Movie Review: Alita: Battle Angel

Alita: Battle Angel ** ½ / *****

Directed by: Robert Rodriguez.

Written by: James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis and Robert Rodriguez based on the graphic novel series by Yukito Kishiro.

Starring: Rosa Salazar (Alita), Christoph Waltz (Dr. Dyson Ido), Mahershala Ali (Vector), Jennifer Connelly (Chiren), Ed Skrein (Zapan), Keean Johnson (Hugo), Eiza González (Nyssiana), Lana Condor (Koyomi), Jackie Earle Haley (Grewishka), Michelle Rodriguez (Gelda), Casper Van Dien (Amok).

 

Alita: Battle Angel is a movie that tries to cram so much into its two-hour runtime that it almost cannot help that the film feels confused and disjointed at times. Perhaps that also has to do with the fact that you have two competing filmmakers competing from control here – as you can tell the guiding hand of James Cameron is behind the film somewhere (he has had the rights for years, and never did anything with them) – and he’s now the co-writer and producer of the movie. But the film was directed by Robert Rodriguez, who as he often does, shows a great hand here directing action sequences, but never seems to quite get the storytelling clear. The film is never boring – it races headlong into one sequence after another, and once the action starts, you never have to wait too long for another action sequence. But the film almost has the opposite problem of all those Netflix Marvel shows – which always feel to me like a feature film stretched into 13 hours. This feels like the first season of a TV show condensed into two hours.

 

The film is set 300 years after “The Fall” – a war of sorts that have left the have up in Zalem – a floating city above the earth – and the rest of humanity in Iron City on the ground – who are all essentially poor working stiffs, doing everything to support Zalem. On the scrap heap from above, Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) finds part of the body of a young, female cyborg who remarkably has her human brain still intact. He brings her home, fits her with the body he made for his now dead teenage daughter, and brings her back to life. He names her Alita (Rosa Salazar). While Alita was manufactured to be a weapon, she doesn’t remember her previous life (at least at first – like every person with amnesia in movie history, it will come back to her in conveniently timed flashes throughout the film). When she wakes up, she is essentially a naïve, teenage girl, who has to relearn about the world. She quickly falls in love with Hugo (Keean Johnson) – and draws the attention of some bad people like Vector (Mahershala Ali) – the representative of Zalem in Iron City, and his underling Chiren (Jennifer Connelly) – Dr. Ido’s ex-wife – who desperately wants to return to Zalem. There’s also other cyborgs known as Hunter Killers – basically bounty hunters – who want to track her down. Oh, and there’s a sport called Monster Ball (I think) – which is basically a deadly form Rollerball from those movies.

 

All of this – and more – is crammed into the movie that ultimately cannot sustain itself. One of the best things the movie has to offer is Rosa Salazar’s motion captured performance as Alita. She is good as this naïve girl, who becomes a battle tested warrior – and even when she makes some weird decision, you are fully on her side. The screenplay though is a little confused and retrograde. While the film clearly wants to be seen as some feminist girl power, its character dynamics seem backwards. The relationship between Alita and Ido is creepy in a way that the movie never comments on. The relationship between Alita and Hugo never really gels in a way to make you believe that Alita would do what she does (and offers to do) – mainly because Hugo is a bit of a creep himself. When Alita has her adolescent body destroyed, and gets a new one – one with Nano-technology that will adapt itself into her own self-image, the self-image she apparently has is a kick ass Barbie Doll – skinnier waste, large breasts, etc. – which warrants a single one-liner from Ido’s nurse about how she’s “grown up” and then not mentioned again. Talented actors like Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali are completely wasted. Ed Skrein is better suited for his bad guy role, but it’s rather one note. There are plot threads and characters that clearly exist in this movie only to setup the sequel we are unlikely to see– like Michelle Rodriguez seen in flashback, and the actor who plays Nova (who I won’t name) – who doesn’t say a word, and appears at the end.

 

And yet, the action sequences when they come really are something. Yes, they are more CGI soup that I often complain about in superhero movies – but here, it’s distinctive CGI soup. Rodriguez has always known how to direct an action sequence – and there are several here as good as we’re likely to see this year. The film is incredibly violent – but mostly in a bloodless way – as Alita hacks, slashes, and smashes her way through her enemies. There is a sense once she gets her new body that she is completely indestructible – which doesn’t help things (if you don’t believe she can die, who cares?) – but Rodriguez stages the scenes with so much pizazz you likely don’t care.

 

I cannot help but wonder though that if Cameron had made the film itself would it have been better. For as much crap as he takes (some of it, to be fair, deserved) – he has made the type of relationships that ring false here work in the past. He has made his tin eared dialogue sound okay, at least in context. And he has never met a three-hour runtime he didn’t love – which may have given this film more of a chance to breath and develop things better.

 

Overall then, Alita: Battle Angel is a mixed bag. You won’t be bored by it – that’s for sure. But it won’t ever quite grab you the way it should – the way James Cameron’s films usually do, and the best of Robert Rodriguez’s films can do. It’s an odd film – but not really a successful one.

Movie Review: 2019 Oscar Nominated Live Action Films

The consensus seems to be that this year’s batch of Live Action Short Film nominees was both incredibly dark and not particularly good. While the former is undeniable – when the “lightest” film is about a dying old woman, yes, it’s a dark batch of nominees – but I actually think it’s a good lineup. While the weakest of the five is very clear to me, I could make the case for the other four being ranked in any order. For now, this is my ranking, which like the Documentary and Animated Shorts lineups I start with my least favorite and end with my favorite.

 

Detainment *** / *****

Directed by: Vincent Lambe.

Written by: Vincent Lambe.

Starring: Ely Solan (Jon), Leon Hughes (Robert), Will O'Connell (Detective Dale), David Ryan (Detective Scott), Tara Breathnach (Susan Venables), Morgan C. Jones (Detective Roberts), Brian Fortune (Detective Jacobs), Kathy Monahan (Ann Thompson), Killian Sheridan (Neil Venables), Martin Phillips (Jon's Solicitor), Caleb Mason (James), Barbara Adair (Mrs. Garrity), Julie Lockey (Mrs. Johnson), Helen Roche (Mrs. Wilson), Tom Pigot (Robert's Solicitor), Alan Buckley (Robert's Social Worker), Martin Durkin (Police Officer). 

 

Based on the infamous case from the 1990s – when two ten-year-old boys in England took a 2-year-old boy from the local mall, walked him around for a little bit, before horrifically killing him, Vincent Lambe’s Detainment has drawn controversy when the victim’s mother complained that she was never told or consulted on the film – and that she would like it to be withdrawn, from the Oscar nominations and distribution. While I don’t agree with her argument (as much as I feel for her as a person), I will say that Detainment – which is based on the transcripts and tapes of the interviews with the two boys (the ones that have been released – a few have not, as they were deemed too disturbing, which is saying something given what we do hear) is one of those films that I can admire, while I still question what exactly the point of it was. The performances – particularly by the young actor playing Jon – the more tearful of the killers – are all quite good, with him feeling guilty, his partner seemingly staying defiant, and various detectives and parents just looking shocked at what they are hearing. While the death itself is never shown (it would make the film indefensible if it were) – we do see a lot of flashbacks to the two boys and the baby walking around, and I don’t know what purpose they serve other than falsely build tension. I’m also not quite sure what we really learn from the film given that the boys could never really describe why they did what they did, and because the film doesn’t go into the lives of the boys after what happened after – which may answer some questions. Detainment is technically assured, gripping and disturbing – but I’m not sure it adds up to anything, and if you’re going to re-open – or at least examine – these wounds, you should know why you’re doing it.

 

Marguerite **** / *****

Directed by: Marianne Farley.

Written by: Marianne Farley.

Starring: Béatrice Picard (Marguerite), Sandrine Bisson (Rachel). 

 

In many ways, the simplest of the five films nominated – this is a one location film, with just two characters. Marguerite (Beatrice Picard) is an elderly woman, who may be in her final weeks or months of life. Her homecare nurse Rachel (Sandrine Bisson) has laid out some options – dialysis – but Marguerite doesn’t want them. When Marguerite overhears Rachel on the phone one day, she asks if it was her boyfriend on the other end – and Rachel responds, “My girlfriend”. Marguerite’s initial reaction at first looks like quiet disapproval – but she will eventually admit that at one point she was in love with a woman as well – but she never did anything about it. “It was a different time. It was considered a mortal sin”. Marguerite is a quiet film, and a sad film – not really because Marguerite is dying (although that doesn’t make it happy) – but because it acts as a reminder of how many people denied who they were – perhaps even to themselves – because of the society pressure, and some still do. The film is quiet and sensitive, and leads to a beautiful sequence at the end that could bring you to tears.

 

Madre **** / *****

Directed by: Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

Written by: Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

Starring: Marta Nieto (Marta), Blanca Apilánez (Madre), Álvaro Balas (Iván), Miriam Correa (Policía).

 

The Spanish film Madre is a one shot wonder – kind of like a 19-minute version of last year’s excellent Danish thriller The Guilty, which was all about one cop on the phone trying to save a woman who has apparently been kidnapped by her husband. This time though, everything is even more tightly packed and intense – as a young Spanish mother gets a frantic phone call from her six-year-old son, who is alone on a beach somewhere in France. His father – the woman’s ex – said he was just going back to the car, but he’s been gone a while, and there is no one else around and the boy is scared. As the woman tries frantically to figure out what to do – a phone call to the police does nothing – and she and her own mother don’t know what to do, the son, Ivan, informs them that not only is the battery low, but there is a strange man on the beach beckoning him. Other than the opening and closing shots – of a desolate beach – we spend the entire film (in what looks like one shot) inside the apartment with the increasingly frantic mother in real time as she tries to figure out what is going on, and what to do. Writer/director Rodrigo Sorogoyen masterfully builds the tension rapidly to almost unbearable levels – aided by great camerawork and performances. To be sure, the film does kind of play like a trailer for something longer Sorogoyen wants to make – but if so, it’s a masterful trailer, and I would love to see the feature. And as a short, it works wonderfully.

 

Skin **** / *****

Directed by: Guy Nattiv.

Written by: Sharon Maymon and Guy Nattiv.

Starring: Jonathan Tucker (Johnny Aldd), Jackson Robert Scott (Troy), Danielle Macdonald (Christa), Johnse Allende Jr. (Idris), Zeus Campbell (Malik), Lonnie Chavis (Bronny), Jared Day (Adrian), Sam Dillon (Nasty Nate), Shelley Francisco (Savannah), Maliq Johnson (Lonnie), Ronnie Tyrone Lee (Tyree), David Maloney (Timmy), Jahdai Pickett (Draymond), Katie Ryan (April), Ashley Thomas (Jaydee), Michael Villar (Slayer).

 

Out of all the filmmakers nominated, I think it’s easiest to see Israeli filmmaker Guy Nattiv going immediately to features – which, of course, he already has making a 2018 feature that played the festival circuit, also called Skin – although it is not a feature length version of the short (by the way – it’s really annoying to have two films in the same year by the same filmmaker with the same damn name – it makes looking either up on IMDB or Letterboxd tough). This 20-minute short pretty does precisely what short films are supposed to do – build up an entire world in a short period of time. It also offers a twist at the end – that I know some people hated (the reviews on Letterboxd are not kind) – although I would disagree that it constitutes blackface (but hey, I’m a white guy, so I’m not an expert here). Yes, the whole thing is almost like a more realistic (I used that term loosely) episode of the Twilight Zone – but it works. The first part of the film establishes the main characters – racist skinhead Johnny (Jonathan Tucker) – who is raising his son Troy (Jackson Robert Scott) to be a racist as well (although, they are close). One day in a parking lot, he and his skinhead buddies beat a black man nearly to death in front of his family – and they eventually come back an exact an implausible, but fitting, vengeance, on him. The filmmaking by Nattiv is excellent – and he gets great performances from his cast of recognizable faces (Tucker has been in many things, Danielle Macdonald who plays his wife was good in the lead role in Patti Cakes last year – she’s a real talent – and you’ll recognize young Scott from It. Yes, the film is deliberately provocative and controversial. You may hate it for that – or you may find the whole thing too far-fetched. But you aren’t going to forget this one – and I think Nattiv is a real talent we will be hearing from.

 

Fauve **** / *****

Directed by: Jérémy Comte.

Written by: Jérémy Comte.

Starring: Félix Grenier (Tyler), Alexandre Perreault (Benjamin), Louise Bombardier (The Woman).

 

The second film from Quebec to make the cut, Fauve is a quiet and poetic film – which like three of the other nominees is about young boys in peril. This time, the pair of boys is Tyler and Benjamin, and they are playing around where they shouldn’t be playing around – an old rail yard where the tracks have overgrown, and there are old train cars around, and then later what looks like some sort of mine or quarry. Their games have a little bit of danger to them – but nothing too out of control. The film is really about just how quickly things can go from fun to tragic with no one really meaning to get there. Writer/director Jérémy Comte is likely a fan of David Gordon Green’s masterpiece George Washington – and he tries hard, and succeeds, in building that same kind of tone and structure in the film. Whereas I think the others boys in peril films nominated go for the jugular – for an immediate, visceral emotional reaction – Fauve is more a tragic slow burn, building to a poetic ending. The other films grab you more when you watch them – it’s probably why this one is unlikely to win – but this is the film that I find myself haunted by after seeing it. Unlike Nattiv or Sorogoyen, I am unsure if Comte could sustain this sort of thing over a feature length – but I’d love to see him try.

