Rewatches August 2021

Moby Dick (1998) This is a TV miniseries starring Patrick Stewart as Captain Ahab, with Gregory Peck, who starred in the 1956 theatrical version as Ahab, also appearing.  Stewart had, two years prior, evoked and quoted from the Melville novel in Star Trek: First Contact, which made it ironic for him to end up in this production (as Picard, he eventually realizes revenge is a poor motivator).   I haven't really watched it too many times, so it was worth revisiting.  Stewart makes the role Shakespearean, as expected.  Ted Levine's Starbuck is the real star of the production, however, a counterpoint to Ahab that eclipses even Henry Thomas's Ishmael.

Molly's Game (2017) Jessica Chastain is one of my favorite actresses, and the script is from Aaron Sorkin, so I always assumed I'd love a movie pairing them together.  The opening, in which Molly Bloom explains the irrelevant end of her competitive downhill skiing career, is basically the only time either the script or Chastain really shine, however.  The rest is a gambling tale about a person making bad decisions and endlessly rationalizing them, and that's not really something that interests me.  This is the second time I've watched it.  Maybe a third would change my opinion.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) A longtime favorite, but apparently one I really hadn't watched in a very long time, as this seemed like a pretty fresh experience with it.  All the classic bits, of course, but I found other things I'd completely forgotten about (I have more recent experience with The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which is something I used to listen to a lot), so that certainly made this rewatch rewarding.

Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) This satire about Jesus Christ is pretty amusing and insightful, as Monty Python tends to be, but it isn't really, for me, as successful as Holy Grail, perhaps because it doesn't attempt to be nearly as silly, but rather as close to serious as Monty Python was ever likely to be.  For general historical satire, I guess I prefer Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part 1.

Moon (2009) It had been a long time since I watched this, too!  Sam Rockwell has turned into such a dependable actor, it's almost easy to take him for granted.  This was before "doomed astronaut" became a whole genre, by the way!  I also enjoy seeing the work of Duncan Jones when it still seemed everyone was going to love him forever.  But it turned out, basically, to be for one film.  Everyone loved him for one film.  (This one.)

Mrs. Miniver (1942) Since I'm still a home video kind of guy, my collection sometimes happens by adding movies because they're paired with other movies.  I spent a long time not watching Mrs. Miniver, so long I eventually completely forgot what movie its DVD was paired with, but now I can say I've corrected this oversight and that I quite enjoy Mrs. Miniver itself, starring Greer Garson in the title role, in a movie that apparently helped motivate the US into taking WWII seriously, which itself is a great way to sell the movie, as far as I'm concerned.  I still wish the title were different, though.

The Odyssey (1997) Another TV miniseries, a chance to revisit one of my favorite classics (actually, so is Moby-Dick).  The greatest takeaway this time is that Christopher Lee's cameo as Tiresias might as well have been an audition for Saruman (and for all I know, basically was).

Out of Sight (1998) George Clooney, once his career finally got into gear, ended up producing a lot of great material in a short amount of time.  This is the first of his classics, and it's just one of the many signs that we live in an age that finds it impossible to identify new classics that it still isn't recognized as such.  Costarring Jennifer Lopez before everyone decided she couldn't act because she decided to start a singing career.

The Perfect Storm (2000) I'm always on the fence as to whether this belongs in Clooney's classics list, but I'll always be a sucker for it, coming from Maine and loving seafaring adventures of one kind or another.  

Pete's Dragon (2016) I'm such a sucker for the director David Lowery, and am continually confused as to how difficult it is for his work to be appreciated, by both audiences and critics.  I loved Pete's Dragon the first time I watched it.  I love it even more now.  The most audacious and inexplicable live action remake of a Disney movie yet attempted.

