Charles Brabin
1932
Quite the sweet plum indeed. One made all the more rewarding by being dismissed almost completely in critical history for being racist and of poor quality. Those with an overabundance of sensitivity need not apply, but let it be known that there are no teeth present in the filmmakers' naive depictions of the Orient. Part of the film's charm is that it hearkens a time when it was kosher for different cultures to be exotic, and more importantly, a foil for high adventure. And let's be honest here: for all it's outdated faults there's little difference in mentality between this film and Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" series.
The wicked Dr. Fu Manchu wishes to acquire the sword and mask of Genghis Khan from its entombed interment. The master plan is to unite all of Asia under this symbolic banner to utterly crush the Western world. The mask prop is criminally unadorned but thankfully the sword prop makes up for it in sheer size. Fu Manchu's opposition is a group of snooty British archaeologists determined to nullify the oriental tide.
Karloff's Fu Manchu is adequate but not stellar. Instead, the bizarre trappings of a fictional East, and the amusing and quaint depiction of a strange land imbue the film with enough genuine fun and intrigue to race it through runtime. Fu Manchu's various methods of torture are a riot, as is all the science-fictioney equipment in his laboratory (when the audience is first introduced to the bad M.D. he's whipping up a crazy mad-genius concoction with tons of smoke floating everywhere). He's also got a giant tesla coil with which he melts wringer swords brought to him by treacherous Brit-dogs. His daughter Fah Lo See, memorably played by Myrna Loy, is also a wonderful addition as she exchanges bitchy insults with her father and drools lustily over the visiting white men. Her twisted desires come to fruition when she orgasmically whips her beefy round-eye hero/prisoner. This scene is a one-of-a-kind, gold nugget of pre-code psychosexual sadism.
The film is, for the most part, a lost treasure but things are nearly soured by a stomach-churning instance of genuine racism in the form of a final gag. Words don't do it justice, so come for the great film, but stay for the awkward ending!
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Friday, February 24, 2006
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
Robert Greenwald
2004
Robert Greenwald seems to have a good thing going here. His politically charged documentaries have the feel of genuine news exposes. He makes them economically, frequently, and effectively, and has worked with such left-wing-agenda topics as Walmart, the post 9/11 clamp on civil liberties, and the Iraq war. And yes, this is same man who directed the 1980's "modern musical," Xanadu.
Outfoxed takes a look at the journalistically repugnant nature of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News machine. There's a lot to work with here and very little elaboration is needed thanks to a hefty dose of genuine Fox News footage. The clips speak volumes for themselves: the highlight being a lengthy montage of Bill O'Reilly telling guests to "shut up" preceded by his on-air claim that he's only ever used the phrase once in broadcast.
Its pretty clear that this film was made on the cheap. The lousy graphics and hokey production value add a subtle sense of urgency to the message, and as long as the actual info is cleverly delivered in a crystal clear package then who really cares?
This supremely efficient form of political commentary is a far cry from the excesses of Michael Moore's flamboyant enterprises. While Moore's filmmaking is grand, sweeping, and entertaining to boot his polarizing personality and oppressive screen presence tend to overshadow his statements a bit. While Greenwald sticks extremely close to the empirical evidence, Moore gravitates towards tantalizing conspiracies. There's nothing wrong with Moore's approach, but in the age of political pundits it seems that Greenwald may be a little more adept at reaching the people.
Review by Brett A. Scieszka
2004
Robert Greenwald seems to have a good thing going here. His politically charged documentaries have the feel of genuine news exposes. He makes them economically, frequently, and effectively, and has worked with such left-wing-agenda topics as Walmart, the post 9/11 clamp on civil liberties, and the Iraq war. And yes, this is same man who directed the 1980's "modern musical," Xanadu.
Outfoxed takes a look at the journalistically repugnant nature of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News machine. There's a lot to work with here and very little elaboration is needed thanks to a hefty dose of genuine Fox News footage. The clips speak volumes for themselves: the highlight being a lengthy montage of Bill O'Reilly telling guests to "shut up" preceded by his on-air claim that he's only ever used the phrase once in broadcast.
Its pretty clear that this film was made on the cheap. The lousy graphics and hokey production value add a subtle sense of urgency to the message, and as long as the actual info is cleverly delivered in a crystal clear package then who really cares?
