Dear Zachary (imdb)
A lot has been written about Dear Zachary, an independent documentary with a slightly unusual means of production, a shocking and heart-wrenching twist, and a bloodied but unbowed finale. Some have said it was snubbed for an Oscar while others claim it’s production values are amateurish and sloppy. I don’t care about Oscars, but even if it is arguably a little rough around the edges in terms of its presentation, the story it tells will hold your attention right to the credits and will probably elicit an emotional response. It’s hard to know what to say about it without spoiling it, so I’m saying as little as possible except that if you’re the crying type, you’ll probably want some tissue.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (imdb)
Billed as an “anti-Western”, you’d be hard-pressed to argue with that brief but highly accurate descriptor. The film has the nihilistic vibe that runs through a lot of spaghetti Westerns, but when it comes down to it, McCabe isn’t the tough guy he pretends to be, coasting more on charm than machismo. Much has been written about the subtleties used to upend Western conventions, and nearly every example (my favorite being the kid vs. the cowboy on the bridge) works well to that end. The small town built for the film is fantastic, and according to an included documentary it was functional to the point of serving as housing for some of the crew. McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a great film that consistently entertains and never stutters in its pacing.
Don’t Go In the House (imdb)
This is a pretty straight-forward horror movie that borrows a lot from its peers. Unfortunately, it also borrows the slow pacing of a lot of forgotten grindhouse fare, making it feel a bit longer than its 82-minute runtime. The plot’s main reference point seems to have been Psycho, as the killer takes women home and incinerates them as a means of dealing with the voices he hears as the result of his maniacal mother, who he conveniently finds dead at the beginning of the film. It’s a pretty poor premise that ultimately works a little better than you might expect, but unless you’re a horror fan with some time to kill, you might as well see something else.
Baraka (imdb)
Baraka is without a doubt the finest-looking Blu-ray I have ever seen, and it’s going to take one hell of a film to dethrone it. The spiritual successor to Koyaanisqatsi (which I haven’t seen), Baraka is pure, quasi-meditational eye and ear candy that captivates from start to finish despite having no narrative. On paper it sounds rather boring to watch a series of images set to even the most epic soundtrack for an hour and a half, but Baraka disproves that notion with ease. Why electronics stores around the country are showing half-assed demo loops and CG kiddie fare and not Baraka as a demo to sell Blu-ray players and HDTVs is beyond me.
The Road Warrior (imdb)
I don’t remember a lot about Mad Max, despite having only seen it for the first time a couple months ago. I remember thinking it was a decent enough movie, just that it was a bit stronger in concept than it was in execution. This is definitely not the case with the Road Warrior. Very rarely to films come along with such an original look come along that they influence nearly everything in their wake, and like Blade Runner, The Road Warrior is a visual watermark in its genre. But let’s not short-change the story, which represents one of the few times I can remember where a sequel severely outclasses its predecessor. I’ve had a post-apocalyptic story brewing in my head for the past year or so, and there were a few times while watching The Road Warrior that I had to sigh as I realized certain aspects had been claimed or I saw new ones that were brilliant to the point that it’s a wonder they hadn’t been copied more than they already have. This one got my attention and I suspect that a rewatch or two will have this one working its way into the list of my favorite films.
Basket Case (imdb)
Having previously seen director Frank Henenlotter’s Frankenhooker, I sort of knew what to expect going into Basket Case, the film that put him on the map as a B-movie maven. Even when Basket Case is rough around the edges or features some bad acting, it’s excusable because it’s got that genuine low-budget soul so sorely lacking in the era of straight-to-DVD horror and B-movies with no aspirations of even trying to entertain their audience. The effects and gore are good and plentiful, and the stop-motion animation used briefly in a few scenes is always a welcome addition. Fabulously low-brow without falling into the trap of being junk (as so many self-aware B-movies do), Basket Case is a great way to give your brain cells a break and your inner 13-year-old a release.
The Planet of the Apes (imdb) & Beneath the Planet of the Apes (imdb)
I borrowed the Planet of the Apes box set with the intention of watching at least the first film in the franchise. So far I’ve watched the first and second films in the series, a series I’m guessing went on way longer than anyone ever expected it to. The first film is a classic that satisfies both on a the science fiction front, and as a parable about man’s inhumanity and the debate between religion and science. In the latter sense, I’m a tad surprised it wasn’t a bit more controversial, even though the last ten minutes sort of come to a consensus between faith and reason, even if that consensus is as flimsy as Pascal’s Wager.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes is alright, but you can’t help but feel that it’s ultimately little more than a cash run meant to milk the success and acclaim of the original film. You know you’re in for a rocky sequel when they reshow clips from the original film to open things up, but the film actually doesn’t fall apart until the protagonists arrive underground. Once underground, there’s a religious cult that worships a WMD, psychic powers, and one of the sorriest fight scenes I’ve ever witnessed in a big-budget movie. The underground cult plot is way stranger than it needs to be, and not in a good David Cronenberg kind of way. Even without having witnessed the rest of the sequels so far (and the trailer for Escape From the Planet of the Apes looks terrible!), it seems like the writers and producers were far more concerned with quantity than they were with quality.
