Present Tense: Avatar (2009) - a science fiction masterpiece for our times

The Film: Avatar (Twentieth Century Fox, 2009). Directed and written by James Cameron. Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel Moore, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi. Running Time: 162 minutes, though it feels like 62 minutes.

In a Nutshell: For once, the hype holds true. There are movies. And there is Avatar. The film is in a league of its own. If there was ever a movie mold, Avatar has shattered it. The film costs gazillions of dollars to make and, believe me, you can see every single nickel of it on the screen. Visually, there simply hasn't ever been another film like it. The crystal clear images - rendered in state-of-the-art 3D - lack the smudgy blurriness earlier generations CGI (computer graphic image) effects. Avatar, in other words, sets the special effects bar at a whole new level, the way Star Wars did back in 1977. Let me say this in big, neon letters, surrounded by blinking lights: YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS FILM IN THE THEATERS! If you don't, you'll be depriving yourself of one of the most incredible filmgoing experiences in recent history. The plot? Well, there seems to be a culture of silence surrounding this film. People who've seen it just don't talk about the plot very much. My son saw it last month and all he could say was that he loved it. Briefly: Corporal Jake Scully (Sam Worthington) is a gung-ho disabled Marine who takes the place of his recently deceased twin brother in an experiment pioneered by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver). Turns out that Jake, Dr. Grace and Norm (Joel David Moore) are the key players in the Avatar Program. They control genetically-engineered Na'vi versions of themselves. The Na'vi inhabit the planet Pandora. They're much taller than humans. They're blue. They're cat-like. They have lithe bodies and they live in dense jungles, amidst colossal trees and cliffs that will make you uneasy if you have vertigo. The three human avatars - Jake, Dr. Grace and Norm - use their genetic shells to live among the Na'vi in order to win their hearts and minds, to pave the way for a corporation that plans to mine the planet. Adding to the intrigue: Jake has been tapped to help the Marines led by sinister Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and the sinister corporation conquer the blue race of feline beings. To make a long story short, Jake falls in love with female Na'vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and, like John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) in Dances With Wolves, he comes to love the people he is sent to conquer. As for the rest of the film, well... See it for yourself. I have probably already given too much away. I'm glad this Blog wasn't around when The Crying Game (1992) was out in the theaters. I probably would've given the twist ending away in that film.

Why I Loved This Film So Much: This truly is an astonishing film that leaves the viewer flabbergasted. James Horner's moving musical score harkens back to his score for Glory (1989) in its emotional power. We'll be seeing a lot more of Sam Worthington, an Australian actor who was apparently living out of his car when James Cameron cast him in the film. He delivers a heartfelt performance in the film. The rest of the actors are in top form, too, and the incredible alien animals steal all of the scenes in which they appear. Avatar is perhaps the most intensely political film to come out of Hollywood in years. But it doesn't beat you over the head with its politics. Instead, it allows you to feel the emotion of the tale, in much the same manner as the aforementioned Dances With Wolves. Avatar has been sixteen years in the making. Apparently, Cameron wrote a treatment for the film back around '94, and he believed in it so passionately, he spent much of the 2000s developing and filming it. The result is science fiction on a grand scale. It has to be seen to be believed. It is truly a work of art.

Parting Shot: Avatar should cement James Cameron's place as an auteur of the first order. Avatar is a monumental achievement. Hundreds of years from now, it will be regarded as one of the cinematic gateways into the new millennium, a seismic moment when filmmaking took a quantum leap forward. (And, damn it, after watching history in the making, I wasn't about to chuck my Avatar 3D glasses into the 3D glasses recycling bin at the movie theater). Grade: A+.

"Take Your Flunky and Dangle...": Words from a flawless film

The Film: Miller's Crossing (Circle Films, 1990). Directed by Joel Coen. Screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Albert Finney and John Polito. Running time: 115 minutes.

When I first saw it: I saw Miller's Crossing when it was in the theaters in the fall of 1990, at a multiplex theater on the south side of Madison, Wisconsin.

Above: Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) pleads with Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) to spare his life in the Coen brothers' masterpiece Miller's Crossing (1990).

About the Movie: Miller's Crossing was one of those films that seemed to come out of nowhere and made a lasting impression on me. This Coen Brothers' film - their first since 1987's Raising Arizona - is a brilliant homage to American hard-boiled novelist Dashiell Hammett and his taut tales of gangsters navigating their way through labyrinths of vast corruption. This is an impressive film in every respect. It contains an unforgettable musical score by regular Coen Brothers' collaborator Carter Burwell (The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, etc.). The performers are utterly fantastic in their roles (even the minor players - especially the minor players!). The cinematography by Barry Sonnefeld (who would later direct Men in Black) is some of the most breathtaking in any film. Joel Coen's direction is tight, as always. But the best thing about this film - by far - is the mind-boggling screenplay, co-written by the Coens. When I saw the film in 1990, the screenplay instantly became my all-time favorite. It remains so to this day. You have to see it to appreciate it. The dialogue alone is a work of art. The film depicts the harrowing adventures of a prohibition-era tough guy Tom Reagan (stunning Gabriel Byrne), a confidant and advisor to gangster political boss Leo O'Bannon (Albert Finney). Unbeknownst to Leo, Reagan is secretly involved with Leo's girlfriend Verna Bernbaum (Marcia Gay Harden), a tough-talking gun moll. Reagan and Verna loathe one another, yet they have one problem: They're sexually addicted to each other. Byrne and Harden have intense chemistry in this film. It reverberates off the screen. They utter dialogue throughout the film like this:

Tom: All in all, not a bad guy - if looks, brains and personality don't count.

Verna: You better hope they don't.

Problem is, Leo's rival Johnny Caspar (played beautifully by John Polito) wants to knock off Verna's brother, an opportunistic bookie named Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro). Seems Bernie has been cheating Johnny - and not just once, but over and over again. The film thrusts forward from the first frames and not a millisecond of it is wasted. Tom decides to go rogue on Leo and, in the process, gets the crap beaten out of him over and over again by various gangsters. It's amazing he's alive by the end of the film. He's probably the smartest and toughest guy in the history of gangster cinema, yet his machinations can sometimes prove puzzling. In fact, we have a difficult time figuring out his raison d'etre in the film until the final few minutes. I won't give anything away, except to say that Tom plays one gangster off of another from start to finish. His motives remain a mystery, but they become apparent by the closing credits. And it is well worth the wait.

My reasons for falling in love with this film: The stars were all lined up here: The acting, the cinematography, the direction, the musical score - and most of all, the screenplay. That dream screenplay! This is one of the few flawless films I've seen in a lifetime of watching movies. There are so many unforgettable moments in Miller's Crossing. Where to begin? My personal favorite scene is when Tom has been assigned to take Bernie Bernbaum (Turturro) out into the woods at Miller's Crossing to be executed. To watch Bernbaum/Turturro pleading for his life is to witness some of the finest acting ever captured on film in the history of Hollywood filmmaking.

Bottom line: I know the word "classic" has become hackneyed, but I can't think of another word to describe Miller's Crossing. No wonder Time magazine hailed it as one of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time back in 2005. Gangster movies do not come any better than this one. When, early in the film Leo (Finney) tells Johnny Caspar (Polito), "Take your flunky and dangle" (tough guy talk for, "You and your friend leave my office"), you know you're in store for a treat. Leave it to the Coen Brothers to take us on an authentic ride through a landscape of corruption, violence and the journey of one man who may or may not be decent. Oh, and did I forget to mention that Steve Buscemi is in the film? He's in only one scene, and it isn't very long, but I promise you: You'll never forget his slimy character, or any of the other toughs and ne'er-do-wells who inhabit this masterpiece. Grade: A+.

Three on a Match: A Pre-Code Classic (or: Why I'm nuts about Ann Dvorak)

The Film: Three on a Match (First National Pictures, 1932). Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Screenplay by Lucien Hubbard, based on a story by John Bright and Kubec Glasmon. Starring Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, Lyle Talbot, Warren William, Humphrey Bogart. Running time: A mere 63 minutes!!!

(Above: Three pals, left to right: Bette Davis, Joan Blondell and Ann Dvorak, lighting cigarettes from the same match. Not a good idea.)

When I first saw it: On Turner Classic Movies a few years ago. Thank God for Turner Classic Movies!

A few words about the film: Directed by the versatile Mervyn LeRoy (Gold Diggers of 1933, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, the list goes on and on), Three on a Match is a potent pre-Hays Code motion picture that still packs one hell of a punch. The film was released in the fall of '32, during the depths of the Great Depression, when soup lines looped around entire city blocks and the nation teetered precariously on the precipice. In the film, three women (Joan Blondell, Bette Davis and Ann Dvorak) who've been pals since childhood get together and each light a cigarette from the same match. According to superstition, one of the three women who lights a cigarette from a match that lights the other two will die. Your job: Guess which one of the three gals will perish by the end credits? Will it be level-headed Mary (Blondell), who always does the right thing? Nondescript stenographer Ruth (Bette Davis), who isn't in much of the film at all but has pretty eyelashes? Or unhappily married Vivian (Dvorak), who is bored with her well-to-do hubby (Warren William) and sick of being a mother to her adorable little son? (Can you see where this is going?) Yes, it's a morality play. Yes, it lays it on thick. But this is a gripping melodrama in the finest tradition of Warner Brothers' Depression-era movies. Vivian goes on an ocean cruise with her son, but without hubby. She neglects the brat and shacks up with gambler Michael Loftus (Lyle Talbot). Vivian ultimately decides to leave hubby, becomes a cocaine addict and gets mixed up in Michael's entanglement with a group of gangsters (one of whom is played to the sinister hilt by Humphrey Bogart in an early role). Heroine Mary (Blondell) tries to intervene to save her downward-spiraling friend Vivian. Will she succeed before the coming of the end credits? That's for me to know and you to find out, bub.

(Left: Ann Dvorak, protecting her son from a group of ominous goons led by the great Humphrey Bogart.)

My reasons for digging it: Three words: Ann Dvorak, Ann Dvorak and Ann Dvorak. Actually, that's seven words, but who the hell is counting? I'm not kidding you, my friend - this woman was truly one of the finest actresses to ever come out of Hollywood. This is the time and place to recommend the wonderful website called Ann Dvorak: Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel. Dvorak had just recently starred in the gangster masterpiece Scarface, another one of my favorite movies, when she appeared in Three on a Match. In Three on a Match, she conveys a wide range of emotions in a way that is always utterly believable. She's the classic "fallen woman," and there isn't a false note in her performance. Throw in brilliant Humphrey Bogart as the menacing gangster called "Harve" who, through a simple facial and hand gesture, indicates that Dvorak's character is hooked on cocaine, and you've got the makings of a fabulous film. I've watched a lot of films from the early 1930s (it was a fascinating period of experimental filmmaking, in the limbo region between silent and sound) and not many of them from this era withstand the test of time the way Three on a Match does. Most movies from the period tend to be full of pops and hisses, stilted dialogue and overacting. Not Three on a Match. It keeps you watching until "The End" flashes on the screen. Even though Dvorak's character Vivian is selfish, she's also sympathetic. The viewer is left on the edge of her/his chair, waiting to see whether she survives the superstitious curse placed on her early in the film when she shares a match with Davis and Blondell.

In the final analysis: Part paleo-noir, part gangster film, part romance, part drama, this film has it all. There's humor. There's pathos. There's the nerve-racking last ten minutes of the film that made me bite my fingernails to the quick. Hard to believe Mervyn LeRoy packed all of this in to 63 minutes. Being a pre-Motion Picture Production Code movie, the film gets away with all kinds of edgy and risky moments that you won't find in movies made even a year after it. And Ann Dvorak - brilliant Ann Dvorak - how lucky we are to savor her amazing screen presence. Grade: A-.

Sleazy Exploitation at its Finest

The Film: The Hypnotic Eye (Allied Artists, 1960). Directed by George Blair. Screenplay by Gitta and William Woodfield. Starring Jacques Bergerac, Allison Hayes, Marcia Henderson, Joe Patridge, Guy Prescott. Running time: 79 minutes of pure joy.

When I first saw it: I can't exactly remember, but I'm quite certain Ronald Reagan was president at the time.

A few words about the film: The Hypnotic Eye is one of those films that you have to see to believe. It's genuinely entertaining. It was filmed in Los Angeles and has that great 1960 look about it (probably because it was made in 1960). The film features a shrink who smokes pipes (Guy Prescott), a macho police detective (Joe Patridge), the police detective's girlfriend (Marcia Henderson), a stage hypnotist called Desmond with a thick French accent that puts Pepe Le Pew to shame (Jacques Bergerac) and his hot assistant (Allison Hayes of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman fame). The premise: Several women who have seen Desmond's stage show end up disfiguring themselves in horrific ways. Turns out all these women not only saw the stage show, they were called up on stage by Desmond to be hypnotized. While they were under his spell, the prick leaned over and whispered in their ears, telling them to mutilate themselves in unthinkable ways. We follow the police detective and the shrink as they close in on Desmond. In order to trap Desmond in the act, the cop allows his dish of a sweetheart to be hypnotized by the maniacal Frenchman.

Why I dug it: This is a great gimmick film, in the tradition of William Castle's gimmick movies. The ads boasted: "NEW AUDIENCE-PARTICIPATION THRILL HYPNOMAGIC - It makes YOU part of the show..." As noted above, the film isn't very long (a minute short of 80 minutes), and there is never a dull moment. I stayed up late for this sucker back when I was a teenager in suburban Holladay, Utah, and I can honestly say it was worth waiting up for. I recorded the film on VHS and watched it over and over again. Before reviving this blog, I gave the film one more viewing and it still holds up beautifully after all these years. I've noticed it's available on DVD. Looks like I'm going to visit eBay after I finish this entry so I can once again relive the pleasures of Hypnomagic!

Parting Shot: The very least that can be said about The Hypnotic Eye is that it's the best non-William Castle gimmick film ever made. The exteriors shot in Los Angeles give the film a wonderful noirish look, ripped straight out of the pages of James Ellroy (the demon dog would dig this film... I just know it). The self-mutilations are actually still quite shocking. Even today - a half century after the film was made - they can make the viewer squeamish. And as if all this isn't quite enough, there is a twist ending. Grade: B.

Back in Business!!!

Greetings Fellow Film Buffs,

After a long hiatus, I have decided to resume blogging here at Diary of a Cinephile. I miss it and I love blogging about film. I also hate to think that the last film I'd leave off with on my Blog is Observe and Report, truly one of the worst films of 2009. For a long time, I blogged about contemporary American politics and society on my blog called Andrew's Tiki Lounge. I'll be honest with you: American politics has really been depressing me (quite badly), so I abandoned the Tiki Lounge. But just because despair has gotten the best of me with regards to American politics, that doesn't mean I have to abandon this Blog. I will continue to treat it as a tour of the weird, the wonderful, the sublime, the terrible and the fun films I have watched throughout my life. This blog will focus primarily on the films that have influenced me in one way or another, but I also reserve the right to include movies that are currently playing in the theaters. I have a lot to say about film and I'm happy to resume with this Blog.

I hope you enjoy it and much as I enjoy writing it.

Happy Moviegoing!

Andrew Hunt

Present Tense: Observe and Report (2009)

The Film: Observe and Report (De Line Pictures, 2009). Directed by Jody Hill. Screenplay by Jody Hill. Starring Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Michael Peña, Anna Faris, Collette Wolfe, The Yuan Brothers (John & Matt), Celia Weston. Running time: Somewhere around an hour and a half, but it felt like it was eighteen days long. 

The Quick and Dirty: The second mall cop movie of 2009 (the first being Paul Blart: Mall Cop), this movie is about a bipolar -- which, in this case, means borderline psychotic (sometimes not borderline at all) -- mall security officer played by Seth Rogen. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments in the film, but the movie is amazingly dark for a comedy. It's a great premise for a movie: The mall cop and the men under his command are in hot pursuit of a flasher who is showing off his goods in the mall parking lot. But the movie deviates a lot from the main storyline, showing a go-nowhere romance between Rogen and Anna Faris that is so unfunny it's painful. Genuinely talented actors such as Ray Liotta, Celia Weston and Michael Peña are, sadly, wasted in the film. The hilarious Yuan Brothers -- pudgy twins who play Rogen's subordinates -- steal all of the scenes they're in, and Collette Wolfe helps savage the parts of the film she's in as a genuinely sweet employee at a cinnamon bun joint. 

Why I Didn't Dig It: Hollywood has made one too many slapdash comedies (e.g., You Don't Mess with the Zohan, just about every movie with Anna Faris in it). Add Observe and Report to that list. The movie has a screenplay that sounds like it was written in less time than the actual running time of the movie. Observe and Report is much too grim for a comedy. Some people found the sex scene between Rogen and a drugged-up, passed-out Faris to be too crass (certain reviewers have referred to it as a "date rape" scene, although I wouldn't go that far). The Rogen/Faris sex scene did not bother me as much as the gratuitous violence throughout the film (Rogen and his fellow security guards bashing the hell out of skateboarders; Rogen blasting the unarmed flasher with a handgun). In the end, the movie just doesn't hold together and the funny moments are few and far between. And it proves that just because Seth Rogen is in it, that doesn't guarantee it's going to be funny.

Parting Shot: Maybe it's unfair to hold every Seth Rogen comedy to the standard set by the sidesplittingly hilarious Pineapple Express (2008). Rogen's successful collaborations with Judd Apatow -- The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up -- also set the bar very high. Give the guy a break. He's bound to make a dud once in a while. Grade: D+. 

Five Ghost Films You Really Should Watch...

I just saw A Haunting in Connecticut and was pleasantly surprised by what a good film it was. I went into it with rock-bottom expectations. It received only a 5.8 out of 1o on the Internet Movie Database. I'd give it about a 6.5 -- maybe a 7 if I'm in a very generous mood. The screenplay was well written, the main characters were fully realized, and the spooky moments were genuinely chilling. It was far superior to the dreary 2005 ghost film American Haunting (about the allegedly true Bell Witch haunting), but that isn't saying much.

There are some superb ghost films out there. This is my list of Top Five Ghost Films. If you get a chance, have a look at some of them, especially Number One.

1. The Haunting (1963): There has not -- repeat, HAS NOT -- ever been another haunting/ghost film that can match this 1963 Robert Wise masterpiece. This, simply put, is one of the finest films ever made. Period. Julie Harris is brilliant as the neurotic and insecure Eleanor, a character both sympathetic and maddeningly annoying at the same time. British actor Richard Johnson is thoroughly believable as the erudite Dr. Markway, the movie's resident "expert" who is on hand to explain the strange goings-on in the film. Claire Bloom is the beautiful medium Theo and throw in Russ Tamblyn as the beatnik Luke, one of film's greatest cynics, who's going to inherit the spook-filled castle. Here's something interesting: You never actually see a ghost in the entire film (!). You only hear sounds -- footsteps, groans, shaking door knobs -- yet the film is more horrifying, intense and authentic than any other ghost film ever made. Hollywood will never again be able to make a ghost film this outstanding. Best not to even try. A word to the wise: Avoid the 1999 remake at all costs!

2. Kwaidan (1964): Possibly my favorite Japanese film is also a ghost film to boot (no surprise there). Director Masaki Kobayashi's 1964 tour de force is actually four ghost stories for the price of one. The colors are subdued in the film, which gives you the impression at times that you are watching a black and white film. At other times, the colors are saturated, depending on the mood of the film. There is no gore in the film. No shock scenes. No ghouls leaping out of the darkness. Like The Haunting, Kwaidan relies on top-notch acting, writing, directing, cinematography and music to convey a sense of dread and horror. The film probably is not too easy to locate on DVD, although the mail-order services (Zip.ca in Canada, Netflix in the United States) probably have it. Rent it. Have a look. It will hypnotize you.

3. The Legend of Hell House (1973): John Hough's 1973 The Legend of Hell House -- based on the novel by horror writer Richard Matheson (Matheson also wrote the screenplay) is not in the same league as The Haunting by any means, but it is still a very good horror film. it is also a sentimental favorite: It is one of the first horror films I remember watching as a little kid (no wonder I'm so disturbed -- I grew up on a steady diet of horror films!). Mousy Roddy McDowall -- one of cinema's most underrated actors -- steals the show as turtleneck-wearing medium Dr. Ben Fischer, the lone survivor of another paranormal experience gone bad. He leads a team into the Belasco House -- The Mount Everest of Haunted Houses, as it's called -- a huge castle built by a psychotic millionaire. There isn't much build-up in this film. Crazy shit abounds almost right away. The film has that gritty early 1970s feel to it, the same feeling so many films had when they were finally liberated from the Production Code. It's full of loud moments and shocking special effects. The other performers, Pamela Franklin, Clive Revill and Gayle Hunnicutt, are also very good in the film. But make no mistake: The film belongs to Roddy. He's the reason to see it. He's a great tormented character, going up against dark and powerful forces. 

4. The Others (2001): Alejandro Amenabar's eerie, atmospheric 2001 ghost film, along with 1999's The Sixth Sense (below) revived the genre. In my view, it's a better film than The Sixth Sense. It's darker. It's more forlorn. It's creepier. Like The Sixth Sense, it contains a twist ending (don't worry -- I loathe spoilers). Nicole Kidman is at her very best as Grace Stewart, the mother who cannot tell whether she is losing her sanity. The entire cast delivers fabulous performances. Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan actually somehow manages to steal the show, though, as Bertha Mills. If you want to see a truly great performer at work, watch the film just for Flanagan's performance. This is a movie you'll want to view over and over again.

5. The Sixth Sense (1999): Like Orson Welles, M. Night Shyamalan started out strong and went downhill from there. Sadly, unlike Orson Welles, Shyamalan doesn't seem to have a Magnificent Ambersons or Touch of Evil or Chimes at Midnight up his sleeve. In fairness to Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense is hard to top. Who would've thought Bruce Willis was a heavyweight? He is -- in this film, at least. As Dr. Malcolm Crowe, he becomes a father figure to Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment, a magnificent 11-year-old actor in a tortured role).  The film is a minor masterpiece and shines in every category. And it also catapulted Toni Collette to fame. What more can you ask for from a film?

You will notice A Haunting in Connecticut did not make the list. Neither did some other very good ghost films: The Night Comes Too Soon, a.k.a. The Ghost of Rashmon Hall, an obscure British gem from 1947; the overlooked 1995 ghost drama The Haunted starring Aidan Quinn and Kate Beckinsale; the amazing British horror film Dead of Night from 1945; and, of course, one of my personal favorite ghost comedies, Ghost Busters from 1984. 

All of them are worth watching.