Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Cinema at the End of the World Edition

[Pink Mist]

Dragged Across Concrete (S. Craig Zahler, 2018)

Two cops (Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn) get suspended from the force for police brutality during an arrest and turn to stealing from drug dealers/bank robbers to make a quick buck. Beautifully shot and with a slow methodical style that takes its time building to its climax, Zahler’s film is a great slow burn thriller film with a brutally violent payoff. I love the look, style, and pace of Zahler’s film, unfortunately the rest leaves a lot to desire for me.

This is due to the ideology Zahler espouses in his writing. Now, I normally don’t have a problem with conservative films or watching films with politics I disagree with, but this one was a little too much for me. Within the first 15 minutes we witness a meeting where the two cops are being suspended and have to listen to them whine about how so called “cancel culture” is preventing cops from doing their jobs, and how being a racist today is equivalent to being a communist in the 1950s, and “so much for the tolerant left”. All of these lines involving Mel Gibson! Give me a f***ing break. To be fair, this is almost exactly how I imagine cops talk in these situations and personally believe, so I suppose its accurate and depiction doesn’t equal endorsement yada yada yada, but Zahler seems to endorse their worldview based on his contrived writing throughout the film. Zahler comes up with the laziest plot contrivances to legitimize their worldviews. For example, Mel Gibson’s character lives in a rough neighbourhood because of his lowly salary (which seems odd from my Canadian perspective where our cops make over $100k after overtime, but I don’t know how it works in the US), and his daughter is assaulted by black youth on her way home from school, so he needs to make some money fast to get them out of that hellhole filled with black people, which sets him on this violent journey. In another scene, a young mother gets killed at work because her soy boy boyfriend made her go to work even though she wanted to stay home and child rear and be the perfect trad wife. Much of the plot and dialogue could have been lifted from your racist uncle’s Facebook feed.

I’ve never seen a writer simultaneously have the laziest writing and the most overwritten writing. Zahler has a knack for these lazy plot points and dialogue, but he also can’t help and get over the top poetic and literary in other instances (basically anything Vince Vaughn’s character says). Zahler has cinematic talent to burn, and I love his pulpy style, I just wish someone else would write his scripts for him because even without the political stuff I don’t think he’s a good writer.

 

[kihei]

Blue (2018) Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Blue is a twelve minute film directed by Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul, for my money the most interesting director in the world right now. He is a guy with a very down-to-earth, matter-of-fact approach to mysticism (or simply to alternative states of consciousness), and his movies usually explore dreamy, drifting kinds of realties that are both of this earth and totally other simultaneously. Blue is about a woman floating in and out of sleep on a bed in a set-designed jungle. Just past the foot of her bed a series of painted theatrical backdrops randomly unfurl, backdrops that she is oblivious to. Her blue blanket catches fire (a clever superimposition) but she is not consumed by it. As vague animal noises are heard in the background, parts of the rest of the set are also visited by fire.

I think the film is about altered states of being, but Weerasethakul has never been hostage to the literal. He seems very interested in such in-between states of consciousness and employs visual not verbal sequences of images to explore his contemplations. His short films sometimes get tagged as experimental, but what's the experiment? In film, "experimental" is a tag that is often used when the critic doesn't know what to do with something--a handy catchall description that is usually totally inadequate to describe the art object in question. I'm guessing that Weerasethakul is quite certain of what he is trying to achieve, but doesn't worry much about what people unfamiliar with his philosophy of life will make of it. He provides experiences, visual representations, not explanations. The world is not what it seems--more transcendent things are going on than meets the eye.

MUBI

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Dragged Across Concrete (S. Craig Zahler, 2018)

Two cops (Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn) get suspended from the force for police brutality during an arrest and turn to stealing from drug dealers/bank robbers to make a quick buck. Beautifully shot and with a slow methodical style that takes its time building to its climax, Zahler’s film is a great slow burn thriller film with a brutally violent payoff. I love the look, style, and pace of Zahler’s film, unfortunately the rest leaves a lot to desire for me.

