Scream 4 (2011)

Nearly a dozen years after the end of the original Scream trilogy they made Scream 4, to comment on reboots and changes in 21st century horror films, but mostly to make money. A lot of attractive 20- something's and up and comers in this, and most of them die. Better then Scream 3. **1/2

Trouble with the Curve (2012)

A likable enough flick, The Trouble with the Curve is a father/daughter bonding movie by way of way of sports film, he (Clint Eastwood) is an aging pro-baseball scout, she (Amy Adams) is a young lawyer on the verge of being made partner. The two travel around the Carolinas together and eventually work through their old emotional baggage. Justin Timberlake plays Ms. Adams love interest, he was born in 1981 and she in 1974, having the woman be the older partner in a cinematic relationship is rare enough that it might be the most unusual thing in this conventional, but likable film. **1/2

First Man (2018)

Two things about the very existence of this film struck me as odd before I even saw it. 1) First Man is director Damien Chazelle's follow up to La La Land, and other then the presence of Ryan Gosling as the male lead these movies are nothing like each other. 2) Why hasn't there been a major Hollywood film about Neil Armstrong before? I mean he was the first man to set foot on the moon, that's an inherently cinematic story. Also its been nearly 50 years, why did it take so long for him to get his own movie? Well I think I found the answer to that latter question, the reason there hasn't been a Neil Armstrong film up till now is likely because he was a very boring man. Now he's an interesting man in what he did, I mean not only did he go to the moon, but he survived a lot of things he probably shouldn't have survived before then because he so damned competent. However Armstrong was very much a man of his time, a mid-century, mid-westerner who kept his feelings to himself, and this movie does a good job of dealing with that dynamic of its central character, Gosling does a fine job inhabiting him in a nicely understated performance. Still a dullish central character lends a bit of dullishness to the proceedings. Buzz Aldrin on the other hand, as essayed by Corey Stoll, is an amusing blunt fellow.

Claire Foy, who seems very much the "It" actress right now does a great job as Neil's first wife Janet. I knew basically nothing about Mrs. Armstrong going into the film, but Ms. Foy gives a fine performance and makes her feel real and rounded out. This movie fires on all cylinders technically, and while a lot of the NASA stuff we've in seen in film going back at least to Apollo 13 in 1995, it's the portions on the Moon that really adds something fresh. We don't see the surface of the moon in films often, and the quality of the footage from that first lunar landing is so visually poor and hard to make out, it was nice to see this event depicted in HD. I had not made out previously the little pulley system that was attached to the astronauts belts as they disembarked, and how that worked. You see how the camera that took  the moon landing footage folded out from the side of the lander, and how desolate, quite, and beautiful the surface of the moon must have appeared. As a human story First Man felt constrained, but as depiction of one of the most impressive things human kind has every done, its worthwhile.

On the controversy over this film not depicting the planting of the American flag on the surface of the moon, before seeing the film that did appear to be a glaring oversight, having seen it now a depiction of that moment would have really messed with the flow of the piece. Very little time in this movie is actually spent on the moons surface, I don't know if that counts as a spoiler or not. Anyway I did not get the feeling that any slight was intended by the omission of that moment. ***1/2

Phantoms (1998)

Phantoms is based on a novel of the same name by Dean Koontz, and watching it I couldn't help but think that this same basic story would have been better if Stephen King had wrote it (not that King is without his bombs, see, or rather don't see, Graveyard Shift, The Dark Tower). An ancient evil wipes out a small Colorado town leaving only a small handful of survivors, and leaving them for a reason, but what? Weinstein produced film plays like something made for TV. The film features Ben Affleck on the verge of his stardom, Rose McGowan, Live Schreiber, and somewhat bafflingly Peter O'Toole. It's pretty bad, but still watchable once. *1/2

The Faculty (1998)

The Faculty is a 1990's high school variant on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. My sister is a big fan of this movie so I'd seen parts of this before but this was the first time I'd watched it straight through, better then I thought it was going be. Good cast. ***

The Changling (1980)

Not to be confused with the 2008 Angelia Jolie vehicle Changeling, which is based on real events, The Changeling is a haunted house movie filmed in 1979 and staring George C. Scott and his real life wife Trish Van Devere, one of several films the couple made together. I saw this in a revival showing at The Tower theater in Salt Lake, immediately after seeing the 1932 film The Old Dark House, interestingly both movies feature Melvin Douglas. This movie helped me coin a phrase for a certain type of film which I'm calling 'a big grin movie'. 'A big grin movie' is a film in which something I'm not expecting to happen happens, and I'm so happy about it that I wear a big grin on my face. The 'big grin moment' in this movie happens about half way through and I so didn't see it coming, and it so changed the character of the film for me that I just fell in love with it. I owned a copy of this movie within an hour of finishing it in the theater. If your looking for something you likely haven't seen this Halloween id'd recommend. ****

This would probably have been a *** or ***1/2 star movie but the Big Grin moments pushed it up a notch.

The Old Dark House (1932)

The Old Dark House is a 'old dark house movie', five travelers get standard at an isolated mansion one dark and stormy night, and the proprietors of said property, well they be hiding something, but what? A real good cast including Boris Karloff, Melvin Douglas, Gloria Stuart, Raymond Massey and Charles Laughton in his screen debut. Directed by James Whale this is his follow up horror feature to the tremendously successful Frankenstein, The Old Dark House however was a disappointment at that US box office but did well in the directors native England where the story is set. Whale's good friend Ernest Thesiger has a part in this film as one of the odd residents of the titular old dark house, Thesiger would later appear as Dr. Pretorius in Whale's The Bride of Frankenstein, by far the theater actors best known screen role. The story of The Old Dark House is based on the 1927 novel Benighted by J. B. Priestley, that novel apparently has a lot to do with post World War One disillusionment, there are some remaining vestiges of that plot element in the Melvin Douglas characters backstory, but for the most part that is left out of this screen version, makes me curious about it though. This is an extremely satisfying movie, it has everything you could want from the premise, and packs a lot into a lean 72 minutes, which is good because I think this film benefits from a short running time, you wouldn't want to stretch this material out unduly. I was lucky enough to see this movie in an old theater that dates back to the era when this film first came out, that definitely added to the experience but I'd say it is well worth seeing at home. ****

Winter's Bone (2010)

This is the movie that really launched Jennifer Lawrence's career, and she certainly deserved the attention and credit she got, it is a true breakout performance. Winter's Bone is based on a novel of the same name by Daniel Woodrell and is directed by Debra Granik, who has a very small cinematic canon of only three features, but I should probably check those other two movies out because this was an excellent film. Set among the rural poor of the Missouri Ozarks this film reminded me a lot of my mission, when I spent a good amount of time among the rural poor of the Appalachian south. This is a film about the quest for survival, Jennifer Lawrence's Ree Dolly, who is only 17, must search for her missing father, a sometimes meth maker, when his not making a court appearance could cost the family their home, where she lives with her two younger siblings and her disabled mother. The search is not easy, and there is a scene in this film, and you know it if you've seen it, that is horrifying in a way that I have never been horrified by a film before. Lawrence was Oscar nominated for this at 20, and John Hawkes, who players her uncle in the film, was also nominated, both deservingly so. Calling a film unforgettable is probably an overused phrase, but this movie would be hard to forget. ****

Silverado (1985)

A local theater here has been showing older movies for less then two dollars a ticket so I've gone to see an number of them, mostly movies I'd seen before like the 1938 Robin Hood, An American in Paris, The African Queen and Field of Dreams. I don't know if I had ever even heard of Silverado before, so I came into the film knowing very little about it, beyond that it was a western, who was in it and who made it. So my expectations were practically non existent, and this film really won me over. It's got about everything you could want in a western except for Indians, there is a wagon train, settlers in trouble, a corrupt cattle baron, gamblers, saloon girls, gun slingers of both the crazy and crazy good variety. The cast is also excellent, Kevin Kline gives a great character performance, and a unique one too, I've never seen quite this guy on film before. Also there is Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese, Jeff Goldblum and Linda Hunt. Lawrence Kasdan directed and co-scripted, he is responsible for some of the best  Star Wars and a master of constructing a mythic narrative. This film should be much better remembered then it is. ****

