The Life Ahead, Jungleland, plus suggestions for some TCM cable offerings and other cinematic topics

Hard Roads for a Couple of Kids

(Even as They Attempt to Act Like Adults)

            Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke

I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) when they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.

           The Life Ahead (Edoardo Ponti)   rated PG-13

Opening Chatter (no spoilers): Just when I was pondering the possibility about risking another trip to a local cinema to see Let Him Go (Thomas Bezucha), Ammonite (Francis Lee), and/or Hillbilly Elegy (J.D. Vance), my California county (and neighboring ones) returned to the highest level of COVID-19 concern, closing all movie theaters and indoor dining in the process, so there’ll be no question I’ll continue to review streaming options for the foreseeable future (although … Elegy’s set for Netflix on November 24, 2020, so you’ll likely see a review here the week after Thanksgiving).  No problem for this posting, though, because I’ve had easy access to a couple of emotional-trauma-dramas, well worth your consideration, beginning with The Life Ahead where the marvelous Sophia Loren returns to the silver (OK, electronic) screen after a decade-absence playing an elderly Italian concentration camp survivor now running an informal-foster-home for a few children of local prostitutes when her life becomes entangled with a young, bold orphan/street hustler whose actions require patience and understanding from each of them.  Following, we’ll enter more-physically-brutal-territory with Jungleland about 2 New England brothers desperate to improve their situations with one an underground bareknuckle boxer, both of them in heavy debt to a local hood who insists they drive to California for a big tournament but they also have to drop off a teenage girl on the way to a sleazebag in Reno.  The former film’s available for Netflix subscribers, the latter’s on a few platforms for a $10 rental.  Moreover, in the Short Takes section, I’ll offer suggestions for some choices on the Turner Classic Movies channel (but too much extra text for line-justified-layout like you see here [Related Links stuff at each posting’s end is similarly-ragged], at least to be done by this burned-out-BlogSpot-drone—oh, ye tedious software!) along with my standard dose of industry-related-trivia.

Here’s the trailer for The Life Ahead:

                   (Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate 

                   that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)

If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $.  To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid those important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters like this: 

⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.

What Happens: Madame Rosa (Sophia Loren) is an Italian Jew who survived the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp, was a prostitute for many years, now runs a small home for the abandoned children of other prostitutes in Bari, an Italian coastal town.  One day a 12-year-old-boy, Momo (Ibrahima Gueye)—actually Mohammed, but he hates the name—steals her purse and a shopping bag in the marketplace, tries to hock the 2 metal candlesticks she was carrying in the bag to no avail, is forced to return them by Dr. Tom Coen (Renato Carpentieri) who’s trying to serve as the boy’s guardian but with little success as Momo’s an uncooperative kid who also works as a drug runner for local pusher Ruspa (Massimiliano Rossi) with solid results, enough so his “boss” gives him priority over an older boy who doesn’t sell as much.  Dr. Coen demands Momo apologize to Rosa but she won’t accept it, then Coen pushes further by getting her to begrudgingly-agree (due to cash) to take in the boy for a couple of months while he tries to arrange a more permanent foster home (the kid’s not really interested yet accepts the arrangement in order to avoid Social Services).  Momo’s belligerent, hassles another boy, Iosif (Iosif Diego Pirvu)—taunting him his mother will never return as Iosif firmly believes she will (Momo’s from Senegal; Mom died when he was very young so he hardly remembers her, but his sense of abandonment is clearly the basis for his constant angry rebellion)—then finally gets more agreeable when Rosa allows him to share Iosif’s room (Rosa’s trying to teach Iosif his needed Hebrew) after Momo first slept in a space the size of a small closet.  

 Momo has artistic talent, often makes lifelike drawings, begins to accept his situation with Madame Rosa better after she introduces him to Hamil (Babak Karimi), a local merchant who tries, with slim response, to help the boy respect his Muslim heritage.  At times Rosa goes into her private quarters (a room in the basement where lots of junk is piled up) just to get away from the world (Momo has his own form of escape by daydreaming of being with a friendly lioness), but she’s also showing signs of dementia which greatly worries her transgender-prostitute-friend (formerly a boxing champ), Lola (Abril Zamora, a transgender actor), as well as Momo.  Eventually Rosa has to be taken to the hospital (she never wanted such but is too confused now to object).  ⇒Momo quits his drug dealing, apologizes to Hamid for previous disrespect, visits Rosa in the hospital (who doesn’t seem to know him), sneaks her out to go back home where he hides her in the secret room, brings her food and plastic mimosa flowers (her favorite, but he couldn’t find any real ones) until she dies.  The film ends with her burial, Momo putting Rosa’s prized photo of a tree filled with those mimosas on her grave.⇐

So What? The Life Ahead (likely referring to Momo, although we don’t know what that will be; yet, we do get a sense of his survival as he intermittently provides voiceover-narration about the events we see, giving us the sense he’s recalling his youth in retrospective) is a quiet, somber film about people desperately trying to get by with limited resources, opportunities, hopes for their futures—in one scene Rosa and Momo see an African rounded up for deportation; she’s worried that could easily be Momo’s fate as well given neither she nor Dr. Coen have any legal guardianship of him—although one bright spot involves Iosif when his mother does return to retrieve him, much to his delight, but his departure from Rosa’s home leaves Momo sad with another sense of abandonment.  I’d have been sad too, if I’d skipped this film which I considered doing because of a scathing review from my local critical-guru, Mick LaSalle, of the San Francisco Chronicle: “Movies move, but sometimes we remember them frozen, as a series of tableaux. We remember the idea of the movie, but we forget the experience of it. And some movies are better as an idea. Some movies are better as a memory. [¶] Does any of this make sense? Maybe it doesn’t. But who wants to come into a review cold to find out that the new Sophia Loren movie — her first in a decade — isn’t worth seeing?”  My wife, Nina (loved ... Ahead), was so taken aback she complained to Mick; no reply yet.

 That evaluation surprised me too because I’d seen other commentary Loren might return to Oscar consideration for this role (she won as Best Actress for Two Women [Vittorio De Sica, 1960; a film harkening back to the great, gritty days of Italian Neorealism], the first person ever to achieve such an honor from the Academy for acting in a non-English-language-film), so, based on my respect for Loren’s past work (and much-better-encouragement from the CCAL than what Mr. LaSalle had to offer; details on their reactions in the next section of this review) I watched The Life Ahead anyway, am grateful I did, believe Loren deserves consideration when awards-nominations are announced in 2021 (although she’d be considered the lead actor here almost by default because this is essentially Momo’s story, with him probably getting more screen time than she does, yet her presence in the film is a strong one so if she is nominated by the Oscar voters or other groups—Golden Globes, critics’ organizations—I’m sure it would be for Best Actress; Gueye deserves some consideration as well, although children, even in such significant roles, rarely get Oscar nominations, but his case is solid).

Bottom Line Final Comments: I hope my strong positive reaction to this enticing film will encourage you to watch it (assuming you are/will be a Netflix subscriber, although supposedly it’s playing in a few theaters but I don’t know where, at least not in the San Francisco East Bay area where I am, even before the recent return to shutdown), possibly helped by, despite this being an Italian film, you can watch it with English dubbed in (not too distracting, I tried it; for that matter you can choose other dubbing languages if you prefer) or retain the original Italian dialogue, add closed-captions in English (at least that’s how it works in Netflix streaming, the only online source for this film as far as I know [oddly enough, JustWatch doesn’t list it at all]; just be sure to scroll down to the Audio and Subtitles options in Netflix streaming before choosing Play when you begin the film).  As for that CCAL encouragement, those Rotten Tomatoes critics are extremely supportive with 94% positive reviews—they’re the ones you should listen to concerning The Life Ahead because the folks surveyed at Metacritic are stingier than usual with just a 66% average score (based on only 23 reviews, though, so you might check back later to see if there are revisions; connections to both these sites are found much farther below in the Related Links section, which is always the case for anything I formally review), although even that relatively-low-number’s more generous than what’s forthcoming from LaSalle (my 4 stars as well only equates to 80% of my possible 5, but a film has to be really special before I go above 4 so this number from me denotes substantially-high-quality, with my strong encouragement to seek it out).  I’ll also note that while Madame Rosa’s fictional situation with Momo develops into a quasi-family-sense of mutual acceptance (as if she’s become the kid’s grandmother), the filmmaking is an actual family affair as the director’s her son by her late, longtime husband, producer Carlo Ponti (see Related Links also for a lively interview of Sophia by Edoardo).

