Tagarchief: Fargo

Double Bill #12: The Big Lebowski & The Jesus Rolls

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

In the nineties the Coen Brothers rolled two strikes in a row with Fargo (1996) and The Big Lebowski (1998), two instant classics that both feature a kidnapping. Fargo is a bloody North Dakota-set crime story with humor that is darker than a black steer’s tookus on a moonless prairie night. The Big Lebowski is a Raymond Chandler-style mystery featuring a valued rug, bowling balls, white Russians and the question of what it means to be a man. I considered coupling them for this feature; in terms of bizarre characters, endlessly quotable dialogues and outrageous situations these movies certainly match, but for some reason I chose The Jesus Rolls (2019, dir: John Turturro) instead. Jesus Quintana (played by John Turturro) was one of the many memorable characters from The Big Lebowski and even though he was only in two scenes totaling less than six minutes in screen-time, he got his own movie. It’s as if Ned Ryerson would get his own flick two decades after Groundhog Day (Ned Ryerson Insures!). The Coens had nothing to do with it: but they gave John Turturrro permission to run with the character. It is both a spinoff and a remake of the French movie Going Places (1974), which was very controversial at the time for its vulgarity, depiction of sexual acts and amorality. The story revolves around a road trip taken by Quintana, Petey (Bobby Cannavale) and Marie (Audrey Tautou) during which they engage in sex and petty crime. Petey is an ex-convict like Jesus and Marie is what Maud Lebowski would call a nymphomaniac: a woman who engages in sex compulsively and without joy. The movie has one bowling scene and Jesus repeats some of his Lebowski lines, but the movie has nothing to do whatsoever with the events of The Big Lebowski (it even turns out that Jesus is not a pederast, he was only falsely accused of exposing himself to an eight year old). For a comedy it is not funny enough, and for a road movie it is too strange. But as a dessert after watching the masterpiece The Big Lebowski for the hundredth time, it is alright.

10 Reasons the Nineties’ Cinema Kicked Ass

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

I was a little young to realize what a terrific time for cinema the nineties were. Holy crap. Around forty percent of my favorite movies come from the nineties, including my number one of all time: GoodFellas. In this article, I will give you 10 reasons why the nineties kicked complete ass as a movie decade.

1. Tarantino’s Arrival
In 1992, a young film maverick silently arrived with Reservoir Dogs. Many viewers and critics were a little off-put by the violence and immoral characters, but yet loved the non-chronological storytelling, the brilliant dialogues and the awesome performances. The talent of this new writer/director named Quentin Tarantino was undeniable.

Two years later he blew critics and audiences away with his epic Pulp Fiction. Tarantino was for the nineties what Scorsese was for the seventies; a significant promise. And he delivered. The nineties saw him direct an excellent third movie, Jackie Brown (1997), and two of his screenplays were turned into memorable films: True Romance (1993) and Natural Born Killers (1994). In 1996 he also made From Dusk Till Dawn with another promising young director from Texas. Robert Rodriguez had debuted in 1992 with the low budget miracle El Mariachi which he followed up with Desperado (1995). A duo was formed…

2. It Was a Time to Thrill
The nineties was the decade of the thriller. Especially the detective versus serial killer genre flourished with The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Se7en (1995). Of course these two spawned countless imitations, but none as good. Another excellent movie in the psychopath category is Rob Reiner’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery in 1990. That movie’s villain Annie Wilkes (played by Kathy Bates) is probably even scarier than Hannibal Lecter, Buffalo Bill and John Doe combined.

The nineties also had more than its share in fantastic crime thrillers. Top examples include Brian de Palma’s Carlito’s Way (1993), Luc Besson’s Leon (1994), Michael Mann’s Heat (1995), Brian Singer’s The Usual Suspects (1995) and Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential (1997). Special mention in the Thriller department goes to Paul Verhoeven’s erotic contribution Basic Instinct (1992), an absolute classic in its genre.

3. Glory Days For the Coens
They already made an impression as independent filmmakers in the 1980’s. Both their debut Blood Simple and second feature Raising Arizona tasted like more. In the 1990’s they really became film-buffs’ favorites. Miller’s Crossing (1990) is a perfect take on Dashiell Hammett and possibly their finest crafted work. Later, this decade, they had a brilliant black comedy run with the unforgettable classics Fargo (1996) and The Big Lebowski (1998). These Coen Brothers are absolutely terrific.

