Probably the greatest movie ever made that opens with a size-changing parrot as the personification of death. It’s weirder than I expected, but somehow more believable than the movie I watched a couple of days ago that was based on a true story. Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes the movie work.
Two movies in a day!
You know how old low-budget R-rated sex comedies like to show boobs really early so you’ll spend the rest of the movie anticipating more? Babes does the same thing with raunchy language. Sure, it’s never puritanical, but it sure felt like the bulk of the naughty talk happens in the first fifteen minutes. The Required Meaningful Moments fall a little flat, but the funny stuff is strong enough to support the weak bits.
I was going to try and write a bunch of monkey puns, but it’s late and I should be asleep so you get two or three flat sentences that will do the required job without being offensive, but also without much to make them interesting. Which it turns out is a pretty good way to describe this film; no monkey business in this monkey business.
I expected a movie about a stunt guy directed by a stunt guy to be full of stunts, but there’s a lot more to enjoy here. The mystery plot isn’t much more than what you would have seen on the TV show that this is loosely based on, but that’s not important. What’s important: Gosling & Blunt have great chemistry, the depiction of the movie industry feels wildly cartoonish yet somehow believable, and most importantly the stunts are a blast. The end credits are what every stunt man movie needs: an eighties-Burt-Reynolds-movie style flashback of behind the scenes shots showing the real stunts behind the movie stunts. There’s also a mid-credits scene that’s exactly what you expect. I saw it in IMAX for maximum explodey goodness. Thumbs up!
I really wanted to like this movie more. The lead kids have tons of charm, and their performances carry real weight when they aren’t trying to make the dialogue work. It’s not just them; the rest of the cast has to deal with the same problems. Add in some saccharine music and the whole thing falls apart. Even the color grading seems off, way more amber colored than the trailer.
By the way, I seem to be in the minority on this one. It has really strong critic and audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, and a pretty strong showing on Metacritic.
I’ve never really watched The George Lucas Talk Show- I flipped by it once a few years ago and I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it, so I snap judged it to be not for me and never went back- but I enjoyed this enough to think I should give it another shot. Even if the show still isn’t for me, I appreciated the look into one man’s devotion to an idea that seemed more than a little too kooky to succeed.
I only went to see this because one of my students was talking about it- and I am so very glad he did. Black and white, low budget, full of cartoon effects, no dialogue – and hilarious. I laughed harder than I have at any movie in years.
It’s the story of a drunken applejack salesman out in the woods of Wisconsin in the winter who becomes a beaver trapper to win over the heart of a furrier and the approval of her father. It’s Looney Tunes meets prime Mel Brooks. There are a couple of sight gags that parents might not want to share with kids, but no swearing and no nudity.
Side note: I’ve noticed that I tend to write less about movies I like. I think it’s because I don’t want to give away details of films I enjoyed.
Just slightly more magical than magical realism, Problemista is yet another version of the old “Salvadorean manchild working in at a ‘cryogenics for artists’ company loses his job and finds his quest for legal status in America tied to the needs of an eccentric and abrasive art reviewer,” but somehow this feels fresh.
A video essay about Kinmen, the island in between (oh, now I get the title) Taiwan and China. Interesting, but a little too clinical.
I’m not sure how “let’s make a 20 minute movie where my grandmothers dance, try on silly clothes, and joke about farting” works so well, but Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó is wonderful. It’s on Hulu and Disney+, and very worth watching.
I saw this at a car wash in Van Nuys. An amazing re-imagining of “The Fully Monty” set in a nudist colony. The final scene featured the leads all putting on coveralls. Donny Osmond sang four solo songs and did a tap dance, which was weird because he wasn’t in the cast.
“Mom, hang up! I’m beaming!”
