I'm late on this one, and probably forgetting more than a few, oh well...

Grindhouse: I liked it. Surprised by how entertaining Planet Terror was, though truth be told I probably preferred Death Proof. Fun time in the theater, even Eli Roth made good.

3 Extremes: Dumplings was the best part. Really creepy, and touched a lot of nerves. The second one was OK, not great, and I can barely remember Miike's. Not too bad for a modern horror anthology, though. I'd say I should check out the longer version of Dumplings, but I doubt I could stomach it.

The Cheerleaders: I waited how many years for this? Cute movie, almost charming today, though definitely very risque for its time. I wish I had just rented the damn thing though, can't believe I wasted so much thought on this damn movie. Since 8th grade!

Phantasm: Great movie that I didn't pay half the attention it deserves. I've seen it before but need to watch it again. There is so much to love between the Tall Man, the dwarves, the spheres, Reg, the other dimension, etc. that it's really not worth me reiterating what's been said on internets a million times before.

Phantasm 2: Decent sequel. I got to admit I found Legros kind of hot in this one, but not nearly as awesome as Reggie. Not great, the opening seems kind of prolonged and the stuff at the house seems kind of routine. Lots of cool moments, though. Good ending.

Phantasm 3: More-or-less on par with the 2nd one. Zombie Mike was a pretty cool idea, as was Jody-sphere. I gotta be honest and say I liked the chick and I liked the kid. I can see where some might see them as trying to pander to a broader audience but I felt the characters were well constructed and the movie needed something like them to keep it from being so much rehash.

Phantasm 4: Honestly don't remember this one all that well, except that it was really trippy. Kind of going back to the first one, I suppose. The integration of all the old material worked in some places but was a little grating in others. To me it honestly seems that, as awesome as Reggie is, with this one the Phantasm well's pretty much dried up. Coscarelli's free to prove me wrong, though.

Night of the Creeps: Alright. Tom Atkins was pretty badass in his scenes, but the movie as a whole didn't make a huge impression. I definitely enjoyed it, but feel that it didn't quite live up to the hype.

The Monster Squad: Better. I liked this quite a bit more than Night of the Creeps, happy as fuck to see Leonard Cimino back fighting evil some more, he was the best part of V. Lot of cool jokes/lines, wonder how much of the script was written by Shane Black anyway. Need to see it in widescreen, though.

The Marine: Great ridiculous opening, mundane bullshit thereafter. Rock Candy.

The Condemned: Better than The Marine, but not by much. They pretty much stole this directly from Battle Royale, which would've been fine if they hadn't also stolen a bunch of shit from that dumb Rollerball remake. Why the hell'd they do that? I enjoyed it for what it's worth, no No Holds Barred, though. There are some holds barred.

Perfect Strangers: Yay, Larry Cohen movie! Not his best, though it's a good watch. The rad fem bashing is a bit much, I was kind of surprised to see that used as a target. Of course the script was great as always, lots of intricate weavings between the characters.

Spiderman 3: I liked it, mostly because the filmmakers made such strange choices on such an important and expensive movie. The special effects/fight scenes were so amazing, actually scared me a little, in as much as the lengths to which films might be asked to go to meet them. It seems that they're largely being overlooked though, which is nice. The butler stuff is really inexcusable, but I liked the hell out of most everything else, reminded me of reading those damn terrible X-Men comics last year.

Inside Man: More great shit from Spike Lee. Yet to see a bad Spike Lee movie, and this must be some of his most accessible work. His personality is still there, but I was kind of wishing he had made it a little more provocative. Still a great heist movie, Clive Owen on his game again.

Friday the 13th Part 3: Another Friday movie. The formula's really falling into place here. Lots of kills, a somewhat more restrained 'gaze' (less of the camera just ogling the female leads). I liked it more than 1, 2, 8 and X, but I've still got to see a few more to declare it a favorite.

Nightwatch: A lot things in this movie didn't make sense, and it was not totally original in a lot of places, but it was pretty entertaining for the most part. Some interesting story twists at the end. Not enough sexy vampire action (female or male). I'll probably watch the sequel, but I won't go out of my way for it.

Hearts and Souls: Robert Downey Jr., Charles Grodin, and the Closer. It was okay, nothing I'll watch again. Seeing Downey act 'woman' (and later 'black woman') was a little telling, though, on stereotypes and such... maybe? I dunno.

Maid of Honor: Yeah. I'm a sucker. Lionsgate sells a Lifetime movie as a horror movie and I buy it. To be honest it probably wasn't even necessary. It had some melodramatic highs, but it moved a little too slowly, and none of the characters were quite developed enough to hold my attention away from hoping for the next outburst.

I think I'm going to make some kind of post about buying cheap shitty DVDs just because they're cheap in the future. See above.

Tags: movies
Current Mood: sick

Don't wanna dream no more!

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors must be my favorite film of the, objectively, rather terrible series. So much wasted potential, though. All that time building up the kids with their powers and abilities, only to completely squandor all of that with such a lame ending. Maybe it can be remade some day, and they can all use teamwork to take down Freddy CounterStrike style. As long as they kept the song, which hasn't left my head in like four or five days.

Maybe tonight you'll be gooonnnnneeeee!

(A trans horror note: The ending of Sleepaway Camp? Legitimately creepy and disturbing, even to me, a transwoman)

Tags: movies
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: "Dream Warriors", Dokken

I've been putting a lot of thought into the mechanisms of the horror film lately. My Deadpit addiction has basically made it impossible to ignore the terrible state of the genre anymore. What's going on? Why are the horror films today all torture films and remakes? Why aren't they effective at all? Can the genre be saved through an artistic movement or rejuvenation, or will this shit just continue until people stop paying to see these worthless acts of cinematic monotony? No matter how bad the films might be, isn't it better than in the 90s when horror was basically dead? These are the questions I'm struggling with. The main one, though, is why do older great horror movies work, even today, and newer ones not so much? Is their a formal or narrative answer?

I can't claim to have really covered much ground in my research yet, but I have gotten some ideas of how terror can be communicated through film. Fear. The fears of the audience, represented on-screen (preferably in an abstract fashion) can be a vital component of the horror experience. I arrived at this point while watching Nosferatu for an essay. In Nosferatu, the horror is not derived necessarily for what Count Orlock is physically capable of, necessarily, but the fears of the audience that he is made to represent. I noticed three major motifs through the film: the monster as feminine, the monster as an immigrant/foreigner and the monster as darkness. All of these addressed concerns of the prospective audience, pre-existing fears, transposed into a fictional cinematic narrative.

Now, I think that the problem with American horror films today is that, through industry economics and the political climate, its near impossible to make a horror film in such a manner. It seems to me that horror has some relation to the state of the society; the more homogeneous the society is the more effective a horror film might be made for it. In the 1930s, during the great depression, Americans were more united than not against economic distress. This climate allowed the Universal monster films to be huge successes.

After WW2, political cultures diverged, and the horror film dissipated; at best it lived through sci-fi with its nuclear scare films- the monster as the atomic bomb or its after-effects. Then the 1960s and 1970s arrived, and horror as gore entered. This fundamentally upset the dynamics of the classic horror film. The terror need not be extracted, because it could be shown on-screen. Seems that the greatest fear present in these films is the fear of death or the fear of pain- realized on-screen without the obligation for subtext and metaphor.

Not to say all of these films are without, though. Certainly the films of Romero, Cronenberg, Polanski, Cohen, etc. address other fears. Fear of government, fear of consumerism, fear of powerlessness, fear of the body, fear of isolation etc. But do the majority of Carpenter's films do so? Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Friday the 13th? A Nightmare on Elm Street? If they do, I can't find it. The smaller films were able to exist as they were because of the independent system that was viable enough to sustain them.

Nowadays, it seems like such films aren't being made at all anymore. I think the cultural divide might be the answer. Most filmmakers probably tend to be liberal. They're probably not looking to either make a film whose views they wholly disagree with, or one that will turn away 50% of those that come to it. Outside of the mainstream or outside of the horror genre it does still happen occasionally, but then only from a liberal perspective. The problem there is that liberal's fears are not easily abstracted. Even something really good like Homecoming is basically just taking the situation and recording it.

I believe that conservative's fears are much more apt to sustain a classically designed horror film. It's much easier to speak to their prejudices and bigotries in an abstract manner that would be artistically revealing. A horror film could be made, I believe, that could subtextually cast the monster as the illegal immigrant, the monster as the non-Christian, the monster as the gay/lesbian/bi/trans person, the monster as the woman with agency. This horror film would be morally despicable but probably very effective with its target audience. Which is a fucking shame.

I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, just kind of throwing out whatever thoughts come to my head. I'm afraid that in today's climate it might take a wretched film such as this to revive horror. And open the doors for progressive rebuttals to redeem it.

Tags: movies
Current Mood: thoughtful

And the semester has drawn to a close! I've written my papers and taken my exams, now I can relax and watch all of the great dvds that have been sitting on my shelf unwatched for far, far too long. Speaking of DVDs...

Belated Movie Journal Time!

This one covers a longer period than usual, so it's possible I've forgotten one or two. Sorry.

Zombiez: The terrible reviews couldn't keep me away. Honestly, I don't regret watching it or buying it for $2.50. Great companion to Children of the Living Dead. The chicken and molotov cocktail scenes alone redeemed it in my eyes, the "zombies" being just icing on the cake. I've definitely seen worse, if Human Nature still counts as a movie.

Sleepy Hollow: I enjoyed it. I'm kind of hot/cold on Tim Burton, but this was a pretty well-constructed movie, complete with FLAMING PUMPKINS TO THE FACE! Sorry, but that was pretty fucking awesome. Oh, just riding on my hors- BAM! ENJOY THE FIRE AND THE PUMPKIN! ON YOUR FACE! Was surprised that it was essentially a slasher movie, with some decent writing behind it too (I guess mentally replacing the Horseman with Jason Voorhees artificially enhanced the experience for me). FLAMING PUMPKIN TO THE FACE!

La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc: And now for something completely different. Amazing, beautiful, power film. Really effective subversion of editing techniques and stylistic rules. I'll definitely need to revisit it in subsequent viewings as I'm sure that there are layers upon layers that I've failed to appreciate. Right up there with Sunrise and Pandora's Box in terms of my favorite silent films.

Knocked Up: Saw this at a free preview screening- just as well because when it hits theaters I'll probably be in no capacity to go see it. Another well crafted comedy from Apatow. Rogen and Rudd kick ass all over the place, and Katherine Heigl really relatable- even if biology would conspire to keep me from ever being in her situation. As a transperson I found myself in something of an odd place watching this film. The lines seem to be pretty clearly drawn as to what's for the guys and what's for the girls and who's side you should take and I found myself just kind of in the middle. I guess that's where a forever barren woman is in the context of a pregnancy movie. I look forward to seeing it again on DVD- hopefully without 20 unavoidable extra minutes of bullshit.

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession: Really interesting story. Knowing nothing about Jerry Harvey I was pretty shocked at the last minute reveal of the murder/suicide business. Kind of takes the piss out of praising him for showing movies on TV, though some movies they were. Watching it of course gave me a whole new list of movies I need to see somewhere down the road. I guess right after I finish watching the shitty direct-to-video shlock that I must to fulfill my mission of saving horror.

Nosferatu: Watched this for a paper. Kind of appalling xenophobic subtext made me happy as a writer but unhappy as a fan of the director and genre. Very odd film though. Among the highlights would have to be the hyena werewolf, goofy-looking Orlock on his horse, and the "vampire plant" lecture. The trick effects were a welcome surprise to the writer in me, and the lighting just picked up from where they left off. It was one of the more fast-paced silent features, the narrative had a steady motion to it- I found it far more watchable than Herzog's, which I'm now of course going to revisit after this episode of Greatest American Hero ends.

