DailyView: Day 262, Movie 367

A Kind of Murder is a 2016 psychological thriller with some noir tendencies with an interesting performance from Patrick Wilson. After that, there is not a whole lot remaining.

Patrick Wilson played architect Walter Stackhouse, who wrote stories on the side. He was fascinated by the idea of murder and he collected clipping of killing from the paper. When bookshop owner Marty Kimmel (Eddie Marsan) has his wife murdered and the police suspected him, Stackhouse was intrigued. He approached Kimmel to see what he could see.

When Stackhouse’s wife Clara (Jennifer Biel) wound up dead after several suicide attempts, the police were suspicious of Stackhouse, especially when he would lie about seemingly anything.

Detective Corby (Vincent Kartheiser) was convinced that Stackhouse was a copycat killer to Kimmel and that they both had killed their wives. He was determined to prove his theories true.

The film had a nice visual component to it. It looked great and the tone of the film was benefitted by the look of the film.

One of the issues was that the characters were not well developed, outside of Stackhouse (and that was mostly because of the performance of Wilson). There was a whole adultery angle involving Stackhouse and a singer named Ellie (Haley Bennett) which was of no consequence. We saw Clara had mental illness, but we did not go into any details on it or let it become a key component for the story. It was just a reason why Stackhouse was unhappy.

We knew almost nothing about Kimmel. He felt like a creepy little guy, but other than that surface level, we do not see anything from him. Detective Corby was nothing more than a stubborn cop who was sure he was right.

The film was not a terrible watch, but it was far from good. I did not hate watching it and there were some technical aspects of A Kind of Murder (dumb title too, by the way) that were positive. Overall though, this was not a standout.

DailyView: Day 261, Movie 366

This was a film that I found on Netflix and has been on my queue for a few weeks. It sounded intriguing and I had never heard about it back in 2017 which is strange since I was watching a ton of movies at the time. 1922 was an adaptation of a Stephen King novella featuring Thomas Jane, Molly Parker and Neal McDonough.

To prevent his wife Arlette (Molly Parker) from selling the land she had been given by her father and taking their son Henry (Dylan Schmid) away, farmer Wilfred James (Thomas Jane) conspired with his son to murder her. After they buried her in a well on the farm, strange things begin to happen. Is the land cursed?

1922 was an excellent film with some amazing tone. There is a grubby, down and dirty feel to the film that really worked well with the story that was being told. The use of the rats in the film was simply unnerving and kept me on edge. I would not define this as a horror movie, per se, but it has the tension and anxiousness that many top horror flicks do have.

There are plenty of great looking shots on this small farm, through the corn field and the cinematography was beautiful.

Thomas Jane is outstanding in the role of Wilfred James. He seems so unlikable at first, but Jane does such a strong job in his performance that you can’t help but feel for him as so many things start to go wrong for him.

This was a well done, but kind of uneasy film to watch. I enjoyed the tense storytelling and the characterizations of the different actors.

DailyView: Day 260, Movie 365

With the new Scream out tonight, it was time to bring up another short from the past of cinema to fill the DailyView and today we find a Laurel and Hardy short on YouTube called Unaccustomed As We Are.

The set up was simple. Oliver Hardy brought Stan Laurel back to his apartment with the promise that his wife (Mae Busch) would cook Stan a wonderful steak dinner (with nuts). However, when they arrived, Mrs. Hardy was anything but cooperative, tired of Oliver pulling this surprise on her all the time.

Mrs. hardy left Oliver, so he decided that he would cook the dinner himself, leading to all sorts of hilarities.

They tossed in a misunderstanding with the neighbors as well to add to the slapstick fun.

This was Laurel & Hardy’s first “talkie” film and it used several techniques of the medium that would become staples. Across the hall, Mr. Kennedy (Edgar Kennedy) was getting smashed by his wife, Mrs. Kennedy (Thelma Todd) and all we heard was the crashing and the breaking of objects, something that they could not have done in the silent films that preceded it.

This was a simple short and it was entertaining. Their work would become stronger over the years, but this is solid for what it was.

DailyView: Day 259, Movie 364

Today’s DailyView is on Netflix and it is a Jack Black biographical comedy film about a Polish-American polka band, led by a man named Jan Lewan. Jan Lewan was the head of a polka band and was arrested for running a Ponzi scheme that cheated seniors out of their money.

