Category: Film Noir

Review: STONE

A popular film genre(or sub-genre) over the years is the steamy, southern gothic drama encompassing everything from THE LONG,HOT, SUMMER to BODY HEAT. STONE is the genre’s newest entry which boasts several actors with impressive resumes.

The film opens on a steaming summer’s day (complete with insect noises on the soundtrack) as a young woman confronts a young man intent on watching a televised golf match.This is intercut with footage of a bee trying to get in thru their little girl’s upstairs bedroom. When the woman threatens to leave, the man storms upstairs to the bedroom and dangles the little girl out of the second story window. “You go and I’ll drop her!” he yells. The woman consents to stay and he bring the girl back inside. The woman slams the window shut on the bee(symbolic?). Quick cut to an older couple sitting in church.It appears that the young couple is now Robert DeNiro(as Jack Mabry) and Frances Conroy(as Jack’s wife Madylyn). We soon learn that Jack works with the parole board at the local prison and is counting the days till his retirement. He endures the monotony of his job(and home life) until he’s jolted awake by one inmate, Gerald “Stone” Creeson(Ed Norton). He’s confrontational while still trying to convince Jack to help shorten his sentence for arson. For good measure “Stone” tells his wife Lucetta(Milla Jovovich) to get friendly with Jack. Soon Jack’s spending his evenings with her while “Stone” undergoes a spirtual awakening thanks to a pamphlet and an attack on a fellow con.

Director John Curran(THE PAINTED VEIL, WE DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE) can’t seem to bring any life to the script from Angus Maclaclan(JUNEBUG). The film’s pace makes it seem like a never-ending humid July day. The actors are doing what they can, but they can’t rescue the film from being overwrought and pretentious. Norton seems to be re-working his thuggish, marble-mouthed character from AMERICAN X with tight cornrows instead of a skinhead. It’s good to see DeNiro out of the soft family comedies and back into a drama, but he’s got little to do besides going from a frustrated meek man to explosive anger.The sex scenes between him and Jovovich(complete with body double insert shots) are truly embarrassing. Speaking of embarrassing, the casting of Jovovich as the unhinged, female fatale opposite Deniro is ,at best, clumsy. I’m sure she’s been very good in the RESIDENT EVIL film series, but she just doesn’t have the chops to pull off a role that Kathleen Turner could’ve played in her sleep circa 1984. Frances Conroy has very little to do as the long-suffering, miserable wife. The director borrows a page from THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE by having snippets of religious talk radio playing throughout the soundtrack, but nothing can liven this up. I like the two main leads, but if you want to see an entertaining film with DeNiro and Norton, you’d be better of getting a copy of THE SCORE.

Overall Rating: 2 and 1/2 out of 5 stars

MYSTERIA Shooting Wraps

 

The new movie MYSTERIA, starring Robert Miano (Giallo), Danny Glover (Saw, 2012), Billy Zane (Titanic), Martin Landau (Ed Wood), Meadow Williams (Apollo 13) and Michael Rooker (Jumper) has just finished shooting. This mystery movie should be interesting given that Landau and Glover are in it. MYSTERIA will be released in 2011.

Synopsis:

As a screenwriter, ALEISTER’S best days are behind him. But as a drunk, he appears to have a glorious future. He’s behind on his rent, he’s spent up an entire studio advance, mostly on booze, and he can’t come up with the inspiration for his latest assignment.

Then one day LAVINIA calls him. She’s a film student at UCLA, and she would be so honored to meet him. Sure, he says, and they set something up. Aleister finds himself embarrassed, unable to pay the bill, so Lavinia covers. They hit it off…mildly, and decide to meet the next day. If nothing else, Lavinia helps Aleister’s ego, with her steady stream of compliments. He returns home to find that the landlord’s changed the locks. Nothing else to do, he trudges to his favorite bar, where he’s built up quite a tab.

