Movie Reaction: Eighth Grade

Formula: Angus - a few years

It's taken me a while to get to Eighth Grade. There are a few reason for this. One is a matter of timing. Between vacation and the resettling of MoviePass, I had trouble finding a time to get to it. Also, there's the simple fact that 8th graders are among the worst kinds of people, so a movie about them carried little interest for me. To give you an idea of how close I was to skipping it this time even, my deciding factor was that I wanted Penn Station and there was a theater with Eighth Grade playing across the street. Otherwise, it probably would've been BlacKkKlansman this week.

Eighth Grade was about what I expected, more for better than for worse. It covers the last week of 8th grade from the perspective of the class quiet girl, Kayla (Elsie Fisher). It's told episodically through assorted adventures (a pool party, a high school shadow day, hanging out at the mall) but with enough thematic tissue connecting it all to work as a coherent whole.

More than anything, writer/director Bo Burnham nails the tone. So much of the movie feels dead-on accurate. Nearly every character feels real, recognizable, and relatable. I'm at a weird convergence of age and maturity where I relate to Kayla (naturally introverted with no idea how to put herself out there) and her father (a guy who just doesn't want to mess things up and is making it all up as he goes along), played by Josh Hamilton, in equal measure. Even smaller characters feel real. The "cool kids" in her class who are actually just as lame as Kayla*, the parents who have to ignore how awful their kids are being because they know (hope) it's just a phase, the somewhat nerdy kid who sort of has a crush on Kayla and has no idea how to be cool about it. There's a scene when Kayla hangs out with some high school kids that features some truly "high school" conversation. I'm not sure how Burnham captured it all so perfectly. It's all one big 90 minute awkward mess.

*All 8th graders are lame. It's a persistent condition.

I love what Burnham does with the time capsules. The movie begins with Kayla getting a time capsule she made at the beginning of 6th grade and ends with her making one to receive at the end of high school. I've done and still do things like that now (I assume I'm not alone in that, but if you don't, I recommend it. It's...enlightening). I have to say, Kayla learns things by 8th grade that I'm still learning now. Perhaps it underlines the point of the movie too much, but I liked it.

I have trouble saying that I liked Eighth Grade. It's like saying that I like The Act of Killing or Requiem for a Dream. I'm impressed by how real it is. The detail work is tremendous. There's one scene between Kayla and her dad that is as touching as anything I'll see this year. I see great value in younger audiences watching this. The movie doesn't talk down to its characters, which is harder than it sounds. Elsie Fisher is a talent. Josh Hamilton is a great goofy dad. I had a couple issues with the lack of nuance in a few of the antagonist characters. Mainly though, the one thing working against Eighth Grade is that it too perfectly recreates a time I'd rather not revisit. In a way, that's the highest praise I can give it.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: My Bodyguard

The Pitch: A kid hires Boo Radley as his bodyguard.

A high school student who is being bullied, gets a bigger kid to be his bodyguard and befriends him along the way.

I have no context for this movie. It came out in 1980. That predates the teen sex comedies that I associate with the 80s. It's way removed from the beach party movies of the 60s. Every high school movie of the 70s I can think of is either a musical (Grease) or a horror movie (Carrie). Earlier in the decade was marked by nostalgia (American Graffiti or, on the other end of the spectrum, The Last Picture Show). I suppose right around 1980 was the time of movies like Rock 'n' Roll High School and Fame. My Bodyguard doesn't really fit with that or anything else from the time that I'm aware of.

What it is though is pretty good. Matt Dillon is such a good bully. It's nice seeing a young Joan Cusack. I'm not used to seeing such a young Martin Mull, and I got way too much enjoyment out of seeing George Wendt in a bit part in one scene (two years before Cheers, mind you). A lot of what works comes down to Adam Baldwin as the titular bodyguard. I know he's always played tough guys, but I don't recall him ever look so huge. He towers over the rest of the cast. And he's only 17-18 when this was shot, so it's not like they cast a 25 year old and pretended like he was a high-schooler.

The movie is oddly paced. Baldwin doesn't show up until 30 minutes into it. The father's storyline gets resolved pretty early. Ruth Gordon pops up at random (and is quite enjoyable when she does). The friendship between Chris Makepeaces' Clifford and Baldwin's Linderman is sweet. I love seeing how Clifford's group of friends develops over time. I wasn't expecting how simply I liked this movie.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Withnail & I

The Pitch: But how much can one man drink in a film?

Two out-of-work actors take a vacation to a cottage out in the country and drink profusely along the way.

I'm pretty disappointed. This is a cult movie I've been looking forward to a lot. I don't think I've heard a single person with a bad thing to say about Withnail & I. Everyone who sees it seems to be crazy about the movie. The description of the movie sounds great. I love a good drinking movie. I'm fine with a comedy about nothing in particular. I'm even more fine with comedy performances that are called "tour de force". Withnail & I can be found on just about any Great British Films or Best British Comedies list.

I don't get what all the fuss was about. Before I get into that, I'll add a few disclaimers. The movie is densely British. There's a decent chance that I missed some bits due to the accents. Also, I saw this movie alone and sober. I can see how it would play better drunk and with friends.

...Actually, I don't really have much to say about this. I'm a little confused about the love for it. I'm not angry like after I see a Yorgos Lanthimos movie, and this falls way short of my inability to connect with something like Mulholland Drive. After watching Withnail & I, I just feel like I've missed something obvious. It probably doesn't help that a lot of the humor later on is based on gay fear, which feels as dated as it should. I feel like I should be quoting the movie a lot more, but I don't recall any quotes that stuck out. My verdict on this is more 'incomplete' than anything, although I have no strong desire to revisit it. I'm not against it though.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Jackie Brown

The Pitch: Blacksploitation + 20 years

A flight attendant gets caught in the middle of an ATF plot to take down a black market gun runner.

I did it! I've seen the eight now. I've seen the eight films that Tarantino has directed so far (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol I & II, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight). That's the eight, right? Or does Kill Bill count as one and some other movie is the 8th? He made My Best Friend's Birthday in 1987, which I didn't know existed until I pulled up his IMDB page a couple minutes ago. I suppose Death Proof could be the 8th, but I figured that didn't count since it was part of the Grindhouse release. Surely his segments in Four Rooms and Sin City don't count. His filmography and desire to number things gets confusing. Not as confusing as how Fellini got to 8 1/2 as a film title, but definitely confusing. Whatever. I've seen the eight (I think) and I've seen the segments he's made in those two anthologies and movies that he wrote but didn't direct, like True Romance, Natural Born Killers, and From Dusk Till Dawn. In short, no one can claim that I haven't put in the work when it comes to Quentin Tarantino. I can feel confident when I come to this grand conclusion about him:

He's fine.

That's all. I'm not hopelessly in love with him like I am with the Coen brothers, Scorsese, or Christopher Nolan. I'm not hopelessly turned off by him like I am with Wes Anderson or David Lynch. I get some of the appeal of Tarantino. Few people delight in filmmaking and honoring the past as much as Tarantino. His career is one giant homage with occasional fits of originality, and I mean that all as a positive. I'm not surprised that actors love to deliver dialogue that he writes. He builds some really fun lines. I also don't really love any of his movies. I've never been wowed with his audaciousness. I think I'll forever be perplexed by Pulp Fiction's status as an all-time great and important movie. Personally, I put Reservoir Dogs and The Hateful Eight at the top, but that has to do with my general appreciation of confined spaces in movies. Tarantino is in that group of directors with Spike Lee: guys who I am glad are around to add their voice to the discussion, but I won't go out of my way to see anything they make.

You've probably been able to piece this together already, but I thought Jackie Brown was fine. It's a little long. I love the cast. It's fun seeing De Niro playing such a useless character. I would've expected his role to be played by an older stand up who can act but isn't really known for acting. Andrew Dice Clay would play him if the movie was made now. De Niro added to the role just by being De Niro. but it was an odd choice for him. Pam Grier was good in this. I wasn't blown away by her. Going in, I was prepared to come away from this enraged and saying things like "it's a crime that the industry didn't find more good roles for her". I really wanted to tie this to some indictment of sexism or racism in studio casting. She certainly would've done well, given more solid roles, but it's not like I think she'd have an Oscar nomination by now with better opportunities. Then again, Mo'Nique has an Oscar, so what do I know? Samuel L. Jackson in a Tarantino movie is reflexive at this point. It's beyond obvious. Robert Forster felt out of place in the movie, which I think was the point.

I've heard people argue that this is Tarantino's best movie. I don't see it. Granted, I liked this about as much as Pulp Fiction, and other people consider Pulp Fiction a seminal piece of cinema. I guess both are in the same blind spot for me. Jackie Brown had the kind of twists that I didn't follow because I didn't care that much, not because I couldn't keep up. I certainly liked it more than Kill Bill.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: American Graffiti

The Pitch: Remember nostalgia? Yeah, it'll be just like that.

The interweaving stories of four friends the last night they'll all be in town in 1962.

I really wanted this to be a 40 year old "hot take" about how you can see the seeds of Star Wars in American Graffiti. That's not going to happen, unless you want to point to Harrison Ford's presence in both as a harbinger or point out how both are about leaving home behind (well, for a couple characters). There isn't anything to suggest that the one film would lead to the other. If anything, I finally get why people sometimes wonder what George Lucas' career would've looked like had Star Wars not come along. Would he have been more of an indie director or a Coppola rather than a creator who has seen his fans turn on him? It's hard to say.

The main thought I had while watching American Graffiti was that it must've given Richard Linklater confidence to make Dazed and Confused. There's no reason to expect American Graffiti to work. It's loosely structured. Its focus is wide. The plot is a collection of small stories rather than one driving narrative. The cast wasn't all that well known. I get why Lucas had so much trouble getting funding for this and why it was nearly released as a TV movie. It shouldn't work. But it does.

I love a good meandering movie, as long as it's filled with characters I like, which is certainly the case with American Graffiti. It has Ron Howard as the closest thing to a jerk that I've ever seen him, and still he wasn't so bad. I'm not comfortable with Richard Dreyfuss looking that young. Mackenzie Phillips was funny. The story with her was surprisingly sweet. I don't really have a lot to say about the movie. I really enjoyed it. If I was the right age, I could see it being one of my absolute favorites, powered by nostalgia. As is, I still got a lot out of it.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend