Celluloid #93

In Home

Bright Star (2009) Campion - A romance springs up between the poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Their love is an inspiration to get Keats writing again, but he just can't make any real money, and his poor financial state prevents him from being able to marry Fanny. He's also really sick and his friends believe the best course of action is to send him to live in a warmer climate. I love the butterfly farm that Fanny assembles. 4/5

Happiness (1998) Solondz - A series of stories about miserable people. Bill is a pedophile that has raped at least two boys. Alan crank calls women to get off. Meanwhile, his fat neighbor Christina comes by to flirt, but she feels guilt for killing the maintenance man. Joy is the failure in the family and very unlucky in love. She falls for one of her refugee ESL students, who in turn steals her stuff. When I saw this film in college, I remember hating it, probably for the copious amounts of jizz. This time around, that didn't really bother me, but the film does seem more cartoonish and way more of a parody than I expected. 3.5/5

Life During Wartime (2009) Solondz - A sequel of sorts to Happiness. The characters are the same, but played by different actors. Bill is out of jail, Billy is off at college, Joy married Alan, and Trish is dating fat but normal losers. Not a terrible film, but definitely cannot stand alone. I watched these films back to back, and I'm glad or else I wouldn't have been able to pick up on a lot of the gags. Joy's new character was almost enough to ruin the film for my co-watcher. Best I can tell, this is a film about forgiveness, but it doesn't really do anything with that. 2.5/5

Quick Change (1990) Franklin - Bill Murray, dressed as a clown, robs a bank with his girlfriend and childhood friend. Randy Quaid is there for comic relief and to almost always ruin the plan. The trio is trying to make their way to the airport and ends up getting stranded in various New York neighborhoods, running from the cops and the mob. All the while, Phylis keeps trying to tell Grimm (Murray) that she's pregnant. Enjoyably silly. 4/5

Re-Animator (1985) Gordon - A scientist has discovered a serum to bring the dead back to life. However, all the kinks haven't been worked out and those re-animated tend to be more aggressive than their alive selves. Body horror along the lines of Cronenberg, but laughably unrealistic effects. More gross-out than scary. 3.5/5

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008) Zenovich - Documentary about Polanski's sex scandal with a 13 year old. The incident is portrayed as part of the grief and fall out from Sharon Tate's murder. Also, the film focuses on the corruption of the legal proceedings surrounding the case. If anything this documentary is biased in Polanski's favor, and I can easily see why. Undoubtedly, Polanski is a great filmmaker, and while it's not ever excusable to sleep with a girl that young, this particular girl was already experimenting with drugs, alcohol, and sex, and more importantly, she's even publicly forgiven him. 4/5

the Running Man (1987) Glaser - In the future, convicts are sometimes recruited to a gladiator-like game show called "the Running Man" where their survival can lead to a reduced or pardoned sentence. Ben Richards is wrongfully accused of massacring a bunch of innocent people during a military mission. He is forced onto the show and many battles ensue, all while he's trying to prove his innocence through an underground media network. Some things don't really add up, but a totally entertaining film. 3.5/5