Movies

CREED: superb refreshing of a storied franchise

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Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in CREED
Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in CREED

Rocky Balboa returns in writer-director Ryan Coogler’s superb Creed.  Creed is the story of a young man, the posthumous son of Rocky’s rival and friend Apollo Creed, who seeks out Rocky as a mentor.  Played by Michael B. Jordan (star of Coogler’s Fruitvale Station), the young Creed must face off against his own demons, as imposing as any opponents in the ring.  Stallone’s Rocky Balboa is still a lovable galoot, humble and adoring the long-dead Adrian.  Tessa Thompson (Dear White People, Selma) plays the younger man’s love interest.  Creed isn’t just about The Big Fight – all three of the main characters must overcome a distinct nemesis within each of them.

There’s not that much actual boxing in Creed, and folks who don’t like boxing will still enjoy the movie.  The boxing scenes, however, are brilliant.  The opponent in the climactic fight is played by real pro boxer Tony Bellew.

The most impressive scene, however, is mid-movie when Rocky’s protegé is tested against a local up-and-comer (the actor Gabe Rosado).  The three-minute rounds are photographed as uninterrupted action (no cuts are apparent) from WITHIN the ring.  We feel like we’re in the ring with the fighters – right at shoulder-level.  It’s a tour de force by veteran cinematographer Maryse Alberti (most of her work has been in documentaries).

Stallone’s performance is excellent. Even though it’s the zillionth time he’s played this character, he’s not just mailing this in for a paycheck, and he’s justifiably getting some award buzz.  Johnson and Thompson again prove themselves as rising talents.  Phylicia Rashad is excellent as the young fighter’s mother figure.

Coogler is the brilliant young Bay Area filmmaker whose brilliant debut was the indie docudrama Fruitvale Station, which was #8 on my Best Movies of 2013.  (Fruitvale Station is available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, YouTube and Xbox Video.)

Coogler gets lots of credit for breathing freshness and originality into a movie franchise that had grown tiresome.  Creed is an exploration into the internal struggles of three people – and it’s also irresistibly entertaining.

 

DON VERDEAN: money changers in the temple

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DON VERDEAN
Jermaine Clement, Amy Ryan and Sam Rockwell in DON VERDEAN

Don Verdean is a dark comedy from filmmakers Jared and Jerusha Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), a smart and cynical take on the faux scientists embraced by the Christian Right.  Sam Rockwell plays the title character, a Christian “archaeologist” of dubious credentials and ethics who keeps “discovering” Biblical relics and marketing them to gullible true believers.

Verdean and his assistants (Amy Ryan and Jermaine Clement) find themselves entangled with rival pastors, both charlatans.  One is a former convict (Danny McBride) with a former hooker wife (Leslie Bibb); the other is a former Satanist (Will Forte) with his own bogus academic henchman (Sky Elobar).  The cast is all good.  Sam Rockwell sounds like he is channeling a TV preacher version of Sam Elliott.

But the real revelation is Jermaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords, who plays Verdean’s Israeli fixer, Boaz.  The Hesses start Boaz out as a footnote and then gradually develop him into one of the lead characters.  Clement imbues Boaz with an unintentional sneer, a sometimes puzzling Hebrew accent and ascendant venality.  Clement even gets a very funny dance bit (less extended and sidesplitting than the one in Napoleon Dynamite but funny nonetheless).

Jared and Jerusha Hess are the team behind Napoleon Dynamite, a pretty solid comedy credential.  The Hesses know of what they write.  They’re not just Hollywood religion-mockers – both attended BYU.

Here’s an example.  The Hesses gave Clement’s character the name of Boaz.  Those who know the Old Testament story of Ruth (we’re only talking Jews and Fundamentalist Christians here) will recognize Boaz as a major Good Guy.  Some may even know that Boaz was an ancestor of both David and Jesus, who some scholars see as a “pre-figure” of Christ.  But Boaz is a Biblical name that nobody gives their kid – so you never meet a Boaz today.  Given the arc of the Boaz character in Don Verdean, the name is brilliantly ironic.

