Films That Didn't Click (80s Edition): Scarface, the Evil Dead 1&2, Blade Runner

I wouldn't say the 1980s is my least favorite decade in film, but it is to me the weirdest decade for film. When I think of this decade, I can't help but think of its rather heteronormative, racially insensitive, and overall politically incorrect depictions of certain elements of minority life. And unlike the 1950s, there isn't a societal naivety to make the decade at least slightly inculpable. You can say, the decade doesn't click with me. 

Because I had a lot of candidates from the 1980s, I am only sticking with a handful. Sorry Escape from New York. I wasn't quite in a mood to rewatch you. But like my previous blogs in this series, I am curious how my opinions have changed if at all. Will these films age better than when I first watch them? Well probably not. These are 80s films after all....

Scarface 

Scarface is a remake of the 1930s version of the same name. And like a good cover song, it was so well received that the original fell into complete obscurity only referenced by hipsters and people who are thorough with their history lessons regarding violent cinema. 

For reference, I won't be discussing the 1930s version as that movie is made completely obsolete by our contemporaries including the De Palma version. I suppose that is one good thing that is in favor of this film. It's one of the best examples of a remake out there. It stands completely on its own. One of the reasons why it isn't necessary to watch the 1930s version is that there are no major references or call backs that require viewing that movie. De Palma essentially took the 1930s version out back and shot it. It doesn't share the space with the old version. It flat out replaced it. 

How it stands out is that Scarface completely revamps the style. The setting and cinematography were great and still look great. It's an instantly iconic look that inspired many things such as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Unfortunately, I can't say I like much else. 

I should be noted now that I don't have a nostalgic attachment to this film. I watched it once while in college, and I didn't care for it. I didn't watch this film when it came out, and I certainly didn't watch this film before the slew of modern takes of the gangster narratives that will blow Scarface out of the water like Breaking Bad and Wolf of Wall Street. It's poetically tragic that Scarface, a film that made an older film obsolete, would meet the exact fate at least in my eyes. 

After my second viewing, I still don't get the appeal of this film. In fact, I would say its worse than when I saw it the first time. I don't understand why people love this film other than its quotability, its depiction of the masculine fantasy of excess, and its iconography. I guess you can add Michelle Pfeiffer as well, but we'll get to her later. 

A lot of the movie just doesn't work for me. The main character Tony Montana is treated as an anti-hero but has absolutely no redeeming qualities other than liking the kiddies. You don't see any genuine attempt at showing Montana's good side. From the beginning, you get a sense that Tony is all around a bad egg. There is a scene where he reunites with his estranged mother and sister which I guess is suppose to humanize him. But to me, he comes off as if he is bribing them for acceptance. Montana just seems like a guy to brute force to get what he wants, and it is not interesting to me. He blames society for using him as a societal scapegoat yet does consistently horrible things throughout the movie. I don't know if the film did that on purpose. If Montana is meant to have no redeemable qualities or if we are meant to sympathize with him. Either way, I don't find Montana engaging as a character since all he does is yell and bitch. He reminds me of the ghetto kids I knew in middle school. Part of me believes he inspired generations of assholes who think they are entitled to the world around them and will pass on any criticism to the people they believe are the problem. 

What am I suppose to be taking away from this film? It's not like Wolf of Wall Street which beautifully shows the addicting but destructive nature of excess. It's not like the Godfather which does a near perfect job of humanizing horrible people. It's not like Breaking Bad where you see a tragic decay of one man's morals. It's not anything to me other than a bunch of white people doing blatant stereotypes of Cuban people. It's not anything to me other than what I imagine the poster child for toxic masculinity being. 

If there is anything good to say about Scarface other than its look, I really like Michelle Pfeiffer's character. Her performance is great and seems like one of the few major characters to really have any humanity. Unfortunately she doesn't seem to get much screen time to explore that. Instead, we get a blatant example of why we have concepts like the Bechdel Test. She is mainly a plot device, and a lot of her actions don't make a lot of sense. There is one scene where Tony is bloody and injured, and she doesn't seem to react in a way that one normally reacts to someone being horribly injured. It also doesn't make sense that she would date Tony what seems to be immediately after the death of her husband. The movie sort of glazes over that. Then there is a scene where she finally leaves Tony after their marriage, and it feels like the movie did that not out of the agency of her character but to reinforce Tony's losing his grip on his life. 

So to recap this blogging series so far, I have found a movie that I initially didn't care for but now love. And now, I found a film that I also initially didn't care for but now loathe. I am not being harsh for the sake of being contrarian. In fact, the whole purpose of this series is to reevaluate films I didn't like in the hope that I was wrong. I want to like Scarface, believe me. However, I couldn't bring myself to like it and a lot of the 80s bullshit that I mention in the prologue that is very prevalent in this film. Scarface hasn't aged well in my book. It's overly indulgent, boring, and obsolete. 

The Evil Dead 1 & 2

I never thought the Evil Dead movies of all things would be the hardest things to review in that I really don't know where to start. Like the films, my history with the original Evil Dead movies are a bit loony. First off, one of them doesn't technically qualify for this list as I like Evil Dead 2. I don't love it but that is not a unusual reaction for some people. It's accepted that Evil Dead isn't as easily loved as something like Akira. Even fans can admit that you got to be a specific personality to truly love an Evil Dead movie. And yeah, I am not one of those people. So, Evil Dead 2 shouldn't be on here. However, it is hard to talk about Evil Dead 1 without talking about the sequel since they are so tied together. 

When I first watched the first two films, I initially thought that Evil Dead 1 can essentially be skipped. It's quaint, the plot is literally retreaded in the sequel's first ten minutes, and it feels more like a proof of concept for what Evil Dead 2 would end up being. 

And now, I am tired of writing out "Evil Dead." However, I don't want to abbreviate it into ED for obvious reasons, so let's call it "Allen."

Anyway, upon rewatching Allen 1, I thought I was entering the same train of thought. It wasn't until rewatching Allen 2 that I understood and respected Allen 1 a lot better. Firstly, Allen 2 has a lot of great subversions and gags that feel like satirical jabs at the original movie. My favorite joke involves a POV chase typical of Allen except this time involving Ash comically running around the house for minutes on end far longer than when the shot lost its horror impact making it that much funnier. I feel these jokes had greater impact since I watched both of these movies back to back. It feels almost like Allen 1 is one giant setup to the punchline that is Allen 2. The plot feels the same way as the insanity of the successor wouldn't feel so significant without the original. I don't think Allen 2's iconic ending wouldn't have been so amazing if we didn't have the simple cabin in the woods premise lull you into a false sense of security. 

Secondly, I found a few things that I feel make Allen 1 great on its own. I like the mood of Allen 1 upon my second viewing. There is a sense that Allen 1 feels like a bad dream, and I can't think of another film that truly captures that same feeling even with films that actively try to be surreal like Eraserhead. It probably stems from the reoccurring dream I had as a kid where my family members would get possessed by demons. It might also stem from how uncaring the gratuitousness is in some scenes. As unnecessarily disgusting as the tree attack scene is, there is a layer where that unneeded exploitation feeds into the theme of being stuck in a seemingly random nightmare.       

Allen 1 also feels like a must watch for people who are interested in low budget filmmaking. I really like the cinematography in this one arguably more so than Allen 2 because the budget was so tight. 

In terms of how I feel about Allen compared to before, it is slightly better. I don't feel as meh about it. But at the same time, I don't really have the urge to see these films again. 

And oh yeah, Army of Darkness is pretty good too. 

Blade Runner 

If there was a film that would be a prime candidate for a series like this, I couldn't think of a better one than Blade Runner. This movie splits people. Some rightfully praise it as one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. Others, like Jay Bauman at Red Letter Media, find the film utterly boring. I leaned towards the latter in my first viewing and never had to urge to rewatch it until I started doing these reviews. 

