Given, 07 October 2017, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
A documentary about a surfing family that goes on walkabout to surf from six different continents, Given is narrated by a young child, whose name, it turns out, is Given. Things going overly twee at points--the framing narrative of hunting “the big fish” is leaned on too heavily, but it does end up with the kid’s father catching a six-foot fish, so apparently it wasn't supposed to be solely metaphorical? In any case, Given’s script is generally lovely--it seems clear the producers took a lot of Given's kid-chatter and wove it into lovely coherence. And given the number of locales (e.g. Iceland, Senegal, Thailand, Peru, Fiji), and some portraits straight out of National Geographic, anyone with a travel bug would dig this, and hard.
Grizzly Man, 07 October 2017, HSDFF
That was...absurd. And tragic. And that scene of Jewel’s face as Herzog listens to that audio, “You must never listen to this...I think you should destroy this.” That's going to stick with me for a long, long time.
Oh, and Werner Herzog and producer Erik Nelson had a quick Q&A after the screening. In regards to that scene, Herzog said, “There are certain borderlines that you do not trespass,” when one must respect the “privacy and dignity of a human being’s death.”
Beasts of the Southern Wild, 07 October 2017, DVD via public library
“We’s who the earth was for.” This is a movie that makes you want to cuddle the youngsters in your life.
Wasted!, 08 October 2017, HSDFF
I changed my entire teaching plan for next semester so I could use this in class. It's SO GOOD. And hits right at the sweet spot between my foodie, environmentalist, and cultural critic identities. <3
Magic Mike XXL, 08 October 2017, DVD via Netflix
- That “Pony” scene on its own is all the reason this movie needs to exist. IT IS THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE TO "PONY."
- What a gift Channing Tatum is to the universe.
- HOW IS THAT BACKSTREET BOYS SCENE SO GOOD.
- This is like some crazy Odyssey-level plot, y'all, and Channing Tatum is apparently Odysseus.
- "It's not bro time, it's show time." "One, two, three, MALE ENTERTAINERS."
- I’mma need some Rome/Effie Trinket fic, like, IMMEDIATELY, y’all.
- Not even joking, this might be one of my favorite movies now. It's like Bring It On crossed with a stripper version of The Odyssey.
I MEAN, SERIOUSLY.The Mummy (2017), 11 October 2017, Blu-ray via RedBox
Despite the dire reviews, I have long known I pretty much enjoy the hell out of any Tom Cruise action movie. (I'm 50/50 on his drama and romance work.) I suspect the structure of the movie was to its detriment--rather than capitalizing on Cruise’s “competent rake” schtick, they started off with a lengthy prelude narrated by Russell Crowe. Switching things around would have worked so, so, so much better. Like, start with tomb robbers in Iraq and then do the exposition as the tomb’s contents are unearthed. Basically, they structured it like the titular monster was the draw and, like, nobody cares about mummies as a thing? Also, they kept using ravens as harbingers, and does Egypt have ravens? I was legit distracted by this insignificant detail.
In any case, things kicked into gear once the Prodigium appeared on the scene--secret monster-fighting societies are a rock-solid genre and aesthetic--and they had a dab hand with Cruise's “flustered coward” mode (think the first third of Edge of Tomorrow). And Sofia Boutella got saddled with some epic nonsense, but goddamn if she didn't get throw herself into the physicality of the role.
So yeah. Not a great movie, but I’d be curious to see the next installment in the franchise.
The Cinema Travellers, 12 October 2017, HSDFF
This was a lovely and sad movie, about a handful of folks in India who traveled around rural areas showing movies on film. Most heartbreaking was one film camera repairman, who cheerfully engineered a number of workarounds for machinery quickly being replaced by digital films.
Waiting for the Sun, 12 October 2017, HSDFF
Sun Villages, in China, are a collection of homes for children whose parents are incarcerated. I cried a lot.
Waiting for the Sun - International Trailer from KASPARWORKS on Vimeo. Anatomy of a Male Ballet Dancer, 12 October 2017, HSDFF
This was a really entrancing memoir (kind of) of Marcelo Gomes, a ballet dancer at the height of his work, growing more cognizant of how close he is to moving onto the next stage of his career. Also, it is impossible not to stare at his butt. I swear I tried my best, all for naught.
Liyana, 12 October 2017, HSDFF
This one was more of a heart-warming tearjerker: a number of children, orphaned by the AIDS epidemic, gathered into a storytelling workshop, tasked to write a story of a girl like them. It's gorgeous. And magical--we get snippets of all the kids narrating the story, as well as an animated presentation of different pieces of their tale.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, 12 October 2017, DVD via public library
It's like they cast this movie by having a BAFTA after-party for weak-chinned but compelling white dudes.
Score: A Film Music Documentary, 13 October 2017, HSDFF
Most hilarious was an opening scene when Hans Zimmer vocalized being nervous about a gig. “I think you’d better call John Williams; I have no idea what to do here.” LOL.
No Man's Land, 13 October 2017, HSDFF
Remember the nonsense of the Bundy family forming a militia and taking over that wildlife reserve? While the filmmaker didn't go out of their way to demonize the group, it becomes very, very clear that none of them actually had a plan aside from seizing the chance to go out in a blaze of glory. And then one of them did.
The Last Animals, 13 October 2017, HSDFF
I remember being very young and becoming very invested in saving endangered animals. This film puts a zoom towards rhinos and elephants, specifically, and how the trade in horn and ivory continues unabated. Most poignant was the attrition through the film, as the last of the northern white rhinos died: we started the movie with five, and ended with three. In the world, mind you. Three left in the world. (I just looked it up: there are now only two Northern white rhinos left in the world.)
Quest, 14 October 2017, HSDFF
What starts out as a close-up on a poor Black family in Detroit ends up with a striking arc, as PJ, a pre-teen girl, gets shot in a drive-by and loses her eye. In one scene, her father recounts the aftermath, a little heartbroken at how she apologized for getting shot.
The Workers Cup, 14 October 2017, HSDFF
The work to prepare Qatar for FIFA’s world cup is ongoing, and it's well- and horrifyingly-known that the workers--almost entirely immigrant labor from Africa and South Asia--are exploited, with steady reporting of illness, injury, and death. As a way to manage the unrest (implied but not explicitly), the corporations involved form a football/soccer intramural, basically. It's fun to follow one of the teams as they compete, but we never get to forget the context surrounding their breaks.
Tell Them We Are Rising, 14 October 2017, HSDFF
The film is a fairly in-depth accounting of the formation of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). While some of the history should seem familiar--”An educated (black) population could not be an enslaved population,” K. Crenshaw notes--but other things, like Booker T Washington's work against the education of African-Americans, were both surprising and unsettling.
In a fun turn, Stanley Nelson, the filmmaker, was also on hand, as he received a lifetime achievement award at the festival’s close. He actually walked down the line of folks waiting to get in, and it was really lovely to hear folks tell him, each time he stopped, which HBCU they had attended.
White House Down, 14 October 2017, DVD via public library
I'm slowly making my way through Channing Tatum’s filmography, but I won't lie, seeing Jamie Foxx’s faux-Obama hit me where it hurts. This is a silly, fun, straightforward action flick, which is exactly what I wanted from it.
Blade Runner 2049, 22 October 2017, UA Breckenridge Stadium 12
#BladeRunner2049: All the Asians must have gone off-world because they sure as hell aren't in this movie. The entire film is breathtakingly gorgeous--to the point that I’d buy it to just stare at some of the shots--but given that I largely enjoyed the original because it portrayed a slew of Asian folks, I was hugely disappointed here.
The King’s Speech, 26 October 2017, DVD via university library
I was a bit worried this would be grand melodrama, and was pleased to discover it was more like a quiet, matter-of-fact story with a little bit of pomp.
The Martian, 30 October 2017, DVD via university library
“I’m gonna have to science the shit out of this.” At least one critic called this “competence porn,” and yeah. I dig it 100%. I also had the weird experience of thinking this was based on a true story, then shaking myself out of it, over and over again. Go figure.
The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, 31 October 2017, DVD via public library
I think this is what I wanted National Treasure to be. Based on the first 20 minutes, I’m solidly convinced none of the writers have met any grad students. Nor, possibly, any librarians. Also, for a hot second I thought they were running with Kelly Hu/Sonya Walger, and I am just going to pretend that's what happened.
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