What have you watched recently? 3D!

Rain Man – 9/10

Where has this film been all my life? I’m a sucker for a brotherly love story and this is one of the best I’ve seen. It’s depiction of the mentally challenged may be somewhat antiquated, but it has charm in spades and two remarkable high calibre performances from Hoffman and Cruise. 

Hoffman quite rightly steals the limelight and gets most of the plaudits, but (after being underwhelmed by him in Risky Business) it was Cruise that impressed me the most here. He expertly rides the line of being an irredeemable arsehole, but leaving just enough room to later become sympathetic. Him gradually realising that the bond with his long-lost brother is exactly what has been missing from his life is wonderful to watch. The bathroom scene where he finds out the truth about their upbringings is an incredibly piece of acting.

The severe autism that Hoffman’s Raymond suffers from constrains his performance. There isn’t much room for him to ‘grow’ within that character, so he has to rely on subtleties and precise comedic timing to convey his affection towards his younger brother. The amount of emotion he can get out of a few mumbled words and a slight head tilt is quite incredible. 

The decision for Hans Zimmer to avoid using strings on the score to avoid becoming too sentimental pays dividends. The ‘At Last’ dance sequence is perfect.

“my main man”  😭

MadS (2024) I had acquired this film a year or so ago, totally forgot what the premise was or anything about it at all.  How lucky I was to do that, so I’m going to recommend anyone who hasn’t seen it or heard about it, do the same. I wont even mention the genre, other then that its not for kids. But find this, turn off the phone, the lights, have the popcorn ready and enjoy the ride!

Michael Mann did a sequel as a novel. Haven't read it yet and not sure his vision will translate to the novel form but I reckon I'll give it a go after my next rewatch of the original.

'Run Silent, Run Deep'

Out of the numerous movies about submarines, there are only a small few that truly stand out. 1981's 'Das Boot' will always be the gold standard, of course, but several others can also hold their heads up high and among that number 'Run Silent, Run Deep' from 1958 is at the top of the heap. It would be wrong to say that Robert Wise's film is a close second to Wolfgang Petersen's magnum opus because unlike the German film, the American film suffers from a bit of melodrama and the trappings of the period in which it was made. However, even when the year of release is taken into account, 'Run Silent, Run Deep' offers a fairly realistic view of the American submarine war in the Pacific, albeit with a highly fictionalised plot.

Commander P.J. Richardson (Clark Gable) has revenge on his mind after losing a sub during an attack on a Japanese destroyer in 1942 around the Bungo Straits which runs between Shikoku and Kyushu. Fast forward a year later and Richardson is still obsessed with what happened and runs through the events over and over with his Yeoman "Kraut" Mueller (Jack Warden). Bitter with his defeat from "Bungo Pete" as he has nicknamed the Japanese destroyer, Richardson is eaten up inside and is upset that he has been stuck sitting at a desk in Pearl Harbour for 12 months.

He eventually gets command of a new boat, the USS Nerka (US subs were named after species of fish), much to the chagrin of Lieutenant Jim Bledsoe (Burt Lancaster) who had his heart set on commanding the Nerka himself. Instead he's been given the job of the boat's XO and is none too happy about it. After some sharp words in a brief altercation, they set off for revenge against "Bungo Pete" in Area 7.

'Run Silent, Run Deep' is a very good depiction of a US submarine patrol in WWII and utilises period equipment to portray a convincing display, although the USS Nerka is a Balao class, when it should be a Gato class. But considering that the two boats were very similar that doesn't really matter. The characters are well rounded and the acting, in general, is good especially from the two leads, although there’s some dodgy moments elsewhere. Some of the cast were actual submariners who informed the film makers of how things like a sub attack would happen in real life which leads to a sense of authenticity. The special effects are often created using scale models, but considering the time it was made they come off very well and are relatively convincing. The interior scenes are well handled and although they lack the sense of claustrophobia that 'Das Boot' did so well, the closed in nature of life aboard a submarine in WWII is adequately shown.

