Stuff I've Been Watching October 2021
Ted Lasso. Season 2. 2021. United States. Via the Apple TV+ app. With Monika. 8 October.
Maybe this was not quite as good as season 1. However, Monika and I enjoyed watching this show together, week-after-week as the episodes were released.
Machete. Directed by Robert Rodriguez. 2010. United States. Via the Amazon Prime app. 11 October.
After being set-up and betrayed by the man who hired him to assassinate a Texas Senator, an ex-Federale launches a brutal rampage of revenge against his former boss.
When We Were Kings. Directed by Leon Gast. 1996. United States. Via the Criterion Channel app. 13 October.
I saw this movie with Monika on the big screen back when it was first released. I thought it was good to see this after having recently watched the very in-depth PBS documentary on Ali. Ali was a fascinating person who had a huge presence in popular culture in his lifetime. And he continues to be a person Americans should learn about when studying American history. Not always the most moral -- he became addicted to casual sex, but certainly worth paying attention to. The Gast movie goes into great depth covering the fight with George Foreman with copious amounts of Ali and Foreman training as well as a great deal of background about Zaire, Ali, George Foreman, Don King and musical performances by B.B. King, the Spinners, James Brown and his dancers, as well as some local performers from Kinshasha, Zaire.
American Masters. Philip Roth: Unmasked. 2013. United States. Via the PBS app. 15 October.
I have read most of Roth's work and consider him to be one of the greatest American writers of the post World War II era. I learned quite a lot watching this movie. You might think it would be a challenge to make an engaging movie about a man who spends most of his day at his desk writing, but, somehow, the filmmakers did it.
Chico & Rita. Directed by Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal, and Fernando Trueba. 2010. Spain. Via the Criterion Channel app. 18 October.
An animated movie (for adults -- there is some explicit sex, alcohol, drug use, and violence) about a pair of musicians who fall in and out of love in pre-revolutionary Cuba. Among other things that make this movie worth watching is the soundtrack of Cuban jazz. Part of the Criterion Channel Art House Animation series.
Only Murders in the Building. 2021. United States. Via the Hulu app. 19 October.
The trio of actors Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez have a surprising amount of chemistry in this Hulu miniseries. I enjoyed watching the show week-after-week and sharing impressions with my friend Rand who lives in Buffalo. Among other things that I liked about the show is how it mocked true crime podcasts. It is truly amazing how many true crime podcasts are out there. I listened to the first couple of seasons of Serial which is probably the progenitor of this trend. As far as my opinion of the miniseries, overall, I am glad I watched it, but I did think it was running out of gas toward the end.
Bojack Horseman. Season 2. United States. Via the Netflix app. 22 October.
Bojack Horseman is certainly an original idea for a show. A former television star is at career stop and is now living in Hollywood, drinking too much, and complaining a lot. As the seasons go on the visual jokes get better and better. However, there is no redemption for Bojack.
Battlestar Gallactica. Season 1. United States. Purchased from iTunes and watched via the TV app. 22 October.
I first watched this show about twelve years ago. I am glad I watched it, but I think I liked it much better the first time. The Wire and The Sopranos offer much more in repeated viewings.
Araya. Directed by Margot Benacerraf. 1959. Venezuela. Via the Criterion Channel app. 23 October.
Roger Ebert had this to say about the movie:
This astonishing documentary, so beautiful, so horrifying, was filmed in the late 1950s, when an old way of life had not yet ended. It was the belief of the filmmaker, Margot Benacerraf, that the motions of the salt workers became ritualized over the decades, passed down through the generations, and that here we could see the outcome of the endless repeating of arduous tasks that would destroy others.
We learn something about salt along the way. It was so prized that the Spanish built their largest overseas fortress on the peninsula to guard it. The men who died building it were the first of many who paid for salt with their lives. The working conditions of the salt workers were brutal; their feet and legs were ulcerated by the salt, and if they faltered, they had no income. Their existence is agonizing, and we feel no regret that their way of life is ending. They have been reduced to robots. Small wonder the film contains so little dialogue. Yet these people lived and died, and we had salt in our shakers. It would be too sad if they were not remembered.
This black-and-white doc, so realistic in its photography, so formal in its words, played at Cannes in 1959 and shared the critics' prize with Alain Resnais' "Hiroshima, Mon Amour." Benacerraf , a Venezuelan director born in 1926, is still alive and much honored. Her work was almost lost over the years.
Los Sures. Directed by Diego Echevaria. 1984, United States. Via the Criterion Channel app. 26 October.
Los Sures is a slice-of-life documentary about one neighborhood in Brooklyn in the mid-1980s. Here is a summary from imdb that sums up the movie well.
In the late 70s and early 80s, Los Sures was one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City. In fact, it had been called the worst ghetto in America. Diego Echeverria's film skillfully represents the challenges of its time: drugs, gang violence, crime, abandoned real estate, racial tension, single-parent homes, and inadequate local resources. The complex portrait also celebrates the vitality of this largely Puerto Rican and Dominican community, showing the strength of their culture, their creativity, and their determination to overcome a desperate situation. Beautifully restored just in time for the 30th anniversary of the premiere at the New York Festival, this documentary is a priceless piece of New York City history.
24 Frames. Directed by Abbas Kiarostami. 2017. Iran. Via the Criterion Channel app. 31 October.
One of the most original art movies I have seen in a long time from the late Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami. imdb summarizes the film like this:
24 Frames is an experimental project made by filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami in the last three years of his life. It is a collection of 24 short four-and-a-half minute films inspired by still images, including paintings and photographs.
But, honestly, you have to see this movie because it is not narrative, so it does not lend itself well to plot summaries. I found it hypnotic.
The Invisible Man. Directed by James Whale. 1933. United States. Via the Criterion Channel app. 31 October.
Claude Rains plays the title character in James Whale's adaptation of a story of a man who turns invisible and, later, turns mad. I found this to be a great Halloween picture.
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