Injuries could have ruined the playoffs this year but they haven't and oh no, look, it's the Spurs.
Read MoreBuggy Eyes and a Big Butt, part se7en: Movies 88-103
Pencilstorm contributor Rob Braithwaite is watching 366 movies this year, so you don't have to, here is part seven of his continuing 2016 rundown......
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
088
Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) ★ ★.5
stars: Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Joaquim de Almeida
director: David Gordon Green
She was out, but they pulled her back in! A retired political consultant comes down from the hills to head a presidential campaign in Bolivia against her fiercest rival.
The movie does a pretty good job of illustrating how a campaign can be more a personal battle between competitors who aren’t running for office, and in this case, don’t even live in the country in which they are campaigning.
A few moments of levity swing too broadly. And the principle of keeping the native tongue is abandoned when the American needs to overhear something.
watch The War Room instead
089
Black Mass (2015) ★ ★
stars: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch
director: Scott Cooper
An FBI agent allows his childhood friend and adulthood gangster James “ Whitey” Bulger to go unchecked under the guise of an informant.
The much more interesting story of how an FBI agent covers for a criminal is buried under the distraction of making scenes for a Goodfellas remake. It’s only at the end that we get a sense of how the agent was able to protect Bulger. Even then it's glossed over. Bulger should have been like the shark in Jaws. Rarely seen.
watch The Departed instead
090
The 33 (2015) ★ ★.5
stars: Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche
director: Patricia Riggen
Despite being a true story, it opens like a bad disaster movie. We meet some of the thirty-three miners who will be trapped in a mine. There’s the I’m Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today guy, the My Wife Is Pregnant guy, the Two Weeks Until Retirement guy, and the I’m Telling You The Mine Isn’t Safe guy.
The second half is a better, even though it continues to have characters speak in exposition.
watch Ace in the Hole instead
091
Too Late (2015) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: John Hawkes, Crystal Reed, Dichen Lachman
writer/director: Dennis Hauck
A private detective receives a call from an old acquaintance for help.
An incredibly familiar yet unique movie experience. Shot on 35MM film and only shown in theaters able to project it in 35MM. Each reel, about 10-15 minutes, is a single take, except for one, which falls into the narrative line but gives it a feeling of unreality and gives Tarantino a run for his grindhouse sensibility. It would have added up to a gimmick if the storytelling wasn’t sound. The movie unfolds in a nonlinear fashion, revealing surprises and humor all along the way.
double feature pairing: Rope
092
Kilo Two Bravo (2014) ★ ★ ★
stars: David Elliot, Mark Stanley, Scott Kyle
director: Paul Katis
A company of British soldiers find themselves trapped in a Afghanistan minefield.
Knowing this really happened brought a little reality to it. As a movie, it was fine.
double feature pairing: Fury
093
Paper Moon (1973) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Ryan O’Neal, Tatum O’Neal, Madeline Khan
director: Peter Bogdanovich
A cross country hustler agrees to take a recently orphaned child to her nearest relative. He quickly learns he has met his match in the grifting game.
Easily one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. Tatum O’Neal, 10 years old at the time, crushes this movie. Her fire is that of a Marion Ravenwood. In the scene when Addie first goes toe-to-toe with the hustler Moses, I heard Marion screaming at Indiana Jones: until I get my money back, “I’m your goddamn partner!”
double feature pairing: The Brothers Bloom
094
The Driver (1978) ★ ★ ★ ★
stars: Ryan O’Neal, Bruce Dern, Isabelle Adjani
writer/director: Walter Hill
In a movie where no one has a name, The Detective is so determined to catch The Driver that he goes beyond the limits of the law to get him.
This is some fine pulp grit. Excellent car work that employs Peter Hyams’ patented car POV shots.
double feature pairing: The Transporter
095
When Worlds Collide (1951) ★ ★ ★
stars: Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, Peter Hansen
director: Randolph Maté
In short: we are going to die!
This isn’t an era of film making and genre that plays it subtle. It opens with a bible scripture of Noah and his ark. See, the first body, a star, will cause great earthquakes and tidal waves, the second body is a planet that possibly could support life. A rocket ship is created for a select few to make the journey.
