Italian Horror Blog-a-thon: Nightmare City (aka City of the Walking Dead, aka Invasion of the Atomic Zombies)

[Dusting off another old review for today. If you've never had the pleasure of seeing an Umberto Lenzi movie...this is one to see. I'll update the links later today as I had two wonderful submissions sent to me yesterday, one from Tim of Antagony & Ecstasy and the other by Roderick Heath of Ferdy on Films...if you're familiar with either of those blogs than you know the quality of those submissions is going to be at a high level. Enjoy.]

Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare City is a masterpiece. No seriously, hear me out. The film is the Italian horror equivalent of the greatest of all 1980’s so-bad-it’s-good-movies, Commando. It is one of those films that is so awful in every aspect that the more you watch it, the more you appreciate every frame of the film. Not only is the film awesomely awful, but it inspired Robert Rodriguez’ Planet Terror and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later. Lenzi’s film contains a plethora of 1980’s European horror film clichés. It’s the classic example of Italy churning out whatever was popular at the time and employing a hack director to just make sure the film makes money (this happened with cannibal films which stole from the Mondo films, and it happened with supernatural films like The Exorcist rip off Beyond the Door, etc. – basically they knew they were going to make a profit before the movie was even released, so they didn’t care about the quality). The result of all this is Lenzi and co. creating one of the funniest horror films ever made, and one of the truly great grindhouse experiences you are likely to have.


The film opens with Hugo Stiglitz as Dean Miller (great generic American name), a reporter who is headed to an airstrip to meet with a prominent scientist for an interview. However, an unmarked military plane lands on the airstrip and as Miller instructs his cameraman to shoot the action, nothing can prepare our hero for what he is about to see: oatmeal-faced, turtleneck/sports coat wearing zombies who rush off the plane and partake in an orgy of stabbing, biting, drinking blood, and missing a lot of their cues from Lenzi. These aren’t your ordinary zombies, though. In fact, they are more like what we’re used to seeing in American zombie films today; as Miller’s wife the good doctor Anna explains, they’re “infected.” Hmm, sound familiar?

The infected run around the city killing lots of people (looking suave while doing it), and in a surreal scene at the television station that Miller is employed by, the zombies rush in on what appears to be a daytime disco/aerobics show. If you have ever been curious as to why it is I love Italian zombie films so much, this scene helps explain a lot. They proceed to eat up all the dancers (some dancers, ever the performers, keep dancing while the mayhem ensues), and look to take over the station. Miller is at the station desperately trying to get a message out to the people about the infected…but his boss says no dice. A disgusted Miller retreats to his office, but he’s intercepted by a horde of infected trying to kill him. This is great because it causes Hugo Stiglitz to overact (like only Hugo can) and show just how wimpy he is as he resorts to throwing monitors and other various office supplies at the zombies as they try to break into his office and kill him. One monitor even explodes as cheesy looking sparks and smoke bomb effects go off. God bless you, Lenzi.

The rest of the film is some nonsense about how the zombies are not undead, but they are infected from a radiation spill and how they need blood to survive. The hospital where Anna works gets overrun soon enough (with a wonderful scene by a doctor who is performing surgery, and without hesitation when one of the infected walk in, he throws his scalpel at him, and of course does nothing to prevent the inevitable), but luckily our hero Hugo is there to rescue his wife and get her the hell out of there.

There’s also some stuff about how there is a national emergency and some military people have to figure out how they want to handle the situation. Miller and wife try to warn people about what is happening, but that crusty old veteran General Murchison (ably played by Mel Ferrer) won’t allow it to happen. Damn him! There must be something else to why this plane was allowed to land? Ah, but Lenzi is not interested in an even more convoluted storyline involving military conspiracy; no, he’d rather focus on bad make-up, inane goings-on like a lawnmower that pushes itself across the lawn of the good General’s wife, or the sculpture she is working on that randomly breaks and drips blood, which of course leads to her death (how these things are relevant to the film, I still haven’t figured out – it’s as if Lenzi was desperate to mix in some Beyond-esque supernatural weirdness).

The film ends with a showdown in an amusement park where the Miller’s climb a Ferris wheel to load a helicopter, but then…bad things happen including a nasty fall by Anna. But who cares, right? I mean look at Hugo with the gun! He just mows down the infected looking as wimpy as someone can holding a gigantic automatic weapon like that. Then the film does something way ahead of its time. Circular plot, baby! Just when we think the film is over as Dean is in trouble and his wife has just died Lenzi hits us with this…


Brilliant! Brilliant, I say!

Nightmare City is a film that even the most casual of horror fans would enjoy. It’s campy enough to be entertaining and has the so-bad-it’s-good quality that makes for a good party movie. It’s also fun to see zombies that aren’t boring. These zombies are fast (and dress nicely), and it’s fun to watch the film and see its imprint on tongue-in-cheek fair like Planet Terror (which lifted the entire hospital scene from Nightmare City) to better and more eerie horror films like 28 Days Later. At one point in Nightmare City one of the zombies picks up a gun and uses it…if you ask me this shows that Lenzi was way ahead of his time and a true auteur of the zombie genre, preceding Romero’s Land of the Dead (where zombies also use guns). Okay, Lenzi isn’t an auteur at all, but it is fun to watch him hack his way through this material and supply enough originality to the genre to keep us entertained, while also supplying enough crap that will make you laugh out loud and want to hit the rewind button.

