I expected little but receiving a lot. Duck, You Sucker! is a Sergio Leone expansion of American-style Westerns that delivers wonderful entertainment. –August, 2024
Tag: Pleasant – Classic
Faces Places
Faces Places centers on how art creates memories that can be thoughtfully considered. Magnificent. The penultimate work of Agnès Varda approaching her 90th birthday. –November 30, 2023
War of the Worlds
Tom Cruise is a blue-collar hero in Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, an apocalyptic metaphor for 9/11, but the pathogenic conclusion isn’t satisfying after 90+ minutes of awesome. –October 31, 2023
Petite Maman
Petite Maman is a gem of a story about time travel used to work through the death of an elder. Another victory lap for Céline Sciamma. –September 30, 2023
Parasite
Trump dismissed it, creating a stir, but I missed it in first release. Catching up now that a few years have passed, Parasite is extraordinary, but I’m unsure if it’s great. –May 31, 2023
This is Spinal Tap
If this is funny, This is Spinal Tap is for you: IAN: They’re not gonna release the album because they’ve decided that the cover is sexist. NIGEL: Well, so what? What’s wrong with being sexy? IAN: Sex-ist! DAVID: -IST! –February 28, 2023
Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead is man-love satire with a second helping of mayhem. –November 30, 2022
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure was among several movies to frame high school for me, which is bogus because sophomore year wasn’t nearly so gnarly. –November 30, 2022
Ghostbusters
“If there’s something strange / In your neighborhood / Who you gonna call?” That’s right: Ghostbusters. Even if it’s not quite what you remember, it’s still a whole lot of fun. –October 31, 2022
Crash
Take 1: “Moving at the speed of life, we are bound to collide with each other.” Take 2: My reaction has shifted in time. Michael Peña’s storyline aside, I think Crash may be the most overrated Academy Award winner of the 21st century. –November 30, 2023
Your Name.
Any animated movie built around photographic techniques and cinematic editing choices grabs my attention. Your Name. adds to the mix a story of body switching between teens trying to save people from the certain doom of a falling comet. –May 31, 2022
High School Confidential!
High School Confidential! focuses on an undercover cop rolling up a high school drug ring. Hep cats beware: “In the language the addicts use, amongst themselves, marijuana is referred to as Mary Jane, Pot, Weed, or Tea. They never say to each other, ‘Let’s smoke a marijuana cigarette.’ They say, ‘Let’s turn on,’ or ‘Let’s blast… Continue reading High School Confidential!
Whale Rider
A Maori girl saves her people despite her grandpa who doesn’t think girls can toast bread. Whale Rider is wonderful, especially if you have little girls in your life. –November 30, 2021
You’ve Got Mail
I got married in 1998, and You’ve Got Mail set the stage for what I thought I was getting into. Broadband has nothing to do with it. –December 31, 2020
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Miyazaki peaked early. For proof, see Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, or the beta Princess Mononoke. –November 30, 2020
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
An unproven theorem: The sum of all coconut shells + one flesh wound = Monty Python and the Holy Grail. –September 30, 2020
In the Heat of the Night
Take 1: In the Heat of the Night spends time looking at a racist lawn jockey, considers the value of non-medical abortion, and holds court for Sidney Poitier’s, “They call me Mr. Tibbs.” It’s an Oscar winner that does its job, one tidy sequence of great screen acting after another. Take 2: To understand how and… Continue reading In the Heat of the Night
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Errol Flynn is star power in The Adventures of Robin Hood. But everyone talks like they live in a 1930s American city. Because they did, when this was made, in 1938. –June 30, 2020
Splash
Touchstone, a Disney label, released Splash in 1984, even though it has side boob, rear adult female nudity, US government-sanctioned lab rape, and louche John Candy. And Tom Hanks isn’t a perfect gentleman. –April 30, 2020
Ghost in the Shell
Take 1: Ghost in the Shell, the anime, imagines our cyborg future through hypnotic imagery to celebrate a sentient computer virus. Not for all tastes. Yet it shows the coming overlap between machine and human being in provocative detail. Take 2: Machinery combined with a curvy woman results in the high-concept Ghost in the Shell. It’s eerie… Continue reading Ghost in the Shell
The Most Dangerous Game
The Most Dangerous Game is about a shipwrecked man becoming prey for a mankiller, but then he escapes and saves Fay Wray before she needed saving from King Kong. Re-made many times since and it still holds its own. –March 31, 2020
High Noon
Take 1: High Noon is a parable about 1950s Red Scare and the rule of law. It’ also about 50-something Gary Cooper trying to take 20-something Grace Kelly to bed on their honeymoon. Take 2: Young viewers may not understand the Red Scare metaphors of High Noon, but this hit from late Classical Hollywood is also a… Continue reading High Noon
Westworld
Westworld is creepy because it was released in 1973 when AI wasn’t an acronym in Tweets, when amusement parks were amusing, and when most of us thought the worst part of the Old West was horse apples. –January 31, 2020
Desert Hearts
It’s a Boston Marriage. In the 1950s. In Nevada. See Jane Rule’s novel turned wish fulfillment: Desert Hearts. –December 31, 2019
Avengers: Endgame
