DailyView: Day 318, Movie 455

Another documentary that deals with the horrible topic of sexual abuse. This time, it deals with the abuse of power with a school and members of the faculty that used their power to abuse a group of boys, which went on for years and lead to multiple suicides.

The school: Porter-Gaud in Charleston, South Carolina. Paige Goldberg Tolmach had received word that another former student from her alma mater had committed suicide, she decided that there was something going on and it needed to be looked into. What she found was one of the worst hidden secrets of the school.

Eddie Fischer was the popular teacher who found ways to bring thee young boys to his home and rape them. People were quiet, even though it sounded as if many people already knew that Fischer’s behavior was suspicious, if not criminal. He was a coach and, apparently, any time anyone had an injury, no matter what the injury may be, he wanted them to “drop your drawers.” This became a running gag at the school. This hid a deeper and much worse situation.

Allegedly, administration covered for Fischer when some parents stepped up and came forward to confront the school.

If this doc gives us anything, it tells us that we must not be afraid to step forward and give a voice to the fears or the secrets. This kind of behavior can not survive in the light. It requires kids to do nothing, afraid of being exposed.

It makes one wonder how many Eddie Fischers there are out in our schools today.

DailyView: Day 318, Movie 454

One of the greatest Westerns around is My Darling Clementine from director John Ford. I had never seen it, but it always felt as if I had because I was first introduced to the movie through the iconic M.A.S.H. episode “Movie Tonight” where Col. Potter arranged the showing of My Darling Clementine to raise the morale of the camp. Of course, the film kept breaking down, forcing the members of the 4077 MASH to entertain themselves. During the episode, several scenes were shown from the John Ford movie and it was interesting seeing these scenes in their actual context.

Wyatt Earp(Henry Fonda) and his brothers were driving their cattle to California, but stopped off on a break in Tombstone, Nevada. Their cattle were rustled and one of his brothers was shot dead. Earp decided to accept a position as town marshal until he could discover the man or men who was responsible.

In Tombstone, he met Doc Holliday (Victor Mature), who ran the local gambling. Doc had a love interest with a local lady named Chihuahua (Linda Darnell). Doc had fled from the east and a relationship that he had with Clementine (Cathy Downs) because he was sick with tuberculosis. Clementine tracked Doc to Tombstone, setting off some anger from Chihuahua and Doc. Wyatt Earp found that he was also having feelings for Clementine.

It turned out that Old Man Clanton (Walter Brennan) and his four sons were behind the rustling and the death of Wyatt’s brothers, which led to the classic gunfight at the OK Corral.

This version of the Wyatt Earp story was based on a highly fictionalized novel Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal by Stuart Lake. While there are some actual events (according to Ford, the Gunfight at the OK Corral came directly from stories told him by Earp himself when he would come to the set to visit friends he had known from Tombstone.

The focus of the film was on the relationships between Doc, Wyatt, Clementine and Chihuahua, which was uncommon for Westerns at the time. It is also, most likely, the reason why this film is considered such a classic and how it has survived the test of time.

Seeing the actual filmed section of the gunfight at the OK Corral, the scenes from MASH made it seem much more violent than what this film showed. It was an intriguing scene with some surprising decisions made by the characters.

I can see why Colonel Potter thought that this film would raise the morale of his camp. It raised mine.

DailyView: Day 318, Movie 453

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a film where I am not sure how to feel. I am torn about how to review or grade this movie, because there are some moments where the film is absolutely mesmerizing and other times it is like a parody.

The film followed the life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), from birth to death. Grenouille was born with a miraculous sense of smell and a determination to survive. This film was taking place in 18th Century France so the feel of the film was already one of grubbiness and you could almost smell the odor in the mass of people. One could only guess on what the smell was like for someone with super smell like Grenouille.

So he would become a perfumer because he was desperately looking to recreate the aroma of a woman that he accidentally smothered and killed. The scent of her final moments haunted Grenouille and sent him on his life’s work.

He began his mission by grabbing women and killing them, trying to distill their essence into a perfume to capture the scent that he had experienced at the end of the woman’s life. He was not having any success, but he continued on his murderous mission.

When he came across Laura Richis (Rachel Hurd-Wood), the beautiful, red-headed daughter of wealthy nobleman Antoine Richis (Alan Rickman), Grenouille decided that she would be the “thirteenth” scent he collected and would be the focus of his perfume. Desperate to protect his daughter, Antoine swept her away, placing her under lock and key, but it was all for naught as Grenouille was able to find her and kill her anyway.

While there are some gruesome imagery used in the film, much of the film was beautifully registered by the team. The look of the movie was one of the strongest and most compelling parts of Perfume. At times it felt like a car wreck that you simply cannot take your eyes off.

Performances were top notch. Ben Whishaw was frightening as this bizarre perfumer and it is always great to see Alan Rickman. Dustin Hoffman is in the film too as Giuseppe Baldini, a perfumer who worked out a deal with Grenouille to teach him the skills he needed. Hoffman was so out of place here that every time he was on screen, I thought, “hey, it’s Dustin Hoffman.” That was not what you want for an actor.

The problem was that there were so many moments in this movie that were so ridiculous that it took me right out of the film. There was a moment when the newborn baby, who had been born and deserted beneath a fish market table, was taken to an orphanage. Other kids sensed something wrong with the baby as when one of the kids reached down to see if it was alive, the baby grabbed his finger and pulled it to his nose so he could small it. It looked as ridiculous as it sounds.

There are too many silly scenes like that scattered throughout the movie that end up making this feel more like a spoof than a psychological thriller. And speaking of spoofs, the third act conclusion is perhaps one of the stupidest things I have ever seen in a movie. I was totally out after this. I will not spoil it, but the finale of this storyline was just laughable. However, I did like the final resolution of the character of Grenouille.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer has its moments that transcends the film, but way too many scenes that play against the story that is being told.

DailyView: Day 317, Movie 452

I have always enjoyed a good documentary, and I have seen several great docs over the years. However, every once in awhile, one comes along that is really difficult to watch. The 2019 documentary on Hulu, Rewind, was one of those.

Director Sasha Neulinger documented the case of his own family that had to come to understand that there were multiple cases of child abuse within their family. Sasha was one of the children who had been abused by three family members, leading to a terrible childhood where he was on the brink of suicide several times.

Sasha used his family’s extensive home videos to help illustrate the story that he was documenting. Some of the imagery of the young boy made the stories that he was recalling and highlighting all the worse. Some of the footage was of the boy acting out, doing things that were mean or violent because of the horrors he was living through and that made the doc all the more heartbreaking.

Yet, the documentary also had a message of hope, because Sasha was able to survive the abuse heaped upon him, find himself a new, positive situation and prove that the shadow of sexual abuse does not automatically mean that your life is ruined. He showed that even the worst of the worst can be overcome with the dedication of will and help of those good people around you. With the number of kids that are abused every year, that is such an important message to hear.

DailyView: Day 317, Movie 451

“She’s a Super Freak… Super Freak… she’s super freaky…”

What an unexpectedly wonderous experience watching Little Miss Sunshine, filled with members of the Hoover family, odd and offbeat, down and defeated, yet filled with life. I had heard of this movie before, but I had no idea what a gem it was and how much I would enjoy spending almost two hours with these damaged and dynamite characters.

IMDB hits the synapsis well: In Albuquerque, Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette) brings her suicidal brother Frank (Steve Carrell) to the breast of her dysfunctional and emotionally bankrupted family. Frank is homosexual, an expert in Proust. He tried to commit suicide when he was rejected by his boyfriend and his great competitor became renowned and recognized as number one in the field of Proust. Sheryl’s husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) is unsuccessfully trying to sell his self-help and self-improvement technique using nine steps to reach success, but he is actually a complete loser. Her son Dwayne (Paul Dano) has taken a vow of silence as a follower of Nietzsche and aims to be a jet pilot. Dwayne’s grandfather Edwin (Alan Arkin) was sent away from the institution for elders, Sunset Manor, and is addicted in heroin. When her seven-year-old daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) has a chance to dispute the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California, the whole family travels together in their old Volkswagen Type 2 (Kombi) in a funny journey of hope of winning the talent contest and to make a dream come true.

This film started out and I wondered exactly which of these characters were worth rooting for. Olive was a sweet child with large ambitions, Dwayne was in his own little world, Frank moped and was seemingly on the edge, Sheryl seemed to be in full denial, and Richard was as obnoxious of a father as you were ever going to find.

That left us with Edwin, the dirty grandpa who liked to look at porn magazines and said whatever came into his head.

Then, without warning, the characters took a turn and every one of them became something new, something unexpected and they became a family, dysfunctional, sure, but a family nonetheless.

There were a few moments that I had my jaw on the ground. I could not believe that the film went in a couple of different directions, but the dedication and determination to get Olive to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant was a clarion call to the entire group to overcome their individual issues and focus in on a singular goal.

By the way, there is an obvious slap at these beauty pageants designed for the little girls. I found the few minutes that they spent in the third act at this pageant to be very disgusting, taking these little children and dressing them up like they were adults in swimsuits and gowns.

This movie is heart warming, emotional and very funny. It is a magnificent film with a bunch of amazing performances from a stellar cast.

“That girl’s alright with me…Hey Hey Hey Hey…”

DailyView: Day 316, Movie 450

Since The Sky was so short, I figured I would do a second short film on YouTube for the DailyView this morning. It is going to be a long fay, so starting it off with two compelling shorts feels like a great start.

The second one I chose was from 2016 and it was a stop-motion animated film called Fabricated.

Fabricated takes place in a future world where the organic material has mostly died off and the only remaining forms are machinery. The main character, a weird looking robot with a dinosaur skull, sets off on a wandering mission.

Honestly, I am not sure exactly what had happened in the short, but it was such a spectacularly amazing accomplishment of stop-action that the narrative was of a lesser importance. The meticulous work that was out in on this short is mind boggling and shows an incomparable creativity and dedication.

The artistry of this short is amazing and should be appreciated for what it is.

DailyView: Day 316, Movie 449

Who would have thought that 11 + minutes could be so compelling?

This morning, I watched the sci-fi/horror short called The Sky, directed by Matt Sears. It was just over eleven minutes long and, my goodness, it was good.

Two women were sitting together on a hill, watching the darkening sky and playing “Never Have I Ever”. Ellie (Chloe Fox) received a voice mail from her estranged mother (Renee Sears), begging for her to come and meet her before everything ends. Ellie’s friend Victoria (Charlotte Christof) talked her out of leaving saying that it was “too late.”

This is an apocalyptic tale about the end of the world. We do not need to know about the reasons the world is ending, because the short is really about family and what is important in life and the importance of mending fences while you still can.

The special effects for this short was impressive. The sky itself feels like a character as it slowly comes along, marshaling destruction in its path.

Chloe Fox was the definite standout in this short. She does a great job with her frightening performance. And the heartbreaking ending is extremely powerful as well.

It is a strong short that you should find. It is on YouTube and it is just a minimal time commitment to see how effective movies can be at presenting a message.

DailyView: Day 315, Movie 448

Tonight’s DailyView takes us to Disney + and, from there, to Egypt in the Valley of the Kings where, in this documentary, we see the story of the discovery of the Ancient Egypt tomb of the boy king, King Tutankhamun, but we see it in a way that we had never seen it before… in color.

This National Geographic documentary takes old photos and films from the 1920s and, through research and a caring artistic touch, brought accurate color to them, bringing a new perspective to the iconic expedition led by British archaeologist Howard Carter into the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

It spends time showing us some of the colorization skills used, but it is not the sole focus of this doc. They used the colorization to show the story of the exhibition in a new light. While the color was fine, the story of King Tut was much more fascinating to me. I have always enjoyed Egyptian mythology and the time of the kings, and King Tut brought the whole mystery together.

The doc does touch upon the “curse” that supposedly led to the death of Howard Carter’s beneficiary, Lord Carnarvon. The doc debunked the speculation on a curse with a simple blanket statement that it was made up by some journalists who were lacking anything to report.

The process of the colorization was fun, but it was most effective once they actually got inside the tomb of Tutankhamun. The beauty of the treasures found inside the tomb was considerably more illustrious with the color intact.

While this was interesting, there was not much new included in the story that added to what was known. It was a quick and fun watch and could show someone with less knowledge of the topic a good introduction to the story.

DailyView: Day 314, Movie 447

One of the classic horror/thriller films from the 1970s, Don’t Look Now is tonight’s DailyView film. It starred Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie and was directed by Nicolas Roeg.

