osolis Reviews

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)

Plays too fast and loose

[2/10 · 13 January 2012]

I can understand why western fans might like this film. I love westerns, but this one doesn't work for me. It's so full of posturing and attitude that I just roll my eyes. Someone forgot to mention that Billy was 21 when he died. Most twenty one year old men don't look like they're in their thirties (which Kristofferson was). He was also slightly built and tended not to drink. He also didn't tend to wear a cowboy hat, his favorite hat being a sombrero (this is what Pat Garrett noted). Most importantly, many recent biographies note that the Kid wasn't a killer with a grin. Of the four main killings attributed to him, two were in self defense, another was the result of a bullet ricocheting off the wall during his final escape. Only the killing of the deputy with the shotgun (during that same escape) was intentional (it should be noted that very same deputy had been pretty mean to The Kid). He may also have killed five more men as a result of shootouts between The Regulators (of which he was one) and The House, during the Lincoln County War. Also, Pat Garrett wasn't some guy who tumbled into bed with three hookers. He didn't saunter off at the end like it's "mission accomplished". In real life, after shooting Billy the Kid, he and his two deputies spent the night in the house of Pete Maxwell, frightened that the townspeople, many of whom were The Kid's friends and genuinely loved him, would try to kill them. It should be noted that in the film they're good buddies where as in real life, according to historians, Pat and Henry McCarty weren't generally seen to be friends, just acquaintances.

This movie reminds me of Bonnie and Clyde with the way it plays so fast and loose with many of the facts that the characters are Bonnie and Clyde in name only. The difference, tho, is that Bonnie and Clyde is a genuinely good film. Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid could have been a great film, but it just isn't. It's a typical western that wastes a legendary time in history.

Tale of a Vampire (1992)

It's lonely undead life out there...

[8/10 · 19 September 2008]

I enjoyed this film. It has a dreamy quality to it and has an element of mystery. The design is nicely evocative and the pacing is almost languid. If this is the intention then bravo, because it perfectly captures what Alex, the titular vampire, must feel through the century plus of his undead life. Night after night of ceaseless existence which must be filled with stimulation and not just the stimulus of hunting humans. It captures the loneliness that such a creature, still endowed with all the normal feelings that he once knew in his human life, must endure. In fact, it captures this better than "Interview With A Vampire" does.

If you seek a bloodbath, look elsewhere. This is a vampire film about longing and despair and well worth a viewing.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

A heartbreaking study of hero worship and it's consequences

[10/10 · 31 May 2008]

It's been a long time since a film brought tears to my eyes, not just for the emotional finish (which it has), but rather for the sheer joy of watching a true work of art. From the first frame to the last, I was spellbound by the sheer beauty of this study of two men, one a sociopath outlaw, the other a naive young man who worships him.

Under the sure hand of director Andrew Dominck, the film takes it's time to tell it's story and this may be a problem for those who like fast cuts (I'd be surprised if the release on DVD contains more that a thousand shots). It is best to just surrender yourself to the film and be taken into it's beautifully photographed world.

The music is haunting and deserved a nomination and if awards were handed out for voice overs and narration this would be the winner.

The acting is top notch, with Brad Pitt as Jesse James notching a career high, in a performance that is both poetic and frighteningly cold. But it's Casey Affleck to whom the film belongs to. He may have been a best supporting actor in the eyes of the Academy Awards but it's really a best actor performance. Where other films have gotten it wrong in the depiction of Robert Ford is that they have made him a cartoon, while here we have a human being with all the failings and yearnings of someone who gets what he wants only to have it all fall apart. It is for this reason that the ending is, without giving anything away, emotionally wrenching.

In years to come it is this very film that will stand out as the best film released in 2007. I look forward to the day it will be given the Criterion treatment on DVD.

The Dragon Painter (1919)

Deserves to be seen

[4 April 2008]

I had never heard of The Dragon Painter and decided to watch it. I'm glad I did. It is a beautiful film, almost devoid of the clichés of silent-era acting (broad mannerisms, excessive mugging, etc) that make many silent films so comical to audiences today.

The lead actor is Sessue Hayakawa, who many film fans may remember as the Pirate Captain in the Disney version of Swiss Family Robinson or from Bridge on the River Kwai. Here he delivers a great performance as a "mad" artist that is at times comical and tragic.

The cinematography and art direction are wonderful, as is the soundtrack.

If I have one complaint it is that the inter-titles play too long on the screen. But this is a minor quibble.

A simple tale of madness, loss, redemption and ultimately love, I can't recommend this film highly enough.

The Wild Blue Yonder (2005)

A film to be experienced

[9/10 · 13 May 2007]

I like this film. The use of footage from various sources takes a bit of getting used to but once I got into the groove of the thing I began to enjoy the film as something to be experienced. It is very much it's own thing. In the wrong hands all this found footage could have easily become part of an ed wood nightmare, but Herzog is a master filmmaker who is able to mold it into a thoughtful and provocative exercise that becomes poetic.

Brad Dourif is compelling as the Alien. His performance comes to the edge of mania at times but there is always frustration and desperation in his voice. There is the sadness of a man who is trapped in an ultimately futile existence.

The last sequence is haunting, sad but uplifting.

