Not a horror movie despite the title. Just wanted to get that out of the way.
This movie, at least for about 90% of it, is about a company trying to build a glamping(glamorous camping) site near a village(?) of people who really don’t want their area infiltrated by it. Numerous issues are brought up by the community and even some of the workers for the construction company are persuaded this is just not going to work without negative impacts on the village and its residents.
Despite the very slow and deliberate style of the movie, I was pretty gripped. It is, however, the final 10 minutes or so that will dominate any discussion of this movie and it is not possible to discuss without full spoilers. I had to go online and read about what others said just to make sure I fully processed this movie’s ending.
Anyway, it was quite good and not overly long. I liked the movie quite a bit.
Two movies with horror movie titles that aren’t: Evil Does Not Exist and I Saw The Devil
It kind of reminded me of Annihilation, another movie by the same director. It’s not so much a tightly plotted story as a journey through a surreal landscape. A series of episodes. I really liked it, but I can see why someone wouldn’t.
I guess. I liked Alex Garland at his strangest, which would include Annihilation and Men(!). This was probably his most standard movie so far, but still very impressive. I can’t help but think of Full Metal Jacket. The anticipation of Full Metal Jacket was huge; all anyone knew was: Kubrick. Vietnam War Movie. And to a certain extent, it delivered that. But it also kind of didn’t in the way people expected.
Same with this. I think people expected something quite different than Civil War is. It’s a great movie and will stand the test of time. I still remember Ebert giving Full Metal Jacket “thumbs down”, which I think he did fully due to his own expectations that were not met.
Civil War will be remembered very well, even if it takes a few years. I already want to see it again.
It was on TCM this morning for Memorial Day. True story about Joe McConnell who flew F-86 Sabres in Korea. Triple Ace with 16 confirmed kills.and a chest full of medals. He died after the war as a Test Pilot.
I used to like the movie. I’ve it seen several times since childhood.
It hasn’t aged well. There’s a lot of sexism. He put his wife through hell by constantly requesting new assignments and getting transferred. He wouldn’t tell her about the transfer until the very last minute. It’s treated like a joke in the movie. Honey I’m leaving in the morning. She’s left behind to pack, arrange the move, and find a new house.
He buys a house lot without consulting her. Surprise!. Men’s attitudes have changed significantly since 1950.
Risks his life constantly in Korea. Gets shot down, rescued from the ocean, and is back flying the next day with another MiG kill. You can smell the testosterone through the tv screen.
After all that you’d think he’d come home and be a good husband and father to his 4 kids. Instead he volunteers for the Test Pilot program and gets killed. Leaving his wife to pick up the pieces.
It’s still a good movie. Excellent performances by Ladd and June Allyson. But it is a time capsule from a much different era.
There are many similarities between Joe McConnell and Chuck Yeager.
They were only a year apart in age. Both men had fairly unremarkable flying careers in WWII. Korea gave them the chance to fly Jets and become Aces. Both were in the Test Pilot program after the war.
Yeager flew the same plane that killed McConnell. Yeager knew what to expect, recreated the problem, and survived the malfunction. Yeager was a more experienced Test Pilot that broke the sound barrier before the Korean War.
That reminds me to add The Right Stuff to my movie queue.
??? Yeager was quite good in WWII. He ended with 11.5 kills including 5 (an Ace rating) in a single day. He also took out a German jet. Something few pilots can claim. He was shot down over France early in his tour, got to Spain and then back to the UK where he personally argued with Ike into letting him fly in combat again. (Downed “evader” pilots had not been allowed to fly again over enemy held territory.)
Marriage Story (2019). Stars Adam Driver as a New York based Broadway theater director and Scarlett Johansson as his wife who lands a leading role in an LA-based television series. Also starring Alan Alda, Laura Dern, and Ray Liotta in supporting roles. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach. As the geographic separation adds to an already-stressed marriage, the wife formally files for divorce, which was supposed to be amicable but becomes increasingly acrimonious amid concerns over their young son.
This film certainly boasts an impressive pedigree, and did indeed garner many nominations and wins including six Oscar nominations. And yet, somehow it just didn’t connect with me. I found Kramer vs Kramer much more compelling. And even though both Driver and Johansson put in terrific performances, to me their characters just came across as unsympathetic rich assholes with high-priced lawyers. YMMV.
This one probably isn’t for everyone. It’s a documentary: There’s trailers on YouTube and you can also pay for it it there and see it on a bunch of platforms.
Carol Doda Topless At The Condor
I remember reading about her first in a Tom Wolfe essay collection. Picked up a little bit more over the years but not really much. This doc really covers her life in the 60s and 70s well. How she became the first “celebrity” topless dancer at the Condor Club in SF.
Carol is treated really well. Yeah, she wasn’t perfect but they highlight her humor and struggles in a nice way. They esp. don’t drag her down as some sort of anti-feminist. She was pulling for herself and other women in an alternate way.
The hypocrisy of the times is nicely called out. Barry Goldwater’s two sons went to see her during the 64 GOP convention which nominated their dad. Walter Kronkite went to the club whenever he was in town. Etc.
Wrapping up my month long Memorial Day movie watching. It has been many years since I watched these WWII classics. The last time I watched a marathon of war movies required DVD rentals at Blockbuster.
There’s still several classic war movies I didn’t watch in May 2024. Perhaps, I’ll watch them next May 2025.
I haven’t seen Final Countdown before. It’s an interesting Time Travel question. Would you use a modern Aircraft carrier to alter history and prevent the attack on Pearl Harbor?
Destroying the Japanese Fleet would probably cripple Japan’s imperialistic ambitions and prevent the War in the Pacific.
Fun movie with several interesting twists. I recommend it.
The thing about that movie that always gets me is 1980 was only thirty-six years past the end of World War II and 1980 was forty-four years ago. The whole theme of the movie was - look all this keen technology we have now, we could crush Japan conventionally. How much more keen is our technology now than in 1980? If we sent an aircraft carrier back to 1980, could we rout Russia in a weekend?
Random question here: Is this thread the place for posting about and discussing series/TV shows, for instance Breaking Bad? If not, is there a thread devoted to such discussions?
Being There (1979). Peter Sellers is Chance the gardener, who has lived in a large house his whole life and has never been allowed out. He tends to the garden and spends his free time watching television. He is fed all his meals by the owner’s maid.
He grows up a simple man-child with no experience of the real world. When the owner dies, attorneys close the house and Chance is thrown out into the world. He is struck by the limo of a weathy woman and suffers a minor injury, so is taken to her gigantic mansion to recover. On the way, the woman mishears “Chance the gardener” as “Chauncey Gardiner” and that becomes his name from then on.
The woman’s husband is extremely wealthy and politically connected, and Chauncey Gardiner is thrust into this world. As he interacts with media and meets with the president of the US, what follows is a beautiful parody as Chauncey’s simple childlike pronouncements are re-interpreted as profound metaphors, a parody that is warm and poignant at times but mostly hilarious! He becomes a darling of the media. The US president demands information on his background and when absolutely no information is forthcoming, which seems impossible, the FBI and CIA accuse each other of destroying his file.
Highly recommended. Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel each independently awarded this movie a perfect four stars.
The final scene as written was supposed to be Eve finding Chauncey at the side of the lake, the two declaring their love for each other, and walking back together. Instead it was reworked at the insistence of the director Hal Ashby, and personally I think it’s a pointless attempt to be “clever” and pose a frivolous enigma that’s inconsistent with the rest of the film.
Regardless of how you feel about the ending, Chance was definitely one of Peter Sellers’ greatest performances. It earned him his second Best Actor Oscar nomination.