Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!)

Featuring Snoopy reading the Wall Street Journal, playing at Wimbledon & driving a Citroen 2CV.

As my Internet has been down more often than blu-ray.com, it was time for me to dip back into something viewed last week, Thursday specifically. I still have a good amount of physical media and players for my entertainment-that will have to be used the next few days. Of course plenty of the media I have in person has been viewed by me before and doesn't need a new review but this film is different. It was seen by me more than once before... the last time had to be 30 years ago, if not longer.

Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty and Marcie (oh, and naturally Snoopy & Woodstock also tag along) head on over to France as part of a foreign exchange program; how lucky for Chuck then that he receives a mysterious letter inviting him to a chateau over there. That actually results in some intrigue and at the end, peril. It had the amount of laughs & charm you'd expect from the Peanuts franchise and as an adult, I can laugh at such things as the 2CV-between this and For Your Eyes Only, the car is presented as a piece of crap... which at least is impossible to break down-the late 70's music that served as the soundtrack, and a wartime spoof where Snoopy cosplays as an American GI who drinks (root) beer at a bar reminiscing over a presumed French bitch... and I do mean that in the most literal sense. Turns out, IRL Charles Schulz served in World War II Europe and a few years before this came out, he returned and some of the things he saw and remembered were included.

Even if some jokes are perhaps hammered home too often, Bon Voyage served both as nice nostalgia and a pleasant way to spend 75 minutes.

I Discuss Chernobyl

An appropriate review for this tragedy's 35th anniversary.

Yes, I have returned... momentarily, at least. On another day I'll explain how things have STILL been chaotic for me during the sabbatical (including a rather unpleasant interaction with a service tech) but that rant will come at a later time. For the rest of the month I'll be using the likes of “neighbor's WiFi” and “Starbucks cafes” to post these; I'll probably only have one chance a day to look at who has liked all my reviews. Thank heavens I had this on physical media, so it could be viewed over the course of the past two nights. The purchase-made a few months ago-was a blind buy but all the lofty praise made me feel confident I would not be led astray. As the actual explosion at the infamous nuclear power plant was on the 26th back in 1986, at least this could be watched in part on that day as a tribute. 

In five episodes (a little over an hour each) both the explosion and its aftermath are shown; not only are there a few lead characters that are both attempting to mitigate the catastrophic impact & investigating what happened, there are several side stories that show the impact on the average person living in the area. While rather manipulative, the subplot concerning the soldiers who have to go around and shoot the abandoned pets... it at least left an impact on the viewer. Also leaving an impact: how negatively the operators of the Chernobyl plant were presented. They were rude A-holes who refused to listen to their underlings and they played a huge role in the accident, although a Soviet cover-up of a past event also meant they had no knowledge that the final step they took would lead to disaster. It is not until the final episode that the explanation is given for what happened; it was presented in a clear fashion where you don't need to have a PhD in chemistry to comprehend the chain of events.

This miniseries was great as it had talented people in front and behind the camera present this story in an easy to follow fashion where Valery Legasov and Boris Scherbina are presented as heroes who tried their best to resolve this matter even with the true enemy of this limited series: Communism and how its bureaucracy stifles the truth from being revealed... they don't want any information getting out that makes them look bad to the rest of the world, right? From what I understand, most of the information presented here was the truth and is not a fabrication. You hate a few of the characters and I'd accept that they were so repugnant if IRL this was how they behaved.

Unfortunately... that has been called into question and furthermore, not everything presented concerning radiation and its impact on humans was true. Let's just say that some elements concerning Jessie Buckley's subplot was poppycock. A shame as they really should have done the research there; Emily Watson's role of a composite character is fine with me as that is typical in fictionalized versions of real life events for the sake of clarity for the audience's benefit... them demonizing some people who may not have been so awful and other fabrications which are harder to justify is why this does not get the full 5 stars. Be that as it may, Chernobyl is still a miniseries worth watching, especially if you are a history nerd like myself and/or wish to see great performances from the like of Watson, Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgard. Just note that at times it does show the accurate effects of radiation and those moments are quite gruesome. A huge compliment is that once I am able to, research will be done personally so I can learn even more about this tragedy.

 

A Brief Update

I'll explain this in more detail on another day, but I am taking a sabbatical from watching movies; this is because I have had multiple issues with my Internet provider that still haven't gone away fully after a few days. It's been a fiasco and focusing on that (not to mention other things) for at least the next few days is the best direction for me.

I Discuss The Philadelphia Story... Briefly

Much of this actually revolves around the putrid Internet/phone/cable provider I have:

I would love to talk about The Philadelphia Story in detail and explain why it has delighted audiences since 1940; however, my mood is just not right to do so and that is a darn shame. It's a usually funny film featuring three legends in Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart in a different sort of role that won him his only Oscar (there's also great turns from the likes of Ruth Hussey) and it was quite the contrast from viewing Raging Bull on Tuesday night. It was viewed on TCM and seeing something else broadcast on a TV station was done for a few reasons. However, let me be negative the rest of the way in a review for a comedy; that is not ideal but then again the past few days have not been ideal for me, especially when it comes to the dirt-worst cable/phone/Internet provider I have known as Spectrum.

Monday I went and received my second vaccine shot; that hit me harder than the first shot. I was exhausted in the evening yet had a poor night's sleep so Tuesday was quite rough. Wednesday I felt better, at least health-wise; regrettably, there was the frustration with Spectrum. There's been multiple occasions in the past where their services simply did not work and it's been a real issue through all of April. Finally, I made the call and they came out; something outside was fixed (not the first time this had to be done) and things were fine... for a few hours. Suddenly things became really bad, apparently due to system-wide issues all across Central Florida. At first it would alternate between working and not working for minutes at the time, then after I left to pick someone up at the airport (which involved spending some time at a weeb gaming cafe beforehand; long story) and returned, it was down entirely for a few hours before I went to bed. Unlike before, most of the cable channels did not even work. “Irate” did not begin to describe my mood at this development.

