What happens if you mash together every single European grindhouse film ever made and then get Muse to provide the soundtrack?
You end up with the video for Knights of Cydonia.
The fun here, of course, is identifying all of the films that are referenced in this video. Obviously, there’s a lot of Sergio Leone there. There’s also some karate action and a Planet of the Apes reference. Whenever the cowboys shoot their laser guns, I’m reminded of one of Lucio Fulci’s post-apocalyptic films.
Enjoy!
And another week comes to a close! It’s been an eventful week, what with both Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day falling on the same day. On Valentine’s Day, Jeff & I went to see From Here to Eternity at the Dallas Angelika. Seriously, if you’re not making the time to track down and watch classic films on the big screen, you are totally missing out!
Here’s what I got accomplished this week. As I sit here typing this, I’m running a little bit behind in my film reviewing but I should be caught up soon.
Oh! And for Lent, I gave up driving over 50 mph on residential streets.
Movies I Watched
TV Shows I Watched
Books I Read
Music To Which I Listened
Links From Last Week
Links From The Site
Have a great week!
(Want to check out last week’s week in review? Click here!)
For today’s music video of the day, we have another video from one of my favorite groups, Saint Motel!
Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes on your local newscast? Chaos, apparently.
The satirical subtext and retro feel of this video will be familiar to anyone who has ever watched the video for Saint Motel’s My Type.
Enjoy!
How well do you know the people you love?
That’s the question that’s at the heart of Need to Know, the debut novel of Karen Cleveland.
When we first Vivian Miller, the main character and narrator of Need to Know, she has a life that, on the surface, many would envy. She has four children, a nice house in the suburbs of D.C., and a handsome and charming husband named Matt. Of course, there are problems. Money’s tight. One of her children has a heart defect, one that will undoubtedly require surgery in the future. Honestly, Vivian would be happy to stay home and spend all of her time taking care of the children but, as Matt always reminds her, they need the money that her job brings in.
Vivian works for the CIA. She’s an analyst and, as glamorous as working in intelligence might sound, her job basically involves spending a lot of time in the office, searching through the computers of suspected Russian agents. For instance, there’s the mysterious Yury. When Vivian searches through Yury’s files, she comes across a folder that is labeled “Friends.” Inside the folder are five pictures of five people who might or might not be working for the Russians.
Four of the pictures are of total strangers.
The fifth picture is of Matt.
If nothing else, Need to Know is a book that will keep you guessing. Is Matt a Russian agent or was his picture placed in the folder just to compromise Vivian’s position with the CIA? Has Matt spent ten years being a perfect and supportive husband or was he actually a passive aggressive manipulator? What do the Russians want and how far are they willing to go to get it? And, even more importantly, how far is Vivian willing to go to protect her children?
Need to Know is a strong debut novel, a perfectly paced thriller that will take consistently take you by surprise. Karen Cleveland is a former CIA analyst herself and she puts that background to good use in Need to Know, supplying a lot of interesting details that you wouldn’t get from a book written by … well, by someone like me, whose national security expertise is pretty much limited to what I’ve seen in the movies.
(Speaking of movies, apparently Charlize Theron will be producing and starring in the film version of Need to Know. Personally, the entire time I was reading the novel, I pictured Naomi Watts as Vivian, Jeremy Renner as Matt, and Richard Jenkins as Vivian’s boss, Peter.)
I did have a few issues with the final few chapters of the book. Though it didn’t effect my overall enjoyment of the novel, I would have liked a stronger ending. That said, the ending does potentially leave room for a sequel and I will definitely be reading the next book that Karen Cleveland writes!
If you’re in the mood for a good and intelligent spy thriller, Need to Know is definitely one to check out.
Go with it.
Enjoy!
It’s trippy!
And it’s got cats!
Enjoy!
(With the Oscars scheduled to be awarded on March 4th, I have decided to review at least one Oscar-nominated film a day. These films could be nominees or they could be winners. They could be from this year’s Oscars or they could be a previous year’s nominee! We’ll see how things play out. Today, I take a look at the 1988 best picture nominee, Working Girl!)
Welcome to the 80s!
Yes, Working Girl is definitely a film of its time. It’s a film that’s obsessed with big things: big dreams, big offices, big money, and big hair. It’s a movie where the heroes talk about hostile takeovers and where everyone’s dream is to eventually to be an executive on Wall Street. You know all of those people who claim that The Big Short is the greatest movie ever made? I can guarantee that the majority of them would totally hate every character in Working Girl. Working Girl is such a film of the past that it even features Alec Baldwin doing something other than bellowing at people. In fact, Baldwin’s actually sexy in Working Girl. It was strange to see him in this film and realize that he was the same actor who currently spends all of his time picking fights on twitter and defending James Toback.
Of course, Alec Baldwin has a relatively small role in Working Girl. He plays Mick Dugan, the type of blue-collar guy who gives his girlfriend lingerie for her birthday (“I just wish you would get me something that I could wear outside,” she says as she tries it on) and who then proceeds to cheat on her while she’s off at work. From the minute we first meet Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith), we know that she deserves better than Mick.
Tess is a professional administrative assistant. She’s just turned 30 but she’s not ready to give up her dreams and settle for a life of fighting off coke-snorting executives and coming home to some guy like Mick. (Speaking of early performances from infamous actors, one of the coke-snorting executives is played by Kevin Spacey.) Tess has got a bachelor’s degree in Business. As she puts it, she has a “mind for business and a bod for sin.”
She’s also got a new boss, an up-and-coming executive named Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver). It turns out that Katherine is 29 years old. (“I’ve never worked for someone younger than me before,” Tess says as Katherine gives her a condescending smile.) Katharine encourages Tess to think of her as being a mentor. If Tess has any ideas for investments, she should feel free to bring them to Katharine. Of course, when Tess does so, Katharine claims that her bosses shot the idea down. It’s only after Katharine breaks her leg in a skiing accident and is laid up in Europe that Tess discovers that Katharine has actually been stealing her ideas and not giving her any credit for them.
What is Tess to do? Well, she does what any of us would do. She passes herself off as an executive and presents her idea to Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford) herself. Jack is impressed with the idea but he’s even more impressed with Tess. Of course, complicating things is that Jack was once in a relationship with Katharine and Katharine still thinks that she’s going to eventually marry Jack. And, of course, there’s the fact that Tess is lying about actually being an executive…
Working Girl is a frequently amusing film, elevated by performances of Melanie Griffith and, in the role of Tess’s best friend, Joan Cusack. Add to that, Harrison Ford is remarkable non-grouchy as Jack Trainer and Sigourney Weaver appears to be having the time of her life playing a villain. Even as I laughed at some of the lines, here was a part of me that wished that the film had a bit more bite. At times, Working Girl tries too hard to have it both ways, both satirizing and celebrating Wall Street culture. In the end, the film works best as a piece of wish-fulfillment. It’s a film that says that not only can you win success and Harrison Ford but you can get your bitchy boss fired too.
Despite being a rather slight (if likable) film, Working Girl was nominated for Best Picture of 1988. However, it lost to Rain Man.
Like all good people, I am currently obsessed with the Winter Olympics. Earlier this week, I asked some of my closest friends if they could recommend some good films about the Winter Games. Almost everyone who replied recommended that I check out Cool Runnings, a film from 1993.
So, I did.
And I’m glad that I did.
Cool Runnings is one of those sports movies that’s based on a true story, though I imagine it’s probably a very loose adaptation. Jamaica is a country with a long and proud Olympic history. Since the 1948 Summer Olympics, Jamaican athletes have won a total of 77 medals, the majority of them in individual and relay sprinting events. However, Jamaica didn’t compete in the Winter Olympics until 1988, when the Jamaican Bobsled Team made their debut. According to contemporary news reports, the Jamaicans were folk heroes at the ’88 Winter Games and other teams would frequently help them out by lending them equipment. Though the Jamaicans were never really a medal contender, they were personally popular and everyone was upset when their bobsled crashed during one of their qualifying runs.
