Honey Boy (2019)

'Honey Boy' grew out of a writing assignment given to Shia LaBeouf while in rehab. Though somewhat fictionalized the movie focuses on a LaBeouf surrogates complicated relationship with his ex rodeo clown father, and seems to explain a lot about why the actor is the way that he is. Directed by Alma Har'el and Isreali who specializes in documentary work and music videos the film has a style that emphasizes the 'performance piece' aspect of the thing. Actors Lucas Hedges and Noah Jupe who play LaBeouf in his 20's and at 12 respectively do solid work, especially Jupe but the film is anchored by the real LaBeouf as his own father, it is easily the greatest piece of acting I've ever seen from Shia, who otherwise always seems to be playing himself, here he is not. It takes a while to take shape and is not for everybody, I myself wasn't really digging it until more then half way through, but it won me over, a unique and personal piece of work. ***

If Footmen Tire You What Will Horses Do? (1971)

'If Footmen Tire You What Will Horses Do?' is a low budget early 70's Christian propaganda film presented as what it is, a sermon from evangelist Estus Pirkle with illustrative vignettes of America under communist rule, something that Pirkle predicted would occur within 24 months. Pirkle stresses that this communist take over is different from the tribulations before Christ comes, and states that every incident depicted in the film is taken from something that actually happened in a communist country. Pirkle is very much against communism, he is also against such varied things as drug use, dancing, and Saturday morning cartoons. Cecil Scaife, an actor whose resume indicates he specialized in various exploration films seems to be just having a ball playing the Stalin like  main communist bad guy during the illustrative segments. The movie ends in an emotionally manipulative alter call. It's bad but at 52 minutes also kind of worth seeing. *

The Rise of Jordan Peterson (2019)

'The Rise of Jordan Peterson' is a documentary on the controversial Canadian professor and author Jordan Peterson. I first became aware of Mr. Peterson some time around 2017, I had a roommate who was a big fan. I've listened to and watched interviews with and segments of speech's from Mr. Peterson but I've never read his work. There are things about Mr. Peterson I like and things that I don't and I've had an unusually difficult time trying to figure out just how I feel about him. I can't seem to pin him down, though I've persistently felt I'm not getting the whole story from him, like he's holding back and I've never been able to get beyond that. For a time I thought this documentary was probably going to put him in my pro column, but in the last 20 or 30 minutes I was decidedly back in the undecided camp. This is a well done documentary, its thought provoking and they don't shy away from interviewing his critics as well as his friends, some of whom are both at once. The film seems to have been shot in segments in 2015, 2016 and 2018 and focuses on his swift and unexpected rise to celebrity status circa 2017. If you don't know much or anything about Mr. Peterson this is a good introduction, about the only commitment you'll get from me about the man is that he is interesting. ***1/3

Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc

Leave No Trace (2018)

'Leave No Trace' concerns a father and daughter living off the grid in the Oregon woods. Ben Foster is a veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan, he's traumatized and doesn't like people much so choses to live in the woods with his daughter Thomasin McKenize, both are just excellent in this. Foster's a good and adoring dad and his daughter loves him so when park rangers find them and turn them over to social services an effort is made by their case worker (Dana Millican) to keep them together. They set them up in a small house on a tree farm where Foster can work and McKenize can be enrolled in school, mostly for socialization purposes as testing shows that the father has educated the daughter well beyond her grade level. Foster however chaffs under the social structures and it becomes increasing clear he can only take 'a civilized life' for so long. 

The film is directed by Debra Granik who made a star out of Jennifer Lawrence in 'Winters Bone' As a director she is great with evoking a sense of place, 'Bone' is very much the Ozarks while 'Trace' evokes the ethos of parts of the Pacific Northwest, from the well funded social services, to a kind of hippy church our leads briefly attend. I really found this moving, it's just a beautiful movie and I highly recommend. Though slowly paced the story and actors performances are so involving that I was never bored. Based on a true story. ****

Lawless (2012)

