Midweek Movie Free Talk

The Fall Guy

In terms of David Leitch, I didn't care Atomic Blonde. I thought it was a little boring, I wasn't super impressed with the 10 minute single take. I don't really remember the movie all that well, I mostly remember being disappointed in the movie as a whole.

And then he comes out with Deadpool 2, which I loved, and I thought was an improvement on the first. I thought it looked better, and I think Leitch had learned how to edit action scenes better at that point. Hobbs & Shaw is fine, I like it better than the last three mainline Fast and Furious movies, but it doesn't actually feel like Leitch's film. It feels like anyone could have directed that.

But then he comes out with Bullet Train, which I really liked, that was a return to his more stylistic approach that he had with Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2. Bullet Train is funny, it has a lot of memorable action scenes, it has a lot of cool editing moments.

The Fall Guy is a more mature film than Bullet Train, and I think it's a very personal film for Leitch. He's a former stunt man and this is an ode to stunt people. So it all feels very intimate for a spectacle film like this. Leitch is also super confident behind the camera here. The opening scene is a oner, and I think it's a real oner, and it's so co-ordinated and it really feels like there's a tension there.

Bullet Train felt really reddity in it's humor and approach, and this feels classier. I hate to say timeless, as I feel like that would be overpraise, but it's not going to be dated. It doesn't feel like a movie from the internet age. It feels like it could have released in a more analog time period. Ryan Gosling is really funny in the role, he has great chemistry with Emily Blunt. The action sequences are awesome.

The one weak part about Fall Guy is the third act. There's a meta aspect to this where characters are saying "I don't know how the third act is going to be fixed." And I don't think it concludes the way it should. It starts getting a little messy, and I wish it was simpler.

But it's still good, and I think it's the type of movie that I will like more on subsequent rewatches the same way I liked Bullet Train more on rewatches.

I watched Demolition Man yesterday and while I don't really have much of a review to post, I just want to say that that era of film is so much fun! I especially liked how seemingly progressive this movie actually was, like the big buff action hero learns to knit, and while it's played as a bit of a joke, it's in a really wholesome way lol

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

I was looking back at the post I made when the title got announced. It kind of gave me a weird feeling and made me start pontificating about the passage of time. That has nothing to do with this movie, but it made me feel weird watching it in a theater like "didn't they just announce this?" I don't get that feeling often but there was something about this one, maybe cause I saw Dawn and War in theaters as a teenager. I had a similar feeling after watching Guardians Vol. 3 and having this vivid memory of watching the first in 2014 (I actually saw it the same day I saw Dawn so that might explain it).

Anyways, I thought this movie was wildly mediocre lol. All that build up just for that. I think it starts off weak, Dawn and War had more exciting openings. Especially War with the "Monkey Killer" writing on the helmet being one of the first things we see. The opening here is kind of dull and that sets the mood for the rest of the movie.

I said this when the trailers dropped, but if feels off. Like it's obviously set in the same universe as the reboot trilogy, and the Apes are supposed to be similar, but there's something off-brand about it. The weight and the gravitas of the Apes are gone, they sometimes look super real, but they often come across more cartoony. I guess that's intentional considering the Apes are evolving into whatever they turn into in the original. The voice acting also feels off. It's super hard to describe. Freya Allen, the human character, does well when it's just a physical performance but when she starts speaking she comes across stilted and unemotional more often than not.

Visually I thought it looked good sometimes, but mostly plain. Which is a HUGE downgrade from how pretty Dawn and War look. It really shows how much better of a journeyman filmmaker Reeves is compared to someone like Ball who doesn't have the forte to stand out from his other "just for a paycheck" colleagues.

There was only one action sequence that I really liked, and they show the most exciting part in the trailer, when Allen jumps on the horse. That entire sequence is great, and I think shows that Ball could have potential. But considering how he has an entire film trilogy under his belt, this is probably the best he can do.

Edit: Also I wanted to add, I'm not a logic guy or a plot hole guy or whatever. I don't care about that in movies. But the aspect that bothered me the most about the movie is that

HBO has made a few interesting straight-to-cable western movies that all have potential, but also some shortcomings from being tv productions.

The latest one I saw was Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee from 2007 based on a non-fiction book of the same name, focusing on the period of the conflict between the Sioux and the United States in the 1870s and the story of Charles Eastman / Ohiyesa, the first Native American to be a certified doctor and known for his work on Sioux history. The movie is noteworthy for telling the story from the viewpoint of the Natives, without the usual "white savior" issues and definitely not trying to downplay the violence. It comes of as a bit of a history lesson at times, but at its core a really tragic story about loss of cultural identity.

A more traditional violent western comes with The Last Outlaw from 1993 about a gang of bank-robbers bringing death and chaos with them The city sends a posse after them and the gang have their own bloody rivalry between the leader and the second in command. The former leader gets picked up by the city posse and he sets to "help" them, but of course he is just out for revenge. Plenty of shootouts in this long chase through the desert. Also noteworthy for Mickey Rourke as the gang leader and Steve Buscemi in a cool minor part.

From 1999 there is The Jack Bull starring John Cusack and John Goodman, with another traditional western conflict between greedy landowners and a small time horse trader. It leads up to the usual big shootout, but instead takes a turn into a tragic justice drama with bigger political complications.

What I find interesting about all these is that I think there is a small masterpiece hidden somewhere in all of them, if only the script was given proper treatment with better cinematography, directing and in some cases also acting. But then there is also the charm of these tv productions that reminds me of random movies I saw late at night in my parents summerhouse during summer vacation. These movies are perfect for that setting. I assume they are all streamable on the HBO service.

I was supposed to watch The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) on Tuesday... but it sounds like a bit of a downer, so I opted for Monkey Man (2024). Its a messy revenge film.

I think Dev Patel did some of his own stunts, too. Kind of neat. Overall, though, not a great movie.

Since we are looking at Cannes films in movie of the week, I have been catching up with some Palme d'Or winners. That made for somewhat of a emotionally draining extended weekend, because Cannes sure like their misery porn.

Rosetta from 1999 is a low budget realistic social drama about a young girl living in poverty with her alcoholic mother. She desperately tries to hold a job, while fighting with her mother who prostitutes herself for booze. She doesn't demand much in life, just want to be self sufficient with a normal paying job. A real tragic story on poverty with no light at the end of the tunnel.

Dancer in the Dark from 2000 is Lars von Trier highly acclaimed movie starring Björk as the lead. She plays an immigrant living in a trailer in someones backyard, working hard at a local factory trying to save up enough money to give her son an eye operation. Or else he will slowly go blind as she is. But through misfortunes that she is not to blame for, things go badly wrong and she ends up in prison. Another tragic tale of terrible things happening to good people. Stellar performance by Björk and the musical aspects weirdly enough works so well, even though it is also vastly out of place for the setting.

To end on another downnote, Elephant from 2003 deals with a depiction of a school shooting. It doesn't try to explain or understand anything. It is simply a cold showing of "the how" and the randomness of a regular day in high school with all its low scale drama without reason can turn into a bloodbath. But compared to the other two films, this didn't do that much for me. I am fine with movies having more questions than answers, but this didn't seem to do anything at all.