THE CHANGELING

Scary movie of the week:
THE CHANGELING

What is the scariest movie you've ever seen?

Now, don't answer right away. Think about it for a while. And for goodness sake, don't say The Exorcist! Everybody always says "The Exorcist".

………..well?

If you have to think about it that long, then you can’t think of a scarier movie than “The Exorcist”. Well, here are some other possible choices you could have come up with.

1. Alien: not bad.
2. Psycho: good choice.
3. Audition: more “disturbing” than scary.
4. The Exorcist: I told you not to pick The Exorcist! I mean, c’mon – it was alright, but as a scariest movie - forgetaboutit
5. Frankenstein: scary when you’re 10 maybe.
6. Dracula: ditto.
7. The Mummy: (with Boris Karloff, not the new one) When I was a kid, this movie scared the crap out of me. When I saw it again as an adult, I laughed at it. TIP: If the mummy is chasing you, simply, and casually walk away. With his slow lurch, he’ll have a hard time keeping up.
8. Night of the Living Dead: sure, the first time around.
9. The Ring: an awfully long movie to sit through for one scary moment at the end.
10. Halloween: known for ushering in a whole new genre of bad “psycho on the loose” movies – scare intensity doesn’t build fast enough to sustain you through the whole movie.
11. The Fog: couldn’t have been too good, I can’t remember a damn thing about it.
12. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: - pure brute force - I've seen bloodier stuff on the Discovery Channel.
    
13. Friday the 13^th: don’t make me laugh.
14. A Nightmare on Elm St.: hahahahahahahahaha.
15. Basket Case: Basket Case???? Where’d that come from.

For my money, one of the scariest, creepiest movies of all time is the 1980 ghost story, THE CHANGLING, starring George C Scott. It has all the requisite elements for a fun time: an old creepy house, a restless spirit who has been horribly wronged, a mysterious mystery, a séance, and a horde of demons who rise from the depths of hell, snatching the souls of any unfortunates within reach, making rivers boil, blood running in the streets and generally wreaking havoc on all of mankind.

Ok, I may have gotten a little carried away with the demons. 86 the demons.

This is a smart and atmospheric film. Instead of relying on monsters, or ax-wielding murderers, ……….or Satan, the film employs effective use of sound and shadow to create a creepy ominous ambiance. When was the last time that a sound scared the beejesus out of you? This film is a good example of the FranksFilms principle of Less Is More. This is the simple, if paradoxical, concept which states that “one scary thing is much scarier than a lot of scary things”. For example, the one alien in Alien was much scarier than a whole planet of aliens in Aliens. The one ghost in THE CHANGELING is much much scarier than the thirteen ghosts in the ridiculous film, Thir13en Ghosts. One Godzilla – scarier than two Godzilla’s (or a Godzilla and a MechaGodzilla). …..and so on – you get the picture.

This is not just a case of the resident ghost terrorizing the living. The ghost doesn’t give a lick about the living resident of the house. The ghost wants something, and won’t be denied. What is it? Who knows – that’s the mystery that has to be solved.

It doesn’t rely on shock moments. There aren’t things that jump out of the shadows and make you scream. Instead, there is intense suspense, and creepy sounds and images that linger with you long after the movie is over. How scary is it? It gave my teenage children nightmares, ………and I sleep with a night light to this very day.

Enjoy. …………and pleasant dreams.

MEMENTO

Movie of the week:
MEMENTO

“But even if you get revenge you're not gonna remember it. You're not even going to know that it happened.”

Every once in a great while, a film comes out of the blue from nowhere, and which is so original and mesmerizing and cool, that it becomes an instant masterpiece. This is an independent film – no, Hollywood would never make a movie like this. It is so far beyond ordinary films that it has become a benchmark of sorts. If new movie “XYZ” is cool and original and stands out from the crowd, it’s often referred to “this year’s MEMENTO”.

I can still remember the day that I went to the video store. I came late and there was nothing left. That is to say, all of this week’s new releases, all of last week’s new releases, and all of the week before’s new releases. And when I say new releases, I mean the new blockbuster releases. The ones everybody’s been waiting for – NOT the little known independent films. So there I was, not finding what I came to get, and ended up scanning the shelves. I saw MEMENTO (never heard of it – not even on the indie grapevine), read the back of the box, and said “why not”.

The response I usually get when I come home with something no one’s ever heard of, is one or more of the following.

1. What the hell is this?
2. What’s it about? Something stupid?
3. Oh please don’t tell me it’s foreign. Subtitles drive me crazy.
4. Awwwwww, Dad!
5. Is there anything on TV?
6. I’m going to hate this, aren’t I?
7. You were out all that time, and THIS is what you come home with?
8. How come you never rent anything we want to watch?
9. Why is it that we only watch movies that no one else has ever heard of?
10. You know, ..................we should just turn the TV off and talk.

Of course, once the movie starts, I don’t hear another word about it. And of course, I was right. MEMENTO was probably the most pleasant movie-viewing surprise I’ve ever had, starting from having no expectation to realizing that I’ve just watch one of my all-time favorite films. I checked the DVD box for the director’s name. Christopher Nolan – never heard of him. This is going to “make” his career. I was right about that too (He went on to make the English language remake of Insomnia, the highly acclaimed Batman Begins, and most recently The Prestige. Not too shabby.).

“So what’s it about? Something stupid?”

Leonard’s a man on a mission – which is not easy for someone in his condition. One evening a man broke into his house and attacked him and killed his wife. The attack caused him injury which damaged his brain so that he can no longer make new memories. Everything before that – fine, but nothing since. His last memory was of his wife on the floor next to him as she lay dying.

Leonard has made it his remaining life’s work to track down his wife’s killer and exact his revenge – which, as I said, is not easy for a man in his condition. He can’t remember anything about his investigation. His memory span lasts about 2 minutes (on a good day). If you start a conversation with him, and if it runs more than a couple of minutes, he’ll forget who you are, or how the conversation got started. Indeed, he relies on copious note-taking and Polaroid snapshots. The really important breakthroughs, he has tattooed to his body, so that in one glance in the mirror, he can see both the man he has become and the mission he is on. He doesn’t know who his friends are, or who his enemies are. His whole perspective of the truth can change from one moment to another.

Bummer.

The technique used to tell this story isn’t new; it had been used before, but never more effectively as in MEMENTO. You will notice pretty much in the first few minutes that the story is being told in reverse order. That is, each new scene shows what happens just before the one you last watched. You might not think this would work well for a mystery seeing that the mystery would be solved at the end of the story (which is at the beginning of the film), BUT IT DOES! This technique actually enhances the story in at least two ways.

First, when you’re watching a scene, you may know what happens in the story immediately after because you’ve just seen it, but you don’t know what happened before. This puts you on the same footing as the main character, Leonard.

Second, while you’re watching a scene, you know and understand what’s happening. However, when you get to the next scene and see what happened before, you realize that everything you thought you knew in the last scene was wrong. Your perspective of the truth can, and often does, changes from one moment to the next. This also puts you on the same footing as Leonard.

I may have told you too much, but if it gets you to watch the movie then it was worth the risk. I’m pretty sure that if you give it half a chance, you will love this movie. Anyway, here are some more reasons to watch MEMENTO.

1. Leonard discovers that he has more than one room at his motel. When he asks the desk clerk about it, he’s told, “Business is slow. I mean, I told my boss about the - your condition and stuff, and he said try and rent him another room. Besides, you're not gonna remember anyway.”
2. Leonard could watch MEMENTO every single day, and each day it would be like the very first time.
3. If you and another guy are both running, are you chasing him or is he chasing you or are you both running away from the same thing?
4. It’s a brain-teaser, and a teased brain is in fashion these days. Besides it rinses out without any difficulty, and won’t leave split personalities.
5. “Dancing with the Stars” is NOT on tonight. What else are you going to watch?
6. Carrie-Ann Moss reprises her “Trinity” role from The Matrix for this movie. ………………..nah, just kidding.
7. Makes you feel better about yourself when you realize that it sucks to be Leonard.
8. On the IMDB Top 250 at #26 between North By Northwest and The Silence of the Lambs.
9. Scored a 94% on the tomatometer.
10. Featured in Steven Jay Schneider’s book, “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.” How far down the list have YOU gotten? Hurry up, you could pop off at any time.
    

