Lloyd Kaufman and Toxie

That man pictured above? He happens to be one of the most important filmmakers alive.

No, really. Lloyd Kaufman — director, writer, producer, distributor, and head of Troma Entertainment — is absolutely one of the most innovative auteur directors in the history of cinema.

Okay, the silly pictures have to stop. Though he makes admittedly goofy, oftentimes incredibly (and intentionally) dumb, no-budget flicks, Lloyd Kaufman’s dead-serious approach to independent filmmaking makes him a figurehead that all aspiring, would-be directors should look up to.

Sure, Roger Corman has more respect from mainstream filmmaking. Yes, Charles Band makes more serious monster movies. But Lloyd Kaufman has something that far outweighs these attributes– the ability to influence and inspire generations of filmmakers through sheer, unbridled passion for the medium.

Pop any in-house Troma movie by Kaufman or partner Michael Herz into your DVD player and tell me you can’t feel it. The lust for creating just oozes off the screen (usually accompanied by green vomit and other bodily fluids). Yes, Troma films generally lack polish in most departments, but an undeniably punk-rock spirit has yielded legitimacy to the company’s motto: “Movies of the future.”

As such, Yell! Magazine feels that it our duty to pay respect — yes, you read right– by presenting to you, the reader, five clear cut reasons why Lloyd Kaufman and Troma are among the most important symbols in contemporary cinema.

1- Troma is intelligent

While Lloyd Kaufman may be responsible for writing, directing, and distributing some of the absolutely dumbest films imaginable (and I mean that in a good way), the man is no intellectual slouch. Case in point — he began his career at Yale! Majoring in Chinese Studies!! With intentions to go on to become a social worker!!! Yes, the man who used AIDS as the “biological threat” plot device in Troma’s War and became infamous for running over a child’s skull in The Toxic Avenger (see above) was going to be a social worker fluent in Chinese. That is, before his true calling beckoned him.

That calling, of course, was filmmaking. Lloyd Kaufman started his career with an eye for the avant-garde, albeit with a comedic slant (e.g., The Battle of Love’s Return and The Girl Who Returned). Though admittedly incoherent and sort of boring, the films contain much of what later made Troma great, combining slapstick and sexual humor while curbing techniques from such masters as John Ford, Charlie Chaplin, and Sam Fuller, as well as underground pioneers like Stan Brakhage.

From the very beginning, Troma made cinema-literate, albeit exploitation, a style that has continued today in such films as the rise-and-fall Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger Part IV and Terror Firmer. This attention and homage to the classics has also stretched into the literary world with Tromeo and Juliet and the upcoming Schlock and Schlockability.

Yet, what makes Troma’s in-house films really interesting is the politics at play. The company has pitted such past causes against Reganomics (Troma’s War), the battle of the sexes (Squeeze Play), Columbine (Citizen Toxie), political corruption (The Toxic Avenger), corporate pollution (The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nukem High) and the fast food industry (Poultrygeist). If anything, topical ideas and opinions represent the narrative backbone of their most seminal films.

While the humor of each film is typically bawdy and offensive, Troma’s typically moral messages offset the outrageousness and give their films enough heart and brains to consider them legitimately great satire. Sure, Lloyd Kaufman’s films seem dumb on the surface, but they’re the smartest kind of dumb you’re going to find outside of South Park. Incidentally, Matt Stone and Trey Parker have openly (and lovingly) admitted that Lloyd Kaufman is a huge influences. Just watch their first (Troma) film Cannibal: The Musical! if you don’t believe me.

Which brings us to… find out more Lloyd Kaufman love after the jump.

Capcom later confirmed on their website that the film will hit Japanese theaters in 2012, also announcing a new Resident Evil CG-movie called Resident Evil: Damnation.

Whether you’re a die-hard Miike fan or a fan of the video game series, yours truly thinks that it’ll be interesting to see what Miike can make of such fluffy subject material compared to what he normally deals in. (The home abortion scene in Imprint, anyone?)

What do you guys think? Can Miike make the film a successful ‘light comedy’? Leave your thoughts and comments below, and as always, stay tuned to Yell! Magazine for your latest updates!

