2024 MOVIES DISCUSSION THREAD

[odessasteps]

I can't separate all the horrible making of stuff I heard from Robinson vs the actual kn screen film. 

Did you do an Alan Moore double feature on purpose or did that just happen? 

[Andrew POE!]

1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

I can't separate all the horrible making of stuff I heard from Robinson vs the actual kn screen film. 

Did you do an Alan Moore double feature on purpose or did that just happen? 

On purpose somehow.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

I recall Jason Flemyng in some interview saying about how he and Townsend were told repeatedly don't do the voice in front of Connery, don't do the voice in front of Connery so, of course, first chance they got they did the voice in front of Connery. They'd sidle up to him and, in their best/worst Connery impression, start quoting the fucking Untouchables and whatnot - "They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way."

It's definitely a film I'd like to have been a fly on the wall for on the set. Connery by that time was 417 years old and had checked out of film making, wanted to play golf all day and laughed all the way to the bank with the money they paid him. The director Stephen Norrington clashed with Connery, shall we say. He asked for another take of them walking down the road, Connery shouted "What? You want us to do that again?" and Norrington shouted back "for $18 million I don't think it's too much to ask for you to walk down a road" and then Connery beat him to death with the 5 iron I'm assuming he had in his hand during the shot.

I may have made that last part up.

[odessasteps]

You also the rewrite after the subway attack had to be removed and not wanting an Asian villain which they thought woulde hurt the Chinese/etc box office. So the villains base was in outer mongolia. 

[Technico Support]

On 12/27/2024 at 11:34 PM, Andrew POE! said:

Movies today....

Wild (Hulu, leaving on 12/31) - 4/5 stars

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Amazing movie and a lot better than Oscar-winning Dallas Buyers Club and Jean-Marc Vallee's last movie Demolition. I had only known of Reese Witherspoon from Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama (both of which annoyed me years ago, but maybe I need to re-assess them) - her role as Cheryl Strayed surprised me.

A lot of the movie is built on memory and music. Simon & Garfunkel is prominent throughout the movie with "Homeward Bound" and "El Condor Pasa." As Cheryl hikes the Pacific Coast Trail, she thinks a lot about her life and her regrets. Laura Dern as her mother is absolutely perfect casting. I love the usage of "Glory Box" in a scene when Cheryl remembers being in a grocery store as a child.

What frightened Cheryl the most isn't wildlife or the conditions, but men she would encounter. She would wonder (and rightfully so given her life) if the men she encountered would help or hurt her. If they would take advantage of her and try to have sex with her. It's stated in the movie that one of the reasons why Cheryl and her husband Paul (Thomas Sadoski) broke up was behavior Cheryl did (sex with random men, heroin); it would be almost tempting for Cheryl to allow that to happen again. Thankfully, the wider purpose for hiking the trail was more apparent. "It took me years for me to become the woman my mother wanted me to be" summed up the approach Cheryl took.

Cinematography throughout this movie is excellent due to Yves Belanger. A lot of the shots and editing was quick - which works for a movie about memories. In some scenes, Cheryl's memories appear in her present at one of the camp sites and in a tent while Cheryl is trying to sleep.

For the most part, Wild is a great discovery.

Non-Stop (Netflix, leaving on 12/31) - 3/5 stars

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A bit uneventful but the last 20 minutes are decent clone of Die Hard. Liam Neeson does Liam Neeson things (beat people up, scowl, grumble, sounds tough) so he doesn't really do anything out of the ordinary. Julianne Moore's character had me wondering if the movie would do a twist where she was the villain but instead it's two ex-military guys who really didn't seem interested earlier in the movie with their plan until the last 20 minutes.

I loved the camerawork in a scene where Fire Marshal Bill (Neeson) is walking through the plane to look for people to search.

Babygirl (saw at the theaters) - 4/5 stars

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Babygirl exists as an Ode To 2000s Early Nicole Kidman. Back when she allows herself to wear a dog collar in a town with chalk lines (Dogville), when she played a socialite who encounters a boy who claims to be her dead husband (Birth), when she acted alongside her ex-husband in a weird movie where seemingly everyone was playing a cruel joke on him (Eyes Wide Shut), and goes to a wedding for a sister (Margot At The Wedding). This is before we were introduced to "We come to this place for magic" and "heartbreak feels good in a place" and "the woman who helped Bryan Cranston in a movie with Kevin Hart" Nicole Kidman that inundates every showing of movies at AMC. Strangely enough, the Nicole Kidman ad didn't play at the showing of this and played the "Laser @ AMC" ad twice while I went to go to the bathroom.

