{"id":9593,"date":"2015-04-08T00:42:52","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T04:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=9593"},"modified":"2015-04-08T00:42:52","modified_gmt":"2015-04-08T04:42:52","slug":"video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html","title":{"rendered":"Video Killed the Video Star: Short Movie Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Blonde Venus<\/strong><\/em>: This is a severely odd movie. Dir. Josef von Sternberg. Cabaret star Marlene Dietrich is wooed, won, and whisked off to America by Herbert Marshall\u2026 but when she has to return to her nightclub job and Cary Grant starts tiptoeing around, all bets are off. Going in I only knew this as \u201cthe one where Dietrich sings in a gorilla suit\u201d but maybe the most memorable part of it is the extended passage in which she tries to avoid losing custody of her child due to homelessness. The ending is as rancid as Measure for Measure<\/em> but there\u2019s really no way it could be otherwise given the setup.<\/p>\n

Restrepo<\/strong><\/em>: \u201cAnd I thought, \u2018Oh snap, this is where I\u2019m gonna die.'\u201d<\/p>\n

Intimate, very short documentary portrait of US soldiers in Afghanistan. I\u2019ve seen a couple photo series of soldiers before, during, and after their time in war. It seemed like during active duty they mostly looked straight ahead: focused, confident, brows knit, intent and challenging. Both before and after they looked young and uncertain. They looked much younger after war than before it. That holds true here.<\/p>\n

No editorializing or big-picture; that\u2019s not what this movie is for. Perfect close-credits song.<\/p>\n

Memories of Murder<\/strong><\/em>: Bong Joon-ho (Mother<\/em>, which I\u2019ve seen, and Snowpiercer<\/em> which I haven\u2019t) makes a serial-killer-hunt flick and it is pretty amazing. Breathtaking landscapes, extremely brutal violence and humiliation, a backdrop of 1980s South Korean political unrest. Memorable, yeah.<\/p>\n

The Taking of Deborah Logan<\/strong><\/em>: Ferociously tense horror flick with two sharply-drawn characters at the center: Deborah, whose rapidly-advancing Alzheimer\u2019s may be hiding something worse; and Sarah, her daughter and caretaker, who is fraying at the edges as she struggles to cope with her mother\u2019s deteriorating mental state. I\u2019m hesitant to say much more. This is very effectively-done (and doesn\u2019t demonize age and weakness the way, for example, the Willard<\/em> remake did<\/a>) despite some sloppy, imo racist elements in the backstory or mythology. Ending is a bit pat. But Sarah Logan is a great horror character facing a situation as poignant as it is scary.<\/p>\n

Tapeheads<\/strong><\/em>: 1988 music-industry satire starring John Cusack in all his greasy glory, and Tim Robbins without any tics. On Netflix streaming!<\/p>\n

(Side note: One of Roger Ebert\u2019s last reviews<\/a> suggested that Miles Teller \u201chas a touch of John Cusack.\u201d There\u2019s a lot to that, but where Cusack\u2019s characters\u2019 dark side is all greasy, self-justifying flop sweat, Teller\u2019s have an ability to switch on a kind of instant dead-eyed nihilism. Cusack is all, \u201cI\u2019m gonna get your money, okay, you\u2019ve gotta give me some time here,\u201d and Teller\u2019s just, \u201cYeah we\u2019re done.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Every detail in this movie is perfect. I grinned my way through it. It\u2019s that buoyant \u201980s sweet-smell-of-success thing, all the morality tales are postponed, let\u2019s make lots of money<\/a>. And we\u2019ll have fun fun fun \u2019til atomics blow the Commies away! \u201cCashflow, cashflow, cashflow!\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re gonna make him eat that syllable.\u201d \u201cJosh, the man is dead! You\u2019re not gonna get a different line reading!\u201d The birthday party in the after-hours building, toward the start of the movie, is one of the all-time great party chaos scenes in cinema. The women hanging batlike upside-down in the elevator!<\/p>\n

That distinctive brownish haze over LA. Those amazing commercials for Roscoe\u2019s Chicken and Waffles!<\/p>\n

Menudo (which becomes an excuse for a specific type of obnoxious racial humor, the thing where it\u2019s supposed to be hilariously awful and yet relatable when white people are terrible to everybody else\u2013\u201cnot cute\u201d is I think the best way to summarize my problem with this), but also JELLO BIAFRA AND TED NUGENT, that happened. Credits include \u201cFetish Video Directrix\u201d and \u201cAssistant to Catfish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roses are red,<\/p>\n

Violets are blue.<\/p>\n

The Russians have satellite weapons;<\/p>\n

Why can\u2019t we have them too?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blonde Venus: This is a severely odd movie. Dir. Josef von Sternberg. Cabaret star Marlene Dietrich is wooed, won, and whisked off to America by Herbert Marshall\u2026 but when she has to return to her nightclub job and Cary Grant starts tiptoeing around, all bets are off. Going in I only knew this as \u201cthe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[119,47,483,51,57,114],"class_list":["post-9593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","tag-horror","tag-killing-in-the-name-of","tag-marlene-dietrich","tag-so-far-from-god-so-close-to-the-united-states","tag-sweet-smell-of-success","tag-the-day-the-world-turned-day-glo"],"yoast_head":"\nVideo Killed the Video Star: Short Movie Reviews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Blonde Venus: This is a severely odd movie. Dir. Josef von Sternberg. Cabaret star Marlene Dietrich is wooed, won, and whisked off to America by Herbert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Video Killed the Video Star: Short Movie Reviews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Blonde Venus: This is a severely odd movie. Dir. Josef von Sternberg. Cabaret star Marlene Dietrich is wooed, won, and whisked off to America by Herbert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-08T04:42:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html\",\"name\":\"Video Killed the Video Star: Short Movie Reviews\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-08T04:42:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-04-08T04:42:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415\"},\"description\":\"Blonde Venus: This is a severely odd movie. Dir. Josef von Sternberg. Cabaret star Marlene Dietrich is wooed, won, and whisked off to America by Herbert\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Video Killed the Video Star: Short Movie Reviews\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/\",\"name\":\"Eve Tushnet\",\"description\":\"Conservatism reborn in twisted sisterhood\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415\",\"name\":\"Eve Tushnet\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eve Tushnet\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/author\/evetushnet\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Video Killed the Video Star: Short Movie Reviews","description":"Blonde Venus: This is a severely odd movie. Dir. Josef von Sternberg. Cabaret star Marlene Dietrich is wooed, won, and whisked off to America by Herbert","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Video Killed the Video Star: Short Movie Reviews","og_description":"Blonde Venus: This is a severely odd movie. Dir. Josef von Sternberg. Cabaret star Marlene Dietrich is wooed, won, and whisked off to America by Herbert","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html","og_site_name":"Eve Tushnet","article_published_time":"2015-04-08T04:42:52+00:00","author":"Eve Tushnet","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eve Tushnet","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html","name":"Video Killed the Video Star: Short Movie Reviews","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-08T04:42:52+00:00","dateModified":"2015-04-08T04:42:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415"},"description":"Blonde Venus: This is a severely odd movie. Dir. Josef von Sternberg. Cabaret star Marlene Dietrich is wooed, won, and whisked off to America by Herbert","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/04\/video-killed-the-video-star-short-movie-reviews.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Video Killed the Video Star: Short Movie Reviews"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/","name":"Eve Tushnet","description":"Conservatism reborn in twisted sisterhood","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415","name":"Eve Tushnet","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eve Tushnet"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/author\/evetushnet"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}