A Mighty Wind (2003)

Director: Christopher Guest

Really funny mockumentary from arguably the genre's most accomplished practitioner, Christopher Guest.

A Mighty Wind is a fake, humorous documentary that chronicles the organization and execution of a commemorative reunion of folk musical acts, following the death of an influential producer who had been connected to the performers. Through interviews and Ken Burns-style still photos, bands with names like Mitch and Mickey, The Folksmen, and The New Main Street Singers tell of their own rises to fame during the 1960s, when the form was at its peak and their acts were on top of the popular music world. Not long after their heydays, though, all of the groups broke up, disbanded, or underwent large-scale personnel changes. So they all face the challenge of overcoming past divisions and grudges, in order to put on a reunion performance that isn't an embarrassing farce.

While I haven't seen all of Christopher Guest's documentaries, I've seen and loved his best-known ones for years. This is Spinal Tap and Best in Show are tough to top, in terms of phony documentary comedies. Still, there are others of his that I'd never seen. My wife and I watched the first 15-odd minutes of his scripted comedy For Your Consideration, but it didn't grab us. We jumped over to A Mighty Wind and found exactly what we were looking for. I don't find it quite as good as Spinal Tap or Best in Show, but it's not far behind.

As with most good mockumentaries, moments of awkward-
ness are offset by either silliness or, in the case of A Mighty
Wind, sappy earnestness between some of the musicians.
Here, Levy and O'Hara crank up the cheese as they practice.

I think one's enjoyment of this movie simply comes down to whether you like mockumentaries or not. There's always more than a little improvisation involved here, with the actors all given rough ideas of where a scene needs to end up, but little else in the way of a script. This allows them to more naturally riff and flow with their characters, making everything feel more like an actual, unscripted documentary. In unskilled hands, such an approach can be an unmitigated disaster. Fortunately, though, Christopher Guest and his frequent collaborators are among the grandmasters of improv comedy. The core trio of Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer have always been together, and they once again make up a musical trio in this movie. Other Guest mainstays fill up the roster: Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Bob Balaban, Jane Lynch, John Michael Higgins, Parker Posey, and others prove why Guest taps them as often as possible for these projects, as they nail their oddball, disaffected roles with aplomb. I will say that Eugene Levy's take on the quirky, socially inept Mitch Cohen wore on me just a tad, with his strangely high-pitched voice and somewhat forced discomfort, but he still provided laughs. The others were all great, especially the recently-deceased Fred Willard. But viewers who prefer tightly-scripted films may grow frustrated with the "loose" feel of this kind of movie.

The subject matter of folk musicians was a great choice. While the movie exaggerates the scale of folk music's popularity in the 1960s a tad for comedic effect, the fun part of it is making these popular groups exceedingly corny and sappy, even when singing about intensely dark topics (not unlike some very real folk groups of past and present). I'm fairly sure that the actors did a fair bit of their own playing and singing, but whoever did it was pretty great. As funny as the lyrics are, the actual musicianship is solid, which just makes the hokey words and sentiments that much funnier. It's sort of like having a really good "straight man" off of whom the "funny man" comedian gets their laughs.

This was a really enjoyable entry into the mockumentary canon. I only which I'd seen it sooner. 

Idiot Boxing: Insecure, season 4 (2020)

Issa Rae continues to head up a great modern dramedy.

This season sees Issa continue her attempts to forge a place for herself and figure out exactly what she wants in life - something that plenty of people entering their 30s struggle with. In Issa's case, it takes three main forms. Professionally, she is trying to coordinate a large community event and benefit, including food and entertainment. It forces her to work far more autonomously than ever, which of course has its pros and cons. Swirling around this is her relationship with longtime best friend, Molly, which has grown rockier for a few reasons. In addition, Issa's previous longtime boyfriend Lawrence has returned on the scene, with a very solid job and a new girlfriend - a girlfriend with whom Issa begins working in order to better coordinate her large-scale community event.

Since its first season back in 2016, this has been a must-watch show for my wife and me, and this newest season did nothing to change that. The humor is as sharp and consistent as ever, and the drama is solid enough that even someone like me - who's not big on relationship drama - can get wrapped up in it. As you would hope in the fourth season of a show that started with its main character in their mid- to late twenties, it's less about horrible decisions and more about the struggles that come with their increasing maturity and reevaluation of their relationships with each other. The big rift in this season is between Issa and Molly, triggered by Issa's furtively having Molly's boyfriend Andrew give her a bit of help with her event. This isn't helped by the fact that Molly's relationship with Andrew hits

Molly plays an even more prominent role this season, even
having an entire episode all to herself. Along with the return
of Lawrence, Issa's shifting friendship with Molly is a key
component to this fourth season of the show. 

some choppy waves, or that Issa has to navigate a strange triangle between her ex and now extremely eligible bachelor Lawrence and Lawrence's girlfriend. Yes, it's drama, but I never felt like anything was overly forced or in the melodrama category.

The comedy elements of the show? Still completely on point. Yet again, this season highlights Issa Rae's comic skills, and yet again, there are a ton of great supporting characters who bring the fun. The writing hasn't lost its edge, even if the main characters' blunders are a bit more subtle, and their struggles more of an internal nature. And this is where Issa Rae's masterful control of her physical movements, facial expressions, and comic timing shine once again.

Even though I feel like this show will run its course in one or two more seasons, I'm still completely on board and fully looking forward to the next chapter. 

The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

Director: Jim Henson

Another fun muppet movie, though one that I found to be a little too heavy on the musical numbers for my liking.

As part of our Coronavirus quarantine, my wife and I have not been above goofy, escapist movies. And even before the current quarantine, late last year, we had a good time re-watching the original The Muppet Movie. In this state of mind, we fired up The Great Muppet Caper, a film that I saw probably no less than a dozen times as a kid but hadn't watched in well over 30 years.

Rather than trying to continue the story told in The Muppet Movie, this one just takes the same basic characters and plugs them into a different tale. Here, Kermit and Fozzie are twin brothers (a hilariously nonsensical plot point of which the film is completely aware) who are a budding reporter duo. They chase a story of a jewel thief across the Atlantic, to England, where they become embroiled in the thief's shady plans, while Kermit meets Miss Piggy, an aspiring model. Along the way, the entire crew of familiar Muppets get involved for one reason or another, culminating in the gaggle of strange characters managing to foil the attempted theft of a nearly priceless diamond.

This one still has plenty of laughs for adult fans like me and my wife. Part of the fun is having decades-dormant memories jogged by certain jokes, physical gags, or iconic moments in the movie. There was one particularly subtle suicide joke that I found hilarious when I was about 8 years old but hadn't thought of since about 1983. Not that I knew it was a suicide joke back then - I was laughing at the goofy voice acting of the scene back then - but it was quite an experience to have a latent memory like that brought back to the surface. Oh, and that scene is still pretty damn funny to my 44-year-old self. There were more than a few moments like that upon this revisiting of the movie.

My favorite celebrity cameo in this one - Peter Falk as a
self-absorbed bum who takes a weird stab at helping Kermit
feel better.

Compared to The Muppet Movie, I found Caper to be a slight dropoff, mostly because there seemed to be far more musical numbers, some of which went on for several minutes. I'm generally not a big fan of musicals, so I found myself mostly waiting for the tunes to end and the regular zaniness to continue.

The overload of songs aside, the rest of the movie has plenty of gags that are right on par with some of the best moments of the TV show or the original movie. And of course, there are several solid celebrity cameos, though not as many as the 1979 movie. Charles Grodin is great as the villainous thief (who also falls in love with Miss Piggy), and we even get John Cleese, Peter Ustinov, and others. But the best is probably an uncredited Peter Falk as a know-it-all vagrant who tries to have a heart-to-heart with a disconsolate Kermit.

This is still a fun one for parents with young kids, or adults who don't mind some goofy family humor. These types of movies are rarely made anymore, but this one still holds up nicely. 

The Muppet Movie (1979)

Director: James Frawley

Still a fun, clever, goofy flick that can still please adults as well as kids.

