By: Henry J. Fromage –
This week I was in the mood for some action films, but don’t worry, I had time for a few documentaries, too.
279. Havoc
Gareth Evans and Tom Hardy always felt like a match made in heaven, so I’ve been excited for this since word of it first broke. Yes, Hardy gets to try on a new accent (a reedy Long Island kind of thing) and yes, Evans delivers on the bloody, bone-crunching action he’s know for. The story is no great shakes, but as an excuse for all of the action it did the job. Special props to Jessie Mei Li playing Hardy’s policewoman partner with a welcome mix of rookie naivete and steel spine. Three Beers.
280. Freaky Tales
This Oakland, 1987-set omnibus right away landed as my favorite film of the year so far, give or take Sinners. It’s ‘fuck Nazis’ attitude is strong, and it’s love for the time, place, music and films that helped make it a unique one is apparent. The interconnected stories build beautifully to a cathartic and bloody climax, and everyone involved is clearly having a blast. Watch it! A Toast.
281. Filmlovers!
Arnaud Desplechin goes all Godard in this simultaneous treatise on film and autobiography of a man who’s lived a life suffused with all things cinematic. As Desplechin bounces between these two modes, from lovingly rendering his first trip to the cinema with his grandmother and older sister to expounding on the new ways of describing and experiencing reality that arose with this new art form at the turn of the century, he expresses the joys of both film and life itself. Two Beers.
282. Borderline
You may have been shocked at how much Ray Nicholson’s unhinged smile looks like his father Jack’s in his brief scenes in Smile 2, but here’s where he really gets to let the family freak flag fly, playing the stalker of a world-famous pop star (Samara Weaving, who knocks this role out of the park in her sleep). This is a deranged thriller with plenty of ideas and images up its sleeve, even if they don’t all necessarily cohere into something that always feels truly original. A special shout-out to Jimmy Fails, who should be getting all the work, who plays her basketball star beau. Three Beers.
283. The Con Artists
This 2014 Korean crime flick delivers pretty bog standard competent and clearly-shot thrills from an industry that can’t make some shitty Pierre Morel-type seizure of an actioner if it tried. I don’t mean to damn it with faint praise- the plot about a crew cobbled together to do one last job at the behest of a vicious crime lord is full of fun twists and double(+!)-crosses and practical smash-em-up car chases, although it could have done with a dash more star-power. Three Beers.
284. Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg
This documentary recounts the strange and wonderful life of Anita Pallenberg, an Italian actress and artist who found herself at the center of more than a few transformative music and art scenes. Most notoriously, she dated practically all of The Rolling Stones, and like them proved to be surprisingly resilient despite a lifetime in which drugs and death were no stranger. Scarlett Johansson does a great job voicing her writings. Two Beers.
285. 137 Shots
This superb Netflix documentary from 2021 covers some of the most egregious cases of police brutality and the court cases surrounding them, both in Cleveland. While the killing of a 13 year old brandishing a plastic gun did make national headlines, the car chase and slaying of Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell somehow escaped my attention until now. The pursuit involved 60 officers and ended with them surrounding the unarmed couple’s vehicle and firing at least 137 shots at and through it, convincing the dipshits involved that they were being fired on even though it was their compatriots on the other side, and ended when officer Michael Brelo jumped on their hood and shot 15 shots at point blank range into their windshield. If this testimony doesn’t make you angry, I don’t know what will. A Toast.
