ThurstonHunger Reviews

Neal Brennan: Crazy Good (2024)

Great stand-up and second-hand ayahuasca

[8/10 · 28 April 2024]

Moving on from saving himself and/or others in the Blocks special and podcast, Brennan addresses that off the bat saying that he's feeling pretty good. And it shows clearly!

He's so sharp and the focus here is really just on the jokes, well-crafted and really well delivered. He might go a little overboard on the rape/killing joke, but I think that's a comedian classic. The intentional overdoing it is the meta-joke. Don't believe me, ask The Aristocrats.

Anyways, the pacing is just about perfect, and zingers at the end of each of the religious attack ends right on the money. Watched this immediately after the Golden State Warriors squandered their season, I'd recommend it to Klay Thompson and to you.

I suppose in a few years or decades we may see Neal as the spokesperson for legalized ayahuasca. I prefer to just imbibe it second-hand via this excellent stand-up. Reader's Digest was right, laughter really is the best medicine.

Yojimbo (1961)

Political/criminal chaos produces a noble man and wonderful music

[8/10 · 28 April 2024]

My son for an East Asian history/politics class at an Art University watched this, and I had somehow never seen this, nor any of the Kurosawa trilogy. I mean I had even read volume one of "Usagi Yojimbo" before seeing this, inexcuasable.

Glad to have corrected this, and I would say you could watch this just for the music and be well rewarded. Tremendous soundtrack by Masaru Sato.

A 1961 film looking feudal Japan is not simply that. The presence of a gun, and I would have bet that the actor wielding that was a Westener could say something about American fast/cheap and out of control devaluing of life. However Tatsuya Nakadai apparently was not an American gone amok. Still there is something to that.

Also any film with coffin transportation, the best way to defeat death I suppose is to start it down directly like that. Toshiro Mifune goes through a pretty remarkable death-defying series of blows and a wonderfully filmed escape underground. You cannot keep a good and bold man down!

Other cartoon like characters on both the warring sides, and local yokels - give the film more levity than a macho sort of action film I expected. And the message of rising above the political/criminal (synonymous often, no?) machinations - by not just playing one side of the other, but climbing up a town watchtower to look literally down upon them; what a great message as our 2024 USA presidential election looms like a destructive clown show as well.

Very good, and like me - you might want to listen to the full soundtrack on a loop via youtube afterwards.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

Dating at Work

[6/10 · 28 April 2024]

Character study, in a slow but sturdy message of feminine strength.

A painter is brought in to clandestinely capture a daughter for a portrait that apparently will be an 18th century version of a dating profile. There are catches, one being the daughter is not keen on her arranged destination-Milan marriage, the other is that a smoldering friendship between the painter and the daughter blooms into a clandestine love affair.

This period piece "gynocentric" film (phrase from the DVD extras) has a Virginia Slims vibe to me. The forbidden lesbian love and a side story involving barbaric quest for getting rid of an unwanted pregnancy seem to show that things have come a long way, well alas abortion rights may sadly spur on the feminist fight these days again. Could that trend have re-kindled this Portrait on Fire?

As with paintings, the frame can command attention. And here the story is framed as a looking backwards by the painter now as an art instructor sans lover. Not sure, but this might have undercut the heat of the affair. That and we are looking back even further at a taboo tale, that as mentioned just felt more historical than modern-day hysterical.

I should say I am a fan of Noemie Merlant. Something about her face expresses so much to me. Noemie seems to wind up in somewhat taboo and sensual films. Never mind the headline qualms about her self-directed, self-inspired more recent film. Honestly that just confirms she is likely an artist to watch.

That said, much of the conflict of the film relies upon her face-acting and that of her co-star Adele Haenel. The story and the spartan mansion where the daughter is kept, helped us viewers feel as confined as Heloise. Things more than a little claustrophobic for much of the film (beside a few scenes with the female choir around a bonfire) so we rely on longing, complex, vexed and perplexed looks. The artist's gaze. And the gaze back. The Female on Female Gaze.

Of course old flames still have sparks for any lovers, and that could be part of the story here. Instead I felt the director was hoping to re-tell or sell a feminine flex, the idea that Eurydice commanded Orpheus to look back.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for female/individual empowerment and think it may have existed hundreds of years ago on the cliffs of Brittany, as it does now in the side streets of Saudi Arabia.

As such I felt more smoke than fire from this film (it could also be the fated framing or something else - seems like others felt more chemistry between the two leads than I did).

I found myself distracted by the movie as a very peculiar take on dating at work. A strange mixture of the inescapable and the ill-conceived. Such love in both cases is born in the shadows, such love fuels upon its secretive nature almost as powerful the eventual sensual exploration.

I expected the film to engulf me the way such an affair would but it kept me arm's distance. The scenes with the maid and her understory were intriguing, a powerful scene in particular, then recaptured by the two entwined heroines for a painting. And the paintings in general (pretty cool that a modern director was sought out for the strokes herein, and her style of blurred portraits was included in the movie). Those and that female choir tune captured me more than the film itself.

Poor Things (2023)

Pecuilar flavor for the general cinematic cafeteria -

[7/10 · 23 April 2024]

If this is your first Lanthimos film, and it seems like it is for many, and if you found it engaging, then I do hope you check out "Dogtooth" and "The Lobster."

As with those and other Lanthimos films, I tend to feel like his film is not really what it is easily about. This one was tougher, it does seem like a painstaking stab at mansplaining feminisim at times. But what if Bella were a metaphor for AI?