Considering that we watched The Muppet Movie, one might think that my wife and I have kids. We don't. One might also assume that we watched this during the Coronavirus quarantine. We didn't. No, we actually watched this late in 2019, well before the COVID-19 virus altered all of our lives and viewing habits. We watched it just because it was a movie that we had watched plenty of times as kids in the early 1980s but neither of us had watched in decades. So one evening, after a long week, we decided to return to what we remembered as a gem of our youth.

We weren't disappointed.

The actual Muppet Show on television, which ran from 1976 to 1981, was known as a wonderfully hilarious, all-ages show that was ostensibly for kids but had more than its fair share of broad appeal. It had cranky adult characters, thinly-veiled sexuality, and a roster of massively famous celebrity guests that most late-night talk shows would have killed to have. It was a variety show run by raucous, wild puppets, and it quickly became legendary.

The 1979 feature film carried over all of the zaniness and fun of the TV show, using a road show plotline to keep things humming along. Kermit the Frog is offered a chance to be a big star in Hollywood, after a movie producer hears him singing in his home swamp. As Kermit makes his way to Tinsel Town, he meets and befriends nearly all of the other characters familiar to those who know the Muppet Show - Fozzie the Bear, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, and all of the other memorable characters. They are pursued by the mogul of a fast-food franchise that sells frogs' legs, who wants Kermit first as a spokes-, uh, frog, but then to simply cook up and serve in his restaurant.

Madelaine Kahn and Telly Savalas - just two of the many, many
great little celebrity cameos which were always been part of
the early Muppet movies.

Yes, it's all very silly, as it should be. But The Muppet Movie was great at the very thing that the TV was great at - breaking the fourth wall and cracking plenty of great jokes. There are more than a few puns and plenty of Zucker Brothers-style deadpan humor. And there are even a few solid jabs thrown at the entertainment industry here and there. And, of course, there are a few musical numbers thrown in, which is something that I'm always lukewarm about but certainly didn't mind, even in my mid-forties. The icing is always the many celebrity cameos, including names like Milton Berle, Mel Brooks, James Coburn, and plenty of others.

This was a every bit the fun, comforting stroll down memory lane that my wife and I wanted it to be. Jim Henson, creator of all things Muppet, was an absolute genius of family entertainment, and this movie will stand as testament to that for many, many decades to come. 

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Director: Craig Brewer

Hilarious "based on a true" underdog story that helps remind all of us of just how great a comic actor Eddie Murphy was and still is.

The movie tells the story of the creation of the blacksploitation movie Dolemite, a crass, low-budget, crime-action movie centered about the title character. Dolemite was the brainchild of then-struggling stand-up comedian Rudy Ray Moore. Inspired by stories from a local vagrant blessed with a dash of the raconteur and a gift for foul language, Moore developed the fictional character Dolemite, a pimp-like figure who spoke in dirty rhymes about his toughness and sexual prowess. The character soon became a huge hit within the black community, and Moore quickly found a modicum of success by selling records of his performances, usually given in night clubs in black neighborhoods. Moore's ultimate dream, though, was to bring the character to the big screen - something highly unlikely, given the blue nature of the character and the seemingly niche fanbase. Yet, the energetic comedian hustles his way to finding the resources to make it happen. He and a ragtag crew of semi-professional actors and young filmmakers manage to cobble together the low-budget action comedy movie of Moore's dreams. By any measure of the mainstream, it should have died on a cutting room floor. Instead, it became one of that year's biggest hits, and a cult classic that still lives to this day.

This was such a fun movie. The origin of Rudy Ray Moore's Dolemite character is compelling enough, but the dramatization of elevating such a clearly adult-oriented persona into a movie star, albeit a cult one, makes this a great overall dramatization of real-life events. I was familiar with Moore and the Dolemite character before seeing this movie, so I knew what to expect to an extent. The pleasant surprise was that my wife, mostly unfamiliar with Moore, seemed to enjoy it just as much as I did. This speaks to the movie's clear strengths.

A curious fun fact which I never knew - Moore's Dolemite
character is widely credited as being the godfather/proto-
type for the rap and hip-hop styles of rhyming which would
emerge within about five years after Dolemite's stage debut.

The story is a great underdog tale, which is hard to pass up. Moore was a down-on-his-luck, mediocre stand-up comedian performing at strip clubs before he hit on the Dolemite persona. And watching Eddie Murphy enact Moore's conception of Dolemite and gradually bring him to life is a treat. There is something about the character that is such pure performance. He's not telling jokes. He's not telling stories. Almost all he does is just brag on himself using one-sentence rhymes. But he carries it off with such pizzazz and swagger that it's as magnetic as it is hilarious. And while it's a bit of a trope, seeing his motley film crew put the Dolemite movie together is as satisfying and funny as any "can pull this off?" tale you've seen in film.

Perhaps the greatest takeaway for me from this movie is how it serves as a reminder of just how great a comic actor Eddie Murphy is. Like nearly every Gen-X English speaker on the planet, I grew up with the legend of Eddie Murphy's stand-up and comedy film genius through the 1980s. I also watched the steady decline through the 1990s in the quality of his movies, right through to the G- and PG-rated disposable family fare that he's almost exclusively been doing for the last two decades. But Dolemite is My Name says this loud and clear: the man is just as funny and as good an actor as he ever was.

Highly recommend this movie. Get ready for some seriously R-rated, blue humor, but if that's not an issue for you, then you'll dig it. 

Office Space (1999)

Director: Mike Judge

Brilliant satirical comedy of modern cubicle culture, and one that really hasn't aged much at all despite being over two decades old now.

For those who somehow haven't seen it, here's the brief summary: computer programmer Peter (Ron Livingston) is burned out with his cubicle job. After he has a mental snap brought on by a hypnosis session gone awry, he becomes magically apathetic towards the job, ignoring bosses and blissfully drifting through his day doing whatever he wants. He soon hatches a scheme with two friends and highly disgruntled co-workers to rob the company with a computer program of their own design. Things do not go as planned, sending the trio scrambling to solve the far greater problem which they've created for themselves.

That summary does zero justice to just how hilarious and witty this movie is. Written and directed by Mike Judge (Beavis and Butthead, Idiocracy, Silicon Valley, Tales from the Tour Bus, and others), this was one of the all-time great comic indictments of cubicle and corporate culture that really crystalized in the 1990s and ran right up through the following decades. To this day, over 20 years later, there are dozens of characters, lines, and situations that people know as well as any comedy or classic drama in film history. Whether it's the boss Bill Lumberg's detached, "yeah..." or a reference to "flare" or the gangster-style beatdown of a copy machine, this movie had so many great, brilliantly-executed comic ideas that they were bound to live on for many, many years. This, despite the fact that it was a box office flop.

Many of the quietly miserable sad sacks that work at Initech -
a bland, soul-sucking company that drives several of its
employees to go off the rails in myriad ways.

And like Mike Judge's other works, especially Idiocracy, Office Space has some very smart commentary about work, detachment, and the dynamic between employers and employees - a dynamic that has weirdly morphed into something more like what was present during the 1930s and '40s than what began happening in the '60s and '70s. By the late 1990s, large companies had begun growing far larger, only exacerbating the distance between managers and the front-line employees. This is very much where so many of the gags in Office Space are born, which is why the movie holds up so well. While certain elements have changed in terms of how big businesses operate, there still exists in many of them infinite layers of middle-management and socioeconomic disparity that anger and resentment from lower-level employees has only intensified. Peter, as goofy and ill-advised as his decisions can be, embodies a lot of that frustration here, and he cracks us up while doing it.

I don't know that this movie will ever really get old. I go back to it every few years, and while it will never be quite as fresh or funny as it was the first time I watched it two decades ago, it's still among the all-time greats. 

New(ish) Releases from 2019: Booksmart and Parasite

Booksmart (2019)

Director: Olivia Wilde

A new teen comedy to add to the canon of 21st century-classics.

