Belle de Jour

1967 fantasy

Rating: 17/20

Plot: The sexually aloof wife of a doctor decides to take an afternoon job at a brothel.

"Semen retentum venenum est." If I had that line in my arsenal growing up, I might have gotten laid before my 25th birthday.

Tarantino probably likes this movie because it's got a ton of shots of Catherine Deneuve's feet. That's not exactly why I like it. I like it because of its mystery. This movie blends the line between reality and fantasy, between the humdrummery of everyday life and the free-floating exuberance of a life of dreams. Bunuel, unsurprisingly, uses this woman's story to dick around with his audience's minds, and he's one of the best ever at doing that. And he's probably the best candidate to take us on a little tour of the titular whore's dream/reality mash-up. Bunuel certainly creates an interesting rhythm with her journey, and rhythmic sound effects--bells, a few clocks, an ambulance, waves--seem to suggest something, but it's that kind of something that's just out of reach. You know, like in a dream. Catherine Deneuve's classic pretty face is perfect for the character, and I don't know if it's something she does or just her basic shapes and tones, but she's got just the right of naughtiness mixed in with this innocence. I also liked Pierre Clementi as bad-boy Marcel, a guy who either has a grill or forgot to take off his Jaws (James Bond villain--not the shark) Halloween costume. Jean Sorel makes a good schmuck, and shady friend Husson is played shadily enough by Michel Piccoli. And there are a few whores to add a little bit of color. This is a more adult Bunuel for better or worse, one who is not at his most audaciously playful, but its poetic eroticism makes it float. And who can pass up a glance through a peephole into Deneuve's subconscious?

Bobby Fischer Against the World

2011 documentary

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A look at the life and too-brief professional career of the titular chess player with a focus on his 1972 world championship match against Boris Spassky. [Spoiler Alert!] He loses his mind.

I think most people know the basics of the Bobby Fischer story, a story about a chess genius with a very troubled mind who wasn't very pleasant. People probably know all about the Cold War implications and how that 1972 match was a lot more than a series of games. And they might know what happened with Fischer following that match with Spassky in Iceland, how he alienated a lot of people, withdrew from society, made more than his fair share of racist comments, and seemed a little too happy about the terrorist attack on 9/11. This documentary on the guy isn't going to make anybody like him more, but it does deepen your understand about the guy as a human being, especially when describing his younger days growing up in New York with his mother and sister. This starts with an Albert Einstein quote that I hadn't heard:

"Chess holds its master in its own bonds, shackling the mind and brain so that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer."

And for the first part of the story, you get a portrait of a young artist at work, a picture colored with a ton of hard work and shaded with paranoia. Oh, and a little cockiness, cockiness that seems at odds with the real Bobby Fischer that we think we discover in this thing. The hard work aspect can be appreciated in the description of Fischer's athletic trainer (yes, this was a real thing) of the chess player working with a dynamometer and wanting to strengthen his grip so that "that little Russian" will be able to feel his handshake. And yes, ladies, there is a naked shot (from behind) of the chess master.

You know, I want to pause here to brag about my own chess abilities a little bit. I had a friend growing up named John, and like a lot of my friends, John had a father. His dad was a professor in the English department at Indiana State University, and I had a couple classes with him later on. John and I played chess, and I played a game with his dad once. It was a tight game that ended in a draw. The remarkable thing about that--and the thing that will more than likely impress my 4 1/2 readers--is that John's dad once played a game against Bobby Fischer, a game that also ended in a draw. Sure, that game was one of at least forty that Fischer was playing simultaneously as some exhibition of his prowess, but I don't think this changes the fact that I was just as good as Bobby Fischer.

But I digress. Back to the documentary. This is one of those documentaries where you know exactly how things end up but there still manages to be all this suspense in the little things. I've played over every game from the Fischer/Spassky match, some more than once, but I was still on the edge of my seat wondering if America was going to get Fischer to Iceland to even start the match. As a chess player, I almost wish there was more of an emphasis on the games and what happened even though that would have been frustrating for people who don't know or like the game. The match was described in a way to help you feel the psychological stuff that these players must have been going through. Of course, Fischer said famously, "I don't believe in psychology. I believe in good moves," but you can see how uneasy he is with everything that is happening around him during his stay in Iceland. And then Spassky spazzes out over chair and lights and radiation, and it just goes to show you how evil this board game can be. Fischer's story is one of the great "What if?" stories, and although it will likely make you ask the same sorts of questions, it will also help you understand his damaged mind and disagreeable personality a little more. I went in a little angry at the guy for his racist rants and wasted potential. By the end, I felt a little sorry for the guy. The details of his early life, a simple description (and some photographs) of how he enjoyed being around animals, and his last words were all touching. Those last words, although I find it almost impossible to believe: "Nothing is so healing as the human touch." Wow.

Oprah Movie Club Pick for June: Blue Velvet

1986 neo-noir thriller

Rating: 17/20

Plot: Jeffrey, home from college because his father is hospitalized after a stroke, finds a severed ear while throwing rocks at a trash can. He takes it to a detective, but he and the detective's daughter decide to do a little sleuthing on their own. They uncover a sinister world of kidnapping, sexual depravity, and Roy Orbison lip-synching routines. Soon, Jeffrey is up to his nipples in shadows.

It's been suggested that Jeffrey's story is a neo-noir exploration of the Oedipus Complex, that Dennis Hopper's Frank is an abusive father figure, and Rossellini's Dorothy represents the mother. (See Fetishism and Curiosity by Laura Mulvey--Chapter Nine is all about this and can be found [mostly] online.) It's an interesting idea, but I couldn't get through the entire chapter either because I'm too lazy or not smart enough or some combination of the two. For me, Blue Velvet is really straightforward, perhaps Lynch's easiest movie to digest. It's still Lynchian--sprinkled with his trademark dark quirkiness and horrifying outlook on sexuality and violence. Of course, according to imdb.com, there are also allusions to Lincoln's assassination, so maybe I'm not digging into this nearly enough. I don't buy the Lincoln stuff, however. A Lincoln Street? Frank's last name being Booth? Victim's shot through the head? Seems like a reach or two to me. Something else learned from the imdb.com trivia page: Lynch (during the filming) and later Rossellini both find the rape scene that Jeffrey watches from the closet funny. I find that extremely odd. I don't see any humor in that scene at all; in fact, I think it's one of the more horrifying moments in film. I've always thought Lynch and I had similar senses of humor.

Anyway, this is a movie about things that are submerged, things that either people don't know about because they're actually hidden or people just want to pretend to not know about. Or it's about mysteries and what happens when you're curious enough to start uncovering those mysteries--sociological mysteries as well as personal ones. "It's a strange world." Those words are said during several conversations between Kyle MacLachlan and the lovely Laura Dern's characters. Lynch never hides the strangeness in our world. In fact, he brings it to the focus in his movies, and that's one of the things that can make watching his movies a sometimes-uneasy experience. That submerged strangeness is shown metaphorically right at the beginning of Blue Velvet. There are shots of white picket fences, flowers, a guy watering his grass, and waving firemen to the saccharine crooning of "Blue Velvet" by Bobby Vinton. Suddenly--a gun on the television and a hose caught in a bush, the latter which I just typed and wondered if it was meant to be as dirty as it looks in words. And then insects snarling subterraneanly. Above, things are just peachy, but just below the surface, there's all sorts of nastiness. Look at MacLachlan's goofy character. He's nothing but innocent at the beginning of this thing. Hell, he tries to impress a high school senior with a story about the kid with "the biggest tongue in the world" and something called "the chicken walk." We don't see any evidence that there's anything darker going on with his character until he is in the nightclub watching Rossellini's character for the first time. Then, you see the lust on his face in a brilliantly acted scene. Just eyes, and you see everything start to unravel. Or maybe you don't if you're watching this for the first time. I don't know. Of course, earlier in the story, Jeffrey is plotting to break into a women's house, but there's still a kind of childish naiveté with that whole scheme. No, the sinister nature--submerged evil goop--in Jeffrey will be uncovered a bit later in the proceedings. Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth is the personification of that evil in society and maybe in all of us. And what a performance that is! There's a physicality to his character even when he's not moving, and each curse word he utters--and those are numerous--seems to pack more meaning than when I curse at people when I'm driving. And "I'll fuck anything that moves!" is one of my favorite lines/deliveries of all time. Hopper's at the height of his unhinged powers here. The great Jack Nance is in there, too, introducing himself as Paul multiple times and asking Jeffrey, "Have you ever been to pussy heaven?" Oh, and Brad Dourif. I like all the performances in this movie. They're the typical performances David Lynch usually gets in his movies, performances always threatening to completely cross the line into soap opera performances. They're performances that--almost thankfully--remind you that you're just watching a movie.

Other stuff:

Knife seduction--Lynch would have had to call in a double or stunt man for me, first because my naked rump is disturbing and covered with a layer of hair and second because I would have gotten to excited, lunged at Rossellini, and been stabbed. It would have been a Brandon Lee end to my career.

Oil drill shadows spotlighted on a brick wall. This doesn't have much unusual imagery. There's a guy with a gas mask, a few random shots of candles, and, of course, the severed ear with ants crawling all over it. But Lynch deliberately uses a spotlight to throw the shadow of an oil drill on the wall. I guess it must be important. Digging? Sexual symbolism (i.e. being drilled)? Something else?

There are references to logs or logging, and the town's called Lumberton. It really made me miss the presence of the Log Lady.

Heineken product placement--the first time MacLachlan is drinking it, you could almost mistake the scene for a commercial. It's awkward.

A blind guy working in a hardware store--seems like throwaway stuff. Is there anything deeper with this character?

"I have your disease in me now." I'm not sure if that's hot or creepy.

"Yes, that's a human ear all right." For whatever reason, that makes me laugh. Either the detective doubted that Jeffrey knew what a human ear looked like or he didn't believe him.

There's a song that plays when MacLachlan and Dern's characters tell each other they love each other--"Mysteries of Love" apparently, lyrics about how "Sometimes the wind blows"--and it might be the worst thing I've ever heard in my life. And I can't figure out why anybody would play that at a party unless they were trying to clear the room. It's Julee Cruise singing to Angelo Badalamenti's music. Badalamenti's the piano player in this, by the way. I like a lot of what Badalamenti did here, especially during the title credits where the work could almost be mistake for something Bernard Herrmann did. But this "Mysteries of Love" song is the worst thing ever.

I could have done without Mike, Sandy's boyfriend. I guess something needed to happen so that Rossellini's can wander into the background completely naked, but that pretty great scene could have been completely terrific without that distracting little subplot that didn't need to be there.

Dern discusses her dreams, talking about how it was dark because there weren't any robins. Of course, Hopper refers to it being "dark" a couple different times, too. MacLachlan's response is a beautiful "You're a neat girl" to which she responds, "So are you." Just beautiful. Those crazy kids living in this messed-up world. I sure hope they make it.

Cloud Atlas

2012 epic

Rating: 17/20

Plot: Six semi-connected stories about human beings spanning from the 1840s to the 24th Century. There's a lawyer on a boat, a slave on the same boat, a bisexual composer, nuclear physicists, a reporter trying to uncover a secret, a publisher in a nursing home operated like a prison, that guy's brother, a clone, a bunch of other clones, a tough-guy rebel, Forrest Gump, a visitor from a distant and technologically-advanced society, and a guy with a hat. I'd like to apologize to any characters I may have left out.

This is the best thing that Tom Tykwer or the Wachowski siblings have ever been associated with, and I can't figure out why it A) wasn't critically lauded and B) the recipient of countless awards. I went into this thing expecting to hate it, partially because I thought it looked kinda stupid in previews and partly because of its almost three-hour running time. And it is an exhausting experience, one that I started too late at night and ended up watching in two installments. I still wasn't thrilled about the length, but when you essentially have six movies packed into three hours, you really can't complain. That's six movies for the price of one, people. This is also exhausting because it does take a little intellectual effort from the audience. The individual plots aren't that difficult to follow unless you, like me, are confused by science fiction. What might be frustrating to a lot of viewers is how these six stories are portrayed--in disjointed snippets, some lasting barely longer than a few seconds. There's a jumpiness that at first I didn't like or understand, but once I got used to the rhythm and started finding connections between the individual stories, it made sense. And a lot of the transitions between these time chunks were pretty brilliant. Also connecting the stories were that the characters in the different eras were played by the same actors. Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, and Hugh Grant play six characters each while Jim Broadbent and Ben Whishaw play five each. Nobody gets away with just playing one character, and some of these performers brilliantly play people of drastically different ages, different races, and even different genders. A lot of times, they're unrecognizable. Well, not Tom Hanks. He's pretty easy to spot. Maybe it sounds cheesy or gimmicky, but it works with the movie's themes and it's all so well executed. Tom Hanks is mostly very good, but he and his forehead were a little distracting. I almost wished those parts were played by somebody not as easy to recognize. Don't get me wrong though--I'm not trying to put down Tom Hanks. I would never do something like that. Hugo Weaving plays villainous dudes, and he plays villainous dudes so well that you suspect the guy tortures small animals in his spare time. I found this whole thing enormously entertaining. There were several of those big memorable moments where you think to yourself, "Man, this is something special." There are fragments of dialogue that are very beautiful. There's action, romance, some humor. There's historical and science fiction, a story that plays like a political thriller and one that is nearly slapstick comedy. And there's a message that, while maybe simple when compared to the complex layout of this beast, is also beautiful. I really liked this! Epic, enthralling, and ambitious, this is a movie that I think people will finally be ready for in ten or fifteen years.

I fully expect at least one of my 4 1/2 readers to disagree completely. I'd love to hear why I'm wrong about this one.

Animals Are Beautiful People

1974 nature documentary

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A look at life in an African desert.

Jamie Uys, director of The Gods Must Be Crazy, made this thing. Paddy O'Byrne narrates these animal antics, and there's a sense of humor that keeps this thing fresh and entertaining. That and the remarkable lives of these animals who have adapted to survive in a harsh climate in fascinating ways. There are a lot of beautiful things to see here, and at times, with the visuals put to a largely classical score, this out-Fantasias Fantasia. Of course, a lot of things in nature are beautiful only because they're kind of ugly and a lot of things in nature are beautiful because they're unusual. Both of those apply here. There are great lessons in this for actual people--not just animals who Paddy O'Byrne calls people. Watching the guide bird and honey badger's symbiotic relationship is amazing, showing the capabilities of species when they team up. Uys uses a lot of added sound effects, mostly for humor, and some very cheap visual effects, but this is mostly the result of filming animals for several years and then piecing it together in a narrative. And you get to see things you wouldn't otherwise get to see. I'd love to have the life of a the bird who spends 95% of his life just standing around like a stuffed bird. There's a scene where an ostrich chases a monkey followed by a guy acting like an ostrich. There are drunk animals, birds crapping out of tree slits, colorful worms, hiccupping worms in dancing seeds. I do feel sorry for the hyenas though. Paddy O'Byrne really trashes those guys. One of my favorite scenes had actual humans, bushmen teaching their children about animals by using pantomime. It was captivating, probably something I could have watched for an hour. This is one of the more entertaining nature documentaries that I've ever seen, and it manages to beat a trip to the zoo where you actually get to see some these guys up close.

Chicken with Plums

2011 movie

Rating: 17/20

Plot: Renowned violinist Nasser Ali Khan is distraught after his violin is destroyed. Since he's unable to satisfactorily replace the instrument, he decides to retire to his death bed. His wife is unhappy with the decision.

This is a beautiful story, whimsically and imaginatively told. It toys with your emotions a little bit, starting out as a fantasy of sorts before transforming through flashbacks and flash-forwards into something that is borderline devastating. The main character is imperfect, but he's imperfect like most men, especially the artistic ones, and I had no trouble at all connecting with him. Mathieu Amalric is just about perfect in the role and reminds me of a character who belongs in an Aki Kaurismaki movie. Maria de Medeiros plays his wife, juxtaposing mousey with bitchy very well. I thought the name was familiar, and it turns out she was the beauty in Guy Maddin's The Saddest Music in the World. I also liked Golshifteh Farahani. She's got a great face and an even better name. The real star of this show, however, is its flavor. The source material is an Iranian graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, and it's directed by her and Vincent Paronnaud, the same team that put together Persepolis. Unlike that, this is mostly live action, but it's about as close to animation as live action can be. I don't know if it's the graphic novelist's visual sense or what, but there's a style to this that I just loved. An exotic and fantastical world is created from what is really a simple story. There's some magical realism with a shopkeeper's magic wand, a visit from a twenty-foot-tall Sophia Loren, and a visit from the Grim Reaper are more out-there sequences, but even everyday things like the way a bus curves through mountainous roads is displayed in a way that makes this seem like it comes from a fairy tale. There are some cartoonish special effects that don't come close to adding to any realism but still manage to fit. There's also some stylistic variety in a hilarious black and white flashback where a teacher compares the main character to his brother and encourages his classmates to boo him and a flash-forward where an animated version of the protagonist's son shoots a buffalo out of the sky before the story morphs into a sitcom that might poke fun at the United States a little bit. There's a variety with the animation styles used, too. And there are puppets, and as my regular 4 1/2 readers could tell you, I'm a sucker for puppets. Again, this isn't all whimsy and surreal vignettes. There's a heart to this movie--"The love you lost will be in each note you play."--and it hit me just right.

I think fans of Amelie might like this.

Tsotsi

2005 Best Foreign Film (2006)

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A thug inadvertently kidnaps an infant during a car-jacking and becomes a total wuss.

It's difficult to know how to read the denouement of this movie. And yes, I'm going to spoil things if you haven't seen this already, so you probably should probably skip to the next paragraph or not read this at all. Most people on Earth have no problem not reading my blog, however. Anyway, the ending. Is it an unhappy ending because our main character--the titular gangster--is about to be arrested and spend a significant portion of his life in prison? Or is it a happy ending because despite the trouble the kid is in, his soul is in much better shape at the end of the movie than it was at the beginning? This is a bleak movie with a bleak setting and desperate and characters who you never feel are going to be OK, but there are all these rays of hope that perforate the thing. I think I would go ahead and lean toward happy ending since the incredible amount of tension built up during a kind-of stand-off in front of the baby's home is at least eased in a way that would make the other characters happy.

This is a good film, and Tsotsi is the kind of juicy complex character that I imagine would be difficult to create, both by the actor and the director. Presley Chweneyagae plays him, very nearly to perfection. A lot of the performance is about body language, and the first shot we see of him in front of a window with this menacing sky behind him while his friends are trying to add four and five with some neo-reggae/rap hybrid music popping up is a great introduction. It's difficult for me to pinpoint exactly why this baby has such an effect on this character, but Chweneyagae's performance sells it so well that it doesn't matter. There's a bit of movie trickery in humanizing this thug with scenes of an old running Tsotsi morphing into a young running and crying Tsotsi, but for the most part, it's the performance that makes this complex character work. He goes from hardened thug to baby-faced human being, often within a few frames. There's so much that goes unspoken in this movie, and you can read it all on his face as he interacts with characters or wanders around, especially when he explores the child's room. I also liked Jerry Mofokeng who played a crippled beggar, and now that I know his last name starts with "Mofo," I like him even more. The baby was also incredible. The Johannesburg slum is a setting that allows for some cool visuals, a setting that doesn't make any excuses for the characters but that definitely helps explain how circumstances lead to bad decision making. I'm still not sure which visual is more shocking--a shot of the baby with ants crawling all over him or a couple shots of homeless children living in big pipes. The afro-rap soundtrack, most of it performed by a South African artist named Zola, seems a little oppressive at times, but it adds a lot of color, and I ended up liking it. In fact, I'm listening to the soundtrack now while typing this.

Recommended by Cory.

Raise the Red Lantern

1991 Chinese movie

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A young woman becomes the fourth wife of a camera-shy foot fetishist. The women compete for the affection of the husband who has the titular lantern lit for the woman he wants to spend the night with. They don't get along very well.

I don't know about you, readers, but if I were this guy, I'd get myself one large bed and just sleep with all of the women every night. And I'd get three more wives. Not that I even really know what to do with one woman, but it'd be cool to be able to brag to all of my rich friends.

This was the second Zhang Yimou/Yimou Zhang film that Cory has recommended. I've seen enough of him to know that there'll be plenty of color, and this doesn't really disappoint although it's not as flashy as Ju Dou, the other Cory recommendation that I liked at least as well as this; any of those artsy neo-kung-fu movies; or the fun Coen-remake A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop. I really liked the architecture, all labyrinthine and jaggy, and the splashes of color almost look like wounds against the bleak walls of this castle or whatever it is. I'm positive that I saw this back in the mid-90s and forgot about it. Likely, I wasn't smart or mature enough to watch it back then anyway. I still might not be smart enough as I really don't completely understand Li Gong's character. Li Gong's great, by the way, nailing these perfect complex emotions with the subtlest of expressions. Her character and the motivations of that character are bewildering though. The opening scene, powerful enough, is a close-up of her face as she's being lectured by somebody off-screen. She cries, and there's a fragility there. Five movie minutes later, she's got this confidence and seems kind of bitchy. Later, she develops into something more paranoid and bitchy. And then she goes crazy. I'm sure there's a subtext here that I'm not grasping because I'm not up on my Chinese history. It's a weird character though, one with this depth that neither Li Gong or the writers had to work very hard--or more accurately, very obviously--to develop it. The other actresses who play wives 1-3 or the servants are also really good although the third one (aka the hottest one) is supposed to be a former opera star but has a singing voice that might be the worst thing I've every heard. And I do like how the master of the house is barely seen at all. I think we see the back of his head more than his face, and I know we never see the latter in a close-up. This lacks the flamboyance of Zhang Yimou's later work, but its story is engrossing and just the right kind of slow and builds to a chilling climax.

I also liked how they blew the lanterns out.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

2012 best picture nominee

Rating: 17/20 (Jen: 17/20)

Plot: A girl named Hushpuppy lives with her dad in the Bathtub, one of those areas in the world that Al Gore is trying to destroy. When her father becomes ill, she sets out to look for her mother.

This movie doesn't make a lick of sense. If you put a hushpuppy in the bathtub for any period of time, it will become inedible. You'll eat it anyway, but you definitely won't enjoy it.

Despite forgetting that I watched this movie and not writing about it, I loved this beautiful little movie. It hit me emotionally, and I thought the little girl (Quvenzhane Wallis) and Dwight Henry were brilliant. There's a visual style to this that I really liked, and the unsual setting and colorful characters make this an interesting slice of swamp Americana. I didn't even mind the CGI giant pigs. This is one of those types of movies that quietly makes a statement in a way that seems very loud. Also, oxymoronically, this manages to be both bleak and uplifting, dirty poetry that gets to your bones. What a beautiful movie!

Note: I've seen two of the 2012 best picture nominees out of the twenty or so. What kind of movie blogger am I? Maybe that's why I only have 3 1/2 readers. Anyway, if I had to pick between the two nominated movies for "Best Picture" I would choose both of them. A tie!

Carrie

1976 horror movie

Rating: 17/20

Plot: The titular bullied high schooler goes nuts and kills everybody.

This was the first movie that I can remember seeing in a movie theater back in '76 when my parents took me as a 2 1/2 year old. It was hard to forget the artsy dirtiness of that locker room scene, the way John Travolta drinks his beer, that bucket of pig blood, those flying knives, and that filthy hand as I relived it all over and over again in my nightmares throughout my childhood. Though dated somewhat, this is a horror classic. De Palma's storytelling, though not far removed from King's novel, is unapologetically over the top, but he's got a style that I really like here. I really like how Carrie the character is filmed in a lot of of this. She's seen at askew angles and through things enough, and it adds to the mystery of her character. I also loved this long shot that leads the audience up the rope and to that ominous bucket. The whole king/queen announcement sequence is brilliant and leads to  the longest applause for anything in movie history. The aftermath--the music cutting out with the only sound being a stylish bucket creaking and dripping--is such a perfect calm before the shit storm. Sissy Spacek is perfect; her eyes manage to give off an innocence and creepiness simultaneously. Piper Laurie is also perfect, the performance nowhere near realistic but deliriously entertaining regardless. She's effectively creepy while saying some pretty absurd things. "I can see your dirty pillows. Everyone will!" Also, note that carrot chopping scene. Laurie apparently thought that this movie was a spoof which may explain how she played her character. This isn't a perfect movie. There's a dancing scene where the camera spins around Tommy and Carrie way too fast, almost like De Palma wanted to make his audience really dizzy before the climax of the story. There are a few awkward comedy attempts including one with sped-up chipmunk voices. John Travolta, probably because he became so famous, is a little distracting. This movie should also probably lose points for his "Get 'er done!" which I'm sure is what gave Larry the Cable Guy the only idea he's ever had as a comic. There's also so much music, a few notes plagiarized from Psycho, I think. Of course, with an overbearing mother and a notable shower scene, I guess this has a few things in common with Hitchcock's movie.

Worth mentioning: Michael Talbott acting his ass off during the scene where they get a pig. Incredible performance.

Love this "Goof" from imdb.com: "Chris is somehow able to give her boyfriend a blow job and talk to him at the same time, without her voice being distorted in the least."

Fog of War

2003 documentary

Rating: 17/20

Plot: Some old guy talks about war.

Cory recommended this about 3 1/2 years ago, but I'm not sure why I didn't watch it long before anyway. It's Errol Morris, and Philip Glass scored the thing. Errol Morris has never made a bad documentary, and there has never been a bad documentary scored by Philip Glass. That's a winning combination. I did like the music here, and Morris's style--which always seems not-quite-professional to me--gives this an interesting pace. It really is an hour and forty minutes of an old guy talking with a mix of archival footage, archival conversations, typewriter simulation, war footage, skull dropping experiments, and close-ups of nasty teeth. There are little touches--a freezing on McNamara's face while he still talks--that give this some flash, but this isn't something that should be mandatory viewing for Americans because of the documentary style. It's the message of these 11 lessons where McNamara talks about things that are scary because they really could happen, things that are scary because they almost happened, and things that are scary because they actually did happen. There's real tension in a chilling story about how we were "this close" to nuclear war, and that's despite me having a rudimentary knowledge of 60's history and knowing how it all turned out. I also found his discussion of Kennedy's death very touching. This one guy lived so much history, and it was amazing to watch him tell about what he's learned from it all. You know, because those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it, and all.

Django Unchained

2012 spaghetti blaxploitation flick

Rating: 17/20 (Jen: 19/20)

Plot: A dentist-turned-bounty-hunter buys the titular slave in order to hunt down some white guys. Django does such a good job, that the bounty hunter decides to work with him throughout the winter and then agrees to help him locate his wife Broomhilda. That leads to lots and lots of violence.

Tarantino blends genres effortlessly and gloriously. Here, you get historical drama mixed with Italian Western with a pinch or three of blaxploitation, and I'm really not sure there's ever been another director who could put all that together so well. Being part-spaghetti, you might expect meandering with some bits drawn out enough to try most people's patience. Of course, Tarantino does that anyway. This does meander and go a few places that I might--upon further viewings--wish it didn't. From my theater experience--rare enough that I often have to curb my enthusiasm--I can tell you that I enjoyed every single minute of this bloated near-masterpiece. The movie looks beautiful, individual shots that you could probably show somebody and trick them into thinking they came from a Leone movie. A Wild West town drowning in mud, a few plantations, lots of good interior shots with what might be accurate period details. I'm not sure where any of this was filmed, but it was all great to look at. And with Tarantino, you expect certain excesses--blood, cursing, the n-word, and dialogue. This doesn't disappoint there if you're type of person who would be disappointed by a lack of those. The dialogue's rich and often funny, and the violence is quite possibly even more ridiculous than the House of Blue Leaves sequence in Kill Bill. It was definitely more shocking for me to see all that red, and I really wasn't aware that guns in 1858 were capable of making people explode. It felt weird to let out a little chuckle during one out-of-control shootout scene when an already-shot-to-death villain gets shot in the crotch again. Tarantino's boldness with inserting humor in all this violence and in a topic that there's really nothing at all funny about definitely helps this stand out, gives it that unique feel that makes Tarantino's movies so rewarding and special. It's all those minor touches. That wobbling tooth-on-a-spring makes me laugh just thinking about it. (Note: It's an LOL, not a real laugh.) And there's a scene featuring the Klan (or some sort of Klan prototype--I don't know their history) that might surpass the one in O Brother, Where Art Thou? as my favorite KKK movie scene ever. That's difficult to pull off even if Jonah Hill isn't involved. There are all kinds of funny asides that make me want to see this again. The characters' interactions are often troubling, of course but they sometimes manage to be both humorous and troubling at the same time. The actors portraying these characters at times make them seem like caricatures, but they do a terrific job making them semi-realistic, completely entertaining, and most importantly just fucking cool. Jamie Foxx gives a perfectly quiet performance as the hero, but he's not helped by how completely awesome Christoph Waltz is as Dr. Schultz. This guy's one of my new favorite movie heroes ever, and although a lot of it is how the character is written, a lot of it has to do with Waltz. I think it's because he kind of sounds like Werner Herzog. DiCaprio's good enough as the villain although he might be a bit too pretty. Prettiest villain in any spaghetti Western probably. There is a really intense scene that Leo pulls off really well, however. Tarantino-regular Samuel L. is also great in a much-different role. He's very funny here. And there are loads of filthy ruffians and rough-faced thugs that look like they came straight off the set of a late-60's Italian western, all craggy and with skin that looks well lived in. Also typical of a Tarantino movie--you're going to notice the music. You do here, too, and I loved hearing a lot of borrowed Morricone. I'm not sure if I loved hearing the modern hip hop or the Johnny Cash. It just didn't feel in place here. Still, it's a minor complaint. It's early January, and I doubt that I'm going to see a new movie that is this consistently entertaining.

For all you spaghetti-philes, Franco Nero does make a cute little appearance. You probably would have guessed that though.

Nicolas Cage Birthday Celebration: Bringing out the Dead

1999 Scorsese movie

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A paramedic in New York City loses his mind as he watches ghosts and tries his best to save souls. John Goodman changes his mind about the Chinese food.

"What's that?"

"It's three legs."

"That's too many!"

 

Nicolas Cage should consider himself lucky. There's only one person who gets special birthday recognition on this blog, and that's Cory. This, in fact, might be the highlight of the man's career. I wanted to watch a Cage movie on his birthday, and I hadn't seen this one. Now that I've seen it, I have no idea why I went over 13 years without seeing it. 

 

I'll get my gripe out of the way right off the bat--there was way too much music in this. I dug the Van Morrison played along with Scorcese's flashy images of New York bathed in colors. Van Morrison (I think just one song) fades in and out like you're losing radio reception, and wherever he pops up, it's appropriate. I could have done without the REM or Janes Addiction or The Who or 10,000 Maniacs though. That music might be timeless, but for me, it cements this in a very specific time and place. Plus, there were so many snippets of these songs that it sounded like somebody flipping the radio dial in the middle of songs just to be mean. Or in the case of 10,000 Maniacs, to be nice.

The first thought I had while watching this was, "What? A Nicolas Cage movie with narration?" The narration in this is especially poetic though and paints this wonderfully abstract picture of the character's mind. 

 

"Saving someone's life is like falling in love, the best drug in the world. For days, sometimes weeks afterward, you walk the streets, making infinite whatever you see. Once, for a few weeks, I couldn't feel the earth. Everything I touched became lighter. Horns played in my shoes. Flowers fell from my pockets. You wonder if you've become immortal, as if you've saved your own life as well. God has passed through you. Why deny it, that for a moment there, why deny that for a moment there, God was you?"