Jan Lewan was struggling to be successful with his store while pursuing his love of performing polka. When he started to take “investments”, according to the film, he did not realize what he was doing was illegal. When approached by Ron Edwards (J.B. Smoove), an officer for the SEC, Jan discovered the hole that he had found himself in. With a deadline of three days to return all the money to his investors, Jan, instead, doubled down on the scam and conned his way out of trouble.

When Jan’s wife, Marla (Jenny Slate), wanted to enter the Mrs. Pennsylvania Beauty Pageant, Jan made the victory happen. When the truth came out, the scandal frightened Jan’s investors and the light began to shine on Jan’s crooked plan.

Jack Black is fantastic as Jan Lewan. He played the Polka King with such a warmth and kindness that , despite the fact that we could see the criminal aspect of what he was doing, you couldn’t help but root for him.

One of the best parts of the film is the performance of Jacki Weaver as Barb, the mother of Marla. She had an adversarial relationship with Jan and was having an affair with Jan’s friend and band member Mickey Pizzazz (Jason Schwartzman). Weaver was hilarious in her anger and frustration with the Polka King.

The polka music was fun as Jack Black sang the songs. The polka music made the whole film feel surreal.

The film was entertaining and worth a watch on Netflix.

DailyView: Day 258, Movie 363

When I was looking for a movie to watch to honor Sidney Poitier after his passing away, I wound up watching To Sir, with Love II. This was the film I should have watched.

Lilies of the Fields, in which Sidney Poitier won an Oscar (the first African American to win an Academy Award), is such a charming, funny, engaging film and I was not expecting it to so entertaining. I laughed more in this than I did in Dirty Work yesterday.

Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier) was heading out West when he stopped at a farm for some water for his overheating car. The farm was run by a group of East European Catholic nuns, led by the strict Mother Maria (Lilia Skala) and they believed that he was sent by God to help them build a chapel.

The clash of personalities between Poitier and Skala is one of the best parts of the film. Both are stubborn and they work tremendously well together.

The score of the movie was outstanding too. I loved the soundtrack to so many of the moments of the scenes. There is a great scene where Poitier and the nuns sing “Amen” and it was completely wonderful.

The film is shot in black and white and it really fits with the feel of the film.

I enjoyed this way more than I ever expected that I would. I can see why Sidney Poitier received an Oscar for his work. I watched this with a smile on my face the entire time. It was great.

DailyView: Day 257, Movie 362

Yesterday we lost Bob Saget, former star of Full House and America’s Funniest Home Videos. It was an unexpected blow after a tough few weeks. Bob Saget was a beloved comedian and comedic actors around.

So, in honor, I found a film that was directed by Bob Saget for the DailyView today. It also starred the recently departed Norm McDonald. It was called Dirty Work.

Unfortunately, this was not a great example of Bob Saget’s humor or quality work, because this wa absolutely horrible.

I feel bad that I picked this film to commemorate the life of Bob Saget. I should have kept looking.

Mitch (Norm McDonald) and Sam (Artie Lange) are close friends, but when Sam’s father Pops (Jack Warden) needs a heart transplant and the crooked doctor (Chevy Chase) said he could get a heart for $50,000, Mitch and Sam start their own business of revenge.

Norm McDonald is a great comedian. He is not a great actor. In fact, he is really a poor actor. I don’t want to pile on here.

The story was lame. There was almost no humor. I may have snickered once or twice.

This was also the final movie appearance by Chris Farley. RIP.

I guess the moral of the story is, if you want to honor Bob Saget, go watch some Full House episodes.

DailyView: Day 256, Movie 361

Heading over to Disney + for the day, I watched The Sign of Zorro, a film from 1958 that was actually an edited version of an eight episode TV program about the outlaw Zorro.

Starring Guy Williams as Don Diego de la Vega, the mysteriously masked Zorro, this film had several storylines weaving the way through, including an imposter Zorro, the fight for honorable justice and an attempt to keep the identity of Zorro secret.

Britt Lomond played the crooked commandant Capitán Monastario, whose power hungry nature placed him in situations where he would do what was best for himself no matter what and this put him on the opposite end of Zorro’s blade.

There was a lot of fun in this black and white thriller, with plenty of swordplay and some fancy horse riding action.

The humor was fine. Most of the acting was passable. Diego’s loyal servant Bernardo (Gene Sheldon) interestingly enough was mute in the show and he decided to pretend to be deaf as well. I wonder what the purpose was to have Bernardo to be mute. I had never seen that version of the character before, but my familiarity with Zorro is limited.

The Sign of Zorro was a lot of fun and presented a hero who lived up to the name.