Warnings:

• Violence – There are a couple fight scenes, not many. One main character gets shot. I’m not giving anything away here as it takes place at the end of the story – which is to say, the first minute of the film.
• Sex – Nothing graphic.
• Language – English. Colorful English.

Now forget everything I told you and go out and rent MEMENTO.
Enjoy.

THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY

This week's movie:
THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY

The stone of the Vietnam War caused ripples across time that are still felt today.

What do you suppose happened to the children of American GIs and young women in Vietnam when the Americans pulled out? In many cases, they got left behind. Not quite American and not quite Vietnamese, they were shunned by their own families. This is the story of one such outcast. Binh is 17 years old. He lives with relatives, as his mother left to work in Saigon. His relatives don’t like him, because he’s half American, and treat him as “less valued than dust”.

He leaves home to find a better life. He first finds his mother, working as a servant for a rich family. There he learns more about his father who “one day, just didn’t come back”. He could have been killed or he could have been shipped out, or he could have bolted, she’s unsure. Armed with a photograph and an 18 year-old address, he decides he will go to America, the beautiful country, to find out. His mother urges him to take his young brother with him.

The story of Binh’s journey to find his father is truly one of epic proportions. On his way, they meet a young woman named Ling, played by the beautiful Ling Bai, and fall in with her. She is a survivor and if they are to survive themselves, they’re going to need her help.

The trip is not easy.

The film is beautiful to look at. In fact, everything about this movie is beautiful – that’s why they called it THE “BEAUTIFUL” COUNTRY after all. But why should that be? Well, here are a few things that make the film so damn beautiful.

1. The journey. It’s horrible – but it’s beautifully shot.
2. Sumptuous landscapes.
3. Mountainous mountains.
4. Cloudious clouds …….. well, you get the idea.
5. America, when seen through the eyes of a foreigner. America is big. Big and beautiful …………if you don’t look so closely at the nasty ugly bits that is.
6. I’m thinking, right off, you might want to stay away from, like Detroit and St Louis, and parts of Mississippi, and maybe parts of Texas. In fact, you may want to just look at America from a ways back – say …. from Portugal.
7. Did I mention the beautiful Ling Bai? The camera just loves her. She was great in another of FranksFilms recommended movies, THE THREE EXTREMES (My apologies if you were trying to forget that one.).
8. The ending was so beautiful that it made me want to cry. Well, it was either that or the onion I was dicing while preparing a particularly excellent bouillabaisse. I like to brown the onions with pancetta, coarsely ground black pepper, and butter before adding the flour for the roux. I think it brings out the natural sweetness of the onions which will later complement the saltiness of the clams. Balance, that’s what’s important in any ……..Wait – what was I talking about?
9. The sea voyage was very treacherous, (****CAUTION: SPOILERS****) even though there were no pirates of the Caribbean, no giant squid, and no alien spores or spacecraft. It was just naturally (and beautifully) treacherous.
10. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I used a sterile eye-wash, and then tweezers, and then the eye-wash again ………but it’s still in there.

Put THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY in your travel plans and
Enjoy.

CHILDREN OF MEN

Movie of the week:
CHILDREN OF MEN

Will we really go crazy when the end comes?

What is the most destructive emotion? Is it hate? Or love? This movie suggests that the answer may be ‘despair’. The filmmaker might be on to something.

The story opens 20 years in our future. “Something” has happened 19 years previous (Let’s see. That would make it …… about a year from now), that has left the entire human race infertile. The last baby was born about 19 years ago. This may not seem like such a big deal at first, but consider the consequences – in about 80 years, there’ll be no one left alive. As the youngest generation passes through them, elementary school grades shut down one after the other – there’ll be no incoming class next year. Soon there are no children at all. No one to play ball with, no grandchildren to spoil, no one to ‘inherit the earth’. There’s no reason to conserve, and no reason to not pollute – they’ll be no new generation to inherit our problems, and make us feel guilty. There are no children to set a good example for – so anything goes. The population will dwindle from attrition. Slowly at first, but then at an alarmingly accelerating rate. Rules of society will break down because “what the hell?”, nobody really cares anymore. Shortages – fewer people to produce the goods you need and want. Unrest – riots - violence – anarchy – police state! Despair sets in and people will just go crazy!

