Cop Out film bannerCop-Out is all right. It’s not great, but who thought it would be? I am a giant Tracy Morgan fan, I love his style of humor and this film doesn’t ask very much from the comedian. Bruce Willis seems kind of lost… or pissed off, I couldn’t tell. I don’t think he knew just how stupid and silly this film was going to be. Directed by Kevin Smith, Cop-Out is definitely a step down from the brilliant Zack and Miri Make a Porno. This latest buddy flick has all the familiar set-ups and trappings of a CBS sitcom, without the funny commercial breaks to make you laugh. If you like Morgan or Smith then give this flick a chance. But if you do miss it, don’t worry about it because you’re really not missing anything.
Also, Tracy Morgan told my favorite insult joke of all time, here it is:
“You are so ugly, I could put your face in dough, and make monster cookies.”
No Country for Old Men artMan, what else could be said about No Country for Old Men? Although it was not my favorite movie of 2007 (There Will Be Blood), this is an absolutely perfect film. People love to harp on the last scene, but I think it sums up the picture beautifully. I feel ridiculous even writing about this film. Its only three years old and has already been deconstructed and studied, and the book goes even deeper into the themes found in the movie. Fate; inexplicable and inescapable, the dark cloud of fate is manifested in this film as a lumbering sociopath with a funny haircut. Make sure you don't miss this flick... Friendo.
The Happiness of the Katakuris posterIn class we discussed Takashi Miike’s film The Happiness of the Katakuris; exploring the film’s violence and surrealist nature, and to what purpose Miike was trying to make such ridiculous cinema. We spoke a lot on violence, specifically the violence found in Asian “extreme” films, and fetishistic undertones found within this brand or genre that so fascinates the west. Oddly enough, the word “horror” was never mentioned throughout the lecture and subsequent group discussion. I found that odd, not because violence is so closely connected to the genre, but because I considered so many of these films we discussed to be horror movies. Audition (Miike, 1999), One Missed Call (Miike, 2003), The Isle (Kim Ki-duk, 2001), Battle Royal (Fukasaku, 2001), A Tale of Two Sisters (Kim Ji-woon, 2003), The Host (Bong Jun-ho, 2006), and many more films can only be classified as “horror” and yet no one uttered the word. As if the word itself is pejorative. I wonder how many of Asia’s biggest blockbusters over the last decade or so have been horror films? With the obvious influx of American remakes being churned out by Hollywood on a regular basis, it is hard to argue these films offer what western horror films lack; atmospheric volatility.
When I think of Asian horror films I immediately consider what sets them apart from American horror films. Where American directors continually debase the genre with needless gore, excessive nudity, and vacantly engrossed violence; Asian directors approach their films more philosophically. Of course not all Asian extreme films are philosophical, or even good films for that matter, but there is an obvious difference between the east and the west. Mood and tone are delicately set early on in films like 1998’s Ringu. Thoughtfully directed, this film takes its time and quietly prepares each frightening sequence with the build-up needed to secure the screams it desires. Not relying on blood or gore, Ringu solidified American audiences expectations for what Japanese and Asian horror films were capable of. Interestingly enough many Americans would have never heard of Ringu if not for its Hollywood remake in 2002. Simply titled The Ring, the remake was a surprising success and remained mostly faithful to its original source material. After The Ring there was an influx of American remakes of Asian horror films. Ju-on was made into The Grudge, while Dark Water, Shutter, and many more East Asian films were being converted into digestible American movies. In his essay Remaking East Asia, Outsourcing Hollywood writer Gang Gary Xu explains Ringu’s success: “…What makes Ringu adaptable is its already Americanized features: American suburb life style, and thrilling yet non-threatening horror.” I assume what he means by “threatening horror” is the stereotypical American slasher. Freddy Kreuger, Jason Vorhees, Michael Meyers, and countless more angry males have butchered thousands of people in both expensive blockbuster pictures and independently financed B-horror films.3 Extremes Poster
