Halloween

So for the past week I have been procrastinating from my homework by watching Halloween movies and have come across an interesting realization. I started my Halloween fix this past weekend with a viewing of Hocus Pocus on ABC Family. It had been a while since I've seen it and it was interesting to see how my perception of this film has changed as I've gotten older. The next night I ended up continuing with ABC Family's 13 Nights of Halloween and watching their presentation of Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice. I have always been a fan of Tim Burton and love both of these movies so any excuse to watch them I'll take. Monday I decided to switch over to AMC and watch some of their fright nights. I ended up watching the original Halloween and then continued to watch when 13 Ghosts came on afterwords. Halloween is one of my favorite horror films and decided to had to watch it. When I saw that 13 Ghosts was coming on next I decided I had to watch it, especially since a friend of mine had been raving about it over the summer. And tonight I finished my craze with a viewing of Scream on Encore. Scream is one of those movies that I enjoy watching because of the statement it makes on the genre.

Well after watching all of these movies I really noticed the distinct differences there are in the ideas of what makes Halloween, Halloween. With ABC Family of course you're going to get more family oriented movies but they really aren't showing movies that I would define as Halloween. Looking over the rest of their schedule for this week they're showing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Goonies, the first three Batman movies, and I honestly don't see how Edward Scissorhands is related to the holiday at all. Granted there aren't that many kid friendly scary movies out there but this list films just doesn't hit as entirely appropriate. They don't have anything to do with Halloween or even going along with the idea that Halloween is supposed to be scary. In the end it seems to me that they picked the darkest movies they had in their vault and showed it. And then on the flip side you have AMC, which is focused solely on the idea that Halloween is all about being scared. For the nine days and nights AMC is showing non-stop horror films until Halloween night. And while I enjoy a good scare here and there I think a week just filled with horror films is just ridiculous. But I will give them credit with the fact that a majority of the films they are showing are the new classics. I guess I just find this dynamic between the ideas of what Halloween is about to be an interesting thing to look at.

The Stepfather

So in yet another splurge my roommate and I ended up heading to the Waterfront to see another movie. For months my roommate has been obsessing over the movie The Stepfather and has been dying to see it. I will admit I had no real interest in seeing it but she always surprises me with films that actually are decent so I went along. The Stepfather is another one of those films that has the high school screw-up pitted against the serial killer to prove himself. And I promise that I haven't ruined the plot of this movie at all because you know this from the multitude of trailers that they've been showing since this summer. Dylan Walsh, the star of Nip/Tuck, plays David Harris the serial killer stepfather who begins to have issues keeping his story straight with his new victims. His character is very unique and a killer that keeps you questioning, not whether or not he's going to kill them but what exactly it is that makes him tick. And then you have Penn Badgley, star of Gossip Girl and the real reason my roommate wanted to see this, playing the disappointed high school screw-up who slowly begins to realize there's more to Harris than meets the eye. I admit I wasn't going into this movie with high expectations but this movie was really disappointing. I think the premise was really unique and the beginning is pretty well thought out but it really didn't work in the end. It was way too predictable and the ending really just came without any closure. I ultimately didn't like the movie and am sad that I wasted my five dollars to see it in theaters, it was definitely one of those movies that could have waited until it came out.

Three Rivers Film Festival

In accordance with my blog and the idea of rediscovering films, I thought that this was an important thing to put out there and promote. Pittsburgh Filmmakers is hosting a film festival with films and events from all over the world and dealing with various decades. A big goal of the festival is to examine where the film industry is going and to show where the industry has come from. The films will be shown throughout the city in the three theaters owned by filmmakers, The Harris Theater, Regent Square, and the Melwood Screening Room. And while I've never attended the film festival in the past I feel this is an great opportunity for anyone who enjoys films. It's a great way of exposing yourself to a number of films that you may not see otherwise. For a list of the films showing and the events that the festival is hosting check out http://3rff.com.

