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Tag Archives: Film
Insomnia File No. 20: Casual Sex? (dir by Geneviève Robert)
What’s an Insomnia File? You know how some times you just can’t get any sleep and, at about three in the morning, you’ll find yourself watching whatever you can find on cable? This feature is all about those insomnia-inspired discoveries!
If you had insomnia at one in the morning, you could have turned over to Starz Comedy and watched the 1988 comedy, Casual Sex? That’s what I just did!
I have to admit that I’m a little bit surprised that this is the first insomnia file that I’ve written since last July. It’s not like I haven’t had insomnia between then and now. However, I guess I’ve been busy either going on vacation, writing about horror movies, writing about the Oscars, or, of course, writing about reality TV over at the Big Brother Blog and Reality TV Chat Blog. That said, I’ve always enjoyed writing these insomnia files and I’m happy to finally have the chance to do a new one.
I’m also happy to have the chance to write about a film called Casual Sex?, if just because I know that it will lead to the site getting a lot of hits from people doing google searches. They probably won’t actually be looking for a movie review but a hit is a hit!
Anyway, Casual Sex? is an 80s film. In fact, it’s such an 80s film that it probably spent the 90s recovering from an expensive coke habit. It’s a film about two best friends who have decided that they’re tired of being single. Stacy (Lea Thompson) is the promiscuous one, the one who has had many partners, has gotten involved in way too many needy relationships, and who is now freaking out over the spread of AIDS. Melissa (Victoria Jackson) is the sweet but ditzy one. Melissa has had boyfriends but she’s never had an orgasm. When Stacy tells her about an article she read about AIDS, Melissa replies that at least now she’s “not the only one who is afraid of sex.” Hoping to each find a permanent mate, Stacy and Melissa go to a health spa. Stacy immediately falls madly in love with Nick (Stephen Shellen), an aspiring musician. Melissa, meanwhile, meets the sensitive and sweet-natured Jamie (Jerry Levine), who works at the spa and gives a killer massage. Meanwhile, an annoying guy named Vinny (Andrew Dice Clay) pursues both of them and everyone else as well.
(Vinny leers at every woman that he sees and prefers to be known as the Vin Man. I know, I know. It’s hard to believe that he’s still single.)
Casual Sex? actually get off to a really good start. It opened with both Stacy and Melissa standing on an empty stage and discussing their sexual histories. Usually, I cringe whenever a movie opens with a character standing on a blank stage and talking directly to the audience. It usually feels like a lazy storytelling technique to me. (Can’t figure out a natural way to let the audience know a character’s backstory? Have them talk to directly to the audience! It’s easy and lazy!) But in Casual Sex?, this technique actually works. Lea Thompson and Victoria Jackson both give very natural and believable performances and the flashbacks to their previous experiences are all well-done and sometimes painfully relatable. Despite the fact that the film was made 30 years ago, their experiences and emotions felt timeless.
After that strong opening, the rest of the film was much more uneven. I have to admit that I had trouble telling how much of the film was meant to be satirical and how much of it was just a reflection of the time in which it was made. For instance, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be rolling my eyes at Nick, with his feathered hair and his overdramatic style of singing, or if that was just what was considered to be hot in the 80s. It was very confusing but, regardless of whether it was intentional or not, it was hard to take Nick seriously as anything more than a plot device. As a result, it was difficult to care about his relationship with Stacy. Melissa’s relationship with Jamie was far more interesting, largely because Jerry Levine was so likable in the role.
(Just in case anyone was wondering, Casual Sex? does feature a lot of sex but very little of it feels casual. Perhaps that’s why the title ends with a question mark. “Casual sex?” the film asks before answering, “No.”)
The film was ultimately too uneven to really be considered to be a success but I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. That was largely because of the performances of Lea Thompson, Victoria Jackson, and Jerry Levine. There’s a few scenes where Vinny drops his bluster and reveals a sensitive side and Andrew Dice Clay does well with these scenes but, ultimately, it’s hard to like anyone known as The Vin Man. I mean, he even has “Vin Man” written on the back of his jacket. Strangely, Clay’s performance here felt like an early version of his performance in Blue Jasmine, almost as if the Vin Man eventually changed his name to Augie and ended up marrying the sister-in-law of a Ponzi scheme manager.
Casual Sex? may not be great but it’s good enough for when you’re awake at one in the morning.
Previous Insomnia Files:
Lisa Marie’s Thoughts On The Oscar Nominations
Okay, I’ve had plenty of time to think about today’s Oscar nominations and now I’m ready to share my thoughts. Obviously, my picks were a lot different from what the Academy selected. That’s okay. That’s the way it goes every year. I don’t mind being a contrarian.
So, let’s take a look at what was nominated, category-by-category.
(If you need a refresher as to what was nominated, here’s a complete list of nominees!)
Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Short: I’m sure that these three categories are full of wonderful nominees that were created by wonderful people but I don’t believe that I’ve seen a single one of them. So, with that in mind, I can only imagine that the Academy did a perfect job selecting all 15 of these nominees! Good work, Academy!
Best Foreign Language Film: Again, I have seen none of the nominees so I really can’t comment one way or another. Normally, this would make me feel like a failure but I imagine that 90% of the people reading this post are in the same boat. I imagine Toni Erdmann will win, just because of all the good things I’ve read about it. But, since I haven’t actually seen any of the nominees, I will refrain from making any sort of prediction.
