Darkness Falls (2003)

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DailyView: Day 355, Movie 507

Interestingly, this movie was released during January 2003 which said to me that even back then, studios were putting their crap out in January.

I had placed Darkness Falls on the queue after picking up Cinemax on Prime. The idea of a scary version of the tooth fairy sounded interesting, but, unfortunately, execution was anything but.

According to IMDB: “In the Nineteenth Century, in Darkness Falls, Matilda Dixon is a good woman, who exchanges with children their baby teeth per coins. One day, her face is burnt in a fire in her house, she becomes sensitive to light and uses a china mask to protect her face against light. When two children are not found in the town, Matilda is blamed by the population and burnt in a fire, as if she were a witch. She claims to be not guilty and curses the whole population of the town and their descendants, stating that when each child loses the last tooth, she would come to get it, and if the child looks at her, she would kill him or her. After her death, the two children are found, and the shamed citizens decide to bury this sad and unfair event and never mention it again. Twelve years ago, the boy Kyle accidentally saw the Tooth Fairy, and she killed his mother. All the persons in Darkness Falls but his girlfriend Caitlin accused the boy of murdering his mother and sent him to an institution, considered deranged. In the present days, Caitlin calls Kyle to help her young brother Michael, who has seen the Fairy Tooth and is afraid of the dark.“

Obviously, that synopsis is convoluted and unnecessarily confusing. The movie also breaks all of these rules throughout the movie. One wonders why there was not a whole bunch of terror going on in the town for the last 12 years since Kyle (Chaney Kley) was taken away until Caitlin’s (Emma Caulfield Ford) brother Michael (Lee Cormie) had the same troubles.

So many jump scares plastered throughout the film. Many of them are just an attempt to manipulate the viewer because the film knows that it is ridiculous and not scary at all. The design of Matilda is not special in any manner.

When I saw that the Rotten Tomatoes score of Darkness Falls was at 9%, I was hoping that it would be one of those bad movies that were fun because it was so bad. Not so. There was little to zero fun to be had in this movie.

Not good at all. I’m not going to give it a Putrescent because of Emma Caulfield, formerly Anya from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That is the only reason.

Joe (2014)

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DailyView: Day 355, Movie 506

Nicolas Cage is hard to comprehend. There are times when he makes just the most god awful movies that are nothing more than a way to pay the bills such as Left Behind. Other times, he makes intense character pieces such as Pig. He didn’t utter a word in Willie’s Wonderland. I am never sure what to expect from Nicolas Cage so watching Joe this morning for the DailyView made me wonder which Nic Cage I was getting.

Joe featured Nicolas Cage and Tye Sheridan. Joe (Nic Cage) ran a tree-killing business and the 15-year old drifter Gary (Tye Sheridan) wandered in and asked Joe for a job. Impressed with his approach, Joe hired the boy on the spot.

Turned out that Gary’s alcoholic and abusive father Wade (Gary Poulter) wanted to work too, but his work ethic did not match that of his son.

Joe was an ex-con who had gotten in trouble with the police years ago, but the sheriff (Aaron Spivey-Sorrells) was an old friend of Joe, and he tried to keep Joe out of trouble. Joe, who had bonded with Gary, seemed to be on a path of escalating violent behavior.

Nicolas Cage was great as Joe. He was very conflicted throughout the film, but he was really good to Gary, giving him a father figure that he was lacking from Wade. Another excellent performance was from Gary Poulter, who played Wade. Poulter was homeless before the film and also an alcoholic, but he delivered a role with so much menace and cruelty that he stood out from an excellent cast. This was Poulter’s only role as he passed away not too long after the film was finished.

I do feel as if the film meandered a bit in the middle. It could have tightened up the story and trimmed 15-20 minutes from it.

With the recent Nic Cage-naissance happening, this is a hidden gem from his catalogue that would be a good watch for Cage fans.

The Madness of King George

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DailyView: Day 354, Movie 505

Who would have thought that I would become a fan of King George III? And yet, after watching The Madness of King George, I was absolutely rooting for the Mad King, and not just in the humorous way as I did in Hamilton.

This biographical historic biopic featured the reign of King George III a few years after the Colonies won their independence from England, during a time period that was known as the Regency Crisis of 1788-89. King George III (Nigel Hawthorne) began displaying tendencies of madness, unable to control his behavior, his language or his actions. The madness that had overcome the King offered an opportunity to the Prince of Wales George IV (Rupert Everett) to attempt to be named regent, and gain control over his father’s health and treatment, and, generally, over the kingship.

