@spejic You've made me wonder about the English-language dubbing. Did they dub everything? Like even when the actors were speaking English to each other themselves? Or when Geert told Lukas he was "too late" when arriving at the strip club for the first time, only this was told to him in Flemish? On that note, that was perhaps the biggest bit of nonsense in the film, but understandably so. Flemish people who live in Brussels almost always know French (because it's impossible to get by without it in a city that is over 80% French-speaking). So when confronted with a Francophone, they wouldn't switch to English but to French. But it made sense as a creative choice in terms of making the movie more appealing to Anglo-Saxon markets.
Happy Death Day 2U (2019) Dir. Christopher Landon Having survived her Groundhog Day-esque timeloop from the first movie, Tree is relieved to have finally moved on from her repeated experiences of living through January 18th. Her relief turns out to be very short-lived when only a day later, her new boyfriend Carter's roommate creates a new time-loop, this one of his own making after an experiment goes wrong in the university's quantum physics lab. After Tree tries to help him fix the problem, with the help of her experience from the first film in dealing with a similar situation, they instead exacerbate the issue by accidentally sending Tree to a different universe, one in which Carter and herself aren't an item but where her mother is still alive. Does Tree really want to fix things and return to her own universe or is this new environment preferable to her own life? It was already a very pleasant surprise when the first film in this series turned out to be quite a bit better than expected, thanks to the irreverent tone and the quality of the lead performance by Jessica Rothe. Rothe is back again here and does another admirable job and the movie is a very serviceable sequel that is less "Groundhog Day" and more "Back to the Future II". Something the screenwriter/director was very much aware of, considering the amount of "Back to the Future" Easter eggs he has sprinkled all over his movie. The weakest point of the film was the return of the killer subplot, which probably should have been left in the first film, yet I guess they had to include it again to up the stakes for each repeated day.
The English version kept the Flemish lines, and they didn't bother translating them in the subtitles, allowing them to be mysterious. They might have done multiple takes in different languages for certain scenes. Van Damme certainly seemed to be saying his lines in English. And according to the credits, as many people were dubbed for the French version of the film as the English. The Blu-Ray, when it comes out, will have both versions.
Ashamed to say this but "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist" It came on the TV and we didn't switch over. That's all.
The Big Clock (1948) Dir. John Farrow Earl Janoth, a major magazine publisher and a stickler for details is obsessed with time and works his staff very hard. One of his star employees is George Stroud, the editor-in-chief of his crime magazine, a man specialized in tracking down criminals that the cops cannot even find. Stroud is also tired of the fact that since working for Janoth, his entire life has revolved around his job, a sad reality that his wife deeply resents. When he finally makes plans to go on a long delayed honeymoon with his better half, his plans are derailed yet again when Janoth insists on him devoting more time to his next issue and thus delaying his travel plans. His refusal to do so leads to his dismissal, which in a roundabout way leads to him spending the night drinking and socializing with a young woman he met only the day prior. After he joins his now very angry wife on their honeymoon a day late, he gets called back to the office because he is needed for an urgent investigation: he is to track down a man who was seen gallivanting around town with a pretty blonde. Immediately realizing he has been tasked with tracking himself down, he goes about delaying the investigation until he can find out what actually happened. I don't know why this noir didn't work as well for me as many others do. Visually it's quite well done, especially the montage of Stroud's night out. The cast is very good all around (lots of colorful characters supplementing the sold lead duo of Milland and Laughton). I just felt that they did not do the most with the central premise and it all felt rather disjointed and at times silly. The resolution also felt a bit forced. I did love the opening scene and its creative use of framing.
So how many noir films start with "The Big"? The Big Heat (1953) Homicide detective Bannion is doing a pro-forma investigation of a fellow detective's suicide. But something is a bit off. And then he gets warned to stop looking. Like that ever works. Tight, well scripted, and rather brutal. Gloria Grahame is brilliant as the lightweight moll who gets some gravity as the movie progresses. If you like noir films you should see this. Of course Belgian guy has done so already.
One of my favorites, actually. An underrated performance by Jocelyn Brando imho, who does a lot with very little screen time.
One other little thing I love is how Glenn Ford's character gets asked to describe his wife on two occasions in the film and the first time he answers like a policeman talking about a suspect or a victim and the second time he answers like a husband talking about his wife. The difference between the two answers encapsulating the journey the two characters took in between the two inquiries.
The Durrells in Corfu (2018) Season Series Three, eight more episodes of the English TV series based on naturalist Gerald Durrell's three memoirs of life with his family on the island of Corfu. Obviously not documentary realism (future almost-Nobel prize winning novelist Larry was married and not living with the family, mother Louisa was frequently hammered on gin, and in fact it was Larry who was more likely to walk around naked than was his frequent guest (in real life and in two episodes here) Henry Miller.* The alcohol issue was addressed briefly, and man, can Keeley Hawes act. Not just as a drunk, but all around. I meant to single out the make up people from that episode, too, because they did a great job making her look either tipsy or shit-faced, as needed. The acting over all is pretty solid, and very international. Many characters are played by actual Greeks with lengthy IMDB credits that I can't really read. *played by the same guy who played a disfigured burn victim on Downton Abbey trying to convince the family that he was actually a long-lost relative (and thus heir to Downton Abbey
Green for Danger (1946) Dir. Sidney Gilliat At a war time hospital, nerves are frayed due to their area being hit by the Nazis' V1 rocket campaign. One night, a mailman gets caught up in such an explosion following his mail delivery at the hospital. After only suffering minor injuries apart from a fractured arm, he is brought back to the hospital where he is to receive surgery on the limb in the morning. During the routine procedure, he dies whilst being administered the anesthetic. It is assumed this was a rather tragic accident, until one of the nurses assisting during the procedure claims that it was in fact a murder and she can prove it. But what reason could one of the hospital staff have to assassinate a postal worker? Exceedingly entertaining little murder mystery with a very compelling setting in a wartime hospital in England. A noirish whodunit with some comedic traits (mostly revolving around the personality and behavior of the detective who comes to investigate the happenings at the hospital at the start of the second act). Featuring a good ensemble, with Alastair Sim, Sally Gray and Trevor Howard as the three stand-out performers for my money. In the end, the motive of the killer isn't entirely convincing but by that point, you have already been thoroughly entertained.
The Death of Stalin: A Comedy of Terrors (2017), d. Armando Iannucci, based on the French graphic novel by Fabian Nury and Thierry Robin. Very dark humor that is not going to work for everybody. Interesting that no one speaks with a fake Russian accent, in fact everyone speaks with pretty much their natural voice, so the Central Committee consists of English, Irish, and American accents. The casual brutality of life under Stalin is pretty hard to satirize, but this film makes a good run at it.
Avengers: Endgame (2019) Dir. Anthony Russo & Joe Russo Five years have passed since Thanos fingersnapped half of all living things in the galaxy out of existence. On Earth, the remaining Avengers have dealt with this reality in different ways. Black Widow is trying to lead what remains of the Avengers. Captain America is leading self help groups that try to deal with the trauma of being one of the left behind. A disillusioned Tony Stark has stepped away entirely from heroics to focus on his family. Thor is perhaps the most impacted of all due to a feeling of guilt at not having been able to defeat Thanos. Then a suddenly returned Scott Lang shows up with a possible idea that could perhaps save everyone they lost. But do the Avengers still have what it takes to pull such a feat off? This was totally fine but I wouldn't put it anywhere near the top of my favorite MCU films. That is probably more on me than on this film. I have always liked the quirkier/sillier/funnier/cornier MCU films (Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2/ Ant-Man and Antman & the Wasp/Thor: Ragnarok/Captain America: The First Avenger) more than the entries in the franchise that are more "serious". I also prefer the stand-alone films to the ensemble features and this is definitely the biggest ensemble movie they have made, so much so that it was always impossible to do justice to all of the characters. So as not to spoil anything I will add some more random thoughts in spoiler tags: Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler - I loved Fat Thor, mostly because this tapped into Chris Hemsworth's underrated comedic talents. - I was surprised that Captain Marvel was so little in this film until she showed up in the final battle and destroyed Thanos' ship in like three seconds and then single-handedly fought Thanos to a draw until he used an infinity stone on her. So yeah, she was probably too overpowered to be more involved in this film than she was. - Even though these films are probably more impactful emotionally on many other folks than on me, I will say that Tony Stark/Iron Man's death scene might very well have been the most quiet I have ever heard a movie theater. You could almost quite literally hear a pin drop. - I know it's silly to be too critical of these films' story lines, especially if they involve time travel plots, but there is one huge plot hole that they should have addressed imho. Tony Stark said that the idea was to change nothing about the five years that had passed and just wish the people they had lost back into existence five years later. Which means that for the people left behind, five years would have passed but for the people returning, they would be the same age as when they disappeared. In that regard, how does Ned still encounter Peter Parker in the high school corridor? Shouldn't Ned have graduated high school years earlier? Or did I miss something? - Kind of glad with the fate they gave to Captain America, just because it was more interesting than having both Cap and Stark die. Especially since at one point in the final battle, I was sure that it was Cap who wasn't going to make it.
