matthank-1 Reviews

Wiener-Dog (2016)

Enjoyable, worthwhile.....and yes, FUNNY

[16 September 2016]

There is a scene in (Danny DeVito) Dave Schmerz's office which shows a movie poster for Dave Schmerz's "Apricots". The poster is clearly based on Woody Allen's "Bananas".

There were lots of little things like this in this movie, just thrown in there but not brought explicitly to your attention.

One of the reasons I appreciate Solondz.

I found this movie very enjoyable and satisfying. It is, though rather subtle about it, a comedy... though many plainly fail to see that. Frankly, I expected something more dry and dark. I ended up feeling really glad I had gone.

Many small things to notice and appreciate, and some very good acting all around. Some genuinely poignant moments sprinkled throughout. There were also a few little digs at recent films... twice a shot of the boy reclining which recalled "Boyhood", and the 'Intermission' plainly mocks "The Hateful Eight"

You probably have to 'get' Solondz, and know what to expect. DO NOT go in expecting a wacky pic about a kooky pup. But if you do get his stuff, I say this is his best since "Happiness"

U2 3D (2007)

Absolutely very well worth it, still humming and rattling

[26 January 2008]

I saw this last night and I was very impressed. I have not been so riveted by any movie in a long, long time. I was wearing a winter jacket and I did not even take it off....I figured, when there is a 5-second lull, I will take it off. There never was. I went with 4 other people, and the person I thought was beside me actually wasn't, and I did not realize until the movie had ended, because I literally did not turn my head that far once until it was over.

Unlike Rattle + Hum (which I liked), there is no yakking, no other musicians. It's them and you and it feels very personal. A couple of times, Bono got right in my face. And 2 or 3 times, it was like, OK Adam, I like you, but just give me a little room please.

The 3-D illusion was very good, honestly nothing 'gimmicky' was done. In 3-D they always have things flying at you, whatever. In this movie it was just used to make you feel you were there, not like you were going to get poked with a drumstick or something. The camera-work was inventive but far less flashy than Phil Joanou's in R+H and the vids he did for them.

The sound where I saw it (Winnipeg, Manitoba, at Portage Place) was extremely suitable to the situation. Not uncomfortably loud, but clear and punchy, as you'd want it to be at the real show. Loud enough that I could not hear the 2 teenagers blabbing away beside me.

I went there expecting the admission to be either $8.75 or $12.00. It was actually $15. So they need to update that listing, but it was absolutely very well worth it. It is playing here twice a night for the next 3 months. I will definitely go at least once more.

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

The Squid and the Whale: PRO (spoilers?)

[27 December 2005]

I just saw this tonight and it is a very worthwhile film. I knew Laura Linney was solid but Jeff Daniels really surprised me. I never knew he had it in him. I had always considered him to be a reliably good actor going back to Purple Rose of Cairo and further, and since. But he really impressed me this time. His character is sort of a name-dropping wounded jerk or worse, and every nuance was spot-on.

I guess you already knew, but it is the story of the breakup of a family and how it affects the two sons. The central thesis of the film is stated by at least one character: "Joint custody sucks." The older son becomes, I suppose, a judgmental dick, plainly based on dad. (He also claims to have written certain songs he certainly did not, something I myself did twice in high school, but I didn't sing them.) The younger son becomes a foul-mouthed pre-teen drunken pervert, masturbating in many risky places and smearing his goo all over his school. (Which I didn't.) So don't forget the Purell, folks. Or even buy some of their stock if this becomes a huge hit, but with its Solondtzian themes, it likely won't.

Unlike Solondtz's films, I understand this to be very autobiographical, based on the director's real family, his writer-parents and real events of their family's disintegration, if you will. In fact most of the film's moments and quotes do have the true ring of realness.

I do not mind Todd Solondtz's films. This one compares in some ways, but with the chuckles being far more numerous and less creepy-uneasy-type laughs. It compares to Storytelling with the inappropriate-relationship-between-prof-and-sexy-young-student (she is played by Anna Paquin, born here in Winnipeg, and who always seems to play young and desirable females. Typecasting.) And it compares to Happiness with the general dysfunctionality but TSATW has more cum-onto-surfaces, so, you know, wash those hands whenever you can.

It sounds like it could be a completely sad tale but this film has many, many laughs. Seriously, good laughs a couple of times a minute. It cannot be called a comedy but it has lots more laughs than almost any comedy I saw this year or last. Lots of curveballs out of left field. Plus many moments of brutal truth and sudden emotional cruelty with some 'bittersweet' but zero 'hokiness' and none of the feelings seem forced. Every part has a real feel and there are no lulls, no dead spots, no time-marking so it is a bit short. No bare tits, but almost. And no explosions, except the emotional ones which make sparks go all over the place and do all sorts of damage. All the child actors were also very good. Even that Baldwin. Billy or Stephen. Whichever one it was.

I cannot honestly say I found any fault with this film. Did I mention I liked it?