Police Story (1985)

'Police Story' launches a durable franchise for its star Jackie Chan, here playing a Hong Kong Police Sergeant assigned to protect a reluctant witness (Brigitte Lin) in a drug case. This action comedy was released fairly early in Jackie's time as an action star, and I liked the relative low-keyness of it and how the action sequences felt more organic and less 'forced' then would be the case in many of his later pictures. While Jackie's dubbed voice is a bit distracting, he didn't speak English yet, it is a fun film with some good moments. One not so good moment is a scene where Jackie must juggle answering multiple phones when left alone at a small percent while his co workers are at lunch, there are a few lines about rape played for humor and it does not work, it has aged very badly. Maggie Cheung and Bill Tung who appear in later films in the series originate their characters here. ***

Man in the Attic (1954)

'Man in the Attic' is a Jack the Ripper story, it's actually been filmed a number of times as 'The Lodger' which is the title of the book on which it is based, versions include a silent by Alfred Hitchcock and one as recent as 2009. Here Jack is a research pathologist with a mother fixation and in an unusual bit of casting is played by Jack Palance. While killing prostitutes at night he engages in a timid virginal romance with the niece (Constance Smith) of the woman he is renting some rooms from, Aunt Bee from 'The Andy Griffith Show' Francis Beaver. A solid little films, works better then it might largely on the weight of Palance's intriguing performance. ***

VelociPastor (2017)

At about 11am on Tuesday I got a text from a friend advising me that this movie exists, a few hours later another friend was extolling its virtues on Facebook, after some initial dithering I started this movie around 7:50pm, by 8 it had won me over. 'VelociPastor' is about a Roman Catholic priest who travels to China after the death of his parents in an explosion, there he encounters an ancient artifact that gives him the power to turn into a velociraptor when angry, a prostitute then convinces him to use this ability to fight crime. Filmed for only $35,000 'VelociPastor' is more a high end amateur production then a low end professional one, and I mean that as compliment, it is far superior to something like say 'Sharknadio' which is it's distant cousin in the family of films with outrageous premises.

The film has moments of impressive editing, and one particular song I really enjoyed, elsewhere it has to play up its low production values and does that with tongue-in-check aplomb. The sequence of the priest's parents fiery death is simply done with a static shot of the side of a street with an 'Insert VFX' logo imposed over it. Though the movie has sequences set in China, Vietnam and what I presume to be upstate New York, each of these are filmed in what is clearly the exact same forest. The pastors preaching is shown from the audience's perspective, no establishing shots because they can't afford extra's.

Greg Cohan who plays the pastor Douglas Jones looks kind of like Michael C. Hall, he wisely chooses to play the part earnestly and gives some laugh out loud line readings, my favorite being "That's impossible, dinosaurs never existed, and even if they did I wouldn't turn into one." Alyssa Kempinski whose done perhaps the most 'real acting' of anyone in the cast is fine as the good hearted prostitute. Daniel Steere, who I suspect is the father of writer/director Brendan Steere plays Jones superior at the church Father Stewart, and Fernando Pacheco De Castro is at least moderately amusing as 1970's style pimp Frankie Mermaid. Perhaps you have to be in the right kind of mood for a movie like this, but I evidently was at the time I watched it because I thoroughly enjoyed this picture, it is better then it has the right to be and nicely and appropriately trim with a roughly 70 minute run time. Certainly guilty pleasure material. **1/2

The Irishman (2019)

'The Irishman' is really a capstone film on a number of fronts, almost certainly the last gangster picture Martian Scorsese will ever make, it may also turn out to be one of the last movies Scorsese makes period, the man is 77. The cast is full of septuagenarians as well, De Niro, Pacino, Pesci, heck Harvey Keitel is 80 years old. A sprawling gangster epic that spans roughly 50 years, the film takes advantage of advances in special effects to de-age the appearance of some principal stars, this works reasonably well though by the end of the film some of these characters have become even older then the actors playing them so more traditional old age makeup is employed.

