Blue Jasmine

Woody Allen, 2013

Can I Stream It?

3/5

Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) is a struggling woman, trying to put the pieces together after her husband is imprisoned for insider trading. She moves to San francisco to stay with her adopted sister. When she arrives she is hit with a bit of culture shock and struggles to adapt to a less affluent life. 

Woody Allen's nod to Elia Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire is also Woody channeling that very familiar, welcomed neurotic stream of consciousness. Much of the neuroses is placed upon Jasmine's character in the film, who almost makes you think that Blanchett must of been institutionalized after completion. Blanchett does what she does, and just perfectly hits the mark as the unfiltered and unstable Jasmine. Jasmine's turbulent saga is craft-fully displayed through flashbacks of her old life when her husband was still reaping the benefits of his white collar crimes while she went along for the ride, and jumps back to present day when she is forced to come back to earth. And Earth is a scary place for Jasmine. Hardly anybody lives up to her incredibly high standards, her old friends have left her, and she is out of money but rich with embarrassment and humiliation. And she is ready to spiral out of control at a moment's notice, really hanging on by a thread. Self medicates by throwing back a Xanax, chasing it down with some Stoli. All-while somehow maintaining that nasal, condescending tone with that stubbornly pompous persona. She figures if can just land quickly into a West Coast version of her old life, she will stabilize without doing any of the real work on herself. And that work is long overdue. While Blanchett's performance clearly stands out, there is certainly a lot of help. Andrew Dice Clay, Louis C.K. step out of the stand-up comedy realm and impress. Sally Hawkins, who looks like she could be a sister of Marisa Tomei, is impressive as Jasmine's less fortunate sister Ginger who lives a much more modest life but doesn't hesitate to provide shelter for Jasmine. It's a story of riches to rags. Fish out of water. Humbling new beginnings. The haves and have nots but the haves dont have for long. The deterioration of one's facade. The film is littered with a cast that borders on caricatures, which works here. And while the story itself may feel forced at times, Allen constructs it well with a skillful delivery.

Beetlejuice

Tim Burton, 1988


(REWATCHED)

4/5

Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis) realize that they are deceased. Bound to their country home they loved dearly, they want to do anything they can to stop the new residents from getting too comfortable. They seek the help of "Beetlejuice", a "bio-exorcist" who assists them in scaring the new homeowners away.

A classic for children of the 1980's, any probably scary to young ones of today. One of Tim Burton's best, probably second best (with Edward Scissorhands in the lead). He uses the innocent Vermont backdrop to showcase quirky caricatures and his own bizarre creations. You venture into the white farmhouse only to discover the model home Adam has been working on so detailed, and comes alive as soon as they are dead. There are so many moments in this film that have a lasting impact. Walking out of the house and landing in the sand-worm's dimension. The waiting room of the case worker's office. The possession scene at the dinner table. And most of Beetlejuice's antics. Keaton is so buried in his role. One must wonder who or what he used to channel this performance. He probably should have been nominated for an Oscar, but it was a very competitive year with Dustin Hoffman winning Best Actor for his role in Rain Man. The film still took home an Oscar for Best Makeup, and for good reason.

Tim Burton's older films are so much better than his newer films. Why? Age? Did he lose that edge as he got older? Probably a lot of reasons. But he certainly took more risks in the 1980's. This film was so out there for it's time, it could have completely flopped. But it didn't. It was made on a rather modest $15M budget and ultimately grossed $73M. At times it has an almost Cronenbergy feel to it. But also very much unlike Cronenberg's films in the sense that the characters never really take themselves seriously. Adam and Barbara are very quickly accepting of their own death, and jump into a more defensive mode in trying to maintain ownership of the house. The most serious person in the film is likely Lydia (Winona Ryder), but her lack of fear of communicating with her deceased housemates certainly diminishes any kind of serious tone and only adds to the comedy.