 | Silence of the Lambs :Criterion Collection (Spine Number 13) Directed by Jonathan Demme
Brief Plot Summary: |
Soon, Clarice realizes the true reason she has been sent to interview Lecter is to get information about a new serial killer --Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine)--whom the FBI assume Lecter knows from his days as a famous psychiatrist. Once Bill kidnaps Catherine Martin, the daughter of Sen. Ruth Martin, Clarice is pressured not only by the Bureau, but herself and she must submit herself to Lecter's tutelage.
Review:
With the exception of Schindler's List and The Piano, Silence of the Lambs may be the greatest film of the 90s. It was the winner of five academy awards in 1991, and is one of only three films to win the top five honors: Best Picture, Director, Writing, Actress, and Actor… can you name the other two films to have done this?
The film is much more a study of the relationship between Starling and Lecter-a surrogate father for her. Demme and screenwriter Ted Tally were able to pull an incredible film out of the novel, making only slight alterations to the original text.
Demme caught a lot of flack for having made such a violent film (even though he had previously directed The Killing Fields!). Many say the protests of women's and gay rights groups are directly responsible for Demme's having made Philadelphia as his follow-up feature. But the claim that Silence of the Lambs is unfounded---and this should not drive away viewers looking for a good scare. On the contrary, Demme presents a cast of intriguing characters in a desperate situation. The terror and violence of the film almost solely take place in the mind of the viewer or on the soundtrack.
In the commentary, Demme says that Roger Corman (who has a cameo in the film) taught him that the scariest shot in the world is a camera slowly approaching a closed door, the assumption being "who knows what's on the other side?" This mindset runs throughout the entire feature. Each shot is a slow truck to a closed door, tensing the nerves of those who don't know what comes next and setting those who do know in a state of dark glee and fear.
DVD Features:
 | Flesh For Frankenstein: Criterion Collection (Spine Number 27) Directed by Paul Morrissey
Brief Plot Summary: Joe Dallesandro plays a farm hand whose best friend's head is taken by Frankenstein to be a part of the male monster. After starting an affair with Frankenstein's wife, Dallesandro gains more and more access to the estate until he finally finds Frankenstein's lab and all the secrets are revealed. |
Review:
Although shot very rapidly and a restrictive budget, visually, Flesh for Frankenstein is very strong. Unlike many of the other Warhol films which are devoid of both plot and visual artistry, Flesh for Frankenstein makes a strong attempt at both and judged in their company, it is a great success.
Taken as camp, this film is a gem. The humor is strong, the acting is poor, and the special effects are just plain ludicrous. Half of the cast was learning English during the making of these Warhol films, and the other half were simply friends of Morrissey's brought on to enjoy the funds Warhol was able to secure from European investors.
Despite the camp, the film also proves interesting as the first period piece directed by Paul Morrissey who would go on to direct Blood for Dracula (made in succession with Frankenstein ) and Beethoven's Nephew a far more serious film whose release was eclipsed by Milos Forman's Amadeus.
These period pieces, moreso than the Flesh/Trash/Heat Trilogy transmit Paul Morrissey's world view. His earlier Warhol Films focussed on his morality within the drug and street based Factory life, but removed from modern times, Morrissey is able to lend more weight to the idea he claims is the guiding premise behind each of his films: "There's no difference between a liberal and a fascist."
 | Blood for Dracula: Criterion Collection (Spine Number 28) Directed by Paul Morrissey
Brief Plot Summary: Though he seems young to the naked eye, Dracula is in fact in a very weakened condition, and abandoning his home in search of a wife leaves him even more lame. |
Once in Italy he begins to sample the blood of an aristocratic family only to vomit it back up-these girls have not been virgins for some time.
Again, it is farm boy Joe Dallesandro (who is a militant socialist in this film) who begins to catch on to Dracula and eventually leads to the count's undoing.
Review:
Again Morrissey has created a camp masterpiece. He plays with the vampire myth a bit adding an extreme amount of sex and injecting a bit of socialism for humor-Dallesandro is obsessed with the fact that all the people around him have titles, he insists that people like the Count will pay when the revolution comes.
A companion film to Flesh for Frankenstein, it guarantees to please fans thereof while further angering those who found the first of these 1974 films nothing more than a waste of their time and Warhol's money.
The plot of the film has surprising intricacies and is not nearly as contrived as Frankenstein--not to say that there are even the slightest hints of character arcs or motivated actions. There's an initial push, sex, and the occasional odd roadblock. But the combination of Morrissey's direction and the inescapable camp of the film make these three ingredients sufficient for an enjoyable experience.
 | M :Criterion Collection(Spine Number 30) Directed by Fritz Lang
Brief Plot Summary: |
Review:
Fritz Lang is a film master who originally made his mark during the German Expressionist Period and made his way to the United States to direct Film Noirs and eventually Westerns. Rumor has it that he was asked to direct Nazi propaganda films and fled the country shortly after having refused, but Patrick McGilligan (in his biography of Lang) questions the validity of this story. Lang seems to have greatly exaggerated it for dinner parties and interviews.
M comes at the end of the expressionist period and has none of the fantastic elements that are found in many of the other films of the period. In fact, this film should not be considered a work of expressionism, it is a far more mature narrative that uses actual people to question the nature of humanity rather than beasts or humanoids which only draw parallels.
Considered the first "serial killer film," M begins to raise many of questions that are still relevant today about the accountability of the criminally insane. Though we may consider it a modern thought, even here in M Lorre makes a case for being compelled to kill by inner demons he has no control over. Upbringing and condition are also key factors in the development of his psychotic mind. Accountability is quesitoned as it never has been before. It's community founded underground justice system also questions the efficiency of any justice system, asking if "justice" can ever truly be achieved.
 | Rushmore : Criterion Collection (Spine Number 65) Directed by Wes Anderson
Brief Plot Summary: |
Review:
Anderson himself has admitted that Mike Nichol's Graduatewas a great influence on his film… in fact, in the interview with Charlie Rose, on the Criterion DVD, Anderson claims that Nichols and The Graduate are an influence on all of his work and always will be.
Rushmore was one of the strongest films of 1998 and the Oscars treated it very poorly. Had Murray won the Golden Globe, he would be sitting pretty with an Oscar right now and the film would have garnered many more nominations… but the Europeans had something for The Truman Show that the Academy didn't and Ed Harris' victory sent Rushmore down the drain.
The film is highly original and is a string of memorable comi moments. Anderson's visual style is new and clearly something of which he is very conscious… though he does overdo the slow-motion.
DVD Features: