“That’s called the ‘quart of blood’ technique. You do that, a quart of blood will drop out of a man’s body.”

If you’re wondering why this is following three nights of Christmas Carol adaptations, it wasn’t supposed to. This was supposed to be Friday’s movie, back in the early section filled with movies set at Christmas, and not really about Christmas. But who cares? TRADING PLACES is awesome any time.

I’m not sure I ever saw the entire movie. I had only seen it on TV, since my dad watches it whenever it’s on. That means I never saw it uncut, not that it makes a huge difference. There were stretches of the film that seemed totally new to me, so it’s good to finally see it as it was meant to be seen.

Watching it, I just think how great it must have been to be a movie geek growing up in the late ’70s and early ’80s. John Landis was the man back then. ANIMAL HOUSE, THE BLUES BROTHERS, AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, and TRADING PLACES. How fucking great a run of movies is that? On top of that you add the “Thriller” music video, and this was a man at the top of his game. The really great thing about Landis at his peak is that there’s a personality behind these movies. Harold Ramis and Ivan Reitman, the two other significant directors from the same crowd, while behind some of the greatest comedies of all time, I wouldn’t call them auteurs the way I would Landis. There’s a personality behind his films, and a strong sense of genre and personal taste. I love the way Landis handles darkness in his films. AMERICAN WEREWOLF is the obvious one to point to here, but look at Carrie Fisher confronting John Belushi in the sewer in or the scene in TRADING PLACES where Dan Aykroyd hits his low point. Eddie Murphy chases after a drunk and filthy Santa suit-wearing Ayrkoyd through the vast empty lobby of the Duke & Duke building. It’s funny, but at the same time like something out of a nightmare. Landis’ love of horror has a tendency to creep into all his movies, and it’s one of the things I like most about him. I highly recommend that anyone interested in Landis’ career read this interview he did with Collider back in 2005. He’s incredibly candid, and gives some amazing insights into a career that began so promisingly and regrettably sank into mediocrity.

My favorite moment in TRADING PLACES is one that was most likely not scripted, that probably shouldn’t work, but gets probably the biggest laugh in the entire film. It comes when Eddie Murphy’s character, Billy Ray Valentine (a name I can’t imagine fitting anyone but Murphy, despite Richard Pryor originally being cast in the role),  is at a meeting on his first day of work. His bosses, the Duke brothers, the same men who changing the lives of Murphy and Aykroyd, are explaining to him how their company works. “We are ‘commodities brokers’, William. Now, what are commodities? Commodities are agricultural products… like coffee that you had for breakfast… wheat, which is used to make bread… pork bellies, which is used to make bacon, which you might find in a ‘bacon and lettuce and tomato’ sandwich.”

At this, Murphy turns and looks straight into the camera with a “how dumb does this guy think I am?” expression. Right there, the fourth wall is broken. Landis could have lost the audience completely, but that doesn’t happen. The movie gets more serious and plot-driven later on, and it works, not at all impacted by that moment. I’m reminded of the moment in INTO THE WILD when Emile Hirsch interacts with the camera. It’s brief, but it bugged the hell out of me and for a couple minutes took me out of a movie I otherwise loved.

Landis plays fast and loose with reality in his films. The “looking into the camera moment” is one that appears in several films. Taking it even further than that is the car chase near the end of THE BLUES BROTHERS. I’m talking about the one where the Bluesmobile backflips hundreds of feet and the Neo-Nazis’ car drives off the unfinished road, flies over the city, and falls  thousands of feet in the air before smashing through the street. The film becomes a cartoon for about a minute, and it’s just so gleefully insane and unexpected that you can’t help but laugh. One of the key aspects of Landis’ films is that they exude an overwhelming sense of fun. These are not films with layers of subtext. Why does a car backflip through midair? Because it’s fun. Famous directors frequently make cameos in his movies, starting with Steven Spielberg in THE BLUES BROTHERS, and later everyone from Sam Raimi to Joel Coen to Terry Gilliam in SPIES LIKE US. It’s almost as if the production was a big party, with cool people invited to the set just to hang out. This sense of fun carries over from the films to the audience, and it’s why they remain classics after so many years.

I realize that an entry supposedly about TRADING PLACES has morphed into a rambling essay on John Landis. I’m sorry if anyone is disappointed, but I honestly don’t really care. I don’t know how much I can add to the discussion of this movie, other than that it’s a great argument for why cinema in the ’80s was better than people give it credit for. John Landis was making kickass movies, Eddie Murphy didn’t just not suck, but routinely gave brilliant comedic performances, and female nudity was practically a guarantee. Also, Denholm Elliot is the man. Just saying.

One last thing about Landis. He’s working on BURKE AND HARE, a story about the famous graverobbers from 19th century Edinburgh. It’s his first movie in eleven years, and he has Simon Pegg and David Tenant starring. I think getting super excited is well within reason.

UP NEXT: ANIMATION NIGHT! DR. SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (1966), A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (1965, RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER (1964). If this isn’t going to be an explosion of Christmas joy, I don’t know what is.

I watched this movie called The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard starring Jeremy Piven, produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, and must have been directed by one of their friends. The trailer for “The Goods” shows a hilarious cast and an “what you might think” original storyline. My discovery was that this movie was a total copycat of this IFC car salesman documentary. The documentary is called “Slasher” (2004) and was directed by John Landis. “The Goods” is just too similar, absolute rip-off, no questions ask. I have to say that I have lost a little respect for everyone involved in this movie. The “Slasher” doc was cool…”The Goods” sucked.

Recuperation comes in the form of sweet, sweet scoop.

Marla’s favorite reluctant assassin, Jason Bourne, is having a bit of a struggle coming back to the big screen. Greengrass is out.  Bring in Tony Gilroy! He rocks my socks and he’s already proven he can direct. Hollywood, do not deprive your loyal subjects of Jason Bourne’s glorious shoulders and sexy conscience!

Speaking of glorious shoulders, here are some new pics from Iron-Man 2!

Quentin Tarantino says a whole lot of nothing about “volume 3 of the story of The Bride.”  So if you’re really into non-information, click here.

Jane Espenson talks about the cliffhangery end to her arc for the comic Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight.

John Landis is producing the film with my favorite title ever: Some Guy Who Kills People. That is all I know; that is all I need to know.

Review Preview:

I’m moving along the David Cronenberg Retrospective with Scanners within the week.

And if you’re one of those fanpersons who’s into both grisly horror flicks AND sentimental Disney movies (hey, we’re out there!), I’ll be writing up The Princess and the Frog for 29-95 this week!

Jon Lovitz reminds me too much of my father, but I would totally tumble for every single one of the other cast members of the movie ¡Three Amigos! (1986), directed by John Landis.

A great sense of humor is super key for me in a man. It suggests a spirit of fun and spontaneity. If a man can make me laugh, I am ten thousand percent more attracted to him than if he was some societally-standard, good-looking but overly serious twat. Someone who really throws back their head and laughs, who can forget themself in the heat of a conversation and really be lost in enjoyment — that is a great quality in a human being. It puts me at ease and fosters a sense of camarederie.

I used to date this guy when I lived in Southern California that I think thought it was his mission in life to correct me. He would listen to me tell a joke or deliberately exaggerate as part of a humorous bit, then patiently explain to me at length how what I said could never be true, or how I was overstating it. Well, of course it (it being whatever my premise had been) could not really be so, or could never be so to that great of a degree. That’s why it was funny to say it. I will never understand what he saw in me, if he so obviously took issue with what I consider to be my most overriding feature, my general inability to take life seriously for more than ten minutes in a row, but eventually I broke up with him and managed to make it stick (the first couple times were false starts — I have a will made more of feathers than of iron). We just were not compatible. Shock ending, right?

Anyway, if you have lived a full life up until today but somehow missed this movie, don’t panic: you can still buy it on DVD (not Blu-Ray yet), rent it, or even watch clips from it over on the hulu! It features Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short as silent film stars who end up being mistaken for real gunslingers and get involved in a real dispute south of the border between the Mexican village of Santa Poco and a dangerous crime boss named El Guapo. Phil Hartman and Jon Lovitz play the greedy studio bosses back in Hollywood.

Lucky Day: In a way, each of us has an El Guapo to face. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santa Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be *the actual* El Guapo!

Dusty Bottoms: Do you have anything here besides Mexican food?

Rosita: I was thinking later, you could kiss me on the veranda.
Dusty Bottoms: Lips would be fine.

Bartender: We don’t have beer. Just tequila.
Ned Nederlander: What’s tequila?
Bartender: Uh, it’s like beer.

Ned Nederlander: Oooh, tell us we will die like dogs!
El Guapo: You .. you will die like dogs.

Mr. Flugelman: Do you know what “nada” means?
Dusty Bottoms: Isn’t that a light chicken gravy?

Dusty Bottoms: Well I’d like to continue to work for free, Mr. Flugleman!

Lucky Day, Ned Nederlander: [singing] My little Buttercup has the sweetest smile/ Dear little Buttercup, won’t you stay a while?/ We’ll settle down together in a cottage built for two/ Oh, Dear little Buttercup, I love you!
Lucky Day: [motioning for people to join in singing] C’mon, everybody!
Lucky Day, Ned Nederlander: My little Buttercup has the sweetest…
[points to man]
Patron: Es-smile!

Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek) and David Tennant (Doctor Who) play the titular characters. Now we have the bare bones promo poster and synopsis.

