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Knight of Fortune follows Karl (Leif Andrée), a widower struggling to see his late wife at the morgue. It is there that he meets Torben (Jens Jørn Spottag), a fellow widower in a similar situation. Although hesitant at first, they end up opening to each other as they share stories about their respective wives.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

Celebrity - 1998
7/10

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More new home video purchases...

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Three from the good folks at Criterion...

Stagecoach (John Ford / 1939)
Walker (Alex Cox / 1987)
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch / 1995)

Stagecoach, of course, is the film that vaulted John Wayne to superstar status and made director John Ford a name to be reckoned with. Just a terrific movie, exquisitely crafted, with a wonderful story and characters. In particular, Claire Trevor and John Wayne serve as strong anchors for the film, in terms of their characters and their performances. And that big chase sequence with the Apache chasing down the coach has had plenty of imitators over the years, but is still without peer after all these years! That stunt work remains completely insane, to this very day. Just off the charts...

Amazingly enough, Alex Cox's splattery gonzo historical epic Walker was actually filmed in Nicaragua in 1987... on Universal's dime! Quite amazing to think that this movie even exists. This completely insane yet absolutely true story tells of the misadventures of William Walker, the American soldier of fortune who actually rose to power and became dictator of Nicaragua in 1853. Ed Harris turns in a very edgy and eccentric performance in the title role. I actually got into this movie because I was a fan of Alex Cox's Repo Man and Sid & Nancy. And Cox's book 10,000 Ways To Die was of invaluable assistance to me as I was getting into the Spaghetti Western genre. So I was eager to see what sort of work he could do in the Western (or quasi-Western) department. This movie definitely has some of the outrageously anarchic sensibility of Sam Peckinpah, and the screenplay was actually written by Rudy Wurlitzer, the man who also wrote Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. The movie might be off-putting to some people, not just because of its irreverent and barbed politics, but because of its post-modern use of anachronistic imagery, including Zippo lighters, Coke bottles, magazines, limousines and helicopters - all in an 1850's setting! But of course I am also a fan of the films of Ken Russell and Derek Jarman, whose historical films and biopics make use of similar kinds of anachronisms. (I'm also reminded of Julie Taymor's Shakespeare adaptation Titus from 1999.) Good score from former Clash frontman Joe Strummer, as well!

And going even further out into the post-Western hinterlands, we have Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man. There is, of course, no other movie quite like this one. Very unsettling and dreamlike exercise in monochromatic psychedelia, with vivid black-and-white cinematography, a movie for which the word "oneiric" might have been invented for lack of a better descriptor. (For the record, it means "of, relating to, or suggestive of dreams.") We're not in the usual dust-and-tumbleweed Wild West here but a kind of mutated industrial hellscape not dissimilar to that of David Lynch's Eraserhead. I'm also reminded of a line from Ned Beatty's character Bobby in John Boorman's Deliverance: "I think this is where everything finishes up!" I don't even know where to begin, but Johnny Depp gives a wonderfully unsettled, almost sleepwalker-ish performance as the put-upon protagonist William Blake. The score by Neil Young is also quite beautiful, and I understand that much of it was actually semi-improvised on the spot! The incredible supporting cast is just a mind-boggling assortment of really cool performers, including Gary Farmer as the misfit Native American Nobody (who else is fleetingly reminded here of a certain Terence Hill character?), Robert Mitchum as the tyrannical industrialist John Dickinson, Lance Henriksen and Michael Wincott as sinister bounty hunters (one a man of few words and the other of too many) and Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop and Jared Harris as a trio of borderline-psycho fur traders. Also watch out for Gabriel Byrne, John Hurt, Alfred Molina and Crispin Glover in bit parts here and there.

(BTW, to my mind Dead Man has an interesting kinship with a 1967 Spaghetti Western by the name of Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! - directed by one Giulio Questi - largely in that both movies deal with protagonists who are shot and then nursed back to health by Native American characters. The two movies are very different in most respects, but they both have a weirdly idosyncratic and surreal sensibility. Who else has been struck by the similarities between these two films?)

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March 26, 2024

GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE (2024)

To this day, I actually still haven't seen Ghostbusters: Afterlife. :eek: Believe me, that is an oversight I shall correct at some later date.

The thought recently occurred to me that one of the reasons why people keep coming back to see sequels to their favorite movies - despite the inevitably diminishing artistic returns - is that the characters are like old friends that people want to keep visiting and hanging out with. There may be nothing particularly new or noteworthy going on in their lives - aside from the usual and inevitable life-and-death circumstances - but people still enjoy touching base and revisiting their old friends. Which I suppose is as good an argument as any for sequels to be judged by a different set of criteria than original films (although I wouldn't quite go so far). A better argument could be made for the modern movie sequel as the ultimate example of the "hangout movie."

