Find That Film

I can’t believe we’re in season six. I’ve been slacking a bit and poor ManWithPez has been posting, writing, pulling clips…well, he’s been doing everything but recording my lines. I’ll try to return to form with episode 4 and the 2018 war horror movie Overlord.

Despite heavy Cloverfield rumors and the Bad Robot involvement, this story was originally penned by Billy Ray and further developed by Ray and Mark L Smith (Abrams is a red herring). It takes the oft put to film Allied Invasion and blends it with the Nazis occult scientists and the tiny town they occupy. The result is a pretty decent war movie and an entertainingly gory horror movie.

It stars Jovan Adepo as the good-hearted but terrible soldier Boyce. He wants to help and be brave but he just doesn’t have it in him to be as cold blooded as his brothers in arms. Wyatt Russell relunctantly leads the team as Corporal Ford: a soldier that’s seen enough battles to know how important staying on mission is. One of the best movie Nazi bad guys yet is Pilou Asbaek as Cpt Wafner. (This will make you wish he had been given more to do in Game of Thrones.) Mathilde Oliver makes you like Chloe almost as much as Boyce does. The small cast all do quite well in their roles. Sure, there are some tropes and obvious beats, but the sum of it’s parts outshines the minor annoyances.

The effects are damn fine. The framing, lighting, and overall cinematography impresses. The trailer does not do a sufficient job of advertising the movie. Be prepared for some body horror. Be equally prepared for the realities of war. Be prepared to like the movie more than you intended to before you hit play.

It may be part Wolfenstein, part The Keep, and part Re-Animator, but it is all good. This fall we encourage you to drop into the sales racks and find that film Overlord.

Back in 2001, the film comedy as a genre that people regularly went to the theater for was beginning to change, and, in my opinion, not for the better.  So leave it to Ivan Reitman, a director with a proven track record in comedy, to bring a throwback to one of his earlier films:  Ghostbusters.  Evolution is very much its own film, and yet, comparisons can and will be drawn, to Evolution’s detriment.  And yet, Evolution succeeds on all fronts.  It’s one of the funniest movies ever, the science fiction is science fiction-y enough, and it has a satisfying act structure.  Hell, it made $100 million at the box office, and was still considered a misfire, what with its $80 million budget.

A meteor crash lands in the Arizona desert, bringing with it a lifeform that rapidly evolves from single-celled organisms to dangerous animals in a matter of days.  Drs. Ira Kane (David Duchovny)and Harry Block (Orlando Jones), two professors from the local community college are on the forefront to protect Earth from this threat, before the military steps in (led by General Woodman played to smarmy perfection by Ted Levine) with a CDC representative (Julianne Moore) to place tight restrictions on their access.  The monsters get underestimated, and Ira and Harry enlist the help of a fireman trainee (Seann William Scott) to help them save the planet.  The chemistry between David Duchovny and Orlando Jones by itself is a solid reason to watch this movie, and they are remarkably funny together.  By making a comedy first and backing it up with a solid science fiction action film, Ivan Reitman ultimately serves up a satisfying movie that is worth your time to find.  Just remember to bring your Head and Shoulders.

The Coen brothers are powerhouses of modern cinema, and here is their first movie:  Blood Simple…and what a debut!  Neon-drenched, bloody, violent, Texas-themed neo-noir, and man, does it pack a punch!  Like a movie we covered last season: Miller’s Crossing, here, the Coens present us with a flick that is film noir on the surface, but reveals itself as a straight crime drama with a skin of noir on it.

Ray (John Getz)and Abby (Frances McDormand)are together now, and Abby’s husband (Dan Hedaya) doesn’t care for the pairing.  To that end he hires an unscrupulous private detective (M. Emmett Walsh) to kill them both, but the P.I. has plans of his own.  It’s a simple story that relies on its performances to pull it through, and boy, does Blood Simple deliver.  Dan Hedaya especially is playing against type here in a way that he almost never would again.  He is a ball of menace and avarice, and the Coens go out their way to show us that Ray will not be the hero here as they draw many similarities between Ray and Marty.  M. Emmett Walsh is an affable, laughing man…right up until he isn’t, and Frances McDormand plays a doe-eyed Texas blossom who isn’t as nearly naive as she seems.  Blood Simple should rank up with the Coens’ best films:  No Country For Old Men, Miller’s Crossing, O Brother Where Art Thou…It all starts here, and boy, do we start with a bang!

Welcome back to season 6 of Find That Film!  And to kick things off, here’s a coming of age summer film from 1984 starring Matt Dillon called The Flamingo Kid.  Matt Dillon through the 80s was known for being a broody, wrong side of the tracks pretty boy, and in The Flamingo Kid, he plays Jeffrey, a good card player who can spot an opportunity and exploit it without coming off like a complete douchebag. The difference here is that Jeffrey is a likeable man who isn’t up to his neck in angst.

