Weak-Willed Women in Film Are Not Wonderful: A Pocky "In Focus" Special Report

I have seen enough of the 1970’s made for tv horror films, that I am afraid that I am beginning to see the template. This is not to say that these are bad films. Some of these films are very good, however, the unavoidable tv-ness of them can be a bit distracting. The 1973 tv movie, “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” is good, however, I was expecting to be more overwhelmed by it’s greatness. Alas, it is simply a good tv-horror movie.
Kim Darby plays Sally Farnham, a woman whose family has owned a particular house into which her and her husband, Alex (Jim Hutton), move. The caretaker of the house, known simply as Mr. Harris (William Demarest—Uncle Charley from “My Three Sons”), seems to know more about the house than he is saying. There seems to always be a character like this in movies about anything that is possessed or filled with ghosts. Some character always knows the deep, dark secrets. This is usually the case not only in tv-horror movies from the 1970’s, but also many films in the horror genre.
The most disturbing thing about “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” has nothing to do with any of the horror elements in the film. The behavior of the husband character was douchebaggery of the highest order! Ok, I know that in the 70’s and prior to then, female characters were almost always written as extremely weak and dependent on men. I absolutely hate this fact and I hate seeing female characters written as such. This is probably why I am so attracted to strong, intelligent, female characters and do not see such strong female characters as threatening to my masculinity, but rather, they appeal to my libido, not that anyone really wanted to know that, but there you go. Anyway, Sally is written as a weak woman who is seeing scary creatures around her house. Of course, her husband thinks she is going crazy and treats her as if she was a child. He makes all the big decisions and she makes coffee. Fuck! Really? Did men really like this? Did they really like not being engaged intellectually by their wife/girlfriend/female companion, but rather, just wanted them to make dinner and coffee, be a good hostess to potential business clients (geez), then lie on their back for two minutes? The problem with the character of Alex is that he is not supposed to be especially bad. He is a product of that generation. I think this is why I am not drawn to “Mad Men.” I’m sure it is a good show, but I have had my fill of douchebags in my lifetime. Anytime a character with such a narrow view of anything is introduced in a film, I become less interested in what happens to him/her. In the same way, since the character of Sally is such a weak-willed woman, I was not terribly interested in her plight either.
It is too bad that these issues took something away from the movie. It is not really a scary movie, but it is interesting in the fact that it is one of the many horror films that used to air on network television back in the 70’s and 80’s. What it is is more interesting than the substance of it’s existence. I do still enjoy watching such films, however, as I have watched an increasing amount of them, I find the typical 1960’s/70’s husband character and the weak female character to be particularly annoying and frustrating.
“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” can be purchased on the Warner Archives website. It includes a nice commentary track by Steve Barton from the website Dread Central, Fangoria writer, Sean Abley, and the screenwriter of “Final Destination,” Jeff Reddick. It is a good commentary track. Watching “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” is an ok way to pass 74 minutes, however, the bang was not as loud as I had hoped.

"The Descendants" Ascends to Perfection

There are some movies that one sees during the course of any given year that makes one, to state it very simply, very glad that movies exist. A film like this almost makes up for the rest of the crappy crap that comes out during the year. You may have surmised that I have a particular film in mind that has made me feel as such. You have surmised correctly. Alexander Payne’s latest film, “The Descendants,” is a perfect movie. It is perfectly written and perfectly acted. If a film can get this right, it will entertain me, and sometimes make me want to pump my fist at the end in joy at seeing such a great film, even if the film does not deal with the happiest of subjects.
Part of the perfection of “The Descendants” stems from Payne’s ability to tell this sad story with such perfectly acted emotion and even some touches of humor. George Clooney plays Matt King, a lawyer living in Hawaii, whose family happens to own a beautiful and sizable amount of land in said state, which is being pursued by developers. King’s family has decided to sell the land to a man whom the family has agreed will use it well. Meanwhile, Matt’s wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), suffers a jet-skiing accident which puts her in a coma. A majority of the film handles the decisions Elizabeth’s family must make while she is on life support in the hospital. Some of the decisions regarding her and Matt’s life are the basis for the most interesting subplot in the film which I will not reveal.
Not only is George Clooney outstanding as Matt, but Shailene Woodley as his 17 year old daughter, Alexandra and Amara Miller as his younger daughter, Scottie are also fantastic. There are no acting missteps in this film. Every moment performed by these three actors is true. Given the subject matter and the emotional weight of the subject matter of the film, it is even more impressive and exciting to see such outstanding performances. As you may imagine from what I have written so far or from what you may have already read about the film, it deals with death, but that is not the only subject of the film. As I have intimated, it also handles issues that arise as Elizabeth lies in a coma. The ability of Payne, who co-wrote the film with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, to handle such heavy issues with thoughtfulness and wit is brilliant!! That statement gets two exclamation points. The humor in the film works very well just as did the humor in two of Payne’s previous films, “Election” and the brilliant Paul Giamatti/Thomas Haden Church film,“Sideways.” The humor in “The Descendants” is masterfully placed. It is apparent great care was taken in structuring the film so as to properly place the humorous moments amongst the seriousness of the overall issues of the film.
The Hawaiian music used in the film is wonderful as well. The soundtrack, according to the Los Angeles Times, is “a tour of Hawaiian music.” Not being a Hawaiian music expert, I will take their word for it. Like the humor in the film, the music used in the film is brilliantly placed and fits in very well. As with the humorus moments, the music in the film is never obtrusive.
If you can, see this in a theater. The location shooting in Hawaii is great! I felt as if I was there following the characters around as an observer in the beautiful Hawaiian locales. At the same time, Clooney’s character, at the beginning of the film, points out that the notion of Hawaii being nothing but paradise is incorrect as we see some shots of less than beautiful parts of the state. They are not horrible images or anything like that. The point is that people who live in Hawaii have the same kind of life experiences and problems as those who live in the mainland. Just because they happen who live in or have been born into a Hawaiian family does not mean that their lives are instantly full of sweet pineapple and luaus. That is not a major theme in the film. It was simply an establishing point made by Clooney’s character during the opening of the film. It was refreshing to see Hawaii used as simply a location for the film. Payne does not exploit the location with flashy and unnecessary establishing shots as you may find of Miami on CSI:Miami. There are no extraneous shots of surfers, waves, or guys dancing around with those poles that are on fire. “The Descendants” is not about Hawaii. Hawaii is simply the setting of the film.
I hope “The Descendants” wins the Best Picture Oscar in February. It will likely have heavy competition from Scorsese’s “Hugo,” which is not as good a film as this one and “The Tree of Life,” which I have not yet seen, however, when I do, you will know about it. I would love to see Clooney win an Oscar for his performance as Matt King as he handles the emotional range through which his character finds himself perfectly. His scenes of sadness, annoyance, and restraint through situations in which you would not expect one to be restrained are very well acted. Woodley and Miller deserve nominations as well for their work as King’s daughters. These three performers feel as though they are father and daughters. Everything in “The Descendants” feels natural. No emotion in the film feels forced or saccharin. It is not as light as “Election” or “Sideways.” It is a bit sad, but, and I must stress, not, I say, not depressing. A great film is never depressing. Remember that. A great film is never depressing. “The Descendants” is a perfect film and it ascends to true greatness.

Transmission Successful!

The 3rd Annual Northwestern/Notre Dame Epistemology Conference will be held Friday, April 13-Saturday, April 14, 2012. The keynote speaker will be Ram Neta, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill who has written,"Easy Knowledge, Transmission Failure, and Empiricism." I don't know about you, but I hate it when my transmission fails. Perhaps Neta will have some tips about how to get one's car goin' when your transmission fails. Here is the website to go to to submit any and all papers you may want to present at the April conference: www.wcas.northwestern.edu/epistemology/egradconf3. Make sure that all papers are automotive related, with an emphasis on transmissions and the kinetic motion of auto mechanics, because we all know how much we hate it when auto mechanics just sit around and do not perform to their potential.

A Welcome Return

“The Muppets” is a great homage to the beloved Jim Henson creations which gained their highest popularity in the 1970’s and 80’s. The great thing about the new film, “The Muppets,” is that it knows that it’s greatest popularity has already been reached. I feel that “The Muppets” is not trying to reestablish popularity in the days of You Tube (which I admit is way cool), Kardashians and so many other means of instant gratification and diversion. “The Muppets” is an almost tear-jerking acknowledgment that Henson’s creations meant a lot to people of a particular generation and that that amount of popularity will never be seen again because times have changed. It is a bit sad, however, throughout the film are reminders of why the Muppets were so successful. They appealed, not only to kids, but also, to parents. The humor in any given episode of The Muppet Show or any of their first three films was always clever and well-written. There was not a sense that Henson and his crew were dumbing anything down for an attention deficient or uneducated audience. I would love for the Muppets to regain the popularity they had when I was a child, however, I believe the sad reality is that our society is not capable of embracing the genius and wit of the Muppets.
“The Muppets” tells the tale of Gary (Jason Segal), his girlfriend, Mary (Amy Adams) and Gary’s brother, Walter, a new Muppet creation. Walter is a very welcome addition to the Muppet pantheon. Walter is a likeable Muppet. The trio take a trip to Los Angeles to visit Muppet Studios, former home of the Muppets in their halcyon days. Once there, the trio discover that Muppet Studios is abandoned and that only cheapjack tours led by a bored tour guide (Alan Arkin) are available. They seek out Kermit , whom they convince to embark on a cross-country trip to get the Muppets back together so as to put on a telethon to raise the $10 million necessary to save Muppet Studios from the evil Tex Richman (Chris Cooper). Richman wants to tear down Muppet Studios and drill for oil on that land.
There is a nice belt in the face to modern culture in “The Muppets,” as the 2 hour telethon that Kermit and the gang produce to save Muppet Studios from Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), is allowed on the air only because the normally aired episode of Punch Teacher had encountered a snafu. Yes, Punch Teacher. The makers of “The Muppets” get it, meaning that they seem to understand that their film is more of a nostalgia trip than a possible reboot of a franchise. It does help that “The Muppets” is an outstanding film, reminiscent of the original 1979 film, “The Muppet Movie.” There are even some nice homages to that film such as Sweetums chasing after the rest of the Muppet gang at one point and a very nice rendition of “The Rainbow Connection” by Kermit with help from Miss Piggy. I know it may not make much sense to say that “The Muppets” does not aspire to become the next big movie franchise like Harry Potter, Pirates of the Carribean, or Twilight (…..yeah…..), but I did not get that sense from the film. As I have mentioned, “The Muppets” feels more like an appreciation by a group of actors of Jim Henson’s creations. “The Muppets” stars and was co-written by Jason Segal from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and the tv series, “How I Met Your Mother.” It was co-written by Nicholas Stoller, director of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” It seems that the two have collaborated out of obvious love and appreciation for Kermit and his friends. This is another reason why the film does not feel like a rebooting of or the beginning of a film franchise. I think Segal and Stoller simply wanted to create a loving celebration and appreciation of the Muppets. Unless “The Muppets” makes a lot of cash, I would be surprised to see Disney make another Muppet film anytime soon. Of course, in Hollywood, anything is possible. When is The Fall Guy movie coming out, or perhaps a B.J. and the Bear movie? Sheriff Lobo perhaps…..hmmmmm?
I had only a few issues with “The Muppets.” One song about “being alone” performed by Amy Adams in a diner is cringingly bad and I did not care for the name of the evil oil baron being Tex Richman (Cooper). Isn’t the stereotype of the rich asshole from Texas played out by now? I am from Texas and I have never been rich nor an oil baron. More thought could have been put into Chris Cooper’s character, including not calling him “Tex.”
It is obvious that all involved in “The Muppets” share a love for the subjects of the film. I watched Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and the first three Muppet movies frequently as a child. I understand the feelings of nostalgia on display in the film. Unless Jason Segal or someone from Disney tells me otherwise, though, I maintain that “The Muppets” is a grand homage and thank you letter to Jim Henson for his creations and not the beginning of a new set of films. I would be more than happy to be wrong about this though. As long as any future Muppet movies are as good as this one, I kind of hope there will be more.

This Post Does Not Ocelot of Money

Does anyone give a shit that Kourtney Kardashian is pregnant? This picture of an ocelot is more interesting.

Try to Get a Handle On It

A good exploitation film delivers exciting action scenes, interesting locations, and some nice nudity. I think Roger Corman once said something like this, though not exactly in these words. The 1977 film, “Too Hot to Handle,” offers all three. It is filmed in Manila, Philippines and looks very nice on the new Shout Factory dvd entitled, “Roger Corman’s Cult Classics Lethal Ladies Collection.” The set also includes a film I am looking forward to watching, “Firecracker,” and “TNT Jackson.”
In “Too Hot to Handle,” Cheri Cafaro, star of the “Ginger” films of the early 70’s, plays Samantha Fox, an organized and efficient assassin. She is dispatched to Manila to dispose of three people who are bad, bad, bad. The extent of their badness is not described at length in the film, however, it is enough to know that they are bad enough to warrant the talents of Samantha Fox to exterminate them. It does help that we know that the people she is hired to hit are bad people who, it turns out, also had something to do with the death of her father. Knowing that she is single-handedly dispatching of these evil folks makes Samantha even more likable than she is already. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Cheri Cafaro plays her character as an intelligent, strong, and cunning female. I am very glad that Samantha Fox was not played as a dimwit dumb blonde who needs the help of a strong man. Samantha is completely independent.
The Manila chief of police, Domingo de la Torres (Aharon Ipale), gets involved in the investigation after the first of Samantha’s hits, McKenzie Portman (John Van Dreelen) is found dead after he invites her to his home to engage in a little bit of bondage fun. Chief de la Torres is quickly able to determine the Portman’s assassin was female. His reasoning does make sense, even though it might seem unlikely to do so. I liked that the character of Chief de la Torres is played as an intelligent investigator. Both Samantha Fox and Chief de la Torres use each other for sex along the way, however, it is clearly a mutual relationship. Samantha is a strong woman and would not allow him to mistreat her.
Samantha’s second hit, Justin Stockwell (Jordan Rosengarten),one of the biggest douchebag assholes the screen has ever seen, is disposed of in a particularly interesting and cunning fashion. One of the highlights of this film, which may easily be overlooked, is the great makeup job on Cheri Cafaro in this scene. I liked that the third of Samantha’s hits is a woman, meaning the film avoids a simplistic male vs. female storyline.
The music in the film is comprised of a great, groovy score, however, the song heard during the film’s main sex scene is pretty bad. The song is called, “Lady Samantha.” It will make you cringe. As I mentioned, though, the score throughout most of the film is great, especially during the last five minutes of the film. Great stuff it is!
“Too Hot to Handle” feels like an R-rated episode of “Hawaii Five-O”—the old version, of course. That is a very good thing. Scenes take their time to play out and the progression of scenes is well structured and well paced. Of course, it is not award winning material, but it does quite well what it intends to do---entertain. Cheri Cafaro is naked a lot, bad guys and a gal get whacked, lots of cool shots of Manila are shown, and asses get kicked. Put on your oven mitts because Cheri Cafaro is definitely too hot to handle!

