Watching
My last 10 watched from Letterboxd.
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The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
One of my all-time favorite comedies. I’ve probably seen it dozens of times, though not for many years. It still holds up, with jokes and gags coming at such a dizzying pace it seems like you pick up something new each time you watch it. Nielsen is so great, delivering even the dumbest of lines with deadpan gravitas. Even though I haven’t seen this in forever I was still able to remember damn near every line.
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The Naked Gun
Pales in comparison to the original. Even though it’s roughly the same runtime, it seems like it only lasted an hour. Neeson is inspired casting, especially if you’ve seen him on Life’s Too Short, but the script doesn’t give him much to work with. Pamela Anderson is also great, she really goes for it. I almost wish this were longer so we could get more Paul Walter Hauser as Drebin’s partner. There’s definitely some funny moments but I’d be hard pressed to recall any great lines, even less than an hour after getting out of the theater. This movie somehow made me reassess my rating of Happy Gilmore 2.
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The Counselor
Some things are greater than the sum of their parts. The Counselor is, well, the opposite of that. On paper, a Ridley Scott film written by Cormac McCarthy and starring this A-List cast seems like a sure fire hit. But what we get instead is a bunch of memorable scenes intercut with lots of talk about sex, and not in an interesting way. Half of the characters are like something out of a GTA game and the dialogue is so heavy-handed it doesn’t make sense coming out of these characters, even when it’s delivered by great actors. The whole thing adds up to very little because it seems the characters fall victim to their own actions which are only alluded to during the course of the movie, and their fates don’t really feel justified based on the plot of the movie. It’s just all so very random. But damn, Checkov’s Bolito.
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Prince of Darkness
Sorry but I just don’t find a bunch of grad students in khaki pants all that scary. This is one of Carpenter’s 80s movies that I somehow missed. Feels like a mashup of some of his previous work. The first hour is dreadfully dull but once the juice is loose, so to speak, things get interesting with some fun body horror and practical effects. This movie could explain why evangelicals are so opposed to higher education.
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Happy Gilmore 2
There’s no reason for this sequel to exist besides the fact that Netflix dropped a boatload of money on Sandler. Despite that, this movie is a ton of fun. The plot is even thinner than the first but the sheer amount of jokes and cameos keep things interesting. Nearly all of the characters from 30 years ago make an appearance in some way (even the dead ones) and nearly all of them have offspring perfect for stunt casting. If, like me, you watched the original a bunch of times on VHS or cable TV in college, you’ll get a kick out of this.
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Mississippi Burning
Near the end of Mississippi Burning, Willem Dafoe’s FBI Agent Ward says, “Anyone’s guilty who watches this happen and pretends it isn’t.” As tough as the movie is to watch, some degree of justice is served at the end. But sadly enough, the guilty are now in the highest offices, inflicting greater wounds on larger swaths of people that aren’t like them. This was made some thirty years after the events depicted and now, 60 years on we haven’t done much better. This might be up there for Hackman’s greatest roles. The antithesis of his character in Unforgiven. Dafoe is also great as his partner, and there’s a slew of “that guy” to be found on both sides of the law. This movie is near perfect if only it had given its black characters as much depth and dialogue as it does its white characters. It’s left up to a bunch of white FBI agents to save the day which, in retrospect, seems highly implausible.
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
The bar for recent Marvel movies is pretty low, and even lower for Fantastic Four movies, so I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this. I loved the retro-future aesthetic (spotted one of Chicago’s iconic Marina Towers at one point) and the chemistry between all the members was great and believable. This is the first Marvel movie in forever where it didn’t feel like you needed to do homework to follow the story, and they weren’t adding a bunch of storylines to set up the next thing. There’s no glowing MacGuffin and the stakes are both high and personal. F4 definitely feels like a spiritual companion to this summer’s Superman, which is similarly colorful and hope-filled. But I’d feel more comfortable taking my 3- and 6-year-old to F4 than Superman, which has a few moments that are a little too mature for younger kids.
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Vanishing Point
This movie is a real vibe. The first half is great — mostly driving with an occasional flashback to a time Kowalski saw a titty — but the more people talked, the less I enjoyed it. This movie feels like it had a lot to say but I’m not sure I got it. Great cinematography. Lots of wide angle shots of the desert and mountains. I imagine this was pretty influential, with shades of Blues Brothers, Mad Max, Drive, and even Do the Right Thing. Also, Charlotte Rampling. Wowsa.
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Tremors
Haven’t seen this in ages but it’s fun as hell. Great chemistry between Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward, clever use of practical effects, and some delightful Raimi-esque shots. A perfect blend of comedy and creature horror. Sad that we’ll never see a movie where Fred Ward plays Jon Bernthal’s dad.
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The Beach
Imagine being so entitled to think you could just take up residence on the other side of a Thai island inhabited by armed weed farmers without consequences. Anyway, I missed this when it came out and only recently realized it was a Boyle/Garland joint. And much like Sunshine and, to a lesser extent, 28 Days/Years Later, it starts off with a strong premise before going completely off the rails. Leo and Tilda had not quite reached their primes but still made this highly watchable, even if it’s kind of a mess. Everything held up pretty well except the internet cafe filled with iMacs with their default homepage set to Excite.