The Holiday Edition: New Views from the Big Screen to Home Streaming
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December 2021
Recently
in a Cineplex theatre I went to see Guillermo del Toro’s carnivalesque Nightmare
Alley (B) which has tons of psycho-noirish atmosphere over its 150
minutes. It’s definitely lacking the Christmas spirit so be warned. (I had somewhat of a nightmarish time after
as I got stranded with car engine failure.) In “Alley” Willem Dafoe has a small
role as a creepy carny. That evening the “Crave” channel featured Dafoe in the
lead role as a tormented soul in Abel Ferrara’s nightmarish 2019 psychodrama Siberia
(C). If anything, it’s even more
grotesque and ghastly. So bring on the
heartwarming holiday favorites!
As usual there is a vast amount of content being added
to streaming platforms. Netflix seems to add another series almost every day. Worth
checking out is the four-episode docuseries Animal (A) that
starts with the predatory world of big cats.
And speaking of large cats and the murderously bizarre, there’s a new
season of Tiger King (B+) featuring “Joe Exotic” who is currently
serving a lengthy prison sentence. If that’s not enough there’s also a new 3-episode
spinoff Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story (B). And as for bloody human-on-human horror nothing
beats Squid Game (B+). Not
to be outdone, there’s a new Netflix season of episodes of the terrific Spanish
crime caper series Money Heist (A) with a mastermind known as
‘the professor” and sexy entanglements adding to the frequent bursts of
violence. And Netflix has added the
excellent western saga The Power of the Dog (A) helmed by New
Zealand’s Jane Campion adapting a Thomas Savage novel, with Benedict
Cumberbatch in the lead role of a rough rancher in 1920s Montana. (See this rave review: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/power-of-the-dog-review-1235005112/.) There’s even a silly hour-long “comedy
special” entitled Death to 2021 (B+).
Some other good titles—The Lost Daughter (A),
The Hand of God (A), Don’t Look Up (A)—are getting brief
theatrical releases before joining the ever-growing Netflix collection. The last is another absurdist satire from
director Adam McKay. You’ve heard the warning “look up and live”. Well, this is the opposite. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence are
astronomers who discover a “plane killer” comet on a collision course with
earth. Among the fine supporting cast is
Meryl Streep as a dimwit American president.
Over on Amazon Prime Video it’s worth checking out Aaron Sorkin’s Being
the Ricardos (B+) on the fraught backstory to the 1950s hit TV sitcom
“I Love Lucy”. Nicole Kidman and Javier
Bardem give engaging performances as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the married
couple who starred in that show.
From my perspective, the most
notable new streaming release, on Disney+, is The Beatles: Get Back (A)
from New Zealand master Peter Jackson, best known previously for the Lord of
the Rings trilogy. It was intended to be
released as a theatrical feature in 2020, marking the 50th
anniversary of the “Let it Be” album.
The pandemic changed that to a three-part series of nearly eight hours
taken from footage shot in January 1969 of rehearsal and recording sessions for
that album and also “Abbey Road”. It’s
like eavesdropping on the sometimes messy creative process behind the most popular
music group in history even as it was on the verge of breaking up. For anyone who grew up in the 1960s as I did,
the songs of the “fab four” were the soundtrack of our young lives. And of course Beatlemania had become a global
phenomenon. Part 3 culminates with the group’s
famous January 30, 1969 windy public performance on the rooftop of Apple
Studios in London’s Savile Row, the first in years and the last ever.
Additionally on the documentary
front, I can recommend several recent releases.
On Netflix is 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible (A),
directed by Torquil Jones, a thrilling look at extreme mountaineering
feats. Also on Netflix is tick,
tick … Boom! (A-) directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, best known as the
creator of the Broadway musical sensation “Hamilton”. The subject is adventures in New York musical
theatre and Andrew Garfield gives a rousing performance as the late Jonathan
Larson, creator of the hit musical “Rent”. (You may recall that Garfield once
played the role of “spiderman”. There’s
a new release in that long-running franchise Spiderman: No Way Home,
directed by Jon Watts and with Tom Holland reprising the spidey
character.)
On the National Geographic channel of Disney+. Liz
Garbus directs Becoming Cousteau (A), an absorbing look at the
life and legacy of famed undersea explorer and environmentalist Jacques
Cousteau. Matthew Heineman directs The
First Wave (A), a searing frontline observation of the ravages of the
first months of the Covid-19 pandemic in New York City. Also on National Geographic/Disney+ is the
six-episode series Welcome to Earth (A) which explores planetary
wonders on land and under the sea, with actor Will Smith as an engaging
narrator guide.
Let me say just a few words about the
mega-budget blockbusters that have made it to theatres. All have spectacular visual effects but left
me rather cold.
Dune
(U.S./Canada
2021, https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/dune#about) B
This
lengthy feature (165 minutes, with a second part to come) is helmed by Quebec
director Denis Villeneuve and is arguably more successful than previous
ill-fated adaptations of Frank Herbert’s 1959 science fiction classic
novel. Timothée Chalamet plays Paul
Atreides, the young hero of the story. For more on the critical reception and
the prospect of a sequel see: https://variety.com/2021/film/news/dune-part-2-sequel-1235094974/.
No
Time to Die (UK/U.S.
2021, https://007.talenthouse.com/) B
The
latest in the James Bond franchise, this time directed by Cary Jogi Fukunaga,
again stars Daniel Craig as the indestructible espionage hero, returning to
active service to help out a CIA friend.
Lots of sexy derring-do ensues in fabulous locations. Whether shaken or
stirred, never count out Bond. This is
Craig’s last Bond role and for a video review of his Bond roles see:
https://www.imdb.com/video/vi362857241?ref_=tt_eds_center-3_ecw_cheat_bond_cta&listId=ls025720609.
Eternals (UK/U.S. 2021, https://www.marvel.com/movies/eternals)
B-
Chloé
Zhao achieved Oscar recognition with her previous feature, the low-budget Nomadland,
the documentary-like realism of which would seem to be the polar opposite of
action-hero fantasy. So she is an on odd
choice indeed to helm this grandiose epic about Marvel Comics immortal superheroes.
That said, her take on the epic mythology isn’t boring and includes some
interesting twists. For more on the
elements of the story see: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/oct/24/eternals-review-marvel-chloe-zhao-angelina-jolie-salma-hayek-powerpoint.
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