Malcolm1980's 2017 Movie Review Thread

[malcolm1980]

1/23

Moonlight (Barry Jenkins) **** - Divided into three distinct sections, this film chronicles the life of Chiron, a young African-American growing up gay in a poor, rough neighborhood in Miami. It depicts events from his childhood, his adolescence and his young adulthood. Oh, my God. This is a beautiful, emotional gut-punch of a film. It's almost like three films in one since every segment takes on a somewhat different tone, each one unique yet it builds up beautifully to the conclusion thanks to the great script and superb direction. The ensemble cast is uniformly amazing. Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris both are deservedly getting attention but everyone in the cast, especially the three Chiron's shine. I'm gonna be thinking about this film for a while. Truly one of the best films of 2016.

[malcolm1980]

1/25

King and Country (Joseph Losey) *** - It's World War I and a young British soldier is on court martial for desertion and cowardice. The officer assigned to defend him was initially disgusted but slowly comes to sympathize. I have to admit watching this, I'm a bit fatigued by all the old fashioned war movies I've been seeing lately. The film features great performances from both Tom Courtenay and Dirk Borgarde but I really didn't feel emotionally invested until around the last third. It's an overall good film with good intentions but I can't help but feel that everything is been-there-done-that.

[malcolm1980]

1/27

Becket (Peter Glenville) *** - This is a film about King Henry II who installs his close friend the titular Thomas Becket as bishop in an effort to better control the Church but instead it causes a rivalry which put an end to their friendship. This is the kind of overlong, super lavish, overly produced Oscar bait Hollywood period epic of this era that I often dread to watch since it's often a dull affair. But even though it still feels a bit overlong and contains some of the pitfalls that often come with movies like these, it manages to often be a compelling watch. This is thanks to the outstanding performances of Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton who are simply electrifying as King Henry II and Thomas Becket respectively. Overall, it's no masterpiece but it's worth seeing for those two go at it.

The Night of the Iguana (John Huston) ***1/2 - A defrocked Episcopalian minister, now working as an American tourist guide in Mexico, is taking a bus full of Baptist women around the country. He's trying to stave off advances from a teenage girl at the same time trying to get his job back. Richard Burton is terrific in this one and he leads an outstanding ensemble cast in this drama (with some surprisingly funny parts). Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr are also both terrific and almost steals the film but Grayson Hall is the one who truly shines. The exotic locale gives this film a subtle eroticism and a magical quality of sorts. Excellent film.

[malcolm1980]

1/28

The Great Wall (Zhang Yimou) **1/2 - A pair of Western merchants/thieves stumble upon the Great Wall of China which is defending itself against a horde of horrific monsters. This is of course China's attempt to conquer the Hollywood market with the help of Hollywood. Director Zhang Yimou works his magic with some Hollywood style special effects and a Hollywood actor. Though a lot of his now signature eye-popping visuals are in full display, this is by far his weakest work. I will give them credit that Matt Damon's character doesn't come off too much like a "White Savior" but overall, it's also one of his weaker performances (what's with that accent?). It's too bad both of them are given a very derivative script to work on. It's too bad. Zhang Yimou has done great work in the past. I hope Hollywood gives him a better script next time.

Seduced and Abandoned (Pietro Germi) *** - A young Sicilian woman gets seduced and has a tryst with her older sister's fiancé. Her father (and subsequently the entire community) finds and all hell breaks loose. This film is similarly themed to director Pietro Germi's other film Divorce: Italian Style in that it satirizes mores on attitudes towards sex, the laws concerning marriage and relationships. This time around, it pretty much exposes the absurdity of the obsession over "honor" and rigid patriarchal tradition in the Sicilian sub-culture. It's not quite as successful as the aforementioned film but it's still quite funny and stings to this day.

[malcolm1980]

1/29

Fences (Denzel Washington) *** - A working class African American man who was once a rising baseball star from the 1950's tries to raise a family while butting heads with his teenage son and wife. Based on the play by August Wilson, this film has been criticized for feeling a bit too...stagey. And it is. It does indeed feel like a filmed play at times in both the way it's shot and acted which prevents this for being a completely successful stage to screen adaptation. But, daaaamn, the acting that is in it is superb. Denzel Washington and Viola Davis truly shine and worthy of all the accolades that come their way. And though stage-y the original August Wilson text doesn't lose much of its quality and power.

The Peach Thief (Vulo Radev) *** - The wife of a Bulgarian officer falls in love and has an affair with a Serbian POW who she catches stealing peaches from their orchard (hence the title). This is a lovely little obscure gem that was sort of kind of recommend to me by a certain website. It does feel similar to the Eastern European war movies and period films of the same era. I've seen better films but still this managed to pull off a wallop of an ending that though you sort of see it coming, you still find yourself emotionally affected by it. Not exactly a canonical picture but a solid drama.

[malcolm1980]

1/31

Sword of the Beast (Hideo Gosha) ***1/2 - A samurai goes rogue after he murders a ruthless counselor and the counselor's daughter and future son-in-law hunts him down for revenge. Overall, I wouldn't consider this one of the best samurai films ever but it is a pretty darn solid one. It contains some of the best sword fight scenes ever and the last twenty minutes or so are super compelling. I found the middle part a bit of a drag which keeps this film from being truly great. But the first act and third act are quite fantastic and makes this film well worth seeing. It features great performances from the cast too.

