File Under 2018 #32: The Last Movie Star

What it's about: Vic Edwards [Burt Reynolds] was, for a time, the biggest film star in the world -- think: Burt Reynolds. Now he lives a quiet life alone in his comfortable house, eating Hungry Man dinners, surrounded by the memories and memorabilia of his extraordinary life. When he receives an invitation to receive a lifetime achievement award at a film festival in Nashville, he reluctantly accepts the disturbance to his anonymity. Immediately he finds that things are not as he expected. The flight isn't first class, the stay is at the local Econolodge, and his personal assistant is far from professional. The failed trip gives him the opportunity to take a look back at his life, remember where he came from, and correct the mistakes of his past.

Unorganized thoughts:

• Obviously, Burt Reynolds is the heart of The Last Movie Star, with his own success and recent time out of the spotlight mirroring the character's career arc. In some pretty interesting ways the film intentionally blurs the line between Reynolds and Edwards but in ways that I wish the premise was taken even further. I actually wonder if the film would have been more resonant if the character was an fictional version of Burt Reynolds in name and not a transplant. I suppose some of the character's biography may not have lined up to the narrative of the film, but things were close enough. This certainly would have given the film a different profile even if it became a bit more of a gimmick.

• We love important actors coming back for a big starring role, especially when the role is reflective of its star. These are the types of roles that often get Oscar nominations, at the very lease Golden Globes nominations. They serve as a celebration, almost like a lifetime achievement award that the film's plot centers around, and a new window of opportunity. It seems like The Last Movie Star was positioned for all that -- it made its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, which has a certain profile, and was picked up by everyone's favorite distributor A24 for its theatrical run.

• So does The Last Movie Star deserve more of a spotlight? Probably not, but it is perfectly fine. It has settled right at 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and that seems just about right, assuming that most people who will watch the film will be directly on either side of the good/bad fence.

• As a vehicle for Burt Reynolds, the film works fine. The material may not be original enough to give him another true breakout but it lets him play to his strengths. Vic Edwards is a strong-willed sonuvabitch, an old man curmudgeon.

• The most radical thing the film does with the Reynolds/Edwards persona is having Vic interact with the younger version of himself by dreaming himself into his filmography. We get two specific moments of this happening in Smokey and the Bandit and Deliverance, at the heights of Reynolds' stardom and vitality. This plays a bit like the credit card commercials where contemporary actors similarly interact within classic films, but it is when The Last Movie Star is at its most poignant. It might be a little on the nose, but it works to deliver the message of an old man with regrets.

• The film starts with Edwards putting down his sick old dog and Jesus is it a depressing way to kick off.

• A lot of the humor early on is pretty cringeworthy, sometimes purposefully. The film festival set-up, in particular, is incredibly uncomfortable. On one hand, we see the event from the perspective of Edwards, a man who may have been out of the spotlight but one who is used to the red carpet treatment. The "International Nashville Film Festival" is small time, misleading, and a bit sad. But it also reveals itself to have its heart in the right place. These are genuine fans who want to honor Edwards and are excited that he is involved. Of course, Vic's view is meant to be cruel, indicative of his bad attitude before going on his journey for redemption. It also makes me think of the many events and festivals I've attended where minor or major players from the past appear for awkward Q&As and it gets some of that experience right.

• The film's second half shifts to a buddy road comedy between Vic and his temporary personal assistant/caretaker, Lil [played by Modern Family's Ariel Winter]. They start off hating each others' guts but get this ... they end up sharing meaningful experiences and gain insight into their own and each others' personal problems. This "trip down memory lane" plot becomes too sappy and the odd couple pairing is far too cliched.

• The Lil character is problematic enough that I felt a bit sorry for Winter, especially the obnoxious way the film puts the way she dresses and acts in contrast to the every-day normal society around her -- she is meant to stick out like a sore thumb but it doesn't have to be to a cartoonish degree. I don't have any specific problem with her look except that it feels exactly like a caricature from older people to describe what younger people look and act like. It became hard to be invested in her own redemption arc as it was hard to see the character as a real person.

File Under 2018 #31: Kickboxer: Retaliation

What it's about: Kurt Sloane is a running who ran from his past. After defeating the champion of a Thai underground pit-fighting circuit in a fight to the death [as characterized in the 2016 film Kickboxer: Vengeance], he successfully escaped to the U.S. to become an MMA fighter. It isn't long before he is kidnapped and returned to Thailand where he is given an ultimatum by crime lord/fight promoter Mr. Moore [Christopher Lambert]: fight his new champion for one million dollars or spend the rest of his life in a violent prison. For some reason he chooses the second option and spends his time fighting a colorful rogues gallery in between lashings. But with a little urging, Sloane is eventually convinced to take the fight. He is reunited his his blind trainer [Jean-Claude Van Damme] to prepare for the impossible.

Unorganized thoughts:

• As I alluded to, Kickboxer: Retaliation is the sequel of a remake of the classic Van Damme star vehicle. You don't need to watch it. In fact, Retaliation flashes back to Vengeance when it needs to -- apparently, Dave Bautista was the final boss in the previous film, which might make it worth seeing.

• Stunt man and martial artist Alain Moussi takes over the Kurt Sloane role from Jean-Claude Van Damme, which is a little confusion since JCVD is also an important supporting character in the new franchise -- it is almost like if Ralph Macchio played Miyagi in The Karate Kid remake instead of Jackie Chan. Moussi is basically a karate Ken doll, which is basically all he needs to be.

• If you're coming around to Kickboxer: Retaliation, you know what you're getting, and for the most part, you'll get it. This isn't an A-list Hollywood film in terms of the writing, acting, direction, or production. There are some creative fighting setpieces but they aren't polished enough to put the film on the level of higher profile action films for which it serves as an alternative. Otherwise, it closely follows the blueprint.

• I love getting DVDs from Well Go USA because the trailers are almost awesome crazy Asian action films that are usually better as 3 minute short films than in their feature length version. Kickboxer: Retaliation would almost certainly fit into this, as well. Two featured trailers worth highlighting: Triple Threat, starring the murderer's row of Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Tony Jaa, and Iko Uwais, and Wolf Warrior II, the most successful blockbuster in the history of Chinese cinema.

• Kickboxer: Retaliation starts with a dance sequence [yes, that's true] that morphs into a crazy fight on top of a train in the pouring rain. A word isn't spoken until more than 8 minutes into the film. This is, by all accounts, a good thing.

• As a fan of mixed martial arts, it was fun to see the who's who of random UFC talent who find their way into the film. Included: Frankie Edgar, Wanderlei Silva, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Roy Nelson, Shogun Rua, and world kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven.

• Mike Tyson is also in this film. All of his dialogue is nearly unintelligible.

• The music choice in the film are inspired: a blues classic to accompany a slowly paced fight through the Thai prison [probably the best scene in the movie], "Wipeout" scoring a crazy market brawl and chase.

• There is a wife character that is just an awful mess of a cliche. She only serves to be put in danger to move along Sloane's motivation. One particular moment when she is directly in harm's way is so laughably sappy that it is truly offensive.

• The final boss is played by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, better known as The Mountain from Game of Thrones. He is an incredible specimen and more than fitting as the big bad challenge. You'll realize why Game of Thrones never gave him any dialogue, though. And he's a little too slow to be completely convincing, though his freakish size and strength come through.

• I wish Jean-Claude Van Damme was given a bit more to do. Clearly, he can no longer take on the physical tolls but the film could have ramped him up as the kooky mentor even more. They make the character blind, but that's basically it. More than anywhere else, I feel like watching Vengeance may have shed more on his character and given me more of a connection.

• Christopher Lambert, on the other hand, is having a hell of a time chewing the scenery as the insane fight promoter. There are only a few actors who could have possibly done more in the role.

• The final showdown begins with just about 30 minutes left in the film and boy is it a journey. Unfortunately, like most of the inexplicably 2-hour film, it could have been easily done in half the time with about the same effect. We all know how this thing is going to end so there really isn't much reason to prolong it. Just like this review.

File Under 2018 #30: Isle of Dogs

What it’s about: Chief is a stray among a group of dogs that have been relocated to an abandoned island off of Japan following an outbreak of a canine disease called “snout fever.” When a young boy crash lands on the island looking for his beloved Spots, Chief leads a ragtag gang to find him. In the human world, a young foreign exchange student leads protests against a corrupt, cat-loving mayor who is behind the anti-dog legislation and perhaps something even more sinister. Finding Spots and taking on Mayor Kobayashi won’t be easy, but Atari and Tracy Walker and their friends are determined.

Unorganized thoughts:

• First of all, Isle of Dogs really isn’t for kids. Youngsters might find some of the dogs cute, but the film is full of very adult material including but not limited to political assassination, dictatorial rule, starvation and disease. There are many moments that are legitimately frightening. A lot of the dialogue is in Japanese without subtitles. And, of course, there is Wes Anderson’s trademark tone and style with visual symmetry, alienated characters, and hipster affectations.

• I found Isle of Dogs to be all style over substance, even relative to Wes Anderson’s body of work. The style is predictably great, though, with beautiful animation, a distinct look using split screens and staging that forces perspective, and a quick, energetic pace. The narrative takes on a pretty simple search and rescue plot that doesn’t do anything particularly new or interesting.

• The biggest problem with the substance of Isle of Dogs and another reason why it isn’t a great kids movie is that it is extremely emotionally detached. Despite being about a boy’s love for his dog, every character is too at-arms-length emotionally. This isn’t strange for Anderson, but his best films have genuine emotional connections among the characters. There is anger, but it is more grit-your-teeth anger than expressive anger. Otherwise most of the characters deliver their dialogue in monotone.

• The exception is the Japanese characters, which starts to get into some of the film’s racial controversy. Overall, the Japanese-ness of the film didn’t bother me, but it didn’t add much to the film besides the obvious cinematic influences and references. I actually appreciate that the film takes language seriously, something that many films do not, and brings in the Japanese language often without giving the English-language audience a translation. The most interesting thing this does for the film is put the viewer into the headspace of the dogs, who don’t understand the boy’s language other than through his tone, gestures, and a few simple words. This is pretty clever and effective.

• My biggest issue with the setting is that most of the characters who speak Japanese are aggressive and scary. These characters are definitely coming from well established samurai and yakuza types and on that level they work well. But it comes off as a stereotype as a strange “other” that I don’t see working well with younger viewers.

• The film takes place 20 years in the future but all the electronic technology is from 20 years ago. How very Wes Anderson.

• Highlights of the animation: dog fighting dust clouds, sushi preparation, mayor Kobayashi’s design, and the small touches of traditional animation seen on video screens throughout the film.

• A great Anderson trope that finds its way into Isle of Dogs in a clever way is a translator character who is used through most of the political subplot -- giving the weakest narrative section of the film a bit more personality. Voice-over narrators are vital characters in much of Anderson’s work, from Bob Balaban in Moonrise Kingdom to Alec Baldwin’s voice in The Royal Tenenbaums. By the end of Isle of Dogs, the translator becomes strangely personable.

• I don’t know how much I can add to the discussion of the “white savior” plot, but it was definitely an aspect that I noticed -- there are plenty of passionate and smart takes out there that you can find. One thing that my wife pointed out to me following the film, however, is how the high school students standing up against political corruption is an interesting thematic tie-in to what is happening today in the discourse on gun control. It doesn’t make American Tracy Walker with her blonde afro fit into the film any better, but it is an interesting coincidence.

• Most of my thoughts probably sound pretty negative and while Isle of Dogs is a disappointment and in the lower half of my Wes Anderson rankings, there is a lot of great film artistry on display. If you are generally a Wes Anderson fan, you will generally like Isle of Dogs. If you find the director to be pretentious, you’ll probably find Isle of Dogs pretentious. But it is undeniably beautiful and distinct. I’m always for major filmmakers telling strange and unique stories in their voice.

• I’ll leave you with a cinema confession: I haven’t seen Fantastic Mr. Fox. I’m going to use this as an opportunity to fix that.

File Under 2018 #29: Lies We Tell

What it's about: Donald [Gabriel Byrne] is a driver whose employer suddenly dies, leaving him a note to handle his personal affairs. When he enters his employer's estate, he finds his young Muslim mistress, Amber [Sibylla Deen] and is quickly enwrapped in a criminal underworld. While Donald tries to keep the affair secret from his employer's family, Amber is tied to a gangster through a forced religious marriage, and these two worlds come together over the existence of a sex tape.

Unorganized thoughts:

• Gabriel Byrne getting in on the older, legitimate dramatic actor doing action films just when Liam Neeson seems to be over it? OK.

• So that's not exactly right, though the plot summary and marketing of the film would make you think that -- even the photo I've used for this post is completely misleading. Lies We Tell is more of a cross-cultural drama that ends up as a crime story. So if you see anything about this film and expect a fun old man action ride, I'd rather recommend you watch the terrible The Commuter instead -- at least it'll give you something like what you're looking for.

• I really don't understand the world that the film is trying to show. I can see the hook in telling a gangster story from the perspective of a Muslim community. When the film enters that world, however, it does so with the nuance of a Law and Order episode. It is flashy and the air is thick with hookah smoke, the baddies all caricatures of generic Muslim villains. At least there isn't a terrorist angle to the film.

• There is a real opportunity lost to tell what makes this community different in place of your usual crime tale. The best it gets is a major plot dealing with a rift between families over Amber and crime lord KD's failed marriage. Even this doesn't actually have any specificity, though. The only true effect of Muslim culture is to add an extra little element of how the community may react to Amber, otherwise actually an upstanding young woman, for her affair and a sultry [though very, very tame by cinematic standards] video.

• That video, though, contains a shirtless Harvey Keitel doing something that seems like dancing, so that's something.

• The interesting aspect of the cultural divide is how extremely British this film is at times. Obviously, Byrne offers a very mannered performance. There are sweeping shots of the British countryside when characters are hiding out, complete with cobble stones and free-roaming chickens. If you hate the cliche of the setting being like a character, at least the setting is the best character here.

• In order to feel anything for Lies We Tell, you have to feel something for the characters and that just doesn't happen, despite so many melodramatic strings [including an extremely saccharine piano score] pulling. Byrne comes out fine, though his stoicism results in knowing nothing about the character. Amber is downright confusing. She's countlessly called and portrayed as a whore while also being a kind-hearted lawyer.

• Looking into the production backstory of Lies We Tell is far more interesting than the results of the film. Debut director Mitu Misra is a millionaire businessman who decided that he wanted to direct a film simply because he loved films. He was inspired by Northern British classics like Get Carter and wanted to set one in his hometown of Bradford. He used his business skills to get Gabriel Byrne and Harvey Keitel on board. Considering Misra's complete lack of experience, Lies We Tell is a more interesting film, but it unfortunately isn't a successful one. Reading The Guardian's profile of him, he seems to have much more personality than is on display in his film.

File Under 2018 #28: Roxanne Roxanne

What it's about: Roxanne Shante is a hip-hop legend who rose to prominence during the 1980s boom around the Queensbridge projects in Queens, New York. As a young girl she was a master of the rap battle, taking on all-comers with enough cash to challenge for her crown. While skipping school, she scrapes together money by babysitting and selling stolen clothes. After getting a song on the radio, though, things blow up for Shante, leading to rowdy crowds and lots of attention.

Unorganized thoughts:

• It might go without saying, but Roxanne Roxanne is the best Netflix film release so far this year -- when the main competition is The Cloverfield Paradox and Mute, the mantle is well within reach.

• This is exactly the kind of movie that can really benefit from the platform and the kind of movie that Netflix should be seeking out. It plays into the 80s nostalgia that Netflix has invested in heavily, but it is a smaller, more niche story that is more easily found on streaming than in the very limited theatrical release it received.

• The film's vibrant hip-hop world is obviously the hook, but I do appreciate how Roxanne Roxanne is a well-rounded dramatic story first. In fact, early on, the film deliberately evades Shante's skills by cutting away or having her refuse to rap. It gives just enough with one extended battle to establish her force and then focus on the character's life.

• This allows the second half of the film to focus on Shante's journey into the music industry and how she's changed by it. The film can't avoid all the "Behind the Music" drama plotlines but it is kept balanced by Shante's relationships with her mother and an older man [Mahershala Ali]. Roxanne Roxanne comes full circle of sorts for the conclusion, with Shante no longer in the music industry and now again having to fend for herself as life has beaten her down.

• By the end of Roxanne Roxanne, I was left with the impression that I wish this was a series instead of a movie. It mostly works as a biopic but so much ground is covered in about 90 minutes. Shante's status changes so much from beginning to middle to end that more of a buildup and breakdown would be welcome. And it would give the opportunity to explore so much more of the surrounding hip-hop world.

• Chanté Adams as Shante keeps the film together with a fantastic performance. First and foremost, she is completely believable with the music, both on stage and facing off in the battles. She has an intensity that works for the music and for the dramatic turmoil and still a softness that makes her a believable 16-year-old on screen. Without her strong performance, Roxanne Roxanne's biopic and nostalgia trappings would have no doubt been more abrasive. The newcomer also has a role in the Sundance highlight Monsters and Men, so hopefully this early success leads to a great career.

