by Sam Juliano
The real thing in terms of summer heat has descended on the metropolitan area for the past few weeks, but this is pretty much the report from many of our friends elsewhere. With the rising temperatures comes barbecues, pool parties and weekend seashore respites, not to mention end-of-the-school-year graduations, retirement dinners and extended vacation plans. That scenario is playing out in my neck of the woods, though here at Wonders in the Dark the excitement of another genre poll is building.
Today the long-awaited Childhood Films Countdown launches with an opening salvo from film, music and comic book writer extraordinaire Ed Howard. The “Top 83” will continue on into October, running Monday through Friday, and there are well over a dozen contributors to the cause. Though there were initially some issues broached in mild debates on the e mail chain of the countdown’s actual voters, the bottom line is that some very great reviews of some very great films will be upcoming. There can be little dissension connected to the results, and as our very good friend David Schleicher has remarked: “This countdown has the potential of being the best ever.” Site readers and lurkers are urged to follow the countdown and if possible to comment on what is sure to be a fabulous collection of reviews.
The past week and the one starting today will always be remembered for sustained madness with activity after event throughout. I watched some blu rays and DVDs at home, but only saw one film in theaters, the masterpiece Pather Panchali at the Film Forum.
Pather Panchali (1955) (Monday night) Film Forum
Click on names for archives
Writers/Founders
Wonders in the Dark 
Great to see the countdown has begun. The first review is truly exceptional, and the film it considers is worthy of it. I know this month is crazy for all kinds of reasons, Sam.
Frank, I completely agree with you regarding the superb quality of the opening entry! And yes this June is a scorcher in every sense of the word. Thank you my friend!
Great to see that the countdown has begun!
Since I’m always awed by how much you manage to pack into the average week, you can imagine how I feel when even you regard a week as overly frenetic!
We finally got round to watching Interstellar last night. Visually splendid, and great performances by Chastain and Foy (I had difficulty sometimes working out what McConaughey was saying), but the experience was quite a lot marred for me by all the bad science.
Thanks for the exceedingly kind words John! Yes I am a busy guy for sure, but you stand alone in that category, with your incredible reading and writing! I am happy to hear that INTERSTELLAR made such a great impression, even with the issues concerning the matter of science. This didn’t bother me of course, but I concede it could be problematic. Have a great upcoming weekend my friend! 🙂
Auspicious beginnings for the countdown, yes.
Saw some film junk. ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love.’ Ryan Gosling, who talks like one of Nicholas Pileggi’s wiseguys here, cheerfully submits to sexual objectification throughout. There’s even the ‘Now,Voyager’ shot which starts with expensive men’s shoes instead of Bette Davis’ high heels. Gosling’s weird, self-amused performance as the aging tomcat is the best thing in this middling romcom.
‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ — Don’t even ask what made me do it. Tom Wolfe’s novel was a rollicking ride through the go-go New York of the 1980’s, but this famously failed film version works better than Xanax – I could barely keep my eyes open. A puzzlement since Wolfe’s plot is so deliciously delirious and the stellar cast includes Tom Hanks, the one-of-a-kind Melanie Griffith, Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman. Brian De Palma, a reverend auteur to some, directed and perhaps therein lies the problem.
There is no doubt that Bonfire of the Vanities is atrocious, but, if you look on the bright side it produced one of the most telling, astute looks at Hollywood: Salamon’s The Devil’s Candy: The Anatomy Of A Hollywood Fiasco. It’s essential reading for anyone that comments around blogs like this one. The type of book that would never get made nowadays, as there is no way any suit would grant a reported anywhere near the level of insider information she got there. I’m smirking just thinking about it, and also amazed that anything halfway decent ever gets made in that town.
Haven’t read Julie Salamon’s book, but I will now.
Aye Mark, I was honored to get such a magnificent opening salvo from ed Howard! I do agree that CRAZY, STUPID LOVE is trashy, and that Gosling turn is the best thing in it. I never would have thought of that NOW, VOYAGER shot though. I too have always regarded BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES with disdain, though I must say I am very intrigued by Jamie Uhler’s disclaimer by posing it inspired the book that I have not yet come across. I’d also like to read it. I must say I love that Xanax comment! Ha! I am no big fan of De Palma, but I do give him a few solid efforts in a spotty career. Thanks as always my friend! Have a great weekend!
Glad the countdown is underway Sam. No doubt this is a busy time of year with vacations and family get togethers etc. We had a reunion with my wife’s family this past weekend at a cottage. Fun for all, especially my girls who loved playing with their 2nd cousins.
Today I had the day off and the kids and I went to see Inside Out, the newest Pixar film. We all really liked it, and I would even go so far to say that I so highly enjoyed it, I’d give it 3.5 or 4/4. I thought it was utterly charming and did everything it needed to and more. I loved it.
