Joker (2019) 1980's Gotham is full of crime and poverty and resentment. Aspiring stand-up comedian and aspiring sane person Arthur Fleck works, barely, as a clown for hire. He shares a run down apartment with his mother, who is certain Thomas Wayne will save them. Maybe Arthur had a chance to save himself, but budget cuts means no more counseling or medicine. Instead he turns to another tool, and after an event from which there is no going back Arthur decides to ride it down as far as it will take him. I don't know what I can add to the most analyzed film of 2019. I just want to say, as a fan of 1970's cinema I loved this movie. It really gets the style and feel and substance of those movies with its earthy take on the human condition. Having recently rewatched Network I was most drawn to the many references to that, but of course it drew from many notable films. And I can't say enough about how great Joaquin Phoenix was. He was able to contort his body into a whole new level of acting. There is a lot of questioning about what in the film is real or unreal, but I don't think it matters. The emotions of the movie exist internally in many people - until the horrible moment it doesn't. Joker works as a warning no matter how you interpret its level of fantasy.
The Verdict (1982) Dir. Sidney Lumet Frank Galvin used to be a high profile lawyer until life kicked him in the teeth and he lost much of his former courage and ethics in the process. After he is spat out by his former peers, he becomes an alcoholic ambulance chaser who struggles to find work. When one of his last friends throws him a bone in the form of a case that is almost certain to yield a sizable settlement, a small ember of his former passion is ignited when he is confronted with the victim and sister of the plaintiff: a young mother who has been left in a vegetative state after a medical error caused by a wrongly administered anesthetic during labor. The thought of settling and letting both the hospital and the doctors off the hook disgusts him and he instead goes to trial, in spite of both his opponents and his friend pointing out the folly in this course of action. In court he is confronted with a first-class defense team with deep coffers, his own rustiness as a trial lawyer and the fact that he struggles to find witnesses for his side. I had never seen this before. It's a very well-done courtroom drama that is elevated somewhat by Newman's performance. Lumet's directing style here is stripped down but still interesting, especially in its use of the frame and the static camera angles. I will say that the eventual climax was a bit jarring to me in contrast to the tonal consistency of the film up until that point.
Juliet, Naked (2018)-I'm on a bit of kick of watching movie adaptations on Hornby books. Pretty good adaptation of the book, with some changes as is usual. Rose Byrne is good as the main character. Ethan Hawke stars as her boyfriend's idol.
Romance in Manhattan (1935) Dir. Stephen Roberts Karel Novak is a Czechoslovakian immigrant who arrives in NYC with hopes of making a better life for himself in America. He is horrified to find out that because he has no family waiting for him in the states who can support him financially and he lacks the 200 dollars in money they require from new immigrants lacking said support system, he will be sent back to Europe. Instead he successfully gets off the boat as it leaves the harbor and swims back to shore. Now an illegal immigrant in his new home country, his first hours and days are harsh, until he comes upon a compassionate showgirl who befriends and helps him. In the process, he falls in love with the young woman and befriends her younger brother. But when Karel attempts to resolve his illegal status once he has more solid financial footing, he is preyed upon by a shady lawyer. Sweet little romantic dramedy with two good central performances. Ginger Rogers' charming performance especially almost carries the entire film. I was also struck by the oddness of a story about an illegal immigrant in which law enforcement ultimately treats him with compassion and kindness. I have no illusions about cops being any kinder to illegal immigrants back in the thirties than they are now, but it's almost absurd to think of a movie made today with a similar story line and portrayal. At the very least it signifies a shift in how the culture and subsequently also the entertainment industry has shifted in regards to such narratives.
Alexander Nevsky (1938)-Classic Russian film directed by Sergei Eisenstein. The battle on the ice is what this film is remembered for.. Nikolai Cherkasov is good as the title character.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban I went through all of the Harry Potter movies with my wife and daughters, and my wife still watches or listens to the series about monthly. Mostly I am along for the ride, but not with this movie: this one is terrific. The tagline "Everything Will Change" certainly applies, as the kids are older, the plot more complex, and then Alfonso Cuaron directed it with a much different tone than the preceding (and even later) films. I'll sit with Mrs. Ismitje any time she wants to watch this one. Here's a great (short) article from 2018 about how Guillermo del Toro convinced Cuaron to take the movie seriously. I owe del Toro for that.
Avengers: Endgame (2019) Undoing the effects of the Infinity Gauntlet requires the Infinity Gauntlet, and a bit of luck sends the remaining Avengers to its location. But the stones of the gauntlet, those McGuffins of pretty much every Marvel movie, are no more. Wait, they still exist in those previous movies, right? They need someone to get the DVDs of the previous films and that one guy from the movies I didn't see is just the one to show them how. I thought I had Marvel movies figured out. Take the broad outline of the original comic book idea, add a charming lead, a bit of humor and human interest, cram in wild computer action scenes until the movie is full, add 50% more wild computer action scenes, spring it all at you so fast you don't know what's going on, and you end up with some entertaining if forgettable fare. Then this movie turns everything on it's head. It's not an action extravaganza - most of the quests are solved without fighting at all. Instead it's a manipulative experience in trying to convince you that all the previous Marvel movies were an enduring part of your life and if those suckers at Marvel think they can seduce this savvy viewer they are 100% correct. There have been plenty of movies and shows that have brought out of me some extreme emotional state - at best two if there was a cunning reversal of fortune. The climax of Endgame had like 4 or 5 of those moments. It was just so well done, spot on in every aspect. I just feel this glow from having seen it. Endgame was so good it made every other Marvel movie better.
Well, that's my favorite book, and ultimately my favorite movie. My wife re-reads the books annually and when she reads Prisoner, well, we fight over the book...
The Big Bang Theory I will remember Corona Spring for my time bingeing on Big Bang. I'm staffing a residential home for folks with intellectual or developmental disabilities and this is how we've spent the past month. Somehow I missed the phenomenon other than way-too-frequent Sheldon memes. And after watching, I'm confidant I didn't miss much. The show is tiring. I was about to give up, but the season two cliffhanger is the introduction of Mayim Bialick as his future girlfriend and the show lit up for a while. And then everyone became mean to each other. I was glad that I was able to catch two of every four shows because the show got stale. There's no jumped-the-shark moment but we were all sick of the show by the time it ended. We're going to be TV free for the next week, just to recalibrate.
I really enjoy TBBT. One of the high points is KC's haircuts. As an aside, to be clear, I've never worn a jacket over a hoodie every day of my life. Finally, the conceit that Leonard could get a GF like Penny ( who doesn't have a last name, apparently ) is precious beyond conception.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)-I didn't catch a wink last night, so it's not surprising that I felt parts of the film were a drag. Good to catch James Carville as the Governor of Missouri. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck were good in their roles.
Of course. Schlub guy getting hot wife is a sitcom trope. Mercifully, Leonard snagged Penny relatively early and we didn't have to witness endless on-again off-again encounters.
I liked The Big Bang Theory because I recognized lots of traits of the guys in myself and I recognize that those traits could and should be made fun of. Well, one of my college roommates was a Leonard (or actually more a Wolowitz) and he dated a Penny so it's possible.
Hard Boiled (1992) Dir. John Woo 'Tequila' Yeun is a loose canon of a police detective who is working a case involving a gunrunner. During an undercover operation in which the cops hope to catch the gang in the act of doing an arms deal, a high intensity gun fight erupts, in which Tequila's partner is killed. This makes him even more determined to catch Johnny Wong, the arms dealer in question. At the same time, Wong himself approaches a younger associate of a local Triad, Alan, in the hope of turning him to his side and making him betray his mob boss. Yet Alan's own loyalties are not clear, especially not after he has an encounter with Tequila. Revisited this for the first time in an eternity and it still holds up quite nicely. I had actually forgotten about some of the over the top action - e.g. shooting a motorcycle in mid-air during the warehouse assault - which made this a very entertaining and amusing re-watch. And the climactic oner that is perhaps the most famous sequence of this film still slaps as much as I remembered it doing. The ultimate action film with all of the dials turned to thirteen.
Wag the Dog (1997)-Political movie, about a bunch of political consultants who fake a war. De Niro and Hoffman are excellent as always. Oddly presaged the Clinton impeachment.
the Clinton impeachment was an inevitablility. funny thing...pretty decent Prexi, weasel of a person.
I wanna get back to the Leonard/Penny liaison. I think that there is an underestimation of how very dishy Kaley Cuoco is. A recollection of how attractive a girl in college might have been after a hiatus of 30 years is not exactly reliable. Penny is a 10, by most standards. Jennifer Aniston (IMO) is an 11. Meg Ryan in her prime is 9.5. Here is a airbrushed foto of Mrs Denny Quaid. And an airbrushed foto of Penny Take your pick... I think Kaley Cuoco, Meg Ryan and Jennifer Aniston are the embodiment of the perfect girl-next-door type. As opposed to someone like Elizabeth Taylor.
"Judge not lest ye be judged." Fallable. "Just a boy who cain't say no." In effect he hung a target on himself. And anyone of that age who has thought about it can surely see the social forces that shaped him that way. We may have done better/been luckier in not letting those forces bend us into vulnerable or predatory shapes, but nobody got away clean, not even the gay ones.
Sorry, TJ, but you don't understand the actual sense of that admonishment. It does NOT mean "don't evaluate". The Scripture also says, "By their fruits you shall know them." Clinton's fruit with women with/of whom he should not have had carnal knowledge was pure polecat.
"Were you there?" And you are suggesting a rather unusual definition of "judge." "Weasel" is judgemental, "Commited adultery" is evaluative. BRW is that "judge" another mistranslation, like "honey and locust" or "dominion?"