Jane and Emma (2018)

A very different kind of Mormon movie, oh darn, am I suppose to write the Church's full long name out each time now? Jane and Emma tells the story of Jane Manning, a free back convert to the LDS faith, and Emma Smith, wife of the prophet Joseph, as they spend a long night guarding the recently martyred body of the latters husband at the Mansion House in Nauvoo in 1844 (there are also a lot of flashbacks). The details of this night are fictional, there is no evidence it ever took place, but rather this long night of the soul serves as a dramatic device to have these two real, historical characters express a lot of feelings. We tend not to see Church history movies like this, told from the point of view of women, told in a manner respectful of faith, but not glossing over historical unpleasantness. A decade or so ago a movie came out called Emma Smith: My Story, which told the story of the prophets wife in a manner fit for a Relief Society classroom, there was only one mention of polygamy in it, and all Emma said was 'I don't like to talk about it'. In Jane and Emma polygamy gets more then one mention, and you see not just Emma's disappointment with the practice, but her downright resentment of it, this feels both understandable and true to me, to our knowledge it is also quite historically accurate. None the less Emma still really loved her husband.

Jane is the kind of the figure who is getting a second look in Church circles. The history of race in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a complicated one, Jane embodies this, she was very much a believer and loyal church member, but she had every reason not to be and that should make her story all the more inspiring to the faithful. There has been a shift, in large part necessitated by easer access to historical materials and previously non mainstream information, wherein the church and its members have had to confront, and gotten more comfortable in confronting, ambiguities and uncertainties in its history. Jane and Emma is in many ways a perfect encapsulation of this, this movie could not have been made by the faithful of 20 years ago, it represents a maturing that should be applauded. It is also a compelling movie, with fascinating central characters and strong performances by leads Danielle Deadwyler and Emily Goss. A worthy and successful experiment. ***1/2

Scream 3 (2000)

This one has a 'once to many times to the well' quality to it, thought at the same time has been very much constructed as a capstone to trilogy, and I appreciate that the creative powers decided not to milk this franchise indefinitely, that would have defeated its purpose. I liked some things about this film, but for the most part it felt very repetitive, and touches on an 'uncanny valley of self awareness'. I really didn't like the ending. My favorite cameo of this film (which actually has quite a few them) is B movie impresario Roger Corman as a studio executive. Also I think this was Emily Mortimer's first or second role in an American movie. **

Scream 2 (1997)

I would say that Scream 2 is the best of at least the original trilogy (Scream 3 review forthcoming, Scream 4 on my 'to watch' list). While with the first film the series was still figuring out what it was, by the sequel it knows, and given that this horror franchise is a knowing tribute to horror franchises its appropriate and meta that Scream would do well  with a sequel (it came out only a year later as well, so this was rushed). The film is marginally better then the original, it finds a way to effectively twist on the villains, given they had already been unmasked in the original, or had they? I liked that this film was set on a college campus, there is a lot of fan service here, arguably too much in the way of homages to the first one, but it kind of had to be like that, its in the nature of this beast, it would be wrong if it wasn't so self referential. My stand out cameo in the first film was 'The Fonz' Henry Winkler as kind of a tight ass high school principal, in 2 the stand was David Warner, who had played Jack the Ripper in Time After Time, as a college drama teacher. ***

Scream (1996)

The Scream franchise is a piece of 90's pop culture that I only glimpsed at a distance at the time, I was not watching R rated movies back then. Watching it now Scream tells me that I might almost be ready to embrace some real 1990's nostalgia, in contrast to my present preference for the 1970's.

Scream was considered very inventive at the time of its release, and at the that time it honestly was rather innovative. It was a meta- horror  movie, credited as the first horror film in which the characters in the film had seen other horror films (that's not entirely true, off the top of my head I can site Return of the Living Dead as an example of this from about a decade earlier). The film takes horror movie conventions and lightly satirizes them, while at the same time still working as an example of the genera at which it takes these knowing glances. Interestingly this a Wes Craven film, and Craven of course helped shape many of the horror movie clichés this film and its sequels have fun with. Though Craven had apparently first done this meta sort of thing  in one of his later Nightmare on Elm Street movies, the Scream franchise is where this really took off.

