Movies 2025 Movie Discussion Thread

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today...the movies I saw form a sentence apparently.

Tesla (Mubi, leaving on 11/22) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Tesla as a movie is awashed in anachronisms. The narrator of the events Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson) uses a MacBook and a contemporary slide projector to talk about what Nikola Tesla (Ethan Hawke) did. The thing is, as she points out, a lot about Tesla is speculation since there isn't a lot of photographs of Tesla unlike Thomas Edison (Kyle MacLachlan) who is both Tesla's employer, benefactor and rival.

Sometimes the approach has a tendency to work against itself. Tesla is almost too withdrawn to even be engaging, despite this movie about his life. The interesting aspects are everything else around Tesla and the presentation. Edison is shown to be irritable and difficult to even want to deal with, but Tesla has to for his inventions to get funding. Tesla then draws into a working relationship with George Westinghouse (Jim Gaffigan) and a financial backing of J.P. Morgan (Donnie Keshawarz).

The point seems to be with this movie is those that shaped the modern world like Westinghouse, Edison, and Morgan aren't as noble or pure as they present themselves to be. They are in fact very cut-throat, with Tesla either aware or oblivious to their intentions.

With the presentation, the movie does use a lot of Derek Jarman style scenes supperimposed against large screens or flat backgrounds; it lends itself to being almost play-like in its structure with a series of vignettes rather than an uniform narrative. The ending sequence is as wild as Hawke's soliloquy in a Blockbuster Video in the same director's Hamlet.

Tesla is inventive and unapproachable, just like its namesake.

Klute (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

It's interesting, but Klute can almost be considered a noir film.

It speaks to the same concerns that most noirs speak to: something involving a mystery, a murder, or a disappearance propels the story. With this, John Klute (Donald Sutherland) is almost a riddle and a mystery. We learn less about him as the movie ends than was learned at the start of the movie. What is shown is the fact that he's not from New York City and is from Pennsylvania and he's extraordinarily patient. Even when he has every possible reason to be angry, he never is.

Where the most is learned is with Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda). Bree is a 'call girl' / sex worker in New York City. What's distinctive with Bree is the fact that she's intelligently aware of the trappings of her profession and the difference with being an actor. Being a sex worker is something she can control versus having to do auditions or do a part. "And for an hour... for an hour, I'm the best actress in the world, and the best fuck in the world," she says to her therapist.

Klute does something interesting with describing the psychology of Bree Daniels with a scene that doesn't even feature her. In a horizontal shot, several beautiful women are lined up and sit down. A man and two assistants walk down the row and look at the women. They look at a women with her hat removed. They look at another smiling. They see one showing her hands. The women are then dismissed: the nature of entertainment and of making a career in entertainment is reduced to a cold, heartless dismissal.

Bree Daniels also experiences this rejection when she talks to a talent agent and is asked about her roles. She's studying with an acting teacher and was in two workshop productions, she says. The agent dismisses her after telling her "don't hid your face" and "you should know yourself when you do a role" before asking for another woman to come in. Bree Daniels also does an audition in a play with an Irish accent before being asked to stop.

Acting and sex work honestly aren't that different. Both require doing things that a person doesn't normally do.

Throughout the movie, there's a nervous anticipation of something will happen. Bree Daniels at a few points stays in Klute's apartment; she eventually realizes that he's been spying on her. John Klute and Bree Daniels eventually begin to act as a two person investigation team, as they seek answers to what happened to Jane McKenna. They cross paths with Frank Ligourin (Roy Scheider). What's interesting with the scenes with Frank and Klute is how those actors wordlessly and silently position Bree Daniels into place; it's almost like a silent dance between those characters.

Klute arranges a meeting with Ligourin and attacks Ligourin, suspecting that he's the person that murdered Tom Gruneman (Robert Mill). Bree Daniels stabs at Klute with a pair of scissors and runs away to the garment district office of one of her clients. During Klute's investigation and examination of the letters, it's starting to be suspected that Peter Cable (Charles Cioffi) was the one who wrote the letters sent to Bree Daniels on the basis of his misspelling of 'the.' Cable arrives as he plays a tape of McKenna being killed; eventually Klute catches up and Cable dives out of a window to her death.

What's interesting is how the shots at the start of the movie and at the end of movie are almost similar. In the beginning of the movie, a horizontal stationery shot is shown of a group of friends eating dinner together. At the end of the movie, it's a stationery shot of Bree Daniels and John Klute leaving an empty apartment with the phone on the floor. A voiceover of one of Bree Daniels' sessions is heard - as if we are hearing a recording much like the ones Cable made and shown in the title intro - as Bree Daniels is saying she's not sure she really wants a domestic life with someone like John Klute and 'you'll see me next week.' Yet, during the phone call that Bree Daniels receives, she says she's leaving New York City and doesn't know if she'll return. Whether Klute and Daniels leave to explore a domesticated life together is unknown. It could also be that they are now private detectives in Pennsylvania. Or, to contradict what Bree Daniels said in voiceover, she is settling into a married life with John Klute.

The movie doesn't give the satisfaction of an answer and that's probably for the best.

Klute as a movie does indeed form a trilogy with The Parallax View and with All The President's Men. All three movies are about investigations. This is about a murder/disappearance of a businessman. The Parallax View is about a politician being assassinated at a campaign stop and a reporter trying to find out what happened. All The President's Men is about corruption in the political system and two reporters having to track down leads as who was involved. Yes, 'paranoia' is the cornerstone of those movies; but it's more of how they are filmed that adds to the atmosphere (and great usage of lighting and shadows from cinematographer Gordon Willis).

Bastards (Mubi, leaving on 11/22) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

The thing with Bastards is it's oppressively bleak and that's the point.

Marco (Vincent Lindon) cannot catch a break through the entire movie; his family has a business collapse and he has to tell his watch, his car, and cash in his insurance just to pay child support. In the opening scenes, it's raining as an older man looks outside with the windows open. The next thing we see, police have arrived as his wife Sandra (Julie Bataille) arrives and is distraught. A young woman walks down the street naked. What I found interesting is the fact for nearly 15 minutes not a line of dialogue is spoken. Sandra and Marco silently grieve what happened.

Marco goes from one disaster to another and begins an affair with Raphaelle (Chiara Mastroianni). Raphaelle is married to Edouard Laporte (Michel Sabor), who is the major reason why Sandra's husband committed suicide and Laporte has nefarious dealings that are hinted at throughout the movie. In other movies, Marco would confront Laporte and would emerge triumphant.

Like in life, this is not the case.

What Claire Denis does with Bastards is the opposite of what is expected, yet familiar enough to be what is expected with the story. Nothing is exactly spelled out, but what's presented is done in a fashion that's straightforward to follow. Honestly, this is Claire Denis' 'most accessible' movie (although I found all the ones I've seen of hers to be accessible); the story hints show a world where the rich will get what they want and those who aren't couldn't win even if they try.

The ending to the movie is diabolical; the video is hinted at throughout the movie. But seeing it too, with Sandra being the only one to see it and Justine's (Lola Creton) fate unknown really puts a dour note. The Tindersticks song is as seasick inducing as Marco having to pilot an oil tanker.

