[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

7 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Will refrain discussing the movies ihave seen that share the title with the last movie.

They may or may not be better than what I watched. 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....

Dumb Money (Netflix, leaving on 7/12) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Dumb Money feels a bit like a spiritual sequel to Adam McKay's The Big Short. It's like that due to the focus on the variety of characters involved, the story involving the US stock market, the US government deciding to intervene on behalf of corporations and millionaires, and the humanistic aspects of the lives of those involved.

Keith Gill (Paul Dano) is a guy who runs a YouTube page and decides to buy stock in GameStop. Much of what he indicates for the reasons why goes down to his own analysis but also as a way to 'stick it to the man' - which in this case, are hedge funds and venture capitalists like Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen), Steve Cohen (Vincent D'Onofrio), and Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman). Although for Gill, he doesn't even know those he's competing against, he just knows what his position in GameStop is doing.

Dumb Money humanizes the rich a bit - the scenes where Plotkin has lost billions for the losses on the short position, his testimony in front of Congress are examples of that. Humanizing isn't the same as the movie taking their side however. But it's telling that companies like Citadel were involved with Robinhood and pressuring them to stop buy/sell options for GameStop stock. Vlad Tenev (Sebastian Stan) is obviously nervous and can't tell the truth, even with a subpoena to Congress or an appearance on Dave Portnoy podcast.

The difference between Dumb Money and The Big Short is it's less of a social satire and more of a pointed criticism. It's not hard to see that even regardless of the administration or those in Congress, that Congress will always protect the rich over the middle class and the poor when it comes to the stock market. That a small fish in a big ocean like Keith Gill will be given a choice between "you resign or you get fired" due to what he says online. The online world and the real world shrinks daily; what people say behind the anonymity of the internet gets found out. With this playing out during the age of Covid-19 as well, it's also talking about the isolation felt during that time and the democratization of the internet that Covid-19 enabled.

Dumb Money has not only focus on those involved with the stock rally and short positions but those outside of the inner circle of the story. Jenny (America Ferrera) sees this as a way to get back as well, even though in the end, she loses a lot of money. Marcos (Anthony Ramos) works at GameStop and ends up selling some of his stock. (Just as an aside, I knew a guy that worked at GameStop who was a bit of a prick and he became a millionaire after he sold all his shares in GameStop. He told me he was getting fired over doing that. He laughed about it and basically said the same thing that Marcos said in this movie about there being a ton of hoops that had to be jumped through just to fire him). The two college girls - Riri (Myha'la Herrod) and Harmony (Talia Ryder) - who end up making back their investment.

The movie ends with Keith and his brother Kevin (Pete Davidson) running in a thunderstorm naked.

Craig Gillespie as a director fits within the mold of Scorsese in terms of music usage in crucial scenes. The opening scenes having characters running to Cardi B's "WAP" is especially choice (given Keith Gill's persona as Roaring Kitty, it's clever). The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" be used at the end and during a montage showing various internet commentators rallying over the stock price increased is also great.

The drawback with Dumb Money is some of the story beats are a bit lackluster and it does run out of steam before the end of the movie. The main character arc that receives a lot of the focus is on Keith Gill and his family (including Clancy Brown as his dad).

Dumb Money is a smart movie.

Miss And The Doctors (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

While this is another Rohmer like romantic drama, it called to mind for me a few movies - Cronenberg's Dead Ringers (which another review on Letterboxd mentioned) and Altman's M*A*S*H* and Dr. T & The Women. To be honest, the actual title - Tirez la lingue, madamoiselle or Stick Out Your Tongue, Miss - would have been a better movie title. The two doctors - Boris (Cedric Kahn) and Dmitri (Laurent Stocker) - are competing for the affects of the same woman Judith (Louise Bourgoin). Both are a bit shy and withdrawn due to being older men - there isn't the emotional outbursts that younger men would have on account of their interest.

Dmitri and Boris despite being distant, are friendly towards their patients in the Chinatown area of Paris. I loved how Axelle Ropert shot Paris - there's a lot of darkness, neon lights, and rain and this section of Paris looks inviting to watch people walk through. With Boris' relationship with Judith, it does create some friction between the two. Eventually, they give up their practice and move separately.

Ropert gives a decent 'slice of life' drama that's a bit more self-contained versus the earlier The Woepert Family. Dmitri and Boris as characters doesn't let something like a romance ruin themselves individually, but it does cause them to grow more distant.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (HBO Max, leaving on 7/31) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Compared to Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is a step down.

At its start, the movie leads me to believe that it would be an examination of what happens to a character that 'lives happily ever after' at the end of a story. Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) is still the same person from the last movie; same hangups, same anxieties, same sense of imposter syndrome. Her relationship with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) is a bit obsessive and clingy; anyone in a relationship (whether male or female) would feel suffocated.

I found myself rooting for Bridget Jones - not for her to end up with Mark Darcy or Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), but for her to find herself and her own happiness. Although it was played for laughs, Bridget Jones in the brief five minutes with Rebecca (Jacinda Barrett) was the best relationship for her. Not because it would be a lesbian relationship or the movie making light of lesbian relationships, but because Rebecca loved Bridget for who she is. The movie brought hints that Rebecca and Mark were seeing each other based on the sly smile Rebecca would give Bridget in scenes, as if she had a secret. Instead, the secret was that Rebecca loved Bridget.

In the end, Bridget ends up with Mark Darcy again; in a lot of ways, she realizes what she has with Darcy and both realize their feelings for each other are mutual (although I can't help but to feel that Darcy will be cold and oft-putting to Bridget Jones for no reason after they are married). The movie leaves with the two engaged, their fate unknown.

I will say that I loved the introductory scenes having a not-so-subtle nod to The Spy Who Loved Me (complete with "Nobody Does It Better"!) and the ski resort looks like the sky resort from For Your Eyes Only. Plus, Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy running to each other like out of The Sound of Music.

The trip to Thailand had some funny scenes with Cleaver and Jones including the drug trip on the beach, but I could have done without the drug bust side story. That aspect was simply not needed; it was only done to bring back Mark Darcy and Bridget Jones back together. It clearly didn't make any sense, since Bridget Jones had no idea the bowl contained cocaine.

One aspect I found annoying were the amount of needledrops of songs throughout the movie; the songs didn't really add anything to the scenes or to the characters. It seemed to fall into the trap that other romantic comedies do without having compelling stories or characters. In the last 10 minutes or so along, there were at least 3 songs in the space of about 2 minutes. Occasionally, it works like The Darkness' "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" during Darcy and Cleaver's fight (again) and 10CC's "I'm Not In Love" when Cleaver and Jones are about to have sex.

Despite some story issues, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is competently shot but not groundbreaking.

The Beach (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

This was prompted by the fact that it's leaving the Criterion Channel this month and there was a brief scene in Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason where two characters on the flight to Thailand had copies of Alex Garland's The Beach.

The Beach as a movie is actually pretty close to Danny Boyle's recent 28 Years Later. Both movies are about a community attempting to shield itself from the outside world. In 28 Years Later, they are attempting to shield themselves from zombies under the "Rage Virus." In this, it's the rampant commercialism that Thailand offers to rich foreign tourists.

Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes to Thailand and doesn't offer the audience much as to who he is. "My name is Richard. So what else do you need to know? Stuff about my family, or where I'm from?" Richard could be a rich trust fund kid. He could be a broke college student who decided to leave what he knew behind. He could be a bored 9 to 5'er in the mainland US who is tired of the daily fight for survival in the US for work. He could be any number of things really. The first scenes with him has a bustle of activity except for him as he stands there.

All Richard knows is he's tired of what he's been offered in life and tired of what tourists to foreign countries in Thailand typically see. He drinks snake blood. Everything resembles Apocalypse Now, which the movie has scenes from. He meets a neighbor named Daffy (Robert Carlyle) at a hotel who show him a map to an island. Richard comes to find Daffy dead - the movie presents it as a suicide, but I had wondered upon Richard seeing the body if it would turn out to be a murder or turn out to be a noir/mystery as Richard learns more about the circumstances of his death. Richard is questioned and leaves, without first asking the couple next door - Francoise (Virginia Ledoyen) and Etienne (Guillaume Canet) to go with him to the island.

The movie presents itself as a journey which is in line with the Apocalypse Now inspirations. The three have access to too much money and nearly go insane trying to make it there. Once they are there, they become part of 'the community' that's set up on the island. This community is led by Sal (Tilda Swinton).

What I found interesting with The Beach is like Richard, a lot of the characters have no last names, just first names. We learn about the members of the community coming from various places. The scenes introducing the community is set up like a documentary - we learn about Swedish fishermen, an Englishman who likes cricket, a chef who can't stand the smell of fish, and Sal's boyfriend who is a carpenter.

In an absolutely beautiful night time scene reminiscent of The Blue Lagoon, Richard and Francoise have sex underwater. Richard at this point begins to take his relationships for granted, since Etienne says everyone knows about those two. Sal and Richard go to Ko Pha Ngan to gather supplies, where Sal learns of Richard sharing the map. Sal keeps it a secret in exchange for having sex with Richard. They return, but yet Richard is made to keep watch over the tourists that have come to the island in a video game fuel delirium (after all, one of the characters point out to Richard that 'his thumbs are different' due to playing video games).

Eventually, the farmers (with AK47s) find the tourists, kill them, and go to the main compound for Sal and her group and order them gone.

The Beach as a movie has a lot of great cinematography - the speed up footage in the marijuana field is a bit like the type of scenes in Trainspotting. In a way, The Beach fits neatly with Danny Boyle's filmography due to the way reality breaks down for the main character.

In another way, Richard does tie a bit with Leonardo DiCaprio's later Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street as he's telling a story about his encounter with a baby shark. The way it ties in is the amount of crazed charisma that DiCaprio demonstrates in that scene and in the scene in The Wolf Of Wall Street where he's hitting a microphone against his head. The drawback with the movie is the back half is a bit underdone plot wise and it does deviate from the original intention of the movie and of the book.

For the most part, The Beach is a surprisingly underrated movie.

MILF (2018) (Netflix, leaving on 7/15) - 1/5 star

Spoiler

To be honest, MILF (2018) is really unappealing. It's great that the characters are so attractive and Sonia (Marie-Josee Croze), Cecile (Virginie Ledoyen) and Elise (Axelle Laffont) are really attractive even for the young men in the movie. The problem is the story aspects for this are really uninteresting to watch.

It does an interesting storyline with Cecile and Markus (Victor Meutelet) that gets developed later in the movie and the guy the women see that made me think it would lead to a love triangle with Thomas (Remi Pedevilla) and Julien (or is it Paul? I couldn't remember who they were) for Elise never goes anywhere.

Quite honestly, this is just an excuse to see Axelle Laffont make out with a hot younger guy. It's also worth it for the skinny dipping scene.

I like the fact that it does attempt to have women confront their own mortality and their own midlife - there's a lot of male oriented movies that did the same thing (the 1990s was loaded with them) and it's not quite the French First Wives Club or even The Miracle Club, but it's just bland.

Axelle Laffont as a director makes everything look like a TV show with how scenes are set up.

Also, the 'dance off' is terrible. It felt really 'off' seeing people try breakdancing and not succeeding at all.

The movie mentions The Graduate and it made me wish I started that.

 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....

The Neon Highway (Netflix, leaving on 7/10) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

Bit of a bland low-budget drama about a country music legend named Claude Allen (Beau Bridges) meeting a budding singer who gave up country music named Wayne Collins (Rob Mayes). Collins and his brother Lloyd (T.J. Power) had a decent song and possible record deal for Wayne Collins until a car accident paralyzed Lloyd.

Claude Allen as a character is thoroughly unlikable so I had difficulty in seeing why Wayne Collins would continue to stick up for him or even display any loyalty to him. I did like the recording session scenes with time lapse shots. For the most part, the movie doesn't do anything that interesting dramatically or with the story. Very much a low stakes movie.

