French Cinema: Le Voyage du ballon rouge (aka FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON)

Like most of the dramatic French films that I have seen in the last five years The Le Voyage du ballon rouge is a slow and moving film about a young boy Simon and his new babysitter Song (played by Simon Iteanu and Fang Song, respectfully) who happen to connect through his imaginary world and cinema by the appearance of a red balloon which happens to weave in and out of their lives like a voyeur.

The young boy’s mother Suzanne (Juliette Binoche) is a voice performer for a puppet troop who lives in a crowded flat with a neighbor that hasn’t paid rent in a long while. While trying to evict her tenants she must also prepare her home for the arrival of her daughter whom she thinks will be coming home to go to college and a husband whom she hasn’t seen in a long while because he’s writing the “all-great novel.”

The three try to live a seemingly normal existence in the chaos of life and that is simply the whole of the film. Writer/director Hsiao-hsien Hou does a magnificent job presenting what is in essence a domestic drama in which very little happens but the actions of the film are driven by the relationships of Suzanne and Simon as Song enters and becomes a member of their family.

The red balloon of the film is very playful at times with Simon yet is adrift from his mother (whom never realizes it’s presence) and Song (whom only recognizes the balloon metaphorically in everything around them). At the same time that Simon is enraptured with the red balloon, Song is filming a short film about a boy who comes into contact with a red balloon, which is an homage to Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 film Le Ballon rouge. There are many parallels between Lamorisse’s film and the events depicted in Le Voyage du ballon rouge which enhances the enjoyment of the film (if, of course, you’ve seen Lamorisse’s film that is).

Like many of the more indie French dramas Le Voyage do ballon rouge has no clear cut ending to any of the seemingly major conflicts in the film such as Suzanne’s eviction of her tenants or whether or not her daughter will actually come home for college. The film ends as abruptly as it began. It is simply a small look into a family’s life and like the red balloon it will eventually float away into the sky and move on.

Teenage Horror & PROM NIGHT (2008)

I’ll be the first to admit that the original 1980 PROM NIGHT is not a very good film and time has not been kind to it. In fact, the only reason to watch that film is because it is an early film of former Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis and it has a rare non-comedic Leslie Nelson. That film came out on the heels and success of such slahsers as HALLOWEEN, HELL NIGHT, TERROR TRAIN, and a plethora of others and its just as derivative and forgettable as most of the films mentioned (with the exception of HALLOWEEN).

Unlike many of this year’s other remake offerings (i.e. SHUTTER, ONE MISSED CALL, APRIL FOOL’S DAY, DAY OF THE DEAD, etc.) the new 2008 PROM NIGHT didn’t have anything to live up to. Now I know a lot of hard-core horror enthusiast gag when they hear that there is yet another remake of a “beloved” classic that’s been watered down with a PG-13 rating but lets just take a look at the new PROM NIGHT before outright dismissing it.

First of all, this new PROM NIGHT is PG-13 and its target audience is the female teenager as date movie. This is very apparent from both the trailers and from viewing the film itself. There is no gore and about 95% of the violence is off screen when there is violence. The sound editing is used to great effect to illicit scares and dread. There is a lot of time – “plot wise,” spent on establishing the “female perspective” of the prom experience rather than from the male perspective, in fact, the men characters are all secondary to the female characters as if prom night was more a right of passage for females then it is for men. This idea is reinforced by the conversations between the females when they are discussing their relationships with one another and how they will change when they go off to college as well as the females’ conversations with their boyfriends (whom as cliché would put it all want to have sex with their girlfriends as their right of passage after prom) which focus on the women breaking away from the men in order to actually evolve into adult women out into the new world. J.S. Cardone’s screenplay does an excellent job on elaborating on these themes throughout crafting a film that never has any throw away scenes. Even main character Donna’s (Brittany Snow) conversations with her Aunt and Uncle, whom she lives with, focus on these aspects. These deeper truths elevate this film above the standard slasher film fodder.

There is the requisite slasher film trappings. The ludicrous obsessed stalker-killer in Richard Fenton, who while very well captured by actor Johnathon Schaech, is very one-note and uninteresting. Story wise the character works as a foil for the rest of the characters – Donna and her friends are teenagers who are moving into adulthood while Fenton is obsessed with recapturing his young in the form of Donna, who is a character whose conflict lies in the very heart of whether or not she will be able to evolve from child to adult after the tragic events inflicted upon her by Fenton (who you learn at the beginning of the film has killed Donna’s entire family in order to get to her).