Probably not at all Lanthimos' intention, and certainly not for Alasdair Gray. That said a rapid sexual deployment, pervasive and perverse fits and then quickly the AI moves beyond satisfying erogenous and Epicurean delights to a Matrix-like self-realization and then disgust with man, if not unkind Mankind in general?

Or maybe not...

To be honest, I ended up watching this in four different settings, in part due to work+life, but also as the film didn't ensnare me the way his previous films did.

Is it a comedy? At times, the humor bubbled to the top, and not the way God's digestive juices did. But the general tone of the film to say nothing of the soundtrack, cut against the humor in my estimation.

To be clear there is plenty here to appreciate. The music was tremendous, though edgy and dissonant, it might be "fun" to pitch it against some old cartoons. See how that impacts the humor there.

Besides the haunting OST, there is one stunning fado segment from Carminho. When Bella gets feelings. (Mild ugh for me). In addition to how it sounded, how it looked was impressive. Cinematography and setting were superb. I did wonder if this was Lanthimos' biggest budge by a factor of 5 over "The Favourite?"

An interesting cast, notably some comics cast in philosophical roles, for "enlightened" males. Who's laughing now? If I rate this honestly, especially with the high expectations I had, it would be a 4. But I don't care for the company that places me in here, and again I think Lanthimos has earned more respect than he gets in many first-time reviews.

What if Yorgos is a chef who is not meant for the cinematic fast-food cafeteria? The blessing/curse ratio lowers for him as success rises? Can I get fries with the twisted auteur offering?

No matter, I still look forward to his next offering...and hope Jerskin Fendrix is along for the ride.

Blind Chance (1987)

Fate and Fatality

[6/10 · 14 April 2024]

While I remain a firm believe if free will, that is a belief that gets challenged from time to time. It doesn't help that for every one of us, our fate is ultimately fatal.

Growing up, we had the wishful idea of a "do-over" which we knew wasn't right, and wasn't fair or real. Just a trick of a game.

That evolved manifold for kids who came after me with video games and the idea of saving/resetting/replaying a game. I wonder if that generation will have existential repercussions in their later days.

Kieslowksi's film here could perhaps help. It comes with a political history capsule for pre-Lech Walesa Poland (wow Walesa is still alive as writing this) but more importantly offers a spin on dodging fate.

Good "luck."

Perhaps this movie then is like the buried bottle in one of the tales here. A great scene and message.

The film is cerebral (others list similar films, to add to those this is not "Groundhog Day" - the main character overtly differs in his cinematic incarnations). Through a triptych, Witald tries on the life of a good government cog, of a committed revolutionary and lastly of a willfully apolitical free agent.

Is there a right choice? A clear winner?

Can any of us escape our fatality? Best to just enjoy the ride while it lasts...and this film as well.

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Still quite a (bus) ride...

[8/10 · 7 April 2024]

Another movie for my son's film class, that I had never seen. Honestly, I didn't know it had an X rating. These days would it squeak by as a PG-13? Oh well times change, hairstyles change and New York City changes.

The pacing at the start and use of flashbacks without force-feeding us the back-history of Joe Buck is pretty excellent. The strange bedfellow pairing of the two leads, definitely shades of Mice and Men, but of two down-and-out hustlers held up fine for me. While Jon Voight as the young Buck's naivete is very clear (and well portrayed), Dustin Hoffman's Ratso has a different and willful sort of naivete. A canned Florida dream, like an imitation orange juice commercial.

I guess maybe it is just the sort of fodder we all tell ourselves, to try to make it through day-to-day. Whether this is a grimy valentine to a lost New York, I dunno - maybe.

Am I, even as part of this late date audience, the same as the pre-BoHo art party crowd staring at two odd street specimens? I hope I'm at least a little like Brenda Vacarro, who had a few shards of sympathy in the overall jaded vibe. She shined on screen in her moments.

And Voight's depiction of Joe Buck is pretty fantastic, worth watching as it still feels unique and powerful. I love how his transistor radio was almost a bodily appendage, even more so than his cowboy garments.

Mercifully no remake of this, but would Joe Buck these days be written as an instagram influencer? Cell phone swapped for that radio, and Ratso helping him to set up his online tinder profile?

Anyways, I should have seen this long ago, and perhaps you as well if like me you held off thinking the Bugs Bunny reference was enough :) Pretty sure my son somehow got through his class without even watching this and a few other films. Universities are kinder and gentler these days to its student/customers than NYC was to wayward souls back then. But that's a discussion for another place...

I did like how the movie was bookended by bus rides. The transportation of body and "soul" - the microcosm of the people on the bus and how Voight interacted on his way to one dream and then to another, really Ratso's dream. There was a sort of mythic feel of crossing from one realm or existence to another.

PK (2014)

Watch it in good faith...

[8/10 · 22 March 2024]

First I should say I came across this thanks to Mark Cousin's "The Story of Film: A New Generation" - which might be worth your watch, if like me you are looking for something a little outside what is more easy to come across.

That said, for folks in India a decade or so ago, that might not apply here. A bit of a blockbuster there. But I hadn't heard about it here in the US, and even though there is a pretty big spoiler in Cousin's documentary/visual essay - somehow that scene slipped my mind while watching PK until boom, there it was. Definitely a credit to the filmmaker.

That scene aside, this film walks a lot of lines with delicate precision. It blends "Brother From Another Planet" with "Believer from Another Denomination." Where a more aggressive search for humor could have detonated "Je Suis Charlie" vibes, this film is careful to honor the spirit of faith, while poking light fun at some traditions.

Well light fun for me as a charismatic agnostic, your mileage may vary depending upon your deity?