 

It's stylized 1st person narration for a stylized movie. I like it. And it just perfectly captures the thoughts of this poor dude wandering in this nightmarish limbo, an urban purgatory with ghosts, well-lit ghosts that occasionally boogie to Van Morrison songs. This movie looks so good, crisp when it needs to be crisp and more viscous when it needs to be viscous. Sometimes, the buildings and streets and skies and people are oily and indistinct, and you just have this white ghostly ambulance cutting through it all. Sometimes, things focus on the worn expressions and bad postures of these damned souls. It's all beautifully hideous, and Scorsese isn't shy about using the tricks of his trade to show us this world or how one man's mind is deteriorating as he moves through it. At times, it feels like too much, but it's an experience and a half. The birthday boy's performance is one of his better ones. Combined with Scorsese's trickery, Cage's acting perfectly shows this character's descent into madness. It's a more careful performance than you might expect from Cage although there are a couple of Nic Cage freak-outs ("Why's everything a cardiac arrest? Come on, people!" or his laugh after an accident involving the ambulance), but watching a Cage character gradually lose his mind is about as perfect as it gets for a fan of his work. Also shining in this E.R. on hallucinogenics: Ving Rhames as raucous Marcus with his sweet-talkin' and cries to Jesus; John Goodman as Cage's partner on the first night, a guy who just wants some food; Tom Sizemore as his absurdly vicious co-driver on the third night; an unrecognizable Marc Anthony, a guy I probably wouldn't recognize anyway; Arthur J. Nascarella, the barking (literally) captain; Mary Beth Hurt as a sarcastic nurse; and of course Afemo Omilami as Griss, a guy super-cool enough to be allowed to speak about himself in the third person. "Don't make me take off my sunglasses" might be my favorite line ever spoken by a guy named Griss in a movie. It all adds up to something that is devastating but at the same time enormously entertaining. There's a dark humor that's impossible to miss. Scorsese himself provides some of the chuckles as a dispatcher, sending the ambulance to help people with roaches in their ear, a man setting his pants on fire, a three car accident with "two taxis and a taxi," an elderly woman abducted by her own cat, and a man at the bus terminal who was shot three years ago but now says his arm hurts. 

 

I don't completely understand what this movie's about, but I'd love to see it again to piece things together. Three nights? A guy trying to save people? Is Cage's character a Christ figure? 

 

Other things I liked: 

 

1) I.B. Bangin. What a name!

2) The volcano art in that dude's apartment. I wonder if my wife would let me put something like that up.

3) As much as I hated the music, the song by The Cellos where a guy claims that he's "the Japanese sandman" is bitchin'.

A Christmas Story

1983 Christmas movie

Rating: 17/20 (Jen: 15/20; Becky: 18/20; Dylan: 12/20; Emma: 13/10; Abbey: 15/20)

Plot: Ralphie wants a B.B. gun, but his parents, his teacher, and a department store Santa Claus all tell him that he'll shoot his eye out with it. Meanwhile, his father wins a major award.

This nearly plotless series of memories that almost-but-not-quite feels like you're watching somebody else's home movies has really grown on me through the years. I laugh more now than I ever did when I watched this as a kid or a younger adult. I appreciate nostalgia a lot more these days, even if it's not anything I can personally connect with because it's before my time. Perhaps it's just the mention of Terre Haute, Indiana, that works for me. Whatever it is, this movie almost gets funnier the more you see it, and it's rewatchability is great. Actually, I'm surprised that some cable channel hasn't decided to play a 24-hour marathon of this movie every Christmas. This is already on the blog somewhere. Actually, I just looked and it's on the blog 2 1/2 times, and I've bumped it up a point every time.

I've seen A Christmas Story memorabilia around lately--replica leg lamps, figurines, snowglobes. Honestly, I'm not sure if I've seen a snowglobe or not, but you're not going to fact-check me or anything, so I can probably get away with it. I'm not sure how I feel about people being able to buy leg lamps. Part of the beauty of those scenes is that the lamp is so completely ridiculous. Now that I can see them in people's windows almost taints it. I even saw one in a window right above a nativity scene the other day. Of course, I could be making that up, but again, nobody's going to fact-check.

This was my mother-in-law's first time seeing this movie. Next time she's here in December, I'll show her Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

Atomic Cafe

1982 documentary

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A compilation of bomb testing footage, important people saying things, propaganda films, and atomic bomb survival videos from the 40s-60s. Uncle Sam's message was very clear: American citizens don't really have to worry about the atomic bomb, especially if they happen to be turtles.

When I was a kid, nuclear war was on my mind all the time, so a lot of this footage is kind of terrifying. A lot more of it is disgusting or creepy, and a lot of it is hilarious, and that's what makes this such an enjoyable movie experience. All of this sans narration makes it work so much better. It's there, objectively, and although what the filmmakers have chosen to give us might be subjective, the chronological look at the history of the big bomb is really just there for the viewer to put the pieces together on their own. The propaganda films seem so tasteless sixty years after. Blowing up Statues of Liberty, small Wisconsin town exploitation, island natives near bomb testing sites completely understanding exactly what is going on while "You Are My Sunshine" is used in the background. It's enough to make any freedom-loving American sick to his stomach. And then you add a shot of a giggling Truman right before his "two billion dollar gamble" announcement or a crowd laughing after Nagasaki's described as looking "like Ebbet's Field after a double header with the Giants," and it makes you wonder who the bad guys really were. It definitely makes one feel really good about our government. Luckily, there's no dishonesty in our present times. As I mentioned, this isn't all gloomy. The nuclear protection get-ups are often hilarious, and that "God Will Hit Like an Atomic Bomb" song is about the catchiest thing you'll ever hear. "Everybody's worried about the atomic bomb, but nobody's worried about the day my lord will come." This is just stuffed with images that will forever be tattoed in the mind. I don't think I'll ever forget that testing video footage that showed soldiers running toward a mushroom cloud.

How dumb were kids growing up in the 50s and 60s, by the way? Duck and cover? I can imagine what my smartass middle schoolers would say to something like that. And I know how dumb they are!

Sound of Noise

2010 new favorite movie

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A group of percussion terrorists perform a musical composition in four movements. A detective, the tone-deaf brother of a famous conductor, tries to stop catch them.

I just stumbled upon this, found it to be one of the most joyous movie occasions in recent memory, and then discovered that they have some digital fame with something you probably need to find on Youtube called Music for One Apartment and Six Musicians, which is not only even better than this full-length feature but which realistically might be my favorite thing I have ever watched. Excuse the hyperbole, but it seemed like Scandinavia made this just for me. The music is exhilarating, starting with a short piece in a speeding van that led to fist-pumping and uncontrollable urination. The movements are as humorous as they are cleverly composed and wildly creative. The bits are funny. I loved the "Nobody move--this is a gig" stick-up with a metronome, and the titles of the movements (e.g. "Doctor Doctor, Gimme Gas in My Ass" made me smile. And one scene in which the detective Peter-Townsends a bunch of instruments was ridiculously beautiful. One gets the sense that nobody involved in the making of this gave a damn about the plot, one that is really pretty thin anyway, or the love story subplot but instead just wanted an excuse to use surgery patients, a bank, large clunky vehicles, and electric wires to make as much exquisite noise as humanly possible. There's a bit of satire here maybe--I'm remembering a naked painted man--but for the most part, this is silly fun--musical mayhem that would appeal to fans of those Stomp dudes or playful experimental music with a sliver of a love story and a police vs. terrorists conflict mixed in.

Seriously, if you don't want to take the chance with the full-length feature, take a gander at that Youtube video. And thank me later. Well, unless you've already seen it. Then, you owe me nothing.

Le Havre

2011 Aki Kaurismaki movie

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A poor shoeshiner with a sick wife helps an African immigrant.

Aki Kaurismaki makes movies about human beings for other human beings. When I watch these things, there are emotions that he deals with in ways that I can't quite pinpoint, but I don't think there's another director alive who handles his characters this delicately and gives his audience the chance to appreciate the insignificant gaps in their stories. Kaurismaki's movies have space, and I think that's why I like them so much. This one's no different. His camera moves, but you'd still describe this as minimalistic. Andre Wilms is so good as the husband, and I really liked the character's dry wit. Yep, liked him a bunch. In fact, I can't remember a character I've rooted for this much. Kati Outinen, another Kaurismaki regular, is just as good in the smaller role of the wife. Their relationship is beautiful, somehow complex and simple at the same time. There's a wonderful scene where Wilms and Outinen give each other a glance at the mention of a memory, and we realize that there's all kinds of depth and history with these characters that we'll never be able to understand. It's those simple moments that make this so great--Minie and Little Bob illuminated during their reunion, the looks on the frozen faces of the refugees when their crate is open, the black kid jiving to a blues record, a look given in a taxi, Little Bob's Michael Jackson jacket. The kid's really good, too, probably because he's quiet. I believe this is the first Kaurismaki release that got any recognition in America, and since I'd call him one of my favorite directors, I was really looking forward to seeing it. Like his other movies, it really makes me want to just sit around and watch nothing but his movies.

Ju Dou

1990 romantic tragedy

Rating: 17/20

Plot: The rich owner of a dye mill marries the type of woman who's likely to sleep with any goofy-looking guy who's willing to spy on her. An employee and nephew of the owner does just that, and a baby is conceived. They keep that a secret, the owner has a stroke, and the boy grows into a pleasant teenager.

This is a story with tragic depth and more than its fair share of stunning moments. There's tons to like here. Most obvious is the look of the film which is just gorgeous, probably expected from a movie Yimou Zhang (also known as Zhang Yimou) is associated with. Goings-on are so perfectly framed by the architecture of this dye mill, and the simplest things--an ascent up some steps, a donkey's eyeball, dye swirling in a pool, a dusty light beam through a hole in the wood, rain dripping from a hole in the ceiling, a flashy red shirt on a blue rainy night, an old guy's saggy pants, a dyed fuzzy weed, a shot of a kid with an ax--and make them into the most beautiful things. And of course there's Gong Li's general shape. I also like foreign movies that feature characters working with antiquated tools. It's like pornography to me, and I enjoyed all the moving parts and creaking limbs in the dye shop. I also loved the contrast early between the shirtless sweating men with their grimy tools and the titular wife as she unfurls the translucent clothes in the sunlight. So beautiful. I really liked the acting in this, especially the lovely Gong Li and Li Wei who plays the uncle. My favorite moment might be seeing the uncle's joyous expression when the boy calls him daddy in front of his parents. I also liked his eventual demise, one made more tragic because you've got a mentally challenged kid laughing at you. Of course, I also liked seeing him row himself around in his little cart. It made me a little envious, and I wanted a little cart of my own. I was really amazed with how they made these characters look older. A lot of it probably has to do with the acting as I really felt the pain these characters were living as they were trapped by their own lies and secrecy. Add a minimalistic soundtrack that I think was played on David Carradine's flute, and you've got a delicate little tragedy. It's a downer, but it's a beautiful one, a movie with themes that extend way beyond the rural setting in this foreign land with its weird little tools. A question: What's with the baby-in-a-barrel thing? Upright in a barrel while wearing a snowsuit? What the hell is going on there? Oh, and around the 36 minute mark, Ju Dou tells the nephew to "suck it" while at the 54 minute mark, the old guy throws out a "Who's your daddy?" Both of those made me laugh.

This was a Cory recommendation.

Pepe le Moko

1937 French movie

Rating: 17/20

Plot: The titular gangsta hides out in the labyrinthine Casbah screwing various women while a guy in a funny hat tries to catch him.

I don't remember why I watched this movie. Did one of you recommend it to me? I'm really glad I watched it though because I loved it. First, it taught me a few things. The Casbah. Am I culturally illiterate for not really knowing that this place exists outside of a Clash song? What a great setting for a sort-of noirish tale about a guy everybody knows is doomed right from the start. He's doing his best to avoid prison while ironically trapped in a prison that he made for himself. And the angles of this setting really reminded me of a German silent movie or something. So cool. I also liked that there was a street called Inadequacy Street, a place I've visited more than a few times in my life. Another thing I learned: the French have funny-looking noses. There are some interesting characters here. I got a kick out of Pepe's thugs--a dude in a seersucker suit and another guy with a perpetual smile that makes him look like he's likely mentally challenged. And there's Pierrot who plays with a yo-yo constantly. My favorite scene is the death of Regis with his hysterics, an insane piano player, seersucker suit guy playing with the yo-yo, a cool shot of that toy swinging after the death, and a shot of Smiley standing next to an angel on the wall. Jean Gabin is good as the titular gangster as he has the looks and good rapport with the ladies in his life but also this consistent look of dejection under the surface. One shot clearly shows that Pepe's shirt is monogrammed with JG, by the way. I really enjoyed the dialogue in this, maybe more because it's a 1930's movie that, at least in French, didn't sound like all the characters were screaming at me. The rapport between Pepe and funny-hatted Slimane was great. "You don't arrest God." What a line! There are other terrific lines, too:

"Don't make me turn you into a stiff. You've got nice curls."

"I've got a face men love to clout."

"Some clocks read two o'clock and chime four when it's 11:45."

"Pity I don't know you better so I could smack you a bit."

"I don't like people laughing without me knowing why."

"What mascara do you use? You naughty thing!"

"You're only a half weasel."

"I told you the truth." The response: "Find another truth."

There are some great camera shots, too, some made more interesting by the M.C. Escher landscapes of the Casbah. Lingering smiles after hands are grabbed, a risque shot of jiggling mammary glands during a scene where Pepe sings, Ma's face as she plays the record from her youth, a cool looking blue-screen-enhanced (I think) walk to the harbor, Casbah architecture turning into waves, cheese, a poignant last shot of a boat seen through bars. It's just such a cool film, and I'm really glad that I had some reason to watch it though I've now forgotten what that was.

