Pose Reviews A Movie. #25: Beetlejuice (1988)

For a movie that's as old as I am, Beetlejuice holds up pretty well!

I've decided to continue my Tim Burton retrospective by taking a look at his zany post-mortem comedy featuring the first performances of a few actors who would become staples in his later films. Michael Keaton (Batman, Batman Returns), Winona Ryder (Edward Scissorhands) and Jeffrey Jones (Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow) all appear in Burton's 1988 endeavor, and I must say they're quite suitably cast.

The film also includes Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis as the recently deceased protagonists of the film, and Catherine O'Hara, whose performance as the stark-raving mad artiste who drives her family insane is by far one of the highlights of the film.

The premise of Beetlejuice is unique and wildly creative--something Burton's films don't offer anymore. The story follows the afterlife experiences of Adam and Barbara Maitland, a married couple who, to quote The Doors, "break on through to the other side" after their car takes an unanticipated detour into a river.

The afterlife, however, is cleverly depicted not as a terrifying nightmare, but a bureaucratic headache. The Maitlands take a considerable amount of time to figure out what has happened to them, and once they do, they are given only an easily distracted caseworker and an extremely cryptic instruction manual (pun intended) on life after death to help them through.

But as though this post-existence existential crisis wasn't enough for the Maitlands, they also have to contend with the new occupants of their home--the relentlessly irritating Deetz family, consisting of Ma (Catherine O'Hara), Pa (Jeffrey Jones) and angsty teen (Winona Ryder).

The Maitland ghosts attempt to rid themselves of the Deetz family on their own, but when their attempts are continually foiled, they turn to a 'bio-exorcist' who specializes in ridding the dead of living, breathing vermin.

His name? Juice. Beetle Juice.

It's a wacky concept to be sure, but a fun ride overall. The actors are all very committed to their roles, and Burton does what he does best by creating a creepy, haunting aesthetic to balance off the goofiness of the script.

Finally, it's also worth noting the immense amount of skill possessed by the makeup artists who worked on Beetlejuice. A recent discussion with a friend of mine regarding the virtues of practical makeup as opposed to CGI effects gave me a new perspective on the value of good makeup artistry, and the Oscar-winning Beetlejuice exemplifies the power of makeup-done-right. (But you'll have to watch to see what I mean!)

Overall, Burton's post Pee-Weenian, pre-Batmanian hit reminds us what imaginative film can be like. While nowadays everything seems to be either an adaptation, a sequel or a remake, it helps to remember that twenty years ago, Hollywood was willing to take a chance on a crazy concept like Beetlejuice, and it paid off.

But don't get me wrong. I liked Predators as much as the next guy.

Pose Reviews A Movie. #24: Batman Returns (1992)

Well, at least they didn't go with the originally proposed title, Batman, Again.

Alright, I'm just going to go ahead and say it. It's really, really hard to take the old Batman movies seriously now that Christopher Nolan has given the whole franchise a masked facelift, making the Caped Crusader (and his villains) appropriately badass once again.

However, I don't mean to assume that Tim Burton's 1992 follow-up to Batman was necessarily meant to be taken seriously in the first place. Or maybe the early nineties were a simpler era than I remember, having been five years old at the time.

Regardless, Batman Returns is a fine though irresistibly campy piece of film with a solid gothic aesthetic--art direction may be the only thing Tim Burton does well, but you have to admit, he does it really well.

Batman Returns also spawned a trend in villains which would be followed with the arguably more crappy Batman Forever and Batman & Robin whereby an already established baddie is joined by a newer scoundrel who develops their evil counterpart part-way through the movie.

In this case, we have Oswald Cobblepot, The Penguin, whose deformity at the time of birth led his parents to abandon him in the sewers of Gotham City in order to:

a) have him raised by penguins
and b) allow for a lengthy opening title sequence

Catwoman, on the other hand, arrives on the scene when her mortal alter-ego is thrown out of a window and bitten repeatedly by black cats--a process which apparently turns you both feline, evil and crazy if the cats go at it long enough.

These are probably two of the weirdest origin stories in the Batman villain catalogue, but once their plans to take over Gotham City are in place (despite rather flimsy motivations), their villainous agenda turns to the one force that can stop them...

...Michael Keaton?

OK, OK, I know that Michael Keaton used to be Burton's right-hand man, having starred in Beetlejuice and Burton's first Batman, and yes, he's certainly no worse than Val Kilmer in Batman Forever or George Clooney in Batman & Robin and sure, his Batman voice isn't as ridiculous as Christian Bale's but...Michael Keaton?

I didn't buy it. I just feel like he doesn't have Bruce Wayne's cool charm (which is odd, considering his performance in Johnny Dangerously) OR Batman's cunning and machismo. All in all, I just don't think he fits the bill.

Could it be that Tim Burton just gets attached to certain actors, and casts them in places they don't belong just because he wants them in his movies?

Nahhh! Helena Bonham Carter was a GREAT choice for The Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland! (Nervous laughter).

I do want to applaud two of Burton's casting decisions though.

One? Michael Gough as Alfred. I love that guy! He's so old and awkward and scrawny, a kind of Hans Moleman in the flesh. So you almost don't expect him to do anything the entire movie, and then all of a sudden he bails Batman out of a dicey situation and you're like, "Ohh, that Alfred!"

It's just the best feeling.

And two? Christopher. Fucking. Walken.

It's so good to see you, Mr. Walken. And your major role as Max Schrek (and its accompanying hair) makes my heart sing. If only you had been cast as Batman. Now that would be worth Returning for!

For me, Christopher Walken is totally the highlight of this movie. Hands down, 100%. But if you're in the mood for a campy superhero movie, but you don't want to go the Adam West route, take a nostalgia trip and join Penguin, Catwoman, Christopher Walken and the big black bat for a Christmas you'll never forget!

...oh yeah, I forgot to mention. It's also a Christmas movie.

Chris Plays Catch-Up on Cold Medicine

OK, I am light years behind on writing up my movie viewings here at the blog, I mean even the part timers are kicking my ass. No more. It does not matter that I am on day 4 of the flu or that NyQuil is possessing my brain, I will catch up. I have kept off watching any more movies for fear of building up my backlog and that can't be good in my goal of knocking Wendy off her perch of 2010 Gen X movie champion. So here are my short reviews of the new release movies I have seen since my last entry, whenever that was.

By the way I am not going to do that DVD MIA thing anymore. Why I should put in the effort of promoting movies that the studios are too lazy to release is something that I cannot justify anymore.


Shutter Island (2010, Martin von Scorsese)

What the hell, people. This is clearly the best Scorsese picture since GoodFellas, and that was 20 years ago. Any dismissal of this movie due to "the twist" being hackneyed are just plain crazy - a) "the twist" comes 20 minutes before the movie ends!; b) Scorsese plainly is not a "twist" moviemaker and even makes fun of twist convention. I mean, Ben Kingsley even pulls a Glenn Beck and brings out a blackboard to illustrate one of the points of the twist. The twist is but a prism through which to view the events which have so far transpired so you can understand the absolute hell on earth someone would rather live in rather than actually face the real world, which is way, way worse. Stop worrying for twists and feel the heartbreak behind the final line which is like an emotional kick in the gut. Way to go Scorsese and even if it was just a lame twist movie I give you the following words to explain why it would still be a kickass movie: Ben Kingsley Mark Ruffalo Emily Mortimer Patricia Clarkson Max von fucking Sydow.

Alice in Wonderland (2010, Timothy Bertin)

On the other hand: Tim Burton - worst director to ever be deemed great? Discuss. This guy is a mega-hack. There is no question that the man is a genius of visual design, but do you know what other visual designers do? They become art directors or painters or set designers or costume designers but they do not necessarily become film directors, a job that requires more than mere visual design. Watch the opening and closing (non-Wonderland) scenes of this goddamned abomination to see what a pedestrian, plodding filmmaker this clown is. One you get to Wonderland its another crappy Lord of the Rings knockoff, just this time in Alice in Wonderland drag. Marvel at how a "great" filmmaker could take one of the key texts of all time and not add anything of interest to it, make any intriguing commentary on it, find a unique twist on it.... NOTHING. Just another outsider slays the dragon and frees the people story. With characters from Alice in Wonderland in it. Bearing little resemblance to their original selves. Did no one look at the original text and say "oh, this shit is good, perhaps we should step up our game". No. Instead the damned Cheshire Cat spends his days pining for Johnny Depp to do a magic dance and builds it up through the entire film and when you get to see it in the end it is some sub-par breakdancing with CGI enhancement. The more I think of this piece of garbage the angrier I get so now I will stop thinking of it ever again.