I did like it was filmed in Georgia in areas near me, so that was cool. I may have driven on the road near the start of the movie.

Also, modern country music sucks. The song from the movie isn't any better. If the singer isn't uglier than shoe leather and doesn't look like he hasn't showered in a week, is he really a country singer?

Crossfire (1947) (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

youtu.be/rCwn1NTK-50?si=ghfDHRyWnHKRCfUK

Not the movie version of the making of this game surprisingly.

Anyway, Crossfire is a bit of a different noir compared to usual noirs. It's much more of a reflection of post-WWII life in America, much like the Italian Neorealism films were a reflection of post-WWII life in Italy. It's bit of a darken take on William Wyler's The Best Years Of Our Lives.

The movie begins with a fist fight as the shadows on the wall are fighting. There's no indication as to who they are and why. It's just that one person is dead as the person involved takes another person out of the room. The lighting during those scenes are bright enough to show that the figures are men, but not bright enough for us to see their faces.

The characters involved are three actors named Robert - Robert Young as Captain Finlay, Robert Mitchum as Sgt. Peter Keely, and Robert Ryan as Sgt "Monty" Montgomery. The movie tells the story in mixture of flashback and present actions as Montgomery relays to Keely where he was and what happened to Cpl. Arthur "Mitch" Mitchell (George Cooper). Mitchell leaves Montgomery and Floyd Bowers (Steve Brodie) in a room with Joseph Samuels (Sam Levene).

What liked were the scenes where Mitchell was drunk - the camera does 'double vision' as if it were from Mitchell's POV. Mitchell finds himself at a bar with a woman named Ginny (Gloria Grahame). In a way, Ginny calls a bit to mind Cabiria Ceccarelli in the later Nights of Cabria; Ginny is tired of the life as a girl at a dance hall. The man (Paul Kelly) that Mitchell meets at Ginny's apartments tells him that "she makes good money dancing." I wonder how the movie would have done if it was decided to identify Ginny as a sex worker rather than a generic 'girl at a dance hall.'

The highlight of the movie is the extended monologue from Robert Young. "This business of hating Jews comes in a lot of different sizes. There's the "you can't join our country club" kind and "you can't live around here" kind. Yes, and the "you can't work here" kind. And because we stand for all of these, we get Monty's kind. He's just one guy, we don't get him very often, but he grows out of all the rest." In a way, Robert Young's character Cpt Finlay is an ideal of the police; he is able to rise above the noise and is interested in seeking the truth in dispensing justice. Contrast that to the perception today of the police and it's a wonder anything gets solved without the police strongarming suspects into confession. (If this movie happened today, Mitchell would have been arrested for double murder).

I do wonder how this movie would have gone if Samuels had been a homosexual versus being Jewish. The movie touch about it briefly with Cpt. Finlay noting that he didn't have a wife and Montgomery had gotten "an idea in his head about him."

The cinematography throughout the movie is great with a lot of realistic lighting and shot compositions.

For the most part, Crossfire is a great noir and has a great message too.

He Ran All The Way (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

He Ran All The Way is another film noir that has elements of Italian Neorealism / French Poetic Realism with characters in everyday jobs and dire financial straits. The movie starts out hot (literally waking up in a sweat) with Nick (John Garfield) at his mom's apartment, bad mouthing his mom. Before she steps away and we see a gun on his dresser (with dramatic music to boot!).

The first 20 minutes or so is probably as close to later action movies as noir would get. We get foot chases and shootouts as Nick has to leave his partner Al (Norman Lloyd) behind. There's a lot of great closeups and great high angle shots. Nick hides out at the pool and hides the money in a suit where he meets Peggy (Shelley Winters).

Nick as a character is a bit different than most noir protagonists; he lets his emotions get the best of him in nearly every situation and can’t seem to get out of the way of himself to actually get ahead. There’s a lot of humanistic moments with him as a character - helping Peggy to learn to swim, letting her brother hit at his arms and then cry on his shoulder, the concern he shows for Peggy’s mother (which is greater than whatever concern he would have for his own mother).

From there, Nick and Peggy go to where Peggy lives and he meets her family. Eventually, Nick takes the family hostage and that's where the movie spends the rest of its time in a hostage situation with Peggy, Nick, and her family.

I wonder if David Lynch had watched this when developing Blue Velvet - the concept of a traditional family and traditional values having to come face to face with the rougher elements of society is exemplified with this movie. Cinematography is great with a lot of usage of closeups and I loved how it shoots rooms. The movie does drag a bit and, by the end, it runs out of steam.

Still, the final scenes where Peggy shoots Nick and Nick staggers out onto a rain slick street in front of a car headlight is a great final image for this movie.

 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

4 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Given the current political climate, I'd get ahold of Z while you can. 

EDIT: I would partner those up with The Battle of Algiers and Harlan County, USA while you're at it

https://archive.org/details/z.-1969.720p.-web-dl.-dcrg-31270111854

https://archive.org/details/TheBattleOfAlgiers1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc5QldB2MRg&ab_channel=chris9l9

All three of those are on The Criterion Channel. I guess whenever I get done with the "death races" for the month, I'll branch in those.

[DVD/BR Collector Thread for the Physical Media Enthusiasts]

1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

 

I want a David Cronenberg Criterion box set now lol

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

7 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Glad you didn’t give a mediocre review to Big Night. 

i hope you follow-up M amd O with Z, since we know you already Q.

for one of m y Shakespeare classes as an undergrad, I did a Forbidden Planet and adapted Othello as a science fiction film. Not the most earth shattering adaptation, as it’s kind of obvious, but hey, I was prob still a teenager. 

I'll look for Z whenever it reappears on Criterion Channel and I'll do that other version of Q that was talked about.

I might have seen Forbidden Planet, but I'm not sure. 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

I guess I need to complete the Robert Shaw Trilogy and maybe do the Michael Douglas trilogy. It's My Turn could be part of that, right? 

Movies today....

The Big Night (1951) (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

The Big Night starts out pretty hot and great but really falters by the end of the movie. The opening scenes with it being at George (John Drew Barrymore)'s birthday party and Al Judge (Howard St. John) beating up George's father Andy La Main (Preston Foster) with a cane had great usage of camera angles and staging/blocking.

It's just after that it turns into melodramatic slop more than a noir-ish atmosphere. There were great sequences - George standing in front of the mirror with a gun, the scenes at the boxing fight with the camera focusing on the spectators instead of the fight, George seeing Al Judge superimposed on a drummer as Judge was using his cane, George talking to a nightclub singer and great use of closeups during the scenes - but the rest seemed to consist of George running from one place to another.

The movie just isn't that great or that memorable. I'm fine with movies that function as character studies, but what's there doesn't lend itself to that. John Drew Barrymore at times tries as an actor, but most of the time he wasn't that good in this movie.

O (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

I'm not as familiar with the source material of Othello as I should be. So when watching this adaptation of Shakespeare's work, I wasn't sure what I would get. O doesn't do what Hamlet (2000) did with straight up using the play for dialogue, but it does serve as a basis.

There's something I found interesting with placing the movie in Charleston, SC. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union during the Civil War; for many reasons that are historical fact, the Civil War was due to slavery and for plantation owners to own slaves. The imagery in the movie is deliberate; at one point, we see a Confederate flag that says "NuSouth" underneath it. The image of Odin (Mekhi Phifer) standing near the floor banner with the Confederate flag is a telling image. Odin is viewed as the school's 'meal ticket,' since he helped get their school to the finals. It was mentioned on Wikipedia that writer Brad Kaaya based the screenplay a lot on his growing up as a black teenager in a largely white private school.

A lot of this movie approaches itself the same way as Love & Basketball did for the intersection of an individual's self-worth and self-value tied up with the sport of basketball. Odin views his own value due to his playing basketball, but he didn't come from the same background as a lot of the other students at the private school. He has a romance with Desi (Julia Stiles) that is part of this continuation with Love & Basketball. Stiles is no stranger to interracial romance in Save The Last Dance and with Shakespearean material in Hamlet (2000). Desi is in love with Odin despite what those in the South would believe it to be. It wasn't that long ago when someone like Odin would have been killed for romancing a white woman like Desi. Even then, the value Odin has in this society due to his athletic ability seemingly is greater than what he loves and believes.

The opening images are of doves and later a hawk, the team's mascot. The person envisions himself as being able to fly; we're thought to believe this is Odin. Only at the end of the movie is it revealed to be Hugo (Josh Harnett). Hugo as a character is interesting. In keeping with the Shakespearean tradition, Hugo is jealous of Odin because of Odin being picked over him and for forgetting him when Odin was awarded the MVP award. There's an element of racial jealousy that could be interpreted, but I believe that Hugo's jealousy would have been regardless. Hugo has this jealousy with not just Odin but with everyone else; he uses Roger (Elden Henson) to serve as a lackey and to get himself hurt. He uses Emily (Rain Phoenix) to steal Odin's scarf and to give to Michael (Andrew Keegan). Hugo's place of privilege and anger at his own father Duke Goulding (Martin Sheen) plays more of a part in his motivations than purely racial mistrust.

(BTW, Martin Sheen looked like he was going to have a heart attack several times in this movie with his yelling at the kids. He makes Bobby Knight say, "Whoa, calm down.")

For the most part with this movie, it's great melodrama that's tawdry and just fun to watch. At times, it does appear a bit soap opera-ish. Harnett as Hugo relays simmering anger and conniving behavior with Phifer showing flashes of anger and frustration as his character is being put into a role he doesn't want to be in. "I didn't come from a broken home, my mother wasn't a drug addict, I wasn't a gangbanger, this happened because of this white kid."

Compared to other basketball movies like Hoosiers, I loved how the basketball scenes were shot. The camera work during those scenes had a great usage of dolly angles as the camera moved quickly back and forth between the players on screen. There were also a lot of great closeups. I found the scene where Odin and Desi are making love to OutKast's "Aquemini" to be practically perfect in marrying the images of the scenes and of the music. There was also another choice needledrop with Black Star (Talib Kweli & Mos Def/Yassin Bey)'s "Astronomy (8th Light)" during a basketball scene.

For the most part, O is juicy melodrama and a nice early 2000s drama.

Suzhou River (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

With Suzhou River, there's a lot of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and Rear WIndow as well as David Lynch's Mulholland Drive and Brian De Palma's Obsession that influences this. Also, Wong Kar Wai (although I'm not as well versed in his movies as I should be). Some of the style of the movie also owes a debt to Jean Luc Godard with the usage of jump cuts and the karaoke scene is very Godard-like.

Suzhou River as a movie does a lot stylistically with the Hitchcock influence. The POV shots are a different aspect since it places us from the POV of the narrator (Zhang Ming Fong) as he recounts meeting Meimei (Zhou Xun) for the first time. The narrator goes to a bar to meet a boss as it jumps in time as the boss relays what he wants with the narrator talking over it. As it goes through the narrator and Meimei's romance, a shot lingers on a motorcycle courier named Mardar (Jia Hongsheng). It turns out that Mardar is looking for a woman he saw jump from a bridge named Moudan (also Zhou Xun).

Suzhou River, like San Francisco in Hitchcock's Vertigo, plays a part in the story in terms of the relations of the place to the characters. Also, like in Vertigo, Meimei and Moudan are distinctively different. Moudan is a bit serious and reflective and her father has control over what Mardar does. Moudan is followed for 45000 yuans ("I'm worth more than that!" she yells before running away from Mardar). Their relationship is thought to be on love, until the truth comes out. Meimei and the narrator's relationship is a bit different - Meimei is goofy and almost childlike and swims as a mermaid in the local Happy Tavern.

Eventually, the real Moudan is found by Mardar in another town while he is buying buffalo grass vodka and the two drink themselves to death. Meimei is shown the bodies of the two by the narrator and soon vanishes herself. "If you love me, find me."

