Huk! (1956)

 Stirling Silliphant adapted his own novel about white plantation owners battling communist gurillas (the titular Huk) in the early 1950's Phillipines. Movie has an intriguing enough premise and the benefit of being filmed on the locations depicted, but its just so bland. There are a couple of okay action set pieces but the film lacked characters to care about. In regards to Mona Freeman's love triangle between George Montgomery and John Baer, I would advise her to go back to the States and find herself some better options. *

Cassandra's Dream (2008)

'Cassandra's Dream' is a dark-ish drama from Woody Allen's "British period". Brothers Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor are in desperate need of money for their own reasons, their wealthy uncle Tom Wilkinson offers to set them up, but in exchange they've got to kill a man for him. Morality tale lays it on rather thick and never quite hits what its aiming for, do they? Allen does this basic idea better in 'Match Point' and 'Crimes and Misdemeanors'. **

Killer's Kiss (1955)

 The last Stanley Kubrick film I had yet to see, 'Killer's Kiss' is the directors second feature. While the story is kind of cliche the visual sense is strong with lots of cinema verite shooting around New York City; for a long time TCM used some clips from this movie in their night time programing bumpers, something I didn't know until I watched the movie and recognized the shots.

Jamie Smith is a boxer who early in the film loses what could have been a career making fight. In the aftermath he befriends a neighbor (the striking Irene Kane) whose boss (Frank Silvera) is causing her problems. Someone ends up murderd.

Lean, low budget film is better then it has a realistic right to be, given the humble circumstances of the production. The black Silvera's obsession with the white Kane is rather daring for the time. *** (This would have been a ** film if not for its artistry in presentation.)

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

 In middle school (in the mid 90's) I had a friend who claimed that 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' was his favorite movie. It seemed an unusual choice for a 14 year old boy, so I've been meaning to see it for nearly 3 decades but just hadn't gotten around to it. I was expecting to see Hugh Grant persue Andie MacDowell over the course of the titular five social gatherings, though the film has more gravity then just that. It's charming, but not quite as good as I was hoping for. ***

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

 Based losely on a 1926 Austrian novella (translated title is 'Dream Story', by Arthur Schnitzler), 'Eyes Wide Shut' holds the Guiness certified record for the longest continous film shoot at an even 400 days. Director Stanley Kubrick submitted his final cut of the film six days before dying of a heart attack in his sleep.

 Staring Tom Cruse and Nicole Kidman as their real marriage was deteroting and famous for an operatic orgey scene, the contoversal film attracted a curious audience and made $162.1 million at the box office off a $65 million budget. Critics were genrally positive, it has a 76% on Rotton Tomatoes.

"I don't know what this is", is the phrase that kept coming to my mind as I watched the film, trying to figure out how to pin it down, what lense to use on it, how to process what I was seeing. In hind sight the answer is obvious, an unusually artistic erotic thriller. It's a film very interested in lines, there being crossed or headed. It's extremely sexual in focus, most scenes are either people having sex, or have just had sex, trying to get sex, or considering having sex. 

The orgey scene, built up in reputation over all these years, wasn't nearly as debauched as I'd been expecting. The film is artifical in sets, often (intentionaly) stilted in language. It goes from flat to intense, it has a dreamy quality, I'd describe the film as being high. 

The plot is fairly simple, after a longish pre amble at a Christmas party (this is a Christmas movie), doctor Tom Cruse has a fight with wife Nicole Kidman, there are mutual charges of adultery. Dr. Tom gets summoned to a night time house call, then decides to take his time coming home, makes a number of stops along the way, one of which leads him to the aforementioned operatic orgey; a decadent, ritualistic, masked affair, his attendance has consequences that play out over roughly the last third of the movie. 

It's very well made, it's surreal, it has a number of things to say. The secret society aspect, that's a puzzler. What does it mean? Why is it there? It's a comment on the larger themes, but why this particular device? I didn't love this movie, but it is rather mysterious and very intriguing. I think I'll have to watch it again and see what more I can sift out. ***1/2

Variety (1983)

 Michigan transplant Sandy McLeod gets a job taking tickets at a 42nd Street porn theater called Variety. There she becomes increasingly obsessed with this new seemy world and a regular patron with possible mob connections (Richard N. Davidson), all to the growing concern of her investigative journalist boyfriend Will Patton. A young Luis Guzman has a supporting role, Spaulding Gray a voice cameo.

Probably the best known film by indie director Bette Gordan, the screenplay is by Kathy Acker, a former sex worker who became a Pushcart Award winning novelist. This film loves its long takes, which along with all of the shots of period New York City gives it a quasi documentary feel. This thing gets pretty tense. ***

White Reindeer (2013)

 Suzanne Barrington (Anna Margaret Hollyman) is a DC area realtor in her early 30's, whose meteorologist husband (Nathan Williams) is killed in a home invasion robbery 24 days before Christmas. After the funeral her late husband's best friend tells her that her spouse had an affair with a stripper for several months about a year ago. Suzanne tracks the woman (Laura Lemar-Goldsborough) down and the two actually become friends.

 This friendship is the start of a series of out of character behavioral changes Suzanne adopts in an attempt to deal with her situation; behaviors that include giving up meat, snorting Cocaine, spending sprees and attending her neighbors orgey, an awkwardly funny sequence that ends with the participants playing the Rock Band video game. 

Despite everything that happens to her Suzanne remains a fundamentally good person, who through the course of several unusual nights realizes the need to get herself together for the good of others as well as herself.

Low budget, independent film never fully realizes the promise of its premise, but it comes damn close. Uneven, characters sometimes seem like they are in different movies (I'm thinking of her boss in particular), but the dark comedy sometimes works and there are a couple of scenes I found downright moving, one even borderline profound. A movie I'd like to digest for a while and then revisit. ***

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

 'Tokoyo Godfathers' is a Christmas anime movie, perhaps the only one. Inspired by the 1948 American film '3 Godfathers', which in turn was a comic riff on the three wise men from the Nativity story, and probably also the inspiration for 'Three Men and a Baby'. 

Three unhoused persons, a drunken bum of a man, a theatrical trans woman and a reticent run away teen girl, find an abandoned new born baby in some garbage. The trio debate options ranging from keeping the child to turning her into the police, but ultimately decided to try tracking down the baby's parents. 

The trio thus embark on an epic journey across Tokoyo, using some pictures and a key left with the child as clues to her origin. The baby is seemingly endowed with serendipitous powers, our hero's surving things they shouldn't and encountering providential people along the way. We slowly learn each characters backstory and how they ended up on the street, with all being forced into personal growth as they attempt to help the baby find its proper home. A sweet tail of grit, a tragic and heartwarming adventure. ***1/2

8-Bit Christmas (2021)

 '8-Bit Christmas' is essentially a remake of 'A Christmas Story', updating the setting from the 40's to the 80's and the object of the young leads Christmas desire from a BB gun to a Nintendo. "You'll shoot your eye out" becomes 'you'll rot your brain'. The film employes a 'Princess Bride' style framing story, borrows a little from 'The Goonies' and has plenty of John Hughes references. 

Another movie that leans overwhelmingly on 80's nostalgia, so over done. Plodding, dull, lazy, I found it a slog to sit through and would not have finished it had I not been watching it with someone else. I liked the parents, especially June Diane Raphael, but also Steve Zahn, their characterizations are hardly deeply drawn but everyone else is so paper thin I simply could not care about them. Film tries to redeem its self with a sentimental ending, but I ain't falling for it, I sat through too much to get there. I hated this. *1/2 (the half star is for the parents performances)

Eileen (2023)

It's circa 1965 and Eileen Dunlop (Thomasin McKenzie) is 24 years old. Four years previous she left college and moved back to her small Massachusetts town to help take care of her sick mother. In time mother died and with her sister married and living some distance away, Eileen stayed in town to take care of their father, a (forcibly) retired Sheriff whose an alcoholic and verbally abusive (Shea Whigham, whose good in these kind of parts). Eileen drives a smoke prone car to her job at what appears to be the towns major employer, the state juvenile detention facility,  where she is a kind of junior secretary whose chief responsibility is checking in visitors. Eileen is naive, melancholy, very lonely and starved for physical affection.

It's December and the facilities psychologist has just retired, replaced by a glamorous and unconventional lady doctor from out of town named Rebecca (Ann Hathaway). Rebecca takes an interest in Eileen, who quickly becomes enamored by her. They share an interest in the mystery of a quite young inmate who brutality murdered his father, there also seems to be some forbidden romantic sparks generating between the two women. Rebecca invites Eileen over to her house on Christmas eve and... well as much as I'd like to talk about it, I'm going to leave the narrative here.

'Eileen' is the biggest surprise I've had at the movies this year. A grey, understated, slow burn of a film with nods to Alfred Hitchcock and Douglas Sirk. A character study and sort of unconventional mystery. 'Eileen' is a near under the radar film that deserves a bigger audiance. ***1/2

All is Bright (2013)

 Turns out there is a Paul Giamatti Christmas movie between 'Fred Claus' and 'The Holdovers', it's called 'All is Bright' and is from Phil Morrison the director of 'Juneberg'. Two Canadian ex cons and semi-estranged friends (Giamatti and Paul Rudd) try to go legitimate by selling Christmas trees in a New York City neighborhood. Good performances from the two leads and Sally Hawkins as a Russian woman who befriends Giamatti. Drull, sour story slow burns its way to some charm. **1/2

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

 'Ghost in the Shell' is a real classic in the anime genra, a big name title there and one that had a large enough impact to become semi well known outside of anime circles; also there was a white washed live action remake with Scarlett Johanson that attracted some controversy and a genrally blah reception back in 2017.

