Archive for October, 2009
October 30th, 2009
Being that Halloween is tomorrow and the folks at both The Onion AV Club and Cinematical are sharing their selections of scary movies, I thought I’d throw in my two cents. So here, in the spirit of the season, are five movies that did a number on me.
1. THE SHINING: Thanks to Kubrick’s masterful direction, Nicholson’s unhinged performance and numerous random factors — the pages of the novel, that scene with the guy in the bear suit, those twins! — I’d say this is one movie that gets scarier the more often you see it.
2. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: If you’ve never seen Tobe Hooper’s symphony of dread and horror, you might think it’s a non-stop gorefest. It’s not. Instead, it’s a perfectly paced, excrutiating experience. And yes, that’s a good thing.
3. THE STRANGERS: It’s relatively new, but this movie about a nightmarish home invasion does a better job building its tension than anything I’ve seen in years. When we were watching it, during the opening moments before anything had happened, my wife turned and said “I don’t think I can watch this.” I know exactly what she meant.
4. MULHOLLAND DR.: David Lynch’s movie isn’t a horror film, but the scene set at Winkie’s — an innocent-looking Los Angeles diner — might be the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in a movie … in any more. I posted a link to the clip here. Don’t worry if you don’t know anything else about the movie. It doesn’t matter.
 5. PINK FLAMINGOS: Again, this isn’t a standard horror movie, but there are things in John Waters’ cult classic that I wish I could somehow un-see. That’s pretty scary, isn’t it?
October 30th, 2009
This week, the Movie Man column moves to Saturday’s GO section, and it’s taking Friday’s Video Vault along with it. For the inaugural Saturday column, I’m reviewing the brand spanking new Blu-ray disc of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic suspense film, NORTH BY NORTHWEST.
And boy oh boy, do those classic cross-country set pieces look great in hi-def widescreen.
Check out the column here.
October 30th, 2009
I posted this clip over at my own, non-work related pop culture blog, so I apologize if you’ve seen it before, but I wanted to post it here at the Movie Man too, because it’s just a great mix of fun nostalgia, wild animation, wonderful music and a strange sense of oddness that makes it just right for Halloween.
Plus, where else do you get to see Cab Calloway as a ghostly, moonwalking walrus?
October 29th, 2009
Here, via Cinematical, is a clip of Kevin Spacey showing his surprising talent for impressions. He’s well known for nailing a dead-on Christopher Walken, but he also does a pretty solid Jimmy Stewart, a so-so Johnny Carson and a great Marlon Brando. Too bad he didn’t do his William Hurt here — he’s one of the only guys I’ve ever seen imitate Hurt, and he’s dead solid perfect.
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Spacey’s new movie, THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, opens next week.
October 29th, 2009
A lot more detail, a lot more plot specifics and, in general, a much better idea of just what the heck this movie is going to be about. I’m still not sure if it’s going to be good or not — let alone the mind-bending adventure the hype is promising — but we definitely now have more to go on.
Click here to watch it in Hi-Def.
October 29th, 2009
This time of year, you have thousands of schmucks on the Web recommending scary movies for Halloween viewing. Most of them you can safely ignore. But when Martin Scorsese — a man whose directing talent is exceeded only by his knowledge of movie history — makes the suggestions, it pays to pay attention.
The Daily Beast has 11 picks from the man himself. Here’s a sample:
5. DEAD OF NIGHT: A British classic: four tales told by four strangers mysteriously gathered in a country house, each one extremely disquieting, climaxing with a montage in which elements from all the stories converge into a crescendo of madness… It’s very playful… and then it gets under your skin.
7. THE SHINING: I never read the Stephen King novel, I have no idea how faithful it is or isn’t, but Kubrick made a majestically terrifying movie, where what you don’t see or comprehend shadows every move the characters make.
9. NIGHT OF THE DEMON: Jacques Tourneur made this picture about ancient curses near the end of his career, but it’s as as potent as his films for Val Lewton. Forget the demon itself—again, it’s what you don’t see that’s so powerful.
I’d quibble with Scorsese’s pick of ISLE OF THE DEAD, which I’d consider producer Val Lewton’s worst movie (CAT PEOPLE and I WALK WITH A ZOMBIE are much, much better), but he gets credit for picking NIGHT OF THE DEMON, a truly unnerving movie that deserves a bigger audience.
Check out the rest of the list here, along with video clips from the movies.
October 28th, 2009
As the father of a four-year-old girl, I’ve seen my share of Disney princess movies over the past couple of years (and I know I’ll be seeing many more in the years to come). As anyone who’s sat through multiple viewings of SNOW WHITE, SLEEPING BEAUTY and CINDERELLA can confirm, these are some of the absolute worst role models for girls (of any age) in the history of cinema. (Especially CINDERELLA — don’t get me started on CINDERELLA!)
Now, courtesy of a link at Cinematical, someone has condensed the disturbing side of Disney’s moneymaking ladies in one handy image…
OK, maybe the author/artist is simplifying things a tad, but it’s tough to argue with the basics. Thankfully, recent Disney movies have improved things a bit. POCAHONTAS, while undeniably a Disney babe, stands tough to her beliefs and defies both her dad and the European invaders. MULAN is even better, defying Chinese law and convention to fight for her family’s honor and her country. In neither movie do the beauty of the women drive the plot, as in previous efforts, and marriage is not the goal, thank Walt.
Disney’s upcoming movie, THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, will be its first animated feature to star an African-American character. Let’s hope she’s a step forward in other ways, too.
October 28th, 2009
Have you ever dreamed of seeing Adam Sandler playing both the male and female roles in a romantic comedy?
If so, I’m happy to tell you that your sick, twisted dream is about to come true. From Variety…
Adam Sandler is climbing up the hill for Columbia Pictures. The actor will next star in the romantic comedy JACK AND JILL and produce via his Happy Madison shingle. Sandler will play Jack as well as twin sister Jill.
OK, since the characters Sandler is playing are brother and sister, we can be pretty sure they’re not the romantic couple at the center of the story ( I sure hope not!). But after admiring Sandler’s performance in PUNCH DRUNK LOVE and seeing him stretch a bit as an actor in FUNNY PEOPLE, it’s a disappointment to see him fall back into the same dopey comic ruts he’s been stuck in for years. I mean, surely the guy has enough money by now, right?
Oh well. At least it’s being produced by the same guy who brought us PAUL BLART: MALL COP. That means it has to be good, right? Right?
October 26th, 2009
Here, courtesy of Cinematical.com, is the poster for the Guy Ritchie SHERLOCK HOLMES movie, starring Robert Downey Jr. (as Holmes) and Jude Law (as Watson)….
 
Maybe it’s just me, but the first thing I thought of was this…
October 26th, 2009
Here’s the trailer for the new WOLFMAN movie, starring Benecio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving…
As a fan of classic horror movies, it does my heart good to see that this is a “Universal Picture.” Universal, of course, is the studio that released all the legendary horror films of the 1930s and 1940s, like DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and the original WOLF MAN.
Here’s that original trailer, in case you’re curious…
It’s pretty dated, sure, but there’s something undeniably powerful about the silhouette of the Wolf Man howling in the graveyard.
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