Best Documentary Feature: I’m disappointed that my favorite documentary, The Witness, was not nominated. And, quite frankly, I’m shocked that Weiner was not nominated. That said, I can’t complain about any of the documentaries that actually were nominated. It was a good year for documentaries. In fact, it could be argued that it was a better year for documentaries than for features.
Should Win: O.J.: Made in America
Will Win: 13th
Best Original Song: Not a single song from Sing Street was nominated and that is amazingly disappointing. Original song can be surprising. Remember last year when that terrible song from SPECTRE somehow won? That said, I’m expecting that this year will see a huge sweep by La La Land and one of its nominated songs will probably win.
Should Win: Audition (The Fools Who Can Dream) from La La Land
Will Win: City of Stars from La La Land
Best Original Score: The Neon Demon deserved a nomination but I’m not surprised it was snubbed. There’s no way the Academy was going to honor Nicholas Winding Refn’s subversive masterpiece. La La Land is going to win this one easily.
Should Win: La La Land
Will Win: La La Land
Best Visual Effects: I was glad to see that Kubo and the Two Strings was nominated and I wish that Arrival had been nominated as well. I’m going to go ahead and predict that Doctor Strange will be the first MCU film to win an Oscar.
Should Win: Doctor Strange
Will Win: Doctor Strange
Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing: Let’s be honest. I couldn’t explain the difference between sound editing and sound mixing and, unless you specifically work in the sound department, neither could you. As a result, these categories are always difficult to predict. But Hacksaw Ridge has to get some love somewhere and I bet it would happen here if not for La La Land.
Should Win (Both): Hacksaw Ridge
Will Win (Both): La La Land
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: As soon as I saw that Deadpool wasn’t nominated here, I knew it wouldn’t be nominated anywhere. Can you believe that fucking Suicide Squad is now an Oscar nominee? I haven’t seen A Man Called Ove but I’m going to predict its victory because I just can’t imagine the Academy honoring either Star Trek Beyond or Suicide Squad.
Should Win: Star Trek Beyond (that had good makeup in it, right?)
Will Win: A Man Called Ove
Best Film Editing: I can’t complain about any of the films nominated here. La La Land is pretty much a guaranteed winner here.
Should Win: La La Land
Will Win: La La Land
Best Costume Design: I was shocked that Love & Friendship was not nominated. If La La Land sweeps, it’ll win here. When I made out my list of my personal picks for the Oscars, I gave the costuming Oscar to La La Land but now that I’m looking at the actual nominees, I’m remembering just how good everyone looked in Allied.
Should Win: Allied
Will Win: La La Land
Best Cinematography: My personal pick for this award was The Neon Demon but it wasn’t nominated. Out of the nominated films, I would go with Moonlight but I think La La Land is going to sweep.
Should Win: Moonlight
Will Win: La La Land
Best Production Design: Well, it won’t be Passengers! How the Hell did that get nominated for anything? I think, of the nominees, Arrival deserves the award for making science fiction feel and look like science fact. But, again, I think La La Land is going to win here. (Are you sensing a theme in my predictions?)
Should Win: Arrival
Will Win: La La Land
Best Animated Feature: I was happy that Kubo and the Two Strings, Zootopia, and Moana were all nominated. I haven’t seen The Red Turtle or My Life as a Zucchini but, on the whole, the Academy has a record of nominating the right films for this award. I loved Kubo and I think it might win, just because it picked up that Visual Effects nomination as well. Zootopia, however, would allow the Academy to make a political point and Moana has Lin-Manuel Miranda. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict a Kubo victory but I wouldn’t be surprised if any of these five nominees won.
Should Win: Kubo and the Two Strings
Will Win: Zootopia Kubo and the Two Strings Moana Zootopia Kubo and the Two Strings
Best Adapted Screenplay: With La La Land likely to sweep the technical awards and Manchester By The Sea and Moonlight set to pick up some acting awards, this category will give the Academy a chance to acknowledge Arrival.
Should Win: Arrival
Will Win: Arrival
Best Original Screenplay: I think this is one of the few awards that La La Land will not win. This category gives the Academy a chance to honor Hell or High Water.
Should Win: Hell or High Water
Will Win: Hell or High Water
Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis is a guaranteed winner, even though her performance was a lead role.
Should Win: Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Will Win: Viola Davis, Fences
Best Supporting Actor: I was really happy to see that Michael Shannon got a nomination because Shannon is a great actor who always seems to be taken for granted. That said, Mahershala Ali is almost as much of a lock as Viola Davis.
Should Win: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Will Win: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Best Actress: Let’s just get this out of the way. Amy Adams not only deserved a nomination, she also deserved the Oscar. Arrival works because of a twist that occurs halfway through the film. The twist works because of Amy Adams’s performance. If not for Amy Adams, Arrival would never have been nominated for best picture. The fact that she was not nominated will be remembered as one of the biggest mistakes in Academy history.
This morning, I was happy to see that a lot of people on twitter agreed with me about the Amy Adams snub. What took me by surprise was how many people also agreed with me that Meryl Streep essentially took a spot that should have been given to Amy Adams. This morning, among other things, I discovered that there’s actually a growing backlash against the annual tradition of automatically nominating Meryl Streep, regardless of whether the film was any good or not.
