Now Watching 2024

[Albert Tatlock]

The Outlaws Series 3. (on BBC not Prime as the video here - I don't pay to view anything).

 

 

Christopher Walken is not a main character this time but I believe he does feature a bit later on. Stephen Merchant's witty one liners still sparkle. I saw him live interviewing Jarvis Cocker for an hour for a radio show once and that was hilarious. 

[calvino]

Just finished watching the first two seasons of Babylon Berlin --- really well done.

 

Some of the characters/storylines are a bit of a stretch --- but it is definitely entertaining.

 

One gets the sense of the  'flapper 20's' nicely during the nightclub scenes. Really enjoy the music, through out. 

 

 

[Oil Can Boyd]

Ripley

[Boss_Tweedy]

Binge-watched both seasons of The Knick last weekend. I'm obviously late to the party. Great series that I wish was longer.

[Brian F.]

I've watched approximately the last 40 seasons of the Knicks and, I'm sorry to say, it hasn't always been that rewarding.

 

Oh, wait, you meant The Knick...

 

(I'm having deja vu-- have I made this joke here before?)

[Chez]

I binged the two seasons of We Are Lady Parts on Peacock.  It's mostly a comedy set in London about four young Muslim women and their manager who form a punk band. A little too precious at times, but my wife and I both loved it.  The music is great.

[Beltmann]

 

Sports junkies are usually open to any story recapped in the "30 for 30" style, but the new documentary Just a Bit Outside: The Story of the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers might prove perplexing for anyone who isn't a local fan still clinging to the 1982 season. After all, it's not an underdog story (the Brewers were expected to contend) nor a triumph-over-adversity story (the Brewers came up short). Why chronicle a glorious run that ended in failure, ushering in another 40+ years of franchise futility?

 

I'm not sure this movie can answer that question for anyone who isn't True Blue Brew Crew. But as someone who can still name every player on that '82 roster and whose childhood was traumatized when Cardinals closer Bruce Sutter, with his burly black beard, struck out Brewers slugger Gorman Thomas to end the World Series, this documentary zealously catalogs many of my core memories.

 

Brimming with new interviews, the movie's main contribution is to showcase how these blue-collar teammates had a special chemistry with each other and the Milwaukee fanbase. It also confirms beyond doubt that, like the fans, the players were deeply wounded by that Game 7 loss and carry that ache still today. There's no sugarcoating the pain that has fermented over decades, which is why there's an emotional tension brewing inside Just a Bit Outside: While fans will relish the celebratory nostalgia trip, it's sometimes difficult to escape the nagging feeling that the story is also marching toward inevitable doom.

 

Side note: Among my prized possessions are baseballs signed by Robin Yount, Pete Vuckovich and Bud Selig, and a game program signed by Ben Oglivie. All four are interviewed at length, but the most skilled raconteur on screen is Ted Simmons. Give that guy his own movie!

[Chez]

On 9/14/2024 at 9:38 PM, Beltmann said:

 

Sports junkies are usually open to any story recapped in the "30 for 30" style, but the new documentary Just a Bit Outside: The Story of the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers might prove perplexing for anyone who isn't a local fan still clinging to the 1982 season. After all, it's not an underdog story (the Brewers were expected to contend) nor a triumph-over-adversity story (the Brewers came up short). Why chronicle a glorious run that ended in failure, ushering in another 40+ years of franchise futility?

 

I'm not sure this movie can answer that question for anyone who isn't True Blue Brew Crew. But as someone who can still name every player on that '82 roster and whose childhood was traumatized when Cardinals closer Bruce Sutter, with his burly black beard, struck out Brewers slugger Gorman Thomas to end the World Series, this documentary zealously catalogs many of my core memories.

 

Brimming with new interviews, the movie's main contribution is to showcase how these blue-collar teammates had a special chemistry with each other and the Milwaukee fanbase. It also confirms beyond doubt that, like the fans, the players were deeply wounded by that Game 7 loss and carry that ache still today. There's no sugarcoating the pain that has fermented over decades, which is why there's an emotional tension brewing inside Just a Bit Outside: While fans will relish the celebratory nostalgia trip, it's sometimes difficult to escape the nagging feeling that the story is also marching toward inevitable doom.

 

Side note: Among my prized possessions are baseballs signed by Robin Yount, Pete Vuckovich and Bud Selig, and a game program signed by Ben Oglivie. All four are interviewed at length, but the most skilled raconteur on screen is Ted Simmons. Give that guy his own movie!

Thanks for the recommendation.  I'll definitely check this out. That '82 Brewers team was excellent - five future hall of Famers.  As a White Sox fan, I've always felt a kinship with Brewers fans - we both despise the Cubs!  And I remember the Sox playing several "home games" for a couple of years at County Stadium before Milwaukee got the Brewers. Good luck in the playoffs.  

[Brian F.]

This reminds me that the Bob Uecker line that's always referenced from Major League is, as in the title of this film, "Ju-ust a bit outside..." But the actual punchline of the joke, as far as I'm concerned, is rarely quoted. The whole line was, "Ju-ust a bit outside... Tried the corner and missed." "Tried the corner and missed" is the most underappreciated joke in film history.

[Beltmann]

8 hours ago, Brian F. said:

"Tried the corner and missed" is the most underappreciated joke in film history.

 

True! Pure gold.

[i'm only sleeping]

Just finished watching "The Sopranos" (Spanish translated), a quarter centrury after its ending.

The best thing, and actor (James Gandolfini, RIP) I have ever seen on TV!

[Oil Can Boyd]

Going to see the new Brian Eno movie tonight. 

