DailyView: Day 129, Movie 202

I chose Pan’s Labyrinth on Netflix to review today with the DailyView. Then, when I pulled it up, I realized that it was in Spanish and I would have to read the subtitles in order to watch it. I was not really in the mood to read my movie today so I was about to shut it off and look for something else. However, for some reason, I decided that I would go ahead and play Pan’s Labyrinth and read the subtitles after all.

Boy was that a great choice.

Pan’s Labyrinth, from director Guillermo del Toro, is a masterful fantasy movie that had all the elements of a fairy tale, but one made for adults. The film was graphically frightening at times, with some brutal violence to go along with the magical story.

Set in Spain during the last days of World War II, young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her pregnant and ailing mother Carmen  (Ariadna Gil) traveled to the post of Carmen’s new husband, the cruel Spanish captain Vidal (Sergi López), who was here to track down the rebels in the woods. Despite the dangers of traveling at this stage of her pregnancy, he wanted her to be with him before she gave birth to his son.

That night, a fairy approached Ofelia and led her to the faun Pan (Doug Jones), who told Ofelia that she was the daughter of the mystical realm’s king and that she needed to perform three dangerous missions if she wanted to take her place at her father’s side.

The film balances the beauty of the magical world and Ofelia’s efforts to perform her tasks with the the brutality and ugliness of the war and the cruelty of the Captain. While the fairy-tale world had a beauty, there was plenty of gross there too. It wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows. It was more like giant, slobbering toads and child killing trolls with eyeballs in his hands.

Maribel Verdú played the character of Mercedes, a woman whose brother was among the resistance as she worked inside Captain Vidal’s camp. Much of the secondary story with Mercedes was extremely compelling and kept the real world in full view as these magical moments were going on.

The character design is brilliant and beautiful. The film did win Academy Awards in the areas of Art Direction, Cinematography and Makeup, and you can see why. The look of Pan’s Labyrinth is amazing and really holds up in today’s world.

I am so glad that I did not shy away from this master class in storytelling because I had to read some subtitles. Pan’s Labyrinth is an unbelievable accomplishment for Guillermo del Toro and everyone involved in the project. If you haven’t seen it, do it. Es una obra maestra.

DailyView: Day 128, Movie 201

With the calendar flipping to September, the list of movies leaving HBO Max was refreshed and I can target some new films for the DailyView. The first one that I picked off the list is Single White Female. Probably did not make the best choice.

Allison Jones (Bridget Fonda) broke up with and kicked her lover Sam Rawson (Steven Weber) out of their apartment when she discovered that he had cheated on her with his ex-wife. She needed to find a roommate and Hedra Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) answered the ad. Hedra revealed that she was a twin, whose sister died at childbirth. She began to bond with Allison. When Allison and Sam decided to get back together, Hedra began to lose her shit.

This falls into the category of films such as The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Sleeping with the Enemy, River Wild, Double Jeopardy, The Intruder, and a bunch of Tyler Perry movies. Hedra comes in nice and loving, but she shows her real side as the film moves along. And the real side is crazy. Coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs.

This just becomes ridiculous. So many dumb things happen only to be obstructed by the implausible things. Honestly, as soon as Hedra turned her hair the same color and length as Allison, she would have been out on her ass.

There was nothing new here and nothing made sense. These people were all just horrible characters that are anything but real.

I feel like I am being too negative on this movie. Still, I think it deserves the vitriol. There are some good actors in Single White Female, but they do not seem to be doing much acting. It is over-the-top and silly.

DailyView: Day 127, Movie 200

Can’t sleep.

Tomorrow is also going to be very busy, packed full of things, including Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in IMAX. So I decided that since I am not succeeding in going to bed, I may as well use my time wisely and get the 200th movie done for the DailyView. That movie is the final two-reel short film for Charlie Chaplin, entitled Pay Day.

As for most of the other Chaplin films that I have watched during the DailyView, Chaplin wrote, directed and starred in the film. He composed the music, which is of huge important in the silent film.

Chaplin, in his typical Little Ramp garb is a laborer in a construction site. After getting paid, Chaplin keeps some of the money from his wife so he could go out drinking. He is able to return to his home just in time to act as if he had just woken up and to go to work.

