THIS IS CINERAMA (1952)

February 2, 2021

(kanopy/Apple TV/Blu-Ray) Cinerama was a widescreen shooting and projection process that, at its time, was the closest you could get to a wholly immersive filmgoing experience. The way it worked was primitive and troublesome, as it not only shot three negatives at the same time (similar to early Technicolor films), but it did so through three cameras, positioned so the footage could be (mostly) seamlessly projected by three projectors.

The end result is spectacularly overwhelming. While the primary allure is the all-encompassing visuals, you’re also bombarded by seven-channel directional surround sound. It truly is a unique experience when it works, but projecting films like this is a hairy process, one that requires constant monitoring for -each- projector. (You can read more about the projection process here.)

If memory serves, the process broke down and had to be re-synced when I saw THIS IS CINERAMA at Los Angeles’ Cinerama theater during TCM Fest, a time when you have your top projectionists on the job. (The LA Cinerama is one of the few existing Cinerama theaters; the other two are in Seattle and Bradford, England.)

Cinerama as a shooting process didn’t last long, thanks to the unwieldy cameras and the introduction of single-strip widescreen lenses like the Ultra Panavision 70, but the theaters survived as many widescreen spectacles were converted to their three-strip projection setup, not unlike how many 35mm films are blown up for IMAX screens.

“So,” you might ask, “if it’s about the experience of being in a high-end theater, why should I watch this on my laptop? Also, isn’t the film mostly a travelogue with some choreographed water skiing?” Well, yes, you certainly aren’t watching for the story. However, while the current restoration allows you to watch it like any widescreen film, it also allows you to view it in the shape you’d see it in at the theater. In a time when we can’t — or at least shouldn’t — be attending theaters, it’s a similarly unique home viewing experience.

AMERICAN PSYCHO II: ALL AMERICAN GIRL (2002)

February 1, 2021

(fubo/VOD) Yes, this is a direct-to-DVD sequel to the classic Mary Harron adaptation. Yes, it has little-to-nothing to do with the American excess/toxic masculinity of original film. Yes, it features pre-BLACK SWAN Mila Kunis as well as an unlikely William Shatner playing a teacher that students swoon over. Yes, it’s cheap, trashy — 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, just so you know what you’re getting into — and tries to have its cake and eat it too by toeing the line between earnest satirical genre work and self-aware camp. That doesn’t mean that it is not a whole lot of fun, especially the last third of the film.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (2008-2009)

January 31, 2021

(Hulu/VOD) It may be blasphemy, especially since I haven’t seen any of the TERMINATOR films since TERMINATOR 3, but THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES is by far my favorite slice of the TERMINATOR franchise.

It took a bit for the show to find its footing but, once it did, it was blisteringly inventive. One of the closing scenes of first season features creator Josh Friedman and the episode’s director Mike Rohl taking a very big swing, making the most of the show’s limited budget while still serving up a visually arresting — and very memorable — closing number. (You can see the entire scene here. Despite the fact that it is part of the season finale, it doesn’t spoil much. Yes, that’s the scene as it aired — not a fan video.)

The cast is overstuffed with well-known talent and future heavy hitters, including Lena Headey as Sarah Connor, Thomas Dekker as John Connor (I imagine they partially cast him because of his last name), Summer Glau as a terminator ally, prolific character actor Richard T. Jones as an FBI agent, Garret Dillahunt, THE SHIELD’s Catherine Dent, James Urbaniak, Brian Austin Green, Beeper King Dean Winters, GARBAGE’s Shirley Manson, the list goes on.

While the show could have lived longer, the two available seasons are extremely entertaining, and some of best network sci-fi in years. One note: the series ends on a cliffhanger so, if that bothers you, you may want to abstain.

JAWLINE (2019)

January 30, 2021

(Hulu) Liza Mandelup’s debut documentary about wanna-be influencer Austyn Tester has been stuck in my mind since I saw it last year. Austen is the very definition of a pretty, unthreatening teen boy who is so earnest and straight-forward, but simply doesn’t have the skills to play the influencer game. Watching Mandelup capture his attempt in real-time is depressing but encapsulates what many folks — not just teens — are chasing: the need for social capital to further yourself.

THE KID DETECTIVE (2020)

January 29, 2021

(Starz/VOD) I have a hard time believing this film wasn’t pitched as ‘gritty adult Encyclopedia Brown’ (and then whomever was being pitched probably replied ‘Encyclo-what?’) but even if it wasn’t, it works as a pretty succinct summary.

As I grew up reading ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN and TWO-MINUTE MYSTERIES, and love Chandler-esque detective fiction in general, I was already on this film’s side. While it’s much more subdued, quiet, and cynical than I thought it’d be, debut feature writer/director Evan Morgan clearly loves the genre and is surprisingly unwilling to poke fun at it, or even to modernize it. (For a film that takes place in modern day, it’s surprisingly reliant on landline phones.)

While some may be turned off by the dourness of the film — there are cutting remarks and laughs to be had, but the film is soaked in melancholy — it’s a welcome surprise to see a neo-noir that isn’t peppered with flippancy.

THE CLIMB (2019)

January 28, 2021

(Starz/VOD) The flip-side to yesterday’s IZZY GETS THE FUCK ACROSS TOWN, THE CLIMB involves a best friend who actively works to undermine his friend’s relationships because he wants him all to himself.