Back home, Jeffery’s father Arthur (a delightful Hector Elizondo) is disappointed in some of his son’s choices, but isn’t the overbearing Brooklyn father stereotype we were normally presented with through the 70s and 80s, and it is a wonder to behold.  Richard Crenna plays the man Jeffrey would like to become, even if he’s a total prick…like Richard Crenna was good at portraying.  The Flamingo Kid has a lot going on in it…more than can be gone into here.  So hear what we have to say about it, and then find that Garry Marshall film.  If you like the slice of life that Happy Days was, check out a slightly more grown up version of it in The Flamingo Kid.

For episode 23, we are finally closing out season five by discussing the 1981 not-horror-classic The Boogens. This low budget monster flick is best remembered for its monsters. For the record, ManWithPez fully objects to its inclusion in the Find That Film pantheon (remember how upset he was about Ice Pirates?). Warning: This episode has a hostile witness.

The Boogens shows us the cold dreary week of two college-aged men on a mining contract, the women who join them to limit the boredom, the old timers heading up the job, a creepy local, and a dog. While the advertising and creepy local would hint at a slasher flick, this is in line with the cheesy monster movies of the past. It opens with newspaper clippings explaining the history of death in the mines and one unfortunate recent victim who is simply presumed missing. As is standard, people go about life not knowing anything’s amiss while more people fail to appear when they should. It culminates in a basic monster vs humans moment within the reopened mines.

The inclusion of this movie has little to do with the plot or underwhelming effects and everything to do with the pure charm and professionalism coming off the cast. I give quite a bit of credit to director James L Conway for getting solid reactions from the actors without having a creature on set for most of the scenes. Jeff Harlan and Anne-Marie Martin may have flat characters but convince the viewer they are terrified and in fear for their lives. Rebecca Balding is great as the perky reporter. Fred McCarren nails the awkward every man part. Even though they’re pretty one dimensional, all the characters seem realistic and of average intelligence. It’s nice to see regular people in a horror movie.

Come for the monster madness. Stay for the chocolate cake. Then ignore the monsters and find that film The Boogens. It’s neat.

At the tail end of Summer of 1984, an intriguing psychological thriller slipped in and out of theaters. Even though it had sex, murder, and small town insanity, season five episode 22’s Impulse was completely overlooked.There was simply no way it was ever going to make a name for itself with the incredible movie landscape of 1984.

Meg Tilly stars as Jennifer, a ballet dancer, who travels home with her doctor fiancé Stuart (Tim Matheson) when her mother attempts suicide. Her arrival finds her father Bob (John Carlen) and brother Eddie (Bill Paxton) are at each others’ throats more than usual. There’s something wrong; the small town and its people begin to seem menacing instead of quirky. As Jennifer and Stuart ask more questions, Dr. Carr (Hume Cronyn) agrees that the town is at its wits’ end. With people being killed in broad daylight, Jennifer worries neither she nor her loved ones will make it out alive.

Impulse was directed by Graham Baker and written by Don Carlos Dunaway and Nicholas Kazan. Though it may seem slow at times, the screen is masterfully painted by cinematographer Thomas Del Ruth. It’s a beautiful film with lots of sunlight and muted tones of a worn small town. The budget was more akin to a TV film, but this creative team made the most of what they were given (watch for an amazing arson scene).

Sure, Impulse is derivative. It’s also well acted and unique enough to be a worthy find. Med Tilly gives just enough naivety and subtle strength to make me, not a Tilly fan, want to find that film Impulse.

Yes, we’re still in season five. I know. It’s on me. I’m sorry. ManWithPez has been chomping at the bit to do an Albert Finney movie and here I sit too tired write. He watched Tom Jones for the first time and he mostly enjoyed it. Our youngest was introduced to Annie. We considered Big Fish and Murder on the Orient Express. In the end, I insisted his suggestion of Miller’s Crossing was perfect. Without further ado, episode 21: Miller’s Crossing.

You really can’t go too wrong with a Coen brothers’ film. This is one of their gritty, dark, and bloody stories not their quirky, comedy filled tall tales. Except for the moments out in Miller’s Crossing, it’s a dark film of browns and blacks. Corruption and mob justice steer a city thirsty for drinks and gambling.

Gabriel Byrne is the right hand man to Finney’s Leo, the boss. They disagree about what to do with Verna’s (Marcia Gay Harden) cheat brother (John Turturro). Leo doesn’t want to upset his lady love. Jon Polito and J E Freeman are some of the best antagonists in film and no one could of played their roles better. It’s also one of the few films I’ve watched where half the characters are gay and no one gives a rat’s ass. It’s refreshing. This story has all the twists and double-crosses you’d expect with a Coen property.

If you love fedoras and a tommy gun wielding Albert Finley, you need to find that film Miller’s Crossing.

Do you remember that John Landis werewolf movie from the 80s?  Yeah?  Most people do and consider it the seminal film in the subgenre.  Did you know he made a vampire/gangster movie in the 90s?  Yeah, you wouldn’t be alone if you said you didn’t remember Innocent Blood, Landis’s other horror film.

The 90s were hard on John Landis, for obvious reasons, but not the least which was he decided to make a comedy starring Sylvester Stallone.  We’ve already covered that movie, so perhaps combining the crime movie with a horror comedy (though Innocent Blood is made a comedy only by Landis’s touches.  Something tells me this wasn’t written this way.)  was Landis keeping to form.  Here, we have the lovely Marie, played by French actress Anne Parillaud, a vampire with a conscience who decides to use a city-wide gang war as a cover for nocturnal feeding habits.  Getting in the way is Joe, played by Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia,(You heard me…AUSTRALIAN!) an undercover cop with a heart of gold.  Directly in her sites is mob boss Sal “The Shark” Macelli, acted to over-the-top, scenery chewing perfection by Robert Loggia, who commits to this bizarre premise wholeheartedly and sells the movie with his charismatic performance.  Chazz Palminteri, Kim Coates, Angela Bassett, Tony Sirico, David Proval, and a host of other actors you’ve seen on The Sopranos round out a very competent cast. Don Rickles, here, plays against type by playing a mob lawyer.  No shit.  A likeable mob lawyer who has one of the most memorable scenes in any movie, ever. No one blends comedy and horror like John Landis, who has the formula down, and when you’re about to roll your eyes and turn the channel, someone does something funny or interesting enough to keep your attention.

This movie shouldn’t work, but everything is just charming enough, just gory enough, just funny enough to keep you tuned in, and that’s no mean feat, anymore.  John Landis knows how to make an entertaining movie.  He doesn’t top most of the other fantastic movies he’s made with Innocent Blood, but he does make an decent enough addition to his resume.

I thought he posted it. He thought I posted it. I don’t know what’s going on anymore. Things seem to sneak by more and more everyday. Episode 19 is one of those movies with a super cast. The kind that will delight everyone. The premise. while ridiculous, is just believable enough to help you enjoy the movie. Settle in for Phil Alden Robinson‘s 1992 Sneakers.

Sneakers can be considered a caper film, a spy film, a comedy, and a benign technopunk movie.  If your technopunks are old enough to collect social security, that is.  Well written, definitely well cast, and fantastically acted, Sneakers is nothing short of one of the better movies that the 90s ever produced.  But what can you expect with Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, River Phoenix, Ben Kingsley, David Straithairn, and Mary McDonnell in your movie?  Not to mention a subversively scene stealing Stephen Tobolowsky?

Sneakers tells the story of Martin Bishop, manager of a security consultant firm whose strategy is to attack your electronic defensive systems to show their weaknesses.  What no one knows about Martin is that several decades ago, he and his buddy Cosmo pulled some felony level pranks with a phone and a modem.  While the police caught Cosmo and sent him to prison, Martin escaped.  Now a shadow group of federal agents are enlisting Martin and his security firm to track down a brilliant scientist’s little black box, THE code breaker that allows anyone to access anything.  When the prize is so great, is it little wonder, then, that it brings a host of enemies to Martin’s door?  Including the dead?

Ridiculous, and ridiculously entertaining, Reford and company take this unwieldly premise and hammers it into something  that not only seems credible, but manages to be fun along the way.  No small feat given that you are essentially talking about a film revolving around complex mathematical algorithms.  While it wasn’t a critical darling or any type of award bait, this is the movie about this subject that you want to see, simply because the cast and the execution are carried off so well.  So plug in your answering machine and verify that your voice is your passport.  It’s time to sneak off and find Sneakers.

Season five episode 18 is 1984’s Dune. We know it’s a divisive movie for Dune fans but we’d like you to give it a chance. David Lynch brought a unique angle to the telling of the universe’s spice battle. And we dare you not to fall under Francesca Annis‘s spell as Lady Jessica.

Frank Herbert‘s Dune has held a spot in the top five science fiction novels for more than 50 years. It tells the tale of a young royal leading an underground force to disrupt the corrupt regime after the murder of his father. The massive first novel in his series was squeezed into one feature length film after 15 years in development hell. The result is a mixed bag of book details and new concepts to shortcut the lengthy backstory. The whole is worth the time.

Many people have forever linked this cast to these characters. Kyle MacLachlan broke into Hollywood (and Lynch’s crew) as Paul. It’s a tricky way to begin a career. Jurgen Prochnow and Francesca Annis make a gorgeous and believable Duke Leto and Lady Jessica. Even though some odd choices were made about the depiction of Reverend Mother Mohiam, Sian Phillips was perfectly cast. For my money, the bizarrely cast Everett McGill is a joy as Stilgar (joyful Stilgar?). Freddie Jones, Linda Hunt, and Jose Ferrer add depth and legitimacy to the movie. Dune has a massive cast which includes a naive Sean Young and a misused Dean Stockwell.

Great care was taken in making the Fremen and the desert hard and unforgiving. Bob Ringwood, the costume team, and the art direction team created believable stillsuits and fantastic wardrobes and sets. Toto‘s music is almost more memorable than the movie itself. The worms. Puppetry and miniatures are hard, but for the most part, they come across as massive creatures to respect.

Grab a few friends, or your kids, and introduce them to a classic story. Have a drink or two to get the spice flowing and find that film Dune.