DailyView: Day 256, Movie 360

Two all-time greats are together on stage for a variety show for Netflix and the result is a lot of laughs and some fun music. Steve Martin & Martin Short are longtime friends and it certainly comes through in this show on the streaming service.

They go from doing stand up comedy slamming each other (lovingly, of course) to individual moments on stage for each to banjo playing, a “ventriloquist” act with Jiminy Glick, to a duet with a backing band, Martin and Short really bring plenty to the show.

It is a quick show too. Honestly, it was over before I knew it. Even with the encore that was “required” by a guy from Netflix, the show zipped through rapidly.

Some of the best moments of the show were when Martin and Short were just telling stories about their lives and their past. Steve Martin meeting Elvis, Martin Short meeting Sinatra among other show how much funnier real life can be over scripted material at times.

Martin Short and his marionette legs was really funny. There was a pianist taking several daggers from the pair as well, as good of a sport as one could expect.

This was fun and enjoyable for the short time that it took to watch. It is currently on Netflix if you like either of these two comedic men.

DailyView: Day 256, Movie 359

American Factory was a documentary on Netflix from 2019 that wound up winning an Academy Award for best documentary at the Oscars. I think one of the big reasons why this doc received such accolades was the fact that this was the first film acquired by Barack and Michelle Obama’s new production company, Higher Ground Productions. Of course, it was also because it was a well told story filled with a ton of drama and compelling stories.

American Factory told the stories of the workers of a Chinese glasswork plant called Fuyao, that had relocated outside of Dayton, Ohio, with plenty of promises of better jobs and chance to create a cultural connection with another arm of workers. Both American workers and Chinese workers were hired for positions within the company and the doc spent a good deal of time emphasizing the differences between the culture and the work ethics of the two group of workers. It was intriguing to hear what the Chinese workers thought of their American counterparts, who approached the job in a much different manner.

The doc was directed by Julie Reichert and Steven Bognar was also able to highlight the conflict between workers and their bosses, and followed the attempt to unionize the plant as well as the efforts to keep the union from gaining a foothold inside Fuyao.

There some fascinating film of a trip by the American bosses to the plant in China. It included a New Year’s Eve party thrown by the company that included singing and dancing, as well as weddings. It was an amazing cultural example of how differently we approached these events.

One of the best parts of the doc was that the stories were all balanced out. They did not favor one over the others. The documentarians provided the images and the narrative and allowed it to speak for itself.

DailyView: Day 256, Movie 358

Bruce Campbell is a national treasure…

But what the hell did I watch?

Bruce Campbell made his directorial debut with 2005’s Man with the Screaming Brain, which he also starred and I found on Amazon Prime this morning.

William Cole (Bruce Campbell) and his wife Jackie (Antoinette Byron) came to Bulgaria on business. William hired himself a taxi driver Yegor Stragov (Vladimir Kolev) as a guide. This led to both William and Yegor being killed by hotel maid and gypsy, Tatoya (Tamara Gorski). Crazed scientist Dr. Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov (Stacy Keach) tried out his new scientific discovery by combining part of Yegor’s brain into the body of William. Yegor was able to control part of William’s body and somehow talk to him.

Holy cow. This was terrible. The only positive is that it was supposed to be terrible. It was designed to be a horribly stupid movie. I’m not sure if that is a benefit for the film, that it was going for stupid and it achieved it. Is that a positive?

There were some ridiculously funny moments, such as Jackie being thrown down the steps that had to be done for laughs. There is no way it was meant to be serious.

Bruce Campbell is still an amazing performer, being able to play this silly situation straight. No other actor could have pulled this role off.

This was stupid as could be, but I was somewhat entertained.

DailyView: Day 255, Movie 357

Whoa, I have to say that I am shaken.

Incident in a Ghostland is a horror/thriller currently on Netflix that is tense and taut throughout the entire film and left me feeling unsettled unlike too many films have.

A family is moving to the home of their Aunt Clarisse, who has recently died. Colleen (Mylène Farmer) and her two daughters Beth (Emilia Jones) and Vera (Taylor Hickson) had an incident on the highway with a candy truck, which was odd, but did not set off any concerns at the time.

Later at the weird old house, the candy truck returned and the Fat Man (Rob Archer) and the Candy Truck Woman (Kevin Power) invaded the house and tried to abduct the family, but Colleen fought off the pair, desperately trying to save her daughters.

Flash forward 16 years, Beth has written a successful book about the night in question, but a horrifying phone call from Vera brings her back to the house for more horror.

