Still a lot of 2019 releases to see but this list represents my initial choices for the 10 best films of 2019. This has been a disappointing film year.
10. Richard Jewell
9. Jojo Rabbit
8. Apollo 11
7. Toy Story 4
6. Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
5. Mike Wallace is Here
4. Booksmart
3. The Two Popes
2. Little Women
1. Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
My Choices for the 10 Best Movies of 2018 Version 2.0
10. Vice
9. The Mule
8. Won't You Be My Neighbor
7. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
6. Crazy Rich Asians
5. BlacKkKlansman
4. The Favorite
3. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
2. First Reformed
1. Roma
Richard Jewell (2019)
When I first started to see previews for the new movie 'Richard Jewell' I was excited, curious of course to know more about one the most famously wrongly accused people of my life time, but mainly because I have been a fan of director Clint Eastwood's late in life cycle of making films based on true stories of recent decades ('Sully', 'The Mule'). The backlash over the films portal of Kathy Scruggs an Atlanta newspaper reporter who played a prominent role in the veritable witch hunt that Mr. Jewell was subjected to, dampened my enthusiasm some. Ms. Scruggs is dead and therefore not in a position to defend her self and Olivia Wilde plays her as a pretty miserable excuse for a human being, this may well be unfair to her. However that aside I thought 'Richard Jewell' was a pretty solid movie.
For those who may be unfamiliar or who have forgotten Jewell was a security guard at the Centennial Park venue at the 1996 Summer Olympic games in Atlanta Georgia. It was Jewell who first pegged an abandoned backpack as a "suspicious package" and alerted authorities. Ultimately the backpack proved to contain three pipe bombs, and Richard's discovery of this likely saved many lives (ultimately over 100 people were injured and one to two killed, depending on the source). Hailed initially as a hero Jewell quickly became the prime suspect, the FBI was looking at him as a likely 'hero bomber' someone who plants a bomb in order to stop it and thus become a hero (there is precedent for this, apparently something similar happened at the L.A. games in 84'). Scruggs broke that story, and the film implies got said dirt in exchange for sexual favors with an FBI agent. Jewell's life was needlessly turned upside down and the real bomber Eric Rudolph wouldn't be apprehended until 2003.
In some ways this story is really the stuff of "The TV movie" though that genera as brought to us by the "the networks" has largely gone away since 1996 when this movie is set. By giving Jewell's tale a big screen treatment, with high production values and solid actors, Eastwood has given the man the redemption tale he deserved (sadly Jewell passed away in 2007 at the age of 44). Jewell was a Baptist and a gun loving, portly white southern man, and he is now the hero of a major motion picture, that just doesn't happen, and that is why this is so great, this is a story we don't often get and well told to boot. Paul Walter Hauser is fantastic as Jewell, he becomes the man and radiates an odd endearing charisma playing someone who seemed to be very awkward. Kathy Bates gets a sold part as Jewell's devoted mother, with whom he was living at the time of the bombing. Jon Hamm plays FBI agent Tom Shaw, who I think may be a composite, his square jaw casting is almost too obvious, but works none the less. Sam Rockwell gave my favorite performance of the piece as Watson Bryant, Jewell's friend and lawyer whose trust in his client is heartening, and whose efforts in his service inspiring.
Though one could read the film, especially in light of the current political climate as an us vs. them story of the media vs. downtrodden white America, I would recommend taking it as what at its heart it appears to be, a redemption story. Richard Jewell was a hero, a man who wanted to be one and for whom unlike most of us, time, circumstance, and talent combined to allow him to be. He went through hell for doing the right thing, yet in the end you know he'd do it again in a heartbeat. It's a story the bears telling. ***1/2
For those who may be unfamiliar or who have forgotten Jewell was a security guard at the Centennial Park venue at the 1996 Summer Olympic games in Atlanta Georgia. It was Jewell who first pegged an abandoned backpack as a "suspicious package" and alerted authorities. Ultimately the backpack proved to contain three pipe bombs, and Richard's discovery of this likely saved many lives (ultimately over 100 people were injured and one to two killed, depending on the source). Hailed initially as a hero Jewell quickly became the prime suspect, the FBI was looking at him as a likely 'hero bomber' someone who plants a bomb in order to stop it and thus become a hero (there is precedent for this, apparently something similar happened at the L.A. games in 84'). Scruggs broke that story, and the film implies got said dirt in exchange for sexual favors with an FBI agent. Jewell's life was needlessly turned upside down and the real bomber Eric Rudolph wouldn't be apprehended until 2003.
In some ways this story is really the stuff of "The TV movie" though that genera as brought to us by the "the networks" has largely gone away since 1996 when this movie is set. By giving Jewell's tale a big screen treatment, with high production values and solid actors, Eastwood has given the man the redemption tale he deserved (sadly Jewell passed away in 2007 at the age of 44). Jewell was a Baptist and a gun loving, portly white southern man, and he is now the hero of a major motion picture, that just doesn't happen, and that is why this is so great, this is a story we don't often get and well told to boot. Paul Walter Hauser is fantastic as Jewell, he becomes the man and radiates an odd endearing charisma playing someone who seemed to be very awkward. Kathy Bates gets a sold part as Jewell's devoted mother, with whom he was living at the time of the bombing. Jon Hamm plays FBI agent Tom Shaw, who I think may be a composite, his square jaw casting is almost too obvious, but works none the less. Sam Rockwell gave my favorite performance of the piece as Watson Bryant, Jewell's friend and lawyer whose trust in his client is heartening, and whose efforts in his service inspiring.
Though one could read the film, especially in light of the current political climate as an us vs. them story of the media vs. downtrodden white America, I would recommend taking it as what at its heart it appears to be, a redemption story. Richard Jewell was a hero, a man who wanted to be one and for whom unlike most of us, time, circumstance, and talent combined to allow him to be. He went through hell for doing the right thing, yet in the end you know he'd do it again in a heartbeat. It's a story the bears telling. ***1/2
Monday, December 30, 2019
Little Women (2019)
'Little Women' was not a story I knew, I mean beyond some basics, New England, 4 March sisters, father's off serving in the Civil War. Having now seen this I can appreciate why it is considered a classic, and why people keep returning to it, why it keeps being remade as a film. This new version is Greta Gerwig's follow up project to the movie that made her a name director, the Oscar nominated 'Lady Bird' from 2017. Gerwig plays with the story structure some, I understand the novel is very lineal, here you toggle back and forth between two story periods, one during the civil war and one several years after, it took me a little bit to catch on to when the switches were happening, but you can mostly tell by way of context, peoples haircuts ect. Some would call Gerwig's a feminist take, but if you have a problem with that term don't let it throw you, I think most would agree that women's options were rather unfairly limited in the mid 19th Century America, that is the principle social critique in film.
This movie is really enjoyable, it can win you over, the man sitting next to me in the theater clearly did not chose this film, his wife did, but by the end he seemed to be into it. If I had to sum up a description of the film in one word I'd say "warm". The source material, Louisa May Alcott's novel is over 150 years old but this felt fresh, and refreshing un-cynical, though with some knowing contemporary touches. The movie is very well cast, good supporting roles for the likes of Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep. Laura Dern plays the mom, Timothee Chalamet the principle love interest. Though this is based on a classically American novel none of the four "little women" are American, instead portrayed by two English women (Emma Watson and Florence Pugh), an Irishwoman (Saoirse Ronan as the lead character, Jo) and an Australian (Eliza Scanlen, the only principle performer in the film whose work I was not previously familiar with). Everybody does an excellent job, this cast really clicks.
I don't want to focus much on details of the plot because I really enjoyed going into things with a minimal knowledge of what was going to happen, suffice it to say its about the trails of growing up and young adult hood, a period piece yes but also universal. I understand Gerwig (who adapted as well as directed this piece) did several fairly significant changes to the original text, and I find now to my surprise I kind of want to read this book, this book written for 19th century girls. Surprisingly affecting, one of the real film going pleasures of this year. I can highly recommend, even if you don't think this is going to be your kind of thing you may be surprised. ****
This movie is really enjoyable, it can win you over, the man sitting next to me in the theater clearly did not chose this film, his wife did, but by the end he seemed to be into it. If I had to sum up a description of the film in one word I'd say "warm". The source material, Louisa May Alcott's novel is over 150 years old but this felt fresh, and refreshing un-cynical, though with some knowing contemporary touches. The movie is very well cast, good supporting roles for the likes of Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep. Laura Dern plays the mom, Timothee Chalamet the principle love interest. Though this is based on a classically American novel none of the four "little women" are American, instead portrayed by two English women (Emma Watson and Florence Pugh), an Irishwoman (Saoirse Ronan as the lead character, Jo) and an Australian (Eliza Scanlen, the only principle performer in the film whose work I was not previously familiar with). Everybody does an excellent job, this cast really clicks.
I don't want to focus much on details of the plot because I really enjoyed going into things with a minimal knowledge of what was going to happen, suffice it to say its about the trails of growing up and young adult hood, a period piece yes but also universal. I understand Gerwig (who adapted as well as directed this piece) did several fairly significant changes to the original text, and I find now to my surprise I kind of want to read this book, this book written for 19th century girls. Surprisingly affecting, one of the real film going pleasures of this year. I can highly recommend, even if you don't think this is going to be your kind of thing you may be surprised. ****
Sunday, December 29, 2019
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Sofia Coppola's first film may in fact be her best, not that many of her other films aren't really good, even great, but the style comes out fully formed in this first one and subsequent films of hers have been variations on the same theme, namely stylized melancholy with a strong soundtrack. Based on the 1993 debut novel of the same name by the later Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides, 'The Virgin Suicides' tells that story of 5 suburban Michigan sisters in 1974 and how over the course of around eights months, each of them commits suicide. So obviously this isn't a light hearted film, it's beautifully sad, and not an endorsement of their actions, which I kind of took it to be when I first heard of it 20 years ago, a glamorizing.
The death of the youngest girl, 13 year old Cecilia, well that probably couldn't have been stopped, she probably couldn't have been helped she was quite disturbed, but the others, well those largely grew out of the ways principally the mother (Kathleen Turner) responded to the first death. Yet neither she nor the father (James Woods, you forgot how good of an actor he is) were bad people, and the girls, though Lux (Kirstin Dunst) was particularly prone to be wild, weren't bad girls. The mystery of why the tragedy happened is at the heart of the film and is never really answered, because how could a mystery of this sort be answered.
The film is presented as the reminiscence of local boys from the neighborhood, who even 25 years later continue to be obsessively puzzled about how those beautiful neighbors came to their ultimate fate. I was supper impressed with 'The Virgin Suicides' I know and like Ms. Coppola's work but this far exceeded my expectations, quite a powerful movie. Not that stylized really for the most of it, though the coda at the end really is and it took me awhile to decide that that last sequence really works. Highly recommended, to the right audience. ****
The death of the youngest girl, 13 year old Cecilia, well that probably couldn't have been stopped, she probably couldn't have been helped she was quite disturbed, but the others, well those largely grew out of the ways principally the mother (Kathleen Turner) responded to the first death. Yet neither she nor the father (James Woods, you forgot how good of an actor he is) were bad people, and the girls, though Lux (Kirstin Dunst) was particularly prone to be wild, weren't bad girls. The mystery of why the tragedy happened is at the heart of the film and is never really answered, because how could a mystery of this sort be answered.
The film is presented as the reminiscence of local boys from the neighborhood, who even 25 years later continue to be obsessively puzzled about how those beautiful neighbors came to their ultimate fate. I was supper impressed with 'The Virgin Suicides' I know and like Ms. Coppola's work but this far exceeded my expectations, quite a powerful movie. Not that stylized really for the most of it, though the coda at the end really is and it took me awhile to decide that that last sequence really works. Highly recommended, to the right audience. ****
Saturday, December 28, 2019
The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming (1966)
I really wanted to like this movie more then I ended up liking it. This is the only movie, to my memory, that my dad specifically mentioned his dad taking him and his siblings to see in the theater. As a result of knowing that I've long had a presumably greater then average curiosity about the film, I simply hadn't gotten around to seeing it. Directed by the versatile Norman Jewison from the novel 'The Off-Islanders' by Nathaniel Benchley, who was the son of noted humorist Robert Benchley and the father of 'Jaws' scribe Peter Benchley. It is the story of a Russian sub that accidently runs aground on a small Massachusetts island, they send a small team onto the island to secure a boat to tow the sub out to see, but in process of doing so set off a panic among the islands inhabitants. So this is a satire of both the cold war and small towns. The principal players being the Russian first officer, and the husband and wife of the first family he and his team come across, played respectively by Alan Arkin, Carl Reiner, and Eva Marie Saint, all of whom remarkably are still alive more then 50 years after this film came out.
The movie has its moments, and I certainly admire the 'ecumenical sprit' of the thing, the Russian's aren't depicted as bad people and the Americans are depicted as prone to overreaction. I thought the movie too often slow, and the dryer moments of humor worked better then the more slapstick bits. The ending is hokey but effective, though a bit of a turn on a dim and wouldn't hold up to much scrutiny were this a film that would require that. A feel good gentle ribbing of a movie, a lesser 'It's Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' that really resonated at the time, making more then $21 million on a $4 million budget. **1/2
The movie has its moments, and I certainly admire the 'ecumenical sprit' of the thing, the Russian's aren't depicted as bad people and the Americans are depicted as prone to overreaction. I thought the movie too often slow, and the dryer moments of humor worked better then the more slapstick bits. The ending is hokey but effective, though a bit of a turn on a dim and wouldn't hold up to much scrutiny were this a film that would require that. A feel good gentle ribbing of a movie, a lesser 'It's Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' that really resonated at the time, making more then $21 million on a $4 million budget. **1/2
Friday, December 27, 2019
Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)
'Zombieland: Double Tap' is the excessively delayed sequel to the 2009 hit 'Zombieland' which its self was a lesser 'Shaun of the Dead'. They simply waited far to long for this one (the film even jokingly acknowledges this in Jesse Eisenberg's opening narration). Zombies just aren't 'hot' anymore, and I'm not just talking about their body temperature (rim shot). The whole thing felt rather pointless to me, the returning central cast are all fine, and I even liked the additional characters they introduced, all of which I think benefited by limiting their screen times. For a comedy I seldom if ever laughed, and their were longish boring stretches. If you see it though make sure to stick around for the mid credits sequence, which is probably the best thing in the movie. Provided its very self aware I would still be up for a 'Zombieland 3' in 2029, a middle aged Eisenberg and Stone shooting up the undead could have an ironic charm. **
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