Only two more weekends left until you-know-what begins. Let's make the most of them.😃
It's been years since l've rewatched Spike Jonez's BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999, A. PRIME), and a group watchalong on Discord last Wednesday night pretty much blew our collective minds. I'd completely forgotten the not-subtle LGBTQIA+ subtext, the excellent on-screen puppetry work, Cameron Diaz uglying herself, Orson Bean doing the Wilford Brimley "Coccoon" thing, or that Catherine Keener steals the film from everybody (even Malkovich, whose possessed-by-John-Cusack bedroom dance is one of many unforgettable highlights). It's Charlie Kaufman lunacy (Elijah the chimp has a flashback!) filtered through Spike Jonez's eye for lo-fi visual storytelling, the best of both worlds. And the disc still works on my HD-DVD player.😁
We had a close-to-100-degrees couple of days last week on the East Coast, so I escaped from my AC-less apartment to a double-bill of TOP GUN 4DX (1986, REGAL TIMES SQUARE) & TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2002, AMC IMAX). I love the 4DX experience when the material suits it, and the flying/dogfighting scenes in "Top Gun" were great. Even the love-making scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis had some subtle swaying seat movements that made me smile.😛🤫 "Maverick" was even better because a sold-out crowd (I was alone during my 4DX "TG" screening) really got into it, clapping when Glen Powell is introduced and cheering the timed run toward the bomb drop (exercise and the real deal). The long shot of the hypersonic plane from almost outer space looks particularly stunning on IMAX. Great beat-the-heat twofer.😎
Paramount has always swung for the fences with low-budget horror ("Smile 1 & 2," etc.), but PASSENGER (2026, THEATER) comes up short. The supernatural villain that attaches its spell to drivers of vehicles that stop on desolate roads in the middle of the night looks too much like a mute, decrepit Tall Man from "Phantasm." Jump scares can only squeeze so much fright when they're abused as frequently as here, and the lead couple is no match for Melissa Leo's memorable supporting role. '"Roman Holiday" in the woods' projection and 'parking lot' scenes notwithstanding, "Passenger" feels like assembly line product.😕
YOU, ME & TUSCANY ('26, THEATER) finds out-of-options, struggling twentysomething Anna (Halle Bailey, Ariel in "The Little Mermaid" remake) winging it in Italy to fulfill her long-repressed culinary desires. This being an upscale sitcom, Anna is embraced by a restaurant-owning Tuscany family who thinks she's engaged to the black sheep son (Lorenzo de Moor) when Anna has the hots for the good [adopted] son ("Bridgerton's" Regé-Jean Page). Hilarity ensues... sporadically. 'It's fine,' but it's as predictable as it is gorgeous to look at: very.🥸
If "Mercy" (remember that Chris Pratt film?) wasn't enough of a paranoid techno-thriller, here comes Timur Bekmambetov's latest low-budget ripoff of his own directorial effort. Did l mention Timur also produced Ice Cube's "War of the Worlds" remake?😳😱 In LIFE HACK ('26, THEATER) four UK teenage slackers who also happen to be excellent hackers, bored with pranks like giving identity thieves a dose of their own medicine, take it to the next level by targeting an Elon Musk-type crypto magnate's offline laptop. Shown through computer/cellphone/CCTV footage, this is the type of film where a heart-to-heart goodbye between crying besties is heard while we watch them play a first-person shooter game. Not a bad movie, just one made for people who prefer watching movies on their iPhones in portrait mode.🤢🤮
NEGLECTED ('26, THEATER) finds about-to-retire Detective Shaw (Josh Duhamel) racing against the clock to solve a series of puzzles/murders by a serial killer who has buried his teenage son alive. Feels like a "Law & Order: SVU" episode set in small-town America (filmed in Mississippi), especially the denouement uncovering the town's dark underbelly. Jeremy/Jason London as detectives was a neat casting touch. A rental at best.🧐🥺
Have not shared in awhile. Some things I watched over the past month:
Lots of Peter Weir. The Mosquito Coast was made just for me, a well crafted “American Aguirre” that tickled all my childhood fascination with exploration of distant lands. The Year of Living Dangerously was fantastic as well for many of the same reasons, except it was also fraught with the danger of being in a politically unstable country on the brink of civil war. I thought Witness was just about Amish people, which is was, but also was a crime thriller that was very good. Fearless (JP wrote an excellent review a decade ago) was kind of a strange but very moving drama (and maybe the best plane crash scene every put on film). I re-watched The Truman Show and it was much better than I remember.
