Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot

 

Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot 2018

• Director: Gus Van Sant
• Seen by this director: Milk, Paris je t’aime, Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho
• Based on book by John Callahan.
• Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black, Udo Kier, Sunny Suljic
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Joaquin Phoenix – Joker, Two Lovers, Reservation Road, Walk the Line, Hotel Rwanda, Gladiator
• Jonah Hill – Hail Caesar, The Wolf of Wall Street, Django Unchained, The Invention of Lying
• Rooney Mara – Lion, Social Network
• Jack Black – The House with Clocks in Its Walls, Be Kind Rewind, Margot at the Wedding, Holiday, King Kong, Orange County, School of Rock, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Mars Attacks, Dead Man Walking, Waterworld
• Udo Kier – Iron Sky, Melancholia, Manderlay, Modigliani, Dogville, Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, Johnny Mnemonic, My Own Private Idaho
• Sunny Suljic – The House with Clocks in the Walls, Mid90s
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 6 September 2022      

       John Callahan (Phoenix) is an alcoholic whose life changes drastically when an accident puts him a wheelchair. Despite the damage to his hands, he becomes a renowned, if controversial, cartoonist. True story, well, truish.

       The film goes back to John’s wild ‘before’ life when he and his drinking buddy Dexter (Black) drink. And drink. And drink. Until Dexter crashes the car, leaves John paralysed from the chest down, and walks away without a scratch. We follow John through rehab, AA meetings, his continued drinking, his anger, and bitterness.

       It’s funny, non-sentimental (mostly) and filled with good supporting characters. Joaquin Phoenix is phenomenal.        

4* of 5    

 

Imaginary Heroes

 

Imaginary Heroes 2004

• Director: Dan Harris
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Emile Hirsch, Jeff Daniels
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sigourney Weaver – Chappie, Paul, Avatar, Be Kind Rewind, Snow Cake, Holes, Galaxy Quest, A Map of the World, Alien etc, The Ice Storm, Death and the Maiden, Dave, Working Girl, Gorillas in the Mist, Ghostbuster
• Emile Hirsch – Once upon a Time in Hollywood, The Darkest Hour, Taking Woodstock, Milk, Into the Wild
• Jeff Daniels – The Martian, Looper, The Lookout, Goodnight and Good Luck, The Squid and the Whale, The Hours, Pleasantville, Speed, Terms of Endearment
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 5 September 2022      

            Another perfect (but of course dysfunctional) white, suburban, well-to-do American family who suffers a tragedy and they all must deal with grief. Does this seem like a same-old same-old film because I saw the very good The Greatest a week ago (https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-greatest.html)  or is it really same-old same-old? In any case, it’s hard to care for any of these peculiar and unlikeable people. Not even Sigourney Weaver can lift it much. 

2* of 5   

 

Jackie Brown

 Jackie Brown 1997

• Director: Quentin Tarantino
• Seen by this director: nearly everything
• Based on the book by Leonard Elmore
• Cast: Pam Grier, Samuel L Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, Michael Bowen
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Pam Grier – Mars Attacks!
• Samuel L Jackson – Glass, The Hateful Eight, The 51^st State, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Django Unchained, Jumper, 1408, Star Wars, Kill Bill, Changing Lanes, The Red Violin, Jackie Brown, The Long Kiss Goodnight, True Romance, Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Sea of Love, Do the Right Thing
• Robert Forster – The Descendants, Human Nature
• Bridget Fonda – A Simple Plan, The Godfather III
• Michael Keaton – Much Ado about Nothing, Batman, Beetlejuice
• Robert De Niro – Joker, Joy, The Silver Lining Playbook, Stardust, Fifteen Minutes, Flawless, Great Expectations, Copland, Marvin’s Room, Frankenstein, Awakenings, Stanley & Iris, Brazil, Deer Hunter, 1900, Hi Mom
• Michael Bowen - Breaking Bad, Django Unchained, Kill Bill 1&2, Lost
• Why? Tarantino
• Seen: Once before. Now 4 September 2022      

       Ordell (Jackson) is a wise-ass, big-talking sexist gun dealer with a long ponytail. Louis (De Niro) who just did four years for a bank robbery is hired by Ordell. Jackie Brown (Grier) is a flight attendant with a background, now working a rotten job and supplementing her income by laundering money for Ordell.

       Then she’s caught and a complex intrigue of set-ups and betrayals begins.

       It’s more subtle and less violent than most of Tarantino’s films. Less violent is good, more subtle, well, it’s a little too complex and frankly it drags a bit. It could be half an hour shorter.

       Still, it’s Tarantino and Jackson is being Jackson multiplied. Pam Grier is perfect for the part. 

