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2024 MOVIES DISCUSSION THREAD


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I opted to not watch Hopscotch, mainly because I'd watched a couple of months back and pretty sure I posted about it. Instead, I put on Kelly's Heroes. I haven't rewatched this in more than a decade, so I figured I'd give it a go.

This is one of those "Tonight at 8:05 only on the Superstation!" after wrestling on Saturday night movies, which then became one of those "AMC shows war movies at 8pm on Saturday night" movies. It's also kind of a weird cross-genre movies as it is a war movie with comedic overtones, a heist film and an anti-war movie all rolled into one. 

I mean, this thing is 2 hours and 16 minutes. You don't necessarily feel the runtime but when the credits roll, you're kind of ready to turn off your TV for the night. This isn't me saying this is a bad movie. I quite enjoy it BUT when it ends and the TV is off I started thinking as to whether there were any parts it vould lose to move it along. The mine field scene? Nope, you need that to remind the audience that this caper is taking place in the middle of World War 2 and there are casualties in war.

You could cut  the stuff with Carol O'Connor as the general but he is the closest thing to an antagonist the movie has and this is a movie set during a war where we fought actual fucking Nazis and the one Nazi Kelly directly interacts with they beat simply buying him off.

If there is an antagonist in this movie it's the concept of time. Kelly, Big Joe and Oddball need to get behind the German lines in France, rob a bank with $16 million in Nazi gold and hightail it back to friendly territory before both the Germans and US High Command figure out what the he'll is going on.

Look this is a fun movie and really, how can it not be with this cast?

Clint Eastwood seems to be actually having fun, Telly Savalas is great as put upon Big Joe and Donald Sutherland is funny as heck as Oddball. On top of those 3 you got Don Rickles being Don Rickles, a young as hell Albert Brooks and a cast of character actors that make this a fun World War 2 caper with pre-M.A.S.H. anti-war vibes.

So yeah,I really love Kelly's Heroes because it is so many things all at once, which shouldn't work based on that criteria yet... it does!

James

 

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12 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Matthew Lilliard plays the son and he somehow wasn't stoned at all during the movie.

Having him smoke weed would even be too out-there for the wholesomeness of the family. Just "gore movies" are a little too far, but it shows the twist to their suburban cleanliness. Like the friend who loves porn and gets caught jerking off to a Chesty Morgan film 😄 This one was my introduction to My Lord and Master John Waters and also the first time I'd seen any part of Blood Feast! God, it's so funny. "Pussy willow"! The Faberge Egg lady. The drunk garbagemen who she gives airplane bottles to and say litterbugs should be killed. The disgusting "dog licking the lady's feet" scene, along to the horror of Annie playing on TV and her singing along. The pervert at the trial and Beverly's response to him! God, I could go on and on. 

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I remember seeing Serial Mom in one of the skeezier Times Square $2 theaters before Disney took over. I'd only been exposed to John Waters 3 years earlier when a friend in the Marvel Bullpen lent me his copy of Pink Flamingos.

I was the only person laughing throughout Serial Mom in that theater. There were maybe 10 other people in there and the look on their faces told me that they were not My kind of cinema going crowd.

James 

Edited by J.H.
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2 hours ago, J.H. said:

I opted to not watch Hopscotch, mainly because I'd watched a couple of months back and pretty sure I posted about it. Instead, I put on Kelly's Heroes. I haven't rewatched this in more than a decade, so I figured I'd give it a go.

This is one of those "Tonight at 8:05 only on the Superstation!" after wrestling on Saturday night movies, which then became one of those "AMC shows war movies at 8pm on Saturday night" movies. It's also kind of a weird cross-genre movies as it is a war movie with comedic overtones, a heist film and an anti-war movie all rolled into one. 

I mean, this thing is 2 hours and 16 minutes. You don't necessarily feel the runtime but when the credits roll, you're kind of ready to turn off your TV for the night. This isn't me saying this is a bad movie. I quite enjoy it BUT when it ends and the TV is off I started thinking as to whether there were any parts it vould lose to move it along. The mine field scene? Nope, you need that to remind the audience that this caper is taking place in the middle of World War 2 and there are casualties in war.

You could cut  the stuff with Carol O'Connor as the general but he is the closest thing to an antagonist the movie has and this is a movie set during a war where we fought actual fucking Nazis and the one Nazi Kelly directly interacts with they beat simply buying him off.

If there is an antagonist in this movie it's the concept of time. Kelly, Big Joe and Oddball need to get behind the German lines in France, rob a bank with $16 million in Nazi gold and hightail it back to friendly territory before both the Germans and US High Command figure out what the he'll is going on.

Look this is a fun movie and really, how can it not be with this cast?

Clint Eastwood seems to be actually having fun, Telly Savalas is great as put upon Big Joe and Donald Sutherland is funny as heck as Oddball. On top of those 3 you got Don Rickles being Don Rickles, a young as hell Albert Brooks and a cast of character actors that make this a fun World War 2 caper with pre-M.A.S.H. anti-war vibes.

So yeah,I really love Kelly's Heroes because it is so many things all at once, which shouldn't work based on that criteria yet... it does!

James

 

Kelly's Heroes is great, yeah not sure what you could cut out. 

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Movies today....

Tempest (Criterion Channel, leaving next week) - 1/5 stars

Spoiler

"Come on, show me the magic." John Cassavetes, Tempest

I kept saying this as I was watching the movie. At times, there are moments in the movie where everything comes together. Susan Sarandon as Aretha singing "Hava Navagli" in a nightclub. Raul Julia as Kalibanos dancing around with a stick to "Theme From New York, New York" with goats flying from down-up shot. Gena Rowlands and Cassavetes arguing with each other about divorce in their apartment with Molly Ringwald as their daughter contributing. Molly Rowland and Susan Sarandon singing on the lake “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?”Molly Ringwald meeting a boy while swimming and he's scuba diving.

The rest is a rudderless mess that seems to have no direction with the script. Cassavetes and Rowlands' scenes are truly great as they always are when they're together. Sarandon and Cassavetes have moments where things click on screen (the scenes where they first meet for example). Cassavetes and Raul Julia arguing about MLB home runs and Julia's character wants him to see the tourists is another moment that clicks.

But in the over 2 hours I took to watch this, I can't remember what exactly happened. Or even how Cassavetes' character gained the power to control the storms in the climatic scenes (unless it was mentioned and I wasn't paying attention).

New Order (Hulu, leaving next week) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

Movie is interesting at times and seems to start to make a statement about the different classes in Mexico (between the "White Mexicans" or those aligned with the elites and those who are brown Mexicans or not part of the elites) but just turns into senselessness by the end. It's like Alex Garland's Civil War before that was a thing and with a story that isn’t as good. The movie's point by the end is there is no point.

Naian Gonzalez Norvind was great and reminded me a bit of Lea Seydoux with her performance.

The ending scenes are absolutely heartless and brutal.

I'll check out the director Michel Franco's other works.

A Different Man (saw at the theater) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

The idea of who we are is formed by other people. We constantly look at another person and wonder, "Why can't I have this quality this person has?" "Why am I the way I am?" "There's something wrong with me because I'm not that person." "There's something wrong with me because I'm not as good looking as this guy/girl who has a girlfriend/boyfriend."

These are natural, awkward feelings people have - some grow out of it and accept themselves at face value, some let it boil over inside them.

A Different Man is about a character named Edward (played by Sebastian Stan) undergoing these feelings. His solution is to take an experimental drug treatment that rids himself of neurofibromatosis. He ends up letting those feelings boil over inside him by the end of the movie. It's not unlike John Frankenheimer's Seconds, which is about an older man wishing to become a younger man (Rock Hudson). Edward becomes Guy, the most generic name for a male, in an attempt to be as 'normal' as possible. Like Rock Hudson's character in Seconds, he grapples throughout the movie with the idea that despite his treatment, he is still not 'right' and the treatment didn't 'fix' him.

Another hallmark of the movie is The Bluest Eye, which is a novel by Toni Morrison about an African American girl wishing to have 'blue eyes.' She desires to achieve 'acceptance,' much in the same way Edward/Guy desires acceptance as an actor. The references to the book appears about three times in the movie: once on the subway, another time with a character I'll get to, and third towards the end while Edward/Guy is in prison.

Once Edward undergoes the procedure and has a new face as Guy, things change for him. I love the tracking shot around the lab as the camera shows the individual doctors involved before landing on Edward's face as he listens to what will happen to him. I found it interesting that the first couple of shots of Guy walking down the street is focused on Guy's back with everything else out of focus. Edward, upon losing his 'face' tells a lie to the doctor involved with the procedure about Edward having 'died.' When Edward had his face, he told the truth (albeit lacking in self-confidence). So the 'real him' feels he has to lie to appear to be acceptable.

Renate Reinsve plays his neighbor playwright Ingrid. Having seen Reinsve in my favorite The World Person In The World, I can't help but feel that Ingrid is Julia; except she has more ambition and is a bit more evil. She can't escape being Julia and being The Worst Person In The World. Again.

The scenes I liked with Reinsve involved her insisting upon having sex with Guy who he wears Edward's face. Julia - I mean Ingrid - is as messed up as Guy is. What's telling about her character is she upfront tells Guy "I've left a trail of destroyed hearts" (or something similar to that effect). She knows she's cut-throat and ambitious and quite likely superficial. But she will use it to her advantage and has had a lifetime of doing so, unlike Edward/Guy. I thought it was interesting that Edward gives her a red typewriter and tells Guy upon his seeing it, "I don't even know if it works." Then lies to Guy about where she got it (when Guy knows the truth). The first location of the typewriter seems to have a symbolism as well; for the play Ingrid is writing she uses what Edward wrote on it as lines in her play. What I found interesting is that Edward/Guy's life is in the play, but he doesn't get to say any of the lines. Guy is reduced to a non-speaking role in the play, even after what he sought (fame in the acting world) is denied him, this time with his 'new face.'

Then we have Oswold played by Adam Pearson. Oswold has the same condition as Edward did, but he is comfortable and confident in himself. It's almost like Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day; Phil seems to have all the answers and seems almost too good at a lot of things too. Oswold, for whatever reason, sees the good in Guy/Edward. Even after Guy stormed the stage during Guy/Edward's Seconds like freakout and had the stage crashing on him. Even then, after Guy goes to prison for killing a personal trainer. The ending was rather similar in bleakness to Being John Malkovich, another movie about a person wishing to be someone other than what they are. Oswold does a lot of things Edward doesn't - he's read the Bluest Eye, he can't whistle, he moves into Edward's old apartment, he marries Ingrid.

I liked the meta-textual commentary involved with Beauty & The Beast and this movie. During one of the scenes, Ingrid, Oswold, Guy/Edward and others are discussing how Ingrid's work has parallels to Beauty & The Beast. The difference being I think is Ingrid (the Beauty) is really a Beast too and she's a playwright. No one comes out of the experience being truly innocent or beautified.

While there were a lot I liked about this, I must talk about a few things I wasn't too pleased with this movie. I felt like there were a lot of 'sudden' camera zooms throughout the movie; one in particular was a rather jolting zoom on Edward early on in the movie. I can't tell if it was a deliberate choice from the director. Additionally, the subplot with the doctors involved with the treatment for Edward was quickly dropped; my thought was it would come up towards the end as the doctors seek to find someone to pay for the treatment (because medicine in the US always has someone paying exorbitant amounts of money for treatment) but that wasn't the case either. It wasn't a complete deal breaker but it was noticeable.

Finally, watching this movie the same weekend as The Substance, one can't help but to compare the two and contrast them. It seems this will be the Fall of Movies About Body Dysphoria.

Prince Avalanche (Hulu, leaving next week) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Decent if a bit aimless comedy/drama from David Gordon Green. Paul Rudd is amazing when he's finally given a serious role again and not just relegated to comedies. Emilie Hirsch has a Jack Black meets Ethan Hawke quality to himself where he plays the character as not completely smart but not stupid either.

Both characters have hang-ups about women that make them slightly misgynoist: they're focused on 'scoring' with women but from different approaches (Rudd's character with attempts at intellectualism and Hirsch's character expresses how horny he is all the time). It's exhausting at times.

I loved the beautiful sequence where Rudd encounters a woman going through the ashes of her house; the sequence didn't feel like acting, it felt like Paul Rudd really did find a woman going through her burnt down house. There's a also a sequence where the camera speeds up fast over a phone call between Rudd's character and his girlfriend before stopping on a woman.

The movie has moments of beauty amidst the mundane of painting highway lines. The cinematography is on point with the various shots of nature, rivers, trees, and an extreme close-up of the highway as the two drive down the road. I loved some of the shots as the camera is on Rudd & Hirsch as reflections appear in front of their mirror. Probably not one of David Gordon Green's best but not his worst either.

 

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19 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Having him smoke weed would even be too out-there for the wholesomeness of the family. Just "gore movies" are a little too far, but it shows the twist to their suburban cleanliness. Like the friend who loves porn and gets caught jerking off to a Chesty Morgan film 😄 This one was my introduction to My Lord and Master John Waters and also the first time I'd seen any part of Blood Feast! God, it's so funny. "Pussy willow"! The Faberge Egg lady. The drunk garbagemen who she gives airplane bottles to and say litterbugs should be killed. The disgusting "dog licking the lady's feet" scene, along to the horror of Annie playing on TV and her singing along. The pervert at the trial and Beverly's response to him! God, I could go on and on. 

"I just love Bill Cosby pictures."

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Even though James Cameron feels that “we miscalculated the whole thing” on Terminator: Dark Fate, Cameron still ranks it among the best entries in the franchise. “I think the film’s cracking,” he says. “I still think mine are the best, but I put it in solid third.”

Empireonline.com

---

James Cameron has spent too much time underwater.

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Movies today....

A Walk To Remember (Netflix, leaving today) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Having watched Didi and mentioning in that review that "A Walk To Remember is on my docket to watch," I saw that this was leaving Netflix. Although it'll be on other streaming services. What a better time than now to watch it.

Yes, the acting is a bit cheesy and the director always goes for broke in making scenes emotional (gotta love closeups of people's faces in dramas), this isn't that bad.

The soundtrack is god tier (no pun intended). In the first few minutes, we hear The Breeders' "Cannonball"? And it's not a punk rock type of movie too? You have Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, The New Radicals, Toploader (who?) doing a King Harvest song, and lots of Mandy Moore songs.

The acting, editing, and scenes are just incredible to watch - it's almost a 2 hour movie but it doesn't feel like it.

For whatever reason, Wilmington NC is the mecca of late '90s/early 2000s WB teenage shows and this is no different. It seems almost idyllic.

Shane West as Landon Carter and Mandy Moore as Jamie Sullivan have palpable chemistry throughout the movie. Mandy Moore is honestly gorgeous; I sorta hate how the implication being 'she doesn't wear a lot of makeup' or 'she doesn't have her hair done in a certain way' means she's ugly. In real life, she would be one of the popular girls at school and would possibly get teased a bit about her religious upbringing. Having a doctored photo of her in a bikini was bullying and just mean. Carter had a right to punch out the guy.

The one thing I hated is a lot of the secondary characters weren't as strong story wise as Landon and Jamie; but that can be forgiven because it's their story. I did love the scenes with West and David Lee Smith (Dr. Carter) and with West and Peter Coyote (although I hated Coyote's Southern accent). You can't argue with the main character developing and changing through not only the relationship with the love interest, but with parents.

I sorta hated how the lone black character in the movie was almost a 'token character.' He got done dirty because the actor Al Thompson did pretty well despite the material - if the movie was done nowadays he would have had a love interest too.

Oh and the play that Landon and Jamie was in was the drizzling shits. That kid should have been told "Look, it's fine to have dreams, but please study playwriting in college. We should have made these kids do Oklahoma! or Annie Get Your Gun or hell let's do Uncle Vanya or Three Sisters. Anything but your play. It's terrible. Did you know I had to down a bottle of Scotch last night after directing this musical of yours? Why did I do this?" "Uhhhh, it was how I would get in college." "What was I thinking?"

Also, a cardologist dad probably doesn't know any more about what to do with cancer than Landon would. It's fine, I would think anyone who's girlfriend is dying probably would have done the same.

A Walk To Remember isn't bad and a nice palate cleanser from all these serious existential dramas.

Inferno (1953) (Criterion Channel, leaving next week) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

I actually liked the usage of voiceover for internal dialogue for Robert Ryan's character. It had more of an effect on me to make me feel the heat and desperation of the desert versus what I saw with Lawrence of Arabia. Nice pulpy B-movie story and dialogue. Movie moves at a fast pace even though there is an intermission.

The scenes I liked the most were Ryan scaling down a cliff and getting water and food from a cactus. It was rather clever how it did those scenes and made me wonder if the writers did research about surviving in a desert.

In a lot of ways, the movie is a modern Western and would fit with something that Sam Peckinpah would do later.

Barking Dogs Never Bite (Mubi, leaving next week) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Very dark Coen Brothers like comedy with a Carter Burwell like score about animal abuse and animal death. Go Yoon-jun (Lee Sung-jae) and Park Hyun-nam (Bao Doona) both play characters subjected to abuse themselves; Yoon-jun experiences abuse from his wife while Hyun-nam experiences abuse from a friend.

Towards the end of the movie, they both experience revelations in their lives - Yoon-jun's wife got fired and Hyun-nam gets fired as well. Along the way, we meet other characters who also engage in animal abuse (one of the custodians tries to eat dogs and the homeless man gets caught and arrested).

For me, I love the cinematography throughout the movie. The scenes where Hyun-nam chases after Yoon-jun was shot very well as were the chase scene with the homeless man.

Drawback is certain aspects of the story weren't that memorable (likely to due to the language barrier for me).

Shaft (Criterion Channel, leaving next week) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Shaft is a cinematographer's dream. Every shot in the movie is photographed so well (even though there were times that it was dimly lit at night). The opening scenes were incredible with the high angle camera angle that angles down to the street as Shaft (Richard Roundtree) walks through the streets near various movie theaters and flipping off cars that may or may not had the green light anyway.

It's also one of the more tightly edited movies I've seen; there isn't a scene that's 'fluff' and mainly serves to advance the plot. The drawback to the approach is there isn't a lot of exploration of the in-movie world. It's mostly Shaft moving from one place to another and occasionally having conversations with the police lieutenant Vic Androzzi (Charles Croft) he's having to deal with. The movie no sooner gets started and building up the world that Shaft is able to track down where Bumpy Jonas (Moses Gunn)'s daughter is located.

In a lot of ways, Shaft as a character is in the tradition of Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe played by Humphrey Bogart. I would almost wonder if Shaft as a movie could be considered a film noir (pun not intended). The world of the movie is a bit more grittier than what people usually think of with noirs. Film noirs involve searching for a woman or the main character being morally ambiguous and an anti-hero or being involved in a desperate situation with criminal elements. Shaft fits all of those characteristics of a noir film.

The other characters in the movie aren't quite as strong - minus Bumpy Jonas. Bumpy and Shaft have an interplay where Bumpy is in a higher status versus Shaft and Ben Buford (Christopher St. John). Bumpy is able to pay over $10,000 per person to rescue his daughter rather than provide the money to the mob.

There's quite a few scenes I loved with Shaft in addition to the intro. I loved the scene where Shaft and the mobster are walking with Ben and his crew following behind; the way that was shot was great with the camera following the characters from the interiors of businesses rather than directly behind the actors (it may speak to the kind of budget constraints the movie was experiencing).

Also, the last nine minutes of the movie are some of the most tense scenes I've seen; it builds up like a pressure cooker until Shaft throws the burning newspaper into a room and rescues the daughter.

I can complain that the sound while the incredible soundtrack is playing is a bit low - but that's forgivable. I loved how Isaac Hayes' soundtrack describe the character's state of being and thought process. Really great stuff.

Shaft is a great movie to be studied - I can see why directors like Quentin Tarantino would be influenced by this movie.

 

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As far as Shaft goes.it remains my favorite movie in its genre. When we did the Ernie Ladd Black History Month reviews, I wrote at length about it. Especially the opening, which to me is just a love letter to how that part of Manhattan used to be. I grew up in the Manhattan of the 70s and 80s and that version of Times Square is long gone and part of me misses it. The Times Square where Richard Roundtree can walk up the street looking like a badass simply by walking like Richard Roundtree.

I miss the movie theaters that stopped showing porn at Midnight and would play obscure kung-fu films until 8am. I miss Show World, where I got to see Nina Hartley dance. I miss Tad's Steaks, where you got a steak dinner for $7.99 and you didn't  complain about the quality because you just got a steak dinner for $7.99!

The opening of Shaft is something that cannot exist anymore and that makes me sad. So when I watch Shaft, I get nostalgic for my youth and get a little misty-eyed. Hell, even the Harlem in Shaft doesn't exist anymore, as the march of gentrification began in the 90s. I miss a lot of NYC but know that even if I had never left "progress" would march on without me.

James

Edited by J.H.
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1 hour ago, J.H. said:

As far as Shaft goes.it remains my favorite movie in its genre. When we did the Ernie Ladd Black History Month reviews, I wrote at length about it. Especially theopening, which to me is just a live letter to how that part of Manhattan used to be. I grew up in the Manhattan of the 70s and 80s and that version Times Square is long gone and part of me misses it. The Times Square where Richard Roundtree can walk up the street looking like badass simply by walking like Richard Roundtree.

I miss the movie theaters that stopped showing porn at Midnight and would play obscure kung-fu films until 8am. I miss Show World, where I got to see Nina Hartley dance. I miss Tad's Steaks, where you got a steak dinner for $7.99 and you complain about the quality because you just got a steak dinner for $7.99!

The opening of Shaft is something that cannot exist anymore and that makes me sad. So when I watch Shaft, I get nostalgic for my youth and get a little misty-eyed. Hell, even the Harlem in Shaft doesn't exist anymore, as the march of gentrification began in the 90s. I miss a lot of NYC but know that even if I had never left "progress" would marched on without me.

James

There's also little details too - newspaper corner stands, guy selling chestnuts in January, the movie actually looking like it's taking place in January because you can see people's breath while standing outside, cigar stores, shoeshine stand in a store, and a little bar that barely fits the people there. The movie looks like a time capsule.

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Hell the infamous "I got laid" exchange, I know that little luncheonette. As of 99 it was still open, though I'm sure it's gone now. Shaft is the perfect window to 70s Manhattan. No wonder I love it so much!

James

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Movies today....

Paper Towns (Max, leaving next week) - 1.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Paper Towns has an interesting premise, but fizzles by the end of the movie. Cara Delevingne is thoroughly unlikable and has an angry facial expression endlessly as Margo Roth Spiegelman and Nat Wolff as Quentin Jacobsen is too milquetoast to be taken seriously. With that combined, it makes Quentin's search for Margo to be a bit preposterous; the movie sets out that something more sinister could be at play. In the end that wasn't the case.

The movie also hand-waved her parents even being concerned about where she went other than "if she wants to be found, she'll appear." The movie would have taken a more drastic turn if it turned out that Margo was dead and her ghost was leaving the clues for her whereabouts. As it is, it makes Quentin's search for her a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy rather than an actual mystery.

The other issue is that it never feels like Margo learned anything as a character. In a way, her motivation is almost selfish and without any regard for anyone other than herself. She doesn't care that Quentin and his friends traveled all the way to a town in upstate New York all so that 'she doesn't have a plan' without thinking about the outcomes or what would be involved, much less what her parents would go through (just saying she talks to her sister I'm not sure is enough). There's also the whole financial aspect that I don't think was considered at all. Seemingly, she would be okay with money and not to mention the dangerous elements she could encounter (young woman by herself in the middle of nowhere would have people in the town asking questions). Quentin was willing to change as a character and in a way Margo almost abused him and expected him to change without it really benefiting him.

Still, the cinematography and shot selection is a high point with it being shot in North Carolina. I loved the scenes where Margo and Quentin are going to various houses for Margo's revenge with a beautiful shot from the top of the SunTrust Building (or Tourist or Turist or Triust or Turin or whatever the company's called now).

I'm not exactly sure why Quentin didn't go after Lacey Pemberton (Halston Sage) and try to take her out to prom; the movie hinted at something between the two only for her to go with Benjamin Starling (Austin Abrams). I personally found Halston Sage to be a lot prettier and more likable and I think it would have shown a bit of character growth for Quentin to go 'You know, Lacey isn't that bad and I like hanging out with her better' than a girl that barely knew him that he grew up with all his life.

I did love the seemingly spontaneous singing of the Pokemon theme with Quentin, Ben and Marcus Lincoln (Justice Smith). That was a clever moment.

The ending song to the movie and the sequence involving where Margo could be was great as well.

Ukraine Is Not A Brothel (Mubi, leaving next week) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Ukraine Is Not A Brothel is a paradox as a documentary. The subjects of the documentary, Femen, are presented as protesting a very real issue - global sex tourism in their country of Ukraine. The initial purpose then branches into other areas of protests but the methods remain the same - the women strip topless with slogans painted on their bodies while the police almost violently throw them into cars due to disturbing the peace or making bystanders uncomfortable essentially. What presents the problem for the subjects is the feeling that they've lost the plot a bit with going into other countries. At one point, they attempt to go into Belarus and nearly get killed. We see their individual lives and some of the women involved even question why they are doing this at this point.

Their leader Viktor admits that even on a subconscious level his motives aren't exactly pure and he is doing this for sex. While it is nice that he admitted the truth, you contrast his words against his actions and behaviors - quite a few scenes have members of the collective talking to Viktor via Skype or in person and he's abusive and manipulative. You begin to question what aim or purpose Femen is ultimately seeking. For a protest group to admit to not really know the function and for the de facto leader to not know either, it makes you wonder when the group would collapse.

In a lot of ways, Kitty Green doesn't pass judgment on the group as the documentary progresses. She even interviews parents of the members and they don't feel that the end goal is worth it either. Therefore, it's left to the audience to make their own determination - should Femen be dissolved since the original aim can't be corrected or should they continue without Viktor's involvement (like was hinted at later in the movie)?

Who knows.

The Witches of the Orient (Criterion Channel, leaving next week) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

More of a stylish narrative art film than a documentary. Most of the movie is composed of archive footage and scenes from an anime about the 1964 Japan Women's Volleyball team. Narrative wise, it's not really strong as a result and it's difficult to view it as a documentary about the subject.

The sequence set to Portishead's "Machine Gun" is pure alchemy though - it combines archival footage of the team training and scenes from the anime. I also loved the song at the end from Jason Lytle of Grandaddy and how that melds itself to the archival footage of 1964 Tokyo Olympic victory for the team.

The present day interviews exist in voiceovers as the members of the team go about their day - going to the gym, eating dinner together, visiting relatives, riding a train, riding a bicycle. I wish there had been more scenes of the director's interviewing members of the team.

Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back (Criterion Channel, leaving next week) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

This documentary is a complete revelation to me because I didn't even know Gregory Hines had a brother - it will definitely make me watch The Cotton Club.

What makes this documentary so compelling to watch is its subject Maurice Hines. In a lot of ways, it's rather sad that Gregory Hines and he didn't speak to each other for years; we don't really know why from the movie, but it's understood that it had to do with what Gregory Hines was saying about his brother in interviews.

What's equally sad is how both Gregory and Maurice went up for Tony Awards and only Gregory Hines won one -- but his acceptance speech didn't even mention his brother.

It was great that they did recover their relationship before Gregory Hines' passing.

The drawback with this is it had a tendency to lose its way a bit regarding the pacing. The first hour or so was definitely compelling to watch but one point it felt like the movie was starting to run out of material to cover.

I did like the birthday party for Maurice Hines. Glad to see he was well loved.

The River Wild (Netflix, leaving next week) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Surprisingly decent action thriller from Curtis Hanson that's more of his Hitchcock influenced work. Any time you see John C. Reilly, it's 'whoa watch out, we're in the cool guy zone.'

Meryl Streep was great throughout this movie as Gail and Kevin Bacon was a bit darkly funny as Wade. The movie is a bit formulaic although I loved the ride throughout the Gauntlet; those scenes were shot very well and there weren't any badly done camerawork for those scenes.

Cinematography throughout the movie is incredible and the highlight overall. The early scenes where they pass a cliff showing drawings was effective.

I did love that the movie mentioned in passing the plight of Native Americans and Gail's father was American Sign Language user due to deafness. ASL turned out to be useful in the finale.

Not anything out of the ordinary but mostly by the numbers.

 

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3 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

From John Carpenter's Letterboxd account. 

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I was leaving my local theater and I saw two old ladies who looked absolutely baffled at the ticket machines. The theater was completely self-serve. I felt bad so I helped them.  Turns out they were buying tickets to Reagan.  That’s one good deed I wish I could take back.
 

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3 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I was leaving my local theater and I saw two old ladies who looked absolutely baffled at the ticket machines. The theater was completely self-serve. I felt bad so I helped them.  Turns out they were buying tickets to Reagan.  That’s one good deed I wish I could take back.
 

I almost thought about seeing Reagan but I realized that was over 2 hours I could never get back.

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Movies today....had to deal with stupid weather things (was going to see Lee tonight but the oncoming hurricane to Atlanta made that less of a smart idea). Hopefully, I won't lose power during the night.

The Paper (Netflix, leaving next week) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

A recapitulation of Joan Micklin Silver's Between The Lines but more focused on a single story at a NYC tabloid newspaper. Most of the heart of the movie is with Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton) and Martha Hackett (Marisa Tomei) who have incredible palpable chemistry when Henry is not submarining his own life just to 'get a story.' The premise of the movie is intriguing - two young men find two dead men in a car and are arrested. However, the characters in the movie aren't interested in actually getting justice for those men; instead, they are more interested in beating a rival newspaper to the story. For the timeframe of 1994, it's rather disheartening that the two men aren't regarded as people much less characters but rather as 'fodder' for newspapers to use. Same with the bank having dealings with the mob; there would be a wider story the movie could tell in its runtime about the nature of corporations ginning up with the mob, which surprisingly didn't affect the New York Sun in this movie directly. A different writer would had the corporation essentially kill the story at the newspaper just because they can and because they don't want PR to affect their stock prices.

There's a lot of great scenes - I loved the scene in Henry's office with Martha, the underrated Lynne Thigpen, Randy Quaid, and other actors coming in demanding different things of Henry all at once. The movie balances the chaos fairly well and it makes scenes like that compelling to watch.

While watching the movie, I couldn't help but feel that most of the best material were spent on Michael Keaton's character. Marissa Tomei (who had a great but short scene with Catherine O'Hara), Robert Duvall, Lynne Thigpen, Glenn Close, and even Randy Quaid had very little to do as far as their character arcs and feel like they are there to give the movie a 'pedigree' for acting, not so much those actors having anything to do.

I did like the layering of the story aspects though with Robert Duvall and Jason Alexander having a Glenngarry Glenn Ross like scene at the bar with Randy Quaid's character arriving with Glenn Close's character, only for Alexander's character to be Marion Sandusky and threatens to shoot McDougal (Quaid) but accidently hit Alicia Clark (Glenn Close). I did like the darkly comic tone of the scene with Quaid saying "She bought the paper."

I loved most of the cinematography in the movie - the focus in shots on clocks (at the start of the movie from the Universal logo to a clock face, the interior of an alarm radio as Henry & Martha wake up, one scene where it transitions from 4 pm to after 6 pm) was indicative of the story approach taken. The scene where Martha is giving birth while the papers are being printed is a bit gross, but it shows the inhumanity of the world of this movie.

One of my complaint is the women / men relationships in the movie is out-dated even for 1994. Martha Hackett is not offered much in the way of a future after having a baby and Alicia Clark is obviously better and smarter at her job and gets denied a pay increase (because why have women make as much as men), but Henry Hackett is protected by the "boys' club" that exists and is able to get the newspaper to lose $10,000 to stop the presses for a new story (even though he foolishly places his trust in the New York Sun as an employer versus a more steady but equal in pay and less demanding role at the New York Sentinel with a great scene with Spalding Gray). Not to mention the physical fight between Henry and Alicia was not necessary.

Still, The Paper was decent for the most part and delivered a nice drama.

Paradise: Hope (Mubi, leaving next week) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

I like the Wes Anderson-like framing of shots that occur during the movie, but at times it was an exercise in boredom. The story is a very much Lolita meets Moonrise Kingdom type of vibe where Melanie (Melanie Lenz) pines at a doctor (Joseph Lorenz) despite the age gap. The doctor puts himself into situations that would compromise his integrity and would get him fired if he were caught. Melanie keeps putting him in those situations then acts upset that the doctor doesn't return her advances. It's unknown if the doctor did act upon so after picking up Melanie from a bar and taking her to a forest.

It's not bad but it's not good either. The other two movies are still on Mubi so I'll check those out to see if I like other films from the same director Ulrich Seidl.

Superior (Criterion Channel, leaving next week) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Aesthetically, this movie feels like Alex Ross Perry or other mumblecore directors trying to do a Brian De Palma movie. The reason why I landed on mumblecore for this is the locations are lower budget (people's living rooms, one tiny bar, an ice cream store) minus the cheaper film grade and equipment.

The movie almost starts the same way as the most recent Strange Darling did - which also had a woman being chased by a man very angry at her.

It wasn't that hard to keep up who was who with Marian (Alessandra Mesa) and Vivian (Anamari Mesa). Marian had a more freer attitude while Vivian was a bit more uptight; you could tell who was acting as who based on the situation and their emotional center in a scene.

The guy running the ice cream store is an idiot although he has an envious life (smoke weed and play NES games).

The finale towards the end reminded me a bit of the finale scenes in Rear Window, except Vivian using a disposable camera on Robert (Pico Alexander).

 

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