DailyView: Day 209, Movie 295

Heading over to Hulu for the DailyView this evening, I came across a movie from 2019 that I did not go to see in the theater. I remember when Where’d You Go, Bernadette was in the theaters. It was a movie that I was always considering going to see, but it was one of those films that was getting pushed aside for other new releases or never worked in the schedule.

Cate Blanchett is one of the great actresses of our time and she is front and center with the character of Bernadette Fox, an artistic architect who moved with her family to Seattle after a major career tragedy which sent her over the edge.

Bernadette had a remarkable relationship with her daughter, Bee (Emma Nelson), despite struggling with her relationship with any other human beings. This was also causing issues with her husband, Elgie (Billy Crudup), who had buried himself deeply in his work.

Her escalating negative behaviors began to worry Elgie and a promised family vacation to Antarctica elevated those behaviors even more.

The performances in Where’ You Go, Bernadette were very solid. Of course, Cate Blanchett is always exquisite and she amplifies any material she is given. The young Emma Nelson was very good as well, not losing step opposite her famous co-star. Bill Crudup does well too, though he may be a bit of a step down. The feuding neighbor Audrey was played by Kristin Wiig, but there is not enough with her. She seemed to play a big role in the first part of the film, but nothing in the second part.

This is a bit of the trouble with the movie. It felt like several different themes and tones floating around the story, and the characters were not completely consistent. At times the film did not seem to know what it wanted to be. It also seemed to diminish mental illness, which was used to explain some of Bernadette’s behaviors.

This film is an adaptation of a novel by Maria Semple, which I have not read, so much of the criticism about how it does not adapt the book well is foreign to me. Director Richard Linklater shoots some solid work, especially the scenes in Antarctica.

I enjoyed this movie despite its flaws, mainly because I enjoyed the characters and the performances. It may not be the best film around, but it was a decent watch.

DailyView: Day 208, Movie 294

Another busy day so I had to dip into the Charlie Chaplin vault to pull out another silent short to complete the DailyView. Today, it was a film on YouTube called The Fireman from 1916.

Charlie is a fireman this time, whose chief (Eric Campbell) made an arrangement with the father (Lloyd Bacon) of a beautiful daughter (Edna Purviance) to allow his house to burn down so he could collect the insurance money. In return, the father agreed to let the chief marry his daughter.

As other fires break out in the city, the firemen finally answer the call, thanks to Chaplin.

Turned out that the father set his house on fire without knowing that his daughter was upstairs. Chaplin scaled the outside of the building to save her, showing one of the more impressive stunts of the time.

Honestly, while I have typically enjoyed the Charlie Chaplin short films during this DailyView, this one was kind of boring. I loved the stunt of climbing the building, but I had checked out of the film in the first 15 minutes or so. The slapstick did not do it for me.

This was an early film in Charlie Chaplin’s career and many people seemed to love it. However, after seeing a bunch of the other ones first, The Fireman felt too much the same.

DailyView: Day 207, Movie 293

Not sure why this did not pop up on Netflix during the October run of horror movies I was doing, because this is far superior than several of the films that I did during that month of the DailyView.

Let Me In is a remake of a Swedish film, Let the Right One In, written and directed by Matt Reeves. It was another film that was never on my radar in 2010, despite being critically acclaimed during that time frame.

Let Me In stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Richard Jennings in a new take on vampire movies.

Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) was a lonely, sad and bullied teen who lived alone with his mother. When Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz) moved into his building with her father (Richard Jennings), Owen bonded with her, unable at first to see the strangeness happening around him.

As attacks begin to pick up, a detective (Elias Koteas) started to get close to the truth, especially after Abby’s father was involved in a car crash trying to get blood for her.

Owen is fascinated by Abby and her confidence helped him to stand up to the main bully (Dylan Minnette) that had been tormenting him.

The relationship between Owen and Abby is special and both young actors brought the goods to these roles. Their early sweetness helped to solidify their friendship for later when all hell breaks loose.