4. History Can Be Fun
Sure, every period has produced great historical movies, but the nineties had a very impressive reaping in the War / History genre. Way above average to be sure. In 1990 a certain Kevin Costner brought the American frontier to the big screen with the Oscar-winning epic Dances With Wolves. It was a marvelous revitalization of the Western genre. World War 2 is also captured in several Oscar-winning pictures, most notably Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (the ultimate WWII film), but also in Saving Private Ryan (also by Spielberg), La Vita E Bella (by Roberto Benigni) and The Thin Red Line (by Terrence Malick).

Another great war story is spectacularly told in Braveheart (1995), the bloody epic that showed that Mel Gibson is a highly competent director. A number of excellent historical biographies also saw the light of day, most notably JFK (1991, Oliver Stone) and Ed Wood (1994, Tim Burton). And last but least, Titanic (1997, James Cameron) and Forrest Gump (1994, Robert Zemeckis) came out and successfully combined fictional stories with historic events.

5. Great Stand Alone Triumphs
While many masterpieces made in the nineties are part of a larger oeuvre or movement, there were also loads and loads of standalone triumphs. Movies that seemingly came out of nowhere and surprised friend and foe. Below, I picked one of my favorites of these surprises for each year of the nineties. Choosing just one was very difficult in some cases…

1990 Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton)
1991 Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott)
1992 Hard Boiled (John Woo)
1993 Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
1994 The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont)
1995 Toy Story (John Lasseter)
1996 Bound (Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski)
1997 Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson)
1998 Festen (Thomas Vinterberg)
1999 Fight Club (David Fincher)

6. Harvest of Horror
O.k., so the eighties ruled in the Horror territory. That doesn’t mean the nineties sucked. What is so great about it then? Well, Wes Craven’s re-invention of the slasher genre with Scream (1996) and Scream 2 (1997) was a terrific postmodern treat leading to many new series, such as I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), and new installments of old horror series like Bride of Chucky (1998). It goes without saying that some of these were better than others.

Abel Ferrara made a significant contribution to the genre with Body Snatchers (1993), a very effective remake of the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and The Addiction (1995), a great original take on the vampire genre. Speaking of vampires, what to think of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) by Francis Ford Coppola? It’s the best version since Tod Browning’s original from 1931.

The formidable Sam Raimi completed his magnificent Evil Dead trilogy with Army of Darkness, the funniest installment yet. Peter Jackson also combined humor and supreme gore in Braindead (1992) and also delivered The Frighteners (1996). Anything else? Certainly. A selection: Joe Dante’s Gremlins 2 (1990), Adrian Lyne’s Jacob’s Ladder (1990), Ron Underwood’s Tremors (1990), David Fincher’s Alien 3 (1992), Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien: Resurrection (1997) and Taylor Hackford’s The Devil’s Advocate. Last but not least, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’s The Blair Witch Project (1999) spawned a new horror genre with its handheld camera. It’s also the first movie that successfully used the internet to create a hype.

7. The Brits are Back in Town
After a period of recession, the British film industry bloomed again in the nineties. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) launched the career of Hugh Grant and was a smash hit at the box office. In 1995 James Bond returned after a long period in the pretty awesome Goldeneye. What’s really great about British cinema in the nineties is the emergence of new talent though. The trio John Hodge, Danny Boyle and Andrew MacDonald made a terrific debut with Shallow Grave (1994) and followed it up with one of the best films of the decade: Trainspotting (1996). In 1998 Guy Ritchie was another positive British surprise with the very funny and exciting Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

8. Scorsese Scores Big-time
He delivered brilliant work in the seventies (Mean Streets, Taxi Driver) and eighties (Raging Bull). In the early nineties the maestro showed that he could deliver masterpieces in every decennium. He started by breaking all cinematic conventions in GoodFellas (1990), the greatest film ever made about the real Mafia. Then he made the highly influential thriller Cape Fear (1991) and the excellent costume drama The Age of Innocence (1993) before returning to the mob genre with the superbly realized Casino (1995). He ended the decade with the underrated Bringing Out the Dead (1999).

9. Indie Cinema to the Max
Tarantino and the Coens are already honored in this overview, but there are many other great independent American directors who made their entrance in the nineties or definitely established themselves as masters. In the debut department, we saw Richard Linklater arrive with Slacker (1991), Dazed and Confused (1993) and Before Sunrise (1995). Kevin Smith also made a super impression with the low budget comedy Clerks (1994).

Other indie directors delivered some of their finest work in the nineties. For instance, Jim Jarmusch made Dead Man (1995) and Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai (1999), David Lynch made Lost Highway (1997) and The Straight Story (1999), Steven Soderbergh made King of the Hill (1993) and Out of Sight (1998) and Todd Solondz made Happiness (1998). If we could only go back to re-experience this richness in indie cinema again. Oh boy.

