FREEDOM IS A WORSHIP WORD

This is scary:

Evangelist takes credit for film crackdown
Christian crusader says he pressured cabinet ministers and PMO officials to deny tax credits to productions deemed too offensive

BILL CURRY AND GAYLE MACDONALD
From Friday's Globe and Mail
February 29, 2008

OTTAWA, TORONTO — A well-known evangelical crusader is claiming credit for the federal government's move to deny tax credits to TV and film productions that contain graphic sex and violence or other offensive content...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080229.wculture29/BNStory/National/home

What is pathetic, is we get told the same line over and over that our troops are in Afghanistan, and Iraq, to help protect our freedoms and democracy...

... sorry, I was on the ground laughing uncontrollably after keying in that last sentence.

Of course, our troops are really there to protect our 'interests' in the region; namely oil. The official line we get over and over again is all a big lie. I am not the first to say it and I will not be the last.

Western, or "free world" (... I'm laughing again!), military forces are there, and here, to make money for a lot of rich white men.

JULIEN DONKEY-BOY

Back in December, I saw Gummo (1997). Tonight, I saw Julien Donkey-Boy (1999). These two films are perfect bookends for filmmaker Harmony Korine. They are very much the same blend of coffee. Perhaps one is a little darker than the other -- maybe there is more cream in that cup -- but the aroma and aftertaste are the same.

Voyeuristic films these are. As a viewer, you are not sure you want to be witnessing every scene. Discomfort would be felt by some viewers. Gummo and Julien Donkey-Boy are not for all tastes. All I will say about the latter is that Werner Herzog is memorable and reminds some of us that he made a not dissimilar film back in 1970, titled, Even Dwarfs Started Small (Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen); which had an obvious influence on Korine.

I recommend checking out either Gummo or Julien Donkey-Boy but especially, Even Dwarfs Started Small.

SQUARE PEGS TO DVD

Back on October 15th of last, I talked about my reintroduction to the 1982 - 83 television series, Square Pegs, which was playing on one of those nostalgia tv channels. Read the news today on http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/ that the short lived show is coming to DVD on May 20th.

Time to get excited, for those who remember seeing Square Pegs in its original run; time to get interested, if you have not seen a cool show very much of its time.

It is worth checking out...
http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Square-Pegs-Complete-Series/9059

ROBOT MONSTER

It was bound to happen. Friend Jim (of 23 years old) recently lent me his copy of Plan 9 From Outer Space. I watched it, love it again; next day pulled out Robot Monster (1953) from my "50 Movie Pack - SciFi Classics DVD Collection" boxed set. I explained the film to Jim after I realized he had not heard of the other atrocious but entertaining classic. After describing the actual monster to him, Jim said, "oh, that one".

A few days later, he came to me and rather enthusiastically claimed to have liked it very much. But before returning my disc, Jim said he wanted to see it again. He showed me the screen on his laptop computer... with all the icons denoting the various files of Shakespeare's great works. The real pride and joy however was the background image. Jim had frame captured a scene where Ro-Man is carrying the girl Alice, played by Claudia Barrett.

I watched Robot Monster again late tonight for the first time since the summer of 1995 when my then friend Steve and I laughed uproariously at all the wrong times... and right times. One thing I noticed this time around, or was pleasantly reminded, there are a few moments in Robot Monster that were clearly designed to elicit laughter from the audience. My favourite is when Ro-Man carries Barrett to the entrance to the cave (where he also keeps all his sensitive communications gear) and tries to get it on with her. First, he grabs the girl's hands and holds them to his chest to convince her that he is quite the Hu-Man's ladies man. Now, some women like hairy chests, but not one attached to an all conquering, but inept, ape sporting a astro helmet. Barrett would probably like it if Ro-Man could at least do that well -- conquering. Just when he thinks that he can force himself on her the phone rings: The communication screen. First, it's some of the girl's buddies calling. (Ro-Man says something that put me on the floor.) The call ends and he goes back to the girl to pick up where he left off; which was nowhere. Again, the phone rings. This time it's his boss. Of all the times...

Some days you can't make love to a Hu-Man Wo-Man!

Ro-Man spends an awful lot of time "calculating". Granted, he must get rid of those pesky Hu-Mans, but to me he is too fixated on whether five survive or six survive; or seven or eight. This seems rather trivial. (After all, the last of the humans will eventually die off.) It's like the Ro-Man saying to the humans, "yesterday, you were wearing checkered pants... today, you are wearing plain ones".

That trivial.

The score was written by one Elmer Bernstein -- yes, that Elmer Bernstein; who would just three years later write the music to The Ten Commandments. As my friend Jim said, "the score was so huge for this".

Great stuff.

(Final note: Robot Monster was shot in 3-D. The print which has been circulating for years is 2-D.)

TALES FROM THE GIMLI HOSPITAL

It was one of those nights where I had so much to do that I thought I would deal with none and just sit down and watch a movie. Went through my unwatched VHS dubs... Tales from the Gimli Hospital. Sounds like a good pick for tonight; Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin's 1988 feature. His first feature film.

After watching it tonight for the first time in a few years, I am sure it is his still his best feature film. As Maddin said years ago, Gimli feels like a film that was found in some permafrost after being forgotten or lost for years. Specifically, it is a film which would have been made, or appears to have been made, during the sound transition era: Those are for all intents and purposes the years 1928 - 1930. Indeed, to this viewer who admits having a fondness for the 'big changeover' aesthetic, Tales from the Gimli Hospital looks and sounds like the genuine article.

Maddin nailed it, as it were. For all this authenticity, the director has made an original film... with touches made by a man who is looking back in nostalgia. He has stated that this period in cinema is a favourite of his, even with, or because of, the technical and artistic problems inherent in the beast -- at least with the more conventional directors: Static camera work, primitive and often rudimentary audio mixing, and so forth. Maddin's affection and fondness of the source material shows.

Gimli was shot over a period of eighteen months; typical of very low budget filmmaking. The first cut came out to approximately 50 minutes: Too short to be a feature and too long to call a short. Maddin secured 'arts council' money to beef up the running time.

Tales from the Gimli Hospital, like almost all films which eventually claim cult status, did not explode onto the scene, but rather crept along as word of mouth spread, eventually snagging viewers like yours truly.

The first time I heard of Guy Maddin, his Gimli, and the Winnipeg Film Group, was in an article I read in the Toronto Star newspaper back in the summer of 1990.

This film group and their films sounded so exciting to me.

THE OSCARS? BUGGER OFF!

I have never seen the Oscar awards broadcast. Sure, I've seen tiny pieces over the years but I am proud of the fact that I have never wasted my time sitting down for the whole snooze fest. Back in elementary school, my teacher asked how many of us in the class "watched the Oscars last night". He went onto explain how the ceremony is organized and presented. All I thought after he asked the question was, "was I supposed to watch them?" (This would have been 1974, the year The Sting was all the rage.)

The Oscars are a joke. You can list people "who have never won, or never did win, an Oscar", and films which ran in a stream of euphoria, winning a pile of gold statuettes and probably never deserved to. (This is all subjective, of course.)

Actor James Stewart dropped the ball years ago when he admitted that he never checked off any boxes in the actors' categories -- every year he would pass his ballot to his wife.

I know... the Oscars broadcast doesn't really mean anything, they are meant to be fun. Very true, what else would explain Titanic's 11 count? Ben Hur (1959) deserved them but not the grossly overrated flick from ten years ago.

And that Titanic song. The pain; the pain.

THE MUMMY (1932)

As part of my 're watch movies I have not seen in years' program, I sat down last week to view the 1932, Karl Freund production of The Mummy. Last time I saw this one -- the movie, not the mummy -- was the summer of 1985. I was in film school, I was younger, happier, talked less...

Okay, then.

I was a little surprised at how mellow the film was, even based on what I know about the Universal horror pictures from that era. On those terms The Mummy played a laid back game. It really is a love story more than horrific thrills... thrills which are there at the very beginning -- the first reel -- but which dovetail to a romance, of sorts. All played with skill by Boris Karloff.

Director Freund is German cameraman Freund; shooter of great films as The Last Laugh (1924), Variety (1925), and Metropolis (1927). That background shows in his directing, and he wasn't just a technician -- he cared about a story.

RESET THE SET

The film and television field in Toronto is in trouble. Notice I did not say 'business'. Actually, there is not much of a field here so it's hard for it to be in trouble. The fact is there are threads or remnants of film and television events in this town. It was big, sorta, artificially, but it was never a big deal. Too many folk got into it for all the wrong reasons. Now they are paying the price, with mortgages and an unsustainable lifestyle... but no work.

