Turn Every Page - The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb

I loved this documentary. Maybe because it's about writing. Roberto Caro is a non fiction writer. He has written "The Power Broker" and four thick volumes of the life and times of American president, Lyndon Johnson. I confess, I haven't read any of them but after watching this documentary, maybe one day. Robert Gottlieb has been his life long editor. Gottlieb's daughter made this documentary over a five year period. Each of Roberto Caro books took about seven years to write. The documentary goes into the careers of both men. Gottlieb has been editor at Simon & Schuster, Knopf, and The New Yorker. He edited "Catch-22" and was even responsible for the title. Caro, his research is beyond in-depth; he managed to get Lyndon Johnson's brother to sit at their childhood dinner table at the same time of day they would be eating so the light in the room would be the same and then got him to describe their father. It's also about Caro's and Gottlieb's working relationship; there are fights over semicolons, of course. I loved all of it. Caro (87) is working on a fifth volume of Lyndon Johnson and Gottlieb (91) is eagerly waiting to edit it. Catch this wonderful documentary at your local rep theatre or on a streaming service soon.   

Plane

Welcome to the first film of 2023 which has made the blog cut, because as you know dear reader, only good stuff makes the blog. So, let's get to it. "Plane" starring Gerard Butler. "Greenland," another Gerard Butler action picture landed (see what I did there) on this blog back in 2021. Gerard Butler seems to find himself in first class (wink) action pictures. What's it all about? Yep, you guessed it from the title, it's about a plane. It crashes in a lawless, rebel controlled part of the Philippines (it was actual shot in Puerto Rico), a place where these fiendish bad guys will happily execute missionaries if their hostage demands aren't met. Oh, I forgot to mention there is a prisoner on-board the plane (Mike Colter) and well, he is an ex-military something-or-other, a.k.a. a bad-ass mother-fucker. Between Butler and Colter, they are going to rescue our passengers. Ridiculous, sure. Fun, absolutely. So line up for a flight ticket and strap in for the best action picture of January! 

Black Summer

 When "The Walking Dead" first aired, I LOVED it. There was a gritty realism to it and I ate it up. It was a zombie show I would never give up on. Then fast forward six seasons later and poor Glen got his noggin bashed in. At this point the story arcs seemed to be on repeat. Like "The X Files," TWD just went on too long. Even though I swore I would never stop watching, I did. That was 2016 - coming up to seven years ago. 

There have only been a dozen zombie films I've enjoyed in the last two decades: Zack Snyder's remake of "Dawn of the Dead," his "Army of the Dead," George A. Romero's "Land of the Dead," "It Stains the Sand Red," Alex Garland's "28 Days Later" and Jim Jarmusch's "The Dead Don't Die." "Word War Z" was just okay for me. Last year we got "The Sadness" and "Virus-32" - both solid zombie entries. 

I haven't gotten into the new "Resident Evil" series. I confess, I enjoyed the first film and the last one, "Welcome to Racoon City;" the rest, not so much. 

 I had abandoned all hope there would ever be anything as good as "The Walking Dead" again on TV. I would just have to wait for the next film to arrive. Then, over the Christmas holiday season, by accident, I stumbled upon "Black Summer." I'm once again giddy, like I was when "The Walking Dead" first came out. Oh yes. Oh yes. 

Kathryn Bigelow created one of the greatest on foot chase sequences in the history in "Point Break." Throughout several episodes, I thought, this is something Kathryn Bigelow would be proud of. "Black Summer" has some of the greatest foot chases I've ever seen on screen. It also some of the greatest camera work I've ever seen. "Look at this shot!" - me screaming at the TV. No really.

The show is atmospheric, moody, dark. It has a minimalistic score that sounds like it was influenced by John Carpenter. When we get to the second season, the zeitgeist of "The Thing" feels omnipresent. Without any huge stars attached (but everyone here is bloody brilliant) this gritty, dark, zombie series ranks up there as one of the best horror series every made. It's slated for a third season. Catch it on Netflix. 

Best Films of 2022

Here are my favourite films of 2022 - My TOP TEN and everything else. There are some films I have yet to see which might rightfully belong on this list. There is only so much time. Click on any of the film titles to read my full review. Enjoy!

