Great Scenes 2: Duck Soup.

Duck Soup imagines the fictional country of Freedonia appointing charlatan Rufus T. Firefly as their new President. Instead of an inaugural speech he sings "The Laws of my Administration" with each verse getting more ominous as he describes his plans for Freedonia. A brilliant satire, eerily prophetic. 

Great Scenes 1: Monterey Pop (1968)

I'm going to start posting some of my favorite sequences in movies. Monterey Pop is a documentary on the festival held in June 1967. This is Ravi Shankar performing with his band (runs about 18 minutes). It's cool to see many of the iconic figures of the 1960s in the audience. Sitar music may not be your thing, but it's hard not to be transported by this - amazing filmmaking and music!

The Invisible Man (2020)

Elizabeth Moss stars in The Invisible Man, the latest release from Blumhouse Productions, updating the classic story for the current moment. More of a suspense thriller than a straight horror film, genre tropes are used effectively to portray the psychology of an abusive relationship and gas lighting. There's also a role reversal: the subject of the film is not the invisible man, but the woman he's terrorizing. 

The film begins with Cecilia (Moss) making a night time escape from her tech magnate boyfriend Adrian's seaside mansion, the sequence takes it time with an eye on every painstaking detail. Provided safe haven by her friends, she learns Adrian has died, but left her an allowance in his will overseen by his brother. Yet Cecilia senses she's being watched. Her feeling of being watched soon turns into physical assaults. Explanations for Cecilia's paranoid behavior leave everyone baffled and cause them to question her sanity.

The second half of the film features an assortment of clever plot twists, with sly references to North by Northwest and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Moss's multi faceted performance, a woman dealing with PTSD who becomes an empowered survivor, carries the the story along like a strong current. Men are on the periphery of the story, but the conniving possessive nature of her former Silicone Valley phenom Adrian (Elon Musk comes to mind) and his equally duplicitous brother.

The Invisible Man has the distinct Blumhouse Production look - heightened middlebrow within a believable environment. As a study in gas lighting, the art of deception by men usually directed towards women, the film gracefully makes it point. 

***1/2

Two Sagas: Star Wars and The Godfather

The two definitive epics of the 1970s were hands down Star Wars and The Godfather. Perhaps their most lasting legacies are how they redefined story telling on the big screen. Francis Ford Coppola and wrote and directed all three Godfather films (with Mario Puzo as co-writer), while his former protege George Lucas wrote and directed Star Wars. Both took chances by deciding to make sequels to already highly successful movies, while not without precedent, were going against the grain. It worked out well: The Godfather Part II was released in 1974 and topped the original in the opinion of many. The sequel to Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980 and paved the way for seven more films (including two spin offs). 

While one is a space opera and the other crime epic, both introduced an innovative approach to narrative. The original Star Wars trilogy were the middle chapters so any new viewer watching A New Hope must orient themselves to the idea they're in a much larger story, one where the history and future are only suggested. The prequel trilogy (1999-2005) tells the origin story of Darth Vader and traces the decline of the Republic, while the sequel trilogy (2015-2019) serves as an epilogue/coda to the themes explored in the previous six.

The Godfather (based on the 1969 Mario Puzo novel) begins in 1945 and ends in the early 50s. The Godfather Part II covers two separate time periods: the origin story of the Corleone patriarch Vito spanning the early 20th Century and the story of Vito's son Michael taking over the family business. The Godfather Part III released in 1990 moves the story into the 1970s, providing closure to Michael's narrative. An as yet unmade fourth chapter would've continued the Corleone saga into the 1990s and provided another prequel story set in the 1930s centering on Sonny Corleone (covered in Edward Falco's 2012 novel The Family Corleone).

In 1977 Coppola edited the first two films together for chronological for their network TV debut. It's a different way to experience the films, but takes away from the time bending narrative of Part II. But one can get into The Godfather saga at any point and still be engaged with the characters. Like Lucas would do with his films, Coppola included new scenes left out of the theatrical release - speaking to how these narratives are continually evolving. 

