Five great Christmas movies that aren’t really Christmas movies

Our guest blogger is hobbyist film and TV series reviewer and writer Harry Casey-Woodward. On th-ink.co.uk Harry will be writing a series of posts in which he will be sharing his opinions on things he has watched. 

At this time of year, are you ever sat in front of the television bored out of your skull as the usual parade of Christmas movies are dragged out to numb you with forced comedy and seasonal cheer. Do you sit staring gloomily into your mulled wine thinking ‘I know a few films I’d rather be watching that aren’t Christmas movies exactly but they are related to Christmas’? Well that’s exactly what this article is about. The movies in this list aren’t typical Christmas films, as in rather than celebrating Christmas they drench it in alcohol and set it on fire like a Christmas pudding. In other words, Christmas is in the background of these movies but they’re not suitable for the family to mindlessly veg out to after dinner. You certainly couldn’t show them straight after the Queen’s speech. But they’re a little more interesting than re-watching Muppet’s Christmas Carol.

1. The Proposition, 2005, dir. John Hillcoat 

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The Proposition

You could say this is a Nick Cave Christmas movie, since he wrote the screenplay. What a better figure for Christmas cheer than Australian Goth prince Nick Cave? Just listen to his album Murder Ballads. As we’d expect from the twisted genius of Cave, The Proposition is a bloody, blistering journey into a 19th century Australian hear t of darkness, with lashings of flies, guns and flogging. It happens to be set during Christmas and the only character celebrating is a cockney copper played by Ray Winstone, who has moved from London with his wife in order to lay down some law in the outback. In order to remember the Victorian civilisation they left behind, they order a tree, a turkey and even fake snow. Their attempts to enforce European traditions have some success on their Aborigine servant, who replies ‘merry Christmas’ to his master. However, the English couple’s attempts to practice their cosy civil culture is not enough of a shield against the harsh, violent, alien world just outside their window.

2. Brazil, 1985, dir. Terry Gilliam

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Brazil

How about some dollops of dystopia with your warm mince pies? After all, Christmas is the only time of year when we try to forget we live in an unjust, cut-throat society and spend loads on food and presents in order to further the magical illusions spread by adverts. So why not watch a movie that holds a mirror up to the violent, materialistic bureaucracy hiding under the tinsel?

As you’d expect from Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, Brazil is a madly visual cross between 1984 and Pythonesque humour. In the bowels of Gilliam’s spectacular nightmarish metropolis, a bumbling bureaucrat played by Jonathan Pryce loses his grip between reality and his dreams. It’s very dark but also very funny if you like satire based on an all-powerful but inept police force that arrests and tortures the wrong people due to administration errors. There’s also an incredible array of actors, including Michael Palin as a state torturer and Robert de Niro a rogue plumber. Meanwhile Christmas is going on, perhaps to highlight the extreme materiality of this future culture. It even leads to some satire in a scene where our hapless hero thinks a bomb is disguised as a Christmas present. Perhaps this is a comment on the damaging impact of consumerism on the traditional spirit of Christmas goodwill.

3. Eyes Wide Shut, 1999, dir. Stanley Kubrick 

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Eyes Wide Shut

Kubrick is a director you wouldn’t normally consider suitable for Christmas movies. Sure he once directed a family film set in the snow, but that was a claustrophobic horror where daddy goes mad with an axe and just won’t shut up. Eyes Wide Shut is a family film set during Christmas but it’s also a sexual odyssey. Kubrick’s last film saw him leave behind graphic violence and start exploring graphic sex. Unfortunately Tom Cruise is the hero, and I’m sure most people there days would rather watch Idris Elba in this kind of film. Luckily Cruise doesn’t get his clothes off much. The film is about him and his wife Nicole Kidman (both really married at the time) played an ordinary American couple until Kidman’s character admits she once desired another man, so Cruise thinks it fit to retaliate by going an all-night search for sexual gratification. His journey takes him to a secret masked party, where sumptuous tracking shots linger on all-out room-to-room naked orgies (artfully shot of course). Clearly this marital breakdown erotica is not suitable Christmas family viewing, but it is worth watching for Kubrick’s typically stylish cinematography, tension and atmosphere. Perhaps it also rages against the supposed innocence of Christmas and the refusal of typical seasonal stories to acknowledge that people are just as much victims of their emotions and desires as they are the rest of the year.

