Helen Hayes e Ingrid Bergman - cena de um grande confronto.

# Anastacia – A Princesa Esquecida

O assassinato da família real russa foi um dos atos mais simbólicos do Exército Vermelho durante a Revolução Russa. O mistério que se seguiu quanto o destino dos restos mortais, deu origem a uns dos mais instingantes mitos do século XX, aquele que versa sobre a sobrevivência da Grã-Duquesa Anastásia Nikolaevna Romanov. Quarta filha do czar, Anástasia teria resistido a seus ferimentos e escapado da Rússia com poucas memórias da vida na corte.

Muitas foram aquelas que alegaram ser Anastásia e apelaram pelo acolhimento dos Ramanov espalhados pelas famílias reais européias.  Anna Anderson tornou-se a mais famosa destas levando seu caso aos tribunais alemães e causando muitas controvérsias. Após a sua morte,  foi confirmado (através de exames de DNA) que ela não tinha descendia dos monarcas russos . Neste filme, conta-se uma versão romanceada de sua farsa.

General Bounine (Yul Brynner) é um vigarista que sonha com a fortuna antigo czar e pretende por as mãos nela valendo-se da lenda da princesa perdida. Justamente quando seu orçamento está prestes a acabar, a candidata perfeita aparece. Egressa de uma instituição de saúde mental e cheia de lacunas na memória, Anna Anderson (Ingrid Bergman) apresenta duas características ainda mais cruciais: alta sugestabilidade e uma beleza estonteante.

Grandioso, para os padrões da época,  o filme de Anatole Litvak vale-se de duas grandes atrizes. Ingrid Bergman encarna com vivacidade o papel de uma mulher que nem mesmo a reconquista da identidade (seja lá qual essa for) poderia reparar suas imensas perdas. Helen Hayes, por sua vez, interpreta a Imperatriz Maria, avó paterna da personagem título. Fria, compreensiva, calejada e esperançosa, a Imperatriz imprime outro teor à narrativa desde sua primeira aparição – ainda que esta seja levemente tardia. E embora Bergman tenha ganhado o Oscar, é de Hayes a grande interpretação.

Ideal para quem gosta de grandes atrizes, clássicos ou os irresistíveis romances não usuais de Ingrid Bergman.

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# Clube da Luta

No Brasil, Clube da Luta (Fight Club, Estados Unidos, 1999) tornou-se um título notório quando um atirador alvejou espectadores no cinema durante uma sessão do filme. O então estudante de Medicina, acabou matando três pessoas e deixando outras quatro feridas. A despeito disso, o filme conquistou uma base forte de fãs seduzidos pelo seu discurso de protesto quanto o lado ordinário da vida.

Clube da Luta acompanha a vida de seu narrador, e como ele deixou de ser o protótipo de homem urbano bem-sucedido através da auto-destruição e da iconoclastia. Seu “despertar” é promovido por Tyler Dunder. Figura imponente e persuasiva, Dunder arrastará para sua órbita destrutiva um exército de seguidores. Seus argumentos são simples: toda a mediocridade que cerca as relações sociais é sustentada por pequenas convenções, símbolos de poder, e estrutura de controle. E pequenos atos contrário a isto são capazes de provocar grandes impactos.

Tyler manterá uma relação estreita apenas com o confuso narrador que apesar de ignorar o porquê e a extensão dos planos de Dunder irá envolver-se com estes até o pescoço. O mistério sobre o encontro destes dois, porém, é uma surpresa reservada para o final da narrativa. Ainda assim, a  resposta está lá no “acordar” do protagonista (ou talvez em seu não dormir representado aqui por uma eterna insônia).

Edward Norton (Narrador) e Brad Pitt (Dunder) estão ótimos em seus papéis. Desesperados, nervosos e levemente insanos, os atores dão humanidade a personagens não muito críveis. O elo mais frágil do elenco, do filme em geral, é sem dúvida Helena Boham Carter e sua personagem Marla. Esta mais parece Beatriz Lestrange (bruxa histérica que atriz intrepreta na série Harry Potter) perdida no filme errado: exagerada, sem graça e não sexy, Carter derruba quase todas as cenas em que está presente. Curioso que a partir desta experiência em todos seus trabalhos subsequentes ela se deu ao trabalho de repetir a mesma caracterização. A razão disto é realmente difícil de entender.

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# O Diário de Bridget Jones

Antes de flertar com a anorexia, Renée Zellweger inspirou centenas de mulheres na pele de Bridget Jones: solteira de 30 anos, fumante compulsiva e acima do peso, a heroína sonhava em arranjar um namorado, perder peso e largar o tabagismo. E como se já não bastassem seus próprios problemas, seus pais sexagenários se divorciam quando sua mãe arranja um amante.

Dona de uma personalidade quase histriônica, a mãe de Bridget ainda insiste em lembrá-la que Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) está solteiro. Porém, onde a mãe enxerga um príncipe, a filha vê um sapo. Mesmo porque esta já foi fisgada pelo charme do grande rival de Darcy: Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant).

Inspirado no divertido livro homônimo de Helen Fielding (que também assina o roteiro), O Diário de Bridget Jones (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Inglaterra, 2001) está entre as melhores comédias da década. Tal distinção deve-se especialmente ao carisma da personagem central e da atriz que a anima. Bridget não é somente atrapalhada e impulsa, ela parece tão real quanto alguma mulher que você conhece bem.

Os coadjuvantes são também afiadíssimos. Colin Firth e Hugh Grant se alternam nos papéis de mocinho e vilão nas páginas do diário e sempre com muito charme e graça. Gemma Jones e Jim Broadbent fazem-se grandes como os pais da protagonista apesar do limitado screentime.

Outro aspecto da película que merece destaque é sua trilha sonora. Composta por hits da música pop (All By Myself, It’s Raining Man são exemplos) esta se encaixa perfeitamente em cenas que poderiam ser ridículas como uma luta no meio da rua, ou uma crise de choro em frente da TV.

Anos depois foi filmada uma continuação bastante inferior e caricata. Rumores dizem que a terceira parte está em pré-produção com os mesmos atores envolvidos. Renée Zellweger já declarou que não irá engordar novamente para fazer a personagem. E segundo anunciou Hugh Grant este será o último filme. Espera-se que seja um belo canto do cisne para ele, um ótimo ator que alcançou excelência na comédia-romântica sem nunca ter recebido os devidos louros.

All By Myself:

# A Casa das Coelhinhas

O estereótipo de loira burra e sensual é bastante usual no cinema americano. Marilyn Monroe, Jane Mansfield, dentre outras, tornaram-se ícones representando este papel em diversos filmes. Ao longo dos anos, contudo, devido também a mudanças diante do comportamento sexual e da relação entre os gêneros, o pareamento entre burrice/ingenuidade e sexo acabou vulgarizando-se e perdendo muito de seu glamour. Em A Casa das Coelhinhas (The Bunny House, Estados Unidos, 2008), Anna Faris mergulha fundo na figura de loira burra com um resultado positivo.

Faris interpreta Shelly, uma playmate levada a crer que é muito velha (aos 27 anos) para viver na mansão de Hugh Hefner. Na busca por um novo teto, Shelly chega à fraternidade ZETA onde vivem garotas que a despeito de frequentarem a faculdade ainda são típicas weirdos do high school. As garotas, entretanto, também correm risco de perder sua casa já que nenhuma caloura tem interesse de juntar-se a elas. Então, com a ajuda de Shelly elas tentarão encontrar seu lado sexy podendo assim atrair rapazes e popularidade. Pequenos romances perpassam o mote central.

Obviamente, as piadas são bastante óbvias e de conteúdo praticamente misógino. Mesmo a transformação das garotas da ZETA parece passar a mensagem de que beleza é realmente um padrão pelo qual vale a pena perder a individualidade. Mas há também um pequeno esforço em caracterizar Shelley e sua ocupação como um anti-exemplo para jovens e bonitas mulheres e de não julgamento por primeiras impressões.

Apesar da presença de  Katherine McPhee (ex- American Idol), Rumer Willis e Kat Jennings – ambas iniciantes já com certa notoriedade – é Anna Faris e seu excelente timing que sustenta todo o filme. E somente por isso, ela já mereceria melhores papeis em melhores filmes.