There are more cynical chuckles here than there are gut-busting guffaws.   In one particularly inspired touch, the Hesses inserted Put Your Hand in the Hand into the soundtrack.  Don Verdean is a little movie that’s sure to be overlooked during the big Holiday movie season, but there aren’t many good comedies in theaters now, so it’s a good choice for those looking for a dark indie comedy.

another look at SPOTLIGHT

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Mark Ruffalo in SPOTLIGHT
Mark Ruffalo in SPOTLIGHT

I’ve been forced to take another look at Spotlight, a movie that I really liked and admired, but in which I incorrectly found a flaw.  I didn’t like Mark Ruffalo’s performance as the real life Boston Globe reporter Michael Rezendes.  Ruffalo plays Rezendes as high-strung, intensely fidgety and perpetually restless.  I wrote:

“Ruffalo has the most showy part, as a frenetic and volatile reporter, and his scenery-chewing put me off.

But then I played some poker.  It turns out that several guys in my monthly poker game KNOW Michael Rezendes from his time with a Bay Area newspaper.  They report that, in Spotlight, Ruffalo completely captured Rezendes’ characteristics and persona.  So my initial criticism of Ruffalo’s performance for his nervous demeanor was as valid as criticizing Anthony Hopkins for playing Hitler as too evil.

As a result, I’m taking Spotlight up a notch higher in my own rankings, and I’m pretty sure it will end up on my Best of the Year list.

Movies to See Right Now

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Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in CREED
Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in CREED

The Big Prestige Movies are starting to roll out, including several big openings this weekend.  Of the ones I’ve seen, I’m highest on Brooklyn, Spotlight and Creed – the newest and entirely fresh chapter in the Rocky franchise. I’ll write about Creed this weekend, but don’t wait for my post.  Here are my other top picks:

  • The Irish romantic drama Brooklyn is an audience-pleaser with a superb performance by Saoirse Ronan.
  • Spotlight – a riveting, edge-of-your-seat drama with some especially compelling performances;
  • The Martian – an entertaining Must See space adventure – even for folks who usually don’t enjoy science fiction;
  • Bridge of Spies – Steven Spielberg’s Cold War espionage thriller with Tom Hanks, featuring a fantastic performance by Mark Rylance.
  • Trumbo – the historical drama that reflects on the personal cost of princliples.
  • Spectre – action and vengeance from a determined James Bond.

My DVD/Stream of the week is Amy, documentarian Asif Kapadia’s innovative biopic of singer-songwriter is one of the most heart-felt and engaging movies of the year. It’s available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming on Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Saoirse Ronan in BROOKLYN
Saoirse Ronan in BROOKLYN

ONE DAY IN AUSCHWITZ: an individual, personal testimony

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Kitty Hart-Moxon in ONE DAY IN AUSCHWITZ
Kitty Hart-Moxon in ONE DAY IN AUSCHWITZ

Kitty Hart-Moxon is an elderly Holocaust survivor now living in the UK. In One Day in Auschwitz, she takes two seventeen-year-old girls – the same age that she entered the famed Nazi concentration camp – to Auschwitz. She guides them around the camp and narrates her experiences there.  We already know about the horrors, but her matter-of-fact testimony helps us appreciate the extra lengths that the Nazis took to dehumanize, in addition to murdering, their victims.  It’s a very personal account and a compelling one.

One Day in Auschwitz is now playing on Showtime.

Movies to See Right Now

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Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in CREED
Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in CREED

I really like Bay Area filmmaker Ryan Coogler’s Creed – the newest and entirely fresh chapter in the Rocky franchise.  I’ll write about it soon, but don’t wait for my post.

Also in theaters now:

  • The Irish romantic drama Brooklyn is an audience-pleaser with a superb performance by Saoirse Ronan.
  • Spotlight – a riveting, edge-of-your-seat drama with some especially compelling performances;
  • The Martian – an entertaining Must See space adventure – even for folks who usually don’t enjoy science fiction;
  • Bridge of Spies – Steven Spielberg’s Cold War espionage thriller with Tom Hanks, featuring a fantastic performance by Mark Rylance.
  • Sicario – a dark and paranoid crime thriller about the drug wars.
  • 3 Left Standing – the wistful stand-up comedy documentary.
  • Trumbo – the historical drama that reflects on the personal cost of princliples.
  • Spectre – action and vengeance from a determined James Bond.

My Stream of the Week is the raucous and raunchy high energy comedy Tangerine (which you can’t tell was shot on an iPhone). You can stream Tangerine on Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and some cable/satellite PPV.  (Or you can buy the DVD from a retailer.)

On December 12, there is a real curiosity on Turner Classic Movies, the 1933 anti-war movie Men Must Fight, which predicts World War II with unsettling accuracy.  Then, on December 14, TCM will screen Anatomy of a Murder, with its great courtroom scene, great performances by James Stewart, George C. Scott, Ben Gazzara and Lee Remick and for its superb jazz soundtrack.

TANGERINE
TANGERINE

Stream of the Week: TANGERINE: Two transgender hookers walk into a donut shop…

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TANGERINE
TANGERINE

Two transgender hookers walk into a donut shop in Hollywood…that’s not the start of a joke, but it’s the start of this pretty funny movie. The raucous and raunchy high energy comedy Tangerine centers on Alexandra and Sin-Dee, played respectively by the non-actors Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez. Sin-Dee takes them on a quest to track down her wayward pimp/boyfriend, and, although Alexandra makes her promise “no drama”, you know that’s not gonna happen. Alexandra is focused on her own goal – her singing performance tonight at a local club. We also meet the Armenian cabbie Razmik (Karren Karagulian), who has his own secret. And did I mention that it’s Christmas Eve?

The two leads are wonderfully appealing and their misadventures are very funny.  A confrontation between an Armenian mother-in-law on the warpath, all the main characters and a pimp is wonderfully madcap.  The movie’s ending is surprisingly moving.

Tangerine was shot on an iPhone. This is not a gimmick. The intimacy and urgency of this character-driven movie is a good fit with the iPhone. There really isn’t any call for  helicopter shots or the like. The richness of the colors has been enhanced in post-production, so the iPhone cinematography isn’t any distraction at all. (See the shot below.)

You can stream Tangerine on Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and some cable/satellite PPV.  (Or you can buy the DVD from a retailer.)

TANGERINE
TANGERINE

To follow the beginning of the film, it helps to know that “fish” is transgender slang for a person born with female anatomy.

There’s also an extremely funny cameo by Clu Gulager(!) as a loquacious taxi passenger.

Tangerine is written and directed by Sean Baker, who made Starlet, another indie about marginal Angelenos that I admired.

Tangerine is available to stream from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: no reason for this at all

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Gregg Turkington in ENTERTAINMENT
Gregg Turkington in ENTERTAINMENT

I can’t imagine who would enjoy writer-director Rick Alverson’s movie Entertainment.   Gregg Turkington plays the world’s saddest and least funny professional comedian, who is bouncing around loser gigs in the Mohave Desert (starting at a state prison).  Even with his flamboyant comb-over, he’s walking buzz kill.  He is increasingly a puddle of despair until he has a full-fledged breakdown while performing at a pool party.  Turkington’s portrayal of a protagonist who ranges between dour and nasty is frankly not that all interesting.

Two scenes in particular are unwatchable – a birth scene in a public restroom and the comedian heaping especially vile invective on a bar patron (the filmmaker Amy Seimetz – what is SHE doing in this mess?).  The young actor Tye Sheridan (Mud, The Tree of Life, Joe) is good as a clown who opens for the comedian, but his turn doesn’t justify spending any time watching this hateful blight.

It’s a sad comparison to The Entertainer genre of movies about sad sacks trying to hang on to a place in show business and to their own identities.  Some critics have been taken in by the “unflinching” aspect of this work, but they’ve missed the pointlessness of the whole unpleasant experience. Entertainment may well be the worst movie-viewing experience of 2015.  Available streaming.

Movies to See on Thanksgiving Weekend

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Saoirse Ronan in BROOKLYN
Saoirse Ronan in BROOKLYN

It’s that glorious four-day weekend with the earliest of the fall’s Prestige Movies – and a chance to catch up on the great movies from earlier this year that are now on video.

In theaters now:

  • The Irish romantic drama Brooklyn is an audience-pleaser with a superb performance by Saoirse Ronan.
  • Spotlight – a riveting, edge-of-your-seat drama with some especially compelling performances;
  • The Martian – an entertaining Must See space adventure – even for folks who usually don’t enjoy science fiction;
  • Bridge of Spies – Steven Spielberg’s Cold War espionage thriller with Tom Hanks, featuring a fantastic performance by Mark Rylance.
  • Sicario – a dark and paranoid crime thriller about the drug wars.
  • 3 Left Standing – the wistful stand-up comedy documentary.
  • Trumbo – the historical drama that reflects on the personal cost of princliples.
  • Spectre – action and vengeance from a determined James Bond.

This week’s DVD/Stream of the Week recommendations are selected from my Best Movies of 2015 – So Far:

    • The smartest road trip movie ever, The End of the Tour.  It’s available streaming from Amazon Instant, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
    • The unforgettable coming of age dramedy Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. It’s available streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play and now available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox.
    • The extraordinary Russian drama Leviathan, a searing indictment of society in post-Soviet Russia. Leviathan is available streaming on Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Flixster.
    • The hilariously dark Argentine comedy Wild Tales. It’s available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Vudu and Xbox Video.
    • The Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy, the story of an extraordinarily gifted person’s escape from torment. Love & Mercy is available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon Instant Video, iTunes and Vudu.
    • The gentle, thoughtful and altogether fresh dramedy I’ll See You In My Dreams with Blythe Danner, available to stream from Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Sam Elliiott and Blythe Danner in I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS
Sam Elliott and Blythe Danner in I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS

TRUMBO: the personal cost of principles

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Bryan Cranston in TRUMBO
Bryan Cranston in TRUMBO

In the movies, going to jail for your principles is overrated.  But in the historical drama Trumbo – about the 1950s Hollywood blacklist – we get to see the real extent of the sacrifices made by the principled man and his family.

Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) was a novelist and Hollywood screenwriter who was named as a Communist, was sent to prison for contempt of Congress and then blacklisted by the Hollywood studios.  After prison, Trumbo had to earn his living by writing without credits (the credit going to other writers as “fronts” or to fictional “writers”).  He received no screen credit for the Oscar-winning screenplays for Roman Holiday and The Brave One.  Nor for the noir classics Gun Crazy and The Prowler.  Eventually, the end of the blacklist period was signaled when Trumbo received screen credits for his work on Exodus and Spartacus.

It’s a compelling story and Trumbo was a very compelling character – flamboyant, full of himself, wily but sometimes politically naive.  Cranston is really quite brilliant in capturing Trumbo’s wit, signature eccentricities and his emotional turmoil.

Families are often collateral damage, and that was the case here.  We see the impact on Trumbo’s wife (Diane Lane) and daughter (Elle Fanning) – not just the financial and social hardships, but in living with a man under so much stress.

To tell the story of this historical period, some characters are compressed – but not distorted.  Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) is portrayed as the leader of the blacklist (which would have flattered her), and John Wayne’s (David James Elliot) role is prominent.  There’s a composite character who represents the other victims of the blacklist, played by Louis C.K. (another really fine performance from C.K.).  Edward G. Robinson (Michael Stuhlbarg) represents the good liberals who caved under pressure and named names.  Kirk Douglas (Dean O’Gorman) and Otto Preminger (Christian Berkel) are historical good guys (but not without self-interest).  John Goodman has a hilarious turn as a low budget producer.  The entire cast does a fine job, but Cranston, Stuhlbarg, C.K. and Fanning are extraordinary.

We see also actual file footage of Ronald Reagan, Robert Taylor and Joe McCarthy, along with some still photos of the ever-ominous Richard Nixon.

Trumbo is a very successful and insightful historical study, and Cranston’s performance is Oscar Bait.