DailyView: Day 217, Movie 304

As the calendar changes over to December, the DailyView will be doing some selected holiday flicks during the month. I do not expect that we will watch as many Christmas movies in December as I did horror movies during October, but I will be doing some. The first one is today on Disney +. It was a film that I was going to do last week, but I pushed it back until December. It was A Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa.

The Muppet Christmas Carol is perhaps my favorite Christmas movie of all time. I absolutely love that film and I watch it every Christmastime. So, when this popped up on Disney +, I was intrigued. I had never heard of this film, which felt like a made-for-TV special. Even still, I usually see a new Muppet project, so I was surprised when this showed up.

It is about what you would expect from a Muppet film. The typical group of Muppets, led by Kermit the Frog, had to go on a mission to help deliver a letter to Santa Claus after a mess up at the post office prevented Gonzo from mailing the letter as he promised he would do.

Of course, there are songs. These were, once again, written by Paul Williams, who wrote the classic songs from The Muppet Movie, including Rainbow Connection. Williams was also in the movie in a cameo role.

Cameos were a huge part of any Muppet film, and this had its share too. Whoopi Goldberg, NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Nathan Lane, Jane Krakowski, Richard Griffiths, Tony Sirico, Steven Schirripa, and Jesse L. Martin (from Flash and Rent) all had roles in the movie.

The story does seem to be rushed and could have been stretched out to allow some of the emotional beats to hit more than it does. Still, you can’t ask for much more than the Muppets at Christmas.

DailyView: Day 216, Movie 303

Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of my lifetime. Of any lifetime, actually. He is a master at his trade. Spielberg is capable of turning any genre into a classic film. Science fiction? Adventure? Horror? Thrillers? He can do it all.

Back in 2005, Spielberg directed a film that wound up being nominated for several Oscars and yet it was one of the few Spielberg films that is criminally underrated. If you were listing off Spielberg movies, how long would it take you to reach Munich?

Munich is a historical thriller that tells the story of a group of assassins organized by the Israeli government to track down and kill the 11 terrorists from the Palestinian organization Black September responsible for the horrific events during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics where members of the Israeli Olympic team were murdered.

Although the Israeli government denied their connection, Avner Kaufman (Eric Bana) led the group of four Jewish men with specific skills in the attacks on the terrorists. However, the group had reservations about exactly what they were doing with arguments among each other between missions.

Daniel Craig played Steve, a South African driver. Mathieu Kassovitz played Robert, the toy maker who was also a bomb expert. Ciarán Hinds played Carl, the former Israeli solder and ‘cleaner’. Hanns Zischler played Hans, the forger. Geoffrey Rush was in Munich as well as the go between with the team and the Israeli government.

There are some tense moments in Munich and the last act of the film was truly the best part. Seeing how the events that occurred and the knowledge of what the group had done burrowed into the mind of these characters is fascinating. Eric Bana does exceptional work. I have never been a huge fan of Bana, but this is easily one of my favorite performances of his.

I did think Munich a a tad long and could have used with some fewer moments in the first two acts, but that third act pay off is very strong.

This is based on a book Vengeance by George Jonah, who recounted the Israeli Operation Act of God in retaliation of the events in the Munich Olympic Games. There have been some questions raised about the authenticity of the book in historical accuracy, but that does not mean anything. This is not a documentary and total accuracy of the events is not a requirement.

Spielberg continued to show his directorial skills that cross so many genres. Munich is another example of his talent that simply can not be denied. He is one of the greatest directors in movie history.

DailyView: Day 215, Movie 302

I enjoyed the animated Disney film, Atlantis: The Lost Empire very much. It was an underappreciate Disney classic featuring the voice work of Michael J. Fox. So when I came across a sequel of the movie while scanning through Disney +, I was excited to watch it. Sadly, this does not come anywhere near as much fun as the original film.

In fact, this is one of those Disney straight-to-DVD films like The Return of Jafar and Simba’s Pride, and, sadly, the quality is at about that level.

You can tell that some of this was meant to come from an animated series that had been scrapped when the original Atlantis movie was less than successful. This feels like something that should appear on one of the Disney networks instead of the movie theater.

There are three basic segments in this movie that are weaved together with some transitional animation. The segments were “Kraken”, “Spirit of the West” and “Spear of Destiny”. One a battle with a sea monster, one in an old west confrontation and then an appearance of Odin, of a sort.

Quite the disappointment with this film. I was hoping for so much more with these characters.

DailyView: Day 214, Movie 301

This is flippin’ insane.

And I loved every second of it.

Yes, we have seen the crazy killer toy that comes to life and kills everyone, but we have never seen one as insanely funny as Benny Loves You.

Benny Loves You played the hilarity over the horror and what we get is an hour and a half of pure ridiculousness that is a joy to watch.

Jack (Karl Holt) was a loser, who worked as a failed toy designer. When his parents died accidentally on Jack’s 35th birthday, his life took a turn. He attempted to reorganize and renew his life path, which begun by throwing out all of his things from his childhood… including his favorite stuffed bear, Benny.

Mistake.

Benny immediately came to life and begun killing people in Jack’s life who was giving him trouble or that he could care about, all because, as the bear would say, “Benny loves you.” It became a slaughterhouse, leading Jack to try and manage the people Benny killed.

To complicate matters more, Jack began to fall for a co-worker, Dawn (Claire Cartwright), which gave Benny a new target and a new motivation: jealousy.

This was one of the goriest films I have seen in a long time, and every moment filled me with laughter and happiness. It’s not often that you see a stuffed toy present the heart of someone he just murdered to his friend as a present, but that happened here. There were more intestines in this movie than I have ever seen before.

Whereas Chuckie or Annabelle are played for fright and scares, Benny Loves You is a straight up British comedy and works so well as one. The story is simple. We do not spend time trying to discover a deeper meaning behind how this happened (although we do visit another instance where a toy that has been discarded returned to kill this bratty little girl).

The way Benny moves is just hilarious. He sort of bounds back and forth, as you might expect a stuffed bear might do. The character design is fantastic. There is nothing sinister about benny, until there is.

I enjoyed this movie a ton. It made me laugh and grossed me out at the same time, a true feat.

DailyView: Day 213, Movie 300

On the 213th day of the DailyView, we have hit movie number 300. When I started back in April of this year, I did not expect to have watched this all the way till now and I did not expect to come anywhere near 300 movies. This DailyView has been something that I have been quite proud of and it has been challenging.

Thank goodness for HBO Max, which has been one of the best of the streaming services for available movies that I have not seen. Number 300 is on that site as well. It was a film dealing with a topic that I loved growing up, the Loch Ness Monster. I was always one of those kids who believed in and read about Nessie, Bigfoot, yetis, UFOs and other strange phenomenon. So this film appealed to me when I found it on HBO Max. It had been on my queue for a few weeks, but this fit into the schedule today.

Young Angus (Alex Etel), whose father was killed fighting in World War II on a boat that was sunk, lived with his family on the shores of Loch Ness. One day, he discovered an egg around the loch and he took it with him home. The egg hatched and there was a strange creature inside, a creature that Angus had never seen before.

Handyman Lewis Mowbray (Ben Chaplin) just started working for Angus’s mother Anne (Emily Watson) when he came across Angus trying to hide the creature. Lewis told Angus that he believed the beast was a water horse, a mythical Scottish creature and there is only one that can exist at a time.

Soldiers from the British army, led by Captain Hamilton (David Morrissey), take up residence in the castle where Anne and her family maintain, and begin to cause trouble. The dog of one of the soldiers started chasing the water horse, named Crusoe by Angus, which led Angus and Lewis to release the creature into the loch.

The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep is an enjoyable family film that takes your typical boy and his pet story and infuses it with humor, some drama, and a lot of heartfelt moments. Alex Etel does a good job leading the film and carrying on the relationship with the giant CGI creature. Never easy for an actor, Etel is very believable and covers the emotional beats well.

The rest of the cast is fine. I’m not sure why Captain Hamilton made such a swap midway through the film. He started off as a horrible character, but changed as the story progressed.

The CGI was decent. It may not match up with today’s level of quality, but for 2007, there was nothing that really stood out as terrible. Again, it is important for the character of Crusoe to be believable or else no one would buy into the story.

The story of Angus is told to a young couple by Brian Cox and this way of setting up a story works very well, and this time the trope benefits from the skill of Cox as an actor.

While it may be predictable at times, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep is a fun family film that is full of adventure and heart.

DailyView: Day 212, Movie 299

Earlier today I was watching the live version of the Top 10 Show with Matt Knost and John Rocha. I rarely get a chance to see them live since I am normally in class, but since this was Black Friday, I was at home and I took advantage of the opportunity. The topic this week was Top 10 Songs from Movies, which is a ginormous topic. However, one song that they had in common near the top of their lists, was the song Lose Yourself, by Eminem. This made me remember that 8 Mile was on my list for the DailyView.

I am not a fan of rap music, but I do like Lose Yourself, so I found 8 Mile on HBO Max and watched it. I must say that Eminem was impressive in his big screen debut, even if he was basically playing himself. There was plenty of speculation that the film was heavily biographic with Eminem’s youth growing up on the streets of Detroit, but that does not take away from a powerful performance in his first major role.

Jimmy Smith (Eminem), nicknamed B-Rabbit, is trying to get through life and hoping to get a break as a rapper. He had to move back in with his alcoholic mother (Kim Basinger) and his sister Lily (Chloe Greenfield) when he was struggling to keep a job.

Things got worse when he froze during a battle rap competition creating all sorts of conflict for the young white rapper.

The film continued to toss these conflicts at B-Rabbit as it builds toward him returning to the battle rap stage to show what he was capable of doing.

The story was stitched together with several scenes that felt connected slightly. Still, each moment showed something of the character of B-Rabbit and the friends that he hung around with.

The film included performances from Anthony Mackie, Michael Shannon, Brittany Murphy, Omar Benson Miller, Proof, Mekhi Phifer, Taryn Manning and De’Angelo Wilson.

The battle rap at the end of the film was excellent and highlighted their skills at the rap.

8 Mile was an enjoyable film and I liked it even despite not being a fan of rap.

DailyView: Day 211, Movie 298

This was my second Beatles inspired DailyView today in honor of the new Disney + documentary by Peter Jackson, The Beatles: Get Back (which was tremendous). Unfortunately, neither of the DailyView entries were up to par.

That certainly goes for teh Beatles juke box musical, Across the Universe.

When Jude (Jim Sturgess) left Liverpool to travel to America in search of his absent father, he met the rambunctious Max (Joe Anderson) and his lovely sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). The trio were carefree and happily singing Beatles songs, until Max is drafted to head to the Vietnam War.

There are many problems with this musical, but the music is not one of them. The Beatles songs are great and if you just listen to them, you might enjoy yourself. Of course, if you just listen to them, you may as well play the CD instead.

So much of the plot and a bunch of characters are involved here simply to get Beatles songs into the film. Many of them make no sense in the overall story of the movie and are there just to say they are there. Bono of U2 showed up just to sing The Benefit of Mr. Kite. I believe that is the total of his appearance.

Characters are introduced with names that tell you they are going to have a song around them. There was a Prudence (T.V. Carpio), Lucy, Jude and JoJo (Martin Luther).

If this was intended as simply an extended music video with the different Beatles songs, I could deal with it. However, they are pretending that this is a feature film and that should have some kind of compelling… or at least understandable story. Across the Universe does not. Across the Universe tries to tie all of the 1960s unrest and major events with Beatles songs when they should have tied them to a story.

DailyView: Day 211, Movie 297

I am preparing to watch the first installment of the new Beatles documentary from Peter Jackson on Disney +, Beatles: Get Back. It looks to be an epic doc, with the first installment clocking in at over 2 and a half hours. I am saving that for after lunch today, so to prep for the show, I looked for something Beatles for the DailyView today. Time wise, Across the Universe did not fit (maybe tonight), but I found another documentary on Amazon Prime called The Beatles: Up Close and Personal that fit much better into the schedule.

Sadly, I did not enjoy this documentary very much.

Make no mistake, there are some great uses of the Beatles’ classic music. That was easily the best part of the doc.

However, the rest of the doc just felt like it was stories that were being told by the hangers-on.

Pete Best, one of the original drummers with the Beatles before being replaced with Ringo Starr, did a lot of the heavy lifting on the storytelling, and his constant reference to him being a Beatle felt wrong. He used a lot of “we” and “us” in the tales, and the doc does not seem to realize that Pete Best was not in any of the clips of the Beatles playing because he was out of the band by then.

The most interesting part of the doc was retelling about when Pete Best was released from the Beatles.

This felt like a group of people desperately trying to cash in on the success of the Beatles. It is reportedly unauthorized. I sure hope Get Back is better than this one.

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.

DailyView: Day 204, Movie 290

Sherlock Holmes is called in to help the war effort of World War II in Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, one of the classic Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series of films from the 1940s, the first produced by Universal Pictures.

Nazis always make great villains, and it was a real life concern at the time of this movie’s release. The Voice of Terror was the name of a broadcast sent over the radio broadcast, claiming responsibilities for acts of terror being perpetrated by Third Reich saboteurs against Britain.

In desperation, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and his trusty doctor sidekick Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) were called in by the “Inner Circle” in an attempt to do something about the broadcasts.

As with all of these Sherlock Holmes films, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are solid in their roles and provide an excellent pair. This film moves Holmes and Watson ahead in time, into more of a present day situation of the 1940s instead of the late 19th century/early 20th century as it had been before.

These have all been solid and fun so far.