MISFITS Video Picks for March 27, 2000
In a market choked with special effects vehicles, featuring non-stop
violence and ultra-realistic gore, it can be difficult to find quality fare
which is suitable for the youngsters (unlike Con Air),
but still provides entertainment for the grown-ups (unlike
Pokemon). Sometimes, it's just a matter of digging a
little deeper into your video pick. Sometimes, you have to reach back to
something like Yellow Submarine. For those of us who
were young in the early 1970's, Yellow Submarine was an
annual broadcast event, in much the same way that The Wizard of
Oz still is today. I'll never forget the year our family got a
COLOR (!) TV, and I got to see the vibrancy of Yellow Sub
for the first time. Even without hard drugs, it was an awakening of
something cosmic within me as a youth.
When it was initially released in 1968, the Beatles' fourth feature (if
you count the made-for-TV flop, Magical Mystery Tour) was
hailed as being the quintessential psychedelic cartoon. Over the years, it
has taken on a cult status as a perfect fantasy piece, a definitive
reflection of pop culture for its time. Even the criticisms from it initial
release (the Beatles did not provide their own voices, the plot was thin,
characters are two-dimensional, etc.) are joyfully overlooked, in favor of
the pure enjoyment of the movie.
In late 1999, the Beatles' animated escapades in defense of Pepperland
got a much-needed facelift. The best prints of the film were take in for
digital clean-up and visual enhancement. (If you think the colors were
brilliant before...) The music and sound have also been enhanced with THX
digital stereo technology, giving home theatre owners the best surround
sound experience. But the best work done on the film (for those of us in
the U.S. of A.) was the restoration of the footage for "Hey Bulldog." Not
only was this song John Lennon's best contribution to the soundtrack, it
provides an important scene near the climax of the battle with the evil Blue
Meanies.
Sure, kids today have no idea (and couldn't care less) who the Beatles
were, but that won't stop them from having the time of their lives watching
this goofy adventure. The sympathetic heroes, the dastardly villains, and
the fanciful scenery capture the imagination. Plus, if you haven't seen the
film as an adult, or you've -- shudder! -- never seen it, you'll be
surprised at the wit and artistry of the pun-filled dialogue. More than
most films, this picture means something different to every age group. So
next time you're looking for a video pick, remember Yellow
Submarine, it's all too much!
About The Sixth Sense. If The Blair Witch Project is the ultimate and most
accomplished work in the current cycle of genre-referential horror films,
Sixth Sense, I hope, represents the next step in the cycle's evolution.
Where Blair Witch
was self-conscious, detached and cynical to the point of cruelty, Sixth
Sense was unpretentious and emotionally rich.
Where Blair Witch rode in on
unprecedented hype, Sixth Sense built on word of mouth to become a $275
million
moviegoers' chain letter. (I was the person who dragged Eric Heideman to
Sixth Sense and set off the succession of viewers dragging viewers, while
the same kind of succession was set off by the third person in our group.)
And where Blair Witch is praised for bringing back the notion of the horror
not seen, Sixth Sense shows us a horror - the horror is us, our
insensitivity, our willful blindness to our own failings and each other's
pain ("They only see what they want to
see").
I think this movie is the true successor to the work of 1940s horror
producer Val Lewton. The saddest thing about Lewton's legacy is not Lewton's
untimely death, but the fact that few horror films since have aspired to
Lewton's literary and cinematic quality, and fewer still to the humanistic
themes of his work. The original Haunting is one, The Changeling is
another lesser example, and Sixth Sense is solidly in this tradition. Sixth
Sense was deservedly successful; unfortunately, when Hollywood attempts to
learn from its successes, it tends to choose easy and wrongheaded
interpretations (More Bruce Willis! More ghosts chasing kids!). Here's
hoping Sixth Sense has a more positive lasting effect. Oh, and Haley Joel
Osment was awesome.
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Yellow Submarine