The Pink Panther (2006) My dad loves the original Clousseau movies.  I'm partial to the Steve Martin versions.  I love Martin's Clousseau, who unlike the Peter Sellers version isn't just a sight gag machine but a lingual hilarity in on the joke of a Frenchman being played by, well, someone who isn't French.  Martin butchering the word "hamburger" is an all-time highlight for me, in and out of Clousseau lore.

The Pink Panther 2 (2009) I love the first one so much I was always uncertain about the second one.  This time I was able to cast aside all doubts.  I love this one, too.

The Princess Bride (1987) Another classic, and one that's generally accepted by most film fans.  I mean, I find it difficult to understand how anyone wouldn't love it.  In a lot of ways, a love letter to classic Hollywood (Cary Elwes is basically an ode to Errol Flynn as Westley, as Mel Brooks would later make all the more blatant in Robin Hood: Men in Tights), and as simple and pure a romance as was ever filmed, and a host of fantastic supporting performances.  My parents always dismissed Peter Falk because of something or other he did in his personal life, but I couldn't care less.  His framing scenes with Fred Savage are icing on this cake.  I later read the original book, which is just as rewarding an experience.

Prisoners (2013) The first time I watched Denis Villeneuve's Hollywood debut, I ended up falling asleep for most of it.  This is not, as many people try to contend when they fall asleep during a movie, a criticism; I fall asleep watching stuff all the time.  Turns out I missed a great deal of the movie.  This is an intricately designed movie, a classic that is yet another victim of the current inability to recognize new classics.  Villeneuve's later movies are absolutely reflected in the results, and I have renewed expectations for his Dune.  

R.I.P.D. (2013) In the years before Deadpool, no one really knew what to make of Ryan Reynolds, and so his work was easy to dismiss.  R.I.P.D. was dismissed as a ripoff of Men in Black, mostly because of the fairly similar premises.  But R.I.P.D. is very much its own thing.  Reynolds comes closest, pre-Deadpool, to finding the exact Deadpool vibe, but it's really Jeff Bridges getting to play his ornery cowboy act one more time that's the star of this show.  That and Marissa Miller.  (That whole bit got completely lost because nobody wanted to admit there was anything worth enjoying about the movie.  When the complete opposite is actually true.)

Also worth mentioning is that upon rewatching 2021's The Courier, I found that I love it even more.  I can't fathom how little appreciate this movie's gotten so far.  I just find movie reactions inexplicable in recent years.  Hopefully all this will even out eventually.

Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019) Review

rating: ****

the story: Survivors of an apocalypse living on the moon discover their best hope for the future is inside the hollow Earth…and all they need to do is defeat Space Hitler to obtain it!

review: Obviously I don’t review a ton of movies as described above (nor watch them!). I am not a fan of schlock cinema. I don’t make a point even to watch it if it’s the subject of sarcastic commentary. On the surface Iron Sky: The Coming Race is pretty much exactly schlock cinema. You can watch it with the expectation that the results are going to be ridiculous, and be happy with it.

I haven’t even seen the first one yet. I did see Finnish director Timo Vuorensola’s first feature film, Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, a madcap Star Trek parody, and have remained interested in what he does next. When the chance to see Coming Race came up, I figured it was worth a look.

It was!

For those keeping score, it’s very possible to see in the results direct nods to another sci-fi franchise. There’s a spaceship culled from Star Wars’ Millennium Falcon, the kind of nod that has surprisingly taken a lot longer to happen (outside Spaceballs’ Winnebago, of course!), more than forty years in the making. In fact, the career of Vuorensola suggests that we’re getting that much closer to actual responses to George Lucas, rather than mere attempts to cash in (which was easy enough to attempt…immediately).

The movie, with its political and even social satire (the riff on Steve Jobs and smartphone culture, employing a surprisingly effective performance from Tom Green of all people, is more successful than evoking Sarah Palin, the part critics who just wanted to dismiss the results fixated on), knows when to take things seriously and when to just unleash expectations (Space Hitler’s abruptly hilarious fate!)

