This Week In Movies
Welcome to the end of our week everyone! I don’t know about how it was for you guys but for me it was a long one. Fortunately I only have Monday-Thursday at work and then my spoiled ass goes on a two week vacation. Anyway, during this week I got quite a few non-podcast movies in and I thought I’d write a quick post because I actually suggest most of them and none were terrible. This week got me off to a great start on my “watch every Al Pacino movie” list, too; I think that you’ll find that quite evident.
The Insider (1999): This movie was very good. The story centers around Russell Crowe playing this guy in what I argue is his best role ever. He’s a tobacco industry whistleblower struggling with brining the story of CEOs who perjured themselves about putting extra addictive chemicals in cigarettes. Al Pacino plays this guy, a 60 Minutes producer trying to get the story out. Crowe faces threats and intrusive investigations into his personal life and Pacino faces some serious corporate hurdles with getting the full story out. It’s an incredibly tense picture from Michael Mann and I think my favorite movie this week. The music is suspenseful and in a few scenes almost unnerving, yet it slipped into the background the way that any good enhancing score should. Al Pacino is also great, and quite restrained compared to some of the movies he has done since Scent of A Woman. The camera work is also effective, giving you disorienting angles and tense shot lengths; the lighting is also perfect, like most Michael Mann films, in a dramatic and creepy way. You never forget you’re watching a thriller. And just, well, Russell Crowe. He absolutely crushed this and was absolutely mesmerizing; he truly elevates this movie. Overall I highly recommend this one if you haven’t seen it before. I streamed it on iTunes but I think Amazon has it as well.
Blinded By The Light (2019): To anyone out there with father issues, this is a great watch. A young man named Javed is growing up as a Pakistani-British teen in 1987 in a working class town. He’s struggling to embrace both cultures, is self-conscious about his writing even though he loves to do it, and dodges racist bullies in his school and neighborhood. One day he discovers Bruce Springsteen and his whole life changes as he embraces himself as a writer. The movie presents this with a backdrop of race and class struggles of Thatcher’s Britain; this obviously pushes the story forward given how much the movies relies on the history of the era to stress the economic conditions of the time and how that motivates all of the different characters’ actions as well as Javed’s relationship to Springsteen’s music. And although it isn’t stressed in the film it is interesting to consider the economics of the region during that time and how that created the social and racial tension and fissures that does fill the movie. This one is currently in theaters and I highly, highly suggest it. Especially if you love the boss.
Sea of Love (1989): Back to Al Pacino! In this one he plays a cop (as does John Goodman) who is looking for a serial killer who kills men after sex. He and Goodman deduce that the killer is finding their victims from the singles ads pages and so he sets up several dates in an attempted sting. Eventually he starts getting close to one of the main suspects. All I can really say about this one is that it’s a typical 80s/early 90s cop thriller; not bad but not excellent. Pacino is fun to watch, this is another performance where he kind of (kiiiiind of) reigns it in a little bit. I do have to wonder why they don’t really make these kinds of movies anymore, but I do assume it has something to do with cop dramas taking over TV. This one is on iTunes and Amazon.
City Hall (1996): The last Pacino picture on the list, this one is about a shooting between a cop and low level mafia family member that accidentally kills a child in the area (as well as the cop and gangster). When the deputy mayor, played by John Cusack, launches an investigation consequences seem to snowball. This movie was okay, but I can’t really put my thumb on what was keeping it from being really good. The acting was good by everyone (Pacino, Cusack, Bridget Fonda, Danny Aiello, what a cast!). I think that ultimately Harold Becker (who directed Sea of Love as well) just didn’t do much that was interesting in editing, sound design, set design, really anything, so it’s a little rigid and stale in the delivery when it could have been really good in another director’s hands. I’d love to have handed this script and cast over to the Coen Brothers, that would have made it more engaging. This is another standard iTunes/Amazon choice.
It Could Happen To You (1994): I never thought I’d say it but this but Nicholas Cage is actually (or at least was) pretty charming. In this rom-com he plays a cop who wins the lottery and splits it with a waitress, Bridget Fonda, that he had to stiff on a tip the day before. Rosie Perez plays his wife who, to an almost excessive extent, is incredibly greedy. This may have been a cheesy little film but it was really wholesome and enjoyable and the two leads are very charming. If you’re looking for something that’s more feel good without the emotional baggage of Blinded By the Light this one works well. You can get it on iTunes and Amazon as well.
Well that wraps up this week’s watches. This weekend Colin and I tackle both The Deer Hunter and The Little Girl of Hanoi and then will attempt to discuss how the perspectives of both filmmakers and characters can DRASTICALLY change the way a film is made. Enjoy your weekends, and expect the episode to be up early next week. :)