Based on the book 'I Heard You Paint Houses' by Charles Brandt the film centers on the life of Frank Shreeran a high ranking official in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters who had links to the Pennsylvania based Bufalion crime family. The film also concerns the ultimate fate of Jimmy Hoffa, a perennial mystery though upon further investigation the theory here advanced is not one of the more credible. This is a long movie which is slower, a little less violent, and more reflective in tone then its directors previous gangster offerings. At 209 minutes its a serious sit and obviously not for all audiences. It is a well put together finely executed film that has a solid literary quality to it, it has a feeling of heft and substance  and is full of fine performances, which we of course expect from the actors involved, though Joe Pesci might just pull off that Oscar. Not a razzle dazzle spectacle but continuously good to very strong and all building to a denouement that Scorsese has reportedly wanted to explore since the 1980's. One of last years best films. ****

1917 (2019)

The plot of '1917' concerns two British solders (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) assigned to run a warning to other solders across no-man's land that that the Germans are luring them into a trap. I would say around 70% of this movie is very tense so that by the end of it I was just exhausted. A very nice fit for director Sam Mendes who does both gritty action and messy humanity well, I jumped, I cried. A beautiful looking movie that uses camera trickery to appear as though it was done in one long continuous take. The film captures much of the essence of that pointless war in a condensed and effective manner. To me I thought this was even more effective then 'Dunkirk'. Without a doubt one of the best films of last year and I would not be disappointed to see this get the Best Picture Oscar for which it is currently the reported front runner. Not many films really warrant the IMAX treatment but see this on as big of a screen as you can. ****  

Let There Be Light (2017)

In 'Let There Be Light' Kevin Sorbo again hates himself some atheists, and so apparently does his wife Sam (who co-wrote and co-stars in this) and likely their children who also appear. Kevin plays a caricature of the 'New Atheist' professional atheist writer Dr. Sol Harkens, Harkens as a cross between well known atheist polemicists Christopher Hitchens and Dr. Richard Dawkins, and Sol because of Saul of Tarsus, as these kind of films like to hit you over the head with things. It turns out Harkins well known atheism is based all but entirely on resentment from the death of one of his sons from disease, and once he see's said son in vision after a near fatal car accident he very quickly changes his world view and reconnects with his ex wife and surviving children. Lazy, hardly convincing and mean spirited 'Let There Be Light' is executive produced by Sean Hannity who appears as himself, as does oddly Dionne Warwick, although she does not produce. There are a lot of weird little touches to this, including a recurring gage about an always absent doorman (which kind of works) and one about a 'sham-wow' type product which doesn't. There are also many, many references to ISIS, it's the films go to, and like every sane individual I of course oppose ISIS, however I do not share this films larger Islamophobia which is a subtext throughout but makes a strikingly shoehorned appearance very late in the proceedings. Also some really odd choices are made with Daniel Roebuck's performance, he gives a load of barley coded gay indicators, but then vocally expresses lust for Kevin's Russian model girlfriend, I suppose this is to mitigate the discomfort of the target audience. This is a 'dog whistle film' where you don't have to be a dog to hear the whistle. *1/2

Supercop (1992)

Jackie Chan is "Kevin" a Hong Cop who partners with a Red Chinese inspector (Michelle Yeoh) in an undercover operation to infiltrate a group of drug runners and take down their leader. Technically this is the 3rd of Chan's "Police Story" movies but "Supercop" is its Chinese subtitle and name under which it was market in the U.S.. They sure like the term "supercop" in this movie, it is used 10 times in actual film dialogue and 28 times in the closing credits song. This is a fun distraction of a film, with a number of good action set pieces, but the stand out one is a long chase sequence at the end that starts off on the street, then migrates in part to a helicopter and finally ends on top of a train. A fair amount of South East Asia nation hopping in this, though not every scene was actually filmed in the country where it was set. I thought it was interesting to see a depiction of early 1990's Communist China on screen again, its was a lot closer to Mao's old China then to the economic power house it is today. **1/2.

Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)

A companion piece of sorts to his film about the 1970's high school experience 'Dazed and Confused', 'Everybody Wants Some!!' is about a group of baseball players at a fictional Texas state college trying to get laid the weekend before the start of the 1980-81 academic year. That is more or less the through the line of the story, so one could reasonably say that really basically nothing happens in this film, and that's kind of what's great about. You spend a couple of hours getting to know these characters, many of which are first getting to know each other over a long weekend. It's a character study of a dozen or so characters, most of which appear to be played by local Texas actors, the only person in this film your likely to recognize is Zoey Dutch, who is winning as a potential love interest for one of the ball players. At times I was a little bored, but I liked the atmosphere and tone and there are a handful of moments that satisfyingly evoke the feeling of being at the beginning of ones adult life journey. Not for all tastes, but I suspect for me this is a film that would get even richer on repeat viewing. ***

Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)

'Run Silent, Run Deep' is a World War II set submarine film, and arguably the best of them, in which a returning first officer (Burt Lancaster) and a new commander (Clark Gable, in one of his last film roles) butt heads on strategy while on a Pacific patrol in 1943. Gable is trying to avenge the dead crew of his previous command, while Lancaster is trying to protect the crew he's serviced with before from unnecessary risk. I thought I knew what this film was and where it was going, a variation on another famous World War II Navy film whose name I won't say for fear of spoilers, but it ultimately goes in a different direction and derives much of it's late in story satisfaction from that difference. I highly recommend, a minor classic. ***1/2

Deluge (1933)

'Deluge' is a film I had wanted to see for some time, it is a 1933 RKO produced pre-code apocalyptic-disaster film whose special effects were so good (by the standard of the times) that they were cut and reused in other films into at least the 1940's (mostly model work). Adapted from the 1928 S. Fowler Wright novel of the same name with the setting moved from The Midlands of England to the greater New York City area, 'Deluge' tells the story of some survivors of a global geography altering catastrophe that includes earthquakes, tidal waves and floods, as well as for some reason an unexpected eclipse.

We have two principal characters, Martin (Sidney Blackmer) a New York City lawyer who was vacationing in the country with his wife and two children (both under 4 or so) when the disaster hits (this appears to have been in late April or early May based on a make shift calendar we see mid way through the film), and Clair (Peggy Shannon) a competitive swimmer who was also in the country with friends when the disaster hit (she was there because her planed publicity stunt swim was canceled do to unusual weather). The two meet up, Clair on the run from hulking goon Jepson (Fred Kohler) who wants to rape her, the subtext in the this film of sexual restraints unleashed is surprisingly strong and very pre-code, while Martin is setting up a base camp at a rock quarry after believing his family killed (they of course are not and he is reunited with them late in the film).

Jepson teams up with a group called 'The Bellamy Gang', raiders and rapists who are the surviving dregs of the old civilization, and they trap our two leads, who by this time have fallen in love with each other, in a cave for an old fashioned standoff. The two do better then all right and kill Jepson and most of the others even before the arrival of a posse from a nearby surviving settlement who were out to get the no-gooders. Said posse, made of a mix of surviving locals and vacationers from the city take the couple back to town, which by implication appears to be a resort community in the Catskills. Martin spends the last 10 or so minutes of the film being named the towns new leader and trying to figure out how he can make polygamy work now that he knows his wife survived.

This is an interesting and unusual film, not complicated in plot or deep with its characters but a strange cinematic artifact very specific to the time and place where it was made. I was really struck by the beauty of the actress Peggy Shannon and wondered why I hadn't seen her in other things so I did a little research. A former Ziegfield Follies girl Shannon had been groomed by Paramount Pictures as a new "It Girl" to replace Clara Bow, only Shannon developed a drinking problem and her career took a downward track. She was found dead in a chair at her apartment age 34 in 1941, the victim of a heart attack brought on by rough living. Three weeks later her second husband cameraman Albert G. Roberts would commit suicide by gunshot in that same chair. A sad and haunting coda to what could have been a great career. For her unusual film 'Deluge' I give ***

Rumble in the Bronx (1995)

'Rumble in the Bronx' is an earlish Americanish Jackie Chan production, Chan is Ma Hon Keung, a competitive martial artist who travels from Hong Kong to New York for his uncles wedding. He stays to help the new owner of his uncles former grocery store, befriends a crippled boy, is pursued with the intention of murder by multiple gangs, and helps the NYPD solve a case involving stolen diamonds. The movie ends with a chase sequence featuring its signature visual a hovercraft traversing the streets of New York. Most of the action sequences here are of a smaller scale then those in 'Operation Condor' but the story makes more sense, kind of, and this feels more like a real movie then the earlier film did, as opposed to minor bits of story to string the action set pieces together. There are still some good set pieces here though, notably the parking garage chase, and a few sequences inside the grocery store. A fun diversion. ***

Jane Eyre (1944)

In the realm of the Brontë's my experience is very limited, over 15 years ago I saw the 1939 Merle Oberon/ Laurence Olivier version of 'Wuthering Heights' and didn't much care for it. I did like this 1944 'Jane Eyre' however, listing to the special features and such thereafter it was mentioned more then once that the source martial is very internal in its orientation, and thus a lot is lost in film translations. I'm pretty eclectic in my literary interest and think I might have to read the book, I warrant at lest one Gothic romance in pursuit of being well read.  Capably directed by Robert Stevenson whose career would later reach its mid century zenith as the go to guy at Disney studios. Orson Wells gives a slightly ham handedly intense performance as Rochester, which somehow mostly works against Joan Fontaine doing a variation on her work in 'Rebecca'. Also featuring an 11 year old and uncredited Elizabeth Taylor. Screenplay co-written by Aldous Huxley. ***1/2

A Hidden Life (2019)

I had long wanted to see a film of Terrence Malick's on the big screen and 'A Hidden Life' is just beautiful. The man has a supreme visual sense, however his characters internal lives come off at a slight remove, I could never connect with them to the extent that I wanted to which left the emotional experience of the film a little wanting from what I had hopped, this is a story you observe more then you experience. Though perhaps here that is appropriate given that the stories central figure the Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl, strong, understated) was seemingly a mystery to most of his contemporaries. The film omits and simplifies many of the details of Jägerstätter's life, I found out later that he apparently rather sowed his wild oats as a young man, but after marrying Franziska (Valerie Pachner, also good, low key) he became a man of deep spiritual conviction. Franz could never brook the Nazi's, he couldn't even go through the motions, which earned him and by extension his young family the ire of their small community. Jägerstätter managed to hold out in passive resistance until he was finally drafted in early 1943, he would not serve, he would not pledge loyalty to Hitler, and in the end they executed him for it.

Jägerstätter's life remained a largely hidden one for decades, but his widow saved most of their correspondence and eventually the story got out. Books were published, conferences held, a documentary and an Austrian TV movie were made. In 2007 Franz Jägerstätter was named a martyr of the Catholic Church by Pope Benedict XVI and beatified. Franz Jägerstätter was vindicated, but his story remains a distressingly relevant one. What separated this man from the rest of his community, and a religious community at that, who with but a very few exceptions simply went along with the Nazi's? There is a sequence in this film were an artesian visits the village to touch up some of the frescos in the Church. Franz is helping him out, assisting with ladders and such, and they converse. The artisan states that he paints "the comfortable Christ" who the parishioners in the pews like to think they would have stood up for, been loyal to. However they do not really understand the true radicalness of his message, even the artesian says he does not understand it, but adds one day he hopes to.

It has become cliché to say that all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing, Franz Jägerstätter did something, to the extent that he was able, and still evil triumphed, at least for a time. He knew that his sacrifice would not change the course of the war, that outside of a very small circle perhaps no one would ever hear about it. His death would leave his wife and children without his love and support. Still he thought it was a sacrifice he needed to make, because there is right and wrong and Franz Jägerstätter could not do the wrong that was being asked of him. 'A Hidden Life' is the story of that exceptional kind of person who can rise above personal interest and the will of the crowed and take a moral stand regardless of what it may cost. Few of us will ever be capable of this, but we should all admire it. ***1/2

In & Out (1997)

'In & Out' was inspired by, but not actually based on, the time that Tom Hanks thanked his gay high school drama teacher in his Oscar acceptance speech for his performance in 'Philadelphia'. In 'In & Out' a young actor (Matt Dillon) thanks his high school drama teacher (Kevin Kline) in his Oscar acceptance speech for a film in which he played a gay solder (in 'Philadelphia' Hanks played a gay lawyer), only said high school drama teacher is only days away for marring his long time girlfriend, another teacher at their rural Indiana high school played by Joan Cusack. A media circus results and Kline finds his life greatly complicated, he denies repeatedly that he is gay, but then maybe...

Released a year after 'The Bird Cage', another gay mainstreaming 90's comedy, 'In & Out' is the kind of film that reminds you how far the culture has come in such a short time. It squeezes a lot out of what today probably wouldn't be that big a deal. Good spirited, the first half of the movie is fairly conventional, more or less on autopilot, while the second half is much stronger. The film has a solid supporting cast including Wilford Brimley and Debbie Reynolds as Kline's parents, and Bob Newhart as a (inevitably pensive) high school principal. Tom Selleck plays a recently out gay entertainment reporter, which is somewhat surprising casting given his image and the fact that Selleck is a conservative, he does a good job. Everyone does a good job. A pre 'Six Feet Under' Lauren Ambrose has a small part, and Selma Blair has an even smaller non-speaking one. Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno and Glenn Close cameo as themselves. Directed by Frank Oz from a script by gay writer Paul Rudnick. ***

Operation Condor (1991)

'Operation Condor' is a Hong Kong action comedy, reportedly one of if not the most expensive Hong Kong produced film made up until that time. It's actual title is 'Armour of God II: Operation Condor' a sequel to the 1986 film 'Armour of God' only these films were released in reverse order in the United States turning this sequel into a prequel. Not that I suspect it matters much. 'Operation Condor' features Jackie Chan as some kind of international adventurer/ special agent, a cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond but who does Kung Fu and who is hired by the United Nations to locate an abandoned Nazi base in the Sahara that houses a treasure trove of stolen golden. Along the way Jackie, his character's name is actually Jackie because why not, accumulates three beautiful traveling companions and is pursued by multiple parties all after the gold. The plot is lose and in some ways nonsensical, it is really just there to string the action sequences together, and those are very fun to watch, my personal favorite being the one in the North Africa hotel, however the Spanish car cash, South American set opening sequence, and multiple ones in the old Nazi base are entertaining as well. This is the kind of movie I'd love to watch with my niece and nephews. ***

Bombshell (2019)

'Bombshell' is a very surreal movie, I almost couldn't believe that it was made, that I was watching it. You have famous Hollywood celebrities playing famous Fox News personalities, sometimes only in cameo, such as Alice Eve as Ainsely Earhardt, Ashley Greene as Abby Huntsman and Jennifer Morrison as Juliet Huddy. Though not a Fox News personality Susan Estrich is played in a supporting part by Allison Janney who perfectly captures her distinct raspy voice. Charlize Theron does a remarkable job of mimicking Megyn Kelley's voice, and physically becomes her, it's almost too good. Though he only has one scene Kevin Dorff's performance, in heavy make up and facial appliances, as Bill O'Reilly approaches the uncanny valley. John Lithgow's transformation into Fox New chief Roger Ailes recalls Christian Bale's becoming Dick Cheney in last years 'Vice'.

'Vice' in fact is a good jumping off point for this movie. Like it and 'The Big Short', 'Bombshell' is a movie about a serious subject helmed by a principally comedy director, in this case Jay Roach who did the 'Austin Powers' and 'Meet the Parents' movies, as well as HBO television films about recent presidential elections, 'Recount' and 'Game Change'. Like the earlier mentioned Adam McKay movies 'Bombshell' has its share of characters explaining things to the camera, and sometimes text telling  you who someone is supposed to be when they first appear on screen. The film is about the sexual harassment allegations against Roger Ailes, and how many of them accumulated over decades eventually lead to his losing his job. All this set to the background of the political rise of Donald Trump, himself subject of many allegations of harassment.

Fox News here comes across as a very toxic place to work, sexual harassment allegations were not limited to Ailes, these practices seem to have settled in to the corporate culture, not that they aren't present in all too many areas of American life and business, 'The Harvey Weinstein Story' also calls out to be made. Basically nobody depicted in this movie comes out looking very good. to my estimation at least. Megyn Kelly is a very reluctant, late to the game hero. Gretchen Carlson (played well by Nicole Kidman) doesn't finalize her suit against Ailes until her career is officially over at Fox, they fire her. Margot Robbie plays a composite character named Kayla Pospisil, a stand in for many of Ailes victims. Early in the film she pitches herself as wanting to be the networks voice for 'evangelical millennial's' and shortly there after hops into bed for sex with a woman she's known for only a day or two, SNL's Kate McKinnon playing a closeted Fox News producer, who doesn't know if her being a lesbian or her being a democrat would be the worse for her career if it got out. Everybody in this story, with a few possible minor character exceptions, is seemingly more focused on surface appearances then interior substance. Many conservatives see Fox News as something of a moral beacon, this story thoroughly undercuts that. This is one of the saddest movies of the year. ***1/2