Elementalary

I gather this is the biggest movie ever since Frozen?

She's a bit rock and roll, he's a bit country, she's a bit Capulet, he's a bit Montague, she's fire, he's water. Can they come together and overcome the problems of their families? Well, that's not really the picture. Her parents are rather insular (to put it politely around water), and his are rather accepting (if rather condescending). They face a common problem and must work together, although secretly, to help her father...

Which, when put that way, does paint the father as somewhat of a villain. He is about the closest we get, but once again, this is the sort of movie that would be simpler if people just talked to each other, but then the movie wouldn't happen.

This is based on the director being a part of an immigrant family, so from that aspect there is a certain aspect of "you can't complain about this actual experience", and certainly there are many parallels. But also there are some actual problems I have with the world of "what exactly resists being set on fire? and resists water? and clearly there are plenty of other materials around which aren't the elements/sentient?" Not the point, but where analogy leads to questions and things break down, this lead to me questioning the story more than enjoying it.

Until around 80 minutes in, when emotions took over, because this is Pixar, and then actual tears at 90 minutes...

While this is a Pixar movie, and so starts from a high benchmark... this is a low tier Pixar movie. It may be doing well, but it's a slow burn (sic) movie.

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CobbyWebby

This is what we need, a movie where a child is turned against their parents...

Although when your parents are played by Lizzy Caplan and Anthony Starr you are already behind the ball in getting a decent outing. Still Woody Norman does a fair job at being Peter, who hears strange noises in his room, then talking, but he parents don't want to hear about it.

I'm not a big fan of gaslighting, and this movie heads deeps into that "no, you didn't hear anything". And, as with a lot of movies, there's a lot going on here because people just can't tell the truth and need to hide anything. (On the one hand, if they didn't there wouldn't be this movie, on the other hand, perhaps it might lead to a better movie?)

This is supposedly based on The Telltale Heart, but I'm not sure I entirely follow it. This is more House of Usher. Although it has been a while since I read either.

And then after an hour, it changes into a different movie, which is just to show off their effects budget (and it doesn't quite work, keeping to the shadows is fine, but they couldn't sell the reveal).

I heard some good anticipation for this... but it doesn't do it for me.

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Late Night with the Devil

So very nearly good.

Jack Delroy has his own Late Night Show in the seventies, but just can't compete with Johnny Carson. After some upsetting personal issues, he has a big Halloween show planned. First a mentalist, then a skeptic, then an interview with a dark demon from the demon dimension. I'm sure nothing can possibly go wrong.

I did go into this with some expectations, especially thinking back to Ghostwatch. I was expecting a slow build over time, and we kinda get it, and while there might be some easter eggs hinting at later events, I was looking out for them and didn't see anything. There is the big climactic moment... and then it continues for another beat, and that was rather a let down. In Ghostwatch, we got the climax, everyone went "AAAAGH!" and it ended. In this, we get the climax, and then everyone goes "AAAAAA... *checks watch* AAAAA... takes breath... AAAAAGH!" and things are revealed that were quite obvious and it just goes on too long.

David Dastmalchian, a "that guy!" actor, does a great job as Jack, and other actors are good too. There is very much the aesthetic of 70s live tv late night show, although some of the effects are a bit too modern looking. In general it's well done.

So yeah, so close, but let down at the end. And I need to watch Ghostwatch again...

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#Manhole

There's a man. There's a hole. There's a holeman.

The night before his wedding, Shunsuke has a bit of a celebration with his colleagues... and wakes up down a hole. He isn't doing well, and no-one is returning his calls except for one old girlfriend, who is rather reluctant. Fortunately, he has the internet to help him, and that's never gone wrong before. People are on it, and clearly he will now be safe, no need to watch more.

This is largely a one hander with all the attention on Yûto Nakajima and at best his phone connection to the outside world. We get a few flashbacks and flashsides, but otherwise we are down in this underground room, Which gets very unpleasant indeed.

Described simply (on IMDB) as "A situational thriller depicting the struggle of a man who fell into a manhole." this is indeed quite the thriller, and has some very good beats to the action.

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Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV

If it's on TV, it might be real right?

Have you heard of Nam June Paik? Do you want to know about Nam June Paik? Then this is the documentary for you. He was a Korean that left Korea when he could. He learnt classical music, was going to be a pianist, then encountered John Cage and had his eyes opened. Then he saw TV and thought about what he could do with that. Which was a lot, and not what people expected.

There's outsider art, there's avant garde... and this is a perfect representation of that. Someone who did things differently, mixed media in unusual ways, and caused people to go "...what?"... but also hook into it. (I was quite taken with the moments we saw of Experiments With David Atwood.)

This is one of those situations where I wouldn't have known anything about him, but good documentary is a great way into it. And I now know a little something. Score!

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How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Yep, that indeed one way to do it.

This movie follows a group of disaffected youths, who are pissed off that there is so much going wrong with the world, that they decide to make a statement. By, as you might be able to guess, blowing up a pipeline. We flash back to get brief moments of their lives as we see what lead them (individually) to this, and we also see some of the consequences.

I did think this was going to be a documentary, but that is more because I didn't fully read the description. Although it is based on a book, and I have no idea if the book is more factual or is this narrative? [IMDB says that the book is non-fiction and this movie is a narrative adaptation.] But you can easily identify with them of doing something is better than doing nothing... although I am personally far too lazy to do something like this.

This is well put together, and decently acted. Will it inspire others to follow in their footsteps? ... I can't entirely argue against that.

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Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

Male Gaze? You're looking at it!

Nina Menkes takes us through a look at various movies and how, basically, they depict women, and not in a good way. There are more than enough examples of how women are treated as an object and how this leaks though to how people have internalized viewing women this way and how this is nearly the default movie experience. People (in particular female directors) are particularly aware of this, but trying to do something about it is hard when it's still a man's club out there.

This is definitely an adult movie, we get rather graphic full frontals, of women. Of young women. Of girls, really. But this is what we have over the years, this was just the way things were done. Yes it is rather uncomfortable, but that's somewhat the point in that these days, we do recognise it as uncomfortable (unlike back when it was filmed).

I don't have much more to say about this other than... we should do better. And this is a good documentary to open your eyes to us needing to do this.

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