What the fuck? I did add a poll. Could a moderator correct this?
Anyway, Stanton is wonderful. The movie... eh. It alternates between deadpan comedy and some sort of personal drama that's never fully formed.
Agreed. I was kind of disappointed in how shallow the journey was, apart from Stanton's contributions. And it's always fun to see David Lynch act, so there's that.
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (NoƩ, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
Turned somewhat clumsy once it moves away from depicting nicely low-key routines, to the need to frequently address the main "theme", with mixed results. But even at its most obvious, unnatural bits of dialogue, Harry Dean Stanton imbues them with gravitas and weariness that still transcend. Especially since they're about grappling with mortality, so the extratextual layer of watching an actor posthumously coming to accept that with grace on screen can't help but resonate. In that regard, it's as apt and moving as a cinematic swansong can be. 7.5/10
Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5