Review of “Frankenstein”

We all know the story of “Frankenstein”.  A mad scientist creates a monster, or is that the real story?  Dr. Henry Frankenstein, played by Colin Clive, could be seen as the real monster of this movie.  He seeks to create a man after his own image with out reckoning upon God, as Dr. Waldman (played by Edward Van Sloat) says in his opening monologue.  There are two stories here.  One story about Dr. Henry Frankenstein and one story about his so called “monster”.

The futility of Dr. Frankenstein’s story is seen from the very beginning.  First by him and his assistant Fritz going through the trouble of digging up a dead body that had only just been buried a couple of minutes before.  Then the bumbling Fritz steals a criminal brain after dropping a normal brain.  Dr. Frankenstein’s ambition is to be God.  He says himself that he seeks to destroy life and then recreate it with his own hands.  This is the futility of his scheme and he is banned from the university he works at after they call him “insane”.  After the monster is created Dr. Frankenstein does indeed exclaim, “now I know what it feels like to be God”.   This is the age old story of the finite attempting the grasp the infinite.

Dr. Frankenstein’s creation is considered to be a “monster”, but is he really?  Since the first time I saw the movie I have said that Frankenstein is not a monster, he’s just misunderstood.  His first act of violence is actually done in self-defense.  When the town folks see him the react with horror due to not understanding what they are seeing.  It is only when they threaten him with fire that the monster turns violent giving the people the justification they sought to destroy something simply because it was foreign to them.  Indeed, Dr. Waldman is the real monster here.  Seeking to build on Dr. Frankenstein’s experiments after the doctor has a change of heart and vows to never do it again.  The subject of Dr. Waldman’s experiments is Dr. Frankenstein himself.  Indeed, the man who sought to be God is no the victim of another man with the same drive.  Dr. Waldman does not get far with his experiments.  When the monster sees him cutting on his own creator the monster kills Dr. Waldman.  This killing is only in defense of his creator.

The monster becomes frightened by what he has just done and runs away.  Then we come to the classic seen where the monster meets the little girl by the lake.  The girl, in her childhood innocence, is not frightened by the monster.  On the contrary, she takes him by the hand and invites him to play with her.  The throw flowers into the lake because they like to watch them float.  The monster runs out of flowers.  Thinking the girl is pretty like the flowers and not knowing she won’t float the monster throws her in the lake.  The girl, of course, drowns both to her horror and the monster’s. 

Dr. Frankenstein forms a lynch mob and vows to kill the very monster he has created.  Again, we see the doctor seeking to make life and then take it as he sees fit.  This leads to the climatic showdown between the doctor and his creation.   Boris Karloff’s performance as “the monster” is truly a work of art.  His performance is completely non-verbal and he does a magnificent job at display a range of emotions from happiness to anger and fear without the use of words.  Frankenstein is a masterpiece and has the distinction of being the only horror movie on the AFI’s top 100 movies of all time!

Bride of Frankenstein

            Not everything is as it seems.  We think the “monster” is dead, not so.  Dr. Frankenstein, the real monster from the first movie, is struck with guilt over having attempted to be God.  Enter Dr. Prictorious who was Dr. Frankenstein’s teacher at the university.  He states that he too has created life and seeks to enter “a new world of gods and monsters”.

            The “monster” seeks to redeem himself from his actions in the first movie.  Instead of drowning a girl, he saves a girl from drowning and the people lock him in a dungeon for it.  As if that could hold him.  Then we come to what I believe is one of the most beautiful character interactions in all of cinema.  The “monster’ is drawn to violin music coming from a cabin.  The source of this music is an elderly man who is blind and who is thus not frightened by the “monster”.  The man believes that the “monster” is simply a man who is mute.  The innocence of disability welcomes the “monster” with no strings attached.  Indeed, the man exclaims that the “monster” is actually God’s answer to his prayer for a friend.  The man teaches the “monster” how to talk and about companionship.  Unfortunately this happy scene is interrupted by two men who issue their own judgment on the man’s new friend.

            The “monster” decides that the only suitable friend for him must come from the dead.  This is where his path and that of Dr. Prictorious collide.  Dr. Prictorious uses the “monster” for his own evil means to kidnap Dr. Frankenstein’s wife in order to bribe Dr. Frankenstein to make a bride for the “monster”.   The creation of the Bride is the ultimate traumatic end for the “monster”.  The Bride screams at the “monster” who interrupts this as her rejection of him.  Then something very interesting happens.  The “monster” decides to end it all by destroying the castle and all who are in it.  But before he does he lets the doctor and his wife go but not Dr. Prictorious.  The end of the monster(s) is also the end of all who would seek to be God!

