The final day!
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Édgar Ramírez, James Gandolfini
Brief Thoughts: With the exception of Birdman, The Hurt Locker is the last work of real art to have won Best Picture at the Oscars. It put a big spotlight on Jeremy Renner, but also on director Kathryn Bigelow. Her next movie was about the mission that took out Osama bin Laden (an ending that didn’t exist when the movie originally went into production). But it ended up being better known as a de facto justification for torture in interrogation techniques. The cast is impeccable, led by Jessica Chastain, in what was her biggest shot at seizing the spotlight, but I think the film’s controversial nature ended up sabotaging that. Still, she remains one of the most effortlessly commanding screen presences today, in a package that seems to defy such distinction. That’s the power of acting, folks, and there are few who can be considered her peers.
The Zero Theorem (2014)
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Christoph Waltz, David Thewlis, Lucas Hedges, Matt Damon
Brief Thoughts: Terry Gilliam has a reputation for making weird movies, but on the whole his output is not as weird as you’d think. But Zero Theorem is pretty weird. Take Brazil but then chain Christoph Waltz securely to his work station, in a futuristic setting, with futuristic clothing, and...It’s sometimes difficult even for me not to find the results weird, as I love both Gilliam and Waltz, so it should be a great combination, right? Except Waltz is at his best when he’s allowed to command a scene, and basically this whole movie is everything conspiring to prevent him from doing so, which means the results are about confounding expectations, and Waltz being forced to be upstaged by everyone else. Very refreshing, actually! Matt Damon shows up uncredited. He’s had such an interesting career. Increasingly, he just kind of turned up anywhere he wanted to, like here. Also: Lucas Hedges, which is kind of hilarious, because he’s kind of Young Matt Damon. Later, he even finally gave us the Good Will Hunting follow-up we still haven’t actually gotten, Manchester by the Sea (which I still haven’t seen), which costars Affleck. (Casey Affleck, actually. A near-reunion at every turn!) The thing Gilliam has done most consistently is come up with the most interesting casts imaginable. That’s why, for instance, Robert De Niro did the uncredited honors in Brazil. That’s reason alone to enjoy this one.
Zoolander (2001)
Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell
Brief Thoughts: The cult comedy of all cult comedies, perhaps, so completely absurd you can’t help but stare, a tale of male models that’s basically Austin Powers if everyone was dumb enough to continue insisting on one million dollars. Ben Stiller may have hit big with There’s Something About Mary but without Zoolander his popular career would have been a lot shorter. Still haven’t seen the sequel, alas. Blue Steel!
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - Films That Begin With “Y”
The Yellow Birds (2018)
Director: Alexandre Moors
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Tye Sheridan, Jack Huston, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Patric
Brief Thoughts: An all-star cast of young Hollywood in Alden Ehrenreich, Tye Sheridan, and Jack Huston in a war movie. The screenwriter is David Lowery, otherwise known as one of the great underrated directors working today. Jennifer Aniston turns in a fine supporting role as a mom. Jason Patric is a treasure, as always.
Yesterday (2019)
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Kate McKinnon, Beatles songs, Ed Sheeran
Brief Thoughts: I remain hopelessly in love with this movie! Critics were fairly merciless about it, even though Danny Boyle is ordinarily their kind of director. I guess anything resembling traditional gooey romance repels them? Ordinarily not my kind of genre, either. But the Beatles...! Kate McKinnon puts in another great supporting role as a record exec. Ed Sheeran, for a lot of people who may be drawn in by the Beatles, is probably exactly what the critics said about the Beatles, that his presence is inexplicable. They won’t have any clue that he’s a big star today. His biggest hit (“Shape of You”) shows up as Sheeran’s own ringtone. It’s the only song I know of his. No offense to Ed Sheeran, but “Shape of You” is not the Beatles. There’s nothing wrong with pointing this out.
You Were Never Really Here (2018)
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix
Brief Thoughts: In my review of Joker here, I mentioned that Joaquin Phoenix starred in this a little before it, and that there are many parallels. There are some differences (no clown makeup, he has a beard, no Robert De Niro, he is a badass), but otherwise...!
Director: Alexandre Moors
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Tye Sheridan, Jack Huston, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Patric
Brief Thoughts: An all-star cast of young Hollywood in Alden Ehrenreich, Tye Sheridan, and Jack Huston in a war movie. The screenwriter is David Lowery, otherwise known as one of the great underrated directors working today. Jennifer Aniston turns in a fine supporting role as a mom. Jason Patric is a treasure, as always.
Yesterday (2019)
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Kate McKinnon, Beatles songs, Ed Sheeran
Brief Thoughts: I remain hopelessly in love with this movie! Critics were fairly merciless about it, even though Danny Boyle is ordinarily their kind of director. I guess anything resembling traditional gooey romance repels them? Ordinarily not my kind of genre, either. But the Beatles...! Kate McKinnon puts in another great supporting role as a record exec. Ed Sheeran, for a lot of people who may be drawn in by the Beatles, is probably exactly what the critics said about the Beatles, that his presence is inexplicable. They won’t have any clue that he’s a big star today. His biggest hit (“Shape of You”) shows up as Sheeran’s own ringtone. It’s the only song I know of his. No offense to Ed Sheeran, but “Shape of You” is not the Beatles. There’s nothing wrong with pointing this out.
You Were Never Really Here (2018)
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix
Brief Thoughts: In my review of Joker here, I mentioned that Joaquin Phoenix starred in this a little before it, and that there are many parallels. There are some differences (no clown makeup, he has a beard, no Robert De Niro, he is a badass), but otherwise...!
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - Films That Begin With “X”
Here we’re changing it up again, talking about the X-Men movies, in chronological order:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
I have no idea why this one gets such a bad wrap, except probably that superhero films had taken a giant leap forward the previous year with The Dark Knight and Iron Man, and it seemed like Origins was looking backward to a recent past (The Last Stand) that had soured. But the results are solid and they star Hugh Jackman, still one of the indisputable stars of the genre, alongside Liev Schreiber, taking over and commanding the role of Sabretooth. The only real complaint here is Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, but in the grand scheme it ended up achieving what had at that point been impossible. Well, that and playing into superhero fatigue with a wicked satire...
X-Men: First Class (2011)
I personally think linking Magneto with the Holocaust is needlessly melodramatic at best, and seeing it play out twice in the series didn’t make it work any better. But here we are with the second, but at least it gets us Michael Fassbender in the role. He’s this iteration’s MVP.
X-Men: Days of the Future Past (2014)
This is the one that plays both ends of the series, although it’s really an excuse to give Jackman another spotlight. Hey, no complaints here. Also the first appearance of Evan Peters’ Quicksilver.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
For me, the all-around most satisfying of the prequels, with Fassbender and James McAvoy turning in their best work, and at least the second best appearance of Quicksilver.
Dark Phoenix (2019)
It’s a little surprising that fans didn’t embrace the concept of the sliding scale in the prequels. The sliding scale was a staple in comics for decades, the idea that everything, especially in Marvel comics, that previously happened still happened even decades later, despite certain cultural touchstones from different eras making it somewhat problematic. So you have characters stretching back to the early ‘60s (and of course in Magneto’s case as a boy in WWII) looking, well, just as if they only aged a decade in thirty years. Anyway, these prequels got progressively less interest from fans who had concluded that the only superhero movies they cared about were part of the MCU, and came up with ridiculous justifications like, “Jennifer Lawrence looks bored.” Well, folks, that’s literally every Jennifer Lawrence performance, and she’s still more engaged-looking than the average Kristen Stewart. Anyway...
X-Men (2000)
And, paradoxically, where we began! Without Jackman, who was actually the last-minute replacement for the guy originally cast as Wolverine, this whole series would have looked and been drastically different. Startling to think how crucial the character is in this first movie alone...!
X2 (2003)
This is the one commonly considered the best of the originals, and by default best of them, period. But, I don’t know...It always bothered me that the first two, let alone the third one, were so eager to dispense with Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, with these first two even accomplishing it in more or less exactly the same manner, his own device (Cerebro) being used against him. Other than that, and Nightcrawler, X2 is really best and can only be appreciated as a de facto Wolverine spotlight. And...yeah.
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
In contrast, this one’s got just about a million parts and yet somehow seems to have something definitive and worthwhile to say about all of them. If it weren’t for the last film in this sequence, this would still be my pick for the best of them, easily.
The Wolverine (2013)
The good thing about everyone complaining about Origins is that it got a couple of neat results. This was the first of them, a movie that was the first half of “making things right,” by allowing Wolverine to grieve the events of The Last Stand.
Deadpool (2016)
Here’s Ryan Reynolds getting to become a bona fide movie star!
Deadpool 2/Once Upon a Deadpool (2018)
Yes, I count both versions, and I prefer both to the first one.
Logan (2017)
The upside to continually demanding something better from Wolverine’s solo adventures is that it culminated in the best of them all, that completely transcended the series and pretty much the genre in general, a top shelf superhero movie the way, say, High Noon is for westerns. Jackman still insists this is the last time he played Wolverine. It’s a helluva way to go.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
I have no idea why this one gets such a bad wrap, except probably that superhero films had taken a giant leap forward the previous year with The Dark Knight and Iron Man, and it seemed like Origins was looking backward to a recent past (The Last Stand) that had soured. But the results are solid and they star Hugh Jackman, still one of the indisputable stars of the genre, alongside Liev Schreiber, taking over and commanding the role of Sabretooth. The only real complaint here is Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, but in the grand scheme it ended up achieving what had at that point been impossible. Well, that and playing into superhero fatigue with a wicked satire...
X-Men: First Class (2011)
I personally think linking Magneto with the Holocaust is needlessly melodramatic at best, and seeing it play out twice in the series didn’t make it work any better. But here we are with the second, but at least it gets us Michael Fassbender in the role. He’s this iteration’s MVP.
X-Men: Days of the Future Past (2014)
This is the one that plays both ends of the series, although it’s really an excuse to give Jackman another spotlight. Hey, no complaints here. Also the first appearance of Evan Peters’ Quicksilver.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
For me, the all-around most satisfying of the prequels, with Fassbender and James McAvoy turning in their best work, and at least the second best appearance of Quicksilver.
Dark Phoenix (2019)
It’s a little surprising that fans didn’t embrace the concept of the sliding scale in the prequels. The sliding scale was a staple in comics for decades, the idea that everything, especially in Marvel comics, that previously happened still happened even decades later, despite certain cultural touchstones from different eras making it somewhat problematic. So you have characters stretching back to the early ‘60s (and of course in Magneto’s case as a boy in WWII) looking, well, just as if they only aged a decade in thirty years. Anyway, these prequels got progressively less interest from fans who had concluded that the only superhero movies they cared about were part of the MCU, and came up with ridiculous justifications like, “Jennifer Lawrence looks bored.” Well, folks, that’s literally every Jennifer Lawrence performance, and she’s still more engaged-looking than the average Kristen Stewart. Anyway...
X-Men (2000)
And, paradoxically, where we began! Without Jackman, who was actually the last-minute replacement for the guy originally cast as Wolverine, this whole series would have looked and been drastically different. Startling to think how crucial the character is in this first movie alone...!
X2 (2003)
This is the one commonly considered the best of the originals, and by default best of them, period. But, I don’t know...It always bothered me that the first two, let alone the third one, were so eager to dispense with Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, with these first two even accomplishing it in more or less exactly the same manner, his own device (Cerebro) being used against him. Other than that, and Nightcrawler, X2 is really best and can only be appreciated as a de facto Wolverine spotlight. And...yeah.
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
In contrast, this one’s got just about a million parts and yet somehow seems to have something definitive and worthwhile to say about all of them. If it weren’t for the last film in this sequence, this would still be my pick for the best of them, easily.
The Wolverine (2013)
The good thing about everyone complaining about Origins is that it got a couple of neat results. This was the first of them, a movie that was the first half of “making things right,” by allowing Wolverine to grieve the events of The Last Stand.
Deadpool (2016)
Here’s Ryan Reynolds getting to become a bona fide movie star!
Deadpool 2/Once Upon a Deadpool (2018)
Yes, I count both versions, and I prefer both to the first one.
Logan (2017)
The upside to continually demanding something better from Wolverine’s solo adventures is that it culminated in the best of them all, that completely transcended the series and pretty much the genre in general, a top shelf superhero movie the way, say, High Noon is for westerns. Jackman still insists this is the last time he played Wolverine. It’s a helluva way to go.
Monday, April 27, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - Films That Begin With “W”
Walk the Line (2005)
Director: James Mangold
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon
Brief Thoughts: The biopic can be a fairly formulaic genre, so it’s probably best to pick and choose the subject. This one was pretty easy for me. My dad’s a big fan of Johnny Cash, and around the time this was released he listened to Cash obsessively. I became a fan a little before this period thanks to Cash’s late career renaissance that culminated with “Hurt.” Joaquin Phoenix may not have the best possible voice for the role, but he does fine, and his versions of the songs are still quite good. Bubbly Reese Witherspoon ended up with all the awards love, and why not? It’s probably her perfect role.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Director: Nick Park, Steve Box
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter
Brief Thoughts: So, yeah, definitely a fan of Wallace & Gromit. The rabbits are adorable!
Watchmen (2009)
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino
Brief Thoughts: Of course I loved this. Was there really any doubt?
The Way, Way Back (2013)
Director: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Starring: Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell
Brief Thoughts: This is a coming-of-age movie that isn’t embarrassing to admit loving. The “way, way back” is the backseat in a station wagon, which is something I definitely experienced growing up. Nat Faxon & Jim Rash are criminally underrated; this was the movie they made after The Descendants, although admittedly it featured far less George Clooney. But another perfect vehicle for Sam Rockwell! And one of many, many roles no one ever expected to see from Steve Carell, who easily has one of the most interesting careers in modern Hollywood.
We Are Marshall (2006)
Director: McG
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox
Brief Thoughts: If biopics are formulaic, then sports flicks definitely are, but they’re harder to pick through. My sister swears by, as far as football movies go, Remember the Titans, but this is mine. It’s the movie where Matthew McConaughey became a personal favorite, and it’s inexplicably the only movie that had any clue what to do with Matthew Fox.
Wind River (2017)
Director: Taylor Sheridan
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen
Brief Thoughts: Taylor Sheridan is one of the great directors working today, and also one of the great directors today who receive very little acclaim. Wind River ended up being viewed as a Jeremy Renner movie when that was no longer what anyone was looking for, possibly because everyone quickly realized that Hawkeye was never going to get his own movie. Boo to those people.
Woman Walks Ahead (2018)
Director: Susanna White
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Sam Rockwell
Brief Thoughts: You, ah, may have noticed a running theme in these mini-reviews, that I think there’s a lot of filmmaking talent that’s criminally underrated. You can bet Jessica Chastain belongs in that group. Woman Walks Ahead was...completely ignored upon release. Chastain plays a woman who conducts a series of interviews with Sitting Bull “in retirement” on the reservation. It plays a little fast and loose with history, and might seem a little preachy, but then, every western since Dances With Wolves that’s portrayed Native Americans as protagonists gets that label (and any that features them as antagonists gets buried...you really can’t win). Either way, you also get Sam Rockwell!
