Barbie (2023), Lars and The Real Girl (2007), and Megan (2023)

Barbie is the movie of 2023! No doubt about it. I went to see it and really liked it. It is funny on a way that satires our society and felt very much like the great movies that Mel Brooks made in the 1970s. Greta Gerwig's comedic touch is certainly in this and the only thing missing is her doing a supporting role somehow in some scene; I think she's really funny as noted before in other reviews here.  But Margot Robbie as Barbie is really good, and worth of some awards for her performance. 

Ryan Gosling is very good too, as "Ken". It reminded me that he was in another movie about a doll, Lars and the Real Girl, which is a really great and underrated gem. Ryan is so good in this film as a man who develops a serious attachment to his new plastic friend. It's a quirky movie but it's profound as well and is really worth seeing.

Barbie reviews by other bloggers:

• Out There In the Dark
• Critic After Dark
• Laura's Miscellaneous Movies
• Surrender to the Void

Another movie about a doll that came out earlier this year is Megan. I really loved this one! It's a horror-comedy about a killer doll, sort of like Child's Play/Chucky but not as violent/bloody. One of the new twists of this movie's doll is that it's programmed with an ability to attach with it's owner, and ultimately becomes possessive and needless to say, creepy. But very fun to watch, and ultimately satisfying. 

Deep Focus Lens review of Barbie and the film's dance sequences, choreography, and sets

Hail The Conquering Hero (1944)

Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum's summary:

Preston Sturges's last feature for Paramount (1944) takes on wartime patriotism with a brio and vengeance that may take your breath away. Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) gets discharged from the marines due to chronic hay fever, but some service buddies decide to present him to his hometown as if he's a returning war hero. As usual, Sturges's stock company of wonderful bit actors—including William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Raymond Walburn, and Jimmy Conlin—is orchestrated and conducted like a pop symphony, and Ella Raines does duty as the love interest. A scathing delight.

A movie that is now 75 years old, I really found this to be a good satire about lauding a wartime hero. The movie is rather sentimental but it's amusing to see everyone in this town praise this guy who doesn't deserve any of it. One of the biggest problems I have with it is the frequent utterance of the word "Jap" that bothered me. I know it was common for films of that era to use that term but it's really cringe inducing to hear today. Sturges was so prophetic and forward-thinking in many of his scripts but it's unfortunate that those slurs were left in for all time.

Son of Saul (2015) and Hail Ceasar! (2016)

Son of Saul is a  Holocaust story, set in the Auschwicz concentration camp in Poland. It's sad, but a very well made film, directed by directed by László Nemes.

Saul is a Jewish prisoner forced to worked in a crematorium.
As he attempts to give a dead child a proper burial, he finds out that the child may or may not be his son.

As he continues to uncover the truth, he learns that either situation is likely.

The man risks his life devoting himself to the cause of a proper burial, especially during an uprising of the camp that causes many in the camp to doubt his loyalties.

The director's style is impressive; the entire film is told from Saul's perspective, with the camera focused on him the entire time, even when there's horrible violence taking place in the background of the frame.

Read a blog post by Cliched Monologues on this film here.

Read a blog post by Avvaganda.com here

Read a blog post by Korova Theater here

Another film I saw this past week was Hail Ceasar! directed by the Cohen brothers. The trailer showed some snippets of what looked like homages to old Technicolor movies of the '40s and '50s, which really intrigued me. I've seen some of the Cohen Brothers films but not all, so wasn't sure what to expect.

It's an ensemble comedy satire, and focuses on Josh Brolin's character, a Hollywood "fixer" who keeps actors' scandals out of the press. We meet some of the actors he helps, including George Clooney who's playing a Roman soldier in a Biblical epic called "Hail Caesar" (with dialogue very much - almost identical - to Ben Hur); his character is kidnapped by Communists. Yes, it's absurd. There's also a submarine in it. You have to see it to believe it.

The movie also spoofs musicals, westerns, and melodramas, as well as gossip columnists, communists, and censorship boards. There's a musical number with sailors in the bar; Channing Tatum is supposed to be playing a Gene Kelly-type sailor (like from Anchors Aweigh). I liked that the song used was an original piece, not a copycat number from a real '50s musical; kudos to the songwriters.

I have to say that George Clooney in the Roman solider uniform really looks as if he could play the part in a Roman epic from that time period.

The movie is pretty entertaining. A little crazy, but entertaining.  I enjoyed it.

Here's another review, from a blog about biblical epics.

Bobby Rivers wrote about this movie several times on his blog. Read the posts here:
Post 1 | Post 2 | Post 3

The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming! (1966)

Zany comedy about a group of Russian sailors - led by Alan Arkin -  who find themselves stranded on a small, tight-knit New England island town. Not able to speak the language, they try to steal a boat to get off of the island hoping not to encounter any of the locals. Eventually rumors spread all over the island about invaders and everyone panics ("It's all over!" predicts one paranoid resident).

The Russians disguise themselves as as locals

There are some funny sight gags and comedic bits involving the paranoid townsfolk. One bit has Jonathan Winters at the kitchen table with his 8 little children prepping the family about a possible attack. There's a town drunk that's funny, and an old woman who gets tied to a chair while her near-sighted husband hardly notices.

But there are some softer moments, too, especially the scenes involving one of the Russians falling in love with a young woman.  Carl Reiner and Eva Marie Saint are the only two people who know why the Russians are there and try to explain it to everyone else. Another voice of reason is Brian Keith, who plays the police chief. Also starring Theodore Bikel.

It's an enjoyable satire about paranoia in the days before cable news, the internet, smart phones phones, and Twitter.

The Apple (1980)

A very bizarre flashy musical released the same year as "Xanadu" and "Fame" and two years after "Grease" and "Hair". Lots of flash and glitter, and also thought-provoking: the Biblical symbolism - including the end-of-the-world ideas - was interesting. Around this time (late 70s/early 80s) there was alot of hysteria about the end of the world, and the apocalyptic book "The Late Great Planet Earth" was on the best seller chart; I imagine these themes would have been familiar to people at the time, certainly the filmmakers to some degree. After all, the year before, a movie version of "Earth" was released and featured Orson Welles. The doomsday/mark-of-the-beast themes are all clearly there in the film: the "BIM mark", the "rapture" scene at the end, etc. I saw Mr. Boogalow as Satan "personified", and Mr Topps as the God-like character bringing the resisters of the mark up to heaven.

Strangest quotes from the film:

Mr Booglaow (referring to Bibi): "She's already married...to the BIM"

Cop (to Alphie): You're not wearing the BIM mark..you know it's obligatory from now on"

Landlady (referring to Alphie's room): "What happened here last night, a pogrom?"

Landlady (to Alphie): "I need the money, this government's crazy!"

2nd Cop (to Alphie): "You're not wearing the BIM mark; here's a ticket"

Loudspeaker in a public park: "Time to stop ordinary activities and prepare for the national BIM tour...all citizens must participate"

Alphie (to the hippies): " 'Peace'...I haven't heard that word in a long time".

Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)

I thought this movie was OK. Dustin Hoffman plays a folk musician/songwriter.

He deludes into a depression, then completely breaks down, becoming reclusive, anti social, and un emotional. Then some eerie sequences of people floating through the air with close up and fades. All the while he's tormented by an unknown, unexplained man - the titular Kellerman - spreading lies about him.

Barbara Harris (who later went on to star in Freaky Friday and Nashville) is in a few scenes; she plays one of his lovers who wants nothing to do with him.