Could Meryl win yet again? It depends on whether or not the Academy wants to hear another Meryl Streep speech. Given the political climate, I wouldn’t discount that as a possibility. Since I’m on the subject and it’s possible that everyone stopped reading a few categories ago, I’m going to go ahead and admit my unpopular opinion. While I’m definitely not a fan of the new President, Meryl’s Golden Globe speech felt like almost a parody of upper class white liberalism. Listening to her, it was easy to imagine Meryl at a cocktail party, bragging about how she’s on a first name basis with her maid.
But, I’m in the minority as far as that opinion is concerned. The Industry loved Meryl’s speech and, after Donald Trump’s overreaction to it, giving an Oscar to Meryl and giving her a chance to repeat the speech on a much bigger stage would be the perfect way to give the finger to the current administration.
That said, I think Emma Stone will be carried along in the La La Land sweep. Whether justified or not, many members of the Academy will look at her character and see themselves.
Should Win: Amy Adams in Arrival (Yes, she wasn’t nominated but she should still win, goddammit.)
Will Win: Emma Stone in La La Land
Best Actor: Could anyone other than Casey Affleck win this one? Denzel Washington is popular and giving him an Oscar for Fences would be a nice to way to reward all of the effort that he put into bringing this acclaimed play to the screen. Affleck was sued for sexual harassment by a producer and a cinematogrpaher and ended up settling with both of them. However, I doubt if it will stop him from winning the Oscar. If the allegations were going to hurt Affleck’s chances, it would have happened long before now.
As for the nominees — well, I have no complaints. While I wasn’t as impressed with Affleck’s performance as some, I think he did well enough. I would have liked to have seen either Sully‘s Tom Hanks or Hell or High Water‘s Chris Pine nominated. I’m glad that Andrew Garfield picked up his first nomination.
Should Win: Denzel Washington, Fences
Will Win: Casey Affleck, Manchester By The Sea
Best Director: I’m going to go out on a limb and predict a minor upset. I think La La Land is going to win in a lot of categories but I think that Moonlight‘s Barry Jenkins will win this Oscar. Best Picture and Director have been split fairly regularly over the past few years and, after both the #OscarsSoWhite controversy and the 2016 presidential election, it may be felt that it’s time for a black director to finally win the Oscar. Based on the skill shown in Whiplash and La La Land, Damien Chazelle will have other opportunities.
Should Win: Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
Will Win: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Best Picture: Though I don’t necessarily think it was one of the best films of the year, I would have loved it if Deadpool had actually scored a nomination. It would have been an unexpected surprise and it would have shaken up a race that’s gotten rather predictable.
But no. Deadpool received no nominations and the expected films were nominated. Perhaps the only thing that could be considered surprising (though not that surprising) was that Martin Scorsese’s passion project, Silence, was not only snubbed for best picture but also only picked up one nomination. Passengers picked up more nominations that Martin Scorsese’s latest film. When it comes to total number of nominations, Silence is tired with Suicide Squad.
La La Land is going to win. It’s probably going to win nearly all 14 of the Oscars it has been nominated for. My pick for the best film of 2016 was American Honey. Of the nominees, I think Arrival is the one that deserves to win. But La La Land is an exuberant valentine to both the Academy and the industry.
La La Land‘s going to win.
Should Win: Arrival
Will Win: La La Land
Here Are The Oscar Nominations!
Here are the Oscar nominations. La La Land tied Titanic’s record with 14 nominations and I’m going to predict right now that it’ll win nearly everything that it’s been nominated for. Amy Adams was totally snubbed. Meryl Streep was technically nominated for Florence Foster Jenkins but we all know it was actually for her Golden Globes speech.
I may have more to say about this later but until then, here are the noms:
Best Picture
- “Arrival”
- “Fences”
- “Hacksaw Ridge”
- “Hell or High Water”
- “Hidden Figures”
- “La La Land”
- “Lion”
- “Manchester by the Sea”
- “Moonlight”
Best Director
- Mel Gibson – “Hacksaw Ridge”
- Kenneth Lonergan – “Manchester by the Sea”
- Barry Jenkins – “Moonlight”
- Denis Villeneuve – “Arrival”
- Damien Chazelle – “La La Land”
Best Actor
- Casey Affleck – “Manchester by the Sea”
- Andrew Garfield – “Hacksaw Ridge”
- Ryan Gosling – “La La Land”
- Viggo Mortensen – “Captain Fantastic”
- Denzel Washington – “Fences”
Best Actress
- Isabelle Huppert – “Elle”
- Ruth Negga – “Loving”
- Natalie Portman – “Jackie”
- Emma Stone – “La La Land”
- Meryl Streep – “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Best Supporting Actor
- Mahershala Ali – “Moonlight”
- Jeff Bridges – “Hell or High Water”
- Lucas Hedges – “Manchester by the Sea”
- Dev Patel – “Lion”
- Michael Shannon – “Nocturnal Animals”
Best Supporting Actress
- Viola Davis – “Fences”
- Naomie Harris – “Moonlight”
- Nicole Kidman – “Lion”
- Octavia Spencer – “Hidden Figures”
- Michelle William – “Manchester by the Sea”
Best Original Screenplay
- “20th Century Women”
- “Hell or High Water”
- “La La Land”
- “The Lobster”
- “Manchester by the Sea”
Best Adapted Screenplay
- “Arrival”
- “Fences”
- “Hidden Figures”
- “Lion”
- “Moonlight”
Best Animated Feature
- “Kubo and the Two Strings”
- “Moana”
- “My Life as a Zucchini”
- “The Red Turtle”
- “Zootopia”
Best Production Design
- “Arrival”
- “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
- “Hail, Caesar!”
- “La La Land”
- “Passengers”
Best Cinematography
- “Arrival”
- “La La Land”
- “Lion”
- “Moonlight”
- “Silence”
Best Costume Design
- “Allied”
- “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
- “Florence Foster Jenkins”
- “Jackie”
- “La La Land”
Best Film Editing
- “Arrival”
- “Hacksaw Ridge”
- “Hell or High Water”
- “La La Land”
- “Moonlight”
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- “A Man Called Ove”
- “Star Trek Beyond”
- “Suicide Squad”
Best Sound Mixing
- “Arrival”
- “Hacksaw Ridge”
- “La La Land”
- “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
- “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”
Best Sound Editing
- “Arrival”
- “Deepwater Horizon”
- “Hacksaw Ridge”
- “La La Land”
- “Sully”
Best Visual Effects
- “Deepwater Horizon”
- “Doctor Strange”
- “The Jungle Book”
- “Kubo and the Two Strings”
- “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
Best Original Score
- “Jackie”
- “La La Land”
- “Lion”
- “Moonlight”
- “Passengers”
Best Original Song
- “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land”
- “Can’t Stop the Feeling” from “Trolls”
- “City of Stars” from “La La Land”
- “The Empty Chair” from “Jim: The James Foley Story”
- “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”
Best Documentary Feature
- “Fire at Sea”
- “I Am Not Your Negro”
- “Life, Animated”
- “OJ: Made in America”
- “13th”
Best Foreign Language Film
- “Land of Mine”
- “A Man Called Ove”
- “The Salesman”
- “Tanna”
- “Toni Erdmann”
Best Live Action Short
- “Ennemis Interieurs”
- “La Femme et le TGV”
- “Silent Nights”
- “Sing”
- “Timecode”
Best Documentary Short
- “Extremis”
- “4.1 Miles”
- “Joe’s Violin”
- “Watani: My Homeland”
- “The White Helmets”
Best Animated Short Film
- “Blind Vaysha”
- “Borrowed Time”
- “Pear Cider and Cigarettes”
- “Pearl”
- “Piper”
What if Lisa Picked The Oscar Nominees — 2016 Edition
With the Oscar nominations due to be announced tomorrow, now is the time that the Shattered Lens indulges in a little something called, “What if Lisa had all the power.” Listed below are my personal Oscar nominations. Please note that these are not the films that I necessarily think will be nominated. The fact of the matter is that the many of them will not. Instead, these are the films that would be nominated if I was solely responsible for deciding the nominees this year. Winners are starred and listed in bold.
(You’ll also note that I’ve added four categories, all of which I believe the Academy should adopt — Best Voice-Over Performance, Best Casting, Best Stunt Work, and Best Overall Use Of Music In A Film.)
(Click on the links to see my nominations for 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010!)
Best Picture
Best Director
*Andrea Arnold for American Honey
Shane Black for The Nice Guys
Barry Jenkins for Moonlight
David MacKenzie for Hell or High Water
Nicholas Winding Refn for The Neon Demon
Denis Villeneuve for Arrival
Best Actor
Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys
Tom Hanks in Sully
Chris Pine in Hell or High Water
Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool
*Denzel Washington in Fences
Best Actress
*Amy Adams in Arrival
Kate Beckinsale in Love & Friendship
Viola Davis in Fences
Sasha Lane in American Honey
Emma Stone in La La Land
Anya Taylor-Joy in The Witch
Best Supporting Actor
*Mahershala Ali in Moonlight
Tom Bennett in Love & Friendship
Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water
Alden Ehrenreich in Hail Caesar!
John Goodman in 10 Cloverfield Lane
Patrick Stewart in Green Room
Best Supporting Actress
*Naomie Harris in Moonlight
Felicity Jones in A Monster Calls
Riley Keough in American Honey
Jena Malone in The Neon Demon
Helen Mirren in Eye in the Sky
Angourie Rice in The Nice Guys
Best Voice Over and/or Stop Motion Performance
Auli’i Cravalho in Moana
Ellen DeGeneres in Finding Dory
Ginnifer Goodwin in Zootopia
*Liam Neeson in A Monster Calls
Art Parkinson in Kubo and the Two Strings
Charlize Theron in Kubo and the Two Strings
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Animated Film
Best Documentary Feature
The Confessions of Thomas Quick
Best Casting
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Editing
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
*”Audition (The Fool Who Dreams)” from La La Land
“How Far I’ll Go” from Moana
“Waving Goodbye” from The Neon Demon
“I’m so Humble” from Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping
“Drive It Like You Stole It” from Sing Street
“Go Now” from Sing Street
Best Overall Use Of Music
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Stunt Work
Best Visual Effects
Films Listed By Number of Nominations:
13 Nominations — La La Land
1o Nominations — Hell or High Water
9 Nominations — Moonlight, The Neon Demon
8 Nominations — American Honey, Arrival, Kubo and the Two Strings, A Monster Calls
6 Nominations — The Nice Guys
5 Nominations — Deadpool, Love & Friendship
4 Nominations — Captain America: Civil War, Hacksaw Ridge, Hail Caesar!, Moana, Sully
3 Nominations — Doctor Strange, Green Room, Sing Street
2 Nominations — The Conjuring 2, Everybody Wants Some!!, Fences, Finding Dory, The Jungle Book, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Witch, Zootopia
1 Nomination — The Confessions of Thomas Quick, Don’t Breathe, Eye in the Sky, Holy Hell, Jason Bourne, The Legend of Tarzan, O.J.: Made in America, Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping, Rigged 2016, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Sausage Party, The Secret Life of Pets, Weiner, The Witness
Films Listed By Number of Oscars Won:
4 Oscars — American Honey
3 Oscars — La La Land
2 Oscars — Arrival, Moonlight, The Neon Demon
1 Oscar — Deadpool, Doctor Strange, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Kubo and the Two Strings, Love & Friendship, A Monster Calls, Sully, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Witness
Will the Academy agree with my predictions? Probably not but we’ll find out on Tuesday!
