Take This Waltz (2011)

'Take This Waltz' is the second film directed by Canadian actress Sarah Polley, she wrote and produced it as well.

Michelle Williams is a freelance writer who meets Luke Kirby while on a work trip to Montreal, they end up seat mates on the return trip and even catch a cab together back from the airport. You see they live real close, across the street, each thought the other looked familiar. It's a meet cute, they like each other, complication is Michelle Williams is married.

Spoilers

Specifically Williams is married to Seth Rogan, a writer of cook books. They seems to have a happy marriage, but it has become routine, Williams finds Kirby exciting and over the course of the film he seduces her away from her husband. This isn't exactly what he set out to do, nor did Williams intend to seek fulfilment outside of her marriage. The relationship is not consummated until after Williams and Rogan seperate, but once that happens the new couple embark on a rather debuched time, including his and her threesomes, until that relationship too settles into a kind of routine; it still appears "healthy", but so did Williams and Rogan's.

The film has some flights of fancy, most of the action takes place in Toronto's "Little Portugal" neighborhood which is colorful and quirky looking. None of these characters should be able to live so well on their jobs, Kirby's character is literally a rickshaw driver. Aside from that and some things at the end the movie is very low key, it feels like it says some truthful things about relationships and how they drift apart. There is also a counterpoint story about Rogan's recovering alcoholic sister Sarah Silverman and her relationship with husband and daughter, and how they mostly make that work.

Roger Ebert said in his review of the film that the casting of the sympathetic Williams seemed a deliberate ploy so audiences would overlook just how awful her character can be, I think that is true, but if you keep that in mind as you watch it should make the performance even more impressive. This slightly hard to categorize indie can both reel you in and repell you, a strange accomplishment. ***

Smooth as Silk (1946)

Small town Idaho girl Virginia Grey remakes herself as a New York socialite and Broadway star, but she's kind of a B and decides to triple-time herself to success, eventually lover # 1 murders lover # 3. This is a B movie in more then one sense, a short and crowed film, competently done but feels like they filmed the back story for an episode of Perry Mason. **

Actress Jane Adams who plays Virginia's sister liked officers, her first husband a Navy Lt. went down with his ship in 42', her second husband of 55 years, was an Army officer who became a general and VA administrator, the last before it became a cabinet rank under Reagan. Ms. Adams lived to be 95.

Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist (2023)

Though in apparent lose continuity with the Nic Cage 'Left Behind' reboot from 2014, 'Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist' contains no carryover performances. Kevin Sobro directs and takes over the Rayford Steele role from Cage, he also has considerably less money to work with (not that 2014's 'Left Behind' had a huge budget), this movie looks sometimes embarrassingly cheap. 

Greg Perrow takes over the "Buck" Williams role from Chad Micheal Murray (they couldn't even get Chad Micheal Murray back), Sarah Fisher plays Steele's daughter. Corbin Bernsen plays a Roger Ailes-lite cable news head, Neal McDonough does some steely eyed scene chewing as a social media billionaire and the films red herring potential Antichrist, if it wasn't already obvious that Baily Chase's Romanian Nicoli Carpathia was destined for that role. Film also features two of Sobros immediate family members in supporting parts.

The original Tim LeHaye/ Jerry B. Jenkins 'Left Behind' novels rose from a very 1990's Evangelical context, this film updates things and includes refrences to many of the major bugaboo's of contempory right-wing American evangelicalism; including "fake news", Barack Obama, Covid-19, and an attitude of both general and deeprooted skeptism of all institutions that aren't hard line Evangelical Christian.

Though obviously overt in its religious messaging 2014's 'Left Behind' was still rooted in the disaster movie tradition and consequently kind of fun, while 'Rise of the Antichrist' on the other hand is rooted in the tradition of arguing with people on Facebook. This is an extremly talkie movie, one loaded with buzz words and concepts well (and sometimes vocally) received by the largely older and white audiance I saw this with in a mostly full (if small) theater.

