Today is the fortieth anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars and so it seems like an appropriate time to revisit a series of commentaries that I wrote to coincide with the release of The Force Awakens. Here is the piece most directly relevant to the original film:
The Star Wars Revolution
Star Wars has been such a dominating presence
in cinema for the last thirty-eight years that it is difficult to
imagine American movies and pop culture without it. But it’s worth
understanding where Star Wars came from to fully understand what it has become.
The original Star Wars was released in the
midst of the New Hollywood movement, which remains the greatest period
of American film. Spanning from the late 1960s until the early 1980s,
the New Hollywood movement gave rise to filmmakers like Francis Ford
Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Hal Ashby, William Friedkin, and
Stanley Kubrick who made movies like The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Annie Hall, Coming Home, The French Connection, and A Clockwork Orange.
These movies upended filmmaking conventions, redrew the boundaries of
censorship, told stories of moral complexity, and dealt with difficult
subject matter.
Two things happened at this time that made the New
Hollywood movement possible. The first was the destabilization of
American society. Watergate, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam
war, and insurgent social movements like second wave feminism and gay
liberation shook up American society. At the same time the American
film industry was going through its own structural change. The major
studios were in financial trouble and the old standards of musicals and
historical epics were no longer making bank. The studios went from
standalone companies to divisions of much larger conglomerates. The new
corporate owners didn’t know much about movies but they were
interested in reaching the youth market and so they turned to young
filmmakers. Under the old Hollywood studio system the average feature
film director was in his mid-forties but now twenty year olds were
given license to make what they wanted in the hope that it would regain
the public’s interest in the movies. These young filmmakers produced
motion pictures that reflected their own view of the world.
It’s in this environment that Star Wars was
made and the movie was in its own way revolutionary. Writer and
director George Lucas was operating within the studio system while
alienated from it. He and his contemporaries were among the first
graduates of film schools and Lucas saw himself as an outsider who
would make experimental movies. His first two features, THX-1138 and American Graffiti,
didn’t resemble traditional narrative filmmaking and Warner Bros. and
Universal reedited them before release, angering Lucas and prompting
him to assert more control over his films and properties. Star Wars
was more conventionally narrative than those pictures but it was even
more experimental in its style and technique. The rapid editing and
technological innovations revealed new methods of producing visual
effects and ultimately new ways of making movies altogether.
The story of Star Wars was also revolutionary
or perhaps more accurately it was counter-revolutionary. The film
spoke to the youth of the time as it depicted a galactic civil war in
which young people figuratively (and later literally) rebelled against
their fathers. But Star Wars rejected the ambiguity of the New
Hollywood movement in favor of the optimism and moral absolutism of an
earlier era. The youth of the 1970s saw their struggles against the
establishment in the Rebel assault on the Death Star but their parents
would have recognized Darth Vader’s headgear as a synthesis of the Nazi
helmet and the SS Totenkopf symbol, giving the conflict a different
point of reference. This mix of mainstream and revolutionary elements
is a large part of what made Star Wars a hit and made it both a part of and apart from the New Hollywood movement.
Star Wars is also a revolutionary film in the way that it altered the trajectory of the film industry. The enormous box office of Star Wars
recalibrated Hollywood’s barometer of financial success and so the
picture is often credited—or blamed—with ending the New Hollywood era.
But that’s not altogether true. Like any business owner, the executives
running Hollywood studios were always interested in making products
that would generate the most revenue. By the late 1970s the audience
was exhausted with downbeat stories and the success of Jaws and Rocky had already begun to shift Hollywood’s tone. Following Star Wars, the subsequent box office failure of somber films like Sorcerer and Heaven’s Gate and the success of upbeat pictures like Grease and Superman: The Movie completed the redirection of the industry toward escapist fare.
It’s become a cliché to say that Star Wars changed the American film industry. But that is so often said because it’s true. Star Wars was as important a cinematic milestone as Citizen Kane and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
and like Orson Welles' and Walt Disney’s movies, the style and
techniques of George Lucas’ original space opera have been so embedded
in mainstream films that contemporary audiences can’t see what was so
special about them. We’ve been living in the era of Star Wars
for nearly forty years and what began as a youthful cinematic rebellion
has become an empire in its own right. Now that we are on the cusp of a
new era of Star Wars films, it is time for audiences, critics, and filmmakers to reevaluate what that means.
For further commentary on the past, present, and future of Star Wars, click here.
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Sunday, May 14, 2017
Movies for Mother's Day
Today’s episode of Sounds of Cinema featured music from Mother’s Day related films. Here is a recap of the movies discussed on the program as well as some additional titles.
20th Century Women (2016)
Set in the late 1970s, a teenage boy comes of age under the guidance of his mother and two other women. The film features a terrific central cast including Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, and Lucas Jade Zumann.
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)
A recently widowed mother takes her son on the road in pursuit of a singing career. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore features a terrific performance by Ellen Burstyn in the kind of substantive female role that is still all too rare in mainstream motion pictures.
I Remember Mama (1948)
Adapted from the stage play (which was based a novel by Kathryn Forbes), I Remember Mama tells the story of a Norwegian family immigrating to San Francisco in the early twentieth century.
The Joy Luck Club (1993)
Based on the novel by Amy Tan, four Chinese-American women explore their family histories and their relationships with their mothers through a series of flashbacks.
Kill Bill (2003/2004)
Quentin Tarantino’s two-part ode to kung-fu movies does not initially start as a tale about motherhood but this theme emerges over the course of the film. Kill Bill is a revenge story that morphs into a rescue and creates an unexpected emotional payoff in the ending.
Mildred Pierce (1941 & 2011)
James M. Cain’s novel Mildred Pierce tells the story of a working mother who divorces her husband and struggles to raise her difficult daughter. The book was adapted twice, first in 1941 starring Joan Crawford and again in 2011 in a miniseries for HBO that starred Kate Winslet.
Mommie Dearest (1981)
Mommie Dearest was based on the memoir by Christina Crawford which alleged that her mother, screen legend Joan Crawford, was an abusive and erratic train wreck. The film was a commercial success but it was also regarded as an artistic disaster. In the years since, Mommie Dearest has become a cult classic.
Philomena (2013)
A dramatization of the nonfiction book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith which documented a woman’s search for the son she was forced to put up for adoption while she was living in an Irish convent. Philomena was named one of the ten best movies of 2013 on Sounds of Cinema.
Tallulah (2016)
Ellen Page plays a vagrant young woman who comes across a neglectful high society mother and her toddler. The young woman absconds with the child and takes shelter at the home of her mother’s boyfriend, claiming the child is her own. The film is a thoughtful examination of womanhood and motherhood built around a complex ethical conflict.
Terms of Endearment (1983)
James L. Brooks scored a commercial and critical hit with 1983’s Terms of Endearment. The film takes place over three decades and explores the relationship between a mother and daughter played by Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger.
20th Century Women (2016)
Set in the late 1970s, a teenage boy comes of age under the guidance of his mother and two other women. The film features a terrific central cast including Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, and Lucas Jade Zumann.
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)
A recently widowed mother takes her son on the road in pursuit of a singing career. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore features a terrific performance by Ellen Burstyn in the kind of substantive female role that is still all too rare in mainstream motion pictures.
I Remember Mama (1948)
Adapted from the stage play (which was based a novel by Kathryn Forbes), I Remember Mama tells the story of a Norwegian family immigrating to San Francisco in the early twentieth century.
The Joy Luck Club (1993)
Based on the novel by Amy Tan, four Chinese-American women explore their family histories and their relationships with their mothers through a series of flashbacks.
Kill Bill (2003/2004)
Quentin Tarantino’s two-part ode to kung-fu movies does not initially start as a tale about motherhood but this theme emerges over the course of the film. Kill Bill is a revenge story that morphs into a rescue and creates an unexpected emotional payoff in the ending.
Mildred Pierce (1941 & 2011)
James M. Cain’s novel Mildred Pierce tells the story of a working mother who divorces her husband and struggles to raise her difficult daughter. The book was adapted twice, first in 1941 starring Joan Crawford and again in 2011 in a miniseries for HBO that starred Kate Winslet.
Mommie Dearest (1981)
Mommie Dearest was based on the memoir by Christina Crawford which alleged that her mother, screen legend Joan Crawford, was an abusive and erratic train wreck. The film was a commercial success but it was also regarded as an artistic disaster. In the years since, Mommie Dearest has become a cult classic.
Philomena (2013)
A dramatization of the nonfiction book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith which documented a woman’s search for the son she was forced to put up for adoption while she was living in an Irish convent. Philomena was named one of the ten best movies of 2013 on Sounds of Cinema.
Tallulah (2016)
Ellen Page plays a vagrant young woman who comes across a neglectful high society mother and her toddler. The young woman absconds with the child and takes shelter at the home of her mother’s boyfriend, claiming the child is her own. The film is a thoughtful examination of womanhood and motherhood built around a complex ethical conflict.
Terms of Endearment (1983)
James L. Brooks scored a commercial and critical hit with 1983’s Terms of Endearment. The film takes place over three decades and explores the relationship between a mother and daughter played by Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
89.7 KMSU FM Spring Pledge Drive
89.7 KMSU FM "The Maverick" is currently holding its spring pledge
drive. If you listen to Sounds of Cinema from this station or simply believe in
independent radio, please consider making a financial contribution. You
can make a pledge by calling 507-389-5678 or 1-800-456-7810. You can
also make a pledge online at the the station's website.
This pledge drive has a fundraising goal of $30,000 this spring. The money primarily goes to maintaining KMSU equipment so that we can keep the station and its diverse slate of programs on the air.
If you listen to KMSU and enjoy its content, please help to ensure that the station continues to broadcast its unique blend of programming. In stressful and uncertain economic times we all have to take extra care in how we spend our money. But it is also important to remember that we demonstrate what we value by where and how we spend our money. Consider the impact KMSU's programs have on the community. Many of the programs, especially those that are locally produced, provide a very important service to the listenership and to the Mankato area as a whole.
It's also important to remember that pledges are not just about money. Space and funding are at a premium across higher education. When you make a pledge to KMSU you demonstrate that the station is valued by the community and that helps justify its continued existence.
