Next 10 movie reviews
Continued from here. The same disclaimer applies.
Even the Rain (Tambien la Lluvia) (2010) (rewatch) ♥
This movie has, as we say, problematic elements, but it's also thinky and a personal comfort watch. It features multiple good-looking people and it clued me in to the Cochabamba Water War.
Deadpool 2 (2018)
Bleh. I remember enjoying the first movie's irreverent and meta humor, but this one was just gross and mean and-weird as it feels to say-had bad morals. Good to see that kid from Taika Waititi's movie Hunt for the Wilderpeople on a broader stage, at least. Julian Dennison.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
Watched in preparation for attending a talk with Werner Herzog. His usual dreamlike introspection, plus some interesting choices of interview snippets and inclusion of an un-miked question. Gorgeous lingering shots of the preserved cave paintings in Chauvet, France.
A Ghost Story (2017) ♥
I held off on watching this because I couldn't tell from the theatrical trailer whether it was going to be insufferable or deep and moving. The answer: both. All you probably need to know is:
- Stars Casey Affleck and, less so, Rooney Mara
- Affleck's character dies early on and becomes a bedsheet ghost who haunts the house for many years
- Mara's grieving character eats a pie and cries in a single take for literally five minutes
- The largely dialogue-free story ruminates on things like the brevity of existence, the persistence of art across lifetimes (in a way reminiscent of Cloud Atlas; insert your feelings about that book/movie here), the temporal limitations of memory and the horror of immortality (in a way reminiscent of the ending of A.I.; insert your feelings about that movie here), and why poltergeists develop
- There are two or three jump scares and one of them got me
- One part is genuinely creepy
As it happens, teeeeeechnically there are Native characters in this movie, in the sense that some settlers in a flashback get shot full of arrows between scenes. But the assailants are unseen, unnamed, undeveloped, which I'm sure I'd have something more profound to say about if I'd gotten further in reading Renee Bergland's The National Uncanny: Indian Ghosts and American Subjects. To make a bad pun on the movie's theme: boo.
Embrace of the Serpent (El abrazo de la serpiente) (2015) ♥
I missed this at our local indie theater when it came out and then I missed it at our other local indie theater and then I missed it when the second theater showed it again in an annual retrospective, but now we have access to Kanopy.com through our library and our employer, and there it was, at last.
Worth the wait! Beautiful movie in both cinematography and rumination, though its subject matter was not beautiful. A German and an American enter the jungle 30 years apart and seek the help of the same shaman to hunt down a rare plant with psychedelic and healing properties. Loosely based on history. I'm sure I had more to say about this right after I watched it, and I know it will reward rewatching. For now, here's a Wikipedia note about the extent of involvement of local indigenous people in production aspects including translation and cultural advisement.
Related article: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/08/embrace-of-the-serpent-star-my-tribe-is-nearly-extinct
P.S. It took so long to finish this post that the director, Ciro Guerra, has since released the miniseries Green Frontier/Frontera Verde on Netflix, also set in the Colombian Amazon and focusing on clashes between white and indigenous peoples. Ask me how long it took to discover the connection even after noting similarities such as references to the harms done by rubber exploitation and missionaries and the casting of Antonio Bolívar with his memorable face.
Juanita (2019) ♥
Alfre Woodard has a midlife crisis, takes a bus trip to Montana, is befriended by a fat butch truck driver, and shacks up with Adam Beach after they argue about whether people want fancy or plain eggs: what's not to love? Well, maybe the thing where Juanita gets to go on a Very Special Spiritual Journey at a local powwow, or when she ameliorates a military veteran's survival-guilt-induced alcohol problem after family and community members have failed. But whatever, this movie is not concerned about being complex or deep. Co-starring Blair Underwood as Blair Underwood.
Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013)
I'd put off watching this for years because it sounded scary: zombies in a residential school, a girl wearing a hoodie and a gas mask, that sort of thing. There is a zombie, sort of, but the story turns out to be about a different sort of horror: the everyday kind, where poverty and depression and substance use and institutionalized racism and abusive religious organizations and police corruption combine to make life extremely hard. So, all the warnings, but it's as good as people say.
The movie I'd thought this one was going to be like, Older Than America, about the ghosts of children killed in a residential school, was more traditionally scary, but also more… template-y? Had more genre markers, maybe.
Starring Devery Jacobs, last reviewed in The Sun at Midnight and last spotted in the second season of American Gods. See Indian Country Today interview.
Pottersville (2017)
Michael Shannon accidentally becomes Bigfoot, a monster-chase reality TV crew shows up in town, and there are furries in the woods. A modern Christmas classic. I want to vid this movie just to make people go "WTF?"
Christopher Robin (2018)
I don't know how to feel about this live-action/CG follow-up to the Winnie the Pooh stories in which Ewan McGregor as Christopher Robin plays a role like Robin Williams' in Hook, all grown up and having lost his way. IDK, IDK. It's strange. Piglet looks amazing. Eeyore is funny. The main plot involves post-war luggage marketing.
The Blob (1958) ♥
A B-movie classic that is more about the pop culture invention of the American teenager than the blob, although the blob is fabulous. Why won't the adults listen to the teens when the townspeople's lives are on the line??? Featuring a super catchy title song by Burt Bacharach.
Originally posted at https://bironic.dreamwidth.org/390269.html, where there are
comments.
