Better than nothing? This post is unfinished (I had to go to Iowa in June) but I might want to link back to some of the titles later.
Mielensäpahoittaja Eskorttia etsimässä (The Grump: In Search of an Escort) (2022)
arte Mediathek, Deutsch
A Finnish comedy that was actually enjoyable. The Grump, a reclusive and widowed older farmer who has chosen not to join the 21st century (I found him very sympathetic) totals his 1972 Ford Escort. His neighbor finds an online listing for the same make/model/year at a dealer in Hamburg. His rusty school-English does not help him find the dealer, but he does get beaten to the point of hospitalization by two thugs who steal all his cash. Glück im Unglück! His estranged brother Tarmo lives in Hamburg now, and the meddling neighbor had listed him with the airline as an emergency contact. After forty years, the reunion is quite rocky, but they start off on a cross-country road trip in Tarmo’s RV to try to find a 1972 Ford Escort, meeting more estranged family along the way. Meanwhile, Grump’s urban adult sons, who don’t like each other but are simultaneously having some issues with their marriages, end up having to feed the cat and harvest the potato crop together.
Obviously the car is just a MacGuffin, the real quest is for forgiveness and finding oneself in one’s family story, and there are happy endings all around.
The Big Country (1958)
arte Mediathek, original English
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
YouTube, original English
The original (now a “hidden video”), no James Hong but still pretty good.
Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire (2024)
Netflix, original English
The Alamo (1960)
arte Mediathek, original English
You know the ending.
Life and Deaths of Max Linder (2024)
arte Mediathek, original French and English (German subtitles)
Max Linder was a French silent-picture star of the early 20th-century who gained great fame and fortune around Europe making comedic shorts for Pathé, and I had never heard of him before seeing this Polish film in the Mediathek. It blends B&W live re-enactments of scenes from his life with archival footage and some footage created by AI from historical photos. I spent half the movie wondering which scenes were the AI, which definitely detracted from the experience.
Towards the end of WWI, Linder was offered a Hollywood deal. He became a friend of Chaplin and Fairbanks, but US audiences didn’t warm to him. A few years after he returned to France, he killed his teenage wife and himself. Many of his films were lost.
Recommended for people who enjoy silent film history and/or artist biopics; nice costumes and sets.
Paul, Apostle of Christ (2018)
Netflix, original English
