you can either surf, or you can fight!

A confusing mélange of history and breakthrough, war and romance, quality and poop. Without further ado....

Apocalypse Now [Redux] (1979) - "A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god."
Source: a friend has "the complete dossier" DVD set
I watched it because: I was on a date, and it was agreeable
AFI: 100 Years ... 100 Movies (original list 1998) #28

100 Years ... 100 Movies (10th anniversary edition 2007) #30

IMDB: 8.4/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 98% Audience: 94%

notable quote: "Have you ever considered any real freedoms? Freedoms from the opinion of others ... even the opinions of yourself?"
visuals: unforgettable cinematography, lighting, and perspective
costumes, hair & makeup: superbly done
acting: Martin Sheen (Capt. Benjamin L. Willard) is extraordinary

intangibles: it's long, but doesn't seem so. I was at the edge of my seat throughout. 
Academy Award winner:
• Best Cinematography

• Best Sound
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Picture

• Best Supporting Actor—Robert Duvall (Lt. Col. Bill Killgore)

• Best Director—Francis Ford Coppola

• Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

• Best Art Direction - Set Decoration

• Best Film Editing
overall: highly recommended

The Last Full Measure (2019) - "Thirty-four years after his death, Airman William H. Pitsenbarger, Jr. (Pits) is awarded the nation's highest military honor, for his actions on the battlefield."
Source: I borrowed the Blu-ray from the public library
I watched it because: it was recommended by a high school classmate with whom I am good friends on FB
IMDB: 6.8/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 59% Audience: 96%

notable quote: "Justice delayed is justice denied."
story: hero is up for an honor, and there is something questionable going on with the process
visuals: very good
costumes, hair & makeup: very good
acting: except for dreary Sebastian Stan, the cast is fine

intangibles: with no disrespect to the deceased, this movie sucked. Schmaltzy, slow, ax-grinding, agenda-driven... feh. Not the worst movie I've ever seen, but definitely not worth seeing
overall: not recommended

Hard Kill (2020) - "The work of billionaire tech CEO Donovan Chalmers (Bruce Willis) is so valuable that he hires mercenaries to protect it, and a terrorist group kidnaps his daughter just to get it."
Source: I borrowed the Blu-ray from the public library
I watched it because: I generally enjoy Willis' work
IMDB: 3.3/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 0% (not a typo)  Audience: 62%

notable quote: "He put a bullet in my back. I still have the scar to prove it."
story: Bruce Willis is a former super-elite soldier who's now a BILLionaire CEO. His company makes...something? But we don't know what. And his daughter works there. She's f'ing BRILLiant, because she designs a thing that can make the world—the whole world!—better! And she wants to give it to the world so they can use it to be better. But she has to "field test" it first. So she takes it to a guy who just happens to be a psychopath, who then kidnaps her as part of his master plan to destroy the world. It's not really clear what the thing does, or why he kidnaps her, if he really just wants to destroy the world. And it's not really clear how he could be such a colossal dumbass after having had such success up to the very point of destroying the whole goddamned planet. And yet, voila.

    Oh, and despite the crew of trained professionals (and ex-soldiers) hired to protect him and the thing? Bruce Willis - who appears in the movie for roughly 3 minutes - saves the day.

intangibles: according to another online review, this movie took 10 days to film. What did they do in the other 9? Quite possibly the worst movie I have ever sat all the way through. Quite possibly the worst movie... ever. 

overall: not recommended. I'm horrified to admit that I've watched it. I want to poke my own eyes out. I want to poke your eyes out, for reading this review. JUST STOP.

The Shape of Water (2017) - "At a top secret research facility in the 1960s, a lonely janitor forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature being held in captivity."
Source: I borrowed the Blu-ray from the public library
I watched it because: it won a bunch of awards
IMDB: 7.3/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 92% Audience: 72%

notable quote: "When he looks at me, the way he looks at me ... He does not know... what I lack, or how I am incomplete. He sees me for what I ... am, as I am. He's happy to see me. Every time. Every day."
story: just about impossible to explain, except to say that it is a simple film with great depth, like the best kind of children's story
visuals: glorious. Simply spectacular.
costumes, hair & makeup: fantastic, awesome plot points and phenomenal imagination
acting: Sally Hawkins (Elisa Esposito) blew my damned mind. I also thought that Michael Shannon (Strickland) and Michael Stuhlbarg (Dr.  Hoffstetler) were wonderful.

intangibles: a fairy tale? A mystery? Science fiction? Fantasy? A love story? Who cares - it's beautiful, and tender, and exquisite.
Academy Award winner:
• Best Director—Guillermo del Toro

• Best Picture—del Toro, J. Miles Dale

• Best Music, Original Score

• Best Production Design
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Actress—Hawkins

• Best Supporting Actor—Richard Jenkins (Giles) (my hometown guy!)

• Best Supporting Actress—Octavia Spencer (Zelda Fuller)

• Best Original Screenplay—del Toro, Vanessa Taylor

• Best Cinematography

• Best Costume Design

• Best Sound Editing

• Best Sound Mixing

• Best Film Editing

overall: most highly recommended

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) - "A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles."
Source: I borrowed the Blu-ray from the public library
I watched it because: I've been told - by a lot of people - that it's really good
IMDB: 7.6/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 85% Audience: 70%

notable quote: "'You know, you're kinda pretty for a stuntman.'

    'That's what they tell me.'"
story: I've stared at my fingers, trying to will them to make sense of this, because my brain can't. What is this movie about? What is the point? Where were they going? What do most people think or feel when they get through it? Good questions, all.
visuals: undeniably eye-catching and engaging
costumes, hair & makeup: scrapes the edges of caricature in striving to capture the era
acting: OK, so, here's the thing. If someone had bet me that I'd finish this movie having liked the Pitt character more than the DiCaprio character, I'd have thought they were nuts and bet the farm against them. I've got a hard time losing the actor into the role with Pitt - and I'm fond of DiCaprio's acting. I had been until I saw this film anyway. 

intangibles: this is another excessively goddamned over-long movie. Is that just ego? Are there actually moviegoers who like and seek out 160+ minute films?! It felt like the Iron Butterfly extended B-Side dance mix version of what could have been a tight, snappy little radio number. In any case, I lost the story in all the l-o-o-o-o-o-n-g scenes, the repetition, the narration as a substitute for action, and the hyper-clever shooting that renders the picture difficult to see. Now that I've pulled my thumbs out of my temples, where they were trying to resolve the incipient headache, I'm pointing them down.
Academy Award winner:
• Best Supporting Actor—Brad Pitt (Cliff Booth)

• Best Production Design
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Picture

• Best Director—Quentin Tarantino

• Best Actor—Leonardo DiCaprio (Rick Dalton)

• Best Original Screenplay—Tarantino

• Best Cinematography

• Best Costume Design

• Best Sound Mixing

• Best Sound Editing

overall: not recommended

[the title quotation is from Apocalypse Now]