DailyView: Day 361, Movie 514

One of the films that has been on the DailyView to watch list since the very beginning, nearly a year ago, was Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. With just four days remaining in the DailyView, I finally pulled Apocalypto up on Amazon Prime.

What an epic this was.

The film took place during the Mayan civilization as we saw a peaceful tribe doing some hunting. Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) and the rest of his tribe were out hunting boar when they came across another tribe in the jungle. This new tribe did not seem problematic so they allowed them to pass through their jungle.

Later, back at their camp, the new tribe attacked them viciously, leading Jaguar Paw to hid his son and his pregnant wife Seven (Dalia Hernández) into a deep hole to hide them. Captured, Jaguar Paw and the other men are taken to a ceremony where several of them are sacrificed. Thankfully, a eclipse occurred just before Jaguar Paw was to be sacrificed and so they believed that the God had his fill of blood.

The remaining members of the tribe, including Jaguar Paw, were taken and allowed to try and escape into their jungle, but the warriors of this tribe shot at them with arrows and threw spears, killing almost them all. Jaguar Paw, injured, is able to turn the table on the warrior and make it to the jungle. The rest of the group followed him in a chase through the jungle that is just epic as can be.

The first part of this movie was fine, but once Jaguar Paw made it to the jungle and they began chasing him, this movie turned into a fantastic thrill ride. Yes, there were some iffy CGI (especially with the jaguar that showed up), but Jaguar Paw being chased and turning the tides on his pursuers was just totally thrilling.

There are some beautifully shot scenes and the imagery around the jungle is just fantastic. Mel Gibson has proven himself to be one of the best directors working today. Sure there are issues with Gibson as a person that may tend to lean towards troublesome, but there can not be any argument that he knows what he is doing behind the camera.

I am very pleased that I finally got to Apocalypto for the DailyView because it was a fully engaging and thrilling chase movie with historical aspects to it. This was not what I had expected when I started it, but it turned out to be an entertaining, albeit extremely violent, ride.

DailyView: Day 361, Movie 513

I have generally found Clint Eastwood directed films to be hit or miss. However, when they hit, they hit big time. That is the case with Changeling, the 2008 drama focused around a true story of the 1928 Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, the disappearance of the son of Christine Collins and the rampant police corruption in the LAPD at the time.

Angelina Jolie gives a stunning performance as Christine Collins, a woman whose son disappeared and was missing for six months. Then, the police discovered the boy and brought him back to his mother. The only problem was that once reunited Christine told the police that the boy was not her son, Walter. The police insisted that he was and that he’d been through trauma and that she just did not recognize the boy. She was in shock, they said. She took the boy home, but further physical traits supported her suspicion that this boy was not her son.

Christine approached Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) about her doubts, insisting that the boy was not Walter. Jones did not believe her and began to accuse her of being an unfit mother. Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich) picked up the story and began to support Christine, encouraging her to fight for justice. Christine went to the papers and, because of this, wound up being thrown into an insane asylum by the police.

This movie was excellent and does an amazing job of creating emotion among the viewer. It is not just sadness for the disappearance of Walter and Angelina Jolie’s stirring performance, but also the anger that it builds up over the behavior of the LAPD at the time and the use of the mental asylum to do its dirty work. The cruelty is unimaginable for people who are meant to help and aid others.

Jason Butler Harner was outstanding as well as Gordon Northcott, the man behind the Wineville Chicken Coop and the man who may have killed Walter. He played this man with an abandon and an almost carefree attitude that made him even more frightening. The young actors involved were also very solid. Eddie Alderson, who played Sanford Clark, the boy forced to help Gordon Northcott, Gattlin Griffith, who played Walter Collins, and Asher Axe, who played David, a boy who escaped from the chicken coop with Walter’s help.

The film was beautifully shot and used its time frame wonderfully to fully tell its story. It was 2 hours and 20 minutes long, but the film did not drag on at all, paced well. The final version of the film had plenty of amazing craft to it and it is one of the better directed films of Eastwood’s catalogue.

Changeling was an unbelievable story that was able to connect to the outrage of the time.

DailyView: Day 360, Movie 512

How did I miss this?

The Voices came out in the middle of the time when I was going to the movies all the time, and I have always enjoyed Ryan Reynolds. Heck, this was not too far before Deadpool. So how had I never even heard of this little dark horror/comedy gem?

Ryan Reynolds played Jerry, who worked at a bathtub factory. He seemed to have a sad little life, living alone with his pets Bosco the dog and Mr. Whiskers the cat. He was socially awkward and had trouble with making connections. He had to see his psychiatrist Dr. Warren (Jacki Weaver), who kept pushing him to take his medication. You get glimpses into what appeared to be a dark past from Jerry, but you really have no idea where the film is going to take him. Jerry feels like that withdrawn loser who can overcome his demons and adjust to the world.

Unfortunately, that is not exactly in the cards for Jerry. As he carried on conversations with his supportive dog and the cruel and wicked cat, Jerry found himself in situations where his darker nature took over.

The film also starred Anna Kendrick (who has quite a list of oddball films) and Gemma Arterton, as women that Jerry was interested in, Kendrick, in particular, had a really strong performance and you are really rooting for her to be able to make it through.