10. Sci-Fi is Booming
The early nineties saw Schwarzenegger star in two of the most kick-ass Sci-Fi / Action movies of our time: Total Recall (1990) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). The director of the first one, Paul Verhoeven, would write more sci-fi history in 1997 with Starship Troopers (1997). Other excellent movies in this genre that came out in the nineties are: Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future III (1990), Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993), Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys (1995), Roland Emerich’s Independence Day (1996), Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element (1997), Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon (1997), David Cronenberg’s ExistenZ (1999) and Dean Parisot’s Galaxy Quest (1999).

The final year of the millennium also saw Star Wars return to the big screen, but Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) was not an all positive experience. It was another sci-fi film released in 1999 that formed the perfect transition into the new millennium: the cyberpunk story The Matrix by the Wachowski brothers (now sisters). An exciting (and very, very good) surprise hit and the greatest ending imaginable for a movie decade that completely rocked.

Bruce Campbell: A B-Moviestar’s Biography

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

For every George Clooney and Steven Spielberg, there are thousands of working class slobs in Tinsel Town. Bruce Campbell’s biography ‘If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor’ is a homage to this B-crowd. Bruce who? That’s the point exactly. For those of us who grew up on a diet of classy horror movies in the eighties and nineties, he is a household name, for he was the star of one of the greatest horror series of that era: the holy Evil Dead trilogy (consisting of The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness).

‘If Chins Could Kill’ tells Bruce’s story. It was first published in 2001, so it doesn’t include the television adaptation of Evil Dead called Ash Vs. Evil Dead, but that’s no problem; there are plenty of great stories preceding that terrific cult show. In chapter 1, Campbell describes his childhood in Detroit, Michigan, with his parents and two older brothers. They did their fair share of monkeying around, and then good old Bruce became interested in girls. It became a lifelong obsession.

As he grew older, he had to find a way to keep on having fun. He discovered that his father Charles was an actor in a local theater. At age 14, Bruce joined the group and he soon played his first roles on stage. In the years that followed, he met various would-be actors and filmmakers, including one who would make it really big: Sam Raimi. After shooting a bunch of pretty cool 8 MM amateur films, Campbell, Raimi and another guy called Robert Tapert wondered: can we make a profession out of this?

The junior film crew decided to focus on the horror genre, because of the low budget required. For inspiration, they watched many horror shows at the drive-in theater and got a good sense of what audiences liked (when do they laugh? When do they scream?). Then they shot Within the Woods, the short predecessor of The Evil Dead. Their next challenge was a considerable one; they had to raise 150.000 dollars to be able to shoot their first feature length horror movie on 16 MM film (which they would afterwards blow up to 35 MM for cinema screenings) and to cover all other expenses. This seemed impossible, but they bought suits, went to work, and eventually raised the money.

After a grueling 12-week shoot in a run-down cabin in the woods of Tennessee, they canned the film, and luckily for the private investors, they delivered a genre classic. It turned out that its director was a genuine talent in visual storytelling, and Campbell undeniably a true horror star. True to the aim of his book, Campbell describes all the collaborators and the challenges they had to overcome to get this movie made. None of the other actors continued acting after The Evil Dead and all pursued other occupations.

If you’re serious about shooting a low budget movie, you should definitely read this book. It contains many tips on raising money, and then actually shooting it with hardly any resources. After that come the reshoots, the editing and sound editing, and then comes an even tougher part: marketing and selling the damn thing. Luckily for the crew, Stephen King saw their film at a movie event and wrote positively about it. His recommendation did miracles for the marketing of what was originally known as Book of the Dead, an unmarketable title; people might think they’d have to do reading at the screening. The investors of the retitled The Evil Dead made their money back, but the boys didn’t make anything. Yet, they now had a film under their belt.

What followed was the major flop Crimewave, co-written by The Coen Brothers. Campbell didn’t get a whole lot of work after that. He was in a soap series where he met his wife to be (a fragment from this show can be seen in Fargo, in the scene in which sociopath Gaear is watching television in the cabin). Crimewave could have been a career ender in Hollywood, but they had a fallback project: doing a sequel to the successful Evil Dead. Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn (1987) became a legendary sequel and it is still considered to be among the greatest horror films ever made (it’s second on my top 10 horror list).

Still, Campbell – despite having played a lead role in a popular film – was no mainstream star and had to work as a security guard to make ends meet (“hey, you’re that guy from Evil Death, say that groovy line”). He also got divorced and met his new wife (a make-up artist) at a movie set. Campbell’s career would be closely tied to Raimi’s and in 1993, they would complete the trilogy with Army of Darkness. If you’ve ever wondered how much Bruce made with starring in the lead role in this movie ( I did!), the answer is in this book. It’s 500 K. This seems like an okay sum, but you have to subtract 25 percent for agents and managers leaving 375.000. Then deduct taxes (federal and state at the highest level) and you’re left with 187.500. Because he was recently divorced, his wife got half leaving Bruce with 93.750. This is still a lot of money, but considering it was two years work, he made just 46.875 a year, which is not what you’d expect a movie star (even a B-movie star) to make.

Still, Campbell continued to find work and most importantly: have fun. Especially when he went to New Zealand to work as actor and director on the tv-show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and spin-of Xena: The Warrior Princess. In Campbell’s words: “shooting this show in New Zealand, away from studio interference, brought me back to the fun of filmmaking, like when we were shooting 8 MM movies back in Michigan.”

Read also: Ash vs Evil Dead: 5 Greatest Moments

The Sopranos: 10 Favorite Episodes

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Part of: The Sopranos Features

By Jeppe Kleijngeld

 

10. Whitecaps
Season 4, episode 13
The one in which: Tony and Carmela separate.

At the end of season 4 there aren’t any major enemies to get rid off. Ralphie already died in episode 9. But the real shocker this time is the disintegration of the Soprano marriage and it is total dynamite. James Gandolfini and Edie Falco do some of the finest acting ever filmed. Their fights are just so realistic and raw, it’s mind blowing. Both superb actors won well deserved Emmy Awards for their work in this episode.

09. I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano
Season 1, episode 13
The one in which: Tony and his crew deal with Uncle Junior and his cronies for trying to have him whacked. Tony also discovers his own mother was in on the murder plot!

The season 1 finale is totally satisfying. Rat Jimmy Altieri gets whacked. Villain Michael Palmice also gets whacked in a memorable scene in the woods (“I got poison ivy all over me!”). And Junior is arrested by the feds. Carmela discovers what father Phil is really about and tells him the truth. Evil Livia makes one final move against Tony by telling Artie what really happened to his restaurant. It all ends in the perfect finale during a stormy night in Vesuvio. Tony is the new boss and he’s enjoying time with his other family in the here and now. Bruce Springsteen provides the perfect ending tune with Mr. State Trooper. This is television reinvented.

08. Whoever Did This
Episode 4, episode 9
The one in which: A stoned Christopher and Tony have to dispose of Ralphie’s corpse whom Tony has killed in a rage over a dead horse.

A wonder of an episode. These damn writers make us feel enormous sympathy for a character who did something so evil in the previous season. Like the girl he killed would never come home to her son, the same thing now happens to Ralphie. His son Justin will never know what happened to his dad. It is just so sad and horrible. Tony did this to Justin like Ralphie did it to Tracy’s kid. Before this episode, we would have loved to see Tony whack this guy. We would have cheered him on. But now… Jesus christ. Ralphie was just on the path of doing what needed to be done. Sure, he was still a mobster. He would still have regularly kicked the shit out of a guy to bring Tony a fat envelope – and sometimes worse – but he was improving. And then Tony savagely kills him. Like some fucking animal….

07. Kennedy and Heidi
Season 7, episode 6
The one in which: After a car crash Tony suffocates Christopher. Then he treats himself to a leisurely trip to Vegas.

In the second half of the sixth season, Tony becomes the worst version of himself. Sure, he was always capable of these evil deeds. And occasionally he shocked us with his wickedness. But now he goes all the way. He doesn’t hesitate a second to choke the life out of his nephew when the opportunity presents itself. He may have had reasons for doing this, but this is just a horrible goddamn mess. Afterwards, he doesn’t seem to feel any regret and flies to Vegas to have sex with Christopher’s goomar and take a peyote trip with her in the desert. It’s a very dark hour, and once again sublimely written, acted and directed.

06. Members Only
Season 6, episode 1
The one in which: Eugene inherits money and wants out, but finds out he can’t. Tony tries to take care of Uncle Junior and gets shot.

Season 6 starts with a bang. A big one. The atmosphere of the new season is totally different than the previous seasons, but there is no doubt this is The Sopranos. The ‘Seven Souls’ montage that opens it is as great as the ‘It’s a Very Good Year’ montage that started the second season. And focussing heavily on a previously unimportant character (Eugene) works very well. We see what happens when a made member wants out and it ends in the most disturbing suicide scene ever. It also surprises us a number of times. Rather than becoming the big rat like everybody thought, Raymond Curto dies of a stroke. And Junior shooting Tony is a terrible scene and one of the few times the show ends with a cliffhanger.