The Beaches of Agnes (2008, Agnes Varda)

This is my favourite film of the year unless something really crazy happens, which it won't. Mind you, Varda and her husband Jacques Demy are the authors of 5 or 6 of my 50 favourite films of all time so her autobiographical essay film is like a warm and sunny homecoming, spend with dear friends. I'm not an unbiased observer, then, but honestly, this is the most pleasant time I've had at the movies in eons. Varda sees her life as a succession of beaches, ones she grew up on, holidayed on, lived on. Familiar faces come and go in clips and Chris Marker (represented by his cartoon cat) pops up every now and then for ironic commentary. Less predicatable guests - Zalman King, Harrison Ford - also materialize. What one is left with is a warm impression of a life well-lived, embracing art, family, and love.

Broken Embraces (2009, Pedro Almodovar)

Well, they can't all be masterpieces. All of Pedro and Penelope's collaborations up to this - Live Flesh, All About My Mother, and Volver - rank as major favourites of mine, so it's a little dispiriting to find them coming up with a project I'd qualify as merely solid. Actually, the problem is one of structure - Penelope and her role, that of a secretary turned rich man's mistress turned would be movie-star, are the heart of the movie and they're a flashback. None of the other characters is even remotely as interesting and none of the other actors can hold a candle to her presence and talent. So when she disappears from the screen for all but 10 minutes of the last third, the film goes pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft even as it unloads all of its climactic revelations. I'll still take it over the majority of new releases, because when it works it's a knockout.

How to Train Your Dragon (2010, not Pixar)

Pixar > Dreamworks and always will, no matter how bad the trailers for Toy Story 3 look. Kung Fu Panda is the best Dreamworks has managed and ever will manage. This movie is agreeable while it is on, and then disappears like a puff (ha) of smoke as soon as it's over. The voice cast is unimpressive, with major anti-props to the irritating guy they got to do the lead. Major problem here is that Pixar or Miyazaki would have you head over heels in love with the dragon without even trying but in the land of Dreamworks it's a bit of a non-entity and thus kind of hard to get emotionally worked up about during the third act. Aforementioned lead voice aside, this movie is completely inoffensive, but I can't remember a positive thing about it one week later. Oh, I thought the CGI ocean water was very impressive.

Madame Bovary (1949, Vincente Minnelli)

The novel is one of my favourites, and I remember reading some of it for the first time while working the box office at a movie theatre. "I read that!" offered a patron, "The whole time I wanted to slap her and say stupid woman!" I wanted to kill that man, but if I had watched this movie instead of read the book, I would kind of understand where he's coming from, even though the narration is provided by James Mason as Gustave Flaubert (on trial), justifying Emma Bovary's behaviour. He is acquitted in the end (spoiler), but based on the evidence provided by Minnelli and co. I would have voted to convicct. Sorry, Gus. Minnelli is always a fascinating filmmaker even when he is not fully engaged with his material, as I would argue is the case here. The ballroom sequence that comes at midpoint and brings about Emma's decline is a jawdropping piece of work, MGM at its opulent, cinematic best. Van Helfin is an ideal Charles Bovary, resolutely admirable throughout, but only a Heflin junkie like me will get too worked up about how he gets treated.

Wendy's Films of 2010 #49: Alice in Wonderland (2010)

So, first of all, let me tell the world that I'm not a fan of 3-D films. Alice was my first 3-D experience, and the combination of uncomfortably having to wear glasses on top of my glasses, the (mostly) crappy quality of the 3-D, and the fact that the grey tinge on the glasses ruined the colour in the film pretty much decided for me that 3-D films don't need to be a part of my life.

The movie itself lacked what the Mad Hatter himself called "muchness". I have a feeling that the stunning colours Tim Burton so often uses in his films might have rescued at least part of my good opinion, but sadly for Tim, I was wearing the equivalent of sunglasses for the duration of the film. The plot was poorly constructed, with bad pacing and little time for character development, and the story lacked a certain depth needed to maintain the interest of older viewers. I did like the message it sent: that young girls can choose to do whatever they want with their lives, whether it's battling evil in awesome armour, or travelling the world on board a ship. But this sadly didn't make up for what the film lacked.

Before I go on complaining too much, I'll just say that I felt the film seemed to have such potential, which is why I was so disappointed. I can normally reach for the best in a film, acclaiming it for what it's done right instead of criticizing it for its downfalls, but this one had such finances, such potential, that I can't help but be saddened by what befell a story so beloved to so many.

Also, I wasn't a fan of the Jabberwocky. Just saying.