Set in 2029 the film concerns Mj. Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg security agent who along with her team go up against a powerful hacker out to disrupt important diplomatic talks. This is a reasonably good action sci-fi movie with a couple of interesting ideas in it. Motoko is naked a lot in this, starting two minutes in, she has a camouflage/ invisibility power that apparently she has to be mostly nude to use, this no doubt helped the film with its target demographic. Motoko's voice sounds so much like Alexa that's got to be intentional. **1/2

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)

 In this first sequel to the 1984 original, Ricky takes over his dead brother Billy's calling to punish the "naughty". Movie makes extensive use of footage from the first film, retelling the story of the original movie in flashback for about the first 40 minutes! This greatly pads the pictures 88 minute run time. 

The movie proper has young Ricky being adopted by a nice Jewish couple, the better to avoid further Christmas related trauma. Things go well for years, but eventually an 18 year old Billy stumbles upon an attempted rape, which is when his killing spree starts

Even sillier then its predecessor, lead Eric Freeman is a real ham, and he's not the only one. The "garbage day scene" is internet famous, but there are wilder deaths on display here. The film gets rather meta when Ricky goes and sees a movie about a guy in a Santa suit killing people and they use clips from the first movie in that as well.

Mother superior finally gets her comeuppance,  that and the overall weirdness of the film make it watchable despite the repetitive first half. *1/2

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

 'The Boy and The Heron' is to be the last film from Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, who came out of retirement to make it and turns 83 in January. Mahoto Maski is an adolescent boy whose mother dies in a Tokyo fire about mid way through World War II. A year later and Mahoto's father Shoichi has married his late wifes younger sister (who is now pregnant), as well as relocated the family and his aircraft factory to his wives ancestral estate.

There a large gray heron takes an unusual interest in Mahoto, who finds this threatening and tries to kill the bird. When Mahoto's pregnant step-mother / aunt goes missing the heron revels its self to be a kind of anthropromorphizing spirit guide tasked with helping him find lost family.

The heron takes Mahoto on an 'Alice in Wonderland'/'Wizard of Oz' type journey into another world populated by the dead, unborn spirits, versions of people he knew in life, soul eating pelicans, fascistic parakeets and a mysterious wizard. There is a lot going on in this movie.

Imaginative and with moments of real beauty, this took a while to get going and I found that I had a harder time connecting with it then is usually case for me with Miyazaki movies. However even lower tear Miyazaki is of greater quality then most anything else out their in terms of contemporary animated film making. This one just wasn't one of my favorites of his. ***

True Believer (1989)

 Eddie Dodd (James Woods) was a legendary, crusading hippie lawyer in the New York of 60's and 70's, but for the last 10 years or so he's been making a living principally by getting drug pushers off. Roger Baron (Robert Downey Jr.) is a recent University of Michigan law graduate, who travels to New York with the dream of working with his idol. Eddie hires Roger but the latter's evident disappointment in him, prompts his taking of the case of a Korean American man who killed someone in self defense in prison.

 Roger quickly comes to the conclusion that his client Shu Kai Kim (Yuji Okumoto) shouldn't be in prison at all, that he didn't commit that China Town gang murder 10 years before. The more Eddie and Roger dig, the more opposition they encounter, from everyone from the D.A.'s office to Neo Nazi's. Reinvigorated by again fighting injustice, Roger finds his life in danger and uncovers a conspiracy with larger frightening implications.

This is good. This is what I some times call "the 4 star 3 star movie." It does what it does exceptionally well, but without breaking any new ground or doing anything standout stylistically. James Woods, while kind of a creep in real life, is a great actor, it's also fun to see Robert Downey in the young whipper snapper role. The likable Margret Colin plays Dodd's chief investigator and Kurtwood Smith the imposing D.A. Capable direction from Jospeh Reuben from a pretty smart script by Wesley Strick, who would have a big hit the next year with 'Arachnophobia'. ***

Raising Buchanan (2019)

 Two women desperate for money (Amanda Melby and Cathy Shim) take advantage of a highly unusual situation to abduct the body of former president James Buchanan and hold it ransom. They are disappointed when no one is willing to pay for the corpse of arguably America's worst president. Rene Auberjonois plays a sort of vision of Buchanan who appears to Melby and they needle each other. M. Emmet Walsh plays a hospace patient who refuses to die, much like M. Emmett Walsh, while Andy Dick's part was recast due to sexual battery allegations. Comedy is very nitch, and it's a nitch I'm in. **1/2 

The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

In 1880's Nevada, a diverse assemblage of citizens must decide if they are a proper posse or a lynch mob, when they encounter 3 men with possibly stolen cattle in the aftermath of a local ranchers shooting. Rumination on ideas of justice and mercy, vengeance and order. Large cast includes Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Jane Darwell, Harry Davenport, Anthony Quinn and Colonel Potter. William Wellman's short and sleek morality tale from the novel by Walter van Tilburg Clark was nominated for best picture. When the lone black man in the group  stands up for the acussed I cried a little. ***1/2

My Five Wives (2000)

 Rodney Dangerfield cracking sex jokes at nearly eighty. Real-estate developer Rodney aquires five improbably hot wives as part of buisness transactions in Utah. Trouble is mobster Andrew Dice Clay wants the land and wouldn't mind some of the wives. Blah comedy is not very funny, but at times nice to look at. *1/2

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

 I have a suspision that the title 'Godzilla Minus One' loses something in the translation, but what it intends to convey is that this is a Godzilla movie set before the 1953 original; not that we should take any kind of continuity with that or other Godzilla movies to be implied, this is a reboot.

Ryunosuke Kamiki is a fighter pilot in the waining days of the Second World War, he first encounters Godzilla on a small Japanese island, he freezes up, fails to act and as a result only he and one of his companions survive the attack. When rescue finally arrives they assume the Americans are responsible for the devastation, the two survivors opt not to correct them. 

Shortly after the war ends, Ryunosuke returns home in disgrace to a largely ruined Tokyo, he finds that all his family has died in the firebombings. He takes in Minami Hamabe, a young woman similarly devoid of kin and the baby girl she rescued from a dying mother's arms. The three orphans gradually become a kind of family. 

Ryunosuke takes work detonating discarded mines left in Japanse waters, two years pass. Godzilla, now mutated from American nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll, re-emerges, attacks shipping and heads for Tokyo. When the monster arrives those scenes look great on an IMAX screen. 

The movie plays things rather straight, it consciously avoids camp though occasionally veers into melodrama. It makes clear early on that it is to be an extended rumination on survivors guilt, but it's more then that. The filmmakers use Godzilla as a means of exploring the ambivalent feelings of the Japanese people to the then recently concluded war. It uses the giant lizard monster as a kind of catharsis, giving its many emotionally wounded characters an unambiguous evil to fight and save their homeland from. In doing this it's kind of beautiful, Godzilla meets Dunkirk. 

The movie pulls its unusual blend off admirably, what few things I might have tweaked in it don't matter much. American Godzilla movies, even the good one, don't seem to have much to say, it's a Japanese monster best suited to a Japanese psyche, about which it has alot to tell us. ***1/2

High Voltage (1929)

 Stiff early talky. Passengers on a bus in the High Sierras get stranded, take refuge in an abandoned church, harp on each other and encounter criminals before being rescued. Carole Lombard's talking debut. **

The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968)

 'The Night They Raided Minsky's' is one of the film titles on a marquee in the background of 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood', which is how I became aware of it. The movie is now pretty obscure, but there is actually a lot of talent behind it. 

The 1960 novel 'The Night They Raided Minsky's' is losely based on a true story. There really was a burlesque house called Minsky's in New York in the 1920's, it really was raided (multiple times) and is allegedly the birth place of the strip tease. The allegedly true story is that one night a performer began undressing as she came off stage, hearing a positive response from the audiance she came back on stage to continue undressing. The novel changes details of the story and greatly expands on them.

The novel was the subject of a bidding war, Debbie Reynolds was interested in the project as were some Broadway producers, ultimately those projects came to naught and the property ended up in the hands of United Artists. A pre sitcom era Norman Lear (interestingly I watched this the day he died at 101, but didn't learn of his death until the next day) decided to make this a follow up project to his successful 1967 picture 'Divorce American Style'.

Lear produced and co-wrote the picture, but brought in a young William Frediken to direct. The music and songs were done by the team of Lee Adams and Charles Strouse, who had done the same on 'Bye Bye Birdy', remarkably as of this writting both are still alive and in their late 90's. Andrew Laszlo, who would later do the cinematography on projects as different as 'First Blood' and 'Newsies' would shoot the thing.