WILLIAM BURKE and WILLIAM HARE are scratching out a living in 1830s Edinburgh. After yet another failed business venture, they return to Hare’s lodging house to find that their tenant has suddenly died on rent day. As the boys decide how to dispose of the body over a drink, they discover that a corpse can fetch a hefty price. Edinburgh is the centre of the medical universe and the city’s doctors are crying out for more cadavers for their educational lectures. First they try the infamous DR. MONRO, but he’s not interested, so they sell the corpse to DR. KNOX, his vain and ambitious rival who urges them to bring any more ‘unfortunates’ they may stumble upon.

Entrepreneurial Hare is quick to realize they’ve hit on a great money making venture and despite the more sensitive Burke’s misgivings, they embark on a series of plans to secure more bodies. They arrange a series of deadly ‘accidents’ for the local unfortunates and to celebrate their success, they go out on the town to celebrate. There, Burke meets GINNY, a beautiful and spirited aspiring actress.

Drive on by the promise of romance, Burke agrees to step up their operation; branching out into “ethical” murder. The professional rivalry between Knox and Munro is creating a very lucrative trade for the boys as Knox needs extra bodies for his groundbreaking photographic map of the human body. In a series of hilarious comic misadventures Burke and Hare begin to secure a steady stream of bodies and the cash starts rolling in.

With the authorities closing in, Hare promises Burke he’s got a new plan; they just need a bit more money and then they can go legit and open a funeral parlour.

The pressure builds when Knox is arrested after dissecting some well known locals and he immediately implicates Burke and Hare as his supplier of fresh corpses.

Burke and Hare sweat it out in the cells as a crowd gathers baying for bloody. In a wild, but romantic gesture, Burke volunteers to take the rap to save his friend and the love of his life, Ginny. As the hangman’s noose goes around his neck, our hero is smiling bravely and when asked for his final words, he pronounces “I did it for love.”

Source: Collider

A Comedy Spectacular!

AKA: ATÉ OS GRANDES REALIZADORES TEM OS SEUS MOMENTOS DE LOUCURA

1941 é um filme do mestre Steven Spielberg. Realizado em 1979, é um filme que se baseia na paranóia dos americanos que após o ataque a Pearl Harbor, receavam que a costa oriental sofresse ataques por parte dos Japoneses. Cheio de Gags e de um humor diferente, em virtude de utilizar actores de renome a fazer comédia e também actores do Saturday Night Live, Spielberg tenta aqui entrar num registo diferente. Considerado um flop a nível de bilheteira, muito em virtude de não ter chegado aos valores que Jaws tinha alcançado, 1941 tornou-se um filme menosprezado, vindo a obter uma nova vida, aquando da sua exibição no canal ABC, tornando-se a partir dai um objecto de culto. Logo ao inicio, o realizador goza com a sua obra-prima da altura, Jaws, ao dar praticamente um inicio idêntico, mas em vez de um tubarão eis que aparece um submarino nipônico. A cena em que Belushi tenta voltar ao avião, após o encontro com Oates e tem uma queda, é real e na cena em que o soldado em boxers atravessa a janela e vemos um homem a comer esparguete, esse actor também é Belushi, completamente disfarçado. De Steven Spielberg, com Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi, Lorraine Gary, Bobby Di Cicco, Murray Hamilton, Christopher Lee, Tim Matheson, Toshirô Mifune, Warren Oates, Robert Stack, Treat Williams, Nancy Allen, Lucille Benson, Jordan Brian, John Candy, Elisha Cook Jr., Eddie Deezen, Dianne Kay, Perry Lang, Patti LuPone, J. Patrick McNamara, Frank McRae, Steven Mond, Slim Pickens, Wendie Jo Sperber, Lionel Stander, Dub Taylor, Iggie Wolfington, Christian Zika, Joe Flaherty, David L. Lander, Michael McKean, Susan Backlinie, E. Hampton Beagle, Deborah Benson, Don Calfa, Dave Cameron, Vito Carenzo, Mark Carlton, Gary Cervantes, Paul Cloud, Luis Contreras, Carol Culver, Lucinda Dooling, Gray Frederickson, Brian Frishman, Samuel Fuller, Marjorie Gaines, Dian Gallup, Denise Gallup, Trish Garland, Barbara Gannen, Brad Gorman, Jerry Hardin, Diane Hardin, Robert Houston, Audrey Landers, John Landis, Mark Marias, John McKee, Ronnie McMillan, Dan McNally, Dick Miller, Dr. Akio Mitamura, Antoinette Molinari, Walter Olkewicz, Mickey Rourke, Whitney Rydbeck, Donovan Scott, Kerry Sherman, Hiroshi Shimizu, Geno Silva, Rita Taggart, Maureen Teefy, Andy Tennant, Jack Thibeau, Galen Thompson, Frank Verroca, John Voldstad, Carol Ann Williams, Jenny Williams, James Caan, Denise Cheshire, Sydney Lassick, Mo Lauren, Penny Marshall e Debbie Rothstein.

Este será o canivete suiço de Mcgyver, na nova produção de Uwe Boll

As “Sesame Street” celebrates its 40^th anniversary this week, The Daily Record examines five of the show’s greatest musical moments.

Johnny Cash – “Nasty Dan”

Twenty years after “Cry Cry Cry” appeared in jukeboxes, Johnny Cash was singing with Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street. “Nasty Dan” appears on the classic 1975 record “The Johnny Cash Children’s Album,” but Oscar is the perfect foil for the number. Cash enjoyed his fifth season spin on the Street so much, he returned to Jim Henson’s world of Muppets. In 1980, Cash hosted an episode of The Muppet Show. Cash was also the inspiration behind the 1990s Sesame Street character Ronnie Trash, who sang about the environment in Cash’s classic boom-chicka style.

The Fugees – “Just Happy To Be Me”

The Fugees immortal sophomore album “The Score” was one of the best-selling albums of the 1990s, but it wasn’t exactly kid-friendly material. Somehow, though, the divisive Elmo took a shine to the group and invited the trio to appear in his 1998 TV special. Although “Ready or Not” could have been adapted to a song about playing hide-and-seek, the Lauryn Hill, Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean opted to cover a newer song in the Sesame Street canon, “Just Happy To Be Me.” Jean has returned to the Street several times since, but Hill and Michel are perpetually M.I.A. This once prompted Snuffleupagus to hollar “Where Fugees at?”

Stevie Wonder – “1,2,3 Sesame Street”

Stevie Wonder between albums and at arguably at the peak of his career when he appeared on the Sesame Street in 1973. In a rare Sesame Street-Soul Train crossover moment, Wonder and his full band performed his recent hit “Superstition.” He then returned with the original number “1,2,3 Sesame Street,” starting a new talk box fad at kindergarteners across the country.

Itzhak Pearlman – Easy and Hard

This isn’t as much a song as a lesson with the greatest classical violinist of his generation. Itzhak Pearlman was no stranger to Sesame Street when he appeared in this 1981 clip. Polio is all but forgotten today, but the message on disabilities and talent still rings true.

Cab Calloway – “Mr. Hi De Ho Man”

Cab Calloway earned the nickname “The Hi De Ho Man” after his signature song, “Minnie the Moocher” became a hit in 1931. Half a century later, Calloway converted his handle to a greeting and performed on Sesame Street with the perpetually contradictive Two-Headed Monster. Calloway’s guest spot occurred during a late career resurgence. After spending almost a decade as a has-been, Calloway was back in the spotlight, thanks to his role in “The Blues Brothers” film. The movie was directed and co-written by John Landis, who was good friends with Muppeteer Frank Oz. Oz, who voiced Grover, Bert and Cookie Monster on Sesame Street and Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Yoda, appears as the guard who returns Joliet Jake’s belongings at the beginning of “The Blues Brothers.”

Ray Charles – “The Alphabet”

This bonus clip is from Ray Charles’ second stop on the Street in 1977. Although he’s just singing the alphabet, there are few artists who could make 26 letters swing so hard.

Volvemos con nuestra sección de videos con participación de profesionales del cine y de la moda. Hoy la selección es un monográfico sobre el desaparecido Michael Jackson. “El rey del pop” nos dejó muchos videos en los que ponía una especial dedicación. Algunos eran pequeños cortometrajes, películas sintetizadas en 4 minutos, como el primero de esta serie, Liberian Girl. El último single de su álbum BAD se promocionó con una filmación en la que aparecen muchos amigos de Hollywood del cantante. la nómina es extensa: Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Carl Weathers, Dan Aykroyd, John Travolta, Steve Guttenberg….

Uno de los últimos que grabó fue You Rock My World en 2001.  Basado en una historia escrita por él mismo y por Paul Hunter, podemos ver en pantalla a actores de la talla de Marlon Brando, Mickey Rourke, Michael Madsen, Chris Tucker, Billy Drago y a la actriz y coreógrafa Kishaya Dudley, que interpreta a la chica que origina toda la trama.

En 1991 John Landis (Granujas a todo ritmo, El príncipe de Zamunda) dirigió un de los más famosos de Jacko, Black or White. Las “celebrities” que hacen acto de presencia son el niño de moda en aquella época por la saga Sólo en Casa, Macaulay Kulkin, en el papel de padres el bonachón Norm de la serie de TV Cheers (George Wendt) y Tess Harper, la modelo Tyra Banks y la artista musical y actriz Cree Summer. Como curiosidad decir que en la canción participa tocando la guitarra Slash de Guns & Roses, y que el riff suena parecido al Hurt So Good de John Cougar Mellencamp.

