Furious on Film 12.24.09: One More Time Around

Posted by Arnold Furious on 12.24.2009

Looking back at Indy & Batman and looking forward with Jim Cameron

Furious on Film 159: One More Time Around

Looking back at Indy & Batman and looking forward with Jim Cameron

Originally I was planning on writing about re-visiting movies and the effect it has on them with two specific examples that I'd like to talk about later. But then I went to see Avatar and I had to change everything. Much like Jim Cameron had to change everything in order to make his dream movie. Hey, it's Cameron, I owe him. My teenage years would have been significantly less fun without Aliens and Terminator 2. James Cameron knows what I like and delivers it to me. The hype surrounding Avatar made me feel the urge to go and make a special trip into Birmingham. Normally I watch movies at Rubery. Bog standard screen. Not a pleasant cinema and multiplex nightmare. No character or personality. Not that I crave the ‘good old days' of watching movies at Redditch where the floors were so sticky you'd have to keep moving around in order to avoid getting stuck to the same spot. It also smelt like rolling tobacco and sex.

These are not the viewing arrangements that James Cameron would want anyone to see Avatar in. So it was off to the IMAX. Now, I've seen three movies in IMAX cinemas. The first was a long time ago when IMAX was just a baby. I think it was called "River Song" or something like that and it followed the Colorado River up the Grand Canyon. It was pretty amazing at the time. The second was Polar Express, which is infinitely more fun with 3-D special effects. The audience was "oohing" and "aahing". This would also be the only 3-D picture I've seen on a big screen. Mainly because Rubery doesn't screen stuff in 3-D. At least not that I've heard of. So Avatar would be my third IMAX movie and my second 3-D film. It would be fair to say I've seen a few movies in my time and I'm not easily blown away. But everyone in that cinema sat there for 2 ½ hours with their jaws on the floor. Occasionally a shot appeared that genuinely made someone say "wow". You don't get enough "wow" in today's modern cynical society.



If there's one thing I love about HD is that everything is in focus. I don't get too amazed by being able to see people's muscles or sweat, although that's cool and everything, but sometimes a filmmaker includes a shot specifically a show what HD is capable of. And there's one in Avatar where Sam Worthington's character is walking through a forest and the camera is behind him. You can see the bushes on the ground brushing past camera and then it pans up and there's this huge canopy way overhead. It's all in sharp focus. And this is just a total throwaway shot. Later in the film there's a massive aerial battle. It's a thing of beauty. The first time Cameron gets the pace going at breakneck speed is with Worthington's alien host body is being chased by one of the local beasts and there's such a sense of panic and horror that it was a sensory overload. I had to close my eyes and give my brain a momentary rest. Avatar isn't just a movie. It's an experience. I strongly urge everyone out there to go and see it on an IMAX screen. It just won't be the same on DVD. Even on Blu-Ray.



Images don't do Avatar justice. Go to your nearest IMAX immediately!

Earlier on this week I went and did something stupid. I revisited Batman. Now, I'm well aware that Tim Burton's comic book double shot hasn't aged in a particularly robust fashion. I'm also well aware that Jack Nicholson's performance as the Joker has been made to look cartoonish and ridiculous by Heath Ledger's amazing performance as the Joker in Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight. But I didn't realise how rough Batman would feel after all these years. It was so bad, in fact, I had to stop watching it and change the channel. Now Burton's original decision to return to Batman's Gothic roots was what re-shaped the public's opinion of the character. It's the fond memory people have of him. I find people generally try and ignore when a character becomes a laughing stock in favour of better memories. So they forget Joel Schumacher exists and think about Burton's Batman. Or as it should be now; Nolan's Batman. Because Burton's Batman, despite its quotability, has aged horribly. The performances are lacking in subtlety. They lack characterisation. They're comic book characters. 1-D. Cameron would hate it. He'd be missing at least 2-D's. And the biggest culprit in all of this is an out-of-control Jack Nicholson who steals every scene he's in by chewing the scenery and failing to make a connection with the other characters.



Jack Nicholson has, on a few occasions, been guilty of slipping into Big Jack. The overacting just takes him over and he destroys all before him. In Batman it ruins the film. And people were saying "you'll never have a better Joker than Nicholson". Shit, if only we'd realised how puerile and thin the performance really was. It wasn't until Ledger turned up and transformed the whole idea of playing a psychotic comic book character that the penny dropped. Look at Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever. He saw Jack in Batman and decided to mimic the performance. He's terrible. Schwarzenegger in Batman and Robin. It's embarrassing. And essentially Jack Nicholson is to blame. No, that's not fair. I can't hate Jack. We're to blame. We were too accepting of something that was fundamentally wrong. And we spent too long enjoying his moments of seriousness that made the Joker rather than the moments of goofy laughter and noises and facial ticks that made him a joke. It might as well have been Cesar Romero up there.

