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A few reviews

TM2YC

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Ron's Gone Wrong (2021)
I was super excited to see the next animated film from the team of Director Sarah Smith and co-writer (and long term comedy genius) Peter Baynham 10-years after their glorious ‘Arthur Christmas’. That movie was perfection on every creative level, so is ‘Ron’s Gone Wrong’ as good? Well no but it is excellent and I haven’t yet rewatched it every Christmas for a decade! For your typical Pixar type family movie, it’s a timely and surprisingly sharp satire on the generation of kids born into the age of ubiquitous social-media. The only bum note for me was having your standard “Jafar” type antagonist, a gleeful perpetrator of the Facebook-alike company’s evil deeds, leaving the tech whizz-kid figurehead (also called Marc) to come out the innocent hero. It would’ve been more truthful to have them be the same character. There are definite shades of ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ and ‘Short Circuit’ to the premise, which puts it in good company. The “Insert Registered Name” / “Absalom!” joke made me laugh every time, I wish they had repeated it even more than they already did.


Then I had my annual rewatch of 'Arthur Christmas', then watched 'Ron's Gone Wrong' again! Good times.
 

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OK, I need to sit down and watch it then. My son watched it at least a couple of times on his own and reports it's good. Of course, he likes watching really dumb YouTube videos too...
 

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Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)
The opening helicopter shot gliding across the glowing lights of Manhattan and the pinnacle of the Chrysler building (in unbelievable close-up), across towards Queens is jaw dropping and symbolic of the clash of class at the heart of Ridley Scott’s ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’. Tom Berenger plays a poor working class cop assigned to protect upper class, wealthy socialite Mimi Rogers. Berenger’s character didn’t work for me, he’s not much of a hero, he doesn’t take his job seriously, he’s fairly lazy, unfaithful to his wife, not a great father and generally weak willed. Where as Roger’s victim is the stronger one, determined and (somewhat) principled. The premise reminded me of 1992’s ‘The Bodyguard’ which executes these elements much better with the protector taking the threat very seriously and the target being initially careless. Despite these script problems, ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’ is a fantastic looking 80s noir, with great performances, particularly from Lorraine Bracco.

 

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Drunken Angel (1948)
I’ve mostly seen Toshiro Mifune play loud and erratic Jidaigeki characters, so it’s nice to see him play the more subtle, brooding, taciturn “gangster with a heart” Matsunaga, in a bleak contemporary post-war Japan setting. He looks so cool in his sharp suit, black leather trench coat and slick back hair. Matsunaga is dying of consumption, which instigates an abrasive friendship with Takashi Shimura’s loud-mouthed but kind, drunken doctor. Akira Kurosawa constantly cuts back to shots of a disease and bacteria ridden mud puddle in the middle of the slum, symbolising both the corruption of Matsunaga's lungs and the malign Yakuza influence on the town. The overhead shot of Mifune toward the end is powerful and beautiful but I’m not exactly sure why, maybe it feels like the POV of a higher power.

 

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Black Rain (1989)
Unfortunately I wasted the first half of ‘Black Rain’ suspecting Andy Garcia was secretly the villain (I maintain all the clues were there!) so I didn’t have the requisite fondness for the character that I was supposed to. The script takes too long to get into the themes of honour and revenge and is slow to get into the shifting buddy-cop relationship between Ken Takakura’s dutiful “samurai” and Michael Douglas’ disgraced “Ronin”. Being directed by Ridley Scott and being set in neon 80s Japan, the film is fantastic to look at. Hans Zimmer’s score isn’t one of his more memorable efforts. I think there is a tight 90-minute Hong Kong style “heroic bloodshed” action film somewhere in here.

 

mnkykungfu

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^Garcia just gives off kind of an oily vibe, but it's a perfect match for Douglas' oiliness in this. That is a bummer, because as a teen I was so taken aback when his role doesn't go how you think it's going to. It was such an energizing impetus for the script. I had no idea at the time what this film was doing, that Takakura was the legendary bad boy Japanese actor who previously would have been in Douglas' role in an earlier Japanese version of this. So I didn't get into that relationship at the time, but I really appreciate it now.

Mostly I was just into the whole slick, gorgeously dirty exploitation aesthetic of this, a perfect capture of grimy early '80s neo-noir Japan. This is one of those films that's probably impossible to appreciate how influential its style was because now it just seems typical of a whole type. But in '89, it was Scott pilfering from another part of Japan (Shinjuku in Bladerunner, Hiroshima here) and then perfectly capturing the grimy appeal in such a way that Japanese filmmakers and Yakuza were then influenced by his portrayal! I put this movie up there with Alien, Bladerunner, Robocop, and Terminator as one of the Hollywood movies that reflected back and influenced Japanese film and anime for the next 20+ years (and Korean and Chinese as a knock-on effect).

Love the scene where the Yakuza underling has failed and meets with the boss to cut off his finger, which is all filmed with so much tension and pain, and then the boss angrily growls out "IS THAT ALL?":love:
 

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^Garcia just gives off kind of an oily vibe, but it's a perfect match for Douglas' oiliness in this.:love:

I find Garcia very likeable and charming. It was more the way Douglas kept going on about hating "suits" and Garcia makes a point of being in an expensive respectable suit, is eager for advancement and is encouraging the belligerent Douglas to play the "corporate" game. He's also a bit rascally and free with his money. It all seemed like hints to me that Garcia was going to be revealed as the real corrupt cop who is framing up Douglas....then it was ooooh, so I was just supposed to like the guy and his youthful carefree nature and oh... Douglas was what he appeared to be (at least on the surface). Not the first time my suspicious plot-solving mind has spoiled a movie.

I don't think I've seen Takakura in anything before, although 'Bullet Train' and 'The Yakuza' have been high up on my watchlist for a while.

Oh and I loved the bit where Takakura offers Douglas one memento of his partner and Douglas chooses his gun. A real moment of connection and understanding between the two characters.
 

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War Horse (2011)
This is about the 3rd or 4th time I’ve watched Steven Spielberg’s ‘War Horse’ and it’s gone up in my estimation each time, from a low initial opinion. It begins with a fairytale quality, then becomes increasing bleak and real before returning to romance at the end. I don’t think I’d fully appreciated before how closely we are supposed to identify Joey with Alby’s father. The cinematography is gorgeous, every other shot a painting, recalling the look of 'Gone With the Wind' and John Ford movies. The score is one of John Williams’ very best, an unapologetically emotional and lush experience, around another beautiful main theme, evoking the brass bands of the period setting. I still think it was a big mistake to cut away from Joey at two points (one of them for 10-minutes), the "war horse" should be the main character at all times, not the first of his owners.

 

mnkykungfu

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I don't think I've seen Takakura in anything before, although 'Bullet Train' and 'The Yakuza' have been high up on my watchlist for a while.

Oh and I loved the bit where Takakura offers Douglas one memento of his partner and Douglas chooses his gun. A real moment of connection and understanding between the two characters.
^Yeah, I didn't connect at all with the odd-couple buddy cop story on the first watch, I was just all about Douglas being a slick badass on a quest for revenge. It wasn't until years later when I watched Basic Instinct and my head cannon made his Detective Nick the same character as his Detective Nick here...a guy everyone says should've gotten promoted ten times if he didn't keep getting busted down for wild behavior. Then going back and watching Black Rain, I appreciated that Nick needs a partner like Masahiro (or Charlie) to rein him in. For his part, Takakura was a staple of '70s Japanese grindhouse cinema, playing Yakuza hardasses and badass cops not to mention the Golgo 13. I didn't catch on to his late stage playing-against-type turns until years later on a re-watch of Mr. Baseball, where I realized that for a Japanese audience, one of the central jokes is that you would never want to have this hardass as your coach, much less your prospective father-in-law!
War Horse (2011)
I still think it was a big mistake to cut away from Joey at two points (one of them for 10-minutes), the "war horse" should be the main character at all times, not the first of his owners.
This is a wonderfully-produced movie, but I found it hard to get emotionally invested in. I think you're right and the film can't decide whether it wants to be about the horse or the boy. It seems to want to be about both, but if it wanted to focus on their bond, it spent too long on the other owners. Maybe the story worked better in the novel.
 

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Hook (1991)
It’s hard to believe it’s been 30-years since my parents took me to see this at the cinema, I loved it then, I didn’t dislike it today. I can see more flaws though. It’s very set-bound and transitions between the lovely expansive matte paintings and the claustrophobic soundstage locations is jarring. It slightly breaks the fairytale spell conjured by the London opening scenes. John Williams music is distractingly similar to his later Harry Potter score. Dustin Hoffmann is a scenery chewing scream as Cpt. Hook. With a string of back-to-back hits like 'Hook', 'Aladdin', 'Mrs. Doubtfire' and 'Jumanji', it seemed like Robin Williams was the magical prince of early 90s family entertainment. I remember Spielberg 8-years ago saying he didn't like anything about 'Hook' to Kermode and Mayo but it’s far from bad.


The Spielberg comments on 'Hook' to Kermode and Mayo (19.20 in):

 

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Strange Days (1995)
Kathryn Bigelow’s
near-future Sci-Fi felt ahead of it’s time in 1995 and despite some of the technology and formats being utilised and proposed are obsolete now, it’s aged very well. The plot revolving around a "video tape" showing cops executing a black man during a traffic stop, was clearly originally commenting on the LA riots era but perhaps works even better for an age where everybody is filming each other on their devices and recording the activities of the cops as well. It’s a ‘Blade Runner’-esque, grungy, grimy, Noir mystery. I initially thought 1999’s ‘The Matrix’ was a side sequel because (apart from it also taking us into multiple realities) the latter film has a scene where a guy buys some kind of illegal mini-disc off of Neo like he’s a dealer, exactly like in ‘Strange Days’. Ralph Feinnes plays an endearingly shambolic and sleazy character quite unlike anything else he’s done. I’d forgotten that Fatboy Slim’s hit ‘Right Here, Right Now’ is based on a sample from this movie until Angela Bassett says the line.


This teaser trailer is strikingly different!:


This one is a bit more traditional:

 

mnkykungfu

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This teaser trailer is strikingly different!:

My friends and I were so excited for this...went to see it opening night on the strength of this teaser. Was hoping for a film directed in this style, featuring this character...a kind of cross between Trainspotting, Killing Zoe, and Johnny Mnemonic. We got none of that. It was none of that. I've never been able to bring myself to rewatch it, as overwhelming conventionality is the main memory I have of the film. Still waiting for a movie like that teaser.
 

TM2YC

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Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
I remember being underwhelmed when I saw ‘Bringing Out the Dead’ on a VHS rental back in 2000 but a couple of decades later, whenever people are discussing "underrated Scorsese” in his lengthy filmography, they'll often mention this one. So I was keen to give it another go but it’s never been released on blu-ray (although it was the last film released on Laserdisc). Thankfully Disney+ have a spectacular looking HD transfer of what looks like a high-contrast 35mm print. Seeing the intense theatrically lit (as if the characters are standing beneath heaven-sent spotlights), neon streets of New York (contrasting with the grim reality of the subject matter) in vibrantly coloured widescreen is a big part of the film’s kaleidoscopic atmosphere and probably didn’t come across on pan&scan videotape. ‘Taxi Driver’ comes to mind (also written by Paul Schrader) but the story and Nicolas Cage’s burned out paramedic are kinder and more hopeful, though no less dark. It’s one of Cage’s best turns, with plenty of subtle emotional depth but also plenty of room for him to display his unique brand of crazy.

 

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West Side Story (2021)
One thing that disappointed me about the 1961 film was that only the opening sequence looks like it's on location in a real city. Thanks to either modern technology, huge sets, or actual location shooting, Steven Spielberg's new film has no such problem. The whole thing is set in an edgy, half demolished slum, a perfect realistic contrast to the beauty of the dance choreography, music and Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski's elegant camera movements. I've heard a lot of criticism for Ansel Elgort but I can't see why, he's a bit like a young Marlon Brando. Sure, he's out-shined by young Broadway stars like Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez and Mike Faist but just because they are so, so good. They're somehow even better close-up movie actors than they are graceful dancers and passionate singers. The new 'West Side Story' is superior to the 1961 movie in every respect, so it might not be worth watching the original again.

 

TM2YC

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Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019)
A very interesting retrospective of the horror genre viewed from the intellectual and thematic perspective of black film-makers, actors and audiences. The only problem is that at 83-minutes it's too short, so there were some points when I was thinking they'd missed out discussing certain films e.g. there's plenty of time for 'Night of the Living Dead' but little for 'Dawn of the Dead' and it occured to me that things like 'Deep Blue Sea' might've been an interesting subject for the kind of protagonist genre conventions and their later subversions being highlighted.




Birth of the Living Dead (2013)
I’ve watched a number of docs about George A. Romero’s "Dead" films but this is one of the best. There’s nothing fancy to it, mostly it’s just sitting lovely old Romero down and having us listen to his anecdotes. It also points out all the extra behind-the-scenes jobs that the various zombies did and discusses the political and racial context of ‘Night of the Living Dead’. Some of the points were well worn but many were fresh takes on the subject. The contrasting of the movie's faked news footage against real news footage from the late 60s was particularly effective.

 

TM2YC

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Topsy-Turvy (1999)
'Topsy-Turvy'
is always a pleasure to revisit but even more of a treat on the beautiful looking Criterion blu-ray transfer. All the period costuming, makeup and set dressing is a feast for the eyes. It's mostly wonderfully comedic, with much of the humour being at the expense of preening, pompous actors (performed by a self-aware all-star cast of British actors), or the English being reluctant to communicate their deepest feelings directly (to the point of insanity), or their naive but earnest Victorian views on Japanese culture. The scene where Gilbert and Sullivan (Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner respectively) are having an intractable argument without raising their voices, or facing each other and talking politely in the third person is terrific stuff. I'd forgotten how sharp a turn it takes into melancholy once the 'The Mikado' has been successfully performed, showing the spiritual cost of such all-consuming creative exertions. IIRC, the film features no exterior scenes whatsoever, it doesn't need them to add any more "production value" and keeps us within the feverish world of the theatre.