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#Kramer Vs. Kramer

De todos os valores sociais que o Ocidente endossa talvez os mais caros sejam justamente aqueles ligados à família com todos as demandas que condicionam: casamento, amor maternal, monogamia, dentre outros. Conflitos ou sagas familiares sempre renderam boas histórias e mesmo a Bíblia está recheada deles. Kramer Vs. Kramer (Estados Unidos, 1979) explora um conflito familiar que corre não no ambiente doméstico e sim em seu lugar de excelência desde a aceitação social do divórico: os tribunais de justiça. Entre advogados e em frente a um juiz os Kramer tentam chegar a um acordo pela guarda de seu único filho. E diferentemente do que poderia parecer a questão vai além de um “simples” desquite.

Outrora um dona de casa, Joanna (Meryl Streep) abandonou seu filho e marido para “se encontrar”. E se num primeiro momento, Ted (Dustin Hoffman) achou que ela fosse voltar, cada nova dificuldade do papel de pai solteiro reitera a certeza dela. Na ausência da esposa, um novo Ted floresce e ele torna-se mais sensível quanto a parentalidade e necessidades de seu filho. Foi ela quem partiu, mas ele é quem se encontra.

O retorno de Joanna e seu desejo de brigar pela guarda da criança soam como um ultraje ao forte laço que se formou entre pai e filho.  Contudo, seus argumentos no tribunal (apoiados por uma excelente atuação de Streep) conseguem sustentar que talvez ela realmente mereça ter a guarda. Isso que torna  a obra interessante: a despeito de  motivações e interesses, uma disputa em família nem sempre conta com um vilão e um mocinho.

Apesar de Streep estar muito bem em seu papel, o filme é, de fato, de Dustin Hoffman. Todos seus momentos em tela são tocantes e conduzidos sem exageros ou manerismos. Por tudo isso, Kramer Vs. Kramer é recomendado àquelas que apreciam um bom drama.

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E se eu tivesse que ordená-los:

1º O Diário de Bridget Jones

2º Anastacia – A Princesa Esquecida

3º Kramer Vs. Kramer

4º A Casa das Coelhinhas

5º Clube da Luta

Shelf Life: Fight Club

By all accounts, 1999 was one of the best years in film history, featuring an amazing glut of debuts and career-defining follow-ups from a rich and varied roster of directors who are steadily working some ten years later. For example American Beauty, which was also released in ‘99, was one of the first films revisited in our “Shelf Life” series, and it seemed most likely to lose its luster, especially given its Oscar win and almost universal critical acclaim, but thankfully the film sustained most of its initial appeal and impact.

Fight Club, meanwhile, faced markedly more polarizing reactions from audiences and critics, although like Alan Ball’s film it captured a moment in the zeitgeist that made it important almost regardless of how good it was. Ten years later, Fox Home Entertainment just released the film on Blu-ray in a gorgeous new set, and after a decade of conspicuous consumption and ironic detachment, it’s time to see whether the weight of its message or meaning still holds relevance.

The Facts: Released on October 15, 1999, David Fincher’s Fight Club is an adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name, adapted by screenwriter Jim Uhls. Its incendiary deconstruction of contemporary culture and the narcotizing effects of consumerism, particularly on men, was met with mixed reactions: some hailed it as a brilliant social commentary, while others condemned it as empty provocation, or worse, irresponsible.

Regardless, the film eventually earned $100 million domestically against its $63 million budget (reportedly $17.5 million of which went to star Brad Pitt), and enjoys an 80 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was nominated for only one Academy Award, for Sound Effects Editing, but it was also nominated for several awards by different critics groups including the Online Film Critics Society, and subsequently netted several awards for its DVD release, which featured several commentaries and featurettes exploring the world within the film.

What Still Works: While during its original release the film was deliberately, perhaps even conventionally reactionary (“f*ck Martha Stewart!”), it really serves as a powerful reminder that contemporary consumer culture is still designed to satisfy us in superficial ways and ultimately distract us from the human connections and more visceral accomplishments that prove more meaningful. Particularly with the benefit of hindsight, the film’s analysis of overmodulated consumption, broken down to the details and objects in our life that supposedly define us, is especially potent, and deserves to be revisited as a reminder to remain vigilant against that kind of complacency.

fight2

Meanwhile, I think especially now the film escapes being mere provocation or dangerous advocacy because it ultimately acknowledges that these characters are trading one oppressive structure for another, and that even the intentional absence of order eventually creates its own organized sense of routine, if not full-fledged cultural mores (hence Project Mayhem, the “space monkeys”‘ blind devotion to their anarchic causes, etc).

In terms of the performances, Pitt and Edward Norton are both really terrific as, essentially, the same guy, albeit in different iterations of his self-confidence, much less self-awareness. Fincher, coming off of the menacing polish of The Game, finds a gorgeously gritty aesthetic that really brings the narrator’s oblivious self-examination to life, and creates a truly subversive and valuable portrait of what is essential schizophrenia, filtered through both movie-star sheen and the thematically-reinforced, exacting opposite of stardom’s supposed “importance” – namely, that all of that beauty and truth is as illusory as anything else.

What Doesn’t Work: Surprisingly little, although the unwieldy structure, oddball rhythms of the storytelling and its eventual descent into (self-) destruction seem more shocking in the context of real-life events like 9/11, not to mention our culture’s subsequent escape even further into conventional, comfortable forms of entertainment. There’s lingering resonance to the destruction of the banks at the end of the film, both in terms of domestic and international terrorism and the current state of our economic system, but it’s subjective whether that’s a virtue or a shortcoming for film, since it certainly isn’t the film’s fault.

Otherwise, there is a degree to which the idea of white guys bemoaning their pampered, IKEA-sustained existence feels, well, so 1999, and that their reaction feels like a more than slightly self-indulgent rebellion that people with constructive minds wouldn’t act out. But as a parable and a perhaps necessary reminder of the complacency and boring blandness that can come from a life lived within the lines – and in light of the fact it’s meant not to be taken literally - Fight Club still transcends such criticisms.

What’s The Verdict: Fight Club is a really terrific movie and I am genuinely relieved to say that it holds up beautifully for the most part. Not only was it the first movie that I bought on DVD, but it was an important one in my adult, intellectual maturation, particularly in discovering that as conceptually appealing as such reckless behavior might be, it ultimately serves as mush as a prison as any other philosophy or paradigm. I think I still prefer Fincher’s previous film, The Game, if only because it was just so shocking and cathartic when I first saw it, but Fight Club is a wake-up call and a punch in the gut that needs to still be felt.

by Todd Gilchrist

Life isn’t measured in minutes, but in moments

I Was Born Under Unusual Circumstances

A story that is unusual stirs our deep well curiosity. A taste of dew in solitary wickedness. There is this strangeness in everyone of us that makes us interesting individuals, but this case of Benjamin Button makes me enter into a world of what ifs…

Released on Christmas day 2008, this American film directed by David Fincher, written by Eric Roth stars Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Julia Ormond and an award winning performance of best supporting actress Taraji P. Henson.

The script is loosely adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1921 interesting tale of the same title that is anthologized in his book, “The Tales of the Jazz Age”.

After the end of the Great War in 1918, Benjamin Button (Pitt) is born into this world with the appearance of an 86 year old. His mother died shortly after his birth, to avoid shame his father left him in the porch of a home for the aged where Queenie (Henson) adopted him and gave him a home.

His story is told by Caroline (Ormond), as he reads aloud Benjamin’s diary inserted by postcards and photographs to her mother Daisy (Blanchett) in her deathbed request in a New Orleans hospital during the disaster Katrina in August 2005. 

As Caroline narrates Benjamin’s story, her voice segues into the latter as flashbacks of Benjamin’s life is depicted on the screen. Like the poetic narration, the film’s tranquil earthen tones gave the film a dim edgy feel. With the excellent use of CGI and make-up, the sorrowful tone of the film makes its cinematography fascinating. But what is the point of this picture?

It is a story of love and loss of Benjamin and Daisy. Also an 86 minute epic of wonderland cinematic joyride because there is no such historical account like that of Benjamin’s. 

