Jupiter Ascending (2015)

 A somewhat infamous flop, The Wachowski's world building heavy, sci-fi space opera come retelling of CInderella, 'Jupiter Ascending' is not as bad as it's reputation would suggest. This is not to say that it's particularly good, but I can see what it was going for and kind of admire the attempt. I think with a few more go throughs on the script and some recasting (particularly Mila Kunis, pretty but not a good actress (though Chaning Tatum can stay)), you might actually have something here. **1/2

Miss Stevens (2016)

 Miss Stevens (Lily Rabe) is a somewhat melancholy California English teacher, chaperoning a small group of students (notebly Lili Reinhardt and Timothee Chalamet) for an out of town drama competition. I didn't do drama in high school but I did speech and debate, and this movie rings true to the experience of the weekend tournament trip. There's the drama inherent to high school kids, all the more so to one's of a performative temperament, there's the bureaucracy of the tournaments, the sometimes absurd compition, the close quarters, romantic tensions and the sheer exhaustion. The whole cast is good with Chalamet and Rabe the standouts, Rabe inparticular giving a fine performance as a hurting soul navigating the emotional boundaries she must keep with her students. ***

Predestination (2014)

 'Predestination' was not the movie I thought I was getting. This 2014 Australian production is based on a 1959 short story by science fiction legend Robert A. Heinline, and stars Ethan Hawk and a pre 'Succession' Sarah Snook. Ostensibly about a time traveling cop, the bulk of the films first 50 minutes is devoted to a protracted transsexual origin story, which makes me curious how true to the original story this adaptation is. I was surprised by what I got, this is smart, pretty hard sci-fi in a retro-homage style. ***

Naked Souls (1996)

 More then just souls are naked in 'Naked Souls'. This is seriously one of the worst movies I've ever seen, badly written, badly shot, badly edited. Badly acted too, particularly leads Brian Krause and (infamously) Pamela Anderson, as scientist boyfriend and neglected artist girl friend, whose forte is casting busts of women's torso's. Boyfriend is working with wealthy benefactor David Warner (who along with Dean Stockwell in a bit part constitute this movies good actors) on a process for transferring memories. Warner however double crosses Krause and uses his technology to steal the younger man's body. Also there is a serial killer of busty women, so Pamela's in danger. Some times laughably bad, but mostly just awkward and embarrassing. *

Twisters (2024)

 My dad was a big disaster movie fan, he took the family to see 'Twister' in the theater in 1996 and was actually watching the movie (which he'd seen many times) about 3 hours before his unexpected death in 2014. So I more or less had to see 'Twisters', a lose sequel/ soft reboot of the earler film. Like the original film there is a midly interesting love triangle at the center, various quirky side characters and a number of tornado related action sequences and set pieces. Really the story is pretty blah, concerning the interactions between some weather scientists and tornado chasing YouTubers, but those action sequences are worth seeing on a big screen. Also I'll give Daisy Edger-Jones a free pass on anything she does, for she is above it all. ***

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)

 The story of the thrupel who created the most successful female comic book character of all time, Wonder Woman. Professor William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans) and his wife psychologist Elizabeth Holloway Marston (Rebecca Hall) co-creators of the polygraph machine, were joined by their Harvard teaching assistant Olivia Bryne (Bella Heathcote), the niece of Planed Parenthood founder Margret Sanger, in a three way emotional and sexual partnership that produced four children (two by each woman). 

Elizabeth and Oliva stayed together for 43 years after Marston's death from cancer in 1947, Oliva would pass aged 86 in 1990 while Elizabeth died three years later at the age of 100. The movie chronicals the three's relationship and how William based various aspects of the Wonder Woman character on aspects of their life together, including a bondage fetish along with the polygraph birthing the "lasso of truth". 

