The year is 1997. After the crime rate increased by 400% New York City was walled off from the rest of the United States and turned into a prison. America has become a quasi-fascistic state of mass incarceration and never ending war. John Carpenter was uncanny in his use of a b-movie aesthetic to make a distinct looking dystopia. The punk attitude and comic book sensibility are epitomized by the anti-hero Snake Plissken as played by Kurt Russell.
After Snake is arrested for robbing the Federal Reserve (a sequence left out of the film) he's drafted against his will to rescue the President of the United States or face certain death. Donald Pleasence is wonderfully banal as the American president.
The production design portrays a police state with neon computers and black uniforms. Lee Van Cleef plays Snake's tormentor, a security officer for the regime. Technology being used for mass surveillance was another prophetic idea.
New York City is under the control of the Duke (Isaac Hayes), presiding over a society that's regressed back into a medieval system. Along the way Snake meets a number of characters who make for a whacked out version of The Wizard of Oz - including Ernest Borgnine, Adrienne Barbeau, and Harry Dean Stanton. Carpenter uses the urban wasteland to full effect, a cross between Night of the Living Dead and The Warriors. The action scenes are methodical and accompanied by Carpenter's signature synth soundtrack.
An anti-blockbuster if there ever was one, the grungy look of the Escape marked a strong contrast to the other mainstream films of the time. Escape From New York may not be the best Carpenter film, but it's a quintessential one.
****
Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 film There Will Be Blood examines two powerful forces in American history - Christianity and Capitalism. Spanning the early decades of the 20th century, the film follows Daniel Plainview as played by Daniel Day-Lewis who earned an Oscar. Anderson takes the audience on a kaleidoscopic journey into the 20th Century, like Travis Bickle, Plainview appears to have arrived from the depths and confounds everyone around him.
The story begins in 1898 with a young Plainview prospecting in California. He falls and breaks his leg in the middle of nowhere yet somehow survives in a Jack London survival scenario. The lonely and unforgiving wilderness will only allow those with strength and determination to survive. Daniel rises in the oil business and adopts a boy whose father died in an accident. He gets a tip from a Paul Sandy (Paul Dano) that large oil deposits on his family's land, setting up the central conflict in the story.
At first Daniel appears to be an ambitious businessman getting getting a jump on the emerging oil industry in the West. He offers to buy the land from the Sunday family, but one of the sons Eli, also played by Dano, wants Daniel to fund a revival church in return for use of the land. While Eli and Daniel appear to be at cross purposes, yet both are not above using deception to achieve their goals. Both are consumed with greed, but their methods are different. Daniel uses know how and intimidation, Eli manipulates the emotions of his congregation through dramatic healing rituals.
As Daniel and Eli began to prosper, other complications enter into the story. Daniel's son and constant companion HW loses his hearing after an explosion and cruelly sent away by Daniel to a boarding school. A man who claims to Daniel's brother proves to be a negative influence and continues to push him over the edge into madness.
The second half of the film continues to follow Daniel's descent into self-destructive and violent behavior - culminating in the unforgettable final confrontation between him and Eli. I view Daniel as a symbol of American capitalism - sociopathic and motivated. At first he has a sense of mission, but greed starts to intrude on all his decisions as he becomes something monstrous. By the end, the entrepreneurial spirit has mutated him into a fire breathing dragon, only content when all his enemies are vanquished.
Like Citizen Kane, another allegory on greed, there's nothing too complicated about idea of wealth leading to an empty life. It's an often told story. But Anderson creates a unique cinematic experience of period detail and stunning composition in each frame. Jonny Greenwood's music adds a layer of even more heightened reality, providing a science fiction ambiance.
Anderson also reverses the trajectory of a typical tragedy, starting out serious, but letting humor slowly creed in until the story ends in farce. Daniel Day Lewis, speaking in a John Huston cadence, deserves credit for creating a remarkable character, an all knowing destroyer. Dano was equally effective as the corrupt evangelist. An unblemished portrait of American standing beside The Godfather and McCabe and Mrs. Miller, There Will Be Blood leaves a vivid impression.
