Moving into 2022 with Looks Back at 2021, Part 1
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) if they agree with me or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) if they choose to disagree.
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): After a well-appreciated holiday break from posting, Film Reviews from Two Guys in the Dark is back (well, just with Ken Burke as Pat Craig’s on undercover assignment in Ukraine, remains incognito). Just because I haven’t been writing and posting doesn’t mean I haven’t been watching, though, so here are some of my catch-up reviews from 2021 releases—lots of good ones, presented in the order in which I viewed them—some seen in theaters before COVID Omicron started raging, others on streaming with enough of a cluster I’ll present my comments in Short Takes fashion so that it won’t take you until 2023 to finish reading, with another cluster coming along in next week’s posting. For now, you’ll find Spider-Man: No Way Home (only in theaters where it’s raking in the dough—right now it’s #12 on the All-Time global chart, #10 on the domestic [U.S.-Canada] All-Time rankings), Swan Song (free to Apple TV+ streaming subscribers), Being the Ricardos (free to Amazon Prime video subscribers), The Matrix Resurrections (theaters, free to HBO Max subscribers), and Encanto (theaters, free to Disney+ streaming subscribers). Next week I’ll follow up with Don’t Look Up, The Lost Daughter, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and whatever else I might find via streaming as I’m not risking Omicron in theaters right now. Also 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, tedious software!) along with my usual, standard dose of industry-related-trivia.
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 $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who aren’t that tech-savvy)—to help any of you who’d like to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
SHORT TAKES (although "short" is a relative concept here)
The latest version of the adventures of Spider-Man continues with Tom Holland still in the title role, desperate about his secret identity being revealed (in his previous movie) so he calls on Dr. Strange to cast a memory-erasing-spell—that fails—bringing back 5 super-villains from previous episodes of earlier renditions of Spider-Man’s story starring other actors. This is a great concept, nicely executed.
Here’s the trailer:
(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.)
At the end of Spider-Man: Far from Home (Watts, 2019) Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is aghast when villain Mysterio’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) video is released posthumously revealing to the world Parker is Spiderman, leading to constant attention at home or school to him, his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), with none of the 3 younger ones getting into MIT because of all the controversial coverage (such as, despite Spidey's many good deeds, TheDailyBugle.net host J. Jonah Jameson [J.K. Simmons] runs a constant campaign accusing this superhero of being a lawbreaking-vigilante), so Peter asks Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell erasing everyone’s memory of the secret-identity-revelation; however, Peter interrupts the spell too many times (attempting to exclude those close to him from the memory-loss) resulting in villains from previous Spider-Man movies—Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) all from the Sam Raimi-directed movies (Spider-Man [2002], … 2 [2004], … 3 [2007]); Lizard (Rhys Ifans), Electro (Jamie Foxx) from the Marc Webb movies (The Amazing Spider-Man [2012], … 2 [2014])—arriving in our universe (explaining how the previous Spidey stories took place in other realms of the Multiverse, where none of the other Avengers exist). Each villain is intent on killing Peter, then they’re confused when he’s not the Peter Parker they knew*; with some help from Dr. Strange, Peter and his friends manage to capture all of these intruders, but Strange just wants to send them back to their universes, where each will be killed due to their respective encounters with their Spider-Man combatant, so Peter wants to use his scientific skills (aided by equally-intelligent MJ and Ned) to cure each invader of his villainy so they won’t have to die back home. ⇒It works for Doc Oc, but the Goblin leads a rebellion by the others leaving Peter to fight them alone (where are all those other Avengers when you need them?**), until he’s joined by Spider-Men from the previous movies, played by Tobey McGuire and Andrew Garfield; working together they manage to inject the cures into each of the villains while the Holland Peter’s stopped from killing the Goblin in retaliation for his vengeful actions, causing death for Aunt May.⇐
*Here’s a quick recap (14:13) of all the previous crucial content from the Raimi, Webb, and Watts Spider-Man tales for backstory on this character if you need it; no Spoilers about … No Way Home.