It doesn’t happen fast. Folks have plenty of time to understand what’s happening. Youth, or what’s left of it, is a rapidly disappearing commodity. The youngest humans on the planet become world-beloved celebrities. At the opening of this story, he is “Baby Diego” – now 18 years old, and someone has just killed him - occupational hazard when you’re a celeb in a crazy world. And the world is indeed crazy. Much of the world has “moved on” as they say. Hints are that the US was destroyed by nukes, most of Europe has been sacked, and the rest of the world is not doing too good either. Only in England is there any semblance of order – but at a price! England has become a totalitarian police state. The military patrols the street. Foreigners, who escaped the downfall of their own countries and came to England, are rounded up and carted off to death refugee camps. Members of the growing uprising and the agents of the government both commit atrocities in order to blame the other. Paradoxically enough, with life in such short supply, it seems to have such little value. Maybe the value of life is not measured by supply, but by the promise of immortality. And if there are no future generations to make your mark for and to keep your memory alive ........ – bummer.

Our hero, Theo, formally a political activist, currently a cog in the wheel, is contacted by his ex-wife, who is still in the game. She needs him to help her transport a young foreign woman to the coast. Why? Because by some miracle, she’s pregnant! Because the future of the human race may rest with her. Because she’s in danger from all the political factions who would use her to further their cause. Their only hope is to get her to the coast where a ship from something called "the Human Project” may pick her up and bring her to a safe haven, and perhaps reproduce the “thing” about her that allowed her to become pregnant, and thus save the world. The problem is, nobody is really sure if the Human Project actually exists.

This is easily the best movie I've seen so far this year. I know we’re not far into the year yet, but I'm willing to bet that I won't change my mind by December (Of course, I haven't seen Grindhouse yet). I won’t tell you more than that. The rest is for you to discover. I will however, tell you why I liked it.

1. It has a great visual style thats quite intense, not for the weak of heart. I like the intensity. At my age, there’s not a lot left that will get my blood pumping and my heart racing. It’s like aerobics – yeah, that’s it, watch this movie instead of your normal workout. I wonder how many calories you can burn off by watching a video (probably less than you gain from the popcorn you’ll eat during the show).
2. I also like films that put effort into the details. There are a lot of cultural references that you may or may not get upon first viewing.
3. One of those references has to do with the “Ark of the Arts”. What famous rock album cover is reproduced in the top photo (above).
4. I’ve heard it referred to as a Sci-Fi Thriller. After thinking about it for a while, I can agree. It starts with an interesting premise, and follows the logical consequences of that premise. Good sci-fi is like that – just don’t expect any space aliens ……………. Drat! I gave it away!
5. It has a great soundtrack featuring music from the 60’s and 70’s – because nothing gives a better sense of 20 years into the future as music from 40 years in the past. Doesn’t it?
6. It is perfectly believable that, after all that’s happening and the human race is dying out and civilization has crumbled, that pot is still illegal.
7. Director Alfonso Cuarón also made another FranksFilms recommended movie, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN. Oh yeah, he also made Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – not too shabby.
8. Appears on the IMDB top 250 at #152, between The Wild Bunch and Die Hard.
9. Also, it scores a 91% on the tomatometer.
10. The movie respects my intelligence. It doesn’t call me an idiot. It doesn’t call me a lame-o meat head who would rather be watching American Idol. It doesn’t call me a brainless, thoughtless nincompoop who needs to have his hand held and his tushie wiped and have all the answers and loose ends wrapped up and bottle fed to him through the built-in teat of his DVD player. …………and it doesn’t call me ‘s###-for brains’ – I like that in a movie.

I hope you enjoy CHILDREN OF MEN as much as I did.