2022 - SISU, apparently the first in a series of two films.

Probably should have watched this film first instead of Sisu: Road to Revenge.  However both films are essentially the same plot our hero kills a hell of a lot of people but he does it very creatively.  

As it turns out the guy's name isn't Sisu.  Sisu is evidently a state of courage or something. The film is set in Finland.  Our hero, Aatami Korpi digs up a load of gold.  Unfortunately for him a German patrol finds out about his stash of gold and we are off and running as Aatami fights them off with probably some of the most graphic violence possible.

Is Aatami tough?  Well at one point he takes off his shirt and his body is covered in very large scars.  He's also clearly been working out at the Helsinki YMCA because he is very buff and he's got a dog just like The Road Warrior.  Those German soldiers are clearly outclassed in the brutality department.

 

This mayhem is once again orchestrated by the director Jalmari Helander.  Heander is very skilled at staging the action stuff in his films.  He has an interesting sense of humor, the violence at times gets mighty ludicrous.

Sisu is recommended for the action movie fans who like it tough and fast.

The film was written by Jalmari Helander, the running time is 91 minutes.  

 

2022 - TAR, a character study of a fierce character.

I have no idea what to make of this film.  Cate Blanchett's performance as a talented and extreme orchestra conductor whose life is about to come crashing down, is about as good as you will ever see in any film.  The writer/director Todd Field has done an excellent job working with the actors and his written a fascinating story.  So what's the problem?  

 I think Tar suffers under it's own weight as an intense drama and character study.  Cate Blanchett's performance is completely uncompromising.  Her character Lydia Tar has a fervent connection to the music she conducts particularly Gustav Mahler's 5th symphony.  Lydia Tar also appears to be skilled at manipulating people in her personal and professional life.  In the end Lydia Tar is such a completely unsympathetic character that I finally found difficult to relate to her on just about every level.  To paraphrase the old saying, watching Blanchett's performance has all the fascination of gazing into a snake pit.

I don’t think it helped the film that much of the story while interesting is very subtlety told by the director.  I don't have a problem being challenged by a narrative but at two hours and thirty eight minutes that's a lot of time to be immersed into this muddled world.

 

I'm extremely conflicted about this film.  There are so many good things in it but the running time and the unrelenting unpleasantness were a real turn off.  Tar will require a second viewing which in a way is a complement to Todd Field and Cate Blanchett.  Considering the shallowness of most film dramas this film is in many ways a flawed but very impressive achievement.

2022 - THE FABELMANS, Steven Spielberg at 76

 At the age of 76, Spielberg is still making films and still quite prolific. The Fabelmans is different from his recent films.  It's clearly a very personal project since it is about his family and his embrace of film making.  Most critics and publicists have said it's based on his family, but Spielberg has gone on at great length about how this film is about his parents divorce.

For all of Spielberg's potent skill behind the camera I don't believe he really pulled his story off.  The film's box office was a disappointment.  Audiences just didn't seem to want to embrace his personal story.  Spielberg appeared to have a complicated relationship with his divorced parents.  In The Fabelmans he is clearly trying to present a positive portrayal of his mother and father even with all of their flaws.  The mother is the creative head of the family, she appears to be a frustrated artist unhappy about being a housewife and a mother.  But I feel the mother comes off as somewhat of a nut, probably not what Spielberg was aiming for.

As the Spielberg character Sammy moves into high school, he becomes even more proficient at making his little 16 and 8 mm films.  He falls in love with a very Christian girl which seems rather improbable for a high school film nerd.  He films his class on an outing to the beach and while editing makes the antisemitic blonde jock Logan the hero of the film.  Obviously demonstrating his ability to create a mythic hero.  Since Sammy has been shown to be harassed by the Jew hating Logan this seemed rather improbable and maybe a little offensive.

 

The film ends with Sammy's visit to the legendary Hollywood director John Ford played by David Lynch.  For most film nuts this is the high point of the film, Lynch does seem to capture the gruff and abusive nature of Ford.

 

But I think what really hurts this film is the running time.  2 hours and 31 minutes is a very long time for any film much less this one.  In fact I've heard a number of people remark that this film is very long and very boring.

The screenplay was by Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner.

2022 - BABYLON, a strange messy tribute to Hollywood

 Damien Chazelle is the writer/director of Babylon.  Chazelle had previously made the film La La Land, the revisionist musical drama that featured leads who couldn't sing or dance.  Babylon appears to be Chazelle's tribute to Hollywood's silent film phase and it's transition to sound in the late 1920's and early 30's. Like audiences would be interested in that.  The film chiefly follows a few story lines. 

Margot Robbie is a woman who believes she is destined to become a major Hollywood star, Brad Pitt is the fading Hollywood leading man caught in the transition to sound.  Diego Calva plays a Hispanic who improbably rises to the top of the studio hierarchy as an executive.  The film is well cast and the performances are at a high caliber.  Robbie in particular really goes for it with an all out diva performance.  

 

Babylon is a frustrating film. the first 30 to 40 minutes of it are quite good with lots of black humor particularly in an extended party scene and the filming of a costume epic.  It seems that everything story wise starts to go wrong around the one hour running time of the film as the film transitions into drama  and about forty minutes later the film completely descends into melodrama.  Frankly the script is just a complete disaster.

Damien Chazelle is a talented filmmaker who clearly has a personal vision, however he will need to get his rather excessive and overblown style particularly in his screenwriting under control if he wants to have a career in the film business.  For all of it's ambitions Babylon is a major disappointment.

The running time is a ridiculous 189 minutes.

2022 - THOR LOVE AND THUNDER, not good

Chris Hemsworth is amusing as usual playing this goofy muscleman/god character.  The rest of the film is pretty bad.

If you haven't been following the Marvel films the plot will probably be incomprehensible to anyone trying to pick up the Thor film saga at this point. Even if you know what's going on the story is still pretty poor.

 

It may be time for Marvel to up their game a bit on these movies, it seems like the series has been drifting rudderless since Avengers Endgame.  This film was truly a waste of time.

 Written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.  The running time is a longish 119 minutes.