• The highlight of the film's music is without a doubt an onstage performance after a fight with her DJ, Shante performs exclusively with the new beatboxer in her crew, Biz Markie. It is a pretty cool realization but also a little sad that he became the household name that Roxanne Shante never did.

• There is another fun little character revelation at the end of the film, but I'll leave that one unspoiled.

File Under 2018 #27: Unsane

What it's about: Sawyer Valentini [Claire Foy] is a young woman who is attractive, ambitious, has a good relationship with her mother, and high performance at her cushy banking job. Her romantic life, however, has become a challenge since a recent, serious stalking incident that forced her to completely rearrange her life. She now insists on one night stands and even when she finds a suitable guy to take back to her apartment, it doesn't take long until she is completely taken by the fear of her past. She even thinks she sees her former stalker in other people. After a breaking point, she decides to get some professional help, has a consultation with a therapist at a normal seeming mental health facility. But when she unknowingly admits herself as a patient the pain and fear she was already experiencing heightens, threatening her grasp on reality. What's worse, the man handing out the nightly medication looks awfully familiar.

Unorganized thoughts:

• Though I'll try to refrain from spoiling the film, be warned that Unsane is the kind of film you might want to know little about before seeing.

• With mental asylum films, I've become programmed to always expect the big twist at the end -- it is the perfect environment to distort and confuse, with untrustable characters guiding the narrative. Unsane does something unusual, though, by tipping its hand at the obvious twist pretty early on. It is then able to use the genre conventions to push expectations and doubt even further without feeling like the same old cliched thriller.

• At the center of this is Sawyer, an expertly crafted character. She starts as an incredibly simple, detestable person. She is erratic, stuck up, violently emotional, and mentally disturbed in far from sympathetic way. As the film goes on, though, it gives more context into her life and what brought her to her horrific circumstances. And it does it without excusing her abrasive personality.

• A brief interlude near the middle of the film goes a long way to shaping the perspective on the character. It recounts the previous stalking incident that has emotionally crippled Sawyer, and while it isn't especially remarkable or detailed [we see a string of unwanted text messages and Sawyer's meeting with a protection specialist featuring a cameo by Soderbergh regular Matt Damon]. It strangely turns a rather undefined thriller into a full-on pure horror film by adding a new perspective to judgments of the character. It also becomes not just the story of Sawyer Valentini but highlights the everyday horrors that millions of women who face toxic masculinity and face an unsympathetic world on a daily basis.

• It is these kinds of side moments and scenes that bring greater definition to Unsane and the expected personality of its filmmaker. Another, smaller example is a brief interaction between a police officer and a hospital staffer, a conversation that is totally beside the narrative reason of why these two characters are brought together. Soderbergh is more interested in what is beyond the regular narrative tropes that we expect.

• There is a Stockholm Syndrome slash cat-and-mouse plot in the film's third act that is a little less interesting overall. The film becomes more explicit in its themes, with its characters expressing their issues and the nuances of their relationships outwardly. It takes the cool mystery out of the film a bit, though there are still a few shocking moments and the actors are game all the way through.

• With all due respect to Joshua Leonard [an actor I've always really liked], he's an extraordinary creep.

• Unsane has received attention for the way it was shot, completely using an iPhone [not exactly a unique presentation style any more, though it is still a very specific aesthetic choice]. This film definitely goes on the side of Soderbergh's experimental filmography. I don't think the iPhone look does really anything to enhance the film, though the starkness is meant to capture the raw and real emotions of the characters. There is one particular scene where double imposition is used to capture Sawyer's mindspace while on very powerful drugs that looks really cool -- simultaneous shots of a close-up and directly behind the character imposed over each other give a weird impression of a whole image fracturing, blurring over itself. I don't recall seeing a drug trip experience shown in quite this way before.

• I'm not very familiar with Claire Foy's work and, honestly, the thought of her in The Crown gave me a specific expectation of what kind of actress she is. Her strong and intense performance in Unsane makes me immediately more interested in her upcoming turn in the next Lisbeth Salander film.

File Under 2018 #26: The Vanishing of Sidney Hall

What it's about: Sidney Hall [Logan Lerman] is a disaffected high school student who has aspirations of being a great, serious writer. Years later, he has achieved that dream with a best selling novel that has deeply touched its engaged fan base -- something like Infinite Jest as a multi-week New York Times best-seller. Jumping back-and-forth between these two time periods, high school Sidney feels the relationship spark with new neighbor Melody [Elle Fanning] while successful novelist Sidney deals with the consequences of his controversial art. In a third timeline, an investigator [Kyle Chandler] searches across the country for a vagabond Sidney who has been burning every copy of Suburban Tragedy he can find.

Unorganized thoughts:

• I mentioned in my thoughts on The Clapper that I enjoyed seeing these early year home video dumps to see what may have gone wrong. For The Clapper, it was pretty obvious, but The Vanishing of Sidney Hall seems to have had bigger aspirations. The sophomore film by Shawn Christensen [Before I Disappear] it stars Logan Lerman, Elle Fanning, Michelle Monaghan, Kyle Chandler, Nathan Lane, Blake Jenner, Tim Blake Nelson, Alex Karpovsky, and Margaret Qualley. Its theatrical distribution was handled by A24, which I'd say has built a pretty good track record.

• If making a very pretentious movie was a comment on the very pretentious character at the center of the story, then ... OK. Wouldn't have been worth it anyway but I doubt that was the goal.

• The Vanishing of Sidney Hall is the brand of forgotten misfire that takes itself far too seriously. The tone is morose while trying to be profound. In fairness to the film, this is a particularly difficult line to tow and I imagine that it may be some level of profound for certain viewers. But if it doesn't connect, it is exactly the kind of film that will feel like a laundry list of cliches and eye-roll-inducing moments.

• When impressionable young people are inspired to commit violent acts because of the content of Sidney's book, the film reaches for this theme rather clumsily. The thematic ground opens with a press conference where Sidney's publisher brazenly remarks that the tragedy is leading to higher sales -- it takes what is usually the subtext and makes it so incredibly on-the-nose for character development.

• When Fanning's character is asked for a list of her inspirations she responds with Annie Leibovitz, Bob Dylan, old Atari video games, among others. Coming from what is supposed to be a middle school girl [maybe early high school, it isn't clear] that is about all you need to know about the film's worldview.

• Stylistically, the criss-crossing between three different time periods works enough, though it doesn't lead to much. Re-arranging the scenes in my mind as it went along I could only think of how incredibly dull the story would be otherwise. This isn't a good excuse for the flashy structural choice.

• Logan Lerman has made an early career on disaffected young men that are intellectually smart but emotionally a little stunted. He's already done it pretty well twice with Perks of Being a Wallflower and Indignation. He's an actor I generally like but I hope he grows up soon.

File Under 2018 #25: The Death of Stalin

What it’s about: Josef Stalin is the political leader of the powerful Soviet Union. His strong rule has inspired fear and hatred among his citizens and is beloved by those in his inner circle. When Stalin unexpectedly suffers a cerebral hemorrhage, it sets his closest advisors off to position themselves [rather awkwardly] to take his place on the red throne. The small committee including Nikita Khrushchev [Steve Buscemi], Georgy Malenkov [Jeffrey Tambor], Lavrenti Beria [Simon Russell Beale] vie for power through underhanded dealings, backstabbing tactics, and the rule of bureaucracy. And all while preparing a celebratory funeral for their former leader and dealing with the repercussions of his sudden death.

Unorganized thoughts:

• Anyone who has seen the work of Armando Iannucci [VEEP, The Thick of It, In the Loop] should know what to expect here. The Death of Stalin isn’t the pinnacle of his specific brand of comedy, but it shows some real progress as a film director and the interesting twist of real historical events.

• Those familiar with the writer-director know, too, that his work isn’t about what it is about but how it is about it. The Death of Stalin has a specific narrative. In fact, it is a very defined one based on constitutional procedure -- intertitles break the film into sections from the rules to follow when the figure in power dies. But the appeal of this film is the strange, absurd, buffoonish, hysterical moments and interactions of the ensemble cast.

• No one understands the ridiculousness of government better than Iannucci, though this is a much more difficult subject to tackle. It is one thing to mock fictional leaders of modern times but to portray political monsters is a challenge. And because of that, The Death of Stalin is incredibly dark. As we see innocent people exiled or led to their deaths, we need to laugh at the in-fighting of those signing the documents that makes those decisions happen.

• In some ways, when the comedy works, this heightens the level of absurdity, making the film more biting and silly at the same time. Seeing a group of dignified and powerful men struggling to lift Stalin from the ground in a pool of his own piss and then arguing over how all the “good doctors” have been killed or imprisoned back-to-back is the kind of juxtaposition that fills The Death of Stalin.

