Get Shorty (1995)

Travolta is all charm as Chili Palmer, a loan shark's enforcer who chases a borrower to the west coast and -- almost without effort -- talks himself into the movie business. Though it's a fun script, it's the cast that pushes this to greatness. Gene Hackman as a small-time producer with debts, Danny DeVito as an A-lister who's living in a privileged bubble, Dennis Farina as a wise-guy with a grudge against Chili, Rene Russo as as a scream queen slightly past her prime... I could keep on listing but I'll just say that everyone's at the top of their game here.

Genuinely hilarious and also very sweet. I've seen it several times and look forward to our next viewing!

A-

The Apprentice (2024)

The basic message of this movie is that Trump was molded into what he is today rather than being born that way. And to that I say OK -- well who wasn't? If the only people in your life are immoral, you will also probably be immoral. Though there are exceptions to this rule of thumb, Donald Trump is far from exceptional. He seems to be a black hole of need for wealth, women, and attention who was ripe for recruitment into a life of shortcuts in order to fulfill his needs.

It held my attention and had great performances. I'm just not sure if it tells us anything new about the man.

C+

The Brutalist (2024)

The entire idea behind this must've been "Brutalist architect... so the movie should be brutally long and brutally tedious and ultimately plunge the audience into a brutal depth of despair!"

When you demand that I give up more than a fifth of my day to watch your film, it should go out of its way to keep me engaged. Instead, everything's obscured and secretive: the script played it so close to the vest that I was often unsure whether my inferences were the intended ones. For example, keeping the "why" for Toth's community center design choices a secret -- only to be revealed in an end-of-movie, way in the future speech -- was ridiculous.

I have nothing bad to say about the performances and I'm happy that those involved got recognition for their work, though.

D

On the Fringe (2023)

Follows several storylines of poverty in Spain, each more miserable than the last. A woman about to lose her home for failure to pay works with a "Stop Evictions" group in hopes of her family being allowed to stay put. A young girl is taken into care when she's found at home alone since her mother works every waking hour to keep them housed. A man grabbing temporary work where he can has stopped taking his mother's calls out of embarrassment at his inability to pay her back. Meanwhile, that elderly mother can no longer pay her own housing costs and is falling into despair. From a different viewpoint, we see heart-of-gold middle-class Rafa chasing around all day to reunite the young girl with her mother at the expense of his own family obligations.

Though the acting is solid and the story's important, the non-stop hopelessness is hard to watch.

C-

The Only Living Boy in New York (2017)

Thomas is a young man just trying to find his footing in the world. He's bucking against his privileged (but rather empty) upbringing and pining after a girl who has firmly categorized him as "friend" when he meets his new neighbor. WF is full of pithy wisdom and is very interested in hearing what's going on in Thomas's life, so much so that Thomas soon is seeking out his advice and company. When Thomas discovers that his father is having an affair, he becomes obsessed with and then embroiled in the situation.

I liked the set-up a lot. There was a sense of discovery and maybe a little bit of magic when the wise WF arrived on the scene -- but, it turns out, I was just projecting my hopes onto the film. In reality, this story's about a group who are playing out their expected roles and making themselves miserable. Yes, there's catharsis and everyone comes away from the situation in a bit more of an authentic place, but I couldn't help but feel that they'd soon fall back into familiar patterns rather than really learn the lessons they'd been given.

C+