But Benjamin, Fitzgerald and Fincher have one thing in common; they knew the wonders of strangeness. Every sunrise and sunsets are individuals, like them stories possess a different beauty everyday. And we know that there is no endless narrative if we put two unusual things together because it blasts curiosity, and stories not just happens, it is threaded; we sew our own dreams.

Benjamin Button is a symbol of will and hope, his desire to taste life is overflowing. His wonders in brothels and bars and wars make him a stronger person, with a more panoramic view about life.

You could tell that the film is just a ride, but Daisy knows the truth. Somethings do last

Benjamin: I was thinking how nothing lasts, and what a shame that is. 
Daisy: Some things last.

And in the end, Benjamin’s body became younger until he suffers dementia, Daisy finding him, stayed with him and nurses him… in 2003, baby Benjamin Button died in the hands of good old Daisy. She never forgets that Benjamin remembers her as the beautiful soul looks into her eyes before he passed away.

Hurricane Katrina shuts the electricity in the hospital, Caroline goes out of the room to inquire about the plight, Daisy all alone in her deathbed wishes to see Benjamin and saw this hummingbird in the window. 

Director David Leo Fincher adds this movie to his dark and stylish résumé. Cinema will always be cinema [verite] I supposed, the story do counts but the possibilities are the ones that really matter.

The moments I have watching the film are speck of experiences that has the power to let me remember that good moments are the ones that count. And please do remember to send postcards to the ones you love if you’ll be away. Remember Daisy… some things do really last.

The first rule of “Fight Club” is you do talk about “Fight Club”. Well, I was never good at following the rules and the newly released Blue-ray version of “Fight Club” has a little prank I would like to tell you about.
Director David Fincher has given us our Christmas present early by releasing his 1999 cult classic with a twist. The newly released Blue-ray version of “Fight Club” has the menu screen of the Drew Barrmore’s 1999 hit “Never Been Kissed”. Fincher thought it would be comical to use a menu of a lollypop romantic comedy, which was released the same time as “Fight Club” and made just about 20 million dollars more at the box office. Of course, Fincher’s film has created a much larger fan club and has over the years made a few All Time film list.
So far, nobody’s feelings were hurt from the practical joke. Drew Barrymore did give her blessings for the gag. Lookout for the Movieline magazine with Barrymore on the cover while you watch the easter egg filled film.
Apparently the critics were ask to keep the joke in the bag while reviewing the new Blue-ray version. The first rule of “Fight Club” is you do talk about “Fight Club”.

Jennifer Lopez as Jennifer Beals as Alex Owens; image courtesy of vh1.com

After last night’s assessment of Nine, I’ve still got screen musical adaptations on the brain tonight. So I thought I’d draw our attention to one more, and add music video that references screen musical stars from the genre’s golden era, and another that recreates an 80s blockbuster many believe to be a screen musical of sorts (and whose protagonist shares a version of my namesake).

If you want to note that all three of the artists are women of color and international pop sensations praised for their dancing and maligned for their limited vocal ranges, gold stars for you. If you want to weep over the slurred, siliconed mess Paula has become and hope that Glee does an all-Janet episode, shake your fists at FOX. If you want to posit what it means that these movies seem to have influenced the performers and may tap into their dance training and on-screen personae, let’s chat in the comments section.

First up is an oldie but a goodie from my youth. While I hadn’t seen Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz when Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted” started its rotation on MTV, it’s pretty clear that its takes its from the movie’s ”Take Off With Us” section. As if the direct mention wasn’t enough in the clip’s introduction, let’s compare the two. Warning: contents hot, and sexy.

Paula Abdul
“Cold Hearted”
Forever Your Girl
Directed by David Fincher

And here’s the source material, created by a director and choreographer who seems to have gotten women like Abdul, Madonna, and The Pussycat Dolls dancing (the last act going so far as to take cues from Sweet Charity’s “Hey Big Spender“ for “Buttons“). Also, something tells me warm nuts are served on this plane. (Rimshot) Acid probably is too.

The next one is also from my youth, released at around the same time from a woman whose early video work Abdul choreographed. Janet Jackson’s “Alright” is an homage to the film musicals of Cyd Charisse, the Nicholas Brothers, and Cab Calloway. I especially love Janet in a zoot suit. Click on Ms. Jackson’s name and enjoy.

Janet Jackson
“Alright”
Rhythm Nation 1814
Directed by Julien Temple

And here are the pop star’s and music videos’ influences. The first one comes from Singin’ in the Rain, while the second one is from Stormy Weather.

Finally, we have a clip from former In Living Color fly girl and Jackson back-up dancer who makes an appearance in “That’s The Way Love Goes.” Jennifer Lopez’s “I’m Glad,” a song about her big feelings for then-boyfriend Ben Affleck, retells the entire story of Flashdance, focusing on four dance sequences from the movie, especially the climactic audition scene. Unlike the source material, which utilized two trained dancers (one male) as actress Jennifer Beals’s doubles, I believe all J.Lo does all the dancing. 

Jennifer Lopez
“I’m Glad”
This Is Me . . . Then
Directed by David LaChappelle

And here are the dance sequences in question.

VERDICT:
9/10 Lead Salads

Not quite David Fincher’s best movie, but still, it’s freakin’ Fight Club. This here movie kicks a fine amount of ass.

Fight Club is about a humdrum guy whose humdrum life gets turned upside down after being seated next to one Tyler Durden on an otherwise humdrum flight for his humdrum job. Humdrum. Anyway, after his apartment accidentally blows up, he moves in with Tyler, they become quick pals, and then they form Fight Club after a night of heavy drinking – a nice little place for them and their fans to beat the living shit out of each other. So Fight Club gets really popular, it gives new meaning to this guy’s life, it also eventually turns into an even wackier little shindig called Project Mayhem, and then shit really gets crazy.

Point is, there aren’t too many movies out there like Fight Club.

I know I’m a bit behind the ball on this one what with last week being the tenth anniversary of this family favorite, but hey, glad to finally have an excuse to review this.

So, why does this movie kicks so much ass? Let’s start with director David Fincher.

Like I said, this isn’t his best movie – a well-earned title still held by Se7en – but it’s a close runner-up. The thing I like most about this guy is that not only is a really good storyteller and continually churns out one original, gritty movie after another, but, man, does he know how to use lighting to his advantage. This is one of those things you have to see for yourself to really get, and this isn’t really a characteristic that I’m prone to point out in movies, but the entire movie looks like it was filmed in a damp basement, and that is awesome. There’s stark contrasts between light and dark all around, it’s got this “Finchian” (Copyrighted 2009, Cut The Crap Industries) blend of sleek and dirty from the shiny glint of city buildings to the bloodied face of a maimed everyman, and everything about the way this sharp, grimy movie looks totally complements the dark story it’s telling.

Look, when you see a David Fincher movie, you know it’s a David Fincher movie. Not to belabor the point, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the dude is one of the best working directors out there today and he sure knows how to make a movie look good.

And hey, guess what, there’s a solid little cast here, too! Well I’ll be!

I’ve always been a big fan of Edward Norton, and while this isn’t the best thing he’s ever done either, he still plays a really good protagonist as our humdrum anti-hero, Cornelius. He probably would have been more memorable if it weren’t for Brad Pitt and his eight-pack abs as Tyler Durden. I’m slowly coming over to the mindset that Brad’s actually a good actor after his turn Inglourious Basterds recently, and even though there’s a whole lot of eye candy going on with him in this movie, the fact of the matter is that Tyler Durden is one hell of a character. Most of the credit is probably due to the script in this case, but still, hard to knock Brad this time around.

Helena Bonham Carter is also in it as Ed Norton’s main squeeze, Marla, and boy howdy is she creepy as hell. 

And Meat Loaf is in it, too, and he’s good, and not just because his name’s freakin’ Meat Loaf.

It’s not often that adaptations end up being better than the source material, but after trucking through Chuck Palahniuk’s novel a couple years ago, I’m still sold on Fincher’s take. Still not really sure if there’s a moral to the madness, but whatever, Fight Club is one wild ride that’ll have you hooked right from the opening shot. Lots of memorable scenes, has one awesome twist going for it, a real biting sense of humor that just adds to an already terribly well-written script, and even though it might be a little too gnarly for some, it’s pretty darn rewarding for all you postmodern fanboys out there.

Great script, great director, people making soap and punching out Jared Leto. Sounds like a winner, alright.

The mid 90’s and early 2000’s were awash in the now cliche, obsessive-detectives-stalking-the-psycho-killer genre. Replete with repetitive story lines, celebrity junkie psychopaths, and the same hard-boiled grimace stamped on the face of every detective with a tender spot for Sam Spade impersonations, the genre surged in popularity during the dark renaissance inspired by the same culture which gave birth to grunge music. David Fincher’s Seven (or, for the typographically anal, Se7en) was certainly not the first, nor was it the last, of this particular niche of crime drama, but within the endlessly recycled mediocrity which has since worked its way almost exclusively onto direct-to-DVD labels, it managed to break new ground with its bold, bleak vision of contemporary culture and an intricate plot so original its twists and turns still resonate today.

As many know,  I am no movie buff.. i could barely remember what i wore monday, let alone trying to remember a classic quote from a movie.

However, I definitely liked this movie and this prank is a classic one from the director and really goes hand in hand with his personality. On to the prank, turns out that David Fincher, director of Fight Club, thought it would be funny to use the menu from a sweet bubble-gum romance — the farthest possible thing from the very dark “Fight Club” — that was a much bigger box office success when both films were released in 1999.

With that being said, don’t be shocked when you load up your new Blu-ray version of director David Fincher’s 1999 cult classic “Fight Club” this holiday season and the menu screen appears to be from the Drew Barrymore romantic comedy “Never Been Kissed.” It turns out it’s all a prank by Fincher.

Critics that were sent a review copy of the new Blu-ray were specifically asked not to disclose the joke before it went on sale this past Tuesday. Apparently, the first rule of “Fight Club” still stands: you do not talk about “Fight Club.” Gotta love the Director, David Fincher.

… is to never be kissed? Click here to see one of the best practical jokes in a long time. BRAVO, MR. FINCHER.

MAN, that cover is saucy.

Swallow, J (2007), Dark Eye: The Films of David Fincher, 2nd ed. Reynolds & Herne

This book gives a very detailed insight into Fincher’s specific directive style. Two of the focus films: Se7en and Panic Room, are highly analysed and reviewed in the book, with some detail on Zodiac. The book has given me lots of useful details and helped with research into both David Fincher himself and the films.
Swallow also gives information on Fincher’s early work including his involvement in films like Return of the Jedi.

http://www.filmreference.com/Directors-Du-Fr/Fincher-David.html

A biographical article on Fincher’s career and life. Very useful with a good insight into Fincher’s directive style. Includes factual information and references that helped with research.
A non-biased look on Fincher; just a good article about David Fincher.

http://fincherfanatic.blogspot.com/

‘Fincher Fanatic’ is a fan-based site that offers a range of articles, links’ interviews and reviews on everything David Fincher. Highly useful and resourceful. The site was made and is maintained by genuine, dedicated Fincher fans which gives the blog a biased view; however there is plenty of factual information and covers every aspect of Fincher’s career.

http://www.thehousenextdooronline.com/2009/01/conversations-david-fincher.html

This blog is very interesting, the writers analyse very specific parts from each of Fincher’s films in detailed evaluations. Full of very useful information and confirms opinions and views from other sources. It’s a highly detailed discussion on every aspect of Fincher’s films; looking at a range of elements including his storytelling, cinematography and acting performances. The discussion has many positive comments.

Zodiac (Warner Bros., US 2007, Dir. David Fincher)

Jake Gyllenhaal – Robert Graysmith
Mark Ruffalo – David Toschi

IMDB REFERENCE: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443706/

This film is highly dependent on anonymity being it’s main theme, as is with Se7en. Good example to show how Fincher applies his style to a non-fiction narrative.
Wasn’t a very successful and popular film; however it reinforces Fincher’s directive style in the sense that it is similar to Se7en but still very different. Although Zodiac is based on a true story, Fincher refuses to have a ‘typical’ Hollywood ending – the antihero isn’t caught. The twist on a Hollywood ending is one on Fincher’s identifiable stylistic techniques.

Panic Room (Columbia Pictures, US 2001, Dir. David Fincher)

Jodie Foster – Meg Altman
Kristen Stewart -Sarah Altman
Forest Whitaker - Burnham

IMDB REFERNECE: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258000/

An interesting example of Fincher’s work as it is entirely set in one location; however the fluid cinematography and the long, show shots make it interesting. Again Fincher’s popular theme of anonymity is used with ‘Raoul’ and his mask.
Various elements conform to Fincher’s style including the desaturated coloring, the use of weather as well as the way he uses and holds silences.
‘Burnham’s’ character (one of the robbers) is also given heroic traits as is many of Fincher’s villains.

Se7en (New Line Cinema, US 1995, Dir. David Fincher)

Brad Pitt – Detective Mills (David)
Morgan Freeman – Detective Somerset
Kevin Spacey – John Doe
Gwyneth Paltrow – Tracy Mills

IMDB REFERENCE: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/

Really good depiction of Finchers’ work. Follows his anonymity theme and shows his stylish use of symbolism through weather. He takes a very strong look at insanity versus sanity and how thin the line can be between them. Really good example into how Fincher builds a relationship between the villain and the audience as well as creating a personality.
Similar to his other films he gives the murderer/villain heroic qualities and god-like morals in reference to the way they look at the world. This films fits in very well with Finchers’ directive style.

Una oda a esa nave llamada locura así como a los salvajes y reprimidos deseos por abordarla

Fight Club también pasó por ese fenómeno que le ha ocurrido a otras películas como Blade Runner y que es un producto directo del desarrollo de sistemas caseros de video; mientras que en su salida en cines (sobre todo en Estados Unidos) nunca logró alcanzar el verdadero éxito, fue su versión en DVD la que llegó más lejos y se transformó en una película de culto.

Creo que cada generación y cada década tiene una o dos películas que, a pesar de ser duras y controvertidas, se transforman en el sentir de una época; logran transgredir el ámbito temporal y se transforma en un “must”.

Películas como The Deer Hunter (1978), A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Graduate y la misma Blade Runner que ya ha referido son ejemplos clásicos y creo que Fight Club pudo integrarse a ese selcto grupo.

“Ésta es tu vida y se está acabando minuto a minuto”

Basada en una novela (del mismo nombre) escrita por Chuck Palahniuk, la cinta es un verdadero viaje a través de la locura de ese personaje sin nombre, al que es referido simplemente como El Narrador y su alter ego Tyler Durden.

El Narrador es un simple mortal con un trabajo sencillo que está en pleno proceso de enviar todo al demonio. Un proceso con el que se quiere desligar de la vida del hombre común, de los deseos y necesidades creados por una sociedad consumista y de transformarse en un individuo ajeno a la realidad y en cierta manera encargado de alterarla, modificarla para dar a conocer a otros su filosofía.

El Club de la Pelea, el recinto donde se reúnen los miembros a partirse la cara no es otra cosa que una válvula de escape que no tarda en transformarse en un movimiento anarquista de resistencia.

La primera regla es “no hablar del club” sin embargo la voz se corre con una velocidad brutal y muy pronto son cientos de seguidores; no importa el trasfondo, no importa el rol que se juegue en esta sociedad hipócrita, lo importante es poderse dar de golpes hasta sangrar para así olvidar en una marea de adrenalina los estúpidamente horrible y desalentadora que es la vida.

Si hay una opción y ésta es liarte a golpes y dejar que te rompan la crisma. Mañana será otro día.

Esta semana El Club de la Pelea (como se le llamó en México) cumplió 10 años sin embargo, después de verla otra vez, es fácil darse cuenta que la premisa de la película sigue siendo igual de vigente que hace una década. Como una terrible premonición de lo que ocurriría tan solo tres años después la cinta nos habla de cómo se derrumban las estructuras dentro de una mente y de cómo ésta quiere derrumbar las estructuras que la rodean.