Director: James Mangold
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon
Brief Thoughts: The biopic can be a fairly formulaic genre, so it’s probably best to pick and choose the subject. This one was pretty easy for me. My dad’s a big fan of Johnny Cash, and around the time this was released he listened to Cash obsessively. I became a fan a little before this period thanks to Cash’s late career renaissance that culminated with “Hurt.” Joaquin Phoenix may not have the best possible voice for the role, but he does fine, and his versions of the songs are still quite good. Bubbly Reese Witherspoon ended up with all the awards love, and why not? It’s probably her perfect role.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Director: Nick Park, Steve Box
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter
Brief Thoughts: So, yeah, definitely a fan of Wallace & Gromit. The rabbits are adorable!
Watchmen (2009)
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino
Brief Thoughts: Of course I loved this. Was there really any doubt?
The Way, Way Back (2013)
Director: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Starring: Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell
Brief Thoughts: This is a coming-of-age movie that isn’t embarrassing to admit loving. The “way, way back” is the backseat in a station wagon, which is something I definitely experienced growing up. Nat Faxon & Jim Rash are criminally underrated; this was the movie they made after The Descendants, although admittedly it featured far less George Clooney. But another perfect vehicle for Sam Rockwell! And one of many, many roles no one ever expected to see from Steve Carell, who easily has one of the most interesting careers in modern Hollywood.
We Are Marshall (2006)
Director: McG
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox
Brief Thoughts: If biopics are formulaic, then sports flicks definitely are, but they’re harder to pick through. My sister swears by, as far as football movies go, Remember the Titans, but this is mine. It’s the movie where Matthew McConaughey became a personal favorite, and it’s inexplicably the only movie that had any clue what to do with Matthew Fox.
Wind River (2017)
Director: Taylor Sheridan
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen
Brief Thoughts: Taylor Sheridan is one of the great directors working today, and also one of the great directors today who receive very little acclaim. Wind River ended up being viewed as a Jeremy Renner movie when that was no longer what anyone was looking for, possibly because everyone quickly realized that Hawkeye was never going to get his own movie. Boo to those people.
Woman Walks Ahead (2018)
Director: Susanna White
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Sam Rockwell
Brief Thoughts: You, ah, may have noticed a running theme in these mini-reviews, that I think there’s a lot of filmmaking talent that’s criminally underrated. You can bet Jessica Chastain belongs in that group. Woman Walks Ahead was...completely ignored upon release. Chastain plays a woman who conducts a series of interviews with Sitting Bull “in retirement” on the reservation. It plays a little fast and loose with history, and might seem a little preachy, but then, every western since Dances With Wolves that’s portrayed Native Americans as protagonists gets that label (and any that features them as antagonists gets buried...you really can’t win). Either way, you also get Sam Rockwell!
Saturday, April 25, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - Films That Begin With “V”
Vice (2018)
Director: Adam McKay
Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell, Tyler Perry, Jesse Plemons
Brief Thoughts: Before The Big Short, Adam McKay was already savaging the state of the country in The Other Guys, which hangs its shenanigans on the same subject matter, so when he made Vice, it seemed almost easy to take his work for granted. Vice is in a lot of ways, the film everyone was waiting for since 2000, the savaging of George W. Bush that W. proved not to be (or at least as it was received). Sam Rockwell’s Bush is the Bush out of a thousand caricatures that probably finally nailed it, as only Rockwell can. Of course, the star of this story is Dick Cheney, as portrayed by Christian Bale, who inexplicably has been utterly taken for granted in recent years despite continuing to have one of the most interesting careers at least in modern film, willing to make himself look foolish in ways not even Will Ferrell ever did in various other McKay movies (you can see how badly McKay wanted this taken seriously when he didn’t cast Ferrell as Bush, despite Ferrell’s long track record doing exactly that). Of course, what sank Vice was that it wasn’t savage enough, it gave Cheney sympathetic moments. Thankfully we don’t live in a society where it matters how such films are received, as I think the results are pitch-perfect.
Director: Adam McKay
Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell, Tyler Perry, Jesse Plemons
Brief Thoughts: Before The Big Short, Adam McKay was already savaging the state of the country in The Other Guys, which hangs its shenanigans on the same subject matter, so when he made Vice, it seemed almost easy to take his work for granted. Vice is in a lot of ways, the film everyone was waiting for since 2000, the savaging of George W. Bush that W. proved not to be (or at least as it was received). Sam Rockwell’s Bush is the Bush out of a thousand caricatures that probably finally nailed it, as only Rockwell can. Of course, the star of this story is Dick Cheney, as portrayed by Christian Bale, who inexplicably has been utterly taken for granted in recent years despite continuing to have one of the most interesting careers at least in modern film, willing to make himself look foolish in ways not even Will Ferrell ever did in various other McKay movies (you can see how badly McKay wanted this taken seriously when he didn’t cast Ferrell as Bush, despite Ferrell’s long track record doing exactly that). Of course, what sank Vice was that it wasn’t savage enough, it gave Cheney sympathetic moments. Thankfully we don’t live in a society where it matters how such films are received, as I think the results are pitch-perfect.
Friday, April 24, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - Films That Begin With “U”
United 93 (2006)
Director: Paul Greengrass
Starring: history
Brief Thoughts: A wildly uncelebrated film achievement, and I don’t really know what to say about that. There are wild conspiracies about everything, so of course there are wild conspiracies about “what really happened to this flight,” but regardless, this is a look at what happened without trying to distort anything one way or another. Maybe it’s still too difficult to appreciate.
The Upside (2019)
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, Nicole Kidman
Brief Thoughts: We’re at the point where if it’s not a blockbuster, even if it’s a hit film you need some reason to talk, much less care about a movie...other than the movie itself. The Upside was a rare hit drama last year, but because it feels uncomfortably like old school Hollywood it was apparently embarrassing to admit enjoying. Well, not me. Bryan Cranston gained inexplicable fame portraying an asshole (but I guess that answers my earlier question) but has found no real interest in virtually anything else he’s done. Kevin Hart, obviously best known for his comedy, did the Serious Movie thing, but I guess since he wasn’t the unequivocal lead actor it didn’t count? Anyway, both are in top form here. Also features Nicole Kidman in a supporting role, because I guess she’s too old to be a lead now, but great as always. Only realized while I was preparing this that Neil Burger also directed The Illusionist, which might further explain why I liked it so much.
Director: Paul Greengrass
Starring: history
Brief Thoughts: A wildly uncelebrated film achievement, and I don’t really know what to say about that. There are wild conspiracies about everything, so of course there are wild conspiracies about “what really happened to this flight,” but regardless, this is a look at what happened without trying to distort anything one way or another. Maybe it’s still too difficult to appreciate.
The Upside (2019)
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, Nicole Kidman
Brief Thoughts: We’re at the point where if it’s not a blockbuster, even if it’s a hit film you need some reason to talk, much less care about a movie...other than the movie itself. The Upside was a rare hit drama last year, but because it feels uncomfortably like old school Hollywood it was apparently embarrassing to admit enjoying. Well, not me. Bryan Cranston gained inexplicable fame portraying an asshole (but I guess that answers my earlier question) but has found no real interest in virtually anything else he’s done. Kevin Hart, obviously best known for his comedy, did the Serious Movie thing, but I guess since he wasn’t the unequivocal lead actor it didn’t count? Anyway, both are in top form here. Also features Nicole Kidman in a supporting role, because I guess she’s too old to be a lead now, but great as always. Only realized while I was preparing this that Neil Burger also directed The Illusionist, which might further explain why I liked it so much.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - Films That Begin With “T”
Takers (2010)
Director: John Luessenhop
Starring: Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen, Matt Dillon
Brief Thoughts: Idris Elba first game to my notice saying the seemingly idiotic phrase, “That’s what we do, gents, we take.” Literally only he could pull that off. That’s magnetic screen presence for you. The thing about the current state of film is that something like this can’t be made. Paul Walker here points in the direction of where they are, the Fast & Furious series, but there really ought to be more space for them. Anyway, also by far Hayden Christensen’s most badass film appearance, before prequel backlash officially scuttled his career.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Director: Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Amy Adams
Brief Thoughts: One of my all-time favorite comedies, and by default favorite Will Ferrell film (and by default favorite pairing with John C. Reilly), highlighted by Sacha Baron Cohen as his French rival (here’s more of that Pink Panther legacy from my dad), and Amy Adams as she was still climbing the Hollywood ladder and proving every step of the way how awesome she is.
Thirteen Days (2000)
Director: Roger Donaldson
Starring: Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, Steven Culp
Brief Thoughts: Some of my Kennedy hero worship stems from my mom (she soured on him in part because of the whole infidelity thing, but she never shook him entirely). Even if you think JFK is hogwash, there’s still Kevin Costner’s other, seldom celebrated film where he gets to play alongside history, this time spotlighting the Cuban Missile Crisis. The thing I hate about how history can sometimes be viewed is that it seems easier to fixate on how some people get into trouble, rather than how they get out of it. The most brilliant thing Kennedy ever did was get out of this crisis. Even if historians are loathe to give him credit, at least there’s this film to pay adequate tribute.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Director: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson
Brief Thoughts: Martin McDonagh made two brilliant films with Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths), but when he was finally accepted by the Hollywood mainstream, and audiences in general, Farrell didn’t get to go along for the ride (he’s my favorite actor). Instead, McDonagh brings along Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrelson, who adequately translate his tendencies to a fully American setting, and help him look like the Coen Brothers in the process. Context is everything.
Timeline (2003)
Director: Richard Donner
Starring: Gerard Butler, Paul Walker, Anna Friel, David Thewlis
Brief Thoughts: Here’s Paul Walker again, looking like he had a bright, varied career ahead of him (at least the Fast & Furious series took off!). In a supporting role: Gerard Butler, in a “manly man” role before 300 made it irresistible to cast him as such. Based on a Michael Crichton book. (Crichton, somehow receding from memory as a literary and cultural touchstone...)
The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)
Director: Richard Schwentke
Starring: Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams
Brief Thoughts: Saw the movie first, later read the book. Love both of them. The movie gets targeted as a “creepy romance” (as does Rachel McAdams’ other time-related movie, About Time, which for the record is equally delightful) by viewers unable to appreciate complicated ideas. Another highlight of Eric Bana’s brief turn as a Hollywood favorite.
Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story (2006)
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Steve Coogan
Brief Thoughts: Back during the years it seemed Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film would never get made, I sort of received Tristram Shandy as the closest we’d get. Based on another, more obscure, literary adventure, one I read (mostly) but got thoroughly turned around by, becomes a different kind of treasury entirely by Steve Coogan giving viewers a unique tour of it as he stars as the star of a movie as it’s being made, allowing him to comment hilariously on everything. The only thing I’ve seen remotely like it is the far, far more sober Looking for Richard (equally brilliant).
Director: John Luessenhop
Starring: Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen, Matt Dillon
Brief Thoughts: Idris Elba first game to my notice saying the seemingly idiotic phrase, “That’s what we do, gents, we take.” Literally only he could pull that off. That’s magnetic screen presence for you. The thing about the current state of film is that something like this can’t be made. Paul Walker here points in the direction of where they are, the Fast & Furious series, but there really ought to be more space for them. Anyway, also by far Hayden Christensen’s most badass film appearance, before prequel backlash officially scuttled his career.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Director: Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Amy Adams
Brief Thoughts: One of my all-time favorite comedies, and by default favorite Will Ferrell film (and by default favorite pairing with John C. Reilly), highlighted by Sacha Baron Cohen as his French rival (here’s more of that Pink Panther legacy from my dad), and Amy Adams as she was still climbing the Hollywood ladder and proving every step of the way how awesome she is.
Thirteen Days (2000)
Director: Roger Donaldson
Starring: Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, Steven Culp
Brief Thoughts: Some of my Kennedy hero worship stems from my mom (she soured on him in part because of the whole infidelity thing, but she never shook him entirely). Even if you think JFK is hogwash, there’s still Kevin Costner’s other, seldom celebrated film where he gets to play alongside history, this time spotlighting the Cuban Missile Crisis. The thing I hate about how history can sometimes be viewed is that it seems easier to fixate on how some people get into trouble, rather than how they get out of it. The most brilliant thing Kennedy ever did was get out of this crisis. Even if historians are loathe to give him credit, at least there’s this film to pay adequate tribute.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Director: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson
Brief Thoughts: Martin McDonagh made two brilliant films with Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths), but when he was finally accepted by the Hollywood mainstream, and audiences in general, Farrell didn’t get to go along for the ride (he’s my favorite actor). Instead, McDonagh brings along Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrelson, who adequately translate his tendencies to a fully American setting, and help him look like the Coen Brothers in the process. Context is everything.
Timeline (2003)
Director: Richard Donner
Starring: Gerard Butler, Paul Walker, Anna Friel, David Thewlis
Brief Thoughts: Here’s Paul Walker again, looking like he had a bright, varied career ahead of him (at least the Fast & Furious series took off!). In a supporting role: Gerard Butler, in a “manly man” role before 300 made it irresistible to cast him as such. Based on a Michael Crichton book. (Crichton, somehow receding from memory as a literary and cultural touchstone...)
The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)
Director: Richard Schwentke
Starring: Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams
Brief Thoughts: Saw the movie first, later read the book. Love both of them. The movie gets targeted as a “creepy romance” (as does Rachel McAdams’ other time-related movie, About Time, which for the record is equally delightful) by viewers unable to appreciate complicated ideas. Another highlight of Eric Bana’s brief turn as a Hollywood favorite.
Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story (2006)
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Steve Coogan
Brief Thoughts: Back during the years it seemed Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film would never get made, I sort of received Tristram Shandy as the closest we’d get. Based on another, more obscure, literary adventure, one I read (mostly) but got thoroughly turned around by, becomes a different kind of treasury entirely by Steve Coogan giving viewers a unique tour of it as he stars as the star of a movie as it’s being made, allowing him to comment hilariously on everything. The only thing I’ve seen remotely like it is the far, far more sober Looking for Richard (equally brilliant).
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - Films That Begin With “S”
Serenity (2019)
Director: Steven Knight
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jason Clarke
Brief Thoughts: I’ve seen Serenity on “worst of the year” lists, and... I can only assume it’s people who didn’t actually see it but heard about the twist. I don’t know, maybe these people watching movies like this and not getting it are real, and maybe it’s just people who didn’t see it and just couldn’t fathom the results. I mean, both are certainly possible. But the movie itself is completely legit. The hook is the classic thriller material surrounding the proposition Anne Hathaway makes Matthew McConaughey concerning her husband Jason Clarke, but the movie actually and quite deliberately revolves around McConaughey. The logic is sound, and the results are one of the best movies I’ve seen in recent years.
Seven Pounds (2008)
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Starring: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Barry Pepper, Woody Harrelson
Brief Thoughts: Much like Collateral Beauty nearly a decade later, Will Smith stars in an intellectually and emotionally complex movie filled with moral quandaries, which few Hollywood stars are likely to do once, let alone twice in their careers. Naturally, both are overlooked in the list of Smith’s impressive accomplishments.
Sicario (2015)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin
Brief Thoughts: The movie that made Denis Villeneuve a truly undeniable talent, an unflinching (with Emily Blunt as our guide) look at police tactics in the drug trafficking trade. The sequel, which isn’t directed by Villeneuve but reunited Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin, is a more than worthy follow-up, with a brilliantly-staged, unsettling act of terrorism setting its stage.
Sideways (2004)
Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Sandra Oh, Virginia Madsen
Brief Thoughts: Might as well be subtitled “For the Appreciation of Unexpected Pleasures,” the film that proved Paul Giamatti, after years of brilliant supporting roles, could carry his own weight. And at the same time, forced a reevaluation of Thomas Haden Church. And proved that Sandra Oh had a long career ahead of her. And gave Virginia Madsen her her most notable role. And yeah, suggested, at least as far as Giamatti is concerned, that I probably ought to skip merlot.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Director: Kerry Conran
Starring: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie
Brief Thoughts: Along with Sky Captain there’s the two Sin City movies I could be talking about here, in how audiences (and critics) seem inexplicably and irrationally afraid of advancing filmmaking techniques when they help usher the future of art in the medium. In any other era (just imagine! film noir being rejected as “ostentatious”) this would have been unthinkable. But that’s how we do things now...
Source Code (2011)
Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Brief Thoughts: One of my favorite movies, a classic time loop narrative that takes a giant intellectual leap at the end that solidifies its place in film lore for me. Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright end up embroiled in a dispute as to what exactly they’re accomplishing, while the heart of the film concerns Gyllenhaal’s relationship with Michelle Monaghan. It’s a movie that fires on multiple cylinders, and rewards on all of them.
Stick It (2006)
Director: Jessica Bendinger
Starring: Missy Peregrym, Jeff Bridges
Brief Thoughts: A movie (and storytelling) genre that’s not usually my wheelhouse, but I’ve been obsessed with Stick It since randomly deciding to watch it in theaters. Missy Peregrym plays a rebellious gymnast coached by Jeff Bridges, in the role where he officially became a personal favorite.
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman
Brief Thoughts: Will Ferrell’s Truman Show. Or his Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Brilliant surreal experience. Doesn’t get near enough attention.
Director: Steven Knight
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jason Clarke
Brief Thoughts: I’ve seen Serenity on “worst of the year” lists, and... I can only assume it’s people who didn’t actually see it but heard about the twist. I don’t know, maybe these people watching movies like this and not getting it are real, and maybe it’s just people who didn’t see it and just couldn’t fathom the results. I mean, both are certainly possible. But the movie itself is completely legit. The hook is the classic thriller material surrounding the proposition Anne Hathaway makes Matthew McConaughey concerning her husband Jason Clarke, but the movie actually and quite deliberately revolves around McConaughey. The logic is sound, and the results are one of the best movies I’ve seen in recent years.
Seven Pounds (2008)
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Starring: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Barry Pepper, Woody Harrelson
Brief Thoughts: Much like Collateral Beauty nearly a decade later, Will Smith stars in an intellectually and emotionally complex movie filled with moral quandaries, which few Hollywood stars are likely to do once, let alone twice in their careers. Naturally, both are overlooked in the list of Smith’s impressive accomplishments.
Sicario (2015)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin
Brief Thoughts: The movie that made Denis Villeneuve a truly undeniable talent, an unflinching (with Emily Blunt as our guide) look at police tactics in the drug trafficking trade. The sequel, which isn’t directed by Villeneuve but reunited Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin, is a more than worthy follow-up, with a brilliantly-staged, unsettling act of terrorism setting its stage.
Sideways (2004)
Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Sandra Oh, Virginia Madsen
Brief Thoughts: Might as well be subtitled “For the Appreciation of Unexpected Pleasures,” the film that proved Paul Giamatti, after years of brilliant supporting roles, could carry his own weight. And at the same time, forced a reevaluation of Thomas Haden Church. And proved that Sandra Oh had a long career ahead of her. And gave Virginia Madsen her her most notable role. And yeah, suggested, at least as far as Giamatti is concerned, that I probably ought to skip merlot.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Director: Kerry Conran
Starring: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie
Brief Thoughts: Along with Sky Captain there’s the two Sin City movies I could be talking about here, in how audiences (and critics) seem inexplicably and irrationally afraid of advancing filmmaking techniques when they help usher the future of art in the medium. In any other era (just imagine! film noir being rejected as “ostentatious”) this would have been unthinkable. But that’s how we do things now...
Source Code (2011)
Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Brief Thoughts: One of my favorite movies, a classic time loop narrative that takes a giant intellectual leap at the end that solidifies its place in film lore for me. Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright end up embroiled in a dispute as to what exactly they’re accomplishing, while the heart of the film concerns Gyllenhaal’s relationship with Michelle Monaghan. It’s a movie that fires on multiple cylinders, and rewards on all of them.
Stick It (2006)
Director: Jessica Bendinger
Starring: Missy Peregrym, Jeff Bridges
Brief Thoughts: A movie (and storytelling) genre that’s not usually my wheelhouse, but I’ve been obsessed with Stick It since randomly deciding to watch it in theaters. Missy Peregrym plays a rebellious gymnast coached by Jeff Bridges, in the role where he officially became a personal favorite.
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman
Brief Thoughts: Will Ferrell’s Truman Show. Or his Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Brilliant surreal experience. Doesn’t get near enough attention.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - Films That Begin With “R”
Red Cliff (2008)
Director: John Woo
Starring: Tony Leung
Brief Thoughts: John Woo became the stereotypical Hollywood action director in the late ‘90s, to the point where he was basically considered a parody. He went back to China (and hasn’t returned), where he came up with Red Cliff, a sprawling war epic that may have hailed a crossover between US and Chinese audiences. Instead, today we have Chinese audiences watching Hollywood blockbusters, watching their own blockbusters, and...still no real interest from the US in Chinese films. If anyone should have been able to cross the divide, it was Woo. And no, Red Cliff does not feel like Face/Off, but with Chinese actors.
Red Dragon (2002)
Director: Brett Ratner
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes
Brief Thoughts: Yes, this initial Hannibal Lecter book was adapted as Manhunter, before Silence of the Lambs, before Anthony Hopkins ever played Lecter. Yes, Hopkins had already reprised Lecter in the exploitative Hannibal. But c’mon, it would’ve been a massive wasted opportunity not to revisit this one, with Hopkins. Still arguably the best Lecter story, with the definitive Lecter actor playing the part. I see no viable reason to pretend it didn’t happen. Backlash nonsense at its finest.
Rent (2005)
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs, Jesse L. Martin, Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp
Brief Thoughts: I was lucky enough to see a stage production when I was in college. Glad a film version ended up getting made. Rosario Dawson! Never nearly appreciated enough! And Idina Menzel, before “Let It Go” made her immortal (but her name still difficult for, ah, John Travolta to remember). Too many reasons to cherish.
Road to Perdition (2002)
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig
Brief Thoughts: One of the best movies everyone seems to forget exists. Tom Hanks was coming off his long hot streak, so there was probably a lot of fatigue going on, both with audiences and critics, but this is arguably the best thing he made during that period, with the best supporting cast around him, Paul Newman in his last great role, Jude Law as he was still agitating for his place in film, and Daniel Craig years before he broke out, in the role that should have made it obvious, well, years earlier. (But I guess if it had, he might not have gotten heroic parts like James Bond.) Some of the best cinematography in a mainstream Hollywood movie ever. Incidentally, the kid who played Hanks’ son in the movie ended up playing Superman in TV’s Arrowverse.
The Rundown (2003)
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Rosario Dawson, Christopher Walken
Brief Thoughts: Dwayne Johnson’s earliest perfect vehicle, the one that proved he wasn’t chasing a fantasy by pursuing an acting career, leaning into the kind of action he was expected to deliver, but surrounded by an unexpectedly delightful supporting cast in Seann William Scott (still allowed to exhibit, at this point, his unlimited potential) Rosario Dawson, and yes, Christopher Walken, in full-blown deadpan parody mode.
Russian Ark (2003)
Director: Alexander Sokurov
Starring: three hundred years of Russian history
Brief Thoughts: 1917 is the latest movie to revel in a seemingly endless tracking shot, but one of the true visionary employments of the filmmaking technique is Russian Ark, which dances from room to room in Saint Petersburg’s White Palace, interpreting Russian history along the way. A singular achievement.
Director: John Woo
Starring: Tony Leung
Brief Thoughts: John Woo became the stereotypical Hollywood action director in the late ‘90s, to the point where he was basically considered a parody. He went back to China (and hasn’t returned), where he came up with Red Cliff, a sprawling war epic that may have hailed a crossover between US and Chinese audiences. Instead, today we have Chinese audiences watching Hollywood blockbusters, watching their own blockbusters, and...still no real interest from the US in Chinese films. If anyone should have been able to cross the divide, it was Woo. And no, Red Cliff does not feel like Face/Off, but with Chinese actors.
Red Dragon (2002)
Director: Brett Ratner
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes
Brief Thoughts: Yes, this initial Hannibal Lecter book was adapted as Manhunter, before Silence of the Lambs, before Anthony Hopkins ever played Lecter. Yes, Hopkins had already reprised Lecter in the exploitative Hannibal. But c’mon, it would’ve been a massive wasted opportunity not to revisit this one, with Hopkins. Still arguably the best Lecter story, with the definitive Lecter actor playing the part. I see no viable reason to pretend it didn’t happen. Backlash nonsense at its finest.
Rent (2005)
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs, Jesse L. Martin, Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp
Brief Thoughts: I was lucky enough to see a stage production when I was in college. Glad a film version ended up getting made. Rosario Dawson! Never nearly appreciated enough! And Idina Menzel, before “Let It Go” made her immortal (but her name still difficult for, ah, John Travolta to remember). Too many reasons to cherish.
Road to Perdition (2002)
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig
Brief Thoughts: One of the best movies everyone seems to forget exists. Tom Hanks was coming off his long hot streak, so there was probably a lot of fatigue going on, both with audiences and critics, but this is arguably the best thing he made during that period, with the best supporting cast around him, Paul Newman in his last great role, Jude Law as he was still agitating for his place in film, and Daniel Craig years before he broke out, in the role that should have made it obvious, well, years earlier. (But I guess if it had, he might not have gotten heroic parts like James Bond.) Some of the best cinematography in a mainstream Hollywood movie ever. Incidentally, the kid who played Hanks’ son in the movie ended up playing Superman in TV’s Arrowverse.
The Rundown (2003)
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Rosario Dawson, Christopher Walken
Brief Thoughts: Dwayne Johnson’s earliest perfect vehicle, the one that proved he wasn’t chasing a fantasy by pursuing an acting career, leaning into the kind of action he was expected to deliver, but surrounded by an unexpectedly delightful supporting cast in Seann William Scott (still allowed to exhibit, at this point, his unlimited potential) Rosario Dawson, and yes, Christopher Walken, in full-blown deadpan parody mode.
Russian Ark (2003)
Director: Alexander Sokurov
Starring: three hundred years of Russian history
Brief Thoughts: 1917 is the latest movie to revel in a seemingly endless tracking shot, but one of the true visionary employments of the filmmaking technique is Russian Ark, which dances from room to room in Saint Petersburg’s White Palace, interpreting Russian history along the way. A singular achievement.
Monday, April 20, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - Quentin Tarantino
Here’s a complete filmography of Quentin Tarantino:
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: Driven by dialogue, story structure, carefully selected music, and a cast inhabiting generic names including “Mr. Pink,” this is the one that proved the art of cinema was taking a giant leap forward.
True Romance (1993)
Tarantino: wrote it
Brief Thoughts: Directed by Tony Scott, this is the that proved even if Tarantino just provides the script, it can still become a cult classic.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: The one that proved he was definitely no flash-in-the-pan.
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Tarantino: provided the story
Brief Thoughts: Oliver Stone would later direct U Turn and Savages, less manic examples that prove he’s less a politically controversial filmmaker and more akin to Tarantino than it seems.
Four Rooms (1995)
Tarantino: directed “The Man from Hollywood”
Brief Thoughts: You’ve got to be a true completist to have seen this one. Proves that even in a collection of dynamic young filmmakers working on the same project, his work stands out as the best.
From Dusk till Dawn (1996)
Tarantino: wrote, starred in it
Brief Thoughts: Even though he’s made a brilliant career as a director, Tarantino always wanted to be an actor. This is his biggest role.
Jackie Brown (1997)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: Often overlooked as less flashy than Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, and thus valuable as the template for his later projects.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: This is where I came in as an active fan of his career.
Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: The first film where Tarantino allows a calm scene of seemingly ordinary dialogue to build its own dramatic tension.
Sin City (2005)
Tarantino: directed car scene with Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro
Brief Thoughts: Easily Benicio del Toro’s best scene in the film, and arguably most interesting acting to date.
Grindhouse (2007)
Tarantino: directed “Death Proof”
Brief Thoughts: His fourth and to date last collaboration with Robert Rodriguez, another underrated project. “Stuntman Mike” arguably best character name in any of his projects.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: Still working its way to being considered a classic, but well on its way. Might actually supplant Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction to be considered his best.
Django Unchained (2012)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: Second collaboration with Christoph Waltz might somehow have improved in the quality of the performance.
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: The film he challenged himself to pivot almost entirely on dialogue. Of course it works.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: Probably as mainstream Hollywood as he’s ever going to get, which of course is still purely Tarantino.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: Driven by dialogue, story structure, carefully selected music, and a cast inhabiting generic names including “Mr. Pink,” this is the one that proved the art of cinema was taking a giant leap forward.
True Romance (1993)
Tarantino: wrote it
Brief Thoughts: Directed by Tony Scott, this is the that proved even if Tarantino just provides the script, it can still become a cult classic.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: The one that proved he was definitely no flash-in-the-pan.
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Tarantino: provided the story
Brief Thoughts: Oliver Stone would later direct U Turn and Savages, less manic examples that prove he’s less a politically controversial filmmaker and more akin to Tarantino than it seems.
Four Rooms (1995)
Tarantino: directed “The Man from Hollywood”
Brief Thoughts: You’ve got to be a true completist to have seen this one. Proves that even in a collection of dynamic young filmmakers working on the same project, his work stands out as the best.
From Dusk till Dawn (1996)
Tarantino: wrote, starred in it
Brief Thoughts: Even though he’s made a brilliant career as a director, Tarantino always wanted to be an actor. This is his biggest role.
Jackie Brown (1997)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: Often overlooked as less flashy than Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, and thus valuable as the template for his later projects.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: This is where I came in as an active fan of his career.
Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: The first film where Tarantino allows a calm scene of seemingly ordinary dialogue to build its own dramatic tension.
Sin City (2005)
Tarantino: directed car scene with Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro
Brief Thoughts: Easily Benicio del Toro’s best scene in the film, and arguably most interesting acting to date.
Grindhouse (2007)
Tarantino: directed “Death Proof”
Brief Thoughts: His fourth and to date last collaboration with Robert Rodriguez, another underrated project. “Stuntman Mike” arguably best character name in any of his projects.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: Still working its way to being considered a classic, but well on its way. Might actually supplant Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction to be considered his best.
