Anyone, who is just a tiny bit familiar with a larger than life persona of John Waters knows, that his movies are always on the verge of… well, couple of things. Sometimes it might be a good taste (still haven’t seen his most famous film, Pink Flamingos (1972) as I’ve heard couple of really “interesting” things about the movie, so I am still mentally bracing myself to eventually watch it) and sometimes on the verge of camp, like Cecil B. Demented. And you either love it, or hate it. Or more precisely, you either love Waters or not. And that directly impacts your enjoyment of his movies, as I don’t think there is more polarizing filmmaker, who is so 50/50 with mainstream audience, where you either understand his shtick, or you don’t want to.

This film is surprisingly “tame” for his standards, as it mainly criticizes Hollywood and everything about it, from their reliance on sequels, to most people there being fake and being in it just for the money (hm, not much has changed since 2000, did it?). But what this movie does really well, it takes that concept into camp overboard. What I mean by that – it would have been so easy to get caught in the trap of being too preachy. After all, he might be an outsider and someone who challenges the system, yet he is still very much part of it, but this film sends its message through over the top camp, and I am here for it, so even if some “not so subliminal” messages about what real art is hit too hard on the nose, it’s done in such a crazy fashion, it’s more than bearable.

Everybody in this “rebel cinema crew” has tattoos that somehow relate to masters of cinema, they are in it for the “art for the arts sake”, but their leader (amazingly over the top performance by Stephen Dorff) is always taking it a few steps too far, from not having sex until the movie’s finished, to using live grenade, ammunition, guerrilla style filmmaking that often includes innocent people, to sacrificing lives for the art. And also forcing it onto his crew, effectively making himself a cult leader. Yeah, Cecil B. Demented is wacky, campy love letter to cinema in its purest form, that can be read at the same time as a warning against what happens, when you take anything “too pure” too far. You know the saying, everything in moderation.

Let’s talk about this movie’s casting, because there are a few big names. Already mentioned Stephen Dorff as the titular character Cecil, Melanie Griffith, who plays the “bad Hollywood diva turned good(?)” also goes all in when comes to her performance, even though she’s more “reserved” than him. By far my favourite performance was by Maggie Gyllenhaal as the Satanist worshipper, who just killed me with her every line (“Want some goat urine?” or “Pain is pleasure! Slavery is freedom! Suicide for Satan!”) and played that really quirky, out there character with everything she’s got and more. Who I was really surprised to see here (and had to pause the movie to make sure it was the guy I was thinking, as he’s credited here as “Mike”) was Michael Shannon as a gay person, whose true love is ashamed of being straight, as he “just loves pussy so much, he’s ashamed of being hetero!”. Since he’s such a dramatic actor nowadays, it was truly great seeing him in totally different role and as with everyone around him, just going with the flow and giving his best to this movie.

I think that’s the part I appreciated the most – all the actors understand, that this is a really campy movie, and yet, everybody is giving everything they have. Nobody holds back, they all seem to be having so much fun, it’s impossible not to have fun alongside these crazy, demented cinema rascals. And even though they go “a bit” too far, most of what they say you can agree with it (in principal, of course). But since it’s done in really campy form, the movie never feels preachy. I really liked that aspect of it.

The only thing I was slightly disappointed by, I wanted something more, one scene, that would stand out among all this craziness. Because if everything that’s happening is crazy, eventually nothing seems to be crazy, because it evens itself out. It feels weird to even say that, but I was expecting something more outrageous, one scene that would just underline everything and I don’t think I’ve gotten that in this film.

Overall, Cecil B. Demented is a film, that’s made for certain audience only. It’s definitely more of acquired taste, where if you enjoy crazy, campy performances, films, and also understand enough of cinema history and references, you will have a really good time. But if you think a movie, that’s preaching “Power to the people who punish bad cinema!”, while attacking the shoot of Forrest Gump‘s sequel, is taking it too far, this might not be a film for you.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Unlike many others, I didn’t grow up watching plenty of Disney movies. Most of even the “big ones” such as The Lion King (1994) or Beauty and the Beast (1991) I haven’t seen until I was much older than their target demo would be (think late teens, early 20’s). So is there any wonder, I wouldn’t have seen plenty of the other ones, often considered “mediocre” Disney movies, that were released from mid 90’s to early 2000’s, such as The Emperor’s New Groove? No, but now, because of Disney+, I am trying to fill my gaps when comes to “classic” movies and I know even these “mediocre” ones have their audience and now are much more beloved than they were when they came out. And with this film, I can see why, as I expected to have fun with it, but I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did.

The Emperor’s New Groove‘s biggest selling point was it knows exactly what it is. The movie is very much self-aware and knows, that it will be compared against the big boys, purely just by association, so they choose their own path right from the very beginning. The movie announces itself from very early on, so that you know you are in for a fun, short, sweet ride and it’s only up to you if you embrace it. I have and had a marvellous time with it.

The story couldn’t be any simpler, the royalty (or in this case, the emperor) is so out of touch and selfish, he needs to learn his lesson, what actually matters in life. Of course, there are forces of evil scheming against him and he will go through a journey, where at the end, he might learn his lesson. Your typical Disney movie, nothing you wouldn’t have seen done thousands time before. But here’s the difference – the movie knows what it is and has fun with it. I love movies that don’t take themselves too seriously, that can be a bit meta and this one nails it. It’s funny, it’s short and because of its length, it doesn’t even have time to get too boring, repetitive, or preachy to annoy you.

