2018 SLEEPERS
Part 3
Here’s another nice handful of 2018 films that didn’t get noticed much, but I think are pretty good. I hope you can find one or two you would like to watch.
When most of us think back to our school days, Junior High doesn’t really stand out as something we would like to revisit. That is one reason that Eighth Grade is so winning. Unknown Elsie Fisher acts like she’s been there. She plays introverted Kayla Day, and she broke my heart. She posts advice to girls on a blog nobody watches, and longs to belong somewhere. Her helicopter Dad is no help at all. Kayla is invited to a pool party by a very popular girl. When she gets to the party, the really mean little hostess lets drop that her mother made her invite Kayla. Oh lord, I would hate to be 13 again! And this film sort of brings it all back.
Denzel Washington has played many parts, all quite well. He makes an excellent vigilante in Equalizer 2. I generally disparage sequels, but this one is really better than the original. I guess this is a guilty pleasure, but okay, I just love watching Denzel dispatch of all sorts of low life. In this film, he is especially after the thugs who killed his friend and colleague Susan Plummer (well played by Melissa Leo). But that’s only one branch of a forest of evil trees to be chopped down. The action sequences are really good.
Love, Simon is a teenage comedy-drama that is sweet and believable. Simon is gay. He is being blackmailed by a fellow student who threatens to out him to the whole school. At the same time Simon is desperately trying to find the gay guy he discovers and corresponds with on social media. The plot gets really sticky with sub-stories about Simon’s sister being sought by another boy, and Simon’s efforts to fit in and to deal with his sexual identity. But Nick Robinson will win your admiration and affection regardless of your particular feeling toward gays.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society has a wonderful title and an equally wonderful story. During the German occupation of the British island of Guernsey, some of the residents get around the curfew by telling the German soldiers they are attending the Society. And they actually are. Lily James plays author Juliet Ashton who learns of the story and goes to the island to write a book about it. She is not encouraged by the locals. Then it gets complicated. So the film is not as good as the book- what a surprise! It’s still pretty good.
The Hate U Give is right out of today’s headlines. Starr Carter attends a mostly white school in fictional Garden Heights. Her friend Khalil is driving her home from a party when they are stopped by a white policeman. When Khalil reaches across the seat and picks up a hairbrush, the office shoots and kills him. For a long time Starr’s family urges her to remain silent about what she saw, but she eventually goes public about the shooting.
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
Sunday, April 28, 2019
Sunday, April 21, 2019
ELMORE LEONARD
The novelist Elmore Leonard, who died at 87, labored in obscurity for many years. He began by writing Westerns. Then he switched genres, practically inventing a new form. His stories always involve a clever scam, various nogoodniks, and wonderful wiseguy dialogue.
Leonard fans are always struck by how cinematic his novels are. But despite the fact many of them have become movies, nobody (including Mr. Leonard) could seem to get it right until 1995.
Get Shorty (1995) is funny, smart and enormously entertaining. The screenwriter, Scott Frank, has the characters and the story down pat. A small-time thug, wonderfully played by John Travolta, decides he wants to get into producing movies. He uses the same tactics that he used as a mob enforcer. The results are sly digs at Hollywood and outright belly laughs. Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, Gene Hackman and Delroy Lindo are all appropriately venal in supporting roles.
Then in 1997, a Leonard story (Rum Punch) had the good fortune to attract director Quentin Tarantino. The result is Jackie Brown, a brightly entertaining romp that never misses a beat. Pam Grier, star of numerous blacksploitation flicks in the
70's, is Jackie. She is nabbed by the Feds while she is making a drug run and has to cooperate with them or go to prison. What she actually does is play the Feds, the drug dealers, and everyone else against each other in a clever scam we don’t believe will work but guiltily hope that it does. Samuel L. Jackson, Robert DeNiro, Michael Keaton and Bridget Fonda are all along for a wonderful ride. Mr. Tarantino uses the device of
reintroducing the same scene with wider angles several times, and it works as well as it did in Pulp Fiction.
