Wendy's Films of 2010 # 166 - #176: A Rush to Finish 2010's Reviews! - The End!

#166. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Not as much of a Christmas movie as I'd hoped, but I loves me some James Stewart and this was no disappointment.

#167. American Pop (1981)

Neat animated film chronicling the history of pop music throughout the 20th century by following the descendants of one immigrant boy. There's one portion of the film (or one character, I should say) that's hard to like, but such is life.

#168. Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

A 70s movie from Japan where an alien race attempts to destroy earth with their Mechagodzilla, Godzilla comes to the rescue! Unfortunately a bad scientist has created Titanosaurus and uses him against Godzilla. It's pretty much exactly the way it sounds!

#170. Network (1976)

Was pleasantly surprised by this one; an intriguing drama about a television network: "I'm as mad as hell and I'm going to take this anymore!"

#171. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

I grew up with the 1994 remake of this classic, and boy am I glad I finally saw the original.

#172. TRON: Legacy (2010)

I don't suppose we'll be getting this one in now, but hey! Why not add it to the reviews? I found it provided a good source of entertainment, perhaps a wee bit long though.

#173. Black Swan (2010)

As a wise man named Posen told me today, his three questions of the week are: "How was your Christmas?" "What are you up to for New Years?" and.. "Have you seen Black Swan?!?" I

thought it was the best film of the year, though I haven't seen every one, but it seems to be a wide-spread consensus among those I know.

#174. Chinatown (1974)

Second Faye Dunaway film I watched this week and both were excellent! Jack Nicholson was so good back in the day, I wish he and Robert De Niro would come back to life.

#175. Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

I loved Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure growing up, so it was only a matter of time before I had to check this one out. It started off really strangely, but I ended up laughing a fair amount. Also, it references this next movie!

#176. The Seventh Seal (1957)

It almost seems fitting that the last film I saw this year would be this one, especially since GenX will soon be closing. It wasn't done on purpose, I just didn't have the time to watch Throne of Blood before tomorrow night. As such, my last film would be a seemingly bleak one, but one that has hope and a sparkle in its eye. What a wonderful way to end the year.

Ryan Watches A Motion Picture #79: Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus (1959, MST3K Version in 1993)

Forever at war.

Not sure what MST3k is? Read this first!

Apparently Santa was not in high standing in Mexico in '59. El Santo certainly was, but Santa and Christmas were, it was felt, a distinctly American tradition that had little place in the imaginations of Mexican children. How best to sell the Santa meme to Mexico? Why, the only way to properly bridge the gap is to put Santa in the service of god! You know, make him lock horns with satan and his minions! Kid movie stuff. The MST crew have a field day.

Santa lives in a cloud fortress made of crystal and filled with surreal anthropomorphic contraptions that monitor Earth. These contraptions were made by none other than fucking Merlin. Merlin lives in the fortress with Santa. Oh, and an army of 6 year old toy-making workers from every nation on the planet. These must be the purest child-souls to be found on Earth, to be working for god's newest general in a magic cloud city. The elves are nowhere to be found, and this will be a strange movie indeed. I can only assume that they, like the angels before them, grew jealous and rebelled and were cast down amidst the fire.

Soon enough we get a bizarre sequence with Santa playing organ and singing along with each nation's representatives in turn, and let me tell you, it is a badly dubbed buffet of racial stereotyping.

I'd have to say this episode possesses one of my favourite MST3K moments to date, a moment where the clockwork reindeer, having just been awakened from their year-long slumber, begin to laugh along with a merry Santa. Now, the reindeer's jaws open and shut in a jerking, string-pulled fashion and they can never blink. Their laugh grows into what I'm sure is an unintentionally disturbing cackle, a cackle the guys of course are compelled, in the evil spirit of Christmas, to join in on. It then becomes an unholy chorus of laughter akin to the scene in Evil Dead where Ash has his first true mental breakdown.

It's possibly the most offensive MST I've seen, and certainly one of the darkest. Given the subject matter of the film in front of them, the boys aren't afraid to make fun of every national culture they can think of in the name of fairness and in step with the flick, and poke fun at the rammed down your throat religiosity and fear of hell that this film tries to install into children.

So: Pretty damn awesome. Still with a bit a Hallowe'en in the brain yet ready for Christmas, this might be perfect for you sinners.

Maggie's Films of 2010, January 14, Cont'd: Four Selections

It feels weird lumping sixteen episodes of a series together as one entry, then tackling another in far, far shorter increments. But so it goes!

#13. Extras, Season One



Whether you start this series as the British did, on the set of a film about contemporary genocide with guest star Ben Stiller (playing himself as a first rate egomaniac), or as American audiences did, on the set of a film about the Holocaust with guest star Kate Winslet (playing herself as an Oscar-hungry actress with sex and pantomime on the brain), you're still confronted from the outset with a brand of comedy utterly foreign to most North American viewers.

If you've seen some of Michael's most humiliating speeches in America's The Office, you've probably come close, but for the true spirit of self-deprecation you need to go back to the source: Britain's The Office, for one, and Extras, for another. Is it therefore any surprise that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant were co-writers and co-stars for both? In this six episode first season, Gervais plays Andy, a movie set extra looking for a break -- both as actor and as writer -- against all odds, not the least of which is his own, incompetent agent (Merchant). Along his journey, which in this season also has him and fellow-traveller Maggie (Ashley Jensen) brushing up with Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Stewart, Les Dennis, Ross Kemp and Vinnie Jones, he finds that victories are few and far between -- and that even when they arrive, they can feel very small indeed.

