1989

Do the Right Thing.
Premiered June 30th, 1989.
Directed by Spike Lee.
Starring Spike Lee, Rosie Perez, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, John Savage.
Music by Bill Lee.


     I'm going to preface this one with this thought. I'm a middle class Canadian white girl. The most discrimination I experience stems form my being a woman, but racially, I wouldn't know my ass from a whole in the ground on the experience within that conflict. While I think it's an important discussion to have with everyone in order to break those barriers put up by racial prejudice, it doesn't really matter what I think. I don't believe it's my place to comment. I would never presume to have any insight on this issue. I'll leave it up to those who experience racism to tell their own story and decide what's best for themselves. In here, I will only discuss film techniques on an artistic level. So this is me, removing my foot promptly from my mouth and placing it firmly on the ground, where it will stay.

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     It seems like a simple statement. To do the right thing is what we've always been taught. On many levels, it's just common sense. But when you introduce layer upon layer of complexity to what truly is the right thing, the decision making process becomes a bit muddy. This film seeks to examine the conflicts born of race in poorer neighborhoods in New York City in the late 80's. It opens on the hottest day of the summer. The main character, Mookie (Lee), delivers pizza for Sal's Pizzeria, the American Italian owned restaurant in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. He lives with his sister Jade (Lee's actual sister) and has a son with his girlfriend Tina (Perez). Sal works with his two sons, Pino (Turturro) and Vito (Edson), and Mookie. While Vito has no problem with Mookie, Pino treats him with contempt and malice, resenting his presence and rejecting his attempts to make peace. With that story line carrying the film as the central theme, there are a number of secondary stories that contribute to it's greater substance. Da Mayor (Davis) is the community drunk who is at constant odds with Mother Sister (Dee), trying to win her affections with an icy and dismissive response. Radio Raheem (Nunn) walks the streets with his ghetto blaster in tow, pumping out hip hop classics, and sporting fresh and brand new "LOVE" and "HATE" gold knuckle rings. Smiley is a developmentally disabled man who travels the neighborhood selling copies of a picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. that he colors himself. With that, there are also several groups of people that come in to contribute to this crazily dense character study. Additionally, young Samuel Jackson, then Sam, plays Mister Senor Daddy Love, the local radio DJ who runs a common thread through all the layers. I'm serious, the top billed cast is longer than the number of people I've ever met.

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     Visually, this film stunning. The colors are crazy bright and almost overwhelmingly vivid. here it is). While it comes out of nowhere, it's also the best opening credits I've ever seen. The song that plays, I'm pretty sure is what plays on Raheem's boombox throughout, and Rosie dances like she's angry but also loving it. It's great. Lee also manages to get's an amazing performance out of each and ever member of the cast. A substantial part of the film is dialogue, and some of it is unlike any I've ever heard. Smiley has a heavy stutter and pushes his words out loudly and seemingly with great difficulty, but this makes for a really interesting speech pattern, only adding to the intrigue of the film's atmosphere. Similarly, Jackson's Radio DJ has a super idiosyncratic way of speaking, as disc jockeys often do, and it's really cool. Here's just a sampling.
Everyone is dressed to the nines, and for the most part, the streets are spotless. I would say this is a fairly idealized version of life in this neighborhood and others like it. That being said, this works really well and to the point where it's almost not even noticeable, because that's not what this film is about. Race relations can be examined in any location, realistic or not. Part of the point is that they're troublingly prevalent everywhere. Lee's directorial style incorporates a seemingly disjointed editing scheme that cuts between all the various layers of the story without any warning. The film even opens a little confusingly, with Rosie Perez dancing for about 4 minutes (

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     The music is another shining aspect to this films success. The original score is this fantastic cross between neo-jazz and semi-jazz with a tribal undertone. Many scenes begin with the soaring opening note of an alto sax solo. It's all composition by Bill Lee, Spike's father. Here's an example.In addition, the music that isn't originally composed features tracks by Public Enemy, Perri, and Ruben Blades. This film was chock-full, beginning to end, with unbelievable talent that just doesn't get an opportunity to surface in mainstream sections of the industry. This film is not just an exceptional piece of art, but it's an impressive work of collaboration that tackles difficult and complex issues in a mature, realistic and all the same entertaining way.


9/10. Love it. Totally love it.