Suzhou River as a movie is a great homage to Hitchcock although it's a bit detached for me (likely due to the language barrier). Zhou Xun has an expressive face and eye movements out of a lot of actresses I've seen - in a way, she is a bit like Audrey Hepburn with how expressive her face is in her acting. It's somewhat a shame that she has never crossed over to American or English speaking films.

Lou Ye as a director I think I'll seek out more of his work. He has unique ideas and Suzhou River as a movie is a great stylistic work.

M (Criterion Blu Ray) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

If you want to learn where a lot of the cinematic language and color originates, start with M.

I decided to watch this since a movie leaving Criterion Channel called The Black Vampire takes its inspiration and is a remake of M. With watching M, there's a lot I noticed that later filmmakers would use. The high angle shots that open the movie and omniscient/omnipresent camera work is used by David Fincher. The focus on crime and criminal behavior is used by Alfred Hitchcock and those inspired by Hitchcock (De Palma, Truffaut, and so forth). Although, to be honest, Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang were contemporaries rather than Lang being an inspiration; it's likely that some of what was done in German Expressionism had an influence on Hitchcock and his style of filmmaking - Blackmail had came out 2 years prior to M and that likely influenced Lang. And then M likely inspired Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1933 since the principal actor for this was in Hitchcock's film.

Hell, even Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight and Todd Phillips' Joker had taken inspiration from M (Arthur Fleck's forcing himself to smile looks no different than a scene with the main character doing the same thing). It's striking how much M has inspired later.

While the movie is a 'sound' film, a lot of what happens is nearly silent. Characters walking down the street, the break in having criminals silently walk through office buildings after a gate is open. The criminals silently leaving when the alarm is raised and the police is coming (save for a lone voice telling them to 'get a move on.'). Sound is focused on but it's individual sounds - a voice speaking. A voice whistling "In The Hall of the Mountain King."

This voice belongs to Hans Beckett (Peter Lorre) who is walking along with a girl while whistling this tune. He buys a balloon from a blind salesman while whistling. A poster is shown of a murder taking place and the camera stays for awhile over this poster, so that even the audience can read it.

One trick that we take for granted is the voiceover. Throughout this movie, there are quite a number of scenes that occur with a voiceover while images unrelated to what is being described are shown. We see this near the start when the Inspector Groeber (Theodor Loos) is describing the steps taken to find the murder - we see police walking through shelters, walking through train stations, walking through the public. This shows up later as well after the break-in and Inspector Lohmann (Otto Wernicke) is reading over what happened. We see what remains of the tools and the destruction as the criminals look for Beckert.

Some scenes I like were the sense of parallelism as the police and the Safecracker (Gustaf Grundgens)/Burglar (Friedirch Gnass)/Cardsharp (Fritz Odemar)/Pickpocket (Paul Kemp)/Con man (Theo Lingen) discuss the steps taken to apprehend the murderer (or "kinder-morder" as he's called several times). The police will look through records of those recently released from hospitals and asylums. The criminal underground will employee beggars to canvas the streets since no one notices them. It brings to mind the Jungian concept of synchronicity as both groups reach the same conclusions: search in areas no one thinks to search while using means no one thinks to do.

During the parallelism with the police and the criminal underground, there's an example of another filmmaking trick we take for granted: the match cut. As one of the men in the underground is talking and throws his arm out, it cuts to the police investigator doing the same thing. We also see a scene where a window we're looking inside of as the camera pans up 'cuts' to another window that's in a wider shot.

What struck me during the raid scenes is the variety of people shown. With this movie being made in 1931 in Germany, it's hard to believe that not even 10 years later, some of the people may have been killed by the government of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. Those shown during the raid likely included the Romani, the Jewish, the homeless, the criminals, the homosexual, and the beggars. They would have been thrown into labor camps, into concentration camps, and would have been killed. The police's heavy handedness gave me pause considering what Germany would do later.

Getting to the penultimate scenes, the criminal underground finally capture Beckert. Beckert is given a 'trial,' which according to the 'judge' presiding they are qualified to deliver on account of many having committed crimes like robbery, card sharking, and thievery. Beckert pleads with them that he doesn't understand why he does what he does - he has a 'compulsion to do so.' He doesn't even believe that he's the culprit as he tries to escape and they must be mistaken. "Kein Fehler," says the blind man, touching him on the shoulder and showing him a balloon like the one Beckert bought earlier. The 'defense attorney' (Rudolf Blumner) doesn't understand why the trial must occur - Beckert should be given over to the police. The trial concludes with the police arriving offscreen as the scores of people in the 'court' have their arms up until finally the 'judge' does so as well.

We then go to an actual court as the head judge begins to read. "We the people of the state," but we don't hear the rest. "None of this will bring my child back," says a crying woman as the movie ends. We don't know what the judges' decision is - did Beckert get found guilty and sentenced to death? Was he sentenced to life in prison? Did he get turned over to the asylums for a possible cure (like how 'the judge' of the criminal underground said he would and the cycle would continue)? Who knows. Fritz Lang purposely leaves the movie with no conclusions, no idea as to Beckert's fate, and no closure. Kein Fehler indeed.

The Black Vampire (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

The Black Vampire does indeed owe a debt to Fritz Lang's M. In fact, I would say it's better to watch M first then The Black Vampire. A lot of the stylistic choices made during The Black Vampire will make sense if you watch M first.

With that said, The Black Vampire does differ a bit from M. There's not an 'united front' with the criminal underground - the blind beggar sells a doll to Teodoro Ulber aka "El Vampiro Negro" (Nathan Pinzon) versus the balloon sold to Beckert in M. Also, there's a bit more of a connection to Argentina's "tango films" with the main character Amalia / Rita (Olga Zubarry) being a nightclub singer. It's somewhat like von Sternberg's The Blue Angel being in M.

Amalia works for a nightclub owner Gaston (Pascual Pelliciota) who is similar to the main coalition of the underworld in M. The difference being Gaston gets himself killed during a police raid and during a shootout. Amalia helps Ulber escape the nightclub through the back stairwell.

We're also given a police inspector who is a bit more 'shades of grey' versus what was in M. The police in M had their vices (like smoking), but were run ragged by misleading accounts and multiple eyewitnesses. Dr. Bernard (Roberto Escalada) attempts to come onto Amalia while his wife is in a wheelchair (gross dude). Dr. Bernard still leads the efforts, but, as Amalia points out, he's a hypocrite and a liar.

Another difference is the fact that the movie tries to paint Ulber as 'more sympathetic' versus Peter Lorre's portrayal. Ulber still uses "in The Hall of the Mountain King" (which The Black Vampire has a character who is Norwegian actually recognize the piece) as he is about to murder. Yet, Ulber's frustrations are due to being rejected by Cora (Nelly Panizza) and he actually lets Rita's daughter live. Additionally, what's different is Ulber is cornered in the sewers by the beggars.

The ending for The Black Vampire is also different than M. It's more definitive what happens to Professor Ulber. He's sentenced to be hung by the neck. In M, we never learn the sentence. With this, we learn the sentence and there's a Bible verse to close out the movie.

For the most part, The Black Vampire uses aspects of Hitchcock, Lang's M, other German Expressionalism films like The Blue Angel, tango films of Argentina, and The Third Man for this version of M.

 

[2025 Upcoming Movies Thread]

3 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Books will someday be written about Chris Pratt and how whitebread and pablum a human being can possibly get:

This movie will make at least half a billion dollars and no one will ever speak of it again a month after its release. 

My worst theater going experience in recent memory had a kid meowing like a cat loudly during the first Garfield Movie. The things I do for my Letterboxd account....

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

7 hours ago, J.H. said:

Christ, the Robert Shaw "Going Out On Open Water Sucks" trilogy is diminishing returns with each film. Am I to assume you will complete the trifecta with Orca?

James

If it shows up on Criterion Channel or I can find it somewhere, I will. 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today...

The Deep (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

The Deep has so much going for it in the first hour or so. And that's not just due to Jacqueline Bisset being bra less underwater with a shirt. The movie has intrigue and danger in the Bahamas setting. Bisset as Gail Berke and her boyfriend David (Nick Nolte) discover a vial and a medallion during an undersea adventure which attracts the attention of Henri Bondurant (Jaws 3-D's Louis Gossett Jr). They also meet with Romer Treece (Robert Shaw) who is less than interested in helping them with their discoveries.

That sense of 'who can be trusted' lends itself to a James Bond-like atmosphere (in addition to frequent Bond collaborator John Berry's score).

The problem is, somewhere along the way, the movie just ran out of story and the plot is rather thin. There were a lot of scenes of this:

"Hey I found something! I think we should dive back underwater."
"Okay that sounds good. Let's go!"
*long but beautiful underwater sequence occurs where they find treasure in addition to more drugs*
"Okay, we found these drugs and treasure! I'm going to hide the drugs and rig a bomb for whoever tampers with it."
"That sounds good, I'm going to look in this book and give you exposition as to why we need to go back underwater for more treasure."

The underwater sequences, while absolutely gorgeous to watch and are beautifully shot, makes the movie slow to a crawl. A lot of the intrigue and danger with Bondurant and his men doesn't really happen until towards the end of the movie (kidnapping scene and Bond like fight with Robert Tessier and Earl Maynard notwithstanding).

The final scene with the slow motion throw and Nolte catching the necklace is unintentionally hilarious.

The Deep is kinda shallow as a movie.

Gun Crazy (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

Gun Crazy on its surface is like a lot of "B-Movie" crime drama / noir movies made in the 1940s and 1950s. While watching it, I couldn't help but to be struck at how scenes and even the main characters were like what I've seen in Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Jean Luc Godard's movies.

The movie starts with the rain pouring down from the inside of a pawnshop. A figure appears and walks up to the window with the camera not moving as he throws a rock into the window to steal a gun and ammo. The figure, a little boy, barely runs a few feet before falling down. The camera pans up to show a sheriff looking at the boy with the boy looking towards the sheriff.

The movie then tells us what this little boy did with his friends and his expertise at marksmanship. His school teacher regals the judge with seeing him with the gun at school and the boy clutching it. The judge, having heard testimony, decides to sentence the boy to reform school and not punish him any further than that. (Nowadays, the NRA would probably storm the court room and protest about how the little boy's "2nd Amendment rights are being infringed" and nowadays, the punishment for him bringing the gun to school would be much greater than reform school).

We then see this boy became a man and is named Bart Tare (John Dall). What's interesting with Bart Tare is he looks more like an accountant than someone who likes guns or using guns. John Dall as an actor has a history of playing a character a 'bit out of step' with society. Rope had him playing a character having committed the murder of a friend at the start and trying to figure out ways to hide the body before a party starts.

His friends Deputy Clyde Boston (Harry Lewis) and Dave Allister (Nedrick Young) decide to take him to a carnival where a woman named Annie Starr (Peggy Cummins) is performing shooting tricks. Bart, who called himself "the best shot in the whole county" was obviously smitten. In a nice sequence, where Bart shoots the matches on top of Annie's head, Bart and Annie seem to equally be drawn to danger and to each other.

With Bart Tare and Annie Starr, they are as wholesome and as American as apple pie and grandma. The movie never lets on as to their ultimate fate but there is a hint from Annie Starr: "I have big dreams and want nice things." Their current status as carnival workers isn't what they want and they want the most out of life. What's more American than that? As Bart and Annie begin to commit crimes with robberies across the state, they get married at a justice of the peace office.

What's interesting with Annie compared to Bart is how normative she is with committing crime even when Bart isn't. Bart talks about wanting to shoot someone, but, when given a chance, he doesn't. Whether it's fear or nerves is unknown. Bart rather shoot out a police car's tires than shoot an actual person. Yet Annie has no qualms about having shot someone - she references doing soon during a "stunt gone bad" to Bart; the most Bart can confess is robbing a pawn shop. Yet, overall, Bart is controlling and leading Annie in the direction he wants to go and Annie plays along with it. Annie's self of independence and self-determination stops at a certain point.

