Movies Watched The Week of 7/19 - 7/25

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, we got another blog.  Yes, surprise surprise.  I have nothing better to do than do another of these.  It’s a down week after the sort of marathon that last week was.    Pretty good all around, with the low point sadly being the new release.  But it’s not bad, so that’s cool.  So sit back and relax, read my nonsense and stay tuned next week.  

Y Tu Mama Tambien (July 19th, 2015)

Director: Alfonso Cuaron

Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, and Maribel Verdu

t’s gotta be said.  Of the “Three Amigos” of cinema from Mexico, Cuaron is most definitely better than his compatriot Alejandro Gonzalez Innarritu, but not better than Guillermo Del Toro.  I’m gonna make the comparison to Innarritu because they have both won Best Director Oscars in recent memory, back to back in 2014 and 2015.  They make artful films with a heaping of technical prowess and an affinity for getting great performances from their actors.  But the difference between the two is that Cuaron is a more human director, someone who doesn’t let his cynicism overwhelm the movie.  Nor does he muddle up his message he’s trying to send, getting stuck up his own ass.  Because Innarittu hasn’t even come close to making something as human as this flick.  This isn’t a movie that deals in Hollywood happy endings and hand holding.  No.  But this isn’t a miserable movie where it’s all bullshit.  This is a movie about growing up, learning some truths about the world and one’s self and those they considered family.  Luna and Bernal are best friends almost done with high school when their girlfriends go on vacation in Italy for the summer.  They plan to be debauched and have a good time, but things aren’t going that way until they meet Verdu.  She’s a woman who isn’t happy with life and decides to experience life for the first time without fear.  The why’s of that are revealed in the end is heartbreaking, yet kind of beautiful in a way.  The two boys aren’t played to look like assholes or to be idealized ways of life the way Amblin movie made them.  They’re just kids, ignorant to the way of things and how their actions can hurt others.  This movie is filled with little moments informing us of these stories going on around them that they are oblivious too because they just want base pleasures.  And Verdu isn’t the typical cougar that other movies would make her.  She just wants to have some experiences she hasn’t had before and they fit the bill at the moment.  And what Luna and Bernal learn about each other and themselves is painful but real.  Innarritu couldn’t have done this.  I don’t even think Del Toro could have.  But Cuaron did something special here, giving us a totally real experience of growing up that doesn’t play easy.  It doesn’t get a perfect 10 for me because I didn’t connect as strongly to the stories at play, but I could empathize enough to realize what a movie it was.  Hell of a flick and I hope Cuaron can do something like it again, although he’ll probably never top Children of Men again.

Rating: 9/10

Vernon, Florida (July 20th, 2015)

Director: Errol Morris

After the masterpiece that is The Thin Blue Line, I decided to check out something from Errol Morris before that. I settled on this one because it was real short and fit into the day better than something else.  And while it isn’t as perfect as that flick, or as game changing.  But it has a certain charm to it, a modest charm.  It’s simple.  Morris just has some regular folks in Vernon talk to the camera about some of the stuff they like to do.  Simple enough.  It’s not laughing at them, just observing the regular folk that make up a town.  For me, it’s kinda mindblowing to be seeing people that are probably dead at this point just talk about life.  Seeing people who were probably born at the beginning of the 20th century is wild to me, one of those existential oddities that can sometimes happen watching cinema.  I don’t have much else to say really.  It’s a charming little movie that gives some idea of what a talent that Morris was.

Rating: 9/10

Trainwreck (July 21st, 2015)
Director: Judd Apatow
Starring: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Vanessa Bayer, and Lebron James

