It’s always great when the day comes for Criterion’s monthly announcement of new releases and re-releases. The films I’ve never heard of, the films the surprised me in what they got the rights to, and the ones I especially requested from them – send them an email at [email protected] to give recommendations – is always a massive fist pump to see a beauty get the royal treatment. And, I have nagged them a few times with suggestions; a few have actually been given the release while others I wait. This Christmas, here’s a list of those movies I desire to see get the Criterion release.
Aguirre, Wrath Of God (1972)
Werner Herzog’s portrayal of the Spanish conquistadores in 16th Century South America follows Klaus Kinski, his closest acting companion, as the leading man who leads a voyage of hell. It is unforgiving, yet the madness that befalls on Kinski’s character, climaxing on him on a raft down the river with a bunch of monkeys surrounding him, is a perfect reflection of the entire production. Herzog wrote the script in a frenzy, shot on location, and Kinski, who suffered from antisocial personality disorder, was notorious for his violent outbursts towards everybody and Herzog allegedly pulled a gun on Kinski when he tried to leave the set. Movie wise, it is still a shocking piece of theater and would have a ton of special effects if Criterion released it.
Mona Lisa (1986)
Here’s one wish for a re-release: Neil Jordan’s brilliant crime drama about a gangster parolee (Bob Hoskins) whose first job out is to be a driver to a call girl he finds himself in love with. It’s an unusual romance but with danger everywhere in the gangster underworld, protecting her is a dangerous endeavor, especially when she has a certain agenda herself. This was really a barebones release with a short essay on how the story came about, through a newspaper clipping about an anonymous ex-con and his job for an escort service. Bring it back for those who truly admire Bob Hoskins in an Oscar-nominated role.
The Piano (1993)
Criterion has released Jane Campion’s Sweetie (1989) and An Angel At My Table (1990). But it’s her Oscar-winning romance in colonial New Zealand that really fits the bill. It’s such a haunting piece of cinema, from Holly Hunter’s voiceover to the scenery that surrounds the passions between Ada and a Maori native (Harvey Keitel). Michael Nyman’s piano score adds to the sweeping madness filled in from Sam Neill’s jealousy as the man who is supposed to marry Ada and Anna Paquin, ten-years-old when she performed – later won an Oscar for her performance – as the daughter who serves as an interpreter and witness to the intense love triangle taking place.
Amelie (2001)
Let’s get going, Criterion! How can’t you get the rights from Miramax (when was the last time they released a film?) to do your stuff on this magical whirlwind romance story with Audrey Tatou’s charm and smile as a matchmaker, justice server, and lonely romantic trying to find her own Prince charming? It is an amazing film, one full of hope, and desirable. It has the feel of French New Wave characteristics with many short scenes, montages, narration, and shots on location. But this movie is colorful, rich, and bubbly, just sweeping me off my feet.
Vera Drake (2004)
Mike Leigh’s 80s and 90s work has been getting picked up on, from Life Is Sweet to Topsy-Turvy. If they are seeking something from the 2000s, then his abortion story with Imelda Staunton as the titular character, a middle-class housewife who secretly performs abortions on women while it was illegal at the time, is highly worth the acquisition. This is a subject perfect for the kitchen sink realism era in the 50s and 60s, up there with A Taste of Honey and Saturday Night And Sunday Morning. Leigh always gives a humanist touch to characters through the way he works, improvisation and surprising his actors with moments that catch their characters off guard and the climatic and emotional arrest of Vera Drake is such a gripping moment.
It got a whole lot more of recommending to them, like bringing back The Grand Illusion and Ran, and acquiring more of Frank Capra and David Fincher works. They have already tapped into major works from big-time directors, so why stop now? And for everyone else, what movies would you love to see come out on Criterion?
This weekend on Episode 353 we’ll be diving into the latest film to star Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. As we all know, Hanks is no stranger to play characters based on real-life people, and Beautiful Day is no different. This time he’s playing the iconic Fred Rogers in what could be his most memorable role in recent years. We’ll, of course, discuss this weekend on the show, but in the meantime it’s the inspiration for our latest poll. Simply asking; what is your favorite Tom Hanks performance?
This week on the InSession Film Podcast, Adnan Virk from Cinephile joins us as we discuss Martin Scorsese’s latest crime epic in The Irishman, and James Mangold’s racing drama Ford v Ferrari! JD also offers up some brief thoughts on The Aeronauts and Adopt a Highway, while Brendan reviews The Nightingale. And finally, we both give some brief thoughts on Bi Gan’s Long Day’s Journey into Night.
Big thanks to Adnan for joining us this week! We’ve been planning this for over a year, so it’s crazy to us that it’s finally here, and we are super grateful to Adnan for sticking with us over that time. He was a great guest and we loved having him on the show. As you can imagine with all of the film listed above, this week’s episode went a little long, so we ask for some forgiveness up front. But we are confident you’ll enjoy the conversation, at least we hope so!
On that note, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and for supporting the InSession Film Podcast!
– Movie Review: The Irishman (4:52) Director: Martin Scorsese Writer: Charles Brandt (book), Steven Zaillian (screenplay) Stars: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Anna Paquin
– Notes / Long Day’s Journey into Night / The Nightingale / Adopt a Highway / The Aeronauts (1:03:29)
In addition to our reviews of The Irishman and Ford v Ferrari, as noted above, we had a few other films we wanted to discuss briefly as well. Both of us were able to see Bi Gan’s surreal noir Long Day’s Journey into Night, and while difficult to discuss, we had fun trying to figure it out. Brendan also caught up with Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale, and JD offered up a few sentiments on Adopt a Highway and The Aeronauts.
– Movie Review: Ford v Ferrari (4:52) Director: James Mangold Writer: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, Jason Keller Stars: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Noah Jupe, Tracy Letts
Main Review: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Top 3: N/A
Ingmar Bergman Movie Series: Autumn Sonata
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Director: Wash Westmoreland Writer: Wash Westmoreland; Susanna Jones (novel) Stars: Alicia Vikander, Riley Keough, Naoki Kobayashi, Jack Huston, Kiki Sukezane, Ken Yamamura, Kazuhiro Muroyama, Akiko Iwase
Synopsis: An enigmatic translator with a dark past is brought in for questioning after an ex-pat friend, who came between her and her photographer boyfriend, ends up missing and presumed dead.
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Going off of Netflix’s descriptions alone, the level of danger in the adaptation of Susanna Jones novel seems supernaturally high. But don’t worry if you’re not in the mood for horror; the subject matter here is strictly on a love triangle in 1989 Japan that ends up with a girl gone (the pulsing score from Atticus and Leopold Ross & Claudia Sarne will remind you) and not a yūrei out for souls. Still, there remains a dilemma: The danger suggested? It’s mostly absent, the result of a direction that lets passivity prevails. And for something classifiable as a psychosexual whodunnit, this is the gust that tailspins the bird.