On the screen you have Elliot Gould in his first speaking part and Bert Lehr in his final screen appearance. Lehr, best known as The Cowerdly Lion in 'The Wizard of Oz', had actually worked in burlesque houses early in his career, he died during filming from a cancer he apparently didn't know he had, most of his scenes had already been shot so they edited around him.

A scene stealing Norman Wisdom and Jason Robards play the comedy team at the center of the story. Robards was a last minute replacement after Tony Curtis left for creative differences and Alan Alda had a scheduling conflict, I think the film is better for his presence. Britt Ekland plays the naive Amish girl who accidentally invents the strip tease. She appears nude very briefly in the film, later in 'The Wicker Man' she would use a body double. Ekland would file for divorce from husband Peter Sellers four days before the films release. In interviews she has stated this is her favorite of the films she appeared in.

Shot in late 1967, the initial rough cut of the film was deemed by studio exec David V. Picker as being the worst he had ever seen. Deciding that the film would need to be saved in the editing (director Frediken would acknowledge not knowing what he was doing on this project) an entire nine months was ultimately alloted for that process. Editor Ralph Rossenblum, who would later become Woody Allen's preferred film cutter, would state that he initially took the job because he figured a musical comedy would be a quick edit. Splicing in clips from period newsreels for effect, there are 1,440 cuts in the finished film.

Released in December of 1968 'Minsky's' got generally positive notices from critics, and while I couldn't find exact figures it apparently did better then the studio had anticipated. A charmingly grubby film, it's sadly mostly forgotten. If the concept of the film isn't a turn off, I would recommend. ***

Samson and Delilah (1949)

 'Samson and Delilah' is the film that Cecile B. DeMille is shown making during his cameo in 'Sunset Boulevard', that brief snippet is principally what I knew of the movie, that and the Bible story on which it is based. Upon reading that narrative in Judges 13 - 16 on my current read through of the Old Testament, I decided that was a good excuse to finally see the film. I was also mildly surprised to read that 'Samson and Delilah', which was released in December of 1949, went on to be the highest grossing film of 1950, $25.6 million off a $3 million budget.

This movie is not very good, a silly, corny Biblical epic with brightly-colored costumes and sets. The story is tweaked to make Samson's two Philistine love interests, Semader (Angela Lansbury) and Delilah (Hedy Lamar) sisters, to give the latter a more personal motivation for her betrayal, blaming Samson for the death of her sister and father. Samson's strength is said to come from his never cutting his hair, which aside from a not very convincing braid is hardly long. The acting also isn't very impressive, the dialogue about the same, it's honestly a pretty bad movie. George Sanders "I'm better then this" performance as the Philistine King, the occasional moment of spectical, and Hedy Lamar with her sexy outfits are about all that make this watchable. *1/2

Le Divorce (2003)

 'Le Divorce' is a romantic comedy-drama from James Ivory of Merchant-Ivory fame. Kate Hudson travels from California to Paris to visit her half sister Naomi Watts. Watts is pregnant with her and husband Melvil Poupaud's second child, but he walks out on her in favor of a Russian girl. Hudson gets a job working for ex pat American writer Glen Close and persues a relationship with Poupaud's neocon uncle Thierry Lhermitte, whose older sister Leslie Caron does not approve. There is also a dispute about ownership of a painting, which art appraiser Bebe Neuwirth thinks may be a lost work of Renaissance artist Georges de La Tour, so Hudson's parents Sam Waterston and Stockard Channing as well brother Thomas Lennon fly over to maintain the family claim. Stephen Fry is here and Matthew Modine is stalking about up to no good and there is just too much going on.

Starts out promising enough but becomes a tangled mess. It's a comedy only in a very abstract sense and takes an unexpectedly dark turn about 2/3rds through. A fair amount of this is pretty good, but again there is just too much going on, too many characters, too many stories. A leaner version of this film may have worked, but this one never quite coalesced. **1/2

No Hard Feelings (2023)

 Concerned about their Princeton bound sons (Andrew Barth Feldman) lack of social skills, rich parents Matthew Broderick & Laura Benanti hire local hot mess Jennifer Lawrence to date him over the course of the summer in Montauk, Long Island. Apatowian mix of raunch and heart is sometimes too on the nose, but enjoyable light comedy all the same. Lawrence and Feldman have a good chemistry. Film was critized about the age difference mainly from the left, there was a time in my memory where this criticism would have been mainly from the right. The point of mildly transgressive comedy is to be mildly transgressive and their is still an audiance for this, though not as much as there once was, $89.5 million off a $45 million budget. ***

Napoleon (2023)

 Throughout my viewing of 'Napoleon' I kept thinking of how impressive it was, on ts own merits of course, but also more so to think that an 85 year old man made this. Ridley Scott's bloody spectical of a bio-pic covers the career of Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoniex, excellent) from the beheading of Marie Antoinette in 1793 to his own death in exile on the isle of Saint Helena in 1821, with emphasis on his obsessive relationship with first wife Josephen (Vanessa Kirby, also excellent).

 Alternating between success and failures on the battle field to success and failures in his personal life, it's a remarkably well paced film that covers alot of ground in 2 hrs and 38 minutes, apparently there is a nearly 4 hour directors cut that should become available shortly. 'Oppenheimer' is the only thing I've seen this year that competes as a big screen experience, it feels like your watching the kind of epic that could have come out 50 or 60 years ago, it just looks great. The supporting cast don't have a ton to do, this is Napoleon and Josephene's story and all the better for it. Impressively old school while still seeming vital and current. ***1/2

Love Life of Adolph Hiter (1948)

 'Conform or Die' aka 'Love Life of Adolph Hitler' aka 'Will It Happen Again?', is a documentary film from Dwain Esper, explotation king of the 1930's remembered for such titles as 'Sex Madness', 'Maniac' and 'How to Undress in Front of Your Wife'. This promised to be memorabley strange, instead it was a very standard (if poorly edited) documentary about not only Hiter, but also fellow oppressive dictators and important WWII heads of state Mussolini and Stalin. The film does claim without evidence that Hitler had some secret childen, but that is about the only way it deviates from the standard narrative. Disappointing. *1/2

The Kid Detective (2020)

 At the turn of the Milleniaum Abe Appelbaum was a beloved small town "kid detective", solving mysteries like 'whose been borrowing bikes without permission' and 'who stole the schools time capsule'. Twenty years later he is played by Adam Brody and is a pathetic figure, still solving local low stakes crimes for a largely kid clientele, still haunted by the one mystery he was unable to solve, the disaperence of a classmate. Now Abe is approached with another real case, a 16 year old boy who was violently stabbed to death, his investigation leades him from the school and the candy store, to the dark underbelly of his small town, as he searches for the answer to the mystery and a form of self redemption. Expertly navigating shifting tones 'The Kid Detective' is a low key little gem that goes to unexpected places. ***

Lying Lips (1939)

 One of independent movie maker Oscar Micheaux's mostly black casts for mostly black audience films. 'Lying Lips' stars Micheaux regular Edna Mae Harris as a successful night club performer, on failing to nudge her into prostitution her bosses frame her for the murder of her aunt, which was conviently perpetrated by a third party, some of her bosses are her cousins and would like to collect the insurance money. The story odd, the acting and dialogue poor, the exposition embarsingly heavy handed. There is a sequence where the cops take a suspect to a suposedly haunted house to scare information out of him. A fair bit of the film is set in a night club so we get to see bits and pieces of various black acts performe, which is the chief historical value in the film. *1/2

Midnight in the Switchgrass (2021)

 'Midnight in the Switchgrass' is a dull, derivative but competently enough shot thriller about a series of prostitute murders in the Florida panhandle. Staring Emile Hirsch, Megan Fox, Lukas Haas and Bruce Willis in verbal decline, which is less noticeable then it might have been because some of the supporting players line delivery are so awful. *1/2

Private Parts (1997)

 Roger Ebert really liked this film, in fact he thought Howard Stern should do more acting. I rather liked this film, but think Stern wise in not doing more acting. 'Private Parts' is based on Stern's memorie of the same name and concerns the early part of his career. This 1997 release has Stern play himself from his college years to early 30's, so it winds up about 1985.

 The film is principally about Sterns struggles with censorship, Howard crosses the line a number of times but the film is still fun. Simultaneously a bio-pic and a raunchy comedy it works as both. Stern idealizes his tolerant wife Alison in this (played well by Mary McCormick), sadly the couple would separate a few years after the release of this movie and later divorce. Howard is now married to a woman who looks more his physical ideal. Also featuring a young Paul Giamatti playing suitably exasperated. ***

A Star is Born (1976)

 The third version of 'A Star is Born' is the first to shift the narrative from the film to the music industry. Kris Kristopherson is the fading rock musician, alcoholic and difficult, Barbara Streisand is the fresh young talent he discovers while sluming at a small club. Gary Busey plays Kris's manager, one of the few times he gets to play a stabilizing influence. 

