Tag: Good

Extraction Delivers on its Promise

Extraction

The review:

Sam Hargrave’s Extraction is a great opportunity for Chris Hemsworth to show off his action fight scene skills (plus emoting)* and educated me that in Bangladesh the cars are driven on the left side. The cast is sufficiently international, with Rudhraksh Jaiswal (Ovi) and Randeep Hooda (Saju) giving outstanding performances as the kidnapped boy, and the factotum tasked with recovering him. While it does seem for a while to be one very long fight scene, things do eventually slow down for some character growth before picking back up again.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*This is a bloody film, with many red shirts sacrificed. “Oh for Hemsworth to have chosen a quiet, indie drama,” was a thought I had more than once.

Questions:

  • What do you think that last image was leaving us with?
  • Which of the many fight scenes was your favorite?
  • What do you think the lives of the many, many (many) now-departed Red Shirts were like?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The child you see in the flashbacks on the beach is Chris Hemsworth’s real-life son.

Other reviews of Extraction:

Extraction

Insomnia is Worth Staying Awake For

Insomnia

The review:

Christopher Nolan’s 2002 remake of 1997’s Insomnia (also called Insomnia) is a slow thriller* where the point is not really who done it,** but how this is all going to play out.*** Much like what I’ve heard about 2019’s Midsommar, the endless light makes for a fun turnabout setting for the noir plot. Both Hilary Swank and Al Pachino were fun to watch: her turn from a fan to a questioner and him from calm and confident to shambling mess.

The verdict: Good

Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Thus making it not actually thrilling, but interesting.
**A wikipedia article on the term whodunit/whodunnit.
**I liked this setup as the big name star who didn’t appear on screen until minute 58 was clearly the guy who done it.

Questions:

  • Do you think he meant to do it?
  • Are you more of a fan of serious Robin Williams, or funny Robin Willimas? Why?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Similar to the 1999 movie, Mystery, Alaska; all of Insomnia was shot in Canada. Only aerial photography of Alaska was used.

Other reviews:

Insomnia

That Thing You Do! Does it Well

That Thing You Do!

The review:

Tom Hanks’s That Thing You Do is a gentle pleasure of a movie from start to finish, capturing all that was shiny about 1964.* In this breezy movie, Tom Everett Scott (Guy Patterson) is the anchor to the Wonder’s skyrocketing fame, while Johnathon Schaech (Jimmy) is a “serious” musician teed up to have problems with fame.** Liv Tyler’s big speech falls flat, which I’m blaming on the writing and not the performance,*** and there are a few things that cause discomfort in 2020,**** but overall, this movie is a good distraction.

The verdit: Good

Cost: $3.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home (as a palate cleanser after watching Monster. I had no idea I would get to see Charlize Theron twice in one night. She plays a girlfriend.)

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*This is a baby boomer nostalgia film for sure. Which doesn’t keep it from still being fun.
**More fun than the both of them: Steve Zahn as Lenny the guitarist.
***This is a male-centered film.
****There’s a little bit of Magical Negro going on with Bill Cobbs’s Del Paxton, and Obba Babatundé’s Lamarr would have been nice to have something to do besides be the cheerful servant.

Questions:

  • How long will that song be stuck in your head?
  • Which is your favorite time the Wonders (or the Oneders) perform “That Thing You Do”?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Including full versions, alternative versions, live versions and snippets, the song “That Thing You Do” is heard eleven times in the movie.

Other reviews:

That Thing You Do!

Dark Victory is a 1939 Weepie

Dark Victory

The review:

Edmund Goulding provides a great canvas to show off Bette Davis’s range in Dark Victory.* Davis, aside from cycling through the stages of grief, makes a wealthy socialite a sympathetic character while wooing George Brent, a reserved and quiet doctor who knows he doesn’t know enough about brain tumors to be of any help.** This is a solid capsule of its time from the lack of information given to the patient, to the copious amounts of cigarette smoking.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free via TV Land Feature Films (which didn’t have ads for the first film I watched, but now does. Tricky!)
Where watched: at home.

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*It’s a weepie, though removed enough from its time and place that I did not weep.
**This is the first time I’ve seen Ronald Reagan in a movie. I didn’t recognize him when he faced the camera, he was only identifiable in profile. Also of note. Humphrey Bogart is hardly in this .

