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2023 Movie Diary, Part 18

52. GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014)

As much as I normally love Wes Anderson films, I didn’t really warm up to this one. It’s not that I wasn’t entertained by it, or didn’t enjoy it. Ralph Fiennes was quite brilliant in the lead, but it was as he was performing in an antiseptic void. I wanted to love it, but couldn’t.
Verdict: A rare Anderson disappointment, even though it’s supposed to be his best movie. Not to me it wasn’t. Rushmore rules!

53. SOLARIS (1972)

I’d always heard about this legendary science fiction film, but had never seen it, so I finally decided to take it on. It was as brilliant, profound, ponderous, and pretentious as everyone says. Although the question has to be asked: was that random 5 minute section of driving in Tokyo traffic really necessary in this very Russian space flick? Sure, because that’s the kind of movie this is. Duh.
Verdict: It was quite good in its aggressively art-house way, but I had to break it into 30-minute chunks. Glad I watched it, but I doubt I will again.

54. RED RIVER (1948)

Has there ever been a film whose ending betrayed virtually everything that came before it so utterly? All it takes is the unnecessary presence in the final reel of the smirking, always irritating Joanne Dru to destroy what was shaping up to be a classic, containing arguably Wayne’s best work (in a rare villainous role) and a fine debut performance by Montgomery Clift. Grr.
Verdict: I’ve never been made more angry by a movie.

Scenes from a walk…

Alfie says, let’s get this show on the road!

Golden hour shadows.

The full range of the human experience…

…in chalk, on the sidewalk.

I had to look this up this tree…it’s called a golden medallion tree. Beautiful!

Pink plumeria.

I’m always up for some weird cloud action.

August at Bolsa Chica wetlands…

No birds. Although there was a jumping fish that I never managed to get a photo of.

No birds. Although there were some butterflies that I never managed to get a photo of, because they wouldn’t hold still.

There was this guy, though. A side-blotched lizard, which I’ve never seen before. They are quite territorial, and he kindly escorted me out of the area.

Some day I’ll take the walk to the mesa. But you can bet it won’t be in August.

2023 Movie Diary, Part 17

49. TENDER MERCIES (1983)

Is Robert Duvall the greatest actor this country has ever produced? I think so. Exhibit A — this unassuming slice of life about a washed up, boozy country singer trying to turn his life around. Duvall’s performance is a thing of honest, plain-spoken beauty. Plot-wise nothing really happens, but also Everything does. Here, as in real life, the sacred is all about the mundane.
Verdict: Remember when they bothered to make movies like this, with stories about real humans that were done with subtlety and art?

50. THE RED SHOES (1948)

The melodrama dial goes to 11 in this story about the self-destructiveness of obsession, in the case, obsession with Art and Creativity.  The ballet sequences are glorious, and the performances are vivid, but the  cinematography is the real star here:  it’s staggeringly beautiful and creative and it’s worth seeing the movie for the visuals alone. 
Verdict: Stunning to look at, but I’ll bet you’ve never seen a movie that featured more unstable characters in it. There is literally no one psychologically normal on screen at any time.

51. SOUND OF FREEDOM (2023)

A taut, well-made, excellently acted character-driven thriller that manages to be entertaining in spite of its very heavy subject matter. Now that we’ve gotten the review out of the way…what makes people in certain quarters attack and/or seek to discredit the film and the people who made it? To ask the question is to answer it. A pox on them.
Verdict: A good movie worth seeing on its merits, of which there are many.