One thing I forgot to add: people might argue that it doesn't matter if such a movie has a female director, but this film is almost entirely devoid of the male gaze, which is remarkable considering how easy it would have been to objectify Gal Gadot in that outfit. I will be very interested in seeing how much Joss Whedon takes this into consideration for his Batgirl movie, especially as he is a self-avowed fan of the work Patty Jenkins did on "Wonder Woman".
Soleil Rouge (1971) Dir. Terence Young A train carrying the new Japanese ambassador to Washington D.C. is held up by a gang of robbers. The criminals were really targeting the large amount of cash on board, but they also steal some money and a ceremonial sword from the Japanese delegation, which was meant to be a gift to the president of the U.S.A. from the Emperor of Japan. The leader of the gang of outlaws is betrayed by his second in command, who leaves him behind presumed dead at the site of the train robbery. The man survives and strikes an uneasy alliance with a samurai, one of the ambassador's bodyguards who is tasked with retrieving the sword and avenging his fellow samurai who died during the raid on the train. Rewatched this Terence young classic for the first time in a long while. Still great fun. I know that the criticism has always been that the writing is not up to par with the casting, but who really cares? The combined talent and charisma of Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune and Alain Delon would make a reading of the phone book worth watching. It's an achievement in itself that any one movie can contain this much cool.
GLOW Story about a ladies wrestling league in the 80s. Great series, I wasn't laughing my butt off but was entertained enough that I flew the 10 episodes without even noticing it.
China Beach, Season 1 and 2. Didn't watch it when it was on in the late 80s, but it's starting off pretty solid. I can see why it had trouble in the ratings, though. and as I mentioned in another thread, I was in a play in college with one of the actors, Michael Boatman, who is really damn good so far. He was a pretty good Creon in Antigone, too. And his character's name is Sam Beckett, which is funny because he did some of Beckett's plays in the college's black box theater....
Sleepless (2017) Dir. Baran bo Odar A seemingly dirty cop is involved in the ambush of a truck transporting 25 kilos of cocaine on the behalf of a casino boss who dabbles a bit in the drug trade on the side. The shipment in question was meant to cover a temporary shortage for the biggest drug syndicate in Las Vegas. Obviously both parties are very desperate to get their hands on the stolen merchandise. The cop gets drawn deeper into the mess when his son is kidnapped, with the stolen drugs as the ransom money. A cop thriller with the usual elements: dirty cops, internal affairs, betrayal, distrust, double crosses, hidden agendas, ... Ultimately too paint by the numbers and occasionally silly to be truly good, in spite of this being a more than decent cast between Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan and David Harbour. Apparently this is an adaptation of a French thriller that shares the same plot: "Nuit Blanche". I wonder if some of the movie's deficiencies are things that just got lost in the transfer from a French to an American setting.
Partial hat tip to make-up and wardrobe but also same to Alison cause there were moments when I did not recognize her but only saw Ruth.
My 80s kick continues. A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988) I like the movie, mainly for the nostalgia of times past. It's funny to see how the 'midatlantic accent' (google it) still appears, spottily, even in 80s films. All he had to do was drop Joyce off...talk about thinking with the wrong head!
Glow (2017) In 1980s Los Angeles, a young actress is desperate for any kind of work. Eventually she ends up going to an open audition for what turns out to be a new made for cable wrestling show with women wrestlers. The show is the brain child of a trust fund kid and a down on his luck exploitation cinema director who is hoping to relaunch his career with this project. They gather an eclectic group of misfits and opportunists as their wrestlers, a group of women who bond over the weeks of training before the shooting of the pilot episode. This was fun. Probably more fun than it was funny (by which I don't mean to say it wasn't occasionally quite funny), but that was fine. This is the very definition of an easy watch, which is probably why I went through all ten episodes so fast. Alison Brie is wonderful in the lead role (I especially love how much she seems to relish playing her Zoya the Destroya wrestling persona) but it is really Marc Maron who steals the show as the douchebag director with the heart of gold (the oft-used apt comparison for Maron's role is that of a sleazier version of Tom Hanks' character in "A League of their Own"). I very much enjoyed this first season and will definitely check out season two when Netflix drops it.
The Beginner's Guide (2015, for Windows, Linux, and Mac) While it has the mechanics of a first-person video game, there is no choice and no challenge so there is no game in it. You just move through it on a single path and experience the narrative. And it lasted me a movie-like 97 minutes, so I'm putting it in this thread. One of the creators of the (fantastic!) video game The Stanley Parable introduces us to another game developer named Coda and tries to describe Coda's mind through his minimal, half-finished games. It's a story about the relationship between creatives and consumers. While I do think this makes important points, and it is interesting and enthralling (but maybe a little too telegraphed), I also think there is a valid role for interpreters, curators, archivists, critics, and fans and don't think the creator necessarily has the final word on their work. I particularly liked the epilogue, which contained truly emotionally moving vistas despite their simplicity. Great music.
The Fate of the Furious (2017) Dir. F. Gary Gray Dom and Letty are living a quiet life in Cuba when Dom is approached by a blonde, dreadlocked woman known as Cipher. Something she shows him on a cell phone compels him to betray his friends and go rogue. His former team is assembled by Mr. Nobody to track down and capture Dom, helped by an unlikely new team member. This is the familiar formula. An eclectic ensemble cast. A meandering narrative that takes our heroes all over the world. Over the top stunts involving fast cars. A silly plot (nuclear submarine included this time around). But somehow it felt a bit underwhelming for me. Like many of the fans of this series, I really fell in love with the franchise after Justin Lin took over and established a new template, but it is getting a bit stale. Though looking at the box office results, I am in the minority in thinking that. Charlize Theron does make for a good villain and I loved that cameo. I think my problem with this film has nothing to do with the tragic absence of Paul Walker. In truth, I miss other former cast members (like Sung Kang and Gal Gadot) more, for the different flavor they added to the ensemble. I guess after so many iterations of seeing the same thing, the concept does lose its buzz a little bit. Plot spoiler inside (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Plot spoiler inside (open) Plot spoiler inside (close) Though I will give them this: I loved the scene with Jason Statham and the baby and Statham was really made to play such a silly scene and sell it successfully.
House of Strangers (1949) Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz After having served a seven year prison sentence, a newly released man goes to visit his three brothers in the bank they own and run and threatens vengeance for their role in his going to prison as well as their father's death. What follows is an extended flashback to the time before he went to prison, in which the domineering ways of their Italian-American father is laid bare, as well as how it sowed the seeds for the conflict that ultimately led to the family business failing and one of the brothers ending up behind bars. A very enjoyable noir with an excellent Edward G. Robinson in the role of the Italian-American patriarch whose pride and ego is greater than the love he should feel for his sons. A bit of a slow burner, but never once dull. Some interesting and innovative camera work for its time as well. Warmly recommended.
For some reason I didn't get to see this show much in the 80s - probs i was too young but I remember it being a big deal wouldn't mind seeing it again
The Lost City of Z (2016) Dir. James Gray Recounts the life of Percy Fawcett, a British army Major who becomes obsessed with his belief that there is a long lost city belonging to an ancient civilization hidden deep within the Amazonian jungle, after having been sent there to map the border between Bolivia and Brazil on an assignment by the Royal Geographical Society. I'm not sure if this will be everyone's cup of tea, but I quite enjoyed it. There are many obvious similarities to movies like Herzog's "Aguirre", Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" and I also recognized some of Malick's lyrical poetry in a few of the jungle sequences. But Gray also has his own voice and visual style. I'm not Hunnam's greatest fan, but he is solid in the lead role here, though more so once we get to the jungle than in the stuffier English settings. I barely recognized Robert Pattinson in his supporting role as Percy Fawcett's loyal aide-de-camp.
I read the book. The descriptions of some of the maladies the explorers encountered were gruesome-sounding. I wonder if the make up department and SFX people had a field day. In other words, are there any totally gross scenes?
We watched Thirteen Days last week, and with no context other than the historical events covered by the film, it was tense and frightening as hell. And then imagining Trump, Sessions, and O'Bannon there in a modern equivalent instead of JFK, RFK, and O'Donnell - I could not stop thinking of that during the movie.
Apart from some scenes where they had semi-close-ups of open sores, not really. Also one scene where a poor bastard sudden starts vomiting black blood. I also forgot to mention that Tom Holland, the new Spiderman, plays Percy Fawcett's son Jack Fawcett.
The book was vivid enough - I could picture some of those awfully well from the written word. We watched War Machine tonight on Netflix. I am not sure whether I like it or not. I don't think it got the tone right to be a comedy, or to be a political film about waging war, or almost anything else. But I didn't dislike it.
Once Upon a Time in Venice (2017) Dir. Mark Cullen A very unorthodox former cop turned private detective who works out of Venice Beach is confronted with a very personal case when during a burglary his beloved dog is stolen. He goes on a one-man Odyssey through Venice to retrieve his pet, meeting drug-dealing gangsters, angry Samoan brothers, shady real estate developers, an Eastern-European loan shark, deceptively strong cross-dressing prostitutes and a surf shop owner in the middle of an existential crisis in the process. This is basically what you get when someone decides to mix "Inherent Vice" with some elements from "John Wick" and make it all 50% sillier. The cast is really good, right down to the smaller supporting roles: John Goodman, Jason Momoa, Famke Janssen, Thomas Middleditch, Stephanie Sigman, Adam Goldberg, Maurice Compte, Ken Davitian, ... Unfortunately, the writing is not quite up to par with the quality of the cast. This is one of the better films that Bruce Willis has made in the past half decade, though that isn't a particularly hard list to top.
GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) Add me to the posters who thought this was not nearly as campy as it looked at first blush. This is a nicely compelling story about 14 down-on-their-luck who are so desperate for a job that they audition for a ladies' wrestling show. This is a sweet and touching ensemble piece that ended way too suddenly after 10 episodes. I'm already waiting for season 2.
All the President's Men; good lord, is it powerful. One of the things I like the best is how little Hoffman and Redford act like movie stars; they are low-level reporters through and through. Also: Deep Throat a.k.a. Mark Felt was from University of Idaho. Go Vandals!
Security (2017) Dir. Alain Desrochers A retired Marine Captain is forced to accept a job as a security guard working the nighttime shift at a mall. His four new colleagues turn out to be a mixture of misfits and wannabes, a huge contrast with the professional soldiers he is used to working with. On his first night on the job, he lets a terrified young girl into the closed off mall. A few moments later, a man shows up who offers them 1.25 million dollars if they just hand her over. After they refuse the offer, the mall is besieged by a small, heavily armed group of mercenaries, intent on killing everyone inside. Very formulaic and referential ("Die Hard", "Dawn of the Dead" and "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" all obvious reference points) but not terrible as far as mindless entertainment goes. Banderas is okay in the lead role, Ben Kingsley manages to hide the fact that he is just there to pick up a paycheck in most of his scenes, which is about as much as you can hope from him in such a cookie cutter villain role. I actually liked the cast members who played the other security guards and was a bit disappointed that only one of them got significant screen time.