[Hutnicks]

Enthralling/Horrifying

Easily a 10/10 film.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Spoiler: Spoiler

The Cell
2000






The Cell is a stylish crime drama with science fiction glossed over the top.

Humor in public walks a fine line between rude and entertaining at times, though here we have no need to worry as the cell contains less than an ounce of humor. Our worries are simply about how over the top our villain is.

What is interesting though is how their are parallels between 1960s Psycho and 2000's ... The Cell.

Both movies concern themselves with the mind of a psychopathic serial killer. Though The Cell attempts to go one step further and take the viewer into that mind of a killer.

And same as Psycho that mind holds compartments of both delusion and reality. And......finally this all comes together as a classic story of good against evil, though here our devil is both trendy and phantasmagoric in nature.

Looking into this key hole, religious iconography stays in the backseat to what appears as high fashion through art.

8-10

 

[castleofargh]

I remember The Cell as a fairly bad story/movie, with incredibly well done dream scenes. visually the various inspirations were obvious to the point of thinking plagiarism many times, but plagia or not those scenes were amazing IMO. I saw the movie when it came out and still have a really vivid memory of several "tableaux".

 

[Redcarmoose]

I remember The Cell as a fairly bad story/movie, with incredibly well done dream scenes. visually the various inspirations were obvious to the point of thinking plagiarism many times, but plagia or not those scenes were amazing IMO. I saw the movie when it came out and still have a really vivid memory of several "tableaux".

Not a lot of US mainstream films up till 2000 seemed to attempt allegory.


Alejandro Joborowsky went full tilt allegory with El Topo and it became the first popular midnight movie. And similarly you start notice the foundation of Dali's ideas are pure allegory mixed with optical illusion. But it's almost like a phenomenon how images disjointed from the norm somehow make us believe it could be the reality of how the subconscious works.

Dali was the most financially successful artist up to his point of life in history. Really kind of amazing when you try and look at his work at face value. It's not always beautiful in the classic sense of the word.

If anything there is more and more of Dali in movies. And most likely the visuals in "The Cell" we're the only thing holding it up!

 

[castleofargh]

I looked at El Topo's trailer, there is no word to describe how confused I am. it makes me quite curious.

 

[Zojokkeli]

I looked at El Topo's trailer, there is no word to describe how confused I am. it makes me quite curious.

If it's anything like The Holy Mountain, you're in for a truckload of What.

 

[WraithApe]

If it's anything like The Holy Mountain, you're in for a truckload of What.

Excellent. Sounds like a must watch

Jodorowsky has been on my radar for ages now but somehow I've still never got around to watching any. In fact, the only thing of his I've seen (read, in fact) was The Eyes of the Cat, which he collaborated on with comic book artist, Moebius. Great stuff. I think they made several graphic novels together.

 

[Hutnicks]

I really wish his adaptation of Dune had not failed in pre production. I think that it could well have been THE scifier of the 70's

 

[Redcarmoose]

I looked at El Topo's trailer, there is no word to describe how confused I am. it makes me quite curious.

El Topo was really considered a lost film. And it wasn't lost like the short 1910 Edison Frankenstein was lost. The film owner kept it out of use in the world due to a falling out with Joborowsky. Hence no one could see it after it's initial widespread popularity. I payed $200 in the mid 1990s to obtain a rare Japanese Laser disk of the film. No one knew if the film would ever see the light of day. Finally they reconstituted their relationship and we have it today.

My parents had the Joborowsky book explaining the movie on the shelf in my bedroom for me to read at the age of 12. I didn't get all his allegory at that age, but understood where he was coming from on certain points. Thus I was always curious about seeing the film myself.

Fando Y Lis is his first movie and created a fuss when first shown. Holy Mountain is maybe the hardest to understand, but the audio track on the DVD has Jaborowsky interpretations of his ideas.


My favorite Jaborowsky allegory centers around Fando Y Lis, where the cooler-than-schiit jazz musicians play a burning piano amung the ruins of a city. Jaborowsky explains no matter how snobby you are your place in life is still built upon the ruins of the past. Or........something to that effect!

The burning piano is also a maybe stolen allegory from Dali, where Dali explains that human life is a burning piano.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Spoiler: Ahhhhh.....1990's idea of the future

well....Total Recall has it all. Three breasted gals, one liners in the best of style! The music is top notch and the effects are non-cgi. What else were you looking for?



The guy gets the girl and kills the bad guys, and he wasn't crazy after all.

10-10

 

[Hutnicks]

Spoiler: Ahhhhh.....1990's idea of the future

well....Total Recall has it all. Three breasted gals, one liners in the best of style! The music is top notch and the effects are non-cgi. What else were you looking for?



The guy gets the girl and kills the bad guys, and he wasn't crazy after all.

10-10

Really Moose. Albeit I think it is one of Verhoovens best but pushing a 10 seems a little generous. I might go an eight simply because Rachel and Sharon carry the Austrian through the film.

 

[WraithApe]

Really Moose. Albeit I think it is one of Verhoovens best but pushing a 10 seems a little generous. I might go an eight simply because Rachel and Sharon carry the Austrian through the film.

I thought it was pretty shoddy and badly dated when I last watched it - I wouldn't go higher than a 5 personally. I don't really have an opinion on Verhooven, but it's nowhere near my fave Arnie film; I think you can probably guess from my avatar what that might be

 

[Redcarmoose]

Really Moose. Albeit I think it is one of Verhoovens best but pushing a 10 seems a little generous. I might go an eight simply because Rachel and Sharon carry the Austrian through the film.

Yes, your probably right. I rate it high due to wearing out the VHS tape with views when the film was just out. It all may have just been an age thing in the score.

 

[pigmode]

On Any Sunday - 8.7/10

Sorry meant to post this somewhere else.

 

[Redcarmoose]

I thought it was pretty shoddy and badly dated when I last watched it - I wouldn't go higher than a 5 personally. I don't really have an opinion on Verhooven, but it's nowhere near my fave Arnie film; I think you can probably guess from my avatar what that might be

Badly dated? The time-capsule aspect was one of the reasons I rated it high. It's a cheesy science fiction movie, but with top notch effects for it's day. The eighties hair, the color combinations of the 1980s-1990s, and the way the interiors tried to look futuristic but came out dated became the charm for me. In reality it's maybe not a classic like you say, though for someone who worshiped the film in 1990, it's like hearing an old favorite song on the radio, and remembering all the words.