Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)

'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans' makes excellent use of the 'crazy' aspects of Nicolas Cage's public persona; in a film with only marginal relation to the 1992 'Bad Lieutenant' staring Harvey Keitel. Set in post Katrina New Orleans, Cage plays Terence McDonagh, a cop with a rising career and rising drug problem, who gets his hands caught in multiple escalating plot threads. Directed by Werner Herzog the film contains some notably Herzogian moments, but really the film is both Cage's, and the cities, which plays an important role and in a way is a character in the film. This movie went in ways I was not expecting and was just a joy to watch. While it may take a bit to get into the rhythm of the thing, once you do just go with it and it's a fun, wild ride. An unexpected ***1/2.

Borat 2 (2020)

At the beginning of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Sacha Baron Cohen's character Borat has been serving hard time on a work gang for much of the previous 14 years, his earlier film while popular in America had proven an embarrassment to the ruling regime. Borat is given a second chance however and sent to America to bribe the Trump administration, a mission on which he is accompanied by his recently reunited daughter Tutar (Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova, who kind of steals the film). 

It's mostly an updated repeat of the original film, taking on America 2020 the way the original did the United States of 2006. The biggest difference is that the Borat character is now so well known that Cohen often has to layer additional disguise's atop the old Borat persona. I thought the funniest/ most awkward bits in the film had to do with Mike Pence (though not the gage you might be familiar with from the trailer) and an awkward country music song, though the Giuliani sequence got the most press, and probably isn't all that appears to be in the film. Though production started before Covid got to be wide spread here it is well worked into the film, and the topper gage at the end related to it is kind of brilliant. Obviously not for all audiences, but for those it is for I give it ***.

Mank (2020)

 'Mank' is a bio-pic of the screen writer Herman J. Mankiewicz. Staring the always great Gary Oldman in the title role, it uses "Manks" writing of 'Citizen Kane' as the framing story to tell in flash back of the authors complicated relationship with the thinly valid subjects of Kane, William Randolph Hearts (Charles Dance) and Marion Davis (Amanda Seyfried), as well as studio meddling in the 1934 California gubernatorial in election against openly socialist Democrat Upton Sinclair. 

The film is full of the kind of golden age Hollywood name dropping that I like and is exceedingly well written. There are rich, long conversation scenes that fill me with joy to see on the big screen (the film is coming to Netflix shortly but was given a limited theatrical run). I sincerely think it is even better then Aaron Sorkin's offering this year 'Chicago Seven', and he is perhaps my favorite screen writer working today. 'Mank' was written by in the 1990's by Jack Fincher, the father of the films director David Fincher. This movie was almost made circa 1997 with Kevin Spacy and Jodi Foster but fell apart in pre production. If Jack when the Oscar for original screen play this year it will be well deserved, and also historic in that Jack Fincher died back in 2003.

David Fincher does a very able job directing, it's kind of a dark film but still different from what we usually see from him. The black and white cinematography from Erik Messerschmidt is great, again Oscar worthy, it is movie about the making of 'Citizen Kane' that is shot as if it is 'Citizen Kane'. My favorite all around film of the year so far. ****

Fun Fact: That is 'Bill Nye the Science Guy' in cameo as Upton Sinclair. 

Borat (2006)

 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan' is one of the great film titles of all time. I recall the cultural phenom it was in the late W. Bush years but am just now getting around to seeing it, and largely as prep for seeing the 'Subsequent Movie-Film'. Borat of course is one of Sacha Baron Cohen's characters from his satirical early aughts program 'Da Ali G Show'. 

Borat Sagdiyex (Cohen) is a not particularly competent reporter from the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan, who travels to America to a make a documentary about the United States. It is largely an excuse for Cohen to interact with people in character, people who are largely not aware that Borat isn't the foreign journalist he says he is. There is a lot of awkward humor, and the film is interesting as a time capsule of the mid 2000's. 

The film even manages to have an arc, which though it focuses on Borat's infatuation with the actress Pamela Anderson (I'm a little surprised she was still kind of relevant circa 2005) still has some pathos. Borat is portrayed as not so much as bad man, as just an ignorant one, and that's what makes him ultimately likable and allows the film to work. A mockumentary of this type was pretty fresh for the time it came out and holds up even today, I give it, a bit to my surprise, ***. 

Planet of the Apes (1968)

 Of course I have seen the original 'Planet of the Apes' before, many times, but even though I rarely review films I first saw prior to 2005 I did want to briefly write about it, as I am in process of going through the franchise in preparation for a future podcast. I first saw 'Planet of the Apes' when I was around 12, I went in not knowing that twist and it floored me, I was amazed by it. 

I watched much of the subsequent franchise but seldom in full. I would stumble upon a film on television and just watch it from whatever mid point that I encountered it, seldom seeing the whole thing. Through deduction and a late 90's documentary called 'Behind the Planet of the Apes' (which I also recently re-watched) I was able to fit together the outline of the larger story, and determined that it was a paradox that really needed a 6th film to fully flesh out (the original franchise stopped its theatrical films at number 5). 

I saw the bad Tim Burton version from the turn of the millennialism, and feel the more recent reboot films are pretty strong and smart. In the first film of that more recent series they briefly set up a potential reboot of the original 68' films plot (returning astronaut) which I would be interested to see them make. I also recall Oliver Stone's alleged filtration with a new 'Apes' film in the 90's to star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The original film really holds up well, it's smart, has some interesting ideas, sold action pieces, it's exciting, and I even think the makeup holds up pretty well, not exactly realistic but it has a real charm and plays things pretty straight. Of course even the beloved twist is kind of ridiculous, the astronauts should have immediately known they were back on Earth because the talking apes spoke English, but the uninitiated just kind of go along with it as more or a less a plot necessity. The whole man cast is great and the very premise has a kind of inherent, curious appeal, I look forward to revisiting the subsequent films but acknowledge that the original will always be the best, ****.

Freaky Friday (1976)

The 1976 'Freaky Friday' is the original mother/daughter body swap comedy, at least to my knowledge. I don't know if I ever saw this film through in its entirety, nor any of the subsequent remakes, though I definitely have a memory of watching the end of this when I was a young child, it is one of the most kinetic of Disney movie endings. I think the film holds up remarkably well, I of course enjoyed the 1970'sness of the piece, but I think even audiences more then 40 years on could by and large enjoy it. Jodi Foster's performance is of course what is remembered now, but I thought Barbara Harris's just as good, if not better. Always fun to see John Astin as well. Having recently watched some of the poorer Disney live action films of the 70's the quality of this one really stood out. *** 

Bloodsport (1988)

 'Bloodsport' is reportedly Donald Trump's favorite movie, or at least one of them. I am not making this up, you can find multiple sources for this. So I was curious and with the film currently streaming free on multiple platforms I decided to give it watch. The first thing that stood out to me is that 'Bloodsport' is one of the worst acted movies I have ever seen, and I love Roger Corman movies. The second thing that stood out to me is that 'Bloodsport' is fun, I enjoyed watching it. 

This early Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle was produced by the predominate low rent film house of the the 1980's 'The Cannon Group', and to my surprise is based on a true story. Well kinda, very loosely, well the lead character exists. Frank Dux is a former United States Marine who claimed both to be an undercover CIA operative (the CIA denies this) and the first white man to win the "Kumite", an alleged, secret, international martial arts tournament, whose existence has never been independently substantiated. So the movie is full of baseless claims, rather Trumpian. But at lest Dux stood up to the establishment, though this establishment likely never existed. More Trumpian truthiness. 

Though ridiculous it can be fun to watch (again Trump), well mounted fight sequences and a hokey kind of charm. So I can see why 'The Donald' would like it, and I could certainly enjoyably sit through it again, which is not something I could say for another Trump term as president. **1/2

The New Mutants (2020)

A strange orphan of a film, appropriate for one concerning a group of orphaned mutants, 'The New Mutants' was actually filmed back in 2017 with eyes on an early 2018 release. The film fell victim to various problems principally the take over of 20th Century Fox by Disney so that its late August 2020 release in recently Covid reopened theaters, amounts to a dumping, an inglorious whimper of an end to the once genre defining Bryan Singer X-Men franchise. 

Always a lose franchise in its continuity, this film feels even more orphaned in that it is not at all clear where it is supposed to fit in time line wise with the other movies. Not that that matters much as this film concerns new characters who we well never seen again. A group of 5 young, ethnically and geographically diverse mutants (Russian, Irish, Brazilian, Native American, and Kentuckian) brought together for testing at an isolated former Catholic school. The cast includes Maise Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, and Alice Braga as the facilities mysterious lone administrator, also a mutant. 

Directed and co-written by Josh Boone, best know for 2014's 'The Fault in Our Stars', this is an appropriately teen angsty X-Men movie, an even contains a young lesbian romance. For the most part pretty predictable and un inspired, the cast does a decent enough job and I found I liked the ending. On the whole unexceptional filler, though new comer Blu Hunt makes a good first impression as the lead. **

Lord Love a Duck (1966)

 Watching 'Lord Love a Duck' I had a very hard time getting a grasp on the tone of the thing, it's not what I thought it would be, maybe I should have watched the trailer first. On the surface a satire of 1960's California youth culture, beach party movies, high school education (probably my favorite joke in the thing is the botany class being renamed as 'Plant Skills for Life'), organized religion, therapy, class distinction and more, it is a deeply cynical and at times unpleasant film. 

However I have to respect the guts it took to make it. Directed and adapted for the screen by George Alexrod, one of the most successful and respected screen writers of the time ('Breakfast at Tiffany's', 'The Manchurian Candidate') from the 1961 novel 'The Innocent Infidels' by Al Hurt. I was so perplexed and intrigued by this film that I tried to hunt down a copy of Hurt's book, which turns out is difficult to find. Further research also showed that this is apparently a rather lose adaptation of the source material, and that Hurt himself would spend much of his career writing tie-in books to popular TV series like 'Bewitched' or doing the novelizations of films such as 'Promise her Anything' or 'In Like Flint'.

The plot concerns brilliant high school senior Alan "Mollymauk" Musgrave (Roddy McDowell) promising the beautiful girl from the wrong side of the tracks Barbra Ann Green (Tuesday Weld) that he will get her anything she wants in life, and he does too, regardless of what it takes to get it. Needles to say things do not turn out as planed for either of them. The two leads work well enough together, the chemstry is a little odd but so is their relationship. About half way through the movie Barbara Ann asks Alan "I don't understand, what do you get out of this?" I had the same question. 

The movie is filmed in black and white, I think in part to try and hide some the 15 year age difference between the leads, with Roddy at 37 playing 17. Boasting some good gages, and a catchy theme song, the film is so sharp, biting, envelope pushing and at times sexually uncomfortable, I'm not sure who exactly Axelrod made it for other then himself. I just don't see much of the supposed teen audience getting it, and the film did fail at the box office. In the trailer they use the catch phrase 'An Act of Pure Aggression' and that pretty well captures it. **1/2 

Horse Girl (2020)

 'Horse Girl' is a Netflix original movie written and directed by Jeff Baena, and if this is any indication of the quality of his other work I should probably check it out. Shades of the Netflix series 'The OA' and 'Stranger Things', 'Horse Girl' is an interesting hybrid of a movie, a character study that evolves into something more abstract and science fictionie. Alison Brie gives probably the best performance I've seen from her as Sarah (last name never given) a quite, semi-reclusive girl in say her early 30's, who works at a craft store and shares an apartment with her more outgoing roommate (Debbie Ryan, also likely the best performance I've seen from her, not that she's really scratching anything and no where near the quality of Brie's).  

Sarah's hum drum life is going along as usual until she starts having experiences with missing time, and disturbing dreams, and starts to act more and more unhinged, which is particularly troubling to those around her given a family history of mental illness. The fantastical elements of the story are well handled and smart, the film never spells everything out for you but their is a definite sense of dream logic, like much of David Lynch's work. 

However what made this movie work for me is Sarah as a character, Brie's performance, and the kind of intricate personal backstory that is slowly parsed out to the viewer. It's very thorough, I've know people like this before and I really felt like I got to know Sarah. Little insightful things that would have been brushed aside or never brought up in a more hurried movie are given their do. The cast of supporting characters in Sarah's life, co-workers, roommate, step father, childhood friend, and even the people that take care of the horse that once belonged to her give the sense of a full life. This is in effect an indie movie that casually works its way into sci-fi territory. One of the most impressive films I've seen in this very limited movie year. I highly recommend, but be aware of the R rating going in. ***1/2

The Castaway Cowboy (1974)

 Set in late 19th century Hawaii, referred to here as the 'Sandwich Islands', 'The Castaway Cowboy' concerns a shanghaied Texas cow hand (James Garner) who becomes stranded on the isle of Kauai and ultimately helps a widow (Vera Miles) and her son (Eric Shea) revitalize their struggling potato farm as a cattle ranch and save it from a possessive banker (Robert Culp) and his hired witch doctor (Manu Tupou). Mildly racist this bottom of the barrel Disney fair still has its own limited kind of charm, an odd mixture of irony and sincerity. The rushed, lazy and cheap fair that director Vincent McEveety pushed out in mass for Buena Vista through the 1970's. At first I thought this might be kind of fun and redeemable, but it's largely lifeless and super predictable. Simply put, while I couldn't quite hate it, it is honestly bad, probably one of the 3 or 4 worst Disney film's I've ever seen. *

Georgy Girl (1966)

 I actually think I saw the very ending of this film sometime during my middle school years but was chiefly familiar with it from the great title song performed by The Seekers. 'Georgie Girl' stars Lynn Redgrave as Georgina "Georgy" Parkin, the slightly pudgy, 22 year old, virginal daughter of a London house servant, who is surprised (Georgie is) when she goes from zero to two potential romantic suiters, both of them involved with women she knows. This was a more serious film then I expected it to be, though a comedy of the swinging London school it deals with some weighty matters and melancholy and is effective as a character study. Ms. Redgrave gives a strong performance in an impressive character arc, the supporting cast including James Mason, Alan Bates, and a 19 year old Charlotte Rampling are all solid. I was really impressed, and suspect this film will warrant later re visiting. *** 

Season of the Witch (1973)

'Season of the Witch' aka 'Jack's Wife' aka 'Hungry Wives' is a satirical domestic drama that introduces some supernatural natural ideas early on but doesn't come to be dominated by them till the last third or so. The third feature from 'Night of the Living Dead' director George A. Romero (he made a romantic comedy between this and that film which I have now added to my Amazon watchlist), it's uneven but intriguing, what some might call 'an interesting failure.'

Filmed in and around Romero's home base of Pittsburg with a mostly local cast and crew, the stand out performance is easily that of the films star Jan White, playing Joan Mitchell a 40ish house wife with a husband often away on business and a 19 year old daughter living at home but going to a local collage. Joan is dissatisfied with her life, which is communicated in large part through dream sequences that are some of the best moments of the film, including one in which her husband takes her to a kennel for when he's away on business. On a lark, and though nervous about it as she is a devote Catholic, Joan accompanies a friend to a tarot card reading, where she is introduced to the idea of 'practical witchcraft', which she puts of perusing until her domestic life is complicated when her daughter runs away after having been caught in an affair with one of her professors, played by Raymond Laine the films other most memorable performance.

While the final product comes across as not fully realized with a good share of flat moments, there are parts that are quite good if understandably melodramatic, and there is something kind of haunting about the lead actress. More an abstract then overt horror movie I went in expecting that it wouldn't be able to keep my attention, but it did sufficiently for me to be able to sit through the 89 minute cut I saw, though the apparently lost original cut was over 2 hours and a 1 hour 45 minute cut is apparently also available, and might even be worth hunting down. Definitely not for everyone but for me **1/2.