First rewatch in decades for the movie that made me and everyone who saw it afraid to sit in a dentist's chair. 😨🥵 Dustin Hoffman plays Babe (!), a super-smart Columbia U. college student and marathonist-in-training with a troubled past (his father offed himself after being targeted by Joseph McCarthy's communist witch hunt) whose brother 'Doc' (Roy Scheider, unafraid to show his rockin' dad bod while in his undies) is a contraband courier for Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier), a Nazi war criminal operating out of Uruguay. The unexpected death of Szell's brother forces Christian to expose himself by coming to New York, leading to covert American operatives putting the squeeze on Babe after Doc also comes to visit his baby brother. Screenwriter William Goldman (adapting his own novel), director John Schlesinger ("Midnight Cowboy") and cinematographer Conrad Hall ("Butch Cassidy...," "Road to Perdition") put on a clinic about how to make a perfect NYC-set (with side trips to Paris and South America), 70's conspiracy thriller that only dabbles vital information when necessary. Only Marthe Keller as Babe's "girlfriend" feels wasted, but that's how Bechdel Tests rolled in the 70's. 😡 3.90 RETRACTABLE BARAKA WRIST KNIVES (out of five).
048.- THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (2004, KINO LORBER 4K UHD). Streaming on Paramount+.
First-time watch for this Jonathan Demme-directed remake of the 1962 Frank Sinatra-starring "Manchurian Candidate," and my first impression is that you need to have already seen the original to appreciate what this new one (is a 22-year-old remake 'new' anymore?) offers. Made at the height of the post 9/11 'War on Terror' mentality (back when we thought Bush/Cheney was as bad as it'd ever get...🙄😔), the filmmakers update the premise from nations trying to manipulate our elected officials to private corporations (Manchurian Global... get it?) using their access to government connections via their weapon/financial divisions. There are constant sound bites of negative TV news items in the background to further drill into viewers' minds the blurring of the lines between private and public institutions. Give credit to Demme and his writers for basically predicting back in '04 the paranoid, conspiracy and lie-dependent political reality we've been living under since 2016. 🫤😮💨
Great supporting cast (Liev Schreiber, Jeffrey Wright, Dean Stockwell, Simon McBurney, Pablo Schreiber, Jon Voight, baby-faced Anthony Mackie, etc.), but Denzel Washington seems miscast as Ben Marco. Too meek and passive (even during the flashbacks to Kuwait and the brainwashing scenes) and very rarely (two scenes!) showing the fiery passion Denzel's characters are known for. Meryl Streep (a dead ringer for Angela Lansbury's fiery matriarch flexing behind-the-scenes power) and Bruno Ganz (as Denzel's techie friend) get my acting MVP's. 'It's fine,' but in this day/age it's depressing to watch the fantasy political reality of this film knowing what we're gonna watch on CNN every night for the next 2.5 years. 😓😶🌫️ 3.30 KAYAK DROWNING ACCIDENTS (out of five).
049.- THE DEAD MOTHER, aka LA MADRE MUERTA (1993, SPAIN, RADIANCE BLU-RAY). Streaming on TUBI, PLEX, AMC+, FAWESOME.
A home invasion by a shotgun-wielding thief kills a Spanish art restorer and leaves her young daughter wounded. 20+ years later that same criminal/murderer, Ismael (Karra Elejalde, aka Temu Antonio Banderas), recognizes the little girl he shot as grown-up Leire (Ana Álvarez), recuring patient at a clinic for the mentally challenged. Paranoid that Leire might recognize him, Ismael and his 'Bonnie' Maite (Portuguese-born Lio) kidnap Leire and tie her to a bedpost. What follows are 90 minutes of 'will he or won't he?' tension as Ismael's clearly smitten by Leire's innocence and beauty (🤢🤮), but is smart enough to know he's better off appeasing Maite by indulging her suggestion to ask for ransom. It's rare for a thriller to have the bad guy be the main character opposite a passive, non-verbal innocent when the conflict is all in the former's head. Co-writer/director Juanma Bajo Ulloa pulls it off but just barely; even then, he slips a couple of times into psych0sexu^l territory with Leire. 😱 A scene involving a nurse (Silvia Marsó's Blanca) trying to rescue Leire is Hitchcock-level good, and the pitch-dark humor of Ismael trying to get Leire to smile keeps things lively instead of gross. I'm conflicted, but have to settle for 3 BEER TAP HANDLE MURDERS RIPPED OFF BY 'SCREAM VII' (out of five). Your mileage WILL definitely vary on this one. 😟
Dressed To Kill (1980) dir. Brian De Palma
ReplyDeleteA masterclass in the use of visuals and sound with an excellent cast including Dennis Franz as, you guessed it, an NYPD cop.
