#southland tales film review

[pablolf]

Any true critic knows, of course, there is no wrong and there is no right. This doesn’t stop us from writing as though these poles exist. The anxiety of influence is real for a critic: no matter how confident we may be in our opinions and discursive and fair in our aims, we are, like those in any other field, not immune from the methodological skepticism our peers sow in us. The act of criticism is creative and, when done right, artistically fulfilling for the writer and the reader, but it’s also essentially interpretive, and thus open to all manner of personal blind spots, misreadings, mood swings, and environmental circumstance. This is why films are worth revisiting and opinions are worth revising, if you’re so inclined. (Kael’s admittance that she never saw—never had to see—a movie more than once before forming her in-depth reviews has always struck me as little more than the wink of a prankster.) Because other writers’ reviews remain such an unavoidable part of my internal landscape, especially from my younger days as a more voracious reader of criticism, I often have a difficult time maintaining the kind of pure, personal response to a film I might prize. I restrict myself from reading anyone else’s writing on a particular movie before I pen my own review, but in the rearview mirror, I nevertheless balance my thoughts in relation to others’, wondering what they or I saw or didn’t see. As much as I would like to maintain a monolithic attitude about writing and opinion-making, it’s seductive to justify one’s taste by pointing to other respected voices who might have fallen in the same camp. Anxiety—of being misunderstood, mistaken, or misguided—is a powerful motivator in critical writing.

I Can’t Make You Love Me: Michael Koresky Revisits Southland Tales

[fibula-rasa]

Lost, but Not Forgotten: Trifling Women (1922)

About Trifling Women

Trifling Women was a gothic and lurid tale of a beautiful fortune teller doomed by her own capriciousness with men, couched in a moralistic frame story. Contemporary critics, including those who positively reviewed the film, felt it proper to disregard the frame story. This “fantastic and savage concoction with all the weird fascination of a bad dream”[1] was compared to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, Theda Bara vamp classic A Fool There Was (1915, extant), and German expressionist landmark The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, extant).[2] I’d take these comparisons with a healthy cellar of salt, but we can’t know for sure what ghoulish heights Ingram reached with Trifling Women unless it’s someday recovered!

In 1922, Irish-born filmmaker Rex Ingram was on a roll. He followed up his epic blockbusters The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921, extant) and The Prisoner of Zenda (1922, extant) with the macabre spectacle Trifling Women. The film was a self-produced remake of Ingram’s earlier Black Orchids (1917, presumed lost). 

Ingram was developing a reputation for igniting the careers of his up-and-coming stars. In 1921, with Four Horsemen and The Conquering Power (1921, extant), he launched Rudolph Valentino’s career into the Hollywood stratosphere. With Trifling Women, Ingram turned Ramon Novarro (then going by Ramon Samaniegos[3]) and Barbara La Marr, who had both had important supporting roles in Zenda,into bona-fide headliners. 

Trifling Women met disparate critical reception upon release—some called it a triumph on par with Horsemen and Zenda, one bluntly stated, “We are sorry Mr. Ingram has done this thing.”[4] Harriette Underhill, film critic for the New York Tribune listed Trifling Women as one of the 10 best films made to date in Screenland, November 1923. Regardless of the lack of critical consensus, Trifling Women was a box-office success. This is made even more impressive considering its theatrical run coincided with Douglas Fairbanks’ Robin Hood (1922, extant), Marion Davies in When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922, extant), John Gilbert in The Count of Monte Cristo (1922, extant), and the sleeper Thomas Meighan hit Manslaughter (1922, extant).

Rex Ingram, like previously profiled George Fitzmaurice, was a successful and well-regarded filmmaker in the US in the silent era. But, like Fitzmaurice, his legacy is relatively unhyped; at least in part because of the survival rate of his filmography. Of the 28 feature films Ingram worked on, 15 are lost or incomplete, and only 8 have been made accessible on home video or online. Public screenings of Ingram’s more inaccessible surviving films are unfortunately rare.

——— ——— ———

[1] Picture-Play Magazine, March 1923

[2] Photoplay, December 1922

[3] Novarro’s real name was Samaniego, but he went by Samaniegos professionally at the time. This film was his first credit with the name Novarro.

[4] Motion Picture Magazine, January 1923

Novarro, Ingram, and La Marr Behind the Scenes of Trifling Women from Exhibitors Herald, 4 November 1922. Original caption: “It’s remarkable how hardened these directors become. This little duelling scene between Rex Ingram, Metro director, and Ramon Navarro was staged only as a recreational stunt, however, during the filming of ‘Trifling Women,’ Ingram’s latest for Metro. Barbara La Marr appears mildly interested in the affair.”

Alternate Titles: Black Orchids (Production Title)

Direction: Rex Ingram, Curt Rayfield (assistant)

Scenario: Rex Ingram

Original Story: Rex Ingram

Production Manager: Starrett Ford

Camera: John F. Seitz

Art Director: Joseph Calder (Implied in “Chit Chat and Chatter About Southland Film Folks” by Harry Burns in Camera!, 22 July 1922)

Studio: Rex Ingram Productions (Production) & Metro (Distribution)

Performers: Barbara La Marr, Lewis Stone, Ramon Novarro, Pomeroy Cannon, John George, Edward Connelly, Hughie Mack, Joe Martin

Premiere: 2 October 1922, The Astor Theatre, New York, NY

Status: presumed entirely lost

Length: 8 reels,  9,000 feet

Synopsis (synthesized from contemporary plot summaries): BELOW the JUMP!

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Frame story: France, modern day—1922, that is. Jacqueline de Severac (Barbara La Marr) is young, beautiful, and flirtatious. She carelessly trifles with the affections of Henri (Ramon Novarro), her true-hearted admirer. Henri proposes to Jacqueline in the lush surroundings of her family’s garden.  With her desire for a freewheeling and fashionable life attended by many suitors, Jacqueline considers jilting Henri. Her father, Leon de Severac (Pomeroy Cannon), a renowned novelist, senses danger ahead for his daughter. Knowing her temperament, rather than directly warn Jacqueline about how toying with men’s feelings can lead to tragedy, de Severac opts to read his newest manuscript, “Black Orchids,” to his wayward daughter.

The Story of Black Orchids: Paris, France, at the start of the Great War. Zareda (La Marr) is a Parisian crystal gazer— a professional psychic. Her ardent clientele seek either a glimpse into their future or into the nature of her heart. The latter pay more handsomely than the former.

Hatim-Tai, Zareda, and Ivan in Zareda’s apartment

One of Zareda’s many admirers is the naive and dashing Ivan de Maupin (Novarro). Unfortunately, Ivan’s doddering, elderly father, the Baron de Maupin (Edward Connelly), is also trying to woo Zareda. This, of course, is highly amusing for the trifling fortune teller, who is known for her feud-inducing beauty.

Zareda and Ivan in Zareda’s apartment as printed in Exhibitors Herald, 18 November 1922

Zareda humours the Baron as he lavishes her with expensive gifts, which she treats carelessly—even adorning her orangutan assistant Hatim-Tai (Joe Martin) with pearls.

“There’s no fool like an old fool”

The old Baron is so keen to rid himself of competition for Zareda’s attention that he arranges for his son to go off to war. The possibility arises that Ivan and Zareda might impulsively tie the knot before Ivan marches to the front, so the Baron launches another scheme to occupy Zareda’s time.

The Baron convinces a visiting family friend, the Marquis Ferroni (Lewis Stone), to feign illness as an excuse to call on Zareda for assistance. This scheme was too hastily hatched however. Ferroni is a millionaire who lives in a magnificent old castle and is in mourning for his recently deceased wife. The Baron assumed that Ferroni’s bereavement would preclude him from being a rival for Zareda’s attentions. But alas, to Ferroni, the beautiful Zareda resembles his late wife. Attraction ensues.

Zareda chooses Ferroni over the Baron as seen in Exhibitor’s Trade Review, 21 October 1922

Ivan, about to depart for Flanders, takes a photo of Zareda with him, despite sensing her inconstancy. As Ivan marches off to war, Ferroni and Zareda are on a date in a fashionable neighborhood of Paris.

Banquet scene still from from the Exhibitors’ Press Bookfor Trifling Women

Faced with his new rival, the Baron plans a banquet in Zareda’s honor. The banquet is a set-up to poison Ferroni’s wine. An innkeeper (Hughie Mack) catches the Baron in the act, but the Baron pays him off. Despite the pay off, the innkeeper immediately gets word to Zareda, and she counterplots with her human assistant, Achmet (John George), and Hatim-Tai. At the party, Hatim-Tai switches the wine glasses and the Baron himself is poisoned. The revelers think he has simply passed out from drink at the dinner table and they continue partying. Hatim-Tai drinks a toast to the not-so-dear-departed Baron.

Ferroni and Zareda in a still printed in Photoplay. December 1922

Now unencumbered, Zareda marries Ferroni, thoroughly enchanted by his wealth.