El simple hecho de salir a la calle y provocar un pleito con un perfecto desconocido es una temeridad que solo pueden hacer algunos que más tarde no dudarán en integrarse al proyecyo Mayhem (la palabra significa mutilar a alguien para impedir que pueda defenderse en una pelea o una guerra).

Es difícil seleccionar una escena o secuencia favorita de la película; las actuaciones de Bard Pitt y Edward Norton son magníficas y la forma oscura y expresionista en que está dirigida es una obra magnífica de David Fincher. En lo particular me intriga mucho la escena en que El Narrador se golpea a si mismo para alegar un abuso por parte de su jefe; la secuencia es en cierta manera una de las más grandes ilusiones de muchos asalariados llevada a la realidad.

El final es diabólicamente premonitorio mientras que la trama nos pone a pensar sobre la banalidad de lo que llamamos nuestra verdadera civilización, sobre la profundidad de la cultura televisada pero sobre todo, nos demuestra de manera irónica que, por solo un día, nos gustaría ser ese Taylor Durden que vende jabones a las señoras ricas hechos de su propia grasa  y no teme enfrentarse con los puños limpios a un mafioso o a un camionero que pesa lo doble.

Salio la nueva versión DVD de Fight Club, si no la tienen cómprenla; si no la han vista, véanla y si ya la vieron, vale la pena repetirla. Es un auténtico Clásico Electrónico.

In the 80s and 90s Michael Douglas was the go-to guy to play men harassed, used, abused and manipulated by women, as seen in the White-Men-Under-Attack trilogy of Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct and Disclosure. After his screen avatar’s bad luck was purged by David Fincher in The Game his screen appearances have become sporadic. The next generation demands a new macho hero who can be hunted by the kinds of obsessive, dangerous women that only exist in movies. In Obsessed, the man attempting — and failing — to fill Douglas’ shoes is Idris Elba, who plays executive Derek Charles with a relentless and tiring intensity the movie doesn’t warrant. Happily married to his former assistant Sharon (Beyoncé Knowles), Charles is stalked at work by a temp assistant, Lisa (Ali Larter). At first she merely seems infatuated with Elba, but after he rebuffs a couple of aggressive approaches she becomes crazed, interpreting his rebuffs as evidence of his love for her, prompting her to insinuate herself into his life a la Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction and Jessica Walters in Play Misty For Me.

Those movies showed the male protagonist’s culpability, with the message being “Mess around, and you will suffer for it.” Here writer David Loughery and director Steve Shill seem to be saying “Guys, there are some crazy women out there, and they’ll fuck up your life for no reason.” This doesn’t even pass muster as a morality play. It’s just another movie stating that there is no such thing as the Other any more. No matter how well you live your life, people are going to hunt you down, drug you with Rohypnol, rub up against you while you are in a fugue state, and listlessly kidnap your child, though “relocate” seems to be a more accurate description for what she does, as the nefarious Lisa merely moves Derek and Sharon’s son from his crib to their car.

The worst that happens to Derek is that he is accused of having an affair. The evidence for this is entirely provided by Lisa, and yet despite the flimsy nature of it (for example, listing him as an emergency contact number, or writing about the imaginary affair in a diary), at least two women automatically believe he is in the wrong. In one of the stupider scenes of the year, a police detective (Christine Lahti) investigating a suicide attempt by Lisa interrogates Derek in the crowded waiting room of a hospital with Sharon sitting next to him. As the scene descends into incomprehensible histrionic chaos, we see Elba desperately trying to prove his innocence while both women irrationally dismiss his pleas. The movie seems to be saying that it just doesn’t pay to be honourable, because women will always distrust their man.

It’s tempting to think Obsessed is intentionally trying to trade in the most witless and offensive gender stereotypes possible, as some kind of poorly signposted satire on gender politics. The male characters (including Jerry O’Connell and Bruce McGill) are either flamboyant homosexuals mincing around the office or leering sexist pigs whose idea of small talk is to discuss how sexy women love to extort money from them with their feminine wiles. Still, at least gender politics are addressed, albeit ineptly. The potentially inflammatory racial implications of having the only black characters in the film threatened by a predatory and insane white woman are ignored altogether. Apparently, this was to avoid repeating the themes of Loughery’s previous movie Lakeview Terrace, which featured a racist black cop menacing a white family.

It quickly becomes clear the filmmakers are only interested in cranking out the least provocative thriller possible. With a blameless hero victimised by a villain who has no recognisable human qualities, even the dependable nightmare scenario of being framed and losing everything is diluted by the vast amount of contrivance needed to place our hero in jeopardy. We’re merely expected to wait — unmoved and unoffended by the mild PG-13 thrills — for the villain to get her comeuppance, which comes in a protracted and absurd finale, when Sharon returns home to find Lisa in bed. The poorly choreographed catfight that follows is violent but bloodless, and finally provides Knowles with something to do other than chide Elba. After mouthing some unconvincing threats and killing Larter, Knowles is comforted by her husband, and the last shot is of her, not the man who has been onscreen for most of the film. I’m not the only person confused by this shift in focus. Did Knowles — who co-produced the movie with her father Mathew – sign on just so she could film a long fight scene? Why would that appeal to her? Did she hate the third season of Heroes even more than I did? This mystery is the only aspect of the movie that invites further reflection.

Obsessed is as dreary and toothless a thriller as you’re ever going to see. Unimaginatively plotted by Loughery — the man who wrote Star Trek V: The Final Frontier — the viewer waits for anything shocking or interesting to happen and gets little more than some one-note shouting from Elba and some lazy misogyny. All that’s left for the viewers to occupy themselves is mockery of the risible dialogue (“I’ll take up that slack. That is one smoking hot piece of ass!”) and direction. TV director Shill has worked on almost every notable show of the past ten years, including The Wire and Deadwood. However, he started out with EastEnders, Emmerdale, and The Bill, and it is these uncinematic melodramas that provide the closest link to his work here. Overlit, poorly blocked, and littered with even more establishing shots than in Tommy Wiseau’s notorious bad movie classic The Room, Shill fails to transform Loughery’s script into even a passable movie. Apparently the working title for Obsessed was Oh No She Didn’t. It’s a pity they went with the straight-to-DVD-esque title it now has. If they’d retained the original title, at least the laughs elicited by this dismal failure might have seemed intentional.

No hay finales sin principios, y a petición de diversos lectores (Gonzalo, Radagast, etc) aquí da comienzo este espero que curioso TOP TEN rebosante de nostalgia por un tipo de cine que no volveremos a ver. Quiero dejar claro que a veces los realizadores optan por poner los rótulos de crédito en la secuencia inicial, otras no. En algunos casos están realizados y concebidos por los propios directores, y en otras no. Por eso, indicaré quién elabora los títulos cuando sea preciso. Para comenzar esta selección quiero hacerlo de una forma un tanto retórica. Si comenzamos elegiendo diez finales y ahora vamos a hablar de inicios, pues quien mejor que Chistopher Nolan para abrir fuego. Fue este arriesgado director que se atrevió a poner el final de la historia al principio del largometraje. Así pues, vayamos pues hasta el año 2000 cuando se estrenó “MEMENTO”.  Estamos ante un final y un principio, todo en uno. Mejor forma de empezar esta selección de comienzos de película no he podido encontrar. Ojo, a pasar de que me gusta mucho, este no cuenta. Se trata sólo de una forma de comenzar, allá vamos…

INICIO DE MEMENTO

En el puesto número diez tenemos… el inicio de “LA GUERRA DE LAS GALAXIAS“  dirigida en 1977  por George Lucas. Los títulos de crédito fueron obra de Dan Perri, creador también de los de “El exorcista” o “Taxi driver”. Este es uno de esos comienzos que uno tiene grabado a fuego en la memoria. Era un niño que deseaba verla. Había visto por la tele que habían estado en el festival de San Sebastián C3PO, R2D2, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, La princesa Leia. Tengo el recuerdo vago de verlos posando ante las cámaras en la playa de Donosti. Desde ese mismo instante quise verla. Tras mucha turra en casa y diversos intentos, conseguí que me llevaran a verla. Lo recuerdo perfectamente aún, fue en los cines Roxy de la calle fuencarral de Madrid, en sesión de noche, estaba abarrotada la sala y nos tocaron de las últimas filas A pesar de que era canijo y alguna cabeza me tapaba parte de la pantalla me fue absolutamente indiferente. Al oir los maravillosos acordes de Williams, entré en un fascinante mundo del que todavía creo que no he salido.

