Awards Watch: Tár (2022)

Watched:  02/04/2023

Format:  Peacock

Viewing:  First

Director:  Todd Field

I knew very little about Tár (2022) when I put the film on.  During it's initial limited release, the movie received resounding critical acclaim, but has since had dismal box office.  That alone is worth studying - box office can only tell us so much. Maybe it will pick up as a streaming offering.  I had actually wanted to see it on the big screen and with better sound, but the runtime and this week's weather made it far easier to just watch at home - so I may be the demographic theaters are panicking about.  We're fine with these movies, but we also are okay with waiting a couple of months to just watch them from our couches.

In the end, I'm not sure I'm entirely sold on the movie, regarding Cate Blanchett's as EGOT composer, conductor, writer, etc... Lydia Tár.  I'll need to think about it some more.  

The film exists squarely in worlds with which I have no familiarity - the world of symphonies, of composition, of Berlin and New York, of the small world of classical music with it's all too rare stars.  It should all seem very far away, and at times - it does.  This could have been a movie about a writer of books, or a movie star or nearly anything else.  But the choice is intentional.  This is an alien world, recognized to require excellence just to get in the door.  We can't imagine what it takes to excel, how one walks through space when one has been chosen to lead the world's best symphonies.  What they do during the day, how all of this works.  

That said - the movie doesn't obfuscate what is occurring - and it's a testament to the writing, directing and performances that this world and its arcane (archaic?) rules are so clear.  And that system running up against extremely modern concerns and calls for responsibility.

PodCast 231: "Black Adam" (2022) - a Kryptonian Thought Beast Episode w/ Stuart and Ryan

Watched: 01/28/2023

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing: First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Jaume Collet-Serra

For more ways to listen

Stuart and Ryan see a red door and they want it painted Black Adam! It's a DC movie, so you know that means there's a few dozen missteps to discuss, starting with picking a villain as our hero and carrying through to WB letting Dwayne Johnson think he now runs DC. It's one of those films where the most interesting thing about it is everything around the movie.

SoundCloud 

The Signal Watch PodCast · 231: "Black Adam" (2022) - a Kryptonian Thought Beast Episode w/ Stuart and Ryan

YouTube

Music:

Black Adam Theme - Lorne Balfe

Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones

DC Comics Movies and TV

The Signal Watch PodCast · DC Cinema and TV

00's Rewatch: The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Watched:  02/04/2023

Format:  Apple+

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Wes Anderson

It may be that the truest line of dialog, clunky as it sounded at the time, to ever be put into a movie was in The Dark Knight.  You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.  And if my former life on twitter taught me anything, it's that the next generation of people who were not there at the time are going to come along and not understand the world or context into which a film was delivered.  That's not their fault, but to assume that something like The Royal Tenenbaums arrives into theaters and now Wes Anderson is considered a faultless filmmaker who will enjoy a career of deeply specific filmmaking and be dubbed a key filmmaker was not a guarantee.  

Even then not everyone loved Anderson's mannered, structured take that drew attention to the film as a film, as a chaptered storybook.  And that's fine.  Not everything is to everyone's taste.  

80's Watch: Action Jackson (1988)

Watched:  02/04/2023

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Director:  Craig R Baxley

Well, 13-year-old-me that wanted to see this, we did it.  We finally got around to watching Action Jackson (1988).  And what a strange, strange movie this is.  

There are moments where you think "this movie had a $5 budget" and then you think "well, there are lots of explosions and stuff."  But you also know the star here was Carl Weathers, who is charismatic and cool, but he hadn't carried a ton of stuff or big action movies.  The director is the stunt coordinator from Predator, and the film includes not just Weathers but Bill Duke as the cranky captain calling Jackson into his office and a brief appearance by Sonny Landham (Billy in Predator).  

But that's not all!  Craig T. Nelson plays the Mr. Big corporate villain, a fresh-faced Sharon Stone is his dumb-as-a-bag-of-rocks wife, Vanity is our deeply complicated love interest/ MacGuffin, Tom Wilson (Biff from BTTF) is a cop,  Robert Davi gets five minutes.  But most remarkable, it's just full of "that guy!" character actors in almost every scene.  

Amazon Watch Party Watch: Gorilla at Large (1954)

Watched:  02/03/2023

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  First

Director:  Harmon Jones

So, to my complete surprise, I liked this movie semi-unironically.  

I found it weird that this movie starred fairly big names for the time.  Not huge stars, but knowable names and more than one of them.  It has Raymond Burr, Lee J. Cobb, a young Lee Marvin, Cameron Mitchell (before he spiraled into camp), and Anne Bancroft here to remind you she is, indeed, a very good idea.  I was not familiar with Charlotte Austin, who plays the virginal character, but who could scream like crazy and had great hair (and was in another gorilla movie in 1958 called The Bride and the Beast, penned by Ed Wood Jr.).

At around the 70% mark of the movie, I think it was Jenifer who pointed out "this is gorilla noir", and she was not wrong.  This is absolutely murder mystery noir, set against the backdrop of a carnival, with a gorilla as a character, and plenty of intrigue to go around.  The movie is knowing enough that it constantly plays with expectations, and I had no idea how this thing would wrap up until the end.  

It's also, visually, very interesting.  Shot at Nu Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach.  I thought it was the same location as Woman on the Run/ Gun Crazy and others, and was very wrong.  My takeaway is that California had some great amusement options in the 20th century.  (The Burglar was filmed in New Jersey, so I was way off there.)  But as something shot originally for 3D presentation, and in bright technicolor, it's a fascinating bit of visual cotton candy, including a dynamic scene with a mirror maze (that I'm not clear on how it was shot without showing the crew standing behind the camera, tbh).

It's not challenging the AFI Top 100 as an underserved, underseen classic, but it's *interesting*.  Including the bizarre decisions that led to the finale.  

  

I Guess I Watched That Watch: Mannequin (1987)

Photoshop is hard, y'all

Watched:  02/02/2023

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  Second

Director:  Michael Gottleib

Well.  I somehow watched Mannequin (1987) Thursday evening.  

As the day drew to a close and we were figuring out life after our ice storm here, I sat down to do some things and was like "ha ha!  Mannequin is on HBOmax!" and the next thing I knew, I was watching department store art director and bon vivant, Hollywood, knock over bumbling security guards with a firehose (that's the end of the movie, gang).

Observations:

1)  this movie recognizes the reality and divinity of the Egyptian pantheon, and I was wondering how that would play a role for the characters, but it's just not a factor except when their fulfilling wishes.  What does it mean to realize that Osiris is out there granting boons?

Friday Watch Party: Gorilla at Large

reminder:  you can always see what we're up to each week by clicking on the Watch Party tab or seeing what's up by checking under the "Interaction" label.  

Friends, this may be the most exciting title for a movie I've ever seen in my whole g-d life.  

I was pretty thrilled with just the name, but then I saw it stars Anne Bancroft, Raymond Burr, Lee J Cobb and Cameron (Space Mutiny) Mitchell, and, y'all, I done lost my mind when I noted an appearance by none other than Lee @#$%ing Marvin.

Do I know anything about this movie?  I do not.  But how can we go wrong with a gorilla, a circus, and Lee J Cobb?

Day:  Friday 02/03/2023

Time:  8:30 Central/ 6:30 Pacific

Cost:  $4

Click here to GO APE

link live 10 minutes prior to showtime

PodCast 230: "Jaws 3-D" (1983) - An Angry Animal Movie w/ Jamie, SimonUK and Ryan

Watched:  01/22/2023

Format:  AMazon

Viewing: First

Decade:  1980s

Director:  Joe Alves

For more ways to listen

Jamie, SimonUK and Ryan go back in the water - at Sea World! It's been 40 years since this 3D film hit theaters, so what better way to watch it than in 2D with 1/10th the excitement of the original, and 2x the co-contributors?!! It's a sequel that doesn't care what made the first one work, but it raises the stakes, finds a sunnier locale, adds sharks, half-heartedly continues the saga of the Brody family, and defies biology and physics to bring you excitement and terror!

SoundCloud 

The Signal Watch PodCast · 230: "Jaws 3-D" (1983) - An Angry Animal Movie w/ Jamie, SimonUK and Ryan

YouTube

Music:

Jaws 3 Main Title Theme - Alan Parker 

Angry Animals Playlist

The Signal Watch PodCast · Angry Animals

Cindy Williams Merges With The Infinite

Cindy Williams, who played Shirley on the popular sitcom Laverne & Shirley, has passed.  

It seems her passing must have been sudden as just last week I saw an ad for Williams' one-woman show, Me, Myself and Shirley, which was coming to Austin.  

Williams was a staple of 70's and 80's television, and a star of George Lucas' breakthrough hit, American Graffiti.  Williams appeared in the great Coppola film The Conversation, as well as countless movies and shows over the years.

Lisa Loring Merges With The Infinite

Lisa Loring, who most famously played Wednesday Addams on The Addams Family from 1964-1966, has passed.  

Like many child actors, Loring's post-Addams Family life was complex, dipping in and out of the spotlight from time to time, through tabloids and media appearances.   And, like many celebrities of retro media, Loring had made a career out of the fan shows and convention circuit.  She did act in TV and film, keeping mostly to guest starring roles and smaller films.

Remarkably, Loring really did grow up to somewhat resemble Carolyn Jones.  So, whomever from casting picked her out in 1964, well done.

Loring is survived by her two daughters.

Here's to the original Wednesday cutting a rug.