The bar is empty, the liquor put away for the night – except for a bottle of scotch, which seems to be waiting for him at a corner table. He has a seat, takes a drink, and gets good and drunk. That’s when she appears, the Fairy Woman. She’s beautiful, Aleister stares in awe. She promises him everything’s going to be okay. She’ll pay his rent. She’ll inspire him to finish his script.

He wakes up, the Fairy Woman’s gone. The bartender chases him out, and Aleister returns home. His landlord informs him that rent’s been paid. Lavinia shows up for their meeting just as the cops arrive. The daughter of a prominent senator has been murdered, and Aleister was the last person to talk to her.

Aleister finds himself pulled into the investigation, and soon he’s the number one suspect. On the bright side, it cures his writers block. He pounds away at the script, includes everything that’s happened to him in the last few days, and other new details. Details that, strangely, begin to come true, like a scene where Senator Mitchell offers Aleister money in exchange for the script. Aleister can’t give up the script, it’s the only leverage he has in the case against him. And as the cops put the heat on him, Aleister must come up with an ending to the script, or risk being locked away forever.

MYSTERIA is an original take on classic noir, with a hero thrust into a situation full of murder and political intrigue, who must use the only skills he has to find his way out.

You can follow the film here on Twitter and Facebook.

S.L.I.F.F. Review: ‘Mosquito Kingdom’

Jeremy:

I remember back in the mid to late ’90s after ‘Pulp Fiction’ came out.   There were countless amounts of knockoffs, films that wanted to infuse that same sense of cool that came from the combination of sharp-witted dialogue with over-the-top violence.   Most of the people behind these films wanted just a taste of the success that Tarantino found with his earlier films.   Most of them dropped the ball completely.   So, now, 17 years after ‘Reservoir Dogs’, 14 years after ‘Pulp Fiction’, and a number of years since the wave that followed those two films seemed to dissipate, it’s kind of mind-numbing to watch a film that still tries to capture that same style.

‘Mosquito Kingdom’ is a film directed by local, St. Louis filmmakers who shot the film throughout the St. Louis area and an island in the Florida Keys. The story follows a group of criminals who are sent to a desolate island when they become too much trouble for their crime boss to handle. This is intercut with flashback scenes of one character in particular, Ash, played by Chad Bockholdt, and how he came to be on the island.

It’s an interesting idea, one that the directors, Derek Elz and Brad Hodge, and the writer, Jed Ayres, may possibly revisit someday with a bigger budget.   ‘Mosquito Kingdom’ was shot guerrilla-style, on digital cameras and with a budget of not even $100,000.   However, the film, shot primarily in black and white, looks amazing.   Elz served as cinematographer on the film, as well, and he gives the film a milieu that compares to the best of film noir.   The blacks within the shots are stark black, and the white are rather dirty looking.   Elz’s visual style, filled with shadowy faces and smoke-filled rooms, gives certain locations found throughout St. Louis a Gothic feel.

Unfortunately, this is where the pros found in ‘Mosquito Kingdom’ abruptly end.   Just about everything else involved with the making of this film comes off as amateurish and cheap.   That’s not something that comes from the budget, though.   Several decent films were made for $100,000 or less, but this film wears its tawdriness like a leisure suit.   At times, it’s almost as if it is flaunting the fact that is has such a low budget.

The biggest agitation in the film comes from the acting.   The actors and actresses involved may not be bad at their craft.   The guerrilla style of the making of the film, with the script being rewritten time and time again to adapt, seemingly took its toll on the actors while filming in Florida.   The actors involved seem distracted by the production, and this comes across on camera.   Bockholdt holds his own in the film’s leading role.   Jaxon Stanford as Woodrell, the crime boss, is decent enough.   Everyone else just seems to be doing this as a favor to a friend.   There’s no real passion to be found on any of the actors’ faces.

For the most part, Elz’s camera work is stunning.   However, the film is sporadically told through split-screens that add nothing but unwanted distraction.   Other times the shots go to inverted colors or sepia tones, and that, too, is very distracting.   It’s unfortunate that Elz couldn’t stick with what worked for him.   When the film cuts into these different styles, it comes off like a college student showing off his newly installed video editing software.   This stuff was “cutting edge” eight years ago on Avid.

