Jackie Watch: Police Story (1985) and Police Story 2 (1988)

Watched:  02/22/2019
Format:  Austin Film Society
Viewing:  second/ first
Decade:  1980's

Thanks to some good pals my first year of college, I started watching Jackie Chan movies.  Unfortunately, lo these many years later, because I watched many of them in the space of one academic year, I have no idea which is which, what I have seen and what I haven't.  The conversation usually went more like "There's a Jackie Chan movie playing at The Hogg Auditorium.  We're going after dinner."  "Okay." 

It turned out I had seen Police Story, but not Police Story 2 - but I have, in the past, seen Police Story 3: Supercop.  Which was not part of the double-bill at the Austin Film Society that SimonUK and I attended.

But, yeah, like all of you, when I first saw his movies, I loved everything about Jackie - his sense of humor, his incredible stunts, his loyalty to his stunt team, the fact he wrote, directed and starred in his movies, and that he even sang his own theme songs.  And, yeah, you can see the influence of the comedy greats in Jackie - if you love Buster Keaton or Chaplain, you should like Jackie's movies. 

If the movies have a weakness, imho, it's that they often can't quite settle on tone.  That said, by the end of Police Story, the shift from goofy antics and wacky set-pieces to wanting to see the bad guys get punched just real, real hard is more than earned. 

Chan's energy is just different from anyone else in cinema.  He's got the finesse of Bruce Lee, but - instead of Lee's eye of the storm focused energy, ready to unleash, he sort of is the storm. 

Maggie Cheung plays May in both films, Jackie's long-suffering girlfriend, and she has some terrific comedic bits and really takes some hits for the team doing her own stunts. 

The plot is some boiler-plate 1980's cop-movie stuff, and that's okay.  It's all a skeleton upon which to hang cool action scenes and showcase the work of Jackie and his crew.

I dunno.  I really like Police Story, maybe the second one a bit less, but they're both hugely watchable movies.  I just found Police Story 3: Supercop on Amazon, so I'm going to watch it ASAP.  It has Michelle Yeoh, so...  you know...

20th Anniversary Watch: Office Space (1999)

Watched:  02/20/2019
Format:  a very, very old DVD
Viewing:  8th or 9th
Decade:  1990's

In February 2019 I was about 9 months post-graduation and working in a very strange job for - what I figured out - was literally poverty wages (the job required a 4 year bachelor's degree, so... don't major in radio-TV-film, kids).  This week marks not just the 20th anniversary of the release of  Office Space (2019), but late 2018- early 2019 marks the start of my 20th year in the workforce as an FTE, I suppose.

Office Space was a product of Austinite Mike Judge, who had risen to fame first with Beavis & Butthead on MTV circa 1993, and brought Arlen, Texas to the small screen via King of the Hill. Upon arrival, the movie mostly flopped.  Critics were relatively kind, but the film had no major stars except Jennifer Aniston in the era of Big Stars = Big Profits, and a workplace comedy about hating your job wasn't exactly groundbreaking.  But at the time I felt a certain loyalty to the Texas film scene and Mike Judge, so we went to see it around opening weekend and... yeah.

As Jamie said when we were talking about the movie after: this was the first movie I saw that I may not have related to 100%, but it was the first movie I saw about adults that I could relate to as an adult.

PODCAST! "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"! Avengers Chronological Countdown #09 - w/ Jamie and Ryan

Watched:  02/16/2019
Format:  Bluray
Viewing:  unknown
Decade:  2010's

We reach one of Jamie's all-time favorite movies, a tale of a handsome man who is neck-deep in issues he thought he fixed before he went down for a long nap. Cap returns in an espionage thriller, but - also - a story of friendship. And blowing things up real good. It's one of the big turning points for Marvel as they put their best foot forward with a solid story that takes things up a notch.



Music:

Avengers - Alan Silvestri, Avengers OST
Captain America - Henry Jackman, Captain America: The Winter Solider OST

Playlist

President's Day Profile: Millard Fillmore (#13)

Believe it or not, that is not a time-lost Alec Baldwin.  That is the 13th President of the United States of America, Millard Fillmore.

I know pretty much nothing about Fillmore other than that he existed, and I guessed he was a Whig, and, indeed, he was.  But that guess was based on my impression that he seemed old-timey.

So, what should we know about President Fillmore?

Post-War Watch: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Watched:  02/12/2019
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing: second
Decade:  1940's


The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) rightfully won accolades and awards upon its release, telling the story of three returning GI's in terms that try not to gloss over the hardships and adjustments those who went to war in WWII must make as they come home and attempt to re-enter civilian life.  Perhaps as much or more importantly, the movie doesn't ignore the adjustments and expectations of those who were safe at home, including arcs for the folks who didn't go, for whom life was not on pause as their loved ones - or even former coworkers - disappeared for a few years. 

Valentine's Day Watch: Coffy (1973)

Watched:  02/14/2019
Format:  Amazon Prime Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1970's

Jamie and I went out for a lovely dinner for Valentine's Day, followed by catching up on Star Trek: Discovery, and then - somehow - I wound up watching this movie, and I think for the fashion choices alone, Jamie didn't object.  I thought I'd previously seen Coffy (1973) when I started it - because it's currently streaming free to Amazon Prime subscribers, and, I didn't intend to actually watch it.  But I hadn't seen it and the next thing I knew I was an hour in.

PODCAST! It's High School Musicals with "Grease" (1978) and "High School Musical" (2006) - Maxwell, Mrshl and Ryan

GREASE (1978)
Watched:  01/28/2019
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  Easily my 15th or 16th, maybe more
Decade  1970's

High School Musical (2006)
Watched:  02/08/2019
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2000's

Maxwell and Ryan welcome Marshall to the PodCast as they discuss "Grease" and "High School Musical", two movies that are about finding love and finding out who you are in the nightmare factory that is the American Public High School.  One of these films is definitely for kids, and the other... really, not for kids, no matter what America wants to think.




Music:

Summer Nights - Grease OST - cast
We Go Together - Grease OST - cast
Grease - performed by The Signaltones

High School Movies:

Relevant Watch: All the President's Men (1976)

Watched:  02/09/2019
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  third
Decade:  1970's (obvs)


It's too hard to unpack both the film All the President's Men (1976) and the actual events of the Watergate scandal without writing a full treastise, so I won't.  But in 2019, the events of this movie have both an echo that sounds all too familiar, but one which it is difficult to believe would actually register with at least half the voting population.  If the movie is *about* anything, it's showing how goddamn hard it is to build a newspaper story that will stick, the near-impossible job of the press, and, of course, the responsibility of the press in a free and open democratic society, something this blogger firmly believes in.

Comedy Watch: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Watched:  02/09/2019
Format:  Amazon Prime Streaming
Viewing:  7th or so
Decade:  1980's

So, here's a curious one: could Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) be made today? 

I'm going to say "no". 

Is the movie still still as oddly brilliant and funny as it was in 1988?  More so, I think.  The older I get, the more I relish Caine's role and dialog in particular.  And Glenne Headley's breathy, wide-eyed Ohioan is, of course, absolutely terrific knowing what we know at the film's conclusion. 

But I suspect the twitter scold-squad would be up in arms about pretty much everything Steve Martin does in this movie if it arrived now. 

However, I am pretty sure in another 20 years, this movie will still be around and revered as a classic comedy by those in the know, part of Martin's filmography of rediscovered classics and Caine's occasional and often successful dive into comedy.  And, of course, Headley will be rightfully mourned. 

I mean, Ruprecht is timeless, and I look forward to future generations wondering where he got the trident.

Noir Watch: The Burglar (1957)

watched:  02/08/2019
format:  Amazon Prime Streaming
viewing:  first
decade:  1950's

I recently read the David Goodis novel, which Goodis himself adapted as a screenplay for The Burglar (1957).  Surprise: the book is better.  An existential noir thriller that *really* piles on Goodis' weirdness with women, the book is singularly bleak piece of fiction that, honestly, would probably not work terribly well as a film (the ending would be, also, logistically unfilmable in 1957*).

The movie hits a lot of the same beats and maintains the motivations of the book, but it's just not as well fleshed out, and they clearly were worried about the audience getting lost along the way so they're more concrete in trying to state the vague mess of issues plaguing Duryea's titular burglar. 

Jayne Mansfield is about as far from the Gladden on the novel as one could get in personality and build, but it does shake up the mix a bit and puts a point on the creeping sexual stress as the story shows up on the screen - it's simply different from the frail, skinny girl of the novel.

There's some terrific imagery and cinematography in the film, and pitch perfect noir-esque build of sweaty claustrophobia once the game is revealed, all of which is mind-boggling, as this was the director's first time out (Paul Wendkos, who went on to make Gidget movies!), and a DP who, really, doesn't show much on his filmography to show how he got to this point. 

Honestly, I think they cut too much from the book to give the other burglars any real personality or show why Duryea's character is so wound up, but it's still basically intact, and as a B picture, it's got some good stuff going for it. 


*it involves a lot of stuff of people swimming in the choppy Atlantic.  Sort of.