Did I mention this was a comedy?

#14. Extras, Season Two



Okay, so by now you're used to the extreme humiliation factor that goes into Extras. By now Andy's sitcom is in full steam, universally hated by critics and used as a focal point for derision by fellow, cruelly competitive actors. Against the brutal honesty of this comedy about constant, demoralizing failure, all else just seems... frivolous. Seriously. (If this were a North American production, I'm 90% certain the main character would have shot himself by now.) Then, suddenly, it becomes clear: That's why we have actors in the first place -- to make up for the horrible, middling predicaments we fear we ourselves are living out! And that's why season two guest stars Orlando Bloom, David Bowie, Daniel Radcliffe, Chris Martin, Sir Ian McKellen, and Robert De Niro are so vital to this comedy's success: Against the black pit of intractable mediocrity in which Andy and Maggie are ever-so-cutely mired, the playful, hyper-exaggerated self-portraits of these six actors is perhaps our only reprieve from utter despair.

Still a comedy, I kept telling myself as I went through the second season. Definitely still a comedy.

#15. Extras, Christmas Special



As much as some people wish Extras had continued for more seasons, if only to see more actors and actresses make fun of themselves, I couldn't get past the lesson of season two: namely, that the cameo appearances are a happy-fun contrivance the show needed so as not to depress the hell out of its viewers for all time. So with a greatly relieved heart, I took on the feature-length Extras finale, a Christmas special (with its own fun spate of cameos) that thankfully ends on a higher note than anything offered by seasons one and two. In it, we find Andy and Maggie taking wholly divergent paths: Andy fires his agent, quits his sitcom, and makes a wild stab at fame and fortune that ultimately thrusts him to the bottom of the barrel; Maggie, meanwhile, is confronted with the bottom of the barrel early on, and in refusing it finds her lot in life grown increasingly bleak -- especially because all of the success Andy has won (yet despises because it's not good enough) has turned him into a bitter, mingy excuse of a friend. I won't spoil the ending for you, but I will say this much: It's not a double suicide. Believe me, that came as a great relief, because at times I really had to wonder if any note of happiness was really possible in this unquestionably British comedy.

Yes, comedy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

#16. Brick



But speaking of stories, I'm so pleased I have a housemate, because when she hasn't seen a film I hold dear, it just gives me an excuse to re-watch said film at leisure. So it was with Brick, a film noir set so convincingly among high school students that you'll wonder why it took so long to make. Sure, we already had Bugsy Malone, but there's nothing anywhere near as cutesy about this murder mystery -- and when someone gets "creamed" in this movie-verse, it definitely takes.

In Brick, Joseph Gordon-Levitt ((500) Days of Summer) stars as Brendan, the world-weary lone wolf who stumbles upon an underworld of high school crime when he sets about investigating the death of his ex-girlfriend. The cinematography is sparse, the classic archetypes mapped with playful flair over the various performative roles of different high school cliques today, the dialogue dense and smart. Almost a mood piece by definition, Brick is the kind of film that sings home the gravity of pretty much any life, and also the absurdity of it. Scenes of note involve Brendan enjoying a bowl of cereal with a side of tension, Brendan facing off with The Man, and Kara, queen of the theatre clique, breaking down glass ceilings for us all. To mention any more than that would take away from the experience: Enjoy!

Chris 2010 Viewings #5: Tales from the Crypt

Some of the first movies I ever taped off late-night TV were from a week-long festival of Amicus movies. Amicus was sort of a second-rate Hammer, often using some of the same cast, and the mostly fondly remembered of their films are collections of short horror stories, linked by a (usually) lame framing story that 90% of the time involves the people who've told their stories finding out that they're all dead.

Tales from the Crypt's stories are all borrowed from old EC comics, mostly from the magazine of the same name. None of the stories is entirely successful, but most have merit.

The first involves Joan Collins offing her husband on Christmas eve while their daughter sleeps upstairs. While attempting to dispose of the body, she hears a radio report about a homicidal maniac who has escaped from a local asylum and was last seen dressed as Santa Claus. Guess who's lurking outside the house? It's a killer premise but it's over almost before it starts, and the punchline would be a lot more effective if the Santa madman were a scarier presence. Look at the still above, the guy looks like he's mentally thinking out his taxes.

The second is an Owl Creek Bridge setup involving an adulterous couple and a car accident. Even if that last sentence doesn't ruin the twist for you, you'll guess it even as the accident begins.

The third is probably the best, with kindly widower, toymaker, and all-around-friend-to-all-children Peter Cushing persecuted by a father-son pair of rich bastards who are upset that his ratty house brings down their property value. Cushing is the only cast member who registers as human in the film.

Fourth is a "Monkey's Paw" variation starring Richard Greene that even has the cheek to have one of the characters mention the source story. This is mostly forgettable, but the sting in its tail is potent and nasty in a way that the original story could only dream of.

The last tale involves a home for the blind whose stern new director enacts budget-cutting changes that put the residents through the wringer. He learns soon enough that people who don't waste their time looking at pretty things not only have sharper senses, but can think up extra-nasty revenge plans!

Ralph Richardson slums through the linking story that doesn't even bother to be evasive about its twist, being set in a crypt and all.