Perteneciente también al disco Dangerous, In The Closet se proyectó un año más tarde que Black or White. Como respuesta a las dudas sobre su orientación sexual, Michael escribió este “Dentro del armario” en el que hablaba de una relación oculta entre un hombre y una mujer. Para rodar la historia se acompañó de la modelo Naomi Campbell, que despliega sus movimientos más sensuales a lo largo del video. Aunque los coros de la canción se acreditaron a una “Mystery Girl” luego se supo que fueron obra de la princesa Estefanía de Mónaco.

Titolo originale: Michael Jackson’s This is it

Regia: Kenny Ortega

Cast: Michael Jackson, Nick Bass, Michael Bearden, Daniel Celebre, Mekia Cox, Misha Gabriel, Judith Hill, Dorian Holley, Devin Jamieson, Kenny Ortega, Bashiri Johnson, Charles Klapow, Jonathan Moffett, Orianthi, Darryl Phinnessee, Dres Reid, Ken Stacey, Tyne Stecklein

Distribuzione: Sony Pictures, USA, 2009

Guarda il trailer

This is it è un documentario realizzato dal regista californiano Kenny Ortega sfruttando quasi cento ore di materiale raccolto durante le prove dello spettacolo che Michael Jackson stava preparando nella scorsa primavera allo Staples Center di Los Angeles per una cinquantina di concerti che avrebbe tenuto a Londra in estate. La Sony ha acquistato i diritti del film per 60 milioni di dollari ma la pellicola ne ha incassati già 101 milioni nel mondo.

Il documentario ci presenta un Michael in forma a pochi giorni dalla morte avvenuta lo scorso 25 Giugno per cause non meglio chiarite, mentre prova le coreografie e le canzoni che lo hanno reso celebre e che lo hanno reso il vero e unico King of Pop. Il ritratto che ne viene fuori è quello di un professionista attento, perfezionista, conoscitore della musica, pronto a dare consigli o a suggerire correzioni ma sempre col sorriso e con grande umiltà. Affermare che si sarebbe trattato dello show del secolo non è affatto un’esagerazione: ogni canzone ha la propria coreografia e il proprio video sullo sfondo: ad esempio  per Smooth Criminal  Michael viene magicamente catapultato nel celebre film Gilda, con Rita Hayworth e viene inseguito da Humphrey Bogart armato, oppure per Thriller il videoclip orginale di John Landis viene realizzato in 3D; e poi effetti speciali, luci, ballerini spettacolari. Michael sorride e ringrazia alla fine di ogni pezzo, quasi stupito dall’entusiasmo scatenato in chi lo osserva, come quando prova Beat it da solo sul palco  realizzando anche la coreografia suscitando urla e applausi entusiasti da parte dei ballerini che lo osservano rapiti. 

Kenny Ortega fa davvero un buon lavoro, mettendo in luce la persona, il professionista che si occupa di ogni minimo aspetto della performance, dalle luci alla coreografie, alle note della base, fino alle tonalità dei coristi, dimostrando una  grande conoscenza della musica e di ciò che avviene sul palco e dietro le quinte.

Vale davvero la pena di vedere questo documentario, non solo per chi lo ha amato, per chi è cresciuto con la sua musica, con la sua voce angelica e con le sue coreografie e i suoi videoclip che hanno fatto storia, ma anche per chi non lo ha conosciuto magari a causa della giovanissima età o per chi ha interesi musicali diversi, perché si tratta del ritratto di un vero artista, al di là di tutto.

Conclusione: Consigliatissimo.

Voto: 9

Three years old. That’s one home, four assignments, one computer and almost 1,500 films ago, how time flies eh? I was aware of my birthday which occurred amidst the LFF shenanigans but quite frankly I didn’t have the time to incorporate another mammoth blog post until the dust had settled and I had sorted out some work nonsense. The good news is I have completely smashed my cinema visit target for the year – it’s currently running in the mid 60’s – and I have around half a dozen more visits planned although pickings are now slim as we move toward the end of the year, don’t get me started on how barren 2010 looks, I’ll save my vitriol on that until the 2009 round up next month. So my secret project can finally be revealed – I’ve been writing reviews, mostly covering the LFF for these guys, a Canadian outfit that I approached a few months back. I’ve been thinking about expanding my horizons all year, to see if I could get my ill-informed scribblings published in another format so I was quite pleased to see the Sound On Sight editors jump at the chance after I got in touch following an episode of their podcast which asked for potential submissions. It’s not paid or anything but they will be arranging press credentials for future events – if I’m still with them that would mean a pass to all of next year’s LFF press screenings for example – and I’ve got some free DVD / Blu-ray screeners to review on the way so I can’t complain. Given that all I really have to do is amend the stuff I put together for the blog to remove all the first person references it’s a no brainer really, I’d be writing my reviews for personal satisfaction anyway so why not see what freebies I can spin out of it? I’ll admit it was also something of an ego-boost to see my words hosted elsewhere, if you’d told me that was feasible back in my tender teenage years of rushing down to the corner shop to pick up the latest copy of Empire then I probably would have passed out. If you’re so inclined then do visit the site and subscribe / rate the podcast on iTunes as all the traffic helps of course.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, the horror . I’ll not waste time on any detailed plot synopsis for the most part, if you’re so inclined they’ll be buried in the links. I was planning to go and see the first film – Werewolf - at the cinema but the re-release was really quite limited to only one 10.00pm screening at a handful of cinemas on the 31st and quite frankly I was feeling a bit under the weather so I compromised by blowing £50 in HMV on Saturday to complement some existing films I had hanging around on the shelves, I really wanted the Blu-ray of Werewolf due to the great reviews of the two hour making of documentary Beware The Moon that is on the disk, I haven’t enjoyed a well researched, comprehensive account of a cult classics construction in a long time. In another moment of serendipity lets kick things off with this link, a list of Scorsese’s favourite horror movies, a link that leads nicely to my smugly acquiring a ticket to see Marty in person at an NFT event next month, an evening that will crown ten years of my living in London and attending this sort of event. That’s like, so totally awesome – see, already I have my North American vernacular down ya’ dig?

An American Werewolf In London - Talk about starting at the top eh? People claim that Shaun of the Dead gives Werewolf a run for its money as the greatest horror comedy ever made, these people are horrendous idiots who must be ignored at all costs. Sure Shaun is funny and entertaining, a good film which merits semi-regular repeat viewings, no problem – but it isn’t even in a fraction of a molecule of the remotest sense scary or horrifying. In Werewolf the initial attack on those desolate moors remains brutally shocking, almost unwatchable and the thoroughly unnerving fever dreams that David suffers instil an unsettling atmosphere, all of which is counterpoised by the grim humour of the slowly disintegrating corpse of best friend Jack, probably the films despicable masterstroke which provides most of the nervous laughter whilst tying the tale to the monster movie lore of history – the cursed lunar cycle which can only be cured by suicide or death. The transformation sequence, intentionally rendered in full daylight, remains unmatched:

….as does Jenny Agutter whose presence made quite an impact on everyone in my generation who furtively hired this from their local VHS emporium. The 1981 London locations – the tube, Piccadilly Circus, what looks to me like Belgravia and Mayfair – are interesting to see, not sure how a nurse could afford a telephone box let alone a flat in that area of the Capital even back in them olden times though. Stan was supposedly a big fan and when you consider the ironic use of the music against the horror, the pitch black comedy it isn’t difficult to see why. A seminal monster movie, I’ll See You Next Wedneday.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari – I’ve had this sitting on my shelf for about three years and although I have seen it before, when studying German Expressionism as one of the modules on my A Level course many years ago, I’ll admit is has been one of those ‘oh I must watch that one day’ choices that is ignored whilst reaching past it for something else which looks more fun. Something like The Hottie & The Nottie for example. OK, I jest, its only 52 minutes long first of all and although its 90 year pedigree can test the patience it is a remarkable looking film for its period and is one of the core texts of supernatural genre cinema. The somnambulist prowling the distorted mise-en-scene is a snapshot of almost every horror film made ever since with that use of make-up, lighting and set design setting the standard for a whole slew of immensely influential films that emerged out of UFA and then Universal studios after the hemorrhaging of talent across the Atlantic in the thirties. It’s an academic exercise to be sure with a clunky ‘it was all a dream’ style conclusion but I enjoyed it, you have to pay your respects to your elders now and again…..

Trick ‘r Treat – no, not that one, this one. I picked this up on a chance, it has been getting some terrific reviews amongst the genre community as a real return to the 1980’s heyday of horror cinema, specifically the anthology films such as Creepshow, Cats Eye, Tales From The Crypt series and erm….Creepshow 2. Taking place over a bloody Halloween the film interweaves a host of gruesome tales including a chaste Anna Paquin travelling to a costume party with her promiscuous sisters (she is dressed as little red riding hood if you want a clue where that one’s going), an abandoned mine where a school bus mysteriously crashed 30 years ago to the day, supposedly killing all the mentally challenged kids on board and Dylan Baker playing against type as a school principal candy poisoning child killer, all the strands being stitched together by the eerie Sam, the pint sized mute spirit of All Hallows’ Eve who also seeks some terrible vengeance on the elderly Mr. Kreeg for some unspecified discourtesy. This was probably the best fun I had all night (child murder, ravenous kid zombies, slutty lycanthropes, I’m a man who is easily pleased) with a firm hand on the tiller that steers between the key points of knowing winks to the audience and quick scares, the way that the divergent tales intersect and morph with each other with certain key events in one strand playing out on the background of developments of another strand is quite skilfully presented. It’s good, nasty, gory fun with some neats twists on the tropes of the genre, highly recommended.

Drag Me To Hell - Unmistakably diminished on the smaller screen this is still terrific fun, if you overlook the somewhat suspect gypsy bashing. I don’t really have much to add to my previous review so I’ll just link to some scenes from The Incredibly Strange Film Show with Raimi that I unearthed recently, I have fond memories of staying up late to watch that back when it aired in 1988.

Halloween II - A shame to end on such a travesty but there we are, I am referring to the 1981 sequel to the original slasher classic, not this years supposedly execrable sequel to the remake, a film which is running high as the worst film of the year which considering its opponents sounds like quite an achievement. Picking up from exactly where the original finished  What is most disappointing about this isn’t the lacklustre and frankly boring parade of kills, it’s the presence of both John Carpenter and Debra Hill as the writers in the credits, they must really have worked fast to get this roughly hewn piece of nonsense together. Donald Pleasance should win an award for his cringeworthy OTT performance which makes it worth watching. Almost.

Paranormal Activity will be the last horror review of the year, I’m already amused at the ‘most scary film ever’ and ‘most profitable movie ever’ marketing angles which have been trumpeted for some movie or other since the 1950’s with the inception of the B-Movie, William Castle would be proud. Still, I am intrigued about it, it looks like fun and it’s a shame it wasn’t out over here for Halloween, here’s one of the trailers:

Let this statement absorb into your mildly retarded to intelligent mind(s):  Shaun of the Dead is a perfect movie.  From second zero until end credits, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg created a masterpiece.  Name me a scene in that film that they could have cut out… yup, shut up.

Centering a film around zombies in the last ten years is a simple way to start a movie, which has become the center of much critiquing and BITCHING from fans and fuckers alike.  Yeah, I will admit that screenwriters, producers, and directors need to adjust their attention a little in the genre of horror, but how easy is it to get an idea, name, or message out into the mass populace through the invention of zombies?  Easy as a girl named Breezy (ask me later).

“Rom-zom-com” was a genre coined by Shaun of the Dead.  It’s fucking silly, but I allow it.  A romantic-zombie-comedy is something we all wish we thought of first, but alas, we didn’t.  Closest pick that could be lumped into this genre is Zombie Honeymoon, but that flick is a bummer to say the least (rent it though).

George A. Romero is a man that horror buffs tip their hats to because whether you like it or no, he brought zombie films into the mainstream and did it well.  Some of his films look a little dated – for the obvious reasons – with all the undead cinema flooding the market now, but Shaun of the Dead took the schematic of rotting men and women lumbering about and feeding on human flesh infused humor, heart, and headshots.  In my opinion Romero has been rolling down a slippery slope of guts and flesh since Land of the Dead, but after watching Diary of the Dead I got a feeling the man needs to put the camera down and start penning some screenplays or producing projects that are up his gore soaked alley.  His new picture Survival of the Dead has the potential of bringing him out of this mass grave of shitty zombie movies, which he has directed himself into, but sometimes you just gotta pass the torch and move on.  Let’s get back on topic though, shall we?

Edgar Wright is one of those writers/directors who knows what he loves and it isn’t afraid to create something that is merely an homage to those things with a little something else added to it.  His sitcom Spaced even has a subtitle track on the DVDs entitled “Homage-o-Meter” that simply references anything within the realm of film, music, literature, and a bunch of random shit because that’s what compromises majority of the show.  Genius?  A little less, but leaning more towards prophetic.

The sappy – but good kinda sappy – that is strategically placed amongst the fart jokes and disemboweling in Shaun plucks on the heart strings so well because there usually isn’t a need for it within the genre.  Your typical horror fan that forks out $6.50 for Saw 23 (currently in pre-production) doesn’t need emotional substance within the film as long as the violence grows exponentially with each severed Achilles tendon.  Yet, when Bill Nighy – playing the stepfather – “death bed” confesses how hard it’s been raising Simon Pegg, I know I started welling up the first time I saw it.  And don’t get me started about the Mexican standoff involving Shaun’s mother.  Reservoir Dogs, you have now been trumped.

We’ve all seen plenty of slashers and the such where you can pretty much wave a finger at majority of the players and figure who’ll be letting out a sigh of relief right before the end credits roll and who’ll be dirt-napping ASAP.  Now if you can actually write a decent character then flesh them out as the camera rolls on them – whether they get the axe or not – we’re at least feeling for them as they attempt to survive through three acts.  But if you watch any trailers for movies within the last 10 years, Hollywood loves to show us EVERY FUCKING THING THAT’LL HAPPEN WITHIN 93 MINUTES condensed to a two and a half minute stream of clips, especially every dumb breeder that’s gonna fall on a dick or knife in I Know What You Did Last Summer With Your Dirty Mouf .  I remember watching the Episode I trailer in ninth grade and being so pissed off because it was obvious that Qui-Gon eats it.  Once again, thank you Mr. Lucas for perverting nearly everything that was holy during my childhood.  Sorry… I get kinda angry most of the time when I go off on tangents.

Every character in Shaun fits into at least one stereotype or more, which works as long as you give them a soul.  The token black guy wouldn’t be such a disposable character in cinema, but when does the “black friend in the group” ever get more than five lines that aren’t silly or just jive.  Stereotypes and cliches in movies work – especially in genre films – because it can create a familiarity with the audience that is comforting, but the fun and talent comes when the write and/or director abuses that comfort and throws you into oncoming traffic.  Sometimes you’re taken from your idea of what is safe and sure in your life or simply lead down a path you didn’t see coming.  I wouldn’t say that Shaun is abound with twist, turns, and surprises, but when you take the idea of the “bumbling idiot” (Pegg) and give him a family, friends, wit, and then hordes of zombies to bash his way through, you start to give two shits about him.  Stir in that drama I was talking about from before and what do you get?  A damn fine character.  Now let’s throw a bucket of blood over the whole mess and you we got ourselves a right good film.  Now me personally, I just need a rack of $7.99 failure ribs from Safeway and some Simply Apple Juice, then I’m in fat kid Heaven.  Moving on.

Shaun of the Dead may not be on the highest of cinematic plains, but for a film that panders to gore-hounds, drunks/stoners, those who still think farts are funny (real Americans), and people who hate bad kissers, it’s a work of art.  It’s a movie that reminds me of why I still love all the sentimental bullshit John Hughes put out or why constantly quoting the Cohen Borthers three bowling alley burnouts never gets tired.  It brings me back to why I shielded my  five year-old eyes from Carpenter’s shape-shifting alien in the Arctic or how Landis made someones dead bestfriend the funniest aspect of London.  Simply put, it’s a movie that makes me love movies.

Well.

It is officially Halloween Eve-Eve-Day. Can ya FEEL IT?!?

Halloween has always held a special place in my heart. I’m not “goth” by any means, but a holiday based around the macabre warms my heart for some reason. I love the supernatural. I love that “other world” that rests just slightly to the left of ours, here, but not here – yet always in danger of letting something loose into our dimension…something different, something Not Quite Right. Shapes and creatures that shift and ripple, always staying just out of focus to to the human eye – because if they ever did come into focus, the mere sight of them would loosen your mind from whatever moorings held it in it’s place, sending it floating away like a boy in a balloon (topical!), while blood poured from your nose and your hair turned to white.

I love scaring people and being scared. I love horror movies. The gorier the better. The gruesomer the better. I don’t know why – maybe I’m morbid. Maybe I’m not. Because I’m not alone in my love for these films. And the more violent and ridiculously over-the-top, the better.

It’s schlock. It’s camp. It’s not real.

And it’s fun. Key-word, there. FUN.

What does Christmas have, after all? Family? Reindeer? Goodwill towards men?

Psssh. Give me Bruce Campbell cutting down hordes of the undead with an arm made out of a chainsaw anyday. Give me corny one-liners from Freddy Krueger as he tears some kid apart with one clawed hand. Pumpkin pie? Give me Pumpkinhead. Freshly fallen snow? I’ll take an extra dose of freshly spilled blood, please. (Created by a special effects team with just the right amount of corn syrup and food dye, of course.)

Let’s revel in madness for a bit…and, just to make sure you can make your way back, let’s throw in some good old fashioned laughs with that good old fashioned terror while we’re at it.

Here’s a rundown of yesterdays bottom six:

10. The Frighteners. (1996)

Michael J. Fox sees ghosts for fun and profit – until things, inevitably, go horribly wrong. Jeffrey Coombs shows up briefly, but memorably, to be awesome.

9. Dead Alive (Brain Dead). (1992)

Peter Jackson gives us a heaping helping of over-the-top, ridiculous, gory camp. And god bless him for it.

8. Beetlejuice. (1988)

Michael Keaton steals the show from Tim Burton, and just about everyone else, in this goofy supernatural comedy.

7. Return of the Living Dead. (1985)

Zombies head off in search of brains – with hilarious results!

6. Re-Animator. (1985)

Jeffrey Coombs is back to raise hell, and the dead, in this Lovecraftian horror. With hilarious results!

5. Shaun of the Dead. (2004)

Two slackers take on the zombie apocalypse in this very funny, very, original, very British film

And now…let’s get bloodier! (But we’ll play if for laughs, so it’s totally okay.)

Four: An American Werewolf in London. (1981)

John Landis, the used-to-be brilliant comedy director of such classics as “The Blues Brothers” and “Animal House”, tackles the horror genre – and brings some laughs with him. Griffin Dunne and David Naughton star as Jack and David, two Americans lost in the English countryside, who disbelieve the frightened townspeoples warnings about full moons and werewolves until it’s to late.

