Village Vidiot

Thousands of brief movie reviews from decades of film watching from a guy who loves the cinema.

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Author: Village Vidiot

Midway

Posted on March 31, 2020May 27, 2020 by Village Vidiot

  “Midway,” March 31, 2020 (2019), DVD.  I was really looking forward to this and, as has been the norm of late, was terribly disappointed.  Based on the true story of the battle of Midway in 1942, this script is about as trite as it could be.  The acting is flat and the characters one-dimensional. …

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Ford v Ferrari

Posted on March 21, 2020May 27, 2020 by Village Vidiot

  “Ford v Ferrari,” March 21, 2020 (2019), DVD.  I’ve been very stressed out, what with the virus, the economy, online teaching, and the like.  I turned to this as a piece of cinematic escape, and it was that.  Carroll Shelby (Matt Daman) was the only American to win at LeMans (1959) but then had…

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Downton Abbey

Posted on March 13, 2020March 14, 2020 by Village Vidiot

  “Downton Abbey,” March 13, 2020 (2019), DVD.  I had high hopes for this cinematic spinoff from the acclaimed English TV series chronically changes in England through the noble Crawley family and their servants.  I’d enjoyed the first few seasons although I dropped out at the end.  It was too much of a soap about…

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Welcome Back.

Posted on March 10, 2020 by Village Vidiot

No, not a movie. I’ve recreated this blog as thevillagevidiot.com, having lost the ‘villagevidiot.net’ url. So it goes. I’ll be entering more films in here and hope to edit many more already in with photos and other information.  Please return and browse at will.  Your friend, The Village Vidiot.

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Motherless Brooklyn

Posted on February 11, 2020March 15, 2020 by Village Vidiot

“Motherless Brooklyn,” February 11, 2020 (2019), DVD.  Edward Norton, an actor whose work I really enjoy, read the Jonathon Lethem novel this is based on in manuscript, bought the rights, produced, wrote, directed and starred in this Wynton Marsalis-jazz infused  noir fable of power, corruption, struggle, and resolute friendship.  He moved it from our present…

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Pain and Glory

Posted on February 5, 2020May 27, 2020 by Village Vidiot

  “Pain and Glory,” February 5, 2020 (2019), DVD (Spanish with subtitles.)  I have a very strange relationship to and with the films of Pedro Almodovar.  If feels as though he intentionally alternates remarkable works of cinema with superb and emotionally powerful character development and incredible dialogue with works of self-indulgent crap.   This wonderful, thoughtful,…

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The Danish Solution: The Rescue of the Jews in Denmark

Posted on February 4, 2020March 12, 2020 by Village Vidiot

“The Danish Solution: The Rescue of the Jews in Denmark,” February 4, 2020, DVD, Documentary, 2003.  In these difficult times, I would recommend viewing the 2003 documentary “The Danish Solution: The Rescue of the Jews in Denmark.” Narrated by Garrison Keillor, it recounts the actions of everyday people, rich and poor, that resulted in the…

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Toy Story 4

Posted on January 25, 2020March 12, 2020 by Village Vidiot

  “Toy Story 4,” January 25, 2020 (2019), DVD, animated.  Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), and all the gang (fine actors doing excellent voicing, although I missed Don Rickles, d. 2017) are now Jessie’s toys as she goes off to kindergarten where she makes “Forkie,” a spork/toy who becomes part of this community after…

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Hotel Salvation

Posted on March 9, 2019May 27, 2020 by Village Vidiot

  “Hotel Salvation,” (in Hindi, subtitled), March 9, 2019 (2016), DVD.  Who would have thought Disney would be distributing David Lynch or that he’d make a G-rated film, but both these things apply to this marvelous 1999 film about Alvin Straight (the late Richard Farnsworth) who drove his riding mower 300 miles to see his…

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Polar Express

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Technologically sophisticated digital tracking joined to animation brings this children’s tale about a young boy and other kids who take a ride on the express on Christmas Eve. Believing is what it’s all about. Tom Hanks in several interesting roles and Steve Tyler of Aerosmith continues his film cameo run. Interesting as a technical piece,…

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Bottle Rocket

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Strangely, neither Bronwen nor I was impressed with this instant cult classic about some crook wannabes. Just sort of flat and uninvolving. Can’t say more because, tellingly, I barely remember it

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The Last Days of Disco

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Strange and occasionally funny piece about the end of disco as a scene built around Studio 54. Some horrid characters, vapid, and generally uninteresting yuppie-types, they are built out of the world this director first chronicled in “Metropolitan” and “Barcelona”. Pathetic lives lived by these successful folk, they make you feel ok about your own…

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Galaxy Quest

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Seen at the suggestion of several friends, this gentle spoof of Start Trek and Trekkie phenomena is fun. A fine cast Tim Allen as the Shatner-clone, all ego, no sense of how to share with his costars; Sigourney Weaver as the beautiful space voyager on the ship who never does anything more than look good…

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Florida Project

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Sean Baker’s (co-writer, director, editor) excellent film focuses on the hidden homeless warehoused in the cheap motels just outside Disney’s ever-joyous Magic Kingdom. Theirs is a community of the marginal poor, one step away from the street itself, struggling to survive in the insanely purple Magic Castle Motel, a welfare hotel managed by Bobby played…

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Deconstructing Harry

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Say what you want about Mr Allen, Woody sure can write and direct an interesting film. Well acted, fascinating, and funny look at a dark character, a writer who’s had three wives and six shrinks. A pill popping, booze swigging, whorring, philandering, talented writer. Very funny stuff. It has the look of self-criticism, but may…

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Moonrise Kingdom

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Saw this interesting, sweet and fundamentally manic fantasy about two smart but unhappy and socially inept 13-yos, one a “Khaki Scout” the other the daughter of unhappily married lawyers (Francis McDormand and Bill Murray) who find one another and run away. Scoutmaster Eduard Norton sets out to find them as does Sherriff Bruce Willis (having…

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Lady Bird

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Saoirse Ronan stars as Christine (Lady Bird). McPherson a high school senior at a Catholic girls high school who desperately wants to escape Sacramento and flee to the ‘cultured’ climes of NY or Boston for college. This is a very well-acted, upbeat but unsentimental look at her coming of age as she battles her mother…

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their successes come at the expense of the devastation of millions of lives

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Sadly, the

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All Is Lost

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Robert Redford stars in this one-man study by JC Chandor (writer/director) of an older man at sea (literally) struggling to survive as he loses his radio, takes water, is adrift in terrible storms, and must eventually abandon ship. There is no dialogue. It works because of Redford Some have argued that real craft these days…

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Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Ridley Scott’s revisions of the original film create an even darker and, I think, tighter and more interesting film. Big changes to the ending

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Mad Max: Fury Road

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Returning to the original premise of the “Mad Max” post-apocalyptic vision of the 1970s, this George Miller violence and stunt festival (80-90% real stunts according to what I looked at) creates a veritable Cirque du Soleil of homicidal gags. It pits Max the Damaged (Tom Hardy, an actor I really enjoy) and war-engine driver Furiosa…

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Winter’s Bone

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 17-yo with an incapacitated mother, two young siblings, and a missing, meth-cooking/selling dad. She’s about to lose their hardscrabble farm and house in Appalachia hill-country because he is due in court and will forfeit the house/farm/land pledged as bond. This is an isolated, musical, patriarchal, clannish and violent place where…

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Burn After Reading

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Rather second-tier Coen brothers but, as with all their work, very well-crafted, directed, and acted. It’s a bit sour, but with some very funny parts Good acting by exceptional pros (Clooney, Pitt, McDormand, Malkevich, Jenkins, Swinton, and others) The plot is classic, convoluted Coen. Affairs galore among the middle-echelon of the nation’s security apparatus come…

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Tin Cup

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Rather flat Kevin Costner film about a minor league golf pro. Sound familiar?. Well this “Bull Durham” knockoff is just that. Sort of boring, occasionally funny, and watchable only to be able to see Cheech Marin. He’s good, the movie’s not

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Paterson

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Village Vidiot

Quirky doesn’t even begin to describe Jim Jarmusch’s cinematic style. Once again, he looks at immigration in a gritty city as he did in his early film, “Stranger Than Paradise,” where Cleveland rocks. Once again a unique, sometimes gentle and playful sense of humor suffuses his vision of life in America. In “Paterson,” he follows…

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