Bowfinger Review

 

        This is one of the funniest movies you’ve probably never heard of during the late 90s. Frank Oz, who you may know him as a puppeteer and voice actor for Yoda, directs Bowfinger. Along with Steve Martin who writes and acts in the movie, tell quite possibly one of the funniest and ingenious ways to film a movie. While all the other ones have the dread of making the movie, here comes this one that lightens the mood. SPOILERS will appear. 

1. Rob Bowfinger

        Just like Ed Wood before, Bobby Bowfinger is a pretty ambitious filmmaker. Steve Martin wrote his own dialogue, and we see the absolute mad man that he is as a filmmaker. What sets himself apart is that he owns an independent studio that’s almost bankrupt. He reads a script that was sent in by his own accountant named Afrin. Bobby loves it and tells his own crew that this is their only shot to make it big. 

        He finds another producer named Jerry Renfro and shows him the script. He likes it and will work with him if he can get famous actor Kit Ramsey on the movie. The only problem is that Bobby meets Kit and promptly shoots the script since he hates it. This part is what makes the movie, Bowfinger and his crew decide to film wherever Ramswy is and have the actors act around him. The real comedy is having Kit just be completely confused and at times scared since he thinks that the actors are aliens. 

        It’s something with these recent films that I have reviewed that the filmmaker is the charm in the movie. Since this is the comedy, he goes to every length to get his film crew, especially smuggling in Mexicans at the border to handle the cameras. Their evolution in the film is just hilarious. Anyways, Bowfinger tries to act respectable in Hollywood, especially taking someone else’s fancy car with a built-in phone. He yanks it out and uses it as his own cell phone. 

2. Kit and Jiff

        Eddie Murphy also does a good job as action star Kit Ramsay. His problem is that he yearns to have a better action catchphrase. Most of the comedy is centered around him since, with the filming that happens he is so confused and afraid since the actors that are acting in front of him are doing it in a weird way. One thing about him which is supposed to be a spoof on Hollywood is the actor joining a cult. In this case, being a part of the Mindhead cult. 

        We all know who exactly their referencing, since it involves Tom Cruise and John Travolta. They really believe that Kit is hearing and seeing voices and tell him to relax. At one point, they invite him to stay at a celebrity relaxation center. To anyone who knows Scientology understands that those places are actually prisons like compounds. Anyways, the most shocking thing is that Murphy plays another character called Jiff. 

        Jiff is used as a stand in since Bobby needs Kit for a specific scene as the shooting continues. Like it’s obviously Eddie Murphy in the film, but the characters in the film are so befuddled that he looks exactly like Kit. More so when that he reveals that he is Kit’s long-lost brother. That part made me laugh since I was literally not expecting that at all. Most of the scenes involving Jiff are hilarious, since he’s nerdy and has braces in his teeth. My favorite moment is when Bobby directs Jiff to having him run in a busy highway. 

 

3. Guerilla Filmmaking 

        One thing that the film crew uses is a thing called “Guerilla Filmmaking”. It mostly involves a very independent film crew, like the one we follow, shoot one take of a movie without any permits. This method is embraced wholeheartedly by Bowfinger. Everything that they shoot is under a secret location around the city, mostly wherever Ramsay is at. There are moments where they might get caught, but Bowfinger’s charm has it where the cop is now part of the film. 

        Part of the charm is him being a director. Telling his cameramen to keep rolling and to call out his actors to appear and capture the genuine and hilarious reactions of Kit. It’s the best part since we get to see his film style and just how it’s just torture for Murphy’s character who gets scared and runs away. It’s like a game of cat and mouse, with Ramsay just trying to survive and the actors just pouncing at him. 

        The best part is when they actually see the film. For some weird reason they get a film premiere with a packed audience. The hilarious bit is that Bowfinger is led to his seat which is at the very front row at an odd angle seeing the screen. Seeing what they shot on location with shots of the actors and crew being happy that they were a part of something that was amazing. Especially when we see Bobby who is so happy with what he made, realizing just how much he loves his craft. 

4. Overall 

        Is it amazing? Yes. Should you watch it? Without a doubt. Bowfinger is another hidden gem of a comedic classic that has to be seen. It’s more hilarious than the movies that I’ve reviewed recently and is one of the best comedic films that I have seen that was released in the late 90s. 

Bowfinger gets a four out of five. 

The Disaster Artist Review

 

In 2008, I was watching a YouTube show called “The Nostalgia Critic”, he reviewed a film considered by many to be the worst movie ever made. It was called The Room. Years later, actor Greg Sestero wrote a book called “The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside ‘The Room’, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made”. The book detailed extensively on the making of the film, and the meeting between him and the enigma himself Tommy Wiseau. When word got out that it will be adapted to a movie, I was all for it. Having read the book to prepare myself and really get closure on what happened behind the scenes of The Room, the movie did an adequate job to really show just how filming went. And the unlikeliest paring ever conceived. SPOILERS will appear. 

1. Greg and Tommy

        Since the book was mostly around Greg’s experience, the film covers both sides of the main characters. James Franco wrote, direct, and starred to be the oddest human ever existed. Tommy is taking the same acting classes along with Greg, who is played by James’ small brother Dave. Both immediately hit it, and they go down to Los Angeles to chase their dreams to be famous. We get the moments where we see them getting the photo shoots and auditioning. The main point is that Greg manages to get everything. While Tommy is just struggling and completely full of delusion. 

        The dynamic is really something since, whenever something goes right with Greg, Tommy lashes out at him full of jealousy and smugness. To me, it feels like Tommy wanted to be better than Sestero in every possible way. Such as when Greg tells him that he got some offers, Tommy says that he is being coached by a legendary acting teacher. Which Greg’s girlfriend Amber says that the teacher has been dead. 

        There really is no way to imagine in actual life that these two would somehow be real friends. In the book and film, it explicitly states that Greg was in his late teens while Tommy is, well he doesn’t really reveal just how old he is. I’ll go on a tangent with him after this part. It feels like the dynamics and synergy between them really benefit the film because the actors are literal brothers. So when the drama really hits, no way does it ever feel forced in the least bit. Especially when Greg gets frustrated with Wiseau due to him costing a chance to appear in a TV show. 

2. Tommy Wiseau 

        Nobody could’ve done a tolerable job to portray this guy than James Franco. Just the way he talks, how he looks, his wardrobe, it’s like he’s an alien desperately attempting to be human. One of the things that is questionable, which I’ll give the film this since it’s entirely the point, is to make him be mysterious. Tommy explicitly tells Greg to not tell anyone about him. In context, it’s really a question as to how he has two apartments in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Or just how old he is. Just to put it out there, he’s old, no matter how much lies to Greg’s mom when she asks just what his age is. We get moments when the hair dye lady notices the gray hair on Tommy and when he applies black dye on his hair. 

        His acting is also one thing where you look at it and just laugh at how bad it is. The thing about him is that he quotes a Marlon Brando movie called A Streetcar Named Desire, where Brando’s character yells “Stella”. In context, Brando’s Stanley screams her name due to him abusing Stella in a fight. None of that matters since when Tommy recites or just yells out the name, he puts in a whole lot of energy without the needed context as to why Brando’s character yells out her name. His character is both likeable and just a plain asshole whenever something doesn’t work for him. 

        He’s an asshole when shooting an intimate scene, he sees a pimple on the actress’ body. From just the film, we are led to believe that this is probably an example of who he is if he was hired in a movie. That and the real ironic thing is that he can’t remember his lines. Just the idea that he wants to be an actor and the one scene where it’s just five sentences where he confuses the words is the cherry on top of the film. In actuality, filming that one scene took three hours and 32 takes to get right. The ending of that moment feels relieving because you feel like you’re part of the film crew who is so fed up with Tommy’s eccentricity. 

