I'D BE WILLING TO TRAVEL TO JUPITER, OR BEYOND THE INFINITE, TO VISIT THIS FILM SET

MOTION PICTURE TRAILERS: PART V

A film like CLOCKWORK ORANGE could only have a trailer like this. Like the mind of an ADHD child hopped up on Pixie Sticks and Jolt soda this little piece of cinema infamy doesn't hold a shot for more than a split second (and when it does hold a shot for 2 whole seconds it jump cuts the main character from the frame nearly 10 times). 

Like I've said many times before, going to the theatre now is a harsh reminder of how formula driven most things are today. If it's a horror film, expect that extra jolt after the title is revealed at the end. If it's a comedy expect the setup of a joke, the title reveal, then the punchline.

For example, I just got home from the movies and I saw the trailer for a comedy called ADVENTURELAND. The ending of the trailer goes something like this...

Husband and wife looking at a large box of corndogs.

WIFE: These don't smell right.

HUSBAND: Fry these up!

blah blah blah ADVENTURELAND

Husband and wife looking at sick main character.

HUSBAND: What's wrong with you?

MAIN CHARACTER: I ate a corndog.

HUSBAND: Never eat the corndogs.

Release date. Audience laughter. Me becoming increasingly discontent with the world.

For once wouldn't you just love to walk into a movie theatre and see a trailer blow your face off like this?

AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON (1987)

Don't know what to say about this movie other than I liked the part with Andrew Dice Clay. Did I just really say that I liked a part with Andrew Dice Clay?

If you like movies such as KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE or UHF you'll probably enjoy this. If not, then I recommend you stay as far away from it as possible and go get yourself a copy of AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD, which I just watched and was completely blown away by.

AWAY FROM HER (2006)

Out of every disease known to man, Alzheimer's scares me the most. The idea of loosing all my knowledge. My thoughts. My beliefs. Loosing all those human connections I've made over the course of my life. To have it all slip away sounds dreadful. And the worst part is, I probably wouldn't even know they're gone.

AWAY FROM HER is a very well made film. One that stays away from the sentimentality of the countless Hallmark films touching the same subject. A man and a woman are in love. They've been married for years on end. In their golden years, the woman is diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Before I actually dove into this picture I thought I was going to be in for a tear-jerker, but writer/director Sarah Polley doesn't go for the easy emotions. What she has done here is make a film about Alzheimer's that focuses not on the patient but the real victims of the disease, in this case, her husband.

The film isn't upbeat or happy and it certainly moves about with a somber tone. But I think the reason it works is because it stays away from all the sappiness that usually goes hand in hand with any movie about illness and focuses on what real life is about. Dealing with it. Moving forward.

The picture isn't without merit in the style department as well. I love the way the windows throughout are blown out. The photography is very soft and subtle. Nothing flashy, but not vanilla plain either. The performances are great as well. And like the photography, we don't get anything to in your face. The entire movie relies on the subtleties of life.

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Sarah Polley

CINEMATOGRAPHY BY Luc Montpellier 

EDITED BY David Wharnsby

ORIGINAL MUSIC BY Jonathan Goldsmith

STARRING Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent 

THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972)

Let me preface this with telling you besides the first half of LOS OLVIDADOS and UN CHIEN ANDALOU this is the first Buñuel film I've ever seen. Hopefully that'll get some of you hardcore fans off my back when I reveal I didn't really care for it.

I know, I know. It's Buñuel! A giant of the cinema. One of the forms most respected creators. Maybe I could grow to love this movie, I do own it so maybe in a future viewing I'll see the brilliance, but right now all I have is a movie that is lost on me.Once again, I get it. It's surreal. It's abstract. But, if something is surreal to the point of abstraction, it should at least be a good watch like EL TOPO.

Also, let me say that I'm 25 years old. I'm sure Buñuel is making some sort of social statement with this picture, and while I usually try to stay informed with both the current and past social climates, I was clueless as to what statement was being made. Maybe it's my own ignorance at fault. But I'd bet anyone would be hard pressed to give me an answer on this one. (If you're reading this and you feel that you can, please do so in the comments! I'd love for someone smarter than me to explain!)

As I said above, I may not be the most informed guy when it comes to movements and uprisings and such, but one thing I do know and understand is cinematic style and that's one thing that I can credit Mr. Buñuel with. He knows how to move the camera and how to cut scenes together for their maximum effect. One that sticks out in my mind is the dream sequence involving a dead boy and or a man? It's been a while since I've seen the picture but I remember it staying with me for weeks.

Even though I didn't understand the movie, I do have to admit that for the most part I enjoyed watching it and like I said, will give it another look sometime in the future. The interrupted dinners were amusing to watch and the dream sequences were as well. I just wish I knew what it all meant.

Directed by Luis Buñuel 

Written by Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carriere

Cinematography by Edmond Richard

Edited by Helene Plemiannikov

LAMB BLOGATHON CHAPTER THREE

DO REMAKES GIVE YOU THE SHAKES?

THE RED SHOES (1948)

Besides being a visually arresting piece of work, THE RED SHOES is an awfully sad film. Something I didn't expect.

I don't know why I assumed the movie would be upbeat. I'd already seen BLACK NARCISSUS and PEEPING TOM, the former having many flavors of darkness. The latter being a sick take on voyeurism. I should have assumed that this love story set among a ballet troupe would have the same downbeat motifs.

Essentially, the movie centers around a love triangle between a beautiful dancer named Victoria Page, the composer of the troupes new ballet and the troupes obsessive leader, Boris Lermontov. What sets this aside from most Hollywood fare (besides being English) is the odd nature of Lermontov's affection. See, he isn't into Page romantically. His interest lies solely in her ability to dance.

Having to choose between her career and the love of her life, Page finds herself in a dilemma that applies to everyone at some point. Where and when do we put our aside our professional ambitions in order to start a new life with someone else.

The look of the film is well known, with good cause. The technicolor process still proves to be the best way to make a color picture. The ballet sequence in this movie is also quite famous and again, rightly so. It's an extremely detailed setpiece with a very dreamlike quality. Like a Busby Berkley sequence on some bad LSD.

THE RED SHOES plays like an old romantic drama put takes turns that most movies of this nature are afraid to take. Even though I saw this movie close to two or three months ago, I still have many vivid images from the picture lodged tightly in my memory. From the first ballet sequence all the way to that final haunting spotlight.

Written by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Cinematography by Jack Cardiff
Edited by Reginald Mills
Music by Brian Easdale
Starring Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook & Marius Goring