So a movie like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire gives me something of a mixed reaction. On one hand, I think the Ghostbusters universe is just plain fun! (I feel rather the same way about the Star Trek universe, quite frankly, irrespective of the varying quality of films and episodes.) I like the chase sequences, the neutrino wand visual effects, the ghost traps, the lessons in occult history and ancient mumbo-jumbo, the wisecracks, the sense of impending apocalypse, etc., etc. On the other hand, I don't know if this latest movie really holds up on a story level. I mean, there's a lot going on here, what with the Spengler offspring, a mysterious orb holding an evil spirit, a ghost girl named Melody with a hidden agenda, suits of armor and pyrokinesis, etc., etc. But it kind of just amounts to a lot of stuff, held together by the most rudimentary sense of cohesion. On the upside, however, the icily malevolent Garraka may be no Gozer the Gozerian (then again who is), but he sure as hell kicks the crap out of Vigo the Carpathian six ways to Sunday!

Most of the surviving cast of the original 1984 classic get cameos here, with the exceptions of Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis. Dan Aykroyd has a fairly substantial role here as the recurring Dr. Ray Stantz. Ernie Hudson's Winston Zeddemore has been promoted to resident engineering and tech specialist, sort of the "Q" of the Ghostbusters universe. Bill Murray's Peter Venkman, on the other hand... basically just shows up and speaks a few semi-witty lines, and that's it! Surprisingly enough, William Atherton's obnoxious former EPA hack Walter Peck shows up, and he too has had a "promotion" of sorts, one that has all sorts of potentially inconvenient consequences for our heroes.

Recommended? Sure, if you're an old-school fanboy like me. Or if you just want to hang out with some old friends. Everybody else, though, might want to lower their expectations...

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Set in the early 20th Century, Killers of the Flower Moon follows the events around those murders. Sparked by the discovery of oil in Osage Nation, the Natives had "wealth" but were still assigned white "guardians" to help them "administer" it because of their "incompetence". Notice all the quotations, because none of those were real to the Osage. They weren't incompetent, but they still didn't get their wealth, and there were certainly no guardians administering nothing, at least not in good will.

This is one of those films that's more enraging than it is pleasing. Certainly that's not a slight at its craft because most things from the film are top of the line. From the performances to the cinematography, from the score to the way it builds this relationship between Ernest and Mollie. But the enraging thing is not only that it's all for show, but that it really happened.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - (2023)

A bit of okay, half-decent comedy - nice effects and design. A nice little supporting turn from Hugh Grant. A decent adventure. This just falls short of being a classic, for me - but when it comes to having a pleasant time being entertained without being taxed it works, so I'm not complaining. Well, I am complaining about it's title and other present-day annoyances to those around me - but there's much worse out there and I never expected to be seeing this film in the first place. It was one of 2023's bigger surprises. All that and yet the film barely broke even - despite praise from most quarters and it being a crowd-pleaser. I blame the title and movie being too long, and the fact that on the face of it, this looked like your average mainstream effects-driven corporate-entity soon-to-be-forgotten modern movie.

6/10

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A Film Unfinished - (2010)

In 1942 the Nazis tried to make a propaganda film from inside the Warsaw Ghetto, and the footage remaining from that attempt has been invaluable. It has given us a rare, unfiltered look at what was happening in that overcrowded, unsanitary nightmare world, and how the Third Reich was trying to twist their own depravity to meet their own propaganda needs. A shocking moment in history captured on film - full review here, on my watchlist thread.

8/10

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1st Rewatch...This is contemporary movie magic at its best. This enchanting prequel to Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is an entertaining look at the Roald Dahl character that strips away the darkness of the other two films in order to bring us rich family entertainment. Timothee Chalamet, who I am getting a serious man crush on, lights up the screen in the title role and gets solid support from Keegan-Michael Key as the police chief with a weakness for chocolate and Oscar winner Olivia Colman in a perfect melding of Miss Hannigan in Annie and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd. I do have to make a correction from my original review. I said that only one song from the 1971 film was utilized in this film, but I was incorrect. The oompa loompa song from that film is re-thought for this film as well, delightfully performed by Hugh Grant, who steals every scene he's in.

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5th Rewatch...I am officially adding this film to my list of films I never tire of re-watching. Ron Shelton's direction is meticulous, featuring flawless use of slow motion. Snipes and Harrelson's chemistry is off the charts, and watching Rosie Perez' Gloria compete on Jeopardy never gets old. Love when Alex Trebek has to get a ruling from the judges because Gloria mispronounces "Vesuvius". Love this movie.

Phone Call from a Stranger 1952 I watched this on Youtube. This is classified as film noir for some reason on imdb. This is not film noir. I found this pretty slow and not very interesting.

I just saw the remake about a month ago and it makes the original look like Citizen Kane

I don't know, Allaby. Sounds like film noir to me. :D

One of the most depressing post-apocalyptic movies ever made, don't watch this if you're feeling down or hopeless because it might just be too much for you (not kidding!)

