Running on Empty

 

Running on Empty 1988

• Director: Sidney Lumet
• Seen by this director: Daniel, The Wiz, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, 12 Angry Men
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: River Phoenix, Christine Lahti, Judd Hirsch, Martha Plimpton, Ed Crowley, L M Kit Carson, Lynn Thigpen, Marcia Jean Kurtz
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• River Phoenix – My Own Private Idaho, Mosquito Coast, Stand by Me
• Christine Lahti – Yonkers Joe, Revenge of a Middle-Aged Woman, Out of the Ashes, The Pilot’s Wife, Leaving Normal, Housekeeping, And Justice for All
• Judd Hirsch – This Must Be the Place, A Beautiful Mind, Ordinary People
• Martha Plimpton – Beautiful Girls, I Shot Andy Warhol, Stanley and Iris, Mosquito Coast
• Why? Good film
• Seen: Once before. Now:  2 October 2023             

             Annie (Lahti) and Artie (Hirsch) have been wanted by the FBI since 1971 when they bombed a napalm and military research facility. They have two sons, Danny (Phoenix) and Harry (Carson). Every two months or so the Feds get close and they flee to another town with the help of their radical underground friends, change their names, get anonymous jobs and get involved in human rights movements.

       The boys enrol in new schools, make new superficial friends. They’re used to it, they’ve been doing it all their lives. But Danny is growing up. He’s tired of his parents’ restrictions, of not having roots, of leaving his friends, of being secretive.

       When Danny, a talented musician, having learnt from Annie, a former Julliard student, has an opportunity to go to Julliard, everything is at risk of falling apart.

       This film is good on many levels. Phoenix and Lahti were nominated for many awards, as was the film itself.

 4½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Machinist

 

• The Machinist 2004
• Director:  Brad Anderson
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánches-Gijón, John Sharian, Lawrence Gilliard Jr, Reg E Cathey, Anna Massey
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Christian Bale – American Hustle, Out of the Furnace, Batman 1-3, Public Enemies, Terminator Salvation, The Prestige, Equilibrium, American Psycho, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Velvet Goldmine, Little Women, Prince of Jutland, Swing Kids, Henry V
• Jennifer Jason Leigh – Annihilation, Good Time, The Hateful Eight, Margo at the Wedding, Road to Perdition, eXistenZ, A Thousand Acres, Georgia, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Aitana Sánches-Gijón – Back Woods
• Lawrence Gilliard Jr – The Wire, Homicide Life of the Street
• Anna Massey – Angels & Insects, Impromptu, and various series
• Why? Christian Bale
• Seen: 1 October 2023  

             The only thing I know about this film is that Bale starved himself for the role.

       Trevor (Bale) is indeed a machinist and he is indeed emaciated. It starts with him rolling up a corpse in a carpet and dumping it in the harbour. If that happens before what follows or if the whole film is a flashback is not immediately clear.

       In any case, Trevor is messed up. He hasn’t slept in a year, he continues to lose weight, he loses his job. Is he crazy and hallucinating? Or is someone out to get him?

       It’s a dark and suspenseful psychological thriller at least as good as any Hitchcock and it’s also a tragic tale of a nice guy fighting for his sanity. Or…?

       Bale is brilliant, but then he usually is.

 4 * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roma

 

Roma 2018

• Director: Alfonso Cuarón
• Seen by this director: Gravity, Children of Men, Paris je t’aime, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkatran
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina De Tavira
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? Good reviews
• Seen: 30 September 2023                 

             Cleo (Aparicio) is a maid for a bourgeois family in Mexico. The kids love her, the mother (De Tavia) is usually kind to her, the husband leaves the family. Cleo gets pregnant with her rubbish boyfriend.

       It’s very long and very slow. Frankly, the first half is boring. The second half is somewhat more interesting but it’s far from the masterpiece many reviewers found it to be. The black and white filming is effective and I respect that it’s a labour of love.

 3* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Veil

 

The Veil 2016

• Director:  Phil Joanou
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Jessica Alba, Thomas Jane, Lily Rabe, Aleksa Palladino, Reid Scott, Ivy George
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jessica Alba – Dark Angel
• Reid Scott – Venom, Black and Blue
• Thomas Jane – The Predator, The Mist
• Aleksa Palladino – The Sopranos, Manny & Lo
• Ivy George – Big Little Lies
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen: 28 September 2023                 

             Twenty-five years ago a religious cult called the Veil committed mass suicide. Only 5-year-old Sarah (George) survived. Now a young woman (Rabe) she is approached by Maggie (Alba), a student filmmaker and daughter of one of the FBI agents who discovered the bodies and later committed suicide. Maggie wants to make a film about it and try to make sense of what happened. Sarah goes back to the Veil with Maggie and her crew and of course eerie, then horrible, things happen.

