Mike's DVD Haul

This will be my last DVD Haul for a while. Sure I'll buy a DVD here and there but I don't expect to be going out and buying mass amounts of DVDs any time soon. I've got to save money and such. It ain't cheap living in Toronto you know. So anyway, I'm glad that people have been following along and like seeing what I'm picking up and I'm glad Travis came up with this idea over at The Movie Encyclopedia so that I could steal it from him. Although in his last post he put up a picture of his DVD shelf. Always two steps ahead I guess.

I don't know if anyone would buy this for Troll. It's kind of like a special freebie that you get for buying Troll 2, which, if you don't know (for shame) has become famous for being one of the worst movies ever made. So bad is Troll 2 in fact that it is, in a twisted sort of way, kind of a work of art. It's so naive in it's badness, trying so hard to be good that there is just no way it could have ever worked. From the horrible acting to the laughable costumes and special effects to the nonsensical dialogue, this movie is an absolute classic.

In the same vein as The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Last Tango in Paris, Louis Malle's Damage is an erotic tale that was praised for actually being about eroticism instead of just going for titillation. I haven't seen it but this is considered one of Malle's better American films.

If there's one thing I love the way I love movies it's stand-up comedy. One of those comedians I love is Patton Oswalt. Know for his work on sitcom King of Queens and the voice of Remy the rat in Ratatouille, Oswalt is considered to be part of the "Alternative" comedy movement (whatever that means) alongside David Cross and the routinely unfunny Brian Posehn. I haven't seen this set yet but have rarely ever found Oswalt unfunny.

More Louis Malle. Malle made three films, Murmur of the Heart, Lacombe, Lucien and Au Revior Les Enfants which were all coming of age tales about kids forced into growing up under unfortunate circumstances. These films are not as unhinged as Malle's French New Wave films but are very personal and introspective experiences nonetheless.

Sometimes when I see a film it reminds me of how good a previous film was and how I want to see that one again. Mission Impossible 3 made me go out and buy Mission Impossible 2, Fast and the Furious 3 made me go out and buy the first 2 and now Inception made me want to go back and get The Prestige, which essentially tells the same story and explores the same ideas but with more clarity and intelligence and less boom boom.

I've also got a copy of Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samurai on the way but it didn't get here in time to make the cut. Oh well, it's a great film anyway.

Come on Baby, Make it Hurt so Good

I love bad movies. Only a monster wouldn't. I'm not talking about those movies that make the year end lists or that critics dump on. Those aren't true bad movies. Those movies are bad for reasons that are, in a lot of cases, secondary to filmmaking. They are morally corrupt, they shine ignorant light on serious matters, they are vile, vulgar, racist, or, maybe worst of all, lazy. But those movies are bad because of us, not because of themselves. They put ugly emotions into us, make us witness unpleasant things and waste our time as if time isn't precious.

The truly bad films I am talking about are the ones that are naively so insomuch as that they are trying so desperately hard not to be. There's a purity to those kinds of movies that makes you want to watch them over and over again; an honesty that someone, at some point in time, though that what they were doing meant something. They aren't the movies that we rail against and forget about, they're the ones that live on because there's something in their awfulness that makes them kind of endearing. These are the films that live forever.

I write this because yesterday I discovered Tommy Wiseau's The Room, a $6 million train wreck that has been playing in theaters for four years and is so bad that people have started participating in the experience ala Rocky Horror Picture Show. I haven't seen it, but based on the clips that I have, I know I desperately need to.

Because, if nothing else, those films are a riot. They become, not films, but either communal or interactive experiences. Their making becomes myth, their best scenes become legend and the joy that they provide is everlasting. Although I've seen it about 15 times, I'll never tire of the boat accident at the beginning of Sleepaway Camp (which begins at around the four minute mark of this clip and ends with the man on land stealing one of the unintentionally funniest moments in all of horror movies).

There are other films like this. Showgirls is a modern example, The Room is another:



And what about Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space, which is often considered the Citizen Kane of bad movies? The list goes on forever, ending in what is maybe the grandaddy of them all: Troll 2. Troll 2 is so bad that it even inspired its own documentary The Best Worst Movie. That title just about sums it all up:



Now think about that title: The Best Worst Movie. It implies that, just because Troll 2 is an awful film doesn't mean that it doesn't have just as much value, on some level, as one of the best best films. When something succeeds at being the best at something, even it is at being the worst, well that's worth something isn't it?

