The Place

 The Place 2017

• Director: Paolo Genevese
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Valerio Mastandrea and many other great actors I’ve
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sadly, none
• Why? Good reviews
• Seen: 27 May 2022      

       The Place is a café in Rome. A mild-looking middle-aged man sits at a table with a thick writing book which he has filled with notations. Desperate people come to him for help. A man whose son is dying. A woman whose husband is suffering from sever Alzheimer’s. A nun who has lost her god. The man offers help, for a price. The father must kill a little girl. The woman must construct and plant a bomb, killing a required number of people. The nun must become pregnant.

       For example.

       A pattern emerges. The demands on one are connected to the needs of others. The man insists on hearing details of how the missions are being carried out. He is always calm, gentle but firm, and he always assures his supplicants that it’s their choice that their wishes be fulfilled but they must do exactly as he says.

       Who is this man? He never answers questions about himself. The nun wonders if he isn’t the devil. But then again, he might be God. With a very thick notebook.

       It’s brilliant. And it all takes place at one table in the Place. 

5* of 5  

 

 

Dead Presidents

 Dead Presidents 1995

• Director: Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes (the Hughes Brothers)
• Seen by these directors: The Book of Eli, From Hell
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, Freddie Rodriguéz, Rose Jackson, N’Bushe Wright, Terrence Howard
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Larenz Tate – Ray, Crash, The Postman
• Keith David – Cloud Atlas, Crash, Requiem for a Dream, Armageddon, Clockers, Bird, Bars and Stars, Platoon
• Chris Tucker – Silver Linings Playbook, Jackie Brown, The Fifth Element,
• Freddie Rodriguéz – Bobby, Six Feet Under
• N’Bushe Wright – I’ll Fly Away
• Terrence Howard – The Butler, Ray
• Why? Good film
• Seen: Once before. Now 26 May 2022      

       Young Anthony (Tate) starts as a numbers runner for the local bookie (Keith), then graduates and disappoints his parents, who want him to go to college like his older brother, by joining the Marines and going to Vietnam.

       War is hell, and hell follows him home to the Bronx. With a bleak future, doubts about what a black man was doing in Vietnam, and a growing sense of pointlessness and uselessness, he works out a plan. A plan involving dead presidents, which is street talk for cash.

       It’s a compelling story. You know from the start that it can’t go well. It’s sobering, hard-hitting and though provoking. 

4 * of 5.

 

 

Star Trek Generations

 Star Trek Generations 1994

• Director: David Carson
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Malcolm McDowell, Whoopie Goldberg
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Patrick Stewart – The X-Men etc, The Hollow Crown, Hamlet, Extras, Lady Jane, Hamlet, I Claudius
• William Shatner – Star Trek
• Malcolm McDowell – Doomsday, My Life So Far, Bopha!, O Lucky Man, A Clockwork Orange
• Whoopie Goldberg – Pauly Shore Is Dead, Absolutely Fabulous, Moonlight and Valentino, Corrina Corrina, Sister Act 1&2, Ghost, The Colour Purple
• Why? I’m trying to become a Trekkie
• Seen: Once before (it turns out). Now: 25 May 2022      

       Picard (Stewart) is now captain of the Starship Enterprise but Captain Kirk (Shatner) is lurking in another time line and they unite to save the universe. Or something. You don’t need to know the story if you’ve ever seen a Star Trek episode.

       With less than half an hour left to go, I realise that I’ve seen this already. I check my list. Yepp. In 2011. Two years before starting this blog.

       Sorry to say, it’s still not memorable. It’s just a long drawn-out episode, without the advantage of being new and original as it was in the 60s.

       Oh fistfights! Can’t even Star Trek resist stupid fistfights?

       Never mind.

       In honour of the original series 

2 * of 5.

 

 

Bagdad Café

 Bagdad Café 1987

• Director: Percy Adlon
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Marianne Sägerbrecht, CCH Pounder, Jack Palance, Christine Kaufman, Monica Calhoun, Darron Flagg, George Aguilar, G Smokey Campbell, Apesanahkwat
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• CCH Pounder – Face/Off, Robocop 3. Benny and Joon, Postcards from the Edge, Prizzi’s Honor, TV series
• Jack Palance – Various Old Westerns, I suppose
• G Smokey Campbell – Devil in a Blue Dress
• Why? Enjoyable film
• Seen: Once before. Now 24 May 2022      

       German tourist Jasmine (Sägerbrecht) leaves her oaf of a husband and walks down the dessert road to the Bagdad Café where she finds the owner Brenda (Pounder) weepy and furious. Thus begins one of the unlikelier friendships in cinema.

       With a quirky supporting cast these two create a bittersweet oasis in the middle of Nowhere Dessert. The competition between German (could be Swedish as well!) coffee and American (‘brown water!’) is worth a * of its own. Pounder’s hair is great too.

       Sadly, it loses its way towards the end and goes on far too long. I’ve tried to love this film as much as many others do but so far, I can only like it. 

3* of 5.

 

 

 

Midnight Special

 Midnight Special 2016

• Director: Jeff Nichols
• Seen by this director: Take Shelter
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Jaeden Martell, Sam Shepard
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Michael Shannon – Knives Out, The Shape of Water, Man of Steel, Take Shelter, 8 Mile
• Joel Edgerton – The Gift, The Great Gatsby, Zero Dark Thirty, Kinky Boots, Star Wars III, Ned Kelly
• Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Mona Lisa’s Smile, Levity, Virgin Suicides, Little Women
• Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman, Star Wars the Last Jedi + The Force Awakens, What If, Tracks, Inside Llewyn Davis
• Jaeden Martell - Knives Out
• Sam Shepard – August Osage County, Hamlet, Snow Falling on Cedars, The Pelican Brief, Steel Magnolias, Frances
• Why? It sounded interesting
• Seen: 22 May 2022      

       Eight-year-old Alton (Martell), who has special powers, is being hidden and protected by his father Roy (Shannon) and mother Sarah (Dunst). The boy is being hunted by the religious cult the Ranch, who has exploited him his whole life.  The FBI and NSA are also involved because it seems that Alton can hack into satellites and security systems with his X-ray eyes (or something like that). Paul (Driver) is a curious, kind and helpful agent.

       It’s an intriguing premise executed in a low-key high-suspense way, an intelligent and unusual sci fi film, with a strong human-interest factor. 

4* of 5.

 

 

 

 

 

Christiane F - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo

 Christiane F - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo 1981

• Director: Uli Edel
• Seen by this director: Episodes in Homicide Life on the Streets, Twin Peaks
• Based on book: No
• Cast: Natja Brunckhorst, Thomas Haustein, Christiane Lechle
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? A modern classic
• Seen: 21 May 2022      

       This notorious and highly praised film is a hard-hitting, realistic, and sordid close-up look at teen-aged heroin addicts in Berlin in the late 70s.

       What rating can I possibly give it? For film quality and acting – 5*. As a really harrowing and depressing film experience – 0*.

       Do I recommend it? No, absolutely not. Yes, absolutely, it’s a must-see.      

0/5 * of 5  

 

Judas and the Black Messiah

 Judas and the Black Messiah 2021

• Director: Shaka King
• Based on the book: No
• Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Algee Smith, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Lil Rel Howrey, Dominique Thorne, Amari Cheatom, Khris Davis, Ian Duff, Caleb Eberhardt
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Daniel Kaluuya – Widows, Black Panther, Get Out, The Fades, Doctor Who
• Lakeith Stanfield – Knives Out, Get Out, Short Term 12
• Jesse Plemons – Breaking Bad, Paul
• Darrell Britt-Gibson – The Wire
• Lil Rel Howery - Get Out
• Amari Chetom - Django Unchained
• Why? Daniel Kaluuya. The subject.
• Seen: 20 May 2022      

       The Black Panthers. Just think of how much good they did and how much more they could have done if they hadn’t been murdered, imprisoned and raided by the police and the FBI.

       This film tells the story of how small-time crook Bill O’Neal (Stanfield) is coerced into infiltrating the Chicago branch of the Black Panthers to spy on the leader Fred Hampton (Kaluuya). What Bill finds is that even more than military recruiting and training the Panthers provide free breakfast, free education, free health care for impoverished ghetto dwellers and are working to unite the oppressed of all colours in the revolution. But Bill’s white mentor Roy (Plemons) tells him that the Panthers are as bad as the Klan, sowing hatred and violence.

       So, whose side in Bill going to choose?

       This is a true story. And an excellent film. An important film. We all need to remember this. 

4 ½ * of 5.