I liked Neve Campbell in this, she's a good actress, and in fact having an actresses of her caliber in these films is itself a meta commentary on earlier slasher and franchise horror films, which of course are known for using lesser caliber actors. Scream has some pretty good 90's names in it, with Courtney Cox, Matthew Lillard, and David Arquette being the best remembered. Of course Drew Barrymore has a memorable cameo role at the beginning of the film, a sequence that really got a lot of pop culture attention at the time and starts the film off strong. The ending of this movie, an even longer extended sequence is also quite good, its the middle that feels a little stretched out and doesn't have all that much to offer. On the whole though certainly this was something of an achievement, it plays well now but seeing it at the time of its initial release you know it packed more of a wallop. ***

Black Christmas (1974)

Canadian produced early slasher film from A Christmas Story director Bob Clark. This is the movie were the genera cliché line "he's calling from inside the house, the killer is inside the house" comes from. The house in this case is a sorority house, the movie begins at the start of Christmas break, and among the sorority girls are Olivia Hussy and Margot Kidder, both seem a little to old for their roles. It keeps things interesting with the killer, who spoiler..... we never learn who he is. The sequences with the community being organized to search for a missing girl, I really liked that, it felt real, their was a civic sense there you don't often associate with horror movies. Smarter then what this genera would become, I recommend it. *** 

St. Vincent (2014)

It's one of the most Joseph Campbellian of all stories, the young man and his mentor, and that's why we keep coming back to it, it's iconic, it's mythic, it's true. In this case the story is of the extremely polite but social awkward son of a recently divorced mother and his crotchety neighbor turned babysitter. You get more of a performance then your used to out of Bill Murray in this, he's not just playing a version of himself like usual, Vincent is more evolved, an actual character. In fact that is the thing I loved most about this movie, the characters, and how they interact with each other. I loved Murray and Jaeden Lieberher together, I loved Naomi Watts Russian prostitute, Chris O'Dowd's ironist priest, and Melissa McCarthy's decent, hard working, conflicted mother. I haven't enjoyed a comedy on a character level so much since maybe She's Out of My League. A treasure this one is. ***1/2

The Creeping Terror (1964)

Widely regarded as one of the worst movies of all time The Creeping Terror is about an alien space craft that crashes in rural California and unleashes a genetically engineered monster upon the populace, a monster that looks like a giant slug by way of Chinese new years dragon, but made out of old rugs. The story of the films creation is more interesting then the film itself, directed, produced, and staring first time filmmaker Vic Savage, the script was by Robert Silliphant, the brother of the popular television writer Stirling Silliphant, who had co-created such hit series as Route 66, and The Naked City. Filmed off and on over the course of about two years Savage sold bit parts in the film to locals in exchange for their investment in it, which is why the monster attacks start to get so repetitive, he is trying to squeeze everybody into the film by having the monster attack him. Savage filmed portions of the film without sound, necessitating a cheesy, after action report narration to hold the movie together and to cover for the audio gaps. As the film neared completion Savage become subject to multiple lawsuits, so he literally just disappeared, apparently dying of liver failure under an assumed name in 1971. Savage's story is the subject of the 2009 book A Hollywood Con Man by Lois A. Wiseman. For those who are curious but don't think they can stand to watch the whole thing unaided, the series Mystery Science Theater 3000 did an episode on the film that would probably make watching it easier. *

The Children Act (2018)

