Fri. 3rd April : Revolutionary Road (2008)
DVD.
Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet reunite in this spiritual sequel to Titanic, playing a suburban American couple in the 1950s negotiating the pitfalls of marriage. The two deliver mighty performances; a breakfast scene at the end is a masterclass in subtle facial expressions. It is directed by Sam Mendes, and it marks an interesting point in his career: from his debut in 1999 with American Beauty to this, all of his films are very American-centric. The American DiCaprio and the British Winslet feels like a passing of the baton, for Mendes next three films would all be ludicrously British (two Bonds and 1917). The film is largely held back because (despite Mendes' brilliance at turning suburban life into a nightmare) it does not have anything new to say that American Beauty already has. Still, Roger Deakins creates some memorable images and the Thomas Newman score is comforting (these two would also work with Mendes on Jarhead, Skyfall and 1917).
Sam Mendes ranking:
1. Skyfall 2. Road to Perdition 3. 1917 4. American Beauty 5. Revolutionary Road 6. Jarhead 7. Spectre
Also check out : American Beauty
Sat. 4th : Jackie Brown (1997)
DVD.
Ah, Quentin Tarantino. A teenage boy's ideal filmmaker. For some he is the zenith of modern filmmaking; a razor sharp writer with an eye for tension, violence and dividing audiences. He is a style over substance filmmaker who has since turned his hand to crafting period set revenge films for black Americans, Jews and Sharon Tate. Jackie Brown sticks out in QT's filmography as being the only adapted screenplay he has done. It stars Pam Grier, a popular star of 70s blaxploitation films, Samuel L Jackson, Robert De Niro and Michael Keaton. The plot sees Jackie Brown (Grier) as a middle woman between Keaton's FBI agent and Jackson's drug and arms dealer. The best way to describe how the film drags itself over a 150 minute run time is that in season 2 of Game of Thrones there is a scene where Tyrion tells a different lie to three of the King's advisers whilst formulating his own plan. The film is low on jokes and violence, heavy with tracking shots, racial language and a rather odd tone. I tried to watch this last year and got 31 minutes in before deciding I should watch it in a different frame of mind. My disinterest seems to be matched by Bobby De Niro who looks so out of it and disenfranchised that his performance barely scrapes 'phoning it in'. The soundtrack is notable however, with a Johnny Cash song being used, bringing us into....
Also check out : True Romance (1993)
Sun. 5th : Walk the Line (2005)
DVD.
Johnny Cash, the Man in Black, is a grandad's artist. A prolific country come rock singer with a troubled past, he naturally makes for ripe biopic material. Joaquin Phoenix is Cash, bringing that nervous energy to the role in a relatively conventional musical biopic performance. Phoenix and Cash both lost a beloved brother in their life, and Phoenix gets a chance to weaponise that emotion in the role rather effectively. But the real star is Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, a supportive, extremely likable friend. It is the best I have seen her. It is a good film, far stronger than Bohemian Rhapsody (a film's strength should not come from an audiences love of the pre-existing music) but I would have liked a few more of his songs and a bit more of the creation of some of his songs.
Also check out : Rocketman (2019)
Mon. 6th : Band of Brothers, Episodes 9-10
DVD.
The delay in finishing this series is down to the return of my mother to the house, booting me out of the living room and not being allowed to conclude this miniseries without my dad also present. Such an opportunity presented itself and we exploited it. The penultimate episode focuses on Easy Company making their way into Germany. The first half is occasionally funny and warming, laying on the feeling of contentedness and that the hardest part is out of the way. Indeed, the awkwardness of watching a raunchy sex scene with my father was swiftly avoided by my exclamation of "that's Tom Hardy!" This tone is instantly obliterated in the second half where the Company discover a concentration camp and the disheveled, physically and psychologically broken Jewish inhabitants. The episode is called 'Why We Fight' and it is a question on the lips of many weary soldiers, who find that their answer is not a welcome sight. Episode 9 is one of the finest hours of the television I have witnessed. It is sensitively composed and brilliantly executed to display the horrors of what is possibly one of the only justified wars in recent history. It is unflinching and profound, and came from nowhere.
The finale deals with the closure of the European front and whether the soldiers will be re-deployed in the Pacific to aid in the conquering of Japan. It feels slightly anti-climatic after the heavy action and Holocaust drama, but Easy Company and its characters need closure. Damien Lewis narrating the real life fates of his men as they play baseball is on the nose but it bloody works, and the gut punch comes at the end as we see the real life heroes talk to the camera. "Grandpa were you a hero?" "No, I fought with heroes."
Band of Brothers is one of the best shows created, ahead of its time (TV wise) with its gargantuan budget and gripping set pieces.
Also check out : Schindler's List (1993)
Tue. 7th : The Funeral (1996)
DVD.
