Pain & Glory Captures Old Age

Pain & Glory

The review:

Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory reminded me how few movies there are about the realities of aging. Antonio Banderas captures a director hamstrung by pain* and flashbacks give insight into different areas of his life. It’s a wish fulfillment movie,** and when carried out with Almodóvar’s excellent use of color and interesting settings past and present*** made for an excellent film.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $5.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching

Further sentences:

*Both physical and mental. Banderas’s stiff movements—watch how he carefully eases himself into a cab—hint at how difficult basic functions are; his eyes capture the loss that comes with a long life.
**There were a few too many conincidences to be believable.
***I loved the cave, the director’s apartment, and even Alberto Crespo’s backyard was beautiful to look at.

Questions:

  • Do you think Salvador Mallo’s (Antonio Banderas) response to pain was reasonable
  • Would you ever live in a cave?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

As usual, Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro’s brother and producer of the movie, makes a cameo. In this case, as a teacher and priest in a flashback, when Antonio Banderas’ character is a small boy.

Other reviews:

Pain & Glory

All movies watched on Netflix July 2019–Present

Recommended

Good

  • The Two Popes

Skip

  • A Christmas Prince

Richard Jewell Includes Good Acting, Director Opinions

Richard Jewell

The review:

Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell is a little too clear about the director’s feelings about the media and the F.B.I.,* but what this film does well is ably recreate the somewhat claustrophobic circumstances Richard Jewell is reduced to when the tables are turned on him.** I was excited to see Paul Walter Hauser as the titular character and I thought it was unfortunate he didn’t make the cut for Best Actor.*** The rest of the cast was also good and I like that Jewell’s sad-but-true story got movie status.

The verdict: Good

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Jubitz Theater (The audience included five other women and one man, which I thought was an interesting distribution. Also, the man would not stop talking to his movie-going companion. This is the second Jubitz feature in a row where the audience gets a D for etiquette)

Consider also watching these other Clint Eastwood films:

Further sentences:

*Both are bad. Very bad. Very, very bad. You can’t believe how bad they are. Although you can when you watch this movie because both institutions might as well have had a neon arrow saying BAD pointing at them through the duration of the film.
**I’ve lived in apartment complexes like the one depicted in the film and while they are fine places to live, they can seem dark and claustrophobic, especially when you spend most of your day in them.
***He was great at still being sympathetic and likable even while being off-putting and making not good choices. That’s a high tightrope to walk. Nomination-wise, I would have subbed him in for Johnathan Pryce’s Pope Francis.

Questions:

  • What do you remember about the 1996 Summer Olympics?
  • Kathy Bates’s Best Supporting Actress nomination. Deserved? Yea or nay?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

All of the Atlanta Olympic Games logos in the film are missing the 5 rings. The International Olympic Committee denied the use of the rings for copyright protection and to “protect the use of the iconic emblem”.

Other reviews:

Richard Jewell

The Return of the Stationary Box

It’s been a few years since my stationary box has been in use, but I’m feeling like 2020 will be the year of more correspondence. So I’ve stocked it with note cards, postcards and stationary. The box will sit in a drawer in the kitchen for easy access.

In other news, I love those state and county fair stamps!

The End of Portland Meadows

Portland’s race track will be dismantled and turned into an Amazon warehouse. While I’m not in favor of horse racing, some part of me feels sad to see this landmark fall.

This was once the parking lot and has now been leveled.

From the street, you can peek through the fence and see the grandstand.

I liked this horseshoe that had come to rest on the Jersey barrier.

Ford v Ferrari Zooms and Drags

(The cars make that zooming sound repeatedly. The plot drags.)

Ford v Ferrari

The review:

James Mangold gives us a male gaze turned inward* with Ford v Ferrari and also spends a lot time filmsplaining.** If you can get past the very long plot*** it might be worth watching for Matt Damon’s controlled Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale’s puckish Ken Miles, plus Noah Jupe’s second very good performance in 2019.**** I found this to be overly tedious and exactly the film I was not at all interested in, but because it got a best picture nomination, I did my due diligence.

The Verdict: Skip

(Unless racing floats your boat in which case you’ve probably already seen this.)

Cost: $9.25 (but free due to gift card)
Where watched: Regal Cascade (a new theater for me!)

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*While the male gaze tends to objectify women, the male gaze turned inward seems to think that everything men does is incredibly fascinating. Which is not the case.
**Flimsplaining. When a movie does this:
—-Character 1: I’m going to run the Quarter 30 in August
—-Character 2: But 500 men tried to run the Quarter 30 in August last year and all of them have failed! For you to do so would set a world record, bring you fame and fortune, and it would mean you can finally marry Lucille! You’re amazing, man, but I don’t know if it can be done.
—-Next scene: Character 1 runs the Quarter 30 in August.
***The cast of characters has to be assembled, the car has to be built, men in suits must be argued with, the qualifying race has to be won, the actual race has to be raced, and then instead of being over, the film keeps going.
****The first was in Honey Boy. This movie required him to pretend to watch a lot of things and he wasn’t the greatest at that acting task. But when interacting with people, he was great.

Questions:

  • Would you ever take a ride in a race car, as Henry Ford II did?
  • Can you think of a female-focused car racing movie?
  • What worked well for you in this film?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Matt Damon and Christian Bale agreed that the brawl between their respective characters was the most fun scene to film. Both have experience with extensively choreographed fight scenes that take weeks to learn so it was a positive change that they only had to rehearse the brawl for twenty minutes and weren’t required to look lethal while doing it.

Other reviews:

Ford v Ferrari

Antares has taken to the catio

While Sentinel has not cottoned to the cat door, Antares has figured out that he can be an outdoor kitty by just pushing through it.

While he doesn’t spend a ton of time on the catio, he does go out every night, and there are even times during the day when I will find him keeping an eye on the front sidewalk.

He might spend more time there when it gets warmer outside.

Side note. The concrete turns green like that every winter. We could spray it off, but why bother? It goes away when things warm up.

Red Rock West @the Hollywood with Director John Dahl

More blurry pictures from the person who needs glasses!

However, this night was too good to not include.

The Hollywood Theatre has a Cage on Cage series where they’ve been screening Nicolas Cage movies. The crown jewel in the series (in my opinion) was the showing of Red Rock West followed by a talkback with director John Dahl.

Aside from getting to watch Red Rock West for the first time since the 1990s, (review here) it was fun to listen to the troubles of distribution (it’s a movie that doesn’t fit in to a solid genre—Noir-Western not really being a thing) and when Dennis Hopper adlibbed.