• The tone of the film only works because it is brilliant in its mix of subtlety and extended lowbrow visual gags. Another example: directly following the procession of cars all trying to get in the first position, creating a comical logjam, is a quick glimpse of Stalin look-alikes [possibly his official body doubles] all being led to be shot.

• Like all of Iannucci’s work, the comedic power is in the ensemble. Everyone gets to be funny, from the leading characters to the one-line extras. Buscemi and Simon Russell Beale are the highlights as the two committee members dueling most directly. Michael Palin and Paddy Considine come in for small but memorable roles. Three performers who aren’t necessarily associated with comedy steal the show, however: Jason Isaacs as the bold leader of the red military and Andrea Riseborough and Rupert Friend as Stalin’s unhinged children.

• Because of the historical setting, this is the most formally cinematic work in Iannucci’s filmography. Iannucci works most in interiors, which is also true of The Death of Stalin, but the decadence of the Russian architecture is beautiful. There is also much more focus on camerawork, shot selection, and shot length. The ensemble scenes aren’t edited to death.

• What is perhaps most surprising about the film, though, is how rousing and dramatic its climax is. When one member of the central committee wins over his rival, the eventual ousting quickly shifts the tone to something quite frightening. For anyone who may be turned off by the mockery of real dangerous people, this conclusion adds something real to the stakes. It is abrupt and unexpected, completely took me off guard. But it works fairly seamlessly. No matter how much the film ridicules these characters, even as it reduces them to childish imbeciles, it doesn’t forget that they were monsters.

File Under 2018 #24: A Wrinkle in Time

What it’s about: Meg is a young girl with many faults. She’s angry, doesn’t trust people, and lacks self-confidence. On the fourth anniversary of her father’s disappearance, her and her younger brother Charles Wallace are recruited on an adventure to find him in an alternate universe full of beauty and danger. Three wondrous and strange beings [Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, and Oprah Winfrey] guide Meg through this perilous journey, imparting the tools and wisdom needed to face the ultimate darkness. But only Meg can face evil and her personal demons to save her father.

Unorganized thoughts:

• A Wrinkle in Time has become one of the most polarizing films in recent years because of its tremendous expectations, goodwill for Ava DuVernay, a large fanbase nostalgic for the book, and ultimately its poor critical consensus and box office disappointment. Going to see the film a week after its opening gave me more metered expectations and I think that further shaped my opinion. I ended up liking A Wrinkle in Time quite a bit.

• Based on what I’d heard, I expected the film to be much more wildly uneven. The narrative is far from smooth, it feels a little truncated and doesn’t always connect from A to B to C, but I found the messaging, both emotionally and spiritually, to be wholly consistent.

• I suspect that the way A Wrinkle in Time wears its themes and heart on its sleeve won’t work for everyone. Everything it is trying to say is completely explicit, without much nuance. It never really challenge the viewer [though it might be a little scary at times for younger children].

• I haven’t read the novel but this approach feels very much intended for children. Narratively and thematically, adults will have to make concessions. This is typically a problem and is surely a reason why I wasn’t fully behind the film. At the same time, I was wrapped up in the film’s heart. We could use more films this big and bold that are about being good to each other and loving yourself.

• It is also amazing to see a fantasy film that is so invested in the importance of science -- this is more Star Trek than Star Wars as far as Hollywood fantasies go. Even if a lot of the science relevant to the central plot mystery is probably just jargon, the film consistently shows how science and mathematics are vital without getting in the way of feelings. Science and emotion can work together to solve our problems.

• I can see why the three mystical characters played by Witherspoon, Kaling, and Winfrey are iconic to those who’ve read the source material. Winfrey’s presence, in particular, obviously brings in an extra layer of meaning to the character’s words and while it is impossible not to look at Mrs. Witch as anyone other than Oprah, she works well enough. When she is a special effect near the beginning of the film, acting exclusively with a green screen, she comes off a bit stiff. When she is looking into the Meg’s eyes and delivering wisdom, however, the words have power beyond the screen.

• Their three children counterparts are played by relative newcomers in their first substantial roles. Overall, their inexperience shows. Storm Reid handles the emotional beats well and that’s really her most important position. Strangely enough, the worst of the three child performances is the one that is the most entertaining, Levi Miller as the cute boy tagalong. His character doesn’t work at all except that it is the gender inverse of so many terrible girlfriend roles we see in films like this. I’m not sure if Miller knew what he was playing at, but the screenwriters and DuVernay have made an interesting statement.

• I was expecting the costuming to be garish but it is a beautiful part of this grand world. The character designs work much better as part of the film than singled out in the marketing.

• As for the special effects, I think they mostly come off well, but I couldn’t help but want a touch of practical effects to go along with it, akin to the many 1980s fantasy adventures that use puppetry so beautifully. I recently just revisited The NeverEnding Story for the first time in years and the look of that film really holds up [even if the narrative is a little long and boring]. I fear that A Wrinkle in Time may look less interesting decades from now.

File Under 2018 #23: Small Town Crime

What it's about: Mike Kendall [John Hawkes] is an alcoholic who lost his job as a small town police officer when he blew hot after a fatal altercation on the job. After another long night of binge drinking, Mike finds the body of a brutally beaten woman on the side of the road. When he discovers her cell phone underneath the passenger seat in his car, his former detective instincts kick back in to help him track down the killer. As he dives deeper into the case, his redemption story is met by violence.

Unorganized thoughts:

• John Hawkes deserves his day leading films with a bigger profile but this is a perfect role for the character actor. It taps into his grisled and surprisingly threatening look. His worn face fits right in with the character's descent into a criminal world. If you told me Small Town Crimes was written with Hawkes in mind, filmmakers Eshom and Ian Nelms definitely have a sharp eye for actors.

• Hawkes is surrounded by an impressive group of veteran supporting actors including Olivia Spencer, Anthony Anderson, Robert Forster, Clifton Collins Jr., and Dale Dickey. It isn't just an impressive group, but like Hawkes, one that fits the steely material well.

• Small Town Crime has aspirations of the hard boiled detective stories of the 30s and 40s with modern sex and violence. As a private investigator, Mike Kendall is unsurprisingly no Mike Hammer or Sam Spade. In its more offbeat elements, it isn't quite as sharp as other neo-noirs from the Coens or Soderbergh.

• With its profile, it isn't exactly fair to compare Small Town Crimes with these crime classics, but the comparison shows its limits. There isn't anything particularly bad about Small Town Crimes -- it doesn't drag and I've already mentioned its great cast. The film's investigation just isn't very exciting or original. Despite the cast, none of the characters are remarkably memorable. It's all derivative, uninspired.

• Where this seems most obvious is with two supporting characters that are often seen in movies like this: the mob assassins who relentlessly go after the hero. There are usually two ways to approach these characters, either as a sinister, unstoppable force, or with a little more humor, perhaps a bit bumbling despite being dangerous. Here, it is somewhere in between, unwilling to push harder in either direction.

• One of the two hitmen, played by Jeremy Ratchford, does have a strangely menacing look and demeanor and the film eventually lets him be the centerpiece villain, but it isn't enough to correct the missed opportunity of putting a genuine stamp onto the film.

• As a redemption story, this theme is pretty underserved. After pushing Mike's alcoholism hard in the film's set-up, there isn't much struggle once the investigation plot gets kicking. At points, friends and relatives hand Mike a beer and he willingly drinks it -- for alcoholics I know, this would be a serious action that would have repercussions. I don't know if the film doesn't take alcoholism seriously, but it definitely doesn't follow through with this theme in a particularly dramatic way.

• That all said, for the early year theater-to-DVD dumps, you could do far worse than Small Town Crime -- this is incredibly clear by the trailers on the disc including such films as Ethan Hawke vehicle 24 Hours to Live and Al Pacino's Hangman.

• Strangely enough, the best moment of the film might be a mid-credits scene that wraps up the plot in a fun bit of vigilantism. Sadly, though, if this small glimpse of character was injected into the rest of the plot, the film could have been great.

File Under 2018: #22: Love, Simon

What it's about: Simon Spier is a self-proclaimed regular high school kid with a big secret: he's gay. After a classmate anonymously comes out of the closet on a local gossip blog, Simon is inspired to reach out. While keeping his true sexual identity from his friend circle and family, he finds himself falling for the freeness of the secret conversation he is sharing. But when another student accidentally stumbles on what Simon is hiding, his emotional inner life and his privilege to tell his own story is threatened.

Unorganized thoughts:

• When I first saw the trailer for Love, Simon, I wasn't expecting this movie to be some sort of groundbreaking mainstream event. But when I thought about all the serious gay films that have come out in recent years, I eventually realized that Love, Simon definitely has different aims and a different audience. Indie darlings like Moonlight and Call Me by Your Name [among many others] have certainly put a cinematic spotlight onto gay stories, but this feels new because it plainly takes the tropes of worn mainstream genres [the rom-com and the high school comedy, specifically] and claims it for a new group of people.

• What Love, Simon means for some became incredibly clear to me when I entered a mostly full theater on a Tuesday evening and noticed that there were many more same sex couples than you'd usually see going to the movies -- and the diversity of age and race especially pointed to how this was a broad, mainstream experience.

• This audience was with Love, Simon from start to finish, giving the screening a really fun energy. The reactions to the big dramatic moments really drove home that the film was working on a personal, relatable level. The particular reveal the entire film is heading toward [who is the person on the other end of Simon's heartfelt messages] was met with rapturous applause and it is actually earned.

• Being comfortable in fully being a rom-com means taking on the genre's warts, too. This means a terrible pop soundtrack, cloying side characters, silly plot contrivances where characters don't listen to each other to add dramatic stakes, and an underwritten best friend [though that the female best friend is the best friend of a male character at least has something of a twist to the convention] are all here.

• One convention that Love, Simon can't avoid is the dorky adults in a high school comedy -- a trope that is painfully annoying to me. Tony Hale as the school's vice principal has some comedic moments that land though the trying hard to be hip character becomes a bit too much of a caricature at times. Josh Duhamel, surprisingly enough, hits a perfect balance of genuine and comic relief cliche as Simon's dorky dad and Jennifer Garner is great as his invested mother. It is Natasha Rothwell as a drama teacher that steals the show, though. I'm not sure if any teacher speaks to her students the way she does without any repercussions but she is amazingly fun.

• Gmail plays a big part of the film and it is kind of silly -- not Lion silly, but still silly.

• Also, do high school rumor blogs still exist? There was one when I was in high school but that was more than 15 years ago.

• Love, Simon deserves some comparison to films like The Edge of Seventeen and Lady Bird, though I don't think it is quite as sharp or cinematically stylish and it definitely isn't as consistently funny. This does have some flourishes, though, especially a fantasy sequence where Simon imagines going off to college where he can finally start over as his real self. This is a brief moment in the film, but it is a clever exploration on that theme that covers more ground than just Simon's specific outlook.

• The way the film tackles the challenge of characters reading e-mails is interesting formally, as well. Throughout the film, as Simon learns more about his anonymous pen pal while keeping his own identity secret from him, he brings his curiosity to everyday normal interactions. We then see these potential possibilities as the ones crafting their conversation. It is a pretty small touch but it adds a bit of emotional complexity and vulnerability to Simon, who slowly tries to open himself up more in the outside world. And it isn't overplayed as a mystery to be solved even as that is where the film is obviously building toward.

• Nick Robinson, who I've previously seen in Jurassic World and The Kings of Summer [he's also been in a few unsuccessful teen-driven films], really shines in the title role. It is hard to describe exactly why his performance is so extraordinarily good but the best I can point to is that he is a comfortable presence. Because of the kind of film Love, Simon is, it would have been really easy for him to just put on puppy dog eyes in place of genuine likability but he never goes there. He's a well-rounded character, emotionally complex, a realistic high school kid that can be a bit of an outcast even with leading-man looks and charisma.

#1 1982: Porky's

Let me take you back to March 19-25, 1982. During that week, Joan Jett & Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” reached #1 on the charts for the first of seven consecutive weeks, actress Constance Wu [Fresh Off the Boat] and race car driver Danica Patrick were born, Iran launched an offensive on neighboring Iraq, a military coup took place in Guatemala, Wayne Gretzky became the first player in the National Hockey League to score 200 points in a season, Cagney & Lacey premiered on ABC, and Porky’s was the #1 film in America.

Porky’s was an unabashed hit with a domestic gross of $105MM and eight consecutive weeks at the top of the box office -- this was ultimately good enough for 5th on the year and one of only five films on the year to gross more than $100MM [#6 if you consider On Golden Pond, which technically opened in 1981 but went wide in ‘82]. Certainly this success helped fuel the film to become one of the most iconic films of the 1980s, for better or worse, with its famous shower scene and general high school boy antics. Though it became the blueprint for every raunchy sex comedy over the next three and a half decades, I have a hard time seeing a film about a group of high school boys who spy on their classmates through peep holes in the shower being made today. And yet, its spirit lives on.

Pertaining to its status as a high school sex comedy, the film remains paramount. It ranks #5 for comedies predominantly set in a high school, which is extra impressive when looking at the only four films that rank ahead: Spider-Man: Homecoming [which quite arguably doesn’t belong in the genre], 21 Jump Street, Superbad, and American Graffiti. Those films either have the benefit of inflation or were made by George Lucas. Porky’s made more money than American Pie, Mean Girls, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, among others, all films that are considered classics of the high school comedy genre.

One of the more interesting aspects of the film’s breakout, especially in reaching #1 right away, is its complete lack of stars. Looking at 1982 in whole, of all the #1 films, you could only argue that only three other films weren’t headline by a big Hollywood star [I include E.T., though Spielberg could be identified as “the star” that drove its early box office]. The popularity of Porky’s wasn’t driven by Sean Connery or Paul Newman or Hepburn and Fonda or Richard Pryor. Instead, its cast list is filled with names you wouldn’t recognize. The 1980s may be decades after Hollywood’s true star system, but upcoming films centered around the likes of Schwarzenegger, Stallone [more than once], and Richard Gere showed that big names could lead films to big numbers.

This was my first viewing of Porky’s [I imagine if I was born about a decade earlier it would have been a classic for me, discovered on a sleepover] and it yielded mixed results. Yes, a lot of the antics were a bit icky, but there actually isn’t as much nudity as I expected and most of it comes from the title night club and not the locker room. I was surprised by how loose the general plot was -- it is made up of a few setpieces, but the meandering flow felt almost out of a Richard Linklater film. This makes more sense when you remember that Bob Clark directed the film. Best known for Black Christmas and especially A Christmas Story, he is known for making big and ridiculous moments. Porky’s isn’t good enough to become an instant favorite in the modern context, but I could see why it achieved an iconic status among the horny young folks who saw it in 1982 and how it inspired so many movies since. It is more of an actual movie than the feature-length shower scene it is often presented as.

File Under 2018 #21: Mom and Dad

The insane late-career of Nicolas Cage has been well publicized. Even if you couldn't name five movies he's made over the past decade, you know it is full of absolute shit [and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans]. Let me name a few: Army of One, Outcast, Rage, Dog Eat Dog, Pay the Ghost, Secret War, Trespass. Not only have you probably not heard of all of those movies, you probably can't tell which is a title I completely made up.

As Cage has become more of a freak-out meme than an actor I've never been convinced he doesn't have a sense of humor about it all. There, of course, was the Saturday Night Live "Into the Cage" appearance he did while promoting Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance [not apart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for some reason] back in 2011. It just seems strange to me that he makes all these anonymous film choices. Perhaps it is quicker and easier money with less pressure to actually do some hard acting work. Or maybe he really doesn't have any actual options, even though I'm sure there is some crazy director out there who would love to give him a big Hollywood return. I guess David Gordon Green kind of did that in 2013's Joe, but that was a small-scale indie that got a proportional amount of attention.

Mom and Dad certainly isn't the welcome mat, but this is a wonderful return to limited relevance. It is a post-modern Nicolas Cage movie. It has all the knowledge of everything you would expect out of a post-2010 Nicolas Cage movie and gives you exactly that with a little extra style and a very twisted premise. And it's also knowingly funny, a sharp satire of paternal love, and also a pretty good horror film -- it's hectic camerawork is usually a turn-off for me when it comes to the genre, but there is more than enough fun violence to go around.

The film is directed by Brian Taylor, one half of the Neveldine/Taylor tandem that are known for bat-shit crazy movies like Crank and Gamer. Taylor previously worked with Cage in the Ghost Rider sequel and this is a marked improvement on utilizing the star's talents. It also really goes hard on his ultra trademark style, with flashy camerawork [simply winding through a suburban house has the effect of an action chase] and effective editing that inter-cut flashbacks when information is revealed.

Mom and Dad is amazingly fun. Some might try and call it a "good bad" movie but that term should be avoided. It is simply working on a different wavelength than what we are accustomed to seeing.

What it's about: Brent and Kendall Ryan are your average suburban parents who two shitty kids and a sense of normalcy to maintain. Suddenly, an inexplicable event happens that gives parents the incessant urge to kill their children. The Ryans are no exception and their offspring, teenage bad girl Carly and her annoying younger brother Josh, must evade and fight for their lives. Intensity and ingenuity may only keep them safe for so long ... and their ancestry may be the only thing that can truly save them.

Unorganized thoughts:

• I've focused entirely on Cage [and for good reason] but Selma Blair is also fantastic. She's not the kind of actress you'd think of who could match Cage's weird energy [is there one?] but she more than holds her own. She's more of a steely psychotic than an atom bomb and it works as a good counterpart.

• I wouldn't have guessed it, but Cage is only 9 years older than Blair. She's aged incredibly well, especially in comparison.

• This has one of the strangest opening credit sequences I've seen in a while. It's something like a mix of softcore porn, 70s grindhouse, and a James Bond style. I'm not sure exactly what kind of tone it sets for this, but it definitely sets a tone.

• The music cues across the board are amazing. From Leave It to Beaver style sitcom music over a family argument to Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love" over a particularly gruesome [and over-the-top hilarious] scene.

• There is a fake out scene where Cage tickles his son that is shot and scored as if he was attacking him -- but I'll say that Cage aggressively tickling me is personally more frightening.

• You might have heard of a scene where Cage destroys a pool table while singing the "Hokey Pokey." I can confirm that it is indeed real.

• The always dependable Dr. Oz makes an appearance as a news report talking head where he relays his vast knowledge of pig mothers killing their young children.

• Is it possible that the 80 minute run-time is actually one of the film's only disappointments? The short feature runs incredibly fast, which is great, but there is honestly only about 30 minutes of the most fun insanity. I guess I'll just have to watch it again right now.

File Under 2018 #20: Thoroughbreds

Thoroughbreds, the debut film from playwright Cory Finley, is difficult to categorize. It is probably easiest to consider it a black comedy though it doesn't seem to actively be going for laughs of any discomforting level. It certainly is dark, in any case. The soundtrack plays like this is a horror film with strange sounds and pulses meant to elicit an uneasy feeling. There is an element of crime akin to a thriller. And a Hitchcockian plot akin to Strangers on a Train. Thoroughbreds is all of it.

It isn't a surprise that Finley comes from a theater-writing background as his debut's script is its finest asset. Not only does it draw on everything I mentioned above, it does so incredibly seamlessly -- for all its direct references and the many films that it might bring to your mind, it does so while feeling new. While it doesn't have a complex narrative [in some ways it is a pretty standard thriller/dark comedy plot] there is so much more happening, built by the specificity of its characters, time, and place.

I found the two central characters, played by Olivia Cooke [the dying girl of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl] and Anya Taylor-Joy [The Witch and Split], fascinating. In most films, these are characters specifically designed to be disliked. They are poor little rich girls who live comfortable lives in their comfortable houses in the comfortable suburbs. Sure, they have family drama, even have to deal with tragedy, but who doesn't? They at least have the resources to pull themselves out of those pitfalls.

But Thoroughbreds kind of makes them the heroes with a decidedly twisted point-of-view. They are far from likable people but when they are working together they complement each other so well that they seem worth rooting for. Their characters are so sharply written, especially in early scenes where their broken relationship is re-forming, that you can't help but feel like you are in on their devious plan. Somehow without earning any goodwill, they are a new age Thelma and Louise -- a slightly more psychotic, sociopathic, millennial version.

What it's about: Amanda and Lily are childhood friends who are forced back together when Amanda's mother pays Lily to tutor her disaffected daughter. It is Amanda's complete lack of empathy that helps teach Lily to face her life more honestly, however, which ultimately leads to a plan to murder her jerk of a stepfather. Their friendship grows closer, their different personality traits come together to make for perfect accomplices.

Unorganized thoughts:

• Not only are Amanda and Lily perfectly complimentary characters, the respective performances are compellingly different.

• It could be my previous associations with Anya Taylor-Joy in the two big horror films she's starred in, but I see her performance as Lily coming from a place of horror, as well. Her expressionless face balances with her big, naturally expressive eyes for an unsettling image.

• As for Olivia Cooke, she fits squarely into a dark comedy with a disaffectedness that feels more put on -- but in a way that is coming from the character more than from the actress performing.

• The most notable performance in the film, however, is from the late Anton Yelchin. When he pops into the movie it is like a grenade goes off, not just with the gut punch reminder that he tragically died more than a year and a half ago, but also from his complete dynamism. His character is primarily in only two scenes and they are among the most energetic and memorable.

• I just can't get over just how well the film tricks you into going along with Amanda and Lily while never ignoring that they are terrible human beings. This is done most explicitly in a scene where Mark, the marked man as it were, dresses down Lily for her selfish awfulness ... and he's not wrong.

• And it isn't like Mark is abusive, he's basically just a rich snob who lacks affection. He's far from the typical revenge film victim, which leaves the ending in a complicated place. In a way, the film's conclusion completely fortifies the accurate criticisms of Lily that Mark lays out. And where Lily, in particular, ends up definitely says something about the privilege she maybe took for granted.

#1 1982: Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip

Let me take you back to March 12-18, 1982. During that week, T.J. Hooker premiered on ABC, PLO chief Yassar Arafat appeared on Nightline, actress Theresa Saldana [Raging Bull] was repeatedly stabbed by a crazed fan, Quiet Riot guitar player Randy Rhoads died in an air crash at age 25, and Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip was the #1 movie in America.

If part of this project is to see how different American box office trends are today than in the past, this could be Exhibit A. Really, it says so much about how differently we consume entertainment in 2018. Stand-up comedy films are still released on the big screen from time to time, though the only prominent comedian I can think that still does this regularly is Kevin Hart. Instead, streaming services, especially Netflix, have cornered the market on stand-up specials, releasing huge event viewing from the likes of Dave Chappelle and Louis C.K. and smaller alternative acts like Chris Gethard and Bo Burnham alike.

From a theatergoing perspective, the early 80s was still a time when going to a movie theater to see a simulcast of a live event was still popular thing, whether a rock concert or a wrestling match. Live on the Sunset Strip wasn’t exactly that, but I think it comes from the same impetus. It is hard to see a live performance beamed onto a movie screen ever becoming a cultural phenomenon ever again.

The star of Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip was the most dynamic and successful comic of his generation -- and still remains one of the most beloved icons of the art form. By early 1982, Pryor was a huge crossover star, having starred in films such as Silver Streak, The Wiz, Stir Crazy, and Bustin’ Loose. He was also an infamous figure, known not for his controversial stand-up persona but also for a freebasing incident where he set himself on fire and ran down a public street.

The thing with Pryor’s controversial material is he is almost always the villain. He’s not attacking others, making fun of victims or the less fortunate. He’s the one sleeping around, he’s the one taking drugs, he’s the one starting fights with his wife [who, as it turns out, was divorced by the end of the year though they did remarry later in life]. The highlight of Live on the Sunset Strip is when Pryor talks in length about that freebasing incident. He is emotionally honest and doesn’t hold back on the ugly things he was going through but the tone keeps it from being self-deprecating. He’s cool and confident about his exploits, being completely honest about his flaws, which is disarming after being funny. Like any good comic, though, he can go off on a ten-minute tangent about African safaris and gazelle with the exact same energy.

A fun connection: during the opening credits sweep up and down the Sunset Boulevard, a billboard advertising Absence of Malice is visible. This makes me wonder: how quickly was this film turned around? According to Wikipedia [never wrong], the comedy album version of the set was recorded over two shows in December 1981 and January 1982 -- with the film being released in March, the film was completed and in the can in about two months. I imagine that stand-up films are generally pretty quick to produce, but this seems pretty impressive.

Stylistically, this looks like most classic stand-up or concert film. There is a multi-camera set-up which cuts seamlessly around the punchlines -- the natural flow of the conversation makes it easy to know when to make the cut. Occasionally, there is a shot of the laughing audience, a diverse L.A. crowd [a young Jesse Jackson is noticeable at one point]. The simple style keeps the focus on Pryor and the comedy. There is no stage dressing, complete darkness around Pryor in the famous red suit, a single spot light adding a halo of glow around him.

As long as I keep this project going, Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip may not be the last stand-up comedy film I’ll be looking at. It wouldn't even be the only Richard Pryor performance I’ll be looking at. How times at the movies have changed.

File Under 2018 #19: The Clapper

I'm always morbidly curious about the films dumped unceremoniously at the beginning of each year, especially when they star notable actors. Sometimes these movies are sitting on the proverbial shelf for months, maybe even years, before they are finally but out in one or two theaters or directly onto home video slash on demand.

Let me run down some of the talent involved in The Clapper ... First of all, it is directed by Dito Montiel, which may not be a name you recognize but seems to specialize in this sort of movie. After making A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints in 2006 [a movie that actually has some acclaim] he made back-to-back early pre-star Channing Tatum films Fighting and The Son of No One. He then made a movie starring The Rock, Emma Roberts and Liam Hemsworth that you've probably never heard of, Empire State, before directing what is known as Robin Williams's last film, Boulevard. Finally, he re-teamed with Shia LaBeouf two years ago for Man Down. This is a fascinating filmography that deserves a deep dive.

It is the film's cast, however, that is more interesting on first sight. Ed Helms and Amanda Seyfried are the leads. Helms may not have quite the same star power since The Office days but he is always an intriguing presence and too rarely leads a film. Seyfried, on the other hand, has led starred in films that have done over $100MM at the box office. The supporting cast is an impressive hodge-podge of random talent: the hilarious Tracy Morgan, wannabe actor Adam Levine, the late Alan Thicke, Russell Peters, Leah Remini, with Mark Cuban and Billy Blanks showing up as themselves. Rob Gronkowski even makes a cameo. This cast is weird and completely understandable why The Clapper made it off the ground.

As for the film, it's bad. I mean, I figured that would be the case. I was only hoping it would be insanely, weirdly bad -- it might be all three of those things but it isn't any fun.

What it's about: Eddie Krumble is a professional "Clapper," getting paid to sit in on infomercial tapings and act excited and ask leading questions to the host. When a late night talk show runs a segment that points out Eddie in various disguises at multiple of these tapings, it starts a manhunt to find out who is this mysterious man. When Eddie isn't dealing with the ramifications of becoming a weird instant celebrity, he befriends gas station attendant Judy, who shares his quirky outlook on life. But when Eddie loses touch with Judy, he uses his newfound platform to find her.

Unorganized thoughts:

• The basic message of this movie is that it isn't cool for Hollywood to ruin the life of an impressionable, mentally stunted person. Think we can all agree with that.

• Obviously, the immediate problem with The Clapper is that it supposes that a dumb bit on late night show would become a genuine media sensation.

• I'm not exactly sure what world this movie takes place in. At one point Eddie pays two dollars to use a computer inside a donut shop.

• The biggest crime, though, is wasting Tracy Jordan -- that should be a federal offense. The only funny thing about him in this movie is the character's last name is "Plork."

• Poor Amanda Seyfried, though. Her character is so incredibly underdrawn, like an exaggeration of the cliched girlfriend role. She only exists to covet a gas station job and be in love with the sad sack hero. It is impossible to think of any version of Amanda Seyfried would be this person.

• Maybe it is just that the film is remarkably unfunny but I would have loved to see this made darker, like The King of Comedy for an infomercial audience member. There is no reason to root for Eddie as his life is falling apart, so it would have been more fun to root against him. The quirky indie sweetness is suffocating.

File Under 2018 #18: Red Sparrow

The spy movie genre is so established at this point that we rarely see one that feels new. Though they exist, we don't see many spy movies that really take their events seriously -- historically they fall in the slightly silly Bond genre, over-the-top action of Mission: Impossible, or the newer ultra-violent, video game-esque John Wick style. These films tend to be outright comic or melodramatic, rarely taking the stakes or consequences seriously. There are exceptions, of course, like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and arguably the Jason Bourne films -- the high concept of those films take it out of reality even with the more realistic aesthetics.

Red Sparrow is almost hyper real, with a big emotional punch set against its use of violence, both physical and sexual. Unlike most spy movies, this isn't an action movie. It steadily moves, even has some structural archetypes of your typical action film [a training sequence, for example] but there are no big action setpiece scenes.

Instead, this is a full board character study of how a spy is built. In this particular story, this is all about sexuality. This makes for an intriguing R-rated blockbuster premise and you might react to the marketing of the film looking for a sexy spy romp. Red Sparrow, in fact, is the horrific nightmare version of a female sex empowerment film.

It is tough to call it the highlight but the long training sequence that comes in the film's first act is the standout scene. We learn that the Sparrow program trains its prospective spies [both male and female] not through marksmanship but weaponized sexuality. The training process is basically sexual torture, grooming the recruits to be psychologically empty and able to seduce anyone without reservation or self-awareness. They are all broken down, humiliated and it is difficult to watch. The film that came to my mind during this sequence wasn't another spy film or a military training film but the notorious Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom.

In a different context, this film would be about the female agent using her sexuality as a weapon in a positive sense, kicking ass and saving the world as a counter-balance to the James Bond template. This character is scarred and resentful of those who put her through this program. No matter how much of a badass she ultimately becomes, she's been completely stripped of her self and her body. The difference is that she doesn't have control of her body, it fully belongs to the state and even those it is used against.

Red Sparrow isn't fun.

What it's about: Dominika Egorova [Jennifer Lawrence] is a Russian ballerina who suffers a devastating injury that ends her career. With no one else to turn to, she is recruited by her connected uncle [Matthias Schoenaerts] to join an elite spy program called "The Sparrows." After completing the grueling training, she is sent to Budapest to seduce C.I.A. agent Nate Nash [Joel Edgerton] in order to find the Russian mole who is working with him. The work gets complicated when mistakes are made, emotions get in the way, and personal vendettas come to pass.

Unorganized thoughts:

• This is a big star role for a big Hollywood star, though it is far from Jennifer Lawrence's best performance -- and that hurts the quality of the film. She comes off pretty flat and emotionally impenetrable, which is certainly part of the character but it is hard to have a character study without being able to properly study the character. At this point in her career, she's simply better when she doesn't have to hit one tone throughout an entire movie.

• As for the accent, it isn't great but you'll get used to it. And it is far from the only whiff of an accent in the movie, which is filled with a cast of Western Europeans playing Ruskie.

• As for its director, it is at least nice to see Francis Lawrence back to an ambitious genre film -- his Hunger Games films were fine, but that fully ran its course. I think was positioned as Lawrence's big Oscar run film, which obviously isn't going to happen [I can see how that was the plan with the raw elements of the film]. Honestly, this is probably the best film Lawrence has made, though I'll admit I've never been much of a fan of his work.

• The romantic angle between Dominika and Nash feels like a way to make this more like a regular genre film, which is a bit disappointing. It never really makes sense for the characters and only confused the film's mystery.

• The film does the thing where it is clearly set in present day but doesn't use any cultural markers and limits modern technology as much as possible. With few changes, this could firmly be set as a Cold War thriller. There is even an important use of floppy disks to transfer information. This is a film trope that usually gets my eyes rolling. In a film that otherwise tends to shoot for realism, the aesthetic just makes it confusing.

• Red Sparrow probably should be better. I'm not exactly sure why it isn't. The elements are there: it has a unique approach to a well-worn genre, the production is beautiful, it has a big star who is also a reliably good actor, it even has some real-world political intrigue. But it just doesn't come together. Jennifer Lawrence being a small void at the middle is definitely one reason. Being decidedly un-entertaining doesn't help; this is a tough film to recommend and I can't see anyone enjoying it.

File Under 2018: #17: Blame

With the heightened spotlight on the work of female filmmakers across Hollywood especially over the past year, I was excited to see the directorial debut of 23-year old actress Quinn Shephard. I'm not overly familiar with her work, only recognizing her as one of the title unaccompanied minors in Paul Feig's 2006 film -- I'm unfamiliar with her television work, which has made up the bulk of her career.

I could look at her in a similar way to a baseball prospect: young and inexperienced but with incredible promise. Any filmmaker this young who is able to get a film financed, cast with known actors, and theatrically released is worth paying attention to -- even if the feature debut pitfalls are there, as they likely are, it is fun to get on the ground floor of a potential future filmmaker worth following.

With Blame, Shephard really goes for it. She takes on challenging subject matter and tries to approach it with maturity you wouldn't expect from a young auteur. It reaches for the emotional complexity and character of a modern version of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, which the film directly name-checks. Bringing these aspirations to a sultry high school drama is very ambitious, so even if Blame can't quite meet its own expectations, it is intriguing.

Blame definitely has the markers of the advanced, emotionally complicated young person behind the camera, for better or worse. It is incredibly moody and expressive. It looks at art with complete reverence, taking classic drama to elevate their every-day normally dramatic life. It is a bit shallow, too, and perhaps less mature than it is willing to let on. Still, this is a promising debut for Quinn Shepard and portends to features that can mesh her obvious eye for style with a stronger narrative.

What it's about: Abigail Grey [played by director Shephard] is a high school student with a troubled past who returns to classes after an unspecified incident. She sparks the interest of substitute drama teacher [Chris Messina] who casts her in the role of Abigail in a showcase performance of The Crucible. As their relationship becomes inappropriate, popular girl Melissa [Nadia Alexander] takes notice. The troubling implications that come directly from the affair are only heightened by Melissa's jealous, and potentially dangerous, reaction.

Unorganized thoughts:

• The film's tone is its biggest issue. It never really seemed to know just how dark it should go, introducing peak 80s sex thriller elements and then pulling back. Student-teacher affairs are a pretty loaded topic these days and Blame never crackles as much as it should. It can be uncomfortable when it wants to be [though the most uncomfortable scene in the film involves consensual sex between two teenagers] but I'm not sure if Shephard quite had the confidence or approval to make this a full-fledged, uncompromising thriller.

• On the other hand, acting is the film's biggest strength. The performances of Quinn Shephard and Nadia Alexander really anchor the film with both anger and sexuality. Like the best high school performances, they read both complex and immature, they can be cunning at times and appropriately vulnerable at others.

• Despite a really good performance by Shepard, Abigail is a difficult character to grasp. She is dark and mysterious but I'm not sure exactly why -- the way it deals with her possible mental illness is poorly defined. She almost comes off like a pixie dream girl a tinge deranged. Worse, I'm not exactly sure how you are supposed to relate to her. Is she a victim or a villain? It is fine to play in those shades of grey but it does it too opaquely.

• Similarly, her relationship with Mr. Woods doesn't really develop as much as it just happens. She is vulnerable and talented but there is no emotional narrative for him to so easily jump into the taboo situation. Chris Messina, as the film's most notable casting, is fine in the role but the character doesn't have any sense of motivation.

• As the film goes on, it becomes much more of an ensemble film than I realized. Melissa becomes a third lead with the film actually giving her character more of an emotional backstory -- one that ends on a bit of a twist that is on one hand more satisfying to where Abigail ends, but also a pretty easy and out-of-the-blue plot device. Two other characters, friends of Melissa, are given their own plot lines separate from the central affair. The time spent on this particular subplot gives the film a bit more depth but takes away from developing the more important characters.

• One small sign that Shephard still needs to shed her precociousness: Abigail's classmates bully her by calling her "Sybil" as if any 17-year-old in this story would know that reference.

File Under 2018 #16: Game Night

Believe it or not, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein's Game Night has a pretty difficult rope to walk. If you've seen the film's trailer, you know that it follows a pretty high concept, not unlike most comedies made today. There is plenty of opportunity for a talented ensemble cast to endless riff cool improvised jokes but the success or failure of Game Night might come from the one-line structure holding for feature length.

To that end, the film best succeeds when you don't know what is "real" and what is part of the central game. To its benefit, Game Night never totally lets on, though any actual thought of the consequences gives you a pretty good idea -- it is probably best to just roll with the film without thinking too much [the film doesn't really faces the consequences of its violence, anyway]. Ultimately, there are enough twists and turns through the action to keep you guessing and Game Night smartly conceals and tricks as much as it can.

Being a crazy ride is really enough to make Game Night a ridiculously fun movie, one that could have been trusted to hold its own in the summer season. The cast is supremely good, a mix of likable leading actors Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams [the real star of the movie], and Kyle Chandler, with fresher faces loved by those "in the know" Sharon Horgan, Billy Magnussen, Lamorne Morris, and a brief appearance by Chelsea Peretti. And then there is Jesse Plemons doing something completely out there [and it's working]. The film does well to establish that these are just fun, funny people that you want to hang out with. The insane level of their hijincks only helps.

Writer-directors Daley and Goldstein come off of their Vacation remake, which I didn't see but by all accounts isn't too good. This is definitely a step in the right direction. The script isn't perfect but as sharp as it needs to be. They certainly have a good sense of big comedic moments that work on the page and with the right talent in front of the camera. As a fan of Freaks and Geeks, I'm especially excited for John Francis Daley's directorial breakout and hope it leads to more on the level of Game Night.

What it's about: Max and Annie are a married couple whose relationship is literally built on being the most competitive game players. They've long hosted game nights where their friends come by and enjoy a night of charades, Pictionary, Scrabble, and each others' company. When Max's more successful [and more attractive, more charming, more likable, etc] brother Brooks unexpectedly comes back to town, he takes control of Max's game night pastime. In typical Brooks fashion, he raises the stakes on game night, hiring a murder mystery company for the ultimate experience. But when things seem a bit too real, Max, Annie and friends are put in the line of fire to help save Brooks from unexpected danger.

Unorganized thoughts:

• The low point of Daley and Goldstein's script is a whole lot of relationship filler that fill the cracks between action points -- recurring conversations on sibling rivalry, infertility, past infidelity, commitment issues, etc. It is mostly harmless and I get why its there, but it tends to really slow the film's propulsion.

• I suppose part of this is to help relate to the characters and add dramatic stakes. The fun chase elements are enough, though, especially because I found myself caring for the characters simply because they are funny.

• Another element that helps the film escape some of its narrative cliches are by openly commenting on them. It isn't as in your face about breaking the fourth wall as some modern comedies are, but it uses the cynical voices of its characters well -- they are know-it-alls, so they are exactly the kind of people that would point out the cliches in their lives. And it helps to have the likes of Jason Bateman's comic persona to do the commenting.

• On a smaller note, there is a beautiful use of a celebrity lookalike which is funny enough to pay off one of the plot's less-than-stellar running gags.

• There are a few other cameos that are pretty fun, too, including an actor well known for being a bit too overly theatrical in a role that wonderfully allows him to be a bit too overly theatrical. The film presses hard for an eventual reveal of the mysterious big villain, but it turns out to be an actor I always like seeing, so I was OK with it.

• One subtle but effective element of the film is how it builds its suburban neighborhood establishing shots with miniatures. This works thematically by looking like a game board and their not-quite-realness adds the mood for a slick, modern thriller.

File Under 2018 #15: They Remain

I’m usually a fan of films with a small, contained cast. This especially tends to work in thrillers and horror films. With fewer characters, they can become more reliably relatable because it is less likely they will be killed off unexpectedly. The focus allows for a better examination of characters and their relationships, usually with an emphasis on tension or complete discord. The inevitable theme of isolation is key to building this tension. And if another character shows up out of the blue, you know something is about to go down.

Based on a short story by Laird Barron, Philip Gelatt’s They Remain is an intriguing two-hander starring William Jackson Harper [The Good Place, Paterson] and Rebecca Henderson [Mistress America, Appropriate Behavior]. It makes sense that They Remain is adapted from a short story, because it has that feeling of a focused idea stretched out to feature length.

That might sound like a criticism but it is more like a half-criticism. At times, They Remain moves a bit too slowly. It might lull you into checking your phone or spacing out in thought before bringing you back in with something unusual. It would likely feel like a fuller experience as a 30-minute short film, though it does do a good job at using its length to consistently build tension. It also makes good use of its strange location, turning a picturesque rural setting unsettling.

Because of this, They Remain has a ceiling. It really is only for genre fans will a bit more patience than the average viewer. Even while it works well for what it is, it probably won’t blow anyone away. That said, They Remain is a good version of what it is -- a small, slow, windy thriller. The film’s two performances are able to carry, while a few moments of shock cut through the ever-present tension.

What it’s about: Keith and Jessica are scientists investigating the site of a former cult compound. They monitor the grounds, chat about the horrific things that happened on the land, study animal behavior, and pass the days away. The isolation begins to take a toll on their psyches and relationship. Their dreams become more vivid and more frightening. The animals in the woods display unusual behavior. Unexplainable things show up on the cameras recording around the grounds. Eventually, the discovery of an artifact mystically leads to a total breakdown of reality.

Unorganized thoughts:

• One of the selling points for me was William Jackson Harper. As a huge fan of The Good Place, I was interested in seeing what Harper could bring to a drama/thriller. It is a bit odd at first, but he actually doesn’t need to stray too far from his usual serious straight-man to fit the tone.

• The slow burn drama is occasionally intercut with dream-like, quickly edited visions. They are genuinely spooky and probably when the film is at its best.

• The most effective of these scenes is the one that stands out as unique among them -- a look-in at the cult that inhabited the grounds. It is the most graphic and the least cryptic insert. But without any context or dialogue, it still has an off-kilter effect.

• With this kind of film you are right to expect an insane ending -- otherwise, was all this build really worth it? Aside from a bit of gruesomeness, They Remain goes for something a little more open-ended, which might be unfulfilling for some. I found the film’s final image incredibly creepy, however, even though it wasn’t completely narratively satisfying.

• Director Philip Gelatt has had a brief, albeit interesting, career [most interesting: writing credit on video game Rise of the Tomb Raider]. They Remain might not be big enough to be considered a “break out” but it has all the feeling of a film people will discover once he eventually gets that break out.