Movies 2025 Movie Discussion Thread

[Curt McGirt]

I went online looking for current milkshake prices (diners and fast food 3-5, expensive places well you can guess) and somebody came up with this gem

Spoiler

Heroin is a lot cheaper today, so it balances out.

 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....no Pulp Fiction or Left Behind 1 or Last Year At Marienbad. I KNOW.

Plane (Peacock/Netflix, leaving Peacock on 6/12) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

The producers for this movie fumbled the ball not calling the next movie Trains to be followed by the third movie not called Automobiles.

As a movie, it's pretty much a hamburger. It's no-frills, so basic, and there isn't much in characterization or characters. This is a great movie for middle aged dads and grand-dads to watch on a Sunday afternoon after watching a football game.

Gerard Butler plays Brodie Torrence (name came out of an AI search I guarantee) who is the captain of a plane that lands somewhere in the Philippines. He has an inmate named Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter) who is on the flight too. The plane experiences problems and has to make an emergency landing only for a bunch of separatists to be on the island. It's Sully and Captain Phillips combined with none of the distinctiveness.

Butler in this occupies a similar spot as Liam Neeson does in Non-Stop, The Commuter, and A Walk Among The Tombstones. This is probably Butler's most likable role - he conveys a world weariness but also a sense of humanity as he has concerns about his passengers and getting off the island.

The director Jean-Francois Richet doesn't do anything out of the ordinary for action thrillers like this, but the movie is engaging even in the slower sections of the movie. I did like how the rescue of the passengers was shot with the camera showing the protagonists' eye level through the scenes. It did make me wonder if they would get jumped. I also liked the first fight scene with Butler's character and one of the separatists; it seemed to be almost 'mounted' on one of the actors during the fight.

For the most part, Plane sorta lands.

Lemon (HBO Max, leaving on 6/30) - 1.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Lemon as a movie tries to be a Yorgis Lanthimos comedy, but just fails to present anything interesting. Janicza Bravo as a director would do the later and much better Zola; as is the case with first time features, some directors have a rough start.

The problem with the movie is Isaac (Brett Gelman) is such a 'blank slate' as a character. The initial actions and scenes of the movie bear no weight upon what is shown later in the movie. Dialogue for his character (and others) are delivered in such a detached manner that they don't resemble actual conversations. In order to make an absurdist movie like in the manner of Luis Bunuel and Yorgis Lanthimos, there has to be an element of humanity and reality in the characters; they have to seem like people encountered in day to day life, but exaggerated to large degrees. Also, what makes absurdist comedies work is there is a central driving point about the characters, the movie, or some aspect of the movie that the writer and director and actors are trying to emphasize with the movie. With Lemon, the characters encountered don't seem like real people and seem like caricatures; so it's difficult to draw any connections to them.

For example, Isaac teaches acting to Alex (Michael Cera) and Tracey (Gillian Jacobs), who are doing scenes from Chekhov's The Seagull for an acting workshop. Isaac is unnecessarily cruel to Tracey seemingly without reason. Isaac has favor towards Alex, who just got offered a role overseas in Denmark. Yet Isaac, for whatever unknown reason, spray paints a racist term on Alex's car in the middle of the night and then attacks Alex when he comes to Isaac's place.

Yet none of these aspects have an effect on the rest of the story; Isaac doesn't reap any consequences and just moves on to doing a seder with his family. The transition makes it seem so jarring that it feels like Lemon became a different movie. After the seder, Isaac attends a family get together with Cleo (Nia Long), his new girlfriend.

The movie attempts to paint what's happening as being par for the course of the characters' lives, but I came away not understanding the point or the purpose of the movie. Bravo does do interesting things in the movie - like the scenes where every relative of Cleo is introduced, but there isn't a spark to the movie. It's trying to be a quirky indie drama/comedy with a low supply of actual quirk.

For the most part, Lemon is indeed a lemon.

Woodshock (HBO Max, leaving on 6/30) - 1/5 star

Spoiler

I guess this movie breaks my dream of smoking reefer with Kirsten Dunst.

This movie is so obtuse and so oblique with it's story that it's nearly difficult to tell what the storyline is about - basically, Theresa (Dunst) is a complete fuckup. She kills a guy due to her incompetence at running her friend Keith's (Pilou Asbæk) head shop. This haziness through pot smoke is due to her feelings about euthanizing her mother.

It's heavy stuff.

There's a Jungian dream concept at play involving Theresa imagining herself in the woods and touching hundreds of year old trees while coupling that with images of preparing wood for logging camps. The point seems to be the forests that we have won't always be there.

The last five minutes is music video or perfume commercial imagery.

I wonder if I watched this movie stoned on pot if it would have made more sense?

How To Train Your Dragon (2025) (saw in the theaters) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

How To Train Your Dragon (2010) is a movie about toxic masculinity and Bush Era's "War on Terror" but extended to animated vikings and animated dragons. The 2025 version is literally the exact same thing - same fear of the unknown, same fear of 'the enemy' and same fear of 'the other' from the original. Except the people are real and the dragons are CGI.

The movie has a mixture of visual influences - it looks like 1980s fantasy fare like Willow and Dragonslayer at times, then it looks like recent TV series like Game of Thrones and Attack on Titan at other times. Some of the sections with the dragon flying around and the "dragon's nest" recall the visuals of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. The Vikings seem to exist as a mixture of cultures - the Norwegian, the Australian, the New Zealand, the Scottish, the Gaelic, the Celtic, and the Irish accents are all mixed with the characters.

Mason Thames as Hiccup literally is perfect casting; he captures the same awkwardness of the animated original. The drawback is he actually spoke a bit too softly; some of his dialogue was barely audible above the soundtrack and the SFX. Gerald Butler as Stoick the Vast is also perfect casting; it seems like Butler has become a bit of a more approachable in demeanor actor. I would also say his role in this is his best acting role thus far.