They were an odd bunch even by today's standards, but they managed to make their relationship a reasonably functional one. Williams DISC theory of interpersonal relationships (dominance, inducement, submission and compliance) comes across as pseudoscience now, but he really seemed to believe in it. ***

The House That Dripped Blood (1971)

 'The House That Dripped Blood' is a rather disappointing British horror anthology movie based on short stories by 'Psycho' author Robert Block. Staring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Ingrid Pitt and Denholm Elliot, and held together by each tale of terror occurring to tenants of the same cursed property. With the arguable exception of the last story, everything here holds to a well worn and not all that interesting path. A bore, perhaps the best thing about it is that John Pertwee based his performance as a popular horror movie actor on fellow cast mate Christopher Lee. *1/2

Nothing but the Night (1973)

 Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing appeared in a whopping 24 movie's together, but typically as opponents, seldom were their characters on the same side. An exception to this is the 1973 mystery/horror film 'Nothing but the Night', in which they play respectively a police inspector and a forensic pathologist. The two are working together to solve the mystery of a slew of deaths among the board members of a charitable trust. Not to give too much away but this movie has a Shaymalan type twist ending that almost, but dosen't quite, land. It's also far too slow getting there, but I was intrigued enough to sit through it, the 84 minute run time feels longer then it really is. **

Drawn into the Night (2022)

 'Drawn into the Night' is basically a re-issue of the 2010 film 'A Lure: Teen Fight Club', but with all of the nudity cut out. Teenaged girls are abducted and forced to fight to the death at an underground "fight club". That this movie was pieced together from an existing film might help explain some odd pacing issues and that some plot points are never really explained, or that could just be because it's a low budget horror film. Think of the plot as a mixture of 'Mean Girls', '21 Jump Street' and season 6 of 'American Horror Story'. *

Smiley Face (2007)

 A very stoned Anna Faris has various mis adventures over the course of a long day in Los Angeles. Midly entertaining trip also features an earlyish screen appernce by John Krasinski and bit parts for a couple of future Glee regulars. **

Getaway (2013)

 When I first saw previews for 'Getaway', I thought it seemed as though producers had drawn three names at random out of a hat and wrote a movie around them. Finally seeing the flick more then a decade later that initial assessment still feels kinda true. Ethan Hawke is an American racecar driver whose Bulgarian wife is kidnapped by a nefarious group headed by Jon Voight. Voight instructs Hawke to perform various reckless activities through the streets of Sofia or else his wife will be killed.

 Selena Gomez is the owner of the car that Voight's crew has rigged up with camera equipment to monitor things. In trying to retrieve her car she ends up stuck with Hawke, who at first she gives a hard time but later comes to sympathize with. Also Gomez's character is improbably the daughter of a sort of mob banker and poses extensive automotive and computer skills; I never bought it.

 With better hands at the writting and directing this might have been a fun movie, there's certainly potential there. What we get instead is a very unexciting action movie lacking in real characters and stakes. It's a go through the motions kind of film, which feels more like it was made as part of some sort of tax scheme then as a legitimate movie.*

The Arrival (1996)

 For whatever reason when I think of 1996's 'The Arrival' the first thing that comes to mind is a Letterman sketch from the time the film came out. Letterman critizes the films dialogue, we cut to a clip of one of the movies floppy headed aliens and hear dubbed over the scene the words "I've got a flop, flop, floppy head." Dave then claims that all the kids are gonna be quoting this line.

Ironically the scene they used for that gage contains one of two effects shots that hasn't dated horribly (the other being the collapse of a giant satellite dish). While the visuals often come across as goofy the story is played pretty straight, with Charlie Sheen improbably cast as a SETI type scientist who uncovers evidence that aliens might already be here on Earth. 

Of course aliens are here and Sheen sets out to uncover what they're up to. This is one of those mysteries that's not reallty a mystery, because the audiance figures out what the plan is long before the lead pieces it together. The aliens are trying to terraform our planet to be more like their's, the time it takes Sheen to realize this is a little above par compared to the annoyance level of how long it takes Laurence Olivier to figure out that the escaped Nazi's are cloning Hitler's in 'The Boys from Brazil'. Still its nice to see science fiction ideas played resonably straight and reasonably smart in a 90's action thriller. While such a story would be underwhelming today; I'm going to graciously see it through 90's lenses and award ***