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Briefly, Movies (29 July 2024)
The Blob (1958) D: Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.. S: Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, Earl Rowe, John Benson, Robert Fields, James Bonnet, Olin Howland. Talky, tedious teen sci-fi picture has killer space jello terrorizing a small town. Can McQueen convince the cops he’s not just having a laugh at their expense? Some kind of acting on display abound. Better cinematography, direction, and special effects would help too. McQueen never really forecasts his glow-up, but he is in the three better scenes.
Color Out of Space (2019) D: Richard Stanley. S: Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Madeleine Arthur, Elliot Knight, Tommy Chong, Brendan Meyer, Julian Hilliard. Entertaining, highly derivative H.P. Lovecraft adaptation starts as an effective (albeit trite) family horror drama about goth kid Arthur trying to magic away mom Richardson’s cancer. Dad Cage quietly goes full Nicolas Cage by the end, with very mixed results. The practical effects are iffy but the CGI works. Richardson and Arthur are great; script’s not.
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) D: Shawn Levy. S: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfadyen, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams. Cameo-filled sequel gently intros Reynolds’s obnoxious, invincible mutant mercenary into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but mostly just wraps up leftover Fox Marvel adaptation fodder. Starting with Jackman, but with a number of surprises. Solid laughs and action; the best performance is either Corrin’s thinly written villain or Macfadyen’s dipshit time travel middle manager. Post-credits is good, too.
The Devil Rides Out (1968) D: Terence Fisher. S: Christopher Lee, Charles Gray, Niké Arrighi, Leon Greene, Patrick Mower, Sarah Lawson, Paul Eddington. Sometimes (but not enough) surprisingly okay Hammer tale of Lee and Greene trying to save their pal Mower from Satanist Gray and his cult. Along the way, Greene falls for coven member Arrighi and everyone ignores Lee’s warnings so they can have a movie. Lee’s fantastic, Gray’s not, everyone else is in between. The lousy special effects hurt too.
Fly Away Baby (1937) D: Frank McDonald. S: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Gordon Oliver, Hugh O’Connell, Marcia Ralston, Tom Kennedy, Joe King. Ace reporter Farrell is so sure blue blood Oliver is actually a diamond-stealing murderer, she’s willing to follow him around the world. Her boyfriend, copper MacLane, thinks she’s wrong but supports the endeavor. Fast paced mix of mystery and comedy has winning performances–Farrell’s a dynamite lead, Oliver’s a solid foil, and O’Connell’s delightful as the comic relief.
The Lives of Others (2006) D: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. S: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme, Hans-Uwe Bauer, Volkmar Kleinert. Belabored thriller slash melodrama about East German master eavesdropper Mühe getting involved in the lives of his targets–playwright Koch and actress Gedeck. Mühe’s great when he’s got material (even when it’s trite). Koch and Gedeck have less chemistry than wet cardboard. Tukur’s awesome as Mühe’s boss. While pedestrian direction and middling plotting hurt, the bland obviousness is worst.
Origin (2023) D: Ava DuVernay. S: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash-Betts, Emily Yancy, Vera Farmiga, Audra McDonald, Blair Underwood. Singular dramatization of author Isabel Wilkerson (Ellis-Taylor) as she decides to write her next book, which will link American racism to the Holocaust and the Indian caste system. Ellis-Taylor’s phenomenal, as is Nash-Betts as her cousin. Bernthal is great as her husband, too. DuVernay’s narrative and adaptive approach prove the concept. Exceptional work all around.
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Briefly, Comics (28 July 2024)
Black Panther (1998) #21 [2000] W: Christopher Priest. A: Bob Almond, Sal Velluto. Beautifully paced issue has Black Panther teaming up with Moon Knight to search the afterlife for his katra. Back on Earth, Ross continues to make bad choices as temporary Wakanda regent, including surrendering to Killmomger. Awesome art. The conclusion punts–continuing the series’s biggest problem, the endless punting. It’s still impossible to get a good idea where Priest’s headed.
Black Panther (1998) #22 [2000] W: Christopher Priest. A: Bob Almond, Sal Velluto. Oh no, is there a DEADPOOL crossover? Panther and Moon Knight fight Nightmare in the dream world. Lots of twists and turns, with Ross off to dumb antics throughout. It’s a brisk, full read, with great art. But then there are crossover hypes galore; it plays desperate. The rest of the comic’s perfectly good, with some nice dream gags.
Black Panther (1998) #23 [2000] W: Christopher Priest. A: Bob Almond, Sal Velluto. The DEADPOOL crossover concludes. Thank goodness. There’s more transphobia, misogyny, and homophobia (so, so much of the last). Some great art. Some good dialogue, but then more bad. And the lousy jokes. But Priest does get to say the Avengers are super shitty to their marginalized members. They whine their way out of the conversation. It’s pretty cool.
Black Panther (1998) #24 [2000] W: Christopher Priest. A: Walden Wong. The guest art is fine. The issue plays like a bureaucracy comedy, just with all the Wakandan details. Killmonger needs to pass rites before he’s really the Black Panther and gets the super-plant. T’Challa isn’t interested (though more interested in that situation than the many other subplots going on). It’s a different issue but a good one.
Catwoman (2002) #27 [2004] W: Ed Brubaker. A: Paul Gulacy, Jimmy Palmiotti. Seriously iffy art does the issue no favors. It’s already in enough trouble, with Brubaker spinning out and doing repeats to avoid having to move forward. We do meet Slam’s boring kid though. And another talking heads scene for Selina and Holly about whether the East End is worth fighting to save. Plus a Batman cameo. CATWOMAN’s stuck.
Catwoman (2002) #28 [2004] W: Ed Brubaker. A: Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Gulacy. Selina underestimates Zeiss (again), getting her friends hurt (again), and learns nothing from it (again). Gulacy’s art is fairly wobbly. He’s doing it pure noir, complete with Robert Mitchum as Slam Bradley, and he’s not very good at the fight scenes or the costumes. Lots of it is fight scenes and costumes. Some nice work too, obviously.
Catwoman (2002) #29 [2004] W: Ed Brubaker. A: Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Gulacy. So now everyone yells at Selina for not learning anything the past few issues. If only she’d learned something maybe there’d be a story. Also Gulacy’s giving up on a bunch. He still works at the Robert Mitchum as Slam thing but nothing else. Bad Gulacy eyes, not a pretty sight. Especially for talking heads. It’s a slog.
Catwoman (2002) #30 [2004] W: Ed Brubaker. A: Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Gulacy. It’s an all-action fight issue except the fighting is limited and it’s mostly just Zeiss blathering (why are modern age Batvillains all so lame) or Selina bleeding. Brubaker seems to have decided Selina sucks and is bad at her job and everything else. Sure, Zeiss is a murderous psychopath but nothing he taunts her with is incorrect.
Catwoman (2002) #31 [2004] W: Ed Brubaker. A: Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Gulacy. It’s an incredible ending, with Brubaker doing a TEMPLE OF DOOM-esque romance novel story where Selina has to escape an arranged marriage. The issue is a complete mess and miss, with Gulacy doing all scantily clad Selina, contorting. Someone had a bad idea and never improved on it because the book just crashed into a wall. The pits.
Deadpool (1997) #44 [2000] W: Christopher Priest. A: Jim Calafiore, Jon Holdredge. A BLACK PANTHER crossover. While T’Challa recuperates, Deadpool goes after Killmonger Black Panther’s pet at Avengers Mansion. Deadpool’s villainous supporting cast bicker along the way (transphobic and sexist from the dude). Tony Stark worries about the stock market. Impressively full, but also desperately unfunny. They also take a “Deadpool isn’t racist for saying that if the writer’s Black” stance.
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The Thomas Crown Affair (1968, Norman Jewison)
The first twenty-five minutes of The Thomas Crown Affair is a bank heist. Starting with its planning. After opening titles suggesting the film is about stars Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway doing fashion advertising, we meet future wheelman Jack Weston. Weston gets hired by a mystery man to do a job. We jump forward in time and meet some other mystery men (including a baby Yaphet Kotto), along with McQueen. They're all getting in place for something; he's being a financial wizard guy.
Once the heist starts, we'll learn McQueen is the mastermind behind it all. Director Jewison breaks it out visually, with multiple frames onscreen at once, collaging the various simultaneous perspectives. It's a lot, but Jewison and the dream team crew pull it off. Affair's got Haskell Wexler shooting it; Hal Ashby, Ralph E. Winters, and Byron 'Buzz' Brandt (one of these things is doing its own thing…) editing it. So even though the film changes gears after the heist, when Dunaway comes in, it's still great-looking. Except after that dynamite, one of a kind opening number, the rest of the creative flexes are all in how to do lengthy montages.
The story is about McQueen, a brilliant, rich guy who planned a heist to see if he could do it. Dunaway is the insurance investigator working for the bank. Once she decides he's the guy, she's going to seduce him to get the money. Now, Dunaway does not come into the movie immediately after the heist. After the heist, we meet square-jawed copper Paul Burke. He will be the de facto lead for about fifteen minutes. Why is the timing so important? Because Affair's only got an hour once Dunaway's established. We're forty minutes into the movie before the movie decides what it's going to be.
And what it's going to be is McQueen doing rich guy stuff and living the good life and being genius and Dunaway falling for him. Sort of. Now, Dunaway's late sixties woman willing to trade a little bump and grind when two hundred thousand's on the line. McQueen's a divorced dad who doesn't miss the kids, much less the wife. He's got model Astrid Heeren at his beck and call (she's the same age as Dunaway but seems younger). Burke's a working-class good guy who can't understand why a smart dame like Dunaway would ever trade sex. It's this late sixties and early sixties clash between the two of them, and it's charming. Burke's a solid lug.
Unfortunately, it's more charming than anything Dunaway and McQueen get going. Yes, there's a very well-executed chess game with a bunch of innuendo, but it's like an ad for the Playboy Channel that airs after nine o'clock. It goes a tad too far, but it's trying to be classy. Because they're hot. Thomas Crown Affair is an attempt to sell McQueen as a male movie star as sexy as Dunaway is a female movie star. Thanks to Wexler in particular–McQueen's eyes are something–they pull it off well enough.
So they get hot and bothered in a sweaty way, Burke gets hot and bothered in a mad way, repeat ad nauseam. The film seemingly alternates between opulent wealth sequences, Dunaway doing her work thing (trying to bust McQueen), and her and McQueen having moody, tragic romance scenes.
It does not help the theme song–Noel Harrison's Windmills of the Mind is all about how nothing is happening except the same thing over and over and over again. And over again. Why are the lyrics to your original theme song about how boring your original theme song is?
Anyway.
Of course, they're going to get to the third act, when Dunaway and McQueen finally match wits for the chess game in real life, and we'll get some kind of intricate, elaborate sequence to top the opening heist.
Or one might think. Because Affair does nothing with the third act except manage to drag out a rapid-fire montage sequence. As for the star-crossed romance? Either way, it leaves Dunaway with nothing. It ought to be a post-modern noir, with Dunaway the combination investigator femme fatale. Instead… it's 1968.
Filmmaking-wise–outside the song–Thomas Crown's fantastic. Alan Trustman's script is impressive in what it does and does not accomplish (or attempt). But Burke's too square for the rest of the movie, even if he's good.
McQueen's fine. It's a nothing part. He's intelligent, athletic, charming when he needs to be, broody when he needs to be. He rides horses, flies planes, and just wants the next thrill. Alexander wept and all that jazz. Sometimes, the movie is just about McQueen being bored. And rich.
Bored and rich.
And Dunaway just wants to be bored and rich, too. She's good, but when her character goes to pot in the script, it goes to pot–bad 1968.
There's nothing quite like Thomas Crown Affair–with the filmmaking techniques and fashion angle–but the big swings can't cover everything. Maybe the song. But not everything else and the song.
This post is part of the Norman Jewison Blogathon hosted by Rebecca of Taking Up Room.
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Briefly, TV (21 July 2024)
American Gothic (1995) s01e17 “Learning to Crawl” [1996] D: Michael Lange. S: Gary Cole, Lucas Black, Paige Turco, Brenda Bakke, Sarah Paulson, Nick Searcy, John Mese. After a near death experience, Black goes fishing with Cole, only to get in the middle of Cole messing with Bakke and Mese’s date night. And to interrupt kidnapper Ted Raimi and company. Good acting from the regular cast can’t compensate for the terrible performances from the guest stars or the direction. Or the neglectful writing. Very low okay.
