Nevermind the orange leaves outside your window. Here at Robot Panic it’s still the dog days of summer. And what better to close out the oft-delayed Summer Film Festival than with the widely acclaimed 2008 Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In, just in time for SHOCKtober! (We’re all about synergy here).

In today’s pop culture society, the stock of vampires in fiction has been greatly devalued. Nowadays, the mythical figures are more 90210 than Nosferatu, more glitter than ghoulish. But last year, Swedish director Tomas Alfredson struck back with his adaptation of the 2004 John Ajvide Lindqvist novel Let the Right One In about a bullied twelve year-old boy who befriends a 200 year-old vampire. But romance and a return to the darker vampire narratives of old are not mutually exclusive. Ultimately, Let the Right One In is still a romantic film, but it doesn’t sacrifice narrative or tone for cheap emotional exploitation. The film currently holds a 98% freshness rating on Rottentomatoes.com, and it isn’t one to miss.

As is the case with all but one of this year’s picks, Let the Right One In is available for online streaming via Netflix Watch Instantly. It’s worth noting that the version on Netflix includes the preferred theatrical subtitles, as opposed to the controversial re-translated DVD subtitles. Also, the week eleven pick, Park Chan-Wook’s Oldboy, was just recently added to the list of films available for streaming. So if you missed out on that one when we discussed it, be sure to go back and check it out.

As always, spoilers follow in the comments below.

This week, we’ll be discussing the penultimate film in our summer film festival, the 1970 French heist film Le Cercle Rouge. Directed by renowned French New-Wave director Jean-Pierre Melville, Le Cercle Rouge is considered to be one of the greatest heist films of all time.

In the interest of keeping things simple and not trying to over-film-school this post up, I should say what has to be on everyone’s mind after watching this; This movie is cool. Not referential-manufactured-Tarantino cool. Not fast-paced-spectacle-explosion cool. I mean I-want-to-be-that-guy cool. Not-even-trying cool. The kind of cool that wears a trenchcoat without looking cliche, smells like cigarette smoke and whiskey and never has to raise its voice–a voice that sounds like it should be accompanied by a stand-up bass and jazz piano. Stone-cold cool.

The film was Melville’s attempt to make a smart, contemplative take on the American noir films that had influenced much of his filmmaking. The film feels wonderfully spartan, and never forceful. Much of the first 30 minutes play out with almost no dialouge, introducing us to the two antiheroes through their actions rather than their words. The silence also draws our attention to the gorgeously grimy locales of the French countryside and the rain-slicked streets of Paris. It’s this interplay between visuals and audio that pays off the most in the renowned 30-minute heist scene at the finale. All-in-all, I consider this one of the most recommendable films of the entire festival so far. If you have some aversion to foreign films in subtitles, please find it in yourself to put that aside for this week and watch one of the most enjoyable, and simultaneously artful heist flicks ever made.

As is the case with most of this year’s selections, this film is available for viewing via Netflix Watch Instantly, and unlike the week six pick JCVD, it is in its native French with English subtitles, the recommended viewing experience. As always, spoilers follow in the comments below.

As our yearly festival winds down, this week we’ll be discussing the last comedy on the docket, the neo-noir film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, directed by Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black.

Released in 2005 to poor box office returns, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang flew under many people’s radars. However, despite its financial failure, the film was praised by critics, receiving 83% positive reviews according to Rotten Tomatoes. The film follows Harry (Robert Downey Jr.), a smooth-talking New York thief who, though a case of mistaken identity, gets whisked to Hollywood for a role in an upcoming detective film. In preparation for his role, Harry is assigned to shadow “Gay” Perry (Val Kilmer), a private eye on a standard stakeout case. However, the case soon takes a turn for the worse, and, in true noir fashion, Harry finds himself tangled in a web of lies, sex and murder as he races to try to solve the crime.

The most defining quality of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is how self-aware it is. Harry regularly breaks the fourth wall to comment on the action, or to call out the more ludicrous plot twists and conventions. But the self-awareness is best used in managing audience expectations. Some of the biggest laughs come when common action and noir film tropes are given more realistic outcomes, but instead of playing simply as parody, Black uses misdirection to keep the audience in the dark until the very last second.

