Recently Seen - 8SEP2013

Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey

This documentary tells the story of Arnel Pineda, a small-time Manila singer who lands the job of frontman for arena-rock band Journey.  It's basically a feel-good movie about a good guy whose wildest dreams come true, but it doesn't hesitate to show that Pineda's success doesn't just happen: before being plucked from obscurity, he sang for decades in various tribute bands on the international circuit, honing his craft so he was ready when the big call came.  Vanessa and I both loved it, and it has motivated me to listen to Journey's recent releases with Pineda at lead vocals.  I'll tell you what - these records are good!  Particularly recommended for Journey fans and people who spend a lot of time in cover-band bars in Bahrain.
 
We Have a Pope

What if the cardinal who is elected Pope realizes, just a little too late, that he isn't the man for the job?  Nanni Moretti (of the utterly fantastic The Son's Room) worked this scenario with We Have a Pope a couple of years before Pope Benedict's retirement, and he came up with a story a little sad, a little funny, and altogether convincing.  While not as powerful as The Son's Room, We Have a Pope is a successful film.

Chronicle

Three teenaged boys get superpowers and deal with them like the irresponsible kids they are.  Except, that is, for the depressed victim of bullies both young and old.  He behaves in ways completely unpredictable, and of which Peter Parker would not approve.  This makes Chronicle a depressing, heart-rending story of a boy who has grown so used to being a victim that he makes one of himself.  While Chronicle competently tells the story it sets out to share, I don't think I need ever see it again.  The world can be depressing enough as it is.

Les Miserables

Russell Crowe is sub-community-theater bad in the role of Inspector Javert, like "Hit pause and let me sing this number just to wash out the bad taste" bad.  Jackman is uneven.  Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks, as Marius and Eponine, steal the show.  The aesthetic is, well, miserable.  I should've taken my wife's advice and passed on the whole thing.

Shaolin Soccer

An idealistic young monk harnesses the power of Shaolin Kung Fu to form a soccer team and defeat Team Evil.  If you aren't hooked by that description alone, there's something wrong with you.

Follow Me, Boys!

This Disney story, of which Mr. Holland's Opus is basically a remake, puts Fred MacMurray in the role of Boy Scout leader who puts off his dream of becoming a lawyer to focus his time on running a Scout troop and basically being a good guy.  Notable for a fun performance from Lillian Gish, the pleasure of watching MacMurray (who can play evil about as well as anyone - see Double Indemnity) go 100% wholesome, and a terrific performance from a very young Kurt Russell.  Yes, Follow Me, Boys! has some structural problems, but as a Scout troop committee chairman, I'm a sucker for the subject matter.

Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity has been on my Netflix queue forever. Actually, it's been sitting in the "pending release" portion, as no one had been willing to pony up for a DVD release. Finally, Turner Classic Movies stepped up and released a beautiful print of the film. It was worth the wait.

Not only does Double Indemnity look great, it sounds great. Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler put together a cracking good script with quotable lines, and Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck deliver them with gusto. This is a fun movie in a couple of ways.

Here's the setup: Fred MacMurray is morally flexible insurance man Walter Neff. While making a routine sales call, he meets Barbara Stanwyck, who plays Phyllis Dietrichson. It's a classic Stanwyck performance: she's sexy, she's hard-edged, and, oh, she's bad news as only Chandler can imagine bad news. Before long, Walter's masterminding a complex insurance scam / murder plot, but it won't be long before everything goes awry. I'm not giving anything away, incidentally - the movie begins with a shot and bleeding Walter confessing to a dictaphone.

Since, like Sunset Blvd., Double Indemnity begins by giving away the fate of its protagonist, the question isn't whether the movie will surprise and astonish us. The question is whether it'll make us enjoy the journey. Will it? Well, it depends. Do you like noir? Do you like, MacMurray, Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson? More simply, do you like movies? If you can answer "yes" to any of the above, I bet you'll like Double Indemnity.

EDIT: A friend who works for TCM assures me that this DVD was a Universal, not TCM project from the get-go. I was thrown off by the film's introduction, which features Robert Osbourn on the TCM set. I must still have been thinking about that anklet.