“OUTER!”
“SPACE!”
“UH OHHHHHHH!”
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Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 1971
I used to think the songs too softened the bite in Dahl’s original story, but now I have a hunch they just make Wilder’s turn as Wonka that much more ferocious. Few movies are better at speaking to kids by way of unsparingly calling out the adults.
If this film is bleak, it’s because adults made it so. If it’s hopeful, it’s because a child made it so.
“So shines a good deed in a weary world.”
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Used Cars 1980
I had forgotten that Zemeckis & Gale were the screenwriters behind 1941 until after finishing this, or maybe I hadn’t, because one of my thoughts was how much this had that shaggy, chaotic vibe. It may also have reminded me at times of Blues Brothers (a movie I’ve not seen in decades) and Caddyshack, so maybe to put it a different way:
Man, 1980 had a very specific flavor of mainstream (or in the case of Used Cars, mainstream-ish) comedy. Can’t…
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First Blood 1982
Was never much into the entirety of the Stallone oeuvre back in the day, so this was a much-belated first-time watch. I find it quite fascinating to read about—and hear about, via the Stallone commentary—how much effort he put into “saving” this movie and tightening up the more emotional and grounded parts of his John Rambo’s anguish and frustration, knowing, at least through cultural saturation, how more cartoonishly “eighties” the sequels inevitably became.
In other words, it’s confusing that the…
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Driveways 2019
With keen direction from Ahn, endearingly understated performances from Hong Chau, Brian Dennehy and young Lucas Jaye, and a script confident enough to let the viewer fill in the blanks, this was my biggest SIFF 2019 surprise and is sure to be one of my favorites of the year—not just from the festival.
It gets in and out quickly (in under 90 minutes), but it the pacing never feels rushed nor the characters shortchanged. I hope Driveways finds an audience, despite its unmarketable title.
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Mickey 17 2025
Hate to say it but at times I actively disliked Mickey 17. The pacing was slow, the flashbacks tedious and awkwardly placed, and the resolution took forever to get to—and then we managed to squeeze in a Spielberg-style double ending!
The mannered stiffness of the acting style from nearly all of the cast not named Ackie or Pattinson—Yeun also innocent!—grated on me, even testing my perpetual Ruffalo fandom. (Sorry pal, but Tucci did it better in the Hunger Games.)
Somewhere…
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