Bird Box I have to venture these days onto Facebook -- my least favorite tweak of the new year -- and I am stunned at the response Bird Box is getting there. So, I watched the movie. It's OK. Basically, Harry Potter-like bogarts have come to earth. If you look at one, you will have the inescapable desire to commit suicide. Those who are insane (insanity is not defined in the movie) can look on these bogarts and see only beauty. But some have made drawings and they are hideous: huge, great fangs, large glowing eyes, etc, etc, etc. Yet these bogarts cannot actually attack people, so the blindfold that Sandra Bullock is wearing works just fine. Anyway, Bullock and a friend have managed to survive for 5 years, raising two infants to early children, when they are attacked, not by the bogarts, but by a roving gang of the insane. The friend heroically kills the gang, looks upon a bogart and Bullock decides to take the children, all while blindfolded, down a river to a supposed sanctuary. It's not a bad movie, it's just not very good either. I'm told it's very much like The Quiet Place, but it's as much a standard post-apocalyptic road movie as anything else: it's not the bogarts who will get you, it's other bogart survivors. I'm also told that this movie is supposed to be a victory for Netflix's production values: there are people of color who have strong roles, an elderly woman gets to be the hero once, and supposedly this is great because Bullock, an older woman, nabs a strong, husky, virile, but most importantly, younger man to be her paramour. But if the WWII Army company was comprised of stereotypical Poles, Irish, Italian and farm boy members, this cast will become the new stereotypical assortment. I now think I have given this movie more thought than it deserves.
The Gift (2015) Dir. Joel Edgerton Simon and Robyn are an upper-middle-class couple who move from Chicago to California for Simon's new job. They appear like a happy couple on the surface, if one discounts their struggle to conceive. Whilst shopping for furniture for their new home, they have a random encounter with one of Simon's high school classmates, Gordon, nicknamed Gordo. Over the next few weeks Gordo inserts himself into their new lives. Whilst Robyn thinks Gordo is nice, if a bit socially awkward, Simon seems disturbed by the man's re-emergence in his life in adulthood, though he has no desire to divulge quite why to his wife. Until she herself figures out there must be some dark, shared secret in the two men's past that is causing both of their strange behaviors. This was a nicely done little thriller. It uses the three main actor's stylistic traits to maximum effect. Jason Bateman especially plays a familiar character here, a man who possesses an easy but superficial charm. A role he has played many times, with the main difference between the incarnations being the underlying personality. Whilst this is occasionally a quirky yet innocent man, in this particular case, he is slowly revealed as a pure sociopath. The twist at the ending sort of upends the morality a bit, or at least significantly changes the full picture, which was obviously writer-director-actor Joel Edgerton's whole purpose. As a side-note, I enjoyed the scenes with Allison Tolman, a wonderful character actor who never seems to disappoint.
I thought the movie was overall quite poor. The first half is a fairly typical apocalyptic setup that was riffed again fairly recently in the Mist. Group gets trapped at the mall kind of thing. The second half was simply silly in my opinion because it didn't grapple directly with the issues of survival which for me are needed to make it feel real in a multiyear plot arc. This is my ongoing beef with most "serious" attempts at post-apocalyptic content. They don't build a world that you can really immerse yourself in. The Road, while it had its own failings, at least had largely sensible rules which governed the world.
It actually struck me as an updated take on Day of the Triffids, where most of the population were blinded, and survival depended on a few sighted individuals.
Beoning (2018) Dir. Chang-dong Lee Jong-su is a young man working as a courier in Seoul. The job does not really satisfy him other than providing a meager income. His real dream is to become a successful writer. He is also estranged from his parents; his mother abandoning the family when he was still a young boy, his father an abusive brute whose lack of self-control has finally caused him serious legal troubles. One day, he encounters Hae-mi, a girl from his small home town, whom he initially does not even recognize. Over a series of dates, they sort of hit it off, in spite of the fact that Jong-su feels that Hae-mi is a troubled young woman to a certain extent. Eventually Hae-mi asks him for a favor: to take care of her cat in her absence, as she is going to use some savings to take a trip to Africa. Upon her return, Jong-su is disappointing to find out that she has met another men whilst in Africa: Ben, a successful and wealthy man whose ease in life makes Jong-su somewhat envious. Ben seems to take an interest in Jong-su as well, though there is a certain aloofness to the man that Jong-su picks up on and which takes on a more sinister appearance with later events. An interesting slow-burner of a psychological drama/thriller. Certainly the best thing I've seen in 2019 and good enough that it'll take some doing to push it off its perch. The three principals are all great. The every man quality of Ah-in Yoo, the etherealness of Jong-seo Jun and Steven Yeun's natural charm (Western audiences will know him best from his long run on "The Walking Dead"), which takes on a darker turn here. It's hard to properly describe a movie in terms of its mood and stylistic traits but I would say that if Brian De Palma had been born in South-Korea instead of the U.S.A., these would be the kinds of movies he would make.
A strange film in that despite seeing it over two months ago, I'm still having a difficult time deciding if I liked it or not. Totally agree with you that the writing was the weak point, most notably in the final act. But yeah, Hemsworth was quirky good and his menacing intro into the mix juxtaposed with the four part harmonies of my favorite Mamas & the Pappas song is one of those scenes that will probably stick with me like Steeler Wheels with straight razors and the Pixies with financial buildings imploding across the skyline.
Really wanted to see this over the weekend, but got sick and it was only playing at a single small theater and is now gone. Maybe it'll get an academy award nom and come back.
It's visually attractive enough, especially some of the countryside scenes, to try and catch this in the theater.
The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989) A Marine long range patrol sees signs that the Viet Cong are massing for a large scale attack in their valley, so they go to Army firebase "Gloria" to report and get orders. They find a drugged out camp commanded by a Captain who has fully devoted himself to the art of masturbation. A discretely placed grenade puts R. Lee Ermey in charge, and he immediately gets to work upgrading the base defenses. He has two days before the Tet Offensive starts. The Last Stand is a tried and true genre of war movie, and this is a fine example, although it is violently opposed to subtlety. But, then, the Last Stand is mankind's least subtle story. Every speck of the budget was spent on the battle scenes, and they are immense in scale, real-looking, gripping, and just non-stop. R. Lee Ermey supposedly wrote the screenplay, and I would rate this his finest acting in any war movie. And not just because he looks completely natural behind a .50 caliber machine gun. The movie is respectful to soldiers of both sides, showing a little of the politics and emotions of the Vietnamese side as well as the Americans. They even showed the women nurses and the pretty-boy pilots in a good light. And it's really rare to see a film that pays proper respect to the mortar as an infantry weapon. My only disappointment was in the lead, Wings Hauser. Wings was such a great bad guy in otherwise crappy 80's movies, and he has that great name. But here he was stiff, and he refused to hold his M-16 the right way. You let me down, dude.
The Mediocre Mrs. Maisel -- Season 2 In the first season we meet Midge Maisel, a happily-married woman living in Manhattan in the late 50s. Her husband wants to be a stand-up comic, but he's not funny and all he can do is steal Bob Newhart pieces. When he bombs on stage on night, he freaks and leaves Midge, confessing that he's been having an affair. Stunned, and very drunk, Midge returns to the comedy club and bares her soul, and her tits, in an outrageously funny set. Midge, we discover, is the funny one. She's arrested and spends the night in the drunk tank, meeting of all people, Lenny Bruce. The manager of the nightclub instantly recognizes Midge's talent and decides to become her manager. It's an incredibly great opening act and Midge's entrance into the world of professional comedy is wonderfully told. Unfortunately, Tony Shalhoub, who is also a producer of this show, won an Emmy for the first season, and the entire cast of writers and directors forgot that this show is about Midge Maisel. And her growth as a professional comedian. With the show focusing on Shalhoub's dad character, the show goes to Paris for two episodes and then four episodes set in the Borscht Belt Catskills (with a portrayal that is so achingly awful it has to be, it has to be, a parody) before the show realizes that Midge is the star and the driving narrative is between her and her manager. The show took about as big a wrong turn as I've seen recently. It looks like it's back on the tracks and I'm ready for the third season. But there were several times that I almost got off the train.
Aknyeo (2017) Dir. Byung-gil Jung Sook-hee is a young assassin who has been trained and mentored by an older man she refers to as Mister. After fate separates her from Mister, she goes on a vengeful mission at the end of which she is arrested. Instead of going to prison, she wakes up at a facility belonging to the Agency, which offers her freedom in exchange for a decade of working for them as an assassin. After going through her training, she is given a new identity and life, along with the daughter who was born during her captivity. Her quotidian life within a residential area in Seoul is interspersed with missions, until she comes across a suggestion that a part of her past which she believed to be resolved is rearing its head again, with disastrous consequences for everyone involved. "Assassin gone rogue" is hardly a very original premise but a formulaic movie can be good or even great if the execution is done well. This is certainly the case here. I was hooked from the opening, six minute POV fight scene until the climactic equally bonkers action sequence on the bus. The story owes a great deal to many sources, of which I would certainly list "La Femme Nikita" and "The Long Kiss Goodnight" as two Western examples of the genre. I love the cast all around, but I would single out the lead (Ok-bin Kim) who is equally good in the action as in the more emotional scenes as well as Seo-hyeong Kim, who plays the protagonists handler and superior.
