Doctor Who (Classic) 050: Spearhead from Space // Season 7 (1970) Review Part 1

A frame from the serial

Context for those unfamiliar with Doctor Who

In the classic era of Doctor Who, stories were divided up into multiple episodes, in a serialized fashion. This story is four episodes long. The show follows The Doctor, the protagonist, on various adventures through space and time. In the last story, he was sentenced to exile on Earth. This article is part of a review of Doctor Who‘s seventh season.

It’s the 70’s, Doctor Who survived possible cancellation, the budget was cut, and the number of episodes was reduced. Did the show manage to be good? It was difficult to keep the train running smoothly when production was going on virtually all the time from 1963 to 1969. Perhaps the season breaks will do some favors to the behind the scenes members. Filming on Season 6’s finale, The War Games, most likely finished in April 1969. Filming for Season 7 most likely started in September 1969. While that break seems quite short, production had never been off for that long. I guess it takes extra time to change the format so drastically. A lot has changed. For starters, the show is now in color. The Doctor is now in exile on Earth with his spaceship serving little more purpose than set decoration. He’s aiding an organization called “U.N.I.T.”. Its objective is to stop alien threats from happening or escalating. This change of setup isn’t all new. The Web of Fear from Season 5 and The Invasion from Season 6 both feature U.N.I.T. for the first two times. The latter was a test to see if these Earth bound stories would be liked. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Sergeant Benton are both members of U.N.I.T. that appeared in the earlier stories and they’re back for this season (as well as later ones). They’re joined by Liz Shaw and numerous guest characters from U.N.I.T. Unusually, this season had only four stories, but most had more episodes than the common four or six. Let’s check them out, starting with the only story not seven episodes…

I vaguely remember watching Spearhead from Space on DVD. It’s nice to see it again in crystal clear HD. In fact, it’s the only Doctor Who serial from the original series filmed in a way where it could be seen in HD. There’s lots to love here. The directing is very good. All the performances are believable. The framing and camera angles look very sharp. Director Derek Martinus had done Who stories in the past, but none look as good as this one. There are dramatic cuts to and fro intense happenings in the story. A highlight is when someone is driving a car and someone else walks in the road from nowhere. The driver swerves off the road to avoid hitting them. There’s then a cut to the person’s bloodied face in the car as the person from the road walks up to them. Where are you going to see that other than from sharp directors? Another highlight is a cut from a person to a doll face. The camera then quickly zooms out to show characters talking. This kind of style probably was difficult for the BBC in the 70’s. Namely the use of blood. There are some awkward cuts, but they’re outnumbered by effective ones.

I’m glad that this story is so good as being the start of a new era of the show, it’s the perfect introduction to people not into (Classic) Doctor Who. This story goes against its era by being more or less quick and efficient in how it tells the story. Stories are generally slower paced in the Classics. There are some issues I have with the story, but they’re outweighed by how good it is.

SPOILERS

One great scene is when a villain goes to the house of an innocent lady. Her dog is barking and she tells the dog to shut up. The dog then suddenly is quieted. The worry on the woman’s face is quite effective. Though, it doesn’t make sense that the villain would kill the dog as doing so makes their presence known. They’re looking for something, not going on a killing spree. A shot a bit later shows a pan of broken furniture. That’s another effective shot. I’ve spoken before about disliking mindless death in Who. A character named Ranson is under protection by our heroes, but he’s killed suddenly. His death is annoying, but it’s directed very well. The villain just walks up to him and before he can react much, is shot.

At some points, the serial can be a bit too slow or a bit too fast. Dramatic tension is built in the first three episodes, but at points it’s a little too drawn out. Even if this serial has faster pacing than usually, it still has a bit of drag. We see people talking extensively when there could be a better way of showing that with visuals. The finale at the end was very quick. A more clever way of ending the threat would’ve helped this one a lot. The Doctor fires his fancy weapon at a monster and all is well. A lot of the final episodes of a story feel like a shoot ‘em up.

Probably the most effective horror scene I’ve watched in Who was when the henchmen of the villains appear on the streets and walk around. They start firing at whomever is around. No punches are held and it’s honestly terrifying to watch. How would you handle this situation? You’re just out in public and suddenly your life is threatened. One nice touch is how not everyone we see is killed. While we don’t see everyone escape, they probably did. Another sharp moment for the serial.

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) Review

One of the best looking shots in the film.

Two days ago I wanted to give this film a rewatch, only to discover that my first watch was this day a year ago! Why not wait a little and give it a go on the first anniversary? This experimental film is certainly experimental. Its creepiness is only emphasized by the score done by Teiji Ito. The surrealism is the big reason this film is considered a masterpiece. I generally don’t get experimental films. Films like this one and Un Chien Andalou are famous for their short runtimes filled with intense imagery. This type of thing is done better in films like Brazil. That film has crazy visuals, but the most of the film is not surreal and it rationalizes the strangeties. Brazil as well as a film like The Wall have clear stories and the visuals clearly emphasize that. This film is just the surrealism. The narrative isn’t easy to understand. After this viewing I read about the film and a lot that was detailed didn’t make sense when I watched it.

Our protagonist walks around her house (and a bit outside of it) observing and discovering various things that don’t seem to add much to the plot. One recurring item is a key. A key could symbolize something being accessed or unlocked. However it’s interchangeable with really any object. It serves no purpose. This also applies to a flower and a phone. There is some significance to a knife, which pays off at the end of the film.

I was curious as to why I had trouble following the story and I think the reason is because the film has so much clutter in it. There’s a scene where a character suddenly has black paint on their hand. There’s shots to seemingly randomly selected objects. If something’s important, cut to it. Don’t have too many cuts to things as it distracts from the story. I’m trying to pay attention. Is it worth thinking about whatever I’m seeing?

Let me not ignore some of the good qualities, the numerous really good qualities. The score is perfectly eerie and ominous. It knows how to compliment the film without being overbearing. The syncing with the film proper is quite good. It’s weird to think that it was added sixteen years after the original release, which had no soundtrack at all. I doubt the version of this with no sound would work nearly as well as it does with. I’m glad there’s no dialogue or sound from the actions in the film. The tone, style, and aesthetic from the film would be lessened by those little distractions. Meshes so badly wants to be a tight, efficient production. It’s heartbreaking that this pane of glass has been made in a way where the smallest of scratches would make it look unattractive and it indeed has some.

The biggest highlight is the direction and cinematography. They’re both amazing. The shadowing and lighting perfectly emphasize what we’re seeing with several gorgeous scenes and shots, many of which are the best known shots in the film. I can’t help but wonder how these scenes were directed and set up. Throughout the whole film, but especially in these eyeful scenes, the black and white film is essentially in color. Color couldn’t do this work justice. The beauty of the scene is colored by black and white perfectly.

SPOILERS

The film starts with the protagonist, The Woman, walking home. She sees someone on the street and in the span of a few minutes, gets to a chair in her house and goes to sleep. She dreams of chasing a strange man, usually starting outside her house. It was unclear to me that she had gone into a dream. She fails and repeats the process multiple times. I thought it was funny how once she fails at this, that version of her remains in the house. So as more would wind up there, multiple The Womans just stood around in the house. Eventually she is awoken by The Man. In real life, the two actors were married and while it’s not stated in the film, I thought the two characters were married. Also, it wasn’t clear that she was woken up from a dream, though I then again didn’t know she was in one. It’s then revealed that the dream was real, this wasn’t clear to me. The Woman notices similarities between The Man played by her husband and the man in her dreams. Then there’s a cut to the man outside the house. He walks into the house to find the woman dead, having been killed with a knife.

I wonder if people overlook some issues that were detracting to me. What effect did the events in the dream have on real life? Where did the other copies of The Woman go? If The Woman killed herself at the end, why? If she was murdered, by who? Why was she chasing the dream man in the first place? I can’t help but wonder, does the film just want us to think that it was all a dream?

OVERVIEW

We can all theorize the answers to the little things that don’t matter, but important information that helps the story should be explained. Some beloved films seem like they’re only loved for doing some things well. This film has great cinematography and surrealism that was uncommon at the time. That’s often what people talk about with this movie. The actual narrative, which should be the film’s most important part, is left in the dirt. While some parts feel refined, others get no attention at all. It all feels so irrelevant.

Next (2007) Review

A Clockwork Orange, 1971

Of all the films, this is one of them.

I was feeling up for a dumb movie I’ve already seen as well as some good ol’ Nick Cage. I wanted to watch a dumb 2000s movie in July 2017 and this film happily delivered. I was surprised that I didn’t find it terrible, though I also didn’t think it was very good. Since that first viewing I’ve wondered if it was even as good as “Okay”. Now that I’ve seen it once more, I know.

The idea for the film is quite good. A man who can see in the future, but only by two minutes creates an interesting power for a character without overpowering them. This idea could be used in a lot of different movie ideas. There could be a horror movie where a slasher has this power. Maybe a thriller where someone is killing well secured people because they know when people’s guards are down. What about a comedy of someone making everything go their way, à la Bruce Almighty?! With one exception, Next has the good grace to not have this power be a cop out to prevent realistic problems.

Not unlike many 2000s movies, this movie is incredibly silly, this mainly comes from the dialogue and acting, trying to come off deep or artistic, but instead coming off like someone using a style not understood. Poetic lines fly out of left field. There’s a scene where Nicolas Cage’s character, Cris Johnson, speaks of how he likes the rain. He then tells a story about the rain, as if to make a point, a point that he’s knowledged or relatable. Another example is when he speaks of beauty, in reference to the female lead, Liz Cooper. He’s attempting to appeal in a way that would only realistically be done by someone who just read a book of poetry to memorization. The worst, most over theatrical lines come from Liz. The writers probably wanted her to be the most amazing, special girl in the world, though it makes for an unbelievable and unlikable character. These throwing out of lines isn’t all bad. Cris refers to things seconds before they happen and it’s amusing to watch and does a fair job of detailing the world.

The cinematography is ugly. The colors look awkward; sometimes too bright, sometimes too dark. It’s almost an eye strain trying to look at the movie. I wonder if there was a filter over the frames. The behind the camera work isn’t so bad. The choreography is really good. Whenever our protagonist needs to escape a tricky situation with his ability, we see some clever filming that shows him escape. It’s mostly well shot, though the transitions and framing could use a little work.

The acting is generally quite poor. Cage’s performance isn’t as bad as one might think. It’s not exceptional or even really special, but it’s not terrible. Perhaps if someone was constantly escaping something they don’t want, it might wear on them or make them sound disinterested. His portrayal is perhaps the best in the film. Peter Falk isn’t too bad, though he does come off like he’s on auto-pilot in his small role. I wish he would’ve had more to do as he’s essentially a hangnail character, a character like his should be more relevant to the plot than he actually is. Surprisingly, Next only has one performance that is truly terrible. That is Jessica Biel as Liz Cooper. Her lack of engagement pulls one out of the story. Her portrayal of an every girl who is cast for her looks and makes little facial movement is grating. It’s a shame that these kinds of roles are generally cast based on looks.

There aren’t too many plot holes, however there are some big ones. Cris will play out a future event and see how it goes for him. If he’s considering something, that’s different than him actually going to do it. The premise is that he can see the future, not see varying outcomes. There are some clever workarounds. In the film, he knows that someone he’s trying to avoid will come by and talk to him, so he stays in the room to have that conversation, only to leave once the person shows up. Note how someone else is making the decision to find him and he is also staying in the room. Plot holes come when what he’s seeing is based on an action that he would possibly perform. Annoyingly, this scene lasts longer than two minutes. And to think that the writer’s could’ve just rewritten the scene to be shorter. I like how sometimes Cris doesn’t know what will happen. As he says in the movie, you’re looking into a future where you didn’t look in it. When you do look in it, it changes. That is a sensible and reasonable way for uncertainty. While this is a minor issue, couldn’t Cris look into the future of him looking into the future and see as far ahead as he wants? I’m not too bothered by plot holes like this which would void the whole movie and ruin the concept, but a way of making that impossible would be nice. It is easy to miss, I didn’t realize that after my first viewing.

SPOILERS

There are good lines here. Cris is with Liz and he says “That was incredible”. She asks what he’s referring to and he responds, “This.” He goes for a kiss. I also liked, “What do you want me to do?” “Let ‘em [The Terrorists] shoot you.”, as well as the scene where Cris proves to Liz that he can see the future by saying a line out of nowhere, then he turns on the TV, which says that line. These are natural parts of the narrative and they speak about the characters. The bad lines do also speak about the characters, but in a bland and awkward fashion. The better lines have a little more flavor.