Queen Charlotte (Helen Mirren) was completely loyal to her husband and did what she could to aid him through his troubles, but she was eventually separated from George.

Lady Pembroke (Amanda Donohoe) recommended to George III’s prime minister and ally William Pitt the Younger (Julian Wadham) a doctor named Francis Willis (Ian Holm), a doctor she claimed that cured her mother-in-law. Dr. Willis arrived with the King and immediately asserted his control over George III.

Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales continued to push for a bill to pass through Parliament naming him regent so he could take control. The bill is delayed within the body with expectations of reports of King George III’s progress or lack thereof.

This was a fantastic movie. I loved the entire thing. I was rooting for King George, wondering why the Queen did not have more power than she did (and wondering when it switched over to the Queen who now runs the Royal family in England) and hoping that the Prince of Wales would not get his weaselly little hands on the crown (Looking it up, he does become King in 1820 when his father died and he reigned for ten years. He apparently had been regent since 1811…twenty plus years after this moment in time).

Nigel Hawthorne was utterly brilliant as the mad king. His performance made the viewers relate and root for him despite being one of the major villains portrayed during the American Revolution. The loss of the Colonies seemed to have been a contributing factor to the King’s declining mental status. There was text at the end of the film that also indicated that King George may have been suffering from a disease called porphyria which was a factor in the changing color of the King’s urine.

Hawthorne and Helen Mirren were amazing together, sharing remarkable chemistry and a connection that made it completely believable that they had been together for years. I love Helen Mirren and she was spectacular playing off Hawthorne.

The movie was exceptionally well written, with both a great deal of humor and dramatic moments. There is a wonderful scene of King George reading from Shakespeare’s King Lear that works so well. The cleverness of the writing and the beautiful design of the costumes and sets truly do all work together to create a masterful piece of entertainment.

Better Nate than Ever

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So this came on Disney + a few weeks ago and it did not pique my interest at all. Then I had heard some positives about the film and I placed it on my list of streaming movies to watch. Now, having watched the film, I have to say, it was okay.

13-year old Nate (Rueby Wood) has a dream to make it to Broadway. Problem is, he can not even get cast in his school’s musical production about Abraham Lincoln. When an opportunity to audition for a Broadway show based on Lilo and Stitch came up, Nate’s best friend Libby (Aria Brooks) talked him into doing it.

Together, the pair run away from their homes in Pittsburgh to make their way to the lights of Broadway in New York City for a crack at the big time.

Is Better Nate than Ever realistic? Oh God no. There is no way that this happens in real life. The story is fairly predictable and things go really well for these two 13-year old kids in NYC.

I have to say, despite the overly sentimentality of the script, there is a charm to the movie, especially from the lead actor, Rueby Wood, and there is a cool appearance from Lisa Kudrow as Nate’s Aunt Heidi. Wood and Kudrow bring a special relationship to the screen that carries through the improbability of the script.

This is based on a book of the same name by author Tim Federle, who also wrote and directed the movie. There are several hints dropped throughout the movie that Nate is gay, but it never comes right out and says it.

This is a love letter to Broadway and musicals. The music in the film is great and the scene where Nate becomes TikTok famous on the streets of New York by singing On Broadway was a ton of fun. Rueby Wood was the standout of the movie, which worked specifically because of his talent. Yes there is a lot of sweetness and over-sentimentality, but I have seen worse.

3.2 stars

Blood & Wine (1996)

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DailyView: Day 354, Movie 504

Blood & Wine is a neo-noir crime thriller that was directed by Bob Rafelson. Rafelson claimed that this film was the third film in an unofficial trilogy of noir crime films including Jack Nicholson. I started looking for this film on a recommendation and it took my getting Cinemax on Amazon Prime to find it. Unfortunately, I did not find this worth the effort.

Alex (Jack Nicholson) had set up a robbery with an old and dying safecracking partner Victor (Michael Caine) of a diamond filled necklace. Alex had an inside track, the place’s nanny Gabriela (Jennifer Lopez) that he wanted to run off with. He was ignoring his wife Suzanne (Judy Davis) whose son Jason (Steven Dorff) worked with him in his wine company.

The heist itself started the troubles brewing for Alex as things were going wrong. When Suzanne violently confronted him about his adultery, she unwittingly stormed out with the necklace inside a suitcase. This led to Alex and his violent partner Victor to begin to pursue Suzanne and Jason.

The story of this movie as sloppy and inconsistent. The characters’ motivations switched on a dime, especially Gabriela who felt like four different characters depending on what the film’s plot needed her to be. Jennifer Lopez was just not a strong enough actor to pull off the inconsistencies.

I did not have a reason to cheer for any of these characters. At first, it seemed as if Jack was going to be one of those lovable crooks, but he showed his true colors quickly. I did not have enough time early with Steven Dorff to deserve or earn the main character status.

This one I had been expecting good things from, but, sadly, it did not achieve anything more than a low level crime flick.

Nancy (2018)

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DailyView: Day 354, Movie 503

While going through Amazon Prime, I came across a film called Nancy and its synopsis sounded intriguing. What was listed on Prime was the following: “A serial imposter, Nancy becomes convinced she was kidnapped as a child, and when she meets a couple whose daughter went missing thirty years ago, the power of emotionality threatens to overcome all rationality.” When seeing that, my mind went to one of my favorite documentaries of all-time, The Imposter. Nancy, though, was a different beast though it remained very effective.

The key to the story is that we, the audience, never know for sure. We suspect what the truth is, and we can infer from what the movie gives us, but there is no one point where the movie comes right out and calls Nancy an imposter or that she truly is the missing daughter.

At first, that left me a little cold. I wanted to know for sure. I had pretty much made my own inference from the hints the film dropped, but it would not take much to readjust my thinking to see the hints from a different perspective. However, the more I reflected back over Nancy, I appreciate the film leaving it up in the air and allowing the audience to make the final judgements.

There were some wonderful performances in Nancy. Not only does Andrea Riseborough create a fascinating and complex character as Nancy, but the parents of the missing girl, played by J. Smith-Cameron and Steve Buscemi, are wonderful as the still grieving parents after 30 years of uncertainty. In their own ways, both of them are holding out hope that their daughter had come back to them. Buscemi’s performance is more subtle and guarded, showing that his character is more contained, reserved. The looks and glances that Buscemi gives tell so much of the story.

J. Smith-Cameron, on the other hand, is ready to welcome Nancy into their family and is desperate for any chance that this was the lost daughter. Though Buscemi’s character had told Nancy that he was worried about the possible disappointment for his wife, her strength was apparent and exceeded even his understanding.

Nancy is a wonderfully acted study of a woman searching for connection and a couple in need of putting grief behind them. The conclusion may not be for everyone, but it did serve the story they were telling of these characters.

Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood

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The next new film on Netflix that I got around to tonight was the new animated film from Richard Linklater, Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood.

This told the fictionalized story of a fourth grade boy imagining himself as the first person to step on the moon during the time frame of the actual Apollo 11 crew’s historic moonwalk.

The film, with a voice over by Jack Black as the adult Stanley, reminded me very much of the Wonder Years television comedy from ABC. It was narrated by the older version of one of the kids in the story, Stan, and detailed the combustible decade of the 1960s. There is a large section of the film dedicated to all things 1960s, from the TV programs to the movies to the music to he Vietnam War. Again, much like the Wonder Years, it provided the point of view of a man looking back over his life.

The animation was fun. It felt like it was nearly live action, but the animation style was apparently based on that of Saturday morning cartoons. However it was decided, the animation was excellent and carried a definite nostalgic tone to it, much like the entire screenplay, also written by Linklater.

Along with Jack Black, the voice cast included Milo Coy, Zachary Levi, Glen Powell, Josh Wiggins, Lee Eddy, Bill Wise, Natalie L’Amoreaux, Jessica Brynn Cohen, Sam Chipman and Danielle Guilbot.

Stanley was in a family of six kids, whose father worked at NASA in one of the more undistinguished jobs. Stanley’s father still brought an excitement and energy to the landing of the Apollo mission.

It was kind of odd since the film started with a couple of NASA agents arriving and recruiting Stan to be an astronaut and land on the moon in the Apollo 10 1/2 mission because the capsule had been made too small and would only fit a young person and Stan’s ability at kickball helped cement his recruitment. This fantasy was interwoven through the storyline and we saw Stan begin his training and eventually launch into space, despite still being at home. The two distinct POVs made this a touch confusing at times, but certainly an original manner in which to tell the tale.

Filled to the brim with nostalgia, Apollo 10 1/2 does not have much of a narrative structure. However, it is a intriguing and memorable record of what the 1960s was like and how historic the time period would become. This was a lot of fun and quite thoroughly enjoyable.