Take 1: Fat Thor and his MCU compadres plan how to defeat the only being in the galaxy, Thanos, with a solution for the destructive nature of humankind. Still, Avengers: Endgame got me all swole up with Iron Man’s sub-story. Take 2: Avengers: Endgame: in which the paradox of time travel is self-consciously unpacked as an illusion… Continue reading Avengers: Endgame
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
“I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.” Robert Zemeckis’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit landed in the summer of 1988 and re-focused American pop culture on live actors performing alongside animated characters. Ancillary markets did double-time, pushing toys and apparel off shelves and racks, and the “how’d they do that?” vibe helped shift entertainment reportage towards technical… Continue reading Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Platoon
“I love this place at night, the stars. There’s no right or wrong in them. They’re just there.” –September 30, 2019
Hollywood Shuffle
“There’s always work at the post office.” When Key & Peele left the air in 2015 after a four-season run, there were arguments in some circles about whether it was a cleaned-up version of Chappelle’s Show (2003-2006). Partisans were quick to point out the “friendlier” nature of Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, each of whom presents a gentler presence… Continue reading Hollywood Shuffle
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a Michael Caine delight. Look for Steve Martin’s Ruprecht using a cork-topped fork to poke himself in the eye. –May 31, 2019
Iron Man
Never a fan of comic books, I bumped into Iron Man wondering what Robert Downey, Jr. was doing with his time, now sober. Answer: wearing metal underpants and saving the world. Not bad for a recovering addict with some of the most potent screen charm of his generation. –April 30, 2019
Winged Migration
“The story of bird migration is the story of promise – a promise to return.” It’s difficult to overstate the scale of the natural world. This planet is big; the oceans cover most of the world’s surface area; we are but a speck among teaming millions of living species, competing with one another for water… Continue reading Winged Migration
Free Solo
When a person commits suicide unsuccessfully, and they have world-class balance, strength, and Autism spectrum single-mindedness, that person might Free Solo like Alex Honnold. Remember: he climbed El Capitan without safety equipment, alone. –March 31, 2019
Wayne’s World
You can watch Queen’s video to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and you can buy the song on a “best of” album. But you should watch Wayne’s World, and see how early the 1990s tastemakers Wayne and Garth introduced my generation to rock royalty. –February 28, 2019
Y Tu Mama Tambien
“The greatest pleasure is giving pleasure.” It’s sometimes quite difficult to translate the success of one creative medium into another. In reality-derived creative media there are also limits to what parts of reality we will look at and listen to. Should we really stare at suffering? Are bodily functions worth our time? Is human intimacy… Continue reading Y Tu Mama Tambien
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
“It is clear that I must find my other half. But is it a he or a she? What does this person look like? Identical to me? Or somehow complementary? Does my other half have what I don’t?” –February 28, 2019
Godzilla
“Of course, they’ll want to use it as a weapon. Bombs versus bombs, missiles versus missiles, and now a new superweapon to throw upon us all!” Ishirō Honda’s Godzilla (1954) is the most self-reflective civilizational account of disaster ever made. After more than 30 franchise movies about the eponymous creature, made mostly in Japan and through licensing… Continue reading Godzilla
Moonlight
“At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you gonna be. Can’t let nobody make that decision for you.” –October 31, 2018
Strangers on a Train
Strangers on a Train is about a bored man (Robert Walker as Bruno) who traps a tennis player in a murder pact. Watch Bruno cruise Farley Granger (yummy) and confront a kid with a balloon (pop). Also look forward to the carousel finale when Hitchcock goes bonkers. –October 31, 2018
Scream
“There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie.” The Wes Craven horror movie Scream (1996) should be sub-titled “Suburban White kids are rich and have too much time on their hands, so they drink and party and die.” The story takes shape around the discovery of a gruesome… Continue reading Scream
Thor: Ragnarok
Chris Hemsworth is really handsome. Even with short hair, which is new to Thor: Ragnarok and has something to do with the MCU, but then, who are we fooling? Hemsworth is handsome. –September 30, 2018
Lady Bird
Lady Bird is no FLOTUS biopic. Instead, Saoirse Ronan is a high school senior with mommy issues, a depressed dad, several good friends, and a desire to go, go, go, far away from home. It’s terrific. –June 30, 2018
Mad Max
George Miller found the crazy behind Mel Gibson’s brilliant-good looks, combined it with muscle cars and a dystopian future, and then didn’t flinch about killing off a police officer’s wife and infant son. Stunt camera work, alone, is worth the price of admission. –April 30, 2018
Dirty Dancing
“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” tells the story of a requited love affair. But the overall movie, Dirty Dancing, for all its flirty fun, period music, and Swayze spectacle, is 100 minutes of asking an audience to root for statutory rape. –March 31, 2018
Dracula
Que es más difícil? Bela Lugosi made himself famous starring in Tod Browning’s Dracula. George Melford simultaneously worked the graveyard shift with a different cast, using a Spanish language script and the same sets, and made the better movie. –February 28, 2018