Some of the scenes I like are when Cris is in a car chase only to get hit by a train, then we see him coming up to the train, even though the CGI is bad. At the end, he walks towards a gunman. The gunman fires at him and we see multiple Crises get shot as he walks through. That scene also has bad CGI. The opening sequence of escaping a casino is pretty cool.

Some minor detractors are that people have unnaturally good memory. The plot moves along because of how well people remember what happened, such as certain people being able to identify what Cris did to a tee. Cris and Liz are with some kids and one says that Cris has a crush on Liz. Could the writer’s not let their romance develop naturally? Was it necessary to include this scene with the kids? The kids only appear in this one scene. Similarly with Peter Falk’s character, Irv, he only appears for a few minutes. These characters represent the friendships and relationships of our two leads. They show how they live their lives. If the goal is to not concern with that, that’s fine, but don’t show off this element of their lives unless it has payoff. Maybe there could be a scene where Irv is killed and Cris could be incentivized by that to defeat the baddies. The inclusion of the kids seems to be there only for foreshadowing.

One last positive I have is a scene where Cris is given a drug that will knock him out in five minutes. He works out a way of escaping trouble in the five minutes and he continues on his merry way. This is an interesting, albeit probably unintentional, method of comparison to his two minute thing. Similarly to the character normally, he can anticipate what’s going to happen in an allotted amount of time. This time, he’s not in an advantaged position. A bunch of people want him. It shows a scale of what kind of situation he’s in in the film.

Now for the big negatives. He takes an interest with Liz because he can see farther in the future than two minutes when it’s related to her. He wants to know how and why. This is just a big ol’ plot convenience. He learns of parts of the villains’ plan because they strap bombs to Liz and blow her up. It seems that no one could think of a natural way for Cris to know this, so they cheated. That was the only reason Cris could break the two minute rule. Admittedly, this was why Cris had an interest in Liz, but it shows overt laziness. There was never a rational explanation for how he can see in the future with Liz. The film is so much weaker by the fact that he can break this rule. The film’s very concept is betrayed.

The biggest issue is the ending. The second half of the movie is revealed to be a dream that Cris had. At the point of the film where the dream starts, he resists the FBI, but do to having the dream, he goes with them willingly. He ended up working willingly with them in the dream anyways, so what’s the point? As mentioned previously, if there was no ability to see further than two minutes in the future, he wouldn’t know of the future and this twist wouldn’t be possible.

OVERVIEW

This was a real stinker. There is a little bit of fun here. It doesn’t outweigh the bad, though. If someone desperately likes The Cage, then they might get something out of this. If you watch this movie for any other reason, you’ll realize you made a mistake.

Doctor Who (Classic) 049: The War Games (1969) Review

The Doctor and The War Chief

Context for those unfamiliar with Doctor Who

In the classic era of Doctor Who, stories were divided up into multiple episodes, in a serialized fashion. This story is ten episodes long. The show follows The Doctor, the protagonist, on various adventures through space and time with his time machine, called the TARDIS and he often has one or more assistants, known as companions, who are usually humans from Earth. His companions are Jamie and Zoe. This article is part of a review of Doctor Who‘s sixth season.

Ending with a bang is putting The War Games mildly. The epic scale has rarely been attempted in the 60’s era. This story is both underrated and overrated. Many who think it’s one of the best seem to only be referring to the high scale, while those that don’t like it think it’s far too long. Most of the little details add to the thematic development and work more or less in the subtext.

In the serial, there’s a theme of ‘war’, ‘incompetence’, and ‘the past’. Even though the story can be repetitive (like many other Doctor Who serials), it works better here as it plays into the nature of the story. Throughout the serial, characters learn things and evolve. Characters learn and evolve beyond their biases.

The camera movement is very sharp. It cleverly emphasizes the scene. A character will have a sharp line of dialogue and the camera will move in the perfect way, such as zooming in on that actor or panning to the reaction of another. I want to say that the directing as a whole is good, but there are several very poor fight scenes. Many Doctor Who stories feature deaths which seem like a waste of time. Perhaps the only reason for their inclusion is to show the seriousness of the threat, but it’s annoying as one can only wonder why anyone should care about the guest cast if they’re going to be killed so pointlessly. This story has only one such death. All the others fit in the story perfectly. Finally, the acting is some of the best in the show. One truly believes that they are what we learn they are. Their expressions and opinions are clear on their faces. This story sadly has numerous little issues that I can only discuss by spoiling what’s happening.

SPOILERS

Episode 1 details our heroes appearing in World War 1 and being captured by the British army. It is too long and too divorced from the rest of the story. It does do some things well. Characters such as Smythe, Carstairs, and Jennifer are developed well. The only big sign of a Sci-Fi element is Smythe’s glasses. Whenever he puts on the glasses, he says something to someone and their mind is scrambled, they then agree with him. He uses this ability to get the Doctor sentenced to death. The Doctor and his team coast through this episode.

Episode 1 ends with a firing squad taking aim at the Doctor and a gunshot is heard. Episode 2 starts with the reveal that someone elsewhere fired at the firing squad. The Doctor manages to escape. One can theorize that they’re part of the resistance, which the audience learns of in later episodes. The convenience of the scene is hair-pulling to put it nicely. The Doctor gets around in this story and gains information by acting like he’s a hot shot. This is funny and works well with the seriousness that’s occurring. I wonder if he’s taking a note from his coasting in Episode 1. Our heroes convince Carstairs and Jennifer that there’s something fishy occurring. This leads to a joke where Carstairs compares a video screen to a Cinematograph. I found that quite funny.

I disliked Episode 2’s cliffhanger where the Roman army attacks the protagonists, but when it’s continued with Episode 3, it works quite well. We learn that there are different time zones where different wars are being fought. This includes the 30 Years War, the American Civil War, and many others. The Doctor goes to Smythe’s office looking for a map of all the war zones. He correctly guesses that it’s in a locked safe. When it’s blown open, it’s sitting in there. Couldn’t Smythe have done more to protect the map? Why not put things on top of the map to obscure it? What if someone stole the safe? There’s numerous conveniences in the story, but the most awkward is when Carstairs is firing at soldiers and the others drive off without him. I know he was covering them and wanted to be left there, but he was very useful and it’s out of character for The Doctor. We learn that Smythe is part of a group, The War Lords. They’re monitoring the war zones. The soldiers were planted by them. This is a clever way of explaining how everyone survived the predicament. Carstairs is captured by them.

The next few episodes reveal that there’s brain scrambling technology is being developed and it’s used on Carstairs. The Doctor discovers it and cleverly learns of it. He corrects what happened to Carstairs. Jamie meets a resistance movement that knows of the different war zones. In one of the stories weakest aspects, the character of Jennifer leaves part way through. What’s the point in giving that character the development she got if she’s going to leave so suddenly? An American Civil War soldier more or less takes over the role she had been filling. Jennifer could’ve been given most of the soldier’s dialogue without an issue. The character also fills the role of another Civil War soldier who got killed in the only lame death in the whole story. Both Civil War characters were equally knowledgeable about what is going on. How frustrating! Jamie is later injured with The Doctor and Zoe seeing it. They saw the gun he was hit with kill people. Both don’t seem to be bothered by that. I can understand that perhaps the Doctor didn’t think it so, but Zoe doesn’t think like the Doctor.

Numerous silly fight scenes occur, as well as continuity errors. Such as little details in a scene changing between shots. There are great dialogue scenes, such as one where Zoe asks the Doctor how he knows the foreign machinery of the Villain’s so well. We see Smythe again after several episodes. He is about to have the Doctor shot, but realizes he can’t. The acting is superb. Awkward editing after his Oscar moment lessens the impact of it. He later gets killed in an effective scene. The War Lord, who is monitoring things, is uncaring. The Doctor and The War Chief later have a conversation where we learn that they’re the same species and that Chief is trying to get the best warriors by watching them fight. They both discuss their detachment from their species.

The scale gets more intense, before peeling back very well. The last two episodes focus more on the character’s relationships. The Doctor realizes that the only way he can save everyone is by contacting his race… the Time Lords. The War Chief and The War Lord, the only other Time Lords we see so far with any dialogue, are not happy with this and won’t go down without a fight. These last few episodes are very well executed. The Three Time Lords attempt to escape. The War Chief, who has acted mostly like he is control, is killed while terrified of his people and of dying. The Doctor and friends attempt to escape in Episode 9’s cliffhanger, with great tension and scoring. His escape attempt fails in the following episode’s beginning. All the soldiers are sent back to their time effortlessly by the Time Lords. The Doctor and The War Lord face trial. Neither face their sentence without an escape attempt. The War Lord is killed by the Time Lords. I like the comparison between The Doctor and The War Lord. Both make attempts to escape, but they more or less are unsuccessful. The Doctor’s last escape attempt seems more for the sake of his companions. It’s like he’s accepted his fate, but will give it one more try for his friends. The Doctor’s portrayal is at its best here. We see him determined to be free, but also give up and accept his fate. The Doctor gets an emotional goodbye with his companions before they’re forced to return home. That emotion really hits. The Time Lords force the Doctor to be exiled to Earth for his crime of interfering in other planets by involving himself. The Time Lords had only used time travel to observe places, but the Doctor wanted to actually do something. He’s portrayed as small and weak here.

I bring up so much of the story to emphasize the themes. Everyone thinks they’re high and mighty, but they’re pawns. The soldiers in the war are accomplishing nothing and their monitors all get killed. Even the Doctor isn’t immune from this. Characters like Carstairs shift and change. We see their perspectives and learn of them. There’s also a theme of failure. Everyone, especially the Time Lords, have their own plan and thing they want to do, but they all fail except for the big Time Lords, who only appear briefly. At the end, the Doctor thinks he can pull a quick trick from his sleeve, but he can’t.

Characters like The Doctor and The War Chief are on different sides, though they’re race is the same. Both think they’re right, but they’re under the thumb of the Time Lords. The soldiers mirror this. They’re different sides of the same race, but the Generals are aliens in disguise, they’re controlling things. There’s plenty of running around, but it leads to the deaths of many. I don’t support the fan theory that the War Chief is a recurring villain named ‘the Master’ because the War Chief dying at the end of this story ends that character perfectly and it matches the theme of failure.

OVERVIEW

Many parts of The War Games are flawed, but it’s so worth it to get to those last few episodes, which are masterfully good.

Doctor Who Season 6 is a bit of a mixed bag. Some stories are fantastic, like The Invasion and The Seeds of Death. Some are poor like The Krotons and The Space Pirates. There’s not much of a theme for the season. The main characters go on their adventures and we see what the writers can come up with. A small theme is that every story in this season seems like it wants to be an epic. They vary in how well they succeed at that. The Doctor’s attempts to save the day are successful, but in the end he fails to resolve it himself and must pay the price by being exiled to Earth. It’s the end of an era, but it opened the door for a new one.

The Ratings Game (1984) Review

”The Hollywood scene”

This film got progressively better throughout its runtime. The romance elements were more or less paint by numbers, but fortunately they weren’t too prominent. DeVito’s character is a lot of fun, he isn’t playing a jerk character, instead he’s playing a nice guy with an edge. His character, Vic DeSalvo, does bad things, but in the nicest way doable. Some of what he does, he does because he doesn’t really have a choice if he’s going to achieve his goals. His other option is failing at his dream.

The directing and writing is neutral, they’re neither exceptionally good or bad. The writers, Michael Barrie and Jim Mulholland, don’t wow with many brilliant lines and with one exception of the Hollywood scene, Director, Danny DeVito, doesn’t stun with any shots. Fortunately, the acting is pretty good. Actor’s facial expressions do wonders to the picture. Many times they feel like ad libs. That shows that the cast are into their roles if that is the case. The ending is entertaining, but not very refined. It’s absurd in ways it shouldn’t be. Particularly in scenes with the police.

Matching what’s happening in the film, everything progressively gets more intense. It works that the protagonist’s life is slow at the beginning, so the movie is too. However, it’s a bit boring. If there was a way to have more happening, then it would’ve been better, though that would sacrifice the character progression matching up as well.

There’s a bit of filler in the movie. Some scenes are wasteful and inefficient. One scene on a boat seems to be intending to be funny, but it’s so empty. It adds nothing to the story. The characters in it are having an awkward conversation, but it simply makes the scene and the audience awkward. Maybe some of these “loose scenes” are supposed to be red herrings about where the story should go, but that’s not apparent and they wouldn’t feel needed if they were gone.

Later on in life, DeVito would direct another film called Death to Smoochy. Both that film and this one parody ‘showbiz’. Clean people have to handle dirt in them. Both try to be more clever than they are. Both try to hold up a message larger than they can hold. This film has good moments, mostly from DeVito, but it also collapses under its own weight.

A 90’s Classic – The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896) Review

An early Lumière advertisement.

I’m a bit eager to discuss one of the many films by the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumière. Both are considered the fathers of cinema (A win for Gay parenting). They invented and patented the cinematograph, which is essentially a film camera and projector. It’s often considered an improvement to Thomas Edison’s kinetoscope which only could screen to one viewer at a time. They’re considered by many to be the best filmmakers in this early era where there weren’t any cuts or special effects.

When thinking of a silent, black and white film I could review, I thought I should start from the start. I gravitated towards the Lumière brothers’ best regarded film that I also think is their best, The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat. Anyone who watches it may think, “What’s so special about this fifty-second viewing of nothing? This guy is just biased towards the 1800’s pictures!” Hopefully this review can give some insight on my perspective. I considered reviewing the literal first film to be screened publicly, aka the film that marked the start of cinema, Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory, but I don’t like that one very much. It’s not terrible, but this film in at least some regards is a refinement.

Technically this has spoilers. Even though I can describe what’s happening, that’s not what I get from the film. It works based on what you can’t get out of a review, only from watching it. At the start, people are standing around, waiting for the train. We see people who work at the station, as well as future passengers. This is such a good way of painting this world we’re in. We can see what’s happening and when the train comes, it is a very sharp visual answer to what is going on. Even though we can see the train tracks from Frame 1, that’s on the left side of the frame, while the people, who are moving around, are on the right. There’s something more to be gained from a large, visual smack of the Train arriving, than in a film like Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory, where the camera is capturing a flat shot, the people in that film walk off to the left, which gives that film a lack of density. In a move which intentionally or not follows filmmaking rules, seeing as we’re focused on the right of the frame, the train also first appears on the right.

A bit of framing that models 3-D movies, the train progressively moves towards the camera (and then beyond it). Perhaps it’s obvious, but this isn’t 3-D, and doesn’t have the unnatural effect that comes from 3-D movies. Those films typically have things jumping at the camera and little novelties which often subtract from the story more than it adds. The Train arriving mirrors the progression of the story. We see more and more look to the train. We see it come to life and play a larger role in the film later on. The best way of tying off what’s been shown is what happens when the train stops. People start moving off and on the train, this is the film’s climax. We see people doing their business. The film shows that it’s a busy area, but everything can be seen clearly. Sadly, we don’t see the train depart, as it would’ve given some finality, but it doesn’t detract too heavily. In a sense, the train is a character, and the character never gets an end.

Films that don’t have stories do suffer a bit. Stories help to emphasize what’s happening and give more weight to it. This film’s lack of depth can give it the feeling that it wasted your time and if one is looking to be thrilled and awed, then this might not satisfy. Even though it’s great to see people’s faces, showing what people are thinking, it should’ve shown more, with more variety in facial expressions. It would also have been nice to see more people who worked at the station, to then again expand on what we’re seeing.

The best films of this time used attractive lighting and cinematography to show this “bite-sized world”. In such a small amount of time, we are told so much about what’s going on. A less skilled director might not show people’s faces or make cuts to things that are irrelevant to the narrative. This film is efficient and classy. Though it might be a little too efficient at points, it is effective regardless. This is perhaps the best picture of this time and genre, where the camera’s turned on and life is seen.

The Beach Boys Today! (1965) Review

The Beach Boys, pictured 1965.