It was a nice touch having Julian Dennison from Y2K and Hunt For The Wilderpeople as Fishlegs Ingerman and Nick Frost (who had some hilarious lines) as Gobber the Belch. Nico Parker as Astrid was a decent actress as well with her 'enemy but friends' approach in the movie. "That was for....this is for everything else." It was also a smart choice having the same director for the original direct this movie since he's familiar with the original movie.

For the most part, How to Train Your Dragon (2025) doesn't reinvent the wheel, but doesn't need to.

Acid Rain (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Felt like something that would be shown on MTV's Liquid Television about Polish rave culture.

 

[odessasteps]

It would prob go in the tv section but I saw that all the Trip stuff with Steve Coogan and Rob Bryson is on Criterion right now. 

[Curt McGirt]

Here's the end of a pretty cold review of How to Train Your Dragon from Brian Tallerico on rogerebert.com

Quote

Really, that’s all this is: very expensive cosplay. It’s fans and a few creators of an original putting on the costumes, saying the lines, and going through the motions again. No one ever stops to ask why. They’re too busy planning the merchandising; this one comes as a sort of accompaniment to an entire section at the newly-opened Epic Universe in Orlando dedicated to Berk. Is it a stretch to say that hundreds of people have created an extended commercial for a theme park? Maybe. But it’s depressing that it’s even a question worth asking.

Ouch

[Technico Support]

1) There are those trailers you feel like you’ve seen forever, until you’re just like “when is this shitty film finally coming out?”  How to Train Your Dragon is that for me.  I swear I’ve seen the trailer before every kid’s movie for a year.

2) These studios can just rotate animated —> live action & CG remake —> back to the animated —-> repeat forever and just print money.  The greed and cynicism is actually impressive.

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....quite a few short films.

Va Savoir (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Jacques Rivette as a director demands a lot of the viewer. When he's on, he's freaking on. The normally unwieldy 2+ hour character dramas feel like only five minutes have passed when they are done right (La Belle Noiseuse, Gang of Four). When it doesn't hit, it's just drags to watch (Joan The Maid I & II).

Thankfully, Va Savoir doesn't drag.

The theatrical cut I saw functions as a duel pursuit - Ugo, a theatre director (Sergio Castellitto) is pursuing one of the lost works of the playwright Goldoni that supposedly still exists. His wife Camille (Jeanne Balibar) is wanting to resume a relationship with Pierre (Jacques Bonnaffe), who is still working on his doctoral thesis about Heidegger.

As the movie goes along, other characters are in Ugo and Camille's paths and seem to have relationships with them too - Pierre's girlfriend Sonia (Marianne Basler) is a ballet instructor and has a rivalry at first with Camille over Camille's affections toward Pierre. Dominique (Hélène de Fougerolles) helps Ugo on his search for Goldoni's play but might end up having a relationship with him that Ugo decides isn't worth pursuing further (yet is still friends with Do). Dominique's half brother Arthur (Bruno Todeschini) steals things to sell, unbeknownst to his mother. He steals Sonia's ring for purposes of selling with Camille able to get it back and then able to keep it.

Researching a bit about Heidegger, there's a lot of modern cinema that owes itself to his philosophical works (in fact, Terrence Malick translated Vom Wesen des Grundes). Heidegger wants to pursue the activity of 'being in the world' and what it means for a person to act within a world. With cinema, the idea that characters are also people interacting and interfacing with a world is apparent; the line between written fictional works and the spoken and acted aspects is a fulfillment of Heidegger's philosophical pursuits.

The choice of Ugo searching for a Goldoni play is a well picked aspect for Va Savoir. Goldoni was influenced by his love for humanity and his interest in philosophy; someone like Goldoni would have likely read Heidegger if they were contemporaries. The gap in centuries between the two indicate that wondering about relationships and what people pursue in life is a constant.

With this movie, the pursuits aren't the objects - the Goldoni play, the Heidegger thesis, the ring worth millions - it's the relationships. What makes it interesting is the paths the characters take and the intersection of theatre, philosophy, history, and literature that occurs with the characters. This movie wouldn't have worked as well if the characters were living in a small town in France or weren't intellectuals. It's a Woody Allen movie without the hangups about sex and sex is more of an unspoken pursuit.

A memorable scene is of course Camille being locked in a room and using a window to escape. She arrives at the theater and apologies for being late. "Unprofessionale," she says. Camille realizes the perception that people have about actors (which this indecisiveness and conflict internally is what drove her to seek out Pierre in the first place).

The movie does resolve itself in the last 15 minutes with Camille finding the ring, Dominique and her mother finding the play, Pierre finding himself drunk, Arthur finding himself foiled again, and Ugo finding his theatre saved. Arthur and Dominique dance themselves to the end of love, to borrow a phrase from Leonard Cohen.

Va Savoir is yet another great movie from Jacques Rivette.

Mol (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

This short feels like a documentary and not so much a narrative short. Even in countries like Senegal, just getting something to improve your life (like a motor for a boat) is a lot to ask and requires a lot of work to get. Some of the shots were really washed out though and the lighting was a little off.

Behind The Scenes: The Making of Ceddo (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

I'm not familiar with Ousmane Sembene, but I will seek out his movies. He has the right ideas and right approach with filmmaking - "First you make the movie for yourself, then you make it for others." I had knew about Black Girl and Mandabi since they are in the Criterion Collection, but haven't seen them.

