The Well (1951)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Well (1951) – L. Popkin & R. Rouse

A young African-American girl goes missing and a white man passing through town is accused of kidnapping her.  Thus begins a tense day for the head of police, as things break down along racial lines with each group suspecting unfair biases at play.  To be fair, the film is very explicit that African-Americans suffer more prejudice and injustice at the hands of whites than the other way around but it is also open to the possibility that the white man (Harry Morgan, the only cast member I recognised) is being assumed guilty without a trial by some.  The editing of the film (lots of montage) ratchets up the tension – which is almost at boiling point as mobs form and senseless violent acts are committed.  But then the girl is found (we knew in advance that she had fallen down a well) and the town rallies to use heavy machinery to extract her from the 60 ft. deep shaft.  Uniting around this common goal seems to completely dissipate any racial animosity that existed in the previous 12 hours (as social psychological theory would predict).  It’s all a bit unbelievable (partly due to some wooden acting) yet still gives you a warm feeling when things work out.  If only our real problems were so easily allayed. 

The World’s End (2013)

☆ ☆ ½

The World’s End (2013) – E. Wright

I guess there are diminishing returns from these Simon Pegg/Nick Frost comedies directed by Edgar Wright.  By this, the third movie (after Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), the formula seems evident – take a genre, throw in some action, some broad British comedy (though not too dry), and race through things, not forgetting to have a few touching human moments (about friendship).  OK, I can’t quite recall the earlier movies that well but The World’s End feels a bit thin.  The plot sees Pegg’s loser-who-hasn’t-grown-up character getting his old friends (who have) together to do an epic pub crawl that they didn’t quite complete back in 1990 when they graduated from high school.  However, their old town seems to have been taken over by the Body Snatchers who become increasingly menacing.  Cue the action.  I’m not saying that there aren’t some good witticisms here or that a lot of thought hasn’t gone into the script/set design/casting, it’s just that it all left me a bit flat.  Your average action comedy really is a kind of unchallenging junk food these days -- and I accept that sometimes that’s what you want – but it isn’t sustaining.

The Ring (1927)

☆ ☆ ☆

The Ring (1927) – A. Hitchcock

This silent feature from Hitchcock shows the Master developing his craft.  There is a tremendous focus on advancing the language of film, through montage, superimposition, and other experiments.  The story itself is not too exciting – a young boxer loses his wife to the champ but works his way up to the title bout and wins her back.  I think I made that sound more exciting than it really is but Hitch’s technique does add some suspense to the proceedings, even if this film is not even close to his later films in that (suspense) genre.  Still, there is no denying that Hitchcock had talent even then and was developing with each picture, even if he wouldn’t really hit his stride until the coming of sound and the Gaumont British pictures.     

  

The Fall (2006)

☆ ☆ ½

The Fall (2006) – Tarsem Singh

Strangely unaffecting, despite the fact that it was reportedly shot in 28 countries with the express goal of making a pictorial marvel.  To be honest, I thought this was all digitally created imagery until I read otherwise (and I have very mixed feelings about CGI anyway) – but even knowing that it is “real” doesn’t change the fact that the film is boring.  (And, as a fan of the Ron Fricke cinematic travelogues, I do think that a film based on images alone can be successful).  Director Tarsem Singh (or just Tarsem) apparently paid millions of his own money to finance the four-year project that sees an injured (and suicidal) stuntman telling a fantasy story to a 5-year old immigrant girl with a broken arm and a tragic past when both are recuperating in a sanatorium in 1920s California.  The fantasy story becomes interwoven with the realities of both teller and listener – and transpires in various locales across the globe (naturally).  At times this seems pitched for children, at other times it is too dark in content (suicide, violence) to show it to them.  Give it a miss.      

Miles Ahead (2015)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Miles Ahead (2015) – D. Cheadle

Not really a bio-pic of Miles Davis – but what is it?  Some kind of bizarre buddy-action-comedy starring Don Cheadle as Miles and Ewen McGregor as a Rolling Stone reporter-wannabe trying to get a story.  Davis is in his burnt-out period (1975-1980), not happy, not friendly, high on coke most of the time, holed up in his NY bachelor pad/home studio, not making music.  The plot involves some stolen session tapes and the impression a young up-and-coming trumpeter has on evil Miles.  There are flashbacks to earlier happier times (but still Davis rarely smiles).  He’s acerbic even then but he’d found love (Emayatzy Corinealdi as Frances Davis née Taylor) and then threw it all away (drugs, cheating, etc.).  The world of jazz looks pretty messed up and then there is also racism with which to contend.  Cheadle directs with a certain flair but it’s hard not to see that this fiction is a bit overcooked.  Still, there is enough music by the real Miles floating across the soundtrack to make things enjoyable from a sonic perspective.  The inevitable glowing interviews on the DVD feature Davis family members singing the trumpeter’s praises – but what movie were they watching?  

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

☆ ☆ ☆

A Prairie Home Companion (2006) – R. Altman

When I lived in Minnesota, I never paid too much attention to Garrison Keillor out at Lake Wobegon and his Prairie Home Companion radio show.  I watched this film primarily because it was directed by Robert Altman, his last film, and it certainly bears his stamp (overlapping dialogue, large cast, indirect focus, camera zoom, meandering non-plot).  The material is genial enough (written by Keillor) and well-suited to Altman’s style.  The age-old radio show is going to be shut down and the Fitzgerald Theatre demolished – we watch the last performance front-stage and back-stage.  There’s some folksy country music (sung by the likes of Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, and John C. O’Reilly), some folksy stories and witticisms by Keillor, some informal friendly banter among old friends, and then some bits of plot thrown in to move the film along.  Lindsay Lohan is here doing not much.  Don’t start here with Altman but he does elevate the totally non-offensive material here.  There’s a place for this way back yonder in your parents’ day, I think.

Predator (1987)

☆ ☆ ☆

Predator (1987) – J. McTiernan

There’s something odd about watching Predator 30 years after its release (for the first time).  The soundtrack feels wrong – it is all symphonic, an old-school Hollywood score (by Alan Silvestri) – no rock music or blaring guitars or screeching crashing exploding “percussion”.  This somehow makes Predator a bit dreamier and more unworldly than your modern action film.  It also feels a lot more “low budget” – although in reality the special effects probably cost millions more than today’s digital contributions.  A lot of things blow up.  The plot is simple:  Arnold and his band of commandos are dropped off in the jungle (Mexico playing South America) to rescue some hostages but instead meet a virtually indestructible, nearly invisible, humanoid alien with high tech weaponry hell-bent on destroying (and eating?) them.  By the end, it is Arnold vs. Predator mano a mano as you knew it would be.  Arnold has his schtick down pat by this point in his career, letting one-liners rip and giving a surprisingly thoughtful performance (as far as he could).  His super-stardom and comedic turns were just a year or two away.  In the end, Predator didn’t exactly wow me but it held together fine.  ImDB proudly announces that this is one of a few films with two future US Governors (Jesse Ventura is the other) – how’s them apples?