Booksmart follows in the spiritual footsteps of Superbad by following a crazy day in the life of a couple of close high school friends, Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein). Amy and Molly are overachievers who are primed for upper-echelon universities, and they are in their final week of classes before graduating. But once they realize that all of their peers, to whom they had felt academically superior, are also getting into top-notch schools on the strength of skills unknown to the prideful young ladies, massive regret sets in. Namely, that they had wasted some of their high school years studying rather than occasionally cutting lose and having fun with their classmates. In an attempt to remedy this, they decide to go all-out and attend a massive graduation party where they will have all of the fun that they skipped during their previous years of study. Of course, the line to the party quickly becomes anything but straight, and the girls are sent on a rather wild, epic evening of craziness.

While the overall premise and structure of Booksmart aren't particularly novel, it breaks a few barriers by focusing on young ladies who are incredibly smart, funny, and can be every bit as raunchy as their male counterparts. While my 44-year-old self was probably not quite as entertained as a younger person might be, I still found plenty to laugh at and appreciate. The Odyssey-like journey goes through various episodes, some funnier and more creative than others, which keep the pace moving along nicely.

The strength is in the performances of Dever and Feldstein, who are great in their turns as Amy and Molly. I can't imagine that it's easy to pull off uproarious comedy in the same film where two actors need to build some genuine sympathy and heart with the audience, yet these two young stars pull it off.

I don't know that I'll go out of my way to watch this one again, but I could very easily see myself surfing across it, stopping, and staying on for the rest of the ride. At least, at any point in the purely-comedic first two acts. Things get a bit more dramatic in the third (as you would hope for a buddy comedy that aspired to be a bit more than comedy), but it's an entertaining trip worth jumping into at nearly any point.

Parasite (2019)

Director: Boon Jong-Ho

Brilliantly crafted and executed social thriller/dark comedy by a modern Korean master who seems to just keep getting better and better.

Parasite follows young South Korean man Ki-woo and his family, the Kims. The Kims are quite poor, though they all seem to be rather intelligent, if sometimes morally dubious, survivors. Ki-woo takes an opportunity to fill in for a friend as an English tutor to the 15-year old daughter of a very wealthy couple, the Parks. Ki-woo gets the job by lying about his credentials and keeping up a good front to the rather gullible Mrs. Park. The money is so good that Ki-woo finagles jobs for his family members, as well. But once the Kims get deep into the Park's lives, things take a strange turn which jeopardizes the entire scam.

A simple, spoiler-free summary of the premise hardly does this movie justice. As with director Boon's 2013 sci-fi dystopian film Snowpiercer, Parasite has a strong theme revolving around socio-economic class. The interactions both within and between the Kim and Park families say a ton about the relationships between the upper- and middle/lower-tiers on the economic spectrum, not just in South Korea but in any society. This is what elevates the story far above a mere thriller.

And suspense-thriller is what you get on the movie's surface, which it does extremely well. While it takes a bit of time for the mystery and suspense elements to kick in, they hit hard when they do; I guarantee that, if you don't know anything about the movie, then you will never be able to see where some of the twists are taking you.

The Kims, trying to make ends meet by folding pizza boxes.
What might have been completely depressing in another
movie is, in Parasite, comical and revealing.

But, unlike say, an M. Night Shyamalan movie, Parasite goes well beyond its twists for its real impact. As already stated, the plot turns and rising tension serve to do more than simply build drama. They offer sly and sometimes brutal commentary on relations between people of very different means.

One might be tempted to think that Parasite is some horrific, dark tale that will leave one endlessly disturbed, but such is not really the case. Yes, there are dark elements to it, and even some horror elements. But there is also plenty of humor of various types, some dark but some very light. And this range of tones and gags is brought off splendidly by the flawless cast, most notably all four of the Parks - Ki-woo (Choi Woo-sik), Ki-jung (Park So-dam), Chung-sook (Jang, Hye-jin), and Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho). The others are great, but these four charismatic hucksters really make you pull for them and really make you feel the pain when tragedy hits.

I expect Parasite to rake in more than a few major awards (I think it already has, at the time that I write this), as it really is an outstanding movie. If you haven't seen it, I can't recommend it enough. While there are elements that may seem strange to those more accustomed to traditional narratives, if you can go in with an open mind and try to read in between the lines a bit, you won't be disappointed. 

New Release: Sword of Trust (2019)

No Spoilers. Read Freely.

Director: Lynn Shelton

A really fun, though a bit tonally inconsistent, independent film that hits its comedic marks a bit better than its dramatic ones.

The movie follows two pairs of fairly normal folks who meet under highly unusual circumstances in modern day Birmingham, Alabama. Mel (Marc Maron) runs a pawn shop in town, and there is assisted by his conspiracy-theory-minded young clerk Nathaniel (Jon Bass). A couple - Mary and Cynthia (Michaela Watkins and Jillian Bell) - come in one day to valuate and perhaps sell an antique Civil War Union Army sword which was left to Cynthia by her recently-deceased grandfather. When Mel does a little research, he discovers that the sword, in addition to seeming genuine, is the type of item highly coveted by Confederate-supporting, Civil War "truthers" who seek any hard evidence for the rather dubious notion that the South had in fact won the Civil War. Cynthia's sword seems to be just such an item, making it exceptionally valuable to this bizarre community. This all sends Mel, Nathaniel, Mary, and Cynthia along a path that puts them in very close contact with some strange, disturbing, and ultimately dangerous individuals who will stop at very little to get their hands on Cynthia's sword.

The movie is, first and foremost, a comedy, and it is very funny. Marc Maron has long been a great stand-up comedian, and has recently been turning in great acting performances, most notably on the Netflix series GLOW. In Sword of Trust, he plays another version of himself, though it is one that allows him to expand his range a bit and have a few dramatic scenes. He pulls them of brilliantly, even if the scenes themselves don't help create a cohesive, overall tone for the movie. As Mel, he carries the knowing, world-weary sarcasm of a man who has seen his dreams die mostly by his own hand, but is still able to use biting humor to keep himself afloat. His cynicism is most immediately counter-balanced in the film by Nathaniel, a rather sweet but dim young fellow who easily buys into whatever attractive conspiracy theory is floating around the Internet. The two co-workers make for a solid comedy pairing, and when Mary and Cynthia turn up with their own push/pull dynamic and bizarre story, things only get more curious.

Cynthia, Mary, Mel, and Nathaniel. Things get stranger and
(mostly) funnier for these two pairs the further they descend
into the rabbit hole of Confederate "truthers."

The film certainly takes on a unique subject in the staunch believers in a Confederacy that is now dead for over 150 years. The film explores the twisted ignorance behind these beliefs to a degree, but mostly it serves as fodder for the humor in the show. In fact, things get borderline goofy by the movie's end, which feels a bit odd given how very real, backwards, ignorant racism so desperately seeks to find legitimacy through means such as the titular sword in this film. My wife and I were still laughing at the gags right through to the end, even though when one steps back, it might become clear that there are elements of truth there which are no laughing matter.

The other side plot is that between Mel and local woman Deirdre (Lynn Shelton). I won't give anything away, as the story between these two is only first hinted at, but then revealed about halfway through the film. And the story and performances feel perfectly organic and touching. The problem is that it's difficult to find a connection between their more somber, dramatic relationship and the greater comedy tale that is spun around it.

Despite my little gripes about a lack of cohesion, this was still a good little movie. I'm very glad that my wife and I went out to see it. It was well worth the money and time, and it's exactly the type of smaller-scale, smaller-budget independent movie that I would like to see studios support and produce more often. 

New-ish Releases: Late Night (2019); The Dead Don't Die (2019)

Late Night (2019)

Director: Nisha Ganatra

A solid comedy with a strong cast, even if it is one that is fairly predictable.

Emma Thompson plays Katherine Newbury, a late night talk show host who, while an icon of immense achievement, has seen her popularity and relevance fade for about a decade. When word comes down that her show will be cancelled after the current season, Newbury and her all-male writing staff go scrambling for solutions. Newbury's knee-jerk is to hire a female writer, quickly tapping Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling), a motivated and aspiring but vastly inexperienced young woman who has been working in a factory. Despite her lack of writing chops, Patel has enough new ideas to inject a bit of life into Newbury's late show.

