Damn. I wish my eyes could see the world the way Terrence Malick’s movies visualize it. I don’t want to come off as corny right off the bat but watching his movies, well the only intelligent way I can put it is that shit is like watching a moving painting. I get blown away by each frame. Here’s the trailer to his next movie The Tree of Life.
I get a very Thin Red Line-esque (that’s right I make up words on this) vibe from this first trailer. I have no problem with that. I love The Thin Red Line. When it comes to contemporary war movies people usually fall into three categories: Saving Private Ryan people, Black Hawk Down people, and people like me who don’t shut the hell up about The Thin Red Line.
The Thin Red Line was a huge deal when it first came out. It’d been twenty years since Malick had made a movie and every actor around wanted to be in on this one. Go back and look at the cast of The Thin Red Line. Everybody is in that movie. I’m at the point now when I watch it I’m just looking to see who’s not in it. Like how is Billy Crudup not in TTRL? If I was Billy Crudup and I was watching TTRL on a lazy Sunday afternoon sitting on my couch butt naked and blue in my Watchmen makeup I’d be like, “Am I in this movie? Jesus Christ aka Jim Caviezel is in this, Adrien Brody’s in this movie, there’s John C. Reilly, John Travolta, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Nick Nolte’s sweaty forehead veins. Damn! Casey Jones from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie is in this! Am I in this? Why am I not in this?”
Talk to that Criterion Collection blu-ray if you haven’t yet. It’s fantastic. It’s a a great way to see the movie for the first time and the bonus features do as good a job as I’ve seen on Malick’s movie making process.
*Spoiler alert, according to everyone who worked on TTRL Malick’s way of making movies is: 1)Genius oozes out of him. 2) He makes a lot of it up as he goes along.
Damn, I said all of that and I’m supposed to be talking about The Tree of Life. You’re going to get everything in this first trailer that you’ve come to expect from Malick. Voice overs, eye candy galore, and visions of space that I haven’t seen since the last time I did acid and was convinced tacos were the key to life’s answers. Sign me up! It stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain (her last name should be Chastity. Don’t ask me why but it should.) The Tree of Life opens on May 27, 2011. You’ll be wondering what the hell it was about on May 28th.
After the Showa series ran its course with 1975’sTerror of Mechagodzilla, the Godzilla franchise went on a long hiatus until 1984’s relaunch, Godzilla (known here as Godzilla 1985).The movie was praised for its return to the darker themes of the early films but was criticized for its often ponderous tone and its lack of a monster opponent for the Big G.It would be another five years before the new Heisei, or versus series, would resume in earnest with Godzilla vs. Biollante, a movie that is notable for its remarkably unique and imaginative creature design, introduction of new “hard” science fiction elements, and often bizarre plot.
Biollante begins in the aftermath of the previous movie, as scientists are sifting through the rubble of Godzilla’s most recent attack on Tokyo and pulling out bits of the monster’s biological material from the debris.Godzilla vs. Biollante introduces a element into the series through its biotech subplot.In the Showa movies, Godzilla’s biology had not been given much attention, but in the 1990’s and 2000’s it is a recurring theme.In the 1980’s, the use and ethics of biotechnology and genetics was a huge issue.Biollante was actually released the same year as Michael Crichton’s landmark sci-fi novel, Jurassic Park, which also featured the application of biotech as one of its main themes.
Much of the human activity in the movie concerns the quest to obtain and use the Godzilla cell samples by different factions.This is actually kind of a cool idea, and if there had been a Godzilla attack, you can bet that lots of people would like to get their hands on his samples to use for their own ends.Researcher Dr. Shiragami, mourns the loss of his young daughter in a terrorist attack and spends much of his time looking into psychic phenomena, especially the psychic properties of roses (Um, whaaa?).One of his students is Miki Saegusa, a psychic who develops a bond with Godzilla.Miki becomes a fixture in the later Heisei movies, which feature a fairly tight continuity.