I've mentioned this before, but many people have started following me after this was brought up... 2020 was even more rotten for me than most others. Aside from the pandemic (which is still weighing me down) my mother was sick for the entire year until passing away late July. 2021 has not been as miserable yet there's still been too many bad days and I am just fed up in general as it is starting to look like there's a black cloud hovering over me. In the future, if I don't post reviews for two or more days, it is BS such as this, or other factors weighing me down.

The word salad above was all typed late last night; today, I feel like crap again because as expected it was another poor night of sleep worrying about all this nonsense. Of course, as of now everything is STILL not back to 100%, and thus I give the double middle fingers to Spectrum for general incompetence and all the aggravation they've caused me just this month. With any luck, there aren't many reading this who also have the misfortune of having Spectrum as a provider. In conclusion, if you enjoy classic comedies of this vintage then The Philadelphia Story is a must-see (I do apologize for not saying more about it, including praise for why it it fun)... and I'd like to be back tomorrow-this time for a typical review-but who knows for certain. To close on a funny note, it is great that Hepburn's character was Tracy Lord; as people probably realized, Traci Lords is a stage name that Nora Louise Kuzma has; this is where she got it.

Raging Bull

Raging Bull (1980)

Runtime: 129 minutes

Directed by: Marty Scorsese

Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto

From: United Artists

As I promised a few weeks ago, it was finally time for me to revisit this cinematic classic, via MGMHD. The only other time it was watched was years ago and it took a second viewing for me to fully appreciate this motion picture. After all, it's raw unflinching look at a real life boxer who was as savage outside the ring as in-that is not the easiest movie to watch, what with the abusive way he treated everyone... from his wife to even his own brother, who served as his manager.

Jake LaMotta was a great boxer, if not a great human being. I could eviscerate him but the movie presents all his flaws rather well, and does show him to be rather pathetic at times. I actually do have to give credit to him because Raging Bull is based on an autobiography that LaMotta wrote himself where he noted all the mistakes he made and how he was his own worst enemy. Apparently, the book is even more explicit and raw in noting all the misdeeds he engaged in.

The film covered Jake from the early 40's through the early 60's; besides the resolute look at his life, the sport of boxing was not portrayed as “the sweet science” but rather a brutal spectacle with plenty of blood and bruises. Clips from many fights are presented, all shot in a different way. Outside the way, his bully ways are presented; he is also incredibly possessive of his wife Vickie, where he loses his s--- if some other man even talks to her. His softer side is shown a few times, which helps explain why she would stick by his side for years. Of course, he first fell for her when she was only FIFTEEN years old and in the final act he has an unfortunate incident with a fourteen year old girl; even if I won't rip this guy to shreds, he did some deplorable things in his life.

This movie likely literally saved Scorsese's life; he had a bad cocaine habit at the time and De Niro wanted him to make this movie instead. He devoted all his energy to make the best possible film as he believed this may be the last one he ever did. Subsequently, this was a masterclass in such aspects as cinematography, acting, and (especially) editing; Thelma Schoonmaker with the latter has been said to be among the best of all time, and such lofty praise does make sense. De Niro as the lead did deserve the Oscar for Best Actor for playing what could have been a one note character with plenty of nuance; this brought Frank Vincent, Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty into mainstream Hollywood and all were unforgettable but Old Robert was the true highlight there.

In my review of Ordinary People from last summer, I noted how people in modern times are mad that it won Best Picture over this film; like I said there, at the time most movie awards that year preferred People to this; both are worth seeing but Bull is better, IMO. Even with its difficult subject matter, it should not have been so many years for me to finally realize what exquisite filmmaking this was, a searing look at how a man's sexual inadequacies played such a negative role in his life.

The McPherson Tape

The McPherson Tape (1989)

Runtime: 66 minutes

Directed by: Dean Alioto

Starring: Alioto and other non-actors

From: Indiesyndicate Productions/Vidatron Entertainment Group

So, yesterday I received my second vaccine shot; the first went fine aside from arm soreness... the second has been different. In the evening I felt exhausted so something that was barely over an hour long, was on Shudder and is a movie I've been interested in for ages... it was a wise choice. There's also no regrets in getting those shots, even if I hardly got any sleep last night and feel like I am moving at half-speed due to sheer exhaustion.

Before Paranormal Activity and even preceding The Blair Witch Project, The McPherson Tape was the first fully found footage horror film. It is an incredibly simple premise and allegedly only cost $6,500 to make. Some young adult dude in 1983 (Mike) films his niece Michelle's 5th birthday party with what had to be the first or one of the first camcorders that the public could buy. It has the expected quality, but that and other factors do make it feel rather authentic. Mike and his brothers/brothers-in-law-go outside after the power goes out and discovers... a spaceship and aliens that stereotypically look like those allegedly seen by many... gray skin, huge oval eyes, short, etc. They get spotted and the fit hits the shan, so to speak.

I was greatly amused that even at the beginning of the genre this has some cliches... people constantly bickering with each other outside of them reacting to the big event is the big one with me. “Someone does something really stupid” is a thing here. Another one is “the camera cuts out at the most convenient moment.” Be that as it may, this was still fun, at least by genre standards. I'd say found footage isn't my favorite but with the number of those I've seen... perhaps I am lying to myself. I was never irritated, which is a feeling that comes from too many of those; even with all the arguing, at least after the first act it mostly relevant to the pants-soiling moment of spotting aliens and thinking they're after you.

This will get some kudos from me for an idea that was far ahead of its time and managed to create some chilling moments. What I most appreciated (and I am sure is only experienced if you see the new remastered version that's on Blu from AGFA and is the print that Shudder streams) is that twice I spotted something quite subtle in the background, each time rewinding to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. From later events, what was noticed was accurate and those moments helped in creating even more peril for this poor family. Other subtleties may have been present but I saw two for certain. This was remade by director Dean Alioto a decade later as a TV movie (which featured pre-fame Emmanuelle Chriqui) which I haven't seen but I will assume the original did it better.

Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Runtime: 121 minutes

Directed by: Billy Wilder

Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Joe E. Brown

From: United Artists

Before Sunday afternoon, there was no plans to revisit this classic for the first time in many years; it was the combination of not having any movie planned for the night and noticing it was playing on MGMHD made the choice easy for me. Much to my delight, Some Like It Hot is still great.

It has a simple premise, done quite well. Due to circumstances and inadvertently witnessing a gangland hit in 1929 Chicago, two jazz musicians have to go in drag for the purposes of leaving Chi-town immediately and end up in adventures down in Miami, including both men falling for Marilyn Monroe... who can blame them? The film is two hours long yet it never felt too lengthy for a comedy nor wore out its welcome. The leads stumble into a plethora of absurd situations and the comedy is varied: wordplay, sight gags, ironic humor concerning the women in the band not knowing the “new girls” are not distaff (not to mention multiple men swooning over them) and more.

What a great cast it has: I couldn't imagine anyone else than Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as the often-bickering leads, nor Monroe as the bombshell dame... and I will acknowledge the fact that apparently she was usually “not in good condition” while on set-it does not show on screen. It was also nice seeing old pros George Raft and Joe E. Brown in prominent roles, the latter delivering one of the best closing lines in cinema history. Mix in some catchy jazz music & songs, and this was as delightful a comedy as I remembered.

Kid with the Golden Arm

Kid with the Golden Arm (Jin Bei Tong) (1979)

Runtime: 82 minutes

Directed by: Chang Cheh

Starring: Various members of the Venom Mob

From: Shaw Brothers

It was not the plan to see another Shaw Brothers movie already; however, it was due to a messageboard discussion that I was inspired to. The same person who plugged the movie Sword Stained with Royal Blood-and I then explained it did not work for me-made sure that at least I liked Five Deadly Venoms and this motion picture. Then came the awkward moment of me explaining that while I did like the former, the latter hadn't been viewed yet. Thus, for his sake if nothing else this was a task I wanted to accomplish. As it was only 82 minutes long, why not spend Saturday night w/ another Chang Cheh film?

Much to my relief, this movie was more my jam. It has a plot that sounds rather simple-a shipment of gold has to be transported from A to B and villains wish to acquire said shipment-which belies the truth that there was plenty for me to enjoy. There's a surfeit of action, right from the beginning all the way to the conclusion. Much of it was done well, which is especially impressive considering the intricate nature of all the action setpieces. There's also some humor, not only with a Drunken Master sort of character who twice uses what I'll call Jug Fu, but also a comedic duo known as Large Ax and Small Ax (three guesses as to what weapons they use) who have a witty repartee w/ each other and at least judging by one line in the English dub that's on Prime, their relationship was more than just a heteronormative male/male friendship... in addition, the title character is actually a bad guy-someone with arms of steel-figuratively; this sort of movie, that needs to be made clear-that doesn't even need to wield a weapon in a fight when his opponent(s) have them. In addition, he has a badass initial appearance.

There are laughs, bloodshed-some of it impressive-drama, betrayal, a few great fights, and more. It may be awhile before I see something else from Shaw-at least this was a gem.

Shutter Island

Shutter Island (2010)

Runtime: 138 minutes

Directed by: Marty Scorsese

Starring: A great cast

From: Paramount

Or: when dumb opinions from the past prevented me from seeing a great movie much sooner.

Last night I finally pulled the trigger and gave it a shot. It was a movie I never thought of seeing theatrically; a rental was never made because long ago I heard a podcast-defunct for years-give it a short negative review. Even with all the positive praise I heard and my suspicion that the bad review was full of bologna, Shutter Island went on the back-burner. Finally, it was streamed last night on Netflix and that episode was even worse than I recalled. To be kind, the name of the podcast won't be revealed and instead I'll just mention that the bad take in general was downloaded a-new and heard again for the first time in probably a decade... yikes.

Those that don't like Shutter Island because of the big twist, it is comprehensible to me and shade won't be directed your way. After all, the OTHER complex 2010 Leo movie is one I found to be a convoluted mess that was no fun to watch... yes, I am referring to Inception. But back to Shutter: I heard once again a poor 10 minute review of a film where three people totally missed the point of what the picture was even about. Those that don't like Island, at least I'll presume that you understood why there was greenscreen and why it did look artificial-that is because none of those three guys did. Besides the surface explanation was that it was a modern way of doing those fake-looking backdrop scenes for a motion picture set in the 1950's, the subtext should have been obvious once the big reveal was made. Guess not. Worst of all, there was not a 4th person that offered a dissenting opinion and tell them why they were wrong. Honestly, not one thought hard about why SCORSESE did it that way. Sigh...

But nevermind those dissenting opinions-it was a film that beforehand where my opinion was in question, but it turned out to be great. It mixed several genres in a delicious concoction with a great cast and tremendous talent behind the camera (including an awesome score that helped set the atmosphere) that tells a story which at first appears to be an insane tale that gets crazier the longer it goes but actually is a treatise concerning several serious and difficult subjects, told in a movie that often is incredibly intense. It is not a cheery and happy movie-even by Scorsese standards-yet it was never a punishing slog. It was a plot I was engrossed in before and after the twist. A great cast definitely helps, even if-as people have said since 2010-Leo at times looks like he's playing dress-up as a rather youthful-looking United States Marshal. Mark Ruffalo also did a quality job, as well as Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow as the apparent villains. Even those who are only on screen for a few minutes (such as Jackie Earle Haley and Patricia Clarkson) delivered with their performances.