Films worthy of honorable mention this year are Back to the Future II (one of the most tolerable sequels I've ever seen), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (giant ants are truly the most terrifying), The Little Mermaid (the beginning of a golden era, when Disney was able to deliver to our children vile and dangerous messages in neat little beautifully written, animated and produced packages). All Dogs go to Heaven (Charlie Sheen is arguably a better actor as a dog than he is as a man), The Big Picture (a great movie made by a film student fresh out of school about what it's like to make a movie fresh out of film school), Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (this film is so important, I can't stress that enough. Sooooo important), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover (this will be my next review, so stay tuned), Crimes and Misdemeanors (some would say the best Woody Allen film, and while I wouldn't be one of them, it is definitely better than most), Drugstore Cowboy (I haven't actually seen it, but I hear really good things, and Matt Dillon is a hunk and a half), Field of Dreams (people do not give this thing enough credit. Next time you watch it, try to change your mindset. Give it chance to be good and then see what you think. It might surprise you. Also, James Earl Jones saying baseball is enough to make it perfect), Kiki's Delivery Service (probably my least favorite Hayao Miyazaky film, but even a not very good one of his films is pretty dang good), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ( The merriest goddamn Christmas since Bing Crosby danced with Danny fuckin' Kay!), Parenthood (I hope when I have children I turn into Mary Steenburgen), Sex, Lies, and Videotape (James Spader, everybody), Society (so the whole film you'll be like what? and then at the end you'll be like holy shit, what?) Steel Magnolias (it's really sweet and charming and then all of sudden someone who you are not expecting to die dies, and you will cry...so much), Sweetie (Jane Campion is my idol), Uncle Buck (another adoreable Hughesian classic), and When Harry Met Sally...(I don't actually like this film, but I love the cast and Harry Connick Jr. did the soundtrack, so that's awesome).


Peace,
Gang.

1988

She's Having a Baby.
Premiered February 5th, 1988.
Directed by John Hughes.
Starring Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth McGovern, Alec Baldwin.
Music by Stewart Copeland.


     Ya'll are, I'm sure, familiar with the 80's teen hero John Hughes, who championed the hearts and minds of an entire adolescent generation, but I bet few of you knew that the same man made a film about the trials and tribulations of an adorable set of newlyweds. He wrote She's Having a Baby about his own experience being  young and in love and taking on more responsibility than he could have ever possibly expected (or handled) with the decision to share his life with someone. Now, I'll say it before we get started, I don't believe you need marriage to share yourself with your significant other. In fact, I disagree with the custom of marriage being practiced today entirely, but things were surprisingly traditional 26 years ago, so I'll work with what I can get.

     So the story follows Jake (Bacon) and Kristy (McGovern) Briggs, just married and crazy about each other. Jake narrates the film, and it opens on their wedding day, with his misgiving combined with some exposition over coverage of the wedding just before the ceremony's about to start. His friend Davis (Baldwin), handsome and smooth, councils him while he goes through the things he's got to consider before he decides to go through with it. He does, and the film follows the way both he and Kristy have to adapt to their new lives, rearranging their priorities and getting some reality pumped into their pre-marriage dreams.

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     The construction of the film is good. For a mid budget studio film, it's considerably more spicy then the average. Jake has these moments in various scenes where he trails off and sees this fantasy version of whats happening. It happens when he's saying his vows during the wedding (located here), and again when they've moved into the stereotypical suburb they later call home and Jake goes to cut the grass (here). With that, you get a little more familiar with how Jake thinks. It also helps to set the structure of the film apart from others. It pulls back the curtain and takes a comedic look at Jake's psyche and experience. The film is almost entirely autobiographical, so it's Hughes writing a story about himself writing a story about himself (does that make sense?). Jake, the main character, dreams of becoming a writer (so we already know he's a bit off balance, mentally). Throughout, we see him writing, but it doesn't become clear what until the very last scene, where the narration he's been presenting all along melts from non-diegetic to diegetic as we see him reading off a page, and we realize he was reading back what he was writing the whole time. That's not a structural device we see often, and it can be hard to pull off properly. I'd say Hughes did it very well.

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     This, I would say, is not a masterpiece. It's not even exceptionally good. But it has that element of This scene is perhaps the most soul crushingly sad events that has ever taken place in the world of film. If I find myself wanting to have a good cry, this is what I watch. I kid you not, while it's beautiful, it's not for the faint of heart. But still, give it a watch. It's super worth it.
Hughes charm that is undeniable. It has a fantastic script, as would be expected, and employs a playful depiction of serious subjects. While it certainly is playful, it has elements that are almost jarring in their seriousness. One such element is the second last scene. One of the major themes of the film is that Jake and Kristy are trying to get pregnant, they finally do, and when Kristy's water breaks, they rush off to the hospital with little to no issues. Everything is going normally until the baby reveals itself to be in breach position and they have to do an emergency c-section.


6/10. Not a great film, but one of my favorites. A point I've been looking to make is that sometimes, even a crappy movie can come out to be your favorite. Sometimes, you just don't want to work too hard to get the point.