Cold Pursuit (2019) Dir. Hans Petter Moland Nels Coxman is a snowplow driver who works and lives in a small ski resort town in Colorado. His son Ryan works at the nearby airport as a baggage handler. One night, after the end of his shift, Ryan is kidnapped by armed men and is found dead from an drug overdose the very next day. His father refuses to believe that his son was a drug addict and instead finds out that Ryan paid the price for the fact that one of his co-workers stole a kilo of heroine from a drug dealer who uses the airport to fly in his shipments. After their bereavement ruins his and his wife's marriage, Nels decides that his only remaining course of action is to avenge his son's death, which sets in motion a series of events that lead to an all-out drug war between rival gangs who mistakenly believe that the fatalities are part of the other side moving in on their business. This movie will forever be linked to the racist comments that Liam Neeson made during its promo campaign. Which must be at least partially to blame for its rather lukewarm reception at the box office (certainly compared to other recent Liam Neeson action vehicles). This was actually not half bad. I liked the dry, very dark humor (the scene at the morgue!) which is also displayed whenever they kept a running tally of the fatalities on screen. It actually most reminded me of "Fargo", primarily of the second season of the TV show.
Neon Genesis Evangelion [新世紀エヴァンゲリオン] (1995, 26 episodes) Fifteen years after a global cataclysm, we are introduced to a boy traveling to see his father. Only his father is the head of massive underground city whose purpose is to operate giant robots who fight against invading creatures. Shinji becomes a robot pilot with other 14-year olds. But things are not what they seem - not the people, not the city, not even the robots. Mecha anime as a genre has a pretty clear thematic core - give its young male viewers who feel vulnerable and lacking in agency a proxy who is protected in robot armor and has a dominating arsenal at their disposal. But was struck me most in my most recent rewatching of Eva was the utter powerlessness of Shinji and the other pilots. It's more than just the paradox of the F-15 pilot who merely wields power and does not possess it - they were pawns in a play they had no inkling of, with consequences for all mankind that they couldn't understand, let alone influence. I really tried hard to follow the internal dialogues of Asuka, Rei, and Shinji as they in turn suffered hallucinogenic voiced conflicts with their internal concepts of themselves as a result of contact with Angels or the Human Instrumentality Project. I'm not fan of psychoanalysis, and not a fan of the concepts like true selves and breakthroughs and realizations. Those conversations kept spinning around inconsistently, and I couldn't build a narrative thread to understand what was being said. I'm not saying it isn't brilliant - it's the most stunning, the most transcendental thing ever done on television. What I am saying is it's wrong. I'm in the Buffy school. Life is just this: it's living.
John Carter This was a strange movie, apparently something of a passion piece for the writer and the producer. And yet they still screwed the pooch on this one. This was "supposed" to be the first of a trilogy -- which makes sense since the first three of the 11 John Carter books form a mostly cohesive story -- yet the villains of the third book are introduced here in the first movie. Shifting the book's internal timeline/logic like that is just emblematic of the mush this movie is. And yet is was savable. Few of the people who spent good money on this movie had read ERB's source work. It could have been a decent action movie, if you can accept the now-prehistoric notion of the white savior in a new land. Who also wins the girl, loses the girl and then ultimately wins her heart. This is what the movie hews to from the original works, and yet brings the Therns fast-forward. It was the wrong choice. But ultimately, this movie fails because the best action movies sprinkle in liberal doses of humor. Think John Rhy-Davis in Raiders: "Asps. Very dangerous. You go first." Or Bruce Willis in Die Hard: "Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs..." Or Mark Ruffalo's Hulk: Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. "Puny god." Humor adds an element of charm to an action - adventure. This movie lacked charm.
I remember thinking when I saw this that the main problem was the fact that the leads had like zero on-screen chemistry, which was something of a problem considering the nature of the story.
Van Dammethon 48 We Die Young (2019) The Washington DC suburb of Bulgaria is only a 20 minute bike ride from the White House, but may as well be a different world. The neighborhood is full of Salvadorian refugees, many of whom are undocumented, and is totally run by the MS-13 gang, ruled locally by the ruthless Rincon. As the Feds are keeping a lazy eye on him and his heavily tattooed compatriots, he uses the 14 year old Lucas to actually run the drugs and pick up the protection money. Just as Rincon tasks Lucas with a big delivery to his higher-ups visiting from El Salvador, Lucas is looking for a way to keep his younger brother out of the life. Maybe a pill-popping Jean-Claude Van Damme who was seriously injured in Afghanistan and is suffering from extreme PTSD can help. On second thought... I've said before that acting is the thing you do on screen when you aren't saying anything. Van Damme did a lot of acting in this movie, as he doesn't say a single word. Unlike every other movie he's been in, here Jean-Claude was slight, retreating, beat down. Old. I thought he was great, even without that highly-prized-by-me aura. The rest of it is basically a standard latin gangster movie, like American Me, with a more topical choice of gang. I'm not sure how true to life it is. I suspect not very. But it moves well, maintains tension for a long time, and doesn't show its budget limitations. David Castaneda as Rincon was particularly good, and his role was more thoughtfully written than the other members of the gang. There's just way too much shakey-cam - in fact, it was so violent I'd call it jerkey-cam. I watched the "making of" extra, and there was no visible failure in the extras or the special effects they seem to be covering up - director Lior Geller just liked it for some reason. There is a beautiful bit of music played during the wedding scene that isn't listed in the end credits. It's driving me mad.
What We Left Behind: Looking Back At Star Trek Deep Space Nine a documentary about an often maligned series in the franchise that is getting more and more support as time goes by (last night by coincidence we watched an episode from the last arc of season 7 that aired 20 years earlier to the day. Good discussion of behind the scenes matters, early reception, and fan reaponse (it was fan-funded). An interesting framing device: the five major writers brainstorming an imaginary opening episode for "season 8" airing 20 years later. We'll get the DVD if it has at least three hours of extras.
The novels continue the story of DS9 pretty well. At the moment Sisko is captain of the Galaxy-class USS Robinson, Kira has joined the Vedek Order, the fully Federation DS9 is run by Captain Ro, and plain simple Garak is Prime Minister of Cardassia after an extended period being its ambassador to Earth. But I don't like the storyline with Iliana Ghemor, the spaceship that Jake Sisko runs into in the Delta Quadrant, and space zealots which has been going on forever (beginning while Deep Space 9 was still being aired!) and just can't seem to end.
Hard Target 2 (2016) In an alternate reality where kickboxing is super-popular in the United States, Scott Adkins accidentally kills his best friend in the ring. Grief-stricken he ends up in Thailand where he street fights for almost enough money to drink himself into forgetting he killed his best friend in the ring. He gets an intriguing offer - a million for a single match. That can buy lots of forgetting. But it turns out it isn't a fight - he's the unarmed prey in a deadly hunt in the jungle of Myanmar by rich asses who think they are hard. Scott is going to prove he can be a hard target too. Oh, yeah - that must be the most clever thing I've ever written. They copied lots of the style from the masterpiece original (the white doves, the constant slo-mo action, all the mannerisms and dialogue of the main villain), but the film itself is very simple (one of the hunters gets a fight scene, they lose, repeat) and lacks the original's humanity and charm. But it's not unwatchable. The jungle is nice. Scott Adkins is always charismatic. And he did a 720° roundhouse kick, which I hadn't thought was possible. So I think people that like Jean-Claude Van Damme films and Scott Adkins vehicles will enjoy it. I do wonder why they made a movie with a target audience of spejic and Belgian guy, however. A hard... wait, a target of two... no, that's no good.. I will get something out of that. Give me a moment.
Isle of the Dead (1945) Dir. Mark Robson An American war correspondent and a Greek general end up on a small island during the Balkan Wars in the aftermath of a battle. The general's intention was to visit his late wife's grave on said island, only he is shocked to find her final resting place desecrated. They are given shelter for the night by one of the few permanent residents on the island. The next morning, one of the other handful of house guests is found dead in his bed. A plague outbreak is feared and confirmed after the general calls for his physician on the mainland and the officer takes it upon himself to order a quarantine for fear of infecting his troops with the disease. After nerves are frayed ever further once more people within the house get ill, the general allows his mind to be clouded by old superstitions about an evil spirit who might have something to do with their ailments. A drama/thriller with some horror accents and a good Boris Karloff in the lead role. The action is limited to essentially just one location and this clocks in at just over 70 minutes. Kept entertaining by the slow increase of tension and the fact that the audience is kept in the dark about whether or not the main character's suspicions are purely delusional or if they hold a grain of truth.