Jackie Brown (5 Stars)

After watching an underwhelming film in the cinema this afternoon, I thought it was a good idea to pick another film from my top 100 film list. What better choice than "Jackie Brown", currently in 34th place? It's an homage to the blaxploitation films of the 1970's, but let's be honest: were any of the blaxploitation films half as good as "Jackie Brown"? It's a classic, considered by many to be Quentin Tarantino's best film.

One small criticism I have is that the film needs to be remastered. Many of the scenes are slightly blurred. A film like this deserves to be presented in the best possible quality.

I like pictures of a beautiful woman when the camera is pointing up at her. It makes the woman look like a Goddess. And that's what Pam Grier is. She's a Goddess. She's a giant among women, beautiful and powerful.

Success Rate:  + 4.2

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Killers of the Flower Moon (3 Stars)

This is my biggest disappointment of the year. I don't mean the worst film of the year. That was "Skinamarink". What I mean is that I expected so much after seeing the trailer. It looked like an exciting action film. Instead, it was a dreary tale of murders and conspiracies that dragged on for three and a half hours. I might have enjoyed the film if it had only lasted 90 minutes.

I didn't realise until the film started that it was a true story. I'm sympathetic to the uneven pacing of true stories, but in this case it wasn't uneven, it was slow throughout.

The film takes place in the Osage Nation, a reservation belonging to the Osage tribe. In 1897 oil was discovered on their land. The even distribution of wealth made everyone in the tribe rich. Due to murky laws, the oil could only be traded by white businessmen, so a large number of white people moved into the reservation. William Hale (Robert De Niro) was a wealthy rancher who was much loved by the Indians. He helped them with the building of shops and schools. What they didn't know is that he was secretly conspiring to kill Indians and get the money into his own hands. In 1919 his nephew Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo di Caprio) returned from the war and assisted his uncle. The strategy was simple:

Marry an Indian woman. Kill her. Inherit her wealth.

Ernest married an Indian woman, and so did a lot of other white men.

That's all that happens for the whole film. First the murders, then the investigations, then the trial. William Hale is a terrifying man. He honestly thinks he's a good man. After all, he's a 32nd degree Freemason, so he must be a good man. Leonardo DiCaprio's character is annoying. He's simple minded, and he doesn't seem able to differentiate between right and wrong. He swears that he loves his wife, even though he's poisoning her.

If you have the patience, sit through the three and a half hours. Try not to fall asleep.

Jackie Brown (5 Stars)

Quentin Tarantino has said that he'll only make ten films. So far he's made nine films, which means his next film will be his last. He claims that most directors end their career with poor films, and these are the films they'll always be remembered for. He wants to stop while he's at his peak. I think he has too little faith in himself. I could name many directors who have remained good after making many films, starting with Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg.

On the other hand, I think Quentin has already passed his peak. If you look at my top 100 films list, you'll see that it contains seven of his nine films. The two films missing from the list are his last two films, "Hateful Eight" and "Once upon a time in Hollywood". I'm not saying that they're bad films, but they're not up to the quality of his earlier films. "The Hateful Eight" lacks the detailed character development of films like "Jackie Brown", while "Once upon a time in Hollywood" seems to lack direction. Quentin himself says that "Death Proof" is his weakest film, but I strongly disagree. It could have been slightly improved by making the car chase longer, but I can't say anything else against it.

Today I watched "Jackie Brown" using the enhanced trivia track, a text commentary while the film is running. I don't want to write anything more about the film after reviewing it five times already, so I'll just talk about one thing in the text commentary:

"As Jackie is walking towards Max Cherry, the song playing is Natural High, performed by Bloodstone. Quentin Tarantino says this is one of the greatest soul ballads of the 1970's. According to Quentin, when white audiences hear this song, they think Max is falling in love with Jackie, but when black audiences hear this song, the audience is falling in love with Jackie".

I don't understand why Quentin thinks white and black audiences react differently when hearing the song. It doesn't make sense. It's obvious to me that the song is played to show Max is falling in love with Jackie at first sight. That isn't just because I'm white. And why does Quentin think only black audiences would fall in love with Jackie? I had a crush on her for years.

Success Rate:  + 4.2

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Joy (4 Stars)

True Stories #5

Name: Joy Mangano

Lived: 1 February 1956 – still alive

Film dates: approx 1966 to 2000, mainly 1990 to 1992

Film made in 2015

I'm not sure about the exact dates in the film. I've made guesses based on Wikipedia's page about Joy Mangano. If I read a full biography of her life I'd be able to pinpoint the dates, but I'm too lazy to do so much research.

It's not just a matter of laziness. I'm having a bad day. I've had bad toothache since Thursday. My dentist is on holiday to tomorrow. I thought it might get better, but now it's the worst toothache I've ever had. I've been drinking a small glass of Ouzo about three times a day, which reduces the pain, but it doesn't cure it completely. I'm unable to eat solid foods. For the last three days I've only been eating soup and yoghurt.

