Mountains, Prairies, and Rock & Roll
Movie Review: The Holy Mountain (1973)
I've seen some wierd movies in my time. I'm a big fan of David Lynch, Peter Greenaway, David Cronenburg and Lars Von Trier. I've seen 'Un Chien Andalou' and both 'Tetsuo the Iron Man' movies. This movie may take the cake though. Not only does it take the cake but it eats it, poops it out and then smears it into a quasi-religious symbol on a freshly painted white wall. This movie has quite a cult following and I first heard of it and it's bizarre director Alejandro Jodorowsky while I was in university. The movie clearly has 3 parts. The first part by far the strangest. It begins with a very Jesus-like character being resuscitated by an armless and legless midget. Then he is strung up on a cross while small children throw stones at him. Afterwards, he strolls through a city in Mexico and witnesses very shocking things. Tourists gawk and take pictures while soldiers rape and kill civilians. Toads in bright little costumes recreate the Spanish invasion of Mexico. A group of scantily clad women (prostitues I think) began following him around. One of them is accompanied by a monkey. Finally, he scales a very tall building and finds an alchemist inside. The alchemist knows some kind of kung-fu-like fighting style and proceeds to smack this Jesus character upside his head. Afterwards the alchemist takes him under his wing and shows him how to turn his own feces into gold. It's a very beautiful moment. Part 2 has the alchemist introducing Jesus to his future team of super friends, 8 other successful people from different fields. Each of them is introduced in turn in short segments and they are each as crazy as as the next. The 3rd part has the alchemist leading his followers up a mountain to find the 9 people who control the world. They mean to find them, kill them, and take their places. Along the way they each have strange visions - such as drinking milk from the teats of an old bearded man. At the end they reach a table with 9 cloaked figures only to find out they are just manequins. The alchemist turns to the camera, it pans back to reveal the film crew, and he says that it was all just a film. Visually this movie very impressive. For such a small budget Jodorowsky did an amazing job. Someone must have a put a lot of time into making all those cute toad costumes. A very strange and confusing film where you'll be constantly trying to understand what is going on, but an impressive tour of the director's subconscious. He had some big cahones to make a film like this. 8/10
Movie Review: Open Range (2003)
My reaction to this movie was the same as when I watched the movie 'Tombstone'. It's very well done with good acting and a good story. However, it is just your typical western movie with nothing new. It's nothing I haven't seen before. It's not like 'Unforgiven' which broke all the rules and is, in my opinion, the best modern Western. Open Range features Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall as free range rangers who are leading their herd through America. Along the way, they meet up with a greedy 'Rancher' who doesn't like them filthy free rangers. The rancher kills their employees and event their dog. This leads to a huge gunfight (which I'll admit is very well done) to decide the fate of a town. In this town Costner meets a woman (the only woman in the film) and of course they fall in love. 7.5/10
Movie Review: School of Rock (2003)
I'm a big Jack Black fan and was worried because I'd heard that this movie wasn't all that funny. Luckily I liked it. Black was great as the manic fake teacher trying to convert a class of elementary students into a kick ass rock band. Sure it's completely unbelievable. How could no one at the school notice a band practicing all day every day? Why did the furious parents all suddenly forget their grievances when they reach the Battle of the Bands concert? But it's funny, the kids are great musicians and the music is awesome. You've gotta just go with it. 8/10
TV Review: Lost Season 1
40 some odd survivors of a plane crash must learn to live on a tropical island. They were so far off course that rescue seems unlikely. Dangerous wild animals and some kind of monster lurk in the jungle. They may not be alone. Everyone is carrying extra baggage and it's not the kind you wheel around behind you. You can't trust everyone you're marooned with. It's a great idea and I really liked the first season. There are some minor continuity problems (why hasn't the fat guy lost any weight after a month on the island? Why out of 40 characters do we only know 7 of them?) but the story is developing very well. What worries me about a continuing series like this (I mean that it's not a mini-series with a definite ending all penned out) is that it may turn into a bad Gilligan's Island remake. Just how many mysteries can this island contain? How many other people can there be on it? Despite this... I'm stoked for season 2.
I've seen some wierd movies in my time. I'm a big fan of David Lynch, Peter Greenaway, David Cronenburg and Lars Von Trier. I've seen 'Un Chien Andalou' and both 'Tetsuo the Iron Man' movies. This movie may take the cake though. Not only does it take the cake but it eats it, poops it out and then smears it into a quasi-religious symbol on a freshly painted white wall. This movie has quite a cult following and I first heard of it and it's bizarre director Alejandro Jodorowsky while I was in university. The movie clearly has 3 parts. The first part by far the strangest. It begins with a very Jesus-like character being resuscitated by an armless and legless midget. Then he is strung up on a cross while small children throw stones at him. Afterwards, he strolls through a city in Mexico and witnesses very shocking things. Tourists gawk and take pictures while soldiers rape and kill civilians. Toads in bright little costumes recreate the Spanish invasion of Mexico. A group of scantily clad women (prostitues I think) began following him around. One of them is accompanied by a monkey. Finally, he scales a very tall building and finds an alchemist inside. The alchemist knows some kind of kung-fu-like fighting style and proceeds to smack this Jesus character upside his head. Afterwards the alchemist takes him under his wing and shows him how to turn his own feces into gold. It's a very beautiful moment. Part 2 has the alchemist introducing Jesus to his future team of super friends, 8 other successful people from different fields. Each of them is introduced in turn in short segments and they are each as crazy as as the next. The 3rd part has the alchemist leading his followers up a mountain to find the 9 people who control the world. They mean to find them, kill them, and take their places. Along the way they each have strange visions - such as drinking milk from the teats of an old bearded man. At the end they reach a table with 9 cloaked figures only to find out they are just manequins. The alchemist turns to the camera, it pans back to reveal the film crew, and he says that it was all just a film. Visually this movie very impressive. For such a small budget Jodorowsky did an amazing job. Someone must have a put a lot of time into making all those cute toad costumes. A very strange and confusing film where you'll be constantly trying to understand what is going on, but an impressive tour of the director's subconscious. He had some big cahones to make a film like this. 8/10 Movie Review: Open Range (2003)
My reaction to this movie was the same as when I watched the movie 'Tombstone'. It's very well done with good acting and a good story. However, it is just your typical western movie with nothing new. It's nothing I haven't seen before. It's not like 'Unforgiven' which broke all the rules and is, in my opinion, the best modern Western. Open Range features Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall as free range rangers who are leading their herd through America. Along the way, they meet up with a greedy 'Rancher' who doesn't like them filthy free rangers. The rancher kills their employees and event their dog. This leads to a huge gunfight (which I'll admit is very well done) to decide the fate of a town. In this town Costner meets a woman (the only woman in the film) and of course they fall in love. 7.5/10Movie Review: School of Rock (2003)
I'm a big Jack Black fan and was worried because I'd heard that this movie wasn't all that funny. Luckily I liked it. Black was great as the manic fake teacher trying to convert a class of elementary students into a kick ass rock band. Sure it's completely unbelievable. How could no one at the school notice a band practicing all day every day? Why did the furious parents all suddenly forget their grievances when they reach the Battle of the Bands concert? But it's funny, the kids are great musicians and the music is awesome. You've gotta just go with it. 8/10TV Review: Lost Season 1
40 some odd survivors of a plane crash must learn to live on a tropical island. They were so far off course that rescue seems unlikely. Dangerous wild animals and some kind of monster lurk in the jungle. They may not be alone. Everyone is carrying extra baggage and it's not the kind you wheel around behind you. You can't trust everyone you're marooned with. It's a great idea and I really liked the first season. There are some minor continuity problems (why hasn't the fat guy lost any weight after a month on the island? Why out of 40 characters do we only know 7 of them?) but the story is developing very well. What worries me about a continuing series like this (I mean that it's not a mini-series with a definite ending all penned out) is that it may turn into a bad Gilligan's Island remake. Just how many mysteries can this island contain? How many other people can there be on it? Despite this... I'm stoked for season 2.
posted by Jason at 7:22 PM
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