Carnival of Souls

Part of the list of public domain films that are unwanted by production companies and government alike, this film is among one of the best in that whole pile of 'rejects' of the film world. This is typically one of the films you see lying around in a bargain bin in a department store on Halloween. But, it is true there is always a few gems in that pile of rubble. It was one of the films featured on a DVD collection disk along with Attack of the Giant Leeches, The Bat, and BLoody Pit of Horror, I think. It didn't sound as if it would stand out from the others or not so I just watched them all in order and ended up enjoying it the most.

Following up from a tragic car accident, Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss), moves to Salt Lake City to be an organist for the local church. Mary is strangely attracted to this old abandoned carnival that sits on the outskirts of town. Driving to town as she passes the pavilion to be stopped by this ghoulish figure (The Man, played by director Herk Harvey) who has his eyes totally fixated on her. This figure becomes the main protagonist in the woman's life as he constantly keeps reappearing at any given moment in her reflection and gradually doesn't confine itself to reflection but manifests into plain view. Her emotions fling from one to another having control over the situation being dismissive of anything supernatural and at other times frightened of the unknown and looks at a scientific possibility to the matter. All while the carnival sets within the twilight and beckons at her to come.

Like any film of it's time it's easy to point out film flaws of continuity, repetitiveness, or jumps in film cuts but, it's a truly brilliant piece of work. It's a great classic for the month of October along with hundreds of other essentials for the occasion. The film is all about atmosphere, the whole eerie and macabre presence the film emits from the screen is piercing and just something to cringe about it's so creepy. The ghouls that are depicted in the film have sort of a Gothic sense to them in means of scare factor, meaning it's not a lot of over the top horror it's more or less just a very strange type film that gives you the willies. Worthy enough to get a Criterion release believe it or not, the film is a cult classic and for good reason. I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan of older horror films. Oh, and by the way, Legend released a color version of the film, fuck that, this film was meant for the black and white medium.

trailer

whole film

The Dark Knight

Does this film really need an introduction? Seeing the trailer for the first time of this film was the same reaction as everyone else, "Holy fucking shit!" The thing that I find most shocking is that when I first saw the trailer for Batman Begins I wasn't as exciting as seeing this one. It was just executed so magnificently. The first one was really good but, this film was like dynamite fishing. Batman has always been a dark story very grim. Burton's two versions of the film were very dark and very Tim Burton-ish. They were cartoony and had their own type of dark style to them. Still extraordinary films but, there has always been that demon lying underneath the skin of Batman's story just waiting to be exorcised into the natural world. Christopher Nolan has done the best job I think anyone has done to the story of Batman outside the graphic novels they're loosely based on. The fact that this film was coming out just made you look forward to something in life if you had nothing to look forward to. And sadly, it was the zenith of actor Heath Ledger's short career due to his overdose. Heath had just done Brokeback Mountain and I' Not There even was to be in the new Terry Gilliam film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. This film was a phenomenon among films everywhere and the perfect super hero film and nothing I believe will ever have the ability to out do it for a long, long time to come.

Unwanted vigilante Batman, secret identity billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) lurks the streets of Gotham City preying on the corrupt, wicked, and evil that run rampant in the city. Since his last escapade, Batman has been on the trail of of a new menace to the society known only as the Joker (Heath Ledger), who has been stealing millions of dollars from the Gotham City mobsters. Mean while a new District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) has partnered up with Detective Gordon (Gary Oldman), to bring down the crime rampage in the city by means of court justice. The Joker begins a series of of pre-emptive strikes against Dent, Gordon, and Batman in means to set up more devastating chaotic means of mayhem to unleash upon the city. While Batman deals with the weight load of Gotham's future on his shoulders, Bruce Wayne has to deal with Wayne Enterprises whom he's left in charges of Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) the new relationship between Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and her new boyfriend, Harvey Dent. Bruce seeks moral help from his friend and butler, Alfred (Michael Caine) on both Bruce Wayne situations and Batman's. Struggling with both life styles between being Batman and Bruce Wayne, Wayne is forced into endless fiasco's which lead him to have to come to many life alternating decisions in life which could cost him the life of others or his own.

