Killers of the Flower Moon: Fucking White People - A Harrowing Tale of Greed and Racism

Killers of the Flower Moon - Martin Scorcese - 2023

Fucking white people. Based on a nonfiction book, which, fucking great.  

Gist is people of the Osage Nation discover oil on their Oklahoma land and make it rich. They are given money as part of a “headright.” Money for nothing, as the whites who move to the area say. The richest among these white folk hatches a plot to kill the Osage off, one by one. The law doesn’t care, with the sheriff basically telling him to quit making it so obvious. But the FBI comes to town and unearth all the bullshit. Real feel good Christmas watch, this one.  

De Niro’s character is the worst kind of racist. Acts like he is racially sympathetic and is meanwhile killing the Osage for money. Saying they are “getting money for doing nothing” behind their backs. The basic sentiment for people then and now, though inherited wealth (if you are white) is collectively fine.

Really important flick that is super infuriating. This would be my top film almost any other year. Might be after a few rewatches. I’m coming in fresh.  

Lily Gladstone is amazing and should and will win Best Actress. Love the reservation chic look, by the by. DiCaprio and De Niro are stellar as well, though they playing some real fuckers. Martin Scorses is still coming in hot after all these years. Masterful filmmaking.  

Heat: The action is the juice

Heat - Michael Mann - 1995

★★★★-Pacino and De Niro square off in a legendary hist movie. Uh, yeah. But similar to my feelings when I saw it 30 years ago, it was a little disappointing. 

Rumors have been around for decades that Pacino and De Niro were never on the set at the same time due to their supposed rivalry. They've done three movies together total. Remember watching this when it came out on TV. All of them are classics. My friends at the time were high on Pacino. I've always been a De Niro guy. It was my take back then that Pacino is terrible in this movie. That is still my take. I feel they've both done a lot of shit over the last decade, but have their performances, especially Pacino as of late. De Niro really gets the best of old Al in this one for sure. Also, both of them are recent fathers, which is insane. 

Gist of the movie is an intense conflict between an LAPD detective, Pacino ,and a seasoned criminal, De Niro. As the story unfolds, it delves into the impact of this clash on their professional relationships and personal lives. Plus there is lots of shooting and killing with long hist scenes going through downtown L.A. 

Directed by Michael Mann. He could do no wrong there for a while, but has been on a losing streak as of late. Other films of his include  Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider (great flick), Collateral, Public Enemies, Miami Vice, and the much maligned Blackhat. He originally penned the script in 1979, drawing inspiration from Chicago police officer Chuck Adamson's pursuit of the criminal Neil McCauley, It became the 1989 television movie  L.A. Takedownbefore getting a rewrite. 

Ensemble cast is insane. Includes Pacino, De Niro, Val Kilmer, Natalie Portman, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Amy Brenneman (a total “that chick” that didn't quite make it to A-List), and Ashley Judd in major roles. Also, Danny Trejo, Wes Studi (probably most recognized from The Last of the Mohicans), Diane Venora (also never quite made it), William Fichtner (total that guy), Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs), Mykelti Williamson (Bubba from Forrest Gump), Tone Loc, Tom Noonan (Francis Dollarhyde in Mann's Manhunter, the homeowner in The House of the Devil, the big bad in RoboCop 2, Frankenstein in The Monster Squad, the Ripper in Last Action Hero, dude is pretty much always a psycho), Dennis Haysbert (the AllState guy), Hank Azaria (Apu, Moe, Wigum, and other voices from The Simpsons as well as Patches O'Houlihan in Dodgeball), Kevin Gage (a real con mostly remembered for this), and Henry Rollins (love when he shows up in anything). Hell, Bud Cort makes an appearance. Lastly, Val Kilmer looks like a poor man's Brad Pitt. 

Some notes... Pacino's dealing with some shit on top of his job. Wife is irritated that Pacino is four hours late for dinner because he was investigating a triple homicide. Well, yeah. Step-daughter, played by a young Natalie Portman, attempts suicide, and his wife starts boning this guy named Ralph. Poor Ralph. Just trying to have sex and watch some TV. Had no idea he was in for, getting used to tame an unhinged, obsessive policeman by his crazier, pot-smoking wife. Law enforcement agencies really don't like it when the spouse does drugs. Just FYI. 

Sort of taken on masterpiece status. Didn't receive any Academy Award nominations, though now it is considered one of the most influential works in its action-crime genre. Last year, it was announced that a sequel is in development. 