Again, those that sour on the movie once it takes the left field turn, I get it. I am pretty confident that everyone reading this will realize this twist (which I hear was in the novel the movie was based on) wasn't a cheap gimmick and instead was a device that allowed for a difficult story to be told in a different way. While this should have been watched by me a decade earlier, at least I saw a great motion picture last night.

Sword Stained With Royal Blood

Sword Stained with Royal Blood (Bi Xie Jian) (1981)

Runtime: 105 minutes

Directed by: Chang Cheh

Starring: Philip Kwok Chun-Fung, Candy Wen Xue-Er, Ching Li, Lung Tien-Hsiang, Chiang Sheng

From: Shaw Brothers

Last night, I discovered that there could be a Manic Pixie Dream Girl in a wuxia film.

OK, how I'll use that term here does not fit the accepted definition perfectly; it'll be used anyway to note that I HATE that character archetype or any that has a woman (or man) act extremely irrational and constantly change their opinion. In this movie-based on a famous wuxia novel, so it's been adapted several times-the lead girl was one I could not stand. I mean, I have a shorter than usual review on Letterboxd of (500) Days of Summer where I discussed it a few years after suffering through it once just so I could note how much I loathed the film, from it doing something poorly that Annie Hall did much better, to how noxious it was in general, to how much I could NOT stand Summer. A character like this is so repellent to me that it will determine what films I do and don't see, based on word of mouth.

To clarify, the lead here is a noble young man named Yuan who grows up in an isolated location and is good-hearted, although naive. The lead girl is someone who cosplays as a man yet her gender is obvious; that is not a demerit as it's not even the only Shaw Brothers joint I've seen which does this... Come Drink with Me does also. My issue was that her behavior was a turn-off. She did many things I did not care for but the biggest problem was that for at least 20 minutes straight, she was all, “Oh hey, we're brothers now! Oh wait, you despise me! Whoops nevermind, we're brothers again... darn it, now I know I despise you!” That really soured me on the film as it grew incredibly tiresome; the rest of the plot wasn't the best yet it was fine. Yuan finds a treasure map although looking for said treasure was an incredibly minor plot point. Rather, he gets mixed up with villains who are also looking for the treasure.

As this was from Chang Cheh it was just assumed I would enjoy this quite a bit more... the other 8 I had seen were at the worst “pretty good.” This still has the expected nice sets & cinematography along with solid action/fighting (even if it gets too over the top at times) so it is rather likely others will derive more enjoyment out of this than I did. The worst part of it all: this was only seen because someone on a messageboard plugged it real hard after stumbling upon it while going through Cheh's filmography recently. I now feel like a heel for defecating on something he really enjoyed yet I don't want to fib and not tell the truth, re: my true feelings. It is consolation to me that in the upcoming months the more famous Shaw Brothers pictures I haven't viewed yet will be watched; as long as no one in them acts like Zooey Deschanel there should be no problem...

The Mercenary

The Mercenary (Il Mercenario) (1968)

Runtime: 110 minutes

Directed by: Sergio Corbucci

Starring: Franco Nero, Tony Musante, Eduardo Fajardo, Jack Palance, Giovanna Ralli

From: Several companies in the United States, Italy and Spain

This film playing on MGMHD last night, my having heard of this before, and not having watched too many Westerns as of late meant that it was only logical to check this out. This entry from Sergio Corbucci is a Spaghetti Western... or to be more precise, a Zapata Western, termed so as it featured a revolutionary Mexican bandit-if you don't know, Emiliano Zapata was an important figure in the Mexican Revolution.

The plot: Franco Nero is the titular mercenary, doing work for hire. He gets paid to help out a bandit (who is kind of a goof and for certain was woefully unprepared for his role as the leader of a band of revolutionaries) but of course there is frequent conflict, especially after a rather fetching lady-Giovanna Ralli-enters the picture. There's also Jack Palance who sometimes appears and has issues with both guys; he's known as Curly because he actually sports a hell of a curly hairdo.

To echo what others have said-including a mutual-while Leone was more serious in the genre, Corbucci decided to have fun and spectacle instead. There's plenty of exciting action scenes which has various items blown the F up, the two leads having glee on their faces as they machine gun down dozens of SOB's, and a big scene in a bullfighting ring. The bandit is not necessarily someone to root for despite his idealistic beliefs, but neither is Nero, a Polish character who is often referred to as an ethnic slur which I better NOT repeat here. He also engages in some not so nice behavior so that made for a fascinating watch how those two had a love-hate relationship, a marriage of convenience. There's also the unique methods in which Nero lights a match, and more than one moment Tarantino “borrowed” for his films.

There's even a typical quality score from Morricone, featuring Bruno Nicolai. The Mercenary was something I had a lot of fun with.

Don't Panic

Don't Panic (1988)

Runtime: 90 minutes

Directed by: Ruben Galindo, Jr.

Starring: Jon Michael Bischof, Gabriela Hassel, Helena Rojo, Juan Ignacio Aranda, Roberto Palazuelos

From: Several Mexican companies

The best horror movie starring a lead who sometimes wears dinosaur pajamas.

This wasn't the movie I originally was going to see last night; however, there were issues with my cable provider, which also handles phone and Internet. There's been issues in the past but I don't want to dwell on that-that may come at a later time. Instead, all that will be mentioned here is for once, all of the cable channels were screwed up so they couldn't be watched, so there went my idea to view a station. I waited a bit then went with Plan B: a silly Mexican horror movie I heard of once Vinegar Syndrome put it out on Blu; that print is now on Shudder.

It was filmed in Mexico w/ a Mexican crew, made by Mexican companies and directed by a Mexican. Yet it was filmed in English even though much of the cast was Mexican. The lead is a white American ex-pat in Mexico City (which also describes the lead in real life) w/ the hilarious generic white guy name of Michael Smith and for the sake of logic I'll just pretend the characters are speaking Spanish instead. That said, that's not the only source of illogic in Don't Panic.