Ryan Reynolds is handed a character that was darker than anything he had done before, including Wade Wilson in Deadpool. The catastrophic circumstances of Jerry’s life was devastating for him and gave the audience a reason to continue to hope for the best for this tragic character. The flashbacks to his youth with an abusive father and a mentally ill mother are heartbreaking and truly frames the character of Jerry in a different manner than you would expect. Right up until the end, I was hoping for the best for Jerry.

It was a funny movie, but there were plenty of times where laughing just felt like the wrong response, yet laughter is what would happen. The voices of the two pets, provided by Reynolds, were perfect and capsulized the way dogs and cats are perceived.

The ending sequence is as batshit crazy as the rest of the film, putting me slightly on edge. Honestly, the song at the end made me feel plenty of feelings, including feeling a little disgusted for liking it.

This was a much deeper film than I thought it was going to be and the character of Jerry was deeply scarred and developed more effectively than you would think. It was funny and filled with great performances from a really strong cast. The Voices is a trip of a film.

DailyView: Day 359, Movie 511

Last night I had the pleasure of watching the new Nicolas Cage movie, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and I loved it. During that movie, Nicolas Cage stated that one of his all-time favorite movies, and one that he forced his on-screen daughter to watch, was The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was a 1920 silent German horror film directed by Robert Wiene.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, “At a carnival in Germany, Francis (Friedrich Feher) and his friend Alan (Rudolf Lettinger) encounter the crazed Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss). The men see Caligari showing off his somnambulist, Cesare (Conrad Veidt), a hypnotized man who the doctor claims can see into the future. Shockingly, Cesare then predicts Alan’s death, and by morning his chilling prophecy has come true — making Cesare the prime suspect. However, is Cesare guilty, or is the doctor controlling him?”

This silent movie has been considered an influential and beloved film for years. This was the first I had heard of it. It was an interesting film with a decent story. I found all of the characters to have solid performances, very expressive as needed.

I loved the style of the backgrounds. I know that it was because of the year this was recorded, but the minimalist backgrounds with its jagged corners and intriguing angles felt painted and attractive. It fit right in with the shade of the film.

This was fun, especially after the Nic Cage recommendation.

DailyView: Day 358, Movie 510

With the new Nic Cage film on the docket for the evening, I had to wake up early today for another live action short for the DailyView. Today, from the Dust studio, I found the sci-fi film Immortal.

Simple story. In an attempt to find a way to “cure” death, scientist Harper (Meredith Casey) has been carrying on secret experiments that were just beginning to head toward human experimentation. Then, she is discovered.

There is some good acting in the short. There were some really intense moments between Meredith Casey and Laura Coover.

It’s the classic “mad scientist” trope and it went just where I thought it might and ended with a huge cliffhanger, which leaves you with the question of what happens next.

A decent short that make me excited to do the Saturday Short Day that I planned for May.

DailyView: Day 357, Movie 509

It is 4/20. In honor of the day, I watched Pineapple Express.

I have never been a fan of stoner comedies so I have not watched many of them.

Pineapple Express starred Seth Rogan and James Franco. Rogan, while smoking the new marijuana called Pineapple Express , witnessed a murder involving a police officer(Rosie Perez) and a drug lord (Gary Cole). Going on the run from them, Rogan and Franco get involved in all kinds of chaos.

There were some funny bits in the movie, but this was very much a Seth Rogan movie. It was loud, people were all yelling at the same time so it was hard to listen to, and more annoying than entertaining.

The story was ridiculous, which I believe was part of the charm. The situations were over-the-top. There were some parts that were funny, but it really stretched credibility.

The crazy violence of the second half of the movie seemed fairly out of place to the buddy comedy from the first half.

Like most stoner movies, I am not a fan.

DailyView: Day 356, Movie 508

Tonight, I went with another horror movie on Cinemax at Amazon Prime for the DailyView, which broke into single digits of days remaining. This film was called The Quiet Ones that was released in 2014, directed by John Pogue and featuring Jared Harris, Olivia Cooke, and Sam Claflin.

The Quiet Ones was based loosely on the Phillip Experiment, which was a parapsychology experiment in 1972 in Toronto that tried to “determine whether subjects can communicate with fictionalized ghosts through expectations of human will.” (Wikipedia).

The Quiet Ones is a mixture of a typical possession film and a found footage sub-genre film.

According to IMDB: “Jane Harper (Olivia Cooke) is a deeply troubled girl possessed of an all-consuming blackness, and Professor Joseph Coupland (Jared Harris) has a particularly unconventional plan for getting the darkness out of her. Summoning his top students to a secluded estate on the outskirts of London, Professor Coupland proposes that they attempt to manifest the malevolent energy in Jane. What the brilliant instructor and his ambitious students discover when they attempt to do so, however, is a horror so unrelentingly baleful and powerful that it may destroy them all before they even realize what a terrible mistake they’ve made“

There may have been a great horror movie inside this. Unfortunately, this was too disjointed and muddled to be effective. There were some decent scenes in the film and the acting was solid. I thought the story had a decent through line, but it required some rework. The story was very familiar with the beats, plenty of horror tropes that burden down the story.

For a movie called The Quiet Ones, there was certainly a lot of screaming. I have ot say that in the third act, Sam Claflin was way too out of control and it made him less enjoyable. The final effects were questionable too.

I have seen worse horror films, but this one is unremarkable in many ways. It had some interesting ideas, but the execution was just not quality.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.