Godzilla: King of the Monsters - A little treat for the ten year old in me

Odd that this should tempt me out to the theater after such a long absence, but I’ve been a fan of the Godzilla movies from a very early age, and there’s nothing quite like giant beasties fighting it out in an urban metropolis to take me back to ten years old.

An impressive cast, but mostly wasted, as the dialog is pretty forgettable, and at two and half hours, is overlong by about an hour. Just get to the friggin’ monster battle already! That’s all we’re here for.

2.5 stars

2019, First viewing June 2019

BlacKkKlansman - Powerful Entertainment

Watched this one about a month and a half ago, but have been super busy, so wasn’t able to post a review. 

Once again, Spike Lee gets shafted at oscar time. Hollywood seems to still prefer the fairytale stories of “why can’t we all just get along?”, while Spike prefers to stick “the way it is” in our face, no matter how uncomfortable. The movie is entertaining, funny, disturbing and with some great performances, but frankly, the thing that put it over the top for me was the documentary footage ending. Just in case you were thinking that “The Klan” is en embarrassing but quaint aberration from the days of yore, and that we’re much more progressive in our modern day and age, WHAM, he hits us with hard hitting footage from the Charlottesville rally, and brother, was it devastating. Also very powerful was the cameo performance by Harry Belafonte recounting the scene of a lynching in a very graphic manner. 

4 stars 

Released 2018, first viewing May 2019

The Highwaymen - Frank Hamer gets his due

When the film “Bonnie and Clyde” was released in the sixties, Frank Hamer’s family sued the production because of the liberties they took with his character (the scene where the bandits capture him and humiliate him with snapshots kissing Bonnie, never happened). This screenplay has apparently been kicking around Hollywood for decades, and was eventually acquired by Netflix and given a decent treatment. Mostly concerning the manhunt of the famous holdup gang from the texas rangers point of view. Aging Texas Ranger Frank Hamer is brought out of retirement to put a stop to the crime spree of the Barrow gang, and he is accompanied by talkative former ranger Maney Gault (Woody Harrelson, in a wonderful and touching performance). Sticks much closer to the true story of the Barrow gang than the sensationalized Warren Beatty version. The lawmen (and conscience) of the old west and the frontier are brought face to face with a new kind of villain, bloodthirsty amoral kids who have somehow managed to get popular culture and fame on their side. For some reason I was thinking a lot about our current political culture, where idiocy runs rampant, and crowds of the duped cry out in approval, while the idiots run roughshod over our final virtues. You wonder what kind of mess will eventually have to end it and what will follow in its wake.

3.5 stars out of 5

Released 2019, First Viewing April 2019

The Devil’s Brigade - ‘Dirty Dozen’ bandwagon

Felt like through most of the beginning of this film that we were watching another film caught in the wake of the popularity of ‘The Dirty Dozen’ (and checking the year it was made, sure enough, the following year). William Holden plays the tough as nails commander of a rag tag unit made up of army brig rejects and a competing group of spit and polish top notch Canadian kilt wearing commandos. Of course they are fighting and squabbling in the first half, and forging brotherhood friendships by the end. I must admit the second half of the film was a bit better than I was coming to expect, and treated the sacrifices of war a bit more reverently than the ‘Dirty Dozen’ did. Much the same formula as Dirty Dozen even in the structure of the film: Squabbling recruits go through training, and then have a bonding episode then are given a ‘test’ mission which they pull off with flying colors, then the big “suicide mission” in which the casualties are high.

3 stars out of 5

Released 1968, First Viewing March 2019

Solo: A Star Wars Story - No more or less entertaining than most of this crap

Actually was in the mood to watch “Free Solo”, but couldn’t find it on our current streaming subscription services (turns out it was on Hulu)... so settled for this ‘solo’ instead.

Concerning the early years of Han Solo before he met the rest of the gang and embarked on his rebel ways against the empire. How me met Chewbacca, etc. Fairly entertaining way to waste a few hours. Enjoyed Wood Harrelson’s performance, and the trash talking female robot didn’t have nearly enough screen time. Not likely anything I’ll ever return to revisit.

Directed with competence by Ron Howard, so we can be assured that Clint Howard has a small role in there somewhere.

