I DON’T GET IT
Part 2
In September of 2016 I ran an article titled “I Don’t Get It”. It featured movies I liked but did not understand (at all!) Many readers were stunned that Mr. Movie didn’t understand these. Well, as promised way back then, there are more!
The most recent is the oddly-titled The Last Black Man In San Francisco (2019). Jimmie and his best friend Mont work on the house built by Jimmie’s grandfather although someone else lives there. This awkward scenario continues until the tenants move out. Jimmie moves in, squatting in the house until someone else buys it. He resumes living with Mont and his grandfather. He is last seen rowing a boat toward Golden Gate bridge. I don’t get it!
Birdman (2014) is hardly obscure. It won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. It stars Michael Keaton (as the Birdman) and features Amy Ryan, Zach Galifianakis and Edward Norton. The title character was a famous superhero, played by Mr. Keaton. He hears Birdman as an inner voice. He wants to mount a play based on a Raymond Carver short story. He fantasizes flying through the city as Birdman. At the end of his play, he shoots himself before a live audience. I don’t get it!
In Her (2013) Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a lonely guy who falls in love over the phone with his artificial intelligence virtual assistant. The contact, Samantha, is voiced by Scarlett Johannson. Those who know Theodore, including his ex-wife, are uncomfortable with his attachment to a computer voice. He tries and fails to form attachments to real persons, and is heartbroken when Samantha tells him she is leaving the computer service. Spike Jonze (yep, that’s his name!) won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Good for him. I don’t get it!
I greatly admire the work of director Sofia Coppola (Somewhere, Marie Antoinette, Lost In Translation). Her very first effort was The Virgin Suicides (1999) and I really liked it. Don’t ask why. The five Lisbon sisters are tightly controlled and watched by their extremely protective parents played well by James Woods and Kathleen Turner. The movie has some young men in the town reflect back on these girls and how they loved them from afar. Eventually all five girls commit suicide. I don’t get it!
I’m not sure you’re supposed to understand Holy Motors (2012), a French-German collaboration. I’m not sure either spoke the other’s language! Anyway, it is a series of unconnected vignettes, most of which are intriguing. In the first one, a man wakes up and goes through a secret door in his apartment. He is then in a crowded theater where a young child and a giant dog wander up and down the aisles. After that, it gets weird! I really don’t get it. But I really liked it!
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Sunday, October 20, 2019
ROBERT FORSTER
Robert Forster, a consummate professional, died recently at 78. He had over 200 appearances in movies and TV shows. He seemed to be working constantly. At the time of his death two of his movies (El Camino and Phil) had just been released. One of his best known roles was as the sheriff in the quirky TV show Twin Peaks. Well, most of his movies weren’t very good, but Mr. Movie will try to pull the gold from the dross.
Mr. Forster’s last appearance of note was in the excellent underrated What They Had (2018).It is a good, and timely, portrayal of the family situation that many face. The family’s matriarch is fading into dementia. The kids want her to be in a care facility. The father is dead set against it, insisting he can take care of her. Such stubborn insistence has been faced by many children. But she is the love of his life and he just can’t let go. Mr. Forster shines as the adamant father. Blythe Danner, Hillary Swank and Michael Shannon complete a crackerjack cast.
Robert Forster’s first appearance on the radar was as John Cassellis, a news photographer striving to keep his distance from the frenetic rioting at the 1968 Democrat convention. (Mr. Movie remembers these events because he was tuning them in. Many of you weren’t born then.) Anyway, Medium Cool is a sort of docudrama about this historic incident. And Mr. Forster is very good in it.
Jackie Brown (1997) is Quentin Tarantino at the top of his game. Pam Grier has the title role as a mid-level bag woman. Robert Forster is Max Cherry, her willing helper. Jackie manages a complicated triple-cross that leave lots of bodies and missing money and she manages to leave the country with finances and body intact. Mr. Forster was nominated for an Oscar for his part, but lost to Robin Williams as the math teacher in Good Will Hunting.