The Conversation (Coppola commentary): Coppola seems to turn in good commentaries. This is another. It's an engaging lesson. Too bad he didn't go with the one reading of the line. That would've been cool. Maybe they could've recorded it from different angles, getting a slightly different effect of the same reading, or something. I dunno.

2001 Maniacs: I had no desire to see this film at all, but Deadpit's praise led me to check it out and I'm glad I did. Weird fucking rednecks? Check. Robert England? Got it. Gore and dumbass horny teens? There. I think if the cover was different I might have seen it sooner. It did kind of manage a tone of genuine disturbance at some points, but was just a fun experience over all.

Red Riding Hood: Weird movie. Throughout there's this lounge guy singing about what's been going on, and really makes everything all the more surreal. The cover kind of hinted at the girl being cute, but she's such an obnoxious bitch it kind of takes the fun out of the movie. Could've used a whole lot more punishing random people and a lot less just her being an asshole to the grandmother.

Hot Fuzz: "You ever shoot your gun in the air and yell 'argh!!!'? Movie kicked ass, of course. Always great to see Pegg, Frost and Wright working together. Even though cop movies aren't really my thing I found myself in love with the movie all the same. Seemed like there was a bit of, perhaps even unintentional, giallo homage in it, which didn't hurt it at all by me. Another DVD I'm awaiting with bated breath.

I watched that many movies when I had 3 final papers to write and 2 exams to study for. And they say transsexuals are disordered!

Tags: movies

I just wanted to say that Phantasm's a really, really great movie. I haven't seen it in years, but I know that, and just wanted to state it, for posterity. For example, Phantasm is at least nominally superior to the movies I did see last week...

Friday the 13th - Betsy Palmer and Tom Savini effects almost made this bearable, in addition to Manfredini's score. Still, mostly boring and useless.

Undead - Uneven, quirky zombie/alien film. Tries a little too hard in spots, but I liked it, at least more than most critics seem to. I personally found a lot of it funny, the fish/alien stuff. Lead heroine was pretty cool, and I liked her four-shotgun setup at the end.

Friday the 13th Part 2 - While there's a fair amount of boring and useless still in this one, Jason's presence ups the ante significantly. Seeing the hooded maniac-in-training fumble around was a hell of a lot more amusing than anything in the first one. Special nod to the opening.

Overnight - I was delighted to see this at Hollywood Video for $2.50. Not too many surprises in it really. It promises Troy Duffy being an asshole and pretty much delivers Troy Duffy being an asshole. Entertaining and thought-provoking nonetheless, not to mention somewhat frightening from the perspective of a prospective filmmaker.

Masters of Horror: Deer Woman - Wow. I can't believe John Landis made something this decent/entertaining in this age, given the Morrow curse. It wasn't American Werewolf good but it held my attention and earned another positive mark for the Masters of Horror series. Kind of loses it in the end though, wish it had been made as an actual film- with higher production values and more attention to details.

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan - Am I a bad person for enjoying this more than the first one? It had kind of a Nightmare on Elm Street 5-vibe going on, but I was tired and it was late enough that I was entertained. Kane Hodder was a pretty effective Jason, and the cast of victims was colorful enough that I can't hate it like most others.

Human Nature - Alright this was a piece of shit. Even for a DV DTV 'film', there's really no excusing such shoddy sound production. The plot wasn't really the problem. The acting was shitty for the most part but the guy seemed genuinely creepy. Kind of anticlimactic that he killed the spirited sex-worker victim, and the ending made little sense in the context of the whole movie. That's way too many words than this POS deserves, basically a shitty wannabe torture movie.

Zombie Honeymoon - I don't really know what to say about this. The mix of zombie movie with romantic elements was a good idea, but I don't think it was quite pulled off perfectly. It didn't really make sense why she was so attached to him despite the decay and eating people. At least it wasn't a remake or a torture movie.

Rebecca - Hitchcock greatness. Didn't really pull me in, as I kind of watched it in the background. Need to revisit some day in the future. The end was great though, a part that I actually did see most of.

Four Horseman of the Apocalypse - It was pretty tough for me to get through this one, despite the presence of Alan Hale- father of the skipper. It was great for what it was, and what it introduced via Valentino, just doesn't really hold up today. Viewed in context it does hold some interest, though.

The Feather Gatherers - I find that I cannot get into these gypsy movies at all. They all seem too focused on money and sex. If these are stereotypes of Roma culture that need to be dispelled then why can't they frame a narrative outside of them? I guess that's a little harsh, as again in the context of when/how the film was made it's a fairly significant and unprecedented representation of the culture. Could've used some telekinesis though.

Candy Stripers - I guess this is kind of what I'm looking for with the DTV movies. Some original ideas, a sense of fun, even if the effects aren't great or the plot's not perfectly structured. I still have to watch the last few minutes. Interesting how the sexuality is presented from a predominantly female filmmaking team.

While some of those movies ranged from good to great, none of them were quite as good as Phantasm!

Addendum: A few hours after this post I decided that enough was enough and it was time own some Phantasm goodness. I decided to forego the recent AB US releases of I and III, which I hear are excellent, for the UK boxset from 2005 Mostly because I wanted the whole series and the 5th disc of supplements and, while the US transfers for I and III are a little better I think I'll be plenty happy with the UK transfers. First I ordered the 'sphere' variation of the set from Amazon UK. They have a pretty great price for it, about $36 delivered to the US. But then I cancelled that order when I saw the Digipak set on Dvd.co.uk or something for about $22. The sphere looked really cool and all, but the content was the same and I need $14 more than I need a plastic sphere to house my Phantasmy goodness. Either way, though, Phantasm kicks ass and it's worth a hell of a lot more.

Tags: movies
Current Mood: calm

I've decided I've got this space here and I only use it to bitch about trans stuff. I watch so many movies, and I'm afraid that they pass through to be forgotten forever. I'm going to attempt to briefly profile the movies I see every week and list my thoughts/reactions. I'd like to say the entries would shrink after the semester, when I'm not seeing 3+ movies every week for classes, but they probably won't, if they exist at all.

Mar. 30th - Apr. 5th
Wonder Boys- I put this off for a few months. Fun movie. Good work from Robert Downey Jr., as always. Tobey Maguire and, surprisingly, Michael Douglas give pretty good performances too. Fairly tasteful portrayal of a crossdresser and gay-friendly.

The Hills Have Eyes- An alright movie, I suppose. Less disturbing than Last House on the Left, which is to say I made it through. Berryman's the heart of it really. I wasn't honestly watching it that closely, I'd seen it before in 8th grade. It was striking how much less effective it was on the relatively pristine DVD vs the horrible VHS I saw back then.

Masters of Horror: Incident on and off a Mountain Road- One of the better MoHs, Angus Scrimm kicking ass. The relationship between the woman and her survivalist nut husband disturbed me more than anything, especially when he assaulted her. After that I can't blame her for killing him, or even for doing in poor Mr. Scrimm. Some good scares, good work from Coscarelli.

Masters of Horror: Chocolate- Better than I expected coming from Mick Garris. Obviously a transwoman would take more from a movie about a man feeling the sensations of a woman than a general audience member. Not really all that horrific, but I don't regret having watched it.

The Confessor- Christian Slater, 'nuff said. In this one he's a priest, in a very boring plot that fit perfectly with the rest of the DTV aesthetic. The gay stuff was handled kind of humorously, but it really wasn't anything other than mediocre. Which definitely goes hand in hand with Slater, the king of mediocrity himself.

Hiroshima Mon Amour- The 'art' film for classical film theory. Pretty heavy stuff. The tension between the leads was pretty hot. That said the tragedy of Hiroshima, and of the woman's past in Never, cooled that off pretty quick. I'm glad to have seen it, I suppose. Probably one to revisit when I've added a few years.

Heart 'o the Hills- Mary Pickford epic. You know it's some crazy shit when the klan comes around in the 2nd act. Good display of its star, I suppose. She definitely gets to do lots of stuff. There was this visual motif- worms- that I'm still not quite sure what they were trying to do with. Maybe something about country roots or something.