Similarly overworked, it also features inter-titles for each scene, but writer/director/actor Michael Angelo Covino goes the extra mile by insisting that each and every scene be filmed in one long take.

While it’s a perfect companion film to IZZY, and I couldn’t resist suggesting the two back-to-back, two facets rub me the wrong way: 1) While I love watching films about fuckups, that love doesn’t extend to asshole dudes, and these dudes are very blinkered. 2) While I love a proper long take, and I realize they’re utilized here to heighten the feeling of being present within these significant moments, and while they’re often fluidly and adeptly executed, it feels gimmicky, and several scenes would have benefited from a handful of rigid cuts.

Never the less, it’s an intriguing look at male friendship and forgiveness, which is certainly to be applauded.

“What the FUCK is he doing wearing white?!”

IZZY GETS THE FUCK ACROSS TOWN (2018)

January 27, 2021

(hoopla/peacock/tubi/VOD/Vudu) I don’t know how many favors debut writer/director Christian Papierniak asked to nab this amazing cast, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s now indebted to 80% of LA. I’d watch any film that featured just -one- of the following performers:

Mackenzie Davis
Carrie Coon
Dolly Wells
LaKeith Stanfield
Kyle Kinane
Alia Shawkat
Rob Huebel
Annie Potts

Somehow he managed to wrangle all of ‘em for this chaotic ‘one fuckup’s last gasp at attaining an old flame’ film. I’ll grant that it’s overworked — did we really need inter-titles for every scene? — and if Mackenzie Davis wasn’t the lead the film probably wouldn’t work, but she is and ultimately it does. Also, Mackenzie and Carrie Coon ‘reunite’ and play a HEAVENS TO BETSY cover that features -many- layers and that scene alone is worth the price of admission. (I’ll save you the search.)

“I’m not going to wish you good luck.” “No, no one in their right mind would.”

FREAKS & GEEKS (1999)

January 26, 2021

(Hulu/Paramount+/VOD) FREAKS & GEEKS is finally available to stream! If you haven’t already purchased the DVD, or have enough grey hair to have watched it when it first aired, Hulu managed to clear all of the music rights and — after a bit of a stumble out of the gait — have the eps properly ordered.

If you’re a product of the 80s — especially if you were a nerd in the 80s — it’ll be a trip down memory lane. If not, given how absurdly recognizable all of the actors and creatives are, it’ll be another sort of nostalgia for you, as it introduced the world to: Judd Apatow, Linda Cardellini, Paul Feig, James Franco, Busy Philipps, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Mike White. A laundry list of modern heavy hitters, all of whom cut their teeth on this show.

SPONTANEOUS (2020)

January 25, 2021

(epix/Hulu/Paramount+/VOD) In a year of unnervingly prescient pandemic screenplays, this one stands out. Based on Aaron Starmer’s young adult novel, senior-year high school teens start spontaneously exploding and are quarantined while scientists race to find a cure.

Brian Duffield’s (writer of both UNDERWATER and JANE GOT A GUN) adaptation takes a number of notes from THE LEFTOVERS, such as uniforms similar to the ‘Guilty Remnants’ and referring to the ‘exploded’ as ‘departed’. They even leave the ‘act of departing’ in the visual gutter — you never witness it occur, you only witness the aftermath. It’s a nice touch by Duffield, and it leads to more than a few gleefully shocking moments.

While you will laugh while watching this — especially at the playful insults bandied about by acerbic smartass Mara (Katherine Longford, KNIVES OUT and LOVE, SIMON) with her best friend Hayley Law (RIVERDALE), boyfriend Dylan (Charlie Plummer, LEAN ON PETE), and ‘cool dad and mom (comedy mainstay Rob Huebel and COYOTE UGLY’s Piper Perabo) — it’s a much more downbeat and thoughtful, occasionally distressing, look at teens reckoning with their mortality on the cusp of beginning their adult lives. It’s not exactly the thigh-slapping dark rom-com the trailer pitches, which is a relief because the end result resonates far longer than a more flippant approach to the material would.

MILDRED PIERCE (2011)

January 24, 2021

(DVD/HBO MAX) I love Curtiz’s adaptation of James M. Cain’s MILDRED PIERCE — he certainly knew how to work the material to fit Joan Crawford — but it’s Todd Haynes’ (CAROL, FAR FROM HEAVEN) version that is truer to Cain’s novel. Yes, most of Cain’s works are lurid and pulpy crime tales, sensational enough to be banned, but MILDRED PIERCE is the exception. Cain paints a detailed portrait of a difficult mother with an even more difficult daughter, both of whom get wrapped up with a exploitative cad. It’s an epic character piece that deserves every minute of the approximately six hours that Haynes gives it.

Haynes enlists Kate Winslet who plays the role with a muted air — not quite the hysterical, over-protective mother that Crawford portrayed — while Evan Rachel Wood brats it up as her daughter, and Guy Pearce gleefully tears into inhabiting a genuine shitheel playboy. As you’d expect from Haynes, the cinematography is lush, the production design department spared not one piece of patterned wallpaper, and everyone’s stitched to the nines.

Most importantly, Haynes knows how to let scenes breath. Cameras track contemplatively, gazes wander, and characters sit with themselves, processing the ramifications of their actions. While it may not be as fondly recalled as the initial adaptation, or even any of Haynes’ prior works, it’s a mini-series that merits the extra time.