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JetJagMan
Reviews
Candy Cane Lane (2023)
How does attacking a religion improve the film?
At 20:40, Chris and Pepper are discussing ideas for Chris's Christmas decorations. They discuss different options, and he says "unless you want to take the religious angle". Pepper responds "Jesus Christ, no!".
I ignored the 5.6 IMDB score and similar ratings on other scoreboards and sat down with my family to watch this. I didn't have high expectations and was hoping it would just be a pleasant diversion, and I wanted to see Eddie Murhpy in something. Then I'm treated to an insult of a religion.
This is a family movie. Do most families want their kids to normalize insulting other people's religion? Did Younger, Hudlin, Amazon, and MGM think that would boost sales, or their reputations? Bizarre.
Crashing Through Danger (1936)
Kept my attention, Sally is easy on the eyes, and I learned about 1930's linemen
Made in 1938, the following year's Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and The Women didn't exactly have a tough act to follow. The directing is bad, the acting is bad, the story could fit on a gum wrapper, but other than that, it kept my attention. It fits together reliably, fairly forumulaic. Sally Paine is pleasant enough but not a terrific actress. I did enjoy seeing how they did line work back then. They seem to have done some research about that. The men wore long leather coats, for instance. It's pretty funny in the climax when Sally Paine takes it upon herself to rescue the men who are fighting blackouts in a tropical storm in Los Angeles. She dons a slicker and is seen trotting down the street against a blue screen. It's really bad. A bit later she is driving the bucket truck through the storm. Keep in mind she isn't the fierce leader who points out the stupidity of all men like women are portrayed today. She's just the pretty boss's daughter.
Half Nelson (2006)
Spoilers are impossible with this movie.
OK, we all know that this is about an idealistic progressive high school teacher who is trying to hide his street drug addiction from students, coworkers, and family, and that one girl finds out his secret and befriends him. That's the summary given about this movie.
I just walked in the door from seeing this thing, and I cannot tell you one more thing than that. It's about a teacher who does drugs and hangs out with a young inner-city girl. Well, what happens in the movie, though? He just keeps doing drugs, teaching, and hanging out with this girl. That's it. Nothing else happens.
Now before you accuse me of requiring an off-the-shelf plot in order to appreciate a movie (not that any lovers of this fare would be up to that observation), I am not a fan of plot-heavy films. I prefer strong and evocative images, emotions, and moments, to plot or story. BUT, I also need something to HAPPEN in a movie, and nothing does in this one. This movie is supposed to get by on the cuteness of the main character, and nothing more. Heck, if you want a struggling loner who's all screwed up, see Taxi Driver. Now there's a movie, and I'm not even a fan of De Niro. Forget the violence, just appreciate the scenes where he reaches out to the Peter Boyle character, or his journal entry voice overs.
Now, if you read the critics, both professional and amateur, it's the absolute second coming of cinema. Nothing has ever been made that comes close to this movie. Ryan Gosling's acting is so...so...well riveting! I mean, like, he was so believable! And it makes you think about drugs, and people who do drugs and don't want others to find out!
Apparently Gosling, as the main character, 's acting was superb. I guess it comes down to taste. To me, you could go to any Starbucks and find someone to shuffle around like a metrosexual zombie as did Gosling in this flick. He's really a waif-metrosexual hybrid. That must be what does it for all those who are wheezing over this movie. Double-whammy, as it were. Oh, and he's cool because he has a bunch of vinyl records. For my money, a better movie about a guy with vinyl is Ghost World, with Steve Buscemi.
Two major bright spots in this movie are Shareeka Epps, as his adolescent confidant, and Anthony Mackie as the drug dealer who looks out for Epps. Epps has this sternness about her that takes control of every conversation she is in. It works well in this context. Mackie's performance is very crisp and invigorating. You'll find yourself looking forward to seeing him toward the end of this movie, if you free yourself from the spell of amazement you experience from the main character, that is.
This is another Blair Witch Project. It totally hit the sweet spot of the public in the right way at the right time, without having any substance or merit. So, my hat is off to these film makers.
