Dracula (1992)

Yeah I'm pretty happy with this one.

I don't know whether or not the reception of this film has went up or down over the three decades since it's release, but I'm in the camp of liking it a good deal. Easily the most lavishly produced, faithful, and striking adaptation of the story in film, Francis Ford Coppola bet it all on this movie to save his sinking film company with a solid budget of 40 million and pulled in over 200 million when all was said and done, and I can understand why. True the movie leans a bit more into romance than abject horror, but it didn't bother me all that much. The stuff that is creepy, freaky, and just plain horrific had a strong effect on me. Never once in all vampire media have I ever cringed and shirked away from seeing a vampire consume blood, but the razor scene in this movie mm-mmm. No way, that creeped me right the fuck out man, gave me the heebie-jeebies! And the romance while assuredly dramatic I bought into, it strangely worked for me. Only a handful of details I noticed didn't make the jump from page to screen, but all the things that did make it give a lotta brownie points to this film! The production is batshit insane, I cannot believe the visuals in this movie, and to think everything was done in camera with next to zero post production or computer graphics work kinda blows my socks off. The sets, the costumes, the scope of it all, it's almost illegal how grand this movie looks. Star studded cast and I gotta just say real quick oh ho boy this is gonna be sacreligious, Gary Oldman had such a perfect voice and presence for what was required in this role. I know, Bela Lugosi is THE voice, he is friggin' Dracula as long as the world keeps turning. However! Gary got me creeped out, entranced, and invested. The hair at the beginning though, absurd. But I can't change it so I gotta live with it, and everything else was great about him. Winona Ryder as Mina was very nice, and I'm actually happy she has more of a role to play cause in all seriousness Mina and Lucy are barely even there in any adaptation. Anthony Hopkins was riding a high and beautiful wave in the early 90s due to Silence Of The Lambs and I did like him a fair bit, I mean this is the most exotic and foreign Van Helsing I've seen since Edward Van Sloan. Keanu my son, I'm thrilled you have a shining career nowadays and I understand you were burnt the hell out making this, so I will not trash you here but I do feel a different actor would have worked more. I do however wish we got more Cary Elwes, Richard E. Grant, and Billy Campbell as Arthur, Seward, and Quincey respectively cause well I'm a sucker for Cary and Richard, and huzzah Quincey is proper texan and was kinda awesome! I do find it hilarious though they had to cut about 20 minutes of gore effects out though the film was in no danger of getting a higher rating than an R, but they absolutely kept every breastises and charged erotic moment in this movie no problem. I mean I think they were in a moooood making this movie, my God Hammer wasn't this gratuitous and revelling in the sexy aspects, but here? Make sure the kids are in bed or out of the house before flipping this on. Lawd have mercy! Moving swiftly on. I really digged this movie, I loved the lavish design and tone, I was most definitely entertained, I give it 3.5 stars and an 8/10! Next week, it is high past time we pay our respects to the king of low budget pictures with his acclaimed and memorable Poe series.

Porco Rosso

Damn you Studio Ghibli, I shake my fist at you!



