Best New-to-Me: November 2024 (The Oops! All Screenings Edition)

 Another whirlwind of a month as we all hurtle towards the end of 2024. Despite my typically sluggish rate of output on the blog, I've been watching movies and writing reviews like a man possessed. Hopefully you've had a chance to check out my Top 10 2024 Hardboiled Crime Movie List and then I am putting the absolute finishing touches on a project that I'm desperately hoping I can announce before the end of the year. With all that reviewing energy already spoken for, I thought I would focus on theatrical screenings this month as there have been quite a few of those as well. I managed to fit in a bit of everything in November - Cinema of the Macabre, press previews, MSP Film Club, Cult Film Collective, and even a road trip (rail trip, actually) to Chicago that included a movie. It's easy to feel powerless in the face of everything that's going on in the world so it's a real sanctuary to have films and creative projects to focus on. Let's get into it.

Tenebre (1982) - Dario Argento's climax of stylized violence and last great statement on the giallo film he was so integral in pioneering. Argento would still make some good films post-Tenebre but nothing quite as affecting ever again. Much like Suspiria, one of the great joys of seeing Tenebre theatrically is that the (essentially) Goblin music is so loud in the mix that it's nearly deafening in a cinema sound system. Argento also provides some deliriously blood drenched imagery to pair with the pulsing soundscape. The result may be more nightmare logic than murder mystery but I never tire of it.

The Last Thing She Saw (2024) - This wild and gruesome short played before Tenebre and the co-directors were in attendance. This was a fun surprise and absolutely the right crowd for it. 

Gladiator II (2024) - The latest epic from Ridley Scott and sequel to the film that turned me off the Academy Awards for the rest of my life. Scott claims this is his finest work and I actually thought its strength was the realization that it was a big, dumb spectacle without taking itself too seriously. Paul Mescal (who I loved in Aftersun and All of Us Strangers) is grossly miscast as the grim faced lead, but otherwise Gladiator II seems to be having a lot of fun. Killer baboons, a rhino riding champion, friggin' sharks in the Colosseum? Denzel Washington is clearly having a blast as the ambitious Macrinus and the ancient Rome depicted in the film looks good for the most part (those baboons are rough). I think this should win best picture and then none of us need to care about the Oscars anymore. 

The Brutalist (2024) - Yes, the runtime is completely daunting but there's an immensity to The Brutalist that I think justifies the length. From a craft and scope perspective, it's an astonishing film. Colossal, chaotic, transcendent, discordant, and brilliantly composed. The sound design is impeccable and the VistaVision photography is an absolute stunner. I do think, ultimately, that it is ideologically muddled. Not in the way in which the world is filled with complicated people and ambiguities, but in the way that it touches on things without offering a perspective. I also think the ending sucks. It's brilliantly executed (to look like real archival materials) but commits the opposite sin of over-explaining the meaning of the architectural works featured in the film at you. It's still an amazing film and I'm so glad I saw it in the theater.

Anora (2024) - I'm not sure how to approach this one. Everyone loves it, but I do not. I found the first act largely uninteresting, thought the second picked up admirably, but not enough to really care about the finale. There are some good performances and nice photography, but I do not find Anora revelatory the same way other people seem to. I did see this at 11am and there were some issues with the presentation, so that could possibly have soured me on it. I'm going to have to give it another watch, but I found this my least favorite Sean Baker joint so far. 

Little Murders (1971) - My wife and I decided to take the train down from the Twin Cities to Chicago, in part because Samm Deighan was going to be at the Music Box to introduce and discuss Little Murders. Murders is one of the many films in the book Samm co-edited and contributed to, Revolution in 35mm: Political Violence and Resistance in Cinema from the Arthouse to the Grindhouse, 1960–1990. First of all, the book is great and you should definitely snag a copy - I read most of it on the train and my watchlist has grown tremendously as a direct result. I have long wanted an excuse to visit the Music Box and it didn't disappoint. It's a gorgeous theater and I especially love the little side lounge providing that much needed space to congregate before or after a movie. I have seen Little Murders before but never with an audience and I couldn't help but be reminded of my experience watching De Palma's Hi, Mom! Both films are made in the same era of NYC and have some politically connective tissue - I like them both but think Murders is the smarter film. Most importantly, both are at times wildly hilarious while being deeply sobering at others. The audience was erupting in raucous, cathartic laughter throughout Murders but you could practically hear a pin drop by the finale. 

Afterwards, I had a chance to meet Samm and Brian (Weekend Nachos drummer, bootleg shirt wizard, and fellow Eros + Massacre listener), chat a little and take some photos. Unfortunately, we couldn't hang out too late as we had a train to catch in the morning. Still, it's always great to connect with people after getting to know them online. 

…All the Marbles (1981) -  I have been DYING to see Marbles for ages and I can't imagine a better way to do it than on 16mm in the back room of the Eagles Lodge while eating pierogies and drinking beers. Robert Aldrich's final film before his untimely demise and both a thrilling and pessimistic look into women's professional wrestling and what it takes to hustle in this country. Aldrich shot the shit out of this film and the wrestling sequences look amazing. Apparently the training and fight choreography was managed by wrestling legend Mildred Burke and it's all very convincing. The cast is absolutely stacked with character actors from my favorite period of American filmmaking and though there's plenty of studio shot sequences - there's some fantastic location footage from Chicago, Reno, and some towns in Ohio. Marbles is essentially an underdog sports film but there is a prevalent dark undercurrent to it. The Hollywood Dolls have to navigate murky waters to achieve their dreams and the rust belt backdrop gives everything an air of industrial collapse. Marbles is a much more interesting film than it needs to be and I'm so glad to have finally caught it.