The story jumps back and forth in its timeline frequently, and it adds nothing to the plot.   It would have worked just fine, better, in fact, to have been told completely linear.   It’s yet another instance where the filmmakers tried to emulate something Tarantino did nearly 20 years ago and for no other reason than to prove how big of Tarantino fans they are.   Don’t even get me started on the torture scene that is played to the tune of an upbeat, pop song.   Sound familiar?   That kind of imitation is just blatant and unwarranted.

You have to give credit to anyone who sets out to make a film and succeeds.   By whatever means possible, it is an accomplishment for any filmmaker to get his or her film completed.   ‘Mosquito Kingdom’ is an example of guerrilla-style filmmaking that would have greatly benefited from a bigger budget.   That would have helped the acting, and it probably would have helped the direction problems.   However, the budget has nothing to do with the script issues the film has.   Totally excising the nonlinear form and taking out any unashamed rip-offs of other films, particularly those by Tarantino, would have left us with a decently crafted and interesting screenplay.   As it is, ‘Mosquito Kingdom’ only works as an exercise in black and white filmmaking, the only thing this film does right.

[Overall: 2 stars out of 5]

Festival Screening Date: Sunday, November 23 @ 5:45 pm(Tivoli)

S.L.I.F.F. Review: ‘Yesterday Was a Lie’

Travis:

There’s just something about a movie that’s so different and mysteriously odd that I just can’t refuse. ‘Yesterday Was a Lie’ is St. Louis native James Kerwin’s third film, and like his previous two, you better go see this during the festival because you ain’t gonna find it on DVD. In short, this film is like David Lynch’s Lost Highway meets X-Files paranormal psychology, shot as a film noir with some science-fiction added for flavor. Sound mind-boggling? Well, not really, but it will keep you thinking.

Hoyle (Kipleigh Brown) is a female detective who finds herself obsessively trying to track down a mysterious genius (John Newton) who she believes holds the answers to her questions. When she’s not tipping the whiskey, she struggles with a sense that something is not right in the universe. Enduring feelings of deja vu and disorientated moments of non-linear time, Hoyle slowly pieces together the truth of reality and the power to manipulate what we traditionally perceive as real time. Hoyle is guided through these revelations by a lounge singer, played by Chase Masterson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine).

Characters in the film are reminiscent of of a style similar to David Lynch… odd, lurking and mysterious. I noticed throughout the film a certain sense of sarcasm, subtly poking at itself. The mood is dark and gritty but melodramatic at the same time. ‘Yesterday Was a Lie’ plays on the entire basket of film noir cliche’s, but does it effectively. On several occasions, I caught faint hints of a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. You really have to be “in the zone” to catch ’em though, because they’re down-played so much. For example, early in the film Hoyle and her partner (Mik Scriba) are entering a suspicious hallway filled with doors. Hoyle asks a man in the background which door to choose and he replies “the green one.” Hoyle gives her partner a subtle look and he replies with a descriptive direction. Of course she can’t determine which door is green when her world is in black and white! It’s moments like these that offer the film buffs in the crowd a tiny little moment of comic relief… a sort of inside joke, if you will.

The cinematography is shot in black and white, but has been done so with the lighting in mind. There’s nothing worse than when someone makes a film they call a film noir, simply because its in black and white. True film noir must include the heavily contrasted, beautifully strategic lighting that becomes its own character. ‘Yesterday Was a Lie’ does this very well, despite the technological setbacks of the digital medium. Kerwin also does a remarkable job with the score, which truly stands out in creating the mood of the individual scenes. The film isn’t perfect, but it certainly isn’t boring. Keep you’re head in the game on this one and stick it out and I promise you won’t regret it.

[Overall: 3.75 stars out of 5]

Festival Screening Date: Saturday, November 22 @ 9:30pm (Webster U.)

S.L.I.F.F. Review: ‘The Empire State Building Murders’

Jeremy:

After watching William Karel’s film ‘The Empire State Building Murders’, you may just be asking yourself, “Where have all the great film noirs gone?” Â  Well, Karel answers that question pointedly. Â  They haven’t gone anywhere. Â  They are still there in all their black and white glory.

Karel’s film tells the story of the corruption that infested New York City in the 1930s and ’40s. Â  It tells of the criminals and innocents alike who came together in a wave of violence during that period. Â  It tells of the bad people of that time and the horrors they inflicted on the world and of the good people and how their hands were tied to stop it.

But, it’s not Karel’s story, along with co-writer, Jerome Charyn, that is so intriguing about ‘The Empire State Building Murders’. Â  It’s the way the director decided to tell his story that makes this better than the average film noir. Â  Being an avid fan of the cinema and the art of filmmaking, Karel decided that his story had already been told in the vastness of the great, age-old film noirs of yesterday.

In a nutshell, Karel took dozens of films, films that are among the greatest, and cut them up. Â  Clips using such notable actors as James Cagney, Kirk Douglas, Humphrey Bogart, Glenn Ford, and Lauren Bacall are used to tell Karel’s story. Â  He pieced together his own film by running clips from these other films next to one another, gluing his narrative together via voiceover narration.

Also  moving his own narrative along are the countless number of interviews he conducted with the actors that appear in these clips, actors such as Douglas, Ben Gazzara, and Mickey Rooney.

The film moves at a breakneck pace with clips shooting by left and right. Â  At times, it is easy to get lost within the mire of characters and events. Â  The who, what, when, and why of what is going on can often become bewildering, but, like any good film noir, Karel’s use of voiceover narration helps unravel much of the mystery.

Nonetheless, it is kind of jarring to see iconic clips used from very familiar films. Â  It takes you out of the film a time or two when you recognize what film Karel has lifted a particular clip from. Â  Luckily, the clips don’t stick around too long, and, before you know it, you’re on to the next clip.

It goes the same for the actors we see in those clips. Â  Bogart and Ford, in particular, are used for characters who are not in the story very long. Â  Since we don’t really have much devoted to these characters, it becomes a matter of playing the “Hey, it’s that guy” game whenever they pop up.

All of this aside, Karel has put together a very engaging film that utilizes an equally interesting and innovative form of filmmaking. Â  The story may not be so imaginative, and the way the film unfolds could probably have been handled a little more carefully, but ‘The Empire State Building Murders’ absolutely gets an A for effort. [Overall: 3.5 stars out of 5]

Festival Screening Date: Saturday, November 22nd @ 4 p.m. (Webster)

Mike Nichols to remake Kurosawa’s ‘High and Low’

I think most people who read this site regularly are aware of my distaste for most remakes, but no one is perfect. There is an occasional remake project that surfaces that actually makes me sit up in my seat and say… “really?!?” It’s a strange, sometimes uncomfortable sensation of being both repulsed and excited at the same time. This recent news about a remake of Akira Kurosawa’a ‘High and Low’Â  is a great example.

Director Mike Nichols (‘Charlie Wilsons War’) is attached to direct a remake of Kurosawa’s ‘Tengoku to jikogu’,  known as ‘High and Low’  in the US, which is written by David Mamet (‘House of Games’) and will be produced by Scott Rudin (‘There Will Be Blood’). What’s even more fascinating than this powerhouse writer/director/producer combination is that Martin Scorsese had the idea to put this together and there’s a very good chance he will be executive producing the project.

The late-great Japanese cinematic master Akira Kurosawa went through a phase of making some great, gritty crime dramas that are technically film noir, but also maintain their own sort of appeal.   ‘High and Low’, based on Ed McBain’s novel  King’s Ransom,  is one of these films. Kurosawa’s 1963 film stars Toshiro Mifune as Kingo Gondo,  a businessman whose life and business  are destroyed after he pays a ransom demand to kidnappers who took his driver’s son. Gondo had just placed his entire life’s assets into an effort to gain control of his biggest competitor, but that same amount of wealth is needed to save the life of a young boy. Gondo must weigh the value of his success against the value of the boy’s life and determine which is the honorable path to follow.

[source: Variety.com]

Classic Revival: ‘The Third Man’ (1949)

. The Third Man is a classic film noir that boasts excellence in several areas. The film was directed by Academy Award-winner Carol Reed and was written by acclaimed author Graham Greene, who wrote this story as a novella before he adapted it into a screenplay. The film stars Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Orsen Welles. The film won the 1949 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, the British Academy Award for Best Film and an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. In 1998, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked The Third Man 57th on their “100 Years… 100 Movies” list of films. The story follows Holly Martin (Cotten), an American author of low-brow pulp western novels, who arrives in post-war Vienna, Austria to meet with a friend who has offered him a job. His friend’s name is Harry Lime, but as soon as he arrives at Lime’s residence he learns that Lime has just recently died of an apparent accidental death. It doesn’t take long for Holly to become suspicious as he begins asking questions, because he keeps getting conflicting stories about how many people were at the scene of the accident.
Thus begins Holly’s search for the elusive “third man” who was present at the scene. During his search, Holly develops an intimate friendship with Anna (Valli), Lime’s lover. No one believes Holly at first, advising him to let it go and return home to America, but he persists. Eventually, Holly presses the international police to fill him in on the details of his friends’ seedy underworld life in Austria and Holly finally decides to forget the whole thing … until he sees Lime (Welles) hiding and watching him in the shadows. Now the search is on, with the help of the police, to capture the criminal who faked his own death. Unlike many classics from this era, The Third Man doesn’t suffer from dated dialogue or acting, but actually remains a great film with great performances. However, the most satisfying performance is that of the cinematographer and his camera in collaboration with the director. This is one of the most amazing black and white movies of all time for cinematography, creating the perfect atmosphere for this tale of dark deception and tense, dangerously mysterious environment of post-war Austria. While Orsen Welles is great in this movie, he actually doesn’t even appear on screen until late in the film. I imagine the film’s abundant marketing of Welles as the film’s star was purely to bank on his name. In reality, Cotten is the film’s star. I highly recommend this film to anyone interested in catching up on the classics. The Third Man is available on DVD as part of the Criterion Collection.

Classic Revival: ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’ (1938)

Angels With Dirty Faces ends up being a tale of redemption through the sacrifice of one’s selfish ego to benefit a greater good. While the execution of this moral conclusion may seem dated by today’s standards, the story leading up to the ending is still very much enjoyable. Director Michael Curtiz made this film with a trio of fine actors, still not fully appreciated in their craft. James Cagney plays Rocky Sullivan, a kid who gets a bad break and spends a chunk of his young years living the life of a penned-up criminal. His friend Jerry, played by Pat O’Brien, managed to skirt the cops after the two fled from the authorities. Rocky slipped up and was caught, getting himself tossed in and out of the slammer.

Years pass, and Rocky finally gets his discharge from prison and pays a visit to his old pal Jerry, who’s taken a different path as a man of the cloth. Jerry has high hopes for Rocky, believing at first that Rocky is a changed man. Meanwhile, Rocky is tying up loose ends with Frazier, played by Humphrey Bogart, his lawyer and former partner in crime. As it turns out, Frazier’s got a different idea of how to deal with Rocky’s return. Here begins a twisting chain of events, as Rocky continually outsmarts both his rival cons and thugs as well as the authorities, regaining control over the city.

After Rocky makes friends with a group of young hoodlum boys, Jerry begins to fear Rocky will have too strong of an influence on the boys. He decides to take matters into his own hands by publicly exposing the corruption at the hands of Rocky Sullivan. The crooks want to take Jerry out, but this is one friendship Rocky will not break. After taking care of his own dissenters, Rocky attempts to flea once more, but is caught and now is sentenced to die for his crimes. Jerry’s final, and most important favor of Rocky, is that he lay down his ego and show fear and cowardice in the face of death, as to tarnish the boys’ heroic image of Rocky as a fearless criminal icon.

