sycasey 2.0

President's Men is on Netflix (US)!

I mean, it's a Disney movie from the 30s. I'd cut it some slack on how woke it is.

Too easy.

At least it wasn't the woman this time.

Amy has definitely had some cynical takes on these movies' romantic subplots that I do not subscribe to.

On the podcast they were talking about how they should have made a Van Helsing movie with Kate Beckinsale as Van Helsing ("Pam Helsing"). Only they basically already made that movie and it's Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. It's just as crappy, but only 88 minutes long so already an improvement.

My thoughts from Letterboxd: Possible unpopular opinion: I think Captain Marvel is a lower-tier Marvel entry. Why? Because it's an "origin story" for the MCU's first lead female superhero that doesn't actually tell you very much about the lead female superhero. The movie leaves you with very little sense of who Carol Danvers was as a person, so the drama of her origin doesn't land. I don't think it's the actress's fault; Brie Larson has shown that she can do plenty of emoting when called upon, whether it's in low-key naturalistic fare (Room) or heightened operatic fare (Scott Pilgrim). The problem is that she's never asked to. This movie has a strange dramatic structure in that it withholds information about Danvers' past for a majority of the running time (leaving Larson stuck playing an unemotional blank slate), and then doles out that information in brief flashbacks, not full dramatic scenes. I understand the character, but I don't feel for her. There's interesting stuff on the edges, particularly with the re-imagining of the Kree-Skrull war. The jokes and quips are still operating in that well-oiled Marvel way, so it's not unpleasant. It just seems to lack a guiding purpose. It's busy connecting the dots to other Marvel properties and not building the character it's supposed to be about. I'd be happy to see more of Captain Marvel in a movie with a better script. Another side criticism: I didn't think I would miss the Russo Brothers and their relatively anonymous style, but the muddy action scenes in Captain Marvel made me appreciate their skills in that arena. The action in the Avengers and Captain America movies has far clearer geography than this.

My thoughts from Letterboxd: The first takeaway from Us is that Jordan Peele's skills as a horror/thriller director remain considerable. This movie has several terrific suspense sequences, taut examples of well-executed visual storytelling. Also impressive is Peele's ability to communicate information visually during quiet character-building scenes, always capturing little hints to suggest what the characters are really thinking behind what they say. Acting performances are strong across the board, especially Lupita Nyong'o. That said . . . the thematics of the story don't quite come together at the end, do they? Get Out's script was practically a Swiss watch, every part fitting together. The follow-up feels compelling but incomplete. Ending the film on a twist (which I figured out pretty early on, but that's neither here nor there) feels like a mistake to me, because Peele doesn't leave himself with enough time to deal with the implications of the outlandish concept at its center. He just kind of throws the information at you and then ends the movie. The film leaves you with a lot to think about, but without enough of a guidebook. It all still kind of works, just because it's presented with such confidence and style (sometimes a sign of a great director). I was never bored . . . but I must also acknowledge that the script is a bit of a mess.

Yes, most movie villains really need to have read the Evil Overlord List. This would seem to fall under #17: "When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their advice."

This movie seems to get the weirdest polarized love/hate reactions, and it surprises me since it's not like it's a hard-to-understand abstract David Lynch thing. (Full disclosure: I'm closer to the "love" side.) Maybe it's just a side effect of the Best Picture Oscar causing people to seek it out who otherwise wouldn't.

I just want to know how the hell they got Van Helsing's automatic crossbow to fire SO MANY damn arrows. Looked like he fired off a hundred or more, but did he ever have to reload? It's not like he had some kind of ammunition belt or something, and anyway for something as large as an arrow it would be way too cumbersome to carry that many around. Where were they coming from?!

Paulette Goddard was at least 50% of the reason I preferred Modern Times.

I got confused and accidentally watched Modern Times instead of this one first, but that made for an interesting comparison. City Lights is worthy of the list, but I'm with Amy in that I'd pick Modern Times as the better and more influential Chaplin film.

Seems like they get together to record a few at once, then maybe just one of them will do the intro where they reference audience response from last week (or if both are available they'll do it together).

When I've seen stage productions of R&J it's usually Mercutio who gets the most applause in the curtain call.

I read this piece recently and thought it was an interesting take on how you handle a difficult movie like A Clockwork Orange in the modern cultural environment: https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/3/13/18262905/revisiting-a-clockwork-orange-stanley-kubrick

If Anita tells Maria about the Jets basically trying to rape her, then yeah she probably forgives her. It's very possible Chino would have shot Tony regardless. I agree with Cameron's take on Romeo & Juliet. The real point of the play is not about those two being in "real" love, it's about how the stupid family feud meant they couldn't deal with their lustful teenage feelings in a healthy way and caused a lot of unnecessary death. West Side Story extends that message to modern American racism and gang culture.

Oh man, the last time I watched Annie I was left thinking it's not a very good movie. Kind of plastic and impersonal IMO. (I liked it as a kid.)

Both movies are deserving. FIVE STARS.

In the context I referred to, I don't think Coates is referencing any specific codified legal language, more that under his definition "white" means the "in group," people who are widely considered "Real Americans" by the cultural elite. At various points in history, some European immigrant groups have not been seen that way.

This is interesting, because "best" depends on what you are looking for. I'd agree that the individual performers in Singin' in the Rain are more impressive (though . . . Rita Moreno gives everyone a run for their money), but in terms of filmmaking I'm more impressed by West Side Story. So I'm with Paul in thinking this is the best movie musical ever (though of course I have not seen everything).

Double bill with the It's a Wonderful Life killing spree ending.

Some other thoughts: -More on the racial commentary feeling amazingly advanced: the detective in the movie claims to be on the Jets' side (because they are white), but then when they won't give him what he wants he starts turning his anti-immigrant rhetoric around on them too (making fun of their Polish or Italian parents). That's really interesting and gets at some of what Ta-Nehisi Coates gets at in talking about "whiteness." How some groups were once considered "not white" (Irish, Italians, Jews) and later got to consider themselves white and started punching down at the remaining non-white (often the newest immigrants). This movie shows that progression in one character in real time. -Natalie Wood is probably the weakest actor in the movie, but I think she delivers the "feel" of the tragic lover archetype well enough. She also saves her best scenes for the end (IMO), after Tony's death. I also can't be too objective here, as I always had kind of a crush on Natalie Wood, in part because she reminds me of one of my big high school crushes (that girl was half-Russian and half-Mexican, which helped me kind of buy Wood as a Puerto Rican, though I know she was fully Russian in real life). -Michael Bay talking about this movie is a must-read. He's actually pretty insightful about what it does. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/18/movies/watching-movies-with-michael-bay-a-connoisseur-of-illusions.html