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?