Also this week I wanted to re-watch Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I saw it at the cinema and haven't seen it since. My initial reaction was that I enjoyed Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford's performance, but not much else. Knowing this I could fully sit back and enjoy seeing a favourite character one more time. And Harrison Ford just slips right back into the familiar. The hat, the whip and the attitude. "You're a teacher?" "Part time". I'd forgotten that amongst the horrors of Spielberg's folly there was a great character carrying on his legacy. Forget the CGI gophers, the stupid ending and all the alien artefacts nonsense. Just enjoy Crystal Skull for the thing it was designed for; Indy. The distractions of a storyline that too frequently drops into ludicrous can actually be ignored. Watch Indy as he talks to Mutt Williams in Peru. Spitting after the name of a hated enemy, talking about Sancho Panza and telling Shia that if you love something you should do it. Every word is comes with a lifetime of experience. There are things to treasure in this film. Unfortunately I've soured somewhat on the action sequences, which seem a little shaky on the small screen. And I couldn't bring myself to watch the ending again. George Lucas is guilty of trying to create something so big that it's suitable for Indy to explore. But Indy doesn't need to go after something big. He IS the something big. And I'm shocked that George Lucas didn't realise this.



Oh, and speaking of re-visiting movies and George Lucas being utterly useless as a filmmaker; check out this YouTube review of The Phantom Menace. I guess I was so caught up in it being Star Wars that I missed all the gaping plot holes. But this guy didn't. The thing is in 7 parts and runs to over an hour but it is essential viewing. Many thanks to George Sirois for pointing me in the direction of it.



CHAN-TASTIC – Two for One!



The wife and I both enjoy the movies of Jackie Chan. I've seen a LOT of Chan movies over the years but I continue to be amazed at just how many there actually are. So I'll be trying to take a look at one Jackie Chan movie every week for you lucky people. This week however I have two. This week's Jackie Chan movies are…

Project A Parts 1 & 2



Project A from 1983 is one of Jackie's most important movies. After his first stint in American cinema (Cannonball Run and Battle Creek Brawl) he went back to Hong Kong and worked on films in his old style. In particular Dragon Lord is really very good. But Jackie wanted to expand his repertoire. So in 1983 he made two movies. One is Winners and Sinners where he has a minor role as a cop behind Sammo Hung's main crew of "sinners". The other is Project A where Jackie is up front and centre as the star of the show. Project A took all Jackie Chan's brilliant stuntwork and crazy martial arts skills and transplanted it from the usual rural locations to a more modern world (same with Winners and Sinners). Something that Battle Creek Brawl had attempted to do. It made Jackie far more relevant to modern audiences. Instead of using old fashioned kung-fu training techniques and different fighting styles to woo the audience he was throwing all sorts of stunts out there for them to enjoy. Some of the fight scenes in Project A establish many of Jackie's favourite tools of the trade; chairs & tables for one (not to mention staircases, balconies and canopies). His love of restaurant brawls comes to the fore in Project A. Also stunts involving moving vehicles. You don't get a lot of that in his earlier films where the action takes place in a time before moving vehicles. In Project A there's an awesome chase scene with Jackie on a bicycle.

Project A sees Jackie as a member of the Hong Kong navy dealing with a lethal pirate crew who've been ransacking boats outside of Hong Kong. The film reunites the trio of Jackie, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. It's established during the course of Project A that although the main enemy is the pirates Jackie's navy buddies aren't too fond of the Hong Kong police department. When we get into Project A Part 2 that concept is explored further.



The second film is missing both Sammo and Yuen Biao but Jackie makes considerably more effort with a complex plot. Pitting revolutionaries, the navy, the cops, the pirates and the establishment against each other, not to mention Chinese agents. Jackie directs himself along with Maggie Cheung, Rosamund Kwan and the ever reliable Bill Tung. It shows that Jackie has a love of not only martial arts but also cinema. There's one scene that's a direct homage to the classic Buster Keaton movie Steamboat Bill Jr. You might not know the title but I'm sure you'll know the scene. It's the one where the front of a house falls on Keaton and he manages to go through a window and remain unscathed. Not only are the direct links obvious but also Jackie's love of the farce. In one scene Rosamund Kwan has a series of gentlemen callers. Each one doesn't want to be discovered by the next caller. By the time bad guy David Lam comes calling there are two guys under different beds, two in the closet and another two upstairs. Project A Part 2 is a much slower film than the first but when you get into the crazy action towards the end all that is forgotten. Both films are great entertainment. But what else would expect from Jackie Chan?

Merry Christmas folks.

Until next time I'm Arnold Furious…and you're not.