I will say that it seemed to me that Kodi Smit-McPhee had a growth spurt during filming because I swear he went from a little kid to a giant during the runtime. It might just be my perception of how he was shot, but he seemed to suddenly be all legs.

Let Me In was a wonderful horror movie with a new and different relationship at the heart of it. It worked very well and I am glad it popped up on Netflix.

DailyView: Day 206, Movie 292

After watching the wonderful tick, tick…Boom this morning about Jonathan Larson, the creator of the iconic Broadway show, Rent, I was inspired to make the 2005 film version of Rent the DailyView for today.

According to IMDB, Rent “is the film version of the Pulitzer and Tony Award winning musical about Bohemians in the East Village of New York City struggling with life, love and AIDS, and the impacts they have on America.”

The cast included Rosario Dawson, Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Taye Diggs and Tracie Thoms. Six of these actors reprised their roles in the film from the Broadway play, three of whom received Tony nominations.

Starting positively, the film’s music is sensational. The score and the musical aspects of Rent jump off the screen and grab the audience. The massive hit ‘Seasons of Love” starts off the film and is used throughout in a fantastic manner. Though that was the only song that I recognized from the soundtrack, the music is absolutely gripping and special.

The story has several elements of tragedy to it and emotionally works in moments. However, the characters are not developed past the surface which undermines the power of some of the emotions. Some of the characters feel as if they are doing things just because the story wants them to. It does not feel like reasonable choices. Instead, it feels like a series of scenes strung together to fill the time and connect the songs.

Not having seen the stage musical this film was based on, I cannot compare them to see if the play does a better job creating these characters. With so many actors reprising their roles among the Bohemians, you would think they would have a real handle on why their characters do what they do. It just did not transfer to me.

Great music. Not great story telling.

DailyView: Day 205, Movie 291

During the pandemic when we were isolated at home with little else to do, I started a watch of the Studio Ghibli films. I had purchased a DVD set of the whole group of shows, but it was a little skippy at times. I was enjoying the watch for the most part. After I arrived at Spirited Away though I lost my inspiration because it was so good, I just did not find it as vital to continue on after this.

Enter HBO Max. The streaming service had the entire catalog of Studio Ghibli films available to stream without any of the DVD troubles. Because of this, I decided to add some of the Studio Ghibli films to the DailyView. I chose to start with The Secret World of Arrietty.

Based on a novel called The Borrowers by Mary Norton, The Secret World of Arrietty was directed by the debuting Hiromasa Yonebayashi and was written by the iconic Hayao Miyazaki.

Arrietty was a Borrower, a group of tiny people just taller than a tree leaf, who would “borrow” items from the larger humans that they would not miss. It was said that if any Borrower was seen by a human, they needed to leave their home and find a new place to live because the human’s curiosity would never be satisfied.

On her way home one day, Arrietty was seen by the human boy, Shō, who was staying for the summer with his great aunt, Sadako. Shō was weak and frail as he had a heart defect and was preparing for surgery soon. He spotted Arrietty, who was on a “borrow” mission with her father Pod. She was stealing a sugar cube. When she realized that Shō had seen her, Arrietty dropped the sugar cube and she and her father left as quickly as they could.

Shō found the sugar cube and laid out another one as a replacement to hopefully show Arrietty that he was friendly. She was confused by the offering which seemed to be opposite what her parents had been saying about the humans. She went to see Shō several times, eventually befriending the boy.

The unlikely friendship is put to the test when the housemaid Haru realized what was happening and discovered Arrietty’s mother borrowing from the doll house that had been designed years ago as a hopeful present for the little people.

As always with Studio Ghibli, the animation is gorgeous. The hand drawing is so precise and intricate in every scene that the accomplishment is off the charts. There is a beauty contained in the artistry of this animation that many other animation studios just can never hope to reach.

I had a English voice cast and it was a significant group, including Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Bridgit Mendler, David Henrie and EYG Hall of Famer Carol Burnett.

The Secret World of Arrietty was a beautiful story of friendship and being able to put aside differences for the betterment of everyone.