What have you watched recently? 3D!

Jules Et Jim

French New Wave masterpiece from Francois Truffaut. The first half is breezy fun before it settles down into a film about the relationship between the title characters and a woman who comes between them.

Cool moments abound like a character directly addressing the camera (to tell us the name of the film) and some whimsical freeze frames.

The silly sense of humour would almost make you underestimate how good it actually is. But the playful tone, quirky characters, the achingly cool Jeanne Moreau and just the way the camera glides around the place are some of the reasons why it’s regarded as well as it is.

To watch it now alongside Truffaut’s previous film The 400 Blows is an eye opener. It’s easy to see why the New Wave was such a game changer for cinema in the early Sixties.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Another unofficial "Christmas" film I watch around Christmas time. I've always had a lot of time for it, even though it gets generally slated by the wider audience, sometimes for good reason. I always try to get a watch of it around or near Christmas time, it's got a lot of elements that I like, the trashy american TV soap opera hauntology kind of vibe that totally surrounds the thing, which Kubrick obviously made intentional and funnily enough, is heavily prevalent in a lot of modern day culture.

More recently Roger Avary discussed this film on Rogan's podcast alongside Tarantino. Avary was claiming a lot of things concerning the film, most notably that Warner Bros interfered with Kubrick’s original cut of the film, that Kubrick’s intended version was meant to have a different ending, one in which Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise’s characters agree to give their daughter away to the two men who are part of the film’s "pedo cult.” You can see this scene at the end of the released cut, the daughter walks off behind two men in the toy shop while Cruise and Kidman talk for about 10 minutes about their relationship dilema, not even bothering to enquire where their 8 year old daughter is gone or where she might be. Avary could well be playing liberties here, but it is a strange scene, even if it wasn't Kubrick's original cut. Avary goes on to claim other things, that Kubrick lambasted the Warner Brothers executives for destroying his cut of the film at the original screening. I don't know about any of that, I never heard that before. But there is one thing Avary did say I agree with it, the film is missing a third person narration, the film was meant to be narrated, the beats of the thing, the sequential editing, long gaps, flashbacks, just the whole trashy soap opera vibe to the thing screamed it needed a third person voice narration over the thing. If you watch it again with that frame of mind you can see what Avary is saying makes some sense.

Because the film really, really starts to lag after the point Cruise leaves the mansion and that is the third act. It's supposed to be the most important, especially if you are designing your film around the basis of a trashy soap opera and everything has been going fine so far. Even the reveal with Sydney Pollack's character at the end saying he was also at the mansion is underwhelming, boring and IMO pretty forgettable, even though it's supposed to be this huge moment of revelation for Cruise's character. Everything up until Cruise leaves the mansion is brilliant, funny and also highly sinister. Then the whole thing falls on top of its own arse. That's where I have to agree with Avary, that this was not what Kubrick had intended his cut to be. I'd like to hear what other posters make of it, because I do actually like this thing, I do stick it on at Christmas time most years. It was just interesting to hear Avary's comments on it. It's up on Netflix anyways. 7/10

Patrick

From the dream team of Ozploitation cinema, director Richard Franklin and writer Everett De Roche.

A comatose man in hospital (whose eyes are constantly wide open) uses telekinetic powers to try to kill his doctors or anybody who shows a romantic interest in his new nurse.

It's very much in the style of De Palma's Carrie and The Fury and obviously inspired by Hitchcock. The score by Brian May (of Mad Max fame, not the guy in Queen) is very much like Bernard Herrmann, just to drive the influence home.

The jump scare ending gives the ending of Carrie a run for its money.

The late 70's and early 80's was a great time for Australian genre cinema. There were so many great films made in a short period of time. Fair play to companies like Indicator who give films like this the special 4K/Blu Ray treatment.

Difficult to believe that this kind of stuff is getting a release on blu ray, never mind 4k. :)

I remember arguing / debating with a friend in college about what Mullholand Drive was "all about". Pretty soon we realized we were probably both wrong but who cares. Great movie, must watch it again.

I was in LA years later and saw a road sign for Mulholland Drive so went for a look. Nothing to write home about, apparently Britney Spears lived there.

The Van

Is the baby his daughter or granddaughter ?

Kneecap is on prime, it's a nice rebalancing of Irish cinema imho. It's got a fun aspect combined with the new and old.

I think That They May Face The Rising Sun should be the first movie to watch in that Duology.😂

Night of the Hunter - 1955

This is a 1955 American thriller film noir directed by Charles Laughton (his only film as a director) and starring Robert Mitchum who plays a preacher who travels around seducing vulnerable widows, before murdering and robbing them.

The film is based on a true story and Mitchum is excellent as the charming preacher to the public, and then the brutal and remorseless killer in private. It would have been an easy role to overcook but it always feels disturbingly real.

I'm not surprised this film has stuck around - it's incredibly well made and well worth your time.

The Beast (French: La Bête) - 2023

This is a french science fiction romantic drama film directed and written by Bertrand Bonello, starring Léa Seydoux. The film is loosely based on Henry James's 1903 novella The Beast in the Jungle which itself is well worth checking out, telling the story of a man living in fear of a catastrophic event.

In this film, Gabrielle (Seydoux) lives in the year 2044 and enters a 'purification' process, which brings back to her past lives, always entangled with Louis (George McKay).

On one hand this is a stylish film that does look to tell quite a unique story, and it is beautifully shot with great performances from the leads.

On the other hand, some parts of the story work better than others, and some of it could have used more time. Overall I'd recommend it.

‘The Omen’

If ‘The Exorcist’ is the best of the multiple demonic possession movies that have been produced, then 1976’s ‘The Omen’ is the best of the antichrist movies that have been knocked out by various studios over the years. It tells the story of millionaire industrialist and U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, Robert Thorn, his wife Katherine and their son Damien. However Damien was adopted by Thorn in Italy after he is told by a Catholic priest, Father Spiletto, that his natural born son had died in childbirth. Not wanting to distress his wife any further he reluctantly chooses to keep his wife ignorant of this fact and accepts Damien as his own. More troubling, of course, is that not only is Damien not Robert’s child he is, in fact, the son of Satan, sent here to corrupt humanity and rule over the earth.

The 1970’s was a great time for horror and there are many standout titles from that decade. Richard Donner’s ‘The Omen’ is no exception. While the screenplay, penned by David Selzer, is utterly ludicrous, it occurs in a believable fashion because the entire thing is so earnest. Like William Friedkin’s 1973 movie, ‘The Exorcist’, it is this serious tone that helps everything along so nicely.

Gregory Peck is excellently cast as the dignified Robert Thorn, whose gradual realisation of exactly who his adopted son is unfolds over the course of the film. When Damien turns five he’s confronted by Catholic priest Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton) and he is, naturally, dismissive of what he has to say. But Brennan is convinced of Damien’s true nature and reveals to Thorn that his wife is pregnant again and that Damien will not allow the child to live. When a series of bizarre “accidents” happen, Thorn becomes more and more aware of the truth.

The rest of the cast’s duties are ably handled by veteran screen stalwarts like Lee Remick, Billie Whitelaw, Leo McKern and the always watchable David Warner.

‘The Omen’ develops methodically and is never in too much of a rush. Its atrocity is pleasingly handled, for want of a better word, and there isn’t a bombastic nature to the fantastic events that we see happen on screen. Viewed by modern audiences, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to hear that they would find it dull. But ‘The Omen’ still has great power in a number of its set pieces. When Damien’s first nanny steals the show at his 5th birthday party, it still remains a shock because it’s handled so abruptly. And I probably need not mention that it has the best decapitation scene in 70’s cinema. The producers were proud of it too, because we get to see it played out from multiple angles.

There are a number of weaknesses though. We’re never clear as to the churches’ involvement with providing Satan with a means to furnish us with the fruit of his loins or why certain members like Father Spiletto and Father Brennan have done what they’ve done, or even if it’s done with the Churches’ consent. Also Old Nick & antichrist’s powers seem to be very adaptable one moment and non-existent the next. They appear to have the ability to cause a convenient disaster upon some of their targets while not even being present, yet others can evade these powers quite unscathed.

Finally, a special mention should go to the young actor who played Damien. Whether directed or just natural, Harvey Spencer Stephens turns in a performance that’s incredibly creepy. And that final turn to the camera as Jerry Goldsmith’s black mass swells is genuinely chilling.

8/10