Mubi Monday: Lolita (1997)

I am not familiar with the tale of Lolita, having somehow never seen the film by Stanley Kubrick, or even read the source novel by Vladimir Nabokov. All I knew about it is what most people know about it. There's something at the heart of it that involves an older man and an underage girl. Yeah, if you've spent the past week or so getting upset about Cuties then you may want to stop reading now.

Jeremy Irons plays Humbert Humbert, a gentleman who ends up residing as a lodger in the home of Charlotte Haze (Melanie Griffith) and her young daughter, Dolores "Lolita" Haze (Dominique Swain). Swiftly growing infatuated with the child, Humbert eventually marries Charlotte, all the while scheming to do the minimum he has to do, in terms of his husbandly duties, and keep himself available to Lolita. Things do not go well in the marriage, of course, but that leads to a period of time during which Humbert and Lolita can give in to their distasteful urges.

I'm struggling to fully balance out my thoughts on Lolita. It is not a film I enjoyed, not one bit, and I am struggling to figure out the appeal of the source material, which perhaps makes some points lost in the adaptation from page to screen by Stephen Schiff (in what seems to be his first credited writing role). I guess, considering the third act, it's about a man so oblivious to how wrong his behaviour is that he needs to find someone worse than himself to help him find some kind of redemption.

Everyone involves deserves credit for giving it a try, even in 1997 this wasn't exactly something that moviegoers would be rushing to see, and the fact that it tries very hard to walk a tightrope between the intriguing and the disgusting is enough to remind you that no small amount of effort was exerted to get this done.

Director Adrian Lyne shoots things in a way that is either passive or, worse, lingering from the POV of Humbert. He places you alongside the main character, who has the benefit of being so well portrayed by Irons, and gives you nowhere to hide, even as things become darker and more sordid.

As well as a top-notch performance from Irons, Swain does well in the titular role. Her character is often very annoying, and treats the people around her quite appallingly, but she's a child being a child, even when she has moments of trying to act like a woman. She never is, and that point is emphasised at every turn, even when viewing her through the eyes of Humbert, who views her in a different way from everyone else. Griffith has a limited amount of screentime, but does well with it, and there are a couple of scenes stolen by Frank Langella.

The more I think about Lolita, the less I like it. That's not really the fault of the film though. I found the central idea too disturbing, as it was intended to be, but I also appreciated watching something that proved to be such a strong challenge. Not to sound too pretentious, but that can happen sometimes with art. A strong averse reaction can be just as rewarding, in some ways, as a strong connection to the material. The worst thing that any art can do is leave you disengaged, and Lolita certainly doesn't allow you to view it without becoming engaged.

The technical side of things is generally decent enough, and the performances give it a boost, but I hope to never watch this again. I will, however, check out the Kubrick film one day. And I may see how the novel presents things.

5/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Dead Mary (2007)

A bunch of friends meeting up to spend some time together in an isolated cottage in the middle of some woods. What could possibly go wrong? Yes, Dead Mary is another horror movie that proves to be derivative of both The Evil Dead and any horror that has used the ol' Bloody Mary urban legend. Being derivative isn't always a terrible thing, especially in the horror genre. It's not unheard of for films to be derivative and yet also manage to end up feeling fresh. Unfortunately, that's not the case here.

Dominique Swain plays Kim, and Jefferson Brown is Matt. The two have recently broken up, but are now joining their friends for a weekend that should involve alcohol, sunshine and plenty of reminiscing about old times. The rest of the group is made up of Eve (Marie-Josee Colburn), Baker (Steven McCarthy) and Lily (Maggie Castle), and Dash (Michael Majeski) and Amber (Reagan Pasternak). It's everything that you'd expect, with the various tensions and banter, until someone suggests that they take turns at Dead Mary. A few people give it a go, heading into the dark bathroom with a candle to look into the mirror and say her name a number of times, and that's when things start going downhill. It's not long until the friends are dealing with death, division and . . . . . . . . . strange goings on, to put it mildly.

Let me just say that Dead Mary isn't actually a bad film. The script, by Christopher Warre Smets and Peter Sheldrick, could be greatly improved, and the direction by Robert Wilson is pedestrian stuff, complete with fade-outs and fade-ins that give the impression that it was a TV movie (I would assume), but it does okay with the familiar material, and the cast do a decent job.

Swain seems to be the lead, although the film doesn't really have the required focus for viewers to really get behind her, and she does just fine. Colburn starts off as a potentially interesting character, but is then sidelined far too quickly. Which leaves Brown, McCarthy, Castle, Majeski and Pasternak. The latter two aren't as likable, simply due to the way in which they're sketched out, but at least everyone is identifiable enough, as opposed to the bland groupings that sometimes end up populating these generic horror movies.

The worst thing about the movie is that it feels so half-baked and muddled. Once things start to go off the rails it all becomes quite random, while also never reaching its full potential. Characters bicker with one another, and often about the most pointless things. Highlighting the problems with the script, the second half of the movie creates a dynamic which sees the group accusing one of their own for horrible events that they just witnessed, despite the fact that what they witnessed proves that something supernatural is going on.

One or two gore gags show that there was some good work done, yet more would have been appreciated. There isn't really any tension, and no genuine scares, so some blood 'n' guts sprinkled liberally throughout the proceedings should have been a nice, easy way to distract from the weaker elements. Alas, that didn't happen.

Dead Mary isn't a terrible film, as I already said. However, it is distinctly below average.

4/10

http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Mary-Unrated-Dominique-Swain/dp/B000ION762/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1404365857&sr=1-1&keywords=dead+mary

Nazis At The Center Of The Earth (2012)

*****************************MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD*****************************


Another day, another release from the lunatics who run The Asylum. This time it's Nazis At The Center Of The Earth. Reminding people that they don't just try to cash in on the success of big blockbusters, The Asylum try to make a quick buck off the b-movie greatness of Iron Sky. Considering that the last time they tried to copy such an enjoyable cult hit we ended up with the awful Snakes On A Train I wasn't holding out too much hope for this one. Thankfully, I was very wrong and this movie turned out to be absolutely mad in all the right ways, a deliriously ridiculous slice of hokum. In fact, it's SO hilarious and over the top that I couldn't help thinking I'd already seen it all done before in an episode of Futurama. Fans of great cinema should turn away now but anyone who shares my fondness for the dubious delights released from The Asylum should enjoy this one.

As if I really needed to explain the plot to you, it's all there in the title. A bunch of young folks working in  Antarctica are a bit bemused when a couple of their colleagues disappear. They're quickly even further bemused when they go looking for the missing colleagues and find an underground area that houses a bunch of zombie Nazi types engaging in experiments to prolong their lifespans.

Nazis . . . . . they just don't know when to stop exfoliating.

The experiments are being led by a certain Dr. Mengele (Christopher Karl Johnson) and he's very pleased when he captures his latest group of "test subjects". Surely it won't be long now until he discovers the breakthrough that can lead to a big, pissed off, zombie robo-Hitler.
See what I mean now about the Futurama episode? Am I right or am I right?

Whatever could that be? Oh, of course, it's a big, pissed off, zombie roboHitler!!!

With this completely ridiculous premise to work with, everything else pretty much has to aim at a certain level. The script by Paul Bales is suitably hilarious (in a number of intentional and unintentional ways) while the direction from Joseph J. Lawson just rattles through one gloriously daft moment after another. The special effects are often a bit better than past efforts from the studio (I think they just maybe have more programs locked in place and stock footage in the vault after each movie) and the whole film is boosted by the fact that it's so hilariously tasteless.

As for the cast, they're not really a memorable bunch. Jake Busey is the most recognisable one here, and his first scene is very funny (he gets to spout a lot of scientific nonsense before we are quickly made aware of just what a maverick he is). Dominique Swain is likeable enough, as is Josh Allen, while Christopher Karl Johnson makes Mengele into a good villain. As for everyone else, they all do well enough and deserve a bit of praise for going along with the whole absurd concept.

If you can tell me what real purpose this guy serves except to be onscreen looking like a strange cross between Jay Leno and 'Weird' Al Yankovic then please send me answers on a postcard.

Once again, this is a movie that shouldn't be rated highly by anyone who loves cinema (and I like to class myself as a cinema lover, despite my dodgy viewing choices) but it's so much fun and so damn entertaining from start to finish that I can't place it on the lower end of the scale. Therefore, I shall defend my rating in this way - the movie is fun and lively and deserves an above average score BUT it also tries to cash in on the success of another movie, has one or two moments of tedious exposition and doesn't really step up a gear during the third act so it sinks to a below average score BUT it has some good effects here and there, a distressing male takeover of the pro-choice movement and zombie frickin' Nazis. I fully expect to be met with derision on this one but the final score manages to edge just above average.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Nazis-Center-Earth-Dominique-Swain/dp/B0073HYCCA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1338389233&sr=8-2