Bastards is a bastard of a movie.

Cow (Mubi, leaving on 11/22) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

This movie is udderly beautiful. I found it completely moo-ving.

.....

In all seriousness, if after watching this movie, the vegetarian / vegan lifestyle isn't being considered, I don't know what to tell you. I know for me I'm considering to swear off eating beef / steaks.

The challenge with this movie is to capture a subject like filming a cow and what the cow experiences without words. Camera angles and shot compositions tell the story. A great director would realize that this movie is boring and would lean into it; what Andrea Arnold did captures the claustrophobic world for a single cow. Near the start of the movie, the cow simply stares into the camera and just bellows at it.

At certain point for me, I just fell asleep, exhausted for about 20 minutes. I don't remember anything, but I was lulled to a state of sleep as the soundtrack of various acts were played along with sounds of cows moving from one area to another.

The cow in the last 20 minutes is suffering. Her udders mutated to the point that she can barely walk. The cow produces offspring that's just dragged around by cheerful farm workers, unaware of what they are doing. The cow licks its latest offspring, just trying to clean it up.

The final scene. That final scene. My mouth was open, aghast.

The whole point of being on this planet and sharing this space with animals is to give them dignity, a purpose, and a recognition that they aren't as advanced as humans. What was done could have been handled better. Fuck that guy in the hat with the gun. I hope he gets punched in the face.

I realize that the higher purpose of animals may also lead to eating them. The movie doesn't tell how cows are turned into food. But what was done. It didn't have to be this way.

Cow will change your life.

 

[zendragon]

12 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I think there's a lot to learn from this movie (as wacky as it is at times) and that Teddy character in particular. Lanthimos looks deep into a disturbed character that is not being properly considered by the modern group think. I was also very much taken by Aidan Delbis as Don. I really felt for that kid. Both characters and Emma Stone are highlights of a what's been an outstanding 'movie season'. 

Don reminded me of a few guys I've know. Not slow enough to be disabled but probably needed someone looking out for them.

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today...

The Beaver (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

The Beaver seems like the type of movie a director would do if they had nothing to lose or nothing to prove. Jodie Foster as a director had only done one other feature - Little Man Tate - prior to this. This movie is a bit of an extremely dark comedy that wouldn't be out of place with Sam Mendes or even Sam Raimi.

Walter Black (Mel Gibson) as a character is extraordinarily dark. What is interesting is the fact that the movie begins with a voiceover as the voice describes Black's life collapsing. It could be first thought to be Michael Caine doing the voiceover (or maybe it's Ray Winstone?) until Black is going back to a hotel room from a liquor store and finds a beaver puppet. He attempts suicide while wearing the puppet and then....the puppet talks to him.

His son Porter (Anton Yelchin) also goes through an extraordinary change as well and it could be argued he is also suffering from depression. Porter writes on post-it notes things that his father does that he also does and wishes he wouldn't do. He headbutts a wall in his room. He writes papers in the voice of his classmates, taking their money. Norah (Jennifer Lawrence) asks him to write her valedictorian speech for high school graduation.

With this, The Beaver isn't simply about one character 'doing wacky things' with a hand puppet, it's about American men (fathers and sons) trying to heal themselves in 2011. If it were simply about Walter Black and the gimmick of his using a hand puppet, it would run out of material in the first 30 minutes or so. The movie dives in something deeper with exploration of the character and of the themes; the hand puppet 'leads' to success for Walter Black and his company, but really it's him doing it. It also casts into 'the second act of public life' that happens to figures; I found it interesting that Walter Black would be interviewed by Matt Lauer (years before Lauer's impropriety was known).

For both Walter and Porter, they begin to crash around the same time. Porter is arrested for graffiti with Norah and the truth comes out about his writing papers, leading to a withdrawn offer from Brown University. Walter prepares a coffin for the Beaver after the two 'fought' against each other. In a nice sequence set to Radiohead's "Exit Music (For A Film)," Walter is taken to the hospital after cutting his left forearm off. Walter cutting his own left forearm off conjures to mind Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead where Ash did the same, but on account of being 'infected' with Deadite on his arm. The Beaver is a similar affliction, although it's more in Walter's mind than anything actually spread like a virus.

After those two climatic actions, both characters begin to rebuild. Walter really addresses his problems with a stay at a hospital, while Porter reconnects with Norah and helps her face what happened to her brother. To be honest, the storyline with Norah seems a bit underdeveloped and resolved a bit too easily (although it lead to a great scene where Norah talks about 'wishing her brother was in the front row' and 'there's someone there to help you').

The ending of the movie has the characters moving on - Walter does the voiceover where he talks about himself in the third person and how this is his life.

The Beaver is a quirky movie and a lot darker than usual drama/comedies out there. It's not going to be easily acceptable or even something that a lot of people would want to face; people that 'have it all' finding themselves not goes against the idea of any 'middle class fantasy' people usually expect. It does resolve in a happy ending, but it's not without upheaval. The cinematography from Hagen Bogdanski has great shots and is consistently engaging; one scene I loved was Porter and Walter both getting ready and getting dressed as the camera goes horizontally and cuts between the two.

The Beaver is a bit of an underrated movie.

Life Without Principle (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

"But can you save me?
Why don't you save me?
If you could save me" - Aimee Mann, "Save Me"

Life Without Principle has indeed a similar story to 2015's The Big Short about the worldwide recession that affects its characters. But what Johnnie To does in this is not the usual 'crime and mafia' stories he's done in the past. In less than two hours, he manages to do something that's like Robert Altman's Short Cuts or Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia. The characters involved all have an intersection with each other.

With the lens of the financial crisis, the movie starts with Inspector Cheung Ching-fong (Richie Jen) investigating a murder that took place. His wife Connie (Myolie Wu) wants to purchase an apartment that overlooks Hong Kong when Ching-fong is interrupted with a phone call related to his police work. Teresa (Denise Ho) is a lower level employee of a bank that is pushing risky investments brought from her boss. She tries to sell to Chung Yuen (Lo Hoi-pang), who is a loan shark that offers a higher rate but more to pay back. The financial crisis even affects organized crime and a brother in a crime syndicate named Panther (Lau Ching-wan). The tables for his boss's birthday party are smaller compared to previous years. Ching-fong arrests one of the brothers in the group Ng Yiu-wah (Cheung Siu-fai) and Panther is having to raise funds just for his bail money. He encounters Dragon (Philip Keung) who operates a risky financial investment shop.

What brings all the characters together is the robbery and eventual murder of Chung Yuen. Ching-fong has to investigate the crime, while Teresa has Chung Yuen's phone and is going to the parking deck. Chung Yuen is attacked by an employee from his loan shark business with the guy's girlfriend being involved. "I want a new phone, new clothes [...] to get things in life require money," she says. Panther was hiding in the car during the robbery attempt; he was going to murder Chung Yuen, but it was already too late. Panther flees with the money as the rest is locked up in Teresa's office.

