Pandemic: John Suits

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-pandemic/76013.

4/10

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2: Kirk Jones

Kirk Jones' My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 has many, many problems--jokes ripped off wholesale from the first movie, a flimsy premise, characters whose only features are their own pettiness. But the biggest one is that for a film which ostensibly takes place 14 years after the first one, the characters haven't grown one bit. Aged, perhaps. But if anything they have become Flanderized. Toula (Nia Vardalos) has it the worst, devolving from a slightly insecure but determined woman in the first film to a full-fledged neurotic who chews scenery like crazy. In both physical appearance and mannerisms she is becoming a Greek Tina Fay. Also I didn't buy the granddaughter's character arc. After 17 years of a torturous upbringing it takes only one act of bravery on Toula's part for her to completely re-evaluate how she views her family? Not buying it. This film may be benign, but it's also aggravating.

4/10

Alphaville: Jean-Luc Godard

[Revisit Review]

Rewatching ALPHAVILLE (1965). Man, Godard had the best credits sequences back in the day...

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 22, 2016

ALPHAVILLE is so deliciously weird. Too self-aware to play itself straight, too straight to admit that it idolizes the noir it mimics.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 22, 2016

Jean-Luc Godard's ALPHAVILLE (1965) pic.twitter.com/diTtLR9zuA

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 22, 2016

No matter how many times I watch ALPHAVILLE, I'm not sure I'll ever reconcile my feelings for it? Deliberate craziness or slapdash nonsense?

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 22, 2016

Jean-Luc Godard's ALPHAVILLE (1965) pic.twitter.com/Zpig6AXEca

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 24, 2016

6/10

The Lady Vanishes: Alfred Hitchcock

[Revisit Review]

The brilliance of Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes reveals itself with repeated viewings: the strength of its narrative construction. The film is a meat-and-potatoes mystery film--an elderly woman has seemingly disappeared from a crowded train. In a sense it almost predicts Hitchcock's later single-set thriller Lifeboat (1944). But this time around I was amazed with how little I liked the leading man, musician Gilbert Redman (Michael Redgrave). I used to find him charming and self-assured. But now I just find him annoying, self-centered, and bratty. Side note: I could find no Hitchcock hiccup here.

8/10

The Detective: Gordon Douglas

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/frank-sinatra-the-detective/.

7/10

The Black Cat: Edgar G. Ulmer

[Revisit Review]

There's a delicious oneiric quality to Edgar G. Ulmer's The Black Cat (1934): the harsh modernistic interiors of Boris Karloff's castle fort brimming with geometric shapes, planes, and angles; the constant tension between Karloff and Bela Lugosi as two enemies hellbent on killing each other while doing nothing to impede each other from freely wandering the fort; the obsession with dead or confused women. Even better, it gives us one of Lugosi's best and most dignified performances.

8/10

The Human Condition: Road to Eternity: Masaki Kobayashi

Yes, I know I waited too damn long to watch the next part of Masaki Kobayashi's towering The Human Condition. Sue me. Anyhow, here are my thoughts about it. It's incredibly well photographed, using its widescreen cinematography in that gorgeous way that only Japanese filmmakers from the 50s and 60s really understood. The story became a bit repetitive: the lead character endures beatings and humiliations, things around him change, he endures more beatings and humiliations, rinse and repeat. There's less narrative variety than in Part One. Still, many of the scenes are breathtakingly powerful. The two best in my opinion are the scene where the abused bespectacled private accidentally shoots and kills himself in a bathroom stall seconds after resolving not to kill himself and a moment near the very end where the protagonist's group is annihilated by a Soviet tank unit. Two terrified Japanese soldiers look out at each other from their foxholes and desperately reach out to the other. But for what? A moment of human contact? Sympathy? Love? Comfort? It hardly matters since the moment their hands touch they are both obliterated by a tank shell.

7/10

They're Watching: Jay Lender, Micah Wright

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-theyre-watching/75563.

1/10

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Zack Snyder

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice/75609.

6/10

Risen: Kevin Reynolds

Kevin Reynolds’ Risen is one of the best religious movies in years due in large part to the fact that it doesn’t feel like a religious movie until the second half. We are presented with a side of the Resurrection story scarcely considered by artists, writers, and religious leaders: the reactions of the Roman authorities to the disappearance of the body of a martyred Jewish prophet. After all, to the Romans Jesus of Nazareth was just a rabble-rouser exacerbating their precarious relationship with local Jewish authorities. The authenticity of the rumors surrounding his so-called “resurrection” is irrelevant—if the people believe them the results could be riots, turmoil, and upheaval. So when reports of an empty tomb surface, Pontius Pilate (Peter Firth) orders Clavius (Joseph Fiennes), an experienced and jaded tribune, to recover the body at all costs.

 Essentially a police procedural, the first half follows Clavius going about his investigation with the meticulousness of a detective. Jewish cemeteries are ripped apart, bodies are exhumed for identification, and possible witnesses are arrested and interrogated. These scenes can be difficult to watch for their somewhat graphic content. Though the film boasts a PG-13 rating, Reynolds doesn’t hesitate to linger on the more “scientific” aspects of crucifixion, Roman corpse disposal, and bodily decomposition. It’s one thing to read about how crucified criminals had their legs broken to speed up their dying. It’s quite another to actually see it. But these scenes are important in how they recontextualize the film as a kind of skeptic’s investigation. Scoffing at the divinity of Jesus and the religion of the Jews, Clavius seeks rational explanations for the Resurrection even in the face of irrational evidence. At least, that is, until he makes a miraculous discovery and meets the Messiah among His disciples.

The other half of this review will be published in my church's monthly newsletter.

7/10

Sweet Adeline: Mervyn LeRoy

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/dvd-review-three-from-wb-archive-collection-irene-dunne/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=the_retro_set&utm_content=DVD%20Review%20-%20Irene%20Dunne%20to%20the%203rd%20Power.

6/10

Ann Vickers: John Cromwell, Tommy Atkins

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/dvd-review-three-from-wb-archive-collection-irene-dunne/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=the_retro_set&utm_content=DVD%20Review%20-%20Irene%20Dunne%20to%20the%203rd%20Power.

4/10

Consolation Marriage: Paul Sloane, Charles Kerr

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/dvd-review-three-from-wb-archive-collection-irene-dunne/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=the_retro_set&utm_content=DVD%20Review%20-%20Irene%20Dunne%20to%20the%203rd%20Power.

5/10

Jujiro: Teinosuke Kinugasa, Bonji Taira

I need to revisit Teinosuke Kinugasa and Bonji Taira's Jujiro again in the future. Part of this is because the copy of the film that I watched was so heavily deteriorated that I sometimes had trouble figuring out what I was looking at. But another part is that I want to see it live with an actual musical accompaniment instead of the dead silence that complimented the aforementioned copy. Jujiro is fascinating: it uses montages in ways that would make Sergei Eisenstein jealous and double exposures that would make Dziga Vertov green with envy. When the film kicks into high gear it's an expressionist nightmare. But unfortunately long stretches of the film are quiet and still as a Noh play. Again, maybe a better copy of the film would make these sequences more engaging. But I'm not sure.

7/10

The Program: Stephen Frears

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/the-program-lance-armstrong-movie/75138.

7/10

The Starving Games: Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer

I am clearly not the target audience for Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer's The Starving Games. It's not just because I'm not a fan of the Hunger Games franchise and have read none of the books or seen any of the movies, it's that I'm not a teenager currently living in the year 2013. And because I'm not a teenager currently living in the year 2013, a lot of the then-timely pop culture references make absolutely no sense. Here is the problem with Friedberg and Seltzer's movies: they're immediately obsolete and outdated because of their reliance on pop culture references. I watched the film with my sister, a fan of the franchise who has read the books and seen the movies, and she admitted that a number of the jokes were actually quite clever parodies. And I myself must admit that some of the jokes did make me laugh. But the vast majority were puerile, stupid, nonsensical, and just plain unfunny. Whether it was the atrocious use of clip art for things as simple as melee weapons and fake toenails or the three separate scenes which centered on hilarious testicular trauma, The Starving Games aims for the lowest common denominator and still misses. Yet despite all this, I still think it's the best Friedberg and Seltzer film I've seen so far since a) it had some genuinely funny jokes, and b) it forced itself to have a coherent story-line since it had to follow a single film--much like their earlier project Meet the Spartans (2008).

3/10

Dirigible: Frank Capra

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/b-roll-frank-capras-dirigible-1931/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=the_retro_set&utm_content=B-Roll%3A%20Frank%20Capra%27s%20DIRIGIBLE%20%281931%29.

6/10

Look At Us Now, Mother!: Gayle Kirschenbaum

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/look-at-us-now-mother-documentary/74784.

7/10

Ratcatcher: Lynne Ramsay

[Revisit Review]

The first time I watched Lynne Ramsay's Ratcatcher it just sorta washed over me in a watery wave. I only remembered two things: very depressed, very dour Scottish people and a scene where a rat with its tail tied to a balloon travels to the moon. I blame the Scottish accents. I literally couldn't understand anything they were saying. But this time around my copy of Ratcatcher has subtitles. I was pleasantly surprised by how effective the film was as a depiction of poverty and a cry of futile longing for a better tomorrow.

8/10

Ménilmontant: Dimitri Kirsanoff

The first time I watched Dimitri Kirsanoff's Ménilmontant, I had no idea what was going on. I was so confused that immediately afterwards I literally re-watched the film just so I could try and understand what had happened. After two viewings I can say that, while I can follow the first half relatively well--two sisters lose their parents to a double homicide, move to the city, and become engaged in a love triangle--the second half absolutely loses me. I don't know if a third or fourth viewing will help, either. Ménilmontant is an odd duck from a technical standpoint: it combines montage with visual impressionism, high melodrama with expressionist editing that frequently seems more concerned with disorientation than suturing a scene together.

Zootopia: Byron Howard, Rich Moore

Is it weird that the big thing I got out of Byron Howard and Rich Moore's Zootopia is that they were really, really proud of the fact that they got Shakira as a guest star? Because she's everywhere in this damn movie. Seriously though, Zootopia is a refreshingly original and sophisticated. Its commentary on stereotyping and racism was surprisingly astute: although there are clear similarities between animal prejudices and real life human ones, they never go so far as to ascribe any one species to a race of humans. Therefore the prejudices come naturally from the world of the film instead of from hackneyed equivalents to our own. Also, I like how the film seems to conclude itself halfway in when the Mayor Lion gets arrested for imprisoning feral predators. From there the film seems to improvise naturally into a new, better story.

7/10

FRANKƐN5TƐ1N: Bernard Rose

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-frank%C9%9Bn5t%C9%9B1n/74636.

3/10

Scorpio: Michael Winner

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/blu-ray-review-michael-winners-scorpio-1973/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=the_retro_set&utm_content=Blu-ray%20Review%3A%20Michael%20Winner%27s%20SCORPIO%20%281973%29.

7/10

Born Free: James Hill

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/blu-ray-review-james-hills-born-free-1966/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=the_retro_set&utm_content=Blu-ray%20Review%3A%20James%20Hill%27s%20BORN%20FREE%20%281966%29.

7/10

A Man There Was: Victor Sjöström

Victor Sjöström's A Man There Was was the most expensive Swedish film ever made when it debuted. And that money shows: lavish boat sets, multitudes of costumed extras, location shooting on open water. But what strikes me most about A Man There Was is its storytelling acumen. For a narrative which spans the whole gamut of human emotions from joy to depression to misery to rage, it never feels forced or melodramatic. Sjöström's use of cross-cutting is equally exceptional. The early scene where the protagonist tries to outrun an English blockade on a rowboat was startlingly effective even by today's standards. Silent films have an unfortunate manner of diluting their emotional impact on viewers over the decades. But I imagine A Man There Was hit me as hard as it did its original audiences.

8/10

The Intern: Nancy Meyers

I can understand why a lot of people may not have liked Nancy Meyers' The Intern: it's a film where an elderly man swoops in and essentially "fixes" a young woman's start-up company, proving that his more conservative ways are better and more effective than those of a young career woman. But judging The Intern from a context of "older and masculine" triumphing over "younger and feminine" is to entirely miss the point of the film. If anything, Robert De Niro's 70-year old widower Ben Whittaker teaches self-respect and calmness: it's not that men should wear suits to work, it's that men should take pride in their appearance; it's not that Anne Hathaway's workaholic CEO Jules Ostin should drop her business duties and focus solely on her family, it's that she needs to find a way to balance both without self-destructing. De Niro exudes time-tested wisdom and experience, not fundamentalist platitudes left over from the misogynist boardrooms and office buildings of the 1950s. The Intern does something seldom seen in modern dramas about generational conflict: suggest that both sides can learn from each other. Here is a movie that argues that the old aren't foolish and myopically set in their ways and that the young aren't empty-headed and immature.

7/10

The Wave: Roar Uthaug

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/the-wave-2016-movie/74232.

6/10

Camino: Josh C. Waller

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/camino-movie-zoe-bell/74230.

4/10

Stage Fright: Jerome Sable

Most critics didn't like Jerome Sable's Stage Fright. But here's the thing they missed: it wasn't really just a musical, a slasher film, or even a combination of both. In my opinion, the film works as an intense exaggeration of backstage life in amateur stage productions. Speaking as a former high school thespian, much of the suspicious shenanigans that went on in this film--directors giving out parts to themselves or their friends, weird sexual favors, extreme narcissism and backstabbing--are authentic. I feel like the killer was an embodiment of these anxieties coalesced into a perfect exaggerated whole. But besides that, the music is surprisingly catchy, the acting is great, and the featured singers can actually sing! I don't see Stage Fright as a love letter to slashers, I see it as a hate-love letter to the theater.

7/10

The Great Beauty: Paolo Sorrentino

Watching Paolo Sorrentino's THE GREAT BEAUTY (2013). This film is everything I wanted Fellini's LA DOLCE VITA (1960) to be.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 2, 2016

I always felt LA DOLCE VITA was bloated and hollow. Sorrentino nails all the emotions and quiet devastations I expected from such a story.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 2, 2016

Honestly, THE GREAT BEAUTY feels like what would have happened if Fellini hadn't gone into an artistic decline after AMARCORD.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 2, 2016

These scenes with Sister Maria are absolutely devastating. I can barely watch.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 2, 2016

The film's genius comes from its enthusiastic embrace of the intangible: the grasping for the unknowable, the unfeel-able. The music elevates the film's images into a visual prayer of desperation, lust, and piety.

9/10

Ceiling Zero: Howard Hawks

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/b-roll-howard-hawks-ceiling-zero-1936/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=the_retro_set&utm_content=B-Roll%3A%20Howard%20Hawks%27%20CEILING%20ZERO%20%281936%29.

6/10