Now, all of this is only relevant if you are a young teenage female who can relate to the turmoil that all teenagers must face as a right of passage into adulthood as embodied by the Donna character. There in lies the challenge of the new PROM NIGHT. It is marketed to a specific age group and gender and if you don’t fit within it then you won’t enjoy the film. The film is very simple in terms of plot and very predictable with exception to the fact that some of the people you think should get killed don’t and vice versa. Hard-core horror enthusiast should stay clear because all you’ll see is a derivative film; to this I say you are too jaded. I happened to screen the film with an audience of teenager couples and groups of teenage women who jumped at every suspenseful moment and screamed when the characters screamed. The film hits all the right marks.

Currently the film is enjoying the top spot of one of the highest grossing horror films in 2008 having grossed over $50 million thus far. Now I have no problem with these types of films that are PG-13 because they are geared to a particular audience. My problem lies with the PG-13 films geared to the adult audience that comes off as watered down teenager flicks (i.e. ONE MISSED CALL, THE EYE, or SHUTTER), which all feature adults in adult situations. When this happens neither adults not teenagers (who do not yet identify with the adult characters) bother with the film.
PROM NIGHT 2008 may not be the best film of 2008 but it’s the best remake that has achieved its desired goals especially in the eyes of teenage audience.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK Film Review!

SPOILER WARNING – Do not read this if you actually think you want to be surprised by some of the events in this film.

Opting to try and do a BATMAN BEGINS or SUPERMAN RETURNS with the HULK franchise the makers of the new film THE INCREDIBLE HULK are not dismissing the previous Ang Lee film HULK by any means they just want too move on and have fun with the character.

Apart from some stylistic flaws and some story elements at the end of the film that I didn’t really care for the original Ang Lee HULK film wasn’t that bad (in my opinion). It tried to take what is otherwise a throwaway genre of film – “the superhero film” and give it more credibility. This didn’t happen due to studio interference and the fact that the film was five years before its time and that audiences weren’t completely prepared for an all CGI green main character.

The new film THE INCREDIBLE HULK is a complete opposite affair as audiences have gotten used to the CGI characters from such films as the X-MEN trilogy, the MATRIX trilogy, and the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, to name a few. Also, the technology of creating a more realistic all green CGI character has advanced enough that the Hulk doesn’t look like a cartoon anymore. This new film also doesn’t have to waste time with an “origin” film and can get on with the business at hand mainly by giving the Hulk a real villain to have fun with in the appearance of The Abomination, which was always one of my favorite villains of the Hulk.

For purists of the Hulk comic the Abomination’s appearance differs but as played by Tim Roth he makes for one of the best comic book to screen villains yet (in a small group that only includes Magneto, Gene Hackman’s Lex Luther, and Jack Nicholson’s The Joker). The film does an excellent job of slowly developing Roth’s Abomination before the huge fight at the end. It’s a slow an logical build up that doesn’t pop out of no where like the Jeff Bridges fiasco at the end of the IRON MAN film (which in my opinion is only watchable because of Robert Downey, Jr.’s brilliant performance)

Another great thing about the new Hulk film is the reliance on the part of screenwriter Zak Penn not to repeat the mistakes of the first film. There are great references to all manner of supporting characters of the Hulk universe throughout similar to that which has been done in the Spider-Man films. For you die hard Hulk fans the rumors are true - the creation of The Leader (as played by Tim Blake Nelson) one of the Hulk’s biggest enemies is in fact in this film.

Needless to say with all these great things to say about the film the worst thing about the film is the two-dimensional Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and General Ross (William Hurt) don’t exactly help the film. Tyler though has great chemistry with Edward Norton (as Bruce Banner) who plays the character closer to the Bill Bixby character of the television series, which this new film pays homage to at every turn. I enjoyed Norton as Banner but I believe Eric Bana (from the Ang Lee film) was the better choice. Norton seems to have lost a lot of weight to play the role.

The last thing I’ll take into account is the tacked on ending between General Ross and Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) which gives a hint of the impending AVENGERS INITIATIVE film if they do in fact go ahead with the it. I’m all for another big superhero team film ala X-MEN or THE FANTASTIC FOUR but as a former comic book reader The Avengers were never that interesting of a group because so much of character was sacrificed for the “team” stories that they all seemed like two dimensional caricatures. Anyway, regardless, even though I dislike the ending to the film I hope they decide to do a sequel because The Leader would make one hell of a great villain.

"Censorship & Opinions"

Been away for a little while as I've had to do a lot of thinking over the past few weeks. Many unexpected things happened which prompted me to add the "About This Blog:" at the top of the page. Some of the things which I've mentioned throughout this blog as well as the other four blogs I maintain have come into question so a similar warning was added to some of them.

Personally, I love criticism when its creative, in fact, if you've been following me (and my various blogs) over the years you know I'm my own worse enemy. I love to critique myself and look forward to others doing the same to my work. This is one of the reasons why I've started writing short stories on the Story Smash website (www.storysmash.com) which allows a writer to start a story but then allows other writers to continue it in an almost "Choose Your Own Adventure" sort of fashion. The more interesting story ideas have several branches from which have sprung out from the original concept (you'll know what I'm talking about when you view the site). Each chapter is allowed comments and writers continue to add chapters to the story that they think has the most interesting elements.

I've started one story on the website and continued another writer's story and that other writer whose story I continued thought my ideas were very different but in a unique way because they went so far from what she thought up. I got a comment on the first chapter of my story which simply said "Terrible." This is not a comment but a blank statement with no meaning whatsoever and I told the reader this is a Reply comment. I suggested that he either say what he did or did not like about the story or simply continue the story in a way he thought was better. I'm still waiting for him to respond.

I'm a writer and a filmmaker and I comment and critique everything whether I want to or not. After five years of college and a A.B. degree in Film I'm entitled to my opinion. Also, with over twent-five feature and short indie films on my back I believe that I have the knowledge and background to comment on my own productions in any way I see fit regardless of the consequences.

I'm someone who learns from his mistakes and tries to teach others what I know as well as learn from them. It's the nature of the business I'm in. I'm going to learn more by doing rather then from a damn book because a book can only teach you so much in terms of making a film. I don't know everything and I've never claimed that I did. I only know, what I know and everything else I learn on the way and I'm not afraid to fail or be a failure. I've failed at a lot of things in my time and I learn from that failure and move on hoping that with each failure I become a stronger human being as well as a better filmmaker.

Opinions are like assholes because everyone has one. It's in the way in which you present that opinion that matters. In this blog many of my opinions are a little one-sided which is fine since that is the reason for this blog's existence. If you want to read some of my better work I suggest Associated Content (www.associatedcontent.com), Helium (www.helium.com), or one of my three blogs on My Space. In this blog I don't always know what I'm going to say before I say it or write it down so it's a bit more raw and a little more unconventional (like this here entry) and frankly, if you don't like it you can kiss my ass.

No censorship Baby!

I'll continue to say what I want to say when I say it and if you don't like it - Fuck You! No one asked you to read it.

THE STRANGERS - Best American Horror Film of the Year!

Although the new thriller THE STRANGERS (2008) is being released a year after its original release date and just several months after the similarly themed French film Ils (Them) hits DVD shelves, this American styled retelling of a true story is bound to appeal to a broader audience then the French film. Both films tell the story of a couple who are unexpected terrorized by a group of people in masks for no apparent reason other then because they were home.

The incident that inspired both films was such a public outrage of senseless violence by young kids that it was ripe for cinematic adaptation. Like the story of Ed Gein influenced everything from PSYCHO to THE TEXAS CHAN SAW MASSACRE this story is also shocking beyond belief. Another film released this year FUNNY GAMES (a remake of an earlier film) echo the same incident only more in your face.

In THE STRANGERS it is never revealed who the assailants are that terrorize James Hoyt and his girlfriend Kristen McKay (an exceptionally well-casted Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler, respectfully) on a night when they are returning home from a friends wedding. Everything should be fine but no sooner do they reach the house that they find themselves the unwilling participants in a cat and mouse game with three people wearing masks who continue to mock and terrorize them no matter where they try to run or hide.

It’s a very simple premise but it works extremely well due to the terrific casting and the excellent script by writer/director Bryan Bertino who brings suspense and atmosphere to a story that could have easily been a bargain basement straight to DVD film. He also crafts a genuine relationship between James & Kristen which drives their motivations through the whole film and makes the audience really feel for their impossible situation no mater how dire it becomes. Other horror films should take notice of this film.

Although the film is not really graphic or violent the gore and shock of the situation is layered in like that of Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO or Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. The audience believes that the film is more violent then it truly is as much is left to the imagination. THE STRANGERS is a superior genre film to anything else that’s been released this year by an American studio.

IRON MAN - Saved By Good Acting!

As much as I’d like to admit it, IRON MAN wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It’s by no means one of the best super hero comic book films but it’s not as bad as lets say CATWOMAN or BARB WIRE. The story’s nothing new as it is an origin story (what else) of the iconic Marvel Comic hero. If you know anything about super heroes then you know that Iron Man is Marvel’s attempt at a Batman – the so-called rich guy who has a questionable path that leads him to spend his money for the good of all mankind by getting into a suit and dressing up like a bat…or tin can as the case may be here.

In fact, this film is so by the numbers that I could have told you every plot point before actually seeing the film, which is why I was so skeptical about seeing the film in the first place. The one thing that’s memorable in the entire film is Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark (which you have to call him since the appropriately named Iron Man doesn’t really make an appearance until the third act of the film). Downey is one of Hollywood’s few versatile actors who is at home in comedies (TWO GIRLS & A GUY), drama (GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK), horror (GOTHIKA), or action (KISS KISS BANG BANG or U.S. MARSHALS). The guy can do it all without skipping a beat and it shows in this film.

Few actors have been able to embody a super hero character as well as he does in this film. He’s so good that it’s a shame that all the other A-List actors (Terrance Howard, Gwenith Paltrow, or Jeff Bridges) in the film have so little to do other than look good for that impending sequel. The story is not very good, just good enough and the film is ultimately saved by Downey presence and the superb special visual effects on display which never look cartoony (like much of last year’s big summer films).
I’m sure that now that the “origin” story is out of the way the sequel will surpass this film in the same way that X2: X-MEN UNITED was a much better film then the first one.

"Back 2 Basics"

No longer involved with my former girlfriend. It didn’t take long as I had anticipated and if you read my former blog about her then you would have probably thought that “maybe” I had hopes it would be different this time.
Nope. Fate has other plans for me and the rest of my life, so, my former girlfriend and I are no more and now I can get back to basics and continue upon my own life’s direction without all the added baggage that came with that relationship.
But isn’t there baggage that comes with any relationship?
My former girlfriend had lots of “baggage” as in regards to a former marriage that had kids, a “legal” marriage that she couldn’t afford to get out of as of right now, lack of a good job, smart children with an attitude, and a multitude of other “baggage” that she could not simply leave at the baggage claim of the airport.
Let me just say that I never expected her to leave her baggage at the baggage claim and as many people have attested to my personality, I have a knack of turning a bad situation into a good one regardless of the hurtles and problems that may arise.
I’ve just come to the conclusion that this same quality is not present in all other people. So, it’s a good thing that my former girlfriend and I broke up. I just would’ve have liked to have been told this by her.
I’m not bitter mind you. It’s something I’ve come to expect considering that she did the same thing ten years ago when we were first dating. A leopard never changes its spots and neither do some people it seems, which is why I’m still surprised we went as far and as long as we did.
Now I’m back to basics and trying new things and new people.
First off, I’m going to get a lot of work done and caught up as being at the mercy of a relationship has taken its toll on my career. I didn’t mind at first but when you break off a relationship that you think might go some where and then you look back at all the sacrifices that were made in the name of that relationship and realize that they were done in vain then you realize that you have a lot of catching up to do and that’s what I’m doing now – catching up and I’m not going to let another person stand in my way again.
I’m not bitter, mind you, although it might seem that maybe I have a little bit of spite in me but it’s like anything you try and put all your blood and tears in and then you have nothing to show for it at the other end. That is how I feel about my former relationship now that I’ve had time to reflect back upon it. I’ve come out of the relationship the same as when I entered it and now I feel as though it was all a big waste of time.
Maybe it wasn’t a big waste of time. Many events and occurrences in one’s life seem to be meaningless and pointless (as this one seems to me) until long in the future we’ve had time to reflect. I’ve reflected and it’s still just meaningless. Good thing I’m going back to the basics then because the last six months (the length of which the relationship lasted) will have all but been a dream to me.