Questions:

  • If you had a terminal brain tumor, would you want to know? Why or why not?
  • Did it seem like there was a big age difference between Bette Davis (Judith) and George Brent (Dr. Steele)? IMDB tells me they are only four years apart.
  • Does the name Dr. Frederick Steele sound kind of bodice-rippery?

Favorite IMDB Trivia Items:

The scene in Dr. Steele’s office where Judith can’t light her cigarette, and then a few minutes later she can’t light Dr. Steele’s, was devised by Edmund Goulding. He explained, “When Bette Davis can’t light her own cigarette, you know something is seriously wrong with her.”

When the band is packing up and Judith tips them to play a song, she gives the singer a $50 bill and they immediately jump to it. Adjusting for inflation, this is the equivalent of about $900.

Dark Victory

Jezebel is Full of Range (and an Epidemic)

Jezebel

The review:

William Wyler’s Jezebel is an excellent movie for showing off Bette Davis’s range. Aside from Davis, it’s fun to watch Fay Bainter as the ever worried, silent-suffering Aunt Belle Massey as well as to see 1850s New Orleans society mores.* I wasn’t fully convinced by the transformation,*** but was all in on the journey to get there.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free via TV Time Feature Films which is a Roku Channel that has TONS of old movies!
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences

*I thought I was headed in for a film full of shaming and was delighted to discover a more nuanced narrative.**
**Less delightful: the many “happy slaves” portrayed in this movie. That element has not aged well.
***I also wasn’t convinced that I was supposed to be convinced.

Questions:

  • Was Julie’s transformation complete, or was she still working an angle?
  • What other 1930s films do you enjoy? Filmspotting recently did a starter pack.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Fay Bainter became the first actor to receive nominations in the Lead and Supporting acting categories, being nominated for Best Actress for White Banners (1938) and for Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938).

(I also enjoyed her as the mom in State Fair!)

Jezebel

The Weekend Has a lot of Walking

Despite what this picture wants you to think, it is not animated.

The review:

Stella Meghie’s The Weekend is a quality film illustrating the difficulties of staying friends after a breakup and the ramifications when you try to buck that system.* Sasheer Zamata’s Zadie is a prickly floundering fledgling comedian** who doesn’t really try to make the best of the weekend away with her ex-boyfriend and his current girlfriend. This movie had a lot of walking and talking, most of which seemed to be orchestrated to move plot along; despite that, it was an enjoyable film.

The verdict: Good

Cost: $1.80 via Redbox (celebrated my newly unemployed status!)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*It’s also an amusing film.
**Sexism alert! I quickly read half of the short synopsis on IMDB (A comedian goes away for the weekend with an ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend). At “comedian” I got a picture of a man in my head which did not leave until several minutes into Zadie’s stand-up routine that opens the film.

Questions:

  • How do you feel about the acting quality of the men in this film?
  • Did Zadie deserve what she got?

Other reviews:

Amy Ryan Shines in Lost Girls

Lost Girls

The review:

Liz Garbus’s Lost Girls provides a good vehicle for Amy Ryan to be steely,* Thomasin McKenzie to do some accent work, and Lola Kirke to be sparkly.** This is one of those films where nothing is really wrong with the narrative but it also doesn’t lend itself to gushing accolades. I appreciate it for calling out the disposable nature of women*** and the afterword caused me to gasp.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Netflix monthly fee $8.99
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Always enjoyable!
**I last saw her in the excellent Mistress America, where she was tight-laced and tentative.
***Especially ones who work in jobs that can be morally judged.

Questions:

  • What do you think drives Mari Gilbert, even before her daughter turns up missing?
  • How did you feel about the ending to this film?

Favorite IMDB Trivia Item:

The photos shown of the victims, are the actual real life victims.

Other reviews:

Lost Girls

The Greatest Showman is Perfect Pandemic Viewing

The Greatest Showman

The review:

The overlap of the Venn Diagram of Michael Gracey’s The Greatest Showman and the actual facts of P.T. Barnum’s life is probably a slim sliver, but that does not take away from the fact that this is a very good movie musical.* Casting the living greatest showman (Hugh Jackman) helps, but so do the dance numbers** and the songs, many of which have a meter that is designed to pep the most lugubrious of people. The visual styling*** is also great and everyone turns in excellent performances.****

The verdict: Good

The verdict during a pandemic: Recommended

Cost: free from the Multnomah County Library (one of two DVDs I checked out before the library closed for pandemic purposes*****)
Where watched: at home.