INICIO DE STAR WARS: UNA NUEVA ESPERANZA

En el puesto número nueve tenemos… el comienzo de “SEVEN“, dirigida por David Fincher en 1995, en este caso fue el siempre genial Kyle Cooper quien se encargó de los títulos de crédito. En su currículum hasta ese momento tenía “Breaveheart” de Gibson y “Quiz Show: El Dilema“ de Redford. Me parece fascinante la maestría con la que resuelve este inicio, y por eso lo he elegido. La secuencia inicial incluye los títulos de crédito y nos describe perfectamente la mente y el modus operandi de este asesino en serie. Destacar tanto la fotografía de Darius Khondi y la música de Nine Inchs Nails, y la barroca voz de Trevor Horn.

INICIO DE SE7EN

En el puesto número ocho tenemos el inicio de una gran adaptación literaria… “LAS AMISTADES PELIGROSAS“ realizada por Stephen Frears en 1988. Impresionante me parece la labor de Stephen Frears en cómo plantea esta secuencia que engloba los rótulos de crédito. Hace una descripción física y psicológica de los personajes inmejorable. Todo acentuado por la increible suite de George Fenton, que recalca el momento histórico. Maravillosa la actuación de Glenn Close y John Malcovick.

INICIO DE “LAS AMISTADES PELIGROSAS”

 En el puesto número siete venido de la Tierra Media tenemos… “EL SEÑOR DE LOS ANILLOS“ dirigida por Peter Jackson en el años 2001. Todo un gran comienzo para una obra épica que consta de tres partes. Estamos una vez más ante una magnífica adpatación, y se me ponen aún los pelos de punta con la música de Howard Shore y la narración en off, es brutal.

INICIO DE “EL SEÑOR DE LOS ANILLOS”

En el puesto número seis tenemos… el comienzo de “BLADE RUNNER“, concretamente el de la versión de 1982. Film dirigido por Ridley Scott, contaba para sus rótulos de crédito con la colaboración de Vangelis, que le componía un score de lujo que te dejaba noqueado en la butaca. Esta es una de esas secuencias que ningún amante del séptimo arte olvida. Esa belleza postindustrial, llena de coloridos neones y llamaradas. Esos encuadres que parecen sacados de una viñeta de cualquier historia del “Metal Hurlant” merecen todo un respeto. Eso por no hablar de los increíbles efectos y fotografía obra de los desaparecidos Douglas Trumball y Jordan Cronenweth.

INICIO BLADE RUNNER VERSION 1982

En el puesto número cinco tenemos nada más y nada menos que los…“RESERVOIR DOGS“ dirigidos en 1992 por Quentin Tarantino, le enfant terrible de la industria de Hollywood. Cinéfago, cinéfilo, inclasificable, esos pueden ser algunos de los adjetivos con los que podemos calificar a este director norteamericano. De dialogos contundentes y salvajes tanto por duración como por temática. En el inicio de su ópera prima tenemos todas las claves de lo que veríamos con el paso del tiempo a lo largo de sus ocho películas como director. Brillante y delirante comienzo donde los haya.

INICIO DE RESERVOIR DOGS

En el puesto número cuatro… “ABRE LOS OJOS” dirigida por Alejandro Amenabar en 1997. El creador de los rótulos de crédito del film fue Carlos J. Santos, pero estos no llegan a estar incluidos en la secuencia inicial van tras la segunda secuencia. Su trabajo es de sobra conocido, ha hecho también los de “Acción mutante” de Alex de la Iglesia, “Familia” o “Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley”. Creo que este es uno de los inicios más inquietantes del cine español. Considero que esta es su mejor película, y que no creo que vuelva  a realizar nada Amenabar a la altura de esta. Maravilloso el plano con la Gran Vía vacía.

INICIO ABRE LOS OJOS

En el puesto número tres tenemos… “EL DIABLO SOBRE RUEDAS” realizada en 1971 por Steven Spielberg. A pesar de ser un telefilm consiguió traspasar las fronteras de lo catódico y lo cinematográfico y consigió venderse si mal no creo en el festival de Cannes, y en Europa se distribuyó en cines con este título. Os recuerdo que el original es “DUEL”, que podríamos traducir como “Duelo” y está basado en un relato corto de Richard Matheson, otro viejo conocido de la videoarena.

INICIO DE “EL DIABLO SOBRE RUEDAS”

Y esta lista no puede acabar sin la gran labor de dos grandes genios. En primer lugar, aquí tenéis a un viejo amigo del blog, hablo de mi tocayo Alfred Hitchcock, así que en el puesto número dos tenemos…“LA SOGA“ realizada en 1948. En esta secuencia inicial plantea las múltiples lecturas que posee este largometraje. Por la forma en que está rodada, por la actitud de los personajes, por miles de cosas, pero es algo más que un asesinato, es el final de un trio sexual. Soberbio. Cómo se enciende el cigarro, aprece que acaba de echar el polvo de su vida como dice el detective Nick Curran en “Instinto básico”. Atentos y no dejar que se os escape ningún detalle. Y sobre todo los remordimientos que quedan después. Soberbio el maestro una vez más.

INICIO DE “LA SOGA”

Y para finalizar en el puesto número uno tenemos al otro gran maestro, Stanley Kubrick y su… “LA NARANJA MECÁNICA“ realizada en 1971. Se dice, se comenta, que los rótulos de crédito iniciales fueron elaborados por otro de los grandes, Pablo Ferro, pero no encontréis acreditado este trabajo por ningún lado, y eso es raro en Kubrick, así que le pasaría como a Alex North en “2001″.  En esta secuencia inicial comprenderéis la función y el sentido de un travelling. Es maravillosa la forma en la que describe el entorno y a los personajes. Su simplicidad es sólo igualable a su efectividad. Arropándolo con todo el mimo del mundo estan los estupendos acordes de Wendy Carlos. Además, en la pasada edición de Sitges Malcom McDowell recogió el premio por su labor en este film. Os puedo decir hasta cuando la vi por primera vez, porque luego le siguieron unas cuantas. Fue con dieciseís años en el extinto cine Torre de Madrid en la sala dos en la sesión de siete de la tarde. Desde entonces la tengo taladrada esta escena en mi cabeza. Mi madre no quería que la viera, ella consideraba que era ultraviolenta. Lo curioso es que con el paso del tiempo ya no lo parece tanto. Pero a pesar de todo, es impresionante.

INICIO “LA NARANJA MECÁNICA”

Evidentemente ardo en deseos de saber los vuestros Mister Crowley, Redrum, Homo Insanus, Mister Lombreeze generadores del invento, así como los de  Miss Darko, Eulez, Marchelo, 39 escalones, Ramón, Victor Guybrush, Empantallado, Gine, Álvaro, Ricardo, Mapoto, Fantomas, Dick, Miss Watflech, Varelax, Luis Cifer, Mister Frost, Alberto, que obviamente no es obligatorio contestar ni continuarlo porque sé de sobra que algunos de vosotros estáis muy liados, este post surge por la curiosidad de algunos de los lectores de este blog.

One of my biggest pet peeves in film is when a director uses a song from popular music as a lyric-by-lyric narrative for whatever action is taking place on the screen. This was done constantly in Forrest Gump. When Jenny picks up her things and walks out on one of her various hustler boyfriends we hear Jim Morrison’s vocals from the Doors classic “Love Her Madly”: Don’t ya love her as she’s walking out the door. A worse offense came from Moulin Rouge which used Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to describe aristocratic fops using the Moulin Rouge show as spectacle instead of art: Here we are now, entertain us. Incidentally, I think Cobain was ultimately making a statement regarding youth-driven music being misinterpreted for commercial purposes by aristocratic psuedo-intellectuals, which makes the director’s use of that song either ironic of prophecy-fulfilling.

My other pet peeve is when a director simply replaces his or her own lack of talent in building an emotional climax by co-opting the emotional impact of an already well-known song and simply playing it in the background while awful actors kiss and cry and fight and fuck. Music should help establish the tone, not prop it up on a crutch. I call that the “McG Special”.