Also watched Project Hail Mary which is now one of my favourites from this year. Send Help is probably my most favourite. Primate was a ok slasher starring a tail-less CGI monkey with a penchant for ripping peoples jaws off. The CGI chimp was well done however, and I wish I had liked it more. It just seemed a little rote and lacking surprises.
All The President’s Men was fantastic. Lots of typewriters and smoking indoors, and investigative journalism which has become nearly extinct in our world of 20 second dancing Tik-Taks being the main source of news for a wide swath of the population.
Finally, I re-watched Alive, which I had first seen years ago in a church. Presumably because there’s a lot of talk of God and faith. Ironically, they aren’t saved by God, but rather they decide to save themselves. The plane crash is pretty good, within the fx limitations of the time, and well staged. I re-watch this one every few years.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026): Well, within 15 minutes, the gang's back, quickly brought together in a room with barely a 'Hey, recognize her?'. I don't think they tried very hard, and why would they, they have brand recognition. Legacy-sequels are destroying movies, but at the same time the crowd don't go out to watch anything original.
The Recruit (2003): Apparently Collin Farrell likes to train to be a cop. It has a couple of stupid twists, a bit convoluted, but it's entertaining enough. It will never be a secret masterpiece though. Fun trivia, Gabriel Macht, who's in this movie, was the main character in the SWAT sequel (yeah, it's not that fun).
The Rundown (2003): Accidental 2003 double-bill. I got it for 2$ with The Recruit. It's a change of pace from the other one. Before Dwayne Johnson became a douchy brand. It's not the best, but there's some fun bits. Who doesn't love a good adventure through the jungle.
Normal (2026): Would you look at that, a 90 minutes movie. I enjoy most of Ben Weatley filmography, and he can do some decent shootouts (remember Free Fire?). Mixed with Bob Odenkirk newfound love for action, makes for a pretty entertaining movie. Great double-bill with The Last Stand.
Blue Thunder (1983): Of course I got the Arrow 4k, duh 😜. What can I say, movie's awesome and I could wait to hear what the director had to say 40 years later. It's such a simple movie (no CGI): Introduce the character for 30 minutes, introduce and test the chopper for an hour, chopper chase around the cory for the last 30 minutes. Let's not talk about the opening scene when they spy on a naked woman.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024): I don't love Guy Ritchie, but from time to time he will do something I enjoy. I also enjoy the mix of WW2 with spy sh*t. It's trying to be Inglourious Basterds, but Ritchie doesn't have the same flair for dialogues as Tarantino. And to blur the line even more, Til Schweiger is in both.
Trainwreck (2015): I'm not a fan of Amy Schumer (who is?), but I enjoy the movie. The cameos are fun and it's a decent romcom. Also, I think it's the first time we saw John Cena doing comedy, and he's great at it.
I thought this was an interesting take on the zombie genre, though it probably hardly qualifies. With that said, it was much different than I was anticipating, in a refreshing way. It was also good to see Daisy Ridley, who gives a strong performance here.
Probably gonna go see Obsession later this morning.
Only two more weekends left until you-know-what begins. Let's make the most of them.😃
ReplyDeleteIt's been years since l've rewatched Spike Jonez's BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999, A. PRIME), and a group watchalong on Discord last Wednesday night pretty much blew our collective minds. I'd completely forgotten the not-subtle LGBTQIA+ subtext, the excellent on-screen puppetry work, Cameron Diaz uglying herself, Orson Bean doing the Wilford Brimley "Coccoon" thing, or that Catherine Keener steals the film from everybody (even Malkovich, whose possessed-by-John-Cusack bedroom dance is one of many unforgettable highlights). It's Charlie Kaufman lunacy (Elijah the chimp has a flashback!) filtered through Spike Jonez's eye for lo-fi visual storytelling, the best of both worlds. And the disc still works on my HD-DVD player.😁
We had a close-to-100-degrees couple of days last week on the East Coast, so I escaped from my AC-less apartment to a double-bill of TOP GUN 4DX (1986, REGAL TIMES SQUARE) & TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2002, AMC IMAX). I love the 4DX experience when the material suits it, and the flying/dogfighting scenes in "Top Gun" were great. Even the love-making scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis had some subtle swaying seat movements that made me smile.😛🤫 "Maverick" was even better because a sold-out crowd (I was alone during my 4DX "TG" screening) really got into it, clapping when Glen Powell is introduced and cheering the timed run toward the bomb drop (exercise and the real deal). The long shot of the hypersonic plane from almost outer space looks particularly stunning on IMAX. Great beat-the-heat twofer.😎
Paramount has always swung for the fences with low-budget horror ("Smile 1 & 2," etc.), but PASSENGER (2026, THEATER) comes up short. The supernatural villain that attaches its spell to drivers of vehicles that stop on desolate roads in the middle of the night looks too much like a mute, decrepit Tall Man from "Phantasm." Jump scares can only squeeze so much fright when they're abused as frequently as here, and the lead couple is no match for Melissa Leo's memorable supporting role. '"Roman Holiday" in the woods' projection and 'parking lot' scenes notwithstanding, "Passenger" feels like assembly line product.😕
YOU, ME & TUSCANY ('26, THEATER) finds out-of-options, struggling twentysomething Anna (Halle Bailey, Ariel in "The Little Mermaid" remake) winging it in Italy to fulfill her long-repressed culinary desires. This being an upscale sitcom, Anna is embraced by a restaurant-owning Tuscany family who thinks she's engaged to the black sheep son (Lorenzo de Moor) when Anna has the hots for the good [adopted] son ("Bridgerton's" Regé-Jean Page). Hilarity ensues... sporadically. 'It's fine,' but it's as predictable as it is gorgeous to look at: very.🥸
If "Mercy" (remember that Chris Pratt film?) wasn't enough of a paranoid techno-thriller, here comes Timur Bekmambetov's latest low-budget ripoff of his own directorial effort. Did l mention Timur also produced Ice Cube's "War of the Worlds" remake?😳😱 In LIFE HACK ('26, THEATER) four UK teenage slackers who also happen to be excellent hackers, bored with pranks like giving identity thieves a dose of their own medicine, take it to the next level by targeting an Elon Musk-type crypto magnate's offline laptop. Shown through computer/cellphone/CCTV footage, this is the type of film where a heart-to-heart goodbye between crying besties is heard while we watch them play a first-person shooter game. Not a bad movie, just one made for people who prefer watching movies on their iPhones in portrait mode.🤢🤮
NEGLECTED ('26, THEATER) finds about-to-retire Detective Shaw (Josh Duhamel) racing against the clock to solve a series of puzzles/murders by a serial killer who has buried his teenage son alive. Feels like a "Law & Order: SVU" episode set in small-town America (filmed in Mississippi), especially the denouement uncovering the town's dark underbelly. Jeremy/Jason London as detectives was a neat casting touch. A rental at best.🧐🥺
Cameron Diaz uglying herself? I don't believe you. (I have never seen that movie).
