At the Cinema - October 2019

Western Stars – 9

Bruce Springsteen just turned 70.  At an age when most are slumped in a lounge chair watching Netflix, waiting for their next doctor’s appointment, he is producing new projects.  Take rock stars.  If they are still active, it’s on the Rock N Roll seniors tour, playing songs that were hits 40 or even 50 years ago.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  I myself am a sucker for that stuff.

But here’s the Boss.  In the last few years, he’s written an autobiography and had a one-man Broadway show.  A movie about his influence on a young man, “Blinded by the Light” was terrific.  And he recorded a new album.  Then instead of just releasing the record, he produces a performance film where he plays the whole album.  That’s Western Stars.  I’m in awe. 

He introduces each song with a story of how he wrote it, and why.  He talks about his love of the old westerns of his youth, and even his love of Jimmy Webb’s melodies and their timelessness.  Then he performs each song in a huge barn, with an audience and a 30 piece orchestra.  I wish I had been there.

The sound is stunning.  No, every song isn’t a classic, and his intros seem to be tinged with the melancholy of his life.  I wished I had been more familiar with each song and I suspect in the years to come this film will be loved, as each song becomes more known.  It’s not getting much box office love right now, but I doubt that Bruce is worried about that.  He said he’s done rock n roll, and he wanted to do something else.  He’s making art, while most people his age are just making appointments.  You’ve got to give him his due.  He says he is about to get the E Street Band together, record another album, and tour.  After seeing this, I hope he adds an orchestra to his tour.  I don’t know where he gets the energy.

 

Joker – 8

Joker is the umpteenth portrayal of the renown Batman nemesis, and one that I would argue was unnecessary except for capitalistic motivations, as is often the case in America the Corporate.    In other words, make it dark, make it R-rated, and make some money.

And, I would argue, make it not half bad.  Joaquin Phoenix, who looks like he hasn’t eaten during the Trump administration, plays the Joker to the hilt.  Phoenix is not known for playing pleasant characters, so this one is right in his wheelhouse, and he doesn’t miss.  What’s surprising is that this is a rather slow moving character study, that accelerates into its bloody payoff in the second half.  This is the story of a man who plays a clown for a living, and while that right there would be enough to drive most people crazy, it’s just the beginning for him, as he unravels his unraveling life.  He begins to discover why he is the way he is, and starts to let his demons out.  This transformation is not for the squeamish.  

I’m not a big Phoenix fan, but he nails this transition into the Joker and somehow I see mo’ money makers in the future.  I can honestly say I would not recommend this movie to anyone, as you probably already know if it’s something you would like or not. 

Black and Blue – 8

Alicia West (played by Naomie Harris) is rookie cop who has come back to New Orleans after 10 years in the military.  She wants to make a difference in her old community, but how things have changed!  She barely recognizes her old friends, and it doesn’t take her long to realize her empathy for her old friends is going to be tested.  She is told she can’t help them, that her loyalties are now “blue,” not black.  She is tested when she catches cops conducting a drug related execution on her body cam.  She is soon being chased by what seems like every cop in the city.  It doesn’t help that the executed dealer is the nephew of one of the cities drug lords, so a gang is chasing her too. 

This is a B movie, like they used to make.  Sure, distrust of the police is a theme, but there’s good action, a good story, and good acting.  New Orleans comes off as the wild, wild west, and there’s not a lot of wasted time here.  I like movies that are just trying to tell a story and pull it off.  Good movie.  It won’t win any Oscars, but it will suck you in and entertain you.

Parasite – 9

I can count the subtitled foreign films I’ve seen in a theater on one hand.  It has to be acclaimed, and this is the highest rated film of the year so far.  It’s as good as advertised.

The setting is Korea, and two families interact.  The rich occupants of an architect-designed house in Seoul begin to unknowingly hire, in a variety of positions, the members of a family of slum-residents, who brilliantly move the old staff out.  The house itself becomes a character when the recently replaced housekeeper shows up with some secrets to share.  Famed director Bong Joon-Ho jolts the plot around in unpredictable, often stunning fashion.  The actors are uniformly terrific. I have to admit they had me at hello, and lost me a little at goodbye, as I thought the rather shocking ending was unnecessary.  I would have preferred the wit and satire of the previous two hours.  Guess you can’t have everything.

Terminator:  Dark Fate – 8

I often say that our government has no respect for the tax-payer.  I can now also say that sometimes filmmakers have no respect for the ticket-buying public.  I’m not thrilled that this installment of the Terminator franchise essentially wipes out three of the previous sequels.

But having said that, this is a better movie than those now-irrelevant ones.  There’s a stunning development as the movie begins, but there is a new relentless terminator, trying to get to a new threat to the “Legion” (Skynet has been successfully dealt with.)  The action is fantastic, especially in the first half hour, as we meet the new savior of civilization, the new threat, and the new protector.  Sarah Conner is back in the person of Linda Hamilton, so that wipes out a tv series too.  (The Sarah Conner Chronicles – which was terrific – better than the erased movies.)  Linda has a lot of mileage on her, but she can still kick butt.  There’s a great in-air fight in an airplane where the only thing missing is Tom Cruise, and all the actors playing the various new roles have as much charisma as Tom.

Scanning the Satellite

Free Solo – 10

I finally got around to catching the movie that won the Oscar last year for Best Documentary, and is it spectacular.  This is the story of the first person, Alex Honnod, to scale El Capitan in Yosemite free solo.

El Capitan is essentially a big granite rock that requires a level of rehearsal and preparation that us mortals are not familiar with.  The filmmakers detail the preparation and the danger involved in making a climb like this with no ropes – free solo.

The film making is breath taking, as is the scenery.  But it is the feat itself that had me gasping out loud at least 20 times.  I don’t like heights, and I can tell you I had to look away numerous times.  This is a stunning film of a stunning physical accomplishment.  If you haven’t seen this, check it out, currently on Hulu.  Wow.

The Kelly Clarkson Show – Incomplete

I just have to confess that I DVR the new talk show ever day and watch the first 5 minutes where she does Kellyoke – singing a usually great version of a popular song.  Kelly has a terrific voice, great range, and she is a national treasure.  The rest of the show – not so much.  I haven’t made it through the rest of a show yet, but I’ve always thought with all the many talk shows we’ve had over the years, why didn’t one of them start with a musical act instead of leaving them to the last 5 minutes?  Well, Kelly is doing it, and it's usually amazing.