The Bear (2022) s03e01 “Tomorrow” [2024] D: Christopher Storer. S: Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Abby Elliott, Matty Matheson, Liza Colón-Zayas. The show does one of its concept episodes–a flashback filled montage showing White at various points in his professional career. Sometimes they even involve returning guest stars, just in for cameo bits. There are some reveals (it’s a mythology episode), but it’s mostly just exquisitely done food p*rn. Great direction from Storer. The best possible (narrative) dodge.
The Bear (2022) s03e02 “Next” [2024] D: Christopher Storer. S: Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Abby Elliott, Matty Matheson, Liza Colón-Zayas. Intense, initially Edebiri-fronted episode before it widens to the group and does a proper follow-up to last season’s finale. Some outstanding curse banter exchanges between White and Moss-Bachrach. Great performances. Oliver Platt shows up for some fun, and there’s a nice, unexpected coda. BEAR’s ripping. And the opening titles Chicago montage is a winner.
The Boys (2019) s04e06 “Dirty Business” [2024] D: Karen Gaviola. S: Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Karen Fukuhara. The show pushes the gross-out, even for it, as Quaid goes undercover as the Spider-Man analog in the Batman analog’s mansion. Well, the cave. Upstairs it’s Starr trying to court the 1% of the 1% into a coup, downstairs it’s even more objectionable. And then there’s a lot for Urban to figure out on his own.
The Boys (2019) s04e07 “The Insider” [2024] D: Catriona McKenzie. S: Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Laz Alonso, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara. The show remembers it’s the season finale next time, so after a relatively chill episode–minus the bad guy tearing their skin off (intentionally, so they can shape-shift) and things getting worse for Capone, Jesse T. Usher, and Chace Crawford (series best work from the latter two)–things get wild. And double and triple wild. Alonso’s awesome too.
The Boys (2019) s04e08 “Season Four Finale” [2024] D: Eric Kripke. S: Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Laz Alonso, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara. Powerhouse season finale gives lots of folks great scenes, starting with Urban and Moriarty (probably her best episode, acting-wise, to date), with Starr getting some great material too. And Claudia Doumit. Can’t forget her. Things just get progressively worse for the gang, as Urban lays dying and Moriarty’s imposter’s got her prisoner. Tense, passionate, knowing; real, real good.
The Equalizer (2021) s04e07 “Legendary” [2024] D: Tamika Miller. S: Queen Latifah, Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira, Laya DeLeon Hayes, Lorraine Toussaint, P.J. Boss. Exquisite righteous violence episode has Latifah searching for daughter Hayes’s missing friend, a trans teenager (Avery Sands). Yasha Jackson plays Sands’s (understandably) panicked mom. She’s real good. Meanwhile, Toussaint goes to visit her reformed mugger from last season, Sosko; they have a nice but complicated visit. The sometimes amateurish guest performances are still earnest and the script’s rock solid.
The Equalizer (2021) s04e08 “Condemned” [2024] D: Cheryl Dunye. S: Queen Latifah, Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira, Laya DeLeon Hayes, Lorraine Toussaint, Stephen Bishop. Latifah, Toussaint, and Hayes go to their annual block party, have gentle adventures, and learn important lessons. It’s a concept episode. Except, meanwhile, Kittles is shooting it out with the mob (in a bickering buddy pic with dad Danny Johnson). While it’s fun to see director Dunye do action sequences and Kittles is good, script’s a tad thin.
The Equalizer (2021) s04e09 “The Big Take” [2024] D: Millicent Shelton. S: Queen Latifah, Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira, Laya DeLeon Hayes, Lorraine Toussaint, Deepti Menon. Sometimes okay, sometimes not good episode has Latifah and Kittles teaming up to take down his partner-killing nemesis (returning guest star Berto Colon, who’s… low energy; the writing doesn’t help but… low energy). They bicker over approach and Kittles has his worst episode in ages. But Hayes and Toussaint have a perfectly solid mini-episode with squatter Menon.
The Equalizer (2021) s04e10 “Shattered” [2024] D: Darren Grant. S: Queen Latifah, Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira, Laya DeLeon Hayes, Lorraine Toussaint, Donal Logue. It’s the season finale, with some early forecasts at cast changes. Before the shake-up, Lapira finds herself in unexpected danger with the team racing to save the day. Sadly, it’s the network-mandated Islamophobic episode so it’s a bad A plot. Hayes’s educational future should be the B plot, but gets downgraded. Maybe the cast refresh will help.