Honorable mentions from this year are Rain Man (Dustin Hoffman is still amazing and Tom Cruz is still a creepy bastard), Big (even a childish Tom Hanks is kinda sexy...is that weird? I don't even care it's true), Die Hard (best Christmas movie ever), Beetlejuice (Micheal Keaton yet again stumps us with his crazy role choices), Akira (it's so good I'm gonna die), Child's Play (inspiring generations of parents with poor judgment dressing their kids up as a vengeful child's toy for Halloween), Cinema Paradiso (there's something about little Italian kids saying 'Alfredo!' over and over again that just gets me), Earth Girls are Easy (Geena Davis finds a man who is actually taller than her, which is a feat), Grave of the Fireflies (this was clearly a good year for Japanese film), Hairspray (John Waters and Debbie Harry are the dream team), The Land Before Time (cue everyone's saddest moment of their childhood), Mystic Pizza (Julia Roberts' hair. Just, wow. I give up), School Daze (a very excellent Spike Lee joint), Scrooged (Bill Murray is crazy and I love it), Tucker (one of the only Francis Ford Coppola films I actually enjoy), Vibes (all I can say is...funky?), Working Girl (much better than I was expecting) and Young Guns (just sit back and get ready to laugh, and laugh, and laugh...).


Peace,
Gang.

1987

Broadcast News.
Premiered December 16, 1987.
Directed by James L. Brooks.
Starring Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Albert Brooks.
Music by Bill Conti.


     I want to be Jane Craig (Hunter) when I grow up. She's driven, organized, intelligent, well educated, has a fabulous job as a producer at a news station and is so efficient she schedules time out of her day for crying. And, honestly, wouldn't want to be the object of 80's William Hurt's affection? Her baggy sweater/long floral skirt combos are also to die for. So, if for none of it's other crazy good qualities, I highly recommend Broadcast News because Jane is the bomb.

     James L. Brooks wrote, directed and produced this film. It is thoroughly his own creation. He also did Terms of Endearment, Big, and Spanglish, just to name a few. He often depicts mature, complex and dark characters that battle both internal and external conflict. In this case, our protagonist Jane deals with both in equal intensity. She's so tightly wound and highly achieving that, like I said earlier, she needs to set time aside in her day to feel something. She has a sassy, wildly intelligent friend and coworker Aaron Altman (A. Brooks), who desperately wants to make weekend anchor at the station because he thinks being smart and passionate about informing people is what it should take to have that job. He runs up against (and so does Jane) the studios belief that a news anchor should be handsome and personable. To quote the Don Henley song Dirty Laundry, about roughly the same thing, "I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear." So, when Tom Grunick (Hurt), a gorgeous and relatively simple reporter from a sports network gets bumped up to cover the evening news at their station, Jane and Aaron are less than enthused. The film depicts the relationships they all share in the environment of a fast paced TV news station.

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     Holly Hunter is one of my favorites. She fully commits to a performance 100% of the time and that kind of dedication comes through really strongly with a character like this one. There's a scene where Jane's cutting together a segment at the last minute and she really pushes it for time. The stress that Hunter portrays in this character comes right through the screen and you end up right on the edge of your seat along with everyone else. Clips of the film unfortunately are scarce, but in this trailer you get a little of what I'm talking about. Likewise, A. Brooks has perfect comedic timing. It's the stuff most comedic actors only dream of being able to pull off. There’s a scene where Aaron loses an opportunity to cover a breaking story to Tom. He’s stuck cooling his heels at home, jealous as hell, trying to avoid turning on the TV to see how Tom is handling the job. The scene cuts back and forth between Tom and Jane in the middle of the report and Aaron hanging out at home. It’s one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Like I said, I’m low on example clips, so you’ll just have to watch it to find out.  A. Brooks is hilarious. I mean, he’s working with a wonderful script, but he’s working with it very well.  Hurt is similarly masterful. He’s playing way simpler than he is. And yet Tom isn't an idiot. He’s able to recognize that he doesn't really understand the news he’s reporting, and he’s willing to do something about it. He knows that the station he’s achieved isn't necessarily based on merit of intelligence. Hurt manages to make him charming and insightful, but also kind of gormless and dim.

     

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     Cinematography is, again, pretty standard. There are some great shots, but they’re nestled in solid, expectable studio beauty. There’s a shot of Jane while they’re in Central America doing a story on a civil war that’s super good. Just beforehand we see Jane and Aaron in the field during an attack they’re covering at night. The next shot is a jump cut to Jane sitting on the end of a dock sobbing in the daytime. We've already seen her cry electively, so we assume this is the same situation. All the stress and emotional restriction just gets to be too much for her. In the background, there’s a woman, clearly a local hanging her laundry. This is not only a nicely designed shot, but it’s smart. This tells us that Jane experiences such a severe emotional removal from the rest of the world that it doesn't even register that there’s someone within ear shot of her. It also forms a connection between Jane and Tom. Tom experiences a kind of acknowledged ignorance, but it’s ignorance all the same, and it’s at the expense of his viewers and coworkers. In the same way, Jane is ignorant to most of what’s going on around her. It’s not necessarily her fault, but she ignores the concerns of others in favor of her own issues. Anyway, the cinematography is standard, but smart.

