8/18/16 Jason Bourne, 2016 not yet nominated
Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is back and it picks up from The Bourne Ultimatum almost as if Jeremy Renner's The Bourne Legacy never happened. Julia Stiles reprises her role as Nicky Parsons, Bourne's one-time contact within the agency, who is now working for a Julian Assange-type character. Tommy Lee Jones is the new head nemesis as Director of the CIA, Robert Dewey. Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) helps to lead or (tries to) the new operation to bring in Bourne. The movie is almost non-stop action, from crazy chases in Greece and Germany to Las Vegas to fights to using the latest in cyber-technology. There are references to the previous films, so you kind of have to have some familiarity with them for some things to make sense. A friend of mine mentioned that she liked Bourne movies better than Bond movies (I can't remember which friend), and I think I agree. Bourne films have a grittiness to them; the underlying quest for information on his identity provides the raison d'etre for every movie, which gives the movies continuity. Also Bourne doesn't have a whole agency on his side, it's him, and perhaps a rogue agent, against The Agency, which makes his victories more impressive. I still like the Bond films, but Bourne has a slight edge.
8/20/16 The Tempest, nominated for Best Costume Design, 2010
The Tempest, directed by Julie Taymor (Lion King, the musical) and starring Helen Mirren (Prospera), Ben Whishaw (Ariel), Felicity Jones (Miranda, Prospera's daughter), is a re-telling of William Shakespeare's play The Tempest is visually very appealing, and Mirren is definitely the focal point (in the original play, the main character is Prospero). Prospera and her young daughter were sent away from their home of Milan by Prospera's jealous and power-hungry brother, Antonio (Chris Cooper). She has lived on an island with the company of her daughter, a sprite, Ariel and a slave, Caliban (Djimon Hounsou) and has been honing her magical powers waiting for the time to plot revenge on Antonio and Alonso, King of Naples (David Strathairn). The King, Antonio and the King's son, Ferdinand (Reeve Carney) are shipwrecked on Prospera's island after a terrible storm, wrought by Prospera and saved by Ariel. Like other Shakespeare plays, The Tempest is broken into three different plot lines: the love story between Miranda and Ferdinand; the intrigue with Alonso, Alonso's brother, Sebastian (Alan Cumming) and Antonio; the comedic element with Caliban, Stephano, Alonso's butler (Alfred Molina) and Trinculo, the jester (Russell Brand), with Prospera and Ariel the links between them all. It helped to watch the movie with subtitles because it was easier to understand the dialog, which is so critical with Shakespeare. I liked the movie, there are some funny moments, some dramatic moments; I enjoyed the interplay between Prospera and Ariel; Mirren is really superb. The movie did terrible at the box office, and I have to imagine that Shakespeare is not a huge box office draw and perhaps the story of The Tempest isn't as well known as Romeo and Juliet, King Lear or Othello.
8/23/16 Big Star - Nothing Can Hurt Me, 2012
I had heard of Alex Chilton from when he as in The Box Tops ("The Letter"), and then his name would pop up as an influence for some other band I liked, and I came across this documentary about Big Star, a band founded by Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel in Memphis, Tennessee in 1971. They were part of the Stax musical family. I'm not sure how to describe their music, but it sounded a little alt-rock, garage rock, sort of. Some of their songs I really like, but others, I just could not quite get into, but I'm still trying. The documentary looks at the band through interviews with band members, friends and family and other musicians, either contemporary or those influenced by Big Star. There is an air of heaviness and sadness throughout the film, partially because the band never achieved the level of stardom that many people at the time and since thought they deserved; and partially because once they did finally get the longed-for recognition, one of their founding members, Chris Bell, had died, and Alex Chilton and Andy Hummel died two years before the documentary was released. Even though Chilton is probably more well-known on his own, Chris Bell seemed so much more compelling a figure; a sonic genius, according to some; the initial spirit behind Big Star, but troubled by drug use and depression, he left the band after its second album; and then living way outside of the limelight with some attempts at making a musical comeback; and the documentary hints at, but never confirms or proves, that Chris may have been struggling with his own homosexuality. I love music and documentaries, and I love when I feel like I have learned about a new (to me) artist or musical style. I feel this documentary does a great job of telling us about Big Star, their place in the Memphis music scene as well as the American music scene at the time and about the people in the band.
8/24/16 Out of Print, 2016
This was a totally random find for me; I was just doing some searching for something to watch, and came across Out of Print a movie about a movie theater, the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles to be specific. The New Beverly Cinema is known as a 'revival' or 'repertory' theater, featuring 35mm films from classics to cult favorites. The movie, directed by Julia Marchese who is also an employee at the New Beverly, is as much about the theater as it is the people who go there. Marchese interviews employees, projectionists, customers (there is probably a better word, I just can't think of it right now), celebrities who are also customers/fans (?) of the theater. The movie is an homage to a dying breed of theater, a single screen cinema showing movies on 35mm as parts of nightly double features. We hear how the theater and its staff and owners (originally Sherman Torgan and then his son, Michael - who are never shown speaking about the theater themselves; Sherman Torgan died in 2007) made the theater part of the community. I love movies, hence this blog, but I cannot say I have a preference over film versus digital in most cases. Maybe that's because as I have worked through my list of movies, I know there is no way I would get to see them unless it was on DVD or streaming. That's just reality. However, I totally appreciate seeing movies on the big screen, especially movies like The Wizard of Oz, Fantasia, Spartacus, Gone with the Wind, etc. That is why I try to see movies on the big screen at theaters like The Heights, Riverview, The Cedar-Lee, and even micro-cinemas like the Trylon. I love the passion that Marchese and her merry band bring to the topic.
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| Film in underground storage in Kansas |
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| Reels of film in underground storage in Kansas |
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| waiting for the movie to start at The Heights Theater |
