Three Sentence Movie Reviews – Page 24

Stop Making Sense is Phenomenal

The review:

For most of my life, the Talking Heads have been ever present* and so I never prioritized Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense. This was a mistake, because from the first time David Byrne walks on stage this concert documentary is riveting. It’s fun to watch the set be built through the concert, it’s fun to watch the band slowly trickle in, it’s fun to watch the choreography,** and it breathed life into some very well-worn songs and made me hear them in a new way.***

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Homecoming
20 Feet From Stardom
The Wrecking Crew
Some Kind of Monster
The Last Waltz
(As in the Miss Americana review this is an aspirational list here. I’ve not seen any of them.)

Further sentences:

*I wouldn’t be surprised if the magic of the internet overlords told me I’d heard some part of “Once in a Lifetime” at least weekly since 1984.
**Which seemed very Jazzercise-esque at times.
***That said, I would have preferred a few more long shots and fewer closeups, because that choreography gets lost, though I have read that the closeups were very innovative at the time. I also love how the crew all came on stage to take a bow at the end. And! No encores in 1984!

Questions:

What’s your favorite concert documentary?
Could you like a concert doc of a band/musician/genre you didn’t like?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

David Byrne’s staggering during the latter part of “Psycho Killer” was directly inspired by Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding (1951) during the song “I Left My Hat In Haiti.”

(I have just watched the clip of this and did not find anything that looked like David Byrne’s staggering.)

Other reviews:

Roger Ebert
Rolling Stone “Talking Heads on ‘Stop Making Sense’: ‘We didn’t want any bulls-t” (An article rather than a review, but a good one)

To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You Is a Very Long Title

The review:

After disliking Noah Centineo so intently in The Perfect Date, I was gun-shy of To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, but Michael Fimognari managed to include enough good relationship things* that I came away satisfied. And sometimes in a woman’s life there is a period where the boys come out of the woodwork, and this is rarely represented on film, so that was fun. This is solid, middle-tier movie making, perfect for two hours of untroubled movie viewing.**

The verdict: Good

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*The indie drama fan in me is always interested in what happens after the couple gets together and there were a lot of first-relationship troubles.
**There are troubles, of course, because otherwise there wouldn’t be a movie. But no one is dying here.

Questions:

What film comes closest to your own first relationship?
When do you turn to films like this one?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Jordan Fisher plays John Ambrose McClaren in this movie. In To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018) the role of John Ambrose was played by a different actor, Jordan Burtchett.
(I wondered about this, but was too lazy to check. Thanks IMDB trivia writer!)

Starman is Fun to Watch 36 Years Later

The review:

Jeff Bridges is a revelation in John Carpenter’s Starman—full of ticks and a dawning sense of his human self.* Karen Allen is also key to this film because her varying facial expressions lead the audience to accept the alien. The film includes a great combo of early digital and practical effects and was a good choice for a Valentine’s Day viewing.**

The verdict: Good

Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home with the boyfriend

Consider also watching:

Guardians of the Galaxy
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Superman

Further sentences

*I forget how amazing he is as an actor, because I feel like he’s been playing shades of the Dude for years.
**I was thinking what a lovely little love story this was until the boyfriend (who also counsels domestic violence offenders) started pointing out all the controlling behaviors: “How come when I kidnap someone at gunpoint and make them drive me to a different state it’s a felony? Etc. Etc. Etc. It cracked me up.

Questions:

What’s your favorite human/alien movie?
Kidnapping. When is it okay?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Actor Jeff Bridges studied ornithology and the behavior of birds to prepare for his role as an alien in human form for this movie. Bridges particularly used the sudden jerky head movements, among other nuances and mannerisms, of birds for his Starman character.

Other reviews:

All Movies Rented from Redbox October–Present

Good

Where’d You Go, Bernadette (January)

Skip

The Sun is Also a Star (September)
Rocketman (January)
Joker (January)

Miss Americana: It’s Always Harder if You’re a Woman

The review:

Lana Wilson shows different facets* of Taylor Swift in Miss Americana from her early days as a teenage country singer to her most current reinvention as a pop superstar.** I’m always a little leery of how accurate the portrayal of the subject is in documentaries of high-profile people—I’m cynical enough to suspect there is some give to get access—regardless, there’s a lot to chew on here.*** Also interesting was seeing how the kids today make music which seems to involve voice recorders on phones and not very many instruments.****

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Amy
The Wrecking Crew
Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé
20 Feet from Stardom

(Note: I’m terrible at watching documentaries. This is a list of films I want to see!)

Further sentences:

*From awards show ready in a dress that didn’t let her lift her arms higher than her waist to writing songs without makeup and in lounge wear.
**Swift points out that women artists have to reinvent themselves 20 times more often then men do and that is on full display in this documentary.
***I loved that she discussed how seeing images of herself on a daily basis isn’t good for her and lead to disordered eating. It was interesting to see her weigh speaking out about a particular political candidate with potential fan reaction. The isolation was also interesting, and every scene with her cat was a winner.
****I’m always up for music creation sequences and it’s fun to watch the energy grow as the song comes into being.

Questions:

Has a documentary about a musician ever changed the way you thought about that person’s music?
What profile of a musician would you like see?

Other reviews:

Also good: I want to work really hard while society is still tolerating me being successful.

2020 Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts

Overall:

The Live Action Shorts had a whiplash of emotions (woah, what?, ugh!, hmm, yes!) that left me feeling good.

A Sister (16 minutes)

The film opens with a couple driving in a car with the woman asking permission to call her sister to arrange for care for her daughter. From that point the film jumps back and forth from the claustrophobic and hard-to-see car interior to a different location. I found this film hopeful and clever and also the kind of film that wasn’t going to get a lot of votes.

The verdict: Recommended

Watch “A Sister” here.

Brotherhood (25 minutes)

This takes place in Tunisia and the three young men who play the brothers are fascinatingly red-headed and freckled.* It’s about a family where the oldest brother has been absent for returns home with a Syrian wife. Has he been working for ISIS?

*Googling got me to an article hidden behind a paywall, but apparently Meryam Joobeur, the director, came across two of them in 2016 tending sheep in northern Tunisia, asked to take their picture and was denied. Then she came back with script for a short film, asked around, found the brothers and they agreed to be in the film.

The verdict: Recommended

Watch “Brotherhood” on Viemo.

Saria (22 minutes)

This film is based on a true story about an incident in an orphanage in Guatemala. The film focuses on two sisters who are determined to escape from the grim and terrible place. It’s a short film that manages to be hopeful, despite its depressing topic.

The verdict: Good

Watch a trailer for “Saria” here.

The Neighbors’ Window (20 minutes)

A very tired couple with three children who live in an apartment watch the antics of a younger couple who move in across the street. This was the weakest of the bunch. I saw the twist coming in the first five minutes, which would have been okay, but the actor playing the husband was Not A Good Actor.

The verdict: Skip

Watch “The Neighbors’ Window” here.

Nefta Football Club (17 minutes)

What starts with two men looking for a donkey in the desert and expands to encompass two boys on a motorbike headed back to their Tunisian village. This was the funniest of the nominated short films (there was clapping). It was also my favorite.

The verdict: Recommended

Watch Nefta Football Club here.

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Hollywood Theatre with S. North.

My ranking: (winner in bold)

Nefta Football Club
Brotherhood
A Sister
Saria
The Neighbors’ Window

2020 Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts

Overall:

Like last year, the documentary shorts were my favorite. I love these short slices of life, all of which inspired a lot of feelings. I felt wrung out after watching these, but in a better way than the animated shorts.

Note that not all of these individual reviews will have three sentences.

Life Overtakes Me (39 minutes)

This movie starts with a fairy tale-like shot of snow coating branches of trees. It continues by explaining about an illness that is affecting refugee children in Sweden. This was fascinating and a bit horrifying.

The verdict: Recommended

Watch “Life Overtakes Me” on Netflix.

Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if you’re a girl) (39 minutes)

I’m always going to go for the stories about the girls. And girls in cultures where girls don’t matter are a big win for me. And movies about skateboarding also are a thing I love.

The verdict: Recommended

Watch “Learning to Skateboard” on A&E.

In the Absence (29 minutes)

In 2014, the Korean ferry Sewol sank and 300 people (many of them children) drowned. This film follows the disaster from the moment the Coast Guard arrives on scene through years of protest and trials. It was painful and horrible and I highly recommend you watch just to see how many everyday people were affected and to hear the stories of those who tried to make a terrible situation better.

The verdict: Recommended.

Watch “In the Absence” on Vimeo.

Walk, Run, Cha-Cha (20 minutes)

After three heavy subjects, this story of a later-in-life couple who love ballroom dance was a crowd pleaser. Paul and Millie Cao met in Vietnam, and were separated when Paul came to the US as a refugee; Millie joined about five years later. In 20 minutes we get a sense of their life together, their friends and family, and their love for Cha Cha.

The verdict: Recommended

Watch “Walk, Run, Cha-Cha” on Vimeo.

St. Louis Superman (28 minutes)

Bruce Franks ran for a seat in the Missouri State Legislature after what happened in Ferguson and this film follows him as he goes about his duties. It’s a great depiction of the difficult realities of political office and shows off Franks’s talents speaking to people and inspiring them.

The verdict: Good

Watch a trailer for “St. Louis Superman” on YouTube.