**The answer lies in the contractual deal between Sony (owner of the Spider-Man character and others in his orbit) and Disney’s Marvel (owners of the Avengers), with sharing that’s allowed some MCU characters into these Sony Spidey-stories while the Webslinger’s appeared in the MCU’s Captain America: Civil War (Joe and Anthony Russo, 2016), Avengers: Infinity War (Russo brothers, 2018), Avengers: Endgame (Russos, 2019), with supposedly more to come from these crossovers.
(No, Spidey hasn’t lost his arms here, it’s just a motion-arrested still photo.)
⇒However, Strange’s barrier keeping others with knowledge of Spider-Man’s secret from breaking through into our universe is weakening so the only option is another spell erasing any memory of Peter Parker from the entire Multiverse while sending everyone back to their original homes so it’s done, leaving MJ and Ned unaware of their former-colleague, Jamison still raging against anonymous Spider-Man. Peter considers re-introducing himself to MJ and Ned (now accepted into MIT), but decides against it, opting for a return to his life of crime-fighting.⇐ Most of the CCAL’s quite high on … No Way Home, with Rotten Tomatoes critics at 94% positive reviews, those at Metacritic with a 71% average score (more details on this movie and everything else reviewed here in Related Links far below). At domestic moviehouses—4,336 of them for opening weekend, a bit fewer now—the take currently stands at $613 million ($1.373 billion globally) so the public’s also enthused; technical Oscar nominations likely loom too. As always, I’ll wrap up these comments with a Musical Metaphor for the movie, which I think should be Supertramp’s “Take the Long Way Home” (from their 1979 Breakfast in America album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62Atkat PZwY, a song originally about a guy adrift (even his wife treats him like part of the furniture) but has a lot of application to the variations of Peter Parker we’ve met here and over the years: "So, you think you're a Romeo / Playing a part in a picture show / Well, take the long way home [...] When lonely days turn to lonely nights / You take a trip to the city lights / And take the long way home [...] So when the day comes to settle down / Who's to blame if you're not around / You took the long way home." How long Spider-Man will stay at home in NYC depends on Sony and Marvel into the future.
Swan Song (Benjamin Cleary) rated R 112 min.
Set in a somewhat distant future, Cameron (Mahershala Ali) is a dying man in a loving marriage (Naomie Harris [plus their sweet son]) is intrigued by a doctor’s (Glenn Close) experimental process to clone him so the family never has to know the real guy is now gone and replaced; however, despite the clone’s viability with Cam’s memories, Cam struggles to accept this irreversible decision.
Here’s the trailer:
A great human drama for a sci-fi story, one about the intersection of humanity and technology without outer-space, monsters, or end-of-the-world scenarios. Here, in a not-so-distant future where machines are still at our service rather than being at war against us (see below for The Matrix Resurrections if you prefer that) we have artist Cameron Turner (Mahershala Ali) in a solid marriage to Poppy (Naomie Harris), their home life enriched by 8-year-old-son Cory (Dax Rey; played at younger ages by Aiden Adejuwon, Ace LeVere [most of this is told in the film’s present time but we get flashbacks on how these lovers met, connected, had Cory; she’s now pregnant again]); however, Cameron knows he’s dying, hasn’t told his family yet, instead works with experimental scientist Dr. Jo Scott (Glenn Close) to produce a clone of himself intended to seamlessly take his place so no one will know of the switch (Poppy’s brother died in a mountain-bike-accident; Cam doesn’t want her to suffer another intense death). Claiming to be on a business assignment, Cam goes to Scott’s rural lab to see his duplicate (also played by Ali, called Jack to prevent confusion), is startled to find how his memories have been successfully placed into this clone yet hesitates to make the transfer, talking a lot to Dr. Scott and another dying patient, Kate (Awkwafina), now living in these woods as her clone’s already taken her place. Cameron furiously debates with himself about telling Poppy the truth, but if he does the deal’s off, she’ll just have to suffer his death. Cameron decides to go home, ‘fess up, but suffers a seizure before he can get to the front door so Dr. Scott sends a car to retrieve him (video images are sent through contact lenses so she can monitor Cameron—and Jack), sends Jack in his place who makes a smooth transition with wife and son. As Cameron recovers, watches video of Jack in his home; he’s now overcome so makes another trip to attempt to be with his family.
