saw where it was going to be shown in Los Angeles as part of a double feature with the documentary Waiting for Armageddon (which I am also very eager to see). Well, that just shot it straight to the top of my queue. And what a delight! And with a young Don Johnson. Wow. I could certainly see a remake of this–if only so the female character (Quilla) could be better constructed. Not that every old movie needs to be remade…

Big Fan - A decent little movie starring Patton Oswalt as a devoted New York Football Giants fan. It’s not a great movie, but it has some nice moments. One thing I realized is how similar geeks are to sports fans. It’s all just a matter of what you geek out over. You could easily replace comic book guy with sports talk radio guy and still be talking about essentially the same person.

December 21st – December 27th

It Might Get Loud – This documentary is a success for not trying to do too much. It doesn’t aim to tell a complete history of the electric guitar, nor does it aim to give a definitive biography of its three featured guitarists, Jack White, Jimmy Page, and The Edge. Instead, you get an enticing glimpse how each of the three musicians approach their instrument which leaves you wanting more. After watching this documentary, I immediately put on The White Stripes’ concert film Under Blackpool Lights to enjoy even more of Jack White’s virtuoso work. And now I’m really anticipating the forthcoming Under Great White Northern Lights concert documentary.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – This is kind of a troubling film. Ferris could certainly be described as a douche. He basically uses and lies to his family and friends for nothing but selfish reasons. He is only concerned with finding pleasure for himself and seems little concerned with the consequences they have on the people he presumably cares about. And I can’t think that things are really going to end up okay between Cameron and his father. Sure, Ferris offers to take the blame. But, that’s too little too late. The damage has already been done.

Antichrist/Dancer in the Dark - Two from Lars von Trier on Christmas Day. Why? To put the Anti-CHRIST back in Christmas, perhaps? Antichrist still remains a beautiful yet confounding film. It’s provocative in what seem to be the right proportions. As for Dancer in the Dark,I think Bjork is absolutely brilliant for the role of Selma. Bjork can be polarizing, as a singer and actor, but I can certainly be counted as a fan.

District 9 - This was a surprise. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the tone of this film just caught me by surprise. There just seemed to be a lot of inventiveness and creativity thrown into this film. A lot of fun. I may have to add this one to my Blu-ray collection. It seems like this one would have a fairly high rewatchability factor. And I’d like to see how they accomplished some of the special effects for a relatively small amount of money. I look forward to seeing what director Neill Blomkamp does in the future.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence - Haley Joel Osment is excellent here as David. Much like Bjork as Selma in Dancer in the Dark, I’m not sure how much of it is acting prowess as it’s a credit to casting and the directors getting just what they needed for their characters. Part of me wishes that Stanley Kubrick would have survived to bring his complete vision to the film. But part of me likes the Spielbergian patina that covers the film–that lulls one into thinking this is a film for families instead of the dark thing that it actually turns out to be. I think the film, including the ending, is many things (to different people). Sentimental, however, is not a word I would use.

The Room - This movie just isn’t getting old. It’s still horrible. But it’s still so fun to watch. Unfortunately, the misguided attempt at following this one up with another film featuring Greg Sestero (Mark in The Room) was not so fun. It turns out that Retro Puppetmaster isn’t all that entertaining after all.

Sunshine – This one now officially belongs in the pantheon. When I want a science fiction space film and I’m not sure I’ll stay awake throughout the entirety of Kubrick’s 2001, I pick up this one.

Avatar - There is a lot of commentary out there about the ethnic stereotypes and white liberal guilt this film evokes. I certainly don’t think that commentary is unwarranted. But I don’t find it overly problematic either. This film is still a lot of fun. This is the first 3D film I’ve seen (since the ’80s) and it looked quite good. It didn’t seem overly pervasive. It wasn’t necessary by any means and I’m not sure if it makes the movie better, but it does make the movie even more of a thrill ride. The Na’vi characters, created with James Cameron’s version of motion capture, looked amazing. Definitely a step forward technically.

