THE WEEKEND WARRIOR Reviews and Repertory Round-Up for November 29
DEVO, PLACEBO: THIS SEARCH FOR MEANING, BEATLES '64, YACHT ROCK, DOC-NYC, MARIA, QUEER, NUTCRACKERS
It’s Thanksgiving weekend, which as mentioned in the earlier edition (for paid subscribers only – And thanks to all those who have subscribed!), is tougher to predict in terms of box office, but it also means I have to rush to finish this column with fewer days than I normally have. Will try to finish as many reviews as I possibly can before going live with this sometime on Wednesday afternoon or evening, but I’m also on Letterboxd as “EDouglasWW,” so it’s always good to check up on things there, since I do often post earlier reactions even for things I don’t end up reviewing.
By the time you read this, I’ve already reviewed Moana 2 – I was unimpressed – but as far as limited releases, we get three movies that have been on the festival circuit that I saw at the New York Film Festival in September/October. Before we get to those, though, let’s talk a little about DOC-NYC, which I’ve mentioned a few times over the past few weeks but haven’t really reviewed much since I’ve been so busy with other things and also had some health issues. In fact, I only went to one premiere in person and that was for the World Premiere of Slumlord Millionaire (which I wrote about last week), which ended up winning the Audience Award!
One of the movies I was really looking forward to finally seeing was Chris Smith’s doc, DEVO, which obviously is about the Akron, Ohio punk/new wave band who burst onto the scene in the ‘70s and then really exploded in the ‘80s with their hit “Whip It.” I was thrilled to finally get to watch it virtually as part of DOC-NYC, and it did not disappoint. Smith really gets in-depth into the band’s early days in Ohio as well as achieving fame with their 1980 “Freedom of Choice” album and their ubiquitous hit. I definitely knew about the band from before then – probably from their classic “SNL” appearance – but that album really turned me into a huge lifelong fan, as did their other ‘80s releases. Oddly, despite being such a huge Devo fan, I really never saw them that many times live, and I’m not sure why that’s the case. I especially enjoyed how the doc covered Mark Motherbaugh’s transition into being a composer of music for picture with “Peewee’s Playhouse,” and Smith is quite thorough in terms of following the highs and lows, but also dealing with the band’s politics that somehow got buried under all their catchy and quirky tunes. Devo also covers their constant problems with the major labels to which they were signed, who were constantly uncertain how to market the band and make them bigger. Eventually, the songs did the work for them. Either way, Devo is a fun doc, and I hope there’s some news soon about its distribution plans outside of festivals.
Sareen Hairabedian’s Jordanian documentary MY SWEET LAND was going to be Jordan’s entry into the International Feature category at the Oscars, but it was dropped by its country “due to diplomatic pressures.” It has still been deemed eligible for the Documentary category, and it wlll open exclusively at the Laemmle Glendale on Friday for a one-week Oscar-consideration run with director Sareen Hairabedian on-hand to answer questions.
Since we’re already in a doc headspace, might as well get into some other music docs…
PLACEBO: THIS SEARCH FOR MEANING (Abramorama)
I’m a big fan of the ‘90s Britrock band Placebo, even though I’ve also only seen them live maybe 1 ½ times (the half was at the Cruel World festival in Pasadena earlier this year, where they were playing on another stage where I could here but couldn’t see their set). I definitely missed a lot of their early career, since I had stopped reading the British music papers on a weekly basis by the early ‘90s, and they came around in 1994. In fact, I probably only got into them around 2000 for the album “Black Market Music” and then I didn’t keep up with them until their most recent album, “Never Let Me Go,” which is quite excellent! To some, it might be strange that this band would get their own movie, despite celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, but the Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal-led band has really had an impact even here in the States with their unique style of blending art and rock. Maybe it’s no surprise that David Bowie was an early fan, having them as his opening act throughout the late ‘90s, and this film directed by Oscar Samson has a lot of great archival footage featuring Brian with Bowie in conversation. It also includes interviews and testimonials with the band’s peers like Robbie Williams and Shirley Manson from Garbage and newer artists like Yungblud talking about the influence of Molko and Placebo. Part of what I enjoyed more than anything else was watching the current line-up of the band performing songs off from “Never Let Me Go,” which helped drive home the point that this is a band that’s just as good now as it was thirty years ago. Maybe this will be for fans only, but it certainly could help the band find new ones.
