Due to time constraints last year I never got to post a “part one” of my movie roundup for 2024. So you’re getting it all in one lump sum. Maybe I’ll do the same thing this year, maybe not — we’ll see how it goes. Regardless I’m posting this a bit late, which for this type of post is right on schedule. For me, anyway.
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (2003, 20th anniversary reprint)
When this movie first came out I don’t think anyone could have imagined that San Francisco’s most wholesome, feel good movie would be a documentary about an odd man who decided to take care of an invasive species of parrots that formed a flock near his home. But as everyone has their quirks, so do these individual parrots as we soon learn.
This new reprint of the film doesn’t change the story, but it does look significantly better. The color correction is particularly noticeable — the original print had muted, muddy colors that made it look more 1973 than 2003. That’s been fixed, and the film should now be available for streaming in 4K.
Best moment: Opening the window in my apartment and hearing the descendants of the parrots in the movie squawking away.
Rating: 10/10
Dune: Part Two
Let’s see… empires fighting a proxy war in a sandy desert over a valuable resource, framing it as a holy war to influence the locals… *puts down newspaper* Oh sorry, let me put that away and review the new Dune movie.
Part Two begins where the first one left off back in 2021, so I was hoping this would begin with a “last time, on Dune!” recap. Fortunately I still remember roughly where it left off so after a few minutes of trying to remember who was playing which character it all clicked into place.
Much like the last film it sticks largely to the novel, enhancing it with great performances and stunning visual effects. It begins with Paul Atreides shortly after meeting Chani (Zendaya Coleman) and becoming accepted by her and the other Fremen people, taking on the name Muad’Dib.
As for criticisms, the way the Harkonen are presented as cartoonishly evil. This doesn’t fit the subtle worldbuilding at all — to some extent it’s the fault of the source material, but the way they’re portrayed makes it seem like the characters wandered into the wrong movie. And let’s not even talk about the scene where one of them has a pseudo-Hitler moustache.
Also I hate to be this nitpicky but the CGI looks more rushed on this one than the first film. It’s particularly noticeable in the crowd sequences with the worst offender being the obviously fake crowds at the Harkonen colosseum.
It’s already been announced that a third film will be made based on the second novel in the series, Dune Messiah. If you like science fiction with depressing endings this is going to be the trilogy for you.
Best moment: The revelation that the Bene Gesserit aren’t exactly harmless mystical nuns.
Rating: 7/10
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Following the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife the Spengler family, which now includes Paul Rudd, has moved back to New York City and is working out of the old Ghostbusters firehouse. Unfortunately for Phoebe, child labor laws mean she has to wait before returning to the dangerous job of ghost busting. Also she’s recently made friends with a ghost.
The main plot centers around Phoebe, which doesn’t really work because the screenwriters don’t seem to know how to connect her character with the comedic beats of the movie. The story revolves around a haunted metal ball that looks like it was taken out of an old IBM Selectric typewriter.
The original surviving members return with Ray (Dan Aykroyd) as a dealer of possessed antiques, Winston (Ernie Hudson) as the wealthy new investor in the Ghostbusters, and Venkman (Bill Murray) as Bill Murray making a quick cameo before he presumably left the set with a suitcase full of cash.
Paul Rudd is criminally underused in this movie, I’m not even sure why they brought him back. This movie banks too hard on nostalgia while neglecting the family’s storyline from the last one.
Maybe they’ll make another Ghostbusters movie one day but this version is already running thin on ectoplasm.
Best moment: Whenever Kumail Nanjiani shows up and reminds us this is supposed to be a comedy.
Rating: 3/10
The People’s Joker
Oddball trans comedian Vera Drew has taken the story of Batman vs. the Joker and reinterpreted it as a pseudo-documentary about a little boy growing up to become a famous woman in a world that doesn’t accept her.
The movie will have some appeal for anyone who’s ever felt like an outcast in a world of their own design. It’s certainly not aimed at a general audience, and on that note it gets a lot of mileage by casting Hollywood eccentric David Liebe Hart as Ra’s al Ghul.
Not every joke landed for me personally, though I can easily imagine this playing as a midnight movie double feature.
Best moment: Seeing the wanna-be larger than life Hart on the big screen for the first time.
Rating: 6/10
The Secret Art of Human Flight
Ben was already having a rough time in life before his wife suddenly passed away. Despite his family, friends, and neighbors offering support Ben holds them all at arm’s length and turns to an unusual spiritual guru named “Mealworm” (Paul Raci) who he met online. Though somewhat skeptical, Ben follows Mealworm’s strange advice with the promise that he’ll soon learn how to fly.
The script manages to pull off quite the balancing act, alternating between heavy topics such as death and lighthearted humor, while also leaving Mealworm’s intentions deliberately vague. The casting is also on point, particularly Raci who can pull off the 1960’s spiritual guru type by alternating between wise and creepy in the blink of an eye.