       It’s atmospheric and handsomely filmed in almost black and white but it’s very slow and doesn’t have much substance. It would have been more interesting if it had been about one of the real mass suicide/murder cults.

       Watchable but not as good as it could have been.

 2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black and Blue

Black and Blue 2019

• Director: Deon Taylor
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Naomie Harris, Tyrese Gibson, Frank Grillo, Mike Colter, Reid Scott, Beau Knapp, Nafessa Williams, James Moses Black
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Naomie Harris – No Time to Die, Our Kind of Traitor, Spectre, Mandela, Skyfall, Small Island, Pirates of the Caribbean, After Sunset, Dinotopia, 28 Days Later, White Teeth
• Mike Colter – Skin, Million Dollar Baby
• Reid Scott – Venom
• Beau Knapp – The Nice Guys
• James Moses Black – Logan
• Why? Naomie Harris.
• Seen: 27 September 2023                 

             Having just finished watching the entire Homicide Life on the Street series and movie, I’ve had my fill of cop films, though the series and movie got 4 ½ *, but I like Naomie Harris so here we go.

       Alicia West (Harris), an Afghan vet, is now a rookie cop in her old neighbourhood in New Orleans. She faces black and white racism, gang wars, and resentment from her old neighbours and relatives. Her biggest problem, however, is that she witnesses two cops murder some drug dealers. The rest of the film is about them chasing her and trying to kill her.

       It’s quite exciting and it doesn’t flinch from the gritty reality of police brutality and corruption. Harris is good, as expected.

 4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Jackie and Ryan

 

Jackie and Ryan 2014

• Director: Ami Caanan Mann
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Katherine Heigl, Ben Barnes, Clea DuVall, Emily Alyn Lind, Sheryl Lee
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Katherine Heigl – Fear of Rain, Roswell
• Ben Barnes – The Words, Stardust
• Clea DuVall – Ghosts of Mars, Girl Interrupted, The Astronaut’s Wife, A Slipping Down Life, Life During Wartime
• Emily Alyn Lind – Doctor Sleep
• Sheryl Lee – Winter’s Bone, Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart
• Why? Music.
• Seen: 26 September 2023                 

             Ryan (Barnes) is a train-hopping, hitchhiking busker who ends up in Ogden, Utah. Jackie (Heigl) is a recording country musician who has fled New York and her husband to return home to Ogden with her daughter (Lind).

       It could have been good but the too-good-to-be-true Ryan and the weepy fighting-rich-husband-for-custody Jackie are clichés and the film drags on.

       Sometimes it’s almost good but it never quite succeeds in not being boring.

 2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That Good Night

 

That Good Night 2017

• Director: Eric Styles
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: John Hurt, Sofia Helin, Max Brown, Erin Richards, Charles Dance
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• John Hurt – many.
• Sofia Helin – Snömannen, QEDA, Tusenbröder
• Max Brown – Nolly
• Erin Richards – Misfits, Merlin, Being Human
• Charles Dance  - Johnny English Strikes Again, Euphoria, Victor Frankenstein, Game of Thrones, Woman in Gold, The Imitation Game, Merlin, Starter for 10, Gosford Park, Hilary and Jackie, Michael Collins, Alien 3
• Why? John Hurt
• Seen: 15 September 2023                 

             Family drama. Ralph, (Hurt) renowned and rich evidenced by his luxury villa in Portugal, is an old and dying and nasty playwright. His younger wife Anna (Helin) is long-suffering, religious and bitter because he refused to have children with her but she loves him anyway. His estranged son Michael (Brown) is bitter because Ralph ignored him all his life but now demands to see him. Michael’s girlfriend Cassie (Richards) has a PHD a social anthropology who takes no shit from Ralph. Charles Dance wanders in and out of the film too.

       John Hurt is always a delight to see and hear, and Richards is good here, but the story is mediocre at best. A pity. It’s John Hurt’s last film.

 2 ½ * of 5