#41 - Red Dragon (2002) Review

Red Dragon (2002), Brett Ratner
3/5
This action/ thriller is interesting, and the performances are good. The characters are somewhat interesting and the cinematography is ok, but really it is the narrative that is lacking. The music is much too heavy handed in places and Ralph Fiennes is over the top in places. Overall a rather pulpy story, that is the style of the genre. The film has some interesting subjectmatter, but character motivations and internal psychology go unexplored.

#40 - Dirty Harry (1971) Review

Dirty Harry (1971), Don Siegel
3.5/5
This film is an absolute classic. The story is great, but it is the strong cinematography and slick style that bring this film to a level above just a action/ detective drama. Some scenes are just beautifully iconic and the slow sweeping camera moves and lots of night shots are just stunning. The city works as a great aesthetic landscape, and the lighting is beautiful with a lot of action being shown in low light, shadows or night. This element is somewhat film noir and the film borders on challenging the "good cop" style in favor of the vigilante trope. Classic to the genre Clint plays the wise cracking, hard hitting, violent yet moralist cop that will do what it takes to get the job done. A beautiful dichotomy between being a "dirty" cop that does the right thing. Overall a great drama and visually interesting.

#39 - Griff the Invisible (2011) Review

Griff the Invisible (2011), Leon Ford
4/5
This is a beautiful first feature for Australian director/ writer Leon Ford. Focusing on a socially awkward Griff and his relationships it is superbly shot to reflect the emotions, thoughts of Griff and the other characters and the subject matter. This film has a melancholic yet child like imaginative quality. The costume and art design is some of the best I've seen in Australian films. It is stylised in a really interesting way that focuses on Griff's world rather than placing it so obviously as Sydney, Australia. Whereas most Australian films tend to awkwardly over-emphasise location and Australian "culture". Rather this film focuses on some unique characters with their own flaws and quirks and we get to experience their emotional journey that is both sweet and heart breaking. The performances are outstanding especially for Griff played by Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) and Maeve Dermondy (Beautiful Kate) as Melody. The film also has a great supporting cast and the cinematography is a joy to watch, complimenting the tone and emotions of the characters. Overall a really strong first feature for Ford, but also a beautiful quirky drama.

#38 - Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) Review

Hobo with a Shotgun (2011), Jason Eisenhower
1/5
This film is a stylistic mess. A strange pseudo moralistic drama focusing on a corrupt criminally run town/ suburn where a honest hobo gets fed up with the injustice and corruption and determines to clean up the streets. The gore is way over the top hilariously so. Acting is kind of terrible. Everything about this film screams over the top. The characters are flat stereotypes, with the whore with a heart of gold that wins the affections of the hobo. The crazy scenes of violence all lit to this absurdly violent and anarchistic and amoral town. This film is hard to watch at times. If you think it WON'T go there, IT DOES. A delicious taste of gratuitous exploitation and bad all the way through.

#37 - Wake in Fright (1971) Review

Wake in Fright (1971), Ted Kotcheff
2/5
This film is terrifying in a number of ways. It is exceedingly slow paced, with not much happening. The bland outback landscape is so barren it becomes almost surreal. The mundane small town seem frighteningly dull and inescapable for teacher John Grant (Gary Bond) who is trying to catch a plane to Sydney for his holiday. John gets caught up in the sort of darkness of the small town atmosphere and after his seemingly outsider hatred for Australian customs gets broken down a bit he becomes involved in betting. Slowly John gets caught up in the "customs" of Australian outback absorbing the violent mentality that is steeped with a sense of despair. This film paints a bleak yet horribly familiar picture of Australian small towns. The film is well shot and performed, but the pacing is incredibly slow and seems to lack much plot. The ending while dramatic seems unsatisfying and the first 2/3 are very dull. But this is perhaps a case of form mimicking meaning and thus the viewing experience of this film encapsulates the horror and boredom of Australian life. This film encapsulates much of Australian culture that still resonates today, saying much about actual behaviours as well as questioning how we perceive ourselves as a culture and how the rest of the world perceive us. Overall a slow but interesting film.

#36 - Clerks II (2006) Review

Clerks II (2006), Kevin Smith
3/5
The sequel to the indie film "Clerks" has some of the same magic that Kevin Smith captured in it's hilarious, quirky and at times offensive dialogue  The characters are great, witty and odd, with the return of old favourites and a few new faces, the best of which is Elias (Trevor Fehrman). Despite some quite strange content in the film, it is heading towards the more mainstream comedy genre style and tends also to the romcom genre, which is a little disappointing. Overall a lot of fun with some amazing writing and funny, snappy dialogue with great performances.

