The Bride: I Prefer Not To

★★—The Bride? More like The Ex. Am-I-right? I sort of liked this, at first. It seems that it is universally hated, but I thought it was sweet, though incredibly unfocused. I think it would be more accurate to say I wanted to like it… But the more I think about it, the worse I feel about it. 

 

Recent Oscar winner Jessie Buckley is Jean Harlow is Marla Singer… with some shit on her face. She’s also inexplicably possessed by Mary Shelley some of the time. Quotes Melville a lot, ye olde “I prefer not to.”

 

Some Gyllenhaal-on-Gyllenhaal action. Maggie directs what I assume will be her last film for a while. Jake plays a Fred Astaire type that Frankenstein is really into. Speaking of weird siblings, this super niche Swedish electronica band, the Knife, showed up playing not period music. The band is made up of Karin and Olof Dreijer. You can’t miss them. Karin looked more like a zombie than Frankenstein. 

 

Like Christian Bale in everything. This was no different, though it was no Big Short. People are constantly trying to fuck with him. Kids, if you are listening, picking a fight with a large man that looks like that is ill-advised. Then again, he passes as a waiter at one point. Am I sure I liked this movie? 

 

Takes place in the mid-1930s, roughly around the time Bride of Frankenstein came out. Love a period piece, usually. Way more dancing than I was expecting. Lot of film references. Ones I recognized, in addition to Bride of Frankenstein, include Bonnie and Clyde, Natural Born Killers, Moulin Rouge, Poor Things, Young Frankenstein. 

 

Overall. Too long. Too referential. Too little substance. Plot is insane, but not in a good way. Everything with Peter Sarsgaard and Penelope Cruz was unnecessary. 

Boston Strangler - Matt Ruskin - 2023

★★★- Zodiac lite with some shades of Spotlight. You can watch it right now on Hulu. One of their originals. It's pretty good, but not nearly as great as its obvious predecessors. Though the combo of Keira Knightly (what a talent) and Carrie Coon (Gone Girl, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) makes this an enjoyable watch; however, the film has some problems. 

Gist of the movie is reporter Loretta McLaughlin (Knightly) breaks the story of the Boston Strangler murders. As the killer's body count rises, she continues the investigation alongside colleague veteran investigative journalist Jean Cole (Coon). The film has a lot to say about how shitty it was to be a working woman in 1960s, how cops sometimes take the easiest narratives, and how powerful old-school journalism used to be.

In addition to Knightly and Coon, the film stars Robert John Burke (I think of him as the lead in Thinner), Rory Cochrane (Dazed and Confused, Freck in A Scanner Darkly), Chris Cooper (Adaptation, American Beauty), David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight, Suicide Squad, Dune), and Alessandro Nivola (The Many Saints of Newark, American Hustle).

Moves a little fast and the story is all over the place. The beats keep coming at you. She's at a crime scene, now she's talking to a cop, now she's home, now she's at work, now she's talking to another cop, now she's at a bar with her writing partner, now she's getting chewed out by her editor, now she's arguing with her husband. Repeat like six or seven times. Listened to a podcast about this and the possible Ann Arbor connection called Stranglers. Not sure I would have been a follow all this without having a 12-part docuseries under my belt.

I sort of hate mine and everyone's fascination with serial killers. They disgust and repulse me to no end. Yet I consume a lot of media based on these sick fucks whom I loath for bringing so much suffering into the world. All the victims die bad. Every once in a while I watch something so disturbing that I have to stop. Such has been the case for the last couple months. But goddamn do I love an investigative journalism movie. 

More than anything I love how they show the life of a journalist living a story. I've been there. It's a tough grind. You put in an incredible amount of time for no money, but there is nothing like it. That buzz of election night, basketball sectionals, watching the cops bring in a murderer. Thinking hard about it. Pouring your soul out. You live for that shit. Like a lot of movies like this, the film does a great job of putting you in that world. Hesitantly recommend. 

Babylon - Damien Chazelle - 2022

★★-Babylon. Yet another film set in the late 1920s and early 1930s in Hollywood, during the transition from silent films to “talkies.” As such it is a movie I feel I've seen multiple times before. Also, not great, though interesting. 

Directed by Damien Chazelle whose claim to fame was La La Land. Overrated. It features an ensemble cast including Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Tobey Maguire, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Rory Scovel (probably the best comedian I've seen live), Jovan Adepo, and Li Jun Li. 

Has multiple Singing in the Rain references. This film also tells that story from much grimier perspective. When the lone character who survives into the 1950s sees the film when visiting Hollywood with his family, he cries. Well, I sort of wanted to cry watching Babylon for being such a waste of talent and potential. 

As someone who loves Pitt and Robbie as well as this time period, the movie was a mixed bag of enjoyable scenes that lacked a cohesive narrative. Overall, it felt like a movie with a bunch of great scenes (the opening dance/orgy bit on the outskirts of Hollywood and the closing credits bit both come to mind) that doesn't do a good job of coming together. Any one scene I probably found enjoyable, but the sum of them felt shallow. One of those flicks that seems entertaining, but at the end it doesn't quite come together to form a complete or even halfway decent story and you leave it feeling shitty. 

“The asshole of Los Angles” scene is incredible. Tobey Maguire was great and disgusting here. Dudes in over their heads have to go into a horribly dangerous situation because of their idiocy that practically screams “get the fuck out.” Also, having to deal with an unhinged rich maniac drinking booze and ether. This is McGuire's character, who is unsettling. Reminded me of Boogey Nights with the “Wonderland” scene based on John Holmes's bullshit that got a bunch of people killed. 

It's said to be a love letter to Hollywood's golden age, which is quite a claim. It also tries to be a commentary on the industry's historical and ongoing issues with diversity and representation. Okay. Glad I didn't set through its over three hour runtime in an actual theater. Underwhelmed is all I'm saying. 

Amsterdam - David O. Russell - 2022

★★★ - Christian Bale, John David Washington, Margot Robbie, Robert De Niro, and an amazing supporting cast. David O. Russell directing a period movie about Nazi supporters trying to overthrow democracy in America in 1933.  What’s not to love? 

Turns out a decent amount. Totally a hot mess with a hard-to-follow plotline that jumps around through time and makes little sense. However, I still really liked it. This is definitely a minority opinion.

The cast is just too good. In addition to those listed you've got Ed Begley Jr., Rami Malek, Mike Myers, Timothy Olyphant, Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Michael Shannon, Anya Taylor-Joy (the young woman from The Witch and Split), Taylor Swift (forchristssake) who isn't bad, and more. Plus, I am a total sucker for a period piece from the first half of the 20th Century.

There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson - 2007

★★★★★- I think about this movie almost daily. Can interpret the film in about five different ways: Daniel never loved anyone and what he says to HW is a revelation, that he really loves HW chose his fake brother because HW seemed dangerous and this is his big life mistake (which is why he kills his fake brother [also why he’s obsessed with Eli being a false prophet]), that he loved HW but his drinking and rage made him crazy, that he deals with pain by throwing himself into his work which just makes him angrier over time, or that he has always been miserable and wants others to be miserable because of his success. This is all Daniel Day-Lewis, who is in another league. Everyone else suffers from this performance. This is the best performance ever. No shit. 

This Jordan-esque Interpretation was how I saw it this time. “I have a competition in me. I want no one
else to succeed… I look at people and I see nothing worth liking.” Once his son becomes his competitor, he takes that shit personally. Never has there been a more complicated father-son relationship on screen. So good. 

We get glimpses of Plainview losing control several times up to the end when he completely fucking loses it in the greatest meltdown of all time. I have a little of that competition in me on my worst days. This isn’t comforting. 

Maybe my favorite scene is when Plainview runs HW in his arms after the accident. Then he runs to the well. “ What are you looking so miserable about,” he asks rhetorically. “There is a whole ocean of oil underneath our feet and I’m the only one that can get at it.” HW OK? “No he isn’t.” 

Less complicated is what’s going on with Daniel and Eli. These absolutely hate each other. Daniel treats Eli like an idiot who he has no respect for the beginning. Then he goes to that sermon, immediately realizes he’s full of shit, but also that he’s the one he’s gonna have to deal with. “And if I have no teeth I will gum you!”

If you don’t watch this masterpiece at least three times, you can’t even have a discussion about it. There is so much to take in through every second of the film. I love it. Truly. It is my favorite movie of all time maybe. 

Phenomenal soundtrack. When the music plays, it is on. It’s chilling. I listen to it often. The cinematography is crazy too. We are mostly distant and when we get closeups, it’s uncomfortable and ambiguous. 

Jesus fucking Christ. I rewatch it whenever I hear anyone mention it. Plainview goes through hell and he ends up a reflection of that. Absolutely profound. A goddamned masterpiece.

Pearl - Ti West - 2022

★★★★- Thought the Maria Goth performance was GREAT but the movie was not. Close though. Love a period horror movie. Many allusions to The Wizard of Oz, which was interesting and cool. Also love Ti West. And this Mia Goth is something special. Never better than when she was playing hero ball. 

This is the second of a trilogy. Takes place during WWI. The origin story of the psycho biddy from the first film, who was played by Goth as well who had dual roles in the flick. Get to see her Hollywood dreams and the seeds of craziness growing into violent psychopathy. Nice. 

In addition to Goth, film stars David Corenswet, Emma Jenkins-Purro, Matthew Sunderland, and Tandi Wright, none of whom I recognized. 

Super captivating and memorable. Liked the style and music. Love the final scene too. That was uncomfortable and awesome. You could hear people in the theater being like WTF. Love those kinds of communal view experiences. Excited AF for that third installment, which goes to the 1980s.