I think it was exactly that, from what I recall.
I’m a big fan of Albert Brooks. Mom is a fav in our household, but I liked Lost in America, too. But I’m bored by slasher movies and comic book movies, so tastes vary, indeed.
We just got back from the new Spider-verse film. Goddamn, that’s what movies are supposed to be. Creative, visually thought out, defined characters, great score. Fantastic.
First time ever: Electra Glide In Blue with Robert Blake. Been waiting 45+ years to see it, could have waited 45+ more. Too long by a half hour; every character except Blake seems to be in their own movie and none of theirs was any good, either. The ending rips off Easy Rider and the final shot is a three minute freeze frame under a '70s type folk rock anthem. A bad anthem. Then they roll the credits. If you saw the trailer – Blake is a foot shorter than the rest of the biker cops in a line up – you’ve seen all you need to see. A waste of a good cast, including members of early '70s Chicago. I. Am. Bummed. Man.
Elemental. A lot to look at here, but the fire people (characters in a city where everyone is basically one of the four elements of antiquity) are a different breed from what we’re used to seeing in computer animation. They are not solid bodied beings, really more like line drawings filled in with yellow and orange flame, and the outlines are on fire too, not solid bodies but pure energy. I couldn’t stop staring at them.
Ember, the heroine, is the cutest cartoon female since Tinker Bell, with the same V-shaped mouth and upturned nose. Now, you may wonder how people made of flame can exist without burning up everything they touch. Well, Jimmy, fortunately they adhere strictly to the laws of Cartoon Physics - they only set fire to things they want to set fire to - when Ember is handed a citation, a piece of paper, she tucks it away, and when it’s dismissed later on, she pulls it out and poof! up it goes. Or if she accidentally does set something on fire, it’s only because it causes maximum embarrassment. See how that works?
I was pleased that there are no name actors in the cast, other than Catherine O’Hara I didn’t recognize any of the names (and her character was appropriately Catherine O’Hara-ish). Maybe the era of celebrity voice casting, and the resulting locked-in personalities that implies, is coming to an end.
Couldn’t agree more. You just go through your life watching what movies have become these days, and then you see something like this, and it shocks you out of complacency. I can’t wait for the final installment.
Free State of Jones (2016). Better than I expected, not as good as it could have been. This would have made an excellent miniseries if they’d more fully hashed out the future (late-1940s) storyline and expanded Moses’ role to make him the central figure in the final installments focusing on the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Overall, the film has a worthy message about reevaluating southern heritage and its association with the Confederacy, and by extension white supremacy itself, dispelling not only the Lost Cause myth, but also highlighting the extent to which white supremacy really doesn’t do all that much (or anything at all) to improve upon the circumstances of any but the the most privileged white men in society. Unfortunately, the film’s runtime, even at 139 minutes, isn’t enough to interweave its laudable message with the fully developed story and range of characters it needs to be a good story too.
Last week, we watched Smokey and the Bandit (1977). It’s a classic romantic comedy with Burt Reynold and Sally Field. With car chases and trucker CB lingo!
I’ve watched this film many times, but not recently. The leads are fun but not noteworthy acting. After watching the movie, I read up on it, and apparently Burt (40 years old) and Sally (29) were shacking up in the mid to late 70s. So their dewy eyes were real. 
A great performance by Jackie Gleason as a racist cop. And Jerry Reed did fine, especially with his song.
Edited to add: for Fathers’ Day, we watched Mamma Mia! (2008). Despite the name, it’s a movie about fathers. Fun jukebox musical, with great songs and dance numbers.
There’s also a gif going around of Hemsworth hiding from automatic gunfire BEHIND A LADDER.
Agreed. An interesting sidelight of the American Civil War, but it was overlong and never quite clicked as a movie, I thought.
Comcast announced recently that they’re going to stop providing a free Peacock subscription to its cable subscribers, so I spent part of the weekend trying to watch what I could on the service. So I saw the movie Renfield, starring Nicholas Cage (as Dracula) and Nicholas Hoult (as Renfield). It was OK, but not particularly great.
Well, that’s mighty high praise and I’m intrigued, because, while there are plenty of good reasons for me not to descend into old fartdom, modern filmmaking is not one of them. Has it got a lot of CGI and is it obvious?
It’s animated, so I guess it does. But it’s… DIFFERENT. It’s like they found a way to make a comic book be a movie, but not just in terms of making it look comicky. It’s more as if… well, the way that comic books express themselves, and allow the artists to really use their imagination in ways that only the graphics arts allow. It’s THAT as a movie.
Prior to the film, there was a trailer for the new Pixar movie, the one about element people, it’s like a Romeo and Juliet deal. The animation looked so boring by comparison. I am sure it’s well done and they put lots of work into it, but it looks like most Pixar films. It’s been done. The Spider-Verse movies? They have NOT been done before.
Thanks, I’ll keep it in (an open) mind!
I’ve never watched fewer movies than I do now. I know good ones are out there, but the local cineplexes feel like they’re just a parade of “content” movies. We had to go watch the new Spider-Verse though because we loved the last one, and it was just so wonderful.
Technicolor pirate programmer with plentiful action miscasts Sterling Hayden almost-beyond comprehension as a French privateer (and cad) during a 17th century war pitting England and Spain against France in the Caribbean. Hayden is aided by his loyal first-mate Michael Ansara (proving Klingons have played a role throughout human history). Rhonda Fleming has one of her best - and most historically ludicrous - parts as English pirate “Captain Rouge,” looking gorgeous whether in disguise as a slave girl or dressed up as a plantation owner in Jamaica. Other highlights include a couple well-done montages of piracy in action and an exciting climax making extensive use of miniatures as a fleet of ships attacks a well-defended coastal fort at Cartagena. Needless to say, there is much that goes ka-boom.
If you have to watch a pirate programmer – and who doesn’t, now and again? - The Golden Hawk is above-average for its type in terms of entertainment (of various kinds) offered.
I saw Elemental last weekend, and I agree with Hatchie that it was really watchable, and quite thought-provoking.
Maybe it was just that I had very low expectations—I went to a cheapo matinee mostly because I wanted to see the new, and last, “Carl and Dug” short film from the Up universe that is viewable only as a warm-up act for Elemental in theaters—but I was pleasantly surprised.
Mind you, as I’ve acknowledged round these parts before, I personally have just about the cinematographic sensibility and sophistication of a golden retriever, so I never argue with the more sentient cinema viewers who complain about a film being visually inartistic or otherwise falling short in some technical respect. But overall, for what it’s worth, Elemental struck me as quite clever and fresh.
Fast X
Um, I liked this movie. Is it high art? No. But this was actually a very entertaining movie and a huge improvement over Fast 9, which I listed as one of the absolute worst movies of 2021. This was a lot better, had a much clearer narrative, and was honestly pretty entertaining throughout.
Despite having a budget over $300 million, I still think those car effects look like a very nice PS5 game at times. Having said that, the whole thing was very slick and I enjoyed the action throughout.
I’m kind of stunned. Maybe there is a little life in this series still.
Beau is Afraid
We need to check on Ari Aster to make sure he is OK. I’m not sure what this movie says about its creator(write and director), but it certainly raises some questions. This movie is almost impossible to discuss without spoiling it, so I’ll simply leave it that you should definitely see it and don’t let this one fool you into thinking it isn’t a horror movie. It is and the final hour(it’s 3 hours!) is honestly quite terrifying.
One of the best and strangest movies from 2023 that I’ve seen so far. It was kind of a lot to take in, though. I was disturbed by this one and it has lingered.
I hope more people see it.
Well I thought for Juneteenth we should watch something involving Black Americans, but I was also in a comedy mood, so we ended up with that hallowed catalog of Black history…
Beverly Hills Cop.
Wow, 80s. Remember the 80s?
This actually held up pretty well, and with the exception of some homophobia, the jokes mostly landed. Eddie Murphy was in fact funny. And I’ve always loved Judge Reinhold in this series.
And somehow despite the subject matter we still ended up having a substantive discussion about slavery… So there’s something.