Out Of Sight (1998) finishes a respectable third in the Elmore Leonard sweepstakes. George Clooney is an escaped bank robber who never uses a gun and who is (of course) looking for that last big heist. Jennifer Lopez is a U.S. Marshall determined to put Clooney back in the big house. Their strangely rewarding romance features the sexiest scene ever shot in the trunk of a car. Scott Frank’s screenplay perfectly captures Leonard’s quirky dialogue and characterization.
I’m afraid that’s most of the good news about Elmore Leonard movies. Stick (1985), Mr. Majestyk (1974), Cat Chaser (1990) and Touch (1997) are just plain bad. 52 Pick-Up (1986) is just so-so.
However, Leonard’s Fire In The Hole short stories gave rise to one of the best TV series ever, Justified (2010-2015). Timothy Oliphant is letter perfect as a US Marshall sent to his home area of eastern Kentucky to round up bad guys.
All of the recommended films in this article are available on DVD. None are suitable for children under 12.
The novelist Elmore Leonard, who died at 87, labored in obscurity for many years. He began by writing Westerns. Then he switched genres, practically inventing a new form. His stories always involve a clever scam, various nogoodniks, and wonderful wiseguy dialogue.
Leonard fans are always struck by how cinematic his novels are. But despite the fact many of them have become movies, nobody (including Mr. Leonard) could seem to get it right until 1995.
Get Shorty (1995) is funny, smart and enormously entertaining. The screenwriter, Scott Frank, has the characters and the story down pat. A small-time thug, wonderfully played by John Travolta, decides he wants to get into producing movies. He uses the same tactics that he used as a mob enforcer. The results are sly digs at Hollywood and outright belly laughs. Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, Gene Hackman and Delroy Lindo are all appropriately venal in supporting roles.
Then in 1997, a Leonard story (Rum Punch) had the good fortune to attract director Quentin Tarantino. The result is Jackie Brown, a brightly entertaining romp that never misses a beat. Pam Grier, star of numerous blacksploitation flicks in the
70's, is Jackie. She is nabbed by the Feds while she is making a drug run and has to cooperate with them or go to prison. What she actually does is play the Feds, the drug dealers, and everyone else against each other in a clever scam we don’t believe will work but guiltily hope that it does. Samuel L. Jackson, Robert DeNiro, Michael Keaton and Bridget Fonda are all along for a wonderful ride. Mr. Tarantino uses the device of
reintroducing the same scene with wider angles several times, and it works as well as it did in Pulp Fiction.
Out Of Sight (1998) finishes a respectable third in the Elmore Leonard sweepstakes. George Clooney is an escaped bank robber who never uses a gun and who is (of course) looking for that last big heist. Jennifer Lopez is a U.S. Marshall determined to put Clooney back in the big house. Their strangely rewarding romance features the sexiest scene ever shot in the trunk of a car. Scott Frank’s screenplay perfectly captures Leonard’s quirky dialogue and characterization.
I’m afraid that’s most of the good news about Elmore Leonard movies. Stick (1985), Mr. Majestyk (1974), Cat Chaser (1990) and Touch (1997) are just plain bad. 52 Pick-Up (1986) is just so-so.
However, Leonard’s Fire In The Hole short stories gave rise to one of the best TV series ever, Justified (2010-2015). Timothy Oliphant is letter perfect as a US Marshall sent to his home area of eastern Kentucky to round up bad guys.
All of the recommended films in this article are available on DVD. None are suitable for children under 12.
Sunday, April 14, 2019
2018 Sleepers
Part 2
Here’s another handful of really good 2018 movies that didn’t get a lot of play. You might give one or two a shot.
Shoplifters is a good-natured Japanese film featuring unknowns. A very dysfunctional family hangs together and survives by shoplifting. The adults explain this is not a sin because the unsold goods don’t yet belong to anyone! The group continues to grow as most any kid who needs a family stays with them. The old lady (no relation) who owns their house and receives a pension dies. They bury her in the basement so the pension keeps coming. Then it gets strange, but good!