Movie Review: 2019 Animated Short Films Nominations

Like I mentioned in my Documentary Short nominations reviews, I really do like trying to see all the shorts nominated at the Oscars every year – because often, short films are the proper place for certain stories (I see many 90 minute movies that really would be better at 45 minutes or less). In animation, that is really is the case. Like the documentaries, you can catch almost all of these films for free – online (with the exception of One Small Step and Bao – but you likely saw Bao in front of Incredibles II this year) – so even if a theater near you isn’t playing the shorts lineup, you have no excuse not to watch these little animated gems. And this is a good lineup.

 

Like with the documentary lineup, I’m reviewing them in order of preference – my least favorite first, ending with my favorite.

 

Animal Behavior *** ½ / ****

Directed by: Alison Snowden & David Fine.

Written by: Alison Snowden & David Fine.

 

Canada’s own Oscar winning animation couple (they won for Bob’s Birthday in 1995 – which was spun off into the Bob & Margaret TV show, and have since spent time doing Peppa Pig and Shaun the Sheep) return to the National Film Board of Canada for this hilarious little short – that at 15 minutes is perhaps a couple minutes too long. The basic premise of the film is a support group for animals, all of which are there to work in issues that are inherent in their species – the blood sucking parasite with separation issues, the female praying mantis who cannot keep a man, an over-eating pig, a cat who obsessively cleans herself, a gorilla in anger issues (there is also a bird, but his issues are harder to drill down to a single species related trait) – all being led by a dog therapist – who himself is getting over his own compulsive issues. In a way, it’s a one joke concept – and it can be pretty base at times – but one joke concepts work best in the short form, and Snowden and Fine execute that premise so perfectly that you don’t much mind. This is the deepest nominee to be sure – but what it does, it does as well as can be executed.

 

One Small Step *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Andrew Chesworth & Bobby Pontillas.

Written by: Andrew Chesworth & Bobby Pontillas & Shaofu Zhang.

 

The inspiration for this film seems to be if you could make the opening montage from Up unto a 7-minute film, but with a father/daughter relationship at its core rather than a husband and wife. In short, it’s about a Chinese family, in which the daughter dreams of being an astronaut – and the lovely playtime she has with her father as a kid acting out those dreams. As she grows older, she sets her mind to achieving that goal – and has less and less time with her father – and you know what’s going to happen there – and what will happen after. This is the first short from a new animation studio – Taiko – and it looks great, and it has a strong emotional pull to it – like the next film on the list, I cried at the end. Yes, it’s clichéd, but it works amazingly well.

 

Late Afternoon *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Louise Bagnall.

Written by: Louise Bagnall.

 

Louise Bagnall’s Late Afternoon is a relatively simple film – and you can probably tell in the opening minute what the closing minute (all of 8 minutes later) will be – and you would be right. And yet neither of those things diminishes the emotional pull of the film – or the simple beauty of the animation. The whole film is about an elderly woman – obviously with some sort of Alzheimer’s or memory issues – who over her afternoon tea keeps being reminded of events in her past, and being whisked back into those colorful memories. The animation here is simple – but that is a big part of its charm, and beauty. You know what the final moment will be – but unless you’re made of stone, you’ll still cry when it hits. A good little film to be sure.

 

Bao **** / *****

Directed by: Domee Shi.

Written by: Domee Shi.

 

This is undeniably the film in the running that most people will have seen – as it is the Pixar short that was shown ahead of Incredibles II. The Pixar shorts have been a mixed bag over the last few years – from every Sanjay’s Super Team, which was incredible, there is a Lava, which was not. But Bao is one of their best in recent years – a funny, sad, touching story about an Asian woman who creates a dumpling baby who she loves and raises, until he decides it’s time to move on. I know one aspect of the movie has disturbed many people (my sister-in-law hated it) – but I loved the fact that the movie embraced those dark feelings. It is, of course, remarkably well animated and both culturally specific, and yet universal. This is what happens when Pixar gives diverse voices a chance to tell their story – hopefully they will follow through on the feature side soon.

 

Weekends **** ½ / *****

Directed by: Trevor Jimenez.

Written by: Trevor Jimenez.