It’s an enjoyable watch. Some dated unintentional humor. The lack of subtlety is a hoot. A sign over the animal pens reads: WEIGHT WILL BE A PROBLEM. DO NOT OVERFEED.
double feature pairing: Knowing
096
Midnight Special (2016) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Jaeden Lieberher, Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton
writer/director: Jeff Nichols
A boy with mysterious powers is tracked by the government and a religious cult from which he’s escaping.
I’m looking forward to seeing this again. Nothing is laid out. Information comes slowly as the boy and his father try to get away. Seems, however, the light touch might be too light at times. A few questions linger of destination and backstory, and how one character pulls a critical piece of information out of the air. Maybe clues are there in a re-watch.
double feature pairing: Starman
097
Black Sunday (1977) ★ ★ ★.5
stars: Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, Marthe Keller
director: John Frankenheimer
“What is this… ‘Super Bowl’?”
An engaging and suspenseful thriller about a terrorist group’s plot to detonate a bomb over Super Bowl X via the Goodyear blimp grinds to a screeching halt for the climatic event. I probably saw more football during that movie than I did all year. We see the players of both teams walk from the buses into the stadium. We hear the introductions of the starting line ups. We hear the national anthem. We see several touchdowns, turnovers and tackles. All quickly cut and scored with great intensity because, when it’s all said and done, we’re watching a blimp slowly make it’s way to the stadium.
double feature pairing: The Last Boy Scout
098
The Killing (1956) ★ ★
stars: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards
director: Stanley Kubrick
A bunch of crooks hatch a scheme to rob a race track.
It’s a good scheme. But it’s presented like an episode of Dragnet. The omniscient narrator tells us who people are, the time things are happening and other useful information like, “Four days later, at 7:30 AM, Sherry Peatty was wide awake” as we watch Sherry Peatty get out of bed.
watch Let It Ride instead
099
Hotel Transylvania (2012) ★ ★.5
stars: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez
director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Dracula is overprotective of his daughter.
It’s cute. There’s a song and dance number at the end to get the runtime over 80 minutes. If you have a kid that plays movies over and over again, you could do worse.
watch Transylvania 6-5000 instead
100
Green Room (2015) ★ ★ ★ ★
Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat
writer/director: Jeremy Saulnier
This trailer is safe to watch. Don’t watch any others because they ruin so much of the movie. If you need to know something, a traveling punk band plays a gig and something happens. It’s suspenseful and plays out in logical ways.
double feature pairing: Cube
101
Murder By Decree (1979) ★.5 [AS, Re]
stars: Christopher Plumber, James Mason, David Hemmings
director: Bob Clark
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson take a crack at the Jack the Ripper case.
This is soooooooo booooooring.
watch Without a Clue instead
102
High-Rise (2015) ★ ★ ★
stars: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller
director: Ben Wheatley
A tough movie to summarize due to a lack of a clear plot and probably a bear to adapt from the J. G. Ballard novel, in which residents of an apartment high-rise double for a capitalist society. Screenwriter Amy Jump and Wheatley turn in another fascinating movie.
double feature pairing: The Towering Inferno
103
The Big Red One (1980) ★ ★ ★
stars: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine
writer/director: Samuel Fuller
The missions of a military unit during World War Two are tied together by some terrible narration. Some sections are presented better than others. It’s amazing how far the portrayal of war in film has come. I’m guessing this was thought of as gritty in 1980. Now, it’s a bit small scale.
double feature pairing: Patton
Counters:
103/366 movies (19 movies off pace)
15/52 movies directed by women
THE TOP THREE
Let's Go Crazy. The Best of Prince. Shows, Clips, Stories, Concerts, Everything. Enjoy.
There have been a ton of great postings about Prince since his untimely and tragic death two weeks ago. Ricki and myself chimed in with a couple thoughts ourselves, but here is a shortcut guide to some of the best of the rest. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did putting it together. R.I.P. Prince.
Now.... Let's Go Crazy - Colin G
Prince was so amazing, I proposed that he just be given the Super Bowl halftime show as a regular gig. In fact, I suggested the whole event be renamed "Prince's Annual TV Blowout with Special Guest Football Game."
And then there is this too..
The Day Prince's Guitar Wept the Loudest - New York Times
Ok, the previous story was behind the scenes of Prince's famous solo during the George Harrison tribute at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Three things before we post the clip.
1) Without the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this moment never happens. So pipe down rock hall haters.
2) Before Youtube, the ONLY place you could see this was at the actual Rock and Roll Museum. I know because they had this continuous loop of induction ceremony highlights playing and suddenly this clip popped up. I was flabbergasted by it's greatness. I gathered everybody up and said, "You HAVE to check out this clip of Prince playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps." We waited patiently the 30 minutes or so for the clip to come up again and it was better than the first time I saw it. We waited the loop one more time to see it again.
3) Even before Prince passed away, if you googled "World's Best Guitar Solo," this is what would come up first.
4) Hell, let's make it an even four. The red hat looks bad ass with that Telecaster.
FULL SHOW from First Avenue 1983.
Prince covering "Creep" at Coachella.
We were recording at The Loft with Watershed in 2014 when Biggie said, "You guys have to take a break to check out Prince on SNL. I taped it." Needless to say, it was way beyond what normal people do. The point being, I remember exactly where I was when I watched this. Like 9/11, but groovier. I really liked the records he put out around this time.
This interview with Larry King is classic. "So when did you start referring to yourself as the artist formerly known as Prince?" "Uh, Larry, I don't refer to myself that way. Others do."
Eleven songs you didn't know were written by Prince.
FULL Concert Lovesexy Tour 88. Amazing. (Duh)
And last but not least, the artist kills it on the Muppet Show
I Cried So Hard Listening To Bruce Pay Tribute to Prince, I Had to Pull Over - by Colin Gawel.
Editor's note: The following was something I wrote after the passing of Prince. I decided not to publish as it's pretty obvious nobody needs to hear my thoughts on the subject. In fact, I was going to delete it until Ricki C. talked me into posting it. So here you go. For the official Pencilstorm prose on Prince, click here to read Ricki C's excellent story. - Colin Gawel
I'm not qualified to write about the passing of Prince and I'm not going to spend much time doing it here. Of course, I was a fan. Everybody was a fan. But I am no Prince aficionado. I knew the hits and followed along the best I could through the years. An occasional Prince bender to get caught up on all that I had missed. I was lucky enough to see him perform live one time. Needless to say, it was jaw-dropping. Whenever Watershed played Minneapolis, we would stop by Prince's store and look through the windows. The way you stop in front of Graceland to take a look. Or stare at the full moon on a clear night.
But, back in the mid 80's, I wore big, clunky blue radio headphones on my paper route and was bombarded with cuts from Purple Rain and Born in the USA on a daily basis. PRINCE and BRUCE were the soundtrack to the Reagan era before I even knew what that was. I suppose Madonna would be the other big name, but as a boy heading into puberty, you might say I was watching her more than listening.
To hear that Prince had passed, it was a body blow. Way more intense than the passing of any other musician of my lifetime to this date. And I like I said, I don't even consider myself a truly hardcore fan. But driving home from the coffee shop today listening to BRUCE pay tribute to PRINCE, the tears started flowing. CEO's and politicians come and go, but they are always replaced. When Prince goes, we do not get to vote on a new Prince. Nobody gets promoted, it's just empty space.
Ok, this probably doesn't make much sense. But neither does the passing of Prince. I suppose my strong reaction is because If Prince can go, anybody can go. Enjoy today. Put on some big blue headphones and crank up some tunes. Life is short. Clicking post.........now. - CG
Need a Laugh This Weekend? Check Out the Studio 35 Comedy Film Festival
by Pencilstorm Contributor Wal Ozello
Looking for a laugh this weekend? I mean a huge, belly-laugh all weekend long? With lots of beer? Look no further than the Studio 35 Cinema Comedy Film Festival starting Friday night at 8pm. It will be hysterical. We sat down with Festival Director, Tim Baldwin, to get the 411.
Pencilstorm: Why a comedy film festival? Why Columbus?
Tim: Well, I've been wanting to do a film festival for a while, and talking with Eric Brembeck, the owner of Studio 35, we decided to finally pull the trigger on one last year. We went around and around with a genre, but realized that comedy works best at the theater, especially when drinking beer. So... comedy! Seemed like the perfect fit.
Pencilstorm: Why should I go? Is it going to make me laugh? Is there a clown? Will you amuse me?
Tim: You should go for many reasons - features and shorts from around the world that you won't see anywhere else. On a big screen, with an audience, drinking great draft beer from our 40-tap draft line. It will make you laugh. Some might just make you smile (not everyone loves decapitated heads talking to each other, I did), but it's a great time. It's also a way to support a local business, a local community.
Pencilstorm: Tell me about Studio 35. How is this venue the perfect place for a comedy film festival?
Tim: It's perfect because its a big screen, cold drinks, and good people.
Pencilstorm: This is an International Film Festival… where did you get some of your submissions from?
Tim: We received shorts and features from Canada, England, Russia, Romania, Hungary, and my favorite film (opening night movie) is from Peru. My favorite short was from England. And of course, America.
Dates… times… when should I be there?
Friday Night - April 29th
6pm Opening Night Party starts, $10 gets you the movie (my favorite movie "Just Like in the Movies" from Peru), soft drinks, and amazing food sponsored by LaTavola. Also gets you a 10:30pm performance by the amazing #Hashtag Improv Comedy Group.
Saturday- April 30th
4:30pm Shorts Program #1, 7pm Ohio Filmmakers Shorts Program, 9pm The feature "Dumbbells" from the USA and 11:30pm Late Night Comedy Classic SPACEBALLS, sponsored by Harpoon Brewery$5 gets you all day.
Sunday - May 1st
4pm Feature "Billion Star Hotel" from Romania, 6pm Shorts Program #2, and 8:15 Closing night Feature "Non-Stop to Comic Con", featuring Columbus native Adam Young, who will be attendance and will do a Q&A afterwards. Hopefully! $5 all day.
Pencilstorm: Can we see a preview of the show?
Tim: Watch this:
Prince (in very few words) - by Ricki C.
I was born in 1952, making me chronologically OLDER than rock & roll itself. Further, I have now lived through five complete decades of rock & roll and two partial decades. The 1980's were - by far - the WORST decade of music I spent ten years in. In fact, if I really had to break it down, Prince might have been the ONLY truly POPULAR artist of the 1980's I really liked. (And I'm talking widespread, mass, man-on-the-street popularity here, not The Replacements or REM popular.) Michael Jackson? Don't make me fucking laugh, Prince portrayed more rock & roll heart and talent in any ONE of his guitar solos than Jackson did in his entire career.
So when I was driving home today from the cancer clinic where my sister gets her chemotherapy treatments and CD102.5 was playing "The Cross," my first thought was, "Wow, this is a weird programming choice, even for No Repeat Thursday." And when the DJ came on and said Prince was dead at 57 I just thought, "Jesus, that can't be right." I can deal with Bowie and Glenn Frey and Buffin from Mott The Hoople being gone, they were all older than me. But Prince was only 57 and - to paraphrase an old Rolling Stones bootleg - "Live'r than I'll ever be."
Prince was brilliant. He was a born performer, played KILLER guitar, and wrote so many great songs he could just farm them out to other acts (The Time, Vanity 6, Sinead O'Connor, Sheila E, The Bangles, etc.) when he got tired of scaling the charts himself. (And let's face facts, if Prince never did anything cooler than making it with Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles, he'd STILL be one of my Top 5 Rock & Roll Heroes.)
I don't know what he died of, I really don't care, I just know my world is a little quieter, and a lot less rock & roll than it was yesterday. - Ricki C. / April 21st, 2016
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band paying tribute to Prince, 4/23/2016