Behind the Scenes Awesomeness: Edward Scissorhands

Tusk (2014)

Title: Tusk (2014)

Director: Kevin Smith

Cast: Justin Long, Michael Parks, Johnny Depp, Haley Joel Osment

Personally, I don’t regard Kevin Smith as a “great director”. Now don’t get me wrong, I think the guy is awesome, I love how much he loves comics, and I have enjoyed many of his Askewniverse movies like Dogma (1999) and Chasing Amy (1997). In other words, I don’t despise Kevin Smith’s films 100% because sometimes they are great, problem is that sometimes, they are terrible. I went through a Kevin Smith phase (like anyone who was a film buff during the 90’s) where I loved his films, but recently I re-watched Mallrats (1995) and realized that it was beyond painful to watch, mainly because of its unnatural dialog and situations, none of which come off as believable. The whole film sounds and looks so staged, the dialog feels as if the actors were reading it off the page, something I personally hate on any movie. This last bit has always been my main problem with Kevin Smith movies, the fake sounding dialog. It’s not the lack of vocabulary, it’s the over abundance of it. In real life, people don’t talk like they know every word in the dictionary, especially not college drop outs or pot heads. Still, when Smith is on all cylinders, he sometimes makes what I can call a “good film”. Strangely enough, it’s those films that deviate from his ‘Askewniverse’ that I find to be the best in his repertoire.

Anybody see Smith’s anti-religious horror flick, Red State (2011)? Wowzers, there’s a diamond in the rough. It stirred me like no other Smith film had. Again, Red State is a film outside of the ‘Askewniverse’ series of films and by this I mean that it’s a film that doesn’t feature Jay and Silent Bob. Another example of a good Kevin Smith film is the endearing, Jersey Girl (2004) a film that loss its audience because it featured Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck together on screen after they had released the beyond awful Gigli (2003). Gigli was a fiasco of a movie. A film so bad, that anything that Affleck and Lopez did after that was affected by it, and Jersey Girl was victim number one. A pity because Jersey Girl is actually one of Kevin Smith’s best films, truly touching if you ask me. Hopefully, more people will discover it as time passes. So here comes Tusk, yet another film in which Smith works outside of his comfort zone. Tusk is not the kind of film you’d expect from Smith, a director who commonly works the comedy genre. Here Smith attempts yet again to make a straight forward horror film, a freak out, a movie that will possibly make you very, very uncomfortable. Did he succeed?

The answer to that question my dear readers is a resounding “yes!” How uncomfortable will Tusk make you? Well, I screened this one for a couple of my friends at my house, all of them cringed during the whole film, many of them said they couldn’t believe what they were watching and I had one walk out. Literally, one person simply couldn’t take the ideas presented on Smith’s Tusk and spent the duration of the film smoking cigarettes in my balcony, so that right there let’s you see the kind of film we’re talking about here. 99% of my friends couldn’t take their eyes off of the film because of how out there it was! And 1% walked out! What’s so crazy about this movie anyway? Well, I’ll give you  the back story behind the making of the film so you know what you’re getting yourself into. How this movie came about is Kevin Smith has this podcast called ‘Smodcast’ and during said show (go here to listen to it) the topic of discussion was this ad they found in the classifieds where this guy was offering free room and board to whoever would agree to dress up as a Walrus. They found the add so nuts, that they then made up a whole story about why this person would want somebody to dress up as a Walrus, and boom, the story for the movie was born. They then told their readers to type #Walrusyes if they wanted the film to be made or #Walrusno if they thought it was a bad idea. A huge amount of listeners thought it would be a phenomenal idea, fast forward a few months later, and Tusk was made.