Consider also watching:

  • The Music Man
  • Sound of Music
  • Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
  • Singing in the Rain
  • Mary Poppins
  • Mary Poppins Returns

Further sentences:

*Particularly when quarantined due to a pandemic. The hopeful and stalwart songs are just right for our times.
**”Rewrite the stars” has catapulted to my top-ten list of musical numbers.
***My copy had a making-of feature which explained why there were paintings of the film shown during the credits. This was a feature that made me like the film even more. The story behind the story is also inspiring.
****If I were an actor, I would aspire to Michele Williams interesting and varied career, and I also am interested in the turns Zac Efron takes. Long after I’ve forgotten the details of the film, Keala Settle will remain the thing I love about this movie.
*****I stayed away from this due to tepid reviews, and I’m kind of glad. It was the movie I needed right now.

Questions:

  • What’s a movie that came to you at just the right time?
  • What’s the most important element in a musical?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

According to Hugh Jackman, the film’s nine-year development process from conception to completion was, in part, due to studios’ unwillingness to take a risk on an original musical. What finally sold the deal at 20th Century Fox was the future Oscar-nominated song “This is Me”, which had literally been written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul during the two-hour flight to the studio meeting where the film was greenlit.

The Greatest Showman

Everything is Copy Shows that it Wasn’t

Everything is Copy

The review:

In Everything is Copy, Nora Ephron’s son Jacob Bernstein along with co-director Nick Hooker explore the life of the talented writer-director. There are one-on-ones with people you will and won’t recognize,* there are famous women reading Ephron’s words, clips of her movies, and Ephron herself in interviews.** It’s a grand combination of celebration, and loss, and the enigma: Ephron couldn’t bring herself to talk about the illness that was killing her.***

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free from Multnomah County Library
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences

*The interviews with people who knew her were my favorite part. It was easy to see how much she is missed.
**I feel as though I got a good sense of the good and bad of Nora Ephron. It wasn’t an overly fawning portrait.
***Everything is not copy, in the end.

Questions:

  • Would you want your son to make a documentary about you after you died?
  • What would be the advantages and disadvantages of making everything in your life up for publication?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Both Max Bernstein (Nora Ephron and Carl Bernstein’s younger son; director Jacob Bernstein’s brother) and Nicholas Pileggi (Nora Ephron’s widower) declined to appear in the documentary for different reasons. In a New York Magazine interview, Jacob Bernstein explained that both Max Bernstein and Nick Pileggi both felt that the grief they felt at the loss of Ephron was “still too raw for them” to be able to talk about her on camera. Bernstein also said that Max’s relationship with their mother had been much more private and personal than his own. Pileggi and Max Bernstein did express support of the making of the documentary in other ways—both have viewed the finished film and attended public events promoting it.

Other reviews:

Everything is Copy

The Wood is a Very Late-90s Film

The Wood

The review:

Rick Famuyiwa’s The Wood goes in a different direction that a slew of 90s “hood” movies, instead showing the close relationship of three friends in two different time periods.* This movie has a view of women that is very much of its time** and it excels in its portrayal of living in the hood, but being the guys who are not in gangs. It’s funny, and sweet and has some really great scenes.***

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free!
Where watched: 5th Avenue Cinema (alumni get in free, as do students!)

Consider also watching:

  • Love & Basketball (The main charcters are both in the Wood!)
  • Love Jones
  • Waiting to Exhale

Further sentences:

*The movie is double cast with Omar Epps, Richard T. Jones and Taye Diggs playing the older friends, while Sean Nelson, Duane Finley and Trent Cameron play their junior high and high school counterparts.
**It wasn’t going to win any feminism award in 1999 and most of the boy/girl interaction has not aged well.
***I think having a tough gang member named Stacey is one of the jokes and De’aundre Bonds was great in that role.

Questions:

  • What’s your approach to movies with humor/plots that don’t work with today’s understanding?
  • What are you favorite friendship movies?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

While writing his screenplay, Rick Famuyiwa worked full time at the Beverly Hills branch of Niketown.

The Wood