3. Behind the Scenes Drama

        Much like Living in Oblivion, everything goes wrong with the shoot. With Tommy having total control and being a dictator shows just how chaotic and toxic the filming of the movie went. The film is tame to show just how bad everything went, the book explains that there was a high turnover rate with people handling the cameras to shoot. Which were both 35mm and high-definition cameras. Your guess is good as mine as to why Tommy wanted to shoot in two different footages. 

        The damning thing is that there was an actress who suffered from heat exhaustion due to Tommy not wanting to install air conditioning. Much less give the cast and crew water. His naïve way of directing results in the rift that almost made Greg leave the film and sever ties with Wiseau. I feel like this is one of those things where the book could be made into a television series since there’s way more material that was left out in the film for time constraints. That would be my only negative is that for as much we see everything going south with the filming we could’ve seen more of it. 

4. The Room: The Last Best Worst Film

        After reading the book, it was only an obligation to watch the film the book is based on. I was fortunate enough to have a friend who has a copy of the film and, yeah. The film is bad, Tommy is bad, the story is anything but followable. Characters come and go and it’s one of those things where it’s hilarious and gut busting as to how inept it is. I wish that I would go to a live showing to see the audience throw footballs, spoons, and just jeer at the movie. 

        I feel that this is the last bad movie to ever be called “So Bad, It’s Good”. With social media nowadays, I believe that many people will make a movie which is bad in every possible way to be the next Room where people will be mystified and stupefied by it. The only way people can have fun with a bad movie is to make memes out of it. I believe that if a movie is bad that it will make plenty use of memes to poke fun at dialogue and just every facet with the film. 

        One thing that will always keep me up is if Tommy Wiseau ever had a behind the scenes footage that showed the conversations the film crew had when talking about Tommy. Having that behind the scenes footage would have on full display Wiseau’s method to his madness when he’s either directing or acting. 

5. Overall

        This film is I feel the heir apparent to Ed Wood, a study on two men with acting ambitions who made a movie that will forever be a part of them, for better and worse. James Franco did a great job recreating parts of The Room and just capture the chaotic filming of the bad movie. It makes you think if there’ll be more movies about the making of a bad movie. 

The Disaster Artist gets a four out of five. 

Ed Wood Review

 

        He was called the worst movie director ever in the 20th Century. Edward D. Wood Jr. made movies in an efficient and fast way that bordered on embarrassing and inept. He had a voice that he wanted to tell, but no one was willing to give him more money to make a film. In 1994, Tim Burton directed Ed Wood. It’s considered by many to be his best work. SPOILERS will appear. 

1. Worst Director Ever

        As I mentioned earlier, Ed Wood is a bad director, in every measure of the word. Johnny Depp portrays him and he should’ve been nominated. He has a very uplifting personality that borders on delusional since he actually thinks that the projects he made is the best. Before we see him as a film director, the film has him direct a stage play. Albeit, not a good one. We see the play with his girlfriend Dolores being let down on a pulley. Making the scene, is the shot of the audience: a couple, a homeless man, a person drinking, and a bucket collecting the rain from the ceiling. 

        You really have to admire him since he has a determined personality. When he and the stage cast go and get drinks, he only reads the positive parts of the review to justify that his play was great. He is one to be completely blinded by his ambition to make a good movie that he thinks that any take for a scene, either rushed or improperly acted is adequate. It’s justified since when making the films, he is given a short time to shoot the film. Adding on to the time crunch, having a short length of film to shoot. 

        One thing that makes him unique as a person was that he dressed in women’s clothing in the 1950s. Now, with the film coming out in the ‘90s and that kind of lifestyle being tolerable in some circles, it would make Ed ambitious enough to be open about his secret back in the day. He even shanghaies a film that was supposed to be about the first gender change ever, to him making a film that embraces his secret. 

        Now, the one thing that mostly set him up for failure is the money. Reading more about the man after watching the film, he never had a stable finance. He really did reach for people to finance his movie, including a Baptist church who allowed to finance his movie Plan 9 for Outer Space on the condition that the cast and crew get baptized. Ed is willing to go to any route to make his movie and that what makes him endearing for the most part. Well, his movies suck, but it’s that level of ambition that makes him the one to root for in the film. 

2. Bela Lugosi

        This is the perfect example of an actor literally becoming an actual person. Martin Landau portrays former famous actor Bela Lugosi, who is most famous for his portrayal in the film Dracula. We see him as a washed up actor who meets Ed Wood by a coffin shop. Wood is shocked to find out that no one will hire Lugosi. One of the best things is that Landau plays the former actor so perfectly. Right down to his voice and looking like an adequate vampire. The parts when we see Ed filming Bela’s scenes, is the cherry on top. 

        If you were to put both of his scenes in comparison to Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda or Bride of the Monster, you can see the level of commitment that Landau does with his performance for a few moments in the film to be Lugosi. He is also one of the film’s funniest part. My favorite is when he arrives to shoot his first film with Wood, a stagehand asks for his autograph. He invokes the name Boris Karloff, for the uninitiated he was Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein. Lugosi loudly cusses out the stagehand and I was just laughing since, I was not expecting that. And you can see that Lugosi is jealous of Karloff. Since in real life, Karloff went on to have a successful career than Lugosi. 

        He is the tragic part of the film. We learn that he becomes addicted to morphine and he is broke. What I found interesting is that Ed wanted him in his films due to his name from Dracula. When he gets Bela into rehab, the actor is hounded by the paparazzi. Ed thinks that they’re exploiting him, but Lugosi tells him that he wants that attention. You have to feel for that man because he is only remembered for one film. Then just left in the gutter so to speak by Hollywood. 

        The best scene involving him is when he performs his monologue during the shooting of Bride of the Monster. He gives it his all, that monologue means more to him since it speaks to him in the context that he finally has his moment to shine. I think it shows just a dark side of Hollywood some films tackle rarely. That the big studios do away with the stars that made them money and just kick them to the curve. 

3. “Visions Are Worth Fighting For”

        One of the recurring motifs that Tim Burton has in his movies is the main characters being the rejects in his films. With Pee Wee Herman, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands, the director has the outcasts be the main focal point in his films to show them that they aren’t welcome in society. With Ed Wood, the director is constantly being hounded by the direction of his movies. With producer Ed Weiss, telling him that he butchered the movie he had before Wood came in. 

        His first girlfriend Dolores even tells him and the cast that the movie they made is terrible. She has a point, but the film paints her as the bad guy since she’s the normal person in the movie littered with misfits that society has shunned. There’s a level of empathy that’s going on since you want these people to at least see that the movies they are working on is bad, but they trust Wood that the film maybe at least be good. 

        My favorite scene involves Ed Wood and famous director Orson Welles who directed Citizen Kane. It's the meeting of the best movie director and the worst. Just to put it out there, this event never happened in real life, but regardless I like this moment. It’s vindicating to hear Orson played by Vincent D’Onofrio, tell Ed that “Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else’s dream?”. He tells him that since he tells Wood who is wearing an angora sweater, that Universal made him direct a film with Charlton Hesten to play a Mexican. The point is that no one can ever degrade your art for anything. Ed finally stands up and finishes his film the way he intends to. 

        It’s great, but at the same time and I hate to sound like a broken record. The film he made is just that inept. I get that finally he has a privilege to shoot his films, but at the price that it’ll be remembered with being “So bad, it’s good”. That’s one concept that actually works in the film and going along with Burton’s motif in the film. 

4. Overall

        I could’ve had this film be in the Underrated Gems series. Yes, it made less money than its budget, but it did garner two awards in the Academy Awards. This is the best film you’ll see that lacks any technicolor that came out in the 90s. This is another view of the sub-genre of movies about making movies. 

