Iro's One Movie a Day Thread

actually, he did respond to you and give you 'reasons' and such... well, kinda. he basically just said 'i don't like it, i don't like Robin Wright, i don't like sword fights."

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letterboxd

I did answer and give reasons. You didn't like them or think they were valid, that's fine, but I did. I still agree with that post and the one I made after it, though.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

honeykid is actually a martian. one of the martians Swan conquered in Swan Conquers the Martians. which is why he's here



except not a cartoon martian, honeykid doesn't like cartoons. honeykid likes some earth stuff, but not things like ET: the Extra-Terrestrial or Aliens (1986) or 2001: a Space Odyssey, Honeykid's actually been on space odysseys so he knows how wrong that stuff is

Actually, HK does like E.T. That said, it's been quite a few years now, so maybe I don't.

But E.T. sucks, though.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

#487 - G.I. Jane
Ridley Scott, 1997



As part of a politician's lobbying, a female Naval officer becomes the first woman to undergo training to join the Navy SEALs.

One of the problems with being a prolific director is that it's very easy for the quantity-to-quality ratio of your films to become rather unbalanced. Ridley Scott has been making films fairly consistently for the past few decades and, despite being responsible for making at least two of my all-time favourite films, more often than not the films of his that I've seen range from alright to unlikeable (but not utter travesties). Even so, when it came to reaching a consensus about his absolute worst film, there seemed to be one film that stood head and shoulders above the rest of his filmography - G.I. Jane.The premise does sound like a rather absurd high-concept - a senator (Anne Bancroft), looking to challenge the sexist attitudes of the U.S. military, concocts an experiment where a female member of the Navy would be allowed to undergo the incredibly rigourous training required to become a Navy SEAL. To this end, she settles on an officer (Demi Moore) who manages to demonstrate resolve and tenacity while also having a sufficiently photogenic appearance and publicly agreeable persona (i.e. she still comes across as feminine and heterosexual). As a result, Moore is taken to boot camp and is forced to contend not just with the hellishness of the training (overseen by Viggo Mortensen's extremely harsh instructor) but also with various strata of institutionalised sexism, whether it's the misogynistic jeers and attacks of the other recruits or the patronising attitudes of her superiors that only serve to create a vicious cycle.

G.I. Jane isn't quite as bad as I'd been led to believe but it's still a long way from being good. Moore is passable as an officer who wants to finish out the program since the experience would be good for her career and at least she has the physical capability to make one accurately believe that she is capable of doing the many arduous tasks that she is given throughout the film. Mortensen does what he can with a rather tiresome drill sergeant type but it's not enough to sell later developments that hint at hidden depths. While the most obvious similarity with Alien 3 would be that both films feature bald female protagonists, they also shares a less admirable quality in that there are too many nigh-indistinguishable bald white guys in the cast, which doesn't speak much for the performances or characterisations. Bancroft does get some interesting qualities as the senator with ulterior motives behind her radical agenda, but the character still ends up being flat.

As for the action, well, this is definitely Scott indulging the weakest aspects of his filmmaking ability as he muddles through an overly long training montage of a film that veers into Top Gun territory by the time it reaches its third act. The attempts to simulate the chaos of combat extend to some distractingly poor cinematography that predates annoying shakycam by involving a lot of zooming in and out rapidly and repeatedly many times. At least he definitely improved on that kind of technique with later films (though that's not exactly difficult). G.I. Jane definitely comes across as a viable candidate for Scott's worst film, and if I ever got around to arranging them in order of preference then I might just rank it as such, but as a film in general it's not completely objectionable despite its more trenchant commentary on gender roles and the politicisation of such being buried underneath an otherwise stock-standard boot-camp movie.

#488 - Hell Comes to Frogtown
Donald G. Jackson and R.J. Kizer, 1988



In a post-apocalyptic future where the world's population is mostly female and infertile, one especially fertile man is forcibly recruited into a mission to recover a group of fertile women from a town populated by frog-like mutants.

I picked up a DVD copy of Hell Comes to Frogtown for $2 a year or so ago but it basically sat around in my collection until I heard the news about the passing of Rowdy Roddy Piper and figured that that would be as good a time as any to finally check it out. Though it came out in the same year as Piper's most indelible cinematic outing, John Carpenter's staunchly anti-consumerism B-movie They Live, Hell Comes to Frogtown is a far different beast. Piper stars as a character who is literally named Sam Hell (which would explain the title), whose most distinguishing character trait is the fact that he is an exceptionally fertile male human in a post-nuclear landscape where not only is most of the male population dead, but the majority of remaining humans are infertile. This makes Piper and his special purpose extremely plot-relevant to the point where he is fitted with an electro-shock chastity belt that monitors his activities. Before long, he is driven out into the post-apocalyptic wasteland in the care of two women - one a soldier, one a scientist - in order to fulfil his duties, which eventually involves a mission to rescue a group of fertile human women from Frogtown, a wretched hive populated by (you guessed it) frog people.

