#170: Dawn of the Dead

Dawn of the Dead (1978 & 2004)
Written and directed by George A. Romero (78)
2004 edition directed by Zack Snyder
Starring zombies


Purists will hate me. As you can plainly see, both Dawns are mentioned and this will piss off a lot of hardcore zombie movie fans. Thankfully for me, no one reads this except people that barely care and don't let trivial things like remakes of a movie ruin their day.

Remakes are a maligned creature and I can understand that to a degree. It's a proponent of the lack of creativity in Hollywood. Why think of a new and original idea when you can remake one from the past and cash in on its name?

Some people think this is a new phenomenon. A few years ago The Ring came out with Naomi Watts. It was a North American rendition of a popular Japanese horror flick called Ringu. Since then the USA has imported several from the terrible The Eye to improving over the original with Scorsese's The Departed (was Infernal Affairs).

This is not new.

Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai was released in 1954 and then remade in the States as The Magnificent Seven in 1960. The Magnificent Seven is one of the most recognizable titles in the western genre. Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars was also a remake of a Kurosawa film called Yojimbo. Cue the 1990's and Bruce Willis' Last Man Standing and you have a remake of a remake.

Kurosawa though adapted a couple of Shakespeare's plays into loose translations into a samurai motif. Throne of Blood (Macbeth) and Ran (King Lear) were essentially remakes but of plays instead of other movies. Is there any difference between an adaptation and a remake?

If no then the remake trend is certainly nothing new and you could argue Hollywood and cinema in general has never been very original and I wouldn't exactly dispute this.

Consider the following films: There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, Zodiac, All the President's Men, L.A. Confidential, Goodfellas, The Godfather, and The Shawshank Redemption.

Each of those movies appeared in the printed medium first. And each of those movies are more or less celebrated. Even this year's best picture darling Slumdog Millionaire is based on a novel. Oh and captain fanboy, your beloved Star Wars? Yeah, Lucas was heavily influenced by none other than Akira Kurosawa. Lucas borrowed heavily from Hidden Fortress so there you have it.

The Dawn of the Dead's are so vastly different, and really the only similarity is they feature groups of people stuck in a mall fending off zombies. They both have the anti-consumerism message. Some have argued that it's more subdued and subtle in the original and I disagree. It's pretty obvious through the entire movie. The biggest difference is in the action.

The 70s version focuses more on character interaction while the remake is all about creating anxiety and tension with as many quick scares as possible. The zombies run and I have no problem with that.

Both films are fantastic in their own way. And even if you hate the remake as a whole I can't see how you can dislike the opening sequence and overall set up unless you just hate horror movies in general.

A lot of remakes are trash but so are the originals. Anyone who complains about the new Friday the 13th sullying the originals is on some crazy drugs. The originals hold no real integrity, for proof just watch part 8 again. Jason takes Manhattan is the worst horror movie I've ever watched and I saw Hellraiser: Bloodline.

It's infuriating to read message boards where movie fans bitch and complain about the lack of originality in the film industry. It's not a new thing and it will always be like this. Like any movie, watch it before you judge it and if it still doesn't cut the mustard well move on to the next movie. A remake isn't inherently a bad thing and remember a new idea committed to celluloid is not inherently a good one either.

The Auteurs + Criterion = Film-lover's heaven

Just thought I'd run this by ya'll. If you like movies and like them for free then this is for you. If you know me, then you know I am a movie geek/fan/guy/maniac. You would also know that I collect DVD's from the Criterion Collection - or if you didn't, you do now.

The above image is from the Criterion website from the month of January. They have formed a partnership with The Auteurs, a blog-ish/networking site for film buffs. There has been a facebook application for some time now but when Criterion joined hands with them last fall it was indeed a fantastic union.

Now, every month, The Auteurs host a film festival of sorts. They select five or six films that fit a theme and screen them for free on their website. It's live streaming but it's high quality. This month they're showing all the Criterion titles that won Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards. I watched Black Orpheus tonight and it was great.

So give it a go, just start an account at The Auteurs and you're good to go.