        Ed Wood gets a five out of five. 

Underrated Gems: Living in Oblivion

 

        This film is the ideal representation of making a movie. Including all the pains and struggles that come with it when you’re dealing with a variety of personalities on the set. Living in Oblivion represents that and amplifies it where you probably don’t want to be a film director. Or be involve in any artistic medium. SPOILERS will appear. 

1. Nick Reve

        Steve Buscemi steals the movie and plays director Nick Reve. He’s making the movie Living in Oblivion, what is it about, well we’re not told. Mostly it involves actress Nicole played by Catherine Keener in the three scenes that we see. As we delve into the scene, usually they end up in disaster. This is where we see Nick as a Jekyll and Hyde kind of person. With any inconvenience, he tries to prep the actors. As more problems progress he just absolutely loses it. 

        I don’t blame him since the scenes that the crew are shooting are intimate and the set is really not that big. None of that matters since Nick is constantly hounded by a boom mic getting in the frame to his mom walking into the set by accident. One thing that makes him likeable though is that he is open to changing how the scene is shot to the line exchange. Although, he is very specific on what camera technique to use. 

        One thing that makes him grey is him being honest with the actors he’s working with, For instance, when shooting with eccentric actor Chad Palomino, Nick tries to calm him down by agreeing with him that working with Nicole is a pain. It mostly paints him as a kiss-ass to his actors and not really being honest. I can understand since he wants everybody to be cooperative, but what makes it worse is that Nicole overhears the conversation between Nick and Chad through a boom mic that is live. 

2. 3 Scenes and Frustration

        Aside from Nick’s flip flopping in anger levels, the three scenes in the movie acts like the usual dramatic three act structure. I honestly thought that the whole film was in black and white. Then when the scene is shooting, it’s in color. It has a jarring effect when one inconvenience from the film crew makes Nick to shout cut and we’re back in the monotone view. What I love is that with each error, the anger grows not with Nick but with the producer Wanda. She has just this dictator vibe since when there’s outside interference, she is cussing to the outside crew to ensure silence. 

        Nothing is worse than an actor who constantly offers the director changes in shot direction and just be an overall jackass. Chad Palomino is that guy, full of ego that it can fill up a hot air balloon. Compounding the situation is that he slept with Nicole before the shooting of an intimate scene. Every time the scene is cut, he wants his character to wear an eye patch. Since he saw the camera man Wolf wear one. Overall, he is just insufferable and gets his comeuppance when Nicole offers a suggestion that they shoot the scene and have the dialogue be improv. It’s satisfying what happens to him. 

        The basic idea of the whole film centers on this one thing Nick learns how to deal with the constant drama as we see the last scene being shot. Just roll with it is the quote. He tells it to Nicole since both of them have dreams where the shooting just go south. That saying is applicable since with what we seen and pretty much what we do gets frustrating. It’s more or less a moral to how to handle the little things that set us off. Eventually, Nick decides to not just be pestered by the actor’s ego and to really just let things happen. 

        One scene is really interesting and it occurs after they shoot the final scene we see. The camera dollies the characters, to probably symbolize what they seen and went through to shoot a movie. We get small moments where we see Nick getting an award, Nicole being a waitress, and Nick’s mom who was visiting the set, in a hospital. The shot messed me up since it appears that she goes through a door. It’s pretty morbid considering what she did in Nick’s film shoot. 

3. Overall

        This is an enjoyable film from the 90s. It captures what a tortured director goes through when shooting a movie. One thing that can’t be overstated is that it came out during the boom of independent movies that were coming out during that decade. This was probably a look into a hypothetical one but seeing everything and anything going wrong is just a sight to see. 

        Living in Oblivion gets a four out of five. 

Be Kind Rewind Review

 

        When talking about movies about making movies, Be Kind Rewind fits every single checkbox on this sub-genre. I fondly remember commercials of it back in the late 2000s, but never really thought much of it. I can’t state how much the YouTube channel Cinemassacre has exposed me to films that I want to watch and be aware of other type of films. You know the drill right now, SPOILERS.

1. Save the Block

        With most films, there’s a standard way of telling a story and this one has a specific plot. Specifically, saving the block or building. Jack Black and Mos Def play Mike and Jerry who live in Passaic, New Jersey. Mike works in the town’s video store while Jerry is a screwy conspiracy theorist. After one weird moment where Jerry attempts and fails to blow up an electric grid, he accidentally wipes out the store’s VHS library of tapes. 

        After one of the customer’s request to see a copy of Ghostbusters, Mike and Jerry attempt to shoot the movie the only way they can. Cheaply and to the point. Soon, the business starts to pick up and they make their own version of the films. This movie is a love letter for the people who make their own home movies. The way the guys shoot is just one take with haphazard special effects. They even invite some of the locals to be in their films. Unfortunately, the lawyers of the studios sues the store. Additionally, the building is being threatened by gentrification. 

        I like that the film isn’t solely about making enough films to save the building but making the home version of the films since it’s fun. It seems that the actors had fun making the reenactments of the films. I’ll go more in depth about this method of filming after this. As well as the just the idea of the long gone video store. Little did people know that the term “Be Kind Please Rewind” was an actual business method that video rentals like Blockbusters wanted their tapes to be rewound.

2. Swedeing 

        This term appears in the film. It basically means that someone or a group of people remade a film with no budget and in a quick and efficient way. This is the first film that quoted the term since it’s a unique thing to remake a film without a budget. Both the guys had to remake their VHS tapes since Mike was assigned by his manager Mr. Fletcher to look after the store. It was actually Jerry who convinced Mike to “Swede” the films since people were slowly coming into the store. 

        As of now, the method is still being used. Albeit with it mostly reenacting movie trailers of big blockbusters. That’s why when you subscribe to a comedy channel, they’d “swede” a movie trailer with nothing but cardboard and cheap special effects. Looking more into the movie’s background, the film’s website invited people to make their movies based on actual films. I haven’t watch those, but to make it more meta, the director “sweded” the Be Kind Rewind trailer.

        One of thing that I’ve noticed is that throughout the film, we see footage of an old documentary that is haphazardly shot. It details about the jazz musician Fats Waller. Such as seeing the actors in the documentary have fake mustaches and cardboard cars in the town’s street. I honestly thought that it was something that Mike filmed before working in the store and feeling ashamed of it. I won’t reveal what that documentary is used for, but it’s the most endearing thing about the movie.

3. Video Store

        I feel now that the video store is slowly becoming a fading concept that will be nostalgic. I don’t have fond memories of it, but it beats seeing a screen and just trying to find something to watch. It’s human I guess to just get lost and find a film or anything to watch for a weekend. The last time I was in a video rental store was in Austin, it’s not surprising since that place is a hot bed of pop culture. 

        In the film, it shows that the whole thing is a time capsule of something people used to do before the advent of streaming services. While yeah, only a few people visited and rented from the store, but as both Jerry and Mike filmed their versions of famous movies, people wanted to see their versions. And be involved with the filming process in some regards. 

4. Overall 

        This is one of those endearing films that I have seen in a while. It’s endearing and has a humbling feeling to it where it ends in a feelgood way. 

        Be Kind Rewind gets a four out of five. 

King Kong (1933) Review

 

        In 1933, King Kong is considered by many to be the first giant monster movie ever in cinema. It contains groundbreaking filmmaking aesthetics for its time. Including stop motion animation which ushered in a new kind of special effects for the rest of the 20th century. This film is responsible for so much going forward. Without it, no one could ever imagine seeing a creature terrorize Tokyo, Japan. Or see lifelike dinosaurs in the silver screen. SPOILERS will appear. 

