In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.
Showing posts with label David Cronenberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Cronenberg. Show all posts

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE [2005]

Director David Cronenberg adapts Judge Dredd co-creator John Wagner's graphic novel A History of Violence for the screen.
After saving his diner from a pair of robbers, a man must face what comes afterwards when he's considered a local hero.
Loosely adapting someone else's material makes for a fairly normal film for Cronenberg but it doesn't mean it's tame by any means.  With more character than plot leaves more for the actors to chew on and Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello and Ed Harris do it well.  It's violent, funny and intense sometimes simultaneously.  A fine piece of Cronenberg fare.   

4 little punk-ass, chicken-shit, faggot bitches out of 5

Wednesday, 8 June 2016

Chacun son Cinéma (2007)

(Eng: To Each His Own Cinema)

An anthology that contains over thirty short films by as many different directors, commissioned to celebrate six decades of the Cannes Film Festival. Each work is approximately three minutes in length and was supposed to represent the director's "state of mind [...] as inspired by the motion picture theatre." As usual with this kind of thing, I'll put the full list in comments.
My 'Admit One' was for Kitano and Cronenberg, neither of which were essential. The ones that moved me most were Alejandro Iñárritu's 'Anna' and Abbas Kiarostami's 'Where Is My Romeo?', both of which had more emotion than the others combined. Also, I really liked Chen Kaige's 'Zhanxiou Village'.
A lot of them take place inside a theatre with crucial scenes from actual films being projected onscreen, so expect some spoilers.

3 light shows out of 5

Thursday, 25 February 2016

Spider (2002)

An often overlooked film from David Cronenberg that absolutely deserves more attention than it currently receives, for a number of reasons but mostly because of Ralph Fiennes acting his socks off.
His speech characterises him, as you'd expect, but perhaps even more important are his mannerisms, clothes and even his stained fingers, all of which are an exquisite commentary on his inner feelings.
The Becket-esque halfway house in which Spider resides has a nearby factory that looms in an almost Ballardian way. The two styles work as one thanks to Cronenberg's ability to make them feel as if they deserve each other.
I really like Miranda Richardson and loved seeing her get such a powerful role.
Be warned, the trailer makes it appear something it's not.

5 bad airs out of 5

Saturday, 13 February 2016

Dead Ringers (1988)

When Cronenberg helms a story about identical twin gynaecologists who share their patients and their lovers then you expect to find an uncomfortable mixture of sexual practices with clinical ones, but Ringers goes to even deeper levels of unease. The pair live an ordered lifestyle, are outwardly confident, professional and well-respected by their peers, but it's the shadow cast by the privacy of their complex relationship that the viewer needs pay close attention to. Like in a single body or organism, when an interdependent part falls out of sync with its connecting organs malady occurs.
Jeremy Irons is amazing in a dual role, feeding himself emotional triggers and responding to the same situation, sometimes in two very different ways.

4 character distortions out of 5

Sunday, 7 February 2016

Scanners (1981)

The eponymous individuals are able to kill with just a thought. When a corporation that wishes to control the Scanners no longer can, they need the help of a Scanner to stop the others. Yay for dramatic irony!
Patrick McGoohan is excellent as the fatherly psychopharmacist; Michael Ironside is unquestionably good as a menace; but, I'm sorry to say, while Stephen Lack did okay as a lost soul, he didn't have the experience at the time to make the internal conflict of the lead role hit as hard as it should have.
If you're familiar with Cronenberg's early works, such as Stereo (1969) and Crimes of the Future (1970), you'll recognise trace elements of their structure beneath the action, mostly within the film's settings and concerns.

3½ head pressures out of 5

Thursday, 3 September 2015

eXistenZ (1999)

I hope it isn't but it’s possible that the film is Cronenberg’s last full-on venture into the ‘body-horror’ genre that he excelled in. It contains within it many elements that fans of his earlier works will be familiar with, including the weird character names and sharp angled Canadian architecture, as if to say this is where the past ends, I'm moving onto genres new afterwards.
It has a lot in common with Videodrome (1983), not just thematically but in other ways, and as such I’d definitely recommend viewing Videodrome first.
If you expect to find something intriguing but sickening you’ll not be disappointed. How does a rubbery, foetus-like VR game pod with umbilical cords that plug into a bizarre anus in your lower back sound?

