2021 In Review

 My standard best of year list as well as some other things for a planed podcast

Best films of 2021

Licorice Pizza 

The Card Counter 

Last Night in Soho

The French Dispatch

West Side Story 

The Eyes of Tammy Faye 

Dune 

Pig 

Spencer

Don't Look Up

Honorable Mention: 

The Little Things, Nobody, Cruella, In the Heights, The Dig

Worst films of 2021: Coming 2 America, Godzilla vs. Kong, Witnesses, Black Widow 

Favorite Movie we watched on the podcast this year: The Exorcist. Network, Tree of Life. The Little Things

The worst: Mixed Nuts

Some favorites from previous years that I saw for the first time this year: 

Wildfire (2019) Paul Schrader Hardcore (1979) Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist *Father Marrin * (2005) Whitt Stillman movies;  Barcelona  (1994) and The Metropolitan (1990) Ragtime - Milos Formen (1981) (E L Doctrow novel) Paul Thomas Anderson Boogie Nights (1997) Hard Eight (1996) Awakings (1990) The Taking of Pelham, One, Two, Three (1974)

Starship Troopers (1997)

Books, I tended to read a lot of things in double feature this year: 

The Tea Pot Dome Scandle: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country by Laton McCartney and The Inside Story of the Harding Tragedy by Harry Daugherty.

Frank J. Cannon: Saint, Senator, Scoundrel by Val Holley and Under the Prophet in Utah by Frank J. Cannon. 

Axioms End and Truth of the Divine by Lindsey Ellis 

His Very Best: Jimmy Carter a Life by Johnathan Alter 

Being the Ricardos (2021)

 I had little interest in this Lucy and Desi bio-pic until I learned of the involvement of Aaron Sorkin. 'Becoming the Ricardos' is set amidst a turbulent week of production on 'I Love Lucy', in which Lucy is accused of being a communist by Walter Winchell, Desi is accused of having an affair by Confidential Magazine, and a way of dealing with Lucy's pregnancy must be found at a time in which such subject matter was (in hindsight, rather perplexingly) verboten on television. The film also contains flash backs on the title couples relationship over the years. 

Nicole Kidman, a somewhat controversial casting choice for Lucy does an excellent job, Javier Bardem is also very good in a part that's a natural fit for him. Fine supporting work by J. K. Simons, Nina Arianda, Alia Shawkat and Tony Hale in the most against type performance I've seen him in. Sorkin's writing is solid, there is some really good stuff in here, though he's not exactly stretching, his direction is for the most part a little bland. One does wonder why make this story now as the Ricardo's have largely faded from the collective memory of Millennials and is likely absent from that of Gen Z, but maybe that's the reason to make it. ***

Magnolia (1999)

 Just two days before watching this movie I was having a conversation with a friend in which it was commented on how much I tend to like Paul Thomas Anderson films, and I do though he can be something of an acquired taste. In fact 'Magnolia' the last of the directors features films I had not yet seen turned out to be the only one I didn't like. 

Now I liked parts of it, the Philip Seymore Hoffman/ Jason Robards storyline, much of the performances by Tom Cruse, Julian Moore, Philip Baker Hall, John C. Riley. There are wonderfully creative prolog sequences, and late in the film one of the most WTF things I've ever seen in a movie, and I love being surprised. Also the theme of the movie is the life bending effects of child abuse, and it's hard not to get behind a film that calls that out. 

However the film is overlong and heavy handed, a very late 90's flavor of the cynical come maudlin. An Atlmanesque melodrama, a 'Crash' like soap opera. Less then the sum of it's parts, the cumulative effect is a sledge hammer where a chisel is needed. William H. Macey and the all the game show stuff, didn't work for me. An overly ambitious, dated mixed bag, but at least it's interesting, risk taking, and contains some fine performances. **1/2

Licorice Pizza (2021)

'Licorice Pizza' is a deceptively sweet coming of age movie/love story. Set in 1973 Encino, California the film is Paul Thomas Anderson's tribute to the world of his earliest memories, in that sense a kind of rough equivalent to Quinton Tarantino's 'One Upon a Time in Hollywood'. 

The moment Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, a frequent collaborator of Anderson's) sees Alana Kaye (indie singer Alana Haim) he is smitten, and despite her being 25 and he only 15 he will contrive anyway imaginable for the two spend time together, from chaperoning to joint business ventures.

Gary is a child actor starting to age out of peak castability, as with many characters in Paul Thomas Anderson's work he is a natural born hustler, always looking for money making opportunities, here ranging from water beds to pinball machines. 

His background in film allows for brushing against fictionalized version of real celebrates of the time, including a Lucile Ball type (Christine Ebersole) and Bradly Cooper as Jon Peters, a real life hair dresser, film producer, and famed lady's man whose been married to both Leslie Ann Warren and Pamela Anderson, as well as a decade long relationship with Barbara Streisand. I particularly enjoyed Tom Waits as a Sam Peckinpah type director and Sean Penn as a William Holden type star, I wouldn't of thought Penn could be made to look so much like Holden. 

The film buts against the 1970's more generally, everything from the arb oil embargo to closeted gay politicians, but the relationship between Gary and Alana is that timeless, awkward yearning kind, and Hoffman and Haim are wonderful, fully capable of anchoring the film in what is each of their screen debuts. 

Episodic in structure but thoroughly charming, very evocative of its time and place and of course boasting a wonderful period sound track. One of the best films of the year. ****

It's A Wonderful World (1939)

 Seven years before staring in the unforgettable "It's a Wonderful Life", Jimmy Stewart stared in the forgettable "It's A Wonderful World", appearing opposite top billed Claudette Colbert. The two play a PI and poetess respectively who end up on the lamb trying to prove a drunken millionaire innocent of killing his mistress. A screw ball comedy, but awful slow for one, though Colbert tries to make up for that by being unusually manic, which I found a trifle off-putting. Stewart seemed to still be getting his sea legs as an actor, though this is actually the same year as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" so it's probably the script, and maybe direction. **

Little Women (1994)

 This is the second version of 'Little Women' I've seen, the first of course being Greta Gerwig's 2019 version, which I still prefer but the charm is certainly here as well. I think the Wynona Ryder / Gabriel Byrne romance may work a little better then the Soarise Ronan/ Guy who left little impression paring. ***1/2

Hard Eight (1997)

 With 'The Card Counter' I thought I'd already seen my smart story about 'an older gambler taking a troubled young man under his wing' movie for the year. Interestingly both these films are helmed by writer/directors named Paul, the first Paul Schrader, and the second 'Hard Eight' by Paul Thomas Anderson in his first feature film. There is so much raw talent on display in 'Hard Eight', and while it at times resembles the early work of Quinton Tarantino (an appropriate comparison often made), Anderson gives his work a subtler more reflective tone. Featuring Sam Jackson (Tarantino again), John C. Riley and Gwyneth Paltrow, the stand out performance is given by Philip Baker Hall, then in his mid 60's and arguably the best part he's ever been given, Richard Nixon excepted. Though I had not known this going into the movie, it turns out it's also a kind of a Christmas film, in addition to being a worthy character study of the marginalized, a signature theme of Paul Thomas's work. ****

Better Watch Out (2017)

 A kind of Christmas home invasion movie 'Better Watch Out' sets its self up to be one thing, and then turns out to be something rather different. I loved that, so I won't say much beyond how much I enjoyed how cleaver and unexpected this movie turned out to be. ***

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

'Spider-Man: No Way Home ' is yet another Marvel spectacle movie, but it is saved by somehow managing to feel low key. The cross over palooza's we've gotten from the studio over the last 10 years have lessened the impact of seeing characters cross franchise, but this movie takes that concept (and via it's recently introduced multi-verse) allows us to again see characters we haven't seen in some time, and thought we never would again. You know it was good to see them. The plot is sufficient, and there are a few significant cannon events that will surly play an important role later on, but the small interpersonal dialogue moments make the movie. I have issues with certain plot elements, especially the resolution that seems to hold up to scrutiny even less then the average comic book story line, still I had a good time. *** 

The Night Before (2015)

 Long time friend's Seth Rogan, Anthony Mackie, and Joseph Gordan Leavitt decide to observe a tradition one last time and spend Christmas Eve out on the town in Manhattan. Hijinks ensue, they all learn something that helps them grow, and drug dealing angel Micheal Shannon finally gets his wings. Slightly less gross out then the average Rogan comedy, I think because Gordan Leavitt's there. One or two really funny scenes, but mostly its just fine. **

Remember the Night (1940)

 'Remember the Night' has a mediocre first half, but really pulls it off in the second half. Screenplay by Preston Sturges, staring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred McMurry pre 'Double Indemnity'. He's a lawyer, she's a shoplifter he is prosecuting, feeling bad that she will be in prison over Christmas before the trail can resume, he pays her bail and ends up taking her to Indiana to spend Christmas with his family (which has to violate the law, crossing states lines, and eventually they even go into Canada). McMurry's family is charming, but on the way there they make a stop to visit Stanwycks estranged mom, and she completely explains why her character is the way she is. Parts of this are really well done and endearing, parts really aren't, I can see why Sturges decided he needed to start directing his own work. If you watch this be prepared for one of the most racist man servant characters you've ever seen. ***

West Side Story (2021)

What to say about 'West Side Story'?  I've had really mixed feelings on Steven Spielberg's remake of the 1961 Oscar winning movie musical, which in turn was based on the 1957 Tony winning stage musical, which in turn was based on Shakespeare's legendary play 'Romeo and Juliet'.  In my opinion 1961's West Side Story just may the best movie musical of all time, it has a timeless story, great choreography, wonderful cast, every song lands and many are great. There is no way Spielberg could make something more iconic, and he didn't. 