4. Gremlins, 1984, dir. Joe Dante

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Gremlins

Finally here’s some light relief (which is what Christmas is supposed to be about, after all) from westerns, dystopias and erotica. However Gremlins was still nasty enough to inspire the PG-13 rating, since scenes of monsters attacking people with household appliances or being blown up in microwaves were considered too gruesome for a mere PG rating. To be fair, it is odd that today this is considered a family Christmas movie since such scenes are still rather graphic. Nevertheless it’s still lots of guilty fun to watch a sleepy American town fall prey to invading hordes of mischievous little green devils. The difference between this and other critter movies is that this one happens to be set during Christmas. Why? I’m not sure. I can only assume it’s some kind of marketing ploy, or maybe the film was scheduled to be finished near Christmas and the makers thought ‘what the hell, let’s make it a Christmas movie.’ Whatever the reason, they ended up putting a lot of effort into the Christmas aspect.

A festive pop song is blasted at us over the opening credits, the streets are laden with snow and every house is decked out like Santa’s grotto. To be honest this does contrast nicely with the mayhem that follows, perhaps to symbolise the fragility of Christmas against the forces of chaos. I also have a theory that the gremlins themselves are a reflection of what actually happens to people during Christmas. Instead of spreading goodwill, people turn vicious, ravenous and selfish. They devour all the food, drink too much and assault the bar staff while overcrowding cinemas with overexcited, screaming offspring to watch the latest Disney flick. Lastly, the film even has a little message of responsibility about getting a pet for Christmas. Do take care of your animals, whether it’s dogs or mogwai who can sprout evil babies from their backs when you get them wet.

5. Die Hard, 1988, dir. John McTiernan 

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Die Hard

I think a few people would be upset if I left this off the list. Like the other movies, this is a very un-Christmas movie that just happens to be set during Christmas. It does very little to promote any Christmas message. On the other hand, like Gremlins, Christmas is everywhere in typically American garish fashion. Bruce Willis walks into an airport in L.A. with a massive Christmas present and goes to his wife’s office Christmas party, which is the office Christmas party to end all office Christmas parties, at the top of a towering corporate complex. Then everyone (except Bruce of course) gets kidnapped by the evil Alan Rickman and his team of elite criminals. After that the festive mood is shot to pieces, rather like some of the unlucky office workers. The rest of the movie is Bruce crawling through air ducts in a filthy vest, frustrating both the robbers and the cops he’s supposed to be cooperating with. So what is the meaning of Christmas in this typical 80s action flick, apart from something in the background? Well there is a family theme, since Bruce’s wife is one of the hostages and he spends the entire film trying to save her. So life-threatening situation aside, Christmas time does bring loved ones together. Or maybe the film is trying to say that sometimes Christmas is not enough to fix estranged relationships. Only Snape’s terrorist ring can save your love life. Happy Christmas.

One last thing, I would just like to draw attention to the Christmas scene in Full Metal Jacket, where the drill sergeant leads his recruits in a chorus of ‘Happy birthday dear Jesus’. Because it’s hilarious.

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The Opening of Booth Gallery

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On 5 November 2015 world-renowned tattoo artist Paul Booth, the owner of the Last Rites Gallery in NYC, opened a new gallery called Booth Gallery.

Booth Gallery and its program of carefully selected artists will take over the large ground floor space of 325 W 38th St. (NYC, NY 10018), and the Last Rites Gallery will be relocated to the second floor mezzanine gallery for a more focused program of Contemporary Surrealism. Booth Gallery will allow Paul to display works by an even broader selection of local and international contemporary artists.

