Triangle of Sadness

Triangle of Sadness (2022)

Written and directed by Ruben Östlund

Stars: Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Vicki Berlin, Dolly De Leon, Woody Harrelson, Zlatko Burić, Iris Berben, Henrik Dorsin, Jean-Christophe Folly, Amanda Walker, Oliver Ford Davies, and Sunnyi Melles 

You would think that a movie that won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival would be good? This is hints of it that is saddled with nonsense scenes.

The biggest problem with the movie was that it followed a drawn out fight between fashion models Carl and Yaya (Dickinson, Dean). Holy shit. That part of the movie was unnecessary. This movie was two and half hours long. Cut the first part of the movie it would have been better.

The movie doesn't pick up until a whole bunch of rich people go on a yacht on a all hell breaks loose. That's when I was engaged in the movie.

I understood that the movie was supposed to be a satire on classism, economic disparity and all that. Cool. It was not making a bigger point. If the first part of the movie was jettisoned, the action with the boat and the final sequence of the movie was expanded then I would love the movie more. As it stands on its own, I cannot get behind this.

Rating: 6/10

Best Picture Nominee Catch Up Movie: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh

Stars: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Lucas Hedges, Clarke Peters, Caleb Landry Jones, Abbie Cornish, Željko Ivanek, and John Hawkes

After seeing the trailer for Martin McDonagh's latest film, The Banshees of Inisherin, I realized that I did not see his most successful movie. I know that Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell got a fuckton of awards for their performances. The movie is good, but I have some problems with it.

A grieving mother, Mildred Hayes (McDormand) takes it upon herself to erect three billboards, calling out the police for not doing anything to solve the rape and murder of her daughter, Angela. The billboards cause a stir with the Chief of Police, Willoughby (Harrelson) and hothead Officer Dixon (Rockwell) in particular.

Knowing McDonaugh's previous work, I knew that there was going to be some politically incorrect dialogues and situations. The story hinges on the billboards and how they cause an uproar in the community of Ebbing. Were the people going to be nice? No. I didn't expect them to be.

The performances by McDormand, Harrelson and Rockwell were fantastic. They deserved their nominations.

I did have some questions. What was up with the confrontation at Mildred's shop? What was the accent that Abbie Cornish had? I love McDonagh's dialogue. There were some lines that were jarring to me. I kept thinking, "No one will say that."

The tone, the atmosphere, the performance were the highlights for me.

Rating: 8/10

Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh

Stars: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, Zeljko Ivanek, Kevin Corrigan, Abbie Cornish and Olga Kurylenko

I cannot say enough that I loved Martin McDonagh's feature film debut, In Bruges. It was on my top ten list of 2008. It was eagerly anticipating his follow up. The trailer gave an impression that the movie was going to be a slapstick gangster comedy. It's not like that at all. I don't know if I like it or not.

Life imitating art of sorts. Colin Farrell plays a struggling screenwriter named Marty who having writer's block. What screenwriter doesn't? The only thing that he has is the title, 'Seven Psychopaths'. He tries to pull anything to make the creative juices flowing.

His best friend, Billy (Rockwell) relays tales that he has heard over the years about possible inspirations for characters in his screenplay. You should know that Billy is a "professional" dognapper/actor that is employed by the zen boss, Hans (Walen) to collect the reward for their victims. Things get complicated when Billy takes the cherished shih tzu of crime boss, Charlie Costello (Harrelson). Marty and company have to deal with a notorious coming after them and Billy trying to cast other psychopaths in a nonexistent movie.

My expectations were that it was going to be an over the top gangster comedy. Sneaky, sneaky trailer. The movie hearkens to themes of In Bruges about life and death, questioning of religion, the existence of God or heaven and hell. I think that message was better conveyed in this movie than In Bruges.

I would say that the movie is self aware that it is one of those typical gangster movies with over the top violence and the nonexistent presence of the women. Very meta.

The beginning of the movie did not start off on a good feet, because you have people in the movie that were killed off in two seconds flat that had me scratching my head. It chaotic the beginning, but when Tom Waits came in as Zachariah Rigby I was strapped in. The male cast was great in their roles. Colin Farrell was better in In Bruges in my opinion. Walken was deep and hilarious. Harrelson was great as usual. Rockwell is playing a dicey character that could be polarizing for some people.

My Rating

Game Change

Game Change (2012)

Directed by Jay Roach

Written by Danny Strong

Based on the book by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann

Stars: Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, Woody Harrelson, Ron Livingston, Sarah Paulson and Peter MacNichol

It has been a while since I have reviewed a movie. I heard that people really responded to HBO TV movie, Game Change that was loosely based on the book about the historic 2008 campaign season. I;m glad that I got back in the thick of things.

The movie focuses mainly on campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt (Harrelson) meeting with Arizona Senator John McCain (Harris) about who will be the pick for his running mate as Vice President. By pulling a candidate out of their ass aka YouTube to find the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin (Moore). She is a fish out of water when she is catapulted to the national stage. It seems that her lack of foreign policy knowledge made her a joke to political pundits and SNL.

I remember when I first heard about Sarah Palin, I knew that the McCain campaign was trying to bridge the gender gap that was left when Hilary Clinton dropped out of the race for her bid as President. People didn't know anything about this woman with the bouffant and the weird accent. Everyone thought that she was a joke. Watching the movie, she was a great speaker, but the media tries everything that they can to make a mockery of her.

I learned that she was not a punchline. She was plucked out of obscurity and put in front of microphone. I don't blame her for flying off the rails or "going rogue" toward the tail end of the campaign. Julianne Moore was a dead ringer for the former Alaska governor. It was scary. Harrelson was phenomenal in his role. He was perfectly frazzled and want to correct his mistake of picking  Sarah. Ed Harris was fine as John McCain, but it's nothing to write home about. The rest of the cast was fine, but they seem to be overshadowed by Moore and Harrelson.

My Rating: