The Rock

On Friday, I caught the second half of a Midnites for Maniacs double bill at the Castro Theater.  The theme of the evening was "Macho Maestros."  The double bill consisted of Rocky IV and The Rock.  Earlier that evening, I had dinner & cocktails at Capp's Corner which is closing on April 19.  That caused me to miss Rocky IV which I wasn't very keen on anyway.  I only saw The Rock.

The Rock starring Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage & Ed Harris, directed by Michael Bay; (1996)

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks introduced The Rock but first shared some of his thoughts on Rocky IV.  I'm not sure if I agree with everything he said because I haven't seen the film for so long.  One thing is clear from my memory and the preview clips Jesse showed before The Rock.  In the mid-1980s (Rocky IV came out in 1985), fears about the Soviet Union were at their height.  In hindsight that seems strange because by 1989, the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet satellite states were gaining their independence.  However in the  mid-80s, Red Dawn was a cult hit and Tom Clancy was churning them out.  Rocky IV placed these fears in a boxing context.  The Maniac mentioned that in Rocky IV, Rocky had to abandon the consumerist culture of the US to train in the Spartan conditions of the USSR in order to defeat Drago.  As he said that, I wondered why didn't the Italian Stallion learn his lesson from the beat-down Clubber Lang gave him?  Ficks also mentioned the montage scenes which he compared to some of the great directors in cinema's history.  I have to admit that I can remember some of the montages from various Rocky film.  It almost makes me wish I had seen Rocky IV.

I've seen The Rock many times.  A surprisingly large percentage of the audience had not seen the film before.  Prior to the film, Hicks advised the audience to pay attention to the three lead actors - Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage & Ed Harris.

I recall Dr. Goodspeed (Cage) had a girlfriend in the film but forgot that Mason (Connery) had a daughter.  By my count, only three actresses had speaking parts - Vanessa Marcil as Goodspeed's better half, Claire Forlani is in one scene as Mason's daughter and Celeste Weaver has one line as Forlani's "friend."  I didn't recall this but the film suggests that Mason's daughter is a lesbian.

Suffice to say, there is a lot of testosterone in The Rock.  Interestingly, the youngest member of the Big Three has the least.  Cage's Goodspeed doesn't lack for courage when he's in the lab but he is out of his element when he is "in the field" and completely lost when he has to clandestinely sneak onto Alcatraz and disarm the missiles with the nerve gas.

Ficks must have prepped the audience before Rocky IV. because he asked the audience about Cage's self-titled acting style and many knew the answer was Nouveau Shamanic, a term I was not familiar with previously.  On of the reasons, I am a fan of The Rock is Cage's performance.  His Goodspeed is an earnest chemist who is befuddled by the new situation he finds himself in.  Namely, he is teamed up with the sardonic Mason.  Connery also merits attention.  He plays Mason like James Bond if Bond had been imprisoned for 30 years.  Connery outsmarts and outquips everyone in the room.  Goodspeed is always a step behind Mason which creates this entertaining alpha-beta male relationship between the two.

Added to this mix is General Hummel (Harris), an alpha male in charge of a contingent of US Marines.  I couldn't remember why Hummel and his men took the tourists on Alcatraz hostage and stole some nerve gas.  Hummel did it because the US Government had refused to acknowledge the spotters in Baghdad during the first Gulf War.  As Hummel described his grievances, I couldn't help but think it reminded me a lot of the grievances issued by modern day Islamofascist states.  Specifically, the US has long interfered with the internal affairs of other nations including assassinations and acts of sabotage which the US characterizes as terrorism when they happen on US soil.

I was also surprised by the ransom Hummel demands to save the hostages and not fire the missiles.  He wants $100 million.  I believe it was $1 million to each of the families of 84 dead Marines who were denied death benefits by the government and $1 million to the 16 Marines who are with him on Alcatraz.  Maybe it's inflation but $1 million  doesn't seem enough incentive to commit treason and live the rest of your life in hiding or in some country without an extradition treaty with the US.  In 2015, those Marines couldn't even afford to buy a house in SF with their payoff.

The best scenes in the film have the relatively milquetoast Goodspeed having to deal with hyper-masculinized Marines, commandos, FBI Agents, etc.  Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's frightening and sometimes I empathized with Goodspeed's situation.  Sometimes it's all three which is why I like the film and indirectly a compliment of Cage's performance.

In a supporting role, John Spencer as the duplicitous FBI director Womack does a lot with a small role.  Not as large a role but impressive for his screen presence is William Forsythe as the no-nonsense FBI SAIC Paxton.  Forsythe and Connery have a memorable scene together where they square off during an interrogation.  Indeed, the film is full of scenes where alpha males keep confronting each other looking to assert their dominance.

"Assert their dominance..." that reminds me of the theme of the evening.  I read many years ago that the popularity of boxing, wrestling, MMA, etc. is not the violence or the blood sport.  Rather it is the primal need (particularly in men) to assert their dominance.  In that vein, boxing is about one man asserting his will over another.  The Rocky films understand this and at its essence, that is what The Rock is about.  In The Rock, there is a constant shuffling of who is trying to dominate whom and the position of the top dog keeps changing.

Do I appreciate The Rock more after Ficks' introduction?  I don't think so.  I already had an appreciation of the film before last Friday.  There are a lot of plot holes in the script and the presence of a female in a more prominent role may have served as a more interesting counterpoint to all the chest thumping but the film is what it is.

The next Midnites for Maniacs will be May 8 at the Castro.  It is a Penelope Spheeris triple shot which I'm quite excited about.  I have never seen The Decline of Western Civilization or The Decline of Western Civilization II which are sandwiched around Wayne's World.

He's a Maniac

Of all the film programmers at the various festivals and rep houses in the Bay Area that I am familiar with, the one I see most often in the audience is Jesse Hawthorne Ficks of Midnites for Maniacs.  I'm not referring to his watching the films he programs but rather the films at other film series.  I see him at the YBCA, the PFA, the Roxie, the Vogue, I see him on BART going to the films...I even see him while I'm grabbing a bite at the Grove catercorner from the YBCA (allow me to recommend the Eggs Benedict "Dave's Way" which is served all day long).

Such a cinephile deserves all the support I can give him.  Besides, he occasionally calls me out on my absences from his screenings.  I've seen four films at three of his recent events at the Castro.  On Labor Day Weekend, I went to see The Wiz.  In September, I watched Inside Llewyn Davis & Coal Miner's Daughter on a double bill.  In October, I saw Reign of Fire.  In August, I was going to see a William Lustig film at the YBCA which Jesse sponsored but it was sold out.  I missed his November Cassavetes & Son pairing so I could go to French Cinema Now.

On December 12, the Maniac has programmed two films allegedly inspired by his viewing of Los Angeles Plays Itself:  Who Framed Roger Rabbit & Ed Wood.  On January 2, he is pairing Snowpiercer & Runaway Train.  Both films will screen at the Castro.

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The Wiz starring Diana Ross; with Michael Jackson, Ted Ross, Nipsey Russell & Richard Pryor;  directed by Sidney Lumet; (1978)

Inside Llewyn Davis starring Oscar Issac; with Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund & Justin Timberlake; directed by Joel & Ethan Coen; (2013) - Official Website

Coal Miner's Daughter starring Sissy Spacek & Tommy Lee Jones; with Beverly D'Angelo; directed by Michael Apted; (1980)

Reign of Fire starring Christian Bale & Matthew McConaughey; with Gerald Butler; directed by Rob Bowman; (2002)

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I had never seen The Wiz before.  I was expecting blaxploitation; instead it was closer to Stephen Sondheim.  The Wiz is a retelling of The Wizard of Oz.  Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Ted Ross, Nipsey Russell & Richard Pryor play the Dorothy, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, Tin Man & Wizard, respectively.

At times, the plot was ghettoized such as when Dorothy & her cohorts encounter some prostitutes or when the Flying Monkey are a motorcycle gang.  All in all, the film was more tame than my expectations.  Once I settled into the film, I couldn't help but compare the scenes in The Wiz with the corresponding scenes in The Wizard of Oz.  Maybe it's just my musical tastes but the deciding factor was the music.

In addition, I think Diana Ross was too old for the role.  Judy Garland's Dorothy was a teenage girl & a feisty one at that.  Diana Ross played Dorothy as a shy, 30something school teacher.

It was ominous that the Emerald City is set in the World Trade Center Plaza.

Beyond the curiosity and bucket list values, seeing The Wiz was a dud for me.

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I missed Inside Llewyn Davis during its original theatrical release.  I jumped at the opportunity to see it at the Castro.  Oscar Issac plays the eponymous character.  Set in the early 1960, Davis is a struggling folk singer in Greenwich Village.  He doesn't have a place to live so he sleeps on friends' couches.  While leaving the one such flat, the owners' cat escapes and Davis chases after it.  For much of the film, Davis is holding a cat and that is the explanation.

Davis is friends with Jim (Justin Timberlake) and Jean (Carey Mulligan), a married couple.  That doesn't stop Davis from having an affair with Jean who informs him that she is pregnant and that he is the father.  She demands he pay for the abortion and he takes a job singing backup for a novelty song Jim is recording (Jim is unaware of the affair or his wife's pregnancy) to get the money.

At the abortion clinic, Davis discovers he has a credit with them because his previous ended up not getting an abortion.  She has subsequently moved to Akron.  Partly to find his ex and child and partly to audition for a record producer (F. Murray Abraham), Davis hitchhikes out of NYC.  He is picked up by jazz musician Roland Turner (John Goodman) and his driver, beat poet Johnny Five (Garrett Hedlund).  The trio share an awkward car trip until Turner ODs on heroin in a restaurant bathroom & Johnny Five gets arrested for arguing with the police.

Recounting the plot up to this point makes me realize that the plot isn't really necessary to understand & appreciate the film.  Llewyn Davis is a schmuck.  However, he is also an uncompromising musician which may be good for his music but is for his life.  He goes through life trying to hurt his friends but is largely unsuccessful.  It's also the story of Greenwich Village during a specific, pre-Dylan era.  There wasn't much money in singing folk songs so people did it for other reasons.  In the film, Davis does it for "the right reasons."

Inside Llewyn Davis doesn't bop you on the head with its message.  It's message is more like "life happens, deal with it."  Davis deals with it in a sad and funny way.  His plight contrasts with his acquaintances who have compromised and enjoying the benefits and suffering the costs of their compromise.

After the screening, Jesse shared two hypotheses.  First, Davis had been part of a successful duo before his partner committed suicide before the events of the film.  His life has been in a downward spiral since.  Jesse posited that Davis and his songwriting partner were gay lovers which explains why his life has gone in the dumper and why he gets so upset when a friend attempts to sing harmony to one their old songs.  I recall during the car trip, Turner asks Davis "Are you a homo?" and Davis responds with silence.

The second item Jesse posited was about an older man who pops up in a few scenes.  He has no dialog and his appearance is just short of conspicuous due to the camera time he is given.  Jesse's theory is that the old man is Davis from the future looking back on his life.  That's not a literal representation but as if Davis in the present time & Davis in the early 1960s were juxtaposed in the same frame.

During the viewing, I suspected the relationship between Davis and former partner was more intimate than a simple musical duo although I guess I was looking for more visible signs of their relationship.  Given that Davis impregnated two women, I wonder about his sexual orientation but he could be compensating.  It would also explain why he engenders such resentment from the women:  Jean is palpably contemptuous of Davis while his former girlfriend skipped town with his baby.

As for the old man, I'm not as convinced of Jesse's theory but the film doesn't contradict it.  The film ends with the likelihood that Davis will give up his musical career & rejoin the merchant marines.  The film feels like it is documenting a nexus in Davis' life.

I'm a Coen Brothers fan and Inside Llewyn Davis is one of their stronger entries; it's more subtle and understated than most of their films.

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Inside Llewyn Davis was followed by Coal Miner's Daughter.  Jesse revealed to the audience that the film is being remade with Zooey Deschanel as Loretta Lynn.  After chortling from the audience, Jesse said Deschanel was endorsed for the role by Lynn herself.  I'm not sure if I misheard him or if he misstated the situation.  Deschanel played Lynn in a Broadway musical adapted from the film which was in turn adapted from Lynn's autobiography.  I can't find anything about a remake in film production.  Still the thought of Deschanel as Loretta Lynn is hard to fathom.

Director Michael Apted is an Englishman and best known for the 7 Up documentary series.  Given his filmography at the time, he seemed an odd choice to direct a film about a country singer from Appalachia but the film doesn't appear to have suffered from his direction.  Spacek won an Academy Award for her performance and the film was nominated for Best Picture.  Interestingly, Apted was not nominated for Best Director.

As Jesse mentioned in his introduction, Coal Miner's Daughter was made during a time when biopics just told the story.  They didn't delve too far into the psychological underpinnings of the characters.  If the movie is to be believed, Lynn was the victim of marital rape on her wedding night as a 15 year old.  She doesn't seem to be any worse off because of it.  Indeed, in real life her marriage lasted 50 years.  Tommy Lee Jones plays Doolittle "Mooney" Lynn, a WWII vet, moonshiner and Loretta's hard-drinking, hard-living husband.  To be honest, I think I would have liked to have seen more screen time exploring what made Mooney tick but the title of the filmvwas Coal Miner's Daughter not Coal Miner's Daughter's Husband.

The film touches all the bases.  We see the rise of Loretta Lynn, her friendship with Patsy Cline (Beverly D'Angelo), her struggles, her strained relationship with Mooney and their ultimate reconciliation.

Coal Miner's Daughter confirms that from day one, Tommy Lee Jones the type of actor that you can't ignore on screen.  Although Spacek won the Oscar, she had the benefit of acting or reacting to Jones' performance which is vaguely reminiscent of his other roles.  The slight Southern twang and cadence of his voice seem to be constant in all his film performances.  Jones has a talent for portraying aggressive but fallible men with an innate sense of decency.

The storytelling in the film seems dated but Coal Miner's Daughter is well above average and showcases Apted's versatility as a director.

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Reign of Fire was made in the aftermath of 9/11.  If you look hard enough, you can see some allegories but ultimately the film is about dragons and dragon-slayers.  Actually, watching it 12 years after it was made, I thought Reign of Fire could be thought of today as an allegory for global warming and other looming environmental disasters.

Christian Bale is the leader of a group of people who take refuge from the dragons in a remote castle.  Matthew McConaughey (bulked up and with shaved head) is the American dragon-slayer who has come to recruit some men for his Ahabesque quest for the white whale...I mean dragon.  Bale fights the dragons (or more like he runs from the dragon), McConaughey fights the dragon, Bale & McConaughey fight each other and finally, Bale & McConaughey fight the dragon (and not that is not a euphemism).

There are holes large enough in the plot that you could fly an attack helicopter through but there is not need to recount them here.  I guess the CGI was good or good for its time.  Frankly, Reign of Fire bored me for the most part.  The post-apocalyptic films really have a hard time grabbing my attention.  Most people consider Reign of Fire a well-made but glorified B movie; all action, no story.  I won't disagree.

Jesse paired Reign of Fire with The Dark Knight.  Reign of Fire was the 2nd half of the double bill.  I missed The Dark Knight due to work & a trip to the gym.  I hadn't seen Reign of Fire  but I had seen The Dark Knight (at the Castro too).  In hindsight, I wish the Maniac had reversed the order of the double bill as I would have much preferred seeing The Dark Knight a second time over Reign of Fire a first time.

The Puzzle Within the Castro Theater's October 2014 Calendar

The October calendar at the Castro Theater was tough.  The only person I quickly recognized was Ralph Bellamy on Halloween.  My co-worker, whose facial recognition skills I praised in my September post, drew a blank for the other three.

I cheated and used Google Image Search to identify Ruth Gordon on October 6.  Ms. Gordon is best known for her role in Harold and Maude which doesn't get screened as much now that the Red Vic is closed.  She was also memorable in Every Which Way But Loose and Rosemary's Baby.

That knowledge broke the logjam for me.  I recalled that Ralph Bellamy & Ruth Gordon appeared together in Rosemary's Baby (1968).  Then I noticed the guy on October 20 looked a lot like the actor who portrayed Ruth Gordon's character's husband in the film.  A quick IMDB search resulted in his name - Sidney Blackmer.  That only left the woman shown on October 28.  Seeing the Rosemary's Baby association, I looked each actress in the cast up in IMDB until I found Patsy Kelly.

Summarizing:

October 6 - Ruth Gordon

October 20 - Sidney Blackmer

October 28 - Patsy Kelly

October 31 - Ralph Bellamy

The clues obviously point to Rosemary's Baby but unfortunately the film is not on the Castro Theater's October calendar.  Roman Polanski directed the film so I looked for other films by Polanski on the calendar this month. No luck.

After perusing the calendar for a few moments, I recalled what Jesse Hawthorne Ficks of Midnites for Maniacs had told the audience at the September 19 screening of Inside Llewyn Davis and Coal Miner's Daughter.  He mentioned his upcoming events.  On October 17, Ficks is screening The Dark Knight & Reign of Fire.  Although not listed on the Maniac's website nor the Castro's, I recalled that Jesse had said he was screening a double feature consisting of The Notebook (directed by Nick Cassavetes) and Minnie and Moskowitz (directed by John Cassavetes) in November.  John Cassavetes was in Rosemary's Baby but it seems a stretch for the clues in the October calendar to be pointing to a November film event.

I can't find anything with Mia Farrow on the calendar either.

I also tried looking for anyone whose mother was named Rosemary.  The following individuals' mothers were not named Rosemary - Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak (Vertigo), Bernardo Bertolucci (October 18), Nicholas Kristof (October 7), Lauren Bacall (several films on multiple dates) and Andy Warhol (Chelsea Girls).

I notice Ghostbusters on October 24.  That movie deals with a case of demonic possession which is close to the plot of Rosemary's Baby.

Halloween is the most obvious choice for the object of the calendar's clues, but I don't think that is right.  Kind of life, the puzzle on the calendar don't come with a key so I can never know with 100% certainty if I am right or wrong.

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I've never been a big fan of horror films or Halloween.  Halloween always seemed silly to me and now seems like an excuse for people to get drunk.  Horror films rarely frighten me anymore.  I guess I'm just becoming a grumpy old man.  For that reason, the Castro's October calendar is not particularly appealing to me.  Also by my count, the Castro is screening 21 films in October which I have seen before.

I would have liked to have seen Gandhi on Sunday but had other plans.  Orpheus (October 21), The Pawnbroker (October 22) and Giuseppe Makes a Movie (October 27) interest me.  All three non-film events sponsored by the Bay Area Science Festival on October 25 interest me as well.

However, it is the Hou Hsiao-hsien retrospective at the PFA which excites me the most in October.  With 18 films in the series, I believe the series contains all of the Taiwanese director's feature film efforts.  The series begins Friday (October 10) with The Sandwich Man and Cute Girl and continues until December 14.

At present, the Mill Valley Film Festival is occurring.  It will continue until Sunday (October 12).  I have seen several films there this past weekend and intend to see more this upcoming weekend.

November looks to be a busy month compared to October.  The San Francisco Film Society is sponsoring three mini-festival:  French Cinema Now (November 6-9), Hong Kong Cinema (November 14-16) and New Italian Cinema (November 19-23).  All three series will be at the Vogue Theater; their lineups are scheduled to be posted tomorrow.

Third I's program has already been announced.  The San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival runs in two segments.  The festival will be at the Viz and the Castro from November 6-9 and at CineArts in Palo Alto on November 15.

Finally, Elliot Lavine (and Don Macolm) returns to the Roxie from November 14-17 for a French film noir series titled "The French Had a Name For It: Classic French Noir from the 40s through the 60s."  The program for the series is not yet posted.

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Castro Theater Calendar - October 2014