Meanwhile, Dr. Shiragami has come into possession of some Godzilla cells and has been tasked with using them to create a weapon to be used against Godzilla.Unbeknownst to his employers, Shiragami has been combining them with both the DNA of one of his psychic roses and that of his dead daughter (WTF?!), needless to say this does not end up well, and the resulting creature, Biollante, escapes into a nearby lake and grows to an enormous size.Biollante is a genetic relative of Godzilla and begins calling him to her.When the King of the Monsters arrives, the two have a skirmish, and Biollante is apparently defeated.
Godzilla then makes his way to the nearest nuclear power plant (as is his wont) he faces an all out attack from the humans, who unsuccessfully attempt to use Shiragami’s weapon against him.A fully-grown Biollante also appears, and battles Godzilla, nearly destroying him, before he triumphs and heads to sea.Biollante releases spores which briefly form into an image of Shiragami’s daughter and then head out into space(!?).
THE MONSTER/EFFECTS
First, Biollante features a new look for Godzilla and one that stayed fairly consistent throughout the 1990’s.The Biollante suit remains an iconic look for the character and one that is beloved by many fans.Strangely, it adds features that are actually less reptilian, such as a set of mammalian specialized teeth instead of the fangs or jagged teeth of past suits, an almost feline face, topped with what look like cornrows, and small, intelligent eyes.Apparently, this Goji has been doing push-ups, because he has a more muscular upper body, with pronounced pectorals and deltoids (the lower body is still flabby though).
The real star, however, is Biollante herself, who is totally unique in the history Godzilla monsters.This is the rare instance of Toho forgoing the usual man-in-suit technique and opting for a different approach to bring its monster to life.Biollante, in her final form, looks like a giant Audrey 2 from Hell and actually dwarfs Godzilla in comparison.She is a genuinely horrible monster and not at all goofy-looking, as many other Toho monsters are.Her “body” is sort of bulbous with a luminescent potbelly, crisscrossed with sinewy vines . She moves on a bed of tentacle-like vines, many of which end in toothy jaws. On her back are mossy scales. Half of her body is taken up by an absolutely huge and croc-like mouth, which is full of teeth, even on the base and roof of the mouth, and from which she sprays a radioactive sap.She is definitely one of the most original and compelling monsters to have appeared in a Toho movie.
As a Toho monster, Biollante is part of a long line Godzilla clones, demi-Godzillas, usurpers, and wanna-bes that include, the original Mechagodzilla, Spacegodzilla, and Orga (from Godzilla 2000).Even the American Godzilla has been worked into the mythos as a pretender with his reference in Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah and finally his appearance in Godzilla Final Wars. In GMK, poor Baragon, is temporarily confused with Godzilla and it doesn’t end well for him.If there is a real theme to the Godzilla franchise, is that there can only ever be one Godzilla, and you’d better not even try to replace him.
MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE
The battle at the end is quite good, and represents a rare moment where Goji is truly outmatched by an opponent.
SEQUELS
Followed by the also interesting, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.
Sadly, this is Biollante’s sole appearance in a Godzilla movie.She does appear in the recent Wii game, Godzilla Unleashed as a playable character.And Shiragami appears in the cutscenes as well.
HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY
In the DVD and Bluray age, Godzilla vs. Biollante has been pretty much unavailable in the USA.With no official DVD release, it is necessary to order it as an import or wait for the movie’s eventual release on Bluray. As of yet, only the very first Godzilla has been released on Bluray and the 1998 remake. If Toho and Columbia follow suit with what they did last time, you can expect most of the catalog to be released on Bluray with the new American movie in 2012.
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Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
twitter.com/patrickgarone
facebook.com/cityofthegodsnovel
The shocking twist ending ofPlanet of the Apesdidn't exactly loan itself to a sequel but that didn't stop the powers that be at Fox from churning one out and creating a "franchise" that would set the stage later film series like Star Wars.The Apes sequels are a pretty diverse lot and, truth be told, it is one of the weakest and least original entries to the series.The first half of the movie is basically a retread of Planet of the Apes and the latter half is a bizarre visit to the remains of New York City and the psychic mutants which inhabit it.