My Top Ten

1.  Blonde

2.  Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

3. Elvis

4. The Batman

5. Emily the Criminal

6. Bones and All

7. Resurrection

8. Barbarian

9. Men

10. Everything Everywhere All at Once  

And the rest of the best films of 2022 (in no real order)

11. The Black Phone

12. Official Competition

13. Terror on the Prairie

14. Hustle

15. Nope

16. The Gray Man

17. God's Waiting Room

18. Mad God

19. Prey

20. Thirteen Lives

21. The Phantom of the Open

22. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent  

23. Pearl

24. Vesper

25. Smile

26. The Silent Twins

27. Kimi

28. Drinkwater

29. Crimes of the Future

30. The Righteous 

The Guilty Pleasures/Honourable Mentions:

Canadian Horror films: Kicking Blood, Bloodthirsty 

Zombie films: The Sadness, Virus-32

Other horror films: X, Hellraiser (2022), Soft & Quiet

Action: Top Gun Maverick

South Korean Sci Fi film: Alienoid

Dramas: Armageddon Time

Great films of 2021 I only got around to seeing in 2022

1. Licorice Pizza

2. American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story

3. Drive My Car

4. The Worst Person in the World

5. Catch the Fair One

6. Flee

7. The Innocents

8. The Fallout

9. Scarborough

10. This is Gwar

The Worst Films/Biggest Disapointments of 2022:

1. Moonfall

2. Ambulance

3. Northman

4. The Lost City

5. Jurassic World: Dominion

6. Memoria

7. Where the Crawdads Sing

8. Black Adam

9. EO

10. The Eternal Daughter

11. The Fabelmans

12. Next Exit

13. Pray For the Devil

14. Babylon

15. Avatar: The Way of Water

The Devil’s Hour

Have you been missing Shining Girls? Well, "The Devil's Hour," the new series on Prime, should fill the void nicely. It's stars Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who) as Gideon, a serial killer who seems not to care very much that he has been caught. Gideon is obsessed with Lucy (Jessica Raine) a woman who awakens every night at 3:33 am. Lucy has a son who seems to be autistic/extremely odd. Lucy, when she is not busy with her social work job or taking her kid to the therapist, is having visions. She is seeing events before they happen or are they events on a different timeline? Can she alter what she knows is coming? And what's with Gideon and his obsession with her? Lots of mysteries, lots of questions - if you are looking for a binge worthy head-scratching/mind-bending thriller, then let this charming little devil of a series keep you company over the holiday season. Catch it streaming on Prime. 

Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

There is no doubt "Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths" is one of the most interesting, artistic, and visually stunning films of the year. What's it all about? Simply, it's the story of Silverio (Daniel Giménez Cacho) who is a journalist and a documentary film maker who has left his home country of Mexico to raise his family in the USA. He is returning with his family to receive an award and then travelling back to the US to receive yet another. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu is Mexican and has given us some great films: 'Amores Perros' (2000), '21 Grams' (2003), 'Babel' (2006), 'Biutiful' (2010), 'Birdman' (2014) and 'The Revenant' (2015). "Bardo" is his most personal film yet; I suspect it to be semi-autobiographical. It's also clearly his most experimental and artistic film to date. The closest thing I can compare it to is "Synecdoche, New York" but if it was directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. It's about a middle-aged man going through a midlife crisis, an artist crisis, about the anxiety and fear and stress revolving around the creation and recognition of his work. It's about his relationship with Mexico, history, his family - his wife, kids, and his parents. It's about life, death and everything in between. It's a lot and with a 2 hour and 40-minute run time, it does covers a ton of ground. Breathtaking, brilliant, and at time times brutally honest. Catch this in a theatre near you. If you wait long enough, it will show up on Netfilx. Best to catch this one on a big screen if you can.  

Bones and All

I tried to express to my 18-year-old daughter that this movie was a stripped-down vampire movie, but she insisted these were cannibals, NOT vampires. After 171 episodes of "The Vampire Diaries" and from a kid who grew up on The Twilight saga, I tend to think her view might be slightly skewed. All the vampire purest debate aside, this is a striped down vampire movie, a teen love story, and a bloody beautiful film that looks like it came out of the 70s. What's it all about? It's about Maren (Taylor Russell) who has turned 18. After eating her friend's finger like it was a chicken wing (presumably because she was unable to control her urges to feed) her father has cut her loose, told her he can't do it anymore, left her cash and some clues to where she might find her mother. Thus begins a road trip where she meets fellow eater Sully (Mark Rylance - creepy as hell!) to explain what she is, an eater (they need to eat people and have an incredible sense of smell). Along the way she meets Lee (Timothée Chalamet) and romance ensues. This is a Twilight/Bonnie and Clyde romance movie and it's bloody as a slaughterhouse. I loved it. Definitely one of my favourite films of the year and one of the best-looking movies of the year. Catch this finger licking tasty picture at a theatre near you.