All That Jazz Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: All That Jazz
Year: 1979
Director: Bob Fosse
Country: US
Language: English

Born on June 23, 1927 Bob Fosse was an American dancer, musical theatre choreographer, director, screenwriter, film director and actor. The man was incredibly gifted, having won 8 Tony Awards and winning the Academy Award for "Best Director" the same year The Godfather astounded the critics. Fosse's work was always provacative, innovative, entertaining and unbelievable. His works reflected the desire for sexual freedom that was being expressed across America and were huge successes as a result. His Pippin became the highest earning show in broadway history. 

Director/choreographer Bob Fosse tells his own life story as he details the sordid life of Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider), a womanizing, drug-using dancer.

 All That Jazz is one of the most self-indulgent movies ever made - but should be applauded for it. It gets much of its inspiration from Frederico Fellini's 8 1/2, without ever being a direct clone. Drawing on Fosse’s own experiences as a young dancer in burlesque houses, and his battles with overly facile composers and narrow-minded backers, the film is essentially about a man who is burning the candle on both ends. Even though it is contemplative and brooding, one can't help but get entrance by the heavily choreographed musical numbers which must have taken days to complete (Fosse was an absolute perfectionist and demanded the best out of his workers) 

For All That Jazz Fosse brings his own unique style of rhythmic, dance-like film editing. He never cuts on a beat, but rather instead he makes razor-sharp edits at the change of a dancer’s direction, or as an extension of his combination moves. He turns the art of the edit into its own form of choreography. The introduction to the character alone, which is less than 5 minutes, has about 15 cuts. All are important in understanding the poor state of his character, all are sophisticated and expressive. The movie's structure is somewhat tricky, and if given to the wrong Director could have been a mess, but Fosse handles it with ease. 

 Fosse's cinematic approach to the musical numbers are a highlight of the film. Never a passive observer, the camera participates in the action, moving with each dancer. It adds a degree of precision in choreography that is not achievable on stage. Far different from 60's musicals like The Sound of Music and West Side Story, Fosse film was as revolutionary as it was breathtaking. Praise it! 5/5

and expressive

and expressive

Robocop (1987) Review - By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Robocop
Year: 1987
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Country: US
Language: English

By the time Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop hit theatres, Detroit had become the symbol for America's "Urban Crisis." The city averaged sixty-three homicides per one hundred thousand people in 1987, more than any other urban center in North America. The dystopian Detroit setting was more than mere silver screen fiction; it was and is still very close to reality. In addition to still having a high murder rate, racial segregation, class segregation and a poor housing market, the city filed for bankruptcy. Although they seem to be getting help from big corporations, that help comes with a dire price. In a recent interview, the screenwriter for the original RoboCop reflected on how the film's script is starting to play into reality: "We are now living in the world that I was proposing in RoboCop…how big corporations will take care of us and…how they won't."

 In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.

Robocop's director, Paul Verhoeven, is gifted Dutch filmmaker whose earlier credits include Soldier of Orange and The Fourth Man. His movies cannot be easily categorized; Robocop is as much a serious action flick as it is an absurd comedy. It ponders philosophical questions and acts as political satire, while at the same time filling the runtime with guts, gore, bullets and bodies. Made during the end of the Reagan era, Verhoeven explores the mess of free enterprise and privatization.

In Robocop the screenwriter's dissect how big business can get so big. Perhaps because it makes huge profits first by creating a mess, then doubles profits by manufacturing the machine that will clean the mess up.While essentially a modern Frankenstein story, the film can also double as Christ metaphor. While watching the film I'm reminded of Charles Chaplin's Modern Times. Both pictures contain a society that seems to think technology will make our lives better, but unfortunately this is not the case. 

