Jason's Blog, page 193

Top Secret!

What phoney dog poo? Before Val Kilmer was Elvis in True Romance and Jim Morrison in The Doors he played rocker Nick Rivers in the much better film Top Secret! Also starring Lucy Gutteridge and Omar Sharif. Written and directed by Jim Abrahams and Jerry and David Zucker.

I saw Airplane! and Naked Gun some time ago, but I felt an emptiness in my life, something was missing, and I finally figured out what it was... Top Secret! I've tried everything: the embassy, the German government, the consulate. I even talked to the U.N. ambassador. It's no use, I just can't bring my wife to orgasm. The film is clearly influenced by the old parodies in Mad Magazine, with some jokes in the foreground, others in the background. Not every gag works, but at least two out of three. Favourites are hard to pick. The Swedish bookstore? The cow? The underwater barfight? It all sounds like some bad movie. It's not. It's one of the funniest films ever. It's got some great songs as well! And not by Mel Tormé. I know a little German. He's sitting over there.

A nice review...

of Low Moon on the Comics Journal site, to be found here: http://www.tcj.com/review/low-moon-2/

Another page...

... from the book I'm currently working one. It's page one from the third story. And yes, it's the return of the two main characters from "&", one of the stories in Low Moon, this time involved in some kidnapping scheme that naturally goes wrong. The book should be out by the end of next year, both in French and in English.

Married To The Mob

Michelle Pfeiffer is married to gangster Alec Baldwin who is killed by his boss Dean Stockwell. Moving to Manhattan to get away from her old life, she is followed by Stockwell and put under surveillance by FBI agent Matthew Modine. Also starring Chis Isaak in a small part and directed by Jonathan Demme.

This is the kind of small, quirky films that Demme was very good at. Something Wild is another one. Married To The Mob's story isn't that much to brag about - I can only imagine what some hack director would have done with it, but Demme rather goes for the small details, creating something with real charm, and never taking the film too seriously. The shootout at the end is right on the edge of parody. Pfeiffer and Modine are great together and Dean Stockwell, an underestimated actor, has a lot of fun in his part. It's too bad Demme seems to have lost his light touch after he made Silence of the Lambs, doing Important Message Films and when trying to return to his old roots making one of the worst movies ever, The Truth About Charlie, a remake of Charade.

Beetlejuice

Boring couple Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis die in an accident. They find themselves back in their old house that is now taken over by yuppiecouple Jeffrey Jones and Catherine O'Hara and their daughter Winona Ryder. Baldwin and Davis hire "bio-exorcist" Betelgeuse, Michael Keaton, to chase them out. Directed by Tim Burton.

This is another case of a film that I used to like, but now discover to be slightly boring to rewatch. Again, I'm not sure if this is because I've seen it too many times or because I'm just getting too old to enjoy it. What really saves the film is Keaton, whose performance is a real tour de force. I wouldn't have minded a sequel to this film just to see more of him.

Burton is a pretty uneven director. I still think Ed Wood is his best film. Which he then followed up with Mars Attacks, probably his worst film. I'm not sure I agree with the opinion that he has sold out. I haven't seen Alice in Wonderland, but I thought Sweeney Todd was pretty good. As a whole, though, his recent films seem to have less heart than the early ones.

The eighties, part 2.

Time to look at some more 80s classics, okay? Or "classics", possibly. I suddenly felt a bit nostalgic. Hey, we're all human. Starting with Streets Of Fire. I really enjoyed this film when it came out in 84. Singer Diane Lane is kidnapped by bad guy Willem Dafoe. Her ex Michael Paré comes back to town to kick some ass. Also starring Rick Moranis, Amy Madigan and in a small part, Bill Paxton. Directed by Walter Hill.

The film was called a rock and roll fable and takes place in some alternative 50s universe, but is basically a western. (Westerns in disguise is actually a good theme for some later series of films. I could rewatch Outland, Mad Max 2, Matewan and Assault on Precinct 13. Hmm... okay, making a note of that.) The hero arrives on a subway instead of a horse, there's a bar fight instead of a saloon fight, and the duel at the end is with sledgehammers instead of guns. The dialogues are just a collection of clichés. Paré has the right look for the hero, but turns out to be nothing more than a second rate Stallone. Moranis and Dafoe are fun in their parts. Diane Lane is cute, but doesn't get to do much. The music is a mix of Meatloafish rockopera and rockabilly. Basically, it's a stylish but pretty empty film. I maybe wish they had played it more straight and dialled down the clichés a bit. Still fun to watch, though.

The Lost Weekend

Ray Milland is a selfdestructive alcoholic. Also starring Jane Wyman, directed by Billy Wilder.

The first Hollywood film about alcoholism, it must have been a shock to the audience in 1945. It's still a powerful film and less dated than I had feared. Only towards the end does it get a bit melodramatic. And the ending is maybe a bit too simple, where he just decides to stop drinking. But a less happy ending would probably have been impossible at the time it was made. I've always considered Ray Milland to be a bland actor, but he's pretty good here, showing how charming an alcoholic can be, lying to everybody and hiding bottles everywhere. Milland got an Oscar for his performance, but still ended up doing b-movies like The Thing With Two Heads in the seventies.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Gregory Peck is a Southern lawyer defending a black man accused of raping a white woman. Based on the novel by Harper Lee, also starring Robert Duvall, directed by Robert Mulligan.

I've never read the novel, so my opinion is only based on the film. The story is told through the eyes of the lawyer's two kids. A lot depends on the kid actors. If they screw up, the whole film will fall apart. But they are wonderful, both of them giving very natural performances. Peck is also good, playing a sort of perfect dad. However, seen today you can't help but notice how very black and white the film is, not allowing any shades of gray. The man accusing the black man of raping his daughter is almost a caricature of an ignorant, racist hillbilly. Even his name, Ewell, is a bit too obvious. Is it really that easy to spot the face of evil?

New album

The first ten pages from my new album, written by Fabien Vehlmann and published by Glenat, can be found here: http://www.glenatbd.com/bd/l-ile-aux-...

Dead Mickey

Text: A new day... / Hello / Are you Tobias Fjeld, born 4.7.65? / Yes... / Do you have a glass of water? / In the kitchen / Hold this / Um... / Hello? / Oh, darn... / Some days later / Are you Alexander Olsen, born 12.9.37?