Okay, right up front: Ben Is Back is a heartbreaker about a really nice teen getting caught up in the drug culture. Ben is played with agonizing conviction by our own Lucas Hedges (Manchester By The Sea) and NC School of the Arts grad. And his mom is played by an equally convincing Julia Roberts. This is about a good guy trapped in a very bad situations and his loving mother trying to get through it. It is very good but it will break your heart...
The Rider is stocked with unknowns in a film about a boy who loves horses too much. Brady comes from a dysfunctional Native American family. His dreams of rodeo glory are shattered by a near-fatal fall. He scratches out a living breaking horses, is nearly killed by another fall, and decides to try the rodeo once again. No more from me.
Ian McKellan (Atonement, The Children Act) is a splendid British writer who comes up with stories that place the characters on a razor thin chance to go either way. On Chesil Beach, set in 1962, seems impossibly prim and outdated until you read it or see the movie. Saorise Ronan and Billy Howle play virginal inexperienced newlyweds. Their lack of sophistication and their failure to compensate leads to a dreadful ending. Everyone who has ever approached his or her wedding night with some dread to go with the excitement will understand these doomed young people on some level.
The 12th Man is the mostly true story of Norwegian Jan Baalsrud. A dozen Norwegian freedom fighters take an explosive-laden boat to sabotage German war facilities in World War II. They are given up by a German sympathizer, their boat is blown up, and all but Jan are killed. This is the incredible story of his escape, of the brave locals who helped him at the risk of their own lives, and his eventual escape into neutral Sweden. None of the actors are exactly household names, but are entirely competent.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups
Part 2
Here’s another handful of really good 2018 movies that didn’t get a lot of play. You might give one or two a shot.
Shoplifters is a good-natured Japanese film featuring unknowns. A very dysfunctional family hangs together and survives by shoplifting. The adults explain this is not a sin because the unsold goods don’t yet belong to anyone! The group continues to grow as most any kid who needs a family stays with them. The old lady (no relation) who owns their house and receives a pension dies. They bury her in the basement so the pension keeps coming. Then it gets strange, but good!
Okay, right up front: Ben Is Back is a heartbreaker about a really nice teen getting caught up in the drug culture. Ben is played with agonizing conviction by our own Lucas Hedges (Manchester By The Sea) and NC School of the Arts grad. And his mom is played by an equally convincing Julia Roberts. This is about a good guy trapped in a very bad situations and his loving mother trying to get through it. It is very good but it will break your heart...
The Rider is stocked with unknowns in a film about a boy who loves horses too much. Brady comes from a dysfunctional Native American family. His dreams of rodeo glory are shattered by a near-fatal fall. He scratches out a living breaking horses, is nearly killed by another fall, and decides to try the rodeo once again. No more from me.
Ian McKellan (Atonement, The Children Act) is a splendid British writer who comes up with stories that place the characters on a razor thin chance to go either way. On Chesil Beach, set in 1962, seems impossibly prim and outdated until you read it or see the movie. Saorise Ronan and Billy Howle play virginal inexperienced newlyweds. Their lack of sophistication and their failure to compensate leads to a dreadful ending. Everyone who has ever approached his or her wedding night with some dread to go with the excitement will understand these doomed young people on some level.
The 12th Man is the mostly true story of Norwegian Jan Baalsrud. A dozen Norwegian freedom fighters take an explosive-laden boat to sabotage German war facilities in World War II. They are given up by a German sympathizer, their boat is blown up, and all but Jan are killed. This is the incredible story of his escape, of the brave locals who helped him at the risk of their own lives, and his eventual escape into neutral Sweden. None of the actors are exactly household names, but are entirely competent.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups
Sunday, April 7, 2019
2018 Sleepers
Part 1
A reader recently asked: when are you going to start with the 2018 sleepers we might like to watch? Here’s the answer: Right now!
