Movies I watched in October, Part 1

Started the movie month off with a big one -- one of the best I've seen all year, easily...


Frankly, as someone who saw the original "Blade Runner" in the theaters, I was more than a little skeptical about a sequel, especially since recent Harrison Ford sequels (I'm looking at you, "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull") had a decidedly mixed track record. But with the involvement of Ryan Gosling (an actor I really like) and -- especially -- with director Denis Villeneuve at the helm, I was guardedly optimistic. Turns out I was right to be, optimistic, that is -- "Blade Runner 2049" is a more than worthy sequel. It's visually jaw-dropping, emotionally powerful and just weird enough to deliver the same off-kilter vibe as the original. Roger Deakins had better (finally) win the cinematography Oscar this year, because I don't know when I've seen a more beautiful, more mesmerizing vision created on film. Same goes for production design Dennis Gassner and his team -- the term "world building" is more than a little overused these days, but "Blade Runner 2049" really does create a fully realized world, one that feels like it exists beyond the frame (and timeframe) of the movie. When I walked out of the theater I was in the sort of wonderful daze that a great movie puts me in, and even a month later, I still feel myself pulled back to Los Angeles circa 2049. If by some chance "Blade Runner 2049" is still playing in your local theater, go see it before it leaves -- this is one movie that demands to be experienced on the big screen.


I've seen this oddball pre-Coder more than a few times, but I almost always watch at least part of it when it reruns on TCM, mostly because it's so damned strange -- and strangely entertaining. Walter Huston (an actor who I discovered via TCM and appreciate more each time I see him) plays a shallow political hack elected to the White House who, after a joy-riding car crash, either loses his mind or receives heavenly guidance (six of one...) and becomes a dynamic, go-getter, frankly fascist chief exec who stops crime, puts the nation to work and achieves world peace in a matter of months. Filmed before FDR took office in 1933, it must've been a sort of wish-fulfillment story aimed at a country praying the president would do something -- anything! -- to pull America out of its tailspin. Whether anyone would've wanted what happens in "Gabriel" is another matter, but it sure is entertaining watching Huston rally the homeless, execute mobsters and threaten the nations of the world with annihilation if they don't pay their debts. There's certainly never been a movie quite like it. 


Though I've never been a huge De Palma fan, I find him a fascinating director because (a) he's been working since the 1960s and always brings his own sensibility to his films,  (b) he's best known for suspense thrillers, but he's moved through several genres, and (c) he's a thoughtful guy who really knows movies, both his own and the work of others. For those reasons (and a few others, namely his films themselves), he's the perfect guy for this sort of documentary, which is a film-by-film conversational retrospective of his entire career. De Palma goes through all his movies in order (with the offscreen help of directors Jake Paltrow and Noah Baumbach) offering insights, behind-the-scenes stories and occasional bits of very entertaining dirt. (On "Obsession," for instance, co-star Cliff Robertson self-tanned so much that cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond yelled that he was the same color as the wood-paneling background and thus, very tough to light correctly.) I read some reviews of "De Palma" that complained the film gave space to DePalma's lesser known, later movies, but truth is, those are some of the most interesting parts, hearing a career director discuss his own career valleys. Watching this actually made me want to rewatch several DePalma movies, and I suppose that's the best review a doc like this can get.

Coming up: Controversial Woody Allen, a two-color horror movie and Bela Lugosi's other vampire movie...