I don’t have much of a connection with Amy Schumer.  Don’t watch her show or her standup.  And despite some preconceived notions I had about myself, I am not a white girl with an english degree and a twitter connection who thinks she is the second coming of comedy Christ.  So the only thing that really had me interested in seeing this movie was Judd Apatow, a man who hadn’t made a movie I disliked yet. Even This is 40 was pretty much enjoyable for me, even though it had some rough patches.  And I’m a big supporter of the under appreciated Funny People.  So I thought he could maybe wrangle something out of her or she could wrangle something out of him, perhaps a good union of minds.  But that really isn’t the case here.  It’s a funny movie, but it’s also chock full of really dead moments.  Moments where you can see them going for so called “jokes” that just don’t land.  Apatow is a man who likes to use improv on his sets, and it doesn’t seem like most here were ready or good at improv.  Hader gets good moments going that seem off the head, as does Bayer and Colin Quinn.  Schumer tries but doesn’t either have the acting talent or the improv skills, but she doesn’t have the presence that many of Apatows prior leads have had.  She gets good laughs but some just groaners too, trying very hard to be like the guys in Knocked Up in riffitude.  But also what doesn’t do it any favors is that it really is just a typical rom com, but filthy.  And like my problem with many of the rom coms this is in league with is that I don’t buy these people as interested in each other at all.  It would have been more true for Hader to just realize what a lunatic this woman is and realize he’s had fun but a relationship wouldn’t be healthy while Schumer still having the growth to finally mature a bit.  It could have been in line with Knocked Up, where it has some happiness to the ending but it isn’t all neat and such with love conquering all.  Nope.  All typical shit.  And as typical with Apatow movies, it’s too long.  But this time, I fully agree with this in a very strong way.  There are just scenes that don’t need to exist and scenes that run too long.  For all the negatives though, it is a funny enough movie.  It does have funny folks in it and they get some stuff going.  Tilda Swinton has an almost unrecognizable turn as a magazine editor, and she’s a riot.  Bayer might very well steal the movie, not Lebron who is ok but is given too much to do.  And Hader tries but he has to play the straight man and doesn’t even really get to cut loose, but still makes the most of such a white bread role.  This could have been a feminist flip to Knocked Up, but it really just plays like a dirty Maid in Manhattan or some such. 

Rating: 7/10

Rushmore (July 24th, 2015)
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, and Brian Cox

With my interests and dislikes forming a personality as ornery as mine, you’d assume that I wouldn’t have the time or energy to gain much enjoyment from Wes Anderson and his brand of childish whimsy.  But, shockingly enough, I do.  Prior to watching this movie, I’d greatly enjoyed 3 of his flicks.  Those being The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom, and The Grand Budapest Hotel.  Sure, I hate The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.  But hey, no one’s perfect.  So I go back into his early work to see if my enjoyment with him grew as his abilities did, or if his style in general was something I jived with.  Well, based on Aquatic, it’s not an automatic I’d like his stuff.  And even though I liked this, it’s still not something about his style that automatically gets me going.  When his story is interesting, I can enjoy it.  And that depends on how good it is to enjoy it.  So this isn’t as strong as the three others I listed, so my patience with him wasn’t as strong.  Mainly because he wants to be whimsical and light with a main character who is essentially someone who would probably end up shooting a public place in a mental health tragedy that has nothing to do with gun laws.  Max Fisher is a sick fuck, a sociopathic little shit that I never cared for.   And if we aren’t supposed to care for him and care more about those he affects,  that’s works a little better.  With Murray and Williams, we have people who are upset with their places in life.  Williams because things haven’t gone to plan and Murray because they have and it isn’t as enjoyable as he’d like.  So to have these two swept up in the whirlwhind that is a future mens rights activist and get shaken out of their ruts is cool.  The acting is good and Anderson shows his usual visual flair but not as over the top as he gets down the line.  The movie is more outright funny than some of his other stuff though, so that helps in some of the rougher spots.  It’s a cute enough flick but one that shows more promise than actual talent. 

Rating: 8/10







Top Movies

1. Y Tu Mama Tambien
2. Vernon, Florida
3. Rushmore
4. Trainwreck

- Tom Lorenzo

Movies Watched The Week of 7/12 - 7/18

Welcome back folks to a new addition of my self indulgent trip into cinema.  We got another hefty motherfucker of a week for you guys, and it’s a doozy.  Not a repeat of genre in sight.  Lot’s of good stuff here of varying degrees.  Got two absolute masterpieces though, so anything else is bound to seem slight next to them.  So sit back and enjoy gang. 

Blue is The Warmest Color (July 12th, 2015)