Robocop is a remarkable film- one that I watched when I was far too young- but great regardless. It's a unique thriller that, thankfully, doesn't let modern special effects get in the way of telling a good story. It can be watched as mindless action or thoughtful political satire and still be incredibly entertaining. This is one of a kind. Praise it! 4/5

The Royal Tenenbaums Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: The Royal Tenenbaums
Year: 2001
Director: Wes Anderson
Country: US
Language: English

Eccentricity often masks deep loneliness. In no film is that more true than Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums. Each family member seems to have had a successful career, at least in their youth, but have become an island unto themselves. Each member writhes in emotional, and sometimes physical pain, but are able to deceive with an excellent poker face. The picture is a serious melodrama masquerading as a lighthearted comedy. Despite the family members being upper class and having careers drastically different than the common man, Anderson is triumphant in allowing us to see ourselves in a particular character and sympathize with them. 

Three grown prodigies (Ben Stiller, Gwenyth Paltrow and Luke Wilson), all with a unique genius of some kind, and their mother (Anjelica Huston) are staying at the family household. Their father, Royal (Gene Hackman) had left them long ago, and comes back to make things right with his family.

One of the film's great strengths is allowing the audience to debate the legitimacy of what is being told. Often characters say one thing ("I'm fine") but mean another and nobody is what they initially seem to be (Margot has been an avid smoker since her early teens). Royal gets bounced out of the latest hotel and claims that he has cancer. His family doesn't care, but Royal can be a desperate con artist and is allowed to stay. We wonder why the family could be so cruel to Royal, but after getting to know the character we can see why.  

Each character is tragic, yet the film has glimpses of hope and humor. It’s about a strange kind of longing: to “restore” a family that was never that happy in the first place. Anderson is tackling a difficult, sad, and familiar dynamic here: a loving but fundamentally inattentive matriarch, a long-gone father and their alienated children. They've built themselves an identity to free themselves from their family but feel forever bound to it. 

Decades from now, Royal Tenenbaums will be considered an American classic. It speaks to the heart and the mind while never losing relevance. Unless the dysfunctional family becomes extinct and we find a miracle cure for depression, Anderson's themes will continue to  ring true for almost every human being. I've seen the film many times and each time I am impressed. Praise it! 5/5

Dressed to Kill Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Dressed to Kill
Year: 1980
Director: Brian De Palma
Country: US
Language: English

One would be hard-pressed to discuss Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill without starting with Alfred Hitchcock Psycho, a film which made a tremendous impact on the film industry. Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece has become a reference point for many film historians who now see American Cinema as divided between "Before Psycho" and "After Psycho". Hitchcock's picture did the previously unthinkable, such as killing off its heroine and thereby taking its star actor offscreen at the end of act 1; leaving us only a homicidal maniac to identify with for the rest of the film. Later film-makers, like Brian De Palma, would be tremendously impacted by the man and it would show in their works. Dressed to Kill is Psycho reborn.

De Palma's film is about a mysterious blonde woman  who kills one of a psychiatrist's (Michael Caine) patients (Angie Dickinson), and then goes after the high-class call girl (Nancy Allen) who witnessed the murder.

As it was being released in theatres across the nation, ads for Dressed to Kill claimed that De Palma was the new "Master of Suspense". It's 35 years later and while that statement hasn't held any ground, the man's films are still as relevant as they are suspenseful. Ralf Bode’s sensuous, soft-lens camera work and Pino Donaggio’s ecstatic, romantic score make the picture quite a voyeuristic experience. Unlike Hitchcock, De Palma's film is overtly sexual rather than implicit. A rarity in Cinema, especially for the 80's, we are encouraged to align with a female character's perspective.

There are a few problems with Dressed to Kill however; imitation can be flattering, but it also ruins a "twist" ending. The psychologist scene was easily the worst part of Psycho, because no viewer wants to be hand-fed the plot, but De Palma decides to keep it in. Though for the time Dressed to Kill might have been PC, it can come off as transphobic nowadays. The director walks a fine line between ingenious and insulting. Perhaps the film is actually innovative; De Palma could be exploiting our society's irrational fear of transgender people & mocking fundamentalists in the wake of the AIDS crisis when LGBTT persecution was considered a norm.

Like Hitchcock, De Palma is a maestro regarding the technical aspect of filmmaking. The roving but precise camera, the razor-sharp cutting, the slow motion, the overwhelming music and the haunting atmosphere make it impossible to turn away from. It captures the essence of what horror filmmaking should be and makes us forget about the implausibility of the plot. 3.5/5