Christopher Walken in a gangster film that doubles as a mediation on sin. Darkly shot, oppressively moody and so boring it makes my family dinner times seem rapturous. Move on.
Also check out : The Godfather (1972) - or any crime film for that matter. Chances are it will be better.
Wed. 8th : Double Indemnity (1944)
DVD.
Billy Wilder is an iconic director of the classical period with hits like Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Apartment (1960). But this might be his best. Double Indemnity is a neo-noir, namely a type of film that is focused on morally grey characters inhabiting the space between the black and white of the photography, which is usually lit by the mise en scene and not lighting rigs behind the camera. The story is this: a woman wants to kill her husband but wants to stage it in such a way as to get his money through the double indemnity clause. Slick, and probably the best film I saw this week.
Thu. 9th : Casualties of War (1989)
DVD.
During the Vietnam War there was an incident where a sergeant and his four men kidnapped a young Vietnamese woman to take with them on a long range patrol. The woman was repeatedly raped and abused in what the sergeant saw as a way of boosting his men's morale. One of the five morally objected and reported the incident to the higher authorities. This Brian De Palma war film is based on that story and is as hard to watch as the content suggests. Sean Penn is the sergeant; a scene-chewing, lust filled and morally bankrupt character so detestable that the film would not operate as well without him. His foil is Michael J Fox, the 'Nam newbie who has not been unhinged by the invisible enemy. Once adjusted to Marty McFly as a Vietnam soldier, the film gets going (109 minute run time makes it a breezy war film). The score is highly evocative of South East Asia and the camera work is dripping with confidence: one movement sees the earth consume the lens to reveal an intricate Vietcong tunnel directly below one of the characters. It may not reach the psychedelic fever dream of Apocalypse Now or the bluntness of Platoon, but this is a moderately good Vietnam War film.
Watched throughout the week:
Tiger King (2020)
Netflix.
If people were still going to work then this would be the main conversation topic. A mass-watched meme goldmine, Tiger King is a seven part documentary series revolving around Joe Exotic, a gun toting big cat owner with two husbands. 'Exotic' barely covers it, he is a tour de force personality that feels like he was written by six year old. He walks around with loaded guns, owns hundreds of killer animals and has tattoos of bullet holes adorning his chest. The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction almost always has to make sense, because the events of this show do not come close. When perhaps the sanest person involved is a worker who returns to her job ONE WEEK after getting her forearm ripped off by a tiger, you know you have struck filmmaking gold. Each episode focuses on a different part of this zoo saga, eventually culminating in the case about Joe hiring (or not hiring?) someone to kill his rival, supposed animal rights activist Carole Baskin. As entertaining as it is, it does seem a shame that more people are discussing the 'disappearance' of Carole's ex husband (she 100% covered him in sardine oil) than are discussing the main issue: that there are more tigers in America captivity then there are in the world. It may be the closing remark of the show but all of the events and hypocrisies shown are a direct result of owning tigers, lions and snow leopards. It is a crippling illustration of American consumerism and their disregard for animals (and also workers).
It is a classic Netflix show, released all at once for the world to 'binge' in a day or two, talk about online for a few more days, then slowly fizzle back out of the zeitgeist. Perhaps there would be more conversation about animal rights if the episodes were released weekly; allowing greater discourse and word of mouth to be promoted. Alas, if memes are the best society will get out of this eye opening series, then so be it.
Westworld Season 3, Episodes 1-4
Sky Atlantic.
Post Thrones, Westworld established itself as my premier television show. Series 1 revolves around a symbiotic relationship between a Wild West themepark world and the technologically advanced future set in the 2050s. It satisfied my appetite for Western action and tropes with meticulous science fiction, all the while exploring consciousness and humanity. Season 2 continued ably, bringing in a Japanese world of samurai and a host of new characters. This third season is made up of eight episodes instead of ten, increasing the budget per episode (and it is obvious).
It seemed shaky at first without the powerful presence of Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris (in a way that reminded me of Thrones when it lost Ned Stark and Tywin Lannister), but its footing has since been found. There is no WestWorld in sight, instead we are slap bang in the real world and all of its impressive advancements. Gone is the piano of previous seasons, for the synth as arrived. The vision of the future is clean and post-modern architecturally, fusing the world of Blade Runner with the science fiction of Alex Garland. The cast is expanded with Aaron Paul as a welcome addition whilst Thandie Newton and Evan Rachel Wood are still terrific as Maeve and Dolores.
Free will is the focus of this season, as well as motherhood, and there are the usual complex narratives, hidden meanings and ambiguous helpings of exposition. The fourth episode is among the show's best, no thanks to composer Ramin Djawadi knocking the roof off during a narrative convergence at an ostentatious party for the rich. This is the kind of television that gives me something to look forward to each week, and if it is the final season then it is shaping up for a grand ending.
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