Paul has wanted to launch a new gallery focused on the exploration of new avenues in terms of cultural significance and visual communication for years. Booth Gallery’s program has been conceived to encompass a departure from contemporary surrealism for which Paul and Last Rites Gallery have been known. Paul’s goal for his new gallery is to develop a wider audience interested in connections between historical relevance and experimentation of idea based works. Furthermore, the gallery aims to trigger discussions focusing around social, psychological and philosophical subjects in virtue of a deliberately thought-provoking approach to contemporary art. We would like to invite you all to become an active part of our ongoing dialogue and new perspective on these topics.

Booth Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “Second Sight”, opening on November 14th at 6pm, will revolve around the connection that exists between information, perception and interpretation. This exhibition will include new works from artists Mike Cockrill, Jade Townsend, Ted Lawson, Chad Wys, Todd Lim, Johan Barrios, Ekaterina Panikanova, Ryan Hewett and Jesse Draxler.  This exhibition will be pivoted on the ambiguous connection existing between information, perception and interpretation. The title of the exhibition refers to the concept indicating the extraordinary ability of certain individuals to look beyond the oftentimes deceptive immediacy of the five senses. “Second Sight” has been conceived to explore the meanings and symbols that can be identified in the work of these artists through the interpretation of a vast repertoire of images, memories and esthetic experiences. The main goal of this exhibition is to highlight the analogies and differences between reality, representation and everything in between.

All the works have been selected in virtue of a dialog-based interaction that had been previously triggered by the artists themselves. In the light of these premises, the work of Chad Wys relates perfectly to the imagery of Jesse Draxler, since they are both deeply connected to the stratagems of visual communication and culture. The juxtaposition of excess and absence of information is a topical subject that can also be individuated in the work of Ekaterina Panikanova. Jade Townsend and Johan Barrios are like modern shamans who can turn the narrative dynamism of drawing, painting and sculpture into figments of their prolific imagination. The work of Ted Lawson, focused on experimentation, revolves around scientific theories, new materials and technology. Mike Cockrill and Todd Lim, on the other hand, prefer to provoke the viewers through an intricate alternation of social political and psychological statements. Together, these artists give us the opportunity to explore our existential perceptions of our reality.

Booth Gallery will follow up its inaugural exhibition with solo exhibitions by LA artist Jesse Draxler and Brooklyn artist Mike Cockrill in 2016 with several future exhibitions to be announced as well.


 

For further information about Booth Gallery, please visit: www.paulboothgallery.com or email: paulboothgallery@gmail.com or call Casey Gleghorn (Gallery Director) at 570-447-5778

Film Review: Blue Ruin

Our guest blogger is hobbyist film and TV series reviewer and writer Harry Casey-Woodward. On th-ink.co.uk Harry will be writing a series of posts in which he will be sharing his opinions on things he has watched. 

Blue Ruin, 2013, Cert 15, Director Jeremy Saulnier

There’s a film I saw years ago called Shotgun Stories about a war between two American families. The prospect of some rural blood feud excited me, but by the end the message of the film was clearly peace. The surviving members talked it out and mourned their losses. As much as I admired this anti-revenge film masquerading as a revenge film, I felt let down by the anti-climax. I’m not saying I wanted violence over resolution. The plot just felt resolved far too easily.

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Blue Ruin is a revenge film that does keep the violence but also its brutality and emotional impact, and nothing is easily solved. Although the creators were influenced by pulp splatter films, they have crafted a stylish, haunting thriller that’s a world away from the superficial gore fests currently dominating the B-movie scene. Although the violence is graphic, it’s not designed to entertain but rather make us clench our seats.
Our vagrant protagonist Dwight, played by Macon Blair, is informed that his parents’ murderer has been released from prison. He sets off a chain of violence that charges beyond his control.

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Dwight is no action hero. He is played brilliantly by wide-eyed Blair as a nervous wreck who stumbles through the drastic situations he creates, surviving mostly by luck and his wits. This makes him a compelling and relatable character.
The style of the film is suspenseful and minimalist, with little action and dialogue, relying mostly on atmosphere and the actors’ expressions to build up sudden blasts of brutality. It’s refreshing compared to the constant barrage of noise and rapid editing most action films offer.

Blue Ruin is a gem of independent cinema that both upholds and smashes the conventions of a traditional genre. I dare you to find a better revenge movie this year.