Takashi Miike To Direct Ace Attorney Movie

John Woo, Movie Director

The Young Dragons by John Woo

His first major work happened in 1969 as a script supervisor at Cathay Studios. He moved to the Shaw Brothers Studios (one of the greatest Hong Kong film production companies) in 1971. He directed his first notable film (The Young Dragons) after moving to Golden Harvest in 1973. Because of its excessive violence (for the time) it took two years before it was finally released in 1975. This film is the first hint of what Woo would become when he finally had the freedom to do as he chose.

In 1976, Woo directed his second notable film, Hand of Death. Not only did he direct, but he wrote and starred in the film (along side Tan Tao-liang, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung) which for a man in his twenties was rare – especially one who had no formal education in film direction. After this film Woo moved into comedy films starting with The Pilferer’s Progress.

It wasn’t until 1983 with the making Heroes Shed No Tears that Woo began to show hints of what The Young Dragons foreshadowed. Although not a kung fu film (it deals with a group of mercenaries tracking down a drug lord) it shows the violence that made Woo famous. It too was shelved because of the violence and it took until 1986 when Woo’s greatest film to date – A Better Tomorrow – was released for it to be dusted off.

A Better Tomorrow, by John Woo

We can thank producer/director Tsui Hark for Woo’s greatest film. Woo, at the time, was washed up in many insiders eyes. He was in Taiwan at the time signed with Cinema City making unsuccessful comedy films (Run Tiger Run and Time You Need A Friend). Tsui suggested to the studio (at the time, he was with Cinema City as well) that they should let himself and Woo make A Better Tomorrow. Based on the 1960′s Lung Kong film called True Colors of a Hero, Woo took the traditional values of family, friendship and tolerance shown in the film and updated it with a modern style and plenty of action and gun-play. It became his greatest film and brought him back to Hong Kong from his self-imposed exile in Taiwan.

A Better Tomorrow started a string of action films that propelled Woo to the head of all Hong Kong action cinema directors in audience popularity. Films such as Just Heroes (a King Lear influenced film which Woo payed homage to Akira Kurosawa with), A Better Tomorrow 2 (again with Tsui Hark) and The Killer (the film that introduced Woo and actor Chow Yun-Fat to western audiences) all were successes either in Asia or North America.

A Better Tomorrow 2, by John Woo

During the creation process of A Better Tomorrow III, disputes between Tsui and Woo resurfaced (which began during the editing process of A Better Tomorrow 2 before being put to bed temporarily) and the two went separate ways. Tsui directed the third film of the franchise on his own and Woo released a Vietnam War film called Bullet in the Head.

The Killer by John Woo

After a lighter and more humorous film called Once a Thief, Woo would create another masterpiece of the caliber of A Better Tomorrow. Hard-Boiled was unsuccessful in Hong Kong, but North Americans ate it up. It paved his way to leave Hong Kong and begin a career in Hollywood. Hard-Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, Bullet In the Head and The Killer all proved Woo to be the best action director in the history of Hong Kong cinema.

Hard Boiled, by John Woo

Woo’s career in Hollywood would not be as successful. Films such as Broken Arrow, Windtalkers, and Paycheck were serious disappointments to Woo fans. There are many theories why many of Woo’s American films lacked the style and punch of his Hong Kong films, but it most likely was interference from studios and their executives. Front office control hampered Woo’s creative abilities. To prove this point, Woo’s greatest American film, Face/Off, was the film which he had the most control over.

Face/Off by John Woo

Even though Woo’s sojourne to America could not be considered a total success, there were hints of what Woo might have done if given full creative and financial control over his films. Hard Target is considered by most as Jean-Claude Van Damme’s best film. Face/Off is the best action film out of Hollywood in 1997. Mission Impossible II is the best of that franchise. So even when Woo doesn’t succeed his failure is limited.

After working on the TV film The Robinsons: Lost in Space and the video game Stranglehold (a third-person shooter set up as a sequel to Hard-Boiled), Woo returned to China to direct the historical epic Red Cliff I & II. In 2010, Reign of Assassins hit theaters and was a collaborative directorial effort between Woo and Chao-Bin Su.

John Woo's Stranglehold (video game)

Reasons for Watching the Movies of John Woo

John Woo brought the non-kung fu action film to Hong Kong cinema. His style: close-quartered shootouts, Mexican stand-offs, slow-motion sequencing, characters shooting guns with both hands, the massive amounts of bullets flying, and the cool clothing and accessories worn by the main characters all raised the bar on what would forever afterward be considered a great action film.

