Inside Cinema - Shorts - 21 to 30

 

The next ten in my notes on "Inside Cinema - Shorts" starts with Episode 21 Bumbling Detectives narrated by Justin Chang. He tells us these films are "taking the edge off something serious" and hoping the viewer will work out whodunit before those bumbling detectives. Such as Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Hot Fuzz. Unlike those films full of slapstick and pratfalls. Such as Michael Caine as Sherlock homes in Without a Clue, Elliot Gould as Philip Marlow and Daniel Craig in Knives Out: "I suspect foul play".

Nikki Bedi whips through lots and lots of Indian films in Episode 22's Taboo Breaking Bollywood. Of which I had never heard of one. Or the directors or the actors. This must be because these particular movies have no singing and dancing but are more along the lines of social realism. 

Episode 23 is Star Wardrobes introduced by Gavia Baker. The tile is a terrible pun. It is all about the costumes, production design, the look of the Star Wars films. George Lucas wanted them all to be distinctive, futuristic, even fascist and militaristic. All except our heroes looking more naturalistic with muted colours and soft fabrics. Then the elaborate wardrobes of  Padme Amidala played by Natalie Portman. Then the costume of the main baddie Darth Vader, all black.

Hannah Woodland is the narrator for Episode 24 Cats Entertainment. Again, we rush through films such as 1959's Bell, Book and Candle with Kim Novak and James Stewart, then Donald Pleasance as Blofeld and his cat in From Russia with Love in 1963. On to the horror films like 1977's The Uncanny and animated pictures such as Coraline from 2009. Then the last twenty hardly register from 1934's The Back Cat to 2018's Can You Ever Forgive Me. Were they just going for the record?

Another mad rush through some dark Christmas movies is Pamela Hutchinson's Episode 25 Unmerry Christmas. I was glad they included It's a Wonderful Life that is such a miserable film to put on each year. And I hardly count Miracle on 34th Street as unmerry even if Kris Kringle gets arrested. But some are really funny like 1984's Gremlins and Home Alone in 1990. Some films are predictably included but some not. Emma Thomson's horrible moment in Love Actually is always upsetting. 

Ashley Clark starts episode 26 Millennials on Film with, possibly predictably, Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring from 2013. Then on to 2012's Spring Breakers, both with all these awful youngish people. There were some films I did not want to be reminded of but better were The Social Network from 2010, Greta Gerwig's Ladybird from 2017 and 2016's Personal Shopper, all of which were excellent.  For some reason we are shown lots of documentaries such as Minding the Gap from 2018 before the narrator extolled the virtues of Natalie Portman in 2018's Vox Lux. One to look out for: " a millennium clarion call" and someone "thriving against the odds". 

Above is dear Paddington holding on in Episode 27 Locomotion Pictures. Jake Cunningham whips through lots of clips of trains on film. Most very familiar. But not 2016's Japanese movie Train to Busan. I did see the riotous  Snowpiercer from 2013, Bong Joon-ho's  post apocolyptic thriller that I wouldn't mind seeing again. Lots of westerns with trains including One Upon a Time in the West. Ending with some animated films and Paddington. 

Tim Robey introduces Episode 28 Perfect Storms. There is, of course, lots and lots of rain. So, of course, singing in it. Tim says "does cinema ever do light drizzle?". Not for Gene Kelly. Then not only rain but hurricanes and blizzards. We are shown a clip from Forces of Nature from 1999. "It has the worst weather day for a wedding in entire film history". Goodbyes in the rain include 1993's Remains of the Day and Bridges of Maddison County from 1995.So in films "it never rains but it pours". Just ask Andy MacDowell and Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Thirty years ago this month.

Christina Newland again, this time looking at make-up in Episode 29 Cosmetic Cinema. Above is Melanie Laurant applying war paint in Quentin Tarrantino's Inglorious Basterds. Reviewed on this blog on 3rd September 2009 and my post "Revenge of the Giant Face" on 4th May 2011. As Christina says "make up in movies is far from cosmetic". Flaming Youth from 1923 is a very early version but that was before it dashed through so many films. I was more interested later on with make up as a templte for sadness or disaster. Such as 2017's I, Tonya, Edward Scissorhands in 1990 and Dangerous Liasons in 1988. 

Episode 30 is Who Killed the Erotic Thriller presented by Catherine Bray. We are shown all those Michael Douglas movies from the early nineties "Lots and lots of Michael Douglas" but also many Hollywood A-listers. But who killed it off and where are they today? Apparently it was Showgirls that bombed in 1995. It seems to be left to TV series such as Game of Thrones to take up the banner.