November 30, 2015 – December 6, 2015
Monday, November 30, 2015
1) Odd Man Out (1947)
Why I watched: Included in the book 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die.
Impression: I’m a huge James Mason fan, and I like Carol Reed, particularly The Third Man and The Fallen Idol. However, this film about the criminal underworld in Northern Ireland, never really grabbed me. It’s dripping in atmosphere, but outside of the central performance from Mason, there’s not much else going on.
3 stars.
2) People, Places, Things (2015)
Why I watched: Jamie Porter’s pick of the week.
Impression: Jemaine Clement is hysterical and his dry, off kilter humor, combined with his goofy persona are my cup of tea. However, he’s not really romantic comedy leading man material. There were some funny scenes, and he had a few nice lines, but he was miscast. Compare this to the delightful Love Birds starring fellow Flight of the Conchords alum Rhys Darby. Darby was able to integrate his style of humor into the romcom template. Clement seems content to occasionally pepper in a few scenes.
I did appreciate the biracial romance at the center of the film, and I appreciated it even more because the film didn’t make an issue or statement out of it. Michael Chernus (best known as Piper’s brother and partner in the dirty underwear business from Orange is the New Black) is very funny in a limited role. His argument with Jemaine about whether the ear is a part of the face or not was a highlight.
The end of the film is a bit lackluster. Clement’s graphic novelist has grown as a person and is more attentive to the needs of others, but we don’t know the status of his relationship with Diane. His relationship with his children could have been better explored as well.
I like Jemaine, and this was not a bad movie, but I can’t say I’d recommend it to anyone.
3 stars.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
3) Down by Law (1986)
Why I watched: Included in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.
Impression: Disc jockey Zack (Tom Waits) and pimp Jack (John Lurie) are falsely sent to jail where they share a cell with Bob (Roberto Benigni) who is imprisoned for manslaughter. Bob barely speaks English which makes communication between them difficult.
Eventually, Bob engineers an escape and the trio is forced to travel together to survive. During the ordeal, Jack and Zack are often at odds with one another but forge a mutual respect and eventual friendship.
As the film ends the two of them go out on their own, while Bob stays behind at the home of a woman he met on the road.
I enjoyed Waits and Lurie. Benigni was great in his first exposure to American audiences. However, the film seems too slight and unfulfilled. It’s a beautiful, slow film which manages to capture New Orleans and the swamp lands of rural Louisiana, but underneath the surface, there’s minimal substance.
2 ½ stars.
4) Meek’s Cutoff (2010)
Why I watched: Included in a list of the 1000 best reviewed films of the 21st century.
Impression: In 1845, Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood) leads a group of travelers across the Oregon high desert. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know where he’s going. As the supplies dwindle, tensions mount within the group. Based on historical events, this film from Kelly Reichhardt is a brutal reminder of how horrendous conditions were on the frontier in the American West.
Michelle Williams shines as Emily Tetherow, one of the women on the journey. This film demonstrates how feminism and female empowerment is not always a simply political struggle for equality, but, in many instances, is a struggle for survival. When the men on the journey are paralyzed by indecisiveness, Emily becomes a vocal critic and leader. When the group encounters a lone Native American, it’s Emily who decides on their best course of action.
The brilliant cinematography uses darkness and shadow to perfectly capture the rawness of the era and reminded me of the work in Barry Lyndon. The plodding pace and the examination of feminist undercurrents in a physical, typically male activity, reminded me of Jane Campion’s The Piano.
I wish the end had been a little less abrupt, but overall I enjoyed it.
3 stars.
5) Big Man Japan (2007)
Why I watched: MUBI’s film of the day.
Impression: This mockumentary follows reluctant superhero, Masaru Daisato, the third generation of his family born with the ability to grow to a gigantic size with the application of an electric shock. Because of this ability, he’s employed by the Japanese government to fight gigantic monsters which frequently attack the city (think Godzilla).
The format is perfectly used to follow the sad sack hero around. The monsters are amazing, imaginative creations. This is a daring, original film with a lot of laughs. Some of the jokes are lost in translation, but I had a great time watching it.
3 ½ stars.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
6) Helllzapoppin’ (1941)
Why I watched: Included in Empire’s list of the 500 greatest movies.
Impression: Based on a Broadway musical from vaudevillians Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson, this is hysterical film.
