Malcolm1980's 2022 Review Thread

[malcolm1980]

2/24

Diary for My Children (Marta Meszaros) ***1/2 - A teenage girl is orphaned during the Stalinist purges and flees to Hungary but the aunt she's living with is a faithful communist and the regime is about to encroach on the country as well. This is from director Marta Meszaros who's currently being rediscovered by a new generation of cinephiles including myself with her films popping up in the Criterion Collection and MUBI. This one is a semi-autobiographical tale of a young girl fighting for her freedom. This film is oddly relevant today (again, I'm noticing a pattern) and current events as of this writing add an unexpected layer of poignancy to the proceedings. It's a beautiful, heartfelt film which more people should really see.

[malcolm1980]

2/25

King Richard (Reinaldo Marcus Green) ***1/2 - This is the true story of the father of Venus and Serena Williams, Richard Williams and how his ambition and determination (and stubbornness) made his daughters the tennis stars they are today. Best Picture nomination notwithstanding, I did not have high expectations for this film. Yes, it was everything I sort of expected. But I was surprised by how much I got invested on it. The performances of the cast is quite excellent. While Will Smith seems to be the front-runner to win the Oscar and to be fair, he does give a very good performance, I thought Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney and Jon Bernthal gave performances that elevated the film for me. No, it's no masterpiece but it's a very solid sports biopic worth seeing.

The Ghost That Never Returned (Abram Room) *** - This silent film from 1930 is from then U.S.S.R. which seems to be relevant today. It's about a man who was imprisoned for making workers strike. After an incident, the warden gives him one day of freedom which apparently may be used to give them an excuse to kill him. The film may seem conventional but the way it's directed is anything but. It frequently uses surreal and dream-like imagery and fast-cutting a la Sergei Eisenstein. Although the film feels too long despite being a little over ninety minutes. It's still overall an interesting little oddity from the tail end of the silent era that's worth a look (it's on MUBI, FYI).

[malcolm1980]

2/26

Petite Maman (Celine Sciamma) ***1/2 - A little girl who recently lost her grandmother runs into another little girl in the woods and they share a mysterious connection. This is a lovely little film from director Celine Sciamma who pretty much is one of the major filmmakers in world cinema today. The film uses the fantastical element to tell a very grounded and human tale of coping with grief and reconnecting with your parent. Everything is done without it being too cutesy or sappy or manipulative. There is a beautiful fairy tale-like quality to the film which gives it a child-like warmth. It doesn't try to sugar-coat the concepts of death and grief but at the same time somehow makes it palatable to children. Overall, an excellent film.

I Am Curious (Yellow) (Vilgot Sjoman) **1/2 - A young woman with a strong interest in social issues makes a film with her director boyfriend. This is the controversial film that I have been hearing about for a long time. It has a reputation for being sexually explicit and graphic and it being banned and seized in various countries. Given that reputation, I was expecting something far more graphic than what I got. There's still quite a bit of nudity and sex but most of the film is a part narrative, part documentary, part mockumentary on the various social issues in Sweden in the late 1960's. There are some interesting things here and there but it does get tiresome and what seemed groundbreaking at the time seems kind of tame and trite now. It's interesting enough.

I Am Curious (Blue) (Vilgot Sjoman) *** - This is the "companion" or parallel film to I Am Curious (Yellow). I decided to watch because, well, I was curious LOL. It pretty much has the same basic plot, only this time it tackles different things like religion and homosexuality. I have to say that I kind of liked this one better. This film blends the cinema verite style, the narrative, documentary and the meta elements more smoothly here. But just like the first film, it's reputation as a naughty, sexually explicit film far exceeds what is actually in the film especially who have since seen more explicit films. If that's what you're expecting, you'd be disappointed. Oh and it's quite interesting to see a lot of the issues raised by these films are issues still tackled today which is sort of a running theme lately.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (David Blue Garcia) **1/2 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise gets the "requel" treatment a la Halloween in which this acts as a direct sequel to the original while ignoring all the other films in the series. This one has a bunch of Gen-Z'ers wandering into a deserted town to revitalize and gentrify it only to run into...who else? Leatherface who after suffering a loss goes on a killing spree. I went into this film with low expectations (I mean, it's on Netflix, so why not?) but I just found merely mediocre. The original film is one of my favorite horror films of all time and it's such a friggin' masterpiece. So trying to even estimate it is a tall task. Having a bigger budget and more explicit and graphic gore most likely isn't the way to do it. But the two leads, Sarah Yarkin and Elsie Fisher, both give good performances and there are a few decent scares and gnarly kills to satisfy people just looking for that. But, yeah, this is disposable entertainment.

[malcolm1980]

2/27

Downhill Racer (Michael Ritchie) *** - A ambitious and talented skier who wants to be the best in the world isn't the best team player and clashes with the U.S. winter Olympic team that recruited him. I should have watched this earlier when the Beijing Winter Olympics was in full swing. One of the things that struck me watching this is despite it being about skiing a very action oriented sport, it's a very understated sports drama that's more of a character study of this one person and his ambitions and competitiveness. It didn't always work for me but the skiing scenes were excellently done and Robert Redford's performance in the lead is quite good. All in all, it is a well-made film and the film feature debut of director Michael Ritchie.

Go Fish (Rose Troche) *** - This film basically chronicles the lives of a group of lesbians, of all stripes, as they try to find love and acceptance in both their community and society at large. This is a low-budget independent film made in 1994...and it shows. Both in the low-budget part and in the made in 1994 part. There are elements here that feel very, very of its time which kind of gives me a bit of comfort because it shows how far society has progressed. But it's still interesting to look at this as a time capsule in LGBTQ history from the point of view of the lesbian community which of course is woefully underrepresented in mainstream culture at this time. The film is very rough and tumble but it ends in a sweet note.

The Seduction of Mimi (Lina Wertmuller) ***1/2 - A man votes against the Mafia and has to run out town. Then while out of town, he falls for a communist even though he has a wife back home. There is a scene here which is sort of essentially an attempted rape yet somehow it's actually funny and works in the context. That's just one example of what you're in for in this film. This is yet another magical collaboration between actor Giancarlo Giannini and director Lina Wertmuller and once again, it is magic. This film is often friggin' hilarious. I don't think the combination of sex and politics has ever been this funny (well, certain real life incidents excepted). Giannini is excellent as always as the man being pulled in a lot of directions. This is another more people should check out.

Downfall: The Case Against Boeing (Rory Kennedy) ***1/2 - This is a documentary on Netflix about how greedy Boeing executives prioritized profits and stock markets over safety which resulted in two devastating plane crashes. Everyone who knows me knows I love to travel. Before the pandemic, I travel on the average once a year. I have no fear of flying or airplanes. This made me a bit concerned about setting foot on another airplane, I must say. Whose fault is it? Why, spoiler alert: greedy Wall Street guys, who else? Surprise, surprise. Is there anything they wouldn't destroy for the sake of profit? Yes, this documentary will make you mad at them again. Of course, everyone should be mad at them. A solid documentary.

[malcolm1980]

2/28

Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar (Josh Greenbaum) *** - Two middle aged, newly single women who are best friends lose their jobs and decide to go on a vacation to Vista del Mar where they stumble upon a plot to release deadly mosquitos. People have been recommending this to me for a while now. Well, I finally saw it. So what did I think? You know those weird SNL sketches that air late in the show that some people find funny and some people find excruciating? This is a feature-length version of that. While this film didn't make me roll in the aisles. While I did smile and chuckle a lot and there are a few good hearty laughs in there and I get the sense that his is definitely going to have a cult following, I'm not going to be part of that cult. But I still give this a solid recommendation to any potential members out there.

[malcolm1980]

3/1

Spielberg (Susan Lacy) ***1/2 - This is a documentary about Steven Spielberg, his life, his career and of course his films through interviews of his family, friends, colleagues and peers and also through his own words. Steven Spielberg is of course one of my favorite filmmakers. When I decided to watch this film, I was expecting sort of a puff piece. But it's not. It's a very, very in depth profile of one of the most famous filmmakers in the world. It's not afraid to get personal and it can even be critical at times. Even though I know a lot of the things being said here, the film manages to add some extra layers of information and context on it. I wish they had gotten in depth on more of the films but as it is, it's an excellent look into an undeniably talented and fascinating figure in the world of cinema.

[malcolm1980]

3/5

Dr. Jack (Fred C. Newmeyer) *** - A young doctor known for his unconventional avoid-drugs-as-much-as-possible methods meets and falls in love with sickly girl whose doctor keeps her indoors and gives her a lot of medicine. This is a short Harold Lloyd feature. Yes, I would not consider as among his classics. It is midtier, at best but I have to say this is well worth seeing for the really funny third act "haunted house" sequence, which makes this worth a watch for everyone and not just Harold Lloyd super fans and completists.

The Batman (Matt Reeves) ***1/2 - This is yet another reboot/reimagining of Batman. This time, he is chasing after a creepy serial killer known as the Riddler who is targeting certain members of Gotham City's elite. Do we really need another Batman? Not really. But Batman is, in fact, my favorite superhero so I'm always eager to see whatever iteration a filmmaker can come up with. This one is particularly fantastic. This film is actually more a serial killer neo-noir crime thriller than a superhero movie. Sure, it has a man dressed as a bat with cool gadgets and such but it has indeed more in common with stuff like Se7en than it does a typical Marvel (or a DCEU) movie. No, it's not my favorite Batman movie (maybe my third). But it is a very good one nonetheless. Robert Pattinson is an excellent Batman/Bruce Wayne and Zoe Kravitz is a great Catwoman. Paul Dano is terrifying as the Zodiac-Killer inspired version of the Riddler. Extra points for Michael Giacchino's outstanding score. Overall, a solid blockbuster.

