dark

Hell to Eternity (1960) – IMDb

Posted on by Talk Movies to Me

via Hell to Eternity (1960) – IMDb.

Over at my grandfather’s  I’m scanning his book collection which consists of WWII stories and other knowledgeable information on the war. Now he is someone who watches a lot of History Channel or Military Channel and anything in between on WWII to the point my grandma comes in the room and asks him “did Hitler win the war yet?” Among his historical book collection, he pulls out a book titled Saipan by Guy Gabaldon. My grandfather showed me the book was signed by Guy and they even had a few pictures together. I became interested and so I edged my grandpop to tell me more. Certainly, this was an offer he couldn’t refuse, he began to tell me it was about a young man who fought in the pacific and persuaded hundreds of Japanese civilians and soldiers to surrender single handedly. Now that is a great wartime story. After I found out Saipan was made into a full feature length film, knowing me, I located it on Amazon and purchased a copy for my grandfather and I to watch.

To rewind a little, Guy Gabaldon was born in Los Angeles, CA. At an early age he was orphaned and then was raised by a Japanese family who took him in in the 1930s and he even began learning their language and customs. Once 18, he was sent to fight for the U.S. on Saipan in 1944, an island off of Japan. Hell To Eternity starts with build up then the rest is shipped to the islands for the war where marines were getting killed left and right, fortunately Guy knew Japanese and used it to his advantage by communicating with the enemy. This was most helpful when he surprised the Japanese leader and told him to call off the attack or else he, the leader, would be shot. He told Guy that the order was already given, so regardless if he was killed or not the orders would be carried out. Guy takes the general out to call his men off and turn themselves in. Now, if you know Japanese custom, this is dishonorable and you would take your life for your country. The general conveys the message to his troops who are battered and starving and explains to Guy it wasn’t a pretty sight seeing his troops surrender. After hearing their leader’s command they submit and the general takes his life overlooking his several hundred men. Guy Gabaldon courageously turned in 800 hundred Japanese. An amazing, unheard of story I found inspirational and eye opening.

The movie is shot in black and white but the movie moves at a decent pace. Actually, some real WWII footage was used for the landing on the beach. Hell to Eternity is not all that violent but there is blood and many gunshot wounds. Wonderfully shot, the explosions and fight scenes are a great depiction of what happened on Saipan, so no need to worry about boredom. The story, though, is truly the main feat. Everything from seeing Guy’s new found family being sent to an American-Asian camp (who my grandfather even remembers at a young age nice Japanese neighbors being forced to move away) to delivering the unarmed, Japanese soldiers. I found myself relating to this movie, but in a sense of trading and receiving culture. I’ve grown up all over the place and my grandfather is Mexican and I’m Caucasian, and yet we’re very alike. Also, see below picture, right is Guy Gabaldon and left is the actor who portrayed Guy, Jeffrey Hunter. This is like SO Hollywood, getting a white man in Hispanic shoes, no bash though, Jeffrey did a fine job. Culture is everywhere and if we can set everyone’s differences to the side the world would be a more happy place. Family knows no color. I enjoyed this movie and I am happy it’s in my collection already. Do yourself a favor, dig up this classic and give it a watch.

Shrink (2009) – IMDb

Posted on by Talk Movies to Me

via Shrink (2009) – IMDb.

A delightful film. Sitting in my queue on Netflix since it’s release, I finally came around to watching Shrink. Over the years Kevin Spacey has become a favorite of mine, not just for his movie acting but his movie choices. Too bad I didn’t watch this film sooner, It’s a film about movies but more over about how the person next to us could be experiencing a bad time. Everyone goes through time and life differently, Shrink displays this very well and at the cost of two hours, you can spend your time enjoying yourself watching a story that intertwines with other stories. At a minor tempo pacing, the film unfolds at a calm, stoner pace; revealing a storyline thoughtful, heartfelt and honest.
Kevin Spacey is a therapist, Henry, who mostly has meetings with other celebrities; step in Robin Williams cameo, and is struggling over his wife’s death. His recovery consists of heavy pot smoking and drinking next to the pool. Poor guy needs a break but instead is slammed with the responsibility of a young girl who has also suffered a loss. They come to terms that going to the movie theaters is better than talking at an actual appointment. The rest of the story I will let you figure out on your own because it’s a journey worth going through. I’m one of those type of people who like to talk about movies within movies because movie in general are awesome. They can help gravitate to any means we mean necessary and interpret thoughts we occupy daily. Shrink looks at the different angles and explains the story it wants to convey through a simple form of dialogue. Many movies take this form, I’m just surprised by this small movie how it went and went above my expectations.
At times, a darkly comedic film with a rewarding cast. By the end of it all you feel everyone was a close family.
A movie recommended for those who enjoy showbiz flicks like movie buffs or just people looking for a calming, moving title. I like how the story held it’s subtle wit but kept it’s dramatic charm for a story. I myself like to aspire myself to be a filmmaker, one can dream, right? Until then, maybe I should get a celebrity shrink in the process.

The Babadook (2014) – IMDb

Posted on by Talk Movies to Me

via The Babadook (2014) – IMDb.

What do you do when your kid asks you if you want to die? Especially if it’s coming from your son who no one wants to be around with. Even you start wishing your boy was normal. The Babadook is a very well written boogeyman tale that delves into your psyche and hits the dark corners of your mind and emotions you wouldn’t expect it to do at first sight. Firstly, you have a single mother, Amelia, played wonderfully by Essie Davis (where’s the nomination?) who works at a retirement home and takes good care of her seven year old son. She is in need of help, mostly due to the absence of the affectionate touch from a man in her life and sleep depravity. Someone give this woman some chocolate and a day off. Amelia lost her husband on the day of the birth of her child, Samuel. Samuel is a troubled kid who fancies magic and plays with his imagination. But when is it ever imagination? He takes up arms in defense from this dark force and, like his father, speaks his mind, talking about the monster where ever he goes, even scaring kids his age. The crazy talk is heightened to a new level when Amelia says Samuel can choose a story to read before bedtime, of all stories he chooses The Babadook. The words and the pop-up pictures are no less than unsettling and peculiar. Where did this book come from? Like the film itself, the book is draped in black and grey, paling colors making it feel ghostly and depressing. She says to choose another book but Samuel wants to keep reading the story he has chosen. From here, the weird begins to escalate. Amelia even rips up the book and tosses it. But after three heavy knocks at the door, the book returns at her door step. She turns for help from her sister, Claire, but she wants nothing to do with her, especially Amelia’s son who talks about a monster and unintentionally hurts Claire’s daughter. Good going. More sleepless nights occur, more encounters with the boogeyman. Amelia looks to the police to report someone stalking her and her son, but she knows they would write her off as crazy. The stress level starts to wear down on Amelia and you see it, you even start to experience it. My head felt toyed. Is this real or is she just experiencing a nightmare? She begins to mistreat the boy (oops, I said it) like her psyche takes a sinister turn. It’s something you wouldn’t hear her say or see her do, it’s just not her, not what a mother would do.

The story is similar to the likes of Insidious and many other scary movies involving a troubled kid and a dark spirit who wants to house your body. What makes this different though is it’s approach. Even though there are some good creepified moments, this movie isn’t all that terrifying. It was more psychological than expected and focused on family values. There’s a lot of build up, too, which made it more of a drama. The ending leaves you a bit unsatisfied seeing that the first 3/4 of the movie promised a strong conclusion. You will be scratching your head. Have you figured it out?
I plan on adding this film to my collection. The Babadook will hook you in to it’s dark atmospheric tale. The build up helps you understand Amelia and Samuel’s situation which is why you care and makes moments more stressful. The mother even becomes scary at a point, but I recommend you watch this just to see how The Babadook stands out from other horror gems. By the way, if you hear three knocks, don’t let it in.

