Capsule Reviews 9/05/15

Here's a few more short thoughts on the movies I've been watching...

Get Shorty - dir. Barry Sonnenfeld
A light and funny adaptation of the Elmore Leonard book of the same name.  One of the few times I've liked Travolta in anything.  Great cast (Hackman, Russo, Gandolfini, Midler, Lindo, De Vito etc.) great send up of Hollywood and crime flicks.  Good stuff.

Leon: the Professional - dir. Luc Besson
One of my favorite 90's movies.  Jean Reno as the loveable hitman.  Gary Oldman chewing the scenery the vomiting it out and chewing it all over again.  Danny Aielo as the, get this, mob guy who runs a shop!  What a stretch, never saw it coming, etc.  And introducing a Lolita-ish Natalie Portman. This movie is sometimes subtle, sometimes so over the top it can see its own bald spot.  Cheesy, guilty fun.

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-

Capsule Reviews 4/30/15

What I'm gonna do is write super short thoughts about each of the books I've read this year.  Simple.  Nothing fancy.  Easy peasy.

I'll do the same for the movies I've watched someday soon.


BOOKS

Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - by Susanna Clark
First class world building.  Fascinating characters.  Second best book I've read this year so far.  Challenging yet rewarding.  Outstanding stuff.

Silver Screen Fiend - by Patton Oswalt
A fun (but brief) rumination on Oswalt's movie addiction.  Introduced me to the concept of one's own Night Cafe moment.  Solid.

The Name of the Wind
The Wise Man's Fear - by Patrick Rothfuss
Excellent fantasy novels.  *heavy sigh*  When is the next one coming out?  I still think about these books all the time and I am eagerly looking forward to reading them again.  I want to read the next installment of this series more than the next Game of Thrones book.  That means I want to read it a whole lot.

The Spy Who Came In From the Cold - by John Le Carre
A bleak, nihilistic cold war spy thriller.  I wish I'd discovered Le Carre earlier in my life so I could have read more of his books by now.  A treat.  A downer.  A gem.

Atlanta Burns - by Chuck Wendig
I've long been a fan of Wendig's website terribleminds.com where he is often silly while being informative on many topics, including writing.  This book is not silly.  It made me uncomfortable several times.  Real people with hard lives making tough choices (often not very good ones) while surrounded by venal and heinous people.  Ugh.  I dug it.

Field of Prey - by John Sandford
The 24th entry in the Prey series.  I've been reading this series since the early 90's.  This one is similar to the rest - a tightly paced, character driven police procedural starring Lucas Davenport.  This one is creepy and fun.

Deadline - by John Sandord
A spin-off series from the Prey books.  Also tightly paced, also character driven police prodecural but this time starring a different cop named Virgil Flowers.  Also fun.

The Blade Itself
Before They Are Hanged
The Last Argument of Kings - by Joe Abercrombie
The First Law trilogy.  Super fun fantasy novels. Cynical and violent.  This is the second time I've read this trilogy.  It will not be the last.

Love and Rockets Vols 1-5 by Jaime Hernandez
From its beginings as a kinda sorta sci-fi comic to it's current iteration as a mature character study, these are among my favorite graphic novels of all time.  Awesome awesome awesome.  Please send me money so I can buy the rest.  (and also Jaime's brother Gilbert's GN's as well) This series is an embarassment of riches.

The Colour of Magic - by Terry Pratchett
Fun fantasy novel about a ridiculous world full of ridiculous people (and creatures) and their ridiculous (mis)adventures.  It is like reading about the best D&D game of all time where the DM is on laughing gas and the players are drunk and/or concussed.  Hilarious.

East of Eden - by John Steinbeck
Possibly my favorite novel ever.  A delight to revisit.  The best representation of real people and real problems I've ever read.  Every character is recognizable which is why it's such a gut-punch when bad things happen.  Wonderful.  Tragic.  Mesmerizing.  A classic book by a titan of the craft.  I literally cried when I finished reading it.  Again.