For example, there are many segments where the 17 year old lead wears a dinosaur pajama top! If he was 10 then it'd make sense, but a guy who (like others in the cast) looked like an adult trying to play a teen, it was preposterous. There are other inexplicable moments which did not help the movie be legitimately good. That is unfortunate as the general idea wasn't so bad: an Ouija board is used at Michael's birthday party and this brings about a demon that possesses someone who isn't Michael but Michael has some sort of psychic link to him, because... well, that wasn't really addressed. Then again, twice in the beginning there is dialogue alluding to some previous event involving an Ouija board and that was never even brought up again, let alone addressed.

Be that as it may, at least this was a loony movie that was entertaining due to all its wacky moments. Besides the pajamas, there's the spectacular eyebrows the lead girl had. I don't want to be rude because she's a pretty gal and all but in these modern times they without doubt would have been waxed. The music was also 80's goodness, although it was also cheesy at times. Best of all, there's a mindblowing theme song sung by the movie's star. There's sappy romantic scenes, dodgy acting, gore that was created in part by Screaming Mad George, and other insanity that was clearly inspired by A Nightmare on Elm Street. Aside from the villain (named VIRGIL) eventually adopting a Freddy-esque visage, he even refers to the lead girl as “a bitch.” Director Ruben Galindo's Cemetery of Terror-shown twice on TV in this movie-is better overall but this was goofier and in a different way still entertained me.

Night Moves

Night Moves (1975)

Runtime: 105 minutes

Directed by: Arthur Penn

Starring: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin, Melanie Griffith

From: Warner Bros.

Last month I discovered this neo-noir (which I've known of for years) was and still is available for cheap rental on Amazon and the window to start streaming was about to close so that was last night's entertainment. It was just a coincidence that I chose a film where some elements were taken from The Stunt Man novel (because director Arthur Penn was an early candidate to direct the movie version) and it wasn't until after viewing did I hear the news that the actual director of The Stunt Man-Richard Rush-had passed away.

Even by 70's movie standards, this was quite downbeat. Gene Hackman played a football player turned private investigator who is asked by an old ex-actress to find her runaway 16 year old daughter “Delly” (Melanie Griffith!); it was a rather unglamorous look at the profession. After all, his wife cheats on him because she has grown tired of his nomad lifestyle, nevermind all the harsh realities he experiences on the case. Part of his time is spent in the Florida Keys although he meets sketchy and aimless characters seemingly everywhere he went. Furthermore, Delly is the kind of girl who likely has spent time in the backseat of a '60 Chevy; she's a promiscuous rebel who has the awkward teenage blues.

It is a laid back movie which is methodically paced; I realize some think of it was “boring” but I was always enraptured by this world. Time is spent showing these flawed, sometimes broken characters interacting with each other. Of course, nice cinematography, a boss jazzy soundtrack and a bevy of memorable performances anchored around the great Hackman are big assets in the film's favor. Besides Griffith, this was also an early role for James Woods; no matter his behavior on Twitter he did a nice job even in the first stages of his career. There are a few moments that at least made me chuckle; that was a nice reprieve from a serious motion picture which contained several devastating moments, especially the end. Those that enjoy the neo-noirs from the 70's, detective films from the same time period and/or just like the pessimistic, gloomy movies of this era... it should be high in your queue.

By the way, in the movie Griffith appears nude more than once; I have seen differing opinion on what her age was when those moments were filmed. You see, much of Night Moves was done in 1973, but other material-including apparently her in the buff-was done in '75, right after she turned 18. For my sake at least, I hope she was of legal age!

I Saw The Matrix Revolutions and...

oof.

The storytelling here: unfortunate. To me, finally having checked out The Matrix sequels-but not The Animatrix; more on that later-that fact can finally be confirmed by myself. No wonder at least part of the fanbase felt disappointed by both after the huge (and unexpected) impact that the original had back in '99, a bold story that had a unique style and was presented in a relatively clear fashion and did not have laughable elements such as 100 clones of Agent Smith, a Trainmaster, obvious Jesus Christ allusions or dreadlocked albino twins.

No offense to those that enjoy all three movies; there's just no way for me to feel that way. All the storytelling issues in Reloaded were only compounded in Revolutions and personally, it was not as fun and there was even more sighing/eye-rolling on my part. The fact that it felt anticlimactic and did not address all of the plot threads was disappointing. Honestly, what a mess Revolutions was; it hosted too many bad ideas and nothing about it was even as good as Reloaded, whether it was the action setpieces or whatever else. For me the story trudged along with only a few moments of nice dialogue, or stimulating character interactions. Set design that was at times striking and the impressive appearance of Zion was not enough for me when it seemed like the lead characters throughout the trilogy were sidelined for long stretches.

Before seeing this I did read the Wiki entries on the Enter the Matrix videogame and Animatrix; that did help address some small details not elaborated upon in the movie; furthermore, it was nice to hear the backstory on how The Matrix was created... it was a twist on the standard “machines created by man overthrow the rule of man” tale. Someone also told me they really liked the comic books out at the time. Revolutions, on the other hand-that again was something I do not regret waiting all those years to experience. Perhaps the new one (to allegedly come out the last month of this year, although in this era there's no way to be sure that date won't change) will be better. Hopefully it won't seem woefully out of date and (even worse) totally lame in these modern times. Yet another property from the past being brought back as a cheap nostalgia grab would be pretty rotten for anyone who still dig the OG movie; let's hope they aren't Reloaded or Revolutions.

The Matrix Reloaded

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Runtime: 138 minutes

Directed by: The people known at the time as The Wachowski Brothers

Starring: Many famous faces

From: Warner Bros.

A first-time watch... no, really. I admitted in my review of the OG Matrix back in September 2019 that I had seen nothing from the franchise past the original even though I was an adult in '99 when the first Matrix happened. It's a very good movie and all but in '03-which wasn't a good year for me anyhow-I did not go to the cinplex often, I was in college and all the bad buzz concerning the sequels kept me away all this time. Finally, on a whim I decided to give it a shot; the fact that the movie is on HD via HBO Max also helped pushed me in this direction.

Overall, “meh” was my reaction. It seemed like parts of the story were missing before Part 2 began. Then we get a story where the basic idea was fine (Christ figure Neo needs to go through various steps in order to help the babyfaces prevent the enemies reaching their area where they likely will get slaughtered) but in execution, much of this was meh-not to mention meandering-and I scoffed/rolled my eyes way too often. Forced romances did not help; the same goes for some incredibly irritating characters. But for me, the worst aspect is that too much of the action-especially the fight scenes-just looked phony and not engaging. The nadir of that was that preposterous Neo vs. Agent Smith and 100 of his clones battle... which for some reason is commonly referred to as The Burly Brawl?! That grew sillier and sillier until I started literally laughing out loud at how it looked like I was viewing someone else play a bad videogame.

Even the setpiece I heard was a standout-the chase on the freeway-was just dumb to me. Not only was it over the top to the point of farce, the whole aspect of that “program” entering other bodies to try and hunt down our heroes... I was never a fan of that but that was more of an issue when combined with those ludicrous dreadlocked albino twins and their special powers. Even Neo flying around like Superman took me out of the story. The movie is not all bad: besides the unintentional humor-how can I not laugh at everyone deciding to have a RAVE after hearing a rousing speech from Morpheus where he says that there should be no worry of the machines reaching them-Zion was still visually a delight and hasn't aged poorly, which I can't say about all of the effects. There is still nice philosophical & interesting discussion at times-that and some exciting moments do help make this not a disaster.

Perhaps it is unfair to give a rating to this without having viewed Revolutions as from what I understand this dovetails into that rather neatly; still, I'll rate each on its own merits... or demerits. This is not like the Bourne movies where I realized the first three should have been viewed much sooner; I don't feel so bad about waiting 18 years for this.

City on Fire

City on Fire (Lung Foo Fung Wan) (1987)

Runtime: 105 minutes

Directed by: Ringo Lam

Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Yueh Sun, Danny Lee, Carrie Ng, Roy Cheung

From: Cinema City

To address the elephant in the room right away: yes, I was like the many out there who first heard about this movie via its similarities to Reservoir Dogs. It's not an unofficial remake (not by any means) but some moments will remind you of Dogs, especially in the final act. As typical for QT, he used various films he liked in the past to create a new story. City on Fire is also about a jewelry store heist gone wrong and a cop undercover, although how they got to that point is completely different.

Here, we know that Chow Yun-Fat is an undercover cop from the beginning; he is asked by his superior-who happens to be his uncle-for another mission. He is forced to despite his protests as he is wary of continuing to turn against people he becomes pals with during the process. This new assignment is important as early on we see those robbers murder someone during another heist that doesn't go according to plan. There's also other investigators of that gang who don't know that Fat is undercover, causing the expected conflict.

There is wacky comedy involving Chow's lady which at best was goofy but at least that seemed to be a trend in HK movies around this time so that was not a demerit against City on Fire. It was always a movie that intrigued, and when violence occurred, it was of the intense and brutal variety. The score: of course I'd be tickled pink by something featuring both 80's electronic sounds and frequent wailing sax, which was actually diegetic in one scene. I couldn't even begin to describe the song sung in a club early second act-except that it did make me chortle.

Those that enjoy the HK scene of this vintage, Chow Yun-Fat or just want to see what the territory looked like at the time, this should be seen not just for its connections to a famous early 90's film.

Shanghai Express

Shanghai Express (1932)

Runtime: 82 minutes

Directed by: Josef von Sternberg

Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Eugene Pallette

From: Paramount

As a change of pace, it seemed like the right time to see something featuring both Marlene Dietrich-who I have seen precious little of-and my first-ever Josef von Sternberg movie. They were frequent collaborators and this was selected as arguably it was their most famous work together.

By description the plot sounds simple: several people interact with each other on a train to Shanghai, China in 1931. Of course the majority are white but that is Hollywood for you. The Chinese Civil War is a critical plot point; to be clear, except for 1937-1945 when World War II happened, this conflict lasted from 1927 all the way to 1949, when Red China started . In actuality, it is more complicated: Dietrich is Shanghai Lily; her and Anna May Wong are “ladies of the night”, a detail that naturally is strongly hinted at without being explicitly stated. Also naturally, the other characters typically look at them wary... this includes a half-Chinese man who of course is played by the all-white Warner Oland-later to portray Charlie Chan-a German who claims to be an invalid, and an old woman obsessed with her little dog WAFFLES.

It was fascinating to see all those different personalities and how each combination was different, keeping it interesting; yes there are romantic entanglements. Of course, the salacious Pre-Code moments also perform that function. Specific plot details I'd rather not reveal, nor all the subtext that is present; instead I'll mention that Dietrich was framed perfectly throughout and it was clear why for a few years she was a huge star. Then again, Wong was also great in her role; as others have noted, it does help make up for male lead Clive Brook being charisma deficient. Sometime in the future-as in a long ways away-I'll see more of this star/director combo, as they did six other pictures together.

Planet of the Vampires

Planet of the Vampires (Terrore Nello Spazio) (1965)

Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: Mario Bava

Starring: Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Angel Aranda, Evi Marandi, Stelio Candelli

From: I saw the American version released by AIP but it was made by various European companies

Yes there is such a thing as sci-fi horror. For those that don't frequent Twitter, yesterday the film fans of that platform were fired up when they saw some random Australian reporter-and not someone who covers motion pictures-proclaim that “horror can't be set in space.” What? If that wasn't bad enough, that comment was in reply to someone questioning the poll she put up. The question she asked? “Is Alien a horror movie?” Somehow, she was flabbergasted when Film Twitter roasted her; I briefly went to her profile and mention how terrible people were for saying her opinion was stupid. I am not sure what's worse: if she's a troll or "horror movies can't be set in space" is a legitimate belief.

