872. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

Running Time: 117 minutes
Directed By: Mike Newell
Written By: Richard Curtis
Main Cast: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, James Fleet, Simon Callow, John Hannah
Click here to view the trailer

LOVE AND DEATH

So far, this vacation is proving to be quite productive, as not only have I written three reviews in the past day and a half, I also have four of the seven FRIGHTFEST films written and scheduled to post. Of course, this means that starting tomorrow, prepare to get bombarded with film reviews from yours truly. Anyway, "Four Weddings and a Funeral"...

The film's plot is all right there in it's title: four weddings and one funeral. The film starts, believe it or not, with a wedding, in which the friends and family of the happy couple gather together to bless the impending matrimony. The couple involved in the nuptials really aren't the important part, as the audience takes the time to become more intimate with the guests. There's Charles (Grant), confirmed and seemingly lifelong bachelor, his just as hopeless flat mate Scarlett, his deaf brother David, his gay best friend Matthew (Hannah), Matthew's partner Gareth (Callow), Charles' other, female friend Fiona (Kristen Scott Thomas) and a host of others. While at wedding #1, Charles meets and participates in love at first sight with the beautiful, American Carrie (MacDowell). At the end of the night, he ends up in her hotel room and...well, one thing leads to another. The next morning, she heads back to America, leaving him a bit broken hearted. Luckily, there's another wedding on the way, as two more of Charles' friends tie the knot and this time, Carrie is invited again and again she and Charles end the night in bed. However, this time Carrie arrives with the news of her own impending wedding, as she's engaged to a Scotsman. She sleeps with Charles despite this and then there's a brief, sort of intermission from the celebrations of wedding bells, so that the filmmaker can cement the fact that Charles and Carrie are madly attracted to one another, despite her engagement. I won't blow the rest of the film for you, but the film does a fine job of making you guess who will be the next two to get married and who will die.

SPOILER ALERT!

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

That is called "Funeral Blues" or "Stop All the Clocks" and was written by W.H. Auden and was read to perfection by John Hannah, during the funeral portion of the film. He read it with all the struggle of a real funeral mourner, fighting back tears and sharing sorrow with loved ones. Anyway, I guess I could easily segue into the cast, which wasn't blow away, but wasn't bad either. I'm an admitted fan of Hugh Grant and this film only helped to further cement that opinion. Of course, I loved John Hannah here too and I always find Andie MacDowell easily watchable, although she is quite easy on the eyes. She may have been a bit miscast here, amongst some of the top, young British talent of the 90s, but she did with the role what she could and it wasn't horrific or anything.

Surprisingly, I'd never seen this movie before and it's odd considering it is one of the five 1994 Best Picture nominees that people always seem to rave about. It's also one of the two Best Picture nominees from that year that really didn't stand a chance (along with "Quiz Show"), as it was always going to be "Forrest Gump", "Pulp Fiction" or "The Shawshank Redemption" taking home the top honors that year. However, I sat down today, with my wife (because I just knew she'd love this one - and she did) and we watched it and had a ball guessing at who the next two would be to get married. Would it be David or Scarlett? What about the pairing of Charles and Carrie? Would Hamish be the funeral, so that Charles could have Carrie? Would Fiona tie the knot? So many questions and it was tons of fun guessing and speculating and then watching it all play out. Not only did it feature classic romantic comedy bits, but also featured some down right, laugh out loud comedy (see Rowan Atkinson) making it a truly "must see" comedy affair. Plus, it ended like all romantic comedies should, with two people kissing in the rain.

RATING: 7/10  I'll leave it at that for tonight and call that a review. Man, this season is shaping up to be one that's going to have me racking my brain come TOP 20 time. Lots of good stuff coming down the pike...

MOVIES WATCHED: 748
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 253

October 24, 2013  7:48pm

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878. Chong qing sen lin/Chungking Express (1994)

Running Time: 102 minutes
Directed By: Wong Kar-Wai
Written By: Wong Kar-Wai
Main Cast: Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Faye Wong, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Valerie Chow
Click here to view the trailer

UNDYING LOVE

Moving right along, we come to my final Wong Kar-Wai picture from THE BOOK - "Chungking Express", one that I had actually seen previously and didn't much care for. Why? I have no clue, because honestly, there isn't much to dislike about this one.