Evil (2019) s04e01 “How to Split an Atom” [2024] D: Robert King. S: Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, Aasif Mandvi, Michael Emerson, Andrea Martin, Christine Lahti, Patrick Brammall. Is it really good or is it just Wallace Shawn joining the cast as the team’s boss? It’s really good (because Herbers finally gets to let loose). And they’ve got a doomsday clock (multiple ones, actually). Maybe it’ll be a good last season. The cast deserves it. Mandvi gets a good subplot too. Colter… not so much.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014) s11e16 “June 23, 2024: UK Elections” [2024] D: Paul Pennolino. S: John Oliver. The feature’s all about the July 4th UK election and what utter wankers the Tories have been for the last fourteen years. It’s a well structured episode, with great recaps for the familiar audience member, while still being geared towards less familiar viewers. Lots of good laughs at terrible people. Oliver rarely does one for the homeland; nails it.
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Briefly, Movies (4 July 2024)
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024) D: Mark Molloy. S: Eddie Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylour Paige, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, Kevin Bacon. Fun, straight-faced legacy-quel with everyone being way too old for this shit. Murphy’s back in 90210 to protect lawyer daughter Paige, who’s teamed up with Reinhold against dirty cops. The structure and, often, soundtrack play like franchise greatest hits. Except Paige keeps up with Murphy and they’re a delight. The end’s a little thin, but not too.
Hayseed Romance (1935) D: Charles Lamont. S: Buster Keaton, Dorothea Kent, Jane Jones. Outstanding physical work from Buster, but when he’s got to act it’s iffy. He’s answering a want ad–farmhouse handyman who also is in the running for husband–and thinks it’s from fetching young Kent. Turns out it’s her aunt, Jones, and the house is a disaster. Jones is great at the physical comedy too, which helps.
In Bruges (2008) D: Martin McDonagh. S: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Thekla Reuten, Jordan Prentice, Elizabeth Berrington. Moody, boozy, talky mobile play about hit men Farrell and Gleeson waiting for a call from the boss (Fiennes) for the next assignment. Strong first half falls apart in the second when writer-director McDonagh confuses himself with a better director. Fiennes’s writing forecasts McDonagh’s fumbles. Farrell and Gleeson are great, though. Nice Carter Burwell score too.
Late Night with the Devil (2024) D: Colin Cairnes. S: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, Ingrid Torelli, Rhys Auteri, Josh Quong Tart. Beautifully produced pseudo-pseudo-documentary about a seventies late-night talk show host’s missing episode, forgotten to history (unlikely) and just rediscovered. Deceptively mid performance from Dastmalchian; he’s dynamic until it matters. The supporting cast’s also iffy. Bliss’s fun, Gordon’s not, Torelli’s solid. Perfect costumes, gorgeous photography; shame it’s just about the final act twist(s).
One Run Elmer (1935) D: Charles Lamont. S: Buster Keaton, Lona Andre, Dewey Robinson, Harold Goodwin. Buster owns a gas station in the desert and competes with Goodwin’s station, first for business then for fetching Andre. Turns out she likes baseball and, wouldn’t you know it, both fellows play for rival teams. Some great stunt work from Buster and nice production values help things immensely. And Robinson’s fun as the umpire. Slight end, though.
Smart Blonde (1937) D: Frank McDonald. S: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Wini Shaw, Addison Richards, Robert Paige, Craig Reynolds, Charlotte Wynters. Fun little (doesn’t even break an hour) programmer about reporter Farrell solving crimes with her beau–police detective MacLane. The scoop? Richards is a straight-edge nightclub promoter who wants to get out without any funny business; he thinks he’s out, but they pull him back in. Great pace, and Farrell’s a delight. Practically no sexism (but… definite racism). Followed by FLY AWAY BABY.
Your Name. (2016) D: Makoto Shinkai. S: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Ryo Narita, Aoi Yuki, Nobunaga Shimazaki, Kaito Ishikawa, Kanon Tani. Lovely anime about two geographically distant high schoolers who, inexplicably, start switching bodies on irregular regular. It starts as a comedy with heart, then turns into something much more affecting. Great direction from Shinkai (who also scripted), even when the animation veers towards tepid. Kamiki and Kamishiraishi’s performances–along with Shinkai’s narrative impulses–more than cover for it.