The Shooting (November 23rd, 2014)
Director: Monte Hellman
Starring: Warren Oates, Will Hutchins, Millie Perkins, and Jack Nicholson
Well lookie here, Jack Nicholson before he hit it big. Hell, before Easy Rider. And a bad guy in a western to boot. This western is unique in that it isn't a big, wild spaghetti western or a typical clean cut american western. It's a very low key, slow moving western by the well respected Hellman, in his debut. It's a pretty simple movie, about a man (Oates) being hired by a mysterious woman (Perkins) to bring her to a town for unknown reasons. But it's done with very minimal dialogue and even less exposition, done much more with visuals. Which is fine and all, only being 80 minutes. But it does sort of have a very boring tone, getting to the end a little hard for the lack of any sort of excitement. But the mysterious tone is kind of entrancing. The acting is split between pretty good (Oates and Nicholson) and pretty mediocre (Hutchins and Perkins). It's a fine movie, more intriguing due to its place in history with some of the creative talent involved. But a classic it is not. Watch accordingly.
Lone Survivor (November 23rd, 2014)
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, and Emile Hirsch
Peter Berg has been in a slump for a bit. After hitting big with The Rundown and Friday Night Lights, he made a good but commercially failed movie with The Kingdom, then making bad and failed movies with Hancock and Battleship. It seemed like he may have peaked at this point, which was a shame. But then he comes back to the plate swinging for the fucking fences and hitting it out. Telling the true story about a group of navy seals tasked with taking out a Taliban leader and the fallout when things go sideways. Now, the title and the cast listing tells you the basic outcome of things. But it's the execution and some nice little surprises that make this work. The cast is outstanding, bringing some humanity and warmth and a bit of nastiness to the roles, making them feel like real human beings. Kitsch and Foster in particular bring some of the best work of their careers here. Now this movie could have been a tale of crackers killing brown folk but there is some things here that make that an irritating fucking critique. One, it's a true story that didn't turn the bad guys from white to brown. Two, the movie makes it damn clear that these guys are in way over their heads and outgunned. Thirdly and most importantly, the movie takes a nice little turn in the end to make the point that not everyone in the country are against Americans. People liked to ignore than aspect so they can put some outrage hats on. But fuck that. And if we wanted to ignore that little fact, theres a big discussion where these Seals aren't the clean cut heroes a white washed, jingoistic movie would make them out to be. It's not a clean movie and the violence hits hard and real. It's an emotional ride and worth all the praise it can get. Peter Berg has hit it out of the park again. Hopefully he can continue this further along.
Dr. Strangelove (November 24th, 2014)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, and Slim Pickens
It's very weird to me that I like Kubricks earliest movies (The Killing excluded) over his later, more acclaimed works. Paths of Glory is brilliant and then he hits it out of the park with this arguably better movie, the amazing satire of the paranoia afflicted world that was in effect back then. When a General goes batshit insane and sends orders to nuke Russia, the Governments has to scramble to take care of the problem. But instead of being a Greengrass-esque thriller, this is a comedy and a damn good one at that. Kubrick isn't known as the most light hearted guy in the world, so it's surprising to see him go for comedy and nail it so thoroughly as he does here. It doesn't hurt that he is an all star cast. Slim Pickens is always a funny guy, just a larger than life guy who makes everything a hoot. Kubrick manages to make Scott funny, and Scott has never seemed like a lighthearted fellow. But the real MVP is Sellers, playing multiple roles and doing them amazingly. The standout is the very big and broad Dr Strangelove, a wheelchair bound German who's hand has a mind of it's own and keeps throwing up the Sig Heil. Now, apart from being simply funny, this movie is remarkably cutting. It shoots up the entire world with it's basic premise of "all this is insane bullshit that's just a dick measuring contest that's gonna end badly". It's insane that this was even made, let alone that it didn't kill Kubricks career for being a dirty commie or some shit. This is a must see movie that is the tops of a legendary directors career.