All three lead characters get saved over the course of the film and you get a chance to be as well, between the end of the (what could loosely be called) action of the film and the end credits come not one but two mini sermons. The first of these is by Sorbo, now out of character "playing" himself, and the second from former Arkansa governer Mike Huckabee, can't say I've seen anything quite like this in a theater before. While the film is "religious" it is even more so poltical, less a tool of outreach then a rally for the faithful. Talkie, stilted, cheap looking, kind of boaring and containing no surprises apart from Huckabee, this is a bad movie. It is still watchable though and genuinely interesting as an artifact of American Evangelicalism in the afterwash of the Covid era. *1/2

Kingpin (1996)

 This is that "Amish bowling movie", a very 90's comedy from the Farrelly brothers. The premise is almost inspired, Woody Harrelson plays a child bowling prodigy who loses his hand when a hustling scheme with frienime Bill Murry goes gutterball; 17 years later Harrelson sees a chance to pull himself out of that gutter when he happens upon a bowling savant played by Randy Quaid, who happens to be Amish. A cross country trip to a million dollar bowling tournament in Reno sees misadventure and the two picking up the sexy Vanessa Angel along the way.

Consistently amusing but seldom really funny the film would have benefited from less gross out humor and being shorter, it's nearly two hours long. It still has its moments and plays effectively with expectation subversion near the end. Watching this shortly after viewing 'The Hustler' and 'The Color of Money' for the first time made this funnier then it otherwise would have been, given that its story is basically a play on those films. **1/2

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)

 Director Micheal Cimino will always be most rememberd for 'Heaven's Gate', the notorious 1980 box office bomb that bankrupted United Artists. Before that however he had two big hits, the Oscar Best Picture winner 'The Deer Hunter' in 78, and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot in 74 ($25 million box office off a $4 million budget).

Comedy/drama starts out as a road picture and becomes a caper film. Clint Eastwood is nickname "Thunderbolt", a bank robber on the lamb who has been working rather successfully as a preacher, he is picked up by drifter/ small time hood "Lightfoot" (Jeff Bridges) while on the run from his former partners George Kennedy and Geoffery Lewis. The pursuers are angry that "Thunderbolt" has held out on the location where a now deceased 4th partner had hidden the loot from a bank robbery some years earlier. The money was said to be hidden behind the wall of a one room schoolhouse, but when they get there the buildings gone, replaced by a newer school.

The four place their differences aside and put together an elaborate plan to rob the same bank again. It's a fun and light hearted time until it's not, taking a darker turn towards the end with echos of an earlier best picture Oscar winner. Set and filmed in Montana, movie features a pre 'Dukes of Hazard' Catherine Bach and a new song ('Where Do I Go from Here') written and performed by the great Paul Williams. ***1/2

The Color of Money (1986)

 Sequel to 'The Hustler'. It's 25 years later and Paul Newman's "hustler" is retired from the game, he's in the liquor buisness now. Spots Tom Cruise at a pool hall; see's real talent; takes him under his wing; wants to fashion him into something. Newman experiences another crises of confidence, then gains back his confidence and ends up playing against Cruise in a tournament in Atlantic City. I enjoyed this more then 'The Hustler'. Marty Scorsese directs. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio at her most attractive. ***

The Hustler (1961)

 In 'The Hustler' Paul Newman plays "Fast Eddie" Felson, a professional pool hustler who suffers a crises of confidence. Based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, who also wrote 'The Queens Gambit' and 'The Man Who Fell to Earth'. Film co-stars include George C. Scott and Jackie Gleason as real world pool legend "Minnesota Fats". Piper Laurie plays the love interest, an aspiring writer, part time college student and something of a lush; this is probably a career best performance for her, a real highlight of the film, which ironically I watched on the actresses 91st birthday. On the whole and while recognizing how well made this is, it didn't do much for me. ***

The Invisable Maniac (1990)

 Escaping from the State Home for the Criminally Insane where he had been incarcerated following a quadruple murder, the brilliant but mad Dr. Kevin Dornwinkle assumes the alias of Dr. Kevin Smith, summer school physics teacher. In his spare time Dr. Kevin perfects his invisabilty serum and rediscovers a childhood interest in anonymously observing young women in various stages of undress, before going on another killing spree, this one of his students.

Yep this is one of those movies. Anchored by a commited, odd ball performance from Noel Peters as Kevin, 'The Invisable Maniac' is an uneven film but really delivers in its final act killing spree. Even with its strange premise the movie goes in some unexpected directions, including a prolonged nightmare/dream sequence for the janitor character which seems to be there to pad the running time and up the number of bare breasts in the film. A fairly compotent production it mostly knows what it wants to be, but gets a little lost occasionally. **1/2

Silkwood (1983)

 Based on the true story of Karen Silkwood, an employee of an Oklahoma plutonium plant who was working with her union on exposing lax safety conditions there, when she died in a suspicious automobile accident, her car apparently run off the road. The film took longer then I'd have liked to get going, plus it played as a cross between 'Norma Rae' and 'Erin Brockovich', two better known films which I've seen, so that blunted the impact some. Still first rate work as always from Meryl Steep in the lead. Directed by Mike Nichols from a script co wrtten by Nora Ephron. Nominated for 5 Oscars it won none. Kurt Russel plays the love interest and Cher the lesbian best friend. ***1/2

Cannonball Run 2 (1984)

On the television series 'The Good Place', 'Cannonball Run 2' is available to watch in The Medium Place, such a mediocrity it is said to be; ironically I liked it more then the first one. Essentially a retread 'CR2' is losser then the original, who wins the race matters even less and the silly premise has an even sillier sub plot about various factions of mobsters. Much of the original cast returns and are joined by the likes of Shirley MacLane, Cathrine Bach, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, Henry Silva, Don Knotts, Telly Savalas, Richard Kiel, Jim Nabors, Tim Conway, and Charles Nelson Reilly; Frank Sinatra even appears as himself in his last big screen film performance. **1/2

The Cannonball Run (1981)

 'The Cannonball Run' is like a combination of the Hanna-Barbara series 'Whacky Races' and 'Laugh Olympics', except instead of animated cartoon characters it features live action cartoon characters. It's bad sketch comedy and racial stereotypes by way of 'Smokey and the Bandit' - splotaion. Cross country race from New Jersey to the California cost populated by people Gen X knows and Gen Z dosen't, including Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Jamie Farr, Adrienne Barbeau, Terry Bradshaw Peter Fonda and Jackie Chan. A bunch of people got together and made a movie and nothing seemed to matter as much as they had a good time doing it. Time capsule quaint. **

Women Talking (2022)

 Review contains discussion of sexual assult and a minor spoiler.

'Women Talking' is the 4th film directed by Canadian actress Sarah Polley and is based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Miriam Toews, which in turn was inspired by actual events at a Mennonite colony in Bolivia earlier this century. Some young men in The Colony had used cattle tranquilizer to incapacitate women and then rape them. One woman awoke mid-assult and was able to identify her attacker, who in turn reveled the identities of the other men involved.

At the start of the movie most of the men folk have left The Colony to go and bail out the attackers, the Elders telling the women they have 48 hours to forgive the men or risk excommunication. In their abscene the women hold a vote between the three options they feel open to them, do nothing, stay and fight or leave. With no clear winner in the vote three familys, of multiple generations and representing the different options, are selected to meet in a barn and hash out a decision for the colonies women. The women being mostly illiterate a single man, the Colony's school teacher, is allowed to sit in on their meetings and keep notes.

The film consists mostly of discussion among the women, hence the title. This is fraught, high stakes conversation that explores issues of faith, forgiveness, trust, betrayal, security, risk, right, wrong, safty, freedom, matters of deep existential angst and of practical consideration; it is weighty, often gripping stuff. The film reminded me of 'God on Trial', a teleaplay aired on PBS some years ago about Jews in a concentration holding a symbolic trail of God for breaking the covenant, a sense of broken covenant is very much on these womens minds.

The film bosts strong performances across the board from a fine cast including Clair Foy, Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, Francis McDormand, and Judiath Ivey, Ben Whishaw plays the school teacher. The setting appears to have been transplanted from South America to either the US or Canada, and while the year in which the story is set is given midway through the picture it hardly matters, a placeless, timeless universality is intentionally conveyed.

The parties and their positions seem pretty well deadlocked but when things break in one options favor it happens very quickly. I will not reveal here which option the women choose, but once the decision is made the already high emotional undercurrent kicks into a new level. This is a devistating movie, both reflective and rightly rageful. ****

Dementia 13 (1963)

 'Dementia 13' is the first Francis Ford Coppela film, he directed it and co-wrote it with Jack Hill, later of 'Coffy' fame. Produced by Roger Corman for AIP, it's a gothicly influenced family mystery/melodrama shot in Ireland. This is a film of the "better then it had to be school", though I regret to say not significantly better. Still you can see talent developing here. **

Love & Friendship (2016)

 Writer/director Whit Stillman has a long time love of the works of Jane Austen; his first feature 'Metrepolitan' from 1990, has a sequence in which 20-something New York socialites discuss which Austen novels are truly worthy.  One work which Whit would put in the worthy column is 'Lady Susan', a lesser known early novel not published until more then half a century after the authors death. 

'Love and Death' is Stillman's adaption of 'Lady Susan' as well as reteaming of Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny, stars of his 1998 film 'The Last Day's of Disco'. Austen is perfect source material for Stillman, as all of his films have been dry comedies of love and manners amongst the elite.

It's 1790's England and Beckinsale is Lady Susan, a down on her luck widow and notorious flirt, scheming to find men, money, and standing for her grown daughter (Mordydd Clark) and herself. Sevigny plays Susan's friend and confident Alicia Johnson, who is said to be from Connecticut, probably as a way to get around the accent.

This film is funny, though the language is so formal and guarded that sometimes you have to think a moment to register the joke. Strong cast all around, among the standouts are Xvair Samuel as a handsome young suiter and Tom Bennett as a walking idiot suiter, but a wealthy one. I was also quite fond of James Fleet as Susan's brother-in-law Sir Reginald, one of those benign, common sense father figures in Austen stories, who has figured out how to read the women in his life and by doing so has made things easier and more pleasant for himself.

This is an unusually accessible Austen adaption, perfect for non devotees at just over 90 minutes. ***

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

 'Shadow Recruit' is the Chris Pine "Jack Ryan" reboot sandwiched between the Ben Affleck and John Krasinski ones. Is it a faithful take? I'm hearing no. Is a satisfying thriller? I thought so.

The movie is situated well in time with Ryan joining the Marines due to 9/11, being shot down and injured in Afghanistan and subsiquently working a decade on Wall Street as a "shadow agent" for the CIA. He goes full active when a Russian businessman (Kenneth Branagh, who also directs) plots to tank the U.S. economy. Kevin Costner is the mentor figure and Kira Knightly the love interest.

Lots of good set pieces, the hotel room fight really kicks things into high gear. I liked the awkward dinner, the Russian car chase, the brainstorming on the airplane and to a lesser extent the US set stuff. I liked all 4 leads, though Pine's Ryan is the least interesting figure amongst the quartet, not great when it's supposed to be his movie. David Paymer has a cameo, a pre stardom Gemma Chan is in this and Colm Feore who played a bad guy in 'Sum of All Fears' is a good guy here. Quite a bit better then I was expecting. ***

Eye in the Sky (2016)

 A joint Anglo-American / Kenyan anti terrorism operation and possible air strike is complicated by the unexpected presence of a little girl. A kind of geo-poltical variation on "The Trolly Problem". Quasi-documnetary in nature and rather gripping. Cast includes Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul and Alan Rickman in his last live action film role. ***

The Hill (1965)

 'The Hill' is another of those 'Allied solders imprisoned in WWII sure would love to escape' films, what sets it apart is the prision camp is in North Africa and the solders are being held by their own side. This British camp in Libya houses solders who have deserted, commited petty crimes, and in the case of Sean Connery assaulted a superior officer. The camp's CO and chief medical officer are largely going through the motions, mentally checked out on a far from glorious assignment in war time. One of the guards goes sadistic resulting in the death of a young private, his immediate superior wants to cover it up, conflct within the camp escalates. While I had trouble really getting into this film for around the first half or more, once I was invested I was invested. Impressive final act. Stand out supporting performances from Ossie Davis as a solder from the West Indies and Harry Andrews as an officer whose sense of control is more important to him then his sense of justice. Black and white, directed by Sydney Lument (Network, The Pawnbroker). ***

Love and Other Drugs (2010)

 'Love and Other Drugs' dosen't work because it's love and other movies. It's a sex comedy, satire of the pharmaceutical industry, something of a 90's nostogala piece and a lose remake of 'Love Story'. Jake Gyllenhaal is a child of privilege, college drop out, womanizing salesman type, he takes a job as a Midwest sales rep for Pfizer just in time for the birth of Viagra. Anne Hathaway (whose naked alot in this) is a poor artist and senior health care advocate with early onset Parkinson's diease. Though they start off on the wrong foot and neither plans on it, Anne will help Jake find redemption through love. It's forced, saccharine and off putting; a movie in awkward flux between genra types, from some truly touching stuff at a Parkinson's support group, to Jake catching his brother Josh Gad masturbating to the sex tape he made with Anne. Further more this is yet another movie to waste Judy Greer. What a mess. *1/2

Blue Crush (2002)

 I would probably have never seen this movie had it not come in one of those mystery DVD bundles from The Record Exchange. I was expecting something of no consequence, girl power in bikinis, I got more then that.

In reading Roger Ebert's review of 'Blue Crush' I was pleased to have had two of the same thoughts as him. First the movie was much better then expected, the poster lead one to anticipate a silly surfing movie. Second it reminded me of 'Saturday Night Fever', both films are surprisingly gritty dramas (though one more so than the other) about blue collar young people seeking solice and escape in what might seem a silly hobby, be that surfing or disco dancing.

Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriquez and Sanoe Lake are old high school buddies, surfing companions, and a suraget family. They live with the Bosworth's character's younger sister Mika Boorem in a run down house on Oahu and make their living as maids at a posh resort. There is sad but mostly implied back story for the sister pair, the other two are mostly blank slates in that regard. Bosworth is in training to return at an amateur level to the world of competetive surfing, after a near drowning three years before. Distraction arrives in the form of Matthew Davis, a vacationing professional football player who takes a liking to Kate and might represent an alternative means of escape from a life of limited prospects.

To my surprise I liked and cared about the characters, and the story in which they appear is not as trite and cliche as it well could have been, and as the studio producing this "girl surfer movie" would likely have been content to let it be. Financially and critically this did pretty well, a $55 million box office off a $25 million budget and a relativley respectable 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. An unexpected pleasure, glad I chanced into it. ***

Plan 10 from Outer Space (1995)

 'Plan 10 from Outer Space' is a riff on the famously bad 1959 science fiction film 'Plan 9 from Outer Space', but through a satirical lense that fouceses on particularly Mormon motifs and Utah-isms. The descriptor "Nancy Drew on Acid" is used on the poster and I'd be hard pressed to come up with a better short hand encapsulation. 

Stefene Russell is a 22 year old Salt Lake girl, a lapsed Mormon who finds herself in a mystery involving a metal plaque, a mysterious book, her dance obssesed neighbor, panty theif brother, and beehive headed aliens lead by Karen Black. It is a potpourri of Mormon esoterica and bric-a-brac, doubtless the funnier the more you know about Utah Mormonism. It's also a local travelogue and now endearingly nostalgic time capsual of the Salt Lake Valley in the mid 90's. 

This film is close to 30 years old but feels remarkably current in its playful riffing of things that might "make the Church look silly". It's also extremly funny, I saw it with an audiance of around 25 at one of its periodic revivals at the Salt Lake Film Society. There was much loud laughter. A real treat if you have the right taste. ***

Blonde (2022)

'Blonde' is a long delayed passion project of the director Andrew Dominik, best known for 'The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' and 'Killing Them Softly'. The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oats, it is a factually lose retelling of the life of actress Marilyn Monroe with an obsessive focus on tragedy and pain. The film could accurately be described as nearly three hours of Marilyn Monroe being tortured. 

The film is grim, even oppressive, but not without some artistry, espically visually; It switches back and forth between black and white and color, changes aspect ratios, blurs and alters faces at times and even plays with fire as a visual motif. The film is anchored by Ana de Armas giving a commited and sympathetic performance as Monroe; but this is Oscar caliber stuff in service of a seedy and tabloidy construction of a movie.

At 42 this is my first NC-17 film, the rating whose cheif utility for this picture was as a marketing gimmick. Explictness is promised and delivered, de Armas feels exploited and the viewer feels dirty. Adrian Brody gives a fine performance as playwrite Arthur Miller, here portrayed as the most well meaning of Marilyn's many lovers, which otherwise run the gamet from implied rape by an unnamed but implied Daryl F. Zanuck, to a JFK blowjob scene I couldn't believe I was actually seeing. The whole film has a car wreck sense of fascination to it, I found it difficult to embrace but hard to fully dismiss. It is I think destinded to be remembered as a momument to bad taste lavishly rendered in the tradition of 'Mommy Dearest'. **

2022 in Review ( Version 1.3)

Book highlights

The Yiddish Policemans Union by Micheal Chabon

Charles Bukowski's Post Office trilogy

Books on Mormonism from Patrick Mason's Planted to Fawn M. Brodies No Man Knows My History

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jenette McCurdy

Podcasts: The Plot Thickens

TV

Mostly rewatching syndicated space station based science fiction from the 90's, Star Trek Deep Space 9 & Babylon 5

Movies

Least Favorites

Blonde

The Pale Blue Eye

Don't Worry Darling

Thor Love and Thunder

where the Crawdads Sing

I Heard the Bells

Jurassic World: Dominion

Fun Bad

The Kings Daughter

Redeeming Love

Honorable mentions

X & Pearl

The Outfit

Aline

The Northman

Confess, Fletch

Laal Singh Chadda

I Want You Back

Vengence

Spirited

Top 10 Favorites

Elvis 

13 Lives

White Noise

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Whale

Top Gun: Maverick

She Said

Avatar: The Way of Water

Babylon

The Fabelmans