A funny movie, with great performances from the two leads, sure…but the real star here is Rick Baker’s Acadamy Award winning make-up work. David’s initial transformation from uncouth American to uncouth-er werewolf is a treat to behold. Keep in mind, this was before the advent of CGI, and long before that technology was allowed to run amuck – much like the werewolf in this movie. Practical effects are where it’s at, folks, and ths movie is a wonderful showcase for them. And, soon, I’m sure these classic films will be the only place we can still witness those effects.

Three: Evil Dead 2. (1987)

Ash is back, baby. And this time – it’s personal.

Part sequel, part remake, “The Evil Dead 2″ is a genuine cult favorite – and for good reason. It’s bizarre, gory, hyperkinetic, and, perhaps more importantly, slapsticky enough to resemble a Three Stooges film…and all thanks to the genius of writer/director Sam Raimi. His style is original, his ideas, batshit crazy. From Ash’s prolonged battle with his own severed hand, to his eventual prosthetic replacement (a chainsaw), this movie showcases some truly unique sight gags and visual stimuli.

Which is all very well in good. Yeah, it’s original. Yeah, it’s over-the-top funny. Yeah, a chick gets raped by a tree. But we all know there’s more to this movie’s charm than that. Precisely One Thing More.

Bruce Campbell.

If schlock horror B-movies had a chiseled, heavily chinned face – it would be the face of that man. Bruce. Campbell.

The dude is the greatest living embodiment of B-movie horror greatness, and the Evil Dead films were the perfect outlet for him to perfect his cult idol status. And he damn well knows it. And relishes it.

If you haven’t seen any of the Evil Dead films, you are missing out.

Two: Young Frankenstein. (1974)

Gene Wilder might just be the greatest comedic genius of all time. There. I said it. And this movie certainly supports that statement.

Along with co-writing the script with comedy legend Mel Brooks, Wilder stars as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein – who, despite being a member of the dreaded Frankenstein clan, really has no interest in reviving dead tissue, thank you very much.

But when a solicitor arrives with news of his inheritance (his family’s estate), the old Frankenstein spirit resurfaces, and he resumes his families morbid business with zeal – aided by his two new assistants, the lovely Inga (Teri Garr) and the bizarre Igor (Marty Feldman.)

The cast is fantastic. The aforementioned Wilder, Garr and Feldman hit all the right notes, and Cloris Leachman and Peter Boyle as the Monster only add to the lunacy. Throw in Kenneth Mars as the ridiculous Inspector Kemp, and an unexpected cameo by Gene Hackman as a blind hermit, and you’ve got one of the most perfect casts every assembled for a comedy movie (the number one movie on this list has an equally impressive cast.)

The jokes come fast and furious, spoofing Universal horror movies, musicals and even (at least then) current events at a breakneck pace, all while leisurely circling this absurd cast of characters.

While not particularly frightening, it’s one of the most impressive comedies I’ve ever seen, and will always remain a favorite. Mel Brooks may not be the genius he once was, but this is a prime example of him, and Wilder, at the top of their game.

One: Ghostbusters. (1984)

What else?

“Ghostbusters” changed my life. I’m dead serious. This movie stands out as a landmark to me. As a film enthusist, as a comedian, as a writer, as a goddamn human being – this is it. This is the big one.

“Ghostbusters” is a nearly flawless film.

The cast is unbelievable. Bill Murray, Dan Ayckroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis…it’s like a who’s who of comedy elite. Throw in some Sigourney Weaver, some Ernie Hudson, and some William Atherton (who would make a very fine living in the ’80s playing assholes) to round out the cast, and you’re golden.

The music, the writing, the ghosts. Again, no reliance on CGI. And they still look great. The Staypuft Marshmallow Man – iconic. The lines…Murray’s ad-libbing is ridiculous, gelling well with the script, and the other actors. Venkman, Stantz, Spengler, Zeddemore…names that will live in infamy forever. These guys are the real deal. Real dudes fighting ghosts. Wearing volleyball pads on their elbows and sporting equipment that is untested and designed by themselves. Brilliant.

Scary? No. Hilarious? Always. The movie still holds up to this day. None of it seems dated in the slightest (alright, maybe the dog-demons at the end look kind of sketchy). The cast has amazing chemistry, and bounce off each other like pros. (Which, I guess, they were.)

This is one of my all time favorite movies…definitely one of my top comedies of all time, and clearly, my favorite comedy horror of all time.

Who you gonna call?

Well.

There you have it. Agree, disagree? Let me know. There’s a lot out there, for sure. In fact, here’s some more Honorable Mentions:

Arachnophobia. (1990)

Gremlins. (1987)

Army of Darkness. (1992)

Tremors. (1990)

So that’s it for me this week – and until Monday…

Happy Halloween, from the Tabby-ban!

*cue spooky laughter.*

Pretty scary, eh?

]]> http://sergimgrau.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/en-los-limites-de-la-realidad/ Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:21:20 +0000 sergimgrau http://sergimgrau.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/en-los-limites-de-la-realidad/

Twilight Zone: The Movie

Director: Joe Dante, John Landis, Steven Spielberg, George Miller.

Guión: John Landis, George Clayton Johnson, Richard Matheson, Jerome Bixby yMelissa Mathison, basado

en la serie creada por Rod Serling

Intérpretes: Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, Scatman Crothers, Bill Quinn, Kathleen Quinlan y John Lithgow.

Música: Jerry Goldsmith.

Fotografía: Allen Daviau, John Hora y Stevan Larner

Montaje: Malcolm Campbell, Tina Hirsch,

Michael Kahn, Howard E. Smith

EEUU. 1983. 04 minutos.

Como en los viejos tiempos de la TV.

Entretenida, saludable, lograda puesta al día (a un día de los años ochenta) de las clásicas y estimulantes historias de aquella sobresaliente serie televisiva creada por Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone. Lo peor de esta nostálgica adaptación a pantalla grande de los clásicos capítulos de la mítica serie es que han envejecido mal, mucho peor que sus precedentes televisivos. ¿Por qué? Quizás tenga que ver con los medios materiales y con el propio formato. La película que nos ocupa fue dirigida por cuatro nombres de reconocido prestigio en la industria de aquellos años 80. Las producciones dispusieron de medios, pero los estilemas visuales de aquellos tiempos dejaron una impronta muy profunda en el filme, y, sinceramente, el paso del tiempo ha hecho mella en ellas del mismo modo que en la estética de aquella completa década.

Capítulos

Ello no obsta, digo, la calidad de cada uno de los episodios, cuya visión conjunta depara un acusado contraste que encuentra su razón de ser en el afán por abrazar los grandes temas narrativos contenidos en la serie que homenajean: el intro-homenaje a los seriales de terror (Landis); el segmento del tipo racista que se convierte en víctima literal de su propia intolerancia (Landis); el aliento de la fantasía más edulcorada y bienintencionada (Spielberg); y dos manifestaciones de paranoia, la primera en una parábola con ciertas dosis de apetecible cinismo (el capítulo más juguetón de todos, dirigido por Joe Dante, que paradójicamente encierra un vapuleo a los valores contenidos en la pequeña pantalla), y, por fín, retomando los raíles del género terrorífico, una inquietante variante del tópoi del falso culpable (Miller).

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086491/

http://www.anorakzone.com/tz/

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19830624/REVIEWS/306240301/1023

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Zone:_The_Movie

http://horasdeoscuridad.blogspot.com/2006/09/resea-twilight-zone-1983.html

http://www.pasadizo.com/peliculas2.jhtml?cod=192&sec=1

Todas las imágenes pertenecen a sus autores

Cuando hace tiempo anuncié aquí la muerte de Michael Jackson, el rey del pop y, en su momento, la persona más famosa del mundo, comentamos que quizá no tenía mucho que ver con el mundo del cine, aunque sí, claro, sus videoclips eran piezas fuera de serie, había aparecido en Men in Black 2 y algo más. Su influencia es más que notable en el mundo cinematográfico, pero su presencia física más bien discutible. El caso es que Michael Jackson afirmaba que el cine era el “arte definitivo”, porque tenía música, imágenes… Se consideraba un enamorado de Spielberg, Star Wars, Tiburón, y decía que le encantaría hacer películas. Curiosamente a finales de este mes se estrena una de ellas, ‘This is it’, presumiblemente un megahit taquillero que amasará una fortuna a la velocidad de la luz, quizá por el morbo de una inminente muerte y el desconocimiento del tipo que la va a sufrir. Te la venden como “La” película de Michael Jackson, pero lo cierto es que este hombre tiene varias piezas en su filmografía.

Vamos a conocerla un poco mejor, con la esperanza no sólo de quitarnos ese peso de encima que supone haber pasado de él hasta que un paro cardíaco se lo ha llevado a un carísimo cementerio, sino también para conocerle mejor que con todos los documentales posibles y recordar una época que desgraciadamente ha pasado a la historia en la que confluyeron algunos de los más grandes profesionales del mundo.

“Me encantan las películas, me han gustado desde que era niño. Durante dos horas puedes ser transportado a otro lugar. Las películas pueden llevarte a cualquier sitio. Eso es lo que a mí me gusta. Puedo sentarme y decir: “Muy bien, a partir de ahora no existe nada más, llévame a un lugar maravilloso y hazme olvidar mis angustias, preocupaciones y mi programa de trabajo.” Michael Jackson.

