Brazil

And this week's Friday Night movie has been... Brazil!

Original image located here. Accessed 10th March 2023

Lets talk about Terry Gilliam for a moment.
For me there are two sides to Terry Gilliam. One is the member of Monty Python. the other is the filmmaker. And while I am certainly familiar with the former, it is the latter that is alien to me. From the outset, Terry Gillian is a filmmaker that makes bizarre movies that tend to be box office flops.
Still, I have seen two films of his: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (which is still funny no matter how times I've seen it) and 12 Monkeys (which baffled teenage me). So let us take a look at one of Terry's best known movies then, shall we?

Watching this movie it soon becomes clear that this is not the most comprehensible thing in the world. The plot is indeed confusing and semes to take many hard turns that it is difficult to keep up.
But really let's be honest: the film's strengths are in it's visuals, conveying a dystopian society loaded with jabs at bureaucracy and an oppressive atmosphere. The art direction is incredible, what with towering cityscapes and many crazy devices of varying usefulness. There certainly is a business to this film with a lot going on and little details that are one can't help but pick up on them.
So yeah, what this movie lack in plot engagement it more than makes up for it in creativity and some truly dark humour. It's like 1984 if George Orwell took a lot more acid
Perhaps I should explore more of Terry Gilliam's oeuvre....

Angel's Egg

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Angel's Egg!

Original image located here. Accessed 25th November 2022

This past couple of months I have been watching really lesser known movies - and no doubt confusing my audience in the process. So I did consider watching something more well known but then, for whatever reason, I changed my mind.
So we head back to the anime well to tackle this movie. Now I knew of this movie as it has a reputation with anime fans in that a) it was an early effort from director Mamoru Oshii (the man who would later give us Patlabor 1 & 2 and Ghost in the Shell), b) it is something more of an art piece than a movie and c) is near incomprehensible. Still, I'm game.

And it would seem that this movie's reputation is well deserved. Sure the animation is impressive and the art direction is stunning, but there is a lot of symbolism being put to work here - and one can understand how it may be off-putting. It should be noted that, in regards to this movie's puzzling nature, it was built around a loss of faith. And there is certainly a lot of Christian symbolism throughout this movie although whether or not it works is anyone's guess (it should be noted that Oshii himself still seems puzzled by the finished product). Personally, this is certainly a visually striking movie but what one gets out of it is up to them.
As for next week? I think I have exhausted this run of lesser known movies - so i think i will go for something more familiar..

Ran

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Ran!

Original image located here. Accessed 17th June 2022

Anyone heard of this? This was a Japanese movie from 1985, directed by the legendary Akira Kurosawa.
Akira Kurosawa. Any film geek worth their salt knows the name. The man who announced Japanese cinema to the rest of the world. The man who gave us the Seven Samurai and inspired a whole trope in it's wake. The man known for his samurai epics, humanistic approach and his Shakespeare adaptations.
And Ran is, apparently, one of his best. It's one of his aforementioned Shakespeare adpatations, in this case, King Lear.

In a word: Extraordinary. I thought I was familiar with Kurosawa, having seen Rashomon and Seven Samurai, but this is something else entirely. So much to admire I don't know where to begin: I like the use of landscapes, I like the acting, I how many of the battle scenes take place in silence. I like how is a different take on tried and tested material (Shakespeare amirite?). I like the battle choreography and the beauty present.
At first i didn't what to make of this movie but eventually, it did reveal itself as nothing less than a triumph
Some say that this movie was the end result of a lifetime in movie making. Kurosawa was 75 when he made this and it seems that what he learnt over the years is there on the screen.
I believe it.

Silverado

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Silverado!

Original image located here. Accessed 28th May 2021

I enjoy westerns. They continue to be one of my favorite movie genres and one I keep returning to. However, what is of particular interest is that this genre is, more or less, a dead one. Whilst westerns may have been abundant in the pre-sixties era of filmmaking, they had fallen seriously out of favour since. Aside from moments of reinvention (ie The Wild Bunch and The Good The Bad and The Ugly) and some genuine gems (Unforgiven), the western has never enjoyed the attention it once did and now looks like quite the antique. And it is interesting to see if a similar fate awaits other movie genres (rom-coms anyone?).

Which brings me to Silverado. A western made in the eighties and a clear attempt to breathe new life into a dead genre. That much is obvious given we see some stars of the day cast against type (Kevin Costner being an energetic loose cannon; John Cleese being a sheriff; Jeff Goldblum being a shady gambler) and there is some real love for the genre, and westerns past, being put to good use. And perhaps that is this movie's greatest strength: it ditches the revisionist approach of post-sixties westerns in favour of a more earnest approach, which celebrates the genre. Sure all the familiar tropes are here but that's kind of the point. And I surely can't be the only one who was reminded of High Noon in the final showdown.
But considering that this movie was written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan - who come to prominence through his work on Star Wars (Empire Strikes Back) - a saga built on a movie which was a celebration of one's love of movies, should this come as a surprise?

Return to Oz

And this week's Friday night movie has been.....Return to Oz!

Original image located here. Accessed 2nd June 2017

Said it once and I'll say it again: The Eighties were a surprisingly fertile time for fantasy movies and they look very different to the movies made in a post-Lord of the Rings world. But in the case of Return to Oz, this is the one that has a rotten reputation, being disowned as being nightmare fuel for many a young child and a bastard offspring for a much-beloved family movie.

Me? I thought it was great! Sure I'm speaking from the vantage point of being an adult, but I thought the movie was inventive, creative and the practical effects look great. The sets were something to behold as well.
All of which would be enough to grant a pass from me, but I'm just pleased that, unlike the gazillion adaptations of Wonderful Wizard of Oz, someone decided to go beyond the first book. In a fourteen book series.