4 signs of the times out of 5

Wednesday, 17 June 2015

NAKED LUNCH [1991]

Director David Cronenberg gets really feckin' weird with Naked Lunch, a hallucinatory erotic comedy(?) inspired by the life & works of post-modern author William S. Burroughs.
Peter Weller is perfect as a man trying to get his life together, only everything that surrounds him will have none of it thus sending him drifting in and out of a drug-induced Kafka-esque miasma that is simultaneously hilarious, wondrous, terrifying and most of all: really really creepy.  Fans expecting an adaptation of the novel, the film takes it's name from, obviously never read the book, as Cronenberg takes from all sorts of sources and creates something all his own.  The wild imagination is what stands out but after the shock of that wears off, you've got a hypnotizing story that dissects the social mechanisms that follow Weller's character into his hallucinated version of Tangier.  It's definitely not for everybody but for those that bite, they will find something fantastic.

4 drips of mugwamp jism out of 5

Thursday, 15 January 2015

Blood & Donuts (1995)

This oddball Canadian production begins with a stray golf ball knocking hibernating vampire Boya (Gordon Currie) out of his 20-year slumber. You might think that one-in-a-million shot would lead to an epic story fraught with danger and intrigue but you couldn't be more wrong. The story consists of Boya falling for a waitress (Helene Clarkson) at a donut shop while guarding his cab driver friend (Louise Ferreira) from pesky local mobsters (including David Cronenberg in a cameo appearance). That's pretty much it. While the dialogue is smartly written and the performances do have their charm, you can't help but realize how pointless and lacking it all is.

2½ philosophical bowling shoe analogies out of 5

Thursday, 8 January 2015

Crash (1996)

A married couple with an active but unrewarding sex life delve deep into a bizarre subculture of people who fetishise car crashes. It's consensual within the group, but their hidden world is hazardous to our world.
Reading the J.G. Ballard novel (1973) upon which Crash is based isn't much fun, but it’s essential to understanding the otherwise impenetrable aspects of the film. Somehow Cronenberg translated the insipid moments into filmic intensity. He distorts the traditional role of the viewer by putting us too close for comfort, turning viewer into voyeur—a position of distanced participation. It’s uncomfortable and I believe the main reason that most people shy away from even discussing the film in public. It’s a shame, because it’s a powerful work with some outstanding acting, but it'll take a very open-minded person to see past the taboo wall.

3½ reshapings out of 5

Wednesday, 5 November 2014

Videodrome (1983)

Seeing is believing. Until we see something in its physical aspect its reality is questionable. But what of television? The device is visible but the transmission is invisible. The pictures enter our minds the same way as everything else, but their ‘reality’ can be entirely fictitious. We’re programmed to know the difference, but what if the programming changes or the difference slips away?  Is seeing really believing, then? By the same token, at what point does violent sex become sexual violence? When does flesh and distinction cease to follow the rules?
Torture. Murder. Mutilation. Videodrome. Cronenberg’s best film, imo.

5 high frequencies out of 5

Wednesday, 22 October 2014

MAPS TO THE STARS [2014]

Director David Cronenberg douses Hollywood in gasoline and takes a match to it in the satirical thriller Maps To The Stars.
It tells the tale of a dysfunctional celebrity family that all live in some sort of drugged up hyper-reality that refuses to serve it's lunatic inhabitants any sort of meaningful purpose.  Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska and Evan Bird all turn in some pathologically chilling performances that you can't help but be drawn to while Cronenberg's direction has enough venom in it to make it funny, disturbing, depressing and downright insane.  This isn't a film for everyone, seeing as it is difficult to enjoy if you're not already a little off your rocker but definitely an impressive trail to take if you're morbid curiosity gets the best of you.

3½ bad babysitters out of 5

Monday, 20 October 2014

NIGHTBREED:THE DIRECTOR'S CUT [2014]

Nearly 25 years after the cut of the original film, Clive Barker's dark fantasy/love story, Nightbreed is finally given the proper edit it's always deserved.
What we have here is a love story that takes place within the underground world of Midian which is inhabited by a gaggle of beautiful monsters, who would prefer to go unnoticed by the human eye.
The original suffered from 40 minutes of character development cut out of it and then replaced with 20 minutes of standard studio slasher flick crap which broke Barker's heart in the process.  This new cut shows us what the film was meant to be and it really fleshes out the relationships making the film's purpose clearer and more endearing.  There are a few jarring edits but I figure it's because there were never any establishing shots to make a smooth transition between scenes.
Small problems aside, the film is finally the wonderfully woven story it was always meant to be and I can't wait to revisit it again.