Our garden continues to show signs that we’ll be harvesting some things soon, like zucchini and green beans. We’ve had lots of rain recently, so no drought! Ha! Well that’s it for now! Hope you have a great week Sam!
Jon, this is easily the busiest time of the year for Lucille and I, and I see you too are attending some events. Happy to hear the reunion was appreciated by all, including the girls. Good to hear the latest Pixar is worth seeing, I hope to play some catch up soon! I envy you for the gardening! Nothing like home grown vegetables my friend! Have a great upcoming weekend and some favorable weather my friend!
Very happy to see the countdown is underway Sam. I’ll be checking everyday Monday through Friday during my morning break, or later in the evening.
Thanks so much Tim! Looking forward to your input as always my friend!!
We are having a beautiful summer here, even before the arrival of the 4th of July. Hot, hot is returning for this weekend.
I am still in recovery, reading lots of books and trying to get ahead on the schedule. I am going to attempt to go to book group this Thursday night taking my own chair!
My kids are all very excited about Pixar’s new Inside Out movie and have been reporting to me about how good it is and how cool the theater is these days.
Enjoying the first countdown reviews…Thank you
How is the knee?
Patricia, very happy to hear you are having such a great summer. it has been oppressively hot for us, though yesterday at my son Sammy’s graduation we were treated to a glorious evening without humidity and a lovely sustained breeze. Great to hear you are coming around, and have resumed your favored activities!! As I just told Jon, i too am intrigued by INSIDE OUT and hope to negotiate it soon. Thanks as always for the very kind words regarding the Childhood Films Countdown. As to my knee it is coming around well thank you. I have been going three times a week for one hour to a local physical therapy installation, and for the most part pain has disappeared. Thanks again my friend! Feel better!
Sam, you picked an unbelievable week to begin the countdown. Tough to catch your breath these days. I think David is right, and believe this will be one of the best polls ever. I was honored to cast a ballot, and will be placing my share of comments under many of the reviews. Happy graduation to Sammy and Jillian!
Peter, you are right on the money there! This has been a great week and one that has seriously tested our stamina! And the retirement dinners and wedding will also test our ability to resist culinary temptation. I do hope that the Childhood Countdown will be a big winner, and as always much appreciate your support my friend.
Hello Sam and everyone!
Here we are, another countdown and we are all excited! May it go amazing for everybody!
I’ve seen Pather Panchali and I must say I rate it **** but I think that maybe a rewatch will change that rating for the better, as it was watched on a very unworthy venue.
These are the movies I saw last week:
– The Emperor’s New Clothes (2015, Michael Winterbottom) **** A message that it’s important that is being heard, at least by someone, and for some reason Russell Brand makes it chewable and understandable, even though I considered him an annoying cunt before this documentary. He is quite self aware and he is personally attached to everything that he is saying, he is passionate and wanders around with the whole set of beliefs that he has. He doesn’t need to be “close” to the cause for us to believe it, and the final monologue is close to perfection in terms of “things we must fucking do”. Of course, I prefer the original schtick of Michael Moore, a man that has gone down for the majority but that I still hold high.
– Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995, Takao Okawara) **** One of the best Godzilla films for sure. Not packed to the brim with monsters, but it has two of the most badass film creations ever: the radioactive Godzilla and DESOTOROYAH. The film is maybe the first since the original 1954 movie that has a wonderfully strong message against nuclear energy, nuclear weapon and principally against the militarization of science. Still, it features cool freezing weaponry that rivals in wonderful results in terms of visual flare than any other futuristic war movie could. The film also continues a tenuous line that was followed by the three previous films that mixed scientific thought, the canonization of 1954 as the only Godzilla movie that happened and ESP. Weird, entertaining and never boring, this film is truly one of the greatest around.
– Rooms for Tourists (2004, Adrian García Bogliano) **1/2 I think this was an important watch for me because it managed to show me how a movie that I would want to make with zero budget and some visual “cleverness” would look like, and while it musters up two or three sequences that I think look really good, I think this is mostly tired concepts, overused imagery and amateurish visual flairs that are conjured from other parts… in another words, a film that I would’ve made three years ago if I was any insistent and had any kind of money (of course people who made this actually didn’t have any money, but they still needed many things that I lack, mostly confidence and any sense of social abilities). Still, I’m glad that I’ve seen this because it has many of the things that I recognized in a past self, and I now know and I am glad to recognize them as childish, but still, they made a movie, that made them make a new movie, and now Bogliano was presenting his film in Cannes, so who’s the idiot?
