What I Watched Last Week
Marlowe, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Cocaine Bear, Shrinking, The Last of Us, and Oscar Animated Shorts
I watched some great, and not-so-great content last week. Here are my thoughts.
Marlowe
Marlowe is a mediocre mystery-thriller starring Liam Neeson. Set in late 1930s Bay City, Neeson plays Philip Marlowe, a private detective hired by Mrs. Cavendish (Diane Kruger), the wealthy daughter of a once-popular film star. Marlowe is hired to find Mrs. Cavendish’s ex-lover who is presumed dead, but Cavendish believes to be alive.
Neeson is in full “Taken” form, sleuthing and sometimes slugging his way through lies to find the truth. I didn’t find it all that engaging. If you’re a big fan of noir, it might be for you. If not, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Continuing my rewatch of the Indian Jones series, I watched Temple of Doom last week. As Roger Ebert once wrote, “it's not so much a sequel as an equal.” He was right of course. ToD offers as much action, cutting-edge special effects (for 1984), and another peak performance from the incomparable Harrison Ford.
As an added bonus, ToD introduces Ke Huy Quan as Short Round. Quan has reemerged in the past year for his Oscar-nominated performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once. His performance as a child actor in ToD adds a ton of comedy to the film and he is a great sidekick character for Indiana.
Cocaine Bear
Cocaine Bear is hilarious. It has numerous laugh-out-loud moments and some great comedic performances, especially from the kids, Christian Convery as Henry and Brooklynn Prince as Dee Dee.
Some people are complaining about the CGI of the bear, but I thought it worked well. Obviously, I’ve never seen a coked-out bear, but the depiction is how I would have imagined said bear if it did go on a killing spree. That said, the movie doesn’t rely on how realistic the bear looks. The gore is also very well done.
The movie is loosely based on a true story. The actual bear didn’t really go on a killing spree, it ended up dying. The liberties the filmmakers took made it a very entertaining story.
Shrinking
I said earlier that Harrison Ford was in peak form for Temple of Doom, but that doesn't mean almost 40 years later he’s sunk one bit. Ford has been brilliant throughout the whole series so far, but especially in episode 6 this week. His dialogue is some of the most insightful and grounded advice I’ve heard in a long time, and it’s delivered perfectly.
Jason Segal is absolutely hilarious. I’ve heard from a couple of people that he’s been a little over the top, but they’ve followed up by saying something like, “but I guess that’s how his character is, so it works.” I personally don’t think he’s been over the top. He’s definitely animated and exuberant, but that’s what Segal does best.
The Last of Us (Spoilers!)
This week’s episode took us back in time to before Ellie and Joel’s paths crossed. It was an interesting look at life for a kid in this post-apocalyptic world. We also got a glimpse into Ellie’s previous relationships, which helps provides a bit of context for her behavior throughout the rest of the show. It was one of the weaker episodes of the show so far, but it’s still good. The bar is just set so high by the first half of the season.
Storm Reid guest stars as Riley, Ellie’s best friend from military school. Ellie and Riley’s friendship showcased in the episode sheds a lot of light on Ellie’s psyche and develops her character well. In last week’s episode, Ellie told Joel that everyone she ever loved either died or left her. In seeing her interact with Riley as both her best friend and crush, it’s easy to find parallels to how she acts with Joel up to this point.
The episode was also a great way to reveal how Ellie got bit in the first place and ended up with Marleen and the Fireflies.
I went to see the Oscar-nominated animated shorts at the Music Box Theatre and below are my thoughts in order of personal preference. You can find more info about each of the shorts and where to see them on ShortsTV.
Ice Merchants (14 min)
Written and directed by João Gonzalez, this was my favorite of the five. There is no speaking, yet so much emotion is communicated. The film is about a father and son who live in a house suspended high up on the side of a mountain. Each day they parachute off their deck down to town and sell the ice they made the night before. As they dive from the house, their hats fly off their heads. Each day, they spend some of the profits earned selling ice to buy new hats. The hats are lost the next day, and the cycle continues.
The way the filmmakers are able to depict so much emotion without using any words is brilliant. It allows the film to be watched and understood no matter where you come from or what language you speak.
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It (12 min)
This short from Australian filmmaker Lachlan Pendragon is incredibly creative and funny. An office worker feels like something isn’t right in his world, and with the help of a talking Ostrich, begins to uncover the reality that he’s living within a stop-motion movie. The film is kind of like a behind-the-scenes Truman Show, in a cool way.
My Year of Dicks (24 min)
My theatre showed this one last and had a short break before with a warning on screen to take your kids home before it started … rightfully so. As the title suggests, it’s vulgar. It’s based on the writer, Pamela Ribon’s 2014 comedic memoir, Notes to Boys: And Other Things I Shouldn't Share in Public. It recounts the year Pam tried to lose her virginity. Told in five parts and in various animation styles the film is uncomfortable at times, but very funny nonetheless.
The Flying Sailor (8 min)
This short is based on the true story of a sailor who flew 2km in 1917 after a ship explosion and lived. The film depicts his near-death experience, imagining the existential experience of the sailor’s life flashing before his eyes.
The animation style is beautiful and the sailor’s life flashing before his eyes is interesting. Compared to the other noms, I’d say it’s middle of the pack.
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (34 min)
Leaving the theatre, I thought this short does not deserve to be in the same conversation as the other four nominees.
The more I think about it though, the more I appreciate and actually kind of like it. It’s meant to be a visual children’s book and that’s exactly what it is. At first I thought it was so corny, but that’s really what it’s supposed to be.