As another user pointed out, yes, that plot does share a few similarities with the plot of Mad Max: Fury Road (and more than a couple with the Y: The Last Man comic book series), but it's still wrapped in a pulpy '80s exploitation style with enough differences to distinguish itself. The film does play its absurd sci-fi premise for a lot of laughs thanks to Piper's turn as a cocky yet reluctant hero who is rather unwilling to help repopulate the Earth (never mind the implications of trying to do so using only one man, this isn't that kind of movie), leading to all sorts of goofy shenanigans that do occasionally get a little too dark (such as his scientist supervisor encouraging him to impregnate a traumatised and sedated Frogtown escapee despite him not being in the mood for it, though that is naturally glossed over). Things lighten up a little once the get to Frogtown, which basically looks like the inside of an abandoned factory but is compensated for by some relatively solid practical effects when it comes to the frog people themselves. The designs are ugly, sure, but they are at least semi-competent in a way that does make them somewhat charming and at the very least the characters underneath are capable of giving appropriately over-the-top performances.

Due to its low-budget nature, the film does take its time building up to any sort of viable action, and what does occur feels like too little, too late. Some distinctive elements, such as the fact that Piper and his comrades travel through the dangerous post-apocalyptic wasteland in a neon-pink hot-rod with a mounted machine-gun, do serve to distinguish the film somewhat, but even the explosive finale isn't quite enough to wholly redeem a film that is extremely mediocre even by '80s trash standards. It's fine enough if you're looking for something short and weird and sort of fun (with a bit of gender role subversion thrown in to boot), but there's too much working against it to really make it any kind of "good".

#489 - They Live
John Carpenter, 1988



A homeless construction worker discovers a pair of sunglasses that allow him to see that the world is controlled by grotesque humanoid aliens in disguise.

Watching this on a double-bill with Hell Comes to Frogtown probably didn't do the former any favours, nor did the fact that They Live has been a favourite of mine for close to a decade. More of this has to do that this film involves one of my favourite filmmakers at the helm, building a lean and mean little film based around his considerable dissatisfaction with the reckless consumerism and class warfare prompted by the Reagan administration. He combines this with an extended homage to 1950s B-movies such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (though not nearly as ambiguous in its metaphor, though it would be interesting to see someone try to interpret this film as being pro-capitalism), with the vibe of such films definitely manifesting in how actual reality is only ever seen in classic black-and-white instead of full-bodied colour. Of course, the film does more than ground itself in the '80s through the casting of Roddy Piper as its hero. While there's always a part of me that will wonder how this film would have gone if Carpenter had cast regular collaborator Kurt Russell (who had up to that point always been there if a Carpenter film needed an unambiguous leading man), it is very difficult to imagine this film being quite as charming as it is without Piper and his character's particular brand of everyman charisma that is believable even when he segues into bubblegum-related one-liners. This much is supplanted by the always-dependable Keith David as one of Piper's co-workers, and the two have great chemistry in virtually every single scene they share. The rest of the cast are merely serviceable - Carpenter regular Peter Jason makes for an affable enough member of the human resistance, while Meg Foster is a serious ice queen who I'm still not sure is giving an appropriate performance or an underwhelming one.

Given its relatively low budget, Carpenter and co. do render their sci-fi allegory reasonably well. The sunglasses that turn the world to black-and-white are a simple yet effective plot device as they reveal many stark subliminal messages underneath seemingly innocuous billboards as well as the bug-eyed and mottled faces of the alien oppressors. It's all shot through with Carpenter's ability for doing more with less as he crafts a slick yet down-to-earth B-movie, even as the film does enter some ridiculous territory when it decides to throw in some action. That being said, the lengthy back-alley fight that happens between Piper and David about two-thirds of the way through the film still remains one of the greatest scenes in Carpenter's career, with the two actors fully going at it and exchanging barbs and blows for about six straight minutes. It certainly compensates for when the film spends its final third act indulging some fairly standard gunfighting action. There's also the fact that the first act takes a while to set things up and get the film going, but that slow-burn nature is helped once again by Piper and David. I also like the score (once again composed by Carpenter and regular musical collaborator Alan Howarth), with the synthesised-sounding mix of country and blues being the perfect fit for a setting that's all about creating the ideal America out of sheer artifice. The fact that it's still so eminently watchable thanks to its bizarre cult charm means I'm going to give it an extremely subjectively and unusually high rating. Now it's time for me to go get some more bubblegum.

