This movie has one really good scene, and the rest of the film is an incomprehensible mess. The one good scene is almost a parody of the rest of the film - it is a bunch of people standing around in a bar, talking gibberish. The difference between that scene and the rest of the film is that in that one scene, none of the characters are taking the gibberish they are spouting seriously - they are saying these bizarre and meaningless sentences as jokes. The rest of the film, the characters actually mean the bizarre and meaningless things they spout. They spend almost the entire rest of the film talking about either the plot or Jean-Luc Godard's political beliefs, neither of which make anything resembling any kind of sense. The incomprehensibility of the film is a deliberate and self conscious homage to Howard Hawk's brilliant The Big Sleep, which is another film that refuses to make sense. The difference, though, is that in The Big Sleep it doesn't matter that you have no idea what is going on, because the characters and individual situations are so entertaining in and of themselves, that you almost forget about the plot. In Made in USA you are never allowed to forget about the plot, because the plot is all the characters ever talk about. There aren't weird and delightful scenes (like Bogart seducing the bookshop girl, or the rapid-fire dialogue between Bogie and Bacall) to entertain us. There is just plot. Acres and acres of meaningless plot.
And yet... you aren't really bored while watching this film. You become baffled, confused, a little bit annoyed, but you never quite become bored. You teeter on the edge sometimes, but Godard manages to have just enough meaningless activity, just enough baffling jump cuts or pointless interstitials or irrelevant repeating that you never quite become bored. This is in contrast to some of his other films, like Alphaville, which is just as annoying and confusing as Made in USA, but so, so, so much more boring. Watching Alphaville is like watching grass grow. No, that's not right. Watching Alphaville is like watching a man walk up and down stairs, while reciting some awful sci-fi fan-fic that he wrote stream of conscious. For two fucking hours.
One of the main differences between the two films, and why Made in USA is so much better than Alphaville, is the cinematography. Alphaville, as well as being incomprehensible and entirely eventless, is really fucking ugly. The black and white cinematography is so fucking dreary and uninspired. And this wouldn't have mattered if the film was better, a good film can carry boring cinematography, but boring cinematography on an already mind-numbingly boring fucking film just makes everything so much worse. Made in USA on the other hand is almost ludicrously colourful. It looks brilliant - like some sort of a pop-art bubble gum wrapper. The vividness of the primary colours means that, when the film itself is happening, making no sense and refusing to allow you to care about anything that is occurring, you can just be sitting there, bathed in the glory of the colour palette. The excellent use of colours is the one saving grace of this otherwise kind-of-crummy film.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Review: Street Fighter's Last Revenge (1974)
I really don't know what to say about this film. I haven't seen a whole lot of kung fu movies, and well, this film was entertaining, but my god was it stupid. I mean, what the hell was the point of the master of disguise thing? He never does anything useful with it. And since this was the third one in the series and I hadn't seen the first two, I just sort of assumed that maybe it was something that made more sense in the context of one of the other films, but no, apparently this was a new addition to the Stree Fighter movies. Huh?
And the plot was insane! So, this guy records a conversation between himself and a corrupt politician in which the politician lists in great detail all of the ways in which he is corrupt. He then, I don't know, sends the tape to himself, but decides to hire Sonny Chiba to intercept his own men delivering stuff to himself for... no reason. And then he decides not to pay Sonny Chiba anyway. What? Why didn't he just, I don't know, keep the fucking tape in his fucking office? What was the point of any of the film?
And why the hell was it that some stupid pencil-pushing beaurocrat could beat Sonny Chiba in a fight? What the hell was that about?
But the fight scenes were pretty awesome, and some of the cinematography was surprisingly inventive (although I haven't seen many kung fu films, so maybe it was standard, I don't know). And there was this one scene in which Chiba answered the phone in just the most badass way possible. He was doing vertical situps, the phone rings, he walks on his hands over to near were the phone is, does a forwards roll and - in mid roll - kicks the phone off of the wall. Once he finishes the forward roll, he catches the phone and just acts like nothing happened. It was one of the best things I have ever seen. Sonny Chiba is a dude.
