Kill Bill: Vols. 1 (2003) & 2 (2004)

Sometimes I bewilder myself. I have now watched every feature film directed in full by Quentin Tarantino, despite not expecting to like them overall. These two are popular -- the first is still in IMDb's top 250 -- but what I knew of them gave me reasons to deprioritize. Perhaps a warning that they would stop streaming on Netflix this month increased my interest, along with a realization that people still talk about them from time to time. I split the four-hour collective runtime over two days. I wasn't sure I'd go on to the second volume, but the first ends very unsatisfying by design.

Beatrix (Uma Thurman) is a globe-trotting hitwoman until a pregnancy inspires her to turn over a new leaf. She tries to marry under an alias, but jealous ex-boss Bill (David Carradine) has everyone at the wedding rehearsal shot. Only Beatrix survives, waking from a four-year coma and swearing to kill all five of her former co-workers (among them Vivica Fox, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, and Daryl Hannah) for their part in the massacre, along with anyone else who gets in the way.

Let the Dance Begin (2023)

This may be the first time in eight years that I attended the Latin American Film Festival at AFI. It took my parents' invitation to get my attention. The plot of this entry sounded more fun than most.

Carlos (Darío Grandinetti) is a famous former tango dancer who went on to coach in Spain. One day, his old friend Pichuquito (Jorge Marrale) reports that Carlos's erstwhile wife and tango partner, Margarita (Mercedes Morán), has committed suicide. Carlos flies to Argentina, goes to the funeral, and then learns that "Marga" faked her death, largely because he wouldn't come otherwise. She confesses to lying about an abortion 40 years ago, and she wants his company in visiting their son for the first time since she gave the baby up for adoption. Carlos makes up an excuse to his current wife, Elvira (Pastora Vega, not that one), for not returning on schedule and joins Marga and "Pichu" (not that one) on a two-day road trip.

As you may have guessed, Carlos is very reluctant. First he furiously denies the possibility of a son. He and Marga had not parted on good terms, so he wouldn't put it past her to seek vengeance. Then he worries about riding in a van about as geriatric as its passengers. Elvira gets suspicious and says that he's much needed back home. And setbacks along the way reinforce his conviction that the drive was a mistake.

Wikipedia lists only eight actors in total; IMDb stops at six. It's not like no one else gets spoken lines. My parents and I wouldn't be surprised if most had no professional acting background and were simply geographically convenient. Several minor characters do appear smiling during the end credits.

At any rate, we don't doubt the professionalism of the leads. They really tie the picture together with their complicated feelings, including between Carlos and Pichu. It soon becomes clear that Marga and Pichu continue to share secrets they haven't told Carlos by the start of the journey, which adds to the tragicomic awkwardness.

The theater audience laughed quite a bit. I found the humor just OK. Maybe it works better for people of relevant heritage, of whom there were many in attendance. As it happens, my parents and I had visited Argentina briefly, but only now did we realize how difficult it is for us to understand Argentinians compared with other Spanish speakers, even with subtitles to hint what words they might have used.

Fortunately, the humor was adequate for alleviating my mood in light of the more serious moments. Things move pretty slowly for 99 minutes, but I hardly noticed; the pace no doubt serves its purpose. And for all the characters' flaws that drive each other nuts, we see why they care. As do we.

For a story of three seniors driving across open country, LtDB is engaging. My family may well have chosen the best option in the festival.

Sorcerer (1977)

The Wages of Fear (1953) became one of my favorite movies when I watched, tho I might think differently upon a rewatch. When I learned that William Friedkin directed a remake right after The French Connection and The Exorcist, I was caught between "That sounds excellent" and "Can it possibly satisfy me after the original?" Further reading tells me it was a sleeper hit, partly because it had the misfortune to debut at the same time as Star Wars, but early critics were also unkind to it. Which way would I go?

TWoF has a rather simple plot: Four financially desperate foreign men take a job transporting two trucks of poorly preserved nitroglycerin hundreds of miles across South American wilderness to put out an oil company's fire. The most immediately obvious change Sorcerer makes to the story is in the details of the four men, all of them now criminal but previously unacquainted, having come to Colombia to hide: Jackie (Roy Scheider), an Irish-American mobster; Victor (Bruno Cremer), a fraudulent French banker; Nilo (Rabal), a Mexican hit man; and Kassem (Amidou), a Palestinian terrorist. Guess that's one way to ensure we don't feel too sorry for them if they don't make it.

Encanto (2021)

I decided that my last feature of the year should be something that promised to be uplifting. And preferably short, since I got a late start. This one's 109 minutes, about 19 of which are end credits, with no mid- or post-credit sequence.

It's tricky to gauge the era -- we see donkeys and no cars -- but the place is a Colombian village. Thanks to what is attributed only to a miracle, the Madrigal family lives in a house with a life of its own, and not in a scary way. The Casita, as they affectionately call it, can also endow each Madrigal child with a different superpower in a sort of coming-of-age ceremony, but Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) was denied for some reason. Now 15, she tries to maintain a positive outlook despite her relatives tending to feel ashamed of her. Then the miracle shows more compelling signs of fading, between the Casita developing cracks and the family powers gradually becoming unreliable. Will Mirabel save the day, or is she, as her matriarchal grandmother (María Cecilia Botero/Olga Merediz) believes, the cause of the trouble?

Maria Full of Grace (2004)

Once in a while, I tell Netflix I'm not interested in a suggestion but later rent it anyway. In this case, I must have been turned off by the serious subject matter and then mustered the courage, partly because it got an Academy nomination for Best Actress (pretty rare for foreign-language fare) and an AFI Movie of the Year award. And I've enjoyed an unusually large number from 2004.

In a Colombian town, pregnant 17-year-old Maria (Catalina Sandino Moreno) quits her job at a florist sweatshop. Since there's not much else she can do for her family's much-needed funds, she agrees to traffic heroin to the outskirts of New York City, telling her family it's Bogotá office work. She is not pleased to learn that her friend Blanca (Yenny Paola Vega) is coming for the same reason, along with two other "mules," but she'll have much bigger reasons not to be pleased before this is over.

The In-Laws (1979)

For a picture I'd barely heard of, this was apparently pretty influential. It got a remake, it inspired Marlon Brando to work with writer Andrew Bergman, it appeared among Premiere's 50 favorite comedies, and someone on a forum I attend linked to a clip of the "serpentine" scene. That scene alone didn't make me want to watch, but there was enough popularity to give it a try.

Oddly enough, the main characters, who are not in-laws until the end, become a type you can't easily designate with one hyphenated term: fathers of the spouses. The bride's dad, Sheldon (Alan Arkin), is a New York dentist. The groom's dad, Vince (Peter Falk), does secretive work that requires frequent travel. They've barely met before Vince desperately requests Sheldon's naive help in picking up a hidden package. Soon the truth emerges: Vince works for the CIA, but what he's doing right now isn't exactly government sanctioned. Or safe even for an unwitting aid.

Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938)

If not for the Looney Tunes short "Porky's Movie Mystery," I probably would have overlooked the Mr. Moto series while perusing the filmography of Peter Lorre. It certainly hasn't stood the test of time; even Charlie Chan has enjoyed more recent references. Nevertheless, I rather like Lorre and was curious to see how he'd do. MMM appeared to be the most popular entry available.

The opening, in which secret agent Kentaro Moto and one Paul Brissac (Leon Ames) escape Devil's Island, is pretty exciting but must affect viewers differently depending how well they know the former. Sure enough, Moto is not an actual convict; he merely poses as one with cooperation from some authorities so that he can learn the identities of an entire ring of hit men. Brissac goes to London and takes Moto in as a houseboy, but not everyone in the ring is so trusting.

The Traitor (2019)

Thanks partly to a late start on my part, I didn't connect with the Meetup group that invited me to this showing, even afterward. Still, I overheard many people discussing it as they left, so I got a good sense of prevailing emotions. It's not the kind of movie you can be quiet about once you've seen it.

Based on a true story and spanning decades, it begins when Tommaso Buscetta is already established as Don Masino, "the Boss of Two Worlds." When he's served a fair amount of time for drug trafficking in Brazil and lost far too many relatives to infighting in the Sicilian Mafia (or Cosa Nostra, as they prefer to call it), he decides to spill all kinds of secrets to the legal authorities. This is almost unprecedented at the time, and you can guess how dangerous it is, especially in areas where Cosa Nostra is actually popular.

The Ghost Breakers (1940)

Thought I'd add a genuine comedy to my October reviews. No, this is not much of a predecessor to the Ghostbusters movie series or even the Filmation Ghostbusters TV series. Dialog indicates that this kind of "ghost breaker" merely attempts to debunk rumors of hauntings. In any case, this movie is adapted from a play that had already been made into two silents, so there had to be some appeal to the writing.

Lawrence (Bob Hope) has a radio show in which he reports on crimes. One such report gets him enough unwelcome attention to spark a series of antics, ultimately landing him and his valet, Alex (Willie Best), on a ship to Cuba, along with newly met Mary (Paulette Goddard). Mary's going to check out her inheritance of Castillo Maldito on nearby Black Island, said to be a haunted treasure trove. Lawrence decides to accompany her, partly because he finds her lovely and partly because some greedy soul is trying to scare her away from the estate, both with rumors of haunting and with more solid threats.

Missing (1982)

The '80s were good for popular comedies, fantasies, and adventures on screen, but only a handful of serious works from the decade enjoy esteem to this day. Checking out an '80s drama I never hear about is a slight gamble. But this one got a lot of honors back in the day and retains high marks across rating sites. That plus its basis in a true story drew me in.

In what is implied but never specified to be Chile during Augusto Pinochet's '73 coup, Charlie Horman (John Shea) and his wife, Beth (Sissy Spacek), find their lives as American migrants disrupted. Charlie's activist journalism may have caught up with him, because he disappears. Beth can't find out where he was taken or whether he lives, tho she refuses to believe he'd go into hiding without ever notifying her. Charlie's estranged father, Edmund (Jack Lemmon), flies in to help with the search for answers.

Fast Five (2011)

The Fast and the Furious franchise never looked like my thing. Nevertheless, when a silver-screen series reaches eight entries and anticipates two more, my curiosity builds. FF is reputedly both the best of the bunch and a key turning point, with a reduction in focus on street racing in order to reach a broader audience. In fact, it was supposed to be a conclusion, but there was too much demand. I could only hope that forgoing my usual policy of watching the predecessors first wouldn't leave me confused.

Three U.S. fugitives -- Dom (Vin Diesel), Mia (Jordana Brewster), and Brian (Paul Walker) -- partake in an elite grand theft auto job in Rio de Janeiro, but when they find something fishy about the scenario and their other partners' priorities, things go rather sideways. In taking matters into their own hands, they make an enemy of Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), a criminal kingpin who practically runs Rio. Not having many good options for escape, they get the bright idea to steal all of Reyes' stockpiled cash -- what they don't destroy of it, anyway -- and split it with their six or seven accomplices. This would be challenging enough without the additional factor of Javert-like special agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) tracking them down, albeit with the help of more conflicted Officer Neves (Elsa Pataky).

Duck, You Sucker (1971)

Another movie set in Mexico, but this one's pretty darn different. As a '70s western with an odd title, it seemed likely to be offbeat. As a Sergio Leone spaghetti western also known as A Fistful of Dynamite, it seemed more than likely to appeal to me, even if it's not put on the same tier as the Man with No Name trilogy or Once upon a Time in the West.

A family of armed robbers led by Juan (Rod Steiger) comes across a wanted former IRA terrorist, John (James Coburn), who carries far more than a fistful of dynamite wherever he goes. Juan wants to convince, if not coerce, John to join him in an extra large bank heist. But there are bigger things going on in the midst of the Mexican Revolution, and everyone's bound to get involved whether they want to or not.

Roma (2018)

A friend of my family warned that he found this deathly boring. This is someone who usually favors movies about ordinary people in ordinary situations. Then again, he also really liked The Favourite, which I didn't. I figured I'd tune in to Roma if only because it's one of the top contenders for Best Picture. If it bored me too, at least I was streaming at home, so I wouldn't feel bad about discontinuing the viewing.

The title refers to a Mexico City neighborhood. Set there in the early '70s, the story, despite an R rating, is based mostly on writer-director's Alfonso Cuarón's personal childhood memories. It follows Cleo, a maid at a house that includes four children, their parents (albeit on the verge of a breakup), their grandma, second maid Adela, and a dog. Things start happening for Cleo when she gets pregnant -- and her boyfriend disappears right after hearing so.

Logan (2017)

In honor of the late Stan Lee, I decided to watch the most popular Marvel movie I hadn't yet. Unfortunately, it's probably the bleakest, which makes it less than ideal for the occasion, not least because Lee doesn't get a cameo. Still, it's important to recognize multiple sides to his legacy.

In not-so-distant 2029, most people think superpowered mutants extinct, presumably thanks to a government effort. James "Logan" Howlett, a.k.a. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, finally looking his real age again), has been laying low as a limo driver, his rapid healing in decline thanks to adamantium poisoning. The only other mutants he knows to be alive aren't faring much better: Professor X (Patrick Stewart), in his 90s, is prone to telepathic seizures; and Caliban (Stephen Merchant), who has even sharper senses than Wolverine, needs to cover his skin completely before entering sunlight. Then comes Laura (Dafne Keen), the first preteen mutant they've met in a long time. The Professor insists that they help her reach a safe haven before the Reavers under Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) get her.

We're No Angels (1955)

Nuts. I try to save movies set on or near Christmas for December, or at least July, but I hadn't checked the full description. Oh well, at least it's in a tropical climate.

Joseph (Humphrey Bogart), Albert (Aldo Ray), and Jules (Peter Ustinov) are Devil's Island inmates, each reportedly guilty of many crimes. They and pet viper Adolphe break loose in time for Christmas Eve and, if I understand correctly, make it to Cayenne proper, with designs on taking the next ship to Paris. In the meantime, they enter a general store and tell the manager, Felix (Leo G. Carroll), that they can fix his roof. Of course, they actually plan to steal clothes and whatnot when the time is ripe. But after observing how deep in debt Felix's family is -- and how heartbroken his 18-year-old daughter, Isabelle (Gloria Talbott), is to learn that her crush is engaged to someone else -- the fugitives decide to do them a few good turns.

One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

Marlon Brando's in a western again, thankfully as an apparent Anglo-American this time. Of greater concern is the fact that he directed this movie -- and nothing else. Also, while it gets good ratings among IMDb and Google users, Rotten Tomatoes pronounces it rotten. I was not aware of these factors when I rented.

Bank robber "Rio"/"The Kid" (Brando) escapes from a Mexican prison and seeks out his former partner in crime, confusingly nicknamed "Dad" Longworth (repeat screen partner Karl Malden), who had taken the coward's route when Rio needed him most. Longworth has gone straight enough to become a California sheriff, which may just alienate Rio further. But instead of having the immediate showdown you might expect, they get off to what looks like a shakily amiable second start. That sense is put to the test, especially when Rio has eyes for Longworth's stepdaughter, Louisa (Pina Pellicer).

Coco (2017)

Whew, I almost finished 2017 without seeing any of its animated features. Honestly, it was awfully low on promising ones. Even Coco seemed iffy to me, given its conceptual similarity to The Book of Life. Further research assured me that Pixar was planning it before TBoL got started. My folks joined me for the former in a theater.

The title oddly refers to a character with little screen time: the senile great-grandma of 12-year-old protagonist Miguel. Her father abandoned the family to pursue a career in music, so her mother, Imelda, banned music from the household. In what I take to be the present, albeit in a Mexican town poor enough to pass for the '80s, Imelda's rule is still in full effect, but Miguel loves music and has no use for the family business of shoemaking. Hoping to enter a talent show, he swipes a guitar from the local tomb of a celebrated musician. But grave robbing on the Day of the Dead takes him straight to the realm of the dead, and only a blessing from a dead relative by dawn can return him. Since the first dead relatives he meets include Imelda and don't dare bless him without a promise that he give up music, he sets out to find his estranged great-great-granddad....

The Distinguished Citizen (2016)

Another Argentine film in the same month? What can I say? The Latin American Film Festival is still going, and I had a Meetup invitation. Might be the last Spanish-language entry I see for the year. (I'm visiting Peru in January, so I'll probably see others then.)

Daniel Montovani is a rich novelist and Nobelist in Spain who does not take popularity well, as he believes that True Art is too shocking to be popular. He turns down all kinds of honors and events -- until he makes an exception for one in his former hometown of Salas, Argentina (not based on a real one). He even goes without his agent or any notice to the press for a change. Salas folk are generally ecstatic to have him put the remote town on the map, but his rude habits catch up with him....

Such Is Life in the Tropics (2016)

I briefly visited Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 2012. It was a mostly pleasant visit, but I recall, in a seemingly quiet and pretty neighborhood, two cops talking in serious tones near a young woman lying on a bench. Was she drugged? Dead? I never found out. But it came to mind during this Guayaquil-set film, whose native title, Sin muertos no hay carnaval, more accurately translates to "Without dead bodies, there's no carnival."

Some 250 people are squatting on land that theoretically belongs to one mobster, but his father had neglected it. A liaison has been collecting "rent" (read: protection money) from the squatters while assuring them that he's working to get their residency legalized, but they're getting impatient. Alas, so is he, and it doesn't take much of a challenge from them to get him to threaten someone's life -- or have someone carry out that threat. An impudent teen boy, out to protect his mother, grandmother, and girlfriend, learns this the hard way.

Wild Tales (2014)

I must be a junkie for popular flicks. All I knew when I rented this one was its placement on IMDb's top 250. The opening credits in Spanish took me by surprise; I actually paused to make sure Netflix didn't send the wrong disc. Sure enough, WT is from Argentina.

It's also six short stories, not alternating but one after another, with only the running theme of stress to tie them together. Before the title screen, strangers on a plane discover that they have a former acquaintance in common -- and it might not be coincidence. In story 2, a waitress at a nearly empty restaurant recognizes a mobster who wronged her family, and the chef favors a poisoning. Story 3 consists of road rage way out on a country road, still cranked up to 11. Story 4 sees a man contesting a towing charge when the no-parking zone wasn't marked. In story 5, wealthy parents try to ensure that their young adult son doesn't go to prison for a deadly, probably drunken hit-and-run. In story 6, a bride finds compelling evidence at the wedding that the groom cheated on her.