Tom Hanks just keeps on making highly enjoyable movies
I watched Elvis with Hanks as Colonel Parker. Rented it on Prime.
A lot has been learned since Elvis died. Parker was actually from Holland. Worked in Carnivals after coming to the US. He took that approach to managing and promoting Elvis.
Elvis was Parker’s ultimate attraction. The dancing bear in a skirt.
It can be argued that Elvis would have quickly fizzled out without Parker’s promotion. But, Parker also held Elvis back creatively in many ways.
The movie explores the complicated relationship between Parker and Elvis. I enjoyed the movie and recommend it
Central Station. Beautifully done Brazilian film about an orphaned boy and the complicated older woman who takes him under wing. It shows rather than tells and is the more moving for that. I loved all the characters by the end. Even though some weren’t especially likable at first (especially Dora, the older woman). The actor who played her, Fernanda Montenegro was the first Brazilian woman to be nominated for a best actress Academy Award. Richly deserved.
Attack the Block. Aliens attack a block (in UK parlance, this means a large apartment building). Teens, a couple of little kids, a young nurse, and “employees” of a marijuana enterprise in the penthouse suite battle the aliens. Can be enjoyed on a superficial kill-the-baddies basis, it also has a few social points to make without being preachy. Also, a lot of laughs. Definitely entertaining.
Travels with My Aunt. Maggie Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for this role, but I thought she was mannered and over-the-top…not in a good way. It’s like they wanted to remake Auntie Mame, but removed all the charm and panache that made the original a lot of fun. I read that Graham Greene (who wrote the book – not the script) wrote the book specifically to be made into a movie. He hated the movie. I have to say it’s my least favorite movie made from a Graham Greene book. The actor who played the nephew (Alec Cowan?) was kind of a lummox whose last minute conversion to his aunt’s philosophy was unconvincing. Lou Gossett and Cindy Williams, though, were both good in smaller parts. Not recommended.
Saw it in the theater when I was a kid. I do respect Tom Hanks for praising it during his Inside the Actors Studio episode. He said something like, “Truth be told, I learned a ton about movie making on Turner and Hootch. More than something like Forest Gump.”
I had NO idea back then that Henry Winkler was signed on to direct it and began directing the movie…only to, get this, not get along with Tom Hanks.
Winkler has spoken about it. He’s one of the few people out there that did not get along with Hanks. He said, “I preferred Hootch to Turner, if you can believe that.”
They have spoken about it briefly. It’s all in the past now; the two don’t seem to be holding hard feelings. It just did not work out creatively and personality wise.
Joker 2, now streaming on Max. I gotta say, I kinda liked it…
In some ways, I’d say Joker to Joker 2 is analogous to Gremlins to Gremlins 2 (in that the sequel is clearly taking a jab at the first installment and, perhaps, its devotees). Some… meta commentary, you might call it.
Spirited, the Ryan Reynolds/Will Ferrell take on The Christmas Carol. The actual story was…fine. A few laughs, a lot of general goofiness, some minor fourth-wall breaks, and an enormous number of immediately forgettable songs in aid of a bromance-comedy (bromcom?) with some actual rom as B-plot (if not C-plot).
The one thing that makes it stand out so much is the sheer number of singing, dancing extras constantly on display. It’s like they cleared out every stage school in the US and Canada for this one.
It’s decent mindless Christmas fare (I liked it better than Scrooged FWIW) but if you don’t see it you haven’t missed much.
Watched Carry-on last night that was just released on Netflix. Another Die Hard wannabe which is fine and we could probably use more of. Set at LAX on Christmas Eve a terrorist wants to get his suspicious carry-on bag through security, finds what they think is a gullible TSA agent and pull the old “just let the bag through security and we won’t kill your loved one.”
Not a bad, mindless action flick but if you pick at it falls apart quickly. LAX is a fun setting but areas in and around it are either over crowded or completely desolate depending on what the plot needs at that time. (Do you really think you could find a completely empty restroom at LAX on Xmas eve?)
The cast was pretty good and it moved briskly. Just ignore the implausibilities or have fun pointing them out.
I had forgotten this movie was made. I saw it on TCM’s schedule and was surprised. I must have seen it at least once, but don’t remember.
TCM’s copy is badly faded and it needs remastering.
The movie is ok. The most interesting element is the military’s efforts to make MacArthur a inspiring symbol. His army had been throughly defeated in the Philippines and then MacArthur evacuated from
Corregidor. Australia and New Guinea was his next assignment. The public needed hope and a military leader. A egotistical General who just failed in the Philippines.
The movie covers McArthur’s evacuation in PT Boats, and dramatic comeback in Australia. That’s the best part of the movie. The rest skips through MacArthurs war role, supreme commander for the Allied powers (SCAP) in Japan, and then his firing in Korea.
I think the film was too ambitious and I lost interest in the 2nd hour of the film. There just wasn’t enough historical detail.
The Meg 2: The Trench. Entertaining flick. The fact that the female lead ( Lei Bingbing) didn’t come back but isn’t really mentioned in the movie is weird. No idea if/how they will do another.
I wanna watch Slotherhouse on Prime. A murderous sloth in a sorority house? Count me in!
Red One and Joker: Folie à Deux. I thought I was in for a double feature of weird and fun, big budget extravaganzas, but I found both to be joyless slogs.
I initially liked the hilarious earnestness of the characters (especially Santa and the Rock) in silly circumstances in Red One but it quickly became a familiar dumb hybrid.
There was plenty of “craft” on display in Joker but nothing I found entertaining. (The repeated ironic use of the song, “That’s Entertainment” wasn’t lost on me.)
I think they wanted to make a silly movie without silly actors, but Evans plays his character just like Reynolds would have which defeats the whole concept.
Yeah. The funniest scene is the early one of a serious bro-talk between a great actor like Simmons and the one-note Johnson. This could have been high concept parody but it went a different direction.