 

TM2YC

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Lincoln (2012)
This is my third viewing of Steven Spielberg's masterpiece. It's less a biographical drama (as the title suggests) and more an exciting political thriller about the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment. Of course that depends on you finding politicians sitting in smoke filled rooms debating the finer points of law, liberty and morality for 2.5-hours as exciting as I do. Tony Kushner's script is densely packed with poetic Shakespearean dialogue and gives exposition and historical context refreshingly short shrift. I love witty lines like "Why is this thus? And what is the reason for this thusness?". It's a film about the courage of compromise, the power of moderate and persuasive language and having empathy for those you wish to persuade, clearly a pointed lesson in an age where it seems such things are a cardinal sin. We see how Daniel Day-Lewis' Lincoln brings men with unshakable principles, plus those of no fixed ideal together. His subtle, softly spoken performance is matched by those of a steely Tommy Lee Jones and a delightfully roguish James Spader. I'd much rather spend another couple of hours re-watching actors of this quality trade words, than any number of action scenes. (of which 'Lincoln' has none, despite being set during a war).

 

Gaith

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^ Surely you mean it's a masterpiece apart from the weird-ass opening scene, which is seemingly there only to crowbar in some lines from the Gettysburg Address, and very distractingly make the old man look like his future monument statue, while also featuring Harry Osborn 2.0 himself? ;)

(And one could make a great argument for fading to credits with Lincoln walking off after staying he'd rather stay, but at least the final scenes are based in actual history.)
 

TM2YC

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^ Surely you mean it's a masterpiece apart from the weird-ass opening scene, which is seemingly there only to crowbar in some lines from the Gettysburg Address, and very distractingly make the old man look like his future monument statue, while also featuring Harry Osborn 2.0 himself? ;)

(And one could make a great argument for fading to credits with Lincoln walking off after staying he'd rather stay, but at least the final scenes are based in actual history.)

I think the former is there precisely to suggest he's already seen as a "monument" and is uncomfortable with being viewed that way, as he can still speak humbly with the common man. The scene worked for me and David Oyelowo delivers the speech well. Maybe Oyelowo is playing the great-great-grandfather of his role as MLK in 2014's 'Selma'. Part of the emancipation-cinematic-universe... and James Spader is doing the same for Ultron ;) .

The second point is a really good one. Because I hadn't seen the film in about 6 years, I did think that walking shot was the end... then the movie goes on for a bit more. You're right, it could've easily ended there.



A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
I’ve always thought Steven Spielberg’s ‘A.I. Artificial Intelligence’ was good (if flawed) but I was quite entranced and very impressed this time. The first section had me utterly gripped, it’s tender and horrifying in equal measure. The production design of the Swindon home still looks subtlety futuristic and believable 20-years later. The point were perfection begins to crumble is when Gigolo Joe is introduced. We just awkwardly cut to him in the middle of a story otherwise told 100% from David’s perspective. We should see the world through his “child” eyes. This coincides with a switch to a naff looking, sub-Mad Max world with ridiculous looking neon bikers, it is not believably futuristic. The zany Chris Rock and Robin Williams voice cameos stand out a mile. I never understood before that the beings at the end are not "grey" aliens but an advanced terrestrial machine race. IIRC that’s never explained in the script but this time I noticed the electrical impulses underneath their “skins” on a larger TV screen and so finally worked it out. Thematically that makes much more sense! My lip wobbled quite a bit during the last part. ‘A.I.' doesn't always hit the high mark it's aiming for but more often than not, it's genius.


 
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TM2YC

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Munich (2005)
I was rewatching 1973's 'The Day of the Jackal' a few weeks back and thought "You couldn't make a film like this today" but I'd obviously forgotten this fantastic throwback political/espionage thriller from Steven Spielberg, which is timeless and could easily be a film from the 70s era in which it's set. 'Munich' is a slow and fascinating character study, an engrossing examination of moral grey areas and a masterclass in sustaining tension during many assassination scenes. This time I noticed how often dialogue takes place across a scene of communal eating and drinking, drawing us in to the world of the characters. It's something Francis Ford Coppola often does but I hadn't observed Spielberg doing it so prominently in his other movies. She's not in the film for very long but Lynn Cohen's portrayal of Israeli PM Golda Meir is so powerful, yet softly spoken (I notice she sadly passed away exactly a year ago). For all the shocking, bloody and realistic (and historically real) violence in the film, it's the group's assassination of a female fellow assassin on a houseboat that really disturbs me. It seems to disturb the characters too, something abut the way they take away her dignity as well as her life. I was going to say that the 2.5hrs fly by but this time I did think the final introspective act dragged a little. Even so, this is one of Spielberg's greatest films.

By the way, it's entirely coincidental but this spy thriller has got two Bond villains and a pre-Bond Daniel Craig in the cast... and I almost forgot that one of them (Michael Lonsdale) also stars in 'The Day of the Jackal'.

 
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