H.A.V.O.C.#8

I'm going on holiday soon so this one could be short. Then again I might get into rant mode and go on and on ............. Anyway in H.A.V.O.C.#7 I mentioned the Coen Brothers, I also mentioned that they would probably get their own H.A.V.O.C. Well this is it! These guys along with a handful of other filmmakers changed my outlook on film in general some time ago. Their first film BLOOD SIMPLE hit the cinemas in 1984. A modern film noir I saw it at the time in Dublin in The Screen at College Street now simply called The Screen. This cinema used to and still does show mainly art house films. The reviews were good at the time. Here was a film made by a couple of young guys,that cost nothing and was bucking the trend. Anyhow it blew my socks off. It had it all,good music ,a great storyline and some truly original cinematography (really different camera angles etc.etc.). It won awards for direction at both the Sundance and American Spirit Film Festivals.

 I was equally impressed by their follow up RAISING ARIZONA (1987). An offbeat comedy about a childless couple who kidnap one of five newly born quintuplets from a furniture tycoon. This film had one of the first and best uses of Steadicam in cinema to date.

In 1990 they released MILLER'S CROSSING ,starring GABRIEL BYRNE as a gangsters fixer (or bagman) in an un-named American city during prohibition. This was a beautifully shot ,stylish movie with some really snappy dialogue. It remains one of my all time favourite films! The characters were originally Jewish but ALBERT FINNEY coaxed the director(s)? to change their ethnicity to Irish. It has one of the greatest uses of the song DANNY BOY yes DANNY BOY on film I have ever seen.

At this stage I thought these fellas could do no wrong. BARTON FINK (1991) was up next and all the talk was it was a magnificent film. It had just won the Palme D'Or at Cannes Film Festival. When I saw it I just couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about,I was very disappointed. This was critically acclaimed all over the place.

And so began my love/hate ,well not really love/hate maybe more of a like/don't like relationship with the films of JOEL and ETHAN COEN.

Next up was THE HUDSUCKER PROXY(1994) this one fell into the don't like category all style and no substance. It was a massive box office flop making back only $3 million of its $25 million budget.

Then there was the crime thriller FARGO (1996). Our relationship was back on track with this one. A great film funny , dark ,clever ,poignant ,everything!! It also won 2 Oscars.

Their next one was THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) which proved to be a huge commercial hit. I didn't like it at the time. So I'll classify it as a not like . But I should really see it again. It's now considered to be a cult classic.

O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? came out in 2000. I absolutely loved this film. Based loosely on Homer's Odyssey, it had a great cast and great music.The soundtrack was compiled by T-BONE BURNETT who won an Oscar this year,I think, for the music in CRAZY HEART starring JEFF BRIDGES who won best actor award for the same film. This was the brothers first film to feature GEORGE CLOONEY and it proved to me at least that GEORGE was much more than just a pretty face was in that rubbish E.R. again my opinion.

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE (2001) with BILLY BOB THORNTON was another I didn't get.

Nor was INTOLERABLE CRUELTY(2003) or the remake of the Ealing classic THE LADYKILLERS(2004).

This was 3 in a row that I didn't rate ,far from it ,I was getting worried had the boys lost their mojo? But I'd come this far with these fellas I'd have to persevere.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007) I have talked about before. It's one of my all time favourites let alone a COEN BROS. favourite. At last back on track.

BURN AFTER READING(2008) I found mildly amusing ,I find it hard to categorise,maybe I should stop categorising!

Earlier this year in Antwerp I saw A SERIOUS MAN. I didn't like it ,tried to, honestly.

OK so that's 6 films in the like category and 7 in the dislike category.

• LIKE                                                 DISLIKE
• BLOOD SIMPLE
• RAISING ARIZONA
• MILLERS CROSSING
•                                                    BARTON FINK
•                                                    HUDSUCKER PROXY
• FARGO
•                                                    BIG LEBOWSKI
• O BROTHER
•                                                    THE MAN WHO........
•                                                    INTOLERABLE CRUELTY
•                                                    THE LADYKILLERS
• NO COUNTRY
•                                                    BURN AFTER READING
•                                                    A SERIOUS MAN
• ???????????

