“Finch” (2021) is an apocalyptic road picture/buddy movie about a man, a dog, and robot.
Tom Hanks is the man, one of the few who survive a catastrophe that devastates the world. He picks up a small dog along the way, the circumstances of which he relates with the kind of heartbreaking tone that only Tom Hanks can muster. He’s dying too, and builds the robot, which evolves into a sentient being, as someone to take care of his dog when he passes on.
There are some thrilling tornado special effects here and there, and a tense bit of menacing from unknown people he suspects will cause the trio harm, but it’s essentially a character study of a man on the edge of survival, and takes an easy approach to telling this man’s tragic yet heroic story. In it’s own way, it’s rather inspirational. And despite the bleakness of his existence, there are some comical moments too.
My wife and I are a couple of softies, and we both admit to shedding a tear or three at the inevitable ending.
“Finch” won’t appeal to everyone, and is too downbeat for younger children, but it tells a heartfelt story, and we were glad we watched it.
Available for streaming on Apple+. (We got a free three months for buying a new TV. Yay!)
While I was cleaning, I put on the Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera, probably my favorite Marx Brothers movie. I followed this with The Phantom of the Opera – the movie of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. For the first time, I watched it with subtitles on, which made a huge difference – I’ve wondered for years what some of those lyrics were. They were so distorted that it was hard to tell. I’m also afflicted with Mondegreen disease, which makes it hard for me to decipher sung lyrics. The story makes a helluva lot more sense when you can understand the lyrics.
I must be mellowing with age – I’m even willing to give Gerard Butler’s abysmal singing a pass. I’ve long said that, as a singer, he’s a great Leonidas of Sparta. But amid the many deficiencies and gaffes in his delivery I could definitely hear some Good Stuff. He as obviously working at it. Maybe it’s because, since this came out, I’ve endured Russell Crowe’s Javert in Les Miserables.
It still bothers me that they make such a big deal about The Phantom’s horrendous ugliness when he’s just got what looks like a bad case of Rosacea. Joseph Buquet even says the line about his not having a nose (and Lon Chaney, in his famous depiction, tried to give that impression), while Butler’s handsome nose is as plain as…, well, it’s pretty obvious. But life-alteringly ugly his Phantom is not. It’s distressing to find that in modern days, eve The Phantom is only “Hollywood Ugly”
I rounded out the weekend with a re-watch of North by Northwest, even though there’s no opera in it.
By the time he scored NxNW, Bernard Herrmann had basically given up on having his opera adaptation “Wuthering Heights” produced. (though he did record it in 1966, and it did get produced posthumously) So it’s kinda there lurking in the background of the score?
Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, on TCM. I was looking forward to it because I’ve heard so many things, especially here, about how incredibly hilarious it is. And while it’s technologically, impressive, I was disappointed that it just wasn’t all that funny.
Son of a Gun (2024, Paramount+) Ewan McGregor in a modern Australian prison break film. It was ok, 3 stars.
I wouldn’t watch it again, but for a date night movie that happens to feature a bit of prison rape it’s not bad.
North of Normal (2022, Paramount+) Hippy chick and irresponsible young mother of one young girl bounces around in space and time in this ‘coming of age’ tale that’s really a list of various abuse. It’s not as dark as I am making it sound and they didn’t portray it as dark as I think it really would be so let’s call it even.
Recommended if you’re desperate for a mother/daughter tale of bonding and abuse.
Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, on TCM. I was looking forward to it because I’ve heard so many things, especially here, about how incredibly hilarious it is. And while it’s technologically, impressive, I was disappointed that it just wasn’t all that funny.
I saw this once, when it was new, in a packed theater, with an audience that was probably expecting another wild and crazy Steve Martin comedy, like “The Jerk.” Many of those in attendance didn’t get the joke. (A young woman behind us, upon seeing Humphrey Bogart, said “I thought he was dead.”) And I saw it one other time on cable. Outside of the cleverly placed clips of Steve Martin interacting with bygone actors from bygone movies, which is often quite amusing if you’re a film buff, it’s rather lame, and I’ve never found it particularly funny.
DMDWP isn’t so much “funny” as “extremely clever”. I appreciate the vast amount of work that went into making a coherent film using old clips and the comedy inherent therein, but I was never going to laugh out loud at “I was just adjusting your breasts”.
The writers on DMDWP were Carl Reiner, Steve Martin, George Gipe.
George who?
Gipe was a Baltimore writer my father knew when they both worked at the Baltimore Sun. I have no idea how Gipe connected with Reiner and Martin, but he wrote this one and The Man With Two Brains. Those were his only two Hollywood credits.
He told Dad that he was with Reiner and Martin at one of those restaurants where famous people go to be seen. At one point he said, “It’s really odd to have all these people staring at me.” Gipe was a complete unknown, of course.
Reiner said, "Staring at you?
Gipe replied," Of course. Everyone in the room is looking over here and saying, ‘Who is that guy with Carl Reiner and Steve Martin?’"
Scott Pilgrim Saves the World. Is the first time I’ve seen it since 2010, and I think I liked it more understanding that the plot is him turning from being an asshole to less of an asshole. At the time I also didn’t realize how many Future Young Stars (including eventual Oscars winners ) were in it, though presumably a bunch of them or most of them were already successful.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Kieran Culkin
Anna Kendrick
Brie Larson
Aubrey Plaza
Allison Pill
Chris Evans
I think the record for casting the most future well-known actors is the 1983 film The Outsider, which starred C. Thomas Howell. Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Diane Lane, Leif Garrett, Michelle Meyrink, Tom Waits, Melanie Griffith, and Sofia Coppola.
The Last Stop in Yuma County (2023) on Paramount +.
A taut little crime thriller set in the 1970s. Pretty decent acting and set details for a low budget film. I really dug the Seventies aesthetic. It looks like a film made in 1974. Recommend if you like the strangers-in-a-diner genre. But avoid the trailer - it gives too much away.
Flow (2024). A surreal, dreamy animation centering on a cat in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic world with many signs of human artifacts and habitation, but no actual humans, just animals. The animals are caught in relentlessly rising floodwaters, and for a time take refuge on an old abandoned sailboat, where they try to get along with various degrees of success.
This is not a typical kids’ animation. There is not a word of dialog; the animals mostly act like animals; they aren’t anthropomorphized. The only sounds are animal sounds, gentle music, and occasional background noises.
This movie won tons of awards and accolades. It won the Oscar this year for Best Animated Feature and was also nominated for Best International Feature, and also won a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. Definitely recommended provided you know what to expect.
It was a three-nation collaboration with a heavy connection to Latvia, which went nuts when all the accolades started pouring in. Notably, Gints Zilbalodis was director, producer, editor, co-writer, cinematographer, and music composer! The film also notably took five and a half years to make, likely because of the small staff. Truly a labour of love.
Is Sofia Coppola the obnoxious kid at the Dairy Queen? She looked like a Coppola, but when I checked the actor’s name in the credits it was something weird like “Domino.”
Far From Heaven (2002). Watching this for the second time. I’d forgotten how good it is. Set in 1958, where Dennis Quaid is a successful executive and Julianne Moore his wife. The movie was intentionally filmed with vivid colours to symbolize the sort of idyllic view we often have of the 1950s. But as the title implies, for many people and many circumstances it was far from idyllic, even for an apparently perfect upper middle class suburban couple. Very well acted by all, especially Moore, one of my favourite actresses. Highly recommended.