Beaten! 🥺😭🤪
ReplyDelete047.- MARATHON MAN (1976, 4K UHD)
First rewatch in decades for the movie that made me and everyone who saw it afraid to sit in a dentist's chair. 😨🥵 Dustin Hoffman plays Babe (!), a super-smart Columbia U. college student and marathonist-in-training with a troubled past (his father offed himself after being targeted by Joseph McCarthy's communist witch hunt) whose brother 'Doc' (Roy Scheider, unafraid to show his rockin' dad bod while in his undies) is a contraband courier for Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier), a Nazi war criminal operating out of Uruguay. The unexpected death of Szell's brother forces Christian to expose himself by coming to New York, leading to covert American operatives putting the squeeze on Babe after Doc also comes to visit his baby brother. Screenwriter William Goldman (adapting his own novel), director John Schlesinger ("Midnight Cowboy") and cinematographer Conrad Hall ("Butch Cassidy...," "Road to Perdition") put on a clinic about how to make a perfect NYC-set (with side trips to Paris and South America), 70's conspiracy thriller that only dabbles vital information when necessary. Only Marthe Keller as Babe's "girlfriend" feels wasted, but that's how Bechdel Tests rolled in the 70's. 😡 3.90 RETRACTABLE BARAKA WRIST KNIVES (out of five).
DISCLOSURE DAY (2026):
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if god loves us, but I know Steve does. Review later this week!
048.- THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (2004, KINO LORBER 4K UHD). Streaming on Paramount+.
ReplyDeleteFirst-time watch for this Jonathan Demme-directed remake of the 1962 Frank Sinatra-starring "Manchurian Candidate," and my first impression is that you need to have already seen the original to appreciate what this new one (is a 22-year-old remake 'new' anymore?) offers. Made at the height of the post 9/11 'War on Terror' mentality (back when we thought Bush/Cheney was as bad as it'd ever get...🙄😔), the filmmakers update the premise from nations trying to manipulate our elected officials to private corporations (Manchurian Global... get it?) using their access to government connections via their weapon/financial divisions. There are constant sound bites of negative TV news items in the background to further drill into viewers' minds the blurring of the lines between private and public institutions. Give credit to Demme and his writers for basically predicting back in '04 the paranoid, conspiracy and lie-dependent political reality we've been living under since 2016. 🫤😮💨
Great supporting cast (Liev Schreiber, Jeffrey Wright, Dean Stockwell, Simon McBurney, Pablo Schreiber, Jon Voight, baby-faced Anthony Mackie, etc.), but Denzel Washington seems miscast as Ben Marco. Too meek and passive (even during the flashbacks to Kuwait and the brainwashing scenes) and very rarely (two scenes!) showing the fiery passion Denzel's characters are known for. Meryl Streep (a dead ringer for Angela Lansbury's fiery matriarch flexing behind-the-scenes power) and Bruno Ganz (as Denzel's techie friend) get my acting MVP's. 'It's fine,' but in this day/age it's depressing to watch the fantasy political reality of this film knowing what we're gonna watch on CNN every night for the next 2.5 years. 😓😶🌫️ 3.30 KAYAK DROWNING ACCIDENTS (out of five).
049.- THE DEAD MOTHER, aka LA MADRE MUERTA (1993, SPAIN, RADIANCE BLU-RAY). Streaming on TUBI, PLEX, AMC+, FAWESOME.
ReplyDeleteA home invasion by a shotgun-wielding thief kills a Spanish art restorer and leaves her young daughter wounded. 20+ years later that same criminal/murderer, Ismael (Karra Elejalde, aka Temu Antonio Banderas), recognizes the little girl he shot as grown-up Leire (Ana Álvarez), recuring patient at a clinic for the mentally challenged. Paranoid that Leire might recognize him, Ismael and his 'Bonnie' Maite (Portuguese-born Lio) kidnap Leire and tie her to a bedpost. What follows are 90 minutes of 'will he or won't he?' tension as Ismael's clearly smitten by Leire's innocence and beauty (🤢🤮), but is smart enough to know he's better off appeasing Maite by indulging her suggestion to ask for ransom. It's rare for a thriller to have the bad guy be the main character opposite a passive, non-verbal innocent when the conflict is all in the former's head. Co-writer/director Juanma Bajo Ulloa pulls it off but just barely; even then, he slips a couple of times into psych0sexu^l territory with Leire. 😱 A scene involving a nurse (Silvia Marsó's Blanca) trying to rescue Leire is Hitchcock-level good, and the pitch-dark humor of Ismael trying to get Leire to smile keeps things lively instead of gross. I'm conflicted, but have to settle for 3 BEER TAP HANDLE MURDERS RIPPED OFF BY 'SCREAM VII' (out of five). Your mileage WILL definitely vary on this one. 😟