Chaplin continued his mastery of the slapstick comedic form that he displayed in all of these movies. There is a joke with an elevator at the work site that is pure wonder.

Edna Purviance appeared once again as Chaplin’s regular co-star. Phyllis Allen played Chaplin’s wife.

These Chaplin films on HBO Max have been a godsend for me during the DailyView and, with just a few remaining ones left, I hope I can get by without them.

Now… off to be *fingers crossed*

DailyView: Day 126, Movie 199

Tom Selleck was a huge star in the 1980s, a huge TV star, that is. He tested for the role of Indiana Jones, but was locked in on his Magnum P.I. contract to take the role. Instead, he wound up taking this role in the 1984 sci-fi/action film Runaway. All’s well that ends well for Harrison Ford and the rest of us. Maybe not so much for Tom.

Kiss bassist Gene Simmons starred opposite Selleck as the villain of the piece. His name was Luther. There was not much to him either.

In a futuristic society where robots did most of the common house chores and mundane work, Jack Ramsay (Selleck) was a police officer who specialized in stopping robots that were runaways. One case found one of the robots was not a runaway, but had been tampered with to create a killer robot.

There really is not a ton of sci-fi elements to Runaway, outside of the weaponry used by Luther and the box robots that rolled around the set. Jack had a robot housekeeper called Lois, which was fun, very much like Alexa with wheels.

The film was surprisingly dull considering. There were a few moments of intrigue but most of it was just a cliched cop drama with a few toys.

Selleck’s new partner was Thompson, played by Cynthia Rhodes. Jack had a son named Bobby (Joey Cramer). The scenes between Selleck and Cramer were cute, but fairly simple in depth.

This is not much of a film, feeling longer than the 100 minute run time.

DailyView: Day 125, Movie 198

So I went to Starz tonight for the DailyView and pulled a film from the mid 1980s called Peggy Sue Got Married. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, of which I had no idea. It featured the acting skills of Nicolas Cage and Kathleen Turner, again, which I did not know. It was a time travel-type film. However, I have to say, I was not thrilled with the movie. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I disliked the movie.

Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) went with her daughter (Helen Hunt) to her high school reunion despite recently separating from her husband Charlie (Nic Cage), whom she had been with since high school. When she was announced as the queen of the reunion, she passed out. When she awoke, she was back in time, just before her 18th birthday with all her memories and the baggage that she had.

The performances were fine, but Nicolas Cage was using the strangest, most annoying voice and I did not understand why. It made me not care about his character.

Kathleen Turner was fine, but her character, Peggy Sue, was all over the place. I had a difficult time following the swings her character was taking. She was the most inconsistent character of the film. I never got an idea of what she wanted and her motives and desires were a total mishmash.

Some of the side characters are interesting, but underdeveloped. We get a short look at a young Jim Carrey, but his role is basically nothing. There is more to do for Barry Miller as Richard, as the only person Peggy Sue tells about the future. Not much else happens with this pairing. There is the inclusion in Kevin J. O’Connor as the mysterious Michael Fitzsimmons as a character that has zero reason for being included.

This was disappointing. Rotten Tomatoes score was high, but Peggy Sue Got Married was not for me.

DailyView: Day 124, Movie 197

I have said multiple times that I was never a fan of slasher movies so I rarely watched them when I was younger. So while I was aware of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series of films, I have actually seen very few. I have seen the original film and I have seen the Dream Warriors (Part 3). Tonight I put on A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge. The Rotten Tomatoes scores were pretty poor (critic 41%, audience 33%) and, because of that, my expectations were fairly low.

Freddy Krueger(Robert Englund) returned to Elm Street and possessed new student Jesse (Mark Patton) by haunting his dreams. Freddy looked to use Jesse to be his anchor in the real world and to continue Freddy’s reign of terror.

Okay, starting off, there was actually something among the premise of this movie that really worked. The idea of Freddy Krueger tormenting the dreams of a young man in order to take control of his physical form is quite interesting. The dynamics of the relationships and the potential for some deep character work is off the charts. There are some themes hidden here that are intriguing, but not developed enough.

