Malcolm1980's 2018 Movie Review Thread

[malcolm1980]

1/1

Blade of the Immortal (Takashi Miike) ***1/2 - What a way to start the New Year! My first film of 2018 is is director Takashi Miike's 100th (!!!) film. It's an adaptation of a manga about a swordsman cursed with immortality. He's hired by a young girl (who resembles his dead younger sister) to avenge the deaths of her family. This feels like a straight-up revenge tale but it's not. The film goes into certain directions you may not expect. However, getting there is of course predictably action-packed. I mean, the main titles haven't even started and the body count is already in the dozens. Miike's no Kurosawa but he can stage a great action scene and it's quite literally a bloody good time.

In a Year with 13 Moons (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) ***1/2 - A transgender woman who had a sex change solely because of her love for a man finds her life unraveling in more ways than one when her latest male lover leaves her. This is a fascinating character study about how far one would go for love and the tragedy of that love going unrequited for so long. Volker Spengler is fantastic as the central tragic figure, a man who wasted his love on someone who didn't really deserve it. It's a superb, mesmerizing piece of work that chooses not to jerk your tear ducts but will break your heart just the same. I believe this is one of the inspirations for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, no?

[malcolm1980]

1/3

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Vittorio De Sica) **1/2 - This is about a group of young adult children from affluent Jewish families in Italy as the rise of Fascism and Nazism in Italy is beginning, just before World War II. This is certainly a bit of a far cry from director Vittorio De Sica's earlier works like Bicycle Thieves and Shoeshine. Though the film is well-made and well-acted, I didn't find the characters terribly interesting or compelling. If it weren't for the fact that they're Jews and the specter of impending tragedy that will befall on them are looming large in the atmosphere, they would be kind of dull. Suffice to say, it's far from De Sica's best work but it's still a solid enough drama for completists.

[malcolm1980]

1/4

Footlight Parade (Lloyd Bacon) *** - A struggling musical producer, facing unemployment due to the rise of talking pictures and a greedy ex-wife wanting alimony decides to make "prologues" live musical performances that accompany talking pictures. This is an old-fashioned 1930's musical that *I think* is still Pre-Code (there's kind of a racy number in it). The plot kind of reminds me of Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon. Those subsequent films were a lot better but this is still a pretty funny, solid musical comedy with some spectacular musical numbers courtesy of Busby Berkeley (that synchronized swimming number!). James Cagney once again is quite great as a musical comedy lead as the beleaguered producer. Overall, it's worth a look especially if you're a fan of the genre.

[malcolm1980]

1/6

Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash) *** - So, yeah, I decided to do the #52FilmsByWomen challenge since I recently updated my top 500 list and I only have eight movies directed or co-directed by women on the list so I need to bulk up. I'm starting with this. This takes place in 1902 that chronicles an African-American community called the Gullah living in an isolated island and a family's contemplation of possibly leaving it for a mainland. I can't help but wonder why director Julie Dash isn't a more prolific filmmaker since her debut is super promising. It's a sub-culture and part of American history we seldom see in movies and she captures it quite beautifully. I hope she gets more high-profile work.

[malcolm1980]

1/7

Merrily We Go To Hell (Dorothy Arzner) *** - My #52FilmsByWomen year continues with me dipping into the filmography of Dorothy Arzner, one of the very few women directors working in Hollywood during its early years. This is a Pre-Code film about an alcoholic journalist turned playwright who falls in love with an heiress but his alcoholism drives them apart. It starts out as kind of a romantic comedy and slowly gets darker from there. Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney are both excellent individually as the romantic pair but the film's major flaw is that I had to work hard to buy them as a couple which kind of dulls the film's impact, unfortunately. Still, an overall pretty good film.

The Florida Project (Sean Baker) **** - Oh, I loved this movie. While living in a cheap motel at the outskirts of Disney World in Orlando, Florida, a young girl and her friends from low-income (to put it politely) families go about their day during the early days of summer break. Like with his previous film Tangerine, writer-director Sean Baker creates a believable very lived-in world that we seldom see first-hand. He's a filmmaker who gives his characters humanity and gets you to empathize with them even if they're not always very pleasant. I'm not a parent, I'm an uncle though and I have to say that there are scenes in this movie where I go, "Oh, crap, don't do that!" Willem Dafoe, despite being a recognizable face, actually blends in well with the rest of the first-time/unknown cast and gives the film a lot of its heart. It's also beautifully shot and the ending is just perfection. Yes, it's one of the best films of the year.

