Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Spotlight (2015)

Not since No Country for Old Men (2007) had I been so reluctant to watch an Academy Best Picture. It's a rather disturbing subject, especially to a member of the Roman Catholic Church congregation (I've lost faith but still sing in the choir). Besides, with only one other Oscar, how deserving could it be?

Set mainly in 2001, when allegations of child sexual abuse by priests were nothing new, this drama puts the, y'know, spotlight on The Boston Globe, particularly its four "Spotlight" section team members. New editor-in-chief Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) thinks they've given too short shrift to such scandals, not least because local Cardinal Law (whose name confused me for a while) has been implicated in trying to hide a recent one. Remember, cardinals rank higher than archbishops, just short of the Pope. If the Globe finds compelling evidence of systematic cover-ups, it'll be big news indeed. But this endeavor faces a lot of obstacles, and not just in the form of direct Church power -- which, surprisingly enough, never really issues a threat.

Monday, April 25, 2016

Princes and Princesses (2000)

France does a pretty good job on the animated feature front, albeit with a rather quirky focus. I had previously known director Michel Ocelot only for Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest, which, while not my idea of impressive (the graphics evoke The Sims 2), at least expresses a whimsy that I value in my viewings. This other Princes movie offers more interesting visuals -- namely silhouettes, almost like a smoother version of The Adventures of Prince Achmed.

In just 62 minutes before the end credits, we see six fairy tales of a sort, mostly including at least one royal character. The unifying structure consists of two adolescents and a middle-aged man rapidly deciding what kind of stories they want to tell, assembling their costumes via retro-futuristic technology, and putting on plays on a peculiar stage.

Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Ordinarily, I would skip this. I can enjoy movies set in African-American ghettos (Boyz n the Hood, Do the Right Thing) and biopics about musicians whose music doesn't do much for me (Coal Miner's Daughter, Walk the Line), but the godfathers of gangsta rap really didn't interest me. Only claims that it was unfairly passed over at the Oscars sparked my interest, followed by the high praise from the big three rating sites.

About all I knew going in was that N.W.A (that's the correct punctuation), an offensively named group that included later successful solo artists Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, made an early-'90s album with the same title as the movie, its cover showing four guys standing over the camera on the ground, Eazy-E about to shoot it (or having just shot it). Little did I know that they had brought more of a thuggish image to the music scene than ever before, drawing even the FBI's attention. The story documents their rise and, before long, heated breakup.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

After the Thin Man (1936)

I remember very little from my viewing of The Thin Man (1934) years ago. I'm pretty sure it didn't do much for me. So why watch the immediate sequel? Partly as a refresher course for the iconic characters of Nick Charles (William Powell) and his wife Nora (Myrna Loy). Besides, perhaps they're an acquired taste like the alcohol Nick constantly consumes. Or for another drink analogy, perhaps my taste gets better with age.

From the looks of it, this story begins almost immediately after the events of the previous. The detective duo is receiving lots of positive attention from the media, tho Nick finds himself getting more from the riffraff types on the street. It serves to highlight the difference in background between him and aristocratic Nora. Nick would like never to take another case, but this time it's a family matter, and Nora's haughty aunt would rather call on a despised in-law than let the police handle it.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Mr. Skeffington (1944)

I immediately found this title a little odd, because Bette Davis's face takes up the poster. Indeed, her character of Fanny Trellis/Skeffington gets the bulk of the screen time and is no less interesting than Claude Rains as Job Skeffington. Why not Mrs. Skeffington? Surely her marriage in the first act comes as no surprise to any viewer, especially those who read even the briefest summaries.

Fanny starts out as the most sought-after bachelorette in New York in 1914. Little do her suitors know that her aristocratic parties hide the truth: Her good-for-nothing brother Trippy has spent the bulk of their fortune, and his crimes to acquire more only dig them deeper. But Trippy's titular boss already takes an interest in Fanny and offers himself as a rich and forgiving husband -- even letting her continue to entertain suitors. Of course, marriages of "convenience" have a habit of being inconvenient in other ways.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

When Marnie Was There (2014)

I make a point to watch more than half the Academy Best Animated Feature nominees in any given year. I had seen two from 2015 already and may add Boy & the World, but Anomalisa sounds disturbing. Coming on the heels of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and The Wind Rises, WMWT marks the first time that Studio Ghibli got three back-to-back nominations, tho still no Oscar since Spirited Away.

The setting appears to be '60s Japan. Twelve-year-old Anna starts the movie as a self-loathing loner, stressed enough to compound her asthma. Her foster parents send her on a wellness trip to the country home of...let's call them her aunt and uncle. At first she's still depressed, but she takes interest in a reportedly abandoned mansion that somehow seems familiar -- and meets a same-age girl living there, eager to take a break from an oppressive home life. The two form a strong if secret bond in no time, but something seems off about Marnie's appearances and disappearances, as well as Anna's tendency to wake up a ways from where she thought she was. Anna starts to question Marnie's reality, and the plot gets a little more complicated....

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)

I was starting to think that I shouldn't bother seeing any more films about inspirational teachers. They're usually enjoyable, but they threaten to run together after a while. MHO triggered a further alarm by having a pretty long runtime: 2:23. I did note that Glenn Holland was a music teacher, but would school band music soothe me enough to sustain my interest? Then I remembered how much fun it was to watch Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl and made up my mind.

The film begins in the early '60s, when Holland joins the faculty of a high school newly renamed after JFK. He just wants to pay the bills while hoping for his big break as an orchestral composer, but teaching is not for the half-hearted. The students seem even less-hearted, if you will, until he figures out how to speak their musical language -- to the dismay of the principal (Olympia Dukakis) and especially the vice principal (William H. Macy), who fear backlash from rock 'n' roll-hating parents. After that, Holland nearly forgets his ambitions, continuing to teach for the next three decades.

Hard Times (1975)

I think I chose this movie because I enjoyed Charles Bronson and James Coburn for their roles in westerns, including as two of The Magnificent Seven. In a supporting role is Strother Martin, another western staple. It seemed a little odd to see them all together in a non-western, but they're still recognizable in character.

As befits the title, it's set in the Depression Era. The dour, laconic, brawny Chaney (Bronson) drifts into New Orleans and soon forms a partnership with the curiously nicknamed Speed (Coburn), wherein Chaney street-fights and Speed promotes and takes bets on him. This is not the most reliable way to make money, nor does Speed handle his share wisely. He owes a debt to a dangerous sort, but Chaney seems not to care about his partner beyond the terms of their spoken contract...at first.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Moby Dick (1956)

Even after getting burned by Lynch's Dune, I make a point to watch adaptations from famous novels I'm unlikely to read. Oh, I do read long and heady books for leisure, but enough people have deemed Herman Melville's classic dull that I'd rather take a chance on a two-hour vicarious boat ride, particularly one with respectable IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes scores as well as reputedly decent fidelity. (I didn't trust the facetious stage musical.) Being in a poor position to evaluate the fidelity, I must settle for the cinematic quality.

You should all know the story's gist: Nineteenth-century whaling ship captain Ahab (Gregory Peck) unwisely seeks vengeance on the oddly named white whale. Little did I imagine how late in the story narrator Ishmael (Richard Basehart) sees Ahab's face or hears his voice. I think the island savage Queequeg gets more screen time. Guess Ahab, for all his obsession, has the most stand-out personality on the Pequod. I hardly know how to describe first mate Starbuck (Leo Genn), and he's one of the more famous characters. We learn a lot more names, but in this capsulized edition, they hardly seem worth remembering; only the cabin boy gets my sympathy.