Isle of Dogs

                                                                                 

I watched "Isle of Dogs" without most English subtitles for the Japanese dog conversations, so my impression may be slanted. It is a sound movie, though the plot development (but not the premise) seems too formulaic to reach to the level of the Wes Anderson's best movies (see my review for "Budapest"). There are typical "Andersonisms" appearing in each of his movies: people running perpendicular to the line of sight. But there are also great cameos--corrupt mayor of the city with the large cat tatoo on his behind--or the hacker in the makeshift tent defeating the mayor poisoners' army when everything seems to be lost. And, of course, the star cast (Murray, Swinton, Goldblum, Balaban, Herwig, Schrieber) "for the love/life of dogs"--what can be better? In the language of Magical Max, only the MLT sandwich.

Tully

I already plead that I, as many men of my age, can watch Charlize Theron doing almost anything on screen, even reading multiplications table. And Charlize disheveled paired with Mackenzie Davis unusually well kempt is even better. Movie is going strong, but not as strong as another unrecognized indie by Charlize Theron, Young Adult.

P.S. Can anything resolve the riddle of Tamara Jenkins present on this photo?

Mamma Mia (here we go again)

This sequel to Mamma Mia is more coherent in its storyline than the original, which was just a set of musical numbers interrupted by superficial talking but without participation of the formidable Meryl Streep. Sher shows everybody how to sing.

Fireworks, should we see it from the side or the bottom?

The 40-something percent approval rating of the Ghibli on rottentomatoes.com signifies only the mental paucity of the US critical universe. They shudder of anything remotely ambiguous, while applauding any movie speaking to their "values": patriotism (Dunkirk, the Darkest Hour), any gay-liberation or black-resistance themed movie, no matter how formulaic or artistically weak its cinematic story is. While a hodgepodge of Anime cliches, it is a wonderful, pristine movie about teenage love, angst and tribulations of mid-to-high school life.

Don't worry, he won't get far on foot. Gus Van Sant.

Technically near perfect, as a typical Gus Van Sant movie--timing, shots, casting, actors' performances--this movie only proves that 12-step AA program works for the self-absorbed characters, whose main concern is the quality of their sexual lives (or, gay Christians). Joaquin Phoenix is marvelous but his girlfriend, talented Rooney Mara, was given such a non-expressive role that one wonders were not her participation a request from Joaquin.

Genius. Picasso.

Feeble series; even feebler than the last series about Einstein. The Einstein series leaving aside his science after c. 1919, were, at least, livened by the incomparable Geoffrey Rush (though, great and underrated Emily Watson was not given much of a go). But Picasso series, incoherent as they are, left his artistic development together with the brilliant Alex Rich, playing young Picasso. The rest of the series are only concerned with his womanizing, solid, but no match to the current President of the Unites States.

Love, Vincent

This is a genial animation with final days of Van Gogh reconstructed from his numerous letters and positioned as a whodunit story with the implied suspicion that Van Gogh was murdered, rather than committed suicide, ostensibly by good-for-nothing teenagers he befriended in his drunken roaming. But: the movie making technique where the characters are played by the human actors and then reanimated by drawing bears its descent from an unwatchable but equally genial "Waking Life" by Linklatter.

Russia, the Motherland of Abstract Expressionism?

It is widely surmised that artistic experimentation in USSR had mostly ended with state takeover of the artistic unions, some time in late 1920s and the rest was a belated imitation of the Western artistic movements. But the case continued...

Here I present images of the Russian Abstract Expressionists, who were most active in 1950s or early 1960s, i.e. simultaneously with Pollock and Rothko in the US, and Dubuffet and Wols in Europe.

Ely Bielutin (1925-2012)

Evgenii Mikhnov-Voitenko (1932-1988); but his most innovative work has been done in 1950s

Evgenii Kropivnitskii (1893-1979)

Yakov Chernikhov (1889-1951).

Yakov Chernikhov is better known as an architect and even better--as a designer of fantastic architectural-themed paintings. But his purely abstract output was also significant, though it was closer to Malevich's Suprematism than to the Abstract Expressionism of the fifties.

Tatiana Glebova (1900-1985)

Tatiana Glebova was a relative and a student of Pavel Filonov, the genius. Most of her output was figurative but Thyssen-Bornemissa collection includes some of her Abstract Expressionist work. 

Pavel Zaltsman (1912-1985)

(See the comment)

                                           
 P. Zaltsman

                                   

P. Filonov. Pedagogic. 

The darkest hour

Oscar-bound movie with a primitive plot. Gary Oldman is brilliant and totally believable in imitating Churchill's physicality but that's about it. Kennedy once quipped: "What is private is policy. What is public is propaganda." The movie substitutes Churchill's patriotic speeches and corny flag-waving scenes, probably invented, for his political maneuvers and shenanigans. His refusal to negotiate with Adolf is cursorily explained in the movie "you don't negotiate with a lion having your head in his mouth" but this line is never bolstered by cinematic means.

In fact, Churchill was not a naive fulminating every time his German counterpart was mentioned but a very practical politician who lived through German trashing of Munich agreements (which he supported), attacking Poland and kidnapping British intelligence personnel from then neutral Holland (Venlo Incident), which could have impressed him more than the two previous episodes. Nor was he a passionate anti-Nazi--after the WWII he contributed to the legal defense of Nazi war criminals in British custody.  He simply understood that if Adolf disregarded all previous agreements and understandings--probably a generic feature of German diplomacy from Friedrich II to Merkel--he will not stop now with victory seemingly in his grasp.

The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro

Good. Sally Hawkins is magnificent and the cast (Spencer, Shannon, Stuhlbarg, etc.) is very good but Guillermo del Toro becomes lazy. Could not he find people with genuine Russian pronunciation in New York City? Michael Stuhlbarg's character could be given another bio as, e.g. an Austrian communist to explain his accent. Soviet spies meet with their agent at an abandoned construction site, yet inexplicably come to his apartment in full view of the minders. Michael Shannon, a supposed top intelligence professional shoots an important agent instead of arresting and presenting him to the superiors. Less dramatic but more in-style conclusion would be if Michael Shannon presented a top Soviet agent to the general and was subsequently buried as hero among the accolades, while Hawkins and Doug Jones unite in a passionate embrace under the waves. These are, of course, details but details distinguish a good movie from great.

All the money in the world

Solid, well organized movie. Christopher Plummer as an inscrutable psychopath J. Paul Getty is magnificent. Michelle Williams' understated performance as suffering but steely mother is also good. The cinematic organization is traditional.