Local Hero (1983) ****

 

In this small, but satisfying film, Peter Riegert plays “Mac” McIntire, an ambitious, successful oil company executive. Mac is sent to Scotland to negotiate the purchase of an entire fishing village, to be turned into an oil refinery. His off-kilter boss, Mr. Happer (Burt Lancaster), an amateur astronomer, gives him a secondary assignment, which is to “watch the northern skies” for a comet that Happer can name after himself.

With these marching papers, Mac descends on the village of Ferness, accompanied by Danny Oldsen (Peter Capaldi), a member of the company's U.K. team. Mac and Danny explore the town and beach, meeting a variety of colorful, small-town types. Danny falls in love, while Mac begins to wonder if there is something more to life than his Porsche, his corner office, and his swell, Houston apartment.

“Local Hero” is one of those little movies that knows exactly what it is about. Produced by David Puttnam (“Chariots of Fire”), the film is written and directed by a guy named Bill Forsyth. Forsyth is not particularly famous, but he really gets the tone right in this wistful, wryly funny, character-driven film. “Local Hero” is a forgotten gem from back when they made movies for grown-ups, and it is well worth a watch.

4 stars out of 5

Top Gun: Maverick (2022) ****

 

In a sense, we are lucky we didn't get a “Top Gun” sequel in 1988. The 1986 action flick about Navy fighter pilots was such a hit, and Tom Cruise such a star afterwards, that it's quite surprising that producer Jerry Bruckheimer didn't cash in with a followup 2 years, or 5 years, or even 10 years later. As it went, serious talks about a sequel didn't begin until around 2010, and the the suicide of ”Top Gun” director Tony Scott (“True Romance”) slowed plans even further. All of these delays gave Tom Cruise a chance to mature into a 59-year-old actor who could play an older, sightly grizzled, slightly wiser version of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell who is way more interesting than the cocky fly-boy from 1986.

We find Maverick working as a test pilot and still bucking authority. All these years later, he is still known as an outstanding pilot with an attitude problem, and it is only his friendship with Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer) that has kept him from being booted from the Navy. Iceman's newest assignment for Maverick is to return to the Top Gun Academy and prepare a group of young, hotshot pilots to fly a dangerous, covert mission. Mav rekindles an old flame (Jennifer Connelly), annoys his commanding officers, and shows that he still has the Right Stuff.

To judge “Top Gun: Maverick” based on the usual criteria, like plot, acting, and dialogue, probably misses the point. Like the first “Top Gun,” this film is about two things: fast-paced, jet-fighter action and Tom Cruise's charm, and the film aces both of those. Rather than relying on CGI, Bruckheimer and company used real jet-fighters and real aerial photography, and it shows. The action here feels much more visceral than what you will find in the latest CGI, comic-book movie. This is just pure, high-octane entertainment! Some of the plot points are completely ridiculous, and there is a lot of hackneyed dialogue, but it doesn't matter when a movie looks this good, and when it feels so good to be back in the air with Maverick.

Cruise may be a complete nut in his personal life, but he relentlessly makes good movies. (Check out “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Oblivion” if you haven't, already.) In this case, he gets an assist from an excellent supporting cast, including the promising actors Monica Barbaro and Glen Powell. Both have mostly done TV work and small movies before this, and both have serious star potential. Jennifer Connelly, of course, lights up the screen every time she appears. 

 

(L. Maverick's jacket from 1986. R. Maverick's jacket in the 2019 trailer)

Now, about that Taiwanese flag. In the original “Top Gun,” Maverick had a patch on the back of his bomber jacket that included the flags of Japan and Taiwan. Back in 1988, no one in Hollywood was worried about angering Chinese censors, and I'm sure no one thought much about those patches then. Nowadays, everyone from Disney to the NBA is watching what they say to avoid angering the Chinese Communist Party, which controls access to a 1.5 billion-person market. Thus, when the trailer for “Top Gun: Maverick” first aired in 2019, sharp-eyed viewers noticed that the Japanese and Taiwanese flags on Mav's jacket had been changed. Needless to say, Paramount Pictures took some heat for that, and they wound up putting the original flags back in. There are two lessons here. One is that Western values can still win out over Communist censorship, but only if we raise enough of a squawk about it. Left to their own devices, media companies are going to self-censor and pander to the authoritarians, doing anything they can to get access to a lucrative market. The other lesson is that, with the digital tools now available, any image can be changed or faked at any time. We have to be skeptical of everything we see now, whether we are watching political videos on Facebook or watching Tom Cruise go mach 2 with his hair on fire.