⇒When he quietly arrives, Jack sees him, steps aside, so Cameron talks with sleepy Cory, sleeps with Poppy, slips out next morning back to the lab, awaiting his end, resigned to sad acceptance his family will never know their man isn’t fully whom they think he is (neither will Jack, as his memories of the lab and Cameron are erased).⇐ A sad film yet beautiful in its humanity (however you define it) as one man puts the love of family above personal desperation to finish his life with them. This plays in a couple of theaters in my area but gets no mention at Box Office Mojo or The Numbers so unless you see a local listing use streaming on Apple TV+ (no extra charge after $4.99 monthly fee). CCAL’s reasonably-supportive with 79% positive RT reviews, a 66% MC average score. For a Musical Metaphor I’ll use Pink Floyd’s “Time” (from 1973 The Dark Side of the Moon album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEGL7j2LN84 (a “cloned” video, footage from different concerts to reunite estranged-band-members David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason) as some of its lyrics (“You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today / And then one day you find ten years have got behind you […] The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older / Shorter of breath and one day closer to death”) remind me of Cameron’s tragic situation, with no easy answer.
Based in the factual 1950s world of big TV hit I Love Lucy starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, this fictionalized version of their lives takes place in one traumatic week when Ball’s accused of being a Communist even as tensions emerge behind the scenes of the show’s latest episode, and the Arnaz couple are insisting pregnant Ball needs to play pregnant Lucy on the small screen but execs refuse.
Here’s the trailer:
A fictionalized version of real events (second item on this film far below in Related Links says most major plot points are accurate; noted-offspring Lucie Arnaz likes it, although she's an executive producer of the film), taking us to the early 1950s when the CBS TV show, I Love Lucy (1951-’57) was a huge hit but Lucille Ball’s (Nicole Kidman) having a terrible week prior to the next episode (Fred [J.K. Simmons as William Frawley] and Ethel Mertz [Nina Arianda as Vivian Vance] are fighting, Lucy’s trying reconciliation); not only is she concerned about rumors of husband Desi Arnaz’s (Javier Bardem) infidelity (a frequent topic in the 1940s: her in Hollywood, him on the road as a bandleader) but also on Walter Winchell’s radio program she’s accused of being a Communist (she once registered with that party but only as a tribute to her socialist grandfather who helped raise her when she was quite young). The film skips around through the time prior to this fateful week, but I’ll stay chronological as we watch Lucille and Desi meet in an RKO picture (Too Many Girls [George Abbott, 1940]), soon marry, then she pushes for better roles, gets good press for The Big Street (Irving Reis, 1942) but is dropped by RKO as not fitting their needs; at MGM she’s encouraged to dye her hair red, then try her hand at radio where she’s a hit on the 1948 comedy, My Favorite Husband. When the network wants to move it to TV she agrees but only working with Desi (an effort to keep him at home, even as he’s still gone nights each week, seemingly playing cards on his boat).
As the show moves through rehearsals (filmed before a live audience with a trio of 35mm cameras, a tactic used to make network-worthy-imagery through editing without doing a truly live broadcast; at times we get brief shots of what the finished show looks like) we also see producer/writer Jess Oppenheimer (Tony Hale), writers Madelyn Pugh (Alia Shawkat), Bob Carroll Jr. (Jack Lacy) as the Arnazes reveal Lucille’s pregnant, want to work that into the show despite objections from CBS and sponsor Phillip Morris (we also see tensions between Frawley and Vance, as she fumes about being the wife of a much older man, required to look frumpier than Lucy). ⇒Lucille’s obsessive about changing aspects of the episode’s scenes, generally gets her way, but just before the show’s filming an L.A. paper publishes the Commie story, so Desi talks directly to the studio audience, even gets J. Edgar Hoover on the phone to confirm the FBI has no problem with her, but just before showtime she confronts him with infidelity evidence.⇐ A pre-credits-graphic tells us Ball filed for divorce in 1960 (the day after they shot a last TV scene together). I can’t imagine anything more difficult for an actor than playing a cultural icon but Kidman and Bardem are marvelous (Arianda and Simmons excellent as well), yet the CCAL’s not so enthused (RT, 69% positive reviews; MC, 60% average score). You’ll find this for free if you’re an Amazon Prime video subscriber. For a Musical Metaphor I’ll use the famous I Love Lucy theme song (at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t_lFXZKah4, a version with some clips from the Harpo Marx episode, closing theme with show credits), which inspired me to include this condensed version of Lucy doing the sales pitch for Vitameatavegamin, the alcoholic-content of this muck having its impact on her as she struggles through several retakes.
Once again we’re back in the realm of a computer-generated-simulated-reality where human bodies are trapped in pods generating energy for the machines that control them while their collective-consciousness exists in the Matrix waiting for Neo and Trinity (not dead?), along with other rebels, to liberate them from this physical/cerebral imprisonment. You know the story? (It would help if you do.)
Here’s the trailer:
If you’ve seen the previous 3 Matrix movies you’ll likely enjoy this latest addition more than novice viewers; if you can actually remember a lot of details from those earlier episodes you’ll be the ideal audience; if you need help getting/recalling those previous plot elements you can go to this site for The Matrix (pre-trans Larry [now Lana] and Andy [now Lilly] Wachowski, 1999), this one for … Reloaded (The Wachowskis, 2003), and another for … Revolutions (The Wachowskis, 2003), maybe followed by this link (10:51 [ads interrupt at 2:20, 7:12]) with the Top 10 things you should know to better appreciate … Resurrections (there’s also a lot more detail in the new one than I’ll recount here so a longer summary awaits if you need it). Essentially, in the last outing of this franchise, Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) sacrificed themselves to bring about a truce between warring humans and sentient machines in a future not so far removed from our time, yet when we begin this new story the guy we know as Neo (a prophesized savior of humanity) is back in his previous ordinary existence as Thomas Anderson (not aged a bit since the prior events, although 60 years have passed), now a successful video game designer (with seemingly the events of those earlier 3 movies woven into a game called The Matrix, a machine-generated-pseudo-reality with Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, Smith, etc. as player-avatars in the game [some of the extensive meta-stuff throughout this movie: game’s parent company is WB who want a sequel to Thomas’ success]).
However, Thomas is troubled by visions of those earlier times which almost drove him to suicide, sees a therapist (Neil Patrick Harris)—later revealed as The Analyst, the new commander of the new Matrix—who gives him blue pills to keep him stable, then is confronted by Bugs (Jessica Henwick) and a new Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) who tell him his consciousness is once again just a program within the Matrix with his human body once again in an energy-generating-pod to feed the machines (who’ve somehow brought him back to life, kept that body from aging more than about 20 years), so with the help of a truth-revealing-red-pill he again joins the band of rebels fighting the machines who’ve reneged on the earlier truce but mostly he wants to free his lover, Trinity, also revived but trapped in a nearby pod, yet more crucial battles must first be fought (lots [too much?] of that sort of action here, as in the past chapters). There are many other characters here from the earlier Matrix movies also so once you’re past Spoiler concerns you should watch the second item with … Resurrections in Related Links far below to get a fuller sense of what all’s been constructed.
