November 2020 Watch Party

I watched these movies over the month of November. Each is accompanied by brief comments and a recommendation (or not). The top of the list coincides with the beginning of the month.

Gorky Park (1983): A crime thriller set in Moscow, featuring a pretty good performance by Lee Marvin and William Hurt. I really enjoyed it, although cars without heaters in Russia… I’ll never complain again about warming up my car in the winter.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015): Stylish movie with three absurdly charismatic leads. It’s not particularly clever but as popcorn fare goes, this is highly recommended.
Ocean’s Eleven (2001): Speaking of style and charisma, this is the perfect good-time movie. The heist is clever and the cast is dope. The sequels are not nearly as good.
Goldeneye (1995): One of my favorite Bond films. The worst impulses of the Brosnan era are mostly absent here, the stunts are dope, Famke Janssen is a great villain. Revisit this if you haven’t seen it in a million years.
Gone Girl (2014): An odd movie wherein we are kind of rooting for Ben Affleck to clear his name so he can go back to being a jagoff, and we’re rooting for Rosamund Pike to keep wreaking havoc and getting away with it. The score is great, as is Carrie Coon as Affleck’s twin. This one is a weak recommend if you want an enjoyable thriller, but a strong recommend if you want big budget trash.
Coming to America (1988): Not much to say here. This movie is funny as hell and you should go watch it right now before Coming 2 America drops early next year.
sex, lies, and videotape (1989): Thirtysomethings have their lives shaken up when Peter Gallagher’s old college buddy James Spader arrives. The movie is fascinating, with compelling performances by Andie MacDowell, Spader, Laura San Giacomo, and Gallagher. The use of the videotaped interviews as a means of feeling in control in a relationship makes me want to rewatch the film as soon as it ends. Huge recommend.
Mad Mad Beyond Thunderdome (1985): The weakest movie in the Mad Max series by far. This nonetheless expands on the world in interesting ways, such as showing how capitalism and state-sponsored violence go hand in hand. Tina Turner is pretty good as Auntie Entity, as is her earworm in the closing credits (“We Don’t Need Another Hero”). I suggest seeing it if you are a completist, but Fury Road and The Road Warrior are roughly ten thousand percent better.
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013): One of my least favorite Coen films. While the cast is stupendous, I find Llewyn to be thoroughly unlikeable and the world he inhabits to be pitiless. That may be the canvas upon which most Coen films are painted, but there isn’t much comedy here, and the cyclical nature of the story leaves me feeling numb. I recommend it for the musical performances and for Oscar Isaac’s lead role, but I’d steer a casual viewer toward Hail, Caesar! or Miller’s Crossing or (insert ten other Coen Bros. films here) first.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018): A series of Western vignettes. The title one was notable just for Clancy Brown’s brief appearance; the James Franco one made me want to watch Maverick; Tom Waits and his gold seam were pretty great; The Girl Who Got Shook is the worst/best kind of tragedy (you know how it ends and find yourself foolishly hoping otherwise); the finale scene on the stagecoach is tremendous. Liam Neeson and Harry Melling in Meal Ticket are darkly funny, and probably the best of the bunch. There are worse ways to spend two hours, although it seems like every western that gets made this century is worth watching, so there’s no shortage of options.
The Big Chill (1983): I think that I saw this movie at the correct time in my life, as I’m the age of the characters, and their life dilemmas feel like my life dilemmas. The soundtrack is great, and the cast (especially William Hurt, Tom Berenger, and Mary Kay Place) is tremendous. I’m a sucker for well-constructed hangout movies, especially ones that put this much care into their characters’ inner lives.
Good Time (2017): You probably watched Uncut Gems already. This is the Safdie Brothers’ previous film, a hyper-real dark night of the soul for a career fuckup played by Robert Pattinson who scrambles and cheats and lies trying to get his brother out of jail after a botched bank robbery. The Safdie’s movies tweak my anxiety more than almost anything, but their visual style is compelling (late-period Michael Mann neon digital with lots of Demme-style closeups).
Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987): Where the first movie feels very much like a 1970s grimy cop movie that is also uproariously funny (resulting in a timeless classic), the sequel is very much a late 80s time capsule. Tony Scott’s style is all over this (noisy soundtrack, characters pointing guns very dramatically, choppy action editing). The movie is still very damned funny, and has a deep supporting cast.
The Accidental Tourist (1988): A quirky film with a clunky second half. However, as an oddball character study, you get a feast. William Hurt is an odd choice as the lead given that it plays against almost all of his strengths as an actor, but I do very much like Geena Davis as the proto manic pixie dream girl. It seems intentional that the movie is very drab except for Davis’ wardrobe, but I would have liked a little more something here. Weak recommend, if only for the oddball Blair family and for Davis.
The Shape of Water (2017): I loved this movie. I like how well Guillermo Del Toro is able to spin out unexpected moments from a perfunctory narrative. The sets were instantly iconic for me, the performances incredible (especially Sally Hawkins and Michael Shannon and Richard Jenkins), and I just wish that more big budget films were this kind of spectacle. I’d trade every Marvel and Star Wars for one more hollywood film that made me feel this satisfied.
Tokyo Drifter (1966): Super duper stylized and colorful gangster movie. The tropes are universal, which helps ground the film even when scenes suddenly end or the action gets surreal. The balancing act of 60s cool and the futility of loyalty works, somehow. I recommend this film a ton, as it feels like a lot of later movies are indebted to this era if this not this specific director. I don’t know if this is streaming anywhere, but I got the Criterion at one of the periodic half-off sales via Barnes & Noble.
Romancing the Stone (1984): Quite a romp as the romance novelist finds herself behaving like the protagonist of one of her novels. Kathleen Turner is a legend, Michael Douglas is his most charming, Danny Devito is a national treasure. The movie rules.
Office Space (1999): The movie is so bitingly funny for its first two-thirds. Every performance and every joke feels pulled from office life and works perfectly. I’m less enamored with the last third of the movie, but it is one of those things where they set the bar so high, it isn’t their fault that they can’t stay at that level. 1,000% recommendation.
Silverado (1985): As part of my Lawrence Kasdan run this fall (French Kiss, The Accidental Tourist, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Body Heat, The Big Chill, Solo: A Star Wars Story), I forced myself to rewatch Silverado. I never liked the movie before, despite it being absolutely stacked with talent (Kevin Costner, a very good Danny Glover, Jeff Goldblum, Scott Glenn, Roseanna Arquette, Brian Dennehy, Richard Jenkins, Linda Hunt, Kevin Kline, John Cleese). The movie tries hard to look and feel like a golden era Western, but the Western was at its nadir in the 80s and early 90s, with most films going either revisionist or working out modern concerns in a western palette (Pale Rider, Unforgiven, Near Dark, Young Guns, The Man from Snowy River, Lonesome Dove, Dances with Wolves). The 2000s have produced less Westerns than the genre’s heyday in the 20th century, but they are generally of supreme quality (The Revenant, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Proposition, Bone Tomahawk, True Grit, No Country for Old Men). So Silverado just isn’t worth your time when there is so much good stuff out there.
Sicario (2015): I’m over ultraviolent drug trade thrillers. Narcos has exhausted me so much that even when Scoot McNairy or Michael Peña show up, I know that they will still be surrounded by a zillion executions and double-crosses and torture scenes and blah blah blah. Sicario was about what I expected (great performance by Emily Blunt; torture, executions, corruption), but I didn’t realize Roger Deakins was the DP. This movie is quite beautifully shot, and has random roles for people mostly too good to be in this movie (Jon Bernthal, Julio César Cedillo who also shows up in Narcos: Mexico). If you haven’t burned yourself out on the drug war genre that’s been pretty popular the past decade, this is a hearty recommend. For everyone else? It’s about as long as 1.5 episodes of Narcos, so that is worth something.