4 stars out of 5

Get Shorty (1995) ****

 

Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is a cool character, as cool as you can get. He wears a cool leather jacket, he can handle his fists or a gun, and when he is collecting money from people who owe him, he doesn't get upset at the little things. He is, however, getting tired of the life of a small-time loan shark, taking orders from jerks like “Bones” Barboni (Dennis Farina). When a collection job takes him to L.A. and the living room of a Hollywood producer, even a B-movie producer like Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), Chili senses a chance to break into a better line of work. Chili pitches his own story to Harry as a movie idea, and just like that, Chili finds himself in the movie business, which turns out to be not so different from the loan-shark business.

As a character, Chili is too good to be true, always cool and collected, a total bad-ass, but still a gentleman. This gangster comedy works because of all the other kooky characters, including the gangsters and movie producers, as well as Rene Russo as a sexy scream-queen actress and Danny DeVito as an unlikely leading man. Director Barry Sonenfeld also gets excellent supporting turns from James Gandolfini and Delroy Lindo.

“Get Shorty” is based on the Elroy Leonard novel of the same name. It holds up well to repeat viewings, and while it isn't the peak of Elroy Leonard adaptions (That title goes to “Jackie Brown”), it's a fun parody of a Hollywood culture where everyone has a screenplay in their back pocket.

4 stars out of 5

Death on the Nile (2022) ***1/2

 

I won't claim to be the biggest Agatha Christie fan. Her detective stories are too old-fashioned and mannered for me. I prefer the Philip Marlowe style of detective, the guys who pound the pavement and get their asses kicked until the guilty parties tip their hands. Nonetheless, Christie's deductive geniuses do have a certain style. Of her works I have read, Murder on the Orient Express is the best, and rightfully her most famous. Death on the Nile would probably be runner-up. Both have been adapted to the screen more than once.

Kenneth Branagh's 2017 iteration of “Murder on the Orient Express” was a massive hit, bringing in over $350 million worldwide. Those are Marvel Comics numbers, and on a much lower budget, so it's no surprise that Branagh would get another shot at directing and playing detective Hercule Poirot. The story finds Poirot on holiday, exploring the cultural riches of Egypt. There, on a boat cruising the Nile, a love triangle turns violent, and Poirot is compelled to solve the case.

This is not the most memorable film, but it has its moments, and it is worthwhile popcorn entertainment. Screenwriter Michael Green deviates from the novel in the beginning, giving some Poirot back-story and using a jazz-age nightclub to establish the central love triangle much more succinctly than the novel does. The film is graced with an all-star cast, including Gal Godot and Emma Mackey as the former friends competing for the heart of Armie Hammer. The cinematography of the Egyptian ruins and countryside is gorgeous.

I don't know about you, but I have never witnessed or been present at a murder, and the same goes for most people I know. Hercule Poirot, however, keeps having murders occur around him, despite the fact that he is a famous detective. You would think that seeing Poirot on board a train or boat might stay a murderer's hand. At the very least, you might expect this propensity to affect Poirot's social popularity. As it goes, evildoers always try to outsmart the detective, and he remains the toast of society.

3.5 stars out of 5

Voyage of the Rock Aliens (1984) ***

 

If you like off-beat movies like “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8^th Dimension,” then here's a chance to really test your taste for the weird. “Voyage of the Rock Aliens” is a musical spoof of sci-fi, horror, and beach movies that makes “Buckaroo Banzai” look like “Citizen Kane.”

To the extent that it matters, the plot involves a group of space aliens who cross the galaxy in a guitar-shaped spaceship, searching for rock-n-roll. They land in a small town, where their leader, ABCD, falls in lust with high-schooler DeeDee. (Pia Zadora, whose character is clearly named for the level of her acting skills, which makes her by far the most talented person in the film.) ABCD and his crew research earth life while avoiding the local sheriff (Ruth Gordon) and dealing with DeeDee's boyfriend and his gang/band, all to various musical numbers. Also, there's a Jermaine Jackson/ Pia Zadora music video near the beginning that has no connection to the rest of the plot, and Jackson does not otherwise appear in the movie.

The thing is, Pia Zadora is so adorable that she, alone, is worth the price of admission. She's about 5 feet tall, smokin' hot, and completely committed to her role, as ridiculous as it is. Truth be told, no one in this film phones it in. As bad as the script, acting, and songs are, everyone in the film acts like it is their last, which it probably was for most of them. The songs sound like parodies of other, better, songs, but even they have some charm, and that Jackson/Zadora duet was actually a hit.

If you wonder why you have never heard of this gem, it's because it was never released, at least not in American cinemas. You can watch it streaming now, and you'll like it if you like this sort of thing. It's as goofy and low-rent as “The Velocipastor,” and just as much fun!

3 stars out of 5

Life of Crime (2013) ***

 

Between his westerns and his crime novels, author Elmore Leonard has had his share of books adapted into movies. One of his best adaptations, most would agree, was Quentin Tarantino's 1997 film, “Jackie Brown.” Based on Leonard's novel, Rum Punch, it featured a colorful cast of characters circling around a trove of drug money. Two of those characters were Ordell, played by Samuel L. Jackson, and Louis, played by Robert De Niro.

2013's dark comedy “Life of Crime,” based on Leonard' novel The Switch, features the exploits of those two knuckleheads preceding the events of “Jackie Brown.” It's the late 70's, and Louis and Ordell decide to kidnap rich socialite Mickey Dawson (Jennifer Aniston). They figure on a fat ransom, little knowing that her husband (Tim Robbins) has a mistress (Isla Fisher) and is planning to file for divorce.

This time around, Louis is played by John Hawkes, and Ordell by Yasiin Bey (formerly known as the rapper Mos Def). These guys clearly don't bring the star power of Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro, but they bring their own charm to the roles. Tim Robbins and Isla Fisher are excellent, as is Will Forte as Mickey's milquetoast lover.

Aniston is just alright. She gives the same blankly-staring, flat-affect performance that she always gives. I can never exactly pinpoint a fault in her acting, but as beautiful and stylish as she is in real life, she always fails to light up the screen.

Aniston notwithstanding, it's a great cast, yet “Life of Crime” is not in the same league as “Jackie Brown.” Director Daniel Schecter seems to have trouble finding and maintaining his tone. He also fetishizes period details to a distracting extent. The film is set in 1978, so every car has to be from that year, and every outfit has to be period-perfect. In real life, everyone doesn't just buy everything all in the same year. People have cars and clothes from 5, 10, 15 years ago, all mixed together.

It may be an unfair comparison. Leonard wrote The Switch in 1978 and Rum Punch in 1992, but Hollywood switched the order of things by adapting Rum Punch first, into “Jackie Brown,” which was the kind of classic that revives careers and sticks with you. It's hard to live up to that. Without that legacy to carry, “Life of Crime” could be enjoyed as what it is, a fairly entertaining, darkly funny, popcorn movie.

3 stars out of 5

The Fly (1958) **1/2 and The Fly (1986) ****1/2

I first saw David Cronenberg's remake of “The Fly” when it came out, in 1986. I thought it was pretty great back then, but then, I thought every movie was great then. I was curious how it had aged, and the answer is, “pretty damn well!” I also wondered how it compared to the sci-fi/horror original from 1958, so I watched them back-to-back. 

 

 

The original film, by producer/director Kurt Neumann was based on George Langelaan's short story, which Neumann reportedly discovered in Playboy magazine. (See? Some people DO read the articles!) It tells the story of scientist Andre Delambre (David Hedison), who develops a transportation device. When he attempts to transport himself, a fly gets into the transporter with him, leading to horrible malformations for both of them. Patricia Owens plays Delambre's June-Cleaver-esque wife, Helene, and Vincent Price plays his brother, Francois.

While Neumann elevates “The Fly” above the usual level of B-movies, it is still very much the kind of movie you would have seen at the drive-in, back when that was a thing. The film is very of its time, with its Cold War/Nuclear era theme of science gone wrong, not to mention being a po-faced, back-to-church cautionary tale about what happens when man trespasses on God's territory. The film also has whiplash-inducing changes in tone, going from moments of horror and suspense to scenes that look and sound like an episode of “Leave it to Beaver.” Maybe these clashes were intentional, meant to emphasize the possibility of disaster underlying First World prosperity and domestic bliss. The acting is generally better than B-movie level, and while Patricia Owens never really escaped B-movies, David Hedison went on to a successful film career, including playing CIA agent Felix Leiter in a couple of Bond movies.

I would say the film's best touch is its reversal of chronology. The story starts with Andre's death, with his wife being accused of his murder. This leaves the audience doubly in suspense: wondering how Andre's accident occurred and also what will happen to poor Helene. Neumann also shows restraint with his special effects for most of the film, keeping Andre/Fly covered up most of the time. Unfortunately, that restraint goes off the rails in the film's next-to-last scene. The human-headed fly trapped in a spider's web, with that tiny voice screaming “Help me!” ends the film on such a ridiculous note that it undermines the suspense and horror.

 

 

While the original “The Fly” is a classic in a B-movie kind of way, David Cronenberg's 1986 remake is a true classic. He kept the idea of a teleporter accident, but it is otherwise a very different story. Jeff Goldblum plays scientist Seth Brundle. He meets journalist Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) and invites her to document his work on teleportation. Same as in the first movie, a fly gets into the teleporter with the scientist, only in this case the merger happens on a genetic level, and Brundle's transformation is gradual.

Making the process gradual allows Cronenberg's film to be a much more effective body-horror tale. Most of us have had nightmares of losing our teeth or hair, so watching the process unfold on Brundle hits close to home. In fact, while many in 1986 understandably saw the film as an AIDS metaphor, Cronenberg has said that he intended it as a more universal allegory of disease in general, or even just the aging process. However you interpret it, the film is an outstanding horror movie that transcends its genre, thanks in part to excellent performances by its 2 stars. Be afraid. Be very afraid!

The Fly (1958) – 2.5 stars out of 5

The Fly (1986) – 4.5 stars out of 5

Hang 'Em High (1968) ***

By 1968, Clint Eastwood had, thanks to his work with Sergio Leone, made the transition from TV star to movie star. “Hang 'Em High” was his chance to cement that position with a role in an American production of the kind of revisionist western with which he and Leone had made such a success. Eastwood plays Jed Cooper, an innocent man hanged by a lynch mob. Surviving the attack, Cooper, who is a former lawman, accepts an offer from Judge Fenton to become a U.S. Marshall. He will help the judge maintain what law and order is possible in the wild Oklahoma territory, and with a badge, he can legally pursue the men who lynched him.

Traditional westerns back in the day featured a good guy in a white hat against a bad guy in a black hat. That overly simplistic description applies, literally or figuratively, to most of the westerns made before the late 1960s. Directors were starting to experiment with more character development and moral ambiguity, but they were limited by the Hays Code, the film industry's self-censorship guidelines. The Code didn't just limit sexual expression in films; it sought to promote respect for law and order and American government. (It also prohibited, among other things, depictions of inter-racial relationships.) Much like the Chinese censors today, the Hays Code significantly limited the themes you could explore in a Hollywood film. McCarthyism and the Red Scare played a role as well. Any depiction of America as less than a shining city on a hill could be interpreted as pro-Commie, which is why a great movie like “High Noon” was maligned in its day. Foreign directors like Sergio Leone and the New Wave auteurs had a considerably freer hand, and American filmmakers increasingly craved that freedom.

By the '60's, directors were flexing more and more against the Code, which, after years of being increasingly water-down or ignored, was finally scrapped in 1968, in favor of a ratings system similar to what is used today. “Hang 'Em High” is a good example of the revisionist westerns that were starting to be made around that time. In these westerns, the hats were, figuratively speaking, more on the gray side. In “Hang 'Em High,” the upstanding citizens who attempt to lynch Cooper believe they are doing what is right, providing justice in a lawless land. Judge Fenton (based on the legendary Judge Parker) sentences a lot of men to be hanged in order to head off just that sort of vigilante justice. He believes that in the large, mostly un-patrolled Oklahoma territory, people will only respect a court that provides swift, severe justice. Anything less, and people will take the law into their own hands. Cooper struggles with some of these hangings, but he ultimately continues as a lawman, feeling that the more present the law can be, the less necessary hangings will be.

That's a lot for a movie to take on, and I won't pretend that “Hang 'Em High” is some sort of profound statement on criminal justice. Much of the film is a pretty typical western, and the romance montage between Eastwood and co-star Inger Stevens is downright sappy. Still, the movie manages to mix legal philosophy with some decent action. It isn't Eastwood's best, but it's worth seeing.

3 stars out of 5

Kimi (2022) ****

 

I clicked on this movie for two reasons. One is that it stars Zoe Kravitz. The other is that the summary sounded eerily similar to a trio of movies from the past: "Blow Up" (1966), "The Conversation" (1974), and "Blow Out" (1981).  Like "Kimi," each of these films features a reclusive technical expert discovering evidence of a crime lurking in some type of media.

First of all, Kimi is not the name of the main character. It is a voice-activated AI assistant, like Siri or Alexa. The fictional Kimi system uses human techs to listen to misunderstood voice commands and continually improve the system's performance. One of those techs is Angela (Kravitz), an obsessive-compulsive agoraphobe. The Covid pandemic has just reinforced Angela's stay-at-home/work-from-home tendencies, and she never ventures out of her apartment. The closest she comes to the outside world is watching her neighbors through the windows. One of these is Terry, a quiet, kind guy who occasionally crosses the street to give Angela a roll in the hay, and who is getting frustrated at her inability to overcome her neuroses. Safe in her nest, Angela plies her trade until some disturbing background sounds in one of her Kimi snippets plunges her into a deadly conspiracy.

In addition to the similarities to the movies mentioned above, “Kimi” has been compared to Hitchcock's “Rear Window.” It's fair to say that the film is not a complete original, but it does update the concepts for the Covid/internet era. The film at least touches on the myriad arguments around always-on, voice-activated devices. Clearly, they create privacy risks, and the film mentions that they can be hacked. On the other hand, the crime in this case would not have been discovered without the use of Kimi. Angela also uses Kimi to good effect in fighting back against her attackers. Speaking of which, we knew that Zoe Kravitz is a stone fox and a crackin' actress, but who would have guessed that she is also an action hero?

I want to give some credit to screenwriter David Koepp (“Jurassic Park” “Panic Room”). The characters don't always make the best decisions, but they at least make decisions that make sense for their character. This separates “Kimi” from so many lazily-written films in which the script just has the characters perform whatever nonsensical action is required to move the plot forward. “Kimi” is a tightly-crafted thriller with an excellent lead actress, that comes in at under an hour and a half. Tell Alexa or Siri to play it for you now!

4 stars out of 5

Licorice Pizza (2021) **1/2

 

It had been a while since we had a rambling, talky movie from director Paul Thomas Anderson. His last feature came out in 2017, so I guess we were due. In the interim, Anderson made a bunch of music videos for the band Haim, which is how he wound up casting Alana Haim in his latest, “Licorice Pizza.”

Haim plays Alana Kane, a 25-year-old photographer's assistant. Helping with a yearbook shoot, she meets 15-year-old Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), a confident, charismatic child actor. The cheeky teen asks Alana out, and, out of curiosity, she agrees to dinner. They become friends, then business partners, and eventually a mutual attraction blooms. The film has faced some criticism over this May-December romance, but, to be fair, Alana acknowledges the creepiness of the relationship, and it's worth noting that the two do not have sex.

What happens here is that “Licorice Pizza” fools you. The film looks like it will be a coming-of-age tale about a 15-year-old boy, but it turns out to be a coming-of-age tale about a 25-year-old woman. The story is about Alana and her frustrated attempts to enter the adult world. Her photographer employer sexually harasses her by patting her butt. Her dad treats her like a child, quizzing her about her whereabouts when she comes home late. Every time she opens the door to adulthood, she sees people behaving badly, as exemplified by a show-off actor (Sean Penn) and a psychopathic film producer (Bradley Cooper). Compared to these assholes, the open-hearted Gary starts to look like a safer bet.

Alana Haim, in her first feature, pretty much carries the film on her narrow shoulders. She has this interesting, beautiful, hook-nosed face, and the singer turns out to be a decent actress. Some of the supporting stars, including Bradley Cooper and Sean Penn, provide moments of brilliance. Otherwise, though, the movie drags through its 2 hour 13 minute run-time. This is the film debut for Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour, and his performance is uneven, showing only brief glimmers of his father's talent. The story also just drags and seems pointless at times, veering off into a number of narrative dead-ends. Truth is, this is a recurring feature of Paul Thomas Anderson's films. Many of them have some great moments, but the only one I would re-watch is "Boogie Nights." I would recommend “Licorice Pizza” only for cinephiles who don't mind wading through a lot of filler to enjoy the latest, and certainly not the greatest, by a brilliant, but self-indulgent, director.

As for that title, it has absolutely nothing to do with the movie. Yet another self-indulgence, Licorice Pizza was the name of a record store Paul Thomas Anderson used to frequent back in the '70's, even though the store does not appear in the movie. It's kind of like the Who song “Baba O'Reilly.” (70's music fans will know what I mean.)

2.5 stars out of 5