The Loveless

As I’ve stated before, every biker film made since 1969 suffers from the curse of being compared to Easy Rider no matter how different the films may be. The Loveless suffers from this comparison. I’m not normally one to watch a mortorcycle film, but seeing as Kathryn Bigelow just became the first female to ever win the best director Oscar, I thought I’d like to see where she started and I am glad I did.

The Loveless is co-directed by Bigelow and Monty Montgomery and I have to say that it proves that from the get-go Bigelow didn’t concern herself about being a female director who should be concerned with woman’s issues – a rhetoric I hear quite a bit once the gender of a director is discovered by a critic. Instead, Bigelow concerns herself with the stuff of human emotion, namely conflict, rebellion, adversity and the hard to love hero. These are things normally placed within male protagonists and male-centric films, but the theme is universal to all.

In The Loveless, like The Wild One, the conflict comes from a group of bikers that head into town and stir up the prejudices and fears of the residents. The bikers are all ex-cons, unafraid of the locals disdain and willing to use the few residents who find them appealing, creating an end for their journey that ruins the town in a way The Wild One could not and the nomadic journey of Easy Rider didn’t allow.

This film is an exercise in the study of a rebellious character, but for those who want to see how Bigelow became who she is, or want to watch Willem Dafoe shine in his first major role this is a definite film to see.



Directors: Kathryn Bigelow & Monty Montgomery



Vance: You never can tell on a day like this- things could be goin' jake one minute, then, presto- before you know it, you're
history.

Daybreakers

Daybreakers (2009)
Originally uploaded by Lord_Henry

Twenty years from now the vampire pandemic is a way of life, vampires are the main species on the planet and the remaining humans are hunted down to be used as cattle – food for the masses. The problem is that the food supply is dwindling as the human race is not able to repopulate. Vampire Edward Dalton is charged with finding a blood substitute, work he does only because he wants to save the human race. Everything changes when Edward is confronted with a band of human resistance fighters, including a man that claims he was a vampire but found a cure.

It’s taken me awhile to write about Daybreakers because I can’t figure out my thoughts on the film. I enjoyed the film, it’s a fun tale, a unique world and filled with characters and actors I liked but for some reason that just wasn’t enough. This is a film that to me the concept held much more than the film.

I can’t help comparing Daybreakers to Blade; not really because they are both vampire films, but because they are both vampire films that I went into no knowing what to expect. Blade blew me away, it delivered every bit on the concept of its world and the monsters and heroes in it – something that Daybreakers just doesn’t quite do, it’s like the film never takes that final step to commit. I don’t know what that final step is, but it’s one of those crucial elements in filmmaking that you don’t notice if it’s there, but you always notice if it’s gone.

Daybreakers is a fun film, with some great action and fun concepts, but it is a movie that seeing once is enough.

Diretors & Writers: Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig
Edward Dalton: Ethan Hawke
Charles Bromley: Sam Neill
Audrey Bennett: Claudia Karvan
Lionel Cormac: Willem Dafoe
Frankie Dalton: Michael Dorman

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Fantastic Mr Fox
Originally uploaded by ablogvoyage

Mr. Fox is an expert bird thief and loves it, until the day Mrs. Fox tells him that they are expecint a child and makes him promise to get an honest job. Mr. Fox does and begins writing a column for his local paper but pines for the job he was good at; in an effort to better his family’s life he buys a local tree and they move in – into the shadow of Boggis, Bunce & Bean, three of the meanest farmers in the land. When Mr. Fox decides to take up his bird thief ways again he unwittingly brings disaster onto all of the animals in his community.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a brilliant little movie; somehow, Wes Anderson did manage to turn a children’s story into a family film with his own personal flair. But this film has Wes Anderson stamped all over it, from the way the characters deliver their lines, to the quirky costumes they wear and the way they get stuck in situations of their own making. Don’t let the claymation stop you – this is a Wes Anderson film.

The one thing I have to mention about The Fantastic Mr. Fox is something that’s been festering for awhile. I keep overhearing people talking about how they don’t know why such a big deal is being made over the animation technology in this movie because the same thing was done in movies like Over the Hedge. I love Over the Hedge, have seen it many times and that’s why I know that’s a computer animated film. The Fantastic Mr. Fox is stop motion – totally different technology & completely different visual style to it. These were actual little models of the characters that were moved and photographed one frame at a time, not drawn inside a computer. If you really can’t see that it’s time to get your eyes checked.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that this film will be nominated for Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards this year. I do think it deserves the nomination, but I’m not sure it will win. The stiff competition for this film comes from Up, another brilliant family film that also deals with responsibility & family. It will be interesting to see who wins.

Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach
Mr. Fox: George Clooney
Mrs. Fox: Meryl Streep
Ash: Jason Schwartzman
Badger: Bill Murray
Kristofferson: Eric Chase Anderson
Bean: Michael Gambon
Rat: Willem Dafoe
Coach Skip: Owen Wilson

Mr. Fox: Who am I, Kylie?
Kylie: Who how? What now?
Mr. Fox: Why a fox? Why not a horse, or a beetle, or a bald eagle? I'm saying this more as, like, existentialism, you know? Who am I? And how can a fox ever be happy without, you'll forgive the expression, a chicken in its teeth?
Kylie: I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds illegal.

American Psycho

Christian Bale
Originally uploaded by bluesteel1981

There are many reasons that I adore American Psycho. It’s one of the most deranged films I can think of that was directed by a woman, Christian Bale has his shirt off for a good chunk of the film, it’s imaginative and stylized, the dialogue is damn original, and it’s a movie that no matter how many times I see it I notice more. I will never completely figure this movie out.

American Psycho is a critique of 80’s materialism and the hidden savage nature in the 80’s; in the tale our main character walks the line between his normal life where he wants to be “normal” and his night life where he runs rampant as a savage serial killer. There is a twist to this tale, which I will do my best not to give away too much information on; however, unlike High Tension the twist in this film actually works.

This is a film where Christian Bale once again proves that he can throw himself into any part and conquer it. Patrick Bateman lives by his routine, establishes some very strict rules for himself and when he loses it and goes on his murderous rampages it is delightful and horrifying at the same time. Christian Bale is able to play the upscale boy next door who just happens to be an insane serial killer and makes it believable. It is a superior and riveting performance that proves he knows how to walk the line between an overdone performance and an exaggerated character. I am not swayed to like Bale’s performance merely because Christian is in his skivvies for a large portion of the film, but that is a nice bonus. The sheer amount of disgust he is able to manage over a competitors “superior” business card is shocking to watch.

I also adore that this film is directed by a woman – Mary Harron. It actually surprised me a few years ago when I figured that out. The reason is that American Psycho created the reaction in me that I want my films to create in others; too often people watch films directed by women and judge them on a different scale. Usually, they try to figure out how these films speak about “women’s issues”, something I hate. Do you look at a Spielberg film and try to figure out what it is saying about “men’s issues” before you do anything else? No. So why do people do that for women directors? My goal in making my films is to make good, interesting, quality films first and have people notice that I am a woman second. Basically, I want people to walk out and say “Dang, I loved that movie” and then “That was directed by a woman?” only if necessary.

Mary Harron did this for me. I paid attention to the film and not the person that made it.

What is crazy to me is that there is a sequel to American Psycho. If you have seen the film you know that this is not possible and I challenge anyone to disagree with me.

Director: Mary Harron
Writers: Marry Harron & Guinevere Turner
Patrick Bateman: Christian Bale
Timothy Bryce: Justin Theroux
Craig Mcdermott: Josh Lucas
David VanPatten: Bill Sage
Jean: Chloe Sevigny
Evelyn: Reese Witherspoon
Courtney: Samantha Mathis
Luis Carruthers: Matt Ross
Paul Allen: Jared Leto
det. Kimball: Willem Dafoe

Patrick Bateman: There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable... I simply am not there.