Crash (2004)
A poor shell of successful predecessors
At the time of this writing, this film ranks #92 on IMDb's top 250. The only explanation for this is that most of those voters haven't seen Amores Perros, Thirteen Conversations about One Thing, Magnolia, or several other intersecting-lives movies.
The intersecting-lives template was already played out by the time this movie came along. Why it won Best Picture? Maybe it just sucked the least of the films up for consideration this past year, or maybe the academy didn't want to award it to the gay film Brokeback Mountain, as so many are hyperventilating. I haven't seen BM so I can't say. The Oscar award probably also explains the high IMDb rating, because many simple-minded folk went and saw this due to the controversy of it beating BM to the Oscar, who otherwise would be busy seeing things like Kill Bill or Shrek 2.
It really seems like a clumsy attempt at something beyond its capabilities. When cellular car phones first came out, in the 1980's, I saw a crappy cheap car with a bumper sticker that read "I love my cellular phone". I looked in at the front seat and there was a common house phone sitting there, pretending to be a cell phone. A cheap, non-functioning, clumsy attempt at imitation. Another example is "fusion" cuisine. Some foofy upscale restaurants develop fusion menus, and suddenly there are walk-up counters in food courts with laser jet printed signs saying "Fusion food served here!" So what am I getting on about with these illustrations? Crash is really a poor attempt at the form done very well in Amores Perros, and slightly less so in 13 Conversations and Magnolia. Heck, the American remake of Traffic, also with Don Cheadle, is a better intersecting-lives movie and it doesn't really fit the template! Why isn't Crash so good? Well, if you see the aforementioned, you will see much further developed character arcs and little politics and supermarket checkout stand magazine sentiment. The characters in Crash do everything but cite bibliographic references for the issues they are each assigned. The audience should be trusted to reach some conclusions on its own based on the strength of the movie, rather than have them dictated to them.
And don't forget the musical interlude 3/4 of the way through! You know, where some sappy song is played, and each character is seen looking out the window, presumably contemplating the drama they have just been through, but in actuality probably hoping this movie doesn't sink their careers.
The only reason to see Crash is so you can see the movie that knocked the cowboy lovers out of their saddle.
Ibun Sarutobi Sasuke (1965)
Cool, stylized 60's fare. Shallow action fans should give it a pass, though.
If you're lucky enough to get a hold of the Criterion DVD, or perhaps another version with some accurate explanatory material, you will have the benefit of the brief explanatory comments in a recent taping made by the director, Masahiro Shinoda.
He felt that the era of the swashbuckling, self-serious samurai films, such as those of Kurosawa, had come to an end. He wanted to go into a new direction for samurai cinema, that of film noir. This is a political spy tale set in the early 17th century.
The fighting is very stylized, and really just serves as a physical representation of the intrigue, rather than drawing attention to itself. Kurosawa got into the game when the swordplay was rather choreographed, and made things much more realistic, with people stumbling around in the mud, tripping and slipping as they took wild swipes with their swords. Again, Shinoda wanted to go against the grain.
There are cool villains, especially Takatani, completely covered in white, including his hooded head, and he has a soft, menacing voice, too.
The hero, Sasuke, is troubled by war, and waxes philosophical on more than one occasion about the whole business of war and spying.
The music is cool with a jazzy capricious flute, very 60's cool. Shinoda talks a bit about that as well in the interview.
I did not understand the apparently new character in the very last shot, so if someone can shed some light on it, please send me a private message on here.
Mixed Nuts (1977)
short-lived comedy series
I don't think this one went a whole season. It was a comedy about a mental institution. Probably wouldn't pass the PC police today.
One of the characters was an old man who could do this funny dancing. I think he also had parts in Hot L Baltimore.
There was another character who was a big fat guy with black curly hair and a bushy mustache. At the beginning of one episode, he was all sweaty from exercising, and some non-crazy female character asked if she could hug him and he reluctantly said OK. It was apparently a therapeutic thing she liked to do with this guy. As if he wouldn't want to hug her and a lot more every chance he got, and as if she really wanted to hug a big sweaty guy.
And that's about all I can remember!
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
West Coast version of The French Connection
Caught this on broadcast TV last night. I remember seeing it often in the video store, but it always looked cheesey to me. My friend in the US Navy said that they always showed it on his ship. I decided to watch it when I saw it listed because of my friend, and then I realized it was directed by Friedkin, who brought us not only two of the best movies of the golden 70's, but two of the best movies of all time, The French Connection and The Exorcist. That made me WANT to like it.
The major thing this film definitely has going against it is the 80's style. The dress, the music, and the dress, and the music. Now you might say, it's just an era that we all lived through, how can that have such a universally bad effect on a film? Well, it can, because in the 80's, we had new wave music, which was somewhat trying to have some originality, but for those who didn't like that, we had synthesized silliness like you hear in this movie. People who used to dance in discotheques in the 70's were too old for The Eurythmics, English Beat, Human League, Madness, etc, but they still wanted to prolong their youth somehow, so we got what you see and hear in this film, and in Miami Vice. There arose a need for a mainstream pop culture, where before it was all rebellious. The 80's were directionless and soulless in terms of style. It's not just another era. It was a low point in western culture. The gelled pompadours, the pushed up jacket sleeves, Duran Duran, let's face it. We never want to go there again. And I maintain the right to attribute this movie's failings to that alone.
The first hour or so is a bit slow, but it picks up momentum and depth beyond most other films of its kind. Just like Popeye Doyle, the hero is not clean, and he gets dirtier. The objective becomes a personal one. There is a great amount of development of the two cops and the villian played by Willem Dafoe. Platoon hadn't come out yet, so it's fair to say there was no star power helping this movie along, just as in the Exorcist (OK, Max von Sydow) and The French Connection. Hackman is of course huge now, and it all STARTED with FC.
I definitely got the feel of a west coast attempt at French Connection. A rough cop gets rougher and badder, and a great car chase WITHOUT MUSIC. I can't remember if there was music in FC's famous car chase, but if you definitely want to see the effect, check out Bullit and the final chase in Mad Max. Just engines and tires. No thumping music, no stupid chick in the passenger seat waving her hair around asking what's more exciting, stealing cars or having sex. But I digress.
So there you have it. Serious movie fans need to see this and evaluate it because Friedkin directed it and it's good. Do your best to stomach the music and other 80's ambience, and dig on the throwback to 70's non-commercial cool. It's there. The acting is all good, the story is strong.
Agnes of God (1985)
Am I the only one who noticed...
that this has an awful lot in common with the book titled "The Monk", written by a 19-year old Matthew Lewis in 1796? He was posted at the British Embassy in Moscow and was very bored. One of his colleagues dislocated his jaw while yawning.
Anyway, the Monk is about a monk gone bad, who impregnates a nun named Agnes. So, two nuns named Agnes who get pregnant isn't a coincidence?
I've done some searching on the net and so far I am the only person on the Internet to have noticed this. There wasn't a World Wide Web when I read The Monk in college, but it is often in the curriculum of Gothic Literature courses. At the time, books like these were called Romances, because they dealt with creepy things, or fantastic tales in far-off lands. Probably taken from "Romany", which was what the world of the Gypsies was called, and I believe Gypsies still call their culture Romany.
Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu (2003)
not Miike's best
I am all for films that value mood, moment, images, music over plot, but I am growing weary of international and independent films that lack all sense of story. There has to be something moving things along. The characters have to want something identifiable, to keep my interest.
Gozu pales in comparison to Visitor Q and Ichi The Killer, in that the latter two, most of the time we know roughly why the characters are doing what they or doing, or at least what they are after, or we can place their actions in the context of the larger story. Gozu spends a lot of time going nowhere. Now, the breast milk and final scene sure got the audience groaning and guffawing, but that's not enough to sustain a movie.
Let's home Miike doesn't become a caricature of himself. Let's hope he resumes his fine work of laying out a movie that moves along. They aren't called "movies" for nothing.