War of the Worlds

While I was looking to waste time this week I found War of the Worlds, the 1953 version, playing on TCM. I remember seeing the end of this film in my seventh grade science class because I ended up being absent when my teacher started the film the day before. All I ended up seeing was the very end of the film when the aliens are defeated, I apologize if I ruined the film for anyone but I'm assuming that everyone knows the basic story of War of the Worlds. And it was this ending scene that I had been originally comparing when I saw the remake this past summer on ABC. Even before I had seen the whole film I could tell that the remake had made big changes to differentiate itself from the original film. Now that I've seen the original the whole way through, I have to admit that I'm amazed at how much they changed from the film. You go from the main character, Clayton, being a scientist out to understand the invaders and save humanity to a beat-nick dad, Ray, who's out to save himself and his children. The main character is no longer a noble hero out to save the day but a failure looking to correct his shortcomings of the past. Clayton finds the alien invaders original landing site in the middle of no where in California and follows the invaders progress to Los Angeles. Ray lives in New Jersey and decides to travel to Boston where his ex-wife lives because he doesn't know what else to do. The hysterical love interest from the 1953 film turns into a hysterical daughter in the remake which also adds a trouble making son. The one difference between the films that really got me was the different aspects that the films each focused on.
In the 1953 film because he is a scientist, Clayton is privy to more information about the aliens and where they are in the world. So the film really focuses on humanity's need to understand situations and how people deal with the situation when it gets beyond their capability. One thing that's really obvious about this version is the clear religious overtone that the has. Clayton is friends with a priest at the start of the film and in the end he finds his girlfriend taking shelter in a church at the end of the film when they both fail to escape the city. The film focuses on the idea that once society is past the ability to comprehend the situation scientifically they turn to religion for salvation and answers. And because they are in a church when the aliens start to die, it makes you question what exactly caused the eventual defeat, science or God. The 2005 remake on the other hand focuses solely on humanity's reactions to crisis and the extreme survival instinct that kicks in. Throughout the film Ray is always making decisions to save his family that puts others in jeopardy. At no point do people really look to understand what is going on, they are only concerned with saving their own necks. And while Ray does figure out many of the aliens traits and shortcomings from his inexplicable run-ins with them, the main focus is how people react to crises. There is no point in the film where people bind together in an attempt to overcome the common enemy like there is in so many other alien invasion films. This is definitely a film that shows that when it comes down to it you have to look out for yourself because no one else will. In the end I find this transformation of the film's ideals very interesting and believe that it says a lot about how our society has changed in 50 years.

More thoughts on high school

After reading the comments on my last post I thought I would elaborate further on my thoughts on the high school genre. First off my list of high school movies is completely influenced by what I have and have not seen. After looking up high school films and seeing the great many lists of the best ones out there, I can say that most people do believe that Dazed and Confused and Fast Times at Ridgemont High are within the top 5 every time. However I've never seen them so I can't judge and place them on my list.

With the films I have seen I have to admit that my experience with the high school genre is fairly unique. Almost all of the movies on my list and actually most movies that deal with high school I didn't see until I was in college. I had already been in high school and knew what it was really like. I know watching many of these films with friends they're always mentioning how they thought high school really would be like the films they saw. You would have the clearly distinct "clicks," where no one ever communicated outside their click and each had its own table in the cafeteria. You would have some situation that would cause the students to confront their differences and unite. I think this is part of the reason so many people are obsessed with these movies. These movies represent what they think high school should have been like. The geek was supposed to end up with the hot cheerleader, the students all realize that there is more to life than just high school, and in worse case scenarios like The Faculty after defeating the enemy, the students realize who they really are.

The high school genre has always claimed that high school was where you really discover yourself and that is where their success stems from. And this aspect of the genre is still what hooks the youth of today. With the High School Musical series, today's youth are convinced that not only will high school be a breeze if you have the right dance moves but high school is where you really find out who you are and what you want in life. It isn't until you actually reach high school that you realize that life is no where near as simple or formulaic as the genre claims it to be. And while we are generally disappointed that our lives didn't turn out as we thought they would we continue to watch these films to remind ourselves what we really want out of life. We want to figure out who we are and to be are own individuals. So while high school may not turn out to be what we want it to be, the films serve as a reminder of what we want to achieve in life and to always remember who we are.