Now that all nine Star Wars films are complete, one can experience them in any number of ways. You can go in chronological order from episodes I-IX or watch them in order of release or countless other ways depending on your fancy. I prefer to watch them as they were released to get the authentic experience, but like The Godfather one can jump in at any point. The narrative inconsistencies in Star Wars I try not to get too hung up on. For example, originally Darth Vader was not to be Luke's father, and Luke and Leia were not siblings. As a fan it's easy to be confused due to Lucas's contradictory statements over the years, but the experience of the nine films transcends these minor narrative quibbles.

Narrative inconsistencies aside, Star Wars and The Godfather both center on families. The multi-generational approach feels more literary as we watch our characters age and pass on their knowledge (and issues) to the next generation. The Corleone family is a metaphor of the American experience: an immigrant family in America, building a future, and eventual corruption and downfall. The Skywalker saga begins with Luke, destined to become a messianic figure, while the prequels tell the story of his father Anakin. For the sequel trilogy the Skywalkers are less front and center as Luke, Han, and Leia pass on their legacy to the new generation. Both end with a sense of closure and continuity. 

The sequel trilogy reminded me of The Godfather Part III in some indirect ways, especially The Rise of Skywalker. On the DVD commentary for Part III Coppola spoke of how he had little new to say in the last chapter since the audience knows the routine and what to expect. Star Wars movies are also recognizable to the point of ritual. Everything from the frequent quote "I have a bad feeling about this" to the opening crawl. The Rise of Skywalker delivered on all these points, despite the unbearable weight of history bearing down on the story. As the latter chapters suggest these stories can lose momentum, but also open the way for new stories told by others. 

Star Wars and The Godfather on the whole are more than the sum of their parts. There are highs and lows in these stories, but it's about the journey, not the destination. They paved the way for a new type of story telling, tapping in the collective unconscious. The stories invite people in, which may be their most definitive legacies. 

Escape From New York (1981)

The year is 1997. After the crime rate increased by 400% New York City was walled off from the rest of the United States and turned into a prison. America has become a quasi-fascistic state of mass incarceration and never ending war. John Carpenter was uncanny in his use of a b-movie aesthetic to make a distinct looking dystopia. The punk attitude and comic book sensibility are epitomized by the anti-hero Snake Plissken as played by Kurt Russell.

After Snake is arrested for robbing the Federal Reserve (a sequence left out of the film) he's drafted against his will to rescue the President of the United States or face certain death. Donald Pleasence is wonderfully banal as the American president.

The production design portrays a police state with neon computers and black uniforms. Lee Van Cleef plays Snake's tormentor, a security officer for the regime. Technology being used for mass surveillance was another prophetic idea. 

New York City is under the control of the Duke (Isaac Hayes), presiding over a society that's regressed back into a medieval system. Along the way Snake meets a number of characters who make for a whacked out version of The Wizard of Oz - including Ernest Borgnine, Adrienne Barbeau, and Harry Dean Stanton. Carpenter uses the urban wasteland to full effect, a cross between Night of the Living Dead and The Warriors. The action scenes are methodical and accompanied by Carpenter's signature synth soundtrack.

An anti-blockbuster if there ever was one, the grungy look of the Escape marked a strong contrast to the other mainstream films of the time. Escape From New York may not be the best Carpenter film, but it's a quintessential one. 

****

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 film There Will Be Blood examines two powerful forces in American history - Christianity and Capitalism. Spanning the early decades of the 20th century, the film follows Daniel Plainview as played by Daniel Day-Lewis who earned an Oscar. Anderson takes the audience on a kaleidoscopic journey into the 20th Century, like Travis Bickle, Plainview appears to have arrived from the depths and confounds everyone around him.

The story begins in 1898 with a young Plainview prospecting in California. He falls and breaks his leg in the middle of nowhere yet somehow survives in a Jack London survival scenario. The lonely and unforgiving wilderness will only allow those with strength and determination to survive. Daniel rises in the oil business and adopts a boy whose father died in an accident. He gets a tip from a Paul Sandy (Paul Dano) that large oil deposits on his family's land, setting up the central conflict in the story.

At first Daniel appears to be an ambitious businessman getting getting a jump on the emerging oil industry in the West. He offers to buy the land from the Sunday family, but one of the sons Eli, also played by Dano, wants Daniel to fund a revival church in return for use of the land. While Eli and Daniel appear to be at cross purposes, yet both are not above using deception to achieve their goals. Both are consumed with greed, but their methods are different. Daniel uses know how and intimidation, Eli manipulates the emotions of his congregation through dramatic healing rituals.

As Daniel and Eli began to prosper, other complications enter into the story. Daniel's son and constant companion HW loses his hearing after an explosion and cruelly sent away by Daniel to a boarding school. A man who claims to Daniel's brother proves to be a negative influence and continues to push him over the edge into madness.

The second half of the film continues to follow Daniel's descent into self-destructive and violent behavior - culminating in the unforgettable final confrontation between him and Eli. I view Daniel as a symbol of American capitalism - sociopathic and motivated. At first he has a sense of mission, but greed starts to intrude on all his decisions as he becomes something monstrous. By the end, the entrepreneurial spirit has mutated him into a fire breathing dragon, only content when all his enemies are vanquished.

Like Citizen Kane, another allegory on greed, there's nothing too complicated about idea of wealth leading to an empty life. It's an often told story. But Anderson creates a unique cinematic experience of period detail and stunning composition in each frame. Jonny Greenwood's music adds a layer of even more heightened reality, providing a science fiction ambiance. 

Anderson also reverses the trajectory of a typical tragedy, starting out serious, but letting humor slowly creed in until the story ends in farce. Daniel Day Lewis, speaking in a John Huston cadence, deserves credit for creating a remarkable character, an all knowing destroyer. Dano was equally effective as the corrupt evangelist. An unblemished portrait of American standing beside The Godfather and McCabe and Mrs. Miller, There Will Be Blood leaves a vivid impression. 

****

Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark (2019)

Based on the series of scary books for young readers from the 1980s by Alvin Schwartz, the 2019 film Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark is unabashedly retro horror in the best possible sense, a perfect gateway horror movie for young fans of the genre. The title may be a misnomer, I went into it thinking it would be an anthology film, but the movie is actually set in 1968, following a group of teens who find themselves in some prototypical scary movie situations. 

The production design of Scary Stories is its most impressive feature, many scenes are shot in the dark providing just the right atmosphere. The 1968 ambiance was also a nice touch with recurring imagery of Nixon on the eve of the election, hovering over the proceedings ghost like. There's a Vietnam War subtext and the early days of the Rustbelt (set in fictional Mill Valley, Pennsylvania). Donovan's "Season of the Witch" plays non-diegetic as opening credits rolled conjured David Fincher's 2007 film Zodiac (the film does have a Fincher vibe to it). Of course there's also the strange new sense of revisiting a time with no google, don't we look back with envy . . .

The protagonist Stella (Zoe Margaret Colletti) writes scary stories (resembling a young Shirley Jackson) and is socially isolated although she will find faithful friends in newcomer Ramon played by Michael Garza (on the run from the draft) and school friends Auggie and Tommy. Reviews I've read have criticized these characters for not being interesting enough. But it works to the film's advantage, these are everyday kids getting thrown into extraordinary circumstances and they react with fear and bravery (Stella's knowledge of horror helps her survive).

At the same time the film skillfully utilizes the tropes of classic horror: haunted houses, scary cornfields, anti-septic looking hospitals, school hallways, and of course the vulnerable place of all - the bathroom. The scares themselves are never sanitized because there are consequences the characters have to endure. 

Produced by Guillermo del Toro (who also got a screen story credit), his unique touch guides the film, especially on some of the gross out moments. The director Andre Ovredal kept the story moving along with sly references to the genre throughout. Dean Norris from Breaking Bad plays Stella's Dad and I wish the film had used him more. The 1980s made space for movies that might scare kids a little, whether it be Gremlins or The Monster Squad, but also brought fun and imagination. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark does a superb job delivering the scares - in a PG-13 way. 

***1/2