#490 - Boyz n the Hood
John Singleton, 1991



Centres on the lives of three African-American teenagers as they come of age in South Central L.A.

How legitimate is the criticism that a film has not "aged well"? Granted, a film's more distinctive period details and sensibilities can actually be strikes against it, but on the other hand such a film can also be seen as a cinematic snapshot of a certain historical period and location that deserves recognition on that basis alone. If nothing else, Boyz n the Hood does a fairly decent job of providing the latter as it is loosely based off writer-director Singleton's experiences growing up in Los Angeles. After a lengthy prologue set in 1984 that introduces us to the leads as kids, the film jumps forward seven years to re-introduce them as teenagers. The protagonist (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is learning how to be a man from his extremely serious yet approachable father (Laurence Fishburne) but he is still caught between his two (related) best friends - one a gang-banger (Ice Cube) and the other a football scholarship hopeful (Morris Chestnutt).

However, the attempt to capture the reality of life in the African-American community does come across as more than a little heavy-handed in some of its points. This results in the film's best scenes also coming across as the worst scenes for the very same reasons. Examples include Fishburne (who gives what is easily the best performance in the film) occasionally stopping the film dead to deliver Singleton's messages, whether it's snarking at a black police officer that racially profiles other black citizens or the part where he waxes lyrical about the gentrification of black neighbourhoods. This even extends to him lecturing Gooding Jr. about safe sex, which is also another thing that needed to be heard, sure, but only adds to the criticisms that lingered in the back of my mind about how the film was essentially "an after-school special with cursing". Such a criticism especially applies to Chestnutt's story and his struggles to make it out of the 'hood, while Cube is virtually content to hang out with his gangster crew. Gooding Jr. gets the driving arc but that just results in his character generally being a blank slate to be manipulated by the world and characters around him, with his only real desire being for the girl next door (Nia Long). The soundtrack alternates between period-appropriate hip-hop and also more conventional orchestra score, further reflecting how this film ends up being caught between being a truthful depiction of hood life and a more conventional piece that feels like it's been crafted by an outsider looking in on this world. It makes me want to re-watch Menace II Society to see if the problem is limited to just Singleton's film or if it is endemic to other films of the same genre and period.

I can't remember, but did you ever see The Hidden, Iro?

Yay Iro just gave me a shout-out...of a sort. I have a name you know!

Oh and like you I love They Live. Such a fun, charming and exceedingly watchable film.

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Yes, I did. I'd probably give it a , possible a . I haven't seen it in a few years but I definitely remember liking it.

I decided to err on the side of caution in case you didn't want to be named in a review. At least now people can scroll down and see.

#491 - Big Trouble in Little China
John Carpenter, 1986



A trucker must help his friend rescue his fiancée from an ancient sorcerer who has taken up residence in San Francisco's Chinatown.

The mid-1980s marked an interesting shift for John Carpenter. After the commercial failure of The Thing and the modest success of Christine, he got the unlikely offer to direct Starman, a fairly respectable sci-fi road movie that earned Jeff Bridges an Oscar nomination. He followed that up with 1986's Big Trouble in Little China, which flopped and understandably made him disillusioned with Hollywood's filmmaking process. Of course, that didn't stop the film from becoming a beloved cult classic, and not without reason. It's almost on par with Starman when it comes to being the lightest and most ostensibly accessible film in the director's filmography, but even so much of its reputation rests on its bizarre genre-blending mix of action, comedy, martial arts, and low fantasy. This much is clear from the opening scene, a distant epilogue designed to set up protagonist Jack Burton (Carpenter stalwart Kurt Russell) as a capable and courageous hero who saved the day before mysteriously disappearing. Of course, this is supposed to be studio-mandated insurance against the actual truth of Burton; that he acts the confident, all-American hero throughout the film despite being outclassed in nearly every aspect (aside from his reflexes, of course). Despite that, it's a credit to Russell's outsized performance that the character comes across as a likeable fool rather than an irritating one, especially since he channels John Wayne in very much the same way that he channeled Clint Eastwood for Escape From New York.

