DVD/Stream of the Week: Parkland

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James Badge Dale and Jacki Weaver on left in PARKLAND

On the morning of November 22, 1963, many folks in Dallas did not expect to be impacted by the Presidential visit – not the medical staff at Parkland Memorial Hospital, not the assassin’s brother Robert Oswald and, shockingly, not the local FBI office. Businessman Abraham Zapruder did intend to catch a peek at the spectacle of a presidential motorcade, but as an onlooker, not as a participant. This is the inventive perspective of Parkland, which sharply dramatizes the events of November 22-25 in Dallas. We’re all familiar with the actions of JFK, Jackie, Lee Harvey Oswald and LBJ on that fateful day, but these characters are only glimpsed in Parkland, which explores the JFK assassination from the viewpoints of the secondary participants.

It’s a very successful approach. The four story lines are compelling – the surgeries, the Zapruder film and the reactions by the Oswalds and the local FBI office. Parkland‘s rapid cuts and handheld (but not too jerky) cameras enhance the urgency.

The cast is excellent, with the most unforgettable performances coming from Marcia Gay Harden as an emergency room nurse, Paul Giamatti as Zapruder, James Badge Dale (the unforgettable Gaunt Young Man in Flight) and Jacki Weaver (Oscar nominated for Animal Kingdom) as Marguerite Oswald.

Parkland is conspiracy-theory-neutral. It portrays events that everybody – regardless of how you feel about the lone gunman theory – recognizes: the emergency surgeries attempting to save Kennedy (and then Oswald), the processing of the Zapruder film, the Oswald family’s reaction to the events, the FBI’s destruction of some key evidence.

Parkland is now available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, GooglePlay and XBOX Live.

Coming up on TV: a feast of crime movies

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BULLITT

Here’s a treat – on November 26, Turner Classic Movies is celebrating Cops and Robbers with a feast of crime movies. I especially recommend:

  • The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974): A criminal mastermind (Robert Shaw) and his gang of commandos capture a NYC subway train and ransom the passengers; the transit authority police commander (Walter Matthau) must match wits.  Excellent cast includes Hector Elizondo and Martin Balsam.  I prefer this original to the 2009 remake.
  • Every police procedural from 1948 through today’s Law and Order and CSI owes something to the prototypical The Naked City (1948). Tenacious New York City cops solve a murder amid gritty streets and shady characters. Unusual for the time, it was shot on location.   Directed by noir great Jules Dassin, The Naked City won Oscars for black and white cinematography and film editing.
  • Bullitt (1968) features Steve McQueen and one of cinema’s most iconic and influential chase scenes.  McQueen’s 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback  and the bad guy’s 1968 Dodge Charger careen through San Francisco, taking almost 11 minutes to race from Fisherman’s Wharf to Brisbane.  Classic.
  • The French make really good crime dramas, and Rififi (1955) is a standard-setting heist film.  After the team is assembled and the job is plotted, the actual crime unfolds in real-time – over thirty minutes of nerve wracking silence.
  • In The Asphalt Jungle (1950), the crooks assemble a team and pull off the big heist…and then things begin to go wrong.  There aren’t many noirs with better casting – the crooks include Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe and James Whitmore.  The 23-year-old Marilyn Monroe plays Calhern’s companion in her first real speaking part.  How noir is it? Even the cop who breaks the case goes to jail.  Directed by the great John Huston.
  • If you like your film noir tawdry, then Gun Crazy (1950) is for you.  Peggy Cummins plays a prototypical Bad Girl who takes her newlywed hubby on a crime spree.
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE

Movies to See Right Now

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Adèle Exarchopoulos in BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

The French drama Blue Is the Warmest Color explores first love, capturing the arc of a young woman’s first serious romance with remarkable authenticity and a stunning performance by 19-year-old actress Adèle Exarchopoulos. It’s three hours long, justifiably rated NC-17 and currently tops my list of Best Movies of 2013 – So Far.

Other good choices include the flawless true story thriller Captain Phillips and the space thriller Gravity – an amazing achievement by filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón with what may be Sandra Bullock’s finest performance. 12 Years a Slave is an unsparingly realistic depiction of the horrors of American slavery. The Motel Life is a solid character-driven drama. Joseph Gordon Levitt’s offbeat comedy Don Jon offers both guffaws and an unexpected moment of self-discovery.

Check out my new feature VOD Roundup, where you can find my comments on over twenty current movies available on Video on Demand. There are some good ones, some bad ones and some really, really good ones (including How to Make Money Selling Drugs).

Here’s a treat – on November 26, Turner Classic Movies is celebrating Cops and Robbers with a feast of crime movies. The menu includes The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Naked City, Bullitt, Rififi, Asphalt Jungle and Gun Crazy.  I’ll be writing more about these films on the weekend.

DVD/Stream of the Week: Much Ado About Nothing

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Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Director Joss Whedon (The Avengers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) takes a break from pop with Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. It’s set in current times (with iPods and cupcakes) and filmed in black and white at Whedon’s Santa Monica home. It worked for me.

Whedon told NPR “Some people won’t see Shakespeare because they don’t believe there’s characters in them, they think it’s, you know, homework.” Whedon’s version brings out the screwball comedy sensibility of the tale. Indeed, there’s really nothing uniquely 16th century about the plot: one couple is perfectly matched but they think that they despise each other, another couple is head over heels in love and a mean, unhappy villain wants to break up the romance. As the primary couple who wage “a merry war” of wit, Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker keep up with the quick-paced barbed patter and show a gift for flopping-on-the-floor physical humor. Nathan Fillion hilariously deadpans the malapropisms of Dogberry, here the dimmest supervising rent-a-cop in English literature.

[Note: There’s also some serious home and party decorating/staging porn for the HGTV set.]

It’s all good fun, and there’s no need to review the play before enjoying it. In fact, I’m adding it to my list of Best Shakespeare Movies.  Much Ado About Nothing is available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and other VOD outlets.

Coming up on TV – two JFK classics

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Cliff Robertson in PT 109

So it’s almost the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, and we’re being bombarded by Kennedybilia.  But I recommend two JFK films on Turner Classic Movies – the documentary Primary and the biopic PT 109 .  [I’m also highly recommending the 2013 day-of-the-assassination movie Parkland, available now streaming on VOD]

Primary (November 21) documents the Wisconsin Democratic primary election campaign in 1960.  This was a key stepping stone in Kennedy’s road to the White House because it was a chance for him to demonstrate that he appealed to voters outside the Northeast.  Kennedy’s rival Hubert Humphrey was favored because Wisconsin neighbors Humphrey’s home state of Minnesota.  Primary is both a time capsule of 1960 politics and an inside look at the Kennedy family unleashed in a campaign.  There’s an amazing scene where Humphrey appeals to a handful of flinty farmers in a school gym – he’s giving his all and he ain’t getting much back.  Only 60 minutes long, Primary has been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.   The great documentarian D.A. Pennebaker, who went on to direct Monterey Pop and The War Room, shot, edited and recorded sound for Primary.

As 26-year-old PT boat commander in WWII, JFK was a real life war hero.  Some scolds deride PT 109 (November 21) as hagiography, but I don’t buy it – when things went bad, he acted heroically indeed and bore the health effects for the rest of life.  PT boats were essentially light wooden speed boats just big enough to hold some torpedoes and some depth charges on top of a tank of extremely combustible aviation fuel.  The commanders needed to maneuver the PT boat close enough to fire the torpedoes at a Japanese warship while avoiding return fire that would certainly be lethal .  No wonder the PT units were nicknamed  “They were expendable”.  It’s good history and an exciting true life action tale.  Cliff Robertson plays the young JFK.

 

some laughs from Blue Is the Warmest Color

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Here’s some silliness from the serious drama Blue Is The Warmest Color  – the stars Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos are being interviewed at the Toronto International Film Festival.  Seven minutes in,  Exarchopoulos gets the giggles and can’t shake them.  Even funnier, at the 16 minute mark, the actresses discuss wearing prosthetic vaginas with fake pubic hair for the notorious sex scenes.

Movies to See Right Now

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BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

The French drama Blue Is the Warmest Color explores first love, capturing the arc of a young woman’s first serious romance with remarkable authenticity and a stunning performance by 19-year-old actress Adèle Exarchopoulos. It’s three hours long, justifiably rated NC-17 and currently tops my list of Best Movies of 2013 – So Far.

Other good choices include the flawless true story thriller Captain Phillips and the space thriller Gravity – an amazing achievement by filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón with what may be Sandra Bullock’s finest performance. 12 Years a Slave is an unsparingly realistic depiction of the horrors of American slavery. The Motel Life is a solid character-driven drama. Joseph Gordon Levitt’s offbeat comedy Don Jon offers both guffaws and an unexpected moment of self-discovery.

Check out my new feature VOD Roundup, where you can find my comments on over twenty current movies available on Video on Demand. There are some good ones, some bad ones and some really, really good ones (including How to Make Money Selling Drugs).

My DVD/Stream of the Week is Before Midnight, the year’s best romance (and one of the year’s best movies).  Before Midnight is available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu and other VOD outlets. I recommend that you watch the prequels first. Both Before Sunrise and Before Sunset are available on DVD from Netflix and streaming on VOD from Amazon , iTunes, Vudu and other VOD outlets. Before Sunrise is free with Amazon Prime.

Since we’re coming up on the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, my television picks are two JFK films on Turner Classic Movies – the documentary Primary (November 20) and the biopic PT 109 (November 21).  I’ll be writing more about these films on Monday. (I also recommend the fresh and riveting Parkland, which sharply dramatizes the events of November 22-25 in Dallas from the viewpoints of the secondary participants; Parkland is available streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu and XBOX Live.)

French Cinema Now

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RENDEZ-VOUS IN KIRUNA

I spent last weekend at the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now series, which features current French language movies that have not been theatrically released in the US (and may not be).   I’ve written complete posts on five of the eight movies that I saw. Here’s my summary (in order of my subjective ranking).

My favorite was the road trip to redemption, Rendez-vous in Kiruna.  A French curmudgeon takes an obligatory drive to northern Sweden, setting up some very funny moments as the film explores the oft unhappy relationships of fathers and sons.

In the drama Suzanne, a young woman makes some bad choices, and the consequences are shared by her father and sister.  Very well written and acted, Suzanne may be released in the US in mid-December.

Launched with great notoriety at Cannes, Stranger by the Lake (L’inconnu du lac) is a thriller set in a secluded gay cruising spot.  There is LOTS of explicit gay sex in this movie, and at least some of it is actual (not just simulated) sex.  It does work as a thriller, and it will get an NC-17 release in the US in late January 2014.

I liked Miss and the Doctors (Tirez la langue, mademoiselle), the kind of light romance that the French do so well and that Hollywood would turn into a series of sitcom moments.  Two pediatrician bachelor brothers fall for the single mom of a young patient – and then her ex returns to the scene to create a love quadrangle.  Miss and the Doctors is sweet and funny, and I think it would be popular with US art house audiences.  (The original French title translates as “Stick Out Your Tongue, Miss”.)

House of Radio (La Maison de la Radio), a wonderfully appealing observational documentary that takes us behind-the-scenes for a peek at the operations of Radio France.

Written and directed by its star, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, A Castle in Italy (Un château en Italie) tells three dark story threads but in a very funny, even screwball, movie.  It had me until the sentimental and almost pretentious ending.  Not bad overall.

Bastards (Les Salauds) is Claire Denis’ dark revenge tale – well made but gratuitously disturbing – and even too disturbing for me to recommend.

My pick for the worst movie in the series was a French language film from Canada, Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (Vic + Flo ont vu un ours).  A 61-year-old lesbian is released from prison and reunites with her fortyish lover/crime partner to go straight.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to commend this film except for a bad ass female villain.  The story was pointlessly dark, and the audience did not respond well.  Afterwards, I was standing in line in front of a Frenchwoman who ranted, “Stoopeed Canadians – what do zay know about making films…I am just so glad that Jean didn’t show up – he would have puked.”  I actually like Canadian films, but this one sucked.

Stranger by the Lake: an effective thriller with LOTS of explicit gay sex

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Writer-director Alain Giraudie uses the milieu of gay cruising to set his thriller, Stranger by the Lake (L’inconnu du lac), launched with great notoriety at Cannes.  A young man frequents a secluded beach to hook up with other gays.  He spots a dreamy newcomer, but he just can’t seem to meet the new guy.  After a few frustrating days, he witnesses a murder by drowning – and the murderer is the guy that he’s hot for. The next day, the murderer comes on to him and our hero can’t resist…until his new boy toy suggests that they go for a swim.

Stranger by the Lake is notorious because of lots of genitals-in-your-face male nudity and LOTS of explicit gay sex acts.  At least some of the sex is actual (not just simulated) sex.  I saw Stranger by the Lake in an audience that must have been 80% gay male, and there were lots of knowing chuckles at the cruising behaviors (along with gasps at an episode of decidedly unsafe sex).

Stranger by the Lake does work as a thriller, and it will get a limited US release beginning January 24, 2014,  (and certainly rated NC-17).

Suzanne: her bad choices take their toll

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The authentic and raw French drama Suzanne starts as a family story about a single dad working as a long haul trucker and his two daughters, Maria and Suzanne.  The younger daughter Suzanne makes some bad choices that impact the rest of her family.  The film is not just about the title character, but about each family member and the consequences each must bear.

Francois Damiens is especially good as the dad, a guy who has sacrificed so much for his daughters, and just can’t bear anymore drama.   Adele Haenel is excellent as the exuberant and responsible older sister Maria.  As Suzanne, Sara Forestier manages to portray someone who is not a bit not superficial or not serious, but who is fatally impulsive.  In the fluffy The Names of Love,  Forestier was actually convincing as a woman so distractable that she doesn’t notice that she has left her flat and boarded the Paris Metro without wearing any clothes.  It’s impressive to see the range she demonstrates playing the train-wreck of a protagonist in Suzanne.

I saw Suzanne at the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now series.  I’ve read that Suzanne may get a US theatrical release starting December 13.  I hope so – it’s a fine film.