The sequence where the two are driving around, looking for a place to park, is something out of Godard's Breathless. The camera stays in the back seat of the car and stays focused on what's straight ahead. Bart in those moments doesn't seem like he's 'acting' as a character, but participating as an actor. Cummins is seeming like someone clearly nervous about driving - in both character aspect for the robbery and in a non-character way too about making sure she doesn't hit anything and can keep it in the shot. I loved how the car stops and the camera pulls forward a bit as Bart gets out to do the robbery. We never see the inside of the building as Annie talks to a policeman and then hits him on the back of the head with Bart driving away and the alarm going off.

Bart and Annie's escape and being on the lam conjures images of Arthur Penn's Bonnie & Clyde (in fact, it's obvious that Penn was inspired by this movie). Bart and Annie try to go their separate ways after a payroll robbery, but it's no use. They'll be together until the end.

What's interesting is how Bart and Annie go to visit Bart's sister Ruby (Anabel Shaw) after the police have tracked down the stolen money. Bart and Annie's entry to Ruby's house reminded me a bit of what Charles Laughton did in The Night of the Hunter - the criminal element next to innocence of children. Bart seems less like a hardened criminal and more like an exhausted man who just wants to be around his family again. Bart's reunion with his childhood friends is like a final 'goodbye' than a surrender.

Once Bart and Annie head into the forest, the final scenes don't seem like something in a natural world. Bart and Annie seem to have journeyed to Limbo - the fog covering the swamp seem like they are 'midway in life's journey' if you will. Bart and Annie hear Clyde and Dave calling to them distantly. Their voices don't seem like real people's voices, but imagined spirits or ghosts. Annie threatens to shoot with each exclamation growing louder and louder. She stands up and Bart has to shoot her. Bart then gets shot and killed and both fall in a heap next to each other. Bart's vow not to shoot anyone ended with his having to shoot Annie. Clyde and Dave come upon them as the camera goes upward, as if Annie and Bart are 'going to heaven.'

Gun Crazy honestly is in equal measure with Samuel Fuller's work like The Crimson Kimono, The Naked Kiss, and (although I need to see) The Shock Corridor. Crime doesn't pay but Crime in this case is an American past time.

Bernice Bobs Her Hair (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

There's something wonderfully simple about this short film Bernice Bobs Her Hair. Scenes are set up with a small number of people in a room with closeups on the individual actors as they talk; the most complex scenes were the outside patio near the start of the movie and the three cars driving away near the end of the movie. In a way, it fits perfectly with Joan Micklin Silver's body of work about women who are underappreciated or un-recognized but actually smarter than the men they encounter.

Shelley Duvall in the 1970s is quite possibly the hottest girl ever. She can just sit there and smile and anyone with a pulse would be drawn to her.

In this, she plays Bernice who goes to a party and doesn't really have a lot to talk about with Warren (Bud Cort) . Later, her cousin Marjorie (Veronica Cartwright) tells her the problem is Bernice: "Girls our age are divided into two groups: there's ones like me who like to have a good time and there's ones like you who love to sit around and criticize us for it."

Bernice eventually decides to 'play ball' with Marjorie and uses what Marjorie told her to use on visiting men. Eventually, she gets to be popular and declares that she will 'bob her hair.' The short film has Bernice going with the group to a barber shop to do exactly that. Even after that, Marjorie still leaves her feeling left out. The end has her cutting Marjorie's hair in her sleep.

Although mentioned briefly, Bernice's behavior is attributed to her Native American heritage; even when trying to fit in, she won't ever truly fit in. Duvall as an actor always had a knack for these types of characters; in modern times, Bernice just for virtue of being herself, would be regarded as pretty and guys would want to talk to her anyway, even if it is harder on her due to shyness. With this though, she bucks against the idea and eventually wants to be authentic to herself.

This short film is part of The American Short Story anthology on PBS. I think I'll seek out more of the short films in that series.

 

[James Bond the VII]

19 hours ago, AxB said:

Tom Holland already played (and was wildly miscast as) Nathan Drake in the Uncharted movie, and that didn't really do too well (either in terms of being a good movie, or in terms of being a financial blockbuster). I'm not sure he would work as James Bond... Bond is supposed to be physically imposing, and a seasoned veteran at what he does (in Casino Royale, Daniel Craig's inexperienced green Bond still had a 40 year old's face). Holland is an athletic small guy who still looks child faced at 29 years old.

Then again, people used to say Craig was all wrong for Bond, and he ended up pulling it off really well. Perhaps it'll be good.

Having seen Uncharted recently, Tom Holland did fine with stunts and looked debonair enough while wearing a suit, but there's more to playing Bond than looking good in a suit. Holland's character of Drake never really won at any fist fights during the movie. 

If Holland ends up as Bond, they're obviously trying to make the Bond movie even more of an 'origin story' than Casino Royale was or possibly make it more modern. 

They got to get Mads Mikkelsen back though, so Holland and Mikkelsen can do a dance off. (Oh God, that's a terrible idea) 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....had to drive a bit today for one of the movie showings I saw.

The Tutor (Netflix, leaving on 7/8) - 0.5/5 star

Spoiler

The thing about doing movies that are taking after Michael Haneke, Alfred Hitchcock, Brian De Palma, or Roman Polanski as being psychological thrillers is the characters are believable and the story is believable.

The Tutor has none of this. It's written like it's an ADHD version of psychological thrillers.

The movie starts with "In The Hall of Mountain King" as a tutor Ethan (Garrett Hedlund) is teaching rich kids to pass their SATs so they can get into whatever college they want (nevermind the fact that they are rich and their parents could probably fund the college for centuries, but okay just roll with it). It seems like such a Kubrick move for this - as if this movie will be a social satire about the rich buying their education with a lowly tutor caught in the middle. Ethan's boss calls him from a strip club about a job with another rich kid that pays him enough for the year.

Ethan agrees and goes there and realizes something is a bit off about the rich kid, more than usual. Jackson (Noah Schnapp) is distant, aloof, and grossly "on the spectrum." Jackson somehow knows about Ethan's conversations with his pregnant girlfriend Annie (Victoria Justice), which should raise 'red flags' for Ethan, yet doesn't.

It also doesn't raise any 'red flags' for Annie either to get Ethan out of there. During the course of the movie:

1) Ethan finds photos of himself and Annie on Jackson's computer
2) Ethan gets drugged going to a house at Jackson's property
3) Jackson just showing up unexpectedly and creepily knowing where Ethan and Annie are eating dinner (I’m sorry but the natural reaction for Annie would have been “why are you here?” after she was told that photos of her is on Jackson’s computer)
4) Jackson gets Ethan fired for things done found on Ethan's camera
5) Jackson claims that Ethan hit him and there are bruises on his legs, despite Jackson hitting himself during a tutoring session

Yet none of that is a dealbreaker for Annie. Annie still gets mad at Ethan and kicks him out of their apartment, where Ethan proceeds to drink and live in his car. She also got mad at him after dinner for “embarrassing” her even though this high school kid showed up unannounced and is stalking her finance. I guess that doesn’t matter to Annie because she’s a sociopath.

Then we find out that Ethan has something to do with the death of a woman 10 years ago that has connections to Jackson because that was his mom. We find out that the older man we see earlier in the movie isn't Jackson's father because he died 3 years ago from cancer (well, who is the guy we saw that Ethan concluded was Jackson’s dad then? Someone that Jackson has on the payroll as “his dad”?). The changing story about Jackson's mom (going from "she was sent away" to "she committed suicide" to "she was murdered") didn't make sense.

Ethan then agrees to meet up with Jackson one last time after Ethan leaves the police station and Ethan gets knocked out. Then in the last five minutes of the entire movie, Ethan is now acting like a villain? After killing Jackson's cousin with a fireplace iron? And he's searching for Jackson like a villain? If anything, given what Ethan went through, this would be justifiable. But given the music and the acting from the characters involved, I'm supposed to believe that Ethan is now a villain.

Ethan gets shot at the end by Jackson (where did Jackson have the gun the whole time and why didn't he use it earlier?) as Ethan falls into the water. Then the police is searching for Ethan, who can't be found. Ethan then found another job as a tutor.

Given the premise and who the character is, I'm surprised that the movie made excuses for Jackson. But I guess even the writer was like, "the rich must be sympathized" despite the behavior and actions from earlier in the movie. Ethan should have punched Jackson repeatedly in the face at the end. Ethan should’ve punched Jackson repeatedly every time they met. Oh I’m sorry that Jackson lost his mom. Dude needs therapy, not tutoring. Ethan is the victim here, not some shit face, punk ass, snot nosed brat who thinks it's okay to take photos of his tutor and his tutor's girlfriend and think it’s okay to drug his tutor and dump him in the middle of the lake. I don’t care what happened to Jackson’s mom in the context of the movie. None of these characters are written or acted the way normal people talk or act.

Fuck whoever made this movie. They can't direct and they can't write. They shouldn’t have bothered.

Uncharted (HBO Max, leaving on 7/15) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Honestly, video games as a form of entertainment aren't that deep. No one expects a video game to be like The Seven Samurai or The 400 Blows or 8 1/2 or anything else like that. For a movie based on a series of video games, you have to set your expectations differently. It's not Chekhov or Ibsen or even Indiana Jones; it's just an interesting form of entertainment for the movie.

With Uncharted, a lot of the story will be familiar to people having played the video game series. You can even spot the story beats that are lifted from which game - the opening scene for the movie is a lift of Uncharted 3, while the general story elements is purely Uncharted 4. I would have preferred this have been a straight re-telling of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (since that game established the series), but what can be done.

Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) is on the search for Magellan's lost gold that he finds on a map with his brother Sam (Rudy Pankow) when they were younger. Nathan Drake is given his brother's ring with the phrase "Sic Parvus Magna" etched on it. Drake while working as a barman meets Victor Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg), who wants to work with him on a job to get one of the crosses of Magellan's crew during an auction in New York.

With such familiarity with the story, what happens in Uncharted progresses similarly. Even then, overall it's not that bad and has great moments, although it's a bit soulless as a movie. Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg aren't the most likable actors although they do have funny banter back and forth. Sophia Ali as Chloe lacks the spark that Claudia Black had for the role, but Ali does decent with the role. Antonio Banderas as Santiago Moncada is a bit wasted in the role, since his character is killed by Jo Braddock (Tati Gabrielle) who is pretty much Nadine from Uncharted 4.

Cinematography wise, Uncharted has a lot of great shots and coloring with the lighting being great while Nathan and Chloe search underground in Barcelona. I also dug the "wink wink, nudge nudge" with Nolan North as a hotel guest.

Uncharted is a nice bit of entertainment and enjoyable for a few hours, just like the games.

28 Years Later (saw in the theaters) - 4/5 stars - rewatch, original rating 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Watched it again at the Austell GA's Aurora Cineplex. I was struck on the second viewing at how much the story is similar to Ken Loach's Kes about Spike not really feeling accepted by his community nor given much to experience of the outside world. Both his parents lie to him in their own way - his father Jimmy lies to him about his 'first time outside the community' and what he killed and his mother Isla lied to him about her cancer.

I probably need to watch Kes to see further stylistic and thematic similarities.

Also, a lot of the shots in the movie are stunningly gorgeous with skylines and forests amidst the video game-y killshots.

Raising Victor Vargas (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Being a teenager is a tough life sometimes.

I remember how it was for me as a teenager. If my parents 'breathed wrong' or showed up at school, I would feel white hot embarrassment. My mother is devoutly religious and, at the time, she didn't seem to understand that not everyone wanted to be around religion, much be evangelized to. For some people, that's just not their bag.

With Raising Victor Vargas, this movie perfectly captures these years almost scarily well.