Playing Catch-Up: The Confessions of Thomas Quick, Holy Hell, Rigged 2016, Witness
I watched several documentaries in 2016. Here are reviews of 4 of them.
The Confessions of Thomas Quick (dir by Brian Hill)
Like the majority of Americans, I had no idea who Thomas Quick was until I watched this fascinating and rather disturbing documentary. Thomas Quick was a Swedish serial killer. Or, at least, he claimed he was.
In the 1990s, a troubled loner and career criminal who went by the name Thomas Quick confessed to committing over 20 murders. Amazingly, even though his stories were often outlandish and didn’t always make sense, it appears that the authorities took Quick at his word. Even when Quick told an implausible story about being forced to eat a baby, no one doubted his confessions.
Over the next 20 years, Quick became something of a morbid celebrity. Whereas we’ve become sadly desensitized to stories of serial killers here in the States, this was still a rare occurrence in Sweden. Of course, as The Confessions of Thomas Quick makes clear, Quick was never actually a serial killer. His confessions were all false. How and why did Thomas Quick fool everyone? The film suggests that the authorities where more interesting in closing cases than actually investigating Quick’s claims. Meanwhile, among psychiatric authorities, there was almost a cult-like insistence that Quick was telling the truth.
The Confessions of Thomas Quick is a fascinating and creepy documentary about an incredibly creepy person.
Holy Hell (directed by Will Allen)
Speaking of creepy and fascinating, just check out Holy Hell. Holy Hell is about a former actor who became a highly successful cult leader. In many ways, Michel is a silly figure. With his permanently pursed lips and a face that shows the results of one too many face lifts, Michel looks like almost a parody of a false messiah. And then when we hear him speak in his reedy voice, we wonder how anyone could have ever followed him.
But, as Holy Hell makes clear, a lot of people did follow Michel and they still do, though Michel has changed his name and has long since abandoned his former Austin compound for Hawaii. Holy Hell was directed by Will Allen, a former member of Michel’s cult and one of the many young men who were sexually abused by Michel. (Michel demanded celibacy from his followers but, in private, he felt no need to hold himself to his own standards.) Will Allen was a film student and, as such, he spent twenty years filming the cult and directing some genuinely odd music videos, all starring Michel. When Allen finally left the cult, he lost most of his footage. But what he did mange to escape with is more than enough.
Want to see how a large group of otherwise intelligent people can be brainwashed? Watch Holy Hell. Michel may be a ridiculous figure but, by the end of this documentary, he was will have scared the Hell out of you.
Rigged 2016
Do you want to know how America ended up in this current political mess? Watch Rigged 2016. Rigged 2016 was originally produced to promote the presidential candidacy of Libertarian Gary Johnson. And while the film did not accomplish its goal of winning Johnson a spot on the presidential debate stage, it did offer up a portrait of a political system that has been rigged by money, media, and special interests.
Rigged 2016 devotes most of its time to discussing the threat of Donald Trump. However, it doesn’t let the other side off the hook. Supporters of Bernie Sanders discuss how his campaign was ultimately sabotaged by the DNC.
Rigged 2016 will make you angry and hopefully, it’ll inspire you to wonder why — year after year — we continue to settle for a rigged system.
The Witness (dir by James D. Solomon)
The Witness is one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking documentaries that I have ever seen. It’s currently on Netflix and I could not recommend it more.
In 1964, a 29 year-old waitress named Kitty Genovese was brutally stabbed to death on the streets of New York City. Reportedly, 37 people heard the sound of Kitty screaming for help and none of them called the police. None of them left their apartment. For decades after, Kitty Genovese’s case was held up as an example of public apathy. And yet — even after her murderer was caught and sent to prison — Kitty remained a mystery, a symbol who never quite allowed to be an individual.
Kitty came from a large family. Her younger brother, Bill, was shaken by the reports of people refusing to help to Kitty as she was being murdered. And so, he decided that he would always help people. He enlisted in the army, specifically because he wanted to help his country and help the world. He was sent to Vietnam, where he lost both of his legs.
The Witness, which opens forty years after Kitty’s murder, is the story of Bill’s attempt to understand who Kitty was and, hopefully, come to terms with his feelings about her death. As Bill freely admits, he never really knew much about his older sister but the shadow of her death hangs over every day of his life. Though the film may be about Kitty, it’s just as much Bill’s story. It’s a story that makes us ask how much anyone can truly know about anyone else.
Bill starts by investigating whether or not Kitty’s screams were actually heard and ignored by 37 people. The majority of the 37 are now dead but Bill finds a few who are still alive. He discovers that the legend of the 37 apathetic and/or cowardly witnesses isn’t necessarily true. He goes on to talk to some of Kitty’s friends. He tries to talk to his family but most of them seem to be weary of both Kitty and Bill’s obsession. Bill even gets a chance to talk to Kitty’s girlfriend. There are suggestions that Kitty and Bill’s father rejected Kitty because Kitty was a lesbian. We discover that, living in New York and away from her family, Kitty could finally be herself. It’s interesting to note that, at no point, does The Witness idealize Kitty. I’m sure the temptation was there. At one point, Kitty’s girlfriend admits that even she’s not sure she knew who the real Kitty was.
Bill also tries to reach out to the man who murdered Kitty. The murderer refuses to talk to him. However, in perhaps the film’s most poignant moment, the murderer’s son agrees to meet with Bill. It’s a tense meeting. The son weakly defends his father. At one point, he says that he’s heard rumors that Bill has Mafia connections. The son assures Bill that people know where he is, as if he’s concerned that Bill is planning on killing him.
I have to admit that, having spent 90 minutes watching the very engaging and honest Bill deal with his emotions, there was a part of me that really wanted to hate the son. But, by the end of the scene, it becomes obvious that both Bill and the murderer’s son are suffering because of one man’s senseless act. They’re both victims of the same evil.
Bill hires an actress to walk down the same streets that Kitty once walked down. Standing in the same spot that Kitty was standing when she was attacked, the actress lets out a terrifying scream. Bill flinches. So do we.
The Witness is a powerful meditation on life, guilt, love, and family. It’s on Netflix. Watch it.
Playing Catch-Up: The Neon Demon (dir by Nicholas Winding Refn)
What to say about The Neon Demon?
See, this is a film that you have to be careful about discussing. From the moment that it premiered at Cannes last year, The Neon Demon was the love-it-or-hate-it film of 2016.
Those of us that loved The Neon Demon really, really loved it.
And those that hated it — well, let’s just say that they really, really hated it. They complained that The Neon Demon was exploitive. They found the subject matter to be sordid. They accused the movie of being both pretentious and ultimately pointless. The plot made no sense, they complained. The film was overlong and featured about a handful of false endings. It almost seemed as if Nicholas Winding Refn was taunting anyone who expected him to make a typical melodrama about life in Hollywood.
All of that is true but, honestly, what were these people expecting? As a result of the success of Drive, many people have made the mistake of thinking that Nicholas Winding Refn is a mainstream director. He’s not. Refn is a provocateur. He is a director who often dares his audience to walk away. In The Neon Demon, each false ending challenges the audience’s assumption about how a story — any story — should end. Some people, I’m sure, would complain that Refn is all style and no substance. However, The Neon Demon is about a world where one’s worth is determined by their style. Style is substance. The world of The Neon Demon may be empty but the film is not.
For all the debate about the film’s deeper themes (or lack of them), The Neon Demon‘s story is a fairly simple and deliberately familiar one. A teenage runaway comes to Hollywood, finds some success as a model, and discovers that the world of show business is not as romantic as she may have initially believed. When we first see Jesse (Elle Fanning), she’s posing for her boyfriend and she’s pretending to be dead. Death, beauty, and sex go hand-in-hand in The Neon Demon.
Jesse’s an interesting character, one who constantly challenges our assumptions. At first, Jesse seems like a typical innocent. She’s a virgin who is so introverted that she can barely carry on a conversation. She lives in a cheap apartment, under the menacing gaze of her sleazy landlord (Keanu Reeves, having fun playing his skeezy character). She has a boyfriend and on their dates, she tells him about how she’s always dreamed of being a star. It’s only as the film progresses that you start to realize how little you actually know about Jesse. That she’s a runway is implied early on. We never learn what led to her running away. In fact, we learn next to nothing about who she was before she appeared in Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Jesse is everything that the fashion industry values. She’s beautiful and, even more importantly, she’s young. We watch as Jesse goes to a casting call and we’re struck by the blank-look on her face. We wonder if there’s anything going on underneath the surface. Jesse has hallucinations, seeing a shining triangle and kissing her own reflection. Someone asks her what it’s like to be desired. She replies, “It’s everything.”
Jesse befriends Ruby (Jena Malone), a makeup artist who lives in a gigantic mansion, overlooking an empty swimming pool. When Ruby isn’t working in the fashion industry, she works at a morgue, applying makeup to corpses and occasionally engaging in necrophilia. She makes the dead beautiful so that they can be buried looking their best. Again, beauty and death are intertwined throughout The Neon Demon.
Ruby has two other friends, Gigi (Bella Heathcote) and Sarah (Abbey Lee). They’re both models, struggling to maintain their careers even as younger models, like Jesse, continue to flood into Los Angeles. Gigi has had so much cosmetic surgery that none of her original features remain. Gigi is neurotic and fearful. Sarah, on the other hand, is confident and sarcastic. When asked what she did the last time another model screwed her out of a job, Sarah calmly replies, “I ate her.”
Sarah isn’t necessarily joking either. Without giving too much away, The Neon Demon features, among other things, a character eating an eyeball that another character has just thrown up. Not surprisingly for a Refn film, there’s a lot of blood in The Neon Demon. It’s a film that opens with fake blood and ends with very real blood.
Combining the visual sense of Dario Argento with the thematic concerns of Jean Rollin, The Neon Demon is a triumph of pure style. The visuals are so strong that it’s impossible to look away, even when the film’s themes are deliberately obscure. The Neon Demon is a surreal journey into the dark side of Hollywood, a mixture of ennui, alienation, decadence, and sacrifice. It may not always make sense but it’s always fascinating to watch.
Personally, I think The Neon Demon would make a great double feature with La La Land. Two triumphs of style, two very different views of Los Angeles.
Playing Catch-Up: Zootopia (dir by Byron Howard and Rich Moore)
I finally got a chance to watch Zootopia last night and oh my God, what a sweet and wonderful little film it turned out to be!
Zootopia is an animated film from Disney and it started out with a premise that sounds very Disney-like. Zootopia takes place in a world where there are no humans. Instead, animals walk and talk and scheme and plan and joke and dance and … well, basically, do everything that humans do. Except they’re a lot cuter when they do it because they’re talking animals.
Judy Hopps (voiced by Gennifer Goodwin) is a rabbit who happens to be an incurable optimist. (We should all try to be more like Judy.) Even when she was growing up on the farm, Judy knew that she would someday move to the sprawling metropolis of Zootopia and become the first rabbit on the city’s police force. When she finally does graduate from the police academy, Judy gets a lot of attention as a trailblazer. But she quickly discovers that she’s only been hired to be a token, a political tool to help the city’s mayor, a blowhard of a lion named Lionheart (J.K. Simmons, voice the role that he was born to voice), win reelection.
See, Zootopia may look like a wonderful place to live but, as quickly becomes apparent, it’s a city in which the peace is very tenous. Animals that are traditionally prey — like Judy and her fellow rabbits — may live with the predators but they certainly don’t trust them. And the predators may not eat the prey but they certainly don’t respect them. Underneath the cute face of every talking animal, there lies prejudice and resentment. Lionheart is a predator who needs the votes of prey to remain in office. What better way to win their trust then to make Judy Hopps a police officer?
Judy may be a member of the police force but that doesn’t mean that she’s going to be allowed to actually do anything. While every other member of the force gets an exciting assignment, Judy is assigned to traffic duty.
However, an otter has recently vanished. He’s just the latest of 14 predators to vanish in the city. With the help of seemingly sympathetic deputy mayor, Judy gets herself assigned to the case. But there’s a catch. She has 48 hours to find the otter. If she doesn’t find that otter, she’ll resign from the force and go back to the farm.
Luckily, Judy is not working alone. She knows that the last animal known to have seen the otter is a fox named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). Nick’s a bit of a con artist and, as a predator, he wants nothing to do with Judy and she doesn’t quite trust him. But, events — which I’m not going to spoil here — force them to work together and uncover the darkest secrets of life in Zootopia…
If Zootopia sounds cute, that’s because it is. It’s perhaps one of the most adorable films that I’ve ever seen, full of wonderful animation and memorable characters. But, at the same time, there’s a very serious theme running through Zootopia. Zootopia is about more than just talking animals. It’s a film about prejudice, racism, sexism, and intolerance. It’s a film that invites us to not only laugh but also to reconsider the world around us.
Zootopia is currently on Netflix and, if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it. It’s great for children and adults.
Playing Catch-Up: Sausage Party (dir by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan)
Sausage Party opens with a scene that could have come straight for a heart-warming Pixar film. It’s morning and, in a gigantic grocery store called Shopwell’s, all of the grocery items are excited about the start of a new day. The hot dogs are singing. The buns are harmonizing. The produce is bragging about how fresh they are. Everyone is hoping that this will be the day that they are selected to leave the aisles of Shopwell’s and that they’ll be taken to the Great Beyond. At Shopwell’s, shoppers are viewed as being Gods and being selected by a God means…
…well, no one is quite sure what it means but everyone’s sure that it has to be something good. Surely, the Great Beyond couldn’t be something terrible, right? At least, that’s what everyone assumes until a previously purchased jar of Honey Mustard returns to the store and tells a hot dog named Frank (voiced by Seth Rogen, who also co-wrote the film) that the Great Beyond is a lie. The Great Beyond is not a paradise. Instead, it’s something terrible. Before Honey Mustard can be persuaded to give more details, it leaps off the shelf, choosing suicide over being restocked.
What could it all mean? Well, there’s not too much time to worry about that because, even as Honey Mustard is committing suicide, a customer is selecting both Frank and Frank’s girlfriend, a bun named Brenda (Kristin Wiig). They’re going to the Great Beyond together! Yay! Except…
…calamity! A shopping cart collision leads to both Frank and Brenda being thrown to the floor. While their friends are taken to the Great Beyond, Frank and Brenda are left to wander the store. It turns out that Shopwell’s really comes alive after the lights go down and the doors are locked. All of the grocery items leave their shelves and have one big party. Frank seeks answers about the Great Beyond from a bottle of liquor named Firewater (Bill Hader). Firewater has all the answers but you need to be stoned to truly understand. This is a Seth Rogen movie, after all. Meanwhile…
…Frank’s friends, the ones who survived the earlier cart collision, are discovering that the Great Beyond is not what they thought it was…
I apologize for all the ellipses but Sausage Party is the kind of movie that warrants them. This is a rambling, occasionally uneven, and often hilariously funny little movie. (I know that there were allegations that the film’s animators were treated horribly. That’s sad to hear, not least because they did a truly wonderful job.) Sausage Party was perhaps the ultimate stoner film of 2016, a comedy with a deeply philosophical bent that plays out with a logic that feels both random and calculated at the same time.
(If you’ve ever had the three-in-the-morning conversation about “What if our entire universe is just a speck of dust in a bigger universe?”, you’ll immediately understand what Sausage Party is trying to say.)
It’s also an amazingly profane little movie but again, that’s a huge reason why it works. Yes, a lot of the humor is juvenile and hit-and-miss. (I cringed whenever the film’s nominal villain, a douche voiced by Nick Kroll, showed up.) But for every joke that misses, there’s a joke that works perfectly. Interestingly, for all the silliness that’s inherent in the idea of making a film about talking grocery items, there’s a strain a very real melancholy running through Sausage Party. Sausage Party may be a dumb comedy but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a lot on its mind.
Since it’s a Seth Rogen film, the cast is full of familiar voices. Yes, James Franco can be heard. So can Paul Rudd, Danny McBride, Salma Hayek, Edward Norton, Jonah Hill, and Craig Robinson. They all sound great, bringing vibrant life to the film’s collection of consumables and condiments.
Sausage Party. After watching it, it’s possible you’ll never eat another hot dog.
Here Are The Nominations of the Costume, Make-Up, and Cinematography Guilds!
Three more guilds announced their nominees for the best of 2016 last week and while none of them may have gotten as much attention as the DGA or the PGA, they all play in role in our attempts to predict which films will actually be nominated when the Oscar nominations are announced on Tuesday!
So, to help you out when you’re making your bets, here are the guilds!
Costume Designers Guild
Excellence in Contemporary Film
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie – Rebecca Hale
Captain Fantastic – Courtney Hoffman
La La Land – Mary Zophres
Lion – Cappi Ireland
Nocturnal Animals – Arianne Phillips
Excellence in Period Film
The Dressmaker – Marion Boyce, Margot Wilson
Florence Foster Jenkins – Consolata Boyle
Hail, Caesar! – Mary Zophres
Hidden Figures – Renee Ehrlich Kalfus
Jackie – Madeline Fontaine
Excellence in Fantasy Film
Doctor Strange – Alexandra Byrne
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Colleen Atwood
Kubo and the Two Strings – Deborah Cook
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Colleen Atwood
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – David Crossman, Glyn Dillion
American Society of Cinematographers
- Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS for “Lion”
- James Laxton for “Moonlight”
- Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC for “Silence”
- Linus Sandgren, FSF for “La La Land”
- Bradford Young, ASC for “Arrival”
Make-up And Hairstylists Guild
1. FEATURE-LENGTH MOTION PICTURE – BEST CONTEMPORARY MAKE-UP
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Make-Up Artists: Karen McDonald, Akemi Hart
LA LA LAND
Make-Up Artists: Torsten Witte, Angel Radefeld-Wright
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Make-Up Artists: Liz Bernstrom, Sherryn Smith
NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
Make-Up Artists: Donald Mowat, Malanie J. Romero, Elaine Offers
ZOOLANDER 2
Make-Up Artist: Maurizio Silvi
2. FEATURE-LENGTH MOTION PICTURE – BEST CONTEMPORARY HAIR STYLING
LA LA LAND
Hair Stylists: Barbara Lorenz, Jackie Masteran, Frida Aradottir
NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
Hair Stylists: Yolanda Toussieng, Jules Holdren
SULLY
Hair Stylists: Patricia Dehaney, Jose Zamora
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
Hair Stylist: Alan D’Angerio
ZOOLANDER 2
Hair Stylist: Aldo Signoretti
3. FEATURE-LENGTH MOTION PICTURE – BEST PERIOD AND/OR CHARACTER MAKE-UP
DOCTOR STRANGE
Make-Up Artist: Jeremy Woodhead
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Make-Up Artists: Fae Hammond, Marilyn MacDonald
HAIL, CAESAR!
Make-Up Artists: Jean Ann Black, Julie Hewett, Zoe Hay
LOVING
Make-Up Artists: Julia Lallas, Katie Middleton
SUICIDE SQUAD
Make-Up Artist: Alessandro Bertolazzi
4. FEATURE-LENGTH MOTION PICTURE – BEST PERIOD AND/OR CHARACTER HAIR STYLING
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Hair Stylists: Fae Hammond, Marilyn MacDonald
FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS
Hair Stylist: J. Roy Helland
HAIL, CAESAR!
Hair Stylists: Cydney Cornell, Pauletta Lewis-Irwin, Matt Danon
JACKIE
Hair Stylists: Catherine Leblanc-Caraes, Tony Rochetti
LOVING
Hair Stylists: Kenneth Walker, Elizabeth Paschall
5. FEATURE-LENGTH MOTION PICTURE – BEST SPECIAL MAKE-UP EFFECTS
DEADPOOL
Make-Up Artists: Bill Corso, Andrew Clement
DOCTOR STRANGE
Make-Up Artist: Jeremy Woodhead
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Make-Up Artist: Fae Hammond
STAR TREK BEYOND
Make-Up Artists: Joel Harlow, Richie Alonzo
SUICIDE SQUAD
Make-Up Artists: Christopher Nelson, Sean Sansom, Greg Nicotero
Through the Shattered Lens