The film is actually two separate stories, so we'll take them one by one and go from there. The first story, which runs about forty-five minutes of the film's approximately ninety minute duration, focuses on a police detective, who has recently had his heart broken. His ex-girlfriend, May left him on April 1st and he's been down in the dumps ever since. He's decided that for each day in April, he'll go to the market and buy a can of pineapple that is dated to expire on May 1st, which is also his birthday. If May hasn't returned to him by the time the pineapple has expired, then he'll move on. Meanwhile, a female criminal donning a blonde wig, raincoat and sunglasses (because one never knows when it will rain or when it will shine) is tracking down some Indian gentlemen who have stolen some drugs from her. She scours the city, but to no avail, ending up in a bar, next to our broken hearted policeman. The second story (my favorite of the two) stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai ("Happy Together", "In the Mood for Love") as beat cop #663, who has also had his heart broken by a beautiful stewardess. He gets into the habit of going to a local snack bar, during his lunch hour and meets a cute, young worker there named Faye (Wong). Faye, though she doesn't show it, is also interested in him, but the relationship goes virtually untested. When the stewardess drops a letter off at the snack bar, knowing that her ex eats there, Faye reads it and also finds a key to the cop's apartment inside. She decides to let herself in, redecorate his apartment and try to wipe away his past and help him to heal.

The thing that I love about "Chungking Express" is this: Just when I got used to the characters in the first story and not remembering that the film was split into two parts, the first story ends and the second one begins. It was at this time that I was kind of disappointed, as I wanted to continue to explore the detective and the criminal and see where things went. So then, the film has an obstacle: to make me forget about the first set of characters and make me fall in love all over again with the second set. It succeeded! In fact, as I said above, the second story was actually my favorite of the two and it wasn't until the film was all said and done and I reflected, that I realized that as much as I loved both stories, neither had enough meat to make up their own, full length movie - as much as we may have wanted them to.

I may not have enough to give this film the full blown, coveted '10', but this is another film where quibbling over numbers is pointless and just saying it's a great movie is enough. You've got some fantastic cinematography and after reading into it, I find the name Christopher Doyle, a name I recognize, as the one who did the marvelous filming. I find that when I think back to watching this movie last night, a few things stand out: a blurry look at Hong Kong, an unforgettable score and poetic dialogue, that wasn't too poetic. The point I really loved though was that score, which is reminiscent of other Kar-Wai films in that it repeats often, gets hammered into your head and is something you welcome to have hammered into your head. I'm really not sure where to go from here. It's a great movie that comes with a high recommendation. It's a great intro to Kar-Wai and would work really well in a triple feature with "Happy Together" and "In the Mood for Love" - the other two films from THE BOOK. Now I just have to delve into some more of his work and hope it's as good.

RATING: 8/10  We'll play it safe with an '8', but don't let that fool 'ya, as I could see this one growing on me even more and nabbing that '10'. I will say that I liked "Happy Together" better than this, but liked "Chungking Express" better than "In the Mood for Love".

MOVIES WATCHED: 747
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 254

October 24, 2013  12:12pm

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881. Zire darakhatan zeyton/Through the Olive Trees (1994)

Running Time: 103 minutes
Directed By: Abbas Kiarostami
Written By: Abbas Kiarostami
Main Cast: Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Farhad Kheradmand, Zarifeh Shiva, Hossein Rezai, Tahereh Ladanian
Click here to view the trailer

WE'RE MAKING MOVIES...

So it's been more than a few days since I've been around. Let's just say it's been a rough few days at the workplace and when I got home at night, I just didn't have the gusto to give any energy to watching a movie. However, I have officially begun my fall vacation and I fully expect to bombard you with movie reviews or at least try to. Don't forget I'm also a married man and my wife deserves some quality time as well - but we'll see what we can do.

The two main characters are in there somewhere...

Abbas Kiarostami pops up again on the list, moving in reverse chronological order, with "Through the Olive Trees" - his 1994 feature and the conclusion to his unofficial "Koker Trilogy". Koker refers to Koker, Iran, a small village which was rocked by an earthquake in the year 1990, killing many. The film starts with a movie director visiting an all female school, for the purpose of casting for a movie, which will use the Koker earthquake as a backdrop. At first, we merely meet the characters: follow a onset aide as she runs many errands; picking up props, giving other cast members lifts in her truck, etc. Later, the meat & potatoes of the film's plot is revealed as we meet Hossein (Rezai), one of the main characters in the fictional film (and the real one) who has recently proposed to a girl - a girl who happens to be his leading lady in the film. During shooting, tensions arise and it gets to the point where the girl won't even acknowledge her leading man, ignoring his dialogue cues and upsetting the director (Keshavarz). After a discussion between Hossein and the director, we learn that following the boy's proposal to the girl, he was shot down; not necessarily because of her own decision, but because her family forbade her to marry an illiterate, poor man. Since the failed proposal, the girl's family perished in the earthquake, however, she still won't give the poor guy the time of day. Tensions arise on set...

