Bad Lieutenant(dir. Abel Ferrara)
REVIEW PENDING...
*** out of ****
Showing posts with label ferrara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ferrara. Show all posts
Monday, June 16, 2008
Monday, October 29, 2007
Oh Vampires and Cowboys...
The Addiction(dir. Abel Ferrara)
It's hard to resist a film that compares vampiric blood lust to heroine addiction and to sin. We're human so obviously we sin, but what do we do about it? Like the responses Kathleen's victims give when she threatens to harm them if they don't say some variation of "go away," we're usually passive and evasive. We try to brush it off. The film suggests that forgetting about your sins is about as bad as letting an addiction go uncheck even when the addiction involves other people's blood. The film is basically Ms .45 minus the .45 and feminist undertones. In their place are vampire fangs and Catholic and existential undertones. The similarities in story and structure between the two are uncanny especially since they're both written by the same guy. This film, however, ends on a much better note than that film and doesn't contain any extremely annoying neighbors for the protagonist and the audience to be pestered by. Unlike Ms .45, this film has a somewhat pretentious vibe given all it's philosophical banter, but that might mainly be because I didn't understand most of it. It also felt like it wasn't going anywhere until it's redemptive conclusion that made all the ennui one might experience worthwhile. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
The Tin Star(dir. Anthony Mann)
An average western with Henry Fonda and Anthony Perkins. While I'm not that big of a fan of Mann's westerns(the ones I have seen) outside of The Man From Laramie, they at least had a sense of immediacy to them to make them entertaining. This just slowly inches it's way to a predictable happy ending. There are some scenes that you could picture being memorable if Mann added an extra oomph to them, but he doesn't and they end up being fairly generic. The appeal of the film(for me at least) comes mainly from the two leads. The relationship between their characters is quite clichéd, resembling something along the lines of "The Sheriff Kid," and they both end up giving clichéd performances because of it. Overall, it's bland and uninteresting.
** out of ****
It's hard to resist a film that compares vampiric blood lust to heroine addiction and to sin. We're human so obviously we sin, but what do we do about it? Like the responses Kathleen's victims give when she threatens to harm them if they don't say some variation of "go away," we're usually passive and evasive. We try to brush it off. The film suggests that forgetting about your sins is about as bad as letting an addiction go uncheck even when the addiction involves other people's blood. The film is basically Ms .45 minus the .45 and feminist undertones. In their place are vampire fangs and Catholic and existential undertones. The similarities in story and structure between the two are uncanny especially since they're both written by the same guy. This film, however, ends on a much better note than that film and doesn't contain any extremely annoying neighbors for the protagonist and the audience to be pestered by. Unlike Ms .45, this film has a somewhat pretentious vibe given all it's philosophical banter, but that might mainly be because I didn't understand most of it. It also felt like it wasn't going anywhere until it's redemptive conclusion that made all the ennui one might experience worthwhile. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
The Tin Star(dir. Anthony Mann)
An average western with Henry Fonda and Anthony Perkins. While I'm not that big of a fan of Mann's westerns(the ones I have seen) outside of The Man From Laramie, they at least had a sense of immediacy to them to make them entertaining. This just slowly inches it's way to a predictable happy ending. There are some scenes that you could picture being memorable if Mann added an extra oomph to them, but he doesn't and they end up being fairly generic. The appeal of the film(for me at least) comes mainly from the two leads. The relationship between their characters is quite clichéd, resembling something along the lines of "The Sheriff Kid," and they both end up giving clichéd performances because of it. Overall, it's bland and uninteresting.
** out of ****
Friday, July 20, 2007
Oh Abel...
Ms. 45(dir. Abel Ferrara)
This is Abel Ferrara's show since none of the acting is really that great, the cinematography lacks polish, and the script is pretty awful compared to King of New York. The lead character becomes more and more unlikeable as it goes along due to the fact she turns into a victim of two vicious rapes to a maniac who kills men in cold blood just because they are men. You could say the film could be viewed as feminism gone wrong. The acting from some of her victims is actually really good because the actors display a sort of sleazy charm and likeability to make their murders feel unjustified, but you can easily understand how she could murder them in cold blood because of their sleazy nature. In the middle portion, she almost takes a superhero type stance with her murders like killing a pimp beating his hooker and killing a gang of thugs. Her murders become more and more puzzling and off-putting until it goes to the final massacre that is portrayed in unflincing slow motion that makes the whole scene excruciating, which is exactly how the scene should have been portrayed. The most glaring flaws are the characters of the annoying neighbor and her dog. They're easily some of the most obnoxious characters ever put to film. It's easy to see them as a device to create suspense about the possibility that Thana might get caught, but the film's conclusion shows that they are truly unnecessary to the story. The final image is kind of ironic just because it shows that she sympathized with a dog more than all of her male victims, but it doesn't make the characters feel necessary to the plot especially given the cringe-inducing nature of the actress's performance of the neighbor and that disgusting scene with the dog. A decent effort, which could have greatly improved if it eliminated those two characters and made the final product more clean and lean.
**1/2 out of ****
This is Abel Ferrara's show since none of the acting is really that great, the cinematography lacks polish, and the script is pretty awful compared to King of New York. The lead character becomes more and more unlikeable as it goes along due to the fact she turns into a victim of two vicious rapes to a maniac who kills men in cold blood just because they are men. You could say the film could be viewed as feminism gone wrong. The acting from some of her victims is actually really good because the actors display a sort of sleazy charm and likeability to make their murders feel unjustified, but you can easily understand how she could murder them in cold blood because of their sleazy nature. In the middle portion, she almost takes a superhero type stance with her murders like killing a pimp beating his hooker and killing a gang of thugs. Her murders become more and more puzzling and off-putting until it goes to the final massacre that is portrayed in unflincing slow motion that makes the whole scene excruciating, which is exactly how the scene should have been portrayed. The most glaring flaws are the characters of the annoying neighbor and her dog. They're easily some of the most obnoxious characters ever put to film. It's easy to see them as a device to create suspense about the possibility that Thana might get caught, but the film's conclusion shows that they are truly unnecessary to the story. The final image is kind of ironic just because it shows that she sympathized with a dog more than all of her male victims, but it doesn't make the characters feel necessary to the plot especially given the cringe-inducing nature of the actress's performance of the neighbor and that disgusting scene with the dog. A decent effort, which could have greatly improved if it eliminated those two characters and made the final product more clean and lean.
**1/2 out of ****
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Oh Frank White...
King of New York(dir. Abel Ferrara)
A celebration of violence and smut? You bet. It's easy to see how some people might not like it since it's morality is kind of twisted and bizarre, but I believe that's what makes it such a compelling film. Individuals looking for a straight-faced crime drama will probably be disappointed because this plays more like a John Woo movie than a Martin Scorsese one. Frank White is an utterly interesting character due to his contradictory nature. He wants to help people, but in order for him to do that, he has to kill some and sell some drugs to raise money to help them. Robin Hood selling crack? You bet. He's not a heroic character. You connect with him for just being himself. He claims what he does is to raise money for a hospital, but is it really? To me, it seems like an excuse for him to partake in violent and immoral acts. When he starts killing cops, you feel it was justified, but when you think about it some more, you start questioning his behavior and rationale. It's thought-provoking action cinema.
***1/2 out of ****
A celebration of violence and smut? You bet. It's easy to see how some people might not like it since it's morality is kind of twisted and bizarre, but I believe that's what makes it such a compelling film. Individuals looking for a straight-faced crime drama will probably be disappointed because this plays more like a John Woo movie than a Martin Scorsese one. Frank White is an utterly interesting character due to his contradictory nature. He wants to help people, but in order for him to do that, he has to kill some and sell some drugs to raise money to help them. Robin Hood selling crack? You bet. He's not a heroic character. You connect with him for just being himself. He claims what he does is to raise money for a hospital, but is it really? To me, it seems like an excuse for him to partake in violent and immoral acts. When he starts killing cops, you feel it was justified, but when you think about it some more, you start questioning his behavior and rationale. It's thought-provoking action cinema.
***1/2 out of ****
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