One of my highest rated films of 2018 was Searching. It has an incredible plot that will keep you guessing (probably wrongly!). I watched it twice because I thought it might have a major plot hole, but nope, it did not. John Cho’s daughter is missing. He goes all-out to find her and is helped by local cop Debra Messing. I don’t think you’ll see the end coming in this one. I sure didn’t. In the sub-genre of missing children, this is an exceptionally good one.
I freely admit a lifelong love of all things Winnie The Pooh. So of course I really liked Christopher Robin, a film about the little boy grown into a man. When trouble comes, Pooh shows up in his back yard. Together they return to the Hundred Acre Wood where all the other little animals are on hand to help. Oh bother! Things get bumpy but smooth out quite well.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? Is based on Lee Israel’s book of the same name. Melissa McCarthy portrays the woman who got really good at forging the signature of authors and creating valuable editions. Richard Grant plays her abetter, often taking their forgeries to dealers for cash. This is a fascinating story well played. Both actors were nominated for Oscars, but lost to Olivia Colman for The Favourite and Mahershala Ali for Green Book.
There are lots of movies about the space program, and most of them are very good. First Man is also good, and it takes a slightly different path in telling the story of the first man on the moon. Ryan Gosling does a fine job portraying the heroic Neil Armstrong. The supporting cast is uniformly good and uniformly unfamiliar. Armstrong wanted to fly to the moon but he never wanted the adulation that followed.
A strange film with a great title is Don’t Worry-He Won’t Get Far On Foot. It’s the story of cartoonist John Callahan, deftly portrayed by Joaquin Phoneix. After riding in a car driven by a very risky friend (played by Jack Black) he is left paralyzed and wheelchair bound. He struggles with alcoholism and issues with his mother. The title comes from a cartoon featuring a posse surrounding an empty wheelchair. He continues to draw hilarious cartoons. That’s all you’re getting from me.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. Christopher Robin is fine for all ages. All the others are for mature audiences.
Part 1
A reader recently asked: when are you going to start with the 2018 sleepers we might like to watch? Here’s the answer: Right now!
One of my highest rated films of 2018 was Searching. It has an incredible plot that will keep you guessing (probably wrongly!). I watched it twice because I thought it might have a major plot hole, but nope, it did not. John Cho’s daughter is missing. He goes all-out to find her and is helped by local cop Debra Messing. I don’t think you’ll see the end coming in this one. I sure didn’t. In the sub-genre of missing children, this is an exceptionally good one.
I freely admit a lifelong love of all things Winnie The Pooh. So of course I really liked Christopher Robin, a film about the little boy grown into a man. When trouble comes, Pooh shows up in his back yard. Together they return to the Hundred Acre Wood where all the other little animals are on hand to help. Oh bother! Things get bumpy but smooth out quite well.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? Is based on Lee Israel’s book of the same name. Melissa McCarthy portrays the woman who got really good at forging the signature of authors and creating valuable editions. Richard Grant plays her abetter, often taking their forgeries to dealers for cash. This is a fascinating story well played. Both actors were nominated for Oscars, but lost to Olivia Colman for The Favourite and Mahershala Ali for Green Book.
There are lots of movies about the space program, and most of them are very good. First Man is also good, and it takes a slightly different path in telling the story of the first man on the moon. Ryan Gosling does a fine job portraying the heroic Neil Armstrong. The supporting cast is uniformly good and uniformly unfamiliar. Armstrong wanted to fly to the moon but he never wanted the adulation that followed.
A strange film with a great title is Don’t Worry-He Won’t Get Far On Foot. It’s the story of cartoonist John Callahan, deftly portrayed by Joaquin Phoneix. After riding in a car driven by a very risky friend (played by Jack Black) he is left paralyzed and wheelchair bound. He struggles with alcoholism and issues with his mother. The title comes from a cartoon featuring a posse surrounding an empty wheelchair. He continues to draw hilarious cartoons. That’s all you’re getting from me.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. Christopher Robin is fine for all ages. All the others are for mature audiences.
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