This is due to the ideology Zahler espouses in his writing. Now, I normally don’t have a problem with conservative films or watching films with politics I disagree with, but this one was a little too much for me. Within the first 15 minutes we witness a meeting where the two cops are being suspended and have to listen to them whine about how so called “cancel culture” is preventing cops from doing their jobs, and how being a racist today is equivalent to being a communist in the 1950s, and “so much for the tolerant left”. All of these lines involving Mel Gibson! Give me a f***ing break. To be fair, this is almost exactly how I imagine cops talk in these situations and personally believe, so I suppose its accurate and depiction doesn’t equal endorsement yada yada yada, but Zahler seems to endorse their worldview based on his contrived writing throughout the film. Zahler comes up with the laziest plot contrivances to legitimize their worldviews. For example, Mel Gibson’s character lives in a rough neighbourhood because of his lowly salary (which seems odd from my Canadian perspective where our cops make over $100k after overtime, but I don’t know how it works in the US), and his daughter is assaulted by black youth on her way home from school, so he needs to make some money fast to get them out of that hellhole filled with black people, which sets him on this violent journey. In another scene, a young mother gets killed at work because her soy boy boyfriend made her go to work even though she wanted to stay home and child rear and be the perfect trad wife. Much of the plot and dialogue could have been lifted from your racist uncle’s Facebook feed.

I’ve never seen a writer simultaneously have the laziest writing and the most overwritten writing. Zahler has a knack for these lazy plot points and dialogue, but he also can’t help and get over the top poetic and literary in other instances (basically anything Vince Vaughn’s character says). Zahler has cinematic talent to burn, and I love his pulpy style, I just wish someone else would write his scripts for him because even without the political stuff I don’t think he’s a good writer.

I had a very similar reaction to this movie. He's undoubtedly talented and he clearly enjoys his social taunts and jabs but I'm not sure there's nearly as much to talk about behind those provocations as he thinks there is.

 

[Pink Mist]

I had a very similar reaction to this movie. He's undoubtedly talented and he clearly enjoys his social taunts and jabs but I'm not sure there's nearly as much to talk about behind those provocations as he thinks there is.

Yeah like i get it is an exploitation film, and they are meant to be provocative, and I'd say he accomplishes being provocative, but his talent seems to be kind of wasted in his need to be a right wing provocateur to the detriment of his writing and his film.

 

[Pink Mist]

Blue (2018) Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Blue is a twelve minute film directed by Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul, for my money the most interesting director in the world right now. He is a guy with a very down-to-earth, matter-of-fact approach to mysticism (or simply to alternative states of consciousness), and his movies usually explore dreamy, drifting kinds of realties that are both of this earth and totally other simultaneously. Blue is about a woman floating in and out of sleep on a bed in a set-designed jungle. Just past the foot of her bed a series of painted theatrical backdrops randomly unfurl, backdrops that she is oblivious to. Her blue blanket catches fire (a clever superimposition) but she is not consumed by it. As vague animal noises are heard in the background, parts of the rest of the set are also visited by fire.

I think the film is about altered states of being, but Weerasethakul has never been hostage to the literal. He seems very interested in such in-between states of consciousness and employs visual not verbal sequences of images to explore his contemplations. His short films sometimes get tagged as experimental, but what's the experiment? In film, "experimental" is a tag that is often used when the critic doesn't know what to do with something--a handy catchall description that is usually totally inadequate to describe the art object in question. I'm guessing that Weerasethakul is quite certain of what he is trying to achieve, but doesn't worry much about what people unfamiliar with his philosophy of life will make of it. He provides experiences, visual representations, not explanations. The world is not what it seems--more transcendent things are going on than meets the eye.

MUBI

I also just watched it. My interpretation is that it is Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Thai remake of Portrait of a Lady On Fire (wow, you know he's made it big when google chrome's spellcheck corrects my misspellings and suggests the correct spelling of his name).

I can't say I ever completely "get" his films, as they're usually beyond my capability of interpretation since his background, philosophy, and worldview is so removed from my own, but I am always mesmerized by everything I watch of his and they're always engaging works once you get into his rhythm

 

[Chili]

The Prisoner of Shark Island-1936

'Leave Hope Behind Who Enters Here'

April 1865, a country doctor receives a knock on his door in the middle of the night. Two men are there, one of them has a broken leg. The doctor treats the man and the two men leave. The doctor has just treated John Wilkes Booth and his nightmare begins. If anyone has seen The Conspirator, they are familiar with the type of trial the accused assassins of President Lincoln received (military not civilian). Somehow though Dr. Mudd escaped the gallows (apparently by one vote)and is sent to Fort Jefferson, Shark Island in the film, off the coast of Florida. A Devil's Island type prison.

Extraordinary story based on true events builds nicely, great film. It's on YouTube.

Abe Lincoln in Illinois-1940

Abe's journey from the log cabin to the White House, focusing on his time in Springfield, Illinois. Curious choice of Raymond Massey to play the future president, I always remember him as John Brown in Santa Fe Trail which came out the same year, quite the contrast. Got a kick out of Ruth Gordon (Harold and Maude, Every Which Way But Loose, Any Which Way You Can) as Mrs. Lincoln. Some of the speeches are the best part, including the "A house divided against itself cannot stand." speech. Good film.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

No Time To Die (2021) - 7/10

Certainly the best looking Bond movie I've seen but also quite bloated. It looks classy but doesn't quite feel as classy as Bond movies usually try but at least it avoids being sleazy. The villain really ends up being a pointless cliche and the action scenes are decent but feel boring after what we're getting from some other movies.

Also, I don't think I'm the only one who thinks this but WTF was the point of having Anna De Armas come in and steal a scene then just....leave? Make her the next Bond.

 

[tardigrade81]

UNDERWATER
2/10

Holy smokes, I have seen some bad movies in my day but this by far takes the cake. I won’t get too into it for any that want to suffer through this piece of crap but it is boring start to finish

it opens at a steady pace when they are under water and struggling to survive when it seems like an under water blast goes off and destroys their shop base they are in. Well it only gets worse from there

this is suppose to be a monster movie and I was expecting the likes of cloverfield. We see the monsters for all of 5 minutes in the entire movie. It legit takes almost a full hour before you even see the first monster. Also Kristen Stewart is a horrible actress!

Only reason I gave this a 2 is because the ending was half decent. The final battle with the great big monster. Otherwise it was boring and dark and hard to see.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

The Eternals
Like elements of the new Bond movie, this is the perils of franchise film making. The need to make things “fit” takes you out of the movie rather than draws you in. This was my problem with Joker from a few years ago as well. The moments of fealty or connection to previous movies or to comics lore (in Joker’s case) are just awkward and ham-handed and distract. When the movie is allowed to do its own thing, it’s at its best. When Salma Hayek says Thanos, I just want to laugh.

This one is hamstrung from the start. While most other MCU movies are able to build on pre-existing characters or events, this one tosses at least 11 new characters at you with a whole new silly backstory of their own. That’s A LOT of table setting that holds the movie back.

All that said I have a feeling this one may age ok over time. It looks great as Chloe Zhao was clearly given a degree of location and visual freedom not afforded other MCU directors. The lack of familiarity also works somewhat in its favor. I’ll avoid specific spoilers, but will say I thought it was a very interestingly and cleverly cast movie. It bats about .500 in terms of interesting performances and dull ones. There’s a very obvious and very funny meta commentary on a very specific superhero. It ain’t subtle, but I was a little surprised by its boldness.

This feels destined to be an outlier. Probably will find an audience of staunch defenders but generally is going to be among the bottom MCU movies for most. I’m interested in where it goes from here … not because I care as much as I still left the movie thinking WTF are they doing?

I’m still mostly cool on it now, but I have enough of a contrarian streak in me that I’ll probably be passionately defending it due to its quirks five years from now.

 

[NyQuil]

The Eternals
Like elements of the new Bond movie, this is the perils of franchise film making. The need to make things “fit” takes you out of the movie rather than draws you in. This was my problem with Joker from a few years ago as well. The moments of fealty or connection to previous movies or to comics lore (in Joker’s case) are just awkward and ham-handed and distract. When the movie is allowed to do its own thing, it’s at its best. When Salma Hayek says Thanos, I just want to laugh.

This one is hamstrung from the start. While most other MCU movies are able to build on pre-existing characters or events, this one tosses at least 11 new characters at you with a whole new silly backstory of their own. That’s A LOT of table setting that holds the movie back.

All that said I have a feeling this one may age ok over time. It looks great as Chloe Zhao was clearly given a degree of location and visual freedom not afforded other MCU directors. The lack of familiarity also works somewhat in its favor. I’ll avoid specific spoilers, but will say I thought it was a very interestingly and cleverly cast movie. It bats about .500 in terms of interesting performances and dull ones. There’s a very obvious and very funny meta commentary on a very specific superhero. It ain’t subtle, but I was a little surprised by its boldness.