I received an interesting e-mail from a friend of mine earlier this week. He has worked at the same film and television company for years. This employer has continued to scale back, eventually getting to the point where my friend is doing the equivalent workload of two or three other people, just to keep them above water. They are not alone in this regard. What were once prospering production companies have degraded to skeletal form or to non existence.

The employment situation in this area is tough. As this friend capped off his e-mail he said something to the effect of increasing your chances of upward mobility by being of a certain 'type'. It is pretty pathetic.

Another friend of mine has worked steadily since 1994 in production. We talked at length today and agreed that he has to reorganize, retool, reset, and redefine himself. He has not worked in the career of his choice now for about three months.

As for me? Well, I just got the beep out of the Toronto film and television field. It is a joke: Staffed by fools, incompetents, and non-talents... for the most part. There are very talented people out there -- I know some of them -- but even they find it difficult to get work sometimes. Talent has very little, if anything at all, to do with being employable "in this business".

Yes, it is that bad.

I consider myself to be a realist, so here it goes: The film and television production scene in Toronto is Mickey Fucking Mouse! (Pardon my profanity. I did not originate the application of these certain words in this argument. I am merely repeating what I have heard said many times.)

Sure I sound or come across as bitter, and perhaps I am; but there is no other way to state the truth.

SUSPECT ON QUEEN GONE

Like many Torontonians, I woke up to the news yesterday that a fire was raging on Queen Street, near Bathurst. More details came out as the day progressed. Then the news that Suspect Video and Culture burned to the ground.

While I rarely went to this location (since I live near the Markham Street store), and never to rent or buy but generally to meet someone, this unfortunate event does hit home. The owner, Luis, is one of those 'super nice guys' you occasionally meet from time to time. As a matter of fact, I bumped into him the day before the fire. Luis is always so cordial and friendly -- we joked about some title that he has been meaning to pull in for me. He is that type. (I have been going to the Markham Street location for 16 years now. It is one of my favourite shops of any kind anywhere in Toronto.)

My best wishes go to Luis and the gang.

PLAN 9 PLAN

Excuse me while I go and watch the 1959 (but shot in 1956) horror-chiller-scifi-thriller, Plan 9 From Outer Space. I will be back with a full report on it...

... wonderfully entertaining movie. Even more so than I remember it being. Whoever said "no matter what time of the day you watch Plan 9, it always feels like 3 o'clock in the morning", was absolutely right.

You could see that Edward D. Wood was so sincere in his storytelling; he believed everything he was saying. The ineptitude is still there and has not changed an iota since my last screening. Deadly earnest characters and actors in an insane asylum.

One thing I really noticed this time 'round -- an incongruity, an oddity: The scene at the Pentagon between General Roberts (played by veteran character actor Lyle Talbot) and Col. Tom Edwards (Tom Keene) is out-of-place in this contraption. These particular few minutes are resonably competent and dare I say, polished. The dialogue is clear and believable -- within the absurd premise -- with the actors doing their thing well. (Good actors. Maybe Eddie was away that day. Maybe someone else went over the dialogue for this one piece.) If the whole film could have been this way... nooo! Do not ruin the magic!

What I did find pretty funny within this scene is the moment the General asks the Colonel if he believes in flying saucers. Weird question considering that Col. Edwards is "in charge of Flying Saucer Field Activity"! An appointment no doubt decided by "army brass". Just what did the General think that Edwards imagined firing at earlier? Flying Winnebagos?!

As author Daniel Peary wrote in his essay on Plan 9 in the wonderful book, "Cult Movies", there are some truly effective moments such as the images of Vampira and Police Inspector Dan Clay (Tor Johnson) walking zombie-like through the eerie graveyard. Peary is correct also when he points out and reasons the matter of Plan 9 containing a philosophy from Wood. Like Doctor Zaius did in a very similar way to Charleton Heston, near the end of the 1968 classic, Planet of the Apes, Eros gives a rant about the violent nature of the human species. It's one of those moments that you say, "right on, Eros! My man!"

See this movie if you have not.

(I should note that my friend Jim lent me his DVD of Plan 9. Jim is 23 years of age and is an English Literature major at the University of Toronto. Just so you know... )