#35 - Cria Cuervos (Raise Ravens) (1975) Review

Cria Cuervos (Raise Ravens) (1975), Spain, Carlos Saura
4/5

This film is beautifully performed and shot. It is centred around the memories and experiences of Ana as a child after her parents deaths. The exquisite slow moving camera shots, with slow close ups emphasise Ana's perspective. The minimal dialogue draw focus onto the haunting performances particularly of Ana Torrent who plays Ana. The lack of dialogue and focus on imagery and transitions between memory, fantasy and reality that are interwoven in-shot give a sense of fragmentation and merging between reality and fantasy. Thus emphasising the elusive and distorted nature of memory itself. The themes of the film are quite dark, surrounding issues of death, grief and unhappiness all set to the backdrop to a time of political and cultural change in the history of Spain.

Ana Torrent as Ana

The use of music is sparing and the haunting slow cinematography shot to silence emphasises sound when it occurs and also music when it is used. The music used in the film is beautiful and complements the mood and subject matter. The film predominantly uses diegetic (in-film) music such as the mother playing the song on the piano, which is later used as score (non-diegetic music i.e. external to the world of the film) in other sections of the film. The use of the song "Por que te vas" performed by Jeanette is repeated throughout the film and the up-beat tone belies the melancholy subject matter of the lyrics. For example "All my love promises will be gone with you" and "Because you are leaving".

Ana listening to "Por que te vas"

Geraldine Chaplin as "Old Ana"

The focus on Ana's experience and memory shifting from childhood memory and adult memories, intercut with interview like style dialogue by "old Ana" played by Geraldine Chaplin (who also plays her mother in the film) is unusual and draws attention to the changing nature of memory itself. Geraldine Chaplin gives a great performance, but the children especially Ana are the real stand outs. The intense focalisation of childhood perspective particularly of such "adult" issues as grief and death is quite unusual and much of the content in the film was deemed controversial at the time. The film through Ana challenges many social, political and religious issues through the experiences of a child coming to terms with the death of her parents. The film also offers an alternate perspective to the view that childhood is innocent and enjoyable. Overall the pacing of the film is very slow, but the beautiful cinematography and performances convey a powerful message and story that is still highly relevant and relatable while also capturing a snapshot of 1970s Spanish political history.

#34 - Beeswax (2009) Review

Beeswax (2009), Andrew Bujalski
4/5

This is director and writer Andrew Bujalski's third indie feature film and much like his past work in Mutual Appreciation (2005) and Funny Haha (2002) Beeswax (2009) is not "about" anything perse. Instead what Bujalksi does best is create naturalistic characters and explore real life situations in his films. The cinematography is subtle and beautiful and unobtrusive  What indie directors like Bujalski offer in comparison to the mainstream Hollywood film industry is a sense of both the mundane and beauty in the "norm" of real life. That there is interesting observations to be made in seemingly trivial experiences.  Beeswax (2009) is a beautiful quiet film focusing in the lives and relationships of identical twin sisters Jeannie and Lauren (played by real life twins Tilly and Maggie Hatcher). The performances are great, very subtle & naturalistic (also featuring Alex Karpovsky, Girls 2012-13). In contrast to his other films, (which focused more on romantic relationships) Bujalkski focuses predominantly on female characters in Beeswax which is interesting.

#33 - The Time Machine (1960) Review

The Time Machine (1960), George Pal
3/5

Adapted from the HG Wells classic, it is a well performed and executed exploration of time travel. The cheesiness and low grade effects are acceptable of the time of production and quaintly enjoyable, made effective by the performances especially the strong performance by Rod Taylor. This adaptation is far superior to the remake starring Guy Pierce (which had even worse effects despite more available technology and worse performances).

#32 - Mallrats (1995) Review

Mallrats (1995), Kevin Smith
2/5

No where near as strong as Kevin Smith's film "Clerks" this has some funny moments but is mostly silly and lacks much depth or as good writing and wit as "Clerks".

#31 - Sleepwalk with me (2012) Review

Sleepwalk with me (2012), Mike Birbiglia
3.5/5

This is a quirky drama pseudo-documentary focusing on comedian Mike Birbiglia's journey to becoming a comedian and also dealing with his sleep disorder. It is sad and poignant at times and other funny. It gets a bit slow 3/4 of the way through though. Performances are good, and his experiences are highly relatable.

#30 - Saving Face (2004) Review

Saving Face (2004), Alice Wu
3.5/5

A quirky, sweet drama about a lesbian couple. Great characters that are rounded and realistic. Also it focuses predominantly on the mother daughter relationship (mother played by Joan Chen who gives a stunning performance). This is more than the average romcom and it is funny and moving at times, while at times diverting to romantic comedy film cliche. Focuses beautifully on the issues of shame and social isolation in Asian-American culture.

#29 - Idiocracy (2006) Review

Idiocracy (2006), Mike Judge
3.5/5

This is a brilliantly witty and terrifying portrayal of the future of humanity. It is humourous, absurd and ridiculous while ringing so true at the same time. Performances are great. While there is the somewhat sentimental romantic aspect to the film, that helps tie the plot together. The art design and style is great, complimenting the subjectmatter perfectly. It is the small details that are great in this film. Framed as a comedy this film is more an intellectual horror film, about the devolution of the human race that seems all too likely.

#28 - The Last Word (2007) Review

The Last Word (2007)
1/5

Misconceived from the very beginning, this film is a failed attempt at a morbid romantic comedy. Framed as an oddball romcom between two strange people, it is instead unrealistic, ridiculous and bland. Performances are bad, and the main characters have little to no actual personality. The plot is ridiculous and highly predictable. It is not even very funny. Ray Romano is perturbing as the uncharacteristic depressive, and is the only one who actually has some dry witty lines in the film. While the resolution may appear to be unconventional as a whole the story arc and character arcs are muddled and confused. A poor effort and insensitive to the subjectmatter. While some aspects ring true, like most Hollywood films it reverts to cliche to resolve complex life issues in a 90 minute drama.

#27 - The Evil Dead (1981) Review

The Evil Dead (1981)
3/5

A brilliant B grade horror, full of gore and gratuity for the whole family to enjoy. Some amazing moments, great practical effects that are brilliantly simple and laughable all at once. The gore is over the top as is the performances. This film helped set the tone and style for the genre. And really who can go past "tree rape" and the ridiculous POV of the woods sweeping camera movements.

Black Mirror (2013) Season 2: Episode 3 "The Waldo Moment" Review & Analysis

Black Mirror (2013),
Season 2, Episode 02: "The Waldo Moment" 
Release Date: Feb 25, 2013
Director: Bryn Higgins, Writer: Charlie Brooker
2.5/5

***SPOILERS***

In the final installment for season 2 of Black Mirror "The Waldo Moment" the writers return to the social issues around politics, the media and the idiocy of the masses. The episode focuses on the character of Jamie Salter (played by Daniel Rigby, Flyboys, 2006, Spooks, 2008, Lilies, 2007) who is a depressed comedian who voices and performs the motion capture for the cartoon character "Waldo" on a television talk show. 

Waldo, "The Waldo Moment" (Feb 25, 2013)

Unfortunately this episodes focus is no where near as strong as the other episodes and it's dealing with the subjectmatter of politics and the media are far inferior to the strength of the opening episode of season one "The National Anthem". Instead "The Waldo Moment" attempts to depict the lack of interest in politics in the wider community, and while they are disenchanted by the insincerity and ineffectualness of politicians  this lack of faith in the "system" of politics is trumped by the idiocy that the masses enjoy, and thus they would rather watch lude jokes made by a cartoon. The problem with the writing in this episode is the lack of focus, as it neither really deals with either issue of the problems of the lack of faith in politics nor the way the masses have become consumers of stupid media and thus become debased and uninterested in serious social issues. 

While Daniel Rigby's performance as Jamie is convincing and sympathetic, it is especially unclear as to why he is depressed at the beginning of the episode. The attempt seems to have been to make Jamie as sort of unwilling participant, drawn unwillingly into participation of this disillusioned ridiculous ruse that is politics as a mere media stunt. Perhaps the strongest point of the episode is where Jamie in fact realises that he has this opportunity to make a stand, and make a point and say what he wants to the politicians, without consequences, as he will not win the election, but he lacks both the knowledge nor the conviction to any sort of cause. 

This episode lacks the skillful subtly of other episodes, nor the emotional punch. Instead this episode feels somewhat flat. It also feels somewhat expositional and preachy. For example Gwendolyn Harris (Chloe Pirre) rages at Jamie's bombardment of the panel of politicians and chastises him for not having any cause or convictions and making a mockery of her attempt to make a difference, despite the fact that she is using the campaign as a career stepping stone, despite her claims of altruistic motivations. 

Furthermore Jamie (Rigby) attempting to destroy "Waldo" and shouting at the crowd that he's not "real" are somewhat absurd and lack impact and the notions of "reality" posed by our further integration with technology and social media are not explored in this episode. Thus, this episode seems much more politically motivated and less social elements. 

Perhaps the difference between "The Waldo Moment" and "The National Anthem" is that "The National Anthem" showed both how politicians have lost their power in dwarfing power of social media that is faceless and international and uncontrollable. The episode showed the amazing power of the globalised media through the power of technology through the internet, while also showing the more disgusting voyeurism of the masses as they helplessly watch the mistreatment of others and idiotic and gratuitous media on the internet. The episode made strong points about the power of information and disinformation and the sort of slavery of masses to the idiotic and gratuitous media, as well as the affect on the work of politicians. Coming away from watching "The National Anthem" the audience was left disquieted with a sense of helplessness in the face of the compulsion to consume social media, while still unable to look away at the same time. Also it posed important questions about the future of politics and democracy in the face of globalisation and what are the potential effects of social media. Poses interesting questions about the future  and the potential for a new brand of terrorism, media terrorism which is a more technological form of older media manipulations of the masses such as propaganda films etc. The difference I suppose, is that the internet demonstrates this on a grand scale. 

Unfortunately Waldo didn't pose nearly as strong questions and comments, ending the second series on a low note. Perhaps, the show has run it's course and lacks new ideas? The most interesting element in this episode was Jamie's character and his mental and emotional demise. His inexplicable depression at the beginning of the episode becomes more relevant as he is drawn into this farce of Waldo, hating himself and disgusted with his sense of loss of identity. That he doesn't even own the character and that so many people are blinding following an idiotic raving cartoon and his own hand in the creation of this Waldo effect. Jamie's mental breakdown at the end of the episode is made more poignant as it depicts as the credits roll, that some time in the near future Waldo has indeed gone global. As advised by an American earlier in the episode detailing how they should capture the potential of the Waldo effect, it appears that in fact Waldo has spread across the world. Jamie's deterioration into living on the streets and mental breakdown, are somewhat poignant here and the audience shares his frustration that a meaningless cartoon character, a mere "idea" that represents nothing has spread with such conviction. As well as Jamie's guilt about his involvement in the creation of "Waldo".  I guess this episode depicts as sort of social media and media fascism over the individual. 

This point is the most disturbing of the episode, but I feel it comes far too late and could have been better explored. For, I believe this "Waldo effect" is all too realisable in the near future, as the internet can be used as a tool and fuel for political propaganda, and one day perhaps politicians will be replaced by cartoon characters and democratic votes will instead be "Likes" on Facebook or tweets on "Twitter". Overall "The Waldo Moment" lacked oomph and recycled some older ideas explored better in earlier episodes and while it posed some interesting concepts it didn't really explore those.  

The question remains open about where Black Mirror will go if it returns for a third season, while I feel it was disappointing compared to the first season, it still is a great show, with a lot of interesting intellectual ideas about contemporary social issues and look forward to what future episodes will discuss. It is great to find a tv show that is so intellectually stimulating, with great production value, performances as well as being excellent entertainment. 

References

"Black Mirror", IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2386296/

Black Mirror (2013) Season 2: Episode 2 "White Bear" Review & Analysis

Black Mirror (2013),
Season 2, Episode 02: "White Bear" 
Release Date: Feb 18, 2013
Director: Carl Tibbetts, Writer: Charlie Brooker
3/5

***SPOILERS***

(May include spoilers for Nineteen Eighty-four)

The second episode of season 2 isn't as strong as the previous episodes. While it started out well with a lot of tension and intrigue it quickly unraveled into predictability. This episode focuses on the unknown main character played by Lenora Crichlow (Being Human, 2012) who has lost her memory. Focalising the episode through her experience places her as not only the sympathetic character it also allows the audience to be put in the position of limited narrator. Therefore the audience experiences the same experience as who we later learn is Victoria Skillaine (Crichlow). Thus the audience feels a similar experience of disorientation  confusion and traumatisation. Unfortunately while this is effective at the beginning of the episode the intrigue begins to wane. 

The writing isn't as strong, as the previous episodes, despite being written by Charlie Brooker who wrote previous episodes of Black Mirror (The National Anthem, 2011, Fifteen Million Merits, 2011, Be Right Back, 2013, The Waldo Moment, 2013. Perhaps the lack of strength in the writing in this episode is down to concept rather than the screenwriting itself. The concept is somewhat flawed and has become quite gimmicky. It is a mixture between Nineteen Eighty-four the novel by George Orwell, Battle Royale (Botoru rowaiaru) (2000) and the more recent Hunger Games books (and films) by Suzanne Collins. 