The performances also deserve a mention. Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer offer up such a stellar comedic duo here, it’s hard not to get drawn in. It’s also interesting how the character’s view of themselves differs from, and effects how audiences see them. Harry sees himself as the hard-boiled, suave protagonist, but he’s far too bumbling and good-natured to fill the role unless he’s forced into the position. And despite most film narrators usually offering the most level-headed perspective (except unreliable narrators), Perry is the character who holds everything together.

Either way, this is certainly the funniest film in the marathon, and highly recommended to anyone. This is the last film that is not available via Netflix’s Watch Instantly feature. As always, spoilers in the comments below.

As we near the close of our summer-long film festival, we take a look into the dark mind of Korean director Park Chan-wook with his 2003 revenge film Oldboy. The middle third of his Vengeance Trilogy, Oldboy is widely considered to be one of the best films of the decade. This violent revenge thriller won the Grand Prix prize at Cannes, and was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or.

The film tells the tale of Oh Dae-su, a man who is imprisoned in a hotel room without explanation, with only a television as his link to the outer world. As he languishes in his prison, he learns that his wife has been murdered. Finally, after fifteen years of seclusion from the outside world, he is released and given five days to find his captor and exact his revenge. A word of warning to the squeamish: this is a brutal film. The five-day hunt for reprisal is arduous, and Chan-wook pulls no punches in a film about the human animal. Dae-su’s murderous rampage is hard to watch, but it’s the anguished mayhem that bears the film’s soul. It’s the desperate, bloody scramble for retribution that keeps the audience gasping for air.

As always, spoilers in the comments section below, so it is suggested that you avoid the discussion until you view the film as spoilers could very well ruin your enjoyment of the film. Also, unlike this summer’s other picks, Oldboy is not available on Netflix Watch Instantly, but it is available through their regular through-mail service. The same goes for next week’s film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a comedy chosen to offset the darkness of Oldboy.

As we turn the bend onto the final leg of our summer film festival, we now come to some darker territory. With the exception of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the remainder of the films in the marathon are somewhat darker than many of the earlier picks. Of course, all that starts with the 1992 Best-Picture winning anti-western Unforgiven.

Hollywood’s western adoration burned out long ago, and despite being shortly revived by Sergio Leone’s daring and subversive Dollars Trilogy, hasn’t seen much of a comeback. However, in 1992 the Clint Eastwood directed film Unforgiven showed audiences a new, dark side of a genre long associated with the “real America” they were talking about during the last election. It’s the assured triumph of good over evil that people find comforting. But the wild west portrayed in Unforgiven is a tonal departure from what most people understand a “western” to be. In fact, there is almost a film-noir sensibility to the film. The white-hats vs. black-hats morality of old is instead muddled. William Munny, the main character, is an aging bandit and former alcoholic. The death of his wife and the need to care for his two children drives him to reflect upon his life and confront his past actions. When a group of prostitutes put a bounty on the man who assaulted one of their own, Munny finds the chance to make good for his past actions.

Despite its subversion of the genre, Unforgiven is still regarded as one of the great westerns in its own right.  The American Film Institute included it on the list of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time, and listed it as one of the 10 Best Western films of the last 100 years, along such classics as Shane, Stagecoach, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In 2004, it was also included for preservation in the National Film Registry as a culturally significant film.

As always, the discussion in the comments will be spoiler-filled, so proceed with caution. Also, a quick reminder; While Unforgiven is available via Netflix Watch Instantly, the next two films in the festival, Oldboy and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are the only two in the festival that are not, so be sure to get ahold of the DVDs before then.

Apologies for yet another delay. But not to worry, the Summer Film Festival is back for another round with Paris, Je T’aime.

Another fairly recent film, 2007′s Paris, Je T’aime (translated as Paris, I Love You) certainly stands apart from the others. Comprised of 18 5-minute vignettes from directors including Gus Van Sant, Joel and Ethan Coen and Alfonso Cuaron, the film is a love letter to Paris, with each filmmaker contributing their take on love in the city of lights. However, a one-word directive leaves much room for interpretation, and some of the most interesting entries are often the ones with the most unique take on the subject. In a sense, this entire film is support for the Auteur theory. It’s a single film that manages to maintain an identity even though each five minutes brings a new, unique vision.

Paris, Je T’aime is available on Netflix Watch Instantly and can also be found for under $10 at various retailers.

