Confess Fletch

Jon Hamm makes a pretty good wise-ass. Not as smug, and ironically not as much of a “ham” as Chevy Chase’s Fletch, but can still mutter wise-cracks under his breath with the best of them. (For a true masterclass of sotto voce wise-crackery check out Christina Applegate in Dead to Me on Netflix.) The plot, involving a murder and some valuable paintings, is foggy. But Fletch’s friendships and interactions are cracking and the mystery skips along at a decent clip. So it’s a fun, lighthearted watch.

Real Life

A very relevant satire (and accurate prediction) of reality shows from comedian Albert Brooks. Made in the late 70’s, a large part of the comedy comes from the cameramen interfering with the “reality” and how the documentarians will ultimately “script” everything that you eventually see. Preemptively pokes fun at all the trashy “Duck Dynasty”, bickering family shows. Not ha-ha funny as much as pointed satire, but so astute.

Enchanted

Rewatched this Disney confection with Amy Adams at her perky best. It’s everyone’s commitment to the bit that makes this work.

Werewolf by Night

Is this a movie? Is it a special? Is it a short film? I’m not sure. It’s all encompassing. It ends. But it’s only about an hour long. It’s more like an Amazing Stories episode, or some other horror anthology. Presented in beautiful black and white, and with creepy old music, it really feels like an old Hammer Films horror film. It’s never very scary, often funny, and dips into the Werewolf legend, as well as other movie monsters. It’s a fun, bite-sized Halloween yarn.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

This was pretty long and pretty boring. To be fair, there are a couple of really exciting, really original magical action sequences. And the second half is better than the first half. But man it’s pokey. The first half makes Downton Abby look like a Michael Bay movie.

Amsterdam

David O Russell does Wes Anderson. I enjoyed this, despite not really following what was going on. The structure is goofy, and there are lengthy flashbacks full of set-up and exposition, where the groundwork for the plot is being laid, but there’s not a lot of conflict. Filmmakers rely on witty banter to keep the plates spinning, and not much else. Sitting back, having a beer, trusting Bale, Robbie, Washington, et al, and going along for a ride seems to work. It’s a fun but mostly frivolous endeavor. And (spoiler alert) Taylor Swift gets run over by a car, so there’s that.

Avatar

Revisited this re-release in Imax. It’s still amazing after all this time, and there are still moments that are plenty corny, like the mean Colonel (Stephan Lang) who drinks his open cup of coffee in the giant rain-forest destroying machine-thing - more of a caricature than most Disney villains. However corny, Cameron and his crew capture one of the primary qualities that I admire these days – an unalloyed joy and deep passion for making movies.