It Follows (2014) – IMDb

Posted on by Talk Movies to Me

via It Follows (2014) – IMDb.

Having heard about this movie last year gave me interest. I didn’t know anything about the movie and I kept it that way; I just knew I had to see it. Come 2015 and it’s granted a wide theatrical release. My moment has come, so I grab a few dollars and head over to my nearest theater where it was about half full (at the time everyone was watching Furious 7). The movie will make a larger effect once it hits home, but probably not so well in theaters. Director David Robert Mitchell has quite a movie on his hands, one that will disturb and terrorize the viewer.
It Follows begins with an anonymous teenager who is in the middle of being ‘followed’. She rushes to her car and makes it to the beach. She sits, waiting in the headlights on the shore expecting her follower to appear at any moment. Next scene she’s all mangled up which shocks the viewer and lets you know what you’re in for. That scene is quite disturbing, but doesn’t end there. The movie has more to offer. The story is about a young girl, Jay, who goes out with this guy, who her friends approve of. We eventually figure out the mysterious stud’s motive: he wants sex. But sex holds a darker secret, he wants to pass on an evil entity so It will stop following him. Douche. He does explain to our misfortunate protagonist that all she has to do is have sex with someone else and pass it onto the next guy. Jay is cute though so it should be easy right? It comes with a catch, you can still see the entity but once it gets a hold of it’s victim and kills them, it will start going back down the line of the previous victims to whoever started the whole thing.
Now, anytime It is present, those are the moments you feel the terror and despair. It’s in it’s presence, the slow but dedicated walk to it’s target like it’s confident it will get you, and it will torment and kill you. The entity takes many forms, strangers or close acquaintances, and not always is it the center of the frame. Sometimes you can catch it walking in the background, still making it’s steady pace, but when the entity is in focus, terror reigns. That is one thing I love about this film is that Mitchell directs every scene as it is. Like when the entity breaks through the kitchen window and walks toward Jay…just disturbing. I felt her fear. There is something artful about It Follows and I like it.  The scares are slowly built up and the jumps come fast.
The film would be much less if it wasn’t for the music. The music is like John Carpenter and 80s synthesizers which gives the movie a creepy vibe. Like the sizzling scare factor, the acting is restraint, only when you are involved in the terror sequences is when the acting begins to jump up. Many sequences also seem random, so there’s a feeling of chilling vulnerability.
I read a review saying the girl with the glasses, Yara, was unneeded, come to think of it, she really didn’t do much. Especially at the end when the action picks up and her leg gets shot. Great now you’re fighting something you can’t see with a limp. I did have some other problems with a couple parts. ( no real spoilers) When Paul uses a chair to hit the entity he does hit it and It throws him out of the way, or when he shoots It in the head and blood fills the pool – is this ‘entity’ supposed to have some kind of invisible body? Also, some scenes felt like they didn’t need to be there or dragged for a bit. There’s a sum of audience out there that don’t like slow movies and this has a couple of slow pace moments. I’m not bothered by slowness, cause I kinda am, but this is just a fore warning.
To be honest, I don’t like the buzz around the movie saying “It Follows is the scariest movie in a decade”. First of all, calm down, this movie had some really good bits and also subtle, but I wouldn’t hail it as the best. I think it’s better then many teen screams that have come out but this feels a little more adult oriented. I say give it some time, let the film sink into the American horror backdrop fabric, step back and see it for what it is. In time, I do think It Follows could be a cult classic. It does, however, deliver the terror and shock. It’s up there with Teeth and Contracted and in a way, is better than it’s sexual horror cousins.
All in all, this is a good movie. The entertainment is there and sure to satisfy your thirst for a scare. I’m wondering if there will be a sequel, just curious where it would go. Not saying it’s a necessity though, It Follows can hold it’s own. I recommend this for horror fans and paranoid people. *evil laugh*
1980s movies, classics, dark, disturbing, drama, foriegn, good stories, gorey, hard to watch, horror, movie review, talk movies to me, twisted

Cannibal Holocaust (1980) – IMDb

Image | Posted on by Talk Movies to Me

via Cannibal Holocaust (1980) – IMDb.

 

It has been a week since I last saw Cannibal Holocaust. Needless to say the horrific images are still buried in my brain. 35 years after it’s initial release, this ‘video nasty’ still shocks viewers and I don’t believe that will end any time soon. Few movies have left me sitting long after the credits. Few movies have left the movie swirling in my head still as I think to myself: Wow, what did I just watch? or Gee, this movie was deeply disturbing, or better, That was a profound experience. Movies like The Living and The Dead, Irreversible, and The Hunt have all left me with this. Cannibal Holocaust will leave you feeling depressed and filthy. Like a tribesman just gutted you and packed you full of mud as you are helplessly tied, then he laughs as you watch him eat the organs he tenderly took away from you.

The reviews and trailers can not prepare you for this. Much like the film crew the movie is based around. The story is centered on a young documentary crew going to the Amazon to film a native cannibal tribe. This cannibal tribe, however, is in unmarked territory. But wait! They brought a guide, so of course they will be safe… They go missing. Another small team is assembled to go search for them. This is mainly how the movie begins. You meet this crew who are on the rescue mission, then meet the tribe and find the film entangled with human bones. After they retrieve the film, they proceed to watch in horror what really happened to the documentarians. The whole structure of Cannibal Holocaust is great. It’s probably my favorite part of the movie, just watching the events unfold and learn the natives’ costumes. Once you reach the ‘film’ it’s shot like a found footage movie. Way before Blair Witch Project there was this, and must say it was handled expertly. But this is much more than a horror movie, more than an exploration in a jungle. It’s a film that explores human beings in a primitive state posed to being civilized. But who is civilized?

Weren’t we once savages? Director Ruggero Deodato makes us ponder many different subjects coursing through the film’s veins. One major controversial question is ‘did the live animals need to be slaughtered on film?’ Maybe it would have garnered more of an audience if not so. The native cannibal tribe did not accept our modern currency so instead Deodato offered them animals. These animals are killed on screen. Most notably the turtle scene, which holds up to its own grotesque rep. Turtles are one of my favorite animals and it was sad to see it butchered on screen. This is probably the worst part about the movie, which keeps you from cheering at the end when the film crew get what they deserved. Yes, the crew deserved their life-sentenced-punishment. It’s not just found in the conclusion while watching the found footage cam; where you see these young people mistreat the natives and disturb the peace. It is shown and understood when you see the rescuers being accepted as visitors; only because they expressed a much more human side and respect, like being bare naked and wearing no fear. In a way, the two storylines are parallel. If you are brave enough, and are not squirmish and can take the pain the movie does so well of inducing, you will see what I mean.

I do think the landscape could have been utilized better. Like I wanted to see more of what the land was like there, above, below, in the trees. But the movie did a good job of making you feel like dirt.  In short, Cannibal Holocaust is a masterpiece. Not just as a horror but a social commentary drama. A much disturbingly, aching, nasty, raw masterpiece, standing on its own pillars. A few things I have learned, in our civilization we are focused on violence, very similar to how this movie is portrayed. Another thing I learned from this movie is that knowledge is pain. When the Professor (part of the rescue team) shows the editors back in the states the film clips that were uncovered, the editors wanted to see more and more of what happened. They wanted to distribute the footage for money, caring little for the lives that were lost. When they came to the end, the editors insisted on watching the rest and sell it to the world to eat up. So, the Professor put it on… Afterwards the editors looked at each other and walked away with out a word. One of them calls up the studio and tells them to get rid of everything. We are left with one final question: Who are the real cannibals?