A High School Obsession

I'm not sure how it managed to happen but this weekend I've been bombarded with high school movies. My roommate in a recent 90's craze decided to download Jawbreakers, a 1999 film starring Rose McGowan, Judy Greer, and Rebecca Gayheart. In the movie three of the most popular girls in high school accidentally kill their "best" friend with a jawbreaker in a prank. In the end viewers are warned of the dangers of conforming to what is popular and what happens when you let things go too far. As the weekend progressed I happened to catch Another Cinderella Story, a 2008 film starring Selena Gomez, the new Disney it girl. This Cinderella story tells the story of Mary who wins her prince through great dance moves and not backing down from her former pop star employer. High school for this class is easy to overcome with great dance moves in a similar fashion that High School Musical has made its success with. And while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to say about high school movies I started to watch Can't Hardly Wait, the 1998 film starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, and Seth Green. After graduation the entire senior class goes to a house party where Preston, who has been in love with Amanda since she transferred to the school, tries to confess his love for her. We learn that what happened in high school doesn't define who you are the rest of your life. And just sitting here writing this I've seen commercials for a showing of Heathers this coming weekend. I can't help but feel amazed at our obsession with high school. Everyone always talks about how much they hated high school but we're always watching movies that focus solely on high school. here's a link to Entertainment Weekly's top 50 high school movies and AMC's list of films that didn't make the list.

Well here's my top ten high school movies:
10. Election
9. The Virgin Suicides
8. Scream
7. Heathers
6. The Faculty
5. Brick
4. Breakfast Club
3. Saved!
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1. 10 Things I Hate About You

Whip It

In a recent decision to splurge my friends and I decided to actually see a movie in the theaters. Last year we discovered that Lowe's Theater at the Waterfront has a deal where you can see any movie during the week, Monday through Thursday, for five dollars. After seeing the list of options we ended up picking Whip It. The new film directed and starring Drew Barrymore looks at the life of a Texas high schooler in search of herself. Ellen Page plays Bliss, a misfit who feels like she doesn't know who she is. Her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) forces her to participate in beauty pageants to try and give her the life she never had. On a trip to Austin Bliss finds a pamphlet for Austin's roller derby. After seeing one of the matches Bliss decides to join the derby and quickly becomes a star. While she works to discover herself Bliss realizes that in her search she can't just give up on the life she already has. I really enjoyed the film and thought it did a good job not being the typical teenage angst movie. It was funny and was one of those quirky movies that really work well. You fall in love with the characters and can easily relate to Bliss and what she wants to accomplish. I recommend it highly.

Brick

Well I couldn't find anything interesting on TV so I flipped through my roommates book of movies to find something I have seen yet. After amazing my roommate with the amount of movies I still haven't seen in her collection after living with her for three years, I came across the film Brick. Brick is a modern day film noir set in a California high school. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a high school detective Brendan looking to figure out what is going with an ex-girlfriend after she calls him asking him for help. As he starts to look into her situation he goes deeper and deeper into the high school's underworld and starts to discover that he's bitten off more than he can chew. This film is an amazing example of the classic detective story. The story celebrates the tradition of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler and their dysfunctional detectives. The language and characters throughout the film sound like they came straight out of a novel. You have the overly witty detective who gets himself hurt more than any normal person should. The femme fatale who's only desire is to help but ultimately reverts back to her nature. The drug boss and his main thug who look to control the business. Along with these classic characters is the language that transports you into the film noir world so well that you forget that it's set in modern day California. The film is so good at representing the detective novel that it has to remind you that you are watching high schoolers. At one point Brendan ends up blacking out in the Pin's basement and is brought up to the kitchen to fully discuss their issues. While the two are sitting in the kitchen the Pin's mother is serving Brendan breakfast. Another way the film works to include that high school aspect is to make the cop element of the story into the vice principal of the school.

I find this film an amazing example of detective fiction and great interpretation of a genre that has gotten lost through the years. I love the way the director really captured that element of the detective which makes you love him and yet hate him at the same time. The wit that the film uses is brilliant and made me want to go find the novels from a detective fiction class I took and reread them. If you enjoy mysteries and Indie films this is right up your alley. If you're not sure it is I suggest watching it any way, it's just that good.

Romantic Couple Musings

So while I was reading other people's blogs I turned on the TV for some background noise. In the end I decided to put on TNT's presentation of Titanic. It's been forever since I've watched the movie in its entirety and honestly I really don't remember much about it. Well when I turned on the movie I ended up coming in when the boat is sinking and Jack's friends break through the gates to reach the upper levels. I must admit I've seen the ending many times, often just to see America's obsession with death at its finest. After the film ended TNT started to show it again. I can't recall the last time I saw the beginning of the film and was generally surprised by it. However the point of this blog is not a critic of a movie I can't say I've ever truly enjoyed. While watching the film I started to think of the way that films reuse couples. Titanic was the film that launched Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet into stardom. They were the couple that every girl wanted to be in the 90's. When Revolutionary Road came out last year the film used this previous pairing to help get interest in the new film. I must admit that I find this concept so interesting when you look at the couples the two actors play. In Titanic they are two people from opposite worlds who fall madly in love with each as they explore each others worlds. Revolutionary Road is about a new couple trying to live life in the suburbs while dealing with issues of identity and the desire to follow dreams that do not correspond with the American dream. The two couples have nothing to do with each other and look at very different issues. In the end I find it amazing that advertisers would even try to compare these two couples.

Along with this idea of reusing couples in extremely different genres of films I started to think about the sheer multitude of couples that get reused. Earlier this weekend TNT also showed Runaway Bride, another film that utilizes a previous coupling. Runaway Bride stars Richard Gere and Julia Roberts who also star together in Pretty Woman. We go from the prostitute and the lonely business man to the newspaper reporter and the independent tomboy afraid of settling down. Another example would be Matthew McConaughy and Kate Hudsen in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Fool's Gold. And yet another would be Nia Vardolas and John Corbett in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and I Hate Valentine's Day. Why do we feel this need to see the same couples over and over again in such diverse and yet similar roles? I realize there are only so many stars out there but our fascination with seeing the same actors reprise the same roles is clearly evident in today's and yesterday's films.

Analyze This

Flipping through channels I came across Analyze This on AMC. I remember wanting to see this movie for the longest time but never being old enough to watch it or getting around to it. In the film Robert De Niro reprises his typical role of gangster and plays Paul Vitti, one of the heads of a New York mob family. (I tried counting the amount of movies De Niro has played a gangster in just for kicks but since a majority of his films involve crime in some way I couldn't keep track.) After seeing the death of another leading head of his family Vitti begins to suffer from panic attacks and can't be the gangster he used to be. To try and fix his issues he drags a psychiatrist, played by Billy Crystal, into the situation. In the end while Vitti figures out his emotional issues he ruins the psychiatrist's life and puts everyone into more danger than they were before. I liked the movie and the way they played with the idea of the tough gangster. Crystal and De Niro make a great comedy pair and both are great at playing up the joke. My only complaints about the film are that it was difficult to watch on TV since every time the characters swore it had to be censored. While you could pretty much get the gist of what it was they were saying it kind ruins experience and reminds you that you're watching it on cable. My other complaint is that the people in charge felt that it was necessary to make a sequel. While I can't say I've seen it and don't know if its any good I hate it when it sequels are made because the first one was successful. I find that most films are good enough without the sequel.

I've always found our obsession with mobster movies fascinating. The mob has come to represent not only a fearful enemy but also a symbol of freedom and justice at times. From iconic films like The Godfather and Scarface to more recent films like Goodfellows and The Departed the mob, mafia, and gangsters have become an idolized aspect of American Culture. What I really like about Analyze This is the fact that it playfully focuses on the effects that being a mafia boss can have on a person. A major theme in gangster films are the effects that the job has on the character and his family, but usually this is looked at very seriously and destroys the character's life. Analyze This makes the gangster confront his issues and shows a personable and funnier side to our obsession with the idea of the mafia.

Abandon

This Wednesday was a Netflix special. My roommate, in a recent obsession with the actor Charlie Hunnam, decided to rent the film Abandon to see him in action. The film also stars Katie Holmes (pre-Cruise), Benjamin Bratt, Zooey Deschanel, and Gabriel Union. Abandon is the story of Katie (played by Katie), a senior on the cusp of graduation. Along with worrying about getting a job after college and finishing her senior thesis, Katie has to worry about her jealous ex-boyfriend coming back after disappearing two years before. Detective Wade Handler is put in charge of her ex-boyfriend's case after coming back from an issue with drugs and alcohol to ease him back into duty. However, the further Handler gets involved in the case the more comes out about Katie and her past.

This was definitely was one of those movies that I'll only be watching once in my life. It was definitely one of those stories you weren't expecting the ending from what you saw of the trailers but about halfway you figure out the ending any way. The movie was fairly interesting but it was definitely a plot that I've seen one too many times to fully enjoy this time. If you enjoy b-horror films starring big name actors before they hit the big time I'm sure you'll enjoy. I can't say I enjoyed it but at least I've expanded my internal film collection.