Robert Forster plays an aging but still agile diamond salesman in Diamond Men (2000). His employer wants him gone, desiring younger and hungrier salesmen. The boss decides Forster’s character is the perfect person to train his replacement, ably played by Donnie Wahlberg. Their road trip-buddy film-coming of age flick is well done and somewhat instructive about aging out of a job before your time.
Mulholland Drive (2001) is just a very weird movie. That it was written and directed by David Lynch puts you quickly in the picture. And yet, is has been ranked as one of the greatest films of the century. I find the open-ended plot baffling, but Robert Forster, Naomi Watts and Laura Harring do their best with what they have.
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
Robert Forster, a consummate professional, died recently at 78. He had over 200 appearances in movies and TV shows. He seemed to be working constantly. At the time of his death two of his movies (El Camino and Phil) had just been released. One of his best known roles was as the sheriff in the quirky TV show Twin Peaks. Well, most of his movies weren’t very good, but Mr. Movie will try to pull the gold from the dross.
Mr. Forster’s last appearance of note was in the excellent underrated What They Had (2018).It is a good, and timely, portrayal of the family situation that many face. The family’s matriarch is fading into dementia. The kids want her to be in a care facility. The father is dead set against it, insisting he can take care of her. Such stubborn insistence has been faced by many children. But she is the love of his life and he just can’t let go. Mr. Forster shines as the adamant father. Blythe Danner, Hillary Swank and Michael Shannon complete a crackerjack cast.
Robert Forster’s first appearance on the radar was as John Cassellis, a news photographer striving to keep his distance from the frenetic rioting at the 1968 Democrat convention. (Mr. Movie remembers these events because he was tuning them in. Many of you weren’t born then.) Anyway, Medium Cool is a sort of docudrama about this historic incident. And Mr. Forster is very good in it.
Jackie Brown (1997) is Quentin Tarantino at the top of his game. Pam Grier has the title role as a mid-level bag woman. Robert Forster is Max Cherry, her willing helper. Jackie manages a complicated triple-cross that leave lots of bodies and missing money and she manages to leave the country with finances and body intact. Mr. Forster was nominated for an Oscar for his part, but lost to Robin Williams as the math teacher in Good Will Hunting.
Robert Forster plays an aging but still agile diamond salesman in Diamond Men (2000). His employer wants him gone, desiring younger and hungrier salesmen. The boss decides Forster’s character is the perfect person to train his replacement, ably played by Donnie Wahlberg. Their road trip-buddy film-coming of age flick is well done and somewhat instructive about aging out of a job before your time.
Mulholland Drive (2001) is just a very weird movie. That it was written and directed by David Lynch puts you quickly in the picture. And yet, is has been ranked as one of the greatest films of the century. I find the open-ended plot baffling, but Robert Forster, Naomi Watts and Laura Harring do their best with what they have.
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
THE PLAY’S THE THING
A splendid, and somewhat overlooked, movie from 1999 is Topsy-Turvy, an entertaining biography of the famous operetta composers, Gilbert and Sullivan. It is also a fascinating look backstage at the world of theater and a delightful glimpse at the rigors of writing and producing for the stage. Any movie fan interested in the components of live theater will adore Topsy-Turvy.
Al Pacino’s lifelong infatuation with Shakespeare’s Richard III provides the basis for the intelligent and riveting Looking For Richard (1996). With a few of his friends (Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder, Estelle Parsons, Aidan Quinn, et al) Pacino first dissects a scene, relates it to modern life, then the cast performs it. Another wonderful film for anyone interested in the theater, Shakespeare- or life.
A variation on this theme is the remarkable Vanya On 42nd Street (1994) in which we watch the actors, director and small audience experience Chekov’s Uncle Vanya. Director Louis Malle’s version of David Mamet’s play is almost hypnotic as we watch the actors become the characters and the rehearsal become the play, and both somehow become real life. Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory and Julianne Moore head a fine cast.
Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway (1994) is his take on the creative process involved in live theater. Diane Wiest (Oscar, best supporting actress), John Cusak, Chaz Palmienteri, and Jennifer Tilly have a ball in this constantly funny and engaging film. Cusak is a struggling playwright who sells out in a heartbeat to get his
play produced, even if involves placating the mob and casting their moll as the heroine. One of Woody’s delightful entertainments, without a serious bone in its body.
Shakespeare In Love (1998) brought the Bard to the masses, enchanted everyone with its humor and heart, and won the Oscar for best movie. Gwyneth Paltrow (Oscar), Joseph Fiennes, Judy Dench (Oscar) and Geoffrey Rush gleefully lead this romp through 16th century theater. Shakespeare decides against “Romeo and Ethel” as a title, and decides to leave out the pirates in his latest play. He also strives to get paid rather than to get famous.
Annette Bening owns Being Julia (2004) lock, stock and barrel, but that’s ok because she is absolutely super as an aging actress who still knows a trick or two. She seems always “on stage” to her college-aged son and her producer-husband (Jeremy Irons). She is roughly pushed aside by a director and young ingenue. Then she pushes back!
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are suitable for children 12 and over.
A splendid, and somewhat overlooked, movie from 1999 is Topsy-Turvy, an entertaining biography of the famous operetta composers, Gilbert and Sullivan. It is also a fascinating look backstage at the world of theater and a delightful glimpse at the rigors of writing and producing for the stage. Any movie fan interested in the components of live theater will adore Topsy-Turvy.
Al Pacino’s lifelong infatuation with Shakespeare’s Richard III provides the basis for the intelligent and riveting Looking For Richard (1996). With a few of his friends (Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder, Estelle Parsons, Aidan Quinn, et al) Pacino first dissects a scene, relates it to modern life, then the cast performs it. Another wonderful film for anyone interested in the theater, Shakespeare- or life.
A variation on this theme is the remarkable Vanya On 42nd Street (1994) in which we watch the actors, director and small audience experience Chekov’s Uncle Vanya. Director Louis Malle’s version of David Mamet’s play is almost hypnotic as we watch the actors become the characters and the rehearsal become the play, and both somehow become real life. Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory and Julianne Moore head a fine cast.
Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway (1994) is his take on the creative process involved in live theater. Diane Wiest (Oscar, best supporting actress), John Cusak, Chaz Palmienteri, and Jennifer Tilly have a ball in this constantly funny and engaging film. Cusak is a struggling playwright who sells out in a heartbeat to get his
play produced, even if involves placating the mob and casting their moll as the heroine. One of Woody’s delightful entertainments, without a serious bone in its body.
Shakespeare In Love (1998) brought the Bard to the masses, enchanted everyone with its humor and heart, and won the Oscar for best movie. Gwyneth Paltrow (Oscar), Joseph Fiennes, Judy Dench (Oscar) and Geoffrey Rush gleefully lead this romp through 16th century theater. Shakespeare decides against “Romeo and Ethel” as a title, and decides to leave out the pirates in his latest play. He also strives to get paid rather than to get famous.
Annette Bening owns Being Julia (2004) lock, stock and barrel, but that’s ok because she is absolutely super as an aging actress who still knows a trick or two. She seems always “on stage” to her college-aged son and her producer-husband (Jeremy Irons). She is roughly pushed aside by a director and young ingenue. Then she pushes back!
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are suitable for children 12 and over.
Sunday, October 6, 2019
WEDDING BELLS
Weddings are an excellent movie subject, and one of the most popular was the exuberant My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), which unknown Nia Vardalos wrote and starred in. It is a tremendous amount of fun. The contrast between the bride’s seemingly unending bevy of outgoing, emotional relatives and the groom’s buttoned up Ivy League parents is constantly funny, and you’ll learn of the healing properties of Windex!