Four years later, Ivan returns to Paris an officer, having received no word from Zareda in all that time. Ivan seeks her out and finds her now a Marquise, living the high life in a chateau. In the castle gardens, Zareda tearfully apologizes to Ivan and promises that she can “dispose” of her husband.

Still of Novarro as Ivan after returning from war printed in Photoplay, January 1923

Zareda wants to enjoy both Ferroni’s wealth and Ivan’s love, so, she contrives a duel between her husband and lover by suggesting that Ivan insulted her honor. Zareda knows that Ivan is one of the best swordsmen in France. She tears her own dress and runs to Ferroni sobbing—without fully enlightening Ivan of the scheme. 

At the duel, Ferroni is skewered; mortally wounded by Ivan. Zareda, taking Ferroni for dead, falls into Ivan’s arms and they walk off together. Ferroni now knows it was all a plot. The doctor tells Ferroni he will die from his wound, but Ferroni proclaims that he will live long enough to spite the young lovers.

Ferroni is run through, Motion Picture Magazine, January 1923

Ferroni arranges his own burial and his grave is filled with rocks. Ivan and Zareda row a boat across a lake to the grave of Ferroni, to lay a wreath of black orchids. Unbeknownst to the couple, Ferroni watches them and collects the orchids after they depart.

At the reading of Ferroni’s will, Zareda inherits a looming property ominously called the Sorcerer’s Tower. However, a strange condition in the will demands that at sundown on the day of Ferroni’s funeral, Zareda must visit the tower. Zareda plans to meet Ivan there at the appointed time. 

Zareda consults with her crystal ball about this turn of events and receives the message:

“You will meet your destiny at the Sorcerer’s Tower.”

She reads this prediction rosily and is pleased.

On that gloomy evening, Zareda arrives first—or so she thinks. She begins primping herself in a full-length mirror. In the reflection, shockingly, she sees the livid face of Ferroni, shrouded in black. Terrified, Zareda backs away from the mirror, into the very-much-alive Ferroni’s arms. Outside, the sound of horses’ hooves presage the arrival of Ivan. Zareda pleads with Ferroni, but she is in a state of horrified near-somnambulance. Zareda is led to the dungeon, all moulding straw and cobwebs. Ferroni throws her in, and locks the door behind him.

Ferroni and Ivan have their final showdown, from the Exhibitors’ Press Book for Trifling Women

Ivan searches for Zareda and hears her crying out. Ferroni lies in wait for Ivan and they struggle. Ivan is shot and Ferroni throws his lifeless body into the dungeon with Zareda. Ferroni places upon the locked door of the dungeon the withered wreath of black orchids that Zareda had previously left on his own tomb. Ferroni drops dead, his vendetta fulfilled.

Zareda and Ivan from Exhibitors Herald, 25 November 1922

Frame story: de Severac finishes reading his story. Jacqueline has taken the lesson to heart and agrees to marry Henri and move forward with sincerity and faithfulness

——— ——— ———

Transcribed Sources & Annotations over on the WMM Blog!

[radiation]

It's weird because this movie was panned at the time but retrospective reviews have been *extremely* kind to it to the point where I can barely find reviews that aren't glowing nowadays. I'm talking about Richard Kelly's 2007 film Southland Tales.

People praise its prescience, its cultural critiques and condemnation of the Bush administration, but despite gesturing at those themes the movie honestly feels deeply fucking reactionary to me. Every single woman is a hysterical idiot, every leftist insincere and ineffectual. The main villain is a Jewish billionaire funding the leftists to stage a false flag police shooting, among other things. Soldiers and police meanwhile are routinely portrayed as strong and sympathetic, though.

It's also over two hours long, meandering and ugly. It's really bizarre to me that it's gained the momentum it has among people I usually consider to have good taste. No clue if it was intended to be the way it is or not, I think it might have actually been trying to critique 2000s American culture and politics but just suck at it. Among post-9/11 "America is fucked" works I wouldn't consider it to be politically far removed from like, Idiocracy or Team America: World Police

.

[typebarmagazine]

Doug Walker Was Right: How To Boldly Flee Predicted the Modern Internet

By Sean Dillon

The problem with talking about To Boldly Flee–one of the most infamous movies ever made–is that it is an absolute mess. Sadly, the cinematic farrago of To Boldly Flee is not kin to a film like Southland Tales, the 2006 alternate future dystopian black comedy, where the mess ultimately reveals an order evident through historical hindsight.

