Tag Archives: 1980’s

#40- Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Quick recap: Roger Rabbit, a toon, has been framed for the murder of Marvin Acme  and it’s up to Eddie Valient, PI, to help crack the case.

zany, I tells ya

zany, I tells ya!

Fun (?) fact: This movie marked the first time Warner Brothers cartoons and Disney cartoons were together. Warner Brothers agreed to allow its most famous characters to be shown as long as they were given equal time as the Disney characters. This explains the scenes with Daffy Duck and Donald Duck playing piano and later on, Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse skydiving. It does not explain the 50 year old baby because where can you even begin?

This disturbed me way more than it should have

This disturbed me way more than it should have

My thoughts: So. I have a confession to make. I don’t like Looney Tunes. I don’t know if this has always been the case and come to think of it, I don’t think it has. I remember owing a VHS of 50 Bugs Bunny cartoons or something like that when I was younger. But now there is no love lost between me and Warner Brothers. I’m going to blame ugly 90’s fashion on this one because at some point, someone decided it would be a good idea for cartoons to be used as a fashion statement.

NO. Also, I'm wondering if there was a crossover between Looney Tunes fashion and those awful No Fear t-shirts

NO. Also, I’m wondering if there was a crossover between Looney Tunes fashion and those awful No Fear t-shirts

 

With that out of the way, I can honestly say that I didn’t hate this movie. Yay! From a sophisticated adult perspective, I appreciate the homage to 40s detective movies as well as to the classic cartoons everyone grew up with. I was also impressed with the way the director balanced out well known characters with new ones. It helped secure the image of ToonTown as a place where all cartoons live, big and small.

I also enjoyed seeing the way humans and cartoons interacted with each other. This had been going on for years but a lot of time and effort was put into making the interactions even more believable. In fact, Disney animators coined the term ‘bump the lamp’ from this movie. The term refers to a scene in which Valient hoists Roger Rabbit into the air while his head repeatedly bumps the lamp. As the lamp swings side to side, it casts realistic shadows on both the human and cartoon. The point is that even though 98% of the audience wouldn’t notice this, it added to the movie’s authenticity. That’s why Disney and Pixar have always been ahead in the animation game, this attention to the most minute things. I’m sure I didn’t catch all of the little jokes in this movie, but I could tell how much work was put into the process.

more of an easter egg, but this attention to detail in the movie Aladdin is a great example of 'bump the lamp'

more of an easter egg, but this attention to detail in the movie Aladdin is a great example of ‘bump the lamp’

The one part that bothered me about this movie is that I could never figure out who the film was geared towards. I mean, the movie is chock full of classic cartoon characters that children love but on the other hand, there is a lot of violence, language and innuendos. So, I guess the demographic was for adults after all, but then I looked online and found Happy Meal toys tied in to the movie. tumblr_m7dwv6PH7N1qaa34so1_500

Final review: 3/5. I don’t think I would watch this again and I don’t know when I would show it to my son. But I can still appreciate how well this movie was made and how much thought was put into it.

Up next: El Topo

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#36- A Fish Called Wanda

Quick recap: George and Ken plan to go on a jewelry heist so they bring in two Americans to help them pull it off: Wanda and Otto, who are lovers but pretend to be brother and sister so that they can backstab the other two later. The jewelry heist comes off almost perfectly except that no one trusts anyone and every man is in it for himself. Hilarity ensues.

there are in fact fish in this movie.

there are in fact fish in this movie.

Fun(?) Fact: A guy in Denmark thought the scene where Ken gets fries up his nose was so hilarious, that he died laughing. That’s not an exaggeration by the way. He LITERALLY died from laughter.

literally.

literally.

My thoughts: I had high hopes for this film a) because several people recommended it to me and b) because Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the funniest movie ever created. In retrospect, maybe my expectations were too high because I only found myself actually laughing a couple of times. I’ll be the first one to admit that reviewing a humorous movie is the hardest job because humor is so subjective.  That is, unless you are one of those people who have paid money to see Grown-Ups 2. If you are, it’s time to rethink the sad direction your life has taken.

One thing this movie has going for it are the characters. Jamie Lee Curtis as a comedian was a surprise and Otto, played by Kevin Kline, stole the show. The two played off each other so well as Wanda went back and forth from being so turned on by him to thinking he is the stupidest person alive, which he kind of was. Many of my favorite scenes involved Otto spying on Wanda and Archie and then trying to cover up for why he was there. And since I’m on the subject of Archie, John Cleese was wonderful. Archie starts off as a whipped puppy dog with his wife always telling him what to do and his job as barrister not giving him any respect. But then Wanda enters the picture and he slowly starts to transform. My favorite scene of the whole movie is the one where he is dancing naked and singing in German and then in walk a family with children. It perfectly illustrated Archie’s bad luck.

The character that was the most complicated for me was, of course, Ken. I understand the reasoning behind adding the stutter to become a part of who Ken was, but it just turned me off to the comedy anytime he tried to talk. The scene where Otto sticks fries up Ken’s nose just made me feel sorry for him and I especially hated Otto eating his fish in front of him. I knew there was humor in the irony he was such an animal lover and when he had been given the job of murdering the old lady, he kept killing her dogs on accident. But I just didn’t laugh. For many people, Ken was the one who made them love the movie, but it just wasn’t for me. At the same time, I’m not really sure if taking away the stutter would’ve been a good idea, either. I was happy when he ended the movie as a hero of sorts, but that came after feeling sorry for him the whole time.

On a positive note, apparently Michael Palin was confronted by a group of stutterers for how he portrayed their disability and in turn, created a center in London to help children who stutter.