Implausible as it may seem, an even better ethnic wedding film than Greek Wedding appeared the year before, and is almost unknown. Monsoon Wedding (2001) is the story of an arranged Indian wedding priced way beyond the means of the bride’s doting parents. By turns humorous and serious, it examines the tangled web of families, traditions, secrets and loyalties in new and exciting ways.
Another excellent sleeper is Muriel’s Wedding (1994 Australia) in which our heroine leaves the farm for the bright lights of Sydney with her adventurous girlfriend and gets married for all the wrong reasons. Constantly surprising, and with a cast of little-known Aussie actors, this is a treasure about what is important and what is not.
Weighing in from England is the delightful Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). This is the movie that introduced us to the charmingly awkward Hugh Grant and to the icily beautiful Andie MacDowell. Mr. Grant is a confirmed good-time guy who suddenly notices that all his friends are tying the knot. Playing the field no longer seems such a great idea. Ms. MacDowell captures his heart and is harder to get than a
moon rock. There are delightful moments at all the weddings, and at the funeral. Milestone events are sometimes a wake-up call, even for a good-natured rake like Mr. Grant.
Julia Roberts’ best friend in My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) isn’t a girl, it’s childhood buddy Dermot Mulroney. The two had pledged that if they were both still single at age 28, they’d just marry each other. But Mulroney shows up with fiancé Cameron Diaz, and Ms. Roberts goes pleasantly ballistic, trying all sorts of subtle and obvious ploys to sabotage the wedding. I’ll let you find out how it ends.
Other good wedding movies include Father of the Bride (1950) with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor. The 1991 remake with Steve Martin is a pale imitation. For something completely different, there’s Robert Altman’s A Wedding (1978) with his usual cast of thousands and disjointed story line.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are fine for 10 and up.
Weddings are an excellent movie subject, and one of the most popular was the exuberant My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), which unknown Nia Vardalos wrote and starred in. It is a tremendous amount of fun. The contrast between the bride’s seemingly unending bevy of outgoing, emotional relatives and the groom’s buttoned up Ivy League parents is constantly funny, and you’ll learn of the healing properties of Windex!
Implausible as it may seem, an even better ethnic wedding film than Greek Wedding appeared the year before, and is almost unknown. Monsoon Wedding (2001) is the story of an arranged Indian wedding priced way beyond the means of the bride’s doting parents. By turns humorous and serious, it examines the tangled web of families, traditions, secrets and loyalties in new and exciting ways.
Another excellent sleeper is Muriel’s Wedding (1994 Australia) in which our heroine leaves the farm for the bright lights of Sydney with her adventurous girlfriend and gets married for all the wrong reasons. Constantly surprising, and with a cast of little-known Aussie actors, this is a treasure about what is important and what is not.
Weighing in from England is the delightful Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). This is the movie that introduced us to the charmingly awkward Hugh Grant and to the icily beautiful Andie MacDowell. Mr. Grant is a confirmed good-time guy who suddenly notices that all his friends are tying the knot. Playing the field no longer seems such a great idea. Ms. MacDowell captures his heart and is harder to get than a
moon rock. There are delightful moments at all the weddings, and at the funeral. Milestone events are sometimes a wake-up call, even for a good-natured rake like Mr. Grant.
Julia Roberts’ best friend in My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) isn’t a girl, it’s childhood buddy Dermot Mulroney. The two had pledged that if they were both still single at age 28, they’d just marry each other. But Mulroney shows up with fiancé Cameron Diaz, and Ms. Roberts goes pleasantly ballistic, trying all sorts of subtle and obvious ploys to sabotage the wedding. I’ll let you find out how it ends.
Other good wedding movies include Father of the Bride (1950) with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor. The 1991 remake with Steve Martin is a pale imitation. For something completely different, there’s Robert Altman’s A Wedding (1978) with his usual cast of thousands and disjointed story line.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are fine for 10 and up.
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