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About JPFmovies

We here at JPFmovies pride ourselves at talking a hard, gritty look at entertainment from all over the world.

Dr. H Finally Gives Us His Take On The Oscars.

21 Feb

The Oscars:

Why there is less than meets the eye.

To call the Oscars a storm in a teacup is a travesty of sorts.  Sadly, to many lifelong Oscar aficionados it has lost its charisma.  Not only is it not the only game in town but it also appears contrived and hypocritical after a summer season of senseless mayhem in the sequels of grotesque superhuman creatures and the remorseless pursuit of the lowest common denominator.

The serious movie season starts after Halloween and ends around New Year’s, interrupted by family fare for Thanksgiving and cheesy romantic comedies for the holidays.  So you get about six weeks of serious cinema, most of which will be limited releases.  What, you may ask, is the point of this brouhaha—guilt in all likelihood. Once in a while the academy does honor the right movie and the right players but, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, only after it has exhausted all other options.

Welcome to Hollywood’s dark ages.

Why then, you may ask, are we bothering with the Oscars.  We are not.  We are celebrating the fact that good movies were made not because of Hollywood but in spite of its stranglehold on the movie business.

Now let’s get down to business shall we?

The Best Picture.

Who should win:         Social Network.

The dark horse:           True Grit

Who will win:             King’s Speech.

King’s Speech has some serious Oscar pedigrees and has won several awards for its soothing simple narrative style. The Academy can’t resist a British royalty story — especially when it has no relevance to modern day dynamics.

Social Network is an amazing story, especially in the wake of the democratic movement in the Mideast and the role in it played by Facebook and Twitter.  Sadly, there are not enough young Academy members to vote for it.

True Grit is good but not great.  Not a typical Cohen Brothers movie as it lacks their edgy crispy humor and the Academy doesn’t like westerns too much anyways.

127 Hours will lose for the same reason as Social Network:  the young votes will be divided between 127 Hours and Social Network.  It is a story of bravery and defying all odds of survival very well acted and directed but won’t make the cut.

The Black Swan.  This movie should be watched to impress an artsy girlfriend.  It is a hyper intellectual hybrid of French neo-noir with Hitchconian tradition but lacks Hitchcock’s dark humor and his feel for terror.

The Fighter is a good movie but lacks the knockout punch.  Very well acted but the supporting cast stole so many scenes that the fighter himself became secondary to the story.  A typical feel-good movie made for a recession.

Winter’s Bone is a great movie; a richly crafted, riveting story about a 17-year-old girl looking for her fugitive father in the wilderness of the Ozark Mountains in southern Missouri. It is full of meaning and metaphors that the average Academy member will overlook. If it wins, disregard all the negative remarks I have made about the Oscars.

Inception is a sci-fi thriller dealing with dreams, reality, quasi-reality, and whatever mumbo jumbo comes in between. It’s a visual spectacle but not Oscar-worthy.

And finally, The Kids Are All Right is the token indie film representative, more in the tradition of Little Miss Sunshine, about two lesbian foster parents and their problems. A good movie but again, not Oscar-worthy.  If The Kids Are All Right wins I’ll quit my day job and become a mascot for an NBA team.

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Should win: James Franco, 127 Hours

Dark horse: Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Will win: Colin Firth, King’s Speech

James Franco is unlucky. His was a really plucky performance. Not earth-shattering, but with quiet dignity, he carried the movie all by himself with his character trapped in a canyon. Any other year he would be a shoe-in. Colin Firth will win, though, for his portrayal of King Edward VI, the stuttering monarch. Two years in a row. Wow! You can bet your 401(k) on this one.

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Should win: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Dark horse: Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Will win: Natalie Portman, The Black Swan

The conventional wisdom holds that Natalie Portman has delivered a strong performance in The Black Swan but one must remember that she had the advantage of a story that was built around her and was provided with all the right lines and the right ambiance to go with it. On the other hand, the 19-year-old Jennifer Lawrence had a much more complex role in Winter’s Bone – one that she excelled in. It is utterly compelling. Watch it. And lastly, Annette Bening is a long shot. Still could get a consolation award for being overlooked twice.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Should win: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Dark horse: Jeffrey Rush, King’s Speech

Will win: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Hands down Christian Bale. He completely overshadowed the movie and actually shifted the movie’s center of gravity from Mark Wahlberg to himself. Jeffrey Rush could sneak in if there is a stampede for King’s Speech.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Should win: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Dark horse: Hailee Steinfield, True Grit

Will win: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Melissa Leo is outstanding in her depiction of a domineering blue collar mother. Hailee Steinfield was overshadowed by two seasoned actors: Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. The Academy usually goes for the more seasoned performer.