     

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     It’s really refreshing to see smart people in a film. They’re not just smart practically, but they’re smart emotionally. People in this film aren't afraid to say how they feel. They don’t play games. They treat each other like adults. They make practical decisions. They seem real. That’s I think one of my favorite features of this film. It doesn't end how I want it to, but it ends how it should.

8.7/10. Nicely done, J. Brooks. Nicely done.

Honorable mentions for this year are Fatal Attraction (any attraction to Glen Close is fatal), Moonstruck (Cher won an Oscar, so you know it has to be good), The Untouchables (Sean Connery playing an Irish beat cop with a heavy Scottish accent, as usual), The Last Emperor (it's 3 hours long, so tread carefully, but it's also beautiful, so maybe not so careful), Wall Street (greed is not good, but Charlie Sheen in a suit is),  Adventures in Babysitting (so cute! So zany! So Elizabeth Shue!), Barfly (Mickey Rourke has looked better, but he's never performed better), Dirty Dancing (well, I don't know about you, but I certainly had the time of my life), Empire of the Sun (before Christian Bale was Batman...he was Batboy. But he was also in this movie), Full Metal Jacket (a fat Vincent D'Onofrio loses it and that makes an important statement about war and if you didn't understand that, Stanley Kubrick is smarter than you, but even if you did understand that, Stanley Kubrick is smarter than you), Hellraiser (fabulous horror concept, even better monster design-see Pinhead), Less Than Zero (Robert Downey Jr. looks great and acts badly), The Lost Boys (I can't decide if Kiefer Sutherland is kind of dirty for the whole movie or it's just the lighting, but either way, what a hottie) Making Mr. Right (super cool concept, super cute John Malkovich), The Princess Bride (it's inconceivably good), Radio Days (charming, funny, Allen), Some Kind of Wonderful (another John Hughes film that he wrote and didn't direct, so it's not as good as most, but it is still pretty good), Summer School (I was totally expecting crap, but I was pleasantly surprised), and last, but certainly not least, the legend, the enigma, and perhaps the greatest TV show in our recorded history, 21 Jump Street (it`s not a movie but Johnny Depp is so mind-meltingly gorgeous that it has to be mentioned).

Peace,
Gang. 

1986

Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Premiered June 11th, 1986.
Directed by John Hughes.
Starring Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, Alan Ruck, Jenifer Grey, Jeffrey Jones.
Music by Ira Newborn, Arthur Baker, John Robie.



     "They bought it. Incredible! One of the worst performances of my career and they never doubted it for a second. How could I possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?" This was the question that sparked a day of adventure for Ferris Bueller, Sloan Peterson, and Cameron Fry. They ate pancreas, saw priceless works of art, and brought a gaggle of parade goers to their dancing feet, all in place of writing a test on European Socialism.

     Maybe it's cliche, but this is one of my all-time favorite films ever. Ever. Like, ever. It's as close to perfect as most filmmakers can only hope to get. With a script of solid gold, performances so genuine you'd think Hughes just pulled them out of their third period classes and an endless cache of charm, It's a landmark North American film of this decade. It's a landmark North American film, even. You know what? It's a landmark film. Details aside, this is a great movie. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you make a point to do that. It is so choice.

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     John Hughes started as one of the many disposable comedy script writers in Hollywood. He did most of his work for The National Lampoon's franchise, so some of his first attempts at writing independently have some very slapstick elements (i.e. Sixteen Candles and that super racist depiction of the Chinese exchange student). This being said, there was always an element of a realistic depiction of teenagers. Samantha Baker (of Sixteen Candles) turns 16 at the beginning of the film, and Molly Ringwald really was 16 when they were filming. Good luck finding a film made recently about teens that has anyone younger than 22 in it. Part of the exceptionable relatability of a Hughes film is that, while he wrote fantastic scripts, he wasn't precious with them. He told the people he worked with that if something he'd written wasn't something that they themselves or their peers would say, they should say something different. He wanted them to truly connect with their audience, and what better way to do that than have members of said audience collaborate on the content. Another part of this is that he never talked down to the kids he was speaking to. He didn't give them something to aspire to that was way outside any realm of possibility for them. He just showed them themselves. A lot of so-called "teen" films are absolutely not relatable at all, and that's because we know when we we're being pandered to. We're not dumb. So, Hughes didn't really do anything revolutionary, he simply recognizing teenagers as people with valid feelings and experiences.

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     With this film specifically, he saw a fantasy teens everywhere experience: Not going to high school and doing something awesome instead. So Ferris convinces his parents that he's sick, and as soon as they leave, he breaks the fourth wall and starts describing his situation. The whole opening monologue is awesome (and it's located here). Not only do we get a ton of exposition about Ferris and his life and his friends, we also see him clearly setting something up in his room that goes unexplained until about half an hour later. In the first 25 minutes or so, we already have established what kind of kid Ferris is, and we love him. He's calm, collected, cool, smart, funny and adventurous. He's got an eccentric best friend and a beautiful girlfriend. He's everything we want to be. And yet, Hughes manages to make him as relatable as the kid that lives next door to you with the extreme asthma, the acne so thick he looks red all the time, and who's always asking you if you want to play doubles on his D&D team at school. So when Ferris pretends to be Abe Froman, the sausage king of Chicago, in order to steal a reservation in a swanky restaurant, it's totally believable.

