To See Or Not To See

I know this is usually something Kozure Okami would do but I've been watching an awful lot of films lately and felt like briefly summarizing what I thought of the most relevant of them.

Dark Star
The crew of a spaceship has to deal with a increasingly malfunctioning ship and having too much time on their hands.
Dark Star is terribly boring to watch at times. All of it is delivered completely dry so you're not really sure if you're supposed to laugh or not. Pretty much the only reason to watch it today would be the ridiculous portrayal the 70s painted of space travel. It's like 2001 smoked a few blunts too many, sat down on an old couch and waited for linear thoughts to return. Dark Star has been called "Waiting for Godot in Space", which seems appropriate to me. If you're not completely aware of this, you won't make it through the first 30 minutes.

Eraserhead
A miserable man has to deal with his detachment from society, dementia and his monstrously deformed illegitimate baby.
I'll receive a lot of hate for this but I'm still going to say that this movie is terrible. I say that not because it did not get it, but because it has no redeeming qualities. In terms of aesthetics it's obviously terrible, with the bleak visuals and sound. Of course that's part of its identity. There is not much of a plot, so there's no suspense that keeps you going. So the only thing that would make this film worthwile is its artistic content, and this is spread so thin throughout the length of the film that it just doesn't do it for me. The most logical interpretation I've read so far focuses on christian values and selfpity so that can go fuck itself as well.

Videodrome
The producer of a scandalous TV station gets hold of a secretly broadcasted snuff material that turns out to be more than just a show.
Videodrome starts off as a caricarture of violent and perverse television but soon developes into a way more surreal experience due to the halluciations involved in the story. It basks in a mixture of violence, sex and abstract horror to set the mood. While there is very little to be attached to, mostly because there are no sympathetic roles, it does develope some degree of fascination. Like Eraserhead though, I don't see it making a point. What it leaves behind is a gory gruel vision of mind distortion that doesn't really involve any long-term impression. Maybe today's audience is just used to this degree of abhorrence.

Four Lions
Four amateurish wannabe-terrorists prepare to bring their holy war onto britain with their hardest hurdle being is their own incompetence.
This was better than I expected because it's just the right amount of silly. It neither glorifies nor ridicules the subject, it's not sentimental or overly goofy but rather deals with it by throwing one normal person and a bunch of idiots at it and sees what they make of it. It was also a relief to see that they didn't shy back from being bitterly evil in many jokes without trying to be edgy at any time. The humor is consistent and works well throughout. It's a fun movie to watch without a single boring stretch. I'd definitely recommend watching it.

Rambo - First Blood
A mentally scarred war veteran returns home from Vietnam and starts a guerilla war against the abusive police.
No film series has embodied the archtype of a dumb action-flick like Rambo, but that's because of the second and third movie. Of course there isn't much of plot here and Stallone manages to show a total of three facial expressions, but there's a heart and soul to this film that few modern action films have. Beyond the guerilla warfare asskicking Rambo hands out, his background as a man trained in nothing but killing that's mentally stuck in the battlefield is portrayed on a much more intimate and believable way level than one would expect from a film with this reputation. First Blood is not only a must see because of the name but because of its sheer quality in many terms.

Hitman
Number 47 is sent to kill a russion policitian when he gets set up and now has to work against The Organization.
Although it doesn't go anywhere, it's not boring to watch because it wraps the sloppy story into fast cuts and silly action scenes. I expected a horrible film and was positively suprised - certainly it's completely predictable and dull, but it's a fun film to watch that never explicitly implies depth. It never acts as if it wanted to be taken seriously and is thus allowed to be a silly movie with lots of gunfights and explosions. It's a fastfood kind of movie, but an unexpectedly good one. It's basically like Gamer, but not as shit.

Cypher
Boring employee of a mega-company is sent out as an industrial spy to infiltrate their main competitor.
Cypher doesn't loose track of what it's trying to do, it just does too much of it. The imagery used to make a point is often very much over the top and the double-crossing that is of course involved in espionage scenarios gets completely out of hand by the end of the movie where it's a new reveal every few minutes which of course deminishes the effect. The story itself keeps not twisting, but flailing. That makes it a little exhausting to watch, although the pacing works well and it feeds the audience enough material to keep going at most times. Generally, Cypher could have been a way better movie if it wasn't trying so desperately hard.

Hesher
Homeless drunkard, bully and hellion moves into a kid's home and mixes up his family and view on the world.
I was very pleasently surprised to see that Hesher doesn't make a statement. It doesn't try to force a specific lesson down your throat. Like the protagonist, it just bursts into existence, stays for a while, demolishes some stuff and then leaves so you have to figure out the rest yourself. This may actually be the first movie with a child as the protagonist that I really liked (the film, not the child). Again, Joseph Gordon-Levitt can play absolutely everything you throw at him, making Hesher a character that the audience isn't explicitly supposed to like of dislike. It's like a force of nature, it's just there and you have to deal with it. Even Natalie Portman who usually has the emotional depth of a cardboard box does well in this, just as much as the other characters. Overall Hesher is a fantastic movie that I highly recommend.

Point Break
An undercover cop investigates a group of surfers that he suspects are really a gang of bankrobbers.
Young people would call it The Fast and the Furious with surfing. This leaves aside the fact that Point Break is both older and better. It just has a certain vibe to it, it is old fashioned in many ways and lives off its two big stars but manages to have a coolness to it that is impossible to ignore. It's a very simple film really, but draws you in somehow and sticks with you. Great flick.

Hackers
A bunch of cool teenage hackers gets blamed for blackmailing a large company and must prove their innocense.
This movie is so very over the top ridiculous and corny with it's now outdated depiction of hacker subculture, techno clubs, roller-skating and animated cyberspace sequences. The acting is terrible, the characters are crap and the main antagonist is a lush excuse for a villain. And still there's something about it that makes it so very charming. The whole movie has the 90s dripping out of every pore and is so convinced that it's cool that you can hardly disagree. It's a complete anachronism in this day and age, but that makes it even more of a jewel. It's not even any particular element, but the overall vibe it transmits that defines it.

Oldboy
A man who was held captive for fifteen years seeks revenge and the reason behind his imprisonment.
Except for old Kung-Fu movies like 36 chambers, I'm not fond of asian cinema at all. Oldboy has an impressive reputation despite some shortcomings for western audiences. It manages to blend together a great mixture of extreme violence, very simple human interaction and drama that stands out. There is no nobleness to it and it doesn't make its characters too cool either. The balance between action coolness and down to earth drama works out pretty well until the dramatic climax and reveal of the film. It may not blow you away, but it uses empathy very intelligently. One of the best eastern movies I've seen.

The Magician
A traveling magician and his crew have to convince the leading townspeople that they aren't charlatans.
In contrast to The Seventh Seal, whose main elements were the atmosphere and the thought behind it, Bergmann's The Magician appears as if it only tries to live off the mood it produces. And fails. Again, people will blame me for not getting it, but I don't see this film making a point. The protagonists triumph in the end is shallow and while the splendid premise of having mystery and science compete with each other, it fails to deliver any provoking thesis in the end. Clearly it plays on the reactions of the characters to the traveling magicians, but that's about the only aspect it plays well. I had expected something more thought provoking.