"Miles On Movies" Revived

["Mad" Miles]

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The American (2010) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440728/)<o:p></o:p>
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By R. Miles Mendenhall
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9/2/2010
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George Clooney’s latest, he stars and co-produced, is a somber, morose, slow and meditative consideration of the lonely and necessarily paranoid life of the professional killer. The action is quick and spare, and separated by long periods in which not a whole lot happens. That is, if you’re not paying attention. If you are, every moment is an illustration by the director, Anton Corbijn (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0179221/), of what is at stake, what that means, and how he wants you to think about it all.
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Because this film is partly a mystery, I don’t want to give anything away about this character’s back story, intentions, or much of anything else. Suffice it to say, he’s a consummate professional, living by necessity, in isolation from everyone around him. His only company a priest, who he drinks with and doesn’t answer the questions from. And some stunningly beautiful women, the nature of his relationships, or lack thereof, I will leave to the viewer to find out on their own.
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But this is George Clooney, stud muffin extraordinaire, so he’s gotta strut his stuff, and he does. And three of the actresses do as well. Gloriously!
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Most of the film is set in late winter Abruzzo, northern Italy. Where the usual lush sun drenched vistas we associate with the tourist propaganda, are in this case, gray, dry and cold. Perfect for the mood here. Questions of history and the legacy of violent human conflict, are more alluded to through landscape and architecture, than they are answered by the action, or lack of it. A big hint is that the names of towns translate literally into English as Old Castle and Castle Mount.
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There are some goofs, an operative like Clooney’s character would never make several of the fundamental mistakes that he does here. Again, I won’t say what they are, look for them.
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Near the end, there’s a sequence where I thought to myself, “Is he going to do this in all of his serious films? If it happens a third time, I’m calling it a cliché!” Not gonna tell you what I mean, you’ll find out. And he does what I’m not talking about, very, very well.
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This is a good, thoughtful and complex film, put simply and cleanly. A meditation on what the life of an isolated killer might actually be like. One who’s good with his hands, quick witted (exceptions already vaguely noted) and fast on his feet. I’ll leave it to the ones with arrested adolescent emotional development, to decide for themselves if it’s an attractive lifestyle. Or should I say, deathstyle?
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I loved the use of one of Sergio Leone’s classic spaghetti westerns, as inter-textual commentary, as it plays on TV in a lonely café, in a lonely town, where all is not what it seems.
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I saw it in Sebastopol at a 1:40 p.m. matinee. I will never go to any of Dan Tochini’s theaters (Airport, Roxy 14, Third Street or the “new” Summerfield when it opens down the road) ever again. That is unless somehow I have no other choice to see something I absolutely have to see.
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I doubt that will ever be the case. I can always go to Petaluma, San Rafael, San Francisco, Berkeley or Oakland, if it’s not playing locally. And I fully intend to.
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There has to be justice, and snagging the lease from the best theater this county has ever seen, is a crime. No matter how it’s justified by appeals to, “it’s just business.” How one does business has consequences. And my refusal to patronize his businesses is one of those consequences.


This piece marks the return of the inadvertently deleted "Miles On Movies" thread. I may repost some of my favorite pieces from the past five years, as time goes on. And I'll take requests. If waccoons remember any that they particularly liked, or vehemently disagreed with for that matter, don't hesitate to ask!

["Mad" Miles]

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“Animal Kingdom (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1313092/)” (2010)

This Australian crime family pic grabbed me from the get-go with its previews. Pretty much your straight up tale of idiocy from a crew of hoods. They’re into bank robbing, drug dealing, and protecting themselves by taking anyone out who might be able to rat them out. You know, standard operating procedure for low life thugs with limited imaginations. It’s set in the mid-eighties in Melbourne, a time when that city had one of the highest murder rates in the world.

The mother, Grandma Smurf, is who grabs your attention, all sweetness and light, motherly support and hugs and kisses for “her boys” and all business when it comes to taking care of threats to her little dysfunctional family. When I started teaching at San Quentin, the guy that got me in on the job mentioned, “You know, there is a criminal class.” These folks are Exhibit A in support of that thesis.

The theme of the film is fear. These people live in it, with it, create it and perpetuate it. The cops, aren’t far from them in their proclivity for murder as a solution to intractable problems. Guy Pearce plays the one police investigator who knows how to talk to a frightened teenager who’s in over his head. I loved the lawyers, the slick characters who demonstrate the most intelligence when it comes to making a living off of crime.

Over a decade ago, I had some problems with my family, and they with me, I came out of that dark period OK, so did they, and with the catchphrase, “Save me from the Love of my family!?” I left the theater after this film thinking, “Save me from that family!!!” You will too.

Surprisingly, “Animal Kingdom”, has gotten very little local press coverage. That’s too bad. I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece, but it’s a tight, little cautionary tale.



“Machete (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985694/)” (2010)

Well, Robert Rodriquez’s incitement for race war, according to Alex Jones and his credulous fans, isn’t going to work in my opinion. There’s some speechifying about injustice towards immigrant Latinos, and some straight up brutal injustice portrayed towards them. But overall this is a glorious, bloody romp through the tropes of Latinismo, Pochismo and B-Movie, splatter, grind-house’ismo. Sort of a revival in the line of Blacksploitation films like, “Shaft “, and “Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song”. Except this might be called Brownsploitation.

Robert De Niro, Steven Seagal (who out-cheeses everyone!), Don Johnson, Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin and others reportedly were willing to play secondary parts because they’d “killed” Danny Trejo so many times before, they felt they owed him the spotlight when he got his chance to embody the badass Mexican ex-Federale seeking revenge on the crime syndicate responsible for the death of his wife and daughter.

You’ll recognize Mr. Trejo’s “thousand miles of bad road” face from many a heavy in Hollywood action films over the last several decades. I learned from some of the film coverage that he served some hard time, back in the day, before finding his place in Hollywood. That story of redemption alone is worth the price of admission, not that it’s brought up during the movie.

This is a celebration of Chicanismo and the joys of schlock action. There’s an absurd set-piece battle at the end that defies all logic and any attempt at verisimilitude. It is highly enjoyable, if you’re among the non-squeamish. Jessica Alba, Lyndsay Lohan and Michelle Rodriquez strut their stuff, both costumed and not.

A fun romp, with a message. Don’t F^%$ with “Machete”!!!! I loved the map showing the crime syndicate’s plans for maximizing its market advantage. Even in the midst of graphic absurdity, a little truth will out. Best line in a long time, “Machete don’t text.” When the hydraulics start pumping, so will your heart, Buey!

["Mad" Miles]

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The Social Network (2010) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/)


I liked it, my brother found it depressing. I'm on Facebook (but only after rejecting the option for years), he adamantly isn't. I went mostly because Dana Stevens said (https://www.slate.com/id/2269091/) it was one of the best films out this year, so far.

Also on Thursday I read another article on Slate.com from a Harvard Alum (https://www.slate.com/id/2269250/) in the same period, who said it completely got the campus culture wrong. That it, if anything, shows Harvard from twenty to fifty years ago, that the Final Clubs are not taken seriously, that preppy in this era is a put-on, only ironic commentary only. That people were much more chill to status then, than is portrayed in the film.

The take on early twenties culture is unreal, over hyped and unbelievable. Insulting to the kids of that time and anybody who buys the superficial image. When has Hollywood ever gotten a cultural scene right?

Jesse Eisenberg (“Zombieland”) does a brilliant job of acting portraying Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder. He never makes you like his character, who might have Aspergers Syndrome or could just be an arrogant asshole dweeb. And the play of nuance in between those options, makes for great viewing. Justin Timberlake does a fine job of playing a Svengali, tempting Devil figure.

The story telling was very clean and compelling. A good movie about ambition, arrogance, chance, friendship, greed, brilliant invention and poor social skills. I say go, but don't believe the hype. Finally, it is a good primer for how NOT to conduct business with friends.




The Cohen Brothers are redoing "True Grit" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403865/)with Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin! I was alienated from the Duke when the first "True Grit" came out, (Vietnam era disillusionment after "Green Berets") so I never gave the first film much of a hearing. It'll be interesting to compare the two. This one, from the trailer, looks way, way more grittier!



My first ethical dilemma in opposing Dan Tocchini’s film showing hegemony in Santa Rosa has been bugging me, for a couple of weeks. The film I’ve most wanted to see, is only showing at 3^rd St. Cinema’s. The Australian Aboriginal musical with Geoffrey Rush, “Bran Nue Dae” (2009) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1148165/) looks very intriguing and joyful. It’s gotten great press and I’m strongly interested in the subject. I’ll just have to wait till it opens in a non-SR Entertainment theater, or wait for the DVD release. Crap! Having ethics can certainly get in the way of pleasure sometimes!!