****
Based on the series of scary books for young readers from the 1980s by Alvin Schwartz, the 2019 film Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark is unabashedly retro horror in the best possible sense, a perfect gateway horror movie for young fans of the genre. The title may be a misnomer, I went into it thinking it would be an anthology film, but the movie is actually set in 1968, following a group of teens who find themselves in some prototypical scary movie situations.
The production design of Scary Stories is its most impressive feature, many scenes are shot in the dark providing just the right atmosphere. The 1968 ambiance was also a nice touch with recurring imagery of Nixon on the eve of the election, hovering over the proceedings ghost like. There's a Vietnam War subtext and the early days of the Rustbelt (set in fictional Mill Valley, Pennsylvania). Donovan's "Season of the Witch" plays non-diegetic as opening credits rolled conjured David Fincher's 2007 film Zodiac (the film does have a Fincher vibe to it). Of course there's also the strange new sense of revisiting a time with no google, don't we look back with envy . . .
The protagonist Stella (Zoe Margaret Colletti) writes scary stories (resembling a young Shirley Jackson) and is socially isolated although she will find faithful friends in newcomer Ramon played by Michael Garza (on the run from the draft) and school friends Auggie and Tommy. Reviews I've read have criticized these characters for not being interesting enough. But it works to the film's advantage, these are everyday kids getting thrown into extraordinary circumstances and they react with fear and bravery (Stella's knowledge of horror helps her survive).
At the same time the film skillfully utilizes the tropes of classic horror: haunted houses, scary cornfields, anti-septic looking hospitals, school hallways, and of course the vulnerable place of all - the bathroom. The scares themselves are never sanitized because there are consequences the characters have to endure.
Produced by Guillermo del Toro (who also got a screen story credit), his unique touch guides the film, especially on some of the gross out moments. The director Andre Ovredal kept the story moving along with sly references to the genre throughout. Dean Norris from Breaking Bad plays Stella's Dad and I wish the film had used him more. The 1980s made space for movies that might scare kids a little, whether it be Gremlins or The Monster Squad, but also brought fun and imagination. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark does a superb job delivering the scares - in a PG-13 way.
***1/2
So, the decade has come to a close. Here's a subjective list of my favorites from the pat ten years.
30. Midnight in Paris (2011, Woody Allen)
In a decade running on nostalgia jet fuel, Midnight in Paris offers insight on the perils of falling in love with the past. Owen Wilson plays a writer vacationing in Paris with his wife when he discovers a time portal that transports him back to the 1920s, his favorite period in Parisian history. He meets the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein.
29. Captive State (2019, Rupert Wyatt)
Mostly ignored upon release in early 2019, I'll predict Captive State will be recognized as a classic in the coming years. Alien invasion films serve as allegories going back to H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds - and Captive State is well within that tradition. The film presents an Orwellian scenario with alien overlords using earth for slave labor with the collaboration of many humans. The resistance is a group of people from diverse backgrounds working as a fifth column, recalling The Sorrow and the Pity. Sci-fi with a progressive and punk edge.
28. Drive (2011, Nicholas Winding Rehn)
Drive combines 70s/80s neo-noir sensibility in a pulpy tale of love and revenge in modern L.A. Gosling is a stunt driver who gets involved in criminal activity. Living a solitary life, he befriends a young woman (Carey Mulligan) across the hall who is awaiting her husband (Oscar Isaac) release from prison. After a botched robbery, he gets into serious trouble with the mob. Albert Brooks takes a villainous turn as a local kingpin. Bloody, violent, and soulful.
27. Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018, Morgan Neville) & A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019, Marielle Heller)
At least 20 years removed from when the Mr. Rogers show went off the air, Won't You Be My Neighbor provided a sense of what's been lost. The compassionate persona of Fred Rogers used television to reassure children about everyday issues they will face. He also dealt with weightier issues in simple way accessible to people of all ages. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood features Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers as a supporting player, an excellent addendum to the documentary.
26. Gravity (2013, Alfonso Cuaron)
Alfonso Cuaron's visceral space adventure pushed film technology to the limits. Sandra Bullock is the lone survivor after an accident in space and must use all her mental and physical strength to survive. By turns meditative and existential, Gravity assaults the senses with unforgettable visuals and a compelling central performance from Bullock.