Also, Kevin Costner and Rebecca DeMornay make one of screendom's cutest couples, too bad they don't get to do very much

After Life (1998)


Off-beat existential film from Kore-eda about people who have died and are now in an office-based limbo, choosing their best memory to take with them into the afterlife. It's a bit about life and memory but also a little bit about cinema. Slow, measured, a little unsatisfying but definitely thought provoking.

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Melinda and Melinda (2004).



Interesting concept, two different Melinda tales played by the same character. A tragic and a comical one.

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Born to Be Bad (1950)
It should be called Born to Be a Bitch. Social climber, Cristabel (Joan Fontaine) moves in with Donna and steals her wealthy boyfriend (Zachery Scott). Scott plays a decent guy, if you accept the premise that Cristabel is irresistible. Zachary Scott is only called for when you need someone to be a real heel. He is great as some woman's downfall. I don't know what he is doing in this movie. Joan is Joan. She is perfect at acting as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth and then giving the camera that look that says, the bitch is back. Robert Ryan is Christabel's boyfriend and Mel Ferrer is given all the bon mots, such as they are. Ferrer really tries to deliver but the digs are pretty lame. Nicholas Ray directed this silly melodrama. I enjoyed it. It was beautifully shot.

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Polite Society - (2023)

Two English Pakistani sisters living at home, teenage Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) and older Lena (Ritu Arya) have dreams of becoming a stuntwoman and artist respectively - but when Lena meets Salim Shah (Akshay Khanna) and decides to marry him, Ria can't stand the thought of losing her, and will do anything to get her back. Anything. She can't stand to sit back and watch her marry and give up on her dreams. In the meantime, some unexpected information comes her way, which has her summoning her friends for an almighty final conflict against the forces she sees as conspiring against her and her sister. I might also mention that the sisters share some pretty nifty fighting abilities - which come to the fore at times when the film really gets zany. This is Nida Manzoor's debut feature, and what really impresses me is that she also wrote this film's screenplay, which abounds with inventive talent. Depending on what's going on, things can be flat-out crazy or pretty much grounded - but always clever and quite funny. We need more of this kind of stuff - women of Pakistani heritage breaking loose and redefining their roles in films where action and comedy make them widely accessible.

7/10

EO (2022) ‐

Looking at how my Letterboxd friends have responded to this film, it appears that nobody has rated it above four stars. And yes, I know my rating is also a four, but I also haven't rated any films from the 2020's over four stars yet (a few rewatches are in order though). This isn't the most subtle film around and I can see someone walking away with "it's just a lesser Au Hasard Balthazar", but I was really enamored with it and figured I'd make a few points in defense of it. I was initially curious if it would be a poor man's version of Bresson's film, but I like how it found its own unique voice, as opposed to following in its footsteps. Bresson's film is largely characterized by mirroring Balthazar's life with Marie, while EO takes a different unique approach with the characters. EO is (almost) always at the center of the film. The camera stays by his side from beginning to end and, even when he's not in the frame, it finds various ways for his presence to loom in the background or hang over the shot to keep him at the forefront. For instance, a recurring style of subjective camerawork which captures the somewhat blurry motion of other figures (a group of horses running through a field and a soccer match) appears to be occurring from EO's point of view given the shooting style. Or take another lengthy scene of a truck driver transporting a group of animals which is bathed heavily in a bright red, a color which is associated with EO due to its prominence in some recurring hallucinatory sequences. The human characters in the film fall somewhere between secondary characters and background scenery (granted, a late film sequence with Huppert and Zurzolo briefly ruins the tone). The decision to zero in on EO makes this film a highly subjective experience. EO wandering through the landscape by himself is truly something else due to how the alien photography feels reminiscent, as a few other reviewers I've come across have noted, of Under the Skin. The film also turns transcendental when it bathes certain sequences in the aforementioned bright red color or includes a couple scenes which feel caught between fantasy and reality. And at the heart of all the technical craft lies the emotional core of EO's desire for freedom and perhaps to be reunited with his original owner. It's not the most complex of messages, but the film takes it in so many interesting places along the way I couldn't help but be fascinated.

Anyways, now I'm more eager to revisit Au Hasard Balthazar.

The Passion (2016) A modern musical concert/play about Jesus. Tyler Perry narrates/hosts.
Jencarlos Canela stars as Jesus, Chris Daughtry plays Judas, Trisha Yearwood is Mary, and Seal is Pilate. I watched this today (Good Friday) on Tubi and really enjoyed it. I liked the way they used modern pop/rock songs to tell the story. I thought Chris Daughtry gave the best performance. Recommended.

Re-watch. Good movie from Joanna Hogg.

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Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver (2011) - 2/10 stars