A rambly film, the arc of the other versions is followed, there is a legitimately great Oscar winning song for Streisand to sing, but the rest of the music is really nothing special and overall the film is surprisingly dull. Frankly it feels half assed, a real disappointment, if I hadn't set my heart on seeing all four of these movies I don't think I'd have bothered finishing it. This movie lacks charisma. *1/2

Freejack (1992)

 In 'Freejack' Emilio Estevez is a racecare driver killed in a racing accident in 1991. At the moment of impact Estevez's body is abducted through time ("freejacked") to the year 2009, with the intent to implant the consciousness of a dying billionaire into his bod. Complications arise in that it turns out Estevez is only "mostly dead", he escapes, pursued by Mick Jagger and seeks help from old manager David Johansen and old love Renee Russo. While not unwatchable this movie is really bad, cliché, corny and clunky. Within 10 minutes of screen time two separate villians pull the exact same trick on the good guys, who semi fall for it each time. The movie wants to make out Jagger and Estevez as near evenly matched rivials with mutual respect, but I just can't buy Emilio as anyone's nemesis. Russo's complete lack of aging in 18 years isn't even commented on in the film. Even Anthony Hopkins, who has a mid sized role in the film, felt is was quote "terrible". *1/2

The Holdovers (2023)

 Preferring quality over quantity 'The Holdovers' is only the 8th feature film from one of my favorites, director Alexander Payne, who made his debut with 'Citizen Ruth' in 1996 but is probably best known for 'Sideways', 'Election' and 'The Descendents'. 'The Holdovers' is Payne's second teaming with star Paul Giamatti, 2nd film centered on a teacher/student relationship and first period piece. 

Set at a New England preparatory school in 1970, Giamatti is a grumpy, one eyed classics teacher saddled with watching those students with nowhere to go during the 2 week Christmas break, the titular "holdovers". Starting with 5 students events transpire to take 4 of them off his hands (not a spoiler it's in the trailer). This leaves Paul to watch over bright but troubled and troublesome student Dominic Sessa with the help of staff cook Da'Vine Joy Randolph, who is mourning the recent death of her only son in Vietnam. 

The three central characters all have legitimate grievances with life, they have gotten the short ends of their respective sticks, been wronged and been to varying degrees embittered. During their prolonged stay in each other's company, both at the school and on a trip to Boston, they slowly find some solace in each other's company, connect and ease each other's burdens some. It is a beautiful movie, best new release I've seen this year, I don't want to say too much about it and would encourage almost anyone to see it. ****

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Party Girl (1995)

 In 'Party Gitl' Parker Posey stars a Mary, a 20 something, directionless, Manhattanite, "party girl" who changes the course of her life after becoming a library clerk and romancing a Lebanese street vendor (Omar Townsend). This movie is very "90's indie", but in a good way, that is a label I don't always mean in a good way. The film is remembered today chiefly for establishing Parker as a Gen X "It Girl", her wardrobe, and her characters diverse cast of friends, both ethically and in terms of sexual orientation and identity. The film is full of little subplots including a rivalry between falafel vendors, Mary's Godmother's menopause, Rene's AA involvement and vendetta against a particular record producer, and Derricks quest to find that German guy named Karl he really hit it off with at a party, turns out his name was Kurt. **1/2

Party Girl (1958)

Patrick McGilligan's biography of Nicholas Ray is pretty dismissive of 'Party Girl', and apparently Ray himself thought little of the film. A throw-back gangester picture, it was a "director for hire" job, the studio system was slowly dying and MGM was squeezing out a final movie on stars Cyd Charisse and Robert Taylor's expiring contracts. I entered with rather low expectations, but as the film went on I found myself getting involved.

I don't think I'd seen quite this story before, but somehow its premise still seemed tired. It's depression era Chicago and a skilled but self hating lawyer (Taylor) finds in the love of an aging party girl (Charisse) the inspiration to set his life aright and buck the mob. Charisse is fine, pretty and there, Lee J. Cobb solid as always, but it's Taylor (along with some tight direction) that sells the show.

 I simply hadn't paid much attention to Robert Taylor before, I'd seen him in a few things though he hadn't left much of an impression. Here Taylor is world weary, an idealist at heart who hasn't lived up to his own standards, it's cost him a marriage and much of his his self respect, he's a bit of a drinker but well compensated by his criminal employers. Cid Charisse in her mid 30's is an aging club performer (giving her an excuse to show off her famous legs in some dance numbers), she supplements her income as an escort, yet atypical of that trade she refuses to put out. Not giving up on her small town values inspires Taylor, in time he stands up to mob boss Cobb, whose chief henchmen John Ireland abducts Charisse from the supposed protection Robert had negotiated with politically ambitious DA Kent Smith. With acid to face threatened against his love, Taylor must figure out how to save both her, and his newly restored self respect.

This worked for me. Started kind of slow and not all that interesting, but the cain sporting Taylor has presence from the get go, and as I got to know him and see his relationship with Charisse grow, I found I cared. Ray allows for a slow buildup and then rings plenty of tension out of the final act. Somehow new life is brought to a genra a quarter century past its heyday. Not the most original but surprisingly solid. ***

Driftwood (1947)

 A precocious, Bible quoting orphan (Natalie Wood, the same year she stared in 'Miracle on 34th Street') stirs up and sets right a small Nevada town. Dean Jagger is the town doctor, Ruth Warrick the school teacher, Jerome Cowan the Mayor, Walter Brennan the cranky pharmacist and Wicked Witch of the West Margret Hamilton his employee. Low rent Republic Pictures attempt at a "prestige picture", syrupy but endearing. A major plot point is the locals resistance to getting vaccinated. ***

Tea and Sympathy (1956)

In 'Tea and Sympathy' John Kerr and Deborah Kerr (no relation) reprise their roles from the hit Robert Anderson Broadway play of the same name. John plays an effeminate young man at a Massachusetts prep school, his classmates have taken to calling him "sister boy", Deborah is the 'house mother' to whom he has grown unusually close. In an effort to prove his masculinity John trys to sleep with a local lose woman, he fails to seal the deal, so Deborah sleeps with him.

It seems clear that John is supposed to be gay, but this was rendered ambiguous on the stage and further diluted for the screen, adding a framing device to assure us that 10 years later John is happily married, also that Deborah has been suitably punished for her infidelity; interestingly Deborah implies that husband Leif Erkison is a closeted homosexual. 

Elia Kazan who directed the 'Tea' on the stage,  refused to do the film version because he knew the studio wouldn't let it reach the screen intact. So, Vincent Minnelli takes over and does a fine job, the film is sturdy enough with standout central performances from the two leads. Feature plays things extremely safe by modern standards, feels kind of silly at times, Tennessee Willaims this is not, but for a period studio production it's kind of bold. I wasn't expecting that much from this, but the Kerr's won me over. ***

The Van (1977)

 Horny recent high school grad Stuart Goetz buys a sweet van to get laid and drag race, succeeds at both. Sex comedy/vansplotation film is thin on plot and heavy on the 1970's. A pre star Danny DeVito plays Goetz boss at the car wash, Sammy John's 1975 hit 'Chevy Van' is played many times despite the van being a Dodge, there is a fair amount of nudity and remember "NOBODY calls Dugan a TURD!" **

Priscilla (2023)

 'Priscilla' is a bio-pic of Priscilla Presley based on her 1985 memoir 'Elvis and Me'. Adapted and directed by Sofia Coppola, the story fits perfectly into her filmography, as every movie she's made is on some level about the angest of the teenage girl. Priscilla was disconcertingly young when she began her relationship with Elvis, while the film spans from just before their first meeting until she finally walks out on him, it spends most of its run time on those early years.

Elvis seems to have been granted an unusual amount of deference during his late 1950's  military service in West Germany. He sent the camps entertainment director out with the apparent instructions to get him a teenage girl. Priscilla Ann Beaulieu, an army brat, was approached at a diner and invited to a party at Sargent Presley's off base home. Priscilla was 14, Elvis a decade older. 

The two spent a lot of time together, but shortly after Presley's honorable discharge in 1960, it was radio silence from him for about two years. Contact was reestablished in 1962, Priscilla made a brief visit to Graceland and a short time later moved in with the Presley's and finished high school in Memphis. Priscilla's parents are depicted as polite to Elvis, but uncomfortable with the whole situation from the time of their daughters first meeting him, however Priscilla's misery in Germany and various reassurances prompted them to relent to the unusual situation.

Jacob Elordi gives us one of the least showey depictions of Elvis I've ever scene, it helps that almost all of what we see of Elvis here is when he is not performing, we never hear him sing and there are no Elvis songs in the soundtrack. While Elvis is often depicted as manipulated by others, particularly his manager Colonel Tom Parker (who is referred to but never shown on screen), here we see an Elvis who can manipulate. The performance raised for me the question of how much of Elvis's quarks and excesses were the result of the extremely odd life situation he found himself in, and how much was inherent to the man himself. He had a temper, though was seldom violent, and a purity obsession with Priscilla, while they would sleep in the same bed, she was still a virgin on their wedding night, five years after they started living together.

While Jacob Elordi gives us something new in his portrait of Elvis, this is Cailee Spaeny's film. She is the center point, the anchor, a solid presence, it is her story. She is called on to do alot of things and to do them subtly. There are alot of changes over the course of this 14 year relationship, they need to seem natural and they do. The later years are dispatched efficiently, the early ones go at a slow pace, we see the youthful enchantment and the slow disillusionment. Ms. Spaeny is 25, but believable as a middle teen in looks and bearing. Much here is heartbreaking and disturbing, but her performance is honest and largely avoids melodrama. 

The movie is about as unostentatious as a story about the Presley's could reasonably be. Sofia Coppola is restrained here, there is not alot of flourish, stylization is as minimal as Graceland will allow. I hesitate to say low key, but kind of low key. Impressive all around, one of the highlights of the movie year. ***1/2

Babylon 5: The Road Home (2023)

 'Babylon 5: The Road Home' is the first animated 'Babylon 5' production, as well as the first time existing franchise characters have appeared in new onscreen material since 'Babylon 5: The Lost Tales' in 2007. Like 'Lost Tales', 'The Road Home' was released direct to video. With roughly half the main cast having passed on since the series ended in 1998, 'Road' brings surviving actors back for their parts and uses voice performers for those whose have passed on, the new Doctor Franklin is almost uncanny in how much he sounds like the late Richard Biggs.

One of the things I loved about B5 was how interconnected everything was and how most everything we saw on screen was building to something else, even the storyline in 'Lost Tales' about the late Emporer Cartagie's illigmate son was clearly building towards his future regin, even if we never get it's pay off. 'The Road Home' indulges the current trend to time travel/multiverse narratives, so the story here is really a culdisac, with no true bearing on the larger 'Babylon 5' story. Still, what series creator JMS is going for here is the warm fuzzies, a character reunion, if it sells well Stracynski has indicated Warner Brothers openness to doing more of these, then maybe well get a story about the telepath war or finally meet Sheridan and Deleen's son David.

What we get in this outing is a mixed bag, I wasn't sure what to make of it on first viewing but watched it again the next day and liked it more. There is not much to the story, it felt repetitive and Micheal Joseph's sentimental streak and occasionally hooky, jokey dialogue are on full display here. Still it has its moments, we get to have scenes between characters who never meet each other in the series, Commander Sinclair of season 1 and Captian Lochley of season 5, plus Lochley and Zatherus, the latter unseen since season 4. Also we get to see the road not taken, the destruction of Babylon 5 by Shadow forces is something we saw brief prophetic glimpses of in the series, but was ultimately avoided by what had been the franchises only time travel narrative; here we get to see how that last stand might have played out. I also enjoyed the visit to the timeline where the Shadow War never happened, things are pretty uneventful and calm there.

So ultimately I did enjoy 'The Road Home', this may be the last hurrah and can be appreciated as such, or it may open the door to many hinted at but unexplored side narratives in the 'Baylon 5' universe. **1/2

Bend of the River (1952)

 While Jimmy Stewart is known for his multiple colaberations with filmmakers like Frank Capra and Alfred Hitchcock, his most frequent director was the now largely forgetten Anthony Mann, between 1950 and the close of their business relationship in 1955 they made eight films together, five of them westerns. Mann along with Hitchcock helped shape the harder edged post war Stewart persona.

'Bend of the River' was the pairs second movie. Jimmy Stewart is a man with a past in Missouri, who sets out for the Columbia River country to reinvent himself as a farmer. While guiding a wagon train west he saves Arthur Kennedy from a hanging and the two later kill some Indians together who have attacked their caravan.

On a stop in Portland we accrue more characters, including a gambler with a hart played by Rock Hudson and an unfortunate racial stereotype played by Stepin Fetchit. Months pass, the homesteaders homestead and then Stewart and community leader Jay C. Flippen go back to Portland for some previously paid for winter supplies. An influx of miners have inflated prices and Stewart and allies (some of them paid and not exactly loyal) must steal their own goods and set up River in Chubby Johnsons River boat, unscrupulous buisnessman Howard Petrie sends a possie on horses to intercept.

The above summery only gets us about 50 minutes into the movies 91 minute run time, it also leaves out the many subplots, including Stewart's possible romantic intrest in either of Flippen's two daughters, Julie Adams and Lori Nelson. There is alot going on in this movie, the story takes some unexpected turns as shifting loyalties and madness are signatures of Anthony Mann westerns. On par with the better known 'Winchester 73' and The Man from Laramie', solid, satisfying, and mythic. ***1/2

Suspiria (2018)

 It's rare, in my estimation, for a remake to be of similar quality to the original, typically the two film versions of 'True Grit' are my platonic reference point for this phenomna, but I must say that the remak of 'Suspiria' comes pretty close to that rarified company.

I think I'll always like the 1977 original a little more, because of how it looks, because of the originally, because it was my introduction to Dario Argento and because of Jessica Harper. The 2018 'Suspiria' is so different from its predecessor that "remake" isn't really the best word for it, "re-imagining" better captures the gist.

The 2018 'Suspiria' is the directorial debut of American screenwriter David Kajganich, I've not seen anything else he's done but it appears he works mostly in horror. The skeleton of the original film is kept, at least towards the beginning, but the lead girl (this time played by Dakota Johnson, who I think looks surprising good as a redhead) has her previously scant backstory changed and expanded; a minor psychologist character is substantially reworked and given a much bigger part, some supporting characters from the first film are dropped but the mid 70's West Berlin setting is kept and some real period historical events are woven in as counterpoint. While not as rich and exaggerated as in the first film, the visuals here are still distinctive and strong. The cast is also full of rather stronger actors then the original.

I hesitate to say much about the plot, at least as it varies from the original. Again, a new girl has come to the prestigious old dance academy, she finds odd goings one and we follow her reactions, but so much is different. These differences fascinate me, particularly a change in one of the characters that makes me want to rewatch the film, with an eye to spoting when exactly that character makes a very important decision.

I found this 'Suspiria' to be gripping and weird and unexpected, scary in a way even more cerebral then it's predisascor. One of the three or so most artistically impressive horror films I've seen in the last 10 years. ****

Totally Killer (2023)

 'Totally Killer' is basically 'Halloween' meets 'Back to the Future'. In October of 1987, three of Pam Miller's (Olivia Holt) best friends are killed by the "Sweet Sixteen Killer", whose MO is stabbing 16 year old girls 16 times. As a result of this traumatic youth full experience, 36 years later Pam Hughes (now played by Julie Bowen) is a more then normally protective mother to her 16 year old daughter Jamie (Kiernan Shipka). Jamie has grown dismissive of her mother's seeming paranoia, but then the Sweet Sixteen Killer reemerges and kills Pam!

Helpfully Jamie's best friend Amelia (Kelcey Mawema) has been trying to complete the time machine her mother started working on in the 80's, so you can see where this is going. In course of story Jamie finds herself stranded back in 1987, where she enlists her best friends future mother (Kimberly Huie) to fix the photoboth time machine, while she works to stop the Sweet Sixteen Killer and save her mother and her friends.

I enjoyed this, it's an interesting blend, derivative sure, but fun and mixes things up just enough to occasionally surprise and deliver a workable sense of tension. Woke Gen Z teen encountering the non PC, 80's world of her Gen X parents proves a good source of humor, be it the horrors of a racist school mascot, problamatic non consensual touch, and my favorite bit, no one bothering to check her fake cover story; she just shows up at the school claiming to be a Canadian exchange student and the receptionist hands her a class schedule. 

Again I liked it, knowing the story now I will probably watch it again soon to see if 1987 Sheriff Randall Park is right, that time travel movies (though fun) never make sense. ***

Two Evil Eyes (1991)

Picked a horror something out of my Prime que, proved to be one of those serendipity things, dovetailing nicely with Netflix's recent 'Fall of the House of Usher' limited series, is 1991's 'Two Evil Eyes', an anthology film based on works by Edgar Allen Poe.

In segment one George Romero adapts and directs 'The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar". Trophy wife Adrienne Barbeau and her doctor lover Remy Zada, try to cover up the death of her elderly rich husband for a couple of weeks so some checks can clear; this is complicated by Valdemar's (Bingo O'Malley) continuing to talk after his death. Pretty standard much of the way, but the creepy supernatural pay off worked for me. How on Earth is Detective Robert Atkins going to write that up in his report?

Segment two 'The Black Cat', directed and co-adapted by Dario Argento (I'd wanted to work something of his in this October). Photographer (of rather gruesome crime scenes) Harvey Keitel's music teacher girlfriend's (Madaline Porter, she's intriguing but dosen't have much of a filmography) cat murderously does not like him and the feelings mutual. This one goes rather WTF about 20 minutes in, does a real good job with the tension.

Both segments are set in Pittsburgh. I thought Romero's segment was all right, but I really liked Argento's. So segment 1 gets **1/2 and segment 2 gets ***1/2. Collectively I give this ***

Dumb Money (2023)

'Dumb Money' is based on the true story of that surge in GameStop stock a few years back, where the sickly company went from trading at a low $2.57 a share in April of 2020, to a high of $483 a share on January 28th, 2021. The particulars of how and why this happened are not entirely understood, but what seems to have set it off is the online opinions of a small time Massachusetts financial analyst named Keith Gill. Gill went all out bullish on the stock, buying $53,000 in shares and inspiring others not just to buy in, but to hold. Ultimately this unanticipated surge in the value of a supposed joke of a stock, put tremendous pressure on hedge funds that had banked on GameStop failing, the ripple effects of this cost and made fortunes and changed investing practices on Wall Street.

