Blow Out (1981)

Intro
While pouring back through all the Tarantino films recently I realized a couple things:
1) There's not that many of them. I mean he's only one guy and he pretty much only works off of his own material that he wrote... which takes time, and thus this is very understandable.
2) His films make reference other movies constantly. Now call it what you want homage, reference or just plain theft but I'm thinking that a lot of people don't catch the majority of these references to other films because frankly, we don't have the film same exposure as a young Tarantino did going to the grindhouse theater constantly in his youth or working in a video rental store. However, hypothetically with the vastness of the internet and Amazon, Netflix etc. these films should be easier to get a hold of today, if you know what you're looking for that is.

So I figured there's probably more people out there, like me, who crave more Tarantino constantly and I could showcase some films that I'd consider essential viewing for Tarantino fans. And thus the 10 must-see films for Tarantino fans was born. Now let me warn you this is in no way a comprehensive list and there's no particular order to these either. There's probably hundreds of films that Tarantino references in his own films, and I found enough films I could write about to probably do this series again but that will have to wait until next time there's another big Tarantino release.

DAY 8: Blow Out (1981)

Blow Out is Quentin Tarantino's third favorite film of all time. This film is the reason he chose to cast John Travolta as a lead in Pulp Fiction (1994) and his performance in this film is uncannily similar actually. Brian De Palma does a lot of things in this film that Tarantino would later incorporate into his own "style" like the 360 shot to show confusion and this film also drops lots of references to De Palma's previous films but also to other films, sound familiar? Also Tarantino used a piece from this film's amazing score in Death Proof (2007).

"First it's a drink, then it's my place, now it's a hotel?" Things are moving a little fast, aren't they Sally?"

Blow Out is a conspiracy thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma. When Jack Terry, a sound designer for low budget films, randomly saves a girl's life from drowning he finds himself wrapped in a huge conspiracy, and his job comes in handy more than you'd think.

This film has a really simple story and a great premise. I also like how the film starts like a neo-noir film, I thought this was an interesting spin on the typical noir film. The simple story makes it easy to follow and allows for a lot of suspense. There's some very suspense-filled parts in this film, and that's a sign of a good film.

The acting in this film is pretty good too. Nancy Allen plays Sally, who is actually a bit annoying but it works for the film. John Lithgow plays the killer in one of his earliest feature roles, and although this is against type for him retrospectively, it actually works pretty well in this film, you've just got to get over the initial shock the first time you see him. And John Travolta has this very dark and moody performance that really adds a lot of depth and makes the role a lot cooler than it would have been otherwise.

The film has some less-believable parts in the end: like the car chase though a parade, (SPOILERS:) the fact the killer hesitated to kill Sally and decides to take her to the roof of a building when he was going to do it in a subway in front of a lot of people only minutes before, and the fact that the cops believed the victim killed the killer while somehow still getting killed? I believe all of this could have been stronger if De Palma didn't let the neo-noir aspects of the film dwindle about half to three-quarters of the way into it only to turn into a more traditional thriller film.

And this last part is a nitpicky thing that most people wouldn't notice, but it bugged me so I'm gonna mention it, there's a part where Jack makes an animation of the car crash with the magazine pictures and he does it totally wrong, to play at a normal speed the pictures would have need to be photographed at least twice and they would have needed to be lined up a hell of a lot better than he did otherwise the finished film would have been very shakey. True this doesn't really matter that much, but it shows a lack of attention to detail and then made me wonder how truthful the sound design parts actually were!

If nothing else, this film is proof that Brian De Palma is an amazing director. The cinematography stands out with it variety of shots and beautiful shot choices. I especially liked the high angle shots and the split screen shots (like the image at the top of this post) and the use of lots of quiet moments combined with the (fittingly) good sound design show great skill.

(SPOILERS:) Also the ending really showed a sign of great skill, I thought "well this is predictable, he's going to get there right in time and save her," but when he doesn't this really made me like the film that much more. It kind of saved a lot of things I didn't like about the second half of the film.

And lastly I got to mention the great score to this film, every song in this film is really great! A tiny bit of it seems rather dated, but it still really helps achieve some great emotional parts and some very chilling thriller parts too.

Blow Out (1981) is an unexpectedly thrilling story with amazing direction, and a great score. 4.5/5 Stars.

Happy watching!





This film is part of my month-long Tribute to Tarantino in honor of his latest film Django Unchained (2012) and his 20-year career. If you've missed any of my reviews so far, be sure to check out his filmography and click on any film you've missed.

The 10 must-see films for Tarantino fans countdown continues tomorrow, so be sure to check back!



Like this blog? You can support it by buying this film through these links:

Taxi Driver (1976)

Intro
While pouring back through all the Tarantino films recently I realized a couple things:
1) There's not that many of them. I mean he's only one guy and he pretty much only works off of his own material that he wrote... which takes time, and thus this is very understandable.
2) His films make reference other movies constantly. Now call it what you want homage, reference or just plain theft but I'm thinking that a lot of people don't catch the majority of these references to other films because frankly, we don't have the film same exposure as a young Tarantino did going to the grindhouse theater constantly in his youth or working in a video rental store. However, hypothetically with the vastness of the internet and Amazon, Netflix etc. these films should be easier to get a hold of today, if you know what you're looking for that is.

So I figured there's probably more people out there, like me, who crave more Tarantino constantly and I could showcase some films that I'd consider essential viewing for Tarantino fans. And thus the 10 must-see films for Tarantino fans was born. Now let me warn you this is in no way a comprehensive list and there's no particular order to these either. There's probably hundreds of films that Tarantino references in his own films, and I found enough films I could write about to probably do this series again but that will have to wait until next time there's another big Tarantino release.

DAY 4: Taxi Driver (1976)

Taxi Driver might seem like an obvious choice but I felt like putting it on this list because Tarantino has been adding a lot of little homages to this film throughout his career. Tarantino considers this film a masterpiece and frequently lists it in his top three favorite films of all time (once again thanks to The Quentin Tarantino Archives for compiling these lists.) This film has frequent Tarantino-collaborator Harvey Keitel in it and years later Tarantino even gave this films lead, Robert De Niro another role of a very socially awkward guy in Jackie Brown (1997). Tarantino's first script True Romance (1993) features a somewhat large subplot of a guy killing a pimp to save a young girl from her life of prostitution (just like this film) and he's even wearing a green army jacket when he does it (though this choice might've been thanks to Tony Scott the director of that film). In Bruce Willis' segment of Pulp Fiction (1994), Bruce Willis's character runs into a taxi driver named Esmeralda Villalobos who drives a cab that's very similar to the one in this film (kinda strange for a film set in the 90's no?) And most recently in Django Unchained (2012), Christoph Waltz's character Dr. Schultz uses a hidden mechanized derringer pistol similar to the one Travis builds in this film.

"All the animals come out at night."

Taxi Driver (1976) is a dark and moody character study of a lonely, frustrated and bored man directed by Martin Scorsese. The film follows Travis Bickle a former Marine living in New York City who begins driving a Taxi because he can't sleep at night. As the film goes on we see how sick of the world Travis really is.

I love the world that is portrayed in this film. I love how real it all feels, I like how scary some of the random people they show seem and I really like how you can almost feel the mood of driving around the city at night. Things like the cab drivers meeting up at diners between shifts to just sit around and talk really seem to ground this odd movie for me.

All the acting is good in this film but I was especially blown away by the young Jodie Foster as the young prostitute Iris. This was her first major film role, and at 13 it's no surprise that she got an Academy Award nomination for this part because she seems wise beyond her years in this film.

This is admittedly nitpicky but there seems to be a little bit of a missed opportunity to show how Travis feels after killing the man in the convenience store. He seems scared in the moment, but this is his first time killing a person (as far as we know) and the first time he actually does something about the "filth" and crime of the city. I would have liked more of a scene showing if he enjoyed it or if it scared him or if he felt bad about it or whatever, the film just kind of moves on after this.

One of the best things about this film is how interesting it is. I really think this is one of the best character driven stories on film and something about combination of the unique setting, strange characters and moody atmosphere really drags you into the film and keeps your attention.

I love how the film treats the lead character Travis Bickle. It's not too obvious about the oddness of Travis Bickle in the very beginning but as the film goes on you slowly start to realize that there might not be something right about this guy. You eventually seem him get strange obsessions in his head and even jump to weird conclusions. But I really like the very little things, like Travis will say something slightly odd and then you see the person talking to him kind of get uncomfortable or give a slight roll of their eyes, this something I'm sure most people can relate to. Robert De Niro's performance is really great in all of it's subtleties and how earnest he seems int this role. It's really hard not to feel for and like the guy.

The music of this film really adds a lot to the mood of it. The score was composed by Bernard Herrmann who is probably most well known for his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho (1960), Vertigo (1958), etc.) but also for the score to Citizen Kane (1941) & the opening to The Twilight Zone television show. Unlike most of his previous work however, the score to this film is predominately built around a jazzy saxophone line that seems to meander through the darkness of the city, really cool.

I also think it's really magnificent how the pace of this film seems to change with the mood of the main character we're following. At the beginning of the film Travis lacks direction, he can't sleep and the sequences seem really drawn out and dream like but later on as Travis' gets more fed up with the world around him scenes go by a lot faster and tension really seems to build effortlessly. The mood of this film is pure art, absolutely beautiful.

Taxi Driver (1976) is an very artistic film and probably the best character-driven story ever told on film. 5/5 Stars.

Happy watching!





This film is part of my month-long Tribute to Tarantino in honor of his latest film Django Unchained (2012) and his 20-year career. If you've missed any of my reviews so far, be sure to check out his filmography and click on any film you've missed.

The 10 must-see films for Tarantino fans countdown continues tomorrow, so be sure to check back!



Like this blog? You can support it by buying this film through these links:

Wolf Town (2010)

DAY 27

"Hey guys, I just saw a wolf."

Wolf Town (2010) is about a boy who likes a girl and in order to try and win her affection he invites her (and her boyfriend and his friend) out to an abandoned ghost town. But they quickly find out why the town was abandoned... because the town is populated by killer wolves.

The good thing is anything I EVER make will be better than this film.

Worst thing about the this movie is how bad the story is. It's not an interesting premise even remotely! On top of that it's poorly written, horrible dialogue and very very weak characters. Everyone is struggling in this movie to figure out what to do... pretty much the whole movie. Nothing interesting or smart ever comes up. No one decides to attack the wolves until the very end. It's just bad. I guess I would be a little weirded out if I ran into wolves who could cut the starter to a car or steal purses... but come on, really now?

And if you actually make it to the end? So after an hour plus of trying to figure out what to do... what is the final solution? Kill all the wolves (except one) and casually walk away. The most undramatic uninteresting end to a movie ever.

Even the direction and acting in this movie is really atrocious. Sorry to say there's not really any good reason to watch this movie.

I kind of find it magnificent they actually used real wolves for this film.... not well but they did!

Wolf Town (2010) is would be very educational if you wanted to know how not to write/direct/shoot/make a movie. So bad it's funny... so there's that? 1/5 stars.

Happy watching!







Please don't buy this film, don't waste your money. But if you are really desperate for a laugh or two you can buy it here:

The Birds (1963)

DAY 24

"I keep telling you, this isn't 'a few birds'! These are gulls, crows, swifts...!"

The Birds (1963) is a movie that starts like a very typical romantic comedy and then slowly transforms scene by scene into a supernatural horror movie. Tippi Hedren plays a rich prankster named Melanie Daniels who gets a taste of her own medicine when she is fooled by Rod Taylor's character Mitch Brenner. She follows him to his second home in a small town above San Francisco to exact her revenge when things suddenly start to get strange in this small town and the birds are suddenly acting very strangely.

I like the story in The Birds I think the way the story changes and evolves is very well done and very interesting, and keeps you guessing about what is coming next.

I think what Hitchcock did with the soundtrack is really interesting. There's no traditional score at all in this movie, a couple incidental songs, but mostly the movie is silent with some kind of electronic manipulation to make bird-like noises when necessary. This adds a whole level of drama and intensity to scenes that I would have never imagined. I was fortunate to see this film with a full theater recently, and I swear there was parts where you could feel the whole audience holding their breath, the entire theater was very quiet and kind of amazing actually.

Although I liked the theatrical dialogue for the most part there were some scenes where I felt it didn't work as well as others and instances where characters would divulge opinions or talk about thinks in ways that seemed very forced or unnatural. And there's some very dialogue heavy scenes that seem to stretch on for next to forever, I'm not sure if this is just a consequence of having no musical soundtrack or if these scenes are actually just excessively long.

While most of the effects in this movie still hold up there's whole parts where I felt the dated techniques and technology get in the way of the illusion, like the scene where the birds are all coming down from the chimney the scale of the drawn birds didn't match the image of the humans batting them away and there's a whole bunch of parts where birds were obviously cut and pasted on top of shots, the outlines of said birds aren't cut very well so they leave very awkward and unnatural shapes... I found this a bit too distracting.

I'm really fond of Tippi Hedren's performance in this film. She plays the lead, the rich playgirl prankster Melanie Daniels. Somehow she looks absolutely fabulous even while being attacked by a crazy swarm of birds! It's really hard to imagine this is her first major role in a film because it really seems like she has years and years of experience based on how great her acting is. She really brightens a lot of scenes and is a delight to watch.

In this film, I really like how well thought out and developed the characters are, there's a very complex web of each person's different relationships to others and it's handled superbly. This is a film that would have been very easy to half-ass the characters but because they didn't, it really makes the film extra enjoyable.

There's a lot of really specific scenes and moments in this movie I really love. There's a diner scene where a bird-expert, a drunk and a few other lively peoples share their opinions on the strange occurrences. And there's some really awesome dialogue exchanges and scenes with Annie Hayworth and Melanie Daniels and also between Mitch Brenner and Melanie Daniels.

But the thing that really blew me away in this movie is how amazing the suspense is in this film. Especially in the scenes where characters are slowly trying to walk past birds and all the attack scenes in the boarded up house at the climax of the movie. I couldn't believe how these scenes affected me, even today and I'd seen the movie before! Something about the way Hitch slowly builds up the attacks makes the ones toward the end of the movie that much more effective!

The Birds (1963) is a very interesting and inventive film that still today, works very well. There's not a lot of movies like this, and less that are actually pulled off this well. 4.5/5 stars.

Happy watching!







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Psycho (1960)

DAY 23

"We're always quickest to doubt people who have a reputation for being honest."

Psycho (1960) is a film about madness and always doing what you should do.

I really enjoy the story in this film. They way it meanders and evolves, works beautifully. Never once does a turn in the story lose your interest and every turn actually makes you more interested in what is going to happen next, so much so that when you stray from the original parts you don't mind at all.

Bad? How about the fact that people consider this the first slasher film!? I think Hitchcock would be turning in his grave if he could see the the crap that supposedly has been spawned from this film. If this is a slasher film (with it's one slashing scene?) then slasher films today could learn a lot about this movie, starting with how to tell an interesting story.

First of all I need to mention the score of this film. Bernard Herrmann's score in Psycho is one of the most memorable scores of all film history! Hitchcock himself said that "33% of the effect of Psycho was due to the music." And I absolutely agree it adds a lot to the suspense and horror of this film, and not to disagree with Hitch but I dare say that number maybe closer to 45-55%?! One of the things I like about it is the score will either not be present or very light in certain points before something crazy is about to happen then it snaps in loudly and very memorably. Using such a great score in this way is just genius in my opinion.

I also think this film wouldn't have worked half as well without casting Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates. His acting is so innocent and "small-town" that it really does a lot to keep the movie afloat and interesting.

This movie is a prime example of "Hitchcockian" suspense. Even rewatching this movie today, I feel that it's just as effective as it must have been 50+ years ago. And this is a tribute to how great of a director Hitchcock was. Suspense was his brand and no one did it better.

Last thing I need to mention is how great the twist in this movie is. Not just how convincing it is, but how masterfully it's carried out. This is not a story where you would have had no chance to figure it out, upon a second watch you realize that the clues are all there and nothing is out of place or weird, they're just masterfully placed and shot in ways to distract you or make you think you're seeing what you aren't. Absolutely amazing.

Psycho (1960) is an amazing film that is expertly crafted. Even today filmmakers could learn lot from this film. 5/5 stars.

Happy watching!







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Argo (2012)

"I gotta tell you, we did suicide missions in the army that had better odds than this."

I try not to double-post in one day but I wanted to take a moment to review a great movie I just saw that doesn't fit in with my 31 Days of Macabre Movies. Argo (2012) is an intense thriller from Ben Afflek, based on true events surrounding the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis. Ben Afflek plays Tony Mendez, a CIA "Exfiltration Expert" who needs to find a way to sneak out six Americans out of a hostile Iran.

This is a really cool story. I'm glad someone decide to make it into a film because it very much is a story that deserves to be told, it's the perfect kind of story to adapt to a film, and it's a pretty solid script.

The script also has an almost unexpected amount of humor in it that really makes this film a really enjoyable experience. John Goodman and Alan Arkin's characters have the funniest scenes in a movie that I've seen in a long time. All I have to say is, "Argo fuck yourself."

There's moments in this movie that seem a little contrived and not like the best solution for the story (like the chase scene at the end, or the part where the phone is ringing and they can't get to it because of a hot set...) but for the most part this movies script is pretty solid.

I had a little trouble understanding what was going through the main character's head. There was plenty of shots of Ben Afflek thinking (smoking) or contemplating but I never could figure out if he was doing all this just because its his job or because he has nothing else to live for? They didn't externalize his personal conflicts at all really, they show things get better for his family in the end but I would have liked a little more from inside this character's head a lot of it is all inferred.

There's a couple things I really loved about this film. First this film does a great job of explaining things that people might not be familiar with. From optioning a script to Iranian history to foreign affair procedures to CIA chain of command this movie blends the "telling" in so expertly it's quite amazing.

Second thing I really loved about this movie is there's specific moments in the film that are so well crafted that you will walk away thinking about them. In my opinion these include the beautifully edited Iranian takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, and there's a moment when Afflek's character is grilling the six on their cover stories that has the most wonderful acting. The script has a bunch of these moments where the filmmaking, writing and acting all come together beautifully, these make this film completely worth seeing.

Last thing I want to mention is this movie is great at putting the "thrill" in thriller, I might get some flack for this one, but I dare say that Afflek commands a level of suspense in this movie on par with Hitchcock films! Even in situations where I thought for sure I knew what the ending result would be this film had me on the edge of my seat and that is just plain good filmmaking. Great stuff.

Argo (2012) is a very tense thriller that's well worth checking out and is sure to see some love during award season. 5/5 stars.

Happy watching!







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