The others screening this month:

La Strada directed by Federico Fellini
Closely Watched Trains directed by Jiri Menzel
The Virgin Spring directed by Ingmar Bergman
Mon Oncle directed by Jacques Tati
The Shop on Main Street directed by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos

#171: Army of Darkness

Army of Darkness (1992)
Written and directed by Sam Raimi
Starring Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Bruce Campbell, boomstick.


Okay, one more for the road.

If you haven't read Bruce Campbell's book If Chins Could Kill do yourself a favour and pick it up. It's a funny book above all else and if you haven't already fallen victim to the great chin's persona, you will after reading it.

The first couple entries of the Evil Dead series are closer to straight up horror than anything. The second one -- and probably the most balanced -- mixes horror with wit and slapstick very well. In the third, this one, it's pretty much a full-blown comedy. Raimi and company must have realized how ridiculous this plot was and decided to play it for laughs instead of scares.

The beauty of that decision is that Campbell was given the opportunity to really shine as the smart ass who has had enough. He's a buffoon but is given the task of leading a military outfit in ancient times against armies of the dead.

"Clatto Verata N... Necktie... Neckturn... Nickel... It's an "N" word, it's definitely an "N" word! Clatto... Verata... N- "

He's such an imbecile that he basically ruins it for everyone before using his trusty high school chemistry book to learn how to make gunpowder for his shotgun and a metal hand so he doesn't have to wear a chainsaw constantly.

My friend Arlo hated this movie because of how unrealistic it was. He has since recanted his distaste for it but I don't entirely believe him. I suspect he says this so I don't berate him about it.

Seriously, this is a movie about a guy who travels back in time to become a slave and defeat a bunch of pseudo-zombies. This guy worked in a department store. Those are his credentials. If you try to take this movie seriously you are not going to like it. Shut off your mind and laugh along with the people who made it because you can tell they weren't trying to win awards. They were in it to have a good time and you gotta respect them for that.

Sure Raimi went on to direct the Spider-Man series and has built a relatively respectable resume. Campbell remains in obscurity for the most part. Some people out there would recognize him only as the sleazy guy from those Old Spice commercials. While amusing, they don't really showcase his greatness.

Movies like this and Bubba Ho-Tep where he plays a geriatric Elvis in an old age home fighting a Mummy with a penchant for cowboy attire may be silly but they are entertaining and endlessly re-watchable. He's got a wonderful screen presence and it's amazing that he never broke through into the mainstream. Sure he was on Xena and he had his own show in that vein Jack of All Trades, but he is barely on the periphery of Hollywood.

Two of my favourite performances he gave were as guest spots in Homicide: Life on the Street and The X-Files. In the former he plays a cop who takes matters into his own hands when the law doesn't work to his favour. It's a two-parter aptly called Justice.

In the latter he's a demon burying his newborn children in his back yard. To give any more detail would be huge spoilers. It's in the sixth season and I suggest you check it out. Incidentally, Campbell was considered as Duchovny's successor in season 8 but the part of John Doggett eventually went to Robert Patrick (T-1000) instead possibly due to Campbell's memorable appearance a couple seasons earlier.

Army of Darkness is a fine flick. It's a perfect matinee or midnight movie. I think I've seen it more at midnight in theatres than I have at home. No matter where I see midnight movies advertised, this is always in the circulation. It's well worth it and it's always packed.

A few years ago, a girl I knew was throwing a costume party based on heroes. It was short notice or I put it off to the last second, either scenario is plausible. My roommate at the time had a plastic toy chainsaw and my friend DP had a toy shotgun. I put two and two together, gelled my hair and donned a blue shirt, jeans and work boots. It wasn't spot on, but it was pretty good for two hours of work.

Judge for yourself:
The movie is a crowd pleaser. You can't go wrong by showing to any group of people unless they're scientifically oriented like ole Arlo. Suspension of disbelief is not a dirty concept. Some movies are meant to be true-to-life experiences. This one is pure unabashed escapist fun.

It's also one of the most quotable movies ever. That sounds like hyperbole, but man it's up there.

Time to channel our inner vagabonds!

This may be the final entry in February. The only writing I plan on doing over the next couple days is my long form piece on the Carleton FreePress. It's my final assignment before my university career at long last is over.

So why does this spell the end of the month so soon?

I'm glad you asked!

Horatio and I, who have been planning a trip of some sort for a while now, are going to be heading down the dusty trail to the United States. With a stop in Pittsburgh to see Ben Folds we will then continue to Nashville, Tennessee for a couple days before returning north. It should be a week-long odyssey.

Upon my return I will need to finish the final copy of my long form and then I will be whisked away to Montreal to see the Canadiens host the Sharks.

It's a whirlwind of activity that is needed because isolation and staying in one place adhering to a strict schedule of repetition is extremely inane and unfulfilling. So read a book. Watch some movies. Write a song. Fill the time in whatever productive way you can.

Cheers,

JCW

#172: Election

Election (1999)
Written and directed by Alexander Payne
Based on the novel by Tom Perrotta
Starring Reese Witherspoon, Matthew Broderick, Chris Klein and terrifying high school memories.

High school for some reason has garnered the reputation as being the best part of our lives. If that's true then we should all commit mass suicide now. If it doesn't get any better than the rumour-filled, status-oriented, filtered information session of secondary education then the world is a much worse place than imaginable.

For some high school is legendary. Hanging championship sports banners or performing in a musical or play are cathartic experiences. But en masse, high school is training wheels for life, or at least it should be. High School is not inherently better or worse than any other part of life, it just is a part of life.

High school politics though serve very little purpose. When elected to student council you aren't given any real responsibility just the image that you do. You see, when you get chosen to lead your fellow students it's nothing more than a status symbol.

In the tenth grade I ran for the position of second vice president. Yeah, that actually existed. Every grade had to be represented in the student council, except the freshmen. A friend of mine was running unopposed until I decided on a whim to have a go at it. My platform was to bring paper towels back to the bathrooms instead of those awful blow-dryers that do not dry your hands at all.

I won, not sure why, but I won. My promise went unfulfilled and the meetings were boring as hell. The VP2 didn't actually do anything except attend a weekly noon-hour meeting. Since I didn't want to resign -- I am far too stubborn for that -- I beat the system.

During these dreadful meetings where my position was to sit there quietly and not disrupt the proceedings I read the charter of the school government. What I discovered allowed me to keep my position and only occasionally attend the meetings where all I did was occupy space in a chair.

The charter stated that you could only be removed from your position if you missed three consecutive meetings. Since the Clinton scandal was in full swing at the time, it would have been embarrassing to be impeached for anything less than fellatio. Considering our faculty advisor, this was not exactly a pleasing option. She likely would have feasted on my soul instead. Instead I would skip two meetings and attend the third. This infuriated the advisor and my soul shrank deep within my person out of a great and rational fear of consumption. Bravely I pointed out the loophole and she could do nothing more.

This rule has likely changed and if there's any justice in this world, the amendment would be named after me.

We didn't have a Tracy Flick at our helm. No one really cared because there was nothing at stake. There were no real real responsibilities. It's just another effort at sheltering the youth before letting them figure out all the troublesome things on their own once they go to university. For years, university was peddled without even any coaching about why. Just go to the U of your choice and you'll figure it out. Great advice. Because our hopes and dreams are of no real substance supposedly.

No, this is not a rant against teachers. They have a thankless position for the most part and much of what they try to do is greeted with apathy and sometimes hostility. How can we expand the youthful minds if books like Catcher in the Rye and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are banned or requested to be banned? The whole protectionist attitude when it comes to our children does more harm than good. It's time someone actually thought of the children instead of shouting "won't someone think of the children"?

Give kids responsibility. Give them a voice. Sure, they'll screw up but that's the point. Failure is not the end of the world, and in many ways it's very beneficial.

I just realized I merely speculated for the most part here. I grew up in the system and only now recognize the flaws I encountered. So if it's a bit disorganized and lacking references then I think that kind of proves my point in a way...

AQ REDUX: Top 10 Movies of 2007

I don't know why I make top ten lists. Hell it's a mystery to me why I made the top 200 movies list. Boredom is likely. Obsession is also a possibility. But it's flawed because my opinions are fleeting. My list below of the top 10 movies of 2007 has certainly changed, notably at the top.

Zodiac (pictured above) is my top film from that year. I can watch it over and over again even though it clocks in at around 3 hours. David Fincher is a movie making maven. While Benjamin Button is getting awards attention this year, it was Zodiac that really woke me up to his genius puppetmaster skills. His early flicks like Seven, The Game and Fight Club all worked as entertaining exercises of style and suspense. What he achieved with Zodiac was a more mature and engaging story. He took a tale set in reality and through meticulous attention to detail was able to essentially reproduce San Francisco in the late 60s and early 70s.

Don't get me wrong, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood deserve the praise they received and continue to be showered it. And when I wrote the following piece, I hadn't yet seen the PT Anderson epic of power and greed or a couple others. My revised list is as follows:

1. Zodiac
2. No Country for Old Men
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Grindhouse
5. Into the Wild
6. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
7. Once
8. Hot Fuzz
9. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
10. Superbad

Some changes...some the same...


Top 10 movies of 2007
by Jason Wilson


1. No Country for Old Men
2. Zodiac
3. Grindhouse
4. Into the Wild
5. Once
6. 3:10 to Yuma
7. Charlie Wilson's War
8. Hot Fuzz
9. American Gangster
10. Superbad


Once again I am embarrassed to submit my top ten list of films from the previous calendar year. Why? I live in Fredericton, New Brunswick or as I like to refer to it: the cinema sewer.

I feel cheated as a fan of artistic film I was unable to see Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. A friend of mine caught it on a whim on his way through Presque Isle, Maine. Yes, some rinky-dink theatre in small town Maine has a leg up on Fredericton when it comes to independent releases.

Word of mouth in Fredericton, or rumours, informed me that the reason Empire Theatres didn't bring The Assassination of Jesse James is because the powers that be figured it wouldn't be a draw. The reasoning makes sense, but not for this particular film. Beyond starring Brad Pitt, it was touted as an award front-runner well before it was released anywhere (didn't win much but ah well).

The theatre can't use genre as an excuse either because both 3:10 to Yuma and No Country for Old Men can be slotted next to it as a western. Jesse James is a beautifully filmed picture with subtle performances and a nuanced story. It's not a classic duster. It's more like a thinking man's western*, something that may scare theatre bosses. Complexities equal fewer ticket sales, or so they think. Balls.

Chances of seeing Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood are slim**. Daniel Day-Lewis gives another wonderful performance in a long line of powerhouse acting and Anderson is quickly climbing the ladder of film auteurs. This is not enough for Empire. Instead the same old re-hash like One Missed Call gets a slot. Kudos.

New Brunswick has never been a great place for film lovers. DVD and downloading are the only avenues for most indies. The Monday Night Film Series at Tilley Hall is a good shot, but many of the selections shown are available on DVD soon after or even before a screening. We get the shaft and every year it's the same old story.

What Fredericton needs is an independent movie house that mirrors the Empire-owned Oxford Theatre in Halifax. It's a one-screen theatre hosting indie releases through the week and midnight showings of classics and obscure foreign films on the weekends. Imagine, instead of going to the bars, you have the option to see a night of kung-fu movies for five or ten bucks! Variety, after all is the spice of life.

Chances of this happening are next to nil because there is no real area accesible to a large number of people that's big enough for a theatre. Who has the money to fund such a project and who can get the rights from film companies to screen the movies? Certainly not this semi-student raped by poverty and loan payments.

It's a pipe dream and the only way to keep me in Fredericton for any considerable time after graduation (even then). The routine in the city is the same week in and out. The music scene goes in phases of one style or another and the same bands seem to drop in on their war elsewehere. As nice as the art gallery is it's not going to warrant weekly visits. It's a once in a while thing.

Film can offer more than a night of entertainment. It can be a prelude to in depth conversations regarding the themes of what was viewed. Give it time, and no longer is the film the subject of the conversation but what it represents is.

My top film of the year, the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men left an odd taste in many viewers' mouths. For much of the film it is a straightforward chase story that suddenly evolves into much more. The intricate nature of the film's final moments are easy to construe as ambiguous, but instead they reveal more about the nature of life, acceptance and choice. It also sheds light on the meaning of the title of the film.

At least Empire had the sense to screen it although a few weeks later than expected. No film came close all year (d'oh!). It is perfection on film and possibly the Coens' best film***.