To be clear, PK saves its scathing powers for holy rollers, and cleverly backs a fat cat guru into a televised corner, while tying it together with a star-crossed lovers backstory.

Aamir Khan's oddball ogling reminded me of Marty Feldman, and his physical nature is almost a throwback to Chaplin/silent film comedy. That said, I think it's Anushka Sharma who provides the audience a warm, charming vantage to play along with a wholesome halfwit. Somehow she keeps the film from just being dumb fun, to being sort of the village idiot who notices the emperor (or reverend/imam/rabbi/etc) has no clothes.

In a way it took an old religious phrase my Mom favored to another level - "be in this world, but no of it."

Enjoyable, well-paced spirited slapstick. Bright in color and in content.

Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020)

A Dad's Undying Love

[7/10 · 9 March 2024]

More filmed memoir than documentary perhaps? And certainly not for everyone. If you are a person who can laugh at death (or like me try to fake it), then this film likely will work for you.

It's hard not to be charmed by the title character and fading father of the filmmaker. The film may be most famous for hits spectral speculations, both stunt-flirting with death as well as opulent shots of an imagined afterworld. There is also an odd sort of road trip retreating back to an old Adventist flame of Dick's. That felt a little out of place to me but I guess helped to flesh out the film length, and maybe was a nice sort of reward for the filmmaker's father. We also get a sort of drive-by on Kirsten's next-door family.

Was recommended, with some caution, by a person on a basketball blog/chat space. And I do think caution is advised. Flowers for Algernon vibes - dementia sure seems like a rough coda to any life.

For me the film had three phases - the staged deaths reminded me of how "Six Feet Under" would anecdotally start. (Add in the psychiatrist parent aspect in both ?!?) Those "skits" keep coming through-out but the film moves into a more pensive phase - remembering the wife/mother who I think appeared in Cameraperson, or some other film and who tragically foreshadows some of the loss of personal freedom and flat-out person-hood closing in on Dick.

Ultimately the redeeming phase underscores Dick's undying love for his daughter (and his wife and his friends and even patients) truly makes the movie. I think of raucous comics, out-there musicians, performance artists, game show contestants and other demonstrative beings, and wonder if many also had such doting audiences from day one?

I understand some of the questioning of the filmmaker's motives, but to Kirsten's credit she did have her Father not just move near her, but move in with her. So even if/when the film feels manipulative, there were undoubtedly many unrecorded moments, joyful and onerous.b

My guess is her Dad happily traded all of those for the same time in a "care facility."

Infinity Train: The Grid Car (2019) Season 1, Episode 1

Under the Garden Wall for me

[6/10 · 2 March 2024]

Watched all of season one after seeing another IMDB reviewer cite this as a better experience than "Over the Garden Wall."

Feels kind of like a David Lynch directed afterschool special transported/animated into a video game. Solid self-help skills for the awkward and hurt teenager, getting over their own hurt by helping others through their own.

Graphics somewhat flashy (certainly the chrome world) - and some pretty peculiar ideas. A kinder, gentler Black Mirror perhaps, but with those dominant video game vibes. Hope the final boss battle pays off for folks, the episodes are quite short, split up watching the entire season over two nights. And then there were even shorter and stranger clips on the bonus DVD. Felt like out-takes for ideas that just could not support enough plot, but still cross-eyed ducks....why not?

Couldn't quite place Ernie Hudson's voice, but his character helped a lot for me (who doesn't love a regal canine, especially in the world where gravity was a bit off). Is it a throwback to those old Disney adventures where three assorted animals unit, well here it is two plus One/One. One/one comes with a sort of Marvin the Paranoid Android vibe, and the best quick humor injection.

All in all, I'd go back over the Garden Wall....but interesting enough (and unlike that, multiple seasons here).

Dry Ground Burning (2022)

This guitar does NOT gently weep...

[6/10 · 2 March 2024]

More proxy watching thanks to my son taking interesting film classes at college. He was fascinated enough by this film to get a copy, so I watched over a couple of nights (the film is a little long, so were the work days).

Charismatic leads - sisters toughened by the streets, the younger one is a fascinating entrepreneur - Chitara (I don't know the song from whence her name comes, nor enough about Brazilian political clashes from which this story erupts either). Her big sister is out of prison and in/out of the arms of her lover and other ladies.

Chitara's work is tapping into the natural oil reserves running in the dry neglected land where they live. Corporate controlled oil, with military might to reinforce it, she is a sort of folk-hero and lighting up the lives and torches of moto-boys who she draws like moths, and then has a fascinating sort of free-exchange/free-market with.

Other slices of life include a lengthy visit to an enthusiastic church, the camera swoons on in - music pumping there and on a sort of party bus as well. The moto-folks take to the streets with megaphones and a message to take political control over their district. There is another scene during a sort of carnival/convention - much of the film feels like raw capture of events.

I'm not sure how much the super-cop-vehicle added (maybe some drone stuff too in a sort of light sci-fi way). Shots inside the vehicle, and the faces of the cops on the frontline, trying to chant mantras to steel them up for their fight with the rebels.

Anyways, that part of the film is intriguing but less fleshed out than the two sisters. Great tight shots of the faces of the two women, and to me at least, interesting how much they sort of revere their Dad for his faults, and perhaps embrace some of those faults as well. Apparently each sister has a kid, but we rarely see them. So a cycle continues?

One odd thought, this film helps to underscore the cracks and grift in capitalism, it is a film well-outside the merchandised mainstream AND YET in this film we spend a lot of time watching women doing their work, (so often big budget films want to take us away from our daily grind and skip past the office to luxurious settings or mythical magical worlds).