Taxi Driver (1976) – IMDb

Posted on by Talk Movies to Me

via Taxi Driver (1976) – IMDb.

taxi_driver

I had the intent of watching Taxi Driver as a psycho drama with a man killing people but what I got was probably one of the most sanest people who observed his surrounding and was misunderstood. When you’re alone, in silence, you create ideas and moments that possibly could enrage you. Or maybe you just think of how messed up your country is and want to flush it down the toilet. I’m not saying I think of throwing on a cape and becoming a hero but loneliness is a tough thing to tackle. Taxi Driver is a film that took me by surprise; I don’t usually watch a popular-household-movie-title because I’ve read so many reviews and heard so many great things about the movie that I decide to watch a lesser known movie. But this one, not at all as I expected. I knew I would be watching a character study but not one that expressed itself like the way it did. Perhaps I didn’t read enough reviews; this movie, however, fits well with my collection.

Small on story, top class acted and heavy on a character driven film, this has become a favorite of mine. This is a story of a man, Travis Bickle (Robert Deniro) who is lonely, he can read people, he knows himself and feels the energy of emotions. In his world, he knows what’s right and wrong, or to what he believes. There is no one else, except this beautiful blonde he has kept an eye on for quite while, long enough to know she is lonely and unhappy even though she is surrounded by a crowd of people, and a goofball coworker. After Travis stops being a creep and gets up to ask her out, a magnetic bond occurs. He then introduces her to the world he wish he knew and the world he lives in. She, just like the cold others, scoffs and walks away without a word to discuss the meaning between their relationship just because she didn’t understand and didn’t like what she saw. Afterwards, is a sequence of events that shape him more and more.

You watch Travis live as a loner. He works nights as a cab driver and takes supplements to stay awake. Sometimes coffee, yea, and he talks to fellow nightshift cab drivers but not so much. They’re just there, really. Wizard tries to give insight but both him and Travis exchange what they really mean unclearly to each other. Whenever Travis reaches out, its like he forces himself back into loneliness. A lot of it is the job he carries on his shoulders. An ex-marine working for any hours plus holidays all week long, just trying to keep busy. There are many great scenes in this movie, some are more subtle than others. Like when Travis sits outside a building in his cab and a policeman comes and tells him to move away because it’s a no parking zone as the window is being rolled up; it’s like his glass window separates his reality from their’s. I recommend you watch the special features as well, it gives a very good insight on the film.

I highly recommend you watch this tour de force, noir film. I believe everyone could relate to this film and learn something from it. Some distant than others but even they can grasp the concept of being alone. I would like to thank my dad for offering this movie to me awhile back for my pleasure of viewing but I’m glad I waited and procrastinated watching other movies, after the years I found great appreciation for this film. Sometimes you have to wait and let time decide. Two of my other favorite flicks are About A Boy and Big Lebowski, not at all dark or noir-ish as Taxi Driver but they are centered on lonely people who stood up for something. With that to the side, this is a really well written film. This is an important film in cinema history. It’s a character study that shouldn’t be taken lightly. It should be understood and observed, much like Travis, maybe people will understand one another better. The flow in the film is perfect, the shots are colorful and engaging. I loved the jazz soundtrack throughout the film and I love anti-hero stories and this fit the bill. Movies that feed my mind and soul are devoured by me. Taxi Driver is an experience I won’t forget and I will be watching this again soon. Enjoy.

Old Boy

Posted on by Talk Movies to Me

On my way home the other night, I ran into an old friend and got into a conversation about movies. We came to terms on getting munchies and watching one of the movies I hyped my friend into watching. The movie was called Old Boy. Fortunately, this is not the American remake with ‘The Goonies’ Josh Brolin. I’m talking about the dark, twisted original Korean flick the Americans wish they have made. Basic premise is a man named Dae su is imprisoned in a room for 15 years and does not know why. He is released and meets a cute young girl who aids him. From here, Dae su is on a search to find the man who held him captive and more importantly Why? My friend was hooked from the start, asking that big question: Why? Ha, let me tell you, it is a ride. And I wouldn’t suggest it to the faint of heart; the movie is disturbing and will stay with you for a long time. That being said, I enjoyed it. If you are looking for something different, dark, and powerful look no further.