Thor: Ragnarok (2017) It's the end of the world as he knows it, and Thor feels fine. Marvel's Thor exists because of Superman. Superman is a paragon of morality and an embodiment of power - essentially a god. To compete, other comic writers had to make their own gods, or at least in the case of Thor, recycle one. And there are differences. Being part of a pantheon Thor had his own built-in drama (cue this movie) that Superman didn't. But at the core they are the same - they are both superpowered and they are both intrinsically heroic. And I'm watching this movie and it's alive and fun and invigorating and just stupendous in every way and I'm thinking why the Zack Snyder Superman movies were so bad. Thor does good because he wants to do good, and he revels in his own power. Thor loves being Thor. Snyder Superman is Superman begrudgingly. Who wants to see that? But more than that, Snyder Superman's and Batman's morality and motivation was created in the 9/11ish destruction of Metropolis. And I see where he is coming from because he's reflecting how (part of) America similarly learned a new morality on 9/11. Well, they and he and we didn't learn the right lesson. When love is gone, there's always justice. And when justice is gone, there's always force. And when force is gone, there's always Mom (Martha!). Modern super-individualistic morality is missing those first steps. I get that hope and belief have so often left us disappointed, so often been used to sell us a bill of goods that we have grown bitter (or maybe the case of Snyder, always have been) but cynicism and defeatism is no way to live. It's certainly no way to make our entertainment. And I don't mean to say these superhero movies should just be simplistic good vs evil contests - Avengers: Ultron and Captain America:Civil War did a very good job of exploring the limitation of good intentions, the extent of force as a tool, and repercussions of acting. But gods should be iconic. They shouldn't be written to be reflections of our failings but reflections of who we should be. I want to be like Thor. That's why that Skurge scene at the end was so important - logically he didn't have to do anything. But he felt like he had to do something. And it was awesome to see him try. So scratch that "I want to be like Thor" bit. I want to be like Skurge.
Jonathan Meades' Off Kilter: a BBC4 documentary series from presenter and architecture critic and overall "Artist of Television" Jonathan Meades. Great material on Scotland as a foreign country. The episode covering material from small Scottish footballing towns is a blast. Sample voiceover from episode one on Aberdeen: "The Stones of Aberdeen make the city look newer than the New Towns, the crumbling post-war attempts at Urbanism where the possibility that utopia might require upkeep was catastrophically overlooked:" Oh, crap: almost forgot my favorite: "Real villages are why we live in cities."
Us I enjoyed it, although it is more of a 2.5 - 3 star level than a classic. It balanced strong lead performances with classic thriller elements, but the big reveal is very predictable. Some may be annoyed that the movie deliberately leaves some plot holes that the audience has to mentally fill in or just ignore.
Close (2019) Dir. Vicky Jewson Sam is a security expert who is going through a period of personal turmoil. She gets offered what appears to be a cushy V.I.P. protection detail, taking care of the teenage daughter of a recently deceased mining mogul. The teenager turns out to be a handful yet the job is only a week long, ending with the pair's arrival at a heavily secured Moroccan villa, where it is revealed that the girl is in fact in real and mortal danger, giving Sam the chance to showcase some of her skills. This was really not very good at all. I like Noomi Rapace a lot and I think she can be very good in action movies but this screenplay isn't even a simple rehash of genre clichés, it isn't even ludicrous in an entertaining way, it's just plain dull (which is perhaps the worst thing you can say about an action flick). A waste of Rapace's talents and 94+ minutes of your time.
Paterson (2016) Paterson likes to write poetry that doesn't rhyme, although his life as a bus driver in Paterson, New Jersey does. It looks and sounds really nice, as you would expect from a Jim Jarmusch film. I just think it's a lot easier to see the poetry in the lives of the common man when you aren't one of them.
Destroyer (2018) Dir. Karyn Kusama Detective Erin Bell is a washed up old cop whose career as a law enforcement officer derailed seventeen years earlier, during an operation gone terribly wrong. One day she receives a package at work which suggests that this old crime has returned to haunt her yet again. She decides to investigate, visiting people connected to the job she worked seventeen years earlier and in the process piecing back together what occurred back then through a series of flashbacks. There is a lot to like about this neo-noir. An interesting structure leading up to something of a twist ending. A good supporting cast including the likes of Scoot McNairy, Sebestian Stan and Tatiana Maslany. An interesting protagonist, one half detective and one half femme fatale. Yet there was one thing that bothered me throughout: Nicole Kidman was woefully miscast in this. In spite of the make up and the wig to make her look more grimy and weathered, I just didn't believe this woman had lived all those dark experiences. I tried to think of who could have done this role more justice. Signourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton definitely. Sandra Bullock, possibly. Carrie Coons too, though she might be a bit too young at this point of her career. Possibly Charlize Theron too, though this opinion is almost entirely based upon "Monster".
