A Complete Unknown (2024)

Gosh, this is the first time in more than a year that I've gone to a theater with, or even seen a feature-length movie with, any member of my family. Specifically my dad this time. If not for his suggestion, I would likely have overlooked this title.

The story begins in 1961 when "Bobby Dylan" (Timothée Chalamet) visits the Huntington's-stricken Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) in the hospital, where he also meets a visiting Pete Seeger (Edward Norton). Dylan is indeed unknown at this point, but as his music gains big-name supporters such as Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook), he becomes rich and famous almost overnight. This does not please him, because his fans and studio execs always want to pigeonhole him when he'd rather keep trying new things.

Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (2022)

I chose this from my Netflix list largely for its relatively short 98 minutes. As for why I had it on my list in the first place, well, for all my appreciation of animation, I'd never seen anything fully rotoscoped before. Director-writer-producer Richard Linklater's big on that, I understand.

Stan narrates in adulthood (Jack Black) about his childhood (Milo Coy), specifically as an 11-year-old in a Houston suburb in 1969. His father (Bill Wise) works for NASA in a dull but pretty important capacity. Perhaps that's part of why NASA reps invite Stan to go to the moon a few days ahead of Apollo 11, because they've accidentally built a capsule too small for most adults. The mission is so secret that they fake photos to convince his big family he's going to a typical camp.

Jim Henson: Idea Man (2024)

I was just short of eight years old when Jim Henson died. To me, the Muppets have never been the same since. I already knew a fair bit about him before this documentary arrived, but after seeing enough hype, I decided it would make a nice palate cleanser.

The 108 minutes consist largely of relatives and co-workers talking about the life of Henson, peppered with brief clips of his works. Like Won't You Be My Neighbor?, it has a few supplementary simple animations. Unlike WYBMN?, it holds pretty strongly to chronological order. There's little focus on Henson's later efforts such as Fraggle Rock.

First Man (2018)

I finally decided to give Damien Chazelle another shot. Perhaps the lack of jazz would help my appreciation. And the fact that he only directed and produced rather than wrote this time. Of course, even if he were the writer, he could do only so much to a famous true story.

The pic follows Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) from a 1961 spaceplane flight to shortly after returning from the moon. (I didn't know about the quarantine then; contagious lunar pathogens would be the least of my worries.) Quite a few obstacles occur in between: Cosmonauts have been winning every match in the Space Race, some tests end in disaster, and public opposition to this use of tax dollars is increasing. On a more personal level, Neil mourns a daughter recently lost to cancer but refuses to take time off, and his wife (Claire Foy), while supportive of his career, frets that she'll be the next astronaut widow.

Nyad (2023)

I knew almost nothing going in, except that Netflix recommended it when I asked for a yet-unavailable Oscar nominee. It has a higher IMDb rating than several other suggestions, tho 7.1 is still pretty low as these things go.

Diana Nyad (Annette Bening) gained fame in the '70s for setting distance swim records. Most of the movie is set in the 2010s, when she's in her early 60s. To fight boredom, she starts swimming again. In fact, she plans to do what she failed to do at 28 and what no one else has done: swim from Cuba to Key West. Few people have any confidence that she can, but her determination wins support, however shaky, from close friend Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster) and navigator John Bartlett (Rhys Ifans). Indeed, Diana gets a boat with dozens of people to sail alongside her for food, drink, medicine, defense against sharks, and rescue if needed. It's as expensive as it is dangerous, yet she'll try as many times as it takes to reach the goal or die. You've probably guessed correctly that this story wouldn't be told unless she made it, albeit on the fifth attempt.

One, Two, Three (1961)

It took me a while to understand the reason for this movie's title. The story is based pretty loosely on a Ferenc Molnár play by the same title in Hungarian. Both use the counting briefly in dialog to indicate a hurry, which befits a His Girl Friday-like pace. In light of that, I would have omitted the commas and possibly added a comedic exclamation point, but too late now.