Rather, To Boldly Flee is the kind of byzantine trainwreck that has five different main characters, seven plots interposing themselves over three and a half hours (that feels more like eight due to the languid pacing ), and a genuine sense that everything was being micromanaged to hell. 

Despite all this, To Boldly Flee–the last in a trilogy of movies created by Doug Walker, better known by his internet movie reviewer persona the Nostalgia Critic–is prescient in a way countless snarky YouTube reviews of the film frequently miss. A truly horrific thesis, nay a prediction, lies at the heart of the film: The crux of all criticism is cruelty.  

To Boldly Flee represents a vision of what the media landscape would become. Not so much a prediction of the internet’s future, but the ugly, blood and cervical mucus-soaked birth.

Read more...

[moviereviews101web]

Trolls Band Together (2023) Movie Review

Trolls Band Together – Movie Review ABC Film Challenge – Catch-Up 2024 – T Director: Walt Dohrn, Tim Heitz Writer: Elizabeth Tippet (Screenplay) Writer: Thomas Dam (Creator) Cast (Voice Talents) Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect) Justin Timberlake (Southland Tales) Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live) Walt Dohrn (Orion and the Dark) Eric Andre (Sing 2) Plot: Poppy discovers that Branch was…

[observerpix]

The Best Worst Movie Ever

Hi! I don't know if I'm going to spend much time here, but I thought I would announce my time by sharing with you a review I wrote WAY back in 2008 about a movie that is still so wonderfully terrible, that I try to get everyone to watch it. Flashback Review! Southland Tales

There are many levels of bad movie. There are good bad movies that you love watching because you enjoy making fun of them. There are bad bad movies that you are so mad you wasted your time and money seeing that you are offended by the thought of them. Then there’s Southland Tales. It’s the kind of bad movie that you want every single one of your friends to see so that you can all discuss the atrocity to which you’ve just subjected yourselves.

I believe the only way to truly enjoy Southland Tales is to be tripping on some pretty good acid. Even then, though, I think you might get bored after about thirty minutes and resort to watching static on television.

It’s truly not a boring movie; that’s definitely not what’s wrong with the film. It’s got nuclear war, Big Brother, political corruption, crazy drugs, time travel, and little people in SWAT gear. What bored me is that I didn’t care what the hell anyone did or didn’t do.

In 2005, a nuclear bomb was dropped on Texas. This, of course, led to World War Three. Now, three years later, the government has reinstated the draft, issued nationwide identification cards, and controls the Internet. The Republican Party has a good chance of winning the election, and there’s an extremist Marxist group that doesn’t want that to happen.

Dwayne Johnson is Boxer Santeros, an action star who’s married to Madeline Frost (Mandy Moore), the daughter of Senator Bobby Frost (Holmes Osborne) who happens to be on the Republican ticket. Senator Frost’s wife is Nana Mae Frost (Miranda Richardson) who is not only the head of the NSA (I think), but she also runs the USIdent office, a Big Brother operation that controls the Internet and every other thing going on in America.

Still with me? I’m not done yet.

So Boxer gets kidnapped and taken into the desert. Somehow, he gets back into California with a case of amnesia and has been shacking up with porn star Krista Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar). He and Krista write a screenplay that oddly emulates what’s going on in the world, and they get wrapped up in what I believe to be a conspiracy that involves the Marxist movement, a German who’s created a power station operated by ocean water (played by the hilarious Wallace Shawn), and some strange time-space continuum whatnot. Oh, and a drugged-up war veteran played by Justin Timberlake narrates.

The movie plays as if too many ideas crawled onto the page, and Richard Kelly didn’t want to let any of them go. There are scenes that actually had my attention. I thought, finally, this movie is going somewhere and getting interesting, but no. As soon as some semblance of a storyline would show itself, the film would stumble and fall right back into an immature statement about American politics and war.

Richard Kelly definitely has ideas buried in the muck that is Southland Tales. Peppering the film with news footage that looks like it was plucked directly from C-SPAN is perfect. He’s poking fun at our country’s need for sensory overload in every sense of the word. Having one of your main characters be a porn star who is trying her hand at singing, television, and her own energy drink is spectacular. But either he concentrated too much on jamming every concept in, or he didn’t let the actors in on the joke.

Mandy Moore is surprisingly interesting as the whiny senator’s daughter, but I know for a fact she can do better work. Christopher Lambert, Miranda Richardson, and hell, even John Laroquette should be ashamed of themselves. I wouldn’t think it was so sad to see them play such horrible characters if it didn’t look like they were trying so hard.

Dwayne Johnson is the only one who gives a convincing performance. And it’s really only because he’s playing a confused, half-wit of a man who can’t quite figure out what his purpose might be. He does know one thing, though. He’s a pimp, and pimps don’t commit suicide.

Yeah, I don’t know what it means either, but it was the funniest damn line in the entire movie.

[redrusty66]

Music CD and DVD/Blu-ray collection pickups  for September 2023.

Arrow Remaster release of Southland Tales. Scream factory remastered edition of Exorcist 3. Criterion Collection remaster of Silence Of The Lambs. Releases of Rec 3 Genesis, Demonic, Renfield, SISU, Snowflake, Haunt, Rebel Without A Cause, The Haunting Of Sharon Tate, Plus much more.

These are the Music CDs, DVD and Blu-rays that I bought and received in the month of September 2023 for my collection.

My IMDB : https://www.imdb.com/user/ur48636572/ My Letterboxed : https://letterboxd.com/Redrusty66/ My Poetry : https://allpoetry.com/Redrusty66

#horror  #Movies #collection #film #review #heavymeetal #update

[frankendykes-monster]

Southland Tales has the most fascinating bar graph of any film on Letterboxd and yet most of the top reviews are all five stars. Fascinating.

I still don't get what people see in Donnie Darko (2001) but given I've also seen Southland Tales (2006) I feel pretty vindicated about my thoughts on Donnie Darko.

[thejewofkansas]

The Weekly Gravy #141

I’ll start the week off by watching some more shorts by the recently deceased Kenneth Anger: Rabbit’s Moon (1979) – A few years after the first version was released, Anger re-edited Rabbit’s Moon, speeding up the frame rate, changing the soundtrack from classic doo-wop to a 70s rock song called “Things That Go Bump in the Night,” changing the stylized zoom of the Moon to what appears to be stock…

[adamwatchesmovies]

Southland Tales (2006)

Southland Tales is an incoherent, dull, and frustrating mess that amounts to a big waste of your time. It's as if the first draft of two different films were stapled together, or it could be that writer/director Richard Kelly had so many "genius" ideas that he couldn't be persuaded to cut any of them. Some are actually genuinely interesting, but they're buried in a heap of dung that has no idea what it wants to be. A satirical dystopian comedy? an engaging high-concept science fiction film? a cautionary tale about censorship and totalitarian regime? Every potential avenue leads to nowhere.

The plot is an unintelligible mess that follows at least seven main characters. Set in a post-World War III United States, in the then-futuristic year 2008, action movie star Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson) has been brainwashed and is being used in a smear campaign by a group of rebels to destabilize a presidential candidate. At the same time, the rebels are using one of two twin brothers, Ronald and Roland Taverner (Seann William Scott) to push their agenda further. Officer Roland has been kidnapped and his brother has taken his place. Pretending to be racist and trigger-happy he is caught on tape and will expose the corrupt police system. There is also a plot about a mysterious, seemingly infinite source of energy dubbed "Fluid Karma" that threatens to tear the fabric of time and space apart, but is necessary because of an energy crisis; a new policy that keeps a close eye on the citizens to the point of censoring the internet; another about a former adult film star (Sarah Michelle Gellar as Krysta Now) that wants to create her own Reality TV Show; conspiracy theories and back stabbings.

It’s not even a well-formed turd. We get a long introduction about how the United States was hit with nuclear missiles in 2005, but there are no food shortages, no radiation suits to combat the nuclear fallout, and not even a single mutant wandering around. There’s a fuel “crisis” but we're just told this. We never see people stealing gasoline or being forced to take alternative modes of transportation. You might think that this element is to lead the audience into the super-secret “Fluid Karma” subplot but it has so little to do with the actions of the principal characters that I think it was thrown in just to simulate depth.

There are constant references to literary works, biblical quotes or scriptures tossed in with the kind of theoretical science fiction that Kelly previously explored in Donnie Darko. As icing on the cake, the film begins halfway through the story and not in the way you’ve seen before. Typically, a story will “hook” you by starting midway through an exciting action scene then flash back to show you how we got there. This story literally begins at part 4 of 6, the first three of which have been published in graphic novel form. Have you ever heard of a movie doing this? You have to do research in order to understand the film and we’re talking homework: 360 pages!

In the end, several plots have no bearing on the final “revelation” that is the conclusion of the film. Then, it just ends without telling you took place. You mean Parts 5 and 6 are actually going to be made? I just spent 2 hrs and 24 minutes getting pissed on, and I have to ask for more?

Southland Tales is moderately infamous. If you’re the kind of masochist that delights in watching the worst, most abysmal failures in Hollywood history just to make fun of them with your buddies on a Friday night like me, you’ll be thoroughly disappointed. There aren’t a lot of “so bad it’s good” moments, just one memorable quote and fewer iconic moments. The movie is exhausting, it sucks the life right out of you, leaving you desperate for any kind of genuine stimulation. With it’s inhumane running time, it takes so long to finish there’s just no way you will be able to gather the strength and mental energy to get up off your seat and find something better to throw in your DVD/Blu-ray player. Your only desire will be to turn off the TV, crawl into bed and die in your sleep. Southland Tales is without a doubt one of the dullest, most scatterbrained abstract films I’ve ever seen. You’d rather have a chimpanzee shave every hair on your body than flush your time down the toilet by watching this film. (On DVD, May 24, 2013)

[oneofusnet]

Digital Noise Episode 273: John Digs Evil Toys DIGITAL NOISE EPISODE 273: JOHN DIGS EVIL TOYS John and Chris take on a mighty stack of home releases, discussing insane woodland based yakuza vs zombie films, a criminally overlooked Korean classic, a reappraisal of one of the films often looked at as one of the worst ever, and Aaron comes on to talk two… Read More »Digital Noise Episode 273: John Digs Evil Toys read more on One of Us

[claudia1829things]

"GANGSTER SQUAD" (2013) Review

"GANGSTER SQUAD" (2013) Review Every now and then, Hollywood would release a movie with a story based upon a particular event or individual from Los Angeles' history. Movies such as "CHINATOWN", "L.A. CONFIDENTIAL", and "CHANGELING" are examples. Six years ago, Hollywood released a movie about a moment in Los Angeles' history called "GANGSTER SQUAD".

I must admit that I found myself surprised that the origin of the plot for "GANGSTER SQUAD" came from L.A. history. According to the book, "Tales from the Gangster Squad" by Paul Lieberman, Chief William Parker and the Los Angeles Police Department formed a group of officers and detective called the "Gangster Squad unit" in an effort to keep Los Angeles safe from gangster Mickey Cohen and his gang in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Screenwriter Will Beall took elements of Lieberman's book and wrote a movie about the L.A.P.D.'s efforts to fight organized crime in the Southland. The movie starts in 1949 Los Angeles, where Cohen has become the most powerful figure in the California criminal underworld. Cohen has plans to expand his enterprises across the Western United States via the gambling rackets. Because the gangster has eliminated witnesses and bribed both the courts and the police, Chief Parker and the L.A.P.D. have not been able to stop Cohen's rise. In a desperate move, Parker recruits the incorruptible and ruthless Sergeant John O'Mara to form a unit to wage guerilla warfare on Cohen's operations and drive the gangster out of Southern California. O'Hara, with the help of his very pregnant wife Connie, recruit the following men for his new unit: *Coleman Harris, a tough beat cop from the South Central Los Angeles neighborhood *Conway Keeler, a brainy wire-tapper *Max Kennard, a legendary veteran gangster killer and sharp-shooter Kennard's young partner, Navidad Ramirez tracks down the squad and O'Hara reluctantly allows him to join. The sergeant tries to recruit his close friend, Sergeant Jerry Wooters, but the latter declines his offer out of disillusionment with the recent war and the police force. But when Cohen's attempted hit on rival gang leader Jack Dragna results in the death of a young shoeshine boy, Wooters decides to accept O'Hara's offer to join the squad. Also, Wooters has become romantically involved with Cohen's etiquette coach and girlfriend, Grace Faraday. The squad's campaign of terror against Cohen encounter a good deal of road blocks, including an unsuccessful raid against Cohen's Burbank casino, the gangster's penchant for paranoia, Wooters' secret romance with Grace, Connie O'Hara's desire for her husband to leave the police force and a deadly trap set up by Cohen in Chinatown. Despite the setbacks, violence and death, the squad eventually persevere over Cohen. When I first saw the trailer for "GANGSTER SQUAD", I immediately viewed it as one of those splashy, yet cheesy crime dramas trying to cash in on the success of movies like "L.A. CONFIDENTIAL" and "THE UNTOUCHABLES" by setting it before the present time. After seeing the movie, I suspect that my assumption was correct. There were elements in the movie's story that I found unoriginal. Honestly. One could easily imagine "GANGSTER SQUAD" to be a post-World War II Los Angeles version of the 1987 movie, "THE UNTOUCHABLES". Well . . . almost. And there were moments when I found "GANGSTER SQUAD" rather cheesy. This was obvious in some of the dialogue that came out of the mouth of actor Sean Penn, who portrayed Mickey Cohen; and in the movie's narration spoken by Josh Brolin, who portrayed John O'Hara. And I might as well be honest. Penn's dialogue was not helped by the occasional hammy acting that also marred his performance. For a movie that is supposed to be based on a historical book, I could not regard it as historically correct . . . especially in regard to the fates of both Cohen and rival Jack Dragna. I am a fan of Nick Nolte's work, but I believe that he was a least two to three decades too old to be portraying Los Angeles Police Chief William Parker, who would have been in his mid-40s in 1949. Also, Parker did not become the city's police chief until 1950. "GANGSTER SQUAD" was not a perfect film, but I liked it very much. I enjoyed it. I found it very entertaining. And I found it gorgeous and colorful to look at. Thanks to production designer Maher Ahmad's work, the film beautifully re-created post-World War II Los Angeles at the end of the 1940s. I was especially impressed by Ahmad's elegant, yet colorful designs for the Slapsy Maxie's nightclub, Cohen's Spanish Colonial house and the Chinatown sequence. Ahmad's work was enhanced by Gene Serdena's set decorations, the movie's art direction team and especially Dion Beebe's photography. And Mary Zophres' costume designs were absolutely gorgeous. Just to give you a hint, take a look at one of her designs for actress Emma Stone:

Even though "GANGSTER SQUAD" seemed to be marred by cheesy dialogue, lack of originality and historical inaccuracy, I cannot deny that Will Beall wrote a very entertaining and exciting crime story. He did a pretty solid job of setting up the main narrative with Sergeant O'Hara's disruption of one of Mickey Cohen's illegitimate businesses - a whorehouse staffed by naive girls fresh off the bus or train and eager to make it big in the movies. This disruption catches Police Chief Bill Parker's attention, prompting him to recruit O'Hara to organize and lead the "Gangster Squad" unit against Cohen's operations. Beall also filled the story with exciting action sequences that included a nail-biting shootout in Chinatown, a forbidden romance between Jerry Wooters and Cohen's girlfriend Grace Faraday, strong characterizations and more importantly, a good solid narrative. Rueben Fleischer did a first-rate job in transferring Beall's script to the movie screen. And Fleischer did this with a great deal of flair and strong pacing. The cast for "GANGSTER SQUAD" proved to be first-rate. Josh Brolin led the cast as the strong-willed, yet emotional police detective Sergeant John O'Hara. Utilizing his talent for projecting a no-nonsense demeanor with flashes of humor, Brolin was very effective as leader of "Gangster Squad" unit. Brolin also managed to generate on-screen chemistry with other members of the cast - including Ryan Gosling, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi and especially actress Mireille Enos, who beautifully portrayed O'Hara's equally strong-willed wife Connie. "GANGSTER SQUAD" marked the second time Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone worked together since they were co-stars in the 2011 comedy "CRAZY STUPID LOVE". And once again, they proved to be quite the effective screen team, as they burned up the screen as the cynical lovers Sergeant Jerry Wooster and mob moll Grace Faraday. I also enjoyed Anthony Mackie's colorful portrayal of tough beat cop Coleman Harris, who developed an aversion to Burbank, following the squad's unpleasant encounter with that city's law enforcement. Giovanni Ribisi gave a poignant performance as the squad's brainy wiretapper, Conwell Keeler. Both Robert Patrick and Michael Peña created a solid screen team as police sharpshooter Max Kennard and his clever protégé Navidad Ramirez. Although I found him slightly too old for the role, I must admit that I found Nick Nolte's portrayal of Police Chief William Parker rather entertaining in a garroulous way. And despite some of the cheesy dialogue he was forced to spew, I must say that Sean Penn struck me as an effective villain in his performance as the violent Mickey Cohen. Especially when the cheese and ham were missing from his lines. If you expect "GANGSTER SQUAD" to be a crime drama masterpiece, you will be disappointed. It is no masterpiece, I assure you. But . . . I thought it proved to be an entertaining, yet splashy crime thriller that recaptured the era of post-World War II Los Angeles. I guess one could thank Will Beall for his solid script, colorful direction by Rueben Fleischer, and an entertaining cast led by Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Sean Penn.

