You may wonder why I bothered watching this a few years after another '50s British account of the event, A Night to Remember (which I do remember). Between that and the '97 blockbuster, hadn't I had my fill of the general history? Well, given the extremes of praise and backlash for the James Cameron epic, I remained curious how else it could have gone. Besides, unlike ANtR, this predecessor won a writing Oscar and stars Barbara Stanwyck.
Also in contrast with ANtR, it takes a more personal approach to the story. There is in fact a budding romance between a teen girl in first class and a teen boy from a lower deck, but they're not Jack and Rose; nobody regards their relationship as scandalous. Nor do they get the lion's share of the focus, which goes to a more troubled relationship between two parents. The ritzy, spoiling dad (Clifton Webb) seems to be a bad influence on both kids, so Mom (Stanwyck) wants to take them from Paris back to Michigan. Dad's not ready to part from them, so he buys a ticket just in time.
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Thursday, March 8, 2018
The Breadwinner (2017)
Nice to have finally seen a second Best Animated Feature nominee for the year. It had also been a while since I last saw an entire movie streaming on Netflix. Now I have an idea of what it takes to get me back in the habit.
From the beginning, things look bad for the Afghani family of preteen Parvana: They're trying to sell "the only thing of value" they have left. It gets worse when the Taliban arrests her father, Nurullah. With her older brother Sulayman dead, her younger brother Zaki still a baby, and no other male relatives in town, there is no legal option for anyone left in the household to go out in public. Parvana has her hair cut short, dresses as a boy, and works odd jobs. And despite her mother's admonition to give up hope, she plans to secure Nurullah's release one way or another.
From the beginning, things look bad for the Afghani family of preteen Parvana: They're trying to sell "the only thing of value" they have left. It gets worse when the Taliban arrests her father, Nurullah. With her older brother Sulayman dead, her younger brother Zaki still a baby, and no other male relatives in town, there is no legal option for anyone left in the household to go out in public. Parvana has her hair cut short, dresses as a boy, and works odd jobs. And despite her mother's admonition to give up hope, she plans to secure Nurullah's release one way or another.
Saturday, March 3, 2018
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
For all the praise heaped on this movie, for all the high ratings across different websites, I was reluctant to watch. The trailer made clear that it was full of anger, at an intensity I was unlikely to find comfortable. Still, I wanted to maximize my chances of seeing the Academy Best Picture ahead of the ceremony.
I'm not sure in what period the story takes place, but from the phones and a reference to 1986, I'd say the '90s or early 2000s. A little-used road with three long-disused billboards suddenly has a message: "Raped while dying/And still no arrests?/How come, Chief Willoughby?" In a town so small, everyone knows the event in question, and it's not hard to guess who paid for the message: bereaved mother Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand). Alas, for all the sympathy she'd gained, almost no one can get behind the challenge to a respected chief (Woody Harrelson), especially since he has terminal cancer. But Mildred insists on keeping it up until there's appreciable progress on the case.
I'm not sure in what period the story takes place, but from the phones and a reference to 1986, I'd say the '90s or early 2000s. A little-used road with three long-disused billboards suddenly has a message: "Raped while dying/And still no arrests?/How come, Chief Willoughby?" In a town so small, everyone knows the event in question, and it's not hard to guess who paid for the message: bereaved mother Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand). Alas, for all the sympathy she'd gained, almost no one can get behind the challenge to a respected chief (Woody Harrelson), especially since he has terminal cancer. But Mildred insists on keeping it up until there's appreciable progress on the case.
Videodrome (1983)
My past exposure to David Cronenberg consists of The Dead Zone and A History of Violence, which I liked; Eastern Promises, which I found OK but unmemorable; and eXistenZ, which I thought ill-executed and needlessly disgusting. I was also aware that he did the 1996 Crash and Naked Lunch, suggesting that he has a thing for drugs and "trips" as well as (anti?)violence. He's something like David Lynch and something like Darren Aronofsky. So I approached with some trepidation a movie whose premise would not be used nowadays.
Max (James Woods) runs a niche Toronto cable station always looking for shocking material. One day he sees a video, allegedly a pirated TV series, showing people chained and whipped to death for hours. He figures that's right up his target audience's alley, so he plans to air it. A correspondent traces it to Pittsburgh, and Max's masochistic girlfriend (Debbie Harry) goes to audition...and doesn't return. Another correspondent says the program involves actual murder. Max seeks further answers in person, despite the obvious risk. No, nobody seeks to give him the torture shown on TV; they have a much more insidious agenda, starting with the hallucinations he experiences right after his first viewing....
Max (James Woods) runs a niche Toronto cable station always looking for shocking material. One day he sees a video, allegedly a pirated TV series, showing people chained and whipped to death for hours. He figures that's right up his target audience's alley, so he plans to air it. A correspondent traces it to Pittsburgh, and Max's masochistic girlfriend (Debbie Harry) goes to audition...and doesn't return. Another correspondent says the program involves actual murder. Max seeks further answers in person, despite the obvious risk. No, nobody seeks to give him the torture shown on TV; they have a much more insidious agenda, starting with the hallucinations he experiences right after his first viewing....
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
The Horse's Mouth (1958)
So I took a chance on another Alec Guinness comedy. I'm not sure why I put it on my queue, but Netflix describes it as one of his strangest, making it perhaps even more of a gamble. I learned later that director Robert Neame made some dramas I enjoyed but also comedies that didn't do much for me.
Guinness plays the oddly named Gulley Jimson, a little-known painter. He has trouble making ends meet that way, so he resorts to criminal, legally gray, or just plain undignified means. Unlike most scoundrels, he seems to care more about leaving his artistic mark than making money. For example, when some aristocrats want to buy an older painting (in his ex's tenacious possession), he decides to paint right on their blank wall without express permission during their vacation. Another act involves a group mural on a church slated for demolition. (The title connects to a throwaway line that IMDb users haven't seen fit to record.)
Guinness plays the oddly named Gulley Jimson, a little-known painter. He has trouble making ends meet that way, so he resorts to criminal, legally gray, or just plain undignified means. Unlike most scoundrels, he seems to care more about leaving his artistic mark than making money. For example, when some aristocrats want to buy an older painting (in his ex's tenacious possession), he decides to paint right on their blank wall without express permission during their vacation. Another act involves a group mural on a church slated for demolition. (The title connects to a throwaway line that IMDb users haven't seen fit to record.)
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
This film had sat on my streaming list a long time before getting dropped. When I learned that my dad had received the DVD, I decided to join him for it. It's probably for the best that I waited, because heavy dramas can be easier to watch with company.
Bruno (Asa Butterfield in his breakout role), age 8, isn't happy about having to move from Berlin to the Polish countryside because of his military dad, Ralf (David Thewlis), getting a new post. With little to do by day when not under a propagandist tutor, he decides to explore the strange "farm" he can see from his window, against his parents' wishes that he not wander in that direction. There he sees the "farmers" behind an electric fence and meets the titular boy his age, Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), who's hiding from work at the moment but doesn't dare play. You probably already know more about the situation than Bruno does.
Bruno (Asa Butterfield in his breakout role), age 8, isn't happy about having to move from Berlin to the Polish countryside because of his military dad, Ralf (David Thewlis), getting a new post. With little to do by day when not under a propagandist tutor, he decides to explore the strange "farm" he can see from his window, against his parents' wishes that he not wander in that direction. There he sees the "farmers" behind an electric fence and meets the titular boy his age, Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), who's hiding from work at the moment but doesn't dare play. You probably already know more about the situation than Bruno does.
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Since You Went Away (1944)
It had been a while since I last saw a movie with an overture and an entr'acte. This one has the courtesy to change the stills during the overture, the entr'acte being shorter. Alas, the soundtrack, tho Oscar-winning, is far from Lawrence of Arabia, so I opted to skip.
We never meet the "you" of the title: Tim Hilton, a U.S. Army volunteer, leaves his unidentified Midwestern town for war right before the first scene. His wife, Anne (Claudette Colbert), rents out a room to retired Col. Smollett (Monty Woolley) to make ends meet. Their elder daughter, Jane (Jennifer Jones), falls for the colonel's visiting yet half-estranged grandson, Bill (Robert Walker), knowing that he as a corporal may have to leave soon as well. She and sister Brig (Shirley Temple) do their own parts to contribute to the war effort on U.S. soil. From time to time, Anne's ex-boyfriend, naval lieutenant Tony (Joseph Cotten), shows up with a familial atmosphere, to the consternation of the maid, Fidelia (Hattie McDaniel).
