Monthly Archives: November 2021

The Cure (1917)

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DailyView: Day 197, Movie 279

With the Rocky IV special release tonight that I will be attending, I needed to dip into the well of Charlie Chaplin shorts once again this morning and I came out with a great one.

The Cure is set just prior to prohibition in the USA and this plot involves the potential evils of alcohol, and perhaps some of the fun of it as well.

There are some exceptionally funny sequences that really bring out the mastery of the slapstick format that Chaplin is so brilliant at performing. There is a scene involving Chaplin and a revolving door that is amazingly choreographed and brilliantly laid out. There is another scene with a masseur that devolves into a fistfight of epic porportions.

As always, the silent film is anchored with the music. The music changes and flows with the antics of Chaplin, blending beautifully with the visual smorgasbord.

Chaplin seemed to be in his Little Tramp character, but it was noticeable that he was not dressed in the same manner as he usually was. He did not have his black suit coat or the recognizable bowler hat (though it does make a cameo in the film). The slight change was very effective as well.

Charlie Chaplin is the master of these silent shorts. With all due respect to Buster Keaton (who I have watched a few times recently), Chaplin makes this incredibly difficult art form look remarkably simple and totally entertaining.

Clifford the Big Red Dog

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I can’t believe what I am going to say.

Clifford the Big Red Dog is a charming, funny, family-friendly adventure which is full of heart and should be a hit among kids and cute enough for parents to enjoy as well.

I would not have guessed that.

Clifford the Big Red Dog was adapted from a book series of the same name by Norman Bridwell. In this movie, Clifford is just a puppy and is nowhere near as large as he is in the books, which I think is a smart move. It allows you to relate to Clifford much more than you could if he was at his actual height.

In the film, middle schooler Emily (Darby Camp) is bullied and lonely at her school. When her mother (Sienna Guillory) had to leave for work, in desperation, she called her less than responsible brother Casey (Jack Whiteall) to stay with Emily. When Casey was taking Emily to school, they came across a tent outside her school of Bridwell (John Cleese), an animal rescuer who seemed to have something magical about him. Emily and Casey went inside the tent and discovered a very small, red puppy. Casey would not let Emily keep the dog, but the puppy snuck into Emily’s backpack.

With the dog at her apartment, Emily convinced Casey to let her keep the dog for the night. She named him Clifford only to find that the dog grew to ten feet tall by the morning.

I actually found this to be funny. I laughed several times and there were some definitely outlandish and surprisingly unconventional humor. The dialogue contained a bunch of silly jokes and witty remarks.

I loved the character of Casey. Jack Whiteall, who was great earlier this year in Disney’s Jungle Cruise, played this character that could have been a cliché with a ton of heart and humor. His delightful performance carried much of the film for me.

Sure the plot itself stretched credibility and the film does not explain much of anything, but none of that is what you want to see in a movie like this. This is a fantasy adventure where you want to see a little girl and her dog overcome the adversity to have a happy ending. That is all provided in Clifford the Big Red Dog.

The side cast included a ton of great actors providing a potpourri of oddball characters to help Emily and Clifford. They include Tony Hale as the lead antagonist, Tieran. There is also Paul Rodriguez, David Alan Greer, Horatio Sanz, Russell Peters, Russell Wong, Tovah Feldshuh, Keith Ewell and Bear Allen-Blaine. Special shout out to Izaac Wang, who played Owen, Emily’s friend from school who clearly had a crush on her. Wang had decent comic timing for his age and worked well with the cast.

The CGI on Clifford was fine. There were a few times when it did not look the greatest. It was obviously not at the level of an Avengers: Endgame or Dune. Still, it was not bad and it did not distract me in the simple moments, so I would say that, overall, the CGI was a success.

Clifford the Big Red Dog is a heart warming movie that may even elicit a tear or two in the proper placement. There is a plain theme of how people treat those who are different that is anything but subtle, but that is fine. Subtlety is not the expected strong point in a film about a giant red dog. The most important characters are carried through with some solid performances and Clifford looked decent. Sure, the film is not an Oscar winner, but it hits what it is trying to do. Fun for the family. Sweetness. Some humor. I liked this much more than I ever thought I would.

3.25 stars

Earwig and the Witch (2020)

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DailyView: Day 196, Movie 278

Studio Ghibli is one of the most successful. beloved animation studios of all-time and has created some of the greatest, most beautiful animated movies ever released including such classics as Spirited Away, Princes Mononoke, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Those were all traditional style of animation with each frame hand drawn, creating images of beauty and wonder. For better or worse, Earwig and the Witch, which debuted in the last part of 2020, was the first animated movie from the studio that was made with full 3D CG animation.

Baby Earwig was dropped off at St. Morwald’s Home for Children by her mother. Her mother was a witch and left Earwig to keep her safe. Renamed Erica by the matron, Erica reached 10-years old and was quite rambunctious. When she was “adopted” by a strange couple,  Bella Yaga and Mandrake, Erica realized that she was only taken for another pair of hands.

When Bella Yaga revealed that she was a witch herself, Erica tried to bargain with her. She said she would help Bella Yaga if she would teach her magic. Bella Yaga had no intention of teaching magic to anyone and this only serves to irritate Erica.

Meanwhile, Erica discovered an old tape with a song on it, listed Earwig, and discovered that the cat, Thomas, could speak.

While the CG of the film was fine, it was a sharp difference from the beautiful animation of the past Studio Ghibli films. This was rather unremarkable, with only the animation of Mandrake being anything more than average. The animation, being a standout of the studio, does not make this film special. In fact, I would say that the look of the characters were lacking any depth or realism, especially in the faces which are like marionettes.

None of the characters are interesting. The story is fairly simplistic and apparent. And it wraps up in a rapid manner that felt like it was out of nowhere.

Overall, this was not to the level of the Studio Ghibli films and, if this is their new direction, they may want to reconsider.

National Gratitude Month- EYG November 10

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Wednesday is new comic book day and I go to get my pull list the same place that I went back when I started buying comics in the 5th grade. Sure, it has different owners and several locations since, but ComicWorld has survived in Dubuque since 1973. And I love spending time at the shop reading comics and talking with the awesome staff, affable owner Ben, comic aficionado Todd and super friendly Pat. Three great guys.

A History of Violence (2005)

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DailyView: Day 195, Movie 277

I had stumbled across a book I bought a few years ago by YouTube movie reviewer Chris Stuckmann, called The Film Buff’s Bucket List: The 50 Movies of the 200s to See Before You Die. I remember purchasing the book because I always enjoyed and respected the opinions of Stuckmann. After finding it tonight, I flipped through to see if there were any good choices that I could use for the DailyView. In the 2004-2007 section of the book, I found an entry for A History of Violence.

I had heard the title before, but I really had no idea about the premise or of the plot, which was basically what Stuckmann had written. The three paragraphs that Stuckmann had written intrigued me and I went to try and find it. I rented it on Amazon Prime and, with a nice run time of 1 hour and 36 minutes, I had found my DailyView binge movie for the night.

Once it started, I was completely swept up in the story and it took me on an unexpected journey through the life of Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) and his family. I had no idea where the film was going to take me, but I was all aboard from the start.

Tom was a small town man working at a diner, with his lawyer wife Edie (Maria Bello), his high school aged son Jack (Ashton Holmes) and little daughter Sarah (Heidi Hayes). Then, one night, a pair of violent men arrived at the diner with every intention of causing trouble and hurting people. Tom jumped into action and was able to kill the two perpetrators in self-defense.

Tom became a local cable news sensation as the media arrived and wanted to know everything about Tom. Unfortunately, the word got out to other factions who were interested in Tom and his past.

This was such a great movie. Viggo Mortensen was absolutely sensational as Tom, one minute mild-mannered local man and the next a viciously violent killer. William Hurt appeared later in the film and I will not spoil the role, but he was excellent too. The performances were all fantastic.

There were some times in the early part of the story that made you think that Jack would be at the center of the plot. He had to face off with a bully at school and he responded in a violent manner, but this was just a part of the story, with everything leading back to Tom.

David Cronenberg directed the film and does a really solid job of providing a contrast between the lifestyle that Tom and his family was living with the past world that seemingly would not stay in the past. The violence was brutal, but worked beautifully in the context it appeared in. There were plenty of scenes that leave the viewer uncomfortable and ill at ease, which is great and works with the tone and theme that Cronenberg was going for.

The final scene of the film left me a little cold, but I believe the uncertainty and the uncomfortableness I was feeling, along with the desire to have things work out more was something the creators were going for. Even though I wanted more, the ending was the perfect ending for what Cronenberg was going for.

If you can go into the movie with as little knowledge as you can, as I was able to do, this is a wonderful and surprising film.

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

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DailyView: Day 194, Movie 276

Today, for the DailyView, we jump into the world of Japanese animation with one of the classic films based on a seinen manga series, Ghost in the Shell. Directed by Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell is a cyberpunk thriller animated anime that has become one of the most iconic available.

In Ghost in a Shell, the year is 2029 and humans can be augmented or even replaced with cybernetic parts. This may include the “cyberbrain, a mechanical casing for the human brain that allows access to the Internet and other networks. An often-mentioned term is “ghost”, referring to the consciousness inhabiting the body (the “shell”)” (Wikipedia)

Our main protagonist is Major Motoko Kusanagi, one of the leaders of the assault-team of Public Security Section 9, was after a fellow ghost, the criminal Puppet Master.

I will say that I had a hard time staying focused on the film and my distraction made it a difficult film to understand. I should have given it more of my attention, because it just does not seem that Ghost on the Shell is an effective film to put on in the background while you work on other items. So this review may not be as fair as it should be. I did try to refocus as the film pregressed, but by then I was confused.

The animation was beautiful and was a definite standout. It used the process of “digitally generated animation” (DGA) which combines cel animation and computer graphics and digit data. It brought some wonderful imagery and animation to the storytelling of Ghost in the Shell.

I watched the English dubbed version and the voice work was fine. While I usually do not like the dubbed versions, with the animation it was not as obvious as the live action and the English voice acting was fine.

There are a lot of good to this movie, but I was still confused. That is probably my fault, but Ghost in the Shell never truly grabbed my attention either.

Sexy Beast (2000)

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DailyView: Day 193, Movie 275

Ben Kingsley has played some amazing parts in his career, from Gandhi to Trevor Slattery. There may be no better role for the actor than the role of Don Logan in the psychological crime black comedy film, Sexy Beast.

Safecracker Gal (Ray Winstone) had retired with his wife Deedee (Amanda Redmon) to a villa in Spain, leaving the life of crime behind him. When Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) comes to his villa to attempt to recruit him for another job, robbing a bank’s vault planned by crimelord Teddy Bess (Ian McShane). Gal did not want to accept the job, but the immature and violent Don Logan was a difficult man to refuse.

Kinsley is clearly the standout of this movie. His performance as the foul-mouthed, childish, vicious sociopath is just astounding and borderline comical. Kinsley walks the line of parody with Don Logan the entire time, creating a character that is just to the left of ridiculous.

Ray Winstone played off the ravings of Kingsley beautifully, doing his very best to tip-toe around the crazy criminal.

The film is shot with a great deal of style and flair by director Jonathan Glazer, flipping between moments in time throughout the second and third acts.

And the very last scene is a laugh out loud moment that I won’t spoil for you right now, but it was an unexpected treat.

Sexy Beast is an excellent British film, with plenty of different tones scattered throughout. Ben Kingsley showed the level of his acting range as he went with a role that was completely opposite that of Gandhi.