Johnnie To does a similar weaving story aspects that Altman and PTA do as well as the nonlinear storytelling that was in Christopher Nolan's Memento. Life Without Principle as a movie is more 'Westernized' compared to other films in Johnnie To's filmography, but the concerns are specific to Hong Kong. The scenes toward the end has Panther watching as the Hang Seng Index rises while Dragon is hoping that it falls before succumbing to his wounds from Mr. Sung (Terence Yin).

Life Without Principle as a movie is truly impressive.

Fool For Love (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

I generally like movies that are more attuned to being stage plays. It goes back to the early roots of dramas with sound and what was done in television - Playhouse 90 and Kraft Television Theatre that Robert Altman would cut his teeth on directing episodes.

Fool for Love is indeed a stage play with the playwright Sam Sheperd as Eddie and Kim Basinger as May. Eddie arrives at a motel / restaurant in the middle of the desert to reignite past issues with May. An old man (Harry Dean Stanton) walks around the venue and drinks his tequila during the two's argument. On its surface, the movie is about a romantic relationship gone awry and how Eddie couldn't get over May. In some ways, it's a smaller scaled Paris, Texas without the grandeur of the scenery.

But at some point while the two are sharing how they know each other with Martin (Randy Quaid) that changed. The memories they relay are vastly different than the memories shown - which I think is the larger point of the play. May and Eddie's relationship resembles a Greek tragedy as both are son and daughter of the old man, who in flashbacks, leaves them without an understanding of what happened. Eddie's mother kills herself which prompts the old man to ask Eddie to 'relay the man's side of the story.'

Eddie and May come together and embrace - the camera focuses on both their faces as they move closer to each other. A woman in a Cadillac (Deborah McNaughton) arrives and shoots at Eddie's truck and causes a fire that engulfs the trailer the old man lives in, killing himself.

A lot of the dramatic work with this movie is truly exceptional with Shepherd and Basinger being really great in their roles. In some ways, the play format doesn't work as well as it should or is as interesting as it should be. It's not a terrible movie, but it's not a wholly gripping movie until the last 30 minutes or so as the truth becomes revealed.

Mapplethorpe (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 1.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Mapplethorpe at times seems almost amateurish. The opening scene has Robert Mapplethorpe (Matt Smith) just sitting around in a room, staring outside, smoking cigarettes, and putting on a record while in military uniform.

Locations lack any sort of presence. The movie says it's in "New York City" because we're told that it is. There's no sense of connection for the characters to the locations - it's shot in rooms that could be anywhere. Having the movie essentially focused on Mapplethorpe means the drama of the movie is carried by one person. Mapplethorpe is utterly difficult to deal with and Matt Smith seems a bit one-note compared to his usual roles with this.

Having Matt Smith, a British actor, playing an American photographer is a poor choice - the only reason it works is they bear passing resemblances to each other. Smith's attempt at a New York accent sounds like he has a cold or he's trying to hide his British accent; occasionally a word will be pronounced the way he normally pronounces it.

Ondi Timoner as a director is known for documentaries and it shows; with this being her first feature, it's lackluster. Mapplethorpe as a character is largely unsympathetic; he cheats on Patti Smith (Marianne Rendon) and then later Sam Wagstaff (John Benjamin Hickey). He later succumbs to HIV, and while that's sad and tragic, his attempt at redemption is a bit too late , not to mention the cruel treatment of his brother Edward (Brandon Sklenar).

Mapplethorpe can't stay in focus.

 

[Tabe]

The Beaver is great. Such a weird premise for a movie but it somehow works. It's sensitive and dark and weird and funny and... works. Love the movie. 

[odessasteps]

Is Sydney Sweeney really going to be in the remake of Barbarella? Or the most obvious fan fic casting of recent years? 

[Andrew POE!]

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

The Souvenir (HBO Max, leaving on 11/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

It's very easy to not understand the relationship between Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) and Anthony (Tom Burke). Anthony is not good for Julie at all; in some ways, he's a bit condescending towards her. Anthony tells Julie that "she's a bit lost" and needs to do more as a filmmaker to say something specific. Julie's teachers at film school echo similar viewpoints, wondering why she would want to do a film that's so far removed from her own experience.

The thing with relationships is the two people involved can't see at the time that they aren't good for each other. They believe it will work out and one of the people will believe that they will be 'understood' and they see qualities that others aren't able to see.

Julie as a character operates in this belief that Anthony is a more nobler person than he actually is. Anthony hides the fact that he's addicted to heroin from Julie almost too well, until it becomes obvious. He uses a lot of false bravado and his position in the Foreign Office to cover up for his issues, even when introducing his parents to Julie.

Julie on the other hand is very much an 'open book.' There isn't a lot shown as to how she feels or thinks, but she seems more ill at ease due to Anthony and due to film school.

The way Joanna Hogg shot the movie is less concerned with artifice or overall melodrama. It's mainly people being in a room and talking with passage of time depicted in ellipsis. With that format, it's easy to 'connect the dots' as to what is going on for Julie.

I may revisit this movie at some point and get the Blu Ray set at my local Barnes & Noble.

The Trip To Greece (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

The Trip to Greece is a bit more like the first movie The Trip; the movie is less concerned with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon doing less career focused maneuverings and more about two guys who have a friendship and hanging out with each other in Greece. Seeing Coogan's impression of Ray Winstone as Henry V with Brydon as a court jester is a highlight. Not to mention Brydon singing "Grease" and spouting facts about the Bee Gees during a car ride. I also dug the conversation about Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man, Midnight Cowboy, and Tootsie.

But somewhere along the way, The Trip To Greece is informed by death, maybe more so than the previous ones. Coogan's has a Bergman-esque dream about his dad and a woman that looks like his wife that results in his crying. Coogan then gets a call that his dad has died and has to return to England. Brydon's wife Sally (Rebecca Johnson) joins him in Greece as Coogan deals with the funeral arrangements.

Maybe if there's another Trip movie, they should go to Stockholm and have them talk about Bergman movies the entire time.

 

[zendragon]

Didn't realize there where so many trip movies

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today...

Liz and The Blue Bird (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

For me, I have no concept of this being a spinoff movie from an anime television show. I had watched the Japanese version (save for a few like the Miyazaki movies and some Italian movies, I'm not a fan of English dubbing).

Liz and the Blue Bird is a love story, but it's not quite the love story I would think it would be. A lot of the thought process about this being about a 'lesbian relationship' is a bit of a misnomer. Mizore (Atsumi Tanezaki) and Nozomi (Nao Toyama) have a deep friendship and love for each other. From the time frame of being teenagers, their feelings are intense and profound. Throughout the movie, Mizore has a difficult time expressing how she feels about Nozomi. This affects how they perform a piece together. Nozomi also has difficulty expressing her feelings toward Mizore, but she plays it off as if it's nothing. Mizore wants to do "I Love You" hug and tell Nozomi what she likes about her, but Nozomi just says for it to be done another time.

What runs parallel to this is the story of a woman who lives alone named Liz and meets a blue haired girl (Miyu Honda). If anything with this movie, the 'lesbian love story' is with those two characters. Liz is perfectly content with living her life, making friends with animals in the woods and working at a bakery. She goes home and goes upside to her attic bedroom. The blue haired girl arrives and spends time with Liz. The love expressed between the two is also deeply felt, but more openly expressed.

Both Mizore and Nozomi reconcile how they feel about the conclusion to the fable in a nice split screen. They perform the third movement of the piece, with the oboe resembling Liz and the flute resembling the blue haired girl / bluebird. Their performance move their classmates to tears as the two have a long conversation. Mizore wanted to be in band and play the oboe to be around Nozomi and impress her. Nozomi tells Mizore she realizes she was holding Mizore back. They finally hug.

The ending has the two walking away from the school wondering what to get. They both say the same thing at the same time and Mizore says "happy ice cream" (it was established earlier that the act of saying the same thing meant ice cream was to be bought). Nozomi turns towards Mizore as if to say something before the screen cuts to black.

What makes Liz and the Blue Bird work is how it's less like an anime and more like a live action drama. Naoko Yamada focuses more on natural camera movement and has the animation reflect a focus on shot selection. There's a lot of closeups of feet and of eyes in the movie; the nervousness the characters experience is reflected in that. Nozomi and Mizore are simply teenagers with deep feelings toward each other; whether they'll go on to college and have a romantic relationship remains to be seen. In all likelihood, they'll be friends throughout their lives and will always be around each other, even as they develop relationships with men (and even that remains to be seen too).

The fact that it's pretty open ended what will happen is a credit to Naoko Yamada's skill as a director.

City of Ghosts (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Another review pointed out how City of Ghosts feels like a Claire Denis movie, but I would add that it feels almost like a Ridley Scott lesser crime drama. Matt Dillion plays Jimmy, a guy part of a shell insurance company that the company doesn't pay out the insurance claims for a hurricane because the money's dried up. Jimmy is asked about it from FBI agents and asked about Marvin (James Caan) who speaks for the owner of the company.

The premise would lend itself to be about the FBI tracking down those around the company and Jimmy having to outrun them. Instead, that's completely jettisoned, Jimmy flees and goes to Bangkok to search for Marvin.

At that point, it just becomes a bit dull with introduction of new characters like Joseph Kaspar (Stellan Skarsgard) and a hotel owner Emile (Gerard Depardieu) and Sophie (Natasha McElhone), who knows about Marvin but isn't connected to his criminal doings. It's criminals doing violent and threatening things as dull as possible. Roger Ebert had compared it to The Third Man, which gives the movie a bit too much credit.

With so many talented actors involved, the movie would thought to be a bit better, but it's script and lack of interesting story fails it. During the runtime, I can't say I remember anything that distinctive about it. I did like the final scenes not focusing on Jimmy but instead Sok (Kem Sereyvuth) as he takes money that Jimmy gave him to a medical clinic and to his family before Jimmy ascends up a temple with Sophie.

Drug War (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Quite literally, this stands over Den of Thieves as Michael Mann's Heat inspired fare. Although with it being the Chinese government / Hong Kong government having an involvement and covering the police response to drug trafficking, it doesn't go the way those involved think. If this were an American made movie, Timmy Choi (Louis Koo) would have been able to escape after the shootout with the drug cartel and with the police. He would had an 'escape route' to flee the country and escape the jurisdiction of the government and the state controlled police.

Instead, Timmy Choi is executed in an act of the Chinese government saying "See? We don't offer any quarter to any criminals regardless of what or who they know. He sold meth and killed the police, he's going to die." The flex makes the government more cruel and inhumane than it would be otherwise; there's apparently no rehabilitation for Timmy Choi's crimes. Nevermind the fact that Drug War doesn't address the economic conditions that cause Timmy Choi to make and sell drugs in the first place.

Despite the intention and tone of the movie turning a bit into Chinese propaganda, the action is a very well done facsimile of Michael Mann's Heat and Denis Villenueve’s Sicario (with Breaking Bad thrown in). Sun Honglei as Captain Zhang Lei has almost a Ralph Ineson-like voice and is able to switch between his dour Captain persona and the persona of one of the drug kingpins named "Haha." Timmy Choi cooperates with the police to take down the network until towards the end where he meets up with all the players involved.

Timmy Choi tells one of them that the police are tailing them and that begins a 10 minute long shootout. The shootout is a nicely filmed sequence as the camera follows those shooting and those being hit.

For the most part, Drug War is a great crime drama.

 

[HarryArchieGus]

On 11/17/2025 at 10:17 PM, Andrew POE! said:

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

The Souvenir (HBO Max, leaving on 11/30) - 4/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

It's very easy to not understand the relationship between Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) and Anthony (Tom Burke). Anthony is not good for Julie at all; in some ways, he's a bit condescending towards her. Anthony tells Julie that "she's a bit lost" and needs to do more as a filmmaker to say something specific. Julie's teachers at film school echo similar viewpoints, wondering why she would want to do a film that's so far removed from her own experience.

The thing with relationships is the two people involved can't see at the time that they aren't good for each other. They believe it will work out and one of the people will believe that they will be 'understood' and they see qualities that others aren't able to see.

Julie as a character operates in this belief that Anthony is a more nobler person than he actually is. Anthony hides the fact that he's addicted to heroin from Julie almost too well, until it becomes obvious. He uses a lot of false bravado and his position in the Foreign Office to cover up for his issues, even when introducing his parents to Julie.

Julie on the other hand is very much an 'open book.' There isn't a lot shown as to how she feels or thinks, but she seems more ill at ease due to Anthony and due to film school.

The way Joanna Hogg shot the movie is less concerned with artifice or overall melodrama. It's mainly people being in a room and talking with passage of time depicted in ellipsis. With that format, it's easy to 'connect the dots' as to what is going on for Julie.

I may revisit this movie at some point and get the Blu Ray set at my local Barnes & Noble.

The Trip To Greece (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 3.5/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

The Trip to Greece is a bit more like the first movie The Trip; the movie is less concerned with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon doing less career focused maneuverings and more about two guys who have a friendship and hanging out with each other in Greece. Seeing Coogan's impression of Ray Winstone as Henry V with Brydon as a court jester is a highlight. Not to mention Brydon singing "Grease" and spouting facts about the Bee Gees during a car ride. I also dug the conversation about Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man, Midnight Cowboy, and Tootsie.

But somewhere along the way, The Trip To Greece is informed by death, maybe more so than the previous ones. Coogan's has a Bergman-esque dream about his dad and a woman that looks like his wife that results in his crying. Coogan then gets a call that his dad has died and has to return to England. Brydon's wife Sally (Rebecca Johnson) joins him in Greece as Coogan deals with the funeral arrangements.

Maybe if there's another Trip movie, they should go to Stockholm and have them talk about Bergman movies the entire time.

