Oo-er, post a Coen Brothers film review and see what happens! (Nah, interested in all yer thoughts on them, as it goes)

An overall decent 90's effort from Chabrol here, in his film which follows a pair of lovers as their relationship becomes increasingly dysfunctional and twisted. Emmanuelle Beart and Francois Cluzet play the couple in question, and Cluzet becomes ever-more jealous and antagonistic, as he becomes overwhelmed with jealousy and paranoia at his belief of Beart's alleged infidelities. The film climaxes with Cluzet losing his mind, and imagining that he has "saved" his lover, whilst obsessing over images of his belief of her cheating on him.

The film is essentially set within a couple of locations, and this helps build up the increasing claustrophobia within "L'Enfer". Both Beart and Cluzet acquit themselves well in this one, with the disintegration of their relationship coming across convincingly. Nicely shot, and well paced, this comes across as a decent study in the failure of two people to understand each other both intimately and emotionally.

I do take one issue with this, though: the scene in which Beart is examined by her GP, following an incident of non-consensual sex, suddenly turns around on her, as the GP's initial caring and concern for her turns to moral disgust, as he seems to believe Cluzet's accusatory statments re. her having affairs. Not only does this scene not work at all (it comes across as very lumpy and disjointed), it also leaves a sour taste in one's mouth, as to victims of sexual assault not being believed at the drop of a pin. A rather big flaw in an otherwise convincing film for me.

"L'Enfer" is certainly worth a viewing, and is overall a fine film, but viewer be warned of the afore-mentioned scene.

Will blow the minds of the clueless, but anyone who's been paying attention the past decade or so won't find the revelations herein of much use. Ends with an audience giving the subject of the film, Robert Reich, a standing ovation. Weird.

A re-watch for me of the follow up to Tobe Hooper's debut effort, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" ("TCM"), and is set in some un-named Southern USA/"bayou" town, where there's a hotel run by a war veteran called Judd (Neville Brand). Brand's guests at the Starlight Hotel tend not to survive their stay here for too long - from the first guest we see (a runaway from the local brothel), his guests end up being victims both to himself and a rather large crocodile, who lives in the depths of a whole heap of water next to the hotel. Other guests include a family of three (the wife/mother being Marilyn Burns from "TCM"), and the father and sister of the "missing" brothel runaway. One of the regular guests is a self-styled local "gigolo" (Robert Englund), who immediately raises the ire of Judd. As the bodies pile up, the police become involved, but to little success or intervention. Judd, in a bid to "save" her, ties Burns to the bed, and then a long chase sequence begins where Burn's daughter hides away in the crawlspace of the hotel, with Judd on her tail. Burns is eventually freed by Englund's one-night stand (Englund himself meets his end at the hands of the crocodile), and after a frenzied "chase" sequence, Judd himself finally meets his fate at the hands of the killer croc.

It would appear that director Tobe Hooper was trying to re-create the atmosphere of madness and hysteria that permeates the whole of "TCM", but he largely unsucccessful in his endeavours. The film is shot with a curious flat feel to it, and the print I viewed is rather dark in places. "Eaten Alive" seems to have been filmed all on studio sets (even the outdoor scenes), and this adds to a sense of artificiality to this film. the script (co-written by Kim Henkel ("TCM") and producer Mardi Rustam) emphasises the surface terror aspect, whilst being very low on psychological horror. The characterisations tend to be a tad on the cliched side, and Marilyn Burns' attempts to resurrect her "victim" role in "TCM", but with significantly diminishing returns. The crocodile in "Eaten Alive" is distinctly rubbery-looking, and the scenes where said croc attacks Judd's victims fail to convince at all.

On the positive side, the "found sound" score (co-composed by Wayne Bell and Tobe Hooper) is very impressive, and Robert Englund (in an early role) is convincing as the sleazy, repellent Buck. Neville Brand's Judd is entertaining and enticing as well - he veers between incoherent nutty ramblings and nutso scenery-chewing. Carolyn Jones (best known for being Morticia Addams in "The Addams Family") is also good as the unlikeable brothel madam. There are also appearances by genre stalwart Stuart Whitman, and also veteran actor Mel Ferrer (who also appeared later in the atrocious and racist "Cannibal Ferox").

"Eaten Alive" seems to be imbued with the atmosphere that permeated the classic EC Comics stable, and there are moments where a sense of dread and panic are evoked. However, for too much of "Eaten Alive", the temptation to go into "shock" mode is too much temptation for Hooper to resist, and the film really falls down here. Incidentally, this film is one that Hooper has always been less-than-keen to discuss: he had many behind the scenes rows with US schlock-meister Rustam, and Hooper has essentially distanced himself from the film. The pattern of producer interference and general fallouts has plagued Hooper's career ever since.