However, not all Asian films are as easily transferable across the Pacific Ocean. An anthology picture emulating the classic Twilight Zone (1983) and Creepshow (1982) structures, Three…Extremes offers three different 40-minute short films directed by some of the most acclaimed (and notorious) Asian directors. Each with its own unique atmosphere and story, this single film serves as a great exhibit defending the stylistic differences found not only between the east and the west, but of also Japan (Miike), South Korea (Park), and Honk Kong (Chan). Chan’s Dumplings is an excellent example of the shock horror found in Hong Kong. Its disturbing plotline follows an aging actress so desperate for youth and beauty that she willingly digest dumplings filled with crushed human fetuses with supposed de-aging effects. With ultimate gross-outs and humorous undertones, Dumplings is a modern day fable warning us against greed and vanity. Park Chan-wook’s segment plainly titled Cut at first seems like a prime candidate for the American remake treatment. A successful director comes home to find his wife tied up with piano wire by a crazed extra that is angry over the fact that the man is talented and wealthy, while at the same time is also a good man. Following more in the ultraviolent methods like 2004’s Saw, Cut has no problem showing fingers being cut off, young children being strangled to death, and pools of blood slowly building throughout the short film. The South Korean segment is content with this brutality because it is mostly concerned with its philosophical dilemmas about man and the importance of success; issues, which I can safely say, are cross-cultural in today’s male society. Takashi Miike’s The Box is by far the hardest to dissect, and seemingly impossible to remake into an American horror film. Its surrealistic style only helps to blur the director’s intentions. The Japanese segment of Three…Extremes is perhaps the best example of what Gang Gary Xu defined as “aura.” He explains, “Without ambiguity, be it psychological or sexual, there would not have been aura… aura is something that you can vaguely feel but can hardly locate or identify.”
It is with this “aura” that Miike’s The Box and many other East Asian horror films so quintessentially embody. This terrible, almost palpable feeling of dread that goes past frightening and is able to physically effect your body. It is with the subtle visuals and precise editing style many of these films succeed as horror films, but I believe it is because of these directors’ incubation in East Asia philosophies and filmic traditions that they so effectively titillate and frighten the viewer from any country.
Best Worst Movie poster artBest Worst Movie is a documentary that chronicles the unexpected cult status of the awesomely bad Troll 2. Considered by many, including at one time IMDB.com, to be the worst film ever made, Troll 2 has slowly crept into the pop-culture zeitgeist. I have seen and enjoyed the film, both as a kid when it would come on HBO and later on dvd. It is pretty awful, but it has the same watchable charm that films like Basket Case and The Room share. This doc is pretty great, mostly in part to George Hardy and his amazingly sincere smile and personality. To describe him would be to spoil a great surprise, so just take my word for it and watch this film.
Also, there are certain characters from the original film that have basically been M.I.A. for the last 20-years that the director is able to dig up and put in front of the camera. Let me just say those scenes transcend entertainment and really come close to being fascinating character studies. Check it out if you have scene Troll 2 or not, either way you should enjoy it.
Seven crewmembers aboard the spacecraft Nostromo are awakened from hyper-sleep when their ship picks up an unknown radio signal from a nearby planet. A team of three astronauts: Kane, Dallas, and Lambert, are sent to explore the ship that has crashed and emitting the SOS signal. Once inside the desolate ship, Kane finds an enormous chamber filled with countless incubating eggs. His investigations prove to be injudicious when the inhabitants of one of the eggs (eventually dubbed a “facehugger”) penetrates his helmet and forcefully thrusts itself inside his body through his mouth.
After Kane is brought back on board the lead science officer Ash, along with the ship’s captain Dallas, try to remove the creature off Kane’s face. Finding out the monster bleeds a liquid similar to acid; the men discontinue their efforts and opt to wait it out. Luckily the creature eventually dies and Kane awakens, but only moments later while the crew eats a celebratory meal, everyone finds out that the monster had in fact impregnated Kane. The newly gestated creature, called a xenomorph, makes a spectacular entrance by bursting through Kane’s chest. This creature rapidly increases in size and begins to hunt and kill each crewmember one by one.
Over several extremely heinous and violent events 3rd Officer Ripley learns of her Company’s ulterior motives, discovers Ash is in fact a robot and ultimately becomes the last survivor of the Nostromo. She decides to blow up the ship, along with the alien and cargo while escape in an emergency shuttle. Of course, the creature follows her in the escape, where Ripley successfully rockets the alien into outer space.