SPOILER ALERT!

Bear with me folks. As I said, I just got through some pretty grueling work days and there may be a dusting of blog rust on my brain.

I want to hit on a few non-opinionated things, but first let's get this out of the way - I didn't mind the movie that much, but would be hard pressed to propel it into "must see" territory, at least after one viewing anyway. It was neither boring, nor bad, maintained it's running time nicely and accentuated the outdoor beauty that is Iran. Look, I'm just an ignorant "westerner" whose only association of Iran came from watching The Iron Shiek on television, as a child. I hate to highlight my ignorance, but before Abbas Kiarostami, when I thought of Iran, I thought of desert area. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. Maybe it came from a picture in a text book, maybe an image on television, but it's what I always thought of. However, thankfully Kiarostami DID come along and made me realize that the landscapes of Iran are gorgeous, making me realize what a peaceful feeling it might be to stand amongst the olive trees of the title. Just to be clear, the entire film is nothing but outdoor shots, with not one interior location. I could be wrong, but I believe "Taste of Cherry" was also shot entirely outdoors.

One thing I wanted to touch upon was the relationship between the boy and girl (not surprising, considering it's what the plot revolves around). First off, Wikipedia notes that due to the culture clash, westerners usually take the girl as being 100% cold to the boy, while apparently she's actually also interested in him. I realize that some things that appear on Wiki can be taken with a grain of salt, but I found this interesting and it would actually make a little sense. If she has somehow shown some sort of interest in Hossein, then his constant nagging wouldn't be as annoying as it comes off. At least he'd have reason to nag, because she's shown interest in him and now he wants answers. Of course, there's also the ending, which again Kiarostami leaves open ended, allowing us to decide for ourselves. I guess I can play along here: The music suggests that she finally turned around and said "yes", but I'm more of a pessimist and I'd like to think she said "no". Why a "no" answer would send him running away, I haven't the slightest idea (unless she really ripped into him, sending him running away in tears), but that's what I think. Of course, this guessing game COULD HAVE been avoided if we'd just been given the proper 360 degree angle to this story...I'm really beginning to hate open endedness in pictures. Just tell me what you want to tell me and finish your story. Sometimes it works and when it does, I'll praise it. Honestly, it actually worked here, as the ending sort of needed some sort of "oomph" to kick this picture in the butt and make it a little more memorable. Otherwise, it's quite the subtle time at the movies. Good, not great is the verdict of the day.

RATING: 6.5/10  I could see this one growing on me honestly, so we'll see what happens in due time. Just a reminder, FRIGHTFEST kicks off THIS FRIDAY night with my review of "The Omen". Be there!

MOVIES WATCHED: 746
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 255

October 22, 2013  10:33pm

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900. Xich Lo/Cyclo (1995)

Running Time: 121 minutes
Directed By: Anh-Hung Tran
Written By: Trung Binh Nguyen, Anh-Hung Tran
Main Cast: Le Van Loc, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Tran Nu Yen-Khe, Nhu Quynh Nguyen, Hoang Phuc Nguyen
Click here to view the trailer

CREEP

Finally got around to seeing this one last night, after a few weeks of putting it off. It was one that I wanted to see for a while (the picture in THE BOOK is of a boy painted blue being consoled by a crying woman, or so it seemed and always looked interesting to me), however, I started it about a week ago and only made it twenty minutes in before falling asleep, which was enough to make me realize that it wasn't going to as interesting as I'd thought. In the end, it hovered around the mediocre marker.

Honestly, I was sort of confused by the plot, so forgive me if my desperate grasping for a proper synopsis is distracting, as I give it my best shot. The film starts simple, with a cyclo driver - for the unaware (like me, before this film) a cyclo is like a cross between a rickshaw and a bicycle and serves as a taxi in Ho Chi Minh City, in Vietnam, where this film takes place - telling his story. His parents died when he was young and the boy lives with his sisters (one older, one younger) and grandfather. The whole family works to keep money flowing into the household (even the very young sister works a shoeshine girl). The boy rents the cyclo taxi from a woman, whom he pays 5,000 dongs a day and keeps anything over that. When the cyclo is stolen, he is in trouble with the woman that he rents from and she turns him over to a gang leader, who is also a poet, so that he can work off his debt by committing crimes. Unbeknownst to the boy, his older sister begins working for the gang leader as a prostitute. Upon meeting the sister, the gang leader develops feelings for her, which he keeps to himself. The gang leader also requires (from what I understood) that clients "hooking up" with the sister not physically touch her. That's about the gist of it...

What we have here is a case of a really fantastic outline of a film, being marred with the director's need to explore his artistic side and the result is a film that leaves the viewer a bit bored while the filmmaker meanders around, trying to be poetic and unique. The general premise does call for a heap of artistry and poetry, but it gets laid on way too thick and the basic exploration of the story is abandoned and never really allowed to flourish. I didn't hate it or anything, but it did leave a funny taste in my mouth and I was fighting back the urge to doze off throughout the duration of the picture. I will give brownie points, however, for the film's inclusion of the song "Creep" by Radiohead - a perfect fit and one of the best scenes in the film is when it plays (check out the trailer if you're unfamiliar with the song).

I really don't know what else to say about the film. I liked the general outline of the story. You had this brother and sister being led down the forbidden path - one involved in criminal acts, the other in prostitution and the one man who is leading them hand in hand down this path, while also falling in love for his employee in the prostitution racket. Tony Leung Chiu Wai is great as the gangster, in an almost dialogue-less performance, which always fascinates me. It's hard enough conveying these emotions with the use of words, let alone sticking strictly to body language and facials. On the other hand, the film left me wanting a WHOLE lot more and I'm afraid I was more bored than mesmerized. However, there were a handful of images and moments that will undoubtedly stick in my mind and continuous thought about any one movie in particular only bodes well for a future viewing, but for now...

RATING: 5/10  ...call it an average flick and that's me being just a tad generous, as it actually probably lingers closer to a '4.5'.

MOVIES WATCHED: 745
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 256

October 17, 2013  6:29pm

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Altman Week - COMING SOON!

I KNOW I SAID "SCORSESE WEEK" WAS THE LAST TRIBUTE WEEK....I GUESS I LIED....

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874. The Last Seduction (1994)

Running Time: 110 minutes
Directed By: John Dahl
Written By: Steve Barancik
Main Cast: Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, Bill Pullman, Michael Raysses, Bill Nunn
Click here to view the trailer

STEAMY

I'm off today, work tomorrow and off again on Friday, so I'm hoping to take advantage of the situation and get more than a few movies out of the way. FYI, I'm also going to be working on the FRIGHTFEST movies this week and plan to have them all done in time for next Friday, when I'll start posting one per night. Anyway, "The Last Seduction"...

The film is a neo-noir for the uninformed and stars Linda Fiorentino ("Men In Black", "Dogma") as Bridget, a self serving bitch who, as the trailer puts it, is "bad to the bone". The film starts with Bridget's husband, Clay (Pullman) finalizing a drug deal. He gets a brown bag full of cash for his trouble and takes it home to Bridget. Before Clay knows it, Bridget snags the cash and takes off, destination Chicago. However, when she runs out of gas one night in Beston (near Buffalo) she decides to spend the night. She visits the local watering hole and "hooks up" with young Mike (Berg). They end up back at his place and the next morning, Bridget consults her lawyer. He tells her to stay put, that Chicago would be the first place Clay would go looking for her. As much as she doesn't want to bed down in Sticksville, she decides to make a go of it, for the sake of eluding Clay and keeping the cash. She changes her name to Wendy Kroy (New York backwards...sort of) and begins a semi-relationship with Mike, who wants more out of the partnership than just casual sex. Meanwhile, Clay hires a personal detective to help him track down Bridget, but she may be a little too savvy for his tricks. From there, Bridget/Wendy puts a plan into motion that will allow her to keep the old cash, earn some new and get off scott free.

SPOILER ALERT!

I've got to tell you that "The Last Seduction" didn't start out that good. Therefore, my first advice for newcomers to this film would be to stick with it, through thick & thin, because at first it resembles one of those cheap, 90s, straight to video pieces of garbage of which there were too many to count. At first, it's not so much a neo-noir, as much as it is plot loosely draped around excuses for the two mains to have meaningless sex, thus giving it an almost softcore porn feel, but even tamer, as there isn't a lot of nudity. I was all prepared to give this movie somewhere in the neighborhood of a '4' and then the pace started to pick up and the plot thickened to very interesting proportions. The film could have been about thirty minutes shorter and the score could have been a little more threatening, but by the time the credits rolled, I have to say I was impressed that the film was actually able to turn me around so drastically.

