DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 3, 2018

The History of Future Folk (2012) No-budget story of aliens who abandon their mission to conquer mankind once they hear music for the first time is one of the most feel-good movies you'll ever watch. TIL: Well, it's like they always say, angels do speak to us through song.

Your daily dose of culture courtesy of The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) - "What is to give light must endure burning." - Anton Wildgans

Papillon (2017)

Something I've come across often when reading about Michael Noer's Papillon is that it is a bad remake of the 1973 film of the same name. Having read the book upon which both are based, I refuse to call this a remake. Instead, I consider it to be a different approach to the material whose outcome is barely decent, but still a notch above the "original". 

The film follows Henri Charrière (Charlie Hunnam), nicknamed Papillon because of the butterfly tattoo he had on his chest, a French safecracker who is convicted of murder and is sentenced to life in the notorious penal colony in French Guyana. On his way there, he meets Louis Dega (Rami Malek), a rich, convicted forger who asks Papillon for protection. In exchange, he will finance Papillon's escape attempts.

On paper, this was a very interesting and compelling story filled with adventures and humorous moments. On film, in this one, the story is dull, most of Papillon's adventures are left out —it's a good thing to be honest, as randomly picking only some would have made for a confusing story—and so is the humour. However, unlike the 1973 film, it addresses its themes in more deeper. It puts more emphasis on solitary confinement and its consequences, both mental —it could drive a man insane— and physical —tremendous weight loss—, on male friendship —Papillon's only glimmer of hope is the unlikely friendship he forms with Dega— and loyalty in its purest form.

As for the characters, they deserved better as this film brings to life —not sure those are the right words— pretty one-dimensional characters —many of the supporting characters weren't even referred to by name, which is such a pity considering how important they are to the plot. 

There are two solid characters though, Papillon and his friend Dega, and the credits go to the actors. Although his performance isn't as good as McQueen's —he comes pretty close though—, Charlie Hunnam gives an intense and dedicated performance as Papillon —he dropped 40lbs and even stayed in the prison cell alone, without food or water for 8 days— and he is very convincing and believable as the resilient man who never gives up on hope and freedom. Rami Malek is excellent as Dega, the nervous but optimistic intellectual —I actually enjoyed his performance more than Hoffman's— and his chemistry with Hunnam is incredible, and easily surpasses that between McQueen and Hoffman. 

Bleecker Street

As for the visual aspect, the cinematography is very good and successfully captures both the beauty of the cities and the jungle and the brutality, bleakness of the prison, and helps to portray the fight scenes with a sense of dread and sadness, without glorifying violence, which is something movies tend to do nowadays. Also, this version, unlike the 1973 one, is well-edited.

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 2, 2018

Fireball 500 (1966) Blood, booze, and bedding bimbos? The Beach Party gang tries to act more adult with decidedly mixed results. TIL: C.S. Lewis once said that when he became a man he put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

Your daily dose of culture courtesy of Hollywood (1923) - "Some people approach every problem with an open mouth." - Adlai Stevenson

Bao (2018)

I went seeing Incredibles 2 about a month ago and you know what stuck with me the most? Bao, the short animated film that preceded the movie. Not only because it's the first short film at Pixar directed by a woman, Domee Shi, but because it's a small masterpiece. 

The film follows a Chinese-Canadian woman. She just made dumplings for her husband and she, but he eats in a hurry and leaves for work, leaving her sad and alone. When she is about to eat her Boazi, one of them comes to life, it grows into a little dough boy and she begins to raise it as a son.

It is a very simple but equally touching and moving story of a woman, one of the many, who is suffering of empty nest syndrome and her way of coying with it —the relationship this woman develops with the dumpling essentially replaces that she had with her son. It is not a new theme, nor extremely complex, but Bao handles it with sensitivity and heart. It shows how hard is dealing with the fact that your son has grown, that he doesn't need you anymore, that he's ready to move on with his life. It also portrays that kind of love where you'd rather destroy that person than let him/her go. 

Bao doesn't only do that though. Being written and directed by a Chinese woman, this short film also deals with a racial theme. When the son returns home, he introduces his mother his soon-to-be-girlfriend who is not Asian. Through this, Shi addresses the fear of bringing your girlfriend/boyfriend to meet a disapproving parent, which can be felt with all ethnicities, whether or not you are racist. 

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The animation is brilliant, just like you would expect from Pixar. It's bright and colourful, highly detailed and both characters and backgrounds are very striking. The music is equally beautiful and fits very well the story.

Ultimately, Bao is a short gem. I'm not sure little kids will fully understand it —actually, they could be confused, even frightened by it— but they I think they would enjoy the charming story and characters.

DAILY CALL SHEET: DECEMBER 1, 2018

Fire and Ice (1983) Wanted a Molly Hatchet album cover come to life. Got mostly cheesecake. At least the animation doesn't disappoint. TIL: Fantasy stories always involve a quest because it resonates with the interior quest for truth, and therefore God, all people experience.