Otherwise, the casting works very well for some generally great characters. Kim Cattrall makes for a good female lead as Gracie Law, who has sufficiently belligerent chemistry with Russell and sufficiently independent goals and motivations, while Dennis Dun as Burton's friend Wang Chi is good at portraying the right mix of the plucky sidekick's affable personality and the capable hero's day-saving prowess, to say nothing of his unflinching turn as a straight man to Russell's buffoonery. Veteran character actor James Hong all but steals the show here as chief villain Lo Pan, appearing as either an ancient old man in a wheelchair or a sharply-dressed spirit straight out of the Qin dynasty. His distinctive voice adds the appropriate level of humour or gravitas as the scene demands. Victor Wong provides a strong foil to Lo Pan as the unassuming Egg Shen, whose Chinatown tour bus is a front for his own earthy and benevolent type of sorcery. The rest of the cast is populated by a variety of characters with few weak links (for example, Kate Burton's turn as an intrepid reporter feels underdeveloped and more than a little contrived). That being said, I also can't go without mentioning the "Three Storms" (who appear to be modelled off the straw-hatted trio of assassins from the second Lone Wolf and Cub movie), who do get in their fair share of memorable moments.

The comedy on offer generally works, often at the expense at Jack Burton as he constantly finds himself in all sorts of unforgiving slapstick-like situations but is still willing to wisecrack about his ordeal to strong effect. The action stands out reasonably well with its emphasis on the exact kind of heavily choreographed and fantastic-looking martial arts that tend to involve physics-defying stuntwork and combat. Obviously, it's not quite on par with the kind of stuff that guys like Jackie Chan or Jet Li were doing around the same time, but it's still some pretty good work for a time when Hollywood hadn't quite cottoned on to the lucrative possibilities of martial arts films. Though the effects are arguably dated, they are dated in the best possible way with combinations of green-screen, stop-motion animation, and practical effects that look pretty fake (occasionally hilariously so, as is the case in one character's demise) but that's all just part of the charm. The same goes for the art direction (why does an ancient underground temple of doom have neon lights everywhere? Because it looks cool). Carpenter once again collaborates with Alan Howarth for the background score, which takes the pair's usual capacity for well-crafted synthesiser-heavy scores and combines it with Chinese influences. Big Trouble in Little China isn't quite the non-stop rollercoaster ride it wants to be, but it comes admirably close and ends up being one of the best films in John Carpenter's filmography. There's a dud moment here or there but not enough to significantly alter my opinion of the film, which is probably one of the most straight-up fun films in my collection.

#492 - Angel Face
Otto Preminger, 1952



An emotionally unstable heiress involves an ambulance driver in her plot to murder her stepmother.

A major problem with Angel Face is that it's way too derivative. An experienced viewer of classic noir films can easily pick apart the various films that Angel Face takes obvious inspiration from to the point where mentioning the right titles would be tantamount to writing direct spoilers. Despite that, it's still a perfectly watchable film thanks to the work of its two leads. Robert Mitchum and his appropriately weather-beaten features make him an ideal lead for noir movies, but here he's not some jaded detective - instead, he's a simple working-class ambulance driver who has been called out to the Beverly Hills mansion of a wealthy businessman whose wife has almost died due to a gas leak. While there, he meets with the businessman's daughter (Jean Simmons) whose demure demeanour hides a more mentally and emotionally complicated individual. Mitchum is soon torn between the different lives offered by both Simmons' upper-class heiress and his working-class girlfriend (Mona Freeman), which is further complicated by Simmons' manipulations and plans to murder her stepmother.

While Mitchum is as dependable as always, Simmons is the one who delivers a stand-out performance by playing against type. Prior to this, I had only really seen her play gentle, benevolent characters in Elmer Gantry and Spartacus, and while the same superficial sweetness translates to almost every scene here, each time it is subverted by the revelation that her character is unhinged at best. As Simmons' actions escalate from sabotaging relationships to plotting murders, the story is constructed and paced reasonably well but for the most part it all feels like it's been done before (again, I could name some titles but won't) even with some unusual twists here and there. That being said, when the film finally reached its ending it surprised me to the point where I did have to rewind it just so I could be sure I saw what I saw. While technically competent and reasonably well-acted, Angel Face is too derivative to be a true classic. That does not stop it from being an eminently watchable piece of noir that has some good leads, but if you're working your way through classic noir films then this doesn't feel completely essential.

Bro you are underrating Big Trouble in Little China. Needs to be at least .

My is like the average MoFo's +.

One can't underrate Big Trouble in Little China.

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"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room."

But they sure can overrate it. And many, many do.

my is like an average Mofo's . Im far more harsh on films than you.

That's what i'm saying: Even 1/10 isn't underrated.