This is probably the first time I’ve seen bullying in a movie that reflects the way I was bullied when I was in middle school. Markees Christmas and Lina Keller are such a dynamic pairing. I wish they were doing more work. Carla Juri was great as the German teacher and I didn’t even realize that she was the girl from WETLANDS (have only seen the poster but have been meaning to catch it). Craig Robinson has also so much heart in this role of Curtis. He brings so much to it, more so than in any other role he did. There are a lot of little things I just love. The moment when Morris and Katrin connect over music and listen to the same song and the fountain behind them erupts and the scene when they are on ecstasy and dance together, for instance. There is also a lot of very smart ways that the characters are blocked around one another. The environment is also great for the juxtaposition between Katrin’s German Industrial Techno music and Morris’s New York Hip-Hop music. The final rap is AMAZING. You can't help but smile the whole time.
Quarantine Watch #246: One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
This in that time in Marlon Brando’s career where he isn’t the boyishly handsome rogue as in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE but before he got charactery in THE GODFATHER and subsequently went off the rails. I really wanted to love this, but I had a hard time keeping focus on it. The beginning was very slowly paced and it’s he second half really propels everything. Brando is such a great actor, that he elevates all of the scenes he is in. He is really magnetic. This is helpful, especially when he acts opposite Pina Pellicer. She isn’t a particularly strong actress in the role of Louisa. Ben Johnson is also so good. I’m coming to love seeing him whenever I see him in anything. Adding his character as a secondary villain works really well. Dad is probably one of the most vile villains I’ve seen in a while and probably directly inspired David Webb Peoples for the Little Bill character in UNFORGIVEN. It’s hard to tell how well Brando is as a director considering he only directed this one and Stanley Kubrick did most of the prep-work apparently. Another thing that was really noticeable was how realistic the language of the film was. I think that can be attributed to Rod Serling and Sam Peckinpah writing on it (but not getting writing credit). It shows a lot of stuff Sam Peckinpah would later implement in his language for THE WILD BUNCH, albeit to a lesser extent.
Quarantine Watch #245: Welcome to My Life (2015)
This may be the most mature thing Cartoon Network has ever been a part of. The music is hyper reminiscent of the ho-fi hip-hop youtube channel that college kids (and me) use while doing work. Doug Ito’s delivery is so realistic so much so that all of the audio literally sounds like someone interviewing their brother and then animating it. The metaphor of using monsters as a stand in for race (specifically the Asian race, but honestly it is a stand in for any marginalized group). The animation style mixed with real world photography is very interesting. They aren’t trying to make the animated people look real (compared to the environments), but their own thing. It allows for the animator to add commentary to bullying in schools as well as how easy it is to understand another person (or monster). The documentary device is also fantastic, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done in such a grounded way in animation before.
Quarantine Watch #244: La Haine (1995)
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Considering everything that’s been going on in the world, I’ve been wanting to rewatch it, but I also wanted to show it to my Dad since I came to visit him. It has so many layers I could write a book about just this film alone. It’s really a perfect film and all three of the actors are fantastic. My two favorite moments have always been the, “You talkin’ to me” scene and the old man in the bathroom scene. I haven’t seen this in about 10 years and it holds up even more since the last time I saw it.
Quarantine Watch #243: Spenser Confidential (2020)
This film kept my attention and didn’t bore me, but it was hard to ignore some things. There was a lot of stuff that didn’t make sense. A couple things: Why was the FBI ignoring everything?, Why did the criminals just let Iliza Shlesinger and Alan Arkin just walk away when they showed up to the rendezvous? Why does Wahlberg needs to fist fight the bad guy when he already caught him and told him he’s going to jail? There’s a lot of these things here. Iliza Shlesinger’s character was really unnecessary and was really only used to show us how attractive Mark Whalberg is and how women love him. This wasn’t as self indulgent as other vehicles for action stars (I’m looking at you XXX: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE), but it still had it’s problems. The bad guy is also really obvious from minute one. During the final fight both Whalberg and Bookine Woodbine looked lumbering and slow. They’re both getting old. Post Malone also felt like a hat on a hat and was just used to get more clicks at Netflix. Winston Duke was the best part of the film.