We never meet the "you" of the title: Tim Hilton, a U.S. Army volunteer, leaves his unidentified Midwestern town for war right before the first scene. His wife, Anne (Claudette Colbert), rents out a room to retired Col. Smollett (Monty Woolley) to make ends meet. Their elder daughter, Jane (Jennifer Jones), falls for the colonel's visiting yet half-estranged grandson, Bill (Robert Walker), knowing that he as a corporal may have to leave soon as well. She and sister Brig (Shirley Temple) do their own parts to contribute to the war effort on U.S. soil. From time to time, Anne's ex-boyfriend, naval lieutenant Tony (Joseph Cotten), shows up with a familial atmosphere, to the consternation of the maid, Fidelia (Hattie McDaniel).
Thursday, February 15, 2018
The Post (2017)
As a Steven Spielberg fan, I could hardly have waited long to see a new pic of his with decent reviews, so I didn't hesitate to accept a Meetup invitation. At the same time, I approached with some trepidation, because it looked like the studio had poured in too much talent. Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in the leads? Would there be any scenery left? There are a few other familiar names -- Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford, David Cross -- but none of them stood a chance at standing out.
Something of a spiritual prequel to All the Presidents' Men, the story concerns events leading up to the first publication of segments of the Pentagon Papers. For maybe the first third, it's hard enough for The Washington Post to vie with The New York Times for breaking news. Then they choose a tougher opponent: the Nixon Administration, seeking to plug the leak of classified information by any means necessary.
Something of a spiritual prequel to All the Presidents' Men, the story concerns events leading up to the first publication of segments of the Pentagon Papers. For maybe the first third, it's hard enough for The Washington Post to vie with The New York Times for breaking news. Then they choose a tougher opponent: the Nixon Administration, seeking to plug the leak of classified information by any means necessary.
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Drunken Angel (1948)
It had been more than 1.5 years since my last Akira Kurosawa viewing. More than 2.5 years since my last characteristic Kurosawa viewing. And just about half a year since my last viewing to make me nostalgic for Kurosawa. So I was rather glad to discover what Netflix had delivered while I was off on vacation.
Dr. Sanada (Takashi Shimura) treats Matsunaga (Toshirō Mifune) initially for an injury hinting at gang violence, but that's not as great a concern as the compelling evidence of tuberculosis. Matsunaga doesn't take this news well at all, as being a yakuza makes any sign of weakness dangerous; besides, TB hinders his ability to enjoy vices. Complicating matters is the return of his boss from prison, who incidentally used to be in a relationship with Sanada's assistant....
Dr. Sanada (Takashi Shimura) treats Matsunaga (Toshirō Mifune) initially for an injury hinting at gang violence, but that's not as great a concern as the compelling evidence of tuberculosis. Matsunaga doesn't take this news well at all, as being a yakuza makes any sign of weakness dangerous; besides, TB hinders his ability to enjoy vices. Complicating matters is the return of his boss from prison, who incidentally used to be in a relationship with Sanada's assistant....
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Despicable Me 3 (2017)
I didn't care for DM1 as much as most viewers. Partly the world of rampant, overt, mostly unpunished villainy turned me off, and partly it showed a level of wackiness more common in TV cartoons than in animated films, making it about the kiddiest this side of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Only the heartwarming aspect convinced me to go on to watch DM2, which I liked a lot better for its heroism and decent romance, tho it also introduced some new flaws. I knew that DM3 wasn't widely regarded as being on the same tier, but given my less common opinion, I opted to check it out on my flight home.
Reformed criminal-cum-agent-for-good Gru (Steve Carell) and wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig) are having trouble stopping Benjamin Bratt (Trey "South Park" Parker), a former child TV star who makes a far more competent villain than you'd think. Soon after falling into disfavor at the agency, Gru learns that he has a foppish international twin, Dru (more Carell), who wants to become as despicable as Gru used to be. The Minions, too, encourage the protagonist to return to his old law-breaking ways. Will he give in to temptation despite the wishes of Lucy and their adopted daughters?
Reformed criminal-cum-agent-for-good Gru (Steve Carell) and wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig) are having trouble stopping Benjamin Bratt (Trey "South Park" Parker), a former child TV star who makes a far more competent villain than you'd think. Soon after falling into disfavor at the agency, Gru learns that he has a foppish international twin, Dru (more Carell), who wants to become as despicable as Gru used to be. The Minions, too, encourage the protagonist to return to his old law-breaking ways. Will he give in to temptation despite the wishes of Lucy and their adopted daughters?
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