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) Peter finds out who his father is, and it turns out he is more than meets the eye. A whole lot more. I agree with most reviewers here that the second movie felt like it was trying too hard. The humor was wooden, the music forced. They also have the problems of not being an origin story (can't be helped, of course), having the group split up for such a large part of the story, and having Quill brainwashed (in various degrees) for the turning point of the film. But then we got to the climax, and it started working again. Star Lord was Star Lord, the team was together, entities were acting more naturally. It ended with some great emotional moments that kept building up, and I closed my VLC Media Player feeling all sorts of feelings. So if it's true that all's well that ends well, I rate this "all's well". I would have liked to see more about Peter's father's motivation - why he thinks the peoples of space are disappointing, why he thinks his goal was the right way to go. I'm interested philosophically in reasons for living and this didn't really explain anything. Stallone was a bad casting choice - seeing him took me right out of the picture. That one main cameo was great, however. As was his song in the credits.
Mad Love (1935) Dir. Karl Freund Yvonne Orlac is an actress who performs at a rather sad little Grand Guignol theater. Each night, Professor Gogol, a famous physician, hires a box at the theater for the sole purpose of seeing Yvonne perform, with whom he is deeply infatuated. Unfortunately for him, Yvonne is quite happily married to Stephen Orlac, an accomplished pianist and composer. One night, just as Yvonne is retiring from the theater world, her husband gets into a train accident which leaves his hands ruined. In her desperation, she turns to Gogol, using his attraction to her to convince him to attempt to try and save her husbands hands. The operation is a success, though Gogol hides the true nature of the procedure he performs from all but his assistants. He is also disappointed to find out that his feat has not warmed Yvonne for him beyond some measure of gratitude for having helped her husband. This resentment eventually boils over as both men have to deal with the consequences of Gogol's methods. Firstly, seeing this today was a bit odd, if only for the fact that an image of the Notre Dame Cathedral is featured prominently in the opening credits. There are some interesting snippets of information about this feature. Chiefly among them its supposed influence on "Citizen Kane", which which it shares a cinematographer. There are enough stylistic traits that both movies share in their framing, close-ups, camera movements, fade cuts, ... to lend credence to the theory, whilst also acknowledging that the Orson Welles film is far more visually accomplished. Peter Lorre is reliable great in what is his first real Hollywood role. As for influences on later movies, beyond the "Citizen Kane" inspiration which I mentioned above, I suspect that Steven Spielberg might have borrowed some of Gogol's disguise for how Ronald Lacey appeared in "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
As an aside, your link is to my favorite scene in that movie; the fight in Marion's bar. Edit: Upon closer inspection, it's actually the scene when Toht thwarts Marion's attempt to escape from Belloq's tent.
Woman Walks Ahead (2017) Dir. Susanna White Catherine Weldon is a NYC-based painter who, a year after she has been widowed, decides to turn her fascination with native American culture into something more tangible when she writes to Chief Sitting Bull to request that he will sit for a portrait. When she arrives on the reservation, she is rather coolly met by the men responsible for keeping the peace, especially since a new unpopular treaty has to be passed in the near future, one which deprives the Sioux of even more of their lands. After some negotiation, she does manage to get Sitting Bull to agree to the portrait. Over the time they spend together in its creation, they develop respect and a bond of mutual affection for each other, one which is cut short when developments endanger Sitting Bull's life. A romanticized version of real events, I found most of the quality in this film is in the performances. Jessica Chastain is her reliably good self and Michael Greyeyes gives Sitting Bull the required gravitas without ever falling into the trap of the tropes of the genre. There is talent in the supporting cast too, among them Ciaran Hinds, Sam Rockwell and Bill Camp. The writing is a bit so-and-so, with Steven Knight's attempt to avoid writing a white savior film only half-succeeding.
The Man from Nowhere [아저씨] (2010) Cha Tae-sik is a quiet operator of a small pawnshop in the bottom floor of a run-down apartment building. His only friend is a little scamp of a girl who doesn't have other friends either. The girl's mother is part of a small-timer's operation to steal heroin from crime boss Oh Myung-gyu. Oh Myung-gyu quickly finds out who did it, and after kidnapping the mother and daughter to exact revenge his underlings try to frame Cha Tae-sik. Big mistake. You will figure out the plot as soon as you are introduced to the characters. Like many of the Korean films of this type I've seen it's a little over long, overworking plot points you already got. And it's a little more gory than I like. Actually, it's a lot more gory than I like, and a little more gory than my upper limit of endurance. Its biggest failing is that the star looks like a K-Pop singer, not someone experienced, grizzled, embittered, and haunted. You'd be better off watching Jean-Claude Van Damme do the same role in 6 Bullets. Or Assassination Games. Or Wake of Death. Or In Hell. I guess Van Damme did that kind of movie a lot. All great. Not that this was bad. This was well directed (outside of the choppy fight scenes), well acted (particularly Kim Sae-ron as the little girl), and featured some delicious badguys you desperately want to see brutally murdered, which makes you tingly when they are finally brutally murdered, which makes you question how committed you are to the concept of human civilization.
Is there a movie poster less clear the film is actually about sports? The Natural from 1984, which I very much enjoyed rewatching after a long layoff. I've read lots about the movie and the making thereof, but looking at the poster again I would like to read something about why they decided neither image of Robert Redford on the poster would show him wearing so much as a baseball cap. Regarding the movie itself, one of my good friends in high school liked the movie a lot, but was not then and continues now not to be a fan of sports in general, or baseball in particular. However, he would always come to Angels games with us, and after watching this movie he was always disappointed no one either smashed a giant clock with a hit ball, or created an amazing electric storm after a home run started a chain reaction in the lights, or hit the ball out of its own casing.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy [BBC miniseries] (1979) Control, the head of the Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, has reason to suspect there is a Soviet mole somewhere in the upper reaches of his agency. He sends his most trusted officer to Czechoslovakia to get information, but the operation fails. One year later, George Smiley, former second in charge but forced to retire after the Czechoslovakia fiasco, gets an interesting visit from the civilian overseers of the Intelligence Service. It turns out Ricki Tarr, a spy who was assumed to have defected, has come in from the cold, and he has information about the mole. Smiley is the only one that can be trusted to investigate The Circus and see who the traitor is. It took about three episodes until the names started to stick with the associated middle-aged white guy, but it was never not interesting despite being as slow and subtle a series as you are likely to find. What I took from the series is a sense of weariness and deep cynicism. These people had devoted their effort to a nation that became fully eclipsed by the United States, devoted their lives to a system that formalized decorum between officers of competing nations but which regularly saw agents* be tortured and killed. I recommend this if you like to see care and precision. * "Agent" is the person recruited into spying on their own nation. James Bond is a case officer, not an agent.
Legendary (2016) Something is eating workers at a Chinese pipeline project. Something big. Disgraced cryptozoologist Scott Adkins is called in by the pipeline's European lawyer to capture it. But the Chinese company boss called in evil hunter Dolph Lundgren, only knowing he's the current big name in the field and not knowing he's a evil hunter. As Scott and Dolph try to see who's rifle is bigger more Chinese workers get eaten. Kind of a modern take on 1950's giant animal movies with 1990's computer effects. Like those 50's movies Legendary takes itself far too seriously. But the movie is full of those mistakes and inconsistencies that are so fun to point out. Like how an international group of scientists use inches, feet, and pounds. Or that China recognizes the International Driving Permit (it doesn't). Or that a lawyer concerned with the environment would puke in the paper recycling bin (vomit's clearly compost). So it's not a good movie but I had a good time. Dolph is fantastically slimy and Adkins runs a lot and looks good while doing it.
I saw this after I watched the movie Pretty sure I watched it also with dad in the 80s Really love it along with Smileys People
I thought the movie was very confusing. You probably needed to be familiar with the story. I'm watching Smiley's People now.
The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018) Dir. Fede Alvarez Lisbeth Salander is hired by a tech genius to steal back a program he made for the NSA that can hack into any defense system in the world, including control over nuclear arsenals. She is successful in retrieving the device, until armed men enter her home and steal it back from her before she can return it to its designer. Thankfully the program is encrypted and the access key is known only to the man who designed it and his son. As the criminals focus on finding this pair, Lisbeth herself is reminded of dark days from her childhood. Another English-language adaptation of a Stieg Larsson/Millennium novel. What first Rooney Mara and now Claire Foy have proven with their efforts is that Noomie Rapace nailed this character the first time around and they can't quite match the Swedish actress. The stand-out performer this time around is Sylvia Hoeks, who manages to shine even though she plays a fairly cliché villainous character. In general I think this adaptation went too big and too Jason Bourne-ish for its own good. None of these films should inhabit a universe that has any pretense of realism, but they should be distinct from other action thrillers.
I love books more than their movie adaptations. But I have enjoyed watching Rapace more than I've liked reading Larsson.
I've never read the book nor have I seen the mini-series, but I really liked the movie. Would certainly agree, however, that it's not light viewing. You really have to focus (not trying to sound patronizing as I'm a big fan of your wit and intellect) in order to catch everything. I thought it was one of those movies, where every actor was well-cast and gave great performances, especially Oldman.
Agreed The movie had wonderful photgraphy but the miniseries was far better story telling TTSS & Smiley's People are two absolute classics of the era IMO One thing I love about TTSS is how it captures the relative shabbiness of London at that time
Lukas (2018) Dir. Julien Leclercq Lukas is an older, experienced bouncer who works at a nightclub in Brussels, struggling to make ends meet and keep a roof over his and his young daughter's heads. After dealing with an unruly patron one night, the man in question accidentally gets injured through no fault of Lukas' but he is still accused of having assaulted the night club visitor and he subsequently loses his job. Between his age and the mark against him (however inaccurate) of having used unnecessary force at his previous bouncer gig, his chances of employment at another nightclub are remote. Thus a former colleague of his sets him up with a job at a much shadier establishment: a strip club owned by a man who supposedly has many underground, criminal ties. Shortly after his employment there starts, Lukas is approached by a police officer who tells him that the 'victim' he injured at his previous job is pressing charges but that he can make the problem go away if he becomes a C.I. for him at the strip club. His mission is to find out what exactly his new employer has got his fingers into at that time and provide him with the information that will help bring him down. Only this endangers the lives of both Lukas and his young daughter. This was quite enjoyable. Certainly the most genuinely good film Jean-Claude Van Damme has been in since "JCVD". Not that I would argue that it's quite that good (the Muscles from Brussels is unlikely to ever match the quality of that film again). I would say this feels most like Van Damme's own "Unforgiven". Like Eastwood in that western, Van Damme plays an older, stripped down, slightly demythologized version of the characters he has played throughout his career. Adding to that is the fact that this was largely shot on location in and around Brussels so this is literally Van Damme returning to his old stomping grounds to shoot a film. The screenplay is crisp and the film clocks in at a very reasonable 90 minute runtime. The supporting cast features some good Belgian talent in Sam Louwyck and Kevin Janssens. Sveva Alviti was a pleasant surprise too in what is ultimately a very tragic role.
Van Dammethon 47 The Bouncer [aka Lukas] (2018) Lukas is an older, experienced bouncer who works at a nightclub in Brussels, struggling to make ends wait I feel like I've read all this before somewhere. It's almost like someone has been reading my posts for the last decade and distilled the perfect movie. The shock and brutality and flow of violence, the power of silence and stillness, the proper place of handheld camera, the self-destructive imperative of revenge, sticking to what's right about formula narrative without cliché or overpredictability - this film gets it. The director and writer understand the gut reaction of the audience without succumbing to their own. When a movie is simple and subtle a lot rides on the naked acting ability of the star and Van Damme is just brilliant here. His face is endlessly captivating. I don't know the location like Belgian guy, but you can tell when a director understands the place they are filming. They have the right sort of side streets, the right sort of out-of-the-way nooks. We can tell who Lukas is from two seconds of the apartment exterior. It's even true in the interior scenes, with sets dressed as well as those in a Jarmusch movie. There is this drug cooker - a small role - and we see their home slash place of business in total detail during a stunning four and a half minute unbroken take and we understand who this guy is utterly without a single word being said. I agree - just under JCVD. Great Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, great movie period. I only wish I saw it with the original audio track - the American DVD only has English dubbing and some of the voice actors aren't great.
On that subject, whilst I thought Sam Louwyck was more than fine in this film, I still feel like he has yet to match the quality of his Flemish-language performances whilst acting (largely) in another language.