It’s not uncommon for people who listen to music to cite the Beach Boys album, Pet Sounds, as one of the greatest albums of all time. I can’t help but agree wholeheartedly. When I learned of its legendary status, I couldn’t help but be surprised. Before listening to it, their only song I liked was “I Get Around”, which is very fun but lacking in depth of really any kind. Most of the band’s songs and even their name gives the impression of dumb of the time music which couldn’t have anything to it. Discovering this work of art, I listened to numerous other albums the band had to offer. Sadly, I was mostly disappointed. Post-Pet Sounds albums such as Wild Honey felt like no one knew what to do or how to do it. The lyrics and composition are far less complex than their highlights and it suffers for it due to what appears to be attempted. Pre-Pet Sounds albums like Surfin’ Safari feel like commercial products, products that anyone, anywhere could do. It’s light and unprofessional. Its only success is the excess of charm that comes from the youthful inexperience and idealism of a mal-understood world. One of the band members was literally thirteen at the time.

A friend of mine then recommended The Beach Boys Today!, which he said was more complex than most of their albums from that era and included numerous seeds that would be explored further in Pet Sounds. This makes enough sense seeing as this album was three albums and fourteen months before Pet Sounds. I was compelled, for lack of a better term, to give it a listen. I was struggling to find a book, movie, or album to review. I wanted the thing to be interesting enough to discuss for a few paragraphs and to be unrated and/or underknown. Partway through this album, I realized how perfect it was for this.

This might be the best Beach Boys album I’ve heard. Pet Sounds is far better, but many fans, including me, can’t help but think of it more as a solo album by the band’s unofficial leader, Brian Wilson. He’s the only member of the band to have more than a minimal role on the album. Most of the band’s albums, including this one, utilize the current lineup of the time in a similar capacity. Numerous tracks include harmony from the band that makes them feel there. It’s not giving the impression that one person is doing the work while the others go off for a toke.

A possibly unintentional theme is desperation and longing, which parallels the real-life desires of main writer, Brian Wilson. The titles of the songs, as well as how they’re sung in the tracks, are like pleas. “Don’t Hurt My Little Sister”, “Help Me, Ronda”, and “Please Let Me Wonder” come off as violent just from looking at the titles. However, just like the rest of the album, the songs have a cheery quality and nature to them. “I’m So Young”, “Do You Wanna Dance?”, and “When I Grow Up” read like the perspective of a child, looking up into an unknown world. Every song could be the perspective of someone the age of around a teenager.

The A-side of the album gives the impression of happy, upbeat good times. The B-side of the album gives the impression of a more somber and upsetting world. The B-side consists of ballads, which is pointed out in other reviews commonly. If your impression of this album is that it’s two distinct halves, you’re sorely mistaken. In the A-side, you can feel the creeping in of the slower and more depressing. Such as in “Help Me, Ronda”, the second last track on the A-side, where “Help” is quietly heard, partially buried by the instrumentation. The final A-side track, “Dance, Dance, Dance”, seems to be absorbed by dancing, as if the singer is focusing on dancing to distract from other matters. The B-side is upbeat throughout, but more minimally, as if the darkness can’t snuff out the light. “She Knows Me Too Well” is somber, but there is an aura of excitement in the singer’s voice, as if “She” knowing him so well isn’t too bad. Sometimes I relistened to songs as they needed more than one go to be understood to their fullest.

This album is no masterpiece, despite what I’ve said. It is trapped in its own brilliance. It never breaks the mold of being a pop album enough to grow its wings. It uses the expectation of being a pop album to its advantage, but it sometimes feels like the lock hasn’t been broken, but we are being told it is broken. Fortunately, the inner beauty is trying to escape out the back of its cage. It never manages to fully.

An earlier Beach Boys album, All Summer Long contained a track called “Our Favorite Recording Sessions” which isn’t a song and added nothing to that album’s atmosphere (what little it had). This album makes the same mistake, but worse. Its last track is a little comical interview titled, “Bull Session With the “Big Daddy””. It awkwardly and sharply ends the album without respecting what it was going for. The second to last track, “In the Back of My Mind” is beautiful in how it moves and pushes forward the album. It just begged for some kind of conclusion. Perhaps the last track could have a battle of overt happy pop and slow ballad.

I can’t honestly say I’ve heard an album quite like this one. It effortlessly marries different concepts and ideas to create an interesting experience to say the least. It’s not too happy, too cheery, too depressing, too much of anything. That doesn’t always work exceptionally, but it didn’t sell itself too highly and back down. The Beach Boys Today! was honest.