Surprisingly or not, comic books, and comic book movies, often seem like they want to be exactly like this, and too seldom manage to pull it off, despite considerable, sometimes painfully desperate, efforts. 

Anyway, it’s the kind of movie that seems unlikely on basically every level, including the ability to be legitimately entertaining. It pulls it off!

Knight and Day (2010) Review

rating: ****

the story: A CIA operative has been set up, and in the process of clearing his name his life becomes entangled with an unlikely accomplice.

review: I will readily admit, until a rewatch a few weeks back I was as convinced as anyone that Knight and Day was nothing much writing about. In 2010 Tom Cruise was scrambling to put his career back on track, and when I saw this particular effort in theaters I thought it was a particularly desperate byproduct. I even dismissed costar Cameron Diaz, who has been a favorite since her film debut in The Mask, as forgettable.

I don’t believe any of that anymore.

If anything, Knight and Day has the potential of being a modern classic. It’s lighthearted and flippant concerning its surface action elements. The whole point is calculated screwball, which in older Hollywood days was the holy grail of romantic comedy. It’s a unique movie in Cruise’s career, which has in the decade or so since its release relied ever more heavily on straight action.

It’s really a waltz between Cruise and Diaz; eventually the tables are turned and it’s Diaz in control rather than the character who seems to have been one step ahead and her to be dozens of steps behind. 

And there’s plenty of support around them, too, something of an embarrassment. Maggie Grace, officially wrapping up her time on Lost, is there in one of her many tiny supporting roles (she’s also in the Taken movies, although you’d be forgiven to assume they’re all just Liam Neeson brandishing his action jones). Peter Sarsgaard (nearly always a villain, alas!), Viola Davis, Paul Dano actually feeling like he’s perfectly cast for a change, even Gal Gadot!

The director in charge of all this is the perennially criminally underrated James Mangold, who has proven himself a master of modern cinema. In fact, restoring Knight and Day, and this is not why I choose to champion it now but it’s a nice benefit, as a treasure would add an additional feather to his cap (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, Logan, Ford v Ferrari).

Too often today we reduce the art of moviemaking to…whatever’s not the box office blockbuster. There’s a huge tradition and a wide range of material out there. Recognizing achievements is a fine way to encourage the breadth of the medium to continue pursuing that range, rather than allowing it to narrow to “blockbuster” and “art film.”

That and acknowledging that movie stars continue to deliver, regardless of whatever happens in their personal life.

The Mauritanian (2021) Review

rating: ****

the story: A Guantanamo Bay detainee struggles to win his freedom.

review: There are plenty of people who would assume they know exactly how to respond to a movie with this subject matter. And yet, here is The Mauritanian being more or less released to little enough attention. 

It deserves better. It is of course an incredible story, and a true one, about the most controversial of the responses to 9/11 (no shortage of material there), and relentlessly sure that it is in fact representing an innocent man caught up in it.

Tahar Rahim plays the suspected terrorist Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Jodie Foster and Shailene Woodley his public defenders, and Benedict Cumberbatch the face of the prosecution, who quickly enough questions if he’s on the right side of justice.

Rahim became an instant favorite of mine from Mary Magdalene, where he played a surprisingly sympathetic Judas (so he has clearly found himself a type), Foster is Foster, Woodley has the trademark random moment where she seems to forget she’s not a model (for me, anyway; it popped up in the Divergent movies when she’s flying in a futuristic helicopter; I don’t get why she keeps getting away with it, although otherwise she’s a fine actress). For Cumberbatch, putting on another fine vocal performance, it’s an interesting companion to the equally compelling The Courier, also released this year. Zachary Levi has a supporting role as a part of the system that let everything happen to Slahi. It’s another chance to broaden his range, a full dramatic turn where he’s not a good guy.

At the end there’s footage of Slahi himself, which lends credibility to the idea that this story can be taken at face value, that the film’s positive opinion of him is a reflection of how positive he himself is, so many years after all this began, everything he endured.

The effect is to put a face on the whole thing, not just to say there’s been gross injustice or that everyone detained there has a similar story and is worth rooting for, but that so few stories have come out, much less one this seemingly unlikely. Many reviews have suggested it’s some sort of confusing mess, which it is not. Presumably so the critics don’t come off as sympathetic to a terrorist.

Foster’s character has a response to that kind of reasoning right in the movie. Don’t let such nonsense get in your way.

Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) Review

rating: ****

the story: Black Panthers organizer Fred Hampton becomes the target of the FBI.

review: The big draw, for me, is watching Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) and LaKeith Stanfield. I assumed Stanfield, who has showed up in a number of interesting projects in recent years, was going to be my favorite of the two, but it’s actually Kaluuya who lights up the screen as Hampton, speaking with rapid fire, charismatic ease. Stanfield is usually pretty subdued, but his presence alone tends to be eloquent. Here he can’t really contend with Kaluuya.

The story is pretty even-handed, even though Stanfield plays the informant who eventually sets up Hampton’s assassination. We watch as Stanfield’s handler, played by Jesse Plemons, grapples with the morality of their assignment, working under the famously heavy hand of J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen).

The results are perhaps best appreciated for what they’re not: Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, a bafflingly lighthearted but on the whole similar story. I was never that enthusiastic about Lee’s film, but seeing this is all the more proof of how easy it is to improve upon. I get that Lee basically saw room for a farce (black guy infiltrates KKK!), but for a filmmaker so well known for his passion, the results were inert. 

Not so with Black Messiah. It even manages to get me onboard with Plemons, a supporting actor who’s gotten a steady amount of positive buzz recently. As the FBI liaison, he at last finds a context that makes sense to me. 

Hampton’s legacy is relatively small as a leader of the black community. His story plays out in the shadow of far more famous assassinations: MLK Jr., Malcolm X. The movie posits that Hampton was poised to succeed them, and that the FBI was desperate to prevent that from happening. That he was militant, at least in rhetoric, is where viewer interpretations of his potential will come into play, but the film itself stays away from judgment.

Suffice to say, his death still plays as tragedy. This is a story that needs telling, and this is a fine way to experience it. It might even be a great way. I will periodically revisit to ascertain.

2013 Capsule Reviews

Saving Mr. Banks

rating: *****

review: An astonishing look behind the curtain of the creative process twice over as Tom Hanks in of his later great roles, Walt Disney himself, convinces P.L. Travers to let him adapt Mary Poppins. Colin Farrell has perhaps his best supporting role as Travers Goff, whom Disney figures out, eventually, is the key to understanding the author’s story.

Man of Steel

rating: *****

review: Zack Snyder begins his epic vision of Superman (and later, the whole Justice League), taking as mythic, and human, an approach to superheroes as cinema has yet achieved.

Star Trek Into Darkness 

rating: *****

review: A bold reimagining of the second Star Trek movie, with Benedict Cumberbatch and his marvelous voice in perhaps its perfect showcase.

The Lone Ranger

rating: *****

review: You can already see how little I care about popular opinion. This is an Americana masterpiece. Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean) reunite in their single best film together.

About Time

rating: *****

review: Just when you’re absolutely sure I’m crazy, there’s this miracle, Rachel McAdams in her second time travel classic (The Time Traveler’s Wife) along with Domhnall Gleason, Bill Nighy, and director Richard Curtis.

Frozen

rating: *****

review: When I did my original 2013 rankings I had a considerably more dim view of it, but that was before my niece helped me watch it...a million times. And it was worth it. It’s a classic.

Gravity

rating: *****

review: This was kind of the year Hollywood transitioned from what it had been to what it’s been since, which left a year of unexpected wonders that straddled both, and perhaps none embody that more than this one, a one-star (Sandra Bullock, cashing in the last of her popular credentials at the time) showcase from a director, Alfonso Cuarón, at the height of his powers.

Oz the Great and Powerful

rating: ****

review: Probably the purest cinematic expression of Oz on film to date. It’s also James Franco’s perfect starring vehicle.

Prisoners

rating: ****

review: I came very late to this party, having only later discovered the genius of Denis Villeneuve, but having done so it was then even easier to appreciate how great his Hollywood debut is.

The Way, Way Back

rating: ****

review: Nat Faxon and Jim Rash somehow still don’t get the credit they’ve earned. This is perhaps their lowest key movie, but it’s as good as anything they’ve done.

The Counselor

rating: ****

review: There was a period where Cormac McCarthy was Hollywood’s new favorite author, but inexplicably that ended the minute he created an original screenplay. I’ve got enough experience with his books that I can say, this movie has more clarity of purpose in its brutality than can sometimes be seen in his work. And a truly all star cast.

Dead Man Down

rating: ****

review: Colin Farrell subdued, with the Hollywood debuts of the original Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo star (Noomi Rapace) and director, plus Terrence Howard in a typically killer supporting role.

Fast & Furious 6

rating: ****

review: I admit to sometimes having a hard time remembering what happens in which one of these starting in about the fifth one (debut of Dwayne Johnson, for those keeping score). This one is the dramatic return of Michelle Rodriguez, and so is probably as important as anything in building the family legacy of the series.

Her

rating: ****

review: Spike Jonze directs this not-as-far-fetched-as-it-seemed movie as Joaquin Phoenix officially cleanses himself of the bizarre documentary experiment of I’m Still Here.

Mud

rating: ****

review: Jeff Nichols emerges as one of the best new directors of the modern era while getting to crow about helping recast Matthew McConaughey as a mythic southerner.

Pain and Gain

rating: ****

review: I’ve only just seen this one, another key element in the mainstreaming of Dwayne Johnson, with a highly underrated supporting turn from Tony Shalhoub.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

rating: ****

review: The last great Ben Stiller vehicle is perhaps also the last great old Hollywood movie.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

rating: ****

review: The other big directing find of the year is David Lowery, sort of the second coming of Terrence Malick but with the instant artistic flourish of the Tree of Life Malick.

After Earth

rating: ****

review: M. Night Shyamalan officially ended this phase of his career by giving the spotlight to Will Smith’s kid, who will never have Will Smith’s charisma. But in this story, that didn’t really matter. Like a lot of Shyamalan’s work, pointlessly dismissed.

World War Z

rating: ****

review: Brad Pitt stars in the unexpectedly successful adaptation of the book originally presented without narrative.

Nebraska

rating: ****

review: In a different era, this Alexander Payne effort would’ve catapulted Will Forte to big success.

American Hustle

rating: ****

review: This is just David O. Russell shamelessly showing off how much clout he’d developed. Worth it!

Blue Jasmine

rating: ****

review: I honestly have no idea if this Woody Allen film has any other merit, but it’s another great Cate Blanchard performance. I have absolutely no idea why she’s not treasured far, far more.

The Great Gatsby 

rating: ****

review: The Pretty Good Gatsby adaptation.

R.I.P.D.

rating: ***

review: Honestly I love this one. The only reason I’m rating it so low is that I just haven’t gotten around to watching it again. A highly underrated cult classic.

The Wolverine

rating: ***

review: Almost, but not quite Logan.

Epic

rating: ***

review:  Never did get to find out my niece’s opinion on this one. I’m a Colin Farrell completist. I watched it. I enjoyed it.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues 

rating: ***

review: About as good as can be expected. Another step in Adam McKay’s later development as a dramatic director, considering its base satire of cable news.

12 Years a Slave

rating: ***

review: Obviously worth watching and considering but perhaps too obvious when it might have been bold.

Captain Phillips

rating: ***

review: The point doesn’t even come until a fleeting moment in the end when Tom Hanks gets a quiet showcase as the Everyman caught in events bigger than him. Hanks later attempted to duplicate this in Sully and his better 2013 movie with A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, just trying to be relevant again. I think he finally nailed it with News of the World.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

rating: ***

review:  Such is my disappointment with the acclaim afforded to a previous trilogy (the first of which I love, the other two...) that I think this one’s better but it doesn’t seem to be reflected in my rankings. To be revisited at some later point, perhaps.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

rating: ***

review: Two movies in 2013, both in supporting roles for Jim Carrey. Unthinkable at the height of his career. Steve Carell is the nominal lead, already sliding down his high. The two previously traded off with Bruce Almighty/Evan Almighty.

A Good Day to Die Hard

rating: ***

review: To date the final in a consistently enjoyable series.

Thor: The Dark World

rating: ***

review: Often considered at or near the bottom of the MCU films, some of it’s quite good.

The World’s End

rating: **

review: The last of three to date Pegg/Frost/Wright collaborations is the one I find least satisfying, at least, perhaps, until a rewatch.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation 

rating: **

review: These films weren’t terrible. Could have been better. This one at least unabashedly has Dwayne Johnson carry it.

Despicable Me 2

rating: **

review: The first one’s a classic. I saw this one about five years back on a loop. Still couldn’t tell you much of what it accomplishes.

Jack the Giant Slayer

rating: **

review: I’ve watched this one twice now. It’s worth at least that much. Maybe the third time’s the charm.

Kick-Ass 2

rating: **

review: Like a lot of the things derived from the mind of Mark Millar, desperate for cult status. And like a lot of it, falls short. But has Jim Carrey!

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

rating: **

review: Jeremy Renner probably still regrets cashing in for this. But it’s probably still as close to a Hawkeye movie as there’ll ever be.

Iron Man 3

rating: **

review: The twist with the villain is fine. The rest of it is a self-indulgent waste of time.

Riddick

rating: **

review:  After Chronicles of Riddick failed to stick, someone thought it was a good idea to return to the feel of Pitch Black. They were wrong.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

rating: *

review: My sister’s a big fan of the books. She doesn’t like the movies at all. I liked the first movie. This one’s an insult.

Don Jon

rating: *

review: Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s desperate lob.

Oscars 2021

The Oscars were this past Sunday. Somehow I don’t think I’ve even blogged about the Oscars here before, but I figured it was worth it for this strange past year. If you read this blog you know I had very different ideas about the best films of 2020, but it’s interesting that Hollywood felt conciliatory to the Americans it’s kind of spent four years despising by handing Nomadland Best Picture and Frances McDormand her third Best Actress for as many similar roles. 

I actually used to be quite devoted to the Oscars. In recent years they seem to have gone out of their way to honor niche films, which is all the funnier because for years the complaint has been that they have abandoned populism (even though, at least in the past twenty years at least, every time they have the popular choice ends up as an “it didn’t deserve it” argument, except inexplicably Return of the King, which was only a return to diminishing rewards for a trilogy that began brilliantly and then just muddled along). I suppose they had no choice but to honor a niche film from 2020, because that’s really all there was.

Personally, if a movie is released exclusively on a streaming platform, it shouldn’t be eligible for an Oscar. It’s a TV movie. TV movies are eligible for Emmys, not Oscars. Or Golden Globes, which cover both. I get that streaming has excellent prospects these days, but it’s temporary money, and hopefully everyone knows it. Even HBO can’t find projects like it used to. Clearly it’s just me, but I’m also tired of these services (not all of them) keeping these projects locked up, even rare things like the completed The Other Side of the Wind, which is just criminal. That’s also the opposite of the theater experience. Eventually we have options. When that’s no longer the case, it creates a warped effect that strangles art. Imagine if we weren’t allowed images of Banksy’s art. His work would be lost forever!

But, anyway, congrats to Nomadland and McDormand.  Maybe this is another step in bringing people back together.