Woo’s films are compulsory watching for any action cine-phile. His influence spanned worldwide. At home he inspired numerous copycat films to the point that the classic kung fu movie almost died an unceremonious death. Overseas, directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and the The Wachowki brothers cite Woo as a direct influence. Anyone watching The Matrix can easily see the direct correlation between it and A Better Tomorrow.

John Woo Filmography

Reign of Assassins
Red Cliff II
Red Cliff
The Robinsons: Lost in Space
Paycheck
Windtalkers
Mission: Impossible II
Blackjack
Face/Off
Once a Thief
Broken Arrow
Hard Target
Hard-Boiled
Once a Thief
Bullet in the Head
Just Heroes
The Killer
A Better Tomorrow II
A Better Tomorrow
Heroes Shed No Tears
Run Tiger Run
Time You Need A Friend
Ba cai Lin Ya Zhen
Hua ji shi dai
Mo deng tian shi
Qian zuo guai
Hao xia
Ha luo, ye gui ren
Da sha xing yu xiao mei tou
Fa qian han
Shao Lin men
Dinü hua

His latest film, A Dangerous Method, is in post-production and scheduled for release sometime in 2011 has shirked both genres to fancy a foray into historical period pieces of the psychoanalytic kind. Cronenberg continues his relationship with actor Viggo Mortensen, which he began with Eastern Promises and A History of Violence. Mortensen stars as Sigmund Freud, yes the old Austrian guy who invented psychoanalysis by poking at the brains of upper-class women in Vienna.

The main story of A Dangerous Method centers on the relationship between Freud and his once protégé then estranged colleague Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender). The two began a correspondence in 1906, met in 1907, and parted ways in 1910. Keira Knightley plays Sabina Spielrein, the young, beautiful, and troubled woman who, according to writer Christopher Hampton, was the main reason for the split.

Any fan of early Cronenberg who enjoyed seeing porn stars playing predators, brain fights till heads exploded, and gross metamorphoses questioned the director in his choice to move over to crime drama. But we adapted and found some merit in naked Russian mobsters and hit men running small-town cafés. But we must draw the line at two brainiacs fighting over a crazy chick, even if she is the gorgeous Knightley.

Unless we at Yell! Magazine are missing something, which doesn’t seem to be the case, although we will reserve full condemnation until we see the film, we think Cronenberg has lost his mind. Perhaps instead of making a film about psychoanalysis he should seek some out himself.

A Dangerous Method, Keira Knightley

Paul Verhoeven

When he took breaks from action he still gave fans some T&A or other perversions to keep them interested (remember Basic Instinct, Show Girls, and Flesh & Blood?) But, given a choice, we much prefer the action.

After Starship Troopers, Verhoeven made Hollow Man, a thriller starring Kevin Bacon. The film was not well-received and Verhoeven disappeared for six years. He left Hollywood and it wasn’t until the WWII drama/thriller Black Book had its European release did we have hints that Verhoeven may be on a comeback.

It’s been five years since Black Book, and now we hear Verhoeven has returned Stateside after completing De stille Kracht, a homegrown film scheduled for domestic release sometime next year.

We were excited. We were looking forward to a return to form for Verhoeven. We were forgetting about the Hollow Man debacle, we were letting Show Girls fade from memory, and we were hoping that Black Book and De stille Kracht gave Verhoeven his fill for non-action directing.

Alex Murphy, Robocop (1987)

But sadly, we were disappointed again. The Surrogate, slated for a U.S. release in 2012, is presently in preproduction and the information we are getting on it is that it’s a thriller starring Kaley Cuoco, Halle Berry, and Julia Harari.

According to imdb, the plot reads: “An infertile couple hire a young college girl to be implanted with the couple’s last fertile egg — fully unaware that their surrogate is insane until she is midterm with their child.”

Don’t get us wrong, Basic Instinct and Black Book are two thrillers that can stand beside the best in the genre, and it won’t be surprising if The Surrogate joins their company, but are you like us here at Yell! Magazine? Do you want Vehoeven to drop the chicks and grab his dick?

Sharon Stone, Basic Instinct (1992)

We want the real Paul Verhoeven, the Verhoeven that enjoys gunfights and action heroes, blood and guts, comic book plot lines, and violent means to justify good ends. For fuck’s sakes, Paul, it’s time to get nostalgic before you truly become irrelevant.