What’s amazing — and ultimately disorienting — about this film is the way it makes you feel your sense of reality slipping away along with Ben’s.
This is the latest film from Bay Area director H.P. Mendoza, who makes a cameo as a guard at a mental institution in this movie (hint: he’s the guy with glasses and a black mohawk.) To me he’ll always be the director of Colma: The Musical.
Best moment: Learning to speak to the pigeons.
Rating: 9/10
Longlegs
It’s the mid 1990’s and a mysterious serial killer known only as “Longlegs” is terrorizing small towns in Oregon. A semi-psychic FBI agent named Lee is tasked with tracking him down, despite her own childhood run-in with the killer.
What makes this movie so effective as a horror film is the fact that we barely see or hear anything from Longlegs himself; and when he does appear, he’s under such heavy makeup that you can barely tell it’s Nicholas Cage.
This is a tough movie to evaluate as it has flashes of brilliance, but other times sticks to the typical horror movie formula. The story revolves around Longlegs delivering creepy life-size dolls to families with girls; I can’t say too much more than that without heading into spoilers.
Longlegs is written and directed by Oz Perkins, aka the son of the actor who played Norman Bates in Psycho. The story is sometimes a little overcomplicated, although the cinematography cleverly directs your focus in ways that moves the plot along. I’d describe the type of horror as more foreboding than traditionally scary.
Best moment: The sinking feeling that being outside can be scarier than being trapped inside.
Rating: 7/10
CatVideoFest 2024
Another year, another chance to see cat videos on the big screen while supporting a local rescue shelter with CatVideoFest.
I’ve been reviewing these for the past few years and have nothing particularly new to say. If the idea of watching silly cat videos in a theater with an audience instead of alone on YouTube sounds appealing, welcome to the club.
I never hesitate to recommend this series as it’s funny and it’s for charity, so mark your calendars for next summer when CatVideoFest is sure to make its return.
Best moment: A human learning what happens when they try to tie their shoes in the presence of a hyperactive kitten.
Rating: 10/10
Only the River Flows
In the mid 90’s in a small town in China where it’s always raining, detective Ma (Yilong Zhu) is tasked with solving a string of unusual murders. The local police chief is under intense pressure to close the case, preferring to blame it all on a local “madman” and calling it a day.
The film is presented largely from Ma’s perspective. As his stress increases we see him begin to break down and seemingly have full-on hallucinations.
I should get this out of the way: I’m not very familiar with Chinese films, let alone independent Chinese films. However, like most indie films it doesn’t adhere as strictly to one genre as mainstream movies tend to do — aside from the police procedural it veers off into drama and lighthearted comedy at times. But I wouldn’t call it a dramedy either. If anything it has more in common with Twin Peaks than Knives Out.
Much of what makes this movie so intriguing is how subtle it can be, from Zhu’s performance to the lingering camera movements that let you know you’re seeing something important without giving away the meaning.
This is one of those rare movies that leaves you thinking long after you’ve left the theater. But it’s also frustrating because you need to go back and watch it again to fully understand it.
Best moment: Ma descending under the stress of his grim job.
Rating: 8/10
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Spring was never waiting for us, girl.
I know I’ve said this before but in comedy, plots are often a contrivance on which to hang jokes. The second Beetlejuice movie kind of takes this to the extreme with half a dozen plots that barely come together; but maybe that’s okay because you came for the jokes and not the story.
Most of the original cast is back with the exception of Jeffery Jones, who uh… well we’re better off pretending he’s dead. The movie would have been better if it hadn’t tried to explain this.
While not every aspect of this movie lives up to the original, the overall silliness is still there if somewhat repetitive. The one gag that actually works better this time around is the sandworm since you likely watched the new Dune movies recently.
Does this mean Tim Burton is back? I’m not so sure; even before his career devolved into making bargain bin children’s DVDs he was more of a writer and producer than a director. Which in its own way is perfect for a guy known for creating characters who try to become someone else.
Best moment: “I love a good dream sequence.”
Rating: 5/10
Megalopolis
There are bad movies, and then there are movies so bad they make you question if film should have even been invented.
In New Rome (New York City) an architect named Cesar discovers he has the power to control time. He’s working against the wishes of mayor Cicero to remake the city using a new material called “Megalon.”
The references to history repeating itself suggest the movie has something to say, however unoriginal it may be. Of the main characters the men typically speak like hipsters with English literature degrees and the women are little more than annoying sex objects.
Sometimes the right casting choices can elevate a so-so movie. This movie has an excellent cast but unfortunately it seems nobody told them what this movie was about. I’m not entirely convinced they were even aware the cameras were rolling in some of the scenes. It could potentially work if it were rewritten as a satire instead of taking itself seriously.
I guess there was a time when Francis Ford Coppola’s name meant something, but his best movies (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now) came out before my time. In recent decades his name is more closely associated with wine — he should have stuck with that.