 

The clear standout of the animated short lineup is Trevor Jimenez’ Weekends, which is a sustained mood piece that delves into the feelings of what it means to be a child living through a divorce. There is no dialogue in the 15-minute film, which shuttles the young protagonist back and forth between the house he spends the week with his mother, and the apartment he spends weekends with his dad. It is a confusing mix of feelings – both parents get new partners, and this changes the home dynamics as well. The film is a blend of surreal – and at times disturbing – imagery as the film grows darker in some ways, or perhaps just grows up. As a child, he doesn’t fully understand what he is seeing, but by the end he will have to confront this changing landscape, and the complex world of adult emotions. The film is a quiet visual stunner – and as good as Bao was – also the clear best film nominated here.

Movie Review: 2019 Oscar Nominated Short Documentaries

I really do try and see the short films that are nominated for the Oscars every year – preferably before the ceremony – but it is often more difficult. The theatrical release isn’t very wide, the VOD release comes just a couple of days before the ceremony (and doesn’t seem to always hit Canada in time at all). This year, thankfully, the short documentaries are all available online to watch. Two of them (Period and End Game) are Netflix docs, another two are presented on YouTube by news organizations (The New Yorker to Lifeboat and The Guardian for Black Sheep) – and another is just on Vimeo for all to see – so if you have a Netflix subscription already, you can see all five without costing you a dime – and in just over 2 hours.

 

Below is a mini-review for all five nominated short documentaries – from my least favorite to my favorite. It is a pretty darn good lineup.

 

Lifeboat *** / *****

Directed by: Skye Fitzgerald.

 

Lifeboat is an undeniably powerful documentary about an important subject – the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe, where people from Africa are risking everything to make the perilous journey by boat to Europe for a better life. The film focuses on a German group who have made it their mission to rescue those migrants – the boats the make the journey are massively overcrowded and not safe – and it’s very common for people to die on the crossing. The documentary feels unfocused though – the first half is more confusing than anything, not making clear exactly what we are watching. The film finds its footing as it goes along – and grows more powerful. And yet, I could not help but think that the film feels like a superficial treatment of an important subject, told better in other films (like Fire at Sea) – and that all we’re really seeing here is a portrait of suffering, without proper context. The film still has value – we cannot turn away from the crisis – and yet I think it deserves deeper treatment than it gets here.

 

Period. End of Sentence *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Rayka Zehtabchi.

 

If you want a crowd pleaser in this category, this is the only choice. This Netflix documentary takes place in a small village outside of Delhi India – and is about a group of women who have a company that manufactures cheaper – but high quality – pads for women – because in India, less than 10% of women use them. The film is amusing at first, as documentarian Rayka Zehtabchi asks the people in the village what menstruation is – the men don’t seem to understand even the basics of it, younger women giggle, and look away awkwardly – something even some older women do. This is a taboo subject in India – and you can tell. The women involved want to eliminate that taboo – it is a natural bodily process after all, so it shouldn’t be shameful. The film is inspiring in the way it shows these smart, enterprising women manufacture and try and sell the pads. It also gets a little serious at times – talking about the cost of this taboo on the women of India. The film is crowd pleaser to be sure – fun and serious to boot. I do wish it was perhaps a touch deeper – the whole thing feels like a superficial gloss on the subject – an advertisement for its sponsored The Pad Project – an important organization to be sure, but an ad nonetheless.

 

End Game **** / *****

Directed by: Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman.

 

Oscar winners Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s End Game is a touching film about palliative care – the doctors, nurses and other health care workers who dedicate their careers to helping people in the final stages of their lives – not just with medical care, but about pretty much everything. The short documentary format is the right choice here – even at 40 minutes, the film can be tough to take as it is addressing a subject we all know we have to deal with someday, but no one wants to. The film’s approach is basically to sit back and observe – the patients, their families, the health care workers, etc. as they deal with the hardest decisions they will ever have to make. We see in the patients a variety of reactions – people who are defiant and think they can still beat their illness, those who are resigned to their fate, those who are scared, and a few who may accept it. In many ways, End Game is a very simple film, about a process that anyone who has ever watched a family member die has gone through, and that we will all go through ourselves. But it is that simplicity that makes it so effective.

 

Black Sheep **** / *****

Directed by: Ed Perkins.

 

The short documentary form is perfect for the story Black Sheep has to tell. In the aftermath of the killing of Damilola Taylor – a 10-year-old of Nigerian descent in London, England – a different Nigerian family living in the city decides to try and get away from the violence, and move to a smaller town. The effect it had on their son – Cornelius – is what is documented in Black Sheep. The entire movie is Cornelius’ story – talking about the hope he felt when he left, and how immediate the racist reaction to him and his presence was – involving him being beat up as soon as he arrives. He takes drastic measures to try and be “whiter” – colored contacts to change his eye color, even bleaching his skin to make him lighter. It works – to an extent – he finds a group of “friends” – who are as racist as ever, but somehow accept him (but only him). But being around that level of violence, and being that self-hating leads to violence in Cornelius as well. The film is striking shot – even with only one talking head interview, it still looks better than most docs of the same style, and the recreations scenes are stunning as well – more interested in the kind of immediate feeling of being in that situation than the details. Unlike some of the other films – that you feel are truncated versions of a full length doc (and thus, skimming the surface more than most) – Black Sheep finds the perfect length at 26 minutes for this story.