Also - there is an American guy in a sombrero who shoots lasers. It was pretty great.
And the plot was insane! So, this guy records a conversation between himself and a corrupt politician in which the politician lists in great detail all of the ways in which he is corrupt. He then, I don't know, sends the tape to himself, but decides to hire Sonny Chiba to intercept his own men delivering stuff to himself for... no reason. And then he decides not to pay Sonny Chiba anyway. What? Why didn't he just, I don't know, keep the fucking tape in his fucking office? What was the point of any of the film?
And why the hell was it that some stupid pencil-pushing beaurocrat could beat Sonny Chiba in a fight? What the hell was that about?
But the fight scenes were pretty awesome, and some of the cinematography was surprisingly inventive (although I haven't seen many kung fu films, so maybe it was standard, I don't know). And there was this one scene in which Chiba answered the phone in just the most badass way possible. He was doing vertical situps, the phone rings, he walks on his hands over to near were the phone is, does a forwards roll and - in mid roll - kicks the phone off of the wall. Once he finishes the forward roll, he catches the phone and just acts like nothing happened. It was one of the best things I have ever seen. Sonny Chiba is a dude.
Also - there is an American guy in a sombrero who shoots lasers. It was pretty great.
Review: Batman: The Animated Series episodes 1.38 & 1.39: Heart of Steel Parts 1 & 2
This was a pretty good two parter, although it wasn't brilliant. I liked the idea of introducing Barbara Gordon into the mix, and they were obviously trying to make it so that her eventual transformation into Batgirl seemed plausible, but she really just didn't do enough in this episode. I mean, she helped to stop the Robot Harvey Bullock (took her long enough), and she did break into the laboratory, which was pretty clever, but her final act of heroism of the episode just didn't really make sense. She 'saves' Batman by just walking in to an exploding building and helping him walk. It just really didn't seem like that was necessary - if she hadn't been there, Batman would have been able to get out just fine on his own.
There were some really great things about this episode though - the robotic versions of humans turning into crazy spider creatures in Part 2 was amazing - particularly the Commissioner Gordon character. Many of the designs of the non-humanoid robots were also really good. I both liked and hated the fact that the main bad guy was such an obvious homage to HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey - with his blinking red light and his bat-shit craziness. It was a good episode, but it had its problems.
There were some really great things about this episode though - the robotic versions of humans turning into crazy spider creatures in Part 2 was amazing - particularly the Commissioner Gordon character. Many of the designs of the non-humanoid robots were also really good. I both liked and hated the fact that the main bad guy was such an obvious homage to HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey - with his blinking red light and his bat-shit craziness. It was a good episode, but it had its problems.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Review: Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
It started out so well. This film started out by introducing its subject matter subtley. So subtley that I didn't actually realise that Harry Belafonte's character was black until he took his hat off, revealing a clipped afro. And then Robert Ryan's character pronounced (not in the presence of Belafonte), "I ain't working with a [n word]" and everything becomes ridiculously, ham-fistedly about racism. It wasn't the moment itself that ruined everything - the moment was effective and shocking, and made you reassess everything you had seen up to that point. The problem was everything afterwards. After that pivotal moment, every time race was mentioned, it felt like being shouted at. Like the film was screaming in my face, "this is racism! This is what a racist looks like! Racism is bad!" All this race-talk culminates in a literally explosive finale, as if the film felt it hadn't quite been obvious enough up to that point.
This is not to say that it was a bad film. Robert Wise's direction, when it doesn't involve screaming at the audience about race, is taught and suspenseful, all the acting is very good (particularly Belafonte, and particuarly in a scene where he drunkenly ruins a cabaret performer's act, before venting all his pain and frustration on a xylophone), the score is excellent, the cinematography is dark and brooding and stylised wonderfully. It's just the lack of thematic subtlety that gets me.
I'll give you an example of what I mean: before the fatal "I ain't working with a bleep" line, I just sort of assumed that all of the signifiers of racism were just character bits, devoid of racial meaning. For example; we see both Belafonte and Ryan riding up in an elevator, manned by an African American. Ryan goes up first, and the elevator man attempts to make light hearted small talk - Ryan is having none of it. Belafonte goes up soon after - this time, the elevator man is cautious about starting up a conversation, because of how he was burned the last time, and it is Belafonte who starts making jokes. When I first saw these two scenes, I just sort of assumed that they were to demonstrate that Ryan was a grizzled, angry, loser of a man, and that Belafonte was a happy go lucky kind of guy. After the fatal line, I reassessed my previous opinions of the scene, and realised it was about race - this is thematically intelligent.
After the fatal line though, when Ryan and Belafonte actually meet, we get such 'subtle' and 'nuanced' lines like Ryan saying, "You don't have to think, boy, you just have to serve the coffee and sandwiches, and wear a big grin." You hear that sound? That is the sound of Robert Wise throwing subtlety out the window. You also get obvious and irritating scenes, such as the conflict between Belafonte and his ex-wife, which is so blatantly a symbolic dogmatic argument between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. that it feels like you're reading a history book about black rights in America.
I guess it's a good thing that films like this dealt with topics such as racism and biogtry at a time when those things were still very much a part of every day life, I just wish the film had been less self conscious about it. After all, the film does actually deal with sexism in quite a subtle way - all the problems of the film could have been avoided if Ryan's character had been able to get over his stupid macho persona, and accept the fact that his live-in girlfriend made more money than he did. But it doesn't cram this proto-feminism down our throats, so it actually comes across as intelligent, rather than vaguely irritating.
This is not to say that it was a bad film. Robert Wise's direction, when it doesn't involve screaming at the audience about race, is taught and suspenseful, all the acting is very good (particularly Belafonte, and particuarly in a scene where he drunkenly ruins a cabaret performer's act, before venting all his pain and frustration on a xylophone), the score is excellent, the cinematography is dark and brooding and stylised wonderfully. It's just the lack of thematic subtlety that gets me.
I'll give you an example of what I mean: before the fatal "I ain't working with a bleep" line, I just sort of assumed that all of the signifiers of racism were just character bits, devoid of racial meaning. For example; we see both Belafonte and Ryan riding up in an elevator, manned by an African American. Ryan goes up first, and the elevator man attempts to make light hearted small talk - Ryan is having none of it. Belafonte goes up soon after - this time, the elevator man is cautious about starting up a conversation, because of how he was burned the last time, and it is Belafonte who starts making jokes. When I first saw these two scenes, I just sort of assumed that they were to demonstrate that Ryan was a grizzled, angry, loser of a man, and that Belafonte was a happy go lucky kind of guy. After the fatal line, I reassessed my previous opinions of the scene, and realised it was about race - this is thematically intelligent.
After the fatal line though, when Ryan and Belafonte actually meet, we get such 'subtle' and 'nuanced' lines like Ryan saying, "You don't have to think, boy, you just have to serve the coffee and sandwiches, and wear a big grin." You hear that sound? That is the sound of Robert Wise throwing subtlety out the window. You also get obvious and irritating scenes, such as the conflict between Belafonte and his ex-wife, which is so blatantly a symbolic dogmatic argument between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. that it feels like you're reading a history book about black rights in America.
I guess it's a good thing that films like this dealt with topics such as racism and biogtry at a time when those things were still very much a part of every day life, I just wish the film had been less self conscious about it. After all, the film does actually deal with sexism in quite a subtle way - all the problems of the film could have been avoided if Ryan's character had been able to get over his stupid macho persona, and accept the fact that his live-in girlfriend made more money than he did. But it doesn't cram this proto-feminism down our throats, so it actually comes across as intelligent, rather than vaguely irritating.
Free Comic Book Day!
For Free Comic Book Day, I picked up three titles from my local comic book shop, Adelaide Comics Centre. They only allowed three per person. Damn them!
Anyway the three comics I picked up were The Sixth Gun No. 1, the Asylum Press Sampler Fearless Dawn, and Atomic Robo. This last one was actually released for Free Comic Book Day 2009. Why they were giving it away this year, I do not know. But, you know, Damn them!
