December 2018

I started December by taking a four-night Carnival cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada. The highlights were a walking tour of Catalina restaurants I’d done before, and a pedicure I got on the ship. Otherwise, it was a pretty dismal cruise, but I guess 18 good cruises out of 19 is nothing to sneeze at. I ended the month by entertaining some friends from China who were in town; naturally, I took them to Huntington Library, a massive botanical gardens where I usually take out-of-town guests. We also had a fun lunch at a Chinese restaurant on Olympic and Sepulveda that I must remember to go back to. BOOKS: I read and enjoyed Kathryn Croft’s The Warning, but gave up on Rachel Abbott’s And So It Begins—she is one of my favorite mystery writers, but after more than two hours listening to the audiobook, I was bored. MUSIC: I listened to new albums by Elvis Costello and The Beths, as well as the Mary Poppins Returns soundtrack.

Below are are the movies I saw this month. Upon further reflection, I am surprised by how many of these movies are either documentaries (Fahrenheit 11/9) or based on true stories (The Mule, Bohemian Rhapsody, Can You Ever Forgive Me, The Favourite, Roma, The Miracle Season).

THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (2018)—I have always enjoyed anthology films. It’s rare that feature films consisting of a bunch of shorts strung together are excellent all the way through, but there are almost always some gems in these “short story” type movies. Most of the ones I’ve seen tend to be horror anthologies like Creepshow, or dramas based on Somerset Maugham stories (Trio, Quartet). I’m not sure there has even been a Western anthology before, but Joel and Ethan Coen are the perfect pair to conjure one up. Of the six shorts in Buster Scruggs, most of them are at least good, with only the final chapter somewhat disappointing. The title film, which kicks the whole thing off, is by far the best; it features Tim Blake Nelson as a grinning, fast-draw sociopath who gets a real kick out of killing people…until he meets a competitor who’s a pretty fast draw himself. The fine cast includes James Franco, Liam Neewson, Tom Waits, Zoe Kazan, Tyne Daly and Brendan Gleeson. (9)

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (2018)—The Queen biopic paints an astonishing picture of the late, great Freddie Mercury, a larger-than-life personality played to perfection by Rami Malek. Although entertaining, the movie is full of understandable dramatizations—along with plenty of half-truths and full-blown lies. That kind of soured me on the film retroactively, but I liked it when I was watching it. (8)

THE MULE (2018)—In what may be Clint Eastwood’s last-ditch attempt to win a Best Actor Oscar, he directs himself in the true story of Leo Sharp (changed to Earl Stone for the film), a World War II (changed to Korean War) veteran who becomes a drug runner in his 80s. Bradley Cooper is a Special Agent trying to catch the evil drug lords, and Dianne Weist is Clint’s estranged ex. It’s a low-key but highly watchable movie, with Clint much less of a grouch than he was in 2008’s Gran Torino. (9)

CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (2018)—Melissa McCarthy plays real-life author Lee Israel, who notoriously ran afoul of the law by forging and selling signed letters by famous authors like Noel Coward and Dorothy Parker. A good portion of the movie is about Israel’s friendship with Jack (Richard E. Grant), a fellow boozer. Israel is quite unlikeable, but McCarthy plays her with a heaping helping of pathos. Dolly Wells is good as a bookseller who buys some of Israel’s letters and attempts to begin a romantic relationship with her. (8)

ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE (1970)—Joe Orton’s 1964 black comedy play gets the cinematic treatment. This is a four-hander about how a bloke (Peter McEnery) is taken in by a brother and sister, who live with their old dad. Sadism, scandal and homosexuality ensue. I found the movie entertaining and quirky; someday I would like to see a stage version of it. It has inspired me to seek out other Orton films and plays. (8)

THE FAVOURITE (2018)—I had seen the trailer for this dark, historical comedy-drama several times, so I knew what to expect. While critics may have slightly overpraised it, I did thoroughly enjoy the apparently true story of Queen Anne of Great Britain (reigned 1702-1714) and the two women who jockey to be her favorite. The performances of all three main actresses—Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone—are absolutely the best of the year. It is interesting that I saw this movie one day after finishing Entertaining Mr. Sloane, as both films are dark comedies with equal measures of sadism, homosexuality, cruelty and personal politics. (9)

