By: Henry J. Fromage –
I finally got around to watching one of the year’s most theater-appropriate releases despite all the continued homebodiness.
331. Metal Lords
This winning high school comedy is about a group of misfits who find a commonality in Metal music, at least eventually at the behest of the most opiniated of the group. It’s not afraid to zag where a film like this typically zigs, which makes it feel particularly perceptive even when it ends up in the same place ultimately. Three Beers.
332. Death on the Nile
I think this may be the last adventure of this iteration of Hercule Poirot, but I can say that it’s got a pretty great cast minus all that Armie Hammer business, a committed performance from Kenneth Branagh as Poirot, and a mystery that keeps your attention to the same extent as Murder on the Orient Express. If you liked that one you’ll probably be in for this one, too. Three Beers.
333. Julia
This documentary about Julia Child is also pretty conventionally done, but a strictly chronological approach isn’t the worst call for a woman whose life was about continued curiosity and learning from her mistakes, just as she taught so many to do in the kitchen for generations. A most singular woman whose lust for life inspired so many. Three Beers.
334. The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel
Arguably The Corporation could have done with several sequels before now since its original 2003 installment- corporations have gotten up to so much myriad fuckery in the near 20 years since that it’s a bit hard to summarize it all. The ridiculousness of the current “socially responsible corporation” vs. the always paramount shareholder profit motive is well established, though. We’re all fucked. Three Beers.
335. Red 11
Robert Rodriguez famously made his debut, El Mariachi, for 7,000 dollars that he partially accumulated by undergoing medical experiments, and here he gave himself the challenge to make another 7k film to prove it’s still possible to a generation of new filmmakers, and the subject is… a filmmaker undergoing medical experiments to make some cash. This definitely looks like at least a million bucks, if not a whole lot more, and I appreciate the moxie on display, even if it isn’t exactly El Mariachi quality. Four Beers.
336. Top Gun: Maverick
I’m not one that holds up Top Gun to be some sort of cinema classic, but I am happy to report that this decades late sequel, which finds Tom Cruise playing a reluctant flight school instructor now training a young crew of hotshots that includes Goose’s son (Miles Teller), holds up to the legacy of that film and more. The criminally underrated stylist Joseph Kosinski and the famously insane Tom Cruise take to the actual air and it shows- there may never have been aerial stunts put to film better than this. Cruise does it again, may he long reign at the box office. Two Beers.
337. 365 Days: This Day
Yes, they made a sequel to this Eurotrash 50 Shades of Grey knockoff, and it’s truly glorious to behold. Something like the first half hour is softcore porn set to bad Creed cover bands, and then the plot kicks in. If you enjoyed the first one as much as I did, then you’re going to love this one (and I can’t wait for the seemingly inevitable third, although if it ends on this note, that would be fittingly hilarious as well). Six Pack.
