This is my last catch up post of the week. With this one I have once again caught up my writing schedule with my viewing schedule. As promised, I will also be giving a rundown of my favorite films so far.

I am now a third of the way through my resolution. Here is to a successful rest of the year!

Todays films are:

121. Kindergarten Cop
122. Whip It
123. Justice League: War
124. The Grand Budapest Hotel
125. Wings
126. Tale of Tales
127. Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs
128. Ratchet and Clank
129. The Host
130. National Parks Adventure

Kindergarten Cop (1990)

Arnold is one of my heroes. In an odd way, he, David Bowie, and Iggy Pop are what informed my concept of masculinity. He is one of the few celebrities that I would be stoked to meet. His on-screen persona is endlessly entertaining (he can make bad movies watchable just by his presence) and he seems to genuinely love his fans. This is my favorite comedic turn for Arnie. It perfectly captures his tough but lovable persona and exploits it in a charming way. Is the movie ridiculous? Yes, of course it is. That doesn't make it bad, it just makes fantastical.

Standout Moment: "It's not a tumor!"

Whip It (2009)

This is the only sports movie that I really, truly like. It utilizes some of the sports film language to tell the story, but continually rises above the genre. It doesn't hurt that it has a top-grade cast and is hilarious from beginning to end. This film gives me a sense of nostalgia for playing in punk bands as a teen, and I'm sure that's one of the reasons I dig it so much.

Standout Moment: It's a sports film, so you can't beat the last match of the film!

Justice League: War (2014)

I watched this one with my five year old. It was OK. I found myself really disappointed in the dialogue aimed at Wonder Woman. She essentially blinds a god-like being with her sword and her bare hands and yet the only thing the other guys can think about is whether she will go out with them or not. It isn't hard to write women well, you just have to remember that they're people. Sadly it seems like many male screenwriters can't figure it out.

Standout Moment: The above-referenced god-blinding is pretty awesome.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Ralph Fiennes is amazing in this film. His characterization of M. Gustave is simply incredible. The movie is one of my least favorite from Anderson, but I still watch it again and again for Fiennes' performance. Overall it is a fun caper, and has several exciting set pieces that really get into the spirit of serial films from the teens and 20's.

Standout Moment: The chase through the museum is wonderful. I'm on the edge of my seat every time I watch it, despite the fact that I know how it ends.

Wings (1966)

I discovered Larisa Shepitko through another of her films, The Ascent. She is a truly masterful director and storyteller. Sadly, her career was cut short when she died in a car crash at the age of 41, but she left a short but powerful legacy of film. Films like Wings simply are not made, not in the sixties, nor today. It is a film about a female fighter pilot struggling with the existential dread of growing older and becoming a different person. The camera very carefully portrays the main character's headspace without defaulting to cliche tricks. The performances are all so well done, and the ending is extremely emotional without being depressing. This is a film to check out.

Standout Moment: There is an intimate moment that the protagonist has with a female bar owner as they talk about childhood and growing old. I feel like the scene should be used to demonstrate how to write good dialogue and character.

Tales of Tales (2015)

I waited for nearly a year to see this film, and I was not disappointed. Based on the fairy tales of Giambattista Basile, the film is structured like an anthology of stories. The stories are sometimes connected, sometimes they are completely seperate, but they all have the same aesthetic and tone. I loved how the film refused to wrap up its stories in a standard way, and instead explored the dream logic that is present in old fairy tales. In many other movies, the cause and effect on display here would not make sense, but it is perfect for this film. I was smiling from start to finish. This film is made for anyone who grew up on the actual fairy tales and not just the Disney remakes.

Standout Moment: The giant flea was a lot of fun and went in a direction that surprised me at every turn.

Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs (2008)

The Futurama films have some of the best moments from the series and this is my favorite of the bunch. What I love about this series is the attention to detail, the absurdity, and the complex way that it discusses complex topics. The ideas of love, God, and jealousy are all explored here. Meanwhile there are enough great gags to keep it lighthearted and fun.

Standout Moment: The committee meeting on how to proceed in the relationship is a wonderful concept.

Ratchet and Clank (2016)

This movie held the attention of my boys. You could go worse with C-level kids entertainment. I was pleased that the backwards way women are usually portrayed in this tier of kids film was nowhere to be found here. In other words, I wasn't aggressively angry with the film, and there were a few fun little gags, so it was about as good as I expected it to be. It was really like one long cutscene from the game (in fact it used several cutscenes from the game).

Standout Moment: Oh, gosh, I don't know. The whole thing was fairly bland.

The Host (2006)

This is another on my list of films that I should see but haven't yet. After reading a nice write up on one of the early scenes on the AV Club, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge. I was not disappointed. This is a tight thriller, but tonally strange in the best way. For the time and budget, the monster is actually pretty great, as well. The film continues to surprise as the story twists and turns in unexpected ways.

Standout Moment: The appearance of the monster is amazing.

National Parks Adventure (2016)

This was a pretty standard commercial for the National Parks. I would have loved to see a film that looked at the animals in each of the locations, but instead it just explored them within the context of one wealthy extreme-sports-happy family that I found kind of insufferable. The cinematography is great, and the parts where the family is nowhere to be found are fun, but the rest plays out like a car commercial: which makes sense since it was funded by Subaru.

Standout Moment: I can't get enough of bad lookalike actors pretending to be historical figures.

The Best So Far...

Every 35 films or so, I give the short version of what to watch (for those following along at home!). These "best of" lists do not necessarily denote my favorites of the bunch, but they represent a broad spectrum of films that I feel are essential to round out any cinephile's viewing knowledge.

The first "best of" roundup featured the following:

5. The Hateful Eight
4. Tangerine
3. The Man Who Fell to Earth
2. Call Me Lucky
1. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

The next top 5 were:

5. Particle Fever
4. A Serious Man
3. The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
2. Lady Snowblood
1. The Conformist

Today's post is a big catch up, so here are my ten favorites from the most recent selection:

10. Tale of Tales
9. Entertainment
8. Holy Motors
7. Whip It
6. In The Mood for Love
5. The Witch
4. Wings
3. The Vanishing
2. True Detective
1. A Taste of Cherry

That's it for now! Stick around to see if I can make it to 150 by the end of May.
Josh D.
5181 Productions

365 Films- Post 18