On Sunday, April 23rd, those listening to Sounds of Cinema from KMSU will hear a special pledge drive episode. Those listening from 89.5 KQAL FM in Winona will hear the regularly scheduled program.
This pledge drive has a fundraising goal of $30,000 this spring. The money primarily goes to maintaining KMSU equipment so that we can keep the station and its diverse slate of programs on the air.
If you listen to KMSU and enjoy its content, please help to ensure that the station continues to broadcast its unique blend of programming. In stressful and uncertain economic times we all have to take extra care in how we spend our money. But it is also important to remember that we demonstrate what we value by where and how we spend our money. Consider the impact KMSU's programs have on the community. Many of the programs, especially those that are locally produced, provide a very important service to the listenership and to the Mankato area as a whole.
It's also important to remember that pledges are not just about money. Space and funding are at a premium across higher education. When you make a pledge to KMSU you demonstrate that the station is valued by the community and that helps justify its continued existence.
On Sunday, April 23rd, those listening to Sounds of Cinema from KMSU will hear a special pledge drive episode. Those listening from 89.5 KQAL FM in Winona will hear the regularly scheduled program.
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Whitewashing the Shell
Having reviewed the live action version of Ghost in the Shell on its cinematic merits (find the review here), I want to move on to the controversy around the film. Ghost in the Shell is based on a Japanese comic book and when it was announced that white Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson would be cast in the lead role, social media, cultural commentators, and activist groups expressed disappointment and outrage. The moviemakers were accused of whitewashing, which is the casting of white actors as characters of color, either by changing the race of the character or by using makeup effects to transform a Caucasian actor to appear non-white.
Whitewashing is not a new phenomenon nor is it unusual. Early movies commonly featured white actors in black face. During the studio era, many great movies featured white actors in nonwhite roles such as Alec Guinness as an Arab in Lawrence of Arabia and Mickey Rooney as an Asian in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The practice continued well after that with 1983’s Scarface starring Al Pacino as a Cuban American and 2014’s Exodus: Gods and Kings featuring an all-white cast playing Middle Eastern characters. For many years, this practice was simply taken for granted and even rewarded with actress Linda Hunt receiving an Academy Award for her performance as a Chinese man in The Year of Living Dangerously.
Ghost in the Shell was released in the midst of a broader debate about representation and identity politics. Today’s viewers have greater awareness and sensitivity about racial representation and activists who have campaigned on this issue for many years have suddenly found themselves making inroads into the mainstream. Newspapers and websites have run article after article about the absence of people of color in movies and television while hashtags like #oscarssowhite trend on social media. What was taken for granted is now falling out of favor and controversies have erupted around movies such as 2015’s Aloha, 2016’s Doctor Strange, and 2017’s The Great Wall.
It’s worth understanding why studios do this. In response to the furor surrounding the casting of Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell, Hollywood filmmaker Max Landis, who wrote Chronicle and directed American Ultra, took to his Youtube account to give an inside perspective. In short, whitewashing has to be understood as a business decision rather than an artistic choice. Here is what Landis had to say:
Max Landis experienced some blowback from his online statement but understanding why something happens is different from excusing it. However, blaming the lack of representation of people of color on “the culture”—whatever that might mean—or on the Hollywood “system” obfuscates the responsibility studio executives, casting directors, filmmakers, and movie stars have in perpetuating the whitewashing phenomenon. And the box office failure of Ghost in the Shell pokes a multi-million dollar hole in the institutional reasoning that Landis points to, in which bankable actors are supposed to ensure box office success.
But not all whitewashing is necessarily equal and that’s where it’s worth connecting the issue to Ghost in the Shell. Although it’s based on a Japanese comic book, the character played by Scarlett Johansson was not specifically designated as Asian in the source material. This is a peculiar feature of manga. As Emily Yoshida explains in an article on Verge, Japanese comics and animation have historically created characters that were of an ambiguous ethnicity. However, Yoshida also points out that the source material of Ghost in the Shell was a product of a particular time and place and its story reflects Japan’s economic and cultural zeitgeist in the late 1980s and early 90s.
The whitewashing claims against Ghost in the Shell are further complicated by the nature of the story. Johansson’s character is a cyborg, a living brain inside of a mechanical body (the “ghost” inside of the “shell,” per the title) and it’s debatable as to whether our notions of race even apply in this instance. In that respect, the filmmakers of Ghost in the Shell squandered a prime opportunity. At one point, the film reveals that the brain of Johansson’s character was originally in an Asian woman. Had the filmmakers handled this right, they could have adapted Ghost in the Shell in a way that would have added a fascinating layer to the story’s exploration of identity and flipped the controversy on its head while updating the story for a twenty-first century audience whose economies and cultures are intertwined. But it’s clear that director Rupert Sanders didn’t see Ghost in the Shell as anything more than another sci-fi shoot-’em-up property and he treated it as such.
The variables around Ghost in the Shell don’t make it a very good example of Hollywood whitewashing although there are plenty of more egregious examples. Ultimately, this isn’t really about one film or another. The underlying problem is the lack of Asian representation in Hollywood films. According to 2010 census data, Asians make up 4.8 percent of the United States’ population but, according to the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Asian actors are only one percent of leading roles in Hollywood films. Were Asians and other ethnic minorities adequately represented in Hollywood, it probably wouldn’t matter who was cast in Ghost in the Shell.
It’s unclear how much the whitewashing controversy may have hurt Ghost in the Shell at the box office. As Deadline pointed out, the film’s distributors made a series of mistakes in marketing Ghost in the Shell, some of which had nothing to do with race at all and others that played right into the hands of the film’s detractors. The controversy certainly didn’t help but Ghost in the Shell was also a mediocre movie that few people will remember in a year’s time.
But it is clear that a threshold has been crossed. The audience is getting more diverse, as are its tastes, and if the American film industry wants to survive in the global marketplace it must keep up with the rest of the culture. Hollywood studios are slow to evolve but they do follow the bottom line. The box office failure of whitewashed movies and the success of features with diverse casts are priming Hollywood for a paradigm shift. What that new order will look like and how ethnic minorities might fare under it is uncertain. But the current model is unsustainable and in the not too distant future we’ll look back on Hollywood whitewashing with the same mix of embarrassment and confusion that today’s viewers look at a minstrel show.
Whitewashing is not a new phenomenon nor is it unusual. Early movies commonly featured white actors in black face. During the studio era, many great movies featured white actors in nonwhite roles such as Alec Guinness as an Arab in Lawrence of Arabia and Mickey Rooney as an Asian in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The practice continued well after that with 1983’s Scarface starring Al Pacino as a Cuban American and 2014’s Exodus: Gods and Kings featuring an all-white cast playing Middle Eastern characters. For many years, this practice was simply taken for granted and even rewarded with actress Linda Hunt receiving an Academy Award for her performance as a Chinese man in The Year of Living Dangerously.
Ghost in the Shell was released in the midst of a broader debate about representation and identity politics. Today’s viewers have greater awareness and sensitivity about racial representation and activists who have campaigned on this issue for many years have suddenly found themselves making inroads into the mainstream. Newspapers and websites have run article after article about the absence of people of color in movies and television while hashtags like #oscarssowhite trend on social media. What was taken for granted is now falling out of favor and controversies have erupted around movies such as 2015’s Aloha, 2016’s Doctor Strange, and 2017’s The Great Wall.
It’s worth understanding why studios do this. In response to the furor surrounding the casting of Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell, Hollywood filmmaker Max Landis, who wrote Chronicle and directed American Ultra, took to his Youtube account to give an inside perspective. In short, whitewashing has to be understood as a business decision rather than an artistic choice. Here is what Landis had to say:
Max Landis experienced some blowback from his online statement but understanding why something happens is different from excusing it. However, blaming the lack of representation of people of color on “the culture”—whatever that might mean—or on the Hollywood “system” obfuscates the responsibility studio executives, casting directors, filmmakers, and movie stars have in perpetuating the whitewashing phenomenon. And the box office failure of Ghost in the Shell pokes a multi-million dollar hole in the institutional reasoning that Landis points to, in which bankable actors are supposed to ensure box office success.
But not all whitewashing is necessarily equal and that’s where it’s worth connecting the issue to Ghost in the Shell. Although it’s based on a Japanese comic book, the character played by Scarlett Johansson was not specifically designated as Asian in the source material. This is a peculiar feature of manga. As Emily Yoshida explains in an article on Verge, Japanese comics and animation have historically created characters that were of an ambiguous ethnicity. However, Yoshida also points out that the source material of Ghost in the Shell was a product of a particular time and place and its story reflects Japan’s economic and cultural zeitgeist in the late 1980s and early 90s.
The whitewashing claims against Ghost in the Shell are further complicated by the nature of the story. Johansson’s character is a cyborg, a living brain inside of a mechanical body (the “ghost” inside of the “shell,” per the title) and it’s debatable as to whether our notions of race even apply in this instance. In that respect, the filmmakers of Ghost in the Shell squandered a prime opportunity. At one point, the film reveals that the brain of Johansson’s character was originally in an Asian woman. Had the filmmakers handled this right, they could have adapted Ghost in the Shell in a way that would have added a fascinating layer to the story’s exploration of identity and flipped the controversy on its head while updating the story for a twenty-first century audience whose economies and cultures are intertwined. But it’s clear that director Rupert Sanders didn’t see Ghost in the Shell as anything more than another sci-fi shoot-’em-up property and he treated it as such.
The variables around Ghost in the Shell don’t make it a very good example of Hollywood whitewashing although there are plenty of more egregious examples. Ultimately, this isn’t really about one film or another. The underlying problem is the lack of Asian representation in Hollywood films. According to 2010 census data, Asians make up 4.8 percent of the United States’ population but, according to the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Asian actors are only one percent of leading roles in Hollywood films. Were Asians and other ethnic minorities adequately represented in Hollywood, it probably wouldn’t matter who was cast in Ghost in the Shell.
It’s unclear how much the whitewashing controversy may have hurt Ghost in the Shell at the box office. As Deadline pointed out, the film’s distributors made a series of mistakes in marketing Ghost in the Shell, some of which had nothing to do with race at all and others that played right into the hands of the film’s detractors. The controversy certainly didn’t help but Ghost in the Shell was also a mediocre movie that few people will remember in a year’s time.
