#51- The Wolf Man

Quick recap: A man gets bitten by a werewolf that he defends himself from and in turn, becomes a werewolf. Except not really, because this version of a werwolf has Lon Cheney looking like a hairy hipster. After going on a killing spree, as all werewolves are wont to do, he is bludgeoned to death by his father.

googling ‘hipster werewolf’ took me down a Furry rabbit hole I wasn’t prepared for

Fun (?) Fact: The Wolf Man’s hair is made from yak and took hours to put it on and take it off

My thoughts: As I have mentioned before, werewolves are not very scary to me and this one was even less so. Although I don’t really know what I was expecting since the movie is called Wolf Man. The attack scenes were especially not scary. It just seemed like some really hairy guy had had enough of society’s rules on grooming and wanted to let everyone know who was really in charge.

new game! Hipster or Wolf Man? Either way, the music you listen to is lame.

I enjoyed this film more when I thought about the context of its time. I don’t subscribe to the idea that people back then were more easily scared because I don’t see how ANYONE would’ve had nightmares from this guy. But I can imagine some kid watching a matinee of Wolf Man, maybe a double feature, and getting kind of creeped out. There were enough elements that most 7 year olds would be scared by- a mysterious gypsy, lots of fog, and then the scenes were the werewolves are beaten to death. This movie takes itself seriously.

hipster or Wolf man? Just imagine a PBR or some super local craft beer in this guy’s hand

One part of the film that creeped me out was not the Wolf Man, but Larry Talbot’s attempts to flirt with Gwen. I don’t know about you, but if a guy came up to me and said that he liked my earrings because he had been spying on me with a telescope, I wouldn’t go walking around town with him late at night. Not judging here, of course. I had read the synopsis of the movie beforehand that mentioned the transformation of a werewolf was a metaphor for a sexual transformation. If so, Wolf Man is into some kinky stuff. Once again, not judging.

Last round of Hipster or Wolf Man!

Final review: 2/5. My favorite part of the movie is that it is only 70 minutes long. I think it would be a lot of fun to show Wolf Man at a kids halloween party, but no adult should see it and expect to be frightened.

Nightmares: no nightmares, but my dreams had plenty of fog in them

Up next: more Horrorfest!

#42- Batman

Quick recap: In this installment, Batman battles The Joker (Jack Nicholson). He falls in love as well, but that subplot was a little too Lois Lane and Clark if you ask me and I’d rather just forget that it happened.

Fun (?) Fact: There’s a lot I could put up here, but I’ll just sum it up by saying comic book fans hated this movie.

My thoughts: I’m going to do my best not to compare 1989’s Batman to the later installment directed by Christopher Nolan because this Batman has PLENTY wrong with it without me needing to reference the rebooted trilogy. There is a lot to trash here but I’ll start with Batman himself. I’m not a comic book fan by any means but even I know how complicated a superhero he is. Batman’s appeal comes from the fact that he is burdened by being a superhero. He is the only one to save Gotham City and I would imagine that takes its toll after awhile. But in this movie, everything is neatly wrapped up in a tidy little package. Everything is explained by the end of the movie so that there doesn’t need to be another, except for more chances to sell merchandise. For starters, the movie makes it seem as if Bruce Wayne becomes Batman because his parents were murdered and he has the means to own cool gadgets. It’s like any person with a lot of money could step into this role. And Wayne for his part, quietly enjoys the attention Batman gets. It’s such an egotistical portrayal and turned me off. As for why he chooses a bat as his symbol, in one scene he says that he likes bats because ‘they are survivors’. NO THEY AREN’T. They are nocturnal animals that enjoy caves and hunting for their food. Now, if someone had held a gun to a bat’s head and it got away, THEN it would be a survivor. An animal being itself is not survival.

The character of Batman has been reduced to a rich boy showing off his cool toys. I was especially annoyed during the scene when The Joker puts on a parade with a bunch of balloons filled with deadly gas. Batman gets in his Bat plane and uses a BALLOON SNATCHER on his plane to save the day. WTF?

When talked about, most people mention that this movie’s saving grace is Jack Nicholson playing The Joker and I don’t disagree with that assessment. Nicholson stole every scene he was in and I enjoyed watching his various maniacal plans take shapes. But I wouldn’t call him a joker, per se, mainly because he didn’t tell jokes. If anything, he should’ve been called The Prankster or something. A joker he was not. I have no idea how authentic The Joker’s origin story is in this movie, but once again I felt that it was told too simply. The Joker killed Batman’s parents so it was ok for him to take revenge. The Joker has it in for Batman because early on in the movie he pushed him into a vat of chemicals. I felt like there should’ve been less explanation and just left it that some people are just evil.

And finally- Prince writing songs for this movie? Seriously? I know that it was 1989 and he was cool but didn’t any one stop and think that maybe his sound would be a little dated at some point. Any scene with Prince music became laughable and cringeworthy.

Prince transcends time and space

Final review: 2/5. The movie was at best, mildly entertaining. Nicholson was great but then again, he’s sort of known as being the go to for playing ‘insane guy’.

Up next: The Silence of the Lambs or Spring in a Small Town

5 Comments

#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.

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.

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

#28-Rocky

Quick recap: Rocky Balboa is a boxer who has essentially wasted his life fighting the wrong people. But then the champion of the boxing world, Apollo Creed, challenges him to a match for the title. So Rocky eats raw eggs, runs up stairs and punches meat to train. He also manages to fall in love with a shy pet shop employee to prove that at heart, he’s a lover not a fighter. Or something like that.

I doubt PETA very much liked this scene. Do they care about carcases though?

Fun (?) Fact: The poster of Rocky displayed at the boxing ring with the wrong color shorts was an actual mistake. Not having time or money to fix the mistake, Sylvester Stallone added dialogue where he points out the inaccuracy.

My thoughts: After watching this movie and trying to decide how to review it, I came to the conclusion that I’m in a sort of pop culture dilemma. Although this was my first time seeing the movie, I already knew many of the scenes and even the outcome. I basically sat through the whole thing just so I could cross it off of my list and say that I did it. That’s not to say it wasn’t an enjoyable film but it left me a bit underwhelmed overall. I almost feel a sense of guilt for not getting into the spirit of the movie and rooting for Rocky. And to top it off, in doing this project, I know that I’m going to run into more iconic movies that I mostly know the story but have never seen in their entirety.

The most fair thing I can do is try to see Rocky as a moviegoer would in 1976. It was a time before anyone really knew Stallone so his acting ability seemed impressive. And just like nowadays, people back then ate up those feel good sports stories.

at least I wasn’t subjected to this.

Rocky’s story, if you look past the cheesiness, is endearing. Stallone lays it on a little thick as to how sweet Rocky is underneath all that violence, but the point is made nonetheless. I was most surprised by Adrian’s character because I always pictured her as some italian bombshell, not this shy girl in glasses. I really enjoyed her transformation and how loyal she stayed throughout everything. I did not, however, enjoy the billion times Rocky said, ‘Yo,Adrian!’. It felt a too heavy on the Italian stereotype. Then again, James Gandolfini just passed away and I could watch Tony Soprano for hours without getting bored or annoyed.

Final Review: 2/5. I can see why it is an iconic movie, but it’s just not for me.

Up Next: I’ll be watching a movie about a sweet transvestite from Transylvania

1 Comment

1001 Movie Nights

Tag Archives: 2/5

#51- The Wolf Man

#42- Batman

#36- A Fish Called Wanda

#28-Rocky

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: