I recently discovered Charité on PBS. Three of the four seasons (so far) are available in the States, and each season covers a particularly important historical period from the viewpoint of Berlin’s public city hospital (which is still very much a highly regarded medical center).
Season 1: Starts in 1888 (build up to WWI, shows baseline prejudice against Jews and women)
Season 2: 1943-45 (shows a lot of the ways people coped/rebelled/reveled)
Season 3: 1961 (the year the Berlin Wall was constructed…haven’t gotten this far yet)
Well written and acted, accurate portrayal of the culture and lifestyle of the time(s): worth watching.
I’ve seen some of the original Suits tv show here and there. It’s not very good, especially on the legal accuracy, but the acting and writing seems ok. So I thought I’d check out the new Suits LA series starring Stephen Amell. And I liked Arrow, so I figured, “How bad could it be?” It’s bad. It’s soooooo bad. The legal stuff is 100 times worse than the original Suits, but the writing and acting also seems pretty bad. I watched one episode and that was more than enough. I’m glad to see that Legal Eagle agrees with my sentiment.
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” - The Demons series
In the mid-80s, Italian horror maestro Dario Argento began experimenting with hands-on production of films to be directed by others. The first and most successful of these films was Demons, which was followed by one official sequel, Demons 2, and at least three separate films all vying to be Demons 3. The Church, the only one of these semi-sequels to involve Argento, is considered to be the most legitimate.
Lamberto Bava, son of ‘60s and ‘70s legend Mario Bava, directed the two official films. Lamberto never became as esteemed a director as his father, although the decline in Italian film production during the ‘80s may have played a role in this perception. Michele Soavi, who played two roles within and assistant directed the original Demons, helmed The Church, which was originally planned as an official sequel until Soavi decided to elevate the material. Soavi was once considered a potential successor to Mario Bava and Dario Argento, but left the cinema for several years in the ‘90s to care for his ailing son and has yet to fully re-establish himself.
Demons (Lamberto Bava 1985)
A mute metal-masked man hands out invitations to a screening at a mysterious newly established movie theater in Berlin. At the screening, a movie about “the coming of the demons” is shown and these demons soon overrun the theatre, killing and possessing the patrons trapped within.
A giddy blend of neon lighting and technicolor gore, heavy metal from Motley Crue, Accept, Saxon et al., illogical plotting and senseless high energy spectacle, Demons resembles a random, meaningless mishmash on the surface, but underneath epitomizes the apocalyptic strain in ‘80s Italian horror. As Billy Idol croons, there’s nothing fair or safe or sure or pure in this world and Demons revels in this with nihilistic glee, offering us an empty projection booth as stand-in for an absent God and a copter full of corpses as deus ex machina. Highly recommended.
Demons 2 (Lamberto Bava 1986)
Various tenants of a high-rise apartment building watch a television program about the successfully quelled demonic infestation of the first film. Alas, history repeats as a demon climbs through the TV screen…
Plotwise, essentially the same film as the original, but the filmmakers keep things fresh by switching up the surface details. Besides having the menace Cronenbergianly emerge from a TV screen rather than a movie screen, the colors have been subdued, the gore has been toned down, the surrealism increased, and the heavy metal has been replaced with college rock from acts such as Love and Rockets, The Cult, and The Smiths. (Permission to use “Panic” was gained by telling Morrissey the film was “an artsy dissection of the influence of modern media.”) A worthy variant, which many prefer to the original.
The Church (Michele Soavi 1989)
Accused of being devil worshippers, a medieval German village is massacred by a band of Teutonic Knights and it is decreed that a cathedral be built upon their mass grave to keep the evil contained. In the modern day, blood is spilled in the basement of the cathedral, unleashing the demons anew…
Soavi spends the first half of the film gradually setting up the situation, which is not as successful as it might be as the characters, while the most developed so far, are still only two-dimensional at best. This delaying of the inevitable entrapment reduces the tension, but Soavi compensates with beautiful imagery, showing off some wonderful crane and Steadicam shots. In addition to references to M.R. James, Koyaanisqatsi, Boris Vallejo, and 20th century alchemist Fulcanelli, The Church makes the series’ Nazi subtext relatively explicit, although somewhat muddled. A good starter for those who think the Bava films seem too crass.
Thanks to a couple of Twitch streamers I follow, I got to revisit two flicks tonight: Dogma (in celebration for Easter) and Saving Grace, in honor of 4/20.
Dogma’s pretty well-known, so I’m not sure what more to say about it. It’s irreverent yet somehow reverent low-brow humor, and of course Alan Rickman is amazing, as usual.
The summary doesn’t quite do it justice:
A small-town English widow, facing financial troubles after her husband’s suicide, turns to agriculture of an illegal kind.
This has got to be one of the sweetest, most good-natured stoner films ever, and it’s funny, too. Brenda Blethyn is adorable as the scared-but-plucky Grace, and Craig Ferguson co-stars as her gardener who helps her with her, um, grow-rich-quick scheme. Even if you’re not into the green stuff, it’s still an enjoyable watch.
Fake news: totally ignored “I hate Illinois Nazis” and/or “it’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses.”
I guess it only says 23 of the best so it can be forgiven some ommissions. Still, I say we take off and nuke the whole list from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
Nice movie on overwhelming responsabilities. I saw two more films by Mr. Moretti, both with psychological themes, about the effects of events much bigger than the characters and how they react. Neither film has a brilliant answer to anything, more like small portraits, small slices of moments of those people. Even psychologists sometimes seem helpless, because not everyone reacts in the same way and sometimes the help is not well received or understood.
Even if you’re not into the green stuff, it’s still an enjoyable watch.
