I’m on board. Come on, Tom in anything top gun (see Tom fly) or MI related can have my money.
Run Rabbit Run (2023). Who knew Sarah Snook was Australian? I did not. She’s pretty great in this somewhat familiar, but engaging psychological thriller.
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To answer your question: I knew she was. Had seen her in other things, including the quite wonderful, The Dressmaker.
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Not familiar with that movie. It continues to baffle just how many British and Aussie actors are hired to play Americans.
The Dressmaker was wonderful, as was Red Dog. Two Aussie films I really enjoyed.
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She and Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and Logan (Brian Cox) all played pretty convincing Americans. Matthew Rhys was a great Perry Mason.
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She’s going to be in The Beanie Bubble which should be interesting. Ty Warner, who got very rich off Beanie babies, lives in Santa Barbara and is a reclusive semi nut job. He owns a lot of prime real estate in SB and has angered everyone by not reopening the beautiful and historic 4 Seasons Biltmore in Montecito.
Bay of Blood (1971 - dir. Mario Bava)
This 70’s Italian giallo is often cited as one of the first proto-slashers, occurring even earlier than 1975’s classic Black Christmas (the original, please. Give the remakes a miss unless you’re academically curious).
An elderly, wheel chair-bound woman is rather creatively hanged and made to look like a suicide, before her murderer is killed off as soon as the deed is done. From there proceeds a string of character introductions and demises with constantly shifting suspects and a rather gleefully nihilistic conclusion, all done up tempra paint red blood and other lurid 70’s colors, along with the slightly ‘off’ vibe that all overdubbed Italian films of this vintage possess.
Bava loved his kills, and this has plenty. For a certain type of person, of which I count myself, this is great fun.
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One of my favorite movies: Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time.
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The Burning (1981 - Tony Maylam)
With 1980’s Friday the 13th, the slasher craze took off in earnest, and the summer-camp slasher was among the most frequently copied. And why not? It had all the right elements. Built in excuse for isolated setting, a gathering of hormonal teens and young adults, endless campfire tales of the guy with hooks for hands… This one was a quick turnaround. Notable for being the first screen role for Jason Alexander (and Holly Hunter in a very minor appearance), it’s also one of the few early slashers to make its ‘final girl’ a final BOY, (played by Brian Backer, who would go on to star as Mark ‘Rat’ Ratner in Fast Times at Ridgemont High). The film takes its time to get going, leaving the serious body count 'til more than halfway through, but the eventual payoff is worth the wait.
Interestingly, the film has aged poorly in all the usual ways that 80’s fare has. Lots of retrograde sexual politics, a leering, male-gaze camera with gratuitous female nudity, although the female characters in this DO attempt to push back against the more neanderthal-minded lunkheads. But what really makes you give this film a big helping of side-eye is the fact that it was one of the early films distributed by Miramax, the storied film distribution / production company of Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Harvey, in fact, is credited as a writer on the film. And I believe it, because the final boy of the film is the nerdy, socially awkward kid, who today we would immediately single out as a creepy, sex obsessed incel-in-the-making, spying on girls in the shower. Instead, back then, he was seen as a figure worthy of empathy, or at least sympathy. And suddenly you realize, Weinstein has written a confession of his own nature, right there on screen for us. He WAS that creepy, nerdy kid who would never get the girl. But this time, he’s the big hero.
The film is otherwise a perfectly serviceable slasher that solidifies the template that’s still in use 40-some years later.
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Checking out Full Circle out of curiosity due to the fine cast and that it is directed by Soderbergh. it’s one of those things that starts out telling a story that you know will be almost beside the point at series end. overall way too much plot and a bloated cast make the first part dizzying. hard to recommend at this point, and yet, i’m going to continue to watch just to see if it can iron itself out. for much better late stage Soderbergh, check out his really solid crime thriller No Sudden Move.
Seeing how it goes. Two episodes in so far. Shades of other time-shifting/reset themed concepts.
What are your plans on this, the most auspicious cinema weekend of the year, Barbenheimer?
- Oppenheimer
- Barbie
- Both
- Neither
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I’ll see Barbie, but only because the earliest I could get tickets for Oppenheimer in 70mm IMAX was Aug 6. I would be seeing both in theaters, one way or another.
Barbie (2023 - dir. Greta Gerwig)
A movie about a toy is usually just a two hour commercial. And while Barbie IS certainly that, it’s ALSO about how that toy affects, and is affected by, our ever-changing cultural context. A movie about a plastic doll that can talk about ‘patriarchy’ and ‘cognitive dissonance’ intelligently and correctly is quite the directorial/writing achievement. That it even uses these big multi-syllabic words in a film at least partially pointed towards 10 year old girls was a welcome surprise.
Beyond the script, the performances, especially from Robbie and Gosling, are top notch. But the lion’s share of the praise for this film should go to the production designers, art directors, hair/makeup and costumes. “Barbie World” is an absolute triumph of design, registering the perfect plastic aesthetic brilliantly. It would worth while to see the film for that aspect alone. But there’s jokes! I laughed, out loud, many times, along with the rest of the audience. There are even a few moments of genuine thought and emotion. If you are at all inclined to see it, by all means, do so. Totally worth your while.
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Sisu (2023 - dir. Jelmari Helander)
“Sisu” is a Finnish word meaning “white-knuckled grit and determination”. There is no equivalent English word.
In the closing days of WWII, we meet an old Finnish gold miner who has just struck it rich. On his way back to cash in his treasure, he stumbles into a group of retreating Nazis who are engaging in a scorched earth campaign. They unwisely decide to screw with him. Bad move. He is an ex-commando. What follows is 90 minutes of Nazi-killin’ as our protagonist bad-asses his way from one encounter to the next, covered in mud and gore. Think of it as John Wick crossed with Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, with over the top slasher movie levels of bloodiness and shot through with very dry Scandinavian humor.
And, you know, if you have to cheer for anyone dying, it might as well be Nazis.
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I’m binging The Wire. I have no idea why I never watched it before. I adore Idis Elba.
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He was at his hottest IMNHO in that show. And the show is, of course, a masterpiece.
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Love that show. Been through it 2 or 3 times. When you need more Idris, move over to Luther.
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The Wire might be the absolute peak of “peak television” and is probably as close as we’ll ever get to The Great American Novel in visual form.
The whole series is brilliant from first to last. I envy you getting to watch it and be surprised.
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I’ve watched Luther and the Luther movie.
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