With that in place, Babygirl is a wild movie. On it's face it does appear to be a gender swapped Fifty Shades of Grey (right down to the usage of safe words!) where Kidman plays Romy Mathis, a CEO of a company using AI to complete its work. Harris Dickinson is Samuel, who is an intern for her company. In a lot of ways, the movie had me wondering if it would go the way of Nancy Meyers' The Intern and is about Kidman running the company with Samuel providing an inspiration to her.

Instead no, that's not the way it went at all. Samuel, almost from the start, had everything planned out. The dog we see go berserk he is instantly able to calm with a whistle. He gives the dog a cookie. The dog and he have a familiarity as Samuel gives the dog to someone else.

Samuel manipulates his way into being an intern through sheer machination - he's using the company's AI against itself when he's able to ask to be Romy's intern. "I just clicked the link from the email and you were available as an option," he said.

Samuel and Romy's relationship is of a duality. On its surface, it's manager/subordinate during daylight hours. When Samuel and Romy meet up privately, it's completely inverted. Samuel has control with the key being consensual. At first, Romy doesn't want any part of the master/servant or dominate/subdominate relationship Samuel wants to have. Several times through the movie, Samuel tries to advert control by showing up where it's uncomfortable for Romy - at her house with her laptop, at a birthday party, at a bathroom at work.

Milk has a symbolism in this movie. At a bar, Romy drinks a glass of milk. In Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (which his work is a touchstone for this movie), milk is subverted in comparison to violence. With Babygirl, milk is subverted in comparison to sex. Romy laps up her sexual appetite with Samuel and in a few scenes laps up milk from a saucer.

Eventually, everything comes to a head. Romy's husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas, who is recalling his role from Almodovar's Pain And Glory with this character) finds out and comforts Samuel. They have a fight and it seems to be a knock down fistfight. Until the scene ends abruptly and Romy is carrying two bags of frozen peas for each.

During the aftermath, Jacob confronts Samuel and tells him that "she manipulated you, you know." Samuel corrects him. Samuel reveals that they both were consensual in their acts and knew what they were doing.

In a bit of serendipitous magic, the sound from A Complete Unknown was audible and was playing "It Ain't Me Babe." It seemed completely apropos during a scene where Romy finds Jacob in a theater upset and by himself. For that scene, Romy and Jacob were nearly at a whisper as Romy comforts Jacob for her mistake. At that point, the lyrics to that song actually seemed to sum up Jacob and Romy's relationship.

At the end, Romy tells a subordinate (who obviously knew what was going on likely from Samuel, which is another reference to Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut) that she isn't afraid of him and for him to leave.

My first exposure to Halina Reijn was with Bodies Bodies Bodies, which was really underwhelming and had character and script issues. This is a lot better with the script and with the characters but is rather jolting to watch with the scenes quickly ending. In some ways, it's better than Bodies Bodies Bodies but is more influenced by Lars Von Trier, Jonathan Glazer, and Stanley Kubrick for a lot of the directing choices made. The overhead shot as Romy and Jacob and family arriving at their house conjured memories of Glazer's Birth for me.

In all likelihood, this will get an Oscar nomination for Nicole Kidman. Too bad the AMC ad didn't play before this movie.

Lone Survivor (Peacock, leaving on 12/31) - 2/5 stars

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Movie is shot extremely well and has elements of a sense of realism, even though the story is threadbare. I couldn't tell the difference between any of the characters except one is Mark Wahlberg and obviously the lead character, another has a wife who is redecorating his house, another one got shot in the head and is still alive, and it's Michael Bay-esque military porn.

Oh and there's a lot of hazing apparently going on in the military during George W. Bush's presidency. The opening/introductory scenes showing people going through a trial by fire basically has that built in.

The bulk of the time for the movie was spent with the soldiers arguing about shooting unarmed civilians and the firefight with the platoon against The Taliban. Any sort of historical nuance and differences between The Taliban and those following pashtunwali (which the movie reveals in the end credits) is lost upon viewing. Sadly, for the audience it was designed for, the only important thing the movie conveys is the sense of sacrifice those involved with the operation did. Not so much that the men were unsuccessful, ill-prepared, and those at the base apparently are clueless.

This isn't bad for a guy who robbed people as a teenager and had a career as a shitty rapper.

 

What a weird coincidence; we just watched Non Stop a few days ago!  It came out in 2014 and I’d never heard of it.  Perfectly passable action thriller.  Not amazing but not bad.  Apparently the same director did three films with Liam Neesons (is my shiiiit), kind of a wish.com version of Tony Scott and Denzel.  Speaking of, we watched Crimson Tide for the first time in almost 30 years and god damn is that a good film.