I mentioned Commando at the beginning of this review, and although Nightmare City is not as quotable (“Let off some steam, Bennett”) it is just as memorable as far as awful 80’s movies go. The wonderful Italian touches separate it from a purely American film like Commando, which is why I love Nightmare City so much more than other “good” bad movies. I have an unabashed love for all things Italian horror and the weird nonsensical things these filmmakers add to their films (also kick ass synth soundtracks). It is because of these things that Nightmare City stands shoulders above all other bad Italian zombie movies, even the soundtrack and classic Italian horror motifs are horribly ripped off here. Everything in the film is a failure, which more often than not in this subgenre means the film is a success in being a guilty pleasure.

Compared to a good zombie movie, Nightmare City is a joke, but isn’t that really the point. No one rents a film like this expecting something good. The wardrobe and the make-up and the nonsensical storyline easily make this one of the most enjoyable pieces of crap to come out of the 1980’s Italian horror era. Lenzi would go on and do what most Italian hack directors do: rip off more material. His next film Cannibal Feroux was just a rehashing of the cannibal genre’s most influential film Cannibal Holocaust, and the films that preceded Nightmare City were just the same old tired gialli; however, with Nightmare City and its oatmeal covered, sport coat wearing zombies (and of course Hugo Stiglitz) I always find myself smiling at this wonderfully awful and hilarious Italian horror film that should be atop every horror buffs must see list.

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Get Pumped! Four days until the Italian Horror Blog-a-thon

We’re a mere four days away from the first annual Italian Horror Blog-a-thon here at Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies (and my first attempt at hosting a blog-a-thon in general). Yes, I said first annual because in the weeks that I have been preparing for this blog-a-thon (which has taken me away from the blog for awhile) I’ve realized that there are so many Italian horror flicks that I haven’t seen, or classic ones that I won’t cover in the next couple of weeks, that I’ll have to do this thing again next year in order to cover everything I want to cover. The fact that the response has been so great for this blog-a-thon (thanks so far everyone!) before it has even started sealed the deal for me…I want to do this again next year. So, we start in four days and I’ve already proclaimed the blog-a-thon a success, hehe. Presumptuous? Perhaps, but I feel good about the quality of reviews from those of you who have voiced interest in participating.

Here’s how this will work: The first post will go up at 7am Pacific time on Monday the 19th. All subsequent posts will go up at the same time. If we’ve talked via email or through the comments section of the previous post then please just email me your review (by this I mean the text with attached pictures if you have any) with a link to your blog, or you can simply notify me of your contribution by posting the link in the comments for this post. You can submit a piece anytime between the 19th and the 31st, just let me know about it so I can properly pimp your blog.

I appreciate the interest so far. This endeavor has been received well beyond what I ever hoped or imagined, so thank you all for that. This should be a lot of fun…gruesome, bloody, gratuitous fun. See you on Monday.

* Picture courtesy of Dario Argento's Tenebre (seriously...how awesome are those guys?).

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Initial Thoughts on Inglourious Basterds

I don't want to get into a big thing about it now because I am only about 5 hours removed from seeing it. But, the movie was effing fantastic. It reminded me of Red Dawn. Wolverines!!!! Anyway (obviously it's better than the Milius film, but that was my initial reaction to the film as varying scenes of visceral fantasy unfolded) . The Hugo Stiglitz moment made me smile...obviously, and my God that tavern scene is one of the most tense things I have seen in a movie. When the credits finally rolled I just let out a deep sigh and finally sat back in my seat. That's not an exaggeration. Like the end of Kill Bill Vol.2 Tarantino has created scenes of dialogue that are more intense than any kind of action scene could hope to be. I read somewhere that he describes it as a rubber band...and you just keep stretching it and stretching it and the tension is whether or not it will snap. And with the tavern scene he stretches that rubber band for about 20 minutes until it breaks in rapid burst of bloody violence that's over before you know it.

Anyway, tomorrow I plan on posting something more substantial about the film. Which leads me to this post. There are a lot of great conversations going on right now about the film and its many subtexts. I, however, do not wish to talk about those in my write up for the movie. Why? Well, because so many others are doing it better already and I don't want to be yet another voice saying the same things as these other fine bloggers. I'm coming to the party too late with this one. The other reason is that I really just want to talk about the film...because that's what Tarantino has made: a masterpiece of film. Not a historically accurate retelling of WWII...but a film -- films that take place in historical times don't have to be literal/factual retellings people! There's this thing called mythology -- and somehow people have taken myth and metaphor out of stories about "the way things were" because we've become a movie-going audience that is so concerned with credibility and realism. I mean how many times do you hear people complain about movies because "that would never happen" or "It's so fake".

The film even opens with the words "Once upon a time..." and is divided into chapters like the rest of Tarantino's films (his attempt at mythology, no doubt). So...after the jump there will be links. Please click on them and join the conversations. There are some great one's out there. I'll be back tomorrow with more thoughts. Onto the links...



Bill R. and Dennis Cozzalio have a brilliant three part series on the film. Many interesting things being discussed in those threads. Check it out. It's essential reading if you've seen the movie.

Ryan Kelly has a great write-up at his blog.

Andrew of the always fantastic Gateway Cinephiles gives the film an "A".