Hounded - by Kevin Hearne
Urban fantasy about a 2100 year old Irish Druid set in Tempe, Arizona of all places.  Fast paced, lean, entertaining.  Will read more in this series.  Good stuff burdened by what kinda resembles a romance novel cover.

Gathering Prey - by John Sandford
The 25th entry in the Prey series.  This one didn't quite grab me as much as some of the previous books.  Solid if not spectacular.  I did laught out loud a couple of times, but this entry goes to the bottom half of the series.

More stuff coming soon.  Gotta go psyche myself up to watch Avengers: Age of Ultron tomorrow.  Later kids.

AFI 94 - Pulp Fiction

Way back in the day, in the dark ages before I had ever heard of Quentin Tarantino and before I really knew what indie cinema was I was generally content watching most movies.  I was in my early twenties and while I was chock full of (mostly misinformed and just downright awful) opinions about movies, I was a long way from knowing what was good or what I liked and even further from what might actually inspire me.  I was neck deep in a crappy sort of solipsism with no relief in sight.

Then, randomly, I saw an interview with Tarantino about his debut movie, Reservoir Dogs.  I had never heard of this guy or this movie, but hey, I like movies so I guess I'll watch this segment.  Honestly, I can't even remember what show it was.  60 Minutes?  Maybe.  Dunno.  I've sort of but not really tried to find it on YouTube but no dice.

Anyway, I remember them showing a clip of Mr. Blonde taking a razor from is boot while Tarantino explained that while writing the scene he didn't know the razor was there until Mr. Blonde took it out.  It was, for me, a young and impressionistic wannabe writer and clueless film fan, the moment that I wanted to see this movie and where my lifelong interest in Tarantino's films began.  This moment also was the first stepping stone to my becoming a film fan rather than just a guy who watches movies.

Soon thereafter I rented a VHS copy of Reservoir Dogs (shout out to Horkley's Video) and had my mind blown.  It is in no way an exaggeration when I say that this movie changed the way I experienced movies.  So just imagine how giddy I was with anticipation when I saw the trailer for Pulp Fiction.




I remember going to opening night with my friends (shoutout to Mark, Jake, and Tracy) and absolutely loved it.  I was transfixed by the violence, entranced by the dialogue, and kicked squarely in the junk by just how bloody cool it was.  I proceeded to see it probably six or seven times in the theater.  As soon as it came out on VHS I bought the letter boxed copy (shout out to Suncoast Video) and watched it again.  I was just so very pleased with the cleverness, the debauchery, and the characterizations.

And then life shambled on.  Other movies.  Other Tarantino  movies, even.  I moved a few times.  I had about a millions jobs.  I went to school and then dropped out.  I got married.  I got divorced.  I moved again blah blah blibbity blah.

So when I got to number 94 on the AFI list and there's Pulp Ficton, I thought, well hello old friend, let's reacquaint ourselves, shall we?  And then I sat down to watch this movie for the first time in about fifteen years.

And suddenly I felt a bit awkward.  I've changed, haven't I, old friend?  It's not you, it's me.  But not in a bad way, I think.  I never thought that the characters in this movie were noble paragons of virtue.  I always knew they were scumbag criminals to one degree or another, but they were awesome romanticized versions of scumbag criminals.  I suppose I had always viewed this movie through rose tinted glasses and now I was seeing it afresh.

Gone are the days when I thought Vincent Vega was a god among men with a penchant for being in the bathroom every time something inportant happened.

Gone is the awe that I viewed Mia Wallace with as she danced at Jack Rabbit Slim's after doing coke in the ladies room shortly before she OD's on heroin and gets an adrenaline needle mainlined into her heart.

Gone is the moment when I was bummed out for Jules because he wanted to quit being a heinous gangster to lead a relatively normal life...you know, like Cain from Kung Fu.

Instead of being happily overwhelmed by the violence, the dialogue, the non-linear storytelling and the general badassness of the thing, now I see the bad people doing hard things in a crazed world.

To paraphrase Wooderson, I grew older and it stayed the same age.

Which is totally not a bad thing at all.  One of the great things about movies is that we can enjoy them in different ways depending on where our emotions and life are at the time of the viewing.  Different messages and meaning can come through simply because of mood.  That's awesome.

So, Pulp Fiction, you glorious monster, I'm glad we got reaccquainted after all of these years.  And while I view you differently than before, I still love you and I'm glad that you're still a part of my life.  You are a one of a kind thrill-ride roller coaster overflowing with sin and style and I wouldn't have it any other way.  A.

What I Have Watched and Read This Year - March 19 Version

Here is the updated version of what I have been ingesting through my eye holes.  This year has been (so far) blessedly light on crap.  Lots of above average things to be found here.  I'm sure it helps that some of these are re-reads or re-watches as that boosts the averages.

Books

1. Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark A-
2. Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt B-
3. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss B
4. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss B
5. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John Le Carre B+
6. Atlanta Burns by Chuck Wendig B-
7. Field of Prey by John Sandford B
8. Deadline by John Sandford B-
9. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie B
10. Love and Rockets vols. 1-5 by Jaime Hernandez A
11. Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie B
12. The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie  B+

Movies/TV series

1. Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit C+
2. Broadchurch season 1 B+
3. the Sweeney B-
4. Kite (anime, edited version) C-
5. Kite (live version) D
6. Kite Liberator (anime, I didn't finish it) I (incomplete, but probably pretty bad)
7. My Neighbor Totoro A
8. Patton Oswalt: Comedy Plus Tragedy Equals Time B
9. Alien 3 B-
10. Se7en A-
11. Get Shorty B
12. Leon: The Professional B
13. the Five Deadly Venoms C+
14. Penny Dreadful season 1 B+
15. Edge of Tomorrow B+
16. The Last Picture Show C+
17. Pulp Fiction A-
18. Come Drink With Me C+
19. Golden Swallow (not porn) C-
20. Taken C
21. Kingsmen B
22. Psycho-Pass season 1 B
23. Danger 5 season 1 B-
24. Bosch season 1 B
25. the Scribbler C
26. the One Armed Swordsman C
27. Out of Sight A-
28. You've Got Mail B-
29. City of the Living Dead D
30. Yojimbo A
31. Guardians of the Galaxy B+
32. How To Train Your Dragon 2 B
33. The 36^th Chamber of Shaolin B+
34. Sanjuro A

AFI 95 - The Last Picture Show

I was born in 1970.  Growing up we had four channels on our TV.  ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS.  That's it.  Cable didn't exist and neither did the internet.  There were really only two ways to see movies: go to the movie theater or watch the edited, commerical-filled versions they showed on network TV.

In 1983 we got a VCR.  Holy shit what a world changing invention this was.  Now there was a way to watch movies whenever we wanted!  Whee!  My life was forever altered and I suddenly had a lot of catching up to do.

One of the first movies I remember watching on VHS was The Sting.  I loved it.  It is the first con movie I remember seeing and it blew me away.  It was all so fresh and new and I was in awe.  I honestly thought that at the end (spoilers, I guess, on a movie that is over 40 years old) that Paul Newman was actually dead and not only, you know, faking his death to con Robert Shaw out of his money.  Years later I showed The Sting to a friend, but he had already seen several con movies and thus was not impressed with this relic from the 70's, having a good idea that the death was faked from the get-go.

Throughout my life of watching movies I have run into this problem time and time again.  Most recently in my virginal viewing of The Last Picture Show.

A coming of age movie made in 1971 and set in 1951 and I watched for the first time in 2015.  Since my own coming of age was in the 80's, we can safely assume that I am familiar with the films of a certain John Wilden Hughes, Jr.  We can therefore assume that I have seen many coming of age films.  We can further assume that by the time I get around to seeing The Last Picture Show, I should, in the immortal words of Lieutenant Frank Drebin, "Please disperse.  Nothing to see here.  Keep Moving.  Please."

