Masterpiece of Horror Theatre-- The Fly (1986)

     I don't think I've done a David Cronenberg film during the 6 years I've been doing this, and that's a huge blindspot, given his immense influence on the genre. Born in Toronto, he was inspired by college classmate David Secter's film Winter Keeps Us Warm to go into filmmaking, starting with small arthouse productions before going in partnership with fellow Canadian filmmaker Ivan Reitman, who produced his breakthrough 1975 film Shivers, the first to show his signature brand of body horror. By the 1980's, he had gotten more acclaim for surreal horror films like Videodrome, Scanners, and The Dead Zone. He was working on an early draft of Total Recall (adapted from Phillip K. Dick's story, "We Can Remember For You Wholesale") for producer Dino DeLaurentiis when he was approached to a remake of The Fly, which he had to turn down due to that prior commitment. The idea to remake The Fly originated from producer Kip Ohrman, who approached screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue (Psycho III, The Hounds of Baskerville) to write the project. Together with producer Stuart Cornfield, they pitched a remake idea to 20th Century Fox,  with the conceit that, unlike the original's sudden transformation, the remake would feature a gradual metamorphasis. Fox was impressed, but was unimpressed with Pogue's first draft. Cornfield was able to get Fox to distribute the film if they got a new producer. Mel Brooks (yes, that one) agreed to be that producer. (He produced a number of serious films, including David Lynch's Elephant Man, through his company Brooksfilms and kept his name off the credits so that people wouldn't expect a comedy, which he also did here). Eventually, Cronenberg left Total Recall over creative differences, and was able to accept the role as director, as well as completely rewriting Pogue's script, only keeping the element of gradual metamorphosis. A then-mostly unknown Jeff Goldblum was cast after many actors were approached or auditioned, in spite of the studio fearing that he couldn't carry a feature film by himself. Chris Walas, a special effects and make-up artist whose credits included Airplane, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Gremlins, did the effects for the film, including the legendary transformation sequences. Released in 1986, the film would gross $40 million at the box office, and would garner critical acclaim, and even an Oscar for Best Make-Up. The film still holds a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the tagline "Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid" is now a cultural touchstone.

      Scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) wants to impress journalist Ronnie Quaife (Geena Davis), so he shows her his newest project: a teleportation device. Brundle wants Quaife to remain silent on the issue, at least until he could test it appropriately. Quaife documents Brundle's experiments and eventually becomes romantically involved with Brundle, earning the ire of her jealous editor Stathis Borans (John Getz). After a failed experiment with a baboon and a successful one with the baboon's brother, Brundle decides to take the plunge himself, testing the device with himself inside. However, he doesn't seem to notice a fly coming into the other pod. And while he emerges fine, he starts to exhibit strange symptoms.....

     First, the special effects and production design of the film are stellar. Especially the teleportation and transformation sequences, and Goldblum's make-up. The pods look distinct, the computers look real. The dark corridors of the lab, lightened only by the lights of the teleportation or blue street lights, help set the mood of the film, especially at the end. The make-up and effects on Goldblum as he steadily transforms into a bizarre fly-human hybrid is very terrifying and visceral,, especially as it reaches its later stages. It is hard to watch because it is so disgusting (especially the skin). That in and of itself might've worked all to sell the horror on its own, but what really cements it is Goldblum's performance. Not only does he subtly show the personality changes the character goes through, but he shows a lot of physicality in his performance, making subtle changes to his gestures, movement, and voice as the transformation ramps up, and he has to deal with both wanting to change back and the increasing fly take-over of his mind and body. This kind of subtle acting shines through, even under the layers of make-up. I complained about the slow story in the original, but since this one has more of an emphasis on the gradual transformation, it works to build up the eventual monster, and the pain it causes both for Brundle and Quaife.  Finally, the score by Academy Award winner Howard Shore is very creepy and gives an impression

    If there was a problem, it's a bit too short. I feel more could've been done to show Goldblum's transformation before the physical changes become more and more prominent. The changes to his personality and physiology worked incredibly well, and I wish they had more scenes focusing on that, especially since it could showcase Goldblum's performance even more.

     I think I love this movie. It was so good, it's somewhat stunning. This movie is of course, something of a cultural milestone, but I didn't expect it to be this good and this powerful. This is quite a masterpiece, and I highly recommend to anyone, not just fans of horror and science fiction. Even if it is disgusting, the craftmanship is so well-done, it can be forgiven.

     Alright, we continue on Friday with the first Scream. 

Dailles and Nightlies- Crash (2004)

     When Green Book won best picture at the Oscars a couple months ago, the inevitable comparison was to the Best Picture winner at the 2005 ceremony, Crash. Both were dramas revolving around racism, involving the idea that racism was simple misunderstanding and that one could redeem themself of this bigotry. Because of that, both appealed to the liberal, yet very old and white Oscar voters. There was a massive backlash to the win for both (though, in Crash's case, the backlash, in part was because it beat out favorite LGBT+ romance Brokeback Mountain), and both are prime examples of the kind of insultingly simplistic racial dramas that tend to curry favor at the Academy Awards. As I enjoyed reading the reviews and retrospectives of Crash (cultural commentator Ta-Neshi Coates called it the "Worst Film of the Decade"), I came to the realization that I've never actually seen this film. I've seen clips of it, but never the entire thing. Well, this is a whole series for movies outside of recent releases or horror films, so why not explore this, and see if it really deserves its reputation (spoiler: it does)

     So, there is not really cohesive plot to this, but rather a group of interlocking narratives involving several characters. Graham Waters (Don Cheadle) is a detective investigating a crime scene, after getting involved in a fender bender while driving with his girlfriend Ria (Jennifer Espicito) with an Asian driver, resulting in a racial scuffle (setting the tone for all the dialogue in the film). The day before, carjackers Anthony (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) and Peter (Larenz Tate) steal the car of DA Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser) and his wife Jean (Sandra Bullock). Director Cameron Thayer (Terrence Howard) and his wife Christine (Thandie Newton) are pulled over by officers John Ryan (Matt Dillon) and Tom Hansen (Ryan Phillippe). Shop owner Farrad (Shaun Toub) and his daughter Dorri (Bahar Soomekh) are trying to buy a gun. Each of these stories intersects and shows how people can be subject to prej... I feel disgusted just finishing that sentence.

    Good things, good things..... There are some decent performances, like Don Cheadle, Ludacris, and Brendan Fraser. It does manage to end most of the stories in a satisfactory manner, without any sort of dangling threads or plot holes. Sometimes, it gets so melodramatic, it's somewhat entertaining.

   First things first, the lighting in this film is horrible. It is often either too bright that it overwhelms the scene, or it is just dim enough that it makes the characters hard to see. The combination makes the film literally hard to watch sometimes. Sometimes, it leads to unintentional hilarity, as serious needle drop moments are staged like some bizarre parody. The big moment in this got a laugh from me. Well, both for the odd lighting which emphasized the wrong things, and how contrived the whole thing was. Which leads to my next problem: the plots in this are very contrived. Only a very specific set of circumstances can lead to the events that occur, and it really stretches disbelief, especially when this is allegedly set in a real-world setting. The way the plots intersect and weave are so absurd, it's almost comical. It's like one of those Gary Marshall holiday movies, where the varying plots are related in weird ways. Finally, of course, there is the writing and the message. Much has been written about this. How all the dialogue somehow finds its way to reveal racism, even when it makes absolutely no sense. How each character is just a vehicle and not a full character. How the characters do absolutely heinous things, but are redeemed in over-the-top ways that ultimately don't address the things they did or really tries to redeem (or even say that some people are beyond redemption). The thing I want to focus on is how... confused the message is. It's either a.) racism is just misunderstanding and can be solved by grandstanding acts, or, b.) it's institutional and possibly can't be solved. The movie ends with the big metaphoric snowstorm in LA, and with people arguing again, which seems to contradict the entire rest of the film.

    I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain, but I can postulate it is far better than this. This was just awful. I can totally see why someone would call this the "Worst Film of the Decade", and get mad this won an Oscar (though it is a superb example of Oscar Bait). I disagree that Green Book was a worse Best Picture win than this, because, in spite of its horrid messaging and bending of the truth, Green Book is mostly competent and well made. I wouldn't recommend watching this as a good movie, but there are moments of unintentional hilarity that can be gained from watching it and how deadly serious it takes itself.