52 By Women 2020 #74: Merrily We Go to Hell
This took me the opposite of "Dance Girl Dance", which took a while to get moving but by the end had me hooked. This film I was intrigued in the first few minutes, but the story, the twists and turns, didn't really excite me at all. But like the other Dorothy Arzner film, this one is chalk-full of feminist stuff to ruminate on afterwards, especially the lead actress and her relationship with her husband and her father. Her father offers stability but wants complete control over her decisions. Her husband offers love, but wants her to save him from every mistake he wants to make. She tries to be all and either-or, or none of these things, and fails as it all. In the end we wish she didn't have to be part of this patriarchal system to begin with. But, as I kinda said before, it has interesting things to say but it's nonetheless kind of uninteresting as a story.
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Gold Diggers of 1933
Fabulous! This film changes its focus three or four times, and it was a joy to follow each move. It's a Busby Berkley high-status musical that doesn't pretend that it's not deep in the Great Depression. It can be silly, ogling, campy and a bit feminist (the women have all the fun parts here). It's not until deep into the story where it turns into a mistaken-identity screwball comedy. And then, with seven minutes left and the story concluded, it changes focus one more time, in a tour-de-force musical number full of emotion, creativity, and activism.
Fabulous! This film changes its focus three or four times, and it was a joy to follow each move. It's a Busby Berkley high-status musical that doesn't pretend that it's not deep in the Great Depression. It can be silly, ogling, campy and a bit feminist (the women have all the fun parts here). It's not until deep into the story where it turns into a mistaken-identity screwball comedy. And then, with seven minutes left and the story concluded, it changes focus one more time, in a tour-de-force musical number full of emotion, creativity, and activism.
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52 By Women 2020 #75: Daises
Ever watch a film when you while you are laying down and you doze off briefly, maybe multiple times, and you're unsure if you've been asleep for a half second or for like 20 minutes? Well that was me watching this film. So I can't give it a thumbs up or thumbs down, other than to say that I liked what I saw of this Czechoslovakian feminist experimental film. Again, with the qualifier of being half asleep, it's listed a comedy and I did not laugh. I was feeling joy and excitement at times, especially with some inventive and psychedelic shots (esp for being so early into the psychedelic era (1966)), but no hahahas. More zzz zzzs. Maybe next time.
Check out the trailer which has my favorite shot in the film right at the top
Ever watch a film when you while you are laying down and you doze off briefly, maybe multiple times, and you're unsure if you've been asleep for a half second or for like 20 minutes? Well that was me watching this film. So I can't give it a thumbs up or thumbs down, other than to say that I liked what I saw of this Czechoslovakian feminist experimental film. Again, with the qualifier of being half asleep, it's listed a comedy and I did not laugh. I was feeling joy and excitement at times, especially with some inventive and psychedelic shots (esp for being so early into the psychedelic era (1966)), but no hahahas. More zzz zzzs. Maybe next time.
Check out the trailer which has my favorite shot in the film right at the top
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Scott Pilgrim vs The World
A film targeted to the me demographic. Example: I don't think I'd ever hear a The Bluetones song in a 70 million dollar budget film, and I don't think we'll ever get to again. Also we may never get Brie Lawson kicking butt in a tiny role ever again, unless you count her technically and literally kicking butt in tiny role in stuff like Endgame. Edgar Wright has a great knack for comedy and action and he does little wrong here (except some of the storyline feels a little out-of-date already).
A film targeted to the me demographic. Example: I don't think I'd ever hear a The Bluetones song in a 70 million dollar budget film, and I don't think we'll ever get to again. Also we may never get Brie Lawson kicking butt in a tiny role ever again, unless you count her technically and literally kicking butt in tiny role in stuff like Endgame. Edgar Wright has a great knack for comedy and action and he does little wrong here (except some of the storyline feels a little out-of-date already).
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52 By Women 2020 #76: The One and Only Ivan
Before I get into the film, want to give some props to the [sometimes-evil] empire Disney for their current and future spate of films directed by women. Though most of past and future stories are female-led, it's a very good sign that they also include women behind the scenes in a male-gorilla-led film like this).
Before I get into the film want to talk about the book, a 300-page kids book my daughter and I read and enjoyed last week. What I liked best about the book was that it was written in the first person, from the gorilla's point of view, as a diary. And what the book does best is live in this framing: what would a gorilla's diary be like, what would they say, what would they focus on? Ivan's view of everything around him, his domain, his animal friends, and his views on humans, are smart and funny and moving. I doubt without this grounding the book would be so popular. Otherwise it's a pretty standard story.
The film got rid of a lot of the inner-life character study diary stuff, and we're left with a pretty standard story. The film still has a bit of heart, a bit of comedy, and is well made and directed. The book isn't perfect, either. But...
Read the book. The book is better.
PS: the screenplay is by one of my favs, Mike White, and one thing he loves to do is find a part for himself to play in the story. The film added an additional character, a guy who is repeatedly told to capture a dog, and my immediate thought was "huh! Weird that there's a new character and it's not played by Mike White." Still think he may have intended this to be his role, but nonetheless and fear not, Mike White does make a memorable 3-second appearance.
Before I get into the film, want to give some props to the [sometimes-evil] empire Disney for their current and future spate of films directed by women. Though most of past and future stories are female-led, it's a very good sign that they also include women behind the scenes in a male-gorilla-led film like this).
Before I get into the film want to talk about the book, a 300-page kids book my daughter and I read and enjoyed last week. What I liked best about the book was that it was written in the first person, from the gorilla's point of view, as a diary. And what the book does best is live in this framing: what would a gorilla's diary be like, what would they say, what would they focus on? Ivan's view of everything around him, his domain, his animal friends, and his views on humans, are smart and funny and moving. I doubt without this grounding the book would be so popular. Otherwise it's a pretty standard story.
The film got rid of a lot of the inner-life character study diary stuff, and we're left with a pretty standard story. The film still has a bit of heart, a bit of comedy, and is well made and directed. The book isn't perfect, either. But...
Read the book. The book is better.
PS: the screenplay is by one of my favs, Mike White, and one thing he loves to do is find a part for himself to play in the story. The film added an additional character, a guy who is repeatedly told to capture a dog, and my immediate thought was "huh! Weird that there's a new character and it's not played by Mike White." Still think he may have intended this to be his role, but nonetheless and fear not, Mike White does make a memorable 3-second appearance.
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The Grand Budapest Hotel
Critics went to see this, expecting just another Wes Anderson film, only to come out saying "hey, it's the best just another Wes Anderson film ever!" Now, years later, I finally sit down and watch, kinda expecting the best Wes Anderson film ever, and it might just be. Might be the most exciting of his films, the most well-constructed for a man obsessed with construction. Did I get that happy joy of cinema feeling that I got from my favorites from this year? Just a few times. Did I laugh? Just a few times. Did I feel the pathos? Just a few times. Did I love the set design? Of course!
Critics went to see this, expecting just another Wes Anderson film, only to come out saying "hey, it's the best just another Wes Anderson film ever!" Now, years later, I finally sit down and watch, kinda expecting the best Wes Anderson film ever, and it might just be. Might be the most exciting of his films, the most well-constructed for a man obsessed with construction. Did I get that happy joy of cinema feeling that I got from my favorites from this year? Just a few times. Did I laugh? Just a few times. Did I feel the pathos? Just a few times. Did I love the set design? Of course!
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Grand Budapest Hotel is easily my favorite Wes Anderson film, and is also on my list (of indeterminate length) of favorite all-time films. I keep meaning to rewatch it.
All I know is my food tastes better when I take my food-tastes-better pill.
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Phoebe
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How have I missed this? Did I miss this? I need to watch it. Honestly do not have 90 minutes to string together to watch a movie lately. But if I can find it maybe I can cut it in half and get it done. After I watch about 12 others of Pete's movies.
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I hear ya, because it literally took me eight years to find a time to watch movies again.
Moonlight
An exceptional work. Lived up to the monumental hype. Beautiful and honest. Awesome. Moving. They play a tackle game near the beginning, that really gets at everything, especially as they do not name what the game is called (at least in my neighborhood), the strange contradictions of growing up: having fun and being beaten up, being homophobic but also tackling each other, and the view of everyone being against you and it's all just a game to them. Fear and joy. The pollution of toxic masculinity. A pollution we all breathe. I was sold from then on.
Also gotta love a great diner scene.
Moonlight
An exceptional work. Lived up to the monumental hype. Beautiful and honest. Awesome. Moving. They play a tackle game near the beginning, that really gets at everything, especially as they do not name what the game is called (at least in my neighborhood), the strange contradictions of growing up: having fun and being beaten up, being homophobic but also tackling each other, and the view of everyone being against you and it's all just a game to them. Fear and joy. The pollution of toxic masculinity. A pollution we all breathe. I was sold from then on.
Also gotta love a great diner scene.
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