Editorials
Best & Worst ’10: BC’s TOP 10 OF 2010
Last year, I had about 20 movies that I would feel comfortable placing in my top 10. This year, I struggled to even FIND 10. While I obviously like all of my choices, it’s pretty damning of the year’s genre output that I had fairly major issues with most of the movies on my “best” list, with only the top 3 really being movies that I was thinking “best of the year!” when I saw them. Ideally they would all be A-movies, but some of these barely register as Bs. The worst list was much easier – barely a week went by without me being massively disappointed with something. And 2011 doesn’t look to be too much better; if I had included films I saw at festivals (i.e. unreleased as of yet), my list wouldn’t really change much. There’s just way too much mediocrity out there as of late, and looking over this list and next year’s schedule, I fear a 90s style wasteland may be fast approaching. Try harder, studios and filmmakers.
BC (Best/Worst) | Micah (Best/Worst) | Keenan (Best/Worst) | Theo (Best/Worst)
Best One Sheets | Worst One Sheets
Most Memorable Moments | Top Trailers | Memorable Quotes
BC’S TOP 10 OF 2010
Let the flaming begin!
If you took Halloween or any other great home-set suspense driven slasher, and replaced the masked killer with a tiger, you’d have Burning Bright, a lean, refreshingly straight-forward thriller that does no more, no less than what is promised in the synopsis: a girl (Briana Evigan, yay!) and her little autistic brother trapped in their home with a tiger. Illogical? Sure, but so are most horror movies – and those don’t feature Meat Loaf cameos or the single best “heroine loses her cell phone” scene in horror movie history.
If not for a puzzling midway perspective shift that kills the momentum it had built up thus far, this would place even higher. Hilariously building itself around the plot element that the worthless (otherwise shot for shot) remake ignored, Paco Plaza and Jaume Balagueró further cement their status as Spain’s most exciting genre filmmakers, and delivered a kick-ass sequel that perfectly complements the classic original (which oddly ended up at #9 on last year’s list, now that I think about it).
While not as great as the underrated previous entry, Saw 3D was a fitting denouement to the landmark (and Guinness World Record winning!) franchise, providing some of the series’ most splatter happy kills (likely due to the 3D), a few tied up loose ends, and the return of everyone’s favorite oncologist (whose appearance would have been even more triumphant and amazing if it had been saved for the end of the film, but oh well). If this is truly the last one, it ended on a higher note than most of the franchises, pre-reboot (i.e. Halloween: Resurrection, Hellraiser: Hellworld, etc).
Daniel Stamm proved there was still life in the crowded found footage genre with this surprisingly fun and even occasionally scary Exorcist-lite tale. The lead performances by Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell (who was nominated for a Spirit Award for her work!) are some of the best a genre film has offered in years, and Stamm admirably keeps the guessing game of “is she possessed or crazy?” up for quite a while. Only a weak ending mars an otherwise terrific late summer offering.
At long last, this gory and goofy German import hit commercial release in the US, though sadly in very limited release before it hit DVD. Part of the fun (for me) was seeing it with a crowd, where the humorous moments played far better than they do at home. Plus it’s always fun to see folks get grossed out or walk out. An excellent “party” movie choice!
“The Shyamalan Groan” was not an urban legend, I was witness to it on several occasions. It’s a shame that it became more popular than the movie itself, which was a terrific nail-biter, ably directed by John Dowdle and almost entirely devoid of Shyamalan’s usual bullshit. Add in a great performance by Chris Messina and you have a movie that didn’t deserve its unfortunate fate of being associated with a guy whose name value has long since been rendered worthless. Hopefully future “Night Chronicles” will live up to Devil and convince him to stick to producing.
After the debacle of Midnight Meat Train, it’s a shame that the next Clive Barker film ended up more or less in the same hands (Lionsgate plays a big hand in After Dark distribution). Not that the film would have ever gotten a 3000 screen release, but it’s a bummer that this intelligent psychologically driven thriller would be lumped in with the ADF, which isn’t exactly known for highbrow entertainment. Silver lining – it actually plays even better at home, where the claustrophobic and terrifying opening and closing scenes feel all the scarier. Great soundtrack too.
Like Devil, Frozen has a seemingly unfilmable premise (in this case, three people trapped on a chairlift) but ultimately becomes one of the year’s most suspenseful films. Star-making turns by Shawn Ashmore and Emma Bell, an uncompromised production (none of the film was shot on green-screen or faked – the actors were really suspended 50 feet above ground on an actual chair lift, even for close-ups), and touching dramatic moments (if you don’t cry at the puppy story – you’re soulless) combine to deliver Adam Green’s best film yet.
