Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

TOMMY GUNS (2022): A group of Portuguese soldiers living an isolated existence find themselves haunted by Angolan ghosts. Some interesting ideas and symbolism here, but they have a hard time penetrating the movie's awkward pacing and overly sombre tone. 2.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

DETENTION (2011): A masked killer is stalking the teens of Grizzly Lake High; uncovering their identity will require a nerdy teen and a slacker to travel back in time to detentions of yore. Silly slasher spoof features no big laughs, but the energy never flags for a minute, and the third act is insane; this is a cult movie in an alternate timeline. 3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

A Pure Place (2021) - kind of like...wacky magic realism without the magic? Two little kids who live in poverty are taken to an island where they make soap all day. It's a business but also a cult led by a CEO/ Christ like figure named Fust. His schtick is basically evangelical soap-ianity, where he extols the virtues of being clean and sees the world in clean vs dirty terms. One squeamish scene involves them drinking "the purest water on earth" ...his bathwater!

It doesn't make tons of logical sense: How do all these people live on the sales of some soap? Why don't they all just leave?

Don't worry about all that though and you'll have a good time. Besides of one kind of disturbing scene of nude teenagers ceremoniously bathing, there isn't really much overt nudity or violence, which is probably why it ended up on tubitv. It's more whimsical than shocking and melodramatic.

4.5/ 5

"35% liked this movie" that's pretty low

[M.10rda]

BONE (1972):
The Beverly Hills palace of a car huckster and his wife is invaded by Bone (Yaphet Kotto), who demands that the salesman (Andrew Duggan) go directly to his nearest bank and withdraw his entire savings, lest his Missus (Joyce Van Patten) suffer an indignant fate. Leaving his bored housewife alone w/ Bone is of course a bad idea for reasons that Duggan hasn't even begun to imagine... this is all in the first 25 minutes of a film that ends up going some surprising places.

Larry Cohen's directorial debut (after 15+ years writing for TV and b-movies) displays all the lean-and-hungry freshman enthusiasm you could hope for from a filmmaker whose later work was usually interesting but often (imho) snail-paced and ponderous. Not BONE - from the nightmarish opening scene, it moves like it was shot out of a cannon. There's some striking photography from the "thirteen-time Oscar nominated" cinematographer and also some frenetic editing in a few scenes. Even longer dialogue-heavy scenes are feverishly compelling, such as a story of childhood trauma told by Jeannie Berlin as an unstable woman who Duggan meets on his errand. Cohen was always acknowledged as a strong writer and again, there's plenty of supporting evidence for that allegation in BONE.

Van Patten is an actress I'd heard of (maybe from seventies TV?) but whom I couldn't possibly have identified from anything else I'd ever watched. At the beginning of the film she doesn't look like much (visually or dramatically), but she really transforms over the course of the film, giving a performance that's complex enough that now I'm curious to check out some of her other work. Duggan is appropriate as a shell of a man who wouldn't know a sincere emotion if it stabbed him. The best reason to watch this movie (appropriately per the title) is Kotto. What an actor he was in the 70s... total tour-de-force.

I admire almost everything about BONE, only questioning some ill-fitting references and Antonioni-ish cutaways to Duggan and Van Patten's adult son, who is imprisoned offshore somewhere and who might be (?) imagining the entire plot of the film(?!?!?!). That weird non-sequiter aside, BONE is a potent brew that remains relevant today... though I suspect no one in Hollywood would produce this screenplay in 2023!

4/5

[lester1/2jr]

The Artifice girl (2022) - decent little sci fi workout here, based on the now current trend of AI. It's a low budget independent effort and would badly need some punching up, re casting, etc to be A list, but a quality time waster for sure.

A guy creates a CGI/ AI "girl" to try and lure online predators into exposing where they live and so forth for the police. It works so well that he's brought in for questioning as a suspect himself "Where are you keeping this girl??!"

The rest of the movie is a sometimes interesting, sometimes meandering thing about what our existence really means etc. It's an awful lot of the the guy and the other people discussing this stuff. It works, but it's got that "people sitting a room" problem. Your eyes get bored.

The basic idea is good but it needed a little more fiction and a little less science

4/5 watched it in one night though

reviews are mostly very positive, but the detractors raise good points too. "AI becomes sentient oh noooo what have we done"

[chefzombie]

The Maze. 1957.

A bride-to-be is upset when her fiancee no longer responds to her letters and sets off to his Scottish castle to find out what is wrong, accompanied by her aunt. Despite its age and budget the film does manage to establish a good atmosphere. I got some Lovecraftian vibes for most of the movie, although the end is something of a slight let down. Still, it was good overall.

i love this movie!

[lester1/2jr]

Champion Kenny Roberts (2019 but seems much earlier) - Random, boring, but somehow also interesting and cool documentary about the titular Kenny, a hero in the lost art of motorcycle racing. It would appear that motocross has eclipsed the more straightforward, NASCAR type of competition seen here, but it was huge in Europe in the 70's and 80's, which is where this British made doc takes place.

Most of the commentary revolves around weather conditions and cycle technological advancements rather than the prowess of the riders. While they do reach speeds of 170 mph, there aren't many crashes or particularly dramatic moments. Roberts was clearly a "Champion" and big star at one time, though. Eventually he retired from racing and became a coach but I have no idea what he's done since then.

American viewers will likely have flashbacks to TRON and old video games they can't remember the name of. I saw another motorcycle documentary about Doug Domokos the "Wheelie King" who used to open for Evel Knievel and frankly I would watch either of these again. I don't know why but I would.

4.25 /5

[RCMerchant]

^" Lost art of motorcycle racing"? We have enduros out here spring, summer, and fall.
Back in the 70's, my cousins Ricky and Ronny had trophies. My buddy Larry also road dirtbike in rallys. As did my buddy Sam Booth. They have at least 2 hear ( I do mean hear) in Lawton alone a year.
It's only "lost" on you, because you don't live out in the boonies. I get it- but I can assure you- it's not "lost".

