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Category: Film Page 6 of 101

Challenge Week 45: Triangle

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On November 27, 2016

In 2016 Movie Challenge

I can’t talk TOO much about this without spoiling it – in this case, it’s very much recommended to go in totally blind, which I did, aside from knowing that it was something of a mindbender and had some horror and possibly sci-fi elements.

It all hinges on a young woman on a yachting trip with some acquaintances who ends up in some very unusual, confusing, and horrifying circumstances. It kept me guessing and trying to figure out what was really going on throughout, and it did a good job of laying clues and following up on them later. Every time I thought I had a handle on it (and thought the lead character did, too), it turned out to have another layer.

tf-look-out

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Challenge Week 44: Condorman

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On November 23, 2016

In 2016 Movie Challenge

What a fun little adventure espionage movie! Woodrow Wilkins is a cartoonist who likes to test real-life costumes for his comic book character Condorman. Also, his best friend is a CIA desk agent who ends up asking Woody to do an innocuous civilian exchange for the agency. Only Natalia, the other civilian, is actually a KGB agent and when she decided to defect, she requests “Condorman” as her liaison.

The whole thing is very silly, but silly Cold War-era espionage movies with a ton of fun gadgets is very pleasing to me. I mean, it’s James Bond but with the cheese factor knowingly turned up way higher. There are quite a few cliches, especially in how Natalia is written, but that’s pretty much all made up for when you have a chase with a gypsy wagon that turns into a car that turns into a hydrofoil, all at the push of a few buttons.

I…really can’t think of much else to say about this. I can definitely see it being something I return to in the future because of how fun and silly and endearing it is.

tf-exchange

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Challenge Week 44: The Color of Money

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On November 20, 2016

In 2016 Movie Challenge

It’s honestly been so long since I’ve seen The Hustler that I don’t remember the details all that well, but I don’t think it really mattered going into this much-later sequel. Now Fast Eddie Felson (Newman) is retired from the pool circuit, instead doing very well as a liquor salesman. But when he meets Vincent (Tom Cruise), a hot-shot young player, Eddie takes him under his wing to teach him the hustling game.

I’ve always thought it was interesting that Martin Scorsese chose to make a 25-years-later sequel to a pool hustling movie, and the movie doesn’t particularly scream “Scorsese” stylistically, but I can see the appeal. It’s men doing men things in a vaguely gangster-like setting, where honor and money compete for men’s souls. However, though I often find that “men doing men things” movies don’t appeal to me these days, I found a lot to appreciate about The Color of Money.

tf-cruise

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Challenge Week 43: The Collector

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On November 20, 2016

In 2016 Movie Challenge

The week before I watched this, its recommender Steve tried to scare me, warning me that it was pretty rough and that it surprising it got past the censors and whatnot. I knew it was about a man who kidnaps women, and that kind of storyline CAN go very wrong for me if it rubs me the wrong way. But on the other hand, it CAN go very right for me, and Steve will be pleased to know this is one of those times.

Terence Stamp is Freddie, a butterfly collector who also obsesses over a girl, Miranda (Samantha Eggar)…he wants her to love him, but really, he just wants to add her to his collection, like a rare butterfly that he would capture and pin for preservation. He buys a remote old country house with a large cellar, furnishes the cellar as a small apartment, and kidnaps Miranda and locks her in it.

tf-chloroform

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Challenge Week 43: True Stories

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On November 17, 2016

In 2016 Movie Challenge

When Steve gave me this film to watch, he said I’d either love it or hate it. When a film is pitched to me like that, it’s actually pretty common for me to be somewhere in the middle on it, which I guess is weird. Anyway, that particular maxim holds true in this case.

This is a strange amalgam of a film, part rock concert, part vignettes of life in a small Texas town, part random scenes that are each interesting on their own but I have no idea how they tie together. Director David Byrne is one throughline, a narrator/tour guide type figure telling us about this Texas town where we find ourselves. John Goodman is another, as an earnest guy who just really wants to get married. Beyond that, it’s just a lot of random little bits of stuff that I found entertaining but had difficulty grokking as a whole.

tf-date

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