A sort of cousin to 'The Big Short' this is a triumph of the little guy, feel good film with a good sense of humor. Paul Dano plays Keith Gill, Shailene Woodly his wife and Pete Davidson his underachieving, comic relief brother. Nick Offerman, Seth Rogan and Vincent D'Onofrio are wall street guys, America Ferrera, Anthony Ramos and Talia Ryder play some of the real life small time investors who helped pushed the stock up and reaped the benefits. Set against the backdrop of the pandemic, it's interesting to see masks and the recent past on screen. The Wall Street guys in this are mostly white, as they tend to be, but the small investors are a racially and sexualy diverse cross set; the thing is its not "woke", it's what really happened. A solid little movie of a refreshingly different story. ***

Valley Girl (1983)

 'Valley Girl' is a star crossed romance between a suburban valley girl (Deborah Foreman) and a Hollywood punk enthusiast (Nicolas Cage). Iconically 80's film is remembered for its soundtrack and snippets of slang, a time capsule that's almost worth the watch just for its period shots of the Sunset Stip and Hollywood Blvd. What makes the movie work as a ground level viewing experience however is its so well cast.

Cage is good of course, but how come Foreman didn't have more of a career? Each of Deborah's three besties has at least a little bit of a story, with Elizabeth Daily being the stand out. I rather liked Deborah's hippie turned health food store proprietor parents; they're good, loving parents, they know their daughter well enough to trust her decisions, they're chill where genra convention would call for kill joys. I also enjoyed how they chose to get high to deal with the existential angst of their daughter going to junior prom. Cameron Dye was a great, has your back friend for Cage, even when Nic was being difficult. I liked these characters. Even Deborah's old boyfriend Micheal Bowen wasn't so much of a jerk that you couldn't see his appeal. The movie works, where it could as easily not have, had it been given less care. ***

I Know Who Killed Me (2007)

'I Know Who Killed Me' is an apparent attempt to make a Giallo, David Lynch and Lifetime movie all at the same time. This weird assemblage of parts is under the direction of Chris Silverton, whose been more then 20 years in the industry but hasn't made a single other film I've seen or even heard of, this project was beyound his abilities.

A notorious flop which took in less then half what it cost to make and has a rather pathetic 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It is arguably the film that killed Lindsay Lohan's career. In an attempt to break from her Disney past Lohan plays a stripper, and also a high school student abducted by a serial killer, though these maybe the same person experiencing a psychotic break.

A fascinatingly inept piece of film making, it plays almost like the story was made up on the fly. It's strangeness, It's pure "off" quality retained my interest, at a certain point reaching a manic crescendo that was almost delightful. Ultimately what we get is a dark re-imagining of 'The Parent Trap' by way of 'Silence of the Lambs'. This movie was awful, but I plan on seeing it again. *1/2

The Vampire Lovers (1970)

In 'The Vampire Lovers' sexy lady vampires frolick and feed in 18th century Austria. Based on the 1872 novella 'Carmella' by Sheridan Le Fanu, which delt with vampires 26 years before Bram Stokers 'Dracula', it is also the first entry in Hammer's 'Karnstein Trilogy', followed by 'Lust for a Vampire' and 'Twins of Evil'. The film is shockingly erotic, best remembered for its lesbian romance between Ingrid Pitt and Maddy Smith. Aside from the lovely ladies and any scene with Renton the butler (Harvey Hall)  it's pretty dull, but it doesn't really need much else.  ***

Knock on the Cabin (2023)

SPOILER-ISH

A gay couple and their daughter are held captive at a Pennsylvania vacation cabin by a diverse group of vigilantes, who insist that one of the three must die to prevent the apocalypse. A pared back psychological horror by M. Night Shaymalan, complete with so many of the tropes he's established over the years. We have stilted, unanutal dialogue, an interguing enough premise stumblingly executed, odd characterizations, people watching 9/11 type world changing events on screen, a confused sense of messaging with vaugly religious overtones, a sprinkling of flashbacks to do  heavy lifting, a director cameo, and the signature "twist".

While Shaymalan movies became known for their twists early on, I think the director has become less interested in these over the years. This my represent one of the few ways in which M. Night can be said to have grown as a director over the years, or it may be yet another example of how he has gotten lazier. So basically there are two ways to go with the vigilantes mission, either they are correct and there is an apocalypse waiting in queue, or they are off their rockers. The latter option would represent a real risk and departure from Shaymalan's earlier work, so guess which way he went? 

This is an awkward movie, silly at its core, it is so predictably Shaymalan that it's hard to believe it is based on a novel. There is one reflective moment near the end that I thought kind of worked, and their are a few lines which indicate that what happens in the cabin represents a once in a generation test of the human spirit, something acted out on a small scale throughout human history to prove if our species is worthy; now that is intriguing. On the whole however, it's just not very good, it failed to elicit the stong emotional sense, from both actors and myself, which the thing needed. For a would be auture with such a promising start, it floors me that N. Night Shaymalan is a noticeably worse film maker now, then he was twenty years ago. His film made me mildly mad. Also the special effects were embarsing. *

Freddy's Dead the Final Nightmare (1991)

 Number 6. This one is pretty damn bad, worst yet. Set 10 years in the future, so 2001. Springwood is finally given a definitive location, the state of Ohio. Freddy got lose again and has killed EVERY SINGLE CHILD in Springwood, save one who got away and who he's now after. 

We get more Freddy backstory, turns out he has a biological child who was taken away from him, which prompted the string of child murders which ultimately got him killed. We also learn that three ancient demons are responsible for Freddy's repeated returns, take away the demons protection, make him mortal again, and you can finally kill him for good, maybe.

I kind of liked the video game sequence, and Yaphet Kotto is in this as a sort of dream therapist, I usually like Kotto but there is little to his part here; there is little to anything here. Random, cheap feeling, the 2nd in the series to have no returning characters beside Freddy. There are also a number of odd celebrity cameos, presumably because this was to be the last one, including Johnny Depp and Tom and Rosanne Arnold.

While not the last Freddy Krueger movie, this can be said to be the end of the franchise proper. While Robert Englund would return to the role for two more films, they would be a proto Scream meta movie (Wes Craven's New Nightmare) and a cross over with another 80's horror icon (Freddy vs. Jason). I think this will also be the end of these movies for me this year. I give the "final" entry *

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

Having killed all the Elm Street children, Krueger's path to further victims was through the dreams of the blessed and cursed Alice Johnson (Lisa Wilcox). Since Alice became a true 'Dream Warrior' Freddy's path was blocked. However, Freddy found a way through via the dreams of Alice and Dan's (Danny Hassel) unborn baby, the 'Dream Child' or 'Dream Fetus'. Yeah this one's pretty bad, though I kind of admire the writers persistence in keeping everything connected through a seemingly improvised form of quasi-logic. There are some reasonably creative set pieces and they bring Krueger's mother back, but at this point the series is running largley on cheese and momentum. *1/2

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

They never come out and say it, but it's implied that Freddy's grave is disturbed and that is what allows him to come back in part 4. He makes quick work of 2 of the 3 surviving Elm Street kids from the last movie, then he takes out Kristen, a role originated by Patricia Arquette, but here taken over by Teusday Knight. So Freddy wins, he does what he set out to do and has successfully killed all of the Elm Street children.

However, while dying Kristen reached out to her friend Alice Johnson (Lisa Wilcox) and bequeathed her 'Dream Master' powers. This is a mixed blessing, as whenever a friend makes a cameo appearance in one of Alice's dreams, Freddy cam now enter that persons dreams and kill them. So more teenagers die, but ultimately Alice is able to defeat Freddy, by completing the words of a nursery rhyme, thus freeing from Hell the souls (of all?) of Freddy's victims over the years. 

As is often the case with these movies this is better then I thought it would be. One of the things that most sets this series above and apart from much of its period competitors in the teen slasher genra, is that victims tend to be more memorable. Freddy kills kids in very personalized ways, in dreams that incorporate interests or quarks of his victims, so all these things have to set up in the story beforehand, so that they make sense and we feel invested. The 'Friday the 13th' victims all tend to blend together, on 'Elm Street' each victim gets their due, so part 4 gets **1/2

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

 It's part 3 and Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) is back, an experimental dream inhibiting medication has allowed her to live her life, she is now interning at a hospital psych ward housing the last of the "Elm Street children".  After something of a tangent in part 2 Freddy is back on message, seeking to murder all the children of the men and women who went outside the law to kill the child murder all those years ago. 

Kristen Parker (Patrica Arquette) is in the psych ward, she is one of Freddy's targets, only she has a special ability going back to childhood, which enables her to pull other people into her dreams. Nancy and Kristen hope to assemble the surviving kids into a group of 'Dream Warriors' (in execution this is not quite as silly as it sounds) to take on Kruger. They are assisted on the outside by Nancy's policeman father (the great John Saxon), a mysterious nun (Nan Martin) and 'Not Bill Maher' aka Dr. Neil Gordon (Craig Wesson), who despite having a romantic thing going with Nancy which feels inappropriate given their age difference and the power imbalance as he's kind of her boss, we still like anyway.

