Mystery Movie Night | Some Like It Hot (1959), Tommy Boy (1995), and Tropic Thunder (2008)

Erik, Dave, David, and I muse about Marilyn, man-children, and method acting.

00:02:05 - Review of Some Like It Hot (1959)
00:19:16 - Review of Tommy Boy (1995)39:08
00:39:18 - Review of Tropic Thunder (2008)
01:04:09 - Guessing the Connection

Filthy Horrors | Purple! Monster! (or, The Titular Goblin)

Darla, Jess, and I completely lose our credibility when we play Trivial Pursuit: Horror Movie Edition. Play along and see if you can answer the questions before we can. (You can.)

Dragonfly Ripple | Captain Marvel (2019)

Finally caught up and ready for Endgame, David and I converse about Carol Danvers and cats as well as the other Captain Marvel.

Hellbent for Letterbox | Dodge City (1939)

Pax and I visit Michael Curtiz' Dodge City with Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Bruce Cabot. But before that we also talk briefly about a couple of '70s Robert Redford movies (The Sting and The Hot Rock) and Vincent D'Onofrio's new Billy the Kid movie, The Kid starring Dane DeHaan, Ethan Hawke, and Chris Pratt.

 

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

Who's in it?: Diego Luna (Open Range, Rogue One), Gael García Bernal (Coco, Mozart in the Jungle), and Maribel Verdú (Pan's Labyrinth).

What's it about?: Two teenage bros (Luna and García Bernal) take a road trip with a grown-up woman (Verdú) and learn something about themselves.

How is it?: It's fascinating to contrast Y Tu Mamá También with Alfonso Cuarón's previous film, Great Expectations. Expectations is all about sensuality through what you can't see, but only imagine. That's a lot of what the story is actually about and it's certainly the approach that Cuarón takes to presenting it.

Mamá, on the other hand, leaves nothing to the imagination. The story is about sex, specifically as thought about and experienced by its male protagonists. Cuarón appropriately presents it with as much subtlety as teenaged boys approach sex: none at all.

Taking nothing away from Cuarón's thoughtfulness about his material (I like how there's no easy, clean wrap up; this is a messy tale) and his amazing skill in presenting it (the road trip through Mexico is beautiful), Mamá isn't for me. I hated spending time with Luna and García Bernal's characters and though my heart went out to Verdú's, this really isn't her story.

Rating: Two out of five worried women.

Mystery Movie Night | Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939), All the President's Men (1976), and Spotlight (2015)

Evan, Erik, Dave, David, and I gab about girl gumshoes, the government, and the Globe.

00:02:00 - Review of Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939)
00:16:57 - Review of All the President's Men (1976)
00:31:52 - Review of Spotlight (2015)
00:44:48 - Guessing the Connection

Fourth Chair Army Invasion | Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)

With the new Shazam! movie fresh in theaters, Evan, Pax, and I go back to 1941 to talk about the Big Red Cheese's first movie appearance. It's a deep dive into the classic movie serial as well as discussions of comics, the '70s TV show, and expectations for the new film.

Poplitiko Interview

My buddy Alex Ness runs a thoughtful pop culture blog called Poplitiko. He's currently publishing a series of interviews with various creative people and asked me to participate. We talked about my development as a writer, my habits, and my thoughts about my earliest work. It was fun to reflect on all of those things.

It's also a quick read, so go check it out and take a look at what else Alex has going on over there.

Hellbent for Letterbox | The Train Robbers (1973)

Pax and I talk about John Wayne, Ann-Margret, Ricardo Montalban, and how twist endings can save a movie. On the subject of train robbers, I also briefly review One More Train to Rob (1971) starring George Peppard and Diana Muldaur. And Pax recounts his hunt for the details around a Western-themed childhood mystery.

The Kid from Brooklyn (1946)

Who's in it?: Danny Kaye (Up in Arms, Wonder Man, White Christmas), Virginia Mayo (The Princess and the Pirate, Wonder Man), Vera-Ellen (Wonder Man, White Christmas), and Steve Cochran (Wonder Man)

What's it about?: A milkman (Kaye) accidentally knocks out a professional boxer (Cochran) and is pressured by the fighter's manager into becoming a boxer himself.

How is it?: Easily my favorite of the three early Danny Kaye movies we've seen so far this year. In addition to Cochran, Vera-Ellen and Virginia Mayo are also both back from Wonder Man, playing Kaye's sister and girlfriend respectively. The movie's as funny as the previous two, but the music is better with even more focus on Vera-Ellen's amazing dancing.

There's also a nice character arc for Kaye's milkman and Cochran reminds me of Bobby Cannavale in all the best ways. And there's a great payoff gag at the end of the movie that made me want to rewatch the whole thing again right then.

Rating: Four out of five pugilistic pasteurized-product peddlers.

Great Expectations (1998)

Who's in it?: Ethan Hawke (In a Valley of Violence, The Magnificent Seven, The Kid), Gwyneth Paltrow (Se7en, Emma, Iron Man), Anne Bancroft (Treasure of the Golden Condor, The Graduate, Honeymoon in Vegas), Robert De Niro (The Untouchables, Midnight Run, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), Chris Cooper (Lonesome Dove, The Bourne Identity, The Muppets), and Hank Azaria (The Simpsons, Friends, Mystery Men)

What's it about?: An adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel about the life of an orphan, but set in contemporary times.

How is it?: Emmanuel Lubezki's photography is a highlight as usual. He's won enough Oscars to make that an understatement, but Alfonso Cuarón (who directed this, which is why I'm watching it again) was an early collaborator with Lubezki. In Great Expectations, Cuarón brilliantly communicates the sensuality of Finn (Pip in the book) and Estella's relationship through camera placement, focus, scene blocking, and pretty much every other tool in his kit except dialogue and gratuitous nudity, which are what less talented directors have to rely on.

What keeps it from being a favorite film of mine is the story itself. I've never read Dickens' novel, so I don't know who to blame, but I get tired of Dinsmoor and Estella's shenanigans way before Finn does, meaning that I also get impatient with his continued submission to their cruelty. Cuarón is so good at including me in Estella's seduction of Finn that I feel why it would be tough for Finn to move on, but I really want him to and though SPOILER his patience ultimately pays off, I'm not satisfied that the reward is worth the lifetime of suffering.

I could be thinking about it wrong by phrasing it in terms of reward for Finn, but Estella isn't a complete enough character for me to see her point of view clearly. There's a great scene where she talks about Dinsmoor's training and what that's done to her, but it's not enough. I want more of that.

Rating: Three out of five seductive socialites.