Late Night is a decent enough dramedy, even if it doesn't offer many surprises in terms of overall plot, character development, or interpersonal dynamics. It does, however, offer the requisite amount of laughs, which should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the charming Kaling and the immensely versatile Thompson. These two, along with nearly all of the supporting cast, wring the most from the script (written by Kaling) - a script which has some good comic moments but also has its share of somewhat flat or predictable gags.

The overall themes are what one might expect, with the primary focus being on empowering women. Fortunately, this element is never too heavy-handed, despite it clearly being a subject that Kaling wanted to address. There are a few secondary stories, such as the obligatory slow-burn love interest tales (which are actually done well) and a marital strife tale involving Newbury and her terminally ill husband (John Lithgow)  that never fully materializes completely.

I don't know that I'll ever feel the urge to watch this movie again, but it was fun enough. Fans of Thompson or Kaling will enjoy themselves, even if this is hardly a life-changing work of cinema.

The Dead Don't Die (2019)

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Rather disappointing, but not a completely unexpected letdown.

As a fan of Jim Jarmusch, it was very easy to get excited about the prospect of a comedy zombie movie starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, and a slew of other great actors. Jarmusch has written and directed some wonderfully unique and stylish films which I absolutely love, but he's also made a few which did not resonate with me at all. And when I saw the rather lukewarm reviews pour in, I wasn't stunned that The Dead Don't Die fell far short of what I consider his very best films.

The story is set in the fictional town of Centerville, where local sheriff Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray) and his two deputies Ronnie and Mindy (Adam Driver and Chloe Sevigny) start seeing bizarre murders and other grisly behavior in their otherwise sleepy town. As they try to deal with the increasing death toll, it becomes clear that the earth is being overrun by a global rise of zombies. The three officers try to deal with the horror the best that three easy-going, small-town cops can.

I'll give Jarmusch credit for taking some big, off-beat swings in this movie. Attempting to present a zombie apocalypse in such a slow, lazy way is certainly a different approach. And it's actually charming in moments. But there are times when is really just drags with overly long, repetitive gags and just a tad too little happening at certain moments. There's also the character of Zelda Winston (Tilda Swinton), the oddball mortician in town whose little tale begins as highly intriguing and then ends in a turn so bizarre as to feel like a cop out.

At the other end of the creative spectrum is Jarmusch's unispired choice to have Adam Driver's character go completely "meta" by making references to the "theme song" and the "script" of the movie. Such things were funny back when they were fresh - many decades ago - but it ceased being funny long ago. Maybe if Jarmusch had done something novel with the gag, it would have worked better, but he didn't do anything with the idea. It was one of several elements that hinted at bigger, funnier, and more creative developments which never emerge.

It's obvious that I was underwhelmed by this movie. Still, it had some laughs, and it never takes itself very seriously. That helps, to be sure, even if it doesn't much redeem the film. Fans of any of the actors or of zombie flicks will certainly find a few things to like about it. Just don't expect any consistency or anything particularly ground-breaking here. I still love Jarmusch, but this won't go down as one of my favorites of his. 

New Release: Long Shot (2019)

Director: Jonathan Levine

A flawed but funny comedy very much in keeping with Seth Rogen's comedy film career trajectory.

Long Shot tells the story of Secretary of State Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) – a bright and rising political star whose intelligence, political savvy, and photogenic image all suggest that she is poised to take the next great step into the presidency. During a charity dinner, Field comes across Fred Flarsky (Rogen), whom Field grew up around and even babysat for a time when she was in high school and Flarsky was in junior high. Flarsky has since become a highly independent journalist with a strong liberal bent, and one who has just quit his job at a small media outlet because it has been bought out by a massive, right-leaning media conglomerate. After their awkward reunion, Field brings Flarsky onto her team as a speech writer. The two, as different as they are in diplomacy and polish, start to reconnect and grow closer as they travel the world and try to put Field in a position to raise her political stock.

The movie is certainly entertaining enough. Like nearly every other Seth Rogen movie I’ve seen, he almost can’t help but be funny. He has always had a knack for selecting writers with whom he works well, and Long Shot has more than a few gags and lines that had me laughing out loud. It helps that the supporting cast all keep up admirably. Theron once again shows off her comic chops, though she does mostly play the "straight woman" to Rogen's typically goofy character. And others like O’Shea Jackson as Flarsky’s best friend and June Diane Raphael as Fields’s primary strategist only enhance the humor.

O'Shea Jackson Jr., left, as Flarsky's best friend, Lance.
Jackson's is one of several excellent supporting performances
that leave you wanting to see a bit more of him.

The story itself is fun enough, though lacking in a completely consistent tone. The humor is often fairly grounded, though it will take little flights into the more fantastic at times. This would normally be fine, but when one of the themes of the movie is the very real battle for women to be taken seriously and granted political power for more than just their looks, then sillier humor can feel a bit out of place. It still made me laugh, but it also dilutes what could have been a deeper message. Related is the rather obvious trope of the “dumpy, scruffy, average-looking guy hooks up with insanely beautiful woman” that is at the center of the movie. At first glance, this can be a bit off-putting. Once I thought about it, though, I actually appreciate it as a gender-reversal of sorts. In this movie, the male really has none of the obvious power here. Charlotte Field is more powerful, more beautiful, and at least as intelligent as the disheveled but principled Flarsky. For the most part, their established emotional connection feels organic enough without the woman serving the purpose of filling a powerful man’s needs. Quite the opposite – Flarsky is arguably there to fill one of the few needs that the immensely-successful Fields has – the need to rediscover what she truly loves in life, after so many years playing the game of optics in the high-stakes world of global politics.

I will offer the brief caveat that the humor in the movie can run into the raunchier end of things at times, which is par for the course in a Seth Rogen-headed film. The language is the primary source, but there are a handful of sex and body function gags in there, as well. I’m personally not bothered by such things, but it bears mentioning for those who may be put off by them.

My basic litmus test of a comedy is whether I would watch it again. With Long Shot, my answer is yes. It might not be right away, but it’s a fun rom-com that I can easily see my wife and I surfing across at night and staying to get some good laughs, along with a dash of depth.

Retro Trio: Talladega Nights (2006); The Conjuring 2 (2016); The Ninth Gate (1999)

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

Director: Adam McKay

My second viewing of this Will Ferrell farce, the first one being shortly after its release 12 years ago. Still consistently funny, though a movie that relies on its cast more than any especially clever script.

To quickly recap, Will Ferrell plays Ricky Bobby, a NASCAR driver born with a desire to "drive fast" and eventually gets his shot on the big stage. He quickly rises to the top of the sport, but almost as quickly becomes immensely arrogant, seeing his success on the racetrack as validating his and his family's boorish behavior. Ricky's world is turned upside-down when he is first defeated at the hands of the gay, French Formula One driver Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), and the subsequent defeat sees his family and best friend abandon him. Ricky then must rediscover his shattered confidence and put his life back together with the help of his loving mother (Jane Lynch) and his estranged and ever-irresponsible father (Gary Cole).

What can one say about Talladega Nights other than it's certainly a "Will Ferrell" movie. Ferrell has always been a guy who can make me laugh with consistency, even if he's never been an intellectual or overly clever comedian. Virtually every memorable role and character has been the same for him - the obliviously over-confident boor. Thing is, he is so freakishly good at playing this buffoonish role in spot-on deadpan, that he's bound to make nearly anyone laugh at least a few times in every movie. Talladega Nights is no different.

What helps this movie rise above lesser Ferrell fare like Get Hard or Daddy's Home is the comedic talent of the supporting cast. Time-tested comedy pros like John C. Reilly, Jane Lynch, and Sacha Baron Cohen unsurprisingly hit their marks well. But even lesser-known comedic quantities like trophy-wife-playing Leslie Bibb do nice work here. But arguably the stand-out minor character is legendary comedic character-actor Gary Cole, who plays Ricky's transient, rebel-without-a-clue father, Reese Bobby. Many will recognize him as the droning boss Lumbergh from the classic Mike Judge movie Office Space, or more recently as the hilariously dry political analyst Kent Davidson on the HBO series Veep. But here, Cole gets to show off a more dynamic aspect of his comedy game, playing the brash, loud-mouthed father who sparks his son's love of driving as well as his supreme arrogance.