But it is clear that a threshold has been crossed. The audience is getting more diverse, as are its tastes, and if the American film industry wants to survive in the global marketplace it must keep up with the rest of the culture. Hollywood studios are slow to evolve but they do follow the bottom line. The box office failure of whitewashed movies and the success of features with diverse casts are priming Hollywood for a paradigm shift. What that new order will look like and how ethnic minorities might fare under it is uncertain. But the current model is unsustainable and in the not too distant future we’ll look back on Hollywood whitewashing with the same mix of embarrassment and confusion that today’s viewers look at a minstrel show.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Zero Days Screening
The documentary film Zero Days will be shown on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 7pm in the Stark Hall Auditorium at Winona State University. A part of the university’s “Our Digital Humanity” theme, Zero Days explores cyber warfare and the Stuxnet computer virus.
Directed by prolific documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), Zero Days plunges the viewer into a frightening new world of warfare. Playing like a Hollywood cyber thriller that also happens to be true, Zero Days alleges that American and Israeli intelligence and military forces created a cyber-weapon intended to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. But, as Zero Days reveals, the Stuxnet computer virus may very well have opened up a whole new battlefield with no rules of engagement.
As Michael Hayden, former Director of the National Security Agency and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, puts it, “This has the whiff of August 1945. Somebody just used a new weapon and this weapon will not be put back into the box.”
Winona State University professor Dr. David Speetzen will be on hand after the screening to talk about the film, cyber warfare, and related topics.
Zero Days runs 116 minutes and is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America.
Admission is free and open to the public.
This event is sponsored by the Winona State University English Department, Mass Communication Department, Darrell W. Krueger Library, and Sounds of Cinema.
You can find out more about the film here.
Directed by prolific documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), Zero Days plunges the viewer into a frightening new world of warfare. Playing like a Hollywood cyber thriller that also happens to be true, Zero Days alleges that American and Israeli intelligence and military forces created a cyber-weapon intended to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. But, as Zero Days reveals, the Stuxnet computer virus may very well have opened up a whole new battlefield with no rules of engagement.
As Michael Hayden, former Director of the National Security Agency and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, puts it, “This has the whiff of August 1945. Somebody just used a new weapon and this weapon will not be put back into the box.”
Winona State University professor Dr. David Speetzen will be on hand after the screening to talk about the film, cyber warfare, and related topics.
Zero Days runs 116 minutes and is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America.
Admission is free and open to the public.
This event is sponsored by the Winona State University English Department, Mass Communication Department, Darrell W. Krueger Library, and Sounds of Cinema.
You can find out more about the film here.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Film Reviews: March 12, 2017
Here is a recap of the films reviewed on today's episode of Sounds of Cinema:
Get Out is a fun and frightening movie that’s also quite smart. This is an impressive directorial debut from Jordan Peele, who’s otherwise best known for his comic efforts with Keegan-Michael Key, and it’s a truly subversive scare.
Logan is one of the best, if not the best, entry in the X-Men film series and certainly the best of the standalone Wolverine films. It’s a different movie than its associates in the X-Men universe but in ways that distinguish it and make it a better movie.
The Shack is so focused on its faith-affirming message that the filmmakers forget to do the storytelling work that would make that message meaningful or impactful. It is not a badly intentioned film but it isn’t very well executed either.
A Brand New Testament is a weird black comedy. The film does not maximize its premise but it does have a lot in it that is funny and thoughtful. A Brand New Testament is unlikely to play for faith-based viewers looking for a reverent and sentimental story but fans of Life of Brian and Dogma ought to get a kick out of it.
You can find the full text of each review in the Sounds of Cinema Review Archive.
Get Out is a fun and frightening movie that’s also quite smart. This is an impressive directorial debut from Jordan Peele, who’s otherwise best known for his comic efforts with Keegan-Michael Key, and it’s a truly subversive scare.
Logan is one of the best, if not the best, entry in the X-Men film series and certainly the best of the standalone Wolverine films. It’s a different movie than its associates in the X-Men universe but in ways that distinguish it and make it a better movie.
The Shack is so focused on its faith-affirming message that the filmmakers forget to do the storytelling work that would make that message meaningful or impactful. It is not a badly intentioned film but it isn’t very well executed either.
A Brand New Testament is a weird black comedy. The film does not maximize its premise but it does have a lot in it that is funny and thoughtful. A Brand New Testament is unlikely to play for faith-based viewers looking for a reverent and sentimental story but fans of Life of Brian and Dogma ought to get a kick out of it.
You can find the full text of each review in the Sounds of Cinema Review Archive.
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Good Music in Bad Movies
Today’s episode of Sounds of Cinema featured good music from bad movies. Here is a recap of the films discussed on today’s show as well as a few additional titles.
The 13th Warrior (1999)
Directed by: Michael Crichton
Music by: Jerry Goldsmith
The 13th Warrior was based upon Michael Crichton’s novel Eaters of the Dead. The film was an adventure story set in the era of Vikings that starred Antonio Banderas and was directed by John McTiernan. The movie had a long and complicated production and after an initial test screening McTiernan was removed from the director’s chair and replaced by Crichton while composer Graeme Revell was replaced by Jerry Goldsmith. The final movie received tepid reviews. But the score to The 13th Warrior remains popular among Goldsmith’s fans and the music was reused in other films like Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven.
Alien 3 (1992)
Directed by: David Fincher
Music by: Elliot Goldenthal
Fans of the Alien series have never quite gotten over this installment. Following 1986’s Aliens, the third film quite literally trashed everything that its predecessor had accomplished. Alien 3 is a solemn and nihilistic story and composer Elliot Goldenthal complements the movie with a mournful score that is alternately creepy and beautiful.
Death Wish II (1982)
Directed by: Michael Winner
Music by: Jimmy Page
The original Death Wish told the story of a vigilante, played by Charles Bronson, who patrols the streets of New York City and kills muggers with a handgun. The 1974 film was a critical and commercial success. Cannon Films produced a series of sequels throughout the 1980s, starting with Death Wish II in 1982. The Death Wish sequels were quick buck productions that weren’t well received by critics. Roger Ebert, who gave the original Death Wish a three star review, awarded no stars to Death Wish II, a score he reserved for “movies that are artistically inept and morally repugnant.” The music from the first Death Wish was composed by notable jazz musician Herbie Hancock. For the sequel, musical duties went to Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. His score to Death Wish II is the only redeemable part of the movie.
Exorcist II – The Heretic (1977)
Directed by: Joh Boorman
Music by: Ennio Morricone
1973’s The Exorcist was a groundbreaking movie and one of the biggest box office hits of its day. Warner Bros. produced a sequel that was besieged by script rewrites, creative conflicts, production delays, and extensive reshoots. Exorcist II – The Heretic was intended to take a cerebral and metaphysical approach to religious horror but it didn’t work. According to original Exorcist director William Friedkin, the sneak preview of Exorcist II was a disaster with the audience laughing at the movie and Warner Bros. executives fleeing the theater. In the years to come, Exorcist II would frequently be cited as among the worst sequels of all time. But its score by Ennio Morricone has many admirers. As an isolated listening experience, the music of Exorcist II hints at what the filmmakers intended. The track “Regan’s Theme” was recently featured in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight.
Jaws the Revenge (1987)
Directed by: Joseph Sargent
Music by: Michael Small
The Jaws sequels aren’t well regarded but the musical scores from these films were quite good. Composer John Williams returned for the first sequel and made one of his most underappreciated scores. Music duties were assigned to Alan Parker for 1983’s Jaws 3-D, a movie that is not good but is entertaining shlock. Parker repurposed Williams’ shark theme but used it sparingly and created an impressive array of themes for the new characters and locations. The series came to an end with 1987’s Jaws the Revenge, the worst of the lot. The movie was rushed into production and it shows in the finished product, which Universal made worse by adding a stupid and sloppy new ending for the film’s release on home video. Adapting Williams’ Jaws themes, composer Michael Small created an exciting and emotional score that is far better than the film it is associated with.
King Kong (1976)
Directed by: John Guillermin
Music by: John Barry
The original King Kong was released in 1933 and the movie became a classic. The special effects were groundbreaking at the time and remain very effective. The stop motion animation gives the original King Kong a fairytale charm that still plays. In 1976, Dino De Laurtentis produced a remake starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange. The 1976 version of King Kong used an actor in an ape suit and some full-scale mechanical effects instead of stop motion animation and the result was a clumsy monstrosity that actually looked worse than the 1933 version. However, the music score by John Barry was terrific.
Purple Rain (1984)
Directed by: Albert Magnoli
Music by: Prince
By any metric of judging a dramatic feature film, Purple Rain is a lousy movie. The acting is terrible, the storytelling is clumsy, and it is consistently sexist and occasionally misogynistic. Like a lot of rock star movie vehicles, Purple Rain is about constructing and enhancing the star’s public persona and the narcissism is off-putting. But Purple Rain has some incredible musical performances, especially in its last twenty minutes, and the film is a testament to Prince’s musicianship and his mastery as a stage performer.
Spawn (1997)
Directed by: Mark A.Z. Dippé
Music by: Graeme Revell, Various Artists
One of the most popular comic books of the 1990s was Todd McFarlane’s Spawn. The title character was an anti-hero with powers from Hell who battled an assortment of demons, street thugs, and corrupt politicians. The series was initially adapted for HBO as an adult-oriented animated series that was ahead of its time. In 1997 Spawn was made into a live action movie but the results were a compromised mess. The subject matter necessitated darkness and violence but the movie was forced to achieve a PG-13 rating and a lot of the digital effects were lousy even for 1997. However, the movie featured an effective music score by Graeme Revell that unfortunately has never been released. The soundtrack album was a series of collaborations between metal and industrial bands of the mid-1990s like Marilyn Manson and the Sneaker Pimps, Korn and The Dust Brothers, and Slayer and Atari Teenage Riot. This same technique was previously used on the soundtrack to the 1993 movie Judgement Night, an otherwise forgettable action picture that featured collaborations between rock and hip hop artists including Pearl Jam and Cypress Hill and Slayer and Ice-T.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Directed by: Robert Wise
Music by: Jerry Goldsmith
Star Trek’s transition from television to the silver screen got off to a rocky start. 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a clumsy adaptation of the television show that was overlong, pretentious, and emotionally stilted. The movie is made watchable by Jerry Goldsmith’s music. The score filled in the sense of wonder and adventure that is otherwise missing from the movie. It also introduced the melody that would become the theme of The Next Generation television series. Goldsmith would later score 1989’s Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (which his music could not save) as well as all four Next Generation feature films.