Hasta la llegada de Thriller, un videoclip era un tipo cantando una canción. Ni más ni menos. Su famosa coreografía rodeado de Zombies, dirigida por John Landis, director de películas como ‘Un hombre lobo americano en Londres’ consiguieron que su disco fuera el más vendido de todos los tiempos (y tal como están las cosas, nadie lo baja de ahí ni a tiros). Luego llegó Bad, dirigida por Martin Scorsese, que relataba una historia basada en un hecho real: la de un chico de los bajos fondos que logra hacer una carrera universitaria y que al regresar a casa es obligado por sus amigos a demostrar su valentía atacando a un transeúnte. La gracia de ambos videoclips consistía en un despliegue visual diferente a lo habitual. Antes sólo podías cantar o bailar, o tratar de compaginar ligeramente ambas disciplinas (que se lo digan a Fred Astaire, que le costó lo suyo), mientras que Michael demostró que era capaz de hacerlo todo, y bien.

Con Thriller (que se iba a haber llamado Starligth Love) alcanzó la cúspide mundial. Y fue a partir de ahí cuando dejó la apariencia de una persona normal para vivir en la opulencia y excesos propios de la década de los ochenta, como podemos ver en su ropa en el videoclip de Bad. Se dice que Freddy Mercury, tras grabar varias canciones con Jackson, aseguró que éste “había perdido todo contacto con la realidad” tras Thriller. Quedándonos con ese pequeño detalle, sigamos adelante y analicemos ‘Captain Eo’.

CAPTAIN EO

“Captain Eo se hizo porque los estudios Disney querían que yo montara un número nuevo para los parques. Dijeron que no les importaba lo que hiciera mientras fuera algo creativo”. Michael Jackson.

En 1986 George Lucas seguía siendo el tipo que iba a revolucionar el cine, era relativamente joven y el mundo brillaba con purpurina, ilusión, hombreras y la explosión del Challenger a pocos segundos después de abandonar la plataforma de lanzamiento. Bajo aquel panorama mundial y con la recurrente moda del 3D en auge, George Lucas y Michael Jackson se juntaron para dar forma a un cortometraje de 17 minutos. En un principio se intentó contar con Steven Spielberg para dirigirlo, pero como estaba ocupado, el elegido fue Francis Ford Coppola.

A grandes rasgos el cortometraje trata acerca de una nave espacial llena de perdedores, a punto de ser expulsados de la legión, que tienen la misión de entregar a una maléfica reina un regalo. Son claros su aire infantil, los guiños y homenajes a Star Wars y un cierto tufillo a Dune. Por ejemplo, Michael (El capitán Eo) es el único humano de su nave espacial, mientras que los demás son marionetas de peluche, robots y seres alienígenas bastante incompetentes que no pueden impedir que los ataquen en pleno vuelo. Mientras la nave entera arde y saltan chispas, un holograma del comandante de la flota le pregunta a Michael qué está pasando, y el responde: Nada, señor, un pequeño malfuncionamiento en las armas. Exactamente el mismo chiste con el que Han Solo trataba de justificar un tiroteo en el Episodio IV. Luego viene una larga persecución por algo muy parecido a la trinchera de la estrella de la muerte, que culmina en un accidente y con que todos son capturados.

Ante la reina, Michael le dice que el regalo es propio para alguien de su belleza interior, pero que no tiene una llave que la pueda mostrar al mundo. Por supuesto, el regalo consiste en que los miembros de la tripulación cogen instrumentos (y un robot que se transforma en tal) y empiezan una canción, mientras Michael recluta a todos los esbirros de la reina y con rayos los transforma en los bailarines que habrá detrás. Están los momentos graciosos con el tripulante más tonto de la nave, un elefante que toca el piano y que recuerda sospechosamente a uno similar que aparecía en “el retorno del Jedi” tocando en la guarida de Jabba el Hutt, y el consiguiente cambio físico de la reina malvada por una mujer más normal, los aplausos y los vítores para empezar a tocar una canción mucho más alegre mientras el Capitan Eo y los demás regresan a la nave y emprenden el viaje de regreso.

‘Captain eo’ tuvo su guiño en la serie Padre de Familia, que podeis ver aquí.

Sin embargo poco hay de ironía o de mala baba en Captain Eo. Se trata de un cortometraje cargado de ilusión y buenas intenciones que seguramente hizo disfrutar a muchas personas cuando se estrenó y que se ha vuelto a emitir en Disneyland tras la muerte de Jackson. Por aquella época se suponía que los niños eran inocentes, cosa que hoy día no es así, y que Captain Eo iba dirigido a ellos. Si miráis la foto de abajo, y una vez visto el cortometraje, os daréis cuenta de que efectivamente hubo un niño que se lo pasó realmente bien con él.

Moonwalker.

“Me gusta estar con los niños, ellos lo observan todo, no pasan de nada, miran las cosas con ojos nuevos y mentes abiertas, esto es, entre otras cosas, lo que les hace tan creativos. No se preocupan por las reglas, el dibujo no tiene que estar en el centro de la hoja, el cielo no tiene que ser azul, y también aceptan a las personas. Lo único que exigen es que se les trate con justicia y que se les quiera. Me parece que eso es lo que pedimos todos.” Michael Jackson.

Lo siguiente es una rareza. Se sigue considerando la única película que hizo Jackson, y es digna de estudio. Digamos que no sigue un hilo argumental o la estructura propia de un filme, aunque se le llame así por su formato, duración y distribución. Al principio se nos hace un repaso por su vida y evolución desde que era un niño cantando con los Jackson Five hasta la canción rockera Dirty Diana. Sus premios, su accidente grabando el anuncio de Pepsi que le cambiaría la cara para siempre… Luego daremos paso a una versión de su video Bad realizada por niños que al final atraviesan una nube de humo para ver a Michael al fin, como si hubieran crecido, y que de pronto se ve asediado por un enjambre de marionetas de plastilina que le siguen como posesos. Alguno de ellos parece un ciempiés con decenas de cámaras de fotos, por lo que tiene que correr por todo un estudio de cine hasta esconderse en un armario y allí disfrazarse con lo primero que encuentra, es decir, con ropa y máscara de conejo. Aun así no logra despistar a sus fans, y se inicia una persecución que no es ni más ni menos que el videoclip de otra canción suya: Speed Demon.

Así que mientras los va dejando atrás podemos ver al susodicho conejo huyendo en moto…

O transformándose en alguien famoso para despistar, un gallifante a quien descubra quién es este obrero.

Finalmente llega a un desierto que parece sacado de un capítulo del coyote y el correcaminos, se quita el traje pero éste parece cobrar vida por sí mismo. Entonces ambos bailan hasta que un policía le multa por infringir la señal que podéis ver más abajo. Michael intenta excusarse diciendo que estaba allí con un amigo, pero éste ha desaparecido, así que coge la multa, va a montarse en la moto y, por un momento, se ven en las montañas la forma del conejo, que le guiña un ojo. Michael sonríe y pasamos a otra parte del film.

“Quizá lo mejor de Michael fuera antes de que sucumbiera a la presión de ser Michael” Jane Fonda.

El siguiente fragmento de Moonwalker es el videoclip de “Leave me Alone”, con el que trataba e enviar un claro mensaje: déjame solo. Cantaba a todos aquellos que le hacían la vida imposible, publicando en los periódicos noticias falsas o que contaban la mitad de la verdad. Que sí había montado un templo a Elizabeth Taylor en su casa, que si se había operado la nariz (él admitió que si, y qué importaba) que si intentaba parecer más blanco (aunque siempre alegó que fue una enfermedad, pocos le creyeron hasta que su autopsia le dio la razón) etc, etc…

Luego viene la que quizá sea la parte más famosa de Moonwalker, una edulcorada historia acerca de un gánster interpretado por Joe Pesci (el ladrón bajito y calvo de sólo en casa, si es que soy más útil que la wikipedia) que quiere incitar a los niños al consumo de drogas, pero Michael y una niña le descubren y por eso intentan matarlos. Lo más curioso no son los fragmentos a cámara lenta en la que los niños y Michael disfrutan jugando en el campo (fuente de incontables chistes sobre su supuesta pedofilia) sino que Michael resulta que es un mago que obtiene su energía de las estrellas fugaces y que es capaz de transformarse en un coche molón y en un robot gigante para acabar con todos los malos segundos antes de cambiar de forma y sobrevolar la zona como impresionante nave espacial. Además, con su magia es capaz de entrar en una discoteca que lleva abandonada desde los años 30 y encontrársela llena de gente, donde se realiza uno de los mejores y más famosos videoclips de la historia: Smooth Criminal.

La opinión general es que Moonwalker es una bizarrada de cuidado, con un par de buenos momentos. No es más esperpéntica que la película de Operación Triunfo o el almacén de cosméticos del cantante de Tokio Hotel, pero por no seguir un patrón más “clásico” se recomienda su visionado únicamente a los fans del artista. Sin embargo aún queda una más, ‘Ghost’, que nos muestra mejor que nadie las consecuencias de su extrema fama y sus rarezas.

GHOST

“Un día, en plena preproducción, Michael se quedó dormido. En otra ocasión llamó a Tabby (mi mujer) para preguntarle un teléfono donde yo fuera a estar ese día. A los cinco minutos Michael volvió a llamar llorando porque decía que al no tener bolígrafo había tratado de escribirlo en la alfombra. Tabby, con mucha paciencia, se lo volvió a dar… pero nunca me llamó.” Stephen King.

Ghost es una historia que pretende ser terrorífica y a la vez divertida. Como lo habitual en alguien como él era el videoclip, Ghost es el más largo del mundo, con una duración de 40 minutos plagados de efectos especiales y cuentos de fantasmas. Para ello Michael Jackson recurrió a dos reyes más, a Stephen King, el rey del Terror, y a Stan Winston, el rey de los efectos especiales. Este último, creador de prácticamente todo lo bueno de los últimos treinta años de FX, falleció el año pasado llevándose una forma de hacer y entender la magia en el cine. King y Jackson escribieron juntos una historia acerca de un hombre llamado “El Maestro” que vive encerrado en una mansión que se dice está encantada, y de un pueblo aparentemente normal, con un alcalde que quiere expulsarle de él.

Lo curioso es que en este cortometraje los niños también tienen un papel protagonista. Son los que conocieron al Maestro y éste les asustó y encantó con sus trucos de magia (no voy a hacer chistes, porque bastantes hay ya) y en cierto modo son los únicos que no ven mal que haya un hombre como él viviendo en el pueblo. Sin embargo los padres, escandalizados por el comportamiento del Maestro, que “vive solo y no sale nunca” recurren al alcalde que le dice al maestro frases tan duras como “Vuelve al circo, porque eres un anormal, monstruo. Lárgate o tendremos que hacerte daño… eres raro…. Y no me gustas.” Entonces el Maestro, aficionado a los juegos de terror decide que el primero que se asuste, tendrá que irse del pueblo.

“¿A todos les gustan los juegos aquí? ¡Helloooou!!!! Hora de jugar!!!”

Así empieza el contraataque del Maestro. Empieza poniendo muecas estúpidas, diciendo: “¿Crees que esto da miedo? ¿No? Bien, ¿Y esto?” pero como el alcalde sigue insultándole opta por gritar: ¿Esto te asusta?

El maestro se quita toda la piel de su cabeza y deja al descubierto su cráneo, cierra las puertas y no deja salir a nadie diciendo: Es demasiado tarde, sois mis huéspedes. Por cierto… ¿Os dije que no estaba solo? Conoced a la familia.

Así que luego presenciamos varios minutos de coreografías en las que la ley de la gravedad, por ejemplo, no importa en absoluto. Algunos momentos maravillan al público y otros los aterran, hasta el extremo de que, cuando el alcalde mira con infinito odio al Maestro, éste se despoja de ropa y carne para mostrarnos su esqueleto.

Así se inicia la lucha entre estos dos hombres por ver quién tiene derecho a quedarse. Ghost es un portento de efectos especiales que incluso hoy, trece años más tarde, no han envejecido en absoluto. Quizá el que más impresione no es el esqueleto recreado con captura de movimientos, (una réplica perfecta, con todo lo truculento que eso conlleva, de la forma ósea de Michael) sino uno de los múltiples personajes que éste interpreta: Al propio alcalde del pueblo.

Y es que es sencillamente alucinante lo bien que queda en pantalla este hombre siendo nada más y nada menos que kilos de maquillaje y prótesis de látex. Una muestra de por qué el estudio de Stan Winston se merece todos los Óscars que se ha llevado y más, lo que reafirma mi opinión de que el abuso de ordenadores ha destruido una parte importantísima de la “gracia” de hacer cine. Un detalle a resaltar es que con ese maquillaje puesto Michael Jackson pudo por primera vez en toda su vida salir a la calle sin que la gente gritara y le persiguiera, y sentarse en un banco en mitad de Disneylandia sin cientos de personas a su alrededor buscando una parte de él.

Ghost se estrenó fuera de concurso en el festival de Cannes en 1997, donde obtuvo buenas críticas y fue lanzada en VHS junto con copias de una película de Stephen King, “Maleficio”. Es la última de las películas de Michael Jackson, en la que queda patente sus ganas de ser otra persona, de escapar de todo aquello que consiguió y poder tener un día tranquilo y normal, salir al supermercado y llenar el carro con comida, disfrazarse, transformarse, ser inocente como los niños y la tristeza de ser considerado un bicho raro. ¿Era verdad toda esa inocencia que destilaba fuera de los escenarios? ¿Realmente era un niño grande al que Internet, en sus comienzos, le jodió la vida porque era raro, callado, tímido y demasiado famoso como para no creerte cualquier cosa que le sucediera? Con tanta ironía como hay en el mundo, con tantas insinuaciones acerca de que su amor por los niños era algo más carnal que lo que él aseguraba llorando y hasta con rabia, ¿Era él de las últimas personas inocentes que he visto en este mundo?

‘This is it’ promete darnos una nueva visión de este hombre. Algo como “nunca se ha visto”, que “cambiará para siempre nuestra percepción sobre un genio como él”. Esto ya lo he escuchado antes, y siempre nos contarán lo mismo. Dentro de unos días os diré cómo ha sido ‘This is it’, y si es verdad todo lo que nos anuncian. De momento, si queréis sacar algo más de cómo era el verdadero Michael Jackson, os dejo con dos frases que espero que os hagan pensar.

“El precio de la fama puede ser muy alto. ¿Merece la pena? Piensa que, en realidad, no tienes vida privada. No puedes hacer nada sin tomar una serie de medidas especiales. Los periódicos imprimen todo lo que dices, informan de todo lo que haces. Saben lo que compras, qué películas ves, todo lo que puedas imaginar. Si voy a la Biblioteca Pública dan los títulos que pido. Una vez en Florida publicaron en el periódico mi programa completo: Todo lo que hice desde las diez de la mañana hasta las seis de la tarde. Recuerdo que pensé: ¿Y si hiciera algo que no deseara ver publicado? Ese es el precio de la fama. Mis amigos y colaboradores saben que hay “otro” Michael al que me resulta difícil exponer en las extravagantes situaciones públicas en las que a menudo me veo.

Mucha gente me pregunta cómo soy: Mi música favorita es una mezcla extraña, me gusta la música clásica, me encanta la comida mexicana, soy vegetariano así que mis platos favoritos son a base de furta y verdura fresca. Me encantan los juguetes y los artilugios. Si me gusta alguno, me lo compro. Para mí, nada hay más importante que hacer feliz a la gente, distraerles de sus problemas y preocupaciones, aliviar sus cargas. Que digan que mi espectáculo les ha gustado y quieren volver, para mí es lo único que cuenta”. Michael Jackson.

“Si lo miráis veréis la tristeza de Jackson y el deseo casi doloroso de agradar. Sí, soy extraño, dicen sus ojos, pero estoy haciénolo lo mejor que puedo, y quiero haceros felices. ¿Es eso tan malo? El jurado lo declaró inocente, sin embargo el mundo lo encontró culpable de ser raro en tercer grado, y lo condenaron a vivir recluido. De castillo encantado en Castillo encantado. Finalmente, murió en uno de ellos.” Stephen King.

ipanonima

Comme j’adore le mois d’Octobre, l’Halloween et les films d’horreur, j’ai décidé de faire le premier Horreur-o-thon des Bipolaires! En effet, j’écouterai un film de peur par jour jusqu’au 31, alors revenez lire mes critiques quotidiennes…si vous en avez le courage! MOUAHAHAHAAA!

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Après avoir vu An American Werewolf In London, j’étais curieux de voir la suite, même si j’avais entendu plusieurs mauvais commentaires.  “Bah, ça va être divertissant pareil”, me dis-je.  En plus, une de mes amies l’avait dans sa collection, donc ça ne devait pas être si pire que ça (et si ça l’était, je l’aurais vu gratis au moins héhé!.)

Oh, boy.  J’étais siiii dans l’erreur.

Finalement, ça aurait dû s’appeler An American Pie In Paris, parce qu’il y’avait beaucoup plus de points en commun avec l’interminable franchise pour ados qu’avec le précédent film d’horreur comique de John Landis.  En gros, 3 douchebags partent en voyage à travers Paris pour sauter en bungee de la Tour Eiffel et plein de conneries du genre.  Au sommet de la Tour, le douchebag principal (Douche McBag) sauve la vie d’une jeune femme qui allait sauter, tombant en amour avec.  Ce qu’il ne sait pas, c’est qu’elle est un loup-garou et qu’un culte de lycanthropes Parisiens ont pour habitude de dévorer les touristes américains.

Bref, l’humour gras ne fitte pas dans le film (pendant une date avec Douche McBag, Miss Loup-Garou remarque des condoms dans sa poche de chemise. Il lui dit que ce sont des gommes à mâcher Américaines, après quoi il en mâche un et fait une “balloune”…).  De plus, les effets spéciaux de loups-garous fait par ordi passent de “corrects” à “j’ai tu mis un jeu de N64 par erreur?”.  L’histoire ne va nulle part et les personnages sont pas attachants pour 5 cennes.  Rajoutez une soundtrack punk-ska à la SmashMouth et Blur et vous avez de la vraie crap-garou.

Note finale: 4/10

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Meilleure citation:

Un chirurgien: “Did you see a girl? She’s stolen my heart.”

Douche McBag: “I know the feeling.”  Tellement quétaine.

Meilleure mort: Une conquête du perso principal se fait déchiqueter et on voit le résultat dans la photo ci-haut (son oeil explose quand elle siffle et plonge dans ses seins.  Ha ha.

Y’as-tu des tits?!: Bien sûr: Miss Loup-Garou réconforte McDouche en lui mettant les mains sur ses seins.  Gratuit vous dites?!

