Becky

Hallelujah, the drought is broken, at least for a bit.  It has been 87 days since I saw a movie in a theater, and it was driving me a little mad. I know others have sacrificed so much more than I in this pandemic, but I can only speak to my pain, and not going to the movies was incredibly painful to me. Sure, it's not like a disease, but ask anyone who gives up those things they love, it means something to them. Fortunately my addiction  is relatively innocuous so there was no physical danger, just mental anguish. How did this dam finally burst, especially since movie theaters are still not open? It's simple, there is an nearly outdated concept called a "Drive-In". It'e been twenty years since I went to a "Drive-In" theater, and that was for a special event for a local radio program at Halloween. It was twelve years prior to that when I last saw a regular feature at a drive-in. Yesterday, I saw a post while I happened to be on Facebook, and when I clicked the link, there was a trailer and information about where the movie was playing locally. That is if you think of 20 miles away as being local. I will get to the review in just a minute but a few more words about the Drive-In first.

The show was scheduled to start at 8:30 pm, so I left the house at 7:30, and arrived at the destination pretty much ten before 8. The line of cars was four lanes wide, and backed up a block. It took twenty-five minutes to pay and get into the screening area. This complex had four screens, every screen had a full lot under the social distancing rules of one empty space on each side. So they could only be at 1/3 of their capacity. The line for the bathroom was slow and longer than most lines at Disneyland. The concession stand was also a long line, so I skipped both. I missed having popcorn more than trying to relieve myself, fortunately I was not in need as many others were.

Okay, enough about the experience, let's talk about the movie. "Becky" is perfect Drive-In fare. It reminded me of some of the grindhouse style films that I did see in those venues when I was young and went to Drive-Ins regularly. It is a nasty piece of survival/revenge porn, that finds the most awful ideas, shows them to you, slathers on some blood, and then serves it up with enough inventiveness to make you cheer when the bad guys get their comeuppance. The premise is simple, a thirteen year old girl has to fight back against neo-Nazi escaped convicts. It is exploitation material, but it was not as lurid as many things you may have seen.

The cast features comedic actor  Joel McHale, best known for the TV series "Community" , in a straight dramatic part as the father of 13 year old Becky. The two of them have been struggling since the death of her Mother, and he is trying to move on to a new relationship but Becky is having none of it. They cross paths with the ruthless Dominick, an Aryan Brotherhood type who has lead a band of four escaped prisoners to the cabin of Becky and her dad, They are seeking a key, which turns out to be a McGuffin, simply used to bring the victims into the sights of the predators. Dominick is played by another comedic actor form TV, Kevin James. The two sitcom actors acquit themselves fairly well in the dramatic roles, though James gets the meatier part and has a chance to ham it up a little bit.

The star of the film is Lulu Wilson, who I did not know but I have seen in "The Haunting of Hill House" net series. The character of Becky is traumatized from the death of her Mom, she is in rage at the choices her father is making about her life and his own, and finally, she has reached puberty and at the age of 13 has all the resentment and anger that that stage in life often brings. When you couple that with the traumas she witnesses on this weekend visit to the family cabin, you can begin to believe she is capable of doing some of the things that the story has her executing. Imagine Kevin McCallister, only without the comedy and you will get the idea. A poke in the eye in this film does not result in three stooges guffaws, but rather dangling eyeballs that will have to be operated on with blunt instruments in the kitchen. Motorboating will not be a sex game played between a woman's breasts. Plowing the field is also not going to feel the same after witnessing this. Maybe the Joker can make a pencil disappear without all the blood, but Becky can get a lot of blood from pencils and especially a ruler.

Sure there are a few things that don't make much sense. For instance, the movie starts like so many films do these days, at the epilogue instead of the beginning of the narration. We never know why the key is supposed to be in the house, or how Becky came to have it. It is also hard to believe that the little girl is strong enough to overcome at least some of the men in this film. The one sympathetic bad guy, played by wrestler turned actor Robert Maillet. Frankly, if I saw that guy coming for me, I'd lose it instantly, he is a monster. Surprisingly, he is a somewhat sympathetic character in the film. Ultimately, no one gets out of the scenario unscarred, and I guess that is the point. Well not really, the point is to take pleasure in the horrible things that happen to the horrible people. Some of the films playing on the other screens were comedies or Academy quality dramas. I was happy to be enjoying an exploitation film in its natural habitat. I almost felt like I was back in mine. Hopefully soon, but till then, all hail the drive in. 

Top Five Animated Title Sequences

On a recent Lambcast I discussed my Top Five Animated Titles in Movies. I thought I would write a little about my thoughts and post them here so those of you who do not listen to the podcast can enjoy them as well.

My selections were narrowed so that the on line discussion did not wander into just credit sequences, but those where animation is a key component.

