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The Bubble, Netflix 2022

No bueno.
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There has been an awekening.... have you felt it?





The Band Wagon, 1953

Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) is an aging dancer who is roped into a musical play by his friends Lily (Nanette Fabray) and Lester (Oscar Levant) that they believe will reinvigorate his career. But when dramatic actor and producer Jeffrey (Jack Buchanan) gets involved, the production turns into an overly serious, sprawling Faustian epic. Along for the ride is ballerina Gaby (Cyd Charisse), who at first clashes seriously with Jack.

It is hard to talk about liking or not liking this movie, because a big part of my reaction to it is "What did I just watch?". I mean, don't get me wrong, it is a very familiar comedy/musical trope to have the action take place on a troubled production. Astaire and Charisse are both very talented dancers, and the film makes the most of their abilities in a range of "staged" and "real" numbers. Fabray, Levant, and Buchanan all have great comic timing.

But also . . . this movie is kind of a nightmare-fuel parody of old-timey song and dance numbers. (A number where Astaire, Fabray, and Buchanan play triplet babies who fantasize about murdering each other is the kind of thing someone had to be in a real state of mind to come up with, much less speak out loud to other people to make it a reality).



I will grant the film that it is funny. (A sequence where we get little glimpses of Jeffrey dramatically acting out the entire play in order to get funding from rich art patrons is a endlessly rewarding running gag.) There's a classic fizzle and pop to the dialogue and the staging.

But . . . gosh. Some of it is weird in a way that isn't charming or just comes off as confusing. One of these elements is the romance between Jack and Gaby, a woman who is easily 20 years his junior and somehow feels younger than that. Their energies are just so different, it's like watching a man woo his daughter's best friend. As dance partners, there's a kind of coherence that makes sense. But once she's supposed to look at him and declare her love, meh.

I also had mixed feelings about the final number: a song-and-dance noir detective story that goes on for way too long. It is also meant to be a play that an audience is watching, and yet it employs a ton of in-your-face camera moves, like spinning frames that transition Jack from one location to the next. At times it really works (as when the detective goes to a sleazy dance joint whose mascot is a moving, sexily grinding skeleton), but it's just mostly very strange.

This is one of Ebert's Great Movies. I just read his review of it, and his focus is on the technical elements of the film, as well as the way that real insecurities and personal dramas of the cast and crew seeped into the film. I know what he's describing, but somehow it didn't quite cast the same spell for me. A movie definitely worth watching at least once.




I forgot the opening line.

By Found on Rotten Tomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ne_le_dis_a_personne/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12134715

Tell No One - (2006)

Popular, this one, and I thought it was compelling enough - although it depends on it's mystery angle, and as such I'll probably only ever see it this once. Dr. Alexandre Beck (François Cluzet) goes through a trauma, losing his wife in a violent incident - but various clues start popping up 8 years later indicating she's not dead. The police dig up the bodies of two men near where she was apparently killed, and have their sights set on Beck, who is trying to tie all of the puzzling clues together. There's a great chase sequence at around the half-way point - on foot, and very well put together. I'm going through a phase where I steer away from mystery films quite a bit, but I'd had this one on my watchlist for a while, and while it wasn't the absolute classic I was hoping for, it kept me going all the way through and is a quality piece of work. Best of all - it's easy to follow, and doesn't tangle itself up - you'll get it in the end. Apparently Michael Caine thinks this is one of the best films ever made.

7/10
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Latest Review : I Want to Live! (1958)



a kid with reviews in his pod

EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE
(full review to come in Grogu's Review Pod and in the Movie Review Forum)
Rating:
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Top Gun: Maverick (2022)



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.

Choose or Die (Toby Meakins, 2022)
5.5/10
All the Old Knives (Janus Metz, 2022)
+ 5/10
The Screaming Woman (Jack Smight, 1972)
6/10
Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959)
8/10

Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) races Massala (Stephen Boyd) at the Circus in Rome in an exciting, satisfying conclusion to a major plot point.
Callaway Went Thataway (Melvin Frank & Norman Panama, 1951)
5.5/10
Three Guys Named Mike (Charles Walters, 1951)
+ 5/10
So Cold the River (Paul Shoulberg, 2022)
5.5/10
Bull Durham (Ron Shelton, 1988)
7/10

The minor league Durham Bulls have to discuss major stuff at this mound visit, like what wedding presents to get one of the players.
Better Nate Than Ever (Tim Federle, 2022)
6/10
The Silver Chalice (Victor Saville, 1954)
5/10
Swarm Season (Sarah Christman, 2019)
6/10
Things to Come (William Cameron Menzies, 1936)
6.5/10

H.G. Wells' futuristic epic predicts lots of the events of the 20th century as well as utilizes interesting F/X.
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? (Pedro Costa, 2001)
6/10
Agent Game (Grant S. Johnson, 2022)
5/10
Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (Kiah Roache-Turner, 2021)
6-/10
Death on the Nile (Kenneth Branagh, 2022)
- 6.5/10

A couple's honeymoon on the Nile turns into a series of murders aboard a ship with multiple suspects and Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
Fabian: Going to the Dogs (Dominik Graf, 2021)
6/10
Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950)
6.5/10
Mad Love (Karl Freund, 1935)
6/10
Cyrano (Joe Wright, 2021)
+ 6.5/10

Musical adaptation with Peter Dinklage as the title character and Haley Bennett as his lady love Roxanne to whom he'll never confess his love.
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Just in case anyone here who doesn't keep an eye on the Movie Reviews board is interested, I just started a new favorite movies thread there, in case you feel like checking it out: https://www.movieforums.com/communit...24#post2296124



The Northman
So, that was intense.


I don't want to like this director. I think he hams it up too much. But, I am grudgingly becoming a fan of his work. Bewitched, you might say.



This tale of revenge delivers. Eggers goes a bit too far at moments with the super-gritty, super-nordic, super-psychedelic stuff, but in the main this works. This is Conan without a sense of humor. This is Beowulf with more attitude. This is Hamlet with a harder childhood (which makes sense since the folktale this is based on inspired Hamlet).



Some reviewer from the BBC complained that it wasn't weird or violent enough. It couldn't get weirder without Nick Cage starring or veering into Jodorowsky and it couldn't get more violent without becoming a slasher. I think the reviewer wanted a fantastic film that leans more toward fantasy (where are the slithering monsters complains the reviewer). I do not, however, think that this is how Eggers sees the world.

I think Robert Eggers likes the genre of the fantastic. He leans towards realism, but he holds up the magical end by drawing us into the subjectivity of his characters. The magic is on the inside, but what terrors and wonders live in the human breast. In short, humans are f***ing bonkers. Get inside human subjectivity and you're through the looking glass.

I kind of wanted to hate this movie. I am tired of revenge plots (thanks Quentin !). I am tired of super-gritty (thanks Nolan!). I am tired of super-trippy (thanks Eggers!). This one, however, worked. At least it worked for me.

WARNING: "Odin Lost an Eye to See All. What Price Will Ye Pay?" spoilers below
The final act looks like a stone age Duel on Mustafar, and I have no doubt that someone will set William's score to the fight scene in years to come.



The Outfit (2022)

Stagey (as is Mark Rylance's want) and a bit creaky, but this held the interest. Rather predictable "something in the woodshed" playout and rather stylized too much for me but Rylance does do a good turn.




You ready? You look ready.


Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore


I dunno why I keep letting myself get sucked into this cash grab wizarding world. Dan Fogler is the film's only redeeming quality.
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Furioza (2021)

Pretty interesting Polish story about football/organized hooliganism with a kinda soapy angle. Not bad but not at all original. I made the mistake of watching English dubbed version, if I do watch again I'll stick to subs.




Pulled a Visconti double feature last night:


Death in Venice (1971) -


This film's plot can be interpreted two ways.
Tadzio is the Angel of Death.
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Re-watch. Such a good movie that I appreciated a thousand times more on my re-watch. The polar bear was terrifying.



Tadzio is the Angel of Death.
Visconti definitely intended for it to be a symbolic film rather than a straight up pedophilia film, but I think the offscreen drama which went on while the film was in production complicates this and, as a result, makes you wonder whether elements of the second interpretations were intended as well. It's still quite good though, in spite of the creepy subtext.
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Visconti definitely intended for it to be a symbolic film rather than a straight up pedophilia film, but I think the offscreen drama which went on while the film was in production complicates this and, as a result, makes you wonder whether elements of the second interpretations were intended as well. It's still quite good though, in spite of the creepy subtext.
Let’s not forget Thomas Mann the author here. He wrote the darn thing. Mann was married with children, but had homosexual tendencies. He even admitted to being attracted to his own son.

