PULP CATHOLICISM #165

New York Stories (1989)

Genre

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Directors

Woody Allen | Francis Ford Coppola | Martin Scorsese

Country

USA

Cast

Woody Allen, Mae Questel, Mia Farrow, George Schindler, Larry David, Heather McComb, Talia Shire, Giancarlo Giannini, Don Novello, Julie Kavner, Nick Nolte, Rosanna Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Jesse Borrego, Mike Starr, James Keane, Adrien Brody, Chris Elliott, Peter Gabriel, Illeana Douglas, Deborah Harry, Carmine Coppola, Holly Marie Combs, Kirsten Dunst

Storyline

A middle-aged artist (Nick Nolte) obsessed with his pretty young assistant (Rosanna Arquette), a precocious 12 year old (Heather McComb) living in a hotel, and a neurotic lawyer (Woody Allen) with a possessive mother (Mae Questel) make up three Gotham tales.

Opinion

In this week's Allen flick, Woody teamed up with two other great American directors, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, in "New York Stories", an uneven anthology that still worths a watch.

The best way to review this film is by analysing each fragment individually, so let me start from the beginning.

Martin Scorsese's "Life Lesson" is an interesting little drama, beautifully written and wonderfully directed that tells the obsession of painter for his young assistant and shows the crisis he goes through due to the abandonment of the girl he loves. The photography is beautiful as well as the music, and some scenes are simply mesmerizing: the brush moves before the camera, and thanks to the very loud music playing in the background, feels like it is saying more than the story itself. This fragment also features Nick Nolte's wonderful and intense performance as the painter, and Rosanna Arquette's effective and very realistic performance as his lover.

Then comes Francis Ford Coppola's "Life Without Zoe", and the film starts to sink. The problem with this short film is that Sofia Coppola co-written it with her father, and it looks more like a fairy tale than a segment coming from a director of Coppola's caliber. And it's actually unbelievable that the same Sofia, years later, made films such as "The Virgin Suicides" and "Lost in Translation". There is really nothing good about this part. This is bad on every level, from the writing and acting to the absurd theme song. But I don't think it's fair to blame only Sofia, because Francis still co-written it. 

And at last Woody's "Oedipus Wrecks" is quite amusing. The story is funny and follows Woody Allen surprisingly playing a neurotic New Yorker, this time embarrased because his mother is always bothering him. I won't spoil anything, but the development of this story is so weird and funny, and Allen also proves he still owns comedy.

Bottom line, Scorsese's is superb and a little masterpiece, Coppola's is absolutely pointless and Allen's is a wonderful piece of entertainment. Thank you Coppola(s) for running a great project.

Updates!

Hey hey! It's Easter Weekend, so... go do what you do during that particular period, I guess. Have you hit up The MovieBob Patreon lately? Because that would be lovely :)

In any case, here's a few quick updates on this end:

The MovieBob Anthology ebooks are now available for Nook users, so if that's your format of choice and you don't have them yet, now's your chance.

I've published my first "listical" for ScreenRant: "The 9 Biggest 'WTF?' Moments of Batman V Superman." Please enjoy.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Genre

Action | Sci-Fi

Director

Zack Snyder

Country

USA

Cast

Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot, Robin Atkin Downes, Tao Okamoto, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Michael Shannon, Harry Lennix, Christina Wren, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Lauren Cohan

Storyline

Fearing the actions of Superman (Henry Cavill) are left unchecked, Batman (Ben Affleck) takes on the man of steel, while the world wrestles with what kind of a hero it really needs. With Batman and Superman fighting each other, a new threat, Doomsday (Robin Atkin Downes), is created by Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). It's up to Superman and Batman to set aside their differences along with Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to stop Lex Luthor and Doomsday from destroying Metropolis.

Opinion

My excitement was so high I went to the cinema on Wednesday night, even though that meant staying awake until almost one in the morning to see the whole thing. Big challenge for me considering the poor outcome of "Man of Steel", but, and I can't believe I'm actually saying it, Zack Snyder did a good job for once, and I haven't miss a single frame despite being tired as hell. Without further ado, here's my thoughts on one of the most anticipated films of 2016.

A great piece of entertainment, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is a solid foundation for the DC Cinematic Universe.

The opening sequence was not what I expected but it shows Snyder's visual creativity and wowed me for the first time that night: while the opening credits rolls in, in a dream-like sequence, is told the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, without mince words since we all know the story, later to move the action in Metropolis, while it is being destroyed by Zod, this time shown from Batman's point of view.

I won't spoil anything, but the film goes on showing a series of actions that will bring the two superheroes, Batman and Superman, to the fateful clash, that eventually turns out to be nothing more than the outcome of a series of misunderstandings.

This first part is beautifully done, it is so well made that the idea of Zack Snyder making it won't even cross your mind for a second. Simply spectacular.

In the second part, the good old Zack just couldn't resist to the temptation, and indeed loaded it with a lot of action. While this was a major issue with "Man of Steel", in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" the action is appropriately dosed and has really improved since 2013. The fight between Batman and Superman is quite amazing.


Despite one terrible scene - you'll know what I'm talking about when you'll see the film -, the CGI is actually good. Doomsday was frightening, threatening, all I wanted to see in such a character.

Unlike in the previous film, Snyder did not use action and special effects to compensate the lack of a good story. Actually, overall, the story is well written, it has the right amount of twists and a good amount of humour enough to be compelling and very entertaining. To be honest, though, there are some plot holes, and the story could have been developed a little better in the second part of the film.

The film also features quite beautiful cinematography, colours and atmosphere as well as a thrilling score from Hans Zimmer and  Junkie XL.

Something I was worried about was Ben Affleck playing Batman and Jesse Eisenberg playing Lex Luthor. While Christian Bale will always be my favourite Batman, Affleck did a wonderful job, he was intense, and played beautifully both the aged Bruce Wayne and Batman, and he can finally shake off "Daredevil". Jesse Eisenberg's casting was questionable, and I was worried he was going to kill Lex Luthor. Well, I've never been so happy to be wrong. He is quite a villain, deceiving, and convincing, a true devil. He still played Jesse Eisenberg, but really had something new this time. Gal Gadot is the other member of the cast standing out. Eff the haters, because she owned the role of Wonder Woman in every possible way, and she also nailed it as Diana. And now the other side of the coin: Henry Cavill. If he didn't convince you in "Man of Steel", he won't convince you neither here. As if looking like a piece of wood was not enough, he has also lost charm.

Overall, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is a great improvement on "Man of Steel", but it is not as good as Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight". Not even remotely.

THE TWILIGHT BINGE #011: AND WHEN THE SKY WAS OPENED

S01E11 – And When The Sky Was Open

“During man's first flight into space, the X-20 disappears from radar then crashes in the desert. Major Gart is laid up with a broken leg, but Colonels Harrington and Forbes go out for a night of revelry. Suddenly getting a strange feeling, Harrington calls his parents—and finds they have no son! Abruptly, he disappears, and no one but Forbes remembers him. Forbes is desperate to find out what's going on—for whatever yanked Harrington away may not be satisfied with just one.”

We’ve finally come to  that inevitable point in our Twilight Zone binge which I have been dreading. Much to my shame, I must confess there are episodes of the show (this one at the very least) which I either have no memory of or just plain old haven’t seen at all. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

What assures me that I haven’t seen And When The Sky Was Open before is that I would definitely remember an episode this strange. Very, very loosely based on a short story by Richard Matheson, the narrative follows a pair of astronauts as they try to figure out what force is slowly erasing them from existence. Not killing them, mind you, but rather altering reality so it’s as if they never existed in the first place. Is it the result of some freak accident of nature they encountered while in orbit? Is it aliens who mean to keep humans from venturing into space? Is it God punishing mankind for the hubris of reaching for the stars in their rocket propelled Tower of Babel? No explanation is ever given, and the episode comes to an end with just as many questions as when it began.

“The worst fear of all is the fear of the unknown working on you, which you cannot share with others.” claimed Rod Serling, “To me, that’s the most nightmarish of stimuli.” In a way, you can kind of see where Serling is coming from. After all, at every mass we profess a belief not only in the visible, but in the invisible as well. And in the Catechism, we’re told that some of the less than benign inhabitants of the invisible have been allowed by God “to exercise a limited influence in the world, pursuing evil intentions and seeking to induce human beings to make a choice against God similar to their own.” So the “unknown” really is out to get us. But does that mean we should necessarily walk around in fear of it?

St Anthony of Egypt didn’t seem to think so. One tale has it that after being accosted by a vison of numerous demons seeking to do him no good, the Saint scoffed and said something along the lines of, "If you were capable of harming me, it would require only one of you". What St Anthony likely understood was that, in the end, the only real fear we need to cultivate is that of God himself. In his book on the Catechism, Fr. John Hardon wrote that the fear of God is a gift because it “confirms the virtue of hope and impels a man to a profound respect for the majesty of God. It’s correlative effects are protection from sin through dread of offending the Lord, and a strong confidence in the power of his help… Consequently, the gift of fear gives us the power to sublimate all lesser fears, including the salutary and much-needed dread of God’s justice.” Based on that, it would seem the best way to overcome Serling’s worst kind of fear is to develop the best kind of fear instead. That’s a twist worthy of the Twilight Zone itself.

Twilight Tidbits: This was the first of nine episodes helmed by prolific television director Douglas Heyes, whom many consider to be the Alfred Hitchcock of the series. Sadly, Heyes was not quite as successful on the big screen, though many MSTies out there will forever treasure his work on the Ann Margaret opus, Kitten With A Whip.

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Genre

Action | Thriller

Director

John Glen

Country

UK

Cast

Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, Julian Glover, Chaim Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Michael Gothard, Cassandra Harris, John Wyman, Desmond Llewelyn, Jill Bennett, Jack Hedley, Lois Maxwell, Geoffrey Keen, James Villiers, John Moreno, Walter Gotell, Toby Robins, Jack Klaff, Stefan Kalipha, Charles Dance, Janet Brown, John Hollis, Bob Simmons

Storyline

This time James Bond (Roger Moore) is sent to recover a communication device, known as an ATAC, which went down with a British Spy ship as it sunk. He must hurry though, as the Russians are also out for this device.

Opinion

After the 1979 Star Wars wanna-be "Moonraker", Albert Broccoli and the other producers went back to Ian Fleming's James Bond with "For Your Eyes Only", a quite enjoyable and down to Earth entry in the franchise.

By far the best in Roger Moore's era, the story is grounded, very interesting, more believable and goes back to basics, actually involving some spying, and leaves gadgets behind. It isn't much complex and this allows the film to focus on some realistic and human characters, among which the beautiful Melina Havelock stands out as one of the few Bond girls with some real personality. 

The main topic of the film is revenge: while James Bond finally get the chance to revenge on Blofeld for the assassination of his first and only wife Tracy, Melina wants to avenge the murderer of her parents. 

The villains, Aristotle Kristatos and Emile Locque, are way more realistic than previous James Bond villains, but unfortunately they are not very threatening, but quite forgettable. Also Bibi Dahl is quite annoying and rather pointless as she has no place in the film.

The action is also more down to Earth, and the locations in Greece and Italy are absolutely gorgeous. The theme song by Sheena Easton is also quite enjoyable.

Roger Moore really nails the character after one awful performance, Carole Bouquet is fine as the main female lead - and it's a real shame that she had to be dubbed -, and Julian Glover excellently plays Kristatos, despite the character's flaws.

Thursday Movie Picks: Music Biopics

Hello there, and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks, a weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves where you share three movies to fit the theme of the week each Thursday.

It's music biopics time. This should be easy for me, I love music, and there's not a single day that goes by without I me not listening to some music. Biographies, on the other hand, are not my cup of tea, so the two things are not much of a great combo to me. However, I still managed to pick three films, two of which aren't exactly biopics. Anyway, here's my picks:

Almost Famous (2000)

This wonderful coming-of-age tale sees young William Miller writing about Stillwater, an up and coming rock band, as he accompanies them on their concert tour. Mostly like a writer biography, this is one of the finest films about music ever made, and reports director Cameron Crowe's experience as a Rolling Stone reporter when he first toured with The Allman Brothers Band. This is also the only Cameron Crowe's film I loved. 

Frank (2014)

Young wanna-be musician Jon joins an eccentric pop band led by a mysterious and enigmatic man, Frank. Okay, this one's fictional too and not really a music biopic, but the story is inspired by Frank Sidebottom, an English musician from the late 1970's and early 1980's, the film is weirdly beautiful and it features a spectacular performance from Michael Fassbender.

Ray (2004)

The story of legendary rhythm and blues singer Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s, is a moving and beautifully told biography, intensely portrayed by a brilliant Jamie Foxx. Well, at least this one stays true to the topic ;)