Unfortunately, everything else here was below average to terrible. The acting was atrocious. What could have been a subtle and intense story of possession and mental illness was just over the top insanity and none of the actors invovled here were able to carry the potential of the premise.

Another issue was the dialogue. It was bad. It sounded like a middle school kid wrote it. The weakness of the acting and the dialogue was too much to get past.

The special effects were okay for a mid-1980s movie. Unfortunately, there were not enough scares connected to the special effects. In fact, there was one of the worst effects I think I have ever seen with an exploding parakeet. The falling feathers was laughable.

Freddy’s Revenge had a chance to be more than what it was. It was a chance that failed miserably.

DailyView: Day 123, Movie 196

The Suicide Squad of the sixties? The concept of the Suicide Squad is very much that of the war film that will be the DailyView for today, The Dirty Dozen.

A group of murdering and criminal soldiers, awaiting or serving their punishment in prison, are brought together to become a special forces unit during World War II with the promise that any who may survive would see a reduction in their sentence. Under the command of Major Reisman (Lee Marvin), the group of ragtag soldiers were trained and sent on a dangerous mission.

The Dirty Dozen has a huge ensemble cast. Including Lee Marvin, the film features Donald Sutherland, Telly Salavas, Ernest Borgninie, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Jim Brown, George Kennedy, Robert Ryan, Robert Webber, Clint Walker, Al Mancini, Ben Carruthers, and Richard Jaeckel.

We get a look at the main members of the group during the training, going from a group looking out for number one to a group of “we.” Still, the crew is filled with so many reprobates that you are never sure when their true natures may surface.

Telly Salavas, in particular, is one of the most off-balanced characters of the movie. Named Archer Maggott, he was a religious zealot from the South who had troubles with Jim Brown’s Robert Jefferson. Though never quite a part of the group, Maggott did enough to make you think he might be willing to work with the Dozen. His uncertainty keeps the action suspenseful.

Speaking of suspenseful, the final act is just filled with it. The raid on the German meeting is intense and dramatics, with plenty of twists and turns.

The Dirty Dozen is considered a classic of cinema and you can tell why. A stressful story, strong performances and exciting action caps a very entertaining movie.

DailyView: Day 122, Movie 195

This movie proves that, no matter how many times it happens, seeing someone getting struck in the groin is funny. Every time.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story was not a movie I expected to enjoy. I usually tie Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller into the group of comedians that I do not like (such as Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell etc.). However, I have like a few of Vaughn films during the DailyView, and Stiller has some that I like too (especially Mystery Men) so maybe I should not have categorized this film the way I did.

Dodgeball is a stupid movie. No way around it. But it was stupid funny. It is silly, fun, entertaining and downright ridiculous.

Yes, it is predictable. The story is pretty basic. There are a couple of things that happen that are stretching credibility remarkably thin. But the biggest rule in comedy movies is, it doesn’t matter how stupid a movie is, as long as it is funny. And this film is very funny.

It takes some time to develop this group of losers playing dodgeball to try and save their small, failing gym, Average Joe’s, from being taken over by the mega gym Globo Gym, run by White Goodman (Ben Stiller). The $50,000 prize money for the national dodgeball tournament would help save the day. It is just, the team fielded by Average Joe’s is les than inspiring.

There are some epic cameos in this movie, from William Shatner to Chuck Norris.

The cast is filled with some solid character actors including Justin Long, Alan Tudyk, Rip Torn, Stephen Root, Chris Williams, Gary Cole, Hank Azaria, Christine Taylor and Missi Pyle. The standout of them all was the Dodgeball tournament color commentator, Pepper Brooks, played with an amazing insanity by Jason Bateman.

The film is quickly paced at just over 90 minutes, but every minute is worthwhile. There is a post credit scene with Ben Stiller that can must be seen to be believed.

Likable characters and funny writing, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is a real surprise for me.

DailyView: Day 121, Movie 194

It is documentary day in the DailyView. This doc goes into specific about a group of childhood friends who wanted to and did film a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In 1981, two 11-year old kids, Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala, started to work on the remake of Raiders, which took them seven years to complete. The only thing was they never were able to complete the airplane scene. Thirty years later, they reunite to finish the scene.