Quarantine Watch #242: Things to Come (1936)
Man, this is such a prescient film if there ever was one — especially for the times we are in. The “wandering sickness,” hatred for different people, war — there’s so much in here to unpack. This anti-war/commentary on technology sci-fi film reminded me so much (at least the first half) of my favorite Dr. Seuss book — The Butter Battle Book. That book is a commentary on the Cold War and technology advances that happen during war, it shows just how far ahead H.G. Wells was thinking. Even the fears of “too much progress” is really present in today’s society (considering facial recognition technology and surveillance tech going as far as they are going). The set pieces and architecture is out of this world — it’s no wonder that the director started in art department. The massive size of everything and the miniature work of the film reminds me of large scale films from the early days of film such as METROPOLIS. My only issue with the film was that the sound quality wasn't that great — coupled with the posh British accent from the ‘30s made it hard to discern what characters were saying so I had to put on the subtitles. It’s also funny to see what people in 1936 thought the future would look like over the next 100 years -- especially space travel.
Quarantine Watch #241: Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953)
This film is just so pure. Jacques Tati is such a great slapstick comedian. He does such great work without have to be as big in his movements like acts such as The Three Stooges. There’s such a childlike innocence about him. He’s more aware than Mr. Magoo, smarter than Inspector Clouseau, and has more class than Chaplin’s The Tramp (even though he’s not stuck up like the other rich people staying at the resort). His simple wardrobe (the hat, the coat, the pipe) also makes for something so recognizable, but also something simple and funny in the way he moves himself around. This film is basically a silent film and it really helps with the comedy. My favorite bit is with the boat and the paint can moving with the tides to the other side of the boat and then the boat flipping in half so it looks like a shark. I couldn’t stop laughing. I’m SO excited to get into MON ONCLE, PLAY TIME, and TRAFIC.
Quarantine Watch #240: Andrei Rublev (1966)
It’s amazing what Tarkovsky was able to accomplish during the time it was made in regards to the effects, the large epic shots, production design, and the sheer scale of everything. It rivals the big epics of DeMille and other large epics like BEN-HUR or SPARTACUS. The David Lean epics feel comparable and it’s amazing that it was made around the same time as DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. There are a lot of great scenes here: the opening with the hot air balloon and the horse falling down, the pagan woman who speaks to Andrei when he’s tied up and when she swims away, the eyes getting gorged out, etc. Its such a specific choice to shoot this in black & white considering the world should be full of color — the paintings, the blood, etc. The first moment I realized, oh the black & white is great is when the milk pours into the stream and you see the white bleed into the darkness like cream into coffee. It also helps make the art of the actual Rubelv seen at the end more impactful. My favorite part of the film was the chapter about the bell. I could have watched a whole movie just about that. I’ve never seen so much weight put on something as innocuous as, “Will a bell ring or not?”
Quarantine Watch #239: Shadows (1959)
It’s so easy to see how so much of independent cinema, especially famous directors’ debut films, are influenced by this. You can see stuff from Scorsese’s WHO’S THAT KNOCKING AT MY DOOR to Spike Lee’s SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT to Linklater’s SLACKER. The fight scene at the end felt particularly real, as every sound and punch felt so brutal that I could feel each blow. I’m not sure about the improvisational stuff here, since my research came up with it being improvised and others saying it was scripted. Regardless of that, the idea of a completely improvised performance speaks to the jazz world that the characters occupy. The best scene is the scene that inspired the film — when Tony finds out Lelia is Black. It’s so good. The music by Charles Mingus and Shafi Hadi is phenomenal and one of the biggest characters of the film. Ben Carruthers was a real stand-out among the cast. He gets so much across with so little or even when his eyes are hidden behind sunglasses. His whole look is also really great. It echos a bit of the Greaser vibe from the ‘50s mixed with the style and attitude of James Dean. This also feels so young, not only in the characters or the world, but also in the sheer essence of the film. There’s a lot of shots that feel like a first time filmmaker (probably due to the use of a handled 16mm camera, small budget, and lack of location permits). The characters and their struggles are just young — wether it’s Lelia’s naiveté or Hugh’s lack of comprise of his “art.”
Quarantine Watch #238: Romper Stomper (1992)
This film really is punk rock — its look, style, action, music, and themes — they all contain punk in their DNA. This film is really about Davey — he’s the Cameron from FERRIS BUELLER of this film — and his relationship with violence. Will he be able to leave a world of violence and by extension his almost-brother Hando? Russell Crowe really knows how to embody a psychopath. You can see it in his eyes and can see why this is what got him attention outside of Australia. I never knew there was such a large Vietnamese population in Melbourne, and it was nice to see a group of people represented in a way I hadn’t see before. I have a soft spot for epileptic characters, since I too have epilepsy. You get a sense of MEAN STREETS in here, especially how other characters react to it. The overall look of the film, the dark and blue hues as well as the anarchistic/grungy environment, reminded me a lot of Luc Besson’s LA FEMME NIKITA and I wouldn’t be surprised if inspiration was drawn from it, especially the violent natures of the characters.
Quarantine Watch #237: Loves of a Blonde (1965)
I’ve always really liked Miloš Forman films, however I haven’t seen his early Czech stuff. For that matter the Czech film world is very foreign to me and I’m excited to dig deeper into it. It’s amazing to me that Hana Brejchová didn’t have a bigger career. She is just lovely in this. She just pops off the screen in an innocently cute way — similar to Anna Karina or Natalie Portman. The black and white photography really suits her as well. The first half of the film didn’t do much for me (except for the scene where they are in bed and he’s talking about how women are shaped like guitars). That scene is just shot so wonderfully. It’s sexy while also being romantic and not lascivious (although the moment leading up to it seems so creepy and rape-adjacent that I’m shocked she fell in love with him). Once Andula gets to Prague, however, the film really shows it’s true colors. It’s really only 3 scenes if you think about it (Andula and the parents, Milda laying down with Andula when he gets home, and the three people in the bed scene) and they are all amazing.
Quarantine Watch #236: Wounds (2019)
I was a big fan of Babak Anvari’s film UNDER THE SHADOW. The look of this film was really interesting. The color was particularly cool and meshed well with the New Orleans locale. I’m also a fan of Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson, and Zazie Beetz. Overall though it all really fell short. Will (Armie Hammer) is so unlikable in every way while also making decisions that make no sense. There was something in here that could have been cool and at times felt like it was trying to be something like Denis Villeneuve’s ENEMY. It also tried to have an H.P. Lovecraft vibe without actually showing anything. I also think Dakota Johnson was really under utilized.
Quarantine Watch #235: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World (1963)
Hands down my favorite person in this film is Buddy Hackett. He is so funny during his dialogue or when he is just reacting to things in a mime-like fashion. Sid Caesar and Ethel Merman were two other stand-outs for me. What really works well for this film is that each character is so specific (although Jonathan Winters and Buddy Hackett look kind of similar). You never get confused over who anyone is due to so many character idiosyncrasies as well as their wardrobe. I watched this on a big screen but, man I wish I could have watched this in 70mm or cinemascope. The colors are so vibrant and so are the locations/landscapes. I had no idea it would be this epic. Overall this is just super fun. It wasn’t as laugh-out-loud funny as I thought it was going to be, but it made up for it with all the cameos, set pieces, and action sequences (the entire film is just one big car chase essentially). There NEEDS to be a modern day version of this type of film ASAP. The closest thing we’ve had is AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR and AVENGERS: ENDGAME. Also, Phil Silvers is so similar to Stephen Tobolowsky in this I think it has to be a major inspiration, not only on Tobolowsky’s appearance but also his comic manners.
Quarantine Watch #234: Don't Look Now (1973)
The ending of this was spoiled to me back when I was in middle school. It really sucks cause I would have loved to see this without knowing much. On the flip side because I knew the ending, it made a lot of things make sense. I’ve been thinking of this film a lot since I finished watching it. The editing is so fantastic and really helps the style and overall feel of the film. There is so much symbolism in here and you don’t even notice it at first hand. You can really see the effort Roeg took to make this. The bright red color and the lighting reminded me of giallo films as well.
Quarantine Watch #233: Pierrot le Fou (1965)
This was my least favorite of all the Godard films I have been watching before they leave Criterion. Don’t get me wrong, there are parts in here that I really love, like the moment they kill the guy in the apartment. As always Anna Karina is fantastic. The film also dances with poetic lines in the way the two main characters speak to one another. This also wasn’t what I expected at all. There are just long moments where I lacked interest in what was going on. I know that people get really engaged with Godard’s films, but for some reason I just couldn’t connect with it. One thing is for sure though, this film was a blast to make. You can just tell everyone is have a great time. It was also funny to see Samuel Fuller in this for a brief second. Godard really loves those director cameos.
Quarantine Watch #232: The Black Cauldron (1985)
Despite being based on a book series, there is definitely major inspiration here from Ralph Bakshi’s LORD OF THE RINGS and Jim Henson & Frank Oz’s THE DARK CRYSTAL. In fact, Jen from THE DARK CRYSTAL and Taran are basically the same character. The best parts of this film has to be the effects and art style as well as the ending with Grugi. All the other characters feel so one-dimensional and their motivations are all over the place.
Quarantine Watch #231: Shirley (2020)
Elizabeth Moss really is one of the best actresses of her generation. She really transforms into the character (like Charlize Theron or Julianne Moore). When you watch her, she is Shirley Jackson. He movements, speech patterns — everything. This film also had a really eerie atmosphere. Overall though it didn’t have much to say and dragged on quite a bit. I feel like this could be part of an unofficial trilogy of Female LGBT author films along with CELESTE and VITA AND VIRGINIA.
Quarantine Watch #230: Contempt (1963)
I didn’t think much of this film as I was watching, but since I turned it off it has really stuck with me. I just feel different. This is a real departure from the Godard filmmaking style I’ve come to know having only seen BREATHLESS and BAND OF OUTSIDERS. While those films add life and energy with their editing, this one moves the scenes with the long shots and dolly moves. Even when the camera is still the compositions are interesting and beautiful. The music is so pretty too. However the most beautiful part of the film, aside from the locations, music, and camera is Brigitte Bardot. God she is gorgeous. This is my first exposure to her. When I mentioned her to my parents they went, “Oh god, of course!” It was as if I never heard of Marilyn Monroe. I loved Fritz Lang playing himself and I love the connection between Odysseus & Penelope of the Odyssey to Paul & Camille’s relationship.
Quarantine Watch #229: Only Yesterday (1991)
This was a lovely film, I don’t know how else to describe it. While it’s not my favorite of the Ghibli films, it was such a good example of a coming-of-age film. There is a real maturity in exploring the youth of a young girl. There are heartbreaking moments, specifically with Taeko’s parents (Who are serious dicks while simultaneously being loving to her). The backgrounds, which have a nice watercolor feel, are so pretty. I really dug the English voice cast (I watched the dub) with Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel (who was also great in I LOST MY BODY).
Quarantine Watch #228: Green for Danger (1946)
I absolutely loved the beginning and the end of this film. The narration was a little too much for me, but very appropriate for the time. The opening narration that sets the stage, however, immediately grabbed my attention and reminded me why I love whodunnits. This film is also so British in the way people react to things. Inspector Cockrill was such a weird character here. It was like if Inspector Clouseau was super smart. I also saw a little bit of Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc from KNIVES OUT, which makes me wonder if Rian Johnson has seen this one. Trevor Howard (better known for BRIEF ENCOUNTER) was the standout to me here as the anesthesiologist. My only other criticism of the film is that all the characters blended together. It was hard to tell everyone a part.
