Movie: Tick, Tick… Boom! (2021) *****

Talk about a piece of art speaking directly to you, to who you are and how you feel at a moment, or for the past few years even. 

Tick Tick Boom is a movie version of the play (rock monologue) written by Jonathan Larson, the focus character in both the play and the movie. In the movie, he is an aspiring musical theater writer and has an opportunity to show his play at a workshop. He spends most of the movie obsessively preparing for this workshop.

The movie takes the play where live theater can’t go: actualized flashbacks, toggling between two or more people on screen, on location. But still, in a way capturing the intimacy of a monologue show in an off-Broadway theater. Lin Manuel-Miranda did a great job of capturing the proverbial lightning, as well as thunder, rain and clouds parting to reveal hope… in a bottle.

I found this movie to be very sincere and touching all while using the best of film and musical theater techniques, featuring cameos from stars of theater. I loved the voices, and I loved the music. After Hamilton, In the Heights and Encanto, I’m recognizing Lin Manuel-Miranda style.

I still find Seasons of Love to be an annoying song, but I’m definitely open to giving the stage play, Rent, written by Jonathan Larson, another try. 

I enjoyed Tick Tick Boom. It by far was one of my favorite films of 2021. Five stars: Probably a favorite. I can see myself memorizing the soundtrack and watching the movie over and over. *****

Blindspotting (2018)****(*)

Blindspotting is a modern buddy movie that is set against the backdrop of a changing Oakland. What is less obvious, but still ever poignant, is that the two main characters, Collin and Miles, are changing too. The fast-paced story takes place over three days, but includes appropriate flashbacks. 

It doesn’t seem to take much, but you get a good sense of the people involved. The real-life friendship between the actors, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal comes through, as well as they’re lyrical-wordsmithing skills. Actors Janina Gavankar and Jasmine Cephas Jones, who play respective love interests to Collin and Miles, add to the weight of the story and the authenticity of the film. By the end you get a better sense why they have to and how they are going to change. 

Stylistically, this film seems simple: Big block text, what look like basic camera techniques, existing locations, but this movie is not simple or basic. There are so many deep, thought-provoking themes and imagery throughout mixed in with funny buddy situations, making this film complex, amusing, serious, sobering and amazing. 

I watched this movie twice. It set a little deeper the second time, it made me laugh more and made me a bit more worried, but at the same time hopeful for the world. 

I give this movie four stars**** on the Cinematic Masterpiece side of the scale. I want to watch this again and again. I want to talk about it. It just might be one of my favorites, but I'll only know with time. I’m sorry I didn’t get to support this movie in theaters. 

I checked the DVD out from my local library.

Addendum March 4, 2019: This gets bumped up to five stars*****. I've been talking about it for the past few days and I've come to the conclusion that I love this movie. Done. 

TV: The Sopranos Season 3 (2001)*****

I'm pretty sure The Sopranos is myfavorite TV show. It is the TV show my brain craves to watch the most, and every episode I've seen (all of them) are valuable. The past week or so, I've been re-watching season 3 and dogonnit, if it isn't chock full of the best Soprano moments!

* To start the whole season off, there's the FBI's effort to bug the Soprano house. The coordinated effort is soundtracked with the Peter Gunn spy theme mashed with Sting and the Police Every Breath You Take.

* The funeral Tony's mother dreaded and hoped wouldn't happen. Click here to watch. 

* After Dr. Melfi's horrible rape, the moment she realizes she has the power to have her rapist taken care of, but she decides not to use it.

* After AJ and friends break in and vandalize their school pool house, the Newark Police's super detective work with pizza forensics. The camera and editing in this scene is pure and beautiful comedy. Click here to watch. 

* The Big Mouth Billy Bass gift and related dream sequences.

* Paulie and Christopher get lost in the wintery southern New Jersey woods. This is top quality acting people. Click here to watch. 

As I said, this is one of, if not my #1 favorite TV show, so it gets five stars*****. 

I re-watched The Sopranos Season 3 thanks to my Amazon Prime subscription. 

Rating System Check-In

I've been having some thoughts on my rating system and wondering if I need to add another level.

Right now this is how things get rated:

• One star* is just awful. I never want to watch it again. I probably couldn't even get through the whole thing and I'm sorry I wasted precious minutes of my life.
• Two stars** are movies/tv shows that I didn't like, but I was able to get through and I don't want to ever watch again and I probably won't recommend to anyone else.
• Three stars*** are good, but I'm not itching to watch again and again.
• Four stars**** are great. I want to watch them again. I will sing their praises from my front porch.
• Five stars***** are my favorites. Not always critically acclaimed, but movies/tv shows I can watch over and over and I actually get cravings for. These are the pieces of film that I feel have really contributed to my life and are the basis of my addiction.

