February is the month of romance, so I thought it would be fun to pick a classic romantic comedy for my blind spot selection. There aren’t many romcoms I haven’t seen but one I hadn’t gotten around to is The Palm Beach Story by director Preston Sturges- the king of the 1940s romantic comedy! Fortunately, it proved to be not only romantic but also somewhat shocking (for the day) in its themes and story.
The first thing to keep in mind with The Palm Beach Story is to watch the opening credits! There is a montage throughout them that comes into play later in the movie. It’s a neat touch that starts things off feeling fresh and inventive.
Claudette Colbert is amazing as Gerry, a woman struggling with a marriage that can’t seem to get above water financially. Her husband Tom (Joel McCrea) has grand ideas but can never make a steady paycheck. Through various contrivances Gerry ends up on a train down to Palm Beach where she hopes to meet a rich man who can be her second husband.
To her great fortune she meets a man named John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee) who becomes smitten and insists on showering her with all kinds of clothing and gifts. Of course when Tom hears about this he is furious and goes to Palm Beach to try and stop it.
Things get further complicated when Hackensacker’s sister Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor) becomes interested in Tom (who Gerry says is her brother Captain McGlue!). With so many half truths it gets pretty nutty and even a little surprising. It’s also very easy to see how this film influenced movies like White Christmas and Some Like It Hot in many ways.
As with all of Preston Sturges’ movies the true star is the terrific script. He was so great at crafting frank and honest dialogue spoken from compelling characters. The banter between McCrea and Colbert is snappy and very fast paced but thankfully the actors are up for the task. Colbert is as good here as she is in It Happened One Night, and she has good chemistry with McCrea. They even manage to keep her likable despite her taking advantage of Hackensacker and not being very honest. Not an easy task!
I was impressed with how modern the script was in both tone and candor. Sex, marriage, divorce, infidelity, loneliness and depression are all discussed in ways that must have made the censors blush back then. Sturges even asks the question ‘is marriage necessary or a good thing?’. Of course, the answer is yes but it’s still a bold question for 1942. Later on in Unfaithfully Yours he will explore these themes even more, but I appreciated there was nothing cloying about the relationships in this script.
The only real downside is not all the physical comedy worked for me. All the actors are up for it but I preferred the more dialogue-based humor. Also, I don’t know that I completely buy the ending, but I don’t know that we are supposed to. I think it is meant to be a little bit of a poke at traditional romances with perfect happily ever afters. He even adds an ‘or not’ at the end to reinforce his point.
I definitely recommend checking The Palm Beach Story out if you like classic romances with great dialogue. It’s a wonderful choice for Valentine’s Day and a whole lot of fun! Also, studios should take a look at this film and consider remaking it or paying homage to it. The story and script is definitely still relevant and it would be interesting to see the themes of marriage explored even more so with modern characters.
After my last post about my ‘real’ favorite movies my brain has been flooded with more films I can place in this category. If you didn’t read the previous post these are films that aren’t widely circulated as classics or ‘great movies’ but that I love and rewatch over again with great pleasure. You could probably also call this the most rewatchable list.So here are a few more of my favorites that may not be Citizen Kane to most but I LOVE
Walk the Line-
Like Moonstruck, I feel like I frequently hear Walk the Line brought up as an undeserving Oscar winner. Not in my book! I love this movie so much. I love that it focuses on a narrow window in June and Johnny’s life and relationship. I love how it handles the situation with his first wife. I love when he goes on the June Carter love walk. I love all the songs and the chemistry of Reese and Joaquin. The dialogue is so good and it is one of my favorite romances ever
The Perks of Being a Wallflower-
Perks of Being a Wallflower is the first new movie I’ve ever seen that felt nostalgic to my life. It’s set in 1995 I believe which was right when I started high school and everything took me back to those years even down to the colors on the lockers at the high school. I love how it gets little details right that high school movies never get right like how he breaks his hand after being in a fight or how the party is just kids drinking in a basement. Not these massive parties you so often see in high school movies. I love all the dialogue and the music and all the performers. Ezra Miller is amazing as Patrick. I could watch an entire movie about him. It’s Emma Watson’s best acting by a mile and Logan Lerman is so great. I love the message that ‘we accept the love we think we deserve’ and how we all deserve so much better. The twist at the end is dark but it totally worked for me. It’s a rare movie that improves upon the book in every way probably because it was adapted and directed by the author.
Juno-
I wasn’t even aware that it had become uncool to like Juno. I don’t care I love it! Ellen Page is so wonderful and full of heart as Juno and the emotional journey she goes on is powerful. She thinks she knows it all but she quickly learns she does not. I love JK Simmons and Allison Janney as her parents. I love Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner as the adoptive couple who you think you know but you don’t really. I love all the cute indie music but mostly I love Diablo Cody’s terrific script. I love how funny, sweet and emotional it is. Sure it has a certain affectation to it but I like it. It completely charms me every time I watch it, which is frequently.
Return to Me-
I feel like a lot of Mormon people know about Return to Me for some reason but it isn’t widely viewed as one of the great romantic comedies which it should be. Return to Me stars David Duchovny and Minnie Driver who come together when she gets his dead wife’s heart in a transplant but they don’t know they have this connection. It was written and directed by Bonnie Hunt and she did such a good job. Parts are devastating but then other scenes are hilarious. Driver and Duchovny have such great chemistry and all the supporting cast feel like a family. It even makes me yearn for an Italian/Irish restaurant. It’s also refreshing to have a modern romance where the couple is together and he doesn’t even realize she has a giant scar on her chest because they are chaste and yet still fall in love.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvloIUSHogs
Calamity Jane-
I am a massive Doris Day fan so naturally I love Calamity Jane but I feel like it is never talked about as one of the great musicals of the 1950s. I like it every bit as much as Annie Get Your Gun or Oklahoma! In the film Doris Day plays Calamity as a tomboy who can beat any of the men at shooting, drinking or any other activity. She goes to the big city to find a singer named Adelaid Addams but ends up getting a common girl named Katie by mistake. When all the men including Calamity’s crush fall for Katie, Calamity is threatened and the story goes from there. It is so sweet and Howard Keel is fantastic as Wild Bill Hickok. The songs are catchy and fun (well sung by Doris Day). It’s a great movie!
So there are 5 more movies that I really love! What do you think of these 5 movies and what are some of your favorites? Share in the comments below. Thanks!
Today I finished watching 2 of my favorite movies. Was it Casablanca? Was it Ben-Hur (both movies I adore). No, it was The Cutting Edge and Julie and Julia. Neither are movies you would see on top 10 lists of great films or praised for their great artistry but I love them. And it got me thinking. I think most of us have a secret favorite movies list. You know what I mean? That list of movies you actually like best but you know aren’t ‘great movies’. It’s kind of like the woman who secretly loves dime romance novels but tells all her friends her favorite book is Anna Karenina or War and Peace. It’s not that she dislikes the classics but they don’t give her quite the pleasure of her true favorites.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share with you 5 of my secret favorites and then I will continue to do more every once in a while. I’d love to hear what yours are (most of these won’t be a big shock because I talk about what I love with my friends. So not that much of a secret LOL)
You could also easily call this list- My Rewatch List. These are movies I could rewatch over and over again and never tire of (Wonder Woman would make this list but it’s pretty well loved)
You’ve Got Mail-
I had somebody once on this very blog tell me that my opinion on movies was obviously invalid because I went to BYU and loved You’ve Got Mail. I’m not sure how the math on that works out but there you go. I absoloutely adore You’ve Got Mail. It is one of the best, if not the best, remake ever made of the delightful Shop Around the Corner. It is chock full of Nora Ephron’s perfect writing. I love her commentary on everything from childrens books to leather jackets to Starbucks. I love that it is secretly a movie about work and how we get our sole value from our paid employment so frequently. I love Meg and Tom in it. I love the supporting cast. I love West Side of New York and all the stops at Riverside Park and the Gray’s Papaya. I love how it loves movies like the Godfather. I love the scene when Tom Hanks gets Rose to run the credit card through the machine and how upset Henry is. I love that Birdie had an affair with General Franco. I love that Frank wants to write a book about the Luddite movement and that he thinks it is relevant. I love that Kathleen loves Joni Mitchell and thinks of her mother when she hears River. You get the idea…I just love it and that’s that.
Home Alone-
A lot of people love Home Alone around the holidays but I love Home Alone year round. I first saw Home Alone when I was 9 years old and visiting my Grandparents for a special trip all by myself. Being independent was very important to me as a child (still is in many ways) and I completely connected with Kevin McCallister’s story and found it to be the funniest movie I’d ever seen. I remember just rolling out of my chair I was laughing so hard and not necessarily at the parts you might think. The booby traps are very funny for kids but I also thought the scene where he accidentally steals the toothbrush was funny or when he tricks the pizza delivery guy with the Angels with Filthy Souls fake mafia movie tape. “I’m going to give you till the count of 10 to get your ugly yellow no good kiester off my property…” That was hilarious to the kid me and I still think it is funny. But Home Alone wasn’t just laughs but it was also empowering to the young me. Kevin figures out how to shop for groceries, cook dinner, do laundry and save the house from burglars while he is at it. It’s the best.
Clueless-
Clueless came out the summer before my freshman year of high school and I vividly remember the experience. I watched it and not only thought it was hilarious but I felt like my world made a little bit more sense than it had before. When Cher is talking about the boys and their baggy pants with a backwards cap ‘and we’re supposed to swoon’ I completely understood what she meant. I saw it every day! When she talked about frustrations at school or trying to fit in with friends it made sense to me. Even her getting on the freeway for the first time clicked. I was always terrified of driving and later once I had my permit my Dad took me on the freeway and he had to remind me to hold on to the steering wheel just like Murray had done with Dionne. I still love everything about Clueless. I love Paul Rudd in it. I love that it is based on Emma. I love all the hilarious lines. I love the interactions between Cher and her Dad. I love her speech about the Haitians. I love the soundtrack with all my favorite 90s songs. I just love it.
Dirty Dancing-
In fairness a lot of people love Dirty Dancing but I still feel it isn’t respected as a ‘great film’ like it should be. I like it much better than any of the Molly Ringwald coming of age comedies from the 80s. My love of Dirty Dancing is perhaps more amazing because it features a character having an abortion- a practice I abhor but the movie isn’t about that. It’s about a young girl coming to terms with the world and her own womanhood. Other people make all kinds of choices in life and part of growing up is to learn to love them regardless. This is what Baby learns. She loves Johnny and he loves her and they dance together and it changes her life. The best!
Moonstruck-
I love Moonstruck. I feel like I frequently see it come up on lists of ‘undeserved Oscar wins’ and I heartily disagree. I love Cher in this and her chemistry with Nicholas Cage is off the charts. I love how wounded he is and how they fight and the way the tension builds. I love the dialogue and when Cher says you’re “a wolf without a foot!” I love the scenes at the opera and how La Boheme makes her cry. I love the scenes with Olympia Dukakis and John Mahoney and I love when she tells Cosmo “Your life is not built on nothing.” It’s such a perfect response to a movie I love!
So there you have it! Those are 5 of my secret favorite movies. What do you think? What are some movies you love that aren’t usually listed in top 10 best movie lists? I’d love to hear.
There shall be more on this topic to come so be ready!
Hey guys! It is early Sunday morning and I have officially finished my 2018 Sundance experience. It’s interesting because I enjoyed the over-all experience much more than last year but I did not have a film that excited me the way STEP did this year. That movie made me want to be a better person and I can’t say that about any of the 18 films I viewed this year. However, it was still a great year, full of highs and lows.
It also didn’t play out exactly like I predicted with me switching up a couple of days films but hopefully I will get to see those films in my preview eventually that I missed.
I will do them in my ranking order worst to best
18. Lu Over the Wall-
I was really excited for this film because it was the first anime to be featured at Sundance but I really didn’t care for it. The animation felt like an sporadic assault on the screen and the story made absolutely no sense. What little did make sense felt like a copy of Ponyo. It was a big disappointment and honestly made me kind of nauseated after watching it.
D-
17. White Fang
While this new version of the Jack London novel had some nice moments I was very turned off by the violent content. The dog fight scenes in particular were long, brutal and exploitative. The animation was inconsistent and overall it had a gloomy tone I couldn’t see past
D-
16. Ophelia
This turned out to be the most deliciously bad of the festival. A supposed feminist take of Hamlet has Queen Gertrude having a secret evil Witch sister who lives in the forest and has been damaged by the King. Hamlet is an eyeliner wearing emo kid and Ophelia saves the day and triumphs over all the end. I died laughing
D=
15. Nancy
While all the performances in Nancy are good I felt the pacing and characters were off. I didn’t care about any of them and they didn’t seem to grow and certainly weren’t likable. It was flat and dull.
C-
14. Monster
A classic example of a director that couldn’t get out of the way of his movie. Good performances by the entire cast are hurt by distracting choices like making the lead character a filmmaker and showing tons of his films with him pontificating about them or having long flashbacks with speeches. It just didn’t work.
C-
13. Crime and Punishment
This is a documentary about the quota system that persists in the NYPD despite it being illegal. There was lots of good information here but it wasn’t packaged in an appealing way. It was long and slow and I struggled to stay awake. I would rather just read an article on this issue personally.
C
12. Kusama: Infinity-
It was amazing to learn more about Kusama and see how she created her art. I also enjoyed hearing from the filmmakers and their 17 year odyssey to create this film. It is a perfectly serviceable bio-pick style documentary but it didn’t blow me away or move me.
B-
11. Genesis 2.0
This documentary was very strange. Half the movie is about ivory hunters looking for wholly mammoth tusks in Siberia and the other half is about China’s goal to clone the wholly mammoth. Honestly I found the cloning part to be super terrifying. These clinics they showed where the Chinese are already cloning dogs by the dozens gave me the chills! Haven’t these people learned anything from Jurassic Park?
B-
10. On Her Shoulders-
This is a good documentary about Nadia Murad who is an activist and human trafficking survivor from the Yazidi, a small minority group in Iraq. The frustrating part was how completely useless the UN is to do anything to actually help Nadia or most anything else. The movie kept building up these speeches she would give as huge moments but they are all for naught so it is frustrating.
B
9. Science Fair-
This film profiles students from all over the world that are entering the ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair). One teacher in particular was amazing and got 9 of her students admitted into the fair. The only problem was it felt a little too long. They should have cut 2 of the students to make it tighter but still good film.
B
8. The Price of Everything
This is an interesting expose into the world of art and art collecting and how obscene it can all get. My only complaint is I wish the director had pushed the collectors harder about their collections and how they don’t benefit wide masses like a museum and cost exorbitant amounts that could be used to help people. I wish he had dug a little deeper into these issues.
B
7. Chef Flynn
This was a cool documentary about child prodigy chef Flynn McGarry but it was really about his family and their free range education techniques. Flynn’s Mother is very supportive of him starting a pop-up restaurant in their house when he is 10 and she supports him as his career grows. I love the free range movement and thought this was a tremendous example of it.
B+
6. Search
A movie that is nothing but screens as John Cho looks for his missing teenage daughter. It’s a definite gimmick but I thought it was a ton of fun. It had humor, tension and surprised me on more than one occasion. It might have been partly due to seeing 17 heady movies it was fun to see something sillier but I really enjoyed it.
B+
5. Minding the Gap
Young filmmaker Bing Liu started filming his friends when they were very young and doing interviews with them and the documentary follows 3 of them into adulthood. It also has a lot of great skateboarding and talks about how domestic violence interrupts all 3 lives. It was a fly on the wall type of documentary rather than a message movie and I really enjoyed it.
B+
4. Butterflies
This black comedy is about 3 Turkish siblings that unite to take care of the funeral of their estranged father. It was very funny with exploding chickens and clergy that have crisis’ of faith in the middle of a funeral service, but it also has a lot of heart. I liked all 3 of the siblings and they felt believable as family
A-
3. Won’t You Be My Neighbor-
I grew up on Mr Roger’s Neighborhood so this documentary was such a treat to me. So many people lately are exposed as hypocrites or having scandalous sides but not Fred Rogers. He really does seem like a special man and this documentary explores the value he had in telling children they are loved and of value. It made me cry. It’s similar to the Big Bird documentary I Am Big Bird from a couple of years ago
A-
2. Eighth Grade
Evidently writer/director Bo Burnham is a celebrity of sorts. I had never heard of him but he did a great job with this movie. I am usually mixed on coming of age movies. Often they leave me feeling depressed. Even recent films like Edge of 17 and Lady Bird I didn’t love because the characters were so harsh and mean to each other. I can relate to the gloomy teenager but not to the harshness that is shown in those 2 films. Eighth Grade is finally a coming of age film I connected with (along with Sing Street). It’s sweet, funny, endearing and everything else. I loved it.
A
1 Leave No Trace
I have seen a number of ‘off the grid’ movies over the last few years and I’ve hated all of them. They always glorify the parents for their unconventional choices instead of asking more questions. Here director Debra Granik does an amazing job making Ben Foster’s father figure a complex character. On one hand he is damaged but on another he is very selfish. Thomasin McKenzie is so great as the daughter and there’s a point towards the end where I wanted to cheer. I don’t know when I’ve been more proud of a character.
A+
So there you have it! Let me know what you think about these films and which one’s sound interesting to you.
I did live recaps on my youtube channel if you want to learn more about these films
Everyone who has read this blog knows I am not a big fan of the Walt Disney version of the Pocahontas story. It has its positives but a bossy lead character, terrible villain and sappy romance sink it for me.
As a contrast, I have wanted to watch the 2005 Terrence Malick version of the story called The New World, so it was a natural fit for my Blind Spot series!
I have long been a bit of a Terrence Malick apologist. For the last few years he has created films free from structure that are essentially art pieces. I enjoy most of them but I understand why many do not. However, here in The New World he actually has a narrative and he executes it beautifully. I wish he would go back to narratives just to shake things up for a little while!
As you can see in the clips above the true star of this film is the incredible cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki. He does all of Malick’s movies, and this is one of his most beautiful. I love the way he uses water, nature and light to convey the mood of a scene. This film doesn’t have a ton of dialogue and so the cinematography is essential to helping us understand what the characters are going through whether it be trauma or love.
Obviously the story of Pocahontas can be a sensitive one to retell but Malick evidently did his research and the tribal leaders were happy with the results.He even has the characters speak an extinct form of the Powhatan language that had to be reconstructed for the film.
They do portray a love story between John Smith and Pocahontas which is not historically accurate but it is done in a more realistic way to the time period. It feels more authentic and real than the Disney version.
Colin Farrell does a good job as John Smith and has good chemistry with Q’orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas. She works both in the tribal scenes and when she gets taken to England to live. I love that she isn’t a preachy character like in the Disney film but happy, joyful, strong, soft and sweet. She’s a person you can completely understand why men fall in love with her.
Christian Bale plays John Rolfe, Pocahontas’ husband in England in an understated role.
The music by James Horner is one of his best. I love the way he uses birds and other sounds of nature as part of the actual score.
The only downside to The New World is it is long. (There are 3 versions 135, 150, 172 minutes. I watched 135). Malick is a director that can definitely be self-indulgent at times and he probably could have cut down on a few of the pretty twirling in nature scenes to make things a little tighter.
Oh well! A few slow moments are well worth it for the beautiful experience Malick gives us in The New World. It’s definitely worth seeing and it makes me happy the Pocahontas story was done so well at least once.
The Sundance Film Festival is fast approaching! To be more precise it begins tomorrow! Last year I attended the festival for the first time purchasing a ticket package and seeing 10 films. One that I saw, STEP, proved to be my 2nd favorite movie of 2017, so I am excited to see what 2018 holds in store for me. This year I bought the SLC Pass which allows me to see any film screening in Salt Lake City as opposed to Park City. It limits things a little bit but there are still plenty of movies to see. Right now I have 19 films on the schedule and the only thing that could mess things up is if my cold gets worse so fingers crossed it will improve!
I thought I would give you a little preview of the 19 films I am aiming to see and then I can do a recap at the end of next week. I will try and post daily recaps on my youtube channel but it depends on if I have much of a voice (right now I can’t talk much because of my cold).
Won’t You Be My Neighbor-
This is a documentary about Fred Rogers who was the host and creator of Mr Rogers Neighborhood. I like these kind of biopic documentaries and always enjoyed MRN as a kid so this should be very interesting.
Loveling-
This is a Brazilian film about a couple that must emancipate their teenage son so he can go and play professional hand ball in Germany. The trailer looked sweet and enjoyable so I figured it was worth a shot
Lu Over the Wall-
This is probably my most anticipated film of the festival. It has some Ponyo vibes about a little girl that meets a mermaid named Lu. I know GKIDS has already picked it up so I have high hopes that it will be great
Science Fair-
This is a documentary about 9 students competing in the ISEF or International Science and Engineering Fair. As STEP shows, I love inspirational documentaries so this should be right up my ally
Eighth Grade-
I don’t know a ton about this movie but that it is about a 13 year old girl at the end of middle school and particularly her life on social media. I know it is an A24 film and they usually do intriguing stuff like A Ghost Story so I will give it a shot.
White Fang-
This is another animated film at the festival and it has some good early buzz. It is based on the classic Jack London novel and features Rashida Jones and Nick Offerman as voice actors.
Inventing Tomorrow-
This is another documentary about the kids preparing for the ISEF like Science Fair. The blurb says “Watch these passionate innovators find the courage to face the planet’s environmental threats while navigating adolescence. It will be interesting to compare the two documentaries.
The Price of Everything-
This is a documentary about how the price of artwork is determined. The blurb makes it sound pretty exciting- like “holding a funhouse mirror up to our values and our times where everything can be bought and sold”. We will see if it lives up to such a build-up!
Nancy-
This is a psychological thriller about a woman who becomes increasingly convinced she was abducted as a child. This is a little bit out of my comfort zone but it sounded intriguing. Evidently it focuses on fake news and people who lie to get what they want. Here is an interview with the director.
Ophelia-
This is a ‘re-imagining of Hamlet, told from Ophelia’s perspective.’ I love Hamlet and am really excited to see Daisy Ridley in this role. The rest of the cast is solid with Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Tom Felton and more.
Chef Flynn-
This is a documentary about a young culinary prodigy named Flynn McGarry. He begins running a supper club in his home and then turns into a celebrity as the ‘Teen Chef’. Some embrace him and then others resent his quick success. I’m a big foodie so this looked interesting.
Butterflies-
This is a Turkish film about 3 strangers who find out they all have the same father when they must go and bury him. Through this experience they learn about him, themselves and each other.
Minding the Gap-
This is a documentary about 3 young men who leave their families and enter the big city. It looks like a sweet heart-warming documentary, so I figured it was worth a shot.
A Polar Year-
This is another documentary about a man named Anders who moves up to a small town in Greenland to teach for a year. They struggle with preconceptions of each other but it looked like a cute movie.
The Oslo Diaries-
It seems 2018 is my year for documentaries at Sundance. This one is about the “secret negotiations leading up to the 1993 Oslo peace agreement. I figured it would be quite interesting!
Search-
This stars John Cho and Debra Messing and is about a man who breaks into his daughter’s laptop after she goes missing only to find she’s been leading an entirely different life online. Early buzz is pretty good on this one so I decided to watch it.
Kusama: Infinity
This is a documentary about a famous artist named Yayoi Kusama and how she became who she is. Evidently it includes interviews with Kusama who lives in a mental hospital and continues to create art. It sounds interesting to me so why not?
Animation Shorts Spotlight-
I actually thought the animated shorts were kind of lame last year at Sundance but they can’t always be that way? As an animation girl I knew I needed to watch these shorts and hopefully they will be more original and better than last year.
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind-
I am not sure if I am going to see this documentary because of church commitments but it has gotten great early buzz and I do love Robin Williams.
So there you have it! That is my current schedule for Sundance 2018. What do you think? What looks interesting to you? Let me know in the comments section and I will keep you up to date as the festival continues. Thanks!
Happy New Year! I was going to wait until I saw The Post to do my best of the year movie list but I had time tonight and decided I will post my current list here on the blog and then do my list on my youtube channel later in the month. I have already done my worst of the year list over on my channel so I will include that below.
I saw an amazing 141 releases in 2017. The Moviepass has a lot to do with this as I could see a movie every single day for a very small cost per month. I highly recommend checking it out. (I get nothing for this. Just a shout out because it has been so great in my life).
As great as all these movies were the thing I am most grateful for is the people they have brought into my life. Whether it is all you lovely readers, or people I have collaborated with on my podcast, or dear friends I have made going to see films it has been amazing. I sincerely feel like I have a network of friends both in Utah and across the world and it is all because of a shared love of film. That is pretty special and I am so grateful.
Cheers to 2018 and thank you for being a part of my life and reading my nonsense.
So here goes my best of 2017:
1. Coco- I loved everything about this film. The animation was stunning. The story swept me up and I emotionally connected with Miguel and Hector. The ending destroyed me but in the best kind of way. I loved the songs and being introduced to a new culture. It was stunning. By the way, I promise I will post an in-depth analysis of Coco like I have done with all Pixar films. I have not had the time to see it a second time and do it in the way it deserves. Here is my youtube review2. STEP– I saw STEP in January at Sundance on my birthday and it blew me away then and it continues to do so now. It’s the very best of what movies can do. Not just a documentary but a profile of hope for the future. It’s about these girls of Baltimore and the leaders who won’t give up on them. It’s not about dance. It’s about the goodness of real people, and I just love it.
3. Wonder Woman- Every time I see this movie it makes me weep. Not just cry. Full on weeping. I will be the first to admit it has flaws but none that matter. To me it is the story of a God who becomes acquainted with the frailty of mankind and how quickly we are to be cruel to each other. That realization is devastating and yet Diana does not lose hope. I love Steve Trevor and Diana. I love the side characters. I love the music. No Man’s Land is amazing. It’s my favorite superhero movie with the exception of maybe The Incredibles and it is very dear to me.
4. Personal Shopper- I admit Personal Shopper is an odd pick for me because it does have strong nudity but in a clinical more than a sensual nature. However, it blew me away with its character development and storytelling. It is part thriller, part mystery, part spiritual journey, and a million other things. Director Olivier Assayas has created a masterwork with perfect sound design, editing and a story that keeps you guessing. Kristen Stewart is heart breaking in the role of Maureen and you felt her grieving for her twin brother as the world spins around her in a way she can’t grasp on to. It’s by far the best acting I’ve seen all year and a movie I could watch 100 times and still see something new from.
5. A Silent Voice– I admit A Silent Voice is a tough sell for non-anime fans. It’s long and very steeped in Japanese mannerisms and conversation. But this is my list, and I loved it. Director Naoko Yamada has made a stunning film about a bully and his victim that connect years later and find an unexpected bond. The music is by far the best of the year. The animation is beautiful and the humanity she finds in both characters is so moving. There is one sequence in particular where Shouya rescues Nishimiya that takes my breath away.
My friend Christine and I did a podcast on this film that you should check out.
6. The Big Sick– The script for The Big Sick is without a doubt the best of the year. You can feel the closeness to the story that Kumail and Emily had in writing it. It’s heartfelt without being cloying. It’s funny without being annoying, and it’s a romantic comedy that isn’t crass or mean-spirited. Imagine that! Holly Hunter and Ray Romano are two of the best supporting performances of the year in roles that could easily be shrill and unlikable. I loved what the film had to say about religion and those who decide to stray. It honestly helped me understand people I love better and that is when movies have power.
7. The Girl Without Hands- Isn’t it amazing we still live in a world where one man can produce an animated film basically by himself? Sebastian Laudenbach did just that with The Girl Without Hands, and he created something stunning. It’s a piece of poetry at the cinemas with the words, images and music flowing along until you can’t help but be swept up. His take on this Brothers Grimm fairytale is dark, romantic, and yet still hopeful. It was a stunning experience at the movies.
8. Ingrid Goes West- I love movies that have layers- that I see and its meaning and value keep growing as I think about them. Ingrid Goes West is such a film. On one level it is a satisfying film about social media addiction but that’s just the surface. When you dig deeper it’s about the loneliness of modern life and how poorly we are at providing resources for those facing a mental health crisis. All the acting is superb and the script feels authentic to its characters.
9. Get Out- Another movie with layers that I kept thinking about for days after I saw it. I initially gave it a B+ but would be higher now as it has really stuck with me. It can be enjoyed on a surface level as a horror comedy but it is also a commentary on those who think we are a post-racist society. As a conservative I thoroughly enjoyed smug liberals being finally put to the fire and called out on their nonsense. I also thought the alternate reality that African-Americans are forced to live in was beautifully displayed. The auction scene alone I could think about for weeks!
10. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion- For a long time I had Baahubali 2 as 12th on my list, but as I was finalizing the order it didn’t sit right. What other movie introduced me to a whole new world of cinema? (The debate was between this and Brigsby Bear which I connected strongly with). None opened my mind more than the madness of Baahubali 2! Sure it is exorbitantly long and silly but that’s part of the charm. It’s is over the top and bombastic in ways that US corporate planned blockbusters never are these days, and I loved every minute of it. I love the music, insane violence, and torrid romance. It’s a spectacle like none other.
Honorable Mentions:
11. Brigsby Bear- such heart and a lovely story it pains me to not be in the top 10. All about the magic of the creative process to save us
12. Dunkirk- probably the best experience I’ve had at the theater in 2017. A chance to get immersed in a moment of history. More of a reenactment than a narrative, and I was ok with that.
13. The Man Who Invented Christmas- destined to have a spot in my annual holiday viewing. It checked off so many of my boxes I had to mention it. A joy to watch!
14. The Breadwinner- beautiful animated film that combined a relevant story with stunning fantasy sequences. Heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. Over at Rotoscopers.com I led a group of writers to do a 5 part series on this film from all different angles I’m very proud of. My friend Conrado and I did a podcast on it that was a lot of fun.
15. Thor Ragnarok- This is probably the most rewatchable of any on this list. It was a blast and so funny!
16. The Greatest Showman- an old fashioned family musical that I love the more I think about it. I do not care in the slightest that it isn’t historically accurate. It’s a joyful experience that I have seen twice and am itching to see again.
My worst of the year you can find here:
The Glass Castle
Spark a Space Tail
The Emoji Movie
Pottersville
The Dark Tower
Pitch Perfect 3
Transformers: The Last Knight
The Book of Henry
The Circle
Beatriz at Dinner
Gifted
Lady Macbeth
King Arthur and the Legend of the Sword
(Not all are badly made but all irritated me or were terrible to me in one way or another)
The performances are very strong from Margot Robbie and Allison Janney and deserve nominations, but I had mixed feelings on I, Tonya. On one hand it is interesting to hear another side of such a famous story but the style of the movie felt a little too silly for the narrative it was telling. It was unique but felt unfair and superficial to all involved especially Nancy. You can’t humanize a somewhat notorious character by making her struggles a joke.
Grade- B-
Smile Worthy for the Performances
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
I don’t have much nostalgia for the original Jumanji film, so I was able to go into this sequel with an open mind. In the end, I was entertained by Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. The movie gets a lot of material by mixing up the genders of the characters in the movie and it is pretty funny. The special effects are great and it was overall a fun family film. The middle dragged a bit for me and I got a little sleepy is my only complaint. It does have a few inappropriate jokes involving the gender swapping parents should be aware of.
Grade B+
Smile Worthy
Batman and Harley Quinn
This is an absolutely appalling movie where a man is raped as a joke and Harley Quinn proves to be one of the most annoying characters in recent memory. It is awful
Grade- F
Frown Worthy
Big Bad Fox and Other Tales
Very sweet animated shorts that will make the entire family laugh. The animation is a sketchy style but very pleasant and it stays strictly G rated fun. I particularly liked the final short which is holiday themed
Grade- B+
Smile Worthy
Call Me By Your Name
This film has gotten a lot of Oscar buzz with good cause as it is very beautifully filmed. The Italian countryside never looked better! Call Me By Your Name tells the story of a young man who falls in love with an older man played by Armie Hammer. I think this movie suffered a bit for me in comparison to Moonlight, which I think was a lot stronger. Moonlight has something anyone can relate to in the different parts of Chiron’s life. Here I struggled to relate to the lifestyle of these rather pedantic expats living in Italy. However, Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer are great and have wonderful chemistry together. I enjoyed the leisurely pace and the great writing by James Ivory. It’s a good movie. Just not as good as Moonlight.
The sensuality is very strong in here so you’ve been warned.
Grade- B+
Smile WorthyBattle of the Sexes
I don’t have many complaints about Battle of the Sexes. It’s a perfectly fine true story sports movie with some good performances. It tells the story of Billie Jean King and Bobby Rigg’s iconic tennis match in a satisfying but by the numbers way. Nothing really stood out to me and I had the feeling I will quickly forget it, but it’s fine.
Some strong sensuality in here also
Grade- B-
Smile Worthy
Sword Art Online: The Movie
As someone who has never seen the anime show it was a little confusing at times but Sword Art Online was pretty entertaining. I really like the set up and the world-building. The animation was great and the action was awesome. The female characters were a little weak. The pacing in between action scenes could drag but it was a worthwhile anime to watch
Grade- B
Smile Worthy
Ferdinand
This latest offering from Blue Sky is a harmless sweet animated film. It is certainly worlds better than the trailers demonstrated. I liked Ferdinand and how there really was no villain just characters with different points of view. The humor, especially the calming goat, was mostly good and overall it is enjoyable. The main problem is it feeling very played out and generic. I loved the music by John Powell with songs by Nick Jonas
GRADE B-
Smile Worthy
Birdboy: The Forgotten Children-
I reviewed this for rotoscopers.com and it was a challenging film to review. It’s worth seeing for the visuals but it is a very strange movie. The characters are uber-cute but the settings and events are very violent and disturbing. It was intriguing but the lack of narrative was challenging. I admire it more than I like it but I’m glad I saw it
Grade- C+
Barely Smile Worthy for the Artistry
Disaster Artist
A very heartfelt and sweet movie about the making of the worst movie ever made- The Room. James Franco becomes Tommy Wiseau in every way and Dave Franco is also good as Greg Sestero. It’s a funny and engaging look at the power of creating something even if it is terrible. It’s no Ed Wood as far as filmmaking but I was entertained.
There is some nudity and language in this film
Grade- A-
Smile Worthy
The Mountains Between Us
This is a very dopey romantic survival story. Good thing for this movie is I like dopey romantic survival stories. It was just silly and fun enough to be entertaining. It’s not a good movie but I enjoyed watching it. It does make you wonder how 2 such quality actors got stuck in this film?
Grade- C+
Smile Worthy but I admit it isn’t a great film
Man Who Invented Christmas-
This checked off a lot of boxes for me. I love Christmas Carol. I love Dickens. I love British stories. I love this whole cast. I love Christmas movies. So it didn’t have to do much to win me over so it succeeded in doing just that. I loved the performances of Dan Stevens as Dickens and Christopher Plummer as Scrouge. I loved seeing the process behind the writing of Christmas Carol with them diving into his past and father at points. This is totally a film I plan on buying and watching each year for the holidays.
Grade- A
Smile Worthy
So overall a pretty successful month of movie going! What have you seen? How would you rank these films? Put in the comments section. If I have time I will do longer reviews for these and will definitely be reviewing Greatest Showman and Coco eventually on this blog. Some like Ferdinand and The Disaster Artist I’ve reviewed on my youtube channel. Check those reviews out and make sure you are subscribed to this blog and the channel.
There are some movies that defy description. That you watch and then sit in stunned silence after wondering what you have just witnessed. This year’s Pottersville is such a film. As someone who watched 35 Hallmark original Christmas movies this year as well as films on Ion, Up and other questionable networks, Pottersville is the worst holiday film of the year and one of the worst I’ve ever seen. There is some argument to be made for ‘so bad it’s good’ entertainment but right now I’m just baffled by it and even more baffled that so many great people cosigned to be in it. It’s a festive train-wreck that must be seen to be believed.
Let’s start off with the fact that one of the great actors working today, Michael Shannon, leads this film. He stars as Maynard Greiger a simple general store manager who goes home one day to find out his wife has become a furry because country life is boring. Let that sentence sink in…
I have no problem with furries to be honest. Whatever people like to do in their free time is fine with me but the way this movie uses them is so weird and mocking in tone but then sincere is perplexing to say the least. They somehow got Christina Hendricks and Ron Perlman to play the furries! What on earth?
The devastated Maynard then decides to spice up his life by dressing up and becoming Bigfoot, which sends the town into a flutter. I repeat- what on earth? (And he drinks from a pee fountain at one point).
Then Thomas Lennon shows up as Brock Masterson, host of a Bigfoot hunting reality show and it is so bizarre. He flails about the forest with a bad Australian accent and it seems like he should be a crazy person but he’s not. He’s just in this movie. There is one scene with him defecating outside while talking to one of his producers that goes on forever. The attempts at physical, mad-cap comedy are so bad it defies description. I just couldn’t believe this is a thing that was made by top tier talent?
There is also the Christmas aspects to the film, which are bizarre. Like how about the many references to It’s a Wonderful Life? Because that’s the first movie I think of when making a list of silly holiday comedies. Also the ever-present strange holiday soundtrack that is surprisingly traditional for such an anarchist movie. And I’ve seen about 10 ‘save the ____’ Christmas movies this year but this expects you to feel warm and fuzzy about this ‘Bigfoot’ sighting literally saving the town when its dilapidated town mill becomes a tourist attraction. What on earth?
Pottersville is one of those movies that is very difficult to rank because it is so bad it is fascinating and must be seen by all. Do I rank this over a mediocre bad movie like The Emoji Movie? Pottersville is worse than Emoji Movie but it is worse in more interesting ways. People were trying to make a holiday classic and it failed spectacularly where nobody was really trying to make a great movie with Emoji.
The only thing I can think to compare it with is last year’s 9 Lives but this is even stranger narratively. I just don’t know what to say or how to adequately describe this film.
It is available on Netflix so watch it for yourself and see what epically bad movies can achieve.
By the way check out my podcast on Hallmark movies I’ve been doing with my friend Amber. I’m super proud of it.
The first thing to keep in mind with The Palm Beach Story is to watch the opening credits! There is a montage throughout them that comes into play later in the movie. It’s a neat touch that starts things off feeling fresh and inventive.
Claudette Colbert is amazing as Gerry, a woman struggling with a marriage that can’t seem to get above water financially. Her husband Tom (Joel McCrea) has grand ideas but can never make a steady paycheck. Through various contrivances Gerry ends up on a train down to Palm Beach where she hopes to meet a rich man who can be her second husband.
To her great fortune she meets a man named John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee) who becomes smitten and insists on showering her with all kinds of clothing and gifts. Of course when Tom hears about this he is furious and goes to Palm Beach to try and stop it.
Things get further complicated when Hackensacker’s sister Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor) becomes interested in Tom (who Gerry says is her brother Captain McGlue!). With so many half truths it gets pretty nutty and even a little surprising. It’s also very easy to see how this film influenced movies like White Christmas and Some Like It Hot in many ways.
As with all of Preston Sturges’ movies the true star is the terrific script. He was so great at crafting frank and honest dialogue spoken from compelling characters. The banter between McCrea and Colbert is snappy and very fast paced but thankfully the actors are up for the task. Colbert is as good here as she is in It Happened One Night, and she has good chemistry with McCrea. They even manage to keep her likable despite her taking advantage of Hackensacker and not being very honest. Not an easy task!
The only real downside is not all the physical comedy worked for me. All the actors are up for it but I preferred the more dialogue-based humor. Also, I don’t know that I completely buy the ending, but I don’t know that we are supposed to. I think it is meant to be a little bit of a poke at traditional romances with perfect happily ever afters. He even adds an ‘or not’ at the end to reinforce his point.
