[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

2 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Poe (or anybody reading this), did you happen to see Familiar Touch? It's quietly one of the best films I've seen this year. Very real, very compassionate, very beautiful. First feature from director Sarah Friedland. Wonderful lead from veteran actor Kathleen Chalfont. 

I wanted to but I could never get my plans to work out the way I wanted to during the weekend it was running. Had to do stupid offline crap lol. 

I can't see everything.  

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

4 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Driving thru Iowa today, I saw the exit for the John Wayne Museum on my way to Waterloo. Didn’t have time to stop. 

It would probably be interesting for a curiosity, but how extensive it would be I don't know.

I would love to see a John Ford Museum though. 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....

The Addams Family (Kanopy, leaving on 7/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

It's interesting how much The Addams Family is a Tim Burton movie without being a Tim Burton movie. At the time this came out, there wasn't that much of a focus in Hollywood for established IPs to become movies - movies like Dick Tracy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were out in 1990 and had box office success. It's not like how it is today where we are drowning with movies about video games, comic books characters, and books. (Although early Hollywood movies had a lot of movies being based on books).

With that said, Barry Sonnenfeld made a movie is relatively low stakes and a piece of pure popcorn cinema.

Having Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston as Gomez and Morticia Addams were inspired choices. Julia, prior to this, did Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound but hadn't done a lot of movies that would lend itself to this type of material. Nicholas Roeg's The Witches was practically an audition for Huston as Morticia Addams; the two characters are almost mirror images of each other. Huston's role in The Witches was a more maniacal version while Morticia in this is sardonic and dry.

The story for this has Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) seemingly coming back after 'being lost for 25 years.' It turns out it's a scam that Abigail Craven (Elizabeth Wilson) has orchestrated to have her son Gordon (Lloyd) disguise himself as Fester to infiltrate the house for money hidden in the house.

For the most part with the movie, it moves through generally funny scenes and situations, mostly involving the children Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) and Wednesday (Christina Ricci) trying to kill each other while the family wonder if Fester is indeed Gomez's brother. One funny scene involved a girl trying to sell cookies to Wednesday and Pugsley. "Do they contain actual Girl Scouts?" with Ricci intoning as dryly as possible. I do wonder if during the school talent show if Pugsley really did get his arm chopped off and Wednesday got gushing cuts on her neck and arm or if that was done with stage effects - of course, given the way the Addams Family is who knows.

The last 20 minutes of the movie somewhat undoes what the movie had set out to do. It's somewhat cheating to not have Gordon really be an imposter and Fester be actually gone, Gordon growing tired of the manipulation by his mother rescues the Addams Family. The 'lightning recovers Fester's memory' is a bit of a 'cop out' despite the cast asking for Fester to not be an imposter; a great story and message would acknowledge that death really does happen and not serve as part of jokes and bits throughout the movie. The finale with Abigail and Tully Alford (Dan Hedaya) being thrown in a hurricane is early CGI and a bit of a mess. Still, everyone goes home happy.

Also, the less said about Hammer's "Addams Family" the better. Egads, that song would make the dead rise up and revolt.

Addams Family Values (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Addams Family Values is honestly better than The Addams Family was. The comedy works better, the story works better, and it's more dialed into the satirical edge.

The story for this is centered on a woman named Debbie Jellinsky (Joan Cusack) appearing as a nanny for the Addams family's new baby and falling in love with Fester (Christopher Lloyd). As it turns out - she's murdered her last several husbands and taken their money. Essentially, her character pre-dates Nicole Kidman's character from To Die For by at least two years and has a look similar to noir 'femme fatales' like Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity. The Addams Family is seemingly unaware of Fester being swayed and her plot to kill him until it's too late and they start receiving cards saying Fester is never seeing them again.

In a lot of ways, the storyline for this movie is a direct lift from 1991's The Addams Family. You would think the Addams family would be a bit more careful about people wanting to be around Fester....

Debbie sends the two children Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) and Wednesday (Christina Ricci) to a summer camp for the "rich and affluent," where Pugsley and Wednesday are resistant to the Stepford Wives looking blondes that are in the camp. After watching Disney movies, Annie, The Sound of Music, and other 'family friendly' movies, Wednesday, Pugsley and their friend Joel (David Krumholtz) lead a rebellion on the camp with revealing the truth about Thanksgiving. "One day we'll be living in trailers on reservations while you will be drinking high balls."

Addams Family Values seems to do some of the same things that the films of Tim Burton and of John Waters do; suburbia is skewered and the All American background (exhibited by Joan Cusack's character, Peter MacNichol and Christine Baranski's camp counselor characters) are shown to be a bit more evil and malicious than macabre and goth characters like the Addams Family are.

The fact that Barry Sonnenfeld was able to get away with this message in an early 1990s popcorn cinema is pretty remarkable. Also, I love the numerous cameos from Nathan Lane, Tony Shalhoub and Cynthia Nixon.

Also, following in the tradition of the first movie, there’s an unspeakably bad song at the end of the movie (rap music deserves better than this).

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) (saw in the theaters) - 0.5/5 star

Spoiler

"Pour tout bagage on a vingt ans
On a l'expérienc' des parents" -"Vingt Ans," Leo Ferre

Quite honestly, one of the worst movies I've seen thus far this year.

Where to begin? Some of the worst acting I've seen from virtually emotionless actors in a long time. When they do attempt to express emotion in their scenes, it's comical. It's not realistic or seeming like something people in that situation would do. Even if you approach it from the standpoint of, "these are what rich white kids that are disconnected from the concerns of the poor would act like," it's not even able to pass the muster. Almost every actor involved - Madelyn Cline as Danica, Chase Sui Wonders as Ava, Jonah Hauer-King as Milo, Tyriq Withers as Teddy, and Sarah Pidgeon as Stevie - have virtually no characteristics or anything distinguishable for their characters. They are reduced to sketches of tropes. Cline's character is a rich blonde girl. Wonders' character is a bi-curious girl. Hauer-King's character is walking wallpaper essentially. Withers' character has a drinking problem because of breaking up with Danica. Pidgeon's character (who literally looks like St. Vincent upon her first appearance) has drug and alcohol problems but is clean.

Compared to the original characters from the 1997 movie, those characters and those actors were distinguishable. Hell, Ryan Philippe's character had more of a character arc in comparison. Teddy is pretty much the Temu version of that character in this. None of what the characters do made sense - literally, two characters stayed ALL FUCKING DAY in a graveyard while the groundskeeper got killed. "I guess he's going through a lot of video footage." Who the hell does that?

So the story for this is a re-tread of the 1997 version except they didn't drink near the beach and one of them was a designated driver (shows you how much times have changed). Although it's a bit of an iffy choice to drink a flask around a woman who just got out of drug/alcohol rehab. They stop on the side of the road because Teddy, while high, is daring cars to hit him. Seriously. A truck avoids him and hits a barrier and is about to fall over. All five of them try to stop it and....nope, it falls.

Of course, we advance one year later when everything changes. Danica breaks up with Teddie and is engaged to another faceless soulless husk of a rich white man. Rich white people were a mistake. Rather than go through the story - because it was really uninteresting, I can say that the movie provided no thrills or anything that scary. It felt like a parody of slashers (more so than Scream series did).

Eventually, of course, the bodies start piling up and there's a public town hall where the rich white real estate developer with a soulless husk for a son and the sherriff are begging to the blood gods of capitalism to allow them to keep tourism going to satisfy capitalism's blood lust even though actual people were killed (a la Murray Hamilton in Jaws). The movie presents various different possible suspects- the killer from the original movie? Nope. The sheriff? Nope. The real estate developer? No, he got killed gruesomely. The pastor? No, he got killed too.

It turns out it's Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr). Despite, you know, the character in the 1997 version was almost killed himself. Why would he perpetuate the murders, have Stevie be his accomplice - in the most comical scenes towards the end on the boat AND Ray shoots her in the head in the middle of her villain speech? Why would Ray appear when Ava and her friends interrupted the town hall to admonish the real estate developer for trying to sweep it under the rug? Wouldn't Ray want the murders to continue? Nothing about what Ray did made any sense when you compare this movie to the 1997 version AND within the context of this movie. It felt like, "Holy shit, we've reach a dead end story wise, okay let's have one of the main characters from the first movie be the murderer." It's like Sydney deciding to put on the Ghostface mask and committing murders.

I mean the positives were the David Lynchian dream sequence of Danica where Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) shows up before rotting away in CGI and Julia (Jennifer Love Hewitt) doing the famous "What are you waiting for?" line towards the end. (Also, Love Hewitt's womanly hips and her....chest are a wonder).

But the ending is ass. There's even a mid-credit scene for a freaking sequel. Yes, a sequel. With Brandy Norwood showing up again.

[The song lyrics are for "Vingt Ans," which played at the end of Last Summer, which the Regal I went to had this listed as Last Summer. The Catherine Breillat movie is probably a better choice to spend your time than this.]

World of Glory (Mubi, leaving on 7/31) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

This short film manages to be an echo of Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest in 15 minutes. A single character watches naked people get loaded into a truck, look towards the camera, then a hose is attached to the exhaust pipe that feeds into the truck that has already started. The truck drives around, almost out of frame as we see it in the distance. He tells us about his life, as if somehow that's supposed to lessen the impact of the first image we see.