Same as the premise of the hypothetical story made up during the podcast, the film is about this old man who puts up an ad in which he asks somebody to come and listen to his stories because he has a lot of them and he is lonely and wouldn’t mind some company. Justin Long’s character, a podcaster looking for crazy stories for his show decides that this is a good one, so he goes to the old man to listen to his stories. And that’s about as far as I want to go here because I don’t want to spoil this movie for anybody. Simply said, this movie just might freak you the hell out. It reminded me of various films; number one was Rob Reiner’s Misery (1990) because it’s that kind of story where an unsuspecting person falls into a trap, like a fly on a spider’s web. It’ll make you think twice before giving your confidence to someone you do not know. Secondly it reminded me of David Lynch’s Eraserhead (1977), because of the visual, the monster, the big reveal. And yes my friends, Tusk, in my book is a monster movie. Like a twisted version of Frankenstein mixed with Silence of the Lambs (1991) or something. It’s that crazy, it’s that eclectic. How much crazier can this movie get? Well, it stars Johnny Depp as this crazy, cross eyed, shot gun totting, French cop. Yeah, you read that right. Also, Johnny Depp’s daughter cameos as a convenience store clerk, in a scene with Kevin Smith’s daughter. Need more to convince you? Okay, Justin Long and Michael Sparks carry this movie on their shoulders and steal the show in the process.  

Final words on Tusk is that out of all of Kevin Smith movies, this is the one that’s shocked me the most, it’s the one that stirred the biggest reaction in me and that my friends is a good thing in my book. It’s a slow burner, but trust me, it will get under your skin, it will freak you the hell out, so be prepared for that! Best thing about the whole thing? It was so well written, it has none of that fake sounding Kevin Smith dialog we are accustomed to hearing on his movies, so I’m glad he’s taken note of this and corrected it in his films. Tusk has an amazing story attached to it, who would think such an interesting story would spawn from a podcast right? Much less a fake ad! That’s right my friends, the ad that inspired this movie was a prank from one of Smith’s many fans. As you can see, the story behind this movie gets crazier the deeper you dig, yet the resulting film was amazingly effective. There are a lot of horror movies out there whose main purpose is to shock the hell out of you; I’m talking about films like Taxidermia (2006), The Human Centipede (2009) and its sequels; most recently I saw V/H/S 2 (2013) and damn, that was a real shocker as well! These are movies that take their ideas to such ludicrous heights that you won’t believe what’s transpiring before your eyes, this is the kind of film that Tusk is, and I’m astonished that Tusk  came from Kevin Smith, but then again, he’d already showed us he had the ability to shock with Red State. Best part is that he is calling Tusk the first film in his ‘Canada Trilogy’, where all three films will be centered somehow around Canada. The following one is called Yoga Hosers (2015), a film about Yoga enthusiasts who team up with a man-hunter in order to fight ‘an ancient evil presence’ and that film will be followed by another called Moose Jaws (2016), which is described simply as “Jaws, but with a Moose”. In any case, I’m happy to see Smith playing with different themes and genres, whenever it happens, it’s fun and shocking for us as an audience. Of course, this isn’t stopping him from making Clerks III, a film that Kevin Smith is scripting as I type this. So anyhow, mark Tusk, as one of Kevin Smith’s good ones!  Seriously? One of the craziest movies I’ve ever seen.

Rating: 4 out of 5 

   

Transcendence (2014)

Title: Transcendence (2014)

Director: Wally Pfister

Cast: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman

Funny story with this movie: I went to see it on what Catholics call Holy Friday and on that day, actually that whole weekend, well, theaters where flooded with church religious folks going to see either God is not Dead (2014) or Heaven is for Real (2014). So I felt out of place going to see Transcendence which touches upon the dangers of religious fanaticism, from a more philosophical angle. Transcendence is a movie against religion, not for it. Funny part is that the theater that was playing God is not Dead was right next to the one playing Transcendence and both films were starting at the same time. The interesting part is that I could  see people entering in droves to God is not Dead while every once in a while, somebody would go into Transcendence and my first thought how this was all so symbolic of what goes on in the world. So very few people are inclined towards the philosophical, the thought provoking. 

I’m of the mind that religion is dying off little by little and that thanks to the help of the internet and social media, people are slowly realizing just how much of a fairy tale religion is. The powers that be know this, which explains the avalanche of religious flicks we’ve being seeing lately. It almost feels like a desperate attempt to inject society with religiosity again. The powers that be also control Hollywood and they know how to use it well. I mean, even Hitler realized the power of cinema to transmit his ideas! So anyhow, this avalanche of Christian movies is to me, the lowest type of religious propaganda, so sleazy, so obvious in its desperation. There could be another explanation for the recent onslaught of religious flicks: money. Religious people don’t need much to get all fired up and Hollywood knows it. This explains why a prejudiced film like God is not Dead is making money. Hollywood knows this is an untapped market, and it seems they now want to exploit it as much as possible. I mean, this month alone we had 3 religious themed films! And they all have these titles that make it obvious they have an agenda. God is not Dead….Heaven is for Real…I'm in Love with a Church Girl….these titles let us see the kind of ideas that they want to infuse into society. God isn’t dead no matter what your university teachers tell ya! Heaven is Real, look at this little kid who went to heaven...and when you marry, make sure she’s a church girl! What the?! What’s next? A film called Science is the Antichrist?  