Director: Abdel Kechiche

Starring: Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux

I have not had the greatest luck finding French cinema that I am fond of.  It’s not for a lack of trying.  I took a French cinema class back at school and only enjoyed 1 or 2 out of a 15 or so film course.  Even since, I haven’t found much outside that I’ve been a fan of.  But with all the hype and love and hullabaloo thrown at the feet of Blue Is The Warmest Color, I felt like I had to see it, if only to see why people freaked the fuck out that it didn’t get nominated for Best Foreign Picture at that years Oscars.  Being 3 hours long though, it took me a while to get the interest up on a day that I had the time to spend 3 hours on a movie.  And that day, was today.  So hold onto your asses, get in touch with that French Cinema professor and tell him that I was pretty much in love with this flick.  Simply put, it was a movie that I connected to and felt a realism to it.  It is a love story with no big histrionics, no big deaths or silly plot twists.  Just one girl growing up and coming into her own, emotionally and sexually.  Adele (Adele) is a young girl in high school who is flirting with romance when she sees Emma (Lea), a striking woman with blue hair that ignites an unknown lust in her for the same sex.  What follows is a years long journey into their relationship and Adele’s maturation, seeing how the relationship isn’t perfect at all except for the sex and how Adele deals with being unmoored for the first time as an adult.  It’s 3 hours long, so it gets into the nitty gritty with these ladies, putting us right into their shoes and see the relationship bloom and falter.  We know these girls and it really makes a difference, because we can see the reasons why they get together and understand it.  This isn’t some typical bullshit where they don’t really mesh despite the scripts insistence on them loving each other.  It’s a movie that’s really just talking, getting to know one another.  But there’s also some insanely explicit sex scenes that will throw off the most untrained eyes.  You can make the argument that the first sex scene is too long, and you kinda wouldn’t be wrong.  But it’s needed to show that for all their personality traits that don’t mix, they share an intense physical connection.  That when the sheen of Adele’s adoration for her fades, Emma doesn’t give Adele what she wants anymore.  But they are blinded by lust, and it leads to some real emotional pain.  And this is all dealt with in a kinda subtle look at class, as Emma comes from a well to do liberal family of artists and Adele comes from a middle class blue collar conservative family.  It’s this massive schism in personality and background and life goals and the like that cause the problems. It’s really quite remarkable, and it’s a hell of an achievement.  I didn’t give it a perfect 10 if only because I feel it coulda been trimmed a smidge, just to heighten the pace.  Maybe only a minute or two off of it coulda helped, but as is it fucking moves.  Having seen it, it isn’t too much of a surprise that I like it because it shares some serious DNA with Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy.  Just a realistic take on love that doesn’t go big.  Blunt, honest, beautiful and tragic, this is a masterpiece.   

Rating: 9.5/10

The Sword In The Stone (July 12th, 2015)
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Starring: Rickie Sorensen, Karl Swenson, Sebastian Cabot, and Junius Matthews

This seemed like it really should be a Disney flick tailor made for me.  It’s a retelling of the King Arthur story, as done by the Mouse House.  And it has a goofy wizard as a character.  But sadly, that is not the case as this is thus far the worst Disney movie I’ve seen.  Note, I haven’t seen them all by a mile and this is still good.  But it feels short and incomplete.  Shockingly so.  For a story about Arthur learning how to be a better person and leader and such before reaching his apparent destiny isn’t a bad idea for a Disney flick.  But what they do isn’t really fitting within that at all, as it’s a few silly scenes that don’t amount to much that leads into an abrupt ending.  It’s like 5 minutes left in the movie when he gets the sword, becomes king, doubts being king and is convinced otherwise by Merlin.  It ends essentially with Merlin promising that it’ll be cool and hinting at the future with the round table and such, that he’ll train him and such.  But it’s kinda unsatisfying as a whole.  Now, the whole may not be perfect but it’s got that old school Disney charm when ole Walt was still alive.  It’s well animated, has some good humor and tunes, and is kinda charming in it’s shabbiness.  It probably would work well for kids as a primer on the King Arthur mythos if they so desire to further look into it.  On it’s own it’s ok and has some problems though.

Rating: 8/10

The Thin Blue Line (July 13th, 2015)
Director: Errol Morris

The Jinx came out of nowhere this year of 2015 and took the world by storm.  An HBO documentary miniseries chronicling the crazy life of Robert Durst, a man who claimed he was the unluckiest man on Earth with all the murder that followed him in life.  And it actually may have made a real life impact, potentially uncovering evidence that may put Durst away for good.  And all of this has a precursor, one of the most important documentaries of all time, The Thin Blue Line.  This looks into the case of a 1976 murder of a policeman after a routine traffic stop and the man convicted of the crime, who may not have done it.  Much like The Jinx, this shows the ways in which the system is fucked.  Or rather how the system can get fucked because people are such pieces of shit who are more concerned with looking good than doing good work.  An innocent man may have been sentenced to death because the politicos didn’t want to try a 16 year old for murder and picked an easier target, and then railroaded the guy to get the case closed.  It’s insane how this falls through the cracks. And much like The Jinx, it reveals some twists at the end that lead to some real world changes.  This lead to the case against the wrongfully convicted man overturned, giving him his freedom. And not only is it a massive piece of work as a story, Morris putting this together like a master, it had real world import in a mans life and in the documentary genre.  Docs weren’t made like this in 1988 and everything since then owes a real debt to this movie.  The way it’s put together to be more cinematic than a verite style and the recreations, it was a real lightning strike in cinema.  It’s reach has extended to this day and it’s import can’t be overstated.  Neither can it’s entertainment value, as it’s a riveting story.  A true masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10

Ant-Man (July 16th, 2015)

Director: Peyton Reed

Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, and Corey Stoll

July has come and with it has come Ant-Man, the second MCU movie of the year, the first after Age of Ultron and the start of the long wait before Captain America: Civil War in April of 2016.  And after such the massive scale of Ultron, the MCU scales down significantly to tell the story of Scott Lang (Rudd) and how he takes over the mantle of Ant-Man.  This isn’t even really an action movie for the most part, it’s a heist flick.  Being a Marvel movie it still has to end with an action scene.  But even that isn’t too crazy.  Just two guys fighting as they change size throughout.  The heist in question is enacted not by Scott Lang, but by Hank Pym (Douglas).  Pym created a particle that allows people to change size drastically.  But he hid it away to stop the military from getting it and destroying the world.  30 years later, his mentee Darren Cross (Stoll) is about to discover it himself when Hank decides Cross’ research has to be destroyed.  So he enlists cat burglar Lang to help break into the lab with the help of the Ant-Man suit.  It’s a decent enough heist movie, with the stakes of the heist clear.  And the way they go about it is unique enough, with the small scale and use of ants.   On the performance side, Rudd is ok as Lang.  He isn’t bad but he really doesn’t have much to do.  His character arc pretty much occurred before the movie starts, where he was a con trying to go straight.  Now he’s going straight and that’s about it.  Douglas is great as the guilt ridden, crotchety Pym.  There’s a scene set in the 80s that de-ages him to that eras look and it’s disturbing how good it is.  Lilly is also good as Hope, Pyms daughter who has alot of issues with her dad and doesn’t like that Lang is using the suit and not her.  She has an arc and it works.  The weakest link is Stoll, not surprising because he’s playing a Marvel villain.  His reasoning for villainy is sort of glossed over, just sort of thrown out quick and not really given any weight.  He feels insulted by Pym not showing him the Ant-Man tech and therefor decides to do it on his own.  But then the end has a line where it seems like he’s supposedly been going mad because he’s been using the particles he created.  Which isn’t really shown at all in the movie.  Hell, he kills a guy relatively quickly in the movie.  That’s kind of a problem with the movie.  It tells us stuff that happened and what we should be feeling, but it doesn’t really land.  I’m not gonna say if Edgar Wright stayed on it would be better, but I can say that the problem of scrambling to make the movie quickly after he left didn’t help things.  It feels a tad rushed, like a first draft.  It’s not as funny as it can be and wants us to think it is, nor is it as thrilling as it wants to be.  And the visuals aren’t bad, but they have no oomph.  It’s a bit of bland direction, different than the dripping with personality Iron Man 3 and Guardians of The Galaxy.  Luckily it’s never bad though, just a bit ragged.  For a movie that is supposed to be focused on this story and not setting up other movies, it has one scene that is just shoehorned in and doesn’t really make much sense that is just set up.  It’s still fun, but it really feels like a missed opportunity.  It isn’t as bad as the first Captain America or Thor, but it doesn’t really hit any highs of the others.  Hopefully Rudd works better in Civil War, having gotten the intro out of the way.  

Rating: 8/10

State of Siege (July 18th, 2015)
Director: Costa Gavras
Starring: Yves Montand, Renato Salvatori, O.E. Hasse, and Jacques Weber

Another French flick this week, Oh My! And it’s not the typical French movie (or typical to me, thanks college).  It’s kind of a docudrama, the kind of movie Paul Greengrass would make today in the vein of United 93 or Captain Phillips.  This flick is set in an unnamed Latin American country in the 1970s, where the CIA has sunk it’s claws into the land.  They want to stop communism and will do anything and let their handpicked politicos do anything to keep them out and their choices in office.  So a group of revolutionaries decides to fight back, and kidnap some in power.  One of whom is a CIA spook, a man involved in the power upheavals and the torture and murder of suspected communists.  When the get him in a room, they try to get him to admit his role in things, all the while the US and the government are out trying to find him.  This isn’t some typical movie, where there’s a ramping up of tension and action scenes to make this blood pumping, or character moments to care for someone so they don’t die.  This is really more a look at two systems at play and how they clash, how they work and fail.  We get to see how cold and vicious the CIA side is, killing without care.  There’s the revolutionaries, who are pretty inept and petty and just as bureaucratic.  In the kidnapping, they accidentally shoot the CIA agent in the arm.  It’s really more a documentary then a narrative with arcs and emotions.  It’s a fairly cynical movie to, as it ends with a big fuck you to the revolutionaries as the game just keeps marching on and people are disposable.  It’s really interesting to watch and really well put together.  The acting is excellent and the visuals are very unflashy but not amateurish.  It’s a really well put together movie and another movie to help rehabilitate my feelings towards French cinema. 

Rating: 9/10

Something Wild (July 18th, 2015)
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, and Ray Liotta

It’s honestly ridiculous that Demme would go on to follow up this movie with Silence of The Lambs.  Not because this is a bad movie or that Demme showed some shit skills in it, but it’s so diametrically opposite of this movie that it doesn’t really compute.  This is a light, eccentric little movie that could be argued is the first manic pixie dream girl movie.  Daniels plays a buttoned up white collar man who gets caught up in the antics of Griffith, the manic pixie dream girl.  But she is much crazier than the ones to follow, as she’s a drunk and super whorish and is a criminal.  And for the first half of this movie, it’s just a little romantic comedy with an edge and some eccentric moments, but nothing to crazy.  But then the movie takes a tonal left turn with the intro of Liottas character.  I won’t spoil it, but he adds some real danger to the movie and makes things a little tense.  The cast is all good, with Liotta being the standout.  Demme shows off some real strong visual sensibility, as well as getting good work out of the cast.  But most impressive is his hand at making the tonal shifts feel right and not ridiculous.  There’s nothing too amazing or masterful, but it’s just a slight and entertaining little rom com.

Rating: 8/10






Top Movies

1. The Thin Blue Line
2. Blue Is The Warmest Color
3. State of Siege
4. Ant-Man
5. Something Wild
6. The Sword In The Stone

- Tom Lorenzo

Movies Watched The Week of 7/5 - 7/11

Hello ladies and jerks, we are back at the game and holy shit was it a busy week.  This feels like the first week since my departure from my other website writing gig that I’ve used the time to watch some flicks.  And they run the gamut of cinema.  Got some toons, art house flicks, horror, crime and indie.  And the gamut is run through in terms of quality too.  Luckily nothing was too bad, or bad at all.  Everything has something worth while in it.  So give it a go, reading what a ridiculous week I had in movie watching.

Wings of Desire (July 5th, 2015)

Director: Wim Wenders

Starring: Bruno Ganz, Otto Sander, Solveig Dommartin, and Peter Falk

I was a big fan of Paris, Texas.  It was the first Wenders movie I’d seen and got me stoked to see some other work from the man.  So it’s a bit disappointing that this movie didn’t do it for me.  It’s not awful by any stretch.  And hell, the last act of the movie had me nice and hooked.  But the first 2/3rds of the movie didn’t do it for me, feeling way too drawn out.  It was making a point and made it earlier than it seemed to realize.  We follow an angel played by Ganz as he watches over humanity and sees that while it seems like they are miserable and always fretting, he realizes he is missing a whole lot because he can’t feel anything.  His life is one of observations, not of action.  This comes to his mind when he falls for an acrobat at a circus.  And that story is something I could really dig on, especially that he films all the angel pov stuff in black and white, and the human pov stuff in color.  But it spends way too much time watching humanity and musing on life, that it just didn’t do it for me as a whole.  I can see why many would dig it though, so if an artful musing on life is something in your wheelhouse, give it a go.  If not, Wenders has at least one movie on his list that’s better than this.

Rating: 7/10

Green Lantern: First Flight (July 6th, 2015)
Director: Lauren Montgomery
Starring: Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber, Michael Madsen, and Olivia D'Abo

While not a bad movie by any stretch, this is the lowest point for the DC Animated movies.  Which is saying something, because the weakest aspect of this movie is that it is far too short.  The Green Lantern mythos is vast and filled with crazy ideas, imagery and rules that could have filled a much longer movie.  But being an earlier in the run animated movie, this is short and to the point.  It’s like a cliff notes version of the Corps.  This is not the definitive version, so don’t get your hopes up too much.  It also streamlines.simplifies the color spectrum that makes up the rings, lessening the scale of the Sinestro Corps War that this is essentially an adaptation of.  But despite the simplification of the material, it still makes for an energetic and fun comic book flick.  The cast is all solid.  The DC movies would get better talent for the roles, so this feels more like a first draft for the cast but they’re still pretty good.  For me, I liked the story because it felt like the DC version of Training Day, with Hal being the Ethan Hawke role and Sinestro being the Denzel role.  So that’s cool for me.  But like I said earlier, it’s too short and coulda used some pacing work with the story.  It lacks the impact it could have had.  But in the end, it works well enough.

Rating: 8/10

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (July 7th, 2015)
Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Starring: Addison Timlin, Travis Tope, Spencer Treat Clark, and Gary Cole

If you’ve seen Scream or just have an interest in horror movies, you’ve heard of the original movie with this title.  The title itself is just great, a totally evocative name for a horror flick.  And while the movie itself isn’t a masterpiece, it’s a solid and unique little movie.  So when the news of a remake came along, it was met with a bit of a shrug.  Now having come out, the most surprising thing is that it isn’t a remake.  This movie feels less like Psycho and more like a more meta version of Scream.  In this movie, The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a movie that exists, but is based on fact.  The town of Texarkana is sort of haunted by the killings and the movie, but celebrates it too.  But when a copycat starts to wreak havoc, it’s up to the two police departments and a victim to figure out the decades long horror show.  Right off the bat, the main difference between the two movies is that this one is more in the slasher genre, with a final girl and all.  The procedural elements are less focused on, despite a more detailed look at the ideas of two departments being involved.  Despite the appearance of Gary Cole, Denis O’Hare and Veronica Cartwright, this isn’t as filled with character actors.  It’s slicker than the original, which sets it apart.  Both are also fiendishly clever, with this one more outwardly clever.  It plays upon the original while forging it’s own path.  Rejon shows a real visual flair that works within the story, not overwhelming it.  The kills are nice and brutal, with one taken right from the original, so it’s silliness is inherent to it’s quasi remake status.  I’d say it falls apart a little bit with the reveal, as it’s kinda too easy and quick.  But even within that, there’s some nice ambiguity to it and a fun little kill in it.  It’s not as ambiguous as the original, where the killer was never caught.  But it’s still there.  The main weakness in this is the teen story, of a girl with some trauma being forced into this story to overcome her past.  It’s a less successful version of the Sidney arc in Scream.  Really, this whole thing screams of, erm, Scream.  For me, this is a cool little flick that’s a nice update of a slasher movie, different than the majority of those remakes from years back (minus the Friday The 13th remake, which too wasn’t a remake).  This is more for horror fans, as it doesn’t elevate the genre and plays within it’s genre.  It’s fun and interesting, so that’s good enough for me in this horror landscape. 

Rating: 8/10

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (July 8th, 2015)
Director: Peter Yates
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan, and Steven Keats

Oh man, you gotta love 70s crime flicks.  They are just so dirty and real man, feeling lived in and dangerous.  Based off the highly esteemed crime novel by George Higgins (touted by Elmore Leonard as the best crime book ever), the movie is just as great as the book.  Mitchum is the titular character, a small time hood that does grunt work for the Irish mob.  Having recently been busted for a stolen goods beef, he is set to be sentenced for a few years soon.  So he has to look around at the other low level hoods he hangs with to see who is juicy enough to give up to the law for his freedom.  What sets this movie apart from other crime flicks is that it is not sexy at all and really does focus on low level guys just struggling to get by.  A lot of talk of guys feeling each other out and trying to get by.  Mitchum is a real schlub, not a movie star performance at all.  You can see the weariness in his shoulders, the desperation in his eyes.  There’s only two acts of violence in the movie really, and they are quick and to the point.  The dialogue is great, like a more realistic Leonard prose.  These aren’t super smart guys and they don’t really quip.  But there’s a poetry to the mediocrity of these guys lives.  Visually, you can see the grit and grime of Boston, feel the seediness on your skin.  This is just a great flick, an undervalued crime flick from the 70s that has gone on to inspire many a crime writer.  An absolute masterpiece. 

Rating: 10/10

Maggie (July 9th, 2015)
Director: Henry Hobson
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenneger, Abigail Breslin, Joely Richardson, and Doug Griffin

So, Arnold Schwarzenneger is a hell of an actor.  Who woulda ever thought this would be a statement that would be something not full of shit or ironical snarky bullshit? But it’s true.  This isn’t some Daniel Day-Lewis type acting.  It’s still Arnold, he hasn’t transformed completely.  But this is something totally different from the man.  He isn’t putting on a badass persona.  This isn’t a sexy role, something with iconic poses and quippy one liners.  It isn’t even particularly violent.  Here, Arnold is playing an old man with a sadness overwhelming him at the tragedy about to befall him.  His daughter has been infected and has only two weeks to live.  He watches her slowly rot away and lose herself, physically and emotionally.  The pain is palpable. Now, this may sound like an AIDS movie or some type of cancer flick.  Nope.  It’s a zombie movie.  The girl is infected with the zombie virus.  In this world, it takes a few weeks to kick in.  And Arnold has two weeks to spend with her, and decide what to do.  Let the government handle her disposal or handle it himself.  It’s a really melancholy movie.  This isn’t a Romero movie or something unashamedly ripping off the mans world (ahemWalkingDeadahem).  This one isn’t about a social issue like Romeros movies, or just a simple everything is miserable bent like Walking Dead.  This is a down on the street level view of the horrors of watching someone you love wither and die, showing a human scale look at the plague.  Arnold is, again, great as the father.  And Abigail Breslin is great as the daughter, going through the process of accepting her eventual demise.  It’s really about them, and they knock it out the park.  Now, this is sadly not as good as it could have been.  It’s a little too typically indie, slow and not really filled with enough events to feel like a full movie.  So it doesn’t really hit the emotional highs that it could have.  The technical merits are good, successfully conveying the bleak and melancholic tone it aims for.  It’s a very grey movie, but it works.  The shots are gorgeous and it really helps out.  It’s just the script doesn’t work enough.  It’s really a shame, because this is an amazing feat for Arnold.  This should have been how he played the role in Total Recall, a normal schlub (despite his Austrian superhero physique and accent).  But much like Sabotage, this is a great performance in a less successful movie.  But because of that, this should be seen by any of his fans and even for those not too keen on the man.  It’s a hell of a role, and makes me really interested to see what he could do in the proposed King Conan movie.  And honestly, I’d love to see him in a movie with a legit talented director, like Joe Carnahan or Dennis Villeneuve. 

Rating: 7/10










Top Movies

1. The Friends of Eddie Coyle
2. The Town That Dreaded Sundown
3. Green Lantern: First Flight
4. Wings of Desire
5. Maggie

- Tom Lorenzo

Movies Watched June 28th - July 4th

Welcome back ladies and germs, to the week of the Independence of my country.  So I managed to get some real good movies in this week, using the more ample time I had.  And it was a real good week, with nothing being even close to bad.  Another wide variety, so give it a look at the nonsense I’ve been doing this week on this Sunday after a holiday. 

Apollo 13 (June 28th, 2015)

Director: Ron Howard

Starring: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, and Ed Harris

It’s kinda rare to see a Ron Howard movie that’s good from top to bottom.  He’s not a bad director by any stretch, but he can whiff a movie big time when he doesn’t really get the themes of the movie.  And he can be a little to upbeat, not really getting dirty with his flicks.  He’s got an old school sensibility like that.  And even movies that you can really like from him have some real problems.  Like Cinderella Man, which is a great boxing movie in a familiar form that was based on a great true story that was anything but familiar with an antagonist that Howard turned into a mustache twirling villain who was actually a conflicted man with a conscience.  A Beautiful Mind completely white washes the true story of the man at the center of the story.  And don’t even bring up the abortion that is How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  So it’s nice to see that this flick here was not only really good, but a movie that actually felt like a step forward for the medium in some ways.  Just in terms of visual effects, it was a leap.  But this was another in a line of movies that cemented Tom Hanks as an icon, one of the best in the game.  But it’s a surprise from Howard, for me at least, was that the movie feels right from the jump, meshing within the story being told.  This is a movie about men doing incredible things, coming together to solve a problem using their brains and not succumbing to negativity.  It feels like a precursor to what is gonna come in The Martian.  Only this is a true story. And while I’m sure some details were fudged and changed around to fit the narrative, nothing was so altered to make it a completely different tale.  The cast is great, with many of familiar faces doing good work.  Like Bacon, Paxton and Harris.  They’re all great and make you feel the pressure and the need to fall into despair.  These are men who came up in the early days of NASA, filled with hope and desire to get to the stars.  So the movie itself is one of optimism, even in the face of insurmountable odds.  It can get tense but it’s never unrelenting.  The only real problem I have with the movie is that it feels a tad too long, and is a little too white bread.  But that last bit is a just a personal thing.  This is a damn good movie and is definitely one that should be seen by all.  

Rating: 9/10

Dom Hemingway (July 1st, 2015)
Director: Richard Shepard
Starring: Jude Law, Richard E. Grant, Demian Bichir, and Emilia Clarke

Jude Law is like the British Colin Farrell.  He’s a guy who is a very capable actor, who can swing from comedy to drama with ease and is able to imbue some real scummy characters with humanity.  And also like Farrell, he is almost incapable of doing good work as an action hero.  He’s a character guy and does better work outside the Hollywood system.  So it’s no surprise to see that he did great work in an indie crime flick from the UK.  What’s surprising is how utterly unrecognizable he is, from the physicality to the voice to even the insanity in his eyes.  He is totally immersive as Don, a wild animal of a man who has no impulse control and is a wreck of a man.  Drinking and fucking and fighting with no sense of the consequences, this could have easily been a role that the idiots of the world could cling to as a badass hero.  But the movie isn’t really a comedy like the marketing showed, nor is it a feel good coming back together drama.  This is a movie about a man hitting rock bottom and coming to the realization that everything he’s wanted and done has been wrong.  The movie ends on that note.  We don’t get the Hollywood version, where you feel like he’s gonna be a saint from now on.  He robs a woman as the credits roll.  But what we get is that he even gets to the point of wanting to change, and that’s good enough.  The story in and of itself isn’t groundbreaking, filled with stuff we’d seen before.  And there’s a role from Kerry Condon that is just absolute nonsense, movie bullshit of a character that feels like she’s out of a different movie, only there to tell Dom the themes of the movie.  What sells the movie though is Law, who is outstanding.  Nothing he does feels false, making this guy terrifying and pathetic at the same time.  I’m sure plenty of people could watch this and not know it was him.  And that is the best compliment one could give to an actor. 

Rating: 8/10

Ratatouille (July 2nd, 2015)
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, and Peter O'Toole

Even minor Pixar is usually worth a view.  That is, as long as it doesn’t have talking asshole cars in them.  This flick isn’t the best thing in the Pixar oeuvre by a mile, but it is amazingly watchable.  You can tell it’s a Brad Bird movie, just by the way it looks and the way the humor is delivered.  Even the narrative is typical Bird, in a good way (not like Tomorrowland).  Oswalt is ok as the rat who is a masterful chef.  He isn’t bad but doesn’t hit the highs of some of the other Pixar leads.  Holm does great work though as the primary antagonist, a fellow chef with a desire only to make money.  Romano is pretty great as Linguini, the doofus that Oswalt uses to make food.  But for me, the star is O’Toole.  He plays a food critic in the typical movie vein, as a miserable prick who loves to shit on anyone who makes things.  But O’Toole makes the guy live, and he delights at every nasty little thing the man says and it is delightful.  The main problem with the flick is it doesn’t have the energy to the story that other stuff they’ve done has, feeling a little too long and typical with the story.  But it’s funny and charming and has enough to make it a hell of a movie.  Just in comparison to other stuff, it’s a step down. 

Rating: 9/10

Spring (July 4th, 2015)
Directors: Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson
Starring: Lou Taylor Pucci and Nadia Hilker

I’m a big cinephile, and I usually know a good deal about a movie even if I hadn’t seen it yet.  Not spoilery things, but a general idea of what I’d be getting into if/when I sat down to watch it.  So it’s nice to see a movie that I’m not too knowledgable about and to see it surprise me on a level more than just the initial viewing sheen.  This movie here is one of those movies.  I won’t say too much about it because this really is something that should be seen to experience the originality with pretty fresh eyes.  I’ll just say that it’s like Before Sunset, mixed with a monster movie.  It’s really just two people talking and falling in love, with some genre elements to it.  It’s a pretty movie, shooting Italy real well with a minimal budget.  The two characters are perfectly cast and are charming, with a script that allows them to portray characters we can actually like and care about what happens to them.  It’s a really good movie, sweet and kinda scary.  Wholly original and really makes the clowns that decry the state of cinema look like real assholes.

Rating: 9/10





Top Movie

1. Spring
2. Ratatouille
3. Apollo 13
4. Dom Hemingway

- Tom Lorenzo