The documentary is more effective as a story between three people (including Jayson Lamb) and the struggles and interactions of their lives while they were attempting to make this childhood dream come true. While the parts involving the shooting of the airplane scene was interesting, the real strength of the doc is the connections.

There are so many obstacles faced by this group not only as young kids, but also as adults.

Some of the footage was so amazing. Seeing them set people on fire in their childhood home’s basement is just one of the shocking moments of the film. Chris took some bad steps leading him to a life of drugs and a betrayal of Eric and the splitting apart of the kids. It told an unbelievable story of obsession and dedication slamming into each other.

John Rhys-Davies appeared and spoke during the documentary. Rhys-Davies played Sallah in two of the Indiana Jones movies and his presence here really brought a gravitas to the doc.

I also loved the end of the doc as it brought a huge amount of tension to the film. An issue with an exploding plane made this filled with anxiety.

The only criticism I would have is that I would have liked to have seen more of the footage that they had shot from their original film interwoven in the doc. However, the comments made by family members and friends really brought a great energy to the doc. I enjoyed this documentary.

DailyView: Day 120, Movie 193

I love Alfred Hitchcock. However, when I selected the 1936 film Sabotage on HBO Max tonight for the next entry in the DailyView, I was unaware that it was directed by the master. I had read the summary on the HBO Max page and thought it sounded interesting. I saw Hitchcock’s name in the opening credits and I was immediately excited. I have not seen a lot of Hitchcock in the DailyView and this would be a treat.

Apparently, Sabotage was the final film of Hitchcock’s British movies before he came over to the States. I also discovered that the film was released in the US under the name The Woman Alone, but was not as well known among Hitchcock’s films.

Karl Verloc (Oskar Homolka) managed a little cinema in London along with his wife (Sylvia Sidney) and her teenage brother Steve (Desmond Tester). However, Mr. Verloc had a secret… he was a member of a gang of foreign saboteurs using bombs to spread their terror in London. Scotland Yard Detective Sgt. Ted Spencer (John Loder) was assigned to find out what he could about Mr. Verloc. He befriended Mrs. Verloc and Steve in an attempt to discover the connection between her husband and the espionage happening in the area.

This is another example of why Hitchcock is the master of suspense as this film is filled with it. There are some amazing sequences that build up the suspense of what the audience thinks is happening and it really works well.

The suspense is especially tense during a sequence in the film on a bus. It was a very controversial scene and, reportedly, even Hitchcock himself was unsure about it. That scene, which I will not reveal because of spoilers, is perhaps the best in the film.

Performances are solid and you do feel for Mrs. Verloc throughout the film. She is so supportive of her husband and he is just a monster. There are some satisfying moments in the third act.

It is a quick watch and, though the first part of the movie is a bit slow, Sabotage really builds up to a powerful second and third act. You can see the traits of Hitchcock’s directorial style in the movie and, if you are a fan of the director, you want to search out this film.

DailyView: Day 119, Movie 192

I was really short on time tonight, so I knew that it was time for yet another trip back into the very early days of cinema to find Charlie Chaplin once again. However, we went really short this time.

Nice and Friendly was directed by Charlie Chaplin and has the bare bones of a story. According to IMDB, the film was made only as a wedding present for Lord and Lady Mountbatten. In the film, Lady Mountbatten had an expensive pearl necklace that a group of crooks were trying to steal. The Tramp was called in to stop them. He did so with a big hammer. The unconscious crooks were lined up on the lawn afterward, next to Boy (Jackie Coogan).

There really is no reason for this. As I was looking into the background on this, it sounds as if Chaplin most likely never thought this would be shown for the public. I’m sure he never dreamed that it would find a home on HBO Max streaming for the world to see. It is not very funny and Chaplin barely appears in the 11-minute short.

If you are a huge fan of Charlie Chaplin and you want to be completist, you can watch this. Otherwise, you should only watch it if you have a very limited amount of time available to fulfill a movie viewing challenge.