Later,

If you’re both a fan of Carpenter, and what person other than an idiot isn’t, and a fan of the multiple-story horror film (such as Tales from the Crypt or Twilight Zone the Movie), then you’re looking forward to seeing Carpenter back up on the big screen. It’s been a long time since Ghosts of Mars (The Ward lacked distribution as of the writing of this article) was in theaters (2001 to be exact) and the Masters of Horror series just whetted fans’ appetite, nothing more.

The question is, though, which Carpenter will it be? Will it be the great Carpenter that brought us classics such as Halloween, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, and Escape From New York, or the mediocre Carpenter of the ’90s with such not-so-classic shit as Escape From L.A. and Vampires?

It will be interesting to see, but given that those ’90s flops, although panned by most, were still enjoyed by us at Yell! Magazine (we can’t help it, we love the guy), we hope for the former, but will still go see the film even if it’s the latter.

Later,

John Carpenter

Takeshi Kitano

Did you know that Takeshi Kitano made a video game? It was called “Takeshi No Chousenjou” published by Nintendo Famicom. The plot of the game involves a perfectly ordinary businessman who gets fired from his job and, in the end, finds treasure on some island.

Takeshi Kitano had never trained as a director; he learned it on the fly and his early films showed this learning process. One of Kitano’s trademarks is the static camera. He used it less for aesthetic purposes as more for the ease in shooting a scene. He also fell in love with the long take for the same reason. These two habits were less and less utilized as he became more comfortable in the director’s chair, but they never totally left his repertoire.

Another trademark of Kitano’s filmmaking process is his tendency to have scenes filmed by the ocean. He explained in an interview once that it was more because Japan is so small and surrounded by water and, therefore, hard to avoid rather than a personal love of the ocean.

Quentin Tarantino brought Sonatine over to the U.S. market through Rolling Thunder Pictures. He also wrote the prologue and epilogue on the double feature DVD release Zatoichi/Sonatine.

Starting as a novice and developing into one of Japan’s greatest modern directors is quite a feat for Kitano. That he is also a great actor in both serious and comedic roles, writes for film and other media, and is a painter makes him one of Japan’s greatest icons and a must-watch for movie buffs on this side of the Pacific.

Reasons for Watching the Movies of Takeshi Kitano

Takeshi Kitano is one of those rare directors who is also a writer and actor. Not only can he write, direct and act in all of his films if he so chooses, but he also has the talent to cross different genres. Although he started in comedy, he is also comfortable in crime, drama, action, and more experimental films.

Takeshi Kitano appeared in several episodes in the hit Japanese game show Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.

Takeshi Kitano Filmography

• Violent Cop
• Boiling Point
• Sonatine
• Kids Return
• Brother
• Dolls
• Zatoichi
• Achilles and the Tortoise
• Outrage
• Autoreiji 2

Watching films such as Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, or Jonathan Kaplan’s The Accused does not prepare you for what Gaspar Noé envisions on the subject of film rape scenes. In Irréversible rape is brutal, grotesque, and very difficult to watch and Monica Bellucci is convincing enough to turn your stomach. In order to see a film as hard to get through you would have to find a copy of Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left.

Noé reverses the order of the film, beginning with two men in a sleazy gay bar killing what they believe to be the rapist of one of the men’s girlfriend. Later you witness the act itself, which caused the chain of events to occur in the first place. Using hand-held cameras for some scenes as a way to increase the nauseating effects the violence and depravity portrayed on screen, Noé shows he doesn’t want his audience ever to feel truly comfortable watching his film. This film is not recommended for the constitutionally weak.

Irréversible trailer:

Irréversible pictures:

Yell! Rating (x/5 Skulls):

4 out of 5 stars

Year Released:

22 May 2002 (France)

Director:

Gaspar Noé

Cast/Crew

Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Nahon, Michel Gondoin

Genre

Adult, Drama, Mystery, Crime

Official URL:

none

© Lester Cohen, WireImage.com. via AskMen.com

David Fincher received his directing and film making experience through work rather than post secondary education. First working at Korty Films, then at Industrial Light and Magic, Fincher laid the groundwork for his eventual success. Working at Industrial Light and Magic until 1984, he left to direct a documentary (The Beat of the Live Drum) which opened the door to television commercials. After making advertisements for companies such as Revlon and Converse, Fincher felt he had enough experience to open his own production company. With Steve Golin, Sigurjon Sighvatson and Dominic Sena, Fincher started Propaganda Films in 1986.

