As I mentioned in my previous post, my love of movies was rekindled this past summer and I was able to see a number of great films, primarily those discussed as part of the award season. Rather than do stand-alone film reviews, I decided to tackle my observations of the 2019 year in film through a multi-part series of posts. I am still seeing some of the movies that came out late and finalizing my top 10 list, so today I am going to start with some Special Categories.
But first, a disclaimer
I’m not a film critic (of course), so I didn’t see everything this year, even some of the big box office or big award season movies. Some of these I didn’t have time to see and some didn’t interest me that much:
- Disney / Pixar / Marvel: I don’t have anything against these genres – they just didn’t interest me enough with all of the other great movies that were released this year. I’m not much of an animated fan and never got into the MCU (perhaps someday I will). So, even though they were huge hits, you won’t be reading about Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, Frozen 2, Toy Story 4, or anything else in those genres.
- Movies I didn’t get a chance to see: Let’s start with this – there were A LOT of movies released this year, especially considering streaming services like Netflix and Amazon now produce movies. There were over 300 films eligible for Oscars this year. Some of the titles getting Oscar buzz or that came out late that I didn’t get to see: Little Women, Pain and Glory, Honey Boy, Motherless Brooklyn, and of course, Cats – you saw the trailer, right? C’mon.
I’ll be honest – I made these categories up so I could write about these films. I guess that’s the benefit of being in charge of the blog.
Biggest Surprise – Booksmart
Released in May, Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut passed me by until it showed up in my Hulu recommendations in November, so I decided to give it a try. Recognizing that I am probably not the target audience of a film about two high school seniors trying to cram four years of fun into one night before graduation, surprisingly, I really enjoyed this film.
There will be natural comparisons to Superbad, given the plot of up and coming actors playing high-school nerds trying to join the cool crowd, high-profile supporting actors playing the adults, and memorable scenes and quotes. The performances of Beanie Feldstein (as Molly) and Kaitlyn Dever (as Amy) in Booksmart were not only funny, but genuine. They both did a nice job of balancing the high-school turbulence of confidence (when you are with your best friend) with teenage vulnerability (when trying to connect with your high school crush). I particularly liked the party scene when Molly’s face lit up as she connected with Nick about Harry Potter and Amy finds the inner confidence to sing karaoke of You Oughta Know in front of her crush, Ryan. And the doll scene is hysterical.
Feldstein was nominated for a Golden Globe for Booksmart and Dever was nominated for her performance in the excellent Netflix series Unbelievable. It will be fun to watch these talented actresses going forward.
Biggest Disappointment – The Laundromat
A movie about the Panama papers financial scandal directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Scott Z. Burns and starring Meryl Streep? Sign me up. Unfortunately, I was not a fan of the execution of this story – I must have missed the news that this would be a satire and an attempt at comedy. This type of approach for a similar topic was executed much better in The Big Short, whereas to me, The Laundromat turned into a mess, especially the ending where Meryl Streep is preaching to the camera about the evils of big corporations in America. No thanks.
Musical Film Hit – Western Stars
Editorial note: I am a huge Bruce Springsteen fan – he has a permanent spot on my Mt. Rushmore of musicians and there is a 100% chance I will be writing about the brilliance of Mr. Springsteen and the E Street Band in future blog posts.
Now that I have disclosed my bias….
In June 2019, Bruce released Western Stars, an album that was a departure from his signature style with the E Street Band and more reminiscent of 1987’s Tunnel of Love and 1982’s Nebraska. Inspired by 1970s Southern California pop music (think Glen Campbell and Burt Bacharach), it includes both character-driven stories and songs inspired by Bruce’s own personal struggles. It is the rare Springsteen album that I would describe as “beautiful” – the lyrics, the melodies, and most of all, the lush orchestra arrangements.
Knowing that he wouldn’t tour for the album, he decided to film a concert performance in a barn at his New Jersey farm in front of a small audience with a full band, including a thirty-piece orchestra. In between the songs are short film segments where Bruce talks about the origin of a song, or events in his life that inspired his writing. Like the album, the film is beautiful – not just the concert performance, but the film segments, which were filmed at Joshua Tree National Park. My personal highlights are the title track, Hello Sunshine, and a cover of Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy.
Musical Film Miss – Rocketman
My one memory of seeing the trailer for Rocketman the first time was the scene where Taron Egerton (as Elton John) is playing the piano in front of a raucous crowd and he starts to float up in the air. First my thought was “What the…..?”, then my second was “Maybe this isn’t the kind of movie for me.”
Several months later after I read positive reviews, I decided to give it a try when it was released on DVD. I like Elton John’s music and know enough of his life story to think that it could be an interesting story. While Egerton is outstanding in the role, I just didn’t like the execution of the movie. Being such a music fan, I prefer stories about musicians to naturally weave the music into the story, like Walk the Line, Oliver Stone’s The Doors, or even Bohemian Rhapsody (which was good, not great). Sidebar: Egerton gets high marks for doing all of his own singing in Rocketman, unlike Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury. Yes, I think Bradley Cooper was robbed of the Best Actor Oscar last year.
To me, where Rocketman fell down was too much overacting and too many fantasy sequences where people just burst into song – it felt like awkward attempts to shoehorn in a song by creating a scene out of nowhere. Another sidebar: My wife Jen will laugh when she reads this because her biggest complaint about La La Land was that people just broke into song without advancing the story. And yes, I am aware of the scene where Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone float up into the air and dance. My whole family knows my feelings about La La Land – let’s just say there may be a 10,000-word manifesto in my future on why that film is perfect and very rewatchable. Back to Rocketman: Great music, Egerton is excellent, but to me, a missed opportunity with strong available source material.
The Charlie Babbitt Award for Overlooked Performance – Matthew Rhys, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
This award is named for the character Tom Cruise played in Rain Man. Everyone remembers Dustin Hoffman’s Oscar-winning performance, but Cruise was just as great in that film and is often overlooked. So, he gets his own award.
This year’s winner is Matthew Rhys, who is actually the lead actor of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, despite the star power of Tom Hanks playing Mr. Rogers in a supporting role. Rhys plays Lloyd Vogel, a writer for Esquire magazine, charged with writing a feature story on Mr. Rogers, as part of a series on heroes in America. The character is based on Tom Junod, whose story on Rogers is the basis of the film.
Rhys is excellent as a cynical writer trying to prove that Rogers is too good to be true, while struggling with doubts about his ability to be a good father to his new son. His feelings are amplified by the return of his father (played by Chris Cooper), who abandoned him and his sister while his mother was dying. It’s easy to see why Hanks gets all the attention in this movie, even when his portrayal of Rogers slips into parody at times, but Rhys holds his own the whole movie. And selfishly, I wanted to write about Rhys since The Americans (in which he starred alongside Keri Russell) is one of my all-time favorite television shows. Also, if you watch an interview with him, he has a very thick Welsh accent. The fact that he can consistently play Americans without anyone noticing his accent is very impressive.
Recommendation for a Batshit Crazy Double Feature – Midsommar and The Lighthouse
Midsommar tells the story of a group of college students who travel to Sweden to attend a midsummer festival at the commune of one of the student’s ancestors. Florence Pugh plays the main character, Dani, who embarks on the trip following a family tragedy that opens the movie. As the students learn more and more about the commune, the film descends further and further into a nightmare scenario for the group. Besides the disturbing direction of the plot, what makes this horror film unique and disorienting is that it takes place primarily in daylight during Sweden’s Summer Solstice.
The Lighthouse tells the story of two lighthouse attendants who slowly descend into madness, while stranded on a remote island during a storm. I am not a film expert, but I know incredible cinematography when I see it. Shot beautifully in black and white and a smaller aspect ratio than a typical film, you will feel claustrophobic as you witness the lead characters (played by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) alternate between close friendship and terror-inducing arguments. As you witness them question what is real, you also start to question what you are watching and wonder what people are capable of while experiencing extreme duress.
These are two wild psychological thrillers that have many WTF moments throughout and too many “Where is this plot going?” moments to count. The contrasting daylight of Midsommar and black and white of The Lighthouse could make for an interesting combination.
Best Performance in a Film by a Musician I Saw at Jazz Fest – Little Freddie King, Queen & Slim
OK, now I’m really making up categories. This is a story that only a few people may find amusing.
Back in May 2019, my sisters, cousins and I took a trip to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. We’ve done a few cousins trips the last few years and I came up with the idea to go to Jazz Fest when I heard that my favorite band, the Dave Matthews Band, would be headlining one of the days. A number of my extended family members are DMB fans, so it seemed like a good excuse to go to New Orleans. The festival was excellent – there are a number of stages and tents throughout the fairgrounds where the festival is held. You can hear any type of music – Jazz, Blues, R&B, Rock, Gospel – and each year there is a new lineup, frequently including some music legends. If you’ve never gone, I highly recommend it. And if you go to New Orleans, check out Preservation Hall to see the Jazz Band play – you won’t be disappointed.
The nice thing about Jazz Fest is that the music is during the day with the headliners wrapping up by 7:00. So, you can you can take in the festival, and then go out in the city and enjoy the nightlife and see some great live music. In fact, some of the performers at Jazz Fest play small bars and clubs while they are in town for the weekend. After seeing DMB on Saturday, we went out to dinner and then walked to a small neighborhood bar that my cousin’s wife had heard great things about. While we crammed into a very small bar, out came Little Freddie King and his small band to play the Blues. He was awesome – there was probably 50 people in the bar, and everyone was having fun watching this 78-year-old musician doing what he loves. The next day while at the festival, I walked by the schedule board to see who was playing the various tents and stages at that time. Wouldn’t you know it, but Little Freddie King’s Blues Band was playing the Blues Tent. We all went to watch him and were stunned at the hundreds of people that were jamming to his tunes and having a blast. Turns out, we were watching a Blues legend at a small bar the night before and didn’t even know it. When I told the story to my aunt and uncle a few weeks later, he couldn’t believe we saw him – you see, he’s a big Blues fan and knew exactly who we were talking about.
What does this have to do with a movie blog post? A few months ago, I saw Queen & Slim, the story of an African-American couple who end up on the run after an incident with a White police officer leads to his killing. The police chase and the media attention turn the couple into celebrities, while they are just trying to get away, knowing that their story of what really happened will never be believed. It’s a good movie – it has some storylines you’ve seen before, but it’s good in the sense that it shows the messiness of real life and doesn’t force a happy ending. While the couple are on the run, they stop in a small bar in Mississippi and there playing in the bar was Little Freddie King and his Blues Band. I had a nice laugh when I saw that. So, there you go – sometimes you see an artist early in their career before they make it big, and sometimes you see a legend play and you don’t even know it.
That’s all for this week’s post. I’ll be back next week to discuss my favorite films of the year, after I see a few more of the recent releases. If you enjoyed reading and would like to subscribe, you can do so on the right side of my home page here.
Enjoyed this blog in Chicago!
Thanks for the support Lisa!