This is why last night's movie was in this exact genre, and one from a famous horror director, and something I (accurately) heard was an inspiration for Alien. A distress beacon draws spaceships to a mysterious planet, and the spaceship Aura lands there to help rescue their compatriots already there. Between that, a ship featuring the skeletons of a huge species and other things, Ridley Scott's classic came to mind a few times. Its American title is not a literal translation-the “vampires” in question are not classic bloodsuckers but rather parasite aliens that wish to leave that chunk of rock, for reasons that are later shown to be understandable.

From the very beginning the movie's low-budget roots are readily apparent. Personally, I was usually charmed by its lo-fi nature, especially the 1960's version of futuristic technology and their idea of what terms would be applied to said technology. As the director was Mario Bava, it was not a surprise that many bold colors and strong lighting was used; not only did the lighting provide a visual delight/atmosphere, this and the frequent usage of a fog machine also managed to help disguise how cheap this production really was.

Mix in an interesting story which leads to plenty of paranoia and I had a pretty good time with this groovy film that still brought the chilling moments.

Godzilla vs. Kong

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

Runtime: 113 minutes

Directed by: Adam Wingard

Starring: Many famous faces that I was surprised was in a movie this daffy

From: Warner Bros./Legendary

Godzilla vs. Biollante: no longer the strangest entry in the franchise. I have seen and enjoyed enough Gojira films where I have a list of the ones I've seen; and last November at a drive-in (!) I saw a triple bill of Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Destroy All Monsters, which was awesome and as it was on G's canon birthday and was the night of the 2020 Presidential election, that was a much better usage of my time than following hours of vapid news coverage. 

Anyhow, eventually all will be watched but one day my take on Biollante will receive a better review. In short, that film includes genetic terrorists, different entities wanting Godzilla cells, random American actors they had to find in Japan who perhaps aren't the best, ESP, someone communicating in ESP with PLANTS, cameos from strange cult celebrities, and a kaiju which combines G's cells, human cells and a rose. The next movie (Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah) is also rather peculiar and has such things as cyborgs, UFO's, World War II & time travel logic that makes zero sense-which is why I was not a fan of it-so I do prefer Godzilla's film vs. a giant rosebush. The fact that this is clearly more outrageous than that-that came as a distinct surprise.

Before the movie I successfully avoided most information about this new picture; this was a good decision on my part. Only after I came home from seeing this at a Dolby Cinema at AMC-another good decision-did I watch the trailer and I discovered there were only hints as to how strange this all was. For me it was hilarious that all those famous faces were in a movie this daffy. Many have seen this already-typically via HBO Max-but I still won't spoil any plot points. Instead, I will mention that at the time I noted how some moments were rather convenient and if I further scrutinized the plot there would be criticisms aside from all the bizarre elements that are combined together into this burgoo stew of insanity.

All that duly noted, this was still slick entertainment which did not wear out its welcome as it was under 2 hours. All the locations shown were a delight (especially the ones involving neon lights; as it's from Adam Wingard that was one of his trademarks which were present in the film) and most importantly, all the kaiju action delivered. All of that was great, from the clear fashion they were filmed to the action itself. That helped make up for the human element which has its flaws... then again that is a criticism of the majority-if not most-of the entire Gojira franchise. The performances from the humans was fine; the unexpected highlight there was actually a child performance: hearing-impaired actress Kaylee Hottle as a hearing-impaired character.

The mixed opinions I've heard from this are understandable; the bonkers story has to be a reason why but there are others. Me, I was greatly entertained by the proceedings; as I've made it clear in other reviews (albeit long ago) most blockbusters in the past 15 to 20 years juts aren't for me which is why I don't see too many of them. I am glad this is like Pacific Rim rather than its sequel that I have long forgotten most of the details of, in other words. I think the crowd at my screening (the largest for me in more than a year) liked it-that can't be 100% confirmed, though. At least I was amused and bemused throughout, from the song heard in the opening to a needle-drop at the end that could very well have been in the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

King Kong vs. Godzilla (I've seen both the American cut and the original version) is fun 60's action-but this was... bananas.

New York, New York

New York, New York (1977)

Runtime: 163 minutes... and I felt every minutes

Directed by: Marty Scorsese

Starring: Robert De Niro, Liza Minnelli, Lionel Stander, Barry Primus, Mary Kay Place

From: United Artists

Start spreading the news... I didn't really like New York, New York.

Admittedly, for years I heard negative opinions of this film; however, it playing last night on MGMHD and me having the time to see something over 2 ½ hours long (and it was even longer on the channel as they take a few breaks that are at least 5 minutes each) meant that I should check out something else from a legendary director, and featuring great talents as the leads.

Beforehand I heard that De Niro's character Jimmy Doyle was a little much... that was the understatement of the month. The movie is a LONG look at an abusive relationship and I realize these relationships happen all the time. That point duly noted, this guy is a grade A jerk the first time we see him! He meets Liza's Francine Evans for the first time and he keeps on harassing her for a date despite her constant protests that she wants him to go the hell away. Now, I can usually understand why someone would fall for someone who is actually a horrible monster. For example, they are all charming at first and it isn't until they have their claws in their partner that their true colors are revealed. Here, I have no idea why she loves this manipulative, rage-filled bully. Is it just because he can play a mean saxophone? Hell if I know... all I know is that having to spend all this time around such individuals was not too pleasant.

What a doggone shame as aside from the expected quality that is apparent behind the camera, the world of post World War II life in America is brought to life quite well. Furthermore, some of the sets were great; my favorite was the club I like to refer to as The Red Room. Of course, the music heard throughout is of good quality, including the several musical numbers throughout that are also staged nicely. As expected, the movie's theme song is the most memorable tune; Liza's rendition was nice although Sinatra's take will forever be legendary and probably will play after every Yankees win at Yankee Stadium for the rest of time.

