NFL Power Poll - Week 5

1. Green Bay Packers

2. New England Patriots

3. New Orleans Saints

4. Detroit Lions

5. Baltimore Ravens

6. San Diego Chargers

7. Buffalo Bills

8. Houston Texans

9. New York Jets

10. San Francisco 49ers

11. Pittsburgh Steelers

12. Oakland Raiders

13. Tennessee Titans

14. Cincinnati Bengals

15. Washington Redskins

16. Atlanta Falcons

17. Dallas Cowboys

18. Chicago Bears

19. New York Giants

20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

21. Kansas City Chiefs

22. Carolina Panthers

23. Philadelphia Eagles

24. Cleveland Browns

25. Seattle Seahawks
26. Arizona Cardinals

27. Denver Broncos

28. Minnesota Vikings

29. Jacksonville Jaguars

30. Indianapolis Colts

31. St Louis Rams

32. Miami Dolphins

Movies I wanted to like #2

2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) directed by Steven Spielberg


Why I wanted to like it:

Well it is Indiana freaking Jones! I, like most others, love the whole Indiana Jones trilogy for its fun action adventure storylines. The last Indy movie was released in 1989 and fanboys have long heard rumors that there would be another Indy movie once George Lucas and Steve Spielberg had the time. Since Lucas was working on Star Wars again it seemed as if the long awaited 4th movie would never materialize. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had to be one of the most anticipated movie ever for me! I just knew that having Indiana Jones back would be awesome, no matter what he was doing. Once they previews were released the movie looked decent enough and since it was Spielberg directing I knew Lucas could not single handily be in charge of messing this one up. I was so eager to see what Professor Jones has in store for his rabid fans! I went to see the midnight showing of this, just so I could say that I was there when it was first opening.



Why I didn't like it:

Well, the magic had just somewhat vanished from the Indiana Jones of old. Harrison Ford looked much older and tired but that wasn't the main reason I didn't like the movie. I guess it was mostly the plot that involved Jones looking for a skull that was tied up with aliens. Jeeze Spielberg, we get it...you love aliens!!!! Okay, so I know that the Indy movies are not realistic by any standard but it was cooler when Indy was after artifacts that actually were rumored to exist or were lore. I just felt Indiana Jones and aliens was not the mix I was looking for.

The movie also reeked of Lucas, too many over the top sets and you could tell when CGI was used. For having almost 20 years between movies you really think they could have done a much better job. Not that Spielberg did his best work here either. Shia LaBeouf (who I like in some roles) was made to be the long lost son Indy never knew he had. I thought they were just trying to set up this monkey swinging kid to take over the mantle of his dad. Once again like Superman Returns I did not care to see if the hero had a kid. I would rather see the hero return to what he does best, kicking some Nazi ass.

The movie did go on to make a killing at the box office. Sure I own the dvd but have seriously never even thought about watching it. A few months back the movie poped up on some cable station and I started watching it again. It does have definite moments that are well done, like the car chase through the jungle scene but even those scenes have to throw in some cheesy moment. Overall the wait just wasn't worth it.

THE KEEP (1983) - Michael Mann's monster movie

THE KEEP

(1983, UK)

A Michael Mann movie that's not on DVD...

I enjoyed The Keep in the cinema, though it didn't all make total sense at the time. Watching it again after a long break, I understand it better and still enjoy it, especially the dreamlike quality. Admittedly, it's a very dark dream.

In 1983, Michael Mann wasn't a 'name' yet and had only directed TV shows and one other movie. Looking back, The Keep doesn't snugly fit in with his body of work, and perhaps this is why it hasn't been released on home video in nearly twenty years...

But before I'd even seen it, I was already sold on the premise and some of the startling photos. German soldiers tangling with a monstrous evil in an ancient castle keep - it was a story I wanted to see. Hints of the Dracula legend being reimagined, Nazis versus monsters, were all very promising. The coverage in Fantastic Films, Fangoria and Starburst magazines all had cover stories. This looked to be a new kind of monster altogether. The cast looked good, so for me it didn't need a big name director to warrant seeing it.

World War II. A German army commander (Jürgen Prochnow, inbetween Das Boot and Dune) rolls into a remote Romanian village and houses his soldiers in a mysterious old stone fortress. Despite warnings not to tamper with the strange crosses embedded in the walls, his soldiers start to die, blown apart by an unseen force. An SS officer (Gabriel Byrne, inbetween Excalibur and Gothic) arrives to solve the murders, instantly blaming the villagers. He pressures an old Jewish professor (Ian McKellen, in an early leading role) to translate the writing inside the keep and unravel its mysteries. Meanwhile, a lone traveller (Scott Glenn of The Right Stuff, Backdraft) is on his way to the village, somehow alerted the very moment the keep was breached...

But The Keep didn't appear in the usual local cinemas near me but the BFI repertory cinema instead, meaning that it hadn't had a wide release and had been relegated to the arthouse circuit, which suited it very well. The studio were presumably annoyed they hadn't got a straightforward monster movie (though it wasn't much more different approach than Alien, which also had careful art direction and a slowly measured pace). There'd already been news that the film had been extensively recut before release.

Michael Mann directed this after Violent Streets (a gritty heist story, made in 1981, also known as Thief) and wanted to avoid "another street picture" and "another cops and robbers picture" (which he's mostly been stuck with ever since). "It had to be original and unique", "like no other movie with supernatural entities", (Mann quoted in Fantastic Films #38). Instead he was aiming high, at a horror story, a fairy tale, a fable about evil, with stylised visuals, but not gothic like the novel. Watching it again, I think he largely succeeded.

The soundtrack is crucial to the mood, and Tangerine Dream doesn't work for everyone, especially when the synth-heavy score is illustrating a wartime period piece. For me this very 1980s music may be an anachronism, but makes it feel more like it's happening in the now. It adds hugely to a dreamlike experience set against the surreal story and setting.

The visuals are also very 80s, but is that because the look of Mann's work influenced the decade? Carefully colour-coordinated production design, symmetrical camera compositions, backlighting, slow-motion montage, heavy filters and floods of dry ice are consistent with Mann's following few films. His next film was Manhunter, a wait of three years presumably because of The Keep's box-office failure. Meanwhile, he made his name producing the mega-hit TV series Miami Vice.

At the centre of The Keep is a monster. Mann wanted something original but had to compete with the impressive work done on Alien and The Thing. Experimenting with visual mechanical effects, the production was delayed and the budget crept up. Constrained by what was possible at the time, I wonder what he would have imagined with CGI?

The violence is bloodless because he was "not interested in gore", feeling he couldn't outdo John Carpenter, "The Thing was the ultimate prosthetic movie", (Mann quoted in Starburst #58). He did however have visual effects by Wally Veevers (Superman - The Movie) and mechanical effects from Nick Allder (Alien, The Empire Strikes Back), plus some spectacular prosthetic suits made by Nick Maley. Though the 'muscles on the outside' approach had been prefigured by the climax of Altered States. Unfortunately, Cinefex magazine didn't write up the visual effects in detail at the time (probably because it was produced in Britain and not Hollywood), but Fangoria #33 had a well-illustrated look at the suits.

I was disappointed that some of the visual effects hadn't made the final cut, and that the wild-looking photos of various stages of the creature weren't showcased in the film. But it's hard to say why that is. Was that cut out by the director or the studio? There's footage on YouTube of an unseen alternate ending and it's certainly a short film for Mann. Also several minor characters (like William Morgan Shepherd) disappear completely after being dramatically introduced, (more about the deleted scenes here).

The 'less is more' glimpses of the creature work to its advantage. It looks impressively huge, an outsized humanoid like the Golem legend, which is mentioned in passing as the soldiers flee. One unique apparition of the figure enshrouded in a cloud of self-circulating smoke is astounding, mainly because some poor devil had to build it all and make it work!

But the mystery of The Keep is intensified by both the surrounding story and locale. Cinematography that's allowed to breathe, with some very long shots that allow us to relax and enjoy the view. Magnificent sets, particularly the village exterior built in a spectacular slate quarry in North Wales. Mann wanted a steep-sided valley with black walls, and there it is in the Glyn Rhonwy Quarry, Llanberis (before and after photos here), together with a full-sized exterior of the keep and half a Romanian village. I remember visiting a scary open slate quarry in the area on a school trip (we were at the top of the quarry cliff looking over the edge) - we were only camped a few miles away, so there's a very good chance it was this one.

In terms of production, with a British crew and an auteur director striving for atmosphere rather than pace, this bears close comparison to Ridley Scott's Alien (1979). As ambitious maybe, though not as effective. I still find it fascinating and the initial build-up of lurking horror is hard to beat. When the soldiers break inside the inner keep, there's a single mindblowing 'pullback' shot that just keeps on going. It totally worked in the cinema, but the visual 'trick' is more obvious on the laserdisc. With careful grading for a digital presentation, I'm still hoping that this scene will regain it's initial power.

The complete removal of language barriers between all the characters is too convenient, and there's an uneven variety of accents on offer. Ian McKellen is supposedly Eastern European but sounds strangely American (just as strange that his film career was so very slow to take off). Gabriel Byrne (Stigmata, Ghost Ship, Miller's Crossing) plays German without an accent, but Jürgen Prochnow can't help himself. Incidentally it was fun seeing Scott Glenn again in Sucker Punch. Looking good, but with more furrowed wrinkles...

But the performances are excellent, with Alberta Watson (White of the Eye, The Lookout) in a difficult but standout role against all the heavyweights. Also a rare horror-role for Robert Prosky, who I first saw as a regular in Hill Street Blues.

The Keep has a carefully-composed 2.35 widescreen aspect, like all Michael Mann's movies, and was really badly cropped down to 1.33 for the videotape release. Anyone watching the VHS will have trouble following what the hell is going on. After being so impressed by it in the cinema, I was delighted when The Keep had an early widescreen release on laserdisc in the US (one of the main reasons I got into the format was the likelihood of widescreen).

The film is becoming increasingly famous as a 'missing film' on home video, last seen on that Paramount laserdisc in 1993. But there's still no DVD on the horizon. It notably appeared on Netflix recently, in the US.


Here's an original trailer on YouTube, (but cropped to 4:3 for home video...)

Sir Ian 'Gandalf' McKellen wrote a little about his involvement on his own website, including a few photographs...

http://www.mckellen.com/cinema/keep/notes.htm

French special effects artist Stéphane Piter has a huge fansite about his obsession with The Keep. The picture-heavy website, English version, begins here... 
http://the.keep.free.fr/default_en.htm

John Belushi - resting in peace

 

While we were visiting Martha's Vineyard last month, we learnt that John Belushi was buried on the island. Couldn't just pass him by and not pay our respects...

The cemetery on Abel Hill has no signpost, but if you head along South Road going through Chilmark, you'll see the cemetery next to the road. As you turn off into the car park, John's memorial is right next to it. A poignant, unfussy reminder of a comic genius who left us nearly thirty years ago.

The traditional headstone (placed there by his family) faces a larger, simpler, shapeless memorial stone chosen by his wife from a beach on the island. But apparently he's not actually laid to rest at this exact spot, but at an unmarked location elsewhere in the cemetery.

A very sad little visit, in contrast with the lovely location and the sunny day. 

Movies I wanted to like #3

I often find myself stuck on a movie that I like part of but just cannot say to myself that I liked it enough to think it was a good movie. I wandered on that for a while and came up with a list of movies that I wanted to like really bad, but for reasons that will be revealed I did not. I decided to jut come up with a top 5 list, so here it goes


3. Superman Returns (2006) directed by Bryan Singer


Why I wanted to like it:

With the success of Batman Begins in 2005 it seemed as if DC Comic characters were in for a great set of movies. You had Bryan Singer directing and he made one of my favorite comic book movies in X-Men 2 as well as a personal favorite The Usual Suspects. The movie seemed to be cast very well and I agreed with most of the choices. Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor seemed genius and Superman himself would be played by a new comer Brandon Routh who looked like a clone of the original Superman actor Christopher Reeves. I also knew Singer wanted this to be a sequel to Superman I & II not a total reboot which seemed like a fresh idea at the time. Everything seemed to point as this not only being a good movie with the right people in front of the camera and behind the scenes but knowing it could also be a huge money maker and lead to even more comic book films with Superman.




Why I didn't like it:

Routh looked the part but his acting was not on par with the hopes of this fanboy. Luther was not really as evil as I was hoping for and the movie really lacked a defining action scene that made the audience say WOW. In fact the movie lacked action, but instead focused on Superman and Lois Lane's child. I think the whole son of Superman thing was the worst aspect of the film for me. I wanted to see Superman and Luther go at it, not a plot about Superman's kid and if he had powers.

Seeing Superman in a hospital bed waiting and knowing he would get better anyway seemed like a waste of time. After first viewing I felt that maybe I missed something and would end up giving the film another shot a few weeks later. The second viewing was a tad better but I still felt that no matter how much I wanted to like Superman Returns that it was not a movie I would like as much as I wanted too.

Since it was released Superman Returns did make quite a lot of money, but not as much as the studio was expecting it too. Singer has said he felt he could do better and was long trying to get a sequel done. Over time a new Superman movie was hatched, this time being directed by Zach Snyder of Watchmen and 300 fame. I only hope that this new movie can address the problems that Superman Returns did wrong.

Movies I wanted to like #4

I often find myself stuck on a movie that I like part of but just cannot say to myself that I liked it enough to think it was a good movie. I wandered on that for a while and came up with a list of movies that I wanted to like really bad, but for reasons that will be revealed I did not. I decided to jut come up with a top 5 list, so here it goes

4. Spider-Man 3 (2007) Directed by Sam Raimi



What I wanted to like it:

I was a big fan of the previous two installments in the series, but more a fan of the awesome Spider-Man 2. When released in 2004 Spider-Man 2 instantly became one of my all time favorite comic book movies. I was pretty pumped to see the follow up and a fanboys dream came true, Venom would be the villain in this one. Spider-Man was also my favorite superhero at the time (to see who it is now, click HERE!) so needless to say I was pretty excited to see how the whole Venom vs. Spider-Man battle would play out. If anything this movie would have a lot going on it knowing that they had two bad guys for the first time in Venom and Sandman as well as Harry Osbourne stuff to tie up and the introduction of Gwen Stacey, whew that is a lot to address.




Why I didn't like it:

I should have seen the writing on the wall with this one. They tried to address too many things and the movie really couldn't focus on just one person to flesh out. We have Peter and Mary Jane, Peter and Gwen Stacey, Sandman, Venom, Harry becoming his own villain, and some where in there Peter Parker hits Mary Jane...ugh the movie was just trying to cover too much! It wasn't helped by the rumor that Raimi did not want to include Venom in the movie and felt he had to from the movie studio. I can see how this could be true since he sort of hurries along the entire Venom story arc. I feel the movie would have played out much better if it Sandman was the lone villain and they incorporated more of Harry going bad. The acting also seemed phoned it especially from the two leads Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, to me it seemed as if they had tired of the roles or maybe they just knew the source material was not as good as the other two movies. The climax of the movie has some good parts to it but overall this movie was a huge let down after Spider-Man 2. Since Spider-Man 3 they have decided to restart the franchise from scratch and The Amazing Spider-Man will be released next year. This could be for the best since the director and actors from the other movies seemed like they were all ready to try something new.

I probably saw Spider-Man 3 a couple of time at the theater, trying to find something I might have missed the first time, trying to like it. I own Spider-Man 1 and 2 on dvd but will never buy this movie.

Movies I wanted to like #5

I often find myself stuck on a movie that I like part of but just cannot say to myself that I liked it enough to think it was a good movie. I wandered on that for a while and came up with a list of movies that I wanted to like really bad, but for reasons that will be revealed I did not. I decided to jut come up with a top 5 list, so here it goes:


5. Southland Tales (2006) Directed by Richard Kelley



Why I wanted to like it:

To be honest I was not a major fan of Donnie Darko when it was first released. I knew all my friends loved it but after I watched it I thought it was ok, nothing special. Then when they re-released it 2004 I went to see it again and everything just worked and I was in love with the film. It could have been seeing it on a big screen or just having more of an open mind but I loved the film. Needless to say I was very stoked to see Mr. Kelley's long awaited follow up Southland Tales. The cast seem interesting enough...you have Stifler (Seann William Scott), The Rock (The Rock), Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), and Justin Timberlake amongst others. There was also a series off spin of comic books that I kept trying to order from my work at the time as well as a cameo by my, at the time hero, Kevin Smith who kept telling all his fanboys that the movie was going to rule.


Why I didn't like it:

The movie was a mess! I seriously felt like walking out (to see a further list of movies I wanted to walk out on, click HERE!) because I frankly had no idea what was going on during the movie. I remember it was hard enough to find a movie theater that was actually playing Southland Tales and me and two friends of mine went on a Friday night, I think we made up the majority of the crowd at the movie that night. Kelley seemed like he made a movie that really just made sense to him. I have heard the movie went through many edits and re-cuts, but the movie they released was nowhere as good as I was hoping for. The only scene I enjoyed (that I can recall) was when Justin Timberlake covered The Killers song. Anyway I really was looking forward to seeing what Kelley could do after Donnie Darko, and five years later came this. Since Southland Tales Kelley has made The Box which I have still yet to see but haven't found anyone who has yet to recommend it.