 You’d think a film I’m this enthused about would result in a longer review, but sometimes brevity’s the soul of wit (certainly in this film, clocking in at an effectively-concise 95 min.)—although I’m not saying this review is as eloquent (or as knowingly satirical) as the original use of that phrase as long-winded Polonius finally utters it in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (c. 1600 [a 5-stars tale if there ever was one])—so just know that what you'll find in The Life Ahead is a simple, easy-to-follow, heartwarming/ heartbreaking narrative with superb acting, straightforward cinematics properly supporting the story, and a fitting end to Loren’s extensive, extraordinary career if, indeed, this proves to be her final role.

 As always, I’ll bring my cluster of comments into closure with a Musical Metaphor to add one last perspective to this film as well as provide some allusive considerations about its subtle impact; for this purpose, I’m going to push the conceptual barrier somewhat this time by using Carlos Santana’s fine collaboration with Everlast, the Grammy-winning “Put Your Lights On” (part of Santana’s 1999 Supernatural album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCBS5EtszYI because lyrics such as “[…] there’s a monster Living under my bed Whispering in my ear There’s an angel With a hand on my head She say I got nothing to fear There’s a darkness Livin’ deep in my soul I still got a purpose to serve So let your light shine Deep into my hole God, don’t let me lose my nerve Don’t let me lose my nerve” speak to sorrows, concerns, hopes for restitution that haunt/encourage both Momo and Madame Rosa as well as all the “sinners […] lovers […] killers […] children [… who need to either] Put your lights on [… or] Leave your lights on [… so we can eventually] shine like stars [… before] we fade away.”  Rosa, Momo, Lola, and all those around them live in a hardscrabble world where joy and success are hard to come by, yet they continue to be inspired by something as pure and simple as a faded photo of mimosa trees.  We could all benefit from such willingness to find beauty in the cluttered basements of our lives, even when the world around us moves into the darkness of winter with our fierce political divisions and the surging pandemic continue to challenge us on a daily basis.

              

                        Jungleland (Max Winkler)   rated R

                 

Here’s the trailer for Jungleland: (extended 6:30 version)

Or, if you’d prefer to watch a shorter one (2:24):

               

               

What Happens: The situation for the brother protagonists here, Stan (Charlie Hunnam) and Walter “Lion” Kaminski (Jack O’Connell), isn’t much better than Madame Rosa and Momo’s, it’s just in different locales spanning the U.S.A. from New England to San Francisco.  Stan and Lion’s difficult life has left them in a current “home” of an abandoned building they have to sneak in and out of.  Lion’s a bareknuckle boxer who fights in illegal, clandestine venues because he lost his license due to ex-con-Stan attempting to bribe a referee.  As our story opens in Fall River, MA, Lion has a great shot at winning his upcoming bout, but during the match he sees local gangster Pepper (Jonathan Majors) up in the balcony, is distracted knowing Stan’s working with this hood (placed a bet), loses the fight, leaving the brothers sunk $100,000 in the hole to Pepper who offers them a chance for redemption by: (1) driving cross-country (Pepper will supply a car, some cash, even a gun) for Lion to enter the underground Jungleland fights in San Francisco where they should be able to win back what they owe, and (2) taking 16-year-old-Sky (Jessica Barden) with them to be delivered in Reno, NV to Colonel Yates (John Cullum), seemingly for prostitution.  Stan’s not all that interested in the Sky-aspect of their task but has no choice, even as he again shows poor judgment by wasting some of their traveling money on a grand suite at an Indiana hotel.  That night while Stan’s flirting with a woman in the hotel lounge, Sky and Lion (becoming easily interested in her) drive off to a local bar where their mutual interest turns to sex before Sky tries to drive away, smashing their car into another, then running back to the hotel.  Without the substantial funds needed for repairs, Stan convinces the mechanics to fix the car for free if Lion can beat 2 of them at once, which he does, so our trio (and their dog, Ash) are on the road again to her home in Gary, IN where her Mom and Stepdad turn them away so they break into the local high school for food, then continue their journey.

 At another stop, though, at a café their illegally-parked-car is towed off, with most of their money still in it, so they have no choice but to take a bus on to Reno; once there, Sky and Lion slip away (for more sex at a truck stop restroom, after which Sky leaves Lion behind, hitching a ride with a trucker), so when Stan wakes up he’s hauled to Yates’ lair where, tied up and gagged, he’s berated for letting Sky get away because (according to the cruddy-old-captor [John Cullum]) Sky’s pregnant with his baby.  ⇒Lion knows where to find Yates, uses the pistol to dispose of him and his bodyguards, after which the brothers continue their travels to SF.  In another brutal fight, bloodied-Lion seems to be beaten (Stan even tells him to stay down) but rises to the occasion, winning his bout as we see Sky being dropped off in the area by the trucker.  However, there’ll be no celebration for the brothers because police arrive outside the boxing venue, likely there to arrest Stan because he dropped his driver’s license in Yates’ place as he and Lion left there with the dead bodies likely soon found; how the cops managed to trace Stan to SF I’m not sure, nor do we find out as the film abruptly stops.⇐

So What? I’d read many a supportive statement about Jungleland so I was quite intrigued to see it anyway despite lukewarm support from the CCAL (more details in this review’s next section) along with some outright dismissals such as this one from Dennis Harvey of Variety: “This may inevitably recall the fairly recent likes of ‘The Fighter’ and ‘Warrior,’ excellent movies with other fine lead actors that likewise tipped hat to the gritty ‘70s cinema of ‘Fat City’ and ‘Rocky’ – which in turn cast a critical yet longing gaze back to palooka dramas from Hollywood’s golden age. [¶] ‘Jungleland’ isn’t as good as any of those above-named films, but it’s good enough to make you wish it weren’t just so incredibly redolent of them. It’s the kind of enterprise that has everything but a single fresh idea, or even moment.”*  Sorry, Dennis, I totally disagree with you, was too inclined to see Jungleland despite any naysayers unless they were near-universal, especially when encouraged by other critics such as Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times: “This dire and dreamy road movie is impressive work from director and co-writer Winkler (he co-wrote with Theodore Bressman and David Branson Smith) […] an actor’s picture, with a trio of English actors tackling working-class American dreamers, to remarkable results. Hunnam excels in roles that utilize his gift of gab and natural, almost ingratiating charm, and O’Connell disappears into the role of the stoic, strong and loyal Lion. Barden holds her own against the two as the enigmatic Sky. [¶] Shot with heightened naturalism by cinematographer Damián García, certain images are incredibly striking, seemingly plucked out of the existing landscape […] a rhythm that ebbs and flows, sound overlapping image to push the pace, and occasionally allowing it to grind to a halt, observing how tensions rise on this increasingly disastrous journey.”  (I couldn’t have said all this better myself, so why bother trying?  Thanks, Katie.)

 Ultimately, as far as I'm concerned, Jungleland may well evoke other, older cinematic stories about professional (or underground, Fight Club [David Fincher, 1999]-like) boxing, dysfunctional families, desperate attempts to find success when the odds seem impossibly-stacked against you, but, if it works, so what?  Obviously, some find the resemblances to previous inspirations to be too cloying (or just repetitive), so that’s a valid consideration if the current film seems lacking, but some stories just beg to be told again (as with endless film noirs about suspect protagonists, femme fatales, dirty business on all sides of the law); when told successfully, as I—and many others—find to be the case with Jungleland, I think such a revisit to past explorations is well-intended, surely well-accomplished.

*I’ll easily admit The Fighter’s (David O. Russell, 2010) a superior story, based in reality about half-brothers Micky Ward, Dicky Eklund (Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale)—the former a struggling boxer, the latter a former boxer/current crack cocaine addict—and their domineering mother (Melissa Leo); Bale and Leo respectively won the Best Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress Oscars, along with 5 other nominations for the film.  RT provided 90% positive reviews, with MC a very-supportive 79% average score; had I been reviewing at the time I might easily have gone for a rare-for-me 4½ stars (go here if you’d like a summary of it).  I didn’t see Warrior (Gavin O’Conner, 2011) about 2 brothers (Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton) who face off in a mixed-martial-arts-tournament, troubled with each other and their alcoholic father (Nick Nolte, a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination), but it sounds quite good from this summary (RT 83% positive reviews, MC 71% average score)—for that matter, I’ve not seen Fat City (John Huston, 1972) either, but with its 100% on RT (only 24 reviews, though; not reviewed by MC) I probably should give it a look sometime soon.  In my opinion, Jungleland only marginally gets into the storyline of Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976; winner of 3 Oscars, including Best Picture, Director), but it certainly has solid residence with the background-boxing-aspects of On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954; 12 Oscar noms, 8 wins including Best Picture, Director, Actor [Marlon Brando], Supporting Actress [Eva Marie Saint]), especially in the immortal scene [this clip's a bit dark but it's the only complete one I found] between another pair of brothers, Charlie [Rod Steiger] and Terry Malloy [Brando]) where once again the manager “shudda looked out for” the boxer in a better manner instead of going along with outside pressures; in each case the manager-brother pays a huge price (as best we’ll know about Stan) as the boxer-brother stands tall against adversity.

Bottom Line Final Comments: Supposedly, you can find Jungleland in a few theaters (assuming they’re still open, given the sudden resurgence of this damn coronavirus) but mostly it’s available for streaming on a few platforms; my easy choice (given my cable provider) of AT&T U-Verse On Demand has a $10 2-day-rental, but you should check JustWatch for other options (all the same price).  In addition to me, you’ll find the CCAL generally encouraging you as well but not at the same level of support they offered to the related-boxing-stories just noted above (by the way, for the record RT grants On the Waterfront 99% positive reviews [only some dude I’ve never heard of, Michael E. Grost—I doubt he’s heard of me either—objected], Rocky 94% while MC finally gets into superlative territory with a 91% average score for … Waterfront,  then they back off to 70% for the original Rocky), as RT musters only 74% positives for Jungleland, MC retreats to near-dismissive-territory with a 55% average score (based on a mere 13 reviews, though, so sometime later you might want to revisit their site [in my Related Links section below, connected to this film] to see if anything better comes in).  I’ll stand by my 4 stars, however, because I found this presentation to be compelling: intense acting, genuine reasons for sympathy toward the hardships all 3 main characters are enduring, a gritty approach to the filmmaking that has a touch of its own links to the Neorealism tradition, and closure that tantalizingly leaves more to be explored even though what we get in a taut 90 min. feels just right as it is with no thought of some odd sequel to follow up on their troubled lives.

 Rather than such a sequel (or if Jungleland doesn’t seem worth 10 bucks) you might want to listen to Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 album that also explores such topics of working-misery leavened with hopes for better times, Born to Run (click on each cut in the cluster to the right of the YouTube screen), with several songs alluding to traumas faced by Sky and the Kaminskis (sounds like a group doing homages to Springsteen), or, to simplify your task here’s one of my more-obvious-Musical Metaphors, the culminating song from that classic album, “Jungleland,” at https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=lW1RAYYs8RI (10:50 2000 live performance) where the specifics are different from bareknuckle-boxing but lives are just as demanding in their own way: “And the kids round here look just like shadows Always quiet, holding hands From the churches to the jails Tonight is all silence in the world As we take our stand down in Jungleland.”  This song’s not used in the film’s soundtrack but could be* as the protagonists in each story, on-screen or on-record (in 1975; likely downloaded today), epitomize the urban realities of “[…] there’s an opera out on the turnpike There’s a ballet being fought in the alley” (West Side Story anyone? [Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, 1961; huge Oscar winner, 11 in all including Best Picture]) along with the brutal ballet of a boxing ring, where bare fists, broken bodies take us back to the long-gone-era of 17^th-19^th century endurance-slugfests.

*Instead, with the credits we get Bruce's "Dream Baby Dream", not written by him (a 1979 single by the band Suicide)  but from his 2014 album High Hopes (presented here in a live 2013 performance).

              

SHORT TAKES

         

Suggestions for TCM cablecasts

            

At least until the pandemic subsides Two Guys also want to encourage you to consider movies you might be interested in that don’t require subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, similar Internet platforms (we may well be stuck inside for longer than those 30-day-free-initial-offers), or premium-tier-cable-TV-fees.  While there are a good number of video networks offering movies of various sorts (mostly broken up by commercials), one dependable source of fine cinematic programming is Turner Classic Movies (available in lots of basic-cable-packages) so I’ll be offering suggestions of possible choices for you running from Thursday afternoon of the current week (I usually get this blog posted by early Thursday mornings) on through Thursday morning of the following week.  All times are U.S. Pacific Daylight so if you see something of interest please verify actual show time in your area for the day listed.  These recommendations are my particular favorites (no matter when they’re on, although some of those early-day-ones might need to be recorded, watched later), but there’s considerably more to pick from you might like even better; feel free to explore their entire schedule here. You can also click the down arrow at the right of each listing for additional, useful info.

I’ll bet if you checked that entire schedule link just above you’d find other options of interest, but these are the only ones grabbing my attention at present.  Please dig in further for other possibilities.

Friday November 20, 2020

9:00 PM La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954) Cinema masterpiece, shows Fellini’s roots in Neorealism as he moves here somewhat in the realm of Lyrical Realism (before his full shift into Modernism). Story of a brutish strongman circus performer (Anthony Quinn) who buys a woman (Giulietta Masina) from a poor family to be his assistant, treats her badly, is violent toward a tightrope walker (Richard Basehart) who tries to befriend her. Superb acting. Won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Saturday November 21, 2020

1:15 PM Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) Difficult to make a satire about nuclear annihilation but this one succeeds, an hilarious send-up of the Cold War escalation between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. (regarding surviving nuclear holocaust in underground bunkers for years: “Mr. President, we must not allow a mineshaft gap!”) as a very deranged general orders a hit on Russia which looks to succeed. Peter Sellers is in 3 roles, others include George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, and James Earl Jones.

5:00 PM 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) Sci-fi spectacular and on my All-Time Top 10, with a lot of mysterious, difficult interpretations at its time of release (since clarified with a novel and a sequel) about a powerful object that enhances human evolution, then sends astronauts to Jupiter, aided/thwarted by super-computer, HAL 9000.  “Star Gate” scene at the end was truly groundbreaking for its time, still impressive (contributed to the Oscar for Special Visual Effects).

Sunday November 22, 2020

12:45 PM Splendor in the Grass (Elia Kazan, 1961) Set in 1928 Kansas, this is the sad story of a teenager (Natalie Wood) who resists sex with her boyfriend (Warren Beatty) until marriage but in the meantime he has to deal with his scandalous sister (Barbara Loden), only for each of them to suffer various forms of anguish when the Depression hits, further increasing the ongoing drama (still plays as truly tragic, not corny, at least for me).  William Inge won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay

3:00 PM Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986) If you’re open to it, this is one of Allen’s best. He’s ex-husband of Mia Farrow (ironic), her current spouse (Michael Caine) is in an affair with her sister (Barbara Hershey) who leaves her previous lover (Max Von Sydow); Allen eventually connects with another sister (Dianne Wiest)—Carrie Fisher, Maureen O’Sullivan are in there too. Oscars for Best Original Screenplay (Allen), Supporting Actor (Von Sydow), and Supporting Actress (Wiest).

6:30 PM Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933) For me, the best of the Marx Bros. because it’s so anarchic/satirical about patriotism during the Depression when national solidarity was just short of mandated.  Groucho as leader of fictional Freedonia (Zeppo as his secretary), on the verge of war with neighboring Sylvania, Chico and Harpo as spies; contains the famous “mirror scene” with Groucho and Harpo “reflecting” each other and “All God’s chillun got guns!” minstrel show parody.

Monday November 23, 2020

5:00 PM Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948) Fiction about the Chisholm Trail cattle drives from Texas to Midwest railroad centers; John Wayne as Thomas Dunson, a grizzled tyrant in charge of a large herd who feuds with adopted son, Matt (Montgomery Clift) leading to Matt overthrowing Tom’s leadership, leaving a lady love (Joanne Dru) behind in his rush to beat Tom to Abilene, KS to sell the herd but the inevitable confrontation of the 2 men occurs. Often considered one of the best westerns.

Wednesday November 25, 2020

5:00 PM Thunderball (Terence Young, 1965) Not exactly exquisite cinema but with the recent passing of its star it’s a timely offering plus an excellently-made adventure movie as Agent 007 (Sean Connery) takes on SPECTRE to recover 2 atomic bombs; hugely successful financially, great underwater Bahamas cinematography, Oscar winner for Best Visual Effects. Followed at 10:30 PM with You Only Live Twice (Lewis Gilbert, 1967) Connery as Bond again, another winner of this type.

If you’d like your own PDF of ratings/summaries of this week's reviews, suggestions for TCM cablecasts, links to Two Guys info click this link to access then save, print, or whatever you need.

Other Cinema-Related Stuff: Briefly, here are 3 items of possible interest: (1) Wonder Woman 1984 might move to Summer 2021 or HBO Max; (2) Universal and Cinemark agree to early VOD options (follows previous arrangement with AMC Theatres); (3) Theater owners face brutal Winter.  As usual for now I’ll close out this section with Joni Mitchell’s "Big Yellow Taxi" (from her 1970 Ladies of the Canyon album)—because “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone”—and my reminder you can search for streaming/rental/purchase movie options at JustWatch.

                         

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:

            

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Here’s more information about The Life Ahead:

https://www.netflix.com/title/81046378 (Netflix official site, limited details)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbX7oRz75LU (16:50 conversation about acting, fame, 

and this film by Sophia Loren and her son/director Edoardo Ponti)

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_life_ahead_2020

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-life-ahead

Here’s more information about Jungleland:

https://www.paramountmovies.com/movies/jungleland (not much at this official site either)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCAWkuYNeYo (28:04 interview with director/co-screenwriter Max Winkler, co-screenwriters David Branson Smith, Teddy Bressman, producers Brad Feinstein, Ryan Stowell, and actors Charlie Hunnam, Fran Kranz, Jessica Barden)

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jungleland

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/jungleland

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If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work.  (But if you truly have too much time on your hands you might want to explore some even-longer-and-more-obtuse-than-my-film-reviews-academic-articles about various cinematic topics at my website, https://kenburke.academia.edu, which could really give you something to talk to me about.)

If we did talk, though, you’d easily see how my early-70s-age informs my references, Musical Metaphors, etc. in these reviews because I’m clearly a guy of the later 20^th century, not so much the contemporary world.  I’ve come to accept my ongoing situation, though, realizing we all (if fate allows) keep getting older, we just have to embrace it, as Joni Mitchell did so well in "The Circle Game," offering sage advice even when she was quite young herself.

By the way, if you’re ever at The Hotel California knock on my door—but you know what the check-out policy is so be prepared to stay for awhile (quite an eternal while, in fact).  Ken

P.S.  Just to show that I haven’t fully flushed Texas out of my system here’s an alternative destination for you, Home in a Texas Bar, with Gary P. Nunn and Jerry Jeff Walker.  But wherever the rest of my body may be my heart’s always with my longtime-companion, lover, and wife, Nina Kindblad, so here’s our favorite shared song—Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon"

—from the performance we saw at the Desert Trip concerts in Indio, CA on October 15, 2016 (as a full moon was rising over the stadium) because “I’m still in love with you,” my dearest, a never-changing-reality even as the moon waxes and wanes over the months/years to come.

         

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