If you watched war movies when you were a kid--you know, before the Oliver Stone politicized war movies (sorry, you middle GenX'ers)--you have got to see this movie.
It's a flawed movie, I won't argue that. But what movie isn't. What it does well: viscerally examines the individual pointlessness of most wartime tasks.
Fresh definitely qualifies for my top ten. It's a movie that will always remain out of the mainstream, simply because it concerns a young black boy (not quite a teenager) struggling to make things right for himself and what is left of his family.
I value this movie because it doesn't romanticize the streets, nor does it moralize about the "evils" of drugs, violence, and those caught up in the life in our (yes, they're ours, much as you might hate them) urban wastelands. Fresh doesn't make the characters out to be stupid, victimized, or morally depraved--it presents Fresh (our protagonist) and the others as people forced to make difficult choices in a world that offers them little--little hope, few choices, and even less respect.
Fresh looks beyond the immediate, with more vision of the future than most adults have. He plans, he acts, he survives, and though he has to give up some things and some people, he takes care of his future and that of his family.
If you watch this film and don't pray that your own children have half of Fresh's resolve, then you aren't fit to be a human, much less a parent.
Sleepers inspired me to start this section of my web pages.
Sleepers also presents the dark side of our cities, this time, the past history of Hell's Kitchen in NYC. Four friends get caught up in the neighborhood happenings by working small-time jobs for the "goombas" that run their neighborhood. Soon, despite the care of their priest, their pranks grow in seriousness, and a man is killed by their recklessness.
In the spirit of the conservative elements still remaining in the late sixties, they are sent to a "reform school", e.g. prison for children. There, they are violently tortured and sexually abused by the guards that are entrusted to take care of them. Twenty years later, the chance for revenge erupts.
Sleepers returns to the true forum of the real movie: acting. Starring Robert DeNiro, Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt, and a number of other younger stars that you will recognize, Sleepers is about strong performance and story rather than action.
See the reform school link on the Sleepers web page for more info, if you would like some ideas about why youth re-offend. (Another good resource starting point is the web sight of child abuse expert and author Andrew Vachss.
And, once again, Kevin Bacon pulls off a "center of the universe" movie. Never again will you think of him as that clean cut boy in Footloose.
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Molly Ringwald.
Directed and written by John Hughes.
John Hughes is probably most famous for his "teen" "brat-pack" movies of the 80's, though he continues to write lots of comedies. Of these, I'd say "The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" remain the favorites of many, standing out from the pack which includes: "Pretty in Pink," "Weird Science," and "Sixteen Candles".
My own like of "The Breakfast Club" stems from my own high school experiences with cliches and labelling. Call it nostalgia, but I would have liked to have had "The Breakfast Club" happen to me.
(I can't help but take the Aliens movies as a package. They have the same kind of continuity in my mind that Star Trek had for me up until about 5 years ago.)
Plagued by rumors from the fan world after the announcement that William Gibson (author of Neuromancer, etc.), Alien 3 got off to a bad start in the p.r. world. I think most of it was unfounded. But, again, as with many of the movies I like, I find that the people I know mostly hate this film.
I find Alien 3 to be a strange admixture of successful and flawed story pieces. The notion of killing Hicks and Newt was a vicious trick on the part of the writers, but ultimately one which could have held the movie together much better had it been exploited in a way that wreaked more havoc on our emotions. As it was, their deaths seemed just a device to instigate the plot and as a result, it just made the audience hostile to the movie. Compare their empty deaths with the emotional response invoked in audiences by the scenes of Murphy being killed in Robocop. In that movie, Murphy's horrible death acts as a focus to build our compassion for the later robot--we empathize with him and his confusing human dreams.
Ripley's impromptu trust of and romance with the colony doctor was a twist on her character which I thought worked very well to re-capture Ripley's (and our) anger at the terrible situation. The relationship showed Ripley's ability to empathize with others and see the similarities in their experiences.
Some would like to suggest that Alien 3 was an attempt to go back to the horrific concepts of the first film. I suspect the director wanted to develop the horror more. Unfortunately, the number of people in the colony, and the sheer fortress-like quality of the place made worked against him. The creepy elements of the constant condensation and echoes just weren't there to heighten the tension as much as in the original. Still the scene in the dump where Ripley was trying to find Bishop, the scene in the fan tunnel, and the foundry scene after the lead is dumped, all work. They each give us a glimpse of terror or despair.
I just can't hate this movie, it's just not as good as I would have hoped.
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Written by Joss Whedon (creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer")
Starring Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder
The main impetus which got me to go and see A:R was learning that Joss Whedon had written it. I love "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (television series), but that's a different web page.
Anyway, I was glad I decided to go, as I believe this movie succeeded in melding the terror from the "Alien", the action from "Aliens" and the empathy we have for Ripley from "Alien 3" to make a movie able to stand equal with the others.
Set again in a ship, with as motley a cast as the original crew, we again see the arrogance of the scientists and the corporate and military types funding their experimentation. Even though Ripley has now been built to be a twisted mixture of alien and human, and seems disconnected from her humanity entirely during the first portion of the movie, we come to empathize not only with Ripley, but the Aliens as well. The willingness to risk showing the aliens as something other than unintelligent killing machines, gave us a reason to step over the barrier and consider what the aliens might think and feel for once.
Young Frankenstein is probably my favorite Mel Brooks film, mostly, I suppose, because of my very early love for all the black and white horror flicks, and SF B movies. Young Frankenstein is such a pastiche and mockery of all those movies that I so ardently enjoyed when I was little that my own sense of irony makes me smile.
There are so many memorable scenes in Young Frankenstein, I believe that I can probably quote more of it's dialogue than just about any other movie...including Monty Python films. The interplay between Igor and the Doctor, the ongoing gags about Frau Bluecher, Inga, and Elizabeth, and the juxtaposition of a stage show in the middle of a horror flick are just priceless to me. I've seen other of Brooks' movie "send ups" and I don't think any of them work as well. Robin Hood, and Space Balls were funny, but there's something missing in them. Maybe it's just the comedic timing of Wilder and Boyle and Wilder and Feldman. Then again, maybe Young Frankenstein is just better.
Earth Girls are Easy is another one of those films that's like candy--you know it's not good for you, but you partake of it anyway. I know a lot of folks that just hate this movie. Put it down to my weird sense of humor and version of reality, but I just found Earth Girls funny and, in a strange sort of way, real version of what goes on in California. I feel even stronger about it's take on California now that I have been living here for some years.
Probably my favorite science fiction movie of all time.
The Day the Earth Stood Still is a damning indictment of the human race and it's inability to understand it's own danger to itself. Playing on the paranoid fears of the 50's, without over- doing it, this movie has great relevance to our own political situation and the continuing xenophobia that nationalism pretty much requires.
Ok, I'm not going to pretend that Star Trek: First Contact is the best movie I have ever seen, but it does trumpet the real problem with the Federation that all of those Gene Roddenberry groupies seem to have overlooked: everyone in the Federation is the same...there aren't any individuals left.
Now, I am sure that you are asking yourself, "How can a movie about the Borg going back into time to destroy Earth's future have anything to do with the Federation turning everyone into happy conformists?" Well, that's just it. The Borg represent the Federation's shadow.
Yes, that's right, Jungian psychology. The Borg are a symbol for what the Federation doesn't want to admit about itself--the Federation crushes individuality in favor of the "greater societal good"; if you don't fit in, you won't get anywhere. The only way to stand out is to either take the risky path of Starfleet or the toe-the-line path of Federation politics. Why else would the Maquis be outlaws?
Sure, the Federation doesn't use the violent tactics of the Borg, at least, not on individuals. But think about the amount of resources that have been given over to the hunting of the Maquis. Surely, such a small group couldn't be that much of a threat to the largest peaceful federation of states in the galaxy? I mean, the Federation supposedly thrives on diversity.
You see this reinforced constantly in the current series, since the diverse, non-hegemonic political body known as the Voyager had to be separated from it's own society--the one where it might actually have some influence--the Federation. The Federation just gives lip service to diversity. Differences are threatening.
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
(And they just had to get that mother the destroyer archetype in there, too.)
I also think that Jonathan Frakes has a great career ahead of him, considering the amount of movie experience he was working with on this film, and the good balancing act he pulled off with being a major character in the film and directing.