⇒Quickly, (as I imagine reading all of this posting's getting tiring), the events here have Trinity also freed to rejoin Neo so they can confront The Analyst, joined this time by the retooled version of Smith (Jonathan Groff); they allow their allies to get out of the Matrix while Neo and Trinity make daring escapes from the horrid-hoard of embedded-false-humans (bots) attacking them in the über-programmed-“reality” until such time as Trinity finds she can fly so they confront The Analyst, tell him they’re going to reform the Matrix, then they simply soar away.⇐ Obviously, a lot more goes on here than what I’ve noted, with a lot of remembrance revisited/updated for Matrix fans, although the whole experience may be too much unexplained-reference-overload for new viewers—as San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle says: “It’s possible, but only just possible, that a full understanding of this movie exists […] But it’s even more likely that 'The Matrix Resurrections' is a modern-day ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ operating on dream logic, and that even its creators don’t know exactly what it means. [¶] But that’s fine. […] In every scene – not at every moment, but in every scene without fail – there’s some wildly imaginative touch, some odd creation, some strange action that you would never expect to see.” The CCAL’s not that supportive, though, with RT’s 64% positive reviews, MC’s 63% average score, yet audiences are more accepting as the movie’s taken in $30.9 million since its domestic debut ($105.5 million worldwide so far; you can see it on HBO Max streaming too)—I’m more in league with them than with LaSalle as I question how much you can fully appreciate this one without saturation in extensive-backstory-awareness, so—while I enjoyed ... Resurrections—I'm not completely enthralled enough to generally laud it too much. As you might know from watching previous Matrix stories, or even just the trailer for this one, though, I couldn’t make a more obvious choice for my Musical Metaphor than Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” (from the 1967 Surrealistic Pillow album) at https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=AVER6hyoyJo, an appropriate song to help “Feed your head” whether aspects of The Matrix franchise matter to you or not; however, the movie’s ultimate concern, free will vs. fate, could offer you something notable to contemplate, nevertheless.
A Disney animated feature set in Colombia, South America where a family has enjoyed enchantment for years, living in a magical house where everyone has a special power except granddaughter Mirabel who tries to simply celebrate being within this wondrous clan but then she becomes the only one aware that the magic is fading, ultimately bringing about a great crisis for everyone in the family.
Here’s the trailer:
The 60th feature from Walt Disney Animation takes us to Colombia where the Madrigal family long ago lost Abuelo (Grandfather) Pedro to armed thugs but as wife, Alma (now just called Abuela [voice of MarÃa Cecilia Botero]), prayed for help to protect her triplet babies her candle became enchanted, destroyed their pursuers, then made a magical home for her family (rooms somehow open onto huge outdoor vistas), each of them gifted with a superpower of some sort (too many to explain here; watch this video [4:10] for details) except teenager Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz), who has a different “gift,” visions of the magic disappearing, the house crumbling, so her quest is to understand how to prevent this tragedy. ⇒With the help of estranged Tio (Uncle) Bruno (John Leguizamo) she tries reconciling with seemingly-perfect sister Isabella (Diane Guerrero), but their Casita still collapses; however, the needed reconciliation is with Abuela, after which magic is restored so joyous, colorful celebrations again erupt.⇐ While the emotional power of this story really picks up as it gets into its second half, for a good part of the early scenes (at least for me) all that seemed to be happening was some minor action led a character—often Mirabel—into yet another song (admittedly, very listenable ones with music by Germaine Franco, lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda) which is the kind of thing I like least about musicals unless the whole concept has some heft to it (as with West Side Story [our review of the fabulous Steven Spielberg remake in our Dec. 16, 2021 posting]) so overall, while I liked what I saw, became more involved as it all evolved, I’m notably lower in my rating than much of the CCAL: RT’s 91% positive reviews, MC’s 76% average score (relatively-encouraging, as you see from their previous results in this posting) so I’ll leave it to you if I’m not appreciating this one as much as I could be, despite my admiration for the research put in to help with South American authenticities, the fabulous computer visuals throughout, the rapid pace never permitting boredom.
Audiences are supportive as well since the movie's Thanksgiving weekend debut at 3,980 domestic theaters, a gross so far of $91.3 million ($206.3 million globally), although for those of us hesitant to chance COVID-Omicron-exposure, there’s streaming access on Disney+, no extra charge (after paying the overall $7.99 monthly fee). For my Musical Metaphor this time I’ll just go to the movie at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFnJV62_u8Y for Mirabel’s “Waiting on a Miracle,”* with these lyrics: “Always walking alone / Always wanting for more / Like I’m still at that door longing to shine […] All I need is a change / All I know is I can’t stay on the side”—ultimately leading to her crucial role within the family. However, if you’d prefer something more truly-Metaphorical, how about Mike + The Mechanics’ "All I Need Is a Miracle" (on their self-named 1985 album) with lines like “I thought I was being cool / Yeah, I thought I was being strong / But it’s always the same old story / You never know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone,” so even though the full song’s about a broken relationship, the singer hoping to reconcile, it can also be put into another context as with this video where the band manager’s desperately trying to get cash to pay a club owner, until a nice little magic comes his way.