– Hobo with a Shotgun (2011, Jason Eisener) **** Seriously, have you guys seen this movie? As I watched it I was reminded of how much talk about Mad Max: Fury Road was about how real it looked in all of its stunts and how it permeated some kind of feminism. Now, this has exactly the same properties, and yet I don’t remember making that big of a splash when it came out, instead it was received with cries of “Whaaaat?” and “Huh, yeah, sure” and “Rutger Hauer is in this shit?” and while I don’t actually think this is a deep or profound film, I do think it’s fun and that’s what it sets out to do and that’s what it achieves, through its catalog of grotesque special effects, splatter and blood and broken bones. It’s a wonderful film in terms of how it doesn’t need to wink to an audience, and it doesn’t want you to play the guessing game regarding what it’s trying to reference, as it creates its own reference models for the future, but I guess this is the last and only good fakexploitation film out there, the rest can go fuck themselves.
– I Am Here (2014, Anders Morgenthaler) *** First of all, this film is strange, weird and not endearingly so. It has an opening scene that is among the weirdest and maybe the most controversial, specially in terms of when you consider life starts, or even if you consider that what’s happening in the screen is real. Actually, I think that there’s a truth that rings in that scene, and it’s portrayed in such a way that it becomes both strange and cute, even though with horrifying results. The rest of the film is mostly a miss, mainly because Basinger does a good work around some really dull premises and situations, that don’t change when it takes a turn for the worse, and then it becomes even weirder, supernatural some might say, but without a real pull from the reality that surrounded the scenes, and thus it feels incomplete. I guess this movie wins points because of Basinger and because it always strays from the main path, it does try hard to not be conventional, but I guess it fails. It does look pretty and it has some cool cinematography.
– Damnation (1988, Bela Tarr) **** This one I had a bit of a struggle with. After adoring practically every Béla Tarr film that I’ve seen so far, I come upon this one and I find myself stumbling and wondering what’s wrong with me: here it is, all that I love about slow cinema and the cinema of Tarr compressed in a digested 2-hour film, one that I actually watched in one go (not like when I watched the rest of the Tarr films), but even in the manner that I watched it, I still found myself wandering off the rails of what was being presented here, maybe because it was an “early” film in this style and he was still perfecting it, but I don’t think I can truly point to a fault in terms of directing, which is phenomenal in every aspect. I think it has to boil down to the plot and the lack of interest that it had for me, as in every other film, the meandering characters captured me in more way than I can imagine, here not such thing happened, but it still maintained me enough to see those wonderful scenes at the restaurant, the incredible cinematography and the wonderful directing of Tarr.
– Yvonne’s Perfume (1994, Patrice Leconte) **** Much to come for this movie. Soon.
That’s all, have a great week everyone!
Jaimie, I am ashamed to admit I haven’t seen a single one of the films you splendidly access here with the sole exception of DAMNATION. I certainly can understand why you had a struggle with it (Tarr is exceedingly difficult largely because of the pacing) yet you admit other Tarr films roped you in hook, line and sinker. I understand your reservations, as well as the elements you praise as defining his work. DAMNATION is excellent, but it is probably my least favorite Tarr film as well. The Winterbottom documentary sounds intriguing as does that one Laconte I have not seen. As always a thorough and spectacular wrap my friend! Have a great upcoming week! 🙂
Sam – As you know, my vote is for hot weather over snow and ice any day of the week. And that’s precisely what Len and I are enjoying here in Boise. Because it’s in the high dessert, we don’t have the humidity oftentimes associated with higher temperatures.
I trust that the ongoing physical therapy on your newly repaired knee is coming along nicely and that the post-op pain associated with such a procedure is subsiding.
Laurie, I do know well you are a summer girl, and I can’t say I blame you much when one considers the kind of frigid snow-infested weather you’ve had in the Chicago area the last several years. i myself prefer it cooler within reason, and hope the really hot stuff will be replaced with a more comfortable upcoming forecast. I have been going for the physical therapy three times a week, have completed five sessions, and have one later today. All is coming along nicely my friend. Have a great upcoming weekend!
Sam, I am excited for the new countdown and will be looking forward to reading as many of the entries as I possibly can.
Pather on the big screen! That is one I really need to see in a theater one day. To date I have only seen it at home. But of course I am a huge fan.
It has still been quiet here unfortunately on the viewing front. But in the next week or two I should be resuming my Ozu retrospective and getting into a nice rhythm again.
Hope the temp is relenting a little and hope you are having a great week!
Great to hear that Jeffrey!!! We are moving along, and have now entered the third week of the Childhood/Adolescent Films countdown. PATHER PANCHALI did look as pristine and as spectacular as it ever looked, and the Criterion blu-ray set of all three films in the Apu Triligy is around the corner! I am looking forward to a resumption of the Ozu retrospective at THE LAST LULLABY!!! The last two days have been oppressively hot, but I think a reprieve is coming from what I hear. Hope things by you are comfortable!! Thanks again my fabulous friend!!