According to IMDB: “John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura Baxter (Julie Christie) are in Venice when they meet a pair of elderly sisters, one of whom claims to be psychic. She insists that she sees the spirit of the Baxters’ daughter, who recently drowned. Laura is intrigued, but John resists the idea. He, however, seems to have his own psychic flashes, seeing their daughter walk the streets in her red cloak, as well as Laura and the sisters on a funeral gondola.“

The feel of this film is the key to it. It has an eerie feeling of dread from the moment that John Baxter gets the flashes of images that showed him his daughter drowning. The guttural scream ripped from his body as he pulled his daughter from the water, knowing that there would be nothing that he could do to save her and not understanding how this image had come to him.

Donald Sutherland is amazing kicking off this film. That powerhouse scene set the tone for what we were in for.

The uneasiness of the moments in Italy, when John would see something or someone that shouldn’t be there, including the mysterious woman in the red coat, keeps everyone off-kilter and anxious. You are never quite sure what is real and what is John’s imagination or his grief or his mind.

Laura is worse yet as she buys into the mysterious sisters immediately after being told information that she believed the sister should not have known. Some of the trances that Heather (Hilary Mason) would go into were frightening. Not only because of the actual trance/fit but also because we do not understand what is happening and we assume that it is something important.

Without spoiling anything, the ending of Don’t Look Now was shocking and surprising and made for a sensational conclusion. I have a suspicion that there were things that I did not pick up on and that there may yet be something hidden that I did not find. It was a film that kept me thinking after it was over and that is always appreciated.

DailyView: Day 313, Movie 446

Zathura was a film that I had never heard of, but with the directorial skills of Jon Favreau behind it, I figured it would be an enjoyable film. Then, I read the synopsis and I thought that it sounded a lot like Jumanji. I came to realize why that was. Apparently, this was based on a book by the same author that wrote the original book, Jumanji, Chris Van Allsburg. In fact, this movie was a stand alone spin off of the 1995 Jumanji film.

And when it comes down to it, I enjoyed this way more than I did the original Jumanji film with Robin Williams.

Brothers Walter (Josh Hutcherson) and Danny (Jonah Bobo) were always fighting, with Danny always trying to compete with his older brother Walter. So when Danny discovered a board game called Zathura in the basement and started to play it, strange things began to happen. This included the sudden shock of their house flying through outer space.

Each turn of the game presented a card with a new problem for the space shuttle house: Aliens invading, a malfunctioning robot, a meteor shower.

Their sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart) was in cryogenic animation from the card upstairs in her bathroom when the next card stated to rescue the astronaut (Dax Shepard). The astronaut brought in a new perspective and a helping hand with the dangers of the game.

The brothers had to continue to play the game to try and make their way back home.

The center of the film is the relationship between Walter and Danny. It felt like a realistic relationship that could be real brothers. They argued, fought and said things to hurt the other one because they are not sure what else they could do. Both Hutcherson and Bobo nailed their performances and did so in a way that brought deep emotion between the boys.

The addition of Dax Shepard elevated the material even further and his own backstory was a fantastic inclusion in the story of the boys.

Kristen Stewart and Tim Robbins, who played the boys workaholic dad, have less to do in the story, but they both make the best of their screen time.

The special effects were really cool for 2005 and the aliens here were scary. This movie is a great family film, not just something that kids would enjoy. There is a strong message of brotherly connection and some exciting action. Yes, it is very much like Jumanji, but that can be excused since they are both from the same mind. Plus, this is a better story.

DailyView: Day 312, Movie 445

I had never seen seen this Tom Hanks film, That Thing You Do! before and I do not know why. I have always enjoyed Tom Hanks and I have loved music for years, especially within the 1960s. And I really enjoyed this movie.

According to IMDB: Recounts a fable of a pop rock band formed a year after the Beatles took America by storm in early 1964. Jazz aficionado Guy Patterson, unhappily toiling in the family appliance store, is recruited into the band the Oneders (later renamed the Wonders) after regular drummer Chad breaks his arm. After Guy injects a four/four rock beat into lead singer Jimmy’s ballad, the song’s undeniable pop power flings the Wonders into a brief whirlwind of success, telling the tale of many American bands who attempted to grab the brass ring of rock and roll in the wake of the British Invasion.

The music of this film was so entertaining. I enjoyed the title track, which was a good thing considering how many times we heard it. The music of the 60s was absolutely another character in the film, not only the music of the Wonders, but also the jazz, the other singers in the state fair tour and so on.

