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Because of the ball breaking difficulty of getting a Region 1 or even Region Free version of Cronenbergs first film Shivers I'm going to review another film before I start the retrospective.

A David Cronenberg Retrospective.

More than almost any other American director, David Cronenberg is known more for his style than his films: the "flesh is mind" theme, the shocking glimpses of violence that punctuate important parts of his films and the reliance on genre conventions to shock his audience. His shocking extremism has caused some controversy in the past, but now Cronenberg is the elder statesman of American cinema: he has moved away from experimental genre films to more conventional genre exercises with ease, and it's fairly easy to plot the course. His films incorporate every aspect of film making, from straight visual directing to costume design (most of them done by his wife) to, almost most importantly, special effect.

For the next four weeks I will be watching all of Cronenberg's features and reviewing them. I will (hopefully) be able to help bring to light America's most under appreciated director and show you the course Cronenberg takes from visceral auteure to assured filmmaker.

John Dillinger is a very pretty man.

Watch this very fun trailer for the new Johnny Depp movie Public Enemies.

Big Blue Guy.

There's a darn good reason why I put the Dave Gibbon illustration of Dr. Manhattan up instead of the Billy Crudup/ Zack Snyder iteration: the comic version of Watchmen will forever be the ultimate version. No matter how much people hem and haw about how the movie captures "the feel" of the book, there was no possible way that Zack Snyder, of all people, would be able to successfully adapt the most important comic book of all time.

The story of Watchmen takes place in an alternate reality where costumed hero's (and I use the term hero loosely) have changed the course of human events: we see the second shooter on the grassy knoll, Dick Nixon is in fifth term and the Cold War is being held at bay by the all powerful and all apathetic Dr. Manhattan, that blue dude in the picture. After the fascist Comedian (played to the nines by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is thrown out the window of his high rise apartment, the equally fascist Rorschach starts to suspect something. I find it interesting that the opening sequence shows many murdered hero's, but they aren't really connected, as they logically might be, to the murder investigation.

Rorschach is the lynch pin of the narrative, which is told through voice over as if read from a journal. This is too bad, because Jackie Earle Haley, the actor playing Rorschach, gruffs up his voice so much it reminded me of the rottweiler bark of Christian Bale in The Dark Knight. The casting is almost perfect though, as each of the actors looks startlingly like their printed alter-egos. Billy Crudup, as the demigod Dr. Manhattan, has the hardest job of all trying to express deep detachment from humanity while not actually being in the film. His part is all done digitally from motion capture nodes attached to his body. Being the able actor he is, though, he knocks it out of the park, while Matthew Goode's megalomaniac Ozymandias is equally separated from humanity, but in a different way. Patrick Wilson as the Nite Owl though is the true heart of this film: he's strong, he's tough, but most importantly, he's human. The only person that really falls flat is Malin Ackerman as the Silk Spectre II, who I'm pretty sure was cast because she looks so much like Laurie Jupiter from the comic.

Acting aside, this movie is mostly a failure. I cannot give credit to Snyder for making a panel for panel reconstruction of a comic because it takes NO FRIGGIN TALENT! This is the same stunt he pulled with 300 where he put actors in front a green screen and said "go." That's not directing, Zack, that's editing. At least here he has real sets and real camera movement and real environments. Snyder has also played one too many Max Payne video games and seen The Matrix a couple of times because, really, too much damn slow motion action. I have to give him credit though, he knew what at least 70% of his audience wanted, and that was a real people, moving version of the comic. It sure is pretty though.

There are going to be comparisons to The Dark Knight because each work takes the superhero mentality to a new place. Watchmen is going to lose this battle for two reasons: 1) Heath Ledger's performance is impossible to top in a comic book movie, and 2) there is not an original bone is Zack Snyder's body. As an intellectual property, Watchmen wins hands down because without the comic, there would not be the angst you see today in most hero's; hell, there probably wouldn't be a Wolverine. If you haven't read the comic yet, see the film because it is entertaining. If you've read the comic, expect righteous anger at the reverent treatment. Snyder has made a Golden Bull and people are worshiping it.

Grade: 2.5 out of 5.

The Ultimate Battle

In preparation for the upcoming Terminator Salvation I have one very important question to ask: Cylon vs. Terminator? Who would win?

My All Time Favorites.

Listing favorite movies is like listing favorite relatives: you may like them all and don't want to offend anybody, but some are just better than others.

1) Trainspotting

2) Le Samourai

3) Annie Hall

4) There Will Be Blood

5) The Right Stuff

The First CtC Review: "Let the Right One In"

I'm saying it, I don't care: Sweden sucks. Like, hardcore sucks: it snows all the time, the schools are cold brick and mortar buildings and have no windows and the kids are either brutal bullies, Death in Venice-like blonde satyrs or vampires. Let the Right One In tells the story of Oskar: a reculsive, incessently picked on 12 year old with not a lot going for him. The biggest problem in his life is Conny, who tortures our poor Oskar to no end, taunting him with calls of "Piggly wiggly" and whips him with a switch. After one bully session Oskar meets the slightly terrifying Eli, another 12 year old "child" who promplty tells him that they can't be friends. Oskar's reply: "what makes you think I want to be your friend?"

The tales of Oskar and Eli eventually meet up when Eli's guardian and sometimes butcher has an "accident" and Oskar finally realizes her true nature as a vampire. The all-encompassing love of children is protrayed beautifully here and Eli and Oskar share their deepest secrets and even a bed, but they aren't interested in each other in a sexual manner, they're just happy they finally have somebody who understands their prediciment. Much of their relationship is told in short, clipped declarative statements that are more truthfull than most films can hope to reach. The films strong suit is the odd dichotomy between the children and culiminates in one exceedlingly violent encounter in a bath house. It's nice to have a vampire on your side, isn't it?