The Sixth Gun No. 1 written by Cullenn Bunn, illustrated by Brian Hurtt. This was a pretty good introductory issue to what may turn out to be a pretty good comic. The artwork was nicely stylised, with faces that look almost like they were clay masks. I also quite liked the plot - I liked the fact that everyone just kept lying to each other. That doesn't happen enough in supernatural stories. People often seem to think that you can't break promises where the supernatural are concerned, but this comic is spitting in the face of that stupid convention.
Asylum Press Sampler Fearless Dawn - written and illustrated by various people. The actual Fearless Dawn thing, written and illustrated by Steve Mannion, was pretty good (although a bit Tank Girl derivitive), but the rest of these comics were just terrible. Okay, Undead Evil looked like it had pretty good artwork, by Nenad Gucunja, but apart from that it was all just ugly pieces of shit. Particularly Black Powder by Dwayne Harris. I saw that it was a comic about pirates, and I thought to myself, "oh, this should be good." But no, it's just people standing on a boat, wondering whether they should go to a tavern or not. And it is the most goddawfully ugly and terrible artwork I have ever seen outside of an independant comic from the eighties. Just awful.
Atomic Robo written by Brian Cevinger, illustrated by Scott Wegener was pretty kickass, though, even if it was from a year ago. It was funny and cool, and the artwork was really, really good. I'm going to try and track down some more Atomic Robo, because it seems like it rules.
Anyway the three comics I picked up were The Sixth Gun No. 1, the Asylum Press Sampler Fearless Dawn, and Atomic Robo. This last one was actually released for Free Comic Book Day 2009. Why they were giving it away this year, I do not know. But, you know, Damn them!
The Sixth Gun No. 1 written by Cullenn Bunn, illustrated by Brian Hurtt. This was a pretty good introductory issue to what may turn out to be a pretty good comic. The artwork was nicely stylised, with faces that look almost like they were clay masks. I also quite liked the plot - I liked the fact that everyone just kept lying to each other. That doesn't happen enough in supernatural stories. People often seem to think that you can't break promises where the supernatural are concerned, but this comic is spitting in the face of that stupid convention.
Asylum Press Sampler Fearless Dawn - written and illustrated by various people. The actual Fearless Dawn thing, written and illustrated by Steve Mannion, was pretty good (although a bit Tank Girl derivitive), but the rest of these comics were just terrible. Okay, Undead Evil looked like it had pretty good artwork, by Nenad Gucunja, but apart from that it was all just ugly pieces of shit. Particularly Black Powder by Dwayne Harris. I saw that it was a comic about pirates, and I thought to myself, "oh, this should be good." But no, it's just people standing on a boat, wondering whether they should go to a tavern or not. And it is the most goddawfully ugly and terrible artwork I have ever seen outside of an independant comic from the eighties. Just awful.
Atomic Robo written by Brian Cevinger, illustrated by Scott Wegener was pretty kickass, though, even if it was from a year ago. It was funny and cool, and the artwork was really, really good. I'm going to try and track down some more Atomic Robo, because it seems like it rules.
Review: Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode 209: The Super-Batman of Planet X!
Much like the last episode of The Brave and the Bold that I reviewed, this episode had a better main story than it did cold openning. However, in this episode's case, that was mainly due to the fact that the cold openning just wasn't that good. I mean, the Metal Men. They're just not interesting.
The episode was pretty good, though. I did like Kevin Conroy as the other Batman, in a fan-boy kind of way. I also liked the subtle jokes about how ridiculous the Batman from Zur-En-Arrh's coostume was. I also liked the fact that the villain, Rothul (Luthor spelt backwards) kept claiming things like, "No Batman could stop me!" or "Now that there's just ONE Batman, nothing can stop me!" Despite the fact the the Batman from Zur-En-Arrh had stopped him about a million times before. And the Green Arrow acting like a douche at the end was good as well.
