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The Dollmaker 2017 ★★★
I've noticed this one has been getting positive reviews here. Not saying that it's bad, but I do have more of a case of mixed feelings about it.
It has a good pitch – with a (slight) parallel to Pet Semetary: a character can not let go of a loved one and finds a replacement in a doll. Near the end, there is a totally unexpected twist that really throws you off balance.
Sadly, having this story confined to the duration of short film perhaps puts a strain on it. Now the one dialogue about letting go comes across as forced. As if they want to cram a lot of wisdom in a ten minute short. It seems to me that you can make a feature film out of this. With a lot more space for the build up, for character development, the isolation that are living in or get into,...
Good stuff, though. Thumbs up.
Chris Rock: Selective Outrage 2023 ★★★★
I would like to start off by looking for a word. What do you call that? You are wondering what to do, what to watch. You have playlists and watchlists to last you for more than a year. Hell, at the time of writing, one YT-playlist can pretty much suffice there. But then something catches your eye. Something everyone is talking about and you are drawn in, wether you want to or not. It happened to me with Leaving Neverland and it did with this one. And my lizard brain is too weak to resist the urge to watch it as much as it is to come up with a term for this shit.
Do I like Chris Rock? Yeah, I do. Certainly as a comedian. It's easy to recall bits of his that I liked verymuch: the bullet control bit, the rap bit,... And he is enough of a showman to know what everyone wants to hear about. So he keeps it until the end. And at the same time, he drips in little lines to keep you invested. Oh, it's coming, folks. It's coming, alright.
Throughout all that, he goes through a whole series of topics. The Kardashians, woke, his relationship with his daughters, children, his dating life,... To quote his colleague Jerry Seinfeld: the laughs don't lie. And Chris Rock gets a lot of laughs. From me as well. Sometimes a chuckle and sometimes a hearty laugh. And that's what it's all about. Getting laughs.
Wether you agree with him philosophically or politically, is secondary. And I wonder if there's any point in trying to go into the essence of the incident. Bill Maher already used his “explaining jokes to idiots” segment to brilliantly explain what was going on. That the GI Jane joke was much about alopecia as the chicken crossing the road jokes are about bird flu. Some people did not get that back then. Some people still don't. And some people never will.
And I think Chris Rock understood that. He's not there to get applause or make friends, he's there to get laughs. And he gets those, so... mission accomplished.
Natural Born Killers 1994 ★★★★
In the final stretch towards its thirtieth anniversary, Natural Born Killers still stands as a visually stunning masterpiece and a document of its time. Its message about glorifying people who should not be also still stands, certainly in the age of 4chan and what not. Also, the mental image of Mickey and Mallory asking you to “like and subscribe” should be enough to keep this one from getting a reboot.
The actors all do an amazing job. Woody Harrelson starts venturing away from the happy go lucky role in Cheers by delivering a career defining performance. RDJ is simply great as Wayne Gale. Juliette Lewis shines as Mallory. A bit of a glance of innocence on her face, a bit traumatized, a bit weird, a bit funny, a bit undefinable,... Fun fact: it was only when going thorugh imdb that I noticed that the actress playing Mallory's mom also was the school secretary in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Also: Is this the creepiest Rodney Dangerfield ever?
A genuine rollercoaster ride of a movie, enhanced by the great editing and the amazing soundtrack. Hard to name a scene that stands out, but Woody Harrelson shooting up a prison with Rage against the machine blasting away in the background certainly makes for a good candidate. One of those great symbioses of image and sound. Also: between this one and Shaun of the dead, there are at least two great films to have L7 on the soundtrack. How about that?
Great cinema and well worth a (re)watch.
Ps: RIP Tom Sizemore.
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