And so fear not , up next is a remake of TRUE GRIT  based on the source novel by Charles Portis. I read this book earlier this year and yep I'm really looking forward to it. Looking at that list I cant imagine the last 25 years without these two geniuses.

Ever the optimist

Hugh Hyland.

H.A.V.O.C.#7

What constitutes a modern day western? If a film is 60 years old can we still call it modern day? Okay if we were to say if a film had automobiles in it then its modern day? No we cant really say that because they HAD automobiles as far back as the late 1800's. Right we will say any film made after WW2 and set in the American west ,with cowboys constitutes a modern day western. Now we have that settled, it means I can include BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK. It was set in the aftermath of WW2 .Directed by JOHN STURGES in 1955 it starred SPENCER TRACY, ROBERT RYAN and a relatively young LEE MARVIN (the writer bows his head with solemn respect). A fine film that dealt with racism , prejudice and dark secrets it won huge critical acclaim in its day.

These films (modern day westerns) always intrigued me. As with all westerns you see wide open country and guys in cowboy hats and boots but more than likely they will be driving a pick up instead of riding a horse. Like CLINT EASTWOOD in COOGAN'S BLUFF directed by DON SIEGEL which was about an Arizona sheriff in the big city ,New York, on the trail of a bad guy played by DON STROUD ,who always played bad guys.

Before that there was HUD directed by MARTIN RITT and starring PAUL NEWMAN unfortunately I never saw this so I cant really write about it!

In the last 10 to 15 years though we have been treated to some really good modern day westerns. Because it won a bunch of Oscars we have to start with NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. A brilliant book and film. Although the ending ,which was the same in both, was a bit mysterious. This is no surprise considering the book was written by CORMAC McCARTHY , there are no less than 7 adaptations of his work ( 1 play 6 books) either produced or in pre-production. The film was directed by THE COEN BROTHERS whom I wont say anymore about now because they will get a whole H.A.V.O.C. to themselves sometime soon.

With two great actors in the lead roles (JAVIER BARDEM & JOSH BROLIN) all the supporting roles were equally well acted . A curious fact about this film is that it had no incidental music, this is strange considering its makers , THE COENS ,used music to such great effect in their  previous films.

The main action in what is essentially a chase film ends in El Paso. Good ole El Paso! Bad things always happen to cowboys in El Paso. I was sure having seen the trailer etc. for KILL BILL2 that  that film was going to be a western set in El Paso as you know it wasn't , I was disappointed but I got over it.

THE 3 BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA written by GUILLERMO ARRIAGA and directed by TOMMY LEE JONES was a brilliant M.D.W.( you know you know). It had country singer DWIGHT YOAKAM in a supporting role and in a terrific cameo role the singer and drummer with THE BAND (who MARTIN SCORCESE made THE LAST WALTZ about) was LEVON HELM. Its worth seeing , even buying.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE , which also won an Oscar , and starred VIGGO MORTENSON was my favourite film of 2005. This film was basically a modern reworking of HIGH NOON ,a film where a man with a past has to do what hes gotta do to save his family. Careful though its not for the faint hearted, the clue is in the title.

Another of my favourites of recent times is THE WAY OF THE GUN starring RYAN PHILLIPE (former pretty boy) and BENICIO DEL TORO (never pretty boy) as two kidnappers.This was written and directed by CHRIS McQUARRIE who also wrote the script for THE USUAL SUSPECTS. This film even goes so far as to name its principal characters Parker and Longbaugh which were the actual surnames of BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID.

All this leads to one place or person SAM PECKINPAH. All Sam's westerns were M.D.W. even if they weren't modern day  if you know what I mean? You don't ? Ah well here's a list of some of his best.

• RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY
• THE WILD BUNCH
• THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE
• JUNIOR BONNER
• THE GETAWAY
• PAT GARRET & BILLY THE KID
• BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA

 So long

Hugh Hyland

H.A.V.O.C.#6

Is there such a thing as a good film about soccer? Looking up google for a top ten of football films the first thing that came up was a list of American football films! Realising my error I quickly changed the word soccer for football and had another try. The results didn't exactly fill me with excitement/inspiration (well what did I expect?). One thing I did notice talking to people about soccer films is if you ask them to name one they will most likely say ESCAPE TO VICTORY. And that was talking to people younger than myself!

Imagine a film starring SYLVESTER STALLONE as a goalkeeper and MICHAEL KANE as a coach along with some famous and not so famous soccer stars at the time. I saw this film on its release and enjoyed it.

The actual top ten (or one of them) would not exactly have the film world quaking in its boots (sorry).

#1 ESCAPE TO VICTORY

#2 BEND IT LIKE BECKAM

#3 GOAL!

#4 THE DAMNED UNITED

#5 GREGORY'S GIRL

#6 THE MEAN MACHINE

#7 FEVER PITCH

#8 SHAOLIN SOCCER

#9 WHEN SATURDAY COMES

#10 ZIDANE :A 21ST CENTURY PORTRAIT

The last one is in italics because its the best. All this film consisted of was footage of ZIDANE in a Spanish Prima Liga game playing for Real Madrid against Villarreal. The cameras just focused on ZIDANE nothing else a simple idea and totally gripping, by all accounts. I  only saw about  ten minutes of this film being shown as an  installation in in the new Visual Arts Centre in Carlow.Its on my list.

One of the better soccer films I have seen lately is RUDO Y CURSI a Mexican film made by CARLOS SAURAN it stars GAEL GARCIA BERNAL  and DIEGO LUNA as half brothers from rural Mexico who make it big in the Mexican soccer leagues. Its quite funny and well done also there are no football celebs making embarrassing cameo appearances ,like in the film GOAL! directed by DANNY CANNON , this rubbish has already spawned two sequels. The two lead actors in RUDO Y CURSI were about nine years  ago together in Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN which was also written by CARLOS SAURAN.

Enough about soccer I'm sure every one's sick of it by now. Something that's been bothering me of late is what exactly are the guidelines of my blog? I  mean do I have to write a certain amount of words? If not will the CHAIRMAN be on my case? Does everything I write have to be about film? Can I write about T.V.?  Of course I'd only write about good (what I think is good) T.V. No DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES or WEST WING here.

Only quality HBO.COM or SHO.COM (SHOWTIME) stuff. Well maybe next time. I'll go and study "The Really Important Guide to Writing a Blog Almanac"......Seriously it does exist.

Full time whistle
Hugh Hyland

H.A.V.O.C.#5

I was watching t.v. lately and I saw an ad for a film called A PROPHET . The ad or trailer was really good, one of those that show you just enough to whet your appetite. I cant wait to see this film. It should have won best foreign language film at this years Oscar's but lost out to an Argentinian film called THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES. The film A PROPHET looks like a thrilling prison drama with some great acting.The director/writer JACQUES AUDIARD made a film a few years ago called THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED .I saw this lately on d.v.d., an unusual film about a petty criminal who's late mother was a famous concert pianist ,the son decides to resume what was once a promising career as a pianist with surprising results.

Out this week in selected (of course) cinemas is THE KILLER INSIDE ME directed by MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM from the source material by JIM THOMPSON. I've read a few of his books and this one was particularly violent. The screen adaptation is very close to the source material.

Both of these film are not for the squeamish I hasten to add. I wouldn't like people reading this (does anyone read this?) thinking that they are going to see a couple of clever crime caper films, far from it A PROPHET and THE KILLER INSIDE ME are as heavy as it gets.You have been warned!

Back when RESERVOIR DOGS (my film of the 90's) was first released there was a huge outcry about the level of violence in it. The ear slicing scene in particular came in for some heavy criticism, but looking closely at that scene you realise that you don't actually see anything only a suggestion! The camera pulls away and focuses on the wall. When I saw INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS last year I realised it was a lot more violent ,visibly at least. Germans getting their heads busted open (by horror film director ELI ROTH no less) but no outcry this time ,how times have changed.It's a tough one the old screen violence debate.We like it in films like DIE HARD and that but when it is realistic its a different story.

QUENTIN TARANTINO always has good soundtracks to his films. Sometimes the choices he makes are a bit mad but he is obviously a huge music fan. Music can make or break a film in my opinion (I know who cares about my opinion). For example a perfectly good film CRASH directed by PAUL HAGGIS was for me ruined by a bad soundtrack.I'm sure lots of people liked the score but let them write about it in their own blogs!

One of my favourite films and soundtracks is DEAD MANS SHOES starring PADDY CONSIDINE and directed by SHANE MEADOWS .Set in rural England its a revenge film (do I see a pattern forming here?) not a million miles away from ,certainly influenced by, TAXI DRIVER. Its got an awesome soundtrack with incidental music by CALEXICO and three uninterrupted songs by BONNY PRINCE BILLY,SMOG and M.WARD. On my second viewing of this film my photographer friend Matt http://www.mattpetosa.com/  pointed out that the director didn't cut the songs but let them play through which he believed maintained the integrity of the piece (ahem).It took me a while but I finally got what he meant.

An example of how this should not be done was in the film GARDEN STATE starring and directed by ZACH BRAFF in the scene where NATALIE PORTMAN hands him her headphones to listen to a track by THE SHINS (great song)  all we get is about thirty seconds of it, maybe the director thought we did'nt have the attention span for the whole song, pity

Au revoir
Hugh Hyland

H.A.V.O.C. #4

Who would have thought that the cultural threshold could be so high in Athy? Another great night in Athy Film Club, 3 films in and no adverse effects so far (fingers crossed). We have a lovely membership who want to see something a bit different and are not afraid of subtitles. I must have been in my teens when I was first captivated by a subtitled film. This was THE WAGES OF FEAR by GEORGE CLUZOT, made in the early fifties this was a great thriller about a bunch of men transporting a lorryload of nitro glycerine without adequate safety equipment.

I have had a few of these vaguely recalled (imagined?) epiphanies in my life as a film fan.I remember a film in the late 60's or early 70's starring BURT LANCASTER called VALDEZ IS COMING a revisionist revenge western which changed my attitude to that genre.In the mid 70's CHINATOWN starring JACK NICHOLSON and directed by ROMAN POLANSKI was a turning point in my cinematic education likewise BLOOD SIMPLE, DOWN BY LAW, I could go on and on.

The whole subtitle thing brings me to INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS ( did I spell that right or wrong or wrong or right I dunno which) by QUENTIN TARANTINO half the film was subtitled but this was not brought to the attention of the film's intended audience. Brilliant move.I love films that confound an audience.I remember seeing LOST IN TRANSLATION in the early 2000's in Carlow. While leaving the cinema I over heard behind me a guy with a thick Carlow accent asking his girlfriend "what was that all about?".I'm inclined to say this myself sometimes on leaving the cinema as a (rather tired) joke much to my wife's annoyance.

Now I must talk about my film of the year so far SEX AND THE CITY 2 ............ha only kidding and no I'm not going to write about it see H.A.V.O.C. #1 for details. The CHAIRMAN and others (you know who you are) are putting me under increased pressure to keep up this blog, all I'm promising is you will see one probably every week maybe Monday maybe Friday , no set day. Do I have to do one when I'm on holiday,will I get holiday pay?

Seriously, a good film I saw earlier this year was UP IN THE AIR .Its on my list of Films of the Year so far. It stars GEORGE CLOONEY whom I really admire as an actor. To be honest I couldn't stand him in E.R. , at the time I thought he was just another pretty boy actor who would not be able to make the break from television to film.Well he sure proved me wrong. He not only proved to be be a great film star but also a good director and producer. He has worked with some fine directors ROBERT RODRIGUEZ (FROM DUSK TILL DAWN), STEVEN SODERBERG (OUT OF SIGHT;OCEAN'S 11;SOLARIS) ,TERENCE MALICK (THE THIN RED LINE) and WES ANDERSON (THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX) to name a few.This reads like a who's who of contemporary American film makers.He has produced over 20 and directed 3 films.

Our last screening at Athy Film Club was EVERLASTING MOMENTS which I found very entertaining.I knew very little about the film because I had made a conscious decision not to read up on it.This I did with great difficulty considering my natural filmic curiosity.Its nice to see a film that way.I  subscribe to a D.V.D. website and sometimes I forget what I ordered or even why. Anyway the weather is too nice to be writing this inside so I'm off .

Hugh Hyland

H.A.V.O.C. #3

While flicking through the channels last week I came across "The Alamo", not the John Wayne directed film from 1960 but the 2004 version directed by John Lee Hancock and produced by former child actor/blockbuster director Ron Howard.This film had slipped under my radar on it's release no doubt Ron Howard's involvement did little to fuel my curiosity,even though I am partial to the odd revisionist western!What this version did was remind me of the original. Apparently it was a labour of love for John Wayne who had ambitions back as far as the mid 50's to direct a film on the the siege of the Alamo. He managed to finance the film with the aid of United Artists Studio,some very wealthy Texans (who insisted it be shot in Texas) and his own personal fortune.

This all got me to thinking of how we get to see films nowadays compared to years ago, before video and when television did not show relatively recent films.I remember seeing the original version of "The Alamo" in the Grove cinema in Athy about 1968 or 1969.That was 8 or 9 years after its original release!

Films in those days had longer cinema life also there would have been a limited number of prints available for distribution. I think that was probably the first time I experienced the anticipation of waiting to see a film that I had looked forward to seeing for what seemed like a long time. I'm glad to say that that feeling doesn't go away.

Back in those days it would have been rare for a film to get a weekly run as I remember "The Alamo" got at that time. The weekly run would only have applied to blockbusters like "The Sound of Music","Dr Zhivago" or "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" that type of film. Most  of the time there would have been 3 to 4 changes per week. This continued  on to the late 80's up to the time the Grove sadly closed down. The 60's and 70's were great times for cinema goer's,you could see 8 to 10 films per week if you so wished. At that time there was an opening or support film as well as the main feature.

 This all stopped in the late 70's early  80's because feature films got longer and time was a factor in showing 2 whole films .We were then treated to what were a series of quite boring British short films( probably about past naval conquests) before the main feature at the time.The reason we never got to see any Irish short films those days was that they were mostly shot and distributed on 24mm  film and most cinemas only had 35 mm facilities.

There is now a strong case to be made for compelling the multiplexes to show Irish shorts,it happens in some cases but not nearly enough.But don't fret your good friends at Athy Film Club will endeavour to continue it's support of Irish Short Films throughout our yearly programme.Who knows we might even get a short filmmaker to present his or her short film to us now that would be nice.
The End
Hugh Hyland

H.A.V.O.C. #2

Well here I am back with H.A.V.O.C.#2 already.I thought I just had to do one of these blog things every now and then,but I am under severe pressure from the CHAIRMAN to do this on a more regular basis (weekly?),if it stops being fun I'm outta here.

But seriously back to the business of being a film fan and having some more random musings!I saw "Robin Hood" the other night Russell Crowes/Ridley Scotts latest blockbuster.These two have made 5 films together,"Gladiator","A Good Year","American Gangster","Body of Lies" and now "Robin Hood".Poor old Russell seems to have a bit of an attitude problem though,he even walked out of an interview the other day and was very rude to the interviewer.I think he is inclined to take himself a bit too seriously and I think he has absolutely no sense of humour.He has never done a comedy film,well o.k."A Good Year" was kind of light-hearted but it wasn't very good.Could you imagine Russell in a film where he makes a bit of an eejit out of himself?Look at some of the so called A-LIST actors who have taken roles that show them in an unflattering (but comic)light,George Clooney in "O Brother Where Art Thou",Brad Pitt in "Twelve Monkeys" even (I hate admitting this) Tom Cruise in "Tropic Thunder",why not grumpy old Russell.

Cannes Film Festival is also on at the moment.I read an article recently saying that there are no female directors competing for the main prize ,the"Palme D'Or",this year.I find that a bit ironic considering that Katherine Bigelow won the best director award at this years Oscars.There were three female directors in competition in Cannes last year.Jane Campion (Bright Star),Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank)and Isabel Coixet (Map of the Sounds of Tokyo).Both "Bright Star" and "Fish Tank" are easily attainable on d.v.d.,lets hope things are a bit more balanced next year.

This brings me to a film that I am very excited about that also has a female director.A couple of years ago I read a book called "Winter's Bone" by a writer called Daniel Woodrell.I'm a big fan ,I've read all his books.His book "Woe to Live on" was made into the film "Ride with the Devil" which was directed by Ang Lee and starred Lee's regular actor Tobey Maguire.This was an excellent revisionist American Civil War drama that received much critical acclaim but little commercial success on its release.
"Winters Bone" the book was first published in 2006 and now the film is doing the festival circuit prior to its general release.It won the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival this year(that's the biggest prize you can win at Sundance, the independent film awards equivalent of the best film Oscar).This film is one of those that I talked about in my last blog insomuch as it ticks all the right boxes.It was directed by Debra Granik who made two previous films dealing with similar themes.I wont say anymore about it,I don't want to spoil it for you but remember where you heard about it first!I might have a bit of info on Swedish films next time.

THE END

Hugh Hyland

H.A.V.O.C.#1

Lets get something straight from the start I'm a film fan, not a critic, a film buff or a cinephile, simply a fan. A football fan can follow any team he or she wants and so I do much the same with films. Although I do admit to sometimes being a bit of a film snob which does not always work out so good for me, but I can be a bit like that about music also. Anyway being a fan means that I don't have to go to see "Avatar" if I don't want to,despite all of what people told me about the brilliant special effects and all that. The best thing about Cameron's previous blockbuster was that it brought people back into the cinemas,people who had stayed away during the 80's and the 90's for whatever reasons, more films on television or the advent of video maybe?

Being a film fan also means I can go and see films like "Iron Man 2" which I saw lately,dragging my kids along.It was mildly enjoyable, I like Robert Downey Jr. Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johannson, the director John Favreau also made "Mr & Mrs Smith" and he always has good soundtracks to his films. At the opposite end of the cinematic spectrum I watched a film lately called"The Class". This film ticked all the right boxes,it won the "Palm D'Or" at Cannes Film Festival, it was shot in a cinema veritè style and it received huge critical acclaim.But it left me cold,I just didn't get it! Sometimes it just goes that way you build yourself up for what you think will be your film of the year only to be let down, that's life I suppose.I saw another film recently by director Julian Schnabel called "Before Night Falls" starring the great Spanish actor Javier Bardem and I stopped the film halfway through! I had seen two films by this director that I had thoroughly enjoyed ("Basquiat" & "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly") but "Before Night Falls" did absolutely nothing for me.What I think is good about Athy Film Club is you have to stay and watch the film (its rude to walk out) and you can do so without interruptions which frequently happen if viewing a film at home.

This all brings me to our last screening "I'm Not Scared".This was also a film I was looking forward to. I had read the book last year on holiday, in Sicily of all places.I knew of the directors last film,I was expecting great things and I was not disappointed.For once a film with beautiful cinematography that was relevant to the story.How many times have you seen a film that looked lovely but that was all it just looked lovely."I'm Not Scared" delivered on all counts,it looked lovely, it had great acting, a great story and an underlying tension that kept you on the edge of your seat (or maybe that was the seating it can be a tiny bit uncomfortable, it depends on where you sit I'm not saying where but feel free to bring a cushion next time).I' m looking forward to seeing you all again on June 1st for "Everlasting Moments"

That's all folks
Hugh Hyland

H.A.V.O.C. intro

Hugh's alternative views on cinema
(the random musings of a film FAN)
My first real blog to follow shortly I cant type that quickly you see