2008 begins and it will likely go a similar path in our Capital city. Empire will screen a loud, obnoxious series of action movies while neglecting the artistic and innovative. Who can really blame them though? Movies are all about escaping, not thinking...

Balls.



* Edited phrasing to be direct because my hypotheses about Jesse James were correct.

** There Will Be Blood came to Fredericton about a week before the Oscars so I was wrong. I saw it in theatres and it did not disappoint.

*** Okay, so I jumped the gun. It's a great film but it's not perfection on celluloid. It's not the Coens' best but it is one of them. Love the film, one of the few to improve on the source material but it doesn't keep me as engaged on repeat viewings like Zodiac does.

#173: F for Fake

F For Fake (1974)
Written and directed by Orson Welles
Starring Orson Welles and abundant mind-fuckery

"Illusion Michael! A trick is something a whore does for money...or cocaine."


Guys like David Blaine and that hair metal wannabe Criss Angel have it wrong. Magicians or illusionists need a little more charisma than the rock of Gibraltar, though what a charming rock it was. They are forcibly serious and always have a look of smug constipation on their faces. Who cares if they fool you? They're dicks.

Okay, so Orson Welles seems like a codger. A fat, bloated, drunken coot of a man whose final screen credits included the voice of Unicron in the Transformers movie. But he was responsible for one of the biggest and most successful illusions of all time.

Imagine a time when radio was the pinnacle of home entertainment. One day you're minding your own business and you've never even heard of H.G. Wells (no relation) before. Then a report comes flying in saying the world is being attacked by invaders from another planet. Hoo boy, yeah, that happened. He adapted War of the Worlds to the radio in a much more effective manner than Spielberg did to film. Spielberg is a master of cinema, but that movie was awful.

F for Fake was the last film Welles directed. It's a pseudo-documentary about liars and the lies they tell. Within the film, one of the subjects he tackles is a complete lie itself. So even the documentary is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. It's absorbing.

Never before this film had I heard of Elmyr de Hory, a Hungarian born art forger. It's said in the film that at any given time in some of the most prestigious art galleries in the world, his forgeries -- many of which were Picasso reproductions -- were on display instead of the original. He would don a disguise and an alias to peddle his forgery, selling it to the gallery for a dishonest buck.

The sad part is he was never able to make it as an original artist despite attempting to quit the forgery racket to make an honest living. These attempts were unsuccessful.

Clifford Irving, another liar of a different colour, wrote a biography on Hory. Funny because his fakery centered on the biography he wrote on Howard Hughes...except the billionaire never spoke with him. This was chronicled in the film The Hoax with Richard Gere.

Welles plays with the smoke and mirrors and asks the audience to reflect about what it has witnessed. Do you believe everything you're told? Do you believe everything you see? How trusting are you that the truth is being presented at all times?

The most ballsy thing Welles did was admit that he was lying to the audience. This movie is an illusion masked as a documentary as much as it is a documentary about illusion. It's a head scratcher and probably my favourite work in Welles' directorial catalogue. Even moreso than Citizen Kane.

Ordered it over a year ago. The premise was intriguing even though at first I thought it was a work of fiction told in modern abstract style. When the documentary aspect was revealed the further I read on it, I knew it had to be mine.

Watched it for the first time with good ole Arlo at his parents' place on a cold December afternoon. Despite the lack of alcohol or other mind-altering substances this was the type of film that makes the room spin into surreality. When the smoke clears, what was real and what was fake? Is the film itself a forgery?

Check it out for yourself. Revealing the mystery to be another mystery is half the fun.

Procrastination...

...is a devilish thing.

The book is coming along. We've surpassed 110 pages now and part one should be finished this week. We will then edit the hell out of it and send it to the agent. Regardless of how that goes, we'll finish the book as quickly as possible after that. Soon I will get my hands on the video from November when we did the reading of the prologue and I'll post it here for your enjoyment.

Trying to figure out the future. Applying for internships because jobs are hard to come by. Might flee the country in a couple months.

Pittsburgh and Tennessee in under 2 weeks.

That is all for now. Time to stop procrastinating. A full entry will be posted tomorrow.