The Spectators' Odyssey

Sam Levinson’s Malcolm & Marie is an intense overnighter.

The long stretches of dialogue spread out over about 3 hours during one California night in a big empty home after the premiere of Malcolm’s latest cinematic tour de force, can be overwhelming, is sometimes too clever for its own good and is often as emotionally draining as it feels, but Zendaya and John David Washington pull off some low key Oscar worthy performances as the title characters working through some heavy emotional baggage. 

The choice to use Black & White is exactly that, and could easily be interpreted as the right one considering our intimately intrusive inclusion in this one particular night of emotional back and forth altercations in what can be assumed a lengthy relationship between the title characters. In this case, imagining the use of color just feels wrong. 

I really didn’t think I would like Malcolm & Marie and it’s evident that a lot of people hate this movie. I hear pretentious often used to describe it in one word and I get it. But the california mis en scene ropes me in and then it’s such a penetrating story that despite the exhausting circumstances this one extremely long feeling night revolves around, I couldn’t help but thoroughly enjoy the movie.

Writer and director, John Lee Hancock, knows how to piece together solid movies that don’t typically take many unnecessary risks but still manage to tell engaging stories. It’s seemed to be that way throughout Hancock’s filmography up to this point.

So The Little Things is about what you’d expect. It’s a rather straightforward crime thriller and while at times a slightly boring one, it’s still an appealing movie.

The acting is what you would expect from a trio of academy award winners like Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto, and it’s what I find myself reflecting on the most. While there aren’t any best actor worthy performances from either of the three actors, it’s what the title suggests that peaks my interest. It’s the little things. It’s the characteristic nuances in the trio’s work that carries the movie on its shoulders and these little things as a whole end up weighing the most.

It’s Denzel’s continual ability to present each of his characters importance with seasoned ease. His range isn’t that far-reaching but in his older age, that niche acting spectrum is always pleasing. So in Washington’s case it’s mostly Denzel being Denzel Washington in The Little Things.

It’s Jared Leto’s ability to throw himself into a tremendous range of characters from the natural to supernatural while also utilizing, exploiting characteristic subtleties that are always one of a kind. Sparma’s greasy long hair, his goofy swinging walk, the finger pointing, the odd idioms and the beady eyes make the character the most memorable. There are times that Leto doesn’t even look like himself.

But when it comes to Rami Malek, the beady eyes, the blank stares, the way he moves his mouth to talk or just to smirk and his accent, the short burst of anger, these select character subtleties just feel like a product of his almost unexplainably off putting nature. But it’s enough to flesh out those finer details for each role he takes on for better or for worse, and in The Little Things, it’s on full display.

So as the title states, it really is The Little Things that get you caught. whether that be the directing, cinematography, budget, animation, or the acting, that can collectively or independently make or break a movie. Audiences can sniff out when something just doesn’t work. But the acting in The Little Things feels like enough to make the movie work.

Blood hits the fan in writer, now director, Brian Duffield’s, coming of age love story that could come to an end at literally any moment. Sure the idea that love can come to an end for various reasons already exists, but it’s really if ever been done like Spontaneous.

The movie impressively juggles a tones equal parts lovely at the same time as it’s truly terrifying circumstances. As if high school seniors didn’t have enough to handle and deal with, now the senior class of Covington has to worry about spontaneously combusting into nothing more than a pool of their own blood at any moment. Why? Drugs? A curse?  We don’t know and we won’t ever know. That sort of conclusion can hurt a movie but in this case it’s just the ending a movie like this warrants. The movies lead sums it up best in her inspirational end of the movie monologue. 

The premise fully lives up to its potential, resulting in an effective unpredictability, fatal and painful to watch for all the right reasons. I often felt anxiety that a death could happen at any moment and for the most part they do, even though there is usually a 1-2 second window where you can anticipate something bad is about to happen. So Fair warning, this is a very gory movie. Sometimes the bloody deaths are caught on screen with some out of focus CGI trickery though usually the incidents take place off screen with what’s left, flying on screen, soaking characters in horror. The incidents are never portrayed distastefully, solely for comedic effects, strictly for horrific intent or for shock value alone, how they happen, why they happen and when they happen just work extremely well.