 

I loved the Souvenir. My first foray into the Joanna Hogg catalog. Really hoping Criterion, or somebody domestically, releases a box set of her work. Archipelago, Exhibition, and Unrelated are all small masterpieces. I'd say the same of the Souvenir and personally go 5/5. The second installment was a strong follow-up if understated in comparison. I also liked her Eternal Daughter, but it felt like a slightly smaller project. 

I love the Trip films, and would welcome a box set for those too. Those movies are all so entertaining and endlessly rewatchable. 

Did you happen to see Jay Kelly?

[HarryArchieGus]

Or did you happen to see Sentimental Value yet? Another beautiful and emotionally dense Joachim Trier film. Every bit as great as his last - Worst Person in the World. Incredible performances throughout.  

[Andrew POE!]

Jay Kelly isn't playing near me, but I'll catch it on Netflix.

Sentimental Value is playing near me so I'll be going to see it this weekend. I might see it on Saturday (the same day as I do a 8:30 am showing of Wicked: For Good to avoid the crowds). I'm hoping to see Hamnet the weekend after that, but it might get a showing at my local cinema. 

Edited November 19 by Andrew POE!

[The Green Meanie]

Wife and I saw The Running Man last night.

Holy crap, it was good! The book is actually one of my favorites, so I was really excited when I saw the trailers, because it appeared to be more book-acurate then the 1987 version. It was! It was about 98% accurate. They changed to the ending, but I can totally see why that was done.

Wife had never seen the original movie or read the book, so I asked her opinion of the story coming into it brand new; she said it was (fairly) easy to understand, and it was exciting and entertaining. I agreed, we had a great time, those two hours didn't feel like two hours.

[HarryArchieGus]

6 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Jay Kelly isn't playing near me, but I'll catch it on Netflix.

Sentimental Value is playing near me so I'll be going to see it this weekend. I might see it on Saturday (the same day as I do a 8:30 am showing of Wicked: For Good to avoid the crowds). I'm hoping to see Hamnet the weekend after that, but it might get a showing at my local cinema. 

I dearly love Chloe Zhao, and I suspect I'll really dig Hamnet, but the trailers are not grabbing me. Not that I rely so much on trailers anyway. She's coming off a pretty rotten Marvel film (Eternals) that I could only watch 20 minutes of before shutting off - first Marvel picture I'd seen in years, and only seen because I love Zhao. I don't really even count it in the filmography tho. Did you ever see the Rider or Songs My Brothers Taught Me? I liked Nomad too, but not quite as much as the earlier 2.

I'm not sure you'll love Jay Kelly, but it was a bit of a surprise for me. I mean, I always like/love Baumbach's films, so I shouldn't have been surprised. Not a huge Clooney fan, but this role fit him like a glove. And Sandler rules in Baumers roles.

Oh wow, 830am screenings! Earliest we get here in Toronto is 11am. That's what I like to call the 'golden hour' in part for the reasons you mentioned going to the 830.  

[Andrew POE!]

3 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I dearly love Chloe Zhao, and I suspect I'll really dig Hamnet, but the trailers are not grabbing me. Not that I rely so much on trailers anyway. She's coming off a pretty rotten Marvel film (Eternals) that I could only watch 20 minutes of before shutting off - first Marvel picture I'd seen in years, and only seen because I love Zhao. I don't really even count it in the filmography tho. Did you ever see the Rider or Songs My Brothers Taught Me? I liked Nomad too, but not quite as much as the earlier 2.

I'm not sure you'll love Jay Kelly, but it was a bit of a surprise for me. I mean, I always like/love Baumbach's films, so I shouldn't have been surprised. Not a huge Clooney fan, but this role fit him like a glove. And Sandler rules in Baumers roles.

Oh wow, 830am screenings! Earliest we get here in Toronto is 11am. That's what I like to call the 'golden hour' in part for the reasons you mentioned going to the 830.  

I saw Nomadland (as always there's a review floating around in the thread somewhere) and The Rider (same) and loved them both. I'm sure it's possible I could love Eternals if I saw it. 

I haven't seen Songs My Brothers Taught Me yet. 

Baumbach was for '2 for 2' for me with The Squid And The Whale and Margot At The Wedding. I seem to love his "screwed up people crashing out spectacularly" style of movies. So I could probably love Jay Kelly too. 

I'm fully expecting to endure people singing along with the new Wicked if I go later than 8:30 am. 

[HarryArchieGus]

24 minutes ago, Andrew POE! said:

I'm sure it's possible I could love Eternals if I saw it. 

Okay, make some room on the viewing list. I'd be curious to hear what you think. From the 20 minutes I viewed it did not feel like she could possibly have any kind of meaningful stamp on the film. That would have been fine, but I was also very underwhelmed with the entertainment. I suspect you'll have no trouble finishing the movie, so interested to hear how you feel about that opening, and if there's anything of note in the second half.

You should have a look at Baumbach's first 'Kicking and Screaming' some time. It's a bit more free-wheeling. It also feels of its 1990s time frame. And in a good way. Most if not all of his catalog is, or has been for me, very rewatchable. I'm surprised you haven't seen the popular and excellent Frances Ha .

[Andrew POE!]

6 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Okay, make some room on the viewing list. I'd be curious to hear what you think. From the 20 minutes I viewed it did not feel like she could possibly have any kind of meaningful stamp on the film. That would have been fine, but I was also very underwhelmed with the entertainment. I suspect you'll have no trouble finishing the movie, so interested to hear how you feel about that opening, and if there's anything of note in the second half.

You should have a look at Baumbach's first 'Kicking and Screaming' some time. It's a bit more free-wheeling. It also feels of its 1990s time frame. And in a good way. Most if not all of his catalog is, or has been for me, very rewatchable. I'm surprised you haven't seen the popular and excellent Frances Ha .

Just got the Criterion Blu Ray of Frances Ha, so I'll be watching it soon (it's leaving Mubi this month but it may not be possible to get to it within this month).

Kicking And Screaming is also leaving Netflix this month so expect a review soonish from me. 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

SPL2: A Time For Consequences / Kill Zone 2 (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

SPL 2: A Time for Consequences / Kill Zone 2 has such a mismatch of tones and type of movie it wants to be that it nearly teeters to disaster. But, quite honestly, Tony Jaa as Chatchai and Wu Jing as Chan Chi-kit save it.

The movie wants to be an action film, a family melodrama, and noir/police investigation movie; I found myself enjoying the action and fighting (although I thought the fight towards the end with Chatchai and Chi-kit fighting the prison warden Ko Chun played by Zhang Jin to be borderline bullshit). It reminded me of the best parts of The Raid. The family melodrama with Chatchai looking for a donor for his daughter Sa (Unda Kunteera Yhordchanng) was a bit ridiculous and almost bad acting; although it was affective when Chatchai and Wong Kwong (Ken Lo) were captured after Chan Kwok-wah (Simon Yam) tried to see Kit.

What took me out of it was the movie deciding to have two invincible fighters - Ko Chun and Ah-zai (Zhang Chi). It made the movie a bit cartoonish to have everyone get sliced up and nearly killed by Ah-zai in contrast with Hung Man-kong (Louis Koo) needing a heart transplant.

But despite my issues with the story and some of the acting, SPL 2 / Kill Zone 2 is a well shot and well filmed action movie; I loved the look of the cinematography. City skylines are gorgeous to look at and even gritty environments like the prison (with a great tracking shot throughout the fight) and the organ farm looked appealing to watch. There's a reason why this was a commercial blockbuster in China - it would look incredible in a movie theater.

Vincent & Theo (Criterion Channel, leaviing on 11/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Vincent & Theo doesn't really seem like a Robert Altman movie. From the nightmarish soundtrack and the mental anguish from both Vincent van Gogh (Tim Roth) and his brother Theo (Paul Rhys), it reminded me a bit more of a movie from Ken Russell. Ken Russell had done Savage Messiah, which was a 1970s movie about a painter also falling into mental instability and anguish (plus a young Helen Mirren walking around naked).

Vincent and Theo are both tormented people - Vincent is tormented with his artistic ability that others doubt and Theo is tormented with having to work as an art dealer that those employing him take advantage of him. The best scenes seem to be when the two are together, yelling at each other and Vincent frustrated that Theo can't seem to sell his works. One scene that feels particularly Ken Russell like is when Vincent is in a field of sunflowers - the camera has wild closeups of the sunflowers while Vincent undergoes a crisis over the flowers and destroys his painting.

The thing with Vincent & Theo is it likely would have been understood better in the full version. The theatrical version strangely seems abbreviated - as though story threads leading from one point to another would be more fully fleshed out in the television miniseries. Vincent takes up with a woman and her daughter and their son to then being out and living with a painter Paul Gauguin (Wladimir Yordanoff) to then living with his brother and his wife Jo Bonger (Johanna ter Steege).

This jumpy format lends itself to showing the van Goghs' madness - time is indeterminable as they are simply trying to live their lives and survive. The opening of the movie having the Christie auction and still providing sound during Vincent and Theo's argument is probably the best moment of the movie. The scene where Vincent cuts off his ear is also Tim Roth's best bit of acting.

Compared to other Robert Altman movies, it's solid work although bit of a footnote and the start of his final peak as a director. There's less of the hallmarks of what Altman's style is known to exhibit and more of a 'craftsmanship' to his work. In a way, Vincent and Theo fit perfectly with other misunderstood loners in Altman's oevure like Phillip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye and McCabe in McCabe & Mrs. Miller and psychological anguish from 3 Women and Images.

Three (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Three, compared to Johnnie To's other movies, is a bit on the gross and misogynistic side. It would be great as strictly a morality play - what would it mean for a doctor like Dr. Tong Qian (Zhao Wei) to have to care for a criminal and victim of a gunshot wound named Shun (Wallace Chung) with a police inspector named Ken (Louis Koo) wanting to know the next move from Shun's fellow criminals? Those aspects by themselves make for compelling drama and would honestly work on an actor's level.

Instead, Johnnie To is more concerned with big budget pyrotechnics and having Michael Bay-like focus on inconsequential things like the subplot with another patient trying to break loose and steals keys and Fatty (Lam Suet) being played for comic relief and getting stabbed in the ass. (It's honestly sad that Lam Suet is played for comic effect due to his weight when Breaking News shows he's a much better actor than that).

Even more grossly, Dr. Tong has two patients causing her to question her abilities - including one claiming she screwed up his operation and another suffering an aneurysm and going into a coma during surgery. Dr. Steven Chow (Mickey Chu) sends her home, but yet she doesn't leave. Dr. Tong begins to assist Ken with keeping Shun there, even though Ken has given her no reason to do so and has undermined her at every opportunity. Ken as a character is a bit one note and has flat acting while Shun does display a devilish "Heath Ledger as The Joker" intelligence to his character. In a different movie, Dr. Tong would be the main character and the 'hero' of the story.

All that character work is for naught with an utterly impressive shootout sequence involving three criminals dressed as attorneys shooting at the police in the hospital. For those sequences alone, I would want to rate the movie 5 stars due to how they were filmed and the amount of moving parts in the sequence (and a lot of slow motion). Shun and Ken have a shootout while Shun is dangling over the parking lot using towels and Ken eventually gets him after Shun drops his gun.

Then it turned out that the police don't care that Shun didn't fire a gun anyway or the officer involved initiated the shooting first from a first person POV shot.

Johnnie To's grander point with this seems to be again, the Chinese police are always right even when they aren't right. An overworked and likely underpaid doctor and her feelings/considerations/ethics is immaterial. I imagine that another country (even Japan or the UK) could do the story for this movie and take out the action sequences and it would be a better movie.

This is one of the few times where the action sequences towards the end of the movie actually detracts from the movie. Johnnie To has done movies that had a mixture of action and drama much better - Election, Breaking News, and Drug War spring to mind immediately.

 

[Curt McGirt]

Thinking about it (I have a lot to go back to and read), I finally watched the rest of Chinatown that I've missed for years. I stayed up the entire time, at 3 o'clock in the morning. It was so good; it was long, but that's the only thing I could possibly complain about. It was a perfect predecessor to L.A. Confidential. I haven't watched a lot of noir (very very little actually) but that was as picture perfect as I could explain it, I think, besides being even darker. The funny thing is I've already seen the end of The Two Jakes with Harvey Keitel weeping his eyes out and I have never seen Chinatown in full. The creepiest performance or part in the film is John Huston, who is just the most devious and morally rotten person ever, but is immaculate at covering it up. When he finally breaks at the end, it's horrifying. This is what we live with here in the United States, folks. This should probably be shown around the clock, thinking about the context right now, just due to the subject matter. 

[Contentious C]

Weirdly, there was some woman who claimed that Huston ran a ring in L.A. and that he knew who the Black Dahlia killer was because of that. I wish I could remember where I saw that, but it was a nutso Dateline or 48 Hours type program probably 30 years ago. Probably a heaping dollop of bullshit. But it does make his role in the movie that much weirder to even suspect that.

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....probably my worst day with trying to watch movies. My reviews today sorta suck IMO.

Human Flowers of Flesh (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

I like the idea of Human Flowers of Flesh more than I like the actual movie of Human Flowers of Flesh. Stupid me decided to start watching this for 45 minutes before going into work, riding a train to get to work, then dealing with stupid things at work that interrupt your concentration or prevent you from actually watching it (such as actual work), attending meetings, and having general noise and buzz of other things break the immersion when you're able to watch it and you find yourself having to stop to go eat lunch.

The movie is rather loose in its story and in its actions. Perhaps, if I rewatch this while time allows (on the weekends), it might have engrossed me more. What I saw of it was engrossing in the morning had to do with the crew together and not really having a general mission other than a destination set from Ida (Angeliki Papoulia). The different nationalities or even the inability to speak each other's languages don't bother them, other than the call of adventure and seeking out the French Foreign Legion headquarters. Having a fictional film about real people is done in some other movies; at times, the movie reminded me a bit of Topology of Sirens (although that had to do with experimental music in the Pacific Northwest) and other reviews have pointed out the similarities of this to Beau Travail (which I admittedly need to watch).