This Search for Meaning opens at the Quad Cinema in New York on Friday and other theaters across the country, although at the Quad, it’s only getting one screening per day, so check that schedule! It’s also getting screened a LOT more around the world this week, including France, Europe and South America, so check out the full release schedule here.
BEATLES ‘64 (Disney+)
Regular Martin Scorsese editor and collaborator David Tedeschi directs this doc (produced by Scorsese) which will hit Disney+ on Friday, which takes the footage shot by the Maysles Brothers, while trailing the Beatles on their first trip to the U.S. in 1964 and combines it with present-day interviews with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and some of the fans who were interviewed back then. The footage was already used for the Maysles’ What's Happening! The Beatles In The U.S.A., which had already been reedited and rereleased as The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit in 1991, but clearly, Scorsese (who makes an odd but fun cameo) felt that this historic trip could be revisited 60 years later. That trip also included the band’s famed appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which many felt helped the Beatles become such huge stars in the United States. As a lifelong Beatles fan, I enjoyed this movie just fine, although I’m not sure it really offered anything particularly new or interesting after Ron Howard’s Eight Days a Week from a few years back and Peter Jackson’s 2021 mini-series Get Back, both which were far more exciting to me. Beatles ‘64 will stream on Disney+ starting on Friday, November 29.
YACHT ROCK: A DOCKUMENTARY (HBO/Max)
Hitting Max on Friday is this doc from director Garret Price, which looks at the music subgenre and a term that I only first heard in the past year, specifically the light rock music of Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross, Toto, and the like.
To start, anyone watching this needs a clear definition of what “Yacht Rock” is, a term that came from a 2005 comedy webseries from 2005, which seems to mainly be considered an L.A. phenomenon (sorry, Philly-based Hall & Oates), which mixes elements of jazz and R&B into a softer rock sound.
Now, if you know me even slightly, you would think that there is no way in hell that Edward Douglas, the purveyor of all things that are cool in music (it’s true, you know it) would be able to get into a movie about the artists mentioned above. Okay, that was probably me saying that Even though I’ve heard a lot of the music – before 1979 I mostly listened to AM radio, after all – by the ‘80s, I was already into punk, metal, new wave, and eventually alternative rock, pretty much anything that was hard and loud. BUT I did have that background in AM radio, and like many people my age, I saw that episode of “What’s Happening?” with the Doobie Brothers, and kind of became a fan from that. Nor did I really hate Steely Dan, who is considered the “primordial ooze” of Yacht Rock, according to Steve Huey, the presenter of that web series.
Because most of this phenomenon was coming out of L.A. studios, I really didn’t pay much attention to how all of these different musicians, including the ubiquitous McDonald, were playing on all these other records. Yacht Rock does a fine job breaking down that story of how all of it came to be, with many of the artists talking about their rise to fame, particularly Loggins in the ‘70s and Cross in the early ‘80s. Of course, the equally ubiquitous music aficionado Questlove is one of the current-day artists talking about the influence of that music, and how having artists paying homage to black music while also using black musicians on their records/appearances (as did McDonald) played a large part in how it crossed over to non-white listeners.
Price’s film covers the entire history of the genre (named almost 25 years after it had seemingly died out) and shows how MTV came along in the ‘80s and killed the rise of adult contemporary music. The music was later revived thanks to early hip hop artists like De La Soul and others that would sample some of these records due to their undeniable rhythm and feel, which created a perfect bed for “spitting rhymes,” as the kids call it.
I just learned so much stuff that I never knew, and as a lifelong fan of music and rock history, Yacht Rock ended up being such a smart and well-made film that also was quite entertaining and not even remotely the joke I thought it might be going into it. So in a major twist no one will see coming, I think I enjoyed this movie about “yacht rock” more than I did my recently-watched movies about The Beatles, Devo and Placebo – I’m not sure I even know myself anymore!!
Well, I might as well keep my love for music going in this rare themed edition of the Weekend Warrior, although I imagine very few people in my current life knew that I actually had an opera phase.
MARIA (Netflix)
Angelina Jolie stars as legendary opera singer Maria Callas in Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain’s latest portrait of a famous woman after Jackie and Spencer, both of which got their respective stars (Natalie Portman and Kirsten Stewart) Oscar nominations. We probably can expect the same for Jolie. She hasn’t received a nomination since Clint Eastwood’s Changeling in 2009, and that was her first nomination since winning the Oscar in 2000 for her role in James Mangold’s Girl, Interrupted. (Jolie also won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2014.)
As with Larrain’s previous biopics, he finds an interesting way into the world of Callas, taking a look at one specific moment in her life, and clearly, he prefers to show these great women on their final decline, at least going by Maria and Spencer. There’s also some clear and definitive connective tissue with Jackie, since Aristotle Onassis (played in flashbacks by Haluk Bilginer) married President Kennedy’s widow years after Kennedy’s assassination, though Larrain resists the temptation of having Natalie Portman make a cameo. In fact, Jackie’s name isn’t even mentioned as such.
Working from a screenplay by Steven Knight, Larrain focuses on Callas’ last few years, living in a luxurious Paris apartment with her ever-present housekeeper Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher) and butler Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino) catering to her ever whim, while also trying to keep her happy and healthy. By the ‘70s, Callas is not only suffering from the deterioration of her world-renowned singing voice, but she’s also suffering from mental health issues suffering from hallucinations. She’s also being interviewed for a movie by a handsome young filmmaker, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee.
This movie is mostly about Angelina Jolie and her turn as Maria Callas, which has the added difficulty from Larrain’s previous female stars in that it does involve being able to create the illusion of having Callas’ singing voice. Some might want to know how much of the singing Jolie did vs. using actual recordings, but it’s actually a moot point, because this performance isn’t merely about the singing as it is about Callas’ mental state and her interaction with those around her. (In the same respect, there’s a lot of archival footage that could either have been found or created by Larrain, and not knowing which is which greatly helps the illusion of the viewer actually watching Callas’ later years.)
It’s odd that I recently saw Auntie Mame, starring Rosalind Russell, since there’s something about Jolie’s performance, particularly when it comes to her the way she interacts with her ever-present helpers. I truly appreciate that despite Larrain’s growing fame in Hollywood due to his impressive filmography, he decided to cast international stars around Jolie like Italian actors Rohrwacher and Favino, who may be more recognizable in Europe than the States. I wasn’t nearly as crazy about Smit-McPhee as Mandrax, the enigmatic filmmaker tailing Callas throughout the film, nor his role in the story. I also wasn’t as enamored by the flashbacks into Callas’ past life, as much as they contributed to her mental state during her final days.
Fortunately, Larrain and Jolie also have many fantastic below-the-line collaborators that help make the film look absolutely stunning, beginning with the work by cinematographer Ed Lachman, but Callas’ Paris flat is a true work of art to behold with its designs by production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas and his team, including the set decorators, who pulls the viewer into every shot with all the odd items around La Callas, including a shrine of Greek busts. Callas’ costumes by two-time Oscar nominee Massimo Cantini Parrini are also a highlight of that work, especially when those costumes are integrated into the set design.
In some ways, Maria follows a similar course as last year’s Maestro, although I clearly liked that better, having made it my top movie of 2023, but Maria is a compelling intro the world of La Callas that hopefully will get younger people interested in listening to some of her performances. It was listening to her records that ultimately made me an opera fan many decades ago, and Jolie gives one of her best performances in years, even as she’s made an impressive foray into directing herself.