The film was nothing short of perfect. Well developed story line, well thought out. Marvellous acting, eye popping action sequences, minimal CGI, amazing cinematography, all around ideal film. There wasn't a boring moment in the entire episode and it didn't try to cram so much into one two hour and thirty minute reel of film. Every moment of it was executed to make every second last a lifetime. The film got a lot of criticism from the typical soccer type mother with the typical complaints about it being too violent for their little children. This isn't your Adam West Batman, they should know. But, what's a film without a little criticism? The case of the film being too violent wasn't held onto long because of the huge box office that the film raked in. And regardless adults and kids enjoyed it both equally. The story was compelling enough to not bore someone of an older age and exciting enough to keep the attention of a little child glued to the screen (as if that's hard nowadays). The film tackled the the classic issue in the super hero tale of choosing which side to be. Bruce must choose his life as Batman or Bruce Wayne and in truth it should never really become a definite decision. But, at least that struggle remained a constant factor throughout the entire length of the film. It has little plot thickening ingredients to make the film more emotional, it let us in on a few secrets that some of the characters will never know in the film so that gives us the feeling that we're now a part of the story line in a way. And who will ever forget that star studded performance by Ledger as the worlds number one villain, the Joker? Cult figure to the max. The ideal villain in any case, wants nothing more than to watch things burn up. No desire, no pleasure, no moral, just sheer chaos. I, as many others, only regret that his character will never be reprised and if reprised will never again be as filling as the performance Ledger did. Sadly, acting legend Jack Nicholson was furious at the fact Ledger was playing the Joker which is saddening since Jack is a giant in the acting world but, I guess Nicholson is known for that behavior as well.

trailer

Big Fish

A spectacle that I didn't know about until about a week or more after it's initial release. A group of friends and I were talking at the lunch table and everyone was mentioning Big Fish and I had no clue so I asked and they said it was Tim Burton's new film. So, soon there after ward my friend Martin and I, went to see it at the Toccoa Big FishTriple Cinema and when we were in there we ended up being the only ones. Toccoa is a shit hole nowadays for those who are unaware. It was something that I had no idea what it was about, I'm just a fan of Tim Burton so I look forward to seeing anything he does. I liked seeing it with no one else except one person in the room it kind of makes me feel like it's a special screening of the film in a way. Plus, you don't have to hear anyone else's dumb ass comments. I think the last thing Burton had done was the Planet of the Apes remake which looked good but, it wasn't such a good film some had thought. So, I'm sure a lot of people were sort of sceptical towards his next plunge into film. After I finished this film my eyes were wet with joy.

Big Fish is a beautiful film that follows the many tall tales of, Ed Bloom (Albert Finney-Senior, Ewin McGregor-Young), which explains a specific reason as of to why some things are how they now or, how they happened in his own personal perspective. The stories range everywhere from the birth of his son, to the meeting of his wife, to the hundreds of people he had met on his travels, from the time he was growing up, and times during war. His son, Will (Billy Crudup), has listened to his fathers false stories his whole life and for once would like to know 'the truth' for the sheer fact that his father is nearing his final days. The harder Will tries to get the truth from his father, his father stand by is story as the solemnly sworn truth and doesn't back down from his word. Will continues to believe his father is a liar and tries to piece together the truth on his own but, slowly starts to realize the man that his father really was which he never was able to know until now.

The film is my second favorite construction by Burton next to Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It's a one of the most beautifully thought out story lines from a very unlikely, yet equally imaginative director. The cast ranges all the way from Danny Devito, Steve Buscemi, Jessica Lange, Matthew McGrory, and Helena Bonham Carter. The name is nothing short of a oxymoron to the old saying a fish gets bigger every time you tell the story about how big the fish was and that is the best way to describe the character, Ed Bloom. The man starts telling the tales so much he becomes them. It to me is a gorgeous concept challenging the idea of why does all everything have to be so boring when you tell the story? A story is only as exciting as important it was to you and Ed Bloom made clear that every single moment in life was important and it was as exciting to him as it was to the people that listened to the stories he thought up to go along with them.

trailer