Weekly Watches: September 4, 2024
Sharing Our Team's Recent Discoveries: Weekly Watches with 100 Movies Every Catholic Should See
Secondhand Lions (2003)
Directed by Tim McCanlies. Starring Michael Caine and Robert Duvall.
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Growing up in a big family, we always fought over what to watch. It was very rare to have a movie we could all agree on. However, Secondhand Lions was and is one of those movies. The movie begins as a memory told from the perspective of Walter, a shy and imaginative kid with a flighty and irresponsible mother who drops him off at his mysterious great-uncles’ house in Texas. Throughout the story, we learn with Walter about love, masculinity, and growing up. Scenes range from comedic to adventurous to romantic to dramatic, mixing well and flowing surprisingly well into each other. The cast is very similar, with Haley Joel Osment playing a young Walter, and Robert Duvall and Michael Caine playing the uncles (with surprisingly fair accents). This movie is what all “children’s movies” should be: Horatian enjoyment for the entire family.
Last Action Hero (1993)
Directed by John McTiernan. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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Parody can sometimes be a tedious genre, especially to those of us familiar with the glut of such films produced by talentless hacks for a quick buck in the first two decades of the 21st century. However, rarely is parody attempted by true masters of the genre parodied, and director John McTiernan (Die Hard, Predator, The Hunt for Red October) and writer Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Last Boy Scout) are masters indeed. Last Action Hero, therefore, is less a nitpicky snarkfest capitalizing on mocking established tropes and more a love letter to a genre which was just at its peak in 1993: the macho man detective action movie. There are plenty of jokes to be had about the tropes of the genre, but they seem more loving, more understanding of why those tropes exist and why people love them. It taps into the escapism of these movies, the comfort they bring in a world gone wrong.
Indeed, even though young Danny Madigan has a magic ticket which can transport him inside of movies, the scariest reality is early 1990s New York City, where (as the film's antagonist Benedict says) "the bad guys can win!" Madigan longs for a world where the good guys win, where Arnold Schwarzenegger's Jack Slater can just walk off bullet wounds, where destruction in the middle of the city can be cleaned up off screen. It's really entertaining when it turns out Slater kinda likes the less-heightened reality of Danny's world, where he just talks to women instead of making sexually charged banter and can listen to classical music instead of hard rock. McTiernan and Black understand and love this genre and so are able to craft a story that pokes fun at it but also gets right to its heart and shows us why we, too, love these movies and continue watching them, plot holes and all. And they craft a really good stand-alone entry in the genre, at that.
Perfect Days (2023)
Directed by Wim Wenders. Starring Koji Yakusho.
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Shot in only 17 days, Wim Wenders' Perfect Days once again proves that movies made in Japan tend to make their American counterparts look really bad. 2023 saw not only the release of this film but also the excellent Godzilla Minus One and The Boy and the Heron, although unlike this film those were also made by Japanese filmmakers. German-born director Wenders has made a career off of making films about other cultures, from the sub-cultures of Texas to the musical roots of Cuba. Perfect Days serves as a reflection on the Japanese idea of wabi-sabi, which is best described as a cultural acceptance of nature's transience and imperfection. Protagonist Hirayama (Koji Yakusho in one of the best lead performances in recent memory) spends his days as a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo: while some would find this a demeaning occupation he takes his job seriously and performs his daily tasks with utmost care. Despite the seeming imperfection of his task, there is peace and beauty to be found in the routine, and even when the day goes differently than expected, Hirayama takes it in stride and accepts what the day has brought him. It's a very simple, quiet, and contemplative film that is a welcome refresher from the rapid-fire, plot-heavy films of late. Check it out on Hulu if you have it!
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Directed by Guy Ritchie. Starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer.
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Mix a little bit of the jazzy thriller appeal of 1960s Bond and Hitchcock with Guy Richie’s colorful bombast and you get The Man from U.N.C.L.E., an entertaining cold war romp around Europe with a modern edge. The opening of a planned franchise that sadly never came to fruition, this first entry is simply loads of fun nonetheless. A groovy soundtrack and chic costume design propel a cinematic experience that will make you wish you were sipping a Spritz on the Italian Riviera. The narrative follows an American agent (Cavill) who is forced to team up with a rival across the Iron Curtain (Hammer) to track down a rouge organization developing nuclear weapons. Amidst numerous escapades, they slowly begin to develop a friendship despite their obvious differences and inherent rivalry. This film is crowd pleaser of a film, and highly recommended for casual audiences looking for a fun and snazzy historical thriller.
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Of all the movies in this post, I've only seen Secondhand Lions. As a mom of 8 who's particular when I'm being intentional about selecting family movies, this was an excellent one!