The Dudek Abides

Waititi Freshens “Thor: Ragnarok” With Quirky Humor

Posted November 1, 2017 by Duane Dudek

“Thor: Ragnarok” is a buddy comedy brimming with one liners and offbeat characters and relationships whose mechanical narrative and generic visual design leaves something to be desired.

But the relationships between newly-shorn Thor, played Chris Hemsworth; Hulk and his alter-ego Bruce Banner, played by Mark Ruffalo; his trickster brother Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston; and a Valkyrie, played Tessa Thompson – are given appealing top spin by director Taika Waititi.

Waititi, a New Zealander of Maori descent, is the first indigenous person to helm a superhero film.

Boseman Leaps Off The Screen. “Marshall” Doesn’t.

Posted October 13, 2017 by Duane Dudek

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In 1967 Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

But for 25-years before that he was the chief litigator for the NAACP, arguing civil rights cases in courtrooms around the country. His most famous case was Brown v. Board of Education in which the high court agreed with his arguments that separate but equal arrangements in education were not equal at all. It was one of 29 out of 32 Supreme Court cases he argued and won.

But “Marshall” is about a more sensational, lesser and little known 1940 case – albeit with life and death consequences – about a black chauffeur, played by Sterling K. Brown, accused of raping a white socialite in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Chris Smith’s Andy Kaufman Doc Comes To Netflix

Posted October 10, 2017 by Duane Dudek

Milwaukee-based filmmaker Chris Smith’s new documentary will premiere on Netflix on Nov. 17.

The new film is about the making of the Andy Kaufman biopic “Man in the Moon” and actor Jim Carrey’s transformation into the volcanic character.

The full title is “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring A Very Special Contractually Obligated Appearance by Tony Clifton.”

“Jim & Andy” was created from hundreds of hours of unused footage from the 1999 film “Man In The Moon,” directed by Milos Forman. It was edited by Smith’s longtime collaborator and area native Barry Poltermann.

My Milwaukee Film Festival Dance Card

Posted September 26, 2017 by Duane Dudek

I find it insulting, when writing about the Milwaukee Film Festival, to tell people what to see.

You’re adults. You know what is of interest to you better than I do.

And like you, and I, the people making such recommendations usually haven’t even seen the films they recommend.

Frankly, I don’t care what you want to see. I’m going to tell you what I want to see, barring a nuclear attack.

“A Gray State.”

It is a #fakenews-timely documentary about an alt right filmmaker David Crowley. After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan he went to film school and wrote a script about the future collapse of society under martial law.

Milwaukee Film Fest includes Borchardt, “Manlife”

Posted August 22, 2017 by Duane Dudek

The documentary “Manlife,” by local filmmakers Sue Kerns and Ryan Sarnowski, and Mark Borchardt’s “The Dundee Project” will be part of the Milwaukee Film Festival Cream City Lineup.

Also presented is Erik Ljung’s “Blood Is at the Doorstep,” about the Dontre Hamilton shooting.

“Manlife” is about the University of Lawsonomy, its founder aviation pioneer Alfred Lawson and his last follower Merle Hayden. Here is a link to my story on the film.

Weightless “Life” Portrays Menace In A Vacuum

Posted March 24, 2017 by Duane Dudek

“Life.” You’ve played the game and eaten the cereal. But should you watch the movie?

“Life” is a jeopardy-in-space B movie tale about a crew on the International Space Station that comes across a dormant form of life that wakes up and tries to kill them all, within the confines of their floating tin can.

The life form starts out looking like baby Groot but ends up a giant squid like thing that likes to eat you from the inside out.

Every dramatic beat is telegraphed in part because we’ve seen it all before, but also because of the ubiquitous commercials. “Life” even advertised on the Super Bowl.

“T2 Trainspotting” A Ghostly Sequel With Subtitles

Posted March 23, 2017 by Duane Dudek

What do you do after you’ve won an Oscar and produced the opening ceremonies at the Olympics?

“Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle chose to dangle his toes in “T2: Trainspotting,” a sequel to his 20 year old “A Hard Days Night” type cult romp about heroin addicts.

In the original Boyle’s jagged and disorienting style reflected the lives being chronicled and the culture around them.

The sequel also has a distinctive visual ebb and flow – in one quick scene a woman who has died is shown as a shadow at the dinner table. But while the first film felt cuttingly precise, the new one feels stagey.

“The Salesman” Is A Bleak Iranian Allegory

Posted March 3, 2017 by Duane Dudek

Beyond the best picture snafu Oscar night there was another upset – the Iranian film “The Salesman” winning best foreign language film over German language frontrunner “Toni Erdmann.”

It was only the third Iranian film nominated for the Oscar, two of which were directed by Asghar Farhadi, who won Oscars for “The Salesman and “A Separation” political and social allegories in the disguise of domestic dramas.

If all you know about Iran is what you hear on the news you have a right to be afraid.

Brutal “Logan” Either End Of A Franchise Or Birth Of One

Posted March 3, 2017 by Duane Dudek

“Logan” steps out of the digital superhero fantasy world and into a more realistic, one leaving a trail of sometimes headless bodies behind.

“Logan” is the new and “final” entry in Marvel’s X-Men Wolverine series, and is either the end of a franchise or the birth of one.

It’s 2029 and mutants have been put down or like Professor X are hiding. X has a dementia that results in earthquake type effects that Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman, controls with medication. The grey and infirm Logan is not in great shape either.

“La La Land” An Ambitious, Optimistic Dream World

Posted December 16, 2016 by Duane Dudek

Peter Cushing isn’t the only venerable film institution revived this moviegoing season. Cushing, who died in 1994, is digitally recreated as the villainous Grand Moff Tarkin in the “Star Wars” film “Rogue One.”

It’s harder to say just when the movie musical died. Was it the 1960s, when bloated spectacles like “Paint Your Wagon” hit the screen?

When last sighted, movie musicals like “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Mama Mia,” “Hairspray,” were adaptations of stage plays.

The Dudek Abides

Waititi Freshens “Thor: Ragnarok” With Quirky Humor

Like this:

Boseman Leaps Off The Screen. “Marshall” Doesn’t.

Like this:

Chris Smith’s Andy Kaufman Doc Comes To Netflix

Like this:

My Milwaukee Film Festival Dance Card

Like this:

Milwaukee Film Fest includes Borchardt, “Manlife”

Like this:

Weightless “Life” Portrays Menace In A Vacuum

Like this:

“T2 Trainspotting” A Ghostly Sequel With Subtitles

Like this:

“The Salesman” Is A Bleak Iranian Allegory

Like this:

Brutal “Logan” Either End Of A Franchise Or Birth Of One

Like this:

“La La Land” An Ambitious, Optimistic Dream World

Like this: