Thief's Monthly Movie Loot - 2024 Edition

The Last Repair Shop follows the work at the LAUSD instrument repair workshop. The shop provides a free service to musical students from public schools, most of which don't have the resources to buy an instrument, let alone maintain it. The documentary focuses on four of the craftspeople at the shop as they draw parallels between their life stories and how they approach their work.

These workers come from very diverse backgrounds; from a gay man that was afraid to come out to his parents to immigrants from Mexico or Armenia trying to escape violence and war. All of them have one thing in common, and it's how they used music as an outlet. This is also interspersed with stories from the students they service, all of which are going through similar struggles.

It is beautiful to hear these stories, but most importantly, to see the commitment of the four workers profiled and the impact it has on these children. Music is often described as "healing", but to be able to heal, sometimes the instruments themselves have to be "healed" or fixed; and perhaps by "healing" the instrument, they can "heal" whoever's playing it, and make things whole again.

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Tracey Deer is a Native American filmmaker from the Mohawk tribe. Club Native is a documentary that follows the identity struggles within her home community of Kahnawake, in Canada. Although she covers different topics, the main focus is on blood quantum laws that are used to determine how "Native American" someone is, who they can marry, and where they can live.

The documentary opens with footage from the 1990 Oka crisis, where the Mohawk were disputing the construction of a golf course in a Mohawk burial ground. This confrontation resulted in 2 deaths and numerous injuries, but it helps put in perspective the marginalization and continuous displacement of Native Americans, and the overall racism against them.

It then follows four women dealing with different identity situations. One of them was critically injured in those protests. Most of their issues comes from how their ethnicity is put into question either by who their parents were, or who they want to marry. Two of them end up marrying white men which, as a result of the local laws, endangers her place in the community.

There are also brief interviews with many other members of the community offering their perspective. Certainly one can understand their preoccupation of some of them in terms of losing their heritage and their values. But on the other hand, how can you tell a woman that she's not part of the community she has lived all her life, only because his father is white? or how do you tell a young woman that has fallen in love that she shouldn't marry a white man?

Overall, the documentary is very insightful and well structured. I liked how Deer spliced the different stories, and I thought it was effective to her goals. At the end of the day, we shouldn't lose perspective of all the struggles that Native Americans have been through, but also of that most important piece that one of the interviewees brought up: not what's in your blood, but who you are, how you walk, how you act, and what you contribute.

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness follows the titular character (Benedict Cumberbatch) as he tries to protect America (Xochitl Gomez), a teenager that can travel through the multiverse, from Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen). To do so, he must travel through the multiverse himself where he'll meet some expected (and not so expected) allies and enemies.

I've always said that, with some exceptions, the MCU has perfected the technique of maintaining a relatively high floor/low ceiling regarding their film output. This means that *most* of their films are OK-ish fun, with few of them (if any) being terrible and/or excellent. From a business perspective is quite impressive for a franchise to maintain such a consistency for 20+ years with no stumbles.

Unfortunately, the stumbles post-Endgame just keep coming. From a momentum-halting pandemic and an overall lukewarm reception to new films to the whole scandal surrounding their rising star Jonathan Majors, the hits just keep coming. This film is the exemplification of what I said before in that it contributes little to elevate (or sink) the franchise. It's perfectly fine entertainment, but at the end of the day, it's just there; existing mostly to move pieces across a board in preparation for the next film on the queue.

But to go back to what I just said, the film is fine entertainment. The action is there, the fun quips and the banter, and some neat moments of thrills and "gore". Although it doesn't really go over board, you can tell Sam Raimi directed it in how the film leans towards his "horror" sensibilities. Whether it is Strange plucking the gigantic eye from an alien creature to him mentally controlling a Zombie version of himself to save the day.

The performances are all good, especially Chavez who has a pretty lively spark to her. Most notably, Olsen gets the chance to test her range a bit as her previously heroic character becomes the villain here. Performance-wise, I think she delivered, but from a narrative standpoint, I think this break in her character needed a bit more time to breathe. Again, it felt rushed and just as a means to move pieces across a board.

I admit I've consumed a gigantic amount of what the MCU has offered since Phase I, so I don't think they've fully lost their way, but they have to be careful with these stumbles. To reiterate something I've said twice already, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is fine entertainment. It's far from being terrible, but far from being excellent as well. It's just there, delivering what you would expect for 2 hours, only to be lost afterwards.

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The Band Wagon follows Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire), an aging musical star just going through the motions of what seems to be the end of his career. However, when the opportunity of a comeback comes up in the hands and pen of his two best friends, he's enthusiastic about it. Unfortunately, the upcoming musical is obliviously taken over by the director who wants to turn it into an overblown and pretentious adaptation of Faust.

I've seen a handful of Vincente Minnelli's musical and films and I've enjoyed them all, so I was looking forward to this one. For the most part, it delivered. Astaire is great in the lead role offering equal doses of self-deprecating humor and charm, which is needed to make his relationship with Cyd Charisse, who is 20+ years younger, work and feel organic.

For the first half of the film, I was fully on board. Most of the musical numbers were truly memorable; especially the "Shine on Your Shoes" number and the iconic "That's Entertainment". There is a certain fluidity to these two that makes it all look so effortless. Big part of that goes to Astaire, but a good part also goes to Minnelli's wonderful camera movement.

Unfortunately, I felt the film went perhaps a bit too long. Once the "Faust" musical is done and our stars prepare for what's next, it started dragging a bit. It did recover in the last part, with a noir-inspired song/dance sequence that is both cool and inventive. I think I would still put this below most of the other Minnelli musicals I've seen, but it's still a fun watch, and an opportunity to see Astaire, the grand old man of the dance!

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Weird year so far, but this is me catching up with my summary for FEBRUARY 2024:

A film from an African-American director (Black History Month): American Fiction
A film nominated for Best Picture or Best International Feature in the upcoming Oscars: Oppenheimer, Barbie
A film from Vincente Minnelli (born February 28): The Band Wagon
A film set in prehistoric times (World Anthropology Day, February 15): Iceman
A film from Tracey Deer (born February 28): Club Native


Other films seen, not for the challenge:

Pixar short films: Red's Dream, Luxo Jr., One Man Band, The Blue Umbrella, Day & Night, Boundin', The Legend of Mor'du, George and A.J., Sanjay's Super Team
Neo-noir films: Tightrope, Nightcrawler, La Haine, Body Heat, Le Cercle Rouge, Sin City
Other watches: Avengers: Infinity War, Resilience, The Fly, Robin Hood


I know it's April, but bear with me my favorite first-time watch of February was probably Oppenheimer, although there were a couple of other great watches like Body Heat.

Least favorite first-time watch, nothing bad although some of those Pixar shorts were just ok. Boundin', probably?

It's been a while since I recorded this, but I just put the audio up a day or two ago. Here is one of my latest "assignment" episodes for the podcast.

The Movie Loot: The February Assignment (with Brian Skutle)

In this one, my friend Brian Skutle (from Sonic Cinema) joined the loot as we chose a set of 5 categories to guide us on what to watch during February.

You can also see the live broadcast we did via YouTube



...or listen to it through any podcasting platform like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other.

Here are the criteria for FEBRUARY 2023:

A film from an African-American director (Black History Month):
A film nominated for Best Picture or Best International Feature in the upcoming Oscars:
A film from Vincente Minnelli (born February 28):
A film set in prehistoric times (World Anthropology Day, February 15):
A film from Tracey Deer (born February 28):

Those two posts should be swapped, but I'm a mess lately so it is what it is I already did that catch-up with Brian, so I can share that link once that episode is up.

Extraction follows mercenary Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) as he is tasked with rescuing the son of an Indian drug lord who was kidnapped by his rival. However, after a double-cross, Tyler has to handle not only a rival sent by the father of the kid and the military controlled by the main baddie, but also his own inner demons.

When I set out to watch this, I was expecting your typical dumb, action film. However, I was surprised by two things: first, that the action is far from dumb, and the film is full of some really impressive action sequences. The highlight of that is a thrilling, "one shot" take that lasts almost 15 minutes, and includes numerous fights, a car chase, foot chase across multiple buildings and rooftops, another car chase, guns, rifles, knifes, and explosions.

One of the weakest points of the film is the antagonist. He is a stereotypical rich drug lord that sits atop a mansion on a hill overlooking the chaos, while being briefed by nameless subordinates. However, I liked the contrast that we got from Saju Rav (Randeep Hooda), the rival that is sent by the father of the kid who shows that there's more to what we might expect from the characters and the film.

Which leads me into the second thing that surprised me. Because, aside from the action, I liked that the film had a bit more to it than just that. The character of Rake is haunted by the decisions of his past and a certain amount of self-hatred, which makes him push Ovi, the kid he is rescuing, aside at first. Sure, he'll have a change of heart; that much is predictable, but I still thought this state of mind of the character was neatly portrayed by Hemsworth.

The above quote is one that Ovi shares with him during a particularly emotional conversation. When the film starts, our hero is introduced in a scene where he is camping with some friends in a clearing in the jungle. As he wakes up, he immediately stands up and dives from a cliff into a river below. But instead of coming back up, he submerges and sits at the bottom for a while, holding his breath, only to come back up again; something that is implied he does often.

But this ties into Rake's overall attitude as well as the quote that the kid shares with him. You can't stay "submerged", and as many hits as Rake has taken in his life, and as many hits as he takes in this film, he keeps coming back up to complete his mission; first, for the money, but then because he knows he has to. He can't stay submerged, but has to come back up again.

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Extraction 2 picks up right after the first one, as Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is rescued barely alive from the aftermath of the previous mission. After months of recovery, he is brought back into the fold to rescue his ex-wife's sister and two children. The catch? She happens to be married to one of the leaders of a dangerous Georgian crime organization, and the family has been forced to live in the prison where he's being held, which is where Rake has to extract them from.

The first Extraction was a pleasant surprise. Not only because of the excellent setpieces and the well choreographed action scenes, but mostly because of the humanity that the script and Hemsworth give to a character that could've been a one-dimensional, stereotypical badass. The sequel continues that trend as we see Rake still haunted, still struggling with his past; something that is brought to the surface in his interactions with the young kid he's rescuing, but not in the way you would expect.

But yeah, the setpieces and action scenes are excellent as well. This includes yet another impressive and thrilling "one shot" that lasts around 20 minutes, and includes numerous fist fights, knife fights, gun fights, a prison riot, a sequence on board of a train, more explosions, and Hemsworth on fire, to name a few. Hearing director Sam Hargrave talk about how little to no CGI they used makes it all more impressive.

Two other things I really enjoyed in this one was how the story added to the characters of Nik & Yaz, Tyler's partners. I really liked the friendly banter between the three, which didn't veer into comedic relief but felt organic. The second thing was the improvement on the villain. Whereas the first one had a pretty thin villain, the main bad guy here is pretty cool. He's no more dimensional than the one in the first one, but he's given a lot more to do, which is good.

When Extraction finished, Tyler Rake was left badly wounded, shot in the neck, and down in a river. After such an impressive action debut for Hargrave and the character, I guess it was just a matter of time for him to fight his way back. I think they found a good reason why.

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