'Lawless' is based on the historical novel 'The Wettest County in the World' which is based on the true story of a family of bootleggers, three brothers in Franklin County, Virginia who ran moonshine during prohibition. I liked the music and parts concerning the menionte like church, but little else. This is a 'talent bomb' lot of wasted stars, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldmen, Jason Clark, Guy Pearce, even Shia LaBeouf. Perahps the most interesting thing about it is that Mia Wasikowska was billed above Jessica Chastain, who unexpectedly has a nude scene. **

The Magic Flute (1975)

'The Magic Flute' is Ingmar Bergman's adaptation of the Mozart opera of the same name. While I wasn't really familiar with the story, it's mythology of some sort, possibly original, I did recognize some of the music. Bergman's version presents the story as a stage production of the opera, during the overture we see the faces of various members of the audience, and during the intermission we see the actors taking a break backstage, possible my favorite part. I was starting to zone out a little towards the end as the movie is 145 minutes long, but on the whole it was good and I enjoyed it. This movie is very different both from Bergman's other works and from movie's generally but kind of refreshing for so being. ***

The Golem: Full Sound (1920/2013)

'The Golem: How He Came into the World' is a silent, expressionist, German horror film co-directed and staring Paul Wegner as the titular Golem. Wagner who looks a bit like 'Guardian's of the Galaxy' actor Dave Bautista has a great presence, and made two other silent Golem films before this one, he also seems like quite the interesting character from the little I read about him online. 'The Golem' is a kind of folk story, a monster made of clay and brought to life by a Jewish mystic to protect the residents of the Jewish ghetto in medieval Prague. A classic silent picture I'd long wanted to see, this full sound re-cut came out in 2013, shortens things and makes it probably easier to sit through for the 21st century viewer. Most of the title cards are removed and the unsynced voice dubbing has an anime affect to it. I liked it though, the story and look of the thing is interesting and the modern dub and score makes for a nice contrast. ***

Granite Flats

In the writers’ room: the late 1980s Steve Allen radio show, with Bob Einstein and others

George Washington Slept Here (1942)

Stage play adapted into a Jack Benny vehicle. In 'George Washington Slept Here' Benny and Ann Sheridan play a New York couple who buy and attempt to fix up a dilapidated, two century old Pennsylvania farm house, a major selling point being that George Washington supposedly slept there. Basically this is a forerunner to 'The Money Pit', it takes a while to build up steam but by the ending it is great screwball. A nice supporting cast of characters actors including Charles Coburn, Hattie McDaniel and Percy Kilbride who is particularly good reprising his stage role. Actress Joyce Reynolds who plays Sheridan's kid sister has a face that's 70% smile, she is still with us at 95. ***  

Closer (2004)

'Closer' is based on the stage play of the same name and see's director Mike Nichols return to a major through-line of his work, dysfunctional, even toxic relationships. The four star leads give strong performances, the dialogue is good and there are a few interesting moments with the camera, but I didn't like this. Everyone here is unpleasant to one degree or another and I didn't really like anybody, though I hated Clive Owen worst of all, remember Clive Owen? Hard to find much of any fault in the production itself, it's well done, but without a sufficient rooting interested for me it was just people being awful and I can't recommend it. **

Apocalypse Later: Harold Camping vs The End of the World (2013)

Documentary on long time evangelist Harold Camping and his failed prediction of the rapture occurring on May 21st, 2011. 'Apocalypse Later: Harold Camping vs The End of the World' is a documentary by Zeke Piestrup who got Camping to agree to let him follow him around with a camera and interview him many times over the days and weeks leading up to May 21st 2011, and ultimately a couple of times there after. I wasn't super impressed with the documentary as a whole or the way it was put together, the interviews with Camping and his associates are interspersed with contextual ones with Biblical scholars such as Bart Ehrman, for me a lot of this was basic stuff but I recognize it wouldn't be for many of this films viewers.