Really tense final showdown. Two dudes running around on the tarmac firing guns at each other as planes take off around them. This was pre-9/11. Dude was home free, but he's got to kill a piece of shit. The police working with a serial killer to catch a bank robber (who does kill people), seems like a real deal with the devil. 

Overall, not the classic some people claim. But solid. A three-hour movie that just flies by is always appreciated, but somewhat daunting. Finally, Sizemore kinda steals the show. Hard to like the guy, as he might have been a pedophile. But he is pretty dope in this flick. Delivers one of the greatest lines ever in “For me, the action is the juice!” De Niro is sick, too. If you have three hours to kill, you can probably find worse ways to spend it. 

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.

Joker is the greatest movie of all time

Joker. I used to think that my life was a tragedy, but now I realize, it's a fucking comedy. Pretty damn solid. Might even be transformative to the superhero genre like The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger's Joker performance was in 2008. However, don't see the flick as rewatchable as those Christopher Nolan Batman flix. I mean, you never really forget that you are watching a guy suffering from serious mental illness that society doesn't give a shit about. Not my idea of a movie I want to watch a whole lot. Like Taxi Driver, which everyone keeps comparing it to, in that way, but worse.

Rotten Tomato Consensus: Joker gives its infamous central character a chillingly plausible origin story that serves as a brilliant showcase for its star -- and a dark evolution for comics-inspired cinema.

Gist of the movie is that Arthur Fleck, a mentally disturbed aspiring comedian, basically completely loses his shit after getting pushed to his breaking point. After getting jumped for the second time in the movie, he kills some stock brokers in self defense but guns another down as he is trying to escape. From there it is all down hill as he becomes an icon for the oppressed of Gotham City.

Stars Joaquin Phoenix as Joker (aka Arthur Fleck) and has a notable appearance from Robert De Niro as late night talk show host Murray Franklin. Something cool about having De Niro in the film is that it connects all the allusions to Taxi Driver (maybe De Niro's most memorable role) that are in the film. Both take place at the same time and Joker references this by talking about the garbage strike. This isn't laid out in Taxi Driver but it was filmed during a massive garbage strike in the mid 1970s in New York City. That is the reason the city looks like such shit in Taxi Driver and Travis has his whole fixation on washing away all the trash.

Other people you are likely to recognize are Zazie Beetz (a pretty lady who was in Deadpool 2) as Joker's love interest, Frances Conroy--whom you may remember as Ruth Fisher in Six Feet Under--plays Joker's mother (Penny Fleck), and Marc Maron whom I always assume is incredibly famous but no one seems to really know when I geek out whenever he shows up in anything (he is only the star of GLOW, Maron, and the host of WTF?, sorry he isn't Ben Shapiro or Joe Rogan or whatever). Then there are several "that guy"s like Glenn Fleshler who plays this monster clown coworker of Fleck's. This guy is brutally killed in everything I have seen him in including True Detectives (he is the serial killer in the first season) and Barry (he is the leader of the Chechens). Then the little person, an actor named Leigh Gill, was in Game of Thrones and Fantastic Beasts is somewhat recognizable but I think is mostly because he was the other little person in GoT.

Ladies!

First off, Phoenix was pretty great. Not anyone going to make a convincing argument that he didn't win the movie. It is nuts. Also, interesting stuff written for his character. One of the coolest things is the allusion to the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs which the Joker character from the 1940 Batman #1 comic was the obvious inspiration. Like the title character from that film, who looks exactly like the Joker, Fleck laughs despite the really fucked up shit that goes down around him. He has this disorder that resulted from severe childhood trauma where he would laugh uncontrollably when in extremely uncomfortable situations (which is how he ends up on Murray Franklin's show). I think I may have this for all I know made up disease, by the by (see my review for Pet Semetary, but I won't get into it here. He then can't really laugh when things are actually funny but sort of fakes it. As an aspiring comedian, we see him at a comedy club taking notes and such and faking a laugh like a second off from the audience in an obviously fake, not getting it way. I find that sort of shit extremely off putting. It is one of several ways that they show us that he is not in control. Another way comes after he starts his crime spree, killing for the first time. He is kind of freaking out but definitely sort of digging it. He goes to a filthy restroom to compose himself and does a sort of beautiful dance that is really something. Reminds me of a mime or a marionette. This stuff was really good shit.

As far as De Niro's character goes, he is a Johnny Carson type Pushing a civilian over the edge like that is pretty fucking gross. He wasn't asking to go viral. You are sort of on board with that shit, his rage. Then he shoots the guy in the face and at least I was like, "whoa buddy." Sort of like when Mike Tyson was all "I'm the best ever; there's never been anybody as ruthless" and I was all "yeah." "My style is impetuous." Yeah! "My defense is impregnable!" Yeah!!! "I'm ferocious. I want your heart." YEAH!! "I want to eat his children." Hold the fuck up, man, I'm not signing up for all this now. Same shit. Shoot a guy in the face on TV. Talk of butchering and eating a baby. Not quite at that level. Though we'll see how this Trump thing goes. Maybe in a year I will be. Anyway. Love that they do this shit. You see this in a lot Batman comics and graphic novel, Joker going on talk shows and then murdering people, and it is portrayed really ingeniously here.

Other things that are of note is what an asshole Thomas Wayne is. Dude is a one-percenter and is finally fucking portrayed like it. Fuck him. I always thought he was secretly a prick. If I have to watch him die in the same way for the 10th time on film, it better offer something. This totally does. Another thing is this twist that happens. Totally didn't see that shit coming. I think it is obvious that there would be one but this was not one I was expecting. Enough said there.

Complaint is did it need two goddamn endings? The first one was solid. The second was complete shit. Not going to give it away in detail but this is sort of a spoiler. It is like the studio and all the rich fucks that had say were like, "I'm a little uncomfortable with this ending, we have to make sure everyone knows he is in Arkham." Horseshit.

Overall, though, the film is a really fascinating study of how when pushed to the breaking point and politicians and agents of order just keep pushing, shit will go the fuck down. I would say if you ignore the second ending, it is a call to action of sorts (or maybe more of a warning). It says that we are fucking living this shit. The film doesn't fuck around with that. This may take place in the 1970s, but this Gotham is Trump's American. Burn the mother fucker down.

Cape Fear is the greatest movie of all time

Cape Fear. My 4th of July watch this year. I guess it is sort of a 4th movie. There are fireworks and a parade. One of three movies I remember my grandpa telling my dad not to let me watch as a child which I overheard and immediately sought out (the other two were The Fly [1986] and The Silence of the Lambs) and was definitely way too young to watch. This one made it on the list for the horrific rape and face biting scene that is indeed still fucking terrible to watch. One of those things I probably should have waited a couple of years.

Rotten Tomato Consensus: Smart and stylish, Cape Fear is a gleefully mainstream shocker from Martin Scorsese, with a terrifying Robert De Niro peformance.

Gist of the flick is that ex-con, Max Cady played by Robert De Niro, goes on a vengeance tour against his former attorney, Sam Bowden played by Nick Nolte, who didn't disclose that the woman that Cady raped was promiscuous which would have gotten him off, apparently. Was thinking it must have been a different time but now rape is more or less acceptable again if you are a republican with any sort of power. Anyway, Cady loses his fucking mind and basically becomes the Terminator, he is pretty much video game character unstoppable, with the ultimate plan of raping Bowden and his family to death. Yeah, it's purty fucked up.

The cast is amazing. It is a Martin Scorsese movie after all. We have the lovely and talented Jessica Lange as Nick Nolte's wife (Leigh), Juliette Lewis as daughter Danielle in one of her more relatable roles, Illeana Douglas who is young and pretty and in a bunch of stuff but is mostly remembered for this role as being the girl who gets her face bitten off, and MST3K favorite Joe Don Baker of Mitchell fame. A remake of 1962 original which has a 100% fresh rating on RTs, the flick has cameos from the original cast members with Robert Mitchum (who was Cady in the old one) playing a cop, Gregory Peck who was in the Sam Bowden role now playing Cady's lawyer, and Martin Balsam--whom I remember as Arbogast in Psycho and Juror No. 1 in 12 Angry Men but don't recall seeing in the original (though I saw it 28 years ago)--plays a judge.

Remember it as a longer, more developed movie but it's basically just De Niro yucking it up. The Simpsons fans out there, and likely people who have a passing knowledge of the series, will recognize all the times they have sort of spoofed the film with Sideshow Bob basically taking on the role of Cady and Bart as the dude he obsesses over. Also get the great scene where the police strip search Cady and we see all of his creepy as fuck tattoos that have to do with vengeance, justice, revenge, so forth. De Niro is impressively jacked here, especially considering he is almost 50 when this was made.

The film is pretty hard to watch but is a super solid movie. It is brutal and disturbing. Not only is it incredibly violent, but Cady is nasty. Like after he has displayed that he is a true sociopath, he poses as a teacher before coming clean to who he really is and seduces Juliette Lewis's character who is a child. Luckily they don't fuck, which would have been waaayyyy too much, obviously. But De Niro does stick his thumb in her mouth which she sucks on... I almost puked.