The Wasteland Reviewer

The Wasteland Reviewer Recommends (September 1st, 2024)

In a cluttered and overwhelming world of cinema, it is literally impossible to watch it all (trust me…I try). There is a hard balance between rewatching your favorite films, new releases, and films from your ever growing watchlists. But there are so many gems in film history to enjoy so it is a great way to utilize your movie watching time. But how do you decide what to watch? Queue The Wasteland Reviewer Recommends!

This series will highlight my weekly journey through previously released films, whether they are rewatches for me or new discoveries. Here are my picks:

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

They don’t make comedies quite like the screwball comedies of old Hollywood, do they? Howard Hawks had a fantastic grasp of comedy and knew how to inject high energy into his films. That speedy talking and tone work perfectly for this era with stars like Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn delivering lightning fast quips and delivering sharp dialogue like human machine guns. This dynamic duo of performers had incredible chemistry, and their banter is endlessly charming (even if some of the elements of their romance have aged poorly in the last ninety years). Bringing Up Baby has a wild plot centered around a runaway leopard, a missing fossil bone, and a rich heiress latching on to an awkward yet handsome paleontologist. This plot is so absurd that it lends itself to endless physical comedy, hilarious situations, and lightning quick banter. Hawks, Grant, and Hepburn are legends for a reason and this comedy shows exactly why.

Hoop Dreams (1994)

How much of an impact can a documentary about basketball make? If you are Hoop Dreams…apparently seismic impact. This close to three-hour documentary takes you for a deep dive into the life of two young black men chasing their dream of the NBA. This film was shot on video camera and is an intimate and visceral experience. There is no flair. There is no melodrama. This is an authentic experience of chasing a dream through academic struggles, injury, and competition. The likes of Isaish Thomas, Dick Vitale, and Spike Lee made an impactful. But the stories of William Gates and Arthur Agee are the heart and soul of this experience. This film was the number one film of 1994 of both Ebert and Siskel over the likes of Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, and Forrest Gump. That is how great it is and worth the time investment.

Rosetta (1999)

Are you ready for a deeply depressing character drama that will stick with you for a long time afterwards? Rosetta is a poignant story of a young woman in France who is fighting and clawing every moment of her life. The film opens with our titular protagonist getting fired and fighting with her emotion. Being stalked by a vengeful former flame and colleague. All the way up to the horrifically sad and devastating final moments that show just how much life can collapse on the human spirit. This is a film that is raw and visceral in all its drama and struggle. Most films do not dig down this deep in capturing those emotions. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne created a special drama in a year, so jam packed with amazing cinema and Rosetta fits right there.

I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016)

How do you connect to a protagonist who is a young man with homicidal tendencies? You pit them against a greater threat…and this one happens to be an unnerving figure looming over a small town. Christopher Lloyd portrays an old man who has a lot more to him than you would expect (and the scenes where the revelations are made have plenty of impact). I Am Not a Serial Killer is a small budget horror film that is able to leverage its filmmaker’s creativity to present haunting and engaging looking films. The sparse yet effective CGI works well to create enough tension and fear when it comes to this unearthly specter in a small town. The atmosphere that Billy O’Brien creates behind the camera and the command that the young Max Records delivers as our lead go a long way in delivering a small budgeted and surprisingly memorable film with some interesting added layers and complexities along the way.

The Woman in the Window (1944)

Do you enjoy good old fashioned film noir? Well, Fritz Lang delivered one of the original films that shaped the genre with The Woman in the Window way back in 1944. After years of great achievements in Germany, Lang made his way to America and still delivered strong work including this noir. E.G. Robinson is the pitch perfect protagonist for such a film with the unique face he has as well as that iconic voice that became synonymous with noirish characters for years to come. This film is a great moral story about making the right decisions when your family is not around. The Woman in the Window takes this in a dark and murderous turn and buying a drink for a femme fatale spirals the life of a well-respected professor. Or does it? You will have to stick around to the end to find out.

Fires on the Plain (1959)

What is the most intense and saddest of all film subjects? War is certainly darn near the top. Fires on the Plain is a film that looks at the waning events of WWII from the perspective of Japan who are on the verge of defeats. There is a looming dark cloud over the events of this film as our protagonist struggles to find any sense of hope in a world full of starvation, suffering, and death. Eiji Funakoshi delivers a complex and rich performance as he gazes upon the horrors at the end of WWII. There is plenty of deceit and hopelessness that penetrates the narrative of this war film for sure. Kon Ichikawa does not avoid the horrors. On the contrary, he puts his audience right into the thick of the darkness. A film not appreciated upon its release; Fires on the Plain is a war film that stands up with the best.

Ford v Ferrari (2019)

If you need to find a filmmaker to capture the magic of old Hollywood in the modern industry, who do you call? James Mangold! His abilities and sensibilities fit perfectly with old school filmmaking style. Mangold put that all on display with his racing biopic Ford v. Ferrari. A classic sports tale of heated rivals with Ford attempting to make a name for themselves by beating the best in the world, Ferrari. The atmosphere feels quite classic and the score from Marco Beltrami creates such a poignant and effective score. The race sequences in this film are second to none. The camera, editing, sound design, effects, and acting create some of the best racing scenes on film. There is a strong heart, and some interesting corporate themes layered into this underdog story. The cast is charismatic and stacked with the likes of Matt Damon and Christian Bale leading the way. This film flies with its expert pacing and leaves you feeling all a wide range of emotions.

The Last Command (1928)

Who were the stars of early cinema? The Academy began the Oscars in the late 1920s and began honoring the best and brightest in the cinematic world. One of the earliest winners of Best Actor was Emil Jannings who made such a big impact with his towering and powerful performance in the 1928 drama, The Last Command. Jannings portrays a Russian general who will make sure to lead his men even in the face of adversity and war. This is a story about revolution and how Russia got turned upside down. But it is also a personal story of a man who goes through great hardship and loses all to this revolution. Director Josef von Sternberg has a great eye for cinema and crafts a film full of dynamic shots and intimate scenes. The actors do a great job on the tail end of the Russian Revolution. But it is Jannings whose bold choices, immense presence, and buckets of emotion in this framed narrative about the shell of a man who was once a powerful general and now an impoverished man breaking into acting.