Newsies (1992)

  I don't own Newsies and I'm not really sure why.  Maybe I'm just not as obsessive about Disney's live-action films as I am about their animated ones.  For whatever reason, it's like I sometimes forget this movie even exists, then I'll remember and have to watch it again.

In 1899 New York, times are hard.  Groups of children -some orphans, some trying to help out their families- sell newspapers on the street.  These newsies have a hard enough time getting enough money to feed themselves, so when publishing magnate Joseph Pulitzer (Robert Duvall) raises their buying price in an ongoing war against his rival William Randolph Hearst, the newsies are incensed.  Young firebrand Jack Kelly (Christian Bale) becomes their voice, urging them to form a union and go on strike.

This is actually based on a true story.  I'm guessing the real child laborers of 1899 probably did not spend as much time learning complicated group choreography and rousing anthems as the movie children did.  This was the directorial debut of Kenny Ortega, a choreographer of some renown, and the attention paid to the dance numbers is painstaking.  The whole thing is acted so earnestly that it strays into melodrama but that would only be apparent to adults.  As a kid, I remember thinking that it seemed perfectly natural or at least it never stuck out to me as being unnatural, which is essentially the same thing when you're ten.

The Misfits (1961)

  This is the last entry in my Forever Marilyn series.  It is easily the most dramatic work in the series but felt the least like a performance from Monroe.

Roslyn (Marilyn Monroe) is in Reno getting a divorce when she meets Guido (Eli Wallach), a car repairman.  Through him, she meets an aging cowboy named Gay (Clark Gable) and agrees to stay on with him.  The two men have a plan to round up some of the last remaining Nevada mustangs and recruit young rodeo regular Perce (Montgomery Clift) to help.  Roslyn is on board until she discovers that the horses will be turned into dog food.  She begs Gay to change his mind but he feels this is his only way of reclaiming a lifestyle that has been steadily encroached upon by progress.

This film is notorious for being Gable and Monroe's last completed work.  Clift and Monroe were both very dependent on alcohol and prescription pain medications at this point, Monroe was going through a divorce with screenwriter Arthur Miller, and director John Huston drank and gambled non-stop during filming.  Honestly, reading the issues surrounding this production makes me wonder how it even got completed in the first place.  The whole thing sounds like a nightmare.

And yet, it resulted in one of the most emotionally resonant films I've ever seen.  Monroe is clearly psychologically vulnerable, seesawing between desperate joy to a total nervous breakdown.  Clift is like a wounded dog, all big sad eyes and mournful bewildered voice.  Gable handles his character's aging so gracefully and deftly, showing more range and nuance than any other role I've seen him in.  Those are all big names, huge stars at the time, but I really feel like Eli Wallach stood toe-to-toe with them and did not get enough credit for his work.  This isn't a film I could revisit very often but I am glad that I saw it.

Mortdecai (2015)

This is my 1300th post!

  Since Christy no longer lives with me, I am no longer beholden to her wretched taste in movies, except for once a month where I am forced from my ivory tower of snobbery.  I present to you the resurgence of the Christy Experiment!

Charlie Mortdecai (Johnny Depp) is an English lord with a fondness for art and a severe cash flow problem.  Martland (Ewan McGregor) works for her Majesty's government and loathes Mortdecai, having lost out to him over the affections of beautiful Johanna (Gwyneth Paltrow), but needs the reprobate's help in locating a stolen painting.  The piece is believed to have the Swiss bank account number of an infamous Nazi written on the back and is sought after by an American collector (Jeff Goldblum), an international terrorist (Jonny Pasvolsky), and a Russian mobster (Ulrich Thomsen).

The January release date is the first clue that this is going to be a terrible movie.  Johnny Depp's ridiculous costume should be the second one.  Honestly, I don't know what is going on with him but it looks like a mid-life crisis.  This film is completely devoid of originality, wit or fun and it desperately needed all three.  Mortdecai is a bumbling half-wit aided by a long-suffering servant in the vein of Jeeves and Wooster but without the knowing wink of the latter.  The plot shambles along like a drunken frat boy at a wedding, practically begging the audience to enjoy its repetitive mustache jokes under the mistaken impression that if something is said in a British accent, it is automatically funny.  It was almost physically painful to watch a once-respected actor reduced to over-reliance on props.  And yet...there was a sense that something buried in the material was worth filming.  Maybe the source novels would be worth picking up, to see if it was just a misfire rather than a deliberate affront.  

The one bright spot in all this is Paul Bettany, who not only escapes unscathed from this trainwreck but manages to lift the interactions in which he's involved.  He is the only performer worth watching and has somehow managed to get progressively hotter in each role he has taken.  Now that's a superpower worthy of The Vision.

Some Like It Hot (1959)

  This was a film that had to grow on me.  I tried watching it once before and gave up about halfway, but this time I made it to the end.

Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) are two musicians struggling to make ends meet in 1929 Chicago.  After witnessing a mob hit, the two decide it is prudent to get out of town for a while but the only gig available is Sweet Sue's Society Syncopators, an all-female band headed for Miami, Florida.  "Josephine" and "Daphne" join the train out at the last minute and quickly get on with all the other girls.  Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) is especially fascinating to Daphne, but Josephine has a more ingenious plan.  Once in Miami, Joe ditches his feminine disguise for a suit and becomes "Junior", a prickly but eligible millionaire.  Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the two hapless musicians, the gangsters have followed them down to Florida.

Tony Curtis was amazing in this movie.  He made a better woman than Lemmon and switched between Joe, Josephine and Junior with ease.  Monroe is stuck playing another dumb blonde, this time one with a drinking problem, trying to land a rich husband.  The script is well-written and funny but Jack Lemmon's laugh got on my nerves like nothing else.  It's still one of the best films in the whole collection but that has more to do with Billy Wilder's direction than Monroe's involvement.

Inside Out (2015)

Nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Animated Film    I know I'm way behind the curve on this but it's been a crazy busy weekend in a crazy busy month.

Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) is a pretty typical 11-year-old girl.  Inside her head live her major emotions, responsible for shaping her personality islands and creating memories.  Joy (Amy Poehler) was created first, followed almost immediately by Sadness (Phyllis Smith).  When Riley is uprooted from her home in Minnesota and moved to San Francisco, Joy is feeling positive about the situation.  But a disastrous first day at school leads to a new sad core memory being created.  In an attempt to prevent the memory from taking root, Joy and Sadness accidentally get sucked out of Riley's control center and transferred to her long term memory, leaving Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Anger (Lewis Black) to do what they can to keep Riley on an even keel.  Joy is desperate to get back and looks to Riley's old imaginary friend Bing Bong (Richard Kind) to help her out, over Sadness' misgivings.

This movie has a lot to say in a short time.  I think it might be the most subtle Pixar film yet.  I'm pretty sure this is meant to be analyzed over multiple viewings to really capture all the nuances.  That's good and bad.  Good because it means that if you loved it, you'll most likely find even more things to love every time you see it.  Bad because if you didn't immediately love it, you may never give it another chance.  It is not as engaging as many other Pixar films and could be written off as middling.  Many of the story beats on display feel familiar because they've been used before in movies and TV.  There's something special here but it is in danger of obscurity behind the deft Pixar glibness that coats each frame.

There is also a stand-out short at the beginning called Lava, about a volcano who never gives up dreaming about love.  It's so sweet it'll make your teeth ache.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

  It's been a long time since I've seen this movie all the way through.  The first half is still the best half but it's much more cohesive than I remember it being.

Max (Mel Gibson) gets jacked in the desert and goes to Bartertown in order to find the thief.  Bartertown, as the name implies, is all about trade and without any goods to his name, Max finds himself turned away at the door.  Fortunately, he has a particular set of skills that are valuable to the right party.  Aunty (Tina Turner) is the figurative head of Bartertown but finds her power undermined by Master (Angelo Rossitto) and Blaster (Paul Larsson), who provide the fuel on which Bartertown runs.  She wants Max to kill Blaster in the Thunderdome but his principles intervene, causing him to be exiled into the desert.  He is rescued by a group of children abandoned since the apocalypse.  They believe Max is their savior, come to reunite them with the rest of their group.  He, of course, knows better but finds himself stuck trying to secure them a better future.

This is certainly the biggest budget of the three original films.  The sets are bigger, costumes more elaborate, and cinematography more impressive.  Tina Turner is surprisingly good in this.  She's incredibly charismatic and believable as the crafty queen of this struggling city.  The group of kids is where this all falls apart.  They are exceptionally annoying and whiny.

I didn't remember the action looping back around to Bartertown from the exile, nor did I recall the train sequence.  The latter is surprising, since it is a great third act climax.  Overall, this is a worthy sequel but it pales in comparison to its predecessor.

Raging Phoenix (2009)

  Somebody at work asked me how I even found a lot of the foreign movies I have reviewed on this blog.  Mostly, they found me.  It's like a rabbit hole, I guess.  You look at one and then there's another one behind it and that leads you to a different one.  I never really considered whether or not they would be "obscure" because they all seemed pretty easily available.  If any of you guys have any other questions, hit me up and I will do my best to answer them satisfactorily.

Deu (Jija Yanin) is not having a great day.  Her boyfriend cheats on her, she gets kicked out of her band, and then gets kidnapped off the street by a gang.  She is rescued by a mysterious martial artist named Sanim (Patrick Tang) and his friends, Dog (Sompong Leartvimolkasame) and Pig (Nui Saendaeng).  The three men go around breaking up the gang's organization piece by piece in the hopes of rescuing their loved ones.  Deu wants in but Sanim has serious reservations about whether or not she can be part of a team.

That description makes it sound super serious and parts of it are but the rest of it is kind of hilarious and filled with insane action scenes.  If you liked Chocolate, and wanted to see more from that actress as an adult, you should check this one out.  I take that back.  (The "as an adult" part, not the "you should see this" part.)  Turns out, she was 24 when she played in Chocolate.  That is kind of blowing my mind right now.