4 bad trips out of 5

Friday, 19 July 2013

COSMOPOLIS [2012]

Like a modern day take on James Joyce's Ulysses, David Cronenberg's adaptation of Don DeLillo's novel Cosmopolis follows a day in the life of a billionaire as his whole world comes crashing down.
It's a cold and calculated dissection of the upper class lifestyle, their take on life and how one can be so knowledgeable of everything around them yet be so emotionally sealed off.  Robert Pattinson doesn't miss a beat with Cronenberg's cynical, soulless narrative rhythm that will probably baffle and confuse the average viewer but should interest someone looking for an intriguing and nourishing conversation piece.

3½ rats out of 5

Sunday, 12 May 2013

Rabid (1977)

Cronenberg’s fascination with body modification continued with Rabid (aka Rage). It’s similar to his previous film Shivers (1975) both visually and in that the horror is again something normal that’s become abnormal, and when viewed from the other perspective it’s something new embracing life, but it’s not as unsettling as Shivers was and the ridiculous premise is hard to swallow even for a fan of his work like I am. I couldn't help thinking while viewing that it would've better suited George Romero's talents.

2½ armpit orifices out of 5

Tuesday, 30 April 2013

The Brood (1979)

A film that explores the manifestations of Rage and the violent impact it has on society, particularly the family unit, in an unconventional way.
It’s a candid blend of autobiographical realism and fantastical psychological horror that turns the intimate into something perverse, as only David Cronenberg can.
Ollie Reed is perfectly cast as a doctor that dabbles in some rather odd therapy techniques. His primary subject, Samantha Eggar, gives a performance that will shock and repulse most viewers.

3 bumps out of 5

Tuesday, 29 January 2013

Shivers (1975)

aka: Frissons / They Came from Within

Shivers is crude and suffers from some clunky pacing in the middle section, but the imagination and the sense of dread that it exudes raise it up. The threat isn't intentionally malevolent, it’s simply trying to survive; that erosion of good and evil makes it all the more terrifying. 
It’s interesting to go back to Cronenberg’s early works and see the genesis of the 'body-horror' that he became known for.
Viewers not familiar with his work may laugh at the meaty ‘phallic turds’, but if they do they’re missing the point.

3 bathtub buddies out of 5

Saturday, 31 March 2012

A DANGEROUS METHOD [2011]

Director David Cronenberg returns to the screen after a 5 year absence with the period drama A Dangerous Method.
Cronenberg's made a name for himself cinematically studying the dark passages of the human mind, so a film about psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Sabina Spielrein seemed like it would be the perfect fit.
Cronenberg approaches these characters with hardly any enthusiasm and never really goes anywhere interesting or intense with their relationships. It's more or less straight up melodramatic schmaltz. Viggo Mortenson and Keira Knightley hold it together with some wonderful performances but Michael Fassbender, being the lead, has such a weak screen presence it allows the whole film to fall apart.
It's not a bad film but it's no Cronenberg film.

3 Cliche Statue Of Liberty shots out of 5

Thursday, 19 January 2012

The Dead Zone (1983)

Johnny does a good deed and is punished for it. He goes to sleep.
His woman is a whore and does what women and whores do.
Johnny wakes and life is screwed up. He does another good deed...
It takes a great director to make a great film from a Stephen King book; Dead Zone is certainly one of the better ones. It has Christopher Walken on fine form. It's directed by David Cronenberg. It's a classic, imo.

4 lines of Poe out of 5

Friday, 14 October 2011

Nightbreed (1990)

Viewing this with a fresh set of eyes, I now appreciate it for what it is: a vessel to showcase a variety of neat and gnarly creature make-up effects. I'm swept away by the classic Elfman score and the vast, expansive Gothic sets, but those elements alone do not a good film make. The problem is that the story, which was obviously intended to be the set-up for something larger, doesn't fully materialize and was not enough to hold my attention in and of itself. I know it's become somewhat of a cult film in the years following its release, but I for one find it a mess.

Note: I watched the theatrical cut that the director himself was unhappy with. Uncut versions have not yet been made widely available as of this posting.

2.5 Hellraiser rejects out of 5

Saturday, 8 October 2011

The Fly (1986)


This is such a defining movie for me. Jeff Goldblum is perfectly cast as Seth Brundle (aka, Brundlefly), the scientist that toys around with teleportation pods, with expectedly horrifying results. With gory make-up effects that would make Beetlejuice and The Terminator proud. You relate so well with the character that it becomes much more than a horror movie as you’re taken through the wringer with him on that tremulous physical and pathological breakdown. It’s like watching a train wreck and there’s nothing you can do about it. That just makes it all the more tragic and unbearable to watch, and that ending never fails to make me cry, every time. Cronenberg’s masterpiece, as far as I’m concerned.

5 "relics" in Brundlefly's medicine cabinet out of 5