4.25 stars

Choose or Die

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While I was watching this movie, all I could think about was how Asa Butterfield could have been hired to play Spider-Man instead of Tom Holland. Maybe this is a mean comment, but Marvel sure dodged one there.

Choose or Die is a British horror thriller movie featuring a retro video game called “CURS>R” (pronounced cursor). College student Kayla (Iola Evans) finds the CURS>R game in Isaac’s (Asa Butterfield) apartment and a phone number offering a large prize money. When she begins playing the game, she discovered that the game could interfere in reality, causing a poor waitress to eat broken glass. Kayla has to try and complete the game to stop it.

Boy, this one was horrible.

I’ll try not to spoil it, but there is a scene with Asa Butterfield’s character and video tape that is simply laugh out loud funny. It is so ridiculous that any credibility the film may have had up to that point is utterly destroyed.

Not that there was much before anyway. This was nothing more than cheap video game graphics and jump scares. The characters are weakly developed and we find out some basic facts about them. Kayla has a lot of troubles in her life, but we only hear about most of them. They do not go into any details that are worthwhile.

And then the “Boss Level” of the game is as bad of a sequence as you are going to find. This is prime material for RiffTrax Live because because the entire movie is simply dumb and laughable.

Do not waste your time on this rubbish. It is a remarkably poor film.

1 star

Cedar Rapids (2011)

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DailyView: Day 353, Movie 502

Cedar Rapids is a comedy film that matched up Ed Helms with John C. Reilly with a lot of crude humor. Typically, these kind of films, wit lots of drug and sex jokes, are not up my alley. Cedar Rapids, however, has some charm to it and Ed Helms gives a solid lead performance that helps raise the level of film for me.

After a surprising death, Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) is sent to an insurance convention by his boss Bill (Stephen Root) to try and gain another Two-Diamond award for their company. Tim is shy and withdrawn so when he gets matched up with the wild Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly), things go haywire. After a lot of drugs and alcohol, Tim has to go to see the president (Kurtwood Smith) to keep his job.

As I said, this film has a charm about it, mainly from Ed Helms. John C. Reilly is not as over-the-top as he normally is, probably because he is playing opposite the quieter Ed Helms, so I could handle his performance better than when he plays opposite someone like Will Farrell who is doing the exact same schtick.

Anne Heche played a female agent at the convention who connected with Tim. She was married and had children but she used the convention in Cedar Rapids as her free time.

Sigourney Weaver is in the film as well, but she is grossly underused in a role that could be anyone. If you have Sigourney Weaver, you should really use her more.

The story is fairly typical for this kind of a film and does not miss too many beats. It is predictable as it moves along, but with the enjoyable cast, the film slips by.

Overall, Cedar Rapids is fine for what it is. It can be somewhat offensive at times, but there are some good laughs and Ed Helms does all the heavy lifting to make this a fun film.

The Fallout

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The Fallout has been on HBO Max for a month or so and I have been meaning to watch it during that time, but I just never got around to it. As I started trying to catch up with some of the new streaming films, I found The Fallout still on the list and so I decided to watch it this morning.

I did not expect it to be as powerful as it was.

Vada (Jenna Ortega) was a high school girl who found herself hiding in the girls bathroom with another classmate, Mia (Maddie Ziegler) as their school was under attack by an active shooter. Those few moments of terror and uncertainty in the restroom truly re-contextualized these two girls’ lives.

After surviving the day, Vada began to make choices that she would not have made before.

This movie is not about the school shooting that happened. It is a study on the survivors of the shooting and the pain of guilt and fear that comes with the situation. It takes time to look at, not only, how it affects the kids who were there, including one of Vada’s closest friends Nick (Will Ropp) who becomes the activist, and Quinton (Niles Fitch), whose brother is killed in the shooting, but also those people who are adjacent to Vada, such as her mother (Julie Bowen), her father (John Ortiz) and her little sister (Lumi Pollack).

The world has become too accepting of this traumatic event the more it happens, and this movie showed how different each person could react to the violence.

Jenna Ortega absolutely fills the screen. She is a star in the making and she does stellar work portraying the conflicted and frightened young girl. She conveys how the wound is very much open and still causing her problems with a massive final scene. Ortega is so realistic with this character that you cannot take your eyes off of her.

First time director Megan Park also penned this screenplay and does an amazing job of showing how such a horrible event can taint a person’s life moving forward and how much of a difficult task it may be to put it behind you. Despite the glowering tone, the film does have moments of hope sprinkled in with the sadness. The scene with Vada and her father is beautiful and life-affirming.

The Fallout is a powerful film that could be a difficult watch for many. It is vital that we understand the fallout of the situation that has sadly become oh so normal in our lives.

3.8 stars

Friday Night Titans #7

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Spoilers for Schmoedown

Welcome back to the Friday Night Titans review here at EYG. Episode number seven has come and gone with two very exciting and competitive matches.

The main event this week featured Mike “The Killer” Kalinowski, the IG champion, playing singles against “The Boston Badass” Paige Frabetti. Frabetti made her name last season with a major victory over Ben Bateman and she hoped to continue that momentum after joining the Fan Favorites recently.

This was a great match between a Hall of Famer and an up and comer. And it came down to a new rule biting Paige in the butt.

One word cost her this victory.

The.

We learned tonight that the Movie Trivia Schmoedown adjusted the rule about articles this season. According to Mark Ellis, this season a competitor cannot add an article such as “the” at the beginning of a movie title and have it be accepted.

It was Paige’s two point third round question with her behind Kalinowski by a point after he got his 2 point question correct. She held the advantage going into round three after a difficult set of questions for Mike in round two. Paige answered “The Last Action Hero” instead of just “Last Action Hero” for the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie and it cost her those two points, gave Kalinowski the advantage in round three and he did not miss again.

Real tough break. However, if that is a rule adjustment that has been made clear to the players prior to the taping, then it is fair game. Unfortunate for Paige, but fair.

She also got one of the easiest 5-point questions I have heard with the Belfast new release question. Mike’s question may have been easy too, but I did not know it because I have never watched the Saw franchise. I’m sure William Bibbiani knew that question easily.

It was weird because I found myself rooting for Kalinowski, and I am not sure that has happened in years. Perhaps Shannon’s face turn this season has done wonders for Mike and Paige felt more like a heel since she joined Adam Witt and the Fan Favorites.

Another match that came down to the 5-point question was the opening encounter between Klee “Sweet Tea” Wiggins and “The Dealbreaker” Jacoby Bancroft. Klee won this match when Jacoby could not get his five pointer. I swear, every time I see Klee play, I never think she has a chance, but she does great. It seems as if she is an underrated competitor and, now that she is with Winston and SWAG, she may have found a push. Unfortunately for Jacoby, the last few weeks in storyline, he’d been featured only to be defeated tonight. Not sure how that will go for him since there are so few matches this season.

We have also learned that Roxy Striar’s Stars faction is going to be teaming Mr. Erwin up with Slick Nick Hartley as a new team named The Appointment. That team looks formidable since Nick is a solid young player and Mr. Erwin is an all-timer. They announced a squash match for next week with Eric Zipper and Adam Gertler. At least, that is how it feels. I hope I am wrong because Zip deserves better. Adam Gertler has not been around for years and this team is a huge underdog against The Appointment.

By the way, Roxy’s heel work has been on fire this year and her meet up with Shannon at the end of the show was awesome.

I hope there is another big match next week because this one feels like a lesser match.

Also, Andrew Ghai was back behind the desk this week after a couple week dalliance with Ben Bateman and Team Action. Welcome back to the desk, Drew.

X

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One of the sub-genres of horror movies is scary old people and it is mushed together with the slasher genre in the new A24 horror flick, X from writer/director Ti West.

Set in 1979, a group of filmmakers and actors rented an old farmhouse out in the country to film what they called “best dirty movie.” At the farmhouse, they found an elderly couple and the old man greeted them with a shotgun. Eventually, they reminded him that they had rented the farmhouse and settled the situation down.

As they were filming, the old lady began wandering around and peeking through the window at the porn scenes being filmed.

The first part of the film was spent setting things up and showing us the characters involved in the porn movie. Mia Goth and Brittany Snow were the adult actresses and Kid Cudi was the male porn star. Jenna Ortega is the boom mic operator. Martin Henderson is the executive producer.

The cast is great. Then, the slasher aspect in the final act gets extremely violent and gory. There were a couple of times that I had to grimace about what I was watching.

I really do not have much more to say about X. I enjoyed it, but I do not see much more than that.

3.3 stars

The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

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DailyView: Day 352, Movie 501

The dangers of picking up a hitchhiker is illustrated in this film noir from the 1950s starring  Edmond O’Brien, William Talman and Frank Lovejoy.

The hour and ten minute film was on Amazon Prime and was in black and white. It was a fictionalized version of the Billy Cook murder spree and became the first noir film directed by a female Isa Lupino (Wikipedia).