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
Directed by: George Lucas
Music by: John Williams
The magnum opus of John Williams’ career is his music from the Star Wars films. Williams’ scores from the original trilogy are among the greatest and most memorable film music ever created and a key part of what made them so phenomenally successful. Williams returned to the series for George Lucas’ ill-received prequel trilogy. 1999’s The Phantom Menace was the greatest disappointment of the triad but 2002’s Attack of the Clones is the worst with its incoherent story, lousy acting, and a music score that was butchered in the editing room. Since Star Wars has moved on from Lucas’ control there has been a deliberate effort to distance the franchise from the prequel trilogy but the music of these films remains a bright spot in the franchise and the themes that Williams created for these movies offer an aural idea of what the prequels could have been.
Sucker Punch (2011)
Directed by: Zach Snyder
Music by: Various Artists
Zach Snyder’s film Sucker Punch was a disaster that was frequently cited as one of the worst movies of 2011. But the soundtrack to Sucker Punch was generally well received and it is much more interesting than the movie it was created for. The album included a series of covers, with several performed by the cast, that benefited from a phantasmagoric sound.
The Wolfman (2010)
Directed by: Joe Johnston
Music by: Danny Elfman
Joe Johnston’s remake of the classic Universal monster picture The Wolfman was besieged by production problems and was ultimately a disaster. An extensive reshoot was carried out during post-production and while retooling the film it was decided to jettison the score composed by Danny Elfman. But when time and money ran out Elfman’s score was retained and it has since been used in movie trailers for films such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and 12 Years a Slave.
The Words (2012)
Directed by: Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal
Music by: Marcello Zarvos
The Words was a forgettable drama about a struggling writer who finds someone else’s completed manuscript and publishes it as his own work. Released in 2012, The Words opened and quickly vanished from theaters without much notice but the film included an effective musical score by Marcello Zarvos.
The 13th Warrior (1999)
Directed by: Michael Crichton
Music by: Jerry Goldsmith
The 13th Warrior was based upon Michael Crichton’s novel Eaters of the Dead. The film was an adventure story set in the era of Vikings that starred Antonio Banderas and was directed by John McTiernan. The movie had a long and complicated production and after an initial test screening McTiernan was removed from the director’s chair and replaced by Crichton while composer Graeme Revell was replaced by Jerry Goldsmith. The final movie received tepid reviews. But the score to The 13th Warrior remains popular among Goldsmith’s fans and the music was reused in other films like Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven.
Alien 3 (1992)
Directed by: David Fincher
Music by: Elliot Goldenthal
Fans of the Alien series have never quite gotten over this installment. Following 1986’s Aliens, the third film quite literally trashed everything that its predecessor had accomplished. Alien 3 is a solemn and nihilistic story and composer Elliot Goldenthal complements the movie with a mournful score that is alternately creepy and beautiful.
Death Wish II (1982)
Directed by: Michael Winner
Music by: Jimmy Page
The original Death Wish told the story of a vigilante, played by Charles Bronson, who patrols the streets of New York City and kills muggers with a handgun. The 1974 film was a critical and commercial success. Cannon Films produced a series of sequels throughout the 1980s, starting with Death Wish II in 1982. The Death Wish sequels were quick buck productions that weren’t well received by critics. Roger Ebert, who gave the original Death Wish a three star review, awarded no stars to Death Wish II, a score he reserved for “movies that are artistically inept and morally repugnant.” The music from the first Death Wish was composed by notable jazz musician Herbie Hancock. For the sequel, musical duties went to Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. His score to Death Wish II is the only redeemable part of the movie.
Exorcist II – The Heretic (1977)
Directed by: Joh Boorman
Music by: Ennio Morricone
1973’s The Exorcist was a groundbreaking movie and one of the biggest box office hits of its day. Warner Bros. produced a sequel that was besieged by script rewrites, creative conflicts, production delays, and extensive reshoots. Exorcist II – The Heretic was intended to take a cerebral and metaphysical approach to religious horror but it didn’t work. According to original Exorcist director William Friedkin, the sneak preview of Exorcist II was a disaster with the audience laughing at the movie and Warner Bros. executives fleeing the theater. In the years to come, Exorcist II would frequently be cited as among the worst sequels of all time. But its score by Ennio Morricone has many admirers. As an isolated listening experience, the music of Exorcist II hints at what the filmmakers intended. The track “Regan’s Theme” was recently featured in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight.
