I wish I had minions.

Usually, I am all about the villain. If I was ever in a movie, I would definitely be the villain. When I'm watching movies, I tend to pay really close attention to the villain. If I know who it is, I study their every move. If I don't have any idea, I try to figure it out. Sometimes I'm surprised, sometimes I'm not. Unfortunately, the villain in Chinatown was kind of disappointing.

Noah Cross. Rich, power-hungry, incest, overall jerk. Just not the best villain. Now, I cannot deny that he gets the job done. He starts strong by indirectly getting Gittes to investigate Mr. Mulwray (I'm still not entirely sure why). He continues his positive streak with murder. So far, even though it's unbeknownst to everyone else, Noah Cross is doing a pretty good job at villainy. After Mulwray's murder, Cross begins to slip a little. Enter the minions on cue. Normally, I have no problem with the use of minions for shady deals and dirty deeds. In the context of the film, however, it was not ideal. Considering that the identity of the villain wasn't revealed until the end of the film, nobody knew who the minions were working for. It seemed as though they were acting of their own accord, although this is rare for minions and such. I don't think that the minion-Noah Cross relationship should have been shown explicitly, but it would have been nice to have a clue or two as to who they answer to. Although the presence of the minions wasn't perfect, it wasn't a disaster. They added style to the villainy. Nobody really expected the midget minion (Polanski) to actually cut Gittes, but he followed through (which of course resulted in a horrified gasp from the audience). That is the mark of good villainy. Unfortunately, Cross' minions have hardly any screen time and the audience is forced back into guessing the villain's identity. When Noah Cross is finally revealed as the bad guy, it's a bit of a disappointment. Clearly he's bad. He raped his daughter, killed her husband, and seriously messed up Jack Nicholson's face. But there isn't anything really memorable about him. He didn't have any weird little quirks or trademarks, he didn't do anything so paramount that the entire world was in danger, there just wasn't anything that set him apart from all of the other villains in the world. A bit of a let down.

And has anybody else noticed that Jack Nicholson is a total creeper in most of his films? Yeah. Think about it...

Remember Me.

If you read my last blog post, you know that I was embarrassingly shocked by the end of Out of the Past and Jeff's death. So as not to make a fool of myself once again, I hardened my outlook on the film, prepared myself for the imminent death of Mike Hammer. It didn't come. Of course. Well, I suppose I have learned my lesson when it comes to films noir. Granted, I thought I learned it after the last film we viewed, but clearly I was mistaken. I know not to expect anything specific when it comes to this genre. Who knows what will happen to the characters? Clearly not me.



Anyway, I enjoyed myself while watching Kiss Me Deadly. It was an intriguing tale that successfully held my attention. The only problem that I had with the film was the villain. Now, I'm not trying to say that Dr. Soberin was a bad villain. Quite the opposite, in fact. I thought he was an exceptionally devious villain, clearly skilled in his field. He was also intelligent to boot (at least in the area of Greek mythology). My only complain is that the audience did not get the chance to get to know Dr. Soberin very well. Almost the entire film passed without showing his face, which only added to his mystery. But once he was finally exposed, there wasn't much more development of his character. We see him in his last moments, warning Gabrielle of the dangers of the box. Other than that, we don't get to find out much about him. Now, this was by no means the most disappointing villain I've ever encountered (that would have to be from the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen where the bad guy turned out to be M, their mentor of sorts....stupid), but I was sad at the lack of exploration his character was given. Dr. Soberin clearly had depth along with a devious mind, so it's a shame that the audience wasn't able to see more of that. Anyway, at this point I feel like I'm running in circles. In short, Dr. Soberin = awesome villain who just didn't get enough explanation or screen time.

"He got careless and fell in the river."

In knew I would enjoy studying film noir. Out of the Past was an excellent place to start, considering how full it is of classic noir elements. What I didn't expect was that I would get so wrapped up in the characters and the story that I would forget the aforementioned film noir elements and grab onto a tiny bit of hope. I cannot deny it: I completely expected Jeff to somehow turn in Kathie, save the day, and survive to leave his dark life behind and run off with Ann to live happily ever after. For anyone who has seen the film, this is not how it ends by any means. In short, everyone dies. It was not only surprising to me that Jeff was unable to worm his way out of death, but also that the film wrapped itself up so successfully without any main characters. Every character of note except for "The Kid" met an untimely demise. Jeff's partner was shot by Kathie. Joe was hooked off the cliff by the Kid. Whit was shot (a second time) and killed by Kathie. Jeff was shot by Kathie. And finally, Kathie was shot by some creeper in a hood hiding behind a tree. This is a ridiculous amount of main character death to experience in one film. But I guess I should expect it, considering we're dealing with film noir. Logically, seeing as I've been fooled once, I should expect a bleak outcome from Kiss Me Deadly (which we are currently watching). We'll see which wins: my logical reasoning, or my ever optimistic hope.

"Where's the self-help section?"

"It's going to be gone soon."

"I know."

"What do we do?"

"Enjoy it."

The film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is far deeper than a simple plot summary would suggest. It is more than just a romantic comedy about an absurdly impulsive woman and a more shy, reserved man. It is an adventure into the psyche of two people who love each other. It is an exposure of their deepest passions and hatreds. It is a vision of personalities clashing, resulting in brawling emotions and sometimes harmony.


This film can even be viewed as a social commentary of sorts. In it's examination of the good and the bad of relationships, Eternal Sunshine brings to light much of what generally gets brushed under the rug in romantic movies. The relationship between Joel and Clementine is nowhere near perfect. She is impulsive to the point of recklessness and he is timid to the point of apathy. This film dares to delve into these sort of nuances. The film goes on to pass judgement, in a way, on relationships and humankind. Confused? I'll try to explain.


As the relationship between Clem and Joel deteriorates, Clem chooses the track of the chronic impulsive and has her memory erased of all evidence that Joel ever existed for her. Joel, hurt and infuriated beyond words by her actions, has the same procedure done. Both Clementine and Joel use the memory erasure as a form of revenge (here is where the judgement comes in). Instead of working out their problems like mature adults (and maybe severing ties, if that's what needed to happen), they avenge their scorned dignities by stooping to the lowest of lows and taking the easy way out. By erasing their memories, Joel and Clem didn't have to deal with their problems at hand. Clearly, neither character had learned in their life thus far the old cliche: "it is better to have love and lost than never loved at all." Although it is absolutely a cliche, it's a relatively poignant one. In the story, Joel decides to go through the same erasure procedure as Clementine did. He seems confident in his decision until the procedure actually starts to occur and he is being chased through his own memories. Looking back on his various memories of Clementine, he sees how much he loves her, how much she has impacted him. He begs the omniscient presence to let him keep just one memory, just one. Unfortunately, that is not an option. However, somehow (magically, divine intervention, fate, it doesn't really matter) Joel and Clem are able to hold onto one thought of each other. In doing so, they meet again and begin to fall into the spiral of love, having no conscious knowledge of the other person.


Now, hopefully (I realize that hopefully isn't actually a word in this context...I don't care) it is easier to understand my "social commentary" mindset. The one thing that could carry this even further is the alternate ending we fleetingly discussed in class. It wasn't included in the final cut of the film (which was probably a good call on Gondry's part), but it continued the story of Joel and Clementine. They fall in love again, only to fight again, only to have their memories erased again, only to meet again, only to fall in love again.....the cycle is endless. This proves the point of the futility of relationships, the absence of some people's ability to handle situations, to cope with what comes their way. Overall, I venerate this film. To some people, it is simply a romantic comedy. But to me, it is more than that. It is the tragic story of two people who cannot appreciate the love that they have for one another until it is being forcibly ripped from them. But maybe I'm just looking too far into this.


P.S. Undoubtedly, my favorite part of the film was when Joel was wearing his awesome sweater - the one that was covered in galaxies. I seriously want that sweater.

Do they ever shut up?

The film His Girl Friday was interesting to say the least. It was a bit of a change for me because I generally like the movies I see. Unfortunately, this film just rubbed me the wrong way. The tragic flaw of the movie (in my very biased opinion) was the incessant flow of dialogue. Now, I realize that this was completely purposeful and absolutely made the film what it is. However, it was a little too much for me to handle. The plot itself is fairly straightforward: girl loved boy, now girl hates boy. Girl is engaged, guy is jealous. Guy hoodwinks girl into loving him once again. Everyone lives happily (-ish) ever after. While this plain of a plot would generally be uninteresting, it is spiced up enormously by all of the little twists and turns. Throughout the entire movie, little things keep happening in the news world that slingshot the plot in a new direction. Every time Bruce gets arrested, every time a new story breaks, it sets the plot back a little. Overall, it is a very clever idea and works beautifully. The part that does not work is the constant dialogue. While its purpose is to focus all of the viewer's attention on what exactly is happening in the film, it is overwhelming. There are scenes where five or six different people are on the telephone, yelling away at their newspaper about the latest story. While this may be exhilarating for some people, it was absolutely exhausting for me. At times, the chaos of the movie literally affected me physically. As disarray ruled the film, I became extremely agitated and anxious, something that could only be remedied by my calm and structured second hour (AP Spanish 5). I'm not trying to say that His Girl Friday was a bad film because it wasn't. It was just too much for me to handle and remain sane.

"You can still throw a cat through the south wall..."

The film True Grit (Henry Hathaway, 1969) tells the story of Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) and her search for justice after her father is shot and killed. She takes it upon herself to see that the killer, Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey), is captured and put to death. For this arduous trek, she commissions the help of Marshall Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne). Together with a Texas Ranger, they track down Tom Chaney to put an end to his miscreant behavior. The film True Grit determines itself as a quintessential revisionist western with its unusually strong leading lady and its less than heroic hero.

Mattie Ross, the leading lady of the film, is not the archetypal damsel in distress present in most westerns. She is absurdly headstrong and self-sufficient, things she will not let anyone forget. When Mattie first meets Rooster Cogburn, she astonishes everyone with her forward nature. She sees Cogburn trying to roll himself a cigarette but doing it poorly. Instead of leaving well enough alone, she informs him that he’s not doing a very good job, takes it from him, rolls the cigarette properly, and sticks it back in his mouth. Cogburn is clearly taken aback at her actions, but something like this is just another day for Mattie Ross. Later when Mattie goes to see Cogburn at his home for business negotiations, she remarks “If I smelled as bad as you, I wouldn’t live near people.” She has absolutely no fear of offending or upsetting the people around her. When she meets La Boeuf (Glen Campbell), the Texas Ranger, they do not get along. Mattie even goes so far as to take a shot at Texans and the fact that, judging by La Boeuf’s appearance, they “cultivate their hair like lettuce.” The only time when Mattie seems remotely distressed is when she is captured by Tom Chaney and Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall), the bad guys for whom she has been hunting. However, even this small setback doesn’t dissuade her confident ways. She is captured only after she shoots Chaney in the ribs, something a typical damsel in distress would not dare to attempt. During her time with the Ned and Chaney, she does not rest in her constant flow of insults and attempts to escape. Clearly, this leading lady does not need saving. She can do it herself.

Marshall Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn is not the most wholesome of western heroes. In short, he is a fat old drunk with no qualms about killing. The first time Cogburn’s personality is exhibited is during court proceedings when he is being cross examined. Upon being asked how many men he has killed in his four years as a Marshall and with a little bit of coaxing, Cogburn admits that the number is no less than twenty three. Even during the course of the movie, Cogburn kills men without a second thought. Rooster Cogburn is also not very principled for a western hero. In short, he is a drunk. The majority of Cogburn’s scenes somehow incorporate him drinking whisky. At one point, he falls off his horse he is so drunk. He then tries to cover himself by stating “We camp here. Right here.” Mattie does her part to try to keep him from drinking with scorn and minor bribes, but Cogburn sticks to his guns (and his bottles). Aside from his crude behavior, Cogburn is a slightly peculiar character. He lives with a Chinaman named Chen Lee and an orange cat named General Sterling Price (he also has a bead curtain in his doorway). While speaking to Mattie about his “family,” he describes his relationship with General Price by saying “He don’t belong to me, he just rooms with me.” Throughout the movie, Cogburn tends to rub people the wrong way. Tension is especially palpable between him and La Boeuf. At one point, Cogburn says to him “If you’re lookin’ for trouble, I’ll accommodate ya’.” He keeps up this rough persona for most of the film. In an unforgettable scene when Cogburn faces off against Lucky Ned Pepper and his posse, personalities rage against each other. Before the shootout begins, Ned calls out “I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man,” to which Cogburn characteristically replies “Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!” In the segment that follows, Cogburn is shown riding his horse as fast as he can, reins held in his teeth and a gun in each hand, blazing away. He really is a man of true grit.

The film True Grit tells a story of good people being wronged and of justice being served. Mattie Ross wants nothing else in the world but to bring her father’s killer to his knees, and Cogburn is willing to help (with a little incentive, of course). Along with La Boeuf, they adventure along, searching for the wrongdoers. Instead of the typical damsel in distress, the film provides Mattie, an eager, stubborn, headstrong girl who is wise beyond her years. Instead of the typical western hero, the film provides Rooster Cogburn, a drunk, ruthless, fat old man. These significant aspects of the film make it a revisionist western as opposed to a classic where the hero is good and moral and the leading lady needs to be saved. This is not a conventional way to go, but it is just as enjoyable to experience. Although the characters of True Grit are not emblematic for westerns, they are certain full of true grit.

A Darker Side of Things

Will Munny's epic inner struggle between good and evil is a key point for the movie Unforgiven. When Will is introduced, he is done so as a reformed murderer and drunk. He claims that his wife has brought out the good side of him and that the evil ne'er-do-well is gone forever. At first, the audience accepts this as fact even though it seems a bit awkward that he keeps repeating the statement. As the story and Will's character progress and Will is still constantly repeating how his wife cured him of his miscreant behavior, it is clear that Will needs to make a constant and conscious effort to uphold this. On the surface, Will appears to be a fine relatively upstanding member of society. When he initially thinks of returning to the old life and pulls out his gun, he can't hardly shoot to save his life. When he tries to mount his old horse for the first time in years, he ends up splayed across the ground. After his first few stumbles, he gets into the swing of things.

For me, the moment I knew that the infamous Will Munny had returned was when he was riding into town to avenge Ned's death. There is a shot of the empty whisky bottle as Will throws it down into the muddy ground (in the rain, no less). For me, this is the moment when Will returns. He is no longer playing Mr. Nice Guy. Will is bloodthirsty, out for revenge, out to settle a few scores. Within minutes of the empty whisky bottle, Will Munny has hit his stride. He absolutely annihilates the men in the bar and is showing no remorse whatsoever. Even though this is where Will Munny clearly emerges as a bit of a "bad guy," the audience doesn't begrudge him for it. In their eyes, his actions are fairly justified. In a typical western mindset, Will is doing his duty. His best friend Ned was murdered which leaves Will no choice but to avenge his death in the only way he knows how. Everyone tries to deny it, and they really may hate themselves for it, but they are secretly elated that Will exacted his revenge. This is what movies can do to people. Little Bill got what he had coming to him. And whether we like it or not, we agree.