Even the Rain (Tambien la Lluvia) (2010) (rewatch) ♥
This movie has, as we say, problematic elements, but it's also thinky and a personal comfort watch. It features multiple good-looking people and it clued me in to the Cochabamba Water War.
Deadpool 2 (2018)
Bleh. I remember enjoying the first movie's irreverent and meta humor, but this one was just gross and mean and-weird as it feels to say-had bad morals. Good to see that kid from Taika Waititi's movie Hunt for the Wilderpeople on a broader stage, at least. Julian Dennison.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
Watched in preparation for attending a talk with Werner Herzog. His usual dreamlike introspection, plus some interesting choices of interview snippets and inclusion of an un-miked question. Gorgeous lingering shots of the preserved cave paintings in Chauvet, France.
A Ghost Story (2017) ♥
I held off on watching this because I couldn't tell from the theatrical trailer whether it was going to be insufferable or deep and moving. The answer: both. All you probably need to know is:
- Stars Casey Affleck and, less so, Rooney Mara
- Affleck's character dies early on and becomes a bedsheet ghost who haunts the house for many years
- Mara's grieving character eats a pie and cries in a single take for literally five minutes
- The largely dialogue-free story ruminates on things like the brevity of existence, the persistence of art across lifetimes (in a way reminiscent of Cloud Atlas; insert your feelings about that book/movie here), the temporal limitations of memory and the horror of immortality (in a way reminiscent of the ending of A.I.; insert your feelings about that movie here), and why poltergeists develop
- There are two or three jump scares and one of them got me
- One part is genuinely creepy
As it happens, teeeeeechnically there are Native characters in this movie, in the sense that some settlers in a flashback get shot full of arrows between scenes. But the assailants are unseen, unnamed, undeveloped, which I'm sure I'd have something more profound to say about if I'd gotten further in reading Renee Bergland's The National Uncanny: Indian Ghosts and American Subjects. To make a bad pun on the movie's theme: boo.
Embrace of the Serpent (El abrazo de la serpiente) (2015) ♥
I missed this at our local indie theater when it came out and then I missed it at our other local indie theater and then I missed it when the second theater showed it again in an annual retrospective, but now we have access to Kanopy.com through our library and our employer, and there it was, at last.
Worth the wait! Beautiful movie in both cinematography and rumination, though its subject matter was not beautiful. A German and an American enter the jungle 30 years apart and seek the help of the same shaman to hunt down a rare plant with psychedelic and healing properties. Loosely based on history. I'm sure I had more to say about this right after I watched it, and I know it will reward rewatching. For now, here's a Wikipedia note about the extent of involvement of local indigenous people in production aspects including translation and cultural advisement.
Related article: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/08/embrace-of-the-serpent-star-my-tribe-is-nearly-extinct
P.S. It took so long to finish this post that the director, Ciro Guerra, has since released the miniseries Green Frontier/Frontera Verde on Netflix, also set in the Colombian Amazon and focusing on clashes between white and indigenous peoples. Ask me how long it took to discover the connection even after noting similarities such as references to the harms done by rubber exploitation and missionaries and the casting of Antonio Bolívar with his memorable face.
Juanita (2019) ♥
Alfre Woodard has a midlife crisis, takes a bus trip to Montana, is befriended by a fat butch truck driver, and shacks up with Adam Beach after they argue about whether people want fancy or plain eggs: what's not to love? Well, maybe the thing where Juanita gets to go on a Very Special Spiritual Journey at a local powwow, or when she ameliorates a military veteran's survival-guilt-induced alcohol problem after family and community members have failed. But whatever, this movie is not concerned about being complex or deep. Co-starring Blair Underwood as Blair Underwood.
Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013)
I'd put off watching this for years because it sounded scary: zombies in a residential school, a girl wearing a hoodie and a gas mask, that sort of thing. There is a zombie, sort of, but the story turns out to be about a different sort of horror: the everyday kind, where poverty and depression and substance use and institutionalized racism and abusive religious organizations and police corruption combine to make life extremely hard. So, all the warnings, but it's as good as people say.
The movie I'd thought this one was going to be like, Older Than America, about the ghosts of children killed in a residential school, was more traditionally scary, but also more… template-y? Had more genre markers, maybe.
Starring Devery Jacobs, last reviewed in The Sun at Midnight and last spotted in the second season of American Gods. See Indian Country Today interview.
Pottersville (2017)
Michael Shannon accidentally becomes Bigfoot, a monster-chase reality TV crew shows up in town, and there are furries in the woods. A modern Christmas classic. I want to vid this movie just to make people go "WTF?"
Christopher Robin (2018)
I don't know how to feel about this live-action/CG follow-up to the Winnie the Pooh stories in which Ewan McGregor as Christopher Robin plays a role like Robin Williams' in Hook, all grown up and having lost his way. IDK, IDK. It's strange. Piglet looks amazing. Eeyore is funny. The main plot involves post-war luggage marketing.
The Blob (1958) ♥
A B-movie classic that is more about the pop culture invention of the American teenager than the blob, although the blob is fabulous. Why won't the adults listen to the teens when the townspeople's lives are on the line??? Featuring a super catchy title song by Burt Bacharach.
Originally posted at https://bironic.dreamwidth.org/390269.html, where there are
comments.