3 stars out of 5

Released 2018, First Viewing March 2019

The Wind Rises - For Aviation Enthusiasts Mainly

A big fan of Miyazaki, but this one left me a little cold. Beautiful imagery, as to be expected, but the story, about an airplane engineer and designer in the years prior to WWII (trying to balance the beauty of flight and aeronautics vs the use to which these airplanes are put, i.e.: war and destruction) seemed a bit of a stretch. The romance part of the story was nicely handled and sweet, and there were several moments of sheer beauty, but not likely one that I’ll return to. (although I said that about ‘Porco Rosso’ as well, but then found myself revisiting it and liking it better on the second pass, so who knows, there may be life in this clunker yet).

English translation had the voices of Martin Short, Stanley Tucci, John Krasinski, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt and Werner Herzog

Released 2013, First Viewing March 2019

2.5 stars

First Reformed - Abandon all Hope Ye Who Enter

Caught up with our home town boy’s latest film on Amazon Prime last night. Ethan Hawke gives an understated but powerful performance as a troubled minister of a “historical church” (tiny congregation, mostly of historical value, under the umbrella of a larger nearby mega-church), who counsels a parishioner who is a strident eco-warrior with grave doubts about bringing his unborn child into a world on the brink of disastrous climate change. After the man’s suicide, our minister begins a descent into disillusionment and madness. A nice slow burn of a movie, with an ending that felt a little abrupt, but still fitting right in with this director’s canon of films, from Taxi Driver to Hardcore to Affliction. No easy pat answers to difficult questions are to be found here.

3.5 stars out of 5

Released 2018, First Viewing March 2019

Blade Runner 2049 - Worthy Successor

One of those movies I thought never needed, and would never be sullied by an inferior sequel, in an age, where every movie that has a modicum of success seems to warrant one. I though the original film was a one of a kind masterpiece of science fiction (talking about the director’s cut here, the original release was a bit of a mess).

I was intrigued by this one when it was released (directed by Denis Villeneuve, who made such an interesting science fiction film in ‘Arrival’, and produced by Ridley Scott), but for some reason, never got out to the theater to see it. Ran across it at the library the other day, and took it home for a look. I found it every bit as good as the original film, with some interesting additional levels of complication to the original premise that made the whole thing worthwhile, as well as being a good continuation of the original story.

Because the best part of this is the unfolding mystery of the storyline, SPOILERS AHEAD:

Thirty years after the events of the first film, and replicants have been “improved”, that is, they have been given extended life spans, and are much more ‘obedient’ than the earlier models, however, they still lack their own memories, are still effectively slaves and second class citizens. Evidence of the birth of a child from two replicants is unearthed, and several factions seem anxious to discover who it is, obtain it and put it to use for their own agendas. Our main protagonist “K” played by Ryan Gosling is a replicant blade runner who is charged with finding and eliminating the child.

The usual science fiction plot - ordinary joe finds himself somehow the key to salvation, seems to be the way this film is headed, as we begin to suspect that K is in fact the child born of Rick Dekkard and the replicant Rachel from the first movie, but in the second half of the movie, that plot is turned on its head, which makes the film all the more interesting. How can our hero (savior) still be ‘important’ while not being the center of the plot? The continuing line of “I always knew you were somebody special”, turns out to be not true, but then again, maybe so. How can you be ‘special’ when you are put out on an assembly line?

My favorite scene is where K turns on the jukebox and has the holographic Frank Sinatra singing to him “one more for my baby, and one more for the road”. And I liked the throwbacks to the original film, the piano key striking that one note that stood out so much in the first film. Dying Ryan Gosling on the stairs in the snow, echoing Rutger Hauer’s death scene in the rain in the original film. Also the scene with the giant nude holographic of his girl as he stands in the rain after she’s been killed. Beautiful imagery throughout (wished I’d seen it on the big screen), and I found the relationship between K and his computer generated companion ‘Joi’ very interesting, and moving.

One or two drawbacks were the villains, who seemed to be oddball to the point of distraction, especially Jared Leto, and Robin Wright wasn’t much more interesting as K’s boss.

4 stars out of 5

Released 2017, First Viewing March 2019

Roma - Love letter to a beloved ‘family member’

I took a stab at watching this one on Netflix a couple months ago, and only got about 45 minutes into it (and just shy of the first big plot twist which would have likely caught and held me), and then it fell by the wayside, until Sunday night, when I caught a lot of peeks of the wonderful visual imagery on the oscar broadcast. So, Monday night, I went back and watched the whole thing again from the start. I wish I had taken the advice of a film reviewer on NPR who suggested that the only way to see this was on the big screen (good luck, it only appeared in a few major metropolitan theaters to qualify for the oscar race). This is one of those movies that deserves to completely rivet your attention, it is just to easy to be distracted while watching on your television in your own living room.

Set in Mexico City in the early 70s, it is an autobiographical homage to the director’s beloved family housekeeper, and tries to tell a bit more of her story (apart from the daily drudgery of caring for the children, preparing meals, cleaning the house, and picking up dog shit in the driveway). The men in this film aren’t portrayed all that fondly, Dad is a philanderer who deserts the family early on, and the housekeeper’s boyfriend is a macho clown, who takes off the moment he finds out that she’s pregnant (and then we catch him two more times, and he comes off even more chillingly).

Worth hanging around for, and harkens back to the interesting films that were coming out of Europe in the sixties, and the sort of movies they used to take chances with back in the seventies, before the age of the blockbuster.

4 stars out of 5

Released 2018, First Viewing February 2019

Hail, Caesar! - Another Coen Misfire

For every “Fargo”, there is a “Burn Before Reading”, for every “O Brother Where Art Thou?” there is an “Intolerable Cruelty”... While the Coen Brothers have had a very impressive run, and even their worst films deserve a look-see, there have been some clunkers along the way.

A friend brought over their Netflix disc last night and we took a look at this one, which we felt we missed during its theatrical run. Well, there was a reason it kind of slipped past everyone’s radar. Its a rambling, hodge-podge of several good ideas that just don’t seem to gel into a cohesive whole. I get the impression that the biggest incentive for the creators was for an excuse to stage elaborate musical numbers and epic scenes (and even cowboy shenanigans) all in the same picture, all in the old time hollywood style. (they have played with the ‘musical number’ idea in the past, most notably in “The Big Lebowski” and “Barton Fink”)

The narration (by Michael Gambon) seemed tacked on and unnecessary, and the whole Hollywood Communist storyline just fell flat. George Clooney and Scarlet Johansson are mostly wasted (although each give some fun performances), and I enjoyed the ‘Sailor Dance Number’ with Channing Tatum. Mostly we just went “what the hell?” when the end credits finally ran.

But still, a Coen Brothers misfire beats a lot of what passes for entertainment on any given day.

2.5 stars out of 5

Released 2016, First Viewing February 2019

Bohemian Rhapsody - Outrageously Good

When this came out last summer, I saw a few photos of the actor who was portraying Freddie Mercury, and thought to myself, “eh, not so much of a resemblance”, and saw a couple lukewarm reviews, and dismissed this one as not worth getting enthused about. Well, after the Golden Globes, and the Oscar nominations, and seeing a peek at a clip from the film, I got curious, and we caught it on the big screen just before it left town last weekend. Amazingly, I completely bought this young actor’s performance right from the first scenes, and found myself swept up in the story and was completely bowled over by the picture. 

As a musician myself, I don’t think any film since ‘The Commitments’ has captured what it is like to actually be ‘in a band’. The camaraderie, the collaborative process, the emotions and connections you feel when you are on a stage before an appreciative audience and you are really in the zone. I had a few moments of chills down my spine at various points during the movie (’frission’ I think it is referred to) - the ‘Love of My Life’ scene before the Brazilian audience, nearly all of the final “Live Aid” concert -- and I found myself in tears at several points in the story.

There was some grumbling that the whole ‘gay lifestyle’ and ‘battle with aids’ part of the story wasn’t given enough attention, but I think those people have a definite agenda, and completely missed the point of the film. 

Now I’ve found myself revisiting a lot of the band’s music the past few weeks, and it is amazing how amazingly diverse and original this band was in its prime, and it isn’t all due to Freddie Mercury. Brian May’s distinctive guitar sound, and the vocal blends of May’s and Taylor’s voices with Freddie’s owe just as much to the distinctive sound this band had. (oh, and Deacon’s song “I’m In Love With My Car” deserved just about as much ribbing as this film heaped on it)

4 stars out of 5

Released 2018, First Viewing February 2019

Along Came Jones - Unusual Quirky Comedy Western

Gary Cooper plays an inept cowpoke who is mistaken for a notorious gunslinger and takes up with the real criminal’s lady friend. Cooper has a lot of fun with his role, the sort of part you’d expect to go to a Bob Hope or Jerry Lewis (but boy oh boy would they have ruined the charm of this picture). Sidekick William Demarest is along for the ride and sharing in the comic relief role, and I don’t think I’ve seen Loretta Young looking prettier (or deadlier with a gun).

3.5 stars out of 5

Released First Viewing February 2019

Buchanan Rides Alone - Cheerful Randolph Scott comes to A(n)gry Town

Another Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott western collaboration (we’ve enjoyed the ones we’ve seen in the past, and always on the lookout for more), and in this one, Scott plays a wanderer/mercenary who crosses from Mexico to the US to find himself in a crooked family owned town, and shortly thereafter with a noose around his neck and embroiled in local family squabbles. You can always count on our hero to approach it all with a wisecrack and a friendly grin. As usual with these collaborations, you can expect a cut above the usual B Western fare, with interesting characterizations and creative camera work.

3 stars out of 5

Released 1958 First Viewing February 2019

Fahrenheit 11/9 - Depressing as Hell

While I have some issues with some of Michael Moore’s ‘stunts’ (the showing up at the Michigan Mayor’s office to make a ‘citizen’s arrest’ - the spraying of his front lawn with “Flint Water”), and some of his choice of edits can be a little over the top, I’m still an admirer of his work. And a disclaimer here, I’m totally in line with his politics, so in effect he is completely preaching to the crowd with this particular audience. 

There’s nothing here any more eye opening than what has been on the daily news feed for the last 2 years, but it is a bit infuriating to have it all thrown at you in one two hour segment of time. I found myself frequently in tears over the coverage of the student gun control protests (and footage of the shootings), and over the teachers strikes in West Virginia and elsewhere, and the coverage of the Flint Water crisis was devastating and thoroughly frustrating (the strongest part of the film, I thought). The latter portion, with the comparisons between Trump and his Autocratic tendencies and the Hitler takeover of Germany in the thirties, was nothing new, and nothing we haven’t all been thinking since this idiot has taken office. 

And before anyone gets it in their mind that this is completely one sided in its depiction of the Republican Right, let me say he spares no rancor for the idiots in the other party, including Obama.

Finished watching and sat slumped on the couch, completely drained and utterly depressed. But no more so than I’ve been since November of 2016 every single day that I read the news.

3.5 stars out of 5

Released 2018, First Viewing February 2019

Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse - Best Comic Book Movie To Date

Haven’t been out to the theater in over year, and with my son home for a weekend visit, we decided to check out this one, which had been getting a lot of good word of mouth. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say this is hands down, the best ‘superhero’ movie I’ve yet seen. Most of the Marvel output over the past twenty years or so, I have been largely ambivalent towards, some is fairly entertaining, some are better than others, but I’ve largely dismissed them out of hand. Right from the opening frames, it was obvious we were in for something totally new and original here. The animation is simply breathtaking, the sense of fun is infectious and nearly effortless, and I think this is the first time I actually felt I was watching something that has come the closest to marrying cinema with the comics. Very enjoyable, and must be seen on the big screen, I’m glad I didn’t wait until it showed up on Netflix.

4 stars out of 5

Released 2018, first viewing February 2019

Avengers Infinity War - Everything but the Kitchen Sink

One of the fun things about the “Marvel Brand” is the conceit that all the characters in the comic books inhabit the same “universe” and can cross over and interweave stories and sometimes team up for oddball adventures. Well, in this one, you get just about the entire grab-bag (but hey, where’s the Fantastic Four, or Ant Man or Ghost Rider or Daredevil or Jessica Jones? feeling short changed here). None too original in concept - Bad guy (Josh Brolin with serious bad chin) needs a bunch of “Infinity Stones” to complete his scheme of becoming all powerful and eliminating half of all life in the galaxy -- he believes it will help with overcrowding, I’m not kidding) -- and of course, all the Marvel contractual players are required to throw themselves in his path. Thankfully, the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ crew is along for the ride, which helps tremendously in not taking all this too seriously (I love the crossover with Thor and Rocket Raccoon - whom he keeps referring to as “The Rabbit”). Oh, and a bit of a bummer of an ending, which of course, sets us up for more sequels...

3 stars out of 5

Released 2018, First Viewing January 2019

Hell or High Water - Modern Day Western

Fun ‘Cops and Bank Robbers’ crime thriller, which features Chris Pine and Ben Foster as a pair of brothers who are on a bank heist crime spree across Texas, robbing from the bank that is threatening to foreclose on the family farm, and using the money to pay back the bank mortgage. Jeff Bridges does a variation on his ‘Rooster Coburn’ lawman, as the stubborn, nearing retirement, cop on their tails. Good performances, and I love how the ending is left open without the typical ‘good guys will prevail’ finale.

3.5 stars out of 5

Released 2016, First Viewing January 2019