Lambie Reviews: Films He Watched in November and December 2011

Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)

A church organist writes a song with his gas station attendant friend, and then a famous singer conveniently passes through the town. The singer ends up staying the night at the organist's house, who subsequently ends up kicking his wife out and then hiring a waitress with a cold to pretend to be his wife. A whole bunch more stuff happens and then the name of the film is dropped at the end.

If that description sounded rubbish, that's because it is. The film is horrendously boring. I lost concentration about two minutes in, and couldn't care less about any of the characters because they're all so unlikeable. Hell, even the guys wife ends up doing stuff that made her less endearing. I think the film is meant to be a comedy, because there's ludicrous situations and a few sneaky innuendoes. Maybe it's just not my type of comedy, but the film came across to me as just a mess.


Coraline (2009)

There are only two things to say about this film:
1) It is quite possibly one of the greatest stop motion films ever made.
2) This is what Pan's Labyrinth should have been like.


The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)

There were two versions of this put to film in 1928. There's a 12 minute short film, and a 68 minute feature film. The 68 version film is the one on my Checklist. Guess which version I watched?

That's right. The silent 12 minute film, which makes absolutely no sense and comes across as something to induce a trip out if you're high on something. It's an interesting experiment in what the technology of the day could do for a film, but I had no idea what the hell was meant to be happening.


The Great Train Robbery (1903)

For a silent film made in 1903, this is actually really good. There's a clear narrative that's easy to follow, it's well shot, and for the most part acted as if it were a film made today. (Silent films needed a degree of over-acting to adequately portray emotion, etc, since sound and dialogue sure as hell couldn't do it at the time.) Sure, when a guy get's thrown off the train there's a clear cut where they switched him for a pretty shoddy looking dummy, and sure some of the death scenes are almost hilariously over-acted, but there are some surprisingly "modern-looking" action sequences as well.


Serenity (2005) - Now That I've Actually Seen Firefly

A film based on some prior work, be it a TV series or a book or whatever, has to assume that the audience watching the film knows nothing about the prior work while at the same time catering to all the fans of the prior work. I first saw Serenity a few years ago having never seen a second of Firefly, and in fact not knowing anything about the universe that Joss Whedon had created. Because of that, I never really "got" the film, even though I thought it was one of the best sci-fi films out there. I felt that its potential inaccessibility was really the only flaw of the film. If I'm honest, I never really "got" Firefly when I first started watching it, either. But something clicked, and by the time I'd watched the last episode of short TV series I was in love with it (and Summer Glau).

This film takes on a whole new level once you've seen the show. The character dynamics are easier to follow and character deaths feel more tragic, because now I know who the hell they all are. The story and universe finally make sense to me. And because of that the film feels that little bit richer. On the one hand it's a shame that I had to watch the TV series to finally understand what everyone was on about, but on the other hand I'm glad the film is what got me watching the show in the first place. I finally got the love for the show when I finished watching it, and now I finally get the film as well.


Berlin - Symphony of a Great City (1927)

This one hour long silent film is, for lack of a better word, intriguing. It's nothing but a compilation of shots during a day (and eventually night) in Berlin. We see everything from trains coming and going and people bustling in the streets, to animals, food, and everything in between. For a film made in 1927 it's pretty ambitious, and some of the effects left me wondering how the hell it was done with 1927 film technology. This is also a film that shows us a Berlin, and indeed a world, that no longer exists.

If you're the type of person who occasionally likes to whip out something like Robot Flaneur and stick on your own soundtrack for a bit of relaxation, then this is the film for you. Set your media player to play a random bunch of songs and you'd be surprised how well it all goes together, whether it be because of the rhythm synching up with what's on screen, or whether it's because the theme of the song resonates, or whether it's just the mood of the song, it all works. I had rock songs playing during bustling street scenes, some Sarah Blasko playing during a quieter moment, and a couple of tracks from the Blade Runner soundtrack feeling all too appropriate.