PB(r) - Movie Reviews

 Incredible dialogue and interplay Murder mystery with all the components, twisted intrigue, many moving parts, plenty of plausible suspects. Investigates the psyche of the viewer as much as any of the characters. How telling is it about someone watching the movie and why they suspect the most? Very grave material, but such a fun and lighthearted approach! The retired detective who ultimately cracks the case, does so with the case chasing him (even accusing him at one point!). He solves the puzzle while being kind, protective, debonaire, drunk as a skunk, and the wittiest person in the room. He discovers the plot as an act of his breathing, just the way he exists in the world, leads him to solve the mystery. Seamlessly integrates these fun scenarios with all the tropes of the murder mystery genre, building to its finale with all of the possible suspects sitting around a dinner table. The **venue** serves as a crucible due to the police presence and the hired muscle present. The cha...

 The title is a great lead in to the intense pace and crazily creative action that makes up this movie. As the fourth movie in the series, it totally delivers on one upping the previous incarnations. That is no small feat considering the utter madness of its 1985 predecessor Max Max Beyond Thunderdome. The filmmaker's ideas about the Mad Max saga did not fade in the 30 years between the former and Fury Road. They must have taken note of every fever dream they had had in the intervening decades and distilled them into their purest form of lunacy. Seemingly every scene is filled with an intensifying string of acrobatically suicidal acts in a world where humans lives are cheap and 'War Boys' are happy to die in service to their ruler, Immortan Joe. The whitewashed War Boys believe Joe can grant them access to Valhalla and then be born again. While this all may seem like hyperbole, early in the movie considerable attention and importance is given to the blinded, heavy metal gui...

Genre bending 'series' that's essentially five, mostly feature length, 'episodes' all directed by Steve McQueen (Shame, 12 Years a Slave.) This is the first Steve McQueen movie that I've seen. A good friend recommended that I watch 12 Years a Slave and I've been longing to watch Shame after learning that it was so highly regarded by Roger Ebert and others. McQueen has made primarily short films, though his few feature length works have always received high praise. I'm always skeptical about the opinions of others but this is a truly remarkable film. It's visually stunning, using incredible camera work, staging, and acting to engage the emotional gravity of each character's struggle, both collective and individual aspects of this true story. It's perhaps the finest example of emotionally riveting drama intrinsically tied to radical theories of struggle and resistance to oppression. The movie is an interpretation of real events around the haras...

 Watching this as pandemic, comfort food at the end of NYE weekend. This long weekend provides cold comfort in a long year as a healthcare worker.  The movie is set in 1980, and emphasizes the turmoil of the time. These days most don't realize the underlying panic that Cold War provided. Love that this movie fully embraces it. This movie feels like a throwback to the better of tte classic 80s' action movies. Gritty fight scenes and great one liners. Facing off Jason Statham against Clive Owen is bold and fully pays off with conducting of the stuntmen directors. This layers of power and concern are maybe my favorite facet of the film. The drama is driven by working class level grafting. But, behind the scenes,  there are secret organizations ('organisations' maybe more appropriate considering the Great Britten POV framework.) Statham and his crew are confronted with the Feathermen and their covert network of operatives. A secretive, official seeming operative communicate...

Been over three decades since I'd last seen this. These days it's considered a modern classic and obscure Christmas movie. I once thought the Christmas movie claim was reaching but it's a strong reoccurring theme throughout. Interesting twist of genre. It's a heist movie with the protagonist being a wild-card NYC detective who aims to subvert the brilliant masterplan and its architect, Hans Gruber.  Hans is an educated Englishman turned high level burglar, posing as a German(?) terrorist leader. It gives you a hero and an anti-hero to root for. The robbers are well drilled, resilient hackers using the building's modern security features against their creators. There's a Hitchcock style gaze where the observer is incited to notice the details and try to anticipate how the hero could prevail in this conflict. The intruder team is an Ocean's Eleven style troupe with a man for every task. Huge influence on Inception. Limo driver is the inspiration of Johnny Cab ...

 Just rewatched the original Predator . So fun to watch this movie again. It was way ahead of its time in many aspects. It mixed genres in a novel way incorporating sci-fi, horror, monster movie styles into the muscle man action movies that were really hot at the time. Including the greatest action actor of all time, Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The rest of the cast is not lacking. Co-star Carl Weathers adds a lot of weight to machismo credibility of this summer blockbuster. Jessie Ventura, then a pro wrestler (later a governor, just like Schwarzenegger), Bill Duke (accomplished tough guy who was also in the classic, Commando), Sonny Landrum made up the rest of the principle cast; all bring their A-game as a corps. of badasses. Will write more on this later... happy to get the ball rolling with this project!