The Temptress- Garbo's in this one, and it's a pretty fantastic role for her. The tone of the film is pretty difficult to ascertain. For the most part, the narrative seems to frame her as being the villain, of leading good men to their doom. That was sentiment I got. But she's never shown to be doing anything particularly devious- outside of flirting with guys and rabidly egging on a vicious whip duel for her honor. I guess the evils of female sexuality, in a sense. But then it turns around and shows her loving nurturing side, like in the scene with her husband, with her pleading for the guy's love, or with her nurturing the baby. Then the movie goes to batshit land with the ending: she ends up this whacked out alcoholic who hallucinates that a homeless man is Jesus. I don't know what to say.

Time of the Gypsies- Telekinetic gypsies. What more could you want? Pretty brutal portrayal of the patriarchy, madonna/whore stuff in this. But who can focus on feminism when there are telekinetic gypsies afoot?

Home Room- I bought this because I thought it was a horror movie. Post-Columbine drama. Interesting characters. Some sloppy filmmaking. You do get to know the girls pretty well, though, and I don't regret buying it. The horror movie I had in my head was a lot more awesome though, I must say that.

Those are the movies I watched in the past week.

Tags: movies
Current Mood: calm

I was pleasantly surprised when I finally got around to watching Ridley Scott's Someone to Watch Over Me today. I love Blade Runner, if it's not my favorite film it's in my top 5. Alien is pretty amazing, so is The Duellists (which I'm slowly starting to appreciate more with time). Legend is not terrible, but the rest of Scott's work simply doesn't jive with me. I can not believe that the director of Kingdom of Heaven, Black Rain, Thelma and Louise is the same man who crafted the masterpiece of humanity and its inhuman nature that is Blade Runner. Sure the films look slick, but they're empty, completely lacking in the subtle grace that allowed for a character such as Roy Batty (Gladiator is maddeningly simple). While I can't say that Someone to Watch Over Me is anything on the level of "Old Ridley", it sure does look good. I expected absolutely nothing from the film, a Gamestop 3 for $8 purchase that I picked up more-or-less without care. While the characterizations were as void as anything, the look of the film was fantastic. I loved the noir-ish atmosphere of the apartment, the homes, the ballrooms, the streets, the subway. It definitely recalled Blade Runner visually (and aurally when he incorporated Vangelis' beautiful Memories of Green). The romance wasn't amazing, but was enough to draw me in past the visuals and my attention was held throughout the entire film- something I can't say for any other post-Legend Ridley Scott film I've seen. Tom Berenger, Mimi Rogers and Lorraine Bracco all turned in good performances, despite the widely known struggles between Scott and his talent. All in all a pleasant surprise. Not one I'll probably watch again any time in the future, but definitely miles ahead of what I expected.