"Bueller, Bueller, Bueller..."

     I've gushed about the script enough already, I think, but if you'll humor me...it's great. It's funny, it's real, it's smart. The scene where Cameron (Ruck) call's the principal Ed Rooney (Jones) impersonating Sloan's (Ferris's girlfriend, played by Mia Sara) father in order to get her excused from class is a particularly good example (and it's here). It's also a great display of Alan Ruck's exemplary performance. The scene where Cameron has his breakdown about his relationship with his tightly wound and icy cold father is one of the best examples (it's here). The way the Cameron character grows and changes throughout the film is awesome.

     In terms of cinematography, everything's pretty standard. It's good, and Hughes definitely has a directorial style, but it's a pretty straightforward one. There is this absolutely breathtaking scene that takes place in the museum in Chicago that displays how Hughes conducts a scene. The music used in that one is particularly beautiful. It's a song by The Smiths that in this instance was covered in an instrumental version by The Dream Academy. On that note (pun definitely intended), the music is something to be admired. There's a story that Anthony Micheal Hall (a favorite of Hughes) tells about how Hughes would choose the soundtracks for his films. He'd take his principal cast out to a local record store and spend hours listening to the things they recommended. Like the language used in the films, he wanted the music to be authentic and relatable, so he had members of the target generation chose the musical content. Some examples are this, this, and oh so infamously, this.
 

9.5/10. A fun ride with a hefty side of substance. Smart. Funny. Sweet. And, if that's not enough for you, there's this little slice of heaven.


Honorarily, the films worth mentioning this year are as follows: Top Gun (Tom Cruse continues to be creepy, but he's airborne this time), "Crocodile" Dundee (he's right, that is a knife), Platoon (young Johnny lookin' so fine), Children of a Lesser God (deaf people are clearly the best. In all seriousness, this is one of my favorites. I highly recommend it), Hanna and Her Sisters (Woody still being awesome), Absolute Beginners (not a good film, but Bowie, so I love it), 9 1/2 Weeks (is it creepy, or is it sexy? Even now, I don't think anyone knows), About Last Night... (Rob Lowe, surprise surprise, just being a babe), An American Tail (Spielberg can make anything great, even an animated mouse immigrant), Blue Velvet (another David Lynch film that makes no sense and yet is really good anyway), The Great Mouse Detective (my childhood in a nutshell), Labyrinth (Bowie's tight pants are legendary), Pretty in Pink (not one of Hughes' better ones, largely in part because he wrote but didn't direct, but there is this scene with Jon Cryer that's pretty fab), Vamp (actually not that bad), and Youngblood (featuring Rob Lowe in a jock strap).


Peace,
Gang.

1985

The Coca-Cola Kid.

Premiered August 29th, 1985.

Directed by Dusan Makavejev.

Starring Eric Roberts, Greta Scacchi, Bill Kerr.

Music by Neil and Tim Finn.

*NOTE: I found this whole film on YouTube, but scene clips were scarce, so when I link to a scene it'll be in the middle of this master upload. I'll site and rough end time.*

     This is the only foreign film I chose for this assignment. It was originally produced and released in Australia and features a cast almost entirely made of local talent. This one required a little more after thought and a little more focus and occasionally some rewinding and re-watching. This is, by no stretch of the imagination, an American Hollywood film. Fun fact: the Coco-Cola Corporation had no hand in any of the production or release. They are in no way affiliated with the film, but they did get a ton free advertising out of it.

     The story focuses on Becker (Roberts), an American executive from Coca-Cola sent to the Australian head office to do some market expansion and morale boosting. He's hopelessly out of place down under,and while he's mostly oblivious to this, most of the people he meets don't really know what to make of him. However, despite his best efforts of resistance, he falls in love with his scattered, spontaneous, single mother of a 6 year old secretary, Terri (Scacchi). It takes him the whole movie to realize it, but he gets it eventually. All this happens while he tries to bring his beverage to a county that's owned by T. George McDowell (Kerr), who makes his own soda and has subsequently never allowed Coke to be distributed on his land. It becomes Becker's ultimate goal to break the old McDowell's will and bring Coke to Anderson Valley, but he soon finds it won't be as easy as he originally thought.