There were two moments in this that I will not spoil, but that caught me off-guard. I enjoy when something happens in a film, particularly a horror movie, that I do not see coming. That helped out the fairly simple remainder of the film quite a bit.

The film is exceedingly violent and filled with unnerving moments and situations. There are several moments where the film bordered on torture porn. I usually am not a huge fan of that type of horror but I was engaged with this story, the two girls especially. I found myself rooting hard for Beth and Vera and yelling suggestions to the screen, wishing that Beth could hear me.

Emilia Jones, who is brilliant in 2021’s CODA, does a tremendous job here too. She was the standout of the cast. Admittedly, the villains are just monstrous creations that have no reason for their actions. There are people like that, unfortunately, and while I prefer villains that I can understand, some times you just need monsters to fight.

I found this film to be filled with anxiety and a lot of unsettling fun to watch. If you are a horror fan and you do not overwhelm easily, you may want to check this one out.

DailyView: Day 255, Movie 356

One of my favorite childhood books was the beautifully illustrated Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, but when I discovered that it was being adapted into a full fledged live action feature film, I was not too excited. It was a weird thought to adapted a short picture book into a full length movie. Then, in my memory, I had heard some negative word of mouth about it, so I did not go to see it.

Since it was on HBO Max, I thought I would watch it as part of the DailyView, which was when I discovered that the Rotten Tomatoes rating was at 73%, considerably higher than I thought it would be. I also learned that it made several people’s best films list that year.

Now that I have watched it, I can see both sides to this. I have some problems.

Max (Max Records) was a troubled, lonely and problem-making pre-teen. He lost control of his behavior several times, sending him into a violent spiral. destroying property and physically acting out. He seemed to regret his actions when he would settle down, but his life appeared to be quite sad.

When, one night, when his mom (Catherine Keener) had a guest (Mark Ruffalo) over for dinner, Max flipped out totally and wound up biting her on her shoulder. Max took off out of the house and ran away. He found himself by the edge of water with a boat that he climbed in and sailed into the sea.

After several days of voyage, he found himself on an island where giant creatures lived. To prevent these creature from eating him, Max told them that he was a king, and they adopted him into their group as a king.

Carol (James Gandolfini) was one of the biggest supporters of Max among the creatures, but he was sad because of the absence of KW (Lauren Ambrose), one of the group’s members.

Directed by Spike Jonze, the one thing you have to get through your mind is that this is not a children’s movie, despite it being based on a beloved children’s picture book and told from the POV of a child. This is a movie about childhood and the troubles faced by a child.

The film was very dour and depressing through most of the run time and the time in the land of Wild Things was not what i would have thought it would be. Even when something fun was happening, it was tempered by the fact that it was terribly dangerous or that someone was going to be hurt because of it. There was not the amount of joy that I thought would be.

The visuals of the creatures were fantastic and there were so many beautiful shots, but the entire film felt darker than I expected, in tone and in visual. Again, not that it was a bad thing, but it was just unexpected. When you realize that this is not for kids, it makes more sense in the overall plan.

This was better than I thought it was going to be, yet I am not sure if I agreed with some of the choices of the filmmaking.

DailyView: Day 254, Movie 355

Over the last couple of days, we lost a couple of legends, director Peter Bogdanovich, and Oscar winning actor Sidney Poitier. As I was looking at some of the Sidney Poitier movies to use for the DailyView today, I found this TV movie that Poitier starred and was directed by Peter Bogdanovich.

I have not seen the classic original from the 1960s, which sounds like it is very similar to this film. Thankfully, I do not think that I had to watch the first film to watch this sequel. They give us enough of a background for the character for me to understand his motivation.

This film is a part of the “teacher in a tough classroom” genre. Sidney Poitier comes into this Chicago classroom where we have the typical rough students with problems, and Poitier comes in with his respect and his bad ass dedication that wins them over.

I have seen this story many times. Still, it showed the power that a teacher can hold, although it maybe a bit of a stretch for everything working out as it did.

Sidney Poitier was always so great and he was just as great here too. He had a presence on screen that was unmatched by most. Most of the kids were okay, at best.

I did not like Daniel J. Travanti as the principal. He felt like a weak character. They tried to make him connected to Poitier, but I did not buy it. He brought him in to the classroom and then immediately started questioning it. Then, firing him as he did was pretty unrealistic. Principals do not do the firing, that is a school board responsibility.

As I said, I do feel that everything wrapped up neatly and it felt as if the students came around easily to what Poitier was doing.

The movie was well directed and acted from our two recent RIPs. The world is a lesser place without these two talented individuals.