25. Fruitvale Station (2013, Ryan Coogler)
Fruitvale Station recreates the last day in the life of Oscar Grant, a young African American man played by Michael Jordan. Fruitvale Station humanizes Oscar and the people around him, a young man who had much to offer.
24. Manchester by the Sea (2016, Kenneth Lonergan)
Casey Affleck gave one of the decade's best performances as a man trying to pick up the pieces after a family trauma of his own doing. Steeped in its wintry New England setting, Manchester is a family drama on the level of Ozu.
23. Arrival (2016, Denis Villeneuve)
A smart science fiction film about communication and linguistics that recalls the 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. Both films imagine a tense international situation and the need for clear communication. Amy Adams is emphatic and brilliant as a linguist drafted to decipher messages from the visitors who have landed on earth.
22. A Most Violent Year (2014, J.C. Chandor)
It's New York City in 1981, the year the crime rate peaked. Oscar Isaac plays Abel an upwardly mobile immigrant with high ambitions. Abel's wife Anna (Jessica Chastain) has connections to the underworld and pushes him to bend the law to achieve their aims. There's also a subplot that follows one of Abel's employees, an immigrant also trying to make his way in America with less success. An updated take on The Godfather with Isaac channeling Pacino, but by no means an imitation.
21. Zero Dark Thirty (2012, Kathryn Bigelow)
An epic about the decade long search for Osama Bin Laden from a CIA officer's perspective was praised for Bigelow's bravura film making but tarnished due to the pro-torture accusations. I never left the film with that impression; those scenes are brutal and unnerving and seem the furthest thing from base patriotism. The images speak for themselves. It's about America's descent into moral darkness after 9/11 and at the same time a procedural that recalls the 1970s. Jessica Chastain as the lead intelligence officer is the ultimate cipher, symbolic and disconcerting.
20. The Dark Knight Rises (2012, Christopher Nolan)
The concluding film of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy concluded the most influential cycle of modern comic book cinema. Nolan's realist aesthetic and the perceived reactionary politics of the film alienated many more (I'm a dissenter on the politics of these movies). Politics aside, these films are gritty tales about the meaning heroism in a broken world. The Dark Knight Rises comes through on the emotional and thematic level.
19. Black Panther (2018, Ryan Coogler)
I attended a screening of Black Panther on opening and there was a palpable energy in the theater. Better on repeated viewings, Black Panther transcended what the run of the mill Marvel movie could do, weaving together a tapestry of history, culture, and redemption.
18. Ex Machina (2015, Alex Garland)
A character study about male hubris and artificial intelligence. Garland's sly take on Frankenstein also plays like Jules Verne novel with a dark twist. Oscar Isaac is the AI visionary and Dohmnall Gleeson plays the protege. Alicia Vikander makes a vivid impression as the AI creation.
17. Star Wars Sequel trilogy (The Force Awakens 2015, JJ Abrams, The Last Jedi 2017, Rian Johnson and The Rise of Skywalker 2019, JJ Abrams)
George Lucas's decision to sell Star Wars to Disney unleashed a chain of events that would dominate pop culture discourse the decade. Is the trilogy of films uneven and contradictory at times? Yes. Will they be beloved by millions and stimulate the imagination of millions? Yes. The Force Awakens hit the nostalgia sweet spot, while The Last Jedi pointed the way forward. I'm still processing Rise of Skywalker, while its the weakest entry, it does wind up some incredible character arcs.
16. Snowpiercer (2013, Bong Joon Ho)
The antithesis to the Marvel Movies, it even stars Captain America Chirs Evans as the charismatic leader of a violent class revolt. Earth is no longer livable, and the survivors live on a train with upstairs/downstairs dynamic boiled to bare essence. Blunt, brutal, and stylized Snowpiercer film grabs you by the throat and never lets up.
15. Jodorowosky's Dune (2014, Frank Pavich)
Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky acquired the rights to the 1965 Frank Herbert novel Dune, a groundbreaking Sci-Fi novel. He gathered a wealth of talent for what was going to be the most ambitious movie ever made. Although funding eventually fell through, in the pre-production designs were the future history of movies.
14. The Death of Stalin (2017, Armando Iannucci)
In a decade of creeping authoritarianism, The Death of Stalin reminds us what happens when a bunch of power-hungry goons are given responsibilities way beyond their depth. A fictional account of the Soviet politburo trying to decide the future of their country. With Dr. Strangelove level absurdity and a Shakespearean sense of history - don't ever say movies never warned us.
13. Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018, Christopher McQuarrie)
At some point Tom Cruise decided to become the greatest action star of all time and the sixth Mission Impossible film may be remembered as his crowning achievement. Mind blowing stunts and organic action sequences populate the film.
12. The Florida Project (2017, Sean Baker)
A fly on the wall story that follows a child who lives with her Mom at a motel across from Disney World. The dichotomy between the place where people's dreams come true and the motel where dreams are broken. Socially relevant in a decade with widening class divisions. William Dafoe stands out as the motel's caretaker who brings wisdom and stability.
11. Searching for Sugar Man (2012, Malik Bendjelloul)
During the height of apartheid in South Africa, a mysterious musician named Rodriguez went viral in South Africa, inspiring those fighting to end the oppressive system. Sugar Man is also about art and commerce and how institutional obstacles can in some cases be overcome.
10. Avengers: Infinity War - Avengers: Endgame (2018-2019 - Anthony Russo, Joe Russo)
I was initially jaded on the popularity of the Marvel films, but something happened: They got better. The tipping point for me was Guardians of the Galaxy, the films loosened up and the characters started to grow on me. By the time of Infinity War and Endgame, I realized how endearing these characters had become. Almost six hours when played side by side, they are a feat of cinematic story telling.
9. Vox Lux (2018, Brady Corbet)
Natalie Portman plays a jaded pop star Celeste who rose to fame after she survived a school shooting. Vox Lux is a movie that tries to make sense of our time, a raw study of trauma, fame, and a sense of doom. Raffey Cassidy was also excellent as the younger version of Celeste and later as her daughter.
8. The Tree of Life (2011, Terrence Malick)
Tree of Life imagines the creation of life on Earth and connects it to the struggles of a family in 1950s Texas. Malick's floating camera and uncanny sense of existence are mesmerizing. His follow up films To the Wonder, Knight of Cups, and Song to Song would employ the same style, but never connect on the emotional level like Tree of Life.
7. The Master (2012, Paul Thomas Anderson)
Phillip Seymour leads a new religious cause in the 1950s and takes on a misfit played by Joaquin Phoenix. First and foremost a movie about men who have undergone trauma, I think John Huston's Let There Be Light would provide the right historical context before viewing. Seymour and Hoffman are both electric, while Amy Adams as Dodd's wife Peggy is a cryptic presence.
6. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013, Martin Scorsese)
A lat 20th Century tale, The Wolf of Wall Street now makes the election of Trump appear a natural consequence of a culture drunk on capitalism. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, a corrupt stockbroker who makes millions off investment scams. A study in excess and malfeasance, a logical follow up to Goodfellas and Casino.
5. The Social Network (2010, David Fincher)
More relevant and instructive now almost a decade later, the story of Facebook's origins is given the proper Citizen Kane treatment by David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. A perceptive study of the privileged in America, but also about human life moving online.
4. Attack the Block (2011, Joe Cornish)
Attack the Block offers a new vision for pop culture, drenched in Spielberg's 80's style, but updating all those films by transporting them from suburbia to the inner city. The premise is simple: aliens land in a London neighborhood and wreak havoc on the residents. A racially mixed gang led by John Boyega who take it upon themselves to stop the threat. With smart dialogue and kinetic action sequences, at 88 minutes the film flies by in a flash.
3. Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (2019, Quentin Tarantino)
Quentin Tarantino recreates 1969 Los Angeles in a loving ode to the end of an era. Leonardo DiCaprio is an aging actor and Brad Pitt his reliable stunt man. Margot portrays real life actress Sharon Tate. Full of grand sequences and long dialogue scenes that all builds to a crescendo in a stunning climax.
2. Get Out (2017, Jordan Peele)
Jordan Peele's innovative take on the paranoid thriller captured the mood of the country after the 2016 election. The racial component of the story serves as a metaphor of white ignorance of what it's like to be a person of color, but also establishes irony with smooth satiric edge.
1. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013, Joel and Ethan Coen)
Set in the middle of the folk revival in the early 1960s (February 1961 to be exact), fledgling folk singer Llewyn Davis is barely making it. As he watches his peers find more success, Llewyn finds himself in one desperate situation after another. A film about failure but told with such ease and irony is the Coens at their best.
The nine film Star Wars saga is now complete (for the time being). The Rise of Skywalker has a lot to tackle and resolve and the results are unsurprisingly mixed. Fans (and some critics) have a primal attachment to these films. A disappointing Star Wars film will trigger musings on childhood ending, while a good Star Wars episode may promise a new hope. Regardless of fan reaction, all nine of the films and their spin off stories are designed as adventures to inspire the imagination of young people. We tend to like or dislike these films based not on what they are, but on what they're not. Many will nitpick on Rise of Skywalker for what it's not, yet it passes for a space adventure film better than most, albeit with diminishing returns.
The trajectory of this sequel trilogy has followed that of the original. Like the original 1977 Star Wars, The Force Awakens for a brief moment rekindled a sense of adventure and mystery to a moribund franchise. The Last Jedi challenged audiences and offered some complexity much along the lines of The Empire Strikes Back. Rise of Skywalker resembles Return of the Jedi which concluded the original trilogy on a jaunty note, but eschewed the complexity of Empire.
The story begins year or two after Last Jedi. The Resistance is still running on fumes as the First Order continues to conquer the galaxy. Rey is honing her Jedi skills with Leia. Poe and Finn try to rally the resistance as Kylo Ren tries to increase his power. Footage of Carrie Fisher from The Force Awakens allowed the saga to give her character a moving conclusion. Billy Dee Williams returns as Lando to represent the original trilogy as the old sage. Meanwhile, Emperor Palpatine (dispatched in Return of the Jedi) is somehow back in the picture
J.J. Abrams returned as director and moves things at a frantic pace, a pace so fast the movie starts to feel sluggish. There's way too much sleight of hand and bait and switch going on with the plot. When Abrams tries to take chances, the film suddenly backtracks and lets you know everything will be fine. The visual rhyming of The Force Awakens had a charm, here it gets exhausting.
The film works better on the micro level. The principals Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, and John Boyega all gave it their best. They bring a nervous humor and manage to stretch their characters a bit, but not all that much. Adam Driver as Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is given a good arc, but under utilized. The cast contributed a lightness of tone to all the plot shenanigans.
Rise of Skywalker is weighed down by the loaded history of Star Wars. The Last Jedi was all about letting the old ways die, but Rise of Skywalker cannot extract itself from the baggage of the past. The result is a remix of familiar Star Wars themes of boilerplate good and evil - concluding the saga on an uncertain beat.
***
Many years in the making, The Irishman serves as the capstone to Martin Scorsese's cycle of mob themed movies, an anti-nostalgic epilogue to the passing of era, one rhyming with our own in uncomfortable ways. A fitting contrast to Quentin Tarantino's irresistible portrait of the late 1960s in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, The Irishman unfolds in blues and grays, a character study overcast with existential malaise told in dank Midwestern bars, hotel rooms, and offices. A gloomy film redeemed by Scorsese's steady hand, Steven Zaillian's literate script, and heavy duty performances from Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino.
The film follows Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a truck driver who by tricks of fate fell into the orbit of mob figure Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino). CGI helped de-age the actors for a story spanning several decades, providing a verisimilitude that's never too distracting. A WWII veteran of the Sicilian and Italian campaigns, Frank is an unassuming man familiar with violence. He never enjoys the act of killing, but he's really good at it. He also makes for reliable confidante to Bufalino and Hoffa. One could read the film as a dark version of Forrest Gump.
Pesci came out of retirement and here he's far cry from the violent psychopaths he played in Goodfellas and Casino, here he's a quiet and gentle man who wields great power. Pacino also delivers as Hoffa, portrayed as a besieged figure whose need for power and respect led to many disastrous decisions. By turns petty and sensible, Pacino exudes a wave of contradictions, by turns comical and tragic.
De Niro's performance is not dissimilar to his talk show appearances, cryptic and impenetrable. We never get inside the head of Sheehan, on the surface a simple man who powerful figures were drawn to and used to further their own ends. Taken deeper, there's something much more disturbing - the everyman hero turned on its head.
The violence, when it occurs, is never stylized or overstated. No music from Cream or Rolling Stones to accompany a beating, just an uneasy silence. When the climatic act of violence in the film occurs, it's brutal and heartbreaking. But what follows in the last act is a chilling denouement, chilling for its banality.
The Irishman is also a meditation on how violence has driven American history, most often carried out by white men who believed they were doing their duty. The question hangs - for what? Whatever the justifications - for the country, an organization, family, friends - all that's left is unspoken pain and regret. Yeah, The Irishmen is a downer movie, but a necessary one. There's no redemption. There's no repentance.
Primarily a story about aging men, many have pointed out the lack of women in the story, limited to wives and daughters who are oblivious to the lives their fathers and husbands lead. Anna Paquin appears as Frank's daughter throughout, but has little dialogue. The male dominated climate of film makes it colder and begs more questions about the past and today.
An apt comparison would be Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, another film about a man who lived in high places but died forgotten. Many have called The Irishman the "anti-Goodfellas" in that it seeks to deconstruct the mythos of such films. Goodfellas is celebrated despite its critique of the lifestyle. The Wolf of Wall Street the same, but it also anticipated the Trump era with its portrayal of thuggish capitalism. The Irishmen explores power and corruption as interwoven into a fable of high tragedy - wintry and methodical.
With a 3 1/2 hour running time, Scorsese forces the audience to slow down and take in the story. We spend an awful lot of time with these characters and the movie sticks with you after watching it.
Almost 40 years after its initial release, the story that began with The Shining is continued in Doctor Sleep. The story picks up with Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) decades after the events at the Overlook Hotel. As an adult Danny is still dealing with the trauma caused by his father and the Overlook. A redemption story above all else, Mike Flanagan's direction exemplifies character driven story telling.
The first part serves as an epilogue to the events of the first film with Danny and his mom Wendy relocating to Florida. One of the biggest risks of the film was recasting iconic characters played Shelley Duvall, Jack Nicholson, and Scatman Crothers. Carl Lumbly replaces Crothers as Holloran, adding depth to the character who met an ignoble end in the original. An unrecognizable Henry Thomas appears as Jack Torrance. Casting new actors was the right choice instead of going the CGI route.
McGregor gives first rate performance as a recovering alcoholic who finds solace in a small New Hampshire town by working at the local hospice. An especially calming presence for patients during their final moments, Danny earns the nickname Dr. Sleep. McGregor is especially effective as playing Danny as child like, but never a simpleton. He's a decent soul who leads a quiet life until ghosts from the past start to reappear.
Newcomer Kyliegh Curran plays Abra Stone, a teen who shares Danny's gift. She has a lot to do in the story and in a way ends up becoming the protagonist. Curran and McGregor have a good chemistry in one becomes a moving mentor/student relationship. Cliff Curtis also anchors the story as Danny's best friend.
New threats come in the form of a gang that travels across country in trailers who abduct children for a nefarious purpose. Their leader "Rose the Hat" is played by Rebecca Ferguson as a New Age disciple gone wrong. She's charming and seductive enough to keep her from being completely despicable. Ferguson's speech cadence is especially effective, emphasizing words in mid-sentence.
Flanagan never tries to imitate Kubrick, but provides just enough call back to appease fans of the original. The Overlook Hotel plays a pivotal role and the music by the Newton Brothers channels the Wendy Carlos score. In a contrast to the overwrought It: Chapter 2, Flanagan has a knack for tapping into Stephen King's emphasis on childhood. Doctor Sleep has its own story to tell without resting on the laurels of the The Shining.
