4 TRIVIA QUESTIONS

Film Firsts Edition

Answers provided at bottom of Filmatorium Column

4. What Movie was the first to reach $100 million at the box office?

3. What move was the first feature film made using one single shot?

2. What movie first featured an interracial kiss in a Hollywood film?

1. What 1920’s film first used 3D technology?

3 MOVIES FOR LATE AUTUMN

3. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

Johns Hughe’s family classic looks at making the best out of frustrating circumstances – and the unlikely friends along the way.

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Rental, Iowa City Public Library Rental

2. Krisha (2015)

Trey Edward Shults’s story of a family reuniting during the holidays gone astray due to a mother’s destructive habits. Disorienting, jumpy, anxious, you might just want to skip Thanksgiving this year after this film. 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Rental, Iowa City Public Library Rental

1. For Your Consideration (2006)

Christopher Guest’s honest comedy takes a look at fame, legacy and when to give up on dreams. While not preforming as expected at box office, For Your Consideration will nevertheless make you laugh, cry and reflect. 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Rental, Iowa City Public Library Rental, Vudu

2 MOVIE QUOTES TO GET YOU THROUGH THE DAY

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue” 

-McCroskey (Airplane 1980)  

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Rental, Iowa City Public Library Rental, Showtime

 

“When I was a kid, my father told me, “never hit anyone in anger, unless you’re absolutely sure you can get away with it.”

-Russell Ziskey (Stripes 1981) 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Rental, Iowa City Public Library Rental, Netflix

1 MOVIE REVIEW

The Laundromat (release late September 2019) mirrors that of a quirky comedy embracing a patchy, urgent plot, the first of many inconsistencies the film has to offer its perplexed spectators.

Steven Soderbergh’s film is a fictional world based off of Jake Bernstein’s book Secrecy World, a narrative inside the 2016 Panama Papers leak. The plot, while a comedy, is intended to educate and raise awareness of tax evasion. 

The Netflix original begins with Elle (Meryl Streep), a self-described “meek” retiree who soon endures the unforeseen death of her husband while on a boating tour. After an awkward funeral, the tourist company manager (David Schwimmer) files claims only to discover that his insurance provider is non-existent. Illusive. Fictitious. A shell company designed to disguise the wealthy’s riches. After another encounter with the ways of the well-to-do, now slightly obsessed Elle begins a hunt to these illegal offshore shell companies, starting with a trip to the Caribbeans.

Here, the film becomes somewhat dismembered.

Forget about Elle! As the film continues with various short stories narrated by a witty duo, Fonseca (Antonio Banderas) and Jürgen Mossack (Gary Oldman) in what critics compared to that of the The Big Short. What these shorts all contain somewhat likable, somewhat unlikeable fictitious wealthy individuals connected to the illegal ways that would become known as the Panama Papers. For instance, Nonso Anozie plays a father who pays his daughter hush money after the discovery of his affair. Later, the money is non-existent wrapped up in fake investments.

“The plot fells unaccomplished, however well-intentioned. I would recommend watching it still.” -Filmatorium Writer ’22

While entertaining, these shorts did not relate to Elle’s struggle or the events that followed after the first few discoveries of evidence against the antagonist. The lack of redemption leaves an unsatisfactory taste in the viewer’s mouths. Fortunately, this also sets the ending up for an unlikely hero followed by a controversial, dramatic call to action.

Where to watch: Netflix

Answers to Trivia

4. Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) reached 260 million domestically and twice as much worldwide and has lasting implications in Hollywood today. 

3. Alexander Sokurov’s experimental drama Russian Ark (2002) is a 96 minute steadicam single shot film featuring more than 2000 actors detailing 300 years of Saint Petersburg history. 

2. Island in the Sun (1957) details racial and class conflicts in the Caribbean. The film provoked protests in the South.

1. The American silent film The Power of Love (1922) was the first 3D film worldwide. Unfortunately, it is presumed lost in studio archives.