"This is my car. I like this car" and "This is my mother" and "My father bought a grave" is supposed to humanize this monster, but he's a monster in a Kafka sense. He's powerless to stop what happened at the start. Yet he cries out in anguish.

He holds onto the cup of Christ when a priest provides the sacrament and refuses to let go. He stands in front of his bed, hearing the screams, likely from the people we saw at the start.

The monsters in our world wear suits and ties and look like us.

 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....not as many today due to work.

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

Spoiler

The amazing thing about Copycat is this is what was considered to be an 'average film' in the 1990s. Comparing it to other movies in the 1990s, like Se7en or even Kiss The Girls and The Bone Collector, it's above average. It's not a classic like Se7en was though. From watching it in the lens of movies in 2025, it's aged a lot better than first thought.

Copycat starts with people on a hill as Dr. Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver) gives a lecture on serial killers throughout history. The opening calls back to Hitchcock's style of filmmaking in some respects. During the opening, Dr. Hudson has all the men stand up then ask them to sit down until it's white males left. She then goes into the bathroom with an armed guard only for Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jr) to appear out of one of the stalls, kill the guard, then hang Dr. Hudson up over the stall.

The movie goes to present day as Dr. Hudson is now suffering from agoraphobia due to the incident. To be honest, it's a bit dodgy how agoraphobia is depicted in this movie and Dr. Hudson's friend casually dismissing her panic attack is also a bit bad. M.J. Monahan (Holly Hunter) and Reuben Goetz (Dermot Mulroney) are also met as they go through a police training area.

What's interesting is how much things introduced earlier in the movie play a part as the movie progresses. Monahan shooting a cardboard cutout in the shoulder shows up later as Goetz is grabbed in the police station and Monahan shooting the suspect before Goetz is killed. Dr. Hudson's lecture appears on an answering machine message later as is the opening shot is then replicated by the killer Peter Foley (William McNamara). The finale scene with Dr. Hudson being set up for a hanging is similar to what was done in the introductory scenes of the movie.

These aspects repeating tie into the theme of 'copycat' as the killer is copying other serial killers. The movie does a new wrinkle with the female led investigation but also does tricks that worked in the past. Dr. Hudson's agoraphobia is similar to James Stewart's broken leg in Rear Window; Dr. Hudson sees and deduces what the killer is doing, but is powerless to stop it (not to mention there being a shot as someone is watching Dr. Hudson in her apartment across the way). A shower scene with Dr. Hudson recalls Psycho as someone has broken into her apartment as well. There's also elements of Michael Mann's Manhunter with Dr. Hudson and Monahan having to talk with Cullum (like how Will Graham had to talk with Hannibal Lecter). Cullum's character and his focus on religion does call back to The Night of the Hunter and Cape Fear as well.

While the movie doesn't do anything new, what it does do is suspenseful and well-done. I loved the choice of distorted shots as Dr. Hudson begins to go outside her apartment or in the finale on the roof.

I did feel that the romantic subplot with Monahan and Nicoletti (Will Patton) was unnecessary and having the police be noble (yet entirely mocking and cynical) is a bit of a stretch. The movie had me wondering if Nicoletti or Goetz would be revealed to have assisted Foley on the murders a bit unknowingly (going back to the introductory scenes that "white men usually are the ones acting as serial killers"). During the great tracking shot as the camera follows Monahan through the first crime scene, one of the officers untied a stocking around a victim's neck, which lead me to believe that "white men helping the white male killer" would play a part in the movie.

With the mixture of old and new, Copycat is a great thriller.

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

Spoiler

There's something decisively sweet, romantic and old-fashioned about Saving Face. It as a movie tackles the concepts of love in a traditional culture. It's not an usual 'Asian' movie; the scene in the video store sums up the issue facing Asian films for American audiences. It's either The Last Emperor, Maid In Manhattan, The Joy Luck Club or....Asian porn. There's not anything else. The wider variety of experiences and stories don't enter into the equation. Saving Face as a movie taps into something Capra-like or even Rohmer-like with its depiction of love for its characters.

The two characters involved are Wilhelmina (Michelle Krusiec) and her mother Hwei-Lan Gao (Joan Chen). Wilhelmina is having to grapple with the expectations of her career at a hospital and the nagging pressures about getting married from her mother and from other people in their circle. Wilhelmina at first is exasperated at this notion until she sees an old childhood friend Vivian (Lynn Chen). Vivian has everything Wil wants: she's confident, she's sure of herself, she's beautiful. Yet seeing Vivian again stirred up old memories; "You were 7, I was 8, and I kissed you. You ran off," says Vivian. It turns out this running away is a constant theme for Wil. She never confronts what she wants in her life head on and only does what others want out of an obligation. "If you love me, you'll kiss me," says Vivian right as she is about to board a flight to Paris. Wil hesitates. Wil loses. Vivian, in an out of focus shot, has walked away for her flight.

Wil's mom has a different set of issues facing her. She's pregnant and that causes problems for her father and Wil's grandfather, Wai Gung (Jin Wang). Wai Gung kicks out Hwei-Lan from her house and the mother/daughter are now living together. Hwei-Lan goes on dates with other Chinese men, while hiding the face that she's pregnant. In a nice montage, Hwei-Lan dates various men, some more inept than the others. She finally 'settles' on Cho (Nathaniel Geng). During the wedding, which is of complete farcical proportions and like the soap operas Hwei-Lan indulges in, it turns out that Yu (Brian Yang) is the baby's daddy. To borrow a phrase from George Takei, oh my!

Throughout Saving Face, there's a lot of really simple shots done and simple scenes done that were done well. I loved the scene where Vivian and Wil are talking through a chain link fence - based showing that Wil is 'encaged' by her emotions and her own restrictions. The sunsets near the Hudson River where Vivian and Wil meet to eat hot dogs are entirely gorgeous. I really loved the scene towards the end where Wil spots Vivian in a crowd. It seems people are moving slowly as Wil walks through them to walk up to Vivian. They kiss in front of the various people at the dance club (mirroring the start of the movie at the same dance club in an almost Rohmer fashion). There's a great top down shot as balloons are released as the two are still kissing.

The drawback with Saving Face is some of the characters deal in cliches. Beyond Vivian, Wil, and Hwei-Lan, the other characters aren't as well rounded. It seemed that the extended family are out of The Joy Luck Club with some of Hwei-lan's 'friends' being a tad mean to her.

Even then, Saving Face is a great romantic comedy/drama that is a bit different than what's expected of "Asian movies."

 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....

Fading Gigolo (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

Fading Gigolo, compared to the earlier Mac and Illuminata, is a mis-step for John Turturro. It tries to be a Woody Allen comedy (it even has Woody Allen involved), but is just wholly uninteresting at times with a weak plot and weaker characterization. If you wanted to know what American Gigolo done as a Woody Allen comedy would look like, this is it.

What storylines are at its strongest involve Fioravante (Turturro) and Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), who is a traditional Jewish widow that is introduced by Murray Schwartz (Allen). Paradis evokes sadness and longing to her character and meeting someone like Fioravante had let her open up parts of her life that were dormant. The menage a trois with Dr. Parker (Sharon Stone) and Selima (Sofia Vergara) could have been an over-40 take on Vicky Cristina Barcelona but wasn't - to be honest, that would have been more interesting and more "Woody Allen like" if there were a movie with those two doing that.

As it is, there isn't as much of the usual philosophical bent with Allen (save for the scenes in the Rabbinic Court and some of the earlier scenes with Turturro) and it seems like the movie is 'spinning its wheels' rather than actually going anywhere story wise.

The shot of Turturro through Vergara's legs is almost The Graduate like and was a great shot.

Fading Gigolo fades with interest before it's over.

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

Spoiler

Quite honestly, Axelle Ropert's best work. Films like this always makes me wonder how much of the auteur (writer/director) is in the story of the movie; obviously, Solange (Jade Springer) and her admiration for Greta Thunberg is a bit non-relatable at times, but teenagers have their heroes.

Little Solange resembles a bit of Noam Baumbach's The Squid and The Whale, but there's not any sibling relation between Solange and her older Romain (Gregoire Montana). He doesn't understand Solange as much as has difficulty in relating to her. Solange as a character is a solitary character, save for one friend Lili (Marthe Leon). A lot of the shots in the movie show Solange walking to and from places by herself, in some cases being lost in the crowd with the camera having to focus in on her.

Solitary walking was in Ropert's other films; in The Wolpert Family, the mayor walked to a neighbor's house to confront him. In Miss and The Doctors, the doctors walk through Chinatown section of Paris. In The Apple of My Eye, Theo and Elise walk places with the aid of blindness staffs. With this, walking is an expression of loneliness and sadness for Solange.

Solange is caught between her parents Antoine (Philippe Katerine) and Aurelia (Lea Drucker). Both obviously love her and express their love for her, but Solange has a difficult time even explaining it. A telling scene for me was the phone call from the teacher to Aurelia; while reading a Paul Verlaine poem, Solange breaks down and cries. Earlier in the movie, Paul Verlaine's poetry was a favorite of Aurelia as Antoine recalls that during a dinner with Solange ("Your mother would read his poetry." "I hate that." "What?" "You used to not call her 'your mother.'"). Something as small as a reminder of this affected her.

Throughout the movie, I had wondered if Romain committed suicide when he went to Madrid; Aurelia held Solange in a scene and broke down after Solange came back from a cafe while waiting for Romain. Fortunately, in the scenes after that, Romain came back from Madrid. He has a desire to take a 'gap year,' but doesn't want the parents to know. He gives Solange a scarf. Towards the end of the movie, Solange throws the scarf into a river (which also made me wonder if Solange attempted suicide too).

It turns out that wasn't the case either. Some passage of time occurs as the movie ends with Solange now living with her aunt Anna (Claire Theodoly). She comes back to her parents' house to see them; "welcome home" says Antoine as the camera pans around the room to show the packed up boxes. The divorce is finalized as is the sale of the house. "I've come to say goodbye to the house," says Solange towards the end of the movie. Solange has memories of the place she lived, yet she's not attached to it either. A poster hanging in her room is asked to be taken down.

Little Solange ends on a freeze frame with a zoom in on Solange's face; just like Truffaut's The 400 Blows ended on a freeze frame with Antoine at a beach and Diane Kurys' Peppermint Soda ended on a freeze frame with Anne and Frederique at a beach too. In a way, Little Solange is in the lineage of those two movies at expressing painful childhood longing and memories for the characters involved.

The drawback with Little Solange is a lot of the moment to moment scenes isn't as interesting as it should be. A lot of the emotional impact with the characters isn't as affecting as well; but Jade Spencer does carry the emotion behind it fairly well.

Little Solange is a great film from Axelle Ropert.

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

Spoiler

The interesting thing about creativity is the feeling that something was left out or not explored; it hurts not to complete a project for those that are of the creative fields. On the....flipside of that, the interesting thing about collections is the feeling that having an item isn't enough. Another item has to be added, otherwise the collection isn't 'complete.'

There's something primal about collecting photos, records, movies, even video games - it can be traced to our ancestors as they were hunters and gatherers going over the land looking for the best fruit, the best game, the best meat (that would be put into boxes to later hold records).

Chris Wilcha's documentary is about both of these impulses - the side to create and the side to collect - that permeated his life. It also permeates others - Judd Apatow, Herman Leonard, Dan from Flipside Records, Ira Glass, Starlee Kine, and David Milch. These subjects observe as time slips away while they are still eager to create. For Herman Leonard, we see him talking about his photographs and how he wishes the white used in one of his photos was the same white as a subject's shirt. He reconnects with Lenny Kravitz and wishes he had a reflector to capture the leather in his pants. We then see his memorial service.

Chris Wilcha reflects on his creative and collecting life as he seems to acquire unfinished documentaries - "another hard drive" - for his office. He starts off telling us about making a documentary while working at Columbia House and how it fulfilled him to do so. "I became what I fought against" as a member of Generation X. Wilcha then works on other documentaries which becomes television commercials (because creativity will not feed his family). While doing a commercial for a bank, he goes to New Jersey and visits Flipside Records. He shoots footage as the maddening, dizzying and disorienting bins and bins of vinyl are shown; he promises to help vitalized Flipside Records through his marketing background.

Nope, it becomes another hard drive to the pile as his life moves forward.

Other people cross his path to fulfill his creative impulses. He works with Judd Apatow for a documentary about Apatow's movie Funny People (which later gets sold on eBay for $3). He works with Ira Glass on This American Life as Glass then takes the radio program on the road to document his dancing in front of hundreds of people. He sees David Milch, who essentially lived life with both ends of the candle burning, wanting him to make a documentary about Herman Leonard. He talks to Starlee Kine about writing a novel, while she then develops a 'writer's block' and never finishes the novel.

The creative and collection must continue. Another tasty fruit must be found.

This documentary made me reflect on my own obsessions with collecting. Growing up, I had boxes of CDs everywhere - my taste in music was formulated by SPIN Magazine, CMJ, Rolling Stone, NME, Q Magazine, MOJO Magazine. I had a copy of Yo La Tengo's I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, U.S. Maple's Talker, Sparklehorse's Good Morning Spider, Elliott Smith's XO (which got scratched to be unplayable due to the amounts of playing I did), Radiohead's OK Computer, and Manic Street Preachers' Everything Must Go among others. If it appeared in those magazines, I had it. I also got CDs from Columbia House too. My dad got the last mailer from when Columbia House had announced they were shutting down.

Then in my 30s and 40s, it became a video game collection. Over the past year or so, I haven't played video games and have done more film watching. I just picked up the new Criterion Collection box set for Francois Truffaut. Film satisfies those impulses of collecting music and seeing what other creative people like Godard, Fellini, Kurosawa, Wenders, Hitchcock, Truffaut, Lynch, and Ozu came up with. Other filmmakers like Van Sant, Haynes, Schiamma, Triet, Ostlund, and Fargeat. Film is an ocean.

The point being anyone watching this documentary that has the same impulse as Wilcha - the creative and the collective - feels something afterwards. It makes the person feel like filming a movie, writing a song, taking a photograph, or writing a story.

And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that desire. It makes us human.

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

Spoiler

"What time is it?" "Nationtime!"
"It's real bad to be in the slums, but it's bad to have that slum in you."

Nationtime on its basis as a document of the National Black Political Convention in 1972 is incredibly essential viewing for anyone who cares about the way the United States is going and where it went then.

Just for Jesse Jackson's speech alone, that speech is five stars. There's a lot that he speaks to and covers in his speech - not just the importance of self-determination and self-governance, but the importance of purity of mind and of body. It's interesting how Jackson talks about the distrust of Republicans AND Democrats - both parties in 1972 were pointed out as corrupt and only after maintaining their power. If only they knew in 1972 what we know now....

Dick Gregory's comedy is hilarious and speaks to real issues, then he begins to speak to his audience in a serious way. Honestly, I could listen to him speak for hours.

Having Sidney Poitier narrate and Harry Belafonte reading poetry is incredible as well as it marries the audio of that with the visuals. One scene that's powerful was Coretta Scott King talking to Betty Shabazz. Shabazz was giving her thoughts, while King was quiet and listening. Who knows what was being said.

The disheartening thing is how Michigan delegation walked out as the person running the meeting Amiri Baraka tried to keep it together. Yet it's too much. Having a delegation like this is like herding cats.

Had the delegation succeeded and had there been unity (as stressed by the speakers at the start of the documentary), it would be a different story in 2025.

William Greaves crafted a documentary that's timeless and yet relevant to today too. It's like a hidden camera into a difficult yet rewarding look to get a movement together.

 

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

4 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Loaded October for Criterion, but I'm especially looking at Fire Walk With Me in 4K.

A History of Violence and The Shrouds in the same month. Also, Altered Freaking States???? (Where's The Devils/The Boy Friend/Savage Messiah/The Rainbow/Lair of the White Worm/Complete Ken Russell Criterion Box Set?)

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....rehearsal ran long so I didn't get a chance to do another.

Bone Tomahawk (Netflix, leaving on 7/14) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Bone Tomahawk as a movie has a great first hour but a ponderous second hour then a mediocre last 30 minutes.

Reducing a movie to units of time somewhat indicates to me that the movie doesn't work in a lot of ways. The premise is that people are 'mysteriously' vanishing in an old Western town. What drew me in is the slower paced and the seemingly character focused moments of the movie. Kurt Russell (recalling his performance in The Hateful Eight) delivers a great performance as Sheriff Franklin Hunt with Matthew Fox as John Brooder recalling Val Kilmer in Tombstone as an educated gunslinger. Patrick WIlson as Arthur, Richard Jenkins as Deputy Chicory, and Lili Simmons as Samantha O'Dwyer also gave great performances as well.

The problem though with the movie is making this "Cannibal Holocaust but as a Western" clashes against the approach the movie takes. The characterization built up is for naught in the last 30 minutes; it makes having watched this seem pointless. Additionally, we aren't given much as how the "Valley of Starving Men" came to be; The Professor (Zahn McClarnon) indicates it's a product of inbreeding. Even then, it's a nameless faceless enemy that seems to be horrific for the sake of it; the equivalent of describing Haitian immigrants as "they're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats." It's not even clear how the tribe knew to go to the town or how they got there.

So having a Western that approaches John Ford for the stunning vistas and Sam Peckinpah for the wanton violence and Post-Western outlook leads me to feel that Bone Tomahawk is a homage with performances making up for it. If the actors' performances weren't as strong as they were in this, I think I would have rated this 1 star.

On a technical level, I did love S. Craig Zahler's commitment in not using closeups of actors' faces and doing a lot of wide angle and midrange shots of the actors in scenes - it causes them to act with their body, not just their faces. The scene I found gruesome was when the deputy was split in half naked, not the ending scenes with Kurt Russell.

The ending makes it seem readily apparent that the remaining characters (Arthur, Chicory and Samantha) may not survive the trek back home. The gunshots could have hit their targets or they could have missed. Samantha indicated at one point during the movie that it was at least 12 men as part of the tribe, so who knows if the three will face more before getting back. For all they know, the remaining members of the tribe are already in town.

Bone Tomahawk is an interesting movie although a bit empty even with technical precision.

The Apple of My Eye (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

The Apple of My Eye is Axelle Ropert's weaker effort. It attempts to do a screwball comedy like Bringing Up Baby or The Philadelphia Story, but it's a bit more malicious and not as funny. The premise reminded me a bit of Neil LaBute's In The Company of Men, where the lead character for that romances a deaf woman on a dare. Theo (Bastien Bouillon) meets a blind woman named Elise (Melanie Bernier) who lives in his apartment building and they initially don't get along. Theo decides one day to become 'blind' and is seemingly encouraged to maintain this act by everyone around him.

Most of the scens are a tad dull to watch and it's hard to 'root' for Theo to maintain his lie for Elise. Elise obviously isn't aware that Theo is doing this, although she is somewhat malicious and cold herself.

The last 10 minutes or so had completely radical change to Theo as he reflects on what he values and gives up playing the bouzouki to work as a waiter. He and Elise meet up in his restaurant and they get married.

Despite my story issues with the movie, both leads are positively gorgeous and pretty to look at. I loved one of the scenes where Elise walks in front of a car, which reminds me of a simiilar scene in An Affair To Remember.

For the most part, The Apple of My Eye isn't the apple of my eye.

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

Spoiler

With this being the second feature I've seen of John Tuturro, there's something that's just authentically personal to him and that he's trying to say too.

The movie is divided into three acts, like an actual play. The first act has the play's director Tuccio (John Turturro) staging a production of an Italian comedy when one of his actors passes out and presumably dies on stage. It feels a bit like Peter Bogdanovich's Noises Off.... except the director doesn't bother continuing the play and goes onstage to announce his play. He decides to stage a production of a play he's working on - called Illuminata - featuring Rachel (Katherine Borowitz), his wife. The play opens to less than stellar reviews from Bevalaqua (Christopher Walken).

Having the actor/director Turturro and his wife Borowitz working together is like what Roberto Benigni did with his wife Nicoletta Braschi in Life Is Beautiful. The difference being that Tuccio and Rachel never really display their love, only speak of it. "I love you." "“You say that as if you have stopped and wanted to begin again.” “I never stopped- I’ve done nothing but love you imperfectly. I was born imperfect, educated imperfectly, molded by imperfect hands- if you’re looking for someone to love you imperfectly look no further, I am she.” (to borrow a quote from another review for this).

Act I ends with a comical scene as Tuccio imagines those in attendance for an afterparty singing in operatic style and laughing at him. It's something out of Fellini.

Act II really goes into fully Fellini territory as the various players move in the background and act out their predilections. Tuccio goes to Celimene (Susan Sarandon)'s place and Sarandon completely steals the show with her scenes. "I act. I acted when I told my mother I love her." Celimene has a sexual desire for Tuccio. Pallenchio (Donal McCann) kisses the exposed breasts of Marta (Aida Tuturro). Astergroud (Beverly D'Angelo) also engages in an affair. Marco (Bill Irwin) goes to Bevalaqua's place as Christopher Walken in those scenes acts like Dracula out of Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula. Rachel agrees to do Ibsen's A Doll's House if the producers will do Tuccio's play Illuminata.

Act III sees a reversal for the play Illuminata. It's being refined and will be shown. This comes as a shock to everyone involved as Rachel and Dominique (Rufus Sewell) try to refine the dialogue. One of the complaints about the play is that it's not realistic. Pallenchio cites various plays like Hamlet, Othello, and Antony where infidelity occurs and something happens to the man committing infidelity. In Illuminata, the infidelity is just accepted; Rachel isn't happy with that. During the re-opening night, we see Rachel and Dominique act out the final scenes of the play as Dominique has incorporated words said earlier by Rachel. The play (and the movie) closes.

Illuminata as a movie is so much more than being a 'play within a play.' It's a love affair to the toil and the difficulty of acting. John Turturro as an actor isn't a widely known name; he's known for being in the Coen Brothers' movies like Miller's Crossing and O Brother, Where Art Thou? With this, it's about the quiet dignity of the work and of the production.

One shot I absolutely loved was when the actor that passed out in Act I (sadly) finally dies. It's perfectly arranged as one actor's face is closer to the camera, another actor is near the wall, the character that died is on the bed, Beverly D'Angelo's character is standing near the bed, another actor is further back and within the shot near the wall, one actor faces the window and another actor is angled towards the end of the bed. The shot is absolutely symmetrical. Harris Savides' cinematography is full of moments like this in the movie.

Illuminata is an underrated work from an underrated actor/director.

 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....watched four movies made in the 1970s today. 

Odds And Ends (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

This feels less like a short film and more like a TV show pilot for a 1990s Sci-Fi Channel program. It would be shown after Lexx, Farscape, Firefly, and Sliders.

It's imaginative while having virtually no budget / shoestring budget; a lot of what makes that work is the dialogue and the characterization. "Fire up the Clarence Thomas droid" (that a lot of reviews have mentioned) help with that as is the main character staring into a cube to recall past memories.

The lead actress has the same kind of beauty as Pam Grier does. Too bad this ends on a cliffhanger.

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

Spoiler

Watching this documentary short, there's a lot to unpack:

- Queenie lives in a cramp NYC apartment while dealing with mobility issues. She needs an at-home care nurse to help her.
- Older/senior LGBTQ+ citizens have a bit of different struggle compared to heteronormative citizens. Heteronormative citizens have family members that can help, while LGBTQ+ citizens have their 'found family' to help them.
- Senior housing is a problem in large cities, even in large cities like NYC.
- The Stonewall House sounds good on paper. A retirement community that is LGBTQ+ focused.
- The problem is several things: 1) It only offers a studio apartment or a 1 bedroom apartment. 2) Queenie says it's too small for the 1 bedroom. 3) She wasn't allowed to take pictures.
- I wonder how much of what Queenie said is due to the pack rat like state of her current apartment. Even she wonders how much stuff she has to get rid of to be able to move in. She said that both the bed AND the dresser wouldn't fit. That sounds small and almost like a dorm room or maybe a closet.
- If the project was really great and the apartments were really great, why would photos not be allowed? Obviously, if photos weren't allowed, videos weren't allowed either. It makes me wonder what else is being hidden about the Stonewall House that we aren't shown.
- From a Google search and looking at the website for The Stonewall House, a studio apartment is 500 square feet with a 1 bedroom being 725 square feet. No photos of the apartments are shown AND there are no floor plans.
- The ribbon cutting ceremony shows the real crux and summation of the situation: those moving in aren't important, at least in the grand view of performative politics and ambitious politicians. It's a way to get publicity in the paper, not address real issues with affordable and senior housing.

It leaves a lot to think about. Queenie as a documentary simply shows us what the subject has to deal with in her life and is almost a cinema verite style documentary.

Family Plot (Netflix, leaving on 7/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

It's interesting how much of Family Plot isn't like Alfred Hitchcock's usual work. It's not really a suspense thriller as it is a dark comedy. Compared to Hitchcock's usual films, it's much more intricately plotted as there are two sets of characters - Blanche (Barbara Harris) and George (Bruce Dern) and Fran (Karen Black) and Arthur Adamson / Edward Shoebridge (William Devane) - slowly becoming aware of the other.

What makes Family Plot so much different is the fact that both sets of characters aren't really 'good' or 'evil.' Both are evil and do terrible things. Blanche and George defraud people of their money with a fake psychic medium business. Blanche is doing a 'reading' with Julia Rainbird (Cathleen Nesbitt). Blanche is trying to seem like she is communicating with the dead of Rainbird's relatives. Blanche and George leave with Blanche noting about how they'll get $10k from her if she can find Rainbird's heir. They intersect with Fran, who is silently going to a location while in disguise to get a diamond from a man she and Arthur have kidnapped. The disguise is reminiscent of a lot of giallo characters - in fact, it directly reminded me of what was worn in Argento's The Bird With The Crystal Plumage. Arthur, which is his presumed name, faked his death and worked with Maloney (Ed Lauter) to kill Arthur's family.

These sets of morally gray characters make it difficult to know who to 'root' for in the story. Blanche and George are scammers, but George has to drive a cab to make ends meet. Arthur/Ed and Fran kidnap people, but Arthur works as a jeweler and they provide decent meals to those they kidnap. It's almost like Hitchcock is pointing out that 'good' and 'evil' characters are relative in the grand scheme of things. After all, until Arthur and Fran were planning on murdering Blanche, we never see a body, to quote the film's tagline.

Eventually, George tracks down further information about the gravestone with Ed's name on it and more is found out leading to the finale. What's interesting is the sets of characters do not meet until the last 20 minutes of the movie with Blanche tracking down Edward and Fran and meeting them.

The movie at points did drag a bit and wasn't Hitchcock's usual exciting scenes. There were elements of earlier Hitchcock in this - the scene in the church where George looks for the priest reminded me of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and Maloney chasing after Blanche and George before crashing was a bit like North By Northwest.

I did like how the scenes with Blanche struggling out of Adamson's hands was shot - it was in line with how giallo movies are done with more closeups of the struggle and the individuals' hands. The ending scene with Blanche winking to the camera is a great final shot.

The other aspect that's differently is the cinematography and score for the movie - a lot of the shots have a more 'grounded' feel to them. I especially love Blanche's kitchen and how it looked like an actual crowded kitchen.

Family Plot is a great final film from Hitchcock and it does make me wish what Hitchcock could have done to follow this up.

The Sugarland Express (Netflix, leaving on 7/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

The Sugarland Express is easy to see where Steven Spielberg already had most of his style and his type of filmmaking already formed with his first feature. The characters, Clovis (William Atherton) and Lou Jean (Goldie Hawn), are the 'beautiful dreamers' type of characters that Spielberg would use throughout his career - from Indiana Jones to Elliott Taylor to Frank Abagnale Jr to Roy Neary to Dr. Alan Grant. With this, it almost pre-dates Raising Arizona with the focus on Clovis and Lou Jean trying to see their son.

The thing is the characterization for Clovis and Lou Jean are really just one dimensional - they don't really change other than their pursuit. They really don't have any other plans besides that - it's not like Arthur Penn's Bonnie & Clyde where they gleefully evade the law and don't see the danger in front of them. Clovis and Lou Jean realize the danger, but can't get out of the way of it and aren't equipped to do so in the first place.

Everyone else around them changes, including their own captive Slide (Michael Sacks) and even those pursuing them have to change. The highlight is the scene where they drive through the town and people just start giving them things like flowers, diapers, a pig, cigarettes. One woman buys beauty products for Lou Jean - "Don't let anyone take your child away from you, that child is yours." Compared to Bonnie & Clyde, The Sugarland Express is about the humanity at the margins in Texas and the recognition of empathy there.

It seems in this it's an unwinnable battle between Clovis, Lou Jean & Slide against the state of Texas. Even Slide begins to develop Stockholm syndrome and starts agreeing with the two. The climatic scene has Slide telling Clovis not to go into the house since he knows it's a trap. What I found interesting is the reservists tried to 'shoot' at Clovis/Lou Jean and in the aftermath, Captain Tanner (Ben Johnson) destroyed their equipment (I can't help but to feel nowadays they would have gotten the equivalent of a pat on the head and lollipop and told thanks for your help).

Throughout the movie, there are a ton of tremendous cinematography. I especially love the scene with the Louisiana state troopers driving along and singing as the sun is setting. There's also a great shot of the couple Clovis and Lou Jean steal their car standing on the side of the road, bickering. "Okay, stay right there!" Spielberg has tremendous crowd scenes as the movie progresses. There's even an early example of 'the Spielberg face' as one of the kids with the 'two reserves' runs off.

Even though this isn't one of the best of Steven Spielberg, it's rather decent.

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

Spoiler

Scarecrow as a movie is the most "French" of American New Wave / New Hollywood films. Al Pacino had previously done the harrowing story of junkies with director Jerry Schatzberg in The Panic in Needle Park. Gene Hackman, prior to this movie, was famous for having done William Friedkin's The French Connection. The two actors together really don't mix - they are like oil and water. When watching them, I couldn't help but wonder how much the friction between the two was genuine and not necessarily acting. Gene Hackman has always been a prickly sort of actor, even in his younger days. He's professional, but he's not attached to the idea of 'living a character' or doing Stella Adler method acting. Pacino, on the other hand, swings for the fences on everything. He makes you believe he really was addicted to heroin.

Somehow, through the combustible elements of these two together, magic happens.

The movie begins with a long wide angle shot of a figure walking up to a barbed wire fence. He struggles with the wiring as he steps through. The camera stays still on this figure for a rather long take. It cuts to a figure hiding behind a tree. A voice is heard from the tree, calling to the person finally freeing himself from the fencing and carrying his belongings.

The two don't interact with each other and stay on opposite sides of the road as the title and the opening credits appear. Eventually, they get closer to each other as they attempt to hitchhike. They learn each other's names - the figure in the barbed wire is Max (Gene Hackman) and the figure calling out to him is Francis (Al Pacino). They go to a restaurant. "What's your middle name?" "Lionel." "I think I'll call you 'Lion.'"

The movie tells its story in ellipsis, allowing for the blanks to be filled in with the dialogue. At the restaurant, Max wants to open a car wash in Pittsburgh. "Why Pittsburgh?" he's asked. "I got my money there." Max was in prison for about nine years, as he's since planned out what he's going to do once he's let out. "Lion" has been in the Navy for five years and bought a lamp for his child. Later, he explains why he bought a lamp. "Five years later, it's already known what the child is going to be."

Both these characters have had their lives stolen from them and bottled up. The world has changed for them since they were gone. The prices that Max has figured out may not be the prices to buy items for a car wash in 1973. What Francis thinks of his relationship with his girlfriend is not going to be the same in 1973. Yet, they must go forward. The movie is really a 'road trip' even though neither have a car. They only know the direction they need to go is Detroit (to see Francis' son) and then to Pittsburgh (to open a car wash).

Max and "Lion" get to Denver and meet up with Max's sister Coley (Dorothy Tristan) and Max's friend "Frenchy" (Ann Wedgeworth). They hang out with each other as "Frenchy" is obviously attracted to Max (to be honest, at times I wondered if Hackman and Wedgeworth weren't acting and Wedgeworth really wanted to get with Gene Hackman). "Frenchy" burns the food and they get KFC before going to a bar, where another guy recognizes "Frenchy" and Max and him eventually fight outside.

Max and "Lion" are sent to prison and the characters' relationship changes there for the rest of the movie. They've grown distant from each other with Max not wanting to have anything to do with "Lion." After an inmate comes onto "Lion" and then beats him up, Max takes up for "Lion" and beats up the inmate. They get released and the experience has changed them both further.

What's talked about a lot is the concept of the scarecrow. "Lion" says that the scarecrow isn't there to scare off the crows. "They just laugh at it," says "Lion." "Oh that farmer is a good guy, he built this for us, we'll leave him alone." At various points in the movie, both characters compare themselves to a scarecrow. First, it's "Lion" since "you make me laugh," says Max. Then, it's Max being compared to a scarecrow in the bar before he does his striptease to defuse a fight. The scarecrow in this case is a defensive barrier for both characters; it's like Max's multiple layering of clothing that we see.

When they get to Detroit, the most profound change happens during the phone call from Francis to his ex Annie (Penelope Allen). Annie is angry at Francis while Francis has to just take it in the phonebooth. Annie lies to Francis and says his son is dead while looking right at him. The camera lingers on Francis' son's face before cutting to Pacino's face. Francis gets out of the phone booth, defeated. "How did it go?" "It's a boy!" Francis lies. "She got married to a guy, I don't want to go over there...let's go celebrate." Francis purposely leaves his gift for his son on the trunk of a car, as the camera lingers on the gift.

In the park, there's a bit of transference occurring for Francis. Francis tells kids their fortune and then does play acting with Treasure Island, which is a story about the allure of the unknown. All of a sudden, Francis grabs one of the kids and goes into the fountain. At that point, Francis loses his connection to reality and thinks the child he grabs is his son. He then climbs up onto a lion statue in the fountain and refuses to come down.

At that point, Francis is catatonic. Max is helpless as Francis is taken away and Max finds out what happened. Max tries to free Francis before he's carted away. The ending of the movie has Max journeying to Pittsburgh alone - whether Francis has recovered or this is it for Max coming back is unknown. Max finds a hidden $10 bill and is able to make the trip.

With Scarecrow as a movie, it's a story of rugged individualism in America and masculine friendship. For men at that time, it's harder to connect with other men on that level. Several times, Max throws Francis's arm off of him as Francis is hugging him; Max is closed off to those kinds of feelings and views it as being 'homosexual' on some level. After leaving the work camp and rescuing Francis, only then does Max change and begin to realize that he can change and can have a genuine friendship with another man.

The cinematography is done by Vilmos Zisgmound, who served as the director of photography for The Sugarland Express. Every shot in this is absolutely gorgeous with breathtaking long wide angle shots and midrange shots of Max and Francis walking around various towns they visit.

Scarecrow is a classic of American filmmaking.

Rooster Cogburn (Netflix, leaving on 7/31) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

I probably needed to have seen both True Grit (1969) and The African Queen (the two films this movie took inspiration from), but it's fine.

Once I got past the dialogue, the movie's fine. It's actually more of a comedy than a Western. ("Judge, I hadn't had a drink since breakfast!"). Yes, John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn has questionable dialogue ("When they're given the right to vote, watch out." "We bring you to our country and you don't learn English." *proceeds to get cussed out in Chinese*), but you can't fault it too much.

Most of the movie is John Wayne as Cogburn and Katharine Hepburn as Eula cutting it up. Although in a lot of scenes, Wayne sounded like he was about to pass out - more than likely, re-dubbed.

The star of the movie is the cinematography from Harry Stradling, Jr. The wide angle shots of Oregon countryside is worth watching the movie.

Stuart Millar as a director isn't that good. Rooster Cogburn as a movie feels like a TV movie rather than a feature, but it made money in 1975 so who am I to argue?

 

[SUPERMAN - 7/11/2025]

1 hour ago, JonnyLaw said:

@Andrew POE! I took my daughter to see it tonight, and she wanted to see a movie in 3D, and the thing you mentioned in your review about how conversations were shot with the camera looking over one person’s shoulder was really obvious and annoying in 3D.  I don’t know if they shot it that way specifically to create more scenes where they could add 3D depth or not, but I noticed it more than I did on my first watch.

Yeah, glad you noticed it too. 

It was driving me crazy during the entire movie. That's what I get for watching 4 or 5 movies a day, I notice stuff like that. 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today...don't let the large number of movies fool you, it's mostly short films on Criterion Channel. 

Legal Smuggling With Christine Choy (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

There has to be more to do in Toronto. It is home to Tim Horton's and poutine (AKA God's gift to humanity).

Anyway, interesting animated/documentary short and a bit funny.