Your daily dose of culture courtesy of Forbidden World (1982) - “The temple of truth has never suffered so much from woodpeckers on the outside as from termites within.” - Vance Havner

Very Bad Things (1998)

I don't know how Very Bad Things ended up on my watchlist —I think it was on a Top 10 Black Comedies list or something—, I just know that it did somehow and I've been putting it off ever since, that being about four years. I finally decided to give it a chance and damn, it is messed up. 

The film follows a group of friends, Kyle Fisher (Jon Favreau), Charles Moore (Leland Orser), Robert Boyd (Christian Slater), Michael Berkow (Jeremy Piven) and his brother Adam (Daniel Stern), who heads to Las Vegas for Kyle's bachelor party. With booze and cocaine in their bloodstream, they get pretty wild, things get out of control and a prostitute (Kobe Tai) gets killed. They decide to get rid of the body and soon the bodies are piling up. 

The story is a very, very, very dark and twisted one, the kind of story you either like or hate. And, no matter how ridiculous and far-fetched it is, or how many plot holes it has, it's definitely got the potential to be pretty awesome. Unfortunately, the execution leaves a lot to be desired and the result is a boring and uninteresting story, and it feels like it's never coming to an end.

The characters are all terrible people which is the filmmakers' way to show that every single one of us has a bad side, no matter how nice and good they look, especially those that look like saints. They also are quite annoying and irritating though which makes the film pretty difficult to watch and makes you wish they all could die. In the end they all get what they deserve, especially Cameron Diaz's Laura, Kyle's fiancée, who easily is the most obnoxious of the bunch. Robert was the only likeable character for me but I guess I liked him because I have a soft spot for Christian Slater and his charisma. 

Which brings me to the cast and their overall terrible performances, especially Diaz's as she yet again delivers her predictable shallow and wooden performance. There's something positive to say about the actors though, they don't act as if they were in a comedy but as if that shit happened in real life —they panic, freak out and do stupid things without trying to be funny, just like most human beings would do in that situation. 

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

As I mentioned above, the biggest issue I had with Very Bad Things is the way it was executed, not only plot-wise. You don't just need a dark story and some jokes but make an effective dark comedy, you need to set the right tone and of course to entertain. The film has a very dark tone right from the start, but it's more dramatic than comic and it keeps being that way for most of the film's running time. Sure, there are some funny moments —no matter how tasteless they are, some jokes are funny— but overall the film felt flat for me. 

Movies I Watched in November

This month was pretty good movie-wise. I caught some really interesting ones that aren't well known. I also finally got to see Journey to Italy. TCM showed it another time but it was dubbed in Italian with English subtitles and it was too hard to watch Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders not speaking in their distinctive voices. I also introduced the family to The Trouble with Harry. It was a hit :)

1. The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1937) - Roland Young 
2. Espionage Agent (1939) - Joel McCrea & Brenda Marshall, Jeffrey Lynn
3. The Spy in Black (1939) - Conrad Veidt
4. The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) - Louis Hayworth & Joan Bennett, Warren William, Alan Hale
5. The Great McGinty (1940) - Brian Donlevy
6. The Nurse’s Secret (1941) - Lee Patrick & Regis Tommey 
7. The Spanish Main (1945) - Paul Henreid & Maureen O’Hard, Walter Slezak
8. The Cockeyed Miracle (1946) - Frank Morgan, Keenyn Wynn, Cecil Kellaway, Audrey Totter
9. Heaven Only Knows (1947) - Robert Cummings, Brian Donlevy 
10. High Wall (1948) - Robert Taylor & Audrey Totter 
11. Rancho Notorious (1952) - Arthur Kennedy & Marlene Dietrich, Mel Ferrer
12. *The Trouble with Harry (1955) - Shirley MacLaine & John Forsyth, Edmund Green & Mildred Natwick, Jerry Mathers
13. Journey to Italy (1955) - Ingrid Bergman & George Sanders
14. *Light in the Piazza (1961) - Olivia de Havilland, Yvette Mimieux, Rossano Brazzi, George Hamilton
15. Fail Safe (1964) - Henry Fonda, Dan O'Hurlihy, Larry Hagman
16. *The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) - Shirley MacLaine, George C. Scott, Alain Delon, Ingrid Bergman & Omar Shariff (I skipped the first third with Rex Harrison)
17. Evil Under the Sun (1982) - Peter Ustinov, James Mason, Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg
18. *Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) - Steve Martin, John Candy
19. *Casino Royale (2006) - Daniel Craig & Eva Green, Judi Dench 

Least Favorite Movie: Didn't have any.

Favorite Movie: Of course I enjoyed Caftan Woman's recommendation of Heaven Only Knows. I wasn't expecting it to make me cry though!