Death in Venice wasn’t written as a book about pedophilia. There are many levels. Aschenbach was definitely enchanted by Tadzio’s beauty. And, if you remember in the movie when he was following Tadzio & his nanny through the Venetian streets, Tadzio would always quietly wait for him to catch up. Leading him on to his death.



Visconti definitely intended for it to be a symbolic film rather than a straight up pedophilia film, but I think the offscreen drama which went on while the film was in production complicates this and, as a result, makes you wonder whether elements of the second interpretations were intended as well. It's still quite good though, in spite of the creepy subtext.

I can't remember the movie as well as I do the book (which also isn't that well), but while I agree that he is a representation of death, this doesn't mean we have to throw away the pedophaelic angle you mentioned in your initial write up. His longing for the boy, and the uncomfortable moral implications that comes with this, and us sitting in the audience bearing witness to his barely hidden desires, is entangled with his pursuit of death. They are one and the same.




Choose or Die (Toby Meakins, 2022)
5.5/10
All the Old Knives (Janus Metz, 2022)
+ 5/10
The Screaming Woman (Jack Smight, 1972)
6/10
Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959)
8/10

Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) races Massala (Stephen Boyd) at the Circus in Rome in an exciting, satisfying conclusion to a major plot point.
Callaway Went Thataway (Melvin Frank & Norman Panama, 1951)
5.5/10
Three Guys Named Mike (Charles Walters, 1951)
+ 5/10
So Cold the River (Paul Shoulberg, 2022)
5.5/10
Bull Durham (Ron Shelton, 1988)
7/10

The minor league Durham Bulls have to discuss major stuff at this mound visit, like what wedding presents to get one of the players.
Better Nate Than Ever (Tim Federle, 2022)
6/10
The Silver Chalice (Victor Saville, 1954)
5/10
Swarm Season (Sarah Christman, 2019)
6/10
Things to Come (William Cameron Menzies, 1936)
6.5/10

H.G. Wells' futuristic epic predicts lots of the events of the 20th century as well as utilizes interesting F/X.
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? (Pedro Costa, 2001)
6/10
Agent Game (Grant S. Johnson, 2022)
5/10
Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (Kiah Roache-Turner, 2021)
6-/10
Death on the Nile (Kenneth Branagh, 2022)
- 6.5/10

A couple's honeymoon on the Nile turns into a series of murders aboard a ship with multiple suspects and Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
Fabian: Going to the Dogs (Dominik Graf, 2021)
6/10
Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950)
6.5/10
Mad Love (Karl Freund, 1935)
6/10
Cyrano (Joe Wright, 2021)
+ 6.5/10

Musical adaptation with Peter Dinklage as the title character and Haley Bennett as his lady love Roxanne to whom he'll never confess his love.
I liked Cyrano a lot more than you did.



THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH
(1995, Sayles)



"Ah, he isn't lost at all. He's just with another branch of the family."

Set in 1946, The Secret of Roan Inish follows Fiona (Jeni Courtney), a young girl who, after the death of her mother, is sent to live with her grandparents near the coast. It is there that she learns about the island of Roan Inish, where the family used to live before the war, as well as the mysterious disappearance of her little brother, Jamie.

This is a film I hadn't heard of before; my experience with John Sayles is limited to Eight Men Out. But I thought it was a pretty solid and charming family film. Most of the performances were good, but I gotta give it to Courtney, who I think did a pretty good job of carrying most of the film on her own.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot and the HOF27.
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The Guy Who Sees Movies


Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore


I dunno why I keep letting myself get sucked into this cash grab wizarding world. Dan Fogler is the film's only redeeming quality.
I know why I got sucked into the cash cow.....nothing to do that night, all the other movies that were new seemed even less appealing. That whole Potter thing is lost on me, but being over 12, I guess that's not surprising. Fogler was pretty good at being the only character who's not just posturing for a role that takes about the same commitment as a soup commercial.