Category Archives: Trailers

The Night Of

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If the first episode is any indication, HBO has another hit with The Night Of. No shortage of good reviews out there but I’ll make a couple of personal observations.

Never has a innocent guy had such a mountain of incriminating evidence piled on him. And I think I might actually like John Turturro in this series. His usual bug-eyed, crazy guy intensity is a turn-off for me. A more laid back character, at least in this first episode. Richard Price (The Wire, Clockers, The Color of Money) is a producer and writer.

The Cell

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A little horror/sci-fi/thriller from 2000, staring Jennifer Lopez and Vince Vaughn. For my money this was one of only two J.Lo I liked. She was really good in Out of Site but that had great characters/story thanks to the late Elmore Leonard. But, as is so often the case, the star of The Cell was the serial killer played by a young Vincent D’Onofrio. D’Onofrio gave us the bonkers Pvt. Pyle from Full Metal Jacket but I’ll always remember him as Edgar, the alien bug many from Men In Black. For a simple little movie, The Cell had some spectacular visual effects.

Steve Jobs

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What can I say about the new Steve Jobs movie other than I really enjoyed it. I came to the Mac late in life so Jobs never had the god-like status he did/does for many. This movie will seem blasphemous for those folks (like The Last Temptation of Christ).

As Aaron Sorkin has said in almost every interview, this is not a cradle-to-grave biopic. If it’s not the Steve Jobs story, it’s i Steve Jobs story and, in my opinion, a damned good one.

I like the way Aaron Sorkin writes. (And make no mistake, this is a talky movie. Noting but talk) And while he could have tried to bunt and beat it out for a single; or pull one hard to left for a stand-up double; he swung for the fence and — again, in my opinion — knocked it out of the park.

If you think the man walked on water, don’t go see this movie. If you go nuts every time Apple sets a new sales record with a product launch (looking at you Android Boy), I don’t think you’ll like it either.

If you enjoyed West Wing or The Newsroom or Social Network, I think you’ll be entertained.

I’m going to again link to a good interview (of Sorkin) by Steven Levy. If you plan to see the movie, read this first.

Be Right Back (Black Mirror)

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An online service that creates a virtual presence for a departed loved one, based on all the photos, videos, Facebook posts, Tweets, etc etc. I’m sure I’ve posted on that several times over the years, eagerly anticipating some digital immortality. Once again, Charlie Brooker has changed my mind with the Be Right Back episode of Black Mirror. If you’ve recently lost someone close, you might want to skip this one (or wait a bit)

Citizenfour

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citizenfour_posterWe ain’t the good guys anymore. That was my take-away from Citizenfour, Laura Poitras’ documentary on Edward Snowden. This is far and away the best documentary I’ve ever seen and it was damning. As for who’s a good guy and who isn’t, well, maybe there aren’t any good guys anymore. I’ll tell you who is not a good guy… Barack Obama. Yep, the guy I voted for, twice. Even made some donations to the first campaign. I’d say I fucked up but come on… Sarah Palin?!

As it became clear President Obama was a very different cat than Candidate Obama, I told myself he’s better than George Bush and Dick Cheney. But you know, that doesn’t make you a good guy. It just makes you not those bad guys.

Same goes for the USA. Yeah, there are some countries with really shitty governments. But that’s a pretty low bar. Turns out our shit does stink and it’s time we took a good whip.

At some point in the film I found myself thinking, “Fuck it. I hope the Republicans take the Senate. And the House. A whole bunch of Democrats have been complicit in what the NSA and the rest of the intelligence “community” have been up to and they get no more support or votes for me.

I’ll calm down but I won’t be the same. It’s that strong a film. I’ve turned off comments here but would be happy to discuss privately, one-to-one. With anyone who has seen the film.

Rich Hill

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“An examination of challenges, hopes and dreams of the young residents of a rural American town.” That description from the film’s website doesn’t begin to capture the bleak hopelessness and despair I came away with. Be very surprised if the Missouri Department of Tourism includes this documentary in its promotional material.

Let me pause a moment to encourage you to see this film. It’s such a powerful story. Three stories, actually. As I watched I kept thinking, you can’t write dialogue like this. And if you could, no actor could could express this depth of (fill in emotion).

I was born in a small town in Missouri and have spent most of my life here. I’ve been to the places shown in this film. But I don’t think I have ever really seen the people. This film grabs your head and forces you to take a good, long look. Unflinching might be the word I’m looking for.

MITT

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“Whatever side your on, see another side.” That’s the tag line for the Netflix documentary MITT, written and directed by Greg Whitely, and it’s a good one. I don’t do reviews but I’ll share a few impressions, in no particular order:

  • Some unresolved daddy stuff going on for Mitt
  • He didn’t really want to be president. He wanted to be elected president
  • There must have been times when the family and/or the campaign said, ‘Stop filming. Please leave the room.”
  • The decision to have no narration was a good one
  • Some of the shots looked like they were from a GoPro strapped to the family pooch. I liked that quality throughout the film
  • Mitt and Anne don’t know any poor people. Sure, they’ve met some in their public life, but they seem incapable of grasping what it would be like to be poor.
  • Karl Rove and Roger Ailes threw up 5 minutes into this film
  • No politician will ever again agree to this kind of access