The point is then that it baffles me to see when critics review these films seriously. Recently, just a couple months ago Castor at Anomalous Material reviewed Troll 2 and gave it an F, leaving me to think: what's the point? I'm not trying to knock Castor, who is a great critic and runs a great blog. But really, to give a film that has become famous for how awful it is an F is like calling a special ed. kid a "retard." It doesn't achieve anything.

In a way, writing a negative review of any of these films is like reverse elitism (and I'm generalizing here, not referring to Castor in any way): I don't just watch the best movies, I can't be bothered with the worst. Even though the worst, in a lot of cases, may be just as good as the best. They're just good for different reasons.

Ultimately what I'm coming back to is a belief about film criticism that I have always held: if we wait for movies to raise to our level, we'll rarely ever find satisfaction. It's the job of the critic to adjust themselves accordingly; to meet the movie of it's level and not the other way around. To get mad at The Room, for example, for being bad is a display of critic thinking himself above his material, especially when the film in question has become famous for that very reason.

I'll always remember that final scene in Tim Burton's Ed Wood where Wood is in the theater, waiting for Plan 9 to debut. "This is it," he says with a smile, "This is the one I'll be remembered for." It's the most endearing and bittersweet scene Burton ever filmed. Not because of the irony, but because Wood was absolutely right. His name would go down in history just the same as his hero Orson Welles. Just not quite the way he was expecting.

So, what is your take on bad movies, do they have their worth, or should they just be forgotten?

The Celebrity Connection- Tommy Wiseau

If you haven't heard of Tommy Wiseau well, I hadn't either. I'd see the poster kicking around for his film The Room but had no idea what it was or that it was considered anything special. Then yesterday I had it brought to my attention that it was being hailed as one of the worst films ever made so I had to check it out and indeed, what I found was pretty awful. I mean, look:



It's bad enough that Wiseau's accent sounds almost exactly like Uwe Boll's but what's even more distracting is this:


Could Tommy Wiseau really be Christopher Walken in disguise? You decide.

Whoring Myself for All It's Worth

Last Friday, after Wild Celtic was nice enough to give me props in her interview with Only Good Movies I discovered a new, very good site. I was also jealous and wanted an interview of my very own since I'll do just about anything to get my name in print and alas, here it is.

Thanks to Shane Rivers for letting me be a part of his site. Be sure to check it out and also swing by his sister site A1 Movies Reviews which, ya know, has reviews.

Mike's DVD Haul

Well, it seemed some people liked it this week when I posted about the sweet DVDs that I had just recently gotten in the mail. So, because I was away this weekend where I picked up some more titles and because I have nothing better to do, I'm going to do it again.

Peter Greenaway is the kind of filmmaker that you admire without every really liking in most cases. He's made acclaimed films like The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, but they are all very heavy endeavours that you wouldn't want to watch on a regular basis. I haven't seen 8 1/2 Women but it was cheap, so why not give it a try?

I'm not a Kurosawa lover the way say Univarn is, but there's no denying that Rashomon is one of the most important films ever made and did more to advance popular storytelling than any other film I can think of. It was one of the contenders for my list of The Best Movies That Made Going to the Movies Suck list (maybe it deserves an honorary entry) but no one wanted to write about it. Regardless, no film lover has not seen this movie.

Aki Kaurismaki is a strange, offbeat, deadpan filmmaker whose films have never really found an audience in North America. If there is one contemporary director who can compare to him it would be Jim Jarmusch, which, in a sense, doesn't do Kaurismaki justice because, if anything, Jarmusch just pays tribute to him as opposed to making the same kinds of films. Although the dry, deadpan comedic style has been copied countless times, especially in European films, Kaurismaki remains a true original and Man Without a Past is both heartwarming and hilarious in the truly oddest of ways.

As a collector I`ve gotten passed the point where I need the best, most up-to-date versions of everything I buy (with the exception of Criterion Collection movies, which are worth the extra coin). Therefore, because of both money and space concerns, I was happy to find four out of the five Dirty Harry movies all in one convenient, low-price case. I never thought these movies were quite good enough to own until I was reading David Gilmor`s The Film Club in which he talks about that infamous ``Are you feeling lucky`` scene, which made me want to see the movies again. The only downside is that this doesn`t contain The Dead Pool, which, contrary to popular opinion, I think is the best Dirty Harry movie besides the original.

I haven`t seen this but it got good reviews at the time, was only $1.99 and I really like Ben Stiller`s early movies like Your Friends and Neighbours when he actually acted as opposed to the annoying goofball persona he assumed for good after Zoolander and Meet the Parents (up until Greenberg that is)

Ah, what can you write in a few mild sentences to do justice to Pier Pablo Passolini when whole essays fail to do this man`s work justice. This is, after all, the artist, poet, filmmaker who unapologetically spun film around on its head, turned it inside out and back around again by questioning God, religion, politics, sexuality, everything he could get his hands on and then ultimately ended up murdered for being a homosexual, that is, if he didn`t just fake his death. Momma Roma came early in Passolini`s storied, fascinating and wildly enigmatic career when Italy was still in, or maybe just getting out, of the Italian Neo-Realism faze. It was Salo however, based on The Marquis de Sade`s 120 Days of Sodom which would forever cement Passolini as being one of history`s most shocking filmmakers. The movie is vile, disgusting, violent, and profane. It is, even by today's standards, one of the most shocking, unpleasant and unnerving films ever made. And it`s also, in the eyes of most, a masterpiece. I think it`s something that any mature, intelligent viewer should seek out. Just don`t say you weren`t warned.

Godard again. I don`t think this is a major Godard work, although when I watched it I wrongly selected it for casual viewing and no Godard movie is anything that should be considered causal, so I wasn`t prepared for it. I think this must be one of the last few movies of Godard`s that I wanted to own and one of the last few he made before he lost his mind and started making nearly unwatchable ``anti``-movies.

Links

Well, my three weeks of working at home are coming to an end and I'm taking off for the weekend and, on top of that, I don't do this on a frequent basis even though I keep telling myself to start doing so. The first step, I guess is admitting so let's hope this is the first step in getting these link posts up on a regular basis.

The impossibly named Meaghan at Wild Celtic had an interview with Only Good Movies in which she not only discussed her favourite movies but gave yours truly some props. Much appreciated. Check it out.

Blogging is a pain in Simon's ass.

Sebastian is wrapping up his Joseph Gordon Levitt blogathon over at Detailed Criticisms

Vancetastic thinks Rob Reiner's new movie Flipped will tank, which leaves me to think, did anyone but Vance know Rob Reiner had a new movie coming out?

Com Clift isn't feeling the poster for Yogi Bear.

Univarn celebrates his one year anniversary with the funniest picture I've seen since this picture:


Alex at Boycotting Trends joins the Movie Meme. Better late than never.

Not surprisingly, Jim Emerson writes yet another anit-Inception post which I can't be bothered to link to. First Avatar, now Inception. What will be the next big dead horse Emerson can beat?

Jude at All That Film writes about Cries and Whispers. People should write about Ingmar Bergman more. I should write about Ingmar Bergman more.

Kid in the Front Row did a blogathon about sequels/remakes/reboots last week. I was one of the only people for it. Go figure.

P.S. I changed the subheading of my site to something that I think reflects the overall critical drive of what I am trying to accomplish here. Enjoy.

One Minute Review: Whiteout (2.5 out of 5)

Whiteout is a perfectly serviceable thriller and that's exactly it's problem. It's as well made as its genre requires and acted to the same degree of competence but it's about as good as the last time you saw it, and the time before that, and the time before that, and nearly every time you've seen it for the last 20 years or so. Whiteout is strictly by-the-book: it does what it needs to and doesn't try a whole lot harder. The story is the same as every other trapped-in-a-desolate-location/mad-slasher-on-the-lose film there has ever been and the conventions pop up like clockwork. There is however one kind of ingenious sequence towards the end. The whiteouts are so bad at the Arctic post where Kate Beckinsale (the only woman who could make that hat sexy)

is stationed that to get around from building to building the crew need to attach carabiners to ropes that are tied up around the base, which leads to an exciting climatic chase outside between the killer and the good guys, who cannot see each other outside of six inches from their face. But even this is problematic as all of the characters, bundled up in their snow gear, all look more or less the same. That seems to be what everything about this film comes down to.