queen_meow_of_ontario Reviews

I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story (2014)

A True Heartwarmer for Any Generation

[8/10 · 14 August 2015]

Sesame Street was an integral part of my childhood. Sure, I had Mr Rogers, Sharon Lois & Bram, and Mr. Dress-Up too, but Sesame Street was by far my favourite show. I remember rushing downstairs in the morning to watch Big Bird and all his pals have fun, I remember begging my parents to buy me an stuffed Elmo doll, hell I even remember my parents rummaging through my aunt and uncle's attic to find VHS tapes of when they had taped Sesame Street off the TV for my cousins when they were kids back in the 80s. I was a nut.

This documentary is based around the life of Caroll Spinney, the man who plays Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street. It not only does a fascinating job of chronicling his life as an actor, but the discourse pertaining to his philosophy on life, and how he translated that into the Big Bird who we all know and love. We get to know Big Bird like never before, on the part of Caroll Spinney as himself, Caroll Spinney as an actor and Caroll Spinney as Big Bird. It's wrapped in these fantastic layers that might seem daunting in text, but when the movie is over with, you go "My god, that makes perfect sense!". It showcases how Spinney really is one of our most remarkable and unseen actors of our age, and how delicate (metaphorically, of course, playing Big Bird as a puppeteer is a task and a half) his performance has been on to generation after generation of kids.

The movie also goes into detail on the journeys that both Big Bird and Spinney have had in their life - such as being the first Western pop culture (with Bob Hope) to venture into China after it opened it's doors, becoming a household name in America, and, one of the biggest shocks and surprises, nearly taking part with the crew on the NASA Challenger spaceship, which of course exploded a minute after launch, killing all on-board.

This movie is why I love being immersed in pop culture. There's a lot of people who have told me over the years that it's a bad thing to be surrounded by commercial products, but this movie packs a punch in that it personally warps me back to a simpler time, a time when my bestest friend was Big Bird and he taught me how to love the world.

Sure, I Am Big Bird has it's flaws. I would have liked for it to go deeper into the darker parts of some of the times of Caroll Spinney's life, but in the end I think that it would detract from the overall magic of the movie. I Am Big Bird is a heartwarming documentary for fans of puppeteering, but at it's core, an even warmer story for us who grew up with that lovable yellow bird.

Near Death (1989)

An Exhausting View of the Frantic and Arduous Work of Doctors

[9/10 · 12 August 2015]

A sprawling 6 hour documentary on the ethical issues that doctors and family members of palliative care patients face when it comes down to the time of pulling the plug, so to say. The daunting length of the movie is a testament to the daunting passage of life to death, in that it you spend so much time connecting with the doctors, patients and family members that the tone of the movie transcends from frightening to strikingly terrifying. While Dying at Grace, which may be my favourite movie of all time, focuses more on the awe of dying, Near Death focuses on the struggle to save and rehabilitate, and this notion does not let up for the entire runtime. Near Death is an exhausting experience, and my heart goes out to the families who volunteered to have their last moments filmed for such an extraordinary film.

Comment faire l'amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguer (1989)

Yikes...

[3/10 · 12 August 2015]

This is one of those movies that you come across on the bottom shelf of your local video store, covered in dust from not being touched in years. You look at the title, close your eyes and open them again to make sure that you're not dreaming, and look at it again in unadulterated disbelief. You bring it to the front of the store and sheepishly present it to the video store clerk (or, in my case as I work there, hide the fact you're taking it home out of embarrassment), and pray to whichever God that the employee doesn't give you a quizzical look. But he does. After all, you're renting a movie that: a) Is called "How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired" and b) renting a movie that no one has even looked at the box since the store acquired the tape.

This is one of those movies that you bring home and you already know that it's going to be bad. Hopefully a good sort of bad? You're still praying to your God at this point that there will be at least an inkling of unintentional humour in it, and that your hard-earned money won't go to waste. But as soon as you pop the tape in to your VCR, you're already regretting it. It's too late, though. Within the first few minutes, you can't believe that you spent $5 to rent it. $5 down the drain, to watch a movie contaminated with casual slings of the "N" word by the white characters, and casual dismisses of such language by our two protagonists, who are more stale than last week's bread. You immediately notice that there isn't any attempt at even a half-baked plot, and that you're just watching a group of jackoffs ramble about jazz and stoner-quality philosophy for 90 minutes.

For some reason unbeknownst to you, however, you can't stop watching it. Maybe because you can't believe you spent $5 on it and don't want it to see it thrown in the trash? Or maybe because you want to see how prolonged this disaster of a movie can go on. Or maybe because you're watching a movie called How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired, and only for that title alone. In whichever case, your prayers to your God have gone unanswered. There is nothing of quality within this movie, and once it's finally over, and you're looking it up on the Internet, you see that the main character of Claire Denis' acclaimed film Chocolat is the star of this trainwreck, that the secondary protagonist is now a politician for the Bloq Quebecois, and that Canada's own National Film Board was responsible for it's distribution. And right there and then, you reject your religion as there is no god who would ever allow this to happen.

Opera (1987)

Dario Argento: Sadist or Genius?

[8/10 · 16 September 2014]

You know that cliché of "cameraman as killer" POV shots? Unfortunately, one of the first shots in this movie is one of these, and it was a huge turn off for me at that point. Remember all those slasher films in the 60s and 70s where the killer was always seen through a POV shot killing a woman? That's what made those kinds of movies misogynistic (albeit entertaining to watch when on some sort of drug). Amongst other things, like some minor continuity errors, wooden acting, and that annoying hard rock music that comes on every time there's a killing, the thing that bothers me most about Opera is this indirect allusion to the misogynistic views of the slasher films of yore. I take issue with this because, even though there are males killed, their killings are accompanied by a shot or a few of the killer himself, whereas the woman killings are only seen through the killer's eyes, as if the audience were the killer themselves.

On the other hand, Opera is a unique movie of it's own. The thought of not being able to blink, risking losing your eyelids if you do, is a legitimately terrifying topic, and Argento pulls this idea off with such precision you'd think he's an actual sadist. Or perhaps he is? Whatever the circumstance of his mental state, It's suspenseful, it's gory and it's just generally f'ed up, and that's what's great about it.

Also, I'm definitely convinced that the gunshot through the door eye hole was the main inspiration for one of the traps in Saw 2.

Chasing Amy (1997)

Exquisite

[8/10 · 26 April 2014]

It's taken at least three years, but I think now I can say that I really really like Kevin Smith. As of now I've only seen his work in Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and the Clerks Animated Series (which I just finished up last night - way too underrated!), but that's just enough to realize that Kevin Smith is a relic of the 90s, at once both a nostalgic and a realist, and someone who presents these values simultaneously and seamlessly in his scripts.

Chasing Amy concerns the lives of two lifelong friends and comic book artists, Holden and Banky (played by Ben Affleck and Jason Lee, respectfully), whose friendship is put into peril by the introduction to and subsequent infatuation with Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), a fellow comic book artist. Trouble arises to even further levels when Alyssa's sexual preferences towards women are made evident, yet Holden cannot let his love for her drop. However, the movie rejects stereotypical romantic movie plot lines and obstacles and instead focuses on the psychology of love, something that Kevin Smith knows is a malleable, yet serious topic of discussion. The script delves into the world of sexuality, exploring the issues of sexual history, gender and preference, while all at once maintaining the sharp social tongue that surfaces in all of Kevin Smith's work.

One issue I have with this movie, however, is of it's portrayal of lesbians. I feel as though the movie portrayed lesbians as being either subversive man-haters who complain "another one bites the dust" when Alyssa mentions her evolving relationship with Holden, or as pliant objects of sexual desire, being the "holy grail" of sexual experiences for Banky. Gay culture is still depicted in a very narrow way, while the heteronormative lifestyle is still portrayed as a whole.

Chasing Amy is, at once, a movie which is cruelly stereotypical towards some aspects of human life, yet completely reformatory towards others. If you're a person who can deal with politically incorrect humour, then you'd like it.

Lion in the Mirror (1936)

A quaint short documentary from Ozu

[7/10 · 26 April 2014]

An interesting documentary on the Japanese treasure of Kabuki, directed by another Japanese treasure, Yasujiro Ozu. Kagamijishi, or The Lions Dance, is a depiction of a young girl who becomes possessed by, and eventually transforms into, a demonic lion-like beast. It's a shame that this is in black and white so we can't fully experience and appreciate the wild and vivid colours of the kabuki dance, but it's glorious nonetheless. I'm also really happy that there was an informative preface detailing how complex the moves are, how closely they resemble that of a naive court girl, and how mentally concentrated the kabuki actors are. Without that, the documentary would have fallen flat, because throughout the 23 minutes that this occupied my screen, I became transfixed upon every solitary movement that the actors did. The fluidity and frailty of these delicate movements is astounding, and even when the demonizing lion occupied the stage, it's actions were smooth and majestic, just like that of a lion.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

So brutally excellent

[10/10 · 21 April 2014]

March 1st, 2014

My first time watching this one all the way through, finally. I think this one differs from other exploitation movies of that age because of how well shot, acted and musically accompanied it was. The last half hour of the movie is a barrage of insanity. Dutch angles, double takes, claustrophobic close-ups. Asylum-worthy acting, bloodcurdling scream- queen shrieks. Camera bulb flashes, chainsaw whirring, tin cans rustling in the wind are what make up the soundtrack, a welcoming to the seemingly post-apocalyptic world, left behind by America, while so ironically encapsulated by it. Leatherface, the hitchhiker and the old man are trapped within the outside world, and when the outside world intrudes on their territory, they wreak havoc on it.

I would also like to mention that while other exploitation movies often depicted the killer from a POV angle, TCM never does, and that's another aspect of this movie that makes it a(n ironical) deviation from exploitations.

My friend has a copy of this on blu ray that I've been meaning to watch with her sometime, but for this viewing I opted to watch a VHS rip of it. I'll defend this because I feel the grainy-ness of the VHS only adds to the overall atmosphere of the movie. Like what Mark Borchardt said, it's akin to one of those videos which you'd see in a dingy science classroom back in grade school, and I agree. If I were you, I'd get this movie on VHS, or at least torrent a low-quality copy of it.

The Searchers (1956)

Simply breathtaking.

[9/10 · 21 April 2014]

A lone home amidst tranquil mesas. A family gathers on their front porch to watch a solitary man ride slowly up to their ranch on his horse in the waning sun. He stops, disembarks and walks up to the house, all in one single weary move. Note his stance, the rugged tiredness of life etched on his face. This lone drifter is Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) and is perhaps the most brilliant character devised by Wayne and director John Ford. As the film progresses, we learn of his military days, his contempt of Indians and, most importantly, his psyche. Compared to another John ford movie, "Stagecoach", we can see the massive differences in character psychology and within the genre itself. Gone are the days of the brave hero riding in to save the day with wistful smiles all around; instead we have a savage man on an odyssey of revenge, hatred and bloodshed.

In one scene, Ethan and a search party comes across a dead Indian buried in the ground. Ethan's suppressed rage overcomes him, and he shoots the corpse's eyes out. "What good did that do ya?" asks the Reverend. Ethan coolly replies, "Ain't got no eyes so he can't enter the spirit land, has to wander forever between the winds". This is by far my favourite line in the movie, because of the resonance it has at the end, with Ethan walking away into the winds, doomed to forever drift the earth. This movie is a beautiful spectacle of sight and sound. Not only do we marvel at scenes in Ford's beloved Monument Valley, we also find ourselves amazed at the level of detail in set design. Each frame is as if it were from a painter's canvas. Colour coordination was certainly something John Ford and his cinematographers fit perfectly into. There are few vibrant colours in each frame, but those that exist pop out vividly amongst the bleak, sepia-stained walls of the houses, and the valley.

John Ford again demonstrates his powerful storytelling technique by using several methods of progressing the narrative. While crosscutting between action is used sparingly, a quasi-flashback stemming from a letter of Luke's kept my attention firmly rooted to my screen. These different methods of narrative progression are important because it keeps the viewer continuously involved with the story. Not once did I feel as if a particular scene droned on and on for too long, instead I felt captivated not only by a gripping storyline, but also because of the brilliant dichotomy between Ethan Edwards and the other characters. The Searchers is a lesson on psychology, sociology and filmmaking all at once. I love it.