The thing with Latin American / Hispanic American culture is the concept of 'machismo' or being 'guapo.' Weakness in the sight of others is seen as a personal affront and lost of status of being 'guapo.' Victor (Victor Rasuk) is striving to be seen as 'guapo' in front of his friend Harold (Kevin Rivera) at a community pool and in front of his little brother. Victor begins the movie with making out with a neighbor named Donna (Donna Maldonado). Victor of course denies it due to gross views he has on Donna's physical attractiveness and wanting to maintain his 'image' in front of other men.

The other thing with Latin American culture is religious piety. The characters for this are from the Dominican Republic. I visited that country earlier this year; during the tour, we were shown the statues of the founder of the country and of two of the presidents. What was mentioned to us was the degree of devotion those individuals had to a religious belief in God. With the grandmother in this movie, her strictness and desire to not have her grandchildren exploring anything sexual is in line with her religious beliefs. Later on in the movie, the three grandchildren and her visit a church as all three of the children kneel in front of the altar.

There's three incidents that play a factor in Victor's change and development: meeting Judy (Judy Marte) at the community pool and getting 'shot down' and having Judy meet his abuela (Altagarcia Guzman) and she getting mad at the things done leading up to it and his abuela wanting to kick him out of the house and taking him to social workers to make this happen.

To be honest, Victor's abuela is somewhat cruel and mean to Victor; at the same time, it's easy to see her point of view. She's older than Victor and really isn't supposed to be raising a teenager. Victor's parents have either died or left the family; so whatever positive masculine reinforcement Victor experiences is from a void. I found it rather telling that Victor told Nino to "ask grandma about the sexual stuff" after Victor was threatened with expulsion.

The side story with Judy's friend Melonie (Melonie Diaz) never plays a part in the finale of the movie. Melonie eventually recognizes her own beauty by letting her hair down and removing her glasses for Victor's friend Harold. I found it refreshing how the director Peter Sollett did the characterization for the women in this movie; Melonie and Judy aren't sure or exactly on board with the 'machismo' that the men in their neighborhood are doing. Judy tells every boy she meets that 'she has a boyfriend,' even though it isn't true. Judy doesn't want them to persist or continue to bother her. Victor is the exception and even then, Judy wasn't on board with Victor's approach. The failed dinner at Victor's apartment changed.

With Raising Victor Vargas, Peter Sollett definitely crafted a teenage love story that feels more realistic and relatable and aspires to his influences like Truffaut, Cassavetes, Fellini, Scorsese and Bergman. It's universal for anyone watching to sense Victor's embarrassment of his abuela and to sense his desperation in 'trying to score' with women due to his age. Teenagers regardless of ethnicity have gone through that and will continue to go through that.

 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....having to call it early sadly.

Body Heat (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

From watching Body Heat, it's interesting with several things going on: Lawrence Kasdan and William Hurt could have had a Martin Scorsese / Robert DeNiro like director/star relationship going. They only worked together on four films - this, The Big Chill, and The Accidental Tourist and the later I Love You To Death. Coupled with Kasdan's work from this to The Big Chill to Silverado, it seems to be dwelling in youthful nostalgia for Baby Boomers reaching their late 20s/early 30s for earlier movies (like film noirs and Westerns of the 1940s) and earlier music (like music of the 1960s). Hurt as an actor had a great streak of work including Altered States, Eyewitness, this and The Big Chill. I think as I watch enough films, I start to notice things like this.

William Hurt enables a clueless vulnerability with his character Ned Racine in this; he is involved with a married woman named Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner) that he meets at a bar. From the start, Matty Walker engages in deception with him. She doesn't want to be seen with him or him following her, so she slaps him. He meets up with her anyway. Both characters decide to plan the murder of Matty's husband Edmund (Richard Crenna).

As Ned gets more involved with the plotting of the murder and leading up to it, he meets Mary Ann (Kim Zimmer), who he literally mistakes her for Matty with "Hey, do you wanna fuck?" upon first meeting her. In some ways, perhaps Body Double would have been a better name for this movie than Body Heat. Although this movie isn't really in line with Hitchcock's Vertigo or De Palma's Body Double with two nearly identical women having one wanting to be mistaken for the other. It's more in line with the noir tradition like Huston's The Maltese Falcon or frequently cited Wilder's Double Indemnity. It's not until the end of the movie during Ned's theory to Oscar (J.A. Preston) that he realizes that he is being played for a fool when he sees their yearbook.

With this movie, there's a feeling of it being hot throughout the movie. You want to run an air conditioner, or drink a glass of ice water, or run a fan. I feel like this is due to the soft focus lenses used and maybe due to the production design details of actors appearing sweaty or with sweaty clothing or maybe it's John Barry's jazz-tinged score. Or perhaps all three.

Another aspect I loved about Body Heat is the usage of closeups and midrange shots; the sex scenes in Body Heat show a lot by showing less. We see a closeup on Turner's face or Hurt's face during sex and there's a sense of physicality with the characters. Ned throwing a chair through a glass door just to make love with Mattie is the height of that as it shows them having sex on the floor with an overhead shot. There's also great midrange shots, during the scenes where Oscar is investigating the car rental dealership to figure out what happened to Edward.

While this movie doesn't do anything new or different with the noir tradition, I did notice that the scenes had a tendency to have 'jumps' or 'gaps' in time from one aspect to another. Also, a lot of the story for this movie is 'shown' rather than 'told.' We see the actors involved walking through a room or seeing something and we can deduce what it is that they are doing. I did like the scene in the conference room with everyone smoking except Ted Danson's character Peter Lowenstein. "Do you want to smoke?" "No thanks, I'll just breathe in the air."

Body Heat is a great bit of 1980s noir.

This Is Spinal Tap (saw in the theaters) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

It's interesting how much of this is informed by actual rock music and how much actual rock music is informed by this. For this "mockumentary," what makes this works is how 'serious' the participants David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) are about what it is they are doing.

What it funny is how stupid these rock musicians are. For example, in a hilarious scene, Nigel draws a model of Stonehenge that is to be 18 inches. The manager Ian Faith (Tony Hendra) loses his cool when he realizes what is created isn't very tall and it's brought onstage with little people dancing around it. The band then gets mad, once they realize what happened.

Throughout the movie, it's a series of unforced errors for the band. Whether it's the album cover being turned into a black cover (that later Metallica actually does), playing at an Air Force base (with a funny cameo from Fred Williard) or getting lost backstage, it seems like things that would actually happen to actual bands.

What I found interesting as well is how much Spinal Tap mirrors a bit of the Beatles, especially with the perceptions of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's relationship. From the exhaustive Let It Be documentary, Lennon was already ready to leave the Beatles and 'blaming' Ono for the breakup is short sighted. With this 'mockumentary,' Jeanine Pettibone (June Chadwick) is blamed for problems, even though most of it is due to David St. Hubbins.

With this documentary, there's a lot of hilarious scenes and dry British humor that's under the radar until after the scenes happen. The discussion about the various drummers meeting their ends is hilarious. "The police said it was better left unsolved."

Wild Things (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Nothing says 1990s like Wild Things. This movie, Something About Mary, Showgirls, Starship Troopers, Run Lola Run, and Sphere captures so much about the time period. At times with this, it just goes out of control - there's so many twists and craziness that it almost not believable.

It starts like a standard teenage / coming of age story would and is somewhat believable. Well, as believable as having two late 20 year olds like Denise Richards as Kelly Lanier Van Ryan and Neve Campbell as Suzie Toller. What exemplifies this aspect for me is when Kelly is riding in a jeep with Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) while Third Eye Blind's "Semi Charmed Life" and Smash Mouth's "Why Can't We Be Friends?" are playing. It seems like something from a Kevin Williamson TV show to just have songs randomly needledropped in scenes.

But as is learned, Kelly uses washing Lombardo's Jeep as a chance to seduce him. Maybe. Kelly Lanier Van Ryan then claims she was raped by Sam Lombardo and Lombardo then goes to trial. Suzie Toller is found and then claimed to have made it up in collaboration with Kelly to get back at Lombardo.

It turns out that's not the end of it.

Wild Things, like Showgirls, is highlighted due to its reputation. Denise Richards is very much eye candy at times and we see her (nicely done) breasts a few times. No one really watches Richards (sadly) for her acting ability, but, even then, this role is one of her better roles. The movie is carried by Neve Campbell and Matt Dillon. It was odd to see Bill Murray appear in this as an attorney Kenneth Bowden (maybe that's why Murray also appeared as an attorney in Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox?). Kevin Bacon plays Sergeant Ray Duquette, who is thought to be trying to find out what happened to Sam Lombardo and if there's dirt; Duquette is told to stop investigating until he seemingly kills Kelly in self-defense.

At the end, Suzie Toller is the mastermind of the whole thing; in an Alfred Hitchcock like fashion, she changes her hair color from brunette to blonde to cover up for her faked death (and pulling out one of her own teeth with pliers...ouch).

John McNaughton has a movie that is as Florida as hell. Any time the bass motif is heard, something crazy is about to go down.

Wild Things is just wild.

 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

6 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Did you notice the significance of Marion’s under garments? (Or did you know it already) .

frenzy also reminds me in some ways of peeping tom. 

I saw the undergarments but wasn't sure of the significance. 

Powell & Pressburger's filmography is another hole in my film watching that I need to rectify lol. 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....

Psycho (Netflix, leaving on 7/31) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

Psycho does something very different than most other Hitchcock movies. The main character at the start of the movie - Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) - doesn't survive to the end of the movie. In fact, her exit is in the first hour or so of the movie.

Marion Crane as a character is interesting - it can be said that the namesake "Psycho" isn't just Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Crane can be psychotic in some ways too, but purely in a narcissist way. Crane feels that she has to run away from the life she's leading because it's unfulfilling. The job she has doesn't fulfill her, the boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin) doesn't fulfill her, and having a guy hitting on her while buying a house for his daughter definitely isn't fulfilling. Marion's escape is done like a crime/"on the lam" style - she looks at every mirror of her car and even an encounter with the police is fraught with tension for her.

Meeting Norman Bates is a different experience. Bates could in some ways be considered a continuation of Hitchcock's usage of queer characters that was in Rope and in Strangers on a Train. Bates isn't attached to women except to his mother. The conversation between Bates and Crane before the famous shower scene is the most revealing - both characters are driven to isolation except in different ways. Crane is driven to isolation because of running away and Bates is driven to isolation because of something that happened 10 years earlier.

The murders that take place are shot very different - Crane's murder uses a lot of out of focus shots as the camera obscures Leigh's nudity and Milton Arbogast (Martin Balsam)'s murder is obscured due to the high speed footage and dolly zoom as he stumbles down the stairs to his death (incidentially, Martin Scorsese would do something similar in Taxi Driver with the shootout at the end).

The rest of the movie is focused on Bates covering up what happened and Loomis and Lila Crane (Vera Miles) retracing the steps to find out what happened. I found the conversation with the sheriff to be interesting - the sheriff is almost enabling Norman Bates’ behavior out of sheer apathy. The focus on mental health and well-being seemingly didn’t happen at the time. Towards the end, the psychologist revealing Bates’ motivation and his transformation to his mother did more to explain behavior and what really happened to Bates after the death of his father and his mother meeting another man to begin a new relationship. I found it interesting that three different actors voiced Bates’ mother; meaning it’s not exactly concrete what she sounded like in Norman’s head.

In a lot of ways, Psycho is the start of gallio for those Italian directors as well as psychological thrillers too. The closeup of the knife Norman Bates uses and the reveal of him as the murderer fits in line with what Dario Argento, Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci would do in their films.

There's a reason why Psycho is a classic.

Jurassic World Rebirth (saw in the theaters) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

Jurassic World Rebirth doesn't really feel like a Jurassic World / Jurassic Park/ dinosaur movie. Premise wise and stylistically, it's closer to Peter Jackson's King Kong or the Monster-Verse movies like Kong: Skull Island and 2024's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. It's an excuse for big, dumb monster fun.

The science behind it is more fiction than fact. A bunch of scientists 15 years ago (around the time for Jurassic World) created hybrid / mutated dinosaurs because....reasons. "People got tired of the original attractions and wanted something new" was the explanation, as if what happened even succeeded. 1993's Jurassic Park and 2015's Jurassic World showed that nothing succeeded so third time's a charm, right?

Except in this case, they've dispersed with the notion of even having an amusement park. The characters in this are supposed to get dinosaur DNA from living dinosaurs' blood. Tasked with this is Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a mercenary for hire who goes into regions you aren't supposed to, and Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a paleontologist who did his post-doc with Dr. Alan Grant. Bennett gets Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), who has worked with Bennett in the past. Dangling money in front of them is Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend).

A side group of characters that get introduced in scenes inspired by Jaws are Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Ruffo), Teresa (Luna Blaise), Teresa's boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono) and Isbella (Audrina Miranda). The thing with this new group of characters unrelated to the pharmaceutical company is they are simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet, Bennett and Kincaid decide to rescue them and have them on the boat as they go into the area to get the dinosaur blood.

In a lot of ways, this movie feels a bit more like James Gunn's Suicide Squad than a typical Jurassic movie. Characters introduced as part of Kincaid's crew don't live to the end; so the expectation would be that none of the characters will live. Yet with this, the family rescued, Kincaid, Bennett and Dr. Loomis survive and use a speedboat to get out of there. Even with an encounter with a "Distortus Rex," that looks like Sloth from The Goonies as a dinosaur.

There isn't the usual sense of scale and wonder as there were with Jurassic Park and Jurassic World nor much of intricate character work involved. The only things distinct with Bennett is she had to work instead of going to her mother's funeral and Dr. Loomis wanting to use the dinosaur blood for the public good instead of giving to for-profit companies. It's a bit like the conflict in the Alien series between those being hunted by the Xenomorphs and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation; Kriebs doesn't care as long as his company gets paid and he gets paid.

Even then, this is more of low impact and low investment thrills that doesn't do anything new. There are better summer movies out there to watch. F1, despite being almost as equally dumb, is fun to watch. This is just dumb.

The Hater (Netflix, leaving on 7/5) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

With this coming off of Netflix this month, I had no clue of its existence. To be honest, compared to the usual fare on Netflix, it's a bit smarter and more tightly wound plot wise.

The movie opens with Tomasz Giemza (Maciej Musialowski) being kicked out of law school for plagiarism. He then goes and visits his aunt and uncle Robert Krasucki (Jacek Koman) and Zofia Krasucka (Danuta Stenka) and lies about what happened; then, he bugs their conversation.

This kind of "playing off both sides against the other" drives Tomasz as a character. He works for a 'troll farm' under Beata (Agata Kulesza)'s direction and then volunteers for left wing politician Pawel Rudnicki (Maciej Stuhr), using his connections to his aunt and uncle to do so. Throughout the movie, Tomasz is an agent of chaos; he's both trying to be Travis Bickle, Patrick Bateman, The Joker, and Guy Fawkes at once. No one in his immediate orbit is aware of what it is he is doing.

It's difficult to understand what point director Jan Komasa is making with this movie. Perhaps, it's about the difficulty of politics in Poland to have a center for what happens behind the scenes; characters like the Krasuckis have a disconnect from what really happens to people on the outside margins of life, like Guzek (Adam Gradowski). Tomasz uses a masking voice in an online computer game to provide instructions to Guzek, even playing him for a fool too.

In a grisly yet riveting sequence, Guzek ambushes a panel with Pawel Rudnicki and guns down a lot of people, with Tomasz appearing as the hero. Tomasz had done the break-in to the gun range and provided the gun and ammo to Guzek; Poland's Counter-Terrorism Unit figured out that the person behind the breakin was shorter than Guzek, zeroing in on the supposed hero Tomasz.

With how the movie ends, it's difficult to know what Tomasz is going to say to the Krasuckis. Does he admit his part in the shooting? Is he going away after blackmailing his boss? Who knows.

The Hater in a lot of ways seems very much like a David Fincher movie; the camera angle and smart cinematography is in line with someone that would be influenced by Fincher. Jan Komasa is a director I'm going to track down more of his work; even at 2+ hours, The Hater is utterly captivating.

Frenzy (Netflix, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

After two slightly uneven efforts - Torn Curtain and Topaz - Frenzy is a bit of a 'back to basics' thriller for Alfred Hitchcock. The difference being is in the fact that we know who the murderer is almost at the start of the movie.

To me, Frenzy has more in common with the Italian giallo directors like Dario Argento, Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci's films. The main character Richard Blaney (Jon Finch) is far from sympathetic and is not even believed that he didn't commit the murders. Bob Rusk (Barry Foster) is a friend of the main character and has something distinct about him - the way he dresses and his lapel pin is something out of a Fulci film.

What's different compared to standard Hitchcock movies is the amount of violence and nudity involved....which is like giallo altogether. The scenes where Rusk is recalling where he left his pin has closeups against black background and quick cuts showing Rusk choking a victim with a necktie, his face, the victim's face, and the victim's hands around the pin.

Frenzy is also a bit more like Hitchcock's earlier movies that he did in the 1930s, like Blackmail and Murder!. One of the first scenes with Blaney reminded me a bit of the bar scenes from Blackmail; Blaney is standing near the pub taps like the way the father stood against the newspaper counter top in Blackmail. Having it being decisively British is more to Hitchcock's favor; it's only with his more famous movies of the 1950s and early 1960s did any time be spent in America.

There's also quite a bit of dark humor; Foster's scene in the back of the truck with the potatoes and the dead body of Babs Milligan (Anna Massey) is actually a bit funny as he fumbles around with the feet and Milligan's hands to pry open for the lapel pin. Chief Inspector Timothy Oxford (Alec McCowen) having a wife with an inability to cook is also hilarious; one scene has him talking with uncooked pigs' feet in his mouth and then spitting it out when his wife wasn't looking.

For the most part, Frenzy is a nice return to form for Hitchcock.

Intruder in the Dust (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Intruder in the Dust as a movie is a bit of "two steps forward, one step back." It tries to present a progressive view of racism in the South (although a bit naive). Juano Hernandez as Lucas Beauchamp has a presence onscreen and is able to overcome the wooden dialogue. David Brian as John Gavin Stevens is nearly cardboard on screen; it's hard to believe that there is a conflict with Stevens over taking on a case or not.

What makes Intruder in the Dust a bit ahead is the location shooting as well; the scenery is indeed Oxford, MS and indeed in the American South. A lot of the movies at the time didn't try to do location shooting as much (beyond what Orson Welles did with The Lady From Shanghai).

Still, it's hard not to feel passe about Intruder in the Dust. There's a really why To Kill A Mockingbird gets spoken about the most for a similar plot (a white attorney having to defend a black man from a crime). Mainly this has to do with the characterization and the quality of acting. Juano Hernandez notwithstanding, a lot of the actors involved with this are a bit flat.

 

[2025 VIDEO GAMES CATCH ALL THREAD]

20 hours ago, JLSigman said:

To the surprise of exactly no-one, BioWare is shuttering Anthem in January

https://www.ea.com/games/anthem/news/anthem-game-update

I may get back into trophy hunting with this, but I don't know. Dealing with the average trophy hunter on PSNProfiles doesn't seem like something I want to do. 

(Oh and I got banned from their leaderboards last year, but I'm finding I don't care to debate it with them)

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

6 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I can totally see Melvin Van Peebles taking his kid aside and saying "Let's fuck this accent up so bad on purpose! None of these dumb white motherfuckas is gonna say a word. Just watch."  They come onto set. Day one finishes. Melvin looks over at Mario sideways after they cut and whispers "See? What'd I say?" And they just start laughing.

That sounds totally on brand for Melvin Van Peebles. He did direct Watermelon Man and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (which I still need to see). I think if a different director or a different writer had made the movie not about a shark getting revenge, but did a 'bait and switch' with the shark to do what they wanted, maybe they wouldn't have.

Or maybe they would've still, this is Melvin Van Peebles we're talking about lol. 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....

The Wolberg Family (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

The Wolberg Family as a movie is a much more plain almost Rohmer-like examination of a family that's driven by their father Simon (Francois Damiens). Comparisons to The Royal Tenenbaums and even Hereditary are apt; the drama in this is much more subtler and quieter.

Simon is having to deal with several different things at once - his lung cancer diagnosis, his wife Marianne (Valerie Benguigui) and her affair with one of the neighbors, his son Benjamin (Valentin Vigourt) acting up in school and Benjamin's response to the affair, and his daughter Delphine (Leopoldine Serre) having her 18th birthday and his falling out with his brother Alexandre (Serge Bozon).

With this movie, the subtlety takes a bit of time to be drawn in; some of the dialogue seem more like the characters philosophizing rather than being in the moment or feeling like actual people. I did like the scene after Simon found out and Benjamin broke Marianne's favorite record; Simon and Marianne seemed like they were having an argument and there was emotion behind it. The scenes with Alexandre and Benjamin discussing how Simon feels about Alexandre being a “bonhomie” and Benjamin playing the guitar well shows that people can’t be closed off to a way of being all the time.

The birthday party for Delphine seemed like Simon saying goodbye to Delphine due to his cancer diagnosis; Delphine has her new life with Philippe (Arnaud Gaby) and the movie ends with Alexandre meeting Simon's assistant Francois (Guillaume Verdier) at the train station.

For me as a French cinema fan, I always love whatever is produced. Axelle Roepert is a great director with eye toward detail and compassion. The 1960s Detroit music actually served as a theme - one song had a line about 'wanting to breathe" which seemed to encapsulates what is going on with Simon having lung cancer.

The Bitter Stems (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

Out of the Argentinian noirs I've seen, this feels like a distant cousin to Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil as well as Italy's post-WWII neorealism like Umberto D and Pickpocket. Gasper (Carlos Cores) is walking through a train station with Luides (Vassili Lambrinos) to board a train; Gasper seems distracted and distraught by something occupying his thoughts. I loved how the movie had a 'cold opening' (which a lot of more modern movies would do) as they move through the train station while the credits are playing over that.

Gasper narrates what's on his mind as he sits down, leading up to how he met Luides. From what is revealed, Gasper is a character that is at his wits' edge as a journalist; what he does isn't making enough and requires more of him than he wants. A positively fantastic dream sequence with echoes of German Expressionism, Powell & Pressburger, and even Luis Bunuel play out as it shows Gasper's childhood with his father being a war hero and losing his arm. Gasper never feels what he does will live up to his father and to being able to contribute something as great as helping his country in their war efforts.

With meeting Luides and the scam that Luides cooked up, it reminded me of the scenes in Try To Get Me / The Sound of Fury with Lloyd Bridges and Frank Lovejoy; Luides wants to run a business where he convinces people to fill out ads in newspaper to join a correspondence school. Luides brings up his son Jarvis (Pablo Moret) and needing to bring him first from Europe to Argentina. Gasper sees this as his opportunity to do something as much as what his father did.

Although little by little, Gasper begins to wonder if Luides is lying to him too. In a scene that is drown out by a loud band, Gasper goes to the club where Luides is talking with a woman named Elena (Aida Luz). Gasper comes away from overhearing the dinner that Luides made up the whole thing about Luides' family. Gasper lures Luides to his house and murders him. It plays the way that other psychological based dramas do; Gasper is affected and reminded of Luides by everything he sees.

Gasper believes that Jarvis isn't real until....Jarvis one day appears at the business, excited to meet Gasper. The fact that Jarvis is real and the fact that Luides/Gasper really did scam people is an inversion of other movies about scam artists. It humanizes Luides and Gasper, but doesn't lessen what they are. Luides and Gasper never see what happens to them from the victims, but Gasper murders Luides because of what he perceived.

Gasper eventually learns the truth about Luides from Elena and realizes he made a mistake. We see the other side of the conversation that Gasper didn't hear fully before he murdered Luides.