DeleteLook any online picture of Diaz in "BJM." YIKES!!! 🥴😵
DeleteHave not shared in awhile. Some things I watched over the past month:
ReplyDeleteLots of Peter Weir. The Mosquito Coast was made just for me, a well crafted “American Aguirre” that tickled all my childhood fascination with exploration of distant lands. The Year of Living Dangerously was fantastic as well for many of the same reasons, except it was also fraught with the danger of being in a politically unstable country on the brink of civil war. I thought Witness was just about Amish people, which is was, but also was a crime thriller that was very good. Fearless (JP wrote an excellent review a decade ago) was kind of a strange but very moving drama (and maybe the best plane crash scene every put on film). I re-watched The Truman Show and it was much better than I remember.
Also watched Project Hail Mary which is now one of my favourites from this year. Send Help is probably my most favourite. Primate was a ok slasher starring a tail-less CGI monkey with a penchant for ripping peoples jaws off. The CGI chimp was well done however, and I wish I had liked it more. It just seemed a little rote and lacking surprises.
All The President’s Men was fantastic. Lots of typewriters and smoking indoors, and investigative journalism which has become nearly extinct in our world of 20 second dancing Tik-Taks being the main source of news for a wide swath of the population.
Finally, I re-watched Alive, which I had first seen years ago in a church. Presumably because there’s a lot of talk of God and faith. Ironically, they aren’t saved by God, but rather they decide to save themselves. The plane crash is pretty good, within the fx limitations of the time, and well staged. I re-watch this one every few years.
"Primate" was more fun than l remembered, precisely because a (really well designed) CGI chimp tore the young pretty cast to bloody shreds. 😉😁
DeleteThe Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026): Well, within 15 minutes, the gang's back, quickly brought together in a room with barely a 'Hey, recognize her?'. I don't think they tried very hard, and why would they, they have brand recognition. Legacy-sequels are destroying movies, but at the same time the crowd don't go out to watch anything original.
ReplyDeleteThe Recruit (2003): Apparently Collin Farrell likes to train to be a cop. It has a couple of stupid twists, a bit convoluted, but it's entertaining enough. It will never be a secret masterpiece though. Fun trivia, Gabriel Macht, who's in this movie, was the main character in the SWAT sequel (yeah, it's not that fun).
The Rundown (2003): Accidental 2003 double-bill. I got it for 2$ with The Recruit. It's a change of pace from the other one. Before Dwayne Johnson became a douchy brand. It's not the best, but there's some fun bits. Who doesn't love a good adventure through the jungle.
Normal (2026): Would you look at that, a 90 minutes movie. I enjoy most of Ben Weatley filmography, and he can do some decent shootouts (remember Free Fire?). Mixed with Bob Odenkirk newfound love for action, makes for a pretty entertaining movie. Great double-bill with The Last Stand.
Blue Thunder (1983): Of course I got the Arrow 4k, duh 😜. What can I say, movie's awesome and I could wait to hear what the director had to say 40 years later. It's such a simple movie (no CGI): Introduce the character for 30 minutes, introduce and test the chopper for an hour, chopper chase around the cory for the last 30 minutes. Let's not talk about the opening scene when they spy on a naked woman.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024): I don't love Guy Ritchie, but from time to time he will do something I enjoy. I also enjoy the mix of WW2 with spy sh*t. It's trying to be Inglourious Basterds, but Ritchie doesn't have the same flair for dialogues as Tarantino. And to blur the line even more, Til Schweiger is in both.
Trainwreck (2015): I'm not a fan of Amy Schumer (who is?), but I enjoy the movie. The cameos are fun and it's a decent romcom. Also, I think it's the first time we saw John Cena doing comedy, and he's great at it.
We Bury the Dead (2025)
ReplyDeleteI thought this was an interesting take on the zombie genre, though it probably hardly qualifies. With that said, it was much different than I was anticipating, in a refreshing way. It was also good to see Daisy Ridley, who gives a strong performance here.
Probably gonna go see Obsession later this morning.