I just remembered that I watched Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band (1978), starring Peter Frampton as Billy Shears and The Bee Gees as the Hendersons last week. I don’t think I’d watched that flick in maybe 25 years or more. It was quite a little slice of nostalgia. I turned 13 in the summer of '78 so it’s a strong memory well - those satin suits, cheesy digital video sweeps, synthesizer robot voices. If I recall, my sister was really into it because Peter Frampton was cute. I got into it because I liked the tunes. At 12 years old, I don’t think I’d even heard the actual Beatle’s Sgt. Pepper record. That was the acorn of my Beatle-mania in my high school/college years.
As for the movie, oh it’s horrendous. The story is patched together from various songs from various Beatles records - Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road and Let It Be. Frampton and The Bee Gees look cool but they can’t act for shit. Eighty-Two year old George Burns buck-and-wings it through “Fixing a Hole” and creepy as fuck Frankie Howard as Mean Mr. Mustard drools over the heroine Strawberry Fields. At this point I’d just to add that Sandy Farina, as the aforementioned Strawberry, was a big piece of my summer as I was entering puberty as well … I digress.
I frequently bitch about stupid deus ex machina endings in movies, but the one in this one, featuring Billy Preston in a gold suit and coronet singing “Get Back” - spoiler, sorry - is the best ever.
Sabra
A short documentary about the noted Vermont painter and engraver Sabra Field, who’s long been a favorite of mine. A nice profile of her, with some exploration of how she conceives and creates her work (if you want to see some examples, scroll down here: Sabra Field Collection Archives - Jeanne Amato).
When Harry Met Sally
Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan star in this Eighties NYC romcom about how men and women just can’t be friends anymore once they have sex… or can they? Still a lot of fun.
Becoming
Recent biopic documentary about Michelle Obama, built around her national tour promoting her memoir of the same title. An interesting fly-on-the-wall portrayal of a smart, charismatic woman trying to use her fame to do some good in the world.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The epic conclusion to the Tolkien film trilogy. Overlong but a feast for the eyes, with some great character moments (my favorite Gandalf line: “In fact, it’s better if you don’t speak at all, Peregrin Took”).
84 Charing Cross Road
Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins star as a snarky American writer and a genteel British bookseller who bond over a long, warm, literate correspondence. The perfect movie for any Anglophile or bibliophile.
We slogged through “Fall of the Roman Empire”, another epic from the 60s with a cast of thousands. It occurred to me that Alec Guiness has always looked old.
Carrie Pilby on Netflix.
A surprisingly enjoyable movie. The description makes it seem a bit bland: coming-of-age movie of a young girl. There are no tons of action, amazing jokes or impossibly beautiful actors. I started on a whim and found it extremely easy to just continue, which is uncommon in the Netflix age. The lead actress, Bel Powley, is not obviously pretty but has considerable screen presence, she effortlessly kept my attention. All the actors seem to work well together.
The writing doesn’t draw attention to itself but seems good, the dialogue flows well and there is sufficient humour. The movie has the looks and music of its genre, but here it works. I think it may be because of the fairly brisk cutting, no overly long lingering mood shots which is the bane of feelies. This is how these kinds of movies should be done.
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Loved it so much that I immediately ordered the DVD (still not available until next week or so). Iannucci turns the story into a very entertaining comedy with many touching moments. And the casting choices are brilliant. Fun to read the reviews, as well, if only to see people try to come up with better ways of saying “I’m not a racist, but…”.
The Square on Hulu. It kind of defies description, and I really wish someone could explain what is going on in some scenes. On its surface, it’s a scathing rebuke of art museums and the art world (and does that well), but within that context, some scenes are just bizarre.
My daughter wanted to watch a BAD movie the other night, so after dinner the whole family sat down to watch -
Velocipastor.
About a Catholic priest who sees his parents murdered, goes to China, gains the power to turn into a dinosaur, and is convinced by a hooker with a heart of gold to fight crime.
Yeah, it’s as bad as it sounds, but certainly funny in a bad Attack of the Killer Tomatos way.
I heard about that and was looking forward to it, but it’s not yet available in the US. But if you like film adaptations of Charles Dickens’ novels, I quite liked the 2002 version of Nicholas Nickleby, starring Charlie Hunnam, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Bell, Nathan Lane, Alan Cumming and Dame Edna.
Tried to watch Da 5 Bloods, a Spike Lee film for Netflix. Worst fucking movie I’ve looked at in a long time. Five geriatric guys go back to Vietnam to retrieve a fortune in gold and their buddy’s bones. Terrible editing. Terrible, implausible plot. Atrocious sound. Bad music track. Unbelievable situations and huge continuity issues. We made through about an hour, both thinking that the other was enjoying it.
Don’t you hate it when that happens? If we’re watching something that sucks, I make sure to give my husband lots of side-eye so he knows it’s okay to change it.
Basically this is a doc that refutes Vincent Bugliosis whole Helter Skelter spiel (as have several new books) and presents a far more logical and compelling motive for the Tate/LaBianca murders. Narrated by Rob Zombie. I found it fascinating. But it only examines the tip of the iceburg. Thanks to the lockdown Ive been reading a whole lot more. These two books are far more detailed and make for some interesting reading. 50 years after the facts, there are still things that are being hidden by the government about this case.
Re Uncut Gems: I didn’t think Sandler was that bad, but the film had a lot of other problems. Way too long, for one; it could have been trimmed by at least 30 minutes without losing anything.
Too many chaotic everybody-talking-at-once scenes. And a dearth of likeable characters. There was nobody I wanted to root for; even Kevin Garnett playing himself comes across as an asshole.
Finally got around to Knives Out the other day. I was expecting a madcap comedy, which it wasn’t, but I loved it anyway. Some great performances and a good fresh take on a tired old genre.
Yeah, I don’t understand that in the least. There is a lot of exposition about how blacks have been treated throughout history, which has little to do with the “plot”. While it’s interesting, it’s nothing new, and would be better served in a documentary. Also, that whole narrative about how Vietnam was a black man’s war while all the whites sat in college with deferments is iffy at best. According to Lee, it would seem that African Americans won WWII single-handedly. As a student of history, this sort of simplistic rhetoric is offensive to me. If the 92% is by critics, they should find another line of work. If it’s by viewers, I could maybe see that because of the viewer demographics.
I agree with everything about your take on Knives Out, but would dispute your assessment of the genre. It may have been tired 50 years ago but that makes it ready for a comeback. When did we last get an whodunit murder mystery?
I started to watch Uncut Gems, but when it got to the point where Sandler’s character pawned Kevin Garnett’s NBA Championship ring to pay off a debt, I decided I knew where the rest of the movie was going and I gave up. If, as Wheelz mention, there was one redeeming character or something I gave the least shit about happening I may have stuck it out. I might give it another shot sooner later. I hate being in the dark.
