Hit Me With Your Best Shot: "The Exorcist"

The Hit Me With Your Best Shot series is deceptively simple. Choose a single shot from a pre-selected movie that you think is best, best being in the eye of the beholder. Tonight we're looking at The Exorcist (1973). And for me at least, it's the first time I've looked at it. That's not quite as shocking as your 12 year old daughter's head spinning 'round 180º, but maybe it's close.

Nearly every horror classic I've seen I've resisted in some ridiculous way: I saw Halloween at a sleepover movie marathon but it took my horror-loving friend five holidays to convince me; I first saw Silence of the Lambs because I had five nightmares about it beforehand and wanted them to end; I can't remember what prompted Rosemary's Baby but I'm willing to bet that I rented the video five times before actually watching it. And so on. 

If I was ever going to watch The Exorcist, the power of blogging would have to compel me. And so it did.

And here we are in the haunted upstairs bedrooms of actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and her daughter Regan (Linda Blair). The first thing that impressed me about the  movie was how rooted in character it was. Director William Friedkin and the novelist screenwriter William Peter Blatty spend more than half hour with the four main characters before the devil (The Devil?) crashes the party. The first shot that I truly loved foreshadowed the horrors to come in a wonderfully lived-in nonchalant way. After Chris MacNeil unleashes a stream of profanity on an angry phone call (including, pointedly, several "Jesus Christ!"s) we cut to the middle of the night when she's woken by a phone call. I love that the shot starts in the dark and when Chris flips on the light the only face that's really illuminated, given her bleary banged face, is Regan's in a photo on the bedstand; the young girl looks actively worried for her mother which is a brilliant set decoration move. Chris hangs up the phone and the camera tracks her movements to the right until we and she realize that her daughter has crawled into bed with her. It's the first time Regan is essentially split in the film, surrounding her anxious still oblivious mother.

Chris: What are you doing here?
Regan: My bed was shaking. I can't get to sleep.

Here in a sweet mother/daughter moment, Regan's telling us where all the horror will be found. The next voice we here, overlap edited over the end of this shot but just barely is the devil's if you want to get metaphoric about it is Captain Howdy's (The Devil's) who is banging about in the attic. Oh Chris, soon to be overwhelmed Chris, it's not rats. 

The Exorcist builds beautifully towards its truly grotesque last act but at least half of the reason it's so effective is that it never forgets who is terrified while it's terrifying us. My second favorite shot in the film is a beautifully quiet character beat for the title character(s) in the "intermission" of the exorcism. 

The Exorcist(s): Father Karras and Father Merrin

One of the movie's most disturbing famous images is "Help me" scrawled on Regan's stomach from the inside.  If Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) were to remove his clothing, wouldn't we see a similar cry for help from his private hell?

It's these quiet glimpses of internal terror that really sell the movie for me, whether it's Ellen Burstyn's increasing impotent understanding (when no one else has accepted it -- not even the priests) or Father Karras's personal doubts. This silence, this vacuum, lets the terror flood in, often courtesy of the Oscar winning sound work. In the shot above we still hear Regan's possessed wheezing from inside the bedroom, less shocking but even more unsettling than her loud profane outbursts.

This push and pull between external and internal terror, room-shaking chaos and sudden absences of sound but for Exorcist chanting to fill the void powers, for me, the most hypnotic shot in the film. The room suddenly goes quiet and we see Regan lift off the bed in crucifix pose until she's nearly touching the ceiling. A simple familiar image, yes, like you'd see in a magic show. But somehow alien and unnatural, too. Only the exorcists can break this unholy spell.

The Power of Blog Compels Them
Movies Kick Ass is Hollywood the devil?
The Tomas Experience "as sure as the sun rises, you can find evil anywhere"
Film Actually the mysteries of faith and science
The Sketchy Details Regan split in two
Antagony & Ecstasy a single mother's personal hell
Cheerful Cynicism the slow burn is the best part 
Cinesnatch has mixed feelings about the movie 
Okinawa Assault colours and threats 
Encore's World is moved by the mother/daughter bond 
Beau McCoy "The Exorcist and Nothingness" 
Stranger than Most find horror in the hospital
Pussy Goes Grrr "body and soul" and Linda Blair's eyes

Next Wednesday: Edward Scissorhands (1990)... will we catch you dancing in it?
Previously: Pariah (2011), Raise the Red Lantern (1991),  Serenity (2005)

VES Wins: Hugo, Rango and... "Dior J'Adore!"

Paramount had a big night at the Visual Effects Society awards. We knew that Hugo was bound to do well given that the VES Statue is already Papa Georges friendly (pictured left). But they won in other categories too thanks to Rango and Transformers. Will all three of those movies take home prizes at the Oscars? Transformers has the biggest hurdle there in all three of its categories but especially in visual effects since its battling Rise of the Planet of the Apes. "Caesar" is probably too agile to fall prey to "The Driller"

Visual Effects Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs, Kurt Williams
Supporting Visual Effects Hugo: Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, Rob Legato, Karen Murphy
Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Rango: Tim Alexander, Hal Hickel, Jacqui Lopez, Katie Lynch
Animated Character in a Live Action Feature "Caesar" Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Daniel Barrett, Florian Fernandez, Matthew Muntean, Eric Reynolds
Animated Character in an Animated Feature "Rango" Rango: Frank Gravatt, Kevin Martel, Brian Paik, Steve Walton

Created Environment in Live Action "155 Wacker Drive" Transformers: Dark of the Moon: Giles Hancock, John Hanson, Tom Martinek, Scott Younkin
Created Environment in Animated "Main Street Dirt" Rango: John Bell, Polly Ing, Martin Murphy, Russell Paul

Quick recall: I'm sure you remember Main Street in Rango since virtually all the action unfolded there. But if you need a quick memory nudge "155 Wacker Drive" is the building that took such a brutal beating in Transformers, an action sequence that they used so heavily in commercials since they correctly guessed that "The Driller" was their biggest WOW. In fact that action sequence was so memorable that it appears that Battleship wanted nothing more than to remind you of exactly that in their 'Transformers Jr.' Superbowl commercial.

Rango in the Dirt Saloon

Virtual Cinematography in Live Action: Hugo: Martin Chamney, Rob Legato, Adam Watkins, Fabio Zangla
Virtual Cinematography in Animated "The Dirt Saloon" Rango: Colin Benoit, Philippe Rebours, Nelson Sepulveda, Nick Walker
Models "Driller" Transformers: Dark of the Moon: Tim Brakensiek, Kelvin Chu, David Fogler, Rene Garcia
Compositing "Skinny Steve" Captain America: The First Avenger: Casey Allen, Trent Claus, Brian Hajek, Cliff Welsh

The rest of the awards were for television and commercials. Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire and Terra Nova (is that cancelled or not? Confusion) took home most of the prizes. You can see a full list of winners at the  VES Official Site. And just because we love it so much, and its such an actressexual fix, let us all gaze once more upon the great "Dior J'Adore" which won Visual Effects in a Live Action Commercial.

Remarkably Charlize Theron's beauty is not computer generated but an actual thing that exists in nature (Good job God!) but mixing in those famous immortals required computer assistance.

Patton Oswalt To Host the Oscars In 2021*

*This is not strictly true.

Remember that moment at the BFCA "Critics Choice" Show when Patton Oswalt took the stage, owned it, said somewhat interesting things (I forget what but it's been a long month), got laughs. Everyone was all 'why isn't he hosting?' in the twitterverse. Apparently that moment was not lost on Hollywood.

ANIMATION NEWS
Oswalt has not one but two upcoming hosting gigs in February. First "Remy" himself (Ratatouille!) will host the animation industry's Annie Awards on February 4th, 2012 about which he says:

The Annies are where the real weirdos hang, and it’s a visual feast just to have a drink with them—I can’t wait”

VISUAL FX NEWS
...and just three days later he'll host the Visual Effects Society Awards. Those people did a good job on his damaged legs in Young Adult, you must admit.

Neither of these awards shows are televised but baby steps. One day he'll be hosting the Oscars! I can see it now. But he has to get more famous first. Oscar is picky about the Q quotient.

P.S. One thing I'd totally forgotten about the VES Awards is that their trophy and logo are totally "Papa Georges" lovin'

Advantage: HUGO after the jump!

Click to read more ...

Film Bitch Awards Continue: VFX, Animation, Makeup

Film has always been a collaborative artform but the computer seems to be the great unifier these days. Is there any contribution that isn't tweaked these days in post? Maybe costumes? It's hard to know where the disciplines of stunt work, visual effects, performance capture, animation, prop and makeup effects begin and end these days but that's all right. It's always been hard to separate the film disciplines. A great many art direction nominations have happened because a cinematographer maximized the beauty of the sets and so on. What matters is that everything works in harmony to serve the movie.

We haven't really discussed The Adventures of Tintin and I'd love to hear your opinion. I was continually startled by the dense complexity of the imagery and effects but I also found the movie utterly exhausting, the movie equivalent of certain film scores by certain uh composers that begin with a climax and climax in each and every scene. I like a little more contours of beginning, middle and crescendo endings. But I had to credit its technical marvels somewhere.

My personal ballots for Visual Effects, Animated Feature and Makeup ... (the latter of which I treat more like Bafta and less like Oscar, considering hair and non-fx based makeup as well)

The Skin I Live In, Rango, The Tree of Life, Captain America: The First Avenger, Rise of the Planet of the Apes

VFX Oscar Upset: Rainbow Bridge of Asgard Shut Down For Repairs

This post is only illustrated with Hugh Jackman because I'm still reeling from that LES MIZ story! It's like a huge robot shaped like Taylor Swift just punched me!!!This just in (if this post were written last night. Pretend with me!)... The Academy has narrowed their Visual Effects race to ten players.

They'll have to cleave this list in half again by Tuesday January 24th, 2012 when the Oscar nominations are announced. Which five films will remain standing?

Captain America: The First Avenger
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The Tree of Life
X-Men: First Class

GOODBYE TO YOU
What does this mean? Only that five previously eligible semi-finalists have been kicked to the curb.

No more Cowboys & Aliens (though the ADG bit). No more Sucker Punch (later lobotomized ladies!). No more Sherlock Holmes Part 2 (is it just me or is this movie feeling strangely nonexistent to the world despite being in the box office top ten) No more Thor (the hammer is his penis). No more Super 8.

The latter rejection seems like the biggest surprise to me. It's seemingly the only Movie about Movies containing scenes of the filming of other Movies to not catch on with awards voters this year since The Artist and Hugo and even Drive seem to be doing just fine, thank you).

Which half of the finalist list are you all in for?

Related: Current Visual Oscar Predictions