Cut the Cord: Cross Country
January 2024. Volume 3, Issue 1.
Welcome back to Cut the Cord.
It's been a while! This newsletter was one of the casualties of the summer strikes in Hollywood - a newsletter doing nothing but promote movies didn't seem like the kind of thing I wanted to be writing.
A break made me realize how unsustainable it is, on top of everything else. 10 movies for one column is a lot! But I did miss it and want to break it back, so Cut the Cord is now bi-monthly.
Every other month, I'll bring you recommendations for great movies on free streaming services, so you can Cut the Cord from the pesky streamers that raise the prices and take away their library.
This edition takes us all over the place on a cross-country road trip.
The Florida Project (2017)
The story of a precocious six year-old and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure while the adults around them struggle with hard times.
All of Sean Baker's films use their locations as metaphors for the storytelling. Tangerine is partially about prostitution on the streets of Los Angeles, Red Rocket uses the hypocrisy of politics to tell its Texas tale. The Florida Project arguably does that better than any of his other films. Told in the shadow of Florida's Disney World, it's the story of a little girl whose dreams are much more Orlando theme park than Kissimmee motel. The final scene (no spoilers) is so powerful and so earned, you can't miss that metaphor.
Heat (1995)
Obsessive master thief Neil McCauley leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective Vincent Hanna pursues him without rest. Each man recognizes and respects the ability and the dedication of the other even though they are aware their cat-and-mouse game may end in violence.
The tagline for Heat is: A Los Angeles crime saga.
That it is.
Los Angeles: Robert De Niro and Al Pacino chase each other all across L.A., from the 405 to Malibu to hole-in-the-wall taquerias to construction sites to the famous diner where those two heavyweights chat over coffee.
Crime: "I do what I do best; I take scores. You do what you do best; try to stop guys like me."
Saga: 170 minutes, all brought to us by Michael Mann.
It (2017)
In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.
Like any good Stephen King story, It takes place in Maine. But not only is it (lowercase, not capital-i) one of the best King adaptations, it also feels like the Maine that he writes about. It's quiet small-town stuff. That is until Pennywise shows up and tries to kill everyone.
It's best to forget the sequel exists.
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
The story of Fred Hampton, deputy chairman of the national Black Panther Party, who was assassinated in 1969 by a Cook County tactical unit on the orders of the FBI and Chicago Police Department.
Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton was killed by the FBI for feeding hungry children, championing fair wages and full employment, fighting for government-subsidized affordable housing, protesting unfair criminal sentencing, and representing his people.
This is that story, (one where Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield do their best work.) Yes, a distinctly Chicago story. But also, unfortunately, a distinctly American story.
Support the Girls (2018)
Lisa Conroy is general manager at a highway-side ‘sports bar with curves’, Double Whammies. She nurtures and protects her employees fiercely - but over the course of one trying day, her optimism is battered from every direction… Double Whammies sells a big, weird American fantasy, but what happens when reality pokes a bunch of holes in it?
Everything's bigger in Texas.
Unless you're at Double Whammies, a "breastaurant" that is not Hooters and never will be. The owner doesn't care, the guests don't care - the only people who care are the ladies who work there. General Manager Lisa (Regina Hall, in a performance quite similar to the one she gives in Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.) takes care of her girls, hosting car washes to help them pay their bills and "letting" new applicants (Dylan Gelula of Shithouse and Dream Scenario is a welcome sight) start working right away, but never takes care of herself.
It's a movie about people being nice to each other the best they can.
“You wouldn't understand, Mace. You're an angel sent from heaven to show the rest of us what a good attitude looks like. And for lonely old men to jerk off to. God sent you here for that too.”
Minari (2020)
It’s the 1980s, and David, a seven-year-old Korean American boy, is faced with new surroundings and a different way of life when his father, Jacob, moves their family from the West Coast to rural Arkansas. His mother, Monica, is aghast that they live in a mobile home in the middle of nowhere, and naughty little David and his sister are bored and aimless. When his equally mischievous grandmother arrives from Korea to live with them, her unfamiliar ways arouse David’s curiosity. Meanwhile, Jacob, hell-bent on creating a farm on untapped soil, throws their finances, his marriage, and the stability of the family into jeopardy.
Minari is a movie about what it means to be an American when you aren't originally from America. The Yi family couldn't find what they were looking for in California and are now looking for it in 1983 rural Arkansas.
Steven Yeun and Han Yeri raise this family in a tender portrait of growing up, finding your home, and the differences between freedom and independence. It's touching, it's funny - and it's another forgotten 2020 movie.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. Even if it’s paid, how could they get away?
Grimey and gross NYC subway hijacking film that's a time capsule for '70s New York, which is something we needed on this list. It's tight, funky, and has an ending you won't see coming. It's Robert Shaw stealing a train!
Just read this crackerjack dialogue (spoken by Jerry Stiller and a dopey yet powerful Walter Matthau) and tell me you don't want to turn it on immediately:
"What's up, Z?"
"You won't believe it."
"You know me. I'll believe anything."
"A train's been hijacked."
"I don't believe it."
White House Down (2013)
Capitol Policeman John Cale has just been denied his dream job with the Secret Service of protecting President James Sawyer. Not wanting to let down his little girl with the news, he takes her on a tour of the White House, when the complex is overtaken by a heavily armed paramilitary group. Now, with the nation’s government falling into chaos and time running out, it’s up to Cale to save the president, his daughter, and the country.
I must confess: I'm an Olympus Has Fallen guy. But while Olympus was worried about a North Korea stand-in takeover, I must confess that White House Down got it right: it predicts a right-wing, conspiracy-fueled insurrection.
I'm not kidding.
Yes, this movie you forgot about ten years ago was shockingly prescient. But we know that Roland Emmerich loves his conspiracy stories.
Hopefully he didn't predict the moon falling.
Credit: Each plot synopsis comes from Letterboxd via TMDb.