The Birdcage: Mike Nichols

So, how evil was that son? Amirite? Mike Nichols' The Birdcage is a gorgeous, heart-felt, and hilarious film about tolerance and personal acceptance, but I couldn't get over what a selfish jerk Robin Williams and Nathan Lane's son was. It's funny, but in a weird way I hated the son more than I did Gene Hackman's ultra-conservative senator character. You expect fundamentalist senators to be narrow-minded and hateful. But a man who was selflessly raised in a loving home who then guilts his parents into playing straight? Pretty damn disgusting. On a side note, like almost every film I see him in, The Birdcage tore open the wounds of sorrow I feel in my heart for Robin Williams. When he first came on screen, I instinctively said out loud, "Oh, Robin..."

7/10

Bunny Lake Is Missing: Otto Preminger

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/b-roll-bunny-lake-missing/?utm_content=bufferd0ab1&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer.

7/10

Les Godelureaux: Claude Chabrol

Oh Jean-Luc Godard...you so crazy. What else can you say to Godard's selection of Claude Chabrol's Les Godelureaux as one of the "Six Best French Films Since the Liberation?" Of course, the list was made decades and decades ago. But the idea that this film could be one of the best French films ever is as preposterous as suggesting that it's even one of Chabrol's best. I had to watch it twice back-to-back to fully understand what happened. And even then I found it a fairly tepid romantic drama about a rich bastard messing with a young man after he humiliates him in public. I guess there's some level of cruel irony to a bourgeois fop devoting so much of his life to revenging a minor slight against him. But it wasn't enough to make the film truly interesting. I was originally going to write a B-Roll on this film, but I was so bored by it that I talked myself out of it, schedule be damned!

6/10

Tabloid Vivant: Kyle Broom

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-tabloid-vivant-is-the-strangest-and-best-film-you-wont-understand-youll-see-all-year/78184.

7/10

Dirty Grandpa: Dan Mazer

I hate the cliché of the romantic comedy where somebody gets left at the altar because their significant other had an eventful 2-3 days with an old flame. Of course, that's not the only reason why I hated Dan Mazer's Dirty Grandpa. It's almost nothing but horrifically unfunny cringe humor that almost never connects. This is the kind of film where everybody is an asshole to the protagonist because he has the audacity of being contented with a boring life. I don't like watching people act like jerks...unless they're the Marx Brothers. The film's attempts at being emotional and meaningful in the third act with De Niro coming through as a good grandfather and father feel hollow and unearned.

2/10

Captain America: Civil War: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

The first hour doesn't work and most of the action is mediocre. I'd put CIVIL WAR above ULTRON but below WINTER SOLDIER.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 6, 2016

If the whole film was as good as the airport fight, though, CIVIL WAR would be up there with the best of them.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 6, 2016

Also, both ANT-MAN and SPIDER-MAN stole the spotlight as successfully as the Hulk in the first AVENGERS.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 6, 2016

The creativity of the airport scene was phenomenal. Loved seeing them embrace the wackiness of their powers instead of just using punching.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 6, 2016

Still not sure if I'm totally onboard with this new Spidey. I think it'll take another movie for me to make up my mind.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 6, 2016

This is also the best written Tony Stark has been since maybe the first IRON MAN.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 6, 2016

In the end, despite my complaints, this movie was much, much better than the comic storyline it was based on.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 6, 2016

6/10

Dheepan: Jacques Audiard

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-dheepan-disappoints-doesnt-deserve-the-palme/78061.

5/10

About Time: Richard Curtis

I shouldn't like Richard Curtis' About Time as much as I do. Its rules regarding time travel make no damn sense, particularly the BS rule about how you can't change anything before a child is born because they suddenly won't exist. It all smacks of arbitrariness. But I still loved About Time because it's too smart, too original to dislike for those inconsistencies. It said some of the most poignant things about aging, life, death, and loss that I've seen in a movie recently. This is the kind of film whose emotions come about maybe once in a writer's life. Though the scene with the father and son at the beach makes no sense considering the "rules," it made me tear up. If I ever watch the film again, I'll probably react the same way to it.

8/10

The Best of It: Scott Pearson Eberly

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-the-best-of-it/77947.

5/10

Restoration: Zack Ward

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-restoration-is-burnt-out-on-bad-ends/77855.

4/10

The X from Outer Space: Kazui Nihonmatsu

If not for its politics, Kazui Nihonmatsu's The X from Outer Space would have been a very unremarkable kaiju film. The plot is a plethora of kaiju clichés: a monster from outer space drawn to sources of energy on earth, an ineffectual military failing to stop the monster's rampage, a team of scientists finally figuring out how to defeat it. But again, the politics make it interesting. First off, this is one of the earliest kaiju films I can remember that had a legitimately ethnically diverse cast--there are several non-Japanese actors. In particular, two white people whom I assume to be Americans are prominent cast members: a female astronaut named Lisa who is crucial to the plot and a tertiary scientist/advisor who helps helm the official response against the titular monster. There's one scene in particular that shocked me--the American scientist/advisor and one of his Japanese partners reflect on how some world leaders are calling for the use of atomic weaponry against the kaiju. They mention how it is America who seems most strongly against the use of atomic weaponry. You never can tell, huh?

7/10

We the People: The Market Basket Effect: Tommy Reid

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-we-the-people-the-market-basket-effect/77761.

7/10

Crazy, Stupid, Love: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's Crazy, Stupid, Love is overlong, boring, and too contrived. At one point Steve Carell's character says in a moment of dejection, "What a cliché." When will writers learn that pointing out that something is a cliché doesn't magically make it not a cliché? Here's the film's biggest problem: none of the characters are interesting or lovable enough to make me forgive how unoriginal the narrative is. With the exception of the third act revelation concerning Emma Stone's character, almost all of the plot twists and developments can be seen a mile away. I did like how all of the plot-lines collided in the last 15 minutes like an old school screwball comedy. But even that couldn't redeem its plodding pace. And plus, the part at the end where the 17 year old gives the 13 year old naked pictures of herself is really, really skeezy.

5/10

Viktoria: Maya Vitkova

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-viktoria/77657.

4/10

Dough: John Goldschmidt

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-dough/77654.

4/10

3rd Street Blackout: Negin Farsad, Jeremy Redleaf

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-3rd-street-blackout/77586.

3/10

El Clásico: Halkawt Mustafa

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/el-clasico/.

6/10

Children of the Mountain: Priscilla Anany

To read this review, go to: screencomment.com/2016/04/children-of-the-mountain/.

7/10

Special Correspondents: Ricky Gervais

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/special-correspondents/.

6/10

A Hologram for the King: Tom Tykwer

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/hologram-for-the-king/.

7/10

Command and Control: Robert Kenner

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/command-and-control/.

8/10

Memories of a Penitent Heart: Cecilia Aldarondo

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/memories-penitent-heart/.

9/10

Here Alone: Rod Blackhurst

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/here-alone/.

5/10

Courted: Christian Vincent

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/courted/.

7/10

Elvis & Nixon: Liza Johnson

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/elvis-and-nixon-tribeca-festival/.

8/10

Obit: Vanessa Gould

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/obit/.

8/10

Bad Rap: Salima Koroma

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/bad-rap/.

6/10

Bugs: Andreas Johnsen

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/bugs/.

7/10

Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator: Dušan Makavejev

I'm not entirely sure what Dušan Makavejev is trying to say in his film Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator. Is it that state-sponsored sexual oppression leads to murderous impulses? That sexual openness is counterrevolutionary? Then again, one of the first sex scenes in the film between the main couple is juxtaposed with scenes of Communists destroying churches. Are we then supposed to interpret sexual freedom as being coterminous with Communist values and their successes? Of course, this being Makavejev, he might just be pulling our chain. Perhaps that's the point?

8/10

From the Terrace: Mark Robson

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/blu-ray-review-terrace/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=the_retro_set&utm_content=Blu-ray%20Review%3A%20FROM%20THE%20TERRACE.

8/10

Magnus: Benjamin Ree

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/magnus/.

7/10

A Kind of Murder: Andy Goddard

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/a-kind-of-murder/.

6/10

The Human Thing: Gerardo Chijona

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/human-thing/.

5/10

AWOL: Deb Shoval

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/always-shine-awol/.

4/10

Always Shine: Sophia Takal

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/always-shine-awol/.

6/10

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: Justin Krook

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/steve-aoki/.

7/10

Hunt for the Wilderpeople: Taika Waititi

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/hunt-wilderpeople/.

7/10

Do Not Resist: Craig Atkinson

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/donotresist-movie/.

8/10

Nerdland: Chris Prynoski

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/tribeca2016-nerdland/.

5/10

Life, Animated: Roger Ross Williams

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/life-animated/.

5/10

High-Rise: Ben Wheatley

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/tribeca2016-high-rise/.

4/10

First Monday in May: Andrew Rossi

To read this review, go to: http://screencomment.com/2016/04/first-monday-may/.

6/10

Thank Your Lucky Stars: David Butler

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/blu-ray-review-thank-lucky-stars-warner-archive/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=the_retro_set&utm_content=Blu-ray%20Review%3A%20THANK%20YOUR%20LUCKY%20STARS%20from%20Warner%20Archive.

7/10

The Invisible Ray: Lambert Hillyer

Lambert Hillyer's The Invisible Ray is one of the most unexpectedly beautiful low-budget horror films I've ever seen. Cinematographer George Robinson captures the film almost like a series of baroque tableaux, rich in mise-en-scène, careful balances of light and dark, and blocking which frequently utilizes empty space within medium-long and long shots. The plot is pure pulp, both deliciously absurd (an element from outer space turns a scientist into a walking death machine) and unfortunately racist (the less said about the Darkest Africa sequences, the better). It also helps that both Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi are in top form!

8/10

Dracula's Daughter: Lambert Hillyer

Lambert Hillyer's Dracula's Daughter contains too much unnecessary comedic relief in the first third and too much unnecessary chatter in the second. With a tighter script I feel the film could have gone down as a classic instead of as the curio it has become for its lesbian subtexts. And in all fairness the subtexts are fascinating as well as their implications for the titular character. She represents something practically unheard of in vampire cinema at the time: a self-hating vampire who wanted to be human. Gloria Holden brings a noble dignity and intensity to her role as Countess Marya Zaleska. I wish she had returned for future films; I find her more interesting than Dracula himself.

6/10

Mysterious Island: Cy Endfield

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/blu-ray-review-mysterious-island-1961-twilight-time/?utm_content=buffer85f3d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer.

7/10

One More Time: Robert Edwards

To read this review, go to: http://theyoungfolks.com/review/movie-review-one-more-time/76288.

6/10

Murder, My Sweet: Edward Dmytryk

[Revisit Review]

Just like how Raymond Chandler's novel Farewell, My Lovely is a superior novel in all respects to his more famous novel The Big Sleep, Edward Dmytryk's Murder, My Sweet is a superior film to Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep (1946). Darker, moodier, and more cutting, Murder My Sweet may not have the sheer star power or quotability of Hawks' film, but it captures Chandler's vision better with amazing impressionist sequences that mimic Philip Marlowe's mindset--just take the sequence where he's being drugged by a corrupt doctor.

9/10

The Raven: Lew Landers

Lew Landers' The Raven is surprisingly tepid for a movie featuring both Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi in their prime. I did like how its version of "adaptation" of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven was the feature a villain obsessed with the man's work and that poem in particular. That's just smart screenwriting, right there. But not much really happens until the last 20 minutes when Lugosi starts tormenting his dinner guests with all of his crazy mansion toys--working replicas of Poe's torture devices, mechanical mansion traps, even an entire room which descends into the basement via a massive elevator. It's old school pulpy fun. I also appreciated how Karloff snarled like Frankenstein's Monster when he first realized that he was betrayed and enslaved by Lugosi. Nice tough.

6/10

Children of the Corn: Fritz Kiersch

Stephen King's Children of the Corn is a legitimately creepy and unsettling short story that juxtaposes a crumbling marriage against an atmosphere of specifically American religious extremism and paranoia. Fritz Kiersch's Children of the Corn takes the general story and tries to make it into a watered down exploitation movie bereft of tension and atmosphere. Part of this is its use of two protagonists--the married couple from the short story (who here have a great and happy marriage) and a young boy living in the damned town who inexplicably narrates the film. So half of the film is narrated, the other half not. What's worse, all of the scenes with the couple take place after the town and its backstory are fleshed out and explained. As a result, we watch the couple discover things that we the audience already know. Imagine if in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980) the film began with a lengthy prologue explaining that the Overlook Hotel was haunted, how it was haunted, and that it intended to entrap the Torrance family. Children of the Corn is boring because it doesn't allow its characters and its audience to figure out the town's secret on their own.

4/10