I am still amazed by the natural acting instincts and versatility of James Cagney when I see his films. At times, it feels as though he’s a greatly under-appreciated actor. The cinematography of this era is always a favorite element of mine, when done well. I think part of the appeal for me is that its a look into a past era that’s real. Its not re-manufactured, because it took place in that era and what you see is what there was. Some will claim this as a favorite Bogart film, but I give the credit to Cagney. Bogart was fine, but it just wasn’t his show. If you get an opportunity, rent the official Warner Bros. DVD. There is a great special feature option that allows you to watch the film in its original presentation, led by a newsreel, a musical short, a Porky and Daffy cartoon short and a theatrical trailer. The DVD also includes an introduction by film critic Leonard Maltin and an audio commentary by film historian Dana Polan.

In case you missed it … ‘The Ice Harvest’

About a week and a half ago I promised I’d watch The Ice Harvest. This is one of those movies that I missed without any good reason to miss it. As I said before, I love Cusack and Billy-Bob (if only for the fact that he is an incredibly successful actor with the name Billy-Bob.)

So this weekend, I finally sat down and watched The Ice Harvest, and I’m so glad I did. This film-noir gem starts off with Cusack and Billy-Bob stealing from their mob boss, and the rest of the movie centers around trying to stay cool and get out of town.

The dreary but humorous depiction of Wichita, strip joints, friendship and family dysfunction is a great backdrop for a much less glamorous view of organized crime than we are used to. This movie is definitely worth picking up this weekend.

As said before, in this “How did I miss that?” segment, I’ll be watching movies that we missed and putting out a review. If you have a movie that you wanted to see, but somehow missed, shoot a note in the comments and we’ll pick it up and tell you what we think. Next on the list, I’m going to take Gavin’s suggestion and watch The Golden Compass.

What must-see movie slipped by? What flick came and went before you had the chance to see it? Post a comment about it and I’ll check it out for you. I’ll even dedicate a post to you. Lets take a movie off your list.

In case you missed it … ‘Blood Simple’

Ask most people on the street what their favorite Coen brothers movie is and, for those who even know who they are, most will probably name The Big Lebowski or Fargo, Raising Arizona or maybe even O Brother, Where Art Thou? Very few, I’d imagine, would name a slick little suspenseful film noir called Blood Simple. Uncharacteristic of the usual dark humor the Coen brothers are known for, Blood Simple is one of my favorites. I highly recommend checking it out, if you can find it. The DVD is currently out-of-print except when purchased as part of a boxed-set. A used copy of the DVD currently goes for about $25-30 online and up to $50 if you can find it new.

Blood Simple (1984) was the feature film debut of film-making siblings Joel and Ethan Coen. While the Minnesota natives co-write and co-direct virtually every movie they make, it wasn’t until the pair were accepted as auteur’s that they were allowed by the DGA to carry both of their names on the director’s credit. The film stars John Getz (The Fly 1 & 2) as Ray, a bartender employed by Marty, played by Dan Hedaya (Commando, The Addams Family). Frances McDormand (Darkman, Fargo) plays Abby, who is married to Marty, who suspects she is cheating on him. Marty hires Visser, played by M. Emmet Walsh (Blade Runner, Narrow Margins), a morally ambivalent private detective to spy on Abby.

From here, Blood Simple spirals into an elegant ballet of deception and miscommunication between the characters. Once Marty confirms his suspicions he pays Visser to dispatch of his wife and her lover. Abby and her lover must fend for their lives as both Marty and Visser want them dead, but for different reasons. McDormand gives a great on-screen acting debut and M. Emmet Walsh is eerily creepy as a repulsive man with nothing but greed on his mind. Drawing from classic film noir themes, the Coen brothers put their brand on this genre standard. Blood Simple would also mark the beginning of a working friendship with composer Carter Burwell and cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld.