The Story of a Film of a Murderer

Last year, during the fall I believe, I rented the movie Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, an obscure and intense film made in Germany that hardly anyone saw here in the states. It received blockbuster status in Europe instantly but was deemed “unmarketable” in the US and was only in limited release here for a short while.

The filmed is based on Patrick Suskind’s novel, Perfume, and it follows the story of an impoverished and abandoned orphan with a near supernatural olfactory sense and is plagued with the quest for the perfect sent. He then attempts to create that scent by distilling the odors of beautiful women whom he murders and combines them all together.

Let me start off with a disclaimer by saying this film is visually intense, very graphic, very dark and not created for the general American public in mind. In other words, Cinesnob factor 9 here folks.

However, if you can get past the unconventional storytelling style the film utilizes you will be surprised to discover one of the most beautifully sad films ever created. (SPOILER WARNING)

Grenouille, the main character, is gifted and plagued throughout the entire film with a curse. He has the best nose in the world and yet he is alone in his naivety on how to properly use it. He finds no greater delight than in smelling all things beautiful but knows nothing of companionship, family or even love. The film climaxes in the final unveiling of Grenouille’s master perfume on the day of his execution in which he uses it to swoon the entire mob that has gathered to see his imminent death.

But in the end he is confronted with a stark and debilitating truth that although he has found a complex and also deadly way to immortalize the intoxicating sent of any beautiful woman he meets he has completely missed the point. He could have just as easily “immortalized” the scent of the first maiden he meets and accidentally kills in the beginning of the film by simply loving her and having a relationship with her forever. It is one of the most heartbreaking moments in a movie I have ever seen.

The rest of the movie is a little odd, mind you I liked it, but I don’t foresee many of you renting or even renting it and liking it unless you are prone to enjoying european types of cinema. All in all I gave the film an A- for the cinesnobs out there but a C+ for the rest of the populace.

Smart People (2008) Review

You know the setup. Dennis Quaid, incredible IQ, retarded social abilities. Sarah Jessica Parker, pretty smart, emotionally confused. Emma Page, incredible IQ, retarded social abilities. Thomas Haden Church, pretty smart, emotionally confused. Not a new formula but not a bad formula.

As a whole, the movie got a B+ overall with maybe a low A- in character development. What did surprise was that Dennis Quaid, an man whom I probably wouldn’t even put on my top 100 list of best actors in my time, actually pulled a fairly solid performance throughout the film as a very depressing and yet redeeming protagonist.

The script was ok, the witty banter between characters was good, general storyline believability was solid and the themes of redemption and growth were fulfilling and well played out. I’d recommend it to see in theaters if it is still in one near you but you’d be just as fine renting it on a rainy day.

Cue “The Lonely Man” by Joe Harnell

Marvel just released their first full poster promoting “The Incredible Hulk”. As all of you know, the Fanboy in me is an uber graphic novel fan so the release of this film is pretty exciting in my book for a few reasons.

1) They are totally going the “Batman Begins” route and acting like the Ang Lee movie never existed and instead are redefining the hero in a completely different way.

2) As much as I like Eric Bana, he played a horrible Bruce Banner. Bruce from the comics is a skinny, timid, scared little nerd who is battling with his repressed anger issues that have been given through his gamma radiated alter ego. Bana was about 40 lbs. of muscle too heavy and never really confronted the psychological problems that Banner suppreses. Norton is going to pull off what Bana failed to do.

3)My boy Louis Leterrier is running the show on this one. This is the guy that made The Transporter (a good action flick with Jason Statham that I gave a B+) and Unleashed, the only movie where Jet Li actually does some serious acting alongside Morgan Freeman in between some of the best fight scenes in film history. I’m really curious to see his take on the green man.

4) Two words…Liv Tyler

 

’nuff said!

Speed Racer?

Here’s a little story about my relationship with the new Speed Racer film set to release early next month. I first saw the trailer late last year and my initial reaction was not entirely positive. It looked over-the-top, cheesy and unentertaining (kind of like how I view the original anime show as being). I immediately wrote it off as audience fodder for the Summer masses that somehow always seem to still line up for that kind of junk.

Then a couple weeks ago I saw the end of a documentary featurette being played in the movie theater before the trailers started and I heard someone on the screen say the film was being directed and produced by the Wachowski Brothers. Suddenly I was intrigued. Surely the fine boys who brought us movies like The Matrix and V for Vendetta  could not have been the masterminds behind what still looked like a Spy Kids knockoff with race cars.

I went home and researched and found out that after a handful of directors and writers signing on and then abandoning the project from as early as 1992 all the way to 2006 the production company did indeed sign the Wachowski Brothers as co-directors and co-producers for what they were hoping to be a film that would broaden their audience out to demographics beyond the rated R media viewers.

Now I am truly conflicted. The trailer, even with my newfound knowledge of its creators, still looks cheesy and forced. But now its the Wachowski boys. But it still looks like a waste of a night and 20 bucks. But its the Wachowskis. But still! Maybe I can convince Adam to go with me to see it and we’ll judge its value together. I hope I am surprised and proven wrong.

I am 11 again watching faces melt from Nazi’s

Remember this?  Yeah, me too, I can still hear the scream.  Especially the part where he gurgles on is own melting flesh.  The screaming baddie from Raider’s of The Lost Ark is so vivid in my mind because the first time I saw the movie, my mom wouldn’t let me watch this part.  “You can open your eyes when Indy does.”  So I heard the whole scene from Indy’s perspective.  He shouts “Whatever you do don’t open your eyes!”  Man I really wanted to open my eyes.  Of course when I saw it later I was mesmerized.

Earlier this year, when the new trailer for Indy 4 (I’m not linking dude, I’m lazy and you know how to use Google) hit the net, the hairs on my neck stood on end when the rousing John Williams trumpets began to play the familiar fanfare.  A fanfare that the Fanboy has sung from the top of his lungs many times while snapping his brother’s whip over the garage rafters and swinging with one hand on my fedora.

I am stoked about the new Indy on many levels.  There is plenty for both Fanboy and Cinesnob to want to rip his beating heart right out of his chest and feed it to the crocs.  On one hand, this is a conventional, popcorn, thrill a minute, action movie.  It is a formula that has been in place since the first film and in a way is a formula that some cinesnobs would point to as the very reason for the boring blockbuster summers we find ourselves in.  Fanboy eats that crap up though.

On the other hand, this is a movie made by three of the heaviest hitting, most creative guys on earth.  Harrison Ford may be a pain in the arse, but he loves and cares for his craft.  It is what makes him such a pain in the first place.  As for the other two guys, Speilberg and Lucas, are responsible for the way moviemaking of the last 30 years has been done.  They have led every frontier and have created images and stories that are as much a part of our cultural lexicon and identity as Shakespeare or Picasso.

Entertainment Weekly recently published a Q&A with these two and it is a sublime read.  They banter, argue, and get into pissing matches about who is more innovative.  Here is a snippet:

How much did George nag you to shoot film-free, with digital cameras, the way he did on the Star Wars prequels?
SPIELBERG: All through three years of preparation. It’s like he was sending these huge 88 [millimeter artillery] shells to soften the beach, y’know? He never swears at me. He never uses profanity. But he calls me a lot of names. And in his creative name-calling, he topped himself on this one, trying to get me to do this digitally.

What did he call you?
SPIELBERG: I guess the worst thing he ever called me was old-fashioned. But I celebrate that. He knows me like a brother. It’s true, I am old-fashioned.
LUCAS: I think the word ”Luddite” came into it. In a very heated discussion.
SPIELBERG: I said I wasn’t, I was Jewish! [Laughter]
LUCAS: The end of it is, I said, ”Look, Steve, this is your movie. You get to do it your way.” And in the end, I didn’t force Steven to do it. That doesn’t mean I didn’t pester him, and tease him, and get on him all the time.
SPIELBERG: It was all 35-millimeter, chemically processed film…. I like cutting the images on film. I’m the only person left cutting on film.
LUCAS: And I’m the guy that invented digital editing. But we coexist. I mean, I also like widescreen and color. Steven and Marty [Scorsese] have gone back and shot in black-and-white [on Schindler's List and Raging Bull, respectively]. I don’t get on their case and say, ”Oh my God, this is a terrible thing, why are you going backwards?” I say, ”That’s your choice, and I can appreciate it.”
SPIELBERG: Eventually I’ll have to shoot [and edit] movies digitally, when there is no more film — and I’m willing to accept that. But I will be the last person to shoot and cut on film, y’know?

Read the rest here

I am stoked for this film.  Here’s for hoping for an experience worthy of the first facemelting.

Step Brothers / A Will Ferrell Expose

I was talking to Adam a few weeks ago about Will Ferrell. Will is actually a good actor. Did anyone here see Stranger Than Fiction? He actually played a role where he was not a full grown man acting like an adolescent and actually recited dialog that was more than just slapstick banter that is “funny” just because its odd and improvised. And he did it well. So well that I get a horrible taste in my mouth every time I see a movie poster or trailer for whatever his next lowball comedy is that will be in theaters by the weekend and quoted in converstaions by high schoolers on their myspace comments by Sunday night.

Adam said that he saw an interview with Will where this crisis of career was actually discussed. Will was asked if he was every going to make any substantial films that were not just the same character he has become accustomed to doing over and over again. Here is what kills me. Will actually said that he has tried pitching scripts and movie options to people in the biz but everyone keeps telling him that they won’t fly and then he is stuck with movies like Anchorman and Semi-Pro.

And now, as I am watching the trailer for Step-Brothers I am blown away by how blatantly this next film in his repertoire is going to be a copy of his previous films. Not only is he with John C. Reily again and not only is it being directed by the same man who brought you Taladega Nights but the script and characters are so close to previous roles Ferrell and Reily have played this film could be a sequel. It is a very sad thing to see on screen talent go to waste in order to supply low ball cinema fodder to keep the ignorant masses laughing. Come on Will, grow a pair why don’t ya!

The Truth Is Out There

Or at least it will be July 25th, 2008. The sequel to the 1998 X-Files feature film, “I Want To Believe”, is on its way finally after nearly a decade of struggles, legal disputes and secret production titles. Mulder & Scully are both back in full form but apparently neither will be dealing with aliens in this film. Instead the production team is leading the news to believe they will be following the “monster of the week” format that viewers were used to when the show was on TV and the premiss of the film will actually be based more around the supernatural world. I have never been an uber X-Files fan but the teaser poster they are using caught my eye all the way across the theater lobby earlier this week (probably because it is a big “X” and I assumed it must have something to do with X-Men, my film weakness). Nevertheless I had to check it out and see what all buzz is. I’m a sucker for any good teaser poster that totally hooks you into walking 50 yards across a building just to see what film it is for. Anyways, it’s coming into theaters in a couple of months and I for one am curious to see what a decade of planning and creating can do for this sci-fi veteran.

 

Quantum of Solace (2008)

I just finished watching Casino Royale yesterday, the latest Bond film with new 007 actor, Daniel Craig. It reminded me why, when I originally saw it, I thought it was the best Bond movie yet and watching it recently also got me thinking again about the next one set to release later this year, Quantum of Solace.

2 Reasons Why I’m Looking Forward To This Bond Film:

Daniel Craig is back. The crazy brit who resurrected the original bond persona and went a step further to perfect it even more in a modern view. Pierce Brosnin, by the time he made his last Bond film, had slughtered the authenticity of the 007 persona and, with the help of horrible writing feeding him some of the worst lines in film history, drove the quality of the film series into the ground. Even my inner Fanboy didn’t give a rats ass about seeing another one with him in it. Daniel Craig however gave James a makeover and relaunched the character back into action with more style and class than you could fit into a dry martini (shaken, not stirred).

Also, Marc Forster, the man with the plan who brought us movies like Finding Neverland, Stay & Stranger Than Fiction, is directing the 22nd Bond film. After naming off those films in his repertoire need I say more? The dude will always blow your mind while at the same time making you fall in love with his characters and he never shies away from rule number one in film, content is king. Action films like the Bond series often forget that and I am very curious to see what he will bring to the series with his directing styles.

Upcoming: The Spirit (2009)

As I was lurking around my usual film blogs and forums I stumbled across a movie poster release for The Spirit which is set to release next January. Any one who knows me knows I am in love with Frank Miller. The dude brought us Sin City and 300, ’nuff said. And from the looks of what info has been released thus far, Spirit has all the elements needed for another Miller knockout. The Spirit as a graphic novel is one of the most historic titles of its kind so there is a lot to live up to with this movie title but the cast looks good an the director has a great running streak so far so I am very curious to hear more about this one as the year progresses.