"Eaten Alive" certainly has its moments, and is quite an enjoyable film in its own way, but it really has none of the power and effectivess of the seminal "TCM". See this film if you know about "TCM", otherwise do go and watch Hooper's debut film instead.

Notes: "Eaten Alive" was released in the UK under the re-titling of "Death Trap", and had a (cut) cinema UK release in 1978. An uncut version of this film was later released by the Vipco label in the early 1980's, and "campaigner" Mary Whitehouse took violent exception to this film (despite never having seen it). "Death Trap" was successfully prosecuted several times under Section 2 of the Obscene Publications Act on video during the "video nasties" period, and was subsequently withdrawn in due course. "Death Trap" was finally re-issued by Vipco in 2000 in a cut version (around 30 seconds cut?), and there has never been a subsequent uncut release of this film in the UK.

I love TCM and tend to think Tobe Hooper doesn't get enough credit for a lot of what he made after it but I do find Eaten Alive almost unwatchably dull.

I quite enjoyed it a lot the first time I watched it - but as I say, it's definitely a miss rather than a hit, and am not surprised you don't care for this one.

I actually quite like "TCM2", for what its worth!

I hated TCM2 the first time I saw it but once I accepted it for what it is rather than what I wanted it to be (a simple continuation of the first one) I grew to like it a lot. It's also been pretty influential in its way. There definitely seems to be a lot of TCM2 in Rob Zombie's movies. Probably due a 'seminal' prefix by now.

Agree with you v much on "TCM2". I've seen at least one Rob Zombie film I can remember ("House of 1,000 Corpses"?), and yes, that is definitely imbued with said sequel.

I also like "Poltergeist" as well, by and large. Still haven't seen "The Funhouse" yet - is that worth checking out?

Definitely. Massively underrated. Have you seen his version of Salem's Lot? The one with James Mason and David Soul. Outrageously good for a made for tv movie.

I bought Eaten Alive/Death Trap on DVD for a £1 or something not long after I saw TCM for the first time and was really excited for more. I hard a really hard time making it to the end of Eaten Alive as it was so booooring. It's weird that a guy could go from awesome to awful so abruptly.

Thanks, demon. Will check out both "The Funhouse" and Hooper's "Salem's Lot" as soon as I can.

Heh! Fair enough on you not liking it at all, and certainly agree with you by and large on your last point.

WHITNAIL AND I



i had never heard of this shit

very fucking funny

PARIS (2008) by cédric klapisch

this was an altman-esque run through various characters and situations, all interconnected somehow. it was a good movie, not a great one, but i really loved it and would see it again-- possibly because i generally like the french a lot and this is one of those movies that makes me want to be there instead of saying "ohh, whatta mooby". plus, there are a bunch of beautiful women in it.

Over here that film is so embeded in the culture that it transcends things like mainstream and non-mainstream. It seems strange that in other places places don't know it.

i had it recommended by netflix-- their servers know what i like. i can see why it can be very much an english thing though-- it's not that it's incomprehensible or untranslatable to foreigners, but that it's very "national" in its context and references, and that can make it hard to pick up elsewhere ("ponce" and "toilet [something]", oxford/eton, the unemployment checks or whatever it is they get, fear of armed peasants, the novel that marwood is reading, class differences, etc. etc.)

It has a similar 'quintessentially English' thing to Python or Fawlty Towers which apparently have a pretty big cult following in the US, so I'm slightly surprised W&I doesn't have a similar following there.

W&I is known around the film nerds and fanboys. Nowhere near as much as Python or Fawlty.

my wife can recite every fawlty towers episode by heart and we regularly watch english stuff which is i think why netflix said to get it (we recently watched the first seasons of "upstairs downstairs," which were suprisingly entertaining).

python is bigger than that-- at least here in 'merica, especially in nerd/computer culture, it has been a constant presence. their absurdist humor is less context-dependent and can be more easily repurposed, i think.

plus, terry gilliam is from minnehaha, or however one spells the name of that american state.

I never liked Python stuff. Never have found it more than mildly humorous at best.

and yet, the influence of monty python can be found in things as diverse as…

oh, too much work. check here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_P...ural_influence

plus a ton of things that haven't yet made it too that page.

Shit has just as much influence as gold. Influence does not = worth.

The Running Man.




Fucking shit 1980s Schwarzneggar movies remind me why I love the guy. He was good. And no, I don't care if you disagree with me ;)

i needed a break from too much thinking and got me BLUE JASMINE



cate blanchett is FANTASTIC. out of this planet. damn, can she act! i can't praise her enough. she's a force of nature. more than brilliant. just-- wow.

I've not seen that film but I'm glad you said that. She's one of those who's famous and respected but still doesn't get the praise I think she deserves. And almost inconceivably beautiful. Which may be her problem re critical recognition.

rob, im glad you posted this today cuz yesterday i was at my wit's end trying to figure out how to answer your summary dismissal of monty python. so thanks for the opportunity.


right, but there are also shit tastes and shit opinions. your taste judgments aren't universal. just because they don't do much for you it doesn't automatically turn them into shit for everyone else. millions of intelligent fans overrule your judgment, and monty python remains an icon of late 20th century culture and a seminal comedy troupe. yes, they are not for everyone, and maybe you don't get them because their imitators watered them down for you first, but they can't be dismissed as if they didn't matter--that would be ignorant.

for example, i have no taste for horror movies. i really don't like them. but just because i don't like them i can't be saying that they are shit or irrelevant or that they aren't important. horror films are important to the audiences, to the culture, and to film itself, even if they don't particularly appeal to me. i am not the whole of the culture, thank fuck.


well she looks amazing in the movie but she can also fall apart right before your eyes and she does it so incredibly well it's spooky.

there are more things i'd like to mention about it, but i fear the spoilers. so check it out and let me know what you think.

Not dismissing them at all but I've personally never found them that funny. Which puts them in the same category as Chaplin for me. As you say, iconic but, besides maybe the odd scene or sketch, neither of them have ever particularly made me laugh.

chaplin was so widely influential and imitated that by the time we got to see him he didn't look that fresh anymore. fellini's giulietta massina is chaplinesque. jacques tati is chaplinesque. i know people compare rowan atkinson with buster keaton but i find a lot of chaplin in his mr. bean. chaplin is more obvious in those performers but who didn't he influence in comedy really? he's like water and we're fish.

anyway, i am not always in the mood for monty python, sometimes they are too nihilistic for me (as in "the meaning of life"), but i can't ignore their contributions. anyway, to continue from where this conversation begun, they are much much bigger here than whitnail and i or fawlty towers. their broadway musical alone (oh, there's a genre i truly detest, but is very culturally relevant regardless) has been going on non-stop since their debut in 2004 and shows no signs of abating.

ps- heres an article that might shed light on the impact of python on the us vs. england
http://www.theawl.com/2013/03/the-be...-flying-circus


and here an example of how far fans will take things. you don't have to read it all, just check it
http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/the-mo...-business.html

:( :( :(

Wow. When someone praises a performance in an Allen film, I consider that very high praise, since off the top of my head I can't think of any bad acting in his movies. I mean, if Andrew Dice Clay does a respectable job, you know Cate's gonna knock it out of the park.

This flick comes close to his work in the 80s, which I consider his golden age. At first I thought a re-telling of Streetcar Named Desire would be pretty pointless, but this is a very good re-telling.

By the way, after Match Point came the poor Scoop. After Vicky Christina came the forgettable You Will Meet a Tall Handsome Stranger. After Midnight in Paris came the okay When in Rome. What I'm saying is, his next one probably won't be that great.

Hope I'm wrong. Hope he makes just one more movie as good as Hannah and Her Sisters or Crimes and Misdemeanors. Just one.

Thanks for the tip a while back T&B. A frightening documentary.





Burden of Dreams (1992)

A brilliant documentary about the making of Werner Herzog''s Fitzcarraldo (1982). Highly recommended if you're a fan of Herzog's work.





Unbelievable!

IN A LONELY PLACE

humphrey bogart+gloria grahame+nicholas ray = teh win

Watched John Ford's The Sun Shines Bright. A much more appropriate depiction of Judge Priest than his initial film.

Also watched Louis CK's film Tomorrow Night from 1997. This is much more Woody Allen-esque than his TV show, which I personally didn't think was Woody Allen-esque in the first place. There's also a touch of John Waters in the absurdism of it. Great stuff.

gainsbourg: a heroic life

i'm really liking joann sfar as a writer/director. i've never read his graphic novels, but first watched "the rabbi's cat," which was amazing and hilarious and incredibly imaginative, an that got me hooked.

this is a totally different thing because it's not an animation, except for little bits and pieces, and some puppets, but the introduction of a parallel mythological sort of reality to a straight biopic works really well for my taste.

the ladies who play gainsbourg's legendary lovers are all mind-blowingly gorgeous. and laetitia casta's resemblance to brigitte bardot is particularly amazing. wow!

Why are chicks always jealous of instruments? Let the dude practice chick, there will be plenty of time to pipe it down later, music is important.

they compete for attention i suppose (i know a story about this i can tell later)



but if you aren't a little jealous of gainsbourg, you're in denial!

I see..



this is also why they are jealous of the weed man.

Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, 2002)

Wow, there's something reassuring at seeing a fellow Scot make such a complex mood piece. Every shot feels so full of depth and warm but never goes out of its way to present itself as such. The plot is illogical but that's so beyond the point of what it achieves, especially when you're dealing with characters who exist through their emotions than their mind. It's perhaps impenetrable in certain aspects but I liked that.