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This topic comprises 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Author
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Topic: MOVIE OF THE DAY
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Paul Linfesty
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1383
From: Bakersfield, CA, USA
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-28-2003 12:11 AM
XANADU (1980)
Just what is it that makes this movie experience so special? I still haven’t figured it out, and I must have seen it about 5 or 6 times when it first came out. Is it the incredibly stunning animated glow surrounding Olivia Newton-John and her sisters, all revealed at the beginning of this musical fantasy to be Zeus’ daughters? Is it the charm that Michael Beck oozes in his frustrated artist role who want to fulfill his fantasy of opening a roller disco? Is it the sight of legendary Gene Kelly connect with the “youth” of America by skating at the disco after a passionate (yet unsuccessful) plea to bring back the big band era? Or is it the site of the abandoned Pan Pacific Auditorium, since burned to the ground?
Which one of these things?
You just HAVE to have respect for a movie in which Olivia and Michael turn into animated animals, birds and fish to show their romantic love for each other (by Don Bluth, no less…or more). Or the truly “groovy” costumes worn by everyone! Or the BIG finale with Olivia making more stunning outfit changes in a minute than Cher does in an hour. This follows the tearful pleading Olivia shows to daddy and mommy to let her see Michael just one last time. Michael ALSO got to plead for Olivia after he crashed into a Venice building wall and entered the world of the Gods. We know we are in God’s territory because of all the glowing animated bars of yellow light.
Truly a cinematic masterpiece, AND the best part of all is that you can buy it on DVD. What’s REALLY cool is that it opens with the Universal logo, with different airplanes circling the globe. It really gets you in the mood! For what, that’s up to you. Don’t delay, buy or rent today!
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Steve Anderson
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 168
From: Nashville, TN
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 03-28-2003 08:21 PM
The Virgin Suicides by Sofia Coppola is a compelling film about the suicides of five sisters, ages 13 to 17, in suburban Michigan during the 1970s and the investigation by four teenage boys who loved them. Based upon Jeffrey Eugenides' novel, The Virgin Suicides is told from the boys' collective point of view. After the passage of many years, they still cannot come to grips with the tragedy. The movie has a strange dreamlike quality, reminiscent of another film about teenage girls, Picnic at Hanging Rock and is one of the most honest and thoughtful films I've seen about the desperate struggle of adolescents for acceptance.
Coppola creates a memorable picture of suburbia in the 70s with its frumpy dress, split-level homes, finely manicured lawns, and vapid middle class values. Though the exact reason for their suicide remains a mystery, it is clear from the outset that there is a failure of communication at home. The father (James Woods) is a passive high school teacher who always defers to "the missus" to make family decisions. The mother (Kathleen Turner) is an old-school disciplinarian who refuses to allow the girls to go out with boys, even to the school dance and makes Lux burn her rock albums when she stays out all night after the Homecoming dance. As further punishment, they are taken out of school and sequestered in their rooms where they become starved for human contact and affection. Mrs. Lisbon never tries to make any kind of genuine connection with her daughters or to understand their growing isolation.
The girls: 13-year-old Cecilia (Hanna Hall), 14-year old Lux (Kirsten Dunst), 15-year-old Bonnie (Chelsea Swain), 16-year-old Mary (A.J. Cook), and 17-year-old Therese (Leslie Hayman) are all blond and attractive, reflecting the beauty the boys find fascinating but unattainable. Unable to know or understand the girls, they become more obsessed with their fantasies, watching the girls through a telescope from a room across the street. Sadly, like all unfulfilled fantasies, their relationship is always from a distance and they never get to know the girls as people. When the girls are gone, their innocence and childhood is lost forever.
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Paul Linfesty
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1383
From: Bakersfield, CA, USA
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-30-2003 01:58 PM
NASHVILLE (1975)
It was the summer of 1975 when industry predictors zeroed in on three summer films to achieve blockbuster status. Everyone is familiar with the one that many say changed the industry forever (Jaws). The two other films were more individual works, Norman Jewison’s “Rollerball” (definitely flawed but great when compared to the remake) and Robert Altman’s “Nashville.”
