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After Hours (1985)
Arty/Indie Scorsese delivers a classic
This has to be one of my top 5 films of all time. As much as we all love the Scorsese of Goodfellas or Casino or Raging Bull, this is something else. It has nothing to do with most of his films, and yet it portrays his classic palette of characters one more strange than the other. Finance Manhattan clashes with arty underground NYC, things getting out of hand late at night, great music and perfect tempo.
It's a film I need to rewatch every couple of years because I have such a blast everytime when things go south for Griffin Dunne. Unbelievably funny and dark.
Halt and Catch Fire (2014)
An underrated classic
I am hooked. When I first started watching the pilot for Halt and Catch Fire I almost felt embarrassment. There were all the clichés that I hated. The macho sales man, the quirky cute smart programmer, sex between them. It was pretty bad, or that is what I thought. Yet there was something that struck a chord with me. The characters, specially Joe McMillan, were larger than life. Egomaniacal, visionary, inspirational, liar. Then I understood. I am also an entrepreneur, and I work with other entrepreneurs. And there are actually lots of these kind of people around me. You need to be completely insane and delusional to truly believe in what you do when everything goes south and you have no money, no trust and you are fighting with your co-worker.
It is all here.
Then you have to weight in the nostalgia factor, the well chosen music, the aesthetics, and the epic of those "apple was created in a garage" years. Without the glamour and without the circus of the current startup world, yet with the same excitement and up and downs of real life entrepreneurship.
There are bad things in Halt and Catch fire. Some episodes are a bit over the top, subtracting credibility to the story. And frankly the direction of actors could be better (sorry Scoot McNairy, your first season is pretty bad). Finally I sometimes would like to see more geekiness and less romance. More thriller, less soap opera.
And then the creators hit the jackpot in Mckenzie Davis (Cameron Howe) and Lee Pace (Joe Mcmillan). Two phenomenal actors, intense characters and the true pillars of the series. Mckenzie Davis is just phenomenally charming and fun and obnoxious. She is going to be one Hollywood regular, or at least she deserves it. And Joe McMillan. What a guy! How much Steve Jobs can you be without being Steve Jobs? A perfect mix between a silicon valley visionary and American Psycho. (Mini-Spoiler Alert:) In the third season Cameron says to him something like "You are great at what you do. Whatever it is what you do. You bring people together". And that is exactly what is great about the character perfectly played by Pace. It is enigmatic, he does not do anything really special yet he is the key around all this creativity and destruction.
Halt and catch fire is a classic. Could it be better? Totally. It could be a masterpiece. I just like it the way it is. The underdog of series. The perfect mix between bad and sublime.
Watch it now.
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Good action movie, poor characters
I am really wondering "did I see the same movie as everybody else here?". This movie is very decent, very well filmed and edited, keeps tension very high all through. But what are those cheap plastic characters? Are those emotions? Is this film trying to portray the subtleties and nuances of human soul amidst chaos?
Well, if that was the director's goal, he failed miserably. Each single one of the main characters seemed empty and cliché'ed. And that's a pity, because the film and the story could have been a masterpiece in the hands of someone like Spielberg. Just watch Saving Private Ryan and you will understand instantly what I mean.
I am just shocked that this film, which is OK as a commercial film but is emotionally blunt, got 98% in Rottentomatoes and 8 in IMDb. I just don't get it. Still, watch it. Just don't expect it to change your vision of the world...
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006)
Very decent documentary, but not genius
This is one of these stories that can be revisited over and over again while trying to understand what actually happened. What are the reasons that make people do horrible things without really wanting or understanding why do they do them. It is a film about collective delusion and manipulation... or maybe it is a film about fear and uncertainty towards life?
Well, I wish I could answer these questions after this documentary. But I can't, because despite it's very acceptable technical quality, the choice of a chronological narration doesn't do much to add depth to a character larger than life as Jim Jones was.
The film did a lot to enlighten me in the origins of the church, it's racial integration and also its claims against social inequality. But the character itself remains a mystery to me. His motivations, the techniques he used to control his followers. It is all depicted very lightly and without much intellectual depth. There are moments when some of the cult followers say things about Jones that could be further explored, but unfortunately the director chooses to leave them as nearly an anecdote.
And this is what I think it is the biggest concern I have against this very interesting film. The narration makes Jones appear as an eccentric egomaniac. But the truth is that one hints there was so much more in his plans. It is just not plausible that he just made up the mass suicide- murder idea on the go. There is something utterly well thought out about how everything happened. This is pure evil at work, not very different to the Jew extermination by the Nazis. There was a plan, and I am sure that in this case there was a very well laid out plan. But the film makes it all appear almost as random as the weather.
It is a pity, because the archive footage is varied and excellent. But I can't help but wonder what Errol Morris would have done of this film. Probably a masterpiece, because he would have made what he does best: Portray characters with total precision.
Still, an interesting documentary to watch.
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (2006)
Good content in a bad documentary
I was most interested in watching this documentary as i find the subject fascinating: the industry of war presented as it really is, a business opportunity.
But i was rather disappointed with the film itself. Even though the content was OK, the way it was presented was disconnected and superficial. The way the stories (or "cases" should i say) are glued together is rather abrupt and takes the viewer from personal stories that simply don't cut it to more "cold facts" interviews that are a real downer.
So, the film never takes off emotionally and never really touched me in any manner. It was just interesting to hear some first hand experiences about the corruption that permeates all these companies making big bucks in Iraq... but not a doc i would recommend to everyone.