Compared to auto-tuned synth driven sounds, the character of Chitara is like a guitar missing a string and maybe with a whole shot through its body - still a unique captivating sound, and portrayal.

Killer of Sheep (1978)

Quiet Heroes

[8/10 · 2 March 2024]

While recently watching "Daughters of the Dust" I recalled seeing this film back in Dec 2022, both thanks to my son taking various college courses on films. Both this film, and Julie Dash's debut come out of the UCLA film school and you can wiki check the LA Rebellion.

That said besides the clear connection of Black-made films with Black casts, they are two very different shades of the Black experience. While Dash paints a poetic picture, Charles Burnett creates a more verite experience. My son could probably talk about Italian NeoRealism connections, but I wonder if Burnett just wanted to bring people on the screen that he had seen around town.

Filmed in black and white, I wonder if that was more for budget than artistic design. It does add to the stark feeling of life, nevermind the slaughterhouse (heads up for squeamish folks, but whatever school of film, real life can get real messy).

Long ago I saw and loved "A Bronx Tale" with Robert Deniro. Here I see Stan as the same kind of man, the nobleness of one life. Tackling problems with pride, keeping easy money and hard times at bay.

His travails are interspersed with scenes of kids, just running amok like we used to do. I sure remember dirt clod wars, and climbing/jumping on roofs. The kids are sort of wild and free, juxtaposed to Stan whose trying to just make his way to work, to concerts and into his woman's arms.

Music is great, and the independence of the film mean that Burnett did not get the rights for the songs till much later and the film finally gets a broader release. My guess is he was just as happy to make it, no matter who saw it when. Again the noble pursuit of one's daily dealings.

Like the song, "This Bitter Earth" - this movie delivers more than a little small grace amidst chaos and angst. Like "A Bronx Tale" just one man leading his life is plenty heroic.

Yes or one woman and her life, of course. But while this film doesn't have James Brown on the soundtrack = I can easily imagine "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" playing on the ride home from seeing this.

Daughters of the Dust (1991)

Picnic at Ibo Landing

[7/10 · 27 February 2024]

Another film I was fortunate to watch thanks to my son taking some college courses on cinema. On first viewing, I wondered if this were based on a book. The film is rich in detail that remind me of a director having a hard time winnowing down a detailed novel to fit in a two-hour show.

Reading some reviews afterwards, that abundance of detail I think pulled the narrative threads apart for some viewers. Or for others, like myself, it gave the film a stylized poetic feel.

There is of course a simple narrative, the beach-side picnic is a going away party for most of the family leaving to head north. So there are plenty of juxtapositions of old and new. A variety of faiths commingle, not always freely and easily. There are tales of dying (the Ibo Landing) and dyeing - hand-making indigo. Nana, the grand matriarch stands out for many reasons, including how her deep blue dress contrasts with the others in their starched and frilly lighter wear. Costumes (and hair) are pretty and remarkable. Catalog wish-fests, bottle trees, okra horns, kaleidoscopes - visual design throughout is commanding.

There is another dream-like vibe running (literally) through the film as an unborn daughter narrates and sprints along the shoreline through forests and even perplexes a friendly photographer brought along to document this day for the family. That was like a brief flash of magic vs science. The daughter (blue ribbon in her hair by the way) herself drives one subplot of love vs sexual violence.

While the movie felt like a book in its breadth, some of the dialog felt more akin to the theater. That too may have pushed some away, and to be clear I am not talking about the Gullah dialect, that was more a fascinating flavor to the film. Felt like one's ear picks up enough, instead it's the delivery was often strident and rigid. Blame it on the faiths colliding perhaps?

Anyways this is a momentous day, despite the lessons and cooking in the dunes, the dancing by the sea, ladies talking in trees and the fascinating sort of martial arts between two of the male characters. This day is an end of an era, a complicated era of triumph and pain, but I think the message is that an essence persists wherever one travels. And the essence of many flows in the wake of one.

An ambitious film for sure. In a way, it reminded me of the more recent "This is not a Burial, This is a Resurrection." I'll admit I did not know about the Ibo (or in searching I see "Igbo") Landing. For a while watching the movie, I almost wondered if the people there were outside of time. The ghosts from the Landing, existing beyond the slave ship in and the family boat ride out. Could just be a cinematic splinter for me, and remembering "Picnic at Hanging Rock. Unless I'm accidentally tapping into Jordan Peele's next surreal horror social commentary blockbuster?

Corpo Celeste (2011)

A film not to forsake

[8/10 · 20 February 2024]

Alice Rohrwacher cannot disappoint.

If like myself, you have seen her latter films (and don't skip the documentary La Futura) - and are wonder-ing about seeing this film, rest assured even in her debut, you shall be rewarded.

This film is a little slower or more subtle perhaps than the others. Rohrwacher has not yet put her full faith in nature, but there are gusts of winds that sort of blow the (what else) young teenage female heroine through the town she has recently moved to.

In contrast to the church's literal formula, young Marta goes on her own pilgrimage. She is a misfit both in catechism and her sister's borrowed clothing. The viewer may have to be gentle with her and this film , but ultimately there is a lot going on. Trust in her, as in all of Rohrwacher's adolescent savants. The wisdom of the naif.

I feel like this could pair well with the more grandiose "The Mission." The film is not so much about religion, though it can feel that way. To me the tale is more about abandonment.

Amazing how the director connects a famous phrase from the Bible, Christ's cry - in Greek as part of the aforementioned formula, to the town of Roghudi Vecchio. There is also the subplot of Santa (the real spirit of the small church) and Don Mario (definitely the corporate/corporeal side) - and Santa fearing his abandoning.

There are religious tropes that tantalize through-out, walking on water, loaves and fishes, the blood of innocents - but do not be led into the temptation of trope tagging, instead enjoy the beauty of doubt, and the wrestling with abandonment.

Well that, and Rohrwacher's portrayal of adolescence as somehow more knowing and more flexibly real than rigid structures of catechism and capitalism and the other isms Rohrwacher so strongly distrusts.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Gangster Glamour and Armed Amour

[6/10 · 11 February 2024]

My son watched this as part of one of his college film courses, and I never had seen it before so rented it to check it out finally.

Interesting and for me sort of a thematic mish mash. Not an homage to the gangster films (Eduard G. Robinson starred as "Little Caesar in 1931, Bonnie and Clyde had their crime spree from '31 to '32). Is it early women's rights? Is Bonnie caught up in dreams of celebrity, they didn't have likes and podcasts, but she's keenly tuned to the radio and dropping episodes of her balladry via the papers. The movie ends with a sort of message about a quest for fame, or more to the point infamy.

There's also some nebulous sexuality, apparently the original French treatment had an overt menage a trois, with Bonnie, Clyde and a composite of real people blended into CW. That's gone from here, but there is a clear dysfunction going on in Clyde. Where today we have ranks of sad incels, popping off their pistols, Clyde seems just disinterested in his liaison with Bonnie. But a true undying/dying love of guns connected him to incels in my mind for a moment.

I guess there's a "Robbing Hood" vibe, and of course strong anti-bank, anti-cop motifs that persist in certain circles today. There is heavy effort to sort of cast a conscience on Clyde: the foreclosed house, the non-robbed citizen at the bank, the apparent remorse after one of the killings. And Bonnie as a good girl who does love her Mama. Mr and Miss Understood? Not quite buying that, nor any gangster glamour.

Would a modern remake have had product placement, for all the fast food stops involved?

Well I'm drifting off there, of course. I just don't find much fascination in criminals and killers, whether Natural Born or made men. I get that the word seems harsh and uncaring, and more so circa the Depression. Young folks wanting to live large and die young, I guess I can understand it, while having never done neither. And if you get a message from banks and businesses that your life is cheap, are we supposed to expect gut-toting rampages?

I did think Gene Hackman's acting has stood up better than the others. Felt a bit real to me while the others, where more shadows of people you might have known or imagined.

Was it just me, or does the film's tone include a lot of I think intentional comedy - certainly the Gene Wilder scene, the banjo interludes, the keystone kriminal krazy driving. Leaving off the Lawman Instagram photo-op and river dump. That was more of the conscious embellishment of Clyde's conscience. Some unintentional humor these days as well. Since the film is almost as old as me, and features the projected background in a stationary car - think Toonces the Driving Cat from SNL. But film then was more like theater before mounted cameras everywhere on land, sea and air.

Anyways got me reading more about Bonnie and Clyde, the DVD set from the library included bonus disks that connect some of the visuals from movie to history. And apparently their funerals were hugely attended. I still feel a little leery of populism, and more so when it's amped up and packing pistols.

My guess is the class talked about film standards changing and the depiction of violence. I should check with my son to see what they did focus on, next up for them and myself - "Midnight Cowboy."

The Wonders (2014)

Magic and Real

[9/10 · 11 February 2024]

This movie is a gem, and I have a small, quiet hope that Alice Rohrwacher fills the void left in my cinematic universe with the death of Agnes Varda.

Yes, the move is understated - but like "Happy as Lazzaro" (which I should go back and re-enjoy and write a review of) there is definitely an appreciation of the natural world, and all of its "Wonders" if you will.

In addition to that, Rohrwacher has a keen eye and a wide open heart for all of the sweet tumult that is adolescence. Actually you can even see that in a little documentary she was involved in as well called "La Futura." That documentary is not necessarily a must-watch, but this and Lazzaro are.

Both fictional films surely have their own tensions, but they are not pushed to the hilt by guns or drugs. If there is an anti-capitalistic message, it's enmeshed in a day-to-day existence and the point is more focused upon the pride of that existence.

Neither film involves magical realism, but somehow they both feel magical and real.

Right now, I have a deep trust in this filmmaker and hope to see more of how she sees the world.

Over the Garden Wall (2014)

Set Your Mind To It...

[8/10 · 10 February 2024]

One of my sons recommended this to me mostly citing the music, which indeed is a warm cup of antiquated organ and banjo bean soup that suits the old-timey art of this charming cartoon series.

That said the tale of sibling love, well a lot of sibling irritation but ultimately love, is well worth your time. It's cloaked in a unique fairy tale that might not be as antiquated as one thinks. The whole package is precious yet not precious in a delicate way, there is a sturdiness to the story.

There are plenty of aspects to it, and honestly the journey itself for me out-shone the conclusion. That said a message of emerging from one's own shadows and fears and embracing life, is a fine one.

Tremendous vocal cameos (Melanie Lipskey sure winds up in some good stuff). There are plenty of intricate internal references to/from the story itself and to influencing sources, and more than a little bit of humor. Feels like a success for kids of almost any age.

My wife generally feels pretty distant when watching animation, and she enjoyed this. For younger viewers, some of the scenes have a scary aura, but I think if they can connect with younger brother Greg's combination of fearless/clueless ability to trust in what good can happen, then maybe they can skip past the scarier scenes.

Well, that to me was true for their fantastical journey, but reflecting back now especially as the back story is unveiled, I think parents might want to watch this first themselves and figure out. Actually searching now, I do see mention of 10 years and up, and even then they suggest it's more suitable to teens. So preview ye parents of wee tykes!

That said I wish I had introduced this to my kids when they were younger, it would have fit nicely alongside "Nightmare Before Christmas" and Astro-Boy, as artful and meaningful entertainment, enjoyable on multiple levels.

Was going to say "Over the Garden Wall" flew under the radar, but it did win the Emmy for Animation that year, and looking at the list of winners, it really stands out even there.

For critics of it, maybe try again in 20 years, watch it on cold October weekend with some young un's you love. Serve it up with some hot cocoa, or perhaps Potatoes and Molasses...

Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only (2023)

Easy goats and invisible elephants...

[4/10 · 22 January 2024]

So this is a behind-the-scenes view, taken I think on the two recent stand-up specials from both gents. Honestly we haven't finished watching this, and not sure we will. The music and footage/editing have a vibrant feel but the material itself is not too scintillating or revelatory. And I just read a review about the goat ending, and um yeah that feels like Hart in creative control.

Chris Rock's special was a pretty amazing rhetorical study of a calculated response to a quick horrible impulsive moment. Hell even Chappelle's recent special was largely a recoil to the damn slap. I'm still kind of amazed that Will Smith has not just been flat out renounced by everyone, although I know Chappelle tried to be an ambassador there.

Anyways that was not covered in here from what I've seen. My take from this is that Chris Rock is a genuinely funny dude (and I liked the insights from his brother on Chris), while Kevin Hart is a hard-working businessman.. We also watched the recent Hart special a while back, and it just felt safe to me, and his reaction to his own bits kind of overwhelms and overtakes the viewer before s/he even gets a chance.

His on-stage persona takes a lot of air out of the room, even if it's the Madison Square Garden.

I know Hart walked out with a baseball bat for his recent stand-up tee ball, so extending the metaphir it's like Hart beats out infield singles on effort, while Chris (not exactly subtle in his own reactions) is more able to check-swing an opposite field home run now and then.

Maybe this movie was a payback by the somehow now mega-star Hart to his mentor. Stuff about their meeting in comedy clubs was the most interesting part. Hart being a respectful dude and savvy businessman, he keeps the focus on goat gloating and away from poking any elephants.

As such I think this works best for folks who truly are Hart fans independent of what they think about Chris Rock, and not vice versa.

Real Life (1979)

All's fair in Real Life and Warhol

[7/10 · 17 January 2024]

Watched the Reiner documentary/love-letter to Albert and realized unlike his others I had never seen this Brooks film.

If you like his sense of humor, and appreciate the way he loves and loathes himself, then I think you'll enjoy this film from 1979. There's a whole lot of mocking going on, and Brooks as if often the case, is keen on an idea that the camera changes everything, well before MTV had its Real World.

I almost feel like this would make a better book than a movie.

Cleverness I think sometimes hits a bit of a wall trying to climb onto the silver screen, but the movie really is clever and was worth checking out. Really Brooks is a social critic, but one that you'd actually like to sit down and have a drink with.

The early parts are so great and bursting with the eager energy of the long gag he's going for. That bad sweater kind of 70's PBS hip documentary - "hey what are you waiting for, let's go inside" - Mix in a bit part for Spielberg's brother that also catches the invasive nature of cameras with a 60 Minutes vibe. As always in the Brooks realm, there is a sense of relationships being impossible and yet ever so vital. A Real Truth?

Not every one likes to feel bemused, but this is A-rated B-Musement.

Distant (2002)

Trapped in sticky isolation...

[3/10 · 4 January 2024]

Early work from Nuri Bilge Ceylan, whose "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" is a triumph.

The translated title of the movie is the main meditation. There is much distance between the two main male leads, while the film often opts for distant shots. At times those long shots of Istanbul involve a lot of emptiness found in a crowded city. Or a male gaze from a balcony down a deserted street except for a distant and silent mirage of a woman.

There is economic distance too, between the reluctant host, a photographer who often takes shots of inert items, like tiles and his unwelcome guests. While the film is light-handed in dialog and plot, there is a heaviness to the metaphor of the mouse and the unemployed cousin who almost from the outset is seen as overstaying his visit by the photographer.

I did wonder if the scenes on the TV, not translated fwiw in my ENG subtitles, added more to the isolation. Well more than TV does in general - this movie ironically had me motionless starting at a screen while staring at a man motionless staring at a screen. Even when the lead goes to see his mother in the hospital, when she is fetched to her daughter's house...the main character, her brother, turns out of boredom or ritual or necessity to a faulty TV. Maybe the TV is a sticky mouse trap.

As such the film is quite bleak; as bleak as the dating prospects of "in-cels" these days here in the USA (and I suspect all over the world, looking at you China with your genetic tinkering over the decades).

The movie is thus a slow pondering of isolation, not exactly a scintillating date movie. There is an abject near-creepiness to the male gazing of both characters, and the abyss between them and women is underscored by the most interesting subplot of the film, between the photographer and his ex-wife.

They meet in a cafe, as she has an announcement about her future (and for us, crucial information about their past). In "Three Monkeys" Ceylan captured weary beauty, and that is here as well. The actress younger and somewhat radiant, while burdened.

In the end, for me the film needed more feminine energy and complex compassion as badly as the two main actors. One of those actors was indeed a cousin of the director and unfortunately died in a vehicle accident shortly after this film. As I wish for a less hopeless outcome for him, I did for this movie as well (and for the epidemic of men who find them distant from everything including themselves).

Hmmm, makes me wonder if Ceylan has a film on workers who must travel mile upon mile away from their home for work (could be Chinese stickmen in cities, or fracking workers in North Dakota, or maybe best of all the men and few women in "Ducks" a graphic novel by Kate Beaton).

Futura (I) (2021)

Viva youth....but also a note on how the Futura ends.

[5/10 · 2 January 2024]

Saw this in the library, and thought it might be interesting to watch with another new year on the horizon. Noticed Alice Rohrwacher involved in this project, and while I feel this film is sort of up to the viewer in terms of what s/he might take out of it, her "Happy as Lazzaro" is highly recommended for all, especially for those who enjoy film and reading as a way to travel beyond the boundaries of their selves and their countries.

As for this documentary, clearly based in Italy, there is a universal feel. I'm pretty old, older than the sum of decades spent on this planet, but I remember being young. I do appreciate the revolution is never wasted on the youth, but a reactionary response can lay waste to the youth.

I had heard some about Venice restricting tourism, which is mentioned in the travels herein. Sadly, I must admit I knew less about the Diaz School and the cruel cabineri response to that. The shadows of that event are cast on a latter segment in the movie, but through-out there is a sense of youth having an agitated energy towards the trappings of their station, no matter if it is a beauty or boxing school.

It was interesting that the interviews were exclusively captured on youths in packs. The camera would take a slow portrait of the members and then key in on one or two speakers, sometimes while tracking others reactions. Maybe more a function of technique, than trying to lump individuals into a generation/crowd.

I don't trust crowds much, and I do remember being young and not trusting older people. Maybe the camera would be too much of a drug if filming single dreamers, but dreams might be harder to ride like kites in the air when 10, 15 or 20 others are all attached?

Was there one segment from years ago. I think so, and that recalled the "Seven Up" series which is far more triumphant in my mind, while still tackling that same sort of energy that is ready to rise up. Going back and back to those individuals, we see a more balanced view of how youthful ideals and aging get intertwined to the point where one is not sure where the weed is, and where the flower is.

Anyways, I hope 2024 keeps idealism and rebellion driving our world forward. I am keenly aware of my "status quo addiction" and do want to feel that progress is possible, and well beyond the mere financially measured aspects of it.

One thing I have to say I found humorous. The closing shot we have a young boy, on a snowy expanse wandering away from the camera. I assume one it is a ~5 year old child of one of the three directors. The child pushes his independence in playful defiance, but in distant background cars are hurtling past. The credits roll, the child continues his expedition....alone....and then we see off to the right and parent. Not exactly helicoptering, as the phrase goes here in the US, but perhaps akin to a shepherd. At first gently, and carefully on her own, but then with more and more purpose to secure the kid before possibly wandering into danger. It is unlikely the kid would have strolled onto the highway. Or that drivers on the highway would have been unaware.

But I found that a funny little coda to the voices of youth. Trust me, I realize at a point (where my kids are now) that telling them about trouble is next to worthless, experience will speak 100 times more loudly, but like the mother figure shepherding during the closing, we really would like to avoid anything horrific for any child, especially those we somehow brought into this harsh, cold while simultaneously beautiful and amazing world.

Also in Italian is the Future necessarily female? Maybe it needs to be these days, and maybe that was a subtle subtitle to this? Although there are definitely groups of young men and young women and sometimes mixed. Anyways, kind of caught my attention. Of course so did the shadow of Covid and masks, as this was all recently captured footage. That certainly adds to frustration and dread for anyone, old or young these past nearly four years. Sigh.

Again, like I just did above if you want to bring more to this film, have at it. Maybe even watch it with your teen or young adult kids/cousins/friends? Or maybe just listen to them better. I know I will try.

Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer (2023 TV Special)

Life is but a dream?

[8/10 · 1 January 2024]

Grateful for the New Year's Eve tradition and Dave coming down the electric chimney. And DC from DC, 24 years in....all part of an exquisite package.

Dave's got jokes, but the key is how he let's them out of the safe deposit box. He's a very gifted story-teller, and he's had a life where even his nightmares can be spun into comedy gold. Maybe I should say especially his nightmares.

He's still targeting wokeness in part, and he landed somewhat early on this beaches to be fair. By no means the first, as I'm sure he'd admit. The opening is masterful, and if you expected him to back down on any front, I think you've not watched much of him. So maybe you'll skip this.

It's like if you got on a rollercoaster, you are not getting off until the ride's over.

The detail in putting this together is just fantastic, even lampooning the mandatory ovation/encore. Verbal throwbacks, someone could analyze the moves like a chess match and destroy every last ounce of humor.

See it now, before details leak or your kids threaten to disown you if you watch it. By the way, they are wrong....but we love them anyways.

I'm not sure enough people get healthy amounts of deep sleep to be living a waking dream but it would be nice. Like a Steph Curry three-pointer, Dave's dream weaving comes with a hefty amount of work to match the god-given (or I prefer the idea of god-stolen) talent.

Hmmmm, now I sort of wish "Deborah" had been "Mary Lee" - as in Mary Lee, Mary Lee, Life is But a Dream. Even if your life is less dreamy than you'd like, I hope this special makes you laugh and think a little. Ideally with someone you love nearby....

Ricky Gervais: Armageddon (2023 TV Special)

We're all a gettin' on

[6/10 · 1 January 2024]

Certainly connects with his earlier specials, and of course comes with the de rigueur poking the woke bear. The past year, one of the phrases for me (dealing more with politics and some smaller personal/vocational stuff) was "I'm shocked, but not surprised."

Honestly this was not even that shocking, but not for lack of effort. My god he burnt a lot of calories alone on the puppy/pedo bit. I'm biased as a breeder myself, but it does feel like one of Ricky's go-to tricks is the taboo of working in children.

Now Ricky does spend some time on defining his shtick as a form of acting, aiming to put a Ha-Ha-Ha on Hannibal Lecter. Fair enough, but I think there's enough of the real Ricky in his act, and like a lot of comedians, the pearls of jokes come from his disgust with the swine of his fellow humans.

So for me (and my wife) this comedy was watchable but kind of felt like checking off boxes where we weren't outraged (the special's point?) but wondered if we should be? I do like it when he laughs at death personally and professionally, I think my wife prefers the Don Rickles-esque ridicule of the rich and famous. Not all globes that glitter are golden, worked for Shakespeare as well.

Despite the efforts through-out to semi-soften the blows while still landing them, the last bit tacked on felt like a big ol' apology cushion (not quite a teachable moment, as I suspect Gervais dreads that). Anyways watched this a few days ago, and then last night Chappelle's latest. They might be joined a little at the hip, as their own personality and expectations loom larger than the stages they are on....if you had to just watch one, I'd go with the Dave while I appreciate how they both are trying to get us uncomfortably un-numb.

PS Wow there are already a LOT of Ricky's bits and pieces on the shining web (he might have preferred the dark web, but maybe that will be the topic for the NEXT special).

Moonage Daydream (2022)

Neon Tombstone for a Shining Blackstar (ain't no movie big enough...)

[8/10 · 30 December 2023]

No way even one way of Bowie's career would comfortably fit in a ~2 hour movie, so keep that in mind (and there are lots of fine video clips on line, Dinah Shore, Soul Train and more for the heavy duty fan).

Speaking of those deep fans, I worked with a person long ago who adored Bow-head, and I felt my appreciation was thin and paled in comparison to hers, but was no less sincere. For decades he had a larger-than-life impact on the music and creative world, even now he can be larger-than-death.

While the filming here does take some distracting kaleidoscope detours of the director flexing his art muscles perhaps, above all I loved seeing the paintings of Bowie. That and his nomadic travels, which seemed to play up his alien falling to earth personae really were a treat, on top of a small slice of his jukebox delights.

Again there can be nits to pick if that's your bad (I think Eno is indeed a genius, and glad he makes an appearance, but if I blinked I missed Iggy Pop...but did see pop soda Tina Turner tango), just a damn shame he left Earth while still so young at 'art, especially for me when my kids were just getting into him. I think the first album one son bought was "Blackstar."

Saltburn (2023)

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall....

[6/10 · 26 December 2023]

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who will rise and who will fall? Or perhaps one could call this Pan's Other Labyrinth? Moth Man, the metaphor the film itself adopts? The Quick and the Dead? Or why not another serving of the ever-popular Eat the Rich.

I might have gone into this with expectations too high...I mean the combination of Barry Keough and Emerald Fennell under the Lucky Chap umbrella.

The film's beckoning veers towards beguiling, and I mostly did not mind that based upon the acting. Especially the Lord and Lady of Saltburn. Hear, hear to them. Keough remains endlessly watchable for me, even if this feels like a separated-at-birth portrayal next to his work in Lanthimos' "Killing of a Sacred Deer." So he may be up for a change of roles, perhaps something more light in a Edgar Wright.

Don't want to spoil this, I do believe you should see it. Just perhaps gauge your anticipation. It is unique enough despite some resonances to other films. I am a little curious if there is some deeper than fairy tales and sideways shades of Dorian Greys , maybe back to myths where Pan goes hunting on in the halls of Olympus.

In his first scene, Barry as Oliver mentions style over substance, and that's where the movie wound up for me. But perhaps a later viewing, or reading others reviews will deepen my experience. There's a pretty painting of power as aphrodisiac, sure. Is Keough as Oliver Cromwell in a reworked modern day "Wolf Hall" next?

As for comedy, whether of manners or manors, I didn't catch that. The outrageous is not automatically the humorous.

Definitely curious what others, here and in person, have to say about this.

Maggie Moore(s) (2023)

Slattery trying to find the laughs in manslaughter.

[6/10 · 26 December 2023]

At the library saw this recent movie with Tina Fey and Jon Hamm, so thought it would be worth a shot at something my wife and I could enjoy together. Early on it starts out with some of the crime action, that many others have pointed out is a tricky pairing with comedy.

It jettisoned my wife for sure. But I stuck around...

The problem is not just that it's a crime/comedy, but the comedy is often pretty dry and well the crime is not embezzling, but let's say much wetter. Another problem is some of the absolutely stupid behavior by the "crooks" contrasted with the more sharp-witted dialog.

Tina Fey leans hard into her ugly ducking role, but her attractive personality plus kind of belies that. Well, then there is her ex-husband with benefits, that was sort of part of the dry humor. I noticed another review thought it was John Goodman as the assassin who has some tricks up his extra-large sleeves. But no, I think it was his stunt double.

The subtle work just gets murdered by the heavier overriding plot points. It's like admiring your kids chalk work on pavement drawing well within the police chalked body outline. Hard to shake that off-feeling.

Maybe instead of trying to go Fargo, John Slattery (Hamm's old pal from Mad Men, in his 2nd full length each time with a star from that successful show)....maybe Slattery could have gone further into David Lynch territory. Even that might not have worked, here in the US with our requisite patriotic level of fear of some random act of violence, I think it's hard to laugh at mistaken identity womanslaughter.

Bottom line the film ends up being less than the sum of its parts. Damn shame as the cast and ideas I do feel like could have been forged into something uniquely successful.