So bad, it's good?

I was expecting Cocaine Bear (Elizabeth Banks) to be bad, real bad, based on a review by a Toronto critic. And we all know how snobby those Toronto critics can be. In fact, the review was so critical it made me want to see it. You know, so bad it’s good! But having seen it I can’t say it’s that bad. It won’t win any Golden Globe awards, that’s for sure, and you won’t see it at your local art house cinema, not even at a midnight So Bad It’s Good screening. The production values are good. The fast-paced soundtrack takes you back to the 1980s beat, when the movie is set. 1985 to be exact. And it’s kind of based on a true story. About cocaine smugglers whose escapade the “Bluegrass Conspiracy” goes bad. Kingpin Anthony Thornton (Matthew Rhys) bumps his head on the aircraft door as he’s about to parachute out with 30 kilos of cocaine falling to his death. But the cocaine falls separately in a remote northern Georgia forest. Where there are bears. Big black ones. One of these discovers the coke and decides to feast on it. Bad things happen. The film stars Keri Russell and the late Ray Liotta, who died after the film was made (it’s dedicated to him). The movie is billed as a horror and comedy, so take your pick - it's really not all that scary and the horror scenes add to the comedy IMO. The special effects bear is done very well. The cast is essentially a bunch of doofuses with the only heroes mom Sari (Russell), daughter Dee Dee (Brooklyn Prince) and her best friend Henry (Christian Convery). The drug smugglers, cops and park rangers are all bumbling idiots but fun bumbling idiots. Ranger Liz (Margo Martindale) squirts on “European” perfume for a big date in the forest. Her date insists on calling animals “biological friends.” One of the bad guys, told what a gazebo is, says indignantly “I know.” His buddy says, “I don’t.” The movie ends with the bear gobbling more cocaine to Depeche Mode's Just Can’t Get Enough. So, the movie is neither really good nor bad but lighthearted Smokey the Bear stuff. It will probably be popular with park rangers everywhere.

Flying through Toronto last week and having more than seven hours to kill between flights – and being close to downtown at Toronto Island airport – I thought I’d go see a movie. The only Oscar-nominated one (it tops nominations with 11 and which could indeed win best pic) that I wanted to see was Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert). Yet, even in Toronto, Canada’s so-called film capital with several art house cinemas – and only a couple of weeks before the Oscars – it wasn’t showing. Some world class city!

Movie theatres are now doing what the airlines have long done - charging for better seats. AMC is testing “sightline” seats - better seats for increased prices. And yes, cheaper ones too, but for the neck-craning seats in the front row.  Also, it's charging more on opening weekends for blockbusters. That’s in the US. But everything that happens there ends up here. 

Film clips - Can only the Irish laugh at themselves?

Finally got to the elegant Cine Albéniz (photo) in historic Málaga Spain last night to see Living, the new Brit film starring Bill Nighy. Nighy is great and a departure from some of his more offbeat and comedic roles, given how serious and steadfast the character is. But surprised the film, directed by Oliver Harmanus, hewed so closely to Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 original. Somehow that film worked. But this rendition seems claustrophobic and could have used a few variations to open it up.

I subscribe to Manhattan Short, an in-theatre and online worldwide competition of short films, and one of the six on view this motnh was from Ireland, An Irish Goodbye (Tom Berkeley and Ross White), which just won a BAFTA. It likely will win here as well. I voted for it even though my heart was in one or two others – the production values couldn’t be denied. And, like the currently well-reviewed The Banhees of Inisherin (Martin McDonough), up for nine Oscars, it’s further confirmation that the Irish must be the only ethnic group not afraid to make fun of themselves and double down on age old negative (if charming) stereotypes. You know, idiots who can barely get a sentence out and whose imaginations are warped by ridiculous superstitions. Brendan O’Neill in the Daily Mail took McDonough’s movie to task for its “two-hour sneer at Auld Ireland and its mad inhabitants” where the Irish are “drunks, imbeciles, gossips and scolds.” Yet it’s still acclaimed, Hollywood’s PC credentials be damned. “The Irish remain fair game in the world of the woke,” O'Neill wrote. The same holds for An Irish Goodbye, also up for an Oscar, a kind of Banshees in miniature, about two brothers mourning – or moaning – the death of their mum. Hilarious, yes, but more of a certain pandering Paddy.

It was a stretch for some TV commentators to say that last year’s White Noise (Noah Baumbach starring Greta Gerwig and Adam Driver), based on the Don DeLillo book, was shot in exactly the same place as where the tragic and possibly toxic, train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, has occurred. But the film, about exactly such a derailment and residents’ fear and flight, is indeed uncanny. Okay, it wasn’t filmed exactly in East Palestine, but about an hour away in Akron.

Here in Spain, I can get a handful of English-language TV channels, including Britain’s top five. I tuned in the other night to the famed The Graham Norton Show on BBC 1 because he had a star-studded line-up and I wanted to see what a Brit iconic TV show was like. Guests were Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Eugene Levy, Hugh Jackman. Michael B. Jordan and Judi Dench. One thing about talk shows is they reveal people, famed or not, as to who they really are. I was fascinated by Dench. Despite her legendary status, she seemed shy and uncomfortable, a wallflower at the party.

Tár lives up to its billing, The Whale so-so

In Todd Field’s film Tár we have one of the greatest actresses of our time, Cate Blanchett, as world-renowned conductor Lydia Tár, an American who has acceded to astral heights as head of the Berlin Philharmonic, her dream job in her dream city, not to mention her wife, Sharon’s (Nina Hoss) - the orchestra’s first violinist - home town. Everything is so perfect. The film opens with Tár being interviewed on stage by the real life New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik. Tár seemingly has accomplished it all, including a rare winner of all four major entertainment awards. The film is a psychological drama which, and I will say no more, addresses themes of fame, sexuality, interpersonal relationships, the elite arts world, and modern day "Me Too” and cancel culture. It may be unexpected in a politically correct Hollywood as the plot turns expected concepts on their heads. It’s reminiscent of a novel like Philip Roth’s The Human Stain. The character Tár, in other words, could not be more sophisticated, intelligent, virtuous, astute and aware. Blanchett is of course top of her game. But we also have great performances in the German actor Hoss, Sophie Kauer as Olga Metkina, whom Tár musically grooms, and Julian Glover as Andris Davis, the philharmonic’s former maestro. Its length of more than two and a half hours feels right (it could have lasted longer IMO) and fully engaging as we’re thrown into Tár’s views on music and the dynamics of her personal and professional worlds. It’s really a tour de force (named top film of 2022 by America's top three critics groups) and one of the best pictures I’ve seen in awhile…..Interestingly, the screening I attended was in the Red Dog Cinemas (photo) in Puerto Banús, Marbella, Spain. And I was one of only eight people (I counted) in the massive theatre. And less we think North Americans are stereotypical louts when it comes to cinema etiquette, I had a couple across the aisle talking incessantly throughout the film. I finally turned and told them to shut up (“you’re not in your living room”) which they mostly did and apologized later.

Last night I returned to the same cinema (this time I was the lone audience member) to see The Whale, Darren Aronofsky’s take on Samuel D. Hunter’s (who also wrote the screenplay) play. Much has been made of principal character Charlie, played by Brendan Fraser, because of his uncontrollable eating habits and gross obesity.  If you’re looking for a “film” – by which I mean a bit of action and varying scenes and drama – this isn’t it. This is a stage play through and through, and in fact could easily be staged by a local thespian group. As for content, The Whale is sometimes hard to watch because of Charlie’s physical incapacity and self-induced nausea. But there’s a flicker of life within that enormous body and that is what the play – sorry, film – is about. The movie, nominated for three Oscars, is dark (figuratively and literally), claustrophobic (because of its setting) and character-driven, which may be just enough for some of the audience.

Honey, at least the Tom Cruise movie made it

Here we go again. Another slate of Oscar nominations and the general public are left scratching their heads wondering what the heck are these movies and who the hell has seen them? Even I, deeply into film and of the independent variety that make up most of the tiles, haven’t seen most of them. For Best Picture I’ve seen The Banshees of Inisherin (fun, dark Irish humor but overrated), Triangle of Sadness (something of a con job) and The Fabelmans (self-indulgent and somewhat overrated). I would like to see many more but living in Windsor, well... I’m dying (actually, a bad pun) to see Bill Nighy (Best Actor) in Living though I recently caught the Japanese 1952 original Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa) which was sad and sentimental; will Living, uh, live up to it? Ditto for one my favourite contemporary actresses – scratch, she IS my favourite – Cate Blanchett (Best Actress) (pictured) in Tar. I’ve never been an Elvis fan so any piece of art even remotely related to Mister tacky Shades and Sideburns (oh oh, I’m creating enemies) won’t find me a fan, despite the artistic merit. I still don’t understand why Aftersun (Paul Mescal, Best Actor) which I’ve seen, attracts the plaudits it does. It’s a very competently made first feature by Charlotte Wells, sweet and sentimental but, sorry, not a lot more. I am still looking forward to seeing The Whale (Brendan Fraser, Best Actor; Hong Chau, Best Supporting Actress) and it apparently is coming soon to my local theatre, the  Cine Albéniz, a wonderful art house in Málaga, Spain, near where I’m wintering. Much is being made of Michelle Williams (Best Actress) in The Fabelmans. She’s a wonderful actress but I saw nothing outstanding about the performance. I haven’t even seen Tar and I bet Blanchett has her beat by miles. I can’t believe Ruben Ostlund (Triangle of Sadness) is up for Best Director. Having made respected and probing films like Force Majeure (2014) and The Square (2017) he embarrassed himself with this.  I’m sure All Quiet on the Western Front (Best Picture) is deserving of great accolades. But having read the book in high school (one of the best books I’ve ever read) and being tired of war – all wars – I’m not inclined to see it. I don’t know where to even begin to see Everything Everywhere All at Once (various nominations). I’ve never heard of To Leslie (Andrea Riseborough, Best Actress) or Causeway (Brian Tyree Henry, Supporting Actor). But at least the masses were represented to some degree – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Angela Bassett, Supporting Actress), Avatar: The Way of Water (Best Picture) and Top Gun: Maverick (Best Picture). If it was a peoples’ choice award I know which would win – that starring Mister Scientology and wannabe fighter pilot himself, Tom Cruise. My choice for Best Picture? Tar, and I haven't even seen it. Ha.

The real Casablanca

I arrived in Casablanca the other day on a two-week odyssey of Morocco. Yes, I know it’s the touristy thing to do. But I succumbed (wouldn’t you?). And besides, I can say I’m doing it for research for my film blog. That is, that I checked out the current day facsimile to Rick's Café Américain in the 1942 movie directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. I'm speaking of Casablanca, of course, in my book one of the top three movies of all time. The current facsimilie is called Rick’s Café and it's run by a former American diplomat. Trouble was it was closed (open for lunch, dinner and Sunday night jazz). But there’s a dress code – “business casual” – and

clothing including more casual attire not allowed. So I have to console myself with just seeing the outside of the place. It’s very well kept, as per photo below, and does indeed resemble the real thing in the film, even if the movie was filed on a Hollywood backlot. As the Lonely Planet travel guide states, the film “wonderfully evoked” the city……Walking around Casablanca (pop. 3.3 million) there is evidence of the city’s once glory days of cinemas. Near the medina where I’m staying, in the heart of

downtown, is the Cinema Rif, a 1950s era one-screen classic. Fandango listed M3GAN (Gerard Johnstone) screening there. But when I walked in and asked I was told there are no ‘Anglais’ films, including this creepy one, showing. The lobby has a wonderful installation of vintage projectors. But these vintage cinemas – I came across one other, Cinema Rialto, and what appeared to be signs only for a few other cinemas - Cinema Ritz, Cinema Empire and Cinema ABC. According to Lonely Planet the country's “cinephiles have begun to fear for Morocco’s movie palaces.” Thirty

years ago there were 250 cinemas, in 2010, 30. Only five per cent of the population goes to theatres. Cinema Rif reopened in 2006 screening independent films and documentaries. Regardless, Casablanca and Morocco have long served as settings for a myriad films, from David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962) to Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Sheltering Sky (1990) to Mideast war stand-ins such as Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down (2001) and Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper (2015). But, with apologies to Bogart’s line to Bergman in the ultimate classic, “we’ll always have Casablanca.”

Christmas film clips

Films you wouldn’t think had a Christmas theme at least indirectly. So we have Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe (1941) with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. A concocted newspaper story builds a fake hero in the name of John Doe (Cooper) who threatens to kill himself on Christmas Eve. Capra is at his everyman best, as strong a story as his Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and the Christmas favorite It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). Then there is Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner (1940), starring the other everyman, James Stewart, where our story culminates at Christmas in a classic romantic misunderstanding. Romance also springs eternal at Christmas time in Billy Wilder’s 1960 The Apartment with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, in this Madison Avenue style comedy-drama about commuting husbands and their metropolitan mistresses. Which leads me to Metropolitan (1990), where the modernist preppie director Whit Stillman finds his haute-bourgeoisie 20-somethings gathered in gowns and tuxes on Manhattan’s Upper East Side to talk as much philosophy as back-stabbing gossip, Christmas jingling in the background.

Have to say that I’m disappointed to find that A Charlie Brown Christmas (Bill Melendez, 1965) will no longer be shown on regular television but migrates next year to Apple TV + - but of course.

Meanwhile Love Actually (Richard Curtis 2003) continues to roll as a modern Christmas classic. I loved it when it first came out but watching it a second time a few years ago felt it had degraded all around – in storylines, characters and humor. Unfortunately, not timeless the way I thought it might be.

Windsorites surely are blessed by the Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF). Reading The New York Times Weekend Arts section last Friday, the front-page film review was on Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, which won this year’s WIFF People’s Choice Award. And further into the section was a review of Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, also screened at the festival. These films, folks, are opening only now in New York, but we can brag we saw them two months ago.

Speaking of Love Actually it of course starred well-loved British actor Bill Nighy, who now is in Oliver Hermanus’s Living (photo). I doubt this film will open in Windsor though likely Detroit. The film is based on famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 Ikiru, about a stern civil servant who ends up confronting his health and himself. That film I can watch on the Criterion Channel.

Two films, by women, about women

I have long been an admirer of the late Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman. Her stories of women can range from psychologically probing to exuberantly joyful but in all cases they capture women within particular frameworks. Often described as a feminist filmmaker the films seem to transcend that narrow stricture though undoubtedly could be ascribed to that genre. So I was blown away when Sight and Sound magazine announced Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) as the best movie of all time. Really!? I’d never heard of the film. One of the wonderful things about the high tech world in which we live is often these kind of films are literally at out finger tips, rather than having to travel hours to some art house cinema to see them, even if they were available. Sure enough, Criterion Channel has that exact Sight and Sound list. So I spent three hours watching the flick. It didn’t disappoint. Dielmann stars the famed French actress Delphine Seyrig as an average housewife whose days consist of innumerable

repetitive tasks like cooking dinner, sewing, shining her son’s shoes, shopping for the evening meal and keeping an exquisitely tidy household, manically making sure the lights are turned off each time she leaves a room. But this respectable middle-class woman also has a side gig: she’s an at home afternoon prostitute. All this film does is record, day after day, her quotidian activities. The camera is often still and there are long shots of her doing such humdrum tasks as breading veal cutlets or setting the table. Yet it’s entirely absorbing, thanks in part to the incredible Seyrig. The film of course isn’t only about this. But if you think I’m going to tell you more! In an interview Akerman has said the picture recounts the daily role of tens of millions of women who live for domesticity and doting on their children or spouses. Yet they’re wholly otherwise empty vessels whether they realize it or not …. The second film is Barbara Loden’s Wanda (1970). This picture also was entirely unfamiliar to me but on Sight and Sound’s list. Loden was an interesting filmmaker and Broadway actress, who at one time was married to famed director Elia Kazan, and known as the “female counterpart to John Cassavetes.” Wanda is a knockout (and won Best Foreign Film at the Venice Film Festival). Loden stars in the main role in this small budget picture made almost entirely with non-professional actors. As Wanda, she’s a character with no psychological or moral centre, drifting from place to place – and man to man – as the proverbial winds take her. Loden has described the flick as partly autobiographical, someone raised in the rural South and “uneducated.” The film itself has a Cassavetes, French New Wave or Cinéma verité feel to it, objectively capturing a certain time, place and mood. And, like in Dielmann, the main character acts in part in reflection to men…..One other note: Despite Jeanne Dielmann’s attributes, methinks Sight and Sound elevated this to the number one position due to a little political correctness, as is our woke age. It’s a great flick but, with tens of thousands of other movies over the decades to compare with, it’s highly arguable this would make the top of the heap.