I mean, it’s not like films about ‘not believing’ are so obvious with their titles. Just look at a film like Transcendence; there’s nothing to tell you that it’s a film about religious fanaticism, the themes are not blunt or in your face. The themes are not even implied in the films title! Nope, the films themes are hidden behind meanings and symbolisms; you don’t feel like you’re being preached to. With films like God is not Dead and Heaven is for Real, I feel like am being preached at from seeing the previews alone! So anyways, there I was, doing my part in supporting a philosophical film with interesting themes and intriguing cyberpunk elements which I am a sucker for, unfortunately Transcendence wasn’t a very exciting film. Sure it was philosophical, and sure it had interesting concepts which I was diggin’ for the most part, unfortunately it all builds up to nothing. I wanted a bigger bang for my sci-fi buck! Unfortunately the filmmakers weren’t all that interested in showing us anything amazing or mind blowing.

The thing with this movie is that it had all the appropriate elements to deliver something thought provoking and cool at the same time. The concept of artificial intelligence becoming sentient, fully aware of its existence is incredibly interesting to me. It presents us with the terrifying notion that computers might one day think, like us, or for us. It goes even further and plays with the ideas of transferring our consciousness into an artificial intelligence, so that it might duplicate us in a way, so that we might, in a way, live forever. Of course the logic behind it is a lot of bullshit science, the kind of science that they show us in films where complicated scientific procedures are explained away with a simple sentence. And that’s fine as far as I’m concerned, I don’t need things to be explained to me, this side of the film reminded me of the dream traveling technology in Inception (2010) which is never explained in the film. It’s like the famous ‘McGuffin’ , you don’t really need to know what it is, or how it works. What matters is how we go from point A to point B. Unfortunately point B in Transcendence takes us nowhere. Interesting concepts are presented but never taken to their full potential, I feel they could have pushed things a bit further, they played it too safe in my book.

The film kind of contradicts itself because it presents us with Will Caster, a scientist who has successfully transferred his consciousness into the internet. He follows all the steps that a cult leader follows in order to build his empire. He buys land, he builds a society apart from the rest of humanity, and then he starts attracting parishioners by promising them paradise. I couldn’t help but think about David Koresh and his shenanigans in Waco, Texas, or Jim Jones and his Jonestown in Guyana. The problem is that the character of Will Caster isn’t really evil; he creates technology that actually helps humanity. His creations would make the world a better place, so then why does the film make it a point to portray him as an evil religious leader? So which is it, is he the leader of a zombie religion, or is he the savior of humanity? It’s not just that this character has that duality to it; it’s just that the character contradicts itself. The film is a jumbled mess in my book. It’s one that wanted to play with heavy themes, but ultimately didn’t know how to develop them in the best way possible. I mean, we're even presented with the idea of living in a world where technology has dissapeared from the face of the earth, which would have made an even more interesting film, but alas, they only hint at it. 

Ultimately, the biggest sin this film has going for it is that it was not entertaining. The ending is so incredibly dull I was literally fighting to stay awake. I guess a lot can be explained by the fact that this film was directed by cinematographer turned director Wally Pfister. The problem with technical guys becoming directors is that they just don’t have that vision necessary to tell a story in an entertaining or visually interesting fashion. Just because you’ve worked behind the scenes all your life, doesn’t mean you’d make a good director. Sure there are exceptions, but more often than not, technicians and writers don’t always make good directors. Examples of this are Blade Trinity (2004), Virus (1999), Spawn (1997), Eragon (2006), all directed by writers and special effects guys who suddenly wanted to take a stab at directing. I’m not saying that Transcendence is a terrible film because it does offer us interesting concepts and at times interesting visuals, but aside from being dull beyond measure, it even has great actors in roles that go nowhere! Cillian Murphy and Morgan Freeman are next to useless here. To me, Transcendence feels unfinished or half assed; it didn’t push its concepts all the way. And those are some of the worst cinematic sins in my book; a missed opportunity every step of the way.