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     This movie is like a big string of pretty run of the mill stuff with these little bits of amazing and interesting and indescribably cool sprinkled throughout. At first, I interpreted the story as disjointed and poorly constructed, but then I thought that maybe that was just the crushing realism the film employs catching me off guard. Like life, not everything is amazing or touching or perfect, and like life, sometimes it doesn't do what you're expecting. and a lot like life, it's nothing like Hollywood. I think it threw me originally because I was expecting a typical, sanitized, predictable story. I wasn't expecting to get a scene with a wallaby and an old woman in an airplane that's in there for no other reason than to build character (the scene's here and it stops at 27:00 mins. Becker is on his way to Anderson Valley for the first time). I wasn't expecting the slightly abrasive and passionately driven Becker to be so kind and affectionate to Terri's daughter when he finds her in the photocopy room of their office while her separated parents fight ferociously in the hall outside (scene is here, stops at 23:48). I certainly wasn't expecting to see a nude scene without a single hint of sexuality. It's just a mother and her daughter being naked (it's here, and stops at 50:35. It's the cutest thing). If you didn't bathe with your parents when you were little, I'd be really surprised. But you'd never see that in an American film. And, principally, it's striking because it feels so normal, and yet, nudity without the accompaniment of sexuality is a thing North American audiences never see on the silver scene. So, all these scenes, stuck in a pretty normal movie, make for something really special and really real. I decided that what I was experiencing with this film wasn't a bad reaction, it was just one I didn't recognize.

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     There's not a lot that's really technicality special about this one. There are a couple of really cool shots, and some scene concepts that are really cool, but that's about it. This scene is a good example (stops around 15:00 min. mark). The one and only sex scene is really neat. They've got this really pretty feather thing happening exampled here (stops at 1:21:18 mark). There's another one here (stops at 36:35) where Becker is being asked to leave McDowell's property. At one point he dumps the rest of his tea on his fire and this huge plume of smoke billows over the cliff and off into the wind and it looks really cool, but it also looks really natural. It doesn't feel forced or contrived. It feels like it would happen whether the film makers wanted it to or not. And that's the vibe the whole movie gives off.

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The music is a special note, as well. You may have heard of the early 80's band Split Enz that then became the late 80's/early 90's band Crowded House. Both bands were fronted by brothers Neil and Tim Finn, and they composed the music for this film, and it's awesome. You might have heard this one, or this one, or this one, or this one (which was originally recorded for this film). Tim actually appears in the film when Becker hires a band to record a jingle to air in Australia. It is maybe the best jingle I've ever heard. It's here (stops at 54:42). It's super great.


7.5/10. Not a fabulous film, but it still manages to be really compelling. A nice break from American studio work.


Honorable mentions for this year are Back to the Future (Mart McFly and Doc Brown are the dream team), Witness (Harrison Ford and the Amish are a surprisingly good combo), Out of Africa (all hail the goddess among mortals Meryl Streep. Also Sydney Pollack directed, who did Tootsie, so that's awesome), After Hours (the only Scorsese film I can stomach), The Breakfast Club (one of my all-time favorites. You all know what it's about. You all know it's good. You all know Vernon raids Barry Manilow's wardrobe), Fright Night (a surprisingly good film, and also surprisingly Chris Sarandon is a hot vampire), The Goonies (a.k.a. the stuff of legends), Legend (speaking of legends, Tim Curry makes an excellent devil...and Tom Cruise is still short and creepy), Pale Rider (squinty Clint Eastwood is squinty), Private Resort (not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but Johnny Depp is in it and he's 22 and he's so cute), The Purple Rose of Cairo (another Woody Allen masterwork), and Weird Science (I too would make Kelly LeBrock if I was designing the perfect woman).

Peace,
Gang.

1984

Amadeus.
Premiered September 19th, 1984.
Directed by Milos Forman.
Starring F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge.
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri.




     What does one say about genius, when one cannot even hazard a guess as to what it feels like to think that way? What does it smell like, or taste like. or look like? What does it sound like? Well this was the task of the endlessly talented crew that put the 1984 film Amadeus together, and with all that focus on genius so pure it looks like crazy from the outside, they picked up a little of it themselves and made one hell of a good film (if you'll allow me a slight understatement).

     Mozart (1756-1791) was a world renowned composer by the age of 8. At the time of his death, at only 35 years of age, he'd composed 626 published pieces (including 40 symphonies). He was highly celebrated in his time among fellow composers and audiences alike for his daring musical techniques and bold subject choices. He was a prevalent socialite outside of the music scene as well as in it. He was to have partied more than he did almost anything else (except work). As much as he did work however, he spent money faster

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than he could make it. He racked up debt all over Vienna, which wasn't helped by his wife. This is one thing the film portrays differently than how it's widely accepted to actually happened. In reality, Mozart's wife Constanze participated in their garish, expensive lifestyle quite enthusiastically. The film tells of her resistance and discontent with the way Mozart conducts himself. That alteration makes for a more dynamic story, so I can see why they did it. He had six children, rearing only two survivors. He died at home at 1;00 am on December 5th of still unknown causes, penniless, and was buried in a common grave. The location of his remains are unknown, but the legacy of his brilliance is everlasting.    

