USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage

I recently Netflixed the Nicolas Cage film USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. I thought it was a great film anchored by a great performance by Cage. What starts out as a men at war film turns into a rather gonzo action film involving shark attacks, men at sea, and more shark attacks. But the whole thing is tastefully done, with director Mario Van Peeples having a great sense of character. The ending is given real weight and importance. Recommended!

Ant Man and the Wasp

Ant Man and the Wasp is a very entertaining and friendly movie, which, in a good way, lacks some of the epic blowing up off stuff that the first one had. It's a Marvel movie for people who don't like Marvel movies. Lots of chuminess, jokes, and one-liners. The acting is great, particularly Michael Pena as the wacky friend, as are the set pieces. Paul Rudd really holds things together, and gives the whole thing some of the cohesiveness of a 1990s era comedy. Recommended!

Dominion and The Exorcist: The Beginning

Over the past two weeks, I watched the two versions that exist of the prequel to director William Friedkin's The Exorcist: one by Paul Schrader, and one by Renny Harlin.  Harlin's was shot, using the same sets and actors, after the studio decided on a new version that was more "scary."  Both are great!  The best one, by a hair, is Schrader's, which is basically a low key, moody, and I thought very scary exploration of Father Merrin's relationship to a young priest.  There is a possession, but on a much smaller scale.  Harlin's is much more traditional, but also much more hardcore, in many ways being a straight remake of the original.  When that girl gets possessed, watch out!  Very inventive use and reuse of sets, here.  Both highly recommended!

Casino

Casino is a film that a first saw in high school and then rewatched obsessively when I got to college.  There's really no other film like it, and I think I've come to see it as Scorsese's best film.  However, in recent years I think we've learned that it's just as much a Nicholas Pileggi film as a Scorsese film, with the fast narrative pacing and voiceover work being just as much his trademark as Scorsese's.  The Departed, good as it was, was nothing like this!  There's a moment where a low level mobster suddenly and unexpectedly does a freeze frame voiceover that is just absolutely priceless, just the essence of 90s cinema.  Casino takes you to a time and place unlike any other film, including GoodFellas and even the Godfather films.

If you did want to take issue with Casino, it would be with the violence.  Is Casino too violent?  There are moments in the film that are so violent that they almost seem like a pie in the face to the viewer.  I think I'm willing to forgive this approach, however, as being part of Scorsese's distinctive style.  Child of Vietnam that he is (I think Oliver Stone could write quite a piece on Casino), I think Scorsese is using violence even here to comment on how in functions both within American society and within us all.  He just doesn't let up when it comes to that.

So are the characters off-putting?  Sure.  But that doesn't make Casino any less a classic.