Aloha

Aloha (Cameron Crowe, 2015)

A celebrated military contractor returns to the site of his greatest career triumphs and reconnects with a long-ago love while unexpectedly falling for the hard-charging Air Force watch-dog assigned to him.

The setting : Hawaii. The cast : Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, John Krasinski, Bill Murray, Alec Baldwin. The director : Cameron Crowe. Well, what could possibly go wrong? As much as a new Cameron Crowe film makes us wish for a return into his top form of his Almost Famous days or just his Say Anything inspiration, it would be something very very nice.

Firestarter

Firestarter (Mark L. Lester, 1984)

Adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same title, Firestarter stars a young Drew Barrymore as the little Charlie who has a special gift of putting fire just by the power of her mind. Her father Andy (David Keith) and her mother Vicky (Heather Locklear) were guinea pigs for the Lot 6 experiment. It was a secret government laboratory experiment that tested a substance on the human mind. Andy has the power to convince people and hypnotize and Vicky had the power to read minds. Much like Carrie, Firestarter is about a young girl with a power she has troubles handling.

It is another take on childhood from Stephen King who visited the Freudian Oedipus Rex complex with The Shining. In Firestarter, we have the young Charlie who is confronted with different father figures who all wants to teach her on right or wrong. The novel is an interesting exploration of preteen girl male role models. Mark L. Lester’s film is a poor take on a good novel. Lester most successful directing credit was Commando in 1985 starring Arnold Scharzenegger. Despite the capable cast of Martin Sheen, George C. Scott, and Louise Fletcher paired with an interesting musical atmosphere created by the legendary Tangerine Dream, it never gets to really get together and raise up.

Plus, in the adaptation many important details were left out. The setting of the story in the South of the United States instead of King’s New England, the actualisation of the costumes, Charlie’s clothes are described with great precision in the novel and she is wearing something very different in the film. Many shortcuts are done to help the story but the screenwriter (Stanley Mann) and the director never capitalized on strong moments of the plot. In fact, this is a middle of the road directing job that feels like an emotionless reading of a poor script. With a source material from Stephen King one would at least expect a stronger and a tighter story. Even if Firestarter is not my favorite King novel, the movie is not at the level of the book.

While being a fan of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Brian De Palma’s Carrie, and Creepshow I was not expecting this level of movie. But, I didn’t thought it would be as average. It wasn’t a complete mess but not an exploration of a complex psychology more than a compilation of action sequences that are very corny.

Pray For Me : The Jason Jessee Film

Pray For Me : The Jason Jessee Film (Steve Nemsick & David Rogerson, 2007)

Professionnal skateboarder Jason Jessee is profiled in this 80 minutes documentary that preceded his comeback to a skaboarding sponsorship by Santa Cruz skateboards.

Coming from a Mormon family of South California that liked motorcycles and guns, Jason Jessee became a peculiar character that few people have really understood. Considered by his friends and peers as a clown or a kook, Jessee has passed from 100 000$ earnings in a year skateboarding to a minimum wage job cleaning dishes.

The portrait of his family and childhood is nicely done but too much time is on the fact that he hides himself behind a mask of comedy and extreme behaviors such as Nazi imagery, terrorist slogans, and Jesus freak phrases. Clearly, this is a man that wanted to do things his own way and make people talk about him. Sadly, the documentary almost plays as a joke and only encourages his eccentric side without trying to really scratch the surface and peel off the layers of this obvious shell that Jessee has forged around him to protect him from being hurt.

Another side of Pray For Me that should be improved is the lack of footage of his skateboarding days and the few archives shown. I read on IMDb that the budget was around 100 000$ for the entire documentary and this is probably one of the reasons it was harder to get rights for the archives of his career. However, the whole film feels that the budget was limited and it is almost sad that it feels cheap. There’s one thing when the soundtrack is done with less money and features more underground artists, much like skateboarding videos in general, but when the writing of the screenplay lacks of formal structure and circles around an interesting topic without achieving a complete analysis.

Between two shots of Jessee kidding around in his garage and interviews of his peers and family, Pray For Me : The Jason Jessee Film leaves us with a vague impression of the man and many questions hold in the air regarding the subject of the film and its purpose. As a skateboarder myself I like to know the guy behind the name written on the decks I buy. The Jason Jessee boards are nice skateboards and his graphics have always been considered as popular amongst customers. Apart if you are a real fan of the man or a diehard rabid consumer of everything skateboard I would suggest a rental but as aforementioned, there’s not a lot to learn from this 80 minutes documentary.

Body Double

Body Double (Brian De Palma, 1984)

A young man tries to make it as an actor in Hollywood but he struggles with his fear of confined spaces and his voyeuristic behaviors. This later vice will mix him with a mysterious murder of hitchcockian scape.

12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)

Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a New York State-born free negro who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery. He worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for twelve years before his release.

J'ai mon voyage!

J’ai mon voyage! (Denis Héroux, 1973)

Jean-Louis Cartier (Jean Lefebvre) from France decides to quit Quebec City to go live in Vancouver with a fifth wheel. The Cartier family of Danielle (Dominique Michel), François (René Simard) , and Luc (Régis Simard) embark on a road trip that will take them into the wilderness of the West Canada that Jean-Louis romances in his letters to his parents in France.

Let It Ride

Let It Ride (Jacques Russo, 2006)

The story of the life of professional snowboarder Craig Kelly. His rise, his self recluse life from the spotlights and his tragic death in January 20th 2003.

Limitless

Limitless (Neil Burger, 2011)

Based on the novel The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn, Limitless is the story Eddie Mora (Bradley Cooper) a writer who has troubles writing a novel, loses his girlfriend (Abbie Cornish) and slowly falls into alcoholism. One day he meets his ex-brother in-law and discovers a drug that gives him the power to use more than 20% of his brain. Well, it’s like as if he can use it all. With this jump star the becomes limitless in the possibilities of his life.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

Five friends visiting their grandpa's old house are hunted down and terrorized by a chainsaw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.

On a trip in Texas to find childhood memories first at the grave of their grandfather and then at their first house, a brother and a sister are accompanied by three other young adults. As one might expect, one by one they disappear in the house near the old creek until the last girl, the pretty blonde (Marilyn Burns), gets into a nightmarish chase and torturous night with a family of four retarded hillbillies who live in the most eerie and unsettling house to ever have been filmed. The sets are composed of a room there are meat hooks, in another one you find poultry, feathers, charms, many kinds of bones and altars, and I won’t even mention what’s on the second floor. This is a superbly well manufactured set for a macabre story like this one.

Of the family of freaks, not much is explained except that we guess that they like to eat fresh human meat and they are some deranged guys. This flaw or probably intended obscure part of the story is one of the things that bothers me in this kind of gross Horror. Almost shot like a documentary or an exploitation film, the original that inspired many other parts and remakes, may have launched one of the most prominent subgenre in Horror.

There are many images that have persisted through time from this movie and even if the overall quality of it is pretty average, you have to see the sets, the moment when Leatherface slams the door after he made his first victim, his pause while not really understanding what’s happening, and the grand guignol finale.

Just like Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider, someone may bring up that it is a movie that doesn’t really hold up to the test of time. It, however, still creates an automatic repulsion and you only wish to never take the same road that those poor kids took.

Personally, it is a film I never saw before having to watch it for my quest to watch the 1000 Greatest Films of All Time of They Shoot Pictures Don’t They and I can surely say that I won’t be seeing this movie again, it is disturbing, annoying, and I just hoped that they all died as soon as possible just to get rid of all the screaming and crazy laughing. The effort and the talent of the filmmakers is undeniable and I admire someone who will take a risk at doing something out of the regular paths. This is a great example of that and I may also say that they accomplish the goal they probably wanted to get with this movie filled with filth (in the good sense), suggested violence, unique characters, and a great sense of Horror and repellency. Honestly, this is just not my kind of Horror and as much as I admire the whole thing I could not stand another viewing. Worth a look. 

Disclosure

Disclosure (Barry Levinson, 1994)

A computer specialist is sued for sexual harassment by a former lover turned boss who initiated the act forcefully, which threatens both his career and his personal life.

Originally this project was supposed to be directed by Academy Award winner Milos Forman, but he left the project and it was then offered to Barry Levinson and Alan J. Pakula. Levinson was still hot from his Oscar win of Rain Man, a Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman vehicule that is probably overly sentimental but very entertaining. Pakula another Oscar winner for All the President’s Men had his best films out and, let’s say, didn’t really had much gas left in the tank. So the job went to Barry Levinson who did an OK job with a script that proved to be a very successful box office wise movie. Let’s say that it was one of the first times that sexual harassment was showcased as direct as this. It is also interesting because it happened on the job and that it is one of the common places of sexual harassment since men are more subject to receive promotions and have the power.

The set up of the story on the merge of a multinational company and the ambitions of power between the sexes was a film of its time. The company, making Compact Disc players and specialized in computers and technology must have made people dream about the possibilities of the first emails. Well, when technology is displayed in movies it quickly becomes outdated since the communications have been exploding since the last twenty years.

The portrait of Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas), the ambitious computer specialist who thought would received a promotion while it’s his former girlfriend Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore) who got it. The night she got promoted they get together and Tom decides to stop before anything can happen because he is now married and it would be wrong. The next day he receives a complaint of sexual harassment that would change his relationship with everyone around him, his wife (Caroline Goodall), his boss (Donald Sutherland), and his assistant. Until he discovers that it is all about a question of power and control that lies beneath this situation.

While widely playing on the sex appeal of Demi Moore, the film is filled with many flaws that goes from the uneven pacing of the story that seemed to be filmed in episodes. There is also the useless browsing into the database made in 3D to impress the viewer and that is very useless because who would want to be in a virtual environment to consult his records about an assembly line? 

The biggest mess of the film is the conclusion that unties every bows in less than five minutes and in a way that even Michael Douglas’ character seem to be unconvinced and denatured. The Film Noir elements of Disclosure seem to have fade away and the commercial issues have taken the control of the ending of the movie. Sadly, it lets a bitter aftertaste and the overly sticky simplified conclusion of Levinson’s film of 128 minutes seemed to have been faulty on purpose. The unilateral writing of Demi Moore’s character gives a misogynist perception in Disclosure. Every woman, pictured is one note and even the lawyer Catherine Alvarez portrayed by Roma Maffia, is a strong woman but still fell into the cliché of the strong woman.

It is very clear that Disclosure was a sure investment for the studios with Michael Douglas who have been into similar thriller, the beauty of Demi Moore, and the subject matter of a woman who wants to manipulate a man would get a great reception. However, it is a film that reduces its viewer to a simple story full of stereotypes and that didn’t effloresce the subject it would have had to if it didn’t had had the commercial greed it clearly had and received. Moreover, the need to explain every bit of story is pretty annoying since the plot is not that complicated after all.

One Day

One Day (Lone Scherfig, 2011)

Adapted from the Best-seller of the same title, this romance that is expanding over twenty years told only on the 15 of july of each year from 1988 until 2011 is almost already castrated by its concept. Since I haven't read the original material this review is based only on the feature film.

The couple of Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturges was a promising setup to this awaited adaptation. The concept of the novel is transcribed by fifteen or so short films that represented each year the story is told. The films also represent the times and the evolution of this relationship. But as the pace the story goes the viewer doesn't really has the time to understand what is the link between the two leads and how they get to each other each year. The restriction of the concept, told the story by only one day per year retains too much information and lets to much blanks to fully capture what the author wants us to understand from its story.

Even if Hathaway and Sturges want to take the movie on their shoulders they carry two complex characters that a story won't properly unfold and that doesn't let the talent of the two young actors take the lead and perform. The lenght of the film, probably reduced by the studios and/or producers restraint the possibility to make this film work.

Afterall, the waste of talent and production cost, the short films reprensent the last decades with much precision but the story displayed is too thin to make this film work and be a real success.