The film begins with Joy at a young age, possibly 10, showing talent at Origami and telling stories. Her mother spends all day in bed watching soap operas, but she's inspired by her grandmother to make something of her life.

Fast forward to 1990. Joy is divorced with two children, and she works selling tickets for an airline. Her ex-husband lives in the basement. Her mother is also also divorced, but on speaking terms with her ex-husband. Sort of. She rarely talks to everyone, except about soap operas. The end result is that four generations live under the same roof. It's interesting to see that none of the adult women in the house (Joy, her mother and her grandmother) have partners. Men are unnecessary.

After injuring herself while cleaning up a broken glass, Joy has an idea. Why should it be necessary to wring out mops? Why shouldn't there be a self-wringing mop? She designs something on paper, and an employee at her father's car repair shop builds it from her sketches. She calls it a Miracle Mop. After a difficult start with few sales, she advertises it on the newly launched shopping channel QVC.

The film follows Joy Mangano as she struggles to start a business. Her ex-husband supports her whole-heartedly. Her father offers some support, although he frequently doubts her abilities. It's tough for Joy to succeed in a male-dominated world. Wherever she goes, men are taking advantage of her because she's only a woman. Intelligence and creativity aren't enough. She needs to develop a tough attitude.

I like films about strong successful women. I'd never heard of Joy Mangano before seeing this film in the cinema in 2016. I'm now overwhelmed by her, the real woman, not just her portrayal in the movie.

Success Rate:  - 0.3

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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (5 Stars)

In 1973 Todd Rundgren wrote the words "Love between the ugly is the most beautiful love of all". It's been a long time since I've listened to his album, "A Wizard, A True Star", considered by many to be his best album, but I'll never forget that song. It went through my head as I watched the final scenes of "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" tonight.

In the past I only rated it four stars. I don't know why. It deserves more. I might have been distracted by the imperfect picture quality. The picture is fuzzy, especially in the darker scenes. It's in need of a better remastering.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?

In case you're interested, I wrote more about the film in my 2018 review.

Success Rate:  + 0.5

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Addendum on 31st December, 2021

I just found out that "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" will be released on 4K disc on 29th March 2022. That will mean a new remastering. I'm excited.

Jackie Brown (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #41

This is an amazing film. I've written about it a few times, usually concentrating on Pam Grier. Today I'll do something different. In an early scene Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson) is showing his partner Louis Gara (Robert De Niro) a film featuring the guns he sells. This film, called "Chicks who love guns", is included in full in the Blu-ray's special features. Here's a small gallery of the girls in the film with their weapons of choice.

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Hi, I'm Sidney. I'm a personal trainer and Miss Orange County finalist, and this is my Tec-9. The popular Tec-9 is designed after the Russian KG-99 submachine gun. It boasts 32 rounds of 9 mm firepower and can spit bullets at a rate of 700 rounds per minute. Made in America, the Tec-9 is most often used by police SWAT teams and military personnel. Because it's both compact and lightweight, the Tec-9 acquires its target with ease, making this little brute the perfect choice for home defence. I love my Tec-9.

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Hi, I'm Cindy. I'm a student and a part-time actress, and I'd like to show you my Steyr AUG. AUG stands for Army Universal Gun. A primary design emphasis behind this weapon was for use from vehicles. Talk about versatile, it goes from a 223 to a 9 mm carbine with no tools. The Steyr AUG is a snap to use.

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I'm Gloria. I'm a full time model and actress. You might remember me from "Girls just wanna have guns". This is the famous AK-47. With over 50 million manufactured in ten countries, the AK-47 is the most popular assault rifle in the world. This is the Chinese model. You can tell by the extra rivets running through the metal struts. Nothing gets between me and my AK.

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Hi, I'm Brittany. I'm part-time actress, dancer and model. This is the Italian Beretta model 12S. It shoots 500 rounds of full metal jacket 9 mm Luger at 1270 feet per second. At 10 pounds it's really heavy for such a small gun, but the weight and balance really reduce muzzle rise during firing. I've never held anything that felt so strong and confident.

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Hi there, I'm Tammy Jo. I'm an exotic dancer and a calendar girl for a national chain of tyre wholesalers. This is the Mossberg 500, a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun. It's made in America, just like me. It holds five shells in the magazine, one in the pipe and can fire a round as fast as I pump the slide. It's got an 18 inch standard chunk barrel and weighs in about six and a half pounds dry. The Mossberg comes in handy when you don't have much time to aim and you've got plenty of close range stopping power. You'll love the thrill of having this much raw power in your hands.

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As in Quentin Tarantino's last two films, there's a scene where people look into a car trunk. There's a similar scene in "Death Proof".

