Thelma and Louise (5 Stars)

Déjà vu? Didn't I write about this film yesterday?

Yes, I did. To be precise, I wrote about it just over three hours ago.

So why am I writing about it again so soon?

The answer is simple. It's because I watched it twice in a row. Technically speaking, my blog isn't a film review site. It's a film diary. Since September 2010 I've been recording every single film I've watched. There are a few off topic posts scattered in between, but if you remove all of them you'll have a list of every film I've watched for the last ten and a half years. If I've counted correctly, that's 3,634 films. That's not quite one film a day. In my first three years I watched films less often (because I watched more television series). For the next three years I watched two films most days. For the last five years I've settled into a rhythm of one film a day, with very few exceptions.

But the question remains why I watched "Thelma and Louise" twice in a row.

I have a good excuse. My ex-wife walked into my room just as the film was coming to an end, the last five minutes. She sat and watched it with me. She told me that she'd watched the film with our daughter Fiona a long time ago, and she'd enjoyed it, so she wanted to watch it again. That was all the reason I needed to go back to the start. There's one thing about me that you should know. I watch the vast majority of my films alone, but I enjoy films much more in company. The occasional sideways glimpse to see another person's reaction to a scene is magical.

This is the first film I've watched twice in a row since September 2010, but there were other films before then. Only two. The first was "Inland Empire", which I bought from Amazon in October 2007. I was excited when it arrived in the mail, because David Lynch was my favourite director. I sat and watched it, and when it came to the end I didn't understand it. Even though it was a three hour film, I immediately watched it a second time. Three hours later, after six hours in front of my television screen, I still didn't understand it. In frustration I shoved one of the Schoolgirl Report films into my DVD player, I forget which one. That was a film I could understand; it was about schoolgirls having sex. I only ever watched "Inland Empire" again once, in June 2014. I enjoyed it and gave it a five star rating, but I still didn't understand it. Maybe it's time for me to watch it again.

The second was "Downfall", the film about Adolf Hitler's last days in his Berlin bunker. I watched it in my house in Malmesbury Road with Fiona. It must have been some time in 2008, maybe 2009. Those were the magical days when she used to watch films leaning against me. I wish those days had never ended. She was a real Daddy's Girl. But in 2012 she suddenly stopped, practically overnight. I never asked her why. Maybe she'd just grown up. But I'm getting off the point. What I wanted to say is that she liked the the film so much that she asked if she could watch it again. I gladly agreed, which meant another two hours of her sitting with my arm around her shoulder.

"Thelma and Louise" is now the third film that I've watched twice in a row on the same day. (I didn't finish the second viewing until after midnight, but I started watching it on the same day). This second review gives me a chance to start earlier in the film rather than just writing about their spectacular death.

It's difficult to say what the main theme in the film is. Is it a pro-woman film or an anti-man film? It's been called both. It's been called neo-feminist (which I presume is a compliment), and it's been called misandric (which is definitely not a compliment). The two women rise from weakness to strength in the two hours of the film, but only as a result of all the men around them being despicable. Apart from Thelma's husband Darryl, the men all make an initial impression of being perfect gentlemen before their true nature is revealed. Harlan Puckett behaves perfectly, until he hits Thelma and tries to rape her. J. D. (played by Brad Pitt) seduces Thelma with his southern charm, but he robs her before leaving. Louise's soft-talking boyfriend Jimmy has himself under control most of the time, but when he's in a bad mood he throws things across the room. This turns the women from timid little mice into aggressive killers.

Boys will be boys, men will be men. When the traffic cop stops the girls, he looks at more than their license and registration. To be fair, Louise does push her shoulders back to distract him.

The distraction stops him noticing Thelma sneaking up behind him with a gun.

In the past I've compared this film to David Lynch's "Wild at Heart". That's still the strongest similarity I see, but the barren scenery also reminds me of Russ Meyer's films, especially "Supervixens".

Doesn't this scene remind you of "Faster Pussycat Kill Kill"?

Woman is approached by man. Is Woman scared?

No. Woman knows she has all the power.

Woman looks man straight in the eye.

Woman is united and will never be divided.

This is a beautiful film. We fall in love with the two titular characters. We don't criticise them as they descend into crime, because we can see that they're also rising in strength. They're not evil. They're just doing whatever they can to survive in a world filled with evil men. The film teases us, giving us hope that they'll escape the police in a happy ending. Instead of this, their death itself is the happy ending.

Success Rate:  + 0.8

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Thelma and Louise (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #46

"You can only die once, so make sure your death is a good one".

That's something I used to say a lot when I was younger. Nowadays I say it less often, but I still stand behind it. I invented the saying myself, but I've found out that others have said similar things. Their words are almost identical to mine, but they mean it differently. The others who speak paraphrased versions of my words mean that you should die for a good cause, i.e. the purpose of your death should be noble. It's something that soldiers might have as a motto when they march into battle. That's not what I mean. I mean that the moment of death should be accompanied by great pleasure. It would be a wonderful experience to die by being strangled during sexual intercourse. To anyone who says that I'm being weird, consider the alternatives. You could die with your body being mangled in a car crash, or you could die a long, lingering death while your body is being eaten away by cancer. I'm not weird, I'm the one talking good sense.

When I was young I wanted to die before I was 30. Then I said I wanted to die before I was 40. Then I said I wanted to die before I was 50. Now my life is slowly trickling away, day by day, year by year. By the time I die I'll probably be too weak to enjoy my death. If death is the ultimate goal in life, I should have planned my death when I was young.

That brings me to the film. Thelma Dickinson and Louise Sawyer are living dreary lives in a small town in Arkansas. Thelma is in a dead end marriage that gives her no pleasure. Louise is single and in a dead end job as a waitress. They have nothing to live for. The only thing that keeps them sane is their friendship.

But they have a good death.

After an adventure together which culminates in a high speed car chase, they meet their death by plummeting into the Grand Canyon. That's one of the most beautiful places on Earth. It's one of the most beautiful places to die.

What a wonderful way to die! It's not quite up to the level of death during intercourse, but it still looks like a splendid experience. Flying through the air for endless seconds, before the car finally hits the ground with such velocity that an instantaneous death is guaranteed. It's notable that the film doesn't show the moment of death. The film ends while the two friends are flying through the air. It's as if the moment of ecstasy never ends.

Success Rate:  + 0.8

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Ava (4 Stars)

This is a film that was scheduled for cinema release in October 2020, but it was cancelled because of the Coronavirus lockdown. In Germany the cinemas were closed, at least. It's possible that some of my readers in other countries were lucky enough to see it on the big screen.

Ava Faulkner (Jessica Chastain) is an ex-soldier who now works for a shady group known only as the Organisation. I don't know whether to spell that with a capital O or not. The Organisation seems to be on the right side, but it's ruthless in the way it acts. It sends agents to assassinate money launderers, arms dealers and anyone else who's above the law, wherever they are in the world. This is illegal, of course, but they believe that the end justifies the means. This is the same sort of principle as in Luc Besson's "Nikita".

Ava is the Organisation's most efficient operative, and she's responsible for 41 kills. Two years ago she had a meltdown. It's not stated what happened or why, but we can assume it's because she developed a conscience. She got over it and she's back to work, but someone high up in the Organisation thinks she's a liability and wants to kill her.

That's a simple enough story, but there are a few subplots to complicate matters. Her ex-fiancé Michael, who's now married to her sister, has $80,000 gambling debts. That's a strange relationship. Evidently Ava walked out on him eight years ago without saying goodbye, so he married her sister on the rebound. Strange guy. Ava's mother is sick, close to death, but the illness is left unnamed. Overall, a lot of things are annoyingly left open, leaving the viewer to guess.

Jessica Chastain is a competent action hero. It's a joy to watch her taking out male attackers, either with a gun or with her bare hands. She just needs a better written screenplay next time.

