Logged and Loaded: September and October 2020
We begin a brand new series on my favorite first watches and re-watches for the month!
Aaaaaaaaaand we’re back! AND it’s Tuesday! HUZZAH!
Welcome to (the recently renamed) FRIED on FILM, your one-stop shop for blog titles that cover both the last name of yours truly as well as potential references to ganja.
I know I mentioned in my last post that the next series of blogs I was writing were going to be a part of my “Festival Haul” series. However, I am still in the process of writing them and I think they need some more time in the oven. That being said, I still wanted to get back into the swing of things, so I decided to whip up this little ditty.
Welcome to “Logged and Loaded,” a different ongoing series for my blog, this time on a monthly basis! This is, simply put, a series that discusses my favorite first-watches and re-watches over the previous month.
Even though I’m deep in festival mode, I still find time to watch a whole bunch of other films, whether they be revered classics or simple nostalgia-watches. Oftentimes, I will have plenty to say about this random assortment of films but they simply don’t fit the mold of a typical blog post. All that info trapped inside my head doesn’t do me any good, so it’s gotta go somewhere!
For the record, I log every film I see on Letterboxd, so you can easily keep track of my viewing schedule and get a glimpse of what’s to come by following me there. This series will feature only a few highlights, but I will try to post short reviews for every film I see in the future (although I currently have a ridiculously long backlog of films to review so…stay tuned for developments on that).
Normally I will select three first-watches and one re-watch to discuss every month. However, since this first entry encompasses two months of movies, I will discuss four first-watches just to make sure both months get some love. Let’s begin!
FIRST-WATCHES
Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead
September 28th, 2020 - ★★★★
Sidney Lumet’s final film before passing away in 2011, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead is a depressingly volatile crime thriller with an interfamilial twist––the story is told non-linearly and from various family members’ perspectives, overlapping and informing each other as the story goes on. Though it takes a while for this structure to hit its stride, a good half hour in fact, it sets the building blocks with methodical precision. Upon the film’s first major turning point, a robbery gone horribly, horribly wrong, this patience is rewarded with a steep, downward spiral that keeps things constantly on edge and surprising.
While each major player has their own arc, this is a family drama at its core and one that brings out the best in every cast member. The obvious standout here is Philip Seymour Hoffman, if only because discovering a new, brilliant performance from him always feels like honoring a man who had so many more left in him. His portrayal of the older, sleazier brother is deep in psychological dirtiness and Hoffman commits to it like no other. Ethan Hawke is similarly fantastic, portraying the more submissive, hysterical younger brother to striking effect; Hawke and Hoffman is not a combination any film fan could have predicted, but their diverging personas as characters, as well as actors who we know and love, creates this compelling love/hate chemistry that felt like discovering something fresh and new. Albert Finney brings palpable on-screen rage, especially rearing into the third act, and a wild triple threat of Marisa Tomei, Amy Ryan, and Rosemary Harris provides a necessary female perspective in the lives of these toxic, vengeful men. Throw in a young Michael Shannon, and you have yourself a ridiculously stacked cast in a stirring drama that features Lumet’s trademark directing prowess even at the very end of his career.
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
September 29th, 2020 - ★★★★
Sometimes, the most impulsive film viewings can bring about the most inspired discoveries.
In a bizarre urge fueled by nostalgia, I decided to revisit Shawn Levy’s Night at the Museum, the smash-hit family comedy that has remained a childhood classic for me and my generation. I was curious if it still held up, and it did! Not only is it genuinely funny and remarkably clever, but the film’s central conceit externalizes a number of deep, philosophical questions on the human (and not-so-human) condition. These ideas are further explored in the second film of the series, Battle of the Smithsonian, which I also enjoy while acknowledging its structural problems. Discovering these pockets of existentialism scattered across two big-budget, mass-marketed films was a fun surprise, so much so that it inspired me to fully commit to the series and, for the first time, watch the third installment, Secret of the Tomb.
I found myself…enjoying it more than the second? Wild.
While Smithsonian fails to channel its vast library of characters into anything more than a fun but superficial crossover, Tomb keeps the ensemble size smaller but puts them all directly into conversation regarding the series’ core ideas. This is particularly the case with Lancelot, easily the film’s best new addition and portrayed effortlessly by Dan Stevens; he struggles with his perceived identity as the legendary knight, all juxtaposed to characters like Teddy Roosevelt and Ahkmenrah who have already reconciled their historical identities with their own autonomy as individuals. Even though the film provides plenty of fun mishaps and some actually killer action sequences, it continues to confront the unique psychosocial relationship between its fictionalized icons and the world around them. Though the franchise never becomes a full-on character study, it fascinates me to consider the possibilities (this is a blog idea waiting to happen, I can feel it), and has me excited for the planned fourth film that we will…hopefully…see somewhere down the line.
License to Kill
October 27th, 2020 - ★★★½
In anticipation of No Time To Die, and a potential new direction for the series following it, I began a marathon (or Bondathon, if you will) to get a better sense of how James Bond has evolved over the years. Though it sounded fun at first, I can confirm that Bondathon 2020 has been quite the slog. To nobody’s shock, the James Bond series has not aged well, both socio-politically and filmically, and a number of them are quite homogenous and, thus, boring. I found little motivation to continue after the Moore era, but Timothy Dalton’s double-header, The Living Daylights and License to Kill, were worthy of mustering up my last shred of attention.