We get an origin story on Freddy and learn that the way to finally vanquish him is to bury his remains in hallowed ground. This is a pretty satisfying movie, a natural end point to a surprisingly decent trilogy. Yet the profits are good so the studio is going to insist on running this thing into the ground, making another 5 of these before finally rebooting the franchise. So 'Nightmare's' nightmare awaits me as I keep working through these films, though I give number 3 a respetacle **1/2.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revange (1985)

 'Nightmare on Elm Street 2' picks up five years after the events of the first film. A new family has moved into Nancy's old house (Nancy herself is said to have been institutionalized). Freddy's spirit has been quitley haunting the place, but with new residents he picks the inhabitant of Nancy's former room as his special project. Freddy's plan is to get into the body of teenaged Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton), through his dreams and use him to commit murders in the physical world.

As Jesse becomes increasingly aware of what is happening to him, he enlists the aid of frienemie (and character I love and will defend) Ron Graddy (Robert Rusler) and love interest Lisa Webber (Kim Myers), who I also love and will defend; in fact, overall the characters in this film are much more interesting and developed then those in the first. The plot is more engaging, the look of the thing better, it's funner, and in everyway this is the suppior film, save the original has the better scary moments.

I really enjoyed this, it's the rare horror sequel that improves on the original, it's not lazily copy cating, rather it's expanding and further developing on ideas from the original movie and going it's own way with them. There is also a gay subtext which becomes more interesting when you learn that lead actor Mark Patton was himself closeted at the time. Lastly, while the kids largely disapproved, I fully support Lisa's dad's decision to play his Benny Goodman records at the pool party. ***

It (1927)

 Clara Bow earned her nick name "The It Girl" from her role in this titular 1927 silent, in which she plays a lowly shop girl who sets her sights on the heir to a department store chain and gets him. Bow's sex appeal and charm are on full display, she's a little fire cracker who pretends to be a single mother so that her unemployed roommate can keep her child out of the hands of busy body welfare agents, this of course provides the chief relationship complication for the film. A little daring, rather pre-code, though ultimately there is very little to the story; while supporting player William Austin is kind of funny, the film wouldn't have worked if Bow didn't have "It". Popular novelist Elinor Glyn, who wrote the source material, appears as her self. ***

The Exorcist: Believer (2023)

 SPOILERS

There is a scene in 'The Exorcist Believer', where Leslie Odom Jr's demonically possessd daughter Lydia Jewett, taunts him about a particularly difficult past personal trauma with the phrase "God played a trick on you." Well I feel like the makers of this film played a trick on me.

I went into this movie with low expectations, based both on its 22% Rotten Tomatoes score and the record of past Exorcist sequels. I went to see it because I'm an Exorcist completist, not because I thought it would be any good. To my surprise however, for much of the running time I was impressed by just how decent it seemed. On reflection I believe that I had fallen victim to what I'll call 'The Force Awakens Effect'.

'The Force Awakens Effect' is when a movie does a competent enough job riffing on the general outline of a film your already fond of, that it creates the false impression that the movie is better then it really is. With 1973's The Exorcist doing most of the stories heavy lifting, The Exorcist: Believer is watchable, it even seems to be working, it is when the film goes off that safe script that it really falls apart.

Ellen Burstyn returns to the role of Chris MacNeil, in the half century since the events of the first film she has become a self educated expert on demonic possession, writting a best selling book on her daughters experiences, a book which lead to their estrangement. Odom approaches her for help with the duel possession of his daughter and her friend Olivia O'Neill. While Chris's non academic experience with exorcism was second hand, fifty years ago, and resulted in the deaths of two experienced Catholic priests, the 90 year old woman determins she can probably take a stab at it. It doesn't end well.

Eventually a decision is made to attempt a very eucomenucal exorcism with practitioners of various faiths, this has a very contemporary vibe to it, though it undercuts a big part of what made the original Exorcist so scary, that the only way to fight the demon was through use of  old esoteric practices, that the old esoteric Catholic Church now found too old and esoteric. Now I'm not saying that this 'all religions hold truth' approach to a battle of good and evil couldn't work, something along this line was done and worked in The Devil Rides out movie in 1968 and its decades older source material. However it doesn't work here, it feels silly, self conscious and lame.

Now I didn't hate 'The Exorcist: Believer', it's about 1/3 bad and 2/3rds okay, but it's more like an off brand knocked off then a legitimate heir to the greatest horror movie of all time; though there are certainly worse Exorcist sequels. If you bother to see it make sure you approach it as what it really is, don't let the filmmakers play a trick on you. **

The Black Phone (2022)

 It's 1978 and middle school aged children are disapering from a suburb north of Denver, victims of a fiend locals have dubbed 'The Graber'. 'The Graber' is Ethan Hawk and his latest abductee is 13 year old Finny (Mason Thames). Extra sensory ability runs in Finny's family, his younger sister Gwen (Madeline McGraw) has prophetic dreams, much to their fathers chagrin as their late mother also had such visions and they drove her mad. For Finny the supernatural manifests when he starts getting calls from 'The Graber's' previous victims on a disconnected black phone on the wall of his basement prison, and those spirits want to help him escape.

The film suffers some from the recent glut of period piece YA horror, 'It', 'Fear Street', even 'Stranger Things', however it's pretty strong. Based on a short story by Stephen King's son Joe Hill, the movie is very well structured, acted, gets the period setting down and doesn't over explain things, I was impressed. 'The Black Phone' did extremely well, over $160 million off a roughly $17 million budget, critically it's an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. I went into this with some reluctance, but I enjoyed and am glad I saw it. ***

Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)

 Sequel, obviously, to 1982's 'The Slumber Party Massacre', 'Slumber Party Massacre II' picks up 5 years later. Courtney, the younger sister from the first film, is a senior in high school and now played by Crystal Bernard. Her and her mother are mostly okay, but older sister Valerie never recovered and is now in a mental institution. 

Courtney and three friends are in an all girl rock band, they go to spend a weekend practicing at one of their fathers new home at a golf resort in the desert; unchaperoned, it's not long before boys arrive, however it is long before the killings start. Teasing, slow and horney. Courtney has bad dreams and hallucinations, premonitions of a leather jacketed rocker coming to get her, visions of Valerie trying to worn her.

Such a different take, I appreciate the try but the film is tentative and non commetal, frustratingly so. The first killing is around 52 into a 75 minute movie. While the original wanted to be 'Halloween', this one wants to be 'Nightmare on Elm Street', tonely and logically at odds with its predecessor. A bit of a mess, didn't care for it. *

Marihuana (1936)

High school student Hugh McArthur (31 years old when this was made) can barely get his girlfriend Harley Wood (23 years old) to let him feel her up before she tries marihuana, afterwards he scores. Of course she ends up pregnant and he ends up killed by police while smuggling drugs off a boat, because this is a Dwaine Esper exploitation movie; a film that presents itself as imparting a moral message, but is really just an exercise in offering 1930's audiences an excuse to watch sleaze.

Not as well known as the true classic of 1930's "anti drug" movies 'Reefer Madness' (seemingly the only one of these which Esper did not direct), the sense of reaching beyond its directors abilities is palpable, from the "parking scene" set to classical music, to bad guy Tony trying to connect with the little girl he's kidnapped. Nutty stuff happens. While Harley does become something of a monster over the course of the film, I think the megalomania is more the heroine talking then the weed, the latter of which makes her an extremely accommodating party guest. Speaking of which, midnight skinny dipping on weed is apparently a recipe for getting one of your supporting characters drowned. **

A Home at the End of the World (2004)

 Coming off the success of 'The Hours', Micheal Cunningham adapted his own novel 'A Home at the End of the World' and there is alot of plot here for a 97 minute movie.

In 1967, at the age of nine, Bobby Morrow witness the death of his older brother, to whom he was very close. The teenager was high on drugs at a party and ran through a sliding glass door thinking it was open. By the time Bobby gets to high school (this is suburban Ohio by the way) his mother has also died. As a freshman he makes friends with Johnathan Glover, a socially awkward youth; Bobby, now a stoner himself, seems to want to recreate the relationship he had with his brother, only with himself in the mentor role.

Bobby and Johnathan get to be really close, even jacking each other off. When Bobby's father also dies he moves in with Johnathan's family (parents played by Matt Frewer and Sissy Spacek). The two continue to experiment for a time, then Jonathan gets uncomfortable and breaks it off. After graduation Johnathan goes off to school in New York, Bobby stays on living with Johnathan's parents and working at a bakery. When Bobby is 24 Johnathan's folks move to Arizona for the fathers health, unsure what to do Bobby reaches out to Johnathan who invites him to move in with him in New York. It is now 1982 and Johnathan is played by Dallas Robert's and Bobby by Colin Farrell.

Johnathan is now the seemingly more grounded one, with a job in advertising and living in an artsy (townhome?) with Claire (Robin Wright) an older, free spirited divorcee. Claire and Johnathan are not romantic, Johnathan is dating men, but they are trying to have a baby together. In short order Johnathan loses his virginity to Claire, he is apparently bisexual, and this disrupts dynamics within the home. The rest of the movie further explores ideas of unconventional found family and it is all very Micheal Cunningham.

