Fitzcarraldo: Why do things the easy way?

Fitzcarraldo is the second Werner Herzog film I've seen about an ill-fated voyage on the Amazon led by Klaus Kinski. The first one, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, reminded me of the beautiful insanity of Apocalypse Now, which it undoubtedly helped to inspire. The production difficulties of this film are also reminiscent of Apocalypse Now and they are documented in the film Burden of Dreams, expect to see a post on that in the near future.

Although it was truly marvelous to see a three-story tall boat dragged over a mountain (or a hill, if you want to be all accurate about it), I don't think that this film is as strong as Aguirre. That was about a man loosing himself to mad ambition while this one is about a man finding himself through his mad ambition. Maybe you disagree but for me it's much more fascinating to watch a man gradually self-destruct. It seems more honest.

Also, it takes a really long time for this film to get going. It's frustrating to watch a movie that's famous for moving a boat up a 40 degree slope and have to wait until halfway through before that feat is even suggested. It wouldn't bee so bad if the film jumped straight into Kinski in the jungle dealing with the mysterious Indians (Native-Peruvians?) but I think the first 45 minutes were about Kinski trying to build an opera house in a city. Not what I signed up for.

Although I can loose my patience with him and get a little bored, I must admit that Herzog is a daring filmmaker. He makes bold choices and is willing to go through hell to capture his vision on celluloid. Even if his films don't always entertain me, I'm always left with a few images that I just can't shake.


I still can't believe that Klaus Kinski is Nastassja Kinski's father. She is super hot (at least she was in 1984) and he resembles the undead.

Shaw Legends Double Feature - Iron Fist Adventures/The Thundering Ninja: I think this title is long enough without my pithy remarks

First of all, I just want to say that Shaw Brothers Studio, founded by brothers Run Run Shaw and Run Me Shaw, is awesome. I was lucky enough to catch Vengeance!, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan at the Film Festival a few years ago and they were some of the coolest movies I have ever seen. Ever. In my life.

I was super-excited when I saw that five double features labeled as "Shaw Legends" were on Netflix even if their release date was "unknown". After about a year of sitting in my "Saved" section release dates were finally assigned and I did a little more research. I discovered that these films were not actually produced by the Shaw Brothers but were only films that featured actors who became "legendary" by working with the Shaw Brothers. That's sort of like seeing Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Life of Brian then buying a "Monty Python Legends" set containing Yellowbeard and The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Basically, this was a huge let down.

The first film, Iron Fist Adventures had something to do with politics, family, revenge and, I don't know, some other crap. It was really shitty in a boring way, not shitty in a fun way like a low-budget martial arts epic should be.

I think I would have liked The Thundering Ninja, the second film a lot more if the life hadn't been drained out of me by the previous movie. It's actually a remake of The Criminal (not that you've ever heard of that) if you count taking the majority of footage from one movie and adding white guys dressed as ninjas as "remaking". The plot involved a white ninja gang trying to steal missile plans from the US Government while being pursued by the CIA. What were a group of ninjas going to do with missile plans? I couldn't tell you.

Slither: Evolution is evil (not the teaching of it, rather the process that allows other species to become superior to us)

Horror-Comedy is one of my favorite genres, it's right up there with Film Noir, German Expressionism and Spaghetti Westerns. Slither is a great example of this genre, it might not be Shaun of the Dead-great or Severance-great but it's still pretty awesome. I love how these films reference/parody other horror movies. This one owes a lot to Rabid but it also draws heavily from The Blob, Alien, The Thing, Tremors and, possibly, Squirm.

My biggest criticism is that it focuses too much on goofiness and not enough on the scary. Maybe I'm just spoiled because I'm used to seeing Nathan Fillion on "Firefly" and if anyone can balance comedy with darker elements, it's Joss Whedon. Either way, it was good to see Elizabeth Banks. I think she's great and I'm glad that she's getting steady work without becoming a star. Sometimes fame can ruin people. Oh, and how can you put Jenna Fischer in a movie and not let her do anything? I mean, come on, she was sleeping with the director. What's a girl got to do to get a decent role?

A lot of comedies and spoofy movies come apart at the end, so I was really impressed that this one managed to culminate with an incredibly creepy and funny scene that also managed to be kinda sweet. They also did a great job of sidestepping expectations and delivering some real surprises.


Veteran character-actor Michael Rooker turns into a giant squid-type monster. What more do you want out of a movie?

Once: Pretty music

I really liked Once, even if it's not much of a movie. It mainly serves as a platform for Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová to make beautiful music together (for the record, that's a single entendre). The plot almost seems like an afterthought. I mean, the main characters don't even have names, for Christ's sake. If you don't fall in love with these performers you will hate this movie. Fortunately, they're pretty hard to resist.


Ah Ireland, how I long for your beautiful scenery and your homely people.