3 ½ * of 5   

 

 

 

 

Orange County

 Orange County 2002

• Director: Jake Kasdan
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Schuyler Fisk, Catherine O’Hara, Mike White, John Lithgow, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Colin Hanks – Mad Men, King Kong, Roswell
• Jack Black – The House with Clocks in Its Walls, Be Kind Rewind, Margot at the Wedding, Holiday, King Kong, School of Rock, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Mars Attacks, Dead Man Walking, Waterworld
• Catherine O’Hara – Six Feet Under, A Mighty Wind, Waiting for Guffman, Beetlejuice, After Hours
• Mike White – School of Rock, The Good Girl
• John Lithgow – Interstellar, Third Rock from the Sun, The Pelican Brief, Footloose, Terms of Endearment, The World According to Garp, Twelfth Night
• Lily Tomlin – A Prairie Home Companion, Tea with Mussolini, Nine to Five, Laugh-In
• Kevin Kline – My Old Lady, As You Like It, A Prairie Home Companion, Wild Wild West, Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Ice Storm, Dave, Chaplin, The January Man, A Fish Called Wanda, Cry Freedom, Silverado, Sophie’s Choice, Hamlet  
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 3 September 2022      

       An Orange County surfing nerd Shawn (Hanks) with rich but neurotic parents (O’Hara and Lithgow) and a druggie brother Lance (Black) decides he wants to become an author and applies to Stanford where his idolised author Skinner (Kline) is a professor, but his ditzy counsellor (Tomlin) sends in the wrong transcript, and he’s rejected. The rest of the film is about the mad chase for him to get in.

       Half an hour into the film, I hate it. Stupid jokes, stupid characters, stupid story. I’m just embarrassed for all the good actors. The only ones who can get away with this drivel with their self-respect intact are Black, Lithgow and Kline. For their sake only the film, which deserves 0*, gets 

1 * of 5   

 

 

Trust

 Trust 2010

• Director: David Schwimmer
• Seen by this director: some episodes of Friends
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Clive Owen, Liana Liberato, Catherine Keener, Viola Davis, Jason Clarke, Tristan Peach
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Clive Owen – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Children of Men, Derailed, Closer, Gosford Park, Croupier
• Catherine Keener – Enough Said, The Soloist, Genova, Into the Wild, Full Frontal, Being John Malkovich, Johnny Suede
• Viola Davis – Widows, Fences, The Suicide Squad, Get on Up, Ender’s Game, Beautiful Creatures, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Solaris, Antwone Fisher, Far from Heaven, Kate & Leopold
• Jason Clarke – First Man, Public Enemies, Rabbit-Proof Fence
• Why? Owen and Davis
• Seen: 2 September 2022      

       Will (Owen) is a happy American (well, British) dad who dotes on his daughter Annie (Liberato), a seemingly typical teen-aged girl. She’s insecure and emotional and she has a chat boyfriend Charlie (Peach) that she pours her heart out to. And, of course, he turns out to be a middle-aged sexual predator who lures her into a hotel room and rapes her. In complete denial she insists that he loves her and hates her best friend for reporting it, her parents for refusing to believe her, and the police for insisting he’s a criminal.

       The film has an important message, and many viewers gave it top ratings and called it a must-see, but I found it heavy-handed and contrived. Still, if it helps parents keep track of what their kids are up to and kids themselves not to be so gullible, it’s doing a good deed. 

2 ½ * of 5   

 

 

The Words

 The Words 2012

• Director: Brian Klugman and Lee Sterthal
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Bradley Cooper, Dennis Quaid, Zoe Saldana, Olivia Wilde, Jeremy Irons
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born, Silver Linings Playbook, He’s Just Not That into You
• Dennis Quaid – Smart People, American Dreamz, In Good Company, Day after Tomorrow, Far from Heaven, Postcards from the Edge, Great Balls of Fire, Enemy Mine
• Zoe Saldana – Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Out of the Furnace, Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean Black Pearl
• Olivia Wilde – Conversations with Other Women
• Jeremy Irons – Their Finest, The Man Who Knew Infinity, High-Rise, Beautiful Creatures, The Hollow Crown, Casanova, Kingdom of Heaven, Being Julia, The Merchant of Venice, Longitude, The House of Spirits, Waterland, Kafka, The French Lieutenant’s Woman
• Why? The cast
• Seen: 31 August 2022      

Rory Jansen (Cooper) has written a small book that has unexpectedly won many awards, but there’s an old man (Irons) lurking in the background and another author (Quaid) seems to have written a novel about Jansen and his wife Dora (Saldana).

       OK, so it’s about authors and publishing. A popular but often boring subject. This one has a twist but that doesn’t help, and I don’t like stories within stories within stories. Especially when, like this one, each is rather boring.

       Cooper is good, I’ll give him that but it’s all so contrived and I almost never like Quaid. 

2 * of 5   

 

Thesis

Thesis 1996

• Director: Alejandro Amenábar
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Ana Torrent, Fele Martinez, Eduardo Noriega, Xabier Elorriaga
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ana – The Other Boleyn Girl
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen: 29 August 2022      

       Angela (Torrent) is writing a thesis about violence in films. The professor dies while watching a snuff film. When Angela watches it, she recognises the victim as a missing classmate. She is horrified and sickened. Her friend Chemo (Martinez) is fascinated and determined to find the killer.

       It’s scary and creepy and it’s probably trying to make a point about violence in film, but I was expecting a film about the paranormal and found this one unsavoury and boring. 

2* of 5