The final scenes took my breath away. Jarvis finds plants growing in the spot where Luides was buried and wants to dig up the plants to rebury them. Gasper, panicking, leaves and tries to catch a train. He then commits suicide (like at the end of Umberto D) with an oncoming train. Jarvis never digged deeper than a few feet to replant. Once again, Gasper misheard what was being said, yet this time it cost him his life.

The Bitter Stems has incredible Hollywood style cinematography that feels like the noirs of the 1940s and 1950s like Double Indemnity, The Lady From Shanghai, Touch Of Evil and others. Fernando Ayala as a director has his own unique style informed by Hollywood filmmaking, yet is distinct and evocative of his own country.

Native Son (1951) (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

The downside to watching a lot of films every day is I began to develop a bit of a critical eye towards certain things in films. The films I've seen as part of black cinema - Raisin in the Sun, Devil in a Blue Dress, Eve's Bayou, Love & Basketball, Judas & The Black Messiah, Do The Right Thing, One False Move - I've rated highly because they are exceptional regardless of who is behind the lens. Others, like Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Harriet, Hallelujah, Talk To Me, and The Woman King, I'll admit there's faults but the most part are exceptional.

Then there's Native Son.

First off: for as great of a writer Richard Wright is, he is not a good actor. In this adaptation of his own work, he plays Bigger Thomas. It's almost comical watching a 40 year old man interacting with his family while trying to play a 20 year old man. It's very much "How do you do, fellow kids?" type of ageing out.

Then there's the line delivery. Wright sounds very much like he's reading lines and sounds very leaden in his acting. There's not a sense of naturalism that I've seen from other actors, even during that time. I actually had to laugh when he was carrying around a dead body near the start of the movie. It's not supposed to be funny, but it was.

The problem is Wright isn't the only culprit with terrible acting. Every other actor sounds terrible, deadpan, comical, and unemotional in their delivery. The only decent actors were Gloria Madison as Bessie and Jean Wallace as Mary. Gloria Madison has only one credit to her name - this movie. The sad thing is she didn't do more after this - if Hollywood wasn't self-restrictive due to the Hays Code, I believe she would have done really well in another role (nowadays, she would have). Jean Wallace of course has been in a lot of movies, mainly B-movies like Jigsaw.

The thing with Native Son is Thomas tries to use socialism / communism ties to plant the murder on Jan (Gene Michael). When that doesn't work (and in another comical scene), reporters figured out that Thomas committed the murder and Bigger Thomas runs away.

It's not all in vain - Pierre Chenal had great cinematography and shot compositions. I liked the scene where Bessie and Thomas are walking through abandoned buildings due to how the lighting and shots are set up.

Native Son isn't one of the best in cinema, but it's a nice attempt.

Jaws: The Revenge (Peacock, leaving on 7/31) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Honestly, it's popular to crap on bad movies. I was expecting to understand the hatred for this and think it was completely terrible.

Instead, it surprised me.

Jaws 3-D/Jaws III had virtually no characters, no character arcs, no overriding conflict at its heart. It was a soulless, emotionless advertisement for SeaWorld in Ronald Reagan's America where Dennis Quaid was on cocaine for the entirety of the movie.

Jaws: The Revenge is a mediation on grief, loss, longing, and moving on from trauma. What's refreshing about this is the fact that the main character Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gray) is processing complex emotions and memories in the aftermath of losing one of her sons Sean (Mitchell Anderson) in the first 15 minutes of the movie.

It's easy to see where the character would blame and would want to cast blame. "I don't want you to work anywhere near the water." "It took Sean and it took Martin." "Dad died from a heart attack." "It was due to fear." Mike (Lance Guest) works in the water and understands but doesn't at the same time. In a lot of ways, the scenes reminded me of Woody Allen's Interiors with the family relationships. Jaws: The Revenge would have been a different movie if it turned out that a shark didn't kill Sean and wasn't after 'revenge.' Sean just fell over trying to get the piece of the stern from the Orca, hit his head, got knocked out, and drowned. Basically, Ellen imagined that a shark did it and envisioned that it did, when the truth would be a lot different.

As it is though, Jaws: The Revenge has the characters going to the Bahamas. Hoagie (Michael Caine) takes them via plane and the movie does something interesting (that never really gets capitalized on). Hoagie and Ellen have a budding relationship - again, a different movie would talk about a widow finding love again after her kids are grown and she has grand-kids. Movies that won Oscars have done stories like that. Unfortunately, it's just part of the story of Jaws: The Revenge.

So apparently the shark that killed Sean....followed Ellen and Mike to the Bahamas. Never mind the fact that it's scientifically impossible, physically impossible, and just doesn't happen. That's fine. No one watches movies to learn things. Usually. It's just in case, I'll accept that the shark followed them to the Bahamas. It makes sense story wise - Ellen is facing her fears by going headlong into them. She will kill the shark. And she does with the stern of the boat.

Beyond that, there's a lot bad. The shark looks like rubber. Mario Van Peebles has a terrible Jamaican accent (I wonder if they should just had him talk normally). Michael Caine's character Hoagie seems like he would be better suited in a comedy (he was doing Woody Allen comedies like Hannah and Her Sisters at this point so it tracks). There's no possible way that Jake (Mario Van Peebles) would have survived. Also, Melvin Van Peebles' Jamaican accent was terrible too.

But unlike Jaws 3, this is dumb fun that works even with supernatural abilities of the shark.

None Shall Escape (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Watching None Shall Escape in 2025 feels a bit different. At the time this came out in 1944, it was one year removed from the end of World War II and what had been going on with Nazi Germany was little known at times.

In 2025, we have the MAGA movement and President Donald Trump touring "Alligator Alcatraz." Billions is being given to ICE for expansion and for $10,000 signing bonuses to ICE agents, at the expense of Medicare, Snap, and other things that actually help the people. Perhaps in 20+ years time, we'll see another movie like this. (I said what I said).

In a way, the movie almost depicts a sympathetic portrayal for Wilhelm Grimm (Alexander Knox). He was spurn by Marja Pacierkowski (Marsha Hunt) and that started him on the path he was on. Not the outlandish things was saying or the beliefs he shared with her. It seems that painting the character as truly evil wasn't possible and there's a section of the audience that's going to feel that the misgynoistic view towards women due to that is justifiable.

As the movie progresses, we see a lot more with the flashbacks. Grimm indoctorates his nephew and later kills him; sending his own brother away to a concentration camp. It's a heartless character that seems to be motivated at getting back at other people, not just his former finance or his brother.

The most horrific scene was the Jewish people being gunned down after a great speech from Rabbi David Levin (Richard Hale). "We'll always be there." Even in 1940s Hollywood, it's chilling to watch (I imagine some stuffed shirt with the Hays Code got mad because of what it depicted).

On a technical level, None Shall Escape is a bit American-ized with its depiction of Poland. The director Andre de Toth understand what he needed to do with this movie and there's a lot of closeup usage for shots. There isn't much in the way of variety of camerawork or shots; it's very much a straightforward drama. I did like some of the angled shots earlier in the movie and one shot with Marja in a field with her face obscured was nice.

Once everyone involved has recounted what happened, Grimm stands before the jury and says that the Third Reich can't be stopped. "We'll come back again and again!"

If only he knew what happened in America in 2025.

 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

6 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I've honestly wondered what you did for a living given all of the watching but didn't feel comfortable asking. 

The Keep on DVD was a gift for last Xmas and I still haven't gotten around to watching it, but I have seen it once on TV (strangely, because it was practically a lost film for decades) and was taken by the visuals and, well, it's a Mann movie. 

I actually have a cushy gig in a work from home job. The movie watching is before work, during lunch sometimes, and after work. 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today...

The Beast Must Die (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Of the Argentinian noirs I've seen, The Beast Must Die is the most "classic Hollywood" of them all. The character names and the premise could have been told in Los Angeles or even in the English countryside.

The premise of the movie is set up like an Agatha Christie novel; the namesake "Beast" Jorge Rattery (Guillermo Battaglia) is killed from ingesting poison in medicine he has to take. All the suspects are there and the detective and an attorney arriving with Ronnie Hershey (Humberto Balado) running off after hiding the poison bottle.

As we learn in the movie, the prime suspect is crime novelist Felix Lane (Narciso Ibanez Menta).

The movie is then told in flashback as Lane's nephew was killed by a driver that couldn't be found. Much of the movie is driven by melodramatic characters and plot; at times, it's a tad difficult to find them believable, much less investing to watch. After getting his car stuck in a creek and meeting the woman who helped a similar couple, Felix meets Linda Lawson (Laura Hidalgo) on a film set.

Menta and Hidalgo have a bit of Humphrey Bogart / Lauren Bacall chemistry (although not as much emotional depth). I imagine that a movie like this in the hands of Nicholas Ray, John Huston, or Billy Wilder would be interesting - a commentary on murderers and terrible people controlling those who have to work in Hollywood. Instead, in this case, it's just an interesting aspect to the two characters and Linda Lawson was essentially used for Felix Lane to get back at Jorge Rattery.

Despite the character and story woes, I did like a few of the aspects of the movie. The scene where Felix's nephew is killed as we see the front end of the car does a match cut to water hitting against the rocks in a John Huston-like moment. I loved the montage scene where multiple people are shown talking about what car and what driver hit Felix's nephew. Jorge revealing to Felix that he knew about the diary was really well done with the amount of dramatic tension and Felix conveying a sense of shock.

The ending ties into the Biblical verse that serves as the title of the movie as well as Christian imagery (with the ship mast looking like a cross).

For the most part, The Beast Must Die is a decent mystery movie that shows elements of 1940s Hollywood films in Argentina in the 1950s.

Bridget Jones's Diary (HBO Max, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Right now, I'm in a production of Pride & Prejudice for a local theater. While watching this, I subconsciously thought about the Received Pronunciation (RP) videos I watched to remember how to pronounce "better" to where it sounds like "betta" and the other little tricks I have to keep in mind to at least attempt to sound like an Englishman (despite being a Yank).

This will not be a review where I complain about Renee Zellweger's accent (well, not for the entirety of it) or how much this movie is Pride & Prejudice without Bridget Jones (Zellweger) having four other sisters (because then it would really be too obvious). From my research and from noticing things, Renee Zellweger is said to be doing a London accent, but to my ears, she sounds "Southern American but with a cold" in a few of the scenes (mainly at the start of the movie).

Bridget Jones's Diary as a movie is a great romantic comedy and it's easy to see why it has a lot of fans. There's something relatable about Bridget Jones being a character that doesn't get things right the first time; upon arrival to her family's New Year's party, she has to wear a really awful outfit put on by her mum (Gemma Jones). She seems really bad at public speaking for a book party and then ends up as a correspondent on a local TV program (also really badly too). Bridget Jones has to choose between two suitors - her boss Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) and his tremendous hair and philandering womanizing and her childhood neighbor Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) who is due to be engaged (then isn't).

There's a lot of really great sequences throughout the movie - Cleaver and Jones using boats drunkenly in a lake while Darcy and his colleague (?) Natasha (Embeth Davidtz) are in a boat by themselves is hilarious to watch. Darcy and Cleaver having a slugfest to "Raining Men" is also a wonder to watch (as they stop the fight to apologize to restaurant patrons for getting into their food and singing "happy birthday" to a teenager).

For the most part with Bridget Jones's Diary, the story is focused on its main character and the emotional arc the character goes through. I did love the needledrop of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and other songs throughout the movie. Some aspects hasn't aged as well as it did in 2001.

Jaws III (Peacock, leaving on 7/31) - 1.5/5 stars

Spoiler

In a way, Jaws III is very much like what was done with Jurassic World. It's a big, dumb movie that didn't get the science and the nuance of the original but it has more spectacle. With Jaws III, there is none of the tension at all that made Jaws and (to a lesser extent) Jaws 2 work. There's no Captain Brody fighting against the mayor and various other powers to keep the beach cleared due to a shark attack. Essentially, if you can't beat them....join them. Michael Brody (Dennis Quaid) works for Sea World and is fine with the rampant commercialism and tourism. After all, we're only in Reagan's America with this one.