Greg of Cinema Styles shares the same sentiments as me in regards to reviewing a movie that EVERYONE will be talking about...which is why I just want to talk about what was on the screen.

Craig over at The Man From Porlock has a great review up.

As always Jim Emerson puts to shame what I could ever hope to say about the picture (or any movie for that matter).

Tim's review is up.

Tony of the superb Cinema Viewfinder has a great, great review of the film.

I'll be back tomorrow with thoughts on the film. Until then...

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Can I Interest You in a Meme?

Thanks to Edward Copeland over at Edward Copeland on Film, I've been tagged for a meme. So beware. Some of you may be next. The idea is simple....kind of: list your ten favorite film characters. Not actors, but characters. This is hard because a lot of my favorite characters come from the same films, but in the interest of not having a list full of characters from a total of three movies, I decided to try and mix it up a little. In no way is this a definitive list; however, it's a pretty good idea of what characters have stuck with me over the years. Some are recent, some old....at the end of the list I will complete the rules of this meme, which is to tag five more people to continue the meme. So, let's get on with it...

In no particular order:

1.) Nathan Arizona - Raising Arizona

Not the conventional pick from this classic Coen Brothers comedy, but really it's the one character that stands out the most to me. I almost did go with the conventional pick, Nicolas Cage as H.I. McDunnough, but the late Trey Wilson's performance as Nathan Arizona is the performance that still resonates with me. He epitomizes everything that is great about supporting characters in Coen Bros. movie, and his speech at the end of the film is a beautiful mixture of Coenisms and authoritative advice. Plus who could forget this exchange:

Policeman in Arizona house: What did the pyjamas look like?
Nathan Arizona Sr.: I don't know - they were jammies! They had Yodas 'n' shit on 'em!

One of the all time great supporting performances and one of my favorite Coen Bros. characters (my favorite is coming up later). It's sad that Wilson, a gifted character actor, died fairly early into his acting career at the age of 41. He was one of the best. Or my name aint Nathan Arizona!


2.) Ellen Ripley - Aliens

The ultimate bad ass in all of sci-fi is one of the most memorable characters in all of film. Sigourney Weaver made the role her own, proving that a female could open an action movie (or a big budget movie) without the help of a male lead. It's the one film in the series where we see Ripley's maternal instincts as she cares for the waif like Newt. It's some of the best acting Weaver has done as she portrays one of the strongest female characters in all of film. Also, she gets one of the most memorable and cheer-inducing last lines when she screams "get away from her you bitch!"



3.) Frank T.J. Mackey - Magnolia

Tom Cruise this caricature of a character into something deeper and more profound. Yes, the entire film goes for big operatic moments, and no actor is more up to the task than Cruise. His character, a sex guru who specializes in the 'art' of not just being able to get women in bed, but how to to do it while being unattached. Mackey is one of those characters that you know exists in the real world, thinking that women are always out to get him. What's so memorable are the completely hilarious conferences he holds for his product called "Seduce and Destroy". It's one of the cinemas most bizarrely funny moments, because really we're looking at an individual who is so obviously empty and has issues from his past with women (or the way they were treated by people he loved) that director Paul Thomas Anderson is able to evoke both empathy and laughs out of Mackey's speeches. When it's all said and done (the film that is), the reason why this character stands out for me is that even in the most 'disgusting' people, there is hope for redemption. Cruises' Mackey is one of the actors greatest creations.


4.) Shelley Levene - Glengarry Glen Ross

Shelly 'the machine' Levine is one of the all time memorable characters. So pathetic in his attempts to try and make it in the modern day sales world, that he can't see that the times have passed him by. Once a great salesman, the truly pathetic thing about Levine is that he spends more time selling his bosses on the fact that he still can cut it, instead of going out an making sales. There are moments in the film that prove why Shelly is one of my favorite characters, none more obvious than the ending, when we see a man broken and beaten, committing an act he will have to pay the price for all because he loves his daughter and feels lost, confused, and misused in the modern day sales world. Jack Lemmon played Levine to perfection, and what makes the character memorable for me is that every time I watch the film (which is often) I always wish he would not to do what he does at the end, and that his phantom sale actually does mean redemption for the character. When you're still that emotionally involved with a character after more than 20 viewings of a film, then that's how you know you have a special actor creating a special character. The character lives on in the form of Gil Gunderson, the pathetic do-anything salesman on The Simpson's


5.) Clarence Boddicker - Robocop

One of my favorite villains from any movie, Kurtwood Smith created the perfect nihilistic monster in a futuristic Detroit devoid of any police presence. "Can you fly, Bobby!" and "Are you a good cop, hot shot", are memorable lines that come to mind, not mention the maniacal way he sizes up Peter Weller's cop (pre-robo) before he shoots his hand off. It's a great performance, filled with beautiful over the top moments (dipping his finger in wine and then snorting it) that really, for me, epitomizes what the 1980's action villain was all about.


6.) The Bride - Kill Bill

There was no journey I was more invested in than The Bride's in Quentin Tarantino's masterpieces Kill Bill Vol.1 and 2. It's one of those journeys of revenge that is found in all of the usual Tarantino films he studies and adores, but what made this one more enjoyable was the emotion that Uma Thurman brought to the character of The Bride. This wasn't a simplistic grindhouse revenge picture, Tarantino's film was more than a pastiche of film references from his youth, it was a tremendous story of what a mother will do to get her daughter, and all of that emotion and deeper analysis that comes with the film is due to the seriousness Thurman brings to her role. The Bride kicks a lot of ass, yes, but it's with purpose, and when that final act comes in Volume 2, it's truly heartbreaking....and when we see the final scene of the film, The Bride cradling a stuffed animal on the bathroom floor, tears of joy streaming down her face, and all she can do is let out a noise that is a mix between a sob and laugh, we sob and laugh with her. It's the best acting Thurman's ever done and it's one of those characters that you don't mind revisiting because they are super cool and they get a happy ending.


7.) Dr. David Huxley - Bringing Up Baby

Probably my favorite character that Cary Grant ever played, Huxley is one of those memorable screwball characters who is so uptight, that you love watching their transformation into a more laid back, less self-serving person. It's one of those roles, too , that show why Grant was such a tremendous comedic actor. Howard Hawks' film is one that I never mind revisiting, and a lot of that is due to Huxley, a character that you don't mind spending time with, even if he is uptight, because we know he'll experience things along the way that will help him see the err of his ways. Plus, there are few greater moments in classic comedy than when Huxley is left to wear a female robe and resorts to screaming a response as to why he's wearing those clothes when he says "because I just went gay all of a sudden!"


8.) Del Griffith - Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

John Candy may not have been the funniest guy in the world, but his portrayal of Del Griffith is his zenith as an actor, and it's how I'll always remember him. Griffith is one of those creations made specifically for a John Hughes movie, which means we've all met someone like Del before because Hughes was so great at creating real to life characters. Griffith is one of those characters you tell yourself you'd love to sit and talk with and hear his stories, but then it becomes too much. Neil Page (Steve Martin) discovers this throughout the film as a friendship does indeed grow between the two men, it doesn't come without its rocky parts. Griffith is a guy we constantly feel for because he seems likable enough, but which one of us wouldn't snap at him like Page does in the famous scene in the hotel room. "Here's Del Griffith he's got some amusing anecdotes for you, here's a gun you'll thank me." Those lines sting, and the viewer feels the sting, too, because we care so much about Griffith. He's another in a long line of these kinds of characters where I ask myself, would I like to spend another two hours with him, and the answer is yes.


9.) Marge Gunderson - Fargo

I wish we could all know someone as nice as Margie. Frances McDormand created a brilliant character for the ages with her portrayal as pregnant sheriff Marge Gunderson. The dialect, the mannerisms, the famous lines; they've all been mentioned to death. What makes Margie such a memorable character for me is her warmth. Consider the scene where she meets with an old high school 'friend', the way she is cognizant of what he is trying to do, and how she balances trying to let him know she's married and not interested, and the way she tries to spare his feelings is a tremendous balancing act. Another scene is in the way she assures her husband, an artist who has has one of his paintings of a bird selected for the three cent stamp, that even though it's not the stamp everyone uses, lots of people still use the three cent. Her reasoning for this is so warm and compassionate. McDormand pulls is off perfectly creating one of the warmest characters in all of cinema.


10.) Dean Miller - Nightmare City

Well, last but certainly not least is the man I've named the blog after, Hugo Stiglitz. Dean Miller is the ultimate representation of the male character in every Italian Horror film. Dedicated to the cause, no matter the price he pays or the risk he puts his wife in. He even slaps her around for a bit because she is hysterical, and then they immediately kiss and make up. Really, this selection is just a conglomerate of all the great and memorable characters I've seen over the years in Italian Horror films. And, it was yet another excuse to mention the brilliance of Hugo Stiglitz.


Okay --- five blogs that I'm choosing to participate in the fun (sorry if you've already been asked):

Elusive as Robert Denby
Cerebral Mastication
Coleman's Corner in Cinema
Gateway Cinephiles
The Film Doctor

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It's Been a Year...

Yep -- It's been a year since I've started sharing my unorganized, rambling thoughts on movies with this-here blog thingy. I've gone through three incarnations, finally settling on my man Hugo Stiglitz as the name I want associated with my film musings. I've also gotten a chance to write a lot about books, music, and share random thoughts on philosophy and religion (which I've moved to my other blog), and I feel pretty darn lucky to have a forum that I can just jot my crude, mostly unedited thoughts down. I've enjoyed writing on here for a very selfish reason: it got me writing. I've never claimed to be a good writer, and early the year before I started this blog I was so sick of writing from countless Lit papers that I was glad to be done with it. After being mired in the postmodern brilliance of the Rushdie's and Winterson's and their brand of magical realism, and the hilariously black, nihilistic comedy of Martin Amis I was ready for a sabbatical from thinking; finally I was done with a four year journey and I wanted some time to veg. But I've always loved writing about film, something I am very opinionated on, and so I thought what better way to get back into writing than starting a blog. And here we are today...

I had a lot of fun early last year writing about Italian horror films, specifically of the zombie variety. I look forward to moving through all of Argento's films this year in an attempt to catch some of his early stuff I haven't seen, and to revisit some classics of his (I just recently saw Opera this past year). I look forward to continuing to share my arbitrary thoughts on films. I feel pretty lucky that a film buff who used to memorize movie information from reference books can write something and people actually care enough to read it, and sometimes comment on what I wrote. Thanks to those who stop by and read and take the time to comment...