There are a few things that Wash Westmoreland does right. On the character front, the writer-director understands what is the factor that makes his three main players an irresistible mystery to each other and all others — as an expat and working translator, Lucy Fly (Alicia Vikander) is able to access any conversation; as a newcomer, Lily Bridges (Riley Keough, fleeting but impactful) can play up her gaijin traits to reach her goals; as a local, Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi, fittingly sultry) knows how to have the subjects caught in his lens reveal everything willingly — and play them up at the right moments. On the drama front — with all that in mind — Lucy, Lily and Teiji are each rendered as a weapon you can’t see coming; it almost becomes a game to pinpoint where they have fused a dose of deception into a particular interaction. That said, Westmoreland keeps an exclusive access to these interpretations, allowing us to deem the overall mood as sedated instead of somber. There needn’t be (and Westmoreland is wise to do this) any sort of in-your-face fireworks to realize the narrative’s psychological tendrils, but if the job to do so is dependent on the performers — all of which are game — there should have been something from them that will jolt, surprise, upset, subvert, and the like. A slightly out-of-place movement. A subtle glance. A micro-reaction that makes their souls vulnerable. Anything to suggest depth, something else but the current “what you see is what you get”-ness, which at times would reach its peak via a summary line from either Lucy’s also-expat friend Bob (Jack Huston in a throwaway role) or the older detective Kameyama (Kazuhiro Muroyama) who’s questioning her about Lily’s disappearance.
Since there is a failure to fully join the players in the love triangle, the only guaranteed source of enjoyment left is to step back and observe the shape. Visually, Earthquake Bird is a hoot, as expected when Ridley Scott is listed as a producer or because photography is a central plot element. Be it a shot the tourism board would love to obtain or something in tighter quarters, Chung Chung-hoon’s lensing greatly enlivens the space with angles or colors showing both Japan’s inimitable gorgeousness and how that can be a means to shield impulses best left unspoken. The sights along with the performances (especially Vikander’s, which is a canny rendition of someone with a hunger for recognition) are why the film stays intriguing despite nothing is happening when we’re constantly yearning for something or when something is happening but it’s too muted to discern.
Makes it all the more ironic for a film bearing a title about unstable grounds and the noises that follow. If the frames are converted into data for a seismograph to read, be ready to see mainly flat lines.
Director: Martin Scorsese Writer: Charles Brandt (book), Steven Zaillian (screenplay) Stars: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Anna Paquin
Synopsis: A mob hitman recalls his possible involvement with the slaying of Jimmy Hoffa.
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You’ll often hear the refrain that some movies simply must be seen in a theater. I tend to agree with this sentiment though, after watching The Irishman in a theater, I think there a differing reasons as to why that sentiment may be true.
My wife and I drove almost two hours to see Martin Scorsese’s new film at a Landmark Theater in Chicago. We walked in just before the previews began to play, and the theater was packed. Minutes later, we saw the Netflix logo flash across the screen. That was a first for me, but what came next was an even better “first” – my first time seeing a Martin Scorsese film in a theater during its original theatrical run.
Scorsese is known as one of the great directors, and for good reason. His incredible career has given us classic after classic, and he has been arguably the greatest ambassador for cinema, film restoration, and the theatrical experience the world over. With The Irishman, he returns to a genre for which he is particularly well-known – the gangster film.
Scorsese grew up around gangsters in New York’s Little Italy neighborhood. Those memories had great effect on films like Goodfellas and Casino. While his youthful experiences surely find their way into this film as well, The Irishman is a creation of the elder Scorsese – a fact that only becomes clearer as the film progresses.
If I’ve taken my time with the intro to this review, that’s because Scorsese’s film takes its time to set up context, theme, and feeling. This is a 3 hour and 28 minute film, and Scorsese uses every second to his advantage.
The film follows the life of Frank Sheeran (Robert DeNiro), who was a mob hitman. However, the film begins in a place you wouldn’t normally associate with a mob hitman – a nursing home. Most mob hitmen don’t make it to a nursing home, and therein lies a nugget of one of the themes Scorsese focuses on throughout the film. Sheeran recalls his life of crime, and those memories take us back into the story with him.
Sheeran begins as a lowly truck driver, but he quickly finds his way into the employ of Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), one of the most powerful mob bosses of his day. As an aside, for this movie fan seeing Joe Pesci back on the big screen was a unique joy. He is fantastic in this film, as is the entire cast.
But the film goes quite a while without introducing us to its most famous character. That’s because Sheeran has to prove himself as being a man who will follow through on what is asked of him before he is called upon to be the personal bodyguard for the most powerful union leader who ever lived – Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).
Here I must stop and praise this cast. The headline is that you get to see DeNiro, Pacino, Pesci, and Harvey Keitel (who plays another mob boss, Angelo Bruno) together in the same film. However, the supporting cast of Jesse Plemons, Anna Paquin, Bobby Cannavale, and Ray Ramano all acquit themselves very nicely. But this film is mainly carried by its triumvirate of acting royalty. Throughout much of the film, it is DeNiro, Pacino, and Pesci who bring this story to life. It’s an incredible sight to see.
Yes, this story has some of the same genre storytelling tropes of other gangster films – starting from the bottom, a meteoric rise to power, then the aftermath of that power. But where this film differs from the gangster films that came before it is that it comes to that story from a place of old-age reflection and a ponderous nature. To achieve this, Scorsese utilizes key actors in old age themselves (Pesci came out of retirement to film it). However, the film also requires flashback scenes to various moments in each man’s life. This is where Netflix came in.
Scorsese knew that he wanted to make this film a certain way. That meant using older actors and having them digitally de-aged for the flashback scenes rather than simply having younger actors play those scenes. This process is extremely expensive, and Netflix was the only studio willing to pay for it.
On the de-aging technique, I was quite skeptical going in. I kept thinking about how, had this technology been available in the 70s, we wouldn’t have gotten DeNiro in his unforgettable role as young Vito in The Godfather Part II. I still wonder what young actors might have been able to take on the roles in this film, but I must also give credit where it is due. Scorsese and his team did an incredible job with the de-aging. I was expecting it to be awkward, but once you settle into the way the film uses this technique, it just becomes part of the film.
On the technical side, the person who deserves the most credit, in my opinion, is Thelma Schoonmaker – the editor with whom Scorsese has worked for years. Though the film’s runtime is long, it never feels that way. Moments that need to breathe are allowed to breathe, which is a refreshing change of pace from so many films that choose to assault the senses with quick cuts. If the story calls for that technique, so be it. But this film certainly calls for a more thoughtful approach, and Schoonmaker knocks it out of the park.
I don’t think it constitutes a spoiler to say that Jimmy Hoffa doesn’t make it through the whole film. His death is one of the most notorious unsolved cases in American history. I Heard You Paint Houses – the book by Charles Brandt from which this film is adapted – gives its own version of how Jimmy Hoffa died. It is that notion of death that hangs over this entire film.
But for the scenes in which Hoffa is alive, we get a part that seems to have been made specifically for Pacino. Here he gets a larger-than-life character to embody. Some have accused Pacino of being an over-actor in his later years, but I completely disagree. His acting style has its own rhythm, and it fits perfectly here.
Pesci brings the context of the combustible characters he’s played in other Scorsese films to this role as well. It always seems as if there’s something simmering just below the surface whenever Bufalino is on screen.
And then there’s DeNiro – arguably the greatest actor of his generation. He does more with a silent close-up than most can do with an entire monologue. The film uses this skill of his to great effect. There are multiple moments where we just watch Sheeran’s face as he considers the situation with which he’s presented.
The final note I’ll make about this cast is that, amid all these legendary acting icons, Anna Paquin more than measures up. Some have bemoaned her seeming lack of dialogue in the film. I always get frustrated when these types of discussions pop up. It’s an affront to great actors to say that they can’t perform without dialogue. Great actors are able to convey so much through just a simple look. Paquin is a great actress, and she has some of the best reaction shots in the film. She plays Sheeran’s daughter, Peggy, and she is – in many ways – our eyes. No, she doesn’t have much dialogue in the film, but that doesn’t keep her from being a vital presence amid all these titans of the screen. It is Peggy who realizes the lengths her father will go, and it is Peggy who surmises when he has gone farther than even he imagined possible.
Scorsese’s eye is trained firmly inward here. In many ways, The Irishman is a comment on Scorsese’s own work within the gangster genre. Whereas Goodfellas was made with the flash and flair of a younger man, this film is steeped in the considerations of old age. The film is told through flashback, but it is also consumed with legacy and the specter of death. Repeatedly, when side characters appear on screen, text below tells of the grisly manner of their future death.
In general, the film is quite self-referential to Scorsese’s earlier works. But The Irishman avoids the mistakes that Todd Phillips’ Joker made. This is not a blatant retread of films like Taxi Driver and The Gangs of New York. The film has shots or sequences that mirror those films, but it brings something new to the table from a thematic or technical standpoint.
One of my favorite shots in the film comes just before the film’s pivotal interaction. A few characters are traveling together in a car and the camera cuts to a shot of a telephone pole. As the wooden structure takes up the whole screen, its arm gives it the shape of a cross. Scorsese has never been afraid of using religious themes and iconography in his films. Here it has thematic significance when the scene is compared to the events leading up to the crucifixion of Christ.
Of course, The Irishman is a Netflix film, and it will soon be available for streaming in living rooms across the country. But I do think that the few who are able to see it on the big screen will appreciate the experience in a special way. There are some films – take Lawrence of Arabia, for instance – whose sheer images need the larger space for one to be able to grasp them. Surely The Irishman looks great on the large screen, but that wasn’t the main reason I appreciated seeing it in a theater. For me, it was the crowd around me experiencing this movie history right along with me that made it such a memorable event. Hearing what beats make people laugh and what makes them gasp is something you simply can’t replicate at home.
As the film comes to its end, Sheeran meets someone who doesn’t even know who Jimmy Hoffa was. We see in his face the worry that all his work may not have been worth it. These thematic, emotional moments take place largely in silence. That an epic film with the length of The Irishman chooses to end in such a poignant way is a testament to the talent on display here. You may never see such a group together all in one film for a long time. Whether you see this film in a theater or at home, this is a film that demands to be seen.
Another interesting pair of films from the Extra Film guys. Adopt a Highway is the directorial debut from actor Logan Marshall Green starring one of the best actors working today, Ethan Hawke. Following up his wonderful 2018 year, Hawke gives another wonderful performance the guys have fallen in love with. But while agreeing on Hawke, the guys have an thought-provoking discussion over on the movie and argue a little over the film’s overall themes. Then in the back half of the episode, the guys review their second Chinese film of the year in Long Day’s Journey Into Night. While the film has been highly reviewed, it has been divisive, with one of the Extra Film gentlemen not like it at all. This lead to a respectful, deep debate over the visually stunning international film.
On that note, have fun with this week’s Extra Film segment and let us know what you think in the comment section below. Thanks for listening!
– Movie Review: Adopt a Highway (3:01) Director: Logan Marshall Green Screenplay: Logan Marshall Green Stars: Ethan Hawke, Elaine Hendrix, Betty Gabriel
– Movie Review: Long Day’s Journey Into Night (36:02) Director: Bi Gan Screenplay: Bi Gan Stars: Tang Wei, Huang Jue
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In Miami Beach, two blocks from where I live, a small theatre with a long history and art deco design recently shut down on 71st Street. It was owned by O Cinema but its original name is still on the facade, the Byron Carlyle. It opened in the late 60s, shut down in the 90s, and was revitalized in 2014. Only two years ago did I finally walk into it after passing by it so many times. I first captured 120 BPM, one of two people inside, me sitting in the balcony (as it is known) with a central view of the screen. Later, it was with my friend Timothy that we saw Call Me By Your Name. A few months after, The Death of Stalin. My last film was Pain & Glory. At 50 years old, there is a fight to make it a local monument or it will fall to the wrekcing ball for a new slate of condos. This theatre was my second entry into a surviving independent cinema from decades ago.
The first was in London, another two years prior, to see Xavier Dolan’s Mommy. I didn’t know until I had gotten into the theatre that this building, The Ritzy, was from 1911. The exterior looked it, the sidebar & cafe where I had a drink before going in didn’t show it. And the screening room – there were 5 of them – was for no more than 50 people. No previews in between and turnaround were no more than 15 minutes. This is England, after all, and the former movie house where Charlie Chaplin once watched his first nickelodeon as a child was still up as a museum to British film and Chaplin’s career. The British take pride and good care of their old cinemas, even when they are converted into shops or flats. A lot of America’s old-time theatres – Minnesota’s Oak Street Cinema and Revival House in Rhode Island are gone – but there’s a few still around we need to save.
For example, the famous Texas Theatre, a building that got worldwide attention on November 22, 1963, when Lee Harvey Oswald tried to hide from police after killing an officer and an hour after President Kennedy was shot and killed. A chair inside is stamped with his name and where he was when police found him that afternoon. In opened in the 1930s, but in the 1990s, it was closed and faced demolition multiple times before the Oak Cliff Foundation bought it, began renovations, and successfully listed it among the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Today, it shows classic films and avant-garde productions and even plays.
In Missoula, Montana, it is the cultural center of the state with the University located there plus its progressive-leaning style of life. Not one, but two film festivals are hosted, the Montana Film Festival and the International Wildlife Film Festival. Once certain of note: the Roxy Theatreopened 80 years ago and was in business until a fire damaged it in 1994. Years later with donations and painstaking restoration to its original look, it opened and was even featured in a Criterion Channel short about working art theatres.
Back in the big city of Seattle, the Grand Illusion (which I assume is based on Jean Renoir’s famous feature) opened in 1968, nearly fell in line as part of a chain, and became a surviving independent place in the 1990s. Thanks to a group of enthusiasts, it still lives on within the “charming confines” introduced by its retro hand-painted sign and, as listed by Film Independent, among the 5 Art House Theaters Worth Leaving the House For alongside LA’s Laemmel Theatre, even though there’s apparently several of them, but with the purpose of sticking to indies and classics.
And what about abroad? Instead of accepting only multiplexes, lone-screen cinemas survive in the artiest places. Toronto’s Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinemafrom the 40s has survived name changes, various owners, and the usual threat of the wrecking ball. Besides London’s few dozen independent theatres, in Bristol, The Cube is, in their words, an “art venue, adult crèche, and progressive social wellbeing enterprise.” Local refreshments, 108 seats, and movies of a retrospective, documentary, and a setting to raise money for various causes. Paris’ oldest surviving movie theater, Cinéma du Panthéon, opened in 1907 and played a role in showing the French New Wave the international films neglected to them for decades. Stockholm has Sweden’s oldest running cinema in Zita, Italy has, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the smallest cinema in the world with Cinema dei Piccoli, and Cape Town, South Africa has the Labia Theatre, open since 1949.
We have all spoken about the box office-jacking by Disney through their stream of Marvel releases and remakes of Disney animation works. They own five of the top-grossing films in 2019 with one breaking the all-time record, a sixth film through their subsidiary 20th Century Fox, and a lot more other competition by Sony, Universal, and Warner Brothers. A24, Annapurna, Amazon, and Netflix play second fiddle, even though they dominate in quality. Where do we see these works? In the large, fancy, reclining chair-filled multiplex where you can now bring alcohol in and call a waiter in the VIP section. It’s the only way to see these big movies, which drowns out the indies we cherish and push hard for recognition. There are small theaters that thankfully still exist and serve the unseen ones, obsolete, and tucked away under the movie rug as if they are second-rate. But, as someone who admires history and cinema combined, we have a sense of duty to keep these places running.
It’s hard to believe it’s finally here. The world has been eagerly anticipating The Irishman all year and we’re finally going to get to see it this weekend. Martin Scorsese is notorious for his crime/mob films, and not only is he dabbling into that genre once again, but he’s reuniting with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and he even brought back Joe Pesci. Everything about this is exciting. So, with that as our inspiration, we are asking you for your favorite “crime” film from Scorsese. There are so many great films to choose from for this poll and we are excited to see what the results end up being.
With that said, what is your favorite Scorsese “crime” film? Vote now!
Director: Tim Miller Writer: James Cameron, Charles H. Eglee, Josh Friedman, David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, Billy Ray Stars: Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis
Synopsis: Sarah Connor and a hybrid cyborg human must protect a young girl from a newly modified liquid Terminator from the future.
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Another installment of The Terminator franchise hit theaters this month. Terminator: Dark Fate trailers have been running for some time and the big selling point on this release has been the return of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger as an aged T-800 named Carl…thats right. If I am being honest after the letdowns of Rise of the Machines, Salvation and Gensisys my fatigue over the Terminator series just would not let me get that excited over Dark Fate, even with these names attached. In fact, internally I was mentally preparing for disappointment. Even with Tim Miller, who actually surprised me with Deadpool (I absolutely hated the trailer), helming I had very little faith in what this film could achieve and wasn’t even certain if I planned on catching it in theaters. But one uneventful day with very little to do a buddy convinced me to give it a go. And roughly 2 hours later I was able to say with certainty that Terminator: Dark Fate had finally breathed some long-awaited life back into the franchise.
Warning: There will be spoilers in this review.
Let us get things straight, Terminator: Dark Fate is by no means a slam dunk. It has many of the same flaws one might expect from a sequel to a badly aging franchise, but it does manage to get the basics right and deliver an entertaining film. For starters the film immediately separates itself from the prior installments by means of an alternate timeline, something I usually find cheap and tiresome but in this circumstance, I will take it. The film picks up after Terminator: Judgement Day and creates a new story arc where years later John Connor, the future savior of all mankind, dies at the hands of a T-800. This is obviously big considering up until this point every single film in the franchise dealt in someway around Skynet sending machines to stop John Connor from becoming their ruin and mankind’s champion. Instead, an artificial intelligence called Legion, Skynet no longer exists in this timeline, has sent back a new model of Terminator, the REV-9, to hunt and kill a seemingly insignificant civilian named Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes). Of course, as always, we find there is nothing insignificant about Dani at all and we learn that in this future she leads a rebellion to rise up and fight against the machines. In essence, she has replaced John Connor as the central figure to humanity’s survival. Much like the original film humanity’s response is to send back a soldier to protect Dani and mankind’s future. But in this installment the soldier, Grace, played by Mackenzie Davis, has an advantage: she is part machine with enhanced strength, reflexes and conditioning. Overall Dark Fate‘s storyline is very much a mirror of the original 1984 film which sounds bad but may be exactly what the franchise needed, a fresh start. It also makes for easy viewing being that most people watching will already be familiar with the original film. Leaving the story less complex allows viewers to settle into the film and just enjoy the action and excitement without having to overthink the storyline.
Speaking of action, Dark Fate has plenty and it is all done well. The film eases in with some brief character introductions but it wastes no time getting to the explosions and car chases and once it starts it never really stops. The story and everyone’s place in it you learn along the way in-between chase sequences, plenty of shooting and lots of machine on machine brawling. Miller really brings it here and the truth is this is what most viewers will have come to watch. The dust-ups between Grace, the T-800, reprised by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the REV-9 (Gabriel Luna) bring loads of hard-hitting action and are just fun to watch. Like previous films, each iteration of Terminator seems to have some new trick and the REV-9 is no exception. Like the T-1000 it has a liquid metal form but this sits on top of a metal endoskeleton, very much like the T-800’s. This is clever but the real trick is that the endoskeleton and liquid form can function separately and apart, so at times Grace and team are dealing with two terminators. The REV-9 makes for a formidable opponent even with the T-800 and Grace’s combined force. They are truly no match for it and the fight sequences keep reminding you of this. It adds a layer of suspense to the film and most encounters are them simply trying to slow the REV-9 down and put distance between them and it. Conceptually it is a great homage to that classic line from the original, “It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.” This is really what The Terminator was about and yet most of the sequels failed to capture it.
Terminator: Dark Fate will not by any means blow you away but what it will do is rekindle some of that lost enthusiasm you had when you first watched The Terminator and Judgement Day. Seeing Hamilton and Schwarzenegger on-screen together again definitely helps but the story is good as well. Everyone delivers performance-wise and the action will keep you awake so you won’t find yourself bored and staring at the exits wondering when it is all going to end. My main complaint really has nothing to do with the film’s execution but more to do with its existence. Even though I enjoyed Dark Fate I definitely question whether it really needed to have been written and this is more emphasized after recently learning that this may be the first in a trilogy. After enduring the horrendous sequels after Terminator: Judgement Day I really want to root for the series but at the same time I also feel like it should come to its timely end and I was hoping this would be that. In a time where theaters are full of sequels, prequels and remakes there is a huge lack of creativity and inspiration lingering and all of this can at times feel more like cash grabs instead of true art and storytelling. And more importantly, these films often cheapen the classic that many cinephiles hold dearly. Where Dark Fate stands in all of this is hard to say however I what I can say is that I can definitely recommend a viewing. As an action film it delivers and fans of the franchise won’t be disappointed and also seeing Sarah Connor team up with a T-800 is a treat. However, that being said I still worry about the future of the series and it is likely dead in the water.