Over a year ago, I would have hated this movie. Now, I'm disappointed with myself for having too many starts and stops while trying to watch it. Stupid life and stupid sleep get in the way of movie watching.

Angel's Egg (saw in the theaters) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

I missed the first couple of minutes because someone decided that giving the cast for a play I'm in our notes was more important than just letting us leave and figuring we can't shine shit.

Anyway, Angel's Egg as a movie is an allegory, a fable, and a dream. It reconstitutes Christianity in its story; but what's shown is so foreign and alien to what's recognizable. The girl in the movie is both a protector of the world, an embodiment of God, and more than resembles the girl in the musical Les Miserables. The boy carries a cross and his hands are bandaged, like that of Christ. But he seems to have no recognition of the symbolism or of the stories of the Bible.

The boy recounts the story of Noah's Ark and seems to wonder if the bird in the story actually met its doom. This change shows the dire outlook in this world. The boy willfully destroys the egg. Like Christ, he came to destroy the world.

The egg in this is many number of things. It could be of an unknown creature, a bird, or something horrific. The girl tries to hold on to the egg - after all, "if you want something, you have to keep it protected in your belly."

What I found interesting is the various men throwing lines to capture shadow whales. It goes back to the Bible - "I make your fishers of men" - but these men resemble medieval soldiers and crusaders of the Middle Ages. Doing impossible and fruitless task like catching a shadow of a whale is analogous to going on a Crusade; the result will not be what was thought initially.

Angel's Egg as a movie is a dark and damp movie. A lot of German Expressionism appears in the animation, especially as the characters walk through rooms with long shadows appearing for the windows. It manages to do so much with a little and with the long shots of the scenes. It contributes to the dream like atmosphere; the girl is shown looking downright exhausted when the camera is on her face. Water is shown and heard a lot, which goes back to the Noah's Ark story and to the conclusion of the movie.

There will not be another movie like Angel's Egg.

 

[HarryArchieGus]

On 11/20/2025 at 1:09 AM, Curt McGirt said:

Thinking about it (I have a lot to go back to and read), I finally watched the rest of Chinatown that I've missed for years. I stayed up the entire time, at 3 o'clock in the morning. It was so good; it was long, but that's the only thing I could possibly complain about. It was a perfect predecessor to L.A. Confidential. I haven't watched a lot of noir (very very little actually) but that was as picture perfect as I could explain it, I think, besides being even darker. The funny thing is I've already seen the end of The Two Jakes with Harvey Keitel weeping his eyes out and I have never seen Chinatown in full. The creepiest performance or part in the film is John Huston, who is just the most devious and morally rotten person ever, but is immaculate at covering it up. When he finally breaks at the end, it's horrifying. This is what we live with here in the United States, folks. This should probably be shown around the clock, thinking about the context right now, just due to the subject matter. 

It does feel very modern. I’ve never seen the Two Jake’s, but am curious. Have you ever seen the Tenant? Another Polanski masterpiece of the era. 

[odessasteps]

Two Jakes is perfectly fine on its own, its just falls short because its a sequel to Chinatown. 

[Curt McGirt]

16 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Human Flowers of Flesh (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 2.5/5 stars

I did a double-take thinking that was Flowers of Flesh and Blood and was like WHY IS HE WATCHING THAT.

Sat down through the rest of Chinatown and as a whole it's, of course, even better. Polanski's knifework is so much more extreme looking than I remember. I've never seen The Tenant (I tried one time and it just made me nervous) but I've seen Rosemary's Baby (of course) and Repulsion. And a couple minutes of Knife in the Water once. Repulsion is a classic of paranoia and insanity, highest recommendation, but probably even more nerve-racking. The end is terrifying.

[Andrew POE!]

No, I put myself through torture with watching certain movies, but I'm not depraved enough to want to watch that...yet. 

Movies today....

Joyland (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

What makes Joyland interesting is how the movie made me feel at the end. I had a sense of sadness for the characters in this and especially for Haider. Haider (Ali Junejo) at the start is considered a 'lesser man' within the male dominated culture of Pakistan; he's married to Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq) but doesn't have a job. He's insulted constantly by Amanullah (Donald Sutherland-like Salmaan Peerzada) and his brother in law Saleem (Sohail Sameer) and how he can't do anything right even if he wanted to. It's a contrast to another "queer movie about the Muslim world" that came in the same year, The Blue Caftan.

The expected conformity for Haider is more pronounced and more cruel. He is given a job with Biba (Alina Khan), who is a transgendered singer in a cabaret show. Even with the cabaret show, Haider isn't immediately accepted there either. His lack of theater / musical training is evident; yet Biba takes pity on him and helps him. This is confounded with the fact that the owner of the show doesn't respect Biba either and doesn't let her and the troupe perform when the power is cut. They perform anyway.

In my view, this is less of a trans story and more of a story about Haider. Haider does respect and love Biba; I loved the scene on the subway where Biba is accosted and told to sit 'in the men's section' and Haider sits besides her in a sign of solidarity. At the same time though, I can see where Biba would be insulted and angered with Haider presenting himself as a willing sexual partner; Haider seems to not understand nor even aware of the implications. It's also a bit of plot convenience that Biba kicks out Haider and essentially fires him.

The marriage between Haider and Mumtaz is one of love but also Mumtaz more willing to be more assertive. In Western cultures, there really wouldn't be a problem with the wife working, installing an air conditioner unit, or even killing a goat (although that's more of a cultural significant action in the context). Mumtaz taking her own life seems unnecessary and more heartbreaking; it seems to confirm for Saleem his treatment of Haider when the fact is Haider is not to blame. I did like the scenes toward the end where a flashback was shown of Haider and Mumtaz meeting and agreeing to love each other despite the arranged marriage. "If you say no, I'll say no to the marriage since it's easier for the man."

What's striking with Joyland is the amount of color, lighting, and beauty in the shots; it's practically Wong Kar Wai-like with the usage of color (and Wong Kar Wai is an obvious influence on the director). One scene that's even more pronounced with the influence was Biba and Haider kissing in an alley; the two are practically bathed in yellow light in the scene. Another scene I liked was Haider being in a room alone with Biba as lights move around Biba. The lighting for Mumtaz's funeral was gorgeous as it's in a blue and lower lit; this obviously contributes to a somber mood for the funeral. I also really loved how characters in doorways was shot; the usage of parallel lines that shows up with mainstream directors was done.

The drawback with Joyland is it does tend to drag a lot during the movie; there are more scenes with the actors moving through the scenery than necessarily acting in those scenes. It does add to the mood and tone for the movie, but it elongates the movie and may have not been necessary.

Still, the final scenes are absolutely gorgeous as Haider walks into the ocean. It calls back to a scene where Biba tells him to get out of Lahore and see the ocean. "The ocean is so big and man is so small."

Joyland is a gorgeous movie to watch and beautifully shot.

Dr. T & The Women (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Compared to the other two Richard Gere movies around the same time (Runaway Bride and the pure visual spectacle and batshit insanity of Autumn in New York), Dr. T & the Women is one of the better movies. It's not an usual Altman movie although the waiting room scenes and bridal shower scenes calls back to Altman's California Split for the amount of audio and visual overload.

The movie that Dr. T & the Women resembles more for me is George Cukor's The Women in 1939. The women in this movie aren't interested in vying for Dr. Sully Travis (Richard Gere)'s attention and affection but are more into competing with each other. Dr. Travis seems to think he understands women ("it's us men that cause the problems" he says), when that's not the case.

If anything, Dr. Travis misunderstands the chaos in his life and what surrounds his life. I somewhat wish the movie did more to address Kate (Farrah Fawcett)'s condition than to play mental illness for laughs and having her act odd. Another movie would have delved more into why she stripped naked in a mall and left her relatives and why she wanted to divorce Dr. Travis. There's something sad about the fact that she did that rather than face any problems in her own life. In a positively George Cukor like scene, it rains as Dr. Travis' daughter Dee Dee (Kate Hudson) decides she's still in love with Marilyn (Liv Tyler) and runs away with her. Dr. Travis' affair with Bree Davis (Helen Hunt) ("like the cheese?") goes nowhere and she is seeing another man, who arrives as Dr. Travis drives off.

The final scenes are practically Wizard of Oz like as a tornado has blown Dr. Travis and his car into Mexico, where he seemingly is leaving everything behind to deliver babies there.

Compared to other Robert Altman movie, Dr. T & the Women is practically a safe movie even with the scenes of chaos. Altman as a director is going into a more actors' driven movie rather than material or story driven or even something that's more experimental compared to his previous work. The final scene notwithstanding, there's nothing shocking about Dr. T & the Women.

Rental Family (saw in the theaters, just trying to avoid the deluge of people seeing Wicked: For Good) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Actors are liars. "Writers are thieves."

Rental Family attempts at first to break taboos about several things: it's an examination of Japanese culture, what it means to be an American actor living in Japan, and what it means to be an American actor trying to work in Japan. Phillip (Brendan Fraser) is famous for being in a toothpaste commercial in Japan and living there for seven years. His first appearance on screen has him mis en scene as he tries to catch a train to an audition.

For whatever reason, being a tall American seemingly hasn't helped Phillip break through the Japanese market as an actor (not to mention he's bilingual). I would think at least he would have a regular gig on a Netflix TV show or even a lower budget Japanese movie (or even a K-drama), but putting aside the presumptuousness of not finding work, he comes across a gig with an agency lead by Shinji (Takehiro Hira) that "sells emotion" to their clients.

The service called "Rental Family" has Phillip doing a variety of things: he plays a man being married to a woman who is actually lesbian and hired the service to get her family off her back. Rental Family as a movie tries to put a microscope to Japanese culture: Why is a culture so strict and conservative like Japan resort to having people hire a service to cover up who they are - whether it's being gay, confronting someone in an affair, being friends with a guy that doesn't go anywhere and plays video games all the time, and covering for an elderly man suffering from dementia and trying to retain what memories he has left? The movie tries to show that Japanese culture has a lot to address with mental health issues, LGBTQ rights, women's autonomy, and death with dignity.

Instead, it begins to play it safe as the movie progresses.

The two story threads that occupies most of the time concern two 'roles' that Phillip plays - one as the dad to Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman) and the other as a reporter for a retired actor Kikuo Hasegawa (Akira Emoto) - the quote at the start of the review came from a line Kikuo says to Phillip upon first meeting him. Fraser handles the role admirably and humanistic, although a lot of the material seems to not be as concerned as addressing the culture and Phillip's place in the culture at first glance. Mia and Phillip's relationship seems a bit 'abbreviated,' even with the 3 week deadline for Phillip to show up as the husband to Mia's mother (Shino Shinozaki) so Mia can be accepted into an elite private school.

Which again is another thing the movie touches upon then backs away from committing: Why does Japanese culture place such an emphasis on education and on children having their future decided for them? Phillip even asks this of Mia's mother and never gets an answer.

The story thread with Hasegawa has Phillip taking him to Kikuo's hometown to find photos in a vase buried near a giant tree. The scenery in those scenes is magnificent and glorious to watch; it's one of the few moments of awestruck (also the shot of the bullet train near Mount Fuji is another awe-inspiring moment). Kikuo Hasegawa after finding the photos collapses and dies; Phillip is then suspected of 'kidnapping' him. Those scenes seem to be the only moments of genuine conflict - Shinji finds that he is having to answer for what his service does as the other actors working for him like Aiko (Mari Yamamoto) quit after revealing the truth to a client.

The movie then presents a scenario where Phillip may actually get deported and Shinji doesn't care. He's after his own skin, not some American actor's skin. While at the same time, Mia finds out the truth about Phillip being an actor and being angry with her mother for lying to her. If the movie committed to those things, it would be a more serious and would have a sense of finality. Phillip displaying empathy in a cutthroat country like Japan doesn't change those around him.

But, once again, the movie doesn't commit and plays it safe.

The three actors in the service play attorneys and a detective; in a pure coincidental moment, the charges are dropped and Phillip can stay in Japan. Towards the end, Phillip reconnects with Mia and talks with her - which to be honest, I wish it had led to Mia's mother and Phillip having a relationship too. Having Phillip just talking to Mia seems a bit odd, even with Phillip wanting to use the relationship to fulfill what he never had himself.

Rental Family as a movie calls to mind several movies: Lost in Translation being the biggest touchstone. Phillip Vandarploeug is adrift in Japanese culture almost as much as Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson's characters were in Japan with tremendous shots of Japan. Compared to Lost in Translation, there weren't as many defining shots although I did like a repeating shot of Phillip looking on his balcony at other apartments Rear Window style. (It makes me wonder why there hasn't been a Rear Window homage set in Japan).

It also reminded me a bit of last year's A Real Pain with using familial relationships to mine its humor although it's not nearly as acidic as that movie was and there wasn't someone as much of a live wire as Kierian Culkin's character was. Brendan Fraser does great with the role and with displaying empathy and realness to his character.

After all, the role of this movie is to sell emotion.

 

[zendragon]

I agree that Brendan gave a strong performance, and one film I felt it referenced was Ozu's Tokyo Story with the shots of the city. I found the film to be less about culture and more about values. what is right and what is moral, and how sometimes it might not be the same thing. Is it right for Mia's mother to want her to get into a good school that could have an outside impact on her life but at the same time is it moral to due so in a way that could be traumatic for her daughter? what about lying to an old man so he feels valued? Disobeying his daughters command to give him his dyeing wish.

Why do adults lie? Because life is complicated, and you understand this more as you grow older and things aren't as simple as when you are a child. (I understand lying to cover your own ass or for survival less so the people who seemingly would climb a tree and lie rather than stand on the ground and tell the truth). Philip understands in the fake wedding that his role in the deception does a lot of good, but as we know once you go further down that road it can be hard to stop.

I did wonder if Mia's mother and Philip would end up falling in love parent trap style. I was also was hoping for a post script where Philip publishes an article celebrating Kikuo's life.