Stay Close (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Nice short documentary that actually gives me a little bit of Aftersun vibes. What Keeth Smart went through just to get to the 2008 Beijing Olympics is absolutely tough and heartwrenching.

Flatbush! Flatbush! (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

I absolutely loved this documentary short about a line of commuter vans along Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn. It consists of interviews with the drivers and historic news footage about the transit strikes in the 1980s. Atlanta needs something like this, not stupid trolley service along Auburn Ave or endless potholes because the city spent millions on a "police training center" in Southeast Atlanta.

Anyway, people make a community and when it happens, it's beautiful.

Superman (2025) (saw in the theaters) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

"Well, just you use your two X-Ray eyes/Hurt like Kryptonite" -"That's Really Super, Supergril," XTC

Superman (2025) runs into the same problems that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) runs into.

I missed about two minutes from the start of the movie (stupid Regal deciding to start the movie right on the dot at 9:00 am instead of the 20-30 minutes of trailers/ads), so I wasn't sure where in the story the movie was. When I started with the movie, Superman (David Corenswet) is getting healed by robots (?) in his Fortress of Solitude.

The story aspects in this version of Superman really don't seem to make a lot of sense and presume a lot of knowledge on behalf of the audience going into it. Characters are thrown at us without us really given time to even dwell on who they are, where they fit in the story, or allowing much of a character arc for them. It seems that characters serve the purpose of exposition - Superman fights Ultraman, who is threatening people in Metropolis. It's only later that we find out who Ultraman really is and how he got there. We know that Superman is a good guy doing good things and it feels like a lot of an introduction was missing to the story - we're seeing a "middle act" to a story arc, rather than a beginning to the story arc. Superman (1978) and Man of Steel both told us the origins of Superman already; while I applaud James Gunn for not falling into that trap, it made the story with this a bit more lackluster.

Corenswet as Superman is more heroic and eager and was the best part of the movie. I loved the early scenes where he's helped up after being knocked into the sidewalk of Metropolis - it's somewhat like the moment in Spider-Man 2 where "he looks like my son" (although not as good as that moment in the movie was). Superman is played like a bit of a naive ass, but even then the character in this is a bit wooden and lacking at times. The scenes with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) in Lane's apartment had palpable anger and in a way, I almost wonder if Superman really were the villain in this story than the hero.

The scenes with Lois Lane in her apartment were the best scenes in the entire movie. So much is revealed about their characterization just from lines of dialogue and just from their interactions. "I cooked you breakfast for supper, it's your favorite," says Kent/Supes. "No, it's your favorite," responds Lane. Which leads into Kent revealing that he interviews Superman. "Where's the challenge in that when you know the answers to your own questions?" Lane naturally asks. They then conduct the interview as it naturally heats up between Kent and Lane.

In those moments, it recalled to me the best superhero movies ever made, Spider-Man 2 and the original Superman. We see the characters almost as people, albeit for a brief moment. But there were drawbacks as well that I'll get to.

Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is more maniacal versus the previous versions of Luthor (hate to say it but Jesse Eisenberg, Kevin Spacey and Gene Hackman were better versions of the character). Luthor in this twirls his (invisible) mustache and it boils down to a 'jealousy' over Superman's placement in the world. Hoult does an excellent job turning chicken shit into chicken salad with the one-dimensional characterization Luthor has. Luthor in this is either seething with anger and doing dialogue through gritted teeth or yelling out lots of lines at Superman. Hoult tries but he can't save this.

The other characters introduced - Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Guy Gardner/Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), and Hawkgirl (a wonderfully disengaged Isabela Merced, who has the distinction of being in both a DC Comics movie AND a Marvel Comics movie) - are almost afterthoughts to the story. Although the banter about calling themselves the Justice Gang and Mr. Terrific's humorous disgust towards everyone were the best parts. They are low effort versions of the banter/camaraderie found in James Gunn's earlier Guardians of the Galaxy series.

Now let's get to the problems with Superman (2025). The whole movie and the cinematography had a "Made For Netflix" feel to it. Scenes feel empty just based on camera angles used and the lighting is almost too overly lit (going from the Zack Snyder-verse where apparently everyone forgot to pay the electricity bill for everywhere). The "pocket universe" is a CGI mess out of Knowhere from Guardians of the Galaxy. Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) almost too easily decides to help Superman break out after a guy Superman saves is murdered. Night scenes and darkly lit scenes have no sense of proportion.

Although they were purposely little known actors, Pruitt Taylor Vince (Pa Kent) and Neva Howell (Ma Kent) added very little to the movie and Neva Howell's accent was almost comically too exaggerated. She sounded like she was from Chinquapin Parish in Steel Magnolias, not Smallville, Kansas. Vince's scene with Corenswet was sweet, but a bit pandering.

Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio) is a social media obsessed throwback to Valerie Perrine take on the character; although having her being the key to undoing Luthor's plan through her selfies is dubious at best. Also, the Palestine and Israel country stand-ins, with Netanyahu as the country's president and Luthor as Musk/Trump were a bit 'too on the nose' for their comparisons. Having the citizens of Metropolis and the United States being more likely to believe Luthor over Superman given the footage from Superman's parents was also a bit too heavy handed and on the nose as well - of course, given the fact that the United States elected Donald Trump (twice) to presidency, citizens of Metropolis and the United States being really stupid is believable. James Gunn in interviews had said that Superman is "an immigrant's story," which right wing media stupidly are focused on. It's just that the themes used with this movie are almost too simplistic at times and weren't very imaginative.

One of the main issues I had is James Gunn really doesn't know how to shoot non-action dialogue with characters in a room. Quite a number of times, it would go like this. Using the scene between Lane and Kent for example, when there would be a close up of a character on screen, the edge of the other person being talked to would be in the shot and would be absolutely out of focus. This happened when the camera would start on Lane talking to Kent, with Kent's head being in the shot and off to the side. Then Kent would talk and we would see Lane in the shot, out of focus, and off to the side. Then it would do a midrange shot with the two characters on screen. It made dialogue really distracting to watch - doing dialogue in movies can be the easiest thing to fix and sometimes can be difficult to add anything new. Really great directors (like Sam Mendes and Sam Raimi) know how to have characters appearing on screen during 'boring' scenes like dialogue be engaging to watch.

So, for the most part, this version of Superman is just okay. It's not terrible, but it's not great either. It's not even...terrific. I wonder if my reaction to this is due to the feeling that I've 'grown out' of superhero / comic book movies; I didn't walk into Superman having much in the way of expectations and expect at the least to be entertained. I just didn't find that much to be entertaining sadly.

Warner Brothers (and DC FIlms) needed a home run, but ended up with a triple.

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

Spoiler

Nice video essay about a Japanese-American woman's perspective with abortion. Although it doesn't really dive that much in what she went through, she seems to have a Zen perspective on the basis of Buddhism.

The concept of life being like water and pouring in and out for a person's memories is a great concept that I wish was explored more in depth. Especially with the background of leaving the United States after 9/11.

Nonstop (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

In populated cities, we take for granted what public transport provides and does. In Atlanta especially, there's massive resistance to expand public transportation outside of Atlanta. When those counties are asked why they don't want it, it goes down to "crime" (i.e. "the county commission is full of racists who don't want black and brown people in their counties").

Then coupled it with Covid-19 and bus drivers not getting the PPE they need with their co-workers being sick and likely dying from Covid-19? There's not a way out.

This documentary covers New Orleans' RTA, which was dealing with Covid-19 and likely funding cuts due to crooks in the state legislature.

Man Rots From The Head (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

It's interesting, but Janciza Bravo as a director has better short films than features, at least until Zola was released.

This weird David Lynch meets Charles Laughton/Night of the Hunter like short has Michael Cera as a knives salesman (like obtained from the multilevel marketing/pyramid scheme similar to Amway). Strange stuff happens as he tries to sell knives. The last guy tries to shoot him and wants him to take the baby. When his character gets stressed, he prays.

Gregory Go Boom (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Really dark comedy about a paraplegic man named Gregory (Michael Cera) who is attempting to date women but doesn't like a lot of them. He meets one woman who seduces him until her boyfriend shows up. He leaves and sets himself on fire. What guy wouldn't after that?

The sardonic way of delivering lines works in Gregory Go Boom but didn't work in Lemon. It's possible this style of delivery works really well in a short film.

Life Or Something Like It (Netflix, leaving on 7/12) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Life Or Something Like It is a lot better than a lot of critics are saying it was.

Lanie Kerrigan (Angelina Jolie) is told by a street psychic Prophet Jack (Tony Shalhoub) that she will die in less than a week. This revelation - along with other predictions that actually came true - prompt a lot of introspection for her regarding her life and her career. Kerrigan works as a local Seattle reporter and has to work with her ex Pete Scanlon (Edward Burns). In some respects, this is a female driven version of Groundhog Day. Not in the fact that the day repeats, but in the fact that the initial action of the movie provokes a life-altering change in the main character.

As Kerrigan makes changes in her life (including leading transit workers to sing "Satisfaction"), she finally gets to go to New York to interview her idol Barbara Walters-like Deborah Connors (Stockard Channing).

What I found interesting is this is probably a more realistic depiction of television news. The way Connors acted towards Kerrigan is the way a lot of famous name reporters act towards anyone meeting them or admiring them (much less other younger reporters). Television news as a medium is full of extraordinarily mean people who are not interested in the human dignity aspects of their jobs. In fact, it's a bit more underhanded and cutthroat than what this movie would depict.