Best Director

Should win: Social Network

Dark horse: The Fighter

Will win: King’s Speech

True Grit will lose since it does not have the Coen Brothers’ stamp of authority on it. It’s a toss-up between Social Network and King’s Speech, The Fighter staying a distant third. But, still, remember Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan lost to little-remembered Shakespeare in Love for the Best Movie, but he himself won. The Academy, sometimes, is like God: it acts in mysterious ways.

Best Original Screenplay

Should win: King’s Speech

Dark horse: Inception

Will win: King’s Speech

In this category, King’s Speech is peerless.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Should win: Winter’s Bone

Dark horse: 127 Hours

Will win: Social Network

Winter’s Bone has a poetic resonance and the words seem to travel with some poignant intensity. Social Network, will, however, win, as a consolation for being overlooked in higher categories. 127 Hours will again be unlucky.

Best Animated Feature

Should win: Toy Story 3

Dark horse: none

Will win: Toy Story 3

Period. End of story.

Best Foreign Language Film

Should win: Incendies (French-Canadian)

Dark horse: Biutiful (Mexico, Spain)

Will win: Incendies

Exotic mid-Eastern locales, strange accents, and lonely characters looking for redemption. Need we add more in favor of Incendies?

Cinematography

Should win: Inception

Dark horse: True Grit

Will win: Inception

Nothing even comes close. Inception is a mind-blowing visual experience.

Editing

Should win: Social Network

Dark horse: The Black Swan

Will win: King’s Speech

Mostly by tradition, the best picture always wins this category. The last one that didn’t was in 1980. Inception got robbed in this category.

Art Direction

Should win: Inception

Dark horse: King’s Speech

Will win: Alice in Wonderland

Costume

Should win: Alice in Wonderland

Dark horse: True Grit

Will win: King’s Speech

Original Score

Should win: 127 Hours

Dark horse: Inception

Will win: 127 Hours

Original Song

Should win: 127 Hours

Dark horse: Country Strong

Will win: 127 Hours

Sound Editing

Should win: Inception

Dark horse: Unstoppable

Will win: Inception

Visual Effects

Should win: Inception

Dark horse: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Will win: Inception

Best Documentary

Should win: Inside Job

Dark horse: Exit through the Gift Shop

Will win: Inside Job

The inside story of sub-prime mortgage and financial disaster. Who can let it pass?

Best Documentary: Short Subjects

Should win: Killing in the Name

Dark horse: Poster Girl

Will win: Killing in the Name

It’s a no-brainer. This documentary about Muslims and terrorism will win.

 
13 Comments

Posted by on February 21, 2011 in Movie Reviews

 

Turk 182 Was Number 96!

17 Feb

Last night we posted a review of the 1985 classic Turk 182–our 96th review. We are almost at 100 folks. Also the rumors of my co-founder “DT” who went underground shortly after starting the sight resurfacing are true. She has will be providing a review by the end of the week. We at JPFmovies are very excited to the review and her return to the front lines of movie reviewing.

 
5 Comments

Posted by on February 17, 2011 in Movie Reviews

 

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Turk 182 or “Zimmerman Flew and Tyler Knew!” Also one of the only movies Kim Cattral keeps her clothes on.

16 Feb

Turk 182 with an all-star cast including Timothy Hutton , Robert Urich, Kim Cattral, Robert Culp, Paul Sorvino and Peter Boyle serves as the quintessential 1980’s “fight the man” feel good movie.

The Good:  The cast, the cheezy story, empathy for the protagonist and comedy.

The Bad:  Really bad accents, cliché Irish music and the cheezy story.

So what happened?

“Terry” (Robert Urich) a New York fire fighter and his brother “Jimmy” (Timothy Hutton) live in New York City.  Terry, while off duty and drunk, heroically dashes from his smoke-filled neighborhood bar into an apartment fire and rescues a young girl.  However, he is seriously injured when firefighters inadvertently aim the fire hose at him forcing him—with the girl in his arms through a window crashing on to the top of a car 40 feet down.  The girl is uninjured, but Terry is seriously hurt.

Enduring hundreds of rejections from welfare, workers’ compensation and many others government agencies, Jimmy contacts Mayor Tyler (Robert Culp), but while pleading his case to the Mayor, moron Jimmy mentions that his brother was smashed during the accident.  Naturally the Mayor rebukes his plea, calling Terry a drunk.  As a petty torment, Jimmy sneaks into the mayor’s office and pastes hundreds of the rejection letters inside the Mayor’s office.