[lester1/2jr]

Well there you go. fun for everyone

[RCMerchant]

^ What we have here is not professional track racing. It's dirt bike racing. And it is lotsa fun.
Here's a rider in Lawton!
https://youtu.be/Ui8yjTV05SU?si=6aa4eMvKZVkyyzVk

[M.10rda]

THE FLASH (2023):
A lengthy delay due to bad press, followed by outstanding pre-release reviews, then box office performance that was apparently so disappointing it even managed to eclipse the two most recent/previous WB/DC disappointments (SHAZAM 2 and BLACK ADAM) and now apparently has distinguished itself as a historical flop of some kind. (I dunno, I honestly don't trust Hollywood financial reports.) Oh yeah, also a highly negative review on this site, iirc! As I teach a college course about superhero movies, however, I necessarily end up seeing most of such flicks eventually, whether I want to or not. (I even suffered through MORBIUS, ugh.) FTR I've also been an avid reader of DC comics since about 1979 or '80. None of that may validate my opinion, of course.

Nevertheless, I thought THE FLASH was 1.) one of the best DC films; 2.) better than many Marvel/Avengersverse films; and 3.) an admirably faithful/accurate adaptation of its source material in many ways that other superhero movies don't even attempt fidelity. Also, 4.) I found it more satisfying and better made overall than director Andy Muschetti's two hugely popular IT adaptations. I guess one could accuse THE FLASH of going out of its way to impersonate the plot and tone of SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, but imho that's fair game as FLASH is based on a comic book storyline that preceded NO WAY HOME by a decade, and DC comics were integrally exploiting the concept of a multiverse for 50 years prior to the recent SPIDER-MAN, SPIDER-VERSE, and multivere-y Avengers films.

All that said, THE FLASH has one serious check mark against it - its star, who is onscreen constantly (natch) in not one but two roles (not natch). Ezra Miller does give a (couple of) technically strong performance(s), in terms of hitting the necessary dramatic notes to allow the screenplay to function... but his voice and often his line readings are so aggressively eccentric, so distinctly unlike either comics' (or TV's) Barry Allen, that I was profoundly distracted from paying attention to the film's protagonist and could only pay attention to the actor's performance, at the expense of engagement. I could liken it to Michael Cera's totally bizarre lead turn in SCOTT PILGRIM, a film I otherwise adore in all respects besides, well, Cera's performance as Scott. Into the bargain here, however, is Miller's high-profile criminal behavior. When I reviewed QUANTUMANIA, I mentioned that accused lady-abuser Jonathan Majors was digestible as he was  far and away the best (or only good) thing about that film. As Miller's performance is the glaring sore thumb in THE FLASH anyway, it's even harder to forget that he's also apparently some kind of creepy predator.

3.5/5 for Miller. Would be higher otherwise...

[FatFreddysCat]

"Clerk." (2021)
The long and sometimes bumpy life and career of filmmaker, podcaster, writer, and all around pop culture nerd Kevin "Clerks" Smith is examined in this entertaining documentary that features comments from famous friends and cast mates and lots of classic clips from Kev's archives. Long time fans probably won't learn anything new from it, but it's a fun trip down memory lane with the Jersey slacker made good.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Red State" (2011)
Small-town teens and the ATF have an unfortunate run-in with a gun-happy, homicidal Midwestern religious cult that's kinda like a combo of the Westboro Baptist Church and the Branch Davidians. Much mayhem ensues.
Director Kevin Smith steps outside of his "View Askew-niverse" (there's no Jay & Silent Bob cameo here, kids) and the result is a surprisingly dark mixed bag; he has called it a "horror" film but it plays more like a violent suspense thriller, with great performances by Michael Parks (as the Fred Phelps-ish cult leader) and the always-welcome John Goodman as the embattled Federal agent. Worth checking out if only to prove that Kev can work in other genres when he chooses to.

[indianasmith]

CRYPTID (2022) - A small-town Maine journalist discovers that the recent string of attacks on animals and humans is not the work of bears, as the sheriff insists, but instead are being made by a burrowing reptilian monster unknown to science. He and his photographer are trying to produce enough proof to convince the authorities, but will they succeed before the attacks cease and the creature retreats underground again?
A bit slow moving, and the special effects budget was obviously limited, but overall not too bad of a creature feature. I'll be honest; when I saw it was a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" production I almost turned it off - but it was actually a pretty decent horror flick. Free on TubiTV!  3.5/5

PATTERNS OF EVIDENCE: THE EXODUS - I watch this documentary every year with my world history class; it addresses the issue of why no archeological evidence has been found to support the Biblical narrative of the Exodus, and reveals that there is an abundance of evidence in Egypt and in Israel that parallels the Biblical account - IF you quit looking in the era of Ramses II (around 1250 BC) and instead start looking about 200 years earlier, during the Middle Bronze Age.  Some fascinating interviews with leading archeologists as well as various religious and political leaders, skeptical or not, this documentary is worth viewing.

[ER]

The most recent Emma, which was visually lovely, but lacking a grasp of the source material. (Which incidentally is my least favorite Austen novel.) I find there is an over-emphasis on style above substance in not just movies but society, and seemingly more and more often anymore. Maybe it began in the age of short punchy music videos but I wish people would exercise their attention spans. They should try sitting through a baseball game or a Greek Orthodox wedding. That'll do it.

Also the actor who played Emma always looks like she's frowning, and Emma Woodhouse was an untroubled person til she encountered problems and was baffled as to how to deal with them.

A much better version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaKM-gtshAI

(You'd totally love it, RC!)