Day: July 11, 2024

“Longlegs” Ends Weakly — Has Been Overhyped

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I don’t understand the sudden, mystifying enthusiasm for Jean Negulesco’s Daddy Long Legs, a 1955 Fred Astaire–Leslie Caron musical. I’ve always respected and half-admired this romantic fantasy flick…oh, wait.

It is my unfortunate duty to report that the horror factor in Oz Perkins Longlegs is highly effective for the first…oh, 50 or 55 minutes. Very chilling stuff, in no small part due to Maika Monroe’s riveting performance as a psychic, Clarice Starling-like FBI agent.

But once a certain satanic Marc Bolan fan is arrested and the “trance-inducing doll meets crazy mama” plotting kicks in, it all falls apart. The fucking thing doesn’t add up, makes no sense, isn’t crazy enough, and has nothing going on underneath.

I saw Longlegs with a large crowd at the AMC Lincoln Square, and when the lights came up after the closing credits you could feel the flat vibes. The crowd seemed disgruntled, murmuring “huh?” and “the fuck was that?”

Screen Anarchy ‘s J. Hurtado, Bloody Disgusting’s Meagan Navarro and /Film’s Bill Bria are all apparently delusional or at the very least dishonest.

Edward Douglas:

Jeff Sneider:

Very Respectable, Empathy-Laden Form of Boredom

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Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley’s Sing Sing is an honest, explorational, open-hearted acting exercise film.

It’s intimate and earnest and straight-dealing and “affecting” if you’re inclined to go there, but for me it felt very, very boring. After an hour’s worth, I mean. I sat there and waited and waited and waited…

Because it’s just about a prison situation. Sing Sing’s Rehabilitation Through The Arts program, which is absolutely a good idea and a good thing, Lord knows. But there’s no story, no story tension, nothing to hold you, nothing that pulls you in. It’s just about watching guys act or try to act. Very good, straight-from-the-heart acting and hats off to Colman Domingo, but all you can do is sit there and be patient as you watch it and go “uh-huh.”

I made it to the end, and all I can say is “thank God I’m not doing time in Sing Sing prison.” Because this film certainly makes you feel as if you’re locked up, I can tell you. Thank God I have a certain amount of discipline and energy and a willingness to work hard and not give in to the usual vices and pitfalls, or else I might have become a criminal of some kind…who knows?

This is a very respectable MINOR FILM. I felt respect and a certain limited affection for the incarcerated characters, but thank God it ended when it did because I was starting to moan and groan a little bit.

Re-Watched “Twister” Last Night…Loved It!

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The word around the campfire is that Lee Isaac Chung‘s Twisters (which I haven’t seen) is CG jizz whizz, and certainly isn’t as good as Jan De Bont Twister (’96).

All these years I’ve had moderately positive recollections of De Bont’s 28-year-old film but they’ve faded somewhat, so I re-watched it last night. Bing-bang, bop-bop-a-loo-bop….bonnng!!…I clapped, I laughed, I chuckled, I whoo-whoo’ed, I hoo-hahed…yes!

Twister is just a goofball popcorn thrill ride, sure, but it’s much, much better than I’d come to recall. Excellent cinematography (tracking shots!), clever-ass dialogue (Michael Crichton and Anne–Marie Martin wrote it), primitive but thrilling CGI, first-rate performances (HeLen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jamie Gertz, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Cary Elwes), etc.

I’m sorry but on its own shameless, fuck-all terms Twister really works. Escapist movies were so much better in the ’90s than they are today. Watching it made me feel like a pig in shit. It made me go “maaaahhhh!”

Duvall Peaked for Four Years…Okay, Seven Years If You Count “Thieves Like Us”

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I’m very sorry that Shelley Duvall has left us at age 75.

Duvall’s performances were always fascinating, always unique, always space-casey, always something else.

But her peak period boiled down to just three films — 3 Women (’77), The Shining (’80) and Popeye (ditto). Which meant that the impetus behind her career peak boiled down to her partnerships with two brilliant fellows — Robert Altman (Thieves Like Us, Nashville, 3 Women, Popeye) and Stanley Kubrick (The Shining).

I think her Shining baseball bat scene with Jack Nicholson was her best.

Only A Racist Would Re-Post This

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This Free Press article about Oakland is horrifying. It’s all about far-left Democrats having totally bought into the George Floyd myth that too much police power is a pox on society and that POCs need to be kid-gloved.

In a nutshell: Wokester insanity chickens coming home to roost.

From “The Fall of Oakland,” a 7.10 Free Press article by Leighton Woodhouse:

Regard 70mm Promotions Askance

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I’ve said this over and over: depending on the condition of the print, 70mm showings can look great but only if the film was shot in large format (65mm, VistaVision, Todd AO, Super Panavision 70, Ultra Panavision 70, Camera 65, Dimension 150).

35mm upgraded to 70mm (i.e., The Wild Bunch) is fine as far as it goes but nothing to necessarily shout and scream about.

The bottom line today is that digital projection tends to look just as good as 70mm, and in some cases better (i.e., no print degradation). 70mm can look great, yes, but it’s mostly a marketing brand that film cognoscenti have bought into — a way to “sell” classic movies.

In and of themselves, 70mm showings are no longer the coin of the realm.