Tim Olyphant – you are forgiven for Live Free Or Die Hard. It may not win any awards in the script department, but Breck Eisner’s redo of George Romero’s more dramatically-leaning original is an adrenaline-fueled rush from start to finish, with some great setpieces (the car wash, the farmhouse) and kick-ass action hero heroics from Olyphant – I defy anyone to say that the “knife in the hand” bit wasn’t the year’s most cheer-worthy kill. Of all the Romero remakes, this is the only one I can claim was an improvement.
Adrien Brody’s wardrobe is pretty much the only problem I had with this otherwise superior “science gone awry” movie, which was much more Cronenberg-ian than the trailers suggested. The scene where they present their experiment to a room full of investors and other highbrow types is one of the most jaw-dropping “holy shit” moments in ages, and the crazy sexual overtones in the 3rd act elevated the film from being an above average sci-fi horror into a great original. Kudos to Warner for taking a chance on releasing it in the summer, but it’s a shame it failed to catch on. Hopefully DVD will help fans find out what they missed.
BONUS: The “It’s Not Really Horror” Award: A four way tie between Shutter Island, Monsters, Black Swan and Buried, all of which are better than most of the films on my top 10, but for one reason or another I had trouble considering full-blown horror. Monsters comes closest, due to the uh, monsters, but calling it a monster movie would be like calling The Wolfman a Max Von Sydow vehicle. Regardless, all terrific films that genre fans should check out just so they can say they saw a great movie that day.
Editorials
Before ‘The Odyssey’ There Was ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ and Ray Harryhausen’s Legendary Monsters
Greek mythology is the talk of the town, or at least of the internet at the moment, and with good reason. Christopher Nolan’s retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey opened this weekend in theaters and, as of this writing, is on track to rake in $120 million in the U.S. and $250 million worldwide.
That’s quite a feat for an R-rated sword and sandal epic based on a story that was first put to papyrus over 3,000 years ago. Of course, mythology has been a film standard practically since the beginning of the medium and has proven to be fertile ground for storytellers. One of the great tellers of these tales is not a writer or director but an innovative special effects master and producer, Ray Harryhausen, and among his greatest achievements is Jason and the Argonauts (1963).
The story of Jason and the quest for the golden fleece predates the Homeric period by a generation or two, and there are certainly similarities to the later works, specifically The Odyssey. Both are seafaring adventures captained by men of both strength and wit. Their crews are filled with colorful characters as well, including Hercules and Argos in the Jason tales and Eurylochus and Polites among Odysseus’s men. Both encounter the beautiful and bizarre on their journeys. The major differences are in tone and theme. The Odyssey is a more contemplative piece about men of war finding it is practically impossible to truly return home.
Jason and the Argonauts, especially in the hands of Harryhausen, producer Charles H. Schneer, director Don Chaffey, and writers Beverly Cross and Jan Read, is a tale of adventure, romance, betrayal, gods, and perhaps above all—monsters.
Strictly speaking, nearly all the Harryhausen films are fantasy films, but all are filled with some of the most incredible monster creations in all of cinema. Telling mythological stories was a way of making monster movies that parents would not object to their children seeing. That whiff of the movie-going experience being educational gave him license to bring to life dozens of indelible creations, starting with The 7th Voyage of Sinbad in 1958 all the way to Clash of the Titans in 1981. So, rather than spoil the story of Jason and the Argonauts, I will be focusing on its main attraction, its unforgettable monstrosities.
Talos: The Bronze Giant That Changed Movie Monsters
After Jason (Todd Armstrong) and his crew set off on their quest aboard the Argo, they quickly find themselves running out of food and water. Calling upon the help of his protector Hera, Queen of the Gods (Honor Blackman), Jason is guided to the Island of Bronze but warned not to take anything from the island but food and water. While chasing a herd of goats, unlikely pals Hercules (Nigel Green) and Hylas (John Cairney) discover the gargantuan bronze statues of the gods and Titans created by the long-departed Hephaestus.
In the base of the statue of Talos, they discover the treasure trove of the gods, and Hercules decides to take a giant golden needle that he intends to use as a javelin. Of course, this awakens Talos, who pursues them back to the Argo.
Talos was one of Harryhausen’s favorite creations, and he reveled in giving life to the stiff movements of the man of bronze. In one sequence, Talos blocks the narrow waterway that is the only means of escape and plucks the Argo out of the sea as though it were a toy, shaking the crew overboard and breaking the mast in two. Jason once again asks Hera for help, and she advises him to “look to the ankles” of the statue. He spots a kind of hatch on the heel of the giant and, after much struggle, removes it, releasing a flow of steaming liquid that is apparently the driving force of Talos, who weakens, cracks, and falls to the beach, breaking into pieces.
Echoes of this scene can be found in all kinds of stories from Achilles’ heel to the small vulnerable spot on Smaug’s belly in The Hobbit, to tangling the legs of the Imperial AT-AT’s in The Empire Strikes Back. Even the Death Star has a touch of Talos to it.
