Change Your Image
AndyNiess-2
Reviews
We're All Devo (1983)
Give the past the slip!
Essential singles of the spuds from Ohio. In addition, the Devo philosophy is conveyed through vignettes featuring General Boy and Booji Boy (who's electrocuted, exposed to nuclear waste and has his rubber head smashed in an industrial press!), Timothy Leary, and the sleazy Rooter family.
Although the video clips look super-cheap in these days of desktop digital production, there's more inventiveness and wit to be found in any 30 seconds of this tape than 2 hours of MTV. Brightly hued images of mutation, sci-fi conformity and surprisingly surreal violence await, all set to the beat of some classic New Wave tunes. Imagine what they could've done with one of today's video budgets... Duty now for the future!
eXistenZ (1999)
Long live the new mind
This one seems to be both a re-stating and an expansion of director Cronenberg's previous films, leavened by a little self-deprecating humor. Where to begin? Naked Lunch's addictions and Kafkaesque settings, the mutating consumer electronics and hallucinations of Videodrome(some scenes made me think eXistenZ was a sequel), the twisted sexuality of Crash...such a buffet of intellectual depravity.
It expands on Cronenberg's theme of mutation and displacement. His early films say "My body is freaking out". In later films, it was "My mind is freaking out, causing my body to freak out". Now we have "Reality itself is liquid, and can cause anything to freak out at any time. Have a nice day".
Jude Law and Willem Defoe are great, Ian Holm's having fun, but I wasn't impressed as much with Jennifer Jason Leigh. She didn't seem to hit the right note for me, but it's still a watchable performance, just not great.
This film isn't for everyone. I can tell by some of the comments on this board that there are some nervous systems immune to the Cronenberg virus. Too bad for them. This is an incredibly rich and fulfilling picture, one of the best science fiction films of the decade. Cronenberg is one of North America's true visionary artists, continuing to map unexplored territory.
Suspiria (1977)
Expressionist Horror
Suspiria creates a unique otherworldly atmosphere, and its murder set pieces are among the most beautifully grotesque in horror film. If you're looking for plot and character, try renting something else. Like most Italian genre fare it's strengths are the visuals and mood, and the heights of pure form reached are amazing.
Incredible use of color, tight editing, and a genuinely frightening score by Goblin. Highly recommended to even the most casual of horror fans. Just put your rational mind to rest for an hour and a half, turn out the lights, and get ready to be shocked.