Watergate yielded some amazing movies, will Russia-gate?

Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor

The current White House's 'struggles' to explain its actions as of late, especially when it pertains to the various investigations into its ties to Russia and potential collusion in an effort to influence our country's presidential election last year, has led a lot of pundits and political observers to draw comparisons to the Watergate scandal.

That is perhaps unsurprising. Pretty much every major political scandal of the last 40 years has been compared to the 1972 break-in into the Democratic Party's headquarters, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in disgrace, two years later.

It's too soon to tell which direction the ongoing scandal enveloping the Trump administration will go. Certainly, what is being alleged -- treason -- is a far more serious crime than burglary, bribery and obstruction of justice. But with a Republican majority in both the House and Senate, the FBI's director unceremoniously fired and Trump appointees running the show at Justice, as well as the CIA, it seems unlikely that we'll see the president booted out of office anytime soon.

In the meantime, I am curious as to whether the current toxic political climate will start the effect the movies -- the medium that is often the most telling pop cultural temperature taker.

The Parallax View

The paranoia and mistrust of the Watergate era definitely had an impact on Hollywood and produced some of the most memorable and compelling films of that or any era. Between 1973 and 1976, really prior to the debut of Star Wars, there were several big hit films that trafficked in moral ambiguity and cast shady conglomerates and political operatives as the villains in an notable nod to Watergate.

Obviously, All the President's Men, which detailed the reporting on the saga itself is the probably the most famous of these films, but Robert Redford's other thriller Three Days of the Condor has a similar -- 'no one can be trusted' ethos. I'd also strongly recommend the terrific, under-seen Warren Beatty political assassination drama, The Parallax View.

Even though its set decades earlier, Chinatown's portrayal of bureaucratic corruption and literal incest is hard to separate from the events of the year of its release -- 1974 -- the same year Nixon finally stepped down. The masterful Godfather Part II shows Michael Corleone morphing into a Nixonian type figure himself, humorless and scheming, while alienating everyone he supposedly cares about.

Even sci-fi started to reflect a certain moral ambivalence. Films like Soylent Green and Logan's Run set up seemingly benign totalitarian regimes which are revealed to have sinister plans for the masses, it's hard to believe that either of these films would have take such cynical stances had it not been for national Watergate fatigue.

So far, only Get Out -- which went into production long before the November election -- has felt like a movie that feels emblematic of the times in which we are currently living. But if this administration continues to chug along and amid this much turmoil, Hollywood would be derelict in its duty not to reflect that. I for one am fascinated to see what brooding movies the Trump era inspires.

Questions raised and answered by new 'Blade Runner' trailer

With the exception of the follow-up to The Force Awakens, the movie I am most excited about this year is the long anticipated Blade Runner sequel. We have already been treated to one excellent-looking teaser, but today a full-blown trailer dropped -- and like many a fanboy, I am giddy about this one.

First off, kudos to the filmmakers for making a trailer the right way -- giving you just enough but not so much that you feel like you've seen the whole movie, while dropping enough hints that it doesn't feel like watching one of those old, inscrutable Mad Men post-episode promos.

Here's a few things we know for sure (and some things we don't) after watching this epic deeper dive.

No matter what it's going to be gorgeous - Regardless of the quality of the movie (although considering the pedigree of the actors and behind the camera team, I am expecting good things) there is no doubt that it will be a visual feast for the eyes. Not since I first saw the trailer for Mad Max Fury Road have I seen a big screen thriller look so distinct and beautiful. Cinematographer Roger Deakins (best known for his work on Coen brothers films and Skyfall) appears to have outdone himself again.

The visual aesthetic is similar but also different - There are several homages to the groundbreaking and incredibly influential special effects and set design of the original -- from flying cars to overwhelming advertisements poking through a fog and rain drenched cityscape. But modern technology and a substantially bigger budget suggest that this Blade Runner will be an even more ambitious production that will be more expansive than the claustrophobic 1982 masterpiece.

Ryan Gosling is a 'cop' - Little is known about the plot or details of this film, but what is clear from this trailer is that Gosling plays a cop (and perhaps more specifically a blade runner) just like Ford did in the original film. What plot the new trailer does reveal also seems to revolve around secrets pertaining to Gosling's identity, he is told that he is "special" and that pages from his story are missing. Hopefully these reveals will be surprising and illuminating instead of gimmicky.

Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049

Harrison Ford kick ass -- but is he human? - It looks like the Harrison Ford renaissance which began with his comeback as Han Solo in The Force Awakens has continued here. He looks great and grizzled as presumably his same character from the original -- Rick Deckard. I'm excited to see that his role will be more than a glorified cameo and that he too will mix it up in the action scenes, but I am also nervous, because how this film justifies his presence will go a long way towards either enhancing the ending of the original or tarnishing it.

Is Jared Leto the new Tyrell? - This new trailer gave us our first glimpse of a very creepy looking Jared Leto as a new manufacturer of replicants (as well as Robin Wright as perhaps Gosling's superior officer). I am curious if Leto's character will be linked to the megalomaniacal villain from the original -- Eldon Tyrell -- who winds up a victim of his own hubris. Leto is an actor I run hot and cold with, but he at least seems more restrained here than he was in the dreadful Suicide Squad.

Is it going to be more accessible than the original? - I pose this question as not necessarily a good thing. While the 1982 original Blade Runner certainly had its thrilling moments, it was almost aggressively uncommercial. It was slow-paced and brooding with a difficult to interpret ending (which was clarified significantly by the superior Director's Cut). Blade Runner has become such a cult classic and critical darling that it is often overlooked that the original was a big, fat flop.

Audiences at the time were expecting an escapist Star Wars-style movie and wound up with a brilliant but arty treatise on the nature of humanity. Blade Runner 2049 looks to be very action-packed, which may satisfy newcomers to the series, but could suggest a less heady offering for hardcore fans.

Same old, same old 'Guardians of the Galaxy'

My quibbles with the new Guardians of the Galaxy are pretty much the same ones I had with the original. This being a bigger, bloated and highly anticipated sequel -- it manages to exacerbate what I didn't love about the first one, and it's put me solidly in a the very small camp of viewers who isn't totally sold on the series. I find the characters charming and, at times, adorable. I went into this film thinking that the "Baby Groot" conceit would grow cloying and annoying, but the character is actually used to great effect here and I must admit the joy of the child seated next to me, who giggled every time he appeared on screen, was infectious.

There is a lot of good humor in this film and the performers (especially David Bautista as the no filter Drax) really throw themselves into the movie with glee and abandon, but for me, the movie collapses under the weight of too many special effects, too many characters, too much plot -- and stereotypical Marvel excess.

This won't turn off diehard fans, who will flock to this regardless of reviews or quality. And there are some very nifty, visually dynamic action set pieces here. I will also throw this movie a bone for trying to reach for more emotional payoffs than the original, although few of those notes actually land and instead can feel clunky when juxtaposed with the film's plethora of jokes.

And this film is also lathered in catchy, lovable 1970s music and the air of nostalgia permeates nearly every frame (as does the cast, featuring 1980s throwbacks Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell, who are unfortunately both misused and wasted in their roles). But this is part of what has always irritated me to some extent with the Guardians films, they want to have their cake an eat it too.

They want to pose as a break with Marvel tradition -- a quirky mix of bizarro creatures and planets, mixed with a bickering but endearing cohort of misfits (although their feuding feels more tiresome this time around) but the films never put as much time and energy into their stories as their accoutrements.

I much prefer a film like Captain America: Civil War which ratcheted up real tensions and stakes between its core characters and set up a much more engrossing plot. Not unlike, the original Guardians, the story here is diffuse at best. There is a theme of fathers and sons but I wouldn't describe the movie as particularly tense or exciting, it's more bemusing throughout.

If there is a Vol. 3, and presuming this movie performs anything like the original, I don't see why there won't be -- the series would do well to field a very imposing and truly scary villain. These kinds of films are always elevated by a great bad guy (think Loki) and these films really cry out for one.

For now though, they seem content to be cute and insubstantial. And while perhaps the filmmakers' fidelity to a certain kind of analog aesthetic may be heartfelt, it's an uneasy fit for a film that bombards you with all manner of computer generated 'stuff.'

But of course this 'same old, same old' I'm describing is precisely what fans love the most about the Guardians series. I get that people love these movies because of their humor and upbeat tone, so I may just not have the right sensibility.

For instance, there are people who swear by Deadpool, which I felt was a sort of cynical co-opting of a certain kind of cool attitude that just didn't feel real to me. And nothing about this film feels genuine either, although I did genuinely enjoy parts of it as I watched it.

