2026 Movie Discussion Thread

[Andrew POE!]

At some point, I'll have to watch F/X and 976-EVIL for "1980s movies of dubious quality" series of movies. 

[zendragon]

One thing I remember about Crocodile Dundee is that it seems to imply a man from Australia would have no idea what life in a modern city would be like. Surely he's been to Sidney at some point right? 

[odessasteps]

Isn’t Australia just like in Mad Max? 

[J.H.]

Just to wrap up the Werner Herzog stuff until the next time he comes up...

James 

 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today...

Dead Poets Society (Peacock, leaving on 4/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

A lot has been said about Dead Poets Society as a movie. Some critics, like Roger Ebert, aren't fans of the movie, find Robin Williams' performance terrible, and find the script to be discarding a lot of what it sets out to do.

The thing with Dead Poets Society is the context of the times the movie was released; in 1989, Hollywood was seeing the ending of commercialism of the 1980s and the beginning of the more turbulent and morally ambiguity of the 1990s. A lot of Dead Poets Society is about not conforming to expectations of society and for its young characters to seek their own path, have their own way of walking if you will. Placing the movie in the late 1950s has the characters at an interesting point in time - they are growing up after the Korean Conflict but before the United States' involvement in Second Indochina War/Vietnam War. The great peril of US society is not known to these characters.

John Keating (Robin Williams) wants his English students to do more than to be programmed into roles in US society. The reasoning behind Keating doing this is a sense of regret for his time at the school; he went on to study English literature at Cambridge. What prompted this way of teaching the students isn't readily known or explained, but it's hard not to find Williams magnetic to watch, especially when he does impressions of John Wayne and Marlon Brando reading Shakespearean lines.

The movie has two main conflicts occurring - Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles) pining for Chris Noel (Alexandra Powers) and Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) wishing to become an actor and not a doctor like his father Thomas (Kurtwood Smith) wanted. What prompts these conflicts is Neil discovering that John Keating was part of the "Dead Poets Society" that met in a cave and read poetry to each other. The students show Keating the yearbook and ask him about it. "That's not something the present administration would want," implying something much darker and sadder with the society breaking up.

We never learn what caused the "Dead Poets Society" to break up in the first place - it can be almost wondered if it's the same thing that caused Keating to be fired from school and was from a suicide of Keating's classmate too.

So it seems that involvement in "Dead Poets Society" prompts an awakening for Knox and Neil among others. Neil acts in a production of Midsummer's Night Dream where his father attends at the end. Yet, Neil's father ushers Neil out of there and tells Keating never to talk to his son again. Thomas tells his son that Neil will be joining a military school, will be going to Harvard, and will become a doctor. Neil opens the windows and puts on the head-dress that he wore from the Shakespeare play, evoking the image of Christ as Neil stands facing the window. Neil goes into his father's study and kills himself, sacrificing himself because his father didn't understand. What's sad about the scene is in what's shown as in as much as what's not shown - we see Thomas' reaction, we see the gun on the floor, and we see Neil's hand. We don't see what Neil looks like afterwards - but we see his family over him afterwards.

The thing with Thomas Perry is the desire for Neil to succeed is due to Neil having advantages he never has. It's never shown, but Thomas Perry has a tougher time even getting to where he is in American society at that time. There could be something much deeper and darker with that character than is realized. Neil Perry rebels against his father's expectations because what his father expects isn't what he wants to do with his life. The conflict between the two made me wonder how Thomas Perry and Neil Perry would do in today's times - what would Thomas Perry say about the fact that jobs in the United States are drying up even further and AI is taking over the workplace. Would Neil even want to pursue acting since computers are replacing the work that actors do?

With the 1980s winding down and the brash commercialism drying up too, this conflict is evocative of the changing of the guard of American society. President Ronald Reagan leaves office and yet another Republican George H.W. Bush is elected. The same old way of doing things aren't to be.

So after the suicide, Dr. Gale Nolan (Norman Lloyd) has to find a scapegoat and a cause of Neil's death because Thomas pushed for that to happen. The blame is affixed to John Keating. This is despite the fact that John Keating didn't tell the boys to do anything that they did - everything they did was out of their own volition. All John Keating did was have them rip out the introduction to understanding poetry and stand in front of pictures of previous students and told them "Carpe Diem." Keating is blamed for Neil's death because the status quo demanded that he be blamed. Richard Cameron (Dylan Kussman) can't be blamed for folding because history repeats - "Dead Poets Society" is closed because it was closed in the first place.

In a sad scene, Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke) is made to sign a document - the camera focuses on his parents then on the pen in Nolan's hand. Todd is made to have no choice and has to sign; Keating is fired. Keating goes into the classroom to collect his things as Nolan conducts the class. Unprompted, the majority of the students stand on their desks to say "O Captain, My Captain" to Keating. A few of the students are seated, heads in the books, obviously saying "I don't give a fuck about this dude and I just want to GTFO of this school." The final shot of the movie is a bit of a letdown - the camera is focused on Ethan Hawke's face as a pair of legs are out of focus. (Honestly, I think having the final shot on Robin Williams would have been better, but what do I know).

With all that said, Dead Poets Society is utterly captivating to watch. DP John Seale does incredible work throughout the movie - I loved the shot towards the end as Ethan Hawke is running towards a snow covered lake and the shots earlier in the movie as the characters slip out to go to the cave for their first meeting as "Dead Poets Society." The message of the movie shouldn't be lost - accepting conformity willingly and not desiring more out of life isn't a way to live a person's life.

I would say that the takeaway is seize the day, just be careful of what it is you are seizing.

This Modern Age (HBO Max, leaving on 4/30) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

This Modern Age is a wild movie that turns into a boring mess by the end of it. Valentine Winters (Joan Crawford) is discovered to be the daughter of Diane Winters (Pauline Frederick) while she is about to go on a trip to Europe with her man Andre de Graignon (Albert Conti).

Partying happens and Valentine gets into a car accident with Tony Girard (Monroe Owsley). She is rescued by Bob Blake (Neil Hamilton), who is also rich too. The movie attempts to play up for laughs the car accident and Tony potentially being seriously hurt and has Valentine woo Bob and gets him to propose marriage to her.

Everyone involved in the movie say their lines like they aren't sure if it's being recorded (this is one of those early pre-Code sound movies). It's gives the acting a stilted feel to it and at times just becomes not very interesting to watch. Valentine reunites with Bob and gets carried out of the house to be married.

Except for Joan Crawford, this movie is a failure.

Mother Mary (saw in the theaters) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

Mother Mary is everything that Michael should have been.

How is the idea of the cult of personality around a pop singer and the person behind the pop singer reconciled? What is happening to that person when the cameras are turned off, the lights are turned off, and the person is off the stage? What happens in Mother Mary is about the erstwhile singer (Anne Hathaway) going to England to visit a former costume designer of hers Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel). Sam at the start of the movie recounts how she knows that Mother Mary is coming and has been festering anger towards her for years.

The choice of Mother Mary with the imagery around her isn't a lost idea. It's equal parts Madonna, Kate Bush, Bjork, Britney Spears, and Taylor Swift as it is Dreyer's Joan of Arc and Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra. (Indeed, Mother Mary wanting to look like Joan of Arc is directly referenced). The movie for the bulk of it is a conversation - as Mother Mary pleads for Sam's help while Sam is telling her how much she wants her to plead. An example of the lengths that Sam forces Mary to go is for Mary to dance...without music. It resembles a bit of what Bob Fosse did in All That Jazz as Hathaway throws herself into the dance as she launches herself onto the wooden floor.

What seems to be the greatest trouble for Mary is the encounter of a spirit or a ghost at a seance; Imogen (FKA Twigs) seems possessed with this spirit. Whether it's a long dead mother of Mary or even the devil is unknown - the color red follows this spirit everywhere as it floats upwards and Imogen cuts open Mary's hand to allow the spirit to enter.