The Royal Tenenbaums - Despite all of its twee preciousness and precociousness, this Wes Anderson flick still manages to make things a little dusty upon each viewing. Chas reconnecting with his father at the end of the film, beginning with the acquisition of the dog Sparkplug, gets me every single time.

August 17th – August 23rd

Plan 9 From Outer Space (RiffTrax Live) - This was pretty cool. The RiffTrax guys (formerly of Mystery Science Theater 3000) did a live Riffing of Plan 9 that was broadcast in theaters throughout the country. I wasn’t super blown away with it. It was funny enough. But I’ve seen funnier MST3K’s. That being said, I hope this becomes a regular occurrence (with a different movie getting Riffed). It was well worth the $12.

The Room – A movie so hilarious it doesn’t even need to be Riffed (though it was; slightly better but still not great upon a second listening). This time, we had the pleasure of introducing The Room to my brother-in-law who absolutely loved it. It just doesn’t get old. I think the thing that sets it apart from other horribly bad movies is that it’s very well paced. There aren’t too many boring stretches, which can make a good or bad movie go south quickly.

Inglourious Basterds - Tarantino’s latest. Don’t know if it’s his greatest. And saying it’s “up there” isn’t saying much because he’s only directed 6 films (and they’re all great). It’s offensive, sure. But it’s delightful. It’s a QT classic.

Grindhouse – After Inglourious Basterds, we all needed some more QT brilliance (w/ Robert Rodriguez). And since my DVD Tarantino collection is lacking (I have 2 copies of Reservoir Dogs on DVD, but nothing else), we went with a copy of Grindhouse I’d DVR’ed a few weeks back. This is the first time I’ve revisited the movies in their original Grindhouse format since the movie opened. I like all of the trailers and the back-to-back movies, but I do miss Vanessa Ferlito’s dancing (which appears on the DVD).

The Gore Gore Girls - The last of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s films until (30 years later) 2002′s Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat. It’s offensive and gross and disgusting. But its so offensive and gross and disgusting that it’s kind of wonderful. For me, the offensiveness of a movie like this (or even Inglourious Basterds) is something completely different than the offensiveness of a movie without a brain for people without brains. The clueless violence and misogyny of mainstream fare approaches a level of offensiveness that truly repulses me. This movie is particularly notable for the bizarre chocolate milk scene and the appearance of Henny Youngman, the rapid-fire comedian most famous for the classic “Take my wife–please” joke.

August 10th – August 16th

Phase V - We caught Brian Hearn’s (Film Curator at OKCMOA) remix of Saul Bass’s Phase IV at Mainsite Art Gallery in Norman on Friday evening. Hearn cut out all the dialogue and all the shots showing the actors talking from the original. Then on Friday night he presented his remix with actors providing wonderful live dialogue for the three main roles backed by a live musical score. While I’ve never seen the original Phase IV, I still had a bunch of fun with this remix. As it started, I briefly thought it might veer off into pretentious, art-installation territory. But before long the line readings were bringing in the laughs. This presentation wasn’t just for the art crowd, but for people who love movies both good and bad.

The Room – Speaking of bad movies…This one has been called the “Citizen Kane of bad movies.” It’s awful. But I totally recommend it. Occasionally, one person’s singular vision and self-delusion is all that is needed for a hilariously painful cinematic disaster. It’s not so much that people make bad movies; it’s that they think they’re doing it brilliantly (see also Audience of One and the occasional deadCENTER film or many student films). I’m still not quite sure how intentional the awfulness is though. Director, writer, and leading man Tommy Wiseau is either brilliant or earnestly incompetent. In the end it doesn’t matter because he’s made an entertaining movie. Perhaps brilliance and earnest incompetence are simply two sides of the same coin. Note: Don’t bother with the RiffTrax commentary. It’s seriously lacking in the funny. Usually, they get it right but not this time. Instead, just put The Room back in your DVD player and press PLAY again.