By http://www.impawards.com/2022/armageddon_time_ver2.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71681689
Armageddon Time - (2022)
We go way back to 1980 and James Gray's own childhood for Armageddon Time, which seems to mirror our own times - and pointedly, Fred Trump finances the New York private school young 12-year-old Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) is sent to when he fouls up by smoking weed with his friend Johnny (Jaylin Webb) at his much more lax one. Johnny is black - something his new upper class school chums find hilarious - so much so it forces the kid to lie about how close they are. Because of his race Johnny is usually immediately presumed guilty when things happen, while Paul usually gets off light - and it's Paul's grandfather Aaron Rabinowitz (Anthony Hopkins) who tries to open his eyes about speaking out - not being racist isn't enough. This all could have been played very heavy-handedly, but instead Gray inserts a lot of his own experience, confusion and lost innocence. Cinematographer Darius Khondji, with whom Gray made The Lost City of Z keeps everything at a low lighting, and our attention on Paul's face - the dark atmosphere reminds me of the end to A Serious Man - an approaching storm, and the beginning to a decade of eroding financial and moral enlightenment. Very uneasy.
You'll see a lot of nods to cinematic scenes you may know well - there's a lot of The 400 Blows in this, right down to when Paul and Johnny steal a computer which looks like the typewriter stolen in that film, and head down to the local pawn shop. There's another I've been trying to recall for ages - but it's one of those moment-by-moment recreations of a famous scene from another film - and I've lost it. I really found Paul a believable little kid - neither full of wisdom nor goodness, but simply in need of respect from his peers. He has a hard time accepting that school will lead anywhere, and a terminal need to goof off and not do his work. All the little nuances are there within him, and I was impressed. Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong are great as his parents.
7.5/10
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Chattahoochee - (1989)
Emmett Foley (Gary Oldman) - a mentally damaged Korean War vet loses it one day, and attempts suicide by cop before turning a gun on himself and attempting to kill himself with a bullet to the heart (he misses). After his arrest and recovery, he finds himself in the brutal nightmare world of Florida State Hospital which houses so many insane inmates that those locked up there sleep head to toe. All kinds of brutality are regularly dished out - and when Emmett writes a letter to an inmate's wife one day, those in charge of the hospital come down hard on him. Over time he notes every brutal act and with the help of his sister mounts a political campaign for reform. I thought this was a very well acted little movie, with Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Frances McDormand and Pamela Reed real standouts - but the only thing I had a problem with was the overly optimistic ending - one that seemed to sum thing up as "and everything is perfectly okay now." In my practice, it seldom all gets fixed in any first wave of reforms.
7/10
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Fast Food Nation - (2006)
I've always liked animals, but the older I get the more I love them - so the end of Fast Food Nation was a brutal shock to me, and upsetting. Those cows meet a terrible, nightmarish end - and the assembly line works continually, meaning non-stop horror. Fast Food Nation uses a simple narrative to be able to touch on all areas of the fast food business, with it's dodgy practices in the employment realm and the disgusting "food" side. It has many really light moments, but can get dark awfully fast - and I'm sure will push anyone who watches it a little closer to changing their diets.
7/10
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