Ride In The Whirlwind (November 25th, 2014)
Director: Monte Hellman
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Cameron Mitchell, George Mitchell, and Harry Dean Stanton
Shot back to back with The Shooting, Monte Hellman made a very similar western in tone and structure and even cast. A very low key affair, but with a bit more moral ambiguity instead of simply narrative ambiguity. Much like the previous movie, it is very well shot and very short. Also like the last one, the cast is split. Nicholson does good work again, as does Stanton. But the others are a bit weak. And while this one has considerably more shooting and excitement, there's still a disconnect. Nobody is really very interesting. As ideas, the situation they find themselves in is interesting. But nobody feels like a real character. Its not a killer, thanks to the tone and visuals of the movie. And while there's more action, Hellman is no Leone or Peckinpah. Very bland directing there. Like the last one, this is worth watching for it's place in history. Other than that, it's good but nothing mindblowing. Proceed at your own discretion.
Enough Said (November 29th, 2014)
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Starring: Julia Louis Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, and Toni Collette
This was a nice little surprise. I'd probably have never watched it if it wasn't for Gandolfini's passing. But I have and it's actually really solid. A very low key romance about two middle aged divorcees who spark to one another. There's no big acts, no cliched romantic comedy antics. Just a nice, pleasurable and at times funny look into these peoples lives. Dreyfus is great, playing a more realistic person than Elaine Benes or Selina Meyer. She's a bit worrisome but not annoyingly so. It's a nice performance. But the standout and kind of surprise is Gandolfini. It's no surprise that he's a great actor, but it's a surprise to see him play such a regular guy who doesn't have any big moments of rage. The role he plays is a laid back guy who doesn't really worry too much about things, sort of just living. He's pretty happy for the most part. And the way the story unfolds, he could have gone big at the end. But he stays human and focused on the character. It's kind of a marvel to see a man so good at being larger than life coming down from the clouds to play a mere mortal. There's a point where it gets rom com silly with a big coincidence coming into play, but its not game breaker thanks to the execution. For those interested in a relaxed time and/or seeing one of Gandolfini's last roles, this is a damn good time.
Prom Night (November 29th, 2014)
Director: Paul Lynch
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Eddie Benton, Anne Marie Martin, and Leslie Nielsen
I threw this in because I wanted to watch something a bit stupid, so an early 80s slasher with Jamie Lee Curtis that was directed by Carpenter felt like a good idea. And while the movie wasn't some great, genius game changer of a movie it wasn't the brain dead movie I was expecting. This movie is barely a slasher movie, only having slasher elements in the last 30 minutes or so. Maybe even less time. What the movie feels like is a high school movie that came in under time and a murderous subplot was thrown in. The murder plot is actually pretty decent for the kind of movie it is, but it becomes pretty obvious what's happening quick. The kills are pretty solid, save one that is good until the punchline throws it into comedic territory. This isn't high drama and barely stands out with the others of the time. Hell, there's no nudity and barely any violence (aside from a glorious decapitation at the end) to make it stupidly watchable. But there's a nice tone to it and the aforementioned killer plot. Unless you're a die hard horror fan like myself or interested in seeing Jamie Lee Curtis' beginnings, this isn't for you.
Top Movies
1. Dr. Strangelove
2. Lone Survivor
3. Enough Said
4. The Shooting
5. Prom Night
6. Ride In The Whirlwind
Top 5 Performances
1. Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove
2. Taylor Kitsch - Lone Survivor
3. James Gandolfini - Enough Said
4. Ben Foster - Lone Survivor
5. George C. Scott - Dr. Strangelove
Top 5 Moments
1. You Can't Fight In Here - Dr. Strangelove
2. The Entire Mountain Fight - Lone Survivor
3. The Fluids Speech - Dr. Strangelove
4. The Moral Debate - Lone Survivor
5. I Can Walk - Dr. Strangelove
- Tom Lorenzo
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