Jackie Brown (1997): This is my favorite Quentin Tarantino film and it isn’t close. If it has been a long time since I’ve seen the movie, I psych myself out by thinking it is too dark or nihilistic. And then I watch it and remember just how deftly it balances comedy and tension. The movie manages to squeeze in a heist, the downfall of a big criminal, the inexorable nature of aging, the weight of one’s decisions, and a nice little love story all in about 154 minutes. Pam Grier and Robert Forster are, like, upsettingly good in this movie. I can’t take my eyes off of them. The Elmore Leonard fan in me insists that the strength of his writing is what made this such a good adaptation (even though Rum Punch is one of his worse books), but ultimately, I think this movie was just a perfect storm. Hearty recommend.
Hellboy (2004): This movie has everything going for it except its plot. It is not a fatal flaw that the plot and villain are humdrum, but it’s close. I love the look of the film, I love the characters and performances, and it makes me want to see more of this world. However, yeah, the Rasputin/old gods thing is mediocre, and the needle drops are bad (worse in the sequel, though).
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (2008): I think this movie improves on the first one in nearly every way. There is more for Selma Blair to do, Doug Jones gets to do his own voice, the monsters are more fun, and the villain’s motivation makes way more sense. I recommend this over the first one.
Arrival (2016): Really dug this one. Visually striking, and the script is clever. The big reveal is earned and doesn’t feel like it invalidates the rest of the film (as compared to a Nolan puzzle-box).
Goodfellas (1990): Everything about the movie is iconic and thrilling. Go watch it.
Pulp Fiction (1994): I remember seeing this movie in 1994 and feeling like it cracked open my brain (they could do that and say that in a movie?). It hasn’t lost any of its cool and the iconic lines remain iconic. Tarantino’s overuse of racial slurs remains a frustrating part of his movies, and there were a lot more here than I remembered. But if you can stomach that, the movie remains a landmark.
True Grit (2010): Hailee Steinfeld puts in a hell of a performance, holding her own in scenes with Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin and Matt Damon. The movie was shorter than I’d remembered, and I prefer how the story ends here compared to how it ends in John Wayne’s original film (for that matter, I prefer everything better in the 2010 film). Pretty good adventure film.
Working Girl (1988): This was a first watch for me. I found it an interesting balance of very dated and timeless. The hairstyles and clothing are particularly of the moment (Joan Cusack’s hair should have its own wikipedia page), but the story is really cool and I liked Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford a ton (and the aforementioned Miss Cusack, but she’s literally great in everything she’s ever been in).
Morning Glory (2010): This has to be pretty high up on the list of most-rewatched films for me for the past decade. Very charming cast and I like how the emphasis is on MacAdams winning over the suits so she can keep her morning show, with the romance just one of the many things that she is juggling. It makes the film feel like more of an ensemble, which is a smart move given that you have Harrison Ford’s last great performance alongside the always-good Diane Keaton and John Pankow. Big recommend.
The Departed (2006): Through fate or the influence of friends or whatever, I’ve ended up watching about a million Leonardo DiCaprio films recently. The Departed is just kinda fine. It is very much a lesser entry in the Scorcese canon, but does feature some overwrought, campy performances by Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg. Vera Farmiga is very good, but it feels like she and DiCaprio are in a different film than everyone else.
The Irishman (2019): I wonder sometimes just how often filmmakers will go back to the well of 1950s-1980s NYC and Chicago gangster life. (The answer: probably until the heat death of the universe.). Anyway, many, many critics have written many, many words about Scorcese and how this film is a treatise on mortality, so one is encouraged to seek them out if curious. I’ve seen this movie twice now, and find it bloodless any time Joe Pesci or Al Pacino are offscreen (to be clear, they are the saving grace of this film). Much of the film feels like things that I’ve seen before and without much new to say about them (save for the dooky de-aging effects… which are dooky). The movie is about 3.5 hours long, so it’s a pretty good Sunday afternoon hangover movie. But I’d start with about a dozen other Scorceses if you want a crime epic (or even the flawed but interesting Hoffa).
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012): I wrote more comments over at the AllegedBeef Facebook page while I was rewatching the movie. There is a lot to like in this trilogy, and it tends to be overshadowed by a)just how good the Lord of the Rings is and b)just how bad the bad parts of The Hobbit are. Freeman’s nebbish Bilbo is very different than Ian Holm’s wide-eyed glee, but it is effective at being a base on which Bilbo builds his experiences and new skills. Goblin Town still stinks, though.
Broadcast News (1987): A terrific movie. There are a dozen iconic lines and at least three iconic performances in this movie. The ending is unexpected but also very expected. I laughed a lot and my wife and I yelled at the screen a lot. What more can you ask for? Highly recommended.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013): The strongest of the trilogy. As before, see the AllegedBeef Facebook for more comments on this one. I hate the dwarven forge sequence at the end and really dislike the Legolas stuff, but I dig Smaug and Thranduil and Beorn and Radagast and the Master and…
Beverly Hills Cop 3 (1994): This is a terrible movie. There’s basically nothing of value here. It isn’t funny, the action is clunky, and they don’t even bother trying to make it believable that Axel has to go to Beverly Hills yet again to solve a crime tied to Detroit. Really, seriously, you don’t ever need to watch this one. Watch the first one twice instead.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): Scorcese’s funniest movie by a mile. The Popeye scene alone justifies watching this (the gratuitous nudity also is a selling point). I managed to engage with the film despite loathing the very idea of stock brokers/stock trading/markets. Lotta really great performances: Jonah Hill continues to amaze, Leo is perfect in this, Margot Robbie is very good with what little is there for her, the Spike Jonze cameo is very funny. Recommended, but not for the faint of heart or anyone with kids within 200 meters of the TV screen.
The Revenant (2015): I’d been avoiding this one for years. I’ve read the synopsis and it sounded like a complete slog. Also, I haven’t liked Iñárritu’s movies. However, people insisted that I watch it. I am glad that I did. I found the movie immersive and breathtaking. Leo is tremendous (I still feel that Tom Hardy is a one-trick pony outside of Bane and Mad Max). I was 100% invested in the movie from the minute that they were walking upstream in the creek and remained 100% invested until the story shifted back to the Fort (the ending feels necessary but perfunctory). The movie is brutal and doesn’t let up for its entire runtime, and I really am glad that I finally saw it.
1917 (2019): This was another prestige film that I’d avoided. And it is another that I am very glad that I saw. I’m a sucker for the frantic day-in-the-life narratives (Noises Off, the Charlie Work episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the helicopter day sequence in Goodfellas), but I usually marvel at the performance and staging. To choreograph a scene that has the breathless energy of a frantic person is so damned cool. The problem, to elaborate, is that I am often thinking about the filming/staging of the thing rather than the narrative. It is a credit to 1917 that the film remains compelling even when I’m actively looking for the cut points (horse walks in front of camera, camera trucks past a pillar, explosion throws dust in the air, etc.). I was really impressed with the movie and with the lead performances. Sam Mendes has a weird filmography with some extreme highs (this, Skyfall, The Road to Perdition) and extreme lows (Revolutionary Road, Spectre, American Beauty), but one thing he always nails is visual composition (Roger Deakins and Conrad Hall tend to do that to a picture). I really recommend this movie, as the burned-out village scene alone is some of the more dazzling imagery that I’ve seen in a war film.
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020): I love the anarchic energy of this movie. I love that everyone seems to be having a blast in their characters. The opening animation is rad, the colors are loud and fun. The story is neatly assembled and resolved in a pretty short run time. There’s really nothing to dislike here, other than that the egg sandwich remains so, so far away from me. This one is a huge recommend.

I’ll see you in December.