Ian McEwan adapted his own 2014 novel of the same name for this nicely understated film about a serious subject. The Children Act in The Children Act is an actual British law passed in 1989 to guide government agencies, the courts etc. in looking after children's best interests in legal matters. Emma Thompson plays the Honourable Mrs Justice Maye DBE a respected, high profile family court Judge in London. As her long, generally happy, but childless marriage to her husband Jack (Stanley Tucci) is entering a crises, centered on his desire to have an affair due to her lack of sexual interest in him, Justice Fiona May gets assigned a life changing case. Fionn Whitehead is Adam Henry, a devout Jehovah's Witness boy three months shy of his 18th birthday, suffering from Leukemia he is destined to die if he does receive a medical treatment involving blood transfusion, something that is forbidden by his faiths doctrine. Justice May must make a decision that is literally life or death for Adam, and in the end must deal with the consequences of that decision, which are not going to be what she is expecting. It's really an interesting dilemma, the answer might seems obvious at first, but there are implications that go beyond law, or even right and wrong, but to the very core of someone's identity. A really good part for Ms. Thompson and good supporting performances all around. It will make you think. ***1/2

Tombstone (1993)

Text conversation I had with a friend about this movie:

Me: "I'm really surprised how much I'm hating Tombstone."

Friend: "Really?!? I'm surprised by that."

Me: " I just can't get into it, it's very blah. Great cast wasted."

Friend: "Your not into Doc Holliday? I thought it was a lock that you'd like that movie."

Me: "I was expecting to like it to. It is one of those movies that keeps making me think of better movies. Even Open Range is a better movie. I'm about halfway through maybe it will grow on me. Val Kilmer's Doc isn't doing anything for me, though I kind of like Powers Booth's Lee Marvin impression."

*1/2

Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)

With Fahrenheit 11/9 Michael Moore is asking you to find him relevant again. From its very title, a play on Moore's 2004 box office busting documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, and the date on which Donald J. Trump's victory in 2016 election was announced, you already know what you think about this movie. Moore is nothing if not consistent, this movie contains rehashes of his signature bits, such as Moore going to a public place to confront a nemesis, in this case Michigan's state capital building to perform a citizens arrest on it's Republican governor Rick Snyder, invasions of personal space, here spraying polluted water from the city of Flint on the same governors lawn, commiserating with poor people, criticizing powerful people, gallivanting around the country, exhausting his editor, and otherwise preaching to the choir. Fan service in this movie includes Hitler parallels, a digression on Trumps sometimes creepy relationship with his oldest daughter, and playing the theme from the movie The Omen over footage of  Trumps 2016 election night victory party.

Moore can hardly be accused of breaking new ground, both in style and in the movies signature observation, that much of America today is politically broken. Other then Trump, both as problem and symptom of problem, the film seems to lack a central focus and skips around from topic to topic and story to story, poisoned water in Flint, teachers strikes in West Virginia, gun violence in Florida. This movie is a collage, and perhaps of most value long term as a time capsule. Fifty years from now students will be using this movie to cram from their poli-sci test on Trump era America.

For some the most surprising aspect of this movie will be the degree to which Moore goes after Democrats. Institutional bias against Bernie Sanders candidacy during the primaries is explored, the calcified leadership is criticized, even a particularly jarring and poorly executed PR stunt by Barack Obama, involving a glass of water in Flint, is righteously called out. The movie is a call to arms, but not particularly clear on what that in tells, other then that new blood is needed. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is interviewed, as are other defiantly leftist insurgent candidates across the country, largely women and people of color.

There is a certain schizophrenic element to Moore's political approach in this movie, which I actually think many people share as regards their reaction to the 2016 election. He bemoans Hillary's loss, while at the same time implicitly bemoaning Hillary. Moore is one of those Ralph Nader supporters who can never quite forgive himself for Florida in 2000, and while he would love radical change, he will gladly prop up a lackluster establishment to keep the barbarians at bay.

Mr. Moore is still a very capable filmmaker, he brings a 99 year old former Nuremburg prosecutor on screen and you want to weep for the mans service, he shows you a montage of Hawaiians reacting to what ultimately turned out to be a false incoming missile warning and you ask yourself, why have I never seen this presented so well and kinetically before? Moore has a habit of imposing himself too strongly on his material, self regardingly preening in a way that you will seldom see a man that schlubinly do. Fahrenheit 11/9 doesn't climb any new mountains, its not great, but through talent and an interesting array of subject matter it does slide into being a good, and occasionally (for some at least) even thought provoking movie. So I suppose he's a little relevant. ***