I tried to exclude titles where the text is animated but there are no additional artistic elements of the sequence. So I wanted artwork. Characters, background paintings, graphics that move are all considered. If there is storytelling that is a plus, but sometimes it just has to be cool in my view. The category is fairly elastic and anyone who wants to bend it to play is welcome.

Number 5. “A Fist Full of Dollars”



It was the start of Italian Westerns.
It is accompanied by Ennio Morricone's theme
Stark two color contrast
Starts as White on Red, then switches to Black on Red, Then Red on Black,
The Gunshots signal each title card which also uses a two color contrast.
The images look rotoscoped and the silhouettes are graphically simple and clear.


I Cheated on Number 4 because there are two films in the series that use animation that would qualify for my list, but I did not want to limit myself to just one of the other

Number 4 “James Bond Films”

Dr. No was designed by Maurice Binder, who did 16 James Bond films. I could cheat again and just say that the gunbarrel sequence counts for all of them, but I wanted something more elaborate. Unlike other Bond titles which sometimes have limited animation over filmed elements, this was strictly a graphic animation using Modernist design and color elements to grab our attention.
The first part consists of flashing colored dots against a black background, occasionally breaking into typeface for the credits, all of it over the Monty Norman/John Barry 007 theme.
Then we get a series of rotoscoped images in color over the same black background, sometimes with multiple layers and images. Finally you get the silhouette images of the three blind assassins in black against a colorful background, and then a transition to the filmed characters.




Casino Royale goes a completely different direction. The work is by Daniel Kleinman who took over the task of doing the Bond films from Maurice Binder. Having done over a hundred music video promos for bands in the 1980s, he used computers to animate the graphic designs that were drawn and animate them in the titles. Most of this is as the background for some Daniel Craig Rotoscoped action shots. The Playing card graphics indicate a major part of the storyline without giving anything away. I was not originally a big fan of the Chris Cornell song, but it has grown on me quite a bit.



Number 3  Christmas Vacation

Kroyer Films, who had done the titles for the previous two adventures of the Griswolds, came up with the titles after they saw a cut of the film. They were stumped because most Christmas Traditions are already pariodied in the movie. After some beer at a nearby Pub, they came up with the idea of killing Santa Claus.

They use a combination of digital, hand drawn and 3D computer animation to make what is essentially a mini-cartoon to run the titles over. The song was not complete when they were working on the images so the titles were originally scored by Angelo Badalamenti and timed to work with the gags. The studio slapped the song on, replacing the score and Bill Kroyer felt it ruined the timing of the sequence. I however think that the charm of the song works well for setting up the story and in the long run the gags work regardless of the music.




Number 2 The Pink Panther

DePatie-Freleng Enterprises created the iconic comic character to represent the image that is supposedly visible in the stone. A flaw that looked like a leaping panther and the jewel has a pink tint to it.

It is a cartoon that features interaction between the Panther Character and a comic drawing of Inspector Clouseau. The cat and mouse chase elements are pretty straight forward but there is a difference in this title sequence, the characters also interact with the typeface credits as they appear.

The Panther Spins Robert Wagner's name and it becomes a propeller, flying him off in an invisible plane. The cat then rubs up against Capucine’s name, as a cat is wont to do, the name drops out and the Panther falls over. The Panther Watches as the film title is revealed a few letters at a time and reacts with questioning expressions and then puts the last piece of the puzzle into place.

The nature of the character is revealed as title cards come up and the Panther tries to graffiti his name into the credits. This will set up the cartoon franchise for the next decade.

The character takes on the persona of a conductor for the music credit and gets yanked. There are also a number of line graphics that get animated as the title cards come on and off screen.
All of it accompanied by the fantastic title theme by Henry Mancini. The music and the action are synched up in this one perfectly.




Number 1  “Catch Me If You Can”

FLORENCE DEYGAS and OLIVIER KUNTZEL. Designed the title in the style of Saul Bass, who is mysteriously missing from my top five list. Flowing Typeface, smooth lines and a Jazz based score.

They used Stamp Cut images to design the action sequences, mimicking some of the crude techniques used by the lead character.

Characters are drawn with an eye to 1960s aesthetics. Clothes, furniture and color schemes, like teal and black with blue backgrounds. Sometimes it looks like a cocktail party and other times it looks like it could be poolside at a Miami Hotel.[When you add the Pink Graphics against the black backgrounds that is even more clear].  The typewriters and files that are shown also evoke a 60s theme.

The long shadows and fading bottom half of the graphics tell a story filled with mystery. The settings of the film ate introduced in the titles but once again, not much is revealed. You can clearly pick out two characters that represent Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, and you can’t tell just from the animated graphics, who it is we should be rooting for. People who say John Williams music all sound the same, have never listened to this theme.