Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Nostalgia - it's the one word I would use to describe Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. As I write this, Tarantino is fifty six years old and I just turned forty nine. A seven year gap. But I'm old enough to remember old TV shows like Bonanza, Adam West's Batman, and have spent a good portion of my life watching the films of the 1960s; Steve McQueen, Bruce Lee, and the spaghetti Westerns of Clint Eastwood to name a few. Tarantino is a film geek; I say this with great affection because so am I. He has packed so much of the zeitgeist of the late 1960s Hollywood into his new movie, it oozes with polyester, sunglasses, and cigarettes. This is a homage to the stars and the films of that area. It's also the first film where Tarantino has shown some real depth of character with Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio). What's it all about? It's about Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) who chauffeurs Dalton around. Dalton is a former TV Western star trying to make it in feature films but only manages to land roles as the bad guy. He has a drinking problem and not a lot of prospects. Oh, and he lives next door to Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski. I know what Charles Manson's family did, so when we reach the climax of the film, well Tarantino gives us his fictional version of the Manson-Tate events like he did in Inglorious Bastards. Why? I'm left puzzled by the ending. Perhaps by subverting the truth, he is giving us the "Hollywood ending" we all want - we want the hero to kick ass and win. Maybe this is Quentin's point. The ending is the only thing about the film I didn't care for but there is sooo much to like, it's worth your time to check it out, especially if you are a film geek like me. Catch it in theatres now.

The Peanut Butter Falcon

This kind of small independent film is why I love going to the movies. This is a touching funny movie and if you are looking to spend your money at a major chain cinema, this is what to spend your money on. What's it all about? It's about a young man, Zak who has Down syndrome, played by Zack Gottsagen who really does has Down syndrome. Zak is living in an old age home because he has no family and there is no other facility to look after him. He dreams of becoming a wrestler like he has watched a thousand times on his VHS tapes and wants to get to the Salt Water Redneck wrestling school (the Salt Water Redneck is played by Thomas Haden Church and he is great). With the help of Zak's roommate (played by Bruce Dern) he escapes the old age home and runs into Tyler (Shia LaBeouf) who is also on the run from fishermen he has really pissed off. Eleanor (Dakota Johnson) is sent to find Zak. When she does, it's a lovely adventure. This little film charmed the pants off of me. Catch it now in theatres.

Parasite

This South Korean film took me by big surprise. I had a strong feeling just after the halfway point I would be writing about this one for the blog. I don't think I've seen anything like this since I watched another South Korean film entitled Oldboy (which was remade for American audiences, staring Josh Brolin). What's it all about? Well it's a about a poor family that poorly assembles pizza boxes in their home for money. They don't make pizzas, they just assemble the boxes. Their son Ki-woo gets a tutoring job for the daughter of a very wealthy family. From there he manages to get his sister a job as a fake art therapist for the rich couple's son. Pretty soon the whole family has weaseled their way into the wealthy home - our pizza box family manages to get the current driver and house maid fired and the pizza dad and mom take over these positions. It's a dark comedy that takes a strange twist when the rich family returns unexpectedly from a soggy camping trip. Boy oh boy is it bananas. It's funny, twisted, and rather sad. It kept my full attention. I need you to watch it so we can talk about it. It's coming to theaters soon. Catch it when it does.

Mindhunter

The second season of Netflix's Mindhunter is now out. If you haven't watched this already, it's truly binge worthy; but this not for the faint of heart. This is Silence of the Lambs stuff. If serial killers and the FBI profilers who track them sound like your bag, then you have found your next series. What's it all about it? This a fictional account of the birth of the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI - fictional but it's all based on true events and real serial killers. It's fascinating stuff. The two main agents are Holden (played by Jonathan Groff) and Bill (Holt McCallany). Holden is young and naive but brilliant, whereas Bill is older, gruff, and smokes like a chimney. They have a kind of Laurel and Hardy chemistry. To understand serial killers, they interview serial killers. The first season Holden and Bill spend much with serial killer Edmund Kemper. The man who plays Kemper, I've heard, is spot on to the real thing; which makes watching this series both super fascinating and rather creepy. I binged the second season and its focus is on The Atlanta Child Murders. David Fincher is one of the driving forces behind this and David seems to have a thing for serial killers (Se7en, Zodiac). If you're a Fincher fan, this is must viewing. It's pretty dark stuff and if you have the stomach for it, catch it on Netflix.

The Boys

Here are my thoughts on superhero movies: they mostly suck. Even the good ones are just okay for me. There are a few exceptions: I loved Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy. I enjoyed Ant-Man and the first Iron Man, but the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe have worn me down. I don't derive much joy out of them. So for me to highly recommend a superhero series, it has to be pretty darn good. If you haven't heard of and already binge-watched The Boys, this is your next series.
What's it about? Imagine if superheroes were real and living in America, and they were corporate - action figures, their faces on cereal boxes, etc. The Boys is a dark parody of not only superheroes, but of corporate America and the Christian right. This isn't for kids. It's graphic, violent, and profane. It's also smart, funny, and rather brilliant. It stars Jack Quaid (Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid's kid), and has smaller roles by Elisabeth Shue and Simon Pegg as the big names attached. Catch it on Amazon Prime.

Crawl

Jaws is one of my favorite films of all time. I must have seen it close to twenty times (I know, ridiculous but true). There have been a lot of rip-offs over the years, some of which I have enjoyed (Piranha 3D, Lake Placid, Open Water) and some I have not (The Meg, Jaws: The Revenge). Love them or hate them, none of them are Jaws, which to me is the gold standard of water monster movies. I'm a sucker for these types of films; Jurassic Park, Alien, The Thing (remake), Halloween. The premise is simple, some monster comes along and starts killing people and people run like hell to get away. Well done, it's suspenseful riveting stuff - the celluloid equivalent to a rollercoaster. Crawl, thankfully, is well done. OMG did I have fun with this one. I was bitten from the opening credits. The open shots are of Haley (Kaya Scodelario) swimming in an Olympic pool and coming in second place in her racing heat. You know she just needs the right motivation to swim faster. How about a giant alligator?

Haley travels to South Florida to find her missing father (Barry Pepper) in a  Category 5 hurricane. She finds him trapped, injured, in the basement of her childhood home with a big ass hungry alligator, the hurricane rain water rising and no hope of getting out. Enough said. Crawl is summer popcorn fun and if you watch it in that spirit, it will grab you and pull you deep under. Enjoy. Catch it at a discount cinema near you.

The Art of Self-Defense

I wasn't going to write about this one but it stuck with me long after it was over and that's usually a good sign. I have known multiple friends over the years who have participated in various martial arts classes, Karate, Jiu Jitsu, etc., and I even have a few who teach them. I put my kids in Jiu Jitsu. They bowed out at a certain point. There is a whole culture of discipline, rituals (no shoes on the mat!), and dress that goes with martial arts clubs and all of it gets relentlessly mocked in "The Art of Self-Defense." Jesse Eisenberg plays Casey, an introverted nerd accountant who gets badly beat up by a mysterious motorcycle gang. Post hospital recovery, he stumbles across a Karate martial arts Dojo. There he enrolls in classes. His instructor, Sensei, is everything Casey wants to be; a man's man. Sensei tells Casey he shouldn't be learning the French language because the French always surrender, he should be learning a language like Russian or German. He tells Casey he should also be listening to metal, as in the musical genre, metal. It's ridiculous and hilarious and if you are looking for a goofy dark comedy that punches like a kick, The Art of Self-Defense is your movie. Catch it at a rep cinema near you.