Coventry, Connecticut, UNITED STATES
Joined October 29th 2009
Recent PostsNew BlogOctober 28th 2010 19:09
I have started writing for CriterionCast.com and felt this was the best time to start a new blog at WordPress, which I had been meaning to start using for a while now. It's been fun! Thanks for all the views and comments!
 2 Reviews: Pin (1988) and The Man Who Laughs (1928)October 27th 2010 04:39
Pin (1988, Stern) 9.7/10 IMDB Summary: A doctor has a lifelike, anatomically-correct medical dummy, with muscles and organs visible through its clear skin, named Pin (after Pinocchio). Via ventriloquism, Pin explains bodily functions in a way kids can relate to. When the over-strict doctor and his wife are killed in a car crash, his son (Leon) transfers his alter-ego into Pin, whom he always believed was alive. He starts using Pin as an excuse to over-protect his sister (Ursula) from admirers and deflect unwanted intrusions, even to the extent of committing murder. Pin is a film that will distance some and entrance others. It is a hidden gem not only of the horror genre, but of any genre. In fact, it is more psychological drama than anything else. It will be cast off by some as being silly, but Pin is one of the more intense and layered character studies that exist. Luckily, it has a solid cult status and has managed to gain the respect of most that see it. It features a unique plot based on a novel by Andrew Neiderman and is grounded in two superb lead performances by David Hewlett and Cynthia Preston as Leon and Ursula. The film is not scary but it is deeply unsettling. Each scene is about painting a portrait of a troubled paranoid schizophrenic and the sister who has adapted to living with him. The last scene, which will forever haunt me, conveys the sense of remaining mystery that exists to the story. This is a film that could have been terrible every step of the way; it asks a lot of its audience to buy a story this outlandish. The performances could have easily stripped away any credibility within the script. Instead, this is a film that should not have worked but does in every way. Hewlett is a revelation in an early role, performed whole-heartedly and thoughtfully. Certainly one of the most underrated performances in film. It also has a female protagonist that manages to be extremely sympathetic, intelligent and likable. Seeing Ursula navigate through the rocky terrain of her relationship with Leon is fully engrossing. Terry O’Quinn as Dr. Linden is excellent as a man who was never meant to be a father and whose methods of connecting with his children are unorthodox. I implore you to seek this out. It is on Instant Netflix. To say this is one of my new favorite films is a vast understatement. If you are looking for scares, seek something else out. If you want a disturbing character study that fully and sincerely draws you into its weird, outlandish and creepy world, see this film. I’d love to write extensively about this one day as this is a very short summary of initial thoughts. 
The Man Who Laughs (1928, Leni) 8.5/10 IMDB Summary: In 1690, in England, the nobleman Lord Clancharlie returns from his exile to see his young son. The peer is captured by the cruel King James II and before being killed, he is informed that his beloved son had been sold to the gypsies Comanchicos that carved a permanent grin on his face. The Cormanchicos abandon the boy in the cold snowing winter, and while looking for shelter, he finds a baby hold in the arms of her dead mother. He brings the baby with him and they are welcomed by the philosopher Ursus, who finds that the baby is blind and raises them. Years later, Gwynplaine becomes a successful clown, and together with the blind Dea, they present plays for common people. Gwynplaine and Dea are in love for each other, but he refuses to marry her because of his ridiculous appearance. When the evil jester Barkilphedro discloses the origin of Gwynplaine, he plots a means to be rewarded by the Queen, jeopardizing the love of Gwynplaine and Dea. This silent film, produced by Hollywood and made by German expressionists including director Paul Leni, is not really a horror film. It falls more under the melodrama genre and is based on a novel by Victor Hugo. Conrad Veidt’s performance, the makeup, art direction and Paul Leni’s expressionist point of view make for a melodrama presented as a horror film. Conrad Veidt’s as Gwynplaine is filled with expression and sadness (using only his eyes) that cannot be forgotten. Olga Baclanova nearly steals the film away from Veidt as Duchess Josiana who loves to do what she wants and has an inexplicable facination to Gwynplaine. Baclanova is captivating with sizzline sexuality dealing with an ambiguous and complex character. Her subplot is even more interesting than the main story. Leni makes very early use of sound by creating certain sound effects and lending a lot of atmosphere with audio during the crowd scenes. The love story is moving, a bit repetitive at times, but still effective. The grimace on Veidt’s face is one of the more unforgettable images film has to offer. Leni’s directorial voice stands out with many techniques that enhance emotion and atmosphere. One of the best silent films ever made, this is a must-see.
Short Review: Piranha 3-D (Aja, 2010)October 27th 2010 01:48
Piranha 3-D (2010) 4/10 *Spoilers* If I wanted to watch "Girls Gone Wild", I would have simply watched "Girls Gone Wild". Alexandre Aja’s Piranha 3-D is so abrasively targeted at the heterosexual male demographic, that it becomes hard to even sit through this obnoxious onslaught of Spring Break antics and gratuitous nudity. Of course, in the final third, when all hell breaks loose, Aja takes the same amount of glee in showing women being ripped apart mercilessly when hardly any men are shown being eaten on screen. Jerry O’Connell’s death scene admittedly makes up for some of that. The film tries way too hard to be irreverent and to gain a cult following. It also has an inconsistency that sharply divides the pointless first two thirds and the legitimately fantastic final third. The first two thirds feature little violence and too much plot set-up which matters little. The characters are not worth the time spent on them. Maximum exposure to the Spring Break crowd proves to be as barbaric as it always has seemed, making the mass destruction that happens late in the film a welcome arrival. Is this the point? Probably, considering that films like this are trying to get us to root for violence; having terrible characters helps that. There seems to be an odd tone of justice racing through the violence in the last act, as if the director could not take any more of watching drunken college idiots acting moronic for over an hour. This is where the film succeeds; the final third. Aja not only manages to construct very impressive sequences of violence and chaos, but he makes the irreverence he had been seeking a success. I get that this is a B-movie that is meant to glorify sex and violence but did it have to be so inconsistent, predictable, repetitive and obvious? It is clear that Aja wanted to save the goods for the final act and provides filler for the rest of the film complete with a boring and unsympathetic protagonist, and a Joe Francis parody that gets old minutes into O’Connell’s performance. Overall, it’s all too easy to see what Piranha 3-D was going for. There is one third of a really good film here and the rest is schlock that is trying far too hard to be schlock. For the record, the underwater nude scene was the best part of the first two thirds. It carried an absurdist tone the rest lacked and used nudity in an amusing way as opposed to the redundant overexposure going on elsewhere. At least it was a hell of a lot better than Mirrors.
3 Short Reviews: Black Sunday and 2 more!October 16th 2010 21:05
Review: The Social Network (Fincher, 2010)October 4th 2010 19:48
Review: Onibaba (Shindo, 1964)October 4th 2010 04:45
Review: Never Let Me Go (2010)September 26th 2010 16:17
Review: Winter Light (Bergman, 1962)September 23rd 2010 02:22
Short Review: Machete (2010)September 21st 2010 18:04
Review: The Town (2010)September 19th 2010 03:44
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