Jackie Brown (1997)

When a struggling airline stewardess is caught smuggling money into the U.S. for her gun runner boss, she must hatch a complicated plot in order to escape being arrested or killed (and also get away with the money), with the help of a bail bondsman who has fallen in love with her.

Another entry in the list of films that I'm kicking myself for not having seen earlier (tried watching it in film about five, six years ago in film school but the DVD was scratched), Jackie Brown is a solid winner.

Skillfully adapted from the novel, "Rum Punch" by Elmore Leonard (whose work I should probably start checking out more of now, considering I've seen a couple of adaptations of his work like Get Shorty and 3:10 To Yuma), this is definitely a unique entry in Quentin Tarantino's filmography. Self-described as his own version of a "hangout movie", the film is very much so with a slower pace, minimal violence (the least violent of all of his films, in fact), an especially emotionally powerful soundtrack, more subdued and understated characters and relationships, and a more tightly wound and complex plot with an ending (and its aftermath) that can be interpreted in multiple ways. 

In contrast to many of Tarantino's other films, which have a quicker pace, a more flashy and stylistic tone, and more aggressively quirky and cartoonish characters (in a great way), its easy to see why audiences at the time weren't as receptive to this as they were Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, but also a major bummer as well. (On a side note, I now find it a bit confusing that some critics consider Once Upon A Time in Hollywood his most mature film, when Jackie Brown is right there). 

Pam Grier absolutely radiates in the title role with a mixture of brains, sass, and heart. It's easy to see why she was a star in the 70s and it's a shame she hasn't really had that many lead roles since. Same with Robert Forster (RIP) who plays the bail bondsman, Max Cherry, with a gruff, world-weary sincerity and charm, and the pair click together beautifully. I'm eager to check out more of their work as well, including Medium Cool, The Black Hole, Foxy Brown, and Coffy.

Samuel L. Jackson pulls in another solid performance as the main villain, Ordell Robbie, who is charismatically slimy and has a very quiet and subtle menace that slowly grows to a terrifying level by the film's end. Michael Keaton also has a fun turn as the strait-laced but individually weird ATF agent Ray Nicolette. 

Ironically, the only weak point for me was the relationship between Robert De Niro as Louis Gara, Ordell's cohort and ex-con buddy, and Bridget Fonda as Melanie, Ordell's beach bunny girlfriend, with the chemistry between them feeling slightly off somehow (this might possibly be more on De Niro's end as he isn't given much to do character-wise and its reported he and Tarantino didn't get along while on set). Other than that, I don't really have any issues with the film. 

While not my new top favorite in Tarantino's filmography, it's still pretty darn close with a solid placement in the Top 5. That being said, Tarantino also said that its a movie that gets better with every rewatch, which I heartily believe and I have a feeling that once I've had time to fully digest this viewing and eventually watch it a second time, it'll be even higher on that list.

Definitely see it if you can.

4 Stars out of 5

Classic Review: Sullivan's Travels (1941)

A comedy film director aching to make a "picture that matters and shows what the world is really like", decides to go on the road and "experience real trouble" for research, only to get more than he bargained for when he encounters a struggling actress and eventually a reality check that he didn't expect.

While I had seen Sullivan's Travels previously, as it was some 10-15 years before, I didn't really understand or like it at the time. But, now that I'm older and a bit more knowledgable, I find it to be a real winner.

A playful parody of the film industry at the time, as well as writer/director Preston Sturges's response to comedy pictures of the era that had "abandoned the fun for the message", the story really holds up, and feels especially prevalent today.

Sturges masterfully directs the action both in dialogue and in montage, swinging from silly screwball comedy (with hilarious moments including a bonkers chase scene and a goofy sequence where Sullivan tries to escape the house of an old woman that has a major crush on him) to a dark tonal shift that both hits HARD in the last half hour and feels organically earned.

The film is also well cast with Joel McCrea as the idealistic but wisecracking Sullivan and Veronica Lake as the jaded but heartfelt actress who Sullivan eventually befriends (I was initially mixed about Lake's performance but she quickly won me over), as well as a solid cast of character actors playing the studio heads, Sullivan's staff and others.

Really, my only issues with Sullivan's Travels was that one of the montages felt like it went on for just a little too long (the film is only 90 minutes though) and the ending feels slightly abrupt and a little too somber, but those are pretty minor (and more so nitpicks).

I feel bad I haven't seen more of Sturges's, McCrea, or Lake's work but I hope to amend that soon.

Definitely see this if you can!

The Fall Guy (2024)

A love letter to the stunt community (and a little bit to filmmaking as well) while also being a loose adaptation of a TV series from the 80s (which I'm curious to check out now), The Fall Guy is about once-prominent stuntman Colt Seavers, who, 18 months after being injured on a stunt gone wrong, is asked to return to work on his ex-girlfriend's directorial debut, only to be pulled into a dark mystery when the film's leading man disappears.

Right away, I absolutely have to say that the stunts and the stuntmen are the star of the show, from crashing through plate-glass windows, car rolls, and being set on fire to leaping from helicopters and surfing behind a dump truck in traffic, you can tell the filmmakers, especially director (and former stuntman) David Leitch wanted to stuff as much of the craft into the film, and with as much love and care, as possible and all those elements are top notch as a result.

But that doesn't mean that the film doesn't have heart either as Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt give solid performances and have a nice chemistry together with their two characters slowly rebuilding their relationship. Hannah Waddingham and Winston Duke have fun in their supporting roles, also as the film's producer and the film's head stunt coordinator and an old friend of Colt's respectfully.

The film unfortunately gets held back a little bit in the first half, however, with some writing choices (It felt like some of Colt and Jody's, Blunt's character, conversations were repeating themselves), pacing (just as one plot line was starting to rev up, it felt like it would be interrupted for a stretch by the other, one scene felt like it went on for a smidge too long), and editing (again, one storyline sometimes interrupting the other or certain events felt like they were happening too fast, and some events or conversations felt like they should have happened earlier).

But once the second half kicks into gear, the stunts, the pacing, the romantic plot line, and the mystery story (which I actually found pretty solid and satisfactory and felt like an old fashioned TV mystery in a good way) all just seemed to gel together seamlessly, leading to one hell of an absolutely awesome and epic finale (that is the best one I've seen since Mission: Impossible: Fallout. I was originally going to rate the film 3 1/2 stars but that ending bumped it up to a 4 for me).

Ultimately, the film is a solid, old fashioned fun time at the movies that, despite some hiccups in the first half, I really enjoyed. It instantly made me think of. miss, and appreciate even more, epic stunts from movies I grew up with like Indiana Jones crawling along the bottom of the truck in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dr. Richard Kimble jumping down the dam in The Fugitive, all the stuff in James Bond, Speed, Westerns, etc. 

While the stunt community is still alive today thanks to series like Mission: Impossible and John Wick, I hope this film is a success so that more projects with those teams in mind can be made, as well as possibly finally getting an awards category at the Oscars because they sure AS HELL deserve it!

I definitely say see it.