Last Movie Watched.... The Xenforo Edition

I was under the impression that the story was based on fact. If we don't know whether Cohen actually climbed up and into that office or that it is just a plot device, I don't think we can judge. Was it foolhardy? No doubt. Did it happen as portrayed? Dunno.

 

Finally saw Star Wars. Enjoyed it but let’s be honest, all three of the new ones are basically a remake of the original three.

 

Bob le Flambeur (1956)
Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville



Bob is an aging former criminal with a gambling addiction. He has something of a protégé in his young friend Paolo and he develops a fascination for a young barfly he has seen gallivanting around Montmartre, Anne. In a self-destructive spree of gambling, Bob squanders all but a small pittance of his savings. In spite of his best friend's objections, he turns to his former life of crime for a solution to his money problems and starts putting together a team to steal the contents of the Deauville casino's vault. Lady luck turns out to be a capricious mistress who sends Bob on a meeting with fate itself.

Revisited this Jean-Pierre Melville classic. A precursor to both Melville's later work as well as a direct influence on Nouvelle Vague (though not the movements only inspiration by any means). An interesting film to contrast with a similar crime drama, "Rififi". Both movies are shot in France (within roughly a year of each other) with a primarily French cast but it's clear that Melville is a very French filmmaker whilst Dassin imbues his movie with a lot of the qualities of American cinema. Melville enjoys luxuriating in these men's passtimes, treating the heist's preparation as almost of an afterthought. It's easy to imagine that this is a celebration of Melville's own stomping grounds and the kind of people he'd encounter on all-night benders around the gambling dens, bars, cafés, night clubs and restaurants in and around Montmartre. Warmly recommended if you are into this sort of thing.

 

We watched a movie with a very similar pedigree:



"Detective Pikachu."

 

Creed II (2018)
Dir. Steven Caple Jr.



Following the events of the first movie, Adonis Creed has been given the opportunity to become world heavyweight champion. He is also getting engaged to his long-term girlfriend Bianca and his life seems to have reached a very good place. Then a new fighter emerges out of Russia who throws down the gauntlet: Victor Drago, son of Ivan Drago, the man who killed Adonis' father Apollo Creed in the ring over thirty years earlier. A boxing promoter wants to put on a title fight against the younger Drago. Due to the history, Rocky is against the fight, so his protege goes into the bout without his mentor's support.

Enjoyable sequel to "Creed", though I would say that the rejuvenation that Ryan Coogler gave to the franchise with his film is already starting to feel a bit staler in this here sequel. The movie is rescued primarily by the presence of Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago and neophyte boxer-turned-actor Florian Munteanu, who imbues his Victor Drago with both menace and a sad melancholy.

 

IO (2019)
Dir. Jonathan Helpert



In the near future, earth has been decimated by a drastic change in the natural environment which has left most of its surface uninhabitable to humans and other living things. Humanity itself, what remains of it, has largely moved off the planet and is living in a large space station in the orbit of Jupiter's moon Io. A very small number of humans remain on earth, most of whom have been inspired by a desire to find a way to change and adapt to life on the vastly changed planet. One of those people is Sam, a young woman who is assisting her father in his research, primarily their attempt to genetically alter bees to adapt to and survive in the new world. One day, a man in a hot air balloon touches down near where Sam lives and he informs her that his intention is to make it to one of the Exodus launch sites; places where the last remaining space ships on earth will leave for Io's orbit. After this last window of opportunity closes, all remaining humans will essentially be stuck on Earth. But Sam is intent on remaining and continuing the work.

An entry in the "last few people on earth" genre that includes classics like "The World, the Flesh and the Devil" and more recent entries like "I Am Legend", "Oblivion" and the "Z for Zachariah" adaptation. I can't say it does anything really new or original with the genre, but the two leads (Margaret Qualley and Anthony Mackie) are quite good and keep this very watchable. I suspect the final few scenes will be something of a letdown to some.

 

There's a joke in there that climate change has made less funny. Miss piggy and Kermit are being served a bottle of wine from Steve Martin playing a sarcastic waiter; he declares their choice one of the finest wines from Idaho. Fast forward forty years and there's a lot of excellent wine from Idaho.

Maybe, though, it was the Muppet Movie which gave Idahoans the idea to plant orchards in the first place.

 

This is my all-time favorite film based on a television show, and one which I like a great deal in its own right. "The Fugitive" stars Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones (the latter won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work), and it's well-done to the point that you actually root for both men even though they are at odds the whole movie. Actually, Jones' whole team in the film is appealing. Add in a few terrific set pieces (train-bus crash, chase through the dam, and the scene in the courthouse) and it's a rollicking good time.

 

Falling Down (1993) An unpleasant look at a man's descent into madness.

 

I kind of like the genre, especially those montages of solitude that are so common in these films.

I did think that the ending was a bit bullshit, certainly not earned by what came before.

 

Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
Dir. Leo McCarey



Lucy and Barkley Cooper gather the Cooper kids (bar one) at their home to announce some bad news: due to Barkley's long-term unemployment during the Great Depression, they have lost their home and have nowhere to go. Reluctantly, two of their children agree to take them in, but due to the lack of room they both claim to have, Lucy and Barkley are separated for the first time in their five decades of marriage. Lucy goes to live with her son George, whose wife and daughter don't take the sudden presence of their respective mother-in-law and grandmother very well. Barkley is sent to live with his daughter Cora, for whom a sour mood seems the norm and who soon resents the extra work and care her father's presence in her home signifies. The elderly couple find it hard to keep in touch with each other, with only letters and sporadic phone conversations as a means of communicating. Their hope of a reunion also dwindles, as Barkley's chances of finding new employment are remote due to his age and the general lack of job opportunities whilst their daughter Nellie, who had promised to take them both in once she convinces her husband reneges on her plea.

