Film

JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS (2001)

September 10, 2020

(STARZ/VOD) If you know me, you know I’ve been a booster for JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS practically since it was released. My wife has even walked into my office and exclaimed: ‘You’re watching JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS again?!’

It’s a cutting satire of late ‘90s/early naughts consumer culture, perfectly cast, with candy-coated visuals and a soundtrack to die for. Even if it didn’t have goddamn amazing songs fron Adam Schlesinger (R.I.P., also responsible for many great songs from CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND. Also, Fountains of Wayne) and Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo), it’d still be amazing. It’s far smarter than it looks.

Also, it’s the only film to have prominently featured SEGA’s SPACE CHANNEL 5, an under-appreciated videogame classic.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS (1982)

September 9, 2020

(kanopy/VOD) A very quotable look at a young female punk rock group, starring Diane Lane as Corinne ‘Third Degree’ Burns, and penned by Nancy Dowd (SLAP SHOT) who ultimately changed her credited name to ‘Rob Morton’ because she was dissatisfied with the music video ending. (I can’t imagine the film without that music video.)

As you’d expect, it has a fantastic soundtrack and features a number of punk cameos. It’s also the reason why Laura Dern sued her family for legal emancipation, as her mother wouldn’t let her work on the film.

ALL THAT JAZZ (1979)

September 8, 2020

(DVD/BR) While I appreciate Bob Fosse as a talented choreographer and director, I don’t think much of the man himself, which is what conflicts me about this self-indulgent paean from himself, about himself, to himself. On one hand, the self-glorification of his caddish behavior — even if he hangs a lampshade on it — is pretty despicable and, even more criminal, it’s often dull. On the other hand, the closing scene is a goddamn stunner, and may make the film worth your moral price of admission.

Closing scene (NSFW):

Trailer:

MURDER, MY SWEET (1944)

September 7, 2020

(VOD) Me, upon starting the film: Ah, finally filling in one of my noir gaps.

Five minutes later: Wait, have I seen this before?

After an IMDB check: Duh, I forgot that it’s an adaptation of FAREWELL, MY LOVELY, and was renamed MURDER, MY SWEET because test audiences thought FAREWELL, MY LOVELY sounded like a Dick Powell musical.

Regardless, this is the definitive adaptation of FAREWELL, MY LOVELY, and the model for all Chandler-inspired films. Wish I would’ve watched it years ago, but better late than never.

WAR & PEACE (1966)

September 6, 2020

(HBO MAX/Criterion) This WAR & PEACE is a beast of an epic — featuring over ten-thousand extras and allegedly costing anywhere from (adjusted for inflation) $200-$700 million dollars — and best when it’s spectacle, as the actual story gets a tad muddled within the adaptation. (After all, at the end of the day it’s still a state-made piece.) Watching it at home, be it on your phone, a laptop or even a decently sized flatscreen TV, does a major disservice to the film. Find a projector, screen it on your cleanest wall for best results, and make a day of it.

Vulture has a quality piece regarding the production of the piece, which took years to film. https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/the-wild-story-behind-sergei-bondarchuks-epic-war-and-peace.html

(HBO MAX has a surprising back-catalog of films for some reason and, if I were a film history teacher, I’d pitch an entire class around its offerings. It’s definitely worth scanning through their entire catalog for buried gems.)

SWING SHIFT (1984)

September 5, 2020

(VOD) The story of a young wife (Goldie Hawn) discovering herself through an airplane riveter job and a trumpet-playing Kurt Russell during WWII. Hawn feels oddly muted, but Kurt pours on the charm.

Directed by Jonathan Demme, and co-written by Nancy Dowd (co-writer of one of my favs LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS). Also briefly features a youthful Stephen Tobolowsky — with a full head of hair! — in his second-ever film role.

TREAD (2020)

September 4, 2020

(hoopla/Netflix/VOD/Vudu) A ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ doc from the writer/director of GRACE about a welder, and that’s all you should know going into it. One hell of a slow burn, but I wish the film had dug deeper into his psyche.

JUBILEE (1978)

September 3, 2020

(HBO MAX/Criterion) Scrappy, queer, surprisingly melancholy British alt-timeline art-punk film from Derek Jarman, featuring a rather disconnected Adam Ant. “As long as the music’s loud enough, we won’t hear the world falling apart!”

Please note: the following trailer is NSFW.

SATURN 3 (1980)

September 1, 2020

(tubi/VOD/Vudu) Richard Donen’s (SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS) only sci-fi film, featuring Farrah Fawcett and a very randy Kirk Douglas as an space-scientist couple whose sex lives are interrupted by a murderous Harvey Keitel and his baby-brain-infused android. Less bonkers than it sounds — more of a bizarre curio than anything else — but, as expected from a Donen film, it’s worth watching just for the use of color alone.