A lot of the documentary feature is on the thought process and approach of filmmaking. One thing that stuck out to me is what Sembene says about a country investing in cinema for their country and the government has the responsibility to either "guide the cinema or appropriate the culture." "Do moviemakers want to be the voice of the people? Without substituting for the people?" "Not by being a witness, but an actor." "Without acting as the conscience of the people and saying "I'm the people."" This made me think about what cinema in the United States means today.

In cinema in the United States, a lot of people watch cinema through streaming. If they go to theaters, those theaters are half empty, regardless of what is playing. The experience of being in a theater is hand-cuffed; theater chains like AMC and Regal spend over 20 minutes on ads, trailers, and needless information (with plans for AMC to expand on this very soon). Those that make movies today aren't beholden to artistic vision and expression, but more concerned about satisfying their investors and satisfying the budget used to create the movie. The audience is focus tested and examined and endings or sections get changed due to 'how the movie played to a test audience.'

Then the current government of the United States is talking about charging tariffs to production companies for not making the movie in the United States and to send a few actors that are sympathetic to the current government to 'act as ambassadors.'

So cinema, not just African cinema, not just American cinema, but all of cinema, need people like Ousmane Sembene.

Dirty (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Well shot and well directed short film about a 'first time' for two guys in high school. I'd love to see more from Matthew Puccini.

A Nation Is Born (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Interesting to watch but propagandist. It's somewhat sad that the "modern world" is forced on a country whether they really want it or not. I did like the scene where those in Senegal's silhouettes are shown compared to the silhouettes of foreign countries like France. Then to denote war the various flags are entangled. Sometimes, you don't have to do a lot to get a point across.

Africa on the Seine (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

In an alternate reality, the white woman and the black man would be starring in Jean Luc Godard's Breathless or Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest.

Africa sur Seine is an interesting time capsule of Paris in 1955 as it shows African and Asian individuals walking through the streets to pursue their ventures, go to restaurants, meet with friends, and engage in the world. I found one shot interesting where people on a bus just look and stare at an African man in a suit stepping off the bus. If only the narrator realized their hopefulness was a bit naive.

I loved the mixture of music deployed in the documentary.

Materialists (saw in the theaters) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

Dating sucks.

As someone who had dated people and tried to do online dating (whilst failing spectacularly at it), Materalists as a movie doesn't convince that dating is worth an effort. To give you an example of my dating mishaps, I got set up on a date with a girl through Tinder and we decided to meet up at Cafe Intermezzo in Atlanta. I don't know what it was (probably having to deal with driving in Atlanta and people in Atlanta's seemingly inability to get out of the way while driving), but we sit down to meet, exchange names, she looks at me, and then says "I can't do this" and gets up to leave. No explanation, no apologies, no empathy.

So going into Materalists, it's really difficult to tell what kind of movie this is going to be.

Materalists opens with a 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque wide angle shots of a region, possibly in New York where a man has gathered flowers in a shoulderbag. He sees a woman and the woman excitedly comes out of a cave to see him. He gives her a flower, wrapped in the shape of a ring. Then we see the title.

We go from a wilderness of trees and rocks to a wilderness of buildings and poles in New York City. Lucy (Dakota Johnson) literally has everything a girl would have to make herself desirable; she's pretty, she's tall, and she dresses stylishly. She stops in her tracks for a guy and tells him she's a matchmaker.

What Materalists does with its setup for the story is present conventionality in romantic comedies/dramas that have been used before. We see Lucy's office life and what her service performs is the height of superficial in life and in dating. Women and men are judged as assets and commodities based on their height, weight, income, and jobs. Lucy complains to a co-worker after securing a ninth wedding through her services about a woman named Sophie who "will die alone."

From there, the movie moves to the wedding where Harry (Pedro Pascal) is introduced in a similar camera pan as was in Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice (which was one of the movies used as a reference in A24 exhaustive list). Harry listens to Lucy's conversation to other women as Lucy sells her services to them: "I want you to see someone that you're changing diapers and end up in coffins together" is the moribund plug for the service.

Harry and Lucy actually seem like a fit. Harry doesn't want to do the chasing for Lucy and lets his position and income dictate the terms for Lucy. Harry doesn't need Lucy, but he sees more out of her. They are talking and Lucy asks for a drink, which leads John (Chris Evans) into the story.

From there, the movie is focused on Lucy and her seeming relational bliss with Harry and her tangental relationship with John.

One aspect the movie talks about a lot is using math to describe relationships. This happens a few times - one scene where this happens is where Harry breaks down why he likes Lucy and Lucy gives him reasons why he shouldn't. "I have a negative dowry," she says. "Why would I care about the physical assets?" Harry says. "With you, there's something intangible that I like." In a lot of ways, despite Harry working in private equity and basically being a ghoul (people like him are the reason the United States economy is collapsing), it seems like a safe secure bet for Lucy to stick with Harry.

Another scene where math comes up is with Sophie (Zoe Winters) in which Lucy has tracked her down after Sophie had reported to the dating service that she was sexually assaulted. "Do the math, I'm going to die alone!" Sophie says, in near tears. To be honest, I didn't like how the movie handled Sophie's storyline. After being sexually assaulted by a date and having to file a restraining order, she turns around and still solicits the matchmaking service to set her up with another date.

After deciding to not go to Iceland with Harry (which was her dream), Lucy takes a car ride with John to upstate New York where they crash a wedding and have a great scene outside of it. "You have shit pay, shit odds, but on the outside of it it's even shittier," Lucy says. Lucy has decided to stick with John. Once they get back to New York City, Lucy is in a park and gets told she'll be the head of the New York office of her matchmaking firm. The movie ends as it begins with John offering Lucy a flower ring. "Want to make a fucked up financial decision?"

