Tag: Romance

50 Years, 50 Movies (2004): Tropical Malady

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

I will turn 50 in November of this year, so my project for 2023 will be to watch and review one movie from each year of my life.  The only qualification is that it has to be a movie I’ve not reviewed previously.

2004

Top Grossing Movies of 2004:

  1. Shrek 2
  2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  3. Spider-Man 2
  4. The Incredibles
  5. The Passion of the Christ

Best Picture Oscar Nominees and Winners of 2004:

Other Movies I’ve Reviewed in 2004:

Title: Tropical Malady
Release Date: 24 June 2004
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Production Company: GMM Grammy | Rai Cinema |TIFA | Kick the Machine | Anna Sanders Films
Summary/Review:

Tropical Malady tells two separate but related stories set in contemporary Thailand. The first involves a romance between a soldier assigned to a rural area, Keng (Banlop Lomnoi), and the romance he forms with another young man he meets there, Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee). In the second story, a soldier (also Lomnoi, possibly the same character) journeys alone into a forest to track and kill a tiger with the spirit of a shaman (also Kaewbuadee).

It is a slow-paced movie for the most part without a strong conventional narrative, which makes it hard to follow.  The film can be quite bizarre, especially the second story which is a tonal shift from the first. But it’s beautifully filmed and full of ideas, feelings, and imagery that I’m still trying to process.

Rating: ***1/2

 

50 Years, 50 Movies (1993): The Piano

~ Liam ~ 7 Comments

I will turn 50 in November of this year, so my project for 2023 will be to watch and review one movie from each year of my life.  The only qualification is that it has to be a movie I’ve not reviewed previously.

 1993

Top Grossing Movies of 1993:

  1. Jurassic Park
  2. Mrs. Doubftfire
  3. The Fugitive
  4. Schindler’s List
  5. The Firm

Best Picture Oscar Nominees and Winners of 1993:

  • Schindler’s List
  • The Fugitive
  • In the Name of the Father
  • The Piano
  • The Remains of the Day

Other Movies I’ve Reviewed from 1993:

Title: The Piano
Release Date: 15 May 1993
Director: Jane Campion
Production Company: Jan Chapman Productions | CiBy 2000
Summary/Review:

I saw The Piano when it was released in US theaters some 30 years ago and absolutely hated it. Revisiting it now that I’m older – and hopefully wiser – seems like a worthwhile thing to do, especially since it has been added to Sight & Sound’s 2022 list of greatest film’s of all time.

Holly Hunter stars as Ada McGrath, a Scottish woman in the mid-19th century who chose to stop speaking as a child and expresses herself by playing piano.  Her father arranges a marriage for her to a colonizer in New Zealand and she is sent there with her 11-year-old daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her piano.  Ada’s relationship with her new husband Alisdair Stewart (Sam Neill) starts off poorly when he refuses to have her piano transported from the beach where they landed, and never improves.

Instead, a local handyman, George Baines (Harvey Keitel), a British man who has adopted Māori customs, acquires the piano.  He agrees to return it to Ada if she gives him “lessons,” which mainly involve him watching her play with increasingly sexual actions on his part.  I think what bothered me about this movie 30 years ago is that George’s predatory and harassing behavior leads to Ada falling in love with him.  On this rewatch things are more nuanced than I interpreted them the first time, but it’s still creepy and unpleasant to watch.  Add to that the cruelty and abuse Ada suffers at the hands of Alisdair and this is a difficult movie to watch, indeed.

Campion’s direction is strong and the film is beautifully shot taking advantage of New Zealand’s natural beauty.  It struck me on this watch how stuck Alisdair and his relatives are in maintaining their British customs and habits despite them being totally inappropriate for the environment.  Paquin is terrific and earned her Best Supporting Actress in her performance as the decidedly odd child Flora. I’m glad to see she is still acting as an adult and was even reunited with Keitel in The Irishman. My final thought is that this movie is much better than I judged as a younger viewer, but I don’t think it deserves to be among the greatest movies of all time.

Rating: ***1/2

Boston Movie Festival: Funny Ha Ha (2002)

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to my first monthly “film festival” where I watch a bunch of movies on a theme.  This month, in honor of Patriots Day weekend I will be watching a bunch of Boston movies, also known as “Film No R.”  There are so many movies set/filmed in my hometown that I made a list on Letterboxd.  I probably will never watch all of them, but this weekend I’m going to check of some of the more prominent movies I’ve missed.

Title: Funny Ha Ha
Release Date: September 2002
Director: Andrew Bujalski
Production Company: Fox Lorber | Sundance Channel | Goodbye Cruel Releasing | Wellspring Media
Summary/Review:

Filmed in Boston’s Allston neighborhood, noted for its population of college students and recent graduates, Funny Ha Ha is a movie about that time in life when twentysomethings figure out how to be an adult. There’s not much of a plot, but the movie definitely has a mood, and as someone who was in my twenties in Boston at the time this movie was made, it’s definitely relatable.

Marnie (Kate Dollenmayer) has a lot of things to figure out: getting a job (which ends up being temping), self-improvement (doing things like drinking less and spending more time outside), and finding a boyfriend.  She has a crush on her good friend Alex (Christian Rudder), but he’s politely clear that he’s not interested.  Meanwhile she’s pursued by Mitchell (director Andrew Bujalski), and spends time with him even though he’s kind of obnoxious and is clearly not interested in him.

This movie is credited with introducing the mumblecore genre.  But it’s low budget, handheld cameras, and use of non-professional actors has antecedents going back at least as far as Italian neorealism.  Besides the characters don’t mumble so much as awkwardly struggle to find words to express their thoughts.  I don’t know if this movie was scripted or improvised, but either way the verisimilitude to the way young adults talk is impressive (and probably annoying to anyone who wants them to “just say it!”)

Rating: ****

Boston Movie Review: Now, Voyager (1942)

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to my first monthly “film festival” where I watch a bunch of movies on a theme.  This month, in honor of Patriots Day weekend I will be watching a bunch of Boston movies, also known as “Film No R.”  There are so many movies set/filmed in my hometown that I made a list on Letterboxd.  I probably will never watch all of them, but this weekend I’m going to check of some of the more prominent movies I’ve missed.

Title: Now, Voyager
Release Date: October 22, 1942
Director: Irving Rapper
Production Company: Warner Bros.
Summary/Review:

Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is a “late child” in a prominent Boston Brahmin family who is shy and reclusive as a result of the upbringing of her domineering mother (Gladys Cooper).  Charlotte’s sister-in-law Lisa (Ilka Chase) fears for her mental health and introduces Charlotte to the psychiatrist Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains).  He recommends that Charlotte spend time at his sanitarium in rural Vermont, and after her stay there to take an extended cruise to South America.  This helps Charlotte develop her independence and self-confidence.

On the cruise, Charlotte meets Jerry (Paul Henreid), a married man whose wife is controlling and abusive in a way similar to Charlotte’s mother.  They have an intense, but chaste, romance before they each have to return home, vowing to never meet again. Spoiler:  they do, but not in a way that you would expect.  Back home, Charlotte begins to assert herself with her mother and surprise her family and friends with her new looks and confidence.

This movie feels radical for the time it was made in the way it focuses on mental health and particularly the problems of women.  While romance is central to the films plot, Charlotte does not find her happiness in a man.  In fact, not being able to “have” the man makes her stronger.  The relationship between Charlotte and Jerry’s daughter Tina (Janis Wilson) is very sweet although it’s unsettling that Charlotte hides her past from Tina. I feel that they have an uncomfortable conversation in their future.

This is a more classic Boston story, with it’s focus on the Brahmin elite and the city’s tradition of strong, independent women.  Allegedly, the movie featured some location filming in Boston, something that pleased Massachusetts native Bette Davis. However, I feel like all the scenes set in Boston were interiors that could’ve been on a set, so I guess I missed the location shots somehow. At any rate, I enjoyed this movie and found it surprisingly uplifting for a melodrama.

Rating: ****

50 Years, 50 Movies (2010): Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

I will turn 50 in November of this year, so my project for 2023 will be to watch and review one movie from each year of my life.  The only qualification is that it has to be a movie I’ve not reviewed previously.

 

2010

Top Grossing Movies of 2010:

  1. Toy Story 3
  2. Alice in Wonderland
  3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
  4. Inception
  5. Shrek Forever After

Best Picture Oscar Nominees and Winners of 2010:

Other Movies I’ve Reviewed from 2010:

Title: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Release Date: August 13, 2010
Director: Edgar Wright
Production Company: Marc Platt Productions | Big Talk Films | Closed on Mondays Entertainment | Dentsu
Summary/Review:

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a movie that is a cultural touchstone, at least on the internet.  There are no mild opinions on the movie, people seem to either love it or hate it.  And after watching it, I can see why.

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is the film’s antihero protagonist, a 22-year-old bassist for a garage band in Toronto.  Scott is really a jerk and the movie basically is the story of how he becomes something less of a jerk.  The first thing we learn about him is that he’s dating a high school student given the cringey name of Knives Chau (Ellen Wong).  Then he meets undeniably cool Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a mysterious woman closer to his own age.  They begin to date, but Scott learns that in order to “win” Ramona he has to fight her seven evil exes to the death leading up to a boss battle with Gideon “G-Man” Graves (Jason Schwartzman, challenging Cera for the nerdiest actor inexplicably playing a cool guy in this movie).

I didn’t know what to expect from this movie, but it is delightfully weird and keeps on leaning into absurdity.  Visually, the movie creatively uses the effects of video games and comic books.  It also has a cast packed with talented young actors who were just on the verge of greater fame, including  Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Alison Pill, Aubrey Plaza, and Brandon Routh. Kieran Culkin steals scenes as Scott’s gay roommate Wallace. There are a lot of flaws and questionable content in this movie that could be critiqued, but honestly I enjoyed it because it’s just so different and funny.

Rating: ***1/2

90 Movies in 90 Days: The Kid Brother (1927)

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

I’m kicking off 2023 by trying to watch and review one movie every day for the first 90 days, most of which will be 90 minutes or less.

Title: The Kid Brother
Release Date: January 22, 1927
Director: Ted Wilde, J.A. Howe (co-director), Harold Lloyd (uncredited), and Lewis Milestone (uncredited)
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Summary/Review:

Harold Hickory (Harold Lloyd) is the youngest son of Sheriff Jim Hickory (Walter James) of Hickoryville, who also runs a farm with his two strong, older sons.  Harold doesn’t fit in with his father and brothers and has to rely on his wits rather than strength.  When he meets Mary Powers (Jobyna Ralston), a dancer in a traveling medicine show, it is love at first sight.  Mary inspires Harold to greater confidence especially when he’s needed to save the day when the other members of the medicine show conspire to steal the town’s contributions for a new dam from the sheriff!

This is a funny and charming movie with pretty much nonstop gags.  I like this even more than Lloyd’s more famous film Safety Last.

Rating: ***1/2

I don’t know why the only trailer I can find is narrated dramatically in German!?!?

90 Movies in 90 Days: Shrek 2 (2004)

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

I’m kicking off 2023 by trying to watch and review one movie every day for the first 90 days, all of which will be 90 minutes or less.

Title: Shrek 2
Release Date: May 19, 2004
Director:Andrew Adamson | Kelly Asbury | Conrad Vernon
Production Company: DreamWorks Animation | PDI/DreamWorks
Summary/Review:

Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) have their marital bliss interrupted by a call to visit Fiona’s parents King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews!) in the kingdom of Far Far Away.  It’s basically “Meet the Parents” Shrek-style with the central premise of Shrek wondering if on ogre is good enough for a princess. They are joined on the journey by Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and meet a new ally along the way in the form of the hilarious Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas).  Meanwhile, Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) tries to sabotage Shrek and Fiona’s marriage on behalf of her son Prince Charming (Rupert Everett).

The movie is full of references to famous film moments, parodies of fairy tale conventions, and needle drops that somehow almost always work. I kind of feel like the movie rehashes a lot of the ground covered in the original, but it doesn’t make it any less entertaining.

Rating: ***1/2

90 Movies in 90 Days: Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

~ Liam ~ 2 Comments

I’m kicking off 2023 by trying to watch and review one movie every day for the first 90 days, all of which will be 90 minutes or less.

Title: Three Thousand Years of Longing
Release Date: August 26, 2022
Director: George Miller
Production Company: FilmNation Entertainment | Elevate Production Finance | Sunac Culture | Kennedy Miller Mitchell
Summary/Review:

Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is a scholar of storytelling who travels to Istanbul for a conference.  While there she acquires an antique glass bottle and while cleaning it naturally releases the Djinn (Idris Elba) trapped within it who offers her three wishes. In her hotel room, the Djinn shares three stories of his past while Alithea remains skeptical about making wishes.

The movie combines philosophy, fantasy, and romance as two of the great actors of our time converse interspersed with visually and narratively inventive stories.  The movie could’ve been judiciously trimmed at parts but overall I found it enchanting.  It’s a shame that it bombed at the box office but I hope more people discover it through streaming.  George Miller is quite the eclectic writer/director to make this his follow-up to Mad Max: Fury Road.

Rating: ***1/2

 

90 Movies in 90 Days: Wild Nights With Emily (2019)

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

I’m kicking off 2023 by trying to watch and review one movie every day for the first 90 days, all of which will be 90 minutes or less.

Title: Wild Nights With Emily
Release Date: April 12, 2019
Director: Madeleine Olnek
Production Company:P2 Films | UnLTD Productions | Salem Street Entertainment | Embrem Entertainment
Summary/Review:

Debunking the myths of Emily Dickinson, Wild Nights with Emily depicts actual events from her life as a romantic comedy.  Molly Shannon stars as Dickinson with Susan Ziegler portraying Dickinson’s long-term romantic partner Susan Gilbert. Amy Seimetz also stars as Mabel Todd, who posthumously published Dickinson’s poems, modifying them to hide that she wrote love poems addressed to Susan.  There are a number of gags that will appeal especially to English majors, such as a singalong to the tune of “Yellow Rose of Texas.”  Overall it’s a fun and clever film that shows the real Dickinson was much more interesting than the myths.

Rating: ***1/2

90 Movies in 90 Years: Millennium Actress (2001)

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

I’m kicking off 2023 by trying to watch and review one movie every day for the first 90 days, all of which will be 90 minutes or less.

Title: Millennium Actress
Release Date:28 July 2001
Director: Satoshi Kon
Production Company: Madhouse
Summary/Review:

Television interviewer Genya Tachibana (Shōzō Iizuka), a devoted fan of the famed actress Chiyoko Fujiwara (Miyoko Shōji), is able to track her down in retirement along with his sardonic cameraman Kyoji Ida (Masaya Onosaka, with Mami Koyama and Fumiko Orikasa voicing her at younger ages). She reflects on her life telling a story where incidents of her personal life are interwoven with roles she’s played in movies.  Genya and Chiyoko are pulled into her memories acting as a kind of Greek chorus.  The result is a surreal pseudo-documentary that parallels the history of Japanese cinema.

Rating: ***1/2