Film Review: CRY MACHO (2021) *** and a 1\2 out of *****

© WB\Malpaso

Clint Eastwood returns as actor and director with Cry Macho (2021), a sweet, gentle, and charming little film, which, in its own modest, easy-going way, achieves so much with seemingly little effort. But although Eastwood is a notoriously fast worker, his movies, with very few exceptions, are almost always a smooth ride, and easy on the eyes. Cry Macho is a prime example of these trademark qualities of an Eastwood film.

Cry Macho tells a simple tale: 1980. Texas. Mike Milo, a washed-up rodeo star and horse breeder, reluctantly agrees to help his ex-boss and benefactor to bring his half-Mexican teenage son home and out of his abusive mother’s reach. So he crosses the border to rural Mexico, finds the troubled boy, and, together, they journey back to Texas. But their journey takes an unexpected turn or two. The plot is little more than a collection of road-trip movie cliches, and the script, especially some of the dialogue, doesn’t really add much that is fresh or original to the mix. But Eastwood is a smart, restless filmmaker, and it’s easy to see why he was attracted to the material, despite its shortcomings. In his hands, Eastwood turns this tired script, which has been floating around Hollywood for decades, into an exercise in charming filmmaking.

From the endearing performance of most of the cast, especially Natalia Traven as Marta, the lovable den mother; and Eduardo Minett as Rafo, with his tough kid posturing and moving dedication to his pet rooster, Macho; and, of course, Eastwood himself, who gives himself one of his most likable characters in a long time as Mike Milo, everyone involved seems to be having a blast.

And, in many ways, Milo’s character, and the film itself, is spiritually linked to one of Eastwood’s favorite films, 1980’s Bronco Billy, about the leader of a wild west show, a middle-aged dreamer who loves show business, the old west, and horses. Milo could be Bronco Billy gone to seed. A burnt out man who has lost his hopes and dreams, and who, by befriending the teenage Rafo, a hopeless outcast like himself, starts to find his way again. No wonder Eastwood uses the same font he used on the Bronco Billy poster for the Cry Macho titles.

Cry Macho is a film out of time. A film that would have been right at home in the early 1980s or 1990s. Now, it’s understandable that it struggles to find an audience, at a time when nihilism is trendy, and negativity is bankable. But Cry Macho, despite its flaws, is a spellbinding, humane film that feels old and new at the same time, and is Eastwood’s best film in years. Highly recommended.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

Video Version:

 

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer  

Review: SUPERMAN II: THE RICHARD DONNER CUT (1980 - 2006)

After being summarily fired as soon as he completed work on Superman (1978), Richard Donner left behind 75-80% of Superman II (1980) in the can. The footage was re-tooled and augmented by new footage from replacement director Richard Lester, who delivered an entertaining sequel to Donner's original, but a disappointing one nonetheless, mainly due to his conventional direction and obvious lack of passion towards the material.

Almost 30 years later, Warner Bros. and producer/editor Michael Thau tracked down Donner's original footage, and with Donner's input and supervision, reconstructed Donner's original vision for Superman II. The result is a vast improvement over the theatrically released version, which restores the tone and quality Donner established with the original. Mostly gone is the campy humor, the sloppy dialogue, and the dated feel of the Richard Lester version. What we now have is a movie that is faster, subtler, more powerful, and technically better. The major plus, of course, is the restored Marlon Brando footage, the terrific opening, and a better ending,

For fans of Superman, his mythology, and the first film, this is a treasure trove.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2016.

REVIEW: THE NINTH CONFIGURATION (1980): The Exorcist Sequel You Don't Know About

Original Theatrical Poster

The Ninth Configuration (1980) is one of the strangest films you’re ever likely to see. Written and Directed by William Peter Blatty, the author of the novel The Exorcist and the screenplay of the film adaptation, this is a film that defies categorization, and is designed to polarize audiences.

The wild plot includes an asylum for Vietnam war veterans, patients posing as doctors, an astronaut with a crisis of faith, and Shakespeare plays performed entirely by a cast of dogs! Amid all the madness, there are conversations about God, faith, and the nature of evil.

Blatty, whose screenplay is based on his 1966 novel Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane, is all over the place. As the film starts as a black comedy, shifts gears into a Bergman-esque meditation on the existence of God, and finally becomes a dark, somber metaphysical thriller. Blatty considers this the true first sequel to The Exorcist (1973), as the film features the astronaut Custshaw, a character mentioned in that seminal horror film (the scene where Regan, the possessed girl, says to the unnamed astronaut that he’s “going to die up there”), and both films have the same obsessions about the nature of faith and the eternal battle between good and evil.

But Blatty doesn’t entirely succeed in realizing all his stupendous ambitions, as the film occasionally meanders, becoming a self-indulgent, incoherent story, while the oppressive, glum tone of the film is ultimately wearying. But there is no doubt that this is a daring piece of filmmaking, with some truly haunting visuals, terrific performances, and a sense of existential, cosmic torment that is uniquely powerful.

A film not for everyone, but anyone who watches it will probably never forget it.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2014 - 2016.

* This article originally appeared on Bitlanders.*

Quick Review: THE EXTERMINATOR (1980): Director's Cut

Cold, endlessly sleazy exploitation film - about a disturbed Vietnam vet turned vigilante - with lifeless performances and a general mood of unpleasantness. Surprisingly, it has achieved cult status and was followed by a sequel produced by Cannon Films in 1984. The opening sequence set in the battlefields of Vietnam is great, though.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2016.