National Gratitude Month- EYG November 7

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My favorite fictional character of all time is Peter Parker, Spider-Man. Not just super hero, but my favorite fictional character from any medium available, and it is not even close. I have loved him as long as I can remember. I learned what it meant to be a hero from Spider-Man. Not just a hero, but a decent person.

Injustice

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I do enjoy these DC Animated movies. It is nice how they are able to adapt versions of important comic story arcs into stand alone animated movies. They tell stories that do not interlink. They can have characters that could die at any moment without affecting the ability to use the character in a future film.

In Injustice, the Joker comes to Metropolis, kidnapped Lois Lane (after killing Jimmy Olson), and tricks Superman into accidentally killing Lois (and the unborn baby she just realized she was pregnant was). Because of this, Superman kills the Joker by putting his fist through the Joker’s chest. Superman then decides that he was going to start changing the world by stopping the violence and the wars.

Members of the Justice League split to different sides. Wonder Woman backed Superman’s potentially Fascist tendencies. Batman, Green Arrow and Nightwing wanted Superman to stop.

I was expecting not to like this movie, but I have so say, I enjoyed most of this. It worked so much more than expected. The voice acting is spot on. The animation was okay. The animation on the DC Animated films has never been a strength. They maybe could have expanded on the time provided for the story. That would allow the story to breathe a little bit. Maybe if this was a two part film like the Dark Knight Returns or The Long Halloween, it would have felt more complete. It could have helped Superman feel less like he was doing things that went against his character.

However, for what we had, the story of the film worked well enough to make it interesting.

I did not like one big thing… Deadwing. While the idea and use of the character is fine, the use of that name was laughable.

The ending ends a bit too fast and could have wrapped up things some more, too.

I did think this was better than I anticipated and I was happy that I watched it. Using these films to be like Elseworlds stories is a fine use of them. Good cast and lots of characters help to balance out some of the structural issues of the film.

3.4 stars

The Harder They Fall

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Western. Real life historical figures. Fictional story.

Netflix’s new Western dropped this weekend on the streaming service and it is fire. Filled with an astounding cast and a hot tale of revenge, The Harder They Fall is stylish, exciting and energetic.

Outlaw Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) learned that the man who had killed his parents and carved a cross on his forehead, Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), was being released from prison with a full pardon, and Nat Love set his sights on exacting his revenge on the infamous killer.

Jonathan Majors continues his remarkable streak recently with an amazing performance as our protagonist. From Lovecraft Country to He Who Remains, Majors is showing himself to be a fantastic actor and everything that he starts in is something to pay attention to.

The interactions between Nat Love and Rufus Buck in the movie are just powerful and full of emotion. The chemistry between Majors and Idris Elba is off the charts and drives much of the film. Both men are fully invested in the material and the final scene with them is really strong.

Zazie Beets as Stagecoach Mary Fields and Regina King as Treacherous Trudy Smith brought serious rivalry to the screen and their knock-down battle in the third act is totally earned over the course of the film. Both of these actresses are dominant in their presence on the screen and bring a special touch to their characters.

The rest of the cast is solid too. We had LaKeith Stansfield as Cherokee Bill, Delroy Lindo as Sheriff Bass Reeves, RJ Cyler as Jim Beckworth, Danielle Deadwyler as Cuffee, Edi Gathegi as Bill Pickett, and Damon Wayans, Jr as Monroe Grimes. It is a cast of who’s who among black actors today.

The soundtrack of the movie was tremendous and really brought a new energy to the straight-forward story. The blend of period music and rap is original and some of the best of the year.

There is a ton of violence in the film, perhaps too much. It certainly does not shy away from some of the more graphic moments of bloodshed or teeth loss. There was a grit that the film was shot with that really made it feel down in the dirt. A lot more of the violence worked than did not, but I could have done with a little less. Then, much of the third act felt too produced, in contradiction to the violence up to that point. It was all shiny and ordered.

