Movie Recommendations, Rants and Ruminations
If you’re in the mood for a seasonal scare, I suggest you revisit last year’s Scare Week from The Movie Gourmet. I programmed six horror films from different decades and from different countries. Even folks who normally avoid the horror genre will find someone to enjoy here. I don’t like Gore Horror, so there’s relatively little blood and guts. All six movies are available on home video.
And for more current horror, check out 2015 at the Movies: low-budget, high quality horror.
So here’s the thing with every movie ghost story – either the ghost is real or the protagonist is crazy enough to hallucinate one. The beauty of The House on Pine Street is that the story is right down the middle – ya just don’t know until the end when the story takes us definitively in one direction – and then suddenly lurches right back to the other extreme.
Jennifer (Emily Goss) is a very pregnant urbanist, who reluctantly moves from her dream life in Chicago back to her whitebread hometown in suburban Kansas. Unlike Jennifer, her husband hadn’t been thriving in Chicago, and Jennifer’s intrusive and judgmental mother (Cathy Barnett – perfect in the role) has set up an opportunity for him in the hometown. They move to a house that is not her dream home AT ALL, “but it’s a really good deal”. Jennifer overreacts to some crumbling plaster.
Jennifer is pretty disgruntled, and, generally for good reason – her mom’s every sentence is loaded with disapproval. Her mom’s housewarming party would be a social nightmare for anyone – but it’s too literally nightmarish for her. One of the guests, an amateur psychic (an excellent Jim Korinke), observes, “the house has interesting energy”.
Then some weird shit starts happening: knocks from unoccupied rooms, a crockpot lid that keeps going ajar. And we ask, is the house haunted or is she hallucinating? Her sane and sensible and skeptical BFF comes from Chicago to visit as sounding board, and things do not go well.
Co-writers and co-directors Aaron and Austin Keeling keep us on the edges of our seats. Their excellent sound design borrows from The Conversation and The Shining – and that’s a good thing.
The Keelings also benefit from a fine lead – Emily Goss’ eyes are VERY alive. She carries the movie as we watch her shifting between resentfulness, terror and determination.
The total package is very successful. I saw The House on Pine Street at Cinequest, and now it can be streamed from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
We’re at the beginning of a very promising Fall movie season .
My DVD/Stream of the Week is Our Kind of Traitor, a robust globe-trotting thriller, enlivened by a lusty Stellan Skarsgård and played out in a series of stunning set pieces. Our Kind of Traitor is available to rent on DVD from Netflix (and coming soon to Redbox) and to stream from Amazon Instant, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
On Halloween Eve, Turner Classic Movies is bringing us a campy Vincent Price horror classic from 1959, The Tingler. It has a scary premise – a parasite embedding itself in people’s spine and feeding on them – unaware until they feel a tingle AND THEN IT MAY BE TOO LATE! When finally revealed, the grown parasite is VERY scary-looking. Conveniently, the infested can weaken the parasite by screaming.
And on November 3, TCM plays the great political comedy The Dark Horse (1932). If you think that political handlers, dumb candidates, spin and sex scandals are creations of contemporary politics, you need to see this gem from 84 years ago.
Tower is a remarkably original retelling of the 1966 mass shooting at UT Austin. Tower is a tick-tock of the 96 minutes when 49 people were randomly chosen to be shot by a gunman in the landmark tower 240 feet above the campus. That gunman is barely mentioned (and may not even be named) in the movie.
Tower is director Keith Maitland’s second feature. What makes Tower distinctive and powerful it’s the survivors who tell their stories, reenacted by actors who are animated by a rotoscope-like technique (think Richard Linklater’s Waking Life). Telling this story through animation, dotted with some historical stills and footage, is captivating.
Since 1966, we’ve suffered through lots of mass shootings. The UT Tower shooting was especially shocking at the time and prompted the questions about what drove the “madman” to his deed. But, fifty years later, what’s really important today is how the event affected the survivors – what was what like to live through this experience and how it lives with them today. That’s the story that Maitland lets them tell us – and in such an absorbing way.
I saw Tower at the Mill Valley Film Festival. It opens theatrically in the Bay Area today at the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley.
In the indie drama Men Go to Battle, it’s 1861 and two bachelor brothers are sharing an especially unprosperous farmstead in rural Kentucky. Brash and loudmouthed, brother Francis (David Maloney) confidently plunges into one foolhardy scheme after another. His quiet practical brother Henry (Timothy Morton) picks up the pieces. Not one to use words to express his feelings, Henry has finally had enough of Francis and simply leaves for the Civil War without notice.
Observing Francis is plenty amusing, because of his unerringly wrongheaded impulses. But the stone faced Henry, for whom still waters run deep, is much more interesting – we wonder what he is thinking and what he is going to do. Once he’s made up his mind, he is decisive and resolute. In a remarkably powerful scene on the morning after the Battle of Stones River (Perryville), he wordlessly decides about war and about his part in it.
Men Go to Battle is the first feature for director and co-writer Zachary Treitz. His co-writer is the actress Kate Lyn Sheil (Sun Don’t Shine, House of Cards), who has a small acting part (as does indie director Amy Seimetz).
Visually, much of movie is way too dark (as in you can’t see what is going on). But Men Go to Battle does an exceptional job of illustrating the QUIET of pre-electric and pre-motorized North America.
[Note: Some critics have described this movie s “Civil War Mumblecore”. Indeed, it’s a low-budget indie made by thirty-somethings and the male actors DO mumble a lot. But I despise the Mumblecore genre because the stories are about underachieving slackers who are navel gazing and whining about first world problems. That’s not the case here. This movie is about a real family relationship, and there is no entitlement or snivelling, so it’s NOT Mumblecore.]
Men Go to Battle is available to to stream from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
There’s been a lot of buzz about the gross-out spectacular The Greasy Strangler – weirdest movie of the year, blah blah. But the first feature from British writer-director Jim Hosking is really pretty easy to deconstruct – it’s manufactured to become popular at the midnight cult movie shoes, joining the rotation along with Rocky Horror, Eraserhead, The Room, etc. The Greasy Strangler will draw in the midnight crowd with its meals prepared with industrial grease, the prosthetic penises of varying sizes and a heavy dose of sex between naked grotesques. It’s made for audience participation with signature lines for the audience to repeat along with the characters, like “You’re a bullshit artist” and “Hootie tootie disco cutie”.
This is not to say there aren’t some clever touches in The Greasy Strangler. Believe me, you’ve never seen a car wash used in this way before. And there’s a priceless male disco outfit with a cutout in exactly the wrong place.
The plot is pretty simple: a virginal nerd boy (Sky Elobar of Don Verdean) is living with his omni-disgusting father (Michael St. Michaels), a cranky cretin who constantly demands copious amounts of grease added on to his food – even movie popcorn butter and street vendor chili dogs. Will the younger man finger his dad as the local serial killer, the Greasy Strangler? And will the father alienate the affections of his son’s new sweetheart (Elizabeth Del Razzo)? Nightly, the Greasy Strangler immerses himself in a 55 gallon drum of grease and then zombie-walks through town in search of victims.
If you are not entertained by the epically disgusting, this movie is not for you – after all, that’s the whole point. The Greasy Strangler can be streamed from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play. Or you can catch it in the decades of midnight screenings ahead.
Our Kind of Traitor is a robust globe-trotting thriller, enlivened by a lusty Stellan Skarsgård and played out in a series of stunning set pieces. A meek Everyman (Ewan McGregor) is a tag-along on his high-powered wife’s trip to Cairo. Nursing a drink after a tiff with said wife (the sleek Naomie Harris from 28 Days Later… and a couple of Bond films), he is inveigled into joining a crew of partying Russians and becomes entangled in an intrigue that puts entire families at stake – including his own.
It turns out that our protagonist has been randomly plucked from the humdrum by Dima (Skarsgård), the top money launderer for the Russian Mafia, who is trying to get British intelligence to help his family escape from his murderous colleagues. The story having been adapted from a John le Carré novel, the dour British spy (Damian Lewis from Homeland) on the case is being hindered at every turn by a thoroughly corrupt British law enforcement and intelligence bureaucracy, with the rot reaching up to Cabinet level.
The very best thing about Our Kind of Traitor is Stellan Skarsgård’s performance. Dima is loud, flamboyant and profoundly course. Skarsgård has filled his career with brooding roles, but here he gets to play the life of the party, and he is hilarious – and steals the movie.
Our Kind of Traitor also looks great as it takes us from Russia (shot in Finland) to Cairo (Morocco) to Switzerland to London to Paris. Director Susanna White is a veteran (21 directing credits on IMDb), but Our Kind of Traitor is her first big budget action movie. The success of the film revolves around a series of spectacular set pieces, and White pulls it off masterfully.
Our Kind of Traitor isn’t as good as the best of le Carré’s work (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, for instance), but it’s damn entertaining. I saw the final four plot twists coming, but by then I was hooked, so I still enjoyed the film. And, adapting to the post-Cold War world, le Carré may have become even more cynical.
I saw Our Kind of Traitor earlier this year at the 59th San Francisco International Film Festival at a screening with director Susanna White. If you’re looking for an intelligent summer thriller for adults, this is your movie. Our Kind of Traitor is available to rent on DVD from Netflix (and coming soon to Redbox) and to stream from Amazon Instant, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Writer-director Ti West brings some new touches to the spaghetti western in his mostly successful In a Valley of Violence. Ethan Hawke plays Paul the drifter, passing through town with his fly-catching dog Abbie. He runs afoul of the local bully, which unleashes bloody (and, in one instance, gruesome) revenge.
Right away, the music and the opening titles tell us that we’re watching a spaghetti western. The dramatic rock formations and thirsty scrub of New Mexico work, too. But this is a 21st Century take on the genre, with a protagonist suffering from PTSD. Guilt-wracked, he becomes bent on revenge but remains ambivalent about the killing that his vengeance will require. There’s also a bad guy with a conscience (but not enough of one). And the superb final shootout is unlike any that you seen in another dusty street.
John Travolta is exceptional as the town marshal, burdened by wisdom enough to know that he is surrounded by idiots and perhaps to be entangled in their fates. The marshal is well-seasoned and perceptive. He reads every character with pinpoint accuracy. He is one tough, crafty and ruthless hombre, but his actions are motivated by what must be done, not by empty machismo.
As befits a spaghetti western, the end of In a Valley of Violence (including the really violent parts) are filled with dark humor. James Ransome is very funny as the compulsively foolish town bully, springing relentlessly from one bad choice to another. One of the bad guys picks the most nail-biting moment to resist fat-shaming: “Don’t call me Tubby – my name is Lawrence”. The film’s highlight may be the LOL dialogue between Hawke and Travolta as they try to navigate not killing each other, all while stalking each other through the back streets.
Abbie the dog (played by Jumpy) is especially endearing and fun to watch. She even rolls herself up in her blanket by the campfire. In a Valley of Violence’s credits include the Dog Trainer, three Animal Wranglers and a Vulture Handler
In a Valley of Violence isn’t a perfect film. The event that motivates the vengeful onslaught is predictable and upsetting to dog lovers. And, other than Travolta and Hawke, the actors seem like they are modern folks dragged out of a Starbucks and dressed up in cowboy gear.
For what it’s worth, In a Valley of Violence’s climactic gunfight is historically consistent. Contrary to the tradition in movie Westerns, very few of the Old West gunfights were of the “quick draw” variety. The real cowboys, outlaws and lawmen tended to sneak up on each other and fire from cover. When they did approach each other in the street (as here), their guns were usually already drawn.
I’ll watch ANY spaghetti western, but I found In a Valley of Violence to be a particularly successful one. The dark humor and the performances by Hawke, Travolta and Jumpy are plenty reason to see In a Valley of Violence.
The beginning of a very promising Fall movie season kicks off today.
Mascots is the latest mockumentary from Christopher Guest (Best in Show) and it’s very funny. Mascots is playing in very few theaters, but it’s streaming on Netflix Instant, too.
The end of the thriller The Girl on the Train (starring Emily Blunt) is indeed thrilling. But the 82 minutes before the Big Plot Twist is murky, confusing and boring.
My Stream of the Week is also the Most Overlooked Movie of 2016: Chevalier is a sly and pointed exploration of male competitiveness. Director Athina Rachel Tsangari is obviously a keen observer of male behavior. Both men and women will enjoy laughing at male behavior taken to extreme. I sure did. Chevalier is perhaps the funniest movie of 2016, and it’s on my list of Best Movies of 2016 – So Far. I’m hoping that its popularity explodes now that it’s available to rent on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
We seem to have a major election coming up, so Turner Classic Movies is blessing us on October 26 with four of the absolute best political movies ever: The Last Hurrah, All the President’s Men, The Best Man and The Candidate.
And several rungs down in movie quality, on October 22 TCM will play The Killer Shrews from my list of Least Convincing Movie Monsters, in which the voraciously predatory mutant shrews are played by dogs in fright masks. Yes, dogs.
Mascots is the latest from Christopher Guest, the king of the mockumentary. After co-writing This Is Spinal Tap, Guest wrote and directed Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show (his masterpiece), A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, and ten years after For Your Consideration, Mascots. Guest has set his stories in the worlds of amateur theater, competitive dog shows, the folk singing moment of the 1960s and indie filmmaking. His comedy is based on people taking their passions way too seriously. This time, in Mascots, he has set the story in a world that NO ONE could take seriously – a fictional championship competition among mascots for sports teams.
Guest doesn’t really make fun of the subject matter as much as the human behavior that is exposed and accentuated by competition, especially Big Fish In Little Pond competition: officiousness, self-importance, striving, insecurity and self-delusion.
Guest brings along his repertory company of master-improvisers: Parker Posey, Ed Begley, Jr., Fred Willard, Jane Lynch, Don Lake, John Michael Higgins, Jim Piddock, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Michael Hitchcock, Harry Shearer and Guest himself. They all play their characters with complete commitment – these folks are earnestly devoting their entire lives to the silliest possible passion.
This time, he’s added the always hilarious Zach Woods (Silicon Valley) and Chris O’Dowd. Another mockumentary newcomer, Susan Yeagley is especially good as the gum-chomping, nymphomaniacal sister of Alvin the Armadillo.
The Jack the Plumber routine must be seen to be believed, there’s a surprise Bollywood number, and a very sly running gag about furries.
Mascots is playing in a few theaters but easier to find streaming on Netflix Instant, where I viewed it.