Success Rate:  + 4.2

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Joker (5 Stars)

I saw this film in the cinema in October 2019, and I was amazed. It didn't look like a DC film at all, and I say that as a compliment. It takes a different angle on the character who's been in the comics since 1940 and in films since 1966. In all the previous iterations of the Joker, he was a monster that we immediately hated. This time Joaquin Phoenix has done what he does best: he's presented a bad guy with a heart and soul that we can sympathise with. When he kills the Wall Street workers on the subway train, we can understand why he did it. Even when he kills his mother, we see that it's because she treated him badly as a child. By the end of the film we know that he's a bad person, but we can't help asking ourselves if we'd be any different if we'd been in his position.

There have been on and off rumours about a sequel ever since the film was made. All I can say is that I hope not. "Joker" is such a colossal piece of art that I can't imagine anything living up to it. Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar as Best Actor for this film. Now let him quit while he's at the peak.

It's curious that the film isn't available on Blu-ray in the USA. I hope it's only temporarily out of print. I know that streaming services are being pushed more aggressively in America than in other countries, but by now people should know that Blu-ray offers better quality than streaming.

Success Rate:  + 17.5

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The Irishman (4 Stars)

I admire Martin Scorsese, even though he's not one of my favourite directors. He's created several great works of art in his career. "The Irishman" is one of his best films, although I had to lower my rating because it slowed down too much in the last half hour. However, I'm quite shocked by his recent statements that Marvel films "aren't cinema". That's such a stupid statement that I can hardly believe he really said it. It's not something that I would expect from a man of his stature. Doesn't he know what cinema is?

Let me tell him. Cinema is about human experience. People go to the cinema to be touched, which can happen in a variety of ways. If a film is a tragedy, people are dragged down. If a film is a romantic love story, people are uplifted. If a film is an action adventure, people sweat and their pulses race while they watch it. If a film is a horror film, people jump and are terrified. If a film is a pornographic film, people are sexually aroused.

Which of those is cinema? All of them, and there any many other examples that I could add. Do people like all of these types of films? I do, I'll watch anything, but most people have their favourite genres that they stick to. That's not a problem to me. If someone tells me that he doesn't like horror films I accept it, even though I think he's missing out. But if someone tells me that horror films aren't cinema, I shake my head and I say he doesn't know what he's talking about.

I've tried to understand Martin Scorsese by reading his "not cinema" quotes in context. I get it. Almost. He thinks that Marvel films don't touch human emotions. He thinks they don't offer intellectual enlightenment for the viewer. If he were a food connoisseur he would be saying that McDonald's isn't food because it's not a three star Michelin restaurant.

What he's saying is partially snobbish, partly ignorant. People walk into the cinema expecting to be touched in different ways. Not all Marvel films are the same. Has he ever watched them? Has he ever compared them with one another? "Deadpool" isn't the same as "Infinity War". What's wrong with Martin Scorsese? If he'd said, "I don't like Marvel films because fill-in-the-blank" I would nod and say that I understand him. If he says that Marvel films aren't cinema, my answer is "That's just dumb".

I enjoyed watching "The Irishman" today. I didn't enjoy it as much as "Avengers: Endgame", even though I'm an intelligent film fan. Nevertheless, I'll watch it again when it's available on Netflix. That's a certainty.

I wasn't aware that it's a true story until I walked into the cinema. I'd never heard of Jimmy Hoffa and the other characters in the film. That's probably because I grew up in England. I was never affected by American mob-influenced politics. "The Irishman" has educated me more than it's entertained me. The lasting impression that I took with me today is that it's Robert De Niro's best performance for a long time. I've been annoyed by his comedy roles over the last 20 years. I've always thought he could find better roles, and by playing Frank Sheeran he hit the jackpot.

I'll write about the plot the next time I watch it.

Joker (5 Stars)

I always face a dilemma when I see a film in the cinema, instead of watching it at home on Blu-ray a year or longer after its release. There's so much that I would like to write about a film, especially if it's a good film like "Joker" that touches my psyche, but it would be unfair of me to give away spoilers. I know that other reviewers are less sensitive. They're not shy of giving a detailed description of the plot a week after the release. Worst of all is Wikipedia, which gives a blow-by-blow report of everything that happens the day after a film's cinema release, sometimes even earlier. I would appeal to Wikipedia to only allow plot summaries a month after release, but I'm sure the Wikipedia overlords would refuse this, making excuses like "Everyone knows we publish spoilers, so it's people's own fault if they look at a film page".

I'm not Wikipedia. You won't get that from me.