Alien film posterPremise and Opening
The premise of Alien is established only minutes into the film. Seven crewmembers aboard the commercial towing spacecraft Nostromo are prematurely awakened from hyper-sleep when the vehicle’s artificial intelligence system (called Mother) detects a signal of unknown origin. Although it is nearly six-minutes into the film before the first line of dialogue is spoken, the premise of the film is setup within the opening scene.
Writer Dan O’Bannon and director Ridley Scott chose to open the film by establishing viewers to the silent and claustrophobic world of the Nostromo before introducing the crew. The camera slowly moves across the enormous ship exterior allowing enough time for the craft’s unimaginable size to resonate. Quickly the film cuts to the ship’s interior by weaving through the hallways of the Nostromo before ultimately settling at the pilot’s station. The terminal abruptly blinks to life, reflecting off the empty masks of the team. It is after the ship finishes its startup sequences that the audience is finally introduced to the groggy and homesick crew.
Exposition
Dan O’Bannon’s script uses exposition sparingly. He offers very little back-story to perhaps add to the film’s suspense and paranoia. The film opens with the bleak openness of space, the crew’s vessel the Nostromo, and perhaps the only pertinent piece of exposition in the entire film:
Commercial towing vehicle ‘The Nostromo’
Crew: seven
Cargo: refinery processing 20,000,000 tons of mineral ore
Course: returning to earth
After this initial information, the film does very little to acclimate the audience to the environment or situation these seven characters find themselves. There are brief introductions, where the audience learns names and rank, and throughout scenes of action the characters’ jobs and responsibilities are made clear. There is another example of exposition in Alien, however slight it may be. It deals with Parker (an African American) and his lackey Brett; the wrench-turners on board the Nostromo. Throughout the first act their incessant arguing over the “bonus situation”, the audience has a glimpse into the Company the crew works for. A simple set-up to what will be a major theme of the film.
Alien film posterDramatic Irony
In Alien the use of dramatic irony is successfully traded for the suitable genre tools of surprise and suspense. From the moment the crew is awakened, the audience is only allowed information when it is given to characters on screen. When the facehugger first attaches itself to Kane and is brought aboard, no explanation to Kane’s condition or details of the alien species is awarded to the viewer until the characters discover it for themselves. This method of storytelling is employed through the film’s ending. While the seven human beings are systematically picked off by the seemingly indomitable xenomorph, there is never an instance when the audience is made aware of the creature’s position in the ship until it shows itself to the man or woman it is about to violently mutilate. The result is a shared experience of terror between the cast and the audience. The confusion is only intensified by the hysteria manifested on screen, which effectively produces the desired sensation of fear within the viewer.
Preparation and Aftermath
Scenes of preparation and subsequent aftermath abound in Alien. After Kane is attacked by the facehugger and left unconscious, he unceremoniously comes to. He awakes with an aggressive appetite and a great scene of preparation by contrast follows when the six other crewmembers join him for an impromptu meal in the dining room. The mood is light and cheerful because all seems to be working out in favor of the Nostromo. The dangerous acid-bleeding alien they brought on board has expired, in addition to the team member they thought was going to die, miraculously surviving. They joke around, eat heartily and celebrate their close call until the alien makes its terrifically gruesome return by way of Kane’s chest. There is a similar scene of preparation by contrast when Ripley believes she is alone in the escape shuttle in the 3rd act. The audience silently watches as she finally begins to relax and prepare for her long journey back to earth, when in true horror genre fashion, the xenomorph arrives for one final scare.
A perfect example of aftermath occurs at the end of the picture. Ripley, having just launched the alien into the emptiness of space, sits calmly at a workstation recording her final report for the Nostromo. O’Bannon allows Ripley and the audience to reflect on their adventure and absorb the weight of the situation by naming each individual who lost their lives aboard the spacecraft. There are examples of aftermath that do not attempt to meditate on such dramatic significance as well. After Brett’s death at the hands of the xenomorph, the crew reconvenes and addresses the true magnitude of their disadvantage.
Alien film posterMain Tension, Culmination, and Resolution
By the end of the 1st act the alien has been ushered on board the Nostromo by Capt. Dallas after it attached itself securely to Kane’s head. Up to this point it has not been made evident that Dallas is not the actual hero of the film. It is also at the end of the 1st act that corporate greed and ulterior motives of the Company are initially hinted at. It is for these reasons the main tension may ask, “Will the Captain Dallas and his crew be able survive both the alien invader and the company’s ulterior motives while maintaining control of the Nostromo?”
The culmination of the film comes when Ripley finds out the truth behind the Company’s military weapons plan and that Ash is actually a cybernetic robot sent to secure the Company’s interests. It is after this when she learns of this information that she decides the only way she and the two surviving members will survive is by initiating “self-destruct” mode on the Nostromo and fleeing inside an escape spacecraft.
Alien’s resolution comes when Ripley exhaustively watches the Nostromo explode before her eyes. Her witnessing the death of the creature that killed her teammates and the destruction of the ship that guaranteed their fate. This moment in the film allows the audience to relax.
Theme
Thematically Alien is a very interesting, very deep film. This science fiction/horror genre picture is attempting to explore and exhibit the permeation of minorities into the traditionally white corporate structure and the desperate battle to maintain control. Throughout the 1970’s, African Americans and female workers had taken advantage of the momentum and rewards their respective equal-rights causes afforded them, placing them in positions once exclusively held by white-males. Ash, the Company’s robotic puppet, symbolizes both the desperation that white males of superior education and position were feeling during that decade. In addition, the determination of the corporate system, still controlled by the white male demographic, to hold onto their control they could feel gradually slipping away. Another prevalent theme of Alien is that of corporate greed and their worthless appraisal of human life. By gaining access to the ship’s computer control system, Mother, Ripley learns the Company’s true motives:
PRIORITY ONE – ENSURE THE RETURN OF ORGANISM FOR ANALYSIS. ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS SECONDARY. CREW EXPENDABLE.
Once Ripley discovers the Company values the alien more than the employee’s lives, she along with Lambert and Parker, decide to blowup the ship that contained the alien and all the cargo on board. Thus, taking away control from the nameless company they work for and validate the value of human life, but sacrificing any chance of monetary indemnification.
Let me preface this by saying I liked this film. It was funny, and gross, and everything else a Jackass film is supposed to be. But, as a diehard fan I must say, its time to pack up the double-sided dildos and hard-cups because the show is officially over. The magic is gone, and by magic I mean desperation. These guys not only shouldn’t be inflicting these inane stunts upon their aging bodies, but they don’t need to. It is just kind of depressing watching them take their hits, try to laugh, and then look down until the skit fades to black.
Think back to the masterful Jackass Number Two. Those pranks and stunts were great and imaginative, but the humor almost always came from when the camera was just left on and we got to relish in the aftermath of the cast’s stupidity. In 3D, the camera is forced to cut away quickly because the only thing left to watch is the sad look in the eyes of the tired cast and crew. Their eyes show both appreciation for being alive, and a conspicuous gleam of leeriness. When your pushing 40, and your legacy is based on the ability of withstanding blunt-force-trauma to your sack, leeriness is understandable.
Jackass 3D Cast
Anyone who knows me is already familiar with my opinion on 3D, and that opinion is that I hate it. Without going into it, I will say that Jackass 3D is probably one of the best films I have seen that has used 3D-technology to its benefit. Specifically the opening credits and the ending montage utilize the sophisticated camera and take full advantage of its capabilities.
I never thought I would say this, but I kind of hope that this third entry into the series will finally be a wrap on ol’ Knoxville and company. I don’t know what they will do now. I like Johnny Knoxville and his so called attempts at acting, but I am not sure what the other guys could do. Not that this matters because the film made a metric butt-ton of money, which will insure a fourth film. Jackass 4D? I don’t know, but if that means they are going to spray me in the face with piss while I wear my 3D glasses count me out. . . Oh whom am I kidding? I will be there opening day!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 6:43PM 
Cop Out film bannerCop-Out is all right. It’s not great, but who thought it would be? I am a giant Tracy Morgan fan, I love his style of humor and this film doesn’t ask very much from the comedian. Bruce Willis seems kind of lost… or pissed off, I couldn’t tell. I don’t think he knew just how stupid and silly this film was going to be. Directed by Kevin Smith, Cop-Out is definitely a step down from the brilliant Zack and Miri Make a Porno. This latest buddy flick has all the familiar set-ups and trappings of a CBS sitcom, without the funny commercial breaks to make you laugh. If you like Morgan or Smith then give this flick a chance. But if you do miss it, don’t worry about it because you’re really not missing anything. 