Tags: movies
Current Mood: content

Finding myself with nothing especially productive to do today, I decided to watch all of the Superman films (I'm actually still in the process as I've had to halt Superman Returns to watch 24). The Superman films, indescribably, have some special place in my heart. None of them are particular examples of great filmmaking (though there are moments of greatness in Superman: The Movie and Superman Returns). I'm not a huge Superman fan in general. None of the other branches of the property (the comic books, the theatrical shorts/serials, the George Reeves television show, Lois & Clark/Smallville, the video games, the cartoons) really hold any interest for me. That said, I am always in the mood for the Superman films.
A lot of it is in the presentation. The first film, especially, is shamelessly bold in its ambition to be a BIG MOVIE. The stunt casting of Hamilton and Brando, the bombastic music, the utter seriousness given to so much of it. It has such a sense of importance about itself that I can't help but admire its confidence. Richard Donner is no auteur, but the mood surrounding the production was so hack-ish, thanks to those wacky and lovable Salkinds, that he made himself into some sort of champion for artistic integrity. What emerged was, to me, one of the most fascinating case studies of the American film industry. The film is as unabashed in its commercial indulgences as it is in its emotional sincerity and respect for what could be a fairly ridiculous character. I've never watched Superman: The Movie without a smile on my face.
The pitfalls so miraculously avoided by the anomaly that was the first film pretty much sink all of its sequels to varying degrees. The truth is that as much as I love the fuck out of Superman II it never could've been the masterpiece some claim it might've been (had the Salkind/Donner/Lester business that I'm not going to go over not occurred). Not to say it's not great, but this is no Day of the Dead situation. The original's spirit is still more-or-less intact, though definitely tarnished. Gotta love the stuff with Zod and Ursa.
Superman III is where it falls apart. I hate the film. Hate, hate, hate the film. Its not even lovably fucked up, it's just fucking miserable. As X-Men 3 is the film for people who hate the X-Men, it is a film for people who hate Superman. Richard Pryor was an amazingly talented comic, but he is so wasted here that you have to imagine if the price of the coke needed for all those involved to allow his part in the film to happen exceeds the budget of the film. The fucking tragedy is that buried beneath the tired slapstick routines and boring Robert Vaughn shit is a pretty good idea for a Superman movie. The Superman-gone-evil subplot, while horribly managed, would have made for a reasonably compelling Superman film. I suppose I should credit Annette O'Toole and especially Christopher Reeve for whatever good is to be mined from this shipwreck. She sure was a sweet Lana Lane, and the Smallville stuff was charming (I guess if I've anything to blame on estrogen so far it's that my hatred for Superman III seems to have been tempered somewhat).
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. This one's pretty much pure shit, but I can't hate it, because at least its earnest. Its kind of like a six-year-old's drawing, the whole scenario is so cute that I can't help but like it. Cannon sure as hell ain't Warner Bros, and that they even managed to get the colors on the suit right is something they should be commended for. How they got Hackman back for this one I'll never figure out (though it probably had something to do with currency). Still, for its incomprehensible narrative, terrible special effects that aren't even attempting to be convincing and people breathing and surviving in space unassisted/unprotected, the movie's got an incredible surplus of heart. Also the Mariel Hemingway/Superman/Lois Lane love triangle is pretty fun to watch.
Superman Returns... I'm an apologist. I love this movie. I love the over-the-top hyper-religous elements. I love the empty but pretty 'romantic' scenes. I love Luthor's plan How others can belittle the creation of a Superman-proof Kryptonite continent with the potential to replace every landmass on the world and provide Luthor with unquestioned gloval dominance as a simple real estate scheme beats the hell out of me. People complain of a lack of spectacle, but I see spectacle all over the damn place. It's definitely cinema-of-attractions: from the airplane-shuttle rescue, to the 40 minute climactic action scene, to the spectacle of Superman floating above the stars listening to the world. Maybe audiences weren't up for it, definitely doesn't seem shaped by test screening reports.
So I guess, by me, Superman movies are 4 for 5. It's been some time before I last, attentively, watched the earlier films, and the first two definitely held some greater meaning. The dialogue between Jor-El and Lara hit pretty close to home.
Jor-El: He will look like one of them.
Lara: But he won't [i]be[/i] one of them.
Jor-El: No. His dense molecular structure will make him strong.
Lara: He'll be odd. Different.
Jor-El: He'll be fast. Virtually invulnerable.
Lara: Isolated. Alone.
Thinking about it more, Superman's situation isn't entirely removed from a trans experience. He grew up feeling, knowing, that he was different, yet it was not visible from the outside (if he restrained his behavior). He had to adopt a false persona, and only expressed himself openly under much distress. His double life as Superman and Clark Kent, both socially constructed guises, forces him to face many of the same struggles as 'stealth' trans people. In Superman II he 'purges' his super powers, as many trans people attempt to 'purge' their trans feelings when they are deep in denial and repression (I've been there before). But he inevitably returns to his powers, as trans people are never able to fully abandon their true selves. Superman Returns adds an interesting dimension to this. It shows the emotional toll that living these fake lives has on his psyche (this is perhaps why I find the film to connect with me so much). That he is Kal-El, neither truly Clark Kent or Superman, is something that probably doesn't come across to most audiences.
Enough trans stuff. At the end of the day, I believe a man can fly, and I believe a flying man can hurt.

Tags: movies, trans
Current Mood: calm