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5   

Ed Wood (1994)

Title: Ed Wood (1994)

Director: Tim Burton

Cast: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Bill Murray, Patricia Arquette, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jeffrey Jones, Lisa Marie

I appreciate Ed Wood's films because as I mentioned in my review for Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), I think his films had as much heart to them as they had bloopers. Plan 9 From Outer Space might seem silly to some (and they'd be right) but at at the same time, at its core it had a pacifist message, criticizing mans own tendency to self destruct. The aliens in that movie seem to think eventually we’ll end up destroying not only ourselves, but the rest of the universe! Even though Ed Wood is considered “the worst director in history” Plan 9 from Outer Space is a film that will go on forever, but why? Why has the film endured for so long? Well, there’s the fact that the film is incredibly funny, even when it’s not trying to be. The dialog alone, which seems to have been written in days, and probably was, is something to relish if you’re in the mood for some cheese. But who was the man behind these goofy movies? What kind of struggles did he endure in order to make these timeless sci-fi, b-movie classics? These are the questions that Tim Burton’s Ed Wood attempts to answer, albeit from an extremely positive and lighthearted angle.

In Burton’s film we meet Edward Wood Jr. a man struggling to get his films made. He starts very small by first organizing small plays in community theaters. Though not a whole lot of people go to see them and he gets terrible reviews, he remains optimistic, always seeing the positive side of things. But when he is in his bed, sleeping next to his wife, pondering where his life is going he is suddenly a man afraid that where he is in life is “as good as it’s ever going to get”. Fortunately, he doesn’t let negativity bring him down so he calls small movie studios to see if they’ll produce his movies. Luckily enough he convinces a studio to make a film called Glen or Glenda (1953) which was supposed to be a film about a guy who gets a sex change, but ends up being about a guy who confesses to his wife that he enjoys “dressing up in woman’s clothing”. Later, a chance encounter brings Wood to meet Bela Lugosi, the famous actor behind Dracula (1931). They develop a great friendship and Lugosi ends up acting in many of Wood’s films. But struggles continue to emerge: Lugosi is a heroin addict, Wood’s wife wants to leave him because she thinks he’s a freak and to top things off, he has no money to finish his movies! Will Wood ever get to make the one that he’ll be remembered by?

The impression you get after watching Ed Wood is that Wood was a man with lots of creativity and imagination; he had that drive to work in films, a medium that can, if you don’t have what it takes,  literally wipe you out. I know, because I’ve made a few films myself, and boy, organizing that small army of people isn’t an easy task! Selling your idea to a possible investor ain’t no easy task. Getting the actors…shooting the thing, getting the permits to shoot in a given location…finishing that script…editing, music, so many things to do, so many chores to delegate. This is the reason why cinema is such a collaborative effort; you have to work well with others. And that’s what I love about this film; it shows you the whole creative process behind making a movie, it is one of those films that is about film. You get to see Wood beging investors for completion funds to his movie. You get to see Wood beg producers to let him direct. You get to see Wood filming without a permit! You get to see Wood finally see his finished film with an audience. If you love the process of making films, then you will love Ed Wood.

Director Tim Burton has always had great admiration for Ed Wood’s films. He recognizes their b-level quality and the fact that they are not what one would call “great films” but Burton also sees past that and appreciates the love that Wood put into his films, the sincerity. The tone of this film itself is one of sympathy and admiration for Wood and those who worked with him on his films. Burton stated that he didn’t want to ridicule the filmmakers because they’d probably already had enough ridicule throughout their whole life for working on these films. This is probably why Wood and his crew are portrayed in such an optimistic way; the whole film plays out like a lighthearted comedy. Burton stated in an interview that he recognized that Wood could be redundant in some of his scripts but that they had a sincerity to them that made them heartfelt. I have to say I totally agree. In order to pay even more homage to Wood’s films Burton decided to shoot the whole film in Black and White. Burton really fought for this and I have to say it was the best choice he could have made. Most of Wood’s films were made in Black and White, so it makes perfect sense that a film about him was also shot that way. To be honest, the Black and White adds to the whole spooky /weird vibe that Wood infused his movies with. I love how Burton opens the film with a black and white, spooky grave yard, with lighting flashing, and people coming out of coffins telling us about how we’re about to witness the “shocking facts of the true story of Edward Wood Jr.” Burton really set the perfect tone in which to tell the story of this offbeat filmmaker.

Burton, behind the camera on the set of Ed Wood (1994)

The icing on the cake is the spectacular cast that Burton gathered for this film. Depp as Wood was a genius choice, true, Depp is one of Burton’s favorite actors to work with (I’ve lost count on just how many films they’ve made together) but I doubt there was a better actor to portray that enthusiasm, zaniness and energy that Ed Wood was known for. Hell, if you look at a picture of Ed Wood, you’ll see that Depp even looked the part. Then we have Martin Landau as an aging Bela Lugosi on his last days on this earth. Landau’s performance is both touching and hilarious. Lugosi was an actor who gave his life to Hollywood, but as Lugosi puts it in the film, Hollywood “chews you up and then spits you out”. The film also takes its time to analyze the life of an aging actor, how sometimes they struggle after their fame has faded, apparently, Lugosi had it really rough during his last days. The film is also incredibly honest when it comes to Lugosi’s heroin addiction, it doesn’t shy away from showing the ugly bits, like when Lugosi hits rock bottom, almost commits suicide and ends up committing himself to a rehab clinic. The relationship that Bela and Wood develop is one of the most touching things about the film; they truly end up becoming great friends. It should be noted that Landau actually won an Oscar for his performance here. The loves in Wood’s life are played by Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays Dolores Fuller a woman who backs Wood in many of his crazy filmmaking ideas until she can’t stand the freakiness no more and dumps Ed and Patricia Arquette as Kathy O’Hara, a more understanding and loving soul. Rounding things off is Bill Murray as one of Wood’s gay friends. Murray plays a small role here, yet whenever he is on, he is truly funny. Jeffrey Jones plays Criswell, a television persona who was also one of Wood’s staunch supporters. We also get Burton’s then wife Lisa Marie playing ‘Vampira’, yet another television personality who backed Wood’s films. As you can see, this is an amazing cast, which just makes this film all the richer, everyone here brought their a-game as they say. 

Interesting thing about this project is that it was not originally a Tim Burton project, this film was written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski; two college buddies who at the time had only written two films the highly successful Problem Child (1990) and Problem Child 2 (1991). But they didn’t want to be known only for writing family films, so they wrote Ed Wood together, to try and break with that stigma. They originally wanted the director behind Heathers (1988), Michael Lehmann to direct, but he was committed to directing Airheads (1994) and so Burton, who was originally only going to serve as producer on the project ended up directing the film. To be honest, no other director could have done a better job than Burton; this film just fit his profile so perfectly. Burton has always loved science fiction and horror, some of his films are as goofy and offbeat as something that Wood might have directed. This is why say that It makes perfect sense that Burton ended up directing Mars Attacks! (1996) after he made Ed Wood. It almost feels as if after directing a film about Ed Wood, Ed Wood’s spirit possessed Burton for a spell there… because Mars Attacks! feels like a film that Wood might have directed had he all the millions that Burton had at his disposal. To me, Mars Attacks! was simply Burton making a film to pay his respects to Wood, to make the film that Wood never could. So to bring this review to an end I say if you are interested in the in and outs of filmmaking, and how fun, exciting and exhausting it can be, then give Ed Wood a spin. The whole experience of watching Ed Wood is enhanced when you have seen some of Wood’s films. I recommend you treat yourself to a triple feature. See Plan 9 from Outer Space, then follow that one with Ed Wood and end the whole shebang with Mars Attacks! (1996), trust me, it it’ll all make sense in the end.

Rating: 5 out of 5 

     

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

Title: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

Director: Lasse Hallstrom

Cast: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, John C. Reily, Crispin Glover, Mary Steenburgen, Darlene Cates

Review:

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a film that talks about how life can be strange, beautiful and tragic all rolled into one and how sometimes there’s not much we can do about it. Sometimes, those are the cards we are dealt and what’s left for us to do is just try and survive as best we can through it while we are trying to make sense of it all. In this film we meet Gilbert Grape, a young man who’s lost his father, has an obese mother, two bitchy sisters and a mentally challenged brother called Arnie; so Gilbert doesn’t exactly enjoy a happy family life. It’s not that he doesn’t love his family, in fact; he is portrayed as someone who loves his entire family even though they sometimes drive him nuts. He’s the kind of guy who’ll take care of everyone else before taking care of himself. He forgets to make himself happy, but this is not entirely his fault, his brother Arnie takes up a lot of his time, Arnie needs Gilbert to survive. So in a way, Gilbert is kind of like a male version of Amelie (2004), you remember that one? That’s the French film about a girl named Amelie, she would help everyone, but always forgot to make herself happy. She didn’t even have time to find love, until she made time for it. This film follows a similar structure. Gilbert is the ultimate do gooder.

This is the kind of film that’s all about small town life. The film takes place in a fictional town called ‘Endora’. Gilbert is always complaining, saying how much he wants to leave Endora because not a whole lot happens there. If you ask me, I’d love to live there; the whole place is kind of like a paradise? The entire film was beautifully shot in Texas, and honestly, it made me want to live there, it’s that kind of film, its locations are so beautiful, you’ll wish you were there. But of course, the main character takes it for granted. I guess Gilbert wants out of Endora because to him, Endora is well, the name of the town says it all, it's End-ora. I guess Endora is representative of the quintessential dead end town. We always want what we don’t got, the fat want to be skinny, the poor want to be rich, the rich want to know about common people…and Gilbert wants out of Endora. I understand Gilbert though, I mean, here he is, in the prime of his youth and he is working in a local supermarket that’s on the brink of closing down.

When Gilbert goes back home, he goes to a dysfunctional family, now here is the true reason for Gilbert’s unhappiness. He finds himself trapped with taking care of his mother and his mentally challenged brother Arnie, masterfully played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Now here’s something you need to know about this movie, this is one of DiCaprio’s finest performances. It’s not an easy thing to play a mentally challenged individual, when done wrong, it can go horribly wrong.  An example of this is Sean Penn in I Am Sam (2001) a movie I despise because to me Sean Penn didn’t really sell me the performance; to me it looked like Penn simply playing 'stupid', not a convincing performance at all. But DiCaprio’s Arnie? Now we are talking! Now here’s a convincing performance! To be honest, when this film first came out in 1993, DiCaprio was just getting started in his career and I didn’t know who the hell he was yet. I actually thought they had used a mentally challenged actor to do this performance, it is that convincing!

DiCaprio did extensive research for his performance, which is why it comes off as so believable; he actually spent some time in a home for mentally challenged teenagers. DiCaprio’s performance did not go unnoticed; he was nominated for many awards that year, he was even nominated for an Academy Award in the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ category. Sadly, DiCaprio’s nomination was one of those times when an actor should have won the Oscar but didn’t. You know, like that year in which Ellen Burstyn was nominated for her amazing performance in Requiem for a Dream (2000) but ended up losing to Julia Roberts for her performance in Erin Brockovich (2000)? And you’re left saying “whaaaat?!” Well, that year, Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for playing Arnie, but lost to Tommy Lee Jones for his performance in The Fugitive (1993), can you believe it? One look at DiCaprio on What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and I’m sure you’ll agree with me, it’s one of his best performances ever, truly memorable, he got me to feel for Arnie. I doubt you even remember Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive, but after seeing Arnie in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, I doubt you’ll forget the performance. The chemistry between Arnie and Gilbert is great, loved seeing  Depp and DiCaprio performing together.

But then again all the performances on this film are outstanding in my book. Darlene Cates, the actress they chose to play Gilbert’s obese mother, she was chosen after Peter Hodges, the author of the book the film is based on saw Cates appearance in an episode of the Sally Jessy Raphael show. The show’s theme was “Too Heavy to Leave Their House”. Hodges saw a tape of the show and immediately offered the role of Bonnie Grape to Mrs. Cates, who accepted. Now this was not an easy role to accept because it’s a role that would address her real life obesity and the way that people react to it. There are many scenes where Momma goes out on the street and people stare at her or make fun of her as if she was some sort of freak. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for her to film these scenes. To me, this actress is a brave soul for recognizing her problem and not being afraid to address it through her performance. Depp himself apologized to the actress after filming some of his lines. So my hats off to this fine actress, she actually got to me; she was completely vulnerable and honest in her performance and that calls for appreciation.

The film is sprinkled with a great supporting cast. Mary Steenburgen plays the desperate housewife looking for some action with Gilbert. John C. Reilly plays this guy who wants to open up a fast food franchise called “Burger Barn”; he swears it’s the best kind of food. That’s something else the film touches upon, how big businesses are gulping up small ones. Then we have Crispin Glover playing the town mortician, basically, it’s one of those movies that is filled with all these characters that make up the town folk. Finally we have Juliette Lewis playing the role of a girl who travels across the United States on a camper with her grandma. When she and Gilbert meet, sparks fly. She offers him something he’d been missing all his life, a breath of fresh air, some love and understanding. Juliette Lewis glows on this movie. So what we got here is a bitter sweet movie filled with some wonderfully happy moments and some terribly dark ones as well, kind of like life. It’s a film that teaches us to take the good with the bad.

Rating:  5 out of 5

Dark Shadows (2012)

Title: Dark Shadows (2012)

Director: Tim Burton

Cast: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Chloe Grace Moretz, Bella Heathcote

Review:

Tim Burton’s always been one of my favorite directors. The guy is an artist through and through and it shows on his films. He always puts such emphasis on the mood and look of a film that even if the film is crappy (which has happened) you can rest assured you’ll at least see something that will look interesting. But even I must admit that he’s turned into a pretty hit and miss kind of director. Some of his films reach perfection like Sleepy Hollow (2004) and Ed Wood (1994); which to me are his brightest days behind the camera, some are halfway decent like Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), and some are downright disastrous abominations like Planet of the Apes (2001) and Alice in Wonderland (2010). This is why whenever one of Burton’s films comes to the big screen; I always give them a chance. I could end up watching one of the good ones. Now take in consideration that I was never a follower of the old Dark Shadows television show, I only saw a couple of episodes sporadically. I’ve never seen any of the previous Dark Shadow films either so I’m judging this one solely on its own merits. This review comes to you from a Tim Burton fan whose been dissapointed with his recent batch of films. So, the question remains, was Dark Shadows a good Tim Burton film?

Dark Shadows is all about Barnabas Collins, a young man in love with a girl called Josette DuPres. At the same time, a powerful witch called Angelique Bouchard also has the hots for Barnabas, and she doesn’t take kindly to rejection! So when Barnabas rejects her advances, she puts Josette under a spell and sends her to her death. As for Barnabas, he gets locked inside of a coffin, buried alive and cursed to live the life of a vampire! Fast forward 196 years later, and some people unwillingly unearth Barnabas who is now faced with the fact that he’s been buried for nearly 200 years. Barnabas is now headed towards  a culture clash of gargantuan proportions! He must quickly learn the ways of Lava Lamps and Rock and Roll. He also discovers that the Collin’s family is no longer as prominent and rich as it once was. So now, Barnabas’ has only one major concern in his mind: restoring the Collin’s family to it’s former glory. Will he achieve it?

So I went into Dark Shadows kind of skeptical, would it be one of the good ones, or would it be a sucky Burton flick? If you ask me, with his recent slate of films, Tim Burton has been kind of selling his soul for money with films like Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). Would Dark Shadows be one of these fluffy colorful get rich quick films? Or would this be one of those Burton films that he puts extra care and attention to? My answer is yes, this is one of the good ones! First off, I enjoyed the humor. Going into this I was expecting Tim Burton’s version of The Addams Family. You know, a cooky, spooky, funny family, and that’s pretty much what I got, only thing is that this film is aimed more towards adults. It has sexually explicit jokes, and lots of dark humor. My only gripe is that this film should have been ‘R’ rated. I mean, you’re having a female character giving Barnabas Collins oral sex for Christ’s sake! Make it an ‘R’ rated film and you don’t have to shy way from the blood and gore which brings me to the one and only thing I didn’t like about the film, in terms of the gore it felt restrained.

Tim Burton, working his magic with Johnny Depp

Let’s take for example Sleepy Hollow (2004) which I consider to be Burton’s masterpiece. It’s a fairytale, it’s dark, it’s gothic, it’s gory…and it was rated ‘R’ which was the perfect thing to do. After all, this was a movie about a guy who goes around decapitating people, there’s no way around it, Sleepy Hollow, though based on a fairy tale (which are usually aimed at kids) needed to be rated ‘R’ so you wouldn’t shy away from the gory nature of the story, from the horror. If you ask me, Dark Shadows should have been an ‘R’ as well. Aside from the fact that it’s a film filled with a sexual situation or two, Barnabas is a vampire, a blood sucker. One scene that has Barnabas feeding on a group of young kids should have been a blood bath, instead, Burton cuts away and we don’t see the potentially gruesome scene, even after all the build up that goes on before it. I guess this is the way films are made today. Everything has to be watered down PG-13, just to play it safe. Just to make sure you’re film will make as many millions as it possibly could. Well, you know what, I got news for you Hollywood; Sleepy Hollow was ‘R’ and it still made a huge amount of money. But whatever, filmmaking is equal parts business and equal parts art, I’m sure here Burton was just following orders from studio execs not to go over the top with the blood and gore. I’m just saying; this film needed a bit more gruesomeness. Still, this is a minor hiccup with the film, what else worked about it?

Well for starters as it is expected in a Burton film, the art direction was superb. I loved the look of Collinwood, the mansion that the Collin’s family inhabits. It’s this gigantic old mansion filled with room after cob web filled room, with dark hallways and secret passages. At times, with certain shots, I felt like I was watching an old Hammer film, which is probably exactly what Burton was going for. Burton did a good job of mixing that look that horror films from the 70’s had with his gothic, artistic sensibilities. The result is a film with a very different color palette then your usual Burton film, the film is colorful, but the colors are kind of muted, the way the colors looked on the old Dark Shadows television shows. I would say that Burton was successful in replicating the way Dan Curtis’s films and television shows looked. But the film still has Burton’s ‘gothicness’ to it. And by the way, I want to applaud the fact that CGI was kept to a minimum on this one, finally, this film like a real film and not like a bunch of actors are standing behind a green screen. The CGI is used the way it should be used, whenever it’s necessary. Mr. Burton, The Film Connoisseur salutes you for this!

Dark Shadows is a spooky flick filled with everything from ghosts, to witches, to vampires and even werewolves, a horror fan should be happy with this film. I also enjoyed the phantasmagorical images Burton came up with in those scenes dealing with the ghosts that inhabit Collinwood. This is a horror film, but it’s also a comedy, and the characters are funny in their own kooky ways, with that mordant Burton sense of humor which is present in many of his films. Dark Shadows marks Burton’s eight collaboration with Johnny Depp, who is great as Barnabas, the character is likable even though he’s a villain which is a tough feat to achieve, its Barnabas that will keep you entertained through out, great character. Some complaint that this movie is slow, or boring, but I found it to be great fun, the dialog, the sarcasm, the witt, honestly at times it felt like The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) of the horror world. You know, the story of a family trying to recover its former glory. And for those that complaint about this film being ‘boring’ just remember that Dan Curtis’s films were never action packed films, they were always quiet, spooky tales about family. And this is what this film captures well, it captures that fog filled cemetery, with the ghosts creeping about the hallways of the mansion, the dark corridors...the gigantic ominous looking house with a history. I’m guessing what some people might not like is that this version of Dark Shadows is a comedy, and the old show wasn’t, but if you look at the campiness of those shows today, you might find comedy in it.  

In terms of the comedy, I say the film succeeded. I was laughing like a mad man with some of the jokes, especially those dealing with Barnabas and his clash with the 70’s, great fish out of water stuff there. The comedy is a bit subtle, and it’s more related to the dialog than slapstick or physical comedy, so what these characters say and the way they behave is what should keep you giggling. The film reminded me of The Addams Family (1991) in many ways, let’s see, we have the eccentric family members, the gigantic and spooky mansion, the family treasure and the strangers who want to get their hands on it, and finally, the honor of the family name. These are all elements that both films share, but Dark Shadows adds the element of sexual obsession to the mix, though Gomez and Morticia had a little of that going on as well. So both films are similar, but Dark Shadows is decidedly more adult in a way.  Final words is that this was a satisfying Tim Burton film, and I’m glad because I’ve been waiting for a good Burton film for a while, glad I didn’t give up on the guy. He’s still got it in my book.

Rating: 4 out of 5