Now, it's been quite the year for movies, too -- proving more difficult than years past to think of an appropriate pecking order for these films. But if you read my top ten last year you know that I always feel like there should be an asterisk next to my list because I'm not a professional film critic, I don't get to see everything, so inevitably there will be (supposed) great films left off my list. For one reason or another I just never got a chance to see these movies:

A Christmas Tale
Synechdoche, New York
Che
Appaloosa
The Ruins
Mother of Tears
Doomsday
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire
W.
I've Loved You So Long
The Class
My Winnipeg
Encounters at the End of the World
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ghost Town
Flight of the Red Balloon
Still Life

I'm sure there are others that I've forgotten....now onto my favorite movies of 2008...

Links to my original reviews are provided in the title of the film if you're interested in more in-depth thoughts.

I'll begin with this caveat: these were the movies I thought were not just the best, but were my most memorable film experiences, making them my favorite movies. A lot of these movies pass my criteria for a great film: being aesthetically pleasing and having a narrative worth investing in. Even though for the sake of my OCD I'll go ahead and place these films within an arbitrarily numbered order, really I would love to go back and revisit any of these films a second or third time. These lists are always fluid, as look back at some of my choices from last year I think I would order things differently, or at least put a few different films on the list, but that's what I felt about those movies at that particular time, and I think that film should not just be written about, but talked about....extensively. It's a funny business this 'ranking' movies -- I guess it reminds me of something Kramer said on "Seinfeld": 'This is capricious and arbitrary!" Well, yes it is. And with that in mind I give you the 'best', 'top', 'favorite', whatever-films of 2008, beginning with five that I would gladly recommend to anyone, but for whatever reason couldn't crack my top 10; we'll call them 11-15:

15.) Wall-E
Directed by Andrew Stanton

Pixar's magical ode to the silent masterpieces of Keaton and Chaplin and the French whimsy of Tati is one of true surprises of the year. And even though it's kind of cliche to speak of how surprised I was to be moved by an animated film, I just gotta say it: I never would have expected myself to sit down and watch a G-rated kids film by myself and be so emotionally involved. Wall-E and Eve's galactic dance scene is one of the best in any film this year.

14.) Iron Man
Directed by Jon Favreau

The real comic book champion this year, Iron Man is more grounded in the reality it lives in than most comic movies, and Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is just as impressive as Heath Ledger as The Joker. It's funny that a movie that grossed nearly 300 million would seem like nothing when July rolled around and The Dark Knight began it's infamous path to the top of the all time box office charts. I think it's more fun, better when it's serious, and just overall a better crafted film that The Dark Knight. Great classic comic book filmmaking by Favreau. One of the real surprises for me this year as I knew nothing about Iron Man the comic and was really watching the movie solely on how highly my friends were extolling the picture.

13.) The Wrestler
Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Fascinating stuff here as Aronofsky goes for something completely different aesthetically than his previous films, but stays at home with The Wrestler's theses of addiction. Everyone knows about Mickey Rourke already so lets talk about Marisa Tomei: here's an actress who knew exactly what to do with this role. Her Cassidy is a sweet, warm character, however I didn't find her to be the stripper-with-the-heart-of-gold caricature that she could have been. Aronofsky nicely juxtaposes Cassidy's realism and acceptance that she her time as a performer is coming to an end; there just isn't any demand for her anymore. Rourke's Randy 'The Ram' is not so quick to let go of the 'spotlight' (or what little of the spotlight is left), he's a performer, and it's all he's ever known; it's gotta be weird to ask a professional wrestler to do anything else besides perform for people, which is apparent in wonderfully filmed deli counter scene where Rourke hits every not right as he slowly turns the most mundane of jobs into a performance. I think if you're a fan of wrestling like I am then you're bound to be less surprised by the hardcore matches Randy endures, or the art of 'blading' to make it look like you've been busted open. But that doesn't change the fact that you have a beautifully acted story of two performers, past their prime, trying to connect; Cassidy tries, and she's a little hard on Randy at first, but warms to him and the idea of leaving the strip club and living a normal life, Randy is incapable of such genuine soul searching and connectivity to another person because he's always dealt in staged, scripted performances: he doesn't know what reality looks like. And that's what makes The Wrestler one of the best films of 2008.

12.) Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Was there a funnier film all year? Maybe Pineapple Express or In Bruges, but those were different kinds of funny, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is another homerun for Judd Apatow, and another member of his troupe (Jason Segel) has made himself a star. Segel's script is a pointed and hilarious look at what inactivity will get you when you have a beautiful girlfriend, it doesn't matter how awesome your Dracula rock opera is going to be! I loved Segel's performance here and the way his script never vilifies Sarah (his ex-girlfriend) or her new boyfriend Aldous Snow (hilariously played by Russell Brand), a pretentious, narcissistic musician who is more impressed with his body than Sarah's. The film makes fun of him and his awful music videos, but surprisingly throughout the film Peter (Segel) and Aldous almost come to be friends and realize what a manipulator Sarah is. Like any good Apatow film there's a real sweetness buried beneath the gross-out humor. Hey and Bill Heder, one of my favorites, has a great role. Also, William Baldwin has an amazing cameo doing his best David Caruso on a CSI rip-off. The funny thing is, if they made another CSI show (and really what's stopping them) Baldwin's agent should turn in this footage in order to get him the job.