Charlton Heston was not hot on doing a sequel but was talked into appearing so long as his role was scaled back to a cameo and his character Taylor was killed off at the end.The movie begins at the iconic conclusion of POTA and we follow Taylor and Nova into the Forbidden Zone where they come across some strange phenomena.Heston's character disappears and the rest of the movie is a search for him.To replace the Taylor character the writers came up with Brent, portrayed by mini-Heston, James Franciscus.Brent is an astronaut sent in search of Taylor who, improbably, passes through the same freak time warp which ensnared the crew of Taylor's ship.
While the first movie had some serious socio-political themes embedded into the story, in Beneath they seem a little forced and superficial.The Ape society as depicted in Beneath is highly divided between the chimpanzee "intellectuals" and the militaristic gorillas lead by the new character, General Ursus.Ursus seeks to lead a gorilla squad into the Forbidden Zone to confront the mysterious forces that have been observed there and any humans that they may encounter because, "the only good human, is a dead human." This whole subplot is a pretty ham-handed commentary on the Vietnam war, complete with chimpanzee peace protesters.The political angle in Beneath the Planet of the Apes lacks the wit and cleverness of the original.
Ursus, is the first in a long line of warrior gorillas in the movies. Even the Tim Burton remake carried on this tradition. In the original movie, however, the gorillas were depicted as laborers.
What is present in the sequel is a rather weird and subversive commentary on religion.There are two belief systems present in the movie: that of the apes, who worship a long dead messianic figure that they refer to as The Lawgiver and that of the mutants who worship a super-powerful doomsday missile.The religion of the apes is presented as a superficial and ineffective control system(Ursus barely tolerates sitting through a service) while the beliefs of the mutants presented as absurd and perverse.
Preparing for services at Our Lady of Perpetual Nuclear Destruction.
The other important point in talking about Beneath is the ending, in which Taylor blows up da earf, continuing/establishing a tradition in the Planet of the Apes movies for shocking or downbeat endings.I suppose there is no way to top the amazing ending of the first movie (although Tim Burton tried) so the writers just decided to go for destructive finality.Plus Heston wanted to have his character killed off.It is a pretty shocking ending, but one that is in character for the misanthropic Taylor.The funny thing is that there is not even music over the credits, just silence.I can imagine the slack-jawed, horrified reactions of audience members when the movie played in the 1970's: ominous silence, and then the sound of little boys afraid to cry.No wonder the next movie was a gentle fish-out-of-water comedy (well, with a shocking and traumatic ending).
But first you may want to catch a show while you are in town with the Ben Nye Dancers.
THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS
Sequels often operate under the economic principal of diminishing returns, that is each successive installment will bring in less money than it's predecessor.This is not really the case these days, unless you are talking about a series that is purely a money-making enterprise.Apes was a pioneering franchise that paved the way for all of the trilogies and sequels that would pop up in the '80's and beyond.Unfortunately, the producers of these movies were still operating under the old fashioned idea that each movie would make less and less money, and therefore should cost less to make.In Beneath, you can really see this in the decline in quality in the makeup.While the main characters, Cornelius, Zera, Zaius and Ursus, are given decent treatments, many of the background-and not-so-background-apes are given awful pullover masks with unarticulated mouths like something from Troll 2.
Ursus and Zaius even have a steam bath scene (!?) in which both actors wear some really bad full body monkey costumes.This is a pretty strong argument for keeping things concealed.No one was clamoring to see Dr.Zaius without his shirt on.
A lot of attention was payed to the newly introduced mutant characters who wear rubber masks to conceal their skinless faces.The mutants are irradiated humans who have developed psychic powers including telepathy, the ability to mind control humans to produce visions. These guys have some cool make up to give them that "invisible man" effect but are otherwise kind of goofy.
MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE
Beneath the Planet of the Apes features some impressive sets.There is a great scene in the middle of the movie where Brent stumbles upon the ruins of a New York subway station.The last third of the movie is set among these dilapidated urban underground settings.
SEQUELS
Escape From Planet of the Apes
HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY
Widely available in a variety of really good formats.Can usuallybe found in one of the many Apes boxed sets, the best of which is the exhaustive Bluray set, which is complete with a book and an interactive documentary. The DVD set is quite good also.
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Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
twitter.com/patrickgarone
facebook.com/cityofthegodsnovel