“Nashville” was heavily anticipated because it was in many ways the ultimate Altman film, his “epic” if you will. Altman was one of the many new breed of independent-minded filmmakers who broke out during the financial crisis affecting most Hollywood studios. Old style studio films no longer clicked with an increasingly diverse movie-going public. The studio heads couldn’t get a handle on changing tastes. Many films popped up that these old-time execs hated, but they couldn’t deny the boxoffice success of films like “Easy Rider, “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Midnight Cowboy” and Altman’s own “MASH.” So for a while these executives turned over the creative power to some highly talented, and sometimes indulgent directors.
It’s hard to review a film like “Nashville” after all these years. One has to ask if the movie stands the test of time. When I saw it initially at San Franciso’s Northpoint Theatre, I was bringing with me attitudes and beliefs that were nurtured during that period of time. For “Nashville” is definitely reflective of the political upheavals of the time, in style if not specifics. Now, when I recently watched the DVD, I also question if I am experiencing it like new, or if I am reliving the same emotions I experienced when first seeing it (confession. I saw it four times on its initial release). Despite this, I think the film holds up very well, and can be seen as a document to the mood of the country at the time.
“Nashville” takes place during a 5 day period of time , with the country music scene representing a microcosm of the country at large. We are in the midst of political campaign by an independent presidential candidate. While many have dismissed this work as being anti-country (some of the characters come across as, well, buffoons, and the songs as parodies of C&W songs), the fact is that one can grow quite affectionate. These are real people, flawed and all, but they are still very human. For example, one country star is portrayed as publicity-seeking “fraud”, yet at the tragic conclusion of the film, he steps up to the plate and is shown as a hero, after all. The film also shows the strength of America in its ability to pull together and not accept defeat in the face of tragedy.
[ 03-30-2003, 09:26 PM: Message edited by: Paul Linfesty ]
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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"
Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 03-31-2003 03:00 AM
Okay, Paul...Let's go there. I'm going to jump on your bandwagon and chime in with a personal story that illustrates the importance of the historic context in which a movie is made. This example also foregrounds the personal perspective of the viewer.
Our MOTD is...
The Lost Boys (1987, Joel Schumacher, Warner Bros.)
"The Lost Boys" was designed to be a summertime blockbuster, and it was. The High-Concept synopsis would go something like this: Sam Emmerson is sure that his older brother's new best friends are a gang of teenage vampires. Throw in some rock music and an attractive cast...and voila!
But forget the plot -- let us now look at what lies at the heart of this seemingly-innocent movie. It's a subject that is near and dear to my heart. (No...not that!) I'm talking about homophobia. Now I know what you're thinking: There weren't any gays in "The Lost Boys." Ah, but there were! Sit tight, keep reading and prepare to be amazed! First let us decode the major components of the plot...
1. The story is set in California, home to at least two of the largest gay communities in the United States.
2. Lucy Emmerson is estranged from her husband. Apart from establishing this fact within the first ten minutes of the movie, the boys' father is never mentioned again. Anyone who is familiar with the stereotype that gay men had an overbearing mother and an absent father knows what this is all about.
3. The first victim is a security guard. America has come a long way since 1987 but, back then, the legality of homosexuality was (at best) questionable. The attack on the security guard can be seen to represent the opinion that homosexuals were a threat to the moral fabric of society.
4. There has always been a certain level of homoeroticism at work in vampire stories. Take for example, the relationship betwen Dracula and Renfield or Lestadt and his male companion (both of them, for that matter). While we're at it, we might as well consider the seduction of Evil Ed in "Fright Night." My point is that vampires seem to always need a male companion to see them through their eternal life. A female companion is usually an afterthought. The gang of vampires in "The Lost Boys" is almost exclusively male. The movie shows how the one female member is used to lure more male members into the group. Not only is she depicted as a "fag hag" but the movie supports the whole notion that gay men are actually out to "convert" unsuspecting straight men into homosexuals.