Well, it was definitely the ending that did it, which I loved. I kept expecting typical Hollywood fodder, but didn't realize that this film originally aired on HBO, a channel that is known for pushing the envelope a little further than the rest. Anyway, I kept expecting Bridget to calm down and live happily ever after with Mike, with their millions in cash in tow, as they sauntered down a lone street, not unlike the Tramp in "Modern Times". However, the film got more noirish as time went on and was complete with plot twists that reminded me of "Body Heat", in a way - one of the more impressive neo-noirs. So, in conclusion, hang in there if you give it a shot and I promise the payoff will be worth it. Plus, Fiorentino has never looked better, sporting heels and stockings for almost the entire duration of the picture and turning in a fantastic performance to boot. Unfortunately, she peaked in the mid-90s and then just sort of fell of the face of the Earth.

RATING: 6.5/10  I could see myself going higher come RECAP time, but for now we'll play it safe. Seriously though, this is a really good, really fun little noir, that I'd easily recommend.

MOVIES WATCHED: 744
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 257

October 16, 2013  3:51pm

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884. Muriel's Wedding (1994)

Running Time: 105 minutes
Directed By: P.J. Hogan
Written By: P.J. Hogan
Main Cast: Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Bill Hunter, Sophie Lee, Jeanie Drynan
Click here to view the trailer

NOTES FROM A NEWLY CONVERTED ABBA FAN

"You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life 
See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen" 

Man alive, did I love those ABBA tunes! The only previous exposure I'd had to ABBA was watching an very early episode of Saturday Night Live (one of the first five, I think) where they were the musical guest. Anyway, for the unaware, this film is jam packed with ABBA songs, but that's just the start of it.

Toni Collette is Muriel Heslop, an unemployed, overweight, wannabe bride from Porpoise Spit, Australia. The film starts with Muriel catching the flying bouquet at a wedding and only getting a moment to bask in the glory of it all, before her "friends" yank the flowers from her hand and give them to another, more popular friend, as we get a look at the pitiful world that Muriel exists in. Her father insists that she (and her four siblings) are useless and constantly berates them, on his way for running for public office. Muriel's mother is constantly in a daze, as she tries to stay afloat in a loveless marriage, that is being held together with scotch tape and dental floss. One day Muriel sees an opportunity to reinvent herself and begins with a vacation, where she runs into and reunites with former school chum, Rhonda (Griffiths). The two reconnect swimmingly and soon are inseparable. From there, Muriel changes her name to Mariel, moves to Sydney and drastically alters her appearance, beginning with a dash of self esteem, something that was seriously and blatantly lacking. Muriel gets a few dates, but the reinvention of her life is put on hold when Rhonda is diagnosed with cancer. Muriel spends her days taking care of Rhonda and her nights dreaming of an old fashioned, white wedding, while trying to avoid her parents who want her to return home.

SPOILER ALERT!

You know, I really liked this, but I also had some issues with it that I want to take care of first. Let's start with the fact that the film doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be a comedy or a drama and constantly switches gears throughout the duration of the movie. The film also incorporates about two too many subplots and by the time the end rolls around, it's almost inevitable that a loose end will be left untied. Not only do you have the central plot of Muriel's life reinvention in Sydney, but you also have Rhonda's cancer, Bill's political scandal, Muriel's family and the wreckage of their home life, Muriel's impending and eventual nuptials to David and Bryce, who is shown to some dramatic effect near the end, but nothing ever happens with him. I have to tell you it felt like a great foundation that needed just a bit of tweaking to be made flawless. I could have done without the mother's suicide and the sudden change in heart of Muriel's father, a character development that seemed flat out unnatural and forced for the sake of a happier ending. It just seemed like the film had a mild case of ADD and couldn't keep it's focus straight and in my opinion, it only hindered the flow of an otherwise fine film.

However, a mainly interesting and inspiring central plot, coupled with the outstanding work of Toni Collette (who is fast becoming a favorite of mine) makes this a win, in my book. I watched about forty-five minutes of this last night and then had to stop & catch some sleep and honestly, I couldn't wait to get home tonight and finish it off. Despite being foreign, the atmosphere seemed oddly familiar and the film DID take the rom-com genre, mixed in a few special ingredients and presented us something with a kick. Little girls who grew up to be wannabe brides are going to go gaga for this, as are die hard ABBA fans (the films soundtrack is comprised exclusively of ABBA tunes) and anyone with a soft heart, who enjoys squirting a few tears when they watch movies. Check it out, I highly doubt you'll be disappointed, as there's a little something for everybody.

RATING: 7/10  The problems I spoke of hitched this one up a bit, but a '7' is nothing to sneeze at and considered a part of that upper echelon of really good - amazing movies.

MOVIES WATCHED: 743
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 258

October 15, 2013  11:29pm

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