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The Fly (1986 version) (4½ Stars)

I have a love-hate relationship with "The Fly". It depends on my mood at the time I watch it. On a purely intellectual level I know it's a brilliant film, one of the best horror films ever made. The problem is that I'm often, but not always, squeamish. The film has some very ugly scenes that make me want to look away. It's the sort of film that I need a glass of wine in my hand to watch, something to numb my senses. There was no alcohol available today, but I was feeling less sensitive than usual.

A scientist is trying to create a teleporter. His first tests with inanimate objects succeed. Then he teleports a monkey across the room. His final test with a human -- himself! -- fails because a fly is inside the teleporter with him. His body is seemingly perfect when it arrives, but his DNA has been combined with the fly's DNA, causing him to slowly change into a fly over the following weeks.

It's obvious to the viewer that Seth Brundle, played admirably by Jeff Goldblum, isn't a bad guy. He's a scientist who wants to change the world. He wants the science fiction of "Star Trek" to become reality. Even when the accident makes his body slowly break down, he doesn't really want to do anyone harm. The bad guy in the film is Stathis Borans, Veronica's employer and ex-boyfriend. When Seth attacks him we have sympathy with him. At least, I have sympathy with Seth. Any man who tries to impose his will on a woman deserves whatever happens to him.

This is David Cronenberg's best film. I would have given it a full five stars if not for the dream sequence. That's one of my pet hates. It's something that happens too much in horror films. The viewer is terrified by something, and then the director says, "Ha ha, I got you! It never really happened!" Someone should pass a law to prevent this happening.

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The Fly (1986 version) (4 Stars)

A few months ago a friend of mine created a Facebook group, "1001 films to see before you die". He has a book with that name, and every week he picks a film at random from the book for the group members to watch and comment on. When I first joined the group I was determined to watch all the films he named, but I never started. I usually have concrete plans what I want to watch in a week, so I never got round to watching his films, even if they were films I already owned on DVD or Blu-ray. I finally made an effort and watched "Gentlemen prefer blondes", his last film of 2015, and now I'm watching "The Fly", his first film of 2016. Let's see how long I can keep it up.

As my regular readers know I published my own personal list of the 30 films to watch before you die. You can find the list in the sidebar if you're reading my blog on a computer. Arguably, 30 films isn't enough. I realised when I was compiling the list that I was omitting many wonderful films. I just picked 30 because it's a handy number, one film a day for a month. Most people who make similar lists make a list with 50 or 100 films. If I'd allowed myself 100 films I would have been able to include all the films that I truly consider to be essential viewing. On the other hand, isn't 1001 films too many? That's an average of 10 films every year, if we set the starting point at "Birth of a Nation" in 1915. A list like that could never be complete if the bar is set so low. Every year there will be another 10 films that will have the right to be included. At least with my list of 30 films there will only be one film every three or four years, on average, that I might consider to be included.

Now to the film itself. It's a remake of a famous horror film with the same name made in 1958. I know that people (including myself) argue passionately about whether films should be remade or not, but in this case I'll block the discussion before it starts. What I said was wrong. This isn't a remake. It has different characters and a different plot. The only thing the two films share is the title. If the 1986 film had been given a different name, such as "The Experiment", nobody would have called it a remake. It's too different.

"The Fly" (this version) is about Seth Brundle, a man who has invented teleportation. First he sends inanimate objects from one teleportation pod to another across the room. Then a monkey. Finally himself. The problem is that when he teleports himself there's a second living being in the pod with him: a fly. This was something not allowed for in the computer program, so the result is that the two creatures, the man and the fly, are spliced together at the molecular genetic level. Initially Seth emerges from the pod looking the same. After a few days the first changes become visible and they seem positive: Seth is stronger, more agile and more sexually potent. As time progresses the changes are less appealing. His teeth and his fingernails fall out, and he's only able to nourish himself from liquids.

