2022 Movie Post #2
Jan. 6th, 2022 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stdesjardinsTerror in a Texas Town is another Criterion Channel selection, a Western scripted by Dalton Trumbo under a pseudonym while he was blacklisted. (Interestingly, lead actor Sterling Hayden named names before the committee, although he regretted it immediately and claims not to have given them any information he believed they did not already have.) It's rather an odd Western, opening with a scene where Hayden, playing a Swedish immigrant, confronts the hired gun who killed his father in a main street showdown while armed only with a harpoon. It flashes back to the events leading up to the showdown, including the angst of the one-handed gunman who knows he's past his prime, and a heavy-handed message of people refusing to take risks to stand up for each other. Hayden's Swedish accent is remarkably bad: if they remade the movie with Muppets the accent would be a hundred times more convincing. Despite clunky dialogue and a negligible budget this is worth a look.
My friend and bubble-mate Pearl, who is sick with COVID, asked for a temporary subscription to HBO Max, so I found myself watching a few old and new movies on that channel, starting with a rewatch of Princess Mononoke, which I have seen a couple of times before but not in decades. It looks much better if you watch it with glasses. I think it improved in my estimation, probably because I had a more solid grasp on the plot and world-building this time around.
Then I put on After the Thin Man, which I am sure I have seen before but which has too inconsequential a plot to remember. Powell and Loy's banter is a pleasure to watch, but the final scene where Powell accuses practically everyone in the cast before finally figuring out who did it drags on to the point of tediousness. Recommended for when you're in the mood for brain candy only.
The Suicide Squad is based on a DC comic book that I like but ramps up the violence and the cynicism to a level I don't like. I hate that they made Amanda Waller skinny and she was angry and shouty when she ought to have been chilly and terrifying, but at least the government operation had enough support staff to feel at least vaguely plausible. The dark humor is well done, if this is the kind of movie you like you will like it very much, but as it is the kind of movie I normally don't like I liked it only a moderate amount and will probably not rewatch it (much).
Finally, back on the Criterion Channel, I watched Stormy Weather, which I don't think I've seen before. A flimsy romance plot is mostly an excuse for great Black singers, musicians, and dancers to show off their stuff. A+ material, just ignore the bit about how women should give up their careers to have children and the cringe sub-plot with the braggart whose mouth makes promises his wallet can't keep.
Total movies so far this year: 7, including 2 movies I had already seen.
My friend and bubble-mate Pearl, who is sick with COVID, asked for a temporary subscription to HBO Max, so I found myself watching a few old and new movies on that channel, starting with a rewatch of Princess Mononoke, which I have seen a couple of times before but not in decades. It looks much better if you watch it with glasses. I think it improved in my estimation, probably because I had a more solid grasp on the plot and world-building this time around.
Then I put on After the Thin Man, which I am sure I have seen before but which has too inconsequential a plot to remember. Powell and Loy's banter is a pleasure to watch, but the final scene where Powell accuses practically everyone in the cast before finally figuring out who did it drags on to the point of tediousness. Recommended for when you're in the mood for brain candy only.
The Suicide Squad is based on a DC comic book that I like but ramps up the violence and the cynicism to a level I don't like. I hate that they made Amanda Waller skinny and she was angry and shouty when she ought to have been chilly and terrifying, but at least the government operation had enough support staff to feel at least vaguely plausible. The dark humor is well done, if this is the kind of movie you like you will like it very much, but as it is the kind of movie I normally don't like I liked it only a moderate amount and will probably not rewatch it (much).
Finally, back on the Criterion Channel, I watched Stormy Weather, which I don't think I've seen before. A flimsy romance plot is mostly an excuse for great Black singers, musicians, and dancers to show off their stuff. A+ material, just ignore the bit about how women should give up their careers to have children and the cringe sub-plot with the braggart whose mouth makes promises his wallet can't keep.
Total movies so far this year: 7, including 2 movies I had already seen.