The other aspect that irked me is the treatment of Prophet Jack. Homelessness in America is not an amusement for anyone; treating Jack as if he had 'magical powers' is a bit exploitive. The movie never allows us a chance to learn more about Jack, but we do learn that he wished his life turned out differently. "I want a house in the suburbs," he says before looking at his bed in a homeless camp.

The movie did drag a bit in the middle of the movie as Kerrigan and Scanlon realize they love each other. A lot of the scenes at that point weren't that memorable.

Despite some story issues, this movie is well shot and well staged. I loved the usage of sped up footage - especially with the beginning as the doctors operate on Kerrigan and in the scenes with Pete and his son set to Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" - as well how dialogue was shot. The actors in the scenes for dialogue were well placed and you can see one actor speaking with a more clear shot of the other actor in the frame.

Life or Something Like It is a bit better than realized.

End of the Road (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

End of the Road is the best movie Yorgos Lanthimos has never done.

The movie is psychosis, anxiety, panic, dread, fear, ennui, listlessness, hopelessness, existential crisis, and post-graduate emptiness all at once.

It's what Mike Nichols' The Graduate is purported to be, but isn't. In this, Jacob Horner (Stacey Keach) has gotten his master's degree in English Literature. We see him after he graduates and just walking as other students are done and celebrating.

He's not celebrating. The Stars & Stripes have become red and black Stars & Stripes. He goes to a train station and stares on the platform. In a sequence set to Billie Holiday's "Don't Worry About Me," he recalls everything after World War II leading up to his present day in addition to his childhood. He stares catatonically as people and trains pass by. The images shown in the montage take on a sarcastic tone due to the song. Horner then meets Dr. D (James Earl Jones) who decides to take him to "The Farm."

"The Farm" pre-dates One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and seems like something out of Robert Rossen's Lilith. It seems that the inmates run the asylum as Dr. D has 'sessions' with Horner and shouts at him about what he wants to do with his life as loud sounds of gunfire and explosions and grotesque images are shown on the wall. A man has sex with a chicken. Another man pretends he's a dog (this might be where Lanthimos got the idea for Dogtooth?). Horner goes to interview for a teaching position.

Horner walks along and catches men jumping into a lake naked with one of the men being someone that interviews him named Joe (Harris Yulin). Horner interviews and mindlessly explains why he wants to be a teacher. "I'm hoping to spark something inside the students." Of course, Horner is hired and what he does is pure lecherous behavior as he has the students sit in alphabetical order and tries to look up the female students' legs.

Horner then also has an affair with Joe's wife Rennie (Dorothy Tristan). Rennie is pregnant and in a scene later picked back up in The Deer Hunter, Joe does Russian roulette with the two but doesn't pull the trigger. Rennie has the abortion performed by Dr. D and dies. Her body is dumped into a lake, set to "Don't Worry About Me." The second usage has more of a commentary from Rennie at that point, as if she's saying her death shouldn't concern Horner.

What's striking is the usage of Shakespeare in the movie. During a psychotic scene, James Earl Jones quotes from MacBeth's speech "tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow." Joe asks Horner about Polonius' devotion to Hamlet and also quotes Hamlet while masturbating (with Horner and Rennie watching).

The cinematography with this is absolutely amazing. The DP Gordon Willis takes a lot of risks with how this movie is filmed; one of my favorite scenes is the interpolation of Rennie and Horner walking and then pressing their faces against each other to kiss. There's frequent shots of them on horseback going into a forest and also frequent shots of the house that Horner rents. The movie uses voiceover quite a bit as well - there's a lot of shots of characters walking and hearing their conversations and thoughts; we then see where they were while they were talking. The movie isn't shot like a conventional movie and is probably one of the more avant-garde/experimental studio movies ever done (probably second to Watermelon Man for that).

As it is, End of the Road is not an easy watch. There are times half way through the movie where it’s just uninteresting to watch; it’s not due to lack of ideas. The abortion scene is intense and stomach churning to watch as James Earl Jones' face is covered with sweat and Dorothy Tristan is in complete anguish. Jacob Horner as a character is a fool and a rake and a madman all at once, with a blank expression highlighting the scenes during closeups of his face. For him, his life is truly empty and it's all a joke; he laughs like a school kid when catching Joe masturbating.

End of the Road is an indictment of the United States in Vietnam and just the end of any 'greater good.' After all, the moon landing is funny with a funny version of "Stars & Stripes Forever" playing; if you didn't laugh at it, you'd cry. A blank expression upon having to meet Richard Nixon closes out the movie with the sound of Stacey Keach's voice being interpolated into the astronaut's helmet.

Life Without Dreams (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

I hate sleep because it gets in the way of watching short films like this. I literally yell at myself to hurry the f up and go to sleep.

Anyway, this short film has dream imagery with the photonegative cinematography and nature scenes. The nocturnal world is deeper and scarier than we think.

August Sky (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

An interesting short film, although I'm not entirely certain of the aim of the film. Pentecostal services tied into a pregnancy and tied into environmental calamity in Brazil? It's beautifully shot, just an utter mystery.

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

Spoiler

"My hands are small, I know
But they're not yours, they are my own" - Jewel, "Hands"

Interesting short documentary about the quiet dignity of work with a person's hands. Two guys recently immigrated to Canada work on a remodeling project. We don't see their faces, but we see their hands. We hear their voices and hear their character. One of them breaks a flower pot and buys a new one to replace it.

Just remember that those coming into a country are just trying to earn a honest wage, sending them to El Salvador or to "Alligator Alcatraz" solves nothing.

 

[SUPERMAN - 7/11/2025]

I saw it today. Review will be in main movie thread towards the end of the day.

I can't say I hated it and I certainly liked it better than Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice or most of the Snyderverse, but I didn't like it either. 

[2025 Movie Discussion Thread]

Movies today....do you like noir? Well I watched a bunch of 'em today.

The Breaking Point (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Movies about economic anxiety are nothing new.

Cinema's function is both a reflection of and an amplification of the society of the time. With this being the second adaptation of To Have And Have Not (which I probably will watch the first version this weekend on Blu Ray), Michael Curtiz doesn't use Humphrey Bogart again for this and instead uses the actor he used for The Sea Wolf, John Garfield. Garfield is Harry Morgan, who is a captain of a boat who is still trying to find his place in post-WWII America even five years later. Sometimes that involves things he doesn't wish to do. "I killed people in the Philippines, I even got medals for it." His wife Lucy (Phyllis Thaxter) and he talk about what they'll do for money almost from the first frame. Helping him on the boat is his friend (and war buddy) Wesley (Juano Hernandez). Harry is taken a pair of rich Americans Leona Charles (Patricia Neal) and Hannagan (Ralph Dumke) to Mexico for a fishing trip. When Hannagan ducks out on paying and flies back to the United States, Harry Morgan is having to turn to other means to be able to clear customs.

What's interesting with The Breaking Point is the fact that Harry Morgan never turns out ahead and is always having to do something to even catch up. He agrees to take a group of Chinese citizens and is paid by Mr. Sing (Victor Sen Yung) out of Mexico to the United States. This aspect I found interesting and even a bit ahead of its time - a Chinese American actor, a Caucasian actor, and a Puerto Rican/African American actor all sharing the screen at once with characters that seem fully inhabited (despite the dodgy "Chinamen" talk that movies were prone to doing at that time). What's also ahead of its time is Harry's girls and Wesley's son play together while going to school - Wesley smiles and talks to the girls in a trusted friend way when introducing his son (that's probably why Juano Hernandez is one of the most underrated actors - he made Wesley seem like an actual person and not just a character). Mr. Sing is killed and Morgan has a fear of being found out.

What I found interesting is the scenes with Morgan and Charles in the bar and then the scenes with Harry Morgan, his wife Lucy and Charles. Morgan and Charles have an attraction as much as a repulsion; it's not like Bogart and Lauren Bacall's famous onscreen interactions in the earlier film. Harry Morgan and Leona Charles like each other, but that's as far as it goes; Morgan is more devoted to his wife than anything. "I never see men like that. It's always 'I love my wife, but....'" Even then, Morgan does go to Charles' apartment, but that's as far as it goes there too. Lucy meets the pair in a bar while Harry Morgan is waiting on Duncan. There's a sense of tension between Leona Charles and Lucy Morgan, but nothing that's acted upon. What I found interesting is after meeting, Lucy dyes her hair blonde, in sense 'copying' Leona Charles - Alfred Hitchcock in Vertigo had this as the basis of its story. I found it interesting that Lucy changing herself to look like Leona was remarked very differently. The children had a sense of shock (in a great shot with the two child actors seeing her blonde hair for the first time). Harry Morgan seems taken aback with the new hair color as well.

Eventually Morgan is found out and his boat is taken away from him. Duncan (Wallace Ford) helps get the boat out of the Coast Guard and back to him all in exchange of 'one last job.' Harry Morgan is to transport race track robbers via boat away from the coast. The robbery scenes seem to be around the same time as John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle for depicting a 'heist film.' The robbers eventually get to the boat with Harry trying to get Wesley out of there to get equipment before it's too late. The robbers kill Wesley.