The way I see it, Blade Runner offers a great litmus test to figure out what kind of movies a person might like. If you are a movie buff that enjoys movies for their spectacle, aesthetics, themes, and atmosphere, then Blade Runner is about as good as it gets. It's hailed as the best showcase of practical effects. It is still one of the best looking movies from the 1980s. Everything looks crisp and real. Hell, certain shots still look as if they were made today like some of the flying shots. The film is one of the best reflections on self and humanity in terms of really delving into the insecurities of AI, what makes a human a human, and whether non-human sentient entities deserves human rights. 

If, however, you are a movie buff that enjoys movies for their characters, acting, dialogue, and sequences, then this movie is the exact opposite of whatever positive adjective I just described it. Aside from Rutger Hauer, the acting ranges from unfavorably passable to atrocious. In particular, Harrison Ford and Sean Young were ungodly dry and boring, and they are the ones we spend the most time with in this two hour long slog. There isn't really anything engaging from a storytelling perspective. Sure, the themes are rich. But like a bad baked potato, just because the butter is good doesn't vindicate the starch underneath. A starch that's obtuse, unengaging, and somniferous. It's unlike Ghost in the Shell where despite how obtuse the plot is I want to know what's going on because I like the characters and the pacing is good. Here, I couldn't care less about what is going on. The best I can say about Blade Runner is that it makes for a relaxing background movie that you put on while doing other things like studying or doing your taxes.  

This is excluding problems found exclusively in the theatrical cut such as the unneeded voice over narrations and a forced happy ending that undercuts the nuance of the movie. This is excluding the other Ridley Scott bullshit such as the unicorn scene and the implication that our main character is a Replicant. The latter being a theoretically interesting idea if not for the fact it opens up a bunch of plot holes and questions that also undermine the nuance of the movie. 

For what it's worth, unless you carry a nostalgia for the original Blade Runner, your best bet is to watch Blade Runner 2049 instead. You probably need to read the Wikipedia summary of the original Blade Runner to catch you up to speed. But once you do, 2049 fixes a lot of my issues with Blade Runner by having a more engaging mystery and character moments. Despite being almost an hour longer, 2049 held my attention better than the original did, but I digress.

And that is Films That Didn't Click Part 4. In the next episode, I'll do some actual bad movies.  

Rambling about Dishonored & Stealth Games

It's September, and I have no idea what I want to talk about this month. Usually, in a time of writer's block I just follow my cravings. "What's that, you are in a mood to watch YU-GI-OH or play Billy Hatcher? Guess I know what I am talking about." 

This week I want to talk about stealth games since for some reason I felt compelled to replay the original Dishonored. A game that falls into the category "Games That I Consider One of my Favorites but I Sometimes Forget Exist From Time to Time." I love Dishonored. It was one of the few games whose quality matched the hype I had when I first saw it at E3. More importantly, it is one of the few stealth games I unequivocally love. And funnily enough, it is so good at stealth that once it is out of sight I tend to forget about its existence hence why it's apart of this category alongside games like Spec Ops: The Line and Strider 2. Apparently, I can't remember every single amazing game I've played, but I digress. 

So in a year where killing and torturing affluent, heartless, and politically corrupt scumbags feels like a common fantasy now more than ever, let's replay a game that indulges in that fantasy. But before I do, I need to talk about stealth games in general. 

Stealth games are quite the acquired taste. Depending on who you ask, stealth games can either be wonderful sandboxes that encourage immense creativity, roleplaying, and improvisation, or they can be slow paced nightmares where messing up can feel like the most dismaying thing ever. As for me, the genre is always something I tolerate more than like. For example, two of my favorite games are Beyond Good and Evil and Ghost of a Tale which feature stealth prominently in their gameplay. However, it is not the core focus which helps since their stealth mechanics aren't the greatest. Then there are games like Uncharted and Far Cry 3 where stealth is optional but can mainly be brute forced by other, more flashy, means. 

