Poster: The Exorcist (1973)

Un alt clasic. Atat ca si film cat ca si poster.
In cazul de fata avem o imagine scoasa direct din film, momentul in care parintele Merrin (Max von Sydow)ajunge la casa fetei posedate in mijlocul noptii si se uita in sus la geamul acesteia, simtind prezenta demonului.

Filmul ar fi putut mai bine sa se numeasca "The Exorcism", caci titlul te face sa te gandesti ca se invarte mai mult in jurul Parintelui care face ritualul, cand de fapt prezenta acestuia este extrem de scurta (si de tarzie) in film.
Dar totusi, momentul in care ajunge, totul ia o alta turnura, motiv si pentru scena centrata pe momentul cand ajunge.

Oricum, ca si poster functioneaza extrem de bine, e un aer de mister, de intamplari intunecate. Intr-o casa devorata de intuneric, lumina bate pe un personaj singuratic si misterios, singurul care poate aduce salvare la ce se intampla inauntru.

Sucker Punch – un fel de Matrix-Inception fara logica, dar cu gagici (recenzie 2)

Vroiam sa-mi placa filmul asta. Chiar vroiam. Cand am vazut trailerul am zis ca e absurd, dar atat de exagerat de absurd ca ar putea fi amuzant. Nu in sensul ca e asa prost incat e bun, ci efectiv un film entertaining. Niste fete faine care trebuie sa scape dintr-un spital de nebuni si intra intr-o alta lume pentru a indeplini acest scop. Aici se bat cu roboti, orci, dragoni, samurai, zombie; un omagiu exagerat si amuzant la toate filmele de actiune epice, legat de o poveste nu prea profunda, dar placubila.

Recunosc, imi doream cam multe de la Zack Snyder. Am ramas cu dorinta.

You Will Be Unprepared – cam asa-i

An American Nightmare (2000)

Un documentar compus din interviuri cu maestrii filmelor horror, John Carpenter, Tom Savini, George A. Romero, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg printre altii si imagini din filmele lor si din istoria reala a Statelor Unite din perioada in care filmele au fost facute.

Pelicula studiaza relatia dintre unele din cele mai infricosatoare, sadice si efectiv bizare filme de groaza puse pe ecran si evenimentele reale din care creatorii lor si-au tras inspiratia.

Printr-o serie de interviuri cu marii filmelor horror, regizori-scriitori care au creat clasice precum: "The Thing", "Scanners", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Night of The Living Dead", "Last House on the Left", "Friday the 13th", "Halloween", "Nightmare on Elm Street", filmul exploreaza razboiul din Vietnam, linsari, protestele studentesti, marsurile pentru drepturi egale si intreaga miscare '68, frica de razboi nuclear si Razboiul Rece, consumerism si malluri si multe altele, demonstrand o data pentru totdeauna ca aceste filme nu sunt doar emotii ieftine, violenta exagerata si sadica fara scop. Contextul lor e mult mai adanc si din pacate, deseori, mesajul lor mult mai in ton cu realitatea decat majoritatea dramelor si filmelor consacrate care studiaza adanci conflicte interne si externe.

Un film recomandat oricui cinefil, si obligatoriu persoanelor care iubesc (dar mai ales celor care detesta) filmele horror.

Filmul il puteti gasi pe youtube, aici e prima parte.
Privit neaparat prologul de 3 minute, format dintr-o serie de fragmente din filme de groaza si imagini din stiri (care e care?)




"We've never had American horror as we did in the decade between Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Halloween (1978), no doubt because we've never had American history like that."

R.I.P. - Alex. Leo Serban si Sidney Lumet

8 Aprilie 2011
m-am saturat de post-urile astea.

Sucker Punch - A hasty review

Venturing away from adaptations (Dawn of the Dead remake, 300, Watchmen), Zack Snyder tries his hand at auteurship with his new action film Sucker Punch, which he has written, produced and directed.

A medley of slight sexploitation, stylized action scenes which cover every possible fan-boy genre and a nod at musicals, the film introduces Babydoll (Emily Browning) as an abused post-teen who has been institutionalized to an in(s)ane asylum by her stepfather, after she accidently killed her younger sister while fighting off his rape attempt.

Trying to escape an upcoming lobotomy she plunges into a fantasy world, where the asylum becomes a brothel, where she meets four other female character sketches with whom she is trying to escape by plunging again into another layer of imagination-dream-fantasy (???) where they fight: giant robot-demon-samurais, steam-punk-zombie-nazis, orcs, dragons and finally a horde of I, Robot (the film) inspired automatons.
It makes exactly as much sound as it sounds.

The concept of diving into one's mind to adjust reality is tackled in a similar way it was in The Matrix and Inception, but fails at a very simple level; those films made the rules of the game clear to the audience (how one enters this reality, how it effects the outside and most important what the consequences are (you die in The Matrix you die in the Real World, you die in Inception you go to Limbo; you die in Sucker Punch you get stabbed by a fat cook?)). Here the existence of such rules is not even hinted at.

After having hastily given an exposition, the film quickly manages to confuse the audience by turning the asylum which we have seen for two minutes into a brothel in the protagonist's mind, a frame within a frame which is never explained and serves no other distinguishable purpose than to pile plot-hole upon plot-hole.
Character development is skipped in the beginning, and although a botched attempt at is made during the course of the film, it is too little, far too late. Little empathy is to be had for any of the thinly drawn characters.

The film bares Snyder's trademark highly aesthetic visuals and fast-action (not forgetting to throw in the odd slo-mo) and is definitely a enchanting piece for the eye (teenage boys especially will find delight in the five scantly-dressed female warriors), yet after a short while even these stop being impressive, and the whole thing quickly falls apart, with audience giving up final attempts at discerning any logic threads.

The film is high in visuals and adrenalin inducing action scenes (though quite unremarkable ones), but on the story and character side it's on the shallow end.
Lacking a source material which would have taken care of plot, story and character development, Snyder finds himself having trouble creating them himself, so he sticks to what he knows best, which in this instance does barely suffice.

Submarine

In 1951 Holden Caulfield a devenit vocea a nenumarator adolescenti, portretizandu-le ca nimeni altul alienarea, frustrarile, descoperirea ineficientelor lumii adultilor si prezentand realitatea prin viziunea lor mult mai matura decat cea a unui copil, dar totusi prea idealizata pentru a functiona. 50 de ani mai tarziu, adolescenti nesiguri din lumea intreaga si-au gasit noi voci in protagonistii filmelor indie care au iesit constant in ultimii ani, de la Ellen Page in Juno la Paul Dano in Little Miss Sunshine, aceste personaje au fost scrise sa fie instant iubite cu excentricitatile lor, dialogul rapid si neprententios, umorul matur si plin de referinte pop, viziunea cinica si nihilista, exagerata si neiertatoare. Desi un adolescent care sa aiba farmecul lui Juno nu ar fi usor de gasit in aceasta realitate, aceste personaje le-au oferit adolescentilor ceea ce aveau nevoie mai mult, mesajul ca e ok sa fii diferit.
Prin debutul sau Submarine, regizorul Richard Ayoade a reusit o lovitura de maestru, creand un personaj care combina cele doua elemente, veridicitatea din romanul lui Salinger si farmecul excentric al filmelor indie.

Most people think of themselves as individuals