Sometimes I get stuck in the three stars*** and I wonder if I should split them up. Some three stars*** I don't want to see again and some I do.

• So I'm thinking of using a zero star {  } to indicate the worst film pieces that I couldn't even finish.
• Then, one star* would be for the pieces that I was able to finish, but I just don't like.
• Two stars** can be pieces that I was able to finish, I thought were okay, but not something I want to watch again.
• Three stars*** are good and I wouldn't mind watching again.
• Four **** and Five stars***** are the same as above.

That works for now!

Movie: Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution (2016)*****

More twists and turns than the teacup ride at Disneyland, the British mystery, Witness for the Prosecution,  had me on the edge of my recliner couch!

A wealthy older woman is found murdered in her home, her younger, male lover is accused of the crime. A down-on-his-luck solicitor takes up his case. But did he do it? This movie is a whodunnit in its finest form and it makes me want to read the entire Agatha Christie bibliography. What have I been missing out on?!

This movie has the feel of a made-for-tv movie, but I'm not looking at that as a detractor. In fact, that doesn't bother me at all, as I watch a lot of made-for-tv British dramas and mysteries. The acting was superb, notably TobyJones as the solicitor. I don't even think its worthy of mentioning (Oops! I just did!) how great the production was because that's the standard on British productions. I can't think of anything bad about this movie. After some digging, I learned that this was originally produced as a mini-series with two episodes and there was a previous movie adaptation made in 1957.

I'm giving Witness for the Prosecution five stars*****, that's right. This is getting the highest possible rating. It is now ranked amongst my favorites. I want to watch it over and over. I want to recommend this to friends who want a good mystery to curl up with in book or film form.

I checked this DVD out from the library.

Movie: Tangerine (2015)*****

I copied this from my other blog, Sort of a Life, originally posted 08/08/15:

I slept all day today. After week of bullshit sleep and neighbors waking me up at 3:00 am, I think I deserved it. But I wanted to fit in a double-feature in at the Sundance, so I got my butt up at 4:30 pm, got ready and made it just in time to catch the 5:30 showing of Tangerine. I wasn't expecting much. I heard it was shot completely on an iPhone 5 and in a part of Los Angeles that I'm familiar with and that was the draw for me. The film was a fantastic surprise. Tangerine opens up with Alexandra, a transgender prostitute and aspiring performer sitting down to breakfast with her just-released-from-prison bestie Cindy, also a transgender prostitute. Alexandra reveals that Cindy's boyfriend has not been faithful while she was away, and from there the movie takes off on a hilarious, yet seriously emotional adventure. It was perfect from beginning to end. I appreciated the acting. I loved that section of L.A. (Santa Monica & Highland) as a character. Nothing felt unnecessary and it felt complete at the end. To boot, I found myself at a Q&A showing, so at the end the director, Sean Baker and one of the leads, Kiki Rodriguez, showed up and everything I learned, like why they chose the name Tangerine (Baker said it was just the visual tone of the movie or something like that, but Kiki said "looks like an orange, tastes like an orange, but it's not an orange!") made me love the movie even more. Anyway support this movie any way you can. It's a true indie, set in L.A. And it's good.

Addendum 02/28/16: You thought Boyhood was innovative?! Tangerine was shot entirely on an iPhone (With a special app and apparatus), without lighting, with real people on the real streets of the not-oft-talked-of side of West Hollywood streets and L.A. surrounds: Santa Monica & Highland.
I'm giving this movie five stars***** because it is now one of my favorites, I even went out and bought it so I can watch it over and over.

I saw this movie August 8, 2015 at The Sundance Cinemas West Hollywood.

Movie: Revenge of the Nerds (1984)*****

LOVE THIS MOVIE. Not much has changed in college humor except technology, so if you laughed at Revenge of the Nerds in the 80s, then you’ll laugh even harder now. 

Best friends Gilbert and Lewis go off to college in hopes of finally becoming “men.” Instead, they find that they and a bunch of other freaks, geeks and weirdos are the lowest on totem pole at Adams College. They use their quirky charms, wits and skills to improve their situation, which leads to the fun and funny passing by all too quickly on your viewing screen.

College humor involves sex. In RotN, tHere’s a panty raid, grab-assing, and a moon-room sexual encounter. Then there’s the stand-around college boobs. What’s that? I think humor writers have this odd notion or wet dream that women just stand around talking while topless. There is no reality in this, but a stand-around boob scene always seems to pop up in college humor movies. 

This movie stands the test of time and remains one of my favorite. I laugh out loud and I want to laugh some more! Five stars**** BREAAAAAAK!

Movie: Road Trip (2000) *****

This is one of the few comedy movies I really like and can watch over and over and still laugh out loud. I also own it, which says a lot.