The film "Joker" has received overwhelming praise from critics, but some voices criticise it for justifying the violent reaction of those who are bullied. We all know that the background of classroom shooters is that they were misunderstood bullies who wanted to strike back. I can see the parallel, but I don't believe that's what "Joker" is about. He was insane from the beginning. It's emphasised that he was previously in a mental hospital. It's this madness which leads to the revelation of his psychopathic tendencies. It's not that society mistreats him by not appreciating his talent, it's his narcissism which tells him that he has the right to be appreciated.

The Joker is one of Batman's oldest villains. This is his first appearance in Batman #1 from March 1940. (Batman himself had previously appeared in ten issues of Detective Comics, from May 1939 to February 1940). He was a frequent villain until 1954, but then he disappeared because he was considered too violent to be acceptable to the Comics Code Authority. In 1965 he returned, with the same appearance, but he had more of a comical character. Instead of killing people he played tricks on them.

The Joker appeared frequently in the Batman television series from 1966 to 1968. Critics of the series say that the series was too camp, nothing like the dark character of the comic books. What they don't realise is that the comics themselves were already camp when the series began. The violence of the Batman stories was gradually toned down from 1954 onwards. I can't say at what point the stories became camp, because it was a slow development. All I can say for certain is that by 1965 the comics displayed the same levity as the television series. They remained like this until Steve Englehart brought back the "dark Batman" in 1977.

The first and most prolific actor to play the Joker on screen was Cesar Romero. Apart from appearing in the 1966 Batman film, he was in 22 episodes of the Batman TV series. Rather than just being inspired by the comics, he inspired the comics. The extended lips originated with him and became part of the Joker's appearance in the comics.

Jack Nicholson played the Joker in the 1989 Batman film. He can be considered a transition between the earlier and later portrayals of the Joker by live actors. He shared the madness of Cesar Romero's Joker, but he was more homicidal.

Heath Ledger completed the transition from the early to the late Jokers in the 2008 film "The Dark Knight". Despite the face paint, there's little that's comical in his actions. He was highly praised for his role, receiving an Academy Award for his portrayal of the Joker. I don't deny that it was a magnificent performance, but he didn't quite capture the essence of the Joker the way Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson did.

Jared Leto played the Joker in "Suicide Squad" (2016). I hardly know what to say. His participation in the film was irrelevant to the story and could have been omitted. He was only included because the Joker was a fan favourite that fans wanted to see. Added to that, he wasn't anything like the Joker in the comics. He doesn't even come close.

From 1966 to 2016 I would have rated the Jokers in the same order that they appeared:

1. Cesar Romero (1966-1968)
2. Jack Nicholson (1989)
3. Heath Ledger (2008)
4. Jared Leto (2016)

I didn't think it was possible to improve on Cesar Romero's performance. For me he was the quintessential Joker. Now I have to take that back. Joaquin Phoenix exceeded my wildest expectations. For me he's become THE Joker. He perfectly captures the insanity and the pathos of the character.

Having said that, I don't know whether I want him to return in a sequel or a future Batman film. "Joker" stands alone as a brilliant film, not just Joaquin Phoenix's acting, but also the construction of the story. I'm afraid that Joaquin Phoenix wouldn't be allowed to fully develop himself as the supporting character in a future Batman film. Maybe a sequel taking place before Bruce Wayne becomes Batman is a possibility, but the screenwriter and director would have to be very careful that they don't make mistakes. Despite messing up the timeline, it would be good to see the Joker and Harley Quinn together in a world before Batman. Joaquin Phoenix and Margot Robbie would be a dream team.

Jackie Brown (5 Stars)

Here is Pam Grier in the title role flipping through her LP collection before finally picking an album by the Delfonics. Music plays an important part in this film, just as it did in Quentin Tarantino's first film, "Reservoir Dogs".

We don't just hear the music playing in the background, the Delfonics are mentioned by name several times. The gun salesman Ordell Robbie expresses surprise when he finds out that the bail bondsman Max Cherry listens to the Delfonics. I'm not sure why. Does Ordell think Max is too old, too square or too white to like their music?

The scene of Jackie Brown in her apartment is the only chance we get to see Pam Grier's bare feet. I would have liked to take a closer look. To make up, the film offers several close ups of Bridget Fonda's feet.

Feet, alcohol, keys and jewellery. There must be a hidden message.

Let's take a closer look at the feet. Perfectly formed toes.

Almost all of Quentin Tarantino's films feature close ups of feet, but I believe this is the closest view we get. I'll point out the bare feet in my next reviews of his films. I posted a few screenshots in my review of "Death Proof", but I'll make an effort to show all the feet in my upcoming reviews.

Despite not seeing much of her feet, the film is an ode to Pam Grier's beauty. I used to have a crush on her when I was younger. Here are a few photos that will show you why.

She's stunning, isn't she?

It's difficult for me to say which one of Quentin Tarantino's films I like most. They're all so good. "Jackie Brown" is a contender for the top spot.

Success Rate:  + 4.2

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