Rating: 7.5/10
Maria is now playing in select theaters before streaming on Netflix beginning December 11.
QUEER (A24)
Daniel Craig stars in Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novel, adapted with his Challengers screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes. Craig plays William Lee, an author holed up in Mexico City in the ‘50s, who begins pursuing a handsome young named Allerton (Drew Starkey). The movie also stars Jason Schwartzman and Lesley Manville in almost unrecognizable roles, but if you blink, you might miss filmmaker David Lowery (The Green Knight).
I saw this movie a few months back at the New York Film Festival, but like Maria, I didn’t get around to reviewing it, but I really would like to rewatch it before posting a formal review, so standby on that.
Queer opens in New York and L.A. on Wednesday, November 27, and then expands wider on December 13.
NUTCRACKERS (Hulu)
Dropping on Hulu on Friday (and I *do* mean “dropping”), David Gordon Green directs this sort-of holiday comedy starring Ben Stiller as Mike, a Midwestern real estate developer who is called upon to care for his four troublesome nephews after the death of his sister and her husband. This comedy introduces the four Janson brothers as the Kicklighter boys, and also stars Linda Cardelini, Ari Graynor, and Tim Heidecker.
But really, this is the Ben Stiller Show, returning him to comedy after taking a sabbatical to become a serous Emmy-winning director. Sadly, this turns out to be another weak attempt at putting a normally-funny comedic actor into scenes with a bunch of unruly kids with nothing that new or original. Coming so soon after the far superior The Best Christmas Pageant Ever makes it far too obvious so how out of their league Green and even Stiller are in this environment, as this follows every single expected and predictable beat that comes with this sort of movie… except for the laughs.
Most of the film’s problems come directly from the screenplay by Leland Douglas (Call of the Wild), which seems so below anything Green and Stiller might come up with on their own. That’s because much of the first half involves Stiller’s Mike being plagued by the boys’ pranks, such as falling into the lake when they convince him to row out into the pond to get better wifi service. It’s so obvious and predicable that it’s hard not to groan as the inevitable plays out.
When it comes to humor, this one always goes for the most obvious low-hanging fruit, forcing me to reflect on whether I’m even a fan of any of Green’s comedies. Let’s face it, he has directed quite a few bad ones, and that’s despite regularly collaborating with Danny McBride on things like “Eastbound & Down,” which is a standout amongst Green’s comedy oeuvre.
The holiday aspect of the movie comes in the form of a twisted version of the Nutcracker ballet performed by the kids, which again, harks back to the similarly unruly kids in Best Christmas Pageant, and their version of the nativity. In this case, it arrives at that big third act show in such a contrived way that’s shoehorned into a backstory involving Mike’s sister running a ballet school that needs to be saved. Again, cliché on top of cliché.
The female characters, even Cardelini as a social worker, are just given so little to do, and I guess we can be thankful this didn’t create a forced romance between Stiller and Cardelini to contend with on top of everything else. On top of all that, there’s a painful amount of corny and sentimental crap that always seems to be de rigeur for this type of comedy, but the fact that Nutcrackers isn’t very funny and considering how much of this we’ve seen before makes it even more unbearable.
In other words, these Nutcrackers are indeed a dud.
Rating: 4.5/10
GAUCHO GAUCHO (Jolt)
Filmmakers Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw (The Truffle Hunters) spent two years travelling back and forth from Northern Argentina to capture the real lives of the true gauchos living off the land in this beautiful black and white cinema verité doc that also recently played at DOC-NYC after a run of film festivals. This will be available on the free streaming service Jolt starting on Sunday, December 1, but it also will be getting a theatrical screening next Tuesday December 3 at the Quad Cinema with the filmmakers on hand for a QnA. You can also watch my own interview with them from Cinema Daly US right here.