Jaws the Revenge (1987)
Directed by: Joseph Sargent
Music by: Michael Small
The Jaws sequels aren’t well regarded but the musical scores from these films were quite good. Composer John Williams returned for the first sequel and made one of his most underappreciated scores. Music duties were assigned to Alan Parker for 1983’s Jaws 3-D, a movie that is not good but is entertaining shlock. Parker repurposed Williams’ shark theme but used it sparingly and created an impressive array of themes for the new characters and locations. The series came to an end with 1987’s Jaws the Revenge, the worst of the lot. The movie was rushed into production and it shows in the finished product, which Universal made worse by adding a stupid and sloppy new ending for the film’s release on home video. Adapting Williams’ Jaws themes, composer Michael Small created an exciting and emotional score that is far better than the film it is associated with.
King Kong (1976)
Directed by: John Guillermin
Music by: John Barry
The original King Kong was released in 1933 and the movie became a classic. The special effects were groundbreaking at the time and remain very effective. The stop motion animation gives the original King Kong a fairytale charm that still plays. In 1976, Dino De Laurtentis produced a remake starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange. The 1976 version of King Kong used an actor in an ape suit and some full-scale mechanical effects instead of stop motion animation and the result was a clumsy monstrosity that actually looked worse than the 1933 version. However, the music score by John Barry was terrific.
Purple Rain (1984)
Directed by: Albert Magnoli
Music by: Prince
By any metric of judging a dramatic feature film, Purple Rain is a lousy movie. The acting is terrible, the storytelling is clumsy, and it is consistently sexist and occasionally misogynistic. Like a lot of rock star movie vehicles, Purple Rain is about constructing and enhancing the star’s public persona and the narcissism is off-putting. But Purple Rain has some incredible musical performances, especially in its last twenty minutes, and the film is a testament to Prince’s musicianship and his mastery as a stage performer.
Spawn (1997)
Directed by: Mark A.Z. Dippé
Music by: Graeme Revell, Various Artists
One of the most popular comic books of the 1990s was Todd McFarlane’s Spawn. The title character was an anti-hero with powers from Hell who battled an assortment of demons, street thugs, and corrupt politicians. The series was initially adapted for HBO as an adult-oriented animated series that was ahead of its time. In 1997 Spawn was made into a live action movie but the results were a compromised mess. The subject matter necessitated darkness and violence but the movie was forced to achieve a PG-13 rating and a lot of the digital effects were lousy even for 1997. However, the movie featured an effective music score by Graeme Revell that unfortunately has never been released. The soundtrack album was a series of collaborations between metal and industrial bands of the mid-1990s like Marilyn Manson and the Sneaker Pimps, Korn and The Dust Brothers, and Slayer and Atari Teenage Riot. This same technique was previously used on the soundtrack to the 1993 movie Judgement Night, an otherwise forgettable action picture that featured collaborations between rock and hip hop artists including Pearl Jam and Cypress Hill and Slayer and Ice-T.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Directed by: Robert Wise
Music by: Jerry Goldsmith
Star Trek’s transition from television to the silver screen got off to a rocky start. 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a clumsy adaptation of the television show that was overlong, pretentious, and emotionally stilted. The movie is made watchable by Jerry Goldsmith’s music. The score filled in the sense of wonder and adventure that is otherwise missing from the movie. It also introduced the melody that would become the theme of The Next Generation television series. Goldsmith would later score 1989’s Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (which his music could not save) as well as all four Next Generation feature films.
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
Directed by: George Lucas
Music by: John Williams
The magnum opus of John Williams’ career is his music from the Star Wars films. Williams’ scores from the original trilogy are among the greatest and most memorable film music ever created and a key part of what made them so phenomenally successful. Williams returned to the series for George Lucas’ ill-received prequel trilogy. 1999’s The Phantom Menace was the greatest disappointment of the triad but 2002’s Attack of the Clones is the worst with its incoherent story, lousy acting, and a music score that was butchered in the editing room. Since Star Wars has moved on from Lucas’ control there has been a deliberate effort to distance the franchise from the prequel trilogy but the music of these films remains a bright spot in the franchise and the themes that Williams created for these movies offer an aural idea of what the prequels could have been.
Sucker Punch (2011)
Directed by: Zach Snyder
Music by: Various Artists
Zach Snyder’s film Sucker Punch was a disaster that was frequently cited as one of the worst movies of 2011. But the soundtrack to Sucker Punch was generally well received and it is much more interesting than the movie it was created for. The album included a series of covers, with several performed by the cast, that benefited from a phantasmagoric sound.
The Wolfman (2010)
Directed by: Joe Johnston
Music by: Danny Elfman
Joe Johnston’s remake of the classic Universal monster picture The Wolfman was besieged by production problems and was ultimately a disaster. An extensive reshoot was carried out during post-production and while retooling the film it was decided to jettison the score composed by Danny Elfman. But when time and money ran out Elfman’s score was retained and it has since been used in movie trailers for films such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and 12 Years a Slave.
The Words (2012)
Directed by: Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal
Music by: Marcello Zarvos
The Words was a forgettable drama about a struggling writer who finds someone else’s completed manuscript and publishes it as his own work. Released in 2012, The Words opened and quickly vanished from theaters without much notice but the film included an effective musical score by Marcello Zarvos.
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