Pride and Prejudice (2005) Revisit

The Glorious version of Pride and Prejudice from director Joe Wright celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. There have been many screenings and the film well a success in its original release, has become quite a cult phenomena with a strong following and a very strong reputation. We last saw it on the big screen 3 years ago had an Alamo brunch screening. We didn't have the foresight those 3 years ago to include the brunch as part of our activity, an oversight that I regret to these days. This year's screening was also at the Alamo, and it was a movie watch party. The fans of the film came out in large numbers, there was not an empty seat in the house.

One of the things that happens at the movie watch parties is that there are props provided as we go in. We were given a handkerchief with an embroidered patch for Alamo, so that we could drop it in front of the troops as they marched by, and hopefully one of the handsome soldiers would pick it up and return it to us. We also had a small stuffed object in the form of a potato, with a face, and the phrase what excellent boiled potatoes embroidered on it. It was good for a laugh but not very practical. As I said everybody at the screening was just in a mood to share the experience and enjoy the romance.

When I wrote about this film last time I do think I focused on the creative direction of Joe Wright. The camera follows the actions of the characters in a way that is both organic and interesting, without drawing attention to itself. That is particularly notable in the dance scenes, but as I watch the film this time it was clear that this creativity was followed throughout the film and it certainly made the story flow very smoothly. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy do dance throughout the film in very different ways. Lizzy is at first enthusiastic and forceful, and then demure and indifferent. Mr. Darcy, is imperious and condescending, but he also eyes her at different times suggesting potential intimacy that he would never reveal in more obvious manner. The main characters are well serviced by the story.

I thought this time I would spend a little bit more energy on the supporting characters of the story. Mr. Bingham, played by Simon Wood,  the original object of affection by the Bennett sisters, is at times doe eyed, and oblivious. His delightful awkwardness is accentuated by the actor's facial expressions and vocal cadence, which frequently ends up in a series of malaprops, stutters, and apologies. His friend Mr. Darcy must have been incredibly embarrassed by his befuddlement. The butt of most of the humor in the film, is the obtuse Mr. Collins, Tom Hollander, who while seeking a wife amongst the Bennett sisters, comes off as an officious prude, in spite of his attempts at being socially adept. It is clear that he is a climber of the social strata's, and the way he drops the name of his benefactor, makes him feel even more clumsy. He is a sincere man, with generally good intentions, but he is in over his head and never seems to notice. That he ends up married to Lizzie's close friend Charlotte, might be seen as a tragedy by some, but the actress playing Charlotte, Claudie Blakley, conveys a resolute cheerfulness about her new circumstances, and never once comes across as regretful. The two actors playing these parts were perfectly cast and performed.

I believe I may have said before, I think Donald Sutherland is the hero of the story as Elizabeth's father. He takes her side against her mother in Sutherlands delivery of the eloquent line where he says you will lose the affection of one of your parents if you decide either not to marry Mr. Collins or to marry Mr. Collins. Sutherlands final scenes as Mr. Bennett discussing with Lizzie the potential marriage to Mr. Darcy is warm and embracing, characteristics that have not usually been attributed to Donald Sutherland in other roles that here, he enthusiastically embodies a doting father, regretting the loss of his daughters to husbands. Brenda Blethyn as Mrs. Bennett, provides the other comic relief in the film , as her conniving plotting to bring her oldest daughter and Mr. Bingham together plays out. Blevins is both sly and obvious and the balance between those is the credit she deserves for her performance.

Judy Dench comes in in the last Acts as Mr. Collins benefactor, Lady Catherine de Bourg, and she does her customary job of excellently portraying a cold impersonal harridan. She certainly stands out as a character, but it is not much of a stretch from some of the other parts that she has played.

We will continue to return to this delightful version of Pride and Prejudice whenever we get the opportunity. It is an incredibly well directed film, with perfect casting, and excellent performance is by the leads. We are also incredibly lucky to get the terrific secondary cast, to fill out the parts that make this a more complete world. Oh and by the way, the boiled potatoes were excellent. 

The Amateur (2025)

 

In the 7 years since he won the Academy Award for best actor Rami Malek is struggled to create a strong on-screen identity as a lead. His biggest part since Bohemian Rhapsody was as the antagonist in the last James Bond film no time to die. He's made a couple of other films since then all of which are perfectly but none of reached the level of Excellence that I'm sure he hoped for and that his fans would like to see him rise to. This new entry into the Spy genre is an attempt to leverage himself back into serious movies, and I suspect potentially create a franchise.

If you've seen the trailers for this film you know that there is a Revenge plot at work here, is Malik's CIA techno wizard seeks the people responsible for the murder of his wife. It should come as no surprise that is a spy film there's also a conspiracy element to the movie, and it's not as simple as it appears to be at first. I'm not sure the CIA has ever been depicted as the straight Heroes in any film where they were a featured part. Usually the CIA is engaged in some subterfuge or illegal activity that they're trying to hide from the world but especially from their Congressional overseers. Even the mission impossible films have relied on internal cabals to generate plot points for the movies.

The idea of a techno geek going after hardened terrorists is an interesting idea but it does require that we swallow a big dose of reality suspension. Malik is effective in showing the Brilliance of his character as he tracks down using his technical tools, the terrorist team that took out his wife. We immediately become suspicious however when his CIA handlers attempt to muzzle and Corral him. It doesn't take long to understand why. Their rationalizations are perfectly reasonable, but it is also clear that they are not too concerned with the collateral damage that is being wrecked upon the world. Malik's character is not naive but he is bureaucratically pure up to a point. And then of course we get the traditional rogue agent.

For the most part this is a Slow Burn through the first half, with maybe one solid scene that builds some suspense and excitement. However halfway through his list of miscreants to eliminate the Mallet character picks up some collaborators, and the action gets more intense. The political intrigue is given cover by suggesting that these operations are occurring outside of the normal chain of command. They would certainly need to because many of the operations and Malik discovers are both illegal and deadly including to our allies.

Like most Revenge pictures we take the greatest satisfaction in those moments when our protagonist deals out Justice to the evildoers in some creative way. Our CIA operative sometimes seems hesitant to carry out the executions he himself is designed. Usually his hesitancy seems to be in Pursuit of additional information about the Spy gang. Regardless, the first two deaths that he creates are interesting, and there is a Twist or two along the way. We get a few red herrings along the way, but after a certain point we suspect that Rami's character really is smarter than everybody else. Laurence Fishburne plays both an ally and an antagonist, and the one thing that feels wrong with this movie is the cheat that comes at the end. On the other hand John Bernthal was not in the movie Enough to generate the kind of support yet that a sequel would demand. He does however get a very good narrative sequence.

This is a pretty intelligent spy film, it relies on the old trope of an agent operating outside of official channels, and fighting those channels at the same time. It's not quite as clever as black bag earlier this year, but it does sit up there near the top of my list of well-designed spy films, and for the year so far this one fits near the top of the list one of my favorite films. It's still early but I would recommend the amateur to anybody who's a fan of either Remy Malik or the Espionage genre.

Across the Universe (2007) Revisit

This is a jukebox Musical that features songs from The Beatles and performances by Young cast set against the backdrop of the late sixties in particular the year 1968. It's hard to go wrong with songs from Lennon and McCartney and occasionally George Harrison and even a Ringo Starr tune or two, so it is certainly not the song score that creates the issues then make this a less than satisfying film to me. Some of the sequences using the music are incredibly beautiful and moving in and of themselves. The problem here is that the filmmakers tried to create a story that was deep and profound instead of one that is fun and inspiring.

Over the years I've gotten a lot of flack for defending the 1970s musical comedy Sergeant Pepper is the only Hearts Club Band, which also featured the music of The Beatles. Admittedly the film looks a little cheap and it is certainly cheesy at times, but it knew that that's what it was. Sergeant Pepper was supposed to be a light summer entertainment that would make you smile and let you enjoy the classic Beatles Tunes. Across the Universe attempts to create a drama, it uses the music to forward the plot, but it does so by relying on incomplete song passages in congruent song selection, and heavy-handed symbolism in nearly every moment.

If this movie had been made in 1970 or '71, it could be forgiven it's dour look at the Times and ponderous attempt to create social significance. But thisis film is from the mid-2000s and it simply feels silly when Julie taymor the director, dresses up the scenes with puppets, stereotyped revolutionaries, and Drug flat lines that go nowhere. The screening we attended was a watch party at the Alamo Drafthouse, and the cinema provides some props to make the party more fun. Hey do you think a blue plastic hypodermic needle is a fun prop? Especially when the point is to celebrate the drug addiction of one of our key players? Like I said the movie is way too serious and ponderous to overcome. So many of The Beatles songs are used in morose moments, that you might forget the exhilarating ones that means something. There is a really terrific sequence in a bowling alley that shows off the choreography of the director and the exuberance of the cast. Unfortunately those moments are few and far between.

I was still glad to see the movie, and those people who are fans of The Beatles will enjoy some segments of the music, but be warned there are times when the music get started and you'll be warmed up to it and it'll stop. So across the universe is a frustrating story, set to classic rock and roll from the late sixties from the greatest band in history, made by a director who is a fantastic visual Style, but by people who have no way to know how to tell a story.

The Last Picture Show (1971) -Revisit

For a period of time in the 1970s, film directors were given free reign to create some of the most personal and well acted films to ever come out of Hollywood. In an era that was filled with personalities like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and the young Steven Spielberg, maybe the director who got a foothold on the zeitgeist of the era the best, was Peter bogdanovich. Has a director he had a string of successes from 1971 to 1975 that are incredibly impressive. The first of those truly great films is this 1971 requiem for bygone era.

The Last Picture Show is known for the huge cast of future stars that made appearances in the film. Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Randy Quaid, Cybil Shepherd, Eileen Brennan, and Ellen Burstyn are all getting ready to have huge careers in the next two decades. The film also gives parts to older veterans Cinema, or give it a chance with the Fantastic script to write a little silver in the sky and help us remember what film dialogue is all about. Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson want Academy Awards for supporting actor and actress, and they did it on the strength of a script that treated them like real people, who deserve dignity even in the most undignified circumstances.

I'm not sure I can think of a film that has sadness more clearly as its theme Than The Last Picture Show. The social relations between the members of the senior class, or sometimes harsh and thoughtless, and at other times heartbreaking. Cybil Shepard plays Jacy, the headstrong popular girl, who uses sex to gain status and learns that she is simply repeating the mistakes of the past. In the wake of her Reckless Behavior she leaves two best friends who become estranged, one because he is a rejected lover, and the other because he rejected his one opportunity of love in this small town.

Everything in this movie screams of being depressing. The diner is shabby and the waitress who works there, although wise and surprisingly friendly, is also beat down by her existence. The pool hall is the social center of the town, and it is a dust filled ramshackle Hangout for men too old to do much and for boys too young to be doing anything. Ben Johnson plays the older man with enough gravitas to actually earn the respect of the youngsters. Although life is dealt him a pretty crappy hand he is not embittered by his fate, simply nostalgic for the good things that have long passed him by. Sam the lion is a character that we can all admire and he gets a sequence where he narrates part of his life in such an eloquent way that Johnson brings him to life and earns the accolades that were heaped upon him that year. And of course there's not a happy ending when it comes to Sam.

Ruth Popper is a woman who is aware that the best parts of her life are long in the past, and for whom every day is a struggle against depression and potential Health catastrophes. When she becomes the unlikely lover of one of the two young men who are close friends, it feels dangerous, absurd, and also the most hopeful thing in the movie. And of course it also doesn't end well either. Cloris Leachman, clenches her hands, walks with the faltering step, and dry cries through many of her scenes. Her performance is one of physicality, where she conveys a world weariness Beyond her years, and a rejuvenation it is unexpected when she discovers what she thinks is a new love. The conclusion of this film includes the death of a much younger character, and it turns out that that is not the saddest thing in the story. The way in which this will Lonely woman, is mistreated and embittered his heart-wrenching. What is also sad is that even after standing up for herself, she has enough Humanity to offer a drop of console, despite it not being earned.

The town is full of people who will never leave and as a result will likely bleed on Happy lives, or their people who are anxious to get out, but afraid to because they know they'll never be able to come back to things the way they were. The closing of the movie theater in a small town like this maybe the saddest symbol of filmgoer like me is likely to see. The black and white photography in this film makes everything feel dusty and forlorn,  but it also makes the people look either incredibly beautiful or sadly unpleasant. I guess that's the way the world is, or more precisely... Was. 

Warfare (2025)

 

This is an unusual movie designed to put us in the field with the Warriors who defend us in Dark Places. It represents the memories of the men who went through the actual event, and is designed to replicate as closely as possible the firefight that these men participated in. I don't see an agenda or political perspective in the way this film is being presented, the men who are performing their Duty are average Americans, who are well trained, but respond like human beings in the dangerous circumstances they find themselves in.

Although there are a couple of familiar faces in the cast, this is certainly not a star driven vehicle. At least two dozen characters appear on the screen and have lines, but you could not point to a single one of them and say they were the main focus of the story. It is the event that is the star of the film. A military Advanced team, probing an enemy territory, during the Iraq occupation, discovers that they are the target of an insurgent attack. The events unfold for the most part, in real time, and the threat of death exists in every frame of the last half of the movie. There are moves that are made by the Marines in this story, which in hindsight might seem problematic, but given the outcome, and the survival of some of their comrades, we should certainly be willing to forgive some Divergence from military bureaucracy.

Even though they're under attack, the Marines Express every confidence in the situation that they are capable of responding appropriately. They have Superior Equipment and Superior training and they also have reinforcements that will system although it will take some time. To me the astonishing thing about the events depicted in the film are the nearly heroic actions taken to save the lives of the injured Marines when an IED explodes as they are preparing to withdraw. Injuries that we saw in Saving  Private Ryan, were horrifying but the story doesn't linger over them and the agony that those soldiers went through. In this film the consequences of the injuries seems to be the main justification for telling the story. Both the injured Marines, and their teammates never really give up in spite of the pain and the fear that they must be going through. Some may have a moment's hesitation, some are trying to cope with with shock and concussions and temporary deafness. They all however do their jobs.

I will warn you that the injuries depicted are brutal, and there are moments when the agony of the victims is hard to bear. The stalwart efforts platoon of Marines is admirable in and of itself regardless of the outcome of the battle. This is not a story where retribution is heaved upon the enemy in a dramatic moment of Revenge. The forces that are being used, often appearing to be overwhelming, are done for the purpose of saving the lives of their comrades in arms. We really have no idea what kind of damage was inflicted on the enemy at the end of the day. This is a war film that is not a drama about some narrative, rather it is a narrative about an event that took place and that these Warriors survived.

War is evil, but sometimes necessary. The Men Who engage in war are usually not evil, but simply doing their jobs, fulfilling the plans of someone else to make the world a better place. The struggle to accomplish that requires incredible fortitude. Warfare attempts to depict that fortitude and put the audience at the scene. It succeeds in its visual execution, by allowing us to see the chaos and confusion in this sort of combat operation, but also the professionalism and determination of well-trained men. Because the story is told from the perspective of the men who actually went through this, the dialogue is filled with technical terminology Battlefield jargon and a variety of military language. Nothing is done to make this film dumb enough for an audience to understand. It requires an audience that is smart enough to know that what they are seeing is something they never want to go through themselves. 

ASH (2025)

 

 Ash is a somewhat dystopian science fiction film set on another world that the human race is hoping to be able to terraform and relocate to. We get told all of that information about a quarter of the way into the story after the mystery of the horror has already begun. The way the Story begins is simple a young woman wakes up from a deep sleep and discovers that the ecosystem that she lives in is filled with dead bodies and signs of violence that she has basically no memory of.

The film is a hybrid version of Solaris, alien, and the thing. Ultimately there are about seven actors in the film but for 90% of the movie they're only two that take up screen time. The woman named Reva, as flashbacks to some of the events, and begins to suspect that what happened might be her fault. File into her ruminations, another character shows up played by actor Aaron Paul, who clearly knows Reva, but was not at the station when whatever disaster befell it took place.

At First the movie looks fairly low budget. The sets are not much more complicated than a series of rooms that have been dolled up with some light fixtures and a few props to suggest something more futuristic. And the film is clearly something that was done on a budget. In the second half of the film though a few special effects show up that suggests that they were saving their money for a little bit more production value. A couple of models and some CGI add a little credibility to the situation. We also get a few special effects makeup sequences that are pretty good. 

The main problem with the film like this is that we are dealing with an unreliable narrator, and we all know why she's unreliable. Also, nearly everything that we see at one point become suspect, and we wonder if we are looking at something that really happened or if it is just a projection of her consciousness. In the end it does turn out to be something of a monster movie, but it's trying to do it in a way that is different and a little bit more cerebral. I think the ambitions outstrip the ability of the script to deliver this kind of story. The movie isn't bad, but it isn't very compelling either and by the time we get to the end it's easy to feel detached from what's going on. There is also attacked on conclusion that makes no sense but his design to create a sense of irony at the end of the story.

The director of the film is also responsible for the music, I get the impression that he is a music personality who is dabbling in the film world. It's not that he's on talented, but he's not experienced enough to make this film more interesting than something to be consumed and almost immediately forgotten, in spite of the film's ambitions. I suspect that this movie was largely made for streaming purposes, and it received a token release either because of the actors involved or to placate the director. Either way it turned out, it was a reasonable Monday evening, but again I'm not going to remember this very long.

A Working Man (2025)

A Video Review for this one.