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG (Neon)
I actually reviewed Mohammad Rasoulof’s Iran drama that’s been selected by Germany as its International Feature Oscar selection out of the New York Film Festival, where it played after a long festival run that goes all the way back to Cannes, where it won a number of prizes including the Fipresci Award, the Prize of the Ecumerical Jury (whatever that is), and a bunch of other awards. Yeah, I don’t get it. I liked it enough, especially the last act, but it’s way too long a movie, and it takes an inordinate amount of time getting anywhere interesting. There’s no doubt it will get nominated for the Oscar International Feature category (submitted by Germany, no less) and it might give France’s selection, Emilia Perez, a run for the Oscar, though I’m not really that big a fan of either, as I believe they’re both overrated thanks to Cannes-attending film critic snobs. Regardless, this is also now playing in select cities, including Film at Lincoln Center uptown and Film Forum downtown.
REINAS (Outsider Pictures)
Klaudia Reynicke-Candeloro’s drama, which is the Swiss Oscar entry and has won prizes from Berlin and Locarno, will open in New York and L.A. on Friday, and guess what? Like so many other countries’ submissions, it’s not in the native language of the country submitting! This one is in Spanish! It involves two young girls who are about to leave Peru with their mother, but they need to get their exit papers signed by their absent father Carlos, who has to earn back his daughters’ love before they leave forever.
REPERTORY
Even though it’s Thanksgiving weekend, I’m not really going anywhere other than Thanksgiving day (when it will be closed) so I’ll be seeing some stuff here for sure.
We’ll start with “Nicolas Uncaged” this week because Metrograph is showing one of Mr. Cage’s biggest recent blockbusters, Disney’s National Treasure (2004), which I absolutely loved and will see again on Friday night.
Beginning this weekend is “Story By Lillian Lee” with a number of adaptations of the Hong Kong-born novelist, journalist and screenwriter including Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine (1993), the anthology Three… Extremes (2004), featuring short genre films by Park Chanwook, Fruit Chan and Takashi Miike, including “Dumplings” based on a script by Ms. Lee. The series also includes Ching Siu-Ting’s A Terra-Cotta Warrior (1989), starring Gong Li and Zhang Yimou (in a rare acting role!) and Stanley Kwan’s 1987 film, Rouge, starring Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung.
Another new series called “Absconded Art” will screen Orson Welles’ F is for Fake (1973) this weekend and the Oscar-winning documentary, Man on Wire (2008) over the weekend.
This weekend’s offerings as part of “My Crazy Uncle (or Aunt)” are Frank Capra’s Arsenic and Old Lace from 1944, Addams Family Values (1991), and the 1998 film Practical Magic (with director Griffin Dunne on hand for a QnA on Sunday, December 1!) The Oscar-nominated 1958 comedy, Auntie Mame, starring Rosalind Russell, will screen one more time on Wednesday afternoon.
Mira Nair will be back this coming Sunday, doing intros for Lakshmipriya Devi’s 2024 film Boong (not REALLY repertory) and the excellent recent doc, All That Breathes (2022).
“Insomnia” is showing Scorsese’s Taxi Driver one more time on Wednesday night and then switching gears to David Fincher’s Fight Club on Friday and Saturday night.
“The World is a Stage” only has a repeat showing of A New Old Play on Monday, while “Crush the Strong, Help the Weak” will be screening Park Chanwook’s Lady Vengeance again on Wednesday night.
“Do It Again!” will screen Michael Mann’s Heat for the 100th time on Wednesday afternoon, and over the weekend, you can see Ozu’s Good Morning (1959) and there’s one more screening of Alan Clarke’s Scum (1979) on Friday night. (I’m pretty sure I’ve seen both of those at the Metrograph as well.)
This Sunday’s “Film Forum Jr.” is the beloved Jim Henson classic Labyrinth, starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. Beginning on Wednesday is a new 4k restoration of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1953 film, The Wages of Fear.
Lots of stuff going on at this legendary downtown arthouse/rep theater with “Late Night Favorites” showing one of my all-time faves, Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) on Friday and Saturday night late. They’re also showing Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer on Friday and Saturday late night, and Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) will screen a bunch this weekend, possibly to bridge the gap between Coppola’s Megalopolis and the upcoming Nosferatu remake? A 4k restoration of Brian De Palma’s 1976 movie based on Stephen King’s Carrie will also begin screening this weekend. Apparently, Mick Jackson’s Threads will also screen again this weekend as part of “Waverly Midnights.”
“The Magic of Oz: A Frank Oz Retrospective” continues this weekend with not one but TWO Rian Johnson movies as on Friday, you can do a double feature of Knives Out (with Oz playing the security guard) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (in which Oz reprised his role as Yoda). Two comedies Oz directed, Death at a Funeral and the The Stepford Wives, both remakes, will screen on Saturday, and then Oz himself will be on-hand Saturday afternoon for a screening of The Empire Strikes Back, the first appearance of his beloved character, Yoda.
Out on Long Island (where I’ll be for Thanksgiving but only that one day), they’ll be showing the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple on Friday night as part of “Night Owl Cinema and on Saturday, you can see a Christmas horror double feature of 1974’s Black Christmas (its 50th anniversary!) and Silent Night, Deadly Night (its 40th anniversary!), both in 35mm as part of “Holidays of Horror Part 6” presented by Retro Picture Show. Sunday offers screenings of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Pedro Almodóvar’s 1987 film, Law of Desire, starring a super-young Antonio Banderas.
On Monday, you can see the Mel Brooks’ classic “Star Wars” spoof, Spaceballs, with two screenings. On Wednesday, you can see another classic, the 2003 comedy, Elf, starring Will Ferrell. (In general, the Village East has really been making a mark with its repertory selection, which is nice to see.)
On Monday, Dec 2, the Alamo is having a Gremlins Movie Party at its Downtown Manhattan location which is almost sold out! You can also watch Pam Grier in Foxy Brown as part of the “Alamo Time Capsule 1974” series, this one in Staten Island. Lower Manhattan is showing Murder on the Orient Express as part of that series on Sunday (which still has some tickets available) and Monday (which is sold out).
Mostly new stuff this week though the 1998 Norm McDonald comedy Dirty Work will screen in 35mm on Friday, and then the 2002 erotic thriller, Unfaithful, starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere will screen in 35mm on Sunday. Next Wednesday, they’re doing a Harmony Korine double feature of his newest film, Aggro Dr1ft and his 2009 film, Trash Humpers, the latter in 35mm.
Starting next Tuesday is the series “Skipped a Beat,” showing musicals! Coinciding with the streaming release of Jacques Audiard’s Emila Perez, which screens this weekend… not really rep, but the series starts for real in December with lots of great rarely-screened musicals, so we’ll cover the series more fully then.
NITEHAWK CINEMA PROSPECT PARK & WILLIAMSBURG
On Saturday and Sunday afternoon, you can see Roman Polanski’s 1974 classic Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson, and they’ll also be showing the 1983 Christmas classic A Christmas Story, which is probably a better choice to take the kiddies to this weekend. On Tuesday at Prospect Park, you can see The Matrix, presented by Miss Malice, preceded by a drag show, and look they didn’t even dead-name the Wachowskis by calling them Lilly and Lana, even though that’s not what’s gonna be shown on screen. (Unless Warners made changes for the DCPs.)
Just cause it’s Thanksgiving weekend, that doesn’t mean that Williamsburg is skimping on the ‘80s Fulci, showing the 1982 film, Manhattan Baby, on Friday night… LATE! December presents a “Remembering Robin Williams” series with Williamsburg kicking it off with Robert Altman’s Popeye (1980) on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday night, you can see David Miller’s Sudden Fear (1952) from the Cohen Film Collection vault.
Continuing to show “The Complete Robert Frank.” Good for them and him, but I have nothing to add.
That’s it for this week. I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving, and I know I’m thankful for everyone that regularly reads this column, and not just the paid subscribers, but I’m really trying my best here to keep things going as my own life and job situation has left me floundering.