William Malone Forum
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| by Zaron Z J J B Marshall I have just recently seen five films; including, 'The Shawshank Redemption', 'The Green Mile', 'The Emperors New Groove', and 'House on Haunted Hill'. Out of all of these, with the possible exception of the first movie (complete with little replay value I might add), I thought 'House' was by far the best and most memorable. And yes, like a musical composition worth more than the sum of its parts, or a great Camille Corott (the godfather of Impressionism, the sole individual who directly or indirectly taught all of the Impressionists, with no exception, including the two Americans); it has replay in spades. And just so that I am taken at least slightly seriously, I have just finished my masters in art-theory at uni here in NZL (New Zealand, home of LOTR, winner of the Americas Cup, twice, for all of you who still think we are an island off Australia; bless them,...I love the US and have studied it's history, so don't take it the wrong way), and a university considered one of the top three in the southern hemisphere...think Japan and Singapore. To keep the theme of respect and trust ongoing, I am a professional artist myself in the style of 19th century naturalistic landscape, albiet a neccesary and unavoidable post-modern take. I also rank 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', 'Baraka' and 'Alien' amongst the finest films I have ever seen, if that, again, helps me in my mission; to cut this guy (Malone) some slack, and take me somewhat seriously in what I say. And yes, I have a life, so have never written anything fanboyish like this before, but I'm drunk after new years, and highly annoyed with how...unobservant some reviewers have been. And yes, I have seen this film many times before, sober, and actually thought the recent barrage of unseen films would lessen its impact; quite the reverse, hence my final decision to actually write something. House on Haunted hill is magnificent, and for all these supposedly highly edumicated specialists on film (none of whom have enough talent to actually be a succesfull artist, within any medium I guess I correctly suppose), 'House' is not trying to be scary; it is truely and un-pretentiously post-modern, as everything from now on must be. Just as in Fine-Art Painting, everything has been done (and I mean all the seven art-theoretical qualities that effect all art forms from Nirvana and Mozart to John Constable and Malievich, that is; abstraction, unity; variety, harmony; contrast, infinity and repose;-we live in a post-modern world now. How is any film going public going to be scared after 'Alien', or it's multiplicity 'Aliens'??? I almost fear Malone has been a victim of his own ingenuity and historical position, as well as unfair and unrealistic expectations. Remember 'Starship Troopers'? So many put this film down, and yet it's genuine hidden depth is missed by so many, who only choose to view it once, unfortunately as the case all too often is. Matt Groenig (however you spell that) admits that his cartoon visualisations, both of them, contain so much hidden depth, that they require a video tape and freeze-frame in order to catch many of its visual gags. Whilst 'Starship' doesn't quite go that far, repeated viewings reveal hidden depth. Remember those orbital guns that shoot down an incoming asteroid? Well, did you notice how they can only possibly traverse and shoot towards earth, with their clearly, if you care for such things, magnetically accelerated nuclear-tipped shells???? Which is also, if you care, again, (I'm speaking basic un-biased left or right near future politics here, not far-fetched sci-fi), closer and more believable than beam-based Particle acceleration technology. I care, because nuclear missiles will soon enough become obsolete, easily within our lifetimes, replaced by a weapon fireing atomic material at very close to light speeds. I'm not judging however, that was merely a related tangent. 'House' has similar such depth, but with much more replay I feel. Unlike the overly long battles in 'Starship', which Peter Jackson in 'LOTR' thankfully avoids (the books are much better though, I say without a trace of nationalism, although he did as well as could be expected from such untranslatable works); 'House' is never tedious, and deliberately post-modern in the way it parodies, and improves, the tongue in cheek horror genre. By that distinction, I include all bar the first two films of H R Gigers inspiration. Give this guy a break. I judge all works of art fairly, as few people do (except art-theory students) according to their own individual merits; and whatever this guy did for 'House', he should grasp WHY it worked, and repeat it for future endeavors. Brilliant art direction and Photography has to be mentioned as well, also the truely memorable performances by Rush and Janssen in particular; the two together, although a little deliberately hammy, have a deliciously sick chemistry that stands alone in cinema. And yes, this is bettre (temporary dyslexia) than the Hammond original. The soundtrack is also very, very good, it should be added. Understanding why this film worked I hope is not too tough a call for Mr Malone; I understand all too well, as the father of Impressionism Francais Daubigny so famously grasped and quoted '"Technique is everything'"; therefore I keep notes and a diary on even the smallest changes of handling, tone, colour...e.t.c, so that as little as possible is a mystery. Creating a work of art that is memorable and beyond Kitsch is difficult; I just hope W. Malone has a similar such practice, so that he can spend many hours and weeks, or in fact months as the case may be, working out why 'House' worked. If I was he, I wouldn't worry about the negative reviews. I would just concentrate on producing more films of this calibre; a couple more like 'House', and even the most cynical would have to take him much more seriously. I liked 'House', more than I did the first two 'Lord of the Rings' films; and from a New Zealander, if nothing else, that has to say something not insignificant. Comment on this... |
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| by SDX Malone is a sick man. I saw Feardotcom and it's awfull. How can a person think of this to make a movie? You would have to be sick in your head. Comment on this... |