What I found interesting in the boat escape is how much it reminded me of the climax in Arthur Penn's Night Moves where a different Harry is left adrift in sea after killing enemies that he didn't want on his boat. Night Moves ends with Harry Moseby's fate unknown. The Breaking Point is a bit different as the Coast Guard finally finds the boat.

The final scenes are a culmination of heartbreak. Lucy talks to Harry Morgan, who must undergo an amputation due to the gunshot. Leona Charles sees Harry Morgan being carted away to the hospital. "I hate mornings, The worst part of the day." The final shot of the movie is similar to what Michelangelo Antonioni would do with his movies - Wesley's son is left in an empty space to create a sense of loneliness, of something missing (to borrow a phrase from MUBI's video essay about Antonioni's films).

Not everything in The Breaking Point is incredible though. I didn't really like how Lucy Morgan and Leona Charles as characters didn't have much agency - Lucy's whole outlook is centered on pleasing her husband and towards the end, it seemed like she would get sick of it to take the children and leave. Leona Charles is made to be a 'femme fatale' but that's as far as it goes for her - such is her relationship with Harry Morgan. What Curtiz does with this version is depict more the 'hand to mouth' existences for the characters. Harry and Lucy are obvious - especially in the scenes where Lucy takes sewing jobs to do all night (when does she sleep? Ever?). Leona on appearance appears to have it all although she seems to be using men (like Hannagan and a friend of her finance she sees at a bar) until they disappear on her or 'ghost' her. What she wants and who she is as a character isn't important.

Despite that, it's not all bad. The Breaking Point is more of a noir take on the Hemingway story and a great early 1950s film. The Breaking Point shows that economic anxieties in movies are nothing new.

Thieves' Highway (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

One of the bleakest noirs I've seen in awhile, Thieves' Highway gives the impression that the story will have a bad ending. Making deliveries is something that a lot of blue collar films seem to have happen; Raoul Walsh's They Drive By Night had George Raft and Humphrey Bogart as independent truck drivers. Thieves' Highway has almost a similar construct, although this is motivated by revenge. Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) is having to drive all night to pick up and deliver apples to Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb). Garcos is wanting revenge because Figlia ordered for his father's legs to be chopped off.

Garcos meets along the way Ed Kinney (Millard Mitchell), who bought Nick's father's truck from him. They also meet two other drivers looking to make money from apples too. It's almost The Wages of Fear but with apples instead of nitroglycerine. Garcos has everything working against him - in a grisly scene, he gets stuck under his truck to change the tire. Ed's truck is ready to fall apart; he's told several times that the truck doesn't have long to survive before it will explode. In one of the more visceral scenes, the brakes give out and Ed crashes. The camera shows Ed in the truck before it catches fire and explodes. We see Ed prior to his being burned alive.

With the movie, capitalism is cutthroat and cruel. The tire gives out on Nick's truck. Nick's own body gives out and he's forced to sleep, while Mike Figlia sells the very apples off of Nick's truck. Rica (Valentina Cortese) is hired to seduce Nick and to give Mike the whereabouts of Nick, although Rica isn't completely onboard with it. Mike Figlia cuts a check for Nick and gives him $500, only for his men to tail Nick and beat him up to get the money back (although Rica gets the money before having to surrender it).

The scenes at the fruit market were ahead of its time with the amount of people walking around and buying/selling items. I loved the dolly shot as Nick is walking down the street with various people talking and he jumps over a hand truck.

One aspect I didn't really like was the way the women in Nick's life were written. Polly Faber (Barbara Lawrence) rode all the way to San Francisco just to break up with Nick over his being injured and not having any money after it was stolen. It feels as though Polly Faber gave up too easily on Nick. Nick was taken up with Rita a bit too easily despite her being used by Mike Figlia to spy on Nick. They had literally nothing in common; yet the ending had Rica and Nick going away to get married after Mike Figlia was arrested.

To be honest, I thought the ending would lead to Nick being arrested because Mike Figlia has control over even the local police; the police beat up Nick at the police station where Nick dies in his cell. It made the most sense, given everything that transpired leading up to the ending. Having a happy ending for Nick and with Rica seems like a 'cop out' rather than an earned resolution. Capitalism doesn't always end up happily for people. (Look at today's times with brick and mortar retailers going out of business).

Despite the story issues, Thieves' Highway is a great late 1940s/early 1950s noir.

Odds Against Tomorrow (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Odds Against Tomorrow is not a typical noir or a typical heist movie.

Odds Against Tomorrow pitches itself as a 'message movie' like what Stanley Kramer would do, but it's a bit closer to John Boorman's Point Blank.

Robert Ryan as Slater is a bit of a racist version of Lee Marvin's character in Point Blank; he's seen a lot, he's done a lot, and he's tired. "I'm running out of time to be able to do something" he says to Lorry (Shelley Winters). Ingram (Harry Belefonte) is a film noir character but of course he's a bit different than younger actors in film noir roles; he's run out of luck and run out of chances. The fact that he 'happens to be black' informs the story and the interactions with Slater and with other characters. He tells his ex that he doesn't want his daughter to be raised like she's white. "It's their world, we're just living in it," he tells her before interrupted by their daughter.

The two characters meet separately David Burke (Ed Begley), who has dirt on both of them. Burke was a former police sergeant until a case took him off the police force; he sets up a robbery in a small town in upstate New York.

Stylistically, it's one of the most different movies in Robert Wise's filmography. Robert Wise would do a lot of musicals later - West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Star!. The opening credits are like what Maurice Binder would do later and in that time; they set the tone for the movie. The way the movie begins and ends is focused on a water puddle. There's a lot of deliberate choices with the shots - when introducing the town where the robbery will take place, there's a lot of "B-roll" of various locations including the bank. At several points, it uses closeups in such a way to emphasize aspects of the characters - I loved one closeup that was used with Robert Ryan's character and Gloria Grahame's character Helen as it does a closeup of their eyes.

The movie builds up chess like to the heist. Burke, Ingram and Slater get into place as the local diner prepares a coffee delivery - Burke bumps into the delivery person while depositing a letter in the mailbox. That's Ingram and Slater's cue to go to the back door of the bank for their delivery. All three are able to burst in and get the money. All is going occurring to plan...until a police officer spots Burke leaving the bank.

A shootout occurs and like heist films in the 1970s (The Anderson Tapes for example), the three main characters don't survive. Burke is killed first by the police as Slater and Ingram escape to a highly flammable gas towers. They shoot at each other and....well, that escalated quickly. The police look at their remains. "Which is one is which?" "Take your pick" in a rather darkly comical final lines of dialogue. As they are carted away, it's appropriate to see them carried past a sign that says "STOP- DEAD END."

The drawback with Odds Against Tomorrow is some of the story aspects were a bit underdeveloped - the characterizations for all three characters really didn't play a part in the finale. But no one is expected to survive a heist unscathed.

Out of the Fog (Criterion Channel, leaving on 7/31) - 0.5/5 star

Spoiler

Fuck this movie.

Probably one of the worst written, worst acted, worst directed noirs I've ever seen.

Ida Lupino, who in the time frame this movie came out, did hits after hits. They Drive By Night, High Sierra, The Sea Wolf, Ladies In Retirement. She wanted John Garfield to star in this movie and not Humphrey Bogart because she didn't like him. Bogart famously asked, "When did Ida Lupino do the casting for movies?"

Ol' Bogey dodged a bullet.

The characters involved aren't characters, but tropes. Ida Lupino plays Stella Goodwin, who was dating her beau George (Eddie Albert) for most of the movie until inexplicably she links up with Harold Goff (John Garfield).

The movie starts with Goff setting fire to a boat and going into a restaurant that has the stereotypical, idiotic and annoying Olaf (John Qualen). Olaf goes fishing with Jonah Goodwin (Thomas Mitchell), who is Stella's father. Goff gets wind of this and extorts the two men for their money. Stella is....fine with this even after being told of this.

The extortion continues as Goff makes them sign a contract. The two bumbling idiots get the local policeman to arrest them and the court promptly throw out the case (at this point, I thoroughly was like, "Fuck this movie"). The two idiots lure Goff on a boat to open water and Olaf, being an absolute fuckup and incapable of doing a fucking thing right, can't even hit Goff to knock him overboard.

Goff eventually does go overboard and drowns. In a deus ex machina plot twist, Stella has to identify the body when police (who we never really catch what they were) take him there. I had thought at first, "Oh, this will be like A History of Violence at this point where the men were looking for Goff and he worked for them." Nope, that wasn't the case.

Criterion Channel tries to have this be an 'allegory for fascism,' but it's an allegory for a terrible movie. Ida Lupino exerted her star power for this movie. It is setup like a stage play but there's none of the craft involved - the actors involved are really great but they have nothing to work with. Lupino had great scenes early on, but she can't make her character better written.

What completely breaks this movie is it's such a mismatch of tone. Lupino and Garfield have great acting in their scenes, although Garfield's character is too cartoonish to be taken seriously. Mitchell and Qualen fared better despite their characters being annoying and not really realistic. There are other movies that do the "local gangster has town under duress" better and more well written. Cinematography at times is poor and has a 'sound stage-y' look to it and doesn't really have an atmosphere.

The ending sequence is a bit like Hitchcock's The Trouble With Harry where, "Oh well, we can't find the body, let's move on" as the two bumbling idiots get the money that Goff stole and convince Stella to go with them to Cuba.

Out of the Fog should have stayed in the fog.

 

[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.