This week on the InSession Film Podcast, we discuss Mike Flanagan’s sequel to The Shining in Doctor Sleep and we continue our Ingmar Bergman Movie Series by discussing his 1972 film Cries and Whispers! JD also gives his thoughts on The King, while Brendan offers up his reviews of Parasite, Pain and Glory and Dolemite is My Name.
No guest again this week, but it was great to get Brendan back after his little hiatus last week. We had a really fun discussion of Doctor Sleep that is reminiscent of our Dark Fate review from last week. And, of course, any time we get to talk Bergman, things are going well. A little long this week, but we are hopeful you’ll enjoy the show!
On that note, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and for supporting the InSession Film Podcast!
– Movie Review: Doctor Sleep (5:10) Director: Mike Flanagan Writer: Stephen King (based on the novel by), Mike Flanagan (screenplay) Stars: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran
– Notes / The King / Parasite / Pain and Glory / Dolemite is My Name (42:39)
We were busy catching up with some films this week. As noted above, JD was able to catch up with David Michôd’s The King, currently up on Netflix, and offered up a few thoughts on the film. Brendan on the other hand, offered up his sentiments on Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory and Craig Brewer’s Dolemite is My Name.
Main Review: The Irishman / Ford v Ferrari
Top 3: N/A
Ingmar Bergman Movie Series: N/A
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This week on the InSession Film Podcast: Extra Film segment, Ryan and Jay discuss the Netflix original, The King, and Spanish master Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, Pain and Glory.
Director David Michôd started his career of with a bang when he directed Animal Kingdom, a family crime drama from 2010 that has sustained in the culture with an American television adaptation, now its in fourth season. Since his feature debut, Michôd has directed the post-apocalyptic Robert Pattinson vehicle, The Rover, and the maligned Netflix “satire”, War Machine. With his career wobbling a bit, the director turned to the most famous storyteller in history for inspiration: William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s “Henry V” has been adapted time after time, but Michôd comes at it with a bit of a slant, playing with the well-known ideas and making it grittier than ever. The film stars internet darlings Timothee Chalamet and Robert Pattinson, among a slew of other recognizable faces. The film has polarized critics and viewers, alike, and that remains true with the boys on Extra Film.
After discussing The King, Ryan and Jay dig into a very different kind of film in Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory. Antonio Banderas has been getting Oscar buzz for his performance as an on-screen representation of Almodóvar in this piece of auto-fiction. Pain and Glory explores themes of addiction, aging, lost love, redemption, and more. It uses sequences of animation, movies within movies, and breaks the fourth wall. No doubt, it is unlike any film you will see this year. Listen to find out where it ranks against other foreign film of the year for Jay and Ryan.
On that note, have fun with this week’s Extra Film segment and let us know what you think in the comment section below. Thanks for listening!
– Movie Review: The King (4:33) Director: David Michôd Screenplay: David Michôd, Joel Edgerton Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Lily-Rose Depp, Robert Pattinson, Ben Mendelsohn
– Movie Review: Pain and Glory (40:00) Director: Pedro Almodóvar Screenplay: Pedro Almodóvar Stars: Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Penélope Cruz
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Director: Mike Flanagan Writers: Steven King (novel), Mike Flanagan (screenplay) Stars: Ewan McGregor, Kyleigh Curran, Rebecca Ferguson
Synopsis: Years following the events of The Shining, a now-adult Dan Torrance meets a young girl with similar powers as he tries to protect her from a cult known as The True Knot who prey on children with powers to remain immortal.
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“Dare to go back.” It’s the tag line to director Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep, the sequel to Stephen King’s The Shining But while Doctor Sleep is a sequel to the classic novel, it is also a continuation of the feature film directed by Stanley Kubrick that premiered in 1980. While it is a good line to put on a poster, the line feels more like a challenge to the creative minds around this sequel. The task of making a follow-up to one of the greatest horror properties of all time could drive many crazy. But Flanagan balances everything perfectly, making something fans of the book and the film will be extremely happy. By doing this, he has made one of the biggest surprises of the year while continuing to bring his own gloomy, naturalistic style to the work he is involved with.
Doctor Sleep picks up 30 years after the events at the Overlook Hotel. Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor), who now goes by Dan, is an alcoholic trying to escape the pain plaguing his life. With flashbacks to Dan’s childhood showing the evolution of his gifts, he’s able to lock up most of demons haunting him. But while he can file those haunting figures away, he still can’t shake his personal fears, including his damaged relationship with his father.
Finally hitting rock bottom, Dan seeks help to turn his life around while living quietly in a small northeastern town. He joins AA, coming to terms with his drinking and how it connected to his shortcomings as well as his father’s sinister fate. He becomes the town’s night orderly at the local hospital, where he helps people who are about to die transition to a peaceful slumber. This is where Dan gets to serve some form of purpose with his gifts by using them as a comforting device for the suffering. By doing this, Dan can find peace within his life and understand his shine is a meaningful blessing. These moments are when Doctor Sleep works the best, where Flanagan slows everything down and amps up the emotion. Through this, Dan is such an interesting complex main character you can root for due to the beautiful humanity and relatability conveyed in McGregor’s performances.
But just as everything is going well, a young girl named Abra (Kyleigh Curran) reaches out to him seeking his help. Abra is just like Dan, she shines and is extremely powerful like him. They communicate a lot throughout the film, friendly conversations before Abra goes to school. But when she gets in trouble, she has no one else to turn to. She comes to him searching for a way to stop Rose (Rebecca Ferguson) and the True Knot, a cult who feeds off other children’s shine. Abra witnessed one of the True Knot’s acts through her shine, thus when Rose feels her presence, Abra knows it won’t be long till she must face off against the cult. Hesitant at first, Dan realizes that he can’t hide his gifts anymore and he joins Abra in the fight to stop the True Knot, leading them to a familiar place full of dark memories.
Doctor Sleep is a dense dance of nostalgic supernatural horror mixed with a deep psychological examination of how we can rise from the sins of the past. Flanagan knows the audience is coming to see something scary, and there are parts that will make you jump, especially in the third act. But this director isn’t interested in those expectations. Instead he’s interested in the trauma and the tole someone’s burdens can have on those around them. By looking at these issues, Dan evolves and inspires Abra to be what he could never be, which is someone that embraces who they are and shines bright for all to see.
Thanks to the interest of actress Barbara Stanwyck and her Pre-Code movies, some consider Baby Face a reason the Code was installed because of its flagrant sexuality with her character. After her father’s death, Lily gets out of the blue-collar setting and moves to the big city where she basically sleeps her way towards the top. But she starts to have feelings for a playboy who in turns shows he loves her, putting into question the desire to suck out wealth and power with his strong sexuality. Daryl F. Zanuck, working then with Warner Bros, created the story and sold it for a dollar to get it made for cheap because of the difficulties in the Depression. But it made a lasting effect in that era of open sex and violence before the curtain finally closed down on such “filth,” as they referred to it.
