The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
An elderly man claiming to be the Baron von Münchausen interrupts a play supposedly based on his life to point out its many inaccuracies and correct the record. When the Angel of Death comes to collect Münchausen, he escapes in a hot air balloon made from women’s underwear. The rest of the movie is a series of fantastic adventures: the Baron meets the King of the Moon, gets swallowed by a giant sea creature, and fends off a Turkish attack. When he does finally die, this is revealed to be “only one of the many occasions” he’s met his death.
To approximate the story of the historical Münchausen’s life, Terry Gilliam’s film is structured as a series overlapping tales, falling back into and on top of each other. In one scene, Münchausen is an old man, in the next he’s young. The effect is dizzying, we never know which story is the “real” one, or when the story will shift gear.
The highlights include a manic Robin Williams as The King of the Moon, a weirdly comic turn by Uma Thurman as Venus, and a very young Sarah Polley as Sally Salt.
Characteristically of Gilliam’s films, this movie had a notoriously difficult production and because of internal studio politics at Columbia, it barely got a US domestic release.
It’s a noble effort, but so committed to constantly reinventing and reinterpreting Münchausen, it fails to generate enough interest in its character to sustain itself. Sadly, while Baron von Münchausen is a fascinating character the movie inspired by his life, isn’t. Time Bandits (1981), Brazil (1985),The Fisher King (1991), and 12 Monkeys (1995), are all better films by Gilliam.
The Warriors (1979)
Cyrus, the leader of the Riffs, calls a meeting to broker a peace treaty between the rival gangs in New York City, but Luther, the leader of the Rogues, kills him and frames the Warriors, who must prove their innocence and expose Luther.
One of Walter Hill’s earliest efforts, this movie wants to be too much. It wants to embody youthful restlessness, glorify the counter-culture, and scare us with a dystopian vision of the future. The problem: it doesn’t do any of those things well. The characters are forgettable, the plot is razor-thin, and the atmosphere (late 70s realism) is better done in Death Wish (1974) and Saturday Night Fever (1977).
This movie is a product of the same phenomenon which later benefited The Boondock Saints (1999). People are in love with what they think this movie is, but fail to deal with the movie itself.
Despite my antipathy towards the film, I’m intrigued by the 2005 prequel video game.
Walter Hill produced the Alien franchise, directed 48 Hrs. (1982) and its sequel, and directed the 1985 version of Brewster’s Millions starring Richard Pryor. All of these are preferable to The Warriors.
Big Fan (2009)
Paul Aufiero’s (Patton Oswalt) life revolves around the New York Giants. When one of the Giants star players, linebacker Quantrell Bishop, attacks Paul, his life spirals out of control and leads to a confrontation with a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles following the last game of the season.
Patton Oswalt is becoming one of my favorite actors. Too many comedians turned actors refuse to let a scene build, but Oswalt is patient and lets things develop naturally. His body of work is limited, but he makes his work count like his cameo filibuster on Parks and Rec or as Remy in Ratatouille (2011). I would like to see him branch out beyond the middle-aged loser who still lives at home, but as long as he keeps churning out performances like this, it’s a minor complaint.
The debut film from director Robert Siegel questions the value of spending so much time and energy (and money) following athletic contests when there’s so much more important stuff in the world, but ultimately, this is a defense of sports fandom. In a world of fractured identity and increasing isolation, sports can provide a connection to others and a source of identity. Paul Auferio may be a loser, but at least he knows he loves The Giants, and as the closing scene suggests, he has next season to look forward to.