Cory, was this on the list?

Oprah Movie Club Pick for August: Bride of Frankenstein

1935 comedy

Rating: 17/20

Plot: This filmed version of Mary Shelley's lesser-known sequel to her horror classic is about a monster's search for love and friendship. A perverse evil scientist who dines in tombs for some reason dreams of stitching together the titular bride for the big guy while he stumbles around and works on his social skills.

There's no way that I saw this as the brilliant black comedy that it is the first time I watched it way back when I was a kid. It seems like a daring decision by the Universal people--making a comedic sequel to their successful film based on classic literature. It works so well though. The movie still has scenes that create ominous moods and are borderline creepy. I like how the various castle rooms look, and the mist-drenched cemetery is a great set despite Karloff stumbling around and knocking over obviously fake statues. I also really liked the climactic "She lives!" scene, the stormy montage that shows off all that scientific equipment, a couple kites, and odd-angled close-ups of the two doctors' faces. And Dr. Preposterous says cool things like "Raise the cosmic diffuser!" [Note: If I ever write another song, that'll be it's title.] during that scene. I just love the look of this movie so much--each and every gnarled tree, cobweb, shadow, slimy step, gray fog blanket, and stone wall. There's also a scene where an old woman dummy is thrown into some water while a bemused fake owl looks on. I liked the owl the first time they showed it blinking, but I fell in love with it the second time. It's actually the most realistic animal in this movie other than the very real sheep; a lone fake bat looked like a elementary school student's art project.

But directly after the first shot--a wonderful zoom that leads the viewer into a mansion where the trio of British Romantic authors are hamming it up--the tone is tongue-and-cheek. Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon) really overdoes things here, trilling those R's like he thinks it will help him get in Mary Shelley's pants or something. The montage that gives necessary the necessary background of the first story is really cool, some shockingly beautiful imagery there. And then we meet Millie who, if this was a straight horror flick, would singlehandedly ruin the entire experience. Millie's played by Una O'Connor, and she's a character who, during her initial scene where she's digging on some fire, you just know is not going to stick around the movie very long. What the hell is she doing with her voice in these early scenes? Or her eyes? It might just be because this is a Frankenstein movie, but she really reminded me of Marty Feldman. There's a moment where she tells another character to cross herself before walking out of the picture for what you just know has to be the last time since no director in his right mind would put this actress in multiple scenes in this movie, and I'm not sure how she didn't pull a muscle doing it. She crossed herself like she thought it would help her get in Lord Byron's pants or something. But then, the viewer discovers that Millie is a real character, like the sixth or seventh one on the cast of characters. She just keeps finding her way into every scene. There's one scene where she "washes her hands" of the monster stuff and leaves only to randomly pop up and start screaming in the next scene where they carry a body in. Millie's freakin' ubiquitous! And annoying, almost in a good way. And suddenly, there's a big chase scene with a lynch mob armed with sticks and wooden rakes, and there's Millie again, all ready to cackle and be louder than everybody else. I do like how she says "burgomaster" though.

Millie's not the only goofy character. I couldn't stop laughing at Dr. Pretorius's antics. And I love how he said "tissues" during the "You think I'm mad?" scene after he showed Henry his little people in bottles. What the hell's going on there? Let's have the mad scientist show off his little people in bottles and then suggest to Henry Frankenstein that they do something completely different from that. And I loved how Henry didn't seem amused, interested, surprised, or really anything while looking at the little people. I bet Dr. Pretorius was a little disappointed in that. I wouldn't mind having my own little ballerina in a bottle, by the way, and I'm adding it to my Christmas list. I also liked how Ernest Thesiger's Pretorius said "wizard," and his toast "to a new world of gods and monsters" is something I'm going to steal if there's ever an opportunity for me to make a toast. Henry's expression after that toast is priceless. "What? I ain't drinking to that!" You just know that Dr. Pretorius can't be trusted. For one, he's a total pervert. You know he's only interested in making a bride for the monster so that he can watch them do it. Now I'm not saying I wouldn't do the same thing if I had a laboratory like that and a couple of kites, but there's just something wrong with using science to create your own elaborate pornography. His creepiest line: "I hope her bones are firm." I'm not sure it's the words there as much as it is Thesiger's delivery. Pretorius also has Gene Wilder's hair. Oh, you also can't trust Pretorius because you catch him in a fib in this movie. He tells Frankenstein that alcohol (I think gin) is his only weakness and later tells the monster that cigars are his only weakness. You're not fooling me, Dr. Pretorius.

Of course, Karloff gets to play the funniest character. Every single scene in which he tries to interact with other characters is just hilarious, all grunting and awkward arm waving. The scene with the blind hermit shifts from touching to comic and back again. The monster learns the word "bread" and then takes a giant bite which disappears about three seconds later. And wine? You show me a human being who can watch the monster drink without laughing. And then smoking? This blind hermit is certainly a bad influence on the monster. There's a great bit of comedy when a couple lost guy's walk into right before the blind hermit and Frankenstein's monster are about to make love. One of the guy's says, "He isn't human! Frankenstein made him out of dead bodies! The hermit says, "This is my friend," and the other guy responds with, "Can't you see? Oh. . ." What's with Frankenstein's vocabulary, by the way? He seems to learn words awfully quickly, doesn't he? I fully expected the big guy to say, "Do you have bolts on your nipples or are you just happy to see me?" when he meets his bride. She's terrific by the way with all those jerky motions. The camera angles capture the titular bride's sexy charms, and I enjoyed watching the doctors raise her table up with her in that form-fitting gauze. And that hair! The meeting between monster and mate actually reminded me of when I met my wife:

Guy monster: Friend?
Girl monster: (bird squelch noise...head jerks)
Guy monster: Friend? (weird hand motions)
Girl monster: (screaming)
Guy monster: She hate me.
Girl monster: (a lovely wet hissing noise)

Who puts a self-destruct "leever" in their laboratory anyway? That seemed like a poor choice.

One more thing--the music in this is really too much, but I liked it anyway. It gives simple moments this grandiose theatrical feel, like the rising notes when Dr. Pretorius's shadow comes into the room after we first meet him. There are a few moments where the music almost seems inappropriate though, most memorably during the scene where Pretorius is giving the monster some wine in the tomb while they're checking out some bones. That, friends, is not a euphemism.

Barry picked this classic horror-comedy for us to watch, so you can thank him. I'm glad he did because it had been a very long time for me.