Harryhausen’s Harpies and Hydra Bring Ancient Myth to Life
Next, the Argonauts encounter the old man Phineas, played by Patrick Troughton of Dr. Who (he played the Second Doctor) and The Omen (1976) fame. As punishment for sins that go unnamed in the film, Zeus torments Phineas day and night with harpies who steal his food and leave him only scraps.
The harpies are flying, blue, rather demonic-looking creatures complete with bat wings and horns. They look something like living gargoyles and are masterworks by Harryhausen. The crew lures them into the ruins of a temple and covers the entire structure with a net before releasing the top and snaring the harpies. The stop-motion work in this sequence is some of the best Harryhausen ever created and is seamlessly placed into frame with the live-action elements, as was among Harryhausen’s greatest strengths.
The special effects of the film use every tool available at the time, as demonstrated by the next major effects sequence, “the clashing rocks.” The sequence utilizes stop motion, miniatures, rear projection, location and stage work with the actors all blended together, sometimes into a single shot. The clashing rocks are more-or-less a rock slide, but combined with the destruction of a different ship that tries to make passage between the rocks and the knowledge that Hera is now forbidden to interfere with Jason’s fate, real stakes are afforded to the scene. Hera pulls a fast one on Zeus (Niall MacGinnis), however, which allows Triton, king of the Mer-people, to rise from the sea and stabilize the rocks, giving the Argo safe passage.
The crew then rescues Medea (Nancy Kovack) and heads to their final destination, Colchis at the end of the world, where Jason and the Argonauts are welcomed by King Aeetes (Jack Gwillim). Eventually, after a betrayal and turn of events, Jason finds the golden fleece, which is guarded by another great Harryhausen monster, the Hydra, a multi-headed serpent. The most famous aspect of the Hydra, growing back two heads for every one cut off, is not depicted here, but the sequence is still harrowing.
Jason fights the dragon with his sword and at one point is wrapped in its tail, depicting Harryhausen’s love of intercutting and interrelating his stop-motion creations with actors and other live-action elements. The sequence also demonstrates that the artistry of Harryhausen and the craftspeople in his workshop was not limited to fantasy creatures; they were also masters of recreating believable human figures.
Why Harryhausen’s Monsters Still Feel Alive
Perhaps the most famous Harryhausen creation, the one that has had the greatest lasting influence, is what is called in the film the “children of the hydra’s teeth” and the “children of the night” by Aeetes, who calls on the goddess of darkness Hecate to bring them to him. Fire rains down from the sky and reduces the hydra to a skeleton. Aeetes orders his men to gather its teeth, which he collects in a helmet and, cornering Jason and his men, sows on the ground like seeds. Reanimated skeletons of dead soldiers rise up out of the ground and attack the Argonauts in what is certainly one of the most iconic sequences in all of fantasy cinema.
It is an expansion of a similar scene in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad in which the fearless sailor fights a single skeleton, but this time there are more than half a dozen reanimated warriors complete with the famous “Harryhausen brow,” in which the empty eye sockets are given a sinister frown. Even today, the sequence is thrilling. Though our technology has given us tools that look more realistic, there is a magic in stop-motion that remains unmatched despite all our advances in CGI.
This sequence has directly influenced many movies over the years, but for the horror crowd, the clearest examples are Freddy’s skeleton fighting Donald Thompson (John Saxon) in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) and the deadite army in Army of Darkness (1992). The animators even included the slouch of the “children of the hydra’s teeth” in the Nightmare 3 scene, and Sam Raimi insisted the Army of Darkness skeletons all have the Harryhausen brow.
Beyond these films, Harryhausen’s work has had a massive influence on horror, fantasy, and science fiction films for decades, while also making an indelible mark on popular culture at large. Among his acolytes are stop motion genius Phil Tippett, and filmmakers including Joe Dante, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Milius, Don Coscarelli, and many others. The fingerprints of Harryhausen can in many ways be seen even in Nolan’s The Odyssey, which relies on tricks from throughout film history rather than only more recent innovations like CGI.
Above all, Harryhausen was a storyteller who sought to make audiences fall in love with the great adventure stories that have been with us for thousands of years. These stories speak to the heart of our humanity in ways that will always feel fresh when told in innovative ways. Harryhausen also always had in him the true joy of creation. Bringing his monsters to life was a long, sometimes tedious, process, but Harryhausen clearly understood that all that time and attention to detail would imbue every creation with humanity that cannot be replicated by taking the easy way around.
Despite the limitations of budget, star power, and other resources that his films often lacked, that love of storytelling always shone through. Perhaps that is why his creations endure along with the kinds of ancient stories he so loved to tell.
At their heart, they are one thing above all—deeply and undeniably human.
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