I consider License to be the more entertaining of the two, but it also puts Bond in a position we’ve seen very few times in the series, abandoning his 00 status and going rogue. This gives the film a grittier edge, keeps the espionage global while not getting caught up in politics, and, more importantly, gives Bond some much-needed pathos. Behind the sex appeal and marksmanship is a man with a moral compass that is unwavering to a fault; he deeply cares for his friend, Felix Leiter, but expresses that love through impulsive revenge, at times putting his collaborators at risk. It isn’t a lot, and certainly doesn’t come close to the heights reached by Lazenby, but at least it manages to challenge the character in some way, all of which is reflected in Dalton’s performance. He brings out a raw, emotional side to Bond that, when balanced with less misogyny and more charm, makes for a more well-rounded portrayal of the character that I enjoyed watching. Alas, somehow the two best pre-90’s Bonds both knew when to call it quits, leaving us with only one Lazenby film and two Dalton films. Here’s hoping Brosnan keeps the Bondathon smooth and steady.
The Host
October 28th, 2020 - ★★★★
I wanted to watch a monster movie in honor of the spooky season. My friend noted that The Host is, by all means, a monster film. It wasn’t exactly the Halloween treat I had in mind, but who even cares because holy goddamn SHIT this movie ROCKS.
Most monster movies, particularly those in the American tradition, build suspense and tension through hiding their monster, evoking a mystery in the terror that awaits us. In a refreshing change of pace, the monster in The Host, a heinous, mutant sea creature created as a result of water pollution, is shown in all of his putrid glory within the first 15 minutes of the film. There are no ambiguous close-ups, no silhouettes or shadows or other tricks. We see its full body as it runs amok, leaping through a local park and terrorizing its citizens; we see the many gross details in its mutation as it attacks and kidnaps the locals, including the daughter of our established protagonist. This scene is the first of many bold moments in a film that would become Bong Joon-Ho’s most successful at the time and his first worldwide breakout.
Since then, Bong’s audacious storytelling has become a trademark of his style. It’s this dismissal of subtlety and passivity that keeps even his most dystopian stories modern and recognizable, not to mention batshit bonkers and highly entertaining. The Host makes no secret of its biting commentary on the dangers of government ineptitude and social paranoia in the middle of a health crisis (sounds familiar…), but it’s all wrapped up in a dynamic melting pot of genres––the family drama, the horror comedy, the political satire, even the disaster movie––that keeps it from being bogged down. Plus, at its heart, it’s an incredibly relatable story exploring the ability to find agency in reclaiming your own life, even when it didn’t pan out the way you planned. Though my first viewing was palpably exciting, I am sure it will remain a timeless reinvention of a tried-and-true genre…after its events stop feeling so painfully relevant.
REWATCH OF THE MONTH
Beetlejuice
October 31st, 2020 - ★★★★
Attention K-mart shoppers!!
Everyone has their own special Halloween traditions. Some host a fun party, some trick-or-treat to no end (even in their adult life…), and I watch Tim Burton’s seminal 80’s gonzo horror comedy classic, Beetlejuice. I know it’s not explicitly about Halloween like other holiday favorites, but its iconic characters and countless quotable one-liners have inspired so many costumes and decorations over the years. It just doesn’t feel like spooky season without it! In fact, Tim Burton’s dark, expressionist style has basically become synonymous with the holiday, even if he didn’t even direct the one actual Halloween movie he’s known for (which I also watched recently, for the record)!
Anybody already familiar with Beetlejuice knows how much it rewards repeat viewings; whether it be the zany production design or the laugh-a-minute screenplay, there are new details to discover in every frame. Personally, upon this viewing, I was struck by just how well the film is written. Even in the earliest scenes, we are always learning details about the characters that expertly foreshadow future events as well as their arcs. For example, I never registered that the Maitland’s were struggling to start a family for reasons that are…reproductive in nature (many people assume Barbara had a miscarriage but this is never explicitly stated). It’s a detail of backstory that is conveyed through just two beats of acting, yet it lays an incredibly important foundation for their familial relationship with Lydia. Another wild example is Otho’s genuine awareness of the paranormal. I always took Otho’s pointed remarks as comic relief, so when he ends up leading a real seance, it initially feels like an unexplained comedic moment. Well, it turns out little details of his bizarre knowledge are sprinkled in his first few on-screen moments; he glimpses someone shuffle by the doorway and he can feel Adam rushing past him to lock the attic door. Later, in the moments leading up to the iconic “Day-O” dinner scene, he makes a comment about how those who commit suicide become civil servants in the afterlife, which is a callback to Miss Argentina’s slit wrists. These are small details that make a big difference!
I find many people consider Beetlejuice to be a very fun experience but not necessarily complex in its storytelling. Well, to that I say…yeah, sorta. It certainly isn’t a mindbender, at least not in terms of plot, nor is it ironclad in its pacing and character work––you can feel the film rushing through some of the finer details in the third act to get to the good stuff, which is admittedly very, very good stuff––but the film is certainly not without its merits in terms of writing. It presents strong characters, each with their own backstory and personality that is clearly conveyed through defined emotional beats, which is the very foundation of good filmmaking. Give it a watch next Halloween and you’ll see what I mean.
Other Notable Watches:
The Prestige (September 12th, 2020 - ★★★★)
Stop Making Sense (September 15th, 2020 - ★★★★½)
Vivarium (October 13th, 2020 - ★★★½)
The Masque of the Red Death (October 21st, 2020 - ★★½)
REWATCH: 42 (September 1st, 2020 - ★★★½)
REWATCH: The Road to El Dorado (October 11th, 2020 - ★★★★½)
And that does it for the first episode of “Logged and Loaded” and, boy, what a collection of films to start with. I hope this inspires you to watch one or two of them––if you do, let me know!! Leave a comment or tweet at me. I love a good, wholesome tweet. Stay tuned for another episode next month!
One last obligatory reminder to follow me on Letterboxd and subscribe to this blog! Next week, “Festival Haul” begins!! See ya then, champs.