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     Loaded with talent fresh off the English stage, the film was bound to at least be classy. It was adapted from a stage play by Peter Shaffer, and while the film doesn't necessarily feel like a play adaptation (it was remolded to it's new media quite well), it makes sense that the cast would be packed with stage players. This only works to film's advantage. Among them is Tom Hulce (Mozart), who, at that time, was a relative newcomer to the screen, with only one or two other semi-major roles under his belt. His performance in this film is masterful. I'd say he hit the sound stage running. On that note, I'd like to point out that most if not all of the films sets were active locations, as in places that Mozart might have actually been. A lot of it was shot in Vienna or manor homes and historical sites in the surrounding areas. The film is cut together like a dream. When you have music so structural and finely tuned to edit to, there's no other option than to keep the standard. Here is one of the most beautiful scenes, and the editing is killer. It's also an incredible example of Abraham's amazing performance.

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     The music, while very familiar, is utilized perfectly. The selection of pieces, including the
placement of said pieces, is excellent (this a particularly good one - my favorite of his operatic compositions. This is how it appears in the film. For some context, Mozart's wife has just left him). With a body of work as expansive and damn near perfect as this one, those choices can't have been easy ones to make. The cinematography leaves nothing to be desired. The frames are rich, wide and fluid. Even close-ups feel larger than life. The construction of the story includes Salieri (Abraham) narrating his past with Mozart to a priest that visits him as an old man in a mental hospital. In these scenes, we get a lot of his face, close-cropped and expressive, describing the greatest competitor and the greatest genius that had ever crossed his path.These shots are beautiful. The sets to are lush and complex, depicting the time and reflecting the principal character all in one tidy package. The colors deserve particular notoriety. They change to set the mood along with the lighting. The stage scenes are bright, glowing almost, while Mozart at home and Salieri in present day are depicted in a dark, flickering single sourced light (exampled here). The costumes, in that vein, are out of this world. They are immense and refined and historically accurate and just spectacular.  

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     This film was, deservedly, nominated for 11 Oscars, winning 8. Among them, it won best picture, best director for Forman, and best actor for Abraham. It made a resounding impression on the art world of film as well as the public consumers. It is today hailed as one of the best films of the 20th century. And to think, the studios of the time didn't want to finance the film, thinking it wasn't going to appeal to the masses. Boy were they wrong. By it's 8th weekend in theaters, it was ranked #6 in the top box office earners in it's season. Not only did it appeal, they loved it. It was a landmark. One could make the case that it's cultural impact was greater than it's artistic one. The only problem I have with it is that it's 3 hours long and I have a short attention span, but that's as much my fault as it it is the film's.


9/10. Majestic. Voluptuous. Watching this movie is like eating a 4 course meal at your Italian grandmother's house.


Those to be honorably mentioned this year are as follows: Beverly Hills Cop (Eddie Murphy not being annoying as hell and instead being actually funny), Footloose (Kenny Loggins and Kevin Bacon team up to make dancing legal again), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (no words. I have no words for this one), Broadway Danny Rose (Woody in his truest and most hilarious form), Dune (David Lynch what? I swear you don't even understand what you're doing most of time), The Flamingo Kid (just Romeo & Juliet with Matt Dillon and bathing suits), A Nightmare on Elm Street (Johnny Depp gets eaten by a bed and dies his way right into our hearts *sighs because Johnny Depp*), Oxford Blues (honestly, it's bad, but it's Rob Lowe in a rowing movie set in England, and Rob Lowe in anything has to be good. I'm pretty sure that's science), Purple Rain (Does it really count? Yes. Is it amazing? Yes. Will you ever look at purple the same way again? No.), Sixteen Candles (the only John Hughes film with a Bowie song in it, so for all it's potential shortcomings, it's perfect), and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (I know you're raising your eyebrows up there, but it's really not bad). I'm not saying this was a good year, but it's a year I certainly enjoy.


Peace,
Gang.

1983

Zelig.
Premiered July 15th, 1983.
Directed Woody Allen.
Staring Woody Allen, Mia Farrow.
Music by Dick Hyman.


Before I start, I recommend you open this link and listen to this while you read the review below.

   
     You can't do a marathon of 80's movie reviews without mentioning at the very least one Woody Allen film. He's one of the most prolific filmmakers ever, and his hay day was in the late 70's/early 80's. I'll address the elephant in the blog right now. I believe that what Allen does in his personal life is a) none of my business and b) has no bearing on the art he produces. If we rejected the art work of people who did immoral things, we'd lose so much great work. The subject matter he depicts in his films has nothing to do with what he's been accused of outside of them, so I don't see a problem in enjoying the work he does. Any way, here's what I got from one of his lesser known but equally brilliant films, Zelig.