What Spielberg did do is added more context, moved some songs around, fleshed things out via long time collaborator Tony Kushner's screenplay, did things visually you couldn't have done in the 1960's, and tried to make the story better resonate with todays audiences. This was a parietal success. 

The story is already a tragedy universal in nature, two people who love each other kept apart by circumstance. 'Isn't it a shame these two good kids couldn't get together', that works any place and time. Spielberg's film takes that universality and manages to make it feel less universal, not so much something that could happen any place and any time, but something whose happing is supper specific to the time and place in which it is set. 

This is an angrier, more political film, which does not end on the cautiously hopeful coda of the first movie, but feels like the contemporary document it is, lamenting a promise not fully fulfilled. At times the realism of the sets feels off given the musical numbers being played out on them, and Ansel Elgort is to put it simply no Richard Beymer. 

In the films favor is Rachel Zegler, whose just lovely and talented and unlike the equally adorable Natalie Wood didn't need to be dubbed (in fact much of the original cast was dubbed as well). Much of the new material added by Kushner actually works, the character of Tony gets a stronger arc, the absence of parents in the picture plays better, there is more of a sense of menace to the proceedings, especially near the end. Having Rita Moreno return to this property six decades on and casting her as a voice of reason was wonderful. Even converting the character of 'Anybody' from a tom boy type to more of an overt transman works, and much better then I thought it could. 

It is the power of the music that carries both films, they do a great job with it here, it was often quite moving. Spielberg dose a fine job mounting the production numbers, and though I prefer the musical staging in the original feature, this is a septuagenarian doing his first musical, and doing a quality job at it. 

So my biggest problems with this film have to do with subtext, and may not even register with most viewers. The new West Side Story is still one of the best films I've seen all year, but like 'In The Heights' which came out this summer, doesn't feel like it entirely knows what it wants to be as film musical. ***1/2 

Don't Look Up (2021)

 In 2006 a film came out called 'American Dreamz', a broad satire about a George W. Bush like president whose falling approval numbers prompts him to agree to guest host an 'American Idol' type reality show, and the contestant/ terrorist sleeper agent assigned to kill him when he does. While far from a great film that movie captured something so true about the state of our nation at that time, the inane celebrity culture, silly reality television, uninspiring political leadership, and counter productive foreign policy, that it made me feel a little nauseous. 'Don't Look Up' on the other hand, made me want to throw up. 

Adam McKay's new movie dark comedy is about the nations reaction to an approaching comet, whose certain impact would spell the destruction of the human race. While technologically the challenge of destroying the comet before impact seems within our grasp, as a society we may have become too divided and dysfunctional to summon the collective will to do so. 

Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio play the scientists who respectively discover and chart the course of the comet, while Rob Morgan is the government scientist who first takes them seriously. The trio fly to Washington to the meet the nations Palin/Trump like president Meryl Streep and her toddy son / chief of staff Jonah Hill, who basically tell them that for political reasons it's not a good time for a life threating comet, so we'll have scientists we trust more double check your math and get back to you. 

With only 6 1/2 months to go before the impact there is no time to wait, so Lawrence and DiCaprio agree to go on a popular morning show to sound the alarm, where they are overshadowed by the breaking relationship drama of an Ariana Grande type singer played by Ariana Grande. 

The mechanisms of public and government response are slow to get going, but get going they do until the stopping of the impending destruction of the human race comes to be perceived as a partisan political issue, and then things break down again. One asks ones self if a society this short sighted is worth saving. 

The intended metaphor here is for climate change, but it also works for Covid and other things. The celebrity culture and reality television world of 'American Dreamz' 2006 is supplemented 15 years later with the world of social media, and a hyper partisanship that has fractured that celebrity cultural along lines of political identity. On 'the left' the celebs are of little substance, on 'the right' they are the same, but also hold high office and the fate of humanity in their hands.

While taking mild shots at the left this film is not bi-partisan, it's primary focus is on the right, and some times it gets mean, but it's not without a point, the reality denial on the right far, far outpaces in magnitude that on the left. This of course is a point that when you make it, you retrench that denial on the other side, so while the seeming message of the film is we all need to take reality more seriously, it doesn't help that cause, so as consolation gives the left  permission to laugh about how screwed we are. 

The old saying that comedy is tragedy plus time has it's inverse, tragedy is comedy when the time runs out. ***1/2

 

The Gloria's (2020)

 'The Glorias' is a bio-pic of feminist icon Gloria Steinem, it's directed by Julie Taymor so it's kind of arty, including sequences where the four actresses who play Ms. Steinem at various ages talk to each other on a bus, at first I didn't think this worked but it grew on me. Alicia Vikander and Julian Moore play the adult Gloria's. I was familiar with the vague outline of Ms. Steinem's life (who I saw speak live once) but I learned things here, particularly about her early life. Towards the end the movie devolves into something of check list, we've got to touch on X,Y & Z, so the character building is fairly minimal because the film has so much ground to cover. Still there remains a place for such survey course bio-pics, there is something comforting about them. ***

Last Christmas (2019)

 'Last Christmas' he gave you his heart Emilia Clarke, I mean literally you have his heart inside you, your new boyfriends a ghost, that's why he keeps disappearing and none of your friends have meet him. Yes this lousy inverted remake of 'Return to Me' takes George Michaels words literally. This film thought it could coast off of your adorableness Ms. Clarke, well it can't. Also Emma Thompsons Yugoslavian accent is just terrible, like this movie. * 

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Edger Wright started out his directing career making genera send ups like 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Hot Fuzz' before moving on to comic adaptations like 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World' and the screenplays for 'The Adventures of Tintin' and 'Ant-Man'. In 2017 Wright wrote and directed 'Baby Driver' an original heist movie that was more action film then comedy. With 'Last Night in Soho' we see Wright's further evolution, making a psychological thriller that owes much to such 60's films as 'Repulsion' (1965), 'Peeping Tom' (1960) and 'Carnivals of Souls' (1962).  

The 60's homages are very much intentional and appropriate to this film, which is not only partially set in that decade but contains appearances by period beauty's Rita Tushingham, Margaret Nolan and Diana Rigg, the last two in their final film roles. The story concerns a contemporary young woman with a family history of mental illness (Thomasin McKenzie) who moves from her home in rural Cornwall to pursue her dream of studying design at the esteemed London College of Fashion. Personality conflicts with her roommate lead the young woman to seek lodgings off campus, and she rents a room in an old house from an elderly Diana Rigg. 

It is in that room that she starts having vivid dreams of an aspiring young singer back in the mid 60's (Anya Taylor-Joy), and at first these are largely of a rose colored nostalgic heugh, the film has large gorgeous period sets, one even outdoors running for seeming blocks. This vicarious life imparts a new vivacity to Thomasin's generally quite bearing, but then things in the dream world start to get really dark, and we see the underbelly of mod swinging London, and the ways it could exploit young women, ending with images of Taylor-Joy covered in blood. Our leads efforts to now solve a more then half century old murder is given new menace when she believes she see's the killer still alive in the form of Terrance Stamp.

Promotional art for this film, movie posters, the soundtrack album, have been rendered in a very 1960'style, and the movie itself takes elements from the films of the era and successfully rearranges them to create something that feels quite fresh, even while remaining quite rooted in something old. This is definitely a film I will want to re-watch with added focus on the way it was structed, I'll be curious to see how well certain plot elements hold up under increased scrutiny, but as mood piece and evocation of a previous era this movie really works. The fact that it doesn't give the era of it's focus an essay pass, choosing to dwell on just the comforting nostalgia of the past and ignoring the periods blemishes, is very much an asset the movies favor. A really fun and sometimes unexpected theater experience that had a smile of appreciation on my face through much of it. ***1/2 

 For Your Consideration Podcast 

Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

 Filmed largely around the Heber City, Utah area 'Silent Night, Deadly Night' is a slasher film about a repressed Catholic embarking on a killing spree in a Santa suit. When scanning through review blurbs on 'Rotten Tomato's' one comment that caught my eye is that this film has a very distinct sense of identity vis-a-vie the other slasher films of it's era. This is true, the film is very distinct in it's vision, technically well executed, and actually subversive, something most slasher films only play at being. For me it was a little too subversive, going far beyond the realms of good taste, it felt rather mean, though the films Christmas theme song "The Warm Side of the Door" is first rate 80's schmaltz. *1/2 

Damaged Lives (1933)

'Damaged Lives' was produced for a Canadian health board, though attracted purulent interest south of the boarder. It's the story of a man who has an affair and then passes syphilis onto his wife and unborn baby. Helmed by famed B movie autor Edger G. Ulmer, the film has a few rather effective visuals, and the director makes the best movie he possibly could off the awkward script, so I kind of respect it. **

A Merry Friggin Christmas (2014)

'A Merry Friggin Christmas' was among Robin Williams last films, released after he died. In addition to Williams the film has a reasonably strong cast, Candice Bergen, Joel McHale, Lauren Graham, Oliver Platt, though the only one who really made me laugh was Clark Duke. Sad really, anemic 'Christmas Vacation' / 'Bad Santa' hybrid. *1/2 

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

 Based on the 1973 novel of the same name by Morton Freedgood, 'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three' is the story of the hijacking and ransom of a New York City subway car. From that brief description what you'd probably expect from a film version is an action movie, and that is to a fair degree what you get with the 2009 remake.  However the original 1974 production was more a 'crisis situation procedural'. It was really fun to watch, I love the whole gritty 1970's New York astatic, I loved the pacing, unlike the remake the original was not in a hurry, in fact it seemed to take place in roughly real time. 

A fine cast, Walter Matthau, Martin Balsam, Robert Shaw. Both film versions were main stream releases, but the base intelligence level of a wide release film from the mid 70's to that of the late aughts, night and day, the first film is so much more mature. 

While there is something to say for Tony Scott not going for a straight remake, (leads Washington and Travolta give reasonably committed performances), it's more of a variation on a theme, it just doesn't have the substance of the original, it's flashy, hollow, disposable. While no doubt it was not helped by my beginning the remake roughly 90 minutes after finishing the original, I have no desire to see 2009's Pelham again, but 1974's One Two Three I would welcome repeat viewing. 

1974: ***1/2

2009: *1/2 

Mixed Nuts (1994)

 It's hard to believe that this was Nora Ephron's follow up to 'Sleepless in Seattle', it's such a misfire. Based on a French film 'Mixed Nuts' involves various eccentrics, principally associated with a suicide prevention hotline, which is on the verge of eviction from it's Venice Beach location at Christmas time. This movie seems dependent on the idea that a lot of manic energy means it must be funny, this did not prove true. A talent bomb if ever there was one, this film has a large cast of names, Steve Martin, Rita Wilson, Madeline Kahn, Gary Shandling, Juilette Lewis, Adam Sandler, Robert Kline, even Liev Schreiber in his film debut, in a part that hasn't aged particularly well. Just a disaster, an unfunny tone def comedy, just really, really bad. * 

Paradise Hawaiian Style (1966)

 In 'Paradise Hawaiian Style' Elvis and a buddy start a helicopter charter service, there are various misadventures and Elvis predictably has girl trouble, he's dating four at the same time, with his eyes on a fifth. Likable in the easy going manner of much of 'The Kings' film output. It's neat to see the Polynesian Cultural Center as it would have appeared in the mid 60's. One minor compliant, when Elvis needed a solution to financing trouble why didn't he just sing, I mean he's constantly singing, putting on free shows. Monetize Elvis, monetize. **

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

The original 1984 Ghostbusters film is essentially revered by members of my generation. (Though within the last month I showed it to my teenage niece and nephew for the first time, their response was lukewarm, to them 'Ghostbusters' was no 'Back to the Future' or 'The Goonies'.) That film is very much an example of lightning in a bottle, a product of a very specific grouping of talented individuals at a specific place and time; attempts to recapture that magic on film have been wanting. 

The 1989 sequel is largely a beat for beat redo of the first film and now mostly ignored now, while the 2016 reboot with female leads generated huge backlash even before it was released. I frown on the misogyny that prompted much of that films premature condemnation, yet concur with the subsequent critical consensus that the movie turned out to be pretty bad. So my expectations for 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' were guarded, even with the talented Jason Reitman, son of the original films director Ivan Rittman, directing and co writing. 

So now that I've seen it I must say I was surprised to find 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' to be satisfactory. It's not great, it's not on par with the original film, but it is good and works better as a companion piece then 'Ghostbuster II'.

The plot concerns Egon Spangler's estranged daughter and her children inheriting an Oklahoma farm following the ghostbusters passing (actor Harold Ramis who played Egon passed away in 2014). The change of local from the big city and the young cast of 'junior ghostbusters' (thankfully the film does not use that phrase) is a nice mild twist on the urban thirty-somethings of the first film. 

The movie leans heavily on plot elements and homages to the original film, including Elmer Bernstein's memorable score. There were times when this was all a little much and I desired more originality. The ending lays the schmaltz on real thick. 

Yet I liked these characters, I liked that seating. The derivative elements were made to mostly work, I've gone back and forth on how much this movie ties into the story of the first one, and if they should have tried for a completely fresh story, but I get the comfort factor and its done well enough that at the end of the day it works, though under lesser hands it could have easily been a disaster. 

So yeah, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a satisfying sequel, they've finally broke the curse. ***

The Vast of Night (2019)

 I really enjoyed this movie, it made what was old new again. The film it reminded me the most of is 'Close Encounter's of the Third Kind', and 'The Vast of Night' really does that kind of sense of awe alien movie better then any film since at least 'Contact'. 

I loved the late 1950's small town New Mexico setting, this movie has a just wonderful sense of atmosphere and of place, you even get a decent sense of the relative locations of things due to the long walk sequence near the beginning, and that incredible tracking sequence around mid way through.  

The 'Twilight Zone' homage sequences, I didn't hate them but I didn't love them, maybe mildly distracting with the fuzzy black and white. 

When the whole screen goes dark so you can just hear the caller on the radio, so unexpected, but it works. From the expansive visuals to nothing, like an alien eye expanding and contracting. 

The simple characters, how they feel true to the time an place. The social commentary is nicely subtle, it's not overly judging, it's showing you how things were. I love the way Mad Men would do that as well. 

I liked the lead girl, I thought she was a fine and interesting character, the radio guy I also liked, but he was more of a generic lead type then she was. 

A lot of the back story or implied backstory, that was neat. 

The whole idea of everyone being at the small town basketball game, and the way that was shot, just wonderful. 

How everyone know each other, that was just great. 

This is a movie that has long talkie sequences of people telling you stories not showing them, it would seem to go against all cinematic storytelling conventions, especially sci-fi, yet it worked. 

The ending worked for me to, completely set up, yet somehow I didn't see it coming.  

***

Finch (2021)

 The new Tom Hank's vehicle 'Finch' reminded me of a lot of movies while watching it, Wall-E, Silent Running, I Am Legend, The Road, The Martian, Twister, Cast Away, Rain Man, Nomad, Short Circuit, The Book of Eli, yet it never equals the sum of any of it's parts. A derivative uninspired work, and while Hanks gives a typically fine performance I simply don't want to see him a depressing post apocolyptic story. The film is 60% through by the time it really gets going, has only two sequences worth much of anything, and tries way too hard in pouring on the cheap sentimentalism at the end, it simply wasn't earned. Technically competent and little more. *1/2

Hawaii (1966)

 Epic film based on portions of James A. Michener's 900+ page epic about our then recent 50th state. It is essentially the story of how a missionary becomes a Christian. Arriving on the islands in 1819 with his wife (Julie Andrews) a very puritanical Max von Sydow comes in time to actually love the local people. He changes from trying to shape them into white folk, to trying to protect them from the same. Quite beautiful in both story and scenery, the film is also a shockingly harsh indictment of cultural genocide, especially given that this film comes out of 1960's Hollywood. I was very impressed. ****

The Warriors (1979)

 'The Warriors' is a rather stylized film about delegates from the various street gangs of New York, attending a big pow-wow at which a charismatic leader, who might have united them is assassinated. One gang, based in Coney Island called The Warriors is framed for this, and the film chronicles their desperate night flight 27 miles through the city to the safety of home. It's an unusual piece that I'm surprised a major studio green lit, but it worked out the film made $22.5 million box office off a $4 million budget. The only other film I could think of that was kind of like this was 1984's 'Streets of Fire', turns out they had the same director, Walter Hill. **1/2 

Local Hero (1983)

 Along with Danny Boyle, Bill Forsyth is that rare director who had success with films set in contemporary Scotland. Forsyth had a sleeper hit in 1981 with 'Gregory's Girl', a kind of Scottish proto- Napoleon Dynamite. As result of how well that movie did the director had a fair bit of added leeway in making his next project, he chose to tackle something that was then very much an issue in contemporary Scotland, the oil boom. 

Peter Riegert plays "Mac" MacIntyre, a mid level executive working at Knox Oil & Gas in Houston, Texas. "Mac" had some success the previous year negotiating oil leases in Sonora, Mexico, and that combined with his Scottish last name (though he later revels to a work friend that his ancestry is actually Hungarian and changed their name to MacIntyre upon immigrating, thinking it sounded more American) leads his bosses to send him to Scotland to negotiate the purchases of a small village, bay, and surrounding area for construction of a new refinery, and distribution point for oil coming from their rigs in the North Atlantic. 

In Scotland "Mac" is joined by a local Knox employee played by future Dr. Who Peter Capaldi. The two travel to the idyllic village of Ferness and meet various eccentric locals, most of whom are thrilled by the prospect of selling their land, making a bunch of money and moving on. But of course there is one stubborn and vital hold out. 

A charming film, full of charming sights and characters that cause "Mac", who had been living a very superficial life, to question what he's been doing with it. This is paralleled by a plot line concerning the corporate big boss Mr. Happer (Burt Lancaster) who travels to Ferness when negations, stall and finds this place might hold the key to personals dreams far beyond mere oil exploration. 

I really enjoyed watching this film and know that it is going to warrant return viewing. It's also inspired me to look into other of Mr. Forsyth's films, he had something to say, he was no one hit wonder. A kind, lightly melancholy Capraesque meditation on what really matters. ***1/2

Friday the 13th Part II (1981)

 I watched this because it was free on Prime. My experience watching the original 'Friday the 13th' last year was that it underperformed even my low expectations. As a result my expectations where even lower for the sequel, but were modestly exceeded. This movie I think knew what was more then the previous film, the pacing also improved, I am still surprised how slow the original film was. That all being said this ain't no good movie either. *1/2 

Clifford (1994)

'Clifford' is that film where a 40 year old Martin Short plays an obnoxious 10 year old boy. The movie was actually filmed in 1990 but got held up in release by the collapse of Orion Pictures. A notorious bomb both with critics and audiences, Roger Ebert who hated the movie said it might actually be worth seeing because it fails in such a unique way. So I went in with extremely low expectations, which this movie easily surmounted. Sure the film is stupid, and makes all sorts of strange creative decisions, but honestly I laughed a lot. I thought the framing story strange and likely tacked on, and the ending even more bizarre then the bizarreness that proceeded it. However when Clifford is driving Charles Grodin to breakdown, it worked for me. Mary Steenburgen and Dabney Coleman play lazily to type, but if you approach the film as intentional self satire it has an odd charm. I'm gonna give it **. 

The Card Counter (2021)

 Like writer/director Paul Schrader's last work 'First Reformed', I went into 'The Card Counter' knowing next to nothing about it, and like the directors previous film that really worked for me, so I'm only going to give you some basics. 

The movie stars Oscar Isaac as a former U.S. Army private who spent 8 1/2 years in a military prison for his role in the torture at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. During that time he taught himself how to count cards, and now makes a living traveling across country and applying this advantage in casinos. He has made it a creed to only play for small stakes, but this changes when he encounters a young man played by Tye Sheridan, who has a kind of connection to his past. The movie also features Williem Dafoe and Tiffany Haddish, the latter I was only vaguely familiar with but I thought she really worked in this. 

If you are familiar with Paul Schrader's work you probably have some idea of where this movie is going, but it's extremely well played, subtle, and kept me guessing. I went out to see this film on very short notice, and it proved to be the most pleasant surprise I've had at the theater all year. ****

Words on Bathroom Walls (2020)

 'Words on Bathroom Walls' is a coming of age film about an aspiring cook and high school senior dealing with the onslaught of schizophrenia, which in his case includes the visual hallucinations of people played by AnnaSophia Robb among others. Solid supporting cast includes Molly Parker as the supportive mother, Walter Goggins as the perspective step father, and Andy Garcia effectively cast against type as a sympathetic priest. Taylor Russell is quite winning as the young man's love interest, but lead Charlie Plummer makes the whole thing work and anchors the film, he's going to have a great career. I think of this as a lesser, but still good, 'Perks of Being a Wallflower'. ***

The French Dispatch (2021)

 The anthology film, a feature length presentation consisting of a number of shorts built around a common theme has long been out of style. A relic, these kind of films were most common in the 40's and 50's, and subsequently mostly used to repackage episodes of horror TV shows in the 80's, or to introduce short works from multiple directors like in 'New York Stories' or 'Lumiere and Company'. In 2018 The Coen brothers brought an auteur approach to the format and produced 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs', the anthology western I didn't know I wanted.

Wes Anderson now takes a crack at it with 'The French Dispatch', which manages simultaneously to be both the most visually fun work of a famously visually fun director (I include his two stop motion films in this assessment) as well as to my mind his most Oscar worthy screenplay. 

The (fictional) film concerns the 1975 final issue of an English language France based periodical called 'The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun.' This magazine grew out of the weekend supplement of a small town Kansas newspaper and the first overseas trip of its publishers son, who fell in love with the place, set up shop and turned his little curio into a world wide publishing success. 

The framing story has the magazines founder (played by Bill Murry) passing away, and per the instructions of his will the magazine is to put out one final issue. The movie consists of 5 vignettes said to comprise the contents of that issue, an obituary of the founder publisher, a travel log of Ennui, France where the magazine is published, and three feature stories, one concerning an eccentric artiest, the other a martyred 60's student radical, and the last the kidnapping of a police commissionaires son. 

Your eyes will pop, there is so much going on, it's really worth seeing on a big screen, there are so many little bits of business happening, often in the periphery, which might get lost or be hard to spot on a smaller screen. The film goes back and forth between color and black and white, there is also an animated sequence. The set design, and visual compositions are fantastic. The content is generally amusing to laugh out loud funny, but contains moments of melancholy. 

The travel log portion is so fast and compact that it's the one I most want to go back and watch again, I'm sure I missed a lot. However the sequence about the artist (Benicio del Torro) and his muse (Lea' Seydoux) is probably the strongest, with the student radical piece being the most like the directors earlier work and the kidnapping piece most like his children's films. The large cast is wonderful, a nice mix of returning favorites from the directors stock company, and other recognizable faces who wanted in on a Wes Anderson film. I found this a thoroughly satisfying time at the movies, and one of the best films of the year. ****

The Star Trek Project: Next Gen Season 7

 Highlights and such for season 7 

Episode 2 "Liaisons"

Picard is stranded on a planet while the Enterprise hosts two eccentric ambassadors.  

Episodes 4 & 5 "Gambit Parts I and II "

The last two parter until the season final. 

Episode 6 "Phantasms" 

Data has nightmares. 

Episode 11 "Parallels" 

Worf finds himself hopping around alternate realities.  

Episode 13 "Homward" 

Story concerns Worf's human foster brother. 

Episode 14 "Sub Rosa" 

I don't care for this one myself, but given your recent "romance novel kick" I thought you should watch it. 

Episode 15 "The Lower Decks" 

Episode is seen from the point of view of 4 junior officers. Episode is the inspiration for the animated Star Trek series also titled "The Lower Decks". 

Episode 16 "Thine Own Self" 

An amnesic Data amongst a renaissance era people, also Troi gets a promotion.

Episode 18 "Eye of the Beholder" 

A mysterious suicide.  

Episode 19 "Genesis" 

The crew starts devolving into earlier life forms.

Episode 20 "Journey's End" 

Wesley Crusher's swan song. 

Episode 22 "Bloodlines" 

Picard learns he may have a son. Also episode ties into a first season episode I had you watch. 

Episode 24 "Preemptive Strike" 

Ro's final appearance, also good introduction to 'the Maquis' who will be important on both Deep Space 9 and Star Trek: Voyager. 

Episodes 25 & 26 "All Good Things... Parts I & II"

One of the best series finales in the history of television. 

 

Spencer (2021)

Five years ago the Chilean director Pablo Larrain made the excellent but under seen 'Jackie', a film about Jackie Kennedy in the days immediately following the assassination of her husband Jack. Larrain returns to similar territory with 'Spencer' a film about the late princess Diana (whose maiden name was Spencer in case you forgot) covering Christmas Eve through Boxing Day 1991. 

Kristen Stewart has gotten a lot of attention for this role which she should because she is excellent in it. I was a bit skeptical at first when I heard she had been cast, she is an American known for her long brown locks, but she really transforms into Diana here, at times they look so similar it's kind of creepy (much of the trick I think is capturing the very specific hairstyle she had). 

This is a portrait of very sad and frustrated woman, and while the movie very effectively evokes time and place it is not over-wedded to the historic particulars. The film even calls itself a 'parable' in its opening moments, Diana gets away with some things here I don't she really could have. The film dramatizes the internal process of Diana coming to some decisions about her life that would result in her ultimate divorce from Charles and break from the royal family, and in time her death. 

The actors who play the other royals look sufficiently like them, though the best supporting parts go to the likes of Timothy Spall and Sally Hawkins, whose characters appear to have been created for the screenplay. One aspect of the film I really liked were the young princes and Diana's relationship with her sons, which at times seemed to be all that was keeping her going. ***1/2

Dune (2021)

 Director Denis Villeneuve's new cinematic rendering of Frank Herbert's class 1965 novel' Dune' does a whole lot right. First off, it doesn't try to tell the whole story, the plan is for one more film to finish up the first book then maybe subsequent ones for the later novels. So it is structured very well, the writing is top notch. The movie boosts a well known cast that is actually well cast, everyone seems up to their roles. Visually it's sumptuous, David Lean in Space. 

The movie does space politics and space religion better then anything I've seen in a long while (Babylon 5), and is first rate space Shakespeare. It is what Star Wars has aspired to, and largely failed to be post 'Return of the Jedi'. 

The only complaints I have from my viewing experience is that the showing I attended turned out to be subtitled, which I wasn't expecting and found a little distracting towards the visuals that I wanted to concentrate on. The movie also evoked little in the way of emotional reaction, the two principle characters are pretty closed off emotionally, so I don't 'love' these people yet, but think that could be coming with the sequel. 

Now as a sort of mild spoiler I will tell you what the single greatest thing about this movie is. This is $165 million dollar sci-fi epic that DOSEN'T end with another big battle scene. So refreshing. ***1/2 

Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women (1968)

 The 1962 Soviet sci-fi film 'Planeta Bur' (Planet of Storms) had been repackaged by Roger Corman once before, splicing in footage of Faith Domergue and Basil Rathbone and released in 1965 as 'Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet'. In 1968 'Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women' added to the original Russian film around 10 minutes of skimpily dressed women including Mamie Van Doren, all shot by a young Peter Bogdanovich who also provides voice over narration. The film is pretty bad with most of the entertainment value derived from the awkward dubbing. *1/2

Idaho Transfer (1973)

Directed by but not staring Peter Fonda, 'Idaho Transfer' is an unusual science fiction film whose reputation has probably been bolstered some by it's not always being readily available. There was a prolonged copyright issue shortly after the films original release when it's production company went under. 

Filmed chiefly in southern Idaho (Craters of the Moon, Bruno Sand Dunes), it's story concerns college freshman being 'transferred' from 1973 to 2029. Sometime between those two years there was a massive ecological disaster and some rouge scientists (possibly from ISU or the INEEL) have taken to sending teenagers from the present to the future. Teenagers are sent because for the some reason the process that can send people back and forth between those two points in time, damages the kidneys of people over 20. Also at first the presumable purpose of sending the young people would be to repopulate the world, but then we learn the time travel process also renders them sterile, so they are really sent forward in time to try and guide the mentally retarded inhabitants of the future by teaching them things, and encouraging selective breading among them. 

An interesting premise done in an odd stilted style featuring a cast primarily of non actors. The movie it reminded me of stylistically more then anything was 'Primer' (2005). While I liked the understated time travel effect, the movie never really seems to get going, feeling at least semi improvised. Also I'm still undecided as to it's WTF ending. **

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017)

Taken from the memories of Woodward's 'Deep Throat' himself, 'Mark Felt: The Man Who Took Down the White House' is the famed Watergate leakers story the way he would want it told, and because of that it's wanting. The movie shy's away from the man's at best mixed motivations for doing what he did, so you never feel like your getting the whole story. Done basically as a procedural, Liam Neeson's performance as the man is closed off, which is both the way he probably really was, as well as an obstacle to figuring out who he truly was behind that. Well cast, this movie is unfortunately a bore. *1/2 

Knute Rockne, All American (1940)

Hmm, turns out the "K" is pronounced. Best remembered for its short appearance by Ronald Reagan as "The Gipper", 'Knute Rockne, All American' is a hagiographic account of Norwegian born Notre Dame University football star turned coach Knute Rockne. Though ably played by Pat O'Brien I didn't find the movie all the interesting, I'm not a football guy, though I can apricate that the film felt like something of a watershed to many a sports minded Catholic. For a far better inspiring sports movie from around the same time see 'Pride of the Yankees'. **

The Wolf Man (1941)

 I didn't think that I would like 'The Wolf Man' as much as I ultimately did. Lon Chaney Jr. is great in the role, I feel some sympathy for him as an actor, his father's legacy being what it was it would have been hard for the son to escape the gravity well of type casting, this may in fact be his performance, and it's certainly his most remembered. Interestingly the wolfman mythology was largely made up for this movie, it wasn't based on a pre existing story like the other well remembered Universal Monsters of the pre war era. A fairly simple narrative, effectively told. ***

The Invisible Man (1933)

I read the H.G. Wells novel 'The Invisible Man', I think when I was middle school, so I don't remember a lot of the details. I don't recall the titular man being quite so mad from the book, but that is the approach this 1933 Universal adaption takes. The film also updates the setting from the 1890's of the book, to then contemporary times. The special effects are pretty darn good, especially for the time, I'm not sure how they did much of this on a technical level. Claude Rains seems to be having a ball in the role, though we only see his face once in the film. This movie is also notable for the appearance of the actress Gloria Stuart, approximately 64 years before appearing as the old woman in Titanic. *** 

Starship Troopers (1997)

 Directed by Paul Verhoeven and adapted from the 1958 Robert Heinlein novel of the same name, 'Starship Troopers' is a film (and presumably a book) that might easily be misunderstood. It is a sci-fi actioner sure, and effective as one, but it's also deeper, but the way that it is deeper is simultaneously also shallower. 

Watching this movie was like watching a propaganda film from a future that doesn't' exist. It takes World War II movie troupes and adapts them to a critique of war generally, and a sort of Fascising effect conflict and its propagandizing can have. The film is often fairly heavy handed with this, the society our characters exist in (who start the film as high school seniors despite all appearing 30ish, and for the most part improbably good looking), seems to have largely eliminated both sexism and racism, but is also militaristic and restricts voting rights to an elect class, Romanesque. 

The conflict with the Aliens bugs, against which the human characters feel a self righteous rage, was ironically triggered by human colonists, who with warning persisting in settling in 'bug' territory. The fact that these rouge human settlers are described as 'Mormon extremists', well I found that enjoyable. 

Though through viewing I was always aware of the satirical subtext, I found myself being swept up, and really enjoying the film as fun jingoism. The visual effects here hold up remarkably well, and the acting not being that good is what makes the acting work. Special kudos to Michael Ironside however who gives the films best performance, he really sells it. I was rather surprised how much I enjoyed this. ***

Possessed (2000)

'Possessed' is a 2000 television film produced by the Showtime network. It is based, with some liberties, on the same exorcism case that inspired William Peter Blatty to write 'The Exorcist'. The case of a Maryland Lutheran boy exorcised by Catholic priests in the St. Louise area in 1949, is here updated to approximately 1954. This date change seems to be for the benefit of the subplot concerning an Archbishop's (Christopher Plummer) efforts at mainstreaming Catholicism. Historically that faith had been held in some suspicion by America's protestant's majority, but by the 1950's that was starting to change in part from the celebrity of people like the reverend Fulton Sheen, and the Kennedys, which are both mentioned by name in the film. 

This subplot helps bolster the unusualness of an exorcism even being performed, and that bishops mixed feelings at even authorizing it. The priest who oversees the ceremony is played by Timothy Dalton, and its interesting to see the parallels with Blatty's story. In 'The Exorcist' Jason Miller's character is haunting by feelings that he had neglected the care of his recently passed mother, while in 'Possessed' Dalton's in haunted by guilt owing to his World War II experience. 

The story here pales in comparison with the art and power of Blatty's version. It is however reasonably effective and adds some interesting bits, like how the most recent in-depth description of an exorcism these mid century American priests could find, dates to 17th century France. Still this film never transcends feeling like the TV movie it is. **

Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)

The great Paul Schrader wrote and directed 'Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist'. The suites at Warner Brother so disliked what they saw, that they more then doubled what they'd already invested to extensively reshoot it as a more conventional film under Renny Harlin. That film they released as 'Exorcist: The Beginning' and that film is a jumbled, hyperactive, awful mess. It also made only a modest profit so the studio put out Schrader's version the following year, and it's night and day. 

I feel like when the studio greenlit this movie they must have had in mind the idea of another 'scariest movie ever made', that was the through line they wanted. What Schrader produced was not genera horror, as studios would have understood it in the early 2000's. What it is, is a rumination on faith crises and the problem of evil, in short a Paul Schrader movie, but with some horror stuff thrown in. 

'Thrown in' isn't exactly accurate, it's there, and it's earned. There are some disturbing moments, but many of them subtle. The movie tells the story of Father Merrin (here played by Stellen Skarsgard), a disillusion Catholic Priest of Dutch extraction, now an archeologist on a dig in the British East Africa of 1947. An ancient church is found where no such church should be, and the mystery of why it was built, and why it was deliberate buried shortly after completion, brings Father Merrin into his first, but not last, encounter with the demon Pazuzu. 

This is finally structured, very much thought out, very much a particular vision, cobbling together some kind of alternate story for the reshoot must have been a bitch. There are many, many distinctions between the two films, but for me what encapsulates them most is the recasting of the female doctor from the understated beauty of Clara Bellar, to Bond girl Izabella Scorupco. The recut, to put it very mildly, greatly cheapened and vulgarized Schrader's vision. 

After the astounding original film, the 'Exorcist' sequels haven't been very good. I've watched all of them for the first time this month and Schrader's is the only one of them that worked for me, that felt like it properly fit into the world of the original movie. Yes I'm including Exorcist III, which was written and directed by the writer of the original story William Peter Blatty. That movie felt like it betrayed the central message of the first film, Schrader's movie feels like it understands that message more then even the man who created it. 

This film is not perfect, it is not the equal of the original, but it compliments it and fleshes out Father Merrin's backstory in a way that worked. This story about how Father Merrin's faith in God was restored, restored my faith in the idea of Exorcist sequels. ***

 

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

 With 'Halloween III', produced but not directed by John Carpenter, we return to the mans original vision for the franchise, which was anthology, 'Twilight Zone' like. There is no Mike Meyers here, this film is completely independent of the first two, and in fact the first film shows up on TV within the movie. 

The plot has to do with doctor Tom Atkins, who teams with Stacy Nelkin, who despite being like half his age becomes his love interest, to investigate the strange death of her father, briefly a patient of Atkins. They end up in a small Northern California town investigating a company that makes Halloween masks, and it's (to put it mildly) ideocentric owner played by Dan O'Herlihy. Both pagan magic and  mechanical men turn out to be involved with an odd scheme, which were it to succeed really would end Halloween as we know it. 

I liked the pulpiness of this, I liked how weird it was, it's committed to its strange premise which really is horrifying, even while much of it's support structure is silly. I saw part of this as a kid and the audacity of a certain sequence stuck with me, glad to finally have full context.**1/2 

Monster Squad (1987)

 'Monster Squad' is basically 'Goonies' vs. the Universal Monsters. There is a plot, I mean the movie explains why they're there, and terrorizing a mid sized American town. This is the second film directed by Fred Dekker, whose film 'Night of the Creeps' came out the previous year and I'm kind of partial to it, and not just because of Jill Whitlow. Both films are well witty, quite well written and full of self conscious genera references. 

Watching 'Monster Squad' today the pure 80'sness of it stands out, including troupes and humor you probably wouldn't see if the film was made today. The movie never fully mainstreamed, it's got a cult following but never made the 'cannon' of 80's family fair, because frankly it might have been a little too naughty. **1/2 

Cry Macho (2021)

 Clint Eastwood's latest goodbye picture 'Cry Macho' is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by N. Richard Nash (best known for the Broadway show 'Rainmaker' and it's subsequent movie version, not to be confused with John Grisham's 'The Rainmaker'). This movie was in development hell for decades, Nash who co-adapted the screenplay passed away in 2000, and back in 1988 Eastwood himself had considered directing the thing with Robert Mitchum in what would become his role. Eastwood directs and stars here, and wrote some of the music as well. Now in his 90's Eastwood pairs things back physically a lot, but he's still got it in prescience, delivery, and wonderfully understated direction. 

Retaining roughly the period setting of the novel, here the story takes place in 1979 & 80, and concerns Eastwood as a retired rodeo rider and ranch hand named Mike Milo, who is recruited by his old boss (a mildly greasy Dwight Yoakam) to go down to Mexico to retrieve his 13 year old son. Yoakam can't go to Mexico himself because he's involved in some legal tangles there, but is convinced by people who know his ex wife that the boy is being abused. Milo whose relationship with Yoakam has a frenemy quality, aggress to try as his old boss did help pull him out of an emotional hole following the death of his wife and child in a car accident, seemingly decades ago. 

The movie concerns Milo tracking down and retrieving the boy Rafo (Eduardo Minett) and his efforts to take him to his father. Car difficulties force a weeks prolonged stay in a small Mexican town, which proves the emotional hart of the movie. Milo used to break horses and now he must kind of break Rafo, I didn't think this element of the film entirely worked, Rafo is never really that bad to begin with. 

It is the friendship the two strike up in the town with a middle aged widow and her grandchildren that really elevates this picture, that makes it, everything else feels really standard, stuff we've seen before. But even the repetitive stuff Eastwood sells, while other then the widow (Natalia Traven, whose endearing the moment you see her), the rest of the cast, even the boy, are really only adequate. However the 13 roosters who plays the boys prized fighting cock Macho do fine work. 

Not great drama but finally crafted pulp, I found 'Cry Macho' to be unexpectedly satisfying. ***

Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

 Around a decade and a half after 'The Exorcist III' came 'Exorcist: The Beginning', a prequel focusing on Father Merrin backstory in the 1940's. Merrin here is played by Stellan Skarsgard, a reasonable choice for the role, but on the hole this movie just got so much wrong, it really shouldn't exist. 

Ironically this movie contains extremely extensive reshoots, I've heard up to 90%; the original version of this film having been helmed by the great Paul Schrader, the studio did not like what they got at all, so they put an additional $50 million on top of the $30 million already spent and had Renny Harlin ('Die Hard 2', 'A Nightmare on Elmstreet 4') remake it. I plan on watching Schrader's version soon, Harlin's take was so poorly received that Warner Brothers decided to put the first version out anyway the following year. 

This film lacks subtilty, it lacks emotional investment, the scale seems off the wall, it just doesn't feel like it fits into the world of the first film; which is true really to varying degrees with all the sequels, but it's most on display here. The overuse of early 2000's computer effects doesn't help at all, this movie kind of wants to be a darker, more brooding Indiana Jones, but it doesn't even want that enough to fully follow through. Like number 3 this movie also contains a twist I hated, though not as much as in the previous film. 

There is really nothing in this movie worth recommending, it's just awful. *

The Exoricist III (1990)

A partially remembered video about this movie by Red Letter Media led me to expect that this would be the best of the best of the Exorcist sequels, and in some ways it is, but on the whole I may have cared for it even less then 'The Exorcist 2'. 'The Exorcist III' has the right background, written and directed by 'Exorcist' creator William Peter Blatty, based on his sequel novel 'Legion', it's better then reasonably smart and has strong writerly dialogue. It picks up with the characters of Lt. William F. Kinderman and Father Joseph Dyer (though here played by different actors then in the first film, George C. Scott taking over the Kinderman role from the dead Lee J. Cobb) fifteen years after the events of the first film. 

The inciting incidents are a series of murders involving religious imagery staged in the Georgetown area. Theoretically this film could have largely avoided the supernatural elements of the previous movies, focusing instead on a more human kind of evil. However demonic forces have in fact reemerged, and while I was going along with the film in mild interest, owing mostly to the strength of the writing and George C. Scott, it comes to a twist that I found so distasteful, and such a betrayal of the original that this movie completely lost me. I also did not care for Brad Dourif's overlong siliques, which I know the Red Letter Media guys liked. Had this film not been an Exorcist sequel, but simply a stand alone story I probably would have liked it okay, but it's post Exorcist status is why I'm only giving it *1/2.  

The Star Trek Project: NextGen Season 6

 I feel like more of my recommendations for this season are marginal ones, compared with previous seasons. By this point the series is straining some to come up with new ideas, and are often doing variations on things they did before, though there are some strong episodes in this season as well.

Season 6 

Episode 4 "Relics" 

"Scotty!" 

Episode 6 "True Q" 

Q and the new intern. 

Episode 7 "Rascals" 

Picard and three others are de-aged to adolescence. Silly premise, but it proves quite fun. 

Episode 8 "A Fist Full of Data's". 

A holodeck "Western" episode. Spaghetti Trek? 

Episodes 10 & 11 "Chain of Command Parts 1 & 2"

Picard goes on a secret mission into Cardassian space, the Enterprise is assigned a temporary new Captain. 

Episode 14 "Face of the Enemy" 

Troi goes undercover as a Romulan intelligence agent. 

Episode 15 "Tapestry" 

It's a Wonderful Quantum Lead, Q & the afterlife. 

Episode 16 & 17 "Birthright, Parts I & II" 

There's some Data stuff, but it's mostly about Worf following up on a tip that his father may still be alive, in Romulan custody. 

Episode 18 "Starship Mine" 

Die Hard on the Enterprise. 

Episode 19 "Lessons" 

So different from any other NextGen episode, an understated romance for Picard. 

Episode 20 "The Chase" 

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Galaxy. Picard brings the Enterprise on an archeological treasure hunt. 

Episode 23 "Rightful Heir" 

The second coming of Kahless The Unforgettable. 

Episode 24 "Second Chances" 

A duplicate Riker. 

Episode 25 "Timescape" 

Star Trek does 'Tenent'? 

Season 6 Episode 26 & Season 7 Episode 1 "Descent, Parts I & II" 

Lore and the Borg 

Forbidden World (1982)

I was inspired to see 'Forbidden World' after watching a YouTube video about it on the 'Good, Bad, Flicks' channel, and I would recommend the video it's an interesting story, the movie I would recommend with an asterixis. This is a Roger Corman produced 'Alien' rip-off, the first film directed by Allan Holzman, who did things like trailer cutting and second unit stuff before this. It's competently done, and an odd labor of love.

There are actually two versions of this film on the BlueRay, the theatrical cut and the directors cut. The directors cut has more comedy, it's not so much laugh out loud funny as winking at the audience funny, or so I thought. Apparently this plays different to an audience, an early showing brought lots of laughter, which was intentional, but Corman didn't like it, he didn't think it was going to be that kind of movie, so he ordered it recut. 

I think of the two versions I may have liked the theatrical cut marginally more, for one thing that cut looks a lot better, it's been digitally remastered and the directors cut clearly hasn't. Also you can understand what the robot is saying much clearer in the theatrical cut, even though the voice casting is kind of odd. 

This struck me as a serviceable, but not exceptional film, definitely a B movie. Corman got what he wanted out of it, another 'Alien' rip-off with female nudity. The movie made four times what it costs to make, so sehr gut.  The audio commentary, which is on the directors cut, makes you apricate the project more, Holzman put everything he could into this little picture, and the pride he shows in it even now is endering, as his stutter, he directed this film with a stutter, perhaps only Roger Corman would have given this man his antra into directing, and I'm glade he did.**

Critters Attack (2019)

 It had been nearly 30 years since the last Critters film, I had hoped this movie would be a loving tribute by devoted fans, and that they would find a way to reinvigorate the nearly forgotten franchise, this did not happen. 'Critters Attack' is awful, it's slap dash, made on the cheap in South Africa for some reason, despite an unspecified American setting.

There was nothing new or interesting in this film, they tried to make a likable 'Gizmo' like Critter but they didn't invest her with any personality. There is no good acting in this. Dee Wallace returns from the first film, but due to a rights dispute they never use her characters name. She was definitely phoning this sucker in, just a paycheck. I saw this via Syfy Channel, it's where it belongs, and reminds me why I never bother with the Syfy Channel. * 

No Time to Die (2021)

Postponed in release by Covid, canonical Bond #25 'No Time to Die', at a six year delay from 'Spector', matches the record gap between it's last cold war film 'License to Kill' and first post cold war movie 'GoldenEye'. At 163 minutes it's also the longest movie in a franchise that nature intended to run around the two hour mark. I have read this film referred to as the 'Avengers: End Game' of James Bond movies, which fits given it's length, last appearance of Daniel Craig in the title role, and the number of story lines wrapped up and homages to earlier films rendered. 

This is also a film where the most interesting things to talk about would be major spoilers so I'll hold back. I did want to briefly mentioned that the scene early in the film, where a biological weapon is stolen, felt scary to me in a way I've never been scared in a Bond movie before, after 2020 that threat seems so much more real. I also half suspect that Ana de Armas fun and brief role in this movie, was largely there because Craig enjoyed working with her in 'Knives Out'. 

On the whole though fun is not the word I'd use to describe this movie. Craig's Bond films have tended toward the dark, and that generally worked, sometimes exceptionally so like in 'Skyfall'. However as a casting reboot is in the works I'd apricate if a lighter tone were on offer, I prefer Bond to be enjoying the chase, not seemingly traumatized by it. 

Much has been made of the new black and female agent (Lashana Lynch) who has taken Bond's 007 designation by the begging of the film, and less has been made of the films confirmation that Q (Ben Wishaw) is gay. Bond movies reflect the time in which they are made, and they tend to date pretty hard, which is something I love about them. 'No Time to Die' is a Bond movie of a socially progressive era where audiences are used to hard edged, long form, dramatic story telling. These are all good things and they have their place, but I'm hoping for a less tonally oppressive future. ***

The Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

 While the original 'Exorcist' movie had a strong sense of authorial vision, both in the writing and the directing, the sequel feels like the commercial product it is. The tremendous success of the first movie made a second all but inevitable, and they do a reasonably good job here of building off the original, what has happened with Regan, more back story on Father Merrin. But the movie is too often silly, Louise Fletcher's flash bulb device that is suppose to allow two people to enter the same dream, Richard Burtons Father Lamont laying it on too thick. There were a few moments I liked, but this movie tired too hard, didn't feel natural enough, where the first film felt surprisingly real. Not awful, but just a conventional movie sequel to an unconventional film.  **

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

 What a weird franchise Venom is. The Covid delayed sequel 'Let There Be Carnage' has a nothing plot, but Tom Hardy talking to his long frustrated symbiont continues to hold an odd appeal. I image magically showing this movie to a mainstream audience of 30 or 40  years ago, and how utterly flummoxed and confused they'd be. **

The Dig (2021)

 Your mother will probably like this one. 'The Dig' is based on a novel based on real events. In 1939 a widowed and sickly English landowner (Carey Mulligan) hired an informally educated excavator (Ralph Fiennes) to dig up some ancient burial mounds on here property. What they discovered proved to a major archeological find, one that effectively rewrote much of what was known of that area in England in the 6th century or so. 

Throw in class conflict between the excavator and formally trained archeologists brought in one the job, the loaming clouds of an impending world war, and a romance sub plot for Lily James, and you've got all the pieces you need for this specific type of film. Effecting, subtly stirring, and there's some closeted gay stuff to make it resonate with contemporary concerns. Especially strong performances from Mulligan and Fiennes. ***

Mother! (2017)

 'Mother!' is another of director Darren Aronofsky's extremely on the nose, revisionist biblical/ ecological parables, as such a fitting follow up to Noah (2014). I must confess some embarrassment with how much Aronofsky, one of our most pretentious, if still interesting directors, had me through this thing. It's fairly clear, fairly early just what the parable is here, but I kept looking for more, and became kind of swept up in the thing. There is real audacity here, especially later in the film during which the figurative flying rodents have a case of the runs. Marketed as a thriller or horror movie, many people who paid to see this film in the theater on the strength of Jennifer Lawrence's casting, probably had an unsubtle metaphor of their own for the director. ***

An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000)

 'An Extremely Goofy Movie' is a 2000 direct to video sequel to 1995's 'A Goofy Movie', a film with a strong sentimental vibe for youths of the 1990's. 'Extremely' proves to be better then it really needed to be, I laughed a fair bit. The film recycles the 'Max wants more personal space from his overly involved dad' plot from the first movie, but now transplanted from high school to collage. 

Goofy joins Max there upon losing his job, in a very Goofy like manner, and needs to complete his final year to be more employable. You see Goofy did three years of collage back in the 70's but never graduated, and this introduces a retro disco strain to the proceedings, and helps Goofy hook up with a collage librarian who has a taste for the era, and who is drawn as an almost uncomfortably sexual greyhound. 

In addition to the intentionally retro stuff, the movie is also now retro for the turn of the millennium, with Max, his friends, and even Goofy competing in an extreme sports competition. There is even some synergy with the ESPN and ESPN II brand names. The bad guy here is a distillation of every a-hole preppy character from an 80's collage film, so there's even another era for which this movie invokes nostalgia. **1/2

  

The Exorcist (1973)

 'The Exorcist' is a landmark film, a phenomena at the time of its release, and adjusted for inflation still Warner Brothers most profitable film ever. The movie has long secured an iconic place in film history, it's part of the canon and a movie I'd frankly been intermediated by. I watched it recently for the first time as part of the podcast, I'm glade I finally got to it. Needless to say we speak of it at some length in the episode we recorded, so I'm going to limit myself here. 

'The Exorcist' is really a film of its time, it's got that 70's pacing, director William Friedkin was not in a hurry. The exorcism doesn't being until around the last 30 minutes of the movie, and early on the film has a disjointed quality, as there are three major narratives that only really come together pretty late on in the proceedings. 

It's a horror film of course, there are shocking moments, one near the end literally made my jaw drop, which doesn't happen for me often. But it's also a character piece, ensemble, but with Jason Miller getting pride of place. Strong performances all around. This is something that will warrant a revisit, very impressive. ****

Mary Magdalene (2018)

Though far from a critical darling upon it's theatrical release, I recall at the time reading a near ecstatic review from Nick Allen at RogerEbert.com. Mr. Allen stated that 'Mary Magdalene' "moved me in a way that no previous film about Christianity ever has." While I do not share his reaction to this film, it did remind me of a time when I had a similar reaction to a different movie, Denys Arcand's 1989 French-Canadian release 'Jesus of Montreal', which I saw for the first time in 2011.

What Arcand's movie did for me, and what director Garth Davis's film did for Allen, was a take a story that had been somewhat calcified by repetition, reframed it and reinvigorated it. Watching 'Mary Magdalne' I was struck that I don't recall ever hearing the Jesus story principally through the eyes of a woman. 

The ethereal Rooney Mara is Mary of the village Magadline, a small Jewish fishing community on presumably the Sea of Galilee, back in the first century. She is a quite, introspective woman who yearns for something more meaningful then the time and place of her birth would seem to allow. Her family is trying to persuade her to marry a recent widower with several children, and he seems like he's probably nice enough, but Mary finds herself 'not built for that life'. When a traveling preacher and faith healer visits her village in the company of a number of his disciples, she believes she may have found what she's been looking for. 

Jesus here is played by Mara's real life romantic partner Joaquin Phoenix and it's an interesting casting choice. Phoenix has in the role both a magnetism to him, and the ability to come across as a crazy man in a robe. The movie concentrates on this ambiguity, in most cinematic portals Jesus comes across as clearly divine, here it is more uncertain, one can understand both peoples embrace and rejection of him. 

Mary and Jesus connect in a way unique among the disciples, she seems to have more sway with him then the others, and helps redirect some of his preaching to concentrate on the women, who were second class socially and theologically amongst the Jews of the time. The scene in which Mary lends a hand to assist in baptizing a large crowd, could be anathema to religious conservatives, but has a sense of wonder to it, emphasizing the radical change promised by this young Jesus movement. 

Speaking of radicalism, something else I enjoyed about the film was the way it placed Jesus and his followers amongst the radicals' of Roman occupied Palestine. The disciples are expecting that this ministry is building towards an insurrection, and while Mary points out to them that their savior had not promised political liberation, just spiritual, the others seems to feel that the political aspects were implied. Judas for one is shown as thinking so, the prospect of independence from the Roman's and their corrupt puppet monarchs is what attracted him to the movement in the first place; while he very much believes in Jesus miracles, he perceives them as just the warm up act for revolution. When Judas comes to see that this is not the case, that is when he betrays his savior, hoping his imprisonment will spurs him to action, when it does not Judas hangs himself. 

This film is too slow and lacks the sweeping emotion that would seem appropriate for such a story of spiritual transformation, still it is full of interesting ideas, and a perspective on the Jesus story that feels fresh, even as it feels ancient. ***

The Swiss Family Robinson (1940)

RKO's 1940 version of 'The Swiss Family Robinson' isn't as fun as the later Disney movie, for one thing there are no pirates. I was waiting the whole film for the pirates to show up, but instead the 'climatic' event at the end was a spider bite. The period effects of the film sometimes have a guzzy, somewhat surreal quality, which I liked, and we get much more context and Robinson back story, even as this film is 33 minutes shorter. Mr. Robinson as played by Thomas Mitchell is more a tyrannical kook here, uprooting his whole family in the first place because he though his boys spoiled and insufficiently Christian. There is an extra boy in this movie two, a toddler, and the moms flightier as well. I was curious to see this movie, but not sure it was worth my 93 minutes. **

The Amityville Horror (1979)

 'The Amityville Horror' feels really definitive, it is is basically the templet for the whole 'Shit, we moved into a haunted house' sub-genre. Based on allegedly true events, this is highly disputed, of a family's experience upon moving into a house where a young man had murdered his entire family some years prior. 

James Brolin is the husband, slowly being driven mad, Margot Kidder the wife (and I don't think she's ever looked more attractive then she does in this) and Rod Steiger the priest who tries to warn them. Murry Hamilton is also in this, Father Steiger's superior who does his 'Jaws' Mayor shtick and tells him to essentially ignore the problem. 

There really isn't a lot to this movie scare wise, but the three primary leads play it straight and do their best to sell the thing, and the movie works very much as 'type'. It's well crafted and the pacing punctuated by telling you at the begging of the film that the family only stays in the house for 28 days, and reminding you throughout how long is left until the climax by periodically putting the day number on the screen. 

'The Amityville Horror' was the second highest grossing American film release of 1979, after 'Kramer vs. Kramer'. The film cost $4.7 million to make and made $86.4 million at the box office. It was the biggest release in the history of American International Pictures, best known for making Vincent Price horror films and beach party movies in the 60's, still the studio would fold the following year. Not critically well received at the time of it's release, it is more apricated now and has earned something of an iconic status. ***

Awkainings (1990)

A friend of mine had been trying to get me to see 'Awakenings' for years, I'd seen a few scenes of it back in the 90's but had never gotten around to watching the whole thing. Well the movie was about to leave Prime so that worked as a motivator/ excuse for me to finally sit down and watch it, I did, I loved it, and I was able to get another friend to sit down and watch it later that same night. I guess I'm better at giving movie recommendations then taking them? 

The 1990 film 'Awakenings' is based on Oliver Sacks 1973 memoir of the same name. In 1969 Sacks was working at a New York long term care facility where the use of a new anti Parkinson's drug L-DOPA, was able to revive decades comatose patients who had all been victims of a 1920's epidemic of Encephalitis Lethargica. In effect these patients comatose state was the result of a condition that acted like a super-accelerated Parkinson's, like humming bird wings it was a though they were vibrating so quickly as to seem motionless. This new serum was able to revive what seemed to be around a score of people, but only for a number of months, after which the new drug ceased being effective and they returned to a near vegetative state.

Robin Williams plays the Sacks surrogate Dr. Maclom Sayer (why not just call the character Oliver Sachs I'm not sure), Robert De Niro plays Lenord Loe, the first patient they test the new drug on, and who was little more then a child when he went under. So this is a Williams / De Niro movie, what an odd paring, and they are both excellent in this, each playing against type. Williams a closed in, socially awkward doctor, De Niro essentially a teenager, a good boy who wakes up a middle aged man and has to cope with that. 

The film also has a largish supporting cast, many other patients, but also Julie Kavner as a sympathetic nurse, John Heard as a less sympathetic hospital administrator, and Penelope Ann Miller as a sort of love interest for De Niro. This is a beautiful film, both happy and sad. Though the 'cure' is only temporary it inspires those around the patients, principally hospital staff including Williams, to not waste the precious gift of life they are given. ****

Boogie Nights (1997)

 'Boogie Nights' is an early Paul Thomas Anderson film, that expands upon his 1988 mockumentary short 'The Dirk Diggler Story'. Both films follow the rise and fall of a 1970's & 80's porn star who goes by the name Dirk Diggler, Mark Wahlberg plays him in the latter film. Real name Eddie Adams, Diggler is a none-to-bright-bulb who is very well endowed sexually. Porn producer/director Jack Horner (played by Burt Reynolds in his only Oscar nominated performance, and the actor would express very mixed feelings about taking the part) would guide him through tremendous success within the burgeoning pornographic film industry, though ego, aging and drug abuse would shatter his career and lay him quite low, the film contains a morally gray coda of Diggler again entering the porn scene in the mid 80's. 

When glancing at review quotes about the film on Rotten Tomato's I saw one writer note that watching this movie is a very complicated film going experience, and with that I would concur. This film progresses from period drama, to comedy, to tragedy, though these veins flow into each other throughout. It is kind of difficult to get a grasp on what this movie is. 

Among other things it's an ensemble piece, Dirk is the primary focus and our main through line character, but the picture has a board Altmane-sque cast of characters, and it presents them as more or less what they are, warts and all, without going out of its way to judge them for you. 

The rich cast includes Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Philip Baker Hall. Julianne Moore has a heartbreaking role as porn star who goes by the name of Amber Waves, a cocaine addicted wreck who is desperate to regain some custody over her children, but who is not fit to have them despite her legitimate love for them. 

I thought here that Reynold's had the most interesting part, a sort of 'nice guy' pornographer', he is ultimately exploiting these people, taking advantage of them, but he also seems to care for them, can be generous and forgiving. I thought about it for a bit and Hugh Heffner comes to mind, a very pleasant, likable personality, in some ways quite progressive, but at the end of the day he's making his money off porn, and porn can crush people, before the camera, behind the camera, and watching on screen. 

The film is unsettling, though it can also be gripping, sad and funny. I'd heard comparisons to the work of Quinton Tarentino, which I mostly thought over stated, with the expectation of one, maybe two rather Tarentio-esque sequences late in the film. Again this is more like Robert Altman then perhaps anything else. 

This is a film that I think at some point I am going to need to revisit, it really leaves an impression, even if your not sure what exactly to make of it by the end. ****