In West Berlin shortly before the wall construction, "Mac" McNamara (James Cagney) leads business operations and hopes to get promoted further, which would explain why he agrees to host Scarlett (Pamela Tiffin), freewheeling 17-year-old daughter of his boss (Howard St. John), at his home for two weeks. Most of the plot takes place two months later, when Scarlett is still there -- and has just eloped with avid communist Otto (Horst Buchholz). Fearing a blacklisting when her father finds out in the near future, Mac tries to get Otto put away for the long haul. Then he learns that Scarlett is pregnant, so it would be better to give Otto a Pygmalion treatment in a matter of hours....

Oppenheimer (2023)

I knew my dad and I would have to see this while it was still in theaters. Not only is it popular, but it loses something on a smaller screen. Not that nuclear explosions, "real" or imagined, make up much of the three hours.

The story covers the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) from his doctoral student days in 1926 to his receipt of the Enrico Fermi Award in '63. His key work on the Manhattan Project and reactions to its aftermath tend to dominate the focus, but there's more to it than that. He hangs out with communists too much for the comfort of authorities, and two party members, eventual wife Kitty Puening (Emily Blunt) and codependent Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), become his love interests.

Jesus Revolution (2023)

Even at my most devout, I didn't watch a whole lot of Christianity-themed movies, and those I did were mostly about famous historic figures. This one looked like it could well be run-of-the-mill sappy, preachy fare about coming to Jesus. But it did extraordinarily well at the box office, so I got curious. Was it especially good, or were many Christians just desperate for a new flick with their values? If nothing else, it promised a true story I didn't already know.

The film begins in California in 1968, dividing its focus among high schooler Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney), nondenominational pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), and homeless evangelist Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie). Chuck initially has a low opinion of hippies, but Lonnie, introduced by Chuck's daughter (Ally Ioannides), assures him they've been doing the wrong things for the right reason: looking for answers. Chuck invites Lonnie to preach at his church, drawing a large young congregation. Greg, meanwhile, has followed his crush, Cathe (Anna Grace Barlow), to go from a "square" to an unsatisfied stoner, until Cathe discovers Lonnie, and Greg eventually follows once more. That's not the end of all their struggles, of course....

Pitfall (1962)

This has nothing to do with the 1948 U.S. film noir, let alone the Activision video game series. It's another Hiroshi Teshigahara adaptation of a Kōbō Abe novel. Had I realized as much, I would have put this viewing off longer. Still, this feels pretty different from what I saw last month.

The Netflix description is misleading again. Yes, a stranger in white (Kunie Tanaka) pursues a hapless miner (Hisashi Igawa) in the area of a ghost town near an exhausted mine, but it's not just to "imprison" him there: He murders the miner in the first act, after which the miner is a ghost of the type who can't be sensed by the living or move anything. Despite a warning from a fellow ghost (Ton Shimada), the protagonist wants to find out what the murder was about. The answer is quickly plain enough to me: The miner just happened to look exactly like a union leader (also Igawa), and the killer bribes a witness (Sumie Sasaki) to blame a rival union's leader (Sen Yano). Let's just say there'll be more than two ghosts by the end.

The Face of Another (1966)

Hiroshi Teshigahara directed this in the wake of Woman in the Dunes, also based on a Kōbō Abe novel, so it's considered something of a companion piece. It did not fare nearly as well at the international box office, probably because the modern urban setting felt a lot less exotic than the desert. Also, by that time, people were getting tired of artsy projects like Last Year in Marienbad. Still, I got curious.

Following an accident, Mr. Okuyama (Tatsuya Nakadai) keeps his head wrapped in bandages not for healing but to spare even his wife (Machiko Kyō) the sight of his burned face. Despite her and others trying to support him emotionally, he remains terribly bitter -- until his psychiatrist (Mikijirō Hira) gives him an excellently lifelike experimental mask. It looks nothing like his original face; they use a mould from a hired stranger (Hisashi Igawa), albeit with results that look rather different from him too. Okuyama takes a while to get used to the mask and tires of the doctor keeping tabs on him and expressing concern that the mask could influence his personality. Indeed, he deliberately hides his identity from everyone else as best he can. Whatever he was like before, he seems increasingly corrupt.

Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)

This is pretty rare: a movie that was highly esteemed when new, both at home and overseas, but did so poorly at the box office that the production company folded. I don't recall how it got my attention, but it did receive a Best Actress Oscar nod, losing to Mary Poppins. Well, at least Julie Andrews didn't have to fake a British accent.

In London, alleged medium Myra Savage (Kim Stanley) badly wants money, which doesn't come easily when husband Billy (Richard Attenborough) is too asthmatic to hold a job. She persuades Billy to kidnap Amanda Clayton (Judith Donner), preteen daughter of aristocrats. Instead of the typical scheme of simply pocketing ransom money, Myra plans to fake a séance to determine where to find Amanda, hoping to gain renown and thus so much business that she can pay back the "borrowed" ransom. Charles Clayton (Mark Eden) doesn't believe in her powers, but his wife (Nanette Newman) does, and Charles has to admit that no other method is making headway.

Christ in Concrete/Give Us This Day/Salt to the Devil (1949)

Yes, it's all one picture. The first title, used by Netflix, is from the adapted novel, but that wasn't allowed in UK theaters. The second appears on screen in the edition I watched, but with the blacklisting of director Edward Dmytryk, it was interpreted as anti-Christian, hence the third stab, which didn't really help. Perhaps it's just as well not to use the original title, because from what I read, the film ends about where the book begins.

In the 1920s, Geremio (Sam Wanamaker) lies about owning a home in order to persuade Annunziata (Lea Padovani) to move from Italy to Brooklyn and marry him. They still hope to scrimp and save for one, thanks to a generous realtor (Karel Stepanek), even as their apartment-dwelling family gets bigger. They almost make it before Black Friday. After that, Geremio and his buddies in the bricklaying business get desperate enough to take on a low-safety demolition project....

Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)

On a whim, I decided to watch something playing at the AFI Silver Theater today. This French oldie was playing at a convenient time for me. That's right: 5 p.m. Since it showed only once today, I can only assume someone chose the slot on purpose.

Cléo (Corinne Marchand) is a fairly successful singer, albeit not widely recognized on the street. Expecting to take an exam for a potential cancer diagnosis soon, she visits a tarot reader (Loye Payen), whose verdict is unpromising. Convinced of her own doom, Cléo spends most of the film trying to come to grips with it or take her mind off it while doing various things with other people in the city before seeing the doctor (Robert Postec).

Belfast (2021)

No, I really didn't have St. Patrick's Day in mind when I put this right after The Banshees of Inisherin in my queue. I just happened to choose them from among recent Academy Best Picture nominees I hadn't seen yet.

In 1969, nine-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill) has been mostly enjoying his life. He does pretty well in school and has a mutual crush on a classmate. Alas, The Troubles are beginning. His Protestant family has mostly Catholic neighbors who don't give them trouble, but Buddy, his older brother (Lewis McAskie), and their pa (Jamie Dornan) are all under pressure, especially from one thug (Colin Morgan), to join the worsening Protestant riots lest they be targeted with the Catholics. Buddy's ma (Caitríona Balfe) and pa alternately entertain the idea of moving out of Northern Ireland for safety, but Buddy would hate to leave his friends and ailing grandparents (Oscar nominees Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds).

Elvis (2022)

Making a bio about anyone this prominent is practically asking for trouble. It might tell us nothing new or fudge well-known facts. Considering Baz Luhrman's penchant for anachronisms, I fully expected the latter. Still, he must have done something right -- if only not getting in the way too much -- for his flick to garner eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

If there's one way this stands out from most musician biopics, it's the first-person narration by the musician's manager, honorary Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). He discovers Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) when the latter has become a local sensation, young enough to require contract signatures from his parents (Helen Thomson and Richard Roxburgh). The partnership spells a lot of fame and income, but the two lock horns a lot. Tom seems to mean well when he demands that Elvis dial back the popular yet controversial elements, not so much when he won't let Elvis tour overseas because Tom immigrated illegally and has to make up gambling debts with Vegas performances.

Pocketful of Miracles (1961)

This film is probably best known as Frank Capra's last, not for reasons of health so much as interpersonal frustration on set and dissatisfaction with the end product. It also might mark the first use on screen of the criminal slang term "godfather."

In the early '30s, mobster Dave the Dude (Glenn Ford) practically has the run of New York City, and he credits his success to the lucky apples he buys regularly from an old peddler, "Apple" Annie (Bette Davis). Annie learns that her daughter, Louise (Ann-Margret in her Golden Globe-winning screen debut), who hasn't seen her since infancy but has corresponded with her regularly by mail, is about to visit, because Louise is engaged to the son (Peter Mann) of a Spanish count (Arthur O'Connell). This causes Annie a lot of stress, because she's been lying about her financial situation and even her name all along. Dave thinks it's not his problem, until his on-and-off fiancée, Queenie (Hope Lange), points out what it could mean for his luck. Since Dave has a big deal with Public Enemy #1 (Sheldon Leonard) in the making, he will reluctantly pour his ill-gotten resources into passing Annie off as an aristocrat for the duration of the visit.

The Italian Job (1969)

When I selected this to follow a comedy, I had forgotten that it was another comedy. I must have known at one time, because I recognize the most famous (and IMO most overrated) moment from a YouTube excerpt. Only after a lot of humor had trickled in did I realize what I was in for. Kinda wish I'd do that more often, because humor is often funnier to me when I'm not primed for it.

Newly freed small-time Cockney crook Charlie (Michael Caine) learns that the Sicilian Mafia just offed his partner in crime (Rossano Brazzi), but that needn't stop him from carrying out the scheme the Mafia opposed. Eventually, he persuades still-imprisoned kingpin Mr. Bridger (Noël Coward, who had one foot in the grave) to lend his financial resources for a heist involving about as many people as Danny Ocean's. They are to engineer an enormous Turin traffic jam, take $4 million in gold from a scheduled convoy, and outmaneuver the police with multiple vehicles. Of course, the police aren't the only threat....

The Fabelmans (2022)

My first theater outing with my parents in 16 months had to be planned pretty far in advance. What could interest them this much without relevance to music? Why, my namesake, Steven Spielberg. And this is not just popular but loosely autobiographical.

In the early '50s, roughly seven-year-old Sam Fabelman (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord, later Gabriel LaBelle) nervously goes to a movie theater for the first time. The depiction of a train crash stuns him, and his coping mechanism is to replicate it with model trains. His mother, Mitzi (Michelle Williams), asks him to video-record the crash so he can watch repeatedly without further damages. Moviemaking, with help from his three younger sisters and fellow Boy Scouts, becomes his passion over the years, thanks to a sense of control. But as the title implies, this isn't just his story, and conflicts with his mom and dad, Burt (Paul Dano), threaten his trajectory.

Predestination (2014)

No, it's not another flick with a religious focus already. It's an adaptation of the Robert Heinlein time travel short story "'--All You Zombies--'" (yes, that's how it's officially punctuated). I don't blame the studio for changing the title, partly because reaching feature length, specifically 97 minutes, required an extra plot element.

Despite being an Australian production, it's set in the U.S., primarily Cleveland and New York City, in various years between the 1940s and, I think, the '90s at latest. The secret Temporal Bureau has been attempting to prevent or reduce historical disasters, including attacks by the elusive time-traveling "Fizzle Bomber," who is set to kill 10,000 New Yorkers in '75. This alone is more than the Netflix summary will tell you, but don't get the impression that the plot is simple. It's just so full of twists that it's hard not to spoil.

Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

An old French classic is already iffy for me; one that gets reviled in some circles is iffier still. I had planned to skip this one, until I got invited to a Meetup group to discuss it. Hey, if it was bad, at least we could harp on it together.

None of the characters have given names, and the setting is ambiguous apart from a fancy resort. What's important to know is that a man (Giorgio Albertazzi) insists that a woman (Delphine Seyrig) had had a romantic liaison with him at a Czech spa and agreed to meet him again around this time, but she denies ever meeting him before. The other man of note (Sacha Pitoëff) evidently disapproves of the first man's actions and challenges him to games of Nim.