The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
Akira Kurosawa shifts from the samurai genre to the modern-day corruption of the country’s embrace of corporation capitalism and how the men at the top always cover their tracks. But for the son-in-law of the company’s Vice President, who persuaded his father to commit suicide, it is personal and seeks vengeance to expose the whole game. It’s loosely influenced on Hamlet but features multiple paths and all dead ends. Some say the ending is too depressing, but it’s a game of life people see that the big dogs guilty of corruption can put their minds at rest when they know their wrongdoings are no longer out in the open.
Stolen Kisses (1968)
This was the third of Francois Truffaut’s Antoine Donel story. Now as an adult, the character is discharged from the military as he is unfit and continues his struggle to fit in with society. Antoine keeps chasing girls and losing his job, but seems to have something down when he works out with a private eye agency, only to get caught up in his own misadventures. Converting to color, Truffaut made the film at the same time France was about to get caught up on their own little revolution, starting with the firing (then rehiring) of the head of the Cinémathèque Française, Henri Langois. The film’s opening shot of the cinematheque’s temporary closure featured a dedication to Langois.
Amarcord (1973)
Federico Fellini’s autobiographical film about his growing up in Rimini is full of eccentric characters, humor that slaps in the face of fascism, and actions that would have sent the boys as children to Hell under the watchful eye of the Catholic Church. They are episodes rather than a plot as the title is the Romagnol dialect translation for, “I Remember.” The characters are based on people he knew and even his parents and put out a circus act that completes a circle in Fellini’s life. It won Fellini his fourth Oscar for Best Foreign Film was the last commercial success he would really have in his career.
The Tin Drum (1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULls1uMwzEE
German New Wave player Volker Schlöndorff adapted the famed magic realist novel from Günter Grass and co-shared with Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now the Palme d’Or at Cannes. The protagonist, three-year-old Oskar, decides to stop growing by throwing himself down the stairs and lives his early adulthood as a child in the shadows of Nazi Germany and the war. His toy drum is a motif to his forever status as a child. Widely acclaimed and nominated for Best International Film at the Oscars, it was among the mainstream German New Wave hits that was a commercial success, even with a controversial sex scene that was subjected to legal censorship in both Canada and the United States.
Police Story (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSOJyWQxk8g
Jackie Chan before his American breakout has been a major blind spot, so luckily his widely popular Police Story series got a piece of Criterion’s blessing. And it is super easy to see why. Chan co-wrote and directed the film. He and his stunt ensemble really put their bodies on the line in this thrilling whydunit about a cop trying to protect a witness from the harm of gangsters being sought for drug trafficking. The car/bus chase sequence to start the film and the mall fights with the motif of broken glass is so natural for Chan to do, even if it meant second-degree burns on his hands when sliding down a four-story pole with hot lights wrapped around them. The sequel is also as brilliant and the special features from them on Chan’s career is massive.
La Haine (1995)
From its Cannes debut, this film came out like a rocket. Meaning “hate” in French, Mathieu Kassovitz’s black-and-white struggle about three young friends – a Jew, a Muslim, a Black – and how they cope in the aftermath of a riot over police brutality towards the black community. It is Do The Right Thing in French, exploring the realities of inner-city Paris and how they are seen by the police as troublemakers. The film even uses documentary footage of an actual riot that inspired the film. The French critics saw it as an eye-opening statement, earning Kassovitz acclaim and a couple of movies to make in Hollywood.
Synopsis: A young boy in Hitler’s army finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.
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Taika Waitit is currently my favorite director and his 2016 movie Hunt for the Wilderpeople is one of my favorite movies of all time. When I first heard about Jojo Rabbit, I was beyond excited. Unfortunately, I don’t live in an “indie film” friendly area and had to wait two weeks longer than many of my movie reviewing colleagues to see it. Luckily, I was able to avoid any major spoilers, and Jojo Rabbit was well worth the wait.
Jojo Rabbit is the story of a 10-year-old boy actively participating in the Hitler Youth, whose imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler. Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) is innocent and is eager to be accepted by his peers. He wholeheartedly believes the propaganda of Nazi Germany. His single-mother (Scarlett Johansson) tries to teach him to be a good person and not immediately believe everything he is being told in her own subtle way. One day while his mother is out, Jojo discovers Elsa, a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) living in his walls. He is torn between his blind loyalty to his country’s regime and wanting to learn more about her.
I loved this film. It’s the perfect blend of a “coming of age” movie, a drama, and a comedy. It’s officially the only movie about Nazis I want to watch more than once. I enjoy stories that take a familiar angle and twist it. We’ve seen hundreds of WWII films from the American soldier or Jewish family perspective. What isn’t done often, is a German child’s perspective. Children are innocent; they don’t hate. They do as they are told and often mimic what they see from the adults in their lives. I loved Jojo’s innocence – all he wants is to fit in with the other kids. When his views on what he’s been told is “correct” are challenged, he handles the issues in an interesting way. Propaganda tells him Jews are bad – they sleep upside down like bats and can read his mind. When Jojo meets Elsa, he becomes confused and questions what he’s been taught. He works through this conflict by arguing with himself and his weird imaginary friend, Hitler (Taika Waititi). The conversations between Jojo and imaginary Hitler are some of my favorite scenes. Waititi’s portrayal of the infamous dictator is a hilarious parody with a child-like immaturity. Their conversations are what you would expect an internal struggle of a 10-year-old to sound like. The film is a much-needed satire of hate and bigotry and its message is as relevant in today’s world as it would have been during WWII. Taika Waititi was able to direct an amazing film showing how ridiculous and absurd it is to hate people for being different, make us laugh at the idea that this behavior is/was considered normal, all while prancing around, dressed as one of the worst people in history. If that doesn’t earn him an Oscar nomination, I don’t know what will.
Jojo Rabbit is extraordinary in many ways. The cast is phenomenal, every role in the film was well executed. Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, Alfie Allen, and Stephen Merchant all have supporting roles as Nazis with odd personalities and they all work well on screen. I don’t think I’ve seen another film recently that has that many outrageous characters that coexist harmoniously in one film. (Maybe the 1985 movie Clue?) This was Roman Griffin Davis’ first professional acting job and he carries the movie well. He holds his own while sharing the screen with award winning actors. The movie is beautifully shot, even if something is ridiculous (like Hitler leaping through gracefully through the air) is happening on screen, it still looks amazing. I would love to see Jojo Rabbit get some Oscar nominations, hopefully wins. I can see at least nominations in Best Adaptive Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Director, and possibly Best Supporting Actress (Thomasin McKenzie).
I have almost no criticism for this film. My only complaint is the lack of information about two characters who don’t actually appear in the film. Not much is said about Jojo’s sister and father and I wanted to know more about them. I’m sure if I read the book this film is based on (Caging Skies by Christine Leunens), I would learn more. The only other thing I could find wrong with this movie was that there was one instance where the incorrect version of the American flag was used. The first American flag shown in the film was a 50-star flag which wasn’t adopted until 1960, the second time we see the flag it is the historically accurate 48-star version. Other than those small things, I couldn’t think of any negative criticisms.