Final review: 2/5.  comedy is much harder to pull off than I realized

How I watched it: this one is on Netflix Instant!

Up next:  either The Best Years of our Lives or The Departed. It depends on which one Netflix decides to send me first

 

 

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#23- Ariel

Quick Recap: Taisto Kasurinen is a coal miner, but after his mine closes down and his father commits suicide, he decides to head to the big city to find work. He sets out in a vintage car and immediately runs into trouble when his money is stolen. He is able to find a little work and eventually meets a woman.After running across the man who stole his money, Taisto is arrested and sent to jail for assault.Still in love, he breaks out of prison to be with her. More crimes are committed but in the end he, his wife and her son escape to Mexico on a boat called Ariel. MIND BLOWN.

Fun (?) Fact:  I hate to reveal all of my secrets, but when doing research for this blog, I tend to find everything I need on Wikipedia. As of yet, I have had no need to search elsewhere. When I found the article for this film, I was disappointed to see that it is rather sparse. However, I did manage to find this gem of a fact: this movie is listed in the ‘1001 movies you should see before you die’ book. You don’t say?

My thoughts: I know nothing about Finland, except that it is cold. So I was intrigued to see that the first foreign film I would be viewing would come from a country I know next to nothing about. After watching Ariel in its entirety, I still know next to nothing BUT I can now make some assumptions for your reading pleasure:

1. The Finnish don’t mess around with emotion.

In the first 5-10 minutes of the film Taisto’s father kills himself in a diner. He tells his son to have his car and then pulls out his gun, walks into the restroom and a couple of seconds later, there is a gunshot. Taisto calmly walks to the back to confirm that his father is dead. He lights up a cigarette and moves on. I have no way of knowing if this is a director’s trademark to have everyone speak in a monotone and keep feelings neutral, as I just have this film to go by. At no point did anyone raise their voice, or cry or smile. In one scene, Taisto sleeps with Imeli, a parking maid he takes out to dinner. After they have sex, she asks if he is going to disappear in the morning. In the driest way possible, he answers, ‘no, I’m going to stay with you forever’. I thought this was sarcasm until he married her.

2. The Finnish are an efficient people.

This movie clocked in at a whopping 74 minutes, beginning to end. I was worried that I would have trouble following the plot since this was a foreign film, but it was as straightforward as it gets. It was like going from point A to point B on a map. There was no subplot and there were very few characters.

3. I know it’s the 80’s but the Finnish had exceptionally bad haircuts.

Once again, this could very well be a director trademark to present his characters in such an unflattering light but even Imeli, the parking maid whom Taisto falls in love with has a horrible hair job going on. Maybe it’s dark most of the year and so haircuts must be done in total darkness, but come on. No one should have to go through life like that.

The one on the top has a mullet with blad spot and the one on bottom has slicked back long hair

The one on the top has a mullet with blad spot and the one on bottom has slicked back long hair

4. For entertainment, the Finnish enjoy hanging out on rocks and laying their bottom halves in the water so their jeans can get soaked.

Is this a thing? I refuse to believe that this is a thing.

Is this a thing? I refuse to believe that this is a thing.

FInal review: 2/5. A part of me kept expecting the Mystery Science Theater 3000 folk to show up at any point but the plot itself wasn’t so bad and the dialogue was very straightforward. If a person has a desire to watch more foreign films, this would be a decent one to start with.

Where/ how I watched it: Netflix DVD

Up Next: Crumb, my first documentary on this list.

 

 

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#16- The Thing

Quick recap: The movie follows a groups of scientists stationed in Antarctica. They come across an alien life form who has the ability to imitate other life forms. Paranoia sets in to the camp and people begin to die in horrible ways. Very horrible ways.

Fun(?) Fact: Members of the South pole Station regularly view this movie as well as The Shining. How motivational?

My Thoughts: As noted in my previous post, I had planned on watching another movie but after a bad couple of days and one rainy night, I chose this. I’m not a ‘horror movie’ kind of girl and was a little apprehensive about seeing this film in a theater. I can be quite jumpy at times, over the dumbest things.

I may or may not have cried upon discovering that this book glowed in the dark one late night.

I may or may not have cried upon discovering that this book glowed in the dark one late night.

So with drink in hand, I attempted to watch The Thing as calmly and rationally as I could. I had a sense of dread throughout most of the beginning, waiting for everything bad to happen. It wasn’t long before horrible things started to happen. I was pleased to discover what The Thing looked like early on so that my mind wouldn’t keep building it up for me. Kudos to John Carpenter for creating the most disgusting creature EVER. Disgusting, but not terrifying. In a twisted way, I was more scared during the parts of the film when the scientists accused each other of The Thing. I won’t spoil it ,although this movie 31 years old, but there is a great scene where each person must prove he is not an alien. Very scary stuff. Reflecting on the movie as I left the theater at midnight, I realized that the idea of people not being who they seem is the most terrifying idea of all. The alien had assimilated itself so well that no one could trust anyone. One thing I have heard mentioned about the horror genre is that movies are more terrifying when they have a moral or bigger idea. My brain was able to connect recent tragic events to this movie. I don’t know how many times someone does something awful and without fail, some news station has found a neighbor or family member who can only describe the suspect as kind and never in a million years would they have thought this person was capable of such damage. I’m not lobbying for more paranoia, but the idea of not knowing who someone really is gives me pause.

Final review: 4/5. My score is close to 3 out of 5, but I went ahead and rounded up to 4 since the movie had a lasting effect on me. I was put off by all the goriness but at least it was creative.

Where I watched it: Alamo Drafthouse

Up Next: The Red Shoes. I’ll watch it one of these days, I promise.

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