[01sentencereviews]

Southland Tales (2006), Richard Kelly

This satire on America’s political system, media saturation, and mass surveillance (which was not nearly as widely known/recognized when this film was initially released) is a mess-and-a-fucking-half, depicting an overly-dramatized but knowingly silly and theatrical look at WWIII, alternative energy at the hands of pure evil, and the big bang, not whimper, which ends the world as we know it, and it’s overwhelming in eye-rolling in sloppily alluring ways, and it’s one of the movies that you finish, no matter how invested (or uninvested) you may have been throughout the over two hour runtime, that makes you go, “I’m glad that movie exists.”

Metacritic: 44, RT: 36%, IMDb: 5.5

[amoebo-id]

choice bits from his review on the film section of rateyourmusic.com

“Southland Tales, Miami Vice, and Inland Empire are all 10 years old now, and they still all feel New. Nobody's really taken on the digital expressionism of Miami Vice other than Mikey Mann in Blackhat, nobody's done for bit-rot-as-abject-terror what Lynch did in Inland Empire, and Southland Tales with all of its screens and graphix and UI, and shots of military personnel pacing on the beach next to laptops (mosaiced with graphix and UI) framing the content we see as well, has had more of an effect on video art than entertainment cinema. Which is not to say that Southland Tales is a good film just because it looks like art post-2010, but that it is as bold as those other two and prescient within a related but not directly linked field. There is something in it which speaks to high/low distinctions, which wants to define the future and also embody the time, and which hazards imagining the apocalypse as it might actually occur within our world- screens and military on a beach framed by scrolling headlines. Nobody would notice that the world had ended, and maybe it did and we didn't.

...

Southland Tales is just as broken and weird and horrible as everyone says, and it is probably not the masterpiece that its revisionists say that it is, but neither of these things matter to Southland Tales which is a very special broken weird horrible mess that means everything and nothing absolutely.”

i still havent even seen it but i take your posts as another strong rec

who put justin timberlake amy poehler and dwayne the rock in this movie

[greensparty]

BUFF Day 1

Green’s Party is proud to be covering the 2017 Boston Underground Film Festival, which kicked off last night!

Due to a prior engagement, I was not able to attend the Opening Night screening of Prevenge, but I will have a review of it at a later time. I heard it got quite a response from the audience. Then, they had a 10 year anniversary screening of Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales. I was going to attend that, but since I already saw it...and it’s 2.5 hours, I skipped it in favor of the Opening Night Party at ZuZu in Central Square. I caught up with some friends, filmmakers and attendees! Good time!

Tonight:

There’s a shorts package, then Hounds of Love. I plan to catch A Dark Song at 9:45pm. If I’m up for it, there’s an after-party at The Independent in Union Square, Somerville!

For info on BUFF: http://bostonunderground.org/

[bronzbabyy]

MOVIE REVIEW: Southland Tales

Southland Tales. As in Tales from Southern California, but a different California, where Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is an action star turned prophet, Justin Timberlake is a veteran of Iraq, Sean-William Scott is actually a pair of twins, and Sarah Michelle-Gellar is a porn star named Krysta Now. “No-one rocks the cock like Krysta Now.” Or so we’re told. You never actually see her rocking the cock, and she is more than welcome.  

But the film doesn’t try and pander to the type of audience who want to see a flash of tits. Actually, it doesn’t pander to anyone. It is by far and away the most experimental film to come out of Hollywood recently, if you discount David Lynch.  

First of all, the film version of Southland Tales is actually chapters four, five and six. Hey if Star Wars did it… The first three chapters are found in the Southland Tales graphic novel, which actually makes more sense in itself and of the film as a whole, explaining the various theories behind the film, whereas the film itself drops the audience in the middle of a world that is far removed from the one we live in.

There is wi-fi energy known as Fluid Karma, a screenplay written while under the influence of drugs that foretells the End Of Days, and some freaky time travelling. So, everything you would expect from the brains behind Donnie Darko.

The film is a mess, but an interesting one. Part of the disconnected plot is concerned with the enigma that is the Book Of Revelations found in the Bible, and you could view this as its modern cinematic counterpart. Some view Revelations as a puzzle to be solved, containing a code to be dissected. Richard Kelly’s film is trying to push this, using the graphic novel and the film’s website to further the story and the puzzling plotlines within, quite literally forcing the audience to actively seek it out, or, as most people did, walk out of the cinema.

While this cross-media, story/puzzle thing is a bold move, the film should stand on its own legs, which, sadly, it does not. It's weird and wonderful, annoying and infuriating, littered with great performances and godawful ones. It will no doubt follow Darko in becoming a cult film, especially on DVD.

We do not recommend seeing this film, but you need to see it. It is the road less travelled.