If there are two WWII submarine movies that are required viewing, then 'Das Boot' for the German side and 'Run Silent, Run Deep' from the US side are probably it.

8/10

Paris , Texas

A drama on the Criterion collection that showed up on many of those most beautiful looking/ best cinematography film lists so I decided to check it out.

It certainly looks nice . Nice shots of Texan deserts and Urban Houston at night. Nice colors on screen. Not epic looking like say Lawrence of Arabia or the Thin red line though.

Very slow moving kind of unrealistic drama. I feel if this movie was music it'd be in the shoegaze slow core indie pop section.
It has its charm and I did find it maybe more relaxing than immersively entertaining . As one review I came across put it " its a nice movie to fall asleep to" Is that a good or bad thing ? I guess it depends.

The legend of Ochi

From A24.Billed as a kids film although maybe a bit darkish in parts. Think E.T meets Wes Andersons kind of Kookie off the wall style. Story of a young girl living on a fictional Fantasy Nordic themed Island who befriends a young injured "demon" with a baby Yoda aesthetic who her family are tasked with hunting and killing.

Nice non hollywood refreshing take on the child connects with put upon creature trope. Nice mix of animation ,Live action , CGI and puppetry. Very Colorful and visually pleasing. Willem Dafoe and Emily Watson help prop things up. Nice Themes about Family conflict and healing and some good laughs too.

7.9/10

Heaven’s Gate

I’ve always thought this movie was an underappreciated gem. Watching it again only confirmed this.

Undoubtedly it has its flaws. The first half is a bit rambling, a bit unfocussed. The story doesn’t really kick into gear until an hour and a half in.

John Hurt’s character, who looks set to be one of the main characters in the film, disappears for huge chunks of the running time. The original studio cut ran to five and a half hours so there’s so much left out of the three and a half hour long directors cut that I watched.

The cast is full of great actors. Christopher Walken is the standout. His conflicted company enforcer who eventually turns against his land owner employers and their plan to murder the immigrants stealing their cattle is one of his great performances. And his character has one of the greatest intros as he is seen through the hole made by his shotgun blast in a white sheet drying on a line.

It’s surely one of the most beautiful movies ever shot. Cimino and his cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond created an epic, sweeping vision of the West. The set pieces are incredible. Huge, intricate crowd scenes on massive sets. You just don’t see this kind of stuff in movies anymore.

I have Cimino's biography to read so am making my way through the films before I read it. They are hard to find on disc but next up for me are Year of the Dragon and The Sicilian. I know The Sicilian doesn't get good reviews but I haven't seen it yet so can't wait to finally watch it and I read the Mario Puzo book recently. Year of the Dragon was a key movie for me in the video days, maybe because I remember it being very violent, so will be interesting to see how it holds up.

The Beekeeper

Action/Revenge.

Jason Statham is on top form here projecting an air of quiet menace almost every time he appears on screen. He is a retired operative for an elite and secretive group and his skills come in handy when his elderly friend has her bank account cleared out by a group of professional scammers.

He sets out to get revenge on the scammers and bit by bit works his way through them seeking out whoever is in charge of this extensive criminal operation. The problem is there are some very powerful and well connected people at the top of the tree. Has our hero bitten off more than he can chew?

Great cast including a couple of people I haven't seen on screen in an age, Jeremy Irons and Minnie Driver. The plot is nothing new really but it very well executed and paced and the film never drags. The action sequences are excellent and I must admit I really loved seeing Statham dealing out his own special brand of justice to the scammers, as I hate those fuckers with a passion irl.

Great film overall and I hope they make a few more installments just like John Wick or the Bourne films.

A few recent watches:

Casablanca, 1942

Not sure anything more can be said about this movie but it was my first time seeing it and it's every bit as brilliant as I'd always imagined. Blows me away to see a movie about WW2 that was filmed during WW2.