I just can't shake the feeling though that I was just watching an elaborate device to sell toys, t-shirts and future movie franchises.

Flashback 1977: My top 10 favorite films from 40 years ago

The year 1977 was an interesting one -- beyond the Son of Sam and blackouts -- it's the year my older brother was born. It also the year that President Jimmy Carter was sworn into office. It's the year of Saturday Night Fever, and the beginning of disco fully consuming the mainstream of pop culture.

It was also, perhaps most famously, the year of Star Wars -- and appropriately the latest installment of that series, which has now become known as a franchise is coming out in December, with Mark Hamill bookending his breakthrough performance as Luke Skywalker 40 years ago as an older, wiser character in The Last Jedi.

It was a year of fantasy and escapism, and it was hard to narrow this list down, I had to leave off Charles Burnett's haunting Killer of Sheep, badass thrillers like Rolling Thunder and Black Sunday, and quirky comedies like The Late Show, Which Way Is Up? and The Kentucky Fried Movie.

That said, I am pretty happy with this list...

10) 3 Women - Robert Altman's strange, dream-like film is really largely about two women (played in tour de force fashion by Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek) and that's just the start of its open-ended questions. It's at times a bizarre character study and in some passages it feels like a horror film. Altman himself seemed not to be fully sure of what his film meant in its entirety but its mercurial nature is part of its power. A film I like more every time I see it -- it's an unsettling masterpiece.

9) Pumping Iron - Not only is this body building documentary a fascinating window in the profoundly weird world of the Mr. Universe competition, it's also an amazing expose of the egomaniacal, but also pretty damn likable, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Here he's a young, aspiring wannabe superstar, who likes to mentally manipulate his new competition (a sweet and bashful Lou Ferrigno) in between boastful interviews. One of the great sports films ever made is cringe inducing at times and funny as hell.

8) Slap Shot - I have no idea if this hilariously profane hockey comedy is an accurate portrayal of what the world of minor league sports is really like, but I do know that it's an infectious riot and contains one of the loosest and best performances of Paul Newman's career. A movie that relishes its political incorrectness and anarchic spirit. It's remained a cult classic for years because of its tribute to a certain kind of unapologetic masculinity, but its got a lot of heart too.

7) Eraserhead - The movie that put David Lynch on the map. It looks years to make and you can see a lot of the painstaking detail on the screen. Like most Lynch films, it defies easy categorization -- it's nominally about a socially awkward man living in a dystopian city and saddled with a mutant baby to care for. Delightfully strange and absorbing, the movie is a triumph of production design, sound and visuals. It has proven to be incredibly influential on the art films that came in its wake and remains a symbol of how 70s cinema could stay risky even amid the rise of blockbusters.

6) Suspiria - Never has gore looked so gorgeous. This horror film from Italian master Dario Argento is short on story but makes up for it with some unforgettable visual aesthetics. His use of color is sublime in this strange scary movie set in an all girls dance school. I remember I first saw a particularly grisly scene from this in high school and I never forgot it. Not for the faint of heart,  but a real find for horror fiends.

5) Sorcerer - William Friedkin's remake of the legendary French thriller The Wages of Fear was a flop upon its first release, but has since become recognized as a seminal work in its own right. Roy Scheider headlines a strong international cast in this gritty look at desperate men hauling nitroglycerine thorough a treacherous (unnamed) country. Some stunning sequences and documentary-style realism in this one.

4) The Spy Who Loved Me - Many James Bond aficionados consider this the best entry of the Roger Moore era, and there is a good argument to make for that (although I have a very soft spot for For Your Eyes Only). It's a fun ride from start to finish -- introducing the classic blade-toothed villain Jaws, some terrific gadgets, and one of the most gorgeous Bond girls of all time, Barbara Bach. But most importantly, this is the Bond film in which Moore made the character his own. He plays the comedy beautifully but includes just enough intensity to keep it from becoming too camp.

3) Close Encounters of the Third Kind - This is vintage Steven Spielberg at the peak of his powers mixing both the personal and the grandiose to make a smart, epic film about aliens touching down on planet earth. Using a terrific Richard Dreyfuss as his stand-in, Spielberg makes the audacious decision to portray the alien visitors as genteel instead of monstrous, and the final result is probably the smartest sci-fi film since 2001: A Space Odyssey.

2) Annie Hall - Woody Allen's most accessible and sweet film, which is probably why he hates it so much. This Best Picture winner kicked off a particularly successful run of more serious comic films from the polarizing but prolific filmmaker. His ace in the hole here is Diane Keaton giving her most iconic performance as the loopy but fully realized titular character. I constantly return to this film's self referential wisdom in my personal life and it remains arguably the most signature work of Allen's long and varied career.

1) Star Wars (a.k.a. A New Hope) - Is anyone really surprised? The film that changed the nature of movies forever (for better or worse) is still a genius game-changer. What is often lost in its groundbreaking special effects and revolutionary impact on the box office, is the swift and adept storytelling on display here (with plenty of homages to George Lucas' inspirations like Akira Kurosawa). Alec Guinness lends gravitas, Harrison Ford brings charm and sex appeal and the movie itself is undeniable candy for the kid in all of us.

'Get Out' take two: Movie is just as rewarding the second time

The success of Get Out has been so gratifying for me,  even though I had nothing to do with it.

As both an African-American trying to break into the entertainment business and a lover of original, thought-provoking genre cinema, I am both proud of what Jordan Peele did and thrilled that the public has across the board embraced it.

This low budget movie -- with no big name stars -- which dares to say some pretty provocative and insightful things about race, has been widely embraced by the public (it's grossed upwards of $170 million) and has managed to sidestep the inevitable backlash that normally greets break out hits (*cough* La La Land *cough*)

After seeing it the first time I immediately was compelled to see it again in theaters at a later date, I think, because like a lot of viewers. I imagined that some of its first act moments would have new meaning now that I knew the third act revelations.

This blog post will contain SPOILERS, so if you are one of the few people who aren't hip enough to have seen this masterpiece, move along.

First off, I will stay I was and am repeatedly struck by how smart the movie is. Before I saw it this time I saw several trailers that really depressed me. Among them were the smugly self-satisfied big screen Baywatch movie, which seems to want to both poke fun at the campy show but also revel in its same puerile objectification of hot bodies, and even worse Amy Schumer's upcoming comedy Snatched, which seems so culturally tone deaf -- it's about privileged white women who get kidnapped during a getaway in Latin America -- that it seems like it belongs in another decade.

This man deserves an Oscar nomination

Get Out could have been simplistic. I remember being prepared for the white family our hero visits to be closet white supremacists, but the movie took a totally different tack, instead suggesting that this strange society covets aspects of black life in a proprietary way that is extremely problematic but not necessarily about hatred.

The movie is also effortlessly funny and comfortable in its pacing. It is never boring, but unlike so many broader comedies if makes no effort to smother you with "bits." The closest thing to a purely silly joke -- Allison Williams eating individual Fruit Loops while cruising for NCAA athletes -- is so pitch perfect and well earned that the movie gets away with it.

And a word on Allison Williams' performance. I have never watched Girls and likely never will so I have nothing to gauge her work here against, but her role is the one that plays most curiously on second viewing.

Was her rebuff of a traffic cop about not wanting her black boyfriend's identity known, therefore eliminating anyone tracing him back there? Her attempts to play flirt with her boyfriend's best friend (played brilliantly by Lil Rel Howery) also a scheme to lure him to become her next victim?

She has to walk this very careful line between being cute and loyal and yet, also somewhat suspicious. I have heard people claim that they thought she was up to no good from the beginning. But I am not so sure. I remembered wondering if she was "in" on it, but her reactions seemed genuine at the time, but on second viewing there are little hints at a rehearsed nature to her embarrassment at her families' behavior.

There are also other little interesting bits that pay off -- for instance that image of the 'groundskeeper' running -- which is unsettling in both the trailer and the film -- is a callback to the fact that the grandfather (who lives inside him) never quite got over losing to Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympic Games.

And the joys of the movie don't end there -- not that there will ever be a sequel -- but the concept of "The Sunken Place" is very ripe for deeper exploration, as if the idea of this pseudo secret society (which borrows a big from Being John Malcovich) that wants their brain to live on as their bodies give way to father time.

I have no idea if Peele could ever top this film, but he has made a piece of art that will last and stand the test of time, that much I know for sure.

RIP Jonathan Demme: A tribute to his remarkable run as a director

Demme directing Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs

Director Jonathan Demme has died at age 73. I'm sorry to say I wasn't even aware that he had been ill. Demme, despite winning an Academy Award for The Silence of the Lambs was a truly underrated talent. He didn't make all that many films, but he had a remarkable streak of original, eclectic hits that defied any one genre.

I am particularly a big fan of a series of films he made between 1984 and 1993 -- and I will get to those in a moment. Demme was so versatile, he could make documentaries, dramas, comedies and top-notch thrillers. And he always made sure to put interesting characters and faces front in center.

When I think of him as a filmmaker I always remember his dramatic close-ups. The close-up has fallen out of style in recent years, but Demme was never shy about it. He -- like Sergio Leone -- would fill up a frame with an actor's face, often having them address their dialogue to another character straight to camera, lending a kind of intimacy to the performances.

Think about the monologues from Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs, or Tom Hanks' scenes opposite Denzel Washington in Philadelphia. Demme was someone who wasn't afraid to inject big emotions into his scenes and bring a deeply humanistic approach to all his work.

For an appreciation, here is a look back my favorite films of his:

Stop Making Sense (1984) - One of the best concert films of all time, featuring one of (if not the best) new wave band of all time. Demme stages this rocking documentary beautifully, starting with David Byrne alone on stage doing his quirky schtick, and with each new song he is joined by another band member, until the final numbers where the stage is filled with percussionists, singers and dancers and the whole thing feels so alive and infectious

Something Wild (1986) - A sexy and unpredictable black comedy featuring star-making roles for Jeff Daniels, Ray Liotta and Melanie Griffith. This is one of those often overlooked gems that is ripe for rediscovery. Daniels plays a bored executive who gets caught up in the hijinks of a flighty woman (Griffith) that danger has a way of finding. The movie has a funky 1980s feel and it walks a delicate line between laughter and violence.

Swimming to Cambodia (1987) - The documentary that made Spaulding Gray a breakout star. The whole film is one enthralling and invigorating monologue, delivered by the silver-tongued and silver-haired gray. Demme adds so dramatic sound and visual effects, but never distracts from Gray's wonderful storytelling which really opens up what a movie can be.

Married to the Mob (1988) - This mob comedy, starring an against type Michelle Pfeiffer, could have been a silly farce, but Demme's direction keeps it grounded. Pfeiffer plays a recently widowed gangster's wife who is now a target for FBI investigators and her ex's old pals. Amazing music, costume and set design, and energetic performances make this another delightful 80s keeper.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - Understandably, Demme's best known film and biggest hit. It's a flawless thriller, brilliantly constructed, performed and executed. It's also never gratuitous, despite its grisly subject matter (sadistic serial killers). So much more power is derived from what you don't see and this is something the inferior sequels failed to understand. One of the most quotable and memorable movies of the past 30 years.

Philadelphia (1993) - While some aspects of this AIDS drama are dated now, there is no denying what a groundbreaking and important film it was when it first came out. Besides establishing Tom Hanks as a serious dramatic actor, the movie also humanized the gay community and the AIDS crisis at a vital point and helped move the national conversation to some degree from fear to empathy. The all-star cast all has moments to shine, but its the connection between Hanks (as attorney dying from the diseased) and Denzel Washington as his initially prejudiced attorney that give this film its real power.

'Never Seen It' - Episode 15 - It's not tumor, it's 'Kindergarten Cop'

Hey millennials, before Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California and a perpetual thorn in the side of Trump, he used to be the biggest movie star on the planet. And he occasionally made movies that somewhat veered away from his action persona into broad comedy.

Whether those outings were entirely successful is a big question, and my wife and I took our first shot at this genre of 'Ahnold' films by watching one of his biggest hit: the 1990 movie Kindergarten Cop.

We've both seen scenes from it over the years, but for whatever reason never took it in as a whole. So here are our first thoughts after watching it separately and coming together to take it on for the first time.

Needless to say we found this movie more than a little bit problematic. This is one of those movies where people probably remember individual lines (the famous "it's not a tumor") but not necessarily much of the substance of it.

For the initiated and the uninitiated, here's our take:


'NEVER SEEN IT' EPISODES:

Episode 1: Some King of Wonderful
Episode 2: XXX
Episode 3: Varsity Blues
Episode 4: Xanadu
Episode 5: An Affair to Remember
Episode 6: Blue Steel
Episode 7: Spy Kids
Episode 8: The Frisco Kid
Episode 9: Rising Sun
Episode 10: The Conjuring 2
Episode 11: Zootopia
Episode 12: Fear
Episode 13: The Cell
Episode 14: Nocturnal Animals

Stay tuned for more!