Responding to this insult on behalf of the Mayor is Lieutenant Ryan (Peter Boyle), a thuggish cop and chief security officer.  They arrive at the brothers’ hangout and arrest Terry who (again loaded this time on booze and pills) takes a swing at the cops and thrown in jail.  After posting Terry’s bail, Jimmy learns that his brother is in the hospital after a suicide attempt.  At the station he first meets Danielle “Danny” Boudreau (Kim Cattrall), a social worker assigned to Terry’s case.

Jimmy decides to again visit the Mayor, so he goes to Battery Park where the Mayor is giving an anti-graffiti speech but was contained by the police.  After seeing the Mayor unveil a giant apple, which slowly revolves to show handiwork by vandals saying “Zimmerman Flew, Tyler Knew”, all to the delight of protesters at the speech, Jimmy starts his own campaign of revenge and embarrassment.  Tom Zimmerman, former Public Works Commissioner, had fled the country to avoid trial for an unspecified crime. The news ran stories suggesting that Mayor Tyler not only knew of Zimmerman’s flight, but masterminded it because he ordered Zimmerman’s trial be rescheduled.  Using this scandal as leverage, Jimmy begins his battle of wits.

Jimmy consistently gets the better of the Mayor and his goons with badges staying one step ahead of them the entire movie.  Among other pranks, Jimmy manages to leave his mark on a supposedly graffiti-proof subway car about to be showcased by Mayor Tyler in an anti-vandalism campaign and hack into the scoreboard computer (with the help of a friend) at Giants Stadium during halftime of a football game.

Naturally Danny and Jimmy develop a personal relationship during the flick and she discovers that her new boyfriend is the mastermind Turk 182.  By this time Turk has become immensely popular throughout the city embarrassing the Mayor and making the news.

Turk decides his last appearance will be his masterpiece.  Turk will strike when Mayor Tyler appears at a dedication ceremony for the 75th anniversary of the Queensboro Bridge.   Tyler’s goons clamp down security while preparing for the ceremony and when the mayor throws the switch the sign reads gibberish; Jimmy is still in the process of changing the words.  The chaos begins when spotlights catch Jimmy on the bridge and the crowd goes wild.  The story goes viral with everyone covering the incident live.  Ryan tries to stop the prank in progress but the goons are unable to reach him; Jimmy greased all the lower girders on the bridge.

Turk completes his task, and connects power cables to the letters which spell “TURK 182.”  While the crowd is cheering, Tyler says to his crony “As soon as he (Jimmy) gets down we’re gonna find him and tell him we’ve been rooting for him the whole time!”

Yes this movie has many, if not every, cliché in the book.  That, however, is the secret to the film’s greatness.  Only someone with a heart of stone could not find themselves cheering for Turk by the end of the movie.  In fact, Turk 182’s moniker has its origins from another famous New York graffiti writer, TAKI 183.  TAKI 183 was a messenger and would write his nickname around the New York City streets during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

In May 2009, the official TAKI 183 website (http://www.taki183.net/ ) launched and includes photos of his work.

Turk 182 is a cult classic and rightfully so.

 
8 Comments

Posted by on February 16, 2011 in Movie Reviews

 

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Bottle Rocket (1996)—A Movie of Débuts.

07 Feb

Bottle Rocket did not do well at the box office; by all accounts it was a commercial failure but launched Wes Anderson, Owen and Luke Wilson’s careers by drawing attention from critics and other Hollywood elite.   Indeed, director Martin Scorsese named Bottle Rocket one of his top-ten favorite movies of the 1990’s.

The Bottle Rocket spring board helped Wes Anderson go on to direct two movies I hold in high regard: Rushmore (1998) & The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).  As for the Wilson brothers—well it is common knowledge that both went on to star in various films like Old School and Wedding Crashers just to name a few.  Not only did Anderson direct Bottle Rocket and Owen Wilson co-star in it, they also co-wrote the script.  The only big name in the movie (at the time) was James Caan who played a quasi-gangster.

The film centers on a group of directionless young men living in Texas (in fact the entire film was shot in Dallas, Fort Worth and Hillsboro, Texas).  Dignan (Owen Wilson) “rescues” Anthony (Luke Wilson) from a voluntary mental hospital where he has been recovering from self-described “exhaustion” for the past two years.  Dignan concocted an elaborate escape plan to spring Anthony from the hospital as well as a 75-year plan that he proudly shows to Anthony.  Part of the plan is to pull off several heists and then meet Mr. Henry (James Caan), a landscaper and dilettante criminal known to Dignan.

To begin their training, the two break into Anthony’s house, stealing a predetermined number of objects from a list.  They then critique the heist and Dignan discloses that he took a pair of earrings not enumerated on the list. This upsets Anthony, as he had bought those earrings for his mother.

Bob (Robert Musgrave), the third spoke in this wheel, is a spoiled rich kid who raises marijuana in his backyard and lets his older brother beat him up on a regular basis.  Together, the trio attempt several crimes that stand as monuments of ineptitude and are laughably-executed.  These three are so bad at what they do that not even their victims take them seriously.

Eventually Dignan’s employer and mentor—Mr. Henry (James Caan), allows the trio to pull off a “major” robbery and lets Dignan run as point man for the operation; and, even though the robbery crashes and burns, Dignan passes through the flames of failure, finds self-worth and holds onto his youthful naiveté.

Friendship/family, fitting into society, purpose, self-worth, love, sadness, mischief, sacrifice and redemption- these themes run throughout “Bottle Rocket” (and all of Wes Anderson’s movies); yet, Anderson weaves them together with such soft humor that one can easily forget the gravity of the characters’ pains and frustrations.

I love this movie, but beware it is entertaining only for the quirky.  If you are not into unconventional and subtle humor don’t bother.  Otherwise it is a classic destined for cult status.

 
7 Comments

Posted by on February 7, 2011 in Movie Reviews

 

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We are at 95 Reviews!

03 Feb

That is right folks, FM was our 95th review. Only 5 more until the 100th extravaganza giveaway! First place is a $75.00 gift certificate to CD Universe; second place is a $50.00 gift certificate and third place is a $25.00 gift card–again all at CD Universe.

So stay tuned.

 
32 Comments

Posted by on February 3, 2011 in Movie Reviews

 

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Here is one I’ll bet many of you have not seen: FM (1978)

01 Feb

I feel I must disclose that probably my favorite non-jazz band, Steely Dan, recorded the sound track for this film—the title song being of course “FM.” Steely Dan–FM Theme FM the movie is about Q-SKY– the number one radio station in Los Angeles chiefly because the proverbial inmates run the asylum.  These attention-grabbing radio personalities include: Jeff Dugan, the rebellious radio station manager; Mother, who is burned out from being a DJ; Eric Swan, a self-centered and self-styled romantic who wants more than just being a DJ; The Prince of Darkness, the hip night DJ; and Laura Coe, the easy-going type.  The station personnel play the music they want to, only use certain advertisers, sponsoring concerts/benefits as well as some other “unorthodox” non-corporate ways to make the station their own and the best in LA.  They have operated relatively autonomously, free from corporate interference for some time.  However, the corporate machine is about to try to turn their No.1 position into cash.  The movie centers on the inevitable battle between Jeff and his corporate bosses, who want more advertising and money at the cost of music.

The skirmish grows until sales manager Regis Lamar from corporate HQ presents him with a business opportunely to advertise for the U.S. Army using a series of cheesy radio ads. When Jeff refuses to endorse the contract, Regis takes the issue to upper management who orders Jeff  to run the ads as provided by the Army and on the schedule specified in the advertising contract. Jeff takes a stand and quits his job.

In a show of solidarity with their fearless manager the remaining DJs decide to take control of the station in a sort of lock-in/sit-in/protest.  They incite listeners to gather in the street outside the station and protest while the DJs play music without any commercials.

Jeff Dugan wakes up to hear the DJs take control of the station. The crowd is already present when he arrives at the station. The DJs lift him up to the second story with a fire hose as they have already barricaded the front doors.  The office siege in lasts only until the police arrive to remove the staff.  Not willing to go down without a fight, the DJs battle back using a fire hose and throwing tapes and other office objects at the police.  The conflict is resolved when Jeff Dugan finds himself fighting a policeman outside on an overhang and saves the policeman from falling off and sees that fighting is the wrong thing to do.  He calms the crowd and announces that the DJs are coming out.

Unknown to him, the company owner Carl Billings has watched from the crowd as the events unfolded. He insists that the DJs stay in the station, fires his management staff responsible for the advertising conflict, and then joins the DJs inside the station.

In addition, the film includes live appearances by Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Buffett, Tom Petty, and REO Speedwagon. Steely Dan performs the title theme, and Dan Fogelberg, Joe Walsh, Boz Scaggs and Queen also contributed soundtrack music. The film debuts  several future hits like We Will Rock You (in the protest rally sequence) and Life’s Been Good integrated into the plot.

I had a really hard time getting my hands on this movie a couple of years ago, but I am glad I did.  The music, sound track and real appearances by the artists themselves make this movie worth watching on its own.  Unfortunately, it is hard to find and even harder to find someone who has seen it to enjoy it with.  If you can, see it, if you can’t just get the soundtrack.

 
11 Comments

Posted by on February 1, 2011 in Movie Reviews

 

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