8 Mile (2002)

I finished up my movie watching goals for the year with '8 Mile' which featured my 12th new Oscar winning best song "Lose Yourself". Perhaps the most surprising thing for me abut '8 Mile' is that it was good, it reminded me of a cross between 'Rocky' and 'Saturday Night Fever'. Set in 1995 Detroit the film stars Marshall Mathers aka Eminem as 'B-Rabbit', the rappers only real film role this character feels as though it might be pretty analogous to him, and perhaps wisely he has limited his subsequent film appearances to cameo roles, he's good in this though, sold. 'Rabbit' is a poor white kid who dreams of being a star in the predominantly black world of rap music, he must prove himself and the film ultimately ends with "a satisfying rap battle." A wonderfully real feeling sense of urban rot to this piece. Good supporting cast highlighted by Kim Basinger as 'Rabbits' mom, and featuring a rather fetching Brittney Murphy as his love interest. There is also a far amount of later to be famous people in this movie including Michael Shannon and Anthony Mackie. Directed by Curtis Hanson at the end of what had been a very strong period for him, including the films 'L.A. Confidential' and 'Wonder Boys'. This isn't something that it would necessarily make much sense for me to like on paper, but I did. ***

The Gate (1987)

A couple of kids accidently open a portal to Hell (a "gate" if you will) in one of their backyards after workers remove an old tree. I really wanted to like this more then I did, the acting is just not that great (featuring a young Stephen Dorf), though the special effects are memorable, a lot of stop motion and forced perspective. Set in an unspecified suburbia, but filmed in Canada, a couple of things let that slip. It's a kids film I suppose, but at times a little intense. I remember seeing my mom watch part of it while I was in high school, at that time for me 'a gate to hell' was just too much for a subject of a film centered on kids. Uneven this is really a kind of Poltergeist Jr. Not my thing, but unusual enough to be worth a watch.**

And Everything is Going Fine (2010)

Documentary on the life of the late actor and monologist Spalding Gray (1941-2004). The film consists almost entirely of Mr. Gray talking, other then a few snippets from interviewers. The documentary contains no talking heads and is composed of footage from Mr. Gray's monologues, interviews, home movies, ect. You don't really even need to watch this as a movie, you can listened to it as a monologue, which is exactly what it was constructed to be. There is a lot interesting information here, I am a Spalding Gray fan and I learned new stuff I didn't know. Of particular interest is material pertaining to how Mr. Gray first came up with idea of doing monologues, and information about the June 2001 auto accident in Ireland which set in motion events leading to his January 2004 suicide. This film however is just not as good as an actual Spalding Gray monologue, and a recording of his first one "Sex and Death to Age Fourteen" recorded in 1982 is included as a special feature on the DVD. The documentary feature is directed by Steven Soderbergh. **1/2

Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys (2008)

Tyler Perry's film's are sometimes interesting for the bizarre mis-mash of genera types they contain, 'The Family that Preys' is part Christian movie, part soap opera, and part buddy road trip comedy, and while here it works probably better then it should, it still doesn't really work. There is no Madea in this one, but Perry is still that rareish filmmaker who writes prominent parts for women over 50, in this case Kathy Bates and Alfie Woodword, my mom had long wanted me to see this. *1/2

Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

Unlike the 'Rocky' movies I never really much cared for the 'Rambo' franchise, other then the first one, thought # 3 can be enjoyed ironically. 'Rambo: Last Blood' wraps things up, though it feels more out of obligation then need. This is a dark, unhappy movie, a real downer whose excessive violence is depressing, not even enjoyable in an over the top Tarantino sort of way. Not to give away too much of the plot for those who might want to see it let me just say revenge has a role in the proceedings. Though the inciting incident might be best to go in somewhat unaware I will tell you the ending involves Rambo booby-trapping a series of tunnels under his south Arizona ranch, like a far more sadistic 'Home Alone'. There are instances of violence in this movie where it ran through my head 'You know I'd never thought of that but I suppose you could do that to a human body'. Competently enough made like some other 'Rambio' films in does touch on some matters of seemingly current interest, such as the drug and human trafficking situation in Mexico, but there are better films and series about those things such as 'Sicario' and 'The Bridge'. Paz Vega is in this, she doesn't have that much to do, her's is a career that never meet its full potential, and I feel that same about this 'Rambo' movie, if they were going to give this character a farewell, I wish their had been more to it. *1/2

Get Shorty (1995)

I remember this movie doing strong business and being pretty well thought off when it first came out, watching it now, for the first time, it seems dated and oddly tame. 'The Sopranos' came after this, as did a greater vogue for satire and dry humor. This movie seems like a slightly more straight version of 'Big Trouble', it seems like a whiff of what would come later with both prestige TV and meta TV, interestingly their is now a TV series adapted from this film. Based on a novel by Elmore Leonard 'Get Shorty' is about a Miami based loan shark (John Travolta at the dawn of his career resurgence) who travels to L.A. on a job and decides to get into the movie business, as a producer not an actor. It's likable enough, I can see how it would have been somewhat fresh and semi-innovative for the middle 90's, but I don't know,  more then most well regarded films of the past I couldn't get much beyond the sense that this was more progenitor then its own independent thing. It's well done, strong cast, I particularly liked Delroy Lindo in this. I would rate it favorably, moderately impressed by it, but just didn't' grab me like I hoped it would. Danny DeVito is the 'Shorty' of the title. ***

Jojo Rabbitt (2019)

The Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL4McUzXfFI

Before seeing or even really talking about 'Jojo Rabbit' I would highly recommend first watching it's trailer, it could be difficult to get much of a grasp on what this movie is without seeing some footage. While the movie is adapted from a novel by Christine Leuens called 'Caged Skies' I would be curious to know how much it actually resembles that source material, it has such an idiocentric autor vibe about it. Adapted and directed by New Zealander Taika Waititi ('What We Do in the Shadows', 'Thor: Ragnarok') it might be helpful to know that the man is part Jewish. Set in Germany in the final year or so of the second World War the story centers on 10 year old Jojo (Roman Griffin Davies, quite good) who lives alone in a small village with his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson, also quite good, is this the first time she's played a mother?), his father having disappeared fighting in the war, and his older sister semi recently dead, though to my memory the movie never really explains how she died, which I thought an interesting choice. Jojo is a naïve boy, quite gung ho about the Nazi's (the film opens with a creative musical montage that likens pro Nazi enthusiasm among naïve young Germans to later Beatlemania.) but he has a sincere kind heart. Largely shunned by the other kids, with the exception of his good friend Yorki (Archie Yates), Jojo's 'best friend' is a comic, imaginary version of Adolph Hitler (played by director Waititi).

There is a lot of broad comedy in the film, though the tone gets more reflective and even somber as it progresses, the ending even gets pretty darn melancholy. The plot development that inaugurates this shift in tone is when Jojo discovers that his mother is hiding a young Jewish girl named Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) a friend of her late daughters, in the walls of the house. The two young people enact an uneasy truce, Elsa afraid if Rosie finds out Jojo knows about her she will make her leave, and Jojo afraid that if he tells anyone he knows his mother will be arrested. This often comical though tense situation gradualy grows into a mutual understanding, and Jojo's insulated view of the world slowly grows into a more realistic and understanding one.

Waititi's instincts here are admirable, and the films anti-hate message of ridiculing the absurdities of hate is a disappointingly relevant one for the world of today. Though reasonable people can disagree as to the effectiveness, and even the appropriateness of  that tone given the subject matter. I thought for the most part the humor worked, it is sometimes laugh out loud funny, though do to the juxtaposition at the heart of the film, their are even some seemingly lighter moments were I wasn't quite comfortable. I enjoyed the good cast, including Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson and Stephen Merchant, the movie has a nice look to it and a creative choice in its music. It is the heir, to various degrees of earlier Nazi mocking films like 'The Great Dictator', 'To Be or Not to Be', and even 'The Producers'.  The movie takes risks, makes you think, and is pretty sharp and depressingly current satire. Not for all tastes, but take a look at the trailer and you will know if you are up for it or not. ***1/2