Believe it or not, this friggin' movie man has been on my list for a long ass time, well before I even entertained the thought of writing my own reviews. This was my white whale to finally see, and I was not disappointed. Set in what looks like the late 1920s in the Mediterranean Sea, an ace pilot named Porco Rosso makes a living off protecting sea cruisers from air pirates as the governmental landscape shifts and the times they are a-changin'. Bounty hunting is a thing of the past and worse, Porco's plane gets wrecked forcing him to get it repaired and comes face to face with the new big shot pilot in town named Curtis who wants to take him down. Throw in a kickass mechanic named Fio, some air pirates possibly more hilarious than the pirates in Castle In The Sky, some spectacular sea scenery, and I think this is top 5 Studio Ghibli material for me. I'm serious man, if I wasn't a gleam in my mother's eye in 1992 you bet your ass I would see this day one! Granted the only selling point needed for me to even feverently search to watch this movie is two things, Studio Ghibli and Michael Keaton. I'm sold, take my money! Michael Keaton is so great in this, he's kind of a smartass but he's so cool you don't care, he can drink, smoke, womanize ever so slightly, and look like a literal pig and by God he can get away with it. I love how they don't really even explain how he turned into a pig, you never see anything, it's mentioned in passing it's a curse, we simply just do not know. I would call that bad writing elsewhere but it's never a quest to make him human again, people fully accept his appearance, so it's never really a problem. Kimberly Williams-Paisley as young engineer Fio just puts a smile on my face, she ain't taking no nonsense from Porco, she's super intelligent, very funny, hardheaded but extremely sweet, and there isn't really any kind of overt romance projected onto the film with either her or an old friend of Porco's who runs an establishment named Gina, played by Susan Egan who it took almost until the end of the movie for me to recognize her voice. You 90s Disney fans know, and while she is a smaller part of the story I really like her addition. Cary Elwes coming back again to voice Curtis, an egotistical even more womanizing gent from Texas no less (appreciate that representation, though we're not all like that I swear), but he's not an outright villain. Hell even the gangsters and air pirates are more comedic relief than actual threat but I adore that, it's just wonderful fun and I am not opposed to fun. The animation and backgrounds in this movie are stellar, you do feel that momentum and flying sensation even to a point where I tensed up for a brief instance. Some of these backgrounds are just unadulterated art worthy of any landscape painter. And this is just a super tiny sidebar, I can't even explain why, but seeing colored glints on the plane and the machine gun fire being this string of purple/pink orbs just really put a smile to my face, it's that very particular early 90s style of animation and I am here for it. I was so upset when it ended though because I was just having that great a time with it, I didn't want it to end! Usually I don't hate when a movie ends but this is one of those rare exceptions. I'm doing it, can't stop me. Full 4 stars, 10/10, this was so far up my alley and we only have one week left of reviews before the end of another year. You didn't think I would leave you high and dry without some Star Wars did you?

Vertigo

Yes the film that usurped Citizen Kane as the quote unquote best film ever. How was it?

I very much enjoyed it, I feel it was indeed the best of the Hitchcock films I've reviewed this week, and it kept me interested until the very end. Jimmy Stewart returns again as a detective who suffers from acrophobia and after watching his partner die decides to return, but his friend asks for his help in watching his wife. The reason? Well, I'd rather not say. Needless to say it builds intrigue and mystery very quickly, and you're constantly throwing ideas out to what the cause of this strangeness really is. Well I was half right. Honestly a movie hasn't screwed with my brain this much since Perfect Blue, and that movie is a trip and a half, I still need to watch that movie like 4 more times. But anyway, so the mystery part of it was great. What surprised me is this movie didn't get a lot of praise when it premiered, critics felt it was lackluster and audiences made the film about triple it's budget, so it wasn't a bomb but it was not so well loved. Whereas now, people view it as the best of all Hitchcock's works, but I'm still on the fence about that. I thought Jimmy Stewart was great in this movie, still bringing his usual stamp of invested and fun acting while bringing even more to the table. But man did Kim Novak steal this show and run laughing with it to the bank. Holy hell's bells, she is fantastic! This is an excellent performance, and she is able to bring such emotion and unearthliness to this part. Easily the best part of the entire movie for me. This is certainly one of Hitchcock's more artsy films, evident immediately from the opening credits and seen throughout the course of the film through lighting, shot placement, and of course effects. The effects are done incredibly well and really does make you feel uneasy and a bit off center, I myself suffer from acrophobia and get vertigo more than 10 feet off the ground, so it was effective for me. But I think it's the story, this ever expanding mystery, an inner struggle within our main character that really is why it's so well received and loved today. I'm very happy I finally had a chance to see more films and wasn't disappointed with any of them, though Psycho still holds a strong place in my heart I can say Vertigo is in fact the best Hitchcock movie I've seen to date. He really was a one of a kind director that tapped into his own fears and demons and brought it into the lens of a camera, able to make entertaining and wonderful cinema that will be watched for decades and decades to come. Every movie with a twist is owed a great deal to Psycho, every suspense scene is compared to his films, most everyone will agree he is a fantastic director, and I'm one of those people. Does it surpass Citizen Kane in terms of filmmaking and story? Eh, it's debatable but Citizen Kane just speaks to me more. Regardless, this film gets an easy 4 stars, 8 if not even 9/10, and two thumbs way up from me.

Well next week we look into some more classics that I have yet to see. Hey I got a lot of stuff to watch, cut me a break.