This supremely efficient form of political commentary is a far cry from the excesses of Michael Moore's flamboyant enterprises. While Moore's filmmaking is grand, sweeping, and entertaining to boot his polarizing personality and oppressive screen presence tend to overshadow his statements a bit. While Greenwald sticks extremely close to the empirical evidence, Moore gravitates towards tantalizing conspiracies. There's nothing wrong with Moore's approach, but in the age of political pundits it seems that Greenwald may be a little more adept at reaching the people.
Review by Brett A. Scieszka
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
High Tension
Alexandre Aja
2003
This French rarity is proof that the slasher genre hasn't gone stale, or worse, died. "High Tension" is a clever, well made, psycho flick definitely worth the hour and a half running time. While the film keeps the slasher concept morbidly fun, it never lessens itself by falling for the ever so played head-over-heels cheese tropes of the 80's.
The plot is charmingly simple. Two feisty coeds, Marie and Alexia, head into rural France to get some studying done at the remote home Alexia's family. As the two exchange banal girltalk it becomes clear that Marie has a bit of a lesbian fixation on Alexia, who generally seems content to screw around casually with guys. As the girls bed down a beefy maniac enters the house, promptly murders the family, and takes Alexia hostage. Marie follows undetected, determined to save her love interest cum best friend, while trying to stay alive herself.
There's a few goofy touches here and the extreme color correction is ghastly, but then again, these are pretty much par for the slasher course. The film's real achievement comes from the brilliant special effects makeup by Giannetto de Rossi. This is arguably the most artful and convincing blood makeup of the decade. In this case the effects become a visually powerful aesthetic motif as the film's characters are progressively knocked around and cut up more and more. The film also benefits from Marie's continued refusal to flee for safety in order to rescue her hostage friend. Its a great dramatic device that works wonders for the picture's pacing and tone. Of course another great aspect of the film is the creative use of weapons. While the maniac killer flashes old stand-byes like a straight razor (yawn), Marie upgrades her self defense from kitchen knife to fence-post-wrapped-in-barb-wire, to industrial grade hand-op buzz-saw. Pretty sweet. As far as the twist ending goes, its not exactly brilliant or jaw-dropping but it does manage to wrap the film up nicely and makes sense out of a cold, cruel world.
This isn't the best horror movie of the last ten years or anything, but it certainly can call itself a high quality specimen of contemporary horror.
Review by Brett A. Scieszka
2003
This French rarity is proof that the slasher genre hasn't gone stale, or worse, died. "High Tension" is a clever, well made, psycho flick definitely worth the hour and a half running time. While the film keeps the slasher concept morbidly fun, it never lessens itself by falling for the ever so played head-over-heels cheese tropes of the 80's.
The plot is charmingly simple. Two feisty coeds, Marie and Alexia, head into rural France to get some studying done at the remote home Alexia's family. As the two exchange banal girltalk it becomes clear that Marie has a bit of a lesbian fixation on Alexia, who generally seems content to screw around casually with guys. As the girls bed down a beefy maniac enters the house, promptly murders the family, and takes Alexia hostage. Marie follows undetected, determined to save her love interest cum best friend, while trying to stay alive herself.
There's a few goofy touches here and the extreme color correction is ghastly, but then again, these are pretty much par for the slasher course. The film's real achievement comes from the brilliant special effects makeup by Giannetto de Rossi. This is arguably the most artful and convincing blood makeup of the decade. In this case the effects become a visually powerful aesthetic motif as the film's characters are progressively knocked around and cut up more and more. The film also benefits from Marie's continued refusal to flee for safety in order to rescue her hostage friend. Its a great dramatic device that works wonders for the picture's pacing and tone. Of course another great aspect of the film is the creative use of weapons. While the maniac killer flashes old stand-byes like a straight razor (yawn), Marie upgrades her self defense from kitchen knife to fence-post-wrapped-in-barb-wire, to industrial grade hand-op buzz-saw. Pretty sweet. As far as the twist ending goes, its not exactly brilliant or jaw-dropping but it does manage to wrap the film up nicely and makes sense out of a cold, cruel world.
This isn't the best horror movie of the last ten years or anything, but it certainly can call itself a high quality specimen of contemporary horror.
Review by Brett A. Scieszka
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