Best moment: Around halfway through when I gave up watching this and decided to go do something else.
Rating: 0/10
¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!
When the last outpost of Colorado-based Mexican restaurant chain Casa Bonita closes for good, South Park co-creator Trey Parker becomes interested in bringing back the last location of the “Disneyland of Mexican restaurants.” Of course, South Park fans will recognize Casa Bonita from the episode where Cartman hatches an elaborate ruse to get invited to a birthday party at the restaurant.
Unfortunately in the real world the place had fallen on hard times. The kitchen, swimming pool, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, etc. all need to be replaced — and the building itself has structural issues. Parker and his business partner/fellow South Park co-creator Matt Stone initially estimate the budget in the mid-millions of dollars but rapidly blow well past that.
I think most of us can understand the excitement of a passion project. But how many of us have the means or the time to see our passion projects through when we’re in way over our heads?
The documentary is told through interviews, archive footage, and fly-on-the-wall style footage. Most of this works well though some of the business aspects get a little tedious. Still it’s a relatively short film so it never gets overly bogged down on any single subject.
While this could easily have been a thinly-veiled advertisement for the restaurant I didn’t exactly find myself eager to visit. Those with a childhood connection to the place may feel differently.
Best moment: Watching Matt and Trey record hammy voices for some cheap-looking animatronics.
Rating: 8/10
Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point
An enormous and rambunctious extended family gather for Christmas, possibly for the last time at the suburban home where many of them grew up. This movie sidesteps the typical Christmas movie tropes and instead serves as a character-driven drama told through a series of vignettes.
What works about this movie is also what holds it back: the lack of a strong overall story gives the characters plenty of breathing room, while also leaving the audience feeling like they’re missing something as the events barely converge into a greater whole.
Best moment: The quiet awkwardness between a pair of cops played by Michael Cera and Gregg Turkington.
Rating: 4/10
Flow
A black cat is living its best life in a wild forest and the ruins of a human civilization. All is well until a catastrophic flood tears through the landscape, leaving the cat little choice but to join a “family” of other animals living together out of necessity on a small sailboat. The animals include a sleepy capybara, a loud but friendly dog, a treasure-hunting lemur, and a wise bird.
Unlike a Disney film, in this independent Latvian film the animals don’t talk and are (mostly) not anthropomorphized. There isn’t a single line of dialog… unless you count meowing, barking, etc.
The animation style is all 3D computer graphics with environments that alternate between hyper realistic and surreal, with the animals themselves getting cell-shaded animation. The result is a unique style you’re not likely to see anywhere else.
Although the film is intended for all ages I suspect some parts may be scary for the youngest audience members.
Best moment: The cat knocking a bowl off a shelf… on purpose.
Rating: 9/10
UHF (1989)
I’ve seen this movie many times but never in a theater. So when Alamo Drafthouse decided to screen it for its 35th anniversary I jumped on the opportunity right away.
When George (“Weird Al” Yankovic) is tasked with managing a TV station that nobody watches, he accidentally creates top rated independent TV shows due to his imagination and poor decisions. This plot is mostly a thin thread between sketch comedy like “Conan the Librarian,” a Raiders of the Lost Ark parody, and “Gandhi II: No More Mr. Passive Resistance.”
All your favorite comedy bits are there from the commercial for a store called “Spatula City” to the most absurd Rambo parody, or at least the most absurd until Hot Shots! Part Deux came along a few years later.
Like most comedies it’s a bit niche, or a cult classic if you prefer. While some comedies haven’t aged well due to jokes that seem mean-spirited in hindsight, UHF doesn’t have any of that, though its jokes about TV programming in the 80’s and some minor political jokes will probably go over the heads of most Gen Z viewers.
And then there’s the name of the movie. I doubt most people at the time even knew the difference between the two types of broadcast TV channels, the lower numbered VHF (Very High Frequency) vs. the higher numbered UHF (Ultra High Frequency) channels. Back then the independent channels that weren’t part of CBS, NBC, etc. were typically on the UHF band and did tend to show reruns, quirky children’s shows, movies you’d never heard of, etc.
The most surprising aspect of this movie is how little it relies on Weird Al’s music. The only full song of his in the movie is Beverly Hillbillies, his parody of Money For Nothing by Dire Straits. This one doesn’t do much for me — admittedly I don’t like the original song — though I noticed it didn’t get many laughs in the theater. A rare misfire for a musician known for song parodies.
Caveat: It’s impossible to talk about this movie without acknowledging that Michael Richards, aka Kramer from Seinfeld, plays a main character. While this movie came out a couple decades before his racist rant at a comedy club, if you can’t stomach the guy then this may not be the movie for you. Look I’m a white guy so who am I to even weigh in but everyone has a right to their own feelings.
All that said, if you remember the era of 1989 this movie is at times brilliant and hilarious… to me, at least.
Best moment: Trying to teach poodles how to fly.
Rating: 9/10