This was a very nice surprise. This is a moving drama that somehow sidesteps becoming a true melodrama, mostly because the emotion is all channeled through the very earnest and wonderful performances of its two leads, Beulah Bondi (most famous for playing Jimmy Stewart's mom in several films) and Victor Moore. Bondi was only 48 at the time of this movie's release and thus was made to look quite a bit older than her age for her role. Moore was a tiny bit closer to his character's age. This is also a movie very much of its time. It is quietly drenched in the realities of the Great Depression, without ever overtly addressing them..It also never tries to give either the characters or the audience an easy way out of the horrible yet quotidian situation the couple find themselves in. Orson Welles was a great admirer of this film, famously stating that "It would make a stone cry!". Also want to share this Peter Bogdanovich clip about the film, because it includes a nice little anecdote about director Leo McCarey and his Oscar acceptance speech.

 

The Black Dahlia (2006)
Dir. Brian De Palma



Bucky Bleichtert and Lee Blanchard are two L.A. cops who share a past as boxers. Bucky earns a promotion by agreeing to a PR fight against Blanchard and the two men end up becoming partners. Something of a love triangle also develops between Blanchard, Bleichtert and Kay Lake, who is Blanchard's young girlfriend. During a routine stake-out for a wanted sex offender and murderer, the pair of cops get into a shoot-out. In its aftermath, a body is found nearby, the badly mangled remains of a Elizabeth Short, whom the press soon dub the Black Dahlia. Blanchard immediately becomes obsessed with the case. Bleichert is more reluctant to participate, but he too finds himself more intrigued by the case when his investigation leads him to Madeleine Linscott, who is something of a lookalike of the murdered Short.

I am a big fan of Brian De Palma's work and I had thus seen this in theaters upon its release. I found it to be a huge letdown and had thus not revisited it since. Until now. I can't say this really changed my opinion all that much, though my perception is probably a bit milder than it was on my first viewing. This is far from a great De Palma film. It's not even a tier down from his best work, like the very good "Untouchables". There are many issues with the movie but I was most struck this time around by the fact that some of them could have been fixed for the most part by a different cast. In my humble opinion, two roles were badly miscast, with Hartnett as Bleichert and Hilary Swank as Madeleine. Bleichert needed someone with less boyish looks and more of a natural threat to him. If this movie was being cast right now, my mind would immediately go to Jon Bernthal. Likewise with Swank, who is a fine actress but who isn't really that convincing as a femme fatale. Part of me kind of wishes they had dared to go full Vertigo and let the very excellent Mia Kirshner play both Elizabeth Short and Madeline Linscott.

Though not a De Palma grand cru by any means, there are still moments that betray his technical mastery, like the shot where his camera follows the woman who first discovers Elizabeth's mangled body. Something of a missed opportunity and also the last time De Palma got to play around with a substantial budget.

 

1917 (2019)-Good to see a WW1 movie! A couple scenes were far-fetched, but all in all a pretty good flick. Not one for the kids.

 

Motherless Brooklyn (2019)
Dir. Edward Norton



Lionel is one of four men working for private investigator Frank Minna. When Lionel and one of his colleagues are backing up Frank during a meeting with some shady individuals, the meeting ends with Frank's death. Lionel's sense of loyalty to his former boss and mentor makes him want to find out who killed him, helped in his investigation by his keen mind and echoic memory but somewhat hampered by his Tourette syndrome in his pursuit of justice. His inquiries lead him to the dark underbelly of city hall as well as jazz clubs in Harlem, during which he meets a colorful collection of characters.

I really liked this, but it couldn't be more in my wheelhouse, being a quirky neo-noir. The plot doesn't try to reinvent the wheel but it's more than serviceable. The real joy is in the cast, both the quality of the performers and the obvious pleasure they have in this feature. Besides Norton in the lead role it features Alec Baldwin, Bobby Cannavale, Bruce Willis, Michael K. Williams, Willem Defoe and the always wonderful and very much underrated Gugu Mbatha-Raw in various supporting roles. Clocks in at just under 2.5 hours but flies by. I'd gladly watch two or three of these films a year.

 

The Way Back (2010)-About an escape from a Siberian gulag to India. I've liked the films of the director, Peter Weir (Gallipoli, Witness, The Truman Show). Some historians doubt the book the movie is based on. Decent flick, though China is skipped over. Saoirse Ronan is given little to do. A good movie to watch on a rainy day.

 

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Dir. Tim Miller



Dani is a young Mexican woman living in Mexico City who is the target of a newly arrived Terminator. Sent back to protect her is Grace, a significantly augmented human who can match the Terminator in strength for short amounts of time. During their escape from the killing machine, they get the unexpected help of Sarah Connor, whose new purpose in life has been to track down and eliminate Terminators as they appear on earth. Their struggle for Dani's survival also brings another familiar face onto their path.

This is an utterly pointless sequel and I can't say with a straight face that this adds anything new or unseen to the franchise. In spite of that, I found myself very much enjoying this film. The main trio of Linda Halmilton, Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes have good chemistry and Arnie is his old reliable self once he shows up (loved the little drapery gag). And in light of the fact that James Cameron revealed that it's no coincidence that the Terminator in T2 disguises himself as a cop, we are also likely not misreading the fact that this time around the Terminator appears in a border patrol uniform for a significant spell of the film and a few key scenes even take place in a border detainment center. Mackenzie Davis is an (unsurprisingly) effective action star. I once suggested she'd make a great Han Solo and I was only half joking.