11.) Snow Angels
Directed by David Gordon Green

You have to go back to last April to remember the less popular David Gordon Green film of 2008, but Snow Angels is a film filled with great power. Green uses the beginnings of a sweet high school romance and juxtaposes it with the harsh, cold, and slow breakdown of a divorced husband (the always great Sam Rockwell) and wife (the surprisingly good Kate Beckinsale). Green usually deals with outcast kids with a rural backdrop who talk and act like people from those particular areas of America would talk. His brutal honesty and ability to make dialogue sound genuine instead of heavy handed and overly wrought, not to mention the relationship him and his DP Tim Orr have, make Green one of the premier filmmakers of my generation. Here he attempts the domestic drama with similar results: honest dialogue and beautiful cinematography. His camera isn’t as flashy as it was in Undertow, here Green seems more interested in filming the way Bergman would, allowing the camera to simply sit on moments, no matter how brutally honest or awkward, and allow the audience to get inside of the characters minds. The camera acts more as an onlooker than something to be played around with, whereas Green used the camera to great effect for the chase elements of Undertow, here he it's more understated, an onlooker or a passer by, there are even moments when a tracking shot will continue long after the characters have stopped walking; we hear the dialogue, but we continue moving forward. The effect is minimal, but the affect that it has on the viewer, although easy to miss, is profound.

Other films I enjoyed this year: Speed Racer, Happy Go Lucky, Recount, The Dark Knight, Burn After Reading, Gran Torino, Milk, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Indy 4, Tell No One, Man on Wire, Standard Operating Procedure, Tropic Thunder, and half of Step Brothers.

Onto the top 10...

10.) Pineapple Express
Directed by David Gordon Green

I loved this stoner masterpiece (even if I didn't get all the weed references) and not for the obvious reasons (Franco and Rogen are great, it has some great physical comedy) but for the more films more nuanced moments -- and for a film filled with explosions, eff bombs, weed, bromance, and a hyper-kinetic energy throughout, you have to look pretty hard for those nuances. The ending is an 80's/90's action film buffs wet dream with references to every buddy action film from Lethal Weapon (guy gets shot, falls over railing, chain snags his foot on the way down, he is dead swinging back and forth) to Tango and Cash (overly long fight scenes and lots and lots of fire). One scene in particular sealed the deal that this was one of my favorite films of the year: the ending where Franco and Rogen have just escaped from their 'holding cell' and are looking around only for the camera to pan just a tad to the right and reveal a wall of guns, to which Rogen says "nice". That and the fact that Franco's stoner has a 'footprints in the sand' poster in his apartment. If you understand why those two jokes are so funny, then you 'get' the movie.

9.) Redbelt
Directed by David Mamet

One of Mamet's most simplistic cons (which not to say that the film is simplistic) Redbelt reminded me of the lesser heralded Mamet pictures like Homicide and Spartan where Mamet takes a bit of a break from his usual smoke and mirrors, con game script and focuses more on a (somewhat) linear journey of the films hero. Redbelt's hero is the teacher and owner of Jujitsu school and one nigfht when a women walks in out of the rain (typical noir premise) things begin to fall apart, thus brinigng the film into clearer focus. Chiwetel Ejiofor is the hero of the film and the man taken down a path he is reluctant to see to its end. He is a force on screen and turns in one of the years best, and most underrated, performances.

8.) The Fall
Directed by Tarsem Singh

Director Tarsem's visual masterpiece is one of the most ambitious undertakings in quite some time. Many critics called the film nothing more than a "vast sugar-frosted folly" (Xan Brooks of The Guardian), and yes, it is somewhat of a folly, but it's a masterful folly. Despite some flaws with the film, it's a tribute to its style that this film appears in the top ten. Tarsem loves his long shots, an exercise in vanity perhaps (so he can show off how cool his sets are and how vast his scope is), but they showcase the amazing (non-CGI) sets and locations. There are some semi-powerful moments between main characters Roy (who is suicidal and only tells the story to manipulate Alexandria) and Alexandria, especially at the end, but it's the visuals and the way each visual just kind of jumps and pops off the screen scene after scene. The music that accompany these scenes is beautiful, too; sweeping the viewer through scene after amazing scene. It reminded me of a film like Baraka. Yes, the film is almost all style over substance, but so what? It's not a truly great film, for that to be true it would have to excel in both narrative and visuals, but it is a masterful exercise in avant garde cinema. If this were made in the 1960's during the glory years of art-house cinema and the foreign film craze, then critics and viewers alike would be hailing this thing as a masterpiece; it would be studied in every film class today, but because it's made in 2008 it seems that people aren't as impressed with this type of filmmaking. Are you seriously telling me that every avant garde filmmaker of the 1960's weren't making films that were nothing more than "sugar-frosted" follies? I think The Fall is great

7.) Frozen River
Directed by Courtney Hunt

Melissa Leo is the heart and soul behind this film and one of the main reasons for it being one of the years best films. The film never manipulates you or tells you how you are supposed to feel about these characters (even those have accused it for stating the obvious: that poor people have it hard) and Leo and fellow co-star Mist Upham who plays Lila, a Mohegan woman who steals Rae's (Leo) car and when she is caught, tells Rae that she knows someone who will pay good money for the car. Rae needs the money so they set off across the border, over a frozen river, to Canada to meet the person who will pay for the vehicle. What follows are poor choices, a reluctance to continue breaking the law due to the need of money, and a relationship that feels formed out of reality, rather than Hollywood contrivances. Rae and Lila are no Thelma and Louise, and I like that they talk about things that people like them would talk about; this isn't a lovey-dovey story where the two women, complete opposites, find that they are more similar than they thought. This is a story about two women who operate out of necessity and due what they do because they have no other choice. The film could have spiraled into lame Mystery/Thriller cliches, but it sidesteps them all to tell a compelling story with one great, great performance by Leo.

6.) Let the Right One In
Directed by Thomas Alfredson

The amazing thing about Thomas Alfredson's film is that somehow, someway it doesn't flub the premise with what could be an eye-rolling horror/love story; instead he treats the horror genre not as a convention, but as just another element to add into a wonderful story about a lonely, misunderstood boy who just wants someone his own age to relate to. There's also deeper themes of androgyny here as you can give the film a queer reading (which apparently is made clearer in the book). There's also the haunting final image of Oskar tapping the box, cementing his place in Eli's future as a carer (or slave if you want to give it a darker meaning) for Eli much like the old man in the beginning of the film, that makes this unlike any modern horror film I've seen. Oh, and the ending scene in the pool is pretty great, too.

5.) The Edge of Heaven
Directed by Faith Akin

A re-post from my original thoughts on the film: It's impossible for me to champion Faith Akin's film enough, but thanks have to go to my friend Brandon for making me aware of this beautiful, poignant film. Certainly one of the best films of 2008. It’s so much more fulfilling than the slew of hyper-link films that came out during the post-Crash era. I never felt like these coincidental occurrences or happenstance moments were me being jerked around by a filmmaker who was just trying to use smoke and mirrors to mask a flimsy parable about humanity and forgiveness. Akin is wise to not for the grandiose and to let some of the most simple moments and facial expressions speak for the multitude of emotional currents running through the film. That last image is as poetic as it gets. Just the sound of the waves was enough to bring tears to my eyes, and the image of the son waiting for his father was enough to make me smile wider than I’ve smiled in a long, long time at the movies.

4.) Rachel Getting Married
Directed by Jonathan Demme

I really hope Anne Hathaway gets an Oscar for this film. Please, don't let the recent release of Bride Wars fool you, she can act. This is not just her film either, this is everyone's film: Debra Winger, Bill Irwin, Rosmarie Dewitt, Anna Deavere Smith, and Tunde Adebimpe all compile one of the great encore ensembles since the wonderful Gosford Park. Jonathan Demme does his best Altman here as he follows around the goings-on of a family preparing for a wedding while their on-leave from rehab daughter Kym (Hathaway) truies to pretend like nothings changed. It's a weekend filled with awkwardness, fights, truths, and best of all love. Here is a family that despite the tragedy that haunts the family and lurks in the corner throughout the film, really loves each other. And boy do they know how to throw a party. Demme's camera follows every little minute thing through till end, when you just have to finally submit and say: alright I'd like to attend a party like that. The image above is a perfect encapsulation of why the film warms my heart.

3.) Wendy and Lucy
Directed by Kelly Reichardt

Minimalist cinema at its finest with amazing performance by Michelle Williams at its center. I'm not a dog owner and I've never owned a dog, but I found myself incredibly sympathetic to Wendy's (Williams) need to find Lucy (her dog) after series of unfortunate happenings. The film follows Wendy through the process of trying to find her dog, trying to get her car repaired, and trying to find her way through the harsh and un-romanticized realities of leaving your home and traveling the road for a better a place. The film is a powerful metaphor for the state of our economy today and the hard sacrifices one must make in order to get to where they need to go in order to be successful -- which is not just defined as monetary success in this film. There is a moment were money exchanges hands, pure and true are the intentions, and it matters not how little amount is, it's in the act that matters. A powerful film that came out of nowhere and blindsided me. I love it when movies I've heard nothing about do that.

2.) In Bruges
Directed by Martin McDonagh

Martin McDonagh's debut film In Bruges is a masterpiece. After seeing it three times now I am convinced that one of the years best surprises will also go down as one of the most superbly written films of this decade. It has all of the bite of a Coen brothers film or hilarious vulgarity of a Tarantino script, but it has a heart and some poignancy that is rarely found in films of their ilk. Collin Ferrel is simply amazing here, comfortable in his own language it seems to me that he hasn't turned in a better performance since Minority Report or even his debut The War Zone. Brenden Gleeson is the wiser, older hitman Ken who is ordered to take Ray (Ferrel) to the medieval city of Bruges (who is the real star of the film) so that they may lay low after a horrible occurrence of collateral damage shakes Ferrel to the point where he can't do his job anymore. The film is almost completely derailed by a drug induced rant by an actor they meet while in Bruges (his diatribe on little people and other races is less and less irritating the more I watch the movie), but multiple viewings have lessened my disdain for the scene. The film comes to an amazing climax when Ken and Ray's boss Harry (the always great Ralph Fiennes) shows up to finish the job Gleeson couldn't do. The final conversation in a cafe outside of the clock tower (one of the important, and beautiful set pieces) between the two is brilliant. When I initially saw the trailer for the film I thought it was going to be awful, another Things To Do In Denver While You're Dead type hip-hitman genre film. I love being wrong. Obviously the studio didn't know how to market the film, and the fact the film is gaining more and more of an audience; the fact that it doesn't fall back on the cliches of the genre like the aforementioned film is a tribute to the smart dialogue and non-contrived dramatic moments found within In Bruges.

1.) Shotgun Stories
Directed by Jeff Nichols

It's not a shock that this film, written and directed by Jeff Nichols, is produced by David Gordon Green. It has the feel, the dialogue, the way it takes you to a rural part of America completely unfamiliar to me, of a Green film. Nichols' script is light on dialogue as the camera kind of just wanders through the daily lives of Son, Kid, and Boy; named by an alcoholic father who left after the third child was born, remarried and in the process became a born-again christian. The other side of the family thinks he's a good man, Son and his brother knew a different man; but it's not just a simple case of one families right and the other is wrong. Nichols draws the viewer into this blood feud that has a certain authenticity to it: this is how it would be for these people living in this place. Michael Shannon plays Son, the oldest of three, and he when he learns of their father death he asks his mom for some more info, she replies: "you can read about it in the paper." It's exchanges like that that make Shotgun Stories such a sad, powerful story. Nichols never lets the big moments get the best of him, never going for the easy tug-at-the-heart-string moment -- especially when Son goes to his mother to inform her of a tragedy in the family, she's gardening and when she's told, she just keeps gardening; there are no false moments of reconciliation or forgiveness, there can be no reconciling this broken family. But Son has a wife and son of his own and there his brother Boy who sees beyond the pettiness of the feud and that they owe it to others to squash it all and live their lives.

Shannon turns in the performance of the year and in a perfect world he would be nominated for, and win, Best Actor this year at the Oscar's. He gets an array of feelings across to the viewer with just the simplest wrinkle in his brow, and Nichols is wise to let the camera stay on him and let the audience read his eyes. Shannon is a powerful force running through a powerful film, and he could have easily gone for some over-the-top emoting, but instead of hamming it up for the screen, he underplays it all perfectly and lets the sadness of the moment speak for itself. I love it when movies let me figure things out and I love it when movies take me to a place I've never been to before, and I especially love it when movies surprise me at every turn for not taking the conventional way out of things. With or without all my previous caveats about ranking movies, Shotgun Stories was easily my favorite film of the year.

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Who is Hugo Stiglitz?

By popular demand (and for those wondering just who in the hell Hugo Stiglitz is) more Hugo Stiglitz!!! The Nightmare City trailer is wonderful. Just click on the 'continue reading' link to see a slew of wonderful Hugo moments in some truly awful (read: wonderful and brilliant) Italian and Mexican films. Enjoy!

here is the trailer for Nightmare City be careful -- NSFW -- contains lots of boobs.


Here's another video that is hilarious. Someone put together some of the best moments from Nightmare City with funny sound effects and a cliche zombie checklist. The best is the opening scene where Hugo shows that he knows how to please the ladies. Folks!



Here's another one...again NSFW...in fact just assume they are all that way. This is for a wonderful jungle movie called The Treasure of the Amazon where according to IMDB he plays the boat captain. You don't get to see him in the preview (at least I couldn't find him) but this gives you a good idea of the kinds of movies he was in (he made like three of these a year). This has all of the usual jungle/cannibal goodies in it: hooks going through body parts, eyes gouged, lots of zooms and stock footage, a scene directly stolen from The Beyond where instead of spiders chewing apart the dudes face, you have crabs. Troy donwload this movie! It has Donald Pleasence!



Here he is saving some kids from zombies in Cemetery of Terror. I could only find this in Spanish. But really...how important is the dialogue. But look at Hugo go!



Here is our hero Hugo showing his love for felines in The Night of 1000 Cats. Hmmmm? A metaphor for how he treats women? This could be interpreted in a couple of ways...I'll leave you to deconstruct it. Also, it is worth noting that except for Nightmare City all of these are written and directed by the same hack director of Mexican cinema Rene Cadona Jr. Hooray Rene!



Another survival film. This time what we in the states would come to know as Alive this film by Rene Cadona Sr. was made in the early 70's and called Survive. Perhaps this was Hugo's attempt at serious cinema.



Here he is in a Mexican Jaws rip off. Are you getting the hang of it? Nothing these hack filmmakers or actors made was original. However, this is probably my favorite trailer on here because it is everything that is wonderful about film trailers from that era. I love the narrator's explanation of Susan George as "the girl who came to the island to have fun". Very concise. And Hugo "as a rich young man looking for romance and adventure". Ha. This looks wonderful. "But the Tintorera changed everything!" or "The lived for laughs and love, until the Tintorera struck." Watch and enjoy!



I hope you enjoyed this brief glimpse into Hugo's career. There are many more films that are all equally as awful as these, I was just too lazy to keep looking on You Tube. But there are other films like Cyclone and The Bermuda Triangle that are all essentially the same thing: stranded people struggling to survive who have to stave off the creepy jungle creatures like snakes and spiders and end up resorting to cannibalism to survive. All in an attempt to show that we are no different than the 'savages' that inhabit the jungle. Ah good 'ol 1970's Italian and Mexican cinema...quite progressive, eh?

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