On 12/28/2024 at 4:11 PM, Raziel said:

The boy loves Sonic and Shadow so I took him to Sonic 3 this afternoon.  The trailer had me expecting an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2.  The movie was an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, complete with Super Sonic and Super Shadow fighting the final boss and its adds to "Live and Learn".  I am completely satisfied.  And the kid was gonna love it anyway, especially since we're getting a 4 now.

I might say that the team behind the Sonic movies succeeded where numerous others have failed, and that's make more than 1 good video game movie in a row.  (Nintendo's only had 1 so far so we'll see what they do with Zelda and Mario 2).  

Note I said more than 1 GOOD movie.  The Resident Evil movies don't count, there was only 1 good one.

My daughter doesn’t grasp the film production process and replied “WHY SO LOOOOOONG???!!!” When I told her part 4 was coming in 2027.  

Edited December 29, 2024 by Technico Support

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

Notting Hill (Peacock, leaving on 12/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Movie is indeed a love story; it's also a movie about celebrity and is about Julia Roberts simply being Julia Roberts but under a different name (Anna Scott).

Hugh Grant is William Thacker, who is a seemingly ordinary book store owner that eventually has a relationship with Anna Scott. At times, both characters seem resistant to the idea of being in a relationship with the other person. Thacker doesn't think it's realistic or sensible and Scott through conditions of being a celebrity can't seem to meet at the same place.

Even then, they finally give a chance a relationship.

What I loved about this movie is how some of the scenes were shot - there's a great moving dolly shot set to "Ain't No Sunshine" as the camera follows Thacker walking through Notting Hill as the seasons change. The paparazzi finding out that Anna Scott is staying at his place has a great series of quick cuts as different cameras are going off. I loved how it used seemingly real footage of Julia Roberts in the intro.

It can be complained that Thacker's behavior at certain points is somewhat stalker-ish especially the madcap chase to the press conference. But still, movies don't necessarily have to be realistic to be liked. The ending scenes were really great and had a bit of misdirection until it landed on Scott and Thacker sitting on a park bench (which recalls an earlier scene where they sneak into a park and see a bench).

Compared to other Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant rom-coms I've seen, I didn't like this as much as My Best Friend's Wedding but liked it better than Four Weddings And A Funeral. I'd probably need to see The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down A Mountain. Maurice is still Hugh Grant's best movie.

Paddington (Peacock, leaving on 12/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Positively British and a great family film. Stylistically, the movie does a lot of interesting ideas with how things are shot - it reminds me a bit of Wes Anderson in some ways and Tim Burton in other ways too. I loved the early B&W footage and how that was done. The movie did a lot of top down shots and the chase through Portobello Road was really well done.

Ben Whishaw as Paddington has a bit of Peter Sellers in the voice acting and in the comedic bits. Nicole Kidman was great and was a bit like Glenn Close in 101 Dalmatians in terms of her character.

Red Rocket (Kanopy, leaving on 12/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Better usage of 'NSync's "Bye Bye Bye" compared to Deadpool & Wolverine (not to mention it being directly referenced in one of the scenes), but this isn't really Sean Baker's best.

The premise of the movie is intriguing - former adult film star returns to his Texas hometown in Donald Trump's America - but Simon Rex as Mikey and Suzanna Son as Raylee aren't compelling enough to carry the movie.

A lot of the scenes in the movie just have no weight to them and I found it difficult to care about any of the characters. In a lot of ways, this is the yin to Anora's yang - where Anora had better written characters and better to follow plot versus Red Rocket. Oftentimes with Red Rocket, I was left with "why do I care to continue?" to watch as Mikey pursues a Lolita-like relationship with Raylee. The movie doesn't really dwell on the relationship and just shrugs its shoulders - after all, this is Trump's America where the president paid off an adult film star with the hope that it wouldn't wreck his campaign. The many side threads with Mikey as a result weren't interesting as well.

It's interesting how Mikey doesn't want Lonnie (Ethan Darbone) to con people with false tales of military service, while Mikey is doing a con with Raylee and with the drug dealer. The last 20 minutes is an absolute shit show as Mikey gets kicked out of his estranged wife Lexi (Bree Elrod)'s house and running down the road to 'NSync's "Bye Bye Bye" naked.

The ending is interesting - having "Bye Bye Bye" playing backwards while Mikey stands in front of Raylee's house makes it appear that it didn't really happen.

Despite my not really liking Red Rocket, Sean Baker has a knack for making movies that aren't typical Hollywood movies and typical Hollywood stories.

Brewster McCloud (Kanopy, leaving on 12/31) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

"I forgot the opening line."
"Let's quit talking about this 'bird shit' shit and talk about police work."

The counterpoint to M*A*S*H* and amazingly released in the same year. Brewster McCloud is the darkest of dark comedies and has a real Godard / Fellini sense of irrelevancy throughout the movie. At times, the movie uses a bit of Godard's tricks - dialogue is spoken in voiceover while different actions occur onscreen. Altman isn't really interested in the audience remembering every detail as much as just letting whatever happen happen on screen. The darkest bits had Stacey Keach as Abraham Wright go to nursing homes to demand money and then causing car accidents while riding in a wheelchair to his death.

Bud Cort plays Brewster McCloud who works with Louise (Sally Kellerman) and somehow people die after having bird shit land on them. The movie tells us they were 'strangled' but it's never seen somehow. We just see characters talk about it including the Prototype of Frank Derbin Frank Shaft (Michael Murphy).

I loved how McCloud's attempted escape (which is inside the Astrodome) was filmed with a camera mounted on him a few times. He crashes to the ground and....it's made to seem like it really hurts and he isn't getting up.

What makes the movie absolutely brilliant are the opening credits (which are repeated because an off-key singer says the marching band is off key) and the closing credits being a circus.

Some people will not like Brewster McCloud and will say that there isn't much of a plot to the movie. Which is true. There isn't. It's easy to see how this movie influenced the later Naked Gun movies and other Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker movies.

 

[HarryArchieGus]

On 12/19/2024 at 10:57 PM, Andrew POE! said:

Meet Me In St. Louis (Max, leaving on 12/31) - 4/5 stars

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Not really a Christmas movie (basically a few scenes toward the end had a Christmas song and were set in winter) but more of an American precursor to Kim Ki-duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter....and Spring.

Judy Garland is Esther Smith, who falls in love with the guy next door John Truett (Paul Newman prototype Tom Drake). Also occurring is Esther's sister Rose (Lucille Bremer) trying to court and eventually getting engaged to possible serial affair participant Warren Sheffield (Robert Sully).

The bulk of the conflict is with two characters - the positively psychotic Tootie (Margaret O'Brien) and the absolute asshole of a father Alonzo Smith (Leon Ames). Basically, Tootie thinks it's funny to throw powder at a neighbor that didn't bother anyone and tell him she hates him then gets hurt for her trouble while falsely blaming Truett for it. Alonzo throughout the movie has zero consideration for other people and makes decisions regardless of his family's feelings; it's only until the last 10 minutes of the movie that he realizes he's mistaken.

Still, Judy Garland is the centerpiece of the movie and it's less of a musical in my opinion than a comedy/drama with occasional musical sequences. I loved the scenes with Garland and Drake turning out the lights in the house before Truett leaves. Garland's character has an independent streak to her and her relationship with Truett is born out of a mutual attraction rather than societal expectations. The famous "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" is more sad in the context of the family moving away and causes Tootie to lash out against the snowpeople outside.

The technical aspects are really great - Vincente Minnelli gave the movie a bit of darkness underneath the brightly lit Technicolor veneer. I loved the Halloween scenes and how those scenes were shot - the neighborhood kids burning furniture for seemingly no reason has a dark edge to it.

The drawback like I said has more to do with the other characters I mentioned and the seeming way the conflict with the father staying in St. Louis resolved itself.

Still, Meet Me In St. Louis isn't that bad.

Mufasa: The Lion King (saw in the theaters) - 3.5/5 stars

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In Barry Jenkins I Trust. I knew from who would be doing it that Jenkins could do no wrong despite it being an almost soulless cash-in prequel. If you know the story to The Lion King (both the animated 1994 version and 2019 live action version), Mufasa will do absolutely nothing to change your perception of the characters. You'll already know the ending to this: Mufasa is the Lion King and Scar is the ostracized usurper. It's just the 'how' they got to that point is vastly different.

Mufasa: The Lion King is surprisingly more sensitive and more about a found family than about Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) being in charge. The character isn't even interested in being a leader because he never feels he's done anything to 'earn' being a king. Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr) feels he deserves to be king, but lacks bravery in moments when it should count; that seems to be the character's flaw throughout the movie. That is a bit different than the later movies; Scar in those moments has bravery but is overcome by anger and resentment and embraces his monstrosity. It does show that with anything, villainy of any character begins at a moment of weakness that never leaves.

I found it interesting that Mufasa was told to 'stay with the women' to do hunting/gathering of food, while Taka's father....basically slept. That basically is a commentary on toxic masculinity.

The voice acting throughout had a tendency to be really low volume for me. If you weren't exactly paying attention, some of the dialogue and story revelations would be missed. I did love the scenes where Taka asks Mufasa for dating advice; any guy can see themselves in that moment with a member of the opposite sex that they are attracted to.

Despite the story not really being needed, Jenkins did everything really well. I loved the 'head mounted' camera scenes as it shows Mufasa running near the river and trying to beat Taka in a race. There were a lot of wide angle shots throughout the movie; sometimes it borders near John Ford-esque. In a lot of ways, the story of The Lion King is Hamlet; with this, the story of Mufasa is a John Ford / Howard Hawks style western.

In a lot of ways, this movie fits in Jenkins' catalog and works with themes that's been throughout his career. Like in If Beale Street Could Talk and in Moonlight, this movie is about a sense of hopelessness around not truly understanding of the character's family and family drama (Mufasa never felt like he truly fits in with Taka's family and they view themselves as brothers albeit not at birth). It also introduces new wrinkles with musical numbers and with action film-making; it wouldn't be out of place for Barry Jenkins to do more musicals now. This is despite it being a John Carpenter-like 'work for hire' feature.

Mufasa: The Lion King is an above average Disney movie but not exactly essential to watch.

 

I just recently saw clips of Meet Me in St Louis (in the 70s MGM musicals doc 'That's Entertainment') and have been longing to see it. It's played twice here in cinemas, and I missed both times. Man, you have seen and written about so many movies since I last checked this thread. I don't know how you do it, but I admire the practice. I think Red Rocket deserves another go around. And thanks for the Mufasa review. I had to skim a little to avoid 'spoilers' but was curious to read your thoughts. I'm equally devoted to Jenkins - tho, I think you liked his debut a lot more than me. I'll hopefully push myself to see it in the cinema. I got to see a screening of Almodovar's Law of Desire last week. Considered by some to be his first great film. It's a lot of fun, and I sense you'd probably like it. 

Edited December 30, 2024 by HarryArchieGus

[Curt McGirt]

https://gizmodo.com/every-single-movie-that-jimmy-carter-watched-at-the-whi-1728538092

Jimmy Carter was our friend. He even aired freakin' ORCA at Camp David or wherever. The list is crazy. 

Anyway, I really liked From Hell. It had this air of being pretentious or high-class and ended up being really cruel and hopeless and gutter-level instead. I just watched Black Mass (with Depp playing a mob boss who is really a version of Count Dracula, with his own personal Renfield) tonight, and despite all the shit with his ex-wife he can probably still be a great actor when given the roles, if you can stomach watching him.

[Andrew POE!]

5 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I just recently saw clips of Meet Me in St Louis (in the 70s MGM musicals doc 'That's Entertainment') and have been longing to see it. It's played twice here in cinemas, and I missed both times. Man, you have seen and written about so many movies since I last checked this thread. I don't know how you do it, but I admire the practice. I think Red Rocket deserves another go around. And thanks for the Mufasa review. I had to skim a little to avoid 'spoilers' but was curious to read your thoughts. I'm equally devoted to Jenkins - tho, I think you liked his debut a lot more than me. I'll hopefully push myself to see it in the cinema. I got to see a screening of Almodovar's Law of Desire last week. Considered by some to be his first great film. It's a lot of fun, and I sense you'd probably like it. 

Thanks! I'm not sure how I do it either lol. I kinda feel my day is 'empty' if I haven't watched more than 2 movies in the day. It just boils down to having patience for it and not really panicking if I don't get to another one. If I can get 6 movies in one day, that's really great but I kinda feel like my brain is leaking out of my head if I do that lol.

Although I have noticed my reviews don't really talk about technical details as much as I did earlier. I guess I'm paying less attention to that and more to the story.

I may get Red Rocket (and other Sean Baker movies) on Blu Ray - I'm somewhat sad I just didn't like it as much as I wanted to. Sean Baker is one of those directors that does no wrong with me.

I may have let my Jenkins fanboyism cloud my review but I found I liked it more than Sonic 3 yet Sonic 3 did better at the box office. Go figure.

I still haven't seen Medicine For Melancholy yet but have the Criterion Blu Ray.

Oh man, I'm jealous/happy you saw Law of Desire. I still want to go through Almodovar's catalog and The Room Next Door will be playing in Atlanta the weekend of January 16th.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

I signed up for The Criterion Channel with the pure intentions of watching Umberto D. As I'm browsing though I notice The New York Ripper is leaving soon and the idea of watching Fulci on Criterion's streamer made the shithead film student part of me laugh so I did. I haven't watched it since I owned the Anchor Bay dvd and somehow in my mind it was a lot more gorey. That doesn't stop it from being sleazy and it probably makes certain gore scenes more effective. Also love that happy go-lucky Fulci ends it on such a down note. Who would have ever guessed this man was a misanthrope?

And you know what? The movie opens with a man and his dog so I still got my Umberto D fix. 

[odessasteps]

Umberto D is a great Italian neo realism picture, although i thinkmi like Bicycle thieves more.

Edit: I also endorse seeing the icicle thief, which is an 80s Italian comedy full of metatext about film, including Bicycle Thieves as you would imagine, 

Edited December 30, 2024 by odessasteps

[Andrew POE!]

1 hour ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

I signed up for The Criterion Channel with the pure intentions of watching Umberto D. As I'm browsing though I notice The New York Ripper is leaving soon and the idea of watching Fulci on Criterion's streamer made the shithead film student part of me laugh so I did. I haven't watched it since I owned the Anchor Bay dvd and somehow in my mind it was a lot more gorey. That doesn't stop it from being sleazy and it probably makes certain gore scenes more effective. Also love that happy go-lucky Fulci ends it on such a down note. Who would have ever guessed this man was a misanthrope?

And you know what? The movie opens with a man and his dog so I still got my Umberto D fix. 

There's a ton more Italian Giallo movies on there including Don't Torture A Duckling.

Maybe you can join me on the insane Criterion Channel "Leaving This Month" reviews lol

[RazorbladeKiss87]

16 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Umberto D is a great Italian neo realism picture, although i thinkmi like Bicycle thieves more.

Edit: I also endorse seeing the icicle thief, which is an 80s Italian comedy full of metatext about film, including Bicycle Thieves as you would imagine, 

The Icicle Thief is now on my list to check out. 

I'm also a fan of Rome, Open City. Italian neo realism is a movement I only have scratched the surface of. During school my interests in Italian film were basically giallo and Benigni comedies. 

Edited December 31, 2024 by RazorbladeKiss87

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today.....

Single White Female (Max, leaving on 12/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Movie is just wonderfully cheesy at times and it feels like something Pedro Almodovar would do and would pour on the romantic subtext between Allison Jones (Bridget Fonda) and Hedra Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh). It's awashed in Hitchcock's Vertigo and Brian De Palma's Obsession and probably inspired Almodovar's Bad Education too.

Allison Jones and Hedra Carlson's relationship starts out simple enough and Carlson really does seem like she has unrequited love or a longing for connection with Jones. (Although it is kinda creepy Jones would walk around Carlson's room and put on her perfume without asking. Just saying.)

There's so much of this that's so 90s it hurts. CompuServe! Allison Jones does a ransomware attack before that ever existed! The club that Allison goes into that's a weird BDSM bar where they play Engima and everyone look moody and haven't eaten in a week or so! The creepy guy Mitch (Stephen Tobolowsky) tried to rape Jones and nothing happens to him! (Seriously he needed to die for that). Jones' ex Sam (Steven Weber with the most magnificent "I'm on Wings" hair) basically cheats on her because the other woman was depressed (dude, really?). The only decent male in the movie Graham (Peter Friedman) has a distinct characteristic of being gay - nothing else about him that's noteworthy or individualistic. (other than he has a theater showing on a poster and a cat). The street scenes make NYC in the 1990s look like a fun place to be.

What's interesting is the apartment building adds as much foreboding gloom as the scenes in it. The elevator doesn't work and requires a screwdriver to close the door.

There's so many great scenes - Sam being murdered with the shoe has a great slow motion shot. The usage of light and shadow in the cinematography throughout the movie with the blue coloring for the shots. The reveal of Hedra having the same haircut and color is David Lynch like and just utterly creepy and jarring.

The last 20 minutes just goes off the rails in a good way and really pours on the Hitchcockian Vertigo-ness.

The complaint I have is when Hedra does switch her hair color/cut, it became a little hard to tell the two apart (although Fonda is a few inches taller than Leigh so that kinda helps).

Still, Single White Female is just a wild ride.

Being Julia (Netflix, leaving on 12/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Perfectly average Merchant Ivory Productions meets Peter Bogdanovich's Noises Off with Billy Wilder and Lubitsch sprinkled in about a theatre star Julie Lambert (Annette Bening) experiencing a midlife crisis after a fling with Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans). The only character that seems to have a significant arc is Julie but that's likely the point.

The way the movie was going had me believing that Julia would suffer a breakdown due to the frequent appearance of her teacher Jimmie Langton (Michael Gambon) and would be committed to a sanitarium at the end. Instead, that wasn't the case and Julia Lambert ends the movie alone with her delusions and in bliss.

I did think it was rather cruel and unprofessional what Lambert did to change the lines in the middle of the play with Avice Crichton (Lucy Punch); although Avice did cheat on her lover Tom and her husband Michael Gosselyn (Jeremy Irons).

For the most part with the movie, the scripting wasn't as strong as it needed to be but was simply left to Annette Benning to carry the movie.

I loved a lot of the cinematography choices with the movie; the scene at the beach where Julia is walking and at the summer house seem very much out of James Ivory's movies. The shot selection during the scene where Tom and Julia are looking at London before kissing was really great too.

It's easy to see why Annette Benning got an Oscar nomination from this movie.

Bandits (Max, leaving on 12/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Has a bit of Band Of Outsiders with Jules & Jim love triangle - this would be something Quentin Tarantino would do (down to the gratuitous usage of music). Barry Levinson seems to make a pretty standard comedy/drama with nothing really unexpected until the last 10 minutes.

Movie is worth it to see Cate Blanchett as Kate Wheeler lipsync to "Holding Out For A Hero," deadpan quote "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with Bruce Willis' character Joe and singing (badly) "Walk On By" on a beach. Billy Bob Thornton plays Terry and is a complete hypochondriac which isn't that far removed from the truth about him.

Movie at times is a bit dull despite likable characters and some hilarious scenes.

Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (Max, leaving on 12/31) - 2.5/5 stars

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As a documentary, it's sadly not very interesting. It doesn't really delve that much into the relationship between Marianne and Leonard except in the earlier parts of the documentary. Nick Broomfield seems to imply that Leonard Cohen is a bit of an asshole based on what other people have to say about him (Ron Cornelius and John Lissauer).

Much of Leonard Cohen's music is his seeking after the spiritual and the physical, sometimes at the same time in his songs. The documentary does discuss Cohen's usage of drugs (not sure I want to try 'desert dust' myself if a tiny bit causes people to trip out for 14 hours).

The more recent and towards the end of both Marianne and Leonard's lives were a bit of a full circle moment, yet really sad.

 

[Andrew POE!]

Last day in 2024 for movies today....

She Runs (Criterion Channel, leaving on 12/31) - 3.5/5 stars

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Short film that seems to talk about a teenager in China being told to do things she doesn't want to do and feeling trapped. The long takes emphasize her depression and anxiety over it while she seems very numb.

I would love to check out more movies from Qiu Yang. He seems to be in the tradition of Tsai Ming-Liang and Hou Hsiao-hsien with how he films his movies.

Just Friends (Hulu, leaving on 12/31) - 1.5/5 stars

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Ryan Reynolds quite honestly seems to play characters that are complete assholes. The humor in this stretched a bit and the movie was just completely uninteresting. (Although I did love the usage of dolly zoom when his character was in his apartment in Los Angeles).

The story of the movie I would think would be about a guy who overcame his hangups about the girl he was in love with in high school Jamie (Amy Smart) but instead....he didn't really changed and had only physically changed, he was still superficial after high school and he still got the girl anyway. The movie grossly tried to couple his 'growth' with his not being fat and not being 'friendzoned' instead of his realizing he didn't need Jamie in the first place. Reynolds essentially played Van Wilder but with 'growth.'

Even though Samantha (Anna Faris) is likely crazy, she and Chris were a better match. Chris understood her better and I think the movie would had something if underneath the exterior as a pop singer, there were a real person with Samantha. Instead, her character is just played for humor with physical comedy (at the mall, on Vicodin at Chris' house, at the open mic night).

Dusty (Chris Klein) going from a guy with a stutter to a nice guy EMT who had a connection with Jamie to it being revealed that he was playing her was such a headspinning / poorly written construct. He became the villain because that's what was decided; the way the story was set up, it would been better if he genuinely liked Jamie and wasn't using her. Although Jamie really didn't share his feelings in a scene in a bar towards the end. So perhaps Jamie was the real villain in the movie or at least had regrets about her life - it was completely a missed opportunity to not have explored that or the 100 reasons Chris thought that Jamie was great.

I did like the scene that made me think it was like the scene from The Graduate where Benjamin Braddock interrupts the wedding - it had me wondering if the movie would go in that direction with Jamie and Dusty getting married. It turns out that wasn't the case.

An annoying thread through the movie was it mining homophobia as humor. Although it was somewhat funny to see Ryan Reynolds watching everyone crying or kissing at the end of The Notebook (the slander against The Notebook has to stop though).

For the most part, the movie is weird and wild movie with occasional funny bits (mainly with Anna Faris) and with an attempt to have someone regarded as a loser in high school essentially get his revenge.

Les Miserables (2012) (Peacock, leaving on 12/31) - 4/5 stars

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This movie is utterly gorgeous even through streaming. It seems to be a pre-cursor to Wicked's big, bombastic and cinematic presentation. Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean and Anne Hathaway as Fantine practically carry the movie on their banks - with Hathaway's rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream" absolutely devastating to watch.

Russell Crowe as Javert isn't that bad - I'm not a fan of critics saying an actor can't sing - Crowe sang in tune and didn't embarass himself too much. I would say his singing ability exhibit someone under the strain of what they perceive as their duty. His duet with Jackman near the start of the movie was a highlight for me.

Cinematography was simply incredible and every shot from Danny Cohen was beautiful and had a lot of color. The camerawork was a bit dodgy and sometimes too frantic. The movie tried to present a 'realistic style' for a Broadway musical, but at times it somewhat betrayed itself. I would say the last 30 minutes was dragging a bit and the ending is a bit of a letdown.

Still, there's a reason why Les Miserable got nominated for several Oscars.

The Sentinel (Netflix, leaving on 12/31) - 3.5/5 stars

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The only other Michael Winner movie I've seen was a really bad version of The Big Sleep, so I had zero expectations.

This was an American version of Italian horror/giallo movie that at times didn't make sense but didn't need to. Everything was shot extremely well. Another reviewer comparing this to a Fulci movie was accurate.

The last 10 minutes felt like something from David Lynch with the number of people with deformities on screen at once. Chris Sarandon wasn't very good and Cristina Raines did seem like she would be perfect in a Dario Argento movie.

It's Complicated (Peacock, leaving on 12/31) - 3/5 stars

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Nancy Meyers as a director needs to be seriously reassessed. She is very much an auteur in a lot of ways - she makes movies that deliver a vision of upper middle class utopia without the stress and worry of trying to figure out where food is coming from or if the house that a person is living in won't get repossessed. For two hours, the world I dived into looks like the world in 2009 except brighter and more hopeful while still dealing with mature and serious subjects between two people of that time.

Meryl Streep in this movie as Jane Adler is a vision of beauty after midlife. Her character's children are grown and are adults too. She is juggling various things in her life albeit not very successfully. She owns a bakery and reconnects with her ex-husband Jake Adler (Alec Baldwin). Throughout the movie, she engages in an affair with him while he is still married to Agness (Lake Bell).

Alec Baldwin in this movie is completely irrepressible. He trambles on the feelings of his wife, then on his ex-wife then on Adam (Steve Martin). He stays in the affair because why not? He doesn't have to answer to anyone sadly. Agness will always be there and she's younger, so why should he care what she thinks? Instead, and rightfully so, she kicks him out.

Adam as a character plays 'third wheel' throughout the movie with Jane and gives her more grace than she deserves. In a great scene, he actually tells her that he doesn't need to see her anymore; there isn't any bitterness or anger from him. It's quite rare to see that in a movie like this.

For the most part, It's Complicated continues with the filmmaking style of Nancy Meyers. It's not as good as The Intern (her best work) or Something's Gotta Give. But it's competently shot and maintained my interested throughout the movie.

Blockers (Peacock, leaving on 12/31) - 4/5 stars

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Movie feels like something that's similar to Paul Weitz's American Pie series or a Judd Apatow comedy. Leslie Mann, frigging John Cena, and Ike Barinholtz just work as parents that grew up in the 1990s having kids who are losing their virginity at prom.

So many funny scenes:
The 'butt chug' scene is purely out of American Pie. Stiffler would be like "holy shit, you don't have to do that"
"Are they going to inject heroin into the guy's dick?"
"They're going for African literature."
"You locked eyes. That will be burned into your soul."
The SUV standing upright then exploding.

The kids (Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan and Gideon Adlon) are just hilarious (Geraldine Viswanathan especially).

If there were a Blockers II, I would not have a problem with it.

Wimbledon (Netflix, leaving on 12/31) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

Amazing how many future MCU / Marvel Comics movie alums were involved with this movie. Vision and Happy Hogan have a scene where they argue.

To be honest, this movie is spectacularly bland. Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst have decent chemistry despite just completely lacking dialogue. A lot of the story is a test run for Challengers in some way; instead, it's just a straight rom-com with no sizzle.

Oh and Kirsten Dunst is in a shower naked. Surprisingly no eating of churros in this movie.

Since March 3rd 2024, I have seen 1116 movies.