For the amount of story here the pacing feels unexpectedly natural. Cunningham's work, even as it depicts subcultures with which I am generally unfamiliar, feels real enough. While the story is fairly radical, it never flies off into cloud cukooland, the performances remain understated, especially Farrell, then known mostly as an action lead. An off the beaten path offering that I thought mostly works, though the critical reaction was mixed and the movie lost money. ***

Lady in Cement (1968)

'Lady in Cement' is the middle chapter in Frank Sinatra's "Detective Trilogy" of the late 1960's, proceeded by 'Tony Rome' and followed by 'The Detective'. Miami based PI Tony Rome discovers the body of a beautiful blond woman, her feet encased in cement, while scuba diving; this provids him entry into a rambling plot featuring organized crime, cross dressing, lost Spanish galleons, the beautiful Raquel Welch and the husky Dan Blocker. Sinatra has some good lines and it's neat to see 1960's Miami, but there is little to care about in this mediocrity. Surprisingly it's Blocker who gives us the most interesting performance in the movie, everyone else feels real pat, but he surprises. Easily the weakest film of the three, a critical and box office disappointment. **

The Racket (1951)

 Robert Ryan and Robert Mitchum grew up together on the wrong side of the tracks; now Ryan is a local crime boss recently hooked up with a national syndicate, while Mitchum's an incorruptible cop who the State Crime Commission hopes will help them nail Ryan. I knew nice guy cop William Talman was doomed by his second scene, but he surprised me with his resourcefulness on the way out. Much of this is old hat, in fact it's a remake of a 1928 best picture Oscar nominee. Often clichéd and dull, but there are a couple good through lines and performances (notably Mitchum and Talman) and I thought it really came together in the last act. So a ** movie with a *** ending,  I'm giving it **1/2

A Haunting in Venice (2023)

 'A Haunting in Venice' is another Agatha Christie, Kenneth Branagh Poirot vehicle. Like its two predecessors it boasts an impressively eclectic cast, Tina Fey, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Yeoh, among others. I rather enjoyed those first two, even acknowledging their limitations, this one for some reason I had a harder time getting into. A little fatigue with the formula perhaps? Or more hypocritcally I may have been responding to the lack of movement. I had criticized Branagh's 'Murder on The Orient Express' for too much pointless running around, 'Venice' gave me the parlor atmosphere I had been asking for, yet I found that dull. I guess sometimes you can't go home again, in terms of cinematic styles at least. **1/2

Dirty Harry (1971)

 'Dirty Harry' is probably the film that most encapsulates and established the 'Clint Eastwood persona'. The first of a franchise that would grow to five pictures, it would inspire many copy cats and parodies. The video essayist Maggie Mae Fish did a piece were she contrasts Eastwood's early, mostly promotional statements about the film, in which he viewed it as wish fullfiment fantasy bordering on satire, to later in life, in which he seemingly views it a guide to living, it has in effect become his personality.

I'll leave it to Fish to further expand on that point and focus on what I thought of the picture. I liked it. It's legit good. I should have but hadn't been expecting the final act, the bad guy sniper 'The Scorpio Killer' gets off on a technicality, and he and our dirty Harry Inspector Callahan have a final confrontation, a confrontation that doesn't make a whole lot of logistical sense, but is satisfying. 

What really makes the film work is that Scorpio is such a good villian, and that hero and bad guy are so well matched, near 'Die Hard'levels. The bad guy is billed as Andy Robinson and I was wowed to realize that is Andrew Robinson, who played Elim Garak on Deep Space Nine; this realization adds a whole new level to that character for me.

This is a film I should revisit, there is a far bit in there to unpack and mull over. The past is prologe political subtext of it all could be a long essay. I mean of course it's set in San Fransico. ***

Lady from Chungking (1942)

 For about a decade spanning the bridge from silent to sound Anna May Wong was a genuine movie star, the first actress of Asian ethnicity to really catch on in the United States. Enforcement of the production code clashed with her sensual image and the roles started to dry up, leaving her reduced to B pictures, 'Lady from Chungking' is one such.

This 'boost the allies' picture made during the war, has Wong as a leader in the resistance in Japanese occupied China. She helps rescue a couple of shot down American flyers, seduces a Japanese general, inspires a half Russian, half American singer, saves her village and is martyred, all in a little over an hour. She really carries this film, is well above the so so material; I should see some of her early stuff. Movie also boasts a character named Hans Gruber, who in Hans Gruber tradition mèets an untimley death. **

I Am Not Your Negro (2017)

 A kind of "film essay", taken from an unfinished project by the black author James Baldwin, in which he recounts his life through the prism of his martyred friends Medger Evers, Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr.; as well as the movies. Excellently read by Samuel L. Jackson, the text is a brilliantly written and layered reflection that asks to be taken in more then once. Strong editing and direction. An accomplishment I struggle to think of anything to really compare it to. ****

Paper Moon (1973)

 A small time conman (Ryan O'Neal) and an orphan girl (his real life daughter Tatum O'Neal) hawk Bible's and perpetrat scams across depression era Kansas. Charming, black & white film by Peter Bogdonovich. A critical (93% on Rottin Tomatoes) and box office ($30.9 million off $2.5 million) success. Only 10 when she accepted her best supporting actress award (legitimately earned), Tatum O'Neal remains the youngest winner of a competitive Oscar. Also featuring Madeline Kahn and John Hillerman. ***

The Long Haul (1957)

 Discharged from the army in Germany, American Victor Mature moves to Liverpool to work for his British wife's father's trucking company. There he finds rampant corruption amongst co-workers and clients. While geneally an honest guy, he meets Diana Dors and ends up with a mistress. Her jealous mobster ex boyfriend, even less keen on this then his wife. Complications. Better then it should be, there is one pretty great reveal, and it becomes kind of like 'Wages of Fear' towards the end. Probably Ms. Dors best performance. Really not what I was expecting, a pleasant surprise. ***

Vicki (1953)

 It is the waining weeks of the old school DVD Netflix. Back in the 00's Fox put out a nice series of film noir DVD's, they often contained good special features and interesting audio commentaries, I've enjoyed watching them over the years. So I wanted to squeeze in one more before the DVD by mail service wrappes up operations at the end of the month. What I was able to get is 'Vicki'.

'Vicki' is a lesser remake of 1941's 'I Wake Up Screaming', based on a novel of the same name by pulpist Steve Fisher. Jean Peters (Mrs. Howard Hughes 1957 - 1971) broke alot of hearts on her rise from night shift waitress to model, singer and aspiring actress. The mystery is, which 'wronged man' killed her?

Directed by Harry Horner, father of film composer James Horner, the film is pretty middling. There are some mistakes in the casting, Elliot Reid shouldn't be here, Jeanne Crain and Jean Peters should have switched roles. I did like some of the ways it played with lighting and set design, earlier, lighter portions of the film look like a romantic comedy, with Noir elements dominating the latter part of the flick. Richard Boone is pretty good as the obsessive detective, but no Laird Cregar. Future super producer Aaron Spelling has a small part. **

God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness (2018)

 Finally getting around to finishing up the 'God's Not Dead' Trilogy; Oh God, they made a 4th one. Anyway, 'A Light in Darkness' follows up on the Reverend Dave Hill's (David A.R. White) storyline, neglecting most of the others.

 Hadleigh University wants to evict St. James Church, made easier perchance when someone accidently on purpose causes a gas explosion. The Reverend Hill brings in his semi-estranged brother John Corbit (Nina Vardalos's hubby in the 'Big Fat Greek Wedding' movies) to help out, because of course he happens to be a 'social justice' lawyer. Much clichéd, hack writting from a paranoid worldview, the persecution of Evangelicals... in Arkansa. 

Still there is a germ of something in the brothers relationship, and the film does manage to show more grace then I had expected, at least towards the end. It sure is clumsy though, too often undermining its best points by filling the air that should be occupied by reflection, with cheese. *

Return of The Tiger (1978)

Continuing with the Grindhouse set.

In 'Return of the Tiger' Bruce Li (not Bruce Lee) becomes involved in conflict between two rival Hong Kong drug cartels. There are some fun cartoony action set pieces, but they are overshadowed by the hard to follow plot, one that contains plenty of double crossing. The film would have been better served by a simpler plot, more action, and more focus on the relationship between Li and his sidekick/love interest Angela Mao, she kicks ass. *1/2

Kung Fu Punch of Death aka Prodigal Boxer (1972)

 Back in the 00's I bought a DVD collection of "Grindhouse" films, curated by Quinton Tarantino; to further date this I bought it at a Boarders Books and Music. Anyways, for whatever reason I only made it half way through the set. So after revisiting the first half I intend to complete the package. The films are arranged as a series of double features based on genra, in this case martial arts films.

'Kung Fu Punch of Death' aka 'Prodigal Boxer', filmed in 72 but but not released in the States till 74. A Hong Kong and/or Twianse production. Set in the olden times, story concerns a martial arts student (Fei Meng, apparently something of a name in this field) accidently kills a man in training, said man's family has Meng's father killed in retaliation. Meng tries to exact revange, it doesn't go well, so he then trains up for an extended period of time and his revanging is much more successful.

I've never really been able to get into Kung Fu films, with a few exceptions. Frankly I find them hard to sustain interest in. This one is pretty alright, the dull and interesting parts pretty much even out. Meng starts out as a real dumb ass, but over time he grows into less of a dumb ass. That final fight scene is pretty cool. **1/2