Greg Hook
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So.. worth a punt?
Only if it comes in a metal tin.
So.. worth a punt?
Does she break wind that hard her hair keeps blowing up in the air?Racquel Welch looking at her most poofy and little else.
(This is a slightly expanded version of some of my jottings after I first watched the film)
Parasite
In Parasite, director Bong Joon-ho looks again at societal structure, as he did in his more playful but less consistent Snowpiercer, a film whose reputation has rightly grown since its initial underwhelming release. Where that film tackled a rigid social structure with verve, humour and exaggerated broad strokes, his latest piece has a much subtler and more unsettling approach.
The thematic interplay between class, wealth, authenticity and visibility is woven into every strand of the film. It is not just a film about class struggle, the entire picture breathes with tension between haves and have nots (and have nothings). Each image has been carefully infused with some mark of importance, some hint toward the societal strife. The plot and characters are built around the structure of South Korea but the message is universal.
The colour palette, the architecture, the costumes, the photography, all combine to permeate the audience’s awareness of the struggle faced by the characters and the tension they feel when faced with who they are, who they want to be and who society allows them to be. Not a second of film is wasted. Bong creates a figurative work of art of every image, opting sometimes for a style of visual mirroring, a particularly effective way to force subconscious comparison on the audience, other times poking fun at us and himself with meta commentary on his own filmmaking (“it’s so metaphorical” the Kim’s son says whenever he’s trying to sound clever). This is a film that demands multiple viewings to truly appreciate how microscopically detailed it is and a lasting legacy for its appreciation (and almost certainly its use in film school) is assured.
The tone of the film is an interesting one. It’s devilishly fun for the first act, and that never fully goes away despite the turn to more serious and darker notes. The comedy remains but slowly sinks deeper and deeper into darkness. And with every step down into the basement of pitch-black humour comes a harsher truth about the lives of the film’s characters.
Damning of both unequal wealth distribution and of the way in which people on the lower steps of the social staircase fight amongst each other to climb just one step higher, Parasite is powerful social commentary from which no-one escapes unscathed.
a warning to stay in your lane
Super interesting.@Malingo Maybe it's an observation and a warning?
Actually, now that I think about it I wonder if director Bong is in favour ofmaintaining the status quo. Was just thinking about the ending of Snowpiercer and how overthrowing the system leads to the death of the protag and everybody else save the two children who are freed from its restrictive confines but are now directly in the path of a fricking polar bear!
In Parasite is he in favour of staying in the system and playing by the rules according to your socioeconomic status or of escaping it altogether or destroying it (anarchy)?
The warning as I see it seems to be conveyed through the consequences of attempting to climb the ladder to get closer to the haves. Ultimately if people don't act in good faith within the confines of the capitalist system tragedy befalls all of its members regardless of which class they belong to due to its adversarial framework. Bong is showing us the absurd and dangerous situations that framework fosters but warns us (maybe) that there isn't a viable solution/alternative to the system. Warning: if you wish to buck the system you'll end up like dad, burrowing underground out of reach of the wealthy and poor alike but sustaining your lonely and cut-off existence only by parasitizing off of people still in the system. So there's no escape, just like in Snowpiercer. Maybe. Maybe the kids evaded the bear? Ah! I don't know. Slippery Bong, very slippery.
Panic Room (2002) Directed by David Fincher
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Still remains pretty entertaining for a home invasion movie which mostly comes comes down to the style and some very splendid Hitchcockian shots, the performances also do a good job of holding it together Jodie F is great as is the young Miss Stewart but its Forest Whitaker the criminal with heart who steals it for me, it's not perfect though and does at times feel like an in between side project for Fincher as the film carries more than a few flaws and stupid decisions but does still get some pretty tense moments down.7/10
On another note any foreign films fans remember a film similar to Panic Room, having a hard time tracing it and not sure if it was before or after Fincher's film, carried the same sort of setup think the wife holed up in safe room and pretty sure the end revealed it was her husband back from the dead trying to kill her.
Edit found it
The Hidden Face is a great film, some fantastic twists, I don't remember the ending being as you described though.
Hell comes to Frogtown (1988)
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Missed this one on release, when I would have been 14. Seems like the sort of film I'd have lapped up back then, rewatching it numerous times on VHS just like I did with Robocop, Predator, Time Bandits and Big Trouble in Little China (to name a few).
Even now, at a grand old 45 years old, I enjoyed it. As a piece of movie making, it's pretty damn awful if I'm honest. Roddy Piper has to be one of the worst actors ever, obviously got his roles for his wrestler physique and his en-vogue for the era mullet. But that all adds to the movies charm. Have to say, the 'frogs' make up was a lot better than I was expecting, and there's some good humour in this one - it knows what it is, a full on B Movie.
6.5/10.
Never heard of it. I just watched the trailer....