The episode was pretty good, though. I did like Kevin Conroy as the other Batman, in a fan-boy kind of way. I also liked the subtle jokes about how ridiculous the Batman from Zur-En-Arrh's coostume was. I also liked the fact that the villain, Rothul (Luthor spelt backwards) kept claiming things like, "No Batman could stop me!" or "Now that there's just ONE Batman, nothing can stop me!" Despite the fact the the Batman from Zur-En-Arrh had stopped him about a million times before. And the Green Arrow acting like a douche at the end was good as well.
This Week's Comics: Batman Detective Comics, Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Superman, Gotham City Sirens, Wonder Woman, Action Comics, et al
Also: Green Hornet, Peter Parker, Deadpool, The Amazing Spider-Man.
Batman Detective Comics No. 864 written by David Hine, illustrated by Jeremy Haun. Bits of this comic were interesting (I liked the scene of tray swapping in Arkham Asylum), and the ending was interesting, but the story isn't that interesting, and the artwork is ugly, without being stylised. The cover for the book is great, but the artwork inside is blah.
Teen Titans No. 82 written by Felicia D. Henderson, illustrated by Jose Luis. This was kind of disappointing as well. The fight scene was overlong, and became sort of monotonous. And the ending just sort of appears, from out of nowhere, making almost no sense. It is so rushed and awkward, it is difficult to understand what exactly is happening. The artwork is good, though.
Justice Society of America No. 38 written by Bill Willingham, illustrated by Jesus Merino. I love Bill Willingham - Fables is excellent, and Shadowpact was one of the books that really made me enjoy comics - but what the hell does he think he is doing? What is this? Why is this happening? Why have all the heroes lost their powers, and the Nazis taken over? I mean, it's well written, but... why?
Action Comics No. 889 written by Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann, illstrated by Pere Perez. Ugh. This book is so boring and annoying. I usually don't like Rucka's work, but this is ridiculous. I did not give a shit about this comic for even one second. And why is Superman not in Action Comics? What the hell is up with that?
Superman No. 669 written by James Robinson, illustrated by Bernard Chang. I haven't been following the whole Last Stand of New Krypton storyline that closely, but this book was pretty good. And it actually had Superman in it. And he punched Brainiac in the face. Good times.
Gotham City Sirens No. 11 written by Paul Dini, illustrated by Andres Guinaldo. This was a really good book. I mean, the Poison Ivy stuff was kind of crummy - I don't know why she fired someone she liked and respected to prove her dominance, rather than someone she didn't give a shit about. But the Harley and Selina plot was really good, showed the serious dangers of living with an unstable personality like Harley Quinn, and also was a very funny way to end the whole hyena thing. The art was pretty good as well - I liked the great facial expressions on all the different dogs.
Wonder Woman No. 43 written by Gail Simone, illustrated by Nicola Scott and Fernando Dagnino. This was alright, although I'm not really looking forward to next issue, where Wonder Woman and her cousin just punch each other in the face for twenty two pages. I don't know, maybe it'll be good. I did really like the panel of Achilles chargin in on the two trunked elephant, though. That was great stuff.
Green Hornet No. 3 written by Kevin Smith (screenplay) and Phil Hester (breakdowns) illustrated by Jonathan Lau. Judging by this comic, it is sad that we never got to see Kevin Smith's version of the Green Hornet movie. It would have been pretty awesome. Ah well, the comic is good enough. The highlight was the reintroduction of Kato, just sitting in a bar, acting all kickass.
Peter Parker No. 2 written by Bob Gale, illustrated by Patrick Olliffe. If someone had told me this was going to be a P.S.A. comic, I probably wouldn't have read it. Seriously, the whole thing is just people standing around, whining about how great charity work is. What the hell, Bob Gale? How did your life go from the Back to the Future Movies to this?
Deadpool No. 22 written by Daniel Way, illustrated by Tan Eng Huat. This was a pretty good comic, although the non-linear structure thing did mean that the ending was pretty much a cheat. But oh well, it was funny, and Deadpool seems like he is actually maybe, sort of, kinda, becoming a proper superhero.
The Amazing Spider-man No. 629 written by Roger Stern, illustrated by Lee Weeks. This was, for the most part, a pretty good comic, except for the fact that much of the book is just people standing around, whining about their problems. I do like the fact that for once it isn't Spier-man doing most of the whining - actually the Juggernaut does more whining in this comic than Spider-man, and I seriously doubt anyone ever thought that would happen. The ending was also fairly preachy, but, apart from all that, pretty good.
Batman Detective Comics No. 864 written by David Hine, illustrated by Jeremy Haun. Bits of this comic were interesting (I liked the scene of tray swapping in Arkham Asylum), and the ending was interesting, but the story isn't that interesting, and the artwork is ugly, without being stylised. The cover for the book is great, but the artwork inside is blah.
Teen Titans No. 82 written by Felicia D. Henderson, illustrated by Jose Luis. This was kind of disappointing as well. The fight scene was overlong, and became sort of monotonous. And the ending just sort of appears, from out of nowhere, making almost no sense. It is so rushed and awkward, it is difficult to understand what exactly is happening. The artwork is good, though.
Justice Society of America No. 38 written by Bill Willingham, illustrated by Jesus Merino. I love Bill Willingham - Fables is excellent, and Shadowpact was one of the books that really made me enjoy comics - but what the hell does he think he is doing? What is this? Why is this happening? Why have all the heroes lost their powers, and the Nazis taken over? I mean, it's well written, but... why?
Action Comics No. 889 written by Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann, illstrated by Pere Perez. Ugh. This book is so boring and annoying. I usually don't like Rucka's work, but this is ridiculous. I did not give a shit about this comic for even one second. And why is Superman not in Action Comics? What the hell is up with that?
Superman No. 669 written by James Robinson, illustrated by Bernard Chang. I haven't been following the whole Last Stand of New Krypton storyline that closely, but this book was pretty good. And it actually had Superman in it. And he punched Brainiac in the face. Good times.
Gotham City Sirens No. 11 written by Paul Dini, illustrated by Andres Guinaldo. This was a really good book. I mean, the Poison Ivy stuff was kind of crummy - I don't know why she fired someone she liked and respected to prove her dominance, rather than someone she didn't give a shit about. But the Harley and Selina plot was really good, showed the serious dangers of living with an unstable personality like Harley Quinn, and also was a very funny way to end the whole hyena thing. The art was pretty good as well - I liked the great facial expressions on all the different dogs.
Wonder Woman No. 43 written by Gail Simone, illustrated by Nicola Scott and Fernando Dagnino. This was alright, although I'm not really looking forward to next issue, where Wonder Woman and her cousin just punch each other in the face for twenty two pages. I don't know, maybe it'll be good. I did really like the panel of Achilles chargin in on the two trunked elephant, though. That was great stuff.
Green Hornet No. 3 written by Kevin Smith (screenplay) and Phil Hester (breakdowns) illustrated by Jonathan Lau. Judging by this comic, it is sad that we never got to see Kevin Smith's version of the Green Hornet movie. It would have been pretty awesome. Ah well, the comic is good enough. The highlight was the reintroduction of Kato, just sitting in a bar, acting all kickass.
Peter Parker No. 2 written by Bob Gale, illustrated by Patrick Olliffe. If someone had told me this was going to be a P.S.A. comic, I probably wouldn't have read it. Seriously, the whole thing is just people standing around, whining about how great charity work is. What the hell, Bob Gale? How did your life go from the Back to the Future Movies to this?
Deadpool No. 22 written by Daniel Way, illustrated by Tan Eng Huat. This was a pretty good comic, although the non-linear structure thing did mean that the ending was pretty much a cheat. But oh well, it was funny, and Deadpool seems like he is actually maybe, sort of, kinda, becoming a proper superhero.
The Amazing Spider-man No. 629 written by Roger Stern, illustrated by Lee Weeks. This was, for the most part, a pretty good comic, except for the fact that much of the book is just people standing around, whining about their problems. I do like the fact that for once it isn't Spier-man doing most of the whining - actually the Juggernaut does more whining in this comic than Spider-man, and I seriously doubt anyone ever thought that would happen. The ending was also fairly preachy, but, apart from all that, pretty good.
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