"The Fly" is also a love story. Seth meets Ronnie, a reporter from a scientific magazine who wants to write about his experiments. At first the relationship is platonic, but friendship turns into lust, and lust turns into love. A complication in the relationship is Ronnie's ex-boyfriend Stathis, who is also her boss. That's an uncomfortable position for anyone to be in. Having to work for your ex-lover? She should have changed her job. In this case it's particularly difficult, because Stathis is a domineering <insert-appropriate-swearword>. He still has a key to Ronnie's apartment and refuses to give it back when she asks. He follows her when she drives away. He suggests that they have sex to relieve the tension at work. I felt anger welling up inside me whenever he appeared on screen. He reminds me of Christian Grey in "50 Shades of Grey". They're both utterly despicable characters.

This is Jeff Goldblum's signature role, which I explained in my review of "The Girl from BIKINI". For me he will always be Seth Brundle. It's not just the quality of his acting. His looks, his madness and his mannerisms are iconic. Who else could have played the part? Geena Davis is perfectly cast as the wide-eyed innocent reporter Ronnie.

The film is a masterpiece. It's David Cronenberg at his best. From the 1970's to the 1990's he made horror films. Over the last 15 years he's turned to making dramas like "Maps to the stars". It's my opinion that he should return to horror. That's what he was best at. The film has hardly dated in the last 30 years. Only the vintage computer systems and Ronnie's 80's hair style make the film look old. The film's only real fault is the dream sequence in the latter half. I hate dream sequences in films. I consider them to be poor script-writing. Something happens, it terrifies the audience, then the person wakes up and surprise! It never really happened. That's poor.

One personal problem I have with the film is the visual horror aspects. I shuddered when I saw Seth's body falling apart. That's something I don't like to see, and it's also a reason why I don't want to watch the film more often. I don't mind gore if it's obviously fake, but I hate scenes which look as if they could really happen.

This isn't a remake, as I've already made clear, but it does pay homage to the old film in a way that casual viewers might miss. The last words spoken by the fly in the 1956 film are, "Help me. Please help me". They're the main unforgettable quote from the film. Seth Brundle speaks these exact words to Ronnie when he realises that his change is for the worse.

Thelma and Louise (5 Stars)

30 films to watch before you die, #11

Some films are so good that they can be watched over and over again. I can't remember exactly how many times I've watched "Thelma and Louise", but I know it was a lot. Even though it was made in 1991, I don't think I saw it until 2001 or 2002, when it was on television. It was one of the first films I bought on DVD, and you know how it is: when you only have a few discs you watch them all the time.

The film is expertly directed by Ridley Scott. The cinematography is dazzling, moving from one beautiful scene to the next. Both Geena Davis (Thelma) and Sarah Sarendon (Louise) were nominated as best lead actress at the 1992 Academy Awards. It's correct to say that neither of them was in a supporting role, but have any other two women ever been nominated as lead actress for the same film? I think not. On top of everything else, the strength of the two main characters appeals to me. The two women are feminist role models, and I support feminism in its pure form. I don't call myself a feminist, I prefer to call myself a gynarchist. I enjoy watching films that portray strong women.

Thelma and Louise aren't strong at the beginning of the film. They develop their strength under extreme conditions. After being used and abused by the men around them they learn how to fight back, guns in their hands. All the men in the film are bad, in one way or another. The film has been accused of being misandric, but is it misandric to tell the truth? Ironically, the only good man in the film who really cares for the women is Hal Slocumb, the police detective responsible for pursuing the women.

Ridley Scott has been responsible for several very good films during his career. If you like "Thelma and Louis", check out

• Gladiator (2000)
• Hannibal (2001)
• Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

Beetlejuice (4 Stars)

This was the third film in yesterday evening's Tim Burton session. We watched it out of order, since it was made in 1988, before the other two films. It deals with a young couple who die in a car crash. They "awake" as ghosts in their old house. At first they're happy, until new people move in. They decide to haunt the house as poltergeists to scare the new family away. This isn't quite as easy as they think. They request assistance from another ghost, Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice), who works as a bio-exorcist, casting out unwanted living people.

If I were a ghost I wouldn't want to haunt my old house. It's so boring, I'd like to go somewhere else. Maybe a different country, somewhere near the sea. Anywhere would be better than spending eternity in the Small Heath ghetto. Maybe I'd look for a college sorority house, so I can gaze at beautiful women every day. I wouldn't scare them, I would just quietly stand watching while they're in the shower.