I thought Jimmy’s (Johnathon Schaech) choices at the end come out of nowhere. I kept expecting there to be a triangle between Jimmy, Guy (Tom Everett Scott) and Faye (Liv Tyler), but I was happy that the stereotypical trope was kept out of the film. It felt so much more realistic than just the soap opera twist.

Tom Hanks is great, unsurprisingly. He played off the characters so well without showing anybody up. He was the perfect supporting actor in this movie.

There is a great cast to including Ethan Embry (The Bass Player), Charlize Theron (Tina), Obba Babatunde (Lamarr), Giovanni Ribisi (Chad), Chris Ellis (Phil), Alex Rocco (Sol), Bill Cobbs (Del Paxton), Peter Scolari (Tony), Rita Wilson (Marguerite), Chris Isaak (Uncle Bob) and Kevin Pollak (Boss Koss).

I found this to be light and energetic. Thoroughly entertaining. The music was great and the characters were fun. I’m glad I finally got around to That Thing You Do!

DailyView: Day 312, Movie 444

Morgan Spurlock shot a documentary that looked at certain individuals who had a name of Hitler. There were a few that were related to Adolf Hitler, one who claimed to be the nephew of Hitler, a neo-Nazi who named his son Adolf Hitler, one guy whose first name was Hitler, a young teen girl whose last name was Hittler, and another man who was o relation but still had the last name.

I’m torn on this documentary. Honestly, the stories were not that fascinating with the exception of the neo-Nazi. Most of them were basically “I have the name Hitler, people look at me funny” and “I ignore the name.”

The film showed the man whose first name was Hitler asking his father on the phone why he named him Hitler. The man said that he did not like to use a name that anybody else was using. What? The son then told him that he liked the name and it made him who he was, but that felt like he was placating his father despite what had to be a tough first name.

The most intriguing one was how the neo-Nazi, who had swastikas tattooed on his neck and with him sporting a little Hitler mustache, had his children taken away from him. He had named his one son Adolf Hitler. This was the most conflicting part of the doc for me. The kids were taken away for some other reasons but it is hard to believe that it wasn’t connected to the name. The father was in a Nazi organization and had gone to a court date in a Nazi uniform. While he has a complete right to believe anything that he believed, the idea of children in this place is a challenge for me.

I believe that the Neo-Nazi loved his children. I’m not sure the doc gave us a full picture of the situation.

Morgan Spurlock had approached a Holocaust survivor at the end of the film and asked him what he thought of the idea that the remaining descendants of Hitler lived near him and the man gave a wonderful answer about not blaming someone for what their parents/ancestors had done. He implied that he came across this philosophy as he grew older. It was a nice ending to the so-so doc.

DailyView: Day 312, Movie 443

Gary Cooper starred in one of the greatest Westerns of all time, High Noon. If you are making a list of classic and iconic Westerns, this one would absolutely make the list.

The story is simple. Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) was getting married to Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly) and was handing the job of marshal over to someone new. However, on the day of his marriage, he heard that an outlaw that he had previously sent to jail, Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), was returning on the noon train with the intention of meeting up with his gang and killing Kane.

Refusing to run from Miller, Kane attempted to recruit members of the town to form a posse of deputies to stop the gang from running wild, but, to his consternation, he discovered that his friends and fellow townsfolk did not want to join in on the posse. This led to Kane having to face off with Miller and his three gunmen on his own.

The plot of High Noon occurs in real time as the building dread of the train arriving in Hadleyville, New Mexico continued to eat up the nerves of the people and the anxiety of the audience members. You could feel the isolationism felt by the heroic Marshal Kane as he struggled with the call of duty to the town and the fact that the town was dismissing him outright. You can see the conflict within Kane about whether he should just up and leave the town and start his life anew elsewhere. Eventually, his dedication to his duty would not allow him to push the Frank Miller problem off to someone else and he knew what he had to do.

The film was one of the first Westerns to have adjusted the role of the female characters, with Amy playing a significant role in the third act showdown between Kane and Miller. There were some push back against the change of a Western trope from some of the people involved in making Westerns. John Wayne was a known opponent of High Noon, calling it “the most un-American thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life.” Still, High Noon became an extremely influential film of its time.

The final shot of the film was an epic one, which showed the contempt that Kane had grown inside him for the town that had left him to die.

High Noon was a legendary Western that took many of the genre tropes and played with their expectations, creating a new style of hero and supporting characters.