 

A Night at the Garden **** ½ / *****

Directed by: Marshall Curry.

 

Marshall Curry’s A Night at the Garden is only 7 minutes long, but that is the precise length it needs to be for it to get in, makes its points crystal clear, and get out again. The film is all archival footage of the rally at Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939. WWII is about to officially break out, Europe is in chaos, and Hitler is putting his final solution into effect. It is on this night that 20,000 Americans gather at Madison Square Garden to hold, in effect, a Nazi Rally under the guise of being true patriots. Much of the footage is silent – with just James Baxter’s great, tension fueled score as it soundtrack, as we see the type of footage we are well acquainted with from German propaganda films of the time, but this time on American soil –with a giant portrait of George Washington in the background. Curry is smart enough that he knows he doesn’t have to do much to the footage other than show it, edited together brilliantly, and scored perfectly. It is disturbing and horrifying – and makes all the point he needs to make with no commentary attached. A brilliant film.

Movie Review: Happy Death Day 2U

Happy Death Day 2U *** / *****

Directed by: Christopher Landon.

Written by: Christopher Landon.

Starring: Jessica Rothe (Tree Gelbman), Israel Broussard (Carter Davis), Phi Vu (Ryan Phan), Suraj Sharma (Samar Ghosh), Sarah Yarkin (Andrea “Dre” Morgan), Rachel Matthews (Danielle Bouseman), Ruby Modine (Lori Spengler), Steve Zissis (Dean Bronson), Charles Aitken (Gregory Butler), Laura Clifton (Stephanie Butler), Missy Yager (Julie Gelbman), Jason Bayle (David Gelbman).

 

I’m not sure I realized just how much I enjoyed the first Happy Death Day from 2017 until I saw the trailer for Happy Death Day 2U, and got excited about seeing them continue the story. In a way, the fact that the original film is precisely the type of film you should not be able to make a sequel to is precisely the reason why it is the perfect film to make a sequel to. Like the original film, Happy Death Day 2U doesn’t take itself seriously – at all – it’s a goofy horror movie riff that is almost more comedy than horror. And the sequel adds in goofy sci fi to the mix as well – not real sci fi, but 1980s teen comedy sci fi to it. Like the original, the ambition of the film is almost shockingly low – and you kind of realize half way through both films that they are going to somewhat squander an ingenious premise because the filmmakers aren’t willing to push themselves too far. And yet, both films are also a surprisingly fun time at the movies. If you cannot enjoy yourself watching these films, there’s something wrong with you.

 

In the opening scenes of Happy Death Day 2U, we think the film is going to change focus from our heroine in the first film – Tree (Jessica Rothe) – and instead focus on her now boyfriend, Carter’s (Israel Broussard) roommate Ryan (Phi Vu) – as he seems to be going through the same thing she went through in the first film – basically being stalked by a knife wielding maniac in a Baby Mask – and every time that psycho baby kills him, he wakes up and starts the same day over again. But the movie quickly dispatches this premise – and launches into a different one – involving his science experiment, which created the time loop in the first place, and has now transported Tree to another part of the multi-verse, which is very similar to the one she just left, but not exactly. And once again, she keeps dying and resetting the time loop – but this time, well, I’ll just let you figure that out.

 

The movie is goofy in its depiction of the multiverse, and leaves some fairly basic questions not only unanswered, but also completely unasked (if Tree is transported to another dimension, what happened to the Tree in that dimension – and everyone else for that matter at the scene of the explosion?). In a way, I kind of wanted to see the film follow through on the beginning – because the identity of Ryan’s killer (revealed about 10 minutes into the film) opens up a wealth of possibilities that the film just kind of ignores. I get it through – Jessica Rothe is the star here – she is terrific in both films, working her ass off in a role that requires a hell of lot of emotional whiplash from her, and she makes it all look easy. She is a movie star in the making to be sure.

 

Yes, the film is goofy as hell – but it knows that, and fully embraces its goofiness. This is even less of a horror film than the first film is, but is perhaps even more fun as a result, because it really leans into being a little more than a goofy good time. Yes, the ambitions are low – but the film exceeds them.

