The Peanut Butter Falcon

The Peanut Butter Falcon is such a strange name for a movie that it almost feels like a gimmick. Ok, you got me.  Guess I need to watch the movie to find out why it's called that?

The root of the name is explained in the movie, and it's not particularly revelatory, but I won't give it away.  What I will say is this is a small, independent film that works it's Southern charm to great effect.  It's so immersed in Southern gothic mood that as I watched it I constantly kept thinking of it as a "feel good" cousin to Sling Blade.  This is one of the sweetest movies I've seen in a while, and it doesn't feel put-upon, it really resonates with heart and the value of simple kindness throughout.

The movie was filmed in Georgia and set in the Georgia/Florida landscape.  This is a story of people who are going through hard times.  It starts off with Shia LaBeouf's character, Tyler, crabbing in a small boat in swampy water, only to find out quickly that he's stealing the catch from other dock workers.  The weight of limited opportunity and economic despair is immediately defined in the first few scenes of the movie.

This is also the story of the value in just respecting one another, and learning how to get by in a world that constantly throws challenges your way.  Resilience in the face of despair is a big theme running through the story.  It's not giving anything away to say it's deliberately influenced by the story of Tom Sawyer.  Tom Sawyer is essentially Zack, a young man with Down syndrome who's being mishandled by the local government (he's placed in a retirement home for lack of care options).  Zack dreams of meeting the wrestler that he idolizes and taking a training class from him.  His mission in life is to break out of the facility and find the school.  Dakota Johnson plays the aide who cares for Zack and Bruce Dern puts in a brief but fun performance as one of the folks in the retirement home who wants to help Zack out on his mission.

Zack eventually comes across Tyler, and that's where the movie really takes off.  If it hadn't been for Shia's performance, I think this ends up being just a quaint little movie that's good for one viewing but probably doesn't resonate beyond that.  Shia is incredibly good in this movie.  As an actor, much has been made about his personal problems over the past few years.  This movie makes you wake up and remember how much promise he showed, even as a goofy high-energy kid in the Transformer films.  Shia's performance as Tyler is fully realized.  In a fair world, he'd be a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination.  He makes you completely believe and understand this character.  He holds the screen in quiet moments.  He delivers lines that make you smile more than once.  When he's onscreen, the movie takes on a different joy.  He's superb.

So, in summary, this movie is effective, its got heart and sweetness to spare, and it stands out thanks to Shia's authentic and delightful portrayal of a Huckleberry Finn who takes Zack under his wing and on a journey that they both really need.

Ford v Ferrari

There's a certain thrill to watching great actors work together and play off of one another.  It can sometimes feel like you're watching a competition.  While watching some movies, I've asked myself which person's performance am I more convinced by and which performance would I rate higher.  This is, of course, a silly thing to do, but a fun luxury and part of the whole treat of the movies.  Everyone gets to be a judge and a critic.  It's especially fun when two people are cast in roles they've clearly decided to go all in for.  I found this to be the case with Matt Damon and Christian Bale in Ford v Ferrari.  

Christian Bale plays Ken Miles.  Ken's a down-on-his-luck live wire who doesn't seem to find it possible to filter his thoughts.  He's a car guy - a smart mechanic, an even smarter driver, and he loves to race.  Bale is an obvious choice for the role and he, again, lost a significant amount of weight to play Miles.  At a certain point in the movie, I realized how good his performance was because it snuck up on me.  I was watching Ken Miles, or the Ken Miles that Bale wanted me to see.  True to his past roles, Bale puts in a really terrific performance.  As an actor, he's probably been at his peak for a while, but it really shows in this one.  

Matt Damon plays Carroll Shelby.  If I have to tell you who Shelby was, then you need to look up a 1967 Shelby Mustang right now.  In my humble opinion, the guy designed the prettiest car that will ever be made.  Damon takes this legend and makes him an every-man who's just a little smarter and bolder than the rest of us.  In his own right, Damon put in one of his finest performances ever.  He makes Shelby someone you want to meet, want to learn from, and want to root for.  He shows you the mix of frustration and admiration that Shelby probably had for Miles when they worked together.  Together, Bale and Damon make Miles and Shelby two sides of the same coin.  They are both strong individuals, intelligent car enthusiasts, and have enough of a rebel edge that they'd never be the corporate types that control big business.  The movie would have you believe that Miles was simply Shelby without the ability to control his emotions, and vice versa.

The movie tells the story of the competition between Ford Motor Company and Ferrari as Ford attempts to win out at the 1966 24 hours of LeMans race.  The drama erupts from both highlighting the contentious relationship that Miles and Shelby had with the Ford executives and how dangerous the races were to compete in.  The race scenes are as exciting as they come, and on the big screen they were roaring and felt real.  The production is top notch, which makes the whole thing a bit of an anomaly in today's movie theaters.  The whole production felt like a throwback to another era of moviemaking.  It could have been made in 1999, 2009 or 2019.  It feels odd in 2019 simply because it's just not the kind of movie that gets made much anymore.  It's clearly a high budget movie, but instead of special CG effects, it gets by on human drama and what looks like very real cars on the screen.  I'm sure there was some digital trickery somewhere, but it was unnoticeable.  

A really great movie can sometimes be pure entertainment while also offering you something to think about in yourself.  That's how I'd sum this one up.  It is outstanding, old school, Hollywood entertainment with top caliber talent that made me excited about life.  We get to be here.  We get to drive cars, sometimes very cool cars.  We get to compete, and sometimes we get to win, but mostly we get to lose.  We get to fight back and keep going when we do lose.  We get to have small moments to ourselves and with the people we love.  It's all in this movie.  In celebrating the competition between Ford and Ferrari that took place in 1966, and the people who were involved, the movie becomes a celebration of life itself.  Whether it was meant to be that or not, I'm not sure, but that's what I found.  It was thrilling.  

The King (2019)

The King is one of the best "Netflix" movies I've seen yet.  Most "Netflix" movies feel like the equivalent of "straight to DVD" movies.  At first, saying something was a "straight to Netflix" movie shared that same derogatory meaning as "straight to DVD".  "Straight to DVD" was basically the dumping ground for movies that weren't good enough to warrant a theatrical release, but some nice coin could be made by sending them straight to Blockbuster.  But Netflix is taking it beyond the "dumping ground" status.  They want to be credible.  They want to challenge the major studios (and they are).  They have a completely different business model and enough subscribers to compete with major studios in spending.  A year ago, they were changing things.  Now, they HAVE changed things.  Like it or not, the "Netflix" model is here to stay.  And it's being replicated across the streaming landscape so fast that the whole TV and movie business is literally changing in real time right before our eyes.  It's not a slow crawl, it's a sprint.

Now about The King.  Timothee Chalamet stars as Prince Hal in 15th century England, who would become Henry V.  This guy is a grade A actor.  He's got screen presence to spare.  He's one of those actors who elevates the material he's working with.  In fact, the same can be said for the entire primary cast.  Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Lily-Rose Depp, Robert Pattinson, and Sean Harris (the creepy villian from the last two Mission Impossible movies) all give terrifically fitting performances.  The movie is a slow burn and often feels like a stage play, so it lives almost completely on the strength of the performances.

The story follows Prince Hal's reluctant transition into the role of King of England.  It's essentially a simple, "heavy is the head that wears the crown" tale about how isolating and terrible the life of a monarch can be.  It's also a period piece that reminded me of how long humans have been being terrible to one another.  Can it be that 600 years ago people really lived this way?  Life had almost no discernible joy.

At 2 hrs 20 minutes, it's a long movie, but the performances fill the space.  Pattinson's evil, snarky French Prince is especially entertaining.  And more than once I felt real compassion towards Hal and his struggles.  Which is a testament to Chalamet's performance.  

All this is to say that I wouldn't qualify The King in the "straight to DVD" category.  It's not a "just a Netflix" movie.  It's a quality film with quality actors doing a bang up job.  It's also just one of many recent examples of how the movie business isn't changing...it's already changed.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

Imagine it's the year 2001 and you've just seen the fantastic Point Break rip off The Fast and The Furious.  Now imagine someone says the movie will spawn 7 sequels plus a spin off starring The Rock and that British dude from Snatch.

I guess sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.

Allow me to speak my truth:  I loved The Fast and The Furious.  Cars, Vin, Paul Walker doing his best Keanu impersonation...it all just worked.  That's, of course, why it became so popular in the summer of '01 and only grew in popularity as it went on to take advantage of the then peaking DVD release patterns of the early 2000's.

It became apparent a sequel was not just inevitable, but wanted.  So we got a John Singleton Fast & Furious movie.  Hello to Tyrese - welcome addition to the fold.  Goodbye (for now) to Vin - unwelcome departure.

To sum up the rest of the journey:  Tokyo Drift - I thought it was the nail in the coffin of the franchise, as did everyone.  Huge surprise in 2009 - they brought back the original cast!  That movie (Fast & Furious, no "the") was average at best.  It led to Fast 5 - which is arguably the franchise high point.  Fast 6 wasn't as good.  Furious 7 was sad (a very poignant good bye to Paul Walker that holds up).  Fate of the Furious was just awful.  The worst one in my opinion.  Over the top action needs to be fun or it's worthless.  This one is just worthless.

So now we get Hobbs and Shaw.  It's about what you would expect.  I mean, I fell asleep during a couple of parts, so I missed a few things, but it has some entertaining moments.  The Rock is an entertaining guy - but his shtick is about 3 movies past it's prime for me.  Statham is cool and doesn't seem to age much - so that's neat.

Seriously though, it's a big, showy summer movie made to be loud and proud and to look good on the biggest screen available.  Sometimes that's enough for a fun evening (or afternoon matinee).

I think this franchise is at it's best when it's focusing on the family of friends, and not necessarily in saving the world mode (which is still hilarious to think).  I mean, they were hoodlums that were stealing electronics in the first movie - now they save the world?  How did we get here?

It's best not to think about it.  If you want to see Hobbs & Shaw, that's awesome.  I sure did.  And I'll line up for Fast 9.  But I'm really hoping they start to turn this ship around with a slightly more down to earth take - wouldn't that be a breath of fresh air?!

Joker (2019)

Movies were the first love of my life.  As long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by the thrill of watching a good movie.  There's an energy I'm left with.  A longing to repeat that experience.

Having been born in 1976, I grew up in an age where quality cinema was defined as Spielberg, Coppola, DePalma (sometimes), and Scorsese.  Especially Scorsese.  What Spielberg did for mass entertainment, Scorsese did for cinema as high art.  Growing up, I knew Scorsese was one of the best, if not THE best, filmmaker you could find.  Whether focused on New York, the Mob, or deep Religious views, his films have always demanded and deserved attention.

So, I was excited by the prospect of Joker for several reasons.

1.  Todd Phillips was very open about wanting to model the film off of the gritty Scorsese classics such as King of Comedy and Taxi Driver.

2.  Taxi Driver was released the year I was born.  So the fact that it's relevant today is specifically interesting to me, and a bit concerning considering that this alignment with tone for Joker essentially says "history repeats itself", which is a running theme in a lot of ways today.

3.  Joaquin Phoenix would be the perfect actor to put a fresh and different spin on the classic Joker character.  In films from Gladiator to the recent You Were Never Really Here, he's been particularly great in roles where characters are taken to their breaking point and beyond.  He has eyes and a stare that hold the screen.

4.  The character of Joker is always interesting.  He's becoming less a character and more a cautionary tale.  What does a person behave like when they are truly not bound by any rules but their own?  Joker has become a multi-faceted exploration of this concept.

5.  If they are modeling classic Scorsese, how bad can it be?

Well, it's not bad at all.  In fact, it ranks as one of the best films of the year for me.  This movie is not for children.  This is not a comic book, superhero movie.  This is an exploration of mental illness in our society and culture.  It's tough to watch, yet impossible not to appreciate the performance by Phoenix.  I completely understand the mixed reviews the film is receiving.  It's a very, intentionally, polarizing look into what might drive a person to make the choices this character inevitably makes.  I didn't feel the intent was to create sympathy for this devil, but to explain how plausible it is for evil to cultivate as a result of ongoing abuse, years of trauma, and lack of care.  I was close to tears several times in the movie.  It's a dark and somber film.

To address the controversy swarming around the movie, it's just my opinion, but I did not see this as a film that glorifies the character and his choices.  Much like Taxi Driver did in 1976, this puts a lens on uncomfortable aspects of modern day life, our modern class system, and the fear we now live with in normal situations and crowds.  It boiled down to a simple moral lesson to me "treat others as you would want to be treated".

At the end, I felt less like I'd seen a movie about the classic Batman character Joker, and more like I'd watched a modern day cautionary tale.  Similar to Seven (a personal favorite of mine), this is a reminder that the world is not a fine place...but worth fighting for.

The music and sound was crucial to the film, and it was very well done.  The acting was superb.  The direction was admirably restrained.  I left the theatre wanting to watch it again immediately, primarily to see Joaquin's transfixing performance one more time.  It was a rush.

Whiplash (2014)

Director:  Damien Chazelle

A work of art is a personal matter to the artist.  To the rest of us, it’s subjective.  We get to decide how we feel about it.  We either connect with something in it or we don’t.  Our opinions are influenced by our own personal baggage.  Often, the best artwork comes from the artist fearlessly digging into his or her experiences and therapeutically exorcising the demons.  That’s the way Whiplash felt to me.  So, after watching the movie, I wasn’t surprised to find that the writer/director, first timer Damien Chazelle, was once an up and coming jazz drummer.  Much like the character Miles Teller plays in the film.  If the story in the film is any indication, it must have been one tough experience.

Every so often, you see a movie that’s so immediate and confident in the storytelling that you just know it has to be influenced heavily by past experiences.  Whiplash is that kind of movie.  The whole thing feels and looks so cool.  Like the big band jazz music the characters are in love with, it’s precisely timed and often shockingly kicks into high emotional gear, then brings it back, then kicks in again.  The story is about drive, ambition, passion, love, anger, fear, containment of fear, teacher, student, pain, and lines of tolerance.  How far is too far to push someone?  What does it take to transcend from being great at something to being “one of the greats” at something.  How close can dedication come to insanity.  Where are the lines?  All this in a little movie about a young man who has thoughts of becoming a great jazz drummer and meets the teacher who might either help him transcend or destroy his drive and opportunity entirely. 

To Miles Teller, J. K. Simmons, Damien Chazelle, and the entire cast and crew of the film, I have only two words for you…Good Job!

(See the movie and you’ll understand that last part.)

Top Ten (movies that I was able to watch during) 2014:

 

1.        Guardians of the Galaxy – Keep in mind that I haven’t seen really any of the latest Oscar contenders, but I’m pretty sure none of them will be as singularly fun, fresh, geeky, entertaining, action-packed, and cool as this one was.  Credit to the filmmakers for basically giving us a Breakfast Club version of misfit and mismatched super heroes.  And to the cast and voice-work for being pitch perfect.

2.       How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Tough call to put this so high on the list, but it really was one of the more transporting movies for me this year.  When I watched it again at home with the family, I was just as enthralled.  These films tap into real emotion.

3.       Captain America:  The Winter Soldier – This one stands tall in the pantheon of comic book movies, right beside The Dark Knight.  It transcends the genre and felt immediate and urgent with the politics in play.  This is modern day action filmmaking at its best.

4.       The Hobbit:  The Battle of the Five Armies – I concede that this trilogy isn’t quite on the level of Peter Jackson’s first foray into Middle Earth…but honestly, did it ever stand a chance in that comparison?  It didn’t, but it doesn’t need to.   He succeeded where George Lucas couldn’t.  He returned for a trilogy that feels truly connected to the original films and expands the world on screen.  And this closing version couldn’t have been handled better, in my opinion. 

5.       The LEGO Movie – This movie is so fast and funny, I didn’t catch all the jokes on my first viewing.  It basically vomits color onto the screen, but that’s not a bad thing when it’s handled as shrewdly as this is.  Fun stuff.

6.       X-Men:  Days of Future Past – Pulling the two separate casts together was a gimmick I fell for.  My complaint is they didn’t give us enough of the future world overrun by Sentinels, but what little they did provide was great.  And any X-Men film with McAvoy and Fassbender in those roles will probably default to being on my Top 10 list.  They are just awesome.

7.       Lone Survivor – Tense telling of real bravery.  The movie is staged and acted so well that the message of honor for these fallen soldiers really comes across. 

8.       Edge of Tomorrow – Slick science fiction. 

9.       The Fault in Our Stars – Well…it made me cry.

10.   American Hustle – This was a holdover from 2013 that I didn’t catch until this year.  As an ensemble, the cast is terrific.  Feels like a tribute film to the Scorcese gangster classics. It works.  And Jennifer Lawrence is memorable in her crazy lady performance.