Materialists as a movie uses the tools of romantic comedy/dramas and tells the story in similar fashion to other romantic comedies/dramas like Emma. (which in some ways Lucy is like Austen's Emma), Pride & Prejudice, Howards End (where Pedro Pascal's character is like a less abrasive Mr. Darcy and Henry Wilcox) among others. It does do something different where Lucy has an existential crisis over what her heartless matchmaking service does to people (including hilarious scenes where she tells a woman that "she's not a catch”).

Yet she and John end up together because "love wins" rather than safety/security wins. I was halfway expecting Harry's 'fatal flaw' to be he and his brother would give women Flunitrazepam at parties and then sexually assault them because when you give rich people money, don't expect them to act like human beings. Instead, he and his brother just had surgery to make themselves taller.

One thing I noticed was the usage of Celine Song's play Tom and Eliza, where John starred in. Materalists also mentions that Lucy used to be an actor while John is still trying to be an actor because "someone told me I was good at it one time." I also liked the usage of Harry Nilsson's "I Guess The Lord Must Be in New York," which reminded me a bit of another movie with Harry Nilsson's songs Midnight Cowboy.

Materalists is just a great movie and one of the best from 2025.

First (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

I can't connect to this at all because my experience with online as a teenager was hoping my parents weren't going to use the phone while I was chatting with a buddy about Monday Night Raw through AOL. I'm old.

It's kinda creepy with the captions as an invisible commentary on what the people are doing.

Friday the 13th (guess what date today is?) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Having watched a ton of giallo (like Deep Red, The Bird With The Crystal Plummage, Blood and Black Lace, Who Saw Her Die?, Don't Torture A Duckling, Torso, etc), it's amazing how much Friday the 13th feels like a giallo film.

A lot of it has to do with the choices for camera setups. Throughout the entirety of the movie, the camera is set up from POV shots, presumably of the killer. This is especially true in the introductory scenes where someone finds two counselors making out. It also does POV shots in a way, as the camera 'tracks' counselors like Kevin Bacon's character and the girl he kissed from across the lake.

The other aspect that lends itself to giallo is the production design and the color choices. A lot of the scenes have little details, like a taxidermied racoon and a deer head and pictures of older guys and piano books. The colors vary from yellow jackets to red blankets to blue shorts to colorful tops and jackets characters wear in the movie.

The aspect that's the weakest for the movie is the lighting - halfway through the movie, my interest faded because it was a bit difficult to locate the actors on screen. The story aspect is almost too simple as well - we don't really learn anything about the characters other than they are counselors and they are getting killed one by one. We don't need to learn anything more to be honest.

A lot of the kills were similar to Halloween (of course) but giallos like Deep Red and A Bay of Blood (which I need to see that one). The revelation that Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) is the one behind the murders is reminsicent of revelations in giallo. The closeup of Mrs. Voorhees saying she would kill Alice (Adrienne King) is particularly similar to closeups in Argento films.

For the most part, Friday the 13th is a decent low budget horror movie that ended up having a lot of influence on later horror movies too.

 

[Curt McGirt]

Part 2 directly cribbed two murders from Bay of Blood, but you probably already knew that. If it wasn't intentional then it's one hell of a coincidence.

10 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

with plans for AMC to expand on this very soon

Should I even ask? 

[HarryArchieGus]

Saw'r this week and thoroughly loved the Phoenician Scheme. Another excellent addition to Anderson's genius catalog. From the hype I was gathering going in, I thought this might be a more accessible film than recent efforts. The audience did seem to dig it, but I would not call this film any more accessible than anything before it. I really loved how the Stravinsky songs informed this movie - there hasn't been a single Anderson soundtrack that wasn't exceptional. As per usual, every shot and sequence is beautifully detailed and a feast for the eyes. These production designs are goddamn mindblowing. Also, as per usual, the film is chockerblocked full of wonderful performances. Del Toro, after arguably stealing the French Dispatch, makes good on the wonderfully written lead here. Michael Cera to no surprise is a pure delight and fits this universe like a glove. Also, very nice performance from Mia Threapleton - who I am largely unfamiliar with. Ridiculously fun cameos from Hanks, Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Scarlett, Bill Murray, and especially Jeffrey Wright in one his funniest performances. Wright has become such a wonderful Anderon player in recent years. This was another beautiful esoteric film that will surely be met with the same tired Anderson criticisms by the drips, and no doubt be loved by a smaller number of appreciative open-minded film goers. I plan to see this 2 more times in the cinema for good measure before buying it on Blu Ray, and watching/loving it for many years to come.  

[Andrew POE!]

1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

Part 2 directly cribbed two murders from Bay of Blood, but you probably already knew that. If it wasn't intentional then it's one hell of a coincidence.

Should I even ask? 

AMC has indicated in a press release that there will be a "premium spot" before movies at their theaters start for another ad, as if that's what's making people not go to the theaters. 

[Curt McGirt]

I don't quite understand. Are they cutting an ad for people who pay for certain seating or something? How would that work? Very confused here.

[odessasteps]

I was happy that the chain where went the other day “only” had 5 minutes or so trailers/ads. Much better than Regal or AMC, who are the big chains here. 

[Mister TV]

2 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

AMC has indicated in a press release that there will be a "premium spot" before movies at their theaters start for another ad, as if that's what's making people not go to the theaters. 

Assuming that “premium spot” is right after the last trailer and right before the movie starts. I don’t go to AMC that often, but I think they stop commercials before the trailer’s start. 

[zendragon]

Watched RRR, this was like Indian Braveheart, fell asleep woke up guys where suspenders dancing, fell back asleep woke up guys in red turbans doing the Hammer time dance. Was really something like a super hero musical.

Also watched American Me and Do the right thing which despite being over 30 years old feel very timely

[Curt McGirt]

50 minutes ago, Mister TV said:

Assuming that “premium spot” is right after the last trailer and right before the movie starts. I don’t go to AMC that often, but I think they stop commercials before the trailer’s start. 

Why don't you try and aim to walk in right then, in that case? Time out one showing (probably one of the most popular movies because those are bound to be loaded down the most) and try to apply it to the next. They all have assigned seats now even if people don't follow the rules. You aren't gonna miss a spot.

It's just another scam. 

[Mister TV]

15 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Why don't you try and aim to walk in right then, in that case? Time out one showing (probably one of the most popular movies because those are bound to be loaded down the most) and try to apply it to the next. They all have assigned seats now even if people don't follow the rules. You aren't gonna miss a spot.

It's just another scam. 

I'm assuming that's what people were doing and why they're working in another commercial. I'm not the one to ask on this since 90% of the time when I goto the movies its on Free Popcorn Tuesday's, it totally varies on how long you have to wait in line at the concession stand, so we always get there a little early. Also, I go to Emagine Theaters which is a small chain, they always run a thing with their CEO hamming it up right before the movie starts.

[odessasteps]

Im always early. I just listen to my phone and read until the movie starts. 

[Curt McGirt]

Same here. I always want to watch the previews, anyway; it's the TV commercials that bother me. Shocking when they first started showing up though I suppose they shouldn't have been. It was inevitable.

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

The Fog of War (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Watching The Fog of War in 2025 and separated by over 30 years from the Vietnam War, it's interesting that the United States went from Robert McNamara, who had gotten degrees from Berkeley in economics and Harvard Business School for a MBA, to our current Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who gotten a degree in politics at Princeton, is homophobic, an alcoholic, and a propagandist on FOX News before his current position. McNamara was called unqualified at the time to be Secretary of Defense, but look at who has the job now. One chilling scene was McNamara talking about the protests outside the Pentagon and how he gave the Army guns but "wouldn't order them to load bullets into the guns." Nowadays, Hegseth would have given them guns, ordered them to load bullets, and order them to shoot the protestors (it sounds extreme, but given the current government not out of the realm of possibility).

With that said, the documentary seems to function as a way for McNamara to exonerate himself for his actions in Vietnam and justify what happened (or didn't happen) during the war in Vietnam. I thought it was telling that McNamara talks about the usage of "Agent Orange" while claiming to have never authorized its usage. The question then becomes, "Who came up with the idea of using 'Agent Orange' if McNamara didn't approve it?"

What I found interesting is that McNamara was more upset and distraught over John F. Kennedy's death than anything else. Yet, the destruction of the Japanese people with bombing their homes and businesses and the destruction of Vietnamese allies and their soldiers don't warrant any regret or sadness; those are just numbers on a report that McNamara uses. He analyzes the situation the same way he analyzes car safety at Ford; he concludes to have seat belts in cars and wants to have 'better packaging' for people driving Ford cars. The business and analysis of war is not the same as the business and analysis of car manufacturing, although lessen death is a motivation.

There are some issues with the documentary however. A lot of the pacing and narrative is a bit scattershot; this is due to the subject being a bit scattershot in telling his story. If the documentary was simply McNamara speaking, it wouldn't have been interesting. The fact that there was usage of archival footage, newsreels, press footage, and still photography kept the documentary interesting and engaging.

Also, it would have to be said but Errol Morris isn't interested in presenting Robert McNamara as being "right." McNamara did push back on a few questions and didn't want to respond to some of them. His responses shows more of a willingness to answer the way he wants to answer it.

The Fog of War is a decent documentary that won't present new light on Vietnam War or on Robert McNamara.

The Boys From Brazil (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

The Boys From Brazil with its cast would be thought of as an acting tour de force. You have Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier and James Mason along with Lilli Palmer and the highly influential theatre actor Uta Hagen as well as up and comers like Steven Guttenberg.

The movie functions in parallel - Dr. Josef Mengele (Peck) is being tracked by Barry Kohler (Guttenberg) in Paraguay who has secretly photographed their arrivals. Kohler attempts to call Ezra Lieberman (Olivier), who completely dismisses what Kohler said, not to mention acted annoyed that Kohler would track movements of Nazis in Paraguay. Then, when Kohler is able to record proof of what Dr. Mengele is doing in a secret meeting before Kohler is killed, Lieberman asks questions and delays Kohler.

The maxim of "good people allows evil people to flourish when good people do nothing" should probably be changed to "good people out of sheer incompetence lets evil people to flourish."

The plot of the movie is nearly hopeless throughout the entire movie; Mengele is able to exact his plans of murdering fathers aged 65 with 14 year old boys that have eerie blue eyes and dark hair. Lieberman, even when it is broken down and explained to him, still doesn't get it and is more fixated on other things. You want him to succeed, but at the same time, you just want him to fail because how annoying he is about the whole thing. There was something I read from a book about film school that said that characters in a movie aren't truly evil and there's an aspect to the character that makes the person human; in this, there's elements of humanity in Peck's portrayal of Mengele that makes him human and even sympathetic. It's apparent in the Saboteur-like scene where Mengele finds out the plans he advised to do had been cancelled and he attacks one of the would-be assassins.

Towards the end of the movie, Peck and Olivier finally have their "Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Heat" meet up moment. From an acting standpoint, do they discuss their motivations and how one will prevent the other from completing their objective? Nope, no such acting showcases occur. Instead, it's action movie stunts as Mengele fires a gun at Lieberman and then they tussle for the gun before Mengele gets mauled by dogs. The son of the target comes in and Mengele lies to him before the son finds his father dead and orders the dogs to kill Mengele. That meet up between the two characters, that the rest of the movie has been building towards, is wasted on silent acting and camera shots of them looking at the door while Mengele lays out his plan.

Lieberman eventually is saved as the son calls the police. The final scenes are even more infuriating; Lieberman could have given the list over so that the boys could be killed. Nope, he essentially protects the secret and burns up the letter.

Despite some terrible character and story choices, Franklin Schaffner directs an average movie. There are points where the movie is at its strongest; Guttenberg was the best part of the movie with his enthusiasm and the spy work he did to record the meeting. Olivier, Peck, and Mason seemed a bit wasted in their roles; I did like Uta Hagen in her scene where she met with Olivier's character and essentially revealed everything. The drawback with everything is the first act was quite strong only for the second act to fizzle and the third act to fall with a thud.

For the most part, The Boys From Brazil is a disappointment to watch.

Urban Rashomon (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

"Everyone is selfish and dishonest." -Rashomon

How much of this is a documentary about a photographer finding a subject in the streets and how much of this is exploitation of that subject is not known. Khalik Allah narrates this documentary short as he finds a person named "Frenchy" and begins photographing him; he also buys illegal drugs for the person.

Yet judging Khalik Allah makes someone just as bad as he is.

Antonyms of Beauty (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Having seen Antonyms of Beauty immediately after Urban Rashomon, I think it can be definitely said that Khalik Allah isn't exploitive of Frenchie. There is some problematic conversations and beliefs that Khalik shares with Frenchie. Frenchie has more of an universal view of everything which is a bit undefined. This is more a collection of still photography and recorded videos than a defined narrative. A song from Nas is played, Khalik has a conversation with a fellow Five Percent Nation of Islam member (which for non-practitioners like myself took a bit of time to figure what they were doing with the coded language) and Khalik disparages a transgendered woman after taking her picture/video.

The Life of Chuck (saw in the theaters) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

"The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you get one more yard
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part" -Tom Petty, "The Waiting"

The Life of Chuck is a deceptive movie. It starts at the end, the final act. We see a group of characters go through a tremendous tragic event in human history - first, it was a 9.1 earthquake that took out a large chunk of California. Then, it was losing Wifi. Losing cable TV. Losing mobile phone service. Unexplained phenomenon started happening everywhere. Banners and graffiti and signs saying the same thing: "Charles Krantz, 39 Great Years! Thanks Chuck!" Who is Chuck? Is he a television personality? Is he a cosmic entity? Those that the characters Marty (Chiwetel Ejiotor) encounter as he searches for clues remark about his agelessness. "How can he work 39 years at a TV station? He doesn't look a day over 40!"

The movie has an enigma that's part Stephen King's The Stand, part The Truman Show. This portion almost feels like a metaphor of the second Trump term: we are waiting for a tragic, catastrophic event to happen and slowly it does. Tariffs cause prices to rise, stock markets to crater, jobs to be lost, hundreds of thousands no longer having a meaningful life because of a bunch of college kids with access to computer systems deciding they should be fired. Getting back to the movie, eventually, all the power cuts out in the world until we see Chuck reflected in every window in a suburban neighborhood. Marty reunites with Felicia (Karen Gillian). Chuck (Tom Hiddleston) is sitting in a bed as the heartbeat monitor beeps the end. Marty begins to tell Felicia he loves her, but it abruptly cuts to black, like the ending to The Sopranos.

As we move into Act II and then Act I, it's clear that what we saw may not have happened. Chuck remembers having learned to dance in his younger days. With this there's a message: don't forget the thing you are passionate about, even as you've grown older. For Chuck, it's dance. For me, it's acting. It made me reflect upon the training in acting I had gotten in middle and high school and doing improv comedy in high school with a guy that became a professional actor. For others, it's painting, it's theater, it's art, it's singing, it's playing the drums, it's playing the guitar, it's playing the piano. Chuck is told by his grandfather Albie (Mark Hamill) that he should take advantage of using mathematics. "What's doing the waltz anyway? 1...2....3." The biggest tragedy of Chuck's life isn't that he died at an early age of 39, but that there was so much he didn't get to do.

Act I shows the tragic beginnings of Chuck's life and having lost his parents in a car accident. For Stephen King stories, children going through a tragic circumstance is standard; it was there with Stand By Me, although in this case, Chuck didn't have a group of friends to assist. Eventually, he loses both his grandparents and he finally opens the door to the attic and sees his future; it's similar to Karen Gillian's former stint on Dr. Who's "The God Complex" episode where there's something specific that only the characters can see. The problem is of course, the surprise is ruined and we see a 17 year old Chuck (Jacob Tremblay) seeing himself on a hospital bed.

The amazing thing about The Life of Chuck is how much it's interconnected with the story for little details. Marty watches Cover Girl, which later is rented by Chuck and his grandmother in Act I from Blockbuster. Marty talks about the cosmic calendar concept over the phone, which Chuck later sees from a Carl Sagan special in Act I. The phrase "The waiting is the hardest part" that's said by Gus (Matthew Lilliard) is repeated by Albie. The undertaker (Carl Lumbly) telling Marty about his dream of being a weatherman is relayed to Chuck when Albie had passed away. The reading of Whitman's "Song of Myself" at the start of the movie and then later in the movie takes a different context due to the situations for the students involved. Everything is connected, everything is meaningful, everything matters.

The drawback to this is it makes it too obvious for the story and some of the performances aren't as strong as they should be otherwise. There are great moments with individual actors though - Ejiofor had great scenes with Gillian in Act III and with Lumbly while walking to the subdivision where Felicia lived. Kate Siegel as Chuck's schoolteacher had a wonderful scene where she explains that Chuck contains multitudes. The movie literally contains multitudes and it's almost hard to fit them all. The centerpiece of the movie, Tom Hiddleston, is only significantly in the movie in Act II.

Still, I loved what Mike Flanagan did with this - in a way, he did what Robert Zemeckis did with Forrest Gump and with Here as it is a summation of a person's life that yet feels personal to the audience.

Mike Flanagan, 1 Great Movie! Thanks Mike!

Birage Diop, Storyteller (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Fascinating documentary short about an African writer who isn't interested in making a living as a writer, but put out work that made people explore his works more.

 

[Curt McGirt]

Not to get political but I have to bring up the nadir of Hegseth which trumps (heh) anything else known about him

Spoiler

I mean, aside from the rape allegation against him, which is pretty much confirmed if he feels this way about the subject.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pete-hegseth-published-column-saying-225600849.html

The sheer fury you feel when you watch McNamara's self-justifications and willful ignorance would probably be ten times that if this sick fuck was in his place back then and in front of the camera instead.

[Tabe]

How to Train Your Dragon - it's been a long time since I've seen the animated original and I remembered very little of the story so it was like seeing a new movie. The story is still good, the score still incredible but the transition to "live action" causes the movie to lose just a little something. The visuals aren't quite as spectacular and the people don't look real enough to be real, at least not all the time. And, quite frankly, it's just a story and setting that works better as a traditional animated movie. Still, it's entertaining and my wife (who hadn't seen the original but wanted to see this one) loved it. 7/10. Original is a 9.

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....finally saw ones that have been requested from me to see.

Pulp Fiction ("When are you going to watch Pulp Fiction?") - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

Compared to the earlier Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction is a better movie on every level. The writing of the characters is better, the direction in general is better, and the story that's presented is better.

What made Reservoir Dogs a lesser effort is the characters are caricatures. With this, the characters reveal themselves not only in words but in actions. There's also so many ideas and situations that can spring from just this movie alone.

Vincent Vega (John Travolta) won't take advantage of his boss' wife Mia (Uma Thurman) as they go to a themed restaurant and resolves to just leave after dropping her off; in other movies, the sexual tension between the two would be fulfilled (notice how seductively Mia has a cherry in her mouth while looking at Vincent; you can guess what she really wants). This is primarily due to what happened to a man who gave Mia a foot massage, but the truth is a bit different. Butch (Bruce Willis) is given a choice to leave Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) and getting out of there, but he chooses to stay and help Wallace as he kills the pawnshop owner and leaves the security guard for Wallace. In other movies, there would be a showdown between Wallace and Butch after this. (Part of me wished that Bruce Willis decided to do samurai movies after this instead of his "Made for streaming / Made for Blu Ray" movies, but he did what he wanted). Julius (Samuel L. Jackson) could have chosen to kill Ringo (Tim Roth) and Yolanda (Amanda Plummer) in the restaurant, but chose to let them live.

Which dives in the nature of the characters further - the characters are at their face not redemptive characters or even good people. The movie doesn't pretend that these characters will receive a full character arc or anything close to it - but in small ways, they change. Julius desires not to be a hitman/gangster for Marcellus any more. Marcellus spares Butch on account of Butch's kindness. Vincent experiences a change after Mia almost dies from a drug overdose, only for Vincent to be gunned down by Butch. The would-be robbers at the start, Yolanda and Ringo, cut their losses and leave. Walter (Harvey Keitel) seems to exist as a person who doesn't feel the need to change, but doesn't need to.

The other aspects that have been covered a lot from professional critics is the expanse of cinematic techniques and references employed in the movie. The briefcase is like the car trunk from Repo Man or the Ark of the Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark. We the audience never see what is contained in the briefcase. The famous dance scene with Travolta and Thurman calls back to other movies where Travolta dances (like Saturday Night Fever) but is connected to Godard's A Band of Outsiders. Butch's flashback to meeting Captain Koons (Christopher Walken) is out of Fellini's 8 1/2, where the adult character remembers his childhood.

The musical needledrops are excellent and fit the scenes. Having "You Never Can Tell" during the dance scene gives a bit of a romantic interplay between Mia and Vincent that's never consummated. "Son of a Preacher Man" when Vincent walks in to the apartment is Mia's way of telling Vincent something without expressing it (attraction, love, intrigue, take your pick). Mia choosing "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" and singing along with it has Mia acknowledging that Vincent and Mia's relationship isn't a good thing for either of them and she realizes that's as far as it will go. Using "Misirlou" at the start and later "Rumble" gives Pulp Fiction a nervous tension and kinetic energy that links to Morricone's soundtracks for Sergio Leone's Westerns.

Tarantino's skill as a director is really on display in Pulp Fiction. There were points toward the middle of the movie where it dragged a bit (mainly during the scenes with Bruce Willis at the hotel), but there isn't a weak portion to the movie. Although having Tarantino self-insert as a character who then says the 'n-word' repeatedly is a bit much, but not to the same level as that being done in Reservoir Dogs.

Pulp Fiction is a classic.

Left Behind: The Movie ("HarryArchieGus: You watch everything, when you are going to watch this?") - 1/2 / 5 stars

Spoiler

I got dared to watch this.

I knew about the book series having gone to evangelical churches and going to a Southern Baptist Church (yuck on Southern Baptists and their recent efforts to overturn gay marriage). The people behind the book series are psychopaths who essentially wrote books that are lunacy to read.

The movie just is boring to watch. Direction is mildly terrible, cinematography has a darken blue light to the scenes everywhere (that's mildly annoying), and Kirk Cameron as Buck Williams is so bland as an actor I don't feel hatred or anything. The opening scenes had some of the worst special effects I've ever seen (like I can't tell where the planes are shooting). Acting is hollow throughout the movie.

The airplane scenes are strangely comical, but having seen Airplane numerous times, it's difficult to take seriously. I half way expected Kirk Cameron's character to be the one to land the plane like Ted Striker did. Maybe people's disappearances on the plane is due to they having the fish or the beef? I imagine the air traffic controller office had someone saying, "I picked the wrong day to quit drinking." I guess if they lost the pilots, Buck Williams would be piloting. "Our only hope is to build this man up. We gotta give him all the confidence we can. Williams, have you ever flown multi-engine planes before?" "No, never." "Shit! This is a goddamn waste of time! There's no way he can land this plane!"

The only decent scenes were towards the end with Nicolae Carpathia (Gordon Currie) shooting two people and convincing everyone else in the room that he didn't do it. Currie despite the hokey Count Dracula accent is pretty compelling to watch (in a Syfy Channel / Canadian television programming sort of way). Brad Johnson as Rayford Steele has no emotion at all with his acting and is really wooden in his line reading.

I kept yelling at my screen every time Kirk Cameron called Islam practitioners "Arabs." Arabs live in a region, anyone can follow Islam regardless of region. (Just watch Spike Lee's Malcolm X if you're needing help with that, Kirk).

This movie was made by humans in 2000 and they thought that it was releasable.

Dark Water (2002) (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Dark Water in a way is more Roman Polanski coded than other films in Hideo Nakata's filmography. The movie is concerned with a newly divorced woman named Yoshimi Matsubara (Hitomi Kuroki) and her daughter Ikuko (Rio Kanno). In some ways, the concept of divorce is almost cultural specific; American courts would be a bit more dramatic in comparison, so it's a bit harder to imagine Yoshimi losing custody of her child.

The apartment building and the water in the apartment above Yoshimi and Ikuko is the source of terror; in a way, this would fit neatly with Repulsion and The Tenant in Polanski's Apartment Trilogy. The apartment management is seemingly oblivious to the issues being reported until the apartment above them is opened to find the water source. Yet, that doesn't end the issues for Yoshimi. Mitsuko Kawai (Mirei Oguchi) continues to haunt Yoshimi until eventually Yoshimi claims the ghost spirit as her child and disappears. The scene where the elevator doors open with a deluge of water calls to mind Kubrick's The Shining in a similar scene from that movie.

For the most part, Dark Water is less scary than Ring and more psychological and sad as a movie. The ending with the 16 year old Ikuko (Asami Mizukawa) is especially sad as the two have 'one last conversation' before Yoshimi disappears forever - basically like the ending to The Shining where Jack Torrence shows up in a picture from the Overlook Hotel.

Dark Water is an above average Japanese horror movie.

Fit Model (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

An amazing short film that tells just as much as some feature length films. Lucy Owen as Lu has to deal with not being regarded as a person in a fashion showcase while dealing with a wound that doesn't heal from a car accident with her as a pedestrian. It seems telling that just trying to make in New York City would lead to get hitting by a car while standing on a sidewalk (although the claim number she starts to tell the insurance company doesn't sound like a real claim number....).

For 30 to 40 year olds doing acting in a place like NYC, it's difficult. Some people are more luckier, prettier, skinnier, and have the right connections versus a character like Lu. For something as image focused as acting, having a hole in a sweater at an audition or dealing with a wound and bandages while trying on clothes and an idiot designer not remembering to write a check is a nightmare.

Nettles (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Interesting vignettes for each body part on a woman. The first one is a bit harrowing. The second one was excellently shot. I didn't care for the fifth one that much due to the treatment of the characters.

Lamb (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

This was fascinating - Lamb resembles in some ways freestyle wrestling with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) thrown in before that was popular. It's part dance, part wrestling, part competition, part superstition.

There was one guy with an oversized gut that I wanted to see how he would do competing; he looks like he could block most attacks and do takedowns, but probably would get winded a bit. That wasn't to be.

I loved the dual narrator format of the documentary short.

Iba N'Diaye (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Somewhat dry short film that's basically an interview with Iba N'Diaye. We rarely see his creative process at work or his creating a painting; he seems taken aback that he's having to be asked about what he was thinking when he created his paintings.

Some of his paintings I can't make heads or tails of what is being depicted.

Negative Two (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Interesting short film that's basically two people speaking out loud their text messages to each other. Incredible shots of NYC and I loved the tracking shot of one of the actors walking down the street. There's something simple and pure about using a handheld camera for that.

 

[odessasteps]

The briefcase is also a reference to 

Spoiler

Kiss Me Deadly.

Of course, there are plenty more Andrew didn’t mention. I will spare everyone the really obscure ones.

Edited June 16, 2025 by odessasteps

[Andrew POE!]

3 hours ago, odessasteps said:

The briefcase is also a reference to 

  Hide contents

Kiss Me Deadly.

Of course, there are plenty more Andrew didn’t mention. I will spare everyone the really obscure ones.

Yeah, I haven't seen what's in the spoiler yet. I also didn't take notes while watching the movie. I should probably watch every movie referenced in Pulp Fiction. Sometimes I'm really good at analyzing a movie and other times I miss the boat on my analysis. 

Edited June 16, 2025 by Andrew POE!

[Brian Fowler]

54 minutes ago, Andrew POE! said:

 I should probably watch every movie referenced in Pulp Fiction. 

That's a pretty damn big project. 

(I would highly recommend the movie that Reservoir Dogs is probably most closely based on, City on Fire. Especially because it's going to be getting the first proper and legal U.S. release in decades this summer.)

[odessasteps]

That was a large part of my thesis, and it was much harder to do in 1995 than it would be in 2025. Heck, there’s prob a whole website devoted to denoting all the references in all his movies. 
 

andrew, I thought you had reviewed that movie here. Maybe we did it here in a movie club years ago. 

Edited June 16, 2025 by odessasteps