FAHRENHEIT 11/9 (2018)—Michael Moore’s latest documentary is much less about the election of Donald Trump and more about the general disintegration of democracy and rise of national corruption across governmental platforms. Much of Moore’s wrath is aimed at the clean-water crisis in his hometown of Flynt, Mich., which local officials brought about by greed and corruption. His attention bounces around a bit, so we get stuff about gun control and other national crises. And he gets a few licks in on Trump, too (a comparison to Hitler was one of the high points). Overall, very well done, but I still want to see a scathing indictment of the Trump election and presidency. (9)

ROMA (2018)—Shot in gorgeous black and white, this Spanish-language Alfonso Cuarón-directed film won huge raves toward the end of the year. The film features centers around a upper-middle-class family in the Roma district of Mexico City: a mom and dad with their four kids, a couple of maids, and a dog. The film’s story focuses on Cleo, one of the maids. The plot unfolds at a snail’s pace, but it is absolutely gorgeous to look at; when drama occasionally happens, the viewer is grateful. I liked the movie, but 15-20 minutes could easily be cut out of it. At times, the film is very moving. (8)

THE MIRACLE SEASON (2018)—Although I've never been much of an actual sports fan, for some reason I am a total sucker for underdog sports movies, from Rocky to McFarland, USA. This particular movie tells the real-life story of a high-school girls’ volleyball team that overcomes tremendous odds, etc. It’s also a relentless tearjerker, extremely manipulative, and highly effective. William Hurt and Helen Hunt play the adults; Danika Yarosh and Erin Moriarty are a pair of super-cute volleyball players. (9)

MARY POPPINS (1964)—I saw the original Poppins when I was a kid, but I was too young to remember anything about it half a century later. With a sequel finally in theaters, I knew I would need to refresh my memory about the story and characters. Naturally, the movie is loaded with the signature Disney charm. But even though I’d been warned about Dick Van Dyke’s horrendous Cockney accent, it was much worse than I could have imagined. God, is it terrible. The special effects in this movie are also pretty cheesy compared to what they can do now. But the Sherman Brothers’ songs more than make up for any deficiencies in the film, and Julie Andrews is practically perfect in every way. (9)

MARY POPPINS RETURNS (2018)—Emily Blunt takes over the lead role in the Poppins sequel, and although nobody could equal Julie Andrews, Blunt is very good at making the character her own. I enjoyed the sequel songs very much. The film is a little bit too long, like its predecessor, but there is a lot of magic here, and no bad Cockney or dated SFX. So in several ways, I liked the sequel more than the original. (9)

THE FEELS (2018)—I am a fan of Taiwanese actress Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians, TV’s Fresh Off the Boat), so I was delighted to hear that she’d be playing a lesbian in an indie comedy. And Wu is definitely the highlight of The Feels, which is a sort of lesbian Big Chill, with seven people (many previously unacquainted) getting together to celebrate the impending marriage of Wu and her fiancé. The movie is indie verging on mumblecore, pleasant but unremarkable except for Wu’s excellent acting and enormous beauty. Note: Watching Wu in this film inspired me to download and watch the fifth episode of the sci-fi anthology TV series Dimension 404, which features Wu playing another lesbian. She’s great in this episode as well. (7)

CREED II (2018)—By my count, this is the eighth Rocky movie, and like the best movies in that series, it copies the best elements of what has come before. In this one, the son of Apollo Creed gets to fight the son of the guy who killed him, Ivan Drago, as depicted in Rocky IV. That’s a pretty good setup. What follows is very similar to the plot of Rocky 3; enough said. It’s all very predictable but undeniably enjoyable. (8)

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1959)—As a fan of mystery literature and film, it’s fairly embarrassing that I have virtually no relationship with Sherlock Holmes—and I am loath to count the horrendous Robert Downey Jr. movie I saw a true entry in the Holmes canon (although I understand that the current Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly Holmes & Watson “comedy” may be even worse). I have long been curious about The Hound of the Baskervilles, and this Hammer Studios remake—supposedly the first Sherlock Holmes movie to be filmed in color—is supposed to be one of the best. It’s definitely watchable, although I understand numerous liberties were taken in telling the story to bring it up to Hammer’s “scarifying” standards. Peter Cushing is the Holmes I’d always imagined, nothing against Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays him on TV. As a way of ringing 2019, I thought it would be good to finally take this one off the bucket list. (8)