Spitball Army

5.9
[blu-ray]

So, when the boy turns into a bear (which is not much of a spoiler), the aspect ratio of the movie switches from windowboxed 1.75:1 (or thereabouts) to a panoramic 2.35:1…signifying what, exactly? The entry into a fantastical world, like the black-and-white to color transition in THE WIZARD OF OZ? As if we didn’t already know we were watching animation, and that, sooner or later, the animals are going to start talking to each other. Joaquin Phoenix does fine talking bear, but is upstaged by the child actor employed to do talking bear cub. And there are some Phil Collins songs, because every cartoon movie about Inuits needs some vanilla wallpaper.

https://boxd.it/kKYPl

3.1
[DVD, library]

It’s hard to believe that I’ve gone 44 years without seeing this, especially since the original stage concept recording was a much beloved LP in our house while I was growing up – my sister had the sheet music and played it more often than Chopin, and I could (and still can) quote the lyrics word-for-word. So it pains me to see a film interpretation dominated by terrible acting, mediocre singing, and orchestrations buried in the sound mix. God-awful [pun intended].

https://boxd.it/kKKe1

8.9
[theater]

Viewed in 2D. The visuals and sound were phenomenal, and kudos to the writing team for creating a unique story that branched out of the original with ease. The only weak link was Jared Leto’s character, who teetered on the edge of megalomaniacal stereotype – though his seeing-eye floater gadgets (if that’s what those were) were far-out and fabulous. As for Tarkovsky references? I saw them in some of the visual set-ups, but they seemed purely coincidental.

https://boxd.it/kKqxH

8.1
[DVD, Netflix]

A black & white cold-war nuclear bomb scenario from the early 1960s: unlike DR. STRANGELOVE, there is not an ounce of humor, but like that other film, there IS fighting in the war room.

“The producers of this film wish to stress that it is the stated position of the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force that a rigidly enforced system of safeguards and controls insure that occurrences such as those depicted in this story cannot happen.”

https://boxd.it/kJX7Z

8.6
[TCM]

One of the wickedest, most deranged, and darkest of all films noir, and easily my favorite of the pure genre entries. Ann Savage is a terrifying harpie as the ultimately doomed femme fatale…hell, everyone in this film is doomed.

The version of this film screened on TCM was tagged at the end as a 2017 restored scan. The print still showed its age, but the sound was vastly improved over the last time I’d seen Detour, on a cheap public domain DVD pressing.

https://boxd.it/kGnAP

7.4
[DVD, library]

People in Panahi’s taxicab keep asking him to supply them with fresh ideas for stories. You’ll find them in places you wouldn’t expect, he tells a film student who is visiting his cab to buy some pirated art film DVDs, hoping to get ideas from them for a short film. His hilarious, precocious niece asks him, also, but soon realizes that her uncle is a great subject himself. This 82-minute film is my favorite Panahi yet, a warm and lively slice of life, and the perfect place to start if you’ve never seen one of his films.

https://boxd.it/kFNNX

7.7
[blu-ray, Netflix]

Such great fun, and a pleasure to see a superhero action film script place character development above explosions and gadgets (although the explosions and gadgets here are top-drawer!).

https://boxd.it/kELir