As a result with virtually no character conflict except for the brief scenes where Michael Brody had problems with the boss Calvin Bouchard (Louis Gossett Jr), it's a lurk to the end. A good chunk of the movie is an advertisement for SeaWorld. The main conflict with the shark is in the last 30 minutes or so. They blow up the shark with a grenade and results in terrible 3D effects.

Getting to the 3D effects, they are just bad to look at. There's so much bad ADR everywhere in this movie - there's literal scenes where there's a mid range closeup, you hear characters' voices, but the characters onscreen lips are not moving. The only bright spot was Dennis Quaid being dumb in a Chris Pratt sort of way and Bess Armstrong as Kay Morgan not being out of place with Linda Dern for best scientist in a movie. Simon MacCorkindale has Glenn Powell / Aaron Eckhart like charisma as Philip FitzRoyce.

Jaws 3 is proof that you can't go back into the water again.

The Keep (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

The Keep is quite literally nothing but exposition. Concepts, characters, and settings are introduced even 45 minutes into the movie.

The premise of evil regimes encountering the fantastic showed up later and executed better in Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. Here, the Nazis stumble across "The Keep" in a village and wants the contents of what's inside. They are told not to remove the silver crosses. Two of them do and unleash Molasar (Michael Carter) in a great sequence marrying synths from Tangerine Dream and visuals. The Nazis want to stop the thing from killing their men so Dr. Theodore Cuza (Ian McKellen) and his daughter Eva (Alberta Watson) are pulled from waiting a train to a concentration camp to help. Meanwhile, Glaeken (Scott Glenn) is speeding to the village to stop Molasar.

Honestly, The Keep doesn't really have that much story wise; character motivations change too easily and the 20 minutes or so feel like too much was cut out that would have made the movie coherent. It has a lot of fever dream visuals and synths like the release of the spirit and the love scene with Eva and Glaeken. I watched this in 'starts and stops' and I really don't feel like I missed anything. This honestly is among Michael Mann's worst movies.

The Keep isn't worth keeping.

 

[DVD/BR Collector Thread for the Physical Media Enthusiasts]

13 minutes ago, Control said:

Vinegar Syndrome is releasing a 4K of MAC & ME. Add that to their previous release of HOBGOBLINS, Deaf Crocodile’s MAGIC SWORD, and Severin’s release of POD PEOPLE, and you’ve got an MST3K boutique label starter pack.

Just need Manos: Hands of Fate in 4K and that Mexican Santa Claus movie in 4K. 

[James Bond the VII]

Tom Holland, Jacob Elrodi and Harris Dickinson are rumored to be in the running for Bond:

https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/james-bond-wishlist-denis-villeneuve-report-1235135636/

Tom Holland is said to have been picked. If that's true, I won't go see it. Tom Holland is the most charisma-less actor I've seen end up in major features. There's a reason why he gets called "Spider-Boy" and not Spider-Man. I guess he'll be "James Bond Jr" and not the actual James Bond in my mind. 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Just now, odessasteps said:

Have you done Mr and Mrs Smith here yet? 

I've done the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie version, but not the OG version. That will happen soon lol if I can find it somewhere on streaming. 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

I will likely see the B&W 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much sooner than later because I'm basically a Hitchcock devotee. Thanks for the kudos, Curt on Do The Right Thing. I tried to look for the Criterion Collection today at my local B&N and it got sold out. I guess it's Amazon for me. 

Movies today....

An American Crime (Netflix, leaving on 7/1) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Decent independent drama that surprisingly didn't get a lot of buzz. Elliot Page as Sylvia Likens narrates the story and Catherine Keener as Gertrude Baniszewski has a bit of a helplessness to her character. The movie tries to generate sympathy for Baniszewski in some way, despite her being a monster. It somewhat lessens the impact for the movie as a result to have taken that approach.

While watching the movie, I could tell the low budget nature of it with the sets and the cinematography; there isn't a lot of interesting setups and camera angles. I did like the sequence where Sylvia 'escapes' as POV shots are used showing Paula (Ari Graynor) helping her. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as it turned out that Sylvia was dead.

There is something to be said for the nature of religion in America and child abuse. Rural churches tend to hide it more easily and in some cases excuse the behavior. The movie didn't really explore that aspect of Gertrude or the Likens being part of the church; the lone scene with the pastor visiting should have raised a red flag for him, but yet didn't.

For the most part, An American Crime discusses a searing topic with an average treatment.

80 For Brady (Netflix, leaving on 7/3) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Super Bowl LI was rigged. The odds were highly impossible, but no one looks at the officiating during that game (which this movie shows with the incomplete pass that got ruled as a completed pass), the coach for the Falcons Kyle Shanahan who was friends with Bill Belicheck and had gotten a job coaching the 49ers the next season due to Belicheck, and the mysterious meeting during half time with the Falcons head coach Dan Quinn and only one of the players that no one will talk about and the amount of secrecy with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell over the Patriots' actions and recording other teams (even beyond Spygate).

Which is fine. None of that has anything to do with this movie.

80 For Brady has four friends - Lou (Lily Tomlin), Trish (Jane Fonda), Maura (Rita Moreno) and Betty (Sally Field) - trying to enter a contest to win tickets for Super Bowl LI. United by their superstitious belief that what did affects the game (probably as much as believing the Falcons will have an actual team and the owner isn't an idiot), they go on an adventure to Houston for the game. A lot of the comedy is very much The Hangover for the AARP crowd, which makes me wonder why that wasn't done before.

It turns out that Lily lied about the tickets and bought fake tickets on eBay.

Throughout the movie, there's a lot of cameos (MAGA supporter Guy Fieri, Tom Brady, and Billy Porter as a famous choreographer Gugu) but the story of the main four is sweet to watch. I did like the nod to Eyes Wide Shut where Maura walks around in a mask and wonders if she's about to see an underground sex club, but instead Guy Fieris playing poker.

80 For Brady won't win awards, but it's a nice comedy.

Super Bowl LI is still rigged though and Tom Brady has had all the lucky breaks in NFL.

Never Open That Door (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

This is my first exposure to Carlos Hugo Chirstensen as a director and he seems to be influenced by both Nicholas Ray and Alfred Hitchcock in equal measures. Too bad that an Argentinian film noir anthology series never caught on.

The first segment is the more Hitchcock-like of the two, but is a bit more melodramatic. A sister Luisa steals from her brother and their family business with the brother taking matters into his own hands and kills the extortionist. The ending of the segment is like a nightmare from Rod Sterling as the phone continues to ring after his death.

The second segment is a bit slower but is the best one. A blind mother finds out about her son going missing and turning out to be part of a bank robbing group. They hide out at her place and in a very extended sequence takes their guns and locks them in their rooms. The remaining two finally break free with one of them killing her son and making her believe that he's her son to escape. The themes for the second segment and the entirety of it would have made a great standalone movie.

Cinematography throughout this movie is incredible with the usage of light and shadow. Christensen knew how to use light sources whether it's lighting a person's face in the first segment or lighting the mom's hands and her holding the gun in the second segment.

I'm looking forward to getting more into Argentinian noirs.

Jaws 2 (Peacock, leaving on 7/15) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

The reason Jaws is considered a classic is it's not just a horror movie or suspense thriller playing on real life fears of sharks that people have. It's more of a Herman Melville like quest to kill something that's not killable and about three distinct characters being tasked to save capitalism. The real monster is not the shark, but the mayor demanding to keep the beaches open for tourism; the color of the blood in the water is green, not red.

With Jaws 2, it tries to be a meditation on surviving an ordeal and things reminding a character what it went through and a teenager summer monster B-movie. Jaws is a 2+ hour movie that doesn't feel long, but Jaws 2 is less than 2 hours long and feels longer.

Brody (Roy Schneider) and everywhere he looks, he's reminded of what happened two years ago. The movie starts with him going to a function for an opening of a real estate development on Amity Island. Capitalism is back and it's bigger and meaner than ever. Just like the shark encountered in Jaws 2, it's super-sized. We're introduced to Brody's sons and a bunch of teenagers (including a guy that looks like Napoleon Dynamite), but they really aren't well written enough to even be important. The only one I remember is Andy (Albert Brooks-like Gary Springer) and that's about it. There's also a teenage girl that later would have been perfect in slasher films for her scream.

Anyway, since the story beats don't matter in this, why recap it? We know that teenagers will be teenagers and will go boating despite Brody telling his sons not to because....reasons. Like anything else in this movie, they get stuck in the middle of the ocean and the shark is going after them. The shark ate one or two of the kids. I don't know their backstories other than they wouldn't be out of place in a Frankie Avalon / Annette Funnicello movie.

Despite my blasting the movie, I will say that the scenes with Brody losing his job and talking to his wife Ellen (Lorraine Gary) stuck with me. "I never been fired from a real job before." A different script and a different movie would have dwelt a bit more on this real life adult aspect: what's scarier than sharks is unemployment. Instead Brody commandeers a boat with the new sheriff and still drives a police truck with the lights to see a diver that got The Bends. Why? Reasons.

Anyway, Jaws 2 is proof that just when you thought it was safe to make a cash-in sequel...it's a workman-like film that doesn't do anything spectacular (SFX are cheesey at times), but doesn't need to.

If I Should Die Before I Wake (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Yes, The Night of the Hunter is a reminder of If I Should Die Before I Wake. But this movie is so much more than that. As I was watching this I thought, "Goddamn it, this is Pure Hitchcock I'm seeing. Alfred Hitchcock would watch this and smile."

Carlos Hugo Christensen has so much cinematic methods and traditions flowing through this movie. The opening (and later dream sequence and upon seeing the climatic house) is something out of Ophuls / Renoir with "magical realism" and camera work - multiple images swirling around, out of focus shots of carousels, stairwells leading to the sky that's out of a Powell & Pressburger movie, the works.

The main character Lucio (Nestor Zavarce) fits into the mold of James Stewart in Rear Window as a character is not believed because he is 'bad.' 'Bad' in the sense of being a rambunctious school age child that's in danger of being expelled like Antoine Doinel in The 400 Blows. Lucio finds out about the murder of one of his classmates from overhearing his father. Christensen uses closeups of Lucio's face much like how Alfred Hitchcock would use closeups of James Stewart's face in Vertigo and in Rear Window (you even got a closeup of Lucio as he awakes from a bad dream like in Vertigo). Christensen didn't copy from the Master of Suspense, but they are certainly drinking from the same sources of inspiration.

A common theme throughout this movie is the prayer that the children recite to ask for God to take their soul. During the movie, it is an exercise the children have to write and recite (with a rare look at schooling in Argentina and learning about Spanish prepositions). In the climatic scene with the child murderer, Julia Losada (Maria A. Troncoso) is literally begging for her life during the prayer. Those scenes are tough to watch, even in early 1950s noir. Adults would have a hard time having to do those scenes where two adults are fighting; imagine a child fighting with a grown adult. Everyone involved is absolutely brave for doing this.

Cinematography throughout the movie is incredible, although some of the shots have a washed out look (which is forgivable since the 35mm restoration was even a wonder for being usable). Honestly, this is a near perfect classic in the film noir, suspense thriller, and Spanish film traditions.

Carlos Hugo Christensen is in good company with this.

 

[2025 Upcoming Movies Thread]

12 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Peter Dinklage screaming is somehow the funniest thing ever.

Seing Roman Reigns and Jason Momoa on a screen at the same time looking like that is gonna be really, really funny too.

Also, Eden is a Ron Howard movie? How did that possibly happen?

I'm surprised they didn't have Roman Reigns and Jason Momoa be Ken/Ryu (somehow).