Saw Two Hands, an Australian gangster movie about a boxer/guy-who-stands-in-front-of-strip-clubs-and-shouts-at-men-to-look-at-the-beautiful-girls. He gets a starter position with the local mob to deliver some money but he loses the cash. So, the mob is after him, there's a girlfriend involved, other gangs, all the trimmings for a nice, knotty little gangster film. This film reminded me a lot of the film Go. Both have intricate, branching stories following different characters that weave around and into each other, both include little cute details and a Seinfeldian climax that neatly ties everything together.
It's a cute film. It's not particularly clever or spectacular but it's a solid piece of film making and consistently entertaining. There's some side-business with the ghost of the protagonist's brother which I felt never really went anywhere but it affords the film some neat opening sequence imagery and serves as one more thread to neatly tie up. It also has a lot of attractive people in it, which is nice. Not an amazing film but not bad either. A good film for people who don't really see many films. Fun, easygoing, not stupid or ugly, not challenging or subtle, just good.
Jan 28, 2017
Jan 22, 2017
The Informant!
Saw The Informant!, a sort-of comedy about Mark Whitacre, a man who works at a corn processing plant which is struggling to get their enzyme ratios up to par. Suddenly, the cause becomes clear: a saboteur is active in the company, spiking the enzymes, a Japanese rival company is calling and leaving threatening messages. The FBI is contacted and Mark reveals that actually there was no Japanese phone calls, but there was legal shenanigans being played at his company. So begins the incredibly twisty (but apparently true) story of Mark Whitacre.
The film is darkly humorous and absurd but is mostly a sort of thriller or mystery. Throughout the film Mark acts like an idiot kid in a candy shop, living out (albeit ineptly) one of his Tom Clancy books or complicated legal thrillers. He gawps directly into the FBI's hidden cameras but also smoothly moves someone who was blocking the view. It's acted in a very restrained but subtly funny way. At one point there's a meeting of lawyers and one of them is clearly spinning bullshit. The opposing lawyers stare blankly ahead, blinking as they weather the storm. There's no attention drawn to these micro-jokes which of course is what makes them funny. We know exactly what these lawyers are feeling and they're just staring straight ahead.
The film is shot in a very staid, standard way. There's additional goofy music added over the action and funky 60s-style titles that tell us where and when the action is taking place. There are times when this forced jollity seems annoying as the film moves around yet another twist, but it keeps things light and tips us off that, yes, this is absurd and if you feel inclined to laugh, that's probably appropriate. It is not however, for the most part, very funny. There is a form of humor added but it's icing on the bizarre cake of the protagonist's adventures. These little gestures are to make it survive repeat viewings. It's such a strange story.
The film is darkly humorous and absurd but is mostly a sort of thriller or mystery. Throughout the film Mark acts like an idiot kid in a candy shop, living out (albeit ineptly) one of his Tom Clancy books or complicated legal thrillers. He gawps directly into the FBI's hidden cameras but also smoothly moves someone who was blocking the view. It's acted in a very restrained but subtly funny way. At one point there's a meeting of lawyers and one of them is clearly spinning bullshit. The opposing lawyers stare blankly ahead, blinking as they weather the storm. There's no attention drawn to these micro-jokes which of course is what makes them funny. We know exactly what these lawyers are feeling and they're just staring straight ahead.
The film is shot in a very staid, standard way. There's additional goofy music added over the action and funky 60s-style titles that tell us where and when the action is taking place. There are times when this forced jollity seems annoying as the film moves around yet another twist, but it keeps things light and tips us off that, yes, this is absurd and if you feel inclined to laugh, that's probably appropriate. It is not however, for the most part, very funny. There is a form of humor added but it's icing on the bizarre cake of the protagonist's adventures. These little gestures are to make it survive repeat viewings. It's such a strange story.