Atmosphere reigns as snow is constantly falling and white drapes across everything. Director Tomas Alfredson uses the bleek, opressive landscape to share the childrens hopeless future. There are many long tracking shots where the camera is placed at odd angles, which gives the fim a definate off putting feeling. At times ,though, this effect is used too much and there are blocks of time that drag where we see close ups of people in deep, thoughtful poses. I like to think there is a moral in every story, and for this one: watch out who you pick on, because for all you know, their best friend is a murderous vampire (and oh boy does Eli kill A LOT of people).

Score: Four out of Five. Future watching: Pans Labyrinth, Labyrinth (the one with Jennifer Connelly), and Legend.

Let's do some watchin.

Watch this scene from Vittorio Di Sica's 1948 film The Bicycle Thief and watch closely for elements of mise en scene. Ask yourself: why did he set it up this way? Why does Di Sica put the things in his shots that he does (eg the band, the background people)? Not all of the answers are groundbreaking film theory hypothesis, but watch closely. You'll be suprised with yourself.

A cornucopia of conspicuous conflagrations.

The cornerstone of film theory is mise en scene, a French term which literally means "putting on stage." Mise en scene is, simply, everything that is happening in the film world at the time you are watching it. Take the picture on the left. 

This is from the David Lynch movie Mulholland Drive. The shot by itself doesn't look like much, but there are a lot of questions a critical viewer has to ask. Who is the man in the chair? Who is the man behind him? What kind of office is the man in? Who is watching this man? Much more besides (and, bear in mind, dearest reader, there is no audio, which is an important part of mise en scene). 

Asking questions about a film is important because any director worth their salt will set up each scene as a moving painting, with hints and clues about the film, and each scene has to fit into the overall theme or tone of the film; even a passive viewer will feel askew when even one scene is off. Alas, this is the hardest part of directing, because the audience won't see it when you're doing right (they are hopefully too wrapped up in the film to care) but only notice when it is wrong. 

Visit this excerpt from Richard Kolkers Film, Form and Culture to learn more.

Inglorious Not-Very-Nice-Guys!

Quentin Tarantino's new film Inglorious Basterds seems like a heck of a lot of fun. He may not be the most original director but, gosh darn, he's rootin and tootin.

2008, not a good year.

A film year like 2007 only comes along once in a lifetime: There Will Be Blood (TWbB) cemented the fact that Daniel Day Lewis is the greatest actor maybe of all time; No Country For Old Men (NCfOM) made me realize that the Coens do not have an original thought in their head; and Michael Clayton showed the world the darker side of the Clooney. And let us not forget the awesomely political Wall-E.

2008 however, dear reader, was a bit slow.

According to metacritic.com, an aggregate entertainment scoring site, the highest rated American movie of the year was the Gun Van Sandt biopic Milk. While a good movie, it should not stand high with it's 84 (out of 100) rating, while TWbB got a 92 and NcFOM got a 91. As is wont to happen on slow years, the French ruled with the powerful film The Class about a few teachers trying to make the best of a bad situation. Slumdog Millionaire, most peoples choice for Best Picture, is Danny Boyle's weakest film, even more so than Millions.

There were some bright spots though. Mike Leigh's outrageously optimistic Happy Go Lucky has introduced the world to Sally Hawkins, Mickey Rourke's stunning performance in The Wrestler and everybody's favorite laughing villain got a treatment for the ages from Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.

Let's hope for a stronger 2009 from the Americans, shall we!

Valentines Day! Yah?

Filmthreat.com is running a few twisted essays involving the horrible holiday. This one features an awesome filtering process for a potential mate. This one makes you love Blake Lively more than you already should.

Saul Tigh for President.

Sure he may be a cylon, but anybody keeping up with the Joneses knows that the "skinjob" cylons are the ACTUAL humans anyway. I think we missed the boat on this one, people.

Who's watching the Watchmen?

It's entirely possible that the Watchmen movie will have nothing to do with the actual graphic novel (it is not a comic!). Zack Snyder hasn't exactly established himself a gritty director, which is what the movie calls for. According to his website bio, Zack Snyder has been compared to a young David Lean. Who did this comparing is unkown, but offbase it certainly is. Let us go through his roll shall we:

1: Dawn of the Dead. This 2004 movie is far from being terrible, infact, it's down right entertaining. The problem: younger fans think that this film is the be-all-end-all of zombie movies. Only the select viewer knows that it is a remake of the 1978 George Romero movie, the sequel to his classic Night of the Living Dead. The original has a strong anti-consumerism message, but the Snyder remake takes the subtext out and replaces it with non-stop action. For today's movie going audience, this is apparently what goes for high cinema.

2: 300. Uh, 3-friggin-00. The machismo factory about 300 oily men who battle fuggly Iranians. Gerard Butler ripples and yells and wears a helmet for some reason. Faramir narrates and Jimmy McNulty takes a turn for the crappy by trying to be evil as a Spartan politician. Snyder doesn't even try to make it an intelligent movie; it's a guys movie about dudes killing other dudes in terrible and awesome ways. There is honor, respect, glory and rampant baby killing. I can give it credit for putting Thermopylea in the lexicon. However, everytime I eatout I hear some wanna-be warrior yell "Tonight we dine in hell!" Thanks, that's about as fresh as yelling "I'm Rick James..." you know the rest.

Hello.

Welcome one and all to the first post of the best damn postiest blog on the web. This is Committed To Celluloid and you, dear reader, are welcome to join in and post whatever your heart wishes, uh, so long as it's clean and dedicated to film. So, go, post...post...please...