That, of course, isn’t exactly the story that’s told in Cool Runnings. In Cool Runnings, the Jamaican bobsled team is ridiculed by all of the snobs on the other teams, with the Germans especially going out of their way to be condescending. Their first run is a disaster but their second run puts them into medal contention and causes people all over the world to spontaneously break into applause. It’s a sports film, after all. For a sports film to work, there has to be adversity before there can be victory. Cool Runnings does stick close enough to the real story that the Jamaicans do end up crashing their sled. However, in the film version, the team proudly carries their bobsled over the finish line while, again, people all around the world applaud. Even a woman with a Russian flag claps. And yes, it’s all pretty hokey but who cares? It made me cry.
It’s a well-done film, one that is unapologetically sentimental and all the better for it. Before I watched the film, I didn’t know anything about how the bobsled worked, beyond the fact that it involved four people and that everyone had to jump into the sled after launching it. But, ultimately, it didn’t matter that I didn’t know much about bobsledding. From the moment that film started, with scenes of aspiring Olympians running across sunny Jamaica, it had my attention.
When the film starts, Derice Bannock (Leon Robinson) is hoping to compete in the Summer Olympics but, at the qualifying trial, Derice and another runner, Yul Brenner (Malik Yorba), end up tripping over yet another runner, the likable and enthusiastic Junior Bevil (Rawle D. Lewis). Out of contention for the Summer Olympics, Derice decides to try to find a way to go to the Winter Olympics. Fortunately, there’s a former Olympic bobsledder, Irv Blitzer (John Candy), living nearby and Derice’s best friend, Sanka (Doug E. Doug) is a champion push cart racer.
The film follows Irv and the four Jamaicans on their unlikely journey to Canada. It’s a comedy with a dramatic heart. Yes, Sanka may need help getting his helmet over his hair (“Thanks, coach,” he says whenever Irv pounds down the helmet) but the film also takes the time to explore why it’s so important for these four to compete in the first place. It might be tempting to make fun of Yul Brenner when he talks about how he wants to live in Buckingham Palace but the film makes clear just how important this improbable dream is for Yul and everyone else. No one may give the Jamaican bobsled team a chance but Jamaica never stops believing in them.
It’s an incredibly sweet little movie, featuring likable performances and a heart-warming story. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good sports story.
Technically, 2014’s Cloud 9 is not an Olympics film. Though it is a sports film and deals with a big competition and features a lot of talk about winning gold medals and all that good stuff, the film doesn’t take place at the Olympics. Instead, it takes place at the annual “Fire and Ice” snowboarding competition in Summit Valley.
But let’s be honest. Would I have watched this movie if not for the fact that I’m currently obsessed with the Winter Olympics? Probably not. Would the film have been made in the first place if not for the 2014 Sochi Games? Again, probably not. Cloud 9 may not take place during the Olympics but it might as well.
Cloud 9 was made for the Disney Channel, with everything that suggests. It’s not a dramatic or realistic examination of the world of competitive snowboarding but then again, it never claims to be. Instead, it’s a cute little romantic comedy about falling in love, pursuing your dreams, and not allowing your life to be determined by an overbearing parental figure.
Kayla Morgan (Dove Cameron) is a part of the Swift snowboarding team. Since the Swift Team is known as the best in Summit Valley, that therefore makes Kayla the best. At least, that’s what Kayla believes. Of course, a lot of other people believe that Kayla isn’t that good and the only reason she’s been given a place on the team is because her father (Patrick Fabian) owns the local resort.
Kayla is also dating Nick Swift (Mike C. Manning), the son of Coach Sebastian Swift (Jeffrey Nordling). Coach Swift is about as evil as you would expect someone named Sebastian Swift to be. He believes in victory at all costs and he relentlessly pushes his son to be the best. Coach Swift has reached the conclusion that the Swift Team will never be the best as long as Kayla is a member. He tells his son to take care of it…
OH MY GOD, IS NICK GOING TO MURDER KAYLA!?
No, don’t worry. Things never go that far. Instead, Nick and the members of Team Swift frame Kayla for destroying an old sign. When the sign collapses, it also manages to destroy a sled belonging to Will (Luke Benward). Will used to be a champion snow boarder, until he attempted to pull off a new move called the Cloud 9. Not only did Luke fail to pull off that move but he also broke his leg and ended up as the star of a YouTube video called “Epic Fail.” Now, Will works at his family’s dog kennel.
And soon, Kayla is working at the dog kennel as well! Her parents are willing to pay for the sign but Kayla is going to have to replace the sled herself. Even worse, she gets kicked off the Swift Team…
So, what do you think happens? Do you think Kayla eventually learns humility as a result of having to take care of a bunch of dogs? Do you think Nick dumps Kayla? Do you think Kayla and Will are going to fall in love and then form their own team to compete in the Fire and Ice competition?
Well, yes, all of that happens. Of course, it does. There’s not a single surprising moment to be found in Cloud 9 but it’s a sweet-natured movie and Dove Cameron and Luke Benward make for a cute couple. Some of the snowboarding footage is impressive. It was a nice and inoffensive way to spend 90 minutes. When it comes to a movie like this, that’s all you can really ask for.
Jesse Crowder’s back!
You may remember Jesse Crowder as the super cool and unflappable private detective from Death Journey. Jesse was a Los Angeles cop but now he works independently. There’s literally nothing that Jesse can’t do. Ride a horse? Ride a motorcycle? Slow motion kung fu? Jesse can do it all and he usually do it without bothering to button up his shirt. Jesse is such a badass that he can kill more people in the time it takes for him to light a cigar than most people will kill in their entire lifetime.
The 1976 film No Way Back is the second Jesse Crowder film. Once again, Fred Williamson both directs and stars as Jesse. Williamson is in almost every scene of the film and when he’s not killing bad guys or having sex or just posing with his shirt off, he’s listening to people talk about what a badass he is. In short, No Way Back is a vanity project but it’s a vanity project with a sense of humor. Watching the film, you get the feeling that Williamson knows that No Way Back is kind of silly but, at the same time, he’s having fun and he wants everyone watching to have fun too.
No Way Back‘s plot involves a missing man and a lot of money. Henry Pickens (Charles Woolf) worked at a bank but, one day, he grabbed a briefcase full of money, jumped in a car driven by his girlfriend (Tracy Reed), and disappeared. Everyone was shocked but you know who was really shocked? His wife! Mildred Pickens (Virginia Gregg) and Henry’s brother both want to know to where Henry has vanished. They hire Jesse, perhaps finding solace in his catch phrase: “You pay the bill, I’ll deliver it. Legal, illegal, moral or otherwise.”
Not surprisingly, it doesn’t take long for Jesse to figure out that Perkins is in San Francisco. Jesse lights his cigar and heads for the Bay City. However, Jesse isn’t the only one looking for Henry Pickens. There’s also a gangster named Bernie (Stack Pierce) who is determined to get the money for himself. Much as in Death Journey, it doesn’t matter where Jesse goes or how he gets there. As soon as he arrives, he people are trying to kill him. Unfortunately, for them, no one can kill Jesse Crowder.
It all leads to a savage gun battle in the desert. Fred Williamson jumps up on a horse, unbuttons his shirt, and rides across the screen. People are betrayed. People get shot. Fortunately, no one can touch Jesse Crowder…
Anyway, No Way Back doesn’t really make any sense. If you happen to watch this film (and I saw it on YouTube), just try to keep track of why Henry stole all of that money in the first place. However, the plot isn’t really that important. This film is all about Fred Williamson beating up gangsters and walking around without a shirt on. It’s a dumb action movie but it never pretends to be anything different and the film’s total lack of pretension is enjoyable. That’s always a good thing.