1. Creature Feature

        Since I chose this month to be mostly movies about making movies, I decided that this would be a great compromise because I wanted to review some giant monster movies. The film starts with director Carl Denham who is looking for an actress in his next film. He shoots safari movies and plans to shoot his next one in a mythical island. He goes into New York City to find any woman who looks the part. 

        He meets Ann who tells him that she has a minimal acting experience. That convinces Denham to be in his next film. Soon, Denham’s crew on the ship Venture sails to the island. Denham and the ship’s first mate Jack discuss about the mythical island where Carl is going. This is the part where we get to hear about Kong. It’s this moment where we only hear just glimpses of the creature since Denham wants to film it for his new feature. 

        As the crew come down and explore the island, they encounter a native tribe that plans to sacrifice a woman for Kong. The islanders kidnap Ann and have her be the new sacrifice. It is then we get to see Kong. For 1933, his movements is the best thing in the movie, I’ll elaborate more on the film’s techniques. So the crew go into the island and see more creatures that are dinosaurs as they try to rescue the woman from the giant ape. 

        For one thing, the whole story can be interpreted as the folly of man through greed. Denham is the antagonist of the movie since he wants to see Kong by any means necessary. He even goes far to bring explosives that contains anesthetic. When the situation changes since his crew has been mauled and killed by the various creatures in the island. Denham wants to use Kong as a display. There’s never a moment when he has a conscience that his ambition goes too far or just his actions are literally having people being killed. 

        It’s not technically brand new in storytelling since it’s human nature to want something and have it just blow up in disastrous ways. His motive is relevant since years before King Kong was released, films called travelogues which were movies that have shots of exotic places since people didn’t have the luxury to actually go to those locations. Additionally, there were films that have shown aboriginal people in their native habitat. It could be that Denham’s own ego wanted to replicate that but include the giant ape. 

2. Groundbreaking

        The word groundbreaking can’t be used in the lightest of terms when describing just how King Kong changed everything for special effects. Other than the fact that the creature and the other dinosaur inhabitants of Skull Island were in stop motion, the whole film was dynamic enough to have it be playing concurrent with our human characters. Looking more into it, when the crew are walking by a dead Stegosaurus, that footage is being projected to give the illusion that the characters are walking by it. This method comes before anybody decided to use green screen or blue screen. Even now, the method is being updated with a new setting called StageCraft. 

        More so, when the special effects are playing, the characters are being projected into the scenery. Frame by frame is the footage for the actors moving going alongside the movements of Kong and the other creatures. A little detail is that when Kong picks up a human, they are even in stop motion as well. Directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack were pioneers of putting regular characters in an exotic landscape that wouldn’t be perfected until Star Wars came out roughly 40 years later. Aside from that, Kong’s hands and face were controlled as well since we have closeups of him grabbing Ann and having humans in his mouth. I will say, Kong’s face up close looks goofy, but I’ll give it a pass. 

        I might as well talk about the stop motion more. Most of it is quaint since it’s a privilege to watch any creature be made in a computer. Watching Kong move without seeing any moves in his muscle has to be one of the most intricate and time-consuming method any artist has to do. Seeing both Kong and the T-Rex fight is the highlight of the movie. That whole sequence must’ve been a months long job to get right. I read that director Peter Jackson wanted to do a deleted scene of the film for the DVD release. Him and his film crew copied the same method that Cooper’s crew used and noted that it’s very time consuming. Just to put it out there, that deleted scene is only in the special features. 

3. Beauty and The Beast

        Another way to view the story is through the tale of “Beauty and The Beast”. Hell, Denham even says that his whole approach to having Kong in New York is just that. Having the creature be defensive about Ann is interesting since out of all the women that was used as a sacrifice, he is captivated by Ann. In one moment, he fends off a Pteranodon from swiping the woman off the cliff. 

        Kong is probably the only monster to have his own credit in any film as far as I know. Despite the animators creating a pain staking representation of him as an ape, he has a personality. He’s not just a brute by any means. It’s even interpreted that he’s the last of his kind. When he’s in New York, he’s not just some monster running amok, he’s a lost animal that’s out of his element. He kidnaps Ann since he thinks that Jack will do something bad to her. Him climbing on top of the Empire State Building is poetic since it reminds him of being on his cliff and just banging on his chest to declare that he is king. 

4. A King’s Legacy

        When you talk about what this film has done going forward, nobody could’ve anticipated what would come after. Little do people know that this film has a sequel. Son of Kong was released the same year as this one, with a smaller budget and small time to film, the movie was considered a disappointment. 30 years later, Japanese studio Toho released King Kong vs. Godzilla, which marked the first time both monsters appeared together and in color. A sequel was released which featured a new monster called Mechani-Kong. 50 years later, they would appear again in Godzilla vs. Kong. 

        Back in the United States, Kong was remade in 1976. It pales in comparison with the original since the film takes place in its time. A sequel was made and it sucked. Peter Jackson remade the film in 2005. It’s been hailed as a great remake of the classic. The film has the same 30s setting and giving Kong more personality. Yet another Kong movie was released but is connected with the Warner Bros.’ Monsterverse film series. Kong: Skull Island is a great monster movie that leads up to him fighting against Godzilla. 

        Aside from numerous Kong films, his first movie started an influx of monster movies that will follow. Some were tied due to the atomic age much like his Japanese counterpart. It would be years later where computer generated imagery made stop motion be extinct when Jurassic Park came out in the early 90s. Just one more thing, Donkey Kong was partly inspired by the popular ape and created a video game franchise for Nintendo. 

5. Overall

        Bottom line I love this movie, this is the oldest movie I have reviewed in this blog. Although, that mold will soon be broken don’t you worry. This film is a gamechanger by every meaning of the word for cinema. Watching it will give everyone an appreciation of just how far the medium has come in terms of special effects. 

        King Kong gets a five out of five. 

Singin' in the Rain Review

        This is my second musical that I have reviewed for this blog. This is probably one of my favorites now that I just got done finishing it. You’re probably asking what does Singin’ in the Rain has to do with films about making movies. Well, there’s a lot, and the approach is pretty hilarious. I think it still holds up despite being approximately 70 years old, it has that charm of well being able to adapt and has really catchy tunes. SPOILERS will show up. 

1. Hollywood is Changing

        I will say that this film is a historical fiction type. Since it mostly deals with the adjustment that Hollywood had to make when the idea of sound started to be implemented. They use the film The Jazz Singer, which exists and is the first film to have moving images and recorded dialogue. With all that, the film stars classic actors Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Gerald O’Connor. They depict a group of actors that have to adapt to Hollywood transitioning from silent pictures to “talkies” as they were called back then. 

        The two male leads decide to convince their producer R.F. Simpson, to convert the film both Kelly’s character Don and Jean Hagan’s Lina are in to a musical. Since when they released the movie The Dueling Cavalier with sound but shot as a silent film. It gets laughed at by the audience by just how inept it is. The moments where the director is just getting frustrated with Lina not speaking to the mic is hilarious. Especially when R.F. accidentally pulls the cord, unintentionally sending Lina falling backwards. 

        What makes the musical work, aside from the actual musical numbers, is the fact that the characters try everything to be in Hollywood. Don learns that Kathy is an up-and-coming stage actress that he asks Simpson for her to be in the film. From there, they decide to convert the film to a musical. By using her to dub in Lina’s voice, which has a distinct Brooklyn accent. I’m being nice when I say that. My favorite moment is when they are filming, it’s in color. Then it transitions to black and white when Simpson, along with Don and Cosmo are watching the assembly cut. Which is like a rough draft for a movie.

2. The Music

        It’s the scene stealer without a doubt. Just seeing snippets of musicals today just shows how this movie be the ideal film for anyone directing a musical. There’s no quick edits to see the choreograph in a different angle. Just seeing the three main characters dancing and singing as we’re watching a Broadway play. Most of the songs actually advance the story, so they’re not just there just cause. 

        Mostly they’re about Don being cheered up by his friend and when they’re pitching the new film to the producer. None of them are distracting or just stop the movie. Catchy is an understatement since they embody the flamboyant style the film has going for it. I think the important thing about musicals is that the songs are meant to forward the story not just stop and sing for no reason contextually. With Singin’ in the Rain, most of the main cast has their time to shine, especially O’Connor who is kinetic with his song “Make ‘Em Laugh”.

3. Legacy

        Without a doubt this movie has a massive influence after it came out. It didn’t win any Academy Awards, but it’s one of those films that has become beloved and cherished years after the fact. I only ever heard of the film from an episode of Family Guy. Unfortunately, it was referenced in the Stanley Kubrick adaptation of A Clockwork Orange, I’m not going to say where exactly it happens in the film, but it’ll probably scar you. Researching more on the film, I was not aware that the film was being used as a basis or reference to many films and with music artists. 

4. Overall 

        So what if it’s old, and the aspect ratio doesn’t cover your tv or mobile device. This movie has music that absolutely slaps until your hand is numb. It’s an absolute classic and you should definitely watch it. 

        Singin’ in the Rain gets a five out of five. 

State From The Top #9

        Howdy, so I was having a hard time trying to figure out what to review for April. One idea was to review some Kaiju movies. Think monster movies like King Kong and Godzilla. Another was reviewing some animated films, but I don't want to inundate the blog with just Disney classics. Maybe in another time where I'll review some animated features sometime this year. Right now, I will be dedicating the month on a small sub-genre which I call movies about making movies. 

        I have heard of this topic on YouTube when I sat down and watch a countdown video about that topic on the website Cinemassacre. That got me thinking that there are probably more than just the 5 films the host talked about. So with all that, here's the slate for April. 

Singin’ in the Rain 4/3/2021

King Kong ’33 4/7/2021

Be Kind Rewind 4/10/2021

Living in Oblivion 4/14/2021

Ed Wood 4/17/2021

The Disaster Artist 4/21/2021

Bowfinger 4/24/2021

The Player 4/28/2021

Bad Education Review

 

        I was not aware that HBO, that Game of Thrones channel, actually makes their own films. Now, that’s pretty bad on my end, knowing that they make TV shows, documentaries, but apparently movies wasn’t something that I thought that they would do. Bad Education came out last year and made me aware that HBO can make movies. That’s a bit disingenuous, I was literally not expecting anything with this film. Except that Hugh Jackman was in it. Putting it out there, his role as Wolverine in the X-Men films helped a lot by passing off the idea that he’s American or Canadian since Wolvie is a Canuck. Anyways, here’s what I think about this great film. SPOILERS will appear in the review. 

1. Tragedy Makes Great Drama

        Like most films, it’s based on a true story which you’d never heard. All of it takes place in Long Island, New York at Roslyn High School where we see Jackman playing superintendent Frank Tassone. He is a respected person in the school among the students and faculty. We also get to see Rachel played by Geraldine Viswanathan who is a student newspaper writer for the school paper. She asks Dr. Tassone and his assistant about the high school’s skywalk. As Rachel goes over the school’s finances, everything starts to go south, for the faculty. 

It’s great drama for a good hour and 48 minutes. Jackman does a great job of playing the guy and he is just likeable. What sells us is that his character was a former teacher and has this great connection with everyone. The problem is that he’ll turn a switch when he is confronted with any problem that threatens him. The scene with him and Rachel in the school grounds highlight it. He figures out what she’s actually writing and tells her that the article she’ll publish will damage her. 

The whole movie is not so much on the school system’s problems, but more so that Tassone was unable to stop from the egregious spending that was going on. That exceeded millions of dollars that the school auditor found out and threatened of being fired by Tassone. It’s his personality and lifestyle that really made him a fallen angel. He was also an unfaithful man. Not in a religious sense, but of the cheating variety. I felt bad when his partner was shown a picture by the District Attorney that had Frank and his former student at a house in a Las Vegas suburb. 

I think what amplifies this type of drama is the dedication that Rachel has for the article, which was supposed to be a fluff piece for a school renovation. I love the idea that her Dad was happy to help her track down the companies that was tied to the school’s invoices. And the whole perspective that her Dad was tied to a financial crime and he could’ve raised his voice about it but didn’t. 

2. School Bureaucracy 

        Does this school have so much behind the scenes drama and politics like, wow. When word gets out that Tassone’s assistant Pam played by Allison Janney has a family member who splurges on the school’s business card, Frank throws her under the bus when the initial financial report was around $200,000. Not just him but the entire front office staff tried to figure out how exactly to cover it up. It makes you think how anything that were to happen in your high school would react to something like this. 

        Another thing that I noticed is that there’s one parent who sees Frank twice in the film. Both in the beginning and near the end of the film, the parent begs him to have her son be in an advanced class. The final part is one of the best moment in the entire film. Frank sees that the student is having difficulty reading a letter that was written by the mother. He keeps struggling on the word “accelerate”. So much so, that Frank helps him and use the analogy that the student is like a racecar being restrained. 

        We see that for as much as Frank is seen as a asshole to the parent, he is proving a point that every teacher and administrator is seen as the problem for not helping their kid. Him just getting so frustrated with everything about the school administration and having a parent try to ask for a favor. He wants to help, but can’t. It would’ve been easy to make him one note, and the entire administration corrupt. They were just caught in something that was building up and had no idea how to deal with it. 

3. All The Superintendent’s Men

        Aside from one man’s fall from grace, it’s a good newspaper drama. I thought that the stuff with Rachel and her Editor would just be around the background when we see Frank’s life slowly turn upside down. It’s one of those things where if you’ve never heard of this story and all it took was a high school newspaper to break story so massive, you or anyone would believe any ounce of it. I think what drives her to make the paper more than just a simple one is just her digging more. Which is actually prompted by Tassone to tell her to make it more worthwhile. 

        I feel that’s just dramatic irony in a way that, she eventually finds enough dirt of what’s going on that it comes back and wrecks havoc on the faculty. I’m not saying that this film is anywhere close to All The President’s Men, but it’s up there. More on the person than the actual event. 

4. Overall 

        This is one of those hidden gems of a movie that you need to have HBO in your cable service or sign up for HBO Max. As far as I know and I can be wrong, but I think there’s only a digital copy of the film that is available online. Bad Education was one of the worthwhile movies that I saw when I was lockdown during a pandemic. 

Bad Education gets a four out of five. 

Attack the Block Review

 

        I’m with you on this one since neither of us have even heard of this movie. I forgot where exactly I heard about this movie that made me want to check it out. Just to get this out of the way, I didn’t watch the movie just because it had actor John Boyega, who was in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. With most movies, I went in with an open mind. Attack the Block is probably one of my favorite foreign films. SPOILERS will appear in the review. 

1. Intimate Alien Invasion

        One would think that it would be film about a turf battle among gangs. Absolutely not, a gang that’s called The Block. Led by Moses who is Boyega’s character see an asteroid crash onto a car. The group breaks in to steal the radio, a small alien attacks and Moses kills it. Little did they realize, more aliens in asteroids are falling in their area of London. 

It’s a breath of fresh air when anyone who thinks about an alien invasion movie thinks big invasions, massive battles, generals strategizing, and Will Smith. With Attack the Block, the invasion is limited to a high-rise apartment complex. It would’ve taken away from the characters to have the aliens land elsewhere. Also, the weapons that the gang uses are limited to fireworks and baseball bats. 

The aliens do look interesting. When we see the first one, it’s white and small. Very feral along with the black ones who have glow in the dark teeth. Which I thought they were eyes, but they have no eyes. I feel that the Xenomorph from the Alien franchise is always the go to for people to make a good knockoff. We really don’t get an explanation, but just that they land and wreak havoc among the gang.