Originally, after the conclusion of this film I was going to see another De Niro picture, as they were playing three that night. I understand Stanley & Iris is rather genial which makes it funny that it would be played right after Raging Bull; that was only seen long ago so that was to be watched and then its review would be posted on Wednesday. However, I then realized that seeing another movie where a tyrant of a man treats women like garbage and is horribly abusive... instead I'll rent Raging Bull on another night. RB is different from this in that it is a real life case where someone was a lousy human being and he wasn't supposed to be someone we like... but more details on that whenever I get around to it.

Destination Moon

Destination Moon (1950)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: Irving Pichel

Starring: John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson, Erin O'Brien-Moore

From: George Pal Productions

Because every sci-fi movie needs Woody Woodpecker, Robert A. Heinlein contributions and a prediction of Elon Musk.

Easter Sunday my entire day is free so off and on until late in the night I'll be checking out motion pictures on television. Those other reviews will be up Monday and Wednesday evening. I just finished watching this hard sci-fi film (the first American picture of its kind) on TCM; as I've known of Destination Moon for awhile I was happy to see it for free. One of the writers was the legendary author Robert A. Heinlein, which explains the hard science fiction elements. That doesn't mean there isn't a comic relief buffoon, but more on that in a bit.

The plot is that a private company launches a rocket to the moon and they'll let the United States government use their technology later. That's right, the privatization of space travel, and me thinking of Elon Musk today. Tesla automobiles are astounding feats of engineering but there are many reasons not to like him personally, whether it is his behavior on Twitter, allegations of how Tesla workers are treated, his newest kid being named Aeon Flux or whatever the F it is... but yes, the privatization of space travel is perhaps not a good thing.

Anyhow, some elements are rather dated now; for example, someone needing no training for space travel thus said buffoon (who of course has a Brooklyn accent and doesn't want to go on the journey because he doesn't believe they'll literally get off the ground... and he has “a hot date” the next night) joins the expedition and is the audience surrogate along with his “comedy”. Yet some details were actually prescient and for the low budget, the effects are good enough-at least for the time-to win an Oscar. Even with its flaws, it was still a charming good time for me. After all, Woody Woodpecker shows up for a few minutes in order to explain space travel & rocket propulsion to the audience.

I Revisited Kong: Skull Island

and my opinion from the past hasn't really changed. It is pretty good; what I said at the time is here.

Russian Raid

Russian Raid (Russkiy Reyd) (2020)

Runtime: 105 long minutes

Directed, starring, and from a bunch of different Russians

Or: When messageboard discussions go wrong. I say that as if it was not for talk a few weeks ago in a thread, I would have had no knowledge of this motion picture... which actually is called Russian Raid in its native tongue and its title is not a cheap attempt by an American company to attract nerds like us that love The Raid. Unlike my typical M.O., the trailer was watched and I was not completely sold. Last night I made the streaming purchase and well, it wasn't the most satisfying several bucks spent.

Now, it is not a purchase I completely regret. It would have been better if the ex-Spetnaz soldier lead (Russian Christian Bale) had teamed with random competent soldiers/fighters instead of young meathead MMA annoying buffoons... at least there was Eurotrash fighting each other (in a not so polished manner, to be frank) while Eurodance served as the soundtrack. Seeing large men wielding medieval axes and attacking our “heroes” was at least an uncommon sight. There was also gunplay which did not rise about standard. The plot, though: “bewildering” is a good term.

To be frank, the storytelling is incredibly piss-poor; there are multiple characters that are present and I pondered too often, “Who in the hell is that? What is their purpose? What in the blue hell is going on?” Then there is the plot itself, which has Russian Christian Bale lead in those MMA clowns, a corporate A-hole and some hangers-on into a factory for... a corporate takeover. No, really. It's even more inane in execution than on paper and eventually I totally lost interest in this nonsense because it should have been at least a little bit fun instead of being perplexed too often and seeing action that did not often light my ass on fire. I know others enjoyed this much more than I did; personally, this was a disappointment which will happily be forgotten soon.

City Of God

City of God (Cidade De Deus) (2002)

Runtime: 130 minutes

Directed by: Fernando Meirelles/Katia Lund

Starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Phellipe Haagensen, Douglas Silva, Alice Braga

From: Several different companies

As sometimes occurs, I revisit a motion picture for the first time in many years to discuss here, along with my own personal enjoyment. In this case, it was ages since I saw this for the first (and only) time; as I've been here for 8 (!) years now it was about time to finally say a few words about this. Then again, this is rather dark and brutal so that is one of the reasons why the revisit took so long.

Much to my relief, City of God is still great. Admittedly, the in media res opening doesn't seem so fresh-it's used WAY too often now; for example, it was also in the last film I saw, Nobody-and perhaps at times this is too flashy. All that said, those elements do not ruin the experience as the movie is an intense look at the slums of Rio that spans a few decades. There is no shortage of harrowing events, sometimes involving children/teens. Thankfully it does not seem exploitative or in bad taste. Also thankful is that while not every character followed is a reprehensible human being-Lil' Ze is an amazing villain-the one that the audience can easily get behind is Rocket-at least that's what he's called in the English subtitles-a photographer who manages to escape from that brutal world.

Those that hadn't seen this in ages either or haven't given it a shot yet, I do not want to reveal much more. It does have to be said that the comparisons to Goodfellas are understandable... and not just for the narration that's heard throughout. There are plenty of characters shown and all manage to be distinctive. Many topics are also interwoven into the plot and it is an intoxicating mix. Its lofty reputation is deserved; if you are not put off by crime movies and/or tales involving astoundingly harsh moments-at times with kids-then it's a must for any serious movie fan.