Rounded up by the contributors at Ebert: some films you might have missed, and people miss so much these days, not for lack of trying – but because movies get buried now. (Speaking of which: one of the best pieces I’ve read all year is the absolutely brutal and well-researched “Casual Viewing” by Will Tavlin, about Netflix.)
For the roundup, I wrote – again – about Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point. Full round up here. Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point is in my own personal Top 20.
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I think you forgot the link; I can’t see it.
https://www.rogerebert.com/features/14-underrated-movies-of-2024
Never mind, I misread. Happy new year!
oh okay! I’ll move it to where it’s more noticeable – thanks!
I loved Drive Away Dolls. Had most of the best elements of the best Coen Bros movies.
Margaret Qualley is absolutely fearless, and can do comedy and drama equally well. I’m so excited for her career.
She is so good. I loved the sudden transformation of her character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: when she turns on him and becomes quite frightening. she makes that whole crazy cult make sense. she’s very young but she “gets it”!
Oh boy, her work in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood was SO good! I’m glad you brought it up. First of all, she’s acting with Brad Pitt, and needs to kind of dominate him, make him feel uncomfortable, and she absolutely does. There’s ZERO sense she’s intimidated by him or even aware of who he is.
When they get to the ranch and he meets Tex and says “that’s the last cop’s jaw I ever broke”, she makes this cat-like hiss/slurp sound that’s amazing and reminds me of Lector with the Fava beans and Chianti. And yes, the way she leaps on the car when she turns on him, “YOU’RE the blind one!” – just so awesome. That whole sequence is it’s own great “mini-movie” and she’s a big reason why.
I adore that film so much for reasons I don’t even really understand.
And imagine casting Qualley, Austin Butler, Sydney Sweeney, Mikey Madison, Dakota Fanning and Maya Hawke as the Manson family at that stage of their careers. Incredible.
Yes! she was so eerie and I feel like she really captured what was going on with those girls (I mean, they all did. and Tarantino was just a master in that spahn ranch sequence – I think it’s the best single sequence he’s ever done. Scarier than a horror movie. oh and don’t forget Lena Dunham as Gypsy!!). I know just the moment you mean about the slurp. and her total focus on “Charlie” – “Charlie’s gonna love you” – you can practically see the alarm bells going off in Cliff when she says that because he doesn’t give a fuck about whoever that is. creepy.
and the big closeup of her when he comes out of the house – or maybe he’s going into the house. a total transformation – from giggly sexy hippie girl – to this expression that’s a mix of worry/embarrassment/deadpan.
It must have been so fun to be one of the extras in that scene – the girls who come out and yell at Brad as he leaves. To just yell at Brad Pitt for an afternon??
It really is such a masterful sequence. Next time you watch it pay attention to how he frames the two girls who he eventually does battle with at Rick’s house.
They’re closest to the TV in the house, the first two out of the house, closest to Cliff when they’re all yelling at him. Really well planned
out.
Yes, it’s when he exits the house, she’s biting her lip, all nervous…but she STILL has hope for Cliff when she asks if now that he’s talked to George if he thinks everything is okay. When he says “not exactly” is when she turned on him for good.
After Drive Away Dolls and The Substance the sky is the limit now.
“To just yell at Brad Pitt for an afternoon ” lol. He seems like such a generous actor he wouldn’t mind. He’s a true movie star but seems like he’s more comfortable supporting other actors. On the True Romance commentary track he said he wanted to play Floyd instead of the lead because “I just didn’t think I was that guy”. (Christian Slater worked out great).
I’m so happy that Once Upon a Time In Hollywood exists.
I saw it 3 times in the movie theatre and probably have seem it 10 times since. It’s far and away my favorite Tarantino – and actually feels personal, where his other films don’t. Not that you have to be personal but he’s bringing a kind of affection to this – I’ve never felt from him. even the fairy tale title. and the mournful eerieness of the last shot.
I have found that people who haven’t invested a ton of time looking into the Manson murders – who don’t really “get it” beyond what happened – have (had) a harder time “getting’ this movie. The “discourse” around it was so unbelievably annoying, particularly the balking at the violence against those girls at the end. If you have internalized what those girls did to Tate and her friends, and Leno and Rosemary La Bianca – you wouldn’t feel that way. there was a lot of really stupid commentary around this movie. But Tarantino knows his stuff – he made it for those of us who know the Tate story, who will never be over it, who read Chaos multiple times, who can talk about the crime scene and who instantly knew Dakota was Squeaky before anyone even said her name. I love that he sent the script to Debra Tate – and she gave him the go-ahead. She understood what he was doing. He was restoring her sister to her humanity. Sharon was more than just a murder victim. The whole thing was so emotional.
Qualley did a movie last year with Christopher Abbott and the title escapes me – it’s a two-hander – and she blew me away. Very exciting young actress. I think she first got my attention in the Leftovers which feels like it was a million years ago!
I also love how Steve McQueen was a bitter spurned lover. the biggest sex symbol in the world at that time. Hilarious!!
Oh yeah I don’t think Brad Pitt would mind. It’s what the scene called for. And I’m sure he loved it. What I meant was being an extra in that scene – and getting to do THAT – is way better than being an extra in a courtroom scene where you just have to sit there for 14 hours a day and do nothing!!
Sanctuary! That’s the name of the movie I mentioned.
also really loved Novitiate – and that was 7 or 8 years ago.
she also had a small part in one of my favorite recent comedies, The Nice Guys.
With this film and Inglorious Basterds, he’s sort of created a new genre, the “re-imagined history ” movie. I hope he makes 20 more.
The movie makes Sharon Tate feel like a force of nature, it really makes you long for what could’ve been.
Steve McQueen getting spurned was hilarious!
Yes I first noticed Qualley in The Leftovers where EVERYONE was great, and she’s also great in The Nice Guys. Again, acting with Gosling and Crowe and just sort of owning them.
I think everyone wanted a Nice Guys sequel, I’m not sure why it didn’t happen.
It wasn’t a hit. so there was no incentive to keep going. But I feel like it’s picked up steam since then via streaming. I’ve seen a bunch of YouTube reactors “reacting” to it – so it’s definitely not vanished into the maw. It’s also very adult, in terms of language/sex/etc. That’s a no-no right now.