5. "The Lost Boys" makes a reference to a scene in "Rebel Without A Cause," in which a teenage boy named Plato (!) is clearly attracted to a guy named Jim...although, Plato likes to call him Jamie. The scene in question is the "chicken run" scene in which Jim takes on one of the local toughs in an all-out car race towards an oceanside cliff. In "The Lost Boys" the scene is played out with motorcycles. Such displays of machismo is on par with the whole notion of guys feeling the need to "check each other out." But the homage soon gives way to a scene that drives the point home even more clearly....
6. I am referring (of course) to the scene where David and Michael are dangling from the railroad bridge along with the other vampire kids. Along comes the train and the whole thing ventures frightfully close to the realm of pornography. The ensuing cocophany pumping, throbbing and ecstatic yelling soon give way to a quiet surrender as, one by one, the vampires "let go" and fall away into the foggy unknown. It's too much for Michael to resist. He "takes the plunge."
7. Michael's initiation involves drinking from a wine bottle that contains tainted blood. I should first point out the obvious phallic imagery of the wine bottle before discussing the significance of its contents. Blood and semen are closely related. The tainted blood is clearly a metaphor for AIDS which was first discovered among gay men just a few years before "The Lost Boys" went into production. The message here seems to be that homosexual men are the living dead.
8. Kid brother Sam enlists the help of The Frogg Brothers who dress in military gear and arm themselves with water pistols filled with holy water. Religion and the (U.S.) military have been enemies of homosexuals since time began.
9. Michael's heterosexual encounter with Star is the first step on the road to his recovery. The love scene paves the way for the sequence in which Sam and the Frogg Brothers prepare for the upcoming battle. They are joined by Michael, with Star and a child vampire. The impression is that Michael is now resolved to his fate as husband and father, both of which are outward manifestations (read: "proof") of heterosexuality and "normalcy."
10. Much importance is placed on the need to find and destroy the so-called "head vampire." If you imagine an organizational flow chart, the head vampire would most likely be positioned "on top." In order for this figure to be conquered, he must be impaled by a wooden stake. I find this interesting because the notion of penetration seems to equal defeat. Witness the ancient tradition of Turkish warriors who raped defeated soldiers to symbolize total conquest. The wooden stake is obviously a phallus.
11. Moments before his defeat, the head vampire chastises Lucy Emmerson by saying: "I told you. Boys need a father." None of this would have happened if Lucy had not left her husband and moved to Santa Carla (actually, Santa Cruz). In this way, the movie supports the myth that mothers must accept the blame if their sons become homosexual.
12. The title of the movie is obviously a reference to the Lost Boys in "Peter Pan" -- they will never grow up -- but in the context of this reading the title can be seen to have another meaning. The word "lost" has negative connotations. The song "Amazing Grace" uses the word to depict sinful transgressions from the Word of God (i.e. "I once was lost, but now am found."). The use of the word "boy" as part of the title stems from the idea that manhood is associated with heterosexuality, while homosexuality is a symptom of arrested development. The character "Jack" on the TV show "Will & Grace" is a more recent embodiment of this notion in popular culture.
There are many other instances of homophobia embedded into the plot of "The Lost Boys." Here are just a few of the smaller details:
1. In the scene where Sam is taking a bath, he is singing (in high falsetto) "I ain't got a man / I'm a lonely girl."
2. The other half of that scene takes place on the other side of the bathroom door -- Michael's teeth become enlarged and he attempts to attack his younger brother. Something about the teeth gets my attention -- maybe it's the enlargement factor or the fact that teeth are bones. Then there is the whole notion of penetration. Do you really need me to spell it out for you? Seriously, though...Notice how homosexuals are depicted as rapists and pedophiles. Worse, this would be an incestuous encounter. Thus, the idea that gays are mentally deranged sex offenders is upheld by the film.
3. Sam observes that Michael's fingernails have gotten longer.
4. The film closes with a cover of "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" which was co-written and originally performed by Elton John who is openly bisexual.
5. Another song, "People Are Strange" (originally by The Doors) is featured prominently within the setup of the film. Here are some lyrics:
"People are strange when you're a stranger.
Faces look ugly when you're alone.
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted.
Streets are uneven when you're down."
I don't suppose I really need go too far into how gays -- particularly gay teens -- are made to feel like strangers, alone and unwanted. The song fits the scenario like a glove.
I can understand how preposterous this interpretation may seem in this day and age. For the gay community, present times are many times better than the 1980s. That decade saw a kind of 'moral reform' that kicked into high gear with the appearance of AIDS.
The sexual freedom of the 1970s came with a price in the form of a disease that was originally called GRIDS (Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Syndrome). Many prominent conservative leaders latched onto the idea that this disease was proof that "homosexuality equals death." These sentiments flourished under the Republican presidency of Ronald Reagan. GRIDS would be renamed and go on to claim the first tens of thousands of its victims before President Reagan would even acknowledge the disease publicly.
It is not my intention to insinuate that Hollywood people conspired to make homophobic movies. What is more likely is that "The Lost Boys" is merely symptomatic of the effects of the sociopolitical climate on the unconscious. Obviously, we cannot overlook the overwhelming importance of the individual viewer in this scenario. After all, this is an interpretation based on a certain singular point of view. Still, one cannot see what is not there.
So often, we tend to regard movies as concrete things. They are not. Movies are a form of expression and are, thus, open to interpretation. Writers and Directors are storytellers. Ancient storytelling functioned as a means of explaining the unexplainable -- Where did we come from? What happens when we die? What is the origin of the moon and the stars? Historically, most people choose to accept these stories for that they purport to be. Others will reject the stories as irrelevant or false. Quite often, however, we find ourselves negotiating these stories to determine the extent to which -- and the manner in which -- we deem them to be relevant. When these myths are dissected we discover a unifying ideology that defines the norm and, thus, places an individual within or outside of it. Close examination of contemporary mythology -- in this case, movies -- can serve as a kind of cultural barometer from one era to another.
In the case of Classical Hollywood Cinema, scholars have gone to great lengths to illustrate the manner in which straightness, whiteness and maleness are upheld as the de facto "triple crown" of humanity. "The Lost Boys" is a cautionary tale that clearly buys into these notions.
***
The above MOTD review is a paraphrasing of a much longer paper that I wrote while attending USC (circa 1995). The paper was entitled "Found In The Shadows: Homophobia and The Lost Boys."
[ 03-31-2003, 03:55 PM: Message edited by: Manny Knowles ]
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Gunnar Johansson
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 181
From: Gothenburg, Sweden
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted 04-03-2003 03:51 PM
Todays movie, if movie is the correct title, but it´s a classic, and it was shown in theatres (I think).
The song remains the same (1976) http://us.imdb.com/Title?0075244
Directed by Peter Clifton and Joe Massot, it shows what´s supposed to be one concert with Led Zeppelin at the height of their career, but it´s actually at least three cout together (with additional footage) and also shows some of the bandmembers personal dreams and/or hallucinations as some sort of intermission or complimenting the film.
It´s a documentary of the greatest rock´n´roll band ever, the way they´re meant to be seen, live. Being to young, I didn´t have the pleasure, but this show really does it for me. I have the VHS and the DVD, and included are some of my favourite songs ever.
Must see.
In Concert And Beyond!
Sorry, but I unfortunately don´t have an analysis of gay (or any other) aspects in this film, but maybe I´ll get back to you with that ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
//Gunnar
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