Genuine performances go a long way for a movie and it’s leads, Katherine Langford and Charlie Plummer easily take it the distance. They continue to grow as actors I love to see on screen.

It’s already a damn good movie I feel like I haven’t seen before but it gets double points with me for using “Bye Bye Life” from All That Jazz. 

Honestly, my only complaint is with the movies poster. Like what did they do to Charlie Plummer’s head???

It’s been 4 years but we finally have Quentin Tarantino’s *ninth* feature film.

I went into Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood with very limited but unusually low expectations based on the entire marketing campaign for it. The initial trailer, that horrendous poster, the Cannes publicity, and QT’s overall publicity of the film seemed to do what is in actuality, a sincere film an injustice. Regardless, I knew my money and time were in safe hands and I was in for some good entertainment. After all, QT has an admirable amount of creative control with his writing and directing. And in the end I was indeed thoroughly pleased with the movie.

It must be such a good feeling for a filmmaker to know they can get so many great names to star and appear in your movie. There’s always a high level of trust between Quentin Tarantino and his cast that help his movies thrive and its especially the case in OUATIH. Quentin knows how to cast his creations with some of the best actors of our lifetime. So many familiar faces pop up a late 1960’s Los Angeles, comforting the screen with excellent performances. And at the forefront is Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and in with slightly less screen time, the wonderful Margot Robbie. While her physically presence may be slightly less than the fictional characters of the movie, her story is the most moving and most important one in the entire film. It highlights the final 6 months of her wholesome existence, living and loving life in 1960’s Los Angeles, not knowing what was soon to happen to her. 

It’s fascinating how little Manson was actually in the movie, I liked the little screen time he got, but his entire presence was felt throughout. 

We’ve seen what Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt could do in separate Tarantino films but here we have the pleasure of seeing them on the same screen at once. Brad Pitt manned the ship in Inglourious Basterds and Leo finally burst into QT’s filmography in Django Unchained. DiCaprio plays an aging actor, Rick Dalton and Brad Pitt plays the troubled but coolheaded Rick Dalton stunt double, Cliff Booth. Both fictional characters are developed with that Tarantino perfection that only he can construct. Both actors pull out all of the stops with their acting and it’s easily the greatest attribute of the film. It’s going to be a real debate deciding which man will be receiving that Best Actor nomination at the Oscars next year because their presence on screen is equal in quantity and quality. Hell, both men could easily receive nominations for Best Actor, or either could receive a Best Supporting nomination.

I think the best part of the entire movie is that it’s a nice fantasy tale. It
presents us with a decent “What If”. What if, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, an aging actor and his faithful friend/stuntman, in the midst of their own Los Angeles struggles, miraculously prevent the Tate Murders from ever happening?

Overall it’s a fun and comfy movie that thrives on the viewers nostalgia of that time period and Hollywood. The final act brings it all together with a thrilling finale with some on point Tarantino filmmaking. He was able to find a perfect balance of calm and chaos that is a showcased in the final act. When the dust settles, and a concerned Jay Sebring and Sharon Tate greet the fictional Rick Dalton, the very final moments of the movie really makes wonder what the future of Hollywood wouldve looked like afterwards, and it especially makes you wish those infamous Tate Murders never happened.

You cannot give Quentin Tarantino all of the credit for Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. The volume of people it took to bring the story from its pages, written by Tarantino, to its fleshed out life in a recreated 1960’s Hollywood is baffling and they deserve immense credit for their work on the film. The casting crew, the set designers, the costume and wardrob designers, make up, visual effects, special effects, sound, electrical….they all pulled off some amazing feats of movie making magic. It’s truly looked and felt like the 1960’s in LA.
 Brav-fucking-o.

It was a lovely week of weather in Oklahoma and it ended perfectly with the arrival of this movie. I’ll give it some time to swirl around my mind, but as it stands, this may be my second or third favorite Tarantino movie. it was a pleasant surprise to see what is definitely his most sincere film to date.