For those who have not yet seen this film but want to, yet aren't sure whether to get it based on the negative reviews I would suggest that they go the special features first and view the interview with Herzog and listen to what he was attempting to do. It'll help them ease into the experience. And ultimately this is what The Wild Blue Yonder is: an experience.

Ancient Evil 2: Guardian of the Underworld (2005 Video)

Rent to see how not to make a horror film

[13 May 2006]

Goth chick calls up Anubis. Deaths follow.

I had read an article on the making of the movie and was curious to see the end result so I rented it. Beneath a pretty cool DVD cover lies this movie and it's, unfortunately, not very good. While I can give props to the monster make up and some of the shots of the moon, the rest of it is uniformly amateurish. Everything from the acting to the writing, camera-work and directing is atrocious. Whole sections of dialog are delivered by characters who should be running for their lives instead of standing, yes standing, and arguing for long minutes at a time. My guess is that a running time had to be filled, but more likely it's because characters have to say things in situations like this, no matter how obvious or inane.

The weird thing, though, is that as I was watching the over the top acting (Goth chick I'm talking to you especially), I couldn't help but think this would've worked had the director just thought out of the box a bit and conceived the whole thing as a silent film. Yes, a silent film. Of course distribution would have been a problem, but at least it may have worked as a film.

Unless your a film student there is no reason to rent this.

But if you are a future filmmaker then rent it with an eye on how not to make a horror film. Scorcese once said something to the effect of watching bad movies in order to learn how to make good ones. This would be one of them.

Days of Heaven (1978)

One the most beautifully made films of all time

[25 February 2006]

It took me 28 years to see this film and it was well worth the wait. Days of Heaven is one of the most beautifully made films of all time, a tragic story of a get rich quick scheme gone wrong. One of the greatest filmmakers ever and one of the few truly talented visualizers, Terrence Malick creates a world that seems to exist in a dream like state. Audiences used to long pointless dialog may find this film disconcerting. Whole sequences are conveyed without words or with sparse narration (I would go so far as to say it has the best voice-over of all time).

While the film is justly famous for it's magic hour hour scenes I would like to point out that it also has the best shots of winter I've ever seen. You can feel the cold.

As others have stated this is a film that needs the Criterion treatment. One day it's importance as an American film will be given the attention it so rightly deserves.

I wish I was a better writer so that I could truly convey the power of this film. I guess if I had to take two movies with me on a desert island this would be one of them (the other would be Blade Runner).

The Call of Cthulhu (2005)

A Wonderfully Weird Experience

[7 November 2005]

This movie could only have have been made without a major studio behind it. Afterall, what studio would have allowed a film to be made that was SILENT (with inter-titles, no less), Black and White, and feature obvious miniatures, complete with a stop-motion monster (er, god).

Not one and for that we have to be thankful. This is a fun, weird, ride that in the hands of any of the big studios would have been turned into a slick, soulless, non-faithful "adaptation" featuring a bunch of currently "hot" TV stars with a Paris Hilton tossed in for good measure.

Instead, this is a project that was done with obvious love and respect, not only for it's source material, but also for trying to recreate a movie style that doesn't exist anymore.

The acting is pretty damn good and the movie succeeds in creating an atmosphere of dread thanks to the photography, editing and directing as well as a wonderful score. This is in great part to the fact that the filmmakers refused to camp it up. This is not to say that it doesn't have some shortcomings, it does. Some of the composites are weak and a fight scene doesn't have the kick it needs to really sell it and another reviewer has mentioned the need for real water, but these are truly minor when measured against the whole.

The DVD has a making of documentary which consists of mostly talking heads, but, luckily, it's funny and breezy and a tribute to the ingenuity of the filmmakers who come off as modest and fun but dedicated to their dream. I actually wish it had been longer, but beyond that, I would recommend that beginning filmmakers check it out.

I recommend this movie. Get the DVD, heed the call.

The Saddest Music in the World (2003)

Like a Dream

[29 November 2004]

This is a review of the DVD.

First off, Guy Maddin's films are an acquired taste. Second, it helps to be a film fan and to have a knowledge and love of early cinema to truly appreciate them. Third, you must be willing to give yourself over totally to his particular vision. Don't even try to fight it. Do all this and get ready to enjoy.

"The Saddest Music in the World " is a wonderful amalgam of comedy, drama,

tragedy and farce. It's got a cast of characters that are familiar and yet strange at the same time. Just when you think it's heading in one direction, it yanks you in another. It has an internal logic just like a dream.

The photography, art direction and sound design add to the uniqueness of the

experience. The film feels like an artifact, a lost film that was hidden away by a studio in the '30s because it was too wild and broke too many rules. In fact, it's film-making that defies the system.

The DVD contains a making of featurette that is enjoyable to watch. There are also 3 short films. Only Maddin could make a film with the title "Sissy Boy Slap Party" and make it funny.

Please take a chance and rent/buy this film. It's not the typical Hollywood

product (although it mines Hollywood's past) and for that we should be glad.

I also have to recommend another film by Guy Maddin- "Dracula: Pages from a

Virgin's Diary", a silent film ballet. I got it sight unseen and love it. The director's commentary was worth the price alone.

I'm a Guy Maddin fan. I have developed an addiction for his work. Thank God!