[Beltmann]

 

In Azazel Jacobs' His Three Daughters, estranged sisters Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen and Natasha Lyonne gather to watch over their dying father. One of my favorite choices is to set this three-hander in a small, plain, undistinguished apartment, rather than the kind of sprawling estate that normally houses such stories (first to come to mind: Cries and Whispers, August: Osage County, September, This Is Where I Leave You). For me, the choice is especially uncanny--and unnerving--because the furnishings and cramped layout of this particular space closely resemble the modest condo where I spent many weeks pinballing against siblings as we watched our mother succumb to pancreatic cancer.

[Beltmann]

 

I saw Terrifier 3. In my view, Art the Clown should be arrested for murder.

[Beltmann]

 

You say Saturday Night dodges any real character insights or thematic reasons to exist? Well, la-di frickin da! This SNL kid with an encyclopedic knowledge of every era of one of TV's true institutions was left helpless to resist. Rather than present a factual portrait of that galvanizing opening night in 1975, director Jason Reitman aims instead to capture SNL's animating spirit, the one that knows irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of art. Like SNL itself, Saturday Night embraces high-wire chaos, volcanic highs and lows, and a naive yet sincere conviction that the "let's just put on a show!" ethos is self-justifying. It's entertaining as hell. I had a blast. Is that enough? Talk amongst yourselves.

 

[brownie]

10 hours ago, Beltmann said:

 

You say Saturday Night dodges any real character insights or thematic reasons to exist? Well, la-di frickin da! This SNL kid with an encyclopedic knowledge of every era of one of TV's true institutions was left helpless to resist. Rather than present a factual portrait of that galvanizing opening night in 1975, director Jason Reitman aims instead to capture SNL's animating spirit, the one that knows irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of art. Like SNL itself, Saturday Night embraces high-wire chaos, volcanic highs and lows, and a naive yet sincere conviction that the "let's just put on a show!" ethos is self-justifying. It's entertaining as hell. I had a blast. Is that enough? Talk amongst yourselves.

 

I really enjoyed this film.  I thought Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels and Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase were fantastic.  Nicholas Braun as both Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson was absolutely hilarious! (Although I don’t know if knowing him from his role in Succession influenced that opinion.)

 

I thought the film did a great job at capturing the spirit of the show at that time.

[Beltmann]

 

Slumber Party Massacre II (1987) is a slasher with a disembodied tone--the loopy, late rockabilly rupture between what we see and what we feel creates pure '80s delirium. Is this good? Is this bad? Ohh, God. Anybody got any tranqs?

[Beltmann]

 

Emilia Pérez / dir. Jacques Audiard, 2024

 

Often the real mission of criticism isn't making precise observations but rather deciding, when set against each other, how much those things matter. Those carping about the flaws of this garish musical melodrama aren't wrong--by turns it is clunky, tone-deaf, maybe even irresponsible. But it also obliterates conventions in exhilarating, joyful ways, and I suspect over time those pieces that work will overwhelm those that don't. They will emerge as the ones that most matter.

[Brian F.]

I saw this the other day and mostly came away impressed with the originality and unpredictability of the story. Karla Sofia Gascon's lead performance was great.

 

I've also seen Anora, Blitz, Conclave and The Piano Lesson this week. Anora was truly great-- unpredictable, hilarious and poignant. Conclave was also very good.

[uncool2pillow]

I saw Heretic last week followed by a Q&A with directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. A pretty cool opportunity for Des Moines (they grew up in the nearby Quad Cities). It was a really fun movie. Hugh Grant was fantastic.

[Beltmann]

 

Imagine this lugubrious movie being made in the '80s as a bright buddy comedy and marvel at what they've taken from you.

[Beltmann]

 

Showed my wife My Old Ass (sorry). There's a tactile beauty to the cranberry farm and the surrounding lake that creates a real yet modest sense of place; similarly, this is a movie that wears its wisdom lightly.

[chuckrh]

[calvino]

Watched Withnail and I last week. A great, funny film. Nice to see George Harrison's name during the opening credits. (he was a producer).

 

Just saw in Wiki how the actual book ended --- kinda agree with the director -- that would have been a too dark of a ending.

 

The two main characters were great - as well as the surrounding ones.

 

Loved how England looked in the film -- both London life and country life.

Also enjoy Ralph Steadman's artwork.

 

[Beltmann]

 

I'm unfamiliar with Gregory Maguire's novel and the Broadway musical, so perhaps they have more to offer than this movie's primitive proposal: What if everything we knew about the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch was wrong? The first two-thirds of the movie answers that question in the most generic of ways, with a patchy songbook, sludgy visuals, and interminable scenes that simply do not have the dramatic weight to warrant such bloat. (The best this anti-fascism allegory can muster is some performative dismay, which hardly meets this moment in American history.)

 

The final third perks up considerably, but in terms of pacing, the movie suffers from a terminal case of the Netflix Plague, which means it unnecessarily pads everything out as if it's trying to fill a 10-episode quota. Until recently, Hollywood knew such a simple children's fantasy ought to be a fleet 100 minutes rather than an endless "content" delivery system; one wishes a few swell editors from the Golden Age had pushed their way into the cutting room, put their thumbs under their trouser braces, and showed 'em how it's done. Maybe they could also, in their wisdom, recommend that the movie's drab colors be given a shiny Brylcreem treatment. "Listen, buster, a little dab'll do ya!"

 

What's this chatter about Wicked being the best musical of the last 10 years? Some people haven't seen Steven Spielberg's West Side Story and it shows. Hell, Wicked isn't even the most interesting musical of the month (Emilia Pérez).