Series Review: Archer

Our guest blogger is hobbyist film and TV series reviewer and writer Harry Casey-Woodward. On th-ink.co.uk Harry will be writing a series of posts in which he will be sharing  his opinions on things he has watched. 

Archer, 2009 to present, cert 15-18, creator: Adam Reed, 4/5

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I like adult cartoons. There’s something twisted about taking a medium supposedly aimed at kids on Saturday mornings and infecting it with satire and innuendo. One of the best animated comedies you could be watching right now is Archer, the seventh season of which is released next year. You can get seasons one to five on disc and seasons one to six on Netflix. This is spy comedy but it’s no Kim Possible. If you thought Austin Powers was racy you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

The hero of this epic odyssey of madness is Special Agent Sterling Archer, voiced by H. Jon Benjamin who also voices Bob in Bob’s Burgers. Sterling is a secret agent who combines the smooth, violent alcoholism of James Bond with the crass humour and lust of a teenage schoolboy. In other words, although sometimes he is capable of completing missions, dispatching enemies and looking suave, his safety and sanity (along with those of others around him) are often threatened by a dangerous cocktail of arrogance, alcoholism and unbridled lustful enthusiasm.

Archer works for the unfortunately named private spy agency ISIS, owned by his mother Malory (Jessica Walter) who’s a bit of an alcoholic, scheming, selfish megalomaniac. He works alongside fellow agent and ex-girlfriend Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler) who despite being a more dependable agent than Archer is often the butt of department jokes due to her race and apparently oversized hands.

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The other ISIS employees include Cyril Figgis the accountant, a combination of bitterness, cowardice and depraved lust. There’s Pam, head of human resources who grew up on a dairy farm, has big appetites for food and various perversions (often combined) and performs in bare knuckle fights for extra cash. There’s medicated secretary Cheryl/Carol Tunt who changed her name as Archer kept getting it wrong and enjoys choke sex. Let’s not forget flamboyantly gay agent Ray Gillette (voiced by the writer) and ‘doctor’ Krieger who may or may not be a Nazi clone and whose experiments are always questionable. Archer’s long-suffering, heroin addicted butler Woodhouse deserves a mention.

It’s this combination of such depraved individuals and their conflicted abusive/sexual relations with each other that make this show so enjoyable, as well as the ludicrous situations they’re thrust into. They encounter terrorists, gangsters, prostitutes, pirates, cyborgs, animals and actors in a variety of exotic locations and volatile situations that swiftly descend into graphic cartoon violence and/or sex.

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Besides the characters and the plots, the second reason this show is a winner is that it’s a bold contender for the joke-a-minute claim. In other words, it’s really funny. I’m only up to season five and every episode is still as hilarious, energetic and fresh as the first season and sees no sign of letting up, which is remarkable considering how much is packed into each episode. The dark humour is a sophisticated yet coarse blend of political satire, crude innuendos and culture references (though these are not as obvious and frequent as in Family Guy). As with Family Guy and other such shows, Archer does occasionally go too far with the humour, especially when it comes to racial and sexual stereotypes. Then there’s the almost complete sexualisation of the female characters and you can’t help but wonder if the animators are maybe enjoying it too much. Nevertheless this is a spoof of the spy genre and action thrillers in general, which sexualise women without any apologies, whereas the main women in Archer are often vocally concerned about their dignity. I don’t think the show intends to be malicious or degrading about anyone (except their own characters) and their sole intention is to give us an action-packed, no-holds-barred and thoroughly enjoyable if guilty ride. You will never want to get off.

An Evening Filled With “An Exchanging Glance”

The Jeremy Hush Exhibition at Last Rites Gallery, NYC
21 November 2015 – 16 January 2016


On November 21st, I attended the opening reception for “An Exchanging Glance”, a solo exhibition of new works by Philadelphia illustration artist Jeremy Hush. The title of the show comes from one of the main pieces featured in the exhibition, where a Bateleur eagle sits atop an empty skull that rests in its nest, the piercing stare of the eagle juxtaposed with the vacant human eye sockets. It’s a reversal of dominion (i.e., the thinking of what humans actually assert dominion over) and what that entails. This piece, along with others included in the exhibition, is meant to remind us of the responsibility we have to other inhabitants of this world. In this way, Hush’s work demands that we rethink our roles, definitions, and the ways we understand ourselves as somehow superior to nature. Many works feature humans at moments of extreme vulnerability, or even demise, and with utter emotional vacancy. The plants and animals, on the other hand, are depicted with rich emotional and psychological character. This aesthetic experience comes complete with a massive installation comprised of five wooden rosette arches underlying the works of art.

