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).
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