Last Movie Watched.... The Xenforo Edition

I actually watched this, despite having zero interest in superhero movies and animated ones at that. And of all the superheroes out there Superman is my least favourite. But I had to give it a go as it is alternative history which I am a sucker for. It was meh

 

Not wanting to derail this thread, but I was curious and went to check L.A. Confidential's box office take in 1997. It made over 120 million worldwide against a 35 million budget. I believe this film doesn't even get a wide theatrical release in 2020. At best, it would get the "The Irishman" treatment: a limited theatrical run and then straight to a streaming service.

If it gets made at all.

 

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)
Dir. Jakes Kasdan



A year after the events of the first movie, Spencer, Martha, Fridge and Bethany have all moved on with their lives. Whilst Martha, Fridge and Bethany are thriving in their new environment, Spencer is struggling with his own college experience in NYC. When he returns home for the holidays, he decides to boot up the Jumanji game, mostly due to his craving the feeling he had when he briefly inhabited the body of Dr. Bravestone, fearless adventurer and how it contrasts with the constant feelings of insecurity he experiences in the real world. When his friends find out what he did, they have no choice but to go back to Jumanji themselves, to rescue Spencer. Only things don't quite go as planned, one side-effect of which is that Spencer's grandpa and one of his grandpa's friends are also transported into Jumanji.

Following on the heels of the surprisingly enjoyable reboot/sequel, this is a continuation of the same, with slightly less return quality-wise. It's still mostly enjoyable and the addition of De Vito and Glover do give the rest of the cast members some fun stuff to do (the Rock is a bit hit and miss in his De Vito impressions but Kevin Hart displays obvious glee whenever he gets to do Danny Glover). I do feel like the cast member who shone the brightest this time around was Karen Gillan, an actress who is really tailor-made for the action-comedy genre.

 

I'm really happy to see a Hollywood poster where the names are related to where the people are in the image. That almost never happens and it's really annoying to me.

 

Yes

 

No Country for Old Men (2007)
Dir. Ethan Coen & Joel Coen



In early 1980s Texas, Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon the site of a drug deal gone wrong in the desert. Assuming that whoever survived the gunfight got away with the money, he tracks a now deceased man to a suitcase containing 2 million dollars. He gets away clean... only a crisis of conscience and a desire to perform an act of kindness bring the criminals back onto his track. Two people in particular are intent on finding him, Anton Chigurh, a psychopathic contractor whose methodology make him an almost metaphysical embodiment of pure evil and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, a wily old veteran who is struggling more and more with the violent and cruel realities of his job.

Decided to revisit this classic adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel. I loved the book long before I saw the film and my appraisal upon originally seeing it is still the same as it is now: a fine movie but the book was better.

There is still a lot to love here, starting with Deakins' work (especially the nighttime desert scenes), Brolin's performance and how the entire thing is anchored by Tommy Lee Jones, who acts like the conscience of this story. I did think that upon this viewing, I thought some scenes had Javier Bardem definitely flirting with overacting. Obviously it's a good performance, but not the best work of the movie by any means. Speaking of great work, the Wells motel room scene is still a bit of masterful film-making, no less impressive now than it was thirteen years ago.

As for how this fits into the Coens filmography, it's the film most reminiscent of their debut feature, Blood Simple. So much so that I think they would make for a very interesting double header.

 

What shootout are you referring to? Moss & Chigurh at the hotel? The aftermath of the desert shoot-out that Moss stumbles onto?

 

Ah, so the latter.

 

Little Women (2019)
Dir. Greta Gerwig



We follow the young lives of the four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, as their hopes and dreams meet the realities of adult life, growing up during and after the civil war, under the careful watch of their marmee. Whilst both Meg and Jo have aspirations for the arts, Meg's childhood dreams of acting are given up for a life as a wife to a man whom their great aunt deems a poor match. Jo's dreams of becoming an author are more sturdy, though when she does get some work published, it isn't the kind of writing she imagined herself doing. Beth's devotion to her family means that her personal dreams are almost all tied the the small universe encompassing the March family home and its surroundings. The impetuous Amy has perhaps the grandest aspirations but also clashes most frequently with her sister Jo.

When Greta Gerwig announced that the next project she would do after Lady Bird was a Little Women adaptation, I was curious to see the result but also a bit disappointed. I think the talent and promise displayed in her debut feature perhaps deserved a more ambitious sophomoric effort. I never had any doubt that given a proper budget and a good cast, she was more than capable of giving us a good Little Women adaptation, which this is. I just wish her second project had challenged her talents a bit more than this movie did. Whilst it's a well-acted and adeptly written adaptation, I don't think it'd necessarily better than the PBS/BBC mini-series we got just two years ago. Gerwig's main twist is not telling the story strictly chronologically but jumping back and forth in time along thematic lines. It does not diminish the story in any way but I also did not think it really added much to it either, to tell it in this way.

I will say that my criticism, such as it is, is not "why do we need another adaptation of this book?" I'm the guy who has seen almost every Emma adaptation made (gladly so) and will also try to see the newest one (starring Joy Anya Taylor) at the earliest convenience. It's more a case of "I wish Greta Gerwig had chosen something else for her second movie."

The cast is fine all around, though Emily Watson was notably the weakest performer of the four March sisters, easily outshone by Ronan, Pugh and Scanlen. As for Timothée Chalamet, I thought he was fine as the adolescent Laurie, less so as the adult version. I wonder if she even considered different actors for the various ages? I always thought that the point of the Laurie towards the end of the story is that he has finally grown as a person, but I didn't really think Chalamet sold that growth, at least not as well as in some other versions of this story I have seen.

 

Black Christmas (2019)
Dir. Sophia Takal



A handful of members of a sorority are going to spend the Christmas holiday at their sorority house instead of going home. In the days leading up to Christmas, some of them get threatening messages on social media, but most of them make little of it, until one of them becomes convinced something bad has happened to a girl who was supposedly going home for the holidays but who never showed up at her parents house. Then more strange things start to occur in and around their sorority house.

The original Black Christmas is an old favorite of mine, as well as one of the best and most important horror movies of all time. It defined many of the horror and slasher tropes and it still holds up quite well to this day. It also already got a remake in 2006, which was a mostly forgettable effort that is still somehow better than the 2019 vintage. I went in with low expectations but somehow this movie managed to stay well below even those. The third act especially is horrendous. I also don't quite get why they would link this story to the original film, other than to use its name in the hope of attracting a pre-existing audience. But I can't see anyone who loved the original film enjoying this remake. One of the worst Blumhouse horror flicks I have seen.

 

In my Little Women write-up, I meant Emma Watson, not Emily Watson. Obviously.

Though Emily Watson did play Marmee March in that PBS/BBC adaptation I refer to in my post.

 

pretty much everybody is outshined by Saoirse Ronan. at the age of 25, she has appeared in 26 films and been nominated 4x for Academy Awards, in case that isn't common knowledge.

 

1917 (2019)
Dir. Sam Mendes



On the day before a major assault is to take place, two soldiers are tasked with getting new orders to the commander in charge: the attack is to be abandoned, as it has been deduced that the German retreat which prompted the offensive was a ruse to lure some English battalions into a trap. One of the two men is motivated by the fact that his older brother is one of the men due to go over the top the next day. The other, a battle-worn veteran, sees the mission as a near suicidal endeavor, since they will have to trek alone through no-mans land on the hope that they will not encounter any remaining German resistance on the way.

I suppose most people will know about the technical gimmick at the heart of this film. Due to a careful hiding of all but one cut (left in to allow for a time jump), this entire movie appears to be comprised of two very long oners. It is the most interesting aspect of the film by far, as I found the writing to be a bit lacking. It's also a war movie that somehow feels more like an adventure movie, more reminiscent of say Raiders of the Lost Ark than Paths of Glory. The premise itself requires more than one MacGuffin and even then it barely makes any sense. Deakins is the cinematographer, so it's natural that there are a few genuinely stunning sequences in there (my favorite was the night-time scene immediately after the time jump).

The choice to use some high-profile actors to appear in one or two scenes during our heroes' journey was a bit hit and miss for me. Some of them took me out of the story a bit (especially Cumberbatch). I did like Andrew Scott's cameo (Fleabag's Hot Priest). I think this is worth seeing for the technical achievement but I can't say it left a truly great impression beyond that.

 

His character is the kind of cinematic soldier we really owe to Samuel Fuller.

 

I thought the hat was a reference to Klaus Löwitsch's character in "Cross of Iron", but I might have been reading way too much into that little detail.