I feel the animosity towards stealth can likely be stemmed from one particular thing. 

It's the fact that stealth games can be incredibly slow. Most gameplay involves slowly stalking a person so you can bonk them on the head. In Beyond Good and Evil's case, you bonk 'em on the head twice. It's a slog. There is no variation between each enemy you bonk on the head, and there is little reward since you are likely having to do this multiple times before the end of a level. 

This is where I feel Dishonored shines. The game is incredibly fast for a stealth game thanks in large part to the superpowers you get in the game. Specifically, you get a teleport ability that makes sneaking up behind enemies go more smoothly. Does it make the stealth trivially easy? In a way, yes. However, I'll take that if it means I get stealth that's more varied and exciting. It takes away the need to slowly walk up behind someone. It makes getting caught feel less punishing since teleporting can be a viable way to escape most of the time. The teleport ability alone allows for some interesting flexibility in how you approach obstacles. But on top of that, you can possess animals to get through tiny spaces adding extra ways to breaking into buildings. You can slow down time. You can gain extra agility which makes maneuvering more interesting. There is so much you can do. 

I feel flexibility is the key ingredient in having a great stealth game, and it's not just in terms of the tool box of the player character. The layouts, items, and optional content also encourage a sense of diversity, and Dishonored is fairly great at doing just that.

The only places where it doesn't have strong variety is the story and the main mission goals which feel very binary. The through line of Dishonored is a moral choice system where you can approach the gameplay in a nonlethal or lethal playstyle. In good news, the system is more than just a menu choice alla Mass Effect as it is tied to the gameplay. Plus your choice has a tangible effect on the game world. If you choose a lethal approach for example, which is the easier playstyle, the game will add in more rats and diseased townsfolk which makes navigating the levels more difficult. Unfortunately, it doesn't make it that much more difficult as disposing of these extra enemies are about as easy than anything else in the game. 

In bad news, the system isn't that interesting. Your main missions can usually be approached twofold. You can kill your target or you can do a more elaborate task that takes them out nonlethally. I suppose how you get there is entirely up to you. However, I feel there is something missing. Maybe there needs to be a new game plus where the location of the target is changed. I don't know. And yeah, it's hard to ask for variety when the main goal is simply eliminating an assassination target. I guess there are so many ways you can 'remove' someone from existence. 

In worse news, the system doesn't do the already lame story any favors. Naturally, the moral choice affects the ending that's either generic good ending or generic bad ending. To put it in a silver lining, the story can be practically ignore to get to the stealth aside from dealing with the occasional unskippable cut scene here and there. 

It's easy to ignore these problems because Dishonored is one of the few games to recreate the feeling of being a superpowered ninja storming a highly guarded fortress as easily as it is to microwave a hot pocket. In the final level, I decided to go ape shit after a playthrough of being mostly a pacifist. It was such a power trip and one of my highlights of gaming this year. 

I don't really know the goal of this blog as most rambling blogs are fairly aimless. I suppose if you haven't played Dishonored at this point you should play Dishonored. Now if you excuse me, I gotta figure out what the hell I have to do for the rest of September. 

A Creative Essay on r/HermanCainAward

One of the things I have regrettably gotten into lately is Reddit. It's here that I have gotten into r/HermanCainAward, a subreddit that archives anti-vaxxers, anti-masks, anti-anything within the realm of responsibility getting COVID-19 and suffering either a horrible recovery or death. It would be incredibly hilarious if not for the fact that I feel terrible enjoying this type of content. This feeling emphasizes the guilt in guilty pleasure. 

Why do I like this subreddit? It's quite simple honestly. It's because it has become increasingly difficult to treat these people with any kind of compassion and patience. When the Jan. 6 Capital Riot happened, I figured that the worst Republicans are capable of doing has finally happened. The party that touts themselves as America's party like their the party equivalent of the freaking Dallas Cowboys has finally reached the pinnacle of hypocrisy. 

