#2011films

If you haven’t seen The Artist, you’re missing out. While some of the numerous awards it won may be tied to its veneration of old Hollywood, this could easily be your new favorite. Yes it’s in black-and-white, yes it’s silent and features artists you probably haven’t heard of, but this is no vanity project and neither is it artsy for art’s sake. This picture is a glowing example of the way limitations breed creativity. When it comes to its visuals, storyline, acting, and writing, it stuns.

Beginning in 1927, the story follows silent film star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) and his faithful dog Jack. George is on top of the world when suddenly, a new innovation in technology threatens his stardom: sound. As he struggles to adjust to a changing world, a young actress, Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) rises through the Hollywood ranks.

I have tremendous admiration for this film. Not only because it’s gutsy to make a silent, black-and-white picture. I respect it for the clever way it shapes its story, how it takes what should be a handicap and makes it a strength. What better way to immerse you in the setting than to make a film that looks and feels authentic to the period?

Director Michel Hazanavicius (who also wrote the film) makes The Artist so much more than the sum of its parts. The picture’s intertitles (the cards that appear with the dialogue being spoken) are a great example. Modern cinematic techniques mean there are very few but what's happening is unmissable due to the performances, uses of music, zooms, the way the shots are framed. What percentage of conversation do experts say is non-verbal again? So it makes sense that you don't really need to hear or read the words said; you just need to see how it impacts the characters. This film is about the performances and the story, not the dialogue.

When we get intertitles, they're cleverly used. Think about any mystery novel. How often does the author deliberately leave information out to enhance the story? You’ll read something akin to “Through the ventilation grate, he heard a voice say ‘Your day has come now Johnny’ and then, a gunshot”. In a movie, that scene wouldn’t work. The killer's voice would give their identity away. In a silent picture, that kind of trick works. The Artist takes full advantage of its medium in a way other films wish they could.

Most importantly, this is a terrific comedy, a poignant drama, and a romance that makes you fall in love with the characters. The actors have so much charisma they don’t need to say anything. As soon as you see Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo together, you know there’s something special there. It may be in black-and-white but there’s a full color wheel of emotions to savor.

It’s a story that gets better upon repeat viewings. After the conclusion, you reconsider a slew of the other scenes before them, giving you a whole new insight into the characters. I remember working at the video store when The Artist was released on home video. I recommended it to everyone looking for a love story, a comedy, or something different. I remember my heart breaking when someone who couldn’t have been more than 10 years my senior said “it’s probably a movie my dad would like, but not me”. It breaks my heart even more, having just re-watched it. There’s not one element of The Artist that makes it for a niche audience. This is a universal film anyone can enjoy. (On Blu-ray, September 23, 2016)

I’ve never read The Howling or its sequels, but they must be some of the greatest werewolf novels of all time. Why else would the eighth film in the franchise be yet another adaptation of the second book? Yup. We have yet another sequel that has nothing to do with any of the previous chapters. What's this one about?

Will Kidman (Landon Liboiron) is just a regular guy, about to graduate from high school. Will pines after the hottest girl in his grade, but Eliana (Lindsey Shaw) doesn’t even know he exists because she’s dating the rich class bully (Niels Schneider as Roland) to whom no rules apply. Things become much more serious and deadly when Will encounters a werewolf at a graduation party.

What we have here is a director who saw Twilight and decided to re-imagine The Howling for a whole new generation of teen girls. Sounds like a bad idea on paper. It’s even worse on film. I accidentally missed VII, but I’m just going to say it anyway. This is easily the worst film in the franchise. We’ve seen were marsupials, Transylvanian werewolves that can only be killed with titanium bullets, mystery plots with comical musical cues, and lycanthropes so bad they looked more like sasquatches but this triumphs over them all.

This film is set in one of these schools where bullies can do whatever they want. Cutting someone in the neck, making death threats, physically assaulting other students, or bringing a gun to school is just business as usual for Eliana’s boyfriend and his cronies. None of their activities are reported to the authorities. Or maybe the teachers do know what's going on and just don’t do anything. Wouldn't be a shock when no one in this story acts like a human being. Our main character doesn’t even know what a werewolf is. How is that even possible?

Treat yourself to some of the worst camera work ever by watching The Howling Reborn. It’s one thing to use jittery camera work to hide your low-budget monster, but this technique is taken to a new level here. Simple scenes that require the tiniest choreography are made completely incoherent by a cameraman playing hot potato with their camera. You'll be made dizzy and nauseous as the camera circles around the simplest of scenes for no reason.

As the film progresses, it becomes more and more Stephenie Meyer-esque. Once our protagonist takes off his glasses, the tormented Edward-lookalike becomes increasingly concerned with the girl of his dreams. Then there’s a bunch of doomed romance stuff that'll make you think “please just get back to the rotten werewolf plot”. Too bad it isn't immune to the creeping infestation of badness. Will proves himself dumber than you thought humanly possible and then we get ludicrous revelations about his past. It makes less sense the more I think about it and the shoddy performances don’t help sell you on it at all.

Would you believe that every flaw I’ve listed is still secondary to the dialogue and soundtrack? Some of my favorite bits of dialogue include:   “He’s outgrown my usefulness to you my boy. Now it’s my turn.” “You don’t understand. Every second I’m with you is about restraint, reining myself in because the more I want you.” “I’ve always been scared of letting anyone in, or maybe I’ve been really scared of letting me out.” “It’s like somewhere along the way we were told that knowing too much about a partner somehow makes love less exciting.. we were led to believe wrong.” “I don’t want to lose you even though I feel like I’ve been seriously damaged by this relationship.”

Now read these lyrics and tell me a movie that features them could be worth anything: “I can take a punch; I don’t mind bleeding; as long as as afterwards you feel bad for me…” “The book of love is long and boring; no one can lift the damn thing; it’s full of charts; And facts and figures; And instructions for dancing; But I love it”

You’ve got to see The Howling: Reborn to believe it. It’s got one head-scratcher after another, like random electrical wires used as a defibrillator and teenagers deciding to have sex in the middle of a werewolf attack. It’s too bad two things preventing it from being truly “so bad it’s good”. Firstly, almost everything noteworthy or ironically amusing comes in the last half hour. For the most part, the picture is dull. The second is that this movie is rated PG-13. If your movie can’t be good, at least make it sleazy. There’s a scene in which two couples are getting ready to have sex… and nobody gets naked! There’s barely any gore. The money shot of any werewolf movie: that first full transformation scene is generated by the same special effects they used in the Animorphs TV show. It's pathetic.

Despite my low rating. I would recommend The Howling Reborn IF you meet the following criteria: you have seen at least half of the previous films in the series, you can get the movie for free/the price of a subscription, and you’re a werewolf enthusiast that also enjoys bad movies. While it’s often so bad I wanted to give it a zero star rating but when it starts getting funny bad, I was laughing out loud and continuously. The Howling Reborn is one crappy movie but the problems are so numerous and so inexplicable it kind of becomes a fascinating mess. (On DVD, October 23, 2015)

I sought out The Caller because of how much I enjoyed its Vietnamese remake. Although the poster looks about as generic as you can get for a horror movie, the premise is ingenious. This is an inventive horror film that differs significantly from the film it inspired, meaning you can watch both and hardly feel like anything is repeated.

Mary Kee (Rachelle Lefevre) has moved into a new apartment to escape her abusive ex-husband (Ed Quinn). On her first day, she receives a strange phone call from Rose (Lorna Raver), whom she eventually realizes is living in the past. Though separated by decades, they form an unlikely friendship. When Rose becomes obsessed with Mary and threatens to alter her past if she doesn’t do as she says, Mary is held hostage by someone who may not even be alive today.

I love this concept because it makes the film different from other stalker horror stories. Mary is being stalked and tormented but there's no going to the police here. Even if Mary could track down Rose in the present, it’s not like that would do anything. Locking her up in a closet today doesn't change yesterday. Calling Rose to tell her the balance of power has changed and all she has to do is alter the future. How do you fight back against someone with that kind of power?

One glimmer of hope keeps the suspense burning even brighter than it would normally. Mary is against another human being and her future state must give her some advantages. Unfortunately, there's the matter of her ex-husband, who seems to have a gift for showing up at the worst time and poses yet another threat.

Ultimately, The Call is the better movie because of the ending. The Caller doesn’t fully utilize its premise during the conclusion, which is disappointing. It doesn't mean you need to pick only one, however. The two are so different you could be convinced the similarities are nothing more than coincidence. What this film does well certainly makes it worth seeing. The best scare comes in a scene in which Mary looks through the old photo album and notices some of the photos have suddenly changed. It’s such an unsettling visual but outside of the context, what are you seeing, really? It’s not like it’s a ghost or a demonic visage popping up, it’s simply a hint of an ordinary-looking person faraway. Seeing that one shot makes you paranoid for the whole movie. Whenever the camera goes outside, you’ll constantly look in the background, wondering if that one person in the distance is present-day Rose coming to finish the job she started years ago.

Although The Caller becomes conventional during its final act, you won’t mind too much. Its ideas are so good you just want to see what's next. This goes to show that with a proper spin, an idea we've seen before becomes wholly new. (December 1, 2020)