What classics did you see last week, Nov 6 to Nov 12?

The Street with No Name (1948) - 8/10



Hopscotch (1980) - 8/10



Tarzan’s Desert Mystery (1943) repeat - 6/10



Whisper of the Heart (1995) - 8/10



The Valley of Gwangi (1969) - 7/10



Dragonslayer (1981) - 7/10

“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” Distributed by The Roku Channel, 108 Minutes, Not Rated, Released November 04, 2022:

“Weird Al” Yankovic could’ve stepped whole and breathing from the pages of a classic issue of Mad Magazine.

The legendary American humor magazine that kept the nation’s adolescents laughing in the years before National Lampoon and Saturday Night Live added cruelty to comedy, Mad Magazine was known for its engaging silliness and occasional biting satire.

Frequently featuring parodies of the popular movies of the day, in Mad Magazine’s pages “Bonnie and Clyde” became “Balmy and Clod,” “The Guns of Navarone” became “The Guns of Minestrone,” and “Cheyenne Autumn” became “Cheyenne Awful.”

Likewise, since the mid-seventies or so “Weird Al” Yankovic has earned a living from writing satiric alternate lyrics to popular hit songs and performing them on records accompanied by his trademark accordion.

Bespectacled with shoulder-length Jheri-curled hair, almost impossibly nerdish and unhip, Weird Al with his goofy lyrics turns songs like “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” into “I Love Rocky Road,” “Another One Bites the Dust” into “Another One Rides the Bus,” and “Addicted to Love” into “Addicted to Spuds.” Notoriously family-friendly, never cruel or obscene, and untouched by scandal and controversy in an industry noted for both, Weird Al Yankovic to date has performed more than 1000 live concerts…and sold more than 12 million records.

Now, after some 45 years in the periphery of the public consciousness, Weird Al Yankovic has entered the realm of motion picture entertainment with “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” a life story now streaming on The Roku Channel. A fictionalized parody of Hollywood rags-to-riches biographical films from “The Knute Rockne Story” to “Pride of the Yankees” to…well, “Serpico,” the good news is that the new Weird Al picture is every bit as delightfully, unashamedly silly as Weird Al himself.

In “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” from an early age young Alfred Yankovic (Richard Aaron Anderson) is inexplicably inspired to write alternative parody lyrics to popular songs--an activity vehemently discouraged by his explosively violent father (Toby Huss). The young Al especially incurs his dad’s wrath before dinner one evening when he performs a parody of the hymn “Amazing Grace” entitled “Amazing Grapes.”

Taking pity on the boy, young Al’s more sympathetic and encouraging mother (Julianne Nicholson) secretly purchases a musical instrument for her son from a door-to-door accordion salesman, and quietly funds the boy's music lessons with the understanding that his disapproving father must never learn about the deception. And as the years pass and he reaches maturity, the adult Al (now played by Daniel Radcliffe) is encouraged by his college roommates to follow his musical dreams.

Soon after scoring a resounding success by playing his accordion at a clandestine off-campus polka party, Al is inspired to write his first real parody lyric based on a hit record, turning The Knacks’ “My Sharona” into the lunchmeat-inspired “My Bologna.” Recording the song in the restroom of the local bus terminal, when his parody is featured on the nationally-syndicated radio show hosted by his boyhood idol Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson), the newly-christened “Weird Al” Yankovic quickly becomes the biggest star in rock ‘n roll music history.

But Al soon learns that once a music artist reaches the top of the cutthroat recording industry, there’s only one way to go. It’s a lesson that becomes painfully obvious when Weird Al enters a sordid romantic relationship with the ambitious--and shamelessly duplicitous--rising pop star and sex symbol Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood).

An epic rock 'n roll fable unencumbered by facts or actual biographical information, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is as nonsensical and ridiculous as one of the title artist’s song parodies…and just as impossible to dislike. Directed by New York-based (and Art Institute of Pittsburgh-educated) filmmaker Eric Appel from a script he wrote in collaboration with Yankovic himself, the film never dwells in one scene long enough to become tedious, taking freewheeling aim at targets from pop culture to international terrorism to entertainment awards ceremonies.

Featuring a half-dozen or so entertainment industry luminaries in supporting roles (including Conan O’Brien as Andy Warhol, Jack Black as radio personality Wolfman Jack, and Will Forte as record mogul Ben Scotti), the degree of undiluted silliness in “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is best measured by a scene in which Weird Al himself, playing a small role as a record producer, gazes as Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al and intones, “Your music stinks, kid.” The highest praise--this is one motion picture that would’ve been right at home in the pages of Mad Magazine.

Also featuring appearances by Emo Phillips as Salvador Dali, Josh Groban as a confused waiter, Patton Oswalt as a nightclub heckler, Quinta Brunson as Oprah Winfrey, Arturo Castro as Pablo Escobar, and Lin-Manuel Miranda as an ER physician, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is not rated by the MPAA but is PG in nature for rude humor, brief drug use, and scenes depicting smoking.


“Black and Blue” Distributed by Screen Gems Pictures, 108 Minutes, Rated R, ReDistributed by Screen Gems Pictures, 108 Minutes, Rated R, Released October 25, 2019:

Powerhouse performances and taut direction made all the difference in “Black and Blue,” an urban thriller from Screen Gems, the subsidiary of Sony Entertainment that formerly licensed Columbia Pictures productions for television broadcast.

In “Black and Blue,” a rookie New Orleans police officer and US Army veteran of Kandahar witnesses the gangland-style execution of the surrogate son of a local crimelord by a few of her colleagues, including her temporary partner. Detected by the executioners and wearing a body camera which records the event, the rookie cop needs to make a run for it...into an inner city neighborhood where police officers are considered enemies.

Framed for the murder by the guilty parties and trying to elude both the cops and the criminals who’ve placed a bounty on her head, the rookie cop begins an odyssey to safety at police headquarters, shunned by wary and distrustful civilians, hoping only to stay alive long enough to deliver her body camera footage to law enforcement administration.

Written by Peter A. Dowling, the veteran British screenwriter and filmmaker responsible for 2014’s “Reasonable Doubt,” “Black and Blue” on the strength of the story alone would probably be a routine urban crime drama, little distinguished in quality from a typical cable television drama or a drive-in exploitation picture from the 1970s. But lightning bolt direction by Deon Taylor (“The Intruder,” “Traffik”), fast and gritty photography by Italian cinematographer Dante Spinotto, and breathless editing by Peck Prior produce a little thriller that ranks among the best of the decade.

But really selling “Black and Blue” to the audience are its compelling and richly empathetic performances, led by Naomie Harris as the rookie cop and Tyrese Gibson as the reluctant Good Samaritan who risks his life to save hers. Known for her appearances as Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond thrillers and as the irresponsible mother in 2016’s Academy Award-winning “Moonlight,” the British-born Harris inhabits the role of the rookie officer with a sense of tightly-controlled emotions on the raw edge of panic. If she sometimes seem shrill...well, with nowhere to run and nobody to trust, wouldn’t you be too?

Tyrese Gibson, familiar to audiences for both his music career and his role as Roman Pearce in the “Fast and Furious” series of action pictures, establishes himself as a persuasive dramatic actor with his appearance in “Black and Blue.” Displaying a laconic, low-key acting style that gives him the ability to project authority even when his character’s being harassed and threatened by crooked, bigoted cops, speaking with reassuring tones in a voice so deep that it seems to be rumbling forth from the floor of the movie auditorium, Gibson’s eyes as the sympathetic grocery store manager project a vastly different reality. This actor’s talent is instinctive, and extremely well delivered.

“Black and Blue” is rated R for violence and language concerns.


“Countdown”  Distributed by STX Entertainment, 90 Minutes, Rated PG-13, Released October 25, 2019:

...or “Final Destination” for teens and younger audiences.

The “oh, come on” factor is sky-high in “Countdown,” the new supernatural horror picture from STX Entertainment that looks like it came from the horror specialists at Blumhouse Productions, but didn’t.

In “Countdown,” a new computer app called Countdown supposedly gives a user information relative to the date and time of his death. Rookie hospital nurse Quinn Harris on an impulse downloads the Countdown app onto her smartphone and is surprised to discover the program predicts her death will occur in three days. As the app’s predictions prove accurate to other Countdown users, the horrified Harris feverishly attempts to outwit the program, and prevent her imminent death.

With plot holes, inconsistencies, inaccuracies, continuity problems, and leading characters who either die or disappear abruptly, “Countdown” seems to have been produced by filmmakers who skipped Narrative Structure 101 classes while enrolled in film school. The final result looks like rookie writer and director Justin Dec assembled the picture from outtakes from better movies, and edited them together in time for the Halloween holiday in a cookie cutter style more reminiscent of a carnival funhouse than a coherent and persuasive motion picture.

As the rookie nurse, Elizabeth Lail displays a certain Jennifer Lawrence quality but lacks J-Law’s signature courage and resolve. And in fact, most of the film is populated with stilted performances by nervous-looking people walking through a virtual glossary of horror movie jump scares and cliches. Only writer, comedian, and podcaster Tom Segura hits a bullseye in a peripheral performance as a smarmy and sarcastic computer technician who just might be able to defeat Countdown...for a price. Where’s the FCC when you really need them?

“Countdown” is rated PG-13 for terror, violence, bloody images, suggestive material, language, and thematic elements. Skip it.


“The Current War” Distributed by 101 Studios, 107 Minutes, Rated PG-13, Released October 25, 2019:

Delayed for nearly two years by scandal and re-edited by its director for general release, the historical drama “The Current War" finally managed to drift indifferently into movie theaters about three years ago, in October of 2019.

And the verdict? Well, the movie’s...interesting. Which is what a person usually says about a dryly informative but fairly bloodless and even boring historical drama, just as a means of being polite.

Set mostly in the years between the invention of the light bulb in 1879 and the opening of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, “The Current War” depicts the professional rivalry between inventor Thomas Edison and industrial engineer George Westinghouse. The picture details the battle between the two to determine whose electrical system will deliver power to cities and towns across America, culminating in the beginnings of the international industrial conglomerates General Electric and...well, Westinghouse.

Edison advocates the use of DC--Direct Current--to carry electricity into America’s homes, but his system is expensive and limited in range. The more practical and budget-conscious entrepreneur Westinghouse sets out to prove that AC--Alternating Current--is more effective in carrying electricity over greater distances, and can significantly lower the cost of energy use. Pretty compelling stuff, eh?

The plot thickens when the brilliant mechanical engineer and futurist Nicola Tesla departs Edison’s employment because of the inventor’s unwillingness to consider his ideas, and eventually joins company with Westinghouse. Simultaneously, after long resisting entreaties by the US government to invent new weapons for use in warfare, the pacifist Edison attempts to smear Westinghouse’s public reputation by associating the businessman’s “deadly” Alternating Current system with the development of the electric chair for use in capital punishment.

Filled with memorable dialogue, ingenious cinematic touches, and frequent colorful speechifying by Benedict Cumberbatch as Edison and Michael Shannon as Westinghouse, as well as occasional maternal scolding from Tom Holland’s Samuel Insull and fussy theorizing from Nicholas Hoult’s Nicola Tesla, “The Current War” still turns out to be a fairly tough slog through American History 101, about as lively as a powerpoint presentation at an energy seminar or a stroll through a wax museum.

Part of the problem is that the screenplay by Pittsburgh-born playwright Michael Mitnick is short on exposition and character development: Even after two hours of debating the relative merits of DC and AC, it’s difficult for the viewer to grasp the difference between the two systems...or why we should care. And although the audience gets brief glimpses of the personal lives of the monolithic historical figures involved (Katherine Waterston’s Mrs. Westinghouse is a real pistol), it’s the respective electrical currents rather than the lives of Westinghouse or Edison which form the dynamic of this dusty saunter through the history books.

Using the same broadly Midwestern American tones he employed as the title character in 2018’s “The Grinch,” actor Benedict Cumberbatch contributes his customary studied performance as Thomas Edison, breathing what little life he can into a role that’s never allowed to develop beyond a passable cosmetic resemblance to the photos of Edison you see in the encyclopedia. Conversely, the twinkle in Michael Shannon’s eyes suggests he’s having a ball playing George Westinghouse, taking a big bite out of his role and chewing the scenery with relish. Shannon provides the only fun contained in this otherwise airless museum piece.

In various stages of production since 2012, “The Current War” first premiered in its original version at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2017, and was scheduled for release in the United States and Canada two months later, in November of 2017. Originally the property of The Weinstein Company, the picture was pulled from the company’s release schedule after the sexual abuse allegations against company founder Harvey Weinstein. Distribution rights were eventually sold at auction and purchased by the independent 101 Studios.

During the interim, director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, also the filmmaker behind 2015’s acclaimed “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” discovered a “final cut privilege” in the producer’s contract, and used the clause to enable the filming of five additional scenes for the picture while trimming ten minutes from the picture’s original running time.

“The Current War” ends with a brief scene depicting Edison’s inventing the motion picture camera, an event which might’ve made for a vastly more entertaining movie...although one you’re unlikely to see produced by the US film corporations in the near future: During the early years of the 20th century, the laws of the eastern United States were mostly unenforceable in the west. The early film pioneers relocated the fledgling industry from New York to Hollywood in part to avoid paying royalties to the New Jersey-based Edison for the use of his equipment. Some people just can’t get a break in the movie business.

“The Current War” is rated PG-13 for some disturbing and violent images and thematic elements.

It's Maureen O'Hara, but can't figure out who the kisser is or the movie, it's not one the regular fellows (Tyrone Power, Joel McCrea, John Payne, John Wayne, Errol Flynn, Douglas Fairbanks the later), offcourse the kisser might be a character actor then it could be Raymond Burr or Vincent Price or something like that.

Over the top fun. It's supposed to be a spinoff of Chiba's more famous Street Fighter series, but there is zero connections from a plot stand point and even though Chiba is in it he plays a different character. Watch if you're in the mood for over the top action and avoid if you want something like a good plot. 6/10
Force of Evil (Abraham Polonsky, 1948)


In the Mood for Love (Kar-Wai Wong, 2000)

Beautifully shot slow moving drama about two neighbors who realize their spouses are having an affair. The movie is 98 minutes long, it feels much longer but that's not a complaint. The pacing helps it in many ways as it shows how these two people react in a genuine way. 8/10
Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997)

Disturbing does not even begin to describe this movie. The games aren't funny except for the director and the cast, as they're playing a game against the viewer and the viewer's expectations of suspense films. It knows that we've seen them, it knows that we know the rules and much like Scream it's here to remind you of them, but unlike Scream it's here to remind you in a most unpleasant way. It's a hard watch with scenes that are painful to view. It's rather brilliant, but not for everyone. 8/10
The Celebration (Thomas Vinterberg, 1998)

Well, this is another uncomfortable film. Not for the same reason as Funny Games, but it is another cruel little movie. A family gathers to celebrate their father's 60th birthday. There are plenty of guests, and while there is joy in the air, it is also a somber occasion as his daughter recently committed suicide. It's time for a toast and the eldest son has quite a few things to say… Filmed under the Dogme 95 rules, this is a very low budget film and it frequently looks quite ugly which is fitting given the subject matter. Very interesting. 8/10
Summer with Monika (Ingmar Bergman, 1953)

A film by a much younger Bergman than most I've seen. There aren't really any of the "art-house" touches he's so associated with. Instead this is a simple tale of a young romance. It's a movie that likely appealed greatly to the youth in Sweden. Humorously though due to social differences, in America it was released as an exploitation film because it was the 50s and had, GASP, nudity. Technically well made but not one of my favorites from Bergman. Frankly Monika was too hateful of a character for me (without enough interesting aspects to make up for it) to fully love it. 6/10

For years I have been struggling to compile a TopTen of funny movies (other than Black Comedies). I think I am up to 6 or 7 titles now. May give this one a try on MikeF6's recommendation.

I look forward to viewing it with my Haitian girlfriend for the pleasure of seeing her take everything at face value, she having nil sense of irony.