05. The Blue Comet
Season 7, episode 8
The one in which: A full-on war erupts between New Jersey and New York.

‘The Blue Comet’ is a real nail biter. Who will live and who will die? All bets are off. By playing with the audience’s expectations and fears, this episode feels as if Alfred Hitchcock could have directed it. The final bodycount is five, and that doesn’t include Silvio who’s in a coma at the end. Apart from the many resolutions in the Family, Tony’s therapy gets terminated too. Melfi, after realizing Tony is never going to change, kicks him out. Unlike Diane Keaton’s final image in The Godfather, who is blocked out by a door being shut for her, Melfi is the one who slams this door shut. ‘End times huh’, Agent Harris remarks early in the episode. That’s for sure. But ‘The Blue Comet’ leaves enough threats open to be resolved in the finale.

04. Pine Barrens
Season 3, episode 11
The one in which: Paulie and Christopher get lost in the woods.

A fan favorite directed by one of Chase’s favorite directors Steve Buscemi. There are Fargo references, but the snow was merely a coincidence according to the episode’s writer Terence Winter. The plot is about setting boundaries and what happens when one crosses them. This leads to a hilarious episode with some of the funniest dialogues and performances of the show. The Sopranos was often way more funny than the funniest comedies, and this episode is the comedic highlight of the series. Paulie: “You’re not gonna believe this. He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. The guy was an interior decorator.” Christopher: “His house looked like shit.” It doesn’t get better than this.

03. College
Season 1, Episode 5
The one in which: Tony takes Meadow looking for colleges, while Carmela hangs out with the local priest.

This is the episode that really took the show to the next level. For some of the best writing, acting and directing of the series, look no further than ‘College’. The two stories mirror each other in a brilliant way. Carmella’s confession: “I think he has committed horrible acts”. To Tony confessing to Meadow that he is in organised crime: “Some of my money comes from illegal gambling and whatnot”. And then he brutally murders a man for breaking the omerta. Chase is an extremely smart guy. There are more confessions. Meadow tells Tony she took speed. And Carmela tells Tony Father Intintola has spent the night at the Soprano house while Tony was away. And then: “Your therapist called… Jennifer?” Tony confesses: “It’s just therapy. We just talk. That’s all.” Like Carmela and Father. No sex, just talking.

02. Long Term Parking
Season 5, episode 12
The one in which: Adriana gets killed for ratting out the Family.

A gut wrenching episode in which we have to say goodbye to another show regular. The final images in which Tony and Carmela inspect the ground of their new spec house, have a Godfather-like quality. The fallen leaves indicate it’s a place similar to where Adriana was killed moments earlier. Another sacrifice to pay for their decadent lifestyle. Their whole world is built on blood. “You’re alright?” Carmela asks Tony. “Me?” Tony replies. “Yeah. Absolutely”. Wow.

01. Funhouse
Season 2, episode 13
The one in which: Tony discovers through a series of fever dreams that his longtime friend and associate Big Pussy is a rat.

I now see that my favorite three episodes all have to do with rat extermination. Obviously, this is one of the central themes that The Sopranos used to create terrific drama and suspense. ‘Funhouse’ also brilliantly uses dreams to drive the plot forward, which makes this my favorite television episode of all time. When I first watched it, I just couldn’t believe it. I was hoping for a terrific episode to wrap up the season, like season 1 did with ‘I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano’. A conventional finale that neatly ties up the remaining storylines, although The Sopranos was never conventional. ‘Funhouse’ did something else entirely. By adding twenty minutes of dreamtime I got much closer to Twin Peaks than to the mob films it originally seemed to be based on. It does resolve the main remaining story – that Big Pussy is indeed ‘singing’ for the feds and needs to get whacked – but it does so in a brilliantly surprising way. By delving into the main character’s subconscious and making him realise the ugly truth his conscious self couldn’t accept. Michael Imperioli (who plays Christopher) has a theory about the episode he explains in the Talking Sopranos podcast. He believes Tony didn’t have food poisoning at all, but that it was the knowledge that he had to kill his friend that made him so sick. And killing his friend he does. The scene on the boat, of which the interior scenes were shot in a studio, is a dramatic highlight of the show. Brilliant acting by the cast, especially James Gandolfini and Vincent Pastore as Pussy. It’s ridiculous that season 2 didn’t win the major Emmy Awards that year, but they weren’t ready for The Sopranos yet. The show has been groundbreaking from the beginning and this episode really took it to another level again. Words are not sufficient to express how amazing this episode – or the whole show – is. It’s just incredible.