As with most animated movies, the voice casting here is great. I would like to highlight two names – John Goodman and Patrick Warburton. I think they both can be summed up with one word – underrated. John Goodman has been acting pretty consistently throughout his life and I feel like he doesn’t get the credit he’s due. Even in this movie, his voice adds the necessary gravitas to his character Pacha, where he needs to be the straight guy to David Spade‘s character, (who is really funny in this movie) otherwise they wouldn’t work as well, and in return, the movie wouldn’t work, as this whole film depends on how much you like the chemistry between the main characters. Really well done work by John and something different than what you’d usually see (or hear) in your typical animated performance. When comes to Patrick Warburton, his Kronk is the loveable idiot, who stole the movie for me, no questions asked. But also, how good is he? I feel like with his impressive resume, where he voices characters left, right and centre and has been part of a few animated shows, it feels like he doesn’t get the proper amount of recognition for all the work he puts in. And he always makes the characters funny, no matter who they are. The fact his voice is really unique and unmistakable also helps. Really great performance in this film and as I said earlier, easily my favourite character.

Because The Emperor’s New Groove knows what it is, it makes it so much easier to love and from all the Disney movies of this era I have seen so far, this one is my favourite by far. Yes, it’s not in the same league as other Disney classics, it doesn’t have the depth they might have, or one particular scene you’d remember, but it’s just really fun ride to be on. To an extent, this is how I would imagine improv version of Disney movie, as the humour feels a lot like improv comedy. Which is not a bad thing at all, as I love me some improv!

Overall, when I started this movie, I expected something fun, sweet and short. What I got what something way funnier, sweeter and it hit me exactly in my funny bone, where I really appreciated the film on its own. As part of Disney’s huge catalogue, it’s probably mediocre, but on its own, this movie has a great deal of charm, fun and sometimes, that’s all you need, especially from an animated movie. Definitely something I will be more than happy to re-watch.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

I need to be honest here, I was a bit afraid of watching this movie. For almost 20 years now, I’ve been hearing how incredible of a movie this is, how influential it is, how this and that it was… It’s hard finally watching something you’ve heard only absolute praise about, because what if it doesn’t hit me as it hit others? What if me not being really into music that much (don’t get me wrong, I love and listen to music, but my knowledge is on a superficial level, I’m way more confident in movies, that’s why I’ve started this blog :-)) also affect the way I’d see this movie?

Well it didn’t, as I’ve finally seen it for the first time and let me tell you something – it’s truly a great movie. First of all, this is Cameron Crowe‘s best movie, there is not even a competition, this is his magnum opus. The way he directed this film is on another level, and the main compliment I need to mention is while watching the movie, it was hard for me to believe this is new(ish) movie, as it honestly felt like something from 70’s/80’s! From the feel of the movie, to the way he shot/blocked scenes, it truly seemed like something from that era, where at the end it was truly hard for me to understand this was done in 99/2000!

This movie lets you into its world even if you are somebody like me, whose knowledge of music scene of that era is on a superficial level – that’s another smart move from Crowe – you don’t need to be a music expert, you don’t need to get every reference that’s thrown your way in order to enjoy this movie fully, as those are “just” extras, for the crowd that knows their music. And this is yet another example of how smart this movie really is – any lesser film would’ve put the music properly “in front” where it could potentially alienate people like me who’re just not experts, therefore wouldn’t enjoy this as much. But here, even though it might seem like it, the music world is actually a background to a story of growing up and becoming an adult.

Yes, this movie is more about a (really) young guy, trying to balance his way in this double-faced world, where the music world surrounds him in every way. This movie is mainly about Patrick Fugit‘s character navigating this world, not knowing how it works, what to do exactly. He nails how it is not feeling like a child anymore, but also not being a proper adult yet. That awkward stage in between is really hard to put onto a film, yet somehow Crowe had pulled it off stunningly and seamlessly.

Another thing where this movie shines is displaying loneliness – how you can be surrounded with people one moment, yet still feel like the last person on Earth the next (the best example of that would be Kate Hudson‘s character dancing all by herself after a show’s finished, just her, empty gym and some balloons and glitter), how this world gives you everything you want one day, makes you feel like a cool guy, so it can take it away from you the very next day, feeling like the biggest loser.

I’ve also loved the fact every character, no matter how small or large, is not just a two dimensional one, but has an extra layer. Everyone seems to be some kind of stereotype at first, but the more you see, the more you understand that’s not really the case, as everybody got something to say, sometimes it might be deep, sometimes stupid.

I haven’t seen a movie as great as Almost Famous in a good while, and even though the runtime scared me a bit (I’ve seen the extended cut that runs just over 2 and half hours) it flew by like nothing and passed my ultimate test. What is it, you ask? If movie finishes and I feel like I want to watch it again, that very moment, I know I’ve seen something quite special. And that’s exactly what Almost Famous is. Something quite special, that upon further viewings, might actually crack my TOP 15 of all time.

That’s all for this one? What did you think about this movie? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke