Big Night - Tucci, 1996 (rewatch)
Two Italian brothers (Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub) attempt to save their restaurant from financial collapse with one big extravagant dinner party. A perfect food movie ensues. Every morsel is lovingly shot and glows with deliciousness. The action highlights the food preparation, and we come to understand some of how everything is being made. In part, the audience is both the chef and the diner. We get to have our spaghetti and eat it too.
Tucci and Shalhoub share a fantastic camaraderie, and it make sense that they went on to immediately make another film together (the less successful but completely enjoyable
The Imposters). They speak Italian throughout the movie and pull it off like a feat. Shalhoub rocks a sassy moustache and wounded expression. I really feel as if their two characters lived whole lives after the movie is over. I'd love to know what happened to them.
And then the all-star supporting cast! Marc Anthony gives a simple, silent, and endearing performance as their sous chef. (Queen of Weirdos) Isabella Rossellini fits right into place without overwhelming the movie with her personal zazz. Ian Holm, Allison Janney, Minnie Driver. Everyone is a polished gem taken out of Stanley Tucci's pocket and set out in front of you.
The plot is such a small and relatable idea, it almost qualifies as classical unity. And it lands the ending.
Big Night is a golden nugget
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Transformers: Age of Extinction - Bay, 2014
Optimus Prime and the Autobots have gone into hiding after something happened in Transformers 3, which I didn't watch. But now the government is hunting them down and Mark Wahlberg and his hot daughter have to help them. Writing down complete sentences about the plot makes it appear so much more streamlined than the actual movie is. Transformers: Age of Extinction neither makes nor cares about making sense.
Nor does it care about sexism (surprise!). I have heard tell that in Transformers lore there are some female Transformers. But none have appeared in these films. Why? Mark Wahlberg's character has a high-strung daddy protection complex. Daddy's little girl can't kiss anyone. Why? And why all the lady legs strewn throughout the movie? Well, I know why with that. But they could just be Barbie legs for all anyone seems to care about women here.
There are some decent ideas about ethics at the core of the movie, but they were run over by exploding glass, flames, and grisly deaths. Tucci brings what he can. He's Tucci. He's alive on film. But I lol at even the existence of Kelsey Grammar at this point, so his addition added little gravitas for me. Really, there's no reason to care about anything that's happening here.