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this movie.  I thought there were some pacing issues, but nothing huge.  I thought the acting was fine and the writing was really quite good and the cast was awesome and the choice of being filmed in black and white was appropriate but there was simply nothing new to see.  I've seen the ripped off, stolen from, borrowed against and paid-homage-to results in a ton of other movies and while that's not the fault of anyone who had anything to do with this movie, it made for a slightly boring watch.

(Also, I get the feeling that this movie is the victim of Baby Boomers over-inflating things from their generation, just as I do with stuff from my own generation.  If this is actually, truly the 95th best movie ever made, well then, color me underwhelmed.  But for folks who were born during the depression, came of age in the late 40's and early 50's and got to watch their youth displayed on film in 1971 they probably got over-excited and...yeah, I think they over valued this one a bit.  I daresay that anyone born in 1971 and beyond would not rate this film so highly.)

Anyway, despite all of the grumbling I've just grumbled, it is a solid movie and an overall enjoyable experience, if a bit dull because I've seen it all before.  Maybe that's on me for not being objective enough.  C+.

What I've Been Reading and Watching So Far This Year January 30 Version

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am going to keep track of every movie and/or TV series I watch and every book I read this year.  I think it'll be fun to have it as a list to look at later.  Because I'm lazy I may or may not write reviews of all of them.  Some of them sure, but probably not all.  If you see I've read/watched something and not reviewed it in some way and you absolutely must know what I thought, please let me know so I can gleefully ignore you.  Or I'll do my best to let you know what I thought.  Whatever.

Books

1. Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark A-
2. Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt B-
3. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss B
4. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss B

MoviesTV series

1. Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit C+
2. Broadchurch season 1 B+
3. the Sweeney B-
4. Kite (anime, edited version) C-
5. Kite (live version) D
6. Kite Liberator (anime, I didn't finish it)  I (incomplete, but probably really bad)
7. My Neighbor Totoro A

Okay.  Time to watch some basketball.  'night kids.

AFI 96 - Do The Right Thing

This review has been stewing in my brain pan for a few months now and I have no better grip of it now than I did when I rewatched it last year.

This film world (arguably Spike Lee's best) is currently tangled up in my noggin with Ferguson, MO, Michael Brown and New York police and Eric Garner.  And while these horrific events may lend the events of the movie gravitas, it does not help me be objective.  Who knows?  Maybe my attempt at objectivity is just me not wanting to deal with harsh truths.

Anyway, since this blog is supposed to be about me and movies, let's try to keep it simple, yeah?  I'll save the real world socio-political stuff for another day.

Here's the short and sweet review:

Do The Right Thing is a great movie.  It's about the neighborhood of BedStuy during a heat wave. The local citizenry has a bad collective day and they experience social and civil unrest due to racism and intolerance.  Spike Lee has rarely been this good.  Maybe Inside Man was directed as well as this, but not much else that he's done, if any.  It's got a few warts, but they're minor.

The cast is great, the story is simple yet powerful, the ending leaves many uneasy, and the soundtrack changed my life.

This movie has always been important, but it is now even more so.  Please watch it and enjoy it.

B+.

Up next: The Last Picture Show

AFI Top 100 thus far...

96. Do The Right Thing B+
97. Blade Runner B
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy F
99. Toy Story B+
100. Ben Hur C-

Praying For Death, or Thoughts I Have In the Wintertime

Been awhile since I've posted and here's why:

My close friends and family already know this, but if you're neither of these (no offense) I'll explain.

I got issues.  Anxiety. Depression.  These can form a potent chemical cocktail in my wee brain that gives me problems.  It was especially bad about ten years ago, but I had mostly gotten past it.  But this last year they became acute.  I had some family issues, and the anxiety bloomed from that and the depression came next.