Thelma and Louise (5 Stars)

This is a brilliant film. It's constructed perfectly. The weakest point is the introductory scene to introduce Louise in the restaurant. After that the film keeps getting better, while Thelma and Louise slip deeper and deeper into a pit of despair. In the final scene, facing the police at the Grand Canyon, it's obvious that they've passed the point of no return, but the point came a lot earlier in the film. After shooting Harlan in the parking lot there was no going back to their old life.

There seem to be two lines that cross one another in the film. As the two women sink deeper, the scenery around them becomes more and more beautiful.

Click here for a more detailed review.

Thelma and Louise (5 Stars)

Brilliant! There, I've used that word again! But I can't help it. Other reviewers have called this a neo-feminist road movie. I'm not sure what the "neo" part of that is supposed to mean. Sometimes "neo" as a prefix means extreme, sometimes it means hidden, sometimes it means a second wave. My guess is that even people who use the word "neo-feminism" don't agree on what it means.

Thelma Dickinson is an unhappily married wife. Maybe she isn't really unhappy, she just doesn't know any better. She dated her first boyfriend when she was 14, married him when she was 18, and ten years later they're still together. Though she still doesn't have children, she stays at home cooking and cleaning for her successful career husband. She suspects that there is more to life, but she doesn't know what it is. Her best friend Louise is a more independent woman, older, single, and working as a waitress. She has a boyfriend but doesn't want to marry him.

Louise invites Thelma to accompany her on a weekend trip to the mountains, to a cabin that her boss owns. Thelma is scared that her husband won't allow her to go, so she doesn't even tell him. The women stop off at a bar on the way, where they drink and dance. Thelma flirts with a man called Harlan, and when they want to leave he tries to rape her. Louise shoots him. They don't go to the police because they don't expect justice in a male-dominated world. Instead they go on the run, turning to crime to support themselves.

The strength of the film isn't just in the action, it's in the atmosphere. The slow guitar riffs are haunting. As they continue their journey west the scenery becomes more beautiful and the people become more ugly. In many way it reminds me of David Lynch's "Wild at Heart", made only a year earlier.

This is a well known film, frequently shown on television. I'd forgotten that it was made so long ago. 1991? It's still as fresh and enjoyable today, not at all dated. If you haven't seen it yet you're missing out. I hope my short review will tempt you. This review is typical for my style. A lot of film reviews are a complete summary from beginning to end. I don't like that. If I read a review of a film that I haven't yet seen I don't want to be told everything. I just want to know the film's premise, how it begins, and whether the reviewer thinks the film is any good.

Click here to view the trailer.

The Long Kiss Goodnight (3½ Stars)

Samantha Caine is a happily married schoolteacher living in Buffalo, NY. But she has a problem. She's suffering from amnesia and can't remember anything that happened more than eight years ago. A private detective called Mitch Hennessey accidentally discovers a clue and offers to help her. At the same time a patient locked in a psychiatric ward recognizes her on television, prompting him to escape and try to kill her. As she slowly recovers her memory she realises that she used to be an assassin working for the CIA, but instead of welcoming her back her former employers try to kill her. The film then becomes a mixture of "The Bourne Identity" and "La Femme Nikita".

In theory the film could be excellent, but it fails to deliver. There are several problems. The biggest problem is the miscasting of the main character. It's impossible to take Geena Davis seriously as a trained killer. I don't care how many awards she's won, she's not a great actress, and this is a role she couldn't pull off. The second problem is the poor screenwriting. For example, the detective, played by Samuel L. Jackson, is introduced as a seedy criminal character, but as the film continues we only see his professional side, and he seems to be a good guy. The third problem is the poor stuntwork. An action film with lots of guns and explosions needs to look realistic to deliver. But it doesn't. For instance, when Mitch is thrown out of a window by an explosion his trajectory just looks wrong.

I've read that a sequel is being planned. Let's hope it's better.