Psycho (1960)

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

>

   

A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.

Psycho is probably the film that represents Alfred Hitchcock the most in popular culture. With the proto-slasher killer and the now legendary shower scene where Janet Leigh gets butchered naked. Psycho is now encrusted in the common minds as Hitchcock’s masterpiece and his trademark of Horror.  Well that is part right and part wrong. First, Hitchcock was not a dedicated horror filmmaker has much as a storyteller that mastered thrills and suspense. Is Psycho his masterpiece? We can count at least five films as his masterpieces; Rear Window, North By Northwest, Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds. However, is Psycho his ultimate masterpiece? Some might say yes to that answer but recently, 2012, Vertigo was recognized as the greatest film of all time by the Sight and Sound poll held each decade since 1952. However, is you ask me, and I believe that if you are reading those lines you are asking me, Psycho might be the most personal masterpiece Hitchcock ever directed. With the floating sexuality from the beginning of the traveling in the hotel bedroom where Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and Sam are having an affair to the shower scene, sex is present. Then you have the thrill, the build-up to the first murder, the fear of the policeman that suspects Marion of getting away in a hurry and follows her to the point where seh trades car, Hitchcock was affraid of cops since a childhood memory that his father asked the police to jail him for a moment so he would behave. There are themes of Hitchcock’s obsessions that are recurring but also completely succesful in their execution.

Let’s now discuss the thing that is almost synonymous with Psycho, the shower scene. In his discussions with François Truffaut, Hitchcock admitted that it was the only reason he wanted to do the film. I doubt that a bit since the film is so perfect in every one of its elements that, yes the scene is outstanding and his use of montage, jump cuts, traveling into Leigh’s eye to show us she looked at the money before life gets out of her, and the shot of the knife entering the flesh that was shot in reverse so that the knife never penetrates the wet skin, but still the build up leading to that scene is a lesson in cinema. That scene took many days to shot and the use of many angles makes it geometric and puts us into the shower side by side with Marion. As if we were taking the shower with her and witnessing the scene getting soaked. When the killer gets in and attacks then kill Marion, the story shifts from the point of view of Marion to Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) that comes and washes meticulously the crime scene. This long afterwards of cleaning and getting rid of the body and the car is also as interesting as the assassination scene itself. When he gazes the car slowly sinking into the swamp, the montage from the car to his face has a comic mesure that makes us his acolytes.

Janet Leigh

Anthony Perkins

Birds

Horror

Cinematography

Saul Bass 

The Dead Zone (1983)

Note : this review is a contribution to the Kingathon hosted by Movie Reviews 101 and Movie Rob.

The Dead Zone (David Cronenberg, 1983)

A man awakens from a coma to discover he has a psychic detective ability.

Misery

Note : this review is my contribution to The Lauren Bacall blogathon hosted by In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood.

Misery (Rob Reiner, 1990)

Few days after being rescued and sheltered from a car crash caused by a blizzard by a nurse who claims to be his number one fan, a well-known author begins suspecting the mental health of his savior.

Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is a widely known best-selling author who just finished his more recent novel in a remote cabin in the Colorado. Being very superstitious he always has the same routine when he finishes a write-up and he takes his Mustang on the road just before a huge snowstorm. Obviously, he leaves the road and is badly hurt but someone saw him and saves him from a certain death. It is nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) who is also her number one fan. Slowly we understand that she keeps him from the rest of the world and he is hers. She forces him to destroy his latest novel and asks him to write a new Misery novel. Slowly recovering from his accident, Sheldon had both legs broken at several places and an arm in bad shape too. He is reduced to a wheel chair for a moment. Annie also locks his room and quickly becomes aggressive and dangerous. Paul knows he’ll have to escape if he wants to survive.

Die Hard : With a Vengeance

Note : this review is my contribution to the Beach Party blogathon hosted by Speakeasy and Silver Screenings.

Die Hard : With a Vengeance (John McTiernan, 1995)

John McClane and a Harlem store owner are targeted by German terrorist Simon Gruber in New York City, where he plans to rob the Federal Reserve Building.

This is the third instalment in the Die Hard franchise and my favorite one. Based on Hercules’ twelve labors and helped by Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson), John McClane (Bruce Willis) has to stop a terrorist in the biggest city of America; New York City. After the criminal bombs a commerce he plays a game of Simon says asking for McClane who is alcoholic and suspended to achieve every tasks he is asking him.

With director John McTiernan back on board, Die Hard : With a Vengeance is a fun ride of action film sequences and mind games. Set during summer, the opening with The Lovin’ Spoonfull track Summer in the City gets us into the mood. Then Michael Kamen embarks us on a great soundtrack with a use of When Johnny Comes Marching Home that fills some of the best scenes of the film. Some bits of his score from the first two film are reused but they all blend together to get us on the edge of our seats.

I remember going to the theater on May 19 1995 with two of my friends, I was eleven years old at the time and I was only one who haven’t seen the other films from the franchise. However, I was becoming a Die Hard fan. Even if the first film of the now five entries is by far the best and one of the best films of all time, Die Hard : With a Vengeance is my favorite one. The setting, my favorite city and almost my second home; New York City does do something in the whole. The fact that they did not visit tourist locations and included inside local places does it for a lot. It makes us feel as we know the city from the inside. It is a nice rally race that reminds us of the first NYC action films of the 1970’s like The Taking of Pelham 123.

All in all, he third instalment in the Die Hard franchise might not be as well praised as the first one but I wanted to highlight it as a summer blockbuster entertainment. And it is everything I’m looking for when I want to catch this kind of film. It has a dear place into my film lover memory and I tend to revisit it almost every year.

Él

 

Él (Luis Bunuel, 1953)

Francisco is rich, rather strict on principles, and still a bachelor. After meeting Gloria by accident, he is suddenly intent on her becoming his wife and courts her until she agrees to marry him.

With the important number of films by Luis Bunuel that are available from his Spanish period, his Mexican exil, and his late French cinephiles from around the world can at least get something for their tastes. Even if he is more reknown for his French surrealistic films, Bunuel took many genres under his particular signature and directed essential timeless films.

With Él and its story of an obsessive lover filled with jealousy, frustration, and paranoiac persona Bunuel will go on and make one of the most interesting thrillers that will go and inspire the great Alfred Hitchcock with his scene in the church bell tower. He also used jump cuts to let his viewer know the anti-hero’s point of view and how he perceives people.

Él was the kind of film I went into with no idea what was the subject and a little bit of a reluctance for another Mexican film from Bunuel fearing this might be a lesser film from the filmmaker. However, this is one of his films I enjoyed the most lately. The only negative comment I would have to say is not even about the film itself but the french subtitles that were poorly translated. As a french speaker, Spanish is also a Latin language and I understand some bits here and there of Spanish and Italian but I could sense that some subtitles needed to say more or were just not right for the scenes. This is a case where the old adage of lost in translation is right for the moment.

Personally, I would rank Él really high but not quite a masterpiece despite the elegant cinematography by Gabriel Figueroa, the elegant but pompous sets of Franscisco’s house, and the use of modern psychology for the central character’s mental disorder. If I would make a list of the 1000 Greatest films of all time, something I am planning to do sometime when I’ll finish the one from They Shoot Pictures, Él will be on it without a doubt.

Of the fifteen Luis Bunuel films listed on the 1000 Greatest Films list, I know have seen eleven and I enjoyed each and every one of them. Needless to say that I digged Él very much. The thriller value and the obsession of love portrayed here makes it one of the most efficient films on paranoia and mental illness.

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.

Scanners

Scanners (David Cronenberg, 1981)

A scientist (Patrick McGoohan) sends a man (Stephen Lack) with extraordinary psychic powers to hunt others like him.

The Fury

The Fury (Brian De Palma, 1978)

A government agent (Kirk Douglas) is determined to come to his son's (Andrew Stevens) rescue when a sinister official (John Cassavetes) kidnaps him to harbor his extremely powerful psychic abilities.

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.

Oldboy (2003)

Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)

The film follows the story of one Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), who is locked in a hotel room for 15 years without knowing his captor's motives. When he is finally released, Dae-su finds himself still trapped in a web of conspiracy and violence. His own quest for vengeance becomes tied in with romance when he falls for an attractive sushi chef.

Dressed to Kill

Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma, 1980)

It centers on the murder of a housewife and an investigation involving a young prostitute who witnessed the murder, the victim’s teenaged son and her psychiatrist.

Point Blank

Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967)

This cult classic staring Lee Marvin as Walker a man seeking for revenge against the organization that owes him money and that has a scheme that Walker will try to erase.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent, 1974)

A group of criminals are taking hostage for ransom the passengers of a busy New York City subway car.

Starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, and Hector Elizondo The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is an iconic film of the 1970’s. A good suspense and an influential movie for Quentin Tarantino with the naming of the criminals by colors (see Reservoir Dogs) and a huge influence on action films to come along with John Carpenter’s The Assault of Precinct 13. Not the actual film canon that is praised a lot habitually by this critic, but it is deserves its mention here.

Gloria (1980)

Gloria (John Cassavetes, 1980)

It tells the story of a gangster's girlfriend who goes on the run with a young boy who is being hunted by the mob for information he may or may not have.

As much as director John Cassavetes hit a home run with his film A Woman Under the Influence starring his wife Gena Rowlands, he would have been average with his Gloria. At first, Cassavetes didn’t wanted to direct the movie and sold the script to Columbia Pictures. But when Rowlands was linked to the title character she asked for him to direct it. Mixing Cassavetes’ use of Cinéma Vérité and the big studio means, Gloria is on the limit between the independent picture that characterized the director’s fruitful career and the conventional mob movies.

Don't Look Now

Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, 1973)

After the accidental death by drowning of their daughter, a couple (Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland) goes to Venice for a contract of church restoration. Laura (Christie) meets a couple of elderly sisters that told her that her daughter his still with them. It is one of the sisters, who is blind, that tells that she can see her sitting between them. Following this memorable scene the couple will be intertwined in a story of look alike and apparitions. It also contains one of the most well recognized sex scenes ever shot on film.

The China Syndrome

The China Syndrome (James Bridges, 1979)

Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) is a television reporter put on jobs about hot air balloons and carnavalesque info for the channel 3. It is clear in her boss’s mind that her looks and beautiful face goth er the job. But she knows she can do deep subject reports. One day she is asked to do a report on the Ventana Nuclear power plant with freelance cameraman Richard (Michael Douglas) and sound recording artist Hector (Daniel Valdez).

Night Moves (1975)

Night Moves (Arthur Penn, 1975)

Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman) is a retired professional football player working as a private investigator in Los Angeles. He is dedicated to his job, but is also following his wife Ellen (Susan Clark) because she and a man named Marty Heller (Harris Yulin) are having an affair.
Aging actress Arlene Iverson (Janet Ward) hires Harry to find her trust-funded daughter Delly Grastner (Melanie Griffith), distracting Harry from his marital problems. Harry goes to a Hollywood film set to interview a stuntman he knows, Ziegler (Edward Binns), about an unsolved death during the shooting of a film, and a mechanic, Quentin (James Woods), who knew the lascivious teen Delly before she took off for Florida.

Obsession (1976)

Obsession (Brian De Palma, 1976)

The early career of Brian De Palma is filled with very inspired films that many filmmakers have cited as inspirations like Sisters, Dressed to Kill, Carrie, and Blow-Up. His 1976 film, Obsession is openly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, De Palma’s major and obvious influence. The script written by Paul Schrader has been widely rewritten by De Palma to simplify and make it more appealing to a wider audience. However, the plot and elements are revealing many recurring themes that Schrader has exploited in many of his other works.

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.

Argo

Argo (Ben Affleck, 2012)

A dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.

As History goes the common people like you and me are more and more aware of international issues around the world with the democratization of the medias and the spread of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. In past years, many revolts in the Middle East have been fueled with the social networks. Sometimes it's for the best. In the case of Argo we are transported in 1979-1980's uprising of Iran with the Ayatollah and the Political refuge of the Shah in the USA. The Shah, being funded by the Americans against the wide spread of Communism of the Soviet Union and in the not so secret issue of keeping the access to petrol, has been declared an enemy of his land. During the uprisings, a group of 44 Americans of the Embassy were kept by the Islamic Republic of Iran. A small group of 6 escaped to the Canadian Embassy and were secretly living there waiting to escape the country.