Jojo Rabbit has earned a place at the top of my “Best Movies of 2019” list. It’s a wonderful story, told from a new angle I think would appeal to many audiences. It brilliantly shows us how ridiculous it is to hate one another through the eyes of a child brainwashed by one of the worst regimes in recent history. Comedy is a great tool to cover uncomfortable subjects and Taika Waititi excels here. I’m interested to see how it does come awards season and encourage everyone to see it if you have the chance.
Director: Ruben Fleischer Writers: Dave Callaham, Rhett Reese Stars: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone
Synopsis: Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow survivors, and the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family.
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Ruben Fleischer’s Zombieland: Double Tap is the follow up to 2009’s Zombieland. Where Zombieland succeeded in its genre-flipping action, sharp wit, and unusual characters, Double Tap fails due to the staleness of the subject. The original Zombieland felt like a breath of fresh air, turning the zombie genre on its head, combining it with a buddy comedy and an action film. However, Double Tap feels like all that originality is spent and the filmmakers are coasting on the fumes of its cult-followed predecessor.
Since the last film, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) have stuck together while living in a dystopian world inhabited by zombies. Once they take up residence in the White House, domestic doldrums eventually set in and the gang becomes restless. Soon, one of the group leaves, sparking a rescue attempt that drives the narrative to new characters, new obstacles, and new zombie types.
Unfortunately, the plot of this film is extremely bare-bones. There is very little to drive this film forward. Instead, Fleischer relies on his characters to push the film, and in many ways this fails. First, these characters are not well-developed and deep. Second, the relationships in the film feel hollow and forced. When you hang the whole film on character interactions and purpose, it helps to make them seem human and not flimsy stereotypes. Third, building from the first film, these characters somehow feel like caricatures of themselves. There is even a moment in the film when Tallahassee and Columbus come across a pair of virtual doppelgangers. Albuquerque (Luke Wilson) and Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch) are carbon copies of the two protagonists and mimic Tallahassee and Columbus’s personalities in almost every way. This would seem clever and funny if Tallahassee and Columbus were worthy of homage, but they aren’t and it feels exhaustive having two versions of these bland characters side by side. This sequence is dreary and derivative, but fortunately leads to one of the better action sequences of the film.
Herein lies the one saving grace of Zombieland: Double Tap. The frenetic action sequences backed by heavy metal music invigorated the boredom of the rest of this film. In these moments, the characters and zombies feel at home while the choreography and camerawork feel effortless. The action is crisp with moments of altering film speed to emphasize and explore. Comedy sight gags are riddled throughout these sequences which adds levity to the gory and bloody action. A Zombieland fan will enjoy how these scenes play out as they are familiar, but with an added amount of adrenaline.
These comedic action moments that made the first Zombieland so fresh, are few and far between. Instead, the film focuses on one-sided characters, little to no story, and cognate stereotypes to fill screen time. Zombieland should have been a lone film, secured in its cult status. With Zombieland: Double Tap it is almost as if no one wondered what these characters were doing and the filmmakers answered with a sigh and a response of “nothing much.”
This weekend on Episode 351 we’ll be discussing the latest Stephen King adaption in Doctor Sleep. We are big fans of The Shining (I mean, who isn’t, right?) and while sequels to classic films haven’t always gone well, early word on the street is that Doctor Sleep is quite good. We’ll see if that’s the case soon enough, but in the meantime, it’s inspiration for our poll this week. There’s been some great King adaptations over the years, and we want to know which one you think is the best.
So, with that said, what is the best Stephen King film adaptation? Vote now!
Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon Writers: Michael Mitnick Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Tom Holland, Nicholas Hoult
Synopsis: The dramatic story of the cutthroat race between electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to determine whose electrical system would power the modern world.
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The Current War is a historical drama, telling the story of the rivalry between Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon). It covers the years soon after Edison patents the incandescent lightbulb around 1880, up to the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. This film does come with some drama and feelings of negativity. It was originally released at TIFF in September 2017 and made its way around the festivals. This film was originally produced by Harvey Weinstein but after the numerous allegations against him started to come out he “left” the project and remains uncredited. The film went into limbo, was sold and reedited, then finally received its theatrical release two years later. I read a lot of rumors about the festival release of this film being “so bad no one would take it”. I have not seen that version of the film, only the director’s cut so this review will be based solely on that.
On paper, The Current War sounds like it will be a decent movie; it has an amazing cast and interesting story. But, like many biopics, it seems to fall flat in its storytelling. Just because a historical figure did something amazing doesn’t mean it will translate that way on the big screen. I find the rivalry between Edison and Westinghouse interesting, I learned things I didn’t know before I saw the movie, but it doesn’t make for a thrilling, “need to know what happens” movie. It’s not a bad movie, it definitely doesn’t deserve all the hate it’s getting, but it isn’t anything spectacular either. Another complaint I have is very common when real historical figures appear in film- the actors didn’t look anything like the real people they were portraying. Cumberbatch is around the same age as Edison was during this time, but Edison went grey in his late 20s/early 30s. He was often nicknamed “The Old Man” due to his appearance and demeanor. There are many photographs of Edison so I don’t know why they didn’t attempt to make Cumberbatch look similar. Michael Shannon looks a little better as Westinghouse, he has his signature facial hair and they are also around the same age. The best casting is Nicolas Hoult as Nikola Tesla. They’re around the same age, same height, and very similar in appearance. Even though Tesla isn’t a major character in the film, I appreciate that they took the time to make him accurate.
There are a few standout things in this film, it’s not all bad. It’s a pretty movie, lots of interesting shots and tricks with lighting. I also enjoyed Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance. He didn’t look like Edison, but he did a decent job portraying the genius workaholic. My favorite cast member was Katherine Waterston as George Westinghouse’s wife Marguerite. She’s supportive, outspoken, and strong and even though she has a minor role, she has the best line in the entire film. There is a scene where the Westinghouse’s are waiting to meet with a committee about the World’s Fair. They’re expecting to see Edison to walk in, but Samuel Insull (Edison’s secretary portrayed by Tom Holland) appears instead. Marguerite looks to her husband and says (not quietly) “He looks 12…” The whole theater laughed and the movie was instantly worth the ticket price. I was unable to find any real information on Marguerite, so I can’t confirm if her portrayal was historically accurate, but she was definitely a positive addition to the film.
The Current War is your standard, run-of-the-mill biopic, nothing special, but certainly watchable and enjoyable. While not perfect, it does not deserve the cloud of negativity surrounding it. I recommend giving it a change, especially if you’re interested in the subject matter.
Director: Robert Eggers Writers: Max Eggers, Robert Eggers Stars: Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson, Valeriia Karaman
Synopsis: The hypnotic and hallucinatory tale of two lighthouse keepers on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.
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“Dwellers by the sea are generally superstitious; sailors always are. There is something in the illimitable expanse of sky and water that dilates the imagination.” – Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Robert Patterson and Willem Dafoe play two sailors, Ephraim and Thomas, who go to an island off the coast of New England to be wickies, or lightkeepers, in the 1890s. Ephraim is the young rookie who reveals that he used to be a logger in Northern Canada and Thomas is the veteran boss with his scruffy accent and hard-nosed attitude towards Ephraim in doing basic work around the island. The job requires them to spend four weeks there, but as time goes on and a storm leaves them stranded them longer, it becomes a game of wits and attrition towards each other and towards the mystery of the waves and lighthouse itself.
Ephraim is young and detests Thomas’ demanding work, which clears shows in his struggle to do upkeep such as emptying chamber pots and refueling the light. He doesn’t understand the superstitions of Thomas, including one that foreshadows the events, and dismisses the warnings of Thomas about what desolation on an island can do to a man so easily. Slowly, it grips Ephraim and Thomas as they divulge their secrets and run amok through the amounts of liquor that fuels them in the worst of the storms.
Robert Eggers’ (The Witch) sophomore effort is one that has to sink in a bit before you make a judgment about the film. It is one that has you more to think of when going through the slow decline of each character’s sanity and what it may mean. This isn’t a pure horror film to scare you out of your wits. It is an art film, shot in black-and-white and formatted in the 1.19:1 aspect ratio like a box. For the viewer, you have no choice but to look directly at the two characters and their maniac fall to when they come face-to-face, and that’s for the better because Patterson and Dafoe are like two boxers slowly jabbing and then raining blows in the later rounds of a fight.
Patterson continues to go as far away as he can from the Twilight era with his bold turn while Dafoe continues his streak of chances in characters that are soul-sucking creatures, trying to balance reality and the imaginary. Dafoe oozes the ecstasy Thomas has working hard on Ephraim, albeit short of masochistic. His accent can be heavy at some times, but it makes you feel like you are looking up at a giant. Their emotions pour out as they try to tower one another and fight to be the last man alive, let alone standing. It can get a bit rough down the stretch heading to the climax, but in its Theater of the Absurd manner, with all the subtle dark humor (and flatulence), Eggers has it all out for us to fly over like a flock of seagulls.
This week’s episode is brought to you by the Official Secrets, starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes. For a free digital code, be one of the first ten to email us at [email protected]!
This week on the InSession Film Podcast, we discuss Bong Joon-ho’s latest film Parasite and the latest film in the Terminator franchise Terminator: Dark Fate! We also offer up some quick reviews of Jojo Rabbit, Dolemite Is My Name, The Laundromat and more.
Brendan is out this week and filling in his place is our great friend Ryan McQuade. As always, Ryan was a wonderful co-host and we thank him for his flexibility. Because both Ryan and JD have the ability to be long-winded, this episode is slightly longer than usual, but we are confident that you’ll love the content. There’s so much to discuss with Parasite that we couldn’t limit the length of the conversation.
On that note, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and for supporting the InSession Film Podcast!
– Movie Review: Parasite (4:53) Director: Bong Joon-ho Writer: Jin Won Han, Bong Joon-ho Stars: Kang-ho Song, Yeo-jeong Jo, So-dam Park
– Notes / Jojo Rabbit / Dolemite Is My Name / The Laundromat / All is True (1:09:20)
As noted above, JD was finally able to see Jojo Rabbit after having his goof a few weeks ago. Ryan was also able to see the film, so the both of them offered up their thoughts on Taika Waititi’s latest outing. JD also saw Craig Brewer’s Dolemite Is My Name, starring a great Eddie Murphy, and gave his thoughts on that film. Lastly, Ryan rendered a few mini reviews of The Laundromat, All is True and The Biggest Little Farm.
– Movie Review: Terminator: Dark Fate (4:41:14) Director: Tim Miller Writer: James Cameron, Charles H. Eglee, Josh Friedman, David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, Billy Ray Stars: Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis
Main Review: Doctor Sleep
Top 3: N/A
Ingmar Bergman Movie Series: Cries & Whispers
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Director: David Michôd Writers: David Michôd, Joel Edgerton Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Ben Mendelsohn, Robert Pattinson, Lily-Rose Depp, Thomasin McKenzie
Synopsis: Hal, wayward prince and heir to the English throne, is crowned King Henry V after his tyrannical father dies. Now the young king must navigate palace politics, the war his father left behind, and the emotional strings of his past life.
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Honestly, one of Netflix’s production formulae must be “add one royal figure to a blossoming filmmaker and generate a sizeable LARP session (with two-thirds of the budget spent on mud).” This was put into effect for the first time last year, when Robert the Bruce headlined David Mackenzie’s Outlaw King. While the results were entertaining, they weren’t satisfying since the fighting component received more care than the theatrical one. Also, it was clear that using Chris Pine’s eggplant as a promo peg was only effective to some degree.
In this The King, in this case, is no doubt the streaming giant giving the maybe-formula a second go: This time handing Henry V to Animal Kingdom’s David Michôd, plus a footnote saying to hype up its lead actor’s bowl cut. Upon seeing how everything plays out, one can declare, with confidence, that this round surpasses the last, yet still not scott-free from stumbles. Well, since it’s all humans behind the production, to err is OK?
Netflix’s take on Shakespeare’s Henriad series — loose, since contemporary is the descriptor for the speeches and sensibilities — is powered by this palpable magnetism, most of which comes from Michôd’s direction. Serenity is ample on the surface, but that makes us more alert and receptive to all other, and usually chaotic, visual-storytelling elements. As with The Rover, the world comes to you. As with Animal Kingdom, the characters have great visibility. These are perfect boons for The King, whose setting is a disjointed kingdom pressured by France’s need for war and whose populace we’ll mingle with the most are working out how the young Hal (Timothée Chalamet) can rule mightily as Henry V after his father (Ben Mendelsohn) fell ill. It might become difficult to think that you’re not watching a successor to Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth at times — Shakespearean source, Sean Harris (playing Chief Justice William), smoky-but-savory lensing from Adam Arkapaw, to name a few parallels — but, even then, is there harm in that? Michôd’s craftsmanship builds a direct line between the audience and the frame, guaranteeing you to a place among the weary citizenry (all well-costumed by Jane Petrie from Outlaw King), the battles that matter most (the gravity comes through Nicholas Brittell’s score) and the palace politics keeping the king of The King on constant alert.
But by being able to absorb everything you’ll find that there’s a missing piece: an understanding of the characters despite the aforementioned visibility. Though its main man is the focal point, the script from Michôd and Joel Edgerton seems to spend more resources on the happenings surrounding him, sometimes more blatant than others. When there is a window to learn more about the gears that move Hal, it will be avoided, leaving us no other means to appreciate Hal beyond the surface level. And as Falstaff, a skilled warrior who is also Hal’s best friend, Edgerton was supposed to be an ally! No matter, though — much like the young king he is embodying Chalamet never loses himself, through thick and thin evoking a kind of dignity that makes him irresistible to watch. Those “kid wearing a crown” remarks? Nothing. The assaultive French-accented English from the slimy Dauphin (Robert Pattinson)? Unregistered. Imagine how much more the actor could bring had the writing allowed psychology to leave a firmer footprint. Still, even when The King misses out the chance to let us share the uneasiness — and the heaviness — of the crown on Henry V’s head, the spectacle characterizing the rest of the works are far from lowliness.
We shall see if the third attempt will be a complete run being a complete fun. There are no shortage of royalties in Asia, last time one checked…