It is also perhaps a little long. The film clocks in at 2 hours and 10 minutes and could have shaved off about 15 minutes or so. Still, the film does a good job living with the historical figures in the fictional location.

Stylish to a fault, The Harder They Fall is an excellent revenge Western and boasts some great performances. It looked top notch and sounded better than most movies. The story may have been simple and the violence graphic, but The Harder They Fall is an enjoyable watch.

3.9 stars

Charade (1963)

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DailyView: Day 192, Movie 274

Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant are involved in a mystery about stolen money and a group of men who were trying to recover that money under any circumstances. But how involved is Cary Grant? And did he kill to retrieve it?

The 1963 film spun a really good mystery with a group of characters and a good conclusion.

The film included Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Ned Glass, and Jacque Marin along with Grant and Hepburn. The strong cast made work the mystery component of the story.

A man is thrown from a train. The man turned out to be the husband of his unhappy wife, Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn). Turned out that the man had stolen a large sum of money from his collection of crooks and they wanted the money back, and they assumed that Mrs. Lampert had it. However, she was still reeling from the discovery that her husband was not whom he said he was.

Mrs. Lampert was approached by a man named Peter (Cary Grant) who turned out to be involved in the case somehow. He actually had several names, giving her a different one every time.

Honestly, the mystery was cool, but the whole Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn romance within the mystery did not work as well for me. It painted Hepburn’s character in a fickle light. I know that the role would have been typical of Hollywood during the era, but it still did not make it great. Hepburn’s character was too into this liar and changed her mind about him multiple times. Every time he told her another fake name, she wound up playing it off as it were nothing.

I would have liked to have seen Hepburn more in control of the situation and not be a basic damsel in distress. I know the movies of the time did not have this type of heroine involved, but Audrey Hepburn was a huge name in the movies.

Still, the film worked more than it did not for me. I did enjoy the mystery (even though I had figured out the truth earlier). Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn are charming and entertaining with their bickering and their banter.

Finch

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This is the second Tom Hanks film to debut on Apple TV + over the last two years. In 2020, we saw Hanks in a World War II naval film called Greyhound. Now, we follow Hanks into a post apocalyptic world with Finch.

No matter where Tom Hanks heads, he is as charming and engaging as ever and he makes everything better around him, even a moderate, middle-of-the-road post apocalyptic film about a man, his dog and a robot.

Devastating solar flares caused rampant destruction to the earth, leading the human race to destroy itself. There are a few exceptions. Tom Hanks, playing Finch, is one of them. He was a knowledgeable engineer who could construct robots and use remaining technology to protect himself and his dog, Goodyear, from the dangerous UV rays that could cook you from even a few seconds of exposure.

Finch, with a understanding that his life would be changing soon, built a new robot, with the capability of speech and thought, and a prime directive to protect the dog above all else.

Eventually named Jeff (Caleb Landry Jones), the robot and the man learned about humanity, life and friendship when forced to leave Finch’s bunker because of a terrible storm.

Finch is a similar movie to Castaway, as Hanks is the only main actor, though this time, the volleyball Wilson, can speak back to him. And there is a dog.

This is one of the fluffiest post apocalyptic movies you are ever going to see, which makes it one of the more original one too. They cover some of the general topics that most post apocalyptic movies do, but the real focus of the movie is the relationship between the three characters: Finch, Jeff and the dog.

As mainly a Man (and robot and dog) vs. Nature conflict, it frames the characters into a small box and allows them to interact and discover more about each other. Jeff developed into more than just a robot, as he learns and makes errors along the way. Finch’s overall motive for constructing Jeff is eventually revealed and it make more sense than at first.

I am not sure that the story would hold up if there were any other actor in the lead role than Tom Hanks. However, since he is our protagonist, Finch worked considerably better than it had a reason to be.

3.75 stars