Capsule Reviews 5/15/15

Here are some of the previously promised quick-hit reviews for the movies I've watched so far this year.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - dir. Kenneth Branagh
A mediocre attempt to kickstart a dormant franchise by replacing Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck with Chris Pine.  Sadly, it is run of the mill fare although I do like watching Keira Knightley in just about anything.

Broadchurch season 1
A well crafted slow burn of a murder mystery set in a small British seaside town.  Doctor Who no. 10 was pretty good and the requisite quirky small town charcters were solid.  My favorite was Olivia Coleman's Detective Miller, or if you're using the Doctor's accent, 'Mela'.  Good stuff.

The Sweeney - dir. Nick Love
A 2012 British cop movie based on a 1970's British cop TV show.  Well written, tightly paced, and with good acting.  Ray Winstone is the Hard Boiled Cop Who Breaks All The Rules who's having an affair with Agent Carter while chasing the bad guys.  High stakes were nicely conveyed.

Kite (animated, edited version)
Kite (live action version)
Kite: Liberator (animated)
These are all pretty much crap.  I kept waiting for the mildly intriguing premise to pay off.  It never came close.  Bleck.  Poop.  Yak.

My Nieghbor Totoro - dir. Hayao Miyazaki
A wonderful and uplifting story of two young girls and their father moving into a new house while dealing with a sick and hospitalized mother/wife. And, as only Miyazaki can, kindly forest spirits interact with the girls, helping them heal.  A moving, delightful treat.  Also, Catbus!

Patton Oswalt: Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time - dir. Bobcat Goldthwait
A funny, insightful stand-up special by one of my favorite comedians.  Especially the bits about German humorlessness, Florida, and performing for super drunk casino patrons.  I liked it.

Alien 3 - dir. David Fincher
The third best of the five Alien movies (in order: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Prometheus, Alien 4).  Not great but not bad either.  Nice to see Fincher begin to find his voice.

Se7en - dir. David Fincher
Inky black serial killer cop show elevated by an oustanding script, confident direction, and career-making acting.  One of my favorites.

That's all for today.  I'll be back soon with more stuff.

AFI 93 - The French Connection

I'm starting to think that I'm not very objective when I watch older movies.  As I mentioned earlier, in my review of The Last Picture Show, when I see an older, alleged classic, in this case, The French Connection, I can't help thinking I've seen it all before.

This is nobody's fault, I'm simply seeing movies in the wrong order.  Maybe in 1971 (I was one, by the way) seeing a driven, morally dubious, casually racist, hard-nosed cop was something new and refreshing.  It was light years beyond Joe Friday's well-mannered buzz cut.  Unfortunately, by the time I get around to watching Popeye Doyle do his thing, well, it's nothing new to me at this point.

As a teen in the 80's I got to see Harry Callahan ask punks if they felt lucky while delivering an NRA-friendly monologue about the specs of his handgun.  I saw Marion Cobretti defy his Captain and be a tough guy anti-hero while casually bedding material witness Red Sonja.  I saw John McClane ruin a Christmas party while he popularized wife-beater undergarments and oh-by-the-way thwarted a high level robbery masquerading as a terrorist attack.

And now, having seen The Wire, Homicide: Life On the Streets, Law and Order etcetera, etcetera... it's kinda hard to find something new in the cop genre.  That's probably why I dug the first season of True Detective so much.  Sure it relied on some of the basic cop show tropes, but it tried, and succeeded, in bringing new things to the table.

So when I finally get around to seeing Gene Hackman (who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Doyle) I guess I have a hard time truly enjoying it.  And I know this is on me.  But...

Having considered all of the above, I still liked it quite a bit.  Watching cop shows where they don't have cell phones and the internet to solve problems is fun.  I enjoyed watching the groundwork the cops had to lay just to follow a guy around on foot to see where he went and who he met.  William Friedkin, the director, filmed one of the most famous car chase scenes of all time and it does not disappoint.  The action and suspense were handled well, the writing was good, and the characters were fun and well-realized.  Mostly dug it, but I thought the ending was not so great.

Overall, I enjoyed this film.  I think I would even watch it again and I would not say that about most of the movies I've seen so far in the AFI 100.

I give it a solid B-.

AFI Top 100 thus far...

100.   Ben Hur     C-

  99.   Toy Story     B+

  98.   Yankee Doodle Dandy     F

  97.   Blade Runner     B

  96.   Do The Right Thing     B+

  95.   The Last Picture Show     C+

  94.   Pulp Fiction   A-

  93.   The French Connection   B-