Everyone's a Winner with Hesher

I wish I had a cool guitar riff play after I say something. There is a scene at the beginning of “Hesher” in which Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) says something to T.J. Forney (Devin Brochu) and after Hesher has spoken, a nice guitar riff is heard. That occurs in the first five minutes of Spencer Susser’s film about a boy of about 14 years who is, in a strange way, befriended by a long-haired stoner guy whose name turns out to be Hesher. We do not know a whole lot about Hesher, and throughout the course of the film, we never learn much of anything about him. That is ok with me because it works. Hesher moves into the house of T.J. and his father, Paul, (Rainn Wilson) without permission. Paul does not put up any resistance. Paul and his son are recovering from the recent loss of his wife and T.J’s mother. Hesher’s presence in their lives acts as a strangely interesting antidote for their issues. Add to this, T.J’s crush on a grocery store cashier named Nicole (Natalie Portman). Though she does not necessarily act as any kind guiding light in T.J’s life, she does add an additional bit of charm to the film.
“Hesher” is one of those cool films in which things just happen randomly, exactly like the narrative structure of most of what I write. In the case of “Hesher,” there appears to be some rationale to the random events that occur. Hesher, though uncouth, vulgar, and of questionable odor, proves to be the person, or maybe the force that T.J. and his father need to fully recover from their loss. Grief counseling sessions do not seem to help a great deal. T.J. is constantly bullied by Dustin (Brendan Hill) a young man who almost reaches the level of vulgarity of which Hesher is quite the master. Hesher eventually helps T.J. get back at Dustin in an unconventional, though fulfulling way. Thankfully, this event is not treated as family film fodder as T.J. is not as happy with Hesher’s handiwork as Hesher is. The structure of “Hesher” is like a series of vignettes which are linear and serve to document the process through which T.J. and his father are able to deal with and accept the situation in which their lives exist. One may debate whether or not Hesher is supposed to be a representation of Christ, a foul-mouthed Christ, but who serves the same purpose---the purpose of guidance through trying times in one’s life. Of course, Hesher may also be just some random guy who shows up in their lives and distracts them from their grief for a while. Who Hesher is is never stated, and I liked that. His purpose in the lives of T.J. and his father, however, is clear.
I liked the film quite a bit with only a few exceptions. About an hour in, something happens in the film which is a bit of a movie cliché. Wow, Microsoft Word just automatically added the tilde over the “e” in cliché! It did it again! I was going to just leave it as is. Sometimes stuff like that just happens…..
Anyway, something happens midway through “Hesher” which is cliché. I wish it had not happened, solely because what happened was a cliché. As well, the ending, though fulfilling, is comprised of a bit too much “end of movie speech-ness.” Those who have seen a lot of movies will likely know what I mean by this. Basically, at the end of the film, one of the main characters shows up to make a speech telling us what the point of the film is and how we should feel. I only say this as a way of defining “end of movie speech-ness.” In “Hesher,” we get this, however, it is not inflicted with this malady too badly and as I mentioned, the overall result of the final twenty minutes of the film is very effective and well done.
All of the performances in “Hesher” are great, especially Levitt, Wilson, Brochu, and Piper Laurie as T.J’s grandmother. “Hesher” is a vulgar feel-good movie. I did not expect to “feel good” at the film’s conclusion, however, the message that director Susser conveys is clear.
I enjoyed the ditty Hesher tells T.J. and Nicole in his van about the four women with whom he once shared……an experience. See this film and you will enjoy this tale as well. Remember, everyone’s a winner.