Month: June 2022

Another telling of the history of the James-Younger gang, the conceit in this tale is that the various relatives are played by real-life brothers: James and Stacy Keach as the Jameses; Keith, David, and Robert Carradine as the Youngers; Dennis and Randy Quaid as the Millers; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest as the Fords. While not as glossy as some other renditions, it’s still a solid telling of the story, but again the fun is watching the various brothers working with and against each other.  

To celebrate their first wedding anniversary, wealthy music promoter Richard Attenborough hosts a party in the honor of musical couple Paul Harris and Marti Stevens. One of the guests is drummer Patrick McGoohan who wants to draw Stevens out of retirement and join his nascent band. It’s a clever take on Shakespeare’s Othello set across a jazzy 1960s London backdrop. The music is divine, even featuring actual jazz musicians from the time period. Altering Shakespeare’s narrative somewhat makes it more accessible and more resonant for a modern audience.  

Set during the Great Depression, or a similar time period, the mysterious Nicole Kidman, on the run from gangsters, arrives in Dogville, a dilapidated former mining town in the Rocky Mountains. The pious townspeople offer her refuge in exchange for an hour of daily servitude for each of its residents. Reminiscent of a production of Our Town, it is staged on a barren set with meager furnishings and chalk outlines representing buildings, belying a folksy charm and innocence that is nowhere to be found in this film. With an almost three hour run time, it is the rare film that feels much shorter than it actually is, holding my attention throughout. The film progresses in ways that are predictable but indescribable, an obvious parable on the worst humanity has to offer.

Another battle in his child custody fight with his mentally disturbed wife Samantha Eggar, Oliver Reed investigates the institution where she resides when their daughter comes back from a visit covered in scratches and bruises. The child-like creatures that appear to seemingly do Eggar’s bidding are both strange and scary, selling the horror of the film. The ending is off-the-hook bizarre and repulsive, made more so when discovering that this was director David Cronenberg’s way of working through feelings over his own bitter divorce. 

Enjoying his life working as a lifeguard since he was a teenager, thirty-something Sam Elliott reevaluates his priorities after reuniting with a high school girlfriend at his fifteen year high school reunion. There’s a lot of awful misogyny and a really problematic sexual relationship, which some might be able to wave it off as being of a particular time. I had a hard time doing so, but it really speaks to the cool of Elliott that he still manages to be a charming protagonist despite all that.

I haven’t seen this film since it first came out, but when I tried to skip ahead to The Bourne Ultimatum, I had a hard time following so thus begins a small Bourne marathon. Italian fishermen rescue Matt Damon, with two gunshots in his back and total amnesia, from the Mediterranean Sea. Discovering he has a vast array of unexpected skills, he takes on the name of Jason Bourne and begins the search for his true identity. Matt Damon makes for a strange action hero, but that accentuates his early confusion as he realizes his abilities. It’s a solid actioner with an impressive cast, including Chris Cooper, Franka Potente, and Brian Cox, but it’s still easily forgettable by the time it’s over.  

Florida Keys police chief Denzel Washington races against his detective estranged wife Eva Mendes and the DEA in finding out who murdered his mistress Sanaa Lathan and her abusive husband Dean Cain before he becomes the chief suspect in the case. Fairly predictable with a dumb ending (just take the money, idiots), it is sold on a solid performance by Washington. A somewhat Hitchcockian protagonist, he is in way over his head before he even realizes he’s near the water.