Last movie you watched......

Saw New York, New York, the 1977 movie that almost ended Scorsese's career. It's probably only for completists but as a homage to the MGM musicals of old, it has its moments?

Liza Minnelli in her prime and a final forty minutes that are great (including the original version of the eponymous song, before Sinatra got a crack.) Unfortunately, you also have Robert De Niro playing the most toxic boyfriend/husband ever - which also makes watching all two and a half hours a chore.

 

Renfield had a lot of laughs, but it was pretty slight. Fun cast with some cool visuals.

 

Owning that I have a bizarre fan-worship of Nic Cage. His movies are usually stupid fun, so this comes as no surprise.

 

Blackberry, very unexpected fun nostalgic journey. Like The Big Short for smartphones. Not too deep but just enough reminders of tech. Great job.

 

Not sure if it’s playing wide or will go to streaming but the other night I went to Maggie Moore(s), starring Jon Hamm and Tina Fey. Directed by John Slattery who did a Q&A afterward with the other star of it Micah Stock. Just a fun dark comedy/murder mystery about two women with the same name who both get murdered.

Also if anyone remembers Klosterman’s novel Downtown Owl that’s a movie now too. It premiered at Tribeca so also not sure what its distribution will be like. Wanted to see it but missed out on the tix.

 

We re-watched "The Perfect Storm" last night because it's one of my daughter's favorites and like me she has adopted a penchant for re-watching films when she can't decide for sure on watching a new one. Anyway, as she ably pointed out, the love story undergirding the whole movie is basically abusive. Diane Lane gives Mark Wahlberg a shiner the night before he and the crew do the turnaround, ostensibly bc she's upset about him going back out. It becomes a kinda running joke, a type of narrative thread that would almost certainly be cut (or not made light of) these days. By the way, didn't pick up on this till last night, but they mention in the movie that Diane Lane is working to get her kids back. Maybe they delve deeper into that story in the book, but essentially she's a pretty tough broad with unexplained mileage on her. But she punched Marky Mark, so that's funny...

 

The Blackening; one of the most fun times at the movies with LOL moments in the last ten years for me.

 

Because it was name dropped in a Wet Leg song, I decided to watch Buffalo 66 last night. Weird flick but an ultimately satisfying ending. Most things involving Vincent Gallo are strange, though.

 

There’s far worse reasons to check out a movie!

Back in the pre-Internet days, it took me years to figure out what Sting was talking about when sang “James Brown, TAMI Show, same tape I’ve had for years”

 

I tagged along with an entertainment writer buddy to the premiere of No Hard Feelings this week. I, unfortunately, did not realize it was a red carpet premiere -- thought it was just a screening like I'd been to with him before -- and my shorts and T outfit did not fit in with the Oscar-level garb worn by the pretty people in attendance. We were also in the front row so had to strain to see the screen but that worked out well too when the director brought the cast including Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Lawrence to the front for a few minutes of chitchat. I can now say I shared a 15-foot space with JLaw.

The movie itself....I really liked it. Funny but also kind of sweet. Also enjoyed the Montauk setting as we used to always go there until, like JLaw herself in the movie, we got priced out, in our case of our go-to on-the-beach motel. Anyway, fun old-school comedy.