5/5

Interview with the Vampire, 1994

Tom Cruise: Phenomenal, much like with Collateral it made me wish he'd play the villain more often, a real Vampire's Vampire performance.

Kirsten Dunst: One of the most accomplished child acting performances I've ever seen, she's funny, she's plays both childlike and beyond her years, and the tragedy she portrays in her realising she'll never get to grow up is just so good.

Brad Pitt: A big block of wood. And unfortunately he occupies the majority of the run time.

A movie I'd watch again around Halloween.

3.5/5

Blood Simple (1984)

Is there a better movie full of debuts than this? The Coens, Frances McDormand, and Barry Sonnenfeld all make their start with this movie.

You can really see Blood Simple's influence on later Coen Brothers works; There's a touch of Burn After Reading in how much this movie is based on misunderstandings/Murphy's Law, there's a touch of almost everything else they've made with how suspenseful this can be.

4.5/5

Young Frankenstein (1974)

A well regarded Mel Brooks comedy classic that I'd never seen, the expectations were high for this and thankfully they delivered. It's beautifully shot, in fact it's probably the nicest looking comedy I've ever seen. That really helps create a world, and an atmosphere that just adds to everything.

The jokes are great, and the performances excellent. A special mention for Gene Wilder who is excellent in the role.

Farewell, my lovely (1975)
I love a film noir, and I'd never came across this one. It's a Raymond Chandler adaptation, with Robert Mitchum in the Marlowe role. There's a particular world weary cynicism to this one, and Mitchum really conveys that melancholy of dealing with the harshness of the world.

From a plot perspective, on one level it's probably an easy one to piece together but on the other hand its a story that comes together really well and the final reveal is very powerful.

One to watch if you like your noirs and Robert Mitchum.

'Weapons'

‘Weapons’ is the latest shocker from Zach Cregger, who previously helmed 2022’s ‘Barbarian’ and produced this year’s ‘Companion’. ‘Weapons’ sees Cregger on altogether more steady ground than he was with his 2022 effort, which went off the rails in the last third after a great start.

It begins with a little girl narrator telling the audience that two years before the events of the movie seventeen kids, all from the same class, ran out of their homes at 2:17 in the morning in the small town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania and promptly disappeared. The only one of a class of pupils who didn’t do this was a boy called Alex (Cary Christopher). What follows is a semi ‘Rashomon’ like series of vignettes that detail the points of view of a select few townsfolk and what they do after the bizarre event, all of which leads to a startling discovery.

‘Weapons’ is a great little movie that does what it needs to without the bombast that other pictures of this type employ in the modern age. It’s generally quiet and steady, even if there’s a number of boo moments, and it’s all the more creepy for its restraint. Also the hook of telling the story by jumping back and forth between the five major characters, Justine (Julia Garner), Archer (Josh Brolin), Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), James (Austin Abrams) and Marcus (Benedict Wong) works wonders for keeping the audience invested, too, and you never lose interest in what’s happening on the screen. Although, I will say that I figured out what the antagonist was long before they actually made their presence known. Even so, that didn’t really take from the movie all that much. But I think that long time horror fans will twig things maybe a little too fast. In any case the reveal, which would traditionally come near the end of a film, is shown long before that and it didn’t matter a jot because you want to see what the conclusion is.

‘Weapons’ starts with an intriguing premise, fills out the rest of its 128 minutes with a generally interesting yarn and has a number of shocks and fascinating visuals. It’s helped no end by the cast who all put in great effort to make what’s happening completely believable even though the story itself is fantastic guff.

In the hands of others ‘Weapons’ could have been an absolute disaster. However, that’s not to say that the movie is without its issues. For instance the police investigation into the disappearance of the kids must have been extremely clumsy and short to say the least. But, ultimately, the film makers have taken their story and produced a little gem that ranks as one of the better genre efforts this year.

8/10