Josh is off to college across the country from his best friend/girlfriend. He wants to keep up their promise to stay true to each other, but finds that there’s a lot of temptations and something about a not-being-in-the-same-zip-code rule. So, I won’t give away what leads to it, but Josh and his college friends find themselves on a road trip across the country full of crazy characters and silly antics including pretending to be a member of a historically Black fraternity. It's tricky.

This is a college humor movie so sexual behavior is all over the place. There a few boners, girls kissing and falling in love after a particularly good session of horizontal mambo. There’s also the stand-around boobs that made another memorable appearance in Revenge of the Nerds. I don’t get it. I don’t know any women who just stand around chitchatting while topless. 

Anyway, this movie is hilarious and I want to watch it again, right now, in fact, but I must move onto something else. Maybe. Five stars: It’s a favorite *****

Movie: Inside Man (2006) *****

Inside Man starts off as a fantastic bank robbery movie where some reality needs to be suspended. As Spike Lee is wont to do, social and political issues get dropped in all over the place, but there's nothing to be scared of: Lee weaves these issues in with a bank full of interesting characters, funny moments, and good ol' Denzel Washington (Det. Keith Frazier) swagger:

Frazier: “Alright, Big Willie and the twins for you when I get home.”

Sylvia: “Ummm.... I got the handcuffs.”

Frazier: “I got the gun.”

Sylvia: “Bye, Big Daddy.”

What I really like about this movie is the cast, the soundtrack by Terence Blanchard and the impressively unpretentious way the bad guy gets it in the end. Its just a good, entertaining movie that I want to watch over and over. For that I give it five stars ***** 

Check out this Roger Ebert review of Inside Man where he sounds like he watched and critiqued the film after someone stole his lollipop!

IMDB

I own this DVD.

Movie: No Country For Old Men (2007) *****

Holy cow! I can't believe this movie came out in 2007! I remember watching this with friends New Year's Day 2008. Doesn't seem that long ago, but I guess it was. Oh! And it won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2008. That was a fulfilling culmination to a good movie year. Check out these titles!

I watched this movie in it's entirety for the second time tonight and it holds up against time very well. In fact, as with many good movies, upon second viewing, I caught details I missed the first time and can appreciate more of the acting more since I recognize more of the players.

No Country For Old Men is about a sociopathic mercenary set on a mission to kill a man who got himself involved in something way over his head. The sheriff, who is small town, but not in the figurative sense, finds himself on the bloody trail of this mercenary. I'm being rather vague in my description because it's better to go into this movie knowing as little as possible. This is a Coen Brothers movie, so it is off-kilter from your average movie story lines, full of good actors, acting, and interesting dialogue. I am intrigued by how the Coens managed to maintain an atmosphere of calm panic throughout this film. Masterful!

Even if you've never seen this movie, you've probably heard about the character played by Javier Bardem's exceeding creepiness punctuated by a bowl haircut. If you've seen the movie you might remember that his name, Anton Chigurh, is creepy as well. The sheriff, played by Tommy Lee Jones, really reminds of the sheriff in Misery, especially their relationships with their wives. And wouldn't you know, another creep-master, Garret Dillahunt, is in this as well, but playing a somewhat ditzy, but competent deputy. I recently saw him as KD in Hand of God.

I'm giving No Country For Old Men five stars***** because it is a quality movie with great writing, I enjoyed both the first and second viewings, and I'm sure I will watch it again. It's not exactly a favorite, but I think very highly of this movie and it would probably fall on a list of best movies ever if I was writing it.

No Country For Old Men on IMDB

I own this DVD. 

TV: The Hand of God (2015) *****

Hand of God, An Amazon Original released in 2015

What started off as a strange, but intriguing pilot, blossomed into a perfect full season. No moment wasted, no superfluous lines, no unnecessary characters: Hand of God is great TV. It was a perfect season, from my point of view and I would watch it over and over, again. 

Synopsis:A very powerful, but selfish, contemptible, bought-with-the-right-price judge comes to believe that he is anointed by God after his son nearly succeeds at committing suicide. But something is showing him that things aren't as simple as they may seem and that he has to do something to right the wrongs. 

Don't read beyond this point if you haven't seen the show yet.

Crystal was almost always wearing black or dark clothes and Tessie was almost always wearing white.  Even Tessie's house was decorated with white, but in the scene when her son/brother decides to leave, she's wearing black pants with a white top, and the dining room was mostly white, but the bottom of the table was black as if illustrating Tessie's underlying dark past/ darkness.

Almost the whole show until the last two episodes, I thought Josh had something to do with PJ's suicide and possibly even Jocelyn's rape. That video was a major plot twist and I was totally off! Well done, writers. Well done.

I'm giving this five stars ***** because I now list this in my favorites and I think Hand of God is an all-around exceptional TV show that, like fine wine grows better and better with each viewing.

wikipedia.org/wiki/HandofGod