Review of "Nashville"  2 Stars

I know I am going to be the odd ball out on this but I did not like Nashville at all.  While there were some humorous moments they were too few and far between.  I've read that the story of "Nashville" is set against the backdrop of country music.  On the contrary, the country music is in the form of a movie.  It was like watching a three hour country music video!  Of course it's well known that there are various stories happening in this movie and I read that they all come together at the political rally.  But they did not come together.  Just because all the characters happened to be in the same place doesn't mean their stories come together, nor is there any closure to their stories.  Now I do agree that Robert Altman is one of the best directors in history, but he blew it on this movie.

Pale Rider  3 Stars

A town is terrorized by a ruthless baron, Josh LaHood, and a girl prays for a miracle.  Miracles do not always appear as we expect them to.  The Pale Rider is a preacher who does not fit the idea of what a preacher should be.  He is a violent gunslinger who is the answer to a prophecy that the girl quotes from the book of Revelation, “and I saw a pale horse and the rider was death and hell followed with him”. 

The baron seeks to control the town and he knows that the Rider is going to stand in his way so he tries to bribe him by offering to build a church.  The Rider does not want to fight the people’s battle for them but rather he wants them to stand together.  When they vote to stand together he disappears and they wonder how they are going to stand without him.  They miss the point that their power comes from within them, not the Rider.  This is what LaHood fears for he knows that with faith the people will be unmovable.  When Barrett and the Rider stand together they defeat the evil holding the town at bay. 

Tess  3 Stars

I was not familiar with “Tess of the de’urberlvilles” so this story was brand new to me, and a tragic story it is.  I really felt for Tess who wants the better life that her parents wanted for her but every time she turns around everyone she comes into contact with victimizes her.  Even the parson’s son, Angel, who claims he will love her no matter what leaves her when he learns of her illegitimate child.  Tess seems to be thrown into one bad scenario after another and none of it is do to anything she does.  She bears the shame from her priest, her husband, and her community for having the child out of wedlock and conceiving it with her distant cousin.  Never mind the circumstances under which the child was conceived.  It could have been considered a rape and may have been if she had resisted during the actual encounter the same way she resisted the cousin’s advances leading up to the encounter.  The movie is brilliantly photographed, acted, and directed.  I was completely drawn to Tess and her story.   I do have one criticism of the movie though.  The movie sets up a moral conflict between Tess, the priest, and the community over the way the child was conceived.  But as soon as this conflict is presented it is dropped and the movie shifts to Angel’s story when I was much more interested in Tess.

Review of “The Exorcist”  4 Stars

            Hailed by many as the scariest movie of all time, and with good reason.  “The Exorcist” made in 1973 still holds up today.  The only real problem that I have with it is the opening sequence which is in the restored version but was not in the original and it is not needed in the restored version either.  In this opening sequence Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow) spends several minutes at an archaeological dig.  The only part of the sequence that contributes to the movie is that last shot when Father Merrin stands directly across from the statue of the demon, the same likeness that appears on Reagan’s walls later in the film.  This shot sets up the showdown between Father Merrin and the demon.

            Even before things get really bad there are subtle signs that things are not fine in Reagan’s world.  Her mom hears noises in the attic but there are no rats.  Her mom finds Reagan in bed with the window wide open and the covers off.  Reagan goes into her mom’s room because Reagan’s bed is shaking.  Then there’s also Captain Howdy which is not as imaginary as Reagan’s mom thinks he is.  And how could we forget Reagan’s “accident” at the party?

            What we are dealing with here is spiritual warfare.  Reagan’s mother spends a great deal of time searching for physical and psychological answers to a question that is spiritual in essence and of course these other explanations ultimately come up empty.  One question that is not answered in the movie is “why Reagan?”.  And perhaps the answer to this question isn’t that important.

For 1973 the special effects are incredible.  Marcel Vercoutere gives some of the greatest special effects ever put on film.  Reagan’s head doing the 360, Reagan’s backwards spider walk down the stairs, Reagan spewing blood, Reagan elevating above the bed, and her pure white eyes.

The final showdown is too terrifying, too complicated, too superb to try to put into words.  It’s one for the cinema record books!

The Lost Weekend  4 stars

Before "Leaving Las Vegas" there was the "The Lost Weekend".  This movie hits you across the face from the very beginning and never lets go.  Wilder's brilliant directing let's us see the protaginist's fall before he does.  We want to save him from it but feel powerless to do so.  He is an alcoholic who pushes everyone he loves away and is even willing to ruin his career just to get that next drink.  Like all great movies love saves the day.

The Field  4 Stars

Great script, great acting, great story, and brilliant cinematography.  It really draws you in and makes you care about the main character and his land.  It sparks important questions.  What is the purpose of land?  Is land just a piece of property/capital or is it a link to one’s heritage.  A link that one would do anything to preserve.

Edward Scissorhands 4 Stars

This movie is brilliant in every way.  Brilliant use of color.  Brilliant cinematography.  While this film can be considered science fiction it also has significant threads of disability theology.  Is he a freak of nature or is he just different?  Should he be like everybody else?  The religious fanatic in the film refers to him as a “perversion of nature” that should be “cast out” of the neighborhood as if he were some kind of demon.  Dianne Wiest and her family are the only ones who view his “non-comformity” as part of his created being.  Not something that needs to be fixed.  Tim Burton tells this story through the use of both the written word and the visuals.  It isn’t very often that the visuals actually become an integral part of the story.  The story has obvious links to “Frankenstein”.  He is a creature created by man which by default makes him incomplete.  He is not a monster but it is people’s reaction to him that turns him into a monster.       While I am not a big Tim Burton fan, he overdid himself with this film.  Without a doubt his best film!   

Children of a Lesser God  4 stars

First of all let me say that Marlee Matlin is a brilliant actress and does not get enough credit or roles.  Her character has had a difficult life.  The result of this is resentment and fear of connection.  She has been through so much hurt that she has put up emotional walls to prevent that from happening.  She wants to enter into a relationship with William Hurt but to do so would require her to tear down those walls.  Because of her hurt and pain she is afraid to give herself completely to love.  She is also afraid to make love.  Boys from her childhood only see her as easy sex.  She has only known sex from the physical aspect, not the emotional aspect.  Once she puts down her walls she is able to give herself to an emotional and physical relationship with William Hurt.  The physical love scene cannot even be described as a “sex scene”.  It is not about sex or lust.  It is about love and passion and is absolutely beautiful! 

Closer 4 stars

“Closer” is a very complicated movie about relationships which is difficult to put into words.  There is so much there I can’t put my finger on all of it.  There is only a five person cast with the fifth person being a taxi driver.  The cemetery is like a set of book ends which brings the movie together.  There is also a string holding the movie together which is the line spoken by Natalie Portman:  “Everything is a version of something else”.    The cemetery contains people who died saving the lives of others.  Who saves who in the film?  At times the answer is obvious and at times it is not obvious at all.  There is one physical life saving event.  The rest is emotional.  Portman’s character has deep hurt for unknown reasons, she has the need to love and to be loved but she also has the need to control the relationship.  When someone else tries to control she leaves.

In Bruges 1 Star

It is one of the worst movies I've ever seen!  Granted the plot is at least a good idea but it is carried out with outlandish incompetence!  The screenwriter was either a complete idiot or high.  The script is a sub average script to to begin with but it was like they wrote the script then they took a whole bunch of "f" words, threw them in and were they landed that's were the put them.  I am not one to criticize movies for violence or language.  I watch countless numbers of movies and I have only criticized two movies for excessive violence/language..."Last Man Standing" and this piece of trash!  After I realized I wasn't going to like the movie I decided it would be fun to just count the ridiculous number of times the "f word" was used...119 times!!!  6 times in the first two minutes.  Now that's some creative writing there!

My top movies by year

2008:

Slumdog Millionaire  (BP)

The Reader

Seven Pounds

The Air I Breathe

Frost/Nixon

2007:  In order

Atonement

Reservation Road

Juno

The Brave One

Amazing Grace

2006:

Little Miss Sunshine

The Black Dahlia

Click

Babel

The Departed

2005:

Crash

Good Night & Good Luck

Munich

Everything Is Illuminated

Falling Angels

2004:

I, Robot

Passion of the Christ

Finding Neverland

The Forgotten

The Aviator

2003:

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

21 Grams

House of Sand and Fog

Thirteen

Gods and Generals

2002:

The Pianist

The Hours

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Gangs of New York

Orange County

2001:

A Beautiful Mind

I Am Sam

The Lord of the Rings:  The Fellowship of the Ring

Hannibal

Shrek

2000:

Gladiator

Pay It Forward

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

XMen

Erin Brockovich

1999:

American Beauty

The Green Mile

Girl, Interrupted

Tea With Mussolini

The Insider

1998:

Saving Private Ryan

Life Is Beautiful

Simon Birch

Pleasantville

American History X

1997:

Titantic

As Good As It Gets

Good Will Hunting

Scream 2

Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion

1996:

The War at Home

Ransom

Jerry Maguire

The English Patient

Shine

1995:

Braveheart

Leaving Las Vegas

Crimson Tide

Richard III

12 Monkees

1994:

Forrest Gump

The Shawshank Redemption

Nobody’s Fool

Quiz Show

Interview with a Vampire

1993:

Schindler’s List

Philadelphia

The Fugitive

Fearless

Map of the Human Heart

1992:

1991:

Silence of the Lambs

Fried Green Tomatoes

Regarding Henry

Sleeping with the Enemy

Frankie & Johnnie