Malcolm1980's 2024 Review Thread

[malcolm1980]

4/30

Spring Shower (Pal Fejos) ***1/2 - A young woman is seduced and becomes pregnant out of wedlock and is soon cast out of her community. This is an early talkie and thus actually contains not a lot of dialogue but you don't really need a lot of dialogue to tell the story of this unfortunate young lady and the attitudes of society towards women and sexuality and how it can lead to suffering and cruelty. Director Pal Fejos is an excellent visual director and the lead performance by Annabella is heartbreaking (still heavily relies on her face). Although the ending seems to be giving the film mixed messages, it is overall an exquisite film which packs a lot in its just over one hour run time.

[malcolm1980]

5/1


The Fall Guy (David Leitch) ***1/2 - Loosely based on the TV series, this is about a Hollywood stunt man who just recovered from an injury. He returns to work on a movie directed by his ex-girlfriend. Then the star of the film goes missing and he has to find him. This action-romantic-comedy is just pure old-fashioned entertainment and a love letter to stunt people (they even low-key joined the campaign to add an Oscar stunts category). And it mostly works. This is largely to the fun performances and genuine funny chemistry between stars Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. The funniest stuff are with them. But there are lots of other fun stuff here too. There's some genuinely good action sequences and it's meta without being annoying about it. Yes, it's a tad too long but at least you're having fun through most of it.

[malcolm1980]

5/2

Repeat Performance (Alfred L. Werker) ***1/2 - A woman shoots her husband at New Year's Eve. She evades police capture then wishes she could repeat the entire year again so she could change things. Her wish comes true. I have to say I kind of loved this. It's yet another wonderful discovery. It is essentially a B-noir from a smaller studio but it's terrific. The script take its high concept and they mostly nail it. The performances of the cast are excellent but special mention to Richard Baseheart on his film debut playing a gay character ("the poet") who is depicted in a, for its time, progressive way. It's on the Criterion Channel and will go away by the end of the month and I highly, highly recommened it.

[malcolm1980]

5/3

Tokyo-Ga (Wim Wenders) ***1/2 - Twenty years after the death of Japanese auteur Yasujiro Ozu who was one of his favorite filmmakers, director Wim Wenders goes to Tokyo to find the Tokyo that Ozu has depicted in his films. Having been to Tokyo not too long ago, I really find it fascinating to see Tokyo during the early 1980's in this beautiful, lovingly made documentary. Scenes of daily life in the city is interspersed with interviews from Ozu's collaborators, actor Chishu Ryu and his cinematographer. There is a certain bittersweet, melancholy tone throughout the film which both mourns what has passed and celebrates life, much Ozu's films. This is one documentary that's definitely worth seeing.

[malcolm1980]

5/4

Don Juan (Alan Crosland) ***1/2 - This is the silent film version of the story of Don Juan, the so-called "world's greatest lover" and him going up against the tyrannical Borgias. This is a fascinating discovery. It features both John Barrymore and Mary Astor in early silent film roles and is a bit more racy than you would expect a Hollywood silent film to be. It is also surprisingly pretty spectacular with sets and action sequences that would rival the Errol Flynn Robin Hood. This isn't mentioned a lot in lists of essential films but it is worth seeing. A fairly good copy is available for free on YouTube. Check it out.

Unfrosted (Jerry Seinfeld) **1/2 - This is allegedly the true story of how Kellogg's Pop Tarts came to be. There has been recent spate of "product biopics" that have came out lately. When I first saw the trailer for this, I thought this was the parody film of that particular sub-genre. But it wasn't originally meant to be one because it was conceived before all those films came out. I think it would've been a better, funnier film if it had leaned into that. There's a lot of funny people here and there's a lot of potential to be a hilarious romp but alas, I laughed too few times for me to heartily recommend this film and for me to consider this a good comedy. The who's who of talented comedic actors were all wasted here. This could've been a lot better. You can see what they were going for but it didn't quite get there, unfortunately.

[malcolm1980]

5/5

The Idea of You (Michael Showalter) *** - A forty year old single mom takes her daughter to Coachella and there she meets the 24 year old lead singer of a boy band. They begin a love affair. This romantic-comedy could be described as a reverse Notting Hill in a way but it's a bit more than that and has a lot of things going for it. Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine both give very good performances and they have great on-screen romantic chemistry. It really carries the film and makes it entertaining. The film, however, is a tad overlong and there is a plot point somewhere along the way which I didn't completely buy into. But overall, this is a watchable, charming film. You could do a lot worse.

Brainstorm (William Conrad) *** - After a man saves his boss's wife from an attempted suicide, he falls for her then his sanity begins to break. Is he going insane? Is his boss gaslighting him? Well, the answer to that is, of course a spoiler which I wouldn't want to give away. But the film goes into all sorts of directions with it. The final pay off, I'm afraid to say, is not completely satisfactory, at least in my opinion and I'll leave it at that (to say anything further is of course spoiling it). Jeffrey Hunter in the lead role is terrific. He keeps this film together and makes it well worth watching. Also terrific are Anne Francis and Viveca Lindfors in supporting roles. So overall, the film well-acted but a bit disappointing.

[malcolm1980]

5/7

Nineteen Eighty-Four (Michael Radford) *** - This is an adaptation of George Orwell's novel which imagines a then futuristic dystopian England taken over by a totalitarian government who constantly monitors and represses its citizens. Having read the book years ago, based on my memory of it, this is a pretty decent and faithful adaptation. The film is of course almost relentlessly bleak and depressing. But the way they realized Orwell's world on-screen is commendable and the performances by John Hurt and Richard Burton, in one of his final roles, are outstanding. Personally I prefer Brazil in terms of dystopian future science-fiction of the '80s but this is a solid enough film worth watching especially if you liked the book.

[malcolm1980]

5/8

Different from the Others (Richard Oswald) *** - A violin teacher takes a liking to one of his male students and then both of them become targets of a blackmailer. This film is about homosexuality and it was made in 1919 in Germany and you'd be surprised how progressive its views on the subject matter is. While you can nitpick some elements, this film is generally compassionate and understanding of its queer characters, something you would probably not expect from an early 20th century silent film. Huge chunks of this film is lost so there are a lot of missing parts replaced by text which makes the film suffer. Too bad. But this is worth a look for its groundbreaking queer themes.

[malcolm1980]

5/9

My Architect (Nathaniel Kahn) ***1/2 - This documentary is about the life and work of architect Louis Kahn, directed by his son, Nathaniel Kahn who gets to explore this in a truly personal way. I personally don't know much about architecture but this film manage to draw me in. The fact that Nathaniel was a product of a secret affair gives this film a truly unique angle but oddly enough, there's little, if any, anger or resentment. There's only understanding, love and admiration for his all too human father who was still great at what he did. The film reflected that. Though I wouldn't say this is a puff piece, it is an honest, well-rounded but ultimately beautiful and loving tribute and memorial from a son to his father. Check this one out.

[malcolm1980]

5/11

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Wes Ball) *** - Set "many generations" after the last film, a young chimpanzee from a peaceful tribe of eagle training apes must team up with a talking human to rescue his clan from the clutches of a ruthless despotic ape in the titular kingdom. Did we need another one of these after the last one wrapped the prequel story so neatly? No, not really. This film doesn't really say anything new or anything the previous films haven't touched upon. It's pretty much more of the same. But it is still a very entertaining, extremely well-crafted adventure tale. Sometimes, that's all you need. Owen Teague is no Andy Serkis but he still acquits himself well. Kevin Durand is actually a pretty fantastic villain too. So overall, it's a solid popcorn flick, no more no less.