Sunset Boulevard
Billy Wilder and Gloria Swanson made cinematic history when
they created their high-camp, film-noir, 1950 melodrama, ‘Sunset
Boulevard’. So much has been written and said about
this classic movie that I am not going to rack my brains trying
to come up with something new to comment on. It is a cinematic
‘Legend’, and that is that! What I will say, though,
is that the print of this ‘Special Collector’s
Edition’ is absolutely immaculate. Gone are the scratches
and grain accumulated over 56 years of doing the rounds of
‘art houses’ and ‘cinema revival’
venues world wide. This print has obviously come from the
original negative, or it has been digitally restored. Either
way, the black and white and grey tones sparkle, and the image
is in deep, clear, focus. This is what the movie must have
looked like in 1950. I would love to see it on one of those
big, big, projection screens that haunt the bars and clubs
of Seminyak and Legian. There, it would more closely resemble
its correct cinema screen ratio. All-the-same, even on a letter-box
TV screen, the movie is still a joy to watch. If you have
seen Andrew Lloyd Webber’s appalling stage musical re-make,
do yourself a favor and watch this amazing original version.
Gloria Swanson IS Norma Desmond, an aging psycho silent-movie
siren. It is the crowning achievement of her illustrious career,
which spanned from 1915 to 1975, and it is her monumental
tribute to the art of screen acting. “All right, Mr.
DeMille, I am ready for my close-up”.
Alien Autopsy
Don’t let the title of director Jonny Campbell’s
movie, ‘Alien Autopsy’, put you off. I must admit
that I thought this film was going to be some sort of cheap
sci-fi thriller that would be good for a giggle, but, in reality,
it is a rather humorous and entertaining British movie from
the Ealing Studio. In 1995, English entrepreneur Ray Santilli,
and his best mate Gary Shoefield, astounded the world with
claims that they possessed film footage of an alien autopsy
connected to the 1947 Roswell UFO crash mystery. The world’s
media was mesmerized and a lively bidding war took place for
television screening rights. Half of the world’s UFO
community took the film at face value, while the rest remained
skeptical. For almost 10 years Ray and Gary remained silent
on the validity of their footage, until they finally confessed
that the whole thing was a scam. This movie, ‘Alien
Autopsy’, brilliantly depicts their very lucrative con.
Only the British could make a movie like this, for only the
British, with their warped sense of humor, can appreciate
the inherent comedy in this potentially embarrassing scenario.
Declan Donnelly and Ant McPartlin are terrific as Ray and
Gary, two ‘likely lads’ who come to realize that
they may have bitten off more than they can chew. Jonny Campbell
fills the movie with charming and eccentric characters, that,
once again, only the British Film Industry can supply, and
he handles his droll script with an assured whimsical touch.
The movie is a bit of a giggle, but it wasn’t the ‘giggle’
I was expecting. You will be pleasantly surprised!
The Society Murders
Events that occurred between April 2002 and April 2003 in
Melbourne, Australia, are depicted in this riveting drama
‘The Society Murders’. When socialite Margaret
Wales-King (69) and her husband Paul King (75) disappeared
from their prestigious home, they were not seen again until
their bodies were recovered from a shallow grave in the outskirts
of the city. There appeared to be no apparent motive for the
crime, and suspicion fell onto a family member. A harrowing
investigation followed, leading to an arrest and an also equally
harrowing trial. Director Brendan Maher’s austere adaptation
of Hilary Bonney’s best-selling ‘faction’
novel dispenses with much of the more ‘sensationalist’
aspects of the case, and concentrates on the ‘media-circus’
that evolved around the couple’s three daughters, son,
and their respective spouses, who were literally pulled through
the ringer. There is nothing the Australian media enjoys more
than destroying the lives of the innocent (for example, look
what they did to Lindy Chamberlain and her baby’s unfortunate
encounter with a dingo, filmed as ‘A Cry in the Dark’
with Meryl Streep) and, with the Wales-King case, they were
able to have a field day, dragging up all of Australia’s
in-ground resentments against their ‘invisible’
but rigid class-structures. ‘The Society Murders’
is a brutal film. Maher shoots it in a cold analytical style
that adds much to its stark realism. The movie is a virtual
Who’s Who of Australian actors and actresses. In a superb
ensemble-cast Julia Blake, Alex Dimitriades and Georgie Parker
perhaps stand out the most simply because they are the most
well-known. The movie is engrossing right through to its ironic
end. However, Australian ex-pats, particularly those from
that perverse city of Melbourne, are going to be less than
thrilled. “Australia isn’t that bad”, they
will be sure to claim!
The Hills Have Eyes (Unrated Version)
Wes Craven produces this re-make of his 1979 horror movie
‘The Hills Have Eyes’, and directing credits go
to Alexandre Aja. Together, they have created a faithful adaptation
of the original movie, but, things are much more relaxed censorship-wise
these days and they have also created a stylish, but, extremely
gruesome blood-bath, which basically has no meaning except
for its rising body-count. When your typical American family’s
campervan breaks down and they are stranded in the desert,
one by one they are killed by ‘freaks’ living
in the hills, who want them as food! Yuk! Somewhere, in all
of this, there is a message about the effects of nuclear radiation,
but, that is kinda lost in all the blood and gore. Anyway,
this typical American family is so horrendous that I could
have gladly killed and deep-fried them myself!
The Break-Up
In 1989 Danny DeVito created a ‘black’ comedy
entitled ‘The War of the Roses’, which starred
Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas. It depicted an acrimonious
divorce in which neither of the parties would give an inch,
to their eventual detriment. It is considered to be one of
DeVito’s better directorial efforts, and the movie has
gone on to be something of a cult classic. Director Peyton
Reed’s movie ‘The Break-Up’ is nothing but
an update of DeVito’s far more entertaining movie. There
is naught going on in ‘The Break-Up’, except,
perhaps, for Jennifer Aniston, who still reigns as the Queen
of Romantic Comedy. Oh my God! Was that Ann-Margret in the
dinner-party scene? She is looking remarkably good for someone
hitting 65!