Unfortunately, that was only the pinnacle in the election fraud anime arc. Sure, we got some oppressive voting legislation as a result of the previous election, but those legislations were going to happen one way or another. It's not like conservatives restricting voting rights is a brand new thing. 

But I am getting sidetracked. After all, this blog is focusing on our anti-vax Republicans that are finally getting challenged in ways very few beliefs do. After all, it's not like people are dying or hospitalized for being in favor of bathroom bill legislations. We are seeing immediate consequences for people that hold clearly wrong political beliefs. And from an apathetic perspective, it has been at least an interesting social science experiment. 

Why do I like this subreddit? It's because it provides a catharsis immediately after reading the cringy conservative memes that precede the fate of the Trumpist that posted them. These memes provide easy access in gaining insight to my conservative brothers and sisters. Dumbasses with no understanding of how vaccines work. Clearly uneducated people as they present statistics improperly in the effort to confirm their beliefs. The bizarre ones where it is just meanspirited jingoist spats that compare themselves to WWII veterans or other American heroes they can admire without being labeled as a racist or a socialist. Of course, there are also the Biden ones that simultaneously portray him as a buffoon or as this conniving AntiChrist. Man, at least with Democrats we were consistent at portraying W. Bush and Trump as only one of those things. 

What frustrates me is not so much the memes themselves. They are honestly kind of funny in same way it is to see an idiotic preteen trying to mimic the blunt intellect of Lenny Bruce or Bill Hicks. The lack of self-awareness in of itself is kind of funny. The problem is that they don't seem to be getting any better. 

Thousands to hundreds of thousands of people are getting sick and or dying of COVID. Almost all of these people are unvaccinated. And yet, at no point, has one of these people stopped to think about and say "hey maybe I should get vaccinated." In fairness, there are plenty of people that are slowly but surely coming around to the vaccines, and I cannot be more proud of them. They decided to get out of their circles that confirm their biases and doing the difficult task of admitting they're wrong. 

That's another frustrating reality about all of this. I have the luxury of only rarely having to see this sludge, and I can reasonably see the disgust and hatred underneath. For others, whose insecurities and ignorance has led them a life where these beliefs give them the delusion of freedom, intellectual superiority and even masculine badassitry, and these memes do nothing but feed that. I can only imagine being surrounded by these memes daily. And again, these are more than creating a community that lacks compassion or logic, these are risking lives. 

These swings back to r/HermanCainAward. What we seeing in this subreddit is a statistic made personal. We are getting a glimpse at the lives of people suffering. I want to feel bad, but it is getting easier to not feel that way. 

I always felt the true difference between leftist values and right values is at least leftist values come from a place where we think beyond our self-interest. To be pro-choice, for gun control, or for better healthcare is to recognize on some level that other people are suffering, and you want to address it. I feel the coronavirus is making me for once think selfishly. Lives are gone, and a part of me smiles that at least Darwin is on our side. 

Maybe my feelings are a result of an extremely cynical time. There doesn't seem to be any force that is stopping the really bad conservative leadership. It feels simple. I mean, all we need is just one election. And several votes later, we can make significant changes for the better. It's unfortunately an uphill battle though. 

For what it's worth, I can at least look at the positive. There are forces trying to make the world a better place even if it's only a little bit better. This year, we are seeing people flood Texas's tattle tale abortion website to render it useless. Certain politicians are working long and hard to make sure we get ever bit closer to ensuring the peace and security of the American people. Things like healthcare reform and voting rights are getting more and more popular. Let's also not forget we got Donald Trump out this year. And while his influence still looms, it is nice not having to hear his name every day. 

If all else fails, I suppose I can relish on r/HermanCainAward. I just got to keep reminding myself that the deaths of Republicans isn't the goal and is no way a step forward towards a true progressive society.