Life (2017)

Gravity meets Alien meets John Carpenter's The Thing. Set in the near future (a reference to the age of the ISS points to the year 2028) the crew of the international space station find dormant biological cells in a soil sample from Mars, and foolishly decide to revive one. The new life from, named Calvin in a contest by elementary school students which oddly features voice cameos by 20/20 anchors David Muir and Elizabeth Vargas, grows and develops at a very accelerated rate and inevitably starts killing the crew, who lose contact with Earth and must try to defeat the alien on their own. The movie succeeds based largely on momentum, it kept my interest, but I can't image there is much if any rewatch value to this thing. Characters routinely make very stupid decisions, and the missions quarantine officer Dr. Miranda North (played by Rebecca Ferguson, a Swede playing a Brit) certainly did not earn her pay on this assignment. Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds are the films name stars, just guess which one of them is the hot head and which the quite, reflective one. The film has an ending that would be truly frustrating if it wasn't so cliché, but the film did well enough at the box office that there just might be a sequel, and honestly I think that sequel could be more interesting then this tired 'original'. **

The Visitor (1978)

When I saw the trailer for The Visitor I knew I had to see it, it looked like a glorious mess and it didn't disappoint. This Italian financed film is a hodge podge of story elements that feels unfinished even in its completed form. It's an unfocused, metaphysical, extremely 70's exploitation film with a Love Boat's worth of aging Hollywood stars. The cosmology that underwrites the story isn't shown on film, but is explained, by Jesus Christ no less (played Italian star and filmdom's first Django, Franco Nero). Eons ago a mutant criminal escaped from a prison space ship and fled to earth, only to be defeated by Caption Yahweh and an army of birds. Before the villains demise however he mated with numerous earth woman, insuring that periodically a woman would be born capable of bearing super powerful children with a propensity for evil. A secret order headed by Captain Yahweh's decedents keeps an eye out for these little anti-Christ's, finds and apprehends them, and takes them to the next world so Jesus can personally rehabilitate them.

In the 1970's the head of this order is a Polish tailor named Jerzy Colsowic (the great John Huston in a bit of inspired casting) who travels to Atlanta to apprehend the newest evil tyke, eight year old Katy Collins (Paige Conner). Katy's divorced mother Barbara (the very beautiful Joanne Nail) is being romanced by a the owner of basketball team (Lance Henriksen in an early role) who is working for a mysterious group seemingly headed by a doctor played by Mel Ferrer, who want to use him to breed more super powered children with Barbara for their nefarious purposes. Barbara however knows there is something rather off about her daughter and doesn't want to have more children, a view likely reinforced after little Katy "accidently" shots her in the lower spine leaving her paralyzed. Glenn Ford is an Atlanta Police detective investigating the "accident" who suspects Katy shot her mother deliberately, Shelley Winters is the nanny/maid who Barbara hires to help around the house after the accident, and Sam Peckinpah (best known for directing violent westerns) is Barbara's saintly doctor father. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar also has a cameo as himself.

You should know by now if sitting through a film this weird would be something for you or not, I personally rather enjoyed the unrepentant oddness of the proceedings. The film does have stretches were surprisingly little happens, but it always ends up punctuated by something entirely out of left field. I've watched this movie twice so far, and I don't know what the filmmakers were thinking or how this movie even got made, but I'm glad it did. ***

Wild River (1960)

Wild River is a film that I had been wanting to see for some time, only its not often shown on TV and last time I'd looked had not yet been made available on DVD. My interest in the film owes primarily to its setting and subject matter, the building of a dam by the TVA in the 1930's south. I had served my LDS mission in the south, literally the first street I tracted had a TVA dam at the end of it, and the Tennessee Valley Authority was still a major employer in the area generations after its founding. The film was directed by the great Elia Kazan, yet more reason for me to want to see it, and based on two different novels by two different authors about the early days of the TVA. The story concerns TVA agent Chuck Glover (Montgomery Clift) tasked with coaxing a family off the river island its inhabited for generations, as a new dam is going to cause the area to become completely submerged in water. The family that lives on the island is headed by stubborn but dignified matriarch Ella Garth (Jo Van Fleet, playing well above her age as usual, and doing an excellent job at it as usual) who refuses to leave, Clift quickly concludes that the only person who might be able to get Ella off the island is her favored granddaughter Carol (Lee Remick), a young mother and widow. Chuck and Carol quickly find that they click with each other, creating a love triangle with Carol's older suitor Walter Clark (Frank Overton) who is probably the nicest guy in the community, only Carol doesn't love him.

The film has uniformly strong performances, a richly realized setting and a strong screenplay, but the thing that made it work for me is the love story between Chuck and Carol. It builds wonderfully, the conflict these characters feel about it is explored, and there is a nice chemistry between the leads as they try to temper down an undeniable passion that puts each in an awkward situation. The film handles all of this in a very classy fashion, it implies sex without ever showing it or going out and saying it, it has got to be one of the later example of a Motion Picture Production Code approach to this subject, and I found that refreshing with the hay day of the 1960's sex comedy being just a few years away. Wild River is a film that should probably be better known then it is, on par with the best stuff to come out of the industry in this period, I really enjoyed it. ****

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

A 40th anniversary theatrical showing of the iconic 1977 film Saturday Night Fever seemed like a perfect opportunity to fill its hole in my movie knowledge. Now I was expecting this movie to be a largely light film about dancing, likely with some young relationship angst to aid its legitimacy. That is not what I got because to my surprise this film has a plot, and its a good one, very well written. Saturday Night Fever goes dark, its not the surfacy film I was expecting, instead its a gritty 70's movie, though the disco soundtrack works against that a little bit. The film is a portrait of its time, place and people, the working class of 1970's Queens, principally its younger constituency. The film has elements of casual racism and violence, there is an attempted and actual rap in the film, and arguably a suicide. The film does not glamorize these things, but points to them as a reality of its setting, and a test of the character for its principal players. Again this movie is dark, it's not the disco stereotype you see when the movie is satirized, I'm actually surprised that I have been aware of this film for most of my life and yet had no idea what was at the core of it. It now makes sense to me why Gene Siskel was such a devoted fan of this movie. An absolute phenomenon at the time of its release the film cemented John Travolta as a star, but ironically did little for the long term prospects of its female lead Karen Lynn Gorney or any of the supporting players. This signature film of the disco era is more then its period trappings, though I admit I enjoyed those, but rather a timeless story of young people searching for who they are and for a direction in life. ****

Temple Grandin (2010)

I remember my father being very enthusiastic about this film when he saw it shortly after it first came out. Part of the reason for that was doubtless because his granddaughter had been diagnosed autistic in the fairly recent past, and Temple Grandin is a very inspiring true story about thriving over autism. The subject of the film, a woman named Temple Grandin, was born to a wealthy east cost family in the 1940's, diagnosed autistic in the 1950's, graduated from college in the 1960's (all but unheard of for an autistic person at that time), revolutionized practices for the humane treatment of livestock in the 1970's, and became a pioneering spokeswoman for her condition in the 1980's. Claire Danes won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards for her work in this film, a transformative performance, probably the best work of her career, and she's no slouch. This HBO bio drama is certainly worth seeing, it's not a conventional story, but its uplift is in league with any triumph over obstacles inspirational film I can think of. I was very impressed. ****

The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974)

Director Werner Herzog's 1974 West German production The Enigma of Kasper Hauser is based on a true story that is well known in Germany but far less so outside of it. On May 26th 1828 in the town of Nuremburg a teenage boy was found carrying a letter addressed to the captain of the 4th squadron of the 6th cavalry regiment, Captain von Wessenig. In addition to that letter was another one reporting to be from its barriers mother, the two letters combined conveyed the story that the young man, named Kasper Hauser, was the son of a cavalry officer who had died while the boy was in infancy, and as a result his mother had entrusted the child to the care of unnamed individuals who kept him locked in a dungeon with little to no human contact for the bulk of his life, eventually choosing to deposit him in the middle of Nuremburg.

At the time of his appearance Kasper spoke only around a dozen words, and had essentially no concept of almost anything having to do with the world, be that fire, most animals, or food other then bread and water. Kasper quickly became a celebrity in both Germany and abroad and eventually ended up in the care of Georg Friedrich Daumer, a school teacher and philosopher under whose tutelage Kasper excelled and eventually became a shocking skilled artist (see link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaspar_Hauser#/media/File:Mill_pencil_drawing_by_Kaspar_Hauser,_1829.jpg). Kasper even started work on an autobiography before dying as the result of a mysterious stabbing in December of 1833.

Owing to the highly unusual nature of Kasper's story, and the extent to which he quickly adapted to a world of which he reportedly had next to no knowledge, the truthfulness of Mr. Hauser's narrative of himself has been rightly questioned, and remains a subject of dispute to this day. Was Kasper telling the truth, even an exaggerated version thereof, or was this all an elaborate con? In his film Mr. Herzog takes the position that Kasper was at least for the most part being honest about his past, and that his life truly was an odd tragedy. Helping to add to the otherworldly quality of Herzog's film is the casting of the then little known conceptual artist Bruno Schleinstein, billed only as Bruno S. in the film, as Hauser. Schlenistein himself had experienced an unusual and traumatic childhood, had been in an out of mental institutions and was largely self taught. Though considerably older then Hauser lived to be Bruno S. successfully conveys his subjects sense of detached isolation, of having a largely internal life almost incomprehensible to outsiders, and a child like awkward straightforwardness. The film is a meditative piece that like its subject is hard to classify, but certainly an impressive achievement. ****

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 is the big box office success sequel to the big box office success original Guardians of the Galaxy from 2014. Volume 2 is simply not as good as volume 1, I didn't expect it to be, the first film felt original, and it would be impossible for the sequel to feel original in that same way. Volume 2 is still a good movie, I quite enjoyed it, I even felt that the plot logically flowed from the original in a way that seems like it had been well thought out ahead of time, which of course is not always the case with sequels. Kurt Russell is fittingly cast as the father of Chris Pratt's Star Lord, and the movie boasts one or two unexpected cameo appearances. However it is that core original cast that makes the movie work, the writers know these characters and do a good job of putting them in the kinds of situations you want to see them in, even if they could have been a little more creative in doing so. The film focuses on the idea of The Guardians as being Family in a cloyingly sentimental, overly repeated Fast & The Furious sense of laying it on too thick, we know this, you don't need to keep reminding us. Though the plot places the galaxy once again in danger the film never the less feels smaller and less consequential then the first movie, but in a likable low key way, appropriate to the series brand. I even thought Drax was funnier in this film. Fine summer movie fair. ***

Winter Kills (1979)

Satire on Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories based on the novel by Richard Condon. Winter Kills is the story of the half brother (Jeff Bridges) of a slain former U.S. president, who nearly two decades after his siblings death uncovers new evidence of a vast conspiracy behind said murder. The conspiracy involves seemingly everybody, especially if they happen to be played by aging Hollywood stars such as Sterling Hayden (doing a variant on his General Ripper from Dr. Strangelove), John Huston (as the presidents father), Eli Wallach, Ralph Meeker, Anthony Perkins, and a strangely uncredited Elizabeth Taylor, who has zero dialogue. Dorothy Malone also appears as one of the few characters who seems to have no involvement in the presidents death. The film starts out fairly straight, to the point you think it might be a more conventional mystery film, but it quickly ratchets up the crazy to mix results. Not a film I'd widely recommend, but an interesting enough cinematic oddity for the curious. **

Ghost Story (1981)

According to Wikipida Ghost Story was the 34th highest grossing film at the U.S. box office in 1981. There is something funny about that number, 34th place, it's not bad when you consider hundreds or thousands of movies come out a year, but is it really good, seems kind of middling. Based on a novel by genera writer Peter Straub, the film comes across as a kind of mediocre, imitation Steven King plot, due both to the type of story it is as well as its New England setting, in this case Vermont instead of Maine. The story concerns a group of friends who as youths accidently cause the death of a young woman (Alice Krige) and fifty years later her ghost comes back to seek its revenge. The movie is chiefly notably as containing the last feature film appearances for three big name, old school Hollywood actors, Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Melvyn Douglas, the latter passing away four and a half months before the film was even released. Unfortunately I could never work up actually caring about these characters, and the film was so predictable, cliché, and drawn out that I just couldn't like it. It also has a lot more nudity then I expected. It's not that the film was so much bad, as just aggressively mediocre, which got under my skin more then a little bit. So *.

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Filling another awkward gap in my film knowledge I finally saw Good Will Hunting, and only 20 years late. This movie launched two of the biggest film careers of the past two decades, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who in addition to each appearing in the film (Damon is the lead) both won Oscars for co-writing the screenplay. This is one of those films which I find that I have very little to say about, it's really all there on the screen, there is not a lot of analysis that needs doing. It is an excellent film, very smart, all the performances are strong, with Robin Williams the biggest standout, he also won an Oscar for this film. I'd have to go back and look at the other movies that came out in 1997 but this could well have been the best film of that year. I should have seen this sooner, it's excellent, deserving of its reputation. ****

The Case for Christ (2017)

Based on the autobiographical book of the same name The Case for Christ tells the story of investigative journalist Lee Strobel's conversion from atheist to evangelical Christian. In 1980 Strobel (Mike Vogel) was an award winning journalist working for the Chicago Tribune with a pregnant wife (Erika Christensen) and a young daughter. One night at a restaurant Lee's daughter almost chocks to death on a gumball, her life saved by a nurse (L. Scott Caldwell) who fortunately knew the Heimlich maneuver, which was not as well known at that time. Later that nurse tells the couple that she originally had not planned on dinning at that restaurant that night but felt a spiritual prompting to do so.  Lee's wife Leslie has an emotionally strong response to this, gets to know the nurse, agrees to go to church with her, and eventually becomes a Christian. Lee is not pleased when he finds out about this and attempts to persuade his wife out of her new found faith. In order to accomplish this Lee decides to do what he knows how to do best and embarks on an journalistic style investigation over the course of months in an effort to disprove the resurrection of Christ, which he views as the central tenant of the faith, and that if he can disprove that he can get his wife back to how she was before.

However Storbel's investigation does not turn out the way he had anticipated, and Lee ends up convincing himself that the resurrection of Jesus is real, becomes a Christian, and subsequently a very well know apologist for the faith. Obviously a movie like this, even when very competently done as this one is, can not go into the nitty-gritty of its protagonists thought process like a book can. By the end of the film I still failed to understand, even giving allowance for the requisite 'leap of faith', what Strobel found so convincing in his research to change him for atheist to true believer. The film keeps coming back to claims about various non biblical accounts that firm up the resurrections story, Strobel seems to find the idea that there were 500 first hand witnesses to the resurrected Jesus very compelling, but other then the gospels (which were written decades later and obviously have an agenda) not a single of these accounts is named.

Still The Case for Christ is one of the best Christian proselytizing films I have ever seen. It's very well made, and despite an extremely limited budget for a big screen period piece, it has unusually good production value for a Christian film and unusually able direction and cinematography, as well as above average acting for the genera. Perhaps the thing I most appreciated about the film is that I didn't really feel talked down to, I can respect Strobel here, even as I can disagree with him. The atheist characters in the film come across as real people because they are real people, not the weak creations of some Christian screen writer, not caricatures, and especially not assholes, which is really refreshing in a Christian film. I'm a little surprised to find myself saying this but I can recommend The Case for Christ, the most reasonably toned cinematic effort to get you saved that I think I've ever seen. ***

Black Caesar (1973)

Lose blackploitation remake of the 1931 Edger G. Robinson gangster classic Little Caesar. Fred Williamson plays Tommy Gibbs, raised by a single mother in Harlem, this ambitious man sets out to build a criminal empire and take on the Italian mob, which doesn't respond kindly to his efforts. By the end Tommy has brought misfortune on seemingly everyone he knows, but at least manages to bring down the crooked cop who beat him as a teenager. One thing I love about these American International films is there ambition on a budget, if remade today with good financing this could potentially be a powerful film, this version however just gets **.

Silver Streak (1976)

Movie about mysterious happenings on a train trip from L.A. to Chicago. I had seen bits and pieces of this film before with my dad, but this was the first time I'd seen Silver Streak all the way through and I really enjoyed it. I don't know if you could make a film like this today, its actually pretty understated in its comedy, and surprisingly most of what might be called crudity in the film is near the beginning, and its not really that crude at all by contemporary standards. Gene Wilder is certainly an interesting choice as leading man in most anything, but especially when he is largely playing it straight; this is the movie where they discovered his chemistry with Richard Pryor and they would be reteamed again the future. Fine direction by Arthur Hiller, and musical score by Henry Mancini. I really like Jill Clayburgh, I wish she had been a bigger star. I also quite liked the effects work at the end, I think they hold up nicely. Surprisingly good. ***1/2