When I first saw the media for this show, the images reminded me of 17th – 18th century Northern European still-life paintings, the really beautiful but incredibly ominous ones that contain time pieces, skulls, rotting fruit and dead animals, things which serve as symbols for death, life, vanity, earthly pleasures, greed, etc. Hush’s work, like these classic paintings, also holds a cautionary message about our behavior and inclinations towards the world we live in. The golden giant rosette arches, reminiscent of those found in a church surrounding stained glass windows or comprising the alter rails, create a dramatic contrast with both the imagery of the works and the black walls of the gallery. They inspire further contemplation of the things we humans do and why we do them. Religion depicts man as God’s highest creation, the earth with all its plants and animals is ours to use as we like. Often that statement seems to be interpreted as ‘abuse as we like’. Humans have used God not only to commit atrocities against each other, but against Mother Nature as well. Hush’s work forces us to confront the notions we have about our status in this world (i.e., a creature among creatures or an entitled godly beast) and even question the things that supposedly make us superior. At this ‘place of worship’ we do not find imagery of the Good Shepherd holding the docile beast, but rather we discover triumphant aspects of the natural world teaching humans the error of hubris. It’s all very dramatic and oh so stunning to look at.

As a philosopher, the theme was one that deeply interested me because historically great thinkers have attempted to assert and justify humankind’s superiority over nature by way of our rationality: we have big brains and can do logic, therefore we are master over mother nature! (I think, therefore I am the master of the universe.) Yet, we really know and control so little of this world. Hush’s work not only reminds us of the responsibilities we have to creatures great and small, but that this notion of ‘dominion over all’ we have entertained for over a thousand years will never succeed. It’s a fantasy. And given the state of the world at the moment – wars, poverty, racism, climate change, and reality TV – should we really be top beast?

Be sure to check out this exhibition before it’s gone. It’s beautiful, provocative, and insightful.

As for Last Rites Gallery, it’s a wonderful place to take in some great contemporary surrealist art. The gallery strives to display a showcase of thought-provoking art imbued with references to the dreamlike landscapes and ambiguous feelings originated from an intimate, philosophical contemplation of the self. Last Rites invites the observer to reflect inward and abandon himself to a conscious perception of what the innermost recesses of the mind can reveal and produce under the urge to see beyond our apparent limits. The gallery program is mainly focused on figurative paintings and sculptures featured by an unconventional interpretation of the human existence that seems to escape any definition of what is real, unreal or unknown.

 

About Jeremy Hush:
Born in 1973 in San Diego, CA, Jeremy Hush graduated from the Savannah College of Art in 1997. Inspired by the work of Arthur Rackham and other 19th century illustrators, as well as by the world of punk and heavy metal music, Hush’s imagery is strictly intertwined with the allegories and symbols of nature. To create his works, Jeremy prefers to use found materials such as ballpoint pens from around the world. While drawing and painting in a seemingly traditional way, Hush also experiments with a variety of unconventional mediums and techniques. Jeremy has been included in a number of group and solo exhibitions, and his works can be found in many private collections. He currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.

 

About Last Rights Gallery:
Established in 2008 by Paul Booth, Last Rites has become a premiere gallery for contemporary surrealism and a haven for artists who are not afraid of exploring and dissecting every aspect of the human condition to investigate the invisible, the unintelligible and the inexplicable with a focus on the most recondite twists and turns of reality.

Last Rites Gallery is located at 325 W 38th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues, New York, NY.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 1pm to 9pm, Sundays 1pm to 6pm.
For more information, please email info@lastritesgallery.com or call: 212.560.0666.