Saviez-vous que…: Thierry L’Hermitte a un cameo de littéralement 3 mots. (“Help!”, “Taxi!” et “Please!”)

Os Irmãos Cara de Pau

Antes de falar do filme, vou contar uma história minha relacionada a ele. Era janeiro de 1989. Heu viajava numa excursão pela Austrália. O ônibus tinha um videocassete, onde o motorista colocava filmes de vez em quando. Heu estava vendo um filme, bem divertido aliás, sem saber qual era. Quando o filme acabou, vendo os créditos, reparei uma quantidade enorme de nomes conhecidos no elenco – atores, diretores, músicos… Logo quis saber que filme era aquele! E assim, anotei o nome “The Blues Brothers” – de volta ao Brasil, descobri que aqui era chamado de “Os Irmãos Cara de Pau” (na época era comum traduções esdrúxulas de nomes de filme).

A trama é muito simples: os irmãos Jake e Elwood Blues (John Belushi e Dan Aykroyd) precisam reunir a antiga banda para levantar dinheiro para salvar um orfanato.

Simples, não? E mesmo assim, um dos melhores filmes da década de 80!

Na verdade, os Blues Brothers não se resumiam a este filme. Antes do filme, Belushi e Aykroyd tinham um quadro com a banda no famoso Saturday Night Live. E depois a banda continuou na ativa – nos emules da vida tem vários discos ao vivo da banda.

Tem gente que classifica o filme como musical, mas para mim, trata-se de uma comédia com excelentes números musicais inseridos. Para se ter uma ideia, temos participações de James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles e Cab Calloway!

Tirando Belushi e Aykroyd, todo o resto da banda é formada por músicos, não atores: duas guitarras, baixo, bateria, teclado e um naipe com três metais. E, no elenco, temos nomes como Carrie Fisher, John Candy,Twiggy, Frank Oz e uma ponta de um tal Steven Spielberg.

O filme não só tem ótimos números musicais, como ainda tem exageradas cenas com muitos carros e muitos extras. São tantas as perseguições de carro que, na época da estreia, era o filme com o maior número de carros quebrados. Ah, sim, aquela cena com o carro dos nazistas caindo, era um carro de verdade!

O diretor John Landis também dirigiu o melhor videoclipe da história, “Thriller“, do Michael Jackson. Ele funcionava bem dirigindo comédias (“Trocando as Bolas”, “Três Amigos”, “Clube dos Cafajestes”) e tembém filmes de terror (“Um Lobisomem Americano em Londres”, “Inocente Mordida”, “Twilight Zone”). Pena que ele não tem feito muita coisa – já são uns dez anos sem filmes para o cinema, só trabalhos para a tv.

O filme teve uma continuação em 1998, dirigida pelo mesmo John Landis e também com um grande número de participações musicais legais. Infelizmente, uma das coisas mais importantes não estava lá: John Belushi, que morreu em 1982, aos 33 anos, de overdose. Uma carreira brilhante jogada fora. Belushi fez apenas sete filmes, além de vários programas de tv.

Filme obrigatório! Daqueles para se rever uma vez por ano!

Crazy Sly doing a comedy role as a mob boss what is he doing.

Sylvester Stallone plays a big-time gangster who promises his dying father (Kirk Douglas) that he’ll go straight. Easier said than done, as Stallone encounters drawbacks such as a mix-up of little black bags, a daughter who changes fiances three times before lunch and a continuously revolving door of colorful thugs.

In this film, it does what many others don’t do, and that is make a very funny comeback after a nearly disastrous first 20 minutes. I will admit that I’m not a huge fan of 30’s depression era mobster comedies, cause I think they just thaw out to be corny and trying to hard to be funny, but this one was a different set.

The one thing I liked the most was that Stallone’s character is such a straight-forward guy and they always have these funny side characters thrown at him and it makes it more joy to see how he reacts to these goofball characters. The movie has a very well-played out but funny situation that happens and when its all over its good to see it all thaw out.

I think Sly was OK in his first comedy role but he is not too believable. He runs up the stairs too fast like he’s being Rocky again, and he also doesn’t seem that vicious when it comes to him being screwed. He just doesn’t seem like the mob boss that would whack you for stealing over thousands of dollars of his money. The rest of the supporting cast is very funny and well-casted and are surely where the strength lays.

The problem I had with this film that so many of the gags were too played off as being a parody on old time Hollywood films and I thought this called for no original material. Director John Landis, who is known for directing films like Animal House and ¡Three Amigos, I was expecting more from these comedic genius but I was surely disappointing that it wasn’t as hilarious.

Consensus: Oscar is a funny situational comedy that is boasted by a great story and hilarious side characters, even if it seems like a parody.

8/10=Matinee!!

Thriller – Michael Jackson

Será que posso falar de videoclips neste espaço?

Outro dia revi o clip de Thriller, considerado por muitos – inclusive por este que vos escreve – o melhor videoclip da história. Não se trata apenas de um vídeo musical, existe uma história sendo contada. Sim, pelo menos neste caso, videoclip é cinema. E como este é um blog de cinema…

Michael Jackson estava no auge nesta época. Depois de uma carreira de sucesso como o cantor mirim dos Jackson 5, ele lançara um ótimo disco solo, “Off The Wall”. E depois deste veio um disco ainda melhor, o lp “Thriller”, que, de quebra, ainda hoje é o disco mais vendido da história.

Acho que hoje, pouco depois da morte de Michael Jackson, não deve existir ninguém no planeta que desconheça as muitas músicas famosas deste disco. São várias, como Billie Jean e Beat It. E, claro, a faixa título Thriller.

O projeto do videoclip era ambicioso. Para a direção, foi chamado John Landis, que tinha experiência com musicais (“Os Irmãos Cara de Pau“) e com filmes de terror (“Um Lobisomem Americano em Londres”). E Landis criou um pequeno filme de terror, com direito a lobisomens e zumbis, usando a música de Jackson ao fundo.

Aliás, a música no clip nem segue a mesma estrutura que no disco. A ordem das estrofes e refrães foi alterada, para uma melhor adaptação ao roteiro.

Resultado? A história é boa, a música é excelente, a coreografia marcou toda uma geração, os efeitos especiais são fantásticos, e por aí vai.

Se você ainda não viu (alguém aí nunca viu?), corra para um youtube da vida. Vale os quase 15 minutos!

Comme j’adore le mois d’Octobre, l’Halloween et les films d’horreur, j’ai décidé de faire le premier Horreur-o-thon des Bipolaires! En effet, j’écouterai un film de peur par jour jusqu’au 31, alors revenez lire mes critiques quotidiennes…si vous en avez le courage! MOUAHAHAHAAA!

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Comme mentionné dans ma critique de Creepshow, j’aime bien les anthologies d’horreur.  Par contre, Twilight Zone n’inclut pas seulement des histoires d’horreur, mais des contes fantastiques ou de science-fiction.  Dans les 4 histoires réalisées respectivement par John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante et George Miller, les genres se mélangent avec des résultats plus ou moins

Prologue: Dan Aykroyd et Albert Brooks chantonnent des thèmes d’émissions de télé (incluant “Twilight Zone”) pour passer le temps durant leur voyage en voiture.  Mais, Dan Aykroyd a une surprise pour Albert Brooks…Une bonne intro et un saut efficace à la fin. 8/10

1- Un homme raciste et xénophobe (Vic Morrow) se retrouve soudainement dans la peau d’un Juif en plein occupation Allemande, un Noir capturé par le KKK et un Vietnamien au centre de la Guerre du Vietnam.  Le concept est intéressant, mais on fait le tour vite.  Par contre, la fin abrupte et la continuité étrange peut avoir un lien avec la mort subite de Vic Morrow et deux enfants vietnamiens durant une cascade d’hélicoptère qui a mal tournée…(un 23 juillet, ma date de fête! oh!)  6.5/10

2- Steven Spielberg met en scène Scatman Crothers (le vieux monsieur dans The Shining) qui envoûte les résidents d’une maison pour personnes âgées afin de les rajeunir.  C’est très kétaine et sirupeux, avec une prémisse mince et déjà vue.  Bad move, Steven! 5/10

3- Une institutrice arrive dans un petit village et se fait accueillir par la famille excentrique et nerveuse d’un petit garçon rencontré plus tôt.  Elle se rend compte rapidement que le garçon possède un pouvoir effrayant et que sa “famille” en est terrifié.  Plutôt réussi, ce segment possède une réalisation extravangante et colorée, en plus d’effets spéciaux originaux (des personnages de cartoon deviennent vivants). 7/10

4- Pendant une tempête féroce, un auteur connu (John Lithgow) panique lorsqu’il aperçoit une créature sur l’aile de l’avion dans lequel il se trouve.  Son anxiété augmente de plus en plus alors qu’il voit la créature démolir les moteurs de l’appareil un à un! La meilleure histoire. L’ambiance claustrophobe rajoute à l’horreur et le concept est bien accompagné par la réalisation énergique et la performance très crédible de Lithgow. Et la bébitte fait un peu peur aussi! 8.5/10

Bref, bel effort, mais trop de facteurs ont fait que ce film plein de potentiel est finalement tombé à plat.

Note finale: 6.5/10

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Meilleure citation: “There’s a man on the wing of this plane!!!!!!”

Meilleure mort: Y’en a pas.

Y’as-tu des tits?!: (voir “meilleure mort”)

Saviez-vous que…: Le créateur de l’émission de télé “Twilight Zone” est aperçu brièvement dans l’oeil de l’intro du film. Eh ben.