Cost: $10.00
Where watched: Kiggens Theater

My ranking: (winner in bold)

Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if you’re a girl)
In the Absence
Life Overtakes Me
Walk, Run, Cha Cha
St. Louis Superman

Top Movies: January 2020

(13 movies watched)

Where’d You Go, Bernadette

When you may have lost your grip on reality.

Margot at the Wedding

When you worship a self-involved parent

Honey Boy

When your self-involved parent worships himself.

Beautiful Boy

When your parent is involved and you’re still an addict.

1917

When the only way out is through.

Red Rock West

When you just can’t get out of town.

Richard Jewell

When the tables are turned.

Pain & Glory

When you are old.

Brittany Runs a Marathon

When you are ready for something new.

2020 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts

Overall:

I came out of the Animated Shorts feeling defeated and depressed. Thank goodness for the wacky Hors Piste—a bonus feature, and the very brief Maestro. All of the shorts this year are about death or loss, mostly directly, sometimes tangentially.

Also, these reviews aren’t necessarily going to be three sentences each.

Hair Love (7 minutes)

A girl wants to make her hair look nice, but despite online tutorial vidoes, is too young to have the skills. Her father is nervous, but willing to try. Very sweet and funny, this is the feel-good short.

The verdict: Good

Watch “Hair Love” on YouTube here.

Dcera (Daughter) (15 minutes)

Stop motion animation with papier-mâché figures that focuses on a father and daughter relationship. Aside from being depressing, the animation of the eyeballs weirded me out. This was a very long fifteen minutes.

The verdict: Skip

Pay to watch “Dcera” here.

Sister (8 minutes)

Felted dolls tell this story about a man’s childhood memories of his sister. In places, the animation was weird in a good way and this story hit me hard. This was my favorite.

The verdict: Recommended

Website information here.

Kitbull (9 minutes)

This is Pixar-adjacent, the story of a feral kitten who makes a new friend. I was all in for the antics of the black feral kitten (my home includes a formerly feral, now-grown kitten who jumped around just like this one) but another animal was in danger in a way that made me angry and after that I was having none of this short.

The verdict: Skip

Watch “Kitbull” on YouTube here.

Memorable (12 minutes)

Another stop-motion animated entry, this was the most artsy of the bunch. In it, a painter and his wife experience changes. It illustrated a depressing topic in beautiful color and motion.

The verdict: Skip

“Memorable” is not available to watch.

Shorts TV, the organization who distributes the Oscar-Nominated films to theaters, probably couldn’t justify sending out a 51-minute program. So there was some padding added. And thank goodness, because the last two shorts managed to turn around the depressing topics.

Henrietta Bulkowski (16 minutes)

Another stop-motion entry, this is the story of a woman with kyphosis (when the spine curves and gives a hunchback) who wants to be a pilot. I enjoyed how fantastically weird this film was.

The verdict: Good

Website is here.

The Bird and the Whale (6 minutes)

This was gorgeous. It’s 4,300 paintings on glass paired with an original score by Chris McLoughlin. But when you have a bird in a cage as the sole survivor of a shipwreck, you’ve got an animal in peril and that’s a no-go for me.

The verdict: Skip

Website is here.

Hors Piste (5 minutes)

God bless Hors Piste for its tale of mountain rescue workers whose mission doesn’t go as planned. The CGI brings a funny veneer to the story and the poor fellow being rescued has increasingly amusing expressions.

The verdict: Recommended

Trailer is here.

Maestro (2 minutes)

This is two minutes of a squirrel directing a cast of forest animals in a bit of opera. There’s nothing not to like here.

The verdict: Recommended

Watch “Maestro” on Vimeo here.

Cost: $9.75
Where watched: Living Room Theaters

My ranking: (winner in bold)

Sister
Hors Piste
Hair Love
Henrietta Bulkowski
Maestro
Memorable
The rest are just: No!

Brittany Runs a Marathon is 26.2 Miles of Good Film

The review:

Paul Downs Colaizzo’s Brittany Runs a Marathon captures that oh-so-familiar post-college floundering, and layers in female body issues and shaky friendships. It does all of these things very well and stars Jillian Bell, who is usually a bit player who steals scenes,* but as Brittany, she gets to flex all her acting muscles. This is an excellent movie about subjects seldom addressed.**

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: Free via Amazon Prime 30-day trial***
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Bend it Like Beckham
Whip It
A League of Their Own
Bring it On
Girlfight

Further sentences:

*My first moment of “who IS that?” was in 22 Jump Street.
**The medium of film seems a good one especially to address women and body issues. Perhaps as more women are in positions of movie making power will we see more of this subject.
***The boyfriend signed up for other reasons, but I made sure to see the two movies Amazon has been sitting on: this and Beautiful Boy.

Questions:

What aspect of female life would you like to see more movies made about?
Who is your favorite underrated female comic?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The cast and crew actually got to film at the New York City Marathon, making this the first time a non-documentary film crew has been allowed to shoot there.