Loves of a Blonde (Milos Forman) ***- A naive young factory girl, during a mixer involving rural factory girls and army reservists, has a one-night stand with a piano player visiting from the city and decides he's the love of her life. This is an early work from director Milos Forman. At first, I thought it felt a bit lightweight especially compared to his later works but it does hit home during the last twenty minutes or so. It didn't completely won me over but it is a beautifully acted, lovely little comedy-drama about a clash of values and cultures of city vs. rural.

[malcolm1980]

2/1

A Page of Madness (Teinosuke Kinugasa) ***1/2 - A man sneaks into mental asylum in hopes of getting his wife out. I've never heard of this silent Japanese horror film from 1926 before it was recommended to me by a friend. This film is something else. The best way I can describe it is that it's almost like a feature-length version of the weird video from The Ring movies. I'm not even kidding. The plot description I wrote above makes it sound a bit generic but it's actually quite a visceral and surreal experience. Some of the images will stay with me. I'm not sure if the score that accompanied this particular version of the film I saw was originally written for it but it's fantastic. Check out this marvelous, largely unknown gem.

[malcolm1980]

2/2

Jackie (Pablo Larrain) ***1/2 - This is a film that chronicles First Lady Jackie Kennedy as come to grips with the assassination of her husband. There have been numerous films and dramatizations of the Kennedys and the assassination of JFK. What makes this any different? Well, this film zeroes in on that first week or so after the assassination in how Jackie comes to terms with her grief and her trauma. This film does not feel like a traditional historical biopic at all (I could go so far as to say that i's an anti-biopic). Instead, it feels more like a character study about a woman whose husband got violently taken away from her and the fact that she has to go through this in the public eye. Natalie Portman gives one of her career best performances in this. I almost forget she's not Jackie at times. A fine piece of work from Chilean director Pablo Larrain.

[malcolm1980]

2/4

The Pawnbroker (Sidney Lumet) ***1/2 - A German-Jewish Holocaust survivor who saw his entire immediate family killed in a concentration camp is now living in America and has shut off any emotions and attachment to people as he works as a pawnbroker as a front for a criminal syndicate. Rod Steiger, in the title role, gives an astounding performance as a man who is left a hollow shell by the unspeakable horrors he has faced. The character doesn't ask for your sympathy (at times, he actively works against it) but you can't help but feel it for him. This is a surprisingly gritty and edgy film especially for an American film from the 1960's. It also features an excellent score by Quincy Jones.

Why Him? (John Hamburg) **1/2 - A straight-laced middle-aged man is horrified to learn that his daughter's foul-mouthed internet millionaire boyfriend is about to propose to her. There was nothing else in the theater I was aching to see so I just saw this as a time killer. I came in with low expectations. Surprisingly, I did find myself laughing in a few parts and I was reasonably entertained. This is thanks to the good cast who actually did their best to sell the material the best way they can. Still, this is far from a great comedy. It's overall it's just okay at best. There was definitely potential there but the film is way too long and needed tightening.

Chronicle of a Boy Alone (Leonardo Favio) ***1/2 - A young boy from a reformatory school is unjustly sent to juvenile detention and then he escapes. This should stand shoulder to shoulder with other great films of the same vein: The 400 Blows (which, by the way, it directly referenced), Los Olvidados and Pixote. But unfortunately, it is rather obscure compared to those films. The reason being that the Argentine government has banned it for its anti-Fascist subtext. The film itself is a beautiful, sad tale of a young, misunderstood youth from an impoverished background told in an almost poetic way which feels quite honest and not exploitative or sensationalistic. This is a film that definitely deserves more attention. Highly recommended.

[malcolm1980]

2/5

Lion (Garth Davis) ***1/2 - Based on a true story of Saroo Brierly, who as a boy in India is separated from his older brother, gets lost and placed in an orphanage and eventually adopted by an Australian couple. As a young adult, he uses Google Earth to try and locate his Indian family. Okay, at the hands of a lesser filmmaker this would've been just a plain formulaic "inspiring" true story. However, by spending almost half the film's running time on the early life of little Saroo and the scary experience of being lost, the film actually earns its emotional heft. The sequences in India truly makes this film quite special and better than you'd expect it to be. Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and newcomer Sunny Pawar all give beautiful performances. It's not quite a masterpiece but it's lovely, heartfelt film that can move even the most hardened cynic.

It's Always Fair Weather (Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen) *** - Three army buddies returns home from World War II. They think they're gonna be friends forever. They meet up after 10 years and find they don't have much in common. Considering the pedigree surrounding this film (Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, director Stanley Donen), I must say I found it to be a bit disappointing. There's still a lot of good stuff in this one though. The song and dance numbers are fantastic but there's not enough of them! (Cyd Charisse only gets ONE number. Sure, it's the best one but only ONE?!?) Overall, I still enjoyed it a lot but it's definitely mid-tier Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen at best.