Buggy Eyes and a Big Butt, part five: Movies 67-74

Q&A Intro, 1-17, 18-36, 37-51, 52-66, 67-74, 75-87, 88-103, 104-120, 121-131, 132-152, 153-173, 174-187, 188-221, 222-255, 256-287, 288-314, 315-341, 342-366, Index

Ratings key:
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ = I can’t see giving anything that I’ve seen once five stars
★ ★ ★ ★ = get to the theater / move it up in your queue
★ ★ ★ = “three stars is a recommendation” - The Empire [magazine] Podcast
★ ★ = if the remote is too far away, you could do worse
★ = if the remote is too far away, get someone to move it closer then throw it at the TV

067
Dogfight (1991) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: River Phoenix, Lili Taylor
director: Nancy Savoca

The night before they ship off to fight in Vietnam, a group of soldiers play another round of Dogfight, in which they each try to find the ugliest girl for a cash prize.

Lili Taylor is amazing and a perfect counter to River Phoenix's intensity. It’s a shame he’s dead. And it’s a shame she’s not in more things these days. [checking Lili Taylor’s filmography] Whoa. She’s worked a lot lately. Consistently, really, since she started. OK, it’s a shame I don’t watch the things she makes these days.

double feature pairing: Tigerland

068
Ricki and the Flash (2015) ★ ★.5
stars: Meryl Streep, Mamie Gummer, Kevin Kline
director: Jonathan Demme
writer: Diablo Cody

At first scene I thought this movie was going to correctly illustrate how few people will see an unknown, touring band. Ricki and the Flash play a show to virtually nobody. A few disinterested people at tables. A small handful are paying attention to the band, who belt out “American Girl.” It’s a cover, sure, but what band doesn’t pepper a few into their set.

As the movie went on it’s clear RATF is a cover band, with a residency. It’s the level she’s come to rest after an unsuccessful original music career, a broken marriage and a reluctance to keep in contact with her kids. I can sympathize a bit with Ricki, but her kids are right to be pissed.

Also, a cover band regularly playing the same venue pulls a bigger crowd than what's portrayed above. That? That's what Wichita looks like for a Columbus band.

The movie is fine yet frustrating. She plays a song of her own for her ex-husband and daughter. However, when it comes time to give the gift of song to her son at his wedding reception (because it’s all she has!), she opts to play a Bruce Springsteen cover.

Spoiler alert: she wins over all the stuffed shirts at the event. Everyone is happy and all is forgiven. [to the tune of a foghorn] Buuuuulll-shiiiiiit.

watch Crazy Heart instead

069
Stagecoach (1939) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine
director: John Ford

A group of strangers take the stagecoach for various reasons. All secrets will be revealed as they try to stay one step ahead of the attacking Apache.

Yep, it’s a worthy classic. The ambush of the stagecoach is still thrilling. There’s suspense in the slow reveal of everyone’s motivations. No wonder its influence on the westerns and action movies that followed.

double feature pairing: Hombre

070
Seven Samurai (1954) ★ ★ ★ ★ 
stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima
director: Akira Kurosawa

Farmers of 15th century Japan hire samurai to protect their village from bandits.

Like Stagecoach, this movie inspired imitations. Unlike Stagecoach, I don’t think this original has been bettered. Great action and humor. Some incredibly heart-wringing moments.

Despite my appreciation for it, I got a little antsy. Three and a half hours is a long time to sit through something. I think any movie over three hours should be seen in the theater. There are too many distraction watching something that long at home.

double feature pairing: 13 Assassins

071
The Wave (2015) ★ ★ ★
stars: Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp, Thomas Bo Larsen
director: Roar Uthaug

A rockslide in a Norwegian fjord causes and tsunami, turning the inhabitants’ lives into a world of hurt.

It’s a disaster movie that hits all the standard beats. There’s the geologist who sees the problem, even though everyone else thinks he’s overreacting. There’s the sullen teen who causes more trouble because he’s doing what he wants. And you’ve got people acting randomly because people, other than the leads, have to die.

It’s a disaster movie that doesn’t have to pile on a bunch of nonsense, either. Rockslide causes tsunami, people deal with it. That’s it. It doesn’t set off a chain of rockslide tsunamis or cause all the moose to attack. It’s simple tension within a well-known template and a thousand times better than anything I saw in the first hour of San Andreas, which is all I watched of that garbage.

And now, some Norwegian insight:

In the opening scene, our hero flips all through the dial trying to find some music not for these damned kids today. “I’m 40,” he screams as he finds “Splitter Pine” from DumDum Boys, the best Norwegian rock band. He and I both cheer.

Dagbladet was misplaced in the VG section of a newspaper rack in the hotel lobby. The production designer dropped the ball, I thought. Not so fast, says a VG representative. "We actually do find examples now and then that this happens in real life, and do constantly have to educate the retailers.” The production designer is a genius! Someone give Lina Nordqvist an award.

double feature pairing: Earthquake

072
The Naked Face (1984) ★
stars: Roger Moore, Rod Steiger, Elliott Gould
screenwriter/director: Bryan Forbes

A psychiatrist is on someone hit list. The cops are no help so he looks into the who and why himself.

A flatline thriller from the start. Rod Steiger plays it big. Elliott Gould plays it small. And Roger Moore plays it with huge eyeglasses.

watch D.O.A. instead

073
Harold and Maude (1971) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort
director: Hal Ashby

Death-obsessed Harold meets free-spirit Maude. A May-December romance for the ages.

It’s as great as they say. Very funny and dark. Some great juxtapositions that should be in a museum.

double feature pairing: The Fisher King

074
Bridge of Spies (2015) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda
director: Steven Spielberg
writers: Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

An insurance lawyer is tapped to defend a captured Soviet spy and later to negotiate a swap for a fallen U.S. pilot.

It’s a lot better than the trailer made me think it would be. I’d heard people crying about its runtime. Sure, it’s long, but I couldn’t see anything substantial that could have been cut. It’s well written and acted. The first ten minutes is some delicious spy meat and potatoes.

double feature pairing: The Falcon and the Snowman

Counters:
74/366 movies (14 movies off pace)*
12/52 movies directed by women

THE TOP THREE

*Just because I didn't do my job watching movies doesn't mean you should be shorted on your entertainment. So here is a video sampling of DumDum Boys:

Music video by Dumdum Boys performing Lunch I Det Grønne. (C) 1988 Sony Music Entertainment (Norway) A/S
Dødens Dal DVD
Dette er den offesielle Musikk-videon til Bønda Ifra Nord laget av bandet DumDum Boys alias Racer

Buggy Eyes and a Big Butt, part four: Movies 52-66

Q&A Intro, 1-17, 18-36, 37-51, 52-66, 67-74, 75-87, 88-103, 104-120, 121-131, 132-152, 153-173, 174-187, 188-221, 222-255, 256-287, 288-314, 315-341, 342-366, Index

Ratings key:
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ = I can’t see giving anything that I’ve seen once five stars
★ ★ ★ ★ = get to the theater / move it up in your queue
★ ★ ★ = “three stars is a recommendation” - The Empire [magazine] Podcast
★ ★ = if the remote is too far away, you could do worse
★ = if the remote is too far away, get someone to move it closer then throw it at the TV

052
Southpaw (2015) ★ ★
stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Forest Whitaker
director: Antoine Fuqua

Did you see Rocky III? Change who gets killed, add a child custody case, make two characters call each other “baby” so much that you’d get alcohol poisoning if you drank a shot every time they did, and you’ve got Southpaw.

watch Creed instead

053
Room (2015) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen
director: Lenny Abrahamson

The reveal of the situation the two leads are in is so well crafted that I wish I hadn’t known anything about the movie before seeing it. An impossible feat then because how would I have known to see it? A bigger problem now because it’s an award nominee and winner. So, if you somehow don’t know anything about it, you're one luck duck. Just know that it is worth watching.

double feature pairing: Pan's Labyrinth

054
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Maureen O'Hara. Lucille Ball, Ralph Bellamy
director: Dorothy Arzner

Two dancers of a traveling dance troupe struggle to make it in the dance world. (One more time for luck? Dance!)  Judy has aspirations to be a world class ballerina. Bubbles knows how to work the stage and rich men.

Lucille Ball was a spectacular presence. A singing, dancing, joking spectacular presence.

Did you know night court was a real thing? I thought it was just a premise for a great sitcom. I spent a good amount of the scene’s time find-and-replacing characters from Night Court. Then I wondered if the show ever referenced this movie. Not for a whole episode, but the gag at the top of a court scene that would lead into the main story. Then I was introduced to Abraham Lincoln Johnson and Martha Johnson.

Earlier, Judy watched a dance routine in which two of the dancers were in black face. A surprise, but for 1940 maybe not so shocking. When Judy and Bubble’s night court case resolved, and the next case was called, two African-Americans walked past the camera.

I don’t know what to make of that. In both cases, the screen time was minimal to the point of being unnecessary. The inclusion of both blackface and black faces had to be intentional. For a movie that was progressive in its treatment of women (Judy is career-minded, forgoes pairing off with a rich man, breaks during a burlesque performance to berate the men who come to leer at them), it’s hard to think the filmmaker decided to be racist for a few seconds. I suppose one could be pro-woman and racist. Still, how much more American can you get with names like Abraham Lincoln Johnson and Martha Johnson?

double feature pairing: Footloose

055
Legend (2015) ★ ★
stars: Tom Hardy, Tom Hardy, Emily Browning
screen writer/director: Brian Helgeland

Reggie and Ronnie Kray were the most notorious criminals in London during the 1960’s. Or so Legend’s narration says. It wasn’t effectively shown. Maybe that’s because the narration came from Frances Shea, Ronnie’s eventual wife. The information was so dry that she could have been reading newspaper articles about the brother’s activities. No insight. No snap.

Remember when Spandau Ballet’s Kemp brothers played The Krays?

watch Adaptation instead

056
Intruders (2015) ★ ★
stars: Beth Riesgraf, Rory Culkin, Martin Starr
director: Adam Schindler

It’s a nice twist to make the victim of a home invasion agoraphobic, unable to have left her house in 10 years. The twist she turns against against her attackers is surprising then kinda dumb. The movie must have known this, since everything wrapped up in 80 minutes. That’s not enough time to get upset about it.

watch Vacancy instead

057
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman
directors: Glen Ficarra, John Sequa

The adaptation of Kim Barker’s book, The Taliban Shuffle, an account of her time as a war correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The power lies with Tina Fey, leading with her dramatic leg. Fey’s pairing with Christopher Abbott and Billy Bob Thornton are two of the best the movie has to offer.

Also, it’s tough to be down on a movie when it starts with “Jump Around.”

double feature pairing: Good Morning Vietnam

058
London Has Fallen (2016) ★
stars: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and others cashing in a paycheck
director: Babak Najafi

This story of a terrorist killing all the world’s leaders (except for America’s!) at the British Prime Minister’s funeral was written by a computer. Another computer compiled outtakes from the actor’s previous movies to create the images. (I’ll eat my hat if Morgan Freeman and Gerard Butler were in the same room when they filmed their scene together.) And how is it that the President of the United States of America, the man who just help kill all the terrorists, isn’t the one giving the rousing speech about not minding our business in foreign affairs to cap it all off? Because Morgan Freeman is the Vice-President, and Morgan Freeman is hired to make speeches.

Sometimes I just want some movie popcorn. Maybe I should learn to make it myself.

watch water boil instead

059
The Last Days of Disco (1998) ★ ★ ★
stars: Chloë Sevingy, Kate Beckinsale, Chris Eigeman
writer/director: Whit Stillman

“The times, they are a-becoming quite different.”
- Seymour Skinner

double feature pairing: Diner

060
Love & Friendship (2016) ★ ★ ★
stars: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevingy, Xavier Samuel
screen writer/director: Whit Stillman

A lady searches for a husband for her daughter and herself. Based on Jane Austen’s Lady Susan.

Fancy dress and pretty locales. Funny words and portrayals. It’s the world of Jane Austen, a place I don’t frequent, though it’s nice to check in from time to time.  

double feature pairing: The Prestige

061
The Night Before (2015) ★ ★ ★
stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie
director: Jonathan Levine

It’s the final run of a Christmas tradition three friends have shared for 10 years. Hilarity ensues.

Would you believe mild amusement? The story is pat. Performances from Rogen, Ilana Glazer and Michael Shannon made it watchable.

double feature pairing: Three Amigos

062
Black Rock (2012) ★ ★ ★
stars: Katie Aselton, Lake Bell, Kate Bosworth
director: Katie Aselton

Three friends return to the isolated island of their childhood to reconnect. Trouble finds them. Survival tries to save them.

The movie’s strength is in its character moments and motivations. Even though a few action beats are a bit forced, it generally works.

double feature pairing: Backcountry

063
Rififi (1955) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Robert Manuel
director: Jules Dassin

This is widely considered to be one the best heist movie of all time. I now can agree. The heist of a jewelry store is still tense after all these years and the movies inspired by it. What I wasn’t expecting was the strength of the aftermath, when the success spirals out of control.

double feature pairing: Sneakers

064
Pixels (2015) ★
stars: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan
director: Chris Columbus

Video games from the 1980s attack Earth.

Sometimes I can’t sleep.
Bad movie, bring on the sand.
Man, that did not work.

watch The Last Starfighter instead

065
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) ★ ★ ★
stars: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr.
director: Dan Trachtenberg

Michelle crashed her car. Howard has taken her to his fallout bunker just as the attack from…he can’t be certain, and she’s not certain about him.

I don’t know how much to say about this in-spirit sequel to Cloverfield. If you are looking for another Cloverfield, you’ll be waiting for the last 15 minutes. If you are looking for a tense thriller in an enclosed space, enjoy the monster movie at the end.

Since I’ve seen it, the original origin story I heard makes a lot more sense than the narrative I’ve seen in recent articles. It’s a good movie, however I was distracted by the seams, perceived or real. You should see it before investigating that too much.

double feature pairing: Attack the Block

066
The Brothers Grimsby (2016) ★.5
stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Rebel Wilson
director: Louis Leterrier

I went for the spy comedy, forgot that gross-out comedies were still being made. Good golly, new level reached.

watch Spy instead

Counters:
66/366 movies (se7en movies off pace)
11/52 movies directed by women

THE TOP THREE

Pencilstorm Hall of Fame Nominee: Pink Floyd / The Wall (The Movie) - by Wal Ozello

I know what you’re thinking. Of course Wal is going to nominate The Wall. But allow me to walk you through what I consider as one of the greatest marriages of music and cinema…..

FADE IN on a luxurious art deco hotel hallway. The camera ever-so-slowly floats down the hallway. In the distance we see a maid using a canister vacuum to clean the muted green carpet and we make our way towards her. The camera plane is skewed a bit, leaning towards the right, to give us a feeling of instability while floating towards the maid. When the camera reaches the end of the hallway, and as the maid steps to the canister vacuum to turn it on, we cut to the perspective of the floor looking up at the maid. Her foot comes into frame and covers the camera lens as we CUT TO BLACK.

Thus starts the cinematic masterpiece known as “Pink Floyd - The Wall.”  This is not a two hour music video. It’s a work of art, a beautiful blend of rock music, film, and animation – steeped in a story attracting the same audience of rock n roll.

Birthed out of Roger Waters’ neurotic mind, filled with the dark animation of political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, and directed by the sensationalism of Alan Parker (Commitments, Mississippi Burning, Angel Heart), Pink Floyd – The Wall debuted in 1982. The story follows Floyd “Pink” Pinkerton’s (Bob Geldof) journey through life fueled by the soundtrack of the album by the same name. Albeit his glorious rock n roll stardom, Pink wallows in depression due to the loss of his father in the war and doting and controlling mother. His relationships continually falter throughout the film as he takes a one-way trip on the crazy train. Metaphorically speaking, he builds a wall between himself and the world and fills his inadequacies with the euphoric drug of performance.

I encourage you to rent this disc and watch it. You’ll discover a brilliant film that easily stands on his its own, but is brought to another level with the music of Roger Waters. Even if you’ve already seen it, this is film to re-watch as an adult. Sober.  It’s in my Top Ten all time movie favorites.

Some memorable parts:

  •  An extreme close-up of his Mickey Mouse watch. The camera slightly pans to reveal a cigarette with a lengthy ash, then tilts again for a full shot of Pink’s face. It slowly moves into an extreme close-up of his eye
  • A scene where concert go-ers rush into a stadium to get great floor seats. It’s intercut with soldiers rushing into battle.
  • A touching scene where Pink is on a playground as a child. He see another child playing with his father and tries to “adopt” the dad as his own.
  • How seven minutes of editing magic can sum up Pink’s relationship with women during the song “Mother.”
  • The flower animation scene which follows, underscored by “Empty Spaces.”
  • Watch for the cameo from Bob Hoskins. 
Empty spaces: What shall we use to fill the empty Spaces where we used to talk How shall I fill the final places How shall I complete the wall What shall we do now: What shall we use to fill the empty spaces Where waves of hunger roar?
Uploaded by Tânia Tâni YouTube Channel on 2013-04-30.
PROPIERTIES OF METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ATTENTION Bloody scenes A video excerpt from the film "Pink Floyd The Wall" (1982), directed by Alan Parker. Drawings by Gerard Scarf. Starring Bob Geldof. Subtitles in Italian. *** ATTENZIONE Scene cruente Un video estratto dal film "Pink Floyd The Wall" (1982), diretto da Alan Parker.


Wal Ozello is a science fiction techno-thriller novelist and the author of Assignment 1989 ,  Revolution 1990, and Sacrifice 2086. He's a resident of Upper Arlington, Ohio and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee.

Pencilstorm's Most Popular Stories - February 2016

Buggy Eyes and a Big Butt, part three: Movies 37-51

Q&A Intro, 1-17, 18-36, 37-51, 52-66, 67-74, 75-87, 88-103, 104-120, 121-131, 132-152, 153-173, 174-187, 188-221, 222-255, 256-287, 288-314, 315-341, 342-366, Index

Ratings key:
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ = I can’t see giving anything that I’ve seen once five stars
★ ★ ★ ★ = get to the theater / move it up in your queue
★ ★ ★ = “three stars is a recommendation” - The Empire [magazine] Podcast
★ ★ = if the remote is too far away, you could do worse
★ = if the remote is too far away, get someone to move it closer then throw it at the TV

037
Race (2016) ★ ★
stars: Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons
director: Stephen Hopkins

The biopic of Jesse Owens and his participation in the 1936 Olympics.

If you didn’t know this was a true story, the bland, by-the-book presentation would be your first clue. A welcome subplot involving Leni Riefenstahl, the German director who filmed the games, received more screen time that I would have guessed.

watch Jesse Owens win the gold medal for the 100M dash instead

038
The Pawnbroker (1964) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters
director: Sidney Lumet

A Jewish pawnbroker in New York City, has repressed the horrors of the Nazi concentration camp and walled away everyone around him. Sooner or later, the pressure will be too much to ignore.

An amazing use of editing shows how everyday images trigger horrific memories. Steiger is great.

double feature pairing: Marathon Man

039
The Salvation (2014) ★ ★ ★
stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffery Dean Morgan
director: Kristian Levring

A Dutchman is reunited after many years with his wife and kid in the old west. The wife and kid are almost immediately killed. Revenge! Then the bad guy’s kin wants revenge!

The movie looks great. A little heavy handed with the “It’s about oil!” subtext. Good performances. And it looks great. ★ ★ if it didn’t.

double feature pairing: High Plains Drifter

040
Silent Running (1972) ★ ★
stars: Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin
director: Douglas Trumbull

Earth can’t sustain plant life anymore, so there are greenhouses flying around space. One of the botanists ignores the order to destroy everything and return to Earth.

Rated G, eh? So, a sweet, bio-friendly, space adventure with cute helper robots, then? There won’t be anything too... OH MY GOD! He just strangled that guy to death and blew up those other two guys!

I understood this to be one of the all-time classic sci-fi movies. It should be taken off the list. The lead character is more psychopath than ecological hero. He parades through his paradise, also filled with small animals, as a terrible song plays, invoking a live action Disney scene. He takes the time to catch an eagle on his arm.

watch Moon instead

041
Meru (2015) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk
directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Climbing Mt. Everest is nothing compared to The Shark’s Fin of Mt. Meru. Three guys show you why.

Beautifully shot. I was surprised to learn that climbers have a following and work within mentor/mentee relationships. I thought they just gathered in groups of crazy. I’d like a climbing documentary to explain how these people make a living. Chin directs. What do the others do? And what’s wrong with a little more detail of climb strategies and technique?

double feature pairing: Cliffhanger

042 The Witch (2015) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie
writer/director: Robert Eggers

SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/A24subscribe On February 19th, evil takes many forms. From writer/director Robert Eggers and starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Kate Dickie, Ralph Ineson. THE WITCH - In Theaters Everywhere 2/19.

The best acting by an animal since the dog in John Carpenter’s The Thing.

double feature pairing: Black Death

043
Futureworld (1976) ★.5
stars: Peter Fonda, Blythe Danner, John P. Ryan
director: Richard T. Heffron

Westworld was a hit. Here’s its sequel.

This movie is a bore that doesn’t know what it wants to be until it is almost over. Two reporters investigate a colleague's murder at Futureworld. What they learn is a great story that isn’t resolved. The ending is the equivalent of the Duke boys crossing the county line and the Hazzard police department slamming the brakes, shaking their fists and screaming, “We’ll get you next time!”

watch Westworld instead

044
Tell No One (2006) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: François Cluzet, Marie-Josée Croze, André Dussollier
director: Guillaume Canet

Eight years after Alexandre’s wife was murdered, she sends him a note.

It’s a decent thriller. The kind of thriller where the main character, and the audience, are completely in the dark, so there’s a long scene at the end explaining it all. Early on we meet an acquaintance of Alexandre’s. We know he’s street because he has The Godfather logo tattooed on his shoulder. I can’t decide if it’s a worse if it’s real or if someone from the production decided that’s what the tattoo would be.

double feature pairing: The Vanishing

045
Charley Varrick (1973) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, Felicia Farr
director: Don Siegel

A gang of small-time bank robbers accidentally steal from the mob.

A good low stakes crime movie. A small strike against it for a tone deaf scene in which Varrick becomes a sex pot out of the blue, clearly thrown in because someone thought the genre demands it.

double feature pairing: Disorganized Crime

046
The Hitch-Hiker (1953) ★ ★ ★
stars: Edmond O’Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman
director: Ida Lupino

Escaped prisoner Emmett Myers hitchhikes and murders his way from capture.

The movie warns at the onset that this is a true story and could happen to me, and if not me then the nice couple sitting across the aisle. But there wasn’t an aisle nor a couple, so that means it’s going to happen to me? Old movies can be very confusing.

A montage of Myers killing the passengers of his two previous rides before finding the ride that will take him into Mexico is artful. There are a few scenes spoken in Spanish without subtitles. Nothing is lost; the content is easily discernible. It’s a little surprising that a movie of that time would trust the audience in that way.

The You Must Remember This podcast profiled Ida Lupino. It’s a worthy listen.

double feature pairing: A Perfect World

047
Greased Lightning (1977) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Richard Pryor, Cleavon Little, Pam Grier
director: Michael Schultz

Based on the life of Wendell Scott, the first African-American to win a race in NASCAR’s Grand National Series.

All the clunky dialogue of a biopic is here. But there is also the talent of Pryor and Little rising above it. I wish those two had made more movies together. A buddy comedy would have been great. The final race is thrilling.

double feature pairing: Stroker Ace

048
Vanishing Point (1971) ★ ★ ★ 
stars: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, 1970 Dodge Challenger
director: Richard C. Sarafian

A guy just wants to perform his job of transporting cars from Colorado to California as fast as he can. Why won’t The Man let him?

Amazing driving and photography. Like The Pawnbroker, flashbacks are triggered by reminders. Even though they aren’t as powerful, they still make the driver a character rather than Guy Driving Fast.

double feature pairing: The Hitcher

049
Seven Days in May (1964) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March
director: John Frankenheimer
screenwriter: Rod Serling

The nuclear disarmament treaty between the United States and Soviet Russia provokes a U.S. general to organize a coup.

A solid political thriller full of meaty speeches that are performed to perfection.

double feature pairing: The Conversation

050
Steve Jobs (2015) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen
director: Danny Boyle
screenwriter: Aaron Sorkin

What makes this biopic unique is how many of the events are talked about in the aftermath rather than a literal presentation of them, allowing more personality and character to come through.

double feature pairing: Love & Mercy

051
Don’t Look Now (1973) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie
director: Nicolas Roeg

The accidental death of their daughter leads John and Laura to send their son to boarding school while they, well, John takes a job in Venice. Not sure what she’s doing there, really. I guess it’s to meet the psychic.

Much of the story is expressed though a visual grammar. It’s uneasy tone and connection of images builds as patience is tested, looking for meaning and wondering if time would be better served doing something else.

There is a lot to chew on. There’s no way to fully appreciate it in one viewing. It’s a movie worth studying. ...I won’t, but there is a lot to think about.

Maybe those people who classify this as a horror movie, a stretch of the conventional meaning, could also tell me why it shouldn’t be recalled to the title factory. Don't Step There would make as much sense.

double feature pairing: Valhalla Rising

Counters:
51/366 movies (nine movies off pace)
9/52 movies directed by women

THE TOP THREE

Buggy Eyes and a Big Butt, part two: Movies 18-36

Q&A Intro, 1-17, 18-36, 37-51, 52-66, 67-74, 75-87, 88-103, 104-120, 121-131, 132-152, 153-173, 174-187, 188-221, 222-255, 256-287, 288-314, 315-341, 342-366, Index

Ratings key:
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ = I can’t see giving anything that I’ve seen once five stars
★ ★ ★ ★ = get to the theater / move it up in your queue
★ ★ ★ = “three stars is a recommendation” - The Empire [magazine] Podcast
★ ★ = if the remote is too far away, you could do worse
★ = if the remote is too far away, get someone to move it closer then throw it at the TV

018
The Big Short (2015) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars, Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling
director: Adam McKay

‘member when the banks were pullin‘ that shady shit with the mortgages? Trick question! They still are. This is the story about the guys who saw it coming the first time. (the next time: TBD)

The trailer made the movie look like it’s an Ocean’s 11 kind of gang heist. It’s really a story of three sets of people who either predicted the mortgage crisis and created short trading on the housing market or heard of it and took advantage of their good timing. There’s some interesting sound design in a few scenes where the horrible truths are fighting to be heard through crowd noise and music. It’s also playful with the idea of how “true story” movies dispense their facts.

double feature pairing: The Other Guys

019
The To Do List (2013) ★ ★
stars: Aubrey Plaza, Alia Shawkat, Bill Hader
writer/director: Maggie Carey

Brandy is anxious about going to college with no sexual experience, so she make a list of things to do.

eh, it’s fine. She blindly breaks a guy’s heart and strains a friendship, but no one takes her to task for being promiscuous. That seems unique. It shouldn’t but does.

watch The Diary of a Teenage Girl (movie #27) instead

020
Wild Card (2015) ★ ★ ★
stars: Jason Statham, Dominik García-Lorido, Michael Angarano
director: Simon West
writer: William Goldman

Jason Statham is Nick Wild, a security consultant in Las Vegas. What else do you need to know?

That’s about all I knew, which set me up for a little cinematic whiplash. The first third is what you’d expect. The middle swings around for a character piece about a guy with a gambling problem. The final third swings back for more punching. Oversimplified, of course, but the movie could have integrated the two halves better.

Remember Heat? No, not the good one. No, that’s The Heat. The one starring Burt Reynolds. Yep, this is the same story. I tried to watch it last year during my Burt Reynolds retrospective. Terrible. Stopped watching after 15 minutes. I never bought into the “hard boiled” Burt.

double feature pairing: Saint John of Las Vegas

021
Laura (1944) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Cifton Webb
director: Otto Preminger

Detective Lieutenant McPherson investigates the murder Laura, a swell gal by all accounts.

What a great movie. Even though it’s effect is lessened by the countless thrillers that have followed in the 72 years since its release, it holds up incredibly well. The finale is still very effective. I suspect McPherson is a relative of Columbo. He engages in questionable police procedures, like bringing one suspect along to question another.

double feature pairing: Murder by the Book

022
Busting (1974) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Elliott Gould, Robert Blake, Allen Garfield
writer/director: Peter Hyams

Vice detectives Keneely and Farrel do their best to fight corruption in New York City.

Some cop movies of the 70’s don’t look too fairly on anyone not straight, white and male. This one is something of an exception. While gay bars are raided and names are called, the movie takes time to run a parallel to the struggle Keneely and Farrell will soon face. During the arraignment of the gay men, where the judge openly mocks them, we meet the lowly defense attorney who shouts above the gallery’s hysterical laughter his objections to police harassment and the abuse of his client's civil rights.

There are some great action sequences, in particular a foot chase that leads to a marketplace shoot out. I'm still humming the score. It ends in the strangest way. Really, I've never seen a movie end like that.

You can read the highlights of the bluray’s commentary at Film School Rejects.

double feature pairing: Cutter’s Way

023
The Enemy Below (1957) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Robert Mitchum, Curd Jürgens
director: Dick Powell

It’s World War Two! Ship versus submarine! Place your bets!

It’s good. Some tense moments. The internet says this was the first movie to show a German soldier in a more complimentary light. The U-boat commander has no love for Hitler and there isn’t a swastika to be seen. Reminds me of Das Boot in that way.

double feature pairing: The Hunt for Red October

024
Hot Pursuit (2015) ★ ★
stars: Reece Witherspoon, Sophia Vergara
director: Anne Fletcher

Uh, there’s a by-the-book cop... and the wife of a drug lord... and they are on the run because corruption? And... the mob doesn’t want her to testify, I think. I don’t know. It’s been a couple weeks between watching it and writing about it. In one eye and out the other. I was hoping it'd be funnier. It wasn’t, even though Witherspoon had a moment or two. I also know it cost me a dollar to rent.

watch Smokey and the Bandit instead

025
Mississippi Grind (2015) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Ben Mendelsohn, Ryan Reynolds
writers/directors: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

Gerry meets Curtis at a casino. There’s a bond and soon a plan to earn enough money to enter a high-stakes game in New Orleans.

A really good movie that makes you as uneasy as you think it might, as well as providing a turn or two you might not expect. Boden and Fleck, makers of Half-Nelson and It’s Kind of a Funny Story, are proving to be names to follow.

At this time, I’d like to address my new pet peeve: the whistling tea pot. Used to represent tension, presentation of the whistling tea pot is rarely anything less than forced. The last two times I’ve seen it used, I saw no pot, just a sound added to the mix that was preceded by someone asking "do you want some tea?" If there is tension in a scene between two people, the actors should be able to do it themselves. In both recent cases, Mississippi Grind and Love & Mercy, they didn’t need the help.

double feature pairing: The Color of Money

026
Pay the Ghost (2015) ★ ★
stars: Nicholas Cage, Sarah Wayne Callies, a g-g-g-ghost!
director: Uli Edel

Mike and Kristen’s kid is abducted on Halloween. It might not have been a human that did it.

*sigh* Of the recent Nicolas Cage VOD dumps, this isn’t the worst. It’s a decent ghost story. Sadly, the opportunities for a spooky tone are ruined by cheap jump scares. I was eventually bored and found myself rooting for the ghost. She had a pretty good case to be upset. Sure, she took it too far, but still...

watch The Ghost and Mr. Chicken instead

027
The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård, Kristen Wiig
screen writer/director: Marielle Heller

MInnie, a teenager and aspiring artist, starts an affair with her mother’s boyfriend.

Sounds like a pretty creepy movie to watch, right? It isn’t. All because of Minnie’s narration. Her struggle to understand relationships as well as her artistic and sexual growth are presented in an honest way. A great cast. Nice use of illustrations.

double feature pairing: Memoirs of an Invisible Man

028
Anomalisa (2015) ★ ★ ★.5
stars; David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan
directors: Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman
writer: Charlie Kaufman

Michael is bored. He sees nothing that inspires him. Until he meets Lisa.

Charlie Kaufman’s play is presented in stop motion animation. It is a story of minimal plot and an expansive exploration of human behavior. And a puppet penis.

double feature pairing: Up in the Air

029
A New Leaf (1971) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Jask Weston
screenwriter/director: Elaine May

Trust fund baby Henry Graham has no more money. He resolves to fix this to marry a rich woman then kill her.

It took me a bit to get used to Walter Matthau as a rich snob. Doesn’t really fit, but he made me laugh. I read afterwards that the studio took the movie away from May and cut it down considerably, excising an entire hitman subplot. While what we were left with is dark, the original cut sounded much darker. No sense in crying about it. It doesn’t make me like it any less. There’s one visual that will make me laugh forever.

double feature pairing: I Love You to Death

030
Infinitely Polar Bear (2015) ★ ★.5
stars: Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana
writer/director: Maya Forbes

A portrait of growing up with a bi-polar father.

Can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to watch Ruffalo break off some acting. Sadly, this movie doesn’t have much else going for it.

watch It’s Kind of a Funny Story instead

031
The Late Show (1977) ★.5
stars: Art Carney, Lily Tomlin, Bill “Damn These Glasses!” Macy
writer/director: Robert Benton

Ex-gumshoe Ira Wells is drawn back into the P.I. racket when his old partner is murdered.

Was Art Carney a bad actor? I only know him from The Honeymooners. Or was he miscast? That guy was very unconvincing with film-noir speak. The story is pat and not very interesting. After a while I was just watching for Lily Tomlin. I was amused that she was served a Pepsi after she asked for a Coke, and she could tell the difference. Because you can! Pepsi is gross.

watch Brick instead

032
The Third Man (1949) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Wells
director: Carol Reed
writer: Graham Green

At the request of his friend Harry Lime, novelist Holly Martins arrives in post-WWII Vienna to learn Harry has died. Martins thinks something is rotten in Vienna, so he looks into it.

Holt shit, this is great. They were right. Orson Wells has one of the greatest entrances in movie history here. They were right again!

double feature pairing: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

033
Klute (1971) ★.5
stars: Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Roy Scheider
director: Alan J. Pakula

John Klute goes to the big city to investigate his friend’s disappearance. First stop, the prostitute he frequented.

Why is a movie called Klute not about a character called Kulte? This is a Jane Fonda vehicle. It's her movie. She monologues more than engaging in conversation, while Sutherland, aka: John Klute, aka: the title role, says very little and isn’t a very good detective that I could tell.

This was a struggle to watch, and it gave me a lot to think about. It’s a decent character study of Bree, aka: the true focus of the movie, and could be better if remade today.

watch the remake of Klute whenever they make it instead

034
Deadpool (2016) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller
director: Tim Miller

Wade Wilson is a mercenary. Wade Wilson has cancer. Wade Wilson undergoes an experimental procedure. Wade Wilson is now virtually indestructible. Wade Wilson is Deadpool, the Merc with the Mouth.

I can’t remember the last time I went into a movie not knowing how I was going feel about it. The preview showed a go-for-broke attitude (good) and a sense of humor that relied on quantity over quality (concerning). Well, context is everything. There are a lot of jokes, and they work for an overall tone. Some times you can’t capture a movie in two and a half minutes. There is charm and terror, and it’s just fucking fun.

double feature pairing: Super

035
The Accursed (1957) ★ ★
stars: Donald Wolfit, Robert Bray, Christopher Lee
writer/director: Michael McCarthy

It’s the evening of the annual dinner for a group of former resistance fighters during WWII. They honor the passing of their former leader and learn it was one of them who did him in.

Nothing to get too excited about, and yet it’s a decently made who-done-did-it confined to the mansion’s grounds.

watch Clue instead

036
Hail, Caesar! (2016) ★ ★ ★
stars: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich
writers/directors: Joel and Ethan Coen

It’s the old trailer bait and switch. The trailer thinks this is about a star’s kidnapping and the studio head who pulls together a group of actors and directors to find him. Nope. It’s a movie about an overworked studio head who tries to manage fires during a 27 hour period. There are music numbers, gossip cover-ups, an actor’s remaking. Sometimes funny, sometimes not, generally interesting.

double feature pairing: The Big Picture

Counters:
36/366 movies
7/52 movies directed by women

THE TOP THREE