If Beale Street Could Talk ~ B. Jenkins Saw this yesterday. Surprised it didn't get more Oscar noms as it is a gorgeous piece of filmmaking. I think it is up for original score, which is well deserved as the contrasting of uplifting music for the romance and the ominous drone for the impending tragedy gave a sharp edge to the film.
Last night, Youtube Theater Night at the Wanklers. One in a Million: the Ron LeFlore Story, a 1978 made for TV movie about the journey of MLB's Ron LeFlore's journey from the streets to Tiger Stadium (by way of jail) starring Levar Burton, who was a credible baseball player. The only unbelievable part was the Tiger's manager Billy Martin came across as a decent human being.
Reign of the Supermen (2019) Dir. Sam Liu Following the events of "The Death of Superman", Metropolis and the world are still trying to cope with a reality in which the caped superhero is no longer around to save them. In the void left after Kal-El's demise, new Supermen emerge who try to take up his mantle and protect his city and world. The bereaved Lois Lane is weary of these new pretenders and is somewhat shaken out of her rut by the desire to find out more about these men. At the same time, the Justice League is gearing up for the launch of their new Watchtower, which perhaps causes them to be unaware of an impending threat. Not a bad follow-up to the DC animated universe's adaptation of "The Death of Superman". I think it's another good entry in the series of feature length films, albeit with a third act that is a bit chaotic. The post-credits scene hints at a third chapter in this story. The voice talent has the cast of "The Death of Superman" reprising their roles, which also means the stunt casting of real-life husband and wife Jerry O'Connell and Rebecca Romijn as Superman/Kal-El and Lois Lane features again.
Another night of Youtube Theatre at the Wanklers. Only this one was not quite as good. The Five Hundred Pound Jerk a 1973 TV movie featuring Alex Karras as a small town boy spotted by a marketing genius who, hoping to revitalize the fate of his shitty breakfast cereal, tries to get Karras character to become an Olympic champion weight lifter. Incorporating actual footage of the 1972 Olympics, including the memorable gymnastics routines of Olga Korbut, but decidedly NOT including the events that are most pressed into people's minds. Which is good, because a movie this shitty could only do so badly. I mean, seriously, the only good thing is Howard Cosell's spot-on imitation of himself. I'm pretty sure that 12 year old Young Master Wankler thought his movie was a POS.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Best western of last years for sure! It contains 6 unrelated stories, that perfectly convey the atmosphere.
The Mechanic (2011) Before the events of Mechanic: Resurrection, which I and some of you saw, the well-regarded Bishop is living in his art-filled estate on the infinite money being a hit-man-with-a-conscious gets you. His boss Dean gets Bishop to kill Bishop's mentor for betraying the vast assassination organization, but Bishop takes in the mentor's hot-headed son Steve as an apprentice in his honor. Bishop and Steve bond over the training to kill and then actual killing until the shocking twist - a corporation of assassins isn't on the up-and-up! Yeah, I know. Just go with it. It was ok, but it really wasn't as good as the sequel (or the 1972 Charles Bronson original). The problem was that this movie was too dark and serious to sustain the ridiculous premise and the far overcooked assassination set-pieces (outside the opening one, which was tense and well done). You can't expend all that style effort saying this is taking place in our world and then add "oh, yeah, billionaire assassins exist and there's no police anywhere and the villains are cartoons". It also didn't hurt that the sequel had just one glum gristled lead where this had two. If you just want a 90 minute break from never ending regret that you wasted your life, I'm afraid this film will end up adding a little bit to that burden.
So I've seen The Mechanic, Mechanic: Resurrection, The Mechanic, The Mechanik, and (let me check) The Giant Mechanical Man. I've got to say the Dolph Lundgren one was the best.
Polar (2019) Dir. Jonas Åkerlund Damocles, an international assassins organization, has a company policy which dictates that all of their assets have to retire at 50. Upon retirement, they are paid a lump sump as a one-time bonus, based upon their performance during their tenure at the company. Due to a cash flow problem, the new man in charge of the company has taken to killing off those men and women who are nearing retirement, thus avoiding any payment of the retirement bonus. When their most skilled man, Duncan Vizla, is nearing quinquagenarian status, the boss' consigliere advises against having him killed, due to the potential of this backfiring catastrophically. The boss does not heed those words and a first attempt made by a team of outsiders fails miserably, forcing him to send in his very best own assassins. An action thriller with a lot of dark humor, this is not the most original material (it is an adaptation of a comic book) that owes much of its inspiration to numerous sources, among them "The Mechanic" and more recently "John Wick". There is even one scene in there that is obviously a very dark little joke made at the expense of the Keanu Reeves action vehicle franchise. This is kept watchable throughout thanks to the fact that Mads Mikkelsen is an electrifying actor with an incredible screen presence. That does not hide the fact that this material is really beneath his many talents. Very rarely has the Dane gotten jobs in Anglo-Saxon cinema that are consistent with his talent level. The movie deflates a little after Damocles' self-professed A-team leaves the scene. None of the largely faceless, anonymous goons that Vizla otherwise faces off with leave any kind of lingering impression.
Eight Grade (2018) Dir. Bo Burnham Kayla Day is a middle-schooler who is just about finishing eight grade. She perceives the prospect of going to high school as something both to look forward to and to dread. The latter sentiment is linked to the fact that none of the goals she set out for herself for middle school - which primarily center around making more friends and being more sociable - have worked out for her. A fact she is painfully reminded of when the school returns the time capsule she made for herself when she had just started middle school. Some awkward & last-ditch attempts to still manage a connection with some of her peers in the last days of middle school do not help to improve either her mood or her sense of optimism for the future. A nice little film, noteworthy for being very adept at laying bare the many - small and big - insecurities of adolescence in all of their painful glory. This movie also would not work without Elsie Fisher's emotionally honest portrayal of Kayla, a performance that is so very devoid of any vanity that it is occasionally hard to watch (in a good way). Not that there aren't lighter moments of fun and humor. Gabe and Kayla's endearingly, delightfully awkward little first date is a good example of that.
Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse ~ Ramsey, Persichetti Jr., Rothman, Persichetti Not much to add to the hype on this one. It is excellent and a delight. I really want to go back and see it again. The other Best Animated Feature nominee I saw was: Incredibles 2 ~ B. Bird I felt like this story just hits all the wrong beats. It continues the objectivist bent of the first and tosses in some Dad doesn't understand parenting garbage. The villain's reason/monologue is recited during incongruous action on screen, which leaves what might have been an interesting take as background noise. The hover-train rescue is an exciting scene, but I dislike the rest of the film.
Robin Hood (2018) Dir. Otto Bathurst Robin of Loxley, a young English lord, is recruited into the crusader army. After two years spent fighting in the holy lands, he returns home, only to find that his possessions have been forfeited by the Sheriff of Nottingham. Together with a man who has joined him on his journey back to England, he starts a rebellion in the form of thievery: their goal is to weaken the position of the Sheriff by stealing the taxes his tax collectors squeeze out of the impoverished peasant population. A weird Robin Hood adaptation that is most similar in tone to Guy Ritchie's King Arthur film and A Knights Tale in terms of its irreverence in treating the original story with any kind of accuracy. It's a bit a mess of a feature and in spite of a few scenes which are mildly amusing, I couldn't really bring myself to recommend it. Jamie Dornan has displayed a level of skill in "The Fall" that makes it clear that this kind of material is really beneath him at this point. Jamie Foxx seemed to have had a lot of fun with his part in this film. Not sure if Ben Mendelsohn's career choice to become the poor man's Alan Rickman is really all that wise. For the longest of time, I thought Bono's daughter was Imogen Poots.
Leave No Trace (2018) Dir. Debra Granik Will and his daughter Tom live illegally within a state park, up until the day they are discovered by police. Child protective services are concerned enough about Tom's well-being that after a period of evaluation, they only allow the pair to remain together if they live supervised upon a tree farm's guest house. This lasts for a short time, until Will's struggles with living among a community of people - something that is linked to his PTSD - forces him to leave his new living arrangements along with his daughter. Tom for her part, having gotten a taste of a more sociable life, finds it hard to adapt to an existence that is once again reduced to just her and her dad. Good little drama that definitely deserved to get a bit more awards recognition than it did so far. This is a movie that is limited to just the two principals for large swathes of the film so it's obvious it would not work at all if both weren't performing at a high level. Which thankfully is very much the case here. Ben Foster's recent choices have all been very interesting. The character he plays here can be perceived as a gentler and kinder version of Cady from "Galveston". Thomasin McKenzie is a true revelation as his daughter and somehow manages to still outshine Foster's great performance.