Jack Attack Tuesday – 7/15/14

Glengarry Glen Ross, The Strain, Jaws and

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

This week was re-watch city for yours’ truly.  Between the flurry of family gatherings (seriously, why do these things come in waves every year?) and the work/school schedule, it’s amazing I managed to check these out.  But here we go:

I had the great pleasure of revisiting one of my all-time favorite films, Glengarry Glen Ross, this past week.  If you haven’t seen it, Glengarry concerns a group of salesmen and the “hell” they live in, essentially sweet-talking people into real estate purchases for a living.  Based on the play of the same name, there is one crucial difference between the original stage play and the film, and that difference is Alec Baldwin.  I’ve written about Baldwin on this site before, singing his praises in this film, but his one scene almost overshadows all the great things going on after he departs.  When your cast consists of Kevin Spacey, Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin and Ed Harris, you can’t help but expect great things.  Fortunately for us this film delivers, giving each actor his moment to shine by the end of the flick.  It’s always great to revisit a movie that you loved at some point in your life but, for whatever reason, haven’t experienced in a long time.  This movie did that for me in spades.  See it now, and Always Be Closing.

The Strain has finally been unleashed, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the season opener.  I’m a fan of the book (haven’t read books 2 or 3 yet) and feel they really nailed the casting, especially for Abraham.  Maybe it’s just because I love the actor but he really conveys that world-weary, I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude perfectly.  I also like how brutal the one kill we see is.  I know that vampires have been watered down in recent years and us fanboys have been clamoring for someone to make them into soulless killing machines again.  The good news is I think the show-runners understand Del Toro and Hogan’s story well enough to appreciate that aspect, so we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief (for now).  Here’s hoping it continues to entertain.

You see the smile on Quint’s face?  That’s the look of a satisfied man.  That’s the look of a pimp gettin’ paid.  That may be my favorite frame from Jaws, a flick that I got to project at a cookout this past weekend for friends and family.  While I’ve seen this way more than Glengarry, this flick never fails to solidify its spot high on my list of all-time favorite movies.  Like a good piece of art should, it challenges me, as a viewer, to constantly find new and interesting things about it.  I think more than anything I noticed the brilliant “aww-shucks” performance of Roy Scheider.  I used to consider his arc to be sort of telegraphed in but there’s a lot more subtlety to what he does than Shaw or Dreyfuss that people tend to miss.  Anywho, great film and a great time.  P.S.: Don’t every try to hook up a projector and speakers after you’ve drank eight beers.  It’s way harder that way.

Whenever I see a film that I consider truly great, it always takes me some time to appreciate and understand it for what it is.  I remember walking out of the theater when I saw There Will Be Blood and spending most of my next few days really absorbing and interpreting the flick.  That movie ended up ranking as a top-10 favorite film for me.  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (DOTPOTA for short, kinda) had a lasting impact on me that has me still thinking about the film.  Science fiction, at least quality science fiction, might be my favorite overall movie genre because of how bold and unique the stories can be.  The original Planet of the Apes is unquestionably a great film that is still entertaining today.  The sequels, as well as the subsequent tv show, cartoon and remake all focused on the kitchyness of dressing up a bunch of actors as apes without really using the premise to say anything worthwhile with the themes or tone of the stories.  Cut to 2011, I’m sitting in a crowded theater and the credits begin for Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  I was intrigued, admittedly, by Andy Serkis’ involvement with the flick and really nothing else, so the girlfriend and I went out opening night to see the flick.  I expected some good CGI and maybe a good action scene or two.  What I got was a poorly acted (sorry Franco, love you anyways) but very well laid out plot that seemed at once logical and realistic.  Gone was the ridiculous undercurrent of apes taking over the planet.  By focusing on the disease aspect of the pandemic, it made the film seem more adult and more plausible than any of the other spinoffs and sequels.  But Rise had to be a fluke.  After all, studios can’t make 7th or 8th sequels of films and have them be good.  Or can they?

DOTPOTA is what all of us movie buffs want out of a summer flick.  It has a good cast, a logical chain of events, some amazing effects, a truly incredible character in Caesar, and, ultimately, expands on the first film in a lot of great ways.  While the first film laid the foundation of the apes background and Caesar’s development, this one focuses on the apes civilization and their inevitable conflict with humans.  Matt Reeves did a phenomenal job making every scene count and getting the most out of what he had to play with.  I can’t recommend this film highly enough, see it if you haven’t.

That’s it for this week, True Bingers.  Be sure to keep an eye out for The Strain commentaries starting this week as well as our sports round-ups, the rest of the boys’ blogs and maybe a review or two.  Binge on!