With Propaganda, Finch directed some of the best known videos of the ’80s and ’90s for artists such as Madonna, Patty Smyth, Mark Knopfler, Steve Winwood, Billy Idol, The Rolling Stones and others. In 2001, Fincher and others shut down Propaganda and opened the talent management and advertising and music production company Anonymous Content.

Reasons for watching David Fincher films

In 1992, Fincher made his first foray into feature films with Alien 3. It left a bad taste in his mouth and he almost left the movie industry behind him. The film slumped at the box office and many critics lambasted Alien 3 as an affront to the two stellar films made previously for the franchise. But it did introduce audiences to Fincher’s dark film-noir-ish style of film making.

Fincher would go on to make some of the best films in drama and suspense with Fight Club and Se7en making him a legend in modern American film directing.

Fincher is the best of the group of music video directors who moved on to feature films in the ’90s. He outshines collegues Michael Bay (Bad Boys and Bad Boys II), David Kellogg (Cool as Ice and Inspector Gadget), Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men and Your Friends & Neighbors) and others. In fact the only other director this writer can put as an equal of his group would be Antoine Fuqua.

Fincher uses CGI to great effect usually when he wants a shot too difficult for a camera. You would be hard pressed to notice the difference between live action and CGI unless you were looking intensely for it. Fincher also loves to make the audience uncomfortable with his claustrophobic feel of many of his scenes. His use of lighting and shadow also adds to the depressing feel of his films. You could describe Fincher as a film noir buff with a music video eye for detail.

David Fincher filmography

• Alien 3
• Se7en
• The Game
• Fight Club
• Panic Room
• Zodiac
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Social Network
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Photo by My Guernica

Gaspar Noé was born December 27, 1963 in Buenos Aires. The son of the famous Argentine painter Luis Felipe Noé, Gaspar moved to New York, at the age of two, when his father was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. He then travelled back to Argentina with his father at age seven. By the time he turned fourteen, Gaspar found himself with his father in Paris. His interest in film studies began to take form when he attended École Nationale Supérieur Louis Lumière. Leaning both cinema and photography, Gaspar made his first short in 1991. Carne introduced fans to the Butcher (Philippe Nahon) who would later star in Gaspar’s first feature length film Seul Contre Tous. Carne tells the story of a Parisian butcher who takes revenge on those who he perceived to have raped his daughter. Seul Contre Tous continues the story after the butcher is released from prison. In 2002, Gaspar screened a film at Cannes (Irréversible) that caused quite a stir. Having critics leaving the theatre due to nausia or disgust, Gaspar became the talk of the town and his notoriety spread around the world. Since Irréversible, Gaspar has been mostly quiet as fans await for his next movie Enter The Void.

Reasons for watching Gaspar Noé films

We suggest people avoid Gaspar Noé as his films are too much for most.

An Audience of Zero: A Critical Study of Gaspar Noé

There are a certain population of artists in the world who, whether they know it or not, create a work, or body of work, that is meant to bring out a deep-seeded and perhaps even subconscious disdain or hatred of the human condition. These artists, many times, are called boundary pushers or provocateurs, but in reality they offer up pieces of culture that disgust or revolt their audiences…with a purpose.

Gaspar Noe, Seul Contre Tous

Some men love life, enjoy the company of their fellow human beings and believe the world is a good place to live. Their spirits are high and if they become artists, they reflect this in their work. Others have a more reality based ideology thinking that the human race has its brighter and darker side and they are comfortable working in either realm.

But there is a third type who believes that the world is a sick and evil place. To them, we all wear masks to hide this from the world. We smile and laugh but on the inside we are animals looking for the opportunity to achieve our darkest desires. This type of artist sees the world as a farce and the human race as hypocrites. They search for honesty and never find it. They look into the human soul and they see only black.

These artists can’t escape from inclusion into their own world view so they have doubts on whether they are correct in the assumptions they make. They know they are not as evil as the world they see on the other side of their eyes and decide their hatred for their fellow man might be unjustified. They suffer from the same doubts as any other person and react by deciding to use art as experimentation. They behave similar to a research scientist when investigating a theory in order to make a proof; and their audiences are their laboratory rats.