But there are instances in which I feel that a filmmaker taps into some kind of extrasensory connection with a track, and despite there being no direct connection between the music and what’s happening on the screen it simply connects. These are typically seen from directors who know and understand music. Having spent endless hours working on writeups for rock albums, I’ve come to believe that with music, people are either tapped into the ether or they aren’t.

So without further ado, here are my 10 favorite uses of music in film. These could easily have been 50, but those which aren’t on the list are the reason we have a comments section. In no particular order:

Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man” from Zodiac

Geto Boys “Damn It Feels Good to be a Gangsta” from Office Space

Creation’s “Making Time” from Rushmore

Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” from Trainspotting

Due to the numerous garbage remix/remash videos on YouTube I’m just posting the song, not some retard’s re-imagining of the scene inter-cut with footage from Harry Potter. Fuck I hate people on YouTube.

Aimee Mann’s “Wise Up” from Magnolia

Wreckless Eric’s “Whole Wide World” from Stranger Than Fiction

The First Edition’s “Just Dropped In” from The Big Lebowski

Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” from Almost Famous

King Crimson’s “In The Court of the Crimson King” from Children of Men

Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” from Boogie Nights

Ever since I posted P!nk’s “I Don’t Believe You” video a few days back, I’ve been gradually obsessing over B&W music videos, which is something that happens about once a year. As much as I love color, there’s just something about B&W images that elevates the artistic merits of a video and it sort of really puts the focus on whatever subject, vision its creators are dealing with/were going for.  The lack of color somehow makes it more powerful.

Also, we are in November which is one of my fave months of the year and in a weird way, a sort of reflective, melancholic month for me (I’ll have to consult with Freud about that one).  I haven’t seen the sun in almost a week (that’s not a complain) and it has been drizzling on and off for two days which can’t help but add to the mood, which means there was no coincidence that I was drawn to P!nk’s newest video.

On that spirit, I decided to go looking for other B&W music videos–I could only think of a few and thought, well there aren’t many–and I ended up finding a ton of them.  Curious fact: most B&W videos I found were for rap artists.  Who would have thought they had a bit more of an artistic sensibility to color?  LL Cool J, Ghostface, Notorious BIG, even Puff Daddy have done B&W videos.

One I complete forgot about, which is funny since I highlighted as *video of the week* some months ago, was Smashing Pumpkins’ “Stand Inside Your Love” which is an amazing video.  There’s No Doubt’s fun in the high seas ”Hella Good,” K.D Lang’s yearnings on ”Constant Craving,” Madonna’s stylish ”Vogue,” and steamy ”Justify My Love,” Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ body paint shenanigans on ”Give It Away,” Jay Z’s gritty “99 Problems,” and an honorable mention goes to Aha’s “Take On Me” which isn’t completely B&W but the drawing panels sequences are just amazing.

To stay with the melancholic mood of November though, I’m sticking to highlighting only ballads about emotional turmoil.

Smashing Pumpkins “Disarm” proved early on that the band really was trying to convey something other than commercial advertisement for their newest single.  The tone of the song, the larger than life images of a flying Billy, D’Arcy and James, the instruments, the windows, the rooftops…… there was this sense of escape, flying away and also of vanishing into the ether.

Duffy’s “Rockferry” isn’t the most amazing video but it is pretty effective. The song–tittle track of her album–is one hell of a alt-country stormer and Duffy sings it with such force, her voice laced in pain and resentment. She’s leaving, she’s finally walking away from a relationship that has done nothing but bring her pain and though she’s leaving parts of her behind, she’s determine to make a new home for her somewhere else with the parts of her that did survive.  As the camera moves from her stern expression and then lingers on the train tracks, the station, the little shops, the streets, it gives us a sense that even though she’s leaving, she can’t help but look back because amongst all the pain there’s still some bit of love alive in there somewhere.

Amy Winehouse’s ”Back To Black” is a contender for video of the freaking decade, just as much as the album is a contender for album of the decade!  The song is the high point in an album that’s chockfull of them.  Beautifully shot in full gothic imagery, the video depicts a funeral: the death of love and therefore the death of a heart–the heart of Amy.  Friends and family (fans?) wait listlessly around for her to summon the courage to go on.  I know this his highly personal stuff and she wasn’t so much acting as just channeling her feelings, but the look on her face through out, specially the moment she holds her breath as the coffin is placed into the grave, then walks over to toss a single white rose and a handful of soil on top of the coffin? Absolutely brilliant and just devastating.  The whole video is technically flawless from editing to cinematography, and emotionally stirring.  A modern classic.  The director, Phil Griffin, should be making movies.

And speaking of technically flawless, beautifully shot videos and directors that should be making movies, Madonna’s “Oh Father” is arguably her best video ever or at the very least in her top five.  Directed by the master David Fincher during the peak of their collaborative run (“Express Yourself” “Vogue” “Bad Girl”) “Oh Father”  the video packs all the punch of an emotional drama into four minutes of unforgettable black and white exorcism.  For there’s little doubt that Madonna used the song and video to exorcise demons of her past: from her mother’s death, to her strained relationship with her dad, to the ghost of a still fresh abusive relationship, culminating with her making an effort to reconcile her past, present and future and move on.  This is epic stuff.  Her other collaborations with David Fincher may seem to have garnered more recognition through the years–and deservedly so–but “Oh Father” is hands down their highest achievement in the music video medium.  Had it been a movie? It would have won the best picture oscar in 1990.  That’s how good it is. A classic.

First Rule: You do not talk about Fight Club.

Second Rule: You do not talk about Fight Club.

Third Rule: When someone says “Stop” or goes limp, the fight is over.

Fourth Rule: Only two guys to a fight.

Fifth Rule: One fight at a time.

Sixth Rule: No shirts, no shoes.

Seventh Rule: Fights go on as long as they have to.

Eighth Rule: If this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight…

Okay, okay. I’ll tell you. Where’s the harm.

The awesome David Fincher directed, Fight Club, is on its way to punch you in the neck Blu-Ray style. It is due out on 23rd November here in the UK and the 17th over in the USA.

I still remember when I first watched it with my good mate Del and just being amazed by it all, especially the bit…well if you’ve seen it you know. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. Then watch it again.

Brad Pitt and Edward Norton just owned the screen.

If only the Ferris Bueller Tyler Durden theory really worked.

Okay, here is what is on the Blu-Ray:
# New HD Master Supervised step-by-step by director David Fincher
# Exclusive to Blu-Ray:
# A Hit in the Ear: Ren Klyce and the Sound Design of Fight Club
# An interactive experience introduced by the sound designer Ren Klyce, in which the user can mix the sounds of selected scenes of the movie.
# Insomnia Mode: I am Jack’s search Index
# A new navigation mode, that allows the user to tag any topics during the movie and access to all content available in the disc that refers to the tagged topic.
# Flogging Fight Club
# Backstage at the Spike TV Awards: Hangout with Brad Pitt & Edward Norton in the Green Room shortly after being inducted into the Spike TV ‘Guy Movie Hall of Fame’.

Turns out that Fincher thought it would be funny to use the menu from a sweet bubble-gum romance – Never Been Kissed – the farthest possible thing from the very dark “Fight Club” — that was a much bigger box office success when both films were released in 1999. Barrymore’s inexpensive comedy grossed more in U.S., on initial release. Of course, “Fight Club” has developed a loyal and vocal fan following over the past decade, and it is listed in the top 10 of Total Film’s and Empire magazine’s Greatest Films of All Time lists.

UPDATE:You can see the film for free on the big screen next Tuesday at midnight but only if you like in LA or New York. If you are in NYC click here.  If you want to join Project Mayhem in Los Angeles click here.

If you want it, you can buy it here:
Fight Club [Blu-ray] [1999] UK
Fight Club [Blu-ray] USA

Matthew McConaughey is one of those actors I can’t help but like. He’s a man who — in the real world — seems like a perfectly affable party fiend who would be fun to hang around with. Someone who doesn’t really give a damn, who makes movies to fund his lifestyle, and only gets to make movies because he’s just popular enough to justify a continued career. He’s famous for pot-smoking, naked bongo playing, and anecdotes about goat sex. His website is so completely “him” it’s as if he has been reduced to a computer echo of himself, a la Jeff Bridges in Tron, and then blasted onto our screens as a series of chill statements and photos of him on mountains, complete with lazy faux-dub rhythms in the background. The most lovable things on the site are the randomised “McConaughey Facts” that pop up at the bottom of the screen. Sample McConaughey Fact: “In my most recent trip to Papua New Guinea I was inducted into the Kuppa Tribe of the Malagan Clan.” That’s just so McConaughey.

As I’ve said many a time, anyone who can laugh at himself is all right in my book. When presented with footage of Matt Damon doing an impression of him on Letterman…

…he seemed to take it with good humour. (It’s about two minutes from the end of the clip.)

My favourite thing about that clip is that at the end of the interview, as the presenter is trying to wrap things up, he goes off on a tangent about spending his Christmas with a family he once visited as an exchange student. It’s right out of nowhere, but that burning need to communicate some random fact about himself for no reason other than that he seems to be looking forward to the excursion is something I — a notorious blabbermouth — can really relate to.

Even though I find McConaughey the Man endlessly entertaining, McConaughey the Actor is another matter. Watching one of his movies is a bit of a crapshoot. Will we get one of his committed performances, such as his delicate turn in Robert Zemeckis’ Contact, or as the demented Van Zan in Reign of Fire (which he was easily the best thing about)? Or will it be a frustratingly light but not particularly funny effort, as in Ron Howard’s instantly forgettable EdTV? For every Frailty or Lone Star there is a Wedding Planner, a Fool’s Gold, and probably a Failure To Launch to boot. Appearing in disposable romcoms might work to keep him in sex wax and bandannas, but it makes following his career difficult. Any hope that he might become Brad Pitt to Richard Linklater’s David Fincher fell apart when The Newton Boys came and went without making a ripple in the popular consciousness. He’s doing better than former girlfriend and fellow romcom stalwart Sandra Bullock right now, but it’s becoming touch and go.

He doesn’t even have an action career to fall back on. U-571 is only memorable for the shameful lies about the Enigma decoding effort, and Sahara — a film I quite like — is notorious for being one of the rare projects whose financial workings have been put on display for all the world to laugh at. Though not me. Seriously, I liked it. It was refreshingly irony-free, just a big crazy adventure about guys who get into scrapes for fun and do the right thing with no soul-searching. It was not of its time, sadly. It’s another film used as a short-hand for excessive Hollywood trash by people who haven’t seen it. Yes, it was obscenely expensive, and there’s no argument for that, but it’s got some charm. With about 20-25 minutes lopped out, it would’ve been treated with a lot more affection.

Unfortunately Ghosts of Girlfriends Past sees too much of the coasting McConaughey, with only hints of his real film-star energy. In a very loose adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore aim for easy emotional targets and don’t bother to complicate the story too much. McConaughey plays Connor Mead, a photographer with Austin Powers’ hunger for consequence-free sexual encounter but none of the dental problems. Forced by a flicker of conscience to attend his brother’s wedding, Mead quickly upsets and alienates the wedding guests with his cynical anti-marriage attitude, until he is visited by the ghost of his lothario uncle Wayne, played as a Robert Evans/Hugh Hefner hybrid by Michael Douglas. Wayne warns his Scrooge-like nephew that he will be visited by three “ghosts” (though at least one of them is still alive; the movie ties itself in knots trying to be light while addressing themes of death and loneliness). These apparitions — who enjoyably treat the “visions” like interactive videos — show Mead the miserable consequences of his actions, and reveal the reason he’s so emotionally disconnected: as a teenager, he was snubbed by his true love, Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner). It broke his heart and sent him to find solace in the dubious wisdom of Uncle Wayne.

Mead’s dark night of the soul forces him to accept the idea of true love just in time to help his brother (Breckin Meyer) marry his long-term sweetheart (an unbearably whiny Lacey Chabert), and to rescue Jenny from a relationship with potential suitor Brad (Daniel Sunjata). This last task is the most problematic one in a movie that otherwise has too many easy answers. Though we’re meant to side with Mead as he throws off his selfish persona, he’s also trying to ruin a potential relationship between Jenny and a scarily handsome volunteer with Doctors Without Borders who seems to be a really sweet guy. Mead, on the other hand, is intolerably arrogant and thoughtless, though he maintains the same level of oily charm throughout. McConaughey isn’t given enough room to adequately show his conversion to the cause of love, so that while Dickens did a thorough job of showing how Scrooge could change from curmudgeon to saint, Mead’s post-revelation persona seems much like his previous personality, except more manic.

This isn’t the only problem. Lucas and Moore’s script holds few surprises and fewer laughs than even their inexplicably popular breakout hit The Hangover. Director Mark Waters, whose work on The Spiderwick Chronicles was so impressive, manages to bring some life to this formulaic project, with the added bonus that he lights the movie with something other than a very very bright light — a concept that seemed to elude the directors of other 2009 romcoms, especially the biggest romantic comedy hits of the year, Robert Luketic’s The Ugly Truth and Anne Fletcher’s The Proposal. Waters also gets entertaining performances from Michael Douglas and Emma Stone as the “ghost” who deflowered Mead in college. Garner is given less to do, but she sells her big emotional moments, including a moving bedroom scene midway through. It’s also McConaughey’s best scene, with Mead forced to watch his past self mistreat the woman he loves simply because he’s scared of his feelings. In moments like that, the conceit of making the romcom Christmas Carol seems more inspired than it actually is.

My affection for Garner is even greater than my support for McConaughey. Ever since her career-making turn in Alias, I’ve been a huge fan, obnoxiously maintaining that she would get an Oscar nomination (at least!) by the end of the decade. Unless the Academy is going to surprise me and give her a nod for her extremely entertaining turn in The Invention of Lying, I think I’m going to come up short on that one. Her decision to cut down on film roles while raising her children is an understandable one, but I wish she made more movies. There hasn’t been a single film featuring Garner that wasn’t massively improved by her presence — even something as weak as Daredevil occasionally flies thanks to her. In fact, the only thing that didn’t suck about Electra was her performance as the titular assassin; she brought far more pathos and commitment to the project than it deserved.

Compare Ghosts of Girlfriends Past to The Invention of Lying, which was even more fascinated with the interplay of honesty and self-deception. After a brilliant riff on belief and religion, it spends a long, entertaining time banging its head against the disparity between the concepts of love and biological necessity, playing games with the conventions of the genre while at the same time pointing an accusing finger at the audience for expecting such cliches. (500) Days of Summer plays a similar trick; a love-struck Joseph Gordon-Levitt is beguiled by a romantic vision of life soundtracked by The Smiths and Belle & Sebastian and then left crushed by the realisation that he’s been deluding himself as much as he has been lied to by Zooey Deschanel’s idealised Summer. Compared to those two movies, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past has no big ideas to share, other than that love is all you need.

Maybe it’s unfair to give Ghosts of Girlfriends Past a black mark for not matching up to the ambition of Gervais and Robinson’s high-concept fantasy or Mark Webb’s deconstruction, but now that filmmakers seem eager to break the genre down in order to build it back up, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past might end up being the last even vaguely entertaining traditional romcom made. Surely we can at least give it gold stars for being a more involving, charming, and imaginative movie than those flat and cynical laugh-free disasters The Proposal and The Ugly Truth. Where they trade in cheeky, strained jokes about sex and modern gender politics, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past has more luck focusing on the people in the relationship than the gimmicks that get in their way, and then trounces those films completely by casting two charming actors who seem to have some sparks together. Though McConaughey’s performance is disappointing and lacks modulation, the relentless charm that stops him from hitting a deeper note still has its uses. More so than many male leads in recent romcoms, at least he can flash a winning smile and drawl some flirty come-on with naughty aplomb, and when he’s matched with Garner’s wholesome persona, it’s hard to dismiss the rote shenanigans completely. Sometimes, making a reasonably successful movie really is that simple.

Il curioso caso di Benjamin Button è un film del 2008 diretto da David Fincher, adattamento cinematografico dell’omonimo breve racconto di Francis Scott Fitzgerald.

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