Murders in the Zoo (Edward Sutherland) *** - A wealthy zoologist who captures his own exotic animals for his zoo is a super jealous husband who murders his wife's potential lovers in ghoulishly creative ways involving animals. This pre-Code horror film started out very promisingly with a particularly gruesome opening scene that would startle even modern audiences. The rest of the film has a hard time keeping with the promise of that in the middle which is a bit of a tonal mess. It would oscillate between being a detective story to being a slapstick comedy in a jarring manner. But it does manage to end very well. All in all, an interesting film from Hollywood's pre-Code era.

Million Dollar Legs (Edward Cline) *** - A tiny obscure (and fictional) country is on the verge bankruptcy. So the president concocts a way to earn some money by entering at the Olympics. This is a Jack Oakie and W.C. Fields pre-Code comedy that features a script co-written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz so you know it's going to be good. And it is actually a pretty good. W.C. Fields is funny here but I think the film belongs largely to Jack Oakie with Lyda Roberti stealing the few scenes she's in as a Mata Hari parody. I like a couple of W.C. Fields comedies better than this but there is enough laughs and great gags and sequences in this film that I would recommend this to anyone who wants to check out the comedy of W.C. Fields.

[malcolm1980]

3/6

Porcile (Pigsty) (Pier Paolo Pasolini) **1/2 - Two parallel stories: One is about a young man who killed and cannibalized his own father and the other about the son of a German industrialist preferring the company of pigs. It's Pier Paolo Pasolini's 100th birthday and what better way to commemorate it than watching one of the film of his I haven't seen. The bad news is that it's probably my least favorite of his films I've seen so far. There are some interesting things in this film but I don't think it completely works as a whole and it comes off as alternately dull and off-putting in parts. (It's also weird to see Jean-Pierre Leaud dubbed in Italian). I would recommend this only to Pasolini super fans and completists.

Terror in a Texas Town (Joseph H. Lewis) ***1/2 - A Swedish immigrant seeks vengeance for the murder of his father by a ruthless gunslinger armed only with a whaler's harpoon. The plot is not exactly the most original. We have seen these revenge plots done before and sometimes done better. I personally found Sterling Hayden's Swedish accent often distracting. But despite all that, I found this to be a very solid, very satisfying Western, almost in the classic sense. It features one of the nastiest villains I have ever seen in a Western and I find those really make for a gripping viewing. This is definitely one to check out.

Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson) ***1/2 - A high schooler who was a child actor falls for an older woman who's a photographer's assistant then becomes a successful business person selling waterbeds. The latest from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson is this episodic love story which some people may raise their eyebrows over. But the script captures a weird kind of innocence and nostalgia that almost tempers that. Newcomers Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman are both great, compelling leads with believable chemistry. The film is funny and sweet and has an almost dream and memory like atmosphere to it. Also, one of the things I like about the film are the one or two scene performances by some of the actors including Bradley Cooper. No, it's not my favorite PTA. But it's up there.

[malcolm1980]

3/7

Lucy and Desi (Amy Poehler) ***1/2 - This is a documentary that chronicles the life and career of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Their relationship, their marriage and their massive influence in popular culture that permeates to this day. It features some archival interviews as well as new interviews with their family, friends and admirers. I liked Aaron Sorkin's narrative film Being the Ricardos but I think this one is better encapsulation of why both Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are such legendary names. Directed by Amy Poehler, you can really sense the love she has for the subject matter. Personally, I too really like I Love Lucy and was familiar somewhat with her story but this film does manage to hold my interest and surprise me. Overall, a lovely documentary.

[malcolm1980]

3/10

The Turin Horse (Bela Tarr/Agnes Hranitzky) ***1/2 - In a stark, desolate, austere farm on the very of collapse and ruin, a horse refuses to move or eat, this takes away the only lifeline of an old farmer and his daughter. It's been a long while since I have sat down to watch a Bela Tarr film. I have almost forgotten how long, slow and bleak his movies are. But I am also reminded of what a brilliant filmmaker he is. This is an immersive, mesmerizing piece of work. Despite long stretches of "nothing happening", it's still quite compelling. It contains probably the best on-screen performance by a horse I have ever seen. And people were right: you will never look at a boiled hot potato the same way again. An excellent piece of cinema.