Spitball Army

Fire all of your guns at once and explode into space.

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Screenings: Terminator Genisys (2015)

December 22nd, 2017 · No Comments

3.4
[blu-ray, library]

Great use of Arnold, and Daenerys Targaryen is practically unrecognizable under her Sarah Connor makeup, but can’t they just shut this franchise down, already?!

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Screenings: Wonder Wheel (2017)

December 17th, 2017 · No Comments

4.1
[theater]

The cinematography was lustrous, deep-hued and full of nostalgic shadow and neon. Kate Winslet does an admirable job with a script full of recycled Woodyisms. The friends I saw it with liked it less than I did, and we discussed afterward which of Allen’s films may have been worse; I’m sure there must be a few, but, apparently, they were bad to the point of forgettable.

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Screenings: An Inconvenient Sequel – Truth to Power (2017)

December 17th, 2017 · No Comments

7.0
[DVD, library]

It’s a platform for Al Gore’s climate-awareness movement and, as such, is, in part, political propaganda. But that’s okay. It’s well-made, about an important issue, and sensitive to current events.

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Screenings: Lady Macbeth (2016)

December 17th, 2017 · No Comments

8.0
[DVD, Netflix]

There’s pretty much no one above the age of five with any redeeming human values in this film. I’m just glad that they’re not my neighbors. Kudos to the screenwriter for telling this story with only ten pages of dialogue.

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Screenings: Lemon (2017)

December 16th, 2017 · No Comments

2.1
[DVD, Netflix]

It’s theatrically stiff like a Laurie Anderson monologue, unsympathetic, laden with artifice, and unfunny. I guess I don’t understand how or why some films get made.

https://boxd.it/mv8eP

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Screenings: Frontline – Divided States of America (2017)

December 10th, 2017 · No Comments

8.0
[DVD, library]

Nearly four hours of gut-wrenching historical recap, delineating a theory that attempts to explain America’s turn toward Trump and the populace’s abandonment of loyalty to establishment politics. Good journalism: it is clear from the outset that Obama can be viewed as the catalyst for the movement (or not) and that Sarah Palin, after her pick to be John McCain’s running mate in 2008, was the first manifestation of the new regime (or not). The talking heads who provide commentary are generally first-person witnesses to the activities described therein. Trump is NOT lionized in this production, although he is also not condemned. Re-living it all made me queasy and ill.

https://boxd.it/mlyit

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Screenings: War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

December 7th, 2017 · No Comments

7.8
[blu-ray, Redbox]

That kinda hilarious moment when Woody Harrelson’s Colonel goes dual-reference: shaving his bald head a la Brando’s Kurtz while surveying his domain from a balcony just like Kommandant Amon Goeth in SCHINDLER’S LIST. And shortly thereafter: a shot of the phrase APE-OCALYPSE NOW scrawled on a subterranean wall.

https://boxd.it/mgAaV

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Screenings: Beach Rats (2017)

December 6th, 2017 · No Comments

8.1
[blu-ray, Netflix]

This seems cut from the same idea-cloth as MOONLIGHT, communicating the same painful yearning and offering no pat resolution aside from providing a glimmer of optimism for the main character’s future. Most of the action in the film takes place at night, and the director has accentuated the uncertainty gnawing at the core of the main character’s psyche by frequently portraying scenes as disappearing into or being engulfed by darkness. Then there’s the terrific acting job by Harris Dickinson as Frankie, leading a very fine ensemble of supporting characters who create a very realistic, documentary-style world around him.

https://boxd.it/mfGZ9

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Screenings: The Exception (2016)

December 6th, 2017 · No Comments

5.0
[blu-ray, Netflix]

So, this makes the second A24 film I’m aware of where Christopher Plummer plays a Nazi-era German. He’s great as Kaiser Wilhelm, but he’s rarely less than great. The Nazi mole-hunt plot gets diluted by the romantic hi-jinx between the beautiful Lily James and the equally beautiful Jai Courtney (who unhesitatingly goes full frontal). Why not just focus more on the Nazi captain + Jewish maid romance, and give everyone what they really want to see?

https://boxd.it/meV7p

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Screenings: The Corn Is Green (1979)

December 5th, 2017 · No Comments

5.5
[DVD, library]

Stagey, late-period Hepburn.

https://boxd.it/mcVqd

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