Emmett Myers (William Talman) is wanted for his murders of people that picked him up as a hitchhiker. When two friends, Roy Collins (Edmond O’Brien) and Gilbert Bowen (Frank Lovejoy) pick up Myers, they find themselves hostages held at gunpoint for a trip into Mexico.

The three actors had good chemistry with each other, which was important for this to work. However, I had doubt that the two men held at gunpoint couldn’t have found a moment to escape or to overpower Myers along their trip. The three men did not have a lot of character depth and could have used some better dialogue between the three of them.

However, the film looked good for the time it was filmed and the use of the Mexican scenery helped to create a positive environment.

I would have liked more (especially at the end of the film – need some falling action here), but what was here works for what it is.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

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DailyView: Day 352, Movie 500

Today’s movie achieved a major goal of the DailyView. I had set a goal to reach 500 movies watched during the 365-day DailyView. I had not made it an official goal, but, truthfully, I would have considered it a fail if I had not reached 500. However, that’s not an issue since #500 is Dog Day Afternoon.

Dog Day Afternoon was one of the classic films that I had never seen before and I have to say that it is fantastic.

Directed by Sidney Lumet, Dog Day Afternoon featured a spectacular performance by Al Pacino as bank robber Sonny Wortzik, who, along with his co-conspirator Sal Naturile (John Cazale), attempted to rob the First Brooklyn Savings Bank. Things go awry immediately and what should have been an easy plan turned into a long hostage situation.

Based on a true story, Dog Day Afternoon is filled with themes including the way the media portrays news, the reaction of the public to anti-heroes, LGBTQ + themes, family troubles, police resentment, the price of fame or infamy, and the heartbeat of New York City.

This is such an outlandish situation filled with real life moments. I loved the secondary characters among the hostages. They did not respond the way you would anticipate they would respond and, while none of them got real in-depth development, they were a fascinating group of people.

The film featured a surprising and tender relationship between Sonny and  Leon Shermer (Chris Sarandon) which had to be controversial in a film from the 1970s.

It was also a surprisingly funny movie. There were times that I thought it was going to veer into the realm of parody, however, it was the strength of the performances from Pacino and Charles Durning, as Sergeant Eugene Moretti that kept it from becoming a farce.

It was intriguing how the film turned the criminal Sonny into a character that you could root for. Honestly, the ending of the film made me kind of sad because of that. I do love the fact that we had a real fully developed character as the criminal and not just a bad vs. good situation. Sonny Wortzik and, to a lesser extent, Sal Naturile are complex characters that have a variety of motivations and mannerisms. I should like to shout out Sully Boyar as bank manager Mulvaney, who does a remarkable job in the film as well.

The film was thoroughly entertaining and filled with great performances from amazing characters. The conversation between Sonny and Leon was reportedly mostly ad-libbed and brought such a humanity to what could have been filled with stereotypes, but it was beautifully done.

Dog Day Afternoon was a wonderful film for #500.

Brick (2005)

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DailyView: Day 351, Movie 499

Today’s DailyView is Rian Johnson’s directorial debut. It was a film that I had never heard of, but I saw it mentioned by film critic William Bibbiani on Twitter as one of the better whodunits around. I like a good whodunit so I added it to my list and rented it on Vudu.

Brick is a neo-noir mystery film from 2005 that featured Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a high school student who discovered the body of Emily (LOST’s Emilie de Ravin), the girl he was in love with but who had broken up with him. Gordon-Levitt’s character, Brendan, decided that he would be the person to solve her murder, not the police, and so he hid her body and went about injecting himself into the world of drug running that had gotten her killed.

This film was well constructed and kept the viewer thinking about what had happened through the whole plot. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was excellent as Brendan, who took quite a beating as the film progressed. Laura (Nora Zehetner), tied to the drug runners, was becoming closer with Brendan, despite his doubt in her. Matt O’Leary played The Brain, the kid Brendan went to in order to figure out what he could. Lukas Haas played The Pin, the head of the drug runners in the school who Brendan tried to get in tight with. The Pin’s muscle, Tug (Noah Fleiss) reacted to most situations violently and attacked Brendan several times as Brendan continued to try and ingratiate himself into the Pin’s world.

All the performances were strong, but they were all anchored by Gordon-Levitt. He does a fantastic job of showing Brendan’s dedication to finding out who put Emily in the line of fire.

There was a great use of dialogue in the film and the writing was solid. I enjoyed seeing the noir based, for the most part, in the high school setting with high school students behind the issues. You could tell that Rian Johnson had that something special that would lead to success.