After angrily telling their cab driver to go to hell, Olsen and Johnson arrive in the underworld. There are people dressed as demons, and various representations of what damnation looks like, before the pair step aside to reveal they’re on a soundstage. We meet Harry Selby (Elisha Cook Jr.), the writer who is adapting Hellzapoppin’ into a film. The producers at the studio want a romantic subplot, but Olsen and Johnson actively fight against this development and spend a good deal of the movie thwarting the romance of the two main characters.
They frequently break the fourth wall, talking to the projectionist (Shemp Howard) and the audience. At times, it feels like a cartoon as they rewind the film or run out of the frame.
It drags just a little in the middle, but this is a great film, the obvious precursor to Airplane!, Mel Brooks, and SNL.
4 stars.
7) L for Leisure (2014)
Why I watched: MUBI’s film of the day.
Impression: A group of pretentious college students vacation to exotic locales around the world. Their “intellectual” conversations are annoying and vapid.
I think this was intended as a satire of arthouse films, or of what the general public thinks arthouse films are. Maybe I’m not sophisticated enough to understand the joke, but I thought it was too long and reminded of what the SNL sketch “The Californians” would look like as a film, a one joke concept stretched painfully thin.
1 ½ stars.
8) Jason X (2001)
Why I watched: One of the few remaining films in the series I hadn’t seen.
Impression: At the Crystal Lake research facility, Jason Voorhees is bound by chains after they’ve been unable to kill him. During an escape attempt, Jason and one of the assistants at the facility, Rowan, are frozen in a cryogenic facility and discovered four hundred years later by a research team from Earth Two.
Of course, Jason proceeds to do the only thing he knows how to do, kill everyone he can, for no apparent reason.
The production values are cheesy; this feels like a particularly gory episode of Doctor Who. I kept thinking about the Daleks and the Cybermen and wondering what a sonic screwdriver would have done to Jason. This is a low point for the series.
1 star.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
9) Spring in a Small Town (1948)
Why I watched: Included in the book 1001 Movies to See Before You Die.
Impression: After his WWII injury leaves him disabled, Liyan’s marriage to Yuwen is no longer based on love, but instead on a sense of duty and obligation. When Zhang Zhichen visit Liyan, old romantic feelings between Liyan and Zhang resurface.
Liyan wants his wife to be happy, but struggles with his feelings of inadequacy and loneliness.
There are better films which deal with the problems of a loveless marriage, and how physical disabilities can affect relationships. The reason this film is interesting is the story of its production. It was made during the middle of the Chinese Civil War and, after the communists, were victorious, suppressed because it did not adequately promote the communist agenda.
3 stars.
10) Tangerine (2015)
Why I watched: On a lot of best of 2015 lists.
Impression: I understand why people like this film, it aligns with the movement du jor of transgender rights. I appreciate the uniqueness of the subject material, but after you get past whatever shock remains of a film based on a transgender prostitute, the film is really slight.
Filming a movie entirely with iPhones is fairly impressive, but I can’t say I cared much for what happened to Sin-Dee Rella or Alexandra, and, the betrayal at the end of the film is laughable.
1 ½ stars.
11) Blind Husbands (1919)
Why I watched: A part of my ongoing attempt to watch at least ten movies released every year of the twentieth century.
Impression: When American Dr. Armstrong arrive at the mountains for a getaway, an unscrupulous European lieutenant (played by director Eric von Stroheim) plots to seduce his wife. Steadfast in her refusal to succumb to his advances, Mrs. Armstrong writes the lieutenant a note rebuffing him once and for all.
Unfortunately, when the doctor discovers the letter in the lieutenant’s jacket during a mountain climbing expedition, he assumes his wife is leaving him and leaves the nefarious lieutenant stranded on the mountain. By the time Dr, Armstrong discovers the truth and returns to rescue his rival, it’s too late.
Eric Von Stroheim is now best remembered as the devoted servant of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and some film fans will remember him as Rauffenstein in Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion, but in the early days of silent cinema, Stroheim was a powerhouse director who specialized in elaborate melodrama.
3 stars.
12) Man of the West (1958)
Why I watched: Included in the book 1001 Movies to See Before You Die.
Impression: En route to Fort Worth to hire a teacher for his community, Link Jones (Gary Cooper) is involved in a train robbery.
He’s abandoned in the desert with fellow passengers, Sam Beasley (Arthur O’Connell) and singer / prostitute Bille Ellis. Link leads the group to a nearby shack where he grew up where he finds the train robbers and learns they’re led by his uncle, Dock Tobin (Lee J. Cobb).
Link had been in the gang, but abandoned that life over a decade earlier. In order to protect himself and Billie, Link pretends to return to the outlaw life and aids in his uncle’s long-gestating plan to rob a bank in Lassoo.
Directed by frequent Western director, Antony Mann, this is a brutal film. The outlaws are nasty and mean. They force Billie to strip while they hold Link at gunpoint, and later while he’s away, they beat and rape her. These are not romanticized outlaws, but brutish, hardened thugs.
There is no happy ending, although our hero survives. You expect Billie and Link to forge a romantic bond, but the film ends with Link returning to his wife and family while a resigned Billie returns to her life as a prostitute.
It’s an effective vehicle for Cooper. Nearing the end of his life, he brings a weariness to Link which makes the characters struggle to escape his checkered past more poignant.
3 stars.
13) Ride Lonesome (1959)
Why I watched: Included in the book 1001 Movies to See Before You Die.
Impression: Ben Brigade (Randolph Scott) captures outlaw Billy John and plans to take him to Santa Cruz, AZ. He’s joined in the journey by Sam Boone (Pernell Roberts), Whit (James Coburn), and a woman he rescues, Carrie Lane.
Scott is magnificent as the tough bounty hunter. His flat and impenetrable persona is perfect for a film like this. Lee Van Cleef is great as the outlaw’s brother, and James Coburn’s immense talent is evident in his first film role.
There are some creepy scenes involving the sole woman on the journey. The men ogle her from a distance and allude to their frustrated sexual desires. It’s uncomfortable, but highly suggestive of the reality of life in the American West. Out of the cities, the likelihood of meeting available women was minimal.
I really enjoyed this late period, old school western.
4 stars.
Friday, December 4, 2015
14) A Very Murray Christmas (2015)
Why I watched: I love Bill Murray.
Impression: Bill agrees to star in a live Christmas special, but when a snowstorm makes finding guests difficult, he wants to cancel the project.
The premise is an excuse for Bill and pals to sing Christmas songs.
Some of the musical numbers are painful: Chris Rock and Murray singing “Do You Hear What I Hear?”
Some are bizarre: Murray and George Clooney singing “Santa Wants Some Lovin'”
The highlights are the Murray duet with Jenny Lewis on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”; Maya Rudolph; and “I Saw the Light” featuring Jason Schwartzman, Rashida Jones, and Murray.
It’s okay, but a tad underwhelming.
3 stars.
15) Flaming Creatures (1963)
Why I watched: Included in the book 1001 Movies to See Before You Die.
Impression: Jack Smith’s film was controversial because of its graphic depiction of sexuality. Fifty years later, it’s not shocking anymore, but nonsensical and boring. Few people will actually watch this, even fewer will enjoy it.
½ star.
16) Bumping into Broadway (1919)
Why I watched: Continuing my attempt to watch at least ten films released every year of the twentieth century.
Impression: A young, aspiring writer (Harold Lloyd) and a chorus girl (Bebe Daniels) struggle to pay their rent in New York. They spend a lot of time avoiding the landlady before a big gambling win enables the Boy to help the girl out.
A few nice chase scenes, but this was pretty generic and didn’t distinguish itself from the glut of similar movies from the era.
2 stars.
17) Best of Enemies (2015)
Why I watched: One of the best documentaries of 2015 according to the National Film Board of Review.
Impression: During the 1968 Republican and Democratic National conventions, floundering ABC news shook things up, hiring conservative intellectual William F. Buckley Jr. and liberal intellectual Gore Vidal to debate the issues.
The “debate” quickly became personal and heated, culminating in an ugly exchange where Vidal called Buckley a “crypto-Nazi” and Buckley responded by calling Vidal a “queer” and threatened to assault him.
This is fascinating because the two men profiled are fascinating. The personal animosity and rage were unheard of in 1968, but have since sadly become commonplace; their confrontational rivalry is the template for today’s nightly cable news channels.
Their hatred for each other did not subside with the conclusion of the program. Each man wrote an inflammatory article recounting the experience which led to a protracted legal process alleging libel and slander. Their enmity lasted for the next forty years: when Buckley passed away in 2008, Vidal wrote he hoped Bill was enjoying his time in hell.
The film uses archival footage to recreate the intensity of their time together, as well as personal written material of the two principles, with Kelsey Grammer reading as Buckley while John Lithgow stands in for Vidal.
I love politics, and I love arguments, and I especially love eclectic characters. This is a great movie about an important turning point in our political discourse.
4 stars.
18) Li’l Quinquin (2014)
Why I watched: MUBI’s films of the day.
Impression: A series of bizarre murders puts the chief inspector, Van der Weyden into contact with “P’tit Quinquin” a kid who was there when the first murder was discovered. Neither the inspector or the child are very bright.
The identity of the murderer is never really answered. The whodunit was an artifice to bring together the central figures in director Bruce Dumont’s film. Van der Weden looks like he got lost on his way to an Albert Einstein look-alike contest, never really knows what’s going and comes across as a more plausible version of Inspector Cloussau. While the boy attacks the Arabs and black children he encounters for no reason other than because he thinks he’s supposed to, but he’s protective of his disabled uncle and sister.
There’s an odd scene when one of the Arab boys responds with an incongruously violent “Allahu Akbar” which appears to be based more on mimicry than actual religious conviction.
The film (which originally aired in four parts on French television) has been aptly compared to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, but it lacks the mystical and supernatural elements of Peaks. Both films use plot as an excuse to explore people and characters. Ironically, the open ended nature of serialized television actually worked against Lynch’s vision, which doesn’t happen here. This film benefits from being more closed and not having to stretch a story to fill time or bring it to a satisfying conclusion.
3 ½ stars.
Saturday, December 5, 2015
19) Hard to Be a God (2013)
Why I watched: MUBI’s film of the day.
Impression: Scientists travel to a Earth-like planet which is technologically years behind. This planet’s leaders are hostile to intellectual pursuits and execute anyone they perceive as a threat.
One of the scientists infiltrates a local kingdom and tries to promote growth from within, but is repeatedly frustrated in his attempts.
The film plays like an essay on the Prime Directive, an ideal set forth in the Star Trek universe. This platitude suggests it’s immoral to interfere with another world’s development, implying it’s dangerous to leap over technological milestones because of a supposed link between technological and moral growth. If a given society hasn’t worked through the ethical issues of certain advancements, then it wouldn’t be beneficial to obtain some materials or information.
The Prime Directive approach rests on a specific view of history as a straight line towards progress. As if there is no question today is better than yesterday simply because it occurred most recently.
I enjoyed the film’s messy, claustrophobic aesthetic. It created a nice sense of how confining it must be to know there is a better way, but be utterly incapable of doing anything about it.
3 ½ stars.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
20) Baby Doll (1956)
Why I watched: Carroll Baker was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and Mildred Dunnock was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Impression: Archie Lee Meighan (Karl Malden) is married to the pretty but vacuous Baby Doll (Carroll Baker). Because of a promise to her father, they must wait until her twentieth birthday to consummate their relationship, but will do so on her upcoming birthday. Archie’s cotton gin business has fallen on hard times, while his rival, Silva Vacaro (Eli Wallach) has flourished.
In desperation, Archie burns down Silva’s gin who gains revenge by manipulating Baby Doll to sign an affidavit blaming Archie for the fire.
This is a claustrophobic film about the death of the Old South, the specialty of playwright Tennessee Williams. Elia Kazan had previously adapted Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire to great success. This is not as dynamic as the earlier work, but Malden (who starred in both films) shines.
I enjoyed Wallach’s impishness and Baker did a great job being simultaneously aggressively sexual and naively innocent, but without the transcendent performance of Brando, Williams dialogue isn’t nearly as powerful and alive.
3 stars.
21) Le Joli Mai (1963)
Why I watched: MUBI’s film of the day
Impression: Just after the Algerian War ended in 1962, Chris Marker took to the streets of Paris and interviewed various citizens, asking a variety of questions, some political, some personal.
It’s interesting to discover many of the issues facing Parisians in 1962 are the same ones we deal with today. Income inequality, racism, religious strife, the perils of consumerism.
3 stars.
Best film I saw this week: Hellzapoppin’ (1941)
Worst film I saw this week: Flaming Creatures (1963)