Tag Archives: 4/5

#412- The Bad and the Beautiful

Quick recap: A director, an actress and a writer all have a common bond: They hate former producer Jonathan Shields.

This was a serious film but I would totally watch a buddy comedy sequel between these three

Fun (?) fact: Sex is mentioned 6 times in the movie, which was rather scandalous at the time.

How deep does that chin dimple go? Would I be able to put a finger in there?

Thoughts and observations:

Watching this film made me really miss the days when someone could make a movie about what was currently going on in Hollywood, not caring who was spoofed in the process. Citizen Kane, All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard, Singin’ in the Rain– and now the Bad and the Beautiful. Like, I just want a film about how soul sucking it is to work with Spielberg or how obsessed with feet Tarantino really is. Do better, movie industry.

So the main plot of the movie is that these three people-Fred Amiel, Georgia Lorrison, and James Lee Bartlow have been screwed over by producer Jonathan Shields (the Bad) but are now ridiculously successful (the Beautiful). In reviewing this movie, I’ve decided to rank the level of deception to the level of success:

3) Amiel- He and Shields teamed up to make B movies and accidentally make one worth some money. This gives Amiel courage to reveal his idea for a blockbuster, which Shields then takes to the studio and picks someone completely different to direct. Amiel loses out big time at first but later becomes an award winning director.

Deception: meddling. This seems like a common thing done in the industry. And even if the idea was a great one, whose to say Amiel would’ve also made the perfect director?

Success: High!

2) Lorrison- She got picked to star in Shield’s films and really became successful once she fell in love with him. She stopped drinking and poured all her emotion into her roles so as to further please Shields. Shields, meanwhile, wasn’t into her at all and only made her think so, so that she could continue being a great actress. Lorrison eventually finds out about the deception and leaves the studio completely. She then goes on to be one of the most famous actresses of the day.

Deception: pretty high. It’s never a good idea to deceive someone to believe you are in love with them.

Success: High!

1)  Bartlow- He is a writer who Shields hires to make a script. He isn’t interested at first, but his wife sure is so Bartlow agrees to it. The wife is extremely annoying however and Shields needs her away. He arranges for her to have an affair with a top actor, which ends with the two of them dying in airplane crash. Bartlow eventually writes a successful book about his dead wife.

Deception: Pretty freaking deceptive.

Success: Does it matter? His wife is dead!

Especially with Bartlow’s story it is totally understandable that they turn Shields down. No level of success is worth that amount of drama and deception. On the other hand, that’s show business! The final scene of them listening on the phone and liking the idea being pitched just goes to show that nothing ever changes. Good for them?

Watchability score: 4/5

Up next: Horrorfest is here!

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#407- Europa Europa

Quick recap: A Jewish teen, Solomon, escapes Nazi rule by hiding out in a Communist orphanage. After being ordered to close, Solomon’s only chance of survival is to join the Hitler Youth.

Fun(?) fact: The movie is based on a true story. The real Solomon Perel can be seen singing at the end of the film.

The real ‘Sally’ Perel

Thoughts and Observations:

  • So much of this film reminds me of Jojo Rabbit but I don’t think Europa Europa was a source of inspiration for Taika Waititi or anything, more so that both movies revolve around the Hitler Youth. The woman who Sally loses his virginity to because she thinks he looks like Hitler is very reminiscent of Rebel Wilson’s character Fraulein Rahm, though.
  • I’m amazed by how specific this movie is yet the theme is so universal. Every teen goes through a period of fitting in and questioning beliefs, except in this case the stakes are so much higher. Perel brings up his circumcision a lot when narrating the movie. There is even a scene at the Nazi school where he tries to stretch his foreskin out so that when he gets his physical, no one will be able to tell that he is actually Jewish. It made me think of all the ways I tried to hide myself as a teen, in a desperate hope that I could just fit in and go unnoticed.
  • Europa Europa has some suspenseful scenes but I wouldn’t call the whole movie a nail biter. It was also less graphic than I imagined it to be, although the few scenes involving death, like when Perel visits the ghetto are images that will be hard to leave my brain any time soon. I think what got me is this movie didn’t make the Nazis out to look pure evil, but instead people who had a job to do. Some gleefully enjoyed the work and some just merely tried to stay alive, like Perel. There were a couple of people who found out his secret and didn’t rat him out but for the most part citizens just tried to ignore what was going on.
  • The ending completely surprised me *SPOILERS* as Perel escaped the Nazis only to wind up captured because of his alleged atrocities against the Jewish people by the Americans. It’s only after Perel sees his brother alive at a concentration camp that everything is sorted out and he can finally just be himself. Hiding his heritage became more of a burden than if he had just been captured along with his family in the beginning.

Watchability score: 4/5

Up next: Guys and Dolls

 

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#406- Naked Lunch

Quick recap: 

Fun (?) fact:  Seeing as this whole film is just basically one fact after another, here’s the one that shocked me most: The scene where Bill accidentally shoots and kills his wife during a ‘William Tell’ act happened in real life to William S. Burroughs and his wife. He only served 13 days in jail.

me with the boys after the second vaccine

Thoughts and observations: 

I think it’s best to come out and say I had NO idea what was going on through most of this movie. It’s like one of those viral videos where the caption just says ‘you can’t guess what happens! Just watch to the end!’ and I did just that. Not once did I predict correctly what would happen in the next scene, whether it was two typewriters fighting to the death or someone snorting centipede dust. And that’s ok. This movie wasn’t meant for me and once I realized that, I just sat back and enjoyed myself.

The title comes from William S. Burrough’s novel ‘Naked Lunch’ but the movie is actually several of his novels mashed into one as well as a quasi-biography of Burrough’s himself. And seeing as I have not read any of his works or know anything about the author, 95% to 98% of the references went over my head. It’s not necessary to cram before watching this movie, though. I was invested from the first moment. The main character, Bill Lee, is an exterminator whose wife gets addicted to the roach powder he uses. Which brings him to also become addicted, or maybe addicted to the centipede powder that’s supposed to counteract the roach powder. This leads him to talk to a hideous looking roach who tells him to kill his wife because she’s not really human. Which he does accidentally. Maybe. And then typewriters turn into hideous creatures and Lee flees to a place called the InterZone and finds out he’s actually a secret agent of some kind. Honestly, I’m not ever sure what is real and what isn’t. Does he die at the end or does he finally escape to a higher form of consciousness? Or was this all real and he did his agent job? It really doesn’t matter because it was a fun ride to just watch.

I don’t want to say too much about Cronenberg because it’s all been said anyway, but I can’t imagine anyone else directing this movie. The figures were grotesque in a way I don’t have the vocabulary to describe. So, instead enjoy some nightmarish pictures!

Watchability score: 4/5

Up next: Europa Europa

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#404- Chungking Express

Quick recap: The first part of the film follows a policeman who wants to fall in love before his cans of pineapple expire. The second half involves a fast food worker in love with a policeman (not the same one). When he doesn’t seem interested, she breaks into his apartment and spruces up the place.

But now I can’t stop thinking about pineapple

Fun (?) fact: The movie is filmed in sequence, with director Wong Kar-Wai writing the next portion of the script the night or morning of shooting.

Thoughts and observations:

There were parts of Chungking Express that were so confusing to me, like trying to figure out what kind of food Faye was making when she worked with her cousin. But then other parts were intimately familiar, like Officer 223 setting an arbitrary expiration on his single life. As most people know, jumping back into a relationship to get over a previous one doesn’t usually end well, but it’s what keeps you going sometimes. The same could be said about vowing to hit on the next woman to walk in the bar, yet Officer 223 does it anyway and ultimately feels better. I loved the ambiguous ending of the first story, as he goes out for a run to expel all wetness from his body. The woman he ‘fell in love’ with never really seemed into him (maybe something to do with her actually being a drug mule and looking for a lost shipment), but the night he spent with her seemed to be what needed to happen.

In the second half of the film, the audience comes across another lovelorn officer- this one goes by 663, who was just dumped by a flight attendant. He is so deeply in denial that it’s over, that he barely notices Faye, the fast food worker who instantly falls in love with him. And here again, I found myself relating so much to her character. I’ve never broken into my crush’s house and redecorated but I have created a dream world in my mind imagining what life could be like together. The ending of this story is also ambiguous, but maybe less enjoyable for me because I so wanted the two of them to fall in love together. And maybe they did, but it also reminds me how love can feel so consuming in the moment yet not be the end of the world when it fails to happen.

The director’s use of color and staging intimate shots made me realize there is a third love story- this one about Hong Kong. I could’ve just watched scenes of people walking and eating and chatting for hours. It’s a city so alive with possibility. No wonder these people felt it so important to be in love. I also enjoyed the soundtrack, although I admit to tiring of ‘California Dreamin” after the 4th go round. Still, much of Chungking Express reminded me of Manhattan, in that it follows Woody Allen’s weirdo relationship but the setting overpowers the plot in the most powerful way.

Watchability score: 4/5

Up next: A Place in the Sun

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