Been hearing a lot of good things about Guillermo del Toro’s latest, Nightmare Alley, but finally getting a chance to see it. It stars Bradley Cooper as Stanton, a down-on-his-luck drifter in the late 30s. The film opens with him dumping a dead body in an hold farmhouse before setting the place on fire, but we don’t learn until much later what all that was about. Instead, we see him mosey into a carnival, and finding work there. A smart and charismatic man, Stanton works his way up from stage hand to assistant on several of the acts, making a lot of friends along the way. One in particular is clairvoyant Madame Zeena and her husband Pete. Pete was once an esteemed mystic, but alcoholism has relegated him to the background. After learning the secrets to their act, Stanton convinces another performer, Molly, to run away with him. Two years later, in Buffalo, Stanton and Molly are doing the psychic act on the city’s wealthy elite, and making good money doing it. Stanton’s greed gets the better of him, and he starts to ply his trade on the filthy rich, but instead of using Molly to feed him clues, he finds a psychologist to feed him private info on his marks so as to earn their trust. But the stakes are high: these are not the kind of people you want to piss off. Nightmare Alley is a fantastic neo-noir, a great throwback to the genre of the 40s. I’ve read some thought the movie was slow, but worth it for the explosive and exciting ending. The finale is that, but I didn’t think it was slow at all. It builds well and the all-star cast (Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, David Strathairn, Willem Dafoe, Ron Perlman, Cate Blanchett, and Richard Jenkins) are all equally arresting on screen. ★★★★
Only the Animals is a French film which is hard to describe without giving away the fun of the movie. It is told from the perspective of five characters, whose lives intersect, often in jaw-dropping fashion. You get the point of view from each person one at a time, which means often I thought one thing had happened, and later learn that events went down quite differently. At the end, I think the director (Dominik Moll) tried to make it a bit too “clean” and tie everything up in a pretty bow, but I still really enjoyed the movie. It is surprising, often gut-punching. I’m sorry I’m being so vague on this one, but it really is worth it if you avoid spoilers and go into this one blind. ★★★½
The Weasel’s Tale is a Spanish language film out of Argentina. The premise is that of 4 elderly people living in a huge house together, alone and apart from the world. Mara was an acclaimed actress 50+ years ago, and the house is filled with her awards, honors, and mementos from that long-ago time. Her husband Pedro was once an actor too, but you get the impression he was only cast in movies with Mara due to their connection, and jokes abound about his acting ability (or lack thereof). The other inhabitants are Mara’s longtime director Norberto and his preferred screenwriter Martin. This film is billed as a dark comedy/thriller, and the jokes come fast and free. All 4 of the people can’t stand each other, and belittle each other at every turn. However, they (mostly) unite when someone comes to disturb their easy existence. Francisco and Barbara “mistakenly” wander over to the house and are in complete awe of the once-celebrated actress Mara, bombarding her with compliments. Mara’s ego laps it up, but the trio of men smell something rotten. And of course, Francisco turns out to be a land developer, and the viewer is quickly let in to the secret of his intent to get Mara’s house and land away from her. But the men of the house have a secret of their own, and they can fight fire with fire. This is a supremely delightful comedy with a surprising semi-dark twist in the end. The type of humor was right up my alley, though some may find it a bit hokey. I myself laughed and chuckled through much of the film. I’m mostly a “single viewing” comedy watcher, as the laughs often lose their luster on subsequent watchings, but this is one I can watch again. ★★★½
I had high hopes for Last Night in Soho. A great director (Edgar Wright) and a strong cast (including Anya Taylor Joy and up-and-comer Thomasin McKenzie (go see Leave No Trace if you haven’t yet)) couldn’t bring this one all together. It starts well enough. Eloise “Ellie” loves everything about the 60s, including its fashion and music, and draws inspiration from that time period to pursue her dream of being a fashion designer. She gets accepted to a fashion school in London and heads there, but a partying roommate leads to her finding a new place to live while in school. Her new digs are in the top room of an old boarding house, and in her first night there, she dreams about Sandie, who once lived in the same room. Sandie is a hot blond, newly arrived to the Soho area sometime in the 60s, with the goal to be a singer. It starts off well enough, and as Ellie dreams of her every night, Sandie is taken under the wing of a manager named Jack. Ellie dyes her hair blond and starts designing clothes based off of those worn by Sandie in her dreams. But something weird is connecting Sandie and Ellie, and as Sandie’s life spirals, with Jack pimping her out and putting her on stage, scantily clad and in rough joints, so too does Ellie start to become unhinged. Advertised as a psychological horror film, the horror aspect doesn’t really emerge until the final third or so of the movie, when Ellie’s dreams become nightmares, and her visions extend into her waking world as well. The movie is visually stunning: bright and colorful, with the vibe and feel of the hopping nightlife of 60’s Soho. But the plot devolves into a bad B movie hack-and-slash, relying too heavily on jump scares to startle the viewer. 3+ starts for the visuals and acting, but the totally letdown conclusion crashes that down to ★★
French sports drama Final Set opens with a look at young tennis stud Damien Thosso, who, at 17 years old, is ready to take the tennis world by storm. But the movie isn’t about about him, it’s about Thomas Edison, who was once in Damien’s position. Thomas was supposed to be the next big thing 18 years ago when he made the semifinal of the French Open in 2001, but he never got close to that feat again. Now 37 years old, fresh off a reconstructive knee surgery and well past his prime, Thomas is under pressure from his wife to finally retire and move on to something else, but Thomas doesn’t know what “something else” is. His only passion is tennis, and he wants one more attempt at the French Open. Unfortunately with his current ranking, he has to go through qualifiers to even make the tournament. He plays well in qualifiers, earning him sponsors as well as talk of future tournaments, much to the chagrin of his wife, who has put her career on hold waiting for Thomas to finish up. As a sports film, I don’t think I’m giving too much away by saying he does indeed qualify and, wouldn’t you know it, his first round opponent is Damien Thosso. Regular readers of mine know that I’m a sports movie buff, and I enjoyed this one too, though it does tend to stretch the sentimentality hard in the final act. It touches on several stresses in Thomas’s life but doesn’t quite resolve enough. ★★★
- TV series currently watching: Silicon Valley (season 2)
- Book currently reading: Redwood by Mark Danielewski
Jons Movie Takes 