WernerHerzog Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Serious Scores: 'Aguirre: The Wrath of God'
Filed under: Music & Musicals », Fandom »
We're doing something crazy, and launching another little series here on Cinematical: Serious Scores. You're a smart bunch, so I imagine you've already figured out that the goal isn't to highlight our favorite bank heists, but to praise the creme de la creme of cinema's soundtracks. Hopefully, you'll find something new for your iPod, rediscover a lost favorite, or appreciate a piece along with us. Technically, Werner Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God doesn't have an official soundtrack. The entire score was recorded by the German progressive band Popol Vuh (the first of many collaborations they did with Herzog), and was released as an album in 1975, with a 2004 re-release. Only two tracks were actually used in the film: Aguirre I and Aguirre II. If you disdain the rest of their Krautrock, the magic of iTunes and Amazon allows you to buy them individually. Now you can put them on a playlist, set them to repeat, and go as mad as Aguirre himself.
Hints of madness aside, Aguirre I and II are pretty incredible pieces of music and were raved about in the 1970s. I think the music is just as powerful today, even if Moog synthesizers seem to have fallen out of favor. It's hypnotic and eerie, and so very evocative of that torpid jungle journey. Never have native panpipes sounded as frantic and terrified. I've embedded Aguirre I below the jump, but I highly recommend spending the $0.99 so you can download it to something hand-held and listen to it in the dark.
Eva Mendes on Nudity: "I Go For It"
Filed under: Drama », Fandom », Remakes and Sequels », Cinematical Indie »
Shocker! Displaying a positive attitude that should warm the heart of any moviegoer who loves the female form, Eva Mendes declares: "If I feel it's appropriate to show some nudity in the scenes then I go for it." She told Fox News: "As much as I use my sexuality, I have never felt exploited. I feel like it's on my terms and I have no problem with it." Speaking as someone who first noticed Mendes when Ethan Hawke opened a door in Training Day to reveal her lying naked on a bed, I say: "I have no problem with it, either." The actress is promoting her appearance in Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, which opens later this month (and prompted our own Jeffrey D. Anderson to wonder if the remake was a good idea in the first place.) Mendes has been willing to bare portions of her body for several films, but it's not like she's leisurely walking around naked in any of them. Instead, they're more like brief flashes, tantalizing glimpses that are either frankly sexual (We Own the Night) or fanboy flirtatious (The Spirit, pictured).
Mendes was open in talking about 'turning up the heat and turning up the sexuality' when appropriate, admitting that it's "no accident" that she appeared in an "amazing" Calvin Klein advertising campaign that caused American TV censors to tremble badly. I think it's refreshing to hear an actress admit that she uses all of her assets on her terms, rather than feeling ashamed or exploited. Good for her!
Should Herzog Have Made 'Bad Lieutenant'?
Filed under: Remakes and Sequels »
Werner Herzog's new film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans has raised all kinds of hackles, mainly over the "remake" issue. Some movie buffs are crying foul over the remaking of Abel Ferrara's classic Bad Lieutenant (1992), including Ferrara himself, who launched some famously acid comments in the press. This fuss has caused most critics to address the issue of how closely the two films resemble one another. In most cases, critics have concluded that the two films are entirely different with totally different feels and approaches.
Frankly, I'm fascinated by the two films, given that both directors are crazy mavericks, both indulging in their looniest personal whims, no matter what the cost or the outcome. This is not a remake in which anyone is concerned with "staying true to the material" or anything boring like that. Ferrara went nuts on his original film, and Herzog has gone nuts on the new film. Herzog has claimed that he never even saw Ferrara's film, and indeed, it more closely resembles his own earlier films with Klaus Kinski, with Nicolas Cage playing the part of the unhinged, psychopathic terror onscreen. (Most people I have spoken to have compared Cage's performance with some of his earlier, more extreme work, such as Vampire's Kiss).
Exclusive Images from 'The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans'
Filed under: Drama », Telluride », Fandom », Movie Marketing », Toronto International Film Festival », Images »
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Cinematical has just received these exclusive stills from Werner Herzog's kinda-sorta remake of Abel Ferrara's dirty, foul-mouthed 1992 film starring Harvey Keitel as a sick, sadistic, drug-addicted cop who's investigating the rape of a young nun. Updated for the "We'll Try Anything Twice" generation, Herzog's The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans stars Nicolas Cage as our dirty, violent, sex-charged corrupt cop who's apparently in charge of investigating the killings of five Senegalese immigrants when he's not busy breaking the law in a variety of disgusting and distasteful ways.
The film, which screened at the Telluride Film Festival and is about to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, seems to be drawing a number of fascinating reactions from critics. Our own Eugene Novikov had this to say in his review: "If you're a fan of this genre, this could be your chance to watch a smart filmmaker take it in some strange and interesting directions; if you're not, this is your chance to watch a smart filmmaker make fun of it. If you've been following Nic Cage's increasingly intense scenery-chewing over the last couple years, this is your chance to see it taken to its logical conclusion and beyond. Herzog occasionally makes The Bad Lieutenant feel frivolous, but it's rarely less than fascinating."
Check out a bunch of exclusive images from the film below, and look for it to hit theaters later this year.
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TIFF Review: The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Filed under: Action », Drama », Independent », Telluride », Theatrical Reviews », Toronto International Film Festival »
It's no secret that Nicolas Cage has been going off the deep end of late. His performances have become increasingly unhinged and harebrained; you never know when the character he's playing will suddenly become apoplectic over something that seems -- no matter what it is, in comparison to the reaction it draws -- relatively minor. This almost singlehandedly ruined this year's Knowing, at heart a decent science-fiction flick rendered nearly unwatchable by Cage's fevered overacting. It's no coincidence that Cage hasn't done a "serious" dramatic performance in more than three years. I shudder to think what that would now look like.
All of which makes me think that Werner Herzog is even smarter than people give him credit for. Having cast Cage in his "remake" of Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant (I put "remake" in scare quotes as Herzog claims to never have seen Ferrara's film, and the new one has nothing to do with it beyond sharing some bare plot elements), he lets the actor go truly all-out. In The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Cage, playing the titular Lieutenant Terence McDonagh, interrupts himself, has roundtable discussions with himself, cheers himself on, punctuates conversations with non sequitur chuckles and handclaps, and gets hugely angry. It's a completely absurd performance -- and, God willing, a way for the actor to let off steam and return to the more nuanced, settled acting he used to do.
A Small Collection of Klaus Kinski Outbursts
Filed under: Fandom », Trailers and Clips »
One of the best things about YouTube is that you can find bizarre treasures that fans have lovingly transferred from VHS or Betamax for your viewing pleasure. One of the most fascinating crazycakes actors of all time, Klaus Kinski, is in full effect on YouTube, so I've gathered a few of his most fabulous outbursts for your viewing pleasure. Author Dennis Cooper has also excerpted on his blog some of the more choice quotes he found online from one of Kinski's books, All I Need is Love. He certainly wasn't lacking for sex, since Kinski, despite his looks and batty tendencies -- or perhaps because of them? -- had a way with the ladies. But I digress. If you think Abel Ferrara's choice words for Herzog, Kinski's frequent collaborator and frenemy, was bad, check this out:
Now I absolutely despise the murderer Herzog. I tell him to his face that I want to see him perish like the llama he executed. He should be thrown to the crocodiles alive! An anaconda should throttle him slowly! The sting of a deadly spider should paralyze him! His brain should burst from the bite of the most poisonous of all snakes! Panthers shouldn't slit his throat open with their claws, that would be too good for him! No. Big red ants should piss in his eyes, eat his balls, penetrate his asshole, and eat his guts! He should get the plague! Syphilis! Malaria! Yellow fever! Leprosy! In vain. The more I wish the most horrible of deaths on him and treat him like the scum of the earth that he is, the less I can get rid of him!YouTube crazy time after the jump!
First Trailer for the Herzog/Lynch Film 'My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done'
Filed under: Drama », Thrillers », Trailers and Clips »
Hearing that Werner Herzog and David Lynch were teaming up for a guerrilla-style project back in 2008 sounded too weird to be true. Granted, the former would be directing while the latter would just produce and present, but still -- it's a merging that seems too epic for one small film. It might be epic, but if the trailer is any indication, it'll also be quite good. After the jump you can check out the first trailer for My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, which will premiere at TIFF next month.
Inspired by a true story, My Son focuses on an aspiring actor performing Sophocles, who then acts out the play by killing his mother. "The mystery unfolds in a series of flashbacks displaying the psychological destruction of the killer set off by an ill-fated white-water kayaking trip in a distant land." (Synopsis over at Collider.) I'm not sure how that all fits together -- a mystery about the why rather than the who of the killing -- but I can't say I care. I'm hooked.
That being said, must we still be presented with trailers boasting ridiculous voiceovers? It's quite apparent that there's a lot of goodness in My Son, and it doesn't really need the deep, somber voice explaining about the unexpected crime on a quiet street. It makes the whole thing sound ridiculous, rather than wholly intriguing with a cast that boasts Michael Shannon, Chloe Sevigny, Willem Dafoe, Brad Dourif, Michael Pena, Udo Kier, and the wonderful Grace Zabriskie.
Keanu Reeves Becoming a Chef? + Werner Herzog's Food Show
Filed under: RumorMonger », Celebrities and Controversy », Trailers and Clips »
We already learned that Keanu Reeves is ready to tap into his foodie side for David Fincher's Chef, but could this culinary fan take it a step further? Contact Music reports that Reeves has become enamored with Herve This and his book Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavour. The actor said: "I'm dabbling in it and looking at becoming a chef. He is fantastic. I didn't really cook before but this book may be changing my life." Jesus... Talk about jumping right in. For those unfamiliar, molecular gastronomy is cooking by means of science -- not exactly the ease of a fried egg.I can't help but wonder if this is all just part of his prep for Chef, and if it is, that makes me a bit more interested in the whole production. The thought of Reeves taking on a food-loving comedy was hurting my foodie heart, but if he is actually learning the subtle and intricate science of food? My interest is piqued.
Meanwhile, you can head through the jump to see a spoof video about what it might look like if Werner Herzog hosted a cooking show, and got a little help from Jim Jarmusch. The infamous shoe is present, but this time he's whipping up something more palatable.
Bon appetit!
Nic Cage's Awesome 'Bad Lieutenant' Remake Trailer
Filed under: Drama », Fandom », Movie Marketing », Trailers and Clips »
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It's almost too obvious that this so-called Bad Lieutenant remake from Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage is destined to become the crack junkie of Netflix a year from now; an instant guilty pleasure -- the sort of film some folks will hate, but some will adore. The original 1992 Bad Lieutenant from Abel Ferrara (and starring Harvey Keitel in the lead) was like a shock to the heart; a gritty, nasty, foul-mouthed dirty cop flick that made you immediately want to take a shower once the end credits began to scroll. This new version, which carries its own original story and isn't a remake (according to Herzog), definitely looks to keep a lot of the nastiness, but injects it with that odd Cagian humor as well. How can you not laugh at Cage when he spits out sentences like, "What, you don't have a lucky crack pipe?" Eva Mendes (reteaming with her Ghost Rider co-star), Val Kilmer and rapper-actor Xzibit also star. If anything, this looks like a fun film for those old school Nicolas Cage fans desperate to see the guy take on non-commercial fare for a change. Herzog fans? I don't know what to tell you; this looks nothing like a Herzog film -- though this "trailer" does look like a promotional tool used to help sell the film (at Cannes?) and not an official, finished (and polished) piece of marketing.
But you be the judge -- we've included the trailer after the jump because it's definitely NSFW. Be warned.
400 Screens, 400 Blows - A Werner Never Quits
Filed under: Columns », 400 Screens, 400 Blows »
400 Screens, 400 Blows is a weekly column that takes an in-depth look at the films playing below the radar, beneath the top ten, and on 400 screens or less.
I suppose everyone's tired of hearing about the Oscars, and so am I, but in my heart of hearts, I'm secretly hoping for three particular wins. The first, Anne Hathaway for Best Actress for Rachel Getting Married (95 screens), will never happen. The second, Penelope Cruz for Best Supporting Actress, may happen (she's currently leading in the IMDB Oscar poll). Cruz represents the one and only nomination for the year's best film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (15 screens). The third is Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World for Best Documentary, which probably won't happen, especially given the awards-friendly Trouble the Water (4 screens) and the hit Man on Wire. The reason I'm excited about this last one is that Herzog has been making films for a full 40 years, is generally regarded as one of the world's great living filmmakers, and has received one and only one Oscar nomination: this one.
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