Please join us next week when we discuss the Clint Eastwood modern classic Unforgiven.

“I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

No doubt you’ve heard this quote dozens of times in your life. Well, this week’s movie Network is where it originated. When longtime television anchorman Howard Beale learns he is being fired due to poor ratings, he announces – live, on the air – that viewers should tune in to his final appearance because he will be blowing his brains out to end the broadcast. Naturally, the normally apathetic broadcast crew and network executives flip out and pull Howard off the air immediately. Somehow, Howard talks his way back on the air the next evening and through a candid commentary becomes “The Mad Prophet of the Airwaves”.

Featuring such 70s Hollywood heavyweights as Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty, and featuring Walter Kronkite’s daughter Kathy, Network was a scathing satire of television news as well as a prophetic vision of the future of broadcast journalism.

Network received several Oscars including Best Actor and Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, and Best Director. It remains just as relevant today as when it was released in 1976; a rare quality in Hollywood pictures.

Network is viewable via Netflix Instant Queue. As always, please post your thoughts for discussion in the comments section below. And please join us next week when we discuss Paris, Je T’aime

See the full quote from that famous scene after the jump.
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We find ourselves at the halfway point in our marathon, and to celebrate the milestone, this week we’ll be discussing Humphrey Bogart’s classic noir The Maltese Falcon. Considered one of the greatest films of all time, The Maltese Falcon is a film noir that still manages to hold up today, despite the countless parodies of the often over-the-top genre of hard-boiled detectives and way too many shadows. The film relies on low-angle camera shots like those used in Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane to convey a larger-than-life sense, the characters towering above us. It also uses long takes and tracking shots that are particularly impressive.

And that’s all without mentioning Humphrey Bogart as the San Fransisco private eye Sam Spade. By the end of his career, Bogart had become synonymous with film noir, with this film and follow-ups like The Big Sleep. But this film came out when he was at the top of his game, just one year before the release of Casablanca.

Apologies for the one-week lapse in the festival, but due to the aftermath of the United States’ Independence Day weekend, the film festival took a short one-week holiday break. But it’s back, and with a vengeance! It’s family was murdered, and now it’s on a blood-thirsty search for vengeance with Jean-Claude Van Damme’s JCVD.

Of course, this isn’t any ordinary Van Damme flick. Rather than a bombastic action movie heavy on karate and explosions, it’s a comedic semi-fictional portrayal of the actor’s crumbling marriage, waning fame and disillusionment with life in general. When the actor becomes caught in the middle of a hostage situation, he finds himself dealing with the would-be robbers to protect his fellow hostages, while simultaneously brokering the negotiations with the police, who assume he is one of the hostage-takers. In a style largely inspired by French New-Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Goddard, director Mabrouk El Mechri creates a portrait of an aging action star that is simultaneously entertaining and endearing.

Also, considering the subject matter of the film, it is ironic that JCVD is Van Damme’s most critically successful film to date, the only one with a “certified fresh” rating on Rottentomatoes.com.

Now that we’re all done recovering from Dear Zachary two weeks ago, it’s time to dive headfirst into something heavier. Not heavy emotionally, but mentally. This week’s film is the independent mind-bending time travel movie Primer.

Written, shot and completed for only $7,000, the film by former engineer and mathematician Shane Carruth won the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance film festival in 2004. Theh film follows two friends who, while attempting to build a superconductor in their garage, accidentally create a time machine. But the more they use the machine, the more they begin to distrust one another, worrying that the other is using the machine for nefarious purposes or to double-cross them. Primer‘s real claim to faim, however, is the fact that Carruth wrote the film intent on not “dumbing down” any of the technical jargon. Much of the dialogue in the beginning of the film is nigh incomprehensible, but is written and delivered in such a way to keep the audience excited, despite being in the dark. The film is also renowned for being, at least on the first viewing, absolutely impossible to fully understand. As the film progresses, the time-jumping plot becomes more and more tangled within itself, mirroring the duo’s relationship spiraling out of control at the same time. The film is told in a non-linear fashion–or at least I think it was. After multiple viewings and plenty of time to mull it over, I’m still not sure exactly how things happened. However, even after I saw it the first time, I knew that it was one hell of a watch, even if I wasn’t sure what was going on.