Watching Movies 9/21

Straight-forward documentary about medical fraudster Elizabeth Holmes that ends too soon but shows how empire building works in Silicon Valley and the messianic treatment given to tech entrepreneurs who are expected to save the world. People in the doc talk about how persuasive and enigmatic she is in person, but in the film she's just a little creepy. I also thought there was a surprising amount of footage of Holmes walking around her office building.

Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley is filthy rich because of his tippy tappy skills, and I'm surprised more filthy rich people don't do what he did, which is write, produce, direct, and star in your own James Bond rip off. I mean, I would do that if I was filthy rich, but I hope that I would have enough self-awareness to try and make it entertaining. I was hoping Blackbird would be cringe and campy fun, but it was just dreadfully boring, and I gave up after half an hour and watched this hilarious youtube summary instead. Flatley has no charisma or acting ability, and doesn't even show off his dancing skills, which might at least give his fans a reason to watch the film. 

I guess I'm slowly working my way backwards through Rik Mayall's career and will end up at The Young Ones. This is a six episode series where Mayall plays an out-of-work entertainer with lots of shouting, slapstick, fourth-wall breaking, heavily-accented slang, absurd plot developments, and references to British entertainers I've never heard of (except for Benny Hill). Mayall is infinitely appealing and I was entertained.

Mostly famous now for being the prequel to Die Hard, this is a surprisingly unengaging police procedural told with lots of awkward flashbacks and apparently two separate stories (that tie together at the end in an explain-it-all-away climax). Although it was released without an MPAA rating, the most interesting thing about the film is the way it tackles post-code subject matter like police corruption, homosexuality, and promiscuity, but it's so eclipsed by the flood of New Hollywood films that followed that it's more quaint than edgy. Sinatra is good as the world-weary, principled detective, but he's clearly old Hollywood and not prepared for what's coming. Lee Remick is likewise out of place. Their relationship is supposed to be the heart of the film, but it's so disjointed with flashbacks that I couldn't make sense of what was going on between them. The real New Hollywood talent is there - Robert Duvall, Jack Klugman, Jacqueline Bisset - but they're not given enough to do. Ralph Meeker gets a far too small role and he probably would have worked better as the star. Even the camera work by Joseph Biroc (who started in the silent era) makes a failed attempt to seem modern and edgy, but it's mostly perplexing. If you want to see the bridge between old and New Hollywood, The Detective is Exhibit A.

I got to see this at the Music Hall with a live organ accompaniment. To my knowledge, Douglas Fairbanks invented the swashbuckler with The Mark of Zorro. The swashbuckler is basically the marriage of comedy, action, period, and romance. Making a period adventure where he was dashing and debonair was a departure for the comedic actor, but the film was a massive success and he followed suit with a string of thrilling, genre-defining pictures mostly based on classic literature. With Mark of Zorro, Fairbanks seems more interested in playing up the laughs as the lackluster fop Don Diego, but when he dons Zorro's mask, there's plenty of comedic swordplay that culminates in a famous Jackie Chan-styled chase through a village. It would have been nice to have more action and less romance, but if you want to see an entire genre being born that would lead to everything from Robin Hood to Batman to Indiana Jones to Pirates of the Caribbean, this is where it all began. In fact, IMDB says in the original Batman comic book, this is the movie Bruce Wayne's parents took him to see the night they were killed.