10s – Page 17 – Out & About

3SMReviews: Oscar Nominated Shorts, Documentary

There was a time when I wondered how people ever got to see the short films that were nominated for Academy Awards, but that time has passed. In my town of Portland, many movie theaters show them. It’s great to be able to see what the Academy sees.

Of note. If you have multiple theaters showing these shorts, you might choose carefully. My theater showed me all five for one price. I notice that other theaters are dividing the documentary shorts into two programs, each of which you have to pay for.

Cost: $8.00
Where watched: Living Room Theaters

For this review, I’m dispensing with my three sentence format and will feature all five nominees.

Black Sheep

(27 minutes) Directed by Ed Perkins and Jonathan Chinn. UK
The story of Cornelius Walker whose mother moved him out of London to keep him safe, relocating the family to an all-white estate where Cornelius attempted to shed his Black identity to survive. It’s tough to watch, but worth it, and there is much to discuss.

Recommended

Where to watch: here

End Game

(40 minutes) Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (USA)
A movie that examines end-of-life care in San Francisco, following a family who keeps fighting cancer in the hospital, and also the residents and staff of a hospice house. Having watched it, I’m very clear on where I would want my time to come to an end. It also sets up a jarring comparison for the next short.

Recommended

Where to watch: Netflix is streaming it.

Lifeboat

(40 minute) Directed by Skye Fitzgerald and Bryn Mooser (USA)

Features the work of German nonprofit Sea Watch who search the Mediterranean looking for refugees from rafts. It’s horrifying to see the people stacked on the rafts and fascinating to see how the refugees are rescued. There’s also coverage from the shore showing what happens to those who die trying to cross.

Recommended

Where to watch: I can only find a trailer, so your best best is an Oscar Shorts program.

A Night at the Garden

(7 minutes) Marshall Curry (USA)

A very short film about the “Pro-USA” rally held at Madison Square Garden in 1939. It invites a lot of comparison to the present day.

Recommended

Where to watch: You can see the entire thing at this link as well as read a Q&A from the director which sheds light on who some of the people are.

PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE.

(26 minutes) Rayka Zahtabchi and Melissa Berton (India)

This was my favorite (I prefer my documentaries to be hopeful) and I think it should win. If it does, I will be surprised because its subject matter has nothing to do with grammar and everything to do with menstruation practices in India. Apparently only 10% of women use pads, the rest making do with cloth. This causes all sorts of problems. To right this inequity, there’s a super cool machine involved and some basic entrepreneurship.

Recommended

Where to watch: Not online. You can watch a trailer here.

3SMReviews: Cold War

Cold War is dedicated to director Pawel Pawlikowski’s parents and left me wondering many things. It a beautifully composed movie* with stunning performances, especially by Joanna Kulig. I was fully engaged the entire movie, and yet, it left me rather cold.**

Verdict: Good

Cost: $8.00
Where watched: Cinema 21

Consider also watching: Blue Valentine, Never Let Me Go, Revolutionary Road

*It’s good looking in black and white with whatever aspect ratio makes the film square. Plus, there’s a lot of music.
**I needed more background on the main characters. And I didn’t so much get the ending. I’ll be googling now.

3SMReviews: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

I was calibrated to the wrong type of Coen Brothers film when I sat down to watch The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.* What I found were six pretty good stories firmly set in the business-as-usual Wild West.** It had the usual Coen touches,*** but I found the short story format overall to be a little draggy.

Verdict: Good

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($7.99)
Where watched: at home, with a lot of scenes viewed through my fingers

*I was thinking this was more of an O Brother Where Art Thou?/Hail, Caesar!/Intolerable Cruelty. Fun and peppy. But it was more of a No Country for Old Men. Bloody and sad.
**You know, white men wander about doing their thing, Indians attack, women are minor characters. There’s no new ground being broken on this front.
***Visually memorable, great acting via facial expression, some odd turns.

3SMReviews: Vice

Adam McKay wants to include everything in Vice, and that is the number one thing that sinks the movie.* How much more successful would this film have been if it had just focused on one issue like the Big Short did, perhaps Cheney’s use of the unitary executive theory? Also, despite the makeup and extra weight, Christian Bale never completely disappeared into Dick Cheney, though Amy Adams was good.

Verdict: Skip

Consider watching instead: The Big Short, The War Room

Cost: $10.50
Where watched: Cinema 21

*Also sinking the movie: the conundrum of making a biopic about someone who is intently private. Sure, you’ve got that disclaimer with the f-word at the beginning, but when a lot of your movie moments focus on private conversations, we can guess that those conversations were made from thin air. And then what do we really know about this person?

3SMReviews: Green Book

I’m glad I watched Peter Farrelly’s Green Book in a theater, because it gave me further insight into who is really enjoying this movie.* Both Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen were impressive, fully embodying their characters and taking on a physical persona very different from previous roles. However, every single plot point in this film was incredibly predictable, something that ultimately sunk whatever slim hope there was of me liking this film.

Verdict: skip, unless you are a die-hard Mortensen or Ali fan.

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater with friend Kelly.

Consider watching instead: Dear White People, Selma

*My theater was filled with white people with white hair, most likely of the early-to-mid baby boomer age. They greatly enjoyed Mortensen’s character. I would love to see this with a younger, less-white audience. I’m guessing the reaction points and noises would be different.

3SMReviews: On the Basis of Sex

We welcome Mimi Leder back to the directing fold with On the Basis of Sex, a movie that attempts to illuminate another step on the path to seeing women as people, in this case, via a tax law case adjudicated by the Tenth Circuit Court. Felicity Jones does a great job masking her anger and dismay at the many slights Ruth Bader Ginsberg endures as a “lady lawyer” ahead of her time. I particularly appreciated Cailee Spaney as Jane Ginsberg, who spends a lot of the film not being impressed at all by her mother’s achievements instead issuing multiple cutting remarks.* The movie is a little draggy during the court scene, with much too many reaction shots of the judges, but other than that was a good use of movie-watching time.**

Verdict: good

Consider also watching: Hidden Figures, Bend it Like Beckham, The Runaways

Cost: $5.55 (though free due to gift card)
Where watched: Regal City Center Stadium 12

*According to an article in Vanity Fair, she was exiled to TV directing because of Pay it Forward. This is her first movie since 2000. I liked Pay it Forward.
*Something masochistic in me really enjoys that hyper critical stage of adolescence depicted on screen. Also, Armie Hammer also was quite good at Marty Ginsburg’s supportive husband role.
**Also, that last suit Felicity Jones wears as she walks up the steps of the Supreme Court? Amazing! The very last shot of the movie? Perhaps a bit pandering. Discuss.

3SMReviews: The Old Man and the Gun

David Lowery gives us an early-80s period piece with the Old Man and the Gun and Robert Redford is not shuffling off into the sunset with this, his supposed last film. Which is not to say this a lively film, as the old man style of robbing banks involves steady, calm walking (and not theatrics and shootouts,) plus some quiet romancing of a woman (Sissy Spaseck, who is good at playing the standard female romantic interest.) Casey Affleck does his usual Casey Affleck stuff as the detective on the case, and overall this makes for a fine Sunday Afternoon Movie*

Verdict: good

Consider also watching: if you want more Casey Affleck, but with him playing the outlaw, you can go for an earlier David Lowery film: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. For a more lively Robert-Redford-as-outlaw movie consider Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Or The Sting, which is con man, not outlaw, and more fun.

Cost: $1.50 (the new Redbox price is $1.75, but I got a discount for renting two movies.)
Where watched: at home

*Movies that are entertaining, but not challenging and serve as one final breath of fresh air before you plunge into the last hours of your weekend.

3SMReviews: Mid90s

Mid90s, Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, is not a great movie, but it’s got so many good scenes strung together that it transforms into a good movie, despite not really having an ending. How much you like this movie will depend on your tolerance for 90s male skater culture—one of the character’s nicknames is FuckShit—and all the baggage that comes with that.* I’m always interested in depictions of how boys are socialized by their friends into being whatever their version of a man is; this movie provides plenty of examples of this, both good and bad.**

Verdict: good

Consider also watching: Boyhood, Stand by Me

Cost: $1.50 (the new Redbox price is $1.75, but I got a discount for renting two movies.)
Where watched: at home

*I have a soft spot for skater culture, which makes it easier for me to overlook a lot of the questionable things that happen in this movie. Further thoughts: Jonah Hill’s liberal use of the N-word in his script. Okay because correct for the characters? Or not okay due to Hill being white? There was a lot of “faggot” too, but having been a teenager/young adult in the 90s I can report that the liberal use of that word was historically accurate. Unfortunately.
**Na-kel Smith’s Ray is headed in the right direction, Gio Galicia’s Ruben, not so much.

Picture via IMDB found on this page.

3SMReviews: The Disaster Artist

In The Disaster Artist, James Franco is creepily, hilariously effective as Tommy Wiseau, the passionate director of a terrible movie; Dave Franco carries the role of Greg, Wiseau’s friend. I was looking to laugh, and there are some very funny parts to this film, but it also delves into the difficult situation of supporting a friend who is doing a very bad job at something. What could have been an exercise in James Franco getting to go deep on a weird character* is instead elevated to an interesting examination of art, incompetence, and friendship.**

Verdict: Recommended

Consider also watching: Ed Wood, Bullets Over Broadway, and Honest Trailers—The Room

Cost: free via Kanopy
Where watched: at home with Matt

*I’m not sure why I am still continually surprised at Franco’s success at things. He is uncannily talented in a variety of ways.
**And you need not actually watch Tommy Wiseau’s movie The Room to enjoy this film. (Win!)

3SMReviews: If Beale Street Could Talk

Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk is gorgeous to look at, expertly acted and also just a tad slow. Tish and Fonny’s story is a weighty one, and I especially enjoyed Regina King’s performance as Tish’s mother Sharon. The pure love story dominates through the complications and injustices.

Verdict: Good

Consider also watching: Jenkins’ Medicine for Melancholy, which was his first movie. And he also did a little film called Moonlight.

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: at the Laurelhurst Theater with S. North.

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