2. Unlikely Heroes

        The Block Gang are the quintessential anti-heroes. They begin by robbing a woman of everything. I honestly thought that the character Sam would just appear in the beginning and that’s it. She actually contributes to the overall plot. Since, Moses and Sam have this distrust for each other that they begrudgingly accept help from each other. 

        The other members in the gang are actually good on their own. I was surprised that when more aliens appear that some were actually killed. Shocked as I was, I literally thought that all of them would survive. Moses and the gang practically change throughout the film. It’s a little known tidbit that can make a movie better than what it is. Since near the end, the whole gang changes their act including Moses who actually tells Sam that he’s just 15. 

    

        One thing that kept popping up is the idea of broken homes in the movie. Mostly all of the gangs in the apartment complex don’t have a stable family. Most of them live with single parents, grandparents and relatives. It’s the idea of nature vs nature that’s all over the film. Especially when Sam tends to one of the gang member’s wounds when an alien bit him. And it’s apparent since there are two little kids who mimic them and unintentionally help out killing the aliens. 

        The final aspect that I noticed is the slow moments when characters just talk and really digest what’s going on. After the gang survive an encounter with the aliens, they stay at their friends room. All of them are wondering why they are seeing aliens invading on their neck of the woods. Moses questions possibly that the creatures are the government’s creation. The movie didn’t have to be that deep, but when you see later on Moses’ life, it make sense since he was dealt a bad hand of fate. 

3. Overall

        Arguably, this is one of the best foreign indie films that I have seen just by pure curiosity. The scope is small to make the characters intimate and the threat isn’t exacerbated by them being everywhere. It’s a fun, poignant film that deserves to be watched on Hulu, for a limited time since I have no clue when it’ll be removed from the service. 

Attack the Block gets a four out of five. 

Underrated Gems: Steve Jobs

 

        In 2011, Steve Jobs died from cancer. Many remember him as an innovator for technology such as reinventing the computer and phone. For some, he was considered a hero despite not really knowing him personally. Two films were released to showcase the innovator, Jobs in 2013, and Steve Jobs in 2015. The first one was not great and the one for today’s review bombed in the box office. While the films damper the general audience on watching any film about Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs offered a glimpse as to who the man was. SPOILERS will appear in the review. 

1. Reality Distortion Field

        At a first glance, Michael Fassbender does not look anywhere near as the title character. I feel it’s a compromise since he absolutely nails the person. He easily steals the show since he perfectly acts and delivers his lines just how the actual guy acts. I think the thing he does well is that the whole product presentations just show how anal he was with making sure everything was perfect. 

        He has a confidant Joanna who is the person who really tries to level with Steve about product expectations and to really guide him down when he’s being a total dick to the computer engineers. It would be one thing where we had a film where we see Steve Jobs from college dropout to making an Apple product. Here though, his interaction perfectly captures just who Steve was for the people who never knew him. A complete asshole, for one thing he is very blunt and has the my way or the highway attitude. 

        The thing that spotlights the whole movie is him being a Dad. Or the opposite since he claims that his daughter Lisa isn’t his. This is the part that a whole lot of people weren’t even aware. If you read the biography by Walter Isaacson, he delves into the relationship between Jobs and Chrisann Brennan. Here, he attempts to dress down his ex by really justifying the Mac and how he misspoke when he said that Brennan slept with a determined number of men. 

        It’s one thing to make the film completely biased and to really deify him. Here, the film presents him as such, he’s poorly built. The movie goes out of its way to explain why he has such a big issue with control and making sure everything has to be perfect. He thinks in a different way most people would see as not possible. In context, when we start the film he stresses that the Macintosh has to say “Hello”. Joanna wants to skip the feature while engineer Andy Hertzfeld attempts to explain to Jobs why the computer can’t do that function.

2. A Story Told in 3 Product Announcements

        As I said earlier, the film has three product launches as a way to start a new act. Each has a different music style and how it was shot. It makes the setting, even though it takes place in a theater and backstage authentic for the most part. The really interesting aesthetic is the upgrade in film footage that was used in the successive acts. In the first two acts, they were filmed on 16 and 35mm footage. Which helps explain why in the Mac launch there was a grainy look to it. Then in the last one was shot on digital. 

        As with most movies based on actual people, the best ones are focused on an event that made the person famous. Steve Jobs does that but in an interesting way such as with the launches of the Macintosh, the NeXT computer, and the iMac, we get to see just how the person has grown up and really come to terms with who he is. Part of it feels repetitive, but I think it allows for the character to grow and that makes the film endearing. Aside from meeting with Chrisann and CEO John Sculley, Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak shares the highlight of stealing a scene. In the final act, both Jobs and Wozniak argue about why Steve won’t acknowledge the Apple 2 team. Woz thinks that since Steve was kicked out that he’s doing it as a snub. While Jobs see it as them really hurting the company. 

        It goes to show just how complicated the legacy of Steve Jobs is. For one, he was an innovator who had fantastic ideas of using a computer. Although, he didn’t input any code or built anything, he was just the spokesman who really nailed the pitch of getting people to want to buy an Apple computer. This film really does a great job with setting the record straight with just who he was as a person. 

3. Altered History

        The biggest complaint in the movie is that the events that happened on film didn’t really happen. Mind you, I feel that anyone could be bored when Steve is preparing himself with a product presentation with no technical difficulty or personal beef that needs to be settled. It’s a creative liberty that is justified since it shows just who Steve was. I hate to really sound like a broken record when stating that since that’s really what made the film work. For drama sake and for being invested with what’s going on. 

4. Overall

        With all that being said, this is one of the best films that came out in 2015. I feel that the Ashton Kutcher movie made more of an imprint in pop culture due to him looking like Steve Jobs. Although, this movie delivers on nailing just who the character was. I think if The Revenant wasn’t around, Michael Fassbender would’ve won the academy award for best actor. Regardless, this is one of the best underrated gems in the 2010s.

        Steve Jobs gets a four out of five. 

Napoleon Dynamite Review

 

        For some weird reason, this movie was shown when I was in a after school program in elementary. Something about it was intriguing to me. Perhaps it was the main character or it was just that the whole movie was really nothing that I have seen before. Keep in mind, I watched animated movies and superhero movies growing up. This was so left field for me when I was young. Years later, this is one of those films that I will re-watch and still laugh. SPOILERS will appear in the review.

1. Not Your Usual High School Movie

        At a glance, this doesn’t look like a typical high school movie. There’s a template on how to do a successful one such as any John Hughes film or Mean Girls. Napoleon Dynamite is that aberration of a high school movie where it adheres to no formula and instead just forges its own path. When you watch it, you feel like nothing is happening. Mostly we follow what Napoleon is doing and just how he is.

        Played by Jon Heder is an anti-social person with the worst people skills. He opens up when the new student Pedro becomes his friend. At his house, his washed-out uncle comes and wreaks havoc when he invites his older brother to join in his get rich quick schemes. You would think it would be about Napoleon trying to figure out who he is. That’s not really it, it’s more or less a slice of life movie, about how yes, figures out what skills he has, and help Pedro run for class president. 

        What it does well is that the whole approach is bizarre. Not that it’s bad, but it gets away with just how Napoleon is just an endearing loser. His idiosyncrasies are hilarious and just the stuff he says is just funny. I think it’s an acquired taste in comedy since its very low energy, but the comedy just comes from the overall weirdness of it. If there is one thing that I noticed is that nobody acts their age. Like Uncle Rico yearning for his football days in high school and Grandma riding the ATV in the Idaho dunes. I think we’re supposed to laugh that they’re clinging to something that they should move on from. It could be just that they are just flawed people. 

2. A Good Bland

        Another thing I noticed is that the film feels like it’s on a time warp. It has the aesthetic of the 80s, despite taking place in the 2000s. I just think that Idaho reacts later than the rest of the country in terms of keeping up with the times. I joke, but I think it just emulates just how small towny it feels. There’s just a lot of white people and the only minority is Pedro. Not that it’s a bad thing, but everything that happens is mostly happening within Napoleon’s world. 

        I think the whole town just screams indie film. Mind you, it’s a studio indie film, meaning that Fox Searchlight Films was created by 20th Century Fox to distribute small budget indie films but carry the name of Fox to increase profits. Other than that, the whole town is like the same bizarre as the characters themselves. 

3. Overall 

        This is one of those aberrations that occur in film where it pops up, and word of mouth give it the right kind of publicity. As far as I can remember, there were t-shirts and an animated show that was aired on Fox back in the early 2010s. Napoleon Dynamite is one of those movies where it’s a good slice of life where you’ll feel good about the characters. 

Napoleon Dynamite gets a four out of five. 

Minority Report Review

 

        I remember I was watching a show on the National Geographic channel back in the mid-2000s. There was a show that talked about Hollywood movie science, and in one of the segments included from the film Minority Report. One of the first shots that I saw was the use of tiny tripods in the film. That was only a small slice of the futuristic tech in the whole movie. When I finally sat down and watched it for a film class at Texas A&M, never would I think that this would be my favorite Steven Spielberg film. SPOILERS will appear in the review.  

1. Story

        The film takes place in 2054, John Anderton played by Tom Cruise is an officer for a new department called PreCrime. Their job is to stop crimes before they even happen. They use a dual way to assess threats by using three beings called Precogs. Twins and a woman who have clairvoyant powers to see into the future. Also, technology that helps John with putting together footage that the Precogs see.  After a successful mission, Agent Danny Witwer played by Colin Farrell, assesses the department before giving it the go ahead to become permanent. 

        While looking through new footage from the clairvoyants, John realizes that he is a perpetrator for killing a man. He goes on the run from his fellow officers and Agent Witwer, in an attempt to clear his name. I never realized that the overall world and technology would make me love this film. I feel that the film is a combination of an action, sci fi, and noir film rolled into one. Not once where it feels so tonally off but manages to keep the action and the drama balanced to make an enjoyable film. 

        One of the other things about the film that is the focus is the technology. Back in 2002, nobody thought that we would have anything that closely matched the film. Most of it feels quaint and not that far off, considering that we have ads targeting us and wireless earphones where we can talk to people. Although, you would probably need a phone. Not that it didn’t steal the spotlight, I feel that it’s a character in its own right. The world feels idealistic but frightening. Since the very idea that you or anyone can be a criminal for a crime you weren’t aware that would happen. 

2. PreCrime

        The whole organization is the main thing that drives John to be who he is. We get a reason as to why he joins. He lost his son at a pool and vows to use the department to try to find him. When he gets confronted by Agent Witwer, it is probably one of the best moments in the film. They discuss just how PreCrime is functional. It’s a battle of wits in the spoken word. Since Danny is questioning if its possible that the department is prone to mistakes and John sticking to his guns by saying it’s a fool proof way of dispensing justice. 

        I like that it’s not very biased but presents the organization as a good and bad. Mostly leaning to the really bad aspect. Since we see that John might have sent some innocent civilians to jail. The whole futuristic jail is such a frightening sight, most of the prisoners are in a suspended state where they see an idealistic vision of their life. The whole unraveling of the department mostly helps the character arc of John. Who becomes such a cheerleader for the new way of justice, to running away from it. 

        Even when John meets the founder of Precrime, she has doubts about the whole project. Throughout the film, it more or less talks about the idea that maybe stopping a crime before it happens is wrong. For anyone, it seems ideal since nobody gets hurt. On the other side of the coin, someone innocent might become a victim for a false arrest. It’s more or less a metaphor on authority since that is fallible as well. For a film to based on a short story from the same writer that wrote Blade Runner, he appears to be prescient. 

3. Precogs

        Continuing from my talk about the department, these beings as well gets its own tab. All three are named after detective authors such as Dashiell Hammett, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie. We only ever focus on the clairvoyant Agatha since she has the McGuffin that drives the film and gives John what he needs to clear his name. The whole reason as to why they were granted the ability to see into the future made sense, sort of. They explained that they were birthed from some drug using parents. I’ll let that slide since it is the future and I’m assuming any narcotic can produce some power.

        I like that they as well bring the conundrum that PreCrime isn’t a reliable system of justice. When we see their visions of a crime that will happen, there appears to be some version where it happens differently. It’s used so well as a red herring since the director of Precrime Lamar Burgess, played by Max von Sydow actually manipulated the future in order to implicate John from using Agatha to solve her mother’s death. 

4. Very Basic Philosophy That I Understood, And So Can You

        Now this movie has some philosophy that anyone can understand. Hell, it’s in the dialogue as well. There are two concepts at work here: the idea of free will and predeterminism. The latter is mostly this, anything that is going to happen will happen. John sees his supposed crime being committed and he is given a chance to avoid it from happening. I like that concept since there is a chance for him to essentially avoid being a cold-blooded killer. 

        That isn’t to say that the movie is deep in anyway. The ending is probably my only complaint since John gets captured and anyone can interpret that what we see after is what John is being shown in the futuristic jail cell. Although, with that he can’t see what his ex-wife is saying to Lamar. Who knows, it’s cathartic since John gives Burgess an ultimatum to either give Precrime the attention it deserves or ruin it. All which is a catch 22, and highlighting the philosophical points I just mentioned. 

5. Overall 

        As I said earlier, Minority Report is one of my favorite Spielberg movies. An honest tough choice to really pick and choose a favorite, but this one is a within the Top 5. It’s prescient with its subject matter and the technology isn’t that far off. Just the thought that the film is nearly 20 years old is crazy to me. More so that people have not heard of it nowadays. 

       Minority Report gets a four out of five. 

Little Miss Sunshine Review

 

        This is one of my favorite films that I watched during the pandemic beginning last year. It’s one of those most endearing films that I have seen in a long time. Every now and then I see the film referenced in numerous ways. Such as having a spoof moment in the film Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa. Besides that, there’s so much heart in the film that it really struck a chord for me, which is rare for any film to do that nowadays. SPOILERS will appear in the review. 

1. A Family Story

        Just by looking at the cover of the DVD it has everyone running and pushing a yellow VW van. It has Olive looking at an old Miss America pageant video to get the right reaction to winning the title. Her mother Sheryl picks up her suicidal brother Frank from the hospital. In between that, Richard the husband is presenting in a seminar emphasizing the idea of winning is better than losing. Sheryl and Richard have a rebellious son Dwayne, who has taken upon himself to be mute since he wants to be a pilot in the Air Force. 

        Helping Olive with her dance routine in the pageant is her grandpa Edwin. We don’t see what they are practicing, but when you see it being performed is the best part in the movie. Anyways, Olive gets word that she gets to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine Pageant in California. The family adjust as to how they are going to do the trek. Due to Sheryl having to keep Frank from killing himself and Richard attempting to call his book agent about his book on his motivation philosophy. 

        This is one of the those films where there’s never a slow moment to be wasted. The best part is when they are riding in the hunk of junk Volkswagen van and just trying to get to California. No one wants to be there, but they have to suck up their pride to support Olive. Most of the characters are giving a whole lot of depth despite the fact that the film is clocking in at 1 hour and 45 minutes. It would’ve been one thing where the family are just one dimensional, but the film succeeds by having the most realistic portrayal of a dysfunctional family. Since one would think that they’ll be trailer trash. This isn’t the case since it’s implied that they are barely hanging on. Hoping to have the husband have a successful book career. 

2. Success in Failure

        Aside from the family aspect of the film which is the highlight, another piece to the film is the idea of being okay to fail. At the beginning when Richard is giving a lecture, he stresses that the way to be a winner is to not be a loser. He hangs on to that tenet throughout the film, even talking about it with Olive by instilling a sense of positivity that she has to have a winner’s edge to win the pageant. 

As the film continues or just stressed that everyone in the cast has failed. Sheryl is a divorced wife, Frank is a suicidal would-be Shakespeare scholar, Rich is an ambitious motivational speaker who is out of his league. Edwin is a narcotics user. The moment when Olive is testing Dwayne’s eyesight by giving him a color test is the saddest scene and the film’s best moment. It’s established that Dwayne has taken an oath of silence until he becomes a pilot. When he struggles with an eye color test, Frank breaks it to him that he can’t fly. What proceeds to happen is the most gut-wrenching moment in any film that I have seen.

He bangs on the van until Richard pulls over. Dwayne screams out and cries. You have to feel sorry since he honestly wanted to be a pilot. All that silence and reading about Nietzsche was for nothing. The very fact that the film is mostly about failure is endearing since the message is that its okay to fail. I mentioned before in my Nightmare Before Christmas review that the musical was about being okay to fail. This film is exactly like that and it embraces it. 

Olive is the only one who has no shame when we are confronted with shots of little girls being dolled up for the pageant. Her youthfulness and positive attitude propel her to perform the routine she and Edwin had practiced. The most satisfying part is that her family joins in on her dance recital. All of that constant barrage of failure is uplifted when Olive is just having fun. 

3. The Hypocrisy of Pageants

        I feel that it’s one thing to bring up the idea of beauty pageants as the ultimate representative of winners and losers in the film. Olive gets in only because a contestant was disqualified due to her using diet pills to better her figure. The little girl is reminded by her Dad that skinny girls win the pageant when the family is in the diner eating. The rest of the family cheer her up by tempting her to eat ice cream when they eat it. 

        The whole clash of ideas is interesting since it’s common knowledge that any stubborn parent is willing to parade their daughter to look skimpy and dolled up to win a trophy that doesn’t mean anything. When Olive performs, every single parent is shocked to the point that they clutch their hypothetical pearls. I feel it’s a subversion since it’s on point that Olive does her routine since the pageant is built like that to be very evocative.  

4. Overall 

        Without a doubt and I can repeat myself so much that I love this film. Little Miss Sunshine is one of those studio indie films that is easily on my definitive top ten. It’s an endearing story about family and coming to terms with the reality that they’re not perfect. And that being a failure is okay. I was laughing and feeling sorry and it’s one of those films that is a sure-fire way to have anyone emote in any emotion. 

        Little Miss Sunshine gets a five out of five. 

Chef Review

 

        Jon Favreau is a unique talent in Hollywood right now. I think he’s the only talent who can direct and act in the film and not come off smug in the least bit. The first time I got exposed to his work was in Elf and then later for Iron Man and its sequel. Chef is probably one of his best movies where it’s mostly about him but with everything about filmmaking replaced with being a chef. I will explain that tidbit later. SPOILERS will appear in the review. 

1. Redemption Story

        Favreau writes, directs, and stars as Carl Casper. He is a chef at a fancy restaurant in Los Angeles. After unintentionally starting a Twitter beef with the local food critic, he is let go and attempts a way to have a fresh start. His ex-wife Inez helps him with her ex-husband to rent a food truck. From there, Carl and his son Percy along with his assistant cook Martin go east to travel west to rekindle Carl’s love for cooking. 

        The story is one way a redemption and a story about a father and son rekindling their relationship. Carl and Percy are sort of distant. As the film goes on, Percy asks to help out his Dad with running the food truck. My favorite moment is when Carl takes Percy aside and explains to him why he loves cooking. In the context that Percy almost lets a worker eat a burnt Cuban sandwich.

        It’s a charming story for one thing, since we see Carl grow up a little and really realize his love for cooking. The moments when he is conversing with his cook friends and Inez is endearing since they try and pump him up to be the best. One thing I noticed is that the film has tons of Marvel alumns: such as Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson. It just shows just how much of an actor-director Favreau is. I feel that he works best when he works with the actors to get a feel more for their characters. 

2. Cooking Food

        Now, when you have the title of the film called Chef, you’d expect to have scenes or shots of food being cooked. And man, do they really steal the show. Most of it is shot very voyeuristic with close ups and shots with Favreau and others prepping the ingredients. It’s not entirely new when a film deals with food to have that. Ratatouille mastered that aesthetic by having it all be animated. 

        When I mean voyeuristic I mean that it makes the audience and yours truly want to actually eat the food. It’s a way to actually take the film term called The Male Gaze and apply it to food. I might as well explain what The Male Gaze is. To be brief about it, ever notice that in some action films, sometimes shown in Michael Bay and Quentin Tarantino films, there are moments with women being shot in various sexy shots. That’s where that film term means.

3. Real Life Parallels 

        As I mentioned before in the introduction, the film is used as a way to parallel Favreau’s film making career with being a chef. Prior to this film’s release, he directed Iron Man 2 and Cowboys & Aliens. Two films that, while not great but just okay that it signaled to some that Favreau had already started a slow decline. Now that’s bologna since he drew from his actual life to incorporate aspects to Chef. 

        I feel the moments when he is working at a professional restaurant is supposed to represent that he felt constrained to the studios. This one moment when Carl and his son are watching a puppeteer using a skeleton marionette, the camera zooms in on the puppet as its supposed to symbolize to us that Carl is being restricted to be a talented chef. Back at the restaurant, Carl changes the menu and is scolded by the manager. 

        Just the observations is just how I felt how Favreau must’ve felt during that time prior to filming. Especially when he just airs out his grievance to the food critic. It’s cathartic since he probably had opinions about movie critics who tore his films up. Even though, in the movie Carl unintentionally caused a beef that the food critic just wanted to point out that the chef was being restrained of his talent. That part felt refreshing since it’s probably, and I think only time where a critic and an artist try to understand one another. 

4. Legacy

        After the film was released, Netflix released a cooking series called The Chef Show. Where Jon Favreau and his cooking friend visit various people to understand various foods in the country. I enjoyed it since he has a friendly personality, and he did an episode with the directors of Avengers: Endgame and the producer for Marvel Studios. This is the first time where you guys get two recommendations. 

5. Overall 

        What else can be said that I love this film. It’s a step away from the blockbusters that Jon Favreau did for a while, and still doing. It’s a passion project that has his quality as a director and as a cook on display. I think the benefit to enjoy this movie is to have no expectations and to see a family be reunited. 

        Chef gets a four out of five. 

State From The Top #8

Howdy guys, I thought I should update you all on the movies I will be talking about for this month. This is probably the toughest part since I've been struggling to pick the right movies to review. For one thing, I don't want to have a specific theme. I think it would be repetitive to have back to back months were there was a theme. With all that said, just for this week only, I will be taking a break. Then after that, it will be full steam ahead with yours truly. 

I've been thinking about spicing up my review slate from two movies to three a week. I'll probably implement them either when April comes around or during the Summer. Not to get too ahead of myself, but I am thinking of doing a summer blockbuster slate for the entire summer months. I haven't looked at what movies to see, although with them being blockbusters, anything good will pop up. 

With all that being said, here's upcoming slate for March. 

Chef 3/10/2021

Little Miss Sunshine 3/13/2021

Minority Report 3/17/2021

Napoleon Dynamite 3/20/2021

Underrated Gems: Steve Jobs 3/24/2021

Attack the Block 3/27/2021

Bad Education 3/31/2021