Last weekend's movies were a disappointment. This weekend... they were exceptional.
1) "Nobody" -- John Wick meet Bob Odenkirk, the least likely badass in film. Who woulda thunk he could play the role of an action hero? Well, nobody would, heh. He pulled it off, though! Great movie, fantastic action, and there even was a plot and some nice character development. Despite there being some parallels to "Wick," and some nods to a cliche or two, I was thoroughly entertained. As an action movie versus its peers, this one was a perfect 90 minutes in length and did a *** 1/2 stars out of four's worth of a job. This is a good one.
2) "Call Me" -- We all have our guilty pleasures. For me, sleazy Noir Thrillers are one such delight I have never been able to get enough of. Problem is that in the year 2022 these are very rare--they simply aren't made anymore. This 1988 film was like a fine wine, one that had been stored in a cellar for five hundred years. The kind of juice you should swill around in your mouth and lightly pat with your tongue before slowly swallowing--something to be enjoyed. Full of flavor and body, the movie even starts off with a perfect, sleazy 80s-esque saxophone number that sets the mood. Truly the composer for this picture was a master craftsman. The plot was well written, the story and dialogue moved things along at a nice pace, the 80s were everywhere and well represented and like the best of pictures in this genre, there was very little gratuitous skin flashing--in fact, that was kept to a bare minimum here. Good Noir is about anticipation--not the actual act, whatever it may be--the murder, the revenge, the blackmail or even the sex, these are the things that the film leads up to but makes you wait patiently as it baits you with twists, turns and subplots. I may have slightly modified the ending--maybe not, I really liked the movie either way. *** 1/2 out of **** stars, not to be missed for fans of the genre.
p.s. Doesn't matter when these Noir films were made for me, either. I equally enjoy film from the 40s as I do these pictures from the 80s and 90s.