Perhaps the most effective element of this episode is the eery and confronting way that all the people stand around watching videoing with their phones, completely silently. This is perhaps the most unsettling element of the episode. Whereas the violence and over the top animal masks and silly weapons lose their effect as they merge with video game and film content, so instead of adding horror and an air of the surreal, it instead comes off more absurd and predictable. In fact these elements revert the plot to a less realistic place, and the audience can settle more comfortably into the story within the framing of the horror genre. This misses the point entirely of the aim of the episode. The reveal is somewhat obvious and it was surprising to find that some people missed the whole point of the episode when reading comments on social media. 

From very close to the beginning there were clear clues that it was all some sort of game or virtual reality or something. The element of it as a type of punishment may seem original or innovative, but in fact this is merely a mingling of past elements from other media and literature. This punishment element particularly evokes, (at least for me) the controversial 1970s political film Punishment Park (1971). It is somewhat interesting to place the punishment of criminals within an arena of reality tv (interactive tv perhaps?) and social media. While it attempts to make a comment on how we have become observers rather than participators due to our usage of technology, that devolves once it's revealed that these people are there specifically to document the punishment of Victoria. That message would have been more effective if it had actually been explored. Instead this episode shifts focus onto the mob mentality and vigilantism rather than focusing on technology and voyeurism. The notion of the the mob mentality and people enjoying the punishment of criminals (or perceived criminals) is an age old one. 

Unfortunately the episode squanders the sympathy developed towards Victoria once it's revealed that she helped her boyfriend kidnap a little girl and watched and did nothing to stop him. This element is perhaps most effective, as her excuse is that she just watched, but that she watched and took photos/ video is disgusting, but the other characters in the episode did exactly the same thing while she was being tortured (psychologically, as everything was faked). These layers are fine, but the episode pulls the last punch, as it fails to really show that we as the audience are the real disgusting voyeurs  us as the viewers of not only this episode, but of violence on television, in films, on the news, on youtube and the internet. While some viewers may have found this episode quite confronting, I found it merely unsettling and a failed opportunity. Because it allows the audience to revert to the same comfort as the audience characters in the episode, that we can feel ok about Victoria's torment, with a sense of relief that she deserves her punishment. However, hopefully audiences feel uneasy enough that the at least question whether she truly deserves the severity of her punishment. This frames the episode into a political/ social justice field rather than the ethics field unfortunately. 

Overall while the episode is exquisitely shot and performed and has some interesting elements, the thematic elements are muddled. Also many elements fall predictably within the horror film genre and are thus more fantastical, less realist and lose impact. For those interested in these themes, (but looking for better quality or more depth) you should try Punishment Park (1971) for the justice/ punishment and political aspects, Battle Royale (2000) for the reality tv, punishment and voyeurism aspects. As well as Cabin in the Woods (2011) for the punishment, reality tv, punishment and voyeurism aspects as well. The Hunger Games  books by Suzanne Collins is also a good example of the reality television and voyeurism in particular as well as a lot of emphasis on political fascism and suppression. The books are preferable to the films as the films lack the emotional impact due to the shaky camera work used to hide most of the violence (which isn't that graphic to begin with). In contrast Battle Royale (2000) is a lot more gory and violent while been more comedic and absurd. But really if you want something about the notion of political control, suppression and punishment, including the use of technology as a mean of control and monitoring, really Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell is the best bet. While it is a story about attempting to escape government control of the masses, rather than focusing on the masses being observers, it does excellently detail how censorship and media control does "brainwash" the masses very realistically into turning upon one another. 

Finally it was disappointing that "White Bear" ended with clips during the credits showing the re-set up of the game/ show/ punishment of Victoria detailing exactly to the very beginning of the episode. Intelligent viewers would have realised this much earlier on, that this was a) a set up, and b) from clues already in the episode, that this has been repeated numerous times and thus this added clips were unnecessary and negated the audience's intelligence. Having been so impressed by the impact and strength of writing and production value of the previous episodes of Black Mirror this episode while still good, falls short of the others, but hopefully the next episode The Waldo Moment is a return to the excellent quality. 

References

Orwell, George (1949). Nineteen Eighty-four. Secker and Warburg (London). UK. 

Collins, Suzanne (2008). The Hunger Games Trilogy. Scholastic Press. US.  

Filmography

Battle Royale (2000), Kinki Fukasaku

Black Mirror (2011-2013), written by Charlie Brooker
Cabin in the Woods (2011), Drew Goddard, written by Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon 

Punishment Park (1971), written and directed by Peter Watkins