The Thin Man
Saw The Thin Man, a delightful little 1930s noir. The ace detective in this case is a man with a serious drinking problem who wants out of the detective game. A murder happens and everyone (the victim's lover, the victim's other lover's daughter and his wife, yes everyone) comes to see him to beg him not to take the case. This happens during a wonderfully chaotic Christmas party composed of the detective's friends (retired boxers, stool pigeons, other drunks.) It's hilarious and messy. Of course, the detective takes the case.
The film was apparently meant to be a B-picture and was hastily shot in two weeks. You'd never know it though. There's a breezy casual quality to it which is missing from a lot of flagship pictures. Whereas Maltese Falcon and The Third Man are very serious, almost dour films, this is a jaunt. The detective drinks and chuckles his way through the case, keeping everyone guessing. The film spawned several sequels and it's not hard to see why. I'd watch this detective and wife joke and flirt their way through the phone book. They're just delightful to watch.
The film was apparently meant to be a B-picture and was hastily shot in two weeks. You'd never know it though. There's a breezy casual quality to it which is missing from a lot of flagship pictures. Whereas Maltese Falcon and The Third Man are very serious, almost dour films, this is a jaunt. The detective drinks and chuckles his way through the case, keeping everyone guessing. The film spawned several sequels and it's not hard to see why. I'd watch this detective and wife joke and flirt their way through the phone book. They're just delightful to watch.
Jan 19, 2017
The Kremlin Letter
Saw The Kremlin Letter, a spy film about a smug superspy who is recruited into a group to find and destroy a politically embarrassing letter sent to the Kremlin at the height of the Cold War. The protagonist is handsome in a lumpy, dad-ish sort of way but his personality is where he really sparkles "I think I'm a superior combination of intellect and physique, athlete and scholar." Fortunately (and against genre) the film does not expect us to like or want to be this guy. He's made a fool of many times by the end of the film.
The supporting cast of wierdo spies is great. There's a brunette bombshell who can crack a safe with her toes, a cancer-riddled priest, and a homosexual who infiltrates Moscow's intellectual gay scene. The film's attitude towards sex (on that note) is somewhat chaste. We know the protagonist is sleeping with some women but it all happens off-screen, not even a winking fadeout alerting us to what's going on. Then again, in another scene, we watch leeringly as a Russian diplomat's daughter is seduced into a black woman's sapphic embrace. This is hilarious in abstract but treated by the characters as horrible perversion. I suspect in retrospect that this film was perhaps trying to be campier than I had given it credit for.
Anyway, this film is dry fun. The supporting cast and little plot flourishes are great and imaginative but the plot (which is by necessity complex and convoluted) is often delivered via quick muttery dialogues. They make sure we understand the important bits before the big punch-line ending, but I feel like I missed a point of the plot here and there. This is a nice little spy film with character. I think it's mostly for genre fans but it's not a bad film for a general audience.
The supporting cast of wierdo spies is great. There's a brunette bombshell who can crack a safe with her toes, a cancer-riddled priest, and a homosexual who infiltrates Moscow's intellectual gay scene. The film's attitude towards sex (on that note) is somewhat chaste. We know the protagonist is sleeping with some women but it all happens off-screen, not even a winking fadeout alerting us to what's going on. Then again, in another scene, we watch leeringly as a Russian diplomat's daughter is seduced into a black woman's sapphic embrace. This is hilarious in abstract but treated by the characters as horrible perversion. I suspect in retrospect that this film was perhaps trying to be campier than I had given it credit for.
Anyway, this film is dry fun. The supporting cast and little plot flourishes are great and imaginative but the plot (which is by necessity complex and convoluted) is often delivered via quick muttery dialogues. They make sure we understand the important bits before the big punch-line ending, but I feel like I missed a point of the plot here and there. This is a nice little spy film with character. I think it's mostly for genre fans but it's not a bad film for a general audience.
Jan 18, 2017
The Proposition
Saw The Proposition, a grimy contemplative film in the vein of There Will Be Blood. It follows an outlaw who has been sicced on his outlaw family in order to save his pathetic younger brother who may well be retarded (it's tough to say. He mostly just cries and cringes a lot.) Anyway we also follow the sheriff who is seemingly a decent and upstanding man. He commands a gang of ugly, ugly officers and is under the thumb of an effete but bloodthirsty English twit. There's also a couple discursions here and there, as we check in on a besotted bounty hunter or we visit the sheriff's wife.
The film is interesting and not just a pretty face but oh boy is that face pretty. Everything is grimy and filthy and shot in the crispest, brightest way possible. The dust and flies over everything sparkle and glisten with vivid detail. It's one of those films that are just crying out to be screencapped. The music is great too. Apparently the script was written by the composer, Nick Cave. The soundtrack matches the visuals: classical instruments played in a staid, colonial sort of way, with drums and synths sneaking in ever so delicately here and there.
The film was a bit too blood-and-guts for me to really love, but this film looks good and sounds good. It's full of outsized Western mythology. It never quite veers into melodrama or camp however. It's got a Terrence Malick-ish vibe to it, contemplative but not as slow as Malick likes to get. It's not quite as compelling as There Will Be Blood (this film I felt was a tad too lurid) but that's the film I'd compare this one to. Moody, beautiful, ghastly. This also predates There Will Be Blood by two years which of course came out at the same time as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and No Country For Old Men. I'd go so far as to say this was the first of the wave of gothic westerns we got in 2007. Well done.
The film is interesting and not just a pretty face but oh boy is that face pretty. Everything is grimy and filthy and shot in the crispest, brightest way possible. The dust and flies over everything sparkle and glisten with vivid detail. It's one of those films that are just crying out to be screencapped. The music is great too. Apparently the script was written by the composer, Nick Cave. The soundtrack matches the visuals: classical instruments played in a staid, colonial sort of way, with drums and synths sneaking in ever so delicately here and there.
The film was a bit too blood-and-guts for me to really love, but this film looks good and sounds good. It's full of outsized Western mythology. It never quite veers into melodrama or camp however. It's got a Terrence Malick-ish vibe to it, contemplative but not as slow as Malick likes to get. It's not quite as compelling as There Will Be Blood (this film I felt was a tad too lurid) but that's the film I'd compare this one to. Moody, beautiful, ghastly. This also predates There Will Be Blood by two years which of course came out at the same time as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and No Country For Old Men. I'd go so far as to say this was the first of the wave of gothic westerns we got in 2007. Well done.
Jan 17, 2017
Five Easy Pieces
Saw Five Easy Pieces, a fairly depressing film. It stars Jack Nicholson as an oil worker who's sleeping with this heavily made up woman whom he toys with emotionally. We open on Jack coming home. She wants to sing him a song but he covers his ears smilingly. She asks him if he loves her and, after pausing a while, he says "why don't you sing?" "Now I don't feel like it." And he smiles smugly and reclines saying "I know." This man is an asshole. She's maybe needy and overbearing and obnoxious but first of all I can't blame her if he needles her insecurities like that and second of all he should in that case dump her and move on instead of stringing along this abusive relationship. Alas this film was made in the 70s so buckle up.
We get to know this dude and discover that he's from a wealthy family of concert musicians. He goes to his family home to visit his sick father, girlfriend in tow, and insults and belittles everyone around him. The revelation of the rich family is supposed to make him romantic and mysterious. Why did he leave? What riches did he seek, beyond the material, this wayward musician? Well, apparently he sought a woman he could manipulate and a life of frustration. The dude is a coward, afraid of showing any kind of weakness and the film tries to trick us into mistaking his cowardice for romantic, manly stoicism.
There are a lot of films from the 70s that annoy me on a personal level, the way (I guess) that good art ought to. I'm probably just a small man mistaking a noble spirit for a tough guise. Maybe this is just a man who is unwilling to subjugate himself for anyone. There's poetry to unpack here but I sure wish the movie wasn't so shitty to women. Every single woman is sneered at by some character in the film. This guy who we're supposed to worship has serious flaws as well. On the imdb boards someone has posted "Anybody else felt like [Jack Nicholson's character]?" Yes of course, Zader82. Don't we all?
We get to know this dude and discover that he's from a wealthy family of concert musicians. He goes to his family home to visit his sick father, girlfriend in tow, and insults and belittles everyone around him. The revelation of the rich family is supposed to make him romantic and mysterious. Why did he leave? What riches did he seek, beyond the material, this wayward musician? Well, apparently he sought a woman he could manipulate and a life of frustration. The dude is a coward, afraid of showing any kind of weakness and the film tries to trick us into mistaking his cowardice for romantic, manly stoicism.
There are a lot of films from the 70s that annoy me on a personal level, the way (I guess) that good art ought to. I'm probably just a small man mistaking a noble spirit for a tough guise. Maybe this is just a man who is unwilling to subjugate himself for anyone. There's poetry to unpack here but I sure wish the movie wasn't so shitty to women. Every single woman is sneered at by some character in the film. This guy who we're supposed to worship has serious flaws as well. On the imdb boards someone has posted "Anybody else felt like [Jack Nicholson's character]?" Yes of course, Zader82. Don't we all?
Jan 16, 2017
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a fairly chill rom com about a man-child whose hot girlfriend dumps him for another man. He goes to Hawaii to forget her but (wuh oh!) she's having a romantic vacation with her new boyfriend at the same resort. For absolutely no reason apart from maybe pity, an attractive front-desk girl lets him stay in the most expensive suite for free and he jumps at this opportunity. Now, the movie gets better later on but it's starting out in a really deep hole. Why is the front-desk girl nice to him? How is she allowed to let people squat in vacant rooms? Does she own the place? And why god why does he agree to this stupid arrangement? Maybe it's supposed to be well-known that there are absolutely no free rooms at any hotel in Hawaii at any time? A mystery.
Anyway, I assumed that the film would reveal his ex-girlfriend to be evil in some way although, we would know, mostly she's evil for not valuing this guy who is just sooo nice and sooo low-maintenance. This is sort of what happens but, to the film's credit, they give her a pretty good monologue about how he's given up on himself, how he's not amounting to anything and it shouldn't be her job to fix him.... and then they reveal she's evil (they actually compare her to Hitler (of course.))
I feel like the film is trying to have it both ways. It wants to be a story of actual personal growth and also a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the couch-bound loser. Maybe I'm being too harsh. Maybe it's trying to get show a way forward for the couch-bound. If that way forward is a crisis caused by an ex however, it might be kind of specific advice (if that's what we're going for here.)
It's not a mean film though. It's very chill and relaxed and the people in it generally like each other. It's almost a stoner film. I don't want to condemn this movie. It's sort of dumb but it's not cruel and it might help someone make sense of their life. It's sort of like the puppet vampire musical the protagonist keeps talking about. Clearly it makes sense to someone but not me. (They show a bit of the puppet musical at the end. It looks like an amusing mess. I'd rather have seen that, but then I'm a sucker for misguided whimsy.)
Anyway, I assumed that the film would reveal his ex-girlfriend to be evil in some way although, we would know, mostly she's evil for not valuing this guy who is just sooo nice and sooo low-maintenance. This is sort of what happens but, to the film's credit, they give her a pretty good monologue about how he's given up on himself, how he's not amounting to anything and it shouldn't be her job to fix him.... and then they reveal she's evil (they actually compare her to Hitler (of course.))
I feel like the film is trying to have it both ways. It wants to be a story of actual personal growth and also a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the couch-bound loser. Maybe I'm being too harsh. Maybe it's trying to get show a way forward for the couch-bound. If that way forward is a crisis caused by an ex however, it might be kind of specific advice (if that's what we're going for here.)
It's not a mean film though. It's very chill and relaxed and the people in it generally like each other. It's almost a stoner film. I don't want to condemn this movie. It's sort of dumb but it's not cruel and it might help someone make sense of their life. It's sort of like the puppet vampire musical the protagonist keeps talking about. Clearly it makes sense to someone but not me. (They show a bit of the puppet musical at the end. It looks like an amusing mess. I'd rather have seen that, but then I'm a sucker for misguided whimsy.)
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