The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Review #2417: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Cast: 

Terence Stamp (Bernadette Bassenger), Hugo Weaving (Anthony "Tick" Belrose / Mitzi Del Bra), Guy Pearce (Adam Whitely / Felicia Jollygoodfellow), Bill Hunter (Robert "Bob" Spart), Sarah Chadwick (Marion Barber), Mark Holmes (Benjamin "Benji" Barber), Julia Cortez (Cynthia), Alan Dargin (Alan), and Ken Radley (Frank) Written and Directed by Stephan Elliott.

Review: 

“We didn't back down from the Australian-ness of it; we said, ‘This is us. Take us or leave us.’ And the world chose to take it....I think the heart and soul of the film Priscilla, Queen of the Desert that works is that in the midst of all the glitz and glamour and showing off and bitchy lines and great songs, there was a really simple story about a man trying to come out to his son."

Sure, why not. Stephan Elliott (born in Sydney in New South Wales, Australia) had made his debut as a filmmaker with Frauds (1993), having apparently been a filmmaker...of weddings, for several years. Apparently, the wait in getting that film made led to what eventually became Priscilla, specifically a Mardi Gras that he saw a plume of feathers rolling up a street like a tumbleweed. The movie was inspired by three actual drag queens that were intended to be in the movie: Cindy Pastel (Ritchie Finger), Strykermyer (Mark Fitzhugh) and Lady Bump (Stuart Garske). Of course, when Elliott managed to attract interest for a considerable production (millions of Australian dollars, which I'm sure has its own currency stature), it was instead decided to go with "bankable" actors. Various people from Tony Curtis (the Some Like It Hot star was apparently talked out of it by his wife) to David Bowie were floated around. At any rate, Elliot suggested to his friend Andrew Saw to do a documentary on the original trio, which ended up happening with Ladies Please in 1995.* The Australian production, to put it mildly, wound up as an international sensation, even winning Academy Awards for its costume design by Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner (one example was a dress made with "rubber thongs", so here is a visual of that). In 2006, a stage musical premiered in Sydney, with Elliott co-writing the book that has had various productions come around all the world. Elliott has continued to direct over the years, ranging from Easy Virtue (2008) to his latest one with Swinging Safari (2017); he actually announced plans to do a sequel to this film in recent years. Terence Stamp died just a few weeks ago at the age of 87.

Hell, I don't know drag queens that well. I understand it as merely a way for people to express themselves in a world filled with vulnerability all around. Some people do karaoke to the poor drunks at the bar, others put on costumes to play to the lyrics of an ABBA song, the important thing is to be free, at least that is how I would view it. I don't know the bohemian, but it doesn't mean there isn't something that can be gleamed from it with some degree of humor or heart, and this works out pretty well for what you might call a road movie fit for all the misfits. Specifically, it is a movie for people trying to figure out what they really are in the proverbial closet of responsibilities. You've got a person in grief doubting they can find love, one who has a son and a wife he drifted from, and, well, a young man in the flaming arrogancy of youth all trying to make due on the road that isn't necessarily going to be a straight-edge path (hell, you've got folks fainting at one particular sight twice). The darndest thing is that the costumes really are pretty neat, they manage to fit the character in a strangely graceful way, where you could just accept it right then and there that someone will wear a getup filled with shoes in the same way that you'd expect a couple of ping-pong balls could make a creature costume for a sci-fi movie (ironically, the three main actors learned that when in full drag, nobody knew who they were). So yes, it isn't so much an act for the performer as it is a way to just express themselves, and that actually is pretty funny in the hands of a terrific ensemble. Stamp in particular is exquisite, rising above what could've merely been fodder for just delivering zingers and actually making it quite enjoyable to see the plight on screen for the easiest dilemma facing old folk: too many memories and not nearly enough time to see it all through. Simply put, Stamp (initially reluctant but gradually got into it) just sinks right into a performance that is wholly believable in all of the quibbles and charm necessary because damn it, who else could just be Bernadette? Weaving does sell the dilemma that comes with trying to face who they really are beyond hang-ups and see things as they should be, which does eventually work out for its climax when bringing the folks together. Of course, it is Pearce (known at the time for his television work in Neighbours, which had Elliott with some doubts) and his devilishly bold energy that steals the show, whether that involves the sequence with him on top of the bus or just the snappy barbs that come around with Stamp for obvious campy enjoyment, at least to a point. Hunter (a good friend of Stamp) is the last key to the puzzle, and there is something quite infectious about his charm that rolls right alongside the others when he gets involved. In general, the movie is quite infectious in what probably counts as a form of "camp", but I just like seeing the dedication it takes to put on garish stuff and just do it in front of people, flamboyance be damned. The 103 minutes pass on by with little hitches, managing quickly to have you rolling along with these folks, whether that involves their bus being defaced or the sobering sequence where Adam gets beaten up and has a talk with the one who ends up saving him from the harrowing reality that can come with people who look and talk a little different from "the norm", as they say. By the end, you've got a few folks that have become a bit wiser from their journey and had a little bit of fun along the way, and that's a pretty good thing to accomplish. As a whole, it is a nice little road movie that shows the perils of the road in each and every shade alongside the warmth that comes with finding who one really is beyond the mask, which is a pretty funny and sobering accomplishment that nobody really could just see coming from Australia.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

*Incidentally, that was the same year the movie To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) came out involving three actors as drag queens on the road. The crew of the Priscilla film heard about the production of that movie but were not too worried about it being a ripoff when they read the script.

The Hurt Locker.

Review #1549: The Hurt Locker.