 

The scenes with Camping among his supporters at what many of them expected to be their last church service is the standout sequence in the film, a fascinating peaking into a subculture in a very expectant time. What surprised me most about the film was how much I liked Camping, he seems like a nice guy. Not the bomb thrower one might expect, he comes across a kindly, pleasant fellow, not aggressive or mean, he was just convinced the world was gonna end and thought people should know. Though he hedged on the exact date for a number of months following this 'great disappointment', Camping ultimately owned it, admitted he was wrong and confessed attrition at his presumption and it seems sincere. I'm not sure I could really recommend this full documentary to a general audience, but the footage of that would be last service and the pot luck that followed is a fascinating slice of life. **1/2

Mississippi Burning (1988)

'Mississippi Burning' is a fictionalized account of the FBI investigation into the murders of three civil rights workers in 1964 Mississippi rendered as a thriller. Roger Ebert's favorite film of 1988, well constructed and acted with a lean taught direction by Alan Parker, enveloping sense of place and a brilliantly underplayed lead performance by Gene Hackman as an FBI man who himself had once been a small town Mississippi sheriff. More then 30 years on this white centric account feels a little off, as does making J. Edger Hoovers FBI the hero's of a civil rights story (reminds me how odd I found it that there was a movie called 'Black Panther' in which the CIA character (Martin Freeman) was a good guy). So seeing this movie for the first time now as opposed to closer to the time of its original release lessens the impact some, this story terrain is much more well trodden now, our perceptions more woke. Still it's a solid film, Hackman's great in it and the depiction of the time and place of its setting feels very real. Also this may be the first time I've found a Frances McDormand's performance (whose long been a great actress) to be sexy. ***1/2

Attack of the Puppet People (1958)

Lonely doll maker (John Hoyt) who is also an improbably brilliant scientists who findings could reshape our very understanding of the universe, uses his skills to shrink acquaintances to doll size and keeps them hostage so he can have company at night. Distributed by B-movie house American International Pictures 'Attack of the Puppet People' is better then it should be. It's aged relatively well for what it was and its budget, the effects are pretty good in the 'Incredible Shrinking Man'/ 'Land of the Giants' school. Lead actress June Kenney looks like she could be but is not related to the actress Emily Kinney late of 'The Walking Dead'. This movie is everything you could reasonably want of it. ***

1,150 Free Movies Online: Great Classics, Indies, Noir, Westerns, etc.

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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

Based on the book of the same name 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' tells the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor of French Elle who had a stroke in 1995 and ended up suffering from 'Locked in Syndrome' a sever form of paralysis that left him able to communicate only by blinking his eyes. Bauby dictated the 140-odd page book, which tells of his experiences with the condition, via an assistant reading through the alphabet arranged by letter frequency and his blinking when he wanted to chose a letter. This painstaking process, and the painstaking life he lead prior to dying from pneumonia in 1997 are beautifully rendered, its a strong at times powerful film, though not really fun to watch. Matthieu Amlric plays Bauby, he gets to move around during flash back sequences but mostly he just sits there, his performance powerfully non the less (Almric is perhaps best known for playing the Bond villain in 'Quantum of Solace' released the next year). This movie was filmed in the actual hospital where Bauby lived the last two years of his life. Max von Sydow has a small but important role as Bauby's father, who was also suffering from admittedly less sever mobility problems of his own. A real achievement for director Julian Schnabel, an American (though the film was shot in French) who comes from the world of painting. ****

Encounters with the Unknown (1973)

Rod Serling narrates this anthology film of three tales of the supernatural supposedly based on real events. It sucks, they are urban legends, at least two which you've probably heard before in one form or another, and they play like decidedly below par episodes of 'Night Gallery' and 'Night Gallery' doesn't have a great par to begin with. Skip it. *

Léon: The Professional (1994)

'Léon: The Professional' is an English language, French produced action movie that holds the distinction of being the film debut of a 13 year old Natalie Portman. Directed by Luc Besson who like Cameron Crowe is a successful director with a distinct style of which I'm not really a fan. Portman gets to display some youthful acting chops in this, and I mostly liked the ending, as well as some of the character bits between her and Jean Reno (the seemingly autistic assassin next door who gives her shelter after her dysfunctional family is gunned down by crooked cops, oops spoiler). The film self consciously goes out of its way to give characters quarks as substitute for character building, i. e. Reno's Leon loves milk. Gary Oldman has an oddly specific drug use ritual, a sort of  a low rent Frank from 'Blue Velvet', and he looks eerily like present day Sam Rockwell, while Danny Aiello plays a greasy restaurant owner, big stretch. Tween Portman is at times uncomfortably sexualized in this. **

Kenny Rogers: The Gambler (1980)

This TV movie premiered on CBS in April of 1980, loosely inspired by what is arguably singer/star Kenny Rogers signature song 'The Gambler' is a surprisingly enjoyable western that benefits much from not trying too hard. 'The Gambler' is not setting about trying to reinvent the wheel, is full of likable though stock type characters headed by Kenny Rogers in a relaxed, and none to taxing performance as an extremely skilled wild west card player. Only about an hour and a half it plays like a paper back pulp novel out of the 50's, watching it evoked siting on ones porch in a breezy early evening and a soda in one hand and some Wayne D Overholser in the other. Lee Purcell is very winning in this, wish she'd had more of a career. This movie spawned four sequels. I really enjoyed it. ***

Aloha (2015)

'Aloha' reminds me why I hate Cameron Crowe. No I don't really "hate" Cameron Crowe, in fact I've liked some of  his stuff like 'Vanilla Sky' and 'Almost Famous', I even love 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' (which of course he didn't direct but wrote). 'Aloha' reminded me of 'Elizabethtown' which I think was the first Cameron Crowe movie I saw and like this one it pissed me off. It's too cutesy, and in love with its self, and there's too much going on, and arguably too many characters, and it's all over the place and the tones not consistent and it just got on my nerves. It bugged me. There are actors that I usually quite like in it and they bugged me. I thought the first two thirds kind of awful, the last third was better but it still never came together, it's really uneven and hard to put a pin down on exactly what it is trying to be because it's trying to be too many things at once. There were a few things I liked, John Krasinski's man of few words, and a scene near the end between Bradley Cooper and Danielle Rose Russell. For the most part the cast is really wasted. In lesser hands before and behind the camera this would have just been mediocre, but given the wasted talent, and its Uber Cameron Croweness it pissed me off, though not as much as 'Elizabethtown'  *1/2

The Band Played On (1993)

Landmark for its subject matter and all star cast 'The Band Played On' is an HBO television movie that tells the story of the discovery of AIDS and scientists efforts to pin point the cause, nature, and possible origin of the virus in 1980's, as a first step towards treatment (since arrived at) and cure (still a long way off?). In the spirit of movies like 'All the Presidents Men' and 'Spotlight' there are of course some character moments but its mostly about the investigation and its rather compelling. Very solid the film speaks for its self in such a straight foreword manner that I find I have little to add. ***1/2

Canyon Crossroads (1955)

'Canyon Crossroads' is a contemporary western shot in and around Moab, Utah. It's a story of claim jumping, but instead of gold it's uranium. Phyllis Kirk's character gets stuck in the partially collapsed uranium cave for a day or two with a broken ankle, she get's out, but I'm pretty sure that character would later die of cancer. This movie is unforgivably dull, it's best moment is a bar fight early on in a place called 'The Moab Club'.  The fight isn't memorable but the interior of 'The Moab Club' is, it looks like a half cylindrical army bunker with pictures of horses on the wall, I hope that place is still there. *

Cuban Rebel Girls (1959)

'Cuban Rebel Girls' aka 'Assault of the Rebel Girls' is the last film that Errol Flynn ever made, he died a few months before it's December 1959 release. Also written by Flynn the married 50 year old actor appears in it beside his then 16 year old girlfriend Beverly Aadland, Aadland needless to say can't really act, that's not why she was on set in a country with less strict statuary rape laws. This pro Castro film was made with the cooperation of then insurgent forces in an actual war zone, this is before Castro came out as a communist. Done in a semi documentary style, Flynn appears as himself, for some reason on assignment from the Hurst Newspaper Syndicate to cover the fighting in Cuba. Aadland plays an American teen who comes to the island because her boyfriend is there fighting, it's not long before she too is sporting khaki's and working with a kind of women's auxiliary force. The movie was directed by Flynn's former personal pilot turned manager Barry Mahon whose last film credit is 'Nudes, Nudists, and Nudism Vol. 2' (1994). This movie is bad, but at times strangely fascinating in its shear improbability of existence. *1/2

Flynn and Aadland's story is told in the 2013 movie 'The Last of Robin Hood' where they are played by Kevin Kline and Dakota Fanning.

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965)

Based on the 1963 John le Carré novel of the same name 'The Spy Who Came In from the Cold' was directed by Martin Ritt ('Hud', 'Norma Rae') and stars Richard Burton, Clair Bloom, and Oskar Warner. In stark contrast to the 'James Bond' films, 'Danger Man' TV show and other spy based programing of the time 'The Spy Who Came In from the Cold' is well, stark. It's gray, depressing, and understated, filmed appropriately in black and white near the end of the era where that was commercially viable. This movie does not glamorize spydom at all, written by a former British intelligence officer it tells the story of a British agent (Burton, a perfect part for him, his face says it all) assigned to pretend to defect to the other side so as to feed the communists false information and throw them off the trail of a real double agent behind the iron curtain. Someone Burton's character loves gets accidently caught up in things raising the stakes. At times too slow and too moody, there is not much to break up the 'blah' of things. Works better perhaps as individual scenes then a complete film but what works works very well. ***

The Terror (1963)

The story of how this movie was made is much more interesting then the movie itself. "The Terror" was conceived as a way to take advantage of old sets from the movie "The Raven" before they were taken down. The castle scenes were filmed over two days, and later scenes filmed piecemeal at other locations there after. The movie went through constant rewrites and five directors (including then film student Francis Ford Copula) and as a result makes very little sense. The only movie in which Jack Nicholson appears on screen with his then wife Sandra Knight. Also featuring Boris Karloff and Dick Miller. It's really bad. *

Blue Hawaii (1961)

I think I enjoyed this movie more having been to Hawaii last October then I would have had I not visited there. "Blue Hawaii" is an Elvis vehicle where "The King" eschews the family fruit business in favor of getting involved in the tourist industry upon his discharge after two years in the army in Europe. The film manages to cram in 14 songs in an hour and 42 minutes. Angela Lansbury plays Elvis's mom and does a horrible southern accent. Jenny Maxwell plays a teenage tourist who falls for Elvis, she was later killed at age 39 along with her husband in a still unsolved robbery attempt in 1981. The film was directed by best director Oscar winner Norman Taurog ('Skippy' 1931). **

There's Something About Mary (1998)

I liked this, I thought it worked, of course that particular strain of the pseudo transgressive sensibility that is behind it was far fresher then. Enormously successful when it first came out it's most famous of course for a couple of naughty humor scenes, but the film does have heart, not a ton of it, but enough. Ben Stiller is really good in this, his shtick was fresher then to, and Cameron Diaz makes the film, I'm not a huge fan of her's but she's perfect here. It's a gross out comedy sure, but not as gross as they are now days, and I'm surprised how much that Matt Dillon and the dog scene made me laugh. There is something of the spirit of old screwball comedy to this, and I love the ending with the five suitors in the room, I could imagine Howard Hawks or George Cukor doing something like that. Also solid sound track with pop music as well as some standards by Cole Porter and the like in background scenes. ***

City Slickers 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994)

'City Slickers 2' made me angry. 'City Slickers 2' should not exist. It is a stain on the legacy of the original 'City Slickers', which is close to a platonic ideal of what it intended to be. The sequel  is a pale imitation which turns what had a been a thoughtful, ruminative comedy into an unfunny treasure hunt. A slog to sit through, an embarrassment. Jon Lovitz for God's sake. Not since 'The Miniver Story' have I so hated a sequel. 1/2.

Friday the 13th (1980)

The bulk of this franchise is free on Prime right now so I thought I'd see how many of them I could make it through and the answer to that is one. One is about as bad as I thought number four would be, not that it's consistently violent, its surprisingly slow with most the violence near the end, sadly that's not helpful. There is a twist in this that I was aware where the killer is different then who the killer would be in the subsequent films, maybe had I not been aware of that there would have been something there where I could say 'See that's something, that' s something different'. About the only thing that I really enjoyed was a short scene where one of the camp counselors is doing a Kathryn Hepburn impression to herself in the mirror, and I just like that Kathryn Hepburn would have been a point of reference known to teens in 1980. The last 10 minutes or so of this is notably weird, pacing and tone and some of the visuals, but not enough to be worth a recommendation. It's just bad. *