[malcolm1980]

1/9

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold (Griffin Dunne) ***1/2 - This is yet another Netflix documentary I thought I'd check out. Actor Griffin Dunne made this documentary about renowned American writer Joan Didion who also happens to be his aunt. We are taken on a journey through her life, her career and all the ups and downs, particularly the way she dealt with the grief of the loss of her husband and daughter. I didn't know much about Joan Didion before this documentary. I've heard about The Year of Magical Thinking, of course. Now after seeing it, I'd like to be her when I grow up, so to speak. This documentary, though doesn't break new ground, is lovingly made and from the heart and is highly recommended for any aspiring writer or anyone really.

[malcolm1980]

1/10

Dance, Girl, Dance (Dorothy Arzner) ***1/2 - My #52FilmsByWomen continues with the second film from director Dorothy Arzner. This is about a young, pretty but rather naive ballet dancer and her rivalry with her more aggressive frenemy of sorts as they star in a burlesque show together. This is a film that defies classification. It's a musical but it's kind of not a musical. It's kind of a comedy but not exactly a comedy. I really dug it. Maureen O'Hara and Lucille Ball are both fantastic in this sort of trashy early version of All About Eve or Showgirls with less nudity, take your pick. Dorothy Arzner being a lesbian, you can tell there some feminist and queer elements that she sneaked in even with the Hays Code in place. Definitely one to see.

[malcolm1980]

1/11

Kedi (Ceyda Torun) *** - This is a documentary about the many, many, many cats roaming the streets of Istanbul and the people who love and care for them. I just got done watching three episodes of a Discovery Channel series that's all about freaking cats so I was hesitant to see this. I mean CATS AGAIN?!? (I mean, I like them and I think I might be a closet cat person but come on!) But this film surprisingly held my attention for the most part since director Ceyda Torun (a woman so this is part of my #52FilmsByWomen project) uses them to explore people and places in Istanbul outsiders rarely see and get a glimpse of an aspect of the city few people outside it know. This is a must for cat-lovers.

[malcolm1980]

1/13

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Jake Kasdan) *** - I've seen the first Jumanji when I was a teen and I do in fact enjoy it. For some reason, I've seen it repeatedly since it was on cable all the time. I don't think it's a revered classic or anything but I did remember enjoying it a lot. So when I heard they were making a reboot of it, I was like, "Okay, whatever!" But it actually turned out pretty decent surprisingly enough. This time, four teen movie tropes (hehehe, me being a smart-ass) get sucked into a video game version of the game. It manages to balance the fun adventure stuff with a few genuine laughs and is thoroughly entertaining. I must say that this is a better Breakfast Club than Breakfast Club.

The Disaster Artist (James Franco) ***1/2 - This is the true story behind the making of The Room, the worst movie ever made by a mysterious weirdo Tommy Wiseau and his baby face actor friend Greg Sestero whose book this film is based on. I've actually seen and enjoyed The Room in the comfort of my bedroom and I would love to go to one of those special screenings with longtime fans. I don't know if you need to see it in order to enjoy and appreciate this film but it sure would help. Without seeing the film, this is a film about two people who want to make their dreams come true and one of them just happens to be this odd duck of a character. It is often very funny and James Franco (yeah, I know) is excellent but I think Dave Franco deserves some credit too. I think this is the younger Franco's best performance to date and without him, the film wouldn't have been believable. Not quite the best of the year but it's a pretty solid comedy.

[malcolm1980]

1/14

Ferdinand (Carlos Saldanha) **1/2 - This is the feature-length adaptation of the familiar story of Ferdinand the Bull, the gentle bull who'd rather sniff flowers than fight matadors. I think we all saw the Walt Disney short that first adapted it. It was perfectly fine and concise as a short but how does it work as a feature film? Well, it does and it doesn't. As a feature film, it definitely feels way too padded out and overlong. They added a lot of cutesy characters and modernized it a great deal. The climax of the film is pretty terrific but getting there is a bit of a chore for someone over 10. It is saved somewhat by Kate McKinnon's fantastic voice work as Lupe, the calming goat. It's not bad but far from great.

Show People (King Vidor) ***1/2 - An aspiring, naive young Southern belle with ambitions to be a big Hollywood movie star drives to Hollywood to do just that. But it's not going to be easy. King Vidor can actually do comedy. Who knew? Hah. This is probably one of the earliest of examples of movies about making movies there is. It even uses some meta humor which I don't think I've seen a lot from films in this era. But beyond the comedy, the going behind scenes of Hollywood and all that clever stuff, it still feels very much like a King Vidor film. The humanity shines through. It even features a nice Charlie Chaplin cameo as himself. This is quite an excellent film all around. One of the silent era greats.