Tumbledown (2015; d. Sean Mewshaw)
Allison and I re-watched this. I reviewed for Ebert when it came out in 2016. I really like it. Gosh, August feels like a long time ago. I was in New York for half of August, and then I went to Scotland, and now I’m back and I have bronchitis. The two biggest things in my life right now are not “on social media”. Not a trace. You’d never guess. I started “leaving stuff out” early on in the years of my blog, a decade before social media arrived. I remember some nosy commenter saying “I am getting sick of all these red herrings”, like I was being coy or whatever. As though I’m “known” for baring all in my writing. Believe me. I don’t. I have almost no time right now – due to the two big things – hence, the low number of movies watched. This movie was so much fun to re-visit! It came out in 2015 and it feels like it comes from a simpler time. I mean, I guess it does.
Good One (2024; d. India Donaldson)
I reviewed for Ebert. This was really fun. I went to the press screening in New York at Soho House – the plush-est most comfortable screening room in New York. I took Allison with me as a plus one (sometimes “they” don’t allow plus-ones). It is SUCH a good movie, one of my favorites of the year. And it was just so fun to see it with Allison. We walked back to her apartment – it was a hot steamy night – and we talked about the movie for hours. It was fantastic and so much a part of the experience that I included it in my review.
Wicked Little Letters (2024; d. Thea Sharrock)
I reviewed this eccentric little true-life caper for Ebert. Allison hadn’t heard of it, so I sang its praises and then we watched and had a blast.
The Fall Guy (2024; d. David Leitch)
Allison and I watched this. I saw in the movie theatre with my niece who basically INSISTED that I take her. She had seen it the day before and NEEDED to see it again. I love this so much! It’s just what I was doing at age 15. And it did not disappoint. I loved it so much and I knew Allison would love it too. We had a blast.
The Bachelerotte Australia, season 1
Allison and I fell into this one. We love watching this series together. We have in-depth discussions about male-female relationships, and interpersonal dynamics, and dating, and hierarchies and etc. Yes, the whole thing is fake, but the issues on display – the things that come up – are real. So it’s fun. And stuff like this is a necessary distraction from all the other shit I’ve got going on.
Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial (2024; d. Joe Berlinger)
Nothing new here in this Netflix series, but it’s Joe Berlinger so I decided to watch. William Shirer’s experiences in Berlin are utilized throughout, which is an interesting perspective, and the Nuremberg Trials are also an organizing motif. They colorized all the extant footage which – to me – is a sketchy choice, but … I know they’re going for a younger audience whose mush-brains turn off when they see black and white footage? or something like that? Berlinger has said he made the series to try to reach millennials/Gen-Z, many of whom seem to not know about the Holocaust, or who somehow think the Jews somehow started it. I wasn’t crazy about using an AI re-creation of Shirer’s voice. It’s unnecessary manipulation. Nobody knows what William Shirer sounds like. Nobody alive, anyway. Just get an actor with an old-timey radio-announcer voice, and avoid the fakery! Some of the re-enactments are harrowing, particularly the Babyn-Yar sequence. But you hear just one fact about Babyn-Yar and your brain fills with horrifying images. The fact that anyone survived it to tell the tale is a fucking miracle.
The Apartment (1960; d. Billy Wilder)
In August, I hosted the audience discussion on The Apartment at the Jacob Burns Theatre, which was so much fun. There’s so much going on in my life (see first comment in this post) I considered canceling this, but I decided to just stretch myself and go for it. It was a lot: I had to drive down in the morning, work my day job, go to the theatre, sleep over at my sister’s, get up at 4 am, and drive home – in time to sign on and work my remote day job. But it ended up being a magical experience. I got to see some old friends: Keith, Monica – my friend Jen came, I got to discuss the film onstage with Ian – and Cashel took the train up!! We all went out for a beer afterwards at the bar down the street. Life felt normal. Life hasn’t felt normal since the pandemic, to be honest. I got offstage to the news that Gena Rowlands had died. So I also had to write the Gena tribute for Ebert the following day. Along with everything else. A 3-hour drive. An 8-hour work day. I don’t know how I did all this. No wonder I have bronchitis for the third time this year.
Dog Day Afternoon (1975; d. Sidney Lumet)
I was a guest on an Al Pacino podcast, where every guest picks a Pacino movie to discuss. Amazingly, Dog Day Afternoon hadn’t been chosen. I have such personal associations with this film I have barely re-watched it. I don’t need to. It got to me, and it got to me EARLY. But I figured what the hell. So I re-watched. It’s a masterpiece.
The Wasp (2024; d. Guillem Morales)
This was good. A fun watch with a bunch of twists. It’s hard to “fool” me but I was fooled. Really good performances. I tried not to give anything away in my review for Ebert.
Janet Planet (2024; d. Annie Baker)
One of my favorites of the year. Annie Baker wrote The Flick, one of the most astonishing plays I have ever seen – no lie – and I’ve seen a lot. And I saw it when it was at the Barrow Street, and still kind of an underground off-Broadway phenomenon. It’s 3 hours long. A little over, actually. She is a BOLD artist. I love it. This is her directorial debut and it’s a stunner.
Hi Sheila. As always, love to see these monthly watching summaries. I hope your bronchitis passes quickly.
The Hitler/Nuremberg-trials thing: Any mention of John Ford’s & others’ role in gathering the film used in evidence for that? I know it’s pretty incidental to the main point of the subject, but ever since I read Budd Schulberg’s story about his role in that I’ve been mildly obsessed with it. (That sounds like I’m doing research into it or whatever; I just mean I think it’s really cool.)
Dog Day Afternoon/Al Pacino podcast: Is that the “All About Al” podcast? I listened to the Irishman episode of that with Brian Tallerico the other day. It was terrific of course. I’ll look out for your episode (if it’s one of those; if not, where would one look for it?).
Wicked Little Letters: I think that’s on one of the streamers I’m subscribed to, so I’ll check it out, thanks for the rec.
Mike – hey! Yes, All About Al!! that’s the one! I think “my” episode is going to be early next year – he has an amazing backlog of episodes. It’s so impressive what he’s doing – and I am proud to be a part of it. The guests he’s gotten! I was surprised Dog Day Afternoon hadn’t been claimed – if someone had claimed it, I would have chosen Paterno – which I think is a major late performance from AP – and in a way one of his most impressive because he can’t utilize ANY of the things he normally relies on as an actor when playing that role. But … Dog Day Afternoon was un-claimed! I brought to the table the backstory of seeing this when I was 13 – and Mark was totally open to my non-critical response to it – how I have no distance from the film. It was fun!
and in re: John Ford – I think yes he was mentioned – and Hollywood’s part in getting that footage, in general.
I have mixed feelings about colorizing historical footage. Somehow it doesn’t seem right but I can’t put my finger on why exactly. I guess – history is history and there’s already so much fakery out there – in order to trust historical fact we need to NOT manipulate the evidence as much as possible. or something along those lines. Eva Braun’s home movies from the “wolf’s lair” are in color – which was always a little startling because you’re used to b&w footage of the man and his world. It’s almost more grotesque in color. There’s something about her home movies that REEK of corruption – maybe because the colors are so pure and bright.
I don’t think the concentration camp footage was colorized in the Netflix doc – I’m not remembering right now. I hope it wasn’t!
Yeah, for whatever reason, I just want to see the original footage. Partly I don’t really believe the “improvement” is going to be better, when someone tries you get things like George Lucas crapping up the original Star Wars with CGI. But apart from that, I’d rather see what was photographed in the first place.
yeah I can’t stand directors “improving” their earlier work – especially if it’s considered a classic. Didn’t Spielberg edit out the guns in ET or am I misremembering that?
Historical footage is definitely another matter. I guess colorizing isn’t the worst thing in the world. I wasn’t crazy about it but it didn’t bother me as much as the AI-generated William Shirer voice – which seems to me completely pointless AND against the whole grain of the project which is – the authenticity of history matters. I don’t understand the choice.
I think we’re gonna see a lot of pointless showoff-y uses of AI for a while.
Wicked Little Letters is a lot of fun. It was even better on a re-watch because now that I know the mystery and all the ins and outs of it I was picking up on even more stuff. It’s a good old-fashioned small-town mystery!
We watched Wicked Little Letters this month, too – enjoyed it very much! Olivia Coleman is amazing, how she preens, so subtly, when she’s the center of attention. And the relationships between all the ladies, allowing that to be the backbone of the whole thing. It felt old school, in the best way.
// how she preens, so subtly, when she’s the center of attention //
oh my gosh, I know, right?? she LOVES it. it’s so sad – but so interesting. Colman brings so much depth to what she does! She actually makes you think about what this woman’s life is actually like – it’s not a stereotype.
and it’s thrilling when all the women band together to crack the case! even down to invisible ink!
The Fall Guy was so much fun. To paraphrase Ben Franklin or Voltaire, movie stars are a sign God loves us and wants us to have a couple of hours of enjoyment preceded by previews.
I’ve seen it 3 times now and I think what I love about it is how it’s both subtle and obvious – and it’s this huge endeavor with explosions and aliens and action sequences – but it’s really about the love story. and there’s no real conflict with the love story. Yes, they are “estranged” but it’s so obvious they both love each other. it’s an interesting approach! it’s not like the movie starts with them meeting – and then during the course of the film they fight, they break up, they get back together – it kind of starts in the middle and the “fight” between them is so OBVIOUSLY not “fatal” – it’s like His Girl Friday. It is so OBVIOUS these two belong together and their fights are just excuses to still hang out with each other. It’s satisfying and a throwback to 1930s screwballs – of the “re-marriage” variety – like His Girl Friday or The Awful Truth – and the satisfaction there is that we, the audience, know they need to get over it and get back together (not ‘get together’ but “get BACK together”) and so we get to watch them get over themselves over the course of the film. The romance part is what makes it!
“Half of August” – I was flooded with memories of your brilliant movie and the phenomenal, almost unbelievable depth and breath of the work, the MAGNIFICENT first rate work that you have done over the course of these last almost 20 years that I’ve had a chance to bear witness. And now you’re having beer with Cashel! What can I say except I love you, I love your work and I am so profoundly grateful that I found you all those years ago.
Stevie!! oh my God I didn’t even notice the verbal nod to MY OWN MOVIE. lol bless you!
and I know – Cashel!! Baby Cashel! I was standing in the bar looking around, and there was Cashel talking to my friend Monica, and I’m talking with Cashel’s friend Ian – and then Cashel took the train back to the city with all of MY friends, who are now HIS friends. Isn’t it beautiful??
Generation gap shmeneration gap.
We’ve both come a long way, haven’t we, Stevie? so so grateful we found each other on this crazy thing called the internet. the internet is so awful so much of the time but sometimes it brings people together. so grateful!! Love you!