It helped that I watched this movie with my wife, who hadn't seen it. Seeing a goofy comedy like this is always more enjoyable with others, even if it's hardly what I would call an essential classic. Within the Will Ferrell comedy canon, though, I have it up with Blades of Glory as one of his two or three best.

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

Director: James Wan

A step down from the original, though a high-quality version of a mostly by-the-numbers horror flick.

The Conjuring told the based-on-true-events story of a haunting which called on Ed and Lorraine Warren to assist a family with a truly haunted house. After recovering from that harrowing experience, the couple is now asked to help a poor family in London England with strange phenomena in their run-down flat. There, a single mother's children are experiencing moving objects and terrifying visions. Most notably, the youngest girl Madison is seeing and perhaps sometimes being controlled by the spirit of the old man who previously lived in the home.

This sequel was not nearly as satisfying to me as the original. It sticks to the same formula in most ways - use tried-and-true classic haunted house tropes: creaky doors, things jumping out of shadows, eerie sounds and whispers in the night, and so on, and do them well. Director James Wan (who also oversaw the original) is an undisputed expert in this realm, to be sure. The problem is that they lose their effect when one has seen the original movie not long before (I saw it about two years ago). Yes, the jump scares are very effective, but I've always found such a tactic as being ultimately shallow. Fortunately, there are some visual sequences that are more original and nerve-tingling, even before the inevitable jump-scare, such as Lorraine Warren's daydream at home involving "The Nun" (I won't ruin it for those who haven't seen it) and a few others.

I think what stood out to me as being particularly inferior to the original were the non-horror elements. The dialogue was notably bad at times, either from being overly sappy or simply overwrought. While the original movie didn't have stand-out dialogue, it at least wasn't distracting in any way. The sequel, unfortunately, made some missteps by trying to get sentimental or explore more human emotional territory. When highly reliable actors like Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are having trouble selling the lines, then you know the writing is a bit dubious.

So I obviously did not like The Conjuring 2 as much as the original. Still, it was loads better than the next movie I watched...

The Ninth Gate (1999)

Director: Roman Polanski

Disappointing, even though I pretty much knew to keep my expectations tempered.

All I knew about this movie was that it was about a rare book dealer who is sent to track down an ultra-rare volume reputed to be of particularly demonic nature. As a guy who loves books, used to work in book stores and collect books, and enjoys a good Biblical demon story, I thought there would be enough here to really enjoy. Not quite.

The story follows Dean Corso (Johnny Depp), a book dealer of highly dubious morals who is hired to track down a pair of books supposedly written by Satan himself. The man who hires him, Boris Balkan (Frank Lingella), has one copy of the volume and he wants it authenticated along with the other two. Corso infers that Balkan has been attempting to use the books to literally raise the devil and acquire unspeakable power in the process. Corso goes to Europe, where the other two copies are held. As he gets closer to the books and their owners, however, Corso becomes a person of interest for a few mysterious individuals. When people start to die around Corso and the books, things grow ever-more sinister. Everything culminates when Balkan ends up with the relevant information from the three texts and enacts a Satanic ritual, only to fail horribly and burn himself alive. Corso, who witnesses this first-hand, is then granted his own chance to pass through the titular "ninth gate," and into who knows what sort of demonic powers.

The movie has some solid ideas going for it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what accomplished director Roman Polanski was thinking as he made this movie. I don't know if there was studio interference here, or if it was just a bad misfire in terms of vision (it happens to the best of them), but the movie never seems to get anything completely right. There are several plot turns which at first are intriguing but then fall flat due to either being unimaginative or simply lacking enough detail to be compelling. Characters act in illogical or wildly inconsistent ways. I often had the feeling that Polanski was trying to be too subtle, leaving the audience to figure something out but not giving us nearly enough clues to do so. What we are left with is a mess of overly vague suggestions that never coalesce into a satisfying narrative.

The acting is just as spotty as the narrative. The veterans like Depp, Langella, and even Lena Olin are fine. They do their typically-solid jobs here. But more than a few secondary characters were downright awful, most obviously "The Girl," played by Emmanuelle Seigner. I don't know any of Seigner's other work, but it looks like she has a solid resume in film and TV. That said, it was simply hard to watch her in this movie. I can only guess at the possible reasons; whatever it was, though, it resulted in line deliveries that were alternately stiff and oddly-stressed. There were also a few other bizarrely wooden actors in lesser parts, which rang of Polanski hiring them for their stunning good looks rather than any trace of acting ability.

This movie is a shame, really. It had the makings of something much scarier and memorable, rather than the frustrating mess that it was. 

Retro-Trio: Hellraiser (1987); Semi-Pro (2008); Flesh + Blood (1985)

Hellraiser (1987)

Director: Clive Barker

Sometimes you feel the urge to go back and watch a highly influential movie you hadn't seen in decades, even if you're fairly sure that it won't hold up well. Such was the case when, a few nights back, I noticed that Hellraiser was available on one of my streaming services. It was late, and I was in the mood for something twisted and dark, so I went for it.

Watching this movie now, 31 years after its original release and probably a good 25 years after I'd last seen it, the strengths and weaknesses are exactly what lay in my memory, even though most of the details had been lost in the interim.

For those who don't know the tale, it is a wildly horrific tale of Julia and the family into which she married. The rather cold, reserved Julia moves into the old, previously abandoned family house of her husband, Larry, and her step-daughter Kirsty. When first seeing the place, they realize that Larry's mysterious loner brother, Frank, had been squatting in the home not long before their arrival, though Frank is nowhere to be found at the time. Seeing his belongings sparks Julia's memories of having an extended, passionate affair with the darkly hedonistic Frank, and Julia even begins to dream about being with Frank again. A few days later, Larry cuts his hand in the home, and the blood trickles into the floorboards of the dank, upper-most room in the house. Slowly, the blood is absorbed and revives some sort of horrific, flayed human, whom Julia discovers to her horror. This creature quickly explains to Julia that he is, indeed, Frank, and that he had transported himself, via a strange black and gold magic box, into a realm of dark sadomasochism ruled by terrifying, demoniac creatures called Cenobites. Frank convinces Julia to lure more victims into his upper floor lair, where she should kill him and allow their blood to revitalize Frank into human form before the Cenobites discover him missing and pull him back into their twisted, torturous realm.

In its day, Hellraiser was one of the most creative, disturbing, and truly horrifying films made in quite some time. Sure, there had been more graphic horror movies. And there had been eerier tales told on film. But Clive Barker's feature film debut was its own stunning blend of modern gothic horror and graphic bloodletting, wrapped in a supernatural tale that hinted at its own almost Lovecraftian-level mythos. The mere conception and look of the Cenobites, tortured and disfigured creatures cloaked in black leather and adorned with various sharp, cutting instruments, was enough to give most of us nightmares. When this was added to the quality special effects that brought the nightmares to life, you had something that made a major impression, grotesque it is may have been. In watching it now, 30 years after its release, I can say that most of the visual effects, especially the costumes and basic set designs, hold up. And the pure horror elements of the story are just as disturbing now as they were then.

The effects in the movie are great, most notably on the
slowly-regenerating Frank. It calls to mind of the stellar
makeup work from Cronenberg's The Fly.

Unfortunately, like most of even the best horror films, the non-horror aspects of the movie are fairly weak. The backstory of Frank and Julia's affair is quite shallow, with Frank being a one-dimensional "bad boy" who literally shows up in a leather jacket on Julia's doorstep, dripping with rain, and giving her the bedroom eyes right from the jump. There is zero subtlety in their lust-filled affairs, and it seems a bit odd that Julia becomes so wildly obsessed with him that she is quite literally prepared to become a serial killer just to revive him - a man who long since abandoned her to go chasing other women and satisfaction of his own carnal lusts through any means he could find. I suppose one could argue that such can be the power of lust, especially lust repressed under a cold veneer such as the one that Julia usually exudes, but this is a bit of a stretch.

The acting is rather inconsistent, too, with a few screen veterans like Andrew Robinson and Clare Higgins doing just fine, but most other cast members appear rather amateurish. It doesn't do any of them any favors that the dialogue is uncomfortably bad, aside from the few memorable catchphrases that Barker puts in the mouths of the Cenobites - "We have such sights to show you," and "We'll tear you soul apart!" delivered in actor Doug Bradley's powerful, domineering voice still resonate as some of the most memorable lines in the history of horror films. But when it comes to the more casual dialogue between the horror scenes, the attempts at humor fall completely flat and any attempt to build any compassion for the characters never materializes.

I recall having seen the immediate sequel, 1988's Hellbound: Hellraiser II, but I've never bothered with any of the seven feature-length follow-ups (several of which were straight-to-video). I can appreciate dark horror, and the more imaginative concepts which Clive Barker created those decades ago are still somewhat compelling, but there was never enough for me to go beyond those first two movies. Real horror aficionados have likely already seen these films, probably multiple times, so it is hard to recommend it to any new viewers. Only if you are a horror fan who is a bit young and never gone back to see this one would I suggest you give it a go - despite its clear flaws, it really is one of the most influential horror movies of all time, with its fingerprints still being seen in horror movies made today.

Semi-Pro (2008)

Director: Kent Alterman

It's a Will Ferrell comedy, alright.

I like Will Ferrell. He's always been good for pretty solid, consistent laughs. I have not, however, ever become a full devotee of the comedian with seemingly boundless energy. As funny as he can be, he rather quickly became a one-note comic act in my view. This is why I've never run out to catch him movies in theaters, often waiting years after their release to watch them; sometimes never bothering to watch them at all. Watching the now decade-old Semi-Pro did nothing to change my feeling about Ferrell, either positively or negatively.

The story takes for its setting the rather low-hanging comedic fruit of the disco era in 1976. Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, a one-hit music wonder who used his lone hit song's earnings to purchase the Flint Tropics - a professional basketball team in the struggling American Basketball Association (ABA). The Tropics are the worst team in the floundering ABA, only keeping their nose above water thanks to Moon's over-the-top promotional antics, including sensational halftime shows and performances. When word comes down that the ABA is going to be contracted and absorbed into the far larger and more successful NBA, the desperate Moon makes a deal to see that his team is one of the four who will make the jump into the big league. The deal requires him to get his squad to climb out of the cellar and attain 4th place in the ABA standings by season's end, no mean feat for the disogranized and talent-bereft Tropics. Hope does emerge when aging former NBA player Ed Monix (Woody Harrelson) is able to lend his veteran knowledge and help coach up talented but selfish young NBA-hopeful Clarence (Andre Benjamin).

While Ferrell's Jackie Moon character isn't exactly like Ron Burgundy in Anchorman or Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights, Moon does bear the hallmark idiocy, self-absorption, and overconfidence of virtually every character Ferrell has ever played on TV or the big screen. Of course, there is a reason for the typecast - Ferrell is exceptionally good at the role. Despite myself, I can't help but laugh at his line deliveries, facial expressions, and overall body language when playing such over-the-top buffoons. Since Ferrell's shtick alone can become a bit tiresome at times, it helps that there's ample comedy talent around him. Will Arnett is a standout, as the whiskey-swilling, chain-smoking color commentator for Tropics' broadcasts, but there are several others who round out the proceedings well. Woody Harrelson's comedic gifts are mostly underutilized, as he plays the mature role in the film, but he does have a few moments.

As with every other Ferrell-starring film, not every gag hits, and there are probably ten to fifteen minutes of ad-libbed nattering that should have been edited out, but the movie provides frequent enough laughs to justify its purpose. It's a dumb comedy meant to provide some gut laughs. It does that just fine.

Flesh + Blood (1985)

Director: Paul Verhoeven

A rather good, gritty medieval flick with a B-movie attitude by a director who knows how to do entertaining sex and violence.

I picked this one up after seeing it pop up on more than one "underrated film" list. Despite being a true 1980s kid, I had never even heard of it. Now that I've seen it, I understand why. The movie follows a renegade band of mercenaries led by Martin (Rutger Hauer), a highly skilled and dangerously cunning fighter. Martin and his band are first used and then cheated by a regional lord in order to get his castle back from invaders. As revenge, Martin's unruly band stages an attack on a group of the lord's closest associates, including his son Steven (Tom Burlison) and Steven's bride-to-be, Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Martin's band of marauders steal the goods, only to later discover that Agnes has been hidden away in one of the wagons. She is promptly raped by Martin, although in a way whereby Agnes either does, or at least acts like she does, enjoy being violated by the strapping bandit leader. From this point, Agnes's action become rather difficult to decipher for everyone involved. She is taken with the band to a small nearby castle, where Martin's crew kills the defenders and takes over. Agnes seems to become Martin's willing woman, although when Steven and the regional lord's soldiers lay siege to the castle, Agnes continues to change her allegiances back and forth between Steven and Martin. By tale's end, Martin narrowly escapes his entire band's being wiped out by the plague, and Agnes leaves with Steven. Agnes actually sees Martin escaping, but remains silent rather than alerting Steven's men to the dangerous bandit's survival.

This is a 1980s medieval sword-swinger unlike any other I've ever seen, especially from that era. I always enjoyed the setting and characters in those romantic "Arthurian" type tales, and even plenty of the fantasy tales that were inspired by that sort of setting. Excalibur is still great, and movies like Ladyhawke and Willow always had an appeal for me. Those movies were, though, relatively PG-rated. Flesh + Blood, on the other hand, gets its hands really dirty. The murder and sex are right in your face, and Martin's rape of Agnes is downright disturbing on an original Straw Dogs level. This movie is very much about depicting a band of depraved and bloodthirsty cutthroats in all their viciousness, and it works quite well. They truly are despicable characters.

Martin is more than ready to let Agnes handle his, uh, rifle.
The previously-sheltered Agnes takes to the sex and violence
with disturbing alacrity.

The story of Agnes is also a strangely novel one. There is a bold ambiguity to her motivations, as she plays Martin and Steven off of one another, almost like a cat playing with two mice. Of course, this cat is posing as a harmless kitten, but there is a strange empowerment to her character at times. And the way that the theme of violence is handled puts me in mind of the David Cronenberg masterpiece A History of Violence, in which violence is depicted both as a repugnant aspect of human nature as well as a source of animal magnetism to others. Rutger Hauer's swaggering, bare-chested alpha male Martin is the polar opposite of the learned and thoughtful but also bold and clever Steven. The basic tale of a woman torn between "brawn" and "brains" was not a new one by a long shot, but this movie tackled the subject in a grittier way than any other I know of.

I doubt I'll ever need to see this movie again, but I was glad to have finally gone back and given it a shot. It's not for everyone, as it is a hard-R-rated movie, without a doubt. But it more than held my attention for its manageable running time, and it shed even more light on what an exciting, if uneven, resume Paul Verhoeven has put together over the decades.

Retro Duo (sort of): Paul (2010); Logan [Noir version] (2017)

Paul (2011)

Director: Greg Mottola

This is the fun result of using a film to put together some science-fiction fan/writers with some of the most naturally funny actors in the business.

Nick Frost and Simon Pegg (who also co-wrote the movie) play Graeme and Clive, two massive fans of all things science-fiction and comic book, who have traveled from Englad to go on a massive road trip in the U.S., starting at the San Diego Comic Convention and then taking their RV through to and through sites noted in modern extra-terrestrial lore. In the middle of the desert, though, they come across an actual alien, who calls himself Paul. Paul speaks perfect English and has all the mannerisms and outlook of a foul-mouthed, good-timing Gen X-er. He's also quite kind and in possession of several amazing abilities, including invisibility, a sort of telepathy, and the ability to heal others. Paul is on the run from the U.S. government agency which has kept him in captivity for decades, and he plans to rendevouz with a ship from his home planet. Graeme and Clive agree to help him, odd as it seems for these two men of little action.

The movie is good fun, especially for science-fiction nerds. There are plenty of references, both obvious and subtle, to classic sci-fi and fantasy adventure films and shows. The tale itself is interesting enough, and it does use Paul to explore a few headier notions about humans' place in the grander scheme of things. It actually could probably have delved a little deeper in this area had it desired, but the movie seemed to opt for a more comedic tone. And this is where the strengths mainly lie. Pegg and Frost have shown to be strong comedy writers in their past TV show Spaced and their co-written movies with Edgar Wright. Paul is really not different, though it is further enhanced by a great ensemble cast of seasoned comic veterans from the Paul Feig and Judd Apatow crews of regulars. This includes Kristin Wiig, Seth Rogan (the voice of Paul), Bill Hader, Jane Lynch, and a host of other familiar faces from those directors' noted films. As always, they bring razor sharp comic timing, physical humor, and ad libbing abilities second to none. Many of the laughs my wife and I got were from short, simple reactions or facial expressions.

There are some scenes and gags that either don't quite hit or are beaten into the ground a little, but this is fairly standard for this type of comedy. Anyone who enjoyed Pegg and Frost in Shawn of the Dead or the other Cornetto trilogy films will certainly enjoy this one.

Logan (2017) - "Noir" version

Director: Nick Mangold

In a move that I hope other filmmakers embrace, the makers of Logan released the blu-ray version of the film with an additional disc containing a black and white version of the movie. This is great for film nerds, especially those of us who greatly enjoy many movies from the black and white days and classic noir films.  After sitting on this version of the movie for a few months, I finally gave it a shot. My review of the color version is here, so I'll only really comment on the throwback absence of color, rather than get back into the other elements of the movie.

Seeing Logan in black and white is worth it to those who enjoy black and white films, even if I didn't feel that it is a superior version to the original. It's a curious exercise for two reasons. One is that seeing the black and white version does accentuate just how the story does draw from traditional noir tales. Unlike other superhero movies, including the half-dozen X-Men team movies and the solo Wolverine films, Logan features a doomed protagonist who is all but completely resigned to his bloody fate. The figure of the disaffected, wounded anti-hero has been a part of the genre since the days of James M. Cain. This was brought to magnificently dark life in classic noir films in the forties and fifties, most notably Double Indemnity and Out of the Past. Just in terms of basic character, Logan is very much in line with the protagonists of those great stories, and seeing the movie devoid of color drives the point home nicely.

One of a handful of setting where the noir version does
surpass the color version. Black and white filming seems to
be all about light and shadows, and Logan wasn't truly
intended to place such emphasis on those visual elements.

The second reason it is curious is more cinematic. When one watches those old classic noir films by the likes of Billy Wilder and Jacques Tourneur, it is easy to see how skilled they were at using light and shadow to amazing effect. Truly, the noir genre of films all but requires the absence of color, due to the grim themes and tones that are at its core. The composition of the scenes and sequences is some of the finest work in all of world cinema, as it illustrated a perfect meeting of story, mood, and artistic medium. This, unfortunately, is where Logan can't live up to its noir predecessors. Most likely since it was not meant to be shot only in black and white, there are many scenes that are not enhanced, and in fact are somewhat diminished, by the lack of color. There are a few scenes which bear out the black and white contrast well, such as the early scenes with Professor X in the collapsed water cooler, with its beams of sunlight peeking through an otherwise dark ramshackle prison. Or a couple of visceral fight scenes which take place at night - one at the very beginning of the picture and one in the middle. But the sequences in vibrant Las Vegas or the lush, verdant forests that are the setting for the film's finale lose something in black and white.

Watching Logan this way is something I recommend to fans of the film who want to change it up a bit. I'm certainly glad I gave it a try, but I think all, or nearly all, of my future viewings will be in color. 

Idiot Boxing: Brockmire, season 1 (2017); Archer, season 8 (2017)

Brockmire, season 1 (2017)

I wasn't completely sure that the concept behind this show would carry an entire season, but it fortunately proved me wrong. Credit to Hank Azaria and the writers for taking a funny little short sketch and expanding into a larger world and narrative that maintains it humor well beyond its humble origins on Funny or Die.

Brockmire follows the titular baseball announcer attempting a comeback after an all-time great fall from fame. The show opens with this very fall: it's 2007 and Kent Brockmire is doing play-by-play for the Kansas City Royals, where he has done the job for many years. As usual, he is imbibing alcohol during his broadcast, but unlike previous ones, this time Brockmire confesses to the entire listening audience that he had just earlier that day walked in on his wife having an orgy. This triggers a full-blown, on-the-air, profanity-laden meltdown that leads to Brockmire's dismissal and eventual departure from the United States altogether. Flash forward to 2017. Brockmire arrives in a fictionalized version of Morristown, Pennsylvania, where he has been offered a gig as the public address announcer for the Morristown Frackers, a bottom of the barrel minor league team in an impoverished, burned out town of no consequence. Although he wants to try to work his way back to the big leagues, Brockmire still carries with him virtually every vice known to mankind.

The show is a great vehicle for "man of a million voices" Hank Azaria, probably best known for his over-a-dozen characters on the Simpsons (including Moe, Apu, Chief Wiggum, and tons of others), delivers that classic, smooth-as-silk and overly polished pipes of the classic baseball broadcasters in the vein of Vin Scully. Hearing that American-as-apple-pie voice delivering some of the degenerate and self-reviling existential musings of a broken man is just as funny as you think it might be. There are a few moments when the show almost veers too far into depression to make a successful turn back, but it always manages to end on humorous notes.

At the end of a long, beer-soaked baseball/drinking game,
Jules, Brockmire, and Charles celebrate a big win.

If Azaria and the Brockmire character were all there was to the show, it would probably wear thin pretty quickly. Fortunately, the supporting cast and characters are almost equally entertaining. Amanda Peet plays Jules James, the owner of the Frackers who is desperate to keep the pathetic team alive as one of the few emotional buoys in the failed town. Jules is nearly as depraved as Brockmire, able to keep up with his immense appetites for booze and sex, making them quite the pair. Then there's Charles, the goofy, nerdy, millennial kid who assists Brockmire in the booth (and who knows and cares little about baseball). The play between the two is often gold.

The structure of the show is solid, as well. Almost every episode is a flashback to a period during Brockmire's dark decade - the 10 year period between 2007 and 2017, when he was off the grid calling oddball sporting events in foreign countries. While also hilarious, these manage to flesh out the character a little more. And rather than just be eight episodes of Brockmire spewing raunchy observations, which would get somewhat tired, there is an actual arc to the season. Human drama is hardly the point of the show, but it does offer a welcome touch of depth.

Final verdict is that the wife and I liked it (and the wife isn't always on board with shows about sports and the disgusting characters who populate the world of sports). Thanks to some sharp writing and all-in performances by the cast, I'm looking forward to the second season, already scheduled for next year.


Archer, season 8 (2017)

The theme of season 8 draws deep from the vast well of
noir tales from the '40s and '50s. 

After playing catchup on this series by binging the first seven seasons over the course of a few months, this was the first season that I watched as it aired. For the most part, I wasn't disappointed.

Being subtitled "Dreamland", season 8 picks up directly after the cliffhanger ending of season 7, and we now have Sterling in a coma. Using the brilliant device from the classic 1980s British crime TV series The Singing Detective, this season takes place almost completely inside Sterling's mind, wherein he plays a version of himself in the Los Angeles of late 1940s noir cinema. Instead of a spy, he is a private detective and World War II veteran who tries to track down the killers of his partner, Woodhouse (who in his real life was his horribly abused butler). The other regular characters of the show are now altered versions of themselves, each now occupying a role typical of the noir films and novels. Cyril is now a stuffy, crooked cop, Lana is an undercover U.S. Treasury agent, Pam (who is, hilariously, a man in Archer's coma dream), and all of the other characters see similar shifts, including Malory as a crime lord known conveniently as "Mother."

The show features all of the lightning-quick zingers and depravity of the previous seven seasons, but there are so many extra layers to be enjoyed for fans of noir fiction. True to the genre, there is an overly complicated plot, made only the more complex by the various characters' bungling and idiocy. A little off-beat spice is added by including Kruger as a former Nazi scientist conducting his typically insane experiments, perhaps as a tip of the cap to the emerging popularity of the science-fiction genre in the late 1940s.

The real-world Pam, known only as Poovey in Archer's
coma dream, is now a male cop. It's one of the better
alternative takes on what is one of my favorite characters
in the show's entire run. 

I will say that this season was perhaps not quite as thoroughly satisfying as some of its predecessors. Part of this is due to the season's brevity - only eight episodes as opposed to the normal 13 or even 10 of seasons one through seven. There are also a few gags and sequences that don't quite hit, which is a little surprising given the smaller number of episodes. The expected trade-off of a shorter season is that the writing will be even tighter than more protracted seasons, but such is not quite the case here.

The only other minor disappointment for me with this season was that it did not end with the typical lead-in to the next season. Given the atypical, fantasy nature of this arc, I was fully expecting to get at least a quick teaser for what season nine might have in store. Alas, it was not to be. I suppose we fans of the show will simply have to wait and guess at what direction the show will take next. Regardless, I'll be ready and eager for it. 

Idiot Boxing: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., season 4 (2016-2017); Crashing, season 1 (2017)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., season 4 (2016-2017)

Spoiler-Free Section

Another solid season which I suspect will be even more fun to rewatch in binge mode.

This is the first season in which the show clearly divided its 22-episode season into three "pods" of seven or eight episodes each, with each pod focusing on a particular story arc. All of the arcs are, however, connected with an overall narrative. The first pod, "Ghost Rider," introduces a supernatural element into the series. This element, in turn, becomes connected to the "LMD" second pod, which focuses on the creation of Life Model Decoys (basically, artificially intelligent android body doubles). Everything comes together during the third pod, "Agents of Hydra," in which the agents are all trapped within a Matrix-like artificial reality generated and maintained by a massive, virtual reality program known as The Framework.

I found this season a lot of fun. The Ghost Rider arc handles the iconic character well, introducing him as one of the more recent incarnations of the spectral spirit of vengeance. He makes for a presence unique to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, presenting a real test to a SHIELD group that is still adjusting to new leadership. Coulson is back to being a field agent, while the new head of SHIELD is a relatively unknown quantity to long-standing agents almost as much as he's unknown to us viewers. The mystery around him is used well as a story device, and there are a few fun little plot twists regarding this new leader. The story manages to segue the supernatural elements of the Ghost Rider arc into the LMD arc in compelling ways, when an LMD - AIDA - designed by Fitz and fellow scientist Radcliffe reads an other-worldly, evil tome, turning her into something neither completely machine, spirit, nor human. AIDA becomes what I would argue is one of the the single most curious and fascinating characters in the MCU.

AIDA and Fitz in the Framework, where several beloved
characters have undergone radical changes. None more so
than the normally-genteel Leopold Fitz. The shifts allow the
actors to show off their range rather well.

The story is the clear strength of the season. The characters are an ever-more mixed bag, in my view. Fitz and Simmons are now, to me, firmly the best characters on the show. Of everyone, they have always seemed the most empathetic, while also being capable, and showing actual, real growth as people. It doesn't hurt that Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge continue to turn out great performances in the roles. The other regular characters, though, were lackluster to me. Mae does become a bit more humanized, which is nice, but I've never completely enjoyed Mack or even Yo-Yo. This season does nothing to really remedy that. They're not annoying characters, such as I often found Bobbi Morse and Hunter, but they also never leave me with a desire to see any more of them.

The dialogue was also a bit spotty in places in this season, as well. There is one particular episode during the LMD arc in which Mack gets to deliver a slew of hilarious lines about robots taking over the world. There are also a few gems here an there, but for much of the season, I found a lot of the dialogue a bit obvious and unimaginative. Fortunately, it wasn't so bad that it overwhelmed what was otherwise a fun season. I'm definitely looking forward to binge watching the entire run again, once its made available on streaming services, most likely in September or so.

A Few Spoilers Ahead - You've Been Warned

I love the buildup into the third arc, as well as its culmination into the penultimate episode. When AIDA/Ophelia is overwhelmed by rejection, rage, and a desire for vengeance, I was transfixed. While I did find the pacing of the final episode a bit rushed and herky-jerky at times, I thought it wrapped up quite well. My one beef is that I actually would have preferred to see Mack (though not necessarily Yo-Yo) die in the Framework. Mack has probably become my least favorite (but not disliked) character. I've generally found him less interesting than his potential for two full seasons now, and I actually think his self-absorbed rejection of reality would have made for a rather compelling, if tragic, ending to the season. I actually appreciate when this happens, as it raises the stakes for everyone when a major "hero" character doesn't make it, a la Tripp back in season 2.

My one other particular issue with this season is how the entire SHIELD team has turned into hookup central. Why do they feel the need to pair everyone off? Fitz and Simmons made complete sense, right from the show's start back in 2013. Then Mack and Yo-Yo? OK, but neither of them is terribly interesting. The little flirtation between Daisy and Robbie Reyes? Maybe a bit forced, but fortunately I don't see that one going anywhere soon. But now Coulson and Mae? I get it - on paper, it makes some sense, but can't we have just one or two agents who remain complete loners, dedicated solely to the job of protecting people? Those types of characters can bring something different to the show, since we already have a decent amount of romance in what is obviously a fantasy/action/adventure tale.

Again, these are minor gripes that I'm fairly sure won't bother me quite as much when I binge watch this season later. I was really glad to hear that the show was recently renewed for a fifth season. It's hit its stride, to be sure.

Pete, getting some assistance from the eminently crass and
equally generous and kind Sarah Silverman.

Crashing, season 1 (2017)

Solid new comedy on HBO that stays within its unique self quite well.

Created by and starring Pete Holmes, the series draws from Holmes's own life experience as a devout Christian, aspiring stand-up comedian, and recent divorcee in the New York City area. The series begins with Pete discovering that this wife, played by Lauren Lapkus, has been cheating on him with a fellow elementary school teacher. This throws the rather naive Pete into a relative tailspin, sending him running away from their house and into the city. Pete follows some highly misguided advice by a fellow comedian to "work through" his marital sadness on stage. When he inevitably bombs in spectacular fashion, he meets troubled comic legend Artie Lange, who offers Pete a place to crash in exchange for joining him on the road for night, in order to keep the addictive Lange sober. Thus begins a cycle whereby Pete tries to get his personal and professional life back together and benefits from the help of far more successful stand-up comedians, including Lange, T.J. Miller, Sarah Silverman, and others.

While the basic premise of the show isn't wildly novel, it works extremely well on a couple of levels. One is that it throws the rather sheltered Holmes into some odd and uncomfortable situations. Seeing a 6' 6", dorky, white, devout Christian struggling to keep Artie Lange sober or dealing with degenerate, foul-mouthed comedians is fodder for plenty of laughs. And while Holmes doesn't have the sharp, biting wit or surreal creativity of modern stand-up masters like Louis C.K. or even Maria Bamford and their like, he is a skilled stand-up who knows how to write a deliver some good jokes, in both the stand-up and dramedy portions of the show. I don't know that Holmes could carry the entire season, a modest eight episodes, by himself, so the structure of having other, stronger and stylistically contrasting comedians cycling into and out of the proceedings is a major strength.

Getting scenes and moments pairing the vice-addled Lange
and the straight-arrow Holmes provides more than a few
hilarious "odd couple" moments.

The show is also helped by the fact that there is a fairly compelling tale of personal growth happening throughout. Based on events in his real life, in which he was cheated on by his wife, Holmes's on-screen persona is sent into a crisis of faith and doubts about his chosen profession. A decent amount of depth is offered during Holmes's discussions about his Christian faith and worldview with oddball atheists like Lange and Silverman. One of the novel aspects is that Holmes's doesn't abandon his faith wholesale, but instead begins to alter and expand his understanding of it. The show never becomes overly absorbed with this theme, fortunately, but rather is enhanced by it.

So it's a fun first season, and hardly much of a time commitment. Clocking it at a very modest eight episodes, each being 30 minutes, the first episode is a good indicator of the following seven. I'd recommend that anyone check out the pilot, at the very least. For my part (and my wife's), we're looking forward to the second season.