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     Everyone's a little insecure. Everyone. Some people are more so than others, but some are so concerned with their insecurities and being accepted by their peers, that in order to blend perfectly, they become whoever surrounds them. This the plight of Leonard Zelig (Allen), the human chameleon of the 20's and 30's. When he's introduced to a new group of people, he takes on their thoughts, feelings, accents and even appearance in order to be liked. This film follows his relationship with  Dr. Eudora Fletcher (Farrow). She's a psychologist who's fascinated by Zelig's condition, in who's company Leonard assumes the characteristics of a less educated but still convincing psychologist (exampled in this scene). She ends up becoming an activist for his care, taking him on as a patient at her home when his position at the hospital is threatened. During the course of treatment (with the end goal of discovering who Leonard Zelig actually is and breaking his chronic adaptations), they fall in love. The film ends in a wedding. That's all I'll give you plot wise.

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     It's important to mention that the film is a mocumentary. It's a fake documentary. It uses actual film and photos from the time as well as new and altered materials. All the new content, however, was recorded on authentic cameras and microphones from the time in which the film is set in order to match the film qualities between new and old material. Woody used a different D.O.P. (director of photography or, more commonly, cinematographer) than he usually does, and that's most likely due to the unique photographic requirements of the film. The technical focus was to match the new footage to the old stuff and to have someone who understood the old technology, hence the change for his usual D.O.P. Sven Nykvist. The stylistic effect is very convincing, so, good call, Woody. This scene here is a good example. Almost all of the footage in this bit is new. There are only a few vintage shots. You can hardly tell the difference (other than the fact that you know Woody Allen and Mia Farrow were not alive in the 20's). Fun fact: the film contains about 7 or 8 seconds of the F. Scott Fitzgerald writing on a wooded backdrop. It's the only footage of him ever taken.   

     Woody Allen and the 1920's/30's were made for each other. He outlined the relationship a lot of us have with the past perfectly in his 2011 film Midnight in Paris. Everyone wants what they can't have. We often even want time that has passed and that we never experienced. Look at the 50's revival that happened in the 80's. Or the 80's revival that's happening right now. I have a theory that everything works in 30 year cycles (but that is a theory too long to explain at this time. Seriously, it's really long and windy. It's my own theory, and I stand by it, but I don't even like the way I explain it). Anyway, Woody has this long standing love affair with the time setting of this film, so it's only fitting that this is where he puts his story. A lot of the music in the film is original composition, and of course, you'd be hard pressed to identify that it wasn't recorded in the 30's. In this clip, you see that they make a really convincing case that Leonard Zelig was an actual cultural phenomenon.

     Of course, the film is funny. My god, the film is funny. It has the same brand of wildly intelligent and also ridiculously out-of-left-field humour that Allen employs so masterfully. The whole story concept is funny, but it's loaded with little throwaways that would dash right past you if weren't paying attention. There's a scene where they describe Leonard's reaction to a certain kind of treatment. He's so traumatized that he won't speak, and for days, he won't come down from off the wall (cut to a shot of Zelig standing horizontally on the wall, refusing to come down). Throughout the course of the film, you get gems like the following: The Narrator describes Zelig's public reception racially; "The Ku Klux Klan, who saw Zelig as a Jew, who could turn into a Negro and an Indian, saw him as a triple threat." The Narrator also has this to say about Leonard's life growing up; "As a boy, Leonard is frequently bullied by anti-Semites. His parents, who never take his part and blame him for everything, side with the anti-Semites." The whole quote that this is embedded in is here.

     The film, in my opinion, ultimately makes a really smart and important statement about the lengths a person will go to in order to hide who they are for fear of rejection. I was also toying with the idea that there could be a statement about the lives of Jews in Allen's experience. It's never been popular to be Jewish, and maybe he himself felt that at some point in his life that that was an important thing to cover up. Leonard is able to come out of shell and be himself by the end of the film, and that finally allows him to be happy, which suggests the message includes the notion that you've got to be happy with yourself before you can be truly happy with anyone else.


7.8/10. A veritable laugh riot with some seriously impressive technical techniques used in the most effective ways possible.


     Films to mention honorably this year are Local Hero (very"stranger in a strange land" charming, very Scottish), Flashdance (she is a maniac on the dance floor),  The Hunger (every Bowie is a sexy Bowie, but vampire Bowie? Come on. That's just too good), Valley Girl (featuring a young and, defying all logic, beautiful Nicolas Cage), Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (a still sexy Bowie, just in Japan in the 40's this time), and I can't stress enough how important this film is, The Big Chill (a perfect cast featuring Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Glenn Close, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, and an as of yet unknown Kevin Costner as a corpse , a script that's funny, sad and sophisticated all in one fowl swoop, and a house that is out of this world beautiful. What more could you honestly want?). And that is only a few among so many others. 83' was a very good year, as far as I'm concerned.


Peace,
Gang.