*I've used only an audio (with lyrics) version here because 2 attempts of posting a video version have been blocked; as an experiment here's one more try, but don't count on it lasting for too long.
Suggestions for TCM cablecasts (a marvelous week early this year)
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 for U.S. Pacific zone 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.
(Yes, I know, I get more carried away with some of these descriptions than I do with others but, trust me, they’re all well worth your consideration, for those various reasons that I’ve noted or elaborated.)
Thursday January 6, 2022
5:00 PM Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948) Based on a 1929 play of the same name, itself inspired by the actual 1924 murder of a teenager by college students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb (as a misguided manifestation of their “intellectual superiority), where Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) murder their friend, hide his body in a large chest in their apartment, then host a dinner party there attended by their former philosophy professor, Rupert Cadell (James Steward), their crime inspired by his Nietzschean lectures, but he becomes suspicious of their odd actions. While there are a few cuts in this 80 min. film they’re mostly hidden so it seems to be a real-time flow of the action. Features undertones of homosexuality, fascism, and rejection of the latter.
6:30 PM Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) Great example of American film beyond the boundaries of the old Studio System with Depression Era-outlaws played by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway (Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Michael J. Pollard also in the gang). Romanticized version of history as robbers are Robin Hood-antiheros in their day, represent anti-establishment values for ‘60s audiences; shocking bloody ending. Parsons won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar; the film also got another one for Best Cinematography. Excellent use of Flatt and Scruggs music.
8:30 PM Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973) Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as young killers-on-the-run in a compelling, marvelously photographed story that’s part Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) and part John Mellencamp’s song, "Jack and Diane," a marvelous, truly significant—distinctly disturbing—debut film from an eccentric, extremely talented director-screenwriter, somewhat based on actual events from likewise killers-on-the-run Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate in 1958.
Friday January 7, 2022
5:00 PM Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948) Fiction about 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 a rush to beat Tom to Abilene, KS to sell the herd but inevitable confrontation between the 2 men occurs. Often considered one of the best westerns.
Saturday January 8, 2022
5:00 PM Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962) Oscar winner as Best Picture, Best Director (and 5 more) in this history-based-version of Brit T.E. Lawrence working with desert-dwelling Arabs against Ottoman Empire Turks in WW I, starring Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Alec Guinness, Claude Rains, José Ferrer, many others; monumental visuals calling for a decent-size widescreen format to see it on (no cell phones!) as well as time to spare because it runs for about 3½ hours.
Sunday January 9. 2022
1:45 PM A Star is Born (George Cukor, 1954) First musical version of this story (original drama in 1937, William A. Wellman); James Mason as movie star Norman Maine, Judy Garland as protégé Esther Blodgett (later Vicki Lester/“Mrs. Norman Maine”), since retold twice as musicals with the basic plot of an up-and-comer taking the spotlight from an established-but-fading-star. For me, the best of these 4 versions, especially because of Garland’s rendition of “The Man Who Got Away.”
Tuesday January 11, 2022
7:00 PM Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959) Marvelous; big hit then now ranked as one of the best, if not the actual top comedy of all time, with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis disguised as women in a nightclub band in Florida trying to escape gangsters after they witness the brutal St. Valentine’s Day massacre in Chicago; also stars Marilyn Monroe, George Raft, and Pat O’Brien (won an Oscar for Best B&W Costume Design). Joe E. Brown’s final line was terrific for its time, now it’s immortal.
9:30 PM Gandhi (Richard Attenborough, 1982) Biography of famous nonviolent-activist Mahatma Gandhi whose protests for rights for Asian Indians led to legal victories against the British Empire in South Africa and India, later contributes to his home-country’s freedom from the Empire; marvelous lead by Ben Kingsley. Won Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Actor (Kingsley), Original Screenplay (John Briley), Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, and Editing (nominated for 3 more).
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: In quick fashion, here are some extra items you might like: (1) Before the new West Side Story disappears, here are some interesting thoughts about it; (2) Director Adam McKay on the ending of Don't Look Up; (3) How movie theaters fought to survive in 2021; (4) Box-office predictions for 2022; (5) What's new in January 2022 on Netflix; (6) What's new in January 2022 on Amazon Prime Video; (7) What's new in January 2022 on Hulu; (8) What's new in January 2022 on Disney+; (9) What's new in January 2022 on HBO/HBO Max. 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 a reminder that you can search streaming/rental/purchase movie options at JustWatch.
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AND … at least until the Oscars for 2020’s releases have been awarded on Sunday, March 27, 2022 we’re also going to include reminders in each posting of very informative links where you can get updated tallies of which films have been nominated for and/or received various awards and which ones made various individual critic’s Top 10 lists. You may find the diversity among the various awards competitions and the various critics hard to reconcile at times—not to mention the often-significant-gap between critics’ choices and competitive-award-winners (which pales when they’re compared to the even-more-noticeable-gap between specific award winners and big box-office-grosses you might want to monitor here)—but as that less-than-enthusiastic-patron-of-the-arts, Plato, noted in The Symposium (385-380 BC)—roughly translated, depending on how accurate you wish the actual quote to be—“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” so your choices for success are as valid as any of these others, especially if you offer some rationale for your decisions (unlike any awards voters who blindly fill out ballots, sometimes—damn it!—for films they’ve never seen).
Here’s more information about Spider-Man: No Way Home:
https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/spidermannowayhome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOftTmoggfQ (13:03 Top 10 Things You Missed in the movie; Spoilers of course [ads interrupt at about 3:45])
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spider_man_no_way_home
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/spider-man-no-way-home?ref=hp
Here’s more information about Swan Song:
https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/swan-song/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2euSk1orZE (5:31 film summary, claims to explain the ending but just properly recounts it along with the rest of the plot; Spoilers)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swan_song_2021_2
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/swan-song-2021
Here’s more information about Being the Ricardos:
https://www.amazonstudiosguilds.com/titles/being-the-ricardos/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyldUjIL7jM (14:10 10 things right and wrong in the film
[ads interrupt at 10:00])
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/being_the_ricardos
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/being-the-ricardos
Here’s more information about The Matrix Resurrections:
https://www.matrixresurrections.net/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNidbzzPVt8 (24:23 ending explained, Easter Eggs;
Spoilers of course, as well as an embedded ad from about 9:00-10:00, another one at about 14:25)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_matrix_resurrections
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-matrix-resurrections
Here’s more information about Encanto:
https://movies.disney.com/encanto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu4BQyw2d7g (8:40 exploration of things you might
have missed in the movie)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/encanto_2021
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/encanto-2021
Please note that to Post a Comment below about our reviews you need to have either a Google account (which you can easily get at https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount if you need to sign up) or other sign-in identification from the pull-down menu below before you preview or post. You can also leave comments at our Facebook page, although you may have to somehow connect
with us at that site in order to do it (most FB procedures are still a bit of a mystery to us old farts).
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 20th 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, but maybe while there you'll get a chance to meet Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, RIP). 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. But, just as we can raunchy at times (in private of course) Neil and his backing band, Promise of the Real, on that same night also did a lengthy, fantastic version of "Cowgirl in the Sand"
(19:06) which I’d also like to commit to this blog’s always-ending-tunes; I never get tired of listening to it, then and now (one of my idle dreams is to play guitar even half this good).
But, while I’m at it, I should also include another of my top favorites, from the night before
at Desert Trip, the Rolling Stones’ "Gimme Shelter" (Wow!), a song always “just a shot
away” in my memory (along with my memory of the great drummer, Charlie Watts; RIP).
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