What I found interesting is how much the relationship between Mary and Sam resembled Michaela Coel's earlier The Christophers. Coel in this has become like Ian McKellen's character from The Christophers; Sam is spurn by life and it's very likely a romantic relationship with Mary. Sam recounts how she went to a concert and the experience caused her to press down so hard upon her teeth that she broke a wisdom tooth. She could feel the blood, acidic contents, and the pain of the experience and claims to have pulled the tooth out with pliers (or at a dentist's office, who's to say). The experience left her with turning off her music when she hears it on the radio or turning off the television when Mary appears on it. Sam helps Mary because she wants to reconcile her past and her anger with Mary; she sees the same spirit that Mary encountered everywhere and wants to expunge it.

The climax of the movie has Sam and Mary doing a ritual using a pair of shears (or a key), a sewing needle (or a sword), and a strip of fabric (or chains). The act of doing so has Mary recalling her fall at the concert where she fell from an elevated stage as she sees the spirit again. Sam and Mary prick their fingers, but Mary goes further - she slits her chest open. Sam reaches into the wound and pulls out the spirit, which becomes a piece of red sheer fabric. This fabric is used to make the dress that Mary wanted; what was inhibiting her is now worn by her.

At the end, Mary goes to her concert and pulls off her costume and her headdress, revealing her wounded chest. Hilda (Hunter Schafer) recounts what will happen as Mary won't be singing her song for the audience, but for Sam.

For me, Mother Mary is exactly what Michael should have been and also what The Moment should have been too. It speaks in the language of the pop song, but there's other elements at work - the stage play, the musical, and the dramatic work. Mary and Sam's conversations recalled to me what Richard Linklater would do with Before Sunset trilogy as well as Louis Malle's My Dinner With Andre. The recounting of personal histories of the characters is as much interesting as what is contained.

I find that as I watch more movies, I like it when movies don't spell it out for me like I'm a child what their intentions are. What Mother Mary does is apparent and makes sense; but it's purposely not going to hit you over the head with its intentions. After watching this, I'm hoping that Michaela Coel is in more movies; she carries the gravitas of her Christophers co-star Ian McKellen with this. This isn't a movie made for mainstream, commercial audiences or what movie audiences have become lately - they are staring at their phones and have to be reminded of the plot points every five minutes.

Mother Mary is an experience.

The Prince of Egypt (Peacock, leaving on 4/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Beautifully animated movie that feels like what Disney would do in the 1990s with their renaissance. I would argue if it weren't for Aladdin in 1992, The Prince of Egypt wouldn't be possible.

My problem with it is the fact that the story seems a bit 'rushed' and the conflict between Moses (Val Kilmer) and Ramses (Ralph Fiennes) isn't as 'well earned' or established as the Disney movies at the time were.

Despite that, The Prince of Egypt is utterly gorgeous to look at - the scene where Moses talks to the burning bush is a memorable moment.

Space Jam (Peacock, leaving on 4/30) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Space Jam is very much a full length cartoon or a commercial - with it being directed by a director known for doing commercials, it makes sense. If you go into the movie expecting characterizations or acting, you're at the wrong movie. It's very much like the various Warner Brothers cartoon movies that would come after it and before it, except filtered with what was popular with a younger audience in the late 1990s.

What I noticed is how much the movie was willing to make fun of Michael Jordan (it talked about his playing baseball and willingness to gamble). Jordan seems to be in on the joke through the movie with his reactions - his scenes with Wayne Knight are hilarious to watch. It's the other athletes that show up that are funny as well. I also liked the golf scenes with Larry Bird and Bill Murray where Murray almost recalls what he did as the assistant groundskeeper in Caddyshack.

It's kinda interesting how Lola Bunny (Kath Soucie) is the female bunny version of Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Lola is a bit sexualized (which the movie plays into) except she gets angry when male characters make a pass at her.

The drawback with the movie is the centerpiece of it being the basketball game is almost sped up too much; the movie literally flies by at that point.

Still, it's not bad with a great soundtrack (I loved the Pulp Fiction "Miserlou" needledrop scene) and Seal's version of "Fly Like An Eagle" whenever Michael Jordan plays is great.

 

[J.H.]

I'm not a fan of Dead Poet's Society for 2 reasons. First, I'm not a Robin Williams fan. Second, I went to boarding g school and a very different experience. 

Mind you, going to boarding school in the 60s was probably very different than going in 87-90. I just found the faculty in the movie to be rather... empty. 

Of course the cast is a murders row of guys that dominated TV in 00s (Robert Sran Leonard? Josh Charles?). Hell, School Ties had a similiar interesting cast who went onto bigger fame but I dislike that movie also for the same reason as I dislike this movie (though Robin Williams wasn't in that one).

James

[odessasteps]

Dead Poets was filmed in Delaware IIRC.

[zendragon]

Jordan made Warner Bros construct a basketball court next to the set so he could practice when he wasn't shooting

 

[Curt McGirt]

This Michael talk reminds me of the Whitney Houston doc Can I Be Me? which was excellent, highest marks. Something like that should probably be done about Jackson, though I suppose there's Finding Neverland which I haven't seen. How's that? 

[Curt McGirt]

And, before I forget! The shit that comes out of Werner's mouth in this is just insane.

[Technico Support]

1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

This Michael talk reminds me of the Whitney Houston doc Can I Be Me? which was excellent, highest marks. Something like that should probably be done about Jackson, though I suppose there's Finding Neverland which I haven't seen. How's that? 

Finding Neverland is a well-done documentary about a pretty rough subject.  I watched it on Max a few years ago, not sure where it's available now.  Only the biggest Jackson mark won't walk away thinking "yeah, that guy did some shit with those kids."

[Contentious C]

1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

This Michael talk reminds me of the Whitney Houston doc Can I Be Me? which was excellent, highest marks. Something like that should probably be done about Jackson, though I suppose there's Finding Neverland which I haven't seen. How's that? 

 

20 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Finding Neverland is a well-done documentary about a pretty rough subject.  I watched it on Max a few years ago, not sure where it's available now.  Only the biggest Jackson mark won't walk away thinking "yeah, that guy did some shit with those kids."

Hahahah.

Finding Neverland is the Winslet/Depp movie about J. M. Barrie.  Leaving Neverland is what you're thinking of.

Unsurprisingly, the same year that came out, someone else put out a counter-documentary of sorts, claiming the opposite.  

Edited April 27 by Contentious C

[Technico Support]

6 minutes ago, Contentious C said:

 

Hahahah.

Finding Neverland is the Winslet/Depp movie about J. M. Barrie.  Leaving Neverland is what you're thinking of.

Unsurprisingly, the same year that came out, someone else put out a counter-documentary of sorts, claiming the opposite.  

LOOOOOOOOOOOL

Curt made the mistake, I just kept it going.  

[Curt McGirt]

*shrug* My mistake haha

Anyway! Here's Weird Al on Total Recall (1991)

[zendragon]

 

[Tabe]

21 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Movies today...

Dead Poets Society (Peacock, leaving on 4/30) - 4.5/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

A lot has been said about Dead Poets Society as a movie. Some critics, like Roger Ebert, aren't fans of the movie, find Robin Williams' performance terrible, and find the script to be discarding a lot of what it sets out to do.

The thing with Dead Poets Society is the context of the times the movie was released; in 1989, Hollywood was seeing the ending of commercialism of the 1980s and the beginning of the more turbulent and morally ambiguity of the 1990s. A lot of Dead Poets Society is about not conforming to expectations of society and for its young characters to seek their own path, have their own way of walking if you will. Placing the movie in the late 1950s has the characters at an interesting point in time - they are growing up after the Korean Conflict but before the United States' involvement in Second Indochina War/Vietnam War. The great peril of US society is not known to these characters.

John Keating (Robin Williams) wants his English students to do more than to be programmed into roles in US society. The reasoning behind Keating doing this is a sense of regret for his time at the school; he went on to study English literature at Cambridge. What prompted this way of teaching the students isn't readily known or explained, but it's hard not to find Williams magnetic to watch, especially when he does impressions of John Wayne and Marlon Brando reading Shakespearean lines.

The movie has two main conflicts occurring - Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles) pining for Chris Noel (Alexandra Powers) and Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) wishing to become an actor and not a doctor like his father Thomas (Kurtwood Smith) wanted. What prompts these conflicts is Neil discovering that John Keating was part of the "Dead Poets Society" that met in a cave and read poetry to each other. The students show Keating the yearbook and ask him about it. "That's not something the present administration would want," implying something much darker and sadder with the society breaking up.

We never learn what caused the "Dead Poets Society" to break up in the first place - it can be almost wondered if it's the same thing that caused Keating to be fired from school and was from a suicide of Keating's classmate too.

So it seems that involvement in "Dead Poets Society" prompts an awakening for Knox and Neil among others. Neil acts in a production of Midsummer's Night Dream where his father attends at the end. Yet, Neil's father ushers Neil out of there and tells Keating never to talk to his son again. Thomas tells his son that Neil will be joining a military school, will be going to Harvard, and will become a doctor. Neil opens the windows and puts on the head-dress that he wore from the Shakespeare play, evoking the image of Christ as Neil stands facing the window. Neil goes into his father's study and kills himself, sacrificing himself because his father didn't understand. What's sad about the scene is in what's shown as in as much as what's not shown - we see Thomas' reaction, we see the gun on the floor, and we see Neil's hand. We don't see what Neil looks like afterwards - but we see his family over him afterwards.

The thing with Thomas Perry is the desire for Neil to succeed is due to Neil having advantages he never has. It's never shown, but Thomas Perry has a tougher time even getting to where he is in American society at that time. There could be something much deeper and darker with that character than is realized. Neil Perry rebels against his father's expectations because what his father expects isn't what he wants to do with his life. The conflict between the two made me wonder how Thomas Perry and Neil Perry would do in today's times - what would Thomas Perry say about the fact that jobs in the United States are drying up even further and AI is taking over the workplace. Would Neil even want to pursue acting since computers are replacing the work that actors do?

With the 1980s winding down and the brash commercialism drying up too, this conflict is evocative of the changing of the guard of American society. President Ronald Reagan leaves office and yet another Republican George H.W. Bush is elected. The same old way of doing things aren't to be.

So after the suicide, Dr. Gale Nolan (Norman Lloyd) has to find a scapegoat and a cause of Neil's death because Thomas pushed for that to happen. The blame is affixed to John Keating. This is despite the fact that John Keating didn't tell the boys to do anything that they did - everything they did was out of their own volition. All John Keating did was have them rip out the introduction to understanding poetry and stand in front of pictures of previous students and told them "Carpe Diem." Keating is blamed for Neil's death because the status quo demanded that he be blamed. Richard Cameron (Dylan Kussman) can't be blamed for folding because history repeats - "Dead Poets Society" is closed because it was closed in the first place.

In a sad scene, Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke) is made to sign a document - the camera focuses on his parents then on the pen in Nolan's hand. Todd is made to have no choice and has to sign; Keating is fired. Keating goes into the classroom to collect his things as Nolan conducts the class. Unprompted, the majority of the students stand on their desks to say "O Captain, My Captain" to Keating. A few of the students are seated, heads in the books, obviously saying "I don't give a fuck about this dude and I just want to GTFO of this school." The final shot of the movie is a bit of a letdown - the camera is focused on Ethan Hawke's face as a pair of legs are out of focus. (Honestly, I think having the final shot on Robin Williams would have been better, but what do I know).

With all that said, Dead Poets Society is utterly captivating to watch. DP John Seale does incredible work throughout the movie - I loved the shot towards the end as Ethan Hawke is running towards a snow covered lake and the shots earlier in the movie as the characters slip out to go to the cave for their first meeting as "Dead Poets Society." The message of the movie shouldn't be lost - accepting conformity willingly and not desiring more out of life isn't a way to live a person's life.

I would say that the takeaway is seize the day, just be careful of what it is you are seizing.

This Modern Age (HBO Max, leaving on 4/30) - 2/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

This Modern Age is a wild movie that turns into a boring mess by the end of it. Valentine Winters (Joan Crawford) is discovered to be the daughter of Diane Winters (Pauline Frederick) while she is about to go on a trip to Europe with her man Andre de Graignon (Albert Conti).

Partying happens and Valentine gets into a car accident with Tony Girard (Monroe Owsley). She is rescued by Bob Blake (Neil Hamilton), who is also rich too. The movie attempts to play up for laughs the car accident and Tony potentially being seriously hurt and has Valentine woo Bob and gets him to propose marriage to her.

Everyone involved in the movie say their lines like they aren't sure if it's being recorded (this is one of those early pre-Code sound movies). It's gives the acting a stilted feel to it and at times just becomes not very interesting to watch. Valentine reunites with Bob and gets carried out of the house to be married.

Except for Joan Crawford, this movie is a failure.

Mother Mary (saw in the theaters) - 5/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

Mother Mary is everything that Michael should have been.

How is the idea of the cult of personality around a pop singer and the person behind the pop singer reconciled? What is happening to that person when the cameras are turned off, the lights are turned off, and the person is off the stage? What happens in Mother Mary is about the erstwhile singer (Anne Hathaway) going to England to visit a former costume designer of hers Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel). Sam at the start of the movie recounts how she knows that Mother Mary is coming and has been festering anger towards her for years.

The choice of Mother Mary with the imagery around her isn't a lost idea. It's equal parts Madonna, Kate Bush, Bjork, Britney Spears, and Taylor Swift as it is Dreyer's Joan of Arc and Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra. (Indeed, Mother Mary wanting to look like Joan of Arc is directly referenced). The movie for the bulk of it is a conversation - as Mother Mary pleads for Sam's help while Sam is telling her how much she wants her to plead. An example of the lengths that Sam forces Mary to go is for Mary to dance...without music. It resembles a bit of what Bob Fosse did in All That Jazz as Hathaway throws herself into the dance as she launches herself onto the wooden floor.

What seems to be the greatest trouble for Mary is the encounter of a spirit or a ghost at a seance; Imogen (FKA Twigs) seems possessed with this spirit. Whether it's a long dead mother of Mary or even the devil is unknown - the color red follows this spirit everywhere as it floats upwards and Imogen cuts open Mary's hand to allow the spirit to enter.

What I found interesting is how much the relationship between Mary and Sam resembled Michaela Coel's earlier The Christophers. Coel in this has become like Ian McKellen's character from The Christophers; Sam is spurn by life and it's very likely a romantic relationship with Mary. Sam recounts how she went to a concert and the experience caused her to press down so hard upon her teeth that she broke a wisdom tooth. She could feel the blood, acidic contents, and the pain of the experience and claims to have pulled the tooth out with pliers (or at a dentist's office, who's to say). The experience left her with turning off her music when she hears it on the radio or turning off the television when Mary appears on it. Sam helps Mary because she wants to reconcile her past and her anger with Mary; she sees the same spirit that Mary encountered everywhere and wants to expunge it.

The climax of the movie has Sam and Mary doing a ritual using a pair of shears (or a key), a sewing needle (or a sword), and a strip of fabric (or chains). The act of doing so has Mary recalling her fall at the concert where she fell from an elevated stage as she sees the spirit again. Sam and Mary prick their fingers, but Mary goes further - she slits her chest open. Sam reaches into the wound and pulls out the spirit, which becomes a piece of red sheer fabric. This fabric is used to make the dress that Mary wanted; what was inhibiting her is now worn by her.

At the end, Mary goes to her concert and pulls off her costume and her headdress, revealing her wounded chest. Hilda (Hunter Schafer) recounts what will happen as Mary won't be singing her song for the audience, but for Sam.

For me, Mother Mary is exactly what Michael should have been and also what The Moment should have been too. It speaks in the language of the pop song, but there's other elements at work - the stage play, the musical, and the dramatic work. Mary and Sam's conversations recalled to me what Richard Linklater would do with Before Sunset trilogy as well as Louis Malle's My Dinner With Andre. The recounting of personal histories of the characters is as much interesting as what is contained.

I find that as I watch more movies, I like it when movies don't spell it out for me like I'm a child what their intentions are. What Mother Mary does is apparent and makes sense; but it's purposely not going to hit you over the head with its intentions. After watching this, I'm hoping that Michaela Coel is in more movies; she carries the gravitas of her Christophers co-star Ian McKellen with this. This isn't a movie made for mainstream, commercial audiences or what movie audiences have become lately - they are staring at their phones and have to be reminded of the plot points every five minutes.

Mother Mary is an experience.

The Prince of Egypt (Peacock, leaving on 4/30) - 4.5/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

Beautifully animated movie that feels like what Disney would do in the 1990s with their renaissance. I would argue if it weren't for Aladdin in 1992, The Prince of Egypt wouldn't be possible.

My problem with it is the fact that the story seems a bit 'rushed' and the conflict between Moses (Val Kilmer) and Ramses (Ralph Fiennes) isn't as 'well earned' or established as the Disney movies at the time were.

Despite that, The Prince of Egypt is utterly gorgeous to look at - the scene where Moses talks to the burning bush is a memorable moment.

Space Jam (Peacock, leaving on 4/30) - 3.5/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

Space Jam is very much a full length cartoon or a commercial - with it being directed by a director known for doing commercials, it makes sense. If you go into the movie expecting characterizations or acting, you're at the wrong movie. It's very much like the various Warner Brothers cartoon movies that would come after it and before it, except filtered with what was popular with a younger audience in the late 1990s.

What I noticed is how much the movie was willing to make fun of Michael Jordan (it talked about his playing baseball and willingness to gamble). Jordan seems to be in on the joke through the movie with his reactions - his scenes with Wayne Knight are hilarious to watch. It's the other athletes that show up that are funny as well. I also liked the golf scenes with Larry Bird and Bill Murray where Murray almost recalls what he did as the assistant groundskeeper in Caddyshack.

It's kinda interesting how Lola Bunny (Kath Soucie) is the female bunny version of Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Lola is a bit sexualized (which the movie plays into) except she gets angry when male characters make a pass at her.

The drawback with the movie is the centerpiece of it being the basketball game is almost sped up too much; the movie literally flies by at that point.

Still, it's not bad with a great soundtrack (I loved the Pulp Fiction "Miserlou" needledrop scene) and Seal's version of "Fly Like An Eagle" whenever Michael Jordan plays is great.

 

Ironically, Robin Williams starred in a movie called Seize the Day a couple years before DPS. I have never seen it or even heard anybody talk about it. 

I absolutely love Dead Poets. It spoke to me at a specific time in my life. It's not perfect - there's a little too much "Robin Williams" in the movie but the performances are universally great. It's comfortably inside my top 10 favorite movies. 

Edited April 27 by Tabe

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today...not as much because I had to do work.

Steel Magnolias (Hulu, leaving on 4/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Growing up in the South, I knew people like those in Steel Magnolias. The love and prickliness of the personalities involved made the movie relatable - hairdressers in between drags of cigarettes would joke about everything and gossip while waiting in the lobby to get a haircut or work done.

Steel Magnolias is a working class movie - yet the work done is focused on work that women are doing. Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton) runs a hair salon in her house while her husband Spud (Sam Shepard) works on a truck when he's not having to work on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The way the movie starts is in midst of chaos - Annelle (Daryl Hannah) is walking around and looking for Truvy. A commotion of activities is occurring as Shelby (Julia Roberts) is being married to Jackson Latcherie (Dylan McDermott) while Shelby's dad Drum (Tom Skerritt) is shooting at birds with a handgun and Shelby's mom Mary Lynn (Sally Field) is stressed out over everything. Add to it, the neighbor Ouiser (Shirley MacLaine) arrives with her dog and yells at Drum for scaring her dog with the gun.

In a lot of ways, Steel Magnolias is a Southern version of Terms of Endearment. Shelby and Mary Lynn have the same degree of contentiousness and love in their relationship. (Having Shirley MacLaine play parts in both movies help with that).

The story for Steel Magnolias is more incremental and there are no markers to denote the passage of time. Yet it's in subtle changes - decorations are being put up, outfits are being worn differently. Christmas in Louisiana doesn't look any different than any other time of year. What remains the same is the beauty salon in Truvy's house. Shelby and Jackson are married with a baby on the way; Mary Lynn is worried over her diabetes. A horrific scene where Shelby has an attack due to her diabetes and has to drink orange juice.

Annelle changes a lot as the movie progresses - as she embraces Christianity, the necklace switches from her name to a cross. I knew women like Annelle growing up; they were equally unsure of themselves, but were embracing of Christianity too. It seems to provoke a similar reaction from them with anything; you can't cuss in front of them, 'you can't drink liquor' (although she poured out a beer), and they pray all the time. Annelle is utterly gorgeous to look at, but there's much deeper seated issues for her at root that Christianity can't necessarily clean up.

The flip side of that is Ouiser; Ouiser hates everyone and everyone irritates her. She only seems to like Clairee Blecher (Olympia Dukakis) or at least tolerates her. Part of me wanted Ouiser and Clairee to drive along the beach like in Terms of Endearment and proclaim their love for each other. But apparently in the South, same sex relationships are frowned upon. Clairee recounts how Marshall came out to his parents and used subterfuge to hide it at first.

The most touching scenes are when Shelby dies - Jackson signs a piece of paper as the camera pans around the room. Everyone quietly observes and watches as the machine keeping Shelby alive is cut off. The camera focuses on her heart rate monitor as the pulse drops off slowly. There's no flatline noise, the alarms are turned off.

Shelby has her funeral and the women gather their support around Mary Lynn. How Sally Field did this scene is incredible work. Mary Lynn says that 'she's fine' as Annelle tells her that it's great that Shelby is in Heaven. Those words offer no comfort. Mary Lynn walks off and begins to cry, but it's a sudden outburst. Then she's almost inconsolable. "I was supposed to go first. I've always been ready to go first," she says.

The movie ends at an Easter hunt. Shelby plays with her grandchild while Annelle is now nine months pregnant with her husband Sammy (Kevin J O'Connor) in an Easter bunny suit. She goes into labor. Spud takes her in a truck, Sammy follows along on the back of a motorcycle. The camera pans upwards as it follows the vehicles, speeding along their way, speeding along life.

In the end, life goes on. Life continues with a new generation. Every woman has babies every day after all.

The Queen (Hulu, leaving on 4/30) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

As an American watching movies about the British royal family, I'm always amazed at the amount of reverence their country's head of states and Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) has from its people. The United States has a bit of skeptical view of its own leaders (although at various points in history that's been increased or decreased depending on who is in power), The Queen is about the British royal family having to process and in some cases not react public to the death of Diana Spencer / Princess Diana.

What drives the conflict within the movie is Queen Elizabeth II and the newest Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) and how they react to the media and the almost American way of responding to Diana's death. It's interesting how Queen Elizabeth II is affected by Diana's death, yet doesn't want to grieve publicly or even speak about it. Blair wants the Queen to acknowledge it although, as is pointed out numerous times, Blair is more concerned with public sentiment than anything else.

Stephen Frears has the movie mixing actual news reports and news footage with its actors; it gives the movie a somewhat high end re-enactment feel to it. The actors' read on the material seems a bit drawn back at times too and a bit more about the perceptions of the people rather than necessarily a character study.

One scene that stuck out to me was when Elizabeth II seeing a deer after getting a SUV broken down in a river and after the deer was shot. There's an element of symbolism ongoing with that; perhaps, the Queen viewed the deer much in the way that she viewed Diana's death. For a brief moment, with her face away from the camera and in an out of focus shot, she cries as she thinks about Diana's death or possibly something else.

Also, Prince Phillip (James Cromwell) is an absolute ass, grossly comparing the British people to "Zulus" he's seen in a film.

The ending scenes has somewhat of a change from Queen Elizabeth II as she walks around the grounds of Buckingham Palace with Tony Blair; the Queen reflects the time that she assumed the monarchy and the expectations that she was given at the start during WWII.

For the most part, The Queen is an above average drama carried with Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen's performances.

One Spoon of Chocolate (saw in the theaters) - 1/5 star

Spoiler

One Spoon of Chocolate as a movie misses the point of it's Tarantino/Rodriguez "grindhouse cinema" inspirations. It feels like the BLM equivalent of Troy Duff's The Boondock Saints or S Craig Zahler's Brawl in Cell Block 99. Terrible acting, terrible editing, terrible direction, and terrible script all occurred at once.

The thing with the movie is it does build up to something in the first 30 minutes - it would be thought that this would be a stylistic merging of Tarantino's influences, Kill Bill here, Django there, Inglorious Basterds over there. The main character Randy "Unique" (Shameik Moore) experiences the slowest character arc - it seems to lead to a showdown that's building up, but it never really happens. His cousin gets killed by the same white supremacists running the town. He hides out at his girlfriend's (a terrible Paris Jackson) house until he reads the book that he picked up earlier and trains. He then goes through and kills the white supremacists and police at a compound until the sheriff arrives, Randy's parole officer tries to talk him down, the main white supremacist reveals the organ farming plot, and news crew arrive. The movie is a series of unforced errors at that point.

The movie has so many wasted moments and scenes that do not add at all. At some point, I would get tired of the white supremacists dropping the 'n-word' continuously and the black people they are targeting are seemingly okay with it. My thought was that Randy would get help from other people sick of this too and deciding to kill the white people. That would have been more satisfying.

No, that's not the case. It turns into another take on Rambo with Randy against the world and he shoots and kills Jeremy (presumably) but the movie cuts to black then.

Do not give RZA a camera again.

 

[tbarrie]

2 hours ago, Tabe said:

I absolutely love Dead Poets.

I recall liking Dead Poets Society, but had apparently forgotten that fact when I participated in our "Greatest movies of all time" poll back in 2016/17. It could easily have displaced some of the crap I used to fill out the high '90s of my ballot. Oh well.

[HarryArchieGus]

On 4/26/2026 at 10:25 PM, Andrew POE! said:

Mother Mary (saw in the theaters) - 5/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

Mother Mary is everything that Michael should have been.

How is the idea of the cult of personality around a pop singer and the person behind the pop singer reconciled? What is happening to that person when the cameras are turned off, the lights are turned off, and the person is off the stage? What happens in Mother Mary is about the erstwhile singer (Anne Hathaway) going to England to visit a former costume designer of hers Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel). Sam at the start of the movie recounts how she knows that Mother Mary is coming and has been festering anger towards her for years.

The choice of Mother Mary with the imagery around her isn't a lost idea. It's equal parts Madonna, Kate Bush, Bjork, Britney Spears, and Taylor Swift as it is Dreyer's Joan of Arc and Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra. (Indeed, Mother Mary wanting to look like Joan of Arc is directly referenced). The movie for the bulk of it is a conversation - as Mother Mary pleads for Sam's help while Sam is telling her how much she wants her to plead. An example of the lengths that Sam forces Mary to go is for Mary to dance...without music. It resembles a bit of what Bob Fosse did in All That Jazz as Hathaway throws herself into the dance as she launches herself onto the wooden floor.

What seems to be the greatest trouble for Mary is the encounter of a spirit or a ghost at a seance; Imogen (FKA Twigs) seems possessed with this spirit. Whether it's a long dead mother of Mary or even the devil is unknown - the color red follows this spirit everywhere as it floats upwards and Imogen cuts open Mary's hand to allow the spirit to enter.

What I found interesting is how much the relationship between Mary and Sam resembled Michaela Coel's earlier The Christophers. Coel in this has become like Ian McKellen's character from The Christophers; Sam is spurn by life and it's very likely a romantic relationship with Mary. Sam recounts how she went to a concert and the experience caused her to press down so hard upon her teeth that she broke a wisdom tooth. She could feel the blood, acidic contents, and the pain of the experience and claims to have pulled the tooth out with pliers (or at a dentist's office, who's to say). The experience left her with turning off her music when she hears it on the radio or turning off the television when Mary appears on it. Sam helps Mary because she wants to reconcile her past and her anger with Mary; she sees the same spirit that Mary encountered everywhere and wants to expunge it.

The climax of the movie has Sam and Mary doing a ritual using a pair of shears (or a key), a sewing needle (or a sword), and a strip of fabric (or chains). The act of doing so has Mary recalling her fall at the concert where she fell from an elevated stage as she sees the spirit again. Sam and Mary prick their fingers, but Mary goes further - she slits her chest open. Sam reaches into the wound and pulls out the spirit, which becomes a piece of red sheer fabric. This fabric is used to make the dress that Mary wanted; what was inhibiting her is now worn by her.

At the end, Mary goes to her concert and pulls off her costume and her headdress, revealing her wounded chest. Hilda (Hunter Schafer) recounts what will happen as Mary won't be singing her song for the audience, but for Sam.

For me, Mother Mary is exactly what Michael should have been and also what The Moment should have been too. It speaks in the language of the pop song, but there's other elements at work - the stage play, the musical, and the dramatic work. Mary and Sam's conversations recalled to me what Richard Linklater would do with Before Sunset trilogy as well as Louis Malle's My Dinner With Andre. The recounting of personal histories of the characters is as much interesting as what is contained.

I find that as I watch more movies, I like it when movies don't spell it out for me like I'm a child what their intentions are. What Mother Mary does is apparent and makes sense; but it's purposely not going to hit you over the head with its intentions. After watching this, I'm hoping that Michaela Coel is in more movies; she carries the gravitas of her Christophers co-star Ian McKellen with this. This isn't a movie made for mainstream, commercial audiences or what movie audiences have become lately - they are staring at their phones and have to be reminded of the plot points every five minutes.

Mother Mary is an experience.

I was curious of this one. A friend was talking about a new movie by David Lowery, whom I'm mostly unfamiliar with. My pal was raving about Ghost Story, which I'm curious of. We watched the MM trailer last week a couple times before films and I felt turned off. The trailer makes it look like it wants to sit in with the Substance/Titane/body horror, but I'm wary of it just mimicking those movies with lesser (see more commercial) results. I dunno, not a Hathaway hater, but also not a fan (mostly her acting choices). Anyway, I try not to judge by the trailers - the Mile End Kicks trailer with its overused song and twee leanings already reminded me how misleading they can be. 

I caught the Drama this weekend, and was thoroughly impressed. It's made me curious of Kristoffer Borgli's other films - Dream Scenario with Cage, and even more so his Norwegian debut Sick of Myself. The Drama is a wonderful little social commentary on the times. Excellent performances throughout. Even some big laughs here and there. Did you happen to review this one @Andrew POE!?

Edited April 28 by HarryArchieGus

[Andrew POE!]

2 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I was curious of this one. A friend was talking about a new movie by David Lowery, whom I'm mostly unfamiliar with. My pal was raving about Ghost Story, which I'm curious of. We watched the MM trailer last week a couple times before films and I felt turned off. The trailer makes it look like it wants to sit in with the Substance/Titane/body horror, but I'm wary of it just mimicking those movies with lesser (see more commercial) results. I dunno, not a Hathaway hater, but also not a fan (mostly her acting choices). Anyway, I try not to judge by the trailers - the Mile End Kicks trailer with its overused song and twee leanings already reminded me how misleading they can be. 

I caught the Drama this weekend, and was thoroughly impressed. It's made me curious of Kristoffer Borgli's other films - Dream Scenario with Cage, and even more so his Norwegian debut Sick of Myself. The Drama is a wonderful little social commentary on the times. Excellent performances throughout. Even some big laughs here and there. Did you happen to review this one @Andrew POE!?

I did review The Drama - it's somewhere in the thread. I saw earlier in April on April 2. Here's the Letterboxd review:

https://boxd.it/dNIOXb

Yeah, Mother Mary is another one that the trailer is misleading. It's not really a female led body horror movie; the bulk of the movie is Michaela Coel carrying it rather than Anne Hathaway. It resembles more of a conversation between two characters - I think a lot of people that I've seen online write about it were turned off with that type of movie. There's horror elements, but it's not a horror movie. Mother Mary required a bit more patience than usual and I found it really great. 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

You've Got Mail (Netflix, leaving on 4/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Watching You've Got Mail in 2026 seems almost too antiquated. The premise is the late 1990s/early 2000s equivalent of The Shop Around The Corner (indeed, it's based on the play from the James Stewart movie); Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) is secretly emailing Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) without either realizing at first of the personas behind the screen names. Kathleen runs a bookstore called "The Shop Around The Corner," while Joe runs Fox & Sons Books, a Barnes & Noble-like chain of bookstores.

To be honest, both would be out of business due to Amazon.com eating them for lunch with book sales. It makes the squabble between the two - big corporation taking out local mom and pop shop - minuscule in comparison.

Much of the movie is carried by Hanks and Ryan's charm although it was surprising to see Dave Chappelle, Parker Posey, and Greg Kinnear show up in minor roles. (If given a choice between Parker Posey and Meg Ryan is not really fair to be honest). Chappelle's scene as Kevin where he points out Kathleen Kelly in the coffee shop to Joe Fox had me wondering if Kevin just shook his head to himself and said "these white people are crazy," like this was on Chappelle Show.

The movie probably overuses the needledrops, almost disgustingly so. At times, it works and fits with the scenes - "Rockin' Robin" where Joe Fox is taking his 11 year old aunt and half-brother out fits really well and recalled some of Hanks' earlier role in Big. Harry Nilsson's music shows a few times, evocative of Midnight Cowboy's usage in some ways.

The back half of the movie had a tendency to drag a bit as Kathleen Kelly closes her shop, yet still communicates with Joe Fox through AOL. Eventually, she strikes up a friendship with Joe and doesn't realize that he's "NY151." What I found interesting is how the movie tries to illustrate the differences between men and women through The Godfather and Pride & Prejudice. In some ways, it's almost a trope - men don't necessarily find an identity through The Godfather, just like women don't find one either through Pride & Prejudice. I somewhat wish the movie did more to expel this notion and had both characters realize that fictional materials like a movie, or a book is not that a person is about.

The nature of online communication is somewhat touched upon, but it's not to the extent that it is today. It's 'commercializes' what AOL was doing and makes it seem acceptable to be online and to communicate online. Nowadays, Kathleen Kelly would actually be concerned about meeting "NY151." One of the scenes has two of her employees joke about the "Rooftop Killer" messaging her, but in today's times, that's a real concern.

Instead, it uses those as a basis for its romance and the movie does what a lot of romantic comedies do; Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly end up together at the end of the movie, both realizing who the other person is from their personas. It does trouble a bit that Kathleen Kelly would willingly like Joe Fox after his actions with opening a bigger bookstore leads her to having to close hers and his acting as her enemy through the process; not to mention his lying to her about who he was as "NY151." I guess that's 'okay' because this is a 1990s romantic comedy, don't think about the ethics of the characters, alright?

For the most part, You've Got Mail is an interesting late 1990s romantic comedy that sometimes falters more than excels.

The Hunt (2020) (Peacock, leaving on 4/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

The fact that The Hunt (2020) had its release date pushed back due to a tweet from Donald Trump is emblematic of the issues with Hollywood in our recent history. It shows that 'free speech' is actually dead in the United States; if Universal Studios stood their ground, the original release date would have held. The response would have been, "Like everything else, Donald Trump can't decipher and understand things on his own and said 'this movie is made in order to inflame and cause chaos' because his handlers and the right wing blogs and commentators told him to say that it was. We're releasing the movie on schedule, Donald Trump can decide on his own when he watches it with everyone else." It would have demonstrated more conviction and dare I say desire to stand behind their creators. But like Hollywood did during the 1930s and 1940s with the Hays Code, they folded to governmental pressure.

Imagine if a director like Pasolini released Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom in 2020 or if a director took inspiration from Pasolini to release something like that? Trump's tweets about Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom would be decrying it without really fully comprehending it. And here I thought that Donald Trump understood movies.

The truth is The Hunt is a relatively tame movie; the language and tone of the movie is of current times, but it's a bit more deceptive and smarter than that. Much like its main character Crystal (Betty Gilpin). Within the movie, various right wing/conservative figures are captured as part of "The Hunt" from "liberal elites." The fact with the movie is that none of the characters beyond Crystal and Athena Stone (Hilary Swank) really have a backstory much less any sense of intelligence, nor really a reason to garner empathy for them. Almost as soon as they are introduced, they are dead. The grander point seems to be stupid people will do stupid things when they think their survival is on the line or when they think they have an advantage. It’s human nature.

The movie as a result feels like a mixture between The Hunger Games series (which I'll likely to watch soon finally), Ready or Not, and the literary source (you know, an actual book?) The Most Dangerous Game. The point is not that conservatives are gun wielding cultists who make stupid decisions and die or that liberals in this are callous and hypocritical. It's just that Athena Stone is a screwed up person that because the opening text messages were leaked then decides to hunt people.

To be honest, this movie is a bit average with somewhat bad night time cinematography (as in it's almost darken to the point of invisibility). Betty Gilpin has a bit of an 'off quality' to her character, not really garnering a sense of reliability or sympathy; it's a bit like Billy Bob Thornton's character in Sling Blade. It's not a classic, but it's not terrible either.

The Invisible Woman (2013) (Hulu, leaving on 4/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

The Invisible Woman at times seems to be a movie in search of a plot; once it's settled in that what is happening is as Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones) remembers it, the movie finds its groove.

What seems to prevalent throughout the movie is the fact that Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) is pulled away at several different things all at once - with this owing to the way his mind works and how he thinks is largely the case. Dickens seems to be enamored with the idea that Nelly Ternan finds him attractive and intelligent and he is drawn to her for being a fairly quick reader and their involvement in a production of The Frozen Deep.

As I watched this, it felt like what Terrence Malick would do with a Victorian England film. Dialogue and scenes are almost in the abstract, where I had to fill in the blanks with the words said and as much as the situations shown. Dickens and Nelly find themselves consummating their love that produces a child, which dies at birth in France. Dickens treats Nelly rotten; he announces in the paper that he is separating from his wife Catherine (Joanna Scanlon) and has no involvement with Nelly (despite her not being named in the public posting).

Dickens and Nelly survive a train derailment where Dickens refuses to acknowledge his connection with Nelly and then buys her a cottage in secret. The movie bookends with the production of the Frozen Deep that Nelly is seeing; she recalls her lines as well as a sense of pride for it to be something that she and Charles Dickens were involved with doing.

The Invisible Woman as a movie has a great performance from Felicity Jones; Nelly's unspoken anger is apparent throughout the movie. Of course, the production and costume designs are noteworthy as well as the cinematography from Rob Hardy, who went on to work on Alex Garland's Civil War. The movie has an utterly picturesque beauty to it - I love the shots at London streets during the night where Dickens walks among 'the fallen women' before soliciting for donations for them as the scene cuts. The playhouse scenes are utterly beautiful to watch as well.

The Invisible Woman as a movie isn't exactly one of the best, but it's an admirable effort from its director Ralph Fiennes.

Desert Warrior (saw in the theaters) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

To be honest, I may have fallen asleep during parts of this movie. I know I went to the bathroom a few times during it. I don't really feel like the movie did any effort in explaining anything with the characters. As a result, I don't feel like I really missed anything.

However, Westernized movie archetypes and tropes flow through this. Astute viewers can spot moments that seem similar to Star Wars, Dune, John Ford Westerns like The Searchers and Fort Apache, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, and Lawrence of Arabia. The movie doesn't bother to explain the significance to non-Arabian audiences, so it's just sort of accepted. The main thing is the tribes of the region were fighting and Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart) brought them together for a common goal against the Sasanian Empire and its Emperor Kisra (Ben Kingsley). Hanzala (Anthony Mackie) (or Bandit as he's called in the credits) helps save Princess Hind and her father King Numan (Ghassan Massoud) until Numan's death.

The movie really doesn't pick up until the battle which was great to watch in a theater. The visual aspects of that always are worth watching, even when the characters and the story isn't as good.

I liken the movie to what the Shaw Brothers or some of the other historical Chinese movies that I've seen; it's not representative of the culture, but it's part of the country's history and dramatizes what happened. In a way, that's good that's in US theaters.

 

[J.H.]

You arecfar more kind to You've Got Mail than I am. Thaymt movie left such a bad taste in my mouth. I mean it is "woman falls in love with her stalker" bad. 

But that is my take on it and not everyone sees it that way.

James

[Andrew POE!]

7 minutes ago, J.H. said:

You arecfar more kind to You've Got Mail than I am. Thaymt movie left such a bad taste in my mouth. I mean it is "woman falls in love with her stalker" bad. 

But that is my take on it and not everyone sees it that way.

James

You aren't wrong with that. It's also "woman falls in love with guy that took away her job and her business." 

I seem to be too generous with the movies I've been watching lately smh. 

Edited April 29 by Andrew POE!

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today...

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (Hulu, leaving on 4/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

What's Eating Gilbert Grape could be regarded as a cruel movie. Gilbert (Johnny Depp) tells of his life in Endor, Iowa with his mentally handicapped brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio), his sisters Amy (Laura Harrington) and Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt) and their mother Bonnie (Darlene Cates). The prevailing aspect of Gilbert's life is everyone leaves him and he stays - a brother left and never came back and their father committed suicide.

With the movie, it's very similar to the kind of life that was in The Last Picture Show. Gilbert has a similar state of looking for love with Becky (Juliette Lewis) and having an affair with Betty Carver (Mary Steenburgen) while 'doing deliveries.' The fact with those two characters, Gilbert never achieves love in that sense. Betty leaves after her husband Ken (Kevin Tighe)'s death and Becky goes with her grandmother (Penelope Branning) once they get their vehicle working.

So what is learned or gained for Gilbert? Not much of anything. His life is depressing - his brother Arnie runs afoul of the sheriff for climbing a water tower and eventually the sheriff takes him in for doing it. Bonnie decides to get up and go into town to free her son; the scenes with that are incredibly sad as well. The car they drive in is almost pushed into the ground due to Bonnie's weight and the people gathering around them as they take Arnie home regard Bonnie as an 'attraction' mean-spiritedly. They take pictures of her, they laugh, and talk amongst themselves.

The climax of it has everything that Gilbert went through break him down. His brother Arnie destroys his first birthday cake and Gilbert goes to Foodland to pick up the second birthday cake. The way the camera films that is very different than earlier in the movie; the local grocery store appears tighter with more closeup shots used (like when Betty sees Gilbert in the store). There's a wider angle shot used when Gilbert walks in to get the birthday cake. He spots his boss and seems almost befuddled as to having to do it.

Gilbert puts the cake in the fridge and of course Arnie gets into it; that caused Gilbert's breakdown. Gilbert punches and slaps Arnie in the bathroom and forces him to take a bath. To be honest, Gilbert should have been arrested, even with Arnie running away to where Becky and her grandmother are. At the end of the birthday party, Bonnie goes upstairs where she ultimately dies.

I find it interesting that after her death, Gilbert and the other siblings move everything out of the house then sets the house on fire. It's as though Gilbert (and they) don't view it as forcing them to stay in the town. They're free to go now. In the epilogue, which bookends the start of the movie, Gilbert tells about his sisters leaving the town for lives elsewhere. Becky and her grandmother pick up Gilbert and Arnie. What their future looks like, who knows. It just won't be in Endor.

I found it interesting how What's Eating Gilbert Grape isn't a question as a title, but a statement. There's a reference earlier in the movie about a praying mantis being eaten as they mate (which is a bit of a pun for the movie title). The truth of what's eating Gilbert Grape is regret and anger. Gilbert Grape stays in the town when he should have left earlier; more should have been done to help Bonnie in her grief after her husband's death. Yet, this seems to be what it is like in America; the fringes of society and those 'not fitting in' are left to fend for themselves. The movie touches upon it as well - the "Burger Barn" opening is the only bit of vitality for the town and for the people.

So what then becomes the solution? Sadly, there isn't one. Gilbert Grape and his brother Arnie will have to fend for themselves with whoever they are taken in with; it's likely Gilbert and Becky will get married while caring for Arnie until his death. It is noted after all that Arnie living to be 18 wasn't expected.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a sad portrayal of American lives in a small town.

The Fighter (Peacock, leaving on 4/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Mickey Ward's Letterboxd review for Belle Epoque:

"Took my girlfriend to see this on our first date because one of the guys on the road crew told me this is a good movie. Guy behind me said he read about it in the New York Times and it had good cinematography, whatever taht is. I fell asleep. My girlfriend said she didn't like it. She had to read it." 1/2 star

Oh well.

The Fighter is probably David O. Russell's better and most focused movie; in a way, it's more of a "Martin Scorsese Boston movie" than The Departed was. This is honestly Mark Wahlberg's best role as Mickey Ward; the character is like a lot of Wahlberg's previous roles (hard luck figure yet a deeply caring person for his family and his loved ones). Wahlberg doesn't really do anything differently than he did in the past, but he's more 'relaxed' in the role. It's very much the physicality that someone like Sylvester Stallone would do for the Rocky series.

Christian Bale as Dicky Eklund captures a lot of the 'live wire' energy of someone that would be on hard drugs; Eklund seems like it's indeterminable if he's coming or going. Amy Adams as Charlene Fleming is very much fitting with the "Boston Martin Scorsese" vibe that's happening with the movie; her character pushes back against Mickey but eventually warms up to him and even shows up at his fights.

With it being almost like a Martin Scorsese movie, the needledrops were really effective; "Good Times Bad Times" was perfect for the scene where Dicky Eklund gets arrested for impersonating a police officer as Mickey runs down the street to stop it and gets himself arrested too. Later in the movie, "Back in the Saddle" is great for the montage sequence showing Mickey Ward winning his fights and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" is used in a sequence as Mickey prepares for his fight in London.

What struck me with the movie is how 'in tune' with movies this is. It's almost a bit 'meta' with the opener as a camera crew follows Mickey and Dicky around and interview with them on the couch act as bookends for the movie. Then later, of course, Mickey and Charlotte go to see Belle Epoque (that's still a great movie, but yeah having to read a movie sometimes isn't fun if you're tired). The HBO special about Dicky is shown as everyone around Dicky (his family, Mickey, the people in jail) are watching it. (I did find it a bit unfair that Mickey's ex would show it to her daughter considering that Mickey wasn't abusing drugs).

With that said, The Fighter is a great early 2010s boxing movie fitting with the other great boxing movies.

Mrs. Miniver (HBO Max, leaving on 4/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

War isn't supposed to be pretty or glamorous.

Mrs. Miniver starts with middle class/upper middle class concerns - Mrs. Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) trying to find the right bus so that she can purchase a hat and surprise her husband Mr. Clem Miniver (Walter Pidgeon) with it. Their son Vin (Richard Ney) is seeing a woman named Carol Beldon (Teresa Wright) after coming back from Oxford. Carol is part of a family of the upper class with her grandmother Lady Beldon (May Whitty) being somewhat bemused with their union.

The thing is World War II looms over them.

The movie is described as propaganda, but in a lot of ways, those involved don't really have skin in the game. Their lives are of complacency and comfort for most of the movie; but when war affects them, it really affects them. After Vin enlists and joins the Royal Air Force, Clem is to assist with the Dunkirk evacuation. Mrs. Miniver wakes up and talks to Mr. Ballard (Henry Travers) and then finds a wounded German pilot (Helmut Dantine) in the bushes.

At this point, the movie changes and war has come home to England. The pilot holds Mrs. Miniver at gunpoint to get bread, meat, and milk; the idea of the quality of mercy is at play as he eats and drinks like he's never seen food before in his life. He being at someone else's mercy never crosses his mind as his country's leadership seeks to eliminate a group of people and enslave other countries. The moment is full of tension as the pilot eventually collapses, Mrs. Miniver takes his gun, and phones the police. Even in that moment, Mrs. Miniver chooses mercy; she asks for a doctor to help the man. People without the better angels over them would have shot the pilot and buried him in the rose bushes. What breaks up the tension is the return of Mr. Miniver from Dunkirk and Vin from the Air Force. Imagine what would have happened if Mrs. Miniver killed the pilot or they didn't come back; yet they didn't come back with limbs missing or with psychological trauma of the battles.

This aspect of appealing to a better nature appears later in the movie; Lady Benton decides to award first place in the rose contest to Mr. Ballard. She had been told that she had won, but she saw him and saw what it meant to him; her better nature won out, despite being hardened against it. She has a contentious relationship with her son-in-law until she finally agrees after talking to Mrs. Miniver. I guess Kay Miniver has a way of bringing out the best in people.

Another standout scene is during the attacks as the family are in the bunkers; they seem content. Mrs. Miniver cross-stitching and drinking tea. Mr. Miniver drinking tea, the cat looking like he wants to try tea too, the kids asleep. As the bombs get closer, the power cuts out and objects fall down. The door flies open until the fighting stops.

It seems that Carol Beldon doesn't escape the war; Carol and Mrs. Miniver stop their car in the road as a plane crashes down then bullets ring. The camera shows the bullet holes in the roof of the car; Carol didn't survive. It seems at this point that Mrs. Miniver can't live with her complacency and her hats and her designer dresses unaffected. It wasn't Vin that died, but Carol.

The final moments of the movie has probably the most populist and even socialistic messaging in a WWII era movie. Those fighting in the war aren't the soldiers too; it's the people. The people didn't ask to be part of it, but when tyranny attacks homes and schools and churches, they have to take part. "Surely you must have asked yourself this question. Why in all conscience should these be the ones to suffer? Children, old people, a young girl at the height of her loveliness. Why these? Are these our soldiers? Are these our fighters? Why should they be sacrificed? I shall tell you why. Because this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is a war of the people, of all the people, and it must be fought not only on the battlefield, but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home, and in the heart of every man, woman, and child who loves freedom!"

The English way of life seems like it has to be pursued, it has to be rescued. Although the movie doesn't consider the way impact with what happened in Germany and other countries controlled from Germany, the love of freedom has to be at the forefront. Those flying overhead at the end in a victory formation while "Onward Christian Soldiers" is sung makes it so.

With the movie, Mrs. Miniver is a lot better than I thought it would be. Cinematography throughout the movie has a great usage of shadows and light sources (I loved the scene where the light is over Greer Garson as she talks about her hat and then the camera pans to the hat to end the scene). There's a lot of great production and set design details too.

I had to laugh at the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Miniver sleep in twin beds even though they're married. How did they produce children, Will Hays? The fucking stork? Magic? A truck dumps the babies off and away it goes? The Hays Code is once again a pox on the movie industry and should have never been implemented.

Mrs. Miniver is a great early 1940s WWII era drama.

Pride (2007) (HBO Max, leaving on 4/30) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Pride is quite literally Hoosiers but with a swimming pool. Terrence Howard as Jim Ellis (the name alone had me thinking about the car dealership with the same name) and Bernie Mac as Elrod, an angry janitor with a heart of gold, help coaching a swimming team of local kids in Philadelphia.

The movie doesn't really do anything that new with sports dramas, but it's a bit of a new wrinkle to have one of the antagonists being a black man who is a drug dealer and pimp. That way it's not just arrogant white men like Tom Arnold as Richard Binkowski.

Philadelphia Dept of Recreation ends up putting together a team that comes together and takes it seriously and wins the regional championship.

I did like the 1970s style look and coloring throughout the movie, but holy shit did they overuse the needledrops for 1960s/1970s songs. It was about every other scene where it would happen.

I still think Terrence Howard is a horse's ass, but he was really great in this.

 

[caley]

 

The Big Shot: Humphrey Bogart plays a twice (or was it thrice?)-convicted criminal who finds life on the straight and narrow difficult, until a shady lawyer who has taken up with his ex, offers him a shot to rob an armored car. His ex talks him out of going, the robbery goes sideways and a witness fingers Bogart anyways. He goes to the lawyer to defend him, who reluctantly agrees, until he learns his wife is back with Bogart and double-crosses him. It's classic Bogart: all steely-eyed and cool and tough yet surprisingly vulnerable and ends with a great chase sequence and it made me wonder why this isn't in the regular rotation on TCM. Well, that is until the jailbreak sequence, where Bogart teams up with a fellow inmate who performs (and attempts to escape) in blackface. Yeah. If you're able to tolerate that as byproduct of its time, the movie is totally worthwhile and worth a watch. If just reading it rankles you, probably stay away.

Bad Blonde: This is basically 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' just moved to the English boxing scene. A young boxer and his trainers hook up with a fight promoter whose wife immediately sets up manipulating the naive boxer. Eddie Muller of TCM thought it was interesting in that the movie is basically an excuse to showcase young star Tony Wright in the same way films of this era usually showed off female ingenues. Also if you're from the UK or into the Carry On series, Sid James is one of the main actors (I was not so that was mostly meaningless to me!). I thought the whole thing was fairly mediocre myself, and could not understand Frederick Valk's dialogue to save my life!

Winterhawk: I will confess, I watched this movie because the write-up, cast list and screenshot of a shirtless Woody Strode on Prime made me think it was basically Woody Strode senselessly playing a Blackfoot chief and kicking ass on white folks which I was very into. But Strode is barely in this, has maybe four lines of dialogue and the shirtless pic they use is actually him getting tortured. Alas! Also, had I known it was directed by Charles B. Pierce of 'Boggy Creek' and 'The Town That Dreaded Sundown' fame...eh I would probably still have watched it but probably expected a little less. Anyways, there's 70/80s character/"Hey isn't that?!" actors all over the place (Denver Pyle, LQ Jones, Dawn Wells, Sacheen Littlefeather) but for all the talking up of his character: Winterhawk doesn't really DO anything. He comes to trade with white folk for a smallpox cure, gets doublecrossed by bandits, kidnaps two young(ish) people and spends the rest of the movie riding away from them as they try to get their kidnapped kin back. Despite all that, I thought "Well at least they got an actual Native American to play Winterhawk!" only to look him up and see that, by all accounts, he seems to be just a white guy.

The Capture: This was WEIRD. Lew Ayres plays an oil company worker whose company has their payroll robbed. He decides, egged on by his wife, to track the thief down, finds him, shoots him when the bandit won't raise both hands (because he has a broken arm), turns him over anyways to his bosses who say he confessed, and then the bandit dies and Ayres feels bad. So his wife dumps him when he suggests he won't take the reward, so he decides to make a new life in Mexico, finds the deceased's wife and son, get a job with them and just basically decides to make them his new family. The widow figures out who he is, he's seemingly surprised that she's upset and then they fall in love. But he decides for the sake of his new adopted son, he has to clear the name of his deceased father. And the last stretch seems like a completely different character in the decisions he makes with a completely ambiguous ending. Seriously weird.

Baby Ghost: I watched a Mystery Science Theater 3000 behind-the-scenes feature once where one of the guys talked about how people come up to him and say "Wow, you guys watch the WORST movies" and he laughed and said "No these are far from the worst." and how they see so many dreadful movies that are just too bad to even try to make watchable. Well, sometimes I feel like Rifftrax movies forget that fact. This is seriously one of the worst things I have ever seen. Ostensibly a family film, Joe Estevez plays a children's photographer and a family visiting him for photographs wanders away in their seemingly empty office building and the little girl finds a chest with a lock on it and opens the lock by going "I know! Mom's measurements!" It is NEVER explained WHY the child knows her mom's measurements or HOW said measurements are the numbers required to unlock the box. Anyways, this sets Baby Ghost free on the building. As Mike Nelson puts it, Baby Ghost looks like "a smear on the camera lens" and flies around giggling and locking doors. It's basically a movie of seemingly inconceivable ideas: a family movie with a lengthy sequence where Estevez makes a phonecall to his favourite psychic who just happens to live in the building; two robbers robbing a seemingly empty building talking like extras from a Sopranos ripoff; not one, but two, "comic relief" characters who run around bringing mayhem. Like, I cannot fathom what child would ever have this hold their attention span for more than two minutes, but I cant imagine any adult watching it without the Rifftrax commentary. So, who is this made for?!