Django Unchained (2012)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: Second collaboration with Christoph Waltz might somehow have improved in the quality of the performance.
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: The film he challenged himself to pivot almost entirely on dialogue. Of course it works.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Tarantino: directed it
Brief Thoughts: Probably as mainstream Hollywood as he’s ever going to get, which of course is still purely Tarantino.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - Films That Begin With “P”
The Pink Panther (2006)
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Beyoncé
Brief Thoughts: Growing up, there were two kinds of movies my dad obsessively promoted: westerns (which is to say, John Wayne) and Pink Panther. Of course, these are still among his favorites, but he added in Grumpy Old Men in later years. The Pink Panther movies starred Peter Sellers as the comically bungling French Inspector Clousseau. Looking back I wonder if his nationality was one of the few “cultural links” my dad shared (it’s tough being French, much less French-Canadian, much less Franco-American, these days, insofar as there doesn’t seem to be a defined shape to it). Sellers portrays Clousseau as French mostly through a ridiculous accent. The Pink Panther movies outlived Sellers through a series of fairly painful pivoting maneuvers (here’s one with archive footage! here’s another! here’s his long-lost son!), until finally a real reboot happened. Steve Martin’s Clousseau isn’t really Sellers’, but they sync up beautifully with: a ridiculous French accent. And that, folks, is why I love this film.
The Producers (2005)
Director: Susan Stroman
Starring: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell
Brief Thoughts: Mel Brooks couldn’t possibly have timed his Broadway version of his own film The Producers better. In the wake of 9/11 New Yorkers needed a communal release valve, and by all accounts that’s what The Producers became. (I suspect something similar awaits on the other side of the pandemic.) By the time the movie version of the play version of the movie version was made, it kind of became clear that the whole phenomenon was probably more limited in scope than it had appeared. But I still love it. Lane & Broderick get to be immortalized, but perhaps more significantly you also get Uma Thurman to ramp up the movie star appeal, and Will Ferrell in his last great supporting role before he became a full-fledged leading man.
The Proposal (2009)
Director: Anne Fletcher
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Betty White
Brief Thoughts: Famously part of the Sandra Bullock Renaissance, but also underrated as arguably the impetus for the later Ryan Reynolds Renaissance. And, the Betty White Is Really Old & Still Funny! Renaissance. So an historically important movie. Also, a good movie.
The Proposition (2005)
Director: John Hillcoat
Starring: Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston
Brief Thoughts: Arguably the movie No Country for Old Men was chasing, The Proposition is the Australian western that comes up when aficionados of the western talk about later classics, and with good reason. Guy Pearce wasn’t able to sustain the popular momentum he got from this and the earlier Memento, but his career remains interesting. Features Ray Winstone’s defining role as the lawman who pits Pearce against his own brother, Danny Huston.
Bonus!
A Theory Concerning Al Pacino
(“Pacino,” so relevant for today’s letter)
I was wondering if part of the reason Godfather Part III was received so poorly actually had a subconscious explanation. It’s the only entry in the trilogy where Al Pacino is essentially unchallenged as lead actor, has no real counterpoint. In the original, he not only has Marlon Brando in his unexpected comeback role, but Robert Duvall and James Caan as well. Part II has Robert De Niro, as well as the returning Duvall. The closest Part III comes is Andy García, but at this point the trilogy is leaning toward actors you’d maybe expect to be in a mobster movie, in mobster roles (tellingly, it’s also the one that features Joe Montegna, who would later voice Fat Tony in The Simpsons). The original appeal, I think, was watching movies stars meet grizzly endings, sort of like recapturing Bonnie & Clyde (the ending of which I was watching last night when I had this thought). And chances are, you’ll conclude that people don’t like Part III because they agree with the consensus, that it’s a bad movie (agreeing with a consensus never in itself being a valid argument), but it’s worth a thought.
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Beyoncé
Brief Thoughts: Growing up, there were two kinds of movies my dad obsessively promoted: westerns (which is to say, John Wayne) and Pink Panther. Of course, these are still among his favorites, but he added in Grumpy Old Men in later years. The Pink Panther movies starred Peter Sellers as the comically bungling French Inspector Clousseau. Looking back I wonder if his nationality was one of the few “cultural links” my dad shared (it’s tough being French, much less French-Canadian, much less Franco-American, these days, insofar as there doesn’t seem to be a defined shape to it). Sellers portrays Clousseau as French mostly through a ridiculous accent. The Pink Panther movies outlived Sellers through a series of fairly painful pivoting maneuvers (here’s one with archive footage! here’s another! here’s his long-lost son!), until finally a real reboot happened. Steve Martin’s Clousseau isn’t really Sellers’, but they sync up beautifully with: a ridiculous French accent. And that, folks, is why I love this film.
The Producers (2005)
Director: Susan Stroman
Starring: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell
Brief Thoughts: Mel Brooks couldn’t possibly have timed his Broadway version of his own film The Producers better. In the wake of 9/11 New Yorkers needed a communal release valve, and by all accounts that’s what The Producers became. (I suspect something similar awaits on the other side of the pandemic.) By the time the movie version of the play version of the movie version was made, it kind of became clear that the whole phenomenon was probably more limited in scope than it had appeared. But I still love it. Lane & Broderick get to be immortalized, but perhaps more significantly you also get Uma Thurman to ramp up the movie star appeal, and Will Ferrell in his last great supporting role before he became a full-fledged leading man.
The Proposal (2009)
Director: Anne Fletcher
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Betty White
Brief Thoughts: Famously part of the Sandra Bullock Renaissance, but also underrated as arguably the impetus for the later Ryan Reynolds Renaissance. And, the Betty White Is Really Old & Still Funny! Renaissance. So an historically important movie. Also, a good movie.
The Proposition (2005)
Director: John Hillcoat
Starring: Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston
Brief Thoughts: Arguably the movie No Country for Old Men was chasing, The Proposition is the Australian western that comes up when aficionados of the western talk about later classics, and with good reason. Guy Pearce wasn’t able to sustain the popular momentum he got from this and the earlier Memento, but his career remains interesting. Features Ray Winstone’s defining role as the lawman who pits Pearce against his own brother, Danny Huston.
Bonus!
A Theory Concerning Al Pacino
(“Pacino,” so relevant for today’s letter)
I was wondering if part of the reason Godfather Part III was received so poorly actually had a subconscious explanation. It’s the only entry in the trilogy where Al Pacino is essentially unchallenged as lead actor, has no real counterpoint. In the original, he not only has Marlon Brando in his unexpected comeback role, but Robert Duvall and James Caan as well. Part II has Robert De Niro, as well as the returning Duvall. The closest Part III comes is Andy García, but at this point the trilogy is leaning toward actors you’d maybe expect to be in a mobster movie, in mobster roles (tellingly, it’s also the one that features Joe Montegna, who would later voice Fat Tony in The Simpsons). The original appeal, I think, was watching movies stars meet grizzly endings, sort of like recapturing Bonnie & Clyde (the ending of which I was watching last night when I had this thought). And chances are, you’ll conclude that people don’t like Part III because they agree with the consensus, that it’s a bad movie (agreeing with a consensus never in itself being a valid argument), but it’s worth a thought.
Friday, April 17, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - O
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp, Mickey Rourke, Eva Mendes
Brief Thoughts: The conclusion of Robert Rodriguez’s Mariachi Trilogy (Antonio Banderas & Salma Hayek join in the second one, Desperado, which was a formative film experience for me). For a lot of people, it became better known as The Movie Johnny Depp Made After Striking It Big With Jack Sparrow. Depp, of course, was already well-known for seeking out weirdo character roles, but after Jack Sparrow the stakes were immeasurably raised. Somewhat lucky for him, this was weirdo territory already, though the fact that it’s a supporting role was a little confusing. Still, he gets off the memorable gonzo line, “Are you a Mexican or a Mexican’t?”
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
Director: Justin Chadwick
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Eric Bana, Jim Sturgess, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne
Brief Thoughts: There’s a whole inexplicable cottage industry of books surrounding Henry VIII’s love life, which I suspect has less to do with how irresistible he was as a lover and...the thousand wives he had, and...how he disposed of them. Sort of an object lesson in the woes of feminism, I suppose (ironically all leading up to Queen Elizabeth). Anyway, a rare opportunity to see two heavyweight actresses (Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman) headline a movie. One of those movies, too, where you get to see Benedict Cumberbatch before, um, anyone really knew what to do with him.
Over the Hedge (2006)
Director: Tim Johnson, Karey Kirkpatrick
Starring: Bruce Willis
Brief Thoughts: Based on an ongoing comic strip that remains virtually impossible to find in actual newspapers, this is one of those animated movies made before everyone realized that the Pixar brand of group adventures didn’t actually work outside of Pixar movies. But I still love it. Bruce Willis has a surprisingly long history of voiceover work, although to date (outside of a cameo in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part) this remains his most recent credit in this capacity. This was at the tail-end of his last major push, too, just as the Sixth Sense bump was fading. Remains an inexplicably underrated talent.
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp, Mickey Rourke, Eva Mendes
Brief Thoughts: The conclusion of Robert Rodriguez’s Mariachi Trilogy (Antonio Banderas & Salma Hayek join in the second one, Desperado, which was a formative film experience for me). For a lot of people, it became better known as The Movie Johnny Depp Made After Striking It Big With Jack Sparrow. Depp, of course, was already well-known for seeking out weirdo character roles, but after Jack Sparrow the stakes were immeasurably raised. Somewhat lucky for him, this was weirdo territory already, though the fact that it’s a supporting role was a little confusing. Still, he gets off the memorable gonzo line, “Are you a Mexican or a Mexican’t?”
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
Director: Justin Chadwick
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Eric Bana, Jim Sturgess, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne
Brief Thoughts: There’s a whole inexplicable cottage industry of books surrounding Henry VIII’s love life, which I suspect has less to do with how irresistible he was as a lover and...the thousand wives he had, and...how he disposed of them. Sort of an object lesson in the woes of feminism, I suppose (ironically all leading up to Queen Elizabeth). Anyway, a rare opportunity to see two heavyweight actresses (Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman) headline a movie. One of those movies, too, where you get to see Benedict Cumberbatch before, um, anyone really knew what to do with him.
Over the Hedge (2006)
Director: Tim Johnson, Karey Kirkpatrick
Starring: Bruce Willis
Brief Thoughts: Based on an ongoing comic strip that remains virtually impossible to find in actual newspapers, this is one of those animated movies made before everyone realized that the Pixar brand of group adventures didn’t actually work outside of Pixar movies. But I still love it. Bruce Willis has a surprisingly long history of voiceover work, although to date (outside of a cameo in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part) this remains his most recent credit in this capacity. This was at the tail-end of his last major push, too, just as the Sixth Sense bump was fading. Remains an inexplicably underrated talent.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - N
Nebraska (2013)
Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: Will Forte, Bruce Dern
Brief Thoughts: Will Forte is somehow an underrated talent, but I guess it’s always going to be difficult for the majority of Saturday Night Live alum to have breakout careers (it took Will Ferrell years to reach that point, and he seemed like a given from the start, but he’s also an object lesson in finding that one perfect role, in his case the aging frat boy in Old School, to contextualize himself to mass audiences). In Forte’s case, he found it, oddly enough, in a drama, but I guess it was too confusing. I mean, do you keep doing dramas at that point or do you go back to the comedies that were already not working? So that explains what happened to him, unfortunately. Nebraska is an affecting story about an aging father (Bruce Dern) who becomes convinced he’s won the lottery. Anyone else would have relentlessly mocked him, but Alexander Payne instead crafts his story around the son (Forte) who does everything possible to help preserve his dignity. Anyone with aging parents will appreciate the effort.
Now You See Me 2 (2016)
Director: John M. Chu
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Radcliffe, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine
Brief Thoughts: I haven’t gotten around to seeing the first one, but I figured Daniel Radcliffe’s tongue-in-cheek casting in the second was reason enough to catch that one. The results are of course slick heist magic with a fun cast. The only possible complaint would be how easily Lizzy Caplan is accepted into the close-knit Horsemen family. If they played their cards right (heh) they could expand this into a whole franchise, Fast & Furious style. And c’mon, the next one would obviously have to be entitled Now You See 3.
Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: Will Forte, Bruce Dern
Brief Thoughts: Will Forte is somehow an underrated talent, but I guess it’s always going to be difficult for the majority of Saturday Night Live alum to have breakout careers (it took Will Ferrell years to reach that point, and he seemed like a given from the start, but he’s also an object lesson in finding that one perfect role, in his case the aging frat boy in Old School, to contextualize himself to mass audiences). In Forte’s case, he found it, oddly enough, in a drama, but I guess it was too confusing. I mean, do you keep doing dramas at that point or do you go back to the comedies that were already not working? So that explains what happened to him, unfortunately. Nebraska is an affecting story about an aging father (Bruce Dern) who becomes convinced he’s won the lottery. Anyone else would have relentlessly mocked him, but Alexander Payne instead crafts his story around the son (Forte) who does everything possible to help preserve his dignity. Anyone with aging parents will appreciate the effort.
Now You See Me 2 (2016)
Director: John M. Chu
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Radcliffe, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine
Brief Thoughts: I haven’t gotten around to seeing the first one, but I figured Daniel Radcliffe’s tongue-in-cheek casting in the second was reason enough to catch that one. The results are of course slick heist magic with a fun cast. The only possible complaint would be how easily Lizzy Caplan is accepted into the close-knit Horsemen family. If they played their cards right (heh) they could expand this into a whole franchise, Fast & Furious style. And c’mon, the next one would obviously have to be entitled Now You See 3.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - M
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber
Brief Thoughts: Yes, the remake, not the original. Two of the very good reasons: Meryl Streep, before she entered Living Legend mode, both at awards ceremonies and the roles she took, filled with knowing winks to the audience (critics) about how great she is. At the time, her performance in Manchurian Candidate was considered a biting satire of Hillary Clinton, but I have the idea that now, not only would Streep not pursue such a role, but it would never be accepted as “a good thing” (a phrase used by someone in one of her later roles). Also: Liev Schreiber, folks. This movie is literally his closest shot at cinematic immortality, folks. He deserves it. He earned it. Don’t take it away because you’re horrified at the thought of remakes. And, of course, Denzel Washington. It’s always great to see him in a role that isn’t calculated based on his race, or one of his action movies. He’s a star. Let him be a star, at the magnitude he’s capable of reaching. Which is as high as anyone. And at least as interesting. This whole thing holds up better than the original. Of course it does.
Midnight Special (2016)
Director: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver
Brief Thoughts: This is one of those great cinematic experiences they tell you can’t be done anymore, thanks to all the remakes and sequels Hollywood pumps out. It is exactly equivalent to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and hails Jeff Nichols at exactly the level of Spielberg. But you wouldn’t know it. And that’s kind of the level of sophistication we have at the moment.
The Missing (2003)
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Evan Rachel Wood
Brief Thoughts: This is exactly the kind of western that ought to be getting made at this point. Tommy Lee Jones completes a transformation into a kind of modern John Wayne (the poster always made me think the allusion was intentional). He plays an absent father who lived for years with Indians. The antagonist of the movie is a crazy Indian, but in no sense is the guy meant to represent all Indians. Jones, who is not being sold as appropriating the identity of an Indian but rather representing the idea that this is a character who thought that was the best way to live, even at the expense of his own family. And as counterpoint you’ve got, well, Cate Blanchett, who excels at making everything she touches compelling.
Munich (2005)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig
Brief Thoughts: This is one of my all-time favorites, and as far as I’m concerned, Spielberg’s finest achievement. As a sober reflection of the times, it’s second to none. And it’s Eric Bana’s best role, his absolute career peak. Also, Daniel Craig just before Bond, the unheralded final development of the style he had when he finally got there.
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber
Brief Thoughts: Yes, the remake, not the original. Two of the very good reasons: Meryl Streep, before she entered Living Legend mode, both at awards ceremonies and the roles she took, filled with knowing winks to the audience (critics) about how great she is. At the time, her performance in Manchurian Candidate was considered a biting satire of Hillary Clinton, but I have the idea that now, not only would Streep not pursue such a role, but it would never be accepted as “a good thing” (a phrase used by someone in one of her later roles). Also: Liev Schreiber, folks. This movie is literally his closest shot at cinematic immortality, folks. He deserves it. He earned it. Don’t take it away because you’re horrified at the thought of remakes. And, of course, Denzel Washington. It’s always great to see him in a role that isn’t calculated based on his race, or one of his action movies. He’s a star. Let him be a star, at the magnitude he’s capable of reaching. Which is as high as anyone. And at least as interesting. This whole thing holds up better than the original. Of course it does.
Midnight Special (2016)
Director: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver
Brief Thoughts: This is one of those great cinematic experiences they tell you can’t be done anymore, thanks to all the remakes and sequels Hollywood pumps out. It is exactly equivalent to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and hails Jeff Nichols at exactly the level of Spielberg. But you wouldn’t know it. And that’s kind of the level of sophistication we have at the moment.
The Missing (2003)
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Evan Rachel Wood
Brief Thoughts: This is exactly the kind of western that ought to be getting made at this point. Tommy Lee Jones completes a transformation into a kind of modern John Wayne (the poster always made me think the allusion was intentional). He plays an absent father who lived for years with Indians. The antagonist of the movie is a crazy Indian, but in no sense is the guy meant to represent all Indians. Jones, who is not being sold as appropriating the identity of an Indian but rather representing the idea that this is a character who thought that was the best way to live, even at the expense of his own family. And as counterpoint you’ve got, well, Cate Blanchett, who excels at making everything she touches compelling.
Munich (2005)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig
Brief Thoughts: This is one of my all-time favorites, and as far as I’m concerned, Spielberg’s finest achievement. As a sober reflection of the times, it’s second to none. And it’s Eric Bana’s best role, his absolute career peak. Also, Daniel Craig just before Bond, the unheralded final development of the style he had when he finally got there.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - L
La La Land (2016)
Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone
Brief Thoughts: This is a movie I resisted for a while, in large part because I thought it appealed to critics for all the wrong reasons (critics don’t often seem to consider the quality of the film itself as the determining factor in their assessments). It felt like celebrating the increasingly unpopular Classic Hollywood Aesthetic, like an act of defiance to modern audience trends (which of course is exactly what people have been saying about the Oscars for years). And it stars Ryan Gosling. I’ve had a hard time processing Gosling, too. He’s one of those actors who’s been working since he was a Mouseketeer, presumably because he just kept auditioning well, not because he had any specific real appeal. So for a long time I watched his career unfold and had absolutely no interest. When I finally did see La La Land (and Blade Runner 2049), I saw an actor who was doing something I hadn’t seen before, a pretty boy world weariness. “City of Stars” is difficult to forget, too, even though it seems it should be, the antithesis of the usual movie song, which tends to go out of its way to be noticed (but I guess that’s every pop song).
The Last Kiss (2006)
Director: Tony Goldwyn
Starring: Zach Braff
Brief Thoughts: I’m a big fan of the sitcom Scrubs. I was happy when Zach Braff made a successful (for a brief moment, anyway) transition to film with the cult classic Garden State, but I ended up preferring his later effort The Last Kiss, which if it had landed better might have positioned Braff into a Dustin Hoffman-like career. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Ken Watanabe
Brief Thoughts: Originally conceived as merely a companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers, which was expected to be a big hit, Letters from Iwo Jima instead arrived like a miracle, a movie that would have been impossible decades earlier (there was Tora! Tora! Tora!, but that leaned pretty heavily into standard WWII memories). A movie from the perspective of, and sympathetic to, Japanese forces, spoken in Japanese, by an American filmmaker, and of all people, Clint Eastwood! Completely unforgettable.
Liberal Arts (2012)
Director: Josh Radnor
Starring: Josh Radnor, Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Jenkins, Allison Janney
Brief Thoughts: I’m an even bigger fan of How I Met Your Mother than I am of Scrubs, so it was kind of amusing when Josh Radnor attempted to duplicate Zach Braff’s movie adventure. He ended up with about the same results, but in the process got to direct and star in two movies, the second of which was better, Liberal Arts, which features him as a college graduate whose life sort of loses meaning off-campus, until he finds his way back there and rediscovers himself. I find that easily relatable. Life was far simpler on campus. A microcosm of the world is far easier to navigate. But eventually I started figuring things out.
Life (1999)
Director: Ted Demme
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence
Brief Thoughts: Dipping past the millennium line again; this is another movie that’s criminally ignored, arguably Eddie Murphy’s best movie (and pretty much by default, Martin Lawrence’s), a buddy movie that tosses them into prison for, well, life, sort of the tragicomic version of The Shawshank Redemption.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett
Brief Thoughts: Bill Murray was a huge family favorite growing up, though we mostly shackled him to Groundhog Day (our introductions were Caddyshack, but that was kind of rowdy for a bunch of Catholics to watch repeatedly, and Ghostbusters, but we ended up spending far more time watching the cartoon) and What About Bob? (Baby steps!). I honestly don’t think my siblings would be able to appreciate later Murray, world weary Murray, whether Lost in Translation or the comic absurdity of Life Aquatic (so yes, I am easily the family’s cinephile).
Life of Pi (2012)
Director: Ang Lee
Starring: a tiger (probably?)
Brief Thoughts: A work of genius in book and film.
Lions for Lambs (2007)
Director: Robert Redford
Starring: Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Andrew Garfield, Michael Peña, Derek Luke
Brief Thoughts: A wordy thought piece, but a brilliant look into the times, with an excellent cast. I got the DVD at Target, which included a copy of the script. Somebody at the time realized that it was probably a significant film. And they were right.
Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone
Brief Thoughts: This is a movie I resisted for a while, in large part because I thought it appealed to critics for all the wrong reasons (critics don’t often seem to consider the quality of the film itself as the determining factor in their assessments). It felt like celebrating the increasingly unpopular Classic Hollywood Aesthetic, like an act of defiance to modern audience trends (which of course is exactly what people have been saying about the Oscars for years). And it stars Ryan Gosling. I’ve had a hard time processing Gosling, too. He’s one of those actors who’s been working since he was a Mouseketeer, presumably because he just kept auditioning well, not because he had any specific real appeal. So for a long time I watched his career unfold and had absolutely no interest. When I finally did see La La Land (and Blade Runner 2049), I saw an actor who was doing something I hadn’t seen before, a pretty boy world weariness. “City of Stars” is difficult to forget, too, even though it seems it should be, the antithesis of the usual movie song, which tends to go out of its way to be noticed (but I guess that’s every pop song).
The Last Kiss (2006)
Director: Tony Goldwyn
Starring: Zach Braff
Brief Thoughts: I’m a big fan of the sitcom Scrubs. I was happy when Zach Braff made a successful (for a brief moment, anyway) transition to film with the cult classic Garden State, but I ended up preferring his later effort The Last Kiss, which if it had landed better might have positioned Braff into a Dustin Hoffman-like career. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Ken Watanabe
Brief Thoughts: Originally conceived as merely a companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers, which was expected to be a big hit, Letters from Iwo Jima instead arrived like a miracle, a movie that would have been impossible decades earlier (there was Tora! Tora! Tora!, but that leaned pretty heavily into standard WWII memories). A movie from the perspective of, and sympathetic to, Japanese forces, spoken in Japanese, by an American filmmaker, and of all people, Clint Eastwood! Completely unforgettable.
Liberal Arts (2012)
Director: Josh Radnor
Starring: Josh Radnor, Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Jenkins, Allison Janney
Brief Thoughts: I’m an even bigger fan of How I Met Your Mother than I am of Scrubs, so it was kind of amusing when Josh Radnor attempted to duplicate Zach Braff’s movie adventure. He ended up with about the same results, but in the process got to direct and star in two movies, the second of which was better, Liberal Arts, which features him as a college graduate whose life sort of loses meaning off-campus, until he finds his way back there and rediscovers himself. I find that easily relatable. Life was far simpler on campus. A microcosm of the world is far easier to navigate. But eventually I started figuring things out.
Life (1999)
Director: Ted Demme
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence
Brief Thoughts: Dipping past the millennium line again; this is another movie that’s criminally ignored, arguably Eddie Murphy’s best movie (and pretty much by default, Martin Lawrence’s), a buddy movie that tosses them into prison for, well, life, sort of the tragicomic version of The Shawshank Redemption.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett
Brief Thoughts: Bill Murray was a huge family favorite growing up, though we mostly shackled him to Groundhog Day (our introductions were Caddyshack, but that was kind of rowdy for a bunch of Catholics to watch repeatedly, and Ghostbusters, but we ended up spending far more time watching the cartoon) and What About Bob? (Baby steps!). I honestly don’t think my siblings would be able to appreciate later Murray, world weary Murray, whether Lost in Translation or the comic absurdity of Life Aquatic (so yes, I am easily the family’s cinephile).
Life of Pi (2012)
Director: Ang Lee
Starring: a tiger (probably?)
Brief Thoughts: A work of genius in book and film.
Lions for Lambs (2007)
Director: Robert Redford
Starring: Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Andrew Garfield, Michael Peña, Derek Luke
Brief Thoughts: A wordy thought piece, but a brilliant look into the times, with an excellent cast. I got the DVD at Target, which included a copy of the script. Somebody at the time realized that it was probably a significant film. And they were right.
Monday, April 13, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - K
Killshot (2009)
Director: John Madden
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Rosario Dawson, Thomas Jane
Brief Thoughts: With this one I’m not going to talk about the movie itself (still baffles me that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has had such a hard time finding respect with audiences, though, despite years of interesting material), but how I ended up watching it. I spent five years working at a bookstore chain. One of the things I got to experience was special ordering. Special ordering is great, don’t get me wrong (I suspect people using it, especially at a bookstore chain, either can’t figure out ordering on the internet, don’t trust the internet, or it’s the only way some of them interact with the outside world), but it was always interesting. This particular guy, whether because customer service is always uneven or not, but he was always grumpy. He claimed we never got any of the really good movies inside the store (he always called in his orders), which forced him to special order. Killshot is a fine movie, but I’m not sure I would call it a really good movie. Different tastes, sure, but...Anyway, in the long run I guess I did end up agreeing with him about it once. I special ordered myself a copy of Tom Hardy’s Bronson, which was a really good movie, and would never have passed through the store otherwise. Still, I doubt this guy would have ever seen it, or thought to. Different tastes, sure. Anyway, I still remember his name, a decade later, and not just because I used it for a story. So there’s that!
Director: John Madden
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Rosario Dawson, Thomas Jane
Brief Thoughts: With this one I’m not going to talk about the movie itself (still baffles me that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has had such a hard time finding respect with audiences, though, despite years of interesting material), but how I ended up watching it. I spent five years working at a bookstore chain. One of the things I got to experience was special ordering. Special ordering is great, don’t get me wrong (I suspect people using it, especially at a bookstore chain, either can’t figure out ordering on the internet, don’t trust the internet, or it’s the only way some of them interact with the outside world), but it was always interesting. This particular guy, whether because customer service is always uneven or not, but he was always grumpy. He claimed we never got any of the really good movies inside the store (he always called in his orders), which forced him to special order. Killshot is a fine movie, but I’m not sure I would call it a really good movie. Different tastes, sure, but...Anyway, in the long run I guess I did end up agreeing with him about it once. I special ordered myself a copy of Tom Hardy’s Bronson, which was a really good movie, and would never have passed through the store otherwise. Still, I doubt this guy would have ever seen it, or thought to. Different tastes, sure. Anyway, I still remember his name, a decade later, and not just because I used it for a story. So there’s that!
Saturday, April 11, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - J
Jane Got a Gun (2016)
Director: Gavin O’Connor
Starring: Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, Ewan McGregor
Brief Thoughts: Hey, those are three actors from the Star Wars prequels! And yeah, for me that’s enough of a hook right there. For a lot of critics, the only thing they needed to know was that the movie had a troubled production history, and yeah, it’s literally a thing with critics that it matters how a movie was made, rather than, y’know, the movie itself, and because journalists in general cover movies like that, audiences learn about it and of course their opinions are needlessly swayed...And this has been going on forever, of course. Citizen Kane had an uphill battle to immortality thanks to the fact that it heavily skewered a famous newspaper mogul, who used his influence to bury, as much as possible, the movie in its original release. Arguably this single act nearly buried Orson Welles’s entire resulting career, making it increasingly difficult for him to work with major studios, get the recognition he deserved, and his movies appreciated for what they were. Am I suggesting Gavin O’Connor has received a comparable fate? Am I comparing Gavin O’Connor to Orson Welles? Half the reason Joel Edgerton keeps showing up in these selections is because of Warrior, his breakthrough film, and O’Connor’s, one of my all-time favorite films, instantly. So yeah, when O’Connor has a new film, I pay attention. And I have yet to be disappointed. One of the truly unsung great talents working in film today.
Director: Gavin O’Connor
Starring: Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, Ewan McGregor
Brief Thoughts: Hey, those are three actors from the Star Wars prequels! And yeah, for me that’s enough of a hook right there. For a lot of critics, the only thing they needed to know was that the movie had a troubled production history, and yeah, it’s literally a thing with critics that it matters how a movie was made, rather than, y’know, the movie itself, and because journalists in general cover movies like that, audiences learn about it and of course their opinions are needlessly swayed...And this has been going on forever, of course. Citizen Kane had an uphill battle to immortality thanks to the fact that it heavily skewered a famous newspaper mogul, who used his influence to bury, as much as possible, the movie in its original release. Arguably this single act nearly buried Orson Welles’s entire resulting career, making it increasingly difficult for him to work with major studios, get the recognition he deserved, and his movies appreciated for what they were. Am I suggesting Gavin O’Connor has received a comparable fate? Am I comparing Gavin O’Connor to Orson Welles? Half the reason Joel Edgerton keeps showing up in these selections is because of Warrior, his breakthrough film, and O’Connor’s, one of my all-time favorite films, instantly. So yeah, when O’Connor has a new film, I pay attention. And I have yet to be disappointed. One of the truly unsung great talents working in film today.