ANYway.  Boo hoo, my life is so hard.  I spent the last many months sorting out my shit and the more frivolous stuff (like writing this here bloggy blog) was placed on the back burner.

So here I am, writing for the first time in like totes forever but I find I have nothing to say.  Scratch that.  I have so much going on in my aging, balding dome that I don't know where to start.  Without further ado, I give you my semi-annual clearing out of my mental junk drawer!

Last week I had the flu.  Nasty stomach flu.  Thus the headline.  I was so sick at work one day, I came home and had a good cry over how sick I was.  I was snotty and barfy and I hated being sick and I hated winter and I hated that All About That Bass song.

So today I feel fine.  I'm reading a book that I may never finish (more on this in a later post) and I thought I might write something.  Yay?

I watched Broadchurch.  Is binge watching a TV series one of the coolest byproducts of technology ever?  I sure think so.  Anyway, sometimes I had to watch this show with the subtitles on because my hearing is crap and the accents just plain left me befuddled.  Really good though!  B+ good.  It was almost an A kind of thing, but there were a few story threads that didn't quite nail it.  Nothing wrong, but not quite a classic.  Olivia Coleman was awesome and Doctor Who was surly.  A well done murder mystery that shakes up the small town.  Yep, B+.

So a week or two ago Comixology had a sale on the entire run of The Boys, a hyper-violent, extra sweary take on super heroes written by a guy who doesn't much like super heroes, Garth Ennis.  I bought this series for myself for Christmas and read them while feverish which took their offensiveness to new heights.

The Boys are (from ten o'clock and counter clockwise) Billy Butcher, Wee Hughie, The Female, Mother's Milk, and The Frenchman.  They are in league to defeat super heroes run amok and it's a fun and mean spirited (if not overlong) ride.  Ennis delights in showing people at their worst and if that's what you're looking for in his books, these won't disappoint.  Debauchery runs rampant, people are varying degrees of awful, and heinous situations abound.  I give it a B-.

So there's a short-ish anime called Kite.  It's about a girl, Sawa, whose parents have been killed and her subsequently become and sex slave and assassin run by her father's former cop partner.  Dark stuff to be sure.  Some really nice animation but the story needed to be fleshed out some for my tastes.  C+, and that may be slightly generous.

I just read online that there are two versions of this.  The forty-five minute version (which I saw) that had all the sex scenes cut out, and the sixty minute version that has, well, fifteen minutes of sex scenes left in.  Do with this information what you will.

So then I find out that there's a live action version that came out just last year!  Maybe they flesh the story out!  So I add it to my Netflix queue and I when it shows up, I give it a watch.  Like a sucker, I was optimistic.  And like an sucker optimist, I was disappointed.  It's not good at all.  The parts where they had to flesh out the stories were pretty stupid.  There's some nice visuals and all, but overall it's mostly crap.  D+.

Related: It's kind of sad to see Sam Jackson in the Michael Caine phase of his career.  It seems as if he'll be in anything whether it's good or shite.  It's a bummer to see.

Oh, and there's a sequel called Kite Liberator that is a sequel, I guess?  I watched the first maybe twenty minutes and it made no sense at all and it was aggressively bad so I turned it off.  D-.

The farther this goes, the worse it gets.  Avoid!  Avoid!

Here's something that I found interesting.  Steven Soderbergh (movie director, don'tcha know) has a list of every movie/TV show/book/play/short story he watched/read in 2014.  Here's a link for you if you want to see it.  It made me want to keep a list of my own, but you know, that takes effort and stuff.  I was inclined to forget it.  Then I read Patton Oswalt's Silver Screen Fiend and in his book he has a list of every movie he watched during a four year span where he was unhealthily watching waaay too many movies.  So this has brought me back to the idea of doing it myself.  I will, from this day forward, list all the movies and books (and maybe somehow list TV shows) that I watch and/or read this year.  I'm curious to see how it turns out.  Stay tuned, more on this later.

Okay that's enough for today.  More soon.  Stay awesome, you filthy animals.