Cast: 
Jeremy Renner (Sergeant Sergeant William James), Anthony Mackie (Sergeant J. T. Sanborn), Brian Geraghty (Specialist Owen Eldridge), Guy Pearce (Staff Sergeant Matthew Thompson), Christian Camargo (Lieutenant Colonel John Cambridge), David Morse (Colonel Reed), Ralph Fiennes (Contractor Team Leader), Evangeline Lilly (Connie James), and Christopher Sayegh (Beckham) Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (#1258 - K-19: The Widowmaker)

Review: 
"War's dirty little secret is that some men love it. I'm trying to unpack why, to look at what it means to be a hero in the context of 21st-century combat."

The artist can come from anywhere, whether for film or beyond that, no matter how much time it takes to develop their craft or find a following with viewers. Kathryn Bigelow gradually found a place within cinema with her style of handling action cinema. She had actually started out originally striving for study in fine art (specifically painting), graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1972. She spent a few years as a starving artist, being involved with conceptual art, and appearing in a few short films, but she subsequently entered Columbia University to study theory and criticism in the film program, stating film as becoming "the interchange where all these ideas were intersecting.”, and she started making her own short films with The Set-Up in 1978 (while noting the two films that opened up her landscape to film being The Wild Bunch and Mean Streets in their irreverence and intensity). Since beginning her feature career with The Loveless (1981), Bigelow has directed a variety of genres that generally deal with violence or thrills of some kind,, which resulted in a diverse quality of films that ranged from cult films like Near Dark (1987), to hit action films like Point Break (1991) to ones that did not find enough audience appeal like K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) for a career of so far ten films in a career of nearly four decades.

For this film, she wanted to do the film on her own control with less-known actors (the ones you would associate as name actors in Fiennes and Pearce are here less than ten minutes, and even less for Morse) and filming in the Middle East (which was done in Jordan), which would entail some extremely hot conditions for its crew (particularly for those wearing bomb-proof Kevlar. For me, the only thing that I was really curious about was to see how it fared in its dealings with war and the people around it in the context of its decade (particularly within world events). The film was written by Mark Boal, a journalist that previously had one of his articles turned into a film that he co-wrote with In the Valley of Elah (2007). Boal was embedded with troops and bomb squads for a time in 2004 in Iraq, and he used those observations and interviews to make the script, and he would also serve as a co-producer. What we have here is a film wrapped in tension and careful planning for people who move toward danger rather than run from it. In that sense, Renner does quite well in his reckless edge that suits the desire to stay on the pulse that feeds upon the pressure on his hands with calm conviction. Mackie goes along with well-mannered effectiveness in the simple act of trying to maintain oneself under pressure that might also resonate in some way with perspective like Renner if one thinks about it in some way. Geraghty certainly ranks as the reserved one of the main group, but he holds his own in trying to maintain one's sense of self with the unpredictability and brazen nature of what happens in these fragmented moments here. It wraps itself in modern warfare with fair conviction in capturing what is necessary in intricate experiences with our main trio of actors that resembles documentary-style filmmaking at times without becoming spectacle for the sake of it or wrapped up in fervor of too many message-making - leaving it to the viewer for better or worse. Its a fragmented film, wrapped with its trio with occasional perspective to the surroundings around them while focusing on the circumstances (and tensions) that wind them up instead. In this case, I would say it makes a good experience in ferocity for 131 minutes that captures the drive necessary in some way to carry on with its tour of service without becoming consumed in macho fervor that connects the dots in sobering interest for adrenaline-laced perspective that makes a useful curiosity for its time as a middle-ground winner.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Iron Man 3.

Review #396: Iron Man 3.

Cast
Robert Downey, Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Don Cheadle (James Rhodes/Iron Patriot), Guy Pearce (Aldrich Killian), Rebecca Hall (Maya Hansen), Ben Kingsley (Trevor Slattery), Stephanie Szostak (Ellen Brandt), James Badge Dale (Eric Savin), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan), Ty Simpkins (Harley), Paul Bettany (J.A.R.V.I.S.), William Sadler (President Ellis) and Miguel Ferrer (Rodriguez) Directed by Shane Black.

Review
In Review #372, I reviewed 42, but this was never the original purpose. I went to the movie theater (big shock, I actually got out of the house), and because Iron Man 3 was sold out, so I picked 42 on the spot. 42 was a fine film, but it always bugged me that I missed Iron Man 3 on that day. 37 days later, I went to the movie theater to go see Iron Man 3, to complete the cycle of the Iron Man films I've reviewed (#135 - Iron Man, #334 - Iron Man 2) and to see if Shane Black could do a good job directing as he does writing (He screenwrote #355 - Lethal Weapon, #356 - Lethal Weapon 2, and #357 - The Last Boy Scout) for a film like this. So was it worth the wait? Yeah, pretty much. Robert Downey, Jr does a great job once again, evolving the character more, but still keeping just like we like Stark. Paltrow works well with Downey, given the amount of screen time, which is alright. Cheadle does well, consistant as always. Guy Pearce (Who I never had heard of until this film) does a fine job, not too bad a villain. As these films evolve, the villains get harder to beat, a bit more detailed after a while, which works well. I liked Ty Simpkins, not a bad child actor overall. Kingsley is allright, even if I think he's a bit underused for the film. The action works well, and the level of spectacle is at an all time high. The story flows allright, not doing too bad. This film is slightly better than Iron Man 2, not better than the first film, but still a good way to continue this film series. I do wonder if there will be a fourth one though. But at least now my..movie journey is complete. Countdown to 400 Reviews: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4...

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.