Movie Review: Hale County This Morning, This Evening

Hale County This Morning, This Evening **** / *****

Directed by: RaMell Ross

Written by: RaMell Ross and Maya Krinsky.

 

Although the documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening runs only 76 minutes, it doesn’t come as any surprise to learn that director RaMell Ross spent five years filming it. You can tell in the way his subjects respond to the camera – and the person behind it – that are comfortable with it being there. This is a documentary without narration – and one that doesn’t really tell a story, not in a traditional sense anyway. It observes its subjects as it goes about their day-to-day lives. And yet, and this is crucial, I don’t think the camera acts as a passive observer – this isn’t a fly on the wall type film. The camera is an active participant in a way, because it gets in closer to the subjects that you often see in films like this, and the subjects often interact with or perform for the camera. They are used to it, but they do not ignore it.

 

The movie takes place in Hale County Alabama – and its subjects are all black. Daniel and Quincy – two high school basketball players – are the protagonists, if there is such a thing in a movie like this. Ross is a photographer by trade, and you can tell in the way he frames shots, and finds a lot of beauty in this place, sometimes fleetingly in the background, sometimes right up front. His major concern here is how black people are photographed – and how they are presented to the world, and how that presentation affects how they are viewed. Hale County This Morning, This Evening acts as a corrective in some ways – presenting us in another way in which to view blacks from the South.

 

The film often takes the past of this area seriously – it may be the past, and it may not be talked about often (at least in the film) – but it is not forgotten. The film is both a masterclass in cinematography and editing, which brings the past into conflict with the present at times. Shocking images of black face performers remind us of the not so distant past – and how black people are often presented. Contrast this to the way Ross films them. When you make a film, the gaze of the filmmaker is inevitable – but who does the gazing matters.

 

Overall, I find it difficult to write about a film like Hale County This Morning, This Evening. It’s not a film that you can dissect a lot of what happens in it – it isn’t a film like that. It’s about small, beautiful moments – and how they are presented. And you just need to see it for yourself in order to understand just what it’s doing – and what a great job its doing at it.

Oscar Look Back - 1938

I almost didn’t post this – I meant to watch some of the ones I missed, but kind of ran out of time. So, while I missed more than I would have liked, I decided just to go ahead and post it.

 

Best Picture

1.     Grand Illusion

2.     The Adventures of Robin Hood

3.     Pygmalion

4.     Jezebel 

5.     You Can't Take It with You - WINNER

6.     Boys Town

Not Seen By Me

Alexander's Ragtime Band

The Citadel

Four Daughters

Test Pilot

Why This Ranking: The further back you go, the harder it is to see every – out of the four I have not seen, Alexander’s Ragtime Band and Test Pilot have never been on my list, but The Citadel and Four Daughters has been for a longtime – but I couldn’t find them at one point, but they’re available now, so there’s no excuse. Out of what I have seen, Boys Town is almost embarrassingly old fashioned and schmaltzy. This was a great period in the career of Frank Capra – but although it’s fine You Can’t Take It With You is nowhere close to Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Jezebel is a Southern melodrama made with style and skill, and has some great performances and is the kind of thing they don’t make well anymore. Pygmalion is as a old story, told a thousand times, but man does it work in this film. The Adventures of Robin Hood is one of the best old school action/adventure films and is a must see. But far and away the best film nominated – the first time they nominated a foreign language film ever – was Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion – his best known film (although not his best) – his WWI masterpiece.

What Was Overlooked: We could add a few other foreign masterpieces – Sergei Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky (my favorite of the Soviet master’s films) or Marcel Carne’s Port of Shadows for example – and technically Jean Renoir’s La Bete Humaine was a 1938 film as well. They were never going there though - but what about the Hitchcock classic The Lady Vanishes or two of the best screwball comedies of the 1930s – Holiday and especially Bringing Up Baby. Lots of great choices were available here.

 

Best Director

1. Angels with Dirty Faces - Michael Curtiz
2. You Can't Take It with You - Frank Capra - WINNER
3. Boys Town - Norman Taurog

Not Seen By Me

The Citadel- King Vidor

Four Daughters - Michael Curtiz

Why This Ranking: I loved both King Vidor and Michael Curtiz – so I need to see The Citadel and Four Daughters respectively. Of the nominees I have seen, I don’t get the nomination for Norman Taurog for Boys Town which is just so dull and predictable. I guess Frank Capra won for You Can’t Take It with You because it was a larger cast than normal, and he had to keep it all moving. Best of all was the rare Lone Director nomination – Michael Curtiz for Angels with Dirty Faces – a great 1930s gangster movie, that yes, has some clichés, but is so brilliantly pulls if off you don’t care.

Who Was Overlooked: I really wish the Academy had gone the whole way and nominated Jean Renoir for Grand Illusion to go along with the Best Picture nomination. Directing comedies doesn’t get nomination very often, so I would have loved to see Howard Hawks for Bringing Up Baby pick up a nomination – particularly because they also didn’t nominate him enough over the course of his career either.

Best Actor

1.     Angels with Dirty Faces - James Cagney

2.     Pygmalion - Leslie Howard

3.     Boys Town - Spencer Tracy - WINNER

Not Seen By Me

Algiers - Charles Boyer

The Citadel - Robert Donat

Why This Ranking: I’m really surprised that the Academy gave Spencer Tracy an Oscar for Boys Town – since he had just won the previous year, and there is nothing really that special about his work in the film as a kindly priest. The role of the stuffy professor in Pygmalion was the role that Leslie Howard was born to play, and he is wonderful. But of course, it’s James Cagney as the amoral gangster in Angels with Dirty Faces that really is one of the great performances of his career – especially his ambiguous final scene.

Who Was Overlooked: For me, you could argue that Cary Grant gave not just one but two performances this year better than anything nominated in screwball comedies in Holiday and Bringing Up Baby so they could take their pick. They also had their pick of great Jean Gabin performances – Grand Illusion, La Bete Humaine and Port of Shadows.

 

Best Actress

1.     Pygmalion - Wendy Hiller

2.     Jezebel - Bette Davis - WINNER

Not Seen By Me

Marie Antoinette  - Norma Shearer

Three Comrades  - Margaret Sullavan

White Banners - Fay Bainter

Why This Ranking: I’m sorry, but I know I’m not the only one who probably couldn’t tell you anything about Three Comrades or White Banners – which is why I haven’t seen Margaret Sullivan or Fay Bainter’s performances. I have heard about Marie Antoinette – but nothing all that good that would make me need to watch Norma Shearer in the film. As for the two I have seen, it’s not a bad do. I prefer Bette Davis when she has more bite than she does as the self-sacrificing heroine of Jezebel – but she’s still quite good. It is Wendy Hiller in Pygmalion though that is my favorite of the performances – it’s a hoot.

Who Was Overlooked: Much like Cary Grant in the Best Actor category, Katherine Hepburn perhaps gave two performances better than anything nominated in Bringing Up Baby and Holiday.

 

Best Supporting Actor

Not Seen By Me

Algiers - Gene Lockhart

Four Daughters - John Garfield

If I Were King - Basil Rathbone

Kentucky - Walter Brennan - WINNER

Marie Antoinette - Robert Morley

Why Think Ranking: Well, this is embarrassing – there are not many acting categories in any year of the Academy Awards where I have seen none of the nominees. This was the second of three wins for Walter Brennan – the first ever to do that, but of the three, Kentucky is the least talked about. I have always liked John Garfield – so I really should see Four Daughters. I liked Pepe Le Moko, so I probably should see Algiers – the American remake, with Gene Lockhart. Character actor Robert Morley got his only Oscar nomination for Marie Antoinette. As for If I Were King gave Sherlock Holmes Basil Rathbone, his second and last nomination.

Who Was Overlooked: I always enjoy Claude Rains – and he gives one of his best villain performances in The Adventures of Robin Hood. The great French actor Michel Simon is terrific in Port of Shadows.

 

Best Supporting Actress

1.     Jezebel - Fay Bainter - WINNER

2.     You Can't Take It with You  - Spring Byington

Not Seen By Me

The Great Waltz - Miliza Korjus

Merrily We Live  - Billie Burke

Of Human Hearts - Beulah Bondi

Why This Ranking: The year after she gave one of the best performances ever in Make Way for Tomorrow, Beulah Bondi was nominated for Of Human Hearts – a film I’ve never heard of. Glinda the Good Witch Billie Burke got her only Oscar nomination for Merrily We Live. Another film I don’t really know is The Great Waltz or Miliza Korjus. Of the two I have seen, it’s hard to fault them for nominating Spring Byington for You Can’t Take It with You who was quite good, and if you have to single out someone, why not her? But Fay Bainter was still probably a fine choice for Jezebel – if for no other reason than she became the first of the double nominees (Actress and Supporting Actress) – and usually they win something.

Who Was Overlooked: The wonderful Dame May Whitty is The Lady Vanishes in Hitchcock’s classic, and quite good. Michele Morgan is terrific in Port of Shadows.