(Dir. Robert Wiene 1920)
I have no clue what the rating for this film is, I don't even know if ratings were even a thing when this came out. My personal rating: W for weird. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 silent German Expressionist film and boy howdy was this movie a ride. The first thing my mom said when we started this movie was, "What the heck." and I think that is a pretty good summary. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was a person, it would be a moody emo pre-teen. It features insane lighting, KISS levels of eyeliner, ridiculously tall chairs, lots of crazy people, and a ton of dramatic swooning. I didn't hate it though, it's so over the top that it becomes a little charming, the movie embraces its emo-ness. I know this entire paragraph has been about how weird this movie is, but I cannot stress this enough. "What exactly is in the cabinet of Dr. Caligari?" you may ask. See that guy in the photo above? He's in the cabinet, and if I opened a cabinet only to be met with that I'd close that thing right back up. The guy in the cabinet is named Cesare and he is a Somnambulist, which basically means he has been sleeping for his entire life and will do anything he's told. He really gives off movie Frankenstein vibes. He lumbers around a lot killing people and kidnapping beautiful women. Classic horror monster. Cesare is directed by the villainous director of the insane asylum, Dr Caligari, who is using Cesare to murder people FOR SCIENCE. By the end, the evil Dr. Caligari is caught by the heroic fiancee of the previously mentioned beautiful woman, and put in a straitjacket. However this wouldn't be German expressionism without some mind-boggling insight into the human mind, **SPOILERS AHEAD** it turns out that the hero is actually a patient in the insane asylum and made all this up in his own head. The movie ends with the crazy hero struggling in a straitjacket, a parallel to the scene in which Dr. Caligari is locked up. **END SPOILERS** Overall, I liked this movie, but I really hated the musical backing. It sounds like they threw some jazz musicians and an 80's synth band into a room together and told them to have at it. The music itself wasn't bad exactly, but it did not match the time period in the film. So basically it bugged me the entire time. I eventually had to just mute the sound. tl;dr this is a perfect movie to have playing in the background of a Halloween party, but add your own music to it.
1 Comment
(Dir. Wes Anderson 2009)
PG, in terms of content I think it's fine to watch, but for small children the animation style might honestly be a little to freaky. So I really enjoyed this movie. I honestly expected this to be one of Wes Anderson's earlier movies after watching it. Despite his character's not technically being real, animated and all that, they show more emotion than any of the characters in his other films. I'm not saying this as a criticism of his other movies, I love those too, but this was an interesting difference. What I really loved is how much depth each of the character's in the Fantastic Mr. Fox had. Despite its subtlety, each character had clear motivations for what they did. Wes Anderson's plots are generally pretty fantastical (pardon the pun), but it's easy to lose yourself in this film, not questioning the more outlandish moments, because in the character's eyes everything they do makes sense, and so it does to the viewer too. As always, I loved the color scheme in this movie. I think Wes Anderson stuck to more natural earthy tones in this movie, instead of his usual pastels, because it was set in nature. I mean the main characters lived in a tree for heaven's sake. The color palette still seemed distinctly Wes Anderson though, probably because of all the careful planning to make sure it blends together seamlessly. (Dir. John Landis 1980)
The Blues Brothers rated R, it's not graphic or anything, just has lots of cursing. I was a little apprehensive going into this movie just because, honestly, I don't think SNL is that great. I used to watch the original seasons with my family and they were ok, but I think it's a little ambitious to try to produce consistently fresh funny material every week. Plus, I hate it when they break character and laugh, so the live stuff was just eh for me. This was not the case in Blues Brothers at all. The Blues boys never broke their straight face once, and I loved it! Sure the situations that they get themselves into are hilarious, but they're only made funnier by the calm straight faced reactions. When I think Blues Brothers I think high speed car chases and gleefully dangerous physics defying stunts, all while they discuss something completely banal, like what to have for dinner. If you haven't already figured this out, my favorite trope is people reacting to ridiculous events as if they're just everyday events. I just want to take a moment to talk about the star-studded cast in this film. Today in film it's pretty common to see a mediocre movie with a crew of insanely talented actors in the lead roles, like King Kong: Skull Island, for example. Which always frustrates me, cause sure its not a terrible movie, it's entertaining so it achieves its purpose, but you never would have heard of it if not for the cast. Added to, I can never figure out why these actors would agree to appear in these films as a major role. Blackmail? I don't know. Ok, tangent time over, but what I really enjoyed about Blues Brothers is that yeah, It had an extremely star studded cast, but the film never really revolved around any one of them. Even without the already famous actors, this film would be just as famous and just as good. When I watch the Blues Brothers, I don't wonder why these stars agreed to appear. In fact, I think the stars in the cast add another layer of humor to the film. Sure, seeing some random woman trying to murder them throughout the film, with zero success, is funny, but when that woman is also Carrie Fischer it makes it even funnier. I think it's because in this movie it adds to that feeling of "What the heck is going on?" that makes the events so funny. Another thing I love to see (well, hear, in this case) in movies is good music. Boy did the Blue Brothers have a lot, I mean c'mon, Aretha Franklin was in it! Side note, the Blues boys in the dance number for respect is one of the funniest things I have ever seen, I could honestly watch the movie just for that. My personal favorite song, thank you for asking, was their version of the theme from Rawhide. Don't ask me why, I don't know. tl;dr Just when you think this film can't get any more ridiculous, it does, and you'll love it. Also, I hate Illinois Nazis. |
Aubrey KirchhoffI'm just screaming into the void and somehow getting graded on it. Archives
April 2018
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