What Films Did You Watch Last Week? (04/06-10/06) closed

Miss Meadows (2014) 5\10

Around The World In 80 Days / Michael Anderson and John Farrow (1956). Best Picture Oscar Winner. Huge box office success. Only movie produced by Mike Todd who is credited with the invention of the wide-screen process used to film the movie, Todd-AO, and who tragically died in a plane crash two years later. Most of the publicity for “80 Days” consisted of information on how many ways it was either the first or had the most of any other movie in history: the most Big Name Stars to appear and be part of the story, the most people photographed, the most miles traveled to make a film, the most camera set-ups ever used, the most…well, you get the idea. The implication is: you can't see this on your tiny 21" black and white TV at home. "80 Days" has got the mostest of any other movie and it is all on the screen to the detriment of the story as we sit for seemingly long minutes watching scenery or ocean vistas go by. We see a lot of parades and street scenes with the “cast of thousands” marching in front of the camera. One diversion with co-star Cantinflas in the bullfight ring lasts a 10 full minutes. Yet there is the knowledge that when we sit through a long sequence of Philias Fogg and Passeportout watching lands and people from an train in India, we are actually seeing India and its people, not a look-a-like location in southern California. The basic plot of the Jules Verne novel is intact. Punctual Philias Fogg (David Niven), living in 1870s London, makes a wager with his club members that he can make an around the world trip in under 90 days – 80, in fact. Fogg departs from London with his valet, Passepartout (Cantinflas), traveling by hot air balloon, boat, train, stagecoach, ostrich, elephant, and some improvised forms of transportation. The cast also features a subdued Robert Newton and Shirley MacLaine in her third movie after “The Trouble With Harry” and “Artists and Models.” A fun movie if you don’t mind the travelogue filler.

Cantinflas (he made up that name, he was born Mario Moreno Reyes) was the richest, most popular, and highest paid comedy actor in the world in 1956, except he was only known in Latin American. Charlie Chaplin has been quoted as saying, “Cantinflas is the world’s greatest comedian,” and when Chaplin speaks, people listen. “80 Days” was his first venture out side Latin America. He only made one other Hollywood movie, playing the title role in “Pepe” (1960), another film that featured a plethora of celebrity cameos but which was a box office failure. Thus ended Cantinflas’ Hollywood career.



Aus dem Nichts (In The Fade) / Fatih Akin (2017). This film features a ferocious performance by Diane Kruger, making a rare appearance in a movie where she speaks her native language. Katja (Kruger), a German citizen, marries a Turkish immigrant even while he is in prison for drug dealing. After his release, they have a son and are in business for themselves when an anti-immigrant group explodes a bomb on their street, killing husband and child. Katja is staggered and consumed by her grief and rage. Even when the bombers are identified, there is doubt that justice will be served, sending her into an even deeper spiral and actions that may endanger her own life as well. This is a tremendously powerful film that is already on my Best of 2017 list and may very well show up as one of the best of decade in just a couple of years. An overwhelming experience.



Blade Runner 2049 / Denis Villeneuve (2017). Although I have always liked “Blade Runner” and have since its release in 1982, I never really internalized it the way some science fiction fans have. Even so, I was interested in this sequel coming 35 years later, not least because Denis Villeneuve was at the helm. In spite of a few good scenes and a few good performances, however, the film (from my point of view) is pretty much of a failure. The main reason is blank-faced Ryan Gosling as the lead. I have always claimed that his stardom was based on the Kuleshov Effect rather than any talent of his own and this film, failing to create his performance through editing, reveals that there is nothing beneath his vacant visage. Also, the film tries to create profundity by inserting long pauses between lines of dialog. Of course, there is the every present CGI light show of flying vehicles, explosions, and windows suddenly being blown in as an attack is launched. On the plus side, Jared Leto makes the most of his two short scenes as the master villain and it is always great to see Robin Wright as Gosling’s control, and Harrison Ford repeating his character, Deckard, from the original movie. I keep hoping that someday Villeneuve will, even if just on occasion, return to his French-Canadian roots and the smaller, more personal films that he created at the beginning of his career.