This feels destined to be an outlier. Probably will find an audience of staunch defenders but generally is going to be among the bottom MCU movies for most. I’m interested in where it goes from here … not because I care as much as I still left the movie thinking WTF are they doing?

I’m still mostly cool on it now, but I have enough of a contrarian streak in me that I’ll probably be passionately defending it due to its quirks five years from now.

There really has to be a rule about how many new characters you can introduce in a film effectively. I think it's basically 2 to 3.

4 or more and you start struggling to give them enough screentime and gravitas.

 

[KlausJopling]

The French Dispatch

As Wes Anderson a movie as Wes Anderson has ever made, for good and for bad. I am an Anderson fan, and i think fans of his will get enjoyment out of this because what his fans usually like about his films is here. Almost the film looking like it was filmed in stop motion where they stopped after every frame and took 5 hours to setup the next frame. This is also the thing that people who are fans of his sometimes don't appreciate. Definitely needs a re-watch because along with the usual small details going on in the background you miss in a first watch of an Anderson film there are multiple occasions where the frame is split and you are forced to choose between following one thing or another. Since this film is essentially 3 short stories (with a 4th even shorter story) dont except to see alot of any of the cast (and alot of the cast; Waltz and Ronan for example may only have one short scene where they are featured). Of the 3 main short stories I felt the first was the strongest. Mainly because Benecio del Torro and Tilda Swinton chewing scenery, also a very naked Lea Seydoux. McDormand and Chalamet are good in the second story. I would say all of the actors are up for it, not surprising since its mostly people he has worked with before who are doing what you know he wants.

If you are an Anderson fan you will enjoy it and probably want to see it a second time to catch all the detail but probably wont have it as one of your top films of his. I think the fact it is an anthology will always prevent that, especially when there isn't really any overall theme that ties the stories together. Other than they are 3 interesting stories you may see in a fictionalized version of the New Yorker set in a fictionalized version of a small French town. Probably the only of his films where the main character isn't an a hole (which is probably only due to the fact there is not a main character).

If your not a fan of his, then I doubt you find anything here you will enjoy other than maybe just the craft (which is probably the same for any of his other films).

 

[Babe Ruth]

Leave it to Beaver (1997)

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I thought this was surprisingly decent. They sort of copied the model of the Brady Bunch movies.. transporting a corny family from the past in to the dysfunctional '90s. They did a good job balancing satire, with positive life lessons/commentary. Janine Turner looked great as June. My only real complaint is they kinda cast Eddie Haskell too young, but..
It's currently running on Starz.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Certainly the best looking Bond movie I've seen but also quite bloated

Skyfall still takes the cake for me in this regard, and it's not all that close.

Also, I don't think I'm the only one who thinks this but WTF was the point of having Anna De Armas come in and steal a scene then just....leave?

To make the movie better and give it its best set piece, I guess

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Guys! Stop! Wtf are you doing, the Clifford The Big Red Dog movie is out!!!

 

[Osprey]

Red Notice (2021) - 5/10 (Didn't like or dislike it)

An FBI agent (Dwayne Johnson) teams up with an art thief (Ryan Reynolds) to catch another art thief (Gal Gadot) and clear his name. It's a big budget action comedy that's largely a "buddy" film, with the two leading men needing to work together but having very different personalities. The first half reminded me of True Lies, especially with Reynolds playing Tom Arnold to Johnson's Arnie by taking nothing seriously and being constantly sarcastic and funny, to the latter's unamusement. It's basically the same character that Reynolds always plays, so you're liable to find him either hilarious or tiresome. I lean more to the latter, but he was occasionally amusing. Johnson is pretty much what you expect, as well. At least Gadot's villainous role is different for her and she really seems to relish it. As much as the first half reminded me of True Lies, the second half reminded me of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in its setting, plot and action. It doesn't even try to hide its inspiration. In fact, a lot of the film feels like it's borrowing from or referencing other films. It's quite familiar and formulaic, but rescued somewhat by the charisma and chemistry of its three stars. If you're a fan of any of them, it's worth watching. It could've been better, especially with such a cast, but it could've been worse. I can't really say that I enjoyed it, but I was never bored. Others may like it more, especially those who find Reynolds funnier than I do. It's out today on Netflix.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Red Notice (2021) - 7/10

This is stupid, the story is bland, but I have to give it a good score because it does dumb blockbuster action-comedy pretty damn well in an era where they don't really exist unless you count Marvel films as comedy. The rock has the charisma of a rock but Reynolds and Gadot are really fun, it's one of the funnier movies of the year too (directed by the guy who did Dodgeball & We're The Millers). I think I enjoyed this more than I'll end up enjoying the new Uncharted film. Does suffer from the usual problem which similar films like this before the 2010s had which was a weaker final act but it's not long enough for that to be a problem. Man I would've loved to see this in a theatre on a Friday night in 2004.

Also pretty sure they're setting up a series/sequel here which will likely be terrible.

 

[kihei]

Re Red Notice: Reynolds' schtick only works if the one-liners are funny which they mostly aint this time. I'd bet this movie will recede from my memory at the speed of light. Maybe faster.

 

[Osprey]

Re Red Notice: Reynolds' schtick only works if the one-liners are funny which they mostly aint this time. I'd bet this movie will recede from my memory at the speed of light. Maybe faster.

If it leaves your memory at faster than the speed of light, does mean that you have a warped mind?

 

[OzzyFan]

King Kong (1933)
3.75 out of 4stars

"A film crew goes to a tropical island for an exotic location shoot and discovers a colossal ape who takes a shine to their female blonde star. He is then captured and brought back to New York City for public exhibition."
Safe to say that I was blown away by this "Beauty and the Beast" adventure horror classic. The early on meta commentary, especially of casting attractive people in films (for multiple reasons) and making film decisions based on audience grosses was a nice wink for the viewer, alongside the former actually having purpose in the film's plot. The pre-Skull island scenes build great backstory allure. Once we hit Skull Island the real tension starts with the natives, but it's really the moment we see King Kong that the adrenaline spikes and doesn't let up. This movie is very dark, surprisingly dark in the context of when it came out and I didn't expect it in the slightest. Not only is Kong physically and audibly horrifying, but his actions and power push it to another level. The amount of deaths and Kong/dinosaur creatures violence is gruesome. And the original (lost) cut was supposedly more violent than this. I completely understand why people consider this one of the greatest horror movies of all time now. Not to mention, Kong on the Empire State building with Fay Wray is one of the most iconic, thrilling, and possibly even touching scenes in movie history. It was very impressive to create sympathy for such a murderous beast and humanizing Kong by the end of this movie. And learning of it's revolutionary stop-motion, camera work, kaiju monster itself/blockbuster, and other special effects is just the cherry on top. Definitely worth a watch if you've never seen it.

Triangle (2009)
2.85 out of 4stars

"Near the Bermuda Triangle, yacht passengers encounter mysterious weather conditions that force them to jump onto another ship, only to have the odd havoc increase."
A surprisingly fun and entertaining twilight zone-esque psychological horror film. This is the type of film where it's easy to spoil and the less you know going in the better your experience will be. What I can say is that George is great in the lead role and it keeps you intellectually and emotionally involved the whole way if you bite.

The Haunted Palace (1963)
2.75 out of 4stars

"Condemned warlock Joseph Curwen curses a New England village just before being burned alive. Charles Dexter Ward, Curwen's great great grandson, arrives at a small village to visit the house he inherited from his ancestor."
An early Lovecraftian Poe horror film full of spooky elements. The opening sequence rapidly sets the stage with mystery, magic, a town cursed, and a man being burned alive. The movie's mood is filled with hostility and uneasiness in an "anything can happen" sort of way. The characteristics of Lovecraft's work are present, as well as mentions of his creations the Elder Gods, Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, and the infamous Necronomicon, which are significant to the story at hand. Possession, deformed kin, and hidden ritual dungeons are some of the other things thrown into the mix. Altogether a delight of a horror film.

The Beast With Five Fingers (1946)
2.65 out of 4stars

"In a turn-of-the-century Renaissance Italian mansion, its tyrannical owner, wheelchair-bound pianist, one handed, whose right side was a paralyzed from a stroke, with a strong belief in the occult, is murdered and all the residents who reside him with are suspects."
A quite fun horror mystery with a great turn by Lorre. The premise of a severed killer hand is well executed, creating some gleefully creepy visuals and investigation findings. There's also some additional nicely done atmospheric horror touches thrown in, if that makes sense. Everything is all well set-up also, with each of the characters seen as taking advantage of the murdered wealthy mansion owner while he was alive, thus making all viable suspects or even "conspirators with the hand".

House of the Devil (2009)
2.35 out of 4stars

"In 1983, financially struggling college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes this job may not be the easy cash grab it appears to be."
I was underwhelmed by this mystery horror film. It's a clear ode to 80's horror movies, in filming style and material and time period, but it doesn't bring anything new or noteworthy to the table. It's an overlong slow burn and the payoff is spoiled by the opening text. The introduction to the character and her backstory is filled with mostly wasted time early on before anything even remotely unordinary occurs. It does build atmosphere adequately, albeit in a non-continuous manner that's been replicated/originated from better films, which hurts a bit, and is prolonging the inevitable twist that you already know the answer to, Satanists. Maybe if the opening text never gave way to the idea of satanists being the central theme of the story, or even the title was a bit different, I would have been more surprised by the 'twist', and with a little more creativity to the ending this could have been salvaged.

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021)
2.00 out of 4stars

"Margot, a young woman who was abandoned by her mother as a baby, travels to a secluded Amish community with a documentary film crew seeking answers about her mother and extended family. Ominous things occur."
The whole found footage horror franchise is pretty monotonous and formulaic after you've seen 1 or 2 of them, but the endings generally deliver a bit of excitement. Same goes for this one. Slightly different story spin (as usual), same results till the end. The last 15 or 20minutes (don't quite recall the length it goes) is the adrenaline trip you may or may not be looking for.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Nightmare Alley. A Gullerimo del Toro remake is coming soon but the original is worth checking out. A gem of a noir built around a con-man carny with a knack for reading folks. Tyrone Power is aces as one of the classic noir story pieces — a man who is smart, but maybe, not smart enough.

The Last Duel. I’m starting to hate the “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore” observation about new movies. I mean, if I just watched this at least SOMEONE is still making it, right? But at the same time the overwhelming feeling as I watched this was one of being glad it exists because I liked it, but simultaneously being distracted by the fact that we don’t get as many movies like this anymore. Not IP. Not franchise. Just a pretty well done story with good performances, professional directing and absolutely ridiculous hair styles. Ben Affleck, in particular, looks like he hasn’t had this much fun making a movie in a while.

The Beta Test. Three movies into his career and I’m just in on the lifetime pass to Jim Cummings’ movies. This is his third and while the genre changes each time (this one is a Hollywood satire/erotic thriller?), he still is at the center as variations of a similar thin-skinned, unraveling, possibly unstable man. I continue to love his darkly funny writing and especially his performances. The mystery here is fine (not quite as engaging as his previous horror movie) but I continue to admire his willingness to play the good looking, damaged idiot in the middle of insanity.

The Story of a Three-Day Pass. The first film from Melvin Van Peebles who’d become famous a few years later for helping kickstart what would eventually be called Blacksploitation with Sweet Sweetback’s Badaaaaasss Song, This is nothing of the sort. Van Peebles was an ex-pat living in Paris where he worked as a journalist and novelist before eventually returning to the U.S. This story is about a black GI on a weekend release. He meets a lovely French woman. They club. They hang out. They travel. It’s all style and personality. Little drama. HEAVY French New Wave influence. It’s a very first film in that it’s stuffed (maybe overstuffed) with camera tricks and editing and all the things a filmmaker who has control thinks they may never be able to do again. It’s a lot, but it’s pretty charming. It’s held back a little by similar first movie problems. Low budgets don’t draw the best acting talent. But it’s clear Van Peebles was bursting with talent.

Big Night. I definitely overuse the word charming but I just don’t have a better way to describe this small story of two immigrant Italian brothers (Stanley Tucci, Tony Shaloub) juggling their lives and futures on the night of a big happening that can save their small New Jersey restaurant. It’s play like. Small cast. Confined space. There’s drama from hidden relationships and motivations but the brothers are the heart of this. It’s human-driven humor with a sweetness that earns the saccharine moments. You want to hug these people. Or share a drink. And you definitely want to eat. Maybe one of the best dinners ever depicted on film.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

The Passenger (1975) - 7.5/10

It's incredibly well shot by Antonioni, I think it's his best film I've seen so far (I should add I really didn't like the three big Italian ones). It isn't as stylish or good looking as Blow-Up but the plot is much better here and you don't suffer from any of the obnoxious surrealism he tries in earlier films. It's more mature, slow but the pretty camera keeps it generally free from being boring.

The teen actress alongside Nicholson is a bit of a weakness. English isn't her first language and it reflects in her tepid acting at times but tired/weary Jack Nicholson generally works well.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Forgot one!

The Color of Money. An EASY top 10 Scorsese movie for me. And if it’s the right day I might even argue it’s one of his five best. This is undeniable — it’s easily among his most ENJOYABLE. Granted a lot of his filmography verges toward the heavy and this is, at the end of the day, basically as sports movie. Oscar winner Paul Newman (overdue for sure but this isn’t a pity award) and a young brash Tom Cruise are perfect foils. Mary Elizabeth Matrantonio brings considerable heat. I wouldn’t change a second of this. Perfect ending too.

 

[kihei]

Belfast (2021) Directed by Kenneth Branagh 6A

Belfast is actor/director Kenneth Branagh's heartfelt reminiscence about his childhood growing up in Belfast. The movie takes place in 1969 when Branagh's stand-in Buddy is nine-years old. The movie reverberates between two not always comfortable oppositions, Buddy's warmly remembered childhood and the "troubles" that nearly tore Northern Ireland apart and threatened to turn Buddy's seemingly secure life into a tragedy of horrific proportions. It's a good movie, well worth seeing, but don't go in expecting a Northern Ireland Roma. Whereas in Roma, Cuaron filtered his childhood remebrances through a more detached adult perspective better able to see the unfair sacrifices that a beloved servant made on behalf of himself and his family, Branagh applies no such endistanced framework. Because the movie is from Buddy's point of view, Branagh has chosen to shoehorn the more adult concerns into the film by having Buddy overhear numerous conversations. This works once but after that it gets to be an awkwardly predictable form of exposition very quickly. As a result the shift from childhood memories to adult worries and back never fully finds a consistent balance.

The movie seems like someone perusing old family snapshots and telling what he remembers most about the people in the photos. This works very well most of the time, and the acting is uniformly excellent including young Jude Hill as Buddy. But Branagh can't quite help dismiss the temptation to tug at heart strings when no such emphasis is required nor overreach on the big final scene just to show he loved High Noon and John Ford Westerns. The questionable decisions take a toll on what should be a much more powerful and thoughtful film. Even though Belfast is a relatively short 1 hour and 37 minutes long, it feels considerably longer to sit through. For all the cherished memories on display, the movie never connected with me emotionally, and the counterpoint ever-present possibility of violence never generated much tension. Good as Belfast is, I guess I felt mostly like an interloper at somebody else's family picnic.


Best of '21 so far

1, The Power of the Dog, Campion, US
2. The Cloud in Her Room, Zheng, China
3. Bergman Island, Hansen-Love, France
4. Red Moon Tide, Patino, Spain
5. The Year of the Everlasting Storm, Panahi, et al, various countries
6. Wife of a Spy, Kurosawa, Japan
7. Identifying Features, Valadez, Mexico
8. The Green Knight, Lowery, US
9. Belfast, Branagh, Norther Ireland
10. I'm Your Man, Schrader, Germany

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I strongly dislike Ryan Reynolds.

 

[nameless1]

The Passenger (1975) - 7.5/10

It's incredibly well shot by Antonioni, I think it's his best film I've seen so far (I should add I really didn't like the three big Italian ones). It isn't as stylish or good looking as Blow-Up but the plot is much better here and you don't suffer from any of the obnoxious surrealism he tries in earlier films. It's more mature, slow but the pretty camera keeps it generally free from being boring.

The teen actress alongside Nicholson is a bit of a weakness. English isn't her first language and it reflects in her tepid acting at times but tired/weary Jack Nicholson generally works well.

Do you mean Maria Schneider? She was 23 by the film's release, and she certainly showed more here than in Last Tango in Paris. I have always wondered what her career would have been like if she was not traumatized by her experience with Brando and Bertolucci.

Personally, this is probably my favourite Antonioni film that I have seen. It is by far his most exciting work, and it is one of the few works that balanced mainstream and arthouse filmmaking quite well. That final long take is a true standout. A lot of film courses studied that scene, and to get that effect where the camera goes through the steel bars, those bars are actually removable.