Woot

I turn 30 today. I am still stuck in a dead end retail job. My life is definitely still not where I want it to be. I have worked to try to change that but I haven’t had much luck. Well, at least I still have this blog, right? Well, yes and no. You see, I am usually so mentally drained at the end of my work shift every day that I can’t summon enough energy to think, let alone make a coherent blog post. I’m not going to bitch about my life for the rest of this blog post however, I’m gonna talk about movies. ‘Cause that’s what this blog was set up for.

So what am I gonna do for my birthday blog post? Well, at first I thought I might review a movie that came out the same day that I did – April 30th, 1982 (my birthday was on a Friday). But the only film I could find was a crappy comedy movie starring John Hurt called Partners. However, not only is this movie considered an execrable piece of garbage (not even in the good MST3K kind of way) by most who have viewed it, it’s not available on DVD and is really hard to find even on VHS. So I nixed that idea.

 Then I thought I could do a movie comparison between two cop movies that I saw for the first time recently – Dirty Harry (1971) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984). You, know, compare/contrast, analysis, talk about which one I liked better (Dirty Harry)… the usual. But you know what? I realized something while watching both. On the surface, Dirty Harry is a more realistic gritty thriller while Beverly Hills Cop is a less realistic comedy/action movie.

Although I do see how it may be difficult to see a difference.

But at their core, these two movies are the same – they are both fantasy films. Fantasy films do not have to involve magic or the supernatural or even anything recognizably “fantastic.” They are exactly what their title suggests – a fantasy being played out on the screen for the benefit of the audience. James Bond movies are fantasy movies because the males in the audience get to watch their fantasies being reenacted – fast cars, scantily clad babes with ridiculous names, fighting sharks, or what have you (personally, I have always had this weird desire to fight a huge Asian man with a killer steel-rimmed hat). Romantic Comedies are almost tailor-made for the female audience members. And Harry and BHC are also fantasy movies – they are Cop Fantasy Movies.


Dirty Harry may seem more “gritty” and “realistic” on the surface, what with all of the brutal violence and a sadistic serial killer and whatnought, but there are still shootouts! And Harry gets to jump onto a bus from a bridge! And give snappy one-liners!

"Freeze or I'll shoot you!  No... not cool enough.  Okay, how about...."

You see, if they made a movie about what it’s really like to track down a serial killer, it would probably be too boring for a general audience – it would probably resemble a "Frontline" documentary. Too much investigative work, too much questioning followed by a brief shootout and apprehension. So this Clint Eastwood movie is really a (mostly right-wing) fantasy for all of the male audience members who want to gun down psychopathic killers and play cowboy cop. Now that’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the film (I did) or that there is some real drama (the whole fair process/criminal’s rights thing that could have been expanded on). It’s just at the end of the day I have to call a spade and spade and recognize this movie for what it is.

Which is a charming movie about a  heartwarming school field trip.

Beverly Hills Cop is much more blatant. In American cinema by 1984 all of the relative subtlety and nuance of the seventies had been replaced with over-the-top and completely nonrealistic antics. Look, I know that BHC is supposed to be comedy, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be a cartoon. The police chief YELLS at Axel (yelling in cop movies always makes it more DRAMATIC!)! Axel is THROWN through a window!

Thown through modern Plexiglass... that's a good trick!

Axel SMASHES UP a rich-person buffet! And gets away with it! It’s all very cartoony and very unrealistic. Any police officer acting like Eddie Murphy does in this movie would be an ex-police officer after about 3 seconds. Being a comedy is no excuse… there are police comedies that are funny while having their characters not be completely and unrealistically “maverick” – the Rowan Atkinson TV show “The Thin Blue Line” comes to mind.

And you know what else I realized? Almost ALL movies are fantasy films of some sort. Very few are focused on real drama. I figure it this way – if you are watching a movie and are attaining some form of wish fulfillment then what you are watching is a fantasy. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I don’t think that every film needs to be a heavy drama, or a straight-up comedy. It’s just that I think people need to be more honest and accurate with their labels. For example, I am probably going to see The Avengers when it comes out, and I have no illusions about what it is. It is a fantasy film.

Oh, and the verdict on Dirty Harry and Beverly Hills Cop? I liked Dirty Harry although I thought it could have used some more ideological balance. It does pose some interesting questions about law enforcement and civil rights although (like I said) the emphasis is more on Harry’s attempts to catch the obviously EEEEVIL Scorpio. Beverly Hills Cop is two shades shy of a cartoon (like most Hollywood movies of the Eighties)

I.e., any movie where it's this obvious who the villain is.

but it’s not even that good, or even that funny. If you want a funny Eddie Murphy movie get Trading Places or Coming to America, or even Shrek.




P.S. I see that Google has "updated" Blogger - I guess now I really *do* have to post more....

Bah Humbug... What The Hell Is A Humbug, Anyway?

Christmas movies suck.  I said this in my first Halloween movie post and it's still true.  When you have a movie centered around one day of the year it's kind of hard to have it be relevant the other 364 days, right?  Only Halloween and Valentine's Day have movies from two preexisting genres and don't need films dedicated solely to them.

So is there any hope for movies with a Christmasy theme?  Sure, I guess.  For one, Jesus Movies, since Christmas was originally a holiday celebrating his birthday some two thousand odd years ago (it has since mutated into something almost unrecognizable from it's original intent).  But Biblical Epics can be watched year round so I guess they don't count as Christmas movies per se.

The other option is a film connected only vaguely with Christmas, say with the whole holiday season as nothing more than a setting and backdrop.  A film like the one I'm going to do a really tiny movie review on today.  Why tiny?  'Cause I'm full of turkey and cookies and feeling bombed out.  So brace yourself for a mini mini review of

This just might be my favorite holiday movie – even though it's not even that great of a flick – because it's not really a "holiday movie" at all.  It's really a comedy movie that just happens to take place around Christmas.  Oh, and we do get to see Dan Aykroyd in a sleazy Santa outfit but that's about it.  It's about two men – one rich, one poor – played by the aforementioned Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy who involuntarily switch social places due to a bet by two malevolent millionaires over nature vs nurture.

   
The setup is intriguing, the story is good and the comedy when it works is gold.  Eddie Murphy makes a great early impression with some great delivery ("Motherfucker? Moi?") and some great chemistry with Aykroyd who is also great here (I have always held that Dan Aykroyd was the greatest actor of the original SNL cast if not the greatest comedian, more on that below).  Jamie Lee Curtis and Denholm Elliot also make good turns in supporting roles and the villains are also played very ably by Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy.

The film succeeds in spite of, and not because of director John Landis, whose direction is merely competant but never compelling.  There are a few moments in the movie that I admit would be better with some better editing or pacing.  It's strange that Landis is famous for being a comedy director (in addition to, you know, being an irresponsible, homicidal fuckhead) when his movies are funny because of the efforts of other people, not him.  Animal House, his one true gift to cinema succeeds solely because of the manic energy and awesome performance of John Belushi (who was the pure funniest of the original SNL cast even if he was not as nuanced and agile a comedian as Aykroyd).  His other good (but not great) movies The Blues Brothers, Coming To America and this one succeed only because of the talents of the writers and the three performers already mentioned – Aykroyd, Belushi and Murphy.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this mini mini review.  Sleep beckons and it's been the end of an eventful day.  Don't let the preceding paragraph fool you... Trading Places is a pretty good, funny comedy flick and I recommend it highly.  I will try to post something next week for New Year's but I make no promises.


Nighty night.