Friday, April 10, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - I
Idiocracy (2006)
Director: Mike Judge
Starring: Luke Wilson, Dax Shepard, Maya Rudolph, Terry Crews, Justin Long
Brief Thoughts: Office Space became an instant cult classic and one of my all-time favorites, so it was always going to be a tough act for Mike Judge to follow. Idiocracy is basically the Terry Gilliam version of Office Space, and a somewhat, surprisingly accurate vision of the future about a decade ahead. Still waiting to be embraced as another Judge classic.
The Illusionist (2006)
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel
Brief Thoughts: Even though Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige was released the same year, I continue to prefer The Illusionist. Edward Norton has a complex history, and while he’s apparently difficult to work with (which matters not at all to the audience), he delivers reliably excellent results. His ability to star in major releases, though, ended around this time, so that’s another reason to celebrate this film. Also, Paul Giamatti was coincidentally cooling as an attraction after American Splendor made him leading man material. But he remains fascinating no matter the size of his role. With apologies to Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, this is a truly irresistible one-two punch for me.
In the Valley of Elah (2007)
Director: Paul Haggis
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, James Franco, Susan Sarandon, Josh Brolin
Brief Thoughts: The movie itself immediately resonated with me as a sober meditation of the times, but what continues to interest me about it (other than “Elah” leaving an imprint on my poetry) is the fact that it’s one of several supporting roles from Josh Brolin that littered the period. I still can’t account for why Brolin was suddenly such a hot commodity after toiling for years in relative obscurity (other than having a famous dad), but the happy result was, a few years later a highly visible career and, of course, Thanos. (I mean, it was probably No Country for Old Men, but it’s more fun to make it sound mysterious.)
Instinct (1999)
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Maura Tierney, Donald Sutherland
Brief Thoughts: Dipping below the millennium divide for a moment, in honor of one of my favorite obscure movies, at the time dismissed as Anthony Hopkins playing another prisoner of questionable character. But Ethan Powell is a far cry from Hannibal Lecter. This is one of the most deeply affecting human dramas I’ve ever seen. It also features Cuba Gooding Jr. in his second best role (Jerry Maguire), and Maura Tierney in her best movie (second best: Liar Liar).
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Dogs
Brief Thoughts: Obligatory listing.
It Comes At Night (2017)
Director: Trey Edward Shults
Starring: Joel Edgerton
Brief Thoughts: I’ve never gotten around to catching A Quiet Place, since I caught It Comes At Night first. They’re both horror movies about desperately trying to remain silent. This one’s about a self-isolating family (perfect for the pandemic era!) and filled with moody atmosphere and, well, Joel Edgerton.
Director: Mike Judge
Starring: Luke Wilson, Dax Shepard, Maya Rudolph, Terry Crews, Justin Long
Brief Thoughts: Office Space became an instant cult classic and one of my all-time favorites, so it was always going to be a tough act for Mike Judge to follow. Idiocracy is basically the Terry Gilliam version of Office Space, and a somewhat, surprisingly accurate vision of the future about a decade ahead. Still waiting to be embraced as another Judge classic.
The Illusionist (2006)
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel
Brief Thoughts: Even though Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige was released the same year, I continue to prefer The Illusionist. Edward Norton has a complex history, and while he’s apparently difficult to work with (which matters not at all to the audience), he delivers reliably excellent results. His ability to star in major releases, though, ended around this time, so that’s another reason to celebrate this film. Also, Paul Giamatti was coincidentally cooling as an attraction after American Splendor made him leading man material. But he remains fascinating no matter the size of his role. With apologies to Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, this is a truly irresistible one-two punch for me.
In the Valley of Elah (2007)
Director: Paul Haggis
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, James Franco, Susan Sarandon, Josh Brolin
Brief Thoughts: The movie itself immediately resonated with me as a sober meditation of the times, but what continues to interest me about it (other than “Elah” leaving an imprint on my poetry) is the fact that it’s one of several supporting roles from Josh Brolin that littered the period. I still can’t account for why Brolin was suddenly such a hot commodity after toiling for years in relative obscurity (other than having a famous dad), but the happy result was, a few years later a highly visible career and, of course, Thanos. (I mean, it was probably No Country for Old Men, but it’s more fun to make it sound mysterious.)
Instinct (1999)
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Maura Tierney, Donald Sutherland
Brief Thoughts: Dipping below the millennium divide for a moment, in honor of one of my favorite obscure movies, at the time dismissed as Anthony Hopkins playing another prisoner of questionable character. But Ethan Powell is a far cry from Hannibal Lecter. This is one of the most deeply affecting human dramas I’ve ever seen. It also features Cuba Gooding Jr. in his second best role (Jerry Maguire), and Maura Tierney in her best movie (second best: Liar Liar).
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Dogs
Brief Thoughts: Obligatory listing.
It Comes At Night (2017)
Director: Trey Edward Shults
Starring: Joel Edgerton
Brief Thoughts: I’ve never gotten around to catching A Quiet Place, since I caught It Comes At Night first. They’re both horror movies about desperately trying to remain silent. This one’s about a self-isolating family (perfect for the pandemic era!) and filled with moody atmosphere and, well, Joel Edgerton.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - H
Hancock (2008)
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman
Brief Thoughts: Obviously, superhero movies are somewhat omnipresent these days, but they’re mostly adaptations from comic book source material. Just as the boom was hitting, along came Hancock. Will Smith was still on his incredible box office hot streak at the time. Later, when he’d fallen out of it, he ended up joining up with the genre again in one of the adaptations with Suicide Squad. Here, though, he was pure Will Smith as a superhero who’s completely out of control, and as far as the trailers were concerned, that’s all you needed to know. Except there’s a huge twist involving Charlize Theron. I love the twist. I love this movie.
Hanna (2011)
Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett
Brief Thoughts: Saoirse Ronan had a long lead time before breaking out with Lady Bird, being featured in various movies while most people still couldn’t pronounce her name (“Sher-sha,” for the record). Here’s one of the more interesting ones, costarring two huge names in Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett, Bana just as he was losing his star status (sadly) and Blanchett reliably picking the most interesting projects. Anyway, the concept was later adapted into a TV show, so there were definitely people who noticed how awesome this movie was.
Hell or High Water (2016)
Director: David Mackenzie
Starring: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges
Brief Thoughts: Chris Pine is one of the most interesting actors working today, but he rarely gets parts that showcase his value. This is by far his best role to date, and best film. Tagging along are Ben Foster (who seems to have caught the eye of casting directors much more effectively based on his work in the film), uttering the best line in the movie (“I am a Comanche.”) and Jeff Bridges, doing his best No Country for Old Men.
Hollywoodland (2006)
Director: Allen Coulter
Starring: Ben Affleck, Diane Labe, Adrien Brody, Bob Hoskins
Brief Thoughts: The significance of George Reeves’ Superman on the generation of kids who grew up watching him can’t be understated. There’s a picture of my uncle trussed up in a Superman costume. I had a teacher in middle school talk, during math class, decades after the fact, about the trauma of Reeves’ death. This movie is about the continuing murky circumstances surrounding it, whether murky because fans don’t want to admit what seems likely (much as the JFK conspiracy theories are mostly motivated by needing a bigger story than a lone gunman to explain the assassination) or because (like JFK) there’s just enough potential to make things sound a lot more interesting. Ben Affleck began a popular comeback with this unexpected role, as Reeves, with my personal (second) favorite Adrien Brody performance as the classic noir private investigator trying to discover the truth. (His best is clearly Dalí! in Midnight in Paris.)
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman
Brief Thoughts: Obviously, superhero movies are somewhat omnipresent these days, but they’re mostly adaptations from comic book source material. Just as the boom was hitting, along came Hancock. Will Smith was still on his incredible box office hot streak at the time. Later, when he’d fallen out of it, he ended up joining up with the genre again in one of the adaptations with Suicide Squad. Here, though, he was pure Will Smith as a superhero who’s completely out of control, and as far as the trailers were concerned, that’s all you needed to know. Except there’s a huge twist involving Charlize Theron. I love the twist. I love this movie.
Hanna (2011)
Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett
Brief Thoughts: Saoirse Ronan had a long lead time before breaking out with Lady Bird, being featured in various movies while most people still couldn’t pronounce her name (“Sher-sha,” for the record). Here’s one of the more interesting ones, costarring two huge names in Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett, Bana just as he was losing his star status (sadly) and Blanchett reliably picking the most interesting projects. Anyway, the concept was later adapted into a TV show, so there were definitely people who noticed how awesome this movie was.
Hell or High Water (2016)
Director: David Mackenzie
Starring: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges
Brief Thoughts: Chris Pine is one of the most interesting actors working today, but he rarely gets parts that showcase his value. This is by far his best role to date, and best film. Tagging along are Ben Foster (who seems to have caught the eye of casting directors much more effectively based on his work in the film), uttering the best line in the movie (“I am a Comanche.”) and Jeff Bridges, doing his best No Country for Old Men.
Hollywoodland (2006)
Director: Allen Coulter
Starring: Ben Affleck, Diane Labe, Adrien Brody, Bob Hoskins
Brief Thoughts: The significance of George Reeves’ Superman on the generation of kids who grew up watching him can’t be understated. There’s a picture of my uncle trussed up in a Superman costume. I had a teacher in middle school talk, during math class, decades after the fact, about the trauma of Reeves’ death. This movie is about the continuing murky circumstances surrounding it, whether murky because fans don’t want to admit what seems likely (much as the JFK conspiracy theories are mostly motivated by needing a bigger story than a lone gunman to explain the assassination) or because (like JFK) there’s just enough potential to make things sound a lot more interesting. Ben Affleck began a popular comeback with this unexpected role, as Reeves, with my personal (second) favorite Adrien Brody performance as the classic noir private investigator trying to discover the truth. (His best is clearly Dalí! in Midnight in Paris.)
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - G
Gifted (2017)
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Octavia Spencer
Brief Thoughts: Some of you might know that I spent a fair bit of the last few years helping raise my niece. The process of that ending was (and remains) difficult for me to process. Gifted, although depicting different circumstances, has helped me cope with it. Good spotlight for Chris Evans, too.
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Director: Ben Affleck
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris
Brief Thoughts: Ben Affleck, as a director, became far better known for The Town and Argo, but I think I’ll always prefer this, in part because, along with one of my all-time favorite movies, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, it helped establish Casey Affleck as a movie star. Casey and Michelle Monaghan play private investigators from a series of books by Dennis Lehane, who at the turn of the millennium was Hollywood’s favorite author. Being from New England, I also like movies set in Boston (so that’s another reason I really love The Departed). Plus there’s a huge twist involving Morgan Freeman, which is nice to see, as far as Freeman stretching himself a little goes...
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, millions of others
Brief Thoughts: A couple years ago I fell instantly and emphatically in love with Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, not because I’ve always been a huge fan of Anderson but because I’ve been an admirer watching the products of his vivid imagination unfold over the years. He’s one of the truly consummate filmmaking artists working today. Grand Budapest Hotel itself is breathtaking, and perhaps if I’d watched it sooner would have been the tipping point. Plus, Anderson is a wizard of casting. He can get the most interesting actors in the smallest of roles. You can watch this one for that alone. It’s astonishing, basically on nearly every level.
Gringo (2018)
Director: Nash Edgerton
Starring: David Oyelowo, Joel Edgerton, Charlize Theron, Thandie Newton, Sharlto Copley, Amanda Seyfried
Brief Thoughts: A lot of people, who bothered to note that Gringo happened at all, dismissed it as bafflingly racist. But the point of a farce is absurdity, and there has been no recent film example of farce as comically absurd as Gringo. Where we most often complain loudly and lamely about the things we don’t like in society, this is the kind of film that reflects in hilarious terms how loud and lame society is, and perhaps by extension, lampoons the very people who were never going to understand it.
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Octavia Spencer
Brief Thoughts: Some of you might know that I spent a fair bit of the last few years helping raise my niece. The process of that ending was (and remains) difficult for me to process. Gifted, although depicting different circumstances, has helped me cope with it. Good spotlight for Chris Evans, too.
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Director: Ben Affleck
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris
Brief Thoughts: Ben Affleck, as a director, became far better known for The Town and Argo, but I think I’ll always prefer this, in part because, along with one of my all-time favorite movies, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, it helped establish Casey Affleck as a movie star. Casey and Michelle Monaghan play private investigators from a series of books by Dennis Lehane, who at the turn of the millennium was Hollywood’s favorite author. Being from New England, I also like movies set in Boston (so that’s another reason I really love The Departed). Plus there’s a huge twist involving Morgan Freeman, which is nice to see, as far as Freeman stretching himself a little goes...
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, millions of others
Brief Thoughts: A couple years ago I fell instantly and emphatically in love with Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, not because I’ve always been a huge fan of Anderson but because I’ve been an admirer watching the products of his vivid imagination unfold over the years. He’s one of the truly consummate filmmaking artists working today. Grand Budapest Hotel itself is breathtaking, and perhaps if I’d watched it sooner would have been the tipping point. Plus, Anderson is a wizard of casting. He can get the most interesting actors in the smallest of roles. You can watch this one for that alone. It’s astonishing, basically on nearly every level.
Gringo (2018)
Director: Nash Edgerton
Starring: David Oyelowo, Joel Edgerton, Charlize Theron, Thandie Newton, Sharlto Copley, Amanda Seyfried
Brief Thoughts: A lot of people, who bothered to note that Gringo happened at all, dismissed it as bafflingly racist. But the point of a farce is absurdity, and there has been no recent film example of farce as comically absurd as Gringo. Where we most often complain loudly and lamely about the things we don’t like in society, this is the kind of film that reflects in hilarious terms how loud and lame society is, and perhaps by extension, lampoons the very people who were never going to understand it.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - F
Fever Pitch (2005)
Director; Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly
Starring: Jimmy Fallon, Drew Barrymore
Brief Thoughts: As a die hard fan of the Red Sox, it was always going to be impossible for me not to ignore Fever Pitch. The previous year they had just ended an infamous 86 year drought and won the World Series. Fever Pitch is one of two works that were fortuitously already in progress when it happened, the other a book (Faithful) Stephen King was coauthoring to chronicle the season, which ended up producing far different endings than originally conceived. To hear the filmmakers tell it, Fever Pitch didn’t have the Hollywood ending until baseball delivered it. And what an ending! I like to imagine I would care about the movie otherwise. I mean, it still revolves around the Sox. But, y’know...
Flight (2012)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, John Goodman, Kelly Reilly, James Badge Dale
Brief Thoughts: Denzel Washington is without a doubt one of the finest actors working today. Although of course these days, like Liam Neeson or Tom Cruise, you’re more apt to find him in an action movie than a drama, where he really thrives. Flight is one of his most recent dramas, and of course he’s brilliant in it. So’s Don Cheadle, right before he was sucked into the Avengers machine seemingly permanently. But Flight, for me, is always going to be the breakout film of James Badge Dale. It’s a minuscule role, in which he’s credited only as “Gaunt Young Man.” Washington and Kelly Reilly are bonding at the hospital when they step into a stairwell for a smoke (they’re exactly that kind of characters), when Dale comes shuffling up, and ends up completely dominating the scene. I never understood why it was so hard for Hollywood to find him roles like that, where his innate charisma could shine through. It may be that he does best in showy supporting roles (which to be clear, is not hammy or overacting), but then, he doesn’t really get those, either. He seems to have settled into sober authority figures, which I suppose works. For now.
Free State of Jones (2016)
Director: Gary Ross
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Mahershala Ali, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keri Russell
Brief Thoughts: One of the things that baffles me about the modern era is that we seem intent to shake loose from mythical figures in general. We’ve had a trend to find the core truths of their lives, if they were real people, but having achieved that we discard both the myth and the real person with it. And we lose our pasts in the process. The funny thing is, even real people who didn’t particularly have myths attached to them are easily ignored in the process. Such is the case with Newton Knight, who wages war with the Confederacy in his home state of Mississippi. It’s another perfect role for Matthew McConaughey (although of course equally ignored). Free State of Jones was also the breakthrough film for Mahershala Ali, who went in to greater prominence in Moonlight and Green Book, both of which won Best Picture at the Oscars.
Funny People (2009)
Director: Judd Apatow
Starring: Adam Sandler, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Seth Rogan, Eric Bana
Brief Thoughts: Adam Sandler has perhaps one of the strangest careers ever in Hollywood. When he finally became an unqualified success, he epitomized the gross out humor that had come to dominate the late ‘90s. Then, as with most comedic actors, he also wanted to do drama. Funny People is one of those. It’s also the culmination of the celebration of Warren Zevon’s life and legacy that happened just as he was dying, which is also when I finally discovered him. It’s also a rare, and very welcome, comedic spotlight for Eric Bana.
Director; Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly
Starring: Jimmy Fallon, Drew Barrymore
Brief Thoughts: As a die hard fan of the Red Sox, it was always going to be impossible for me not to ignore Fever Pitch. The previous year they had just ended an infamous 86 year drought and won the World Series. Fever Pitch is one of two works that were fortuitously already in progress when it happened, the other a book (Faithful) Stephen King was coauthoring to chronicle the season, which ended up producing far different endings than originally conceived. To hear the filmmakers tell it, Fever Pitch didn’t have the Hollywood ending until baseball delivered it. And what an ending! I like to imagine I would care about the movie otherwise. I mean, it still revolves around the Sox. But, y’know...
Flight (2012)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, John Goodman, Kelly Reilly, James Badge Dale
Brief Thoughts: Denzel Washington is without a doubt one of the finest actors working today. Although of course these days, like Liam Neeson or Tom Cruise, you’re more apt to find him in an action movie than a drama, where he really thrives. Flight is one of his most recent dramas, and of course he’s brilliant in it. So’s Don Cheadle, right before he was sucked into the Avengers machine seemingly permanently. But Flight, for me, is always going to be the breakout film of James Badge Dale. It’s a minuscule role, in which he’s credited only as “Gaunt Young Man.” Washington and Kelly Reilly are bonding at the hospital when they step into a stairwell for a smoke (they’re exactly that kind of characters), when Dale comes shuffling up, and ends up completely dominating the scene. I never understood why it was so hard for Hollywood to find him roles like that, where his innate charisma could shine through. It may be that he does best in showy supporting roles (which to be clear, is not hammy or overacting), but then, he doesn’t really get those, either. He seems to have settled into sober authority figures, which I suppose works. For now.
Free State of Jones (2016)
Director: Gary Ross
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Mahershala Ali, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keri Russell
Brief Thoughts: One of the things that baffles me about the modern era is that we seem intent to shake loose from mythical figures in general. We’ve had a trend to find the core truths of their lives, if they were real people, but having achieved that we discard both the myth and the real person with it. And we lose our pasts in the process. The funny thing is, even real people who didn’t particularly have myths attached to them are easily ignored in the process. Such is the case with Newton Knight, who wages war with the Confederacy in his home state of Mississippi. It’s another perfect role for Matthew McConaughey (although of course equally ignored). Free State of Jones was also the breakthrough film for Mahershala Ali, who went in to greater prominence in Moonlight and Green Book, both of which won Best Picture at the Oscars.
Funny People (2009)
Director: Judd Apatow
Starring: Adam Sandler, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Seth Rogan, Eric Bana
Brief Thoughts: Adam Sandler has perhaps one of the strangest careers ever in Hollywood. When he finally became an unqualified success, he epitomized the gross out humor that had come to dominate the late ‘90s. Then, as with most comedic actors, he also wanted to do drama. Funny People is one of those. It’s also the culmination of the celebration of Warren Zevon’s life and legacy that happened just as he was dying, which is also when I finally discovered him. It’s also a rare, and very welcome, comedic spotlight for Eric Bana.
Monday, April 6, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - E
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush, Samantha Morton, Rhys Ifans, Eddie Redmayne
Brief Thoughts: A sequel to a historic drama is pretty rare, but we’re talking Queen Elizabeth and Cate Blanchett. Besides Blanchett, easily one of the best and most interesting actors of her generation, there’s also Clive Owen, dashing as Walter Raleigh. Eventually there will be a third one, and maybe then the series can be duly appreciated.
Elizabethtown (2005)
Director: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst
Brief Thoughts: I guess even directors in Hollywood can be drummed out of their popular careers. Cameron Crowe had a number of huge successes before Elizabethtown, including Jerry Maguire, and then...Well, now it hardly seems as if he were ever a thing at all. Orlando Bloom, likewise, was a victim. He had two massive franchises to his credit, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean, and thanks in large part to the latter he was unquestionably the big winner to come out of the former. But his solo career sputtered eventually, not for lack of his continuing appeal, highlighted by his American romance adventure here, with a Kirsten Dunst never more sweetly appealing alongside him.
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton
Brief Thoughts: There is no director working today more committed to or consistently making better historical dramas than Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Kingdom of Men, Robin Hood), but because one of them was a massive hit and the others weren’t, you’d hardly know it. This was his Moses epic, and of course it was caught up in the nonsensical “Hey! Let’s pretend Hollywood shouldn’t cast movie stars in its movies!” craze that asked instead for cultural accuracy. And no one ever flocked to a culturally accurate film depicting someone else’s culture (uh, unless it’s the rest of the world watching Hollywood movies). Anyway, the absolute best thing about this movie is Joel Edgerton in his career best performance, a piece of character work that proves how good and magnetic he really is.
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush, Samantha Morton, Rhys Ifans, Eddie Redmayne
Brief Thoughts: A sequel to a historic drama is pretty rare, but we’re talking Queen Elizabeth and Cate Blanchett. Besides Blanchett, easily one of the best and most interesting actors of her generation, there’s also Clive Owen, dashing as Walter Raleigh. Eventually there will be a third one, and maybe then the series can be duly appreciated.
Elizabethtown (2005)
Director: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst
Brief Thoughts: I guess even directors in Hollywood can be drummed out of their popular careers. Cameron Crowe had a number of huge successes before Elizabethtown, including Jerry Maguire, and then...Well, now it hardly seems as if he were ever a thing at all. Orlando Bloom, likewise, was a victim. He had two massive franchises to his credit, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean, and thanks in large part to the latter he was unquestionably the big winner to come out of the former. But his solo career sputtered eventually, not for lack of his continuing appeal, highlighted by his American romance adventure here, with a Kirsten Dunst never more sweetly appealing alongside him.
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton
Brief Thoughts: There is no director working today more committed to or consistently making better historical dramas than Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Kingdom of Men, Robin Hood), but because one of them was a massive hit and the others weren’t, you’d hardly know it. This was his Moses epic, and of course it was caught up in the nonsensical “Hey! Let’s pretend Hollywood shouldn’t cast movie stars in its movies!” craze that asked instead for cultural accuracy. And no one ever flocked to a culturally accurate film depicting someone else’s culture (uh, unless it’s the rest of the world watching Hollywood movies). Anyway, the absolute best thing about this movie is Joel Edgerton in his career best performance, a piece of character work that proves how good and magnetic he really is.
Saturday, April 4, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - D
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen, Audrey Tautou, Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina, Jean Reno
Brief Thoughts: Such are the idiot summations of generalists: This is the movie with the Tom Hanks Mullet. The Dan Brown book became one of those mass consumption deals where half the people who joined the bandwagon couldn’t begin to understand what the fuss was about (this is basically how the modern era comprehends all popular things), and as such the debate as to whether the results were laughable, enlightening, or just plain sacrilegious sort of...missed the point. Brown ended up producing a whole series of books starring Robert Langdon prodding at the edges of public conspiracy and incredulity (which, again, is the modern age in a nutshell), three out of five having been adapted for film. This first one remains the best. It doesn’t hurt to have Hanks in top form, and for someone, anyone, to be striking while the Ian McKellen brand was hot. I prefer this performance to his Magneto, and to the second two Gandalf appearances.
Damsel (2018)
Director: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska
Brief Thoughts: The brilliance of Robert Pattinson’s post-Twilight Saga career is that he’s thrust himself into the kind of career Brad Pitt only pretended to pursue. In the late ‘90s Pitt became obsessed with rejecting the pretty boy label and started seeking gonzo roles. Pattinson did him one better by doing so on a deliberately indy scale, and he only recently started hitting his stride. This one makes him out to be a thoroughly unsympathetic lunatic. It’s a brilliant movie.
The Dark Tower (2017)
Director: Nikolaj Arcel
Starring: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey
Brief Thoughts: I have a lot of incidental local connections to Stephen King. Aside from the fact that he’s somewhat culturally inescapable anyway, I was always going to intersect with his work. And some of it I like a lot. But the Dark Tower material, that I’ve read, is somewhat insufferable. In an alternate reality it would’ve been adapted a long time ago into one of those “edgy” cable shows I try to avoid (unless it was the second season of The Walking Dead and at least had Shane working for it). The thing about movies, or perfect casting in general, is, well, perfect casting. Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are two of the most endlessly charismatic actors working today, so of course they’re not nearly as cherished as they ought to be. And these are perfect roles. The movie hardly has to do much around them, but it’s good, too.
The Death of Stalin (2018)
Director: Armando Iannucci
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Jason Isaacs, Jeffrey Tambor, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Palin
Brief Thoughts: If ever there was Monty Python (mostly) without Monty Python, this ruthless satire of USSR political intrigue is it. By any reasonable standard, this should be an instant cult classic. And it’s a perfect example of how childish many, many other attempts at satire and commentary tend to be.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (2013)
Director: Ned Benson
Starring: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Viola Davis, William Hurt, Bill Hader, Ciarán Hinds, Katherine Waterston
Brief Thoughts: This is one of those movies where I heard about its unusual properties, and became instantly intrigued, and found the results more than worth the curiosity. There are three separate cuts of it, one following Jessica Chastain (easily one of the most interesting actors working today), one following James McAvoy, and the standard one that follows both. By any reasonable standard would have been embraced as an instant classic, but of course in these fickle times it barely registers even below public consciousness...
Doomsday (2008)
Director: Neil Marshall
Starring: Rhona Mitra, Malcom McDowell, Bob Hoskins, Alexander Siddig
Brief Thoughts: Before Mad Max: Fury Road brought back Mad Max (to an irrationally popular degree; that movie is vastly overrated), this was the unofficial return of Mad Max, in all the franchise’s madcap anarchic glory. Hey, I’m obsessed with Rhona Mitra, and this is pretty much her biggest spotlight. What else am I gonna do?
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen, Audrey Tautou, Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina, Jean Reno
Brief Thoughts: Such are the idiot summations of generalists: This is the movie with the Tom Hanks Mullet. The Dan Brown book became one of those mass consumption deals where half the people who joined the bandwagon couldn’t begin to understand what the fuss was about (this is basically how the modern era comprehends all popular things), and as such the debate as to whether the results were laughable, enlightening, or just plain sacrilegious sort of...missed the point. Brown ended up producing a whole series of books starring Robert Langdon prodding at the edges of public conspiracy and incredulity (which, again, is the modern age in a nutshell), three out of five having been adapted for film. This first one remains the best. It doesn’t hurt to have Hanks in top form, and for someone, anyone, to be striking while the Ian McKellen brand was hot. I prefer this performance to his Magneto, and to the second two Gandalf appearances.
Damsel (2018)
Director: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska
Brief Thoughts: The brilliance of Robert Pattinson’s post-Twilight Saga career is that he’s thrust himself into the kind of career Brad Pitt only pretended to pursue. In the late ‘90s Pitt became obsessed with rejecting the pretty boy label and started seeking gonzo roles. Pattinson did him one better by doing so on a deliberately indy scale, and he only recently started hitting his stride. This one makes him out to be a thoroughly unsympathetic lunatic. It’s a brilliant movie.
The Dark Tower (2017)
Director: Nikolaj Arcel
Starring: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey
Brief Thoughts: I have a lot of incidental local connections to Stephen King. Aside from the fact that he’s somewhat culturally inescapable anyway, I was always going to intersect with his work. And some of it I like a lot. But the Dark Tower material, that I’ve read, is somewhat insufferable. In an alternate reality it would’ve been adapted a long time ago into one of those “edgy” cable shows I try to avoid (unless it was the second season of The Walking Dead and at least had Shane working for it). The thing about movies, or perfect casting in general, is, well, perfect casting. Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are two of the most endlessly charismatic actors working today, so of course they’re not nearly as cherished as they ought to be. And these are perfect roles. The movie hardly has to do much around them, but it’s good, too.
The Death of Stalin (2018)
Director: Armando Iannucci
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Jason Isaacs, Jeffrey Tambor, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Palin
Brief Thoughts: If ever there was Monty Python (mostly) without Monty Python, this ruthless satire of USSR political intrigue is it. By any reasonable standard, this should be an instant cult classic. And it’s a perfect example of how childish many, many other attempts at satire and commentary tend to be.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (2013)
Director: Ned Benson
Starring: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Viola Davis, William Hurt, Bill Hader, Ciarán Hinds, Katherine Waterston
Brief Thoughts: This is one of those movies where I heard about its unusual properties, and became instantly intrigued, and found the results more than worth the curiosity. There are three separate cuts of it, one following Jessica Chastain (easily one of the most interesting actors working today), one following James McAvoy, and the standard one that follows both. By any reasonable standard would have been embraced as an instant classic, but of course in these fickle times it barely registers even below public consciousness...
Doomsday (2008)
Director: Neil Marshall
Starring: Rhona Mitra, Malcom McDowell, Bob Hoskins, Alexander Siddig
Brief Thoughts: Before Mad Max: Fury Road brought back Mad Max (to an irrationally popular degree; that movie is vastly overrated), this was the unofficial return of Mad Max, in all the franchise’s madcap anarchic glory. Hey, I’m obsessed with Rhona Mitra, and this is pretty much her biggest spotlight. What else am I gonna do?
Friday, April 3, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - C
Cast Away (2000)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Wilson
Brief Thoughts: For a lot of people during COVID-19, this whole movie might end up being a giant metaphor. Coincidentally, Tom Hanks even contracted the Coronavirus, but he’s better now. I still find it impossible that appreciation for this movie is relatively limited. It’s a perfect showcase for Hanks, and yet, I think for both Hanks and Robert Zemeckis it was used as an excuse to shuffle them away from mass consumption. Hollywood seems legitimately to discredit filmmakers if they spend too long in the spotlight. And while Hanks remains active today and can garner the occasional hit film, he had not been a serious Oscar contender since winning two in the ‘90s. By any reasonable standard he ought to have won for Cast Away. (Russell Crowe won that year for Gladiator, and of course within a few years he ended up blackballed despite continuing his consistent excellent work.) The ending of Cast Away even brilliantly subverts the stereotypical Hollywood ending. Basically a movie that will have a long shadow.
Children of Men (2006)
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam
Brief Thoughts: Clive Owen may be the opposite of a Tom Hanks or a Russell Crowe, in that he was never particularly a big star, but his consistent excellence makes it perhaps okay to distill his legacy into a single great movie, which of course is what Children of Men is. In a different era Owen would have been Bogie (nearly chose Casablanca for inclusion today, but am sticking with relatively recent movies), but his roles in recent years have been limited mostly to supporting ones. Bogie never relinquished the spotlight once Hollywood figured him out.
Collateral (2004)
Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo
Brief Thoughts: This is actually ones of the movies I’ve watched in the past month, so I’m glad for an opportunity to talk about it here. Like John Travolta, Tom Cruise has been battling backlash to his membership in Scientology over the past few decades. Unlike Travolta, Cruise has managed to maintain a viable movie career, thanks in large part to his Mission: Impossible films. The fact that most of his recent roles have been in action movies suggests he believes that’s the only way to remain relevant, which means his dramatic roles, recently, have been few and far between, which, for me, makes all the more valuable. And Collateral is a very good one. It’s the reason Jamie Foxx had a major movie career for a few years, which allowed him to make movies like Ray, Django Unchained, and The Soloist (which was undeservedly ignored on original release).
Collateral Beauty (2016)
Director: David Frankel
Starring: Will Smith, Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Michael Peña, Naomie Harris
Brief Thoughts: In the tradition of Seven Pounds, Will Smith stars in an instant classic drama that’s...completely ignored. Filled to bursting with an excellent supporting cast around him, Smith is at his typical best as a grieving father who can’t move on with his life until fate intervenes. One of those movies where if there was any conversation about it at all, no one seems to have seen the movie itself before talking about it (another example: Passengers).
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Director: George Clooney
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, George Clooney, Julia Roberts
Brief Thoughts: Sam Rockwell is probably one of the most inexplicable movie stars ever. His breakthrough role in The Green Mile might have typecast him as unsavory, and yet he just keeps showing up in spotlight roles and even starring in movies (one of his many highlights: Moon). Probably the one that got him to this point is Confessions, which you can probably assume at this point is, to my mind, inexplicably underappreciated.
Coriolanus (2012)
Director: Ralph Fiennes
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Chastain, Brian Cox
Brief Thoughts: Almost the default for modern Shakespeare in film is Kenneth Branagh, but this one comes from Ralph Fiennes. My interest, however, is in Gerard Butler. Probably for pretty much everyone this bit of casting is inexplicable. Even though Butler’s career began well before 300 (consider, for instance, his featured roles in Timeline and Phantom of the Opera, where he played the Phantom), he became in the popular (and Hollywood) imagination stuck in the role of a big dumb brute. Eventually this threatened to curtail his career entirely, but recently he’s been making sequels to Olympus Has Fallen, and I have little doubt he’ll find a way to keep his career interesting.
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Wilson
Brief Thoughts: For a lot of people during COVID-19, this whole movie might end up being a giant metaphor. Coincidentally, Tom Hanks even contracted the Coronavirus, but he’s better now. I still find it impossible that appreciation for this movie is relatively limited. It’s a perfect showcase for Hanks, and yet, I think for both Hanks and Robert Zemeckis it was used as an excuse to shuffle them away from mass consumption. Hollywood seems legitimately to discredit filmmakers if they spend too long in the spotlight. And while Hanks remains active today and can garner the occasional hit film, he had not been a serious Oscar contender since winning two in the ‘90s. By any reasonable standard he ought to have won for Cast Away. (Russell Crowe won that year for Gladiator, and of course within a few years he ended up blackballed despite continuing his consistent excellent work.) The ending of Cast Away even brilliantly subverts the stereotypical Hollywood ending. Basically a movie that will have a long shadow.
Children of Men (2006)
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam
Brief Thoughts: Clive Owen may be the opposite of a Tom Hanks or a Russell Crowe, in that he was never particularly a big star, but his consistent excellence makes it perhaps okay to distill his legacy into a single great movie, which of course is what Children of Men is. In a different era Owen would have been Bogie (nearly chose Casablanca for inclusion today, but am sticking with relatively recent movies), but his roles in recent years have been limited mostly to supporting ones. Bogie never relinquished the spotlight once Hollywood figured him out.
Collateral (2004)
Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo
Brief Thoughts: This is actually ones of the movies I’ve watched in the past month, so I’m glad for an opportunity to talk about it here. Like John Travolta, Tom Cruise has been battling backlash to his membership in Scientology over the past few decades. Unlike Travolta, Cruise has managed to maintain a viable movie career, thanks in large part to his Mission: Impossible films. The fact that most of his recent roles have been in action movies suggests he believes that’s the only way to remain relevant, which means his dramatic roles, recently, have been few and far between, which, for me, makes all the more valuable. And Collateral is a very good one. It’s the reason Jamie Foxx had a major movie career for a few years, which allowed him to make movies like Ray, Django Unchained, and The Soloist (which was undeservedly ignored on original release).
Collateral Beauty (2016)
Director: David Frankel
Starring: Will Smith, Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Michael Peña, Naomie Harris
Brief Thoughts: In the tradition of Seven Pounds, Will Smith stars in an instant classic drama that’s...completely ignored. Filled to bursting with an excellent supporting cast around him, Smith is at his typical best as a grieving father who can’t move on with his life until fate intervenes. One of those movies where if there was any conversation about it at all, no one seems to have seen the movie itself before talking about it (another example: Passengers).
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Director: George Clooney
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, George Clooney, Julia Roberts
Brief Thoughts: Sam Rockwell is probably one of the most inexplicable movie stars ever. His breakthrough role in The Green Mile might have typecast him as unsavory, and yet he just keeps showing up in spotlight roles and even starring in movies (one of his many highlights: Moon). Probably the one that got him to this point is Confessions, which you can probably assume at this point is, to my mind, inexplicably underappreciated.
Coriolanus (2012)
Director: Ralph Fiennes
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Chastain, Brian Cox
Brief Thoughts: Almost the default for modern Shakespeare in film is Kenneth Branagh, but this one comes from Ralph Fiennes. My interest, however, is in Gerard Butler. Probably for pretty much everyone this bit of casting is inexplicable. Even though Butler’s career began well before 300 (consider, for instance, his featured roles in Timeline and Phantom of the Opera, where he played the Phantom), he became in the popular (and Hollywood) imagination stuck in the role of a big dumb brute. Eventually this threatened to curtail his career entirely, but recently he’s been making sequels to Olympus Has Fallen, and I have little doubt he’ll find a way to keep his career interesting.
Thursday, April 2, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - B
Be Cool (2005)
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Dwayne Johnson
Brief Thoughts: This is the follow up to Get Shorty, which I have yet to see, another of the “John Travolta reunites with a Pulp Fiction costar” movies that didn’t end up causing as much interest as his agent thought they would (the other was Basic with Samuel L. Jackson). Travolta’s mid-‘90s comeback had fizzled out in large part to the disaster of Battlefield Earth, and the initial backlash to public awareness of his membership in Scientology. Suddenly he couldn’t do anything right. But Be Cool is a great movie, and it’s another of those great Vince Vaughn spotlights that no one ever seems to appreciate, because inexplicably no one realizes how great Vince Vaughn is. It’s also the earliest Hollywood indication that Dwayne Johnson was going to be able to help audiences forget that he used to be known as The Rock and end up having a hugely successful movie career.
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
Director: Benh Zeitlin
Starring: Quvenzhané Wallis
Brief Thoughts: A truly magical modern fable concerning Hushpuppy and her journey in the Bathtub. In a different year it might have captured the public zeitgeist in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but it was somehow either too early or too late. Either way, it’s one of my favorite movies.
Big Trouble (2002)
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Starring: Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Stanley Tucci, Zooey Deschanel, Ben Foster, Johnny Knoxville, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Farina, Janeane Garofalo, Patrick Warburton, Omar Epps, Jason Lee, Sofia Vergara, DJ Qualls, Andy Richter
Brief Thoughts: As if that cast weren’t enough! It’s Tim Allen’s fourth best movie role, after Scott Calvin, Buzz Lightyear, and Jason Nesmith. Somehow by this point everyone forgot what a huge legacy he had already developed. Ignoring this instant classic was like the symbolic nail in the coffin. Based on a book by Dave Barry, still my defining humorist of modern times.
The Break-Up (2006)
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston
Brief Thoughts: Here’s another prime example of the inexplicable inability to appreciate how awesome Vince Vaughn is. To my mind, this is a classic romance. I guess because the turn of the millennium seemed to close the book on Hollywood romance (between Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, and Jerry Maguire, the preceding decade was, admittedly, a pretty good one) it became hard to appreciate the newer stuff. Vaughn is never more broadly appealing, going beyond his usual chattermouth jerk persona in his lament over losing Jennifer Aniston, who, you recall, is Jennifer Aniston, who at this point was still struggling to confirm that she was a big deal, and not just because of Friends.
Buffalo Soldiers (2001)
Director: Gregor Jordan
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, Anna Paquin, Scott Glenn, Michael Peña, Idris Elba
Brief Thoughts: Here’s yet another movie I never understood how it could possibly be ignored. A wicked military satire and classic showcase for Joaquin Phoenix, perhaps it can finally be rediscovered thanks to Phoenix himself finally receiving wide acclaim thanks to Joker.
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Dwayne Johnson
Brief Thoughts: This is the follow up to Get Shorty, which I have yet to see, another of the “John Travolta reunites with a Pulp Fiction costar” movies that didn’t end up causing as much interest as his agent thought they would (the other was Basic with Samuel L. Jackson). Travolta’s mid-‘90s comeback had fizzled out in large part to the disaster of Battlefield Earth, and the initial backlash to public awareness of his membership in Scientology. Suddenly he couldn’t do anything right. But Be Cool is a great movie, and it’s another of those great Vince Vaughn spotlights that no one ever seems to appreciate, because inexplicably no one realizes how great Vince Vaughn is. It’s also the earliest Hollywood indication that Dwayne Johnson was going to be able to help audiences forget that he used to be known as The Rock and end up having a hugely successful movie career.
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
Director: Benh Zeitlin
Starring: Quvenzhané Wallis
Brief Thoughts: A truly magical modern fable concerning Hushpuppy and her journey in the Bathtub. In a different year it might have captured the public zeitgeist in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but it was somehow either too early or too late. Either way, it’s one of my favorite movies.
Big Trouble (2002)
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Starring: Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Stanley Tucci, Zooey Deschanel, Ben Foster, Johnny Knoxville, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Farina, Janeane Garofalo, Patrick Warburton, Omar Epps, Jason Lee, Sofia Vergara, DJ Qualls, Andy Richter
Brief Thoughts: As if that cast weren’t enough! It’s Tim Allen’s fourth best movie role, after Scott Calvin, Buzz Lightyear, and Jason Nesmith. Somehow by this point everyone forgot what a huge legacy he had already developed. Ignoring this instant classic was like the symbolic nail in the coffin. Based on a book by Dave Barry, still my defining humorist of modern times.
The Break-Up (2006)
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston
Brief Thoughts: Here’s another prime example of the inexplicable inability to appreciate how awesome Vince Vaughn is. To my mind, this is a classic romance. I guess because the turn of the millennium seemed to close the book on Hollywood romance (between Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, and Jerry Maguire, the preceding decade was, admittedly, a pretty good one) it became hard to appreciate the newer stuff. Vaughn is never more broadly appealing, going beyond his usual chattermouth jerk persona in his lament over losing Jennifer Aniston, who, you recall, is Jennifer Aniston, who at this point was still struggling to confirm that she was a big deal, and not just because of Friends.
Buffalo Soldiers (2001)
Director: Gregor Jordan
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, Anna Paquin, Scott Glenn, Michael Peña, Idris Elba
Brief Thoughts: Here’s yet another movie I never understood how it could possibly be ignored. A wicked military satire and classic showcase for Joaquin Phoenix, perhaps it can finally be rediscovered thanks to Phoenix himself finally receiving wide acclaim thanks to Joker.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
A to Z Challenge 2020 - A
Here’re some movies that begin with “A”:
A Ghost Story (2017)
Directed by: David Lowery (The Old Man & The Gun)
Starring: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara
Brief Thoughts: Lowery is unquestionably one of the best directors working today. You don’t have to worry about him being poached for a blockbuster project, since that already happened (Pete’s Dragon), an artist in the order of Terrence Malick who crafts his movies with exquisite patience, with increasingly fascinating results. It took Malick decades to reach the breakthrough that was The Tree of Life; Lowery’s first major release (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, which also stars Affleck and Mara) was released a mere four years prior to Ghost Story, which spends its time obscuring Affleck under one of those traditional bedsheet looks as he watches time progress for Mara, and eventually later occupants of his house.
A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
Directed by: Seth MacFarlane
Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Neil Patrick Harris
Brief Thoughts: MacFarlane is far better known for his TV show Family Guy and the movie Ted, but for me he will probably never top Million Ways, a ruthless western satire that will forever appear irrelevant to movie fans who can’t make room, for one more movie, next to Blazing Saddles. Fun fact: Theron and Neeson later made appearances in MacFarlane’s Star Trek tribute series The Orville. Features Neil Patrick Harris’s fourth most iconic performance, after Doogie Howser (pretty sure I’ve never seen this show), Dr. Horrible, and Barney Stinson, but his best mustache ever, and the best song about mustaches ever. I mean, if that is not praise enough, I do not know what is.
A Monster Calls (2016)
Directed by: J.A. Bayona
Starring: Felicity Jones, Liam Neeson
Brief Thoughts: Jones plays a mother dying of cancer. My mom died of cancer the year before the movie was released. Watching it (and reading the book on which it’s based) was part of my grieving process. Originally I wasn’t sure how much of the story’s impact came from the confluence, but I think I’ve settled into admiring the breathtaking creative achievement as much for its own sake as for its resonance. Doesn’t hurt to capture Neeson (there he is again) in a perfect vocal performance, one of his best parts ever, in a career with no shortage of contenders.
A Thousand Words (2012)
Directed by: Brian Robbins
Starring: Eddie Murphy
Brief Thoughts: Maybe it’s because my first Eddie Murphy experience wasn’t Saturday Night Live or Beverly Hills Cop or 48 Hrs. (I still haven’t seen any of that material), but rather Trading Places, but I’ve never had a problem separating the legend from